DVD PLAYHOUSE—MAY 2008
By
Allen Gardner
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (Genius Products/Weinstein Co.) Anthony Mann’s eye-popping 1964 spectacle was one of the last big studio costume pictures. Set in the waning days of ancient Rome, the film is both sweeping and literate, thanks to an intelligent script by Philip Yordan, Ben Barzman, and Basilio Franchina. All-star cast includes Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, and Christopher Plummer. Three disc set bonuses include: Commentary by Bill Bronston, son of producer Samuel L. Bronston, and Mel Martin, Bronston’s biographer; 1964 featurette; Trailer; Photo galleries; Documentary on film’s production; Three featurettes; Historic film’s about ancient Rome, all filmed on location. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (Miramax) Visionary film from director Julian Schnabel tells the true story of French Vogue Editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a massive stroke in his early 40s, and can only communicate through blinking his left eye. A triumph of style, substance and technique that will leave you breathless by its conclusion. Bonuses: Two featurettes; Commentary by Schnabel; Charlie Rose interview with Schnabel. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
LIONS FOR LAMBS (Universal) Three intertwining stories about the price of war in the 21st century: a powerful conservative senator (Tom Cruise) crosses swords with an idealistic journalist (Meryl Streep) during an interview; A California professor (director Robert Redford) tries to convince a once-promising student (Andrew Garfield) to fulfill his potential; Two soldiers (Derek Luke, Michael Pena) stuck behind enemy lines in Afghanistan fight for their lives. Knockout performances (and Redford’s spot-on direction) can’t save this well-made polemic from being more than what it is, although it tries very hard to rise above itself, and Matthew Michael Carnahan’s on-the-nose, and very self-consciously noble, screenplay. Worth seeing for the moments that do work, and there are many. Bonuses: Commentary by Redford; Two featurettes; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
CASSANDRA’S DREAM (Genius Products/Weinstein Co.) Woody Allen returns to the neo-noir territory he first visited with Match Point in another London-based thriller. Two working class brothers (Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor, both excellent) share big dreams and equally large Achilles heels: one in the form of a gambling problem, the other in the form of his new, ambitious girlfriend (Hayley Atwell). When their successful, but nefarious uncle (Tom Wilkinson, fine as always) offers to bankroll them both in exchange for murdering a blackmailing colleague, the test of moral mettle begins. Fine drama, expertly performed and directed. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
SAAWARIYA (Sony) Engaging Bollywood romance loosely based on Dostoevsky’s “White Nights,” telling the tale of a shy musician’s chance encounter with the woman of his dreams and their four unforgettable nights together. Featuring the eye-popping visuals, costumes, sets and musical numbers that are the staples of Bollywood, Saawariya is sure to please fans of the genre. Bonuses: Featurette; Premiere night footage. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
CLOVERFIELD (Paramount) When a giant monster attacks (and lays waste) to the Big Apple, only a handful of young New Yorkers (armed with jittery, hand-held cameras) can bring the story to light. Sort of like a modern take on the classic “Godzilla” movies on a massive dose of speed, one’s enjoyment (and tolerance) of this cinematic rollercoaster ride conjured up by J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves will depend greatly on your sensitivity to motion sickness! Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Alternate endings; Outtakes; Featurettes; Commentary by Reeves. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
AWARD-WINNING SHORTS Janus Films releases three classic short subjects which were justifiably lauded upon their original release: PADDLE TO THE SEA, nominated for a 1966 Academy Award, follows the adventures of a small, wood-carved canoe as it forges a path from Ontario, through the Great Lakes, and down to the Atlantic. WHITE MANE, which won a Grand Prix award at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of the bond that develops between a young boy and a wild horse he discovers roaming the desolate plains of his village. Finally, THE RED BALLOON winner of a 1956 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and Cannes’ top prize the Palme d’Or, tells the wordless story of a young boy who discovers a stray red balloon on the streets of Paris, that seems to have a mind of its own. Touching, and heartbreaking, gorgeously photographed in Technicolor. All are full screen, Dolby 1.0 mono.
THE ALAIN DELON COLLECTION (Lions Gate) Five films from one of France’s most beloved leading men: THE SWIMMING POOL, from 1969, stars Delon and Romy Schneider as a couple whose relationship is shaken up by the appearance of a sexy teen nymphet (Jane Birkin) during a vacation in St. Tropez. DIABOLICALLY YOURS is a crackling thriller with Delon as a rich man suffering from amnesia after a car crash, struggling to solve the mystery of who he is. THE WIDOW COUDERC stars Delon in a May-December romance with Simone Signoret; THE GYPSY stars Delon as a French Gypsy who turns to crime to support himself and take revenge on the society which has turned its back on his people. Finally, OUR STORY, directed by Bertrand Blier, stars Delon as a middle-aged alcoholic whose life is turned upside down by mystery woman Nathalie Baye. All are widescreen, Dolby 2.0 mono.
DELIRIOUS (Genius Entertainment) Scathing satire stars Steve Buscemi as Les, a small-time paparazzi desperate to score one big photo that will make his career. When a young homeless man (Michael Pitt) he befriends becomes involved with a celebrity pop star (Alison Lohman), Les sees his chance for a shot at the big time. Bonuses: Featurettes; Commentary by director Tom Dicillo; Trailer; Music video. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING (Lions Gate) Frank Langella is unforgettable as once-legendary author Leonard Schiller, who finds himself cursed with illness, writer’s block and a world that has passed him by. When an ambitious graduate student (Lauren Ambrose) convinces him that his work still has meaning, Schiller attempts to find a new lease on life. Fine, intelligent, literate drama, which truly captures the complex inner workings of a writer’s mind. Bonuses: Commentary by director Andrew Wagner; TV spot and trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
FIRST KNIGHT SPECIAL EDITION (Sony) The legend of King Arthur in repose: Sean Connery plays the legendary British lion as an aging monarch whose love for the young Guinevere (Julia Ormand) is thwarted by her affair with his champion knight, Lancelot (Richard Gere, curiously miscast, but still effective). Ben Cross adds panache to the proceedings as the villain. Solid entertainment, boosted by William Nicholson’s literate script. Bonuses: Commentary by director Jerry Zucker, producer Hunt Lowry; Arthurian legend commentary; Two featurettes; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
DEATH OF A CYCLIST (Criterion) Terrific drama from 1955 Spain focuses on a bourgeois couple having an affair who, while driving back from a late-night tryst, accidentally run over a cyclist and flee the scene. Scathing look at the class divisions in Franco’s Spain during the mid-50s was censored for years by the Fascist government, and has now been beautifully restored by Criterion. Bonuses: Documentary on director Juan Antonio Bardem. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH (Sony) Tim Roth plays an elderly linguistics professor in 1930s Romania who, after being struck by lightning, finds himself youthening instead of aging. Given the gift of reliving his youth on the eve of a Europe overrun by Fascism, Roth must decide where he stands personally, politically and spiritually. A welcome return to the director’s chair by Francis Ford Coppola, this adaptation of Mircea Eliade’s esoteric novel will thrill some who enjoy avant-garde film, and confound others longing for Coppola’s classics like The Godfather. Bonuses: Commentary by Coppola; Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE GREAT DEBATERS (Genius Products/Weinstein Co.) Denzel Washington stars in, and directed, this true story of a debate coach at Wiley College, a black college in 1935 Texas whose small, but intrepid team of verbal pugilists face off against none other than Ivy League stalwart Harvard in the national championship. Well-acted to near-perfection by Washington, Forest Whittaker and a fine young cast, but film also suffers from terminal earnestness, and a very one-sided portrayal of all the white characters, who seem to be either drooling rednecks who burn black children at the stake, or blue-blooded prigs who look down their noses at the young Texans. And by the way, the school that Wiley College actually faced off against in 1935 was USC, not Harvard! Two disc set bonuses include: Deleted scenes; Featurettes; Music videos. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
I’M NOT THERE (Genius Products/Weinstein Co.) One-of-a-kind film from co-writer (with Oren Moverman)/director Todd Haynes tells a series of literal, and metaphorical vignettes in the life of Bob Dylan, portrayed by six different actors: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw. Blanchett is the standout in a stellar crowd, and Ledger’s portrait of a young star teetering on the brink of a breakdown proved to be all-too-prescient. Two disc set bonuses include: Commentary by Haynes; On-screen lyrics; Song selections; Deleted, alternate, and extended scenes; Outtakes; Auditions; Interview with Haynes; Featurettes; Photo and trailer galleries; Dylanography. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
DANS PARIS (IFC Films) Moving, sometimes amusing, sometimes sad portrait of a young man nursing a broken heart, who returns home to Paris. Once there, his father and younger brother, who try to help him re-embrace life. Charming film from writer/director Christophe Honore. Bonuses: Short film by Honore; Deleted scene. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
DON’T DRINK THE WATER (Lions Gate) Jackie Gleason and Estelle Parsons star in this 1969 cold war comedy penned by Woody Allen in which a typical American family is arrested for spying in a fictitious Iron Curtain country. Director Howard Morris lays it on pretty thick in this dated, but still amusing film. Woody himself directed a much better version for television 25 years later. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
PARTITION (Allumination Filmworks) In 1947 Pakistan, a Sikh (Jimi Mistry) falls in love with a young Muslim woman (Kristin Kreuk) after saving her life. Moving tale of the how the human heart can survive amidst culture clash. Bonuses: Featurette; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
STEEL CITY (Peace Arch Entertainment) Fine urban family drama about a young man (Thomas Guiry) who must adjust to life without his father (John Heard) after he’s sent to prison. Although he has a loving uncle (Raymond J. Barry, brilliant as always) and girlfriend (America Ferrara, also fine), his belligerent older brother (Clayne Crawford) makes things complicated, particularly when family skeletons start to be revealed. Excellent work across the board from neophyte writer/editor/director Brian Jun. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Short film by Jun; Commentary by Jun, cast and crew; Photo and trailer galleries. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
DOCUMENTARY DAYS Warner Bros. releases SHARKWATER, which follows biologist/filmmaker Rob Stewart as he studies the decreasing population of the world’s sharks. Fascinating stuff, with some amazing footage of the beasts up close! Bonuses: Featurettes; Trailer and TV spots. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Image/THINKFilm releases NANKING tells the harrowing story of the so-called “rape of Nanking” by the Japanese army in 1937, and the small group of westerners who stayed behind, and saved thousands of lives. Powerful film won an award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. WARDANCE tells the story of a group of children in war-torn Uganda whose love of music brings joy and hope back into their lives. Bonuses: Deleted and extended scenes; Trailer gallery. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Kultur releases JAMES JOYCE: SO THIS IS DYOUBLONG? which takes an in-depth look into the life and works of Irish author James Joyce. An illuminating look at the life and work of one of the 20th century’s greatest and most complex writers. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. MTV Home Entertainment releases I’M STILL HERE, a riveting look at the diaries of young people who were affected by the Holocaust during WW II. Scored by Grammy-winner Moby, readings from the diaries are done by a who’s-who of young stars: Elijah Wood, Amber Tamblyn, Joaquin Phoenix, Ryan Gosling, Kate Hudson, and Brittany Murphy. Bonuses: Featurette; Interviews with filmmakers; Study guide. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
THE HORROR, THE HORROR More scary titles hit DVD this month. MGM/Fox kicks off the list with the 1987 classic HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT II, in which a 30 years-dead prom queen returns from the netherworld to wreak havoc on a fresh crop of students at her alma mater! Michael Ironside stars. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono. Lions Gate releases THE BACKWOODS, starring Gary Oldman as one half of two couples who find themselves at odds with creepy backwoodsmen when they rescue a young girl during a hunting trip. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Life Size Entertainment releases FEAR HOUSE, a fun and gory update on the old haunted house story, with a seemingly-agoraphobic novelist stuck inside a possessed cottage. Bonuses: Cast and crew commentary; Outtakes; Trailer; Rehearsal footage. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Sony releases THE COTTAGE in which two brothers’ (Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith) kidnapping scheme goes awry as their victim turns the tables on them! Bonuses: Deleted scenes and outtakes; Storyboard gallery. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Lions Gate releases their series 8 FILMS TO DIE FOR, starting with THE DEATHS OF NATHAN STONE, a suspenser about a young man who keeps meeting an untimely end and being reborn daily; LAKE DEAD tells the gruesome tale of three comely sisters who fall prey to a group of crazed rednecks; BORDERLAND tells the macabre tale of three Texas college students who run afoul of a Satanic cult south of the border; TOOTH AND NAIL tells the story of post-nuclear survivors who must battle vicious bands of cannibals to stay alive; MULBERRY ST. tells the horrific tale of a small band of apartment dwellers who must fight off the rest of their neighbors, all victims of a virus that has turned them into ravenous killers! NIGHTMARE MAN tells the tale of a young wife who, after receiving a mysterious mask, has hallucinations of being attacked by an evil being. UNEARTHED follows the denizens of a desert town who must battle an ancient creature accidentally unearthed during an archeological dig. Finally, CRAZY EIGHTS spins the twisted tale of six childhood friends who must confront their demons (literally) after the funeral of one of their former group. Bonuses on some of the titles include: commentary by cast and crew; Extended scenes; Gag reels; Featurettes; Photo and trailer galleries; Miss Horrorfest Contest webisodes. All are widescreen, Dolby 5.1 surround.
DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL! Koch Vision releases the British drama NEW STREET LAW, the UK’s answer to The Practice, starring John Hannah as a barrister whose single-minded pursuit of justice often puts his life, and those of his colleagues in jeopardy. Complete second season on 2 discs. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. COUNTRY MATTERS, originally produced for Masterpiece Theater in 1972, is an adaptation of eight short stories by authors A.E. Coppard and H.E. Bates set in the English countryside post WW I. Great early turns by Ian McKellen, Peter Firth, and Pauline Collins. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. A&E Home Video releases the 1978 miniseries DISRAELI, starring Ian McShane as the 19th century British Prime Minister, thus far the only Jew to hold that office. 2 disc set. Bonuses: McShane biography and filmography. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. NIGHT OF THE FOX, an exciting WW II thriller from the novel by Jack Higgins, stars Michael York, George Peppard and Deborah Raffin, set around the D-Day invasion. Bonuses: Cast and crew biographies. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. THE ROMANCE COLLECTION is a lavish box set of eight literary adaptations: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, VICTORIA & ALBERT, EMMA, JANE EYRE, LORNA DOONE, THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, TOM JONES and IVANHOE, all originally produced for the BBC. Bonuses include: Author biographies and bibliographies; Cast bios; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Acorn Media releases DA VINCI’S INQUEST: SEASON 3, the popular Canadian drama following the adventures of Vancouver’s chief coroner. 13 episodes on 4 discs. Bonuses: Featurettes; Photo galleries; Filmographies. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. TIME FOR MURDER is a six-part series of mystery stories penned by some of Britain’s most renowned authors of the genre: Fay Weldon, Antonia Fraser, Gordon Honeycombe, and Charles Wood, among others, deliver nail-biting suspense and intrigue, delivered by the likes of Claire Bloom, Sylvia Sims, Charles Dance, Trevor Howard, and others. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. THE GRAND is a five disc collection of the acclaimed miniseries set in and around Manchester’s finest hotel in the roaring ‘20s. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Warner Bros. releases TWO AND A HALF MEN: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON, starring Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer as polar opposite brothers sharing a Malibu beach house, along with Charlie’s precocious son, with comic results. Bonuses: Gag reel. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 surround. Lions Gate releases THE KILL POINT, starring John Leguizamo as an Iraq war vet whose carefully-planned bank heist goes horribly wrong. Gripping miniseries also stars Donnie Wahlberg as the no-nonsense hostage negotiator. Bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Sony releases BEWITCHED: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON, featuring a brand new baby, new maid and a new Darrin Stevens in the form of Dick Sargent. Elizabeth Montgomery sparkles as suburban witch Samantha Stevens. 30 episodes on 4 discs. Bonuses: Minisodes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Finally, Paramount releases THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES, VOL. 3: THE YEARS OF CHANGE a ten disc collection of the hit series about the adventures of young Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flannery) as he grows to manhood, and encounters some of history’s most important figures. Smart, inventive, great fun for the whole family. Bonuses: two dozen in-depth documentaries; Historical timeline; Interactive game. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. CHEERS: THE NINTH SEASON, features more fun and shenanigans for the denizens of Beantown’s favorite bar. Give disc set features 26 episodes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 surround. THE 4400: THE FOURTH SEASON, continues the incredible story of 4400 people who were secretly abducted by aliens, then returned to Earth. 4 disc set contains 13 episodes. Bonuses: Director’s cut of first episode; Featurettes; Blooper reel; Commentary by cast and crew; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Shout Factory releases the Japanese anime series OBAN STAR RACERS VOL. 1-2, a brilliant bit of sci-fi set ten thousand years in the future, follows a group of Earth-bound fighter pilots who defend the planet from intergalactic enemies. Bonuses: Featurettes; Star-racer profiles; Concept art; Trailers. Each 2 disc set features 13 episodes, all uncut. Full screen. Dolby 5.1 surround. STARGATE INFINITY: THE COMPLETE SERIES is a two disc set featuring all 26 episodes of the animated sci-fi series about Stargate Command, and their battle against a warrior race known as Tlak’kahn. Fun, imaginative stuff! Bonuses: Special effects test; Animation tests; Concept art. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 surround.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
DVD Playhouse--May 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Audrey Dana: The Hollywood Interview
French actress Audrey Dana.
AUDREY DANA MAKES HER BOW
By
Alex Simon
Editor's Note: This article appears in the May issue of Venice Magazine.
Most actresses never get beyond the point of wanting to be an actress, one of the sobering realities of a business where there are more creative, talented people populating the insides of kitchens and the backs of bars than on the stage or screen where they know they truly belong. French actress Audrey Dana is one of the lucky few, however. The daughter of a French father and American mother, Audrey got her start training at the prestigious Conservatoire National d’Orleans, where she was awarded their First Prize of Dramatic Arts. After building her resume appearing on the French stage and television, as well as off-Broadway and Broadway turns in New York, the 29 year-old not only makes her film debut as the female lead in the Samuel Goldwyn release Roman de Gare, but does so under the gifted hand of legendary French filmmaker Claude Lelouch(Oscar winner for A Man and a Woman
Audrey Dana sat down with us recently to discuss her life and its remarkable recent turn of events.
Tell us about what it’s like making your feature debut under the direction of a legend like Claude Lelouch.
Audrey Dana: Oh my God! It was truly…cloudless is the only word that comes to mind. It was serious, intense, real work that was full of energy, enthusiasm, creativity and life. What more could I wish for?
Were you nervous working with him?
No. I mean, I was nervous my first day on the set, because I’d never done a real movie before and there was this whole team of people on the set who were experienced veterans in the business. I was afraid they’d look at me like this inexperienced little girl who never should have shown up on the set. Also, Claude is well-known to really love his actresses (laughs), so…I was nervous about that. But after I did my first scene, which was two hours in a car with Dominique Pinon, I felt like everyone respected me, so my nervousness disappeared! (laughs)
And you got to work with two famous French actors: Dominique Pinon and Fanny Ardant.
Yes, two beautiful actors. Fanny and I only had a couple scenes together, but Dominique and I were in nearly the entire movie together. He’s just awesome, very generous and very serious and has something about him that makes you jump directly into the situation because he’s so present. 
Dominique Pinon and Audrey Dana in Roman de Gare.
Did you learn anything from Dominique?
I think we exchanged a lot of things from working together. It was almost as though we were playing in a playground together, but at the end of the day, you realize that you’ve actually learned a great deal from your playmate. It’s funny, the editor told me later that it was tough cutting our scenes because Dominique was always very consistent, doing the same thing, but I was always doing something different. (laughs) So that was an important lesson for me. Claude allowed us to improvise a lot, which I love, but Dominique isn’t really from that school, so to speak. So it was great for improvising, but crazy for the editor.
Did you study a lot of improv when you studied drama?
No, mostly the instruction was very traditional, but later a lot of the plays I did were very experimental, where the authors would allow us to sort of go off on our own, so that’s where I really developed by taste for improvisation.
Your character is a very interesting one because in the beginning, she’s not terribly likable, and for an actor to come up with a credible performance, he or she has to find something they like about their character, some shred of their humanity. How were you able to do this?
I tried to imagine how I would have become that girl. I thought about what would have happened to me had I not discovered acting when I was six years old. I had a very, very crazy life as a child. If I didn’t have that arrow pointing me in the right direction and saving me from a crazy childhood and crazy teen years, I easily could have been the sort of girl that got pregnant at 15, and just led a life that would have been completely fucked up.
What was so crazy about your life then?
The family thing was very crazy: four children and parents that didn’t get along, and didn’t love each other, plus my two older sisters were actually my Dad’s stepchildren from his first marriage who he adopted. Then I had two sisters from my mother who have different fathers. Then the really crazy thing was they bought a house in the most miserable part of France, where everything is so flat, you want to die. It’s awful: no one’s ever heard of it outside of France. It’s very rural, the people work in the fields, and there’s just this feeling of no hope whatsoever. It was very provincial and we were viewed as this freakish family, so I had very few friends. My mother opened a center, a home, for abused and abandoned children, many of whom were obviously really messed up and disturbed, so I grew up around all this, and most of those kids hated me as well: I was a good student, was passionate about wanting to be an actress, had a direction, and for all this, they hated me, too! (laughs) So I couldn’t wait to get out of there, as I’m sure you can imagine.
What did your parents think about you wanting to be an actress?
My dad wasn’t around much, and whenever I’d try to talk to my Mom about a problem, she’d be like “Shut the fuck up! You have no problems. All these kids you see, they have real problems.” There was lots of violence: knives held to my neck, chairs broken over my head…my Dad was in Paris. He was a brilliant journalist and really had a life of his own. He’s dead now.
How did your parents meet?
Playing bridge, believe it or not! My Dad was French bridge champion and my Mom always loved playing the game. They have those fancy clubs in Paris, with people smoking cigars, and everything. My Mom moved to Paris from Baltimore when she was 27, and they met when she was 32, while she was pregnant from another man.
Jesus Christ, you could make a movie out of your life!
(laughs) Yeah, right? You’re not the first person to say that. You could really make a movie of anyone’s life if you’re a good director, but I definitely have material there. 
Audrey Dana in Roman de Gare.
It explains in a way what drew you to acting. What happened when you were six that made you realize you were an actor?
It was one night during dinner and I was being very loud, and very funny and my sister said, in exasperation probably, “Oh gosh, you should be an actress!” Then when I was 18, I moved to New York City, and I decided I was going to stay. I created my own theater company and wasn’t on stage for much of it, just in small parts, but really enjoyed the whole creative process. After two years, I just started dying inside. I was in Tunisia with my Dad and I had a baby who was two months old, and I said to him ‘Sometimes I think of going back to Paris, because I miss acting, but I think maybe it’s too late for me now,’ and I was about 21 at the time. My Dad got really furious and he said “What are you talking about? You’re 21 years old, and you’re telling me you’re afraid to move from one big city to another big city? Of course you’ll make it if you go back to France. If you don’t make it, who will?” So I went back to Paris, started school, and have been acting ever since. Wow, I just told you my whole life here! (laughs)
You’re a real survivor.
No, I’ve met kids who have survived so much more.
Yeah, they survive physically, but they’re also irreparably damaged most of the time. It sounds like you’re pretty healthy in spite of all you’ve seen and been through.
I know that getting out of where I grew up was the key. I would have died if I’d stayed there.
Your mom is still there?
Oh yeah, but all my sisters have escaped. They’ve all traveled the world, and done what they wanted to do. That’s the one great thing they gave us: the idea that freedom was a reality and being open to open doors.
How do your mom and sisters feel about your success?
Really happy! It’s almost brought our family together again, as though all the struggles and everything we went through somehow now all makes sense.
Claude Lelouch: The Hollywood Interview
French director Claude Lelouch.
CLAUDE LELOUCH CREATES HIS ROMAN DE GARE
With his 49th film, the legendary French auteur weaves a delicious web of deceit, intrigue and romance.
By
Alex Simon
Editor's Note: This article appears in the May issue of Venice Magazine.
French director Claude Lelouch was born October 30, 1937 in Paris. After some harrowing childhood experiences during WW II, Lelouch survived to become a rabid filmgoer as a child and teen, often skipping school to attend the cinema. He was billing himself as a "cinereporter" when he made his first short documentary films in the mid-1950s. In 1960, he formed Les Films 13 productions, where he produced over two hundred "scopiotones" -- short musical films designed for jukebox use, much like the "Soundies" produced in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s.
Lelouch produced, directed, wrote and acted in his first feature, The Right of Man, in 1960. His first international hit in 1966, Un Homme et Une Femme -- aka A Man and a Woman -- captivated audiences with its warmth and simplicity. The film became a sensation, winning a Palm d'Or at Cannes, as well as a Grand Prix award and an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Lelouch instantly became one of the most popular and influential directors in Europe. One of his most legendary films is the 1976 short Rendez-Vous, in which Lelouch mounted a camera on the front of his Ferarri 275 GTB and tore through the deserted Paris streets at dawn, ignoring all traffic signals, at speeds upwards of 140 km/hour, to his waiting wife. What resulted was one of the greatest sensory experiences ever captured on film, as well as a hefty fine for the director from the Paris authorities after it was screened! To watch Rendez-vous in its entirety, please click below:
Many of Lelouch's subsequent films dealt with the symbiotic relationship between sex and crime, or sex and politics, or crime and politics. Taking a more straightforward approach in his narrative than many of his contemporaries in the French Nouvelle Vague (Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Louis Malle, et al), Lelouch has made 49 films under his Les Films 13 banner since 1960, and enjoyed commercial success with virtually all of them. His 49th film, and his 50th year as a filmmaker, is marked with Roman de Gare, a delicious blend of deceit, intrigue, romance and playful humor that has become a Lelouch signature. Starring veteran French stars Dominique Pinon and Fanny Ardant, as well as newcomer Audrey Dana, Roman de Gare arrives on U.S. screens April 25.
Claude Lelouch sat down with us poolside at a Beverly Hills hotel recently, along with interpreter Katherine Vallin, to discuss his amazing career and latest cinematic offering.
There are so many different layers to Roman de Gare, like three different films in one. In fact, I could see pieces of all your previous work interspersed throughout Roman de Gare.
Claude Lelouch: Yes, I think it is a film that is a result of 50 years of work. I tried to mix know-how with spontaneity. It’s a film about life with all its contradictions and a mixing of all genres. I am fascinating by the spectacle of life, and by the strength of lies, because I’m afraid the world is being led by lies, much more than the truth, especially now. A lie is a bit like a loan from the bank, and we see today the world of credit is collapsing. Soon the world of lies will collapse as well. Lies are for unhappy people. The truth is reserved for rich people. It’s a luxury. What would the most unhappy people in the world do without lies? 
Dominique Pinon and Audrey Dana in Roman de Gare.
Have different parts of your life been based on lies?
Of course. When I started out as a filmmaker, I started out with a lie: I lied to myself that I had talent! (laughs) But what is great about lies is that they eventually bring us to the truth, which is what gives truth its power. So this film is about lies, and this particular love story is built upon lies. It’s stronger. If a couple tell the truth from the start, they don’t have much left to discover. (laughs) So I really wanted to do a little ode to lies. All the world’s religions are against lying, when in fact all artists are liars: that’s where you find creativity, imagination. And of course at the same time, I am fascinated by the truth, which is what I try to film. I want my actors to be truthful. So that’s the very interesting paradox. When I try to say that we live in a very chaotic world, I mean to say that’s what makes the world so fascinating to me: all the things that escape me, all the things I cannot control. The other thing I try to get across in my films is that the most important thing in life is the present. For example, if I take you to see a movie, and I tell you we’re going to miss the first ten minutes, and that we’re going to leave ten minutes before the end, you’re never going to see another movie with me. But life is like that! We arrive in a film that’s already started, and we will have to leave before the end! So we have to be content with the time we have, with the sequence we’re seeing. We never know where we come from or where we’re going. It’s much better to just be there for the moment. So that’s why I talk about love in all my films, because as soon as he or she is in love, a human being becomes much more interesting. The love story in Roman de Gare was built upon all these lies. It’s like all the couples who met during wartime were much stronger as couples that met during a vacation. The other thing about Roman de Gare that appealed to me is that it’s a film about appearances. We live in a world that puts far too much emphasis on one’s physical appearance, and so does the cinema.
Yes, in particular American cinema.
Absolutely. Since the beginning of cinema, it appears beautiful people are the focus of everyone’s interest, when in fact it is the other people who are far more interesting. In Roman de Gare the protagonist (played by Dominique Pinon) has a terrible physique and is not a handsome man in the conventional sense. And I show that one can love him, too.
Yes, but most of the male leads in your films have never been conventionally handsome, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Jean-Paul Belmondo certainly aren’t handsome the way Paul Newman or Brad Pitt are, although all your women are always very beautiful.
Yes, but Belmondo and Trintignant are much more handsome than Pignon is. (laughs) In fact, one day I would like to do a love story between two people who are very ugly. Love is inside, not outside.
Do you know the play Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune by Terrence McNally?
No, I’m not familiar with it.
It was made into a film by Garry Marshall starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer as “plain” people who fall in love. Neither of them could ever be mistaken for “plain,” but on stage it was played by Kathy Bates and Kenneth Welsh, both of whom are very “plain” looking, and that’s what his play was about.
Ah, but in Hollywood they did it with beautiful people! (laughs)
Maybe you should do a French version, the way the playwright intended it!
Not a bad idea. Maybe I will! (laughs)
Earlier you mentioned people falling in love during war. Your early formative years were spent in Nazi-occupied Paris. How did this color your perception of the world?
I think maybe it allowed me to appreciate things a little better than somebody else. With my mother, we actually escaped death during the war very tightly. So after that you feel you live on borrowed time.
You’re Jewish?
Yes. So the Gestapo was actually looking for us during the war. We had fake papers. My father was Jewish, and my mother was Catholic. She converted to Judaism, so she had Jewish papers.
Where did you hide?
We had to move practically every week, all over France, in all directions.
I recently interviewed Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, who is a contemporary of yours, and survived Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. He says when he closes his eyes, he sees burning buildings and dead bodies. It’s amazing to me how you’ve remained such an optimist when people like Verhoeven and Roman Polanski have such a dark view of the world due to their wartime experiences.
First of all I have been blessed with no memory. If I had memory I would probably be falling out with everybody. I’m in love with life. I love life. Every morning I’m amazed to see the sun coming up, and that is what I try to transmit in my films. While of course I am not fooled by the fact that everything isn’t complicated before it becomes simple. At the same time, it is because of this contradiction that the show of life is so fantastic. There is nothing more fertile than this chaos. Everything comes from there. It is just like at the beginning of time, when the world in which we live was created by earthquakes and eruptions and various cataclysms. The world in which we live fascinates me more and more. I have no idea how far we’re going to go. Whoever wrote the script for the world’s story is the greatest scenarist of all time! (laughs) There are now six billion actors on Earth, and they all feel like they are the principal character in the story.
Shakespeare had the most famous quote about that: “All the world’s a play…”
Yes, exactly. He, too, was fascinated by the spectacle and the contradictions. The beauty, and the horror, together. It’s amazing.
I think what you’ve touched on is what I view as the most important part of being an adult, and that is having the ability to hold onto your idealism, even after you’ve lost your innocence.
Absolutely. But I have been 18 all my life. (laughs)
Lelouch, circa early 1960s, lines up a shot.
Yes, you have the romantic optimism of a very, very young man.
Because for me, the most beautiful years of your life are the ones you haven’t yet lived. And for the past 70 years, each year I live is more interesting than the last one. I try to put that in my films, as well.
I’ve spent the last week getting reacquainted with your films. They all share this wonderful sweetness, even after you’ve shown incredible darkness in many of them, they usually end on a very sweet, optimistic note.
It’s because the human being is the greatest invention of this world. It’s one that isn’t perfect yet, and needs some major work, but it’s possible. Yet the time we’re living in is far less cruel than the time I lived in when I was a child. For the past 70 years, I find things are getting a little better, and I have been witness to it. Older people try to tell young people that it’s not as good as it used to be, but it’s simply not true. It’s much better now. It’s more complicated, but it’s also more fascinating. The game is more fascinating. Life is a game. The problem of this game is that you have to fight, and watch the cheaters, and there are more and more cheaters.
Let’s talk about your background. What did your father do for a living?
He was a shopkeeper. He made cushions for furniture, so I was raised in a craftsman family. On the side, he was an amateur filmmaker. So in 1937, my father had a very small camera that he used to film my birth. So the first film I ever saw, was me on the screen! (laughs)
So instead of a rattle, your father put a camera in your hand as a baby.
Yes, exactly. My earliest memories are of my father filming me and my sister, who was born ten years later.
When did you know you were a filmmaker?
Right away. My father met my mother inside a movie theater, during a showing of Top Hat, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. 30 years later, they are the ones who presented me with my Best Foreign Film Oscar for A Man and a Woman. Isn’t that amazing? When my mother was pregnant with me, for nine months every day she went to the movies! So I heard all those films in the womb! And during the war, my mother was hiding me inside movie theaters. When I was ten, my father gave me his old camera, and I started to make films from ten years old.
Do you still have that camera?
Oh yes, it’s in my office, a small Kodak.
Was there one film you saw as a boy that really cemented your love of film?
There were many, but Snow White was the primary one. It was the first film that really marked me, and traumatized me, when she died. After that, I realized the power of film. I didn’t go to school. I went to the movies every day. I got kicked out of every school for playing hooky at the movies! (laughs)
Did you ever run into Truffaut? Apparently that’s what he did, as well.
I think we probably hung out in the same theaters.
Do you consider yourself to have been part of the so-called Nouvelle Vague, or “French New Wave”?
Not at all. Actually, I should say I owe a lot to the Nouvelle Vague, because they showed me everything I didn’t want to do.
Such as?
I don’t like pretentious films. (laughs) It was too pretentious for me.
That’s one reason your films really don’t date: they’re very straightforward, and not pretentious at all.
Thank you. I’ve tried to make them that way.
One thing you were a pioneer in was mixing different film stocks: black & white with color, 35mm with 16mm and super 8. You did this to great effect in A Man and a Woman, and Lindsay Anderson did the same thing with different stocks three years later in If…
You know the primary reason I used both color and black & white in A Man and a Woman? I was running out of money! (laughs) And black & white was cheaper.
That’s exactly why Lindsay Anderson shot If…that way! And for years, all these pretentious critics were debating the symbolism of it!
(laughs) Yes! And they did the same thing with A Man and Woman! It wasn’t symbolic. It was financial! But that’s one example of how problems and constraints often breed your greatest creative decisions. 
Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimee in A Man and a Woman (1966).
A Man and a Woman was your seventh film, and was made during a very difficult time in your life.
Yes, it was the final chance I was giving myself as a filmmaker, because all of my previous films were flops. If it hadn’t succeeded, I probably would have stopped making films.
And done what instead?
I probably would have started making films again a few years later! (laughs)
In the States we have a television show called Inside the Actors Studio. The actress Shelley Winters was one of the first guests on the program. Miss Winters had a theory about how artists are created. She said “There are those of us, when we’re babies, a fairy flies over our cribs and sprinkles dust over us, and says ‘Now you will be an artist, and now you’re fucked!’”
(laughs) Oh my God, yes! It’s so true. And do you know something? I’ve never really known any actors who are completely happy people.
I’d say it applies to any creative person I’ve ever met. None of us are completely happy people. I think part of the creative process is feeling dissatisfied with things, don’t you?
No, not necessarily. I’m happy, I think, but I’m also not an actor! Acting is very, very hard. A hard life.
Speaking of, let’s talk about some of the actors you’ve worked with, starting with Jean-Louis Trintignant.
I think Jean-Louis is the actor who taught me how to direct actors. We really brought each other a lot. He changed his method of acting while working with me, and I began to truly understand what directing actors was all about, working with him. I think the relationship between a director and actor is the same relationship as in a love story between two people. One cannot direct an actor if you do not love him or her. And he cannot be good if he or she does not love you in turn. We can give only when we are truly in love. It’s the result of great generosity. One is generous only when one is loved. So I think I’ve lived this kind of love story with all of my actors, men as well as women, especially with the women! (laughs)
You also got to work with the late, great Jacques Brel.
It’s interesting, I hired Jacques Brel for L’Adventure c’est l’adventure because Trintignant passed on the part. When I worked with him the first day, I told him that I was going to tell him the story of the film we were about to do. He stopped me and said “I don’t care. The only thing I want is to look at you shooting for eight weeks, because one day I will make films, and in order to so I’ll spy on you during this one.” And he became my best friend. I think he is the man who taught me the most. In the dictionary if we had to give the definition of the word “man,” we’d put Jacques Brel’s picture beside it. This is the man who looked most like a man I’ve ever met, both within and without. He understood everything. 
Singer/songwriter/actor Jacques Brel.
That came through in his music.
Yes, precisely. 
James Caan in Another Man, Another Chance (1977).
You did a film in the U.S., a western shot in Arizona, called Another Man, Another Chance. What was the experience of making a film in the States like?
That’s a great memory. I thought I was going to learn English, but alas…(laughs) I was lucky to be able to do a film in the States as though I was in Europe. I had no restrictions. I had the final cut. I had the best of both worlds. I felt that since I wasn’t fluent in English, it limited me a bit with the dialogue and everything, it was a bit of a constraint. It’s a film that mixed my love of love stories, and my love of westerns. And I think James Caan is terrific in it. I think he could have been one of the greatest American actors. He was a dream actor to work with.
Let’s talk about what I feel is your greatest film, Les Miserables, an epic masterpiece which I think can stand up against anything done by David Lean. What inspired you to re-think Victor Hugo’s classic, and set it during WW II?
The story of Les Miserables is a timeless one. Since the dawn of time, there have always been miserable people. The characters in Victor Hugo’s novels are people you meet every day. In this story, you have all the archetypes you keep running into. More importantly, this is a story my mother told me when I was a child. During the war we were on a train together one night. It was discovered that our papers were forgeries. The Gestapo made us get off the train, and we were about to be sent off to the camps. In the corridor, my mother took off her watch, and gave it to the officer who arrested us. This man let us go. So we got back on the train, and my mother fell apart and cried and she made a remark “What a Thenardier,” who is a character in Les Miserables. So I asked her, ‘What is a Thenardier?’ So for the first time, she told me the story of Les Miserables on the train. So all my life, I had this story in my head. Then I read the book again several times, and I realized that it’s the same story today. It can be set in any period of time. 
A poster for Lelouch's Les Miserables (1995).
You really should make your own Au Revoir Les Enfants about your experiences during the war.
If I have time.
Tell us about Jean-Paul Belmondo.
I think he was the most important French actor after WW II. After Jean Gabin, it was Belmondo. So I’m very proud to have made three films with him. I think he’s a mix of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, both of whom could do anything. 
Actor Philippe Leotard.
You mentioned the character of Thenardier, who was played by a terrific actor named Philippe Leotard who, like Jacques Brel, also left us far too soon.
He was a bit like Jacques Brel, actually: also a great singer, a great actor, and I loved him very much. But unfortunately he had a problem with alcohol, and was somewhat remote. I don’t think he ever watched the films he did. He was very tired at the end, because of his lifestyle. 
Actress Fanny Ardant in Roman de Gare.
Roman de Gare features the great French actress Fanny Ardant as one of the two female leads. Tell us about her.
I cast her because she’s an icon in France, and is a woman who is a symbol of womanhood, both the weakness and the power contained therein. When you talk with Fanny, it’s amazing to see what an amazing physical presence she has, yet at the same time she’s like a little baby. It’s this mix of strength and naïvetee. But I liked working with her very much. I actually knew Fanny before Truffaut (Ardant is Francois Truffaut’s widow) did, because she was in Les Uns et les Autres.
She’s always reminded me of Anouk Aimee, actually.
That’s very interesting you should say that: if Fanny hadn’t been available, I would have offered the part to Anouk!
Audrey Dana, your other female lead, is a real find. This is her first film.
I think she’s the most gifted actress working today in France. She was so great in this, I’m giving her the lead in my next film.
What is your next film about?
It’s a big epic, which starts in 1900 and goes to the present day. It’s very musical, and it’s about five love stories of one woman, between 1940-1960. The English translation of the title is Those Loves, but it doesn’t sound as good in English as it does in French! (laughs)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Capsule Review: 88 MINUTES
By Terry Keefe
88 Minutes has been finished for some time, but it’s difficult to understand why the release of this Al Pacino thriller has been delayed for so long. Is it deep? No. But it's a real fun ride through a neo-noir world with the one and only Pacino as your guide. Directed by Jon Avnet and produced by Avi Lerner for his Millennium Films, the film is an enjoyable suspenser, with a prime supporting cast which includes Benjamin McKenzie, Leelee Sobieski, Alicia Witt, Deborah Kara Unger, Amy Brenneman, William Forsythe, and Neal McDonough. Note to other producers: this is the type of supporting cast you can get when you’ve got the likes of Pacino in the lead. Most actors are just happy for the opportunity to do scenes with him.
Pacino plays a forensic scientist and serial killer expert named Dr. Jack Gramm, who, years before, helped put away a murdering sociopath named Jon Forster (McDonough). On the eve of Forster’s execution, Gramm receives a cell phone call telling him that he has 88 minutes to live. Gramm sets about trying to find the source of the call himself, and the potential suspects include just about everyone he knows, including a group of attractive twentysomething students of his which include McKenzie, Sobieski, and Witt. Avnet does a nice job of setting up the red herrings and keeping us guessing as to who the real killer is right until the end. And appropriate to the title, the film is tight, with rapid pacing which never lingers long enough for us to doubt the logic of the set-up.
88 Minutes opens Friday in wide release.
BENJAMIN MCKENZIE Plots His Course
By Terry Keefe
Benjamin McKenzie became an instant star when The O.C. debuted on Fox in the fall of 2003, playing the lead character Ryan Atwood, a troubled youth from Chino who moves into a tony enclave behind the Orange Curtain. Within the context of the very fun series, McKenzie’s acting was certainly strong, and he had undeniable star quality. But it was difficult to predict his future career path, or the depth of his acting chops, from his work on the show. And, to be fair, you could say the same for any twentysomething actor starring in a show targeted squarely at the youth demographic. What was a lot more telling was McKenzie’s choice of film to do during the first “O.C.” hiatus. McKenzie could have easily taken a nice payday starring in a studio teen comedy or action film, but he chose to take a supporting role in the small indie feature Junebug. As angry and frustrated North Carolina homeboy Johnny Johnsten, McKenzie added lots of subtle depth to what might have been a stock character, creating a darker counterpart to his clueless but relentlessly optimistic wife Ashley, portrayed by Amy Adams. Building a diverse body of work was clearly important to McKenzie from the start of his career, as it is today. “The O.C.” wrapped its run in 2007, and McKenzie has sought out an interesting group of indie projects since then, including the upcoming Johnny Got His Gun, an adaptation of the famed Dalton Trumbo novel.
McKenzie in Johnny Got His Gun. Although it’s not like he’s sworn off big-budget films either. The Texas-born McKenzie can be next seen opposite Al Pacino in the feature thriller 88 Minutes, directed by Jon Avnet. Pacino plays famed forensic psychologist and professor Dr. Jack Gramm, whose courtroom testimony years ago put a serial killer named Jon Forster on death row. On the eve of Forster’s execution, Gramm receives a mysterious series of phone calls telling him that he has 88 minutes to live. McKenzie plays Mike Stempt, one of Gramm’s top students, with whom the professor has a contentious relationship, and who may even be behind the death threat.
You’ve just lived the dream of a lot of young actors by working against Al Pacino in 88 Minutes.
Benjamin McKenzie: I did it because my scenes are with Al. That makes for a great story to tell your kids [laughs]. A opportunity you can’t really pass up. It worked out great, because we were shooting “The O.C.” on a regular Monday-Friday schedule, and they were shooting 88 Minutes on a Wednesday-Sunday schedule. So I just went up every weekend to shoot the movie [in Vancouver]. That was a little bit of a grind, but it was very inspiring to see Al work. He still works so hard. He’s so committed, that there was no room for me to complain about my work schedule [laughs]. He likes to do a lot of takes and always wants to rehearse. It was very impressive. Because when you’re dealing with someone who’s such a legend, you never know what you’re going to get.
He could easily just show up, do one take, and leave.
Sure, because what does he have to prove at this point? Who’s ever going to doubt that he’s not only a great actor, but also one of the greatest actors who ever lived? His place in history is secure. And you get a sense from him of the kind of psychology that’s necessary to achieve that type of success…a true work ethic. He loves what he does.
What types of rehearsals did you do with Pacino?
The first day, I was up there in Vancouver for some fittings, and things of that nature, and they hadn’t started shooting yet. We were [eventually] going to shoot a big classroom scene that I was in with Al, but I was the only other actor up there at the time, other than Al and [director] Jon Avnet. So, all of a sudden they wanted me to go rehearse with Al [laughs], and I had never even met Al. Soon, I’m in a huge room with just Al, Avnet, and the cinematographer. And I’m, of course, quaking and so scared [laughs]. But he was so helpful and polite, from day one, that it was very disarming… and unintimidating, in that sense. But, you know, it’s such an odd thing when you’re working with someone whose characters have infiltrated pop psychology for generations, from my father or grandfather, through me, to people who are 5 years old….they all know who Al Pacino is.
Pacino and McKenzie in 88 MINUTES.That was great because….well, Al does so many different things…but one of his trademark characteristics, of course, is that [deepens his voice] big, bold, brooding, in-your-face, New York-kind of thing. And when he does it, it’s so fun. It’s also fun to get to throw it back at him. And you can’t help but be transported to your parent’s house, watching The Godfather for the first time. Or watching Heat in the theater. Or watching Serpico. You know, people from my generation, we rediscover him. For the most part, we were too young to see most of his early work in the theaters. So I had to rent Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon and watch them at home. When I saw Dog Day Afternoon, I became obsessed with it, and watched it repeatedly. But when it came out in theaters, I hadn’t been born.
In terms of your character Mike Stempt, I won’t reveal whether he’s the killer or not, but did you play him with keeping that question in mind? As to whether he’s a mass murderer or not?
Yeah, I wanted to have as much fun with that as possible. It was very enjoyable to play somebody who had sort of an uncertain background. Whereas on “The O.C.”, I was playing somebody who had a little bit of an edge, but he’s basically a good guy, and you kind of always know that. He’s the hero of the show, and you’re rooting for him at all times. So, it’s nice to be able to play a guy who you’re not really sure is a good guy or a bad guy, and the audience isn’t supposed to know either. It was a pleasure to be able to indulge in that a bit.
You’ve recently finished an indie called Johnny Got His Gun, based on the book written by Dalton Trumbo.
It’s basically an adaptation of a stage play of the book. It had been made into a one-man play in the 70s or 80s, with Jeff Daniels when he was pretty much my age. It was probably one of his first breaks, and he won an Obie for it, starting his career. So, we took the stage play and shot it in a black box theater, without an audience. It’s sort of a Spalding Gray-type production, except I’m playing a character, as opposed to a first person sort of thing or however you would describe Spalding Gray’s material [laughs]. Meaning it’s obviously not my take on Johnny Got His Gun. It’s Dalton Trumbo’s words, more or less, as adapted by the playwright Bradley Rand Smith. Kind of between Spalding Gray and Dogville, where there’s no audience but you’re clearly in a small theater, and you’re performing it not unlike you would there. It’s a weird and interesting synthesis of those things. I had to memorize it all, to be able to do the whole thing straight through. So that we could shoot it all without breaking much. That was just a great challenge and a lot of fun. The film was also something I believe in from a political standpoint. Trumbo was one of the Hollywood 10, and an admitted Communist, although I don’t follow him quite to that level. He actually set the story during World War I, but his criticisms of many of the wars we’ve been in since, including Korea and Vietnam, are very relevant to what’s going on today. The story is much more pro-soldier than it is anti-war. It’s about the travesty of these big institutions, these governments, fighting each other, and sacrificing their young and relatively innocent men, under the guise of some sort of loftier slogan, but the reality being that the poorer and less educated men are sent off to die and fight these wars, for causes they don’t necessarily understand or agree with.
Was it shot with a number of cameras at once?
No, we shot with some of the new HD cameras, but with a single camera [at a time]. Minimal set-ups, so we’d do 10-15 minute long takes. But because we weren’t performing in front of a live audience, we were able to stop and get certain unique angles that you wouldn’t be able to get in front of an actual theater audience. We had crane shots, for example.
How many days of production?
We were rehearsing for a good month, just to get the words, the blocking, and the performance down. The shoot itself was only about a week.
Wow, not a lot of time. I know you did a lot of plays in New York prior to getting cast on “The O.C.”, so you had the training to do that type of full-length performance.
Well, I only did a few plays in New York, although I did a decent amount in college. To be honest with you, I was only in New York very briefly. I moved there right after college, but I graduated in ’01. So, I moved to New York and September 11th happened literally weeks after I got there.
Welcome to New York.
Yeah, and it was really hard to get work, to be honest. A lot of the downtown theaters, where actors traditionally started their careers, were shut down. You couldn’t even get south of Houston Street. So, within a year, I moved to L.A., on the advice of a friend. I basically camped out on his floor, trying to get work, and a year after that, I got “The O.C.” So, although I sort of started in theater, the work quickly became something else. And it was really nice to be able to go back and get more of that type of experience.
Did the theater muscles come back quickly in terms of memorization and endurance when you were preparing for Johnny Got His Gun?
I was so freaked out, so absolutely petrified about that. I agreed immediately to do it, because it seemed like such a cool project to do. And then, a week or two in, I looked at this script which is an hour and ten minutes or so….and I realized that I have to give an hour and ten minute speech, memorized, as a performance. With blocking and movements and doing different characters. I was freaking out a little bit, but it does come back. You take chunks of pages at a time, and get your little recording device, and you memorize a chunk, then do another chunk.
What was the audition process that landed you as the lead on “The O.C.”?
It was a fairly typical, hectic pilot season thing, where I was testing for another Warner Bros. show, which they ultimately went in a different direction with. But they had this show, “The O.C.”, which they hadn’t cast, and I went over there within a few days, and met with the producers. And that went well. Then there was the studio test, and the network test. The whole process took a week at most, and we were shooting two weeks later or something. It was insanely fast. We wrapped on a Friday, and they picked us up on a Monday or Tuesday. Then it was, “Build the sets as fast as you can, pump out the scripts, and let’s start shooting.” It was a very hectic year. But it quickly settled into more of a reasonable thing as the plotlines started to divert and the show got more expansive. My burden of work really becomes less after the second year.
You were also thrown into the world of fame at the same time.
Yeah, the first year was very strange, because not only are you doing a completely new thing, but you’re also doing all the promotion on top of the work. You’re introduced to this new world where people who don’t know you think they know you, or recognize you. And it’s a bizarre concept to wrap your head around, but I think I did alright with it [laughs].
McKenzie in "The O.C."
It was mixed feelings, I would say. I mean, I loved the work, and the people that I worked with. I’m so grateful for the experience. At the same time, you do start to get an itch about “What else is there out there?” You want to explore other things, particularly when you’re sort of young and ambitious. I think that, in a way, it had run its course. We told a lot of stories and told them pretty well. So, the end felt natural, I guess. And I came out of it with some good friends, which is nice. Adam Brody and I are still good friends. And it’s always nice to make some money.
You shot Junebug after the first year of “The O.C.” It was an interesting southern character you created for that film, and a significant change from your series work.
Thanks. You know, I’m from Texas, and I went to school in Virginia. I had never been to North Carolina, but my dad’s family is from there and my dad was actually born there. I think I understood a bit about the south, and grew up with guys not too dissimilar from the character I played, Johnny Johnsten. I’ll always love that name [laughs], Johnny Johnsten. As I soon as I met Phil Morrison, the director, I had a feeling pretty quickly that we were on the same page in terms of what he was looking for. So when it came time to shoot it, we were on hiatus from “The O.C.” I had a few weeks, so I went down to Salem, and rented a truck, and basically hung out. I had a couple of friends of friends there. I went to Durham Bulls games and went to stockcar races. I grew my mustache. And I tried to embrace it all as a life experience, not just an acting job. It was also great because this was just after the rush of the first year where you’re on a TV show and it’s popular. It was just really nice to go to a much more subdued part of the country, where it’s a lot more relaxed than Los Angeles, and to try to step into somebody else’s shoes.
McKenzie in Junebug, with Embeth Davidtz and Amy Adams.
My dad is a political buff and longtime Texas Democrat, so it was a real treat for us both to be able to go there. We sat in the Green Room with Maya Angelou! We met at the tea table. She was getting a cup of tea. So was I. She said hello. I said hello. She had no idea who I was, and that was completely fine with me [laughs]. I said, “I know who you are. You don’t who I am, but that’s cool. You’re speaking after me. This is a bizarre world we live in.” [laughs] It was all such a treat. I’ve been doing a little bit recently for Barack, when he was in Texas for the March 4th Democratic Primary.
I take it you’re supporting Barack Obama then?
Yes, I just think it’s time for a change, basically. I like Barack and what he represents, and I’m just very impressed with him. I’ve met him a few times now, briefly, but I think he’s a very honorable man.
Meanwhile, you went to high school with the Bush Twins.
Yeah, small world [laughs]. They were a few years younger than me, so I didn’t really know them. When their Dad became Governor, they began going to Austin High.
Then you majored in economics and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia. Any chance you’ll ever do anything in those fields?
I don’t know [laughs]. I really enjoyed studying in those areas. I sort of fell into acting. International affairs has always been an interest of mine, but I don’t know how that might manifest itself later. My mother always reminds me that I can still go to law school if things don’t work out in the acting world. I’m having a hard time convincing her that things have worked out, and it’s really okay [laughs]!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
ROYAL FLUSH: Shannon Elizabeth Tangos Back Via "Dancing with the Stars" and her new film DEAL
By Terry Keefe
“I know, Shannon, that you’re a poker player, and with this show, there’s no bluffing. What you see is what you get. What I saw tonight is a really good Jive,” said “Dancing With the Stars” judge Len Goodman to Shannon Elizabeth, who had just done a very athletically-charged Jive with partner Derek Hough that earned high scores. Elizabeth had been prepping for the Jive when we talked with her in the interview below, and she confessed to being a bit nervous about it, something she related again on the show, nervously remarking, “I have really long legs and that gives you more to mess up with.” The Jive requires some very controlled kicks, and Elizabeth prepared, in part, by doing a kick-boxing session. “I’m not comfortable with the Jive,” she joked, “But I am comfortable with kick-boxing.” The hardworking American tomboy on the hit reality series is a fairly different Shannon Elizabeth from the one introduced to most of the world nearly nine years ago as Nadia, the eastern European exchange student from American Pie who has perhaps the most famous nude scene of the decade. Arguably, any decade. High-profile roles followed in the likes of Scary Movie and Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the latter spotlighting Elizabeth as a jewel thief, both sexy and geeky at once, who falls for the foul-mouthed Jay, played by Jason Mewes. It’s a role where Elizabeth is quite sweet, charming, and believable as a hot nerd, and probably should have leapfrogged her career further. But the sex bomb Nadia cast a long shadow, and it’s just speculation, but typecasting likely prevented her from grabbing bigger roles in studio films. While reinvention is a difficult task, reality television has proven to be one of the greatest weapons a celebrity has in that mission, largely because it affords an opportunity for the star to present their “real,” or at least a different, persona to the world. And this real version of Shannon Elizabeth is winning a whole new audience of fans, while reintroducing herself to the old ones.
We don’t know Shannon Elizabeth’s tell, but we think she’s likely holding some good cards this year.
Had you been asked to do “Dancing with the Stars” prior to this season?
Shannon Elizabeth: They’ve actually asked me to do it multiple seasons. I just haven’t been able to fit into my schedule before. I had always watched and liked the show, and I think everyone, myself included, always wonders what it would be like to get out there and try this type of thing. So, I had watched it, but I had never watched it for dance technicality. I had only watched it and said about a couple, “Oh, it looks like they did it well” and they’d get top scores, but I’d never understand exactly why [laughs].
You took some dance lessons as a kid. Have they helped at all?
When I was little, I did ballet, tap, and some jazz. But it’s completely different than all of this, and it hasn’t carried over at all. In fact, I think there are some things [about that training] that gave me some bad instinctual habits that I’m having to break for a lot of these dances.
What are some of those habits?
With jazz, a lot of things are big and mounded. So, with the cha-cha’s…when I point my toe and bring it from the front to the back, I kept wanting to do it with a big circular motion. And you have to do it in a straight line, right by the other foot. That was a really tough technique for me to grasp. So Derek was constantly correcting that, and fixing that. That’s just one of many things where I kept thinking it should be done another way.
Any hesitations as to doing the show?
Yeah, lots of hesitations [laughs]. I didn’t want to go out there and flop and bomb and just do horribly! It’s a lot to think about, and it’s a huge time commitment. And I’m such a lazy person in general [laughs]. We started training a month before the first show. They assign you a partner, and you don’t know who it’s going to be until they show up on the first day of training. We started training about 5 days a week, and around 4-5 hours a day.
How did that first day go with Derek?
It was really weird because he was teaching me technique kind of things for the cha-cha, and it wasn’t anything like I expected it to be. And I was walking in the heels for the first time. I think he lost some confidence in me on that first day, but a couple of days later he got it back [laughs]. Now we’re training every day we can, because now we only have 5 days [between shows] to prepare a routine.
Are there are any particular dance styles you’re looking forward to doing? Or not?
I’ve always thought I’d like to do the Paso Doble. I always thought that would be a fun dance for me. But I think you have to make it a little further along to get to that. So we’ll see. We just have time to train for the dance we’re going to do next.
How are all of the contestants getting along?
Everybody’s been pretty friendly. We only see each other on set, really, or events we’re all at, but we all get along really well. You’ve always seen a kind of camaraderie between the contestants [in other seasons] before. I’ve had friends on every season, and I never used to understand why everyone on the show would get so upset when other contestants were kicked off. But we all flew to Chicago to do “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and we got to know each other there and then flew home together. And because we all sort of had similar fears and doubts [about doing the show], that’s sort of what bonds you on this.
Did your friends who had done the show previously give you any advice?
Just have fun. That’s all they kept saying [laughs].
Do you see the Judges at all other than the day of shooting?
No, we’re not allowed to see them or talk to them, or, really, they’re not allowed to see us. There was never even an official introduction to them. You’re just sort of out there the first time, and there they are [laughs].
Shannon and Derek awaiting the Judges' response.
Physically, how is the training affecting you?
I got home from rehearsal yesterday and practically fell right asleep [laughs]. And I got up this morning and started walking and my feet hurt. The bottoms of my feet were so swollen. Killing me [laughs].
Do you Tivo the show and watch it through?
Yeah, I don’t watch it all, but I watch our performance, because I want to see what is coming across on TV. What the camera angles are. And I want to see how other people are seeing it. So I can change it and fix it. Play to camera. Or not play to camera. It’s kind of like watching playback and having another take. I can tweek things as we go.
Shannon in her upcoming film Deal.
Well, not necessarily, because I’m not in the actual poker scenes. Being able to work with someone like Burt Reynolds was much more of a factor for doing it. He’s kind of amazing. He just comes out with these amazing deliveries and performances. You just never know what he’s going to up with.
Meaning that he’ll try different takes in different ways?
Yeah, he does. It’s always great to work off of somebody like that, because then you can change up what you’re doing as well. [Director] Gil Cates Jr. was a lot of fun as well. He gave us the freedom that we needed here and there, to kind of improve and change things.
A lot of the plot points of Deal revolve around figuring out another player’s “tells,” as the key to beating them. How much of that is accurate in your experience?
You know, tells are only accurate, as in really accurate, on beginners. When you have a pro at the table, usually the tells are scripted on. If they think you’re a beginner and you’re trying to read them, they might try to give you an “opposite tell.” Or an opposite opposite tell, a double reverse tell. But a real tell…it has to be the immediate reaction of a person when this situation occurs. The card comes out and they look at their cards or whatever happens. It’s always that immediate reaction, and usually, the more of a beginner they are, the more accurate it is.
Is that something that you’ve worked to become skilled at picking up?
Absolutely, but the tells in the film, and the tells shown in most movies…they’re usually actions like, you know, scratching your nose. It’s not usually like that [laughs]. But then, when you see somebody bouncing their legs up and down under the table, that’s an excited movement. That usually means they have a big hand.
Your game has evolved quickly. You started playing for the first time when Bravo did their “Celebrity Poker Showdown.”
And I just did that to raise money for my charity. But I kept playing different events like that to raise money. Eventually, I just started to understand what the game was all about, and started really liking it.
Shannon plays a mean hand of poker.
Obviously, you had more of an affinity for it than your typical beginner. Did you quickly feel like you could be great at it when you started playing?
No, I was horrible in the beginning! [laughs]. The first time I played, that time on TV, I didn’t know what I was doing. It was once I started to understand the psychological aspects of it, that there was more to it than just the cards…that’s when I really began enjoying poker. When I first played, I never understand what was so much fun about a game where you just get two cards and you just play it out. How is that competitive? But there’s so much reading of what’s going on at the table…reading other people, through their actions, and their betting patterns. You’re always gathering information. That’s kind of what the game is all about.
Had you expected you could do as well as you did in the Heads-Up Tournament?
I went in there thinking I’d be out in the first round!
Did the other players take you seriously at the beginning at all?
Not until I made it past the third round. But maybe not until the end, I don’t know [laughs]. But when I beat a third round player, that meant something.
You surely faced typecasting after American Pie and reinventing a public image is hard. It seems like you’re finally doing that with the combination of “Dancing,” poker, and the new projects.
I’ve definitely always avoided taking on the same roles I had already done in American Pie, or anything else. Sometimes films get turned into something they weren’t meant to be in the beginning, and you can’t avoid it. But, for the most part, I’ve tried to pick different types of things. Although I don’t think I’ve ever really played myself, ever. So I sort of feel that nobody knows who I am, or what I’m like, because I’m always playing these made-up, glamorous characters, or the villain, or whatever it is. So, that’s the great thing about “Dancing” for me….you get to see a different part of me. You see that I’m a tomboy and I’m athletic…and that I’m willing to work really hard.
“Dancing with the Stars” airs Mondays at 8 on ABC, with the Results Show on at 9 on Tuesdays.
Deal will be released on April 25th via MGM.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
CHARGING HARD: Our Interview with Koby Abberton of BRA BOYS
“I walked in on my mom shooting up heroin and then my mom’s boyfriend jumped up and hit me with a baseball bat and told me to get out of the house…and I went flying down the beach and found [my brother] Sunny. And Sunny just gave me a big hug and said, ‘Look, we’ve got our own family of friends.’ From that forward, I think that made me realize that the family life at home can finish at any time, but the boys will never die and will always be there for you.”
That’s surf star Koby Abberton talking about one of the most pivotal days of his youth growing up in Maroubra Beach, a low-income suburb of Sydney, Australia and home of numerous government housing projects. Abberton is at the center of the documentary Bra Boys, directed by his brother Sunny, and the film also features the stories of his other brothers Jai and Dakota, all of whom are surfers. The Bra Boys are a closely-knit group from Maroubra, joined by the communal ties of the beach, surfing, and similar family backgrounds, and refer to their group as a brotherhood, whereas some of the police in Sydney consider them a gang. What Koby Abberton undoubtedly considers them is a major factor in saving him from a life of ruin. Tattooed across his chest is “My Brother’s Keeper” and a big focus of the film is how the family, and surrogate family, provided by the group was all the Abbertons needed to catapult themselves into a better life, with Koby becoming one of the world’s premiere surfers and a spokesman for Oakley eyewear.
But the ties that bind can also drag one down, and the Abberton family faces its biggest challenge when Jai is accused of the murder of a notorious local character named Anthony Hines, while Koby is shortly thereafter charged as an accessory. Both Abberton brothers eventually beat the charges, although the stress of the trials is considerable. Simultaneously, though, it made the Abbertons and the Bra Boys more famous than ever at home, and Bra Boys has gone on to be the highest-grossing documentary in the history of Australia. None other than Russell Crowe provides the narration for the film, and Crowe is now reportedly attempting to adapt the Bra Boys story into a narrative feature with which he will make his directorial debut.
Bra Boys opens a window into a fascinating subculture built around the beaches of Australia. Whether you want to call the Bra Boys a gang or not, the film contains a lot of the same elements that make such stories so engaging: struggles of brotherhood and family, violence, drugs, etc. But Bra Boys takes place in a setting within which we’ve never seen such a story depicted. Gorgeous beaches, good-looking surfers, charming Australian accents...and guns. If you were to take the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello surf movies and cross-breed them with City of God and Quadrophenia, Bra Boys might be the end result. The film also contains can’t-look-away footage of huge brawls from the neighborhood, as well as equally astonishing clips from Maroubra celebrations, such as one in which a man actually lights himself on fire and jumps off a cliff into the ocean as his friends cheer. My quibble with the film is that it could use a few counterpoint voices to the Bra Boys story, as they unquestionably have numerous detractors. You can’t call the film impartial, but at the same time, that’s not where its appeal comes from anyway. The Robert Evans doc The Kid Stays in the Picture wasn’t exactly unbiased either, but, like the Evans film, Bra Boys introduces us to fascinating characters unlike any we’ve known before, telling their story as they see it, which is enough for one film.
As to the name “Bra Boys,” it has to be pointed out that we here in the States might initially laugh at the name of any group which includes the shorthand for a female undergarment, although likely not to the face of any of these guys. I neglected to get a confirmation from Koby on this, but Wikipedia says that the term comes from the “bra” in “Maroubra,” which makes sense until I hear otherwise.
The Hollywood Interview had the chance to speak with Koby Abberton a few days before the April 11th opening of Bra Boys in the United States.
Was the idea for doing the documentary something your brother Sunny brought to the rest of you?
Koby Abberton: Actually, Sunny was doing a documentary on a different family [from Maroubra] at first. It was on a family of boxers, professional boxers and no-rules fighting, where the dad had been in jail. And then, a lot of the things started to happen where our own family really started getting into the spotlight. Sunny said, “It’ll look like we’re trying to hide something if we do this other family as the documentary.”
How much did Sunny show you of the film as he was shooting and editing it?
He’d just show us like 10 minutes now and then. Every couple of months. He’d show it to us, and our friends, and everyone would have a little bit of an opinion. When he showed us footage, he’d say to us, “Don’t lie to me.” And then he’d promise to change something [if we didn’t like it], but he never would [laughs].
We’re a pretty close family, but we wanted to tell the story the way it really happened. Not any other way. That was our main concern. As long as Sunny was making it, we knew that’s how it would be. We didn’t make the movie for people to like us or not like us. Actually, one of the main reasons we made the film was to help out kids who might be growing up in a similar situation, and who could relate to our story and take something from it.
What message would you want those types of kids to take away from the film?
I want the message to be that you don’t need parents to make something of yourself. It’s your friends you have around you that can be your family. Whatever circumstances a kid is in, I’ve likely been in it already and survived. If you’ve got a dream, you can reach it if you keep trying.
How similar is Maroubra Beach today to the neighborhood you grew up in?
It’s similar. But, right now, there’s a lot more presence of police. Partially because of the movie. They want to make it look worse than it is. They’ve always been picking on us. But now they’ve got police on horses walking the beaches. Walking with dogs. They say that you can’t hang out with each other, because they say it’s a gang if you do.
What type of outreach have you done in conjunction with the film to kids from troubled backgrounds?
We’ve done screenings in schools in Sydney for local kids who couldn’t afford to go to the movie in theaters. And I’ve done lots of talks too. Hopefully, we’ll do a screening here in L.A., and in New York. Maybe the Bronx, and a high school on Long Island.
How did Russell Crowe become involved in the film?
Russell is owner of a big football team in Sydney, “the Red and Green,” [the rugby team South Sydney] and the whole area where I’m from are fans. Some Bra Boys play for his team. And Russell heard that we were doing a film on the Bra Boys. Russell is very involved with his team. He gives speeches and takes them out to dinner. John Sutton is one of his players and he gave Russell my number. Russell called me and I told him to go away. I thought it was one of my friends playing a game [laughs]. Then John Sutton told me that Russell Crowe was trying to call me [laughs]. My friends are always playing stupid games so I didn’t know who it was at first.
And now there’s talk about Russell directing a narrative film based on the Bra Boys story?
Yeah, although I’m not sure how that all works [laughs]. I’ve met with [producer] Brian Grazer and Russell about it. Again, the main thing is that we want it to be truthful about our lives and keep it real.
The Bra Boys official website also contains a short preview of the film.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Please Kill Mr. Kinski
In 1985, Director David Schmoeller found himself in the unenviable position of directing the crazed actor Klaus Kinski in the horror film Crawlspace.
A short and humorous look at one (of many) director's travails of working with the difficult actor. Interested viewers might also want to check out Werner Herzog's legendary documentary on his relationship with Kinski, My Best Fiend," available on DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment. Also, if you want to read the most scatalogical, disturbing film-related autobiography ever written, check out Kinski's book Kinski Uncut. It'll stay with you like a traumatic childhood beating...
Enjoy, and if you happen to be a director who is currently frustrated beyond all measure by the actors you're stuck with, watch on gentle viewer, and count your blessings!
Damian Chapa's POLANSKI: UNAUTHORIZED
BY TERRY KEEFE
The Holocaust. Rosemary's Baby. Chinatown. Charles Manson. The Murder of Sharon Tate. A criminal charge for rape of a minor. Exile. An Academy Award for directing The Pianist three decades later.
And those are just the major chapters. There's enough for a 10-part miniseries.
As subjects for a film biopic go, the life of Roman Polanski has long been one of the great untapped source materials. The horrific Manson murders have of course been covered in documentaries and re-creations, and Polanski has sometimes appeared as a supporting character in those productions. The story of Polanski is one that you could easily see being made at the studio level with the biggest stars and $100 million budget. But no one has ever taken up the task, except for a low-budget filmmaker and actor named Damian Chapa, who directs, co-wrote, and stars as Polanski himself in soon-to-be-completed biopic Polanski: Unauthorized.
Chapa typically works guerrilla-style on relatively small budgets on his own productions (although Polanski: Unauthorized is likely his biggest budget to date). As an actor, he’s best known for his starring roles in Taylor Hackford’s Blood In, Blood Out; Street Fighter; and his work playing Lyle Menendez in the TV film "Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills". During the past few years, he’s carved out a niche directing, producing, and sometimes starring in independent features. Some of Chapa’s recent productions include Fuego, where he played a secret agent opposite David Carradine, and El Padrino, where he directed and starred with Jennifer Tilly, Faye Dunaway, Brad Dourif, Rachel Hunter, and Gary Busey.
Chapa in El Padrino.It seems inevitable that viewers will be as divided over Chapa's take on Polanski as much as society itself still is over the man. The film has a built-in audience of Polanski fans, and being one, of his work at least, I can say that I'm extremely conflicted over my own feelings for the guy. Although my own research into the real details of Polanski's life is pretty much limited to the reading of his autobiography "Roman by Polanski", I can say that Chapa attempts for an even portrayal here. Polanski's own autobiography is actually sometimes more merciless on its subject. For every scene in the film where Polanski is shown to be consumed by debauchery, there is another one where he's portrayed in a more sympathetic light. Both tones will probably invoke anger from some quarters. The man's life is so complicated and controversial that this is perhaps the reason only a low-budget filmmaker has been willing to take it on as a biopic.
When did you decide you wanted to make a film about the life of Roman Polanski?
Damian Chapa: Well, I was actually doing a horror film – not horror really, more of a psychological thriller, and a lot of people kept telling me, "You have to watch some Roman Polanski!" I honestly had never really watched that many of his films. I think I saw a few bits and pieces during my life, and what I saw I didn't really get excited by. I just hadn't seen that much of his work. And then I saw Rosemary's Baby again, and I remember seeing it as a kid, and thinking it was kinda strange and scary. But then when you watch it in your forties….it just doesn't really scare me anymore. Certain films don't stand the test of time, for me, anyway. But I watched it anyway with some friends, because I wanted to get some kind of feeling for this other film I was doing. We all watched it, and then everybody went to this coffee joint afterwards, and everyone is starting to talk. One guy said, "Oh, I like the film! I thought it was brilliant! It's a masterpiece!" And another guy goes, "Oh, it's a boring piece of crap! I can't even – I'm falling asleep!" And another girl says, "Well, I think Roman Polanski is evil – he raped a thirteen-year-old girl." They heard the word, "Polanski," and they started…all these different opinions started to come out. I'm sitting there listening to all these people going back and forth – I mean, it was from one gamut to the other on the topic of Polanski, and I noticed that it caused all this friction. And then this little old lady walked in, she had this big cross around her neck, she was one of the Bible-thumping type of ladies….she got a little hot chocolate, and I noticed she was listening to this conversation amongst the young people I was with. "Polanski's the Devil." "Polanski's the best." "Polanski's an Academy Award winner." "Oh, he's the worst filmmaker." "Oh, he's the greatest filmmaker." "He should be raped like she was." I mean, you name it, it causes – when you say that word "Polanski," it just causes controversy immediately. So this little old lady gets up and walks over to us, and here's all these people screaming and yelling, blah-blah-blah, and she says, "You oughta just forgive that man – that's what he needs, and you should pray for him." And I barely know who this guy is. But I'm sitting there thinking, "Man, this is a movie: Roman Polanski. Why don't I do a movie about him?" And I went right home…I rushed home actually, and pulled up the IMDB, and discovered that there has never been a movie focusing on Polanski. I couldn't believe it. And then I started doing research on his life…because when I was brought up, I had always heard of this director in Hollywood who raped a sixteen-year-old. But then, when I started doing my research, I found out that she was thirteen. So when I heard it was thirteen, I said, "Wow, this is crazy. Here's a guy that rapes a thirteen-year-old girl and he gets kicked out of the country – well, actually, he left the country, but he was a fugitive, and he eventually gets an Academy Award." And I kept thinking, "How does this happen? It's such a dichotomy!" So I research, research, research and then I realized….in the beginning, I wanted to do this because it was different and controversial and because I thought it was interesting. Then you start having to make decisions about how you are going to express this story and what type of attitude you'll take. In the beginning, it was all about justice, as in "I'm gonna show the world blah-blah-blah the dichotomy and the evils of Hollywood, how horrible it is that they can do this" – and then once I started to really capture the guy's youth, and I started…I didn't really start understanding his actions, but I started understanding why he was like he was. And then I started making parallels with my life and all the mistakes I've made, and I started feeling guilty for my own judgments, and then I started embracing the hardships that he went through, and started to feel the pain, actually. And then this one thing came up with the gassing death of his mother. When I did that gassing scene, it was a very emotional time for me, personally, because what happened is that I started saying to myself that some of the initial views that I had on him, were maybe…I realized that this is really a sad story. And the movie started to turn into more of an empathetic journey about what this guy had to go through. It turned into something I never expected it would be. A story about a guy who made a lot of mistakes, but also had a really horrible childhood. That doesn't give him excuse, at all, but hey, you kind of feel for him. And maybe, a lot of people aren't going to like me because of that. Like I said earlier, there is always this thing with Polanski where people either love this guy or hate him, and I understand that, because the same thing happens to me sometimes. There are a lot of people that write a lot of things about me that aren't true. I get a lot of press that is just not true. And I read something that he wrote one time, and this is a paraphrase, he said, "Most of the people in the world believe that I'm a perverted dwarf; however, the people close to me know my heart." And when I read that, it brought tears to my eyes, because you know what? People say stuff about me all the time, and I think, "That's not me, man!" And here, I know Roman Polanski made some horrible mistakes, but I definitely drew a parallel with my own life. That's why I'm probably the only one that thought of doing this and then could follow through with it. Because I know what it's like to be judged every day, tortured with it, and never forgiven. I started working my own kind of faith into the making of this film also. This whole movie is more than just a movie for me, it's kind of a spiritual battle. In your own life, you keep pointing the finger at this person, or that person, and keep showing judgment, and then eventually, you've got three fingers pointing back at yourself, and you start realizing, maybe not in public, but when you're alone, you start realizing, "You know what? Who am I? Am I better than him? Am I? Really?" And I think that's what everybody has to do when they see this film, when they look at the life of Polanski. I tried to give him every benefit of the doubt and the best perspective I could. What I like about my film is that I think it's fair and even-handed.
I know you're about to do distribution screenings so I'm not gonna ask you what the budget is -
You can ask me. It's under two million.
A small budget for the production value. You're doing a period piece here. Actually, it's quite a few periods. You've got the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s in here. World War II scenes actually. How did you pull this off?
You know, like I do everything, man….guerrilla. I'm a guerrilla filmmaker. We had a great director of photography in Pierre Chemaly. And Christian Serritiello, he's one of the actors in the film…the guy not only gave a great performance, but he and I sort of stuck together for the second phase of production. He became not only a producer, but a First A.D. We took on all these jobs of the production together. and we woke up every morning, and we got out there on our guerrilla film shoot. I mean, we woke up one day, and I said, "I need some horses, man. Where are we gonna get some horses?" And we also needed guys who could ride the horses. This is in Belgium. There's no infrastructure for the movie business there. You really have to go out of your way to find stuff.
It's not like L.A. where you can just call the movie horse wrangler.
Right, and then we had the war scenes. Nazis and the Russians. And there's just not really a lot of those costumes in Belgium. We found this group that has war games to do those scenes.
A lot of detail went into recreating the 60s scenes, particularly the Rosemary's Baby set.
But we were blessed, though – we had a set designer, Madla Hruza, who does big movies, and she came and did me a favor. It was really great. And a lot of hard workers, people just really cared. Sylvia Suvadova (who plays Polanski's mother), she was there producing and starring. And she's also over there giving people hot chocolate. She just really gave her soul to this movie.
How many days of shooting?
Around thirty – which is the most I've ever done. I've never had that many days of shooting on my films. Usually I have like three weeks and then I've gotta quit. This one was something around thirty – I put all my own money into it.
What are you doing next?
A film called Mexican Gangster. After that, I'm doing to do two biopic films. I love doing biopics. I'm going to be doing Brando. And then a film on Fellini. I love Fellini.
You're going to have to put on some weight to play Fellini!
No, because I'll be playing Mastroianni .
Polanski: Unauthorized will have its premiere screening on April 23 at Westwood's Majestic Theatre. We've been informed that there are still seats available for the general public. Email polanskimovie@yahoo.com to RSVP. Read more!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
DANIEL WATERS : The Hollywood Interview
The Heathers screenwriter is back in prime form with his hilarious, poignant, and philosophically challenging second directorial feature, Sex and Death 101.
To truly understand the impact of Heathers on the teen/high school genre of feature films, it certainly helps to have lived through the 80s. But when it arrived in theaters in 1989, Heathers was like the first blasts of punk demolishing the stale and bloated dinosaurs of 70s rock. It was a black comedy about murder and suicide in a genre where the endings generally featured the nerdy lead winning over their true love at the prom or its equivalent. Heathers, on the other hand, concluded with Winona Ryder trying to stop her romantic interest Christian Slater from blowing up the entire high school. And he actually ends up combusting himself. The dialogue was laced with comedic arsenic, and quickly became oft-quoted. Its influences can be traced directly to hits of today like Juno and Mean Girls, along with blatant rip-offs like 1999’s Jawbreaker. Think the Plastics of Mean Girls were totally original? How very.
Heathers was written by South Bend, Indiana native Daniel Waters, who quickly became one of the hottest scribes in Hollywood, piling up writing credits on studio productions like The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Hudson Hawk, Demolition Man, and Batman Returns. The latter of that group of films is the only one which really felt like it came from Waters’ distinctive voice and there are many who consider it the best of the Batman series. With most of his other credits, the freshness of Waters’ writing seemed to disappear into what his own bio describes as “a failing-upwards montage of big-budget studio pictures.”
That montage has come to a close with this month’s arrival of Sex and Death 101, which Waters wrote and directed. It’s not just a return to form for Waters, but also a significant evolution. He successfully blends more traditional strains of romantic comedy with other plot points which are as black as anything in Heathers. It’s a difficult trick to pull off, particularly as the film also has a lot of heart, and a number of larger, more existential issues on its mind. The plot centers on Roderick Blank (played by Simon Baker), a successful businessman who is on his way to being married when he receives a mysterious list of every person he has had sex with to date, as well as every person he will ever have sex with in his entire life. It’s effectively a print-out of every future sure thing, which sounds great at first, until he realizes that the last name on the list belongs to a black widow by the name of Death Nell, played by Winona Ryder, who has been leaving a trail of lascivious men either dead or comatose. The list of conquests was mistakenly, or perhaps not so mistakenly, let loose by a group of employees of a fate-like entity called the Machine, and the film raises some rather troubling questions about the nature of destiny and whether one can do anything to change it.
In the press notes, it said that you had been writing Sex and Death 101 on and off for some 15 years?
Daniel Waters: Well, the one question I can never answer properly is “How long did it take you to write it?” Because it implies that I sit down and say [faux bombastic], “This is the next script I am going to write. And this will be the first day I write and I will write three pages every day until I am done.” And nothing ever works out like that. A lot of the movies I write, I had the idea for them a long time ago. But I’ll basically put off the actual writing of something for as long as I can. I’m like one of those mothers screaming for the baby not to come out [laughs], and finally, it eventually pushes out whether I like it or not. With an idea like this one, this premise, it’s intentionally a bit episodic. So you have a very simple premise and the more you think about it, you go, “Oh, what if this happened and what if this happened…” It’s the kind of movie that you do kind of nurse for a long time in its creation, and you don’t just sit down and write it all at once. What I like about this premise, in general - about a man who gets a list of not only everyone he has had sex with, but also everyone he ever will have sex with – if you think about that premise for five minutes, it sounds like the greatest thing in the world to happen to a guy. But if you think about it for ten minutes, it sounds like a curse and a disaster. Even when I told my Red State family members about it, at first they were like, “Oh, that’s crude and that’s sick and that’s disgusting.” But then, even they get kind of drawn into the idea and say, “Well, what if you fell in love with somebody who wasn’t on the list?” and “What if there was a dude on the list?” [laughs] I can just see them lying awake sweating at night and going “No!!!” [laughs]
Simon Baker gets put through the wringer.
The labors of love are definitely the slow cookers. The orchids that stay in the greenhouse for years and years. I would say that the next three “spec” ideas that I have, are ideas that I came up with during the 80s and which I’ve been nursing, and sniffing, and growing, but which I’m not quite ready to write yet. You know, the whole screenwriter subculture teaches you to have these very simple, beginning, middle, and end structures. “They” say that structure is the most important thing, but to me, a screenwriting book that says “Structure is the most important thing” is kind of like a book about horseback riding that says “Having a horse is the most important thing.” Well…yeah, thank you [laughs], but in actual writing, you’ve got to go a little bit beyond that. Yeah, the beginning, middle, and end…that comes to me pretty quickly, but now [laughs], I’m going to start writing and mess up that beginning, middle, and end. Make it more complicated, go down some cul-de-sacs. I like messiness, you know?
Was the germ of the idea for the film the list he receives of all his past and future sex partners?
In terms of the germ...you know, I see every movie that comes out. Last year, I set my record: 311 first-run, in a theater movies that I saw. I’m very much a viewer of movies. I’ve always said that I wanted to be the male Pauline Kael when I was growing up, but the movies weren’t good enough [laughs]. So I was kind of forced into writing, and so, I come at it as filmgoer. Especially with Heathers….I was seeing a lot of high school movies, but I wasn’t seeing that indefinable high school movie that I wanted to see. So I ended up writing the movie that I wanted to see. Sex and Death kind of came from the same process. You see a million movies about violence. There are more movies about serial killers than there are actual serial killers. But movies about sex…they were kind of in three categories. First, you’ve got the kind of goofy, raunchy, immature, ejaculation movies, where you think sex is something like a beer bong: something wacky and fun. Secondly, you’ve got the commercial romantic comedies where, usually the two characters are sniping the entire movie, then they run after a cab, and they have sex during the closing credits. So there actually isn’t any sex. Or if there is, it’s in what I call the Definitely Maybe Actually love movies. Where sex is kind of like this cute thing, where, first, their feet are touching under the table…. [laughs]. And then last, thirdly, there are the art films where sex is just this agonizing experience [laughs]. Where it’s the worst thing in the world. Usually, it’s two family members with each other, or something equally awful. So, somehow there wasn’t the right sex movie for me. Because I wanted a movie that took sex seriously. That it is a dangerous thing, but it also can be fun. If memory serves [laughs]. Those thoughts inspired me and got me to thinking about making a movie that was like a big circus tent, where I could get everything about sexuality I wanted into. So, from there, the premise started to develop. In real life, you’re on a date with somebody, maybe your third date with somebody, and things are going well. But there’s this weird thing where it’s “Are we just having a great time as friends, or is there something sexual? And wouldn’t it be great if I could just look at a print-out? [laughs] It would save me a lot of emotional distress and some money, perhaps.” And so the story kind of developed from there. And the list could be bliss, or doom. Maybe you got your list and it had three names on it [laughs]. So, first came my need for this movie. Then the idle thought came that I could kind of touch on every possible sexual thing. I stayed away from incest though, you know, and tried to keep cows of it [laughs]. The Elliot Spitzer/N.Y. Governor thing happened last week, and the response from the public was such shock. In this movie, I start Simon Baker off like Elliot Spitzer…he has everything and has a great life. But I’m saying in the film, with a man, deep down there’s always that thing, if you scratch the surface…morality doesn’t come easily. The way they treated Elliot Spitzer was like “Morality and faithfulness should be expected of every man.” Well, no, it’s a heroic thing and you have to really fight for it. It’s funny, because I was just talking to someone who was comparing Judd Apatow’s movies to my movie. And I love Judd Apatow’s movies, but they have a kind of comforting philosophy, in that they start out with these raunchy guys, but deep down they’re sweethearts who are going to be wonderful to their women and learn about love. But to me…I know a lot of guys, and unfortunately sometimes I’m one of them, where we remember Valentine’s Day; we know how to treat a woman; if she’s asking about a haircut, we know to say that we like the haircut. We do everything right, but deep-down, we can be monsters. It’s a less comforting thing [laughs], so I don’t know if it will have the same overall appeal as Mr. Apatow’s movies.
The List of Doom.
Well, thank you. In the 70s, there were definitely these kinds of movies that were much darker….people are certainly still having sex today, but movies in the 70s actually seemed to know what sex was. They seemed to be made by people who actually had sex [laughs]. Today, it seems like the movies are made by these people who think, “Oh, wouldn’t it be funny if this movie had that sex thing we all heard about?” It wasn’t just Shampoo, but Carnal Knowledge, and Paul Mazursky’s movies too. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Blume in Love. These are movies that they don’t seem to make anymore which kind of deal with sexuality head-on. Movies now are kind of built around sex, but not actual sex.
Ben Stiller loved the script and he was thinking of doing it for awhile. I’ve always said that if Ben Stiller had done the film, it would have been the Richard Benjamin movie, and with Simon, it ended up kind of being the Warren Beatty movie [laughs]. Even though every document that describes the film seems to refer to Simon’s character as a ladies man, I don’t think that, initially, he is a ladies man. I didn’t want to fall into one of two traps: I didn’t want him to be the crazy, nerdy guy who gets the magic lamp and goes, “Whoo-hoo, look at this! Boobies for me every night!” [laughs] That movie I didn’t want to see. But nor did I want to see the kind of Jude Law-Alfie movie where he goes, [mock British accent] “I can’t help it. All these women have sex with me.” Where it’s something a guy can’t really relate to. He starts off with a list of 29 names that he's already been with, which, for some of us, is not a bad roster [laughs]. I didn’t want it to be 80 names and I didn’t want it to be 3 names. I wanted it to be a guy who had a healthy sex life. Who wasn’t wanting of a sex life. But I wanted to keep it all somewhere in the middle. Now, Simon is erring a little bit on the side of good-looking, but I realized that was invaluable. I think [having Simon as the lead] makes people more comfortable watching the movie, because it doesn’t feel as exploitative, because the audience is like, “At least the woman is getting something out of this [laughs].” If it were a more relatable-looking guy in the lead, with his shirt off, it would have become too much of a male fantasy, when I wanted it to be a movie that both sexes could enjoy. Also, along those lines….I didn’t want it to be just his story. I didn’t want this crazy, tightly-cut montage of him just having sex with different women. With some exceptions, each woman in the story…we stop and get to know them a bit. And Simon is equally a part of their own journey, as they are a part of his journey. He’s not getting off easy in his journey, with a Bimbo of the Week. It helped us during the shooting the movie also, because when each of these actresses showed up on the set, she’s not a supporting character. She may be a supporting character in the grand scheme of the story, but that day she’s the star of the movie. She’s the female lead of the movie. So you end up getting better work from her, and when it’s all put together on screen, it’s a little bit like a Fellini movie, like 8 ½ or La Dolce vita…they each have a lot of different women, but when each of them is on screen, they make a real impression.
I love that Simon Baker had to get the “Friend Speech.”
[laughs] One of the first questions to him at the Austin Film Festival was “Really? You in the Friend Zone?” It’s funny because I had to do a lot of explaining to Simon what the Friend Zone was [laughs]. He was like, “What do you mean you’re attracted to a woman and she won’t have sex with you? What is this phenomenon you speak of?” I always say that it’s good that the director had a lot of experience with this [laughs] to help explain it to Simon.
It’s a great moment in the Friend Zone for Simon when Leslie Bibb points out some idiot that she casually slept with recently and he’s stunned. “That guy?!”
I’m glad you brought that up, because there are a lot of movies about unrequited love and, to me, the difference between movies about unrequited love and the actual reality of unrequited love, is usually the woman you have the unrequited love relationship with…it doesn’t mean that she’s not having sex with other people [laughs]. People she would actually admit are inferior to you. This is a phenomenon that never gets explored in movies, because you don’t like to have your lead actress be a sexual being. Either she’s having sex with nobody, or she’s going to wait until the end, when she catches up to the cab [laughs]. That’s the creepiness of the real world. These women today – they keep having sex! It’s ridiculous. [laughs]
Leslie Bibb’s speech, when she sort of explains that being “just a friend” to Simon, is far more valuable in her eyes than sleeping with him, is quite sweet and moving. And I’ve never seen the topic examined from that angle in a film. The guy who gets the friend speech is usually depicted as very much on the losing end of the deal.
There were two speeches in the movie that my female friends say should be on laminated cards. The first one is the speech that Julie Bowen gives to Simon where she basically says, “You’re a nice guy, but put up or shut up. Are you going to be the person that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with or not?” Then the other [is the Leslie Bibb speech]. Because it’s true that a lot of women have sexual relationships, but a friendship is a much more valuable and important thing to them.
Winona Ryder as Death Nell.
Had you kept up with Winona over the years since Heathers?
Yeah, her mad desire for a Heathers sequel kept us in touch. We’ve had a bit of a “Hello, Newman!” relationship [laughs], where she’ll see me somewhere and cross her arms and give me a pouty smile, because I haven’t written Heathers II yet.
She’d actually want to do a Heathers II?
She’s desperate to do a Heathers II. To me, we’re even way past Two Jakes land now though [laughs] ! I don’t understand why anybody would care about a Heathers sequel. But I definitely kept that carrot in front of the rabbit when I asked her to do this.
Have you come up with any ideas for a Heathers sequel though?
I do give it some thought sometimes because I have this great actress after me to do it. Maybe a couple of years after Heathers came out, I was drunk at a party and threw out this idea that Winona would be working in a senator’s office, for a senator named Heather [laughs]. The senator would be a Hillary Clinton type…I think this was even before Hillary Clinton came to prominence, and she'd played by Meryl Streep. And Winona’s character, her implication to the previous high school murders would be found out. So the government would use her to investigate Senator Heather and all this stuff would happen, and she’d end up assassinating the President. This whole wild flight of fancy. And, maybe like two years later, Winona comes up to me and says, “I’ve talked to Meryl. She’s in!” I’m like, “What? Are you kidding me?” But recently, I’ve been kind of having the idea of doing a parody of those Dangerous Minds-types of films, where the teacher comes in and tries to save the high school. So maybe Winona is a teacher who sees the same dynamics that were in place when she was in high school, and she tries to cure everything. But it becomes this big school massacre. For laughs.
Was it difficult to get her on board for Sex and Death?
God love her, but everything with Winona is a little difficult [laughs]. Especially like getting her on the phone. I think of her as kind of a dark fairy, and in fairy terms, Tinkerbell doesn’t have a cell phone. You’ve just got to let the gods sort of blow her in your way. My producers weren’t as crazy as I was about casting her in the movie, so I had to wear them down a bit. But everybody couldn’t be happier about the final performance.
They didn’t see the built-in marketing hook of your reunion with her?
I think their first concern was about actually filming. Because Winona is a true eccentric. In a good way. I think it definitely helps with this role, because she’s a lovable psychotic. She’s got this raw and wonderful humanity. I didn’t want the crazy, dark femme fatale character. I wanted somebody who was kind of playing at being the dark femme fatale.
She’s able to turn on the sweetness and that definitely works well for the role.
Yeah, there was a lot of stuff that she brought to the role. There’s a great moment in the movie that was totally her, where Simon’s line is “Did he hit you?” [in reference to Winona’s ex] and she goes, “Awww!” Like it’s so sweet that he would ask that.
You’ve got a lot of tones to balance in this and it works –
[Speaks into my tape recorder] Do you hear that, everybody? He says, “It works!” [laughs]
It does. Extremely well actually. What type of preparations did you take to make things blend the way they did?
I’m all about a mixture of tones. For me, you wake up in the morning and you are going to experience comedy, drama, horror [laughs], and that’s every day. To me, doing a movie which is just a drama, or just a comedy, isn’t very interesting, and it doesn’t seem truthful. Especially on this topic of sexuality…sexuality is not something which has just one tone. Everything I do has too many tones. My Batman movie has too many tones. I’m a tonally challenged person. It’s my nature. To me, I can only think of what’s working for me. And to me, the alchemy’s working. It’s kind of like…I do these music compilations every year of my favorite songs of the year and give them to my friends on 2 or 3 CD’s. And it always comes back to me, like, “I love track 8 and 11. But, God, why did you put track 10 on there? It’s just noise!” And other people will say, “I loved track 10, but why did you put those first tracks on there?” So, it’s just my nature. I always say I’m half Luis Bunuel, and half Caddyshack [laughs]. You know? And somebody’s going to be pissed-off at some point. And I just hope that by the end of the movie, there has been more pleasure than shockwaves for them. But I’m not going to run away from that. It’s amazing to me, especially in the world of independent film, that they’ll forgive a sexist film if it’s honest; they’ll forgive a racist movie if it’s honest; but if a movie has more than one tone, they think you’ve done something wrong. Critics and distributors like original filmmaking, but only if it’s original in a way that they’re comfortable with and they already know [laughs] ….which goes against the entire concept of originality. So when you do a movie that has multiple tones, they might go, “Oh, he was trying to do a romantic comedy and failed.” When that isn’t what I was trying to do. My egotistical thing that I always say is… if somebody complains, “He didn’t decide whether it was a comedy or a drama,” then I say, “Well, neither did God.” [laughs]
When you’re writing black comedy, is there a line you know you can’t cross with each specific story? This one has a near-necrophilia moment in it.
I do have to rely on other people for that sometimes. I can tell you that with this particular film…in the original ending, Winona’s character talks about her life and this abusive husband that she had. And there’s this scene where her abusive husband is screaming at her, and he looks out the window and a plane’s coming, and it turns out that her husband was in one of the Towers on September 11th. And September 11th ended up being this great, liberating experience for her, which kind of also messes up her psyche and turns her into kind of a serial killer. Which I thought was really amusing. But my producers were like, “Okay. Comedy and September 11th. No.”
That might be where the line is.
And I fought for it, but I eventually gave in. But now my advice for young writers is, “Always put a September 11th scene in. Because they’re going to want you to cut it, but then you cut that and you get to keep that quasi-necrophilia scene [laughs]."
Patton Oswalt is hilarious in this as one of the custodians of the Machine. When you have someone with his improv abilities, are you tempted to just let him go and see what he comes up with, or did you stick with the script?
The thing is, I think people like Patton are appreciative when there is a script. I’d say that with lots of Patton’s acting roles, it’s like, “Let’s get that crazy Patton Oswalt and he’ll make this great! We won’t even have to write anything!” So, I think that the more that it’s on the page, the more he can go to another level. But obviously, he also did some great improvising. It does get embarrassing for a writer-director, because you’ve written a comic script, but you’re coming on take three, take four, and you’re like, “Okay, Patton, make it funnier.” That’s like your direction to him. It’s embarrassing because you’re all “I don’t need Patton Oswalt’s improv…damn it, I do!” [laughs] He’s there. Why not?
Well, unfortunately for New Line, Happy Campers was kind of my 12 million dollar film school. I hadn’t directed anything before. I hadn’t even held the camera at a wedding. I think it was way too ambitious of a script for me. It was way too many characters. I call it “Jean Renoir meets Meatballs,” but I didn’t get Renoir or Meatballs [laughs]. That was a movie where I think the tonal changes actually did get away from me. Because it was such a big production. I’m certainly not unproud of the movie. I like a lot of it. It’s one of Justin Long’s first major roles. It’s also one of Jaime King’s first roles, and she’s never given a better performance than in this. I learned a lot. It’s funny because all of we screenwriters learn all these tricks to cut down on pages, and to make a really complicated scene seem less complicated. Joel Silver has a line about that – “The Indians take the fort.” [laughs] Okay, it’s one line in the script, but it’s maybe 90 actual scenes in production. Every screenwriter is guilty of “The Indians take the fort” trick. But then, I’m the director now and I get on the set with that and go, “Oh my god, I’ve totally screwed myself.” [laughs] So, Sex and Death was written with much more wisdom in regards to making sure I could get what I had written on film. It was a much lower budget and a much tighter schedule than Happy Campers, but that kept me on my toes completely. I knew exactly what I wanted and how to get it. Which are things I didn’t know on my first film.
You grew up in South Bend, Indiana. What was in the water there that so many good filmmakers came out of South Bend during the same period? You, Larry Karaszewski, your brother Mark Waters -
I think we all had an advantage that there was a TV show in South Bend that we all worked on. It was kind of a baby “Saturday Night Live,” written and directed by high school teenagers, called “Beyond Our Control.” And sometimes, all you need is to know that you can do it. I remember Spike Lee talking about how the most influential filmmaker for him was Jim Jarmusch, not because of his films but because he used to rent equipment to Spike at NYU, and Spike was like, “Wait a minute, if he can get a movie together, then so can I.” One of our guys [David Simkins] wrote a film called Adventures in Babysitting that got sold, and we were like, “Oh, we can all do it!” Sometimes you just need that. There’s a lot of us out here that grew up in the Midwest, and I’ve talked to a lot of them, and it’s funny…. we all sort of have the same story: in June of 1975, we all saw Jaws. And even if our filmmaking paths have not gone the Spielberg route, there was something about that movie that was such a mixture….talk about a mixture of genres! It was funny and scary, and I knew that I wanted to have something to do with the experience I just had. I remember that moment distinctly. That was just a great cinematic experience for everybody of that age. It was just phenomenal.
The story of you writing Heathers while working in a video store is all true?
Yeah, and I was doing it before I knew it was a cliché [laughs]. It was in Silver Lake and everyone thinks it was one of the cool video stores in Silver Lake. I was in the least cool video store [laughs]. There’s a Jon Voight movie called Conrack where he goes to the South and teaches kids. That’s like the video store I was at. Teaching poor children not to rent Zone Troopers just because it’s a new release, and to rent Alien instead. It’s funny, you know, I’ve been talking a lot recently about the importance of naivete. When I came out here, I didn’t read Variety. I didn’t know what scripts were hot and what scripts weren’t hot. I just wrote Heathers because I wanted to see Heathers. And it certainly wasn’t a movie that anyone thought would get made, even though it did get me a lot of attention. Everyone was always like, “Oh, well, what a great writing sample.” But I think the naivete of just writing in the first place was very important. I think a lot of upcoming writers today are just way too savvy in certain ways. They try to think in a manner like, “I hear horror films aren’t hot right now.” Well, my rule is if Variety says something isn’t hot, that’s when you should start writing it. If Variety says something’s hot, then it’s already dead. And Sex and Death was coming after a period when I had done all these big rewrites. I had always said I wanted to write original material, but then I didn’t get around to writing a lot of my original material. So I started coming at it from the view of not even worrying about what’s hot and what’s going to get made. But instead of “Geez, if I want to be this Van Gogh guy and commit suicide, I don’t even have anything in my drawer.” [laughs] So I’d better at least start to write movies I want to see, even if they don’t get made. Kind of go back to that nice, warm naïve place, and that’s where Sex and Death was written from.
Once Heathers broke, you went quickly into those studio assignments and rewrites.
Well, I had the illusion that all writers have. It’s the Burt Reynolds line, “I’m going to do one for them. And one for me.” And then you realize that it’s all for them [laughs]. If you want to do one for yourself, you’ve got to start saying no. The problem is…the kinds of movies I was doing rewrites on, I worried, “Oh no, I’ve got Andrew Dice Clay in this movie. I’d better do this Bruce Willis movie to save my career. Oh shit, this Bruce Willis movie, they only like it in Europe! A Batman movie? Absolutely, I’ll do that!” Finally, you’ve got to choose to get off the merry-go-round.
Your Batman Returns script is well-regarded though. I assume it was a completely different draft from the version by Sam Hamm, who also did a draft?
Yeah, nothing was used from the Sam Hamm script. I love the Catwoman stuff in the film and I feel very attached to that. The movie as a whole…I always say that I’d rather have Tim Burton direct my script unfaithfully than have another filmmaker direct it completely faithfully, because he brings so much to it. But the experience of actually writing it, that’s like having sex while wearing fifty condoms. There are so many buffers, that it’s definitely not you alone in the room with a muse. You have a lot of interference.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Waters' Batman Returns.
It’s funny when you leave the studio system for awhile. I’m not getting that Spider-Man 8 offer [laughs]. But I’d love to be able to do my own work. We’ll see what happens here. You know the way other filmmakers like David Lynch get off the hook because people go, “Oh, he’s got a lot of tones. But that’s David Lynch! He’s just crazy.”? [laughs] When I first moved out here, people would read my script and go, “Well, maybe if you were David Lynch...” I would love for them to be saying, “Well, maybe if you were Dan Waters, you could get away with this stuff.” [laughs] But I haven’t gotten there yet.
SEX AND DEATH 101 Review! Plus Controversial Daniel Waters Home Video!
And below is a video shot inside writer-director Daniel Waters' house, the same place where Orson Welles died. Give Waters his own show. Read more!
DVD Playhouse--April 2008
DVD PLAYHOUSE – APRIL 2008
By
Allen Gardner
BONNIE & CLYDE (Warner Bros.) For its 40th anniversary (actually its 41st), the legendary 1967 tale of Depression-era bank robbers Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty, who also produced), arguably the most-important film of “new Hollywood,” arrives in a beautifully remastered, 2 disc edition. Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Michael J. Pollard and Gene Wilder (film debut) all offer fine support in Arthur Penn’s masterpiece, that’s as powerful today as it was in ’67. A must-have, and must-see! Bonuses: Trailers; Documentaries on the film’s production, and the real Bonnie & Clyde; Warren Beatty wardrobe tests; Additional scenes; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Miramax/Paramount) The Coen brothers’ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s existential novel about stolen drug money, changing moral landscapes and the ennui of “just livin’” in west Texas circa 1980 deservedly won the Oscar for 2007’s Best Picture. Josh Brolin (criminally overlooked by the Academy) plays a hapless cowpoke who sets off a chain of deadly events, Javier Bardem his seemingly inhuman pursuer, and Tommy Lee Jones the aging Texas cop who’s seen far too much and understood far too little over the course of his lifetime. Simply brilliant. Bonuses: Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Paramount) Epic story of oil barons at the turn of the century follows one man (Daniel Day Lewis, brilliant)’s quest for riches and the personal toll it takes on his life. At its best, Paul Thomas Anderson’s work rivals that of David Lean and George Stevens. At its worst, it’s over-the-top and indulgent and rivals the work of…Paul Thomas Anderson at his most over-the-top and indulgent. That said, it’s 2/3 of a great movie, maybe even a masterpiece of sorts, albeit a flawed one. Bonuses: Production documentary; Trailers; Deleted/expanded sequences; 1923 silent film about the oil business. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
SWEENY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (Paramount) Director Tim Burton’s masterful realization of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway smash about a vengeful, psychotic barber (Johnny Depp, brilliant as ever) in Victorian London who wields a deadly razor in his sartorial chair against those who have done him wrong, with his downstairs neighbor (Helena Bonham Carter) cooking the nearly-departed into the best-selling meat pies in the city. Nearly Pythonesque in its over-the-top bloodletting, with scene stealing support from Sacha Baron Cohen and Alan Rickman. 2 disc set. Bonuses: Documentary; Seven featurettes; Interviews with Burton and Depp. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR (Universal) Tom Hanks stars as a seemingly ineffectual Texas congressman who, in the course of enjoying the high life on Capitol Hill, develops a conscience when he learns of the Russian’s and their invasion of Afghanistan in the early ‘80s. Fine satire penned by Aaron Sorkin, helmed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Julia Roberts and Oscar-nominee Philip Seymour Hoffman, who steals the show as a cynical CIA operative. Bonuses: Two featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
BLAST OF SILENCE (Criterion) Nifty little film noir shot on a micro-budget in 1961, about a hitman (played by director Allen Baron) who undergoes a crisis of conscience while on a job in New York. Unsettling film gets under your skin from the start, and really stays with you. Location filming helps a great deal, as does the very unglamorous cast, giving the film an almost-documentary feel at times. A real curiosity, rescued from obscurity by Criterion, and beautifully restored. Bonuses: Documentary; On-set Polaroids; Photo gallery. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
A PASSAGE TO INDIA (Sony) David Lean’s last film is a meticulous adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel of culture clash in colonial India. Judy Davis heads a knock-out cast that includes Alec Guinness, Peggy Ashcroft (Best Supporting Actress, 1984), James Fox, and Victor Banerjee. Breathtaking, epic filmmaking at its finest. 2 disc set. Bonuses: Commentary by producer Richard Goodwin; Seven featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
100 YEARS OF BETTE DAVIS 2008 marks the centennial of Bette Davis, one of Hollywood’s most venerable performers. Two boxed sets hit shelves this month, containing some of Miss Davis’ best work. 20th Century Fox’s THE BETTE DAVID COLLECTION features Bette’s greatest performance as the nastiest of divas, Margo Channing, in ALL ABOUT EVE; PHONE CALL FROM A STRANGER is a thriller starring Bette and (then-husband) Gary Merrill, about four strangers who endure a catastrophic plane crash; THE VIRGIN QUEEN features Davis’ acclaimed performance as Queen Elizabeth I, while HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, features Bette in Robert Aldrich’s grand guignol horror classic about family skeletons in the deep south. Finally, THE NANNY features Davis as a would-be psychotic nanny whose charges suspect her of evil-doings! All feature audio commentaries by film scholars; Featurettes; Isolated film score tracks; Restoration comparisons; Fox Movietone News; TV spots and trailers; Photo and poster galleries. Full and widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo and mono. Warner Bros. releases THE BETTE DAVIS COLLECTION, VOL. 3, featuring some of Bette’s earliest works, including THE OLD MAID, featuring Bette as a mother who wants the child she bore out of wedlock back! ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO, stars Davis as a seductive governess who convinces nobleman Charles Boyer to do away with his wife; THE GREAT LIE stars Bette and Mary Astor as seemingly best friends who end up becoming bitter enemies; IN THIS OUR LIFE has Davis playing a homewrecker who steals sister Olivia de Havilland’s husband—for starters! WATCH ON THE RHINE, an adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s play by her lover, Dashiell Hammett, tells the exciting story of Nazi agents in Washington D.C. Finally, DECEPTION features Davis, Claude Rains and Paul Henried in a tale of musicians, indiscretion and murder! All feature commentary by film scholars; Warner Night at the Movies extras: shorts, cartoons, newsreels, and trailers. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
THE KITE RUNNER (Paramount) Two young Afghan boys experience a childhood trauma that tears them apart, then must embark on a quest years later to right the wrong that was committed. Director Marc Forster does a mostly-successful job of adapting Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel (which many thought was unfilmable), with the timely and timeless elements that gave the story its power intact. Dazzling visuals help, as well. Bonuses: Commentary by Forster, Housseini, and screenwriter David Benioff; Featurettes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
PLAY BALL! Three of cinema’s best about America’s favorite pastime arrive on DVD: EIGHT MEN OUT: 20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION is writer/director John Sayles’ take on the infamous 1919 “Black Sox” scandal, in which the World Series was fixed by mobsters and gamblers. Fine ensemble cast, vivid period details. Bonuses: Commentary by Sayles; Documentary; 3 featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES features Gary Cooper as the New York Yankees’ legendary Lou Gehrig, who was cut down in his prime by a degenerative neuromuscular disease. Babe Ruth is a hoot playing himself! Bonuses: Six featurettes. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. BULL DURHAM is writer/director Ron Shelton’s home run satire about life in minor league baseball, with Kevin Costner as the sage catcher who tries to teach rookie Tim Robbins a thing or two about baseball and life, and Susan Sarandon (in one of cinema’s sexiest turns) as the worldly women who schools them both. Bonuses: Commentary by Sheldon, Costner and Robbins; Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE ICE STORM (Criterion) Ang Lee’s fine ensemble drama set in tony New Canaan, CT. circa 1973, revolves around the lives of its wealthy, disenfranchised denizens who seek solace in booze, casual sex and serious drugs. Terrific cast of vets (Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen) and young stars (Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci) make up one of the finest films of the 1990s. 2 disc set. Bonuses: Commentary by Lee, screenwriter/producer James Schamus; Trailer; Documentary; Interviews with cast and crew; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 surround.
ANTONIO GAUDI (Criterion) Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara’s unique documentary on architect Antonio Gaudi, who designed some of the world’s most amazing buildings, parks, and interiors. Less a conventional documentary, and more of a visual tone poem, Teshigahara’s camera takes the viewer of an eye-popping tour of Gaudi’s greatest creations, including the legendary, unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona. 2 disc set. Bonuses: Interviews with noted architects; Footage from Teshigahara’s 1959 trip to Spain; BBC documentary on Gaudi; Profile on Gaudi by director Ken Russell; Short film by Teshigahara on his architect father. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
WALK HARD (Sony) Very funny satire of the latest spate of films about famous musicians (Ray, Walk the Line) stars John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox, a Johnny Cash-type country singer whose journey from honky-tonk ‘50s guitar picker to ‘70s and ‘80s burn-out very cleverly sends up every cliché known to the genre. The sequence set in the ’60s when Dewey spends time with the Beatles is a real hoot! Bonuses: Deleted and extended scenes; 8 full songs; Four featurettes; Commentary by director Jake Kasdan, Reilly and producer Lew Morton. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS (New Line) Engaging fantasy set in a parallel universe where witches fly through the air and sage ice bears rule the frozen north. When a little girl (Dakota Blue Richards) finds herself the keeper of the mythical Golden Compass, she holds the fate of the universe in her hands, and the power to keep it from slipping into eternal darkness. Fine support from adult heavyweights like Daniel Craig, Ian McKellen, Kathy Bates, Nicole Kidman and Sam Elliott make this a delight for young and old alike. Two disc set. Bonuses: Commentary by writer/director Chris Weitz; 11 featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 and DTS 6.1 surround.
FOX FILM NOIR CLASSICS 20th Century Fox releases more noir crime classics from its vaults. BLACK WIDOW follows the murder investigation of an ambitious, aspiring writer (Peggy Ann Garner) whose apparent suicide doesn’t sit well with tough NY cop George Raft. DAISY KENYON stars Joan Crawford as who can’t decide between married attorney Dana Andrews and returning army sergeant Henry Fonda. Will her passions get the better of her? Finally, Jeannie Crane and Michael Rennie star in DANGEROUS CROSSING, with Crane as a honeymooning wife on a cruise ship whose husband mysteriously vanishes—with no one on the ship having any record he ever existed! Rennie plays the ship’s physician who must help solve the mystery. Bonuses on all: Commentary by film scholars; Featurettes; Pressbook and photo galleries; Trailers. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
WALK THE LINE—EXTENDED CUT (20th Century Fox) Fine biopic about the life and times of Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and his romance with June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) is fleshed out with about 20 minutes of extra footage, including extended musical sequences, both of which give more depth to an already-solid piece of work. 2 disc set bonuses include: Commentary by co-writer/director James Mangold; Extended musical sequences; Deleted scenes; 7 featurettes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
DAN IN REAL LIFE (Touchstone/Focus Features) Amiable comedy starring Steve Carell as an advice columnist who can’t seem to get his own life as a single dad to three precocious daughters in order. Things get more complicated when Dan falls for his brother’s gorgeous new girlfriend (Juliette Binoche, and who can blame him?). Great supporting cast includes John Mahoney, Dane Cook, and Dianne Weist. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Outtakes; Two featurettes; Commentary by writer/director Peter Hedges. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
LOST HIGHWAY(Universal) Another exercise in existential film noir from writer/director David Lynch. Long on style ( nearly 2 ½ hours worth, some of it quite brilliant), but short on plot and story, which this viewer found nearly incomprehensible from the get-go. That said, it’s a must for Lynch purists. Others viewers, proceed at your own risk! Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty, and Robert Blake (!) head a fine, if somewhat odd, cast. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
OUTLAW (Magnet/Magnolia) Tough, mean British crime drama stars Sean Bean as an Iraq war veteran who returns home to England, only to find the crime in his homeland even more intolerable than the insurgents in the Middle East. A sort of Cockney take on Death Wish, but one that works quite well, thanks to a lack of glamour on the part of filmmaker Nick Love, and a fine cast that also includes the great Bob Hoskins. Bonuses: Commentary with Love and co-star Danny Dyer; Four featurettes; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE GOOD NIGHT (Sony) A man (Martin Freeman) going through a midlife crisis suddenly finds redemption in the girl of his dreams (Penelope Cruz). The catch is, the “dream girl” is literal: he is only able to see her when he is asleep! Danny DeVito co-stars as the dream therapy expert who tries to walk Freedman through the delicate line of dreams and reality. Gwyneth Paltrow is fine as Freeman’s suffering wife. Bonuses: Commentary by writer/director Jake Paltrow. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
ENCHANTED (Disney) Charming modern-day fairly tale about an animated princess (Amy Adams) who is banished from her magical kingdom and forced into the live-action world of modern-day Manhattan. James Marsden plays the attorney who comes to her aid, and her heart, and Susan Sarandon nearly steals the show as the evil villainess! Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Two featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
DOCUMENTARY DAYS Four new terrific “docos” (as the Aussies would say) hit disc this month. Dokument Films releases the compelling JAMES ELLROY’S FEAST OF DEATH, originally produced for television in the UK, which follows the acclaimed mystery writer as he investigates the notorious, unsolved Black Dahlia murder and addresses the unsolved, 1958 murder of his mother, as well. Fascinating, but very dark, with some crime scene photos that are not for the squeamish. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. TILT: THE BATTLE TO SAVE PINBALL, is a fun look at the attempt of resuscitating the game of pinball after video games all but killed the game and the industry in its tracks. Bonuses: 3 hours of extra interviews; Featurettes; Filmmaker commentary. Full screen. Dolby 5.0 surround. City Lights releases MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET), a shattering examination of the political and social climate of Brazil, and how through a domino-like series of events, the country has been nearly torn apart by corruption and poverty. Bonuses: Filmmaker commentary; Additional scenes; Seven featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. A GENERATION APART explores the lives of those who survived Hitler’s Holocaust of WW II, and how the families of those survivors did, or did not, manage to stick together. Harrowing, and still topical. Bonuses: Commentary by director Jack Fisher and his father, a survivor; Featurette; Bonus interview. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
ANIMATION CONFLAGRATION A host of terrific animated features hit disc this month, staring with Disney’s release of the 101 DALMATIONS: PLATINUM EDITION, a 2 disc set of the newly-restored 1961 classic about a villainous woman in London who attempts to kidnap all the city’s Dalmatian puppies. Bonuses include: Music video; Games and activities; Three featurettes; Deleted songs. Full screen. Dolby 5.1 surround. DreamWorks brings us BEE MOVIE, featuring the voice of Jerry Seinfeld as a college-educated bee who, when he finds how humans have taken advantage of his species, decides to sue us! Very funny, very clever. Bonuses: Commentary by Seinfeld and filmmakers; Alternate endings and deleted scenes; Trailers; Four featurettes; Video game. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Sony releases STORMHAWKS: HEROES OF THE SKY, a two disc collection of the series’ first ten episodes, following a group of heroic teens who battle the evil forces of Cyclonia to protect the citizens of Atmos. Bonuses: three bonus episodes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Paramount releases LIL’ BUSH: RESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SEASON ONE in a hilarious, uncensored take of the hit satire from Comedy Central that pokes brilliant fun at our current Resident (I mean, President…). Bonuses: Commentary by Jerry Springer, Ralph Nader and Tucker Carlson; Bonus episode; Interviews with cast and crew. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. SOUTH PARK IMAGINATIONLAND is a new, uncensored feature film that has the boys from South Park being whisked into a magical realm after terrorist launch an attack that unleashes the most evil characters imaginable. Great, politically incorrect fun! Bonuses: Commentary by Trey Parker and Matt Stone; Bonus episodes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. MGM/UA/Fox releases THE PINK PANTHER AND FRIENDS CLASSIC CARTOON COLLECTION VOL. 6, featuring 17 cartoons with our favorite pink feline foiling the inept Inspector Clouseau. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. Genius Products releases 3 PIGS AND A BABY, a clever, animated twist on the classic Three Men and a Baby, in which a trio of bachelor pigs stumble upon an orphaned wolf cub. Fun for the whole family. Bonuses: Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Shout Factory releases the popular Japanese titles NINJAS LOVE NOODLES and KUNG-FU KISSES, featuring the character of young Pucca who lives with her uncles, chefs at the Go-Rong Restaurant. Fun and off-beat. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Finally, SAM & MAX: FREELANCE POLICE THE COMPLETE ANIMATED SERIES features the irreverent adventures of canine cop Sam and quasi-rabbit Max as they solve the weirdest criminal cases around. Bonuses: Interview with creator Steve Purcell; 3 shorts; Featurette; Series bible; Video game demo. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP (Sony) A mostly-successful fantasy about a young Scottish boy who discovers a huge egg on the shores of Loch Ness, and takes care of the hatchling inside, which grows into…a “water horse,” or the Loch Ness Monster, depending on your POV. Clever and heartwarming most of the time, cloying once or twice, but that can be overlooked! Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Six featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
AWAKE (Genius Products) Creepy thriller about patients who are in surgery, under anesthesia and completely paralyzed, who are conscious of everything they are experiencing, including the pain! When a wealthy young tycoon (Hayden Christensen) is immobilized by this after heart surgery, he overhears a plot to have him killed. Solid work all the way around, includes fine support from Terrence Howard and Jessica Alba. Bonuses: Commentary by writer/director Joby Harold; Deleted scenes; Featurette; Storyboards; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE HORROR, THE HORROR…Some creepy, scary titles that hit disc this month: Genius Products releases Frank Darabont’s adaptation of STEPHEN KING’S THE MIST, a terrific, uncompromising horror flick that also boasts some provocative social commentary. Fine cast includes Thomas Jane, Laurie Holden, Marcia Gay Harden, and Toby Jones, as denizens of a small New England town holed up in a local supermarket after a strange, thick mist covers their town. Hang on! Bonuses: Commentary by Darabont; Deleted scenes; Two featurettes; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby5.1 surround. AUTOMATON TRANSFUSION is a worthy addition to the zombie genre, about a group of teens who fight off an army experiment gone horribly wrong. Truly terrifying, and very, very gory! Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Short film; Music videos; Featurette; Commentary by the filmmakers. Widescreen. Dobly 5.1 surround. INSIDE: UNRATED is the horrific tale of a pregnant widow who is visited by a psychotic woman who terrorizes her, and her unborn child, on Christmas Eve. French production is not for the squeamish! Bonuses: Featurette; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Summit Entertainment releases P2, a crackling little gem of a thriller starring Rachel Nichols as an ambitious yuppie who finds herself in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a psycho security guard (Wes Bentley). Great, claustrophobic fun. Bonuses: Filmmaker commentary; Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Dark Sky Films releases THE DEL TENNEY COLLECTION, three low budget, campy horror flicks from the ‘60s: The Curse of the Living Corpse (film debut of the late Roy Scheider), The Horror of Party Beach, and Violent Midnight, featuring an early turn by James Farentino. Full and widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Severin Films releases the Italian giallo THE SISTER OF URSULA, a delightfully sleazy and depraved thriller about two beautiful sisters: one virginal, and one promiscuous, who find their seaside vacation turned into a nightmare by the most depraved bunch of denizens this side of a Fellini nightmare! Not for the faint-of-heart…Bonuses: Interview with director Enzo Milioni; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Finally, Dark Sky Films releases THEM, a French thriller shot and set in Romania, about a young couple terrorized by shadowy figures outside their rural home. Manages to build up terrific suspense to an absolutely absurd conclusion, made even worse by the “based on a true story” caveat it tries to redeem itself with. Talented filmmakers, weak script! Bonuses: Three featurettes; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL! More of televisions greatest hits arrive on DVD this month. A few that we like include Paramount’s releases of the sketch comedy show THE HUMAN GIANT: SEASON ONE, featuring bonuses of additional sketches, deleted scenes and improvs; Early live footage; Commentary by cast and crew. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. BECKER: THE FIRST SEASON features Ted Danson as a caustic Bronx doctor who never lets his grumpiness get in the way of taking care of a patient or two. Full screen. Dobly 2.0 stereo. WINGS: THE SIXTH SEASON features more comical adventures of the employees of Tom Nevers Field. 26 episodes on four discs. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. PERRY MASON: 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION is a four disc “best of” collection of the legendary legal drama’s best episodes. Bonuses include: Vintage screen tests; Interviews with cast and crew; Featurettes; Photo gallery. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. MATLOCK: THE FIRST SEASON stars the venerable Andy Griffith as a folksy Atlanta defense attorney whose easy charm masks a cunning intellect in th courtroom. 7 disc set features 24 episodes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 surround. THE LOVE BOAT SEASON ONE features the first 12 episodes of the Aaron Spelling classic about romance on the high seas aboard a luxury liner. Bonuses: Episodic promos. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. THE FUGITIVE: SEASON ONE, VOL. 2 features the further adventures of David Janssen’s wrongly-accused Dr. Richard Kimble, on the run from the intrepid Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse). 15 episodes in all. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. THE WILD, WILD WEST: SEASON FOUR features more adventures of Jim West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), 19th century Secret Service agents who battle villains by day, and romance lovely ladies by night! 24 episodes in a 3 disc set. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. THE UNTOUCHABLES: SEASON 2, VOL. 1 stars Robert Stack as G-man Eliot Ness, who fights bootleggers and gangsters during the height of the Depression. 16 episodes. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. THE MOD SQUAD: SEASON ONE, VOL. 2 features more groovy daring-do from three late ‘60s hippies recruited by the LAPD to take on counter-culture crime. 13 epidsodes. Bonuses: Featurette. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. LOVE AMERICAN STYLE: SEASON ONE, VOL. 2 features the remainder of the 1969-70 season, with hilarious episodic stories about that thing called love. Three disc set. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Kultur/S.R.O. releases MIKE DOUGLAS: MOMENTS AND MEMORIES, featuring legendary guests on the ‘60s and ‘70s talk show, including Martin Luther King, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Paul Newman, and young comics like Steve Martin, David Letterman and Billy Crystal. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Shout Factory releases FATHER KNOWS BEST: SEASON ONE, starring Robert Young as the head of a typical 1950s American household. 4 disc set features 26 episodes. Bonuses: New cast interviews; Robert Young’s home movies; Behind-the-scenes color footage; Bonus episodes. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. Acorn Media releases some fine titles from across the pond, including: CLIVE CUSSLER’S THE SEA HUNTERS: SET 2 which follows some deep sea archaeologists on their treasure-finding adventures. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. INTELLIGENCE, SEASON ONE, follows an elite squad of Canadian cops who tackle organized crime in Vancouver. 14 episodes on 4 discs. Bonuses: Behind-the-scenes clips; Chris Haddock bio; Filmographies. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. D.N.A: THE COMPLETE SERIES stars Tom Conti as renowned, but troubled criminologist who returns to work after a nervous breakdown. Great procedural, with some quirky twists. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. THE ADAMS CHRONICLES is the award-winning miniseries from 1976 that covers the legendary Adams family, and 150 years of American history. 4 disc set. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.THE BRITISH EMPIRE: IN COLOR features startling color footage from the 1930s-1950s that documents the changing face of Britain. Narrated by Art Malik. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. I REMEMBER NELSON is a classic Masterpiece Theater production from 1981 about legendary Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, whose scandalous private life nearly eclipsed his heroic public exploits. Bonuses: Photo gallery; Cast filmographies. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
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