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(09/18/03 4:00am)
I'm not a metalhead, and as I pushed my way through the bearded and pierced attendees of last Thursday's Andrew W.K. concert, I wondered how long I'd last before getting my ass kicked. But as opening acts High on Fire and Vaux trudged through their sets, the crowd appeared quite peaceful.
(09/11/03 4:00am)
Attention, indie head-bobbers! Dressy Bessy's self-titled album, their third release, is one of the catchiest albums of the year. On paper, Tammy Ealom (vocals/guitar), John Hill (guitar), Darren Albert (drums) and Rob Greene (bass) have the pop song down to a precise formula. The hooks are strong throughout the album, and for the most part, each song is coated with a general sense of happiness and fun.
(07/31/03 4:00am)
Every advertisement was billing it as the Dismemberment Plan's last show ever but when lead singer Travis Morrison walked on stage after Engine Down's serviceable opening set, he set the record straight on the "big fat lie." Turns out that the Plan had one more show, in their hometown of Washington, D.C. on July 28th, plus two weeks in Japan. Saturday night's show at the Theatre of the Living Arts, however, did mark the end of the band's American touring life, and to Morrison, that was a big deal.
(07/17/03 4:00am)
Sure, they lay their dark vocals over sugary pop music, but Guster's true appeal lies in their percussionist, Brian "Thundergod" Rosenworcel. His "thunderkit" (a bongo set) is the highlight of any Guster show or album, so I began to worry when Guster's fourth album, Keep It Together, kicks off with Rosenworcel playing a traditional drumkit.
(07/10/03 4:00am)
In 1988, a band called Avant Garde was trying to make waves in the metal scene, lead by singer Kevin Ridel and guitarist Rivers Cuomo. Fifteen years later, Cuomo's band Weezer has sold millions of records, while Ridel finally hits reaches the masses with AM Radio's debut album, Radioactive.
(06/05/03 4:00am)
In elementary school, I never understood Canada. After all, it certainly wasn't America, so I wondered what exactly they did up there. The only time I saw a real Canadian was when I watched The Mountie taser his opponents in the WWF. Now, however, I have a better idea of what Canadians can do: make great pop music.
(05/29/03 4:00am)
With his dramatic career floundering at the box office, Jim Carrey needed the spotlight back. Carrey tries to revisit his Ace Ventura roots by contorting his body and coining new catchphrases in his new comedy, Bruce Almighty, but none of them hit the mark.
(04/24/03 4:00am)
Aside from disappointed critics across the nation, Angelina Jolie was a hit with audiences when she brought Lara Croft, the pixelated video game star, to life on the silver screen. With the sequel due to debut this summer, Jolie talked about the movie, her tattoos and life as an Oscar winner.
Will critics like the sequel?
I have my own feelings about the film, and I don't tend to care about the critics. But I personally wanted it to be different and better. I'll be happier with the second one. I'm just glad [Tomb Raider] did well, I wasn't really concerned about the critics.
What separates Tomb Raider from the other summer blockbusters?
From what I understand, this is the only adventure film... The script was less fantasy this time. He took the stronger story that was more based in reality... which will make it more interesting to watch.
Do you think the Tomb Raider movies have the staying power of the Indiana Jones films?
I would never want to be so confident with it because I loved the Indiana Jones films growing up. I'm not the person to ask probably, I'm not sure. I think we'll know, maybe, after this one comes out.
Have you ever played the video game?
I played the game very briefly. I just made her die all the time because I thought she sounded funny. I have no patience for the game, so I tend to do other things. I'm terrible.
What was the most memorable location from filming the sequel?
Hong Kong is a really cool place. I had never been there, and it's like New York City, but it's on the water. And there's actually a building with a hole in it, it's called the Dragon Path so dragons can go through it, which is amazing.
Is revisiting a character stifling to your creativity?
It was good to do... There was a lot more to play with this time. I felt freer than in the first one, and I think I needed to do a second one.
(04/10/03 4:00am)
At the opening night of the Philadelphia Film Festival, James Foley, director of the headliner Confidence, talked to the audience for a few minutes. Amidst the chewing of his gum, Foley was very confident and suave in discussing his attachment to Philadelphia, foreshadowing what was to come on film. His speech, like his film, was nothing extraordinary -- but it was certainly entertaining.
(04/10/03 4:00am)
While in Los Angeles, Norman Korpi, the first openly gay cast member of The Real World, and writer/director/star of The Wedding Video, found time to talk to Street about his feature debut.
When did you get the idea to make this movie?
I've always wanted to make a movie, and I had a couple of screenplays before this dealing with some of my experience on cable access, but when we got down to looking at money and budget, and people going, "What have you done before?" They're not going to give you a million bucks. I kept looking at what was my strongest asset, and I think for any good filmmaker, that's what they should do.
What do you have that's going to get you noticed if this is your first project?
Since The Real World kept getting stronger and stronger, and this was in 1995, that I started putting this together and writing screenplays, but it wasn't until '99 that we started to shoot. It took four years to build relationships with a lot of different Real World people. The show just kept running and running, and all these people kept getting more famous and more infamous and became celebrities themselves. They look like they were going to be the strongest component to get my work done and be this artist. When it came down to the idea, it was a budget thing, when I looked at what I had to shoot with -- which wasn't a lot of money -- I had to create an idea that could accommodate the money. At first we were going to do this horror film, a snuff film, and Puck was going to star in it, but it was too expensive, even being low budget. It wasn't until I was shooting Rachel and Sean's wedding that... it all just went haywire. I was like, "Wow, this would be a great way to capture all of this and make this movie happen."
Was anything scripted at all?
There was a basic storyline, which was reality, perception. The basic storyline was that Norm was never going to see any of this footage. And everyone has a duality in their character that they would act out. I scripted the whole story of how things would go. I wanted certain characters to react against other characters to produce tension.
How did you choose cast members for the film?
Originally, I was going to model it around a straight wedding. And there was another cast member from the Los Angeles cast who I can't stand -- she's horrible. I met her on the challenge the other year, we were just fighting. It was going to be like her wedding: big, crazy, blonde, over-the-top wedding that's fake and artificial. She backstabbed us and went off to sell a screenplay herself... we sent out wedding invitations to raise money for the film. We found that Heather was in New York, Rachel was in Wisconsin... We thought we'd travel there and get them on tape, then we found out that we had enough money to bring them in a few weeks later. The script would accommodate the change as things were moving along.
Do you look at The Real World as a great experience, or do you not wish to have it attached to you?
Unfortunately, I don't have the option of wishing, I need to deal with what I have on my plate. And I feel in order for me to take a step forward, I need to acknowledge where I came from. So for me to do this movie as the first movie of my career, it puts it out there and puts it behind me... At first I felt so overwhelmed and intimidated by the entire experience because it was so much larger than myself, and here you're really famous, but no one knows if you have any talent. I really felt like I needed to put myself out there and be critiqued.
What's it like working the festival circuit?
It's extremely difficult to get noticed, especially when your film is digital... If you can get in there and you're a digital film, you feel pretty fortunate. We didn't get into the Sundance festival... They came back and said there were eight thousand films submitted. And they're only selecting a hundred, and in our category they were only selecting twelve. I was like, "Holy cow, there are like eight thousand films, where do they go if they don't get into these film festivals?"
Do you plan to do any more films?
Heather was such a huge success story in our film. When we showed it in L.A., William Morris came over to see Heather... She's the breakout star in our film. If anyone in our film is going to go far as a performer, I think it's going to be Heather. Last summer, I was working on a screenplay with Heather. We're trying to get some visibility of this project and put together this rapper movie that I have written for Heather.
The Wedding Video is playing at International House on Thursday, April 10 at 9:30, and debuts on video and DVD on May 27. There will be a post-screening party at Bump (13th and Locust Streets) after the film.
(03/27/03 5:00am)
David Gordon Green chose to follow up his critically-lauded George Washington with a simple, romantic film, All the Real Girls. He showed the film to Penn students at The Bridge on March 19, but made some time to talk to Street beforehand with co-writer and star Paul Schneider.
PS: Do you want a lager this early in the day?
No thanks. So was it nerve wracking coming up with your next film after George Washington?
DGG: This was written first. Expectations, no.
PS: But what expectation is there? Those are conceits that don't really affect you when you're actually making the film.
DGG: This is a movie we're making for an emotional investment. You don't make this movie because it's going to beat Daredevil at the box office. You make this movie because you have to make this movie at this point in our lives regardless of the circumstances and obstacles that we will face in the world.
Any studio offers?
DGG: I'm doing a little indie movie now and a studio movie next, which is of a greater profile than anything I've done before, but not Michael Bay exactly. It's something that I've wanted to make since I was fifteen. It's based on this book, Confederacy of Dunces, a novel I'm obsessed with... It'll cost a few bucks.
Any acting offers for you, Paul?
DGG: Paul's headed to Hollywood next week.
PS: I actually passed on something for television that I thought was silly. I'm going to LA in April to be in a film...It's a process of searching through the fucking bullshit that you get, and ideally you find something that you respond to, in a way that's not desperate... I don't have to be on Saved by the Bell. I get to be young.
DGG: Like Screech.
PS: If you make these decisions solely on finance, then what happens when you go backstage at your favorite band's show and the drummer is like, "Oh, you're the guy from that stupid, stupid show." You're fucked. And you're off the creative radar altogether. The idea is not to make decisions based on money, because what do we need, a fancier cell phone? New jeans?
DGG: These socks cost a dollar for three pairs.
PS: These jeans I burned on a radiator and got fixed for twelve dollars. I don't need anything fancy..
Where'd the story come from?
DGG: The point was to make a movie in the age where the characters are. Most people make movies about young love... typically they're a fifty-year-old looking back on the times, and thinking about what it was like. That's one approach. It brings a level of sentiment and nostalgia to it that I wasn't particularly interested in. How many times can you see the good looking guy and girl? I mean, of course they would wanna hook up, they're both hot. And they both always say the cool thing. They're perfect for each other, from the get-go... There's a handful of movies, like there's moments in Say Anything that mean the world to me because Cameron Crowe and John Cusack capture that value of awkwardness and sincerity, and the speechless moments where you don't know what to say and how you feel. So we were under the clock to get it out before I could grow a full beard.
PS: It was important to ventilate this feeling and get it out. The same way you write a song, maybe nobody sees it, but you feel better about it after it's done. Or you do whatever you do. You get ripped and try to cover up your life with more sex that doesn't mean anything. Our movie tried to do that, but you know, it just didn't work out.
(03/27/03 5:00am)
After watching David Gordon Green's second feature film, All the Real Girls, I was bewildered. I wondered why such an awkward movie would get made, and I was disappointed with the hyped director's effort.
Days later, I realized what a fool I was. Green's film (following up the critically-praised George Washington) is an intimate look at a real relationship, one willing to show us silence, awkwardness and pain, unlike the colorful and happy-go-lucky rom-coms that raid moviegoers' wallets each week. My initial discomfort wasn't from poor filmmaking, but rather, from the uneasiness of watching a film that is dead-on in its portrayal of a relationship.
Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschanel star as Paul and Noel, a couple whose relationship grows and falters right before our eyes. The supporting cast is weak, but unimportant compared to Paul and Noel, the showcase of Green's film. Although different in execution, the film reminds me of Paul Thomas Anderson's masterful Punch Drunk Love. Anderson and Green have more in common than just three-word names, they also successfully capture the rawness and unpredictability of love.
The girl doesn't always say the right thing. The guy doesn't always make the gutsy move to kiss a girl. And relationships don't always end in happiness. We may want a happy ending, but Green and Schneider, who co-wrote the film based on their own past relationships, are here to tell us that's not the case. The ending may not be "happy," but the film's honesty is much more enjoyable and mature than your weekly trip to Chick Flick Pick of the Week.
(03/20/03 5:00am)
Steve Martin hosts the 75th Academy Awards ceremony on March 23rd at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood (8:30 p.m., ABC). Street offers predictions on the winners, and hopes that Martin will, uh, bring down the house.
Best Picture
Chicago
Gangs of New York
The Hours
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist
Marty will win in another category, The Hours isn't popular enough, The Lord of the Rings will win next year, and The Pianist is the annual "World War II film that won't win" nomination. Expect Chicago to win, the first deserved Best Picture winner in quite some time.
Best Actor
Adrien Brody (The Pianist)
Nicolas Cage (Adaptation)
Michael Caine (The Quiet American)
Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York)
Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt)
Many people want to know why Daniel Day-Lewis isn't in the supporting category, but that doesn't matter: Nicholson ditched his normal shtick to bring us a heartbreaking and Oscar-worthy performance.
Best Actress
Salma Hayek (Frida)
Nicole Kidman (The Hours)
Diane Lane (Unfaithful)
Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven)
Renee Zellweger (Chicago)
When films are represented twice in one category, they usually cancel each other out. In this case, however, Kidman's prosthetic nose and Hayek's unibrow should eliminate each other, clearing the way for Zellweger's walk to the podium.
Best Director
Pedro Almodovar (Talk to Her)
Stephen Daldry (The Hours)
Rob Marshall (Chicago)
Roman Polanski (The Pianist)
Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York)
"And the winner for Best Director... Martin Scorsese for Taxi Driver! Er, Raging Bull! Um, Goodfellas?" Let's just say that Peter O'Toole won't be the only one winning a Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
Best Makeup
Frida
The Time Machine
Okay, okay, this isn't a major category, but it is a travesty nonetheless. Why only two nominees? Because the Academy decided that these two films were the only ones eligible to be nominated. That's right, the only decent makeup work in 2002 involved time travel and a unibrow. While many films got the shaft, the worst omissions: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (the first film won, so no need for this one to win, despite new characters with new makeup), as well as Gangs of New York and Chicago (they weren't realistic enough for the Academy... even though Moulin Rouge was nominated last year). So who's gonna win? Frida... because they made a hot chick look, um, not hot.
(03/20/03 5:00am)
If you think two Matrix films in the span of six months is enough to sate your sci-fi appetite, think again. Joel Silver and Warner Bros. have produced nine animated shorts that provide back story for the trilogy of films. Four of the nine will be debuted on the web, while "Final Flight of the Osiris" is playing in theatres before Dreamcatcher, starting this Friday. All nine shorts will be available for purchase on DVD on June 3rd.
The first two short films are now available in Quicktime format. "Program," the most recent release, is an impressive animated battle inside a training program. While this material was covered in the first film, the animation alone is worth your attention.
Much more praise, however, should be paid to the first released short, "The Second Renaissance Part 1." This feature details the war between humans and machines, a cool albeit eerie story as the world enters its own war. While the short films are an attempt to cash-in on a popular brand name in film, the detail of the first two animated shorts suggest that the Wachowskis have more in mind than selling more merchandise.
While the eminent sci-fi franchise, Star Wars, falters amongst fans due to its "make it up as we go along" storyline, the Wachowski Brothers seem to have a definite plan and story arc. These animated shorts are impressive, but they merely hint at what is to come this summer and fall.
(02/28/03 5:00am)
Could you each talk about your own school days?
Vaughn: I went to a university called life, and our school colors were black and blue. No, I'm kidding. I didn't go to college. I went to a junior college in Illinois for two weeks and I dropped out and moved to Los Angeles. When I got to L.A., I signed up for Santa Monica junior college, and I was there for two weeks. I had an agent and I had an audition for Who's the Boss -- like five lines. I didn't get it at all. It was one of those, "Well, great, thanks for coming in!" I didn't get the part, but I went to the audition instead of going to a quiz and I never went back to a college of any kind after that. I think now that I'm older, I would probably appreciate college more, more of an attention for stuff, more curious to learn things and take classes.
Wilson: I went to three different colleges and never really got into the swing of things at college. I went to a high school that I liked a lot, kind of small classes and really good teachers. I had fun playing sports and stuff. When I went to college I got a little aimless.
Every generation has a movie like this, that's been a classic to them. Can you name one for you?
Vaughn: Why yes, a little movie called Swingers years back...
Wilson: Stripes.
Vaughn: Animal House. Part of the fun too I think, when you're younger, and it's that age when you're seeing an R film for the first time, and you're really not supposed to be there, nothing replaces that feeling. I remember sneaking into Risky Business and that movie blowing my mind, hoping we didn't caught before it started...When you're young and you're not legally supposed to be there, it's just awesome.
Wilson: When I went to see Smokey and the Bandit, I didn't know Burt Reynolds was an actor, he was just a guy that looked like he was having a good time. As a kid, I think you really respond to that.
How would you explain the fraternity amongst guys? Going out, getting drunk, all of that.
Wilson: We'll do that with women too.
Having had a taste of it, would you join a fraternity now?
Vaughn: No, I would never have done it. But that's just my personal thing. I don't like being around a large group of people, living with them, rules, it's not my bag. But it's hard to judge all fraternities on one thing. I've traveled places in the country and a fraternity in one location could be completely different...By the time I would've been of college age, I had done all the things that the kids were going crazy about. Even those Girls Gone Wild tapes, they go, "Boy, these girls have gone wild. They're wild!" And they're just lifting up their shirts. I'm like, "That's not really that wild." If they lift up their shirts and start to smash a room up and throw things off a building, I'd be like, "Those girls have gone wild."
Wilson: Where I come from, Texas, those big colleges are heavy duty. I would never get involved in anything like that. Not that they're bad people, it just seems a little intense. The people in Old School...
Vaughn: We kidnapped people.
Wilson: Most of these guys are trying to get away from something. Some of them aren't even in college. But I think both of us personally were never kind of drawn to it.
Vaughn: Will was actually in a fraternity at USC, he loved it. And he's a great guy, the Big Cat.
Wilson: Wish he were here today, but kind of a sore subject.
Vaughn: We don't want to get into it. He went to the dentist and they gave him some painkillers and that was six months ago...I'm kidding, I'm joking!
Is there anything he won't do for a laugh?
Wilson: He won't do his Bush impersonation anymore. No more Bush. And people yell it at him, and he hates it. "Hey, do your Bush!" The only time you ever see Will seethe.
Vaughn: The Big Cat, the hairs go up on the cat.
Wilson: And you hear this low growl.
What was used for the K-Y Jelly wrestling scene?
Wilson: It wasn't actually K-Y, it was some kind of bi-product...They put it in McDonald's milkshakes to give it consistency.
And you actually rolled around it?
Wilson: Yes, I did. Still feeling it.
Vaughn: He had a team of handlers that helped him out
Wilson: I did! I had quite a few people getting the stuff off of me at the end of the day. I had to take a couple of long showers that day.
Ever going to have a McDonald's milkshake again?
Wilson: No, I won't.
Vaughn: I will, see, I don't even know any better. It tastes good, what do I know?
Do you indulge in anything now that you couldn't before?
Vaughn: I've never been a big guy with spending. The one thing I do do a lot of is video games, sadly. I'm a pathetic, sad man in that, but I can sit and play video games for hours. The frightening part is you play the game for like two weeks and at the end of the game I can get a trophy or a girl or you save the world, but nothing really happens but you get a screen that means that. Your real life, it goes to hell, you haven't returned any calls, you haven't talked to anybody, but in the game, I'm the king of the universe. That's the one thing I sort of have the free time to do a lot of.
Vince, what are you playing now?
Vaughn: I'm playing Madden 2003 still because I like that you can have a franchise, and you can actually have a team that you like, and you can trade for players, you got a salary cap, all kinds of great, exciting times like that. Very powerful stuff.
Wilson: Madden 2003 is old already?
Vaughn: Yes. Got to wait for the new one for next year. But I make trades, I make it happen, pal.
Any chance that the post-college fraternity might catch on?
Vaughn: I think it has.
Wilson: The Masons, aren't they kind of like a fraternity?
Vaughn: The Scientologists.
Wilson: Well, they'll make your life better.
Was Snoop Dogg always the musical act?
Vaughn: That got kicked around. It was him and someone else.
Wilson: They were gonna have him and Bob Dylan at one point. And we were like, how is that gonna happen? And it didn't.
Didn't you work with Dylan recently?
Wilson: I did a movie with him this summer called Masked and Anonymous that he wrote with this guy Larry Charles, one of the Seinfeld writers. It was really interesting...I don't think there's anyone out there like him, and there won't be anyone like him again. He's like Sinatra, or Willie Nelson, where they're one of a kind like Elvis...
Vaughn: Burt Bacharach...Not a great comparison, but I tried to make your point for you.
(02/21/03 5:00am)
Laura Linney stars as Constance Hallaway in The Life of David Gale. She has had starring roles in You Can Count on Me, Primal Fear and The Truman Show. Last month, Street sat down with Linney to talk about her new film and her career.
Why did you choose this film?
Well, the script was magnificent... and there was so much in it -- which is what attracted me to it. It's a kind of formula movie that usually isn't set in this kind of context. You either have a movie that deals with political issues, or you have a murder thriller.
How do you feel about the recent commuting of death sentences in Illinois?
It's so difficult, and it's so emotional for people... Everybody's asking me about my own opinions on the subject and how that affects my work in the film. I hesitate to talk about it because I don't want it to be in people's minds when they're watching the movie. People would be watching the movie thinking, "Oh, Laura Linney thinks this."
What do you want people to get out of the film?
I hope that it's a great experience for them. I hope that they have the thrill and fun and guesswork of a murder thriller. And I hope it makes them think. The death penalty has always been an instinctive issue for me. And for this film I had to do a lot of research -- and it confirmed my opinion. It's nice to have an opinion backed up with facts -- it's not just my emotional response.
Do you feel that actors and actresses should take political views?
I think for those people who have that motivation and are using the opportunities that have come to them to spread ideas that are thoughtful and mindful and they believe in -- then fine. Anyone can make me think, I don't care if it's an actor or a guy at the grocery store. I do get a little tired of the "Oh, there's an actor talking about such-and-such"' -- because that's just insulting.
What was it like to watch yourself in the graphic scenes?
I watched the movie once. I can't watch it more than that. I watched it once so I could talk to you guys, and so I could see everybody's work. I just find it an unnatural thing to do... Sure, it was tough to watch myself on screen [in the graphic scenes]. It's just a tough thing to do.
What movies have you been working on?
I made two movies in the fall at the same time -- Mystic River in Boston and Love Actually in London... Mystic River is based on a novel, it's directed by Clint Eastwood with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins. Love Actually is an enormous ensemble cast, it's basically every British actor you can think of.
Do you feel the graphic scenes in the The Life of David Gale were necessary?
In this movie, I do. My other graphic scene isn't about sex, it's about friendship. It's about something much deeper than that. I think it's important, especially with the subject matter.
(02/21/03 5:00am)
When The Life of David Gale comes out on DVD, the back of the box will probably read something like this: "Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, American Beauty) stars as David Gale, an anti-death penalty activist who is on death row with only days left before his execution. Kate Winslet (Titanic) sits down to interview him and finds out that Gale might not only be innocent, but he could also have been framed." Street sat down with Spacey last month and talked about his new film and his acting career.
What should the audience take away from the film? How do you personally feel about the death penalty?
I'm very reluctant to pontificate about what I think an audience should take away. It's always good when a movie can do that. It can begin to help people having a place from which to start. Because I think the issue -- I don't want the issue to overshadow the movie; we think the film has great entertainment value -- is very uncomfortable for people. You'll hear people talk about it passionately... but generally you find that people don't really know about the facts about the death penalty... one thing that everybody seems to agree on is that the system has a lot of flaws in it.
When did you know you wanted to be an actor?
I think the first time I performed in a drama class and I heard applause, I remember a light bulb went off over my head and I thought, "That's the coolest sound I've ever heard."
Why did you go to Africa?
I wanted to go primarily to learn, and I did. There were a lot of things that I didn't get to do... but when you're travelling with the President [Clinton] you sort of have to hit the ground running. Every country we went to we'd meet with their President and their Minister of Health and they'd have really good plans about what they're doing to be able to accept help.
What is your criteria for selecting a film?
Will this movie have a decent chance of standing the test of time. I like the movies that I like to watch more than once. Sometimes it works out this way, sometimes it doesn't -- if you ain't in the producerial role, you ain't got no power.
Are you happy in the previous roles you've selected?
Yes. I always like it when I get questions from fans that are like, "In this film you play a deeply flawed character." I'm like, "As opposed to every other human being in the rest of the world." There's this thing in a lot of movies where there are heroes who don't seem to really have many problems... I always feel like I've gotten close to doing my job when people say the character's name instead of my own.
What was it like for your acting career after receiving so much acclaim for American Beauty?
Particularly after a film like American Beauty -- which just had such remarkable highs for everyone involved in it -- after a film like that you have to accept the fact that almost everything you do after it, at least for a while, is going to be a disappointment. And if you sort of embrace that, then it'll be OK.
Do you feel that your film will spark debate, in light of the recent commuting of all death sentences in Illinois?
It's just a movie. Let's not forget that. We wanted it to be interesting, but it is just a film... I have no idea whether the movie is going to spark debate. Maybe it's easier to talk about an issue in the context of a drama that's fictionalized. It's just coincidental that all of this has risen in the last month or so.
Do you think actors should use their celebrity in a good way?
I think I had a couple of really remarkable teachers and mentors... I heard Jack Lemmon say a lot that "If you're lucky enough to have done well, then it's your responsibility to send the elevator back down." And that's such a great line. Charles Barkley the other day accused me of stealing it from him. So I told him, "Your elevator is much bigger than mine."
What's the most important advice you can give to young actors?
The most important thing is: follow your heart. All the things you can't control -- you can't control, so why worry about them? Just get as much as you can. If you're a writer, write because you love to write and not because you'll win anything... it's different for everybody. My experience is my experience, and it's no better or worse or more difficult or less difficult than anybody else's.
(02/06/03 5:00am)
While most people don't believe that Hollywood is the epicenter of creativity in America, there have been a few recent films that have either told good stories (25th Hour, About Schmidt) or experimented with narrative structure (Adaptation, Chicago). On a recent trip to the movies, however, I was reminded of how poor my beloved film industry has become.
Three new films currently in production will make pre-film commercials seem downright charming. Rather than simple product placement, studios are opting to base entire films on proven, selling commodities.
The culprits? Disney is filming Pirates of the Carribean and The Haunted Mansion, movies based on popular rides in Walt Disney World. And just announced this past week, Columbia Pictures is producing a movie based onHot Wheels, the die-cast toy cars, with hyperkinetic Charlie's Angels director McG at the helm. In the press release, McG commented, "We want to create a timeless story that will work for everyone -- a charismatic young hero, great stakes and jeopardy and a fantastic love story." While such desires are admirable, does anyone ever associate McG's goals with Hot Wheels? I doubt my five-year-old cousin wants his mini-Porsche to find a Love Bug -- he just wants to zoom it around the kitchen.
I don't doubt that there can be good films made about pirates, haunted houses and cars. But when films go into production because their script is based on a product rather than a good idea, Hollywood stumbles deeper into their self-created sewer. Films that take chances will soon be ignored, unless those chances involve advertisements.
These latest developments may turn off many, but as long as Hollywood still has a few auteurs and writers who use their leverage for creative good, we may be able to stave off Old Navy's Dude, Where's My Fleece? Unfortunately, though, I probably planted an idea into the head of some young director with that idealistic thought.