The Hollywood Interview

Hillary's DOWNFALL

2008-05-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

No matter who you're supporting in the Clinton vs. Obama Smackdown, this mashup of DOWNFALL is one of the funniest political videos of the season. Thanks to Jeff Wells/Hollywood-Elsewhere for the initial post.

DVD Playhouse--May 2008

2008-04-22T11:48:00.001-07:00

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.

Audrey Dana: The Hollywood Interview

2008-04-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

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). She is currently working on three new French films, including Lelouch’s latest epic, which is in pre-production.

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

2008-04-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

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.

The son of an Algerian Jewish artisan, 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)

Capsule Review: 88 MINUTES

2008-04-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

The actor leaves “The O.C.” far behind him, mapping out a challenging body of post-series work. First stop, 88 Minutes with Al Pacino.
By Terry Keefe

[This article is currently appearing in this month's VENICE MAGAZINE.]

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.

You even get to have a yelling/fighting scene with him.

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."

When the show ended, were you happy to move on, or did you wish it had gone on longer?

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.

You spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. How did that come about?

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 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]!

ROYAL FLUSH: Shannon Elizabeth Tangos Back Via "Dancing with the Stars" and her new film DEAL

2008-04-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

This article is currently appearing in this month's issue of Venice Magazine.

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.

Shannon and partner Derek Hough on "Dancing with the Stars".

It was also reality television which introduced Elizabeth to a second career five years ago via Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker Showdown.” Although Elizabeth didn’t win the tournament, she soon developed a love for poker, not to mention some serious skills which have made her a very competitive professional poker player. Last year, she managed to place third in NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship, beating out a slew of the world’s top poker players. It all coincides nicely with her latest feature film, Deal, directed by Gil Cates Jr., and also starring Burt Reynolds and Bret Harrison (of “Reaper”). The tight, very entertaining film is sort of a Color of Money in the poker world, in which retired former poker star Reynolds takes the young and green Harrison under his wing, giving him gems of advice like “Play the player, not the cards.” Much of Reynold’s tutelage revolves around teaching Harrison to recognize “tells,” poker-speak for the physical tics of another player that tip off a good, or poor, hand.

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.

Did your professional poker expertise have anything to do with you working on 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.

Check out the trailer for Deal here:

CHARGING HARD: Our Interview with Koby Abberton of BRA BOYS

2008-04-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

By Terry Keefe

“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].

Although it was your brother who was directing the project, did you nonetheless have any concerns about making the film?

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.

Check out the Trailer for Bra Boys:

The Bra Boys official website also contains a short preview of the film.