ENTERTAINMENT AS A WAY OF LIFE
MOVIELINE
November 2001
FEATURES
Desmond Harrington
"I didn't grow up with people who said, 'We're going to be famous theater stars!'" says Desmond Harrington. "We were a bunch of white kids in the Bronx, and my friends that I grew up with now are cops, or firemen, or construction workers, or businessmen."
Scarlett Johansson
PROFESSION: Actress and high school senior. RESIDENCE: New York City.
Al Hirschfeld: Man of a Thousand Faces
Approaching the century mark, Al Hirschfeld, master of the celebrity caricature since the Coolidge administration, gets the bicoastal treatment with two new books--and accompanying gallery shows highlighting his work devoted to New York and Hollywood.
Barry Levinson: Balancing Act
Barry Levinson takes a break from Baltimore with the inspired robbers-on-the-run comedy Bandits.
Elizabeth Hurley: Hurley in the Morning
After several seasons of stormy weather and unpleasant headlines, Elizabeth Hurley is refocusing on what she came to Hollywood to do in the first place--make movies.
Michael Mann: Mann on a Mission
More than just a writer and director, Michael Mann has proven himself to be a gifted psychologist, cultivating what he calls "structured schizophrenia"--working with actors to create personas unlike any audiences have seen from them before, as he did with Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans and Russell Crowe in The Insider. His latest transformation is Will Smith, who pulled no punches in altering not only his body but his entire mental state to play former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in the hard-hitting biopic Ali.
Hayden Christensen: Tall, Darth, and Handsome
When George Lucas plucked Hayden Christensen out of the big nowhere to star as young Darth Vader in his later Star Wars epic, heads were scratched across the galaxy. But Christensen's performance as a troubled teen in Life As A House should reassure doubters that Lucas knew exactly what he was doing.
Naomi Watts: Watts Cooking
After a decade of trying to get noticed, Naomi Watts is receiving attention for two reasons--filling Tom Cruise's shoes by taking best friend Nicole Kidman out on the town and wowing critics with her daring performance in David Lynch's bizarre noir Mulholland Drive.
The Last Score
Hollywood has long made use of the One Last Big Score storyline because even though it's as predictable as apple pie, it helps make films as varied as Unforgiven, Heat and Entrapment work. In fact, some other genres could benefit from this tried-and-true structure--it sure would breathe life into anything starring Woody Allen or Kristin Scott Thomas.
Famke Janssen: Big Things Come In Small Packages
LITTLE GIRL NOT LOST: The name Famke is unusual not only in America, but also in Holland, where the actress grew up. The meaning is anything but odd, however--in the Friesland dialect, Famke translates to "little girl," which is exactly what Janssen's playing on our pages. Lace jacket and velvet skirt by Tom Ford for Yves St. Laurent Rive Gauche, leather slingbacks by Jimmy Choo and bracelet by Daniel Swarovski.