When you board the William Hurt Express, it's best not to have a destination in mind. The actor is an interesting person to interview specifically because he resists the normal confines of that sort of prescribed conversation, instead taking his questioner on several passionate detours. All this is to say that although I sat down with Hurt in order to discuss his new film The Yellow Handkerchief and his costars Kristen Stewart and Maria Bello, the interview began with him vividly reading out loud from his new favorite periodical, then blossomed unexpectedly from there.
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Few ginger-headed actors have a last name that sounds as apt as Eddie Redmayne's. The 28-year-old's red hair and exotic features made him a perfect fit for his first big role as Julianne Moore's son in Savage Grace, but at first blush, there's nothing about the slender Brit that would suggest his presence in the Southern-fried cast of The Yellow Handkerchief. Yet, as the geeky, grating Gordy opposite William Hurt and Kristen Stewart, Redmayne lends the quiet drama a jolt of welcome unpredictability.
Movieline sat down with the actor last week after a long day where Redmayne had to sit patiently beside Stewart as she answered question after question about Twilight and Robert Pattinson. Needless to say, he was eager to move on to other subjects.
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Pierce Brosnan has a unique take on the controversy surrounding Roman Polanski. On the one hand, it's to be expected: Having played the deposed British prime minister Adam Lang in Polanski's new thriller The Ghost Writer (opening today in limited release; going wide March 5), Brosnan is a little too close to the man for mere dogma. On the other, his perspective on the director is so refreshingly, infectiously admiring that it transcends judgment -- a bracing tonic in an era when even the whisper of the name "Polanski" can instantly polarize a room. Despite a resume boasting four James Bond films, the global blockbuster Mamma Mia! and his recent reinvention as a sort of burnished indie statesman, by the end of 20 minutes with Brosnan you can't help but wonder if Lang was the role he knows he was born to play. Not that the influential, embattled man under suspicion by everyone from his biographer (Ewan McGregor) to his equally suspicious wife (Olivia Williams) bore any resemblance to himself. But as Brosnan thoughtfully explained this week to Movieline, the timing and meaning of the thing proved an opportunity almost too good -- and maybe even too valuable -- to be true.
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Welcome back to Moment of Truth, Movieline's new weekly spotlight on the best in nonfiction cinema. This week, welcome the makers of October Country , currently playing in New York, opening tomorrow in Los Angeles, and expanding on March 12 to San Francisco, Seattle and Denver.
You've already read a little bit here about October Country, the lyrical, harrowing debut documentary by co-directors Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher. The story of Mosher's family -- three generations attempting to extract themselves from the grip of abuse, teenage pregnancy and other haunted memories in New York's working-class Mohawk Valley -- has attracted acclaim virtually everywhere it's played, and it will compete next month for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. Yet October Country yields another, less-heralded tale as well -- one about a filmmaker and a photographer whose chance encounter in the unlikeliest of spots resulted in one of the unlikeliest (and most fruitful) of collaborations. Movieline recently spoke to Palmieri and Mosher about the working relationship behind their debut, filming your family, and how to make your subjects exploitation-proof.
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Crime pays for Jacques Audiard and Tahar Rahim. Audiard's newest film, the fluid prison drama A Prophet, has been an overseas sensation; not only is it the most acclaimed movie yet for the 57-year-old director (The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Read My Lips), but it's also served as a launch pad for Rahim, the previously unknown actor who plays Malik, an innocent who's slowly turned into a savvy prison kingpin.
In Park City last month, Movieline sat down with both men to discuss A Prophet on the eve of its American release, and just after it had picked up a host of honors including Lumiere Awards, European Film Awards, and BAFTA nominations.
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After navigating America's rocky critical shoals with aplomb (mostly, anyhow), The Red Riding Trilogy has also drawn strong audiences in its ongoing theatrical runs in New York and Los Angeles. Not bad for a bleak five-hour drama about the all-consuming quest for a '70s-era serial killer in the north of England. Now, with the three films by directors Julian Jarrold (1974), James Marsh (1980) and Anand Tucker (1983) and source novelist David Peace's desaturated dystopia finally seeping into the Stateside consciousness, Movieline caught up with Marsh to discuss reactions, influences and the flexibility of truth.
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As much a Hollywood legend as any of the stars she observes through the thin veils of her novels, Jackie Collins has spent more than four decades tracking the foibles of excess and the outer limits of privilege. Her latest book, Poor Little Bitch Girl, continues that quest for what feels like the post-potboiler generation, a vast readership for whom scandal and mischief is the key, not the barrier, to fame. Collins's iconic magnatrix Lucky Santangelo makes a few cameos, but really, Bitch Girl concentrates on a cluster of heirs to the Hollywood kingdom -- Lucky's club-owner son Bobby, A-list hooker Annabelle, power lawyer Denver, knocked-up Washington intern Carolyn -- who dare to consider a different path than the one their parents (not to mention Collins herself) bequeathed them. There's still plenty of sex, corruption, melodrama and other sordid schematics to keep the base happy. Between the lines, meanwhile, there's some subversive stuff for the rest of us.
Movieline recently caught up with Collins to discuss the slow march of scandal, what shocks her about the response to Bitch Girl, and a new role she has in mind for Angelina Jolie.
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In the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, 19-year-old Aaron Johnson plays Lennon as an artist on the brink of potential and stardom. Were you to look at Johnson's slate of upcoming movies, you'd be tempted to call that typecasting. First, Johnson will be seen toplining the ultraviolent comic book adaptation Kick-Ass in April, then he'll follow that up with the U.S. debut of Nowhere Boy (currently undated by the Weinstein Co.) and Chatroom, from J-horror director Hideo Nakata (The Ring).
In Park City last month, Movieline sat down with Johnson on the eve of Nowhere Boy's Sundance premiere to discuss the perils of playing a pop culture icon, the essential advice he got from Nowhere Boy's director Sam Taylor-Wood (now Johnson's fiancee and pregnant with his child), and the superhero franchise he couldn't imagine stepping into after doing Kick-Ass.
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Welcome to the inaugural edition of Moment of Truth, a new weekly Movieline feature dedicated to the best in up-and-coming nonfiction cinema. This week we introduce you to Ernst Aebi (right), the subject of the new documentary Barefoot to Timbuktu, which opens today in NYC (with dates to come in Los Angeles and elsewhere). Please welcome him!
Manhattan has a club for pretty much everything and everyone, and on a recent freezing night uptown, the Explorer's Club hosted an event for one of its own. Two decades of Ernst Aebi's world travels had been gathered in a new documentary screening that evening, but this wasn't home-movie footage or amateur cell-phone video from the North Pole (which, yes, Aebi has also visited). This was the stirring, semi-crazy story of how he helped restore a remote Saharan village virtually from scratch -- and kind of by accident.
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Last Thursday, The Sarah Silverman Program began its third season on Comedy Central, with Sacramento-born actor/comedian Brian Posehn back as Sarah's gay neighbor and friend Brian Spukowski. Like his character on the show, Posehn is a passionate metalhead who enjoys couch-surfing and smoking pot. Unlike his character, Posehn is straight and does not have much time for the couch these days since he is touring the country for his Cold as Fuck Comedy Tour. (Posehn's next album, Fart and Weiner Jokes is due out in March). Movieline caught up with the comedian in Chicago to discuss the first Silverman episode he wrote, his stand-up and weed.
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F. Gary Gray's Law Abiding Citizen was a tidy hit when it came out last fall, hanging in the top ten for weeks until it made $73 million. Still, though the Jamie Foxx/Gerard Butler thriller performed well, it was hit by criticism from some outlets (including Movieline) that suggested the film had inadvertently become a right-wing revenge flick. With Citizen due for its DVD/Blu-ray release february 16, I called up Gray for his take on the controversial notion.
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After four previous tries at Oscar glory and even more seminal roles the Academy overlooked (seriously, how did The Dude ever miss the cut?), Jeff Bridges is finally the presumptive front-runner for this year's Best Actor prize. His turn in Crazy Heart as Bad Blake -- a broken-down country singer on the slow rebound to redemption -- has stimulated both the awards cognoscenti and moviegoers alike, and the film enjoyed a successful expansion in its first weekend after its nominations (also including Maggie Gyllenhaal) were announced.
Foreseeable as Bridges's selection was and his likely win remains, Movieline nevertheless caught up with the busy 60-year-old hustling on the Oscar trail. There, he enlightened us on how campaigning has changed over four decades, the difference a great director makes, the tech-y allure of Tron and why reporters sometimes sleep with their subjects -- in the movies, anyway.
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Movieline was on the scene late last week at a press gathering for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and while the event on the 61st floor of the Empire State Building was classy and featured unquestionably the best city view of any junket ever, it bears noting that things got a little... weird. And awkward. And fast, with the topics of sexual tension, drug interludes, Roman Polanski and Pinocchio all arising in quick succession. (To say nothing of CGI-centaur Pierce Brosnan's blue-tights-wearing anecdotes.) Needless to say, it was everything we go to PG-rated film junkets for in the first place.
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Brandon T. Jackson's showy supporting role as Alpa Chino in Tropic Thunder two years ago took Hollywood by surprise -- the young actor wasn't a real-life rapper or an Apatow troupe member, so who exactly was he? Turn out Jackson is a Chris Tucker-idolizing comedian from a religious family in Detroit, and he'll only increase his profile this week with the release of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, where he plays best friend Grover to the titular Percy.
During a very busy Percy Jackson press tour that's found him criss-crossing the country, the 25-year-old actor made a quick call to Movieline to discuss action figures, green screen, and the one thing about comedy that he'd like to stop doing.
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I'm playing by the rules this week, sympathizing with our readers who haven't watched last night's episode yet, and not posting the name of the eliminated Project Runway contestant until after the jump. In our interview, learn how the newest castoff feels about Tim Gunn, the contestant he/she believes should've gone home, and the Runway legend he/she currently lives with!
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