Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Film updates

  • A mention in an Entertainment Weekly article about Hollywood vs women, by Christine Spines.

    6 Studio executives, please clip and save: Eileen Atkins. Maria Bello. Jennifer Coolidge. Frances Conroy. Penélope Cruz. Zooey Deschanel. Jennifer Ehle. Vera Farmiga. Maggie Gyllenhaal. Bryce Dallas Howard. Ashley Judd. Regina King. Lisa Kudrow. Rachel McAdams. Catherine O'Hara. Lupe Ontiveros. Tilda Swinton. Evan Rachel Wood. Michelle Yeoh.

    There's not an Oscar nominee on the above list. In other words, the talent pool is deep, diverse, and appallingly underused. So stretch your imaginations, lengthen your casting lists, and, unless you're looking for red-carpet arm candy, stop worrying so much about who looks ''hot.''

  • A rather belated review of Macbeth at The Komisar Scoop:

    The set at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park is filled with debris and metal, the detritus of destruction, a junkyard. Soldiers are in camouflage; officers show bloody wounds. The weird sisters are in modern dress and do not seem crazy.

    In this Public Theater version, directed by Moises Kaufman, Liev Schreiber as Macbeth and Jennifer Ehle as his wife are more richly nuanced than the traditional cardboard power couple. Indeed, they are very sexual beings, a fact emphasized by Ehle in her slinky gowns. Lady Macbeth is manipulative, but no more neurotic than your normal wife-on-the-make, till the final breakdown.

    Macbeth seems less a tyrant than a man who fervently believes in his own right and destiny to rule. Not very different from others who share that sense of their “vocation.” Of course, he’s a stand-in for Bush. The couple’s plotting to take power appears cool and calculated and could have been organized by Carl Rove.

    When murdered King Malcolm’s son declares that he thinks his country is struggling “beneath a yoke,” there’s no doubt which country is meant. And when the troops pass through the real trees in Central Park to come onto the stage, it’s not hard to imagine a metaphor for a modern populace rising against repressive rule. (Or didn’t you know that the Bush administration and Congress have repealed habeas corpus?)

  • The Clooney Project has collated all of actor Jason Strong's blog posts about his experience shooting Michael Clayton. Here's a taste:

    we were shooting the deposition scene with tom wilkinson. as we wait another ad takes our breakfast order. soon after we're called in for hair and make-up, they didn't have to do much with my hair, go figure....then back to holding for coffee, food and hanging out with the director, tony. he tells us what sparked his interest in writing this story.

    the long and short of it: a huge company is fughting this civil suit for years, case is about to end when some rookie lawyer finds this document as they clean out one of the storage rooms. this document, if it becomes known, will destory the company and the firm. document never sees the light of day, and that was the first time in the history of the firm that a second-year associate ever made partner. true story.

    Plus there are some positive but undetailed reports from Ferreson and Chelsea Spaulding, who got to see preview screenings of the movie.

  • Bollywood Online interviews Rahul Bose about Road to the Sky.

    Rahul Bose who also dabbles in films like 15 Park Avenue and a fun film like Pyar Ke Side Effects is now working on an American film which is being directed by Santosh Sivan.

    The film is called Road to the Sky and being produced by an American company called Echo Lake Productions along with Adirondack Pictures and Santosh Sivan Productions of India. An Israeli story has been painted in Indian colours and presented. The film is based in the pre-independence days in Kerala. “It is the story of a British planter (Linus Roache) and a Malayali boy.” The foreign producers were keen on the film being shot in South Africa or Brazil but Santosh insisted on Munnar as he felt it was one of those hill stations in Kerala that retain an old-world charm.

    Bose further tells the story. “This British planter has a tea plant and he thinks of an idea by which he wants to export all the spices abroad. The idea he has is to start a spice route. I belong to the same district and am the son of the Sarpanch of a village. I am a villager, but can speak English well,” says Bose. The film also co-stars British actors Linus Roache and Jennifer Ehle. The film explores the relationship between the planter, his wife (Jennifer Ehle), his lover (Nandita Das) and his aide. Finally, Rahul’s character understands that he has to make a choice and that it is not quite possible to live in two worlds.

    But Sivan was the inspiration for Bose to sign the film. “I like working with Sivan because he is a very instinctive artiste. If you get into things like rationalisation with him like asking him why a particular shot is being taken or why a particular scene is being shot, he is at a loss of words. But at the same time if you can tune into the fact that his thoughts are lateral then it’s a huge pleasure working with him,” says Bose.

    Though the film is based in 1937, Rahul does not prefer calling the movie as a period film. The film has been shot in picturesque Munnar and has reached the post production stages.

    The Road to Sky will premiere at film festivals and will hit the Indian marquee after a while.
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