Posted on August 6, 2016 at 3:27 pm
Sam Fragoso’s new Talk Easy podcast series about movies is excellent, and his interview with Oscar-winner Alan Arkin is truly a gem.
Alan Arkin is one of the all-time greats. Here’s the original trailer for the wild comedy, “The In-Laws.”
And in “Argo” as a cynical movie producer.
Posted on August 5, 2016 at 6:16 pm
Lief Bristow produced and directed “Peter the Redepemption,” the story of the last months in the life of the disciple who denied Jesus before he was crucified but then endured torture and imprisonment rather than deny him again. Stephen Baldwin plays the Emperor Nero and Bristow’s daughter Brittany plays Susanna, a healer, the devoted servant of the Empress, and a secret Christian. I have a copy to give away! Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with Peter in the subject line and tell me one of your heroes. Don’t forget your address! (US addresses only) I’ll pick a winner at random on August 13, 2016.
Both Bristows answered my questions about making the film.
What is most important to you in the projects you take on?
BRITTANY – In any of the projects I take on, I look for strength of character development and definite moments of transition and change. I believe that it is so important when portraying someone on screen that you are able to give them a fully formed life. That you know what has lead to the very first moment the audience meets them, to what is happening when they aren’t present. Every person spends their life listening, speaking, reacting, feeling – it is important that the character be developed in a way that allows for that kind of work.
LEIF – I have always looked for character driven scripts which, generally ask to understand the human condition. Characters who must rise above their own personal adversities and become willing to sacrifice their personal wellbeing for the benefit of others. Sometimes this is displayed through youth protagonists willing to protect an animal, sometimes in the case of Peter it is knowing that in the face of extreme adversity, under Nero, death is likely but the importance of sacrifice to give voice and purpose to the followers is a greater calling.
What did Peter learn from his denial of Christ and how did he change?
BRITTANY – Peter learned that in running from your word, you only have your own guilt to live with – but he also recognized that his influence was meant to exist beyond the time of Christ’s death. That he was meant to live longer and be able to teach others how to love and what it meant to be strong.
LEIF – Peter knew that he was to be the Rock and the foundation for which so many followers could depend on. His doubts and fears caused him to deny Christ. I believe of great significance to Peter was, the necessity to atone for this and truly live up to the needs of this very young flock. History tells us that Peter may not have been the gentlest of the Apostles but his relationship with Paul would cause him to again rise up to propel the church through his teachings and kindness. It is a very wonderful moment when Peter in a moment of doubt is lifted by the words of Susanah.
How did Susanna decide she could trust the guard named Martinian?
BRITTANY – Susanna always saw something in Martinian that was unlike the others of the Roman empire. She saw empathy in his eyes and in his soul. The moment he looked in her eyes and told her that her secret was safe with him she knew without a doubt in her mind that he would stay true to his word. She could see his compassion for the situation and watched as he began to see that love is what triumphs, not anger, violence and Hate.
What made Brittany right for this role?
LEIF – We looked at reels from over 30 young actresses, however Brittany possesses an innocence and level of empathy that is evident in her smile and eyes on camera. Too many young actresses focus on having a sultry look for today’s market. Brittany has done challenging leads and shown her capacity to be a leader on set. She has studied with and takes the seriousness of the craft to heart and has the depth of emotional range. The essence of Susannah was easily recognized by everyone when we looked at Brittany’s reel.
What was the director/actor relationship like?
BRITTANY – My dad and I have been very lucky to work on a number of projects together to date. He has directed me 3 times. First in Sophie, then in a show we created together with my mom called Wildlife Quest – a live action wildlife show, which I am the host of, and thirdly in Peter. It can be difficult at times because I know my dad sees potential in me and as a result he pushes me, but I can’t’ think of anything greater than a director seeing what someone is capable and working with them to allow for the best performance possible. It’s a win-win situation. On Sophie – the last day of shooting there were still two heads of departments who didn’t realize we were father and daughter – to me that says a lot.
LEIF – Brittany and I have always had a unique bond and an immense trust in each other. It is always fair to say that we have our moments on set where there is a dad/ daughter moment like when directing a kissing scene. Lol the challenge is really that for Brittany she doesn’t want people to think she gets a role because of me, so the pressure is greater for her. From her discipline as a professionally trained ballerina to having Larry Moss as her acting coach (he is DiCaprio, Helen Hunt and Hilary Swank’s acting coach) Brittany knows the importance of preparedness. It is easy to direct her because she comes to set with every line, each predecessor scene emotional understanding, the intention of the scene at hand and a developed character fully developed and ready to be guided.
Brittany has acted with some great actors like Christopher Plummer, John Rhys-Davies, Debra Kara- Unger, Stephen Baldwin and others and has learned how to graciously and powerfully bring her character to the screen.
What is the best advice you ever got about making films?
BRITTANY – No matter what is happening, don’t jeopardize the work that goes in – stay true to your artistry, your gut and your work ethic.
LEIF – It was more about the advice I received as an actor when I was young. If you aren’t willing to commit fully to the project and make it the best it can be then you have cheated yourself and the audience.
Film is the only medium in the world in which everyone who is involved gets to have their name forever etched on the final product. As a director, I am fortunate to be the person who steers the ship during production and till delivery. My greatest resource is all the people who come to give the best they know how to every day and collaborate to help elevate the project even beyond what I might have imagined.
What themes from this story are more compelling for modern audiences?
BRITTANY – I think the theme of love and compassion are the themes that draw an audience in and keep them enthralled. There’s a bad guy, action and a love story – what more could an audience want?
LEIF – Think Brittany said it well. Empathy is a timeless quality. In a world so filled with hatred at the moment and so many people of different faiths being murdered, becoming refugees and trying to survive, this 2000 year old story is completely relevant today. In the face of complete disparity there are those who find a positive moment or a way in which to sacrifice of themselves to assist and lift up the strangers around them. The simple acts of Love, Charity and Empathy are needed now more than ever.
Posted on August 2, 2016 at 3:51 pm
Writer/director/star Mike Birbiglia calls his new film, “Don’t Think Twice,” “The Big Chill” of improv. Like the all-star 80’s classic, it is a bittersweet and often funny story of the stresses old friends face as the hopefulness and sense of endless possibilities of their 20’s hits the reality of their 30’s. Keegan-Michael Key plays one member of a small improv group called “The Commune.” When he gets a chance for breakthrough success on a “Saturday Night Live”-type comedy series, it forces the rest of the group to think about what matters to them and whether they will be able to achieve their dreams.
Birbiglia and co-star Gillian Jacobs spoke about the film in an interview.
The Commune leads off their show by asking the audience who had the worst day and using the details of their story to provide the premise for improvising a scene. Where does that come from?
MB: I do an improv show in New York called Mike Birbiglia’s Dream at the UCB Theater. I came up with that prompt one day as an idea because I feel like we can prove in real time the old trope that comedy is tragedy plus time. We had one the other night at the Del Close Marathon where a girl, 19 years old, said. ‘I just realized that my dad was cheating on my mom with prostitutes because we share an iCloud account.’ And so we were all empathetic and sympathetic and trying to create scenes that were respectful of that but also were comedic scenes and it was hard. For about 15 minutes there were not a lot of laughs at all and then eventually we found the laughter, and she found the laughter. Tammy who plays Lindsay in the film, was in that show. She called me the next day and she said, “Wow! That show yesterday, that was wild.The woman who made the suggestion thanked you on Twitter so you should respond.” That was really rewarding. We have to fund that hinge point, that pivot point.
GJ: I remember one show we did at UCB during rehearsals. Someone told us about his friend who had died recently and he was a very young man. For the first couple minutes there was nothing funny but then you realize, “Well, we’re not documentarians.” You’re not telling the story of that person’s life. You’re using that situation as an inspiration. Once people give themselves permission to let themselves be free to associate around any detail in the story, some absurd coincidence or detail about it, and build from there, maybe rather than tackling trying to make raw pain funny then you can sort of laugh around the incident as well.
MB: But also like in the film the scene where something happens to Bill’s dad and they are driving home and they are joking about it is an example of how with friends you can joke about things that are really sad and have it be cathartic. And I think that that can happen in theater also, I think it can happen in film also. You can express love by calling out the truth out of the situation as opposed to dancing around it.
Because The Commune is built on teamwork — the last thing they say to each other before going on stage is “I’ve got your back” — the struggle with feelings of jealousy and competition is especially painful.
MB: I wrote this thing on my wall early in the writing process: ‘Art is socialism but life is capitalism.’ It’s not in the film because it would be too on the nose. One of the guiding principles in the film is that in a lot of ways what you do with the group you’re collaborating with is more idealistic than the actuality.
GJ: I don’t come from an improv background but I really relate to the story in other ways. I went to Juilliard and in your third and fourth years of school there, agents and casting directors and managers start to come and it is really kind of what happens in this movie where some people start getting a lot of appointments and other people don’t. You try to sort of keep it quiet but they would put these yellow envelopes on the board and everybody knew that that was a meeting request and it would start to shift the dynamics because up until then it’s all about the group and much like the improv world. But then you realize you are all about to be set forth into the commercial world of this business and not everybody’s going to have the same career and even if somebody is deemed more talented within the confines of the school it doesn’t mean they’re going to have the most successful career. So I’ve just now start to remember how that starts to affect all of your dynamic. After you do a showcase for agency managers and casting directors and you get this folder and some people had a folder that was thick and some people had a folder that was thin. And there’s no fairness to it because it’s not a fair business.
MB: In a lot of ways, that’s what this movie is about. Life is unfair and improv is a great metaphor of that. My wife said that when she saw my improv group one, “It’s funny that everyone’s equal on stage but offstage that person is a movie star, that person is on “Saturday Night Live,” that person lives on an air mattress in Queens in a one bedroom with five dudes. And I thought that really hit me hard, I was like, “Yes, that’s a movie,” that’s a nice tension to explore.
What the difference between what makes somebody good at improv versus what makes them good at a more structured traditional theater performance?
GJ: I think in theater it demands that you say the same words every night and make it feel fresh and new. Improv demands that you be operating at the highest level of your creativity intelligence. So these two skills are both very important but I’ve seen people who are very skilled at one area struggle with the other. Either improvisers feel constrained by having to say the same thing over and over again or people who are really good at doing scripted work feel intimidated and exposed doing improvisation.
MB: You’ve got to remember that improvisers are writers and actors and directors all simultaneously. That’s what’s happening in real time because you’re writing on your feet, and you are acting out the words and you are directing what the staging is. You’re deciding what staging is. When I’m taking the subway to my improv shows I will be writing in my notebook different actions that I see people doing on the train whether it’s eating yogurt or looking at where their stop is, or tripping or holding a baby. It’s not preparing scenes and ideas as much as it is stoking your brain to think observantly. Just to place observations in your head, so that they are available somewhere.
Why is ‘yes and’ such an important part of improv?
GJ: Without agreement you just have people arguing. I think that it is important to establish a world of place for the characters in improv and there is nothing to be gained from disagreeing about that. So you have to establish the principle that if some person establishes one thing we’re all going to go along with it and that we are all building from it. Also it is important to stop being critical and judging ideas as good or bad because I think if somebody doesn’t have a lot of experience you worry their idea is going to be bad, it’s not going to be good enough, if not going to be active enough and so you can start to think critically about people’s suggestions or what they bring to it but once you get out of that and think whatever they come up with is the right thing right now and so I’m just going to build on it just makes everything so much easier and better. But I think we are used to being critical and evaluating ideas.
MB: And our fear leads us to say no all the time.
GJ: Or you came up with an idea and you can’t let it go because you think your idea is the right one and the good one. You thought you were coming in as a duck, you thought it was very clever that you were a duck, and they thought that you are a dog and now you are a dog. And now you are dog and it’s better that you are a dog. I also have learned as an actor, this ties in the principles of improv, sometimes someone gives a piece of instruction and my first reaction is “I don’t want to do that.” I’ve always learned that every time I just say yes and go for it something happens. Whether it’s what the intent of the direction was or not or something new happens. It’s just remaining open to other people’s ideas. And I think Keegan-Michael Key is in such a playful open place as a performer that he makes it fun to come along for the ride.
Posted on July 26, 2016 at 3:50 pm
The sequel to the sequel to the sequel has arrived. On July 31, 2016, Syfy will unleash “Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens.” And you know what that means: more cheesy cameos from 80’s stars, more sharks (did I hear them say cow-nado?), and more silly, over-the-top thrills to tweet about. This time, it’s Las Vegas that gets hit. And this time, the audience got to decide whether the character played by Tara Reid will survive.
At Comic-Con, I spoke to Caroline Williams, who appears in the film in a character based on her iconic performance in “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2,” where she was a “final girl,” the one who was still standing at the end of the movie. She got the part in “Sharknado 4” via Facebook and she had a blast working with director Anthony C. Ferrante. “The guy utilizes everything at his disposal. When we were shooting in Las Vegas, we drove by Chippendale’s with the male dancers, and he said, ‘I’ve got an idea.'” And the clip of a Chippendale’s dancer dispatching a shark with a well-timed pelvic thrust has gone viral. “He’s willing to be extemporaneous. The guy is continually topping himself, and that is part of what has led to the audience devotion and social media phenomenon.”
“The difference between making movies in the 80’s, when I first came along, and now is exponential, not just the technology but the social media. You are accountable to that audience. They will tell you when they see a false moment, when something’s too cheesy to be believed not just by Twitter but at events like Comic-Con. When I did my first horror film convention, which is filled with devotees, they show up dressed in my outfit from ‘Chainsaw 2,’ saying my dialog, even with their children dressed up.” She is proud to be a “final girl,” along with Ripley from “Alien” and Laurie from “Halloween.”
And she understands the appeal of horror movies. “I find the best, most classic construction in movies is the conflict between good and evil. Tobe Hooper famously said that horror is the new western. Of course westerns are coming back, like ‘Hateful Eight,’ with horror elements. That’s the classic story construction and that’s what people want to embrace. You have to wrestle with the good and evil within you as a human being. We’re very primitive. The audience loves the redemptive moments.” And it is cathartic. You get to forget everything about real life which is worse than any horror film. We live in a dangerous world. When you’re dealing with the stress of your own life, there’s nothing better than to sit back, cook some fish sticks and pop some corn, sit with your family and sing the theme from ‘Sharknado.’ I discovered it with my sons. But the second one, they had their friends over to watch with them. The third one, they had more friends over.”
In the “Sharknado” movies, “Ian and Tara play it straight. They are not sending up their performances. The beauty of my role is I get to be the comic relief. He sends it up and he satirizes it. I get to wink at the camera, but Ian doesn’t.”
She loved working on “Chainsaw 2” and says that the elaborate set was her “playground.” She was disturbed at first by the real skeletons decorating the set until production designer Cary White said, “But look, they get to be in a movie.”
The chainsaw she wielded in “Chainsaw 2” was hollowed out so it would be lighter to lift. Not this time. She had to swing a real and very heavy weapon. “I could have used some pushups.” “I don’t know if I get consumed by the ‘nado. It was CGI. But we and my family members have our saws.” She was thrilled to get to play Stretch again. “Anthony wanted to send out that little valentine to the fans of ‘Chainsaw 2.’ He really put me to good use.”
Posted on July 20, 2016 at 8:08 am
We mourn the loss of writer/director/actor Garry Marshall, who died this week at age 81. Marshall gave “Happy Days,” “Mork and Mindy,” “Laverne and Shirley,” “Pretty Woman,” “The Princess Diaries,” and, as an actor, unforgettable performances in films like “Soapdish,” “A League of Our Own” (directed by his sister, Penny Marshall), and “Lost in America.” He began as a writer for my all-time favorite television series, “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” No one was better at discovering and supporting new talent. He gave the first important roles to actors from Henry Winkler and Robin Williams to Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway.
If one were to count up the number of times any American — or maybe anyone anywhere — laughed in the last half-century, the person responsible for more of those laughs than anyone else might well be Garry Marshall.
Two of my favorite Garry Marshall films are smaller, more personal stories: “The Flamingo Kid,” with Matt Dillon and Richard Crenna, and “Nothing in Common,” with Tom Hanks.
And I always loved his performances in films, especially in “Soapdish” as a television executive who liked things to be “peppy.” Here he is in “Lost in America,” with Albert Brooks.
May his memory be a blessing.
