Interview: Julie Locke of “The Heart of Christmas”

Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:00 pm

Julie Locke‘s two-year-old son Dax was critically ill with cancer. He loved Christmas lights, so although it was only October, she put them up. When their neighbors found out why the Lockes had Christmas decorations up before Halloween, they came together to give Dax an early Christmas, and that story inspired the heartwarming film starring Candace Cameron Bure, “The Heart of Christmas” and the Matthew West song, “One Last Christmas.”

I spoke to Ms. Locke about the loss of her son, the support of the community, and the foundation she has created to give back to St. Jude Hospital, with thanks for all they did to help Dax. I asked her about the response to the movie. “It’s just been overwhelming, such a blessing. So many people’s lives have changed, their priorities are different. It has been so peaceful for me to know that my son’s life can help other people realize the importance of family and what love is really about,” she told me. “Dax was so strong. He was two and he was sick a lot. But kids don’t sit there and complain like we do. Seeing him so happy and full of life made me a stronger person. He was suffering, truly, but he always wanted to dance and be happy. I tried to let him see me being happy because that’s what he did for me.”

Locke started a blog on the social network Caring Bridge “to cut down on the phone calls” when Dax first got sick. She received over two million comments. “People would write me messages of inspiration and prayers and I could feel the love. It really helped me when I was feeling alone.” She said it was overwhelming to try to care for Dax. She did not have time for anything else. It was the neighbors who spread the word about putting up Christmas decorations and got the whole community involved, “a silent showing of support for us.” They were new to the neighborhood and knew no one in the area, “so it was really powerful.”

She set up a foundation to run St. Jude for one day because “they never charge families. They never worry about the money. They gave me a year and a half with my son that I never would have had. That’s my life mission.” She hopes people who see the movie will be reminded that “it is important to cherish every moment with your family, because that is what life is about. Life not about money or material things; it is about relationships and loving one another and helping one another. I hope people can see in the movie how people did that for me and how it changed my life. It’s such a fulfilling thing in your heart to be able to do that for someone.”

I have a copy of the DVD to give away. Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “Heart” in the subject line and tell me your favorite Christmas ornament. Don’t forget your address! (US addresses only) I’ll pick a winner at random on December 10.

The Face They Deserve: Actresses Who Let Themselves Age Naturally

Posted on November 26, 2012 at 3:54 pm

The Globe and Mail has a great tribute to Dame Judi Dench, who appears as M in “Skyfall.”

There was Judi Dench in her seventh outing as M, James Bond’s boss, the head of MI6, looking like a woman who has spent nearly eight decades on the planet, drinking a bit of scotch and worrying about saving her country from giggly blond megalomaniacs. You may be offended by my use of the word “old,” but only if you equate age with unsightliness, which I don’t. I’m not sure Dame Judi has ever been more beautiful, and that may be because she does not look like a peeled, hardboiled egg or a waxed chipmunk, as so many older actresses do these days. There are pouches at her eyes and her jowls, a fine web of lines near her mouth. She is 77, and we have forgotten what 77 should look like. She looks old, and she looks gorgeous. These two things are not incompatible. In her memoir, And Furthermore, Ms. Dench keeps a diary of her trip to the Oscars in 1998, when she had a best-actress nomination for playing Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown. The diary is titled “Countdown to the Oscars, Or Will I Be the Only Unlifted Face in Hollywood?”

Bravo to Dame Judi and those very, very few brave souls who forego Botox and plastic surgery to show us the beauty of faces that reflect the full lives lived by those behind them –and the full range of expressions of the characters they play. She looks more beautiful every year.

The Real Problem With Movie Bad Guys — Soviet to Chinese to Korean in “Red Dawn”

Posted on November 21, 2012 at 1:54 pm

The 1984 version of “Red Dawn,” starring Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen, had a high school football team defending their town from Communist invading forces. The bad guys were a reflection of the Reagan era: the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

But times have changed. The people behind the remake of “Red Dawn” were faced with the same problem as the producers of the 1940’s radio program “The Green Hornet” who switched the sidekick Kato from Japanese to Korean to Filipino depending on geopolitical events and shifting alliances. Kato was Chinese in the most recent movie version.

The Soviet Union ended in 1991. So, who should be the invaders in the remake? China seemed like a good bet when they shot the film, three years ago (before Chris Hemsworth was Thor and Josh Hutcherson was Peeta). But then the movie’s release was held up because MGM went into bankruptcy. The new distributors realized that China is a very big market for movies — at least for movies that don’t make the Chinese the bad guys. So, they redubbed the dialog and digitally altered the uniforms and insignias of the invading forces to make them North Korean.

“Star Wars” Rumor #1 Is a Great One!

Posted on November 8, 2012 at 11:07 pm

The first rumor following the Disney purchase of Lucasfilms is that the screenplay for the new “Star Wars” movie scheduled for 2015 could be written by Michael Arndt, who wrote “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Toy Story 3.” He would be a superb choice. He came into the “Toy Story” franchise after two spectacularly successful and completely self-contained episodes and came up with a screenplay that was completely true to the spirit of the earlier episodes while adding even greater depth to the story and characters. This is a very good sign! Stay tuned for more updates.

UPDATE 11/10 — it’s been confirmed. This is very good news! Next, wait for an announcement of the director.

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Making a Guest Appearance in “Argo” — My Local Dry Cleaner

Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:00 am

I live near the CIA, so I got a special kick out of seeing our local dry cleaner featured in a brief scene in “Argo.” The building and sign haven’t changed since the 70’s, so it was a perfect touch of authenticity. It may look unprepossessing, but they note on their website that they do cleaning for “The White House, the Observatory (the Vice President’s House), Ford’s Theater, Blair House, the Kennedy Center, the CIA, the Department of Justice, and USA Today.” I asked director Ben Affleck about putting them in the movie. He said:

You know what? I just wanted to use this dry-cleaning, I needed some everyday sort of spot but I want it to be close to the CIA and they said we can use this place, but they won’t let us change the name. I said, “I don’t want to change the name, it’s perfect!” But I have never, in my entire life, gone to a location and had them say, like, because—you slap a sign on it, it’s not a big deal—absolutely has to be the McLean Cleaners. No, although I did like that it was the town, and anyone who knew would know that it was close to, it was showing that it was connected to the CIA but what could be more pedestrian than dry-cleaning?

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