Posted on April 17, 2015 at 8:36 pm
It was a great honor to be included on today’s panel of movie critics, along with superstars Godfrey Cheshire, Scott Foundas, Matt Zoller Seitz, Rebecca Theodore Vachon, Richard Roeper, Susan Wloszczyna, Michael Phillips, Brian Tallarico, and Sam Fragoso.
Posted on April 10, 2015 at 3:55 pm
The cast of this week’s big release, the Nicholas Sparks movie “The Longest Ride,” includes three actors with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars in their family trees. It’s a good reminder to check out some of their best films.
Scott Eastwood plays Luke, the rodeo rider. It is obvious from his face as well as his name that his father is Oscar-winning actor/producer/director Clint Eastwood. Here are three samples from Eastwood’s long and varied career.
Jack Huston plays Ira as a young man in the 1940’s. Houston comes from Hollywood royalty. His grandfather, great-grandfather, and aunt have all won Oscars. What’s really nice is that his grandfather, John Huston, was the director of both the Oscar-winning performances of his father, Walter Huston (in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”) and his daughter, Anjelica Huston (in “Prizzi’s Honor”).
Walter Huston won his Oscar for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”
But my favorite Walter Huston performance is in “Dodsworth.” The look on his face in the last scene is unforgettable.
John Huston directed some of the greatest films of all time, including “The Maltese Falcon,” “Key Largo,” and “The African Queen.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wjIAM0ixzYHe had some memorable acting roles, too, especially in “Chinatown.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPfrCIKhEoAJack’s aunt Anjelica starred in many films including “The Witches,” “The Addams Family” and its sequel, “The Grifters,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
And his uncle Danny starred in television’s “Magic City” and “American Horror Story” and played a key role in Tim Burton’s “Big Eyes.”
Ira’s wife is played by Oona Chaplin, whose grandfather and great-grandfather were two of the greatest talents of the 20th century. Her grandfather was Charlie Chaplin.
She is named for her grandmother, Oona O’Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.
And her mother is Geraldine Chaplin, who appeared in several films, including “Doctor Zhivago.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2EVab2FgLgIra as an old man is played by Alan Alda, who is also the son of a well-known performer, Robert Alda, who originated the role of Skye Masterson in the Broadway musical “Guys and Dolls.” Here he is doing a duet on an old television show.
You can see the progeny of these stars in “The Longest Ride” trailer.
And watch out for more next-generation performers coming soon!
Posted on April 8, 2015 at 3:18 pm
The great director Cecil B. De Mille, known for his grand, lavish epics like Claudette Colbert’s sizzling Cleopatra
How is it that you and your mother happened to go and be on the movie set while the film was being made?
Well mother was his right-hand man from forever and he raised me, I went everywhere with him.
And the sets were already built when you arrived?
Yes, well, they still had the scaffolding so if grandfather wanted to make any change he could. The scaffolding was still there but when we rounded that corner and saw the row of sphinxes it was amazing!
What did you do during the day while they were filming?
Just what I did on every other picture that I was on that he made. Just try to be of help, cart water, soothe people’s nerves, whatever I could do.
What were some of the challenges that he faced filming in Egypt?
The special effects came later but in Hollywood but in Egypt we hired whole tribes with thousands of people. We hired whole tribes out of the desert. They came with their flocks and their wives and their children and their camels and their geese and their water buffalo. And Frank Westmore, who was head of makeup, used to get in at five with with Dorothy Jenkins who did the costumes. I used to meet him on the set at five o’clock and help get everybody made up. Most of them were okay because a lot of the Bedouins dressed just like they did 5000 years ago but if they were wearing a watch I actually had to get it off of them. The Egyptians were wonderful.
Your grandfather became ill during the filming I understand.
He did, he had a major heart attack but it would have been a publicity nightmare to say that, so he said it was just a bout of dysentery and mother took over and directed the film. He never missed a day on the set. He knew if he wasn’t there it would be news so he went and sat quietly behind the camera and mother made all the decisions. Mother and Loyal Griggs, his cinematographer made all the decisions and after a week he felt stronger though very weak still and very skinny and then he recovered his strength and went back to Hollywood and he continued and made the film.
Did you spend any time with the lead actors?
Oh sure, I mean they were all friends Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston were the ones that went there. They were wonderful anything they could do to help. Everybody just pitched in. When Yul walked in a room he would just make some kind of statement and everybody would look at him, he was just that imposing. He wasn’t a really tall guy but he had a gorgeous build with great body and worked out, very handsome man; spoke three or four or five languages. He read constantly, very intelligent, he was an artiste. He was just a really nice guy to be around. You know I’ve known actors all my life, both actors and actresses and usually they are almost with no exception, they are just really nice people. Charlton Heston was a very good friend of mine and of the family. Chuck was very straight, very studious, he walked around with all the books on Moses he could find reading everything he could read about the life and times of Moses. He wanted to know what it was like to be there then. And he had many talks with Egyptologists and people that were familiar with that era. How would he act? What would he be seeing? He did that with every film, Chuck was like that when he played Michelangelo and Ben Hur, he always wanted to know everything.
And you worked with the camels? How was that?
Camels are kind of cranky but they are ok. They are fun to ride. But it is a rocky ride. The roughest ride was in the chariot. Chuck Heston took me for a ride in the chariot. I tell you I hung onto him with my life because there are no shock absorbers. But he loved it.
Tell me about the book.
Mark Viera<img src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=nellminowthemovi&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" / has have been after me for some time to write that and I finally thought, "Why am I doing saying no?" I have all these wonderful archives that nobody has ever seen. I mean the art and the photographs. You know it weighs over 6 pounds and it sold out in four months. We are on the second printing and we are going to into a third. They did such a beautiful job on this book it is spectacular, of all the reviews we have had not one has been a bad review. They’ve all been over the top. Not even one criticism of anything in that book of all the reviews we have had.
I think what the book is about, it’s about certainly De Mille and how he made movies. De Mille was a modern-day Medici which doesn’t happen now. He brought in artists from all over the world, costume, jewelry, painters, everything from all over the world. He would tell them the story from his perspective and let them go. He didn’t want to tell them what to paint; he wanted them to tell him the new ideas. I have and we show in the book a concept drawing and this happens all the time, an artist would bring a concept drawing for the scene and he would film that scene exactly as that artist had shown. Where does the light come for the drama? These guys were brilliant and he knew they were brilliant. He wanted their ideas and used them. That is why when he accepted the Academy Award he said, “Pictures aren’t made by one man.” He said film is a collaborative art form and he was very well aware of all that.
My grandfather raised me. I moved in with him at seven and when I could dress myself he took me everywhere that he went, everywhere. And I bring those stories that nobody’s heard or knows about the actors we knew, about what he was thinking about all that and just fun stuff.
What made your grandfather want to oversee such enormous and complicated productions?
He was in his element doing that. People loved working with him and he worked with the same people over and over. He knew how to work with crowds. He could have 1000 extras and make it work. On the set if he didn’t think extras were giving the performances he wanted, he would pick one guy out that was just not paying attention and get him and say, “What are you doing? You have to act!” and be rough on him and then he might call him at the end of the day and say, “Look, I chose you and I’m going to give you more parts in this.”
And people love the films. One year, ABC didn’t run it and they called me and said, “We have never received more letters in our lifetime that we received because we didn’t show “The Ten Commandments.” I get letters saying, “The only time my teenage son will sit down with me is to watch “The Ten Commandments.” So you know it’s a lasting, wonderful thing.
Is that your favorite of his films?
I love The Sign of the Cross
And I understand you are still sending checks to people who worked with him.
Yes I am. you know he did something unusual twice when Joe Pew who had the Pew foundation. Joe Pew was a friend of his and a very wealthy man and they put a great deal of money in the making of The King of Kings
What do you miss the most about that era of Hollywood?
The studio system of course is gone as it should be gone because actors should be able to call their own shots. But if you have a good studio head, like Paramount was at that time with Barney Balaban and Jesse Lasky, it was like a family. People got along, they all backed up each other. You know, it’s an absolute cut throat business today.
Posted on April 7, 2015 at 8:32 pm
I had a blast talking all things Cinderella on Movie Addict Headquarters with Betty Jo Tucker, Mack Bates, and A.J. Hakari. Who’s the best evil stepmother? What little-known versions of the story should you be sure to see? And who’s right about Cinderfella
Posted on March 30, 2015 at 3:54 pm
A movie that’s already been done three times (at least) may just get yet another remake if the rumors are true that Bradley Cooper will direct and Beyoncé will appear in “A Star is Born.” The original 1937 version
The second version starred Judy Garland and James Mason
The third version starred Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson
Reportedly, Streisand begged Elvis to take the role of the fading rock star. That would have been something to see.
There are similar and related films, including the 1932 film “What Price Hollywood?” directed by George Cukor. Though he grumbled that the story was plagiarized from “What Price Hollywood?” he also directed the Judy Garland version. International adaptations include the Bollywood film “Aashiqui 2” and the Malayalam film “Bharatham.” Reportedly, the idea for “Nashville” came from a comment on a proposed country version of “A Star is Born” that unlike movie stars and rock stars, country stars never fade.
