Patrick McDonald

Interview: Debbie Reynolds Dishes on Her Lucky Star Career

PatrickMcD — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:04:46 -0700

CHICAGO – Debbie Reynolds, who began her movie star journey as a teenager during another show biz era, made her big splash in 1952’s “Singin’ in the Rain.” What followed was a long and varied career as a singer, dancer and respected film actress.

Born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, she lucked into her career by winning a beauty contest, which included a contract with Warner Brothers. Making her debut in “June Bride,” she also scored a charted hit with the song “Aba Daba Honeymoon.”

Following her big break in Singin’ in the Rain, she worked steadily for the next several decades in film, stage and Las Vegas revue. Notable films include “Tammy,” The Tender Trap,” “The Catered Affair,” “How the West was Won,” “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “Mother.”

Besides her long run in the movies, Reynolds is prominent as the mother of “Star Wars” Princess Leia – Carrie Fisher – through her first marriage with singer Eddie Fisher. She has also helped preserve Hollywood history with one of the largest private film memorabilia collections in the world.

She is Our Lucky Star: Debbie Reynolds in Chicago, November 6th, 2009
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago caught up with the legendary star as she made an appearance at the Hollywood Palms in Naperville, Illinois, introducing Singin’ in the Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. She spoke candidly about the films, the husbands and the litany of family secrets through the filter of daughter Carrie Fisher.

HollywoodChicago.com: You were thrust into the spotlight at a very early age. Was that a natural place for you to be or did it take awhile for you to catch up with it?

Debbie Reynolds: Goodness, it took me awhile to catch up with it, because I began as a true beginner, not knowing how to dance or perform. I just entered a local contest in town as a joke, because if you entered you got a free blouse and scarf. We were rather poor back then so those things were great to get if I just entered, I never expected to win. I did, thank God, make a very big mistake and did win. And that started me on a new path and into show business.

HC: You were literally a teenager when you joined the storm front of Gene Kelly and Singin’ in the Rain. Looking at it today, which scenes in the film do you make Gene Kelly look better?

DR: (Laughs) I don’t think anything I could ever do could make Gene Kelly look better than he was. Gene Kelly was a great dancer and I was lucky to be in Singin’ in the Rain. He was my teacher when I was 17 years old, when he was a man of 37. He taught me everything.

Donald O’Connor was in the film also, and he was only 27 years old. So we were closer in age and had more fun together on the set. Gene was more my teacher and mentor.

HC: I’ve read that Frank Sinatra was infamous for only wanting to do one take. Did you experience any of that method during the filming of ‘The Tender Trap?’

DR: Yes, one take, so you better be ready and you better be good. One take and that was it. It was something that was spontaneous. Sid Caesar and Jackie Gleason was like that as well.

HC: Did you have a good relationship with Frank Sinatra?

DR: Very much so, I love Frank, he was wonderful. Just don’t get on his bad side (laughs). I wouldn’t have wanted to marry him. But I probably should have since I married idiots anyway (laughs).

HC: You co-starrred with the legendary Bob Fosse the 1953 film ‘The Affairs of Dobie Gillis.’ What did you think of his later and more notorious success, including his style of choreography and the way he directed film?

DR: Well, Bobby was very difficult to work with, he wanted to be a big star at MGM, but it was the end of making musical movies then. So the heads of the studios, like Louis B. Mayer, were not of the mind to create another star.

So Bobby left and went to New York City to be a choreographer and created brilliant work. But he was a temperamental fellow, it was his way or the highway. I always found that kind of hard, and even though Gene Kelly was also a taskmaster, Bobby was tougher.

HC: How difficult a challenge as an actor was it to do the Cinerama film ‘How the West was Won?’ Were the technical aspects of camera placement and movement hard to get used to?

DR: Yes, very hard, because it was a three cameras technique, meaning three cameras wide. Therefore you’re not speaking to your fellow performer, you are speaking to a camera, or a line next to the camera. It was difficult to do, because its not real acting. You had to pretend that you were ‘seeing’ Agnes Moorhead or Jimmy Stewart or Carroll Baker. You were not, you were seeing a line.

It took me personally two years to make the film, because my character starts at age 16 and I end up being 92 years old in the film. By the end of that production, I was ready for bed (laughs).

HC: You’ve had some experience on the Broadway stage. What do you appreciate about the live stage and how does doing live performance differ from screen acting?

DR: Live is exciting, live is real, the people are there. It is very rewarding to walk out on stage and feel love and reception. I still perform live primarily. I just keep traveling and doing live shows.

The main difference in film, you know in your mind that you are doing it for posterity, you are doing for the eventual audience and it will be around forever. But when I was around doing theater in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s you weren’t allowed to film any of the plays that you did, it was against union rules. It was a stupid law, because so much is lost. We now have no recollection of these famous plays, it was very narrow-minded thinking.

HC: When you were appearing in Las Vegas in the early 1960s, besides the smaller size of the town itself what was different about the experience and atmosphere of Vegas in those days?

DR: Thrilling, exciting, it was very Parisian. For example, years ago nudity was not done in the United States. But during that late 1950s era in Vegas it began at the Tropicana, and spread to the other venues. Now the showgirls are going away again and Cirque du Soleil, the magic acts and the beasty acts reign in Vegas. But I don’t think you’ll completely lose the boobie shows (laughs). I think men like the boobie shows. Vegas will always be Vegas.

HC: You are a consummate collector of Hollywood memorabilia.. What was your personal favorite piece and why? Did you save anything from ‘Singin’ in the Rain?’

DR: I have the largest private collection in the world. I have over 5000 costumes, and the furniture and memorabilia that goes with them. Singin’ in the Rain I bought most of the costumes – the ‘Fit as a Fiddle’ costumes and the ‘Make Them Laugh’ Donald O’Connor outfits and the ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’ clothes we danced in.

My favorite is the white dress Marilyn Monroe wore in the subway breeze scene in “The Seven Year Itch.” But I also have a pair of ruby red slippers from the “Wizard of Oz’ and Dorothy’s gingham dress…and on and on.

I saved as much as I could and still do, because people are interested in it.

The Unsinkable Debbie Reynolds with Patrick McDonald in Chicago, November 6th, 2009
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HC: Did you have a relationship with Marilyn Monroe? Was she as difficult as she has been made out to be?

DR: You only know what you read. You didn’t know her. The people who talk about her didn’t know her either. She was a very sweet girl, she was a very innocent girl. She was taken advantage of by most of the men that knew her, including Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio, whom I also knew very well. DiMaggio was quite mean to her when they were married. But after she died, he did tend to her grave, which made up for it.

But Marilyn was really mistreated. Near the end, she was badly treated by Fox Studios, during the ‘Let’s Make Love’ film shoot in 1960, they threw her off the set because she had a cold. She was a bit temperamental, a little diva-like, but she didn’t deserve what she got.

And certainly not at the time of her death, because I’m a big believer that she was killed. My belief also is that she actually passed away long before she should have left us. She was a great talent who didn’t deserve what she ultimately got.

HC: Tell me about playing the title role in Albert Brook’s ‘Mother.’ Were you modeling the character after someone you knew or through Brook’s interpretation of his story and life?

DR: I think it was Albert’s mother and everyone else’s mother, including myself as a mother. I’m not a cook and I always stick everything in the freezer and then I leave things out, saying ‘if it’s good today it will be good tomorrow.’ (laughs)

Albert wrote the script and Albert interpreted everything about it. I hope I did well by the role. I loved doing the part.

HC: Your daughter Carrie Fisher is currently in a one woman show talking about herself in relationship to your family. Is her type of honesty the best policy for sharing family history?

DR: Well, you don’t tell Carrie a secret, because it will in a script or a book. So if you have a secret, keep it to yourself. But she is a great writer and very funny, and she takes things that are funny and makes them funnier.

Every secret gets known to the world. The show she is doing now, ‘Wishful Drinking’ is very funny and a huge success on Broadway. It’s very sophisticated show, it’s about family and Hollywood, about Hollywood ‘royalty’ like Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, all that nonsense. And all the other gossip.

It’s a kick of a show, great fun and highly entertaining.

The Hollywood Palms in Naperville has upcoming programs with Tony Curtis, introducing “Some Like it Hot” on December 5th and 6th. Also Karolyn Grimes, who played “ZuZu” in “It’s a Wonderful LIfe,” will introduce that film on December 18th and 19th. Click here for information and details.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Sandra Bullock, Strong Script Bring Clarity to ‘The Blind Side’

PatrickMcD — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:20:50 -0700

CHICAGO – “Based on a True Story” films are difficult to pull off, especially those that are the improbable story of a white Memphis family adopting an African American football prodigy. Sandra Bullock is the mother, through it all, in “The Blind Side.”

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The football-themed title refers to protecting the quarterback’s blind side, the area where he can’t see a defensive linebacker coming. Symbolically, it also describes the life of Michael Ohr (an exceptional Quinton Aaron), a Memphis teenager who is discovered to be homeless by the Tuohy family, and is taken in by the firecracker Mom, Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock).

Michael’s blind side is his past, a difficult road of negative parentage and squalid conditions. The shelter that the wealthy Tuohy family gives him is almost too much for him, much as the private school a previous mentor managed to get him into.

”The Blind Side” opens everywhere November 20th. Featuring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Kathy Bates, Ray McKinnon and several real college coaches, and is directed by John Lee Hancock. Rated “PG-13”

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “The Blind Side”

Stranger in a Strange Land: Quinton Aaron as Michael Ohr in ‘The Blind Side’
Photo credit: Ralph Nelson for Warner Bros. Pictures

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “The Blind Side”

Interview: Rodney Walker of ‘Ten9Eight’ on the American Dream

PatrickMcD — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:26:59 -0700

CHICAGO – With U.S. high school dropout rates at epic proportions, the new documentary “Ten9Eight” highlights a teaching program and competition for poorer, immigrant and at-risk students. One of those students is Chicagoan Rodney Walker.

“Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon” is the full title of the film directed by Mary Mazzio, that is getting a special nationwide screening through the AMC Theater chain in eight cities through November 19th. The film documents inner city high school students in competition, as they go through the steps leading up to the finals of the annual business plan contest sponsored by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

Rodney Walker, a Chicago native, was one of the finalists in the NFTE competition, which pits high school students from all over the country to present goods and services as viable businesses. Walker started a wedding video/music business, another contestant has vegetarian dog treats and yet another makes photosensitive football masks. It not only involves the business or product itself, but all the mechanics and dollar estimates that the competitors put before a panel of expert judges.

Rodney Walker and Business Partner Gabriel Echoles in ‘Ten9Eight’
Photo credit: Richard Schultz for 50 Eggs Films

HollywoodChicago talked to Rodney Walker, who also narrates the film, about his particular journey within the competition and why his difficult childhood actually inspired him to create a better life for himself.

HollywoodChicago.com: What do you think this film will accomplish regarding inspiring people who will see it?

Rodney Walker: For the most part, this film will show other kids from all places that there is power in being an entrepreneur, and what that can do. And how that entrepreneurial power can influence education. It stresses building a business and how that can effect a future.

HC: Describe your relationship with director Mary Mazzio. How did she keep the cameras out of your way and why did she choose you to narrate the film?

RW: I never asked her personally why she chose me (laughs), but it was a privilege. She first met me in Chicago when I placed first in the citywide competition for the NFTE. She was profiling the presentations. So I suppose she chose me because I have a great sense in my presentations and that would serve a purpose for the film.

HC: What specifically did you learn from talking to the judges in the entrepreneurial competition finals about the realities of the business you presented?

RW: Pertaining to my business and their feedback I was privileged to make it to finals. I didn’t expect it, or even close to it. There wasn’t as much innovation in my business, it is a video production business. It was something that I presented passionately because it is what I love to do.

HC: As a videographer yourself, what did you learn about shooting footage and composing a movie through your experience in Ten9Eight?

RW: The more I produced videos for the purpose of my business plan, the better I got at it. That really help me further develop my skills as a video producer.

HC: Describe your relationship with your business partner, Gabe Echoles. How did it develop from a friendship to using his music as a basis for your business?

RW: I didn’t feel video production was enough to propel me in the competition, until I thought of a way to specialize it. At the same time, Gabe wanted to specialize his music side. So he felt the best way to do that was with video and I thought it would be with music. That’s how we developed the business.

HC: You describe yourself as a scholar. Who or what inspired you to move past your difficult childhood and seek education as an alternative to create a better life?

RW: It came from me understanding that education is the foundation to my life, it is the single most determining factor as to how far I will go. The NFTE inspired me and helped me recognize that.

I could have not made it through the competitions without the feeling of importance, that I was at the center of things. When you feel like that, it gives you a sense of motivation. It gives you the feeling of ‘I can do this.’ And if I could do good in this, I can do good in anything.

Director Mary Mazzio of ‘Ten9Eight’
Photo credit: Richard Schultz for 50 Eggs Films

HC: At 20 years old you have lived a lifetime of experiences that people three times your age can’t even imagine. How do you think that will prepare you for the next stage in your life?

RW: My mentor has always told me that one day my struggles will prepare me for greatness. He also emphasized staying humble your experiences and learning from your experiences.

HC: How do you connect with the early civil rights struggles of 50 years ago and do you think that America will ever become a “post-racial” country?

RW: America will be as racist as we make it. The more you focus on something, the more it will come to you, I strongly believe in this fact. The more you try to avoid something, the faster it will come right back at you. If you focus on the positive things, if you emphasize the positive things, that is what will come about. As it relates to civil rights and the movements, instead of keeping the war we’ve got to make peace with the solutions. That is how we will bring about true change.

HC: With your entrepreneurial background, how are you approaching college differently than the other kids in your class?

RW: I think what I do differently is that when I’m faced with challenges and when I’m faced with expectations, I always have this willingness to overcome all my obstacles and challenges. I am very patient, with a sense of patience as I work through college and my education.

HC: How did the election of Barack Obama effect your friends and family? What surprised you most about his election and about President Obama as man?

RW: The history is compelling and motivational. It showed my family and friends how far we have come as a nation. But for their own progress it didn’t do too much for them. It didn’t do anything.

The fact that an individual can go through so much human struggle and still be a success is what inspired me most about President Barack Obama.

”Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon” has a limited release in eight cities at AMC Theaters through November 19th. Click here for participating theaters and DVD information. Featuring Rodney Walker, Jessica Cervantes, Macalee Harris and Amanda Loyola, directed by Mary Mazzio.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Creator Jared Hess Scores With ‘Gentlemen Broncos’

PatrickMcD — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:34:35 -0700

CHICAGO - Writer/Director Jared Hess’ universe, where obscure pop culture references and strange survivors abide, gets another workout with the spontaneously funny “Gentlemen Broncos,” which also features Mike White and Jennifer Coolidge.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Gentlemen Broncos features the affable Michael Angarano as Benjamin, a science fiction nerd with a penchant for creating his own intergalactic stories. His widowed mother, Judith (Jennifer Coolidge) is his biggest cheerleader, but is racked with bi-polar bouts of crying in conjunction with a fledgling designer nightgown business. When she sends Benjamin away to a sci-fi writing camp, it puts into motion the next phase of their lives.

At the camp Benjamin meets Tabatha (Halley Feiffer), a perplexing fellow nerdling who vaguely takes a shine to him. She reads his stories of Bronco, a sci-fi action hero who is searching for his lost testicle. Bronco is a lusty adventurer, who rides bucks (male deer) that can shoot laser beams. His writings also come to the attention of his author hero, Rob Decker (Jemaine Clement), who recognizes his talent by stealing his story for publication.

Back at home, Benjamin must contend with his new found friendship with Tabatha, selling the movie rights for his story to a untalented director named Lonnie (Héctor Jiménez), and his new best friend/guardian angel, Dusty (Mike White).

”Gentlemen Broncos” opens in Chicago November 13, 2009, with a limited release elsewhere. Check local listings for theaters and times. Featuring Michael Angarano, Jennifer Coolidge, Halley Feiffer, Héctor Jiménez, Mike White and Sam Rockwell, directed by Jared Hess. Rated “PG-13.”

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Gentlemen Broncos”

Buckin’ Bronco: Sam Rockwell in ‘Gentlemen Broncos’
Photo credit: Seth Smoot for Fox Searchlight

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Gentlemen Broncos”

DVD Review: For Veterans Day, ‘The 95th’ Honors World War II Soldiers

PatrickMcD — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:57:57 -0700

CHICAGO – As Veterans Day approaches on November 11th, the generation that fought in World War 2 are dying off with each passing day. “The 95th: The Iron Men of Metz” profiles those few good men left, so that they can tell their story.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

The 95th refers to the 95th Infantry Division, a World War Two army sector that was under the command of General George S. Patton. Their assignment? Bring down the German stronghold of Metz, a heavily fortified city in the northeast region of France. Their eventual liberation of the city, fraught with heavy casualties, earned them the nickname “The Iron Men of Metz” and the “Bravest of the Brave.”

WWII-era Uniform with the 95th Infantry Division Insignia
Photo credit: SoldiersandSailors.us

Four veterans of the division – Steve Finik, Nick Fusco, Chuck Wood and Paul Madden – tell their stories throughout the documentary, adding personal recollections to the broader scope of footage depicting their march into the heavily fortified German occupied city of Metz, and their orders to take it by force.

What was captivating about the stories was the surprising perspective that each veteran revealed. The film starts out with the flat assertion by Steve Finik that “war is just senseless,” and that the killing is “just not right,” and this was the supposed “Good War.” Phrases like “legal killing” and “there is the right way, and then the army way” are peppered throughout the reminiscences and adds a dash of real grit to what-did-you-do-in-the-war-daddy type of recollection.

There was also a nice reminder that in the time of war during the era, the guys that went over there weren’t necessarily the gung-ho types. Nick Fusco was in the engineering corp and couldn’t imagine himself as a killing element. His story of fraternizing with the German girls was telling because (as he said) he will willing to risk it for a little break in the action.

Giving these men the opportunity to tell their stories, some for the first time, gives a viewpoint on the strange alchemy of putting 18-year old neophytes, slapping a green uniform on each, outfitting them with a weapon and telling them to “take that town.” Chuck Wood was most elementary about the reflections of war, choosing when he first came home not to talk about it because, there was no one who could understand without having gone through it. He also hoped that he hadn’t killed anyone, but he wasn’t sure.

It was those pragmatic vulnerabilities that were most poignant in the re-telling, for it reflects an honesty about both the purpose of a war and the victims that are part of the circumstance.

DVD Cover of ‘The 95th: The Iron Men of Metz’
Photo credit: The95thMovie.com

Director Davidson Cole gives the documentary a nice balance between the interviews and archival photos/film of World War II. With more time passing and more veterans doing the same, it is good to put some context to that grainy black and white film that often represents the entire war. The filmmakers found rare footage of training, equipment examples and actual Metz newsreel sequences to fortify the look back by the surviving veterans.

Music from the era seemingly covered all the emotions of the era. Besides using standards such as “This is the Army, Mr. Jones” and the Big Band Swing, chestnuts like “Der Fuehrer’s Face” and “Dear Mom” gave in to a sense of time and place, with a context that evoked feeling as well as nostalgia.

The film climaxes with the four men traveling back to France, participating in the 55th anniversary of the Metz liberation in 1999. Like the rest of the film, it is a honest recitation of the hellish conditions they had to face, with a poignant scene in a cemetery with its infinite rows of white crosses that adds to the sense of enormous loss. Chuck Wood even remembered that one of those crosses owed him 10 bucks.

Its easy to forget, after almost three generations removed, that over 416,000 military deaths occurred during World War 2. The 95th Infantry Division itself suffered over 10,000 casualties during the conflict. This documentary honors the survivors in old age, but at the same time acknowledges the sacrifice of those who didn’t get the privilege to age.

“We gave hell, and we took hell…If you’re gonna fight be the winner, don’t be the loser, because then you’ve got big trouble. You lost a lot of men and you gained nothing.” veteran Steve Finik of the 95th Infantry, in a DVD extra interview.

”The 95th: The Iron Men of Metz” is available on DVD and features interviews with Steve Finik, Nick Fusco, Chuck Wood and Paul Madden, directed by Davidson Cole. DVD extras include archival footage, a tour of Metz and additional interviews. Click here for more information.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Art World Bares its Soul in Adam Goldberg’s Superlative ‘(Untitled)’

PatrickMcD — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:57:21 -0700

CHICAGO – One of the best and most exciting surprises of the 2009 film year is a smaller, claustrophobic film starring Adam Goldberg and set in the art gallery world of New York City. “(Untitled)” is an honest, uncompromising character study.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Taking its name from the practice of inscribing artwork with no label at all, (Untitled) involves three people, two who are practicing artists and one who owns a small Soho art gallery. Adrian (Adam Goldberg) is a composer of atonal symphonies – think using buckets and chains for sounds instead of harmonics – and although recognized as a significant craftsman he still needs to supplement his living by providing piano atmosphere in a haughty bistro.

His brother Josh (Eion Bailey) is a “successful” artist, having found a niche market selling his works to decorate hotel lobbies and corporate hallways. He is the biggest income generator for Madeleine (a revelatory Marley Shelton), who owns a small but cutting edge gallery. Embarrassed that she has to rely on Josh’s commercial work to stay afloat, she coyly hides his work in the back when clients come to call.

When Madeleine sees Adrian perform one of his symphonies, she not only gets a commission for him but takes him on as a lover. When the three attitudes of the principal characters collide – Adrian’s outsider inclination, Josh’s desperate need for artistic credibility and Madeleine’s blind worship of the next edgy art happening – the very question of who decides what art can be is philosophically rendered.

”(Untitled)” opens in Chicago November 6th, in limited release elsewhere. Check local listings for theaters. Featuring Adam Goldberg, Marley Shelton, Eion Bailey and Vinnie Jones, directed by Jonathan Parker. Rated “R” Click here for the HollywoodChicago interview with Adam Goldberg of Untitled.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “(Untitled)”

Adam Goldberg as Adrian in ‘(Untitled)’
Photo credit: Parker Film Company/Samuel Goldwyn Films

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “ (Untitled)”

Interview: Director Lee Daniels, Star Gabourey Sidibe on ‘Precious’

PatrickMcD — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:15:47 -0700

CHICAGO – One of the most talked about films this year is the Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey backed “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.” Essential to the film is Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the title character of Precious.

Precious is the story of an overweight African American teenager in 1987 Harlem, who is about to have her second child. Rejected by almost every element of social order, including her immediate family, Precious is a story of survival in a world where certain people remain invisible.

Gabourey Sidbide as Precious and Paula Patton as Ms. Rain in ‘Precious’
Photo credit: © Lionsgate

During the Chicago International Film Festival in October, HollywoodChicago got to interview Gabourey Sidibe, along with her director Lee Daniels. Both participants in this one-of-a-kind production brought their perspective on the journey of both Precious and themselves.

HollywoodChicago.com: Lee, this is by far one of the hottest and most talked about films of the year. Can you describe the path of the main players that got involved in this film and why it resonated with them so much as to get this film in the mainstream?

Lee Daniels: It was really an angel. Ally Sheedy’s mother gave me the book to read. It blew me away, it rocked my soul, it stuck to me like hot grits. But the author at first wouldn’t give me the rights to the book. I kept stalking her, and she finally gave me the book.

Most of the talent I gave the Geoffrey Fletcher adapted screenplay to already knew the story from the novel. And even if they didn’t, they read the script and it stuck to them in the same way. It all starts with the word. And the word was so powerful that it trickled down to everyone involved in the production.

HC: Gabby, I saw that you had read the novel that the film is based on years before. What was the first thing you felt about Precious in relationship to yourself when you read the script?

Gabourey Sidibe: I felt like I knew her, certainly. I felt like I was related to her, she was a family member, a friend. But Precious is a person I didn’t really want to be a friend with, she had a little too much drama. But I did feel guilty because the point of Precious is that she did feel neglected and ignored. And I’ve been part of the people who have neglected and ignored her. That guilt opened my heart, and I felt so much more compassion for her.

HC: Lee, there were actors in your film playing against their glamorous types to find the truth within the story. Were there any difficulties with these actors – Mo’Nique, Mariah C. and Sherri Shepard in particular – finding these characters because they are so outside their usual lives?

LD: No. Because under it all they are all actors. And they are also very good friends. When you have actors that believe in you, that have really given their spirit to play with, and they trust you, and you trust them, it shows on screen.

They gave me their respect and trust. When actors give you their spirit you owe it back to them.

HC: Gabby, how did you and Mo’Nique – playing Precious’ mother Mary – communicate in your electric scenes together? What connection do you think Precious and Mary have, beyond their very difficult circumstances?

GS: Precious and Mary are enemies in a lot of ways. What people don’t see is that Precious loves her Mother, she is the only Mother that she has ever known. She wants a better life now only for herself, but also for her Mother. While she doesn’t understand all the abuse that Mary has handed to her, she still loves her.

In their apartment, though, they are enemies. Because Precious has never heard a kind word from Mary, she is always getting the worst part of her mother. And that defines the relationship between them on screen.

But Mo’Nique and Gabby have a completely different relationship, because we had to. The scenes between Precious and Mary are so intense, angry and emotional that Mo’Nique and I had to love each other double in order to survive the day. In the film she would throw a frying pan at me, Lee would yell ‘cut,’ and then we would hug. And dance. And sing.

Mo’Nique as Mary in ‘Precious’
Photo credit: © Lionsgate

HC: How important is it to tell stories like this to society in general? What revelations do you think will be communicated in regard to this level of poverty, especially of the spirit, in this subsection of the African American community?

LD: It’s not just the African American community. It is a social economic issue that effects all of the underprivileged. Precious is a universal story, it is through me, an African American filmmaker, that the story is told. But when it was a play on the West End of London, the entire cast was white.

We are all Precious, but it just so happened to be that I stuck to the book’s story. It is important to hit home that the ‘Preciouses” of society are not forgotten. It is important to note that today, unlike the 1987 that the story is told in, that people don’t fall through the cracks like they used to. It is a different world, but there are those that still get away with abuse.

The film is about abuse, but it also is about the will to survive. Also literacy, the power of the word and looking at yourself in the mirror and loving yourself, this is how deep Precious goes.

HC: Gabby, there is so much survival instinct that have to be learned at a young age in Precious’ circumstance. What survival instincts do you have in common with Precious?

GS: I have a lot, I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Harlem in New York. We probably have a lot of the same survival instincts. When Precious first meets Ms. Rain [Paula Patton] she doesn’t trust her at first. She doesn’t believe in trusting people, and that is a very New York instinct. That is something I know – never trust a stranger. I relate that completely back to Precious.

HC: You were involved with Monster’s Ball and now Precious. Both dealt with African American women. Since historically in the race, matriarchs are very high status and responsibility in family structure, how do the stories of Leticia and Precious provide understanding to this very important gender?

LD: I don’t agree that African American women have any different status than any other women. When we were at Sundance, a 70-year old Japanese lady started bawling in my hands, crying. I would have agreed with you about African American women in particular before I did this film, but we have been around the world and the story is about women in general, and their mechanism to survive.

When I started out making this, I thought it was about black women and in the end it changed my view about all women.

HC: Gabby, the facial expressions that you decided on for Precious, the blank mask that defined her, was that a natural expression for you or did you have to find it for the character?

GS: (laughs) We called it the ‘One Face.’ The funny thing is that when I’m bored or in a daydream, it’s a family trait. We purse our lips out like that [demonstrates]. When you’re on a film set, waiting, and Lee saw me through the lens naturally going to that face, he said ‘that’s it, that face!’ And I said what? And he said make that face again. I didn’t want to because it was ugly (laughs). Lee said, ‘it’s not ugly, do it!’ When the rest of my family sees this film, they are going to fall out because it’s a family trait to do that expression.

LD: The expression is honest. Oftentimes I’d let the camera roll after I said cut and then I would try to find the truth in what the girls were doing. When they were just being and then capture it. Then I’d say do that, right now. Because that is the truth, and that’s what I wanted to capture.

Director Lee Daniels, Gabourey Sidibe and Patrick McDonald in Chicago, October 14, 2009.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

HC: Lee, what advantages do Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey give to the representation of African American and general American spirit? Is it some ways equal to Barack Obama on another level?

LD: Yes. I would be embarrassed to bring my Mother, for example, to meet Tyler Perry ever, because she would probably jump him, she loves him so much (laughs). She lives for him. He has that effect on black Americans. We idolize him for what he has done, what he has built, with his entertainment empire.

And the same thing with Oprah. Outside of being really sexy, she is just a Goddess, a Goddess that walks on air.

HC: Last Question for Gabby. What do you want Precious to represent for other “Precious” type girls in the poverty and hopelessness areas of cities and towns in this country?

GS: Certainly hope. The thing about Precious is that life keeps throwing things at her and hitting her in the face. But she never lies down. Even the one time it looked like she was going to, Ms. Rain tells her to continue, and she does.

She is a warrior, and her only weapon is hope. Hope for the future, hope for a better life. And she keeps moving toward it. And that is what I want people to take away. You can never count yourself out. Never.

”Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” has a limited release on November 6th. Check local listings for theaters. Featuring Gabourey Sibide, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd and Lenny Kravitz, directed by Lee Daniels. Rated “R”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Interview: Adam Goldberg on the Art of Performance in ‘(Untitled)’

PatrickMcD — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:30:39 -0700

CHICAGO – The Adam Goldberg character is well known to fans of TV’s “Friends” and the movie’s “Saving Private Ryan.” With his heart-on-his-sleeve persona, he takes that character to rarified heights in the new film “(Untitled).”

Set in the galleries and small symphony halls of New York City, (Untitled) is a deeply philosophical look at the nature of art, through three characters who each believe they understand the essence of what art is within themselves.

Adam Goldberg plays Adrian, a composer of atonal symphonies, whose work continues to go unrecognized. His brother Josh (Eion Bailey), is a successful painter of hotel decor-style art, who longs to be recognized for more. Rounding out the triad is Madelaine (Marley Shelton), the arty and pretentious gallery owner who strives for the next atmospheric happening.

Adam Goldberg as Adrian and Marley Shelton as Madeleine in ‘(Untitled)’
Photo credit: Parker Film Company/Samuel Goldwyn Films

HollywoodChicago got the opportunity to talk to Adam Goldberg about this challenging and enlightening film, and his perspective provides further insights into this substantial release.

HollywoodChicago.com: You essentially played a darker, deeper variation on a character that you are known for, the twitchy neurotic intellectual type. How did your past work with that character type help you in relationship to your portrayal of Adrian?

Adam Goldberg: There were definitely certain aspects of myself that I needed to amplify for this film, and other aspects that I needed to turn down. It was a tuning process to find a balance, because there are definitely certain things I can relate to about Adrian and other things that were hyperbolized. However, after I read the script, I felt that the character was clearly defined.

HC: There is an uncompromising grace in arc of all the characters in (Untitled), a rare feat. Do you feel that you, your fellow actors and the rest of the production crew dug deeper within the material because it was so strong?

AG: In situation with films like this you don’t have as much time, and not as much money, but I’ve found that most people are there because they want to be there, as opposed to it just being a paying gig.

In a uniform sense the people involved were trying to tap as much as they possibly could in themselves. And the director, too, hired everyone because he knew they were going to be good. It turned out to be a very collaborative process. There wasn’t a lot of rehearsal or a lot of time, but there was a lot of discussion in tracking the character’s arcs.

With all the characters there are no definitive didactic statements. Their development is about walking the line and staying true to the character, but at the same time poking holes in the armor so the audience can see some vulnerability and what’s going on in them. In my character of Adrian, it was a minor shift. I had lots of discussion, for example, about how he wouldn’t smile.

Sibling Rivals: Eion Bailey as Josh and the Unsmiling Adam Goldberg in ‘(Untitled)’
Photo credit: Parker Film Company/Samuel Goldwyn Films

HC: (Untitled) is very poignant in showing the truth in staying true to one’s self in artistic expression, despite the pain it sometimes causes. How did you relate this to your character Adrian in the early readings of the script?

AG: In a sense, he is too true to his atonal musicianship, cutting off the harmony to spite his face. He on the one hand believes in what he is doing and on the other hand questions it. He stubbornly stands by his atonal self even though it is shown he is capable of playing beautiful melodies.

He overcompensates for his point of view in an effort to defend it. Ultimately the lesson in the film in part is that you can only end up doing what you do and being yourself. If that ends up being minimalist atonal cacophony so be it. But maybe it also means it’s okay to be successful. Some sort of mainstream acceptance does not equate to a lack of artistic integrity.

HC: We see a New York City in this film that is less familiar and more claustrophobic than usual screen portrayals. What was director Jonathan Parker communicating with this scenic approach?

AG: My sense from the very beginning was that although this is New York City, present day, that there was kind of other worldly feel to it. Adrian, for example, somehow has the last affordable bohemian apartment left in Soho. It’s a holdover from the old days.

Also the world the art gallery characters live in is a bubble world. Adrian’s bubble is even smaller. Although you can identify the area as New York City, it isn’t necessarily about New York as a whole but more of the ‘islands’ within the island.

HC: You are a published and recorded musician yourself. Did you relate to Adrian’s approach to his music art or did you think he was a little much and what did you personally learn about the atonal symphony composition?

AG: For many years I been a fan of the musician Steve Reich, who is a minimalist composer. He began with samples of hand claps, street sounds and pianos, and would phrase them to become this hypnotic repetition. Ultimately he incorporated these elements into very beautiful symphonic structures.

Where we find Adrian is in an earlier phase. He’s not necessarily getting it all right either, he’s become beholden to this intellectual concept that one thing has nothing to do with the other and those two worlds can’t co-exist.

To that extent I don’t relate to him, but I do relate to the idea using soundscapes and sound objects. I have done that in my own music, but it is tuneful. The idea is to create an atmosphere where the song lives. I get the atonal thing intellectually but don’t do it in my own music.

HC: Interestingly enough, the characters in (Untitled) all come to a redemption of sorts by the end. Which of the characters keep evolving the strongest, do you think, or has the best future ahead of them and why?

AG: In a weird way I think probably Eion Bailey’s character, who was my brother Josh in the film, there is something about the acceptance of who he is as himself. It is his character that decides that his artwork is not going to make the Museum of Modern Art, but this is the stuff he paints and he’s happy to be showing it, period.

Eion was last minute casting, replacing somebody who had dropped out. We were all on pins and needles because we were about to shoot. But he made some great choices for the character, with little evolutions rooted to himself.

HC: The art world can be both objective and subjective. What part of the pursuit of art, including your experience with acting and music, do you find to be most satisfying in this process of object and subject?

AG: I struggled with this a lot. Not so much as an actor, for as an actor I feel like my job is to do whatever I can with the material presented, sometimes I succeed and other times I don’t. The things I feel I can be judged on are the things I’ve created from the ground up.

My music, which was well received, and the two films I’ve created, which were more divided reactions, is what I’m most proud of. If I’m going to be judged for something, it should be for the things that I’ve put every ounce of myself into.

Ultimately nothing is more satisfying as the process of making my works. When you start with something that is nothing, a blank screen, and you end up with images, sounds, people’s performances, there is no failing in that regard. There will always be different perceptions of the work, but you can’t control that.

The success is never really enough anyway, what you are left with is what you’re going to do next. In the end, you need to embrace the fulfilling aspects of creation.

HC: Even though you have never actually served in the military did you feel like you had after ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and what appreciation did you come away with for that service, especially in the context of the World War 2 veteran?

AG: It was a totally transformative experience, there is no question about it. As the years go by, the thing I kind of glean the most from that experience was this connection to service, in particular with the guys who fought that war. I was moved by those men and women, and even the homefront. What a different time it was, how connected everyone was. There was something about it that felt like another planet.

When I got home from it, I definitely felt like I had military experience. Particularly the boot camp, even though it was abbreviated. We were camping for five days, eating rations and referring to each other by our character names. It was as important to me to appeal to Dale Dye, the military advisor, as it was to appeal to Steven Spielberg. I had to portray this guy as honestly and thoughtfully in the military sense as in my acting performance.

HC: What was the atmosphere on the set of ‘Dazed and Confused?’ and are you surprised about the number of actors that broke out from that seminal film and had prosperous careers?

AG: I am not surprised. When we were doing it, we had concerns about how it was going to be released, because we wanted it to be as exciting to an audience as we thought it was. It was released in far fewer theaters than we all were led to believe. It was almost destined to be a cult movie just by virtue of how it worked out.

It was a great film to be a part of at the time, in that particular phase of being 17 through your early 20’s as an actor. So many people were so good in that film, that it was obvious it was going to be a breeding ground for breaking out, not unlike ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ and ‘American Graffiti.’

It was a exciting set atmosphere, very familial and clique-oriented. It was like a very condensed college experience, even though it was only a month. We were all running amuck in this hotel, even a security guard made me stay in my room all night (laughs). It was a free-for-all the whole time.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

‘The House of the Devil’ is a Trip Back in Suspense Horror

PatrickMcD — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:19:53 -0600

CHICAGO – Halloween is the perfect time to revisit those horror films of youth, lost in the mall theaters or crackling through the VCR in a multiply rented copy. “The House of the Devil” reveres those roots and brings them back to light.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The year is 1983 and Jocelin Donahue portrays Samantha, a financially challenged student in a small college town. Desperate to leave her dorm living situation, she finds a perfect apartment right next to campus. The problem is she doesn’t have the rent down payment and has no means to get it.

Enter the campus bulletin board, with a mysterious posting for a “babysitter” to make instant cash. When Samantha calls the number, a serious voice tells her how desperate he is to have her take the job.

When she arrives at the house, the peculiar Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) gives her a rundown of her duties. She is actually caring for an elder within the house, who never comes out of her room. She is briefed further by Mrs. Ulman (Mary Woronov), who seems most interested in Samantha’s youth and beauty.

Samantha must then contend with the creaky house, the impending eclipse of the moon and some strange discoveries to come.

”The House of the Devil” opened in a limited release October 30th, and is also available on VOD, Amazon VOD and Xbox Live. Featuring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Dee Wallace and Greta Gerwig, directed by Ti West. Rated “R” Click here for the HollywoodChicago.com interview with director Ti West.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “The House of the Devil”

Slideshow: Hollywood Collectors Show Chicago Portraits of Tia Carrere, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Frakes, More

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:51:51 -0600

CHICAGO – This 14-image slideshow contains our exclusive portraits from the Oct. 2009 Hollywood Collectors Show in Chicago.

You can click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through this slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All photos are credited to Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto and HollywoodChicago.com. All rights reserved.

We also have the following celebrity portraits on file from their appearances at the Oct. 2009 Hollywood Collectors Show in Chicago: Ernest Borgnine, Charles Martin Smith, Paul Le Mat, Cindy Williams, Tippi Hedren, Sally Kellerman, Candy Clark, Eddie Mekka, Barbara Luna, Bo Hopkins, Joan Severance, Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman.

hollywoodcollectors1: Tia Carrere of “True Lies”
hollywoodcollectors2: Tia Carrere
hollywoodcollectors3: Tia Carrere (left) and HollywoodChicago.com’s Patrick McDonald
hollywoodcollectors4: Julie McCullough of “Breast Men”
hollywoodcollectors5: Julie McCullough
hollywoodcollectors6: Genie Francis of TV’s “General Hospital”
hollywoodcollectors7: Gregory Harrison of “Razorback”
hollywoodcollectors8: HollywoodChicago.com’s Patrick McDonald (left) and Gregory Harrison
hollywoodcollectors9: Left to right: Jennilee Harrison of TV’s “Dallas,” Larry Hagman of “Primary Colors” and Claudia Wells
hollywoodcollectors10: James Tolkan of “Back to the Future” (left) and Claudia Wells
hollywoodcollectors11: Claudia Wells of “Back to the Future”
hollywoodcollectors12: Jonathan Frakes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”
hollywoodcollectors13: HollywoodChicago.com’s Patrick McDonald (left) and Mickey Rooney
hollywoodcollectors14: Mickey Rooney of, well, everything

View our 16-image Hollywood Collectors Show gallery from March 2009!

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com