Patrick McDonald

Interview: British Cult Star Simon Pegg is Fish Out of Water in ‘How to Lose Friends & Alienate People’

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:14:36 -0700

CHICAGO – Simon Pegg (the British cult hero of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”) was welcomed to a Chicago hotel where his press event was taking place with personalized water bottles that sported his face.

The star of the new film “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” cradled the customized gift as if it were an Oscar trophy. He delightedly mocked the honor. It is good to be the king.

HollywoodChicago.com interviewed him from there in a free-wheeling forum about his rise to stardom, his coming to America and why everyone wants to join the Simon Pegg cult.

Megan Fox in “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People”.
Photo credit: MGM

“How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” is based on a memoir by British journalist Toby Young. It’s about his experiences coming to New York City to write for Vanity Fair magazine and legendary editor Graydon Carter. Pegg plays a fictionalized version of the author named Sidney Young while Jeff Bridges plays Carter as Clayton Harding.

“Toby Young – unlike the character – is fine. He’s not a complete idiot,” Pegg said.

“He just has a work ethic that doesn’t care what other people think. He employs that and makes a lot of enemies by being tenacious. Toby couldn’t understand Graydon Carter who had started Spy magazine. He was known for working for Vanity Fair, which was a magazine that celebrates what he was satirizing in Spy.”

Sidney is a fish out of water in America. He takes his British tabloid style to the extreme in trying to adapt to the more languid and worshipful American celebrity press scene. He disappoints Clayton, angers his co-worker, Alison (Kirsten Dunst), and slobbers over a starlet (Megan Fox) that the magazine is pursuing.

“How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” star Simon Pegg (left) in Chicago on Aug. 27, 2008 with Patrick McDonald.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Rating: 3.0/5.0

“Megan is mind-bogglingly beautiful. When she walks into a room, you almost have to look away,” Pegg said with a laugh.

He quickly added: “But she is really capable. The telling night was the pool scene where her character, Sophie, seems more than her two-dimensional character. When [director Robert Weide] called ‘cut’ during that scene, there was a palpable sense among the crew that she really can act.”

Pegg’s fish-out-of-water performance in the film is somewhat similar to his first experiences in America and especially with doing publicity for “Shaun of the Dead”.

When I was doing the extensive publicity tour for ‘Shaun of the Dead,’” Pegg said, “I suddenly realized I am a foreigner. [Because] we speak the same language, I think sometimes we think we’re from the same place. As you go deeper in the heartland, you realize we’re not. It’s fascinating.”

Megan Fox in “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People”.
Photo credit: MGM

Pegg also described the conflict between his goofy Sidney character and the more complex Clayton Harding character as played by Jeff Bridges.

“In the film, Clayton always has a matchbook. That matchbook represents Sidney,” Pegg related. “He expects Sidney to be the fired-up guy he was and still wants to be. But Sidney isn’t that guy. Sidney’s just an idiot.”

Pegg is a well-liked and sought-after actor mostly because of his very popular “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” films. The man himself commented on the cult of Simon Pegg.

“I’m trying to get as many followers as possible,” he said mockingly. “Seriously, what’s great is that you realize the film industry now is populated with film fans and people who appreciate the medium. I didn’t know what to quite make of it. I’m very pleased I’ve done something that has engendered that type of reaction.”

It was this kind of admiration that propelled Pegg into another plum par: the role of Scotty in the upcoming Enterprise prequel “Star Trek” from director J.J. Abrams.

“I am a fan of the first ‘Star Trek,’ but I specifically stayed away from trying to do James Doohan (the original Scotty),” Pegg said. “We were all trying to be those characters and not the actors. So I concentrated on playing Montgomery Scott. ‘Star Trek’ is about the story.”

When asked about “Shaun of the Dead” and Pegg’s relationship to the original “zombie master” (George Romero), the question was asked: “Are you and Romero part of a secret government advisory committee in case of the uprising of the undead?”

“Yes. We are,” Pegg deadpanned. “I can’t say anything more. It’s all about getting people used to the idea so we all know what to do.”

“How to Lose Friends & Alienate People,” which opened on Oct. 3, 2008, features Simon Pegg, Megan Fox, Jeff Bridges, Kirsten Dunst, Gillian Anderson, Thandie Newton and Max Minghella.

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

Interview: Writer, Director Neil Burger Follows Iraq Soldiers on Leave in ‘The Lucky Ones’

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:33:09 -0700

CHICAGO – In his short career as a writer and director, Neil Burger has taken on the John F. Kennedy assassination in “Interview with the Assassin” and the mysteries of magic in “The Illusionist,” which starred Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel.

With his new film “The Lucky Ones,” Burger tackles the dichotomy between the fighting soldiers in Iraq and a country that can’t equal that sacrifice on the home front during wartime.

Tim Robbins as Cheever in “The Lucky Ones,” which is directed by Neil Burger.
Photo credit: James Bridges

In a recent interview with HollywoodChicago.com, Burger spoke about the research he did in understanding the modern soldier, his surprising casting choice of anti-war activist Tim Robbins as one of the veterans and why he chose to relate this story while the Iraq conflict continues.

“What ‘The Lucky Ones’ shows about the situation now is the disconnect between soldiers who have given of themselves selflessly versus the self-centered attitude of the country when they get home,” Burger said.

The story involves three Iraq veterans on leave from the war. Stuck at an airport during a blackout, U.S. National Guardsman Cheever (Tim Robbins) manages to score a rental car to drive to his home in St. Louis.

He agrees to allow fellow soldiers Colee (Rachel McAdams) and TK (Michael Peña) to accompany him and then take the car to their destination in Las Vegas. Burger added: “Tim Robbins has been outspoken. That did give me pause in the sense that I didn’t want anybody to resist the movie.”

Michael Peña as TK and Rachel McAdams as Colee in “The Lucky Ones,” which is directed by Neil Burger.
Photo credit: James Bridges

Rating: 2.5/5.0

But he quickly interjected: “Tim is anti-war, but he’s also a great patriot. He loves this country and has done quite a bit of outreach with soldiers and their families. Tim liked the character and wanted to be part of the movie.”

The road trip of the soldiers also becomes a journey of conscience. All three people discover the country’s reaction to them and (in the case of Cheever) the dissolution of a marriage. Confrontations in a bar, a strange religious service and a wealthy man’s birthday party are just some of the America they encounter.

There is one particular moment in the film that Burger feels is emblematic of this country’s separated curtain between the war and modern life.

“There was one scene that happened at the wealthy guy’s birthday party,” Burger related. “Tim’s character says they were ‘just trying to stay alive over there’. The reaction from the party guest is: ‘Stay alive? No wonder we’re losing the war.’”

Director Neil Burger on the set of “The Lucky Ones”.
Photo credit: James Bridges

“I actually heard something like that,” he continued. “If the reasons aren’t presented exactly the way they want to hear it, it’s shocking how quickly people who say they support the troops or support the war are willing to condemn or alienate even the good soldiers.”

But Burger was quick to point out that the film isn’t about the physical aspect of fighting the war but the inner conflict of adjusting to the homeland away from the battlefield.

“When these soldiers come home, I learned that their feelings toward everyone saying ‘thank you! thank you!’ – as I depict in the movie – completely rubs them the wrong way,” he explained. “They would rather be told ‘welcome home’ than ‘thank you’. To them, ‘thank you’ implies ‘thank you for doing it so I didn’t have to’. They feel as if there is an emptiness behind it.”

Burger added: “Ultimately, however, the movie and the characters are less about soldiering and more about what they want as ordinary Americans who come home.”

He continued: “[They want] to have a good time and find their families and loved ones. That is when they find they’re strangers in their own land.”

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “The Lucky Ones” image gallery.

RELATED READING
More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

Even though the subject of the film deals with the Iraq war in the background, it’s more of a mirror to the United States culture that reacts to their soldiers coming back (similar to the World War II-era film “Best Years of Our Lives” and the Vietnam-themed “Coming Home”).

“The movie looks at America now. [It’s] a snapshot of the country now,” Burger said.

He concluded: “We used to have a collective psychology and a sense of national purpose. That has been lost in recent years. The war is a depressing situation and people tend to turn away from depressing things. But this has long-term consequences for the overall moral health of the country.”

“The Lucky Ones,” which opened everywhere on Sept. 26, 2008, is written and directed by Neil Burger and features Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams, Michael Peña, John Heard and Molly Hagan.

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

Paul Newman Dies at 83 as a Cool Hand Who’s Cooler Than You, Me

HollywoodChicago.com — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:16:53 -0700

CHICAGO – He was cooler than you. He was cooler than me. He was Cool Hand Luke. Paul Newman – an activist, philanthropist, race car driver and one of the most legendary movie stars of the post studio system era – died on Friday of cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn.

He was 83. I knew about Newman early in my life because he was my mother’s favorite movie star.

It was an event to see one of his films on TV. The one that connected my mother to him most was the “The Young Philadelphians” in 1959. In it, Newman plays a young and idealistic lawyer who seemed the epitome of the late 1950s skinny-suit era. He was the ideal man.

Left: Paul Newman in “The Secret War of Harry Frigg” in 1967; right: Paul Newman on Nov. 9, 2006.
Left photo credit: Bob Willoughby, MPTV.net; right photo credit: Steve Granitz, WireImage.com

Newman began his career in the Marlon Brando-style method acting period in the 1950s.

He fit as well into a torn T-shirt as he did in a skinny suit. Following stints in the early days of television, Newman made an infamous debut in the movies with the religious-themed film “The Silver Chalice” in 1954. Though derided, the color film did highlight the famous blue eyes that would become his calling card.

Following his breakthrough character role as Rocky Graziano in “Somebody Up There Likes Me” in 1956, Newman embarked on a series of roles that established his star power. That period included “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958), “Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!” (1958), “From the Terrace” (1960) and “The Long Hot Summer” (1958), which is the film where he met Joanne Woodward.

She has been Newman’s wife of 50 years. Another breakthrough came in 1961 with “The Hustler”.

Newman’s “Fast Eddie” Felson character began a series of American anti-hero roles that would define him as both film archetype and real-life cool cat. Through the 1960s, he would play complex and interestingly flawed characters in “Hud” (1963), “Harper” (1966), “Hombre” (1967) and “Cool Hand Luke” (1967), which is the hottest of them all.

But he saved the best for last in that tumultuous decade when he co-starred with rising star Robert Redford in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969).

The wise-guy western, which was shot with a wry nod to the glorification of the outlaw life, linked Newman and Redford for the rest of their lives. After repairing in “The Sting” (1973), Redford regretted that he could never find a proper script thereafter for the pair to work together again.

Newman’s last great anti-hero role was as the aging minor league hockey player Reg Dunlop in “Slap Shot” (1977). It was a profane comedy that perfectly captured the rust belt ruin of America. Newman was 52 at the time.

Denied an Academy Award after seven nominations, he received his first acting win one year after the academy gave him an honorary nod. Reprising his role as “Fast Eddie” Felson in “The Color of Money” (1986), Newman again co-starred with another rising star (Tom Cruise) and took home the best-actor Oscar. Though some called it a career award, nobody deserved it more.

But acting in movies wasn’t the only contribution Paul Newman gave the world.

His Newman’s Own series of food products (a small company that started with a salad dressing) turned into a multimillion-dollar enterprise that pledged all of its profits to charity. It’s estimated that he has raised $200 million for charity overall mostly to establish his “Hole in the Wall Gang” camps for severely ill children.

Newman also was one of the great liberal activists. He worked hard for Eugene McCarthy during the 1968 campaign and even made the enemy list of U.S. President Richard Nixon. Newman liked to say it was one of his proudest achievements. He also raced cars professionally.

Working less frequently in his later years, he retired from acting in 2007 while citing his advancing years. “It’s pretty much a closed book for me,” he said.

With his long career and fulfilled life, Newman became a recognizable image for three generations of moviegoers. He was the ideal man for my mother, the anti-hero for me and even was the wise old car in an animated film (“Cars”) for my nieces and nephews.

But through it all, Paul Newman was his own man. He reveled in the blessings and flaws of a unique and singular life. Goodbye Hud, Butch, Reg, Harper and Fast Eddie. Goodbye Cool Hand Luke. Paul Newman was a natural born world shaker. Sources: Wikipedia, Associated Press, IMDb

Ten Must-See Paul Newman Films

“Somebody Up There Likes Me” (1956)
“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958)
“The Hustler” (1961)
“Hud” (1963)
“Torn Curtain” (Alfred Hitchcock directed, 1966)
“Cool Hand Luke” (1967)
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969)
“Slap Shot” (1977)
“The Verdict” (1982)
“The Color of Money” (1986)
Plus one more for my mother: “The Young Philadelphians” (1959)

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

Interview: Sam Rockwell Masters Addiction, Redemption in ‘Choke’

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:11:55 -0700

CHICAGO – Interviewing actor Sam Rockwell is like experiencing him in one of his many excellent characters. He has been Chuck Barris in “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” “Wild Bill” Wharton in “The Green Mile” and even Guy Fleegman in “Galaxy Quest”. He’s a true performer with a passion that bleeds through in “Choke,” which is his latest film.

Standing and pacing during the Q&A with HollywoodChicago.com, Rockwell made a hilarious theatrical moment out of his frustration while lighting a cigarette. In between all that, he talked about his latest characterization, which is a challenging and exceptional performance channeling an Oedipal and compulsive personality.

“Choke” star Sam Rockwell in Chicago on Sept. 3, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Anjelica Huston in “Choke”.
Photo credit: Jessica Miglio

“Choke,” which is based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name (he also authored “Fight Club” and “Rant”), involves a sex addict named Victor (Rockwell).

His formerly free-spirited mother (Anjelica Huston) is dying in a local care center.

Between his 12-step sex addiction programs (where he engages in carnal knowledge in the restroom with a female participant) and his job as a character in a colonial theme park, Victor must try to reach a mother who essentially never cared for him.

“I relate to Victor because – like him – early on certain boundaries were broken in my life,” Rockwell said. “I saw things at an early age because my mom was a theater actress. I did a play with her when I was 10 years old. I was backstage with all these naked people and went to bars afterward. Like Victor, I was exposed to things early on.”

Left to right: Gillian Jacobs, Sam Rockwell and Brad William Henke in “Choke”.
Photo credit: Jessica Miglio

Rating: 4.5/5.0

To acquire money for his mother’s care, Victor has devised an attention-getting scam that involves choking on food so people will “save” him and in that heroism also take care of him. Rockwell offered: “The choking and the sex addiction are all related to trying to obtain intimacy. It’s the same goal.”

Victor’s life gets rearranged by a mysterious doctor in his mother’s care facility named Paige (Kelly MacDonald). She reveals a secret that could lead him on the road to redemption.

“Anjelica Huston and Kelly MacDonald are both really special,” Rockwell said. “Anjelica has such a fresh point of view about acting and doesn’t seem jaded at all. She seems more like a student and yet she is veteran actor who really brings it.”

“You fall in love with Kelly,” he added. “She is really unique because she is cast against type in this film.” Rockwell also talked about his preparation for the film and described how he attended sex addiction meetings in real life.

“Choke” star Sam Rockwell.
Photo credit: Jessica Miglio

Brad William Henke (left) and Sam Rockwell in “Choke”.
Photo credit: Jessica Miglio

“The sex addict stuff was required research to get inside the head of the guy,” Rockwell said. “All I had to do in the meetings during my research was say: ‘Hi. I am Sam. I’m questioning things.’ I stayed ambiguous without getting too personal. It’s a personal place.”

He also learned something in this analysis. Rockwell said: “Sex addiction is a pretty serious disorder. Anything compulsive can turn into an addiction.”

In working with Clark Gregg – who was directing his first film (and also wrote the screenplay) – Rockwell talked about the particulars in dealing with such a situation.

“Clark Gregg and I are around the same age. He has been an actor and is a writer,” Rockwell related. “But with a first-time director, there is a way to talk about things they might not know. Because Clark was an actor, though, he knew more about the process than most first-time directors.”

When asked about his penchant for playing odd and dark characters, Rockwell recounted a theory he has about general film character types.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “Choke” image gallery.

RELATED READING
More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

“Once you accept that everything in film portrayal has been done already, you kind of think: ‘Well, they’ve done this character already. That is the best version,’” he said. “My question is always how I can improve upon that or make it different.”

Expounding upon that, Rockwell also said: “I like darker characters. I like playing bad guys. I think I’m drawn to them because those were the characters I liked from the movies when I was growing up. I liked ‘Taxi Driver,’ ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘The Deer Hunter’.”

Sam Rockwell absorbs this redemption-from-hell character in “Choke” with all the sickness and beauty it requires. The sympathy he evokes for Victor is indicative of the high level of actor he has become. He could almost be describing the character when he related his methodology in approaching all his roles.

“I always do drama,” Rockwell said. “It’s just that some people laugh at it and some people cry.”

“Choke,” which opened on Sept. 26, 2008, is directed by Clark Gregg and stars Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald, Brian William Henke and Bijou Phillips.

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

Interview: ‘Lakeview Terrace’ Director Neil LaBute Fans Flames of Human Relations in Incendiary Film

HollywoodChicago.com — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:56:12 -0700

CHICAGO – Already an important and controversial American playwright, Neil LaBute is looking to make the same individual mark as a director in films. His most recent effort is “Lakeview Terrace” with Samuel L. Jackson. It’s an incisive and poignant meditation on race, class and gender relations in America.

HollywoodChicago.com interviewed LaBute in anticipation of the film’s opening. The filmmaker had varying degrees of insight into this highly symbolic and multifaceted work.

Samuel L. Jackson as Abel Turner in “Lakeview Terrace”.
Photo credit: Chuck Zlotnick

Kerry Washington as Lisa Mattson in “Lakeview Terrace”.
Photo credit: Chuck Zlotnick

“The film still feels like a thriller,” LaBute said. “But in the end, there is a more dramatic weight there than you would realize. I hope that drama is the added element that will engage the audience.”

The film stars Samuel L. Jackson as Abel Turner. He’s a recently widowed police officer who raises two kids in a cul-de-sac in Los Angeles called Lakeview Terrace.

When a mixed-race couple (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) move in next door, a decency line in Jackson’s psyche snaps and he sees the couple as a direct threat to the neighborhood. Jackson’s character makes it a mission to create havoc that will force them to move out.

“It is Sam that breathes life into it. Part of it is what he carries in from the last 20 years of his career,” LaBute said. “People generally like him and he carries in this goodwill that we don’t play with. It’s just there in who he is.”

Patrick Wilson (left) as Chris Mattson and Kerry Washington as Lisa Mattson in “Lakeview Terrace”.
Photo credit: Chuck Zlotnick

Rating: 4.0/5.0

“We wanted to keep him off the ‘monster list’ and make him someone the audience would understand,” LaBute added. “Not that you would do what he does, but you could understand where the rage was coming from.”

As the harassment increases and the barriers are established, tension wells up in the couple’s marriage. The policeman’s obsession with his objectivity starts to intensify as Patrick Wilson’s character starts to push back.

“Patrick has a likability quotient to him the audience can identify with,” LaBute related. “They can also identify with the particular kind of male he plays, which is the kind of boy/man who struggles with growing up.”

“But Wilson was also very important to us because he is a guy who believably would not accelerate too quickly,” LaBute said. He quickly added: “Guys often want to go to fisticuffs as quickly as possible as a first inclination. Patrick has the air of niceness about him. That was an important quality for that character to have.”

Patrick Wilson as Chris Mattson in “Lakeview Terrace”.
Photo credit: Chuck Zlotnick

Samuel L. Jackson as Abel Turner in “Lakeview Terrace”.
Photo credit: Chuck Zlotnick

The battle for the neighborhood turf devolves into a distinct power struggle with racial issues and overtones always lurking nearby.

“In my films and plays, I’ve always been interested in power and how power is used and misused. Sam represents a character who is in a job as a cop that’s different than any other job out there in our country,” LaBute said.

“There is a power that comes with that [law enforcement] authority and mentality,” he added. “The leap from discussion to violence is a short one. The fuse is short. If the cop is the one you’re having trouble with, then who do you call to help?”

When wildfire season begins, an out-of-control blaze snakes it way to the neighborhood and further marginalizes the two neighborly rivals. LaBute explained the nature of using fire as a symbolic element.

“We obviously weren’t allowed to set wildfires, so in special effects, I didn’t want the audience to say: ‘Oh, that’s a fake fire.’ While it’s a very easy metaphor, it’s pretty apt for the story. Once you could visually see and experience the fires, it became even more provocative,” LaBute said.

The excellent cast feeds into the script’s powerful statements on race and class. LaBute spoke of the pride he had with how the ensemble played those particular elements.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “Lakeview Terrace” image gallery.

RELATED READING
More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

“Every day the cast was elevating the material,” LaBute said. “We were aware at the same time that with this material – as much as we talk about race in this country – it’s not necessarily reflected in popular culture. We don’t get to see this in the movies all the time.”

He added: “It was nice to do something that was more genre based – like a thriller – but still it had something to say.”

The climax of the film is an unsavory clash of authority, class and race. LaBute offered his own thesis on the relationship nature of humanity in times of crisis.

“Skin color means absolutely nothing,” he said. “Often what comes built into that is a cultural difference. People are naturally wary of things we’re not familiar with or don’t understand. There is a tendency to back off rather than put a hand forward.”

LaBute concluded: “If Rodney King asks the question ‘can’t we all get along?,’ I would say after much scrutiny the answer would be ‘just barely’.”

“Lakeview Terrace,” which opened on Sept. 19, 2008 in limited theaters, is directed by Neil LaBute. The film stars Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington and Jay Hernandez.

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

Interview: British Comedian Steve Coogan Rocks Sexy Jesus Character in ‘Hamlet 2’

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:10:50 -0700

CHICAGO – Steve Coogan is a British comedy icon. Forging a career from creating an array of characters, though, he’s not as well known in America (except to BBC cultists).

He brings this talent for characterization to the lead role of an American high school drama teacher in the new film “Hamlet 2”. Coogan adds some peculiar quirks to the depiction of the clueless soul who seemingly will do anything to project his dramatic “vision”.

“Hamlet 2” star Steve Coogan in Chicago on July 30, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Steve Coogan stars in Andy Fleming’s comedy “Hamlet 2”.
Photo credit: Cathy Kanavy

In a recent HollywoodChicago.com interview with Coogan, he philosophized about the nature of his comedy and how he hopes it can translate both in “Hamlet 2” and within the larger entertainment scope as his career progresses.

Describing the roots of his basis in developing characters, Coogan went back to his childhood in Manchester, England.

“As a kid before cable or VCRs, I used to use an audio cassette recorder to tape TV shows,” Coogan recalled.

He added: “[I did it] just to get the audio tracks. Also there was a lot of comedy on records. I would listen to Monty Python and older British comedy like Tony Hancock and The Goon Show.”

Steve Coogan (center) and Skylar Astin (right) star in Andy Fleming’s comedy “Hamlet 2”.
Photo credit: Cathy Kanavy

Rating: 2.5/5.0

“Often people would describe their favorite moments on the TV shows or records,” he continued. “I would say: ‘No. You’ve got it wrong.’ I would start to mimic what was accurate on those shows. I would enjoy the retelling of the stuff. I would enjoy people’s reaction to it once I did it.”

“Hamlet 2” is a bit of a departure from the British scene. It depicts Coogan as Dana Marschz: a down and out American actor forced to teach bad drama in a high school in Tucson, Ariz. His student body consists of two worshipful pupils who do stage recreations of movies like “Erin Brockovich”.

When Dana is forced to take some rougher students into his classes, it’s within the context that the school system is about to cut the drama department entirely. What is necessary is a big production. It must be something the bureaucracy can’t ignore.

Dana Marschz will come up with the sequel to one of Shakespeare’s best. He’ll call it “Hamlet 2”. Coogan added: “What attracted me to the character of Dana was that it’s a funny part.”

Steve Coogan (left), Elisabeth Shue (center) and Amy Poehler (right) star in Andy Fleming’s comedy “Hamlet 2”.
Photo credit: Focus Features

Melonie Diaz (left), Steve Coogan (center) and Phoebe Strole (right) star in Andy Fleming’s comedy “Hamlet 2”.
Photo credit: Cathy Kanavy

He continued: “He is vulnerable, which was a departure from characters I’ve played who are unlikable. I am attracted toward dysfunctional people because I find them more interesting. It’s a challenge to play someone odd or dysfunctional and still make the audience care about them.”

While Dana plots his masterpiece, his marriage dissolves around him. Still, the plucky and gullible dramatist forges on.

His play will revolve around a time machine (so the dead characters in the first “Hamlet” can be revived), musical numbers and the character of “Sexy Jesus” for the big finish.

“We talked about how to make Jesus sexy,” Coogan explained. “That’s why we settled on the jeans and T-shirt. The hair was always kind of cool.”

“It did make me a little nervous to play Jesus,” he admitted. “I did wonder whether (writer/director) Andy (Fleming) was just trying to be provocative to annoy Christians in a certain way or if it was just funny. I wasn’t quite sure, but in the end, I just did it.”

Coogan also talked about playing Dana as an American and the differences between that freedom and the more repressed British psychology.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “Hamlet 2” image gallery.

RELATED READING
More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

“As a generalization, I think Americans are less repressed than British people,” he said. “Culturally, people from America come from somewhere else, so there’s the risk factor within the personality that makes them more free.”

“There is no subtext with Dana,” Coogan added. “The challenge was how to make it interesting when he’s so big and demonstrative – without making it over the top – especially in contrast with the other characters in the film who are more grounded.”

In his final thoughts, Coogan mentioned why he sometimes has trouble being pigeonholed in the way he’s cast in movies.

“I like variety. I don’t like to repeat myself,” he said. “In this marketplace, that is difficult because representatives sometimes don’t know how to sell me. I do so many different things. But it satisfies me creatively.”

“Hamlet 2,” which is written and directed by Andrew Fleming, features Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, David Arquette, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Poehler, Melonie Diaz, Phoebe Strole and Skylar Astin. The film opened on Aug. 22, 2008.

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

Interview: Rainn Wilson Lays Down Tracks Beyond ‘The Office’ in New Film ‘The Rocker’

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:10:08 -0700

CHICAGO – Rainn Wilson is more than just the popular NBC character Dwight Schrute. The bespectacled antagonist of “The Office” is nowhere in evidence this time around as Wilson sat down with HollywoodChicago.com to talk about his new film “The Rocker”.

The theater and TV veteran expressed a thoughtfulness and gratitude about his journey to this first feature-film lead role and spoke more about the craft of acting than the virtue of his celebrity.

Rainn Wilson in Chicago (left) for “The Rocker” with HollywoodChicago.com film critic Patrick McDonald (right).
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Rainn Wilson is “The Rocker” (also known as Robert “Fish” Fishman) who joins his nephew’s band “A.D.D.” and finally reclaims the rock-god throne he has always thought he deserved in the film “The Rocker”.
Photo credit: George Kraychyk

“The Rocker” is a comedy about Richard “Fish” Fishman (Wilson): a drummer from the 1980s whose hair metal band “Vesuvius” is about to hit the big time.

Unfortunately, he isn’t going with them. The band decides to dump Fish right before the breakthrough. Distraught, Fish goes on a downward spiral for a few decades and ends up living in his sister’s attic in Cleveland, Ohio.

Rainn Wilson was able to play a drummer because he had a music background.

“I had a little bit of experience when I went to New Trier Township High School (in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Ill.). There was a short-lived band I was in called Collective Moss,” he said. “We only played two gigs. We were the world’s worst cover band. We were just awful.”

Rainn Wilson in Chicago for “The Rocker” on June 10, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Rating: 2.0/5.0

Wilson added: “But I could read music and that’s how I learned the tracks for ‘The Rocker’. I would tape the ‘score’ on the drum set and learn to play that way. This made it easier for me to pick up the rhythm.”

When Fishman’s nephew (Josh Gad) finds that his fledgling band “A.D.D.” is in need of a drummer, he turns to his now-older uncle to sit in. In a calculated turn of events, this new band (with old-man Fish on drums) becomes an up-and-coming sensation.

They go on the road with their parents (including Christina Applegate) and a new manager (Jason Sudeikis) in tow.

“A lot of dialogue was improvised,” Wilson said. “Jason Sudeikus would say some of the most wildly inappropriate stuff that would come out in a stream of consciousness. Josh Gad had the strangest wiring of his brain. You never knew what he was going to do.”

Christina Applegate is Kim: the mother of and chaperone to a young rock musician in “The Rocker”.
Photo credit: George Kraychyk

Rainn Wilson in “The Rocker”.
Photo credit: George Kraychyk

He added: “It was nice to see everyone doing their thing and being allowed to do their thing. Everyone was allowed to be funny.”

Strangely enough, it is Fish who’s the wild and inappropriate child on the tour. His antics almost derail the entire band. There is one last concert chance, though, at the Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame against his old 1980s band mates.

How did the normally lower-key characters that Rainn Wilson plays get morphed into a wild-man rock star?

“It was studying the drums. There is something about a drummer,” he said. “They’re not cerebral. I have a tendency in my life to be more cerebral and a bit reserved. But he’s a big puppy dog, a physical person and a ‘talk first, think later’ type with his heart on his sleeve. It was lot of fun to plunge into that.”

“There was no specific drummer who I based my character on,” he added. “It was a compilation of watching the heavy-metal drummers on YouTube. I recommend that to anyone. Start researching hair-metal drummers.”

Wilson also talked about the inevitability of comparisons between his essential Dwight Schrute character on “The Office” and drummer Fish in “The Rocker”.

“There are similarities between Dwight Schrute and Fish and there are differences,” he reflected. “But there has to be enough similarities so ‘The Office’ fans will line up when ‘The Rocker’ opens to see the guy who plays Dwight play a heavy-metal rocker dude. It was just a blast to enter into that whole genre of music.”

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “The Rocker” image gallery.

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More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

Finally, Wilson discusses his experience in working at “The Office”.

“I’ve been very fortunate because Dwight Schrute comes from the writers and creator Greg Daniels. They aren’t interested in doing things the normal way things have been done,” Wilson said. “They want to find different facets and different sides to all the characters.”

“It works well,” he added. “When you see Dwight’s vulnerabilities, people respond to it and are more likely to tune in. Then we get to make more episodes.”

Note: In a unique viral marketing promotion, Rainn Wilson has “kidnapped” “The Office” mate Jenna Fischer and will not free her until “everyone” sees “The Rocker”. Visit FreeJennaNow.com to play along.

“The Rocker,” which features Rainn Wilson, Josh Gad, Christina Applegate, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Teddy Geiger, Jeff Garlin, Jane Lynch, Fred Armisen, Will Arnett and Jane Krakowski, opens on Aug. 20, 2008 everywhere.

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

Death-Defying Audacity Walks Between the Twin Towers in New Documentary ‘Man on Wire’

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:27:52 -0700

CHICAGO – Where have all the true eccentrics gone? Where are all those people who achieve a Zen purpose just because the challenge is there?

“Man on Wire” is a documentary that tells of such a challenge 34 years ago in another place and time. The story of Frenchman Phillipe Petit and his gang of merry pranksters brings into focus another legendary piece in the puzzle within the twisted history of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Phillipe Petit is a performance artist whose main specialty is tightrope or high-wire walking. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he conquered two wire-walking feats through his own grit and determination.

Read Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Man on Wire” in our reviews section.

View our full “Man on Wire” image gallery.

These were between the spires of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and two bridge bays in Sydney, Australia.

But these were merely warm-ups for his next and greatest goal: walking between the buildings of the relatively new Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.

After gathering a team of “experts” (more like stoners and hangers-on), he devises a plan for getting through the more lax building security of the era.

The documentary creates a tension as the story builds. The film cuts between the recreated scenes of the tower entry and operation with flashbacks to the preparation and stunts that led up to the moment.

“Man on Wire,” which features actors in recreations of real-life high-wire walker Phillipe Petit, opened on Aug. 8, 2008 in limited theaters.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full “Man on Wire” review.

Philippe Petit in “Man on Wire”.
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full “Man on Wire” review.

Interview: Melissa Leo Channels John Wayne in Sundance Hit ‘Frozen River’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:51:00 -0700

CHICAGO – Melissa Leo is a familiar face to admirers of the TV show “Homicide: Life on the Street”.

After playing Sgt. Kay Howard for five years on that popular series, she left the show to pursue character roles in such films as “21 Grams” and “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”. Taking on a leading role in her latest film “Frozen River,” Leo captures the desperation and strength of a woman with everything to lose.

“Frozen River” star Melissa Leo in Chicago on July 16, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

A scene from “Frozen River”.
Photo credit: Jory Sutton, copyright Frozen River Productions

HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed Leo in anticipation of the film’s release. The actress candidly talked about her character’s direction and the nature of the unusual film.

“Frozen River,” which is an acclaimed Sundance Film Festival drama, refers to an upper New York state tributary that freezes so hard in the winter that vehicles are known to drive over it. Leo plays Ray Eddy: a resident of that Canadian border town whose husband has abandoned her with two children.

He also has stolen savings that would have been a down payment for a new trailer in which the family could have lived. Leo speaks about how she landed the role and how she collaborated with writer and director Courtney Hunt.

“The first thing Courtney said to me was: ‘Will you read my short?’ I happily did,” Leo said. “Then I called her and said: ‘Let’s do this.’ We shot the short. She edited it, showed it to me and said: ‘Good job.’ Then she said: ‘Would you like to do the feature?’ I didn’t even know she had a feature.”

Melissa Leo as Ray Eddy in “Frozen River”.
Photo credit: Jory Sutton, copyright Frozen River Productions

Rating: 4.0/5.0

“Courtney knew much more about the characters,” Leo said. “There were unanswered questions in the short we didn’t even know. The characters at that time were the ‘native’ and the ‘blonde’. They had no names.”

Ray Eddy became the character’s name. She lives desperately hand to mouth. With her husband gone and her savings wiped out, she decides to begin running illegal immigrants in the trunk of her car. The way to Canada without a border check is by directly driving over the frozen river.

“Courtney gave me a valuable piece of direction right before we shot the feature,” Leo said. “Watch ‘The Searchers’ (1956) and ‘Rio Grande’ (1950). Watch John Wayne. That’s probably the most consistent piece of direction throughout the rest of the filming process. It’s a little bit of the Duke.”

Eddy partners with Lila (Misty Upham): a Native American who lives on a nearby reservation.

Director Courtney Hunt on the set of “Frozen River”.
Photo credit: Jory Sutton, copyright Frozen River Productions

Charlie McDermott as TJ Eddy in “Frozen River”.
Photo credit: Jory Sutton, copyright Frozen River Productions

Lila knows the particulars of the immigrant running. She and Eddy have parallel lives with Lila having a husband who recently died and a son being raised by grandparents. Both women are looking to make a quick score and get the money they need to move on with their lives.

“This was actually a matriarchal story,” Leo said. “The natives have a lot of female tribal heads. You see the portrayal of the tribal meetings in the film to be heavily female, which is an accurate portrayal of those types of meetings.”

Leo added: “In our film, this is women doing what women do to get by especially when the men have let them down.”

The film is heavy with thematic symbolism involving race, gender and class. Leo spoke about those elements while emphasizing another aspect of the overall experience.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “Frozen River” image gallery.

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More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

“The strength of the film is the story – a story that most people haven’t heard before,” Leo Said. “It’s a rich story because it encompasses all those themes.”

The “rich story” also has – in what Leo describes – a “satisfying” ending. She added: “The two women have learned something, have grown and are better people by the end of the film because of the journey the audience watches them go through.”

She concluded: “We are here to grow into our best selves. That is my religion. Whatever can get you there and whatever the trials, that is what betters us. That is how the story of this film is played out.”

“Frozen River” from writer and director Courtney Hunt stars Melissa Leo, Misty Upham and Michael O’Keefe opens in limited theaters on Aug. 15, 2008.

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

Interview: Filmmaker Brothers Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass Advance Mumblecore Movement in ‘Baghead’

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:59:50 -0700

CHICAGO – The “mumblecore” movement, which is the made-on-digital-video movie revolution, has two significant practitioners: filmmaker brothers Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass.

Lauded in 2006 at Film Independent’s Spirit Awards for their first feature entitled “The Puffy Chair,” the Duplass brothers have their first major feature release in “Baghead”. It’s a funny send-up of “Friday the 13th”-type scary movies and the desperation of relationship dynamics.

“Baghead” writers and directors Jay Duplass (left) and Mark Duplass in Chicago on July 23, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Left to right: Steve Zissis as Chad, Elise Muller as Catherine and Greta Gerwig as Michelle in “Baghead”.
Photo credit: Jen Tracy Duplass, copyright Duplass Brothers LLC

HollywoodChicago.com interviewed the two filmmakers on their recent Chicago visit. They talked about the road to their first distributed feature, the process of their filmmaking and – yes – the meaning of the term “mumblecore”.

“Baghead” is about two couples. They’re all struggling film actors in Los Angeles who decide to go to a remote cabin in the woods to create a usable screenplay.

There’s a sexual tension between Chad (Steve Zissis) that’s not being reciprocated by Michelle (Greta Gerwig). Matt (Ross Partridge) and Catherine (Elise Miller) are the other story-pitching pair.

Soon they are all torturing each other with the story of Baghead, which is a potential movie character who stalks his victims from the woods.

“When we were shooting our first feature (‘The Puffy Chair’), we had long drives between where we were staying and where we were shooting with stretches of just woods,” Mark Duplass said. “Inevitably, with eight people in a van driving through the woods, we started talking about scary stuff.”

The character Baghead in the film “Baghead”.
Photo credit: Jen Tracy Duplass, copyright Duplass Brothers LLC

Rating: 4.0/5.0

“It became the opposite direction from ‘Cloverfield,’ which had the villain the size of Rhode Island,” Jay Duplass said. “We couldn’t beat that, so we went with the most low-fi version of horror films – both small and ridiculous.”

As the Baghead legend unfolds for the four characters, the line between the fictional story and reality begins to blur.

“Obviously we’re aware of ‘Friday the 13th,’” Jay Duplass said. “The reference point for us was: ‘What if it were happening in the real world and not just the dreamy world of teenagers taking showers?’ We wanted create a situation that was real where you know these characters and introduce the scary element into it.”

“Our goal was to scare the audience, but also to make them laugh and to not take it too seriously,” Mark Duplass said. “We wanted a great experience because some things in this life are a little scary or funny or stupid.”

Elise Muller as Catherine in “Baghead”.
Photo credit: Jen Tracy Duplass, copyright Duplass Brothers LLC

One of the key features of the story is the uncomfortable rejection Chad receives from Michelle even though his plan was to get her alone at the cabin.

“With our approach,” Mark Duplass explained, “it will be funny, but you have to mine the reality of what it is and slowly let it play out. Looking at the character of Chad, you know he’s had the struggle of rejection in his life.”

Left to right: Elise Muller as Catherine, Steve Zissis as Chad and Greta Gerwig as Michelle in “Baghead”.
Photo credit: Jen Tracy Duplass, copyright Duplass Brothers LLC

“Everyone has that type of rejection on a weekly basis,” Jay Duplass added.

“Our hope is of the three things going on in this movie – the relationship stuff, the comedy stuff and the horror stuff – the audience will find something to connect to,” Mark Duplass said. “It’s about the characters, and if you like them, you’ll like the film. Then we’ll make $750 million (laughter).”

The tense atmosphere in the film is heightened by the desperation of actors trying to make it in Los Angeles.

Mark Duplass added: “They represent everyone, but in our world, the epitome of the human being who wants something they’re probably never going to have is the desperate actor. It is horrifying and beautiful at the same time.”

The “mumblecore” film movement, which is a genre created out of the small digital video festivals that play across the country, is close to the hearts of the Duplass brothers.

Mark Duplass defined the term: “Mumblecore are films made really cheaply on digital video – often with improvised dialogue and unprofessional actors – that tends to focus on realism in relationships and a distinct lack of plot.”

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “Baghead” image gallery.

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More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

“We are half in and half out,” Mark Duplass added. “We like more plot and use professional actors, but we do tend to focus on the relationships.” Jay Duplass added: “In ‘Baghead,’ the short film shown at the festival in the beginning is hardcore mumblecore.”

It is Mark Duplass who sums up the progression of the brother’s film journey with a reflection on coming up through the independent digital video movement.

“We made a lot of bad movies for a long time until we hit onto something that was watchable,” Mark Duplass said. “It instills a very healthy fear of making a piece of shit. That keeps us on our toes. It’s real easy to make a bad movie and really hard to make a good one.”

“The advantage is that the only limitation is yourself,” Mark Duplass said. “Money is an issue, but the reality is about honing your vision and living and growing as an artist.”

“Baghead,” which is written and directed by brothers Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass and features Ross Partridge, Steve Zissis, Greta Gerwig and Elise Muller, opened on Aug. 1, 2008 at AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago and CineArts 6 in Evanston, Ill.

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