Interview

Interview: ‘My Boys’ Stars Michael Bunin, Kyle Howard, Reid Scott Kick Off Season Two on TBS

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:31:45 -0700

CHICAGO – “My Boys,” which is a set-in-Chicago television comedy series on TBS, recently began its second season. The popular comedy stars Jordana Spiro as P.J. Franklin. She’s a Chicago Sun-Times sports writer who filters her life through bonding with her male buddies.

Three of the “boys” – Michael Bunin (Kenny in the show), Kyle Howard (Bobby) and Reid Scott (Brendan) – were recently interviewed by HollywoodChicago.com. They discussed the similarities of the show to the life of creator Betsy Thomas, the Chicago connections and their perspective on being part of the hit TV show.

“My Boys” on TBS stars Jordana Spiro, Kyle Howard, Reid Scott, Michael Bunin, Jim Gaffigan, Jamie Kaler and Kellee Stewart.
Image credit: TBS

HollywoodChicago: The ensemble comedy has a long tradition in the history of the show. What template or show did the creators have in mind for “My Boys”?
Reid Scott: Out the chute, TBS wanted to pair us with “Sex and the City”. They felt it was that sensibility and demographic. More and more in interviews, though – and it’s incredibly flattering to be compared to the show – it is “Friends”.
Michael Bunin: Betsy Thomas wrote it because she is a huge Chicago Cubs fan, loves her scotch and basically wanted to capture the flip side of “Sex and the City” with a different kind of girl.

HC: What do you think has been the most authentic Chicago experience for your cast and crew?
MB: Wrigley Field – by far the most impressive thing – on so many different levels. Most of our writers and producers are from Chicago or went to Northwestern University, so they want to keep it authentic. But to be on the grass at one of the hallowed halls of baseball was a big treat.

I had a shot where I had to go into the ivy. Betsy Thomas came up to me and said: “You really have to go into the ivy on this take – really hard.” I said OK and went flying into it. Suddenly, it was like the secret service and all this security was right on me.

Betsy said: “I’m sorry, Mike. Why did you do that?” She laid it on me. Then she came up to me later and told me she thought we’d only get one chance to do it like that because of the security.

HC: Which Chicago bar is the fictional Crowley’s upon which your show is based?
MB: It’s modeled after Guthrie’s on Addison. If you look closely, the floor in both places are the same. They originally wanted to call our bar Guthrie’s, but I didn’t know if it was a right’s issue. Betsy Thomas loves Guthrie’s.
Kyle Howard: After doing several scenes on the set of Crowley’s, the writers took us over to Guthrie’s. We walked in and said: “There’s the game cabinet. Look at the tablecloths. Look at the floor.” It was like walking into the set.
RS: In the Crowley’s set, there is a picture of Betsy Thomas, her husband (Adrian Wenner) and Eric Gilliland (an executive producer of the show). All three of them are playing Jenga at Guthrie’s.

HC: Is Jordana Spiro actually like her P.J. character?
RS: Actually, she’s very “P.J.-esque”. She’s a nice girl who likes to hang with the boys, which is a daunting task.
MB: When we shot the pilot and everyone was nervous anyway, you could kind of tell that she was wondering about being in the boys’ club and how this was going to play out. By day four, she was so at ease that you knew she liked her character and liked hanging with the boys.

Jim Gaffigan, Jamie Kaler and Michael Bunin in “My Boys” on TBS.
The show also features Jordana Spiro, Kyle Howard, Reid Scott and Kellee Stewart.
Photo credit: IMDb

HC: Like the characters in the show, do you guys actually play poker together?
MB: Yeah. We have a game at Betsy Thomas’ house. It’s a game that has been going on for years, but now people from the show actually stop by and play.

When I spend the day on the set and react in character to Reid’s character (Brendan) during a poker scene, what’s really surreal is that I always say “Brendo!” Then when we play at Betsy’s house, in comes the real Brendan – who Reid’s character is based on – and we say “Brendo!” So some days I’m yelling “Brendo” for 14 hours.

HC: Do you create back stories for your characters, or because the show hasn’t been on that long, do you let it evolve through the writing?
RS: It has been a little bit of both. Because the characters are based on real people who are actually involved with the show, a lot of situations and inside jokes (which add to the ease and reality of the show) will be explained to us. But as we’ve gone on, our characters have become their own characters and rely less on the characters upon which they are based. Then we do the background work.
KH: There have been days where we read a joke, say “that would never happen” and then Betsy will say “actually, it has” and then go on to explain why.

HC: Kyle, regarding the cliffhanger from last season, when did you know your character was the one who was going to Italy?
KH: Nobody knew until a week before we shot it. I didn’t know until Reid sent me a text with “you’re on the plane, you son of a bitch”.
MB: I was in the office several times telling them exactly why I know it was going to be the Chicago Cubs character. He was the good-looking guy who dated P.J. for a few months. I was giving them the whole storyline and they were nodding their heads along with it. You saw how right I was.

Jim Gaffigan plays the character of Andy Franklin in “My Boys” on TBS.
Photo credit: IMDb

HC: Is there a different pacing between working a show with a laugh track versus one like “My Boys” without one?
RS: Yes. It’s not like I prefer one over the other because they are very different things. I did a sitcom called “It’s All Relative” and the three-camera method made it more like a play. You would get all jacked up for taping night. It was like a party.

But that is why I categorize “My Boys” as a comedy rather than a sitcom. It doesn’t rely on the broader humor of sitcoms, the pacing and even the lighting is different. But you get multiple stabs at bits because of the way it’s taped. It’s more a cerebral type of comedy that way.

HC: How much ad-libbing do you do on the show?
MB: A lot by TV standards, but when you count the actual lines, it’s more of a show that’s scripted as is. The stories are there, the characters are there and the lines are there. Sometimes at the end of a scene the camera will run and the improv coming out of it will make the show. There is a decent amount technically, but overall, it’s a small percentage.

HC: What’s it like working with comedian Jim Gaffigan?
MB: Jim Gaffigan’s autobiography would be titled “My Character Would Sit” because that’s what he directs himself to do in every scene.

HC: Are lines sometimes switched between characters depending on how a scene works?
RS: Actually, yes. It will come at the request of the actor or the producer. You hear the stories of the selfish actors, but we’re willing to pass the ball a lot. I will get a line and say: “Hey, this is a funny joke and I get it, but it will be better coming out of the other character’s mouth.”
MB: We’ve all done that on one or two occasions.
KH: I’ve never done that. (laughter)

New episodes of the second season of “My Boys” premiere every Tuesday on TBS. See here for more details. “My Boys” stars Jordana Spiro as P.J. Franklin, Kyle Howard as Bobby Newman, Reid Scott as Brendan Dorff, Michael Bunin as Kenny Morittori, Jim Gaffigan as Andy Franklin, Jamie Kaler as Mike Callahan and Kellee Stewart as Stephanie.

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

Interview: Director Sarah Gavron, Lead Actress Tannishtha Chatterjee Travel Down ‘Brick Lane’

HollywoodChicago.com — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:01:13 -0700

CHICAGO – The new film “Brick Lane,” which is adapted from the novel of the same name, is a challenging and intuitive film about the emerging of a traditional woman who’s forced to live in a foreign land and her transition from servant to master.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed “Brick Lane” director Sarah Gavron and “Brick Lane” lead actress Tannishtha Chatterjee.

These two incredibly insightful women talked about the essence in creating this amazing female lead, their reactions in working with that character and an overall perspective on the Muslim experience in London.

“Brick Lane” director Sarah Gavron (left) and “Brick Lane” lead actress Tannishtha Chatterjee (right) in Chicago.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com on June 11, 2008

“Brick Lane” focuses on the character of Nazneen: a Bangladeshi Muslim whose mother commits suicide at an early age. Backed into a corner, her father sells her in marriage to a older, sedate man. He immediately moves her to London in the immigrant neighborhood of Brick Lane. There she has to understand her role in life and slowly unravel the person within her.

“What is unusual about the character of Nazneen [is that] she didn’t come to England to lose her past identity,” said “Brick Lane” director Sarah Gavron. “She doesn’t cut her hair short or don western clothes and just assimilate. What she does is find a way to integrate the past and the present. She can be the person she needs to be.”

Tannishtha Chatterjee, who played Nazneen, recalled how she met similar women while preparing for the role: “I met a couple people who were Nanzeen. The fear of the unknown was so dominant in their lives that they would never go out of their apartments. They had no communication with the outside world. They couldn’t even communicate with the people back home.”

Tannishtha Chatterjee (left) as Nazneen and Christopher Simpson (right) as Karim in “Brick Lane”.
Photo credit: Chris Raphael, copyright Seven Seas Productions, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Nazneen’s world slowly comes into focus. She has two children and her husband, Chanu (Satish Kauskik), evolves into a boorish, know-it-all man. She takes in some sewing, which also involves a delivery man named Karim.

“In a way, what I liked about the husband character (Chanu) [is that] he’s not the stereotypic violent man we’ve seen before,” Gavron said. “In one way, he is didactic and pompous. On the other hand, he reveals himself to be wise and vulnerable.”

Gavron also speaks of the other male: “Karim is about the younger generation – which is emerging – who we really haven’t had a chance to interpret [since Sept. 11, 2001]. These confident, young men were the target of racist attacks (particularly on Brick Lane).

She added: “They were low down on the British pecking order. They organized politically and made inroads, but after Sept. 11, 2001, they unfortunately became a target again.”

“Brick Lane” lead actress Tannishtha Chatterjee in Chicago on June 11, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Nazneen begins an affair with Karim, and within the flow of sexuality, learns to release her inner longings. Gavron added: “It is taboo and she is breaking a lot of barriers. I wanted to convey how significant a shift it was for her. The sexual awakening was a catalyst for Nazneen’s change.”

When Sept. 11, 2001 occurs, Brick Lane is a target for scapegoating the Muslim immigrants who live there. It is then that Nazneen sees clearly the distinction between her husband and Karim and makes a decision that impacts both her and her daughters.

“When I read the script and the novel, what appealed to me is that it was not a story that was centered around Sept. 11, 2001,” Chatterjee related. “It was a personal journey about human beings, their relationships and the complexities of those relationships. How Sept. 11, 2001 affected their lives simply affected them differently much as it affected all of us.”

“Ironically, Nazneen’s husband becomes a tragic, liberal hero of the film after Sept. 11, 2001,” Gavron said. “It is his speech after the tragedy that becomes an opposing voice to the younger, more radical Muslim generation.”

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It was important to Gavron to create a character from the neighborhood of Brick Lane to give a sense of empathy for the lives within.

Gavron described it with these words: “It’s such an interesting neighborhood. I often went there growing up because it is really, really vibrant. It’s a melting pot of different things. For example, a church that is now a mosque was once a synagogue and before that a Christian church.”

“There is something about the history of the area that you feel as you walk down the street,” Gavron concluded. “It is not about the bricks and mortar. It’s about a place where people quested for home.”

“Brick Lane,” which features Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson and Lalita Ahmed, opened on June 27, 2008. the film is playing at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema in Chicago, CineArts in Evanston, Ill. and Landmark’s Renaissance Place Cinema in Highland Park, Ill.

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

Interview: Richard Jenkins on First Lead Role in ‘The Visitor,’ ‘Six Feet Under,’ Coen Brothers

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:40:29 -0700

DeKALB, Ill. – Richard Jenkins is a familiar if not overly recognizable character actor. With his distinctly grave voice, he’s best known for his turn as the dead father in the seminal HBO series “Six Feet Under”. But he has also had numerous film roles – most notably with the filmmaking brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen along with Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly.

Born and raised in DeKalb, Ill., Jenkins moved to the east coast after college to pursue theater work with the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, R.I. Now residing there, Jenkins has carved a character niche in TV and movies from Providence.

Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”.
Photo credit: Overture Films

HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed Jenkins about his first leading male role in the new film “The Visitor,” his “Six Feet Under” experience and his life as an actor.

‘The Visitor’

HollywoodChicago.com: In “The Visitor,” how are you as an individual most like the character you play (Walter Vale)? Conversely, how are you unlike him?
Richard Jenkins: Like him, I’m a little hesitant to do new things and try new things. I get stuck in a box a bit – but hopefully not to the degree that Walter Vale has. But I do understand him. I understand looking for different answers in the same place and not finding them.

I understand isolation and I’m a little shy, which is in Walter. I’m unlike him since I’m a little more hyper. I think physically I’m different from Walter. I’m a little more animated.

HC: What is the origin of your association with the writer and director of the film (Thomas McCarthy)? Since he wrote Walter Vale with you in mind, how did he help you and how did you help him develop Walter from the page to the character?
RJ: We barely knew each other. We did know enough to say “hi” because we had the same agent. But we were in Los Angeles doing a movie, staying at the same motel and doing different movies. He saw me in the lobby and asked me to get something to eat. So we went out and talked for a couple hours about everything.

A year-and-a-half later, he calls and says he wrote this part for me. It’s the part he had been thinking about. He thought about me as Walter after he had dinner with me. He said he wrote Walter with my voice in his head. We then rehearsed it for two weeks.

He rewrote as we went along while the other two leads and I basically hung out. We had meals together, we rehearsed and we talked and laughed. We really became friends. The things we were saying in rehearsal would sometimes end up in the script the next day in a much clearer and more interesting way.

It really evolved. At the same time, this was his movie and his script. He knew what he wanted it to be. Basically the script I read was the script we shot.

HC: When Walter has the angry breakdown in the immigration detention center, what decisions as an actor did you make in approaching how angry he would get?
RJ: I did it in a bunch of different ways, but I kept thinking: “This is Walter’s breakdown.” I didn’t want to do it by tearing apart the room. There was a certain decorum even in that for him. It’s anger, yes, but it’s also impotence. You can change anything in the situation. He realizes there is nothing he can do.

HC: Following Sept. 11, 2001, laws and attitudes toward immigration rights are a major plot point in “The Visitor”. Was it Thomas McCarthy’s intention to expose how good people are painted with the same brush as terrorists?
RJ: I always thought when I read this script (and it holds true in life) that everything changes when you know someone. Everything changes when there’s somebody sitting behind that detention center glass who is your child or your friend.

The ability to stand in someone’s shoes before we judge is important. There is a whole world of experience out there that we sometimes shut ourselves from – not intentionally – but we do. It’s simply better if we know each other than if we don’t.

Richard Jenkins (left) and Hiam Abbass in “The Visitor”.
Photo credit: Overture Films

HC: Since you have a great deal of experience with stage work, what classic theater character do you equate Walter Vale with and why?
RJ: Elwood Dowd from “Harvey” – you know, the guy who talks to the rabbit – except he has a friend and Walter doesn’t have a friend.

Richard Jenkins: The Actor

HC: You’ve been on a number of film sets with many different directors. What type of set atmosphere do you prefer with your acting style? Without naming names, what type of set experience is not conducive to your preference?
RJ: I’ve never been asked that. It’s an important question.

It even determines the movie I will do and how I feel the working conditions will be. I like relaxed sets. I like to feel that I can make a mistake without feeling like I’m costing somebody money. I like a sense of freedom. I like it when people are open and are willing to let you do your work.

When there is tension, arguments and money problems, it’s tough to do your work. Some people thrive on that. I don’t.

HC: You have now worked with the Coen brothers on three films. What kind of sensibility do they bring to their stories and characters that you most connect to?
RJ: They trust you. They cast you because they see you as their character.

It’s a very relaxed and easy atmosphere with them. Still, they make these incredibly intense, interesting and complicated films. They move very fast because they know what they want. Still, they are also open for you to bring to your character what you see. It’s a great environment to work with them.

HC: How did growing up in the DeKalb, Ill. during the 1960s impact your decision of becoming an actor?
RJ: I went to the movies in DeKalb at the Egyptian Theater. That’s how I saw the world. I saw “Goldfinger” and thought: “Wow!” It didn’t matter what was playing. We went. I fantasized about it, but as for being in the movies, I thought that was like going to the moon. I didn’t know how you did that.

When the opportunity arose to actually work in film, I jumped right in. It fulfilled all my fantasies about it. There’s nothing like walking onto a Hollywood sound stage. You walk onto Warner Brothers and on those big sound stages that have been there for years there’s a list of every movie ever shot there.

You are in the same place where Spencer Tracy, Errol Flynn, Jimmy Cagney and Humphrey Bogart made movies.

‘Six Feet Under’

HC: I was always struck by the dichotomy between Nathaniel Fisher, your character and the character of Nate’s wife (Ruth). What do you think Nate and Ruth’s relationship in life was about? Why do you think your character greeted her after her death at the end of the show?
RJ: I had an idea, but I never really knew who this guy was because he was only alive in the show (literally) for a minute and a half. Every time I appeared, it was another character’s impression of him. Everyone saw him in a different way. In truth, I never knew who he really was.

I also know, though, that there was something special between Ruth and Nate when they were really young. When she died, she thought of him.

HC: How did you collaborate with series creator Alan Ball on the character?
RJ: I was only supposed to be in the pilot, but Alan said: “When your father dies, you never really stop thinking about him.” So, he asked me to come back and do more. He could be brutal to his family, but really it was about the character being brutal to themselves like self-loathing or a lack of confidence.

HC: Since you only appeared in the show periodically, how were you able to develop the excellent father-son connection between your character and the characters played by Peter Krause and Michael C. Hall?
RJ: They are really good actors. We all started the show together. We started with the pilot. We didn’t know what it was going to be like. We all became friends. It was really fun coming back during my appearances to see everyone.

HC: Finally, as a veteran actor, do you have a one-line piece of advice regarding technique?
RJ: If you’re an actor, you are enough. You have to believe that – that you are enough.

“The Visitor” is currently playing at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema in Chicago.

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

Interview: Director Roger Spottiswoode Captures Spirit of China’s Past in ‘The Children of Huang Shi’

HollywoodChicago.com — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:32:49 -0700

CHICAGO – The second Chinese/Japanese war, which was a 1937 prelude to the great conflict of World War II, is notable today mostly because modern China rose from its ashes. Largely forgotten except for the survivors, it is a backdrop for “The Children of Huang Shi,” which is a new film from veteran director Roger Spottiswoode.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed Spottiswoode to speak about the challenges of Chinese location and period shooting along with his admiration for the real-life legacy of his main character: George Hogg.

“I thought George Hogg was a fascinating character. He was very young to come to China after having been through Japan,” Spottiswoode said. “He then becomes ingrained in China and bumps into these orphans. But he doesn’t necessarily want that life.”

“The Children of Huang Shi” director Roger Spottiswoode in Chicago on May 23, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Portrayed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Hogg was part of a famous pacifist family. When he was 22 years old and after traveling through the U.S. and Japan, he worked as a reporter in China in 1938. He was caught in Shanghai at the apex of the war, which led to an orphanage full of abandoned children.

Chow Yun-Fat (left) as Jack Chen and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (right) as George Hogg in “The Children of Huang Shi”.
Photo credit: Zhu Jialei, Ming Productions for Sony Pictures Classics

“He could have gone back to England – back to the society he could fit into,” Spottiswoode related, “but in being stuck with these children, he made their lives his life. He stayed with it and changed their lives. There is a lot to be said that we all can make a difference if we choose to do so.”

Along with fellow westerner Lee Pearson (Radha Mitchell from “Melinda and Melinda”) – who is a self-taught medical practitioner – Hogg establishes a British-style school system in the orphanage and protects the children from the outside forces in the war. The film also features Chow Yun-Fat.

When these events catch up to and threaten the orphans, he packs them up for a several thousand-mile journey over the old Silk Road. “The Children of Huang Shi” is a period piece that’s filmed on location with a mostly Chinese crew. Spottiswoode related how an insider made a difference in finding the right look for 1930s China.

Guang Li (left) as Shi Kai and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (right) as George Hogg in “The Children of Huang Shi”.
Photo credit: Zhu Jialei, Ming Productions for Sony Pictures Classics

“Our art director, Xin Min Huang, worked on ‘Hero’ and ‘House of Flying Daggers’. He had been all over China,” Spottiswoode said.

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He added: “Finding the past is difficult in China because it got destroyed in the war and during the Cultural Revolution. But he helped us find these places. They were hard to find and they were very, very remote. Finding the past is very hard in China.”

Unfortunately, the film focuses on the love story between Pearson and Hogg, which diminishes the impact of the orphanage work and journey. There’s a feeling of skimming the surface of a true story that would be better served by being grittier or more challenging.

As well, the narrative deserves more than an obvious and improbable love story between two good-looking movie stars. That awareness seemed apparent as the director summed up his experience with the film.

“These kids – now grown – are still alive and still honor George Hogg,” Spottiswoode said. “He didn’t pick up a gun and he didn’t win a war, but he still did something extraordinarily good. I think it’s useful to remember that there is a way to change the world piece by piece. If you find something you can do, just do it. It will make a difference.”

“The Children of Huang Shi” opened on June 6, 2008. The film is playing at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema in Chicago, Landmark’s Renaissance Place Cinema in Highland Park, Ill. and Cinemark’s CinéArts in Evanston, Ill.

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

Interview: Director Steve Conrad Elevates Chicago Setting, Sean William Scott in New Comedy ‘The Promotion’

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:41:34 -0700

CHICAGO – Barring extreme wealth or hermetics, everyone uses the grocery store. It is the great equalizer – the marketplace where all socioeconomic groups can co-exist side by side – in pursuit of daily bread. Inspired by this reality, writer and director Steve Conrad turned it into his feature directorial debut.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

It’s a notable comedy that was shot in Chicago with the definitive title of “The Promotion”. HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed Conrad to glean his take on the dynamics of this unusual movie subject and to offer the lowdown on shooting the film in the city where he also lives.

“Well, it’s home,” Conrad said. “To me, doing a movie in Chicago means putting Chicago natives in a part of town where they live.”

“The Promotion” writer and director Steve Conrad in Chicago on April 22, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Conrad added: “Buildings convey stories, settings convey stories and in order to tell the story right I want to pick the right place. This is easier for me here because these are the places where I walk around. I want to do it better.”

Seann William Scott (left) and John C. Reilly star in Steve Conrad’s “The Promotion”.
Photo credit: Chuck Hodes, The Weinstein Company

“The Promotion” is a story about two assistant grocery-store managers – Doug (played by Seann William Scott, who was Stifler in “American Pie”) and Richard (John C. Reilly) – who are vying for a coveted manager post at the new branch of their Chicago-based grocery chain.

“It was based on a real-life event that happened at a grocery,” Conrad said, “and it seemed the most logical place to set it.”

Conrad described seeing a store employee at a Chicago chain armed only with a yellow courtesy vest break up some unruly loiterers in the parking lot.

“They hurt him so badly just from taunts,” Conrad recalled, “and they absolutely refused to recognize any of his authority. He was completely diminished by it all. He turned around and walked away and I noticed it said on the back of his vest: ‘Have a nice day.’”

“The Promotion” co-star Seann William Scott (left) in Chicago on April 22, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Conrad continued: “So he’s walking back to work instead of quitting, which is what I might do or someone of lesser mettle might do. I thought it was heroic of him to go back. I’m not making too much of this. There’s so much to be admired in that person’s strength.”

Through the awkwardness of the store’s corporate office to the daily grind of customer problems, Conrad and his talented supporting crew – including Fred Armisen, Jenna Fischer, Lili Taylor and Gil Bellows – interpret this real-life scenario with poignant and hilarious observations.

Conrad describes the process with the talented cast: “I started out hiring people who I thought were actors before they were movie stars.”

He added: “I have better luck with actors because they treat the film like a craft. They want it to go well and they will do the work it takes to give the movie a good shot.”

Conrad coaxes great performances out of his two leads.

Williams deftly creates the mask of the everyman who tried to do the right thing while at the same time desiring the prestige and money of the new position. Reilly creates an intricate comic character and imbues him with a Canadian accent and a sad-sack soul.

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Conrad reflected: “Some people can tell a joke and some people can make you laugh. I was really confident that John and Sean were in that second category. If you asked them, you can count on them to do any number of things.”

“I would always try to measure the comedy through real human behavior,” Conrad said in summary. “Among others things, it’s about carving out the space in America to become your better self, how that challenges you and what it costs. It amounts to the fight of all of our lives. It deserves to be treated with some force and some respect.”

There’s a running gag in the film culminating into a moment of pure joy that’s rarely seen in movies today. Steve Conrad has created a story of everyday people also honoring the small victories that define the meaning of life.

“The Promotion” opened on June 6, 2008. In Chicago, the film is showing at AMC River East and Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema.

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

Interview: Directors Mark Osborne, John Stevenson Create Balance Between Action, Zen in ‘Kung Fu Panda’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:01:00 -0700

CHICAGO – In this summer movie season of old men with whips, gals in stilettos and superheroes a go-go, you may ask: “Where’s the cartoon?” (“Speed Racer” doesn’t count.) Indeed, the most highly anticipated animation event of the summer is “Kung Fu Panda”.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Filled with the voices of “A”-list Hollywood stars and featuring a classic combination of well-choreographed action, laugh-out-loud comedy and feel-good philosophy, “Panda” doesn’t pander and works on all levels.

HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed “Kung Fu Panda” co-directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson about putting together a major animated project for the first time and how their lead actor, Jack Black, helped shaped the destiny of the final product.

After having spent 20 years in the inescapable Chorh-Gom Prison, Tai Lung (Ian McShane) makes his daring escape in DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda”.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

“There was a general desire to return to that classic, timeless sense of story that Mark and I remembered as we were growing up,” Stevenson said. “We just wanted to make a story and a world that would endure and would be its own, self-contained universe.”

Unexpectedly chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy and train in the art of kung fu, giant panda Po (Jack Black, above) begins his study under Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman, below) in DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda”.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

“As for the films that inspired us most with animated action, there is no higher bar than ‘The Incredibles,’” Osborne said. “That was a film we looked at not necessarily as a template but for the level of quality and sophistication of the action.”

Jack Black is cast perfectly as the voice of Po: a lumpy panda bear working at his father’s noodle shop in China’s Valley of Peace. Po is an advocate of the fighting cult of kung fu and has kept up with the heroics of the “Furious Five” – Monkey, Mantis, Crane, Viper and Tigress – animals based on the fighting style.

They have been trained to protect the valley by Master Shifu (the voice of Dustin Hoffman) against the rages of evil, avenge-seeking tiger Tai Lung (Ian McShane). One of the five is about to be crowned the top warrior, which is also known as the “Dragon Master”.

Osborne praises the lead voice actor: “We rewrote and rebuilt the original story around Jack Black. That was one of the great things that happened in the genesis of the project. It is perfect casting.”

He added: “There was a lot of inspiration from Jack as a person, Jack’s movie characters and what we knew of Jack especially in association with Tenacious D. We took a lot of inspiration from all that in creating this ultimate fanboy character.”

Seth Rogen voices the fast and quick-tempered Mantis (one of the legendary Furious Five) in DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda”.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

“Jack gave a huge gift really early on about bending the concept to make it work,” Stevenson said. “There were interesting choices to be made and it all came from Jack.”

He added: “When he started doing his first sessions as Po, we all imagined that it might be Tenacious D Jack or something more cocky and abrasive. But Jack himself started to do these more vulnerable and ‘self aware of your failings’ kind of readings.”

Through a series of misadventures, Po becomes the Dragon Master and must endure the rejection and jealously of the Furious Five along with Shifu’s reluctant training. When Tai Lung escapes from prison, it’s up to Po to put into practice the teachings of his master and trust what he has learned to defeat the foe.

The story evolved through several renderings before Osborne and Stevenson found the right tenor.

Stevenson explained: “While we knew Po would eventually have to go one on one with Tai Lung, we didn’t want him to cheat, use magic, turn into Bruce Lee all of a sudden or have him do things you hadn’t seen him do before.”

He continued: “In the Tao Te Ching, there was this stanza in there: ‘The sapling that bends in the breeze is greater than the mighty oak that is rigid.’ It ends with this couplet: ‘The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome.’ When we read that, we said ‘hurrah’! We found our overall philosophy.”

“Also, the philosophical underpinning of the story is that Master Shifu and Po are a balance of opposites,” Osborne expressed. “Villain Tai Lung and Po are a balance of opposites. We thought to build everything on that and we started to discover things.”

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The fluid nature and the excitement of the action sequences – epic without being cartoony – are the centerpiece of the film’s legitimacy.

“One of the big conceits of the film was to use the five original animal fighting styles,” Stevenson said. “The Furious Five in the film actually personify them. It was kung fu in such a way that honored its source, but it also did it in a way you’ve never seen before because it was animals doing it instead of human beings.”

Bring the kids and line up for the popcorn as the result is a fundamental balance and a perfect summer animated classic. Osborne concluded: “It had to be authentic and still feel like kung fu, but at the same time, we knew we had to find our own path and our own way of doing things.”

In all, “Kung Fu Panda” features the voice talent of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Dan Fogler and Michael Clarke Duncan.

“Kung Fu Panda” opened everywhere on June 6, 2008.

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

Interview: Joachim Trier’s Debut Explores Young Angst With Exceptional Feeling in ‘Reprise’

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:32:03 -0700

CHICAGO – When combined with the responsibilities of making the rent or making your way in the relationship landscape, early adulthood is often more challenging (and in different ways) than adolescence.

Writer and director Joachim Trier’s new Norwegian film “Reprise” explores the lives of two writers in their early 20s – through sanity and insanity – addled with feelings of love so bad it can hurt. HollywoodChicago recently interviewed the filmmaker and learned that his reflections match the philosophical objectives of his passionate and unique film.

Anders Danielsen Lie (left) as Phillip and Viktoria Winge as Kari in “Reprise”.
Photo credit: Nils Vik and Miramax Films

“There is a wonderful energy to that time of life,” Trier told HollywoodChicago.com. “I found that in my own life there was an enthusiasm and fascination to discovers things. At the same time, what I couldn’t return to was the naiveté regarding the romantic notions of love and the future.”

“Reprise” director Joachim Trier.
Photo credit: Nils Vik and Miramax Films

He continued: “These are the notions the characters in the film have to part with. That is really what that stage of life is about in ‘Reprise’. It is certainly different for everyone, but in this film, we found that characters around 23 years old are a great time period of change in people’s lives to portray.”

Phillip (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik (Espen Klouman-Hoiner) are best friends and writing buddies. In the beginning of the narrative, they are both poised by the mailbox with thick manuscripts that are about to be sent to a publisher. The narration then imagines a scenario of what happens next.

They both are successful and they both move forward to a second novel in far-off lands. What actually happens is more complicated and testing.

“I always felt that ‘Reprise’ was a film about friendship [rather] than actual writing,” Trier related. “It is more about the dynamics of a shared passion, and in this case, they want to be writers. It is more about their aspirations and ambitions and how that correlates with friendship and growing up and creating an identity. That’s what I was more curious about.”

It is Phillip’s novel that gets published. The subsequent attention takes a toll on both his psyche and friendships.

Anders Danielsen Lie as Phillip (left) and Viktoria Winge as Kari in “Reprise”.
Photo credit: Nils Vik and Miramax Films

He’s also amid a first love. It’s an intense relationship with Kari (Viktoria Winge). When Kari drifts away and the pressure of early fame beats down upon him, he suffers a nervous breakdown that requires institutionalization. His friends (especially Erik) are called upon to rally around him.

“What we did not want to do is romanticize mental illness,” Trier said. “We were interested in it as a metaphor. We wanted all the details to be right. We were very much interested in being close to that person who goes beyond.”

Trier uses flashback and fantasy sequences to develop character. In the early development of Phillip and Erik as writers, they are obsessed with a reclusive character (a J.D. Salinger-type Norwegian writer named Sten Egil Dahl). Trier based this character loosely on a marginal local writer named Tor Ulven.

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“My co-writer and I were certainly big fans of his,” Trier said. “There are many writers, though, like Salinger and the French writer Maurice Blanchot who were also very hard-line, linguistically oriented and reclusive authors. [They had an] incredible ability to play upon absence as the most seductive tool there is.”

In the end, “Reprise” is a story about friendship, but it’s the shy and tentative friendship of early adulthood. It’s also about love, but it’s the damaging and obsessive emotion that is sometimes hard to control. In essence, Trier has created an honest accountability to those going through the time or those who remember it.

“We wanted to portray a state of mind rather than just an observed reality from the outside,” Trier said. “Part of who we are in any given moment is our past, our dreams and our memories. All those things come into any moment.”

Trier concluded: “I do think film can show that without being strangely alienating. ‘Reprise’ seems to be communicating with people, which makes me happy.”

“Reprise” opened in cities including Chicago on May 23, 2008. In Chicago, the film is currently playing at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema.

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

Interview: Chiwetel Ejiofor on American Samurai Journey ‘Redbelt’ From Mind of David Mamet

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:04:22 -0700

CHICAGO – Chiwetel Ejiofor (pronounced choo-ih-tell edge-o-for) has been a stalwart film actor ever since his dramatic debut in Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad”. Since then, he has been a go-to character actor for directors as diverse as Spike Lee, Woody Allen and Stephen Frears.

His latest film is “Redbelt,” which is written and directed by the great Chicago playwright David Mamet. Ejiofor plays Mike Terry: a jujitsu master caught between his passion for the martial art discipline and the outside forces that want to exploit his talent for commercial means.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (left) and John Machado in “Redbelt”.
Photo by Lorey Sebastian | © The Redbelt Company | Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Mamet weaves a compelling tale that’s set in modern Hollywood. It mixes the movies, an emerging new spectator sport and the men who desire the power associated with ownership in both media.

HollywoodChicago.com recently conducted a one-on-one interview with Ejiofor to tackle all aspects of the unique film including working with Mamet and his new respect for art of jujitsu.

“The first part of the pre-production area was dominated psychologically by my growing appreciation for the martial art form that is Brazilian jujitsu, which is so complex and brilliant,” Ejiofor said. “It’s one of those things that – once you have a plethora of moves you understand – you start to apply them. Then you realize truly how complex it is.”

Ejiofor plays Mike Terry. He’s a noble character, but with a sense of real-world propriety, he accepts that the world is sometimes a bitter place. The people around him don’t share his morality.

Chiwetel Ejiofor in Chicago on March 31, 2008 for “Redbelt”.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

His wife frets about bills, his connected brother-in-law doesn’t understand him and even a new student (played with jittery effectiveness by Emily Mortimer) seems determined to unbalance his world.

Ejiofor added: “He has an unerring belief in his own moral code. Nothing that happens in the film ever comes close to breaking that.”

He continued: “Mike Terry is a man who has found a way to live in the present. Not to project into the future or reflect on what has happened, he lives in the now moment, which is part of the philosophy of being in martial arts. What I was communicating is the sense that he is still and always will be himself.”

David Mamet combines his famous rat-a-tat dialogue rhythms with a story that he describes as “American samurai”. While he populates the film with stock players like Joe Mantegna, he surprises with casting like comedic actor Tim Allen (here playing an action-film star whose sad cynicism reveals a finer acting depth).

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“I think Tim was great. He really seemed to be right into the role,” Ejiofor said. “He certainly disappeared into it. You felt that he was there and you weren’t working with someone who was trying to find something.”

Regarding the Mamet dialogue style, Ejiofor said: “I was well versed in it just by growing up with Mamet. I studied him in school. I was very familiar with his plays and screenplays. I did have a great love for his dialogue. I knew a bit about rhythms and enough about Mamet himself. I was happy to try and find a way in making that my own.”

Though the mixture of martial arts and modern American commerce make strange bedfellows in this unusual tale, Mamet makes it sing. He even adds Rocky-like fight sequences that work essentially.

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“If anything, the film is commenting on the way of how people through their own volition favor a simple way of living within their own moral framework, but find themselves at times vulnerable to the bigger machines at work,” Ejiofor concluded. “The lesson within the film is that if you maintain your own position, you’ll find ways of engaging if not defeating anything that comes your way.”

This collaboration of Mamet, Ejiofor and the purity of martial arts join forces for a captivating and one-of-a-kind film experience.

David Mamet’s “Redbelt” – a Sony Pictures Classics release – opened on May 9, 2008 at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema in Chicago along with other U.S. theaters.

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

Interview: ‘Son of Rambow’ Director Garth Jennings Unleashes Power of Childhood Imagination

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:41:23 -0700

CHICAGO – A preacher delivering a sidewalk sermon followed by a boy’s inventive doodles and drawings are the opening images that launch “Son of Rambow”. This sets the tone for the unyielding power of childhood imagination that the filmmakers unleash upon moviegoers.

Set in the 1980s, two boys obsessed with the Rambo film “First Blood” are on a mission to make their own home video for a BBC screen test titled “Son of Rambow”. A hilarious and touching story ensues about cultural differences, friendship and boyhood dreams.

Will Poulter (left) and Bill Milner in “Son of Rambow”.
Photo credit: Paramount Vantage

In the HollywoodChicago.com interview with “Son of Rambow” director Garth Jennings (director of 2005’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”) and producer Nick Goldsmith, these two have exposed not only their heart and soul in creating this feature but they have also touched on experiences from their own childhood adventures.

After learning that Jennings based some of its story after his own boyhood filmmaking and both Jennings and Goldsmith have been great friends for many years, the intimacy and spirit of this film became the focus of our interview with them.

Not only is this film absolutely enjoyable from every angle but it’s also refreshing to find two filmmakers both on screen and behind the scenes who have so much passion and boyhood spirit involved in their filmmaking processes.

This is a must-see film that will not only touch your heart but also your funny bone. It’s a heartwarming and familiar tale of adventure and imagination that will bring you back to your childhood and send you down your own memory lane.

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HollywoodChicago.com: Because this film is so close to your heart, did you take a different stance with it on distribution?
Director Garth Jennings: Because “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” was a much different experience and it was sort of sucked out into the abyss of Hollywood and we had nothing to do with the distribution, this was all new for us.

Initially we had a delay because of the name of the film. (The “w” was added for legal reasons.) We took that time to go to lots of film festivals with it. We didn’t have a full marketing plan at that point and got to show the film raw to audiences.

It made for genuine experiences and responses from the audience. Since we did want to protect the film because it was so close to our hearts, we designed our own posters and we were involved with all the making of the trailers.

Bill Milner (left) and Will Poulter in “Son of Rambow”.
Photo credit: Paramount Vantage

HollywoodChicago.com: Did the production design and the fantastical scenes come out the way you had both visualized?
Director Garth Jennings: The special effects and animation came out better than we could have ever imagined. Basically it was all spot on and exactly how we wanted. In many senses, it came out much better.

Producer Nick Goldsmith: As far as production design, they bought lots of props off eBay that made the film even more hilarious.

When the brother talks on the giant cell phone, it came off as hilarious. While it wasn’t planned to be that way, the 1980s really had enormous phones. We seem to have forgotten that.

“Son of Rambow” director Garth Jennings on Jan. 22, 2007.
Photo credit: Fred Hayes, WireImage.com

HollywoodChicago.com: What was the most difficult aspect of making this film?
Director Garth Jennings: It took five months to find the right kids. We went to regular schools to find them. Also, financing was probably the most difficult aspect. Getting people to invest in our idea was tough, but as a whole, it was an absolute joy to film. Everything went smoothly.

Producer Nick Goldsmith: We had one issue with a location where we had signed a release to use an area that ended up not being owned by the person we signed with. They ended up holding our lights at ransom, but it was all part of the process and just a little snag.

HollywoodChicago.com: How was it working with such young and inexperienced actors?
Director Garth Jennings: They actually had no experience at all – well, one of them was a munchkin in a play – but basically this was an after-school program for them.

The two main actors were both very instinctive. We gave them very specific instructions and it worked out great. They were all economical. We would say ‘do this and say this very fast and stand on the blue line’ and they would follow very well. They had a great time.

They rode around in cranes and in jeeps and loved it every day.

It became infectious for them and the two became great friends. They still hang out all the time. It was really the easiest thing in the world. We were very careful to have no monitors or playback so we didn’t make them self-conscious on the set. It was awesome.

HollywoodChicago.com: How much of the filmmaking styles in “Son of Rambow” were like you as a kid?
Director Garth Jennings: That’s the easiest question in the world: none whatsoever. I mean, I did lots of dangerous stunts that could have killed me as a kid, but we heightened the drama aspect for the audience involvement.

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HollywoodChicago.com: Will your childhood Rambo footage be on the DVD extras?
Director Garth Jennings: Absolutely. We plan on having some.

HollywoodChicago.com: What was the best part of making this film?
Director Garth Jennings: We were a small unit. We were hands on in all aspects just like they are in the jeep making the film. That was pretty much how our crew was. We became one big gang.

Producer Nick Goldsmith: The actual filmmaking was great. Our film crew was a huge mob. We enjoyed the shoot so much. The best part for me was about three or four weeks after we wrapped when I was able to see the footage and realize what we had. I was really proud of it. That feeling was amazing.

Along with other cities, “Son of Rambow” from Paramount Vantage opened on May 9, 2008 at AMC Loews Pipers Alley in Chicago and the Cinemark CinéArts 6 in Evanston, Ill.

By ALLISON PITACCIO
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
allee@hollywoodchicago.com