Thanks to his collaborations with David Cronenberg (Cosmopolis) and now David Michod (The Rover), Robert Pattinson is proving that life after the Twilight project can take an interesting turn. Instead of continuing his forays into studio driven, tentpole type movies, Pattinson has followed his creative heart into more auteur driven features, and with The Rover he gives his most stirring performance to date.
Whether he continues his journey into thematically rich, lower budgeted films or if he will sign on for a huge epic isn’t really part of Robert Pattinson’s though process. For him, picking a role isn’t driven by what’s trending in Hollywood or what film would take him higher atop the A-list ladder.
Robert Pattinson in “The Rover” (A24)
“I don’t really have any particular preconceived plan, I mean each of the Twilight movies I kind of approached them all as individual movies,” said Pattinson. “I never really saw it as (I’m) going back to work or whatever. You can’t really predict what audiences will like or want or even if they’re going to follow you. I think if you try to make challenging stuff (and) you put your heart into it, hopefully at least one person’s going to like it.”
To hear the audio version Robert Pattinson’s thoughts on not having a preconceived plan, check out the Soundcloud bar below:
The Rover, starring Guy Pearce, is now playing in select theaters.
Recent news, as reported by TV Line, that talks between Hulu and Sony Pictures Television to renew Community came to a not so fruitful end is a bit disheartening. With the cast members’ deals reportedly expire on June 30, Sony has several days to keep Dan Harmon’s beloved series alive. Part of Harmon and his crew’s goals, which you know if you’re into hashtags or a devout fan of the show, was to reach “six seasons and a movie,” and during our interview with Joel McHale he talked about why Community is such a beloved program.
“The fans love the show because it’s very funny and the characters are very well drawn and it earns it’s meaningful message,” said McHale, who plays a Bronx, NY cop in the thriller Deliver Us From Evil. “Those heartfelt moments come from being buffered around incredible jokes they aren’t just there to go ‘and here’s something schmaltzy now that hopefully will affect you’ – it comes out when you least expect it.”
Olivia Munn and Joel McHale at the Screen Gems & Jerry Bruckheimer Films with The Cinema Society screening of “DELIVER US FROM EVIL” at the SVA Theater.
Whether or not Community lasts for another season is a question that should be answered in the near future. Whatever happens, however, expect McHale to continue to support Dan Harmon’s upcoming creative endeavors. “Well, Dan Harmon is a living genius and that show lived in his head,” added McHale. ” I would trust him to write anything, I would follow him into any battle…”
To hear the actor talk about his love for Community and how he’d follow Mr. Harmon to “battle,” check out our audio clip below:
Deliver Us From Evil, headlined by Eric Bana and directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinster, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) opens nationwide July 2.
You may remember Olivia Munn from her popular run on TV’s Attack of the Show!or maybe you’ve watched her as the neurotic (and highly intelligent) Sloan Sabbith on HBO’s underrated series The Newsroom.Either way, you probably haven’t seen Munn in an acting class.
That’s not a knock on or a sarcastic dig at the actress, and her steady work on television (including the short-lived Perfect Couples) and film (Magic Mike, The Babymakers, and now Deliver Us From Evil) is proof that she’s in-demand and, more importantly, able to successfully work in both mediums.
During the Deliver Us From Evil press day over the weekend, Munn explained why spending years honing her craft at acting school wasn’t in her cards. Instead, the actress has an entirely different and straightforward approach to her craft. “I am a part of all that I have met,” asserts Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poem Ulysses. One can assume Munn shares a similar sentiment.
In the audio clip below, Olivia Munn explains how connecting to people from all walks of life illuminates her acting path.
In Deliver Us From Evil, Munn plays the wife of Ralph Sarchie (EricBana), an NYPD sergeant who battles a different kind of evil in the Bronx. Directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister), is based on the book of the same name (penned by Sarchie and Lisa Collier Cool) and opens nationwide July 2.
Since my love life has been circling the drain for several years, NBC’s freshman sitcom Undateable is chicken soup for my blackened soul. Ron Funches stars on the show as Shelly, a shy dude who needs a bit of help with the ladies. Chris D’Elia is Danny, the ladykiller who gives Shelly and the rest of his buds a truckload of love advice.
The writing staff for Undateable have tailor made the roles to fit the actors’ own comedic voices, and Funches’ laid back and clever style is perfectly captured. I love the comic’s pinpoint observational humor as well as his unique delivery, and if you haven’t seen his stand-up routine, check out the video I’ve embedded at the end of the post. Until then, here’s my Q&A with Funches:
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“Undateable” is a well written and funny show. Does having comics like you, Chris D’Elia, and Brent Morin help the overall quality of the program?
I think it’s because we have great writers in general. Bill Lawrence, who created Scrubs and Spin City, comes from an excellent lineage of shows. And like you said, we have a lot of stand-up (comics) on the show and (the writers) allow us to improvise and beef up their material and they provide us with a nice framework and then we can try to build on it from there.
Bianca Kajlich, Ron Funches, and Briga Heelan in “Undateable” (NBC, Justin Lubin)
Your comedic delivery as well as the angles you use on your observational humor is pretty unique. How much work does it take for you to craft a great joke or story?
I’m a very big stickler when it comes to the words that I use, so a lot of times I’ll work on jokes for a year before they’re actually ready. So it’s a long process that sometimes that makes me very upset (laughs)! I love it.
A lot of people don’t know that with some jokes, you’ve been working on for maybe your whole career to get to that point. Then you have to write and constantly work on things because you never know when they will ask for more material from you. It’s just a process and more of a lifestyle, you know?
What have you learned from your experience on Undateable – has it been an easy transition from stand-up to acting?
It’s just gaining experience and comfort in an environment. It takes a little bit of time. I’m a naturally shy person so I get a little bit in my head sometimes. (It’s about) becoming more relaxed and just getting into acting classes and making sure that I have a respect for it and use the terms that people use. It’s just really hard work, but a lot of fun. Especially when you do it in front of a live studio audience. It’s like a mix of doing stand-up, but just (using) other people’s words.
Many of your jokes on the show are scene stealers or serve as one of an episode’s top punchlines. Is that part of your own style?
It’s what I like doing. It’s what my comedy style is like and it’s (similar) to what I did as a kid. I was never the class clown who spoke a lot and got all the attention, but I’d have one or two jokes that I’d make fun of people on the side. That’s always been my style, so it’s nice to see that translate to where I end up being the punchline for a lot of the scenes.
What advice would you give performers who are naturally shy? How did you break out of your own shell?
Just doing things I’ve never done before and building more confidence and teaching myself that it doesn’t matter what I think of me. Mostly I think positive, but sometimes I’m not. (But) it doesn’t even matter what I think, it matters what these people think.
If they think I’m doing a good job or worth having around, then I am. When people tell you that your stories are good and you say “No, I could have done so much better, I’m not where I want to be.” That’s not for you to decide, let them enjoy it. If they enjoy it, then it was good. That kind of helped free me up a bit from self doubt and worry about being a perfectionist.
Since you’re a relative newbie to Los Angeles, are you surprised that much of it is an industry town?
It’s a mix of things. There’s definitely some of that, and then there are just weirdos from their hometown who are like minded. It’s nice to be in a place where you (can have a goal) to be on a TV show, win an Emmy or do stand-up and not have people look at you like you’re crazy. That is invaluable.
So sometimes you have to deal with a lot of background actors who are really into SAG and know everything about the business and I myself am trying to be more knowledgeable about the business. But I’m more into my art and what I’m doing then worrying about what’s going on about SAG awards.
Do you see stand-up comedy as your first love?
I kind of look at it as stand-up being my first kid and acting as a second kid that I didn’t know but I love just as much. I love them both. I will always want to keep doing stand-up and get better in my art, but I will always want to act, whether it’s on Undateable or another show. But hopefully it’s this show, because I really like it.
Undateable airs tonight on NBC (9 & 9:30 pm et/pt)
Some actors will show up on set with their lines memorized and ready to hit their mark. It’s a “keep it simple stupid” method that, if it works, shouldn’t be criticized. For Moran Atias, playing a desperate gypsy in director Paul Haggis‘ complex (and compelling) drama Third Person required a different approach. Saying the lines is one thing, but living the part is another.
Haggis told the actress to cut down her shaving regime for the production’s duration, but she did more than let her hair grow for Third Person. “Moran moved into a place where there was no electricity, no water, and she didn’t bathe,” said Haggis during the film’s press conference in Los Angeles. “So we didn’t hang out…”
Moran then playfully interjected, “OK, enough with the details.”
Adren Brody as “Scott” in “Third Person” – (Sony Pictures Classics)
The devil, especially when acting is concerned, is in the details. One of Third Person’s main storylines centers on the relationship between Monika (Atias), a gypsy whose daughter is abducted, and Scott, a morally questionable businessman (Adrien Brody) she meets at a bar. Whether Monika is playing this American for a chump is a puzzle that isn’t solved until the film’s moments, and the mesmeric and tense interplay between Atias and Brody is one of Third Person’s most inspired aspects.
Her decision to travel to Italy and live among gypsies helped build an inner life for Monika. “All these activities just helped me feel confident about why (Monika) wasn’t apologetic on what she has become,” said the actress, who will also be seen in the freshman FX series Tyrant. “If she needs to take a guy on a journey, then she will, because she needs to survive.”
Click on the media bar below to hear Atias talk about the acting prep she did for Third Person:
Third Person, which co-stars Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, and Maria Bello, opens June 20 in New York and Los Angeles.
Director Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, Malena) is obsessed with love and time’s bittersweet relationship and, in his best moments, he’s dished out several cinematic gems (Cinema Paradiso, Malena, The Legend of 1900, and the underrated The Star Maker). In our youth, the tides of passion crashing on our shores, but as the years exact their devastating toll, much of that fire is extinguished. But what happens if that flame visits us in autumn?
With The Best Offer, Tornatore introduces us to Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush), an art auctioneer who can spot a masterpiece and a forgery within moments. High brow culture and refinement may sustain our protagonist, but human contact is far from his reach. Antisocial and arrogant by nature, Virgil’s only bedfellow is the artwork he’s collected or oftentimes swindled throughout his lifetime.
The Best Offer DVD Cover (IFC Films)
Claire Ibbetsen (Sylvia Hoek) is a beautiful shut-in whose sole contact to the outside world is her housekeeper. Both her parents are dead, and her family’s estate contains priceless artwork and collectibles that are being valuated by Virgil. During their first several encounters, she’s a phantom in Virgil’s hermetically sealed world, a voice he can faintly hear within the property’s walls. Although they’re both natural introverts, Claire’s insistence on not being seen in person makes Virgil look like the life of the party.
Eventually their mysterious and awkward dance leads to a temporary conjoining of souls, and when two lonely people find each other, a happily every after possibility arises. Since this is a Tornatore film, we know that every shared ache, forlorn kiss, and longing embrace is tempered with a bracing sense of reality, and The Best Offer doesn’t shy away from heartache.
Even though he’s spent years dining alone at the fanciest restaurants, Virgil prefers the company of the female portraits which adorn his meticulously crafted domicile. Sitting amidst their presence, these works of art are, before he meets Claire, his intimates. Workshop owner Robert (Jim Sturgess) may be Virgil’s sole friend, and the pair collaborate on putting together a piece of machinery that, when finally put together, will dramatically increase their financial well-being. The pieces to this machine, however, were discovered at Claire’s home, and whether or not Virgil will divulge his discovery to the woman he’s grown to love is one of the film’s greatest mysteries.
Geoffrey Rush in “The Best Offer” (IFC Films)
Virgil’s gradual seduction of Claire gives him a window to another life. He’s spent years collaborating with struggling artist Billy Whistler (Donald Sutherland in a small but deliciously played role) to have an upper hand at auction bidders. Since he knows the true value of each piece, Virgil employs Billy to bid on select items that he can resell at a significant profit.
But, as Tornatore’s tale suggests, Virgil doesn’t know the real price of human relationships. Like T.S. Eliot’s emotionally scarred J. Alfred Prufrock, he has no idea how to proceed. He holds court at his auctions, but dealing with women on a romantic level is his Achilles heel. When circumstance throws him a curve ball, Virgil must choose if his new love is the real deal or, like many of his findings, a complete forgery.
Tornatore mixes romantic melodrama and thriller elements into The Best Offer, as he and cinematographer Fabio Zamarion weave a spellbinding, visual portrait of a man whose most treasured work of art exists right before his eyes. The film’s slow yet steady pace enables us to revel in Virgil’s compromised universe for 130 minutes, and if you’re a fan of leisurely unraveled mysterious the film’s length won’t be a deterrent.
The Best Offer ranks among Giuseppe Tornatore’s finest work, and even if Virgil continues to confuse art with true love, it’s an easily forgivable flaw, especially since he’s joined the land of the living.
DVD special features: Unfortunately, The Best Offer (IFC Films, Rated R, 131 minutes) only contains the film’s trailer. The movie is a must see, however, if you’re a mystery/suspense fan.
Now out on DVD, A Fighting Man (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 88 minutes) centers on Sailor O’Connor (Dominic Purcell), a former boxer who returns to the sport to finance an Ireland trip for his dying mom. James Caan, Louis Gossett Jr., Adam Beach, Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy)and FamkeJanssen also star in the feature.
This is my favorite Dominic Purcell role to date, as he perfectly captures a scarred soul who’s still tormented by his past. The entire cast is terrific, and during my interview with Damian Lee I asked about his rehearsal process and working with the actors. More importantly, he also talked about how a filmmaker can survive in an age where tentpole and franchise based features dominate today’s theaters. Although he’s directed his share of genre pieces in his day, Lee is a writer-director whose work has a character driven base. Below is my Q&A with the filmmaker. Enjoy!!
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Did “A Fighting Man” have a ton of rehearsal time before production time?
We had a lot of rehearsal time. Dominic Purcell was training for five months prior to the filming of the movie. Izaak Smith (he plays Sailor’s opponent)was training for at least five or six months. And then we had close to two months of rehearsing the fight scenes together. I had an Olympic boxing coach working with them in terms of choreographing the fight.
The coach also worked on the movie as the referee, which must have been advantageous for the production.
That allowed us to be able to stage the fight so (the actors) were like dancers. They knew their moves inside out. We were able to control chunks of the fight without cutting away because the integrity and the organic (feel) of the fight was there to be played out between the two fighters. Having that rehearsal time was essential to capturing the fight in a very realistic way.
You assembled a great acting roster for A Fighting Man. Does the cliché of great actors making a director’s job easier hold true?
You’re absolutely right. I think the director’s job is set if he’s worked hard on the script with his fellow partners on the film. I had some great people collaborating with me. Jeff Steinkamp is the editor, and he comes from a long line of great editors – I think his family has won like 15 Academy Awards. His grandfather was an editor on Ben-Hur. His father (William Steinkamp) worked with director Sydney Pollack (The Interpreter) for years. William Steinkamp – he cut Tootsie, Scent of a Woman, and A Time to Kill – and he worked with me on the set, as did Lauren Craniotes from Sony.
The three of us worked on the script, and we would go through it line by line. There were days when we would discard pages and pages, and then build the script back up. That was hugely beneficial, and Lauren is very well versed in film, as is Bill. Not only was Bill working on the script, he was on set as well. So that really helps in terms of the (shooting) coverage.
We also had a great production designer in Anthony Cowley, who did an absolutely fabulous job. We discussed the philosophy of this before we started the picture. If you work it through well philosophically, and you know what you’re going to do in terms of the story, the work is done before you get there. If you have to fix something up on set, it’s too late.
I don’t believe a director’s job is to direct actors. If you hire actors, they better know how to act. They better be right for the part!
A Fighting Man – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
With digital filmmaking a reality, some movies have an all too crisp image. “A Fighting Man” has a warm visual texture to support the story. Was there a ton of thought into giving your film that rich look?
I got a really good DOP in Bobby Shore who’s got a great eye. I have a great colorist with Drake Conrad who I’ve worked with before as well. After we had the digital cut locked and everything done, we did a film wash on the movie itself.
We took the digital (look) way down. It doesn’t have a digital look at all. With a film wash, you can dial the grade you want to see and in many respects it can be even better than using a 35mm quality film. You can actually accentuate, from scene to scene, the film look which is a much more artistic look.
You’re right with what you just said. People are shooting films, but it doesn’t look or feel like a film. It just doesn’t.
Is there a key to getting financing for character driven movies that don’t fit today’s tentpole film environment?
I think one of the first things that a filmmaker has to do is look at the financial plan. A financial plan has to entail and embrace as much free soft money benefits that you can get your hands on. For example, we know certain sections of the U.S. and in Canada, we can get a lot of tax rebates back.
Now the tail can’t wag the dog, so we have to find the right location for the film and try to find the location that can maximize the amount of soft money that we are going to get back for this film. So to be a filmmaker, in this day and age, I think you have to get to be a pretty good financial engineer as well.
(With A Fighting Man), Sony was a terrific partner, and if you can bring some aspect of some financial energy to a potential partner or a distributor, they’re going to be more predisposed to doing (the film).
“A Fighting Man” isn’t your average boxing film. There’s a humanistic, and at times epic, take on Sailor O’Connor’s journey.
The mythology that we embrace in this film, to some small degree, is the concept of the fisher king. We all suffer. I believe that, and I’m taking this from the great writer Joseph Campbell, that the real quest in life is to become more conscious. So in the quest for wholeness, which I think all stories are about, how can we tell that story in the most dynamic way?
So the concept of the spiritual wound, which is what the fisher king is all about, that for me was the touchstone. I wanted to explore that as simple as possible, and boxing is beautiful in its brevity and simplicity.
What advice would you give writers who also want to try their hand or maybe even embark on a directing path?
If you can get a strong story and arm yourself with some experience in production, then you can seek to fulfill the right to articulate your vision. But you have to arm yourself with knowledge. You can’t be a writer who’s never exposed yourself to production. You have to try and stay as close to a production as possible and serve the production in certain ways. If you’re a writer, perhaps you can be a co-producer in some capacity or maybe even an associate producer. Gain credits and credibility by serving the production and by doing that, you’ll be serving yourself. You’ll be putting arrows in your quiver that will help you drive your career forward towards directing, if that’s your inclination.
On the surface, Land Ho! centers on a couple of sixty-something guys (Paul Eenhoorn, Earl Lynn Nelson) who are trying to recapture their youth. Even if their salad days are behind them, they still have their share of fun (and unexpected moments) amidst Iceland’s beautiful landscapes.
While Colin (Eenhoorn) is reserved and laid back, ex-brother-in-law Mitch (Nelson), is a rowdy, straight talking extrovert. This opposites attract dynamic is one of the many reasons Land Ho! succeeds, and it’s their open approach to life which gives the film a refreshing level of resonance.
Paul Eenhoorn & Earl Lynn Nelson – Land Ho! (Sony Pictures Classics)
Shot in just 18 days, the film was written and directed by Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz. Earl Lynn, Stephens’ second cousin, acted in her previous films Passenger Pigeons and Pilgrim Song. Since he has an effusive and larger than life personality off screen, Earl Lynn is also natural scene stealer. To his credit, Eenhoorn is more than fine playing the straight man role, as Colin’s continuing exasperation over Mitch’s antics also reap comedic dividends.
In real life, Earl Lynn’s contains the same exuberance as Mitch, and it’s a shared passion comes from the realization that we all live on borrowed time.
“I love life,” said Earl Lynn who, along with being an actor, is also an oculoplastic surgeon. “I know that my experience with death – I spent four years, three months, and thirteen days in Vietnam. I found both of my parents dead, and tomorrow I could be dead. So I squeeze life for every nickel that I can get out of it every day. I work hard and I play hard.”
Click on the media bar below to hear Earl Lynn discuss the universality of Land Ho! and why it’s had such a strong emotional impact on moviegoers.
Édgar Ramirez, an actor who’s worked with such stellar filmmakers as Kathryn Bigelow (“Zero Dark Thirty”), the late Tony Scott (“Domino”), Ridley Scott (“The Counselor”) and Paul Greengrass (“The Bourne Ultimatum”), brings a welcome intensity to all his performances (for further proof, check out his work in the miniseries “Carlos”).
In The Liberator, Ramirez has the intimidating task of portraying Venezuelan freedom fighter and visionary Simón Bolívar. The gorgeously shot epic, directed by Alberto Arvelo, is set for an October 3 release stateside and was recently screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Édgar Ramirez in “The Liberator” – (Cohen Media Group)
During today’s interview for The Liberator, I asked Ramirez if he sees acting as a journey or a quest.
“My craft as an actor has helped me to deal in a better (and) more poetic way with a world full of incongruity,” said Ramirez, who will also be seen in the thriller Deliver Us From Evil and a remake of Point Break. “There’s so many contradictions and incongruity that as an actor I think I’ve found a way to be saved – or to try to understand it.”
Click on the media bar below to hear Édgar Ramirez discuss the secret dance that exists between actors and their respective roles.
The Liberator, co-starring Danny Huston and Maria Valverde, was penned by Children of Men scribe Timothy J. Sexton.
One of art’s greatest mysteries is explored in Tim’s Vermeer (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 80 minutes, PG-13), an absorbing documentary about Texas based inventor Tim Jenison’s determined attempts to reveal how Johannes Vermeer created photo-realistic paintings before the advent of photography. By studying Vermeer’s environment and recreating his workspace and methodology, Jenison attempts to paint his own version of “The Music Lesson.” Does Jenison’s brush strokes effectively capture Vermeer’s masterwork, or does his experiment go down in flames?
Since the film is produced by Penn Jillette (who narrates the doc) and Teller (who’s also the doc’s director), Tim’s Vermeer may initially come across as a tale of an illusionist who’s trying to work some magic. Instead, the project centers on Jenison’s obsessive and workmanlike efforts to replicate the Dutch master’s creative universe and explain how Vermeer captured such vivid portraits of his environment.
Tim’s Vermeer – Penn Jillette, Tim Jenison (Sony Pictures Classics)
Tim’s Vermeer – Penn Jillette, Tim Jenison (Sony Pictures Classics)
Part of the charm behind Tim’s Vermeer lies in Jenison’s unassuming personality. Although he’s achieved success as an inventor, his investigation into Johannes Vermeer originates from a place of curiosity and eventual wonderment. Jenison’s ambition is to uncover the mystery behind Vermeer to show the artist’s innovative process. Even when he completes his version of “The Music Lesson,” Jenison continues to remain humble. “Vermeer obviously had a lot of talent with the brush, and I have none,” said the inventor during a deleted scene from the documentary.
The special features on the Tim’s Vermeer Blu-ray contains over 22 minutes worth of deleted scenes. Although the 80 minute documentary is first rate, the extra sequences are a must see. The deleted scenes include:
A humorous Penn & Teller opening has the pair talking about Jack the Ripper while a prostitute’s corpse(played by Lesley Cox) is nearby. Penn Jillette explains the world’s fascination with murder mysteries and then adds that Tim’s Vermeer is a unique mystery of its own, even sans all the bloodletting. Tim Jenison is also featured at the end of the intro.
Penn Jillette explains how a Brazilian steakhouse dinner with Tim Jenison led to the documentary’s genesis.
Jenison explains to Penn how Vermeer may have painted “The Soldier and the Laughing Girl.”
A must see deleted scene has Tim Jenison completing his final brush stroke for “The Music Lesson.”
If most of these 22 minutes were added to the original cut of Tim’s Vermeer, the documentary wouldn’t have solely focused on Jenison’s laser-focused mission. The extra scenes, however, are a total treat for Penn & Teller fans (especially the intro). Other special features include audio commentary (Penn, Teller, Jenison, and producer Farley Ziegler), and a Toronto Film Festival Q&A featuring Tim Jenison, Penn Jillette,Teller, and Farley Ziegler.
The Toronto Film Festival Q&A, clocking in at a little over 21 minutes, is also worth watching, as Teller explains how he and Penn Jillette shaped the documentary into a more simple and streamlined narrative (Teller talks about the deleted intro during the Q&A).
During my interview with Jenison, he talked about a great piece of advice his father gave him in regards to following through on his goals. It’s real great advice, so check out the clip below to hear Jenison:
That’s not a knock on or a sarcastic dig at the actress, and her steady work on television (including the short-lived Perfect Couples) and film (Magic Mike, The Babymakers, and now Deliver Us From Evil) is proof that she’s in-demand and, more importantly, able to successfully work in both mediums.
