Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Wizard of Link

Oz (Cinema)
<--- Queerty the real life Sam Green objects to the way he's portrayed in Julianne Moore's new flick Savage Grace (my review). How one can object to being portrayed charmingly by none other than Hugh freakin' Dancy is beyond me, but, to each their own. It was apparently not the freeloading characterization that bothered him but the makin' it with Eddie Redmayne part.

Chicagoist has a piece up on a bank-owned cinema that my friend Goatdog programs for. Chicago readers really should be making use of this amazing repertory theater.
ONTD tons of new photos from the Amelia biopic starring Hilary Swank. Coming soon to threaten the Oscar dreams of the unrewarded and hugely deserving (I'm just guessing. Carry on)
This Recording has a bizarre and lengthy piece that lives in abject terror of Scarlett Johansson having her way with the world (or something like that. amusing)
NYT Manohla Dargis on Cyd Charisse

Kansas (Off Cinema)
Braniac Decision 2008: Hip Black Guy vs. Cranky Old White Guy
Joe My God "on sale at the Texas GOP Convention" Typical. Hopefully the Republican endorsed racism of the upcoming elections will prompt millions of saner members of the "undecided" block to choose the Democratic party. Although if you're undecided after the last 8 years, are you really sane at all?
Ping Mag 'Fundoshi' is hot in Japan. Um, can I move? All the men here have swimsuits down to their knees. ;)
E! Project Runway is "getting some work done"

13 comments:

Janice said...

I don't know anything about Green's characterization in the film, but don't you hate it when people get all hot and bothered about being depicted or perceived as gay? Like, it's ok to be a seen as a jerk but "gay" is over the line? (Pssst: Tom Cruise has been suing people who depict him - in print, anyway - as gay, and it hasn't made the rumors go away one iota. Might want to keep that in mind.)

Robert said...

Hang on Janice, you mean there's a difference between being evil and being gay?

Man, I've been watching too many Hitchcock films lately.

And speaking of evil and gay, I really wish they wouldn't mess with my Project Runway

RJ said...

People people people . . . why must we ALWAYS get offended so easily. Savage Grace isn't exactly the most flattering portrait of people ever made, so don't you think he's concerned at being portrayed falsely? The fact that it was such a young man and that in the movie he apparently has dalliances with the mother and the son around the same time make him seem extremely pervy. I just think people on the internet are too quick to be offended these days over such little things. It makes it that much harder for us to make a point when we REALLY do have something worthwhile to fight about.

Janice said...

It's not so much that I'm offended, rural juror, as, um, "amused" (not in a good way, thank you.) It's not as though this is the first time we've heard this sort of thing, and if the complaint were being applied more even-handedly, that would be one thing (that whole portrait of me was off-base,vs emphasizing the "gay" part.)

On the other hand - if someone made a movie about my life (as if) and portrayed me heterosexual I'd be furious. (But in that case, I would at least have a whole history of gays and lesbians being portrayed as straight in the movies to fall back on.) So yes, I do see your point (reluctantly, perhaps, but still.)

What I wonder - if the character was really a composite of several real-life people (which is pretty much the norm in biopics nowadays anyway, and perhaps has always been; since when did Hollywood ever let a little thing like facts stand in the way?) why not just change the name of the character to something equally fictitious and thus avoid the problem of someone wanting to sue altogether? (A similar problem arose with Shainberg's fictional bio of Diane Arbus, which the daughter challenged. Why not just make it a fictional character and thus avoid the problem, since the rest of it is so brazenly fictionalized? Or was Shainberg actually trying, just as brazenly, to challenge conventional notions of what the biopic could be?)

Anonymous said...

nat,do you think hilary is a top contender for 2009 best actress if so she may dethrone the pfeiffer.

Catherine said...

I really really really doubt Swank could manage a third win. I mean, that would equal outstripping Bette Davis, Rob deNiro etc. There's no way...

...is there?

NATHANIEL R said...

who knows. she already has more leading actress oscars than meryl streep

Anonymous said...

To be fair to this Sam Green guy, he has a right to be annoyed if a film is portraying him to be gay when he isn't. It might not necessarily be about the fact that he's offended by the gay part, just that the film is pretty much lying.

Janice said...

//who knows. she already has more leading actress oscars than meryl streep//

And that's just NOT right.

To be fair though, she seems like the perfect person to play Amelia, someone who can tap into her rugged androdyny without trying to gussy her up or feminize her overly, or idealize her. Hillary is actually a very good actress on many levels, and certainly she's not afraid of being unflattering or earthy. I can't imagine any other A-list actress in Hollywood who could take this on.

In other words, I'm willing to give this project a chance because you know there will be detractors.

NATHANIEL R said...

the jack --this is why Janice is right. If they were doing composite characters, why isn't the name changed. It just seems more likely in this case that he just doesn't want his life out in the open since he is from an earlier generation. I'd be interested to see if he's portayed the same way in the book.

NATHANIEL R said...

i'm not sure if this is the same AMELIA EARHART picture or a different one but ages ago it was actually supposed to be JULIANNE MOORE who starred in her biopic

Anonymous said...

i think hs deserved both noms but she should have been defeated in 99 by the bening and in 04 by la katewins.

Brian Darr said...

Thanks for pointing to that interview with the Bank of America programmers, Nathaniel. I've been obsessed lately with the Universal Fire and its consequences in the repertory film world, so it was fascinating to get their perspective. (So sad to think that Shanghai Express no longer exists in 35mm!)