Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Bill Irwin, The Film Experience Interview

new podcast!
Part 2 of 2: Rachel Getting Married Special

If you sat through Rachel Getting Married, curious about where you'd previously seen Anne Hathaway's mediating papa "Paul" before I'll help you out. Bill Irwin's film credits stretch all the way back to Robert Altman's Popeye (1980) and he's popped up in films as diverse as Lady in the Water, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Stepping Out, Across the Universe and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His television appearances include The Cosby Show, Northern Exposure and multiple stints on Sesame Street as "Mr. Noodle"

For theater aficionados he's a much more familiar presence, a bonafide star. I've been an admirer since the first time I saw him on stage in The Goat or Who is Sylvia? in 2002. I was late to the party since Mr. Irwin has actually been winning coveted high profile awards in New York since the 1980s. He's practically an awards magnet. Remember that comic thread in the movie The Savages (2007) wherein Laura Linney and Philip Seymor Hoffman desperately yearned to become Guggenheim Fellows? Well Bill Irwin received just that honor all the way back in 1984...

Read more about my interview with Bill Irwin

Or if you're illiterate, you can just move straight to the enhanced podcast @ iTunes to hear me grill Bill Irwin incessantly on the great Kathleen Turner (thank God he indulged me) and hammer out what it is about Rachel Getting Married that makes people love it or hate it so. There's also a standard mp3 if you don't have iTunes. And just for fun here's a couple of Bill Irwin routines from YouTube...



(left) w/ Broadway star Karen Ziemba perform "Sooner or Later" (right) in Regard of Flight with Michael O'Connor and Doug Skinner
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5 comments:

Pablete said...

I saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" in a screening in Boston yesterday. The lovely Taraji P. Henson, who plays Brad Pitt's mother in the film, was there. It was a delightful night.

The movie is pure cinema! The performances are brilliantly, perfectly and superbly masterful! Pitt, Blanchett and Henson should all be nominated. Swinton is equally wonderful, as usual.

The make-up, the special effects and the great use of the computer fit like a glove to the overall picture.

The music, cinematography, costumes, set-decoration and sound are splendid!

Eric Roth's screenplay and David Fincher's direction are phenomenal!

Many thanks to all the artists that contributed to such a many-splendored piece of cinema!

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett create fireworks in the screen, constituting a romance for the ages!

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is about many things, but, most particularly, it is about the beauty of aging together, the inner wonder of love and romance!

(I apologize for writing out of topic. Thank you!)

NATHANIEL R said...

Pablete i appreciate your benjamin button enthusiasm (you really loved it!) there are plentiful benjamin button posts on this very page, silly. (y'all know i love Brad Pitt more than most people but I don't think he had enoug to do to warrant a nomination with so many great male performances in the mix)

BILL IRWIN ;)

how great is he?

Pablete said...

Thank you for answering, Nathaniel! I hope he gets to be nominated. He truly deserves a nomination this year. To be exact, he should get two: leading for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", and supporting for "Burn After Reading."

He won in Cannes for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" last year, and he did not even get a Globe nomination. Last year's missing at the Oscars was understandable, but this year wouldn't.

Just like "Babel"'s, "Benjamin Button" and "Burn After Reading"'s performances are signature performances.

Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button is an exquisite acting creation for the ages! His work with his eyes and voice is spectacular in a most appropriate subtle, cinematic way. It is a five-star film performance! Following Utta Hagen's entitled pattern, it should be suitably defined as "Respect for Film Acting"!

Michael B. said...

I think I might start my own Bill Irwin campaign. He was fantastic. I know he won't win, but I hope he will be nominated.

Mike Phillips said...

Any loyal readers willing to post a transcript? I have zero listening time in my day.