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| Mia Wasikowska: Nicole made Stoker fun |
Nicole Kidman plays your jealous mother in Stoker. How would you describe your on-screen relationship?
It’s very strange. The whole mother/daughter relationship between the two of them is very freaky. The dynamic is always shifting and you don’t quite know who’s in control.
Your character, India, has a sexual awakening after the arrival of her mysterious uncle (Matthew Goode). How did you prepare for that?
I made my own notes and talked about it with the director. We also exchanged a lot of pictures, which I like to do. I always collect a bunch of images, that’s a really great way of making sure we’re on a similar page. We looked at a lot of Balthus images because the young women in that are interesting. Without being conscious of it, they’re quite sexual. There’s also the relationship between an older man drawing and painting a young woman. And we also looked at Modigliani. His portraits of women have a really interestingly emotionless, passive face and that was always something I was looking at.
Which scenes were particularly enjoyable to film?
For the majority of the film India is closed off and guarded. There are only a couple of moments when she really expresses how she feels or is swept up in a moment, so that was always fun to play. I’ve always liked the mystery of characters and having the challenge of figuring out who they are.
Matthew Goode may be creepy in the film but he’s quite a playful character in real life, isn’t he?
Yeah he’s so much fun, he is so funny. He’s a troublemaker in the best sense. It was brilliant having him on set.
How was Nicole when the cameras stopped?
Amazing, especially for me, being a young actor coming from Australia, she’s the ultimate role model. She really took me under her wing and was really giving of her experiences of growing up in movies. Nicole was one of the first people to really transcend or cross over into working internationally, so I would love to do the same thing.
What was the best piece of advice Nicole gave you?
She said something that was really great, which was: forget about the crew in the moment that you’re filming something, because the moment passes – what’s caught on cameras stays around for a lot longer. That was really nice because it’s a good way of working though that feeling of exposure that you’re confronted with almost every day on the film set.
That must have been helpful when filming your revealing shower scene…
Yeah that was the last day of the shoot and I was so angry at them for scheduling it on the last day! We’d been running behind and we only started shooting it at 6pm and shot until 4am but it’s the sort of thing where the anticipation is worse than the actual filming of the scene. It felt like it went quite quickly and was all right and almost liberating to find yourself there, taking off your clothes. It’s not as bad as anticipating it, I think.
Have you ever turned down a nude scene?
Yeah, I’ve definitely read scripts where the first thing I thought was: ‘I don’t understand why my character is naked here and here, and why she’s crying here and why she’s crying here and why she’s crying here…’ So I talked some people out of certain scenes.
Do you think audiences will find Stoker challenging?
I think it’s definitely meant to make people uncomfortable. The only thing that’s consistent is that everyone comes away with a different view of it. It’s subjective to everyone how they perceive it, so it’s interesting.
It’s no surprise that it comes from Chan-wook Park, the director of Oldboy…
Yeah, it’s a huge honour to be part of his first English language film because he is such an original talent and he has established his own very distinctive style.
Do you think Stoker represents a shift in your career?
Maybe it’s a shift in the way I’m perceived. I always feel like I’ve liked films in this vein, in terms of being more confronting and unusual, but I think people think I’m very shy. I don’t think I’m that shy.
What’s next?
I’m open to all genres, there’s nothing I’d say no to as a rule. I would like to do comedy but I think it’s harder to find. You can definitely find a number of good dramas a year but finding a good comedy is really, really hard.
* Mia Wasikowska will be naked in upcoming Tracks (2013). You heard it here first and courtesy of my good Aussie friend who first alerted about Elisabeth Moss nudity in Top of the Lake. I was in the dark about the movie or the book it was based upon. Supposed to sit on the info. Wanted more confirmation before jumping the gun again. He and I go a long way back to the early 90's and in L.A. While he returned to Australia and became an active part of the local film industry. We kept in touch and often meet up at least once in couple of year in South East Asia without fail to celebrate our friendship. He knows about the blog, was supportive in early stages but now wants me to close it because it's too demeaning for someone my age. But more than anything he wanted me to stop making sarcastic comments about 'Ozzie' actresses which I never did. And now I have to beg him for any info. 'Mate' knows nearly everyone in the biz - in and out. Early drafts of latest scripts. Rough cut of a movie. But the trail of info has run cold in recent months and it's frustrating. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. He only sent me the news because he knows I'm into Polish chicks. But word of warning. He could well trying to embarrass me into ditching the blog the way couple of my 'anonymous' source recently did for their own enjoyment. Sorry can't screen-capped the e-mail. One of his many conditions. This are core of the message (have to change some of the wordings)
"Mia is super naked, mate. The movie is by John Curran. Fact-based on Robyn Davidson adventure in 1970's. Initially a Disney controlled project. Shame makers brought the script. Revised it to PG-13. Robyn insisted the 'nude dance' and 'love scene' with Smolan character be included. Curran and DP are struggling to explain the concept of movie ratings to an anti-censorship and anti-authoritarian writer. But she was adamant about it. DP and Curran worked together. Very tasteful. Mia slimmer than Jenny Agutter. Very palish. Tassie probably cropped in final session to earn decent certification."Here what I found out about the movie and the book:
Based on the inspirational true story of intrepid traveller and writer Robyn Davidson’s (Mia Wasikowska) solo trek from Alice Springs through 2,700km of sprawling Australian desert to the Indian Ocean, accompanied only by her loyal dog, four unpredictable camels, and captured by charismatic National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver).
Directed by John Curran and produced by Oscar® winners Emile Sherman and Iain Canning of See-Saw Films.
The real Robyn Davidson used to belong to a libertarian group PUSH. Yep. She is a hippie with naturist tendencies. The original script was very Disney-que for her taste. Remarkably it was optioned by the studio and put on a storage as all intended plans to make an adaptation fell through until it was bought by See-Saw Films.
The Australian:
It's been a busy time for the writer. She flew up early today from Melbourne for our interview; in the past month, she's flown out to film sets in South Australia's Eyre Peninsula and the Northern Territory to teach actress Mia Wasikowska, who plays her in the movie, to "smooch camels", and to shoot a cameo of herself as a crazy, Kombi-driving tourist. She wears her beauty carelessly, like an old shawl; in Tracks she wrote of her joy in liberating herself from the tyranny of image, of walking naked and sunburnt and filthy, covered in camel shit and millions of flies, with a safety pin through one ear. With each step, she says, she sloughed off, like snakeskin, layers of civilisation. In the end, she thought nothing of walking naked next to her camels, drinking from muddy water holes, going for weeks without baths, eating dog biscuits and raw chunks of kangaroo.
By now I was utterly deprogrammed. I walked along naked usually, clothes being not only putrid but unnecessary. My skin had been baked a deep terra-cotta brown and was the constituency of harness leather. The sun no longer penetrated it. I retained my hat. - Robyn Davidson, TracksSBS.com:
“Disney Films have it now, and I think the option has just run out, so probably my agent in London will be scouting around as we speak. I try to stay out of it now. The last script that I read, the one that Julia Roberts was going to play, was truly the most gobsmackingly awful script: where Robyn naked is being carried around a camp fire by Aboriginal men as she goes through dreaming initiation.”
NMA.gov:
MIKE SMITH: And who will play Robyn Davidson?
ROBYN DAVIDSON: That’s a funny story. It’s been through so many different attempts that I think the film is jinxed. Disney Films have it now, and I think the option has just run out, so probably my agent in London will be scouting around as we speak. I try to stay out of it now. The last script that I read, the one that Julia Roberts was going to play, was truly the most gobsmackingly awful script: where Robyn naked is being carried around a camp fire by Aboriginal men as she goes through dreaming initiation. So it is that sort of thing.
QUESTION: I haven’t yet finished your book but I am interested in what your experience is in coming back to society after such long periods of time spent adjusting to nomadic life? You shed your clothes and you are minimalistic in terms of your food. What is your experience in dealing with that both at the end of the Australian trip and your other trips?
ROBYN DAVIDSON: It is very interesting. After the Australian trip I think literally that I got rewired up here in my brain. I honestly think that something so profound shifted in my consciousness simply from being on my own in that environment for so long and doing something so completely different from what I would be doing in this environment. So there was nothing mystical about it - just different. Then finding myself in New York some two weeks later and having this really deep understanding of how mad we all are – so that was that. In some sense I don’t think I have ever quite recovered, if you know what I mean.
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Lili Simmons
She plays an Amish party girl (our favorite kind!) on Cinemax’s Banshee, and she’s mad about March.
Finishing the White Powder
“I surf a bit, but what I really love to do is snowboard, so at the end of the season I take any chance I get to head up to the mountains.”
“I surf a bit, but what I really love to do is snowboard, so at the end of the season I take any chance I get to head up to the mountains.”
Forgetting Football
“It’s nice when guys stop talking sports. If you want to get a girl, give her your complete attention.”
“It’s nice when guys stop talking sports. If you want to get a girl, give her your complete attention.”
Philly Phanatic “My grandpa played for the Phillies, so I’m rooting for them as soon as spring training starts.”
“I like to go to friends’ parties or whatever on St. Patrick’s Day. I just wear something green and have a good time.”
Luck of the Irish
“On St. Patty’s Day, everyone is ready to party because of the green beer. It’s good if guys wanna get lucky, but not necessarily if they’re trying to get a girlfriend.”
Luck of the Irish
“On St. Patty’s Day, everyone is ready to party because of the green beer. It’s good if guys wanna get lucky, but not necessarily if they’re trying to get a girlfriend.”
Melissa King Scandal: Does It Matter If A Beauty Queen Has Done Porn?
Author: Mack Rawden
Earlier today, Miss Delaware Teen USA Melissa King sent in her resignation letter after a video surfaced of a woman who looks quite a bit like her having sex on an Internet pornography site. King is denying she’s the one featured, but given her quick resignation after finally accomplishing her Miss Delaware dream, it seems like she really did get busy on film. Beauty pageant sex scandals are practically as old as the competitions themselves. Vanessa Williams famously resigned after naked photographs of her emerged, and numerous other women have found themselves in similar boats when their promiscuous decisions have suddenly and unexpected become public.
On the one hand, it’s easy to see why beauty pageant winners almost always resign after sexual scandals. They don’t want to continue in the glare of the judgmental spotlight, and the organization doesn’t want all of the future appearances to turn into questions about sex tapes and explicit pictures. On the other hand, why do we expect such ideals from beauty pageant winners? Movie stars and singers don’t (usually) get fired from their jobs over such issues because past mistakes don’t make them any less capable of doing their jobs.
What do you think? Should beauty pageant contestants resign if they get caught in sex scandals? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…
Does It Matter If A Beauty Queen Does Porn?
Del. Beauty Queen Resigns Amid Sex Video Scandal
Miss Delaware Teen USA gives up her crown amid reports that she was involved in an online porn video
Hailey Lawler was crowned Miss Teen Delaware USA after Melissa King, 18, resigned her crown amid a sex scandal. NBC10's Denise Nakano spoke exclusively to Lawler and her father last night.
A teenage Delaware beauty queen relinquished her crown Tuesday, amid reports she was involved in an online porn video.
Miss Delaware Teen USA Melissa King, 18, resigned her crown after the sex video featuring a girl that allegedly looks and sounds like King surfaced, Delaware Online first reported.
Pageant spokesperson Dara Busch of Rubenstein Public Relations confirmed to Philadelphia TV station NBC10 that King handed in her letter of resignation in the wake of the sex video reports. Busch says that King hasn’t said that she is the woman in the video.
King flat out denied the allegations when contacted by Delaware Online as to if the woman in the video is actually her.
“Absolutely not,” she told Delaware Online. “It is not.”
King didn't respond to NBC10.com's requests for comment and her lawyer, Greg Hannigan, told NBC10.com that a "statement will be issued," but not until Wednesday at the earliest.
Snippets of the video landed on various websites Tuesday. In the video, a woman who looks like King says she turned 18 back in March and then describes her favorite sexual position. A longer explicit version begins with the woman answering questions on the bed including one about her being in beauty pageants and then it shows the woman engaging in various sex acts.
The pageant organization, which is a subsidiary of Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, will conduct an investigation, Busch said.
King was crowned Miss Delaware Teen USA 2013 during a ceremony in November. The moment is featured on the pageant’s website.
With King stepping aside, runner-up Hailey Lawler takes the title.
Lawler, a Padua Academy High School senior, and her father exclusively spoke to NBC10 just hours after Lawler replaced King as Miss Delaware Teen USA.
"My heart just started racing," Lawler said. "It had to have been around 1:45 (p.m.) It was almost last period and the phone just started going off."
Lawler, 17, says she received a congratulatory text from King.
"She told me just good luck."
Lawler hopes to proudly represent Delaware without controversy.
"They all just hope that I can represent Delaware well, and just trying to forget everything that happened and move on forward."
Calling this one like I see it: how dare you condemn this poor teenage girl, Melissa King, for appearing in a pornographic film when you were only too happy to ogle her in a tiara and swimsuit? Fuck a country where sex movies are bad but girls need to have lots and lots of prettiness contests.Honestly, what is the rationale for “de-throning” someone who was never royalty in the first place? Do you really think you’re better than the porn industry, beauty pageant industry? At least porn has the decency to admit it’s built on the backs of amateurs and screws everyone over. Meanwhile three-year-olds are wearing dentures so they can have that perfect smile and you make them pay for the privilege of treading your filthy middle-school auditorium stages.
How about we stop pretending there are any moral distinctions to be made here and just go with a Miss Porn USA contest. Or would that be too real for you, America? Since it’s somehow crossing a line when a lady uses her bodies for something other than a sash-holder. Quit freaking out like an autistic virgin and embrace the world’s smuttiness already—this is getting awkward.
Miss Delaware Teen USA Melissa King: 5 Things to Know About Resigned Beauty Queen
The former Miss Delaware Teen Miss USA Melissa King sure has a lot of sparkle. We hope the newly surfaced alleged sex tape doesn't dull that.A spokeswoman for the Miss Universe organization confirmed to E! News that King officially resigned from her title on Tuesday via a lawyer. Tuesday morning, her attorney's office told E! News a statement from King was forthcoming.
But just who is the 18-year-old beauty queen now shrouded in scandal? Here are five things you need to know about Melissa King.
1. She's Intelligent: According to King's official bio, she was "inaugurated into the National Society of High School Scholars due to her exceptionally high SAT scores, GPA, and AP scores." She also earned the Todd O'Cropper scholarship during her senior year of high school for "commendable combined outstanding achievement in athletics, community services, and academics to help fund her college education." She is currently a freshman at the College of Philadelphia studying communications.
2. She's Athletic: King has "been a successful competitive gymnast since the age of 9 and has competed regionally, nationally and internationally." She was also a cheerleader for her high school football, basketball and wrestling teams and participated in national cheerleading competitions. She played varsity soccer all four years of high school and has worked as a gymnastics coach since her freshman year in high school.
3. She Likes to Give Back: She began volunteering in her eighth grade year and "fell in love with the joy of helping others!" Since then, she's volunteered with the American Heart Association, the Women's Sport Foundation and with foster children. Her pageant platform was "Finding the Balance," which seeks to help others achieve overall health and well-being.
4. She's Artistic: In King's younger years, she won multiple art contests and was awarded scholarships for her abilities. Her favorite art forms are acrylic painting and clay work.
5. She's Got Big Dreams: "One day, she hopes to work for a prestigious fashion magazine in New York City or maybe on the sidelines of an NFL game as a sports journalist," her bio reads. "She likes the sound of both!"
Keep your chin up, King. An (alleged) sex tape is not the end of the world.
Miss Delaware Teen USA Resigns in Porn Scandal. But Are Porn and Pageants So Different?
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| Man with a moral code. |
Last November, King was crowned Miss Delaware Teen USA. Yesterday, she gave up her crown after an explicit video purporting to feature her surfaced on an amateur porn website called “Girls Do Porn.” (King has denied that it’s her in the video, but she—via her lawyer—did voluntarily cede her throne.) Now she’s being publicly shamed by former friends and international news organizations because a pretty young woman like her can publicly compete for money in a beauty pageant, or she can collect some cash in amateur porn, but she's not allowed to do both at the same time. Thirty years after Vanessa Williams was pushed from her Miss America pedestal over leaked nude photos, we’re still breathlessly reporting on the moral fiber of these fallen beauty queens without stopping to assess the hazy value judgments being passed.
Beauty pageants like Miss USA peddle a particular fantasy: That of the sexy-yet-virginal girl-next door who parades around for the public in skimpy swimwear, but saves sex for that special someone. Franchise owner Donald Trump stands in as the creepy uncle, assessing contestants’ sexual attractiveness and purity. Women who compete in his pageants are required to look good in a bikini; have never been married or pregnant; and be possessing of “good health and moral character,” a qualification that could conceivably bar women for everything from a pornographic past to a physical disability.
Amateur porn sites like Girls Do Porn are selling a slight variation on that trope: The good girl gone bad—for the very first time! Girls Do Porn advertises itself as “a reality website that features 18-21 year old females making their very first adult videos." Like Miss Teen USA, it shuns women who have had sex on camera before: “No porn stars found here.” Pageant girls, on the other hand, are prized. “You’re actually a Miss … a Miss Teen?” an off-camera interviewer excitedly asks King before she disrobes. “You do beauty pageants? … That’s crazy.”
But it's not so crazy. Pageants and porn are patrolling two sides of a very thin sexual boundary. And for a young, pretty girl who’s strapped for cash and lacking familial and institutional support, only one of those options is offering cash up-front. In the five-minute Girls Do Porn video, King tells the man behind the camera that she consented to do porn because, “I thought it’d be fun” and “I needed the money.”
But it's not so crazy. Pageants and porn are patrolling two sides of a very thin sexual boundary. And for a young, pretty girl who’s strapped for cash and lacking familial and institutional support, only one of those options is offering cash up-front. In the five-minute Girls Do Porn video, King tells the man behind the camera that she consented to do porn because, “I thought it’d be fun” and “I needed the money.”
In exchange for a year of promotional work on behalf of the pageant, Miss Delaware Teen USA winners can expect to receive useless commemorative trinkets and copious tools for exhaustively grooming themselves into perpetuity. Listed prizes include a trophy, a crown, a banner, a car magnet, a specially-designed doll, two fancy dresses, two rings, two pendants, a hair straightener, a self-tanning kit, nail polish, lip gloss, a handbag made out of candy wrappers, a “smile enhancement,” modeling and acting lessons, a 20 percent discount on a New York Film Academy workshop, a gym training package, a “wardrobe consult,” a pair of shoes, and some cash reserved for representing their state in the national pageant. The young women billed as Delaware’s rising stars also receive a shot at a $40,000 scholarship that can be exclusively fulfilled, for some reason, at Missouri Presbyterian liberal arts college Lindenwood. So: No real money.
King, of course, won’t even collect these prizes, because she broke some unspoken pretty girl law of sexual propriety when she used her body for money in the incorrect venue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Gorgeous “Un-Models” Bare It All in The Nu Project
In today’s media culture, we’re bombarded with images of women in various states of undress — but all too often, the images we’re looking at are representative of only the tiniest slice of the population, not to mention digitally augmented, at that. Enter The Nu Project, a series of nude photographs of “un-models” — volunteers of all shapes and sizes — mostly taken in the subject’s homes. Minneapolis photographer Matt Blum began the project way back in 2005, but says the idea truly grew wings after his wife, Katy Kessler, got involved as editor and art director. And grow wings it did — Blum and Kessler plan to turn the project into a book, and the excitement has been such that their Kickstarter campaign to raise the necessary money has been funded well in advance of the deadline.As Kessler told us, “We love that there’s so much interest in [The Nu Project] — it seems to indicate that people are ready to see something different than has been presented before. People are ready to see women confident in their bodies, and see how they surround themselves, how they decorate where they live.” We couldn’t agree more. After the jump, check out ten of our favorite photographs (of many!) from The Nu Project, and then be sure to head on over to the official website to see more, or here to pre-order the book!
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The Girl From Nowhere (La fille de nulle part): Film Review
The Bottom Line - Dull melange of lowbrow and highbrow goes nowhere special.
Opens - In France (February 6)
Director-Screenwriter - Jean-Claude Brisseau
Cast - Jean-Claude Brisseau, Virginie Legeau, Claude Morel
Jean-Claude Brisseau's latest low-budget affair won top prize at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival.
PARIS -- Seasoned French cineaste Jean-Claude Brisseau continues exploring the many facets of his own navel (when it’s not other body parts) in The Girl From Nowhere (La Fille de nulle part), a melancholic and harmless cocktail of low-rent scares and high-end pontificating that nabbed the Golden Leopard at last year’s Locarno Film Festival. Set inside the filmmaker’s own apartment, this cerebral two-hander-cum-ghost story often has the craft level of a freshman video project, with the acting chops to match, and won't go anywhere beyond French fests and a micro-sized local release.
A former high school teacher, Brisseau made a name for himself in the late '80s/early '90s by directing a handful of frank and piercingly performed dramas, including the Vanessa Paradis starrer Noce blanche and the racy legal thriller, L’Ange noir.
But over the last decade, he’s turned his sights on what many would categorize as auteur softcore, with projects like Secret Things and The Exterminating Angels featuring nubile young actresses engaging in hot lesbian twosomes and live masturbation, surely for the sake of cinematic art. (Although not according to the French courts, which in 2005 condemned Brisseau for sexually harassing women who took part in his “casting couch” sessions on Things. He was charged for the same crime in 2007 but acquitted.)
With an advertising campaign featuring yet another up-and-coming comedienne in the buff, it would seem that his latest low-budget effort would be headed in the same direction. As it turns out, this labor of love is less art-house erotica than jumbled highbrow horror -- something like Paranormal Activity meets The Strange Case of Angelica, yet with neither the frights of the former nor the divine gaze of the latter.
In a nutshell, Brisseau plays a long-mourning widower and retired math professor who literally finds a battered beauty, Dora (Virginie Legeau), lying on his doorstep. He takes her in and tries to call the police, but she holds him back for unknown reasons. Soon enough, the mysterious girl is shacked up in the prof’s cavernous Parisian flat, where strange phenomena -- slamming doors, tumbling water bottles, somebody running around with a sheet -- start occurring, preventing the curmudgeon from working on a self-published manifesto with the humble title of “Reflections, Analysis and Critique of Our Beliefs.”Mixing quotes from Victor Hugo and Sigmund Freud, desktop reproductions of Van Gogh and the Renaissance masters, and a scene where the two protagonists play around with a levitating table, the film attempts to combine the supernatural with the super-intellectual, but is so flimsily made and woodenly acted, it’s hard to take any of it seriously (or even humorously, as Brisseau seems to be attempting at times). And while the sugar daddy dynamic between the teacher and his much younger house guest remains a rather gentle one, there’s too little genuine interaction between the two to make their relationship compelling, let alone believable.
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Model: German fashion model Antonia Wesseloh
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Briana Lane 2013 Theatrical Reel
from Briana Lane+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Vikings Undies Model
Not every hero could slaughter all the monks in a monastery and sail home with his swagger intact. 
But so it goes on “Vikings,” History channel’s latest bid for some of TV’s “Spartacus” mojo.
Different gods, cooler haircuts and (this being basic cable) significantly fewer unsheathed body parts than Starz’s pay-channel orgy of ancient Romans, the Dark Age “Vikings” looks and sounds like the final longboat in a played-out trend.
Created and written by Michael Hirst -- the one-man cottage industry responsible for such costume dramas as “The Borgias” -- the nine-part “Vikings” stars former underwear model Travis Fimmel as Ragnar Lothbrok, a Norse raider bored with the same old summer routine (head east, plunder, rape, kill, sail home. Repeat).
“There are no lands to the west!” cautions Ragnar’s corrupt chieftain (Gabriel Byrne) when the upstart suggests a new direction.
Sailing off with a few compatriots, Ragnar proves the chieftain wrong, returning from England with a boatload of church treasures, not to mention an enslaved young monk named Athelstan (George Blagden), who speaks to Ragnar and his wife Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) of a strange new god of peace and love.
“Vikings,” of course, wants both worlds -- the blood-and- gore action of sword-wielding barbarians and the feel-good veneer of a blossoming Christian conscience.
Even the pious Athelstan can’t decide which way to turn. One episode he’s declining a three-way with the buff Lothbrok and another he’s praying for buddy Ragnar’s safety. Has he forgotten all those dead monks or is he suffering from history’s first case of Stockholm Syndrome?
“Vikings” airs Sunday, March 3, on History at 10 p.m. New York time.
Rating: **
Vikings vs. Game of Thrones
New miniseries on golden age of Norsemen (and women) aims right at heart of ‘Game of Thrones’
Next week, the History channel begins a nine-part adventure epic called “Vikings,” which takes place in the Middle Ages, and features royal intrigue, swordplay, crows soaring through ominously grayish skies, and people somehow surviving before the invention of exfoliant. Sound familiar, “Game of Thrones” fans? Compare and contrast, class.
GIRL POWER
'Vikings': Beautiful blond Lagertha burns attackers with a hot poker.
'Game of Thrones': Little boy can’t hit target with arrow — little girl hits bull’s eye from behind him.
VIOLENCE
'Vikings': Series opens on dead and dying bodies, a sword plunging through a man’s torso, and a spear impaling another.
'Game of Thrones': Series opened with circle of severed limbs. It was all downhill from there.
FEMALE NUDITY
'Vikings': It’s basic cable. No boobs for you!
'Game of Thrones': Enough boobs for Seth MacFarlane to write 10 offensive songs about.
CREEPIEST LINE
'Vikings': “We know you’re all alone here. All the men are gone.” Filthy, rapey vagrants to Lagertha (just before she kicks their asses)
'Game of Thrones': “You have a woman’s body now.” — Viserys Targaryen to his sister (ewwww...), Daenerys, as he undresses her.
SURPRISING CAST CROSSOVER
'Vikings': Jessalyn Gilsig (Siggy), Will Schuester’s awful wife, Terri, on “Glee.”
'Game of Thrones': Iain Glen (Ser Jorah Mormont), Mary Crawley’s awful suitor, Sir Richard Carlisle, on “Downton Abbey.”
PUBLIC PUNISHMENT
'Vikings': Beheading at the town square, followed by a lovely buffet.
'Game of Thrones': Beheading in a cold, lonely field. BYOB.
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Censorship standards come from a personal place
In the 21st century, our government still censors 'obscene' culture. But who gets to decide what is and isn't obscene?
For all the verbiage poured out about community standards, censors rarely make any attempt to determine what the community's real standards are, writes Chris Berg.
The United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart gave this famously ambiguous definition for what constitutes pornography: "I know it when I see it."
The director of the Classification Board, Lesley O'Brien, feels she has seen pornography in I Want Your Love, an American film that was due to be screened at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival next month.
The primary job of the Australian Classification Board is to give films their ranking of G, M, MA 15+, and R 18+, which allow them to be sold and exhibited.
Films shown at film festivals are exempt from the usual classification processes. But if the board's director believes that a festival film might be rated X 18+ (pornographic, and therefore only available in Canberra or the Northern Territory) or RC (refused classification: available nowhere) the exemption is not granted. You can read the particulars here.
To give a film either of these classifications is censorship in every relevant way.
Yes, in 21st century Australia our government still censors "obscene" culture - we still employ a descendant of the system that banned James Joyce's Ulysses and D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. We still have bureaucrats who decide what we can and cannot watch.
It has been decided we cannot watch I Want Your Love. The film features a "six-minute montage of friends, housemates and partygoers" having their intimate way with each other. Presumably it's a pretty graphic six minutes, worthy of the X 18+ stamp.
But so what? It's hard to see what public purpose banning a film that was to be shown only at a gay film festival achieves. You'd expect the audience at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival to have fairly specific tastes.
The film's supporters say the six-minute scene is a critical part of the film's narrative. The classification board says it serves no narrative purpose. The broader question of why we want a government bureaucracy doing contextual analysis of story structure is unclear.
Is it facetious to ask what approach to narrative theory the board uses? Vladimir Propp's? Tzvetan Todorov's? Claude Levi-Strauss's? Joseph Campbell's? Christopher Vogler's?
Now, I'm not going to pretend to have a deep understanding of narrative theory - I got that list of names here. But if narrative relevancy is being used to justify censorship then it would be nice to know more about the board's thinking.
Either way, by bureaucratic decree, I Want Your Love is now banned in Australia.
The banning comes at a critical moment in Australian classification history.
Last February the Australian Law Reform Commission released a major report into classification. The ALRC had a brief to bring classification up to date with the wealth of media choice that has been unleashed by the internet. What does it mean to classify a film when in the age of YouTube? What is the point of banning a sex scene in a film when there are many lifetimes' worth of pornography freely available online?
Indeed, the ALRC had a hopeless, even pointless task. No mandatory, centralised, bureaucratic classification system could ever hope to monitor all content available to Australians in 2013. Seventy-two hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. An honest reform of classification in our era would begin by rethinking its purpose, and, perhaps, throwing it all away.
Instead, the ALRC did what every inquiry before now has done. In the report's view, the Government should try to classify "any content with an appropriate Australian link". This seems more like a cry for help than a policy principle - how on earth could it be achieved in practice? Although to be fair it's a better attempt than what was recommended by a 2011 parliamentary report, as I wrote on the Drum at the time.
The only real outcome of ALRC process has been the introduction of an R18+ rating for videogames. For historical reasons - pretty much just hostility of policymakers towards gaming - video games have lacked this higher classification. The new rating came into effect in most states in January.
And yet an R18+ for video games is cosmetic at best. Australian gamers have been flouting the restrictions imposed by our archaic classification system for decades. Gamers tend to be a technologically literate bunch. They've been importing and downloading whatever they'd like. And video games can still be refused classification - that is, banned.
The video game classification issue became an iconic battle within the gaming community. It was the quintessential "politicians just don't get technology" story.
Unfortunately, for all their passionate defences of free speech, too many of those gamers and game-focused technology journalists have vacated the field after their minor win. The Government's sort-of abandonment of its internet filter hasn't helped either.
But our classification board is still acting as a censorship board. It is still a sop to the self-appointed moral arbiters. Just because some video games have had a small reprieve doesn't mean the broader problem has been resolved.
In his 1704 essay On Obscenities, the French philosopher Pierre Bayle argued against the arbitrary nature of deciding what offends society - that is, trying to define what we would call "community standards".
For all the verbiage poured out about community standards, censors rarely make any attempt to determine what the community's real standards are. If they did they would be confronted with a problem. Those who, in Bayle's words, "compose wanton verses" are surely part of that community, and contribute to its standards. Those who would eagerly read wanton verses are part of the community too.
So how can any model of community standards exclude the opinions of the people who might go to the Melbourne Queer Film Festival?
Ultimately, any censorship that tries to test a cultural work by (in the words of the Classification Act) "the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults" will be built on sand - an unstable pile of assumptions and prejudices of the officials who make the final decision.
In other words, they'll know pornography when they see it. And that's all it takes for censorship to kick in.
Chris Berg is a Research Fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs. His most recent book is In Defence of Freedom of Speech: From Ancient Greece to Andrew Bolt.
Posted by Russell Blackford on Feb 26, 2013
Chris Berg has written a cogent and comprehensive piece about the ban in Australia on the film I Want Your Love. It seems that the ban is motivated by a claim that a six-minute sex scene does not have narrative justification. Berg argues about how this could ever be established, and it does, indeed, seem like a weak basis for banning anything. Whether or not you consider a particular scene in a narrative of any kind to be justified – as opposed to “gratuitous”, I suppose – is going to depend very much on your overall interpretation of the narrative.
That’s not to say we can never make judgments - whether as writers, editors, or readers/viewers of narratives – that certain scenes could be left out without loss of narrative coherence or artistic impact. Indeed, we all make judgments like this all the time. Some such judgments may make more sense than others, and it may be that some could be justified to the majority of people who have been brought up in a particular narrative tradition. All the same, it’s drawing a long bow to think that these sorts of judgments should be given legal effect, especially in contested and perhaps complex cases.
In any event, even if a sex scene could be shown to most people’s satisfaction to be gratuitous in the context of a particular film (viewed, in turn, in the context of a particular tradition of filmmaking and watching), so what? What is it about sex that makes it so problematic that it has to be given some special narrative justification? Why is a film with an arguably gratuitous sex scene more problematic than any other film that we might consider flabby or self-indulgent, or badly edited, with scenes that the audience could have done without? Really, what’s wrong with enjoying sex scenes for their own sake without worrying too much about how much narrative justification they might have? A scene that strikes us as gratuitous might detract from the artistic merit of a film, as judged by some relevantly widely accepted standard… but why should that be the law’s business? Surely the law doesn’t exist to force films to be tightly edited, all for the artistic gratification of the public.
No, sex is being treated here as especially dangerous to the social order. Sex scenes are considered prima facie problematic as a matter of public policy, requiring some special artistic justification (this sounds a bit like the way reproduction is used, in some moral systems, to justify actual sex… sex is viewed as prima facie shameful and wrong). But, again, why is that so?
If it could somehow be demonstrated that there is a tight causal nexus between people viewing sex scenes and the occurrence of substantial downstream harmful acts, such as rapes and sexual assaults, at least we’d have the beginning of an argument. But nothing like that has ever been demonstrated – not even with specific types of high-impact pornography.
Don’t get me wrong. Within a prevailing tradition of interpretation it might be possible to conclude, in a class of cases, that a scene is gratuitous – that the artistic effect and narrative coherence of a film don’t require it, given how people “read” films in the society. It’s even possible that the censorship board made a supportable decision, based on the law, in this particular case. But there is no reason for the law to take this form. Sex is not a mad dog that needs to be locked up and muzzled. Sex doesn’t bite. The whole thing is ridiculous.
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‘Fifty Shades’ meets Oscars
“Fifty Shades of Grey” author E L James rubbed shoulders with Hollywood at Vanity Fair’s Oscar party, but despite speculation, told us she’s yet to cast the anticipated movie.“We don’t even have a filmmaker . . . so we are still a long way away from casting. I have some ideas . . . but it may not be who people expect,” James said. Sources say agents at Graydon Carter’s bash were “lining up to meet James to pitch their actors” for the hit book trilogy.
James told us her next book will not be as racy. “It won’t be nearly so raunchy — and I will probably write it under another name,” she quipped.
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| E L James |
Clutching her Oscar and new husband Adam Shulman, Anne Hathaway said, “This is the second most important moment of my life after my wedding.” Also making the rounds, and holding Oscars hardware were Ben Affleck with Jennifer Garner, Christoph Waltz, Ang Lee and Jennifer Lawrence, who arrived with six girlfriends plus her parents.
Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux stayed close all night, Bradley Cooper arrived holding hands with his mom, Halle Berry held court, and Melissa McCarthy told us, “This is the only night I can get away with big hair like this.”
The night ended with even more energy than it began. Patriots owner Robert Kraft danced with a group of attractive women, Jane Fonda was seen lining up at the party’s In-N-Out truck in her skintight glittering gown, Daniel Radcliffe practically carried a blond female friend (who looked ready to vomit) up to her room, and “Zero Dark Thirty” and “The Master” producer Megan Ellison made out with a babe at the bar.
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A Director's Dos and Don'ts For Working in Television
By Bethany Rooney | Posted Feb. 25, 2013I have directed many television shows over the past 27 years. This year I’ve directed "Political Animals," "In Plain Sight," "90210," "Private Practice," and "Scandal." I’ve worked with thousands of actors, and I’ve seen people navigate the world of episodic TV well, and I’ve seen many who haven’t. You have to learn by doing, and therefore, mistakes are inherent in the process. But perhaps this little instruction manual could help the next time you book a job.
Extras
Don’t try to make an impression on me. It’s the second assistant director that you should impress with your accessibility and ability. That is, be where they can find you and do what they ask with energy and enthusiasm. And for editing purposes, make sure you’re consistent. If you’re crossing the star when she says “I said I’d love you forever but I didn’t MEAN it,” make sure that on every take, you are crossing on exactly that one word. Thanks for caring about acting and putting in long hours for little pay!Under 5’s
Do exactly what you did in the audition unless directed differently. Be quiet and unassuming. Don’t try to make friends or pass your card to the producer. Be no trouble to anyone and be brilliant. That’s how you get to co-star. Thanks for doing the work on your own, for skating in and out, and bringing your fresh energy to the set!Co-star
You have a little more cred than the Under 5’s and permission to give a performance that stands out for its individuality. That’s what the co-star is for: to make an impression in a short time and add color to the scene. Don’t try to join in the conversation in the makeup trailer unless asked, because the series regulars do not need a new best friend. Always tell the second assistant director where you’re going to be. Don’t expect feedback from the director because if you hear nothing, it means you’re doing what I need and I have my hands full with the stars. Thanks for your understanding!Guest Star
You are a star but you are also a guest. It’s likely that the regulars will welcome you and invite you to play in their sandbox for the week. But whether they do or not, you are there to bring the story into the show’s environment. We count on you to bring a dynamic new energy to the show. Put the work in to make up a backstory and bring a fully realized character on day one. But don’t be so opinionated that you fight with the costume designer. You’re there to play nice. Thanks for your experience and dedication!Recurring
Know that you’re there for the arc, and you’ll be gone when the writers have played out the story. Be grateful and friendly, but don’t try to make it more than it is. No diva behavior. That’s how you get to Series Regular. Thank you for your patience and professionalism!Series Regular
Remember how you felt when you got the gig? Giddy and grateful? Try to hold onto some of that as the episodes and the years go by. Be open to every moment. Don’t take it for granted, and delight in expressing yourself and your character every day. Learn every crew member’s name and what they do. Say thank you, especially to those who have even earlier calls than you: makeup, hair, and wardrobe. Stay available for input from the directors, because nobody knows it all, and sometimes a fresh eye is helpful. If you have problems with a script, call the showrunner during prep and give your notes. Don’t wait until rehearsal on set. If you are #1 on the call sheet, take the responsibility of setting the tone for the whole cast and crew seriously and provide the example of a solid work ethic. Be on time, know your lines, and be aware that it could all end tomorrow. Thank you for carrying a show, for putting in amazingly long hours, and for making the character come alive. It’s because of you that the rest of us have work that we love.And for everybody, what you do should be fun! It’s what you craved and worked for and now you’re doing it. Thank you for being driven to creatively express in this form and for paying all the dues you did to get here. I honor you and respect your craft, and am grateful that I get to work every day with gifted people who are called actors. It truly is a noble calling.
Rooney has directed 180 episodes of prime time television, including many critically acclaimed series from "Scandal," "Desperate Housewives," "Brothers and Sisters," to the classics "Boston Public," "Dawson’s Creek," "Ally McBeal," and "St. Elsewhere." This season she's directing "Switched at Birth," "90210," "Private Practice," "Scandal," and "Hart of Dixie." An episode she director of "90210" will air on Mon., Feb. 25.
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Penelope Crunch, LIB magazine cover!
Published by Torbe
It is divine, one ahead of her time, without complexes and, above all, without the heaviness of living for others. Because the latter is what really embarrasses women. Why the hell a guy who will not stop fucking fuck is the master and an aunt who does exactly the same it sucks? I'll never understand the human psyche, and all full of contadicciones mamarrachadas.
Both this triumph has been the cover girl of the magazine LIB !! Now you can run to your kiosk to buy, comes many horny pics and an interview given to straw haha. Look at the cover, this very good!
And the best part is that it is accessible to everyone in the room Penelope Crunch , it also takes time to make and cerdear webcam with you! To view the full scenes subscribe here to my website, you will find anywhere else so many promises of porn, here are the best!
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Eva Herzagova : Mert and Marcus for Brian Atwood Spring [2013]
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Femme Fatale Catherine Annette Offers A Noir-esque Spin On Femme Fatales
I've previously written about the fantastic experience of filming FlickDirect's Chris Rebholz interviewing the cast of Femme Fatales at Comic-Con 2012. Offered the opportunity to follow up following the season 1 DVD release, also reviewed by FlickDirect, with recurring season 1 and 2 femme Catherine Annette, I naturally couldn't pass it up.FlickDirect: Femme Fatales is very much an anthology series, but there was the two-part finale at the end of season 1, "Visions", kind of tying several of the stories together through Lilith. How was working on that episode different from what was kind of "your own" episode in "Girls Gone Dead"?
FD: I'm quoting our review, here, on "Girls Gone Dead": "If I had to choose the best of all the episodes, this would be the one. It totally had me fooled right up to its unpredictable ending." I didn't guess anything close to the "ice cube" ending myself. What did you think was going to happen when you were reading the script?
CA: I had a little bit of insight, as I got the character breakdown, and knew how she was going to be kind of this twisted murderer. I stayed up really late working on every different way I could read the role.
FD: Yes, actually, it was about halfway through "Girls Gone Dead", in the scene where Jay was describing how he got into the business filming "Crazy Chixx", that I kind of felt "this show has something really unique to offer."
CA: Yeah, it's such a smart show.
CA: I think that without Alexis, Tiffany would still have gotten the group together, but I don't think it would have reached the height and success that Alexis made it. Tiffany might have killed Jay and that would have been it. Alexis supported the vision of them becoming sort of vigilantes.
CA: "Extracurricular" is great, I think in the way it moves us forward in our killing spree, our quest to rid the world of evil men; it moves us forward from the way we were in college. It definitely shows more of how our kind of femme fatale grows. All the episodes are so different, and while "Girls Gone Dead" was more modern, "Extracurricular"'s very much like a throwback to old-school film noir.
UPDATE
Anonymous has left a comment on your post:
FYI, Catherine Annette plays a porn star (alongside fellow Femme Fatale Betsy Rue) in a movie named "Lucky Bastard" that just got slapped with an NC-17 rating. Sounds like something worth keeping an eye on!
* Well, it would be great if Annette goes full beaver but she was pretty nudity-coy in Femme Fatales so I won't get my hopes high. Don't care much for found-footage genre (except Cloverfield) with all that blurry motions and flashy close-ups. Admittedly I'm intrigued with Robert Nathan involvement. He is a TV-guy out and out.
Production Notes:
Catherine Annette, as young porn star Casey, initially auditioned for Ashley, but was then asked to read for Casey. “She did the one thing you never forget in an audition room,” remembers Nathan. “After her first version of the part, she too k a few minutes and then came back and gave a completely different performance and created a completely different character — that’s when you know you’re home free, because you know when you get to the set that that actor is so agile and so gifted that they can change anything you want because they have the craft to do it.”
Catherine Annette found her death scene a technical as well as an acting challenge:
“There were no close-ups — it was one long take from beginning to end. It’s shot from far away, from a camera on the wall, and a lot of times when you’re filming a really intense scene like a death scene or you’re crying or shooting, you get to cheat a little bit with close-ups, and this one was shot from very far away and I’ve never really seen a scene shot like that before. It had to be timed perfectly from the gunshot to my fall to my death because there was no way they could cut in to my eyes or my expression or the murderer’s expression.”
Randel says the film’s opening scene was one of the most interesting to cut. “Any time there was action going on and people were moving around the house and you were following them, those were very interesting to do. In the opening scene, we don’t know it’s a porn shoot yet, and they’re having the fake rape scene of Casey. We cut to Ashley arriving at the front door, we see her walk in, and the camera gets set on the table and it’s pointed at her; she pushes the camera so it’s shooting at the other guy’s arm, and she gets up and hears the scream; we follow her through various rooms, and then we follow the cameraman into the room where the fake rape is going on. The door opens but it’s a fake because you think it’s Ashley opening the door but it’s actually the cameraman — that scene was a challenge to put together and it was fun.”
Bad news?
Lucky Bastard has been officially rated NC-17 by the MPAA for explicit sexual content. Please note that Lucky Bastard features less sex than the typical late-night Cinemax erotica—and no actual sex—but the rating is appropriate. Our society should have a place for thoughtful artistic dramas intended for adult audiences.
Review from Ain't Cool
The performances overall are quite convincing. You rarely lose sight that this is indeed a "found-footage" film, or in this case, it's culled from footage taken while producing a porn movie for a web site. They're natural enough to believe that this footage was indeed intended for such an exhibition.
Lukas Kendall
Then there's the case of our racy subject matter. Yes, our film takes place behind the scenes of a porn website, and it has a lot of crude language, nudity and sexual situations (though not, I should make clear, actual sex). It is definitely not for everyone and I have no problem with people who have no interest in watching this kind of material. In fact I have no problem with people who hate the movie or think it's the worst thing they've ever seen. I don't agree, but I'm not the opinion police. Who cares?
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White Reindeer
Synopsis
Christmastime is looking swell for pretty, unassuming real-estate-agent Suzanne Barrington: she just sold a house to a nice swinger couple; her weatherman husband Jeff scored a sweet new job; and her favorite holiday is quickly approaching. After a sudden tragedy takes Jeff away, Suzanne is left lost and lonely. Even worse, a friend of his confesses a secret: there’s another woman. Her name's Fantasia and she works at the "girl club." In their grief, the two women form an awkward but meaningful friendship. Pushing away the ghosts of Christmas present, Suzanne falls into Fantasia’s world of dance parties, shoplifting and substances! But maybe that’s not what Suzanne’s looking for either…
Zach Clark loves Christmas and in his latest feature he stays true to the Christmas genre, but also true what he believes the holiday is all about. "White Reindeer" reveals all aspects of of the magical December 25, including the depressing, the weird, and the comical.
What it's about: After an unexpected tragedy, Suzanne searches for the true meaning of Christmas during one sad, strange December in suburban Virginia.
What It's Really About: "White Reindeer" is a full-on, non-stop sad Christmas sex comedy. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I wanted to make a movie that honestly represented everything I love about it. I've seen depressing, weird things happen on December 25th, but I don't think they detract from it's magic. I think they add to it. And at the end of the day, I really, truly believe that it has the power to bring out the best in us - that two people who shouldn't be friends can form a connection because it's that time of the year. I've gotten over myself and made amends with people on Christmas. It was the right thing to do, but I don't think I would have felt that way on the Fourth of July. I love it with all my heart.
I also wanted be faithful to the Christmas movie genre. Just like any other genre, it has rules and limits, and I wanted to work within and expand upon that structure. So, check springtime at the door and come prepared for 82 minutes of a very, very special Yuletide journey!
What's been your path to filmmaking? This is my third feature, following 2009's "Modern Love is Automatic" and 2010's "Vacation!" I grew up in northern Virginia, in the suburbs of Washington, DC, where "White Reindeer" is set. During high school and throughout college I worked at the Video Vault in Alexandria, VA, which was basically film school for me. The store specialized in cult/exploitation, classic Hollywood and Euro art house movies and I wholly credit them with shaping my tastes and style. I went to actual film school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where I met producer/actress extraordinaire Melodie Sisk, who's made three movies with me. Chad Hartigan, whose "This is Martin Bonner" just won the Best-of-Next award at Sundance was in my class too, along with Aaron Katz, Karrie Crouse, Brendan McFadden, Kern Saxton and too many other cool people to mention. Now I live in Brooklyn, NY with my girlfriend and our cat.
Director: Zach Clark
Executive Producer: Kevin Clark, Joan Peacock
Producer: Zach Clark, Daryl Pittman, Melodie Sisk
Screenwriter: Zach Clark
Cinematographer: Daryl Pittman
Editor: Zach Clark
Music: Fritz Myers
Principal Cast: Anna Margaret Hollyman, Laura Lemar-Goldsborough, Lydia Johnson, Joe Swanberg, Christopher Doubek
Executive Producer: Kevin Clark, Joan Peacock
Producer: Zach Clark, Daryl Pittman, Melodie Sisk
Screenwriter: Zach Clark
Cinematographer: Daryl Pittman
Editor: Zach Clark
Music: Fritz Myers
Principal Cast: Anna Margaret Hollyman, Laura Lemar-Goldsborough, Lydia Johnson, Joe Swanberg, Christopher Doubek
Meet the 2013 SXSW Filmmakers #1: Zach Clark's Sad Christmas Sex Comedy 'White Reindeer'
Zach Clark loves Christmas and in his latest feature he stays true to the Christmas genre, but also true what he believes the holiday is all about. "White Reindeer" reveals all aspects of of the magical December 25, including the depressing, the weird, and the comical. What It's Really About: "White Reindeer" is a full-on, non-stop sad Christmas sex comedy. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I wanted to make a movie that honestly represented everything I love about it. I've seen depressing, weird things happen on December 25th, but I don't think they detract from it's magic. I think they add to it. And at the end of the day, I really, truly believe that it has the power to bring out the best in us - that two people who shouldn't be friends can form a connection because it's that time of the year. I've gotten over myself and made amends with people on Christmas. It was the right thing to do, but I don't think I would have felt that way on the Fourth of July. I love it with all my heart.
I also wanted be faithful to the Christmas movie genre. Just like any other genre, it has rules and limits, and I wanted to work within and expand upon that structure. So, check springtime at the door and come prepared for 82 minutes of a very, very special Yuletide journey!
What's been your path to filmmaking? This is my third feature, following 2009's "Modern Love is Automatic" and 2010's "Vacation!" I grew up in northern Virginia, in the suburbs of Washington, DC, where "White Reindeer" is set. During high school and throughout college I worked at the Video Vault in Alexandria, VA, which was basically film school for me. The store specialized in cult/exploitation, classic Hollywood and Euro art house movies and I wholly credit them with shaping my tastes and style. I went to actual film school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where I met producer/actress extraordinaire Melodie Sisk, who's made three movies with me. Chad Hartigan, whose "This is Martin Bonner" just won the Best-of-Next award at Sundance was in my class too, along with Aaron Katz, Karrie Crouse, Brendan McFadden, Kern Saxton and too many other cool people to mention. Now I live in Brooklyn, NY with my girlfriend and our cat.
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Sundance/SXSW Comeback Kid Gaby Hoffmann On Still Feeling Green Despite Growing Up a Child Star
Hoffmann's upbringing is one for the books: the New York native is the daughter of Warhol muse Viva and grew up in Manhattan's legendary Chelsea Hotel for the bulk of her formative years. Indiewire called up Hoffmann to discuss her comeback, how her approach to acting has evolved, and what her game plan is going forward.
Your publicist surprised me by pitching you as a Futures candidate (an Indiewire column that profiles rising stars), despite your many years in the business. After dropping off the radar for a number of years, do you feel like you're coming back into the industry 'green'?
I have no idea what the publicist meant by that but I'm sure the information was presented to me in an email I didn't read. I basically took six or seven years off, but then I had another five or four of me not working at all because I was in school. It was really 13 years of me not working at all... I really couldn't even think about it. I did it just enough to get by.
"Acting was something that I grew up just doing. I certainly never thought about it."
I'm at least a different person now than back when I was doing this regularly. I don't know if I'd say i feel green but I'm getting to know myself as an actor now in a way that I never did as a kid.I never thought about (acting) then. I feel it's more interesting now than before. Acting was something that I grew up just doing. I certainly never thought about it. So I guess the answer to your question is maybe, yes.
How did Sundance go for you? You starred in the opening night film which left a great impression, resulting in its Best Directing award win for Sebastian Silva.
To be honest, it was a very bizarre thing. I expected to have fun with Sebastian and with the friends who made the film. But I certainly didn't think I was going to have any sort of extraordinary experience with my relationship to myself as an actor. It was really rewarding in a way that I've never experienced.
He's really sort of the reason why I started working again. I went to Sundance a few years ago in support of short film a friend of mine here in LA made. We went there, saw the short film and were ready to hightail it back to LA. But we figured we should see some movies and the one that really stuck out to me was "The Maid." I was at a point where I wasn't feeling particularly passionate about being an actor. So we went to go see it and it's such a good movie. It was sort of a rejuvenating experience for me.
So to be back at Sundance with Sebastian and this wild movie we made -- one that I was totally uncertain about (I didn't know how to improv) -- I've never experienced that as an actor. I don't know what I want to say other than it felt very nice. It extended the experience of acting into a realm that I've never been in before, if that makes sense.
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| "Crystal Fairy" |
It was the first thing I did where I had this moment where I decided to take work more seriously. I had been for years, as I said ambivalent, and then I told myself it was crazy and that I needed to decide whether I was in or out. I had of just sort of committed myself to dedicating a year to work and hoping that year would somehow reveal my level of interest in it. So that role I got... it was a fun little juicy part. It again rejuvenated and revalidated my interest in doing the work. I have yet to see it.
92Y recently screened "Now and Then" here in New York.
I am aware. It's very odd to me.
Are you one to revisit your past work?
I don't have TV so I rarely come across it. But yeah, recently BAM happened to play "Uncle Buck" and "This Is My Life." I have a 9 year old nice. I hadn't seen "Uncle" in 20 years and I knew my niece would like so I took her to see it.
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| "Uncle Buck" |
Now that you've made a very conscious decision to pursue it now -- do you have a game plan going forward?
Well, it'd be nice to have enough money to pay my rent. So I'm working to do a paying job. Problem is I'm usually drawn to the not-paying job. So that's actually my immediate priority. I'm interested in money but I'm mostly disinterested in the jobs that make you money. I'd be nice to have a house, a home of any kind, and be able to take myself to the doctor once in a while. I need security.
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