One of the first questions I had for Claire Danes was about her approach to actively playing an essentially passive woman as the title character in SHOPGIRL. This tale of love at cross-purposes in the sterile landscape of Los Angeles let Danes, star of the late, lamented “My So-Called Life” as well as such quirky… Read More »
Gavin Hood Tells the Story of TSOTSI
Gavin Hood felt that there was more than just an Oscar ™ riding on the success of TSOTSI, based on the novel by Athol Fugard and South Africa’s official entry for the 2005 Best Foreign Film Academy Award ™. It’s one of the many things we talked about when I interviewed him on February 10, 2006. … Read More »
Gretchen Mol is THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE
Call it the curse of having startling good looks: not being taken seriously as an artist. Gretchen Mol was poised for stardom a few year’s back, but instead of glitzy Hollywood fluff, she chose to go the route of live theater and little films of enormous substance that would stretch her considerable acting talents rather than… Read More »
Deepa Mehta Sails WATER
When I talked with Deepa Mehta on March 20, 2006, it was the third time I’d had the chance to interview this remarkable filmmaker. A magnet and a catalyst for controversy, she makes films that challenge not just society in her native India, but also the ones elsewhere that tolerate intolerance in the name of tradition. WATER, the third… Read More »
STEP UP to Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum is game for a challenge, whether starring in a film that requires serious dancing, or tackling a multi-city press tour. When I talked to him on July 21, 2005, his boyhood on the bayou seemed like a fun place to start before moving on to the dangers (to him) of dancing with a car,… Read More »
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Coaches THE GRIDIRON GANG
When I talked with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on September 7, 2006, time was of the essence. As befits his pop culture icon status, everyone wanted to talk to him. There was time enough, though, for us to cover crunching bones, popping tendons, and the turning point in his life, all of which he discussed… Read More »
Forest Whitaker is THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Idi Amin is a daunting subject for a feature film, but Forest Whitaker played the former Ugandan dictator’s charismatic side as well as the murderous rages into which he could erupt at any moment. When I spoke with him on October 6, 2006, that was the first thing I asked him about before moving on… Read More »
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Observes THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Das Leben der Anderen)
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck had always been fascinated by the Stasi, the East German secret police who took spying on the public to an almost absurd extreme. During his meticulous research about them for THE LIVES OF OTHERS, he became something of an expert on their procedures, consulting not only scholarly experts, but also by including on his… Read More »
Fredi M. Murer on VITUS
Fredi Murer, a courtly gentleman given to performing deft sleight-of-hand for his interviewers, tapped his own childhood when he created VITUS, both the film and the character. Murer himself was not a genius in the classroom, as he tells it, but he did have a creative streak that landed him in all sorts of usual scrapes. When we talked… Read More »
Kasi Lemmons Says TALK TO ME
There is a piquant contrast between the calm, almost nurturing personality of filmmaker Kasi Lemmons and that of radio pioneer, Petey Green, the bombastic subject of her film, TALK TO ME. But, as I discovered when I talked to her on June 5, 2007, there is the same drive, the same commitment, and the same passion for what she… Read More »
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