Fair Spooks

Two Australian actresses have appeared as spies recently and both covered themselves in glory. The first, Genevieve O'Reilly in 'Spooks' playing an American femme fatale ostensibly working for the CIA but with dark undertones which lead her to hurtle male mentors straight off balconies. This was such a shock that I had to rewind to see how it could have happened. Her calm impassive beauty is absolute classic siren stuff and surprisingly, I have worked with her on 'All Saints'. She did a season for them and I remember her sitting in the green room looking as impressive under those horrible bright lights as she does on screen on Saturday nights for ABC TV.

Now, in 'Fair Game' Naomi Watts takes on the real life spy story of Valerie Plame. This extraordinary woman has two master degrees, speaks four languages and is drop dead gorgeous. Her degrees seem to have been taken in part to facilitate her deep cover work as a young business exec and it is no surprise that she worked in woman's fashion while waiting for the CIA to respond to her application. This is indeed the stuff of legend and the scene in a car, when she tells a bumptious young business man who she really is and what his options are (limited and bad) is one of the most exhilarating I have ever seen. Apparently Plame was on the set a lot and that in itself must have been intimidating but Watts has that magic ingredient which she shares with O'Reilly. They have the grace to hold themselves. They have a calm demeanor in the face of madness and it gives them great power as performers.

Strength with beauty is a rare thing. These women have it in spades. They play both sides of the moral game and you are left in no doubt that they could. We've come a long way from Mata Hari.

Click here to see a trailer of 'Fair Game'

Hop on board.

I went along to see 'The Social Network' with the friend who introduced me to it, slightly nervous the movie was going to do a hatchet job but no. It is a forensic look at what started the whole new world of communication and to judge by the two noisy Zuckerberg nerds who shut up like clams as soon as the film started, compelling film making of the highest sort.

The film tells us that people who make a great deal of money aren't always well rounded and that satisfying a market is not necessarily a soul enriching process. Not a huge surprise there but it is written by Aaron Sorkin and therefore has laugh out loud moments, fabulous dialogue, meticulous characterisation and a structure that pays off.

But it is not, as it has been accused of, misogynist. The injured girlfriend has the best 'Take That!' scene I have seen for a long time and because women are seen realistically does not make it demeaning to females. It is demeaning in its depiction of what American students have to go through to attend 'college'. What are they running in these places? Thunderdome? Is this Animal Farm? Yup.

A couple of things bemused me...does Justin Timberlake have green makeup in the denouement scene? Methinks he does. I have heard of 'comment' in performance but to do so in makeup seems extreme.

I think casting Andrew Garfield was genius. Anyone who can play brilliant, loyal and decent without being a pain is a master of his art. Rooney Mara as the wounded girlfriend is wonderful too and I look forward to her as Lisbeth Salander in the American version of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.'

You have to wonder at Jesse Eisenberg in the lead. His face, voice and persona seem to inhabit this role. Just when you think you feel some empathy for this man, you see the curl of his contemptuous lip and want to hit him all over again.

Finally, any director who can make a boat race exciting is talented...to put it mildly. Thank David Fincher and take your heart pills.

To see a trailer of 'The Social Network' click here:

What's not to like?

I hadn't realised how much I love being on set but shooting 'PURPLE FLOWERS' this week was the clincher. What's not to like really?
You meet talented people from all over the world, get fussed over and made up, immerse yourself in another life, tea and coffee is brought to you and then you get paid. It is a bonus if you like the script, cast, director and production team.

Shooting this beautiful short film had its startling moments too. For some reason, I had not factored in that I had to do the emotional work on the first day - but it was fine. I had worked with director Julian Ryan in his former life as Assistant Director on 'Paradise Road' - he is calm and insightful and brings things to the set to inspire and inform his actors. He gave Christian Byers some 'Buster Keaton' short films and a book of Oscar Wilde to scan. He is also good at letting you know what is not right without making you feel small and adept at steering you in the direction he wants without crowding you.

Christian Byers is in line for some great upcoming movies and once again he showed why everyone wants him. Working with him there are always surprises and the scenes feel fresh and spontaneous. Newcomer Airlie Dodds played his girlfriend and the two of them reminded me of the eighth wonder of the world...wise souls in teenage bodies.

Drew Bailey won an Oscar Nomination for his film 'Miracle Fish'. He is a great producer and if you want to see why, click on below and... fasten your seat belt.

To see 'Miracle Fish' click here:

OH Boy!

I heard very little about this before it was released and it came as a great swell of surprise when I saw it. Make or break for me is identification with characters - whether or not you are willing to take the journey of the film with them. The opening of this trailer will give you an idea how easy it is to go anywhere with this 'Boy'.

James Rolleston was a late starter for the part. He turned up at a wardrobe call for extras and won the role after a series of auditions. During the long preproduction rewrites, the original Boy had grown into adolescence and out of contention for the role. Spare a thought for this mystery 'Boy' who must occasionally think of the 'Might have Beens' as he watches the stellar trajectory of the film. Spare another for the girl Judy Davis replaced as the lead in 'My Brilliant Career' all those years ago, whose name (surprise, surprise) escapes me.

Taika Waititi plays the father and his wonderful performance is made more stunning when you realise he is the director and writer and just about everything else. Along the path to production, he took his script to Sundance and worked and reworked his ideas until the film arrived at its current state as highest grossing New Zealand film of all time. The last high grossing New Zealand film was the 'World's Fastest Indian' with famous expat NZ director Roger Donaldson and Anthony Hopkins. To measure Waititi's accomplishment it is worth considering that there is not one familiar face in this production.

Once were warriors, now are gentler 'Boy's and oh my God, years of hard work.

Click here to see the trailer of 'BOY':

To Be or Not to Be?

When you first see 'Me and Orson Welles', you might wonder if you can accept Christian McKay as Welles BUT it won't take long before you think the man has come back to life. This actor had played Orson before and it certainly shows.

From the credits onward this is an unusual film. The production originates from the Isle of Man - a small tax haven off the coast of England. The film itself is peopled with faces from the Royal Shakespeare Company and the story of the shoot would inspire anyone battling with a smaller budget than the film required. The Isle of Man took the place of New York and the same set at Pinewood was used over and over again from different angles to represent the whole Big Apple. Who cares? You'd never know.

Both Zac Ephron and Claire Danes are good with particular credit to Danes who manages to mix hard heart with hard head and still keep our sympathy.

I went with an actor friend who laughed out loud. This is very close to what happens behind the scenes and it is crowned by a representation of the Julius Caesar / Welles production which made his name. Don't laugh too much - some of the scenes are practically documentary footage of theatrical life.

Click here to see a trailer of Me and Orson Welles:

Is She in Heaven?

Last week was a big week for me. Not only a bit of a big birthday but a big surprise in the letter box. I got a thank you from one of the wonderful stars of 'The TREE' after we had all been to see 'Toy Story'. I had never seen any of those films and it was fascinating. A big charge to go with a young man in a black leather jacket and his beautiful sister.

Gabriel is 5 now. He was four when I met him and the other members of the cast in Boonah, Queensland. All the four children where good actors and all got on with each other. The eldest, Christian Byers, is a young man and stood in for an elder brother. Both he and Tom Russel had both been in films before - the younger two had not.

Gabriel made friends with everyone on the set. He had an untarnished attitude to his performance which I found irresistible.

After several takes one day, his shoulders slumped and he quietly said 'It's boring now.' Oh how many of us have wanted to say that but not having a mop of golden hair and big blue eyes, have given the impulse a miss. Also the pleasure the children took in their food was wonderful. I have a photograph of Gabriel eating an ice cream with only his hair and eyes showing above the cloth.

Morgana had not acted either before and she is another Big Deal actress in the making. That's if she wants to be. At the Sydney film festival I tried to nod at her when she was asked if she wanted to act again and she wasn't having it. Morgana knows her mind and to see this film is to know she knows.

If you do it only for them...go and see 'The TREE'. It's out in September. Also to be hip. Charlotte Gainsbourg is a giant star in France. Those frenchies seek her everywhere!

'Ello 'Ello

I always wanted to see this film. Having heard an interview with the director Christian Caron, I wanted to see it even more. His description of the problems making 'Farewell' is enough to give any director, producer and 1st assistant the heeby jeebies.

The original lead actor pulled out at the last moment, the part was recast with director Emir Kusturica in the lead role. For me, this worked so well that personally, I would have preferred him in the lead male role for 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.

I love cold war stories and this one holds its own with the best. It is scary and skillful and tense like 'Gorky Park' and 'The Spy who came in from the Cold' and it is no surprise that it is based on a real story. The REALLY real story is much worse apparently and says little for our allies or our own security.

I thought the camera work and casting supreme and it brought back that very late cold war period with horrible clarity. It has the usual long trips into bleak winter landscapes under leaden snow filled skies which I remember from a few months spent in Finland as a child.

The idealism and hopeless dodginess of the amateur spooks winds up the audience like a spring and added to this, two devastating domestic lives which stretch and strain under the burden of the secrets the men are carrying. This is not just a spy story but carries with it a broader scope that even non spooks will react to.

Hurry, before it really is 'Farewell' for a cinema screening of this.

Click here to see the trailer of 'Farewell':

Nature or Nurture?

There's an old saying amongst actors... Never work with children, animals or Jacki Weaver. To see 'Animal Kingdom' is to know why. She shines in this film - a perfectly cast and beautifully acted role. She is supported on every side by wonderful actors, including Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton and newcomer James Frecheville. It all makes for a intense couple of hours in the cinema.

I was particularly impressed by the opening sequence which, like the first battle scenes in 'Gladiator' not only gives a realistic impression of violence but also the sadness and waste of it. The music by Antony Partos was an integral part of this marvellous first glimpse and it put us in the picture without tedious expositions of the armed robberies that had formed the careers of the men you are about to meet.

There are clever cinematic tricks to emphasise the abrupt demise of some of the characters but above all there is no sense of the hyped up violent jitteriness which seems to fuel most crime family stories. This is a character study and a sobering one. I remember the murder of those two young policemen in South Yarra. In South Yarra of all places, the style capitol of Melbourne, it seemed as if a monster was stalking the streets. Unfortunately, this is no monster movie.

Look out for whatever writer/director David Michôd does next.

Cannes Do

I have watched people drift up and down the red carpet in Cannes for years so I was really thrilled to see some of the children in the 'The Tree' having a great time just a few days ago. They looked wonderful and the director Julie Bertucelli looked as proud as can be. It's not easy to keep your dignity around these children as you can see by the location shot below.

And to cap it all, they are great actors. Calm, inventive and clever.Worse, they are funny and sweet. What's an actor to do?

'The Tree' got a 7 minute standing ovation when it featured as the closing film in the Cannes Festival. The director Julie Bertucelli, has been working flat out since we finished shooting last November and she arrives in Australia this week to see 'The Tree' at the Sydney Film Festival - this Saturday night 5th June at 6.45pm at the State Theatre.

The experience working on this film was one of the best in my life. Everyone was committed to the story and half of us were in love with the Tree itself. Well...I was. Its beautiful branches moved and trembled as if it had a heartbeat. See for yourself...

Click here to access 'The Tree' website: http://www.thetreefilm.com/

To see Cannes Red Carpet photographs, Click here:http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/Kb1fPIL0lwa/Tree+Premiere+63rd+Cannes+Film+Festival/RSBgdehhqri/Gabriel+Gotting

Stay Premium, Gentlemen

A quote from Australian poet Peter Porter reads:
"The only things more boring than someone telling you their dreams,
Is someone telling you the plots of movies they've seen".

And so I won't tell you the ending of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. Not just because its a shame to spoil it but because I have serious problems with this popular franchise - which is what it hopes to become.

I loved the opening with its rapid fire entry into Northern European life and its sad eyed heroes in their freezing landscapes. These are my tribe and I was thrilled as the train made its way through the winter snow to the small town where the action is to happen. I was still there when the camera lingered over the tortured remains of beautiful women and I managed to sit through a terrible rape. Or two... but by the third sadistic sexual act, the gloss was coming off a bit.

The clever techniques used to piece together the research bring the hunt to life and certainly the wonderful casting of the girl are real assets. The thrill of this avenging angel racing after her quarry excited the audience so much, there were audible gasps. But what was it all for?

'Revenge', 'Payback' whatever you want to call it, it boils down to the Biblical 'Eye for an Eye' which I find unsatisfying. Europe of all places knows this sort of bloody revenge begets more of itself and so, if I am going to be forced to stare at a wall of tortured remains, I need to know it's for something transcendent.

To entice me along a road called 'Horror' and flip me off with 'Caper', won't do. I am not won over when my hero trades her leathers in for something she liked the look of in a magazine but, lift your game and you got me

Tell us another, Tolstoy

I almost missed the Last Station. The crowd was enormous and once in, the woman next to me gave her husband constant updates on her feelings, the plot, the volume of the dialogue etc. She had brought snacks too which she carefully unwrapped from a noisy piece of plastic. Near the end of the movie, I asked her to stop and it got ugly.

So, my comprehension of the plot may be a little hazy. I looked forward to seeing this film because of the cast and the wonderful story. I am a Tolstoy lover and have great admiration for a man who could write so well about women. I do not have admiration for anyone who claims to have the people in his heart yet marries aristocrats (rich, beautiful and need one say, younger) breeds like a rabbit and then decides to leave his worldlies to the State. So, any mention of his wife's poor qualities seems like a pimple on a whale to me. Of COURSE she was crazy and manipulative - who wouldn't be under those circumstances?

It puts me in mind of Mr.Bennet in Pride and Prejundice - so calm and dismissive of his wife's hysteria when he knew she would be in penury after his death and so would his herd of unmarried daughters. How DARE he sit there and read books!

Anyway, Helen Mirren is a dream of a Countess, and Chrisopher Plummer is what I would like to think Tolstoy was (a great deal shorter I know from old movies) and the ghastly brigade of hangers on are repellent but strangely effective in their manipulations. I still don't know what being a 'Tolstoyan' is but I did get more perspective on the last days and why he ran off to the railways. There was a strange lack of emotional engagement when the Countess and Tolstoy were off the screen and I think some of the plotting doesn't make a lot of sense though I know this was taken from exhaustive research.

This is a snapshot of the end of Old Russia and the beginning of the descent into chaos and eventual Communism. It is also a picture of a long and enigmatic love.

To watch the trailer for 'The Last Station', click here:

Good Persons

Not all actors who emerge from a serial success like E.R. become as well known as George Clooney. Having worked with Julianna Margulies in 'Paradise Road', I wondered where she had been for a while. Now I know. She took time off to have a family and then looked about for a suitable vehicle for her return. 'The Good Wife' is it and a worthy role it is too. Not in the Frank and Ernest tradition but in the 'this is what happens in life' tradition, with all the subtleties and challenges being a grown women in the professional world can present.

For her erring husband there is no one better than Chris Noth. He is every one's idea of a good sort, no matter how bad his roles make him and fits so easily into the various types of challenging partner most women have had that it is good to know he IS happily partnered and has a young child. Noth is also a poet, builder of log cabins and owner of several restaurants in America. No wonder he is known for his wide warm smile!

The episode last week showed a scene were the two as Mr and Mrs Florick had a 'conjugal' visit in gaol which was enough to put anyone off A. marrying a goal bird and B. being one.

This series is set in Chicago and boasts a really marvelous support cast including Christine Baranski whose attitude to the newcomer in her law firm is fabulously two faced. Superficially delighted to see another woman in the workplace she never the less wages a quiet war against her escalating success rate. There are no trite plot lines in this which may be the result of a husband and wife writing team, Robert and Michelle King.


I look forward to this every week and that's not easy to say these days!

To watch a trailer of 'The Good Wife' click here:

I Told You So!

I spent most of yesterday trying to avoid hearing Oscar news so I could watch it last night with some friends. Its a tricky act and I didn't make it. I knew 'Hurt Locker' came in as it is so extraordinary that it popped up in the main news sections on most media.

Of the film's Best Picture Award, Sandra Hall - film critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, told me 'The Hurt Locker' had almost been pulled for review, so little confidence did they have in it! These sort of upsets, when great blockbusters like 'Avatar' are raking in the dollars are quite unusual. Unusual for a woman director of a war film, unusual for a film without a major star and unusual for the editing, sound mixing and script writing to achieve such acclaim in this world wide forum for film!

I loved the 'The Hurt Locker' and I am still stunned at Kathryn Bigelow's achievement. What a world we live in when all those years of feminism have led us to this radiant woman and her muscular achievement illuminated with such wit and warmth that despite the hellfire, there is something infinitely beautiful about the story.

She had collaborated with Mark Boal on another story about war,'The Valley of Elah' which was a lot darker.They are a great combo and you only have to see their acceptance speeches to realise how shocked about their six awards they were themselves. Kathryn Bigelow looked as though she had to mentally keep herself upright! It was a delight to see her trio of lead actors line up arm in arm behind her too.

So...here's to you:

Kathryn Bigelow - Best Director
Mark Boal - Best Original Screenplay
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis - Best Achievement in Film Editing
Paul N. J. Ottosson - Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Ray Becket and Paul N. J Ott0sson -Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
THE HURT LOCKER - BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR!
Click here to see a Kathryn Bigelow post Oscar interview:

Stand up that Girl.

I am a child of war. I am the daughter of a soldier and granddaughter and niece. I grew up surrounded by men and women who had fought and survived a world war. I remember our vicar used to creak down the aisle on one false leg (blown off in aerial combat) and my piano teacher had half one hand sheared off (hit by a doodle bug when riding her bike). I like and admire soldiers and I always feel revulsion when confronted by indulgent or melodramatic soldiery in movies. This is not one of them.

Right from the start you're in there with the American bomb disposal unit in Iraq. There is little if any music and the style is sparse and realistic. Now just how realistic is a moot point as the director is a woman and she is filming only miles away from the real Iraqi border. Added to this she is a person of some composure when constantly asked about her gender. The truth of the matter is that she is an attractive, stylish woman who leaves no fat on her product.

I think gongs of all varieties must go to her, her Actors, her scintillating Sound designer (I could have sworn the bullet casings of one gun battle ricocheted round the back of my seat),the Editor and Director of Photography.

The cast and crew shot in Jordan with Iraqi extras. There were few frills and they were hot and bothered. You will recognise some faces but particularly a new star in Jeremy Renner - an actor with serial killers and vampires in his repertoire. But if all this puts you off, beware. There are grace notes amongst these events that will never leave you.

Director Kathryn Bigelow used four cameras to capture the action. She says of her shooting style..."We experience reality, by looking at the microcosm and the macrocosm simultaneously. The eye sees differently than the lens, but with multiple focal lengths and a muscular editorial style, the lens can give you that microcosm/macrocosm perspective, and that contributes to the feeling of total immersion."

Wait til you get there. You'll know what she means.

To see a trailer of The Hurt Locker' Click here:

Going There

This is a rollick. I loved Fellini's films and always thought the women were wonderful. Extraordinarily sexy and vibrant AND elegant. I also thought they were of the times so that modern women had no hope of 'going there'. WRONG! This cast goes all the way there and a little further. Penelope Cruz shows what everyone who has seen her Spanish films always knew and so do the rest of the cast, Nicole Kidman, Judy Dench, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Fergie, Sophia Loren and all dancing round venerable, yes, Daniel Day Lewis.

The choreography is tailored to each of the main characters as are the songs and overseen by the redoubtable Rob Marshall. The dance is, at times so exuberant that I felt like jumping up and applauding! The auditorium was packed the day I went and some women had made the effort despite various walker type equipages. I feel sure they danced home too.

It does have a theme and I think this would be a 'chick flick' were it not for the oh so wonderful females with their fab outfits and great moves. It is good to be in this century where the two sexes can be together in the making of a film to the extent that there is something for each. Back in the day, the chauvinism was so obvious that it seemed vaguely treacherous to find those dances appealing.

It is a rock opera of sorts and it is interesting to see what has been left out of this version as apposed to the musical. For me, it makes it a great event and long may it run. And jump. And jiggle.

To see a trailor of 'NINE', click here:

Sherlock by any other name

Well,this new Sherlock Holmes is very new. Gone is the Basil Rathbone dignity and cool cogitation accompanied by an oafish or pedestrian Dr. Watson. Here is an English public schoolboy duo, delighting in each other's idiosyncrasies and quite a lot of blokey mayhem. It hasn't quite crept into the 21st Century - the women are very wicked or very good and both are very beautiful and astonishingly over made up but it is a real 'shot in the arm' so to speak and genuinely exciting.

Apart from Robert Downey Jnr's beautiful copy of an English accent, there is Guy Ritchie's take on Victorian violence which gives the rather slight leading man a sense of real threat and the fights a horrifying structure. As the pair meander through the highways and low roads of London, the CGI builds a wonderful vision of the city which has been the back drop for so many familiar tales. What a feast Dickens would have made of this with the murky waters of the Thames and all its elaborate grubby shipping springing to life. You can almost see Abel Magwitch scudding past in another small vessel as they build up to the ending.

You do get the idea that Jude Law and Robert Downey Jnr enjoyed working together - I thought I saw a smile that seemed to me like a real 'corpse' near the end but it only makes the japes jollier. I enjoyed the dismantling of the creepy events in a wonderful period style dissection near the end but the opening scenes were really stunning. A black carriage hurries through the narrow darkened streets while a figure runs parallel to it - they approach a gateway - a lead horse rears up but the momentum carries the contraption through and they hurry onward.

I have driven a horse and carriage and if that had happened to me, I may not have lived to tell the tale.

To see a trailer of 'Sherlock Holmes', click here:

Prisoner of Time

The first film I ever saw was Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes". The second was 'The Prisoner of Zenda'. Recently I found a cassette of 'The Prisoner of Zenda' and it was startling to realise that the version I remember is the Ronald Colman film of 1937 and that the remake with Deborah Kerr and Stewart Grainger is a shot by shot copy, filmed in 1952.

And what a little horror it is too. I've watched Grainger in wonderful English melodramas where his sincerity and manly bravura suited the medium perfectly and I've even seen him get away with those terrible tights cum pantaloon things they make him wear but as, the lover of Deborah Kerr, he is hopeless. Playing the high born princess doomed to marry the wrong man, Deborah Kerr is dressed in a cross between a Gaiety Girl's ball gown and Dior's 'New Look' with the result that she looks both arch and tarty at the same time. The film has a woeful 'mincing' air and, in one startling sequence during the coronation, the guardsmen launch into a 'Folies Bergere' routine inter cut with location shots of a cannonade! What IS going on?

I think the earlier version is that rare thing, a creature suited to its time. It is set in a fictional small country reflecting the ancient internecine quarrels of the numerous small kingdoms of Eastern Europe with the added forboding of the war with Germany that was shortly to come. Some of the cast would serve in the army for the full duration of WW2 and there is a sense of masculine steel despite the whimsicality of the plot and their diminutive physiques. This strange combination of silliness and muscle seems to lend the whole thing gravitas. Even the costuming is an echo of the Court wear of the 19th century without any of the mawkish Nazi - like outfits of the 50's version.

I suppose, if there is anything for an actor to appreciate in these films, apart from a love of Ronald Colman, it is that there is a time and place for everything, remakes are rubbish and some actors can rise to almost any challenge.

In this excerpt , you can witness the ancient art of making 50 people fill up a palace!

Click here to see the 1937 version of 'The Prisoner of Zenda':