‘Prisoner’ star Patrick McGoohan dies at 80

Posted on January 14, 2009 by admin

The Prisoner x650LONDON – Mel Gibson told me that when was casting his Oscar-winning best picture “Braveheart,” he kept saying he wanted someone like Patrick McGoohan to play the vital role of William Wallace’s nemesis, Longshanks, King Edward I (pictured below)

Finally, he wondered why not McGoohan himself? The result was one of the most dynamic portrayals of a brutal monarch in movies. It was McGoohan’s last major film role.

The Emmy-winning actor who created and starred in the cult classic television show “The Prisoner” (top), died Tuesday in Los Angeles after a short illness. He was 80.

McGoohan Braveheart x650Here’s the AP report:

Patrick McGoohan won two Emmys for his work on the Peter Falk detective drama “Columbo,” and more recently appeared as King Edward Longshanks in the 1995 Mel Gibson film “Braveheart.”

But he was most famous as the character known only as Number Six in “The Prisoner,” a sci-fi tinged 1960s British series in which a former spy is held captive in a small enclave known only as The Village, where a mysterious authority named Number One constantly prevents his escape.

McGoohan came up with the concept and wrote and directed several episodes of the show, which has kept a devoted following in the United States and Europe for four decades.

Born in New York on March 19, 1928, McGoohan was raised in England and Ireland, where his family moved shortly after his birth. He had a busy stage career before moving to television, and won a London Drama Critics Award for playing the title role in the Henrik Ibsen play “Brand.”

He married stage actress Joan Drummond in 1951. The oldest of their three daughters, Catherine, is also an actress.

His first foray into TV was in 1964 in the series “Danger Man,” a more straightforward spy show that initially lasted just one season but was later brought back for three more when its popularity — and McGoohan’s — exploded in reruns.

Weary of playing the show’s lead John Drake, McGoohan pitched to producers the surreal and cerebral “The Prisoner” to give himself a challenge.

The series ran just one season and 17 episodes in 1967, but its cultural impact remains.

He voiced his Number Six character in an episode of “The Simpsons” in 2000. The show is being remade as a series for AMC that premieres this year.

“His creation of ‘The Prisoner’ made an indelible mark on the sci-fi, fantasy and political thriller genres, creating one of the most iconic characters of all time,” AMC said in a statement Wednesday. “AMC hopes to honor his legacy in our re-imagining of ‘The Prisoner.”‘

Later came smaller roles in film and television. McGoohan won Emmys for guest spots on “Columbo” 16 years apart, in 1974 and 1990.

He also appeared as a warden in the 1979 Clint Eastwood film “Escape from Alcatraz” and as a judge in the 1996 John Grisham courtroom drama “A Time To Kill.”

His last major role was in “Braveheart,” in what The Associated Press called a “standout” performance as the brutal king who battles Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace, played by Gibson.

In his review of the film for the Los Angeles Times critic Peter Rainer said “McGoohan is in possession of perhaps the most villainous enunciation in the history of acting.”

McGoohan is survived by his wife and three daughters.

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‘Yes Man’ Jim Carrey pays tribute to my friend Blackie

Posted on January 8, 2009 by admin

Jim+Carrey+Zooey+Deschanel+Premiere+Warner+h-USHyzjT5tlBy Ray Bennett

It was great to see that Jim Carrey still pays tribute to my late friend Bruce Blackadar for helping the Canadian comedian break into the big time. At a London press conference for his new film “Yes Man”, I mentioned that I had seen Carrey perform at Toronto’s Yuk Yuks comedy club back when Bruce was writing about him.

He took the time to explain to the UK entertainment press corps:

“Yes, he was a huge help to me. His was one of the first big articles I ever got and of course it was in the Toronto Star, so it was a big deal. That was a very pivotal moment for me. It was the thing that catapulted me in Canada to being known nationally, so I really am grateful to him for that. He gave me a lot to live up to too. He said something like ‘He’ll be bigger than Richard Pryor in six months.’ I was crazy, I was like ‘Wha-at?’ ‘Johnny Carson hasn’t seen anything … ‘ It was really fun.”

I spoke to Carrey afterwards and he hadn’t heard that Bruce, who started out with me at The Windsor Star, had died. I told him what a great friend Blackie had been as well as a great writer. “Well,” Carrey said. “You know nobody really dies.”

“Yes Man”, which co-stars Zooey Deschanel (pictured with Carrey), Bradley Cooper and Terence Stamp, tells of a man who decides to say yes to everything and the word from Hollywood is that Carrey’s deal with Warner Bros. on the movie  involved no upfront payment so that he could make very little or end up with £75 million.

No wonder Carrey said yes to every opportunity to promote the movie including a major junket in London for the UK premiere in December. Now in theatres, the film’s DVD release is due in April.

Not that the Canadian comic is a slacker when it comes to beating the drums for his films. He showed up on TV’s “American Idol” wearing an elephant hat to promote “Horton Hears a Who!”, which grossed $297 million worldwide this year.

Critics haven’t always admired his choices, but audiences still love him so that even his flops make money. “Fun With Dick and Jane” garnered $202 million around the world in 2005 and while the serious “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” made just $72.2 million, it had only a $20 million budget and won him critical praise plus BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations.

When Carrey pulls out all the comedy stops in something like “Bruce Almighty” in 2003, it scoops up $485 million. “Yes Man” received warm early reviews and Carrey says it’s an illusion that he’s left his trademark comedy films behind.

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He says, “I just do whatever I’m attracted to. The scripts find you when you’re emotionally in the right place to do them. At the time of ‘Eternal Sunshine’ (pictured above with Kate Winslet), I was broken-hearted. The director Michel Gondry said, ‘You look beautiful like this.’ I said, ‘But we don’t shoot for a year.’ He said: ‘Then don’t get well.’ So I said, ‘I’m gonna try to have a good time but don’t worry, I can open up the wound again’.”

He says he took “Yes Man” because of its optimism: “I know what it’s like to be a shut-in. With this movie, I wanted to put something good out into the world, something that makes people feel good. I hope there’ll be a change in the paradigm from cynicism to faith in better things to come. People have said they left the theatre after this movie thinking about what they can say yes to.”

In the film, Terence Stamp (pictured with Carrey below) plays the guru of positive thinking whose self-help classes lead Carrey’s character to become a yes man. Carrey says he’d always wanted to work with the British star, who is known as much for his colourful life and firm opinions as his acting: “We had conversations about gluten-free diets and about Brigitte Bardot. Not too bad. He’s lived a life and he’s an amazing actor. It’s pretty hard to crack him but he has a nutty inside quality. There’s madness in his eyes.”

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There are some who feel the same way about Carrey and he agrees that his career was not always a steady climb: “I’ve lived the dream. I’m the luckiest guy in the world and I never forget that. I’m living proof of positive thinking, and that faith is more important than talent. In those early days, there were so many times when I was up and down, had those little thrills and then was washed up. People would say, ‘He’s had his shot, it’s over’. But I never thought I was finished when people said I was finished.”

He still puts everything into his work and he broke three ribs doing a pratfall in a bar scene in “Yes Men”, he says: “Half-way through the pratfall, I changed my mind. I’ve done pratfalls all my life. I know how to do them. But I decided I wanted to get all four limbs up into the frame at the same time.” He carried on and finished the scene: “All I cared about was how it looked.”

He also did a bungee jump off a bridge. For insurance purposes it had to be done on the last day of shooting but Carrey could not be talked out of it, although he said, “My sphincter was so tight I could have made a diamond. Shortly after that, DeBeers bought my ass.”

A version of this story appeared in Cue Entertainment.

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Angelo Badalamenti’s ‘Edge of Love’ my pick of 2008 film scores

Posted on January 3, 2009 by admin

The Edge of Love8 x650

By Ray Bennett

Vanity Fair has an interesting rundown of 11 potential candidates for this year’s film score awards. It’s a good list with many of the always deserving usual suspects. Good bets for Oscar nominations include Alberto Iglesias for “Che,” James Newton Howard for “Defiance,” and Thomas Newman for “Revolutionary Road.”

It’s hard not to escape the feeling, though, that while the “Revolutionary Road” score is atmospheric and haunting, director Sam Mendes must have temped his film with Newman’s score for “American Beauty.” Given the popularity of “WALL-E,” Newman’s delightful music for that picture seems like a hotter prospect just as A.R. Rahman’s excellent work should benefit from all the buzz about “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Mychael Danna’s score for Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” was as good as anything this year but it won’t be eligible for the Academy Awards until next year. Other scores deserving attention in 2008 were “Alexandra,” Andrey Sigle; “Quantum of Solace,” David Arnold; “Synecdoche, New York,” Jon Brion; and “The Wrestler,” Clint Mansell.

My pick for this year’s awards, however, is the typically rich and melodic music written by Angelo Badalamenti for the overlooked Dylan Thomas picture “The Edge of Love” directed by John Maybury.

The Universal soundtrack album is a mix of songs performed by star Keira Knightley (pictured with Sienna Miller) with a couple of tracks by the glorious Madeleine Peyroux and Beth Rowley. Still, there’s plenty of music included from Badalamenti, who is best known for all those scores that made David Lynch’s films seem better than they were and who is long overdue for Oscar attention.

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Rock icon Delaney Bramlett dies aged 69

Posted on January 1, 2009 by admin

Delaney and Bonnie

 

By Ray Bennett

Very sad to hear of the death on Dec. 27 of the great Delaney Bramlett whose recordings with then wife Bonnie (nee Lynn O’Farrell) in the band Delaney & Bonnie were among the most formative of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

I saw them in Detroit back then and tracks on the Rhino compilation are fixtures on my iPod. His great bluesy sound and her unforgettable voice make them indispensable rock ‘n’ roll icons. Here’s Bramlett’s obituary in The Times

Delaney Bramlett: guitarist who influenced Clapton and Harrison

Published at 3:00PM, January 1 2009

For a brief spell in the late 1960s and early 1970s the singer and guitarist Delaney Bramlett led what many regarded as the most influential rock’n’roll band in the world.

Known as Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, the loose conglomeration, led by Bramlett and his wife, toured and recorded with a stellar backing band that included Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Duane and Greg Allman and Dave Mason of Traffic among other rock luminaries.

A charismatic figure from the US South with a background steeped in blues and gospel music, Bramlett came to be regarded as a mentor by many of his more famous associates. Harrison and Clapton both credited him with putting them back in touch with their roots at a time when the pressures of pop celebrity had caused them to drift from their moorings.

After his famous friends moved on Bramlett’s career — and his marriage — hit the buffers, but his influence has proved more lasting. Fusing more traditional forms such as blues, R&B, gospel and country with contemporary rock, alongside artists such as the Band, he was responsible for a sea change in US popular music in which “authenticity” came to be promoted over Tin Pan Alley froth.

He continued to work in the music business as a producer and writer and, after overcoming battles with a number of personal demons, he returned to recording and released a wellreceived solo album of new material shortly before his death.

Delaney Bramlett was born in Pontotoc, Mississippi, in 1939. He served in the US Navy and on his discharge in 1959 moved to Los Angeles with the intention of making a career in music. He began writing songs and playing sessions and in 1964 joined the Shindogs, the house band on the television show Shindig!, which also featured Leon Russell.

In 1967 he met Bonnie Lynn O’Farrell, a young session singer. They married a year later and, with support from Russell, formed Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. They were signed by the Memphis-based label Stax Records, and their first album, Home, appeared in 1969. Although it sold poorly it brought Delaney’s gritty, Southern-tinged songwriting, singing and guitar-playing to the attention of music business connoisseurs.

After they moved to Elektra Records, the duo’s second album, Accept No Substitute (1969) heightened the buzz, and George Harrison signed Delaney and Bonnie to the Beatles’ Apple Records. Bramlett thanked him by teaching him to play slide guitar — heard to brilliant effect on Harrison’s No 1 single My Sweet Lord — but the Apple deal was swiftly cancelled when Elektra objected that it still had the duo under contract.

Harrison’s support helped to earn the Bramletts a support slot with Blind Faith, at the time one of the biggest groups in the world, on a sellout tour of US stadiums in 1969. Blind Faith’s guitarist, Eric Clapton, who was growing disillusioned with heavy rock, immediately fell in love with Delaney’s more down-home, roots-based style and took to appearing on stage with the duo before his own set.

Concluding that he enjoyed being a low-key member of their backing band far more than the pressures of superstardom in Blind Faith, Clapton broke up the group at the end of the tour and asked to sign on with Delaney and Bonnie as a humble backing musician.

For the next year or so, Bramlett and Clapton became inseparable. The English guitarist moved into Bramlett’s house in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles and fell so under his spell that in an interview in 2004 he said of him: “Delaney had the aura of a Southern Baptist preacher. I was keen to believe it was something spiritual. I saw him as being some kind of guru I could learn from.”

Freed from their Elektra contract, Clapton helped to get the Bramletts signed to his then US-label, Atco, which released the albumDelaney and Bonnie on Tour with Eric Clapton in 1970. The record’s earthy joy — and the superstar guests who in addition to Clapton also included Harrison and Dave Mason — helped to make it the most commercially successful release of the duo’s career.

At about the same time Bramlett produced Clapton’s 1970 debut album, Eric Clapton, and with the guitarist co-wrote the record’s best song, Let It Rain.

It was the first time that Clapton’s voice had been extensively heard on an album, and he credited Bramlett as the man who persuaded him that he could sing.

When Clapton eventually returned to Britain in 1970, he took the rest of Delaney and Bonnie’s backing band with him and they went on to become Derek and the Dominos. The Bramletts recruited new musicians to their touring band, including for a time Greg and Duane Allman, and recorded the albums To Bonnie from Delaney(1970) and the mostly acoustic Motel Shot (1971).

However, the strains in the couple’s marriage and Bramlett’s heavy drinking and drug abuse were taking a toll on their music. The couple’s next album was rejected as substandard by Atco, and their contract was sold on to Columbia, which released the record in 1972 as D&B Together — that title proved to be heavy with irony because it was their last album as husband and wife, and they divorced the following year.

Bramlett’s career as a solo artist never really took off although he continued to work, producing albums for blues and gospel artists such as Etta James and the Staple Singers and sporadically releasing albums of his own. He most recently returned to the studio in 2008, after a six-year absence, to record the album A New Kind of Blues.

Bramlett is survived by his second wife, Susan, three daughters, including the singer Bekka Bramlett, and a son.

Delaney Bramlett was born on July 1, 1939. He died from complications after gall bladder surgery on December 27, 2008, aged 69

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Director Robert Mulligan dies at 83

Posted on December 23, 2008 by admin

love with the proper stranger x650By Ray Bennett

LONDON – American director Robert Mulligan, who has died aged 83, never matched his 1962 classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” but he was always able to draw out fine performances from his actors.Robert-mulligan-1-sized

Not only that, but Elmer Bernstein provided wonderful scores to many of his films including “Mockingbird” and four other Mulligan pictures that registered strongly with me as a young man:

“Fear Strikes Out” (1957) with Anthony Perkins as a troubled young baseball player with an overbearing father (Karl Malden);

“The Rat Race” (1960), which Garson Kanin adapted from his own play, showing a new side to Debbie Reynolds and Tony Curtis;

“Love With the Proper Stranger” (1964) starring Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood (pictured), who copped a best-actress Oscar nomination for her performance as a woman who becomes pregnant after a one-night stand;

“Baby, the Rain Must Fall” (1965) with McQueen opposite Lee Remick in a sensuous tale set against Texas honky-tonks based on a play by Horton Foote.

Here’s Mulligan’s obituary in The New York Times

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Oscar winners and wannabes in February film releases

Posted on December 22, 2008 by admin

vicky-cristina-barcelona x650By Ray Bennett

Everything comes in pairs in the United Kingdom’s February film releases. Two Oscar-winning veteran filmmakers show how it’s done with Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” and Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (pictured above).

Two famous characters from the past, one bringing chills and the other chuckles, also return — Jason Voorhees in a remake of “Friday the 13th” and Inspector Clouseau in “Pink Panther 2”.

There are two serious awards contenders in John Patrick Shanley’s drama “Doubt” and the second part of Steven Soderbergh’s biographical saga, “Che”. And a new film titled “Brothers” from Irish director Jim Sheridan is about two conflicted brothers played Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire.

Not content with just “Changeling” with its highly praised performance by Angelina Jolie in 2008, 78 year-old Clint Eastwood stars in as well as directs “Gran Torino” (Feb 20, Warner Bros.). He plays an extremely grouchy veteran of the Korean War whose racism undergoes a change when he defends his mixed-race neighbours from a local gang. Lean and gravel-voiced, the four-time Academy Award winner is said to deliver a performance that could finally win him a best actor award.

Woody Allen has three Oscars on his mantlepiece, two of them for writing, and he’s in the running for at least a third screenplay nomination for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (Feb. 6 Optimum Releasing). Given a rousing welcome at this year’s Festival de Cannes, the picture sees British actress Rebecca Hall (daughter of director Peter Hall) and Scarlett Johansson as two young American women, Vicky and Christina respectively, on a vacation in Spain. There, they meet a suave and disarming artist played by Javier Bardem who charms them each into relationships that are heavily complicated when his flamboyant and dangerous ex-wife, played by Penelope Cruz, shows up.

Steve Martin got a mixed reception when he dared to step into the late Peter Sellers’ shoes as the bumbling French detective Clouseau in the 2006 remake of “The Pink Panther”. The film made enough at the box office, however, to tempt him back in “Pink Panther 2” (Feb. 13, Sony Pictures). This time Clouseau teams up with a team of international sleuths targeting a thief who steals historical artefacts. Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer return from the first remake with John Cleese replacing Kevin Kline as the much-abused Chief Inspector Dreyfuss.

The cast also includes Andy Garcia, Yuki Matsuzaki, Alfred Molina and Aishwarya Rai. Jason Voorhees was also known for creating havoc but accompanied by screams and he’s up to his old tricks in a remake of the 1980 original “Friday The 13th” (Feb. 13, Paramount). The machete wielding maniac, played by Derek Mears, causes mayhem when a group of young adults spend a playful weekend at Camp Crystal Lake, site of the first nightmare.

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Meryl Streep, who has been nominated 14 times for an Academy Award and won twice, has two performances in possible contention this year. First there was her crowd-pleasing role in the global smash hit musical “Mamma Mia!” and now in a film version of the 2005 Tony Award winning play “Doubt” (Feb. 6, Walt Disney). Directed by playwright and screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, the story is set in 1964 at a Roman Catholic school in New York’s Bronx. Streep plays the domineering Sister Aloysius, a traditionalist who rules with an iron fist and who instigates a furious campaign against Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) based on flimsy suspicion of child molestation. Amy Adams, pictured with Streep, co-stars.

The second part of Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s epic “Che” (also known as “Guerilla”, Feb. 20, Optimum Releasing) is also likely to win plaudits from prize-givers. It finds the Argentine revolutionary in Bolivia participating in a failed coup. Puerto Rican-born Benicio del Toro continues as Che with cameos from Matt Damon and Franka Potenta. Jim Sheridan’s “Brothers” (Feb. 27, Lionsgate UK) is a remake of a 2004 Danish film with the same title directed by Susanne Bier. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Toby Maguire, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepherd and Mare Winningham, it tells of a young man who looks after his older brother’s wife and children when he is reported missing in Afghanistan.

Other coming attractions include:

Feb. 6: “He’s Just Not That Into You” (Entertainment) is a romantic roundelay set in Baltimore with Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, and Drew Barrymore involved with the likes of Justin Lon, Ben Affleck and Kevin Connolly (from TV’s “Entourage”). It’s directed by Ken Kwapis, who helmed the US television version of “The Office”. “Push” (Icon) is a science-fiction adventure about a group of attractive young Americans with telekinetic and clairvoyant powers hiding from a sinister government agency.

“The Secret of Moonacre” (Warner Bros.) sees Dakota Blue Richards (“The Golden Compass”) as a young woman in a strange enchanted place with costars including Ioan Gruffudd, Tim Curry and Natascha McElhone. “The Soloist” (Universal) is directed by Britain’s Joe Wright (“Pride And Prejudice”, “Atonement”) and stars Robert Downey Jr. as a journalist who gets involved with a homeless and disturbed but talented musician played by Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx (“Ray”).

Feb. 13: “Bolt-3D” (Walt Disney) is an animated adventure about a superdog with a voice that sounds like John Travolta. “Cirque du Freak” (Universal) has John C. Reilly as a leading member of a very strange and scary troupe travelling entertainers. “Hotel For Dogs” (Paramount) stars Don Cheadle, Emma Roberts, Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon (from TV’s “Entourage”) in a tale of two kids who make a home for stray animals in an abandoned building. “They Came From Upstairs” (20th Century Fox) involves aliens, mind control, dumb parents and smart kids.

Feb. 20: “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is based on the popular books by Sophie Kinsella and tells of best friends Rebecca (Isla Fisher) and Suze (Krysten Ritter) as they go shopping for great accessories and boyfriends. The cast includes Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, and Kristin Scott Thomas under the direction of P.J. Hogan (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”). “Outlander” (Momentum Pictures) pits Vikings against Aliens in 10th century Norway in a rousing and entertaining adventure featuring Jim Caviezel (“The Passion of the Christ”), Jack Huston, John Hurt, Sophia Myles and Ron Perlman. “Spread” (Delanic Films) is a sex comedy starring Anton Kutcher as a serial womaniser and Anne Heche as the woman he lives to regret jilting.

Feb. 27: “Hamlet 2” finds Steve Coogan as an over-the-top teacher at a high school in Arizona. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” (Sony Pictures) features Adam Sandler sidekick Kevin James as a security guard fighting a crime spree. “The Unborn” (Universal) is a horror tale about a woman possessed with Gary Oldman playing a helpful Rabbi.

This article appeared in Cue Entertainment.

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THEATRE REVIEW: Ralph Fiennes in ‘Oedipus’

Posted on December 20, 2008 by admin

oedipus x650

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Bloodied and screaming, Ralph Fiennes brings the tortured title role of Sophocles’ “Oedipus” to vivid life in a new version by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness.

On a set that is both stark and imposing and in the modern dress of a city banker about to go under, Fiennes portrays a character whose endless curiosity about himself leads to dire revelations and bleak self-imposed punishment.

McGuinness takes the tale of a would-be leader whose relationship with his mother is the source of much scandal making and fear, and turns it into a mystery story. The man’s tragedy is that the villain he is seeking turns out to be himself and that’s too great a burden to bear.

Fiennes has the ability to appear distant and severe both on screen and onstage and the early scenes in the play show him trying to overcome that reserve in order to win the support of the city-state elders.

They are played as a kind of Greek chorus, given to singing their lines of gossip and concern over the mental state of a leader whose grip on power is becoming as fragile as his grip on his imagination and emotions.

Director Jonathan Kent moves the action along at an increasingly biting pace as Oedipus gets closer to the truth about the nature of his birth and the identities of his father and, more important, his mother, played with typical force by Clare Higgins (pictured with Fiennes).

McGuinness makes the political circumstances and the quality of Oedipus’s hubris smack with topicality since this frantic character’s world is crumbling around him and he is increasingly lost in knowing what to do, like many a leader today.

The act of self-mutilation in which Oedipus stabs out his eyes takes place offstage but when he steps out with his white shirt splashed with bright red blood and Fiennes gives full voice to his anguish, it’s an unforgettable sight.

The National has assembled a typically fine cast with Alan Howard excellent as the mocking prophet Teiresias and Higgins almost wanton in her desire not to divulge intimations of motherhood. But it’s the performance of Ralph Fiennes that gets in the blood and stays there.

Venue: National Theatre, London, runs through Jan. 4; Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Clare Higgins, Alan Howard, David Burke, Jasper Britton, Malcolm Storry, Alfred Burke, Gwilym Lee; Playwright: Sophocles in a new version by Frank McGuinness; Director: Jonathan Kent; Set Designer: Paul Brown; Lighting Designer: Neil Austin; Music: Jonathan Dove; Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

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Movie star Van Johnson dies at 92

Posted on December 13, 2008 by admin

End of the Affair Johnson KerrBy Ray Bennett

LONDON – Colourful and self-deprecating American character actor Van Johnson, who has died aged 92, was never a great actor but he always gave good value when he stopped by the American TV talk shows.

He gave David Letterman a refreshingly honest and very funny reply when asked which of his movies was his favourite. Johnson said: “They paid me to make ’em. Nobody said I had to watch ’em.”

Here’s the New York Times obituary with a rare clanger. Deborah Kerr played opposite Johnson in Edward Dmytryk’s 1955 version of Graham Greene’s “The End of the Affair” not Sarah Miles. That was the name of her character.

By ALJEAN HARMETZ

Van Johnson, a film actor whose affable charm and boyish good looks helped turn him into a major Hollywood star during World War II, died Friday in Nyack, N.Y. He was 92. His death, at the Tappan Zee Manor assisted living facility, was announced by a spokesman, Daniel Demello, of Shirley Herz Associates in New York.

Mr. Johnson won praise in his first dramatic role, as the pilot whose story is told in “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” (1944). He drew good notices for his work in “The Caine Mutiny,” Edward Dmytryk’s 1954 adaptation of the Herman Wouk novel, in which he played the naval lieutenant who is compelled to relieve the erratic Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) of command while at sea.

And critics liked him as well the following year in Dmytryk’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel “The End of the Affair,” he which Mr. Johnson played an illicit lover opposite Sarah Miles.

Read the full obituary

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We shall not cease from exploration …

Posted on December 11, 2008 by admin

Nantmor 1 x650

We shall not cease from exploration

and the end of all our exploring

will be to arrive where we started

and know the place for the first time.

                                                                                         Nantmor in Wales. Photo: Ray Bennett

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How Radiohead helped Giles Borg to make rock film ‘1234’

Posted on December 9, 2008 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON — If you want to make a film about kids who dream of becoming rock stars, it helps if you know one or two genuine rock stars. For Giles Borg, knowing Ed O’Brien of Radiohead from his days in the Oxford music scene made all the difference.

Funding for filmmakers from institutions such as regional bodies and the Film Council can be a mixed blessing. For some, it’s an essential tool for initiating or keeping afloat projects that might otherwise founder. For others, it’s one of the reasons so many British films fail as underdeveloped projects are propped up by Lottery cash.

1234_3Borg, a maker of music videos and commercials who has made a mark with short films, managed to avoid both those issues for his first feature, “1234”, by not resorting to what he calls “soft money”. He got rock money instead.

“I have nothing against the Film Council and would like to work with them one day, but going to the regional film bodies can take time. You can be looking at nine months of waiting,” Borg says. “We wanted to get on with it. We knew how to do it. We knew the audience. And we felt that we could raise the money.”

“1234” is an affectionate snapshot of four young and ambitious would-be rock stars that manages to combine gentle sweetness with a clear-eyed view of the slim chances of its hopeful musicians struggling to launch an indie rock band. Sales agent MovieHouse Entertainment got involved early and the film screened to acclaim at the London International Film Festival. It then went to the American Film Market and distribution deals are pending.

Borg started out playing in bands and then moved into pop videos and tour documentaries featuring such acts as Ride, DJ Hurricane, Ronnie Wood and Tom Jones. In his spare time he made short films that did well at festivals and hooked up with documentary producer Simon Kearney to make a short film titled “Home”, which travelled to festivals far and wide. Together, they formed Carson Films, named for “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” author Carson McCullers, whom Borg greatly admires, and set about creating a slate of low-budget projects.

“Simon and I worked out what kind of money we could realistically raise as first-time producer and first-time writer-director,” Borg says. “There was no point in trying to make a huge sci-fi epic. We decided to look for stories that we could actually budget, and stories we felt could reach an audience with that budget. The good thing about working on a very low budget is that we really could make the film we wanted to make.”

Knowing what it’s like to be aspiring rock musicians, their environment proved immediately appealing. “It was a world I knew very well and we wanted to make a film for those people in that world,” he says.

Borg and Kearney settled on a budget of £250,000 and intended to seek financing from the music industry. “But our timing was terrible since the music business was falling apart,” Borg says. “But we produced a brochure for the film, a full-colour booklet, and through a friend it got to Ed O’Brian, whom I had met in Oxford when Radiohead were called On a Friday.”

Oxford has a very small music community, Borg recalls, and everyone pulls together. “He knew me from bands and films and the script appealed to him. He said it reminded him of the early days, struggling to keep down a job,” he says. “And he didn’t ask for input into the making of the film. All the executive producers were fantastic. They were happy to invest and then hand over the job to us.”

With a big rock name attached Borg and Kearney found it easier to raise the money through friends of friends and in the City. They did six weeks of pre-production and started shooting last April 14 over 21 days in London, mainly Hackney. Borg originally wanted to shoot in Tilden but found Camden Council tricky to work with and so moved the location.

“Hackney was wonderful and they rushed through the permits. Everything was done on location, we were very definite about wanting that,” Borg says. “We wanted it to be authentic with real places. I talked to our DP, Mike Eley (“Touching The Void”), and he agreed that Hackney had to look like Hackney. I’m a big fan of London, and it annoys me when I see it on film and it’s a London I don’t know, a touristy one or it’s filthy. London has so much character.”

Casting was a challenge but they came up with a good group of youngsters in Ian Bonar as wannabe frontman Steve, Matthew Baynton as drummer Neil, Kieran Bew as lead guitarist Billy and Lyndsey Marshal as ace basist Emily.

But it was the actual shoot that took Borg by surprise. “Nothing could have prepared me for what it was like,” he says. “The first week was like being hit by a train. It was non-stop being asked questions, all perfectly valid questions, from the first minute to the last. By the end, of course, I didn’t want it to stop.”

Then came the news in postproduction that no director wants to hear. “Post was interesting because we had two months and then we kind of ran out of money. We had a pretty good rough cut but we were out of cash and we had to figure out where to get more,” says Borg. “But then MovieHouse submitted the rough cut to the London Film Festival and that changed everything.”

The film was accepted and equity investors came on board so they could complete the picture. While the film still has to find its audience, Borg says the experience was a huge learning curve. He says, “I never learned so much. It was the best film school ever. What I’m most pleased about is that we made the film we wanted to make.”

This story appears in Cue Entertainment.

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