Maybe it’s the slightly patrician demeanor, maybe it’s the hair. Whatever the case, Griffin Dunne has a visage and persona that seem built to entertainingly sustain indignity and exasperation. This trait was in rich evidence all the way back in 1985, in Martin Scorsese’s offbeat, underrated After Hours. And it’s on display again in writer-director Justin Schwarz’s debut feature, The Discoverers.
Dunne stars in the film as Lewis Birch, a washed-up history professor whose plans for a two-birds-with-one-stone vacation/academic conference getaway with his teenage children (Madeleine Martin and Devon Graye) are undone when his mother passes away suddenly and his estranged father (Stuart Margolin) stops speaking and goes AWOL on a Lewis and Clark historical re-enactment trek. Grasping for reconnection, Lewis leads his kids into a world of playacted discovery that ends up triggering some of the real thing. On the film’s opening weekend, I had a chance to chat one-on-one with Dunne in Los Angeles, about sibling rivalries, family frailties, history, starting fires and more. The conversation is excerpted over at Paste, so click here for the read.
Daily Archives: June 5, 2014
Director Lukas Moodysson Talks We Are the Best!
Swedish-born poet and novelist Lukas Moodysson made a splash with his film debut, Show Me Love, in 1998, and has since then delivered a number of controversial and experimental films. His latest movie, the adventurous romp We Are the Best!, centering on a group of tomboyish tweens in 1982 Stockholm, is a return to the more optimistic and loose-limbed vibe of his early work. I recently had a chance to speak to Moodysson one-on-one, about his movie, punk music, religion and being a “self-critical amateur.” The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.
Beau Knapp Talks The Signal
I had the chance to speak one-on-one with Beau Knapp on Tuesday, about the moody, low-budget sci-fi flick The Signal, which worked up a buzz at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and hits theaters on June 13 from Focus Features. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.