Daily Archives: July 15, 2007

Michelle Pfeiffer on Stardust

Interviews

At the recent press day for Hairspray, Michelle Pfeiffer also talked a bit about the forthcoming Stardust, based on Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel, and directed by Matthew Vaughn. “It’s one of those movies that’s kind of hard to describe in
one sentence or one word, it’s kind of everything rolled into one,” she says. “It’s sort of
a fantasy/mythic/romance adventure… it’s a lot of different
worlds going on at one time. Somehow it all comes together and it all works;
it’s one of those times where everyone being in a different movie isn’t a
bad thing.”

Pfeiffer plays 5,000-year-old witch Lamia (“It’s hard to say which one’s more evil — [her] or Velma Von Tussle; it’s a toss-up”), but she says the film’s heavy prosthetics left her a bit cranky. “I did not enjoy [those], that was four to
five hours of make-up every day, and it was just not pleasant,” says Pfeiffer. “In fact, I was told
by the producers of Hairspray
that I was not allowed to talk to John (Travolta) about
prosthetics. They said, ‘It’d be better if you didn’t swap horror stories…’ But
John fortunately had done his homework and was prepared, and he knew how to set
things up in a way that would make things as comfortable for him as possible.
I, on the other hand, was unprepared, and just got through it.”

In the end it was worth it, though, Pfeiffer says. “The movie is stunning, it is. It’s really beautiful. I
mean — I’m not, I look hideous. Some of the older parts I look OK, but
we poke fun at this quest for eternal youth and the degree to which women will
go to to get it. …When I talked with
Matthew (Vaughn) that was the thing that intrigued me, because it wasn’t really
in the script or story. The storyline of eternal youth was, but we decided to
have a little bit of fun with it, and we do. It’s kind of silly.”
Stardust opens August 10 nationwide, but I’ll be seeing the film Monday, so I’ll post some thoughts on it this coming week. For Sienna Miller’s thoughts on the movie, meanwhile, click here.

Shia LaBeouf: Acting Is Life

Musings

With Transformers‘ $220 million (and counting) gross, and a prominent role in the forthcoming installment of the Indiana Jones series, erstwhile Project Greenlight kid Shia LaBeouf is well on his way to stardom, getting so far out ahead of any disastrous solo projects that he can milk this high for another four or five years, easy.

A few quotes from a July 1 piece in the Los Angeles Times, just before Transformers‘ bow, however, showcase a manic streak that could conceivably augur trouble if LaBeouf hits a rough patch. “I freak out sometimes,” he says at the article’s end. “When I’m in my trailer, I have panic attacks. I’m like a nervous little gremlin. [On set] I can control myself, I can watch the monitor and say, ‘That’s the person I’ve created, that’s who I want to be right now.'”

“Acting is my entirety. This is the most important thing in life to me — above politics, above my family, above my own happiness. If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t want to live, literally. I’m saying this and I mean it. Happiness isn’t worth anything, it’s momentary. This is forever.”

Such notions of forever are all well and good when you’re starring in blockbusters, of course. It’s a different matter when you’re no longer on the receiving end of phone calls and offer sheets. I’m not saying he’s doomed or anything, but LaBeouf seems like a genuinely good kid; I hope he doesn’t get too caught up in numbers analysis.

On Transformer’s Ending

Irritations


I’ve written a good bit on Transformers, and last week touched in passing fashion on the idiocy of its ending, but it’s worth pointing out again the extraordinarily stupid lengths to which Michael Bay goes to preserve the prerogative of a sequel in which Transformers still somehow exist in secret. He does this — after
destroying huge swathes of a city, including a scene in which planes fly through buildings, killing, conservatively, dozens of people — via an utterly jaw-dropping coda which asserts “the president ordered Decepticon
leader Megatron’s body dumped into the ocean, where the pressure destroyed
it.” So this is what allows the Transformers to remain on Earth and live in secrecy
among us. What a cover-up… brilliant, just brilliant.

Neverwas

Blu-ray/DVD Reviews

“For those that don’t know, this is how it began,” opens Neverwas, a solid enough
fantastical-minded drama which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and
was acquired by Miramax, but then probably deemed too reminiscent in narrative and
lacking slightly in comparative lacquered whimsy to something like Finding Neverland to garner the P&A
muscle of a wide theatrical release.

Thank You For Smoking)
as Zach Riley, a psychiatrist who returns to Millwood
Psychiatric Hospital, the place where
his father, famous children’s novelist T.L. Pierson (a gravelly-voiced Nick
Nolte), committed suicide decades ago. The mysteries of Zach’s tragic early
life, contained within the pages of his father’s titular masterwork, are slowly
revealed to the psychiatrist with the assistance of a wide-eyed, allegedly schizophrenic
patient named Gabriel Finch (Ian McKellen). While Zach is reluctant to get
drawn into any analysis or discussion about his father’s Tolkien-esque tome,
Finch insists it’s all real, and that Zach has had a spell cast on him to make
him forget his place as ruler of the magical kingdom.

Elements of the aforementioned Neverland commingle with bits and pieces of What Dreams May Come, Instinct,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and
other tales of psychiatric munificence. Philip Glass’ mesmerizing score
provides Neverwas with a nice aural backdrop,
and if director Stern dips into saturated-frame affectation a bit too often (all
sunlit windows and canted slow-motion), it’s only about half as annoying as one
might typically find it because of all the fine actors more than pulling their
weight here. Abetting Stern is a fabulous cast that includes the aforementioned
players as well as Jessica Lange as Zach’s fretful mother Katherine; William
Hurt as Zach’s new boss, Dr. Peter Reed; and Brittany Murphy as a botanist grad
student and possible love interest, Maggie. Rounding out the cast in small cameo
roles are Alan Cumming, Michael Moriarty, Vera Farmiga, Cynthia Stevenson and
Bill Bellamy.

For fairy tale fans and those predisposed to enjoy drama of
uplift, Neverwas is a decent enough flick,
certainly worthy of a rental. There is essentially only one question at the
heart of the movie, and Stern takes the long way around the maypole in actually
addressing it, meaning that the climax requires a silly confluence of events
and parties. Since all that provides the audience with more time with McKellan,
though, one doesn’t too terribly mind.

Presented in a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio, Neverwas comes with a Dolby digital 5.1 surround
sound audio track, and French and Spanish subtitles. Apart from a gallery of
preview trailers for other Buena Vista DVD releases like The Invisible and Wild Hogs,
there are unfortunately no supplemental extras on the DVD, which is housed in a
regular Amray case. To purchase the film via Amazon, click here. B- (Movie) C (Disc)

Happy Birthday, Forest Whitaker

Birthdays

It’s a happy birthday to Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, who turns 46 today. Whitaker has always been a rather soft-spoken and reserved guy, and I think he’s really taken internally some of the professional slings and arrows that he’s had to suffer over the course of his career. The amusing and strange thing to think about? If Whitaker hadn’t been bounced from the helm of Fat Albert — a movie he was attached to direct for quite some time, but eventually departed after creative differences with creator Bill Cosby — his career trajectory might have been altogether different and precluded him even doing The Last King of Scotland. For a feature interview on Whitaker, click here.