LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Director Quentin Tarantino's slavery era Western 'Django Unchained' and mythological indie film 'Beasts of the Southern Wild,' were among the top film nominees on Tuesday for the annual NAACP Image Awards.
The NAACP also nominated 'Flight,' starring Denzel Washington as an alcoholic airline pilot, African-American wartime pilots film 'Red Tails,' and Tyler Perry's 'Good Deeds' for a best movie Image Award, which honor achievements by people of color in film, television, music and literature
Washington and Perry were nominated best actor, along with Jaime Foxx for 'Django Unchained,' while the NAACP also recognized the amateur stars of 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' - nine year-old Quvenzhane Wallis and Dwight Henry - in the acting categories.
In television, best comedy nods went to 'Glee,' 'Modern Family,' 'The Mindy Project,' 'The Game' and 'Soul Man'. In the drama category, the NAACP picked 'Boardwalk Empire,' 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Scandal,' 'Treme,' and 'True Blood.'
Bruno Mars and Alicia Keys won multiple nominations in music categories, while late pop greats Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston were nominated respectively for the 25th anniversary edition of album 'Bad,' and greatest hits compilation 'I Will Always Love You; The Best of Whitney Houston.'
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909, is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States.
The 44th Image Awards will be handed out a ceremony in Los Angeles on February 1.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bernard Orr)
This news article is brought to you by ADVANCED DATING ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Film "Lincoln" gets record 13 Critics Choice nominations
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' landed a record-breaking 13 nominations for the Critics Choice Movie Awards on Tuesday, ahead of musical 'Les Miserables' and indie comedy 'Silver Linings Playbook'.
'Lincoln', starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, was nominated for best picture and best director, while actors Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field got individual nods as well as one for best acting ensemble.
It is the first time a film has landed 13 nominations for the Critics Choice Movie Awards. 'Black Swan', with 12 in 2011, held the previous record.
Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden thriller 'Zero Dark Thirty', which has been winning accolades in early awards circles, picked up only five nominations from the group.
The Critics Choice Movie Awards are handed out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), which represents more than 270 television, radio and online critics. Winners will be announced in the California beach city of Santa Monica on January 10.
The Critics Choice list come ahead of this week's Screen Actor's Guild and Golden Globe nominees, all of which are indicators for potential Oscar glory in February.
The BFCA gave 'Les Miserables', based on the hit stage musical, 11 nominations, including best actor for Hugh Jackman, best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway and best director for Tom Hooper.
David O. Russell's 'Silver Linings Playbook', a quirky romance between a young widow and a bipolar man, picked up 10, including acting mentions for leads Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, best supporting actor for Robert DeNiro and best director.
Lawrence was the most nominated actor, winning four mentions overall for her roles in 'Silver Linings' and in the action film 'The Hunger Games'. Cooper led male nominees with three nods.
Other nominees included Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi' with nine and Iran hostage thriller 'Argo', cult drama 'The Master' and James Bond movie 'Skyfall' with seven each.
This year, the BFCA added five new categories in comedy and action to recognize achievements in genres sometimes overlooked in favor of drama. They included best actor/actress in comedy and in action, and best sci-fi/horror movie, in which 'Looper', 'The Cabin in the Woods' and 'Prometheus' landed nods.
'This has been a truly spectacular year in filmmaking and our voters had an embarrassment of riches to choose from,' Joey Berlin, president of the BFCA, said in a statement.
Movie fans will also for the first time be given the opportunity to vote online for their favorite film franchise, including 'Harry Potter', 'Twilight', 'Batman', 'Lord of the Rings', 'James Bond' and 'Spider-Man'.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Maureen Bavdek)
This news article is brought to you by STOCK MARKET BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
'Lincoln', starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, was nominated for best picture and best director, while actors Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field got individual nods as well as one for best acting ensemble.
It is the first time a film has landed 13 nominations for the Critics Choice Movie Awards. 'Black Swan', with 12 in 2011, held the previous record.
Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden thriller 'Zero Dark Thirty', which has been winning accolades in early awards circles, picked up only five nominations from the group.
The Critics Choice Movie Awards are handed out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), which represents more than 270 television, radio and online critics. Winners will be announced in the California beach city of Santa Monica on January 10.
The Critics Choice list come ahead of this week's Screen Actor's Guild and Golden Globe nominees, all of which are indicators for potential Oscar glory in February.
The BFCA gave 'Les Miserables', based on the hit stage musical, 11 nominations, including best actor for Hugh Jackman, best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway and best director for Tom Hooper.
David O. Russell's 'Silver Linings Playbook', a quirky romance between a young widow and a bipolar man, picked up 10, including acting mentions for leads Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, best supporting actor for Robert DeNiro and best director.
Lawrence was the most nominated actor, winning four mentions overall for her roles in 'Silver Linings' and in the action film 'The Hunger Games'. Cooper led male nominees with three nods.
Other nominees included Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi' with nine and Iran hostage thriller 'Argo', cult drama 'The Master' and James Bond movie 'Skyfall' with seven each.
This year, the BFCA added five new categories in comedy and action to recognize achievements in genres sometimes overlooked in favor of drama. They included best actor/actress in comedy and in action, and best sci-fi/horror movie, in which 'Looper', 'The Cabin in the Woods' and 'Prometheus' landed nods.
'This has been a truly spectacular year in filmmaking and our voters had an embarrassment of riches to choose from,' Joey Berlin, president of the BFCA, said in a statement.
Movie fans will also for the first time be given the opportunity to vote online for their favorite film franchise, including 'Harry Potter', 'Twilight', 'Batman', 'Lord of the Rings', 'James Bond' and 'Spider-Man'.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Maureen Bavdek)
This news article is brought to you by STOCK MARKET BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Tom Cruise defends role as "Jack Reacher"
LONDON (Reuters) - Tom Cruise has defended his role as Jack Reacher in the first of what could be a new action movie franchise, despite being much slimmer and shorter than the character created by author Lee Child in the original books.
Cruise told Reuters Television at the world premiere in London on Monday of 'Jack Reacher' that he would not have taken the part if British thriller writer Child had been unhappy.
Child's version of Reacher - a military sniper - is 6 foot 5 inches tall and weighs over 200 pounds (91 kilograms). Cruise, 50, is just 5 foot 7 inchestall according to the Internet Movie Database, and has a trim physique.
'You know, he (Child) created the character, I had my own opinion that I didn't say to Lee and then he came back and pretty much reflected what I had felt about it. But had he said 'look I'd rather not', I would not have played the character,' Cruise said.
Cruise described Reacher's size as a 'characteristic' rather than a 'character.'
'Jack Reacher,' to be released later this month, is based on 'One Shot' - one of the series of best-selling novels by Child about the eponymous former soldier turned drifter who travels the United States dealing out his own brand of justice.
British actress Rosamund Pike, who plays the female lead, said she hoped there will be many more Reacher movies.
'We hope this is going to be a great big new franchise for Tom and for Paramount and so to be in the first one is always kind of cool ... It's witty, it's fast-moving, the plot is ... puzzling and incisive and quite dark in places. You know the humor and the violence in this film is pretty edgy and I like that about it,' Pike said.
Cruise was also a producer on the Paramount Pictures movie, which is due for release in the United States on December 21.
(Reporting by Edward Baran, editing by Jill Serjeant)
This news article is brought to you by GLOBAL WEATHER NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Cruise told Reuters Television at the world premiere in London on Monday of 'Jack Reacher' that he would not have taken the part if British thriller writer Child had been unhappy.
Child's version of Reacher - a military sniper - is 6 foot 5 inches tall and weighs over 200 pounds (91 kilograms). Cruise, 50, is just 5 foot 7 inchestall according to the Internet Movie Database, and has a trim physique.
'You know, he (Child) created the character, I had my own opinion that I didn't say to Lee and then he came back and pretty much reflected what I had felt about it. But had he said 'look I'd rather not', I would not have played the character,' Cruise said.
Cruise described Reacher's size as a 'characteristic' rather than a 'character.'
'Jack Reacher,' to be released later this month, is based on 'One Shot' - one of the series of best-selling novels by Child about the eponymous former soldier turned drifter who travels the United States dealing out his own brand of justice.
British actress Rosamund Pike, who plays the female lead, said she hoped there will be many more Reacher movies.
'We hope this is going to be a great big new franchise for Tom and for Paramount and so to be in the first one is always kind of cool ... It's witty, it's fast-moving, the plot is ... puzzling and incisive and quite dark in places. You know the humor and the violence in this film is pretty edgy and I like that about it,' Pike said.
Cruise was also a producer on the Paramount Pictures movie, which is due for release in the United States on December 21.
(Reporting by Edward Baran, editing by Jill Serjeant)
This news article is brought to you by GLOBAL WEATHER NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Andy Serkis plays dual role in 'Hobbit' - Gollum and director
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Andy Serkis reprises his role as Gollum in 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,' to be released worldwide this week, but his main role this time was as a second unit director, shooting battle sequences in 3D for director Peter Jackson.
The British-born actor, 48, who rose to fame as the obsessive Gollum in Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, spoke with Reuters about playing the popular CGI character, and his role behind the camera in New Zealand for 'The Hobbit.'
Q: Was it nice to get re-acquainted with Gollum after almost 10 years?
A: 'Yes, but he's never been that far away from me. Not a day goes by where I'm not reminded of Gollum by some person in the street who asks me to do his voice or wants to talk to me about him. But because 'The Hobbit' has been talked about as a project for many years, I knew that at some point I'd have to reengage with him.'
Q: Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins) is new to the franchise and so are many other actors. As a veteran, did they come to you for advice?
A: 'It sort of manifested itself more in a way where (as a vet) you understand the scale and scope of what's required stamina-wise. It's a different rhythm than most movies. For a lot of the actors, you're 12,000 miles away from home. It becomes a way of life - getting up at five in the morning, shooting every day, day in day out, for 270 days. The new cast playing the dwarves were carrying incredibly heavy weights in their suits, they sat through hours of make-up every day. So it's quite challenging from a stamina point of view.'
Q: Playing Gollum was not your only job. You were also doing second unit directing. What did that entail?
A: 'Directing was my main job this time - more than playing Gollum. I worked 200 days with a huge team shooting battle sequences, aerials. It was an amazing experience and one which I was very, very thankful to Peter for asking me to do.'
Q: How did that come about?
A: 'I'd already started directing short films when we were doing 'Lord of the Rings,' then videogame projects. So Peter's known that I've been heading towards directing for a long time. But I always thought my first outing would be a couple of people and a digital camera in the back streets of London somewhere!'
Q: Why do you think Peter let you do it?
A: 'I think because the second unit was going to have a lot of principal cast, Peter wanted someone that could take care of the performances and create an atmosphere where the actors felt safe. Obviously I was briefed closely by Peter. But it was a huge challenge - mental, technological. I'd never shot with 3D. Plus the day to day logistics of dealing with such an enormous operation.'
Q: Any plans to direct again?
A: 'Just before I headed off to New Zealand to work on 'The Hobbit,' I was in the process of setting up (my new company) The Imaginarium (with producer Jonathan Cavendish), which is a performance-capture studio and a development company. We are developing our own slate of film projects, one of which is George Orwell's 'Animal Farm.' It's going to be the first film that I'll be directing.'
Q: Where does acting fit in to your newfound career?
A: 'At the moment, my trajectory isn't to think about acting. I'm absolutely devoted to The Imaginarium, our projects and directing. And watching and enabling other actors do their thing in our studio is hugely rewarding. I expect at some point I'll probably want to go back on stage and do some theater, because I've not done theater in 10 years.'
Q: With two more installments of 'The Hobbit' still to come over the next few years, you'll be the voice of Gollum for fans for many more years. Are your kids proud or embarrassed when you're asked do his distinctive raspy voice?
A: 'I'm probably running out of credits in terms of my kids enjoying me do the Gollum voice for others. Especially my older ones (Ruby, 14, Sonny, 12). It was cool when they were younger. But my youngest (Louie, 8) absolutely revels in it. He would have me do it all day long for his friends at school. So I still have great currency there!'
(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Nick Zieminski)
This article is brought to you by PICTURES OF CELEBRITIES.
The British-born actor, 48, who rose to fame as the obsessive Gollum in Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, spoke with Reuters about playing the popular CGI character, and his role behind the camera in New Zealand for 'The Hobbit.'
Q: Was it nice to get re-acquainted with Gollum after almost 10 years?
A: 'Yes, but he's never been that far away from me. Not a day goes by where I'm not reminded of Gollum by some person in the street who asks me to do his voice or wants to talk to me about him. But because 'The Hobbit' has been talked about as a project for many years, I knew that at some point I'd have to reengage with him.'
Q: Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins) is new to the franchise and so are many other actors. As a veteran, did they come to you for advice?
A: 'It sort of manifested itself more in a way where (as a vet) you understand the scale and scope of what's required stamina-wise. It's a different rhythm than most movies. For a lot of the actors, you're 12,000 miles away from home. It becomes a way of life - getting up at five in the morning, shooting every day, day in day out, for 270 days. The new cast playing the dwarves were carrying incredibly heavy weights in their suits, they sat through hours of make-up every day. So it's quite challenging from a stamina point of view.'
Q: Playing Gollum was not your only job. You were also doing second unit directing. What did that entail?
A: 'Directing was my main job this time - more than playing Gollum. I worked 200 days with a huge team shooting battle sequences, aerials. It was an amazing experience and one which I was very, very thankful to Peter for asking me to do.'
Q: How did that come about?
A: 'I'd already started directing short films when we were doing 'Lord of the Rings,' then videogame projects. So Peter's known that I've been heading towards directing for a long time. But I always thought my first outing would be a couple of people and a digital camera in the back streets of London somewhere!'
Q: Why do you think Peter let you do it?
A: 'I think because the second unit was going to have a lot of principal cast, Peter wanted someone that could take care of the performances and create an atmosphere where the actors felt safe. Obviously I was briefed closely by Peter. But it was a huge challenge - mental, technological. I'd never shot with 3D. Plus the day to day logistics of dealing with such an enormous operation.'
Q: Any plans to direct again?
A: 'Just before I headed off to New Zealand to work on 'The Hobbit,' I was in the process of setting up (my new company) The Imaginarium (with producer Jonathan Cavendish), which is a performance-capture studio and a development company. We are developing our own slate of film projects, one of which is George Orwell's 'Animal Farm.' It's going to be the first film that I'll be directing.'
Q: Where does acting fit in to your newfound career?
A: 'At the moment, my trajectory isn't to think about acting. I'm absolutely devoted to The Imaginarium, our projects and directing. And watching and enabling other actors do their thing in our studio is hugely rewarding. I expect at some point I'll probably want to go back on stage and do some theater, because I've not done theater in 10 years.'
Q: With two more installments of 'The Hobbit' still to come over the next few years, you'll be the voice of Gollum for fans for many more years. Are your kids proud or embarrassed when you're asked do his distinctive raspy voice?
A: 'I'm probably running out of credits in terms of my kids enjoying me do the Gollum voice for others. Especially my older ones (Ruby, 14, Sonny, 12). It was cool when they were younger. But my youngest (Louie, 8) absolutely revels in it. He would have me do it all day long for his friends at school. So I still have great currency there!'
(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Nick Zieminski)
This article is brought to you by PICTURES OF CELEBRITIES.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Bond movie "Skyfall" beats "Lincoln" at box office
(Reuters) - James Bond showed remarkable staying power as the latest installment of the spy series, 'Skyfall,' captured the box office title and collected $11 million in its fifth week in U.S. and Canadian movie theaters, outgunning Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' and 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2,' the final installment of the blockbuster vampire series.
'Skyfall,' the 23rd film in the series featuring Agent 007, also led movies at the box office when it first opened on November 2 and is already the best-selling movie in the 49-year old series. This weekend, it became the highest grossing movie in Sony Pictures' history with $918 million in ticket sales worldwide. The film distributed by Sony's Hollywood studio, has collected nearly $262 million in domestic sales, according to the movie tracking site Hollywood.com.
The animated 'Rise of the Guardians' from Dreamworks Animation was second with $10.5 million in ticket sales. The movie, which was made for $145 million, opened with a disappointing $23.8 million when it first hit movie theaters on November 21. Since then, it has been steadily working its way toward becoming a solid family hit this season.
'Rise of the Guardians, which features Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and other childhood favorites who join together to save the world, was one of two family movies in a season traditionally heavy in family films. The other, Disney's 'Wreck-it Ralph,' collected $4.9 million for seventh place.
'Breaking Dawn - Part 2,' the box office leader for the past three weeks, tallied $9.2 million in ticket sales. The five-movie series, released by Lions Gate Entertainment, is based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling book about young vampire love and has collected more than $1.3 billion in overall domestic ticket sales.
'Lincoln,' which chronicles the 16th president's successful fight to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery, had total ticket sales of $9.1 million, according to studio estimates provided by the box office division of Hollywood.com.
'Life of Pi,' director Ang Lee's movie about a boy who escapes a shipwreck but then shares his lifeboat with a tiger, sold $8.3 million in tickets to finish in fifth place. The movie, released by the Fox studio, is based on a best-selling 2001 novel by Yann Martel.
Hollywood studios shied away from scheduling major movies this weekend, steering clear of the expected blockbuster 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,' which Warner Brothers will release on December 14. The movie, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy novel about wizards and dwarves, features many of the same actors from the blockbuster 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.
The only new major release, the romantic comedy 'Playing for Keeps' starring Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel, opened with a lackluster $6 million, which was on target with forecasts by industry experts.
(Reporting by Ronald Grover and Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Bill Trott and Jackie Frank)
This news article is brought to you by MUSIC UNITED 1 - where latest news are our top priority.
'Skyfall,' the 23rd film in the series featuring Agent 007, also led movies at the box office when it first opened on November 2 and is already the best-selling movie in the 49-year old series. This weekend, it became the highest grossing movie in Sony Pictures' history with $918 million in ticket sales worldwide. The film distributed by Sony's Hollywood studio, has collected nearly $262 million in domestic sales, according to the movie tracking site Hollywood.com.
The animated 'Rise of the Guardians' from Dreamworks Animation was second with $10.5 million in ticket sales. The movie, which was made for $145 million, opened with a disappointing $23.8 million when it first hit movie theaters on November 21. Since then, it has been steadily working its way toward becoming a solid family hit this season.
'Rise of the Guardians, which features Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and other childhood favorites who join together to save the world, was one of two family movies in a season traditionally heavy in family films. The other, Disney's 'Wreck-it Ralph,' collected $4.9 million for seventh place.
'Breaking Dawn - Part 2,' the box office leader for the past three weeks, tallied $9.2 million in ticket sales. The five-movie series, released by Lions Gate Entertainment, is based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling book about young vampire love and has collected more than $1.3 billion in overall domestic ticket sales.
'Lincoln,' which chronicles the 16th president's successful fight to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery, had total ticket sales of $9.1 million, according to studio estimates provided by the box office division of Hollywood.com.
'Life of Pi,' director Ang Lee's movie about a boy who escapes a shipwreck but then shares his lifeboat with a tiger, sold $8.3 million in tickets to finish in fifth place. The movie, released by the Fox studio, is based on a best-selling 2001 novel by Yann Martel.
Hollywood studios shied away from scheduling major movies this weekend, steering clear of the expected blockbuster 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,' which Warner Brothers will release on December 14. The movie, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy novel about wizards and dwarves, features many of the same actors from the blockbuster 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.
The only new major release, the romantic comedy 'Playing for Keeps' starring Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel, opened with a lackluster $6 million, which was on target with forecasts by industry experts.
(Reporting by Ronald Grover and Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Bill Trott and Jackie Frank)
This news article is brought to you by MUSIC UNITED 1 - where latest news are our top priority.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Singer James Taylor suggested for lead role in "Lincoln"
mlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#' xmlns:fb='http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml'> Page Not Found - Yahoo!
This article is brought to you by FREE MONEY MANAGEMENT TOOL.
This article is brought to you by FREE MONEY MANAGEMENT TOOL.
"On the Road" director and star talk Kristen Stewart, Steve Buscemi gay sex scene
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Jack Kerouac's seminal Beat Generation novel 'On the Road' might revolve around the spontaneity of youth, but the film that it spawned certainly had more than its fair share of preparation behind it.
After TheWrap's screening of 'On the Road' at the Landmark Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, director Walter Salles and star Garrett Hedlund - who plays iconic Beat Generation figure Dean Moriarty in the film - discussed the long journey that went into bringing Jack Kerouac's novel to the screen.
In Salles' case, that included five years of retracing Kerouac's steps and tracking down surviving Beat Generation figures such as poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti for information. (Those efforts eventually yielded a documentary, 'Searching for 'On the Road,'' which Salles hopes will be in a finished state 'at the beginning of next year.')
For Hedlund, it meant driving from Minnesota to Los Angeles for his audition, capturing his thoughts in a road journal that would help cement his casting when he read it for Salles. (The journal 'was so akin to Kerouac's vision, and it so echoed the spirit of the book,' the director recalled during the Q&A after the screening.)
And for both of them, it meant a cross-country trip in a 1949 Hudson - the same model driven by Moriarty in the novel - to capture additional footage after principal photography had wrapped.
'We broke down eight, nine times across the country. We drove with no brakes from Cincinnati to Lexington,' Hedlund noted.
Such are the perils of pursuing a labor of love. During the question-and-answer session, which was moderated by TheWrap's editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman, Salles and Hedlund repeatedly discussed their decades-long love for the source material. According to Hedlund, the respect for Kerouac's work extended throughout the cast, which includes Sam Riley as aspiring writer Sal Paradise; 'Twilight' star Kristen Stewart, who plays Moriarty's libertine teenage bride Marylou; Tom Sturridge as Allen Ginsberg stand-in Carlo Marx; and Viggo Mortensen as Old Bull Lee, a character based on 'Naked Lunch' author William Burroughs.
'We all shared a similar passion for the book,' Hedlund said. 'There wasn't a single person on this project who didn't feel completely holy and honored to be there.'
Stewart, of course, has become known to screaming teenagers everywhere as Bella Swan, the conflicted lead female character in a little vampire movie franchise called 'Twilight.' The actress actually came aboard 'On the Road' before the 'Twilight' film series became a reality, with Salles becoming drawn to the actress via her part in the 2007 film 'Into the Wild.' While her performance in that Sean Penn-directed movie might have opened the door, it was her knowledge of the novel and insight into the Marylou character that sealed the deal.
(Stewart was scheduled to attend the screening but canceled at the last minute due to illness.)
'I met her and found someone who knew the book inside-out, and also understood that Marylou was 20 years ahead of her time,' Salles recalled. 'I think that Kristen in her life, she drifts toward these characters who expand or investigate territories that are forbidden a number of times, and she was very drawn to this.'
Despite the unanimous reverence for Kerouac's book, Salles wasn't afraid to deviate from the novel. That included referencing the original, famously scroll-like manuscript that unspooled from Kerouac's typewriter.
'The published version in 1957 was quite different and tamer than the original that Kerouac had written,' Salles noted. 'Even that first line was different. The 1957 book starts, 'I first met Dean not long after I divorced my first wife,' and the scroll starts, 'I first met Dean not long after my father died.'' (The film version employs the latter.)
' trying to be faithful to the very freeform, jazz-infused quality of the text, but at the same time, try to find a complexity in each of the characters,' Sallas said of the film adaptation.
Particularly challenging for the actors was the fact that 'On the Road''s characters are based on people who themselves became public figures. Separating the two could be particularly demanding, Hedlund noted.
'That was probably the most difficult part of this, the stripping-away process,' Hedlund said. 'here's so many videos of Kerouac, or there's videos of Neal Cassady when he's older ... It was Walter that said, 'Strip it all away, you're not playing Jack Kerouac, you're playing Sal Paradise,' and to me, 'You're not playing Neal Cassady, you're playing Dean Moriarty.' Because half of this was through life experience that Kerouac was writing, and half was through imagination.'
That wasn't the only stripping-away process that might have tested the cast's mettle. Befitting the free-wheeling spirit of its source material, 'On the Road' is rife with sex scenes, particularly for Hedlund's sexually omnivorous Moriarty. A particularly jarring coupling in the film occurs when Moriarty, hard-up for cash, partners with Steve Buscemi, who plays a traveling salesman who gives Sal and Dean a ride - and has a fondness for Dean.
As it turns out, Buscemi was as devoted to his role as the rest of the cast.
'Steve was wearing underpants the color of skin. In the rehearsal, in the camera they can see Steve's skin-colored underwear popping into the frame and they're like 'Steve, can you just slide them down a little bit?'' Hedlund recalled. 'And he's like, 'Oh, no; I'll just take them off. You don't mind, do you?''
This news article is brought to you by GAMING NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
After TheWrap's screening of 'On the Road' at the Landmark Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, director Walter Salles and star Garrett Hedlund - who plays iconic Beat Generation figure Dean Moriarty in the film - discussed the long journey that went into bringing Jack Kerouac's novel to the screen.
In Salles' case, that included five years of retracing Kerouac's steps and tracking down surviving Beat Generation figures such as poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti for information. (Those efforts eventually yielded a documentary, 'Searching for 'On the Road,'' which Salles hopes will be in a finished state 'at the beginning of next year.')
For Hedlund, it meant driving from Minnesota to Los Angeles for his audition, capturing his thoughts in a road journal that would help cement his casting when he read it for Salles. (The journal 'was so akin to Kerouac's vision, and it so echoed the spirit of the book,' the director recalled during the Q&A after the screening.)
And for both of them, it meant a cross-country trip in a 1949 Hudson - the same model driven by Moriarty in the novel - to capture additional footage after principal photography had wrapped.
'We broke down eight, nine times across the country. We drove with no brakes from Cincinnati to Lexington,' Hedlund noted.
Such are the perils of pursuing a labor of love. During the question-and-answer session, which was moderated by TheWrap's editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman, Salles and Hedlund repeatedly discussed their decades-long love for the source material. According to Hedlund, the respect for Kerouac's work extended throughout the cast, which includes Sam Riley as aspiring writer Sal Paradise; 'Twilight' star Kristen Stewart, who plays Moriarty's libertine teenage bride Marylou; Tom Sturridge as Allen Ginsberg stand-in Carlo Marx; and Viggo Mortensen as Old Bull Lee, a character based on 'Naked Lunch' author William Burroughs.
'We all shared a similar passion for the book,' Hedlund said. 'There wasn't a single person on this project who didn't feel completely holy and honored to be there.'
Stewart, of course, has become known to screaming teenagers everywhere as Bella Swan, the conflicted lead female character in a little vampire movie franchise called 'Twilight.' The actress actually came aboard 'On the Road' before the 'Twilight' film series became a reality, with Salles becoming drawn to the actress via her part in the 2007 film 'Into the Wild.' While her performance in that Sean Penn-directed movie might have opened the door, it was her knowledge of the novel and insight into the Marylou character that sealed the deal.
(Stewart was scheduled to attend the screening but canceled at the last minute due to illness.)
'I met her and found someone who knew the book inside-out, and also understood that Marylou was 20 years ahead of her time,' Salles recalled. 'I think that Kristen in her life, she drifts toward these characters who expand or investigate territories that are forbidden a number of times, and she was very drawn to this.'
Despite the unanimous reverence for Kerouac's book, Salles wasn't afraid to deviate from the novel. That included referencing the original, famously scroll-like manuscript that unspooled from Kerouac's typewriter.
'The published version in 1957 was quite different and tamer than the original that Kerouac had written,' Salles noted. 'Even that first line was different. The 1957 book starts, 'I first met Dean not long after I divorced my first wife,' and the scroll starts, 'I first met Dean not long after my father died.'' (The film version employs the latter.)
' trying to be faithful to the very freeform, jazz-infused quality of the text, but at the same time, try to find a complexity in each of the characters,' Sallas said of the film adaptation.
Particularly challenging for the actors was the fact that 'On the Road''s characters are based on people who themselves became public figures. Separating the two could be particularly demanding, Hedlund noted.
'That was probably the most difficult part of this, the stripping-away process,' Hedlund said. 'here's so many videos of Kerouac, or there's videos of Neal Cassady when he's older ... It was Walter that said, 'Strip it all away, you're not playing Jack Kerouac, you're playing Sal Paradise,' and to me, 'You're not playing Neal Cassady, you're playing Dean Moriarty.' Because half of this was through life experience that Kerouac was writing, and half was through imagination.'
That wasn't the only stripping-away process that might have tested the cast's mettle. Befitting the free-wheeling spirit of its source material, 'On the Road' is rife with sex scenes, particularly for Hedlund's sexually omnivorous Moriarty. A particularly jarring coupling in the film occurs when Moriarty, hard-up for cash, partners with Steve Buscemi, who plays a traveling salesman who gives Sal and Dean a ride - and has a fondness for Dean.
As it turns out, Buscemi was as devoted to his role as the rest of the cast.
'Steve was wearing underpants the color of skin. In the rehearsal, in the camera they can see Steve's skin-colored underwear popping into the frame and they're like 'Steve, can you just slide them down a little bit?'' Hedlund recalled. 'And he's like, 'Oh, no; I'll just take them off. You don't mind, do you?''
This news article is brought to you by GAMING NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)