Blog
RANDY ORTON VS JULIAN SHAW
A few titbits from my recent interview with WWE Superstar Randy Orton, but check out FILMINK Magazine, www.filmink.com.au and of course the brand new FILM INK iPad App for the full story next month in which he discusses That’s What I Am, what kind of actor he is and the great Ed Harris. JS: I really loved your match at Wrestlemania with CM Punk. RO: Thanks so much. It’s Wrestlemania, you know, you can think you need to do 10 times the amount of things in the same ...
TRIPLE H VS. JULIAN SHAW
I spoke to WWE Superstar Triple H early this morning – though the whole thing was in danger of coming undone thanks to a dodgy trinity of phone connections between WWE HQ in Stamford Connecticut, Triple H’s snowed-under vigil in Long Island, New York and my location; five metres to the left of a tomato patch in Ashfield, Sydney. My conversation with the wrestler-come-booker who will inherit Vince McMahon’s empire will run in an upcoming issue of FILM INK magazine, so you’ll have to wait till then to get the ...
CHATTING WITH JOHN CURRAN
Curran is the director of Stone, The Painted Veil, We Don't Live Here Anymore and the modern Aussie classic Praise. JS: How have your thoughts on filmmaking changed as you’ve matured, for lack of a better word? JC: Do you know, as I've matured I've just learned to get into a groove of not being too excited and not being too depressed. (Laughs). I mean, experience can make you used to anything – and somehow experience has gotten me used to this crazy business. My ...
THE VIRTUES OF LIGHT AND DEEP
My favourite kind of movie is one that is light and deep. Let me explain. Sideways is a great example – Alexander Payne’s breeze of a movie about the soon-to-be-married charm merchant Jack (Thomas Haden Church) and his final days as an oversexed bachelor. He promotes himself as something of TV star, but the reality is not quite so glamorous. His performances are generally limited to voice-over disclaimers on advertisements, and a "spray-n'-wipe" commercial is the cream of his showreel. Jack wants to spend his last days before tying the knot tripping through California's Santa Ynez Valley with his ...
CHRISTINA RICCI – IN CONVERSATION
NB: This is a transcript of a phone conversation. Julian Shaw is in Sydney, Australia. Christina Ricci is in Manhattan, New York. He is in his apartment. His time of day is morning. She is in her apartment. Her time of day is dusk. JS: I was really excited about speaking to you. CR: Oh yeah? JS: Yeah. But somehow I was a bit worried that you might be a man-eater in interviews. Could you see why someone would be nervous if they were to look back ...
SHOOTING DIARY, ‘CUP OF DREAMS’
JULY 2010, NEW ZEALAND Friday 9 July 2010 I get a call from John Kirwan. He’s in Auckland too, chilling out a little with his family after coaching Japan in the Pacific Nations Cup. We have a bit of a chat about how life in Tokyo is going for him and how my film on him is going. He wishes me luck for my meeting later that day with DRAFTFCB. They are the advertising company behind JK’s highly successful depression awareness ad campaign in New Zealand. A representative from the Ministry of Mental ...
LESSONS FROM ANNE HATHAWAY
The first movie star I ever interviewed was Anne Hathaway. I was 15-years-old, with pimples and gelled hair, and I was bloody nervous. I’d pulled a sickie at school to do the interview, and I hoped the truth wouldn’t get back to my teachers. I wasn’t the only one who was a bit wet behind the ears though - Hathaway was hardly a seasoned pro herself; she’d just broken onto the big screen scene with The Princess Diaries and was only 17-years-old. I used to go into interviews with a ...
JIM JARMUSCH – IN CONVERSATION
JS: When I’m checking out The Limits of Control, I’m seeing a new kind of subjectivity in your filmmaking. The protagonist is simply named Lone Man, and he’s a hitman who just kind of descends into a world of abstraction as the flick progresses. And I’m feeling Chris Doyle (cinematographer) coming through in the film a lot… JJ: Chris Doyle and I talked a lot before filming about all kinds of things – he is a person with so many ideas that he’s not protective of. They’re like ...
CARMEN ELECTRA PUT HER G-BANGER IN MY FACE
One of my most surreal moments as a movie journalist came when I interviewed Carmen Electra – a doe-eyed hank of Americana pop-culture - during a flying visit to Sydney. I was about 18 years old. The publicist who had been herding me through the hotel corridor to Electra’s suite nicked off to take a phone call and shooed me in. It’s not normal protocol – but I entered Electra’s suite alone. She was instantly in view – on the other side of the room, perched in a two-tone seater against a ...
5 Comments | Posted in Blog
June 13, 2010
