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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 Thursday 8 July 2010 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 ...
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July 23, 2010
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 ...
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June 13, 2010
