AND THE WINNER IS...

I spoke this afternoon with 61-year-old acting veteran Richard Jenkins, whose wonderful performance as Prof. Walter Vale in the critically-acclaimed indie gem The Visitor (Overture) has rendered him the year's first recipient of serious awards buzz. By clicking on the podcast at the bottom of this post, you can hear our entire half-hour discussion, which covers everything from the acting techniques that have guided him through 35 years in the business, to the unlikehood of getting to play his first leading role this long into his career, to the things he researched in order to understand Walter (a real Immigration Detention Facility, etc.) and the things he didn't have to research (he also played the drums—albeit as a child—and has had similar doubts about his life as an adult). You won't want to miss this one...

Thanks to the thoughtfulness of my friend Kia, who is in town from South Africa, I now own Shantaram, a 936 page semi-autobiographical first-novel by Gregory David Roberts that has earned him comparisons to Herman Melville and Ernest Hemingway. One of Shantaram's biggest fans is Johnny Depp, who purchased the rights to it for $2 million and will star in its big-screen adaptation, which is reportedly going to hit theaters sometime in late 2009, right in the thick of Oscar season. Considering the immense talent joining Depp on the production—including the producers of the Oscar-winning The Departed, Brad Grey, Graham King, and Brad Pitt; the great Indian actor Irfan Khan, last seen in The Namesake; and Mira Nair, the revered Indian director of that acclaimed film and many others—it seems to have the promise to be very good.

Good enough to finally bring Depp an Oscar, you ask? Perhaps. At this point, we obviously know very little about the rumored 2008 awards contenders, to say nothing of those that may (or may not) vie for statuettes in 2009... but I'll admit that I'm starting to drink the Kool-Aid on the basis of the epic nature of the story; the rich and troubled central character; reports that Russell Crowe was so disappointed that the lead role was already claimed that he offered to be an executive producer on the film just so he could be associated with it; and, perhaps most impressively to me, the gushing endorsement I was given by well-read Kia: "one of the greatest books I've ever come across." I would promise to get back to you with better-informed thoughts upon completing the novel, but based on the size of it—and despite my best intentions—I'm afraid that might take until 2010!

Some sad news tonight out of Los Angeles: the wonderful character actor Harvey Korman has died at the age of 81. Korman had been hospitalized for the last four months following the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, but seemed to be on the mend until recently taking a turn for the worse. He won four Emmys and a Golden Globe for his work on The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978), but I will always most closely associate him with his wonderfully insane character Hedley ("Not Hedy!") Lamarr in Mel Brooks' classic comedy Blazing Saddles (1974). Following is a wonderful little scene from Blazing Saddles showcasing Korman's impeccable comedic delivery...

A quick note: Korman did not receive that "almost certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor," though he absolutely should have!

I'm not allowed to write about this in any detail until Friday, but last night I attended the Boston press screening of Sex and the City (5/30, Warner Brothers), which was held concurrently with its New York City premiere. Despite being a member of the least-targeted audience quadrant—heterosexual males—I emerged unscarred and even slightly amused by the big screen arrival of the world's most famous female quartet, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon, in a romantic melodrama that makes Douglas Sirk's seem sedate in comparison. The film's director was Michael Patrick King, who also oversaw many HBO episodes of the television show that inspired the film, but the most vital behind-the-scenes contribution to this film might well have been the work of eccentric, Oscar-nominated costume designer Patricia Field (The Devil Wears Prada), who assembled a wardrobe for "the girls" that appears to have cost more than most independent productions, and prompted the females and gay males (one of the show's most loyal constituencies) in attendance to literally swoon and gasp-out-loud throughout the 2.5 hour runtime... and the female who accompanied me to report this morning that she slept beautifully last night "dreaming of shoes." Look for huge box-office this weekend, an inevitable sequel not too long from now, and more from me after Friday...

Sydney Pollack, the Oscar-winning director-producer-actor, has succumbed to a long battle with cancer at the age of 73. Pollack, in one capacity or another, was associated with many of the most important films of the past four decades, including: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969, director), Jeremiah Johnson (1972, director), The Way We Were (1973, director), Three Days of the Condor (1975, director), Absence of Malice (1981, director-producer), Tootsie (1982, director-actor), Out of Africa (1985, director-producer), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989, producer), Husbands and Wives (1992, actor), The Firm (1993, director), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993, producer), Sense and Sensibility (1995, producer), Eyes Wide Shut (1999, actor), Iris (2001, producer), Cold Mountain (2003, producer), and Michael Clayton (2007, producer-actor; see my post from October 2007 about his scene-stealing performance). Pollack was awarded the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director for Out of Africa; he was also nominated for Best Director for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Tootsie, and for Best Picture for Tootsie and Michael Clayton. Anthony Minghella, his longtime producing partner, also died prematurely earlier this year.

Way back in March, the good folks at Turner Classic Movies and Warner Home Video sent me a copy of their Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Volume 2 DVD box set featuring five digitally-remastered classics of the pre-Code era (1930-1934): The Divorcee (1930), starring Norma Shearer; A Free Soul (1931), starring Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, and Clark Gable; Night Nurse (1932), starring Barbara Stanwyck; Three on a Match (1933), starring Joan Blondell, Bette Davis, Ann Dvorak, and Humphrey Bogart; and Female (1933), starring Ruth Chatterton. Unfortunately, I did not had a chance to fully check it out until this holiday weekend, but now that I have I can offer a few thoughts:

1. If you don't know what "pre-Code" means, be sure to check out Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in the American Cinema, 1930-1934, a great book by my friend and the authority on the subject, Brandeis Univeristy professor Thomas Doherty. It will open your eyes to the fact that, at least for a few years, classic Hollywood films were anything but the staid and conservative sort that we tend to remember them as.
2. The five pre-Code films in this box set are very well done, but they aren't nearly as risque as, say, Call Her Savage (1932, in which Clara Bow derives sexual pleasure from a dog), Baby Face (1933, in which Stanwyck literally sleeps her way to the top of a corporation), or Red-Headed Woman (1932, in which Jean Harlow pioneered the nipple-slip). Incidentally, the latter two films are available on the Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Volume 1 DVD box set, a 2006 release.
   
3. The gem of the set is The Divorcee (1930). The film tells the story of a woman (a surprisingly sexy Shearer, "The Queen of M-G-M," who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance) who discovers that her husband (Chester Morris) has been unfaithful and decides to return the favor. Many feminists will find her character's behavior rather heroic—spoiler alert—that is, until she ends up essentially apologizing for her behavior and going back to the man who wronged her in the film's final moments, just as she does in The Women (1939).
   
4. The runner-up is A Free Soul (1931), in which a great attorney who is also a drunk (Lionel Barrymore, who would win an Academy Award for Best Actor for the part) helps a good-looking but rascally mobster (Clark Gable) get off of a murder charge only to see his beloved daughter (Shearer, once again nominated) fall in love with the "rat" against his wishes. The daughter offers the father a deal: you give up alcohol and I'll give up the man. He accepts... but can either keep their word?
5. The set is now available on Amazon.com and at Best Buy, and would be a fine addition to the DVD collection of any serious film history buff.
6. Thank God for Turner Classic Movies, which has been the single most important force in keeping the great movies of the past alive.

Sen. Barack Obama's pinch-hit appearance for ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy at Wesleyan University's commencement ceremony, which I was fortunate enough to attend yesterday (and the speech of which you can see above), certainly did not disappoint. Obama's entrance was greeted with a lengthy standing ovation and his remarks, which lasted about twenty minutes, were met with several more. Obama's speech was peppered with references to the Kennedy family's model of public service and to his own unlikely rise to prominence. The key passage, though, at least in my estimation, was the following:

"You know, Ted Kennedy often tells a story about the fifth anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps. He was there, and he asked one of the young Americans why he had chosen to volunteer. And the man replied, “Because it was the first time someone asked me to do something for my country.” I don’t know how many of you have been asked that question, but after today, you have no excuses. I am asking you, and if I should have the honor of serving this nation as President, I will be asking again in the coming years. We may disagree on certain issues and positions, but I believe we can be unified in service to a greater good. I intend to make it a cause of my presidency, and I believe with all my heart that this generation is ready, and eager, and up to the challenge."

What really blew me away was the fact that Obama not only stuck around for the presentation of teaching awards, honorary degrees, and the presentation of diplomas to more than seven hundred undergraduate and graduate students... but he also shook the hand of every one of them who wished to shake his. Quite a guy. Anyway, that's all for now, but congratulations and a big thank you to my friend Pauri and his lovely family for inviting me along for this special day.

Last night, in anticipation of my interview on Friday with actor Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under), I re-watched my screener of The Visitor (Overture, trailer) and came away much more impressed than I did the first time around. The quiet little indie, which cost $5 million to make, has earned about $3.5 million over the 5 weeks it has been in theaters (it's still going strong and will do well on DVD), as well as excellent reviews for its 61 year old star, who spent nearly 35 years in the business as a working character actor before being offered the plum leading role of Prof. Walter Vale in this film by writer-director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent). What I like most about The Visitor is the way it conveys complex ideas—ideas about coping with the death of a spouse, losing interest in one's occupation after doing it too long, post 9/11 immigration policy, etc.—without ever seeming preachy or condescending, just like some of the best movies of the past decade... About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004), and The Squid and the Whale (2005) come to mind immediately.

Also, since good work deserves to be recognized as much as bad, I want to point out that this film was bankrolled by Participant Productions, a small American studio established by eBay founding president Jeff Skoll that has probably had the most consistent track record of releasing excellent films since 2004, when it came on the scene. Among their other excellent films primarily targeted at intelligent adult audiences: Good Night and Good Luck (2005), Murderball (2005), North Country (2005), Syriana (2005), An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Chicago 10 (2007), Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains (2007), The Kite Runner (2007), and Standard Operating Procedure (2008). Their next, The Informant (3/9/09), a crime thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon, looks likely to continue the streak.

For those of you who, like me, enjoy carefully examining every minor pebble on the road to the Oscars, I'd encourage you to check out this recently-leaked, Spanish-dubbed trailer of the David Fincher film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (12/19, Paramount), which was adapted from a 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story and stars Brad Pitt, as a man who inexpicably begins aging backwards, as well as Oscar winners Cate Blanchett (who played his wife in Babel) and Tilda Swinton (who will next appear opposite him and George Clooney in the Coens' Burn After Reading, a September release). I'd get on this pronto because someone—presumably at Paramount or maybe at Warner Brothers, which is handling the film's international distribution—is pushing hard to have this taken down. I'm not as big on Fincher or Pitt as most people, but I will certainly grant that their two previous collaborations, Se7en (1995) and Fight Club (1999), were pretty damn good, and this next one has really got me revved up...

A buddy of mine is graduating tommorow from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. As you've probably heard, Wesleyan's commencement speaker was scheduled to be Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), but the "Liberal Lion of the Senate," whose step-daughter is a member of the graduating class, was diagnosed with brain cancer this week and did not feel up to the task... so he asked his good friend Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to fill in, and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee (who Kennedy recently endorsed) gladly accepted. Upon hearing this, I shot my friend a text message to congratulate him on his graduation and to tell him how "jealous" I was that he had such a cool speaker. Lo-and-behold, he responded moments later with thanks... and the offer of an extra ticket! I don't think I've ever typed a quicker text message than the one I sent saying "YES!!!"

I've been lucky enough to hear Obama speak in-person before, at a rally on Boston Common in October 2007, and it wasn't long before I decided he was my guy. We all know that—in addition to his great message—he can give a hell of a speech, and I can tell you he is even more impressive in person than he is on television, which is saying a lot, and which is also why I'm so excited to see him again. (For the record, I'm an equal-opportunity kind of Democrat: I've also managed to see former Pres. Jimmy Carter, former Pres. Bill Clinton, and Sen. Hillary Clinton speak at different events this year.) Both Wesleyan and Obama have stressed that Obama will not be campaigning in his speech, but rather discussing bigger picture kind of stuff—probably along the lines of what he wrote about so effectively in his best-selling memoirs.

Historically, Wesleyan has opened their commencements to the public, but this year they have decided to limit attendance to no more than ten people per graduate, which makes this an especially cool opportunity. The ceremony tomorrow begins at 10:45am, but people are being encouraged to arrive hours earlier in order to pass through security and find a decent seat, so it will be an early morning! I'll report back later...