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!