Film School Rejects » Junket Report

Junket Report: Funny People

Kevin Kelly — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:02:42 +0000

Dr. Cole Abauis makes a compelling argument about Funny People over in his review, and when I saw the film a couple of weeks ago, I felt exactly the same way. I mean, this movie is an Apatow film, and it stars Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, a slew of other funny people (including a few moments of Ray Romano that are funny than all of Everybody Loves Raymond) … but it just doesn’t stay with you like Anchorman or 40 Year Old Virgin.

Is it the sign of a more mature film when you’re not quoting lines from the movie, mere minutes after having seen it? I hope not. The only person that really stuck with me from that movie was Aziz Ansari as Randy, who is barely in the movie. In fact, if you want a ton of Randy comedy, check out the elaborate website they made for his character. It’s got a lot more material on it than Ansari has in the film.

But, I digress. I’m not here to tell you review the film all over, I’m here to tell you about the junket. Funny People does deliver on its title, as their are actually funny people in the movie. The junket delivered as well, and we got to sit down and talk with the main players in the movie. So read on after the break for our interviews with the funny people of Funny People. Even Eric Bana. Did you know he used to be a stand-up comedian in Australia? Well, now you do. Read on.

Funny People is in theaters today.

Adam Sandler (George Simmons)

On his character: “This guy that I play is leading a different life than I live, but there are some things that come close to home. God forbid, if I get sick, I’ll have a different experience than this guy did. In my real life, I have a lot of people to talk to.”
On stand-up: “Doing stand-up when you’re 42 years old … there’s a lot more pressure. When I was in my 20s, my goal was to be a movie star … I was pretty crazy, I don’t know why I was like that. When you’re 20 and you go onstage and nobody laughs, you’re like ‘Well, those people just didn’t get it.’ But when you’re in your 40s and nobody laughs, you go, “Oh my god. Why am I here?’ You’re too dumb when you’re in your 20s to realize good and bad.”
On Judd Apatow and comedies: “I’ll tell ya, when I go out to dinner with Apatow, I laugh like I did back in the day. When I watch movies now, I don’t laugh as much as I did when I was 15 and it wasn’t my profession. I tend to go to comedies first, and then break them down and figure out why they’re funny.”
Judd breaks in: “And then we go see Orphan.”
On seeing other comedians: “The best thing around my life right now is that I’ve been around, I mean I’m not like Bob Hope or anything, but I’ve been around long enough to be like if I see someone else kill I don’t get jealous, I go ‘That guy’s good.” But 20 years ago if I saw someone else kill I’d go, ‘Oh god. I’ve got to figure some shit out.’”
On what’s next: “It was a lot of work, this movie. When I finished it, I hugged Apatow, and I was very relieved to have a break. I don’t know how these other actors go movie to movie and lose their minds in their roles and have a real life. I was happy to jump back into my real life with my wife and kids. But if something else comes down the road that Apatow feels is right or I feel is right, I’m sure I’ll jump back in there. I’m doing a movie right now with a bunch of my comedian friends called Grown Ups, but I like having those breaks.”
Judd: “And then I’m going to ask Adam to do My Left Foot 2.”

Judd Apatow (Director/Writer/Producer)

On living with Adam Sandler back in the day: “It’s weird back in the day because you’re friends with people, but then you get mad when they move ahead of you. I remember when I lived with Adam, he got this Visa commercial (Adam breaks in and yells “Mastercard!”), oh Mastercard commercial. It was big and expensive and Adam was funny, and I remember thinking ‘Why wasn’t I the Mastercard guy?”
Adam interrupts and reminds Judd that he stole a Jim Henson audition from him: “That’s right … Jim Henson was doing this reality show where you would drive around the country with your own video cameras and … “
Adam: “Yeah, but at this time you were already saying you didn’t want to be on camera anymore! You were already saying you wanted to be a writer, where I was like, ‘What? What’s a writer?’”
Judd: “But, I didn’t end up getting it ultimately, because Jim Henson says ‘I lacked warmth.’ And when the guy who taught you how read tells you lack warmth … I was devastated! I still haven’t recovered.”
On the fake movies within the movie (Merman, Re-Do, etc): “What’s funny is that most of the movies we did at some point were made by Tom Hanks. These are all kind of second-generation copies of his movies.”
Adam: “By the way, I swear to god, I was showing my mom some of the fake movie stuff on my iPhone, and I showed her the Re-Do scene where my head is on a baby, and I swear she said this. She goes, ‘You were a very cute baby.’” (the room breaks up in laughter)
Judd: “And after we shot all of these fake movies, there was this moment where we go, ‘We could actually make these movies!’”
On optimism in his movies: “There’s always a moment in everyone’s life where they have to decide if they’re going to evolve, and make some sort of change. We’re all in the middle of a midlife crisis. I like to make movies that have a hopeful message, that show some potential for redemption. The point of this movie that it’s really, really hard for this guy, harder than for most people, and you root for him to pull it off.”

Seth Rogen (Ira Wright)

On improv: “There’s always a lot of freedom. We’ve all gotten just a lot better at it, I think we all know a bit more now about what will make it into the movie and isn’t just masturbatory exercises. There was a lot less aimless improvising on this set than we would normally do.”
On his Undeclared episode with Adam Sandler, where he plays a similar role: “It was a little weird. I always think that’s neat that what they canceled as a TV show, they now make as a giant movie. That was the first time I’d met him, and it was really awesome that he’d do that! At the time I was in my late teens, and it was the thrill of a lifetime to have Adam Sandler appear in something you’d written. I’d actually think about that a lot while acting in the scenes, I’d think about how I felt the first time I met Adam. One time when I was like 17 or 18 I went out to dinner with Judd and Jim Carrey and Garry Shandling and then we all went to go see Gladiator together. I don’t think I said one thing the entire night, I just had this goofy smile on my face. I tried to put myself back into that place while making this movie.”
On being competitive: “I can’t even watch sports because I could really not give a shit who wins. That’s how non-competitive I am. I watch people I do that and I’m like ‘Wow, imagine caring. I can’t even imagine what that would be like. It’s great when your friends are doing well.”
On stand-up: “I remember one night Jonah and I both performed at the Improv, and we both did pretty good, and I was like ‘Wow, we’re kind of getting the hang of this!’ Then Louis C.K. goes up and just kills. I mean, he destroyed the audience. Just killed. So we were really just able to see the difference between what we do, and what they do. The guy has been doing stand-up for like 20 years, and he’s incredible.”
On The Green Hornet: “I’ve decided we’re never going the movie, we’re just going to promote it for the next ten years.” (laughs)

Jonah Hill (Leo)

On improv: “We had like a year or so to work with Judd and each other to kind of refine our characters before we started shooting. Before we would work for like a couple of weeks, and then start shooting.”
On writing comedy: “Certain people we’ve met along the way have a joylessness to their comedy writing. For us we laugh and have a good time while we’re doing it, but for some people it’s like solving a math problem. I tried to make Leo seem like that in this movie a few times. Some of the most joyless people I’ve met have been comedians. Like Seth.” (laughter)
On being competitve: “I can’t tell you how much joy it legitimately brings me when one of my friends does well, even if it’s something I would be interested in doing as well. Seth and Schwartzman and I have known each other for a really long time, and they were both successful way before I had any success, and I was super happy for them.”
On learning the business: “When Seth and Evan were making Superbad, they were super-inclusive to every part of the process and allowed me in. They’d be like, ‘Hey, we’re writing. Do you want to come write with us?’ They definitely helped shape what I want to do with my career. And even with Pineapple Express, which I had no involvement in, they’d be like ‘Come and write with us, give us some notes.’”
On doing stand-up in the film: “It made me appreciate what we get to do every day. It just made me realize how much it’s like apples and oranges, being funny doesn’t mean you’re going to be a great comedian, and being a great comedian doesn’t mean you’re going to turn in a great performance in a movie. I respect what they do too much to all of the sudden try to capitalize on it and jump into that world.”

Leslie Mann (Laura)

On doing love scenes with her husband’s old roommate, Adam Sandler: “It was a little bit strange … and Judd tells me he was aroused watching these. Maybe that’s his way of dealing with how uncomfortable he was while filming. What’s funny is that I actually met Adam before I met Judd. I was at some club and he wrote me a note on a napkin in ketchup that said “Hey, nice back” or something like that. His friend brought the note over, and said ‘Why don’t you come over?’ I didn’t go over, and a couple of months later I’d met Judd and we were at a party, and Adam was there. It was awkward between Adam and I that night.” (laughs)

Eric Bana (Clarke)

On working with the Apatow club: “At first it sounding very intimidating and nerve-wracking, but in true professional fashion they made me feel so welcome. I mean, right from the get-go when we started performing, I felt like it was okay to contribute. They made me feel relaxed and I was able to get in there and get my hands dirty.”
On his former stand-up life: I was pretty burned out on comedy by the time I’d walked away from it, even though no one here had really seen it. It was more about opportunity. When I came over here I was offered dramatic roles. I don’t watch comedies and think, ‘Wow, I should get back in there. I could do that.” But working on this, I’ve been thinking about it more. It’s like opening up a closet and trying on some clothes and going ‘Wow, that feels good.’”
On Star Trek: “I was a very lucky man last year, I got to do Star Trek and this movie. That was a really fun year to do both of those movies. The whole Star Trek thing has been nothing but a blast and a great, fun ride. But unfortunately no, Nero won’t be back.”

Aziz Ansari (Randy)

On doing stand-up for the film: “They shot hours of stand-up, there’s going to be so much extra on the DVD. They’d even follow us when we were practicing while we were working on our characters. There’s a ton of footage, although I don’t know what will end up on the DVD. They shot like four shows and this big show at the Orpheum. Some of that will probably be on it.”
On Randy: “Judd just told me to make him cocky and confident, and then later we came up with ‘What if he had a DJ’ and ‘What if he was like really dirty and all of his jokes were about sex?’ Yeah, I don’t think it’s as much a dig at any particular comedian but … I was like, what if Soulja Boy did comedy. That’s why he has a dance, he has a DJ, and all that. People really respond to that high level of energy in comedy, when you run out and you’re like ‘Who’s ready to laugh their dick off?!’ Then I go back and watch my own comedy and I’m all (low voice) ‘So, I was like walking down the street the other day.’ Who cares about that?”
On fame: “Human Giant kind of became my calling card, and that helped me to get parts in like Scrubs and Parks and Recreation and all that. I don’t think I’m famous at all.”

Aubrey Plaza (Daisy)

On auditioning for the movie: “I just decided to try it, and I had my friend shoot me doing some stand-up and we sent it in.”
On joining the Apatow group: “I was really intimidated before I met everyone at the first table read, but after that I felt really comfortable. They welcome me into their family and made me feel totally at ease.”
On Scott Pilgrim: “I just got back from Canada, up there with Edgar Wright and Michael Cera. I play Julie Powers, she’s kind of like an antagonist to Michael Cera’s Scott Pilgrim. She’s like a bitchy record store employee. I don’t get to fight, although there is a lot of fighting in the movie.”

Who Watches the Journey of the Black Freighter?

Robert Fure — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:49:12 +0000

To those intimately familiar with the Watchmen graphic novel, the significance of the Tales of the Black Freighter are up front and obvious. This comic within a comic tells the tale of a man lost at sea who must, at all costs, return home ahead of the murderous Black Freighter to warn the port city where his wife awaits him, a city he believes to be next on the list of cities ravaged by the dreaded pirates. Without spoiling newcomers to the story, or those who mistakenly decided to skip over these pages, believing them extraneous, the tale within the comic mirrors one of the major characters of Watchmen, providing increased insight into how Alan Moore viewed the actions of his creation.

For Snyder, finding a way to first film Tales of the Black Freighter and then work it into the story has always been a task on his checklist of creating the ultimate Watchmen film. Initially, the 300 helmer flirted with creating a live-action addendum for the scenes, though a $20 million price tag wasn’t an easy sell to Warner Bros. In fact, it was an impossible sell, so the team turned to animation. To ensure a faithful adaptation that fit within his vision, Snyder made sure to stay involved with the production of The Black Freighter, which meant steering the project away from 3D animation. Snyder felt that approach wouldn’t have have fit, it wouldn’t have made sense; the film takes place decades ago, before the advent of computer technology. To capture the gaudy horror of it, cell animation was outsourced to Korea, where traditional animation is still commonly created.

Also on the DVD/Blu-ray release of Tales of the Black Freighter, and presumably special edition Watchmen releases later in the year, is the documentary style program Under the Hood, based on the tell-all autobiography of Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl. This featurette is presented like a 60-minutes style newscast and came about when Eric Matthies (director, producer of the short) had access to the cast while filming. Much of the project relied on the improvisation of the cast, which includes Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian, Stephen McHattie as Hollis Mason, and Matt Frewer as Moloch the Mystic. Snyder chalked up their improv abilities to “character research [paying] off.”

Tales of the Black Freighter is available on DVD and Blu-ray on March 24th and will include a story-within-a story featurette, Watchmen Motion Comic: Chapter 1, and a first look at the Green Lantern animated DVD. The Black Freighter animation will also be inserted back into the film on a special edition release in the last quarter of 2009 and Under the Hood will presumably be included as a special feature.

Watchmen comes to theaters on March 6, 2009.

Are you excited for the Watchmen peripheral releases?

Behind the Film: Who Bankrolls the Watchmen?

Robert Fure — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:37:30 +0000

After about the same amount of coverage as the 2008 Election, by now you should have a pretty good idea of what went into this Watchmen movie, what everyone thinks of it, and how many stitches are Silk Spectre II’s underwear (the answer is zero, she doesn’t wear any). All of that effort would be for naught, however, if it weren’t for those behind the scenes, notably Zack Snyder, though you can’t ignore his wife, Deborah, or the producers, Lloyd Levin and Lawrence Gordon, or the men tasked with adapting it – Alex Tse and David Hayter. Also, Warner Bros had more than $100 million little helpers in the film. Some of that money went to filling my belly with delicious oatmeal as I waited to listen to all these aforementioned people talk at a press junket. But enough of that, let’s get to what you really want to hear about. My oatmeal had raisins in it.

Zack Snyder

Recently billed a visionary, Snyder might not call himself by that title, but no one would deny he’s a laid back dude who loves comic books and putting awesome on screen. Considering Watchmen the graphic novel is renowned for being awesome, it only makes sense he’d be approached to direct it. Producer Lawrence Gordon had only six words to describe how a version of Watchmen this faithful was possible – Zack Snyder Zack Snyder Zack Snyder. A member of the R-Rated royalty, Snyder has proved that if you make an appealing movie, audiences will shower it with currency no matter what the rating. His immense success on 300 paved the way for Watchmen being gritty, violent, and made almost exactly as the director envisioned it.

When talking about the darkness of the flick, Snyder spoke about super hero violence in movies and comics and about how clean it was. Someone like Spider-Man could obliterate your ribs with a single shot and Superman would have to try very hard not to remove your skull when kissing your cheek, but people never get hurt. They never die. And that’s bullshit. So in Watchmen Snyder made sure people died. He made sure they bled. He made it dirty and uncomfortably violent, just like Dave Gibbons drew it.

For anyone thinking Snyder wasn’t a good choice or didn’t create something faithful enough, firstly, you’re kind of stupid. The movie is faithful, but secondly, imagine Watchmen without Snyder. The studio was pushing for a modern retelling. Forget the Soviets, we’re talking terrorists and Dr. Manhattan winning the war in Iraq. Rorschach probably would have been really upset about abortion rights while Ozymandias’ temple would be in a desert due to global warming. But the Dawn of the Dead director felt differently. He said that would be too much of a statement on the world and who cares what I think? Snyder is very grounded in talking about his movies and messages, messages which are often ascribed to his films that he never intended. The look of the film was updated a bit in terms of costumes, to match what people currently think onscreen Superheroes look like and because cloth outfits are silly. At the very least, Snyder understood the approach that was needed to make the film, which resulted in a faithful retelling.

David Hayter and Alex Tse

David Hayter has put a lot into the development in this film. Imagine beginning work in 2001, crafting what was called a great adaptation. Imagine then trying to go forward and spinning your wheels for years, expecting to direct, and then watching the picture bounce in and out of green lit status. Then put your brain to work on being told to rewrite your screenplay, changing a work you loved to make it set in the modern day. Cue up 2006 and some guy named Zack Snyder is going to take a crack at the property, but doesn’t like the changes, so he brings in Alex Tse, a relatively young writer with one produced credit to his name. Now that’s a damned roller coaster of emotion if ever there was one.

Hayter got involved with the project out of a love for the source material and a desire to make a film about it. In his initial attempts he wanted to keep it strongly tied to Alan Moore, who he described as lovely and supportive, though the notoriously reclusive writer mentioned that it was ridiculous to spend the GDP of Chile to turn a book into a movie. He described the process of writing the film as simple to adapt, but difficult to protect, in his aim to create a representation of the story, not a translation. When Tse came on board, he worked mostly from Hayter’s script, bringing the story back to the 1980s and abandoning some of the changes while keeping enough of it that Hayter’s name remained on the script. Tse was a fan of the material, but a bit in doubt that the studio would actually throw $100 million at a movie featuring rape and violence as prominent plot points.

The Producers

Producers in Hollywood sometimes get a bad rap and often they deserve it. In this case, the right group of people came together with the same mindset to make the best Watchmen film they could. Lawrence Gordon has been a part of bringing this novel to the big screen since its inception and was overjoyed to find Zack Snyder. Initially, the film was going to be geared for a PG-13 release, a choice Snyder threw out immediately much to Gordon’s delight. Just in case you were wondering, when asked which character he related to most, Gordon replied Rorshach. I’m an angry guy, I don’t know. A man after my own heart.

A lot of websites have seized upon an old quote from Terry Gilliam who claimed Watchmen was “unfilmable,” though the producers never thought that – they simple thought it was unfinanciable. As stated before, the success of Snyder’s previous R-Rated films convinced Warner Bros that the film could be made and make money, despite the great cost of filming it, which included building more than 200 sets in Canada. One way the project may end up bringing in additional revenue is through merchandise, something which has been very absent the past 20 years. While many might ignorantly claim that Watchmen happy meal toys would be spitting in the face of Alan Moore’s work, one could easily defend any respectable representation of the property – especially considering Adrien Veidt himself marketed the images of the Watchmen within the story.

Watchmen hits theaters on 03/06/09, aka today. Talk about it or better yet — just go see it!

Watchmen Obsession: Take a Quick Ride in the Owlship

Dr. Cole Abaius — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:03:32 +0000

While most outlets who are doing a week’s worth of features focused on one particular film would have an introductory video at the beginning of the week, we were busy trying to figure out why our power went out (we didn’t pay the bill) and why not paying a bill makes an electric company shut off your power. Those mysteries solved, we’d like to run our introductory video at the end of the week. Wacky, we know.

Fortunately, our introductory video is worth it because of a cool look (however brief) of the inside of the owlship that our very own, very lucky Robert Fure got to check out while junketting in Los Angeles:

So instead of welcoming you to the feature, let me be the first to say thanks for coming along with us for the ride so far. We’ve got just a few more days of fantastic Watchmen-related content, and if you’d like to check out what we’ve done so far, head on over to our Watching the Watchmen page.

Junket Report: Who Listens to the Watchmen?

Robert Fure — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:09:53 +0000

Who listens to the Watchmen? We do. For hours. You can’t deny the massive marketing push behind this comic adaptation, but if you think you’ve seen a lot, you ain’t seen nothin yet. In the middle of pirating videos, infiltrating sets, and press screenings, we were tugged aside and slapped into a room that saw a parade of actors, actresses, producers, and production assistants. Anyone who could talk about the film did and we listened for hours and dug through pages of press release so you can get a few minutes worth of reading time.

Rorschach & The Comedian

Also known as Jackie Earl Haley (Rorschach) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Comedian). These two fine chaps were kind enough to sit with us and talk about the experience of making Watchmen. While he had one of the shorter shooting schedules – he joked to his agent that it was a poor choice of role considering he’s dead by page 12 – Morgan spoke with great vigor about the passion Snyder brought to the project. “I’ve never seen someone more passionate about a project in my life. How passionate [Snyder] is about this novel and making this movie true to it was a sight to behold and it invigorated everybody,” the actor said. In regards to his character, Morgan described the comedian as a lone wolf who didn’t have the skills to deal with a life outside of violence and as a man with an “incredible sadness” about him. When it came to discussing the movie itself, Morgan simply had this to say: “It’s hardcore. Zack didn’t pull any punches.”

When making Watchmen, perhaps the character most vital to its success is Rorschach, a character Snyder calls “psychopathic in his uncompromising pursuit of justice.” Haley first became really interested in the role when, around 2006, some chatter on the net started tossing his name into the hat for the role. So this former childhood actor went out and got the graphic novel, became fascinated by it and when he heard the film was progressing he “was very pumped and fought like hell to win the part.” Haley was drawn to the idea of exploring the humanity behind the mask and investigating a what a world would be like if people really did dress up to fight crime or engage in vigilantism, and what would drive them. While many consider this masked vigilante to be a complex character, Haley found him to be completely black and white. There is right and wrong and nothing in between or, as Haley said in the past, “for him, complexity makes no sense. Complexity simply justifies the victimization of himself and everybody who is made to suffer from someone else’s special interest.”

Silk Spectre II & Night Owl II

Or as the lame people might call them in public, Patrick Wilson and Malin Akerman. Akerman is probably most well known for being hot and blonde, so her casting was perhaps a bit of a surprise to people who followed the movie. For her, the role had a huge aspect of physicality to it. Her character, Laurie, was forced somewhat reluctantly into the world of superheroics by her mother, Sally Jupiter (Carla Gugino), something that Malin says forced her to fight like a man, though judging how hot she looks doing spin kicks in a jail, I’d say that’s debatable. Her character serves as an important catalyst, both for Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and Dan Dreiberg, in helping their characters evolve into a higher state of self-awareness. As for her thoughts on Laurie, Malin says, “she [is] this strong, powerful woman and, in spite of her reluctance to be a Mask, somewhere inside she loved it.”

In dealing with super heroes, it can be difficult to find a way to relate to someone who can grow to 50 feet tall or a supreme athlete capable of flipping through the air or moving fast enough to evade bullets. If your movie has a theme of “superheroes in the real world,” this phenomena is especially challenging, as a human connection is necessary to ground the film and draw in the audience. That task falls squarely on the shoulders of Dan Dreiberg, the most human and relatable of the films characters, portrayed by Patrick Wilson. Wilson perfectly understood how Dreiberg was written in the novel, describing him as a person who has lost direction and become soft physically, politically, and sexually. It’s only after he reconnects with Laurie that Dan begins to fully realize that there is a clear reason why he is apathetic in his life and that there is one clear solution. “Laurie opens Dan up to putting the suit on again. It’s the thing that he’s most terrified of and the thing he wants more than anything. He just needed somebody to look him in the eye and, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Dr. Manhattan & Ozymandias

The two most super of the super heroes, Billy Crudup and Matthew Goode. As it has been stated many times over, of all the super heroes in the Watchmen universe, only Dr. Manhattan truly has superpowers. Ironically then, this godlike figure began his career believing in the good of his country and following the designs of its leaders, whereas the human heroes were “fundamentalists, in a way” according to Crudup, who lived in a threatening world that they felt a personal need to take matters into their own hands. For Crudup, the challenge comes in playing a character that, rather quickly, disconnects from humanity completely. As director Zack Snyder describes Manhattan, “He can see your subatomic particles; therefore you become an abstraction to him and it’s hard to relate to that abstraction. What would that do to you as a person? What does that do to your relationships with other people, with humanity?” What being blue did for Crudup was make him feel a little silly at first. To accomplish the effect of glowing blue, the actor wore a body suit affixed with hundreds of blue lights to cast a glow around him while the graphics team later built up the body around him, digital blue wang included. At first, Crudup thought he got the short end of the stick with his pajama and battery pack combo, though the extent of his make-up sit down time was putting on the suit which took under 45 minutes, while many of the other actors found themselves seated for hours.

In the comic, Ozymandias is a bit of a Streisand who wears a purple cape. Luckily, Matthew Goode was able to upgrade to an over the top muscle suit, which reflected his characters decision to market himself, and other heroes, and turn a profit. Adrian Veidt, his civilian persona, is the smartest, and one of the richest, men on the planet who takes on an increasingly pivotal role as the film progresses and, in the end, perhaps delivers the most difficult to contemplate message of character development. Goode’s challenge comes in portraying a somewhat hazy character, one who is identified as human but is clearly on the cusp of something greater, mentally and physically. There is a certain aloofness and subtle contempt to the performance that seems at odds with the congenial and always smiling actor, which manages to take a snobby character and transform perhaps the greatest human being into a relatable, flawed character.

For more great Watchmen features, check our Watching the Watchmen homepage.

In case you hadn’t heard, some Watchmen film is coming out on 03/06/09 which is Friday. Talk about it.

Watchmen DVD Details: Director’s Cut, Black Freighter Edition

Robert Fure — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:40:24 +0000

Wow, the movie doesn’t even come out this month and we’ve already got news not just on a Director’s Cut, but also on the More More More edition! While speaking at a Press Junket today, Zack Snyder told my fellow writers and I about plans for Watchmen on DVD. It is as follows:

Summer/July: Director’s Cut. This cut will feature “99% of what we shot,” footage which Zack Snyder said he liked. The run time on this edition will be just over 3 hours long, compared to the 2:35ish run time of the theatrical version. It will be more violent, more sexy, and have more naked Dr. Manhattan. Also included will be entire scenes excised from the movie for time.

Fall/Last Quarter: The Black Freighter Edition. This title may not be the final title, but it is how Snyder identified it. He told us that they shot all the Ins and Outs of The Black Freighter pieces from the comic book, which for those of you who haven’t read it, mostly revolve around a boy and newsstand salesman. You can see these characters in the film, but they don’t have an impact on the story. The big news is that The Black Freighter, the animated movie, will be cut into the film. The animated film is said to be 22minutes long which, with the In and Out shots, will bump the presentation to about 3hours and 25minutes. Snyder referred to this release as the “fetishistic and kind of crazy” release, as it is so complete.

So there you have it, friends. Watchmen hits theaters on March 6th and there will be all sorts of awesomeness happening on DVD (and presumably Blu-ray) later this year.

How psyched are you for The Black Freighter Edition experience?

Junket Report: Friday the 13th

Robert Fure — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:23:21 +0000

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’ve been giving a little bit of coverage to this upcoming Friday the 13th movie. While I can’t really talk to you about the actual film yet, I can tell you that you’re going to be glad all this coverage is around once you’ve seen the movie, because it’s awesome and is going to get your Jason Voorhees senses tingling. I was fortunate enough to join my fellow journalists in sitting down with the cast and crew of the upcoming franchise reboot and I’m willing to share. Also, if you haven’t already, check out all the fun we had with the cast and crew at Comic-Con back in 2008.

The Script

While most people would write off (heh) the script as paling in importance next to the quality of woman taking her shirt off or the variety of bladed weapons cutting through jocks, but as I recently discussed here, the script is important. Even if you want to discount any deeper meaning, Mark Swift and Damian Shannon are responsible for coming up with the kills, the ways in which women reveal their breasts, and help set the mood of the film. Fortunately, Shannon and Swift are big fans of the originals who wanted to bring the series back to the fundamentals. If their names sound familiar, you may recognize them from the credit roll of Freddy vs Jason.

With that film, which I and many others enjoyed, they had problems with studio and director intervention. Remember how Jason was scared of water? Not in the script. If you’ll recall, Jason spent tons of time in, out, and near Crystal Lake his entire life. This time around, the writers were intent on doing justice to Jason and distancing this installment from those parts of the series that had clearly drifted away from what would be called “good film making.” Around the table, Jason Takes Manhattan was joked about and then quickly and thankfully forgotten.

Perhaps the most amazing fact about the script for this recent installment is that it was written in only 3 1/2 weeks to beat out the writers strike. While that may seem like a fairly decent amount of time to the uninitiated, consider the fact that the following list of people all had to approve the script: Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Marcus Nispel, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, Platinum Dunes, and Michael Bay. A tough act, but one in which they managed to stick the landing.

The Tone

When you talk to producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, director Marcus Nispel, and the writers Shannon and Swift, and all five of them stress how important the tone was, you’ve got to talk about it. Shannon and Swift mentioned that it was difficult finding the right balance of tone, but were pleased with how much comedy and funny stuff they managed to get into the movie while still having brutal kills. Fuller and Form seemed especially intent on getting away from a torture type film and making a fun horror movie, where people could laugh and scream and watch people get offed.

Director Nispel described the film as a film about youth and their culture, rather than the raw dread of his previous effort, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This bearded, hyper movie-loving machine understood that the film had to examine the collective pool of waht makes a Friday movie a Friday movie. Thankfully, he described the writers as insiders (citing their work on FvJ) and fanboys, which helps when you’re making a film that needs to appeal to diehard enthusiasts.

Everyone seemed pleased with the direction the film took. There was levity in the right moments, a terrific comedic performance by Aaron Yoo, sexy women, and of course, brutal kills befitting the franchise.

The Talent

There are days when it’s good to be an entertainment writer – sitting down with Amanda Righetti and Danielle Panabaker is definitely one of those days. Neither of these young ladies had even been born when the first film came out (though to be fair, neither had I) but they both were proud to be a part of the experience. Righetti had previously dabbled in horror with Return to House on Haunted Hill while Panabaker had conciously avoided doing horror. The perfect scheduling opportunity and the ability to work on a Voorhees film managed to convince her that now was the time to get in on the slasher action. They described the 9 week shooting experience as exhausting, as they mostly had to be either terrified in a scene or running full speed away – or both.

In this facelift that pulled the best elements of the originals, they described the cast and screw as one big happy family working in Texas. Andrew Form kept tabs on their emotional check and would help get push up contest going at 3am to keep the actors pumped up. Jared Padalecki, who was described as the perfect All American Hero by Nispel, loved working in Texas – his native state. His working conditions were a bit more difficult though, even being closer to his old women. Padalecki finished work on Supernatural on April 28th and had his first scene filmed on Friday the 13th on the evening of April 29th. Friday filmed from April 15th until June 16th, with Jared back on set for his television show on in July. Sometimes described as the Generation Y David Duchovny, a title he doesn’t mind, you’d a liar if you said he wasn’t working hard. He works so hard, in fact, that in one scene near the climax he struck his head and started bleeding. He was assured it was just prop blood, so he finished out the scene, finding out only afterwards he had cut a gash into his forehead. Jason takes few prisoners.

The Legend

Derek Mears is one of the sweetest guys you’ll ever meet. He’s also a tall, muscular man who looks like he could hit you with an axe from 70 yards. And he can. You may have noticed a scene in the trailer where Mr. Voorhees whips an axe across the screen. During filming, Mears had a bet with Nispel that he could actually hit the actor with the prop axe, after being challenged. First shot, he clipped him in the foot from the full distance away. Deciding to play it a bit safer for round two, the bet next moved to a tree so as not to kill anyone. First toss – WHAM. Mears drills the tree. Sufficed to say, you do not want to get this guy angry if he has any sort of projectile around.

Mears chose actor Ted White, from Friday the 13th Part IV, as his favorite actor to take over the role before him. For his own casting experience, he mentions that his name was getting tossed around to producers when they began the process of finding the man behind the mask. Mears was hired for his ability as an actor, not only for his size. During the interview process, he talked about acting and Greek Mask Theory and how the energy comes through the mask and that even regular facial and neck movement can be conveyed through prosthetics. So the next day the called him and gave him the job. Sweet.

As for Voorhees himself, Padalecki described him as an awesome villain. Mark Swift said I just don’t think you can keep the guy down, indicating Jason’s ability to return over and over and over again. Does this mean a sequel is in the works? Let’s see how it goes, they all say. But everyone we talked to was interested in pursuing a sequel should there be demand. Mears is signed on for a second picture. Though Fuller and Form will be tackling A Nightmare on Elm Street first. I can tell you at least one of the actors would be willing to come back in whatever capacity they deemed necessary, but revealing who would reveal a survivor. Needless to say most of the cast won’t have the opportunity to return due to unfortunate stabbings.

Friday the 13th comes out in theaters tomorrow, Friday the 13th. Stay tuned for our review and be sure to check out all our previous coverage, including our great video interviews.

Are you going to see Friday the 13th this weekend?

In-Depth Coverage: ‘Inkheart’ Junket Report

Robert Fure — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:06:49 +0000

In theaters tomorrow, Inkheart is a magical story that will have you wanting to literally dive deep into literature. The film is directed by Iain Softley from the book series of producer Cornelia Funke. Watch the pages unfold on screen, and you’ll see quite the stellar cast, including Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, and the man, the myth, the mummy buster – Brendan Fraser. A week or so ago, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with several of the aforementioned to learn a bit more about the film.

The Production

By all accounts, the production was a fun one, full of dinners rich with wine served up by director Iain Softley to his mostly British crew. Fraser considered himself the token Yank surrounded by Brits. Filming took place mostly on location in some stunningly beautiful Italian locations, a fact that made the logistical side of filmmaking a bit difficult. A few key scenes take place on a narrow stone bridge towering 100 feet up in the air, which resulted in stilted platforms and dangling cameramen. Lots of dangling camermen, in fact. In capturing the shots and the plethora of practical effects, from wind to debris to live animals, five or six cameras would be rolling at a time to record the action.

Everyone involved valued the books as a research aide, providing hundreds of pages of background to each character. From the page to the screen, a few things had to change for time limitations and a few other things were changed just to switch up the recipe. Different characters were drawn out of the books and were given bigger roles in the story. Director Softley came up with the idea of writing appearing on the faces of some “misread” characters, a visual touch that nicely illustrated their literary roots.

Fraser was drawn to the role directly at the behest of Funke, but was also happy to be involved in a warm family film that was about literature without being condescending. Having turned 40 and begun raising his own family, the story fit perfectly with how Fraser wanted to continue. The animated and passionate actor also honestly confessed to also just needing to work as he continues to dig himself out of the self-professed quicksand his career was in after his Looney Toons debacle.

Speaking of Fraser, and of speaking, you may notice he sounds like, well, himself. The cast was peppered with questions about accents, why it was chosen that the character Mo, who had an obviously British family, didn’t have an accent. Fraser indicated it never came up and Softley never gave it thought – though he did say faked accents can ruin a film. Sounds like he read my Boiling Point. Funke came up with a clever explanation – Mo’s voice was different because he was a Silvertongue, someone who can read characters out of books.

On the fun side of things, Paul Bettany plays Dustfinger, a fire eater who also juggles flames on pair of whirling chains – quite awesome to watch. Bettany spent 2 months training with live fire only to show up and have the insurance company refuse to bond the film if he actually used fire. To the film’s credit, the digital fire (and the rest of the digital effects) looked great.

The Sequels

If the film does well with its intended audience, described as 8-14 year olds, though with plenty to entertain adults, there are sequels already being prepared based on the books in the Inkheart series, Inkspell and Inkdeath. All of the actors are ready and excited to continue on, with everyone sort of signed on for the trilogy. In the sequel, all of the characters would enter the world of Inkheart and undergo some dramatic changes. The character of Meggie would spend plenty of time with Fengolio (Jim Broadbent) while Fraser’s Mo becomes a killing machine and a Robin Hood like thief figure.

Sounds pretty wicked cool to me. Stay tuned for our review of Inkheart on Friday.

‘Inkheart’ Junket: Spotlight on Author Cornelia Funke

Robert Fure — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:42:55 +0000

Normally when faced with a wealth of junket information for a film, I like to put them all together in one big article, to avoid running four or five similar pieces. I’m making an exception here with Inkheart author Cornelia Funke, who was just too vibrant and exciting and full of insight to stuff into the big junket article. Plus, as an author of the book, a lot of what she said was unique to the experience, rather than similar stories about the production. As it stands today, Cornelia Funke has her name on 50 books at just 50 years old. That would be one book a year if she started the day she was born, but she didn’t start writing until she was 22 years old.

Writers can be a funny lot to talk to or be around. There are plenty of lazy writers, who write when they have to just to hit deadlines or get by. For example, the entire writing staff of Film School Rejects. Then there are writers like Cornelia. Someone so passionate about writing that they write from 10 til 2, take a lunch break, be a mom, and then write from 4 til whenever she feels like stopping. Putting out roughly two books a year, it’s evident she doesn’t stop. And if two books a year doesn’t impress you, get this – she edits each book 4 times. She doesn’t pay some nerd to read it, she tears through it, rewriting it virtually line by line until she’s happy. That much hard work earns you a level of success, a level that is letting Funke take it easy by slowing down her output to one book every 2 years. Anything she writes is virtually guaranteed to get published, though I’ve got a feeling her output is going to slow.

Funke first made it big in America after The Thief Lord took off and was well reviewed in America papers, though she had been a force in her native Germany for years. And it’s not just the books that are bringing in the cash – it’s the adaptations, of which there have been many. She’s had somewhere between 15 and 20 books adapted for the stage, including Inkheart, which sold out for 8 months straight. Unlike many writers, she’s also a big fan of the adaptations, having seen her fair share, from movies to plays to, no joke, puppet shows. Her view on it all? My books are my books are my books. An adaptation on screen or stage, done well or done poorly, does not change her books in the slightest, they still exist the way she wants them. Cornelia is also understanding of the process of adapting a book. Inkheart is an 18 hour audio book, compared to the run time of a movie which is only 2 hours. Funke knows its hard to adapt literature to other formats and enjoys the changes it takes to make the material fit the new medium.

With Inkheart, Funke found her book brought to life by, in most cases, the best actors for the job. In the case of Mo, played by Brendan Fraser, it couldn’t have been more perfect – Funke based the character in the book off of Fraser. Indeed, Fraser first found out about the novel when a signed and dedicated copy was sent to him by Funke herself. She admitted to him the character was inspired by him, who she thinks fit the qualities she wanted in Mo. She was looking for Mo to be both a father and child-like, tender, though capable of becoming a fierce protector. Cornelia is a very big fan of Mr. Fraser, enjoying his voice so much that she now uses him as the artist to record her audiobooks. In Paul Bettany, she found Dustfinger incarnate and seemed very happy with everyone involved. With Helen Mirren, who she described as a great actress, the fit wasn’t exactly what she imagined. On the page, Elinor was more of a Kathy Bates type, though Cornelia was, of course, quite excited to see what Mirren could do with the character.

Cornelia Funke is a magnetic and lively author who penned something special in the Inkheart trilogy. The film adaptation of her work is very enjoyable and will be released on Friday, January 23rd. On that day, be sure to catch our review of the film.

Have you read any of Funke’s work? Thoughts?

Update: Brendan Fraser Not Gung-Ho for GI Joe?

Robert Fure — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:02:53 +0000

See, that title is a play on words. Because it could either mean he’s not Gung-ho-excited for the film or he’s not Gung-Ho the character. But after sitting at a table with The Slayer of Mummies himself, I can explicitly relay to you all that Brendan Fraser is not not not not playing Gung-Ho in the upcoming Stephen Sommers incarnation of GI Joe. He was kind enough to spell that out, despite what “geek sites” may be saying. Tee-hee!

At a press junket for Inkheart, Fraser took a few seconds to express his bewilderment at constantly being questioned about GI Joe, despite only having a cameo. And that is what it will be folks: a cameo. Fraser said he was only on set for one day and only put in about an hour’s worth of work for his buddy, Stephen Sommers.

What role will he play? Well, probably an unnamed character. It sort of seemed as though Fraser had some input into the character, as he stated he tried to make him similar to Rick O’Connell, his role made famous in The Mummy franchise. He mentioned that he’ll be wearing some camo and/or gear, load up with some guns, and get a cool motorcycle. But that’s that. Don’t expect much more than a few moments of on screen glory from Fraser, though hopefully it’ll be cool. Oh, and one other thing. Fraser described Gung-Ho as a walking sight gag (true) and like someone who just missed out on making the Village People (also true). Sorry, Gung-Ho fans, all six of you, but he’s not making the draft this year.

What are your thoughts on this news? Disappointed? Still afraid of GI Joe?

Junket Report: The Curious Production of Benjamin Button

Robert Fure — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:02:15 +0000

With all the positivity and praise surrounding The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I’m sure you’re very curious about the production. You probably want to hear Blanchett’s views on the script, Pitt’s take on Fincher, and anything Fincher has to say about anything. Me too! But that’s not to be, as the big three are a bit reclusive and I wasn’t definitely not invited back to Pitt’s pad after last years shrimp debacle. I apologize again, Brad, Angelina, but I really thought you’d get a kick out of my shrimp cocktail joke. I realize now that it was inappropriate at a child’s birthday party.

That awkwardness aside, I did have a chance to sit at a table with my colleagues and bounce questions at producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, writer Eric Roth, and actors Taraji P. Henson, M. Ali, Jared Harris, Julia Ormond and Jason Flemyng. Here are a few of things they had to say about Mr. Button and the curious circumstances surrounding his life.

The Curious David Fincher

David Fincher is one of the more mysterious director’s in Hollywood and one with a reputation for visionary excellence and being a bit of a pain to work with. At least, that’s what you hear, but that is not what anyone had to say. Taraji, looking thin and beautiful (somewhat unlike her character Queenie), described Fincher as “nurturing” and “awesome.” Jason Flemyng knew Fincher socially and actually scored his role by dropping off some reels for the director to watch, who promptly gave him notes, asked to see more, and then hired him. Flemyng described “Finch” as naughty and funny, saying that the view many have him is completely off-base.

Producer Marshall, who knows a thing or two about working with big time directors, agreed with actor Jared Harris that Fincher wanted the best out of everyone. Julia Ormond perhaps explained the aurora around Fincher best when she described the “phenomenal” directors thought process. There is a lot of time to prepare, plenty of days to work on getting it right, so on the day, it had better be done right. That is probably where the misunderstanding comes in about his demands. Not unreasonable, when you think about the amount of prep time and how much rides on a schedule being kept to.

The Curious Filming Process

There isn’t a doubt that the story of Benjamin Button one is epic in scale, an intimidating experience to be sure. How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time, is how Jared Harris described walking into the production. The magnitude of the picture dictated a long shooting schedule, which wasn’t rushed according to Taraji. The decade spanning film, unironically, needed to take its time to move forward.

Just how long was the journey to the screen? Well uber-producer Ray Stark began trying to bring the project to the screen 18 years ago. Fincher approached the project independently of that, with Brad Pitt as his first and only choice. The ball finally started rolling with Eric Roth’s treatment of the script, which Fincer liked because it wasn’t overly sentimental. Roth left behind some of the more farcical elements of the original short story in crafting his version, which was about small moments, grounded through the eyes of Julia Ormond, and able to jump in and out of Button’s life. That said, the ball quickly stopped rolling when Fincher put Zodiac on the top of his “To-Do List.” During the wait, many of the crew who had signed on declined further work, waiting to dedicate themselves to Benjamin Button, which was a special kind of film, according to Marshall, the artistic kind of movie that didn’t have big explosions, the kind of film that wasn’t being made enough.

The Curious Factoids

Curiously enough, when asked about the process of auditioning for the film, virtually every single actor had the same response: I’ll never get this part. Brad Pitt, of course, was assured of his part, though there was some concern over how much he would be in the movie, due to the nature of the character. Fincher constantly assured producers and backers that Pitt was in the movie virtually from frame one and in the finished project, he was not made a liar.

Pitt’s face was digitally inserted onto the bodies of actor doubles early in the film, a process that left the star locked in place, only able to move his head and face slightly. The composited character spent much of his time interacting with Queenie, a fact that Taraji maligned. She had always wanted to work with Brad Pitt, as he’s somewhat easy on the eyes, but much to her dismay during her chance to do so, she played a motherly character rather than a love interest. Bummer.

In advertising the film, Kathleen Kennedy described the difficulty in merely cutting a trailer that could capture the crux of the film. Next time you happen to see a commercial for Benjamin, take note of your clock – there are virtually no 15 second ads, as they were deemed incapable of conveying the film accurately.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button enters wide release on Christmas Day. As an added bonus, check out an interview with Brad Pitt about his role as Benjamin Button below:

Bourne 4 a Sure Thing, Matt Damon Not So Much

Robert Fure — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:27:32 +0000

Producer Frank Marshall, behind the upcoming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the highly successful Bourne series, took a moment away from touting the Brad Pitt-David Fincher piece to update a select pool of journalists (somehow I snuck in with real journalists) on one of our favorite spies, Jason Bourne.

Marshall assured us that Bourne 4 would definitely be happening, though at this point the only two people signed on are Marshall himself and writer Chris Nolfi. If things go to plan, a good script will develop that will draw Damon back to he project, despite some resistance to continuing the character.

As for the script, there is a wealth of information available to the production now that they have the rights to all over the Robert Ludlum stories, including many that didn’t feature Jason Bourne, but that could be written around the character. A particular favorite of Marshall is called The Parsifal Mosaic, which was set during the Cold War and followed a spy who becomes entangled in a plot that could end in nuclear strikes while delving into the death of his lover, a KGB double agent. Sounds alright by me.

It’s worth noting that while Bourne has continued in novels, most of those books are written by other authors and not covered with Marshall’s Ludlum deal.

When Bourne comes in from the cold, we’ll brief you on new developments.

The Sequel That Never Was: Forrest Gump 2

Robert Fure — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:41:04 +0000

When a film takes home plenty of cash, the respect of critics, and six Oscars, you’ve got to expect that people will push for a sequel. Forrest Gump was no different of course and his exploits have continued in novel film but have been absent from theaters, despite work happening on a script. Scribe of the first film, and Oscar winner, Eric Roth, spoke recently at a junket for his newest opus, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. While talking on how how life is a series of random moments, he mentioned putting his draft of Forrest Gump 2 in the overnight express box on September 10th, 2001. The next day, the world changed and suddenly the entire story was no longer relevant.

Roth had continued the funny tradition of Forrest appearing at and in all the major historical events throughout the years. The film would have come to a close with Gump experiencing the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Clearly, after the events of September 11th, the storyline, as Roth felt, lost its impact and interest in continuing his story in a new, more sinister world also dissipated. Roth went on to say that “quite honestly I think that’s the end of it.” He talked with Robert Zemekis and Tom Hanks and they all agreed that the world changed and everyone was alright with having Gump’s theatrical career ending on the high notes of 1994.

But what if? Roth spoke very warmly and with great enthusiasm about the script, which he seemingly loved. So if Gump would have run again, what would we have seen? Lucky for you, he let us know.

Forrest Gump as Dance Champion, mastering dances that were all about strict form and repetition.
Gump and his dance partner heading to Europe.
Forrest dancing with Princess Diana, who tragically died in an automobile accident, which would have prompted a Gumpism like “some years later that nice young Princess [died].”
Forrest hiding in the back of the white Bronco during the OJ Simpson chase, with his head popping up in the rear window.
Forrest Gump tossing the infamous bloody glove.
As mentioned, the film would end with Gump commenting on the Oklahoma City Bombing.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like it would have been very funny and very interesting to see. I, like everyone, enjoyed Forrest Gump, but I didn’t fall in love with it. This film sounded like it would have been a fun trip through some more modern events and I’m a bit sad we’ll never get to see it. But fear not, as nice guy and great writer Eric Roth has plenty more coming down the pipeline that we’ll keep you informed about.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opens on Christmas Day.

What do you think of these Forrest Gump 2 story points? What would you liked to have seen?

EXCL: Spielberg Confirmed for Tintin Next, Lincoln Shortly After

Robert Fure — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:20:18 +0000

When you talk about powerful women in Hollywood, you should be talking about Kathleen Kennedy. She’s got 5 Oscar Nominations behind her and regularly holds court with the likes of Steven Spielberg. Recently at a press junket for her next shot at Oscar gold, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, she took some time to answer questions about other projects, notably ones involving the ‘Berg himself.

First up, the Beard will be shooting Tintin in February using state of the art motion capture technology, working on the first installment of the three film deal. Peter Jackson will helm the second story, selected from the long and entertaining history of the character. Either Spielberg or Jackson will helm the third at some point down the long road of development.

Immediately after Tintin, sometime in Spring, Spielberg will finally begin his vision of Abraham Lincoln on celluloid, starring Liam Neeson, who has been confirmed by Kennedy. No word on who will be playing Mary Todd Lincoln, though Sally Field’s name has been mentioned in the past.

While waiting for more movie magic from Spielberg, you can study The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in theaters on December 25th.

Junket Report: Jane Lynch Rules The World

Robert Fure — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:55:52 +0000

If you’ve been to the movies in the past few years or turned on the television at all, odds are you’ve seen Jane Lynch doing her thing on screen. She recently took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to journalists (somehow I was mistakenly included in this list I guess) about Role Models and her other upcoming projects.

With the wide variety of ballsy and sometimes sexually deviant characters she’s inhabited over the years, you might expect Lynch to reflect that in her every day life, but as she states “I’m a very normal person.” She says she would be embarrassed to swing her power around like the characters she plays. When not being on screen herself, she enjoys watching comedies with great gross-out moments like There’s Something About Mary and Along Came Polly; clearly a fan of immature humor and a good fart joke or two. While a successful TV and film actress, as well as a noted stage actor, Lynch aspires one day to take her detail obsessed persona and apply it to directing.

In Role Models, Jane plays “Sweeney” the formerly coke addicted head of Sturdy Wings, who keeps a watchful and critical eye on Wheeler and Danny. In this role, she manages to steal several scenes and help deliver some of the more quotable moments of the film. “This script had a lot of meat on its bones,” she states, saying that while she did improvise, there were a lot of great jokes already on the page. What drew her to the script initially was the cast already signed on – she likes to pick projects based on who she’s going to work with. On that note, one actor she’d love to work with is Ben Stiller, whom she describes as the best at what he does. “There’s no one better.”

On the horizon, Lynch shows no signs of slowing down. She has a role in the Fox pilot Glee, which is a musical comedy that will have her singing as the leader of the cheerleaders, a role she’s very excited about. On the big and small screen, she can be seen in the upcoming Julia & Julia, The Post-Grad Survival Guide, Spring Breakdown, Another Cinderella Story, and Brownie Masters. That’s not to mention any of the four TV series she regularly appears on, so if you need a fix of Lynch, you won’t have far to go.

What’s your favorite Jane Lynch character?

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