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Charlton Heston articles

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-04-06-heston-obit_N.htm :


Charlton Heston's epic acting style defined an era
By Mike Clark, USA TODAY

Because movie blockbusters that maintain their popularity are indelible, Charlton Heston probably will endure more for his chariots and quoted Commandments than for his political activism.


But it says something that Heston's political image even comes close to matching Ben-Hur and other classics, cinema equivalents of those gargantuan tail fins on luxurious '50s cars.

The beefcake superstar who became president of the National Rifle Association died Sunday in Beverly Hills at 84, six years after revealing that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's and a little more than half a century after his role as Moses in The Ten Commandments made him one of the top marquee names in the world.

And what a moniker "Charlton Heston" to fill a bill chiseled in stone when it came to signifying an epic star whose mere presence could bankroll a widescreen bank-breaker.

But while Elvis Presley inspired parents to name baby boys after him, "Charlton" elicited no such boom. This is fitting because Heston's acting style was not replicated in the post-World War II era.

Think of Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford from a later generation or Tom Cruise, Ben Affleck and Johnny Depp from today's. None is even imaginable doing what to Heston came naturally: holding stone tablets or looking at home in a loincloth.

Like John Wayne, he could dominate a Panavision frame of hundreds, yet no one would have even tried to cast Wayne as a galley slave. And where stars of today look unconvincing and out of place away from the 20th century (such as Cruise in 2003's The Last Samurai), Heston was at his best in biblical or medieval times.

Take 1965's The War Lord, made when historical epics were on the wane. With co-star Richard Boone wasted and little else to look at beyond co-star Rosemary Forsyth's beauty, Heston makes you believe him as an 11th-century Norman authority figure, though it's obvious that even the exteriors he's acting against are on Universal's back lot.

Yet even in his heyday, Heston was tough to size up. Give him a comic or conventional romantic role that any relaxed B-lister could ace, and he could appear stiff and even pompous. But give him a role littered with minefields or even unplayable, and he could give you a movie Moses or El Cid for the ages.

Heston's big-screen career enjoyed uncommonly good fortune from the beginning, which is not to say he lucked out overnight. Born in 1923 as John Charles Carter, he studied acting at hometown Evanston, Ill.'s Northwestern University, where he also met his wife of 64 years, Lydia Clarke, who was at his bedside when he died.

Before World War II service in the Air Force, he appeared at 17 in a 1941 version of Peer Gynt for filmmaker David Bradley then as Marc Antony in Bradley's postwar Julius Caesar, often shown in '50s and '60s high school English classes. The budget was low (someone's comment about the "roaring Tiber" is followed by a shot of what looks like bath water), but stage experience combined with many late-'40s roles in early TV gave Heston enough of a reputation to land the lead in his first Hollywood feature.

It was in 1950's film-noirish Dark City, whose limited delights today come mostly from watching its young star slap Jack Webb around. But on just his second picture, Heston caught a huge break. He hooked up with Cecil B. DeMille, the one director of the day who, even more than Alfred Hitchcock, had box office clout to equal that of Hollywood's biggest stars.

The result was The Greatest Show on Earth, 1952's biggest hit and an intentionally over-the-top movie often cited as the worst film to ever win the best-picture Oscar. As a circus manager, Heston is appealing and even easygoing, a quality missing from most later endeavors.

But the real advantage to the DeMille connection was putting Heston in line for the lead in the last and biggest film DeMille directed: the gargantuan remake of his own The Ten Commandments. Artfully ludicrous for 31/2 hours, the 1956 Commandments is the most durable year-end blockbuster from a year packed with them: Giant, Around the World in 80 Days and War and Peace.

As both the young and old Moses, Heston keeps his head above water in a sea of entertaining excess (Edward G. Robinson's snarling Dathan, Anne Baxter's next-to-nympho Nefretiri), his confident don't-mess-with-God demeanor an effective contrast to Yul Brynner's Rameses, who always seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Putting aside Orson Welles' black-and-white Touch of Evil (1958), highly placed on critics' lists of the greatest American movies, Commandments is probably Heston's most durable film. Its rival is 1959's Ben-Hur, an all-or-nothing gamble that saved MGM from bankruptcy while taking 11 Oscars (best picture and Heston's own included). Its acclaim is spurred mostly from the famed chariot race sequence, which ironically William Wyler didn't direct.

But Heston had enormous respect for the record 12-time best-director nominee, who the year before had nurtured one of the actor's best performances as a ranch foreman in The Big Country.

The last of Heston's "big three" historical epics was 1961's El Cid, a portrait of Spain's legendary hero that the actor thought was underrated (in terms of Robert Krasker's photography) but not the movie it could have been overall (intimating that director Anthony Mann wasn't Wyler).

Later, but long before Cid got a national theatrical reissue in 1993, Heston became one of the most thoughtful and articulate of actors when discussing the filmmaking craft. Had DVDs been invented earlier, we would have seen him all over the place spinning memories on bonus features.

Eventually, he would publish the journals he had compiled on the sets of his films as The Actor's Life (1977), still one of the most informative reads from a performer's point of view about the grunt work and sweat it takes to make movies artful ones and bombs.

Yet he also had a sense of humor about a screen image that wouldn't let go. In the early '60s he joined Kirk Douglas for a gag appearance on a Milton Berle TV special: Heston in Ben-Hur duds and Douglas in full Spartacus apparel.

The 1960s marked the first time Heston became overtly political, but in ways that now surprise. Having supported Adlai Stevenson for president and then John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election, he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and appeared with other actors on national television after Robert Kennedy's assassination, urging public support for President Lyndon B. Johnson's Gun Control Act of 1968.

Something else happened in the '60s: the counterculture forced Heston into premature "emeritus" status. The movies in which he excelled went out of fashion, and you could almost predict that his efforts as Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy would elicit critics' comments pointing out which of the title's nouns ruled the result.

After El Cid, only 1968's Planet of the Apes was a major hit, though in a long litany of critical bombs, good work can be found. (He was always disappointed that in Will Penny, also from '68, went underappreciated in era when the movie Western was enjoying its last hurrah.)

He was a key contributor (as Cardinal Richelieu) in director Richard Lester's marvelous Three and Four Musketeers romps, was well-received as Sir Thomas More in a TV version of A Man for All Seasons and helped get James Cameron's True Lies rolling in a welcome cameo with Arnold Schwarzenegger (a kind of Republican love fest).

But in the public's consciousness, he was increasingly identified with off-camera endeavors: presidency of the Screen Actors Guild, chairmanship of the American Film Institute and finally, in 1998, presidency of the NRA.

Heston's transformation from actor to conservative political symbol was perhaps more dramatic than even Ronald Reagan's. The 40th president, after all, was an affably minor Hollywood lead (no biblical figures here) for whom a midlife career change made sense. And that Heston (like Reagan) started out as a Democrat only made the story more interesting.

Heston, like Reagan, claimed the Democratic Party left him while his values remained the same a personal sea change that by the Reagan '80s had turned Heston into one of the most prominently public Republicans. He supported gun rights and opposed affirmative action and political correctness.

His pro-gun stance led to director Michael Moore more or less ambushing Heston in his home for the climax of 2002's Oscar-winning documentary Bowling for Columbine tastelessly, but also powerfully. It would be the last Heston big-screen scene to be seen by a significant number of viewers.

But TV movie stations exist to show and re-show the kind of epics that were his signature, so classic Heston remains, now and perhaps evermore.

Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has said it best: "Charlton Heston might be said to achieve his apotheosis as Moses unless one decides that it's Moses who's achieving his apotheosis as Heston."

And from http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/media/storage/paper247/news/2008/04/07/TheMix/Charlton.Heston.Dies.At.83.Leaves.Legacy.Of.Activism.Epic.Performances-3305915.shtml:

Charlton Heston dies at 83, leaves legacy of activism, epic performances
'Ben-Hur,' 'Planet of the Apes' star passes at home from unknown causes
Carrie Rickey
MCT Campus
Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: The Mix


Charlton Heston, a larger-than-life man who portrayed larger-than-life men such as Moses and Michelangelo, died at his home in Los Angeles late Saturday night at the age of 83, his wife of 64 years by his side.

While no cause of death was given, in 2002 the Hollywood legend announced that he had been diagnosed with symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.

On screen, Heston parted the Red Sea in "The Ten Commandments," drove the Moors from Spain in "El Cid," painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in "The Agony and the Ecstasy," baptized Jesus in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and gave Him a drink of water in "Ben-Hur."

And on the seventh day, Heston did not rest.

A longtime champion of civil rights, government support of the arts and of gun ownership, the perennial activist - and Oscar winner, for "Ben-Hur" - may well have been the only pro-NEA, pro-NRA voice in Hollywood.

Where his contemporary, Gregory Peck, likewise a monument of a man who played monumental men, was Hollywood's pillar of liberalism, Heston was the pillar of conservatism, a figure who stood up and spoke out for his beliefs.

The classically trained actor came to Hollywood in 1950, just as movie acting was being transformed by the naturalism of Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando.

From his earliest performances in films such as "The President's Lady" (1953), the first of his two portrayals of Andrew Jackson, Heston was a throwback, the hero braving an onslaught of antiheros. If Brando represented the scratch-where-it-itches-school, Heston carried the standard for the fists-to-the-mat school.

With his Olympian build, laser-blue eyes and an oracular baritone that made the simplest greeting sound like a proclamation, the 6-foot-3-inch actor was every inch and decibel the hero. He had the majesty of a sequoia - and could laugh heartily when critics said he was just as wooden as one. Few men and even fewer actors understood their strengths and their limitations as well as he did.

John Charles Carter was born in 1924 in Evanston, Ill. Before long, his parents moved to St. Helen, Mich. - big-tree country, he lovingly recalled in his 1995 memoir, "In the Arena."

He was "devastated" by his parents' divorce in 1933, but grew close to his mother's second husband, Chet Heston. He took his stepfather's surname "to hide what still seemed to me the unspeakable secret of my parents' divorce." His mother, Lilla, called him Charlton, her maiden name, also a contraction of Charles and Heston.

In his memoir, he described himself as "a nerd before the word had ever been invented - shy, short, pimply and ill-dressed." As with so many actors before and since, theater gave him a place to try on other personalities, which in turn gave him confidence. His work with the Winnetka Community Theatre in Illinois, where the Hestons relocated, earned Charlton a scholarship to Northwestern University, where he broke his nose playing football. A lucky break, as it turned out, because it gave him the profile of an eagle.

He told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1995 that when he entered the university in 1941 he was "struck by two bombshells." First was classmate Lydia Clarke's assault on his heart, followed by the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor.

In 1943, he enlisted in the Army and proposed marriage to Lydia - weekly. He argued that if they married and he got killed, she would be the beneficiary of $10,000 in life insurance.

Unpersuaded by his pragmatism, she married him for love in 1944. In 1995, he calculated that the $12 he paid for the wedding ring worked out "to less than 25 cents per annum" of their years together. In interviews, Heston called his wife his "lodestone;" in his memoir, she emerges as his lodestar.

After the war, the newlyweds spent a few months with a theater in Asheville, N.C., before seeking their fortunes in New York. Lydia enjoyed greater success. "She was just a better actor than I was," he said.

By and by, Heston joined Katharine Cornell's company, appearing on Broadway as Caesar's lieutenant in "Antony and Cleopatra and winning television parts and a role as a gambler in the Hollywood movie "Dark City."

Likening himself to the movie character Forrest Gump, Heston told The Inquirer his greatest talent may have been being in the right place at the right time.

One morning, the male ingenue on the Paramount lot gave a hearty wave to Cecil B. DeMille, who took notice and cast Heston as the rough-hewn circus manager in "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952) and then as Moses in "The Ten Commandments" (1956).

The cavalcade of historical roles followed. Something distant and chiseled about Heston made directors think he was ideal to play chiseled figures of distant eras.

One of the actor's rare contemporary roles was as Detective Vargas, a Mexican drug-buster, in Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" (1958), which Heston's participation enabled the director to finance.

Few other performers could challenge Heston's authority as Moses, Michelangelo and yes, God (in "Almost an Angel"). Here was a hero with muscles and brains, even if when his Judah Ben-Hur was orating, it looked as if he'd rather be driving a chariot - and vice-versa.

It may be heretical to say that for all his beloved performances in official epics, Heston was looser and more engaged in beloved B-movies such as "Planet of the Apes" (1967), "The Omega Man" (1971) and "Soylent Green" (1973). In these films, it seemed as if he shed the weight of a marble mantle to play men of flesh and blood.

That said, it may also be hypocritical to mourn the fact that at the precise moment Heston ceased playing heroes, Hollywood replaced El Cid and Ben-Hur with antiheroes such as The Graduate and Butch Cassidy.

Heston struggled with this contradiction. While in "Planet," he enjoyed yelling, "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn, dirty ape!" he also thought the trend toward anti-heroism was "bad for society." Which is one reason he turned down the Burt Reynolds role in "Deliverance."

The liberal actor who marched in 1963 with Martin Luther King in Washington turned down Democratic pols who drafted him in 1969 to run for the U.S. Senate. "I'd rather play a senator than be one," he said in an apparent dig at actor-turned-pol Ronald Reagan, whom he would later support.

"The Democratic Party slid to the left right out from under me," the self-described "Kennedy-Stevenson Democrat" said in 1995, explaining his apparent swing to the right in the 1970s. In 1998, the actor who as a child had enjoyed hunting in the Michigan forests was elected president of the National Rifle Association.

The last film appearance of Heston's 52-year career was in Michael Moore's anti-gun documentary "Bowling for Columbine" (2002). Stooped by arthritis and age, rather than be demonized or diminished by the anti-gun documentarian, Heston literally and figuratively stuck to his guns and walked away.

Back in 1995, Heston - who inevitably invited everyone to "Call me Chuck" - said, "I learned long ago that you should never take yourself as seriously as other people do."

Wherever he is, Chuck almost surely is chuckling over the headline Sunday on a Los Angeles Times blog: "Charlton Heston dies! Hollywood's GOP population plummets by 25 percent!"

Heston is survived by his wife; his son, Fraser; his daughter, Holly Heston Rochell; and three grandchildren. Memorial services will be private.


Posted on Nov 23, 2008, 3:20 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Hey!

by Father John-Paul-George-Ringo (no login)

Glad to see Augustodunum is still here! Great seeing you...
Wham!

Posted on Sep 25, 2008, 12:41 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Re: Hey!

by Tim the Enchanter (no login)

Yep, well the real one is still around...



So fortunately this one is too! I just use it to stash articles that I've read online, but from the page views, somebody's still readin' 'em.

Why did Elmer Fudd answer his phone?

A: Because....

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scroll down for the answer...
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you know you want to.....
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Because it WANG!

Posted on Sep 27, 2008, 3:22 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Larry

by Father JohnPaulGeorgeRingo (no login)

Hey! Finally came back to respond to your response. I am working on a website now that may be done, at this rate, shortly before the icecaps melt.

Posted on Nov 12, 2008, 4:32 PM

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George Will, on beer

by Anonymous (no login)

From: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/business/247579.php


My opinion
George F. Will : Beer a health food, essential to civilization

Perhaps like many sensible citizens, you read Investor's Business Daily for its sturdy common sense in defending free markets and other rational arrangements. If so, you too may have been startled recently by an astonishing statement on that newspaper's front page. It was in a report on the intention of the world's second-largest brewer, Belgium's InBev, to buy control of the third-largest, Anheuser-Busch, for $46.3 billion.

The story asserted: "The (alcoholic beverage) industry's continued growth, however slight, has been a surprise to those who figured that when the economy turned south, consumers would cut back on nonessential items like beer. ..."

"Nonwhat?" Do not try to peddle that proposition in the bleachers or at the beaches in July. It is closer to the truth to say: No beer, no civilization.

The development of civilization depended on urbanization, which depended on beer. To understand why, consult Steven Johnson's marvelous 2006 book "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic — and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World." It is a great scientific detective story about how a horrific cholera outbreak was traced to a particular neighborhood pump for drinking water. And Johnson begins a mind-opening excursion into a related topic this way:

"The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization itself. As soon as there were mass human settlements, waterborne diseases like dysentery became a crucial population bottleneck. For much of human history, the solution to this chronic public-health issue was not purifying the water supply. The solution was to drink alcohol."

Often the most pure fluid available was alcohol — in beer and, later, wine — which has antibacterial properties. Sure, alcohol has its hazards, but as Johnson breezily observes, "Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties." Besides, alcohol, although it is a poison, and an addictive one, became, especially in beer, a driver of a species-strengthening selection process.

Johnson notes that historians interested in genetics believe that the roughly simultaneous emergence of urban living and the manufacturing of alcohol set the stage for a survival-of-the-fittest sorting-out among the people who abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and, literally and figuratively speaking, went to town.

To avoid dangerous water, people had to drink large quantities of, say, beer. But to digest that beer, individuals needed a genetic advantage that not everyone had — what Johnson describes as the body's ability to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases. This ability is controlled by certain genes on chromosome four in human DNA, not evenly distributed to everyone. Those who lacked this trait could not, as the saying is, "hold their liquor." So, many died early and childless, either of alcohol's toxicity or from waterborne diseases.

The gene pools of human settlements became progressively dominated by the survivors — by those genetically disposed to, well, drink beer. "Most of the world's population today," Johnson writes, "is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol."
Johnson suggests, not unreasonably, that this explains why certain of the world's population groups, such as Native Americans and Australian Aborigines, have had disproportionately high levels of alcoholism: These groups never endured the cruel culling of the genetically unfortunate that town dwellers endured. If so, the high alcoholism rates among Native Americans are not, or at least not entirely, ascribable to the humiliations and deprivations of the reservation system. Rather, the explanation is that not enough of their ancestors lived in towns.

But that is a potential stew of racial or ethnic sensitivities that we need not stir. Suffice it to say that the good news is really good: Beer is a health food. And you do not need to buy it from those wan, unhealthy-looking people who, peering disapprovingly at you through rimless Trotsky-style spectacles, seem to run all the health food stores.

So let there be no more loose talk — especially not now, with summer arriving — about beer not being essential. Benjamin Franklin was, as usual, onto something when he said, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Or, less judgmentally, and for secular people who favor a wall of separation between church and tavern, beer is evidence that nature wants us to be.


Posted on Jul 16, 2008, 6:42 PM

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Pearls of wisdom

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.naveen-andrews.net/mags/nirvanawoman.html:


Q: Do you read reviews of the show, or skim some of the myriad message boards viewers have created?

Naveen Andrews: Without wanting to sound too precious, I think that being aware of what people are reading into the character detracts from my work.

Q: So you wouldn't know that on one message board a fan called you a "stone cold hottie." Do you even know what this means? Are you used to being a sex symbol?

A: No, I don't know what that means...[laughs].... What other people project or see I'm happy to take as a compliment.

------------------------------------------

An article at http://www.whedon.info/article.php3?id_article=10298&img= recounts the lengthy journey of the Fantastic 4 movie:

I think much wisdom and insight can be gained, and applied to the scenario of the Xena movie. For example, for those of us convinced that since Rob and Katherine mentioned the movie back in January but we still don't have one, this means that the project is dead in the water, this article details how progress can be slow (but not because of opinions of fans on the internet, success of series reruns, "outrage" over plot developments, etc. - solely for internal, industry-related reasons.)

And for those convinced that since Katherine said that she hoped to set a future script that she might write post-AFIN, and apparently she mentioned Egypt as a conceivably interesting locale, that's what's going to happen period - well, we might want to read the section on how Chris Columbus is definitely directing F4, Sam Hamm is definitely writing a script, the contracts have been signed, and production is about to begin any day now.

....................

This was from an interview at tv.insidepulse.com/articles/44411 with Damon Lindeloff.

On being influenced by other shows (see assorted "Rob ripped off 'A Chinese Ghost Story' " discussions)


MJ: How important are the influences that you use? Alfred Hitchcock. Rosemary's Baby. Twilight Zone...

DL: I think that everything that I have ever seen and ever liked goes into the collective melting pot of the show. Obviously, Carlton Cuse (who came on very early in the first season), we work the show together, day-to-day, create the show. We sit in his office every morning and have breakfast and talk about stuff. He is a big Narnia fan and the fantasy and the influences that everybody has all contribute into the stories that we want to tell on Lost. Some movies (more than others) directly influence the show and obviously, one of the seminal key influences on the show is Stephen King's 'The Stand.' J.J., Carleton and I have all read it, and it is sort of very similar in good versus evil playing out in a dramatic and supernatural context. That is a work that is often referred to.



On the writing process:


DL: ....At the end of the day, television shows can only function as a collaboration because you are writing a script every eight days. Right now, you and I are talking on a Thursday afternoon. A script will exist a week from Monday that hasn't even been concepted yet. The rate of speed with which these things are created is astonishing. If you look back at season one of Lost, and we did 25 episodes between the months of May and April, so that's 11 months. A two-hour movie is produced in that same time period.



On who they write for:


MJ: One of my favourite quotes of yours is when you said "sometimes we get frustrated ourselves and decide it's time to download a big chunk of mythology and then the audience says that they find this confusing and alienating and too weird. So then we pull back and they say that you're not giving us enough." How do you respond to what the audience wants and how much does that effect what you put out?

DL: I think that, obviously, the "audience" is relative. If you trolled the boards, that audience is a very vocal mythology-driven audience that wants answers constantly. The audience that I sort of respond to most is my wife or my mom or the people that are just watching the show and they like certain elements of the mythology, but they also want Jack and Kate to get together and all that stuff. You have to basically distill out what you think the global sense of things is. For example, after the finale last year, Carleton (Cuse) and I heard uniformly across the entire audience 'we wish that you had given us more than just them looking down at the hatch.' We don't regret the decision that we made. In fact, we stand by it. In fact, it was the only decision to make because at the end of the day, you need a cliffhanger. You want people talking all summer long about what is in there. We knew that we had something really cool in there and we knew that when people saw what it was, they would feel like it was worth the wait. Essentially, we try to be the audience ourselves and say 'wow, when was the last time we did a mythological episode, are we doing too much mythology, it's been awhile since we have seen Kate..." We try to be the audience in our own heads.

(So once again - the average person, and/or the writer himself/herself, not the heavily-invested "fan.")

On the collaborative process (which Ren Pics was all about) -


DL: You try to build a writing team like a good baseball team. Everybody's a great hitter but if nobody's a great fielder, then you have a lot of offense but no defense. You pick people that play well together as a team. It's a constantly morphing process. Javi (supervising producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach) is the only original writer who is still on the show....

...whose name ends up on the script is a byproduct of whoever does the majority of writing on that script but every single story is broken by eight people and signed off on by Carleton and myself....

.........................

and from a different interview entirely, with Damon and Carlton Cuse (the Sears equivalent I guess, who used to work with Bruce Campbell on "Brisco County") at http://www.lost-media.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1385 :

On giving out "erroneous" info in an interview about a crucial plot twist (although this was to the mainstream TV Guide, and not to an online fanzine unknown to 99% of the viewership) -

Q: First off, I have a bone to pick with you, Damon. Last July, I asked you if a female character was getting killed this season on Lost, and you said ?and I quote: "I think it would be fairly silly for us to kill a woman ?there are only three or four of them on the show. And they're all really hot." So, I guess my question is, how can I ever trust you again?

Damon Lindelof: I never said we weren't going to kill a woman. I said it would be silly. And you know, Carlton and I are pretty silly guys. You should see the hat that he's wearing right now.

Carlton Cuse: That's all I'm wearing.

Damon: And also a sock, but that's another story.

.....

Somehow strangely reminiscent of Rob observing that he wasn't going to kill "them" off, which of course he didn't. And a good summation of just how seriously professionals in the industry take stuff like that.

.......................

At one point (pre-DUI) Mel Gibson was developing a mini-series called "Flory" for ABC, set during WWII - sort of an Anne Frank-ish story, based on true events.

In a remarkably rare case of a network exec revealing his true thoughts:

Quinn Taylor, vice president of television movies for ABC, described "Flory" as a love story and said critics should "shut up and wait and see the movie, and then judge." .... Taylor told the show business trade newspaper Daily Variety.

And...a fascinating comment from Rob Tapert's former protege, David Eick, now Exec. Producer of "Battlestar Galactica," from http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/bts/interviews/eick_QA.html :

This is the broadband age and it's harder and harder to find any time or place where you don't have immediate access to the world's information and opinions ?which may not necessarily be a good thing. Having a little time and distance away from something before judging it is often a much closer barometer of the thing's value (or non-value) than knee-jerk reactions, and so I tend to take most of what I hear and read with a grain of salt. If I'm told there is a definite trend ?a great number of bulletin boarders loving something or hating something ?then I might check in to see what all the fuss is about.

But I'm reminded of the early days of the Internet craze. We were doing Hercules and Xena at Renaissance Pictures, and reading fan opinions on bulletin boards was a big novelty. But then we all freaked out ?the fans seemed to love certain things that surprised us, hated things we thought they'd love ... and so we began correcting. Adjusting. Allowing the boards to influence how the shows were written and produced.

About a month later, the fans seemed to be in ecstasy ?they loved everything, they felt heard, they felt a part of the process. In the meantime, our ratings were nose-diving ?I remember drop-offs in our Nielsen numbers that were unparalleled. To this day, I wonder if those shows might've lasted another season or two had we not overcorrected and in the process marginalized their appeal. We often forget that the vastly larger percentage of "the fans" never bother to offer their opinions on the Internet, and so as showmakers we're wise to be careful how much, or little, we allow ourselves to be influenced by vox populi.

.................

Fascinating tidbits from a feature in USA Today (Fri. 1/13/06) about the show "24" - it got into the challenges that a serialized show faces, i.e. new viewers may be totally lost. Many shows (24, Lost, Desperate Housewives) often add a clip-show documentary here and there to keep viewers up to speed, and inaugurate new fans.

However.... just as ....Sears? Rob T.? both? once observed, even the typical "fan" i.e. one of the millions of people who enjoy a show (as opposed to one of the thousands who visit websites, buy merchandise, remember dialogue, episode titles, attend conventions, etc.) doesn't watch every episode (and the casual viewer watches even fewer.)

An analysis of Nielsen figures shows that the average 24, Lost or West Wing viewer saw just one in five episodes last season. And only 15% of "24" fans watched 10 or more episodes, which explains Fox's detailed recaps at the start of each episode....

Though heavily serialized shows such as 24 and Lost seem to require consistent attention, fans on average tune in as few as one in five episodes and are at least as loyal to other top shows:

(the first # is the pct. of episodes seen by average viewer, and the second is the pct. of viewers seeing 10 or more episodes in a season)


CSI 27% 27%
CSI: Miami 23% 22%
Des. H'wives 23% 21%
Lost 21% 21%
ER 23% 20%
West Wing 20% 16%
24 20% 15%
Law/Order SVU 18% 13%
Gilmore Girls 17% 13%
House 18% 11%
The O.C. 15% 11%

Source: Analysis of Nielsen Media Research data for sampling of prime-time for 2004-05 season; two hour episodes count as single telecasts; percentages of total viewers ages 2 and up for each series.

Several things of note there. Like the way that we see that when Rob T. referred to the age 2+ demographic, he was folllowing standard network/Neilson data reporting. And when he (or Sears?) referred to "fans" as what some us us might consider to be casual viewers, again it was standard tv definitions being used.

I also notice that as viewership drops in the #'s above, so does the % of shows seen, and the % of viewers doing so. Leading one to conclude that if you go down from, say CSI or Desperate Housewives (which pull in 20-25 million viewers in primetime on networks seen everywhere) all the way to something like XWP (not available in every market, offered at varying and odd times, subject to re-scheduling and pre-empting by sports events, etc.) you would get even lower percentages.

In other words, if the average viewer has seen only 15% or less of the episodes, then when the subject of, say, Callisto or Ares comes up, they could easily say "Who's that?" Or conversely, depending on which individual episodes they watched...they might never have seen an episode that *didn't* feature, say, Ares, or Joxer, or Eve.

.................

A fascinating and telling article written by Kevin Smith (the Jersey dude, not Ares) in the June 2nd, 2005 issue of Rolling Stone (at A fascinating and telling article written by Kevin Smith (the Jersey dude, not Ares) in the June 2nd, 2005 issue of Rolling Stone (at http://viewaskew.com/gallerynew/album08/KS_RS01 .)

Basically, he goes on at some length about his lifelong love of Star Wars, and Darth Vader in particular, establishing his street cred as not just a fan, but an obsessed fan. He segues into how the films have influenced his own professional work, and then recounts not his review of "Revenge of the Sith," but rather the online fan wars that erupted from it. (He liked it, and self-described "fans" bashed him for not finding fault with it.)

A couple of paragraphs stand out:


This new Vader cycle has split the one-time Old Republic that was Star Wars fandom into two warring factions: the Rebellion, and the normal people with a sense of perspective who don't need a term from the Star Wars lexicon to define them.

The Rebellion is populated by the joyless, cynical ubertrolls who, sadly, take up the most space on the internet. These are the hollow men and women who marched into the prequels demanding that George Lucas recapture their lost Star Wars youth for them - that simple time in their lives when they had the excuse of prepubescence to explain why they were virgins. With that much investment in make-believe, it's little wonder they emerged as more twisted by the dark side than young Skywalker himself. The rest of us who grew up in the sixteen years between "Jedi" and "Phantom Menace" view the new trilogy for what it is: three movies, not three impossible-to-fulfill expectations of folks who need a bearded billionaire in flannel to dream for them.

....I included a brief, enthusiastic review of the flick in the daily online diary I keep on my Web site...... it got linked all over the Internet, resulting in a veritable asteroid field of haters and dorks suddenly zooming at me from every corner of the cybergalaxy. In reading invective-laden posting after posting, I suddenly flashed on my hero, Vader, and realized there's a reason a guy can be turned to the dark side: because people are so stupid. How does a shut-in muster the temerity to attack the opinion of a guy who actually saw the movie, when they themselves won't be seeing the movie for weeks? If I had a light-saber, I'd cut all their hands off, tell 'em I ****ed their mothers or shred 'em like a village full of Tusken Raiders.

Despite the carping of cats who insist everything must suck so as to reflect their lives, I'm happy to report that "Sith" is a rollicking good time....

....................


This is an interesting excerpt from the blog of Javier Grillo-Marxuach, one of the "Lost" writer/producers. He's not the top guy, nor the next guy down from the top, so in XWP terms, he might be comparable to Chris Manheim or Eric Gruendeman (although Eric never wrote.)

Just like in every show that has ever existed, he's moving on to new projects. And he's making a point to explain why, so that the "Lost" equivalent of urban legends like "Sears/Manheim/Friedman/Becker/Orci/Kurtzman quit in outrage/were fired because they didn't write the show like I wanted them to!" don't get started.


...two years ago ?almost to the day ?i was hired on a start-up television series called Lost.?the gig was supposed to be two months at staff writer pay to work with a small think-tank in developing the long term arcs of a show that had not only not been picked up to series ?the pilot had not been written!

four months later, i sat in the audience at the san diego comic-con, watching 搇ost?with an audience of three-thousand ?stunned by how quickly it had gone from a glimmer in jj abrams and damon lindelof抯 eye to one of the best television pilots i have ever seen... and, ultimately, a popular-culture phenomenon.

two incredibly exhausting and eventful years, seven scripts, forty-eight episodes, a shelf-load of awards, several convention appearances, many great friendships, hundreds of messages in 搕he fuselage,?and one hanging hobbit later, the time has come for me to leave the island.

so, come the end of the season, i am on the raft.

the obvious question is ?of course ?搘hy??br>
the simple truth is my work is done. as television series change and evolve, so do the things they require from the writers and producers in their staffs. i have contributed everything i had to 搇ost?and now the time has come for other writers to step in and make their own contributions in their own voices.

i pride myself on being honest in this forum and am being completely so when i tell you that this parting is mutually agreed upon, beneficial to everyone involved, and ?most importantly ?amicable.

yep. amicable. go figure. it actually does happen in hollywood.

how amicable? 搇ost?and its creators are a huge part of my life, and while we all agree that it is time for me to move on to write and produce other shows (maybe even one of my own), let抯 just say that i may be the rare castaway who not only gets to leave the island, but also gets an invite to visit on occasion. it's an exciting prospect.

as a founding member of the 搇ost?writers community, i know for a fact that i am leaving this show a better place than i found it, am proud of the work i have done, and know that my employers feel the same way. the people for whom i have worked the past two years are truly extraordinary ?and i leave grateful, fulfilled, happy, and ?truly ?want nothing more than to see the series to which i have given (and from which i抳e gotten) so much continue to flourish.

now that we all know this, there抯 something else you should know...

...i抦 still not telling what the monster is!

.................


This is from a recent interview at www.empireonline.com with Joss Whedon. He mentions two things that just about every writer in history has said at one time or another, on the issues of how an artist viewes his/her own work.... and on killing off popular characters.



Q: So you were obviously pretty pleased with the film (Serenity) at that point - looking back, are you happy with how it抯 gone?

A: Oh, I feel exactly the same way about the film as I did then, which is that I loathe every shot, I made 4 billion mistakes - and I quite like it.

......

Q: Have you any apologies to the fans for killing Wash in such a spectacular fashion?

A: Not at all. I never apologise. The fact of the matter is that it was necessary to do so for many reasons - the most important being that if somebody doesn抰 die at the very beginning of that final battle you spend the whole battle going, 揟his is cool. Look! They抮e shooting.?br>
Q: True - after that we thought you might kill everyone.

A: Exactly. After that, I could do a Wild Bunch on your @$$es. And that抯 what I needed people to feel. And then, I could cheat insanely. 揙h, looks like Mal抯 dead! Looks like Simon抯 dead! Looks like River抯 dead! - Oh, they抮e all OK!?The stakes were raised, so it had to be done. So I make no apologies for it, even though I抳e had some genuinely frightening angry fans.

Q: Really?

Q: Oh, I抳e had a couple. They weren抰 even large - it was just the intensity in their eyes, I was backing away. It was a test screening so the executives were all there and I was hiding behind them. But it was the right thing to do and everybody knew it.
.......................................

There is an extraordinary article in "Written By," the publication of the Writers Guild - who knew they had one? It can be found at www.wga.org/writtenby/writtenbysub.aspx?id=2195 . It's all about the creative process that has gone into the hit show "Lost," and touches on familiar fan themes like collaboration, theme, the duties of the "show-runner," and so forth. This is a fairly complex article - i.e. it's written in a trade journal for other writers. So take your time in reading it - it'll be worth it!


A couple of quotes relevant to discussions on Xena fandom that often come up:



揫Being a showrunner] is not just about coming up with the episodes each week卛t's also about managing a company that has 225 people-it's a giant enterprise. It's a little bit like being an air traffic controller. The episodes are like the planes that you're trying to guide into a safe landing, but at the same time you're trying to manage the seven other planes that have their own flight patterns.?

... Cuse remembers 搕he general consensus - this was going to be a meteor entering the atmosphere. It was going to burn bright and then vanish.?And so he and Lindelof felt 搇iberated to make a show that appealed to us.?

....

Cuse and Lindelof guide a true collective. 揥e break the stories in great detail in the writers' room, and basically we put the stories up beat for beat,?says Cuse.

Lindelof adds, 揂s far as script assignments go, it's sort of helter skelter. We have certain writers who have characters they favor, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll write scripts that are those character's flashbacks. Take [staffers] Adam [Horowitz] and Eddie [Kitsis]-they write Charlie well, or Hurley well. So if there's a Charlie or a Hurley scene in someone else's script, they will just kick it to Adam and Eddie.

A fair amount of collaboration and group writing happens, especially as we get deeper into the season. But it's more a byproduct of what the writing rotation is. Carlton and I try to get in there every fourth or fifth script, and then the other writers rotate in and out and we like to have our writers write in teams. It speeds up the process.?

揑 feel we have our own version of the New York Yankees of writing staffs,?boasts Cuse. 揥e have tremendous talent. We picked up four awesome writers off of Alias when it went down. Liz Sarnoff came out of the David Milch camp and is a wonderful and experienced writer. Eddie and Adam not only work well with Hurley and Charlie but also bring enormous talent as character writers to the show. Across the board everyone brings enormous passion to the room. One of the greatest virtues of this staff is the ability to work collectively. All the writers pitch in on every story and script. And they are fun. Fun helps when you are breaking stories on a show that is almost defined by its intensity.?

....

With such island mythology, and the show's rich character development, Lost often seems tailor-made for the current television-viewing climate, where numerous viewers have TiVo and the eventual DVD releases of the show allow for repeat viewings. In the case of a show like Lost, additional viewings truly reward the astute, focused viewer wanting to unwrap the many layers of exposition, allusion, and character dimension. Cuse and Lindelof are keenly aware of who is watching their show and how they are watching. And although they do their very best to satisfy each and every one of the show's fans, there is a fine line between detail-oriented and complete navel-gazing, a line they tread carefully upon.

揥e're writing the show for the masses who watch once on a Wednesday night with commercials, because the reality is the TiVo and downloading audiences are a small percentage of the overall audience,?Lindelof explains.

......

However, Cuse believes this approach allowed them to produce a show that stands out. 揥hat we've been able to do, which I think is different than most network shows, is leave certain things ambiguous and open to interpretation. And that allows people to get on the boards and theorize about what's meant by a given story or scene, or move in the show's direction. It allows people to feel participatory about the process.?

.......

Ultimately, they want us to know that their vision of the show might not be ours, that the fans aren't on the island-but still, it remains open to interpretation. Yet, as Lindelof says, 揑t's like reading a book in high school: 'Oh, this is a story about a group of people who move from the dust bowl in Oklahoma and trek west'-suddenly you realize, well, it's about that but it could also be about a hundred other things. It's all subjective.?

Their legion of loyal fans would probably agree. Each has a theory, their own subjective take on the show and its mythology.

.................


Posted on Dec 7, 2006, 6:58 PM

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German man jailed for his opinion ;)

by Anonymous (no login)

A German neo-Nazi who wrote an admiring book about Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for Holocaust denial.

The sentence was the maximum possible, Deutsche Welle reported.

In a statement to the court, Ernst Zundel said the judges should create an international commission to determine whether millions of Jews were actually massacred during World War II. He said if the commission found that they were, he would apologize for his views.

Zundel is the author of The Hitler We Loved and Why and maintains an anti-Semitic Web site. He was extradited from Canada in 2005.

One of Zundel's lawyers was dismissed during the trial for suggesting in court that the Holocaust did not happen.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Posted on Feb 16, 2007, 4:32 PM

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11 Canadian students expelled for their opinons!

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/02/12/school-facebook.html?ref=rss:


11 Ontario students suspended for 'cyber-bullying'

Punishments at Catholic high school north of Toronto followed comments posted on Facebook

Last Updated: Monday, February 12, 2007 | 1:17 PM ET
CBC News

Eleven students at a Catholic high school north of Toronto have been suspended after posting comments about their principal on the online social networking site Facebook.

Students at Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School in Caledon East began an online group calling the principal the "grinch of school spirit" after the school enforced a district ban on electronic devices and announced it would impose a uniform policy.

Last week, the school administration was notified about the website. As a result, 11 male and female students at the 2,000-student school were given suspensions ranging from three to eight days.

Bruce Campbell, a spokesman for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, told CBC Radio on Monday that the comments posted on Facebook were demeaning to the principal. He also said they were "extremely vulgar and very profane."

Campbell said one of the suspended students was a member of school council and another was a varsity team member.

"Overall, these students were not known to frequent the office for the wrong things," he said.

Campbell said the comments violated the school's code of conduct, calling the situation "a case of cyber-bullying."

He said if the incident had involved students posting comments about a classmate, it would have been dealt with in the same way.

Facebook is a site similar to MySpace, allowing people to communicate through work, regional or school networks. Users can post comments on individual member sites or group sites.

The Facebook group that the Caledon East students set up had attracted nearly 300 student members.

It has been removed from the Facebook site.

Campbell said Facebook has also caused problems in other school boards in the province.

Posted on Feb 21, 2007, 7:54 PM

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"the worldwide web of hate" - opinion-expressers hide behind anonymity

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/16828756.htm :

World Wide Web of hate emerges online
Protesters hide behind anonymous posts
By ANGELA ROZAS
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Hate is big on the Internet. With a few taps on a keyboard, one easily can vent one’s loathing of horses, clowns Starbucks, men, women or Rachael Ray — and find lots of company.

There’s an e-world where Web sites can be set up in minutes, where mass mail of any variety can be sent with a single click and anonymity is all but assured.

Thus you can type the word “hate” into Google and get more than 200 million hits. As fast as you can say “High School Musical is great,” somebody somewhere is ready to make a Web site or a blog entry about how much it reeks.

Some Web sites will even spread your message of hate — for a price, of course. Pay $5 and one site will send an anonymous note to the person you hate, saying someone hates them.

How did we get here?

In the past, if you hated, say, your dry cleaner, maybe you wrote a letter, or even protested outside the door. If you were particularly industrious, you might even paper your neighborhood with fliers.

But today, one Web site, one string of responses on a blog, can reach thousands — maybe millions — instantly.

On ihatewomen.com, posters can write anything they like about how terrible women are. Its creator, Slate McDorman, won’t censor it, as long as there are no threats or personal information — addresses or Social Security numbers, for example.

McDorman, a 31-year-old law student in Mentone, Ala., started the site and a counterpart, ihatemen.com, in 1998 after a rant session with a female co-worker about their awful exes. After a series of female Web masters for the ihatemen.com site — including the ex-girlfriend who first inspired the ihatewomen site — McDorman now runs both sites.

Like many of the hate sites, McDorman’s sites feature forums for public comment — the most popular feature — stories about bad women, quotes, music and links.

McDorman says the sites are an outlet for people who are angry or frustrated about women, but they also are comedy.

“It’s a joke. People seem to have a hard time getting that,” he said. “How can you hate half the human race? It’s just humor and sarcasm. I’ve put it on there somewhere that if you don’t get the sarcasm, then you probably won’t get the rest of the site, and you should just move on.”

Some sites claim that messages are removed if they are obscene or if they include personal attacks. But the filters we’re putting in place to protect against hate messaging don’t seem to be working.

Consider the caustic messages left for a friend of mine after she wrote a piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer about supporting the New Orleans Saints during the playoffs. Readers could immediately post feedback on the Inquirer’s site. And post they did.

Steelers fans told her she should have drowned in New Orleans, that she should kill herself, that if she ever showed her face to them, she’d get her behind kicked.

And who took responsibility for these horrid comments?

Nobody. They were nearly all anonymous. And hours after they were posted, despite being flagged (by me) as offensive, they remained.

The hate sites get hate messages, too. McDorman keeps a page for the particularly caustic hate e-mails he gets at ihatewomen.com. He says he gets one intelligent comment for every three silly posts to his site. But he says that his site and the Internet don’t promote hate;he says they just reflect society.

“I don’t see how my site could really make people hate the other gender any more than they already do,” he said. “Whatever you see on the Internet and how the Internet has emerged in its content is just a mirror of what people are doing in the real world.”

But maybe that mirror is getting a bit grimy.

The Internet was supposed to revolutionize the way we communicate: information at our fingertips. There’d be global discourse; every opinion could be heard.

But every online posting should require a name, address and telephone number — shielded from public view.

Maybe that would keep some of the hate mail off those Web sites and out of our inboxes.



Posted on Mar 4, 2007, 5:11 PM

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USA Today weighs in....

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2007-07-30-cruel-web_N.htm?csp=34 (c. 8/1 or 8/2)

Rudeness, threats make the Web a cruel world

SAN FRANCISCO — Brooke Brodack remembers her first online "hater."

Nearly two years ago, the person posted rude comments about a video she had posted on YouTube, says Brodack, 21, of San Francisco, whose videos show her lip-syncing and creating characters. "It was shocking to me. Why would someone want to be so mean for no reason?"

Why, indeed? Nasty comments, sometimes even death threats, have become ubiquitous on virtually any website that seeks to engage readers in discussion.

"Ur ugly u suk and u should die," says a typical comment beneath one of Brodack's many videos. Such vulgar messages have inspired heated discussions, and video responses, on YouTube.

The Internet always has had an anything-goes atmosphere where flame wars and harsh language are common. Now there are more places than ever for people to spout their thoughts — often with relative anonymity — thanks to the explosion in blogs, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and comments sections on nearly every news site.

But a series of incidents, including one involving a female technology blogger who briefly went into hiding after receiving sexually explicit death threats, has made online incivility an increasingly hot topic and fueled a debate over how to balance free speech with social etiquette.

"The information superhighway has become the mean streets of cyburbia," says Silicon Valley technology forecaster Paul Saffo. "It's just gotten steadily worse.

"If cocktail parties were like the Internet, half the people would come home every night dripping wet from glasses of Chardonnay tossed in their faces," Saffo says. "There are two ways to get famous in cyberspace: Say something clever and memorable, or say something outrageous. And unfortunately, it's a lot easier to be outrageous than clever and memorable."

On many online sites, people are kind and supportive and have formed virtual communities.

"People on the Net are overwhelmingly trustworthy and civil to each other," says Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, the popular community bulletin board site. "But there's always fanatic and crazy people out there."

Like many sites, Craigslist relies largely on readers to police behavior: If enough people flag an ad or comment as inappropriate, it's removed automatically or reviewed.

Many sites, including those operated by newspapers, remove offensive comments reported by readers or staff members.

"They want to allow free speech, but at the same time, they want to do it in a respectable way," says Ellyn Angelotti, interactivity editor at the Poynter Institute, which does continuing education for journalists. "They want to make sure it's not turning their other users away."

'It really crossed the line'

Several newspapers, wary of outrageous posts by readers, have banned all comments during major news events. That's what happened in April at The Roanoke Times in Virginia, which shut down a message board it had set up to discuss the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech.

Initial comments were "very civil," says online editor John Jackson, but they quickly turned ugly. "All of a sudden, we started noticing the nastier comments."

He can't recall exactly what they said but remembers they were laced with profanity. "It was really a no-brainer decision to take it down because it really crossed the line so terribly," Jackson says.

At The Orange County Register, editors had to remind readers that the rules of discussion required civil conversation after several nasty and often profane comments were posted in response to a March story about an obese woman who had given birth to a baby she hadn't known she was carrying.

The newspaper now removes a comment after two — rather than three — complaints from readers. It also uses trained retirees to monitor the boards, says deputy website editor Jeff Light.

Although many of the comments were "horrible and unacceptable," Light says such feedback from readers — even when it's rude — can be enlightening to journalists.

"I was looking at it and said, 'Oh look, these people are enraged by the way we had looked at the story.' Unfortunately that was all lost because their rage was so ugly and inarticulate. But I still think there was value in there. Not everybody sees things the way a middle-of-the-road, liberal newspaper reporter sees things. They see things in many different ways, and that's why we have comments."

The Sacramento Bee recently decided to do away with anonymous comments and requires readers to use their real names.

Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University, says that is the least newspapers should do. "If you want enlightened conversations on your site, people have to use their real names," he says, adding that news sites also should clearly differentiate comments from stories.

USA TODAY, which launched comments boards in March, requires people to register and provide a valid e-mail address before they are allowed to post comments. The newspaper also uses filters to catch profanity in postings and asks readers to report abuse. Repeat offenders may be blocked from posting on the site.

"We're in the infancy of this," says USA TODAY executive editor Kinsey Wilson.

"The hope is the intelligence of the crowd will help inform the news in the long run. Everybody's experimenting with this and trying to find how to make it more valuable, how to keep it civil and how to keep it more constructive."

But sometimes, as Newmark says, people go a little crazy. On the Web, writing under pseudonyms can allow people to feel free to say whatever they want with little fear of retribution, says Judith Martin, who writes the syndicated Miss Manners column.

Anonymity on the Internet is relative, however.

People who use pseudonyms while posting on websites actually may be trackable through their Internet Protocol address, a unique designation that allows computers to communicate with others on the Internet. Still, most sites won't try to track someone unless there's a legal reason, such as a subpoena.

Even when people use their real names, they don't always feel the ramifications of their words: The online world puts blinders on us.

"Without seeing the immediate consequences of rudeness on the recipient's face or in their voice, it is easier to cross boundaries," says Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication.

People "forget that there are real people reading what they write," Newmark says.

This month, several people, some of them anonymous, went to great pains to post online spoilers of the new Harry Potter book before it was released.

Some said they did so because they hated Potter author J.K. Rowling's books and the publicity they generate. Others did it for kicks.

"It was fun for myself at the expense of others," one 17-year-old from Pittsburgh said when contacted by USA TODAY.

A 'frightening' level of hate

The spoilers were irritating, but they were harmless compared with some of the personal attacks that have popped up on blogs.

Kathy Sierra, an author and computer-game developer from Denver, kept a popular blog about designing software.

But after receiving a series of sexually graphic and threatening posts this year, including death threats and a picture of her neck next to a noose, Sierra was so shaken she suspended writing the blog in March. She also canceled a public appearance, saying she was afraid to leave home.

As a longtime blogger, she says, she had confronted "trolls," people who intentionally write provocative things to spark a reaction. But these threats "crossed the line to be frightening."

"Even if the chances are really low that it will carry over into real life, it's not worth the risk. It's frightening that people hate just based on visibility. There's a lot of hate out there. Why? Nobody really knows."

She did call local police but didn't have enough evidence to pursue charges. The poster was anonymous and, as she says, "any halfway decent hacker can make themselves undiscoverable."

'People come out swinging'

Perhaps the Internet simply is reflecting an increasing rudeness in everyday life as displayed on talk radio, TV talk shows and in political discourse.

"Society has gotten very abrasive," Martin says. "In the slightest altercation, people come out swinging and swearing."

But the online world is markedly different from the offline one, Martin says. In real life, people have learned there are rules they dare not break. For instance, racism is now considered intolerable, she says, pointing out that radio shock jock Don Imus was fired in April for a racist comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

Online, people feel free to express all sorts of otherwise socially unacceptable thoughts — often without repercussions. "Civilization is about thinking before you express everything," Martin says.

She and others say online nastiness should be reined in. "When people find they are held accountable for what they say or write, then they tend to want to restrain themselves," she says.

Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media, a technology book publisher in Sebastopol, Calif., responded to the threats to his friend Sierra by calling for a code of conduct for blogs. He has urged bloggers to ban anonymous comments and to delete threatening or libelous comments.

"There is a kind of ethic on the Internet that says it's OK to be abusive, or to have to tolerate it, in the interest of free speech," O'Reilly says. "It's a mistake."

Recently, O'Reilly Media has "shifted our focus from a code of conduct to developing technology that will allow blog readers to participate in moderating comments," says O'Reilly spokeswoman Sara Winge. "We think that's more likely to get widely adopted than a written code that requires agreement from bloggers."

Saffo agrees the solution should be technological, "where the network becomes the nanny," he says. "My concern is that this is not a self-correcting phenomenon. The bad will drive out the good."

On YouTube, video posters can control who sees their work and who can comment on it. They can keep videos private, allowing only invited guests to see them. They also can moderate or shut down comments on public videos.

Brodack leaves her comment board alone because she values feedback and "to just remove things would be an endless battle."

She has decided the best thing to do is simply ignore the nastiness as much as possible.

"I get things like death threats or, 'If I ever see you I'm going to kill you,' " Brodack says. "There is always foul language included. It's very immature. For every 20 positive comments, I get one negative one. … I just kind of ignore them. It's the same thing over and over. It's a waste of time, truthfully."

Posted on Aug 7, 2007, 5:37 PM

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Leonard Pitts on message board jerks.... err...opinion-expressers ;)

by Anonymous (no login)

From: http://www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/188421.html

Message board mess
By LEONARD PITTS JR. - Miami Herald

Some of you guys are jerks.

No, I’m not talking about you, dear reader, whose erudition and class I’ve always admired. And you smell good, too.

But some of you other guys are some seriously pre-literate knuckle draggers. Exhibit A would be the relatively new message boards on the Web site of that great metropolitan newspaper, The Miami Herald. Or at least it would have been, before management stepped in a few weeks back, began policing the boards more closely and put up a notice asking people to keep their comments on-point.

Before that, the message boards, theoretically a place where readers engage in robust debate on articles and commentaries in the paper, were a sewer of sexist, racist, pornographic crudity. For instance, a story on Shaquille O’Neal’s divorce engendered an exchange on the basketball star’s probable penis size. A story on Cubans brought the “I Hate Hispanics” crowd out in force. A story about the search for a black suspected cop-killer begat a call for lynching. Which, in turn, inspired someone to respond, “Bleep the police and all of you white racist folk.” Yadda yadda yadda.

Frankly, the only robust debate was the internal one among reporters and editors appalled at one called “vandalism.” I even received e-mails from readers asking me to ask my bosses to clean up our message boards because they were stinking up the whole Internet.

Not that Mother Herald’s experience is unique. Other papers that provide online message boards — the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, for example — have reported the same problems. There’s something depressing about watching how this ideal, so noble in the abstract, unfolds in reality. You start out hoping to provide a forum wherein citizens can engage in discussion — frank, spirited, even rude, mind you — of the day’s news. You end up policing a debate over Shaq O’Neal’s jockstrap.

Is this what we have an Internet for? Does this latest and greatest medium of mass communication really exist only so that some of us can vent our ids?

Yes, I know. I protest too much.

This is nothing new. These same issues surfaced 200-odd years ago, when print was the latest and greatest (and for that matter, the first and only) medium of mass communication. In Infamous Scribblers, his book about journalism in the colonial era, Eric Burns takes us to a time when it was common for writers, using pseudonyms, to engage in vicious, ad hominem attacks against political opponents.

Facts were often optional. They loved to wallow in the gutter. And anonymity made people brave.

Sound familiar?

For a devotee of the First Amendment, it’s a sobering history lesson. We tend to think of free speech in lofty terms, to regard it as a means of liberating the human intellect, spirit and body. And why shouldn’t we? We are the nation of Thomas Paine and John Steinbeck, of Betty Friedan and Cesar Chavez, of Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder. What further proof do you need that when people are allowed to say whatever they want, sometimes they will say great things?

Problem is, we are also the nation of Larry Flynt and Don Imus, of Charles Coughlin and David Duke, of 50 Cent and Luther Campbell. What further proof do you need that when people are allowed to say whatever they want, sometimes they will just tell fart jokes?

To put it another way: not everyone has something to say. This will not stop them from saying it. For some people, freedom and anonymity are always an invitation to sink like an anchor to the lowest common denominator. Which is distressing until you consider the alternative.

After all, they don’t have this problem in Cuba.





Posted on Oct 2, 2007, 8:14 PM

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Damon Lindelof on the Sopranos ending

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/arts/television/12sopr.html :


TV Writers Were Also Watching ‘Sopranos’
By BILL CARTER
Published: June 12, 2007

After he completed the final episode of “The Sopranos,” David Chase told publicity executives at HBO that he was leaving for France and would not take any calls asking him to comment about the ending of his classic television series.

He also said that he had instructed all of his writers and producers to turn down any requests for information about the decisions that had gone into shaping the show’s last chapter.

The reason for his resistance became clear on Sunday night when “The Sopranos” ended, not with a moment of final summation, but with a literal blank. The reaction to the stunning last shot of an empty screen has been a mix of outrage among some fans at being left sitting on the edges of their seats, where they had been perched for much of the show’s last batch of episodes, and awe among others who have always regarded the show as the most ambitious and unconventional of television series.

Included in the latter group were many people in the same line of work as Mr. Chase, storytellers in the entertainment business.

Damon Lindelof, one of the creators of the ABC hit show “Lost,” another series whose viewers have high expectations about quality, said: “I’ve seen every episode of the series. I thought the ending was letter-perfect.”

Like millions of other viewers, Mr. Lindelof said he was initially taken aback by the quick cut to a blank screen and thought his cable had gone out at that crucial moment. He even checked his TiVo machine and saw that it was still running several minutes beyond the end. When he checked the scene again, he said, he noted “the scene cut off right as Meadow is coming through the door and right at the word ‘stop’ in the Journey song.”

He said: “My heart started beating. It had been racing throughout the last scene. Afterward I went to bed and lay next to my wife, awake, thinking about it for the next two hours. And I just thought it was great. It did everything well that ‘Godfather III’ did not do well.”

In an e-mail message sent right after the final scene, Doug Ellin, the creator of another HBO hit series, “Entourage,” said: “The show just ended, and I’m speechless. I’m sure there is going to be a lot of heated discussion, but that’s David Chase’s genius. It’s what made ‘The Sopranos’ different from anything that’s ever been on TV. It invented a whole new approach to storytelling that isn’t afraid to leave things open-ended, and now the biggest open story line in the history of television.”

For David Shore, creator of the Fox hit “House,” one of the best touches was Mr. Chase’s own refusal to discuss the ending. Mr. Shore said: “Obviously he wants us to speculate on what it all means. Obviously that’s what we’re all doing.”

David Milch, who has created highly regarded dramas like “NYPD Blue” and “Deadwood,” said: “It was a question of loyalty to viewer expectations, as against loyalty to the internal coherence of the materials. Mr. Chase’s position was loyalty to the internal dynamics of the materials and the characters.”

Comedy writers also said they were impressed with Mr. Chase’s choices. Chuck Lorre, who created and leads the CBS hit comedy “Two and a Half Men,” emerged from screening the final episode and said with a laugh, “This is what you get when you let a writer do whatever he wants.”

But he added that he was saying that with admiration. “People just finished watching that show and immediately talked about it for a half-hour,” Mr. Lorre said. “That’s just wonderful. What more could you want as a writer?”

If any shows feel special pressure from the attention “The Sopranos” finale is receiving, it is current series looking down the road at their expected finales, even if long in the future.

Tim Kring, the creator of this year’s NBC hit “Heroes,” said, “I have to admit that as soon as it ended, I immediately went there. I don’t have an ending for the series yet. I put myself years in the future thinking about what you do when you have viewers with these sorts of expectations. And I think you just have to be true to what you were originally trying to say.”

Mr. Kring said he had only come back to “The Sopranos” this season, anticipating the buildup to the ending, and he said he found “the storytelling in the finale a bit disjointed, so that you lost the cause and effect of some scenes.” But he said he admired the choices Mr. Chase had made to be true to the nature of his series. “This was a show that always did everything its own way,” Mr. Kring said.

For the producers of “Lost,” who have declared an official finale in three more seasons, the conclusion of “The Sopranos” carried special weight. “There was immediate blowback for me,” said Carlton Cuse, Mr. Lindelof’s creative partner on the show. “A sense of fear ran through my veins, thinking that we are going to be in this position,” he said, adding, “we know the end is coming in 48 short episodes.”

He had admitted to some initial frustration with the ending of “The Sopranos.” “But it settled well with me,” Mr. Cuse said. “In that blank screen, there was a certain kind of purity in the choice Chase made to make it the fulcrum of the ending.”

Mr. Lindelof said that as daunting as it is to think of the expectations of ending a popular piece of entertainment, there was also a bit of benefit. “If you feel that everybody is going to hate it anyway, no matter what you do,” he said, “there’s a certain liberation in writing it.”


Posted on Nov 13, 2007, 4:25 PM

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Leonard Maltin on internet rumors

by Anonymous (no login)

"All this Oscar talk is a phenomenon of the Internet age that I like to call 'a wish-fulfillment rumor.' If people say it often enough, they think it will happen," said Leonard Maltin, film critic for TV program "Entertainment Tonight."

"That's not to say it might not happen," he said, citing a "great performance" by Ledger. "But I assure you that the people who are spreading all this are neither Oscar voters nor (Hollywood) movers and shakers."


Posted on Jul 16, 2008, 6:40 PM

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NY Times article on Sci-Fi Channel

by Bonnie Howe (no login)

From http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/business/media/19scifi.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin:

At Sci Fi Channel, the Universe Is Expanding and the Future Is Now

By TIM ARANGO
Published: May 19, 2008

The letters still keep coming to the Rockefeller Center offices of the Sci Fi Channel. Please, they all say, pick up “Jericho,” the science fiction show with a small but passionate following that was canceled in March by CBS, for a third season.


But those letters are falling on deaf ears. The Sci Fi Channel, still viewed by many as a niche network, is no longer a repository for failed fantasy shows cast aside by the broadcast networks. Instead, through a mix of original shows, movies and syndicated reruns (including old “Jericho” episodes but no new ones), the network has expanded its audience, especially among women, chiefly by stretching the definition of science fiction.

It is not just “Star Trek” or “Star Wars” that would fit the definition. Superheroes, Indiana Jones and even the baseball fantasy movie “Field of Dreams” would all be considered part of the genre as defined by Sci Fi’s programmers.

“It’s not just aliens, spaceships and the future,” said Dave Howe, who was promoted to president of Sci Fi from general manager in January. “It’s about asking that simple question, ‘What if?’ ”

The changes evolved over several years. One result is a widening audience, especially among women. In April, for example, Sci Fi ranked sixth in cable networks in the 25-to-54 age group. Growth in female viewers outpaced that in men; 43 percent of Sci Fi’s viewers are female.

The network has been a boon for its corporate parent, NBC Universal. The channel, alongside its corporate sibling CNBC, the business network, has quietly become the focus of NBC Universal’s global expansion efforts.

“For an international standpoint, we really have two global brands,” said Jeffrey Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal. “We have CNBC, which is in 400 million homes worldwide. And Sci Fi. Business is universal. And science fiction is such a well-known global genre.”

NBC Universal, which is owned by General Electric (80 percent) and Vivendi (20 percent), will start a Sci Fi channel in Russia this month, and it plans to have 23 to 25 channels in international markets by the end of next year. (It now has 12.)

“We are now what MTV was 10 years ago, or what ESPN was 10 years ago,” said Mr. Howe, who joined Sci Fi six years ago after 15 years at the BBC. “We can own sci-fi as a category globally.”

Each international channel is dubbed in the local language and the programming is tailored to local tastes. (Mr. Howe said Germans like “action, blood and guts,” while viewers in France and Britain want programming that is “more thoughtful.”) Among the countries on Sci Fi’s list for expansion this year and next are Turkey, South Africa, Romania, Hungary and Portugal.

Domestically, the channel has been riding original hits like “Battlestar Galactica” and the reality show “Ghost Hunters,” both No. 1 among cable networks on their nights, Friday and Wednesday, respectively, in April in the 25-to-54 demographic. The network has drawn more women by making subtle tweaks to marketing and programming. In marketing materials for “Battlestar Galactica,” for example, there are no spaceships, and the story lines try to create more of a balance between action and emotion.

The Sci Fi Channel’s growth can also be partly explained by the network’s distancing itself from traditional stereotypes of science fiction.

“There were a lot of misperceptions that Sci Fi was for men, that it was for young men and that it was for geeky young men,” said Bonnie Hammer, the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, which oversees Sci Fi. “We had to broaden the channel to change the misconceptions of the genre.”

One of the shows that did this was Steven Spielberg’s “Taken,” a miniseries shown for two weeks in 2002 that dominated those nights in the ratings. While the series “literally put Sci Fi on the map,” Ms. Hammer said, it also exemplified the network’s notion of the genre with its main characters as human beings living on earth, not aliens on some far-off planet.

The network’s more expansive definition of science fiction does not sit well with some purists.

“Generally speaking, the feeling within the science fiction community is that a lot of the shows on the Sci Fi Channel are watered-down versions of the real thing,” said Michael Capobianco, the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Mr. Capobianco said the success of science fiction on television and at the movies has not been matched by similar success for writers.

“One of the things we’ve discussed is, ‘Should our books resemble the media works that are out there?’ ” he said. “Should they be dumbed down or watered down to appeal to a wider audience?”

A frequent discussion at NBC Universal is whether to water it down even more and do away with the “Sci Fi” name altogether. Among the new names that have been considered are “SCF” and “The Imagination Channel.”

“We always come back to, we are not going to change the name because with the fragmentation of media, there’s a real advantage of having that signpost,” said Mr. Howe. “We just have to manage the downside.”

Posted on May 25, 2008, 1:55 PM

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Answers from Tapert and Sears

by Anonymous (no login)

My Question to Steven Sears:

Q: We've all read the numerous interviews with you and others on the subtext in the series. The common response always seemed to be "Whatever the characters do on their own time is their own business - we'll leave it up to the imagination of the audience." i.e. everyone could interpret it as they saw fit, because you guys were writing about warlords and ancient gods.

But there's been this lingering rumor (in some internet fan circles, anyway) that what was said in interviews may not have been true - that on set, and in story conferences, it was a foregone conclusion that the characters were being written, acted, and directed as lovers, even if specific love scenes or references to them were never filmed. So was that the case? In story conferences, was it ever discussed that X and G specifically were lovers in a literal 20th/21st century way (i.e. not "they love each other" or other ambiguous lines?)

To your knowledge, did the directors ever specifically direct the actresses to portray the characters that way, or did you or any of the writers specifically write that into any treatment or script, or did the actresses ever say "I'm playing the role specifically this way, regardless of the dialogue? Or was it intentionally left as an unanswered question?

Sears, on 05/12/05 at 8:04 PM:

First, the answer no, not the answer to were they/werent they, but the answer to your question: It was left as an unanswered question. Always.

Now, the details. First, I wasnt on the set, so I cant vouch for that on a word for word basis. But when the subtext started to take on a life of its own, we were aware of it and we certainly enabled it. But we thought more along the lines of what can we give that will be subjectively interpretational without stating anything as fact to violate interpretations? As you can see from that convoluted statement, it wasnt something that was easily done. But no matter how each individual writer wrote the characters (and we were all pretty distinct in that) we all had to write in a way so as to not violate the interpretational rules.

There were many times when things were written into the scripts that were subtle, but we knew Okay, theyll get that. Then there were other times when someone on the set, or Lucy or Renee, would give a reading or take on a line that would do the same thing. But it was never overt and never intended to be overt. And, by the way, that goes for the shippers side. We never wanted to violate their interpretations any more than the subbers. Now, to certain extents, you can argue back and forth about whether we were consistent about that, but I think we put enough out there that worked for people. The amazing thing is that we were able to do it at all. That it is still being debated to this day means that we walked that line pretty well. Not perfectly, but better than most.

I think the thing that I liked about it is that there were many times that we were able to put things in that were totally missed by one segment (because in their world, it had no context) but completely embraced by the other segment (because it was extremely relevant to theirs). DAY IN THE LIFE is a great example. But there are many others.
......................


My Questions to Rob Tapert:

Q: There have been a thousand rumors over the years which you can put to rest right now if you choose. Writers, directors and actors come and go on episodic tv, and it seems like you had very good fortune to keep many of the same ones for a fairly long time. Were there ever any staffers (or cast members) that left because of any conflict or difference of opinion on thematic content of the show, and/or because of audience perceptions of their work?

A: Nope

Lucy didn't get along with one director but he didn't come back because he went on to other things.

What were the rumors?

Q: You and others have said that the "Are they or aren't they?" question was not what the show was about, and that you wanted to keep it ambiguous and open to anyone's imagination. Yet there remain lingering rumors that behind closed doors, it was decided at some point that yes X and G were lovers, but that this should not be openly portrayed because of issues with the studio execs, advertisers, segments of the audience, etc. Was it a "don't ask, don't tell" decision, or do you still feel that the question was never answered, and still open to individual interpretation?

A: For the writers and for Lucy and Renee, it was not important to us to sexually define the characters. I understand for fans why this is important. Thus we tried to give everyone enough of what they wanted or needed to help the characters bring empowerment into their own life.

Posted on Feb 18, 2008, 1:17 PM

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URLS

by Anonymous (no login)

Tapert's answers are at http://talkingxena.yuku.com/topic/754/t/20-ANSWERS-FROM-ROB-TAPERT.html

while Sears's are at http://xena.yuku.com/topic/8601/t/XOC-golden-oldies-Ask-Steven-Sears.html

Posted on Apr 4, 2008, 4:06 PM

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Sopranos articles

by your gooma (no login)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070406/tv_nm/sopranos_actors_dc_1

Sopranos cast in sad farewell to show

By Arthur Spiegelman Fri Apr 6, 9:40 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As the actors end their roles in "The Sopranos," a program that made many of them household names and faces, some worry about being typecast while others fear they might have trouble working again.

Take Dominic Chianese, the 76-year-old who plays Uncle Junior, for example. He knows he has been typecast just by the things that keep happening to him. He's not worried about working because he can always sing Italian love songs for a living.

Recently, he was sitting in a Mongolian restaurant in New York City and two Mongolians came over.

"They started teasing, and said 'you know your show is teaching people in Mongolia how to be criminals."'

And to add insult to injury, pretty much everywhere Chianese goes, people think he is the actual Uncle Junior, who, in the show, is now demented and, frankly, was never very nice to start with.

"They like the old bugger, I don't know why, but they do. He's falling apart, I feel so sorry for him. My health is fine but that would be real funny if I really had dementia. 'You do a great job there Dominic. How do you do that?' What? What are you talking about?"'

Chianese and other actors on the show say filming the last nine episodes of an extended sixth season on cable channel HBO has taken an emotional toll.

'EMOTIONAL ITALIANS'

The new episodes start on Sunday and continue on until early June, when, bada bing, it will all be over -- just as it was for so many other beloved TV series, including "M*A*S*H," "All in the Family" and "Seinfeld."

Brought together by the show's creator, David Chase, in 1999, they created a unique television ensemble. Almost all had strong Italian-American profiles, whether they were Italian or not and many had not received the kind of recognition they would get when "The Sopranos" swung into gear becoming a critical and ratings success.

Actors like James Gandolfini, who plays the conflicted mob boss Tony Soprano, hit instant stardom even though his character morally corrupts those he comes into contact with.

The question for him is whether he will be able to find the kind of textured roles that tap into his extraordinary power as an actor. The same may hold true for Edie Falco, who plays his wife Carmela on the show.

In various interviews, she has talked of leaving "The Sopranos" as a new beginning but then she said she immediately thinks she will have to sell all her possessions to make ends meet.

Chianese told Reuters recently that mood on the set has been hard.

"Everybody feels it coming to an end. But I know we'll all stay together somehow, stay in touch. But there is a feeling of sadness. You can tell ... everybody's emotional. They don't talk too much about it, but you can tell."

Falco agrees. In an interview with Reuters, she said, "We're pretty darn close, and things are getting a little heavy. For a bunch of emotional Italians, we're definitely feeling it."

....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070407/tv_nm/sopranos_dc_1

"Sopranos" last run poses: will Tony die?

By Arthur Spiegelman Fri Apr 6, 9:36 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - He is a fat, balding, heavy-breathing man with an explosive temper and a reptilian gaze. Starting on Sunday and lasting nine weeks, Americans are going to be on tenterhooks, wondering if he will live or die.

He is, of course, mob boss Tony Soprano, the first of a new breed of anti-hero to dominate the U.S. television screen, a character whose corrupt, sometimes murderous deeds have failed to stop a large part of America from adoring him.

Now everyone wants to know, as "The Sopranos" heads into its final nine episodes after six acclaimed seasons on cable channel HBO, whether Tony gets whacked or whisked into the witness protection program.

Will Tony, the conflicted head of a northern New Jersey crime family, get the last laugh, or will the state, federal and local law enforcement agencies pursuing him all these years come out on top?

One hallmark of the show has been that it is often hard to tell the good guys from the bad ones. And as far as honor among thieves is concerned, forget about it.

Tony, played by James Gandolfini, inhabits a world where he can trust no one, not even his own mother, who in collusion with an uncle once tried to have him killed. They failed, and Tony thought seriously about killing mom.

Media scholar Robert Thompson, head of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television, said Tony Soprano's persona as a "lovable, huggable murderer" helped him cultivate a huge following.

"This was a show that demonstrated how novelistic and how sophisticated television could be," Thompson said. "It is not only about bad guys, it's about people who are at the heart, horribly, morally corrupted individuals. But at the same time, they were presented in a way where we really could identify with them."

Instead of bringing the show to commercial broadcast television, series creator and guiding light David Chase struck a deal with HBO to carry the program. Its runaway success helped give HBO new clout in the industry and raised the bar creatively for television as a whole.

As a subscription-based channel free of the advertising and regulatory constraints facing commercial television, HBO could let "The Sopranos" indulge in sexually frank scenes and profanity, with Tony uttering such bon mots as: "You don't shit where you eat. And you really don't shit where I eat."

That line was chosen by Fred R. Shapiro, editor of "The Yale Book of Quotations," as one of the 10 best lines from the program. Another was Tony's line, "I won't pay. I know too much about extortion."

NO MESSAGE

Terence Winter, a writer and producer on the series, said the show was not intended to convey any message about corruption, morality or family values, even though almost every episode is a study in moral corruption.

"Art asks questions. It doesn't give answers," he said in a recent interview. "We don't feel and we're not beholden by any kind of pressure from anywhere to wrap stories up in a neat bow or to explain things or to necessarily have a moral at the end of the day.

"Certain people think Tony lives a very glamorous life. And certain people think, 'I wouldn't want to be Tony Soprano for all the money in the world.' We don't take a position. ... We just sort of present the characters for who they are."

As far as Winter is concerned, the more uncertainty about how the series ends, the better.

"We are so sworn to secrecy. And truth is, the audience really doesn't want to know, they think they want to know. They don't. You want to see it go down and enjoy whatever happens."

.....

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=66766d43-6200-41b3-b09c-cea1dd615081


Sopranos Tunes Up for Swan Song
by Gina Serpe
Fri, 6 Apr 2007 12:32:28 PM PDT


It's the beginning of the end for Tony Soprano—whether that's just the TV end or the end end remains to be seen...and, in some corners, wagered upon.

Backed by heavy anticipation, The Sopranos final nine-episode run kicks off on HBO Sunday, bringing to a close eight years and six seasons of the mob family drama. And heading into its swan song, the most anticipated question of all is what fate will befall the small screen don.

As the second half of the extended final season is ready to roll, the show's cast and crew remain mum on whether James Gandolfini's don will go out with a bang or simply a bada-boom.

In an interview with NPR several years ago, creator David Chase made it clear that the end was not only nigh for Tony Soprano, but that it was already decided upon.

"The gangster movie is a long American tradition," he said. "But they've all been, except for The Godfather trilogy…it's usually the rise and fall. It's been that way since the beginning. The criminal rises from the gutter, has his moment of glory, and then goes down and pays for his crime in a hail of bullets. That's usually the template."

It's a sentiment Tony Soprano himself agrees with, when questioned in Sunday's premiere episode on his take on the life span of a mob boss.

"My estimate? Historically?" he says. "Eighty percent of the time it ends in the can like Johnny Sack, or on the embalming table at Cozarelli's...No risk, no reward."

The online oddsmakers at bodog.com seem to agree. The gaming site is taking wagers on whether Tony will survive, and the line favors him sleeping with the fishes before the end of the season. The site is also taking bets on which main character will be offed first: Johnny Sack (1-to-1), Uncle Junior (3-to-1), Christopher (4-to-1), Paulie Walnuts (4-to-1) and Phil Leotardo (6-to-1) are the current favorites to join Big Pussy, Adriana, Ralphie, Vito, et al. in the so-called "whacked pack," while Tony (10-to-1), A.J. (13-to-1), Dr. Melfi (14-to-1), Meadow (18-to-1) and Carmela (20-to-1) should be sticking around for at least a few episodes.

In any case, the last go-round opens with Tony celebrating his 47th birthday with wife Carmela (Edie Falco), sister Janice (Aida Turturro) and several other family members in their upstate New York vacation home as trouble brews back in New Jersey. Tony's rivals are plotting and the feds are busy building their case against him, which sets up the a story line that could see him enter the witness protection program.

Back for the season opener is rival mob boss Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent), who has recovered from his heart attack, but not his beef with Tony. Johnny Sack (Vince Curatola), who's suffering from terminal lung cancer, continues to languish in prison. The question of succession remains unanswered and Christopher (Michael Imperioli) is finishing work on his gangster slasher flick, something, in a wink to Sopranos fans, Tony praises.

"One hundred years from now, we're dead and gone, people will be watching this f---ing thing," he says.

People will also be watching this thing now, though how many remains unclear.

While the Sopranos continues to be considered one of the best dramas on television, its audience has dwindled in recent years.

The show hit its ratings peak during its fourth season, averaging a series-high 11 million viewer. Last season, The Sopranos averaged closer to 8.5 million, which is still a hit by anyone's standards, especially pay-cable.

Posted on Apr 7, 2007, 2:41 PM

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more articles from USA Today

by some finook like Fat Vito - Madonn' !! (no login)

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-04-05-sopranos-recap_N.htm?csp=34

Long time, no whack

'SOPRANOS' FINAL ACT

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

Sunday's season premiere of The Sopranos marks the first fresh hour we've been able to spend with this HBO Mob classic since June. Keeping track of the families isn't easy from week to week, let alone with months in between. USA TODAY offers this quick guide to where the characters were and where they are now.

Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini)

Much of Tony's life has been consumed by a continuing skirmish between his Jersey family (the DiMeos) and the New York Lupertazzi Mob. For now, a fragile peace holds, established when Tony visited the Lupertazzi's de facto boss, Phil Leotardo, while Phil was recovering from a heart attack. The attack, perhaps, reminded Tony of his own fragile grip on mortality as he continues to recover from a near-fatal gunshot and prepares to celebrate his 47th birthday. At least when he's feeling anxious, he can still turn to Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), as he has from the start.

Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco)

Carmela is still struggling to sell her spec house and still obsessing over the missing — well, OK, dead — Adriana. There has been a change in Carm, though. Tony's brush with death has brought Carmela closer to her husband and forced her to be more honest with herself about Tony's business and anger problems.

A.J. Soprano (Robert Iler)

Tony's lost little boy has lost another job and failed in his attempt to kill Uncle Junior at the psychiatric hospital. Now, though, he seems deeply invested in a new relationship. He's dating Blanca, a Puerto Rican woman 10 years his senior with a child and a sharp tongue, which she uses to criticize a family that doesn't take kindly to criticism.

Meadow Soprano (Jamie-Lynn Sigler)

A perpetual student who is, it often seems, discussed more than seen, Meadow is back from California. She is minus fiancé Finn, but she's still studying, this time to get into medical school.

Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli)

Tony's nephew and Carm's cousin, Christopher is married and has a baby he's about to christen. He continues to fight his various addictions, sometimes more strenuously than others. And he continues to toy with outside ventures, such as his Mob-funded film, Cleaver, a slasher flick with a central villain (Daniel Baldwin) who looks and acts suspiciously like Tony. That's a premiere party you don't want to miss.

Janice Soprano Baccalieri (Aida Turturro)

Tony's sister is planning her brother's birthday party at the family's lakeside retreat, where she's in residence with husband Bobby and daughter Nica. Marriage and motherhood have not made Janice any less passive-aggressive, nor have they tempered a penchant for playing games that's going to cause no end of trouble.

Silvio and Paulie (Steven Van Zandt and Tony Sirico)

Still loyal; still alive. Those are rare accomplishments for a DiMeo henchman.

Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni (Vince Curatola)

Many of Tony's current problems can be traced to the decline of former Lupertazzi boss Johnny Sack, an ally who promoted peace between and within the two families. Johnny, however, lost his hold on his job when he was sent to jail, and he may now lose his hold on his life.

Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent)

The heart attack that inspired Tony's peace overtures still hampers Phil, who has stepped away from active control of the family and is considering retirement. His detachment has led to a power struggle that once again threatens to shatter into open war if Phil's own unabated anger over the murder of his younger brother doesn't start the blood flowing first.


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http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2007-04-05-the-sopranos_N.htm?csp=34

Masterful 'Sopranos': Past weighs heavily as final act opens


The Sopranos
* 1/2(out of four)
HBO, Sunday, 9 ET/PT

'SOPRANOS' FINAL ACT

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

In no show is the present more infused with the past — or in fear of the future — than The Sopranos.

Past sins and slights haunt every action and character in this unassailable TV classic, which returns Sunday for a final nine-episode run. So brilliantly and intricately is the show played and designed, you can almost feel the weight of prior transgressions pressing in on Tony and Carm — James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, whose performances separately and as a couple have been equaled but never exceeded.

Yet that realistic insistence that past be prologue is a problem as well as a pleasure for The Sopranos. Seldom has a story been richer, and never has a show arrived with higher expectations or with more self-inflicted pressures — which is the cost of keeping people hanging for pretty near three years to see how the story ends.

And the wait is not over. The two episodes that open the final run are, as Sopranos episodes tend to be, masterful examples of the TV art — tense, terrifically acted, carefully observed one-hour plays that delve ever more deeply into the characters while pushing the story slightly forward. They set the concluding mood and the theme, that of family issues coming to a head. But they don't do much to move us toward the conclusion, and that may not sit well with viewers who have clamored, if not for the end, at least for the end to begin.

Still, Tony clearly feels some end approaching, as his oncoming 47th birthday has left him pondering his legacy and his mortality. He has cobbled together a peace agreement with the New York Mob, but it's no more stable than his family — as reflected by a chillingly amusing game of Monopoly that Tony and Carm play with Janice (Aida Turturro) and Bobby (Steven R. Schirripa). These are people, we are continually reminded, who believe in all the rules except the ones that would constrain them.


As always, humor, violence and sheer genius abound here, from the seamless way Gandolfini moves from confession to recrimination, to the way the show conveys the disorienting shock of violence through sights and sounds that disorient us. There is no glamour in The Sopranos view of the Mob, only an unrelenting, unaware, thuggish brutality.

Yet like the characters themselves, the story has been stretched to the breaking point. It seems clear The Sopranos would have done better, and been better, had it moved to its conclusion more quickly rather than lingering on stories last spring that began to challenge viewers' interest and affection.

Still, though that may not be an unreasonable demand, it is in essence a pointless one. David Chase, the driving force behind the show, moves at his own pace and weaves the story as he sees fit. He has willingly traded popularity for artistic integrity, a bargain he has been able to make because the art has so often been impeccable.

Barring some drastic change of heart on Chase's part, Tony's story is now written and done and neither praise nor complaint can alter the direction Chase has chosen.

So for now, perhaps, the wisest course is to put aside concerns and wishes for how the show should end and allow it to play out as Chase intends. Cherish the past, embrace the present and let the future take care of itself.

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http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-04-05-the-sopranos-goodbye_N.htm?csp=34

We won't forget this thing of ours

'SOPRANOS' FINAL ACT

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

Family reunions can be fraught with conflict and drama, but here's one we'll really miss: After three reprieves, The Sopranos ends its eight-year run with nine final episodes that begin Sunday (9 ET/PT).

With them, the series leaves behind a rich legacy: It transformed television with its complex characters, elliptical storytelling and steadfast refusal to neatly tie up loose ends. It tested viewers' patience and rewarded their loyalty.

It sparked a wave of gritty cable series and led broadcast networks to enviously take notice and (unsuccessfully) build shows around evil men (NBC's Kingpin, CBS' Smith) even as they lost viewers.

And it helped transform HBO from a premium channel watched mostly for boxing, soft-core porn and films into a cultural touchstone.

Fan Josh Simmons of Pawleys Island, S.C., calls it simply "the greatest show of all time." Jeff Comfort of South Bend, Ind., says its depth has earned it a place among TV's biggest gems. "The Sopranos will be regarded as television literature to be watched, studied, and enjoyed as the incredible piece of work that it is," he says.


Creator David Chase, modest in discussing the show's influence, says: "People always ask me how the show changed television, and I don't really believe we have. Our primary goal was to do episodes where you couldn't figure out where things were going; we tried to make it that every episode people couldn't predict."

A 'Dickensian novel'

But when the series began in 1999, the very idea of a crime boss as TV star was anathema to networks, which stuck on the formula of likable, advertiser-friendly heroes whom viewers could root for.

"There never had been a true anti-hero at the center of a show until The Sopranos came along," says John Landgraf, president of the FX cable network. And the show "proved it can work not only as excellent television but as commercial entertainment." The Sopranos' audience peaked at more than 13 million viewers in 2002, a solid number for any major network but unheard of for a pay channel that reaches just one in three homes.

And unlike other soapy sagas, the series was structured as "a series of chapters in a long Dickensian novel," Landgraf says, that would casually abandon unresolved plotlines and abruptly revisit themes years later "using a novelistic structure to observe truths about the human condition. It all adds up to one large literary piece."

Though The Sopranos is ostensibly about a middle-aged Mafia boss navigating the twin demands of his family and his "family," at its best the show speaks universal truths about loyalty and frailty.

Says Museum of Television and Radio curator Ron Simon, "The show was able to create a professional and personal world for Tony Soprano which reflected what it was like to be a middle manager in 20th-century America."

TV historian Tim Brooks says The Sopranos' biggest influence was on Hollywood, where it heightened the "dismemberment quotient" of other prime-time series, led by CSI, which premiered 18 months later. Simon concurs that the show, despite airing on a pay-cable channel with no content restrictions, "loosened the reins" for others.

Basic cable steps in

FX was the biggest beneficiary. The network's stable of original programming is a direct descendant of The Sopranos' success, and its former executives — now the top programmers at NBC and Fox — often said FX's goal was to be seen as the HBO of basic cable. The Shield, with its murderous cop; Rescue Me, centered on an alcoholic, wife-abusing fireman; and Nip/Tuck, with its lying, cheating plastic surgeons, all owed a debt to Tony's crew in their raw explicitness.

Even the more rigidly censored broadcast networks spawned flawed heroes such as Fox's Dr. House and virtually every character on Lost — each of whom, it has been revealed, committed murder or some other sin before being stranded on the island.

The Mob hit's effect was keenly felt at HBO itself. Arriving in January 1999, seven months after Sex and the City, "The Sopranos made us famous," HBO chairman Chris Albrecht says. "Before, we were something people had but didn't pay a lot of attention to. But this showed us as players in this medium in a way we hadn't been perceived before. It was a real turning point and a tremendous calling card for other people to come and want to do business with us."

It was also a nice piece of business. Despite a huge price tag — the show now costs about $10 million an hour, nearly four times the price of a typical network drama — the series has become a cash cow. HBO has so far sold 3 million DVD sets and peddled cleaned-up reruns to cable's A&E network for a record-setting $2.5 million an episode in a deal worth more than $200 million.

But the well will soon dry up, and HBO has yet to even approach The Sopranos' success with any new show that has come since.

"It's way more difficult, but not impossible" to achieve, Albrecht says. "When Sopranos went on the air, there were probably six networks making series; there's dozens now" as basic-cable networks, and creatively revived rival Showtime, have siphoned viewers.

This summer, HBO plans a record four Sunday series, including the returning Big Love, about a polygamous family, and the new John From Cincinnati, a drama about a mystical surfer. And the network may expand to a second night.

To some extent, The Sopranos' success made the show its own victim, as a whirlwind of hype and obsession split viewers into camps: those lured by mobsters and mayhem, and others who appreciated the drama of an upper-middle-class, suburban New Jersey family coping with many of the same issues that they were: aging parents, wayward children, midlife crises.

Awaiting the next whacking

Ratings fell as gaps between seasons grew longer. And the bloodlust camp grew restless with the domestic drama, devoting obsessive attention to a parlor game of predicting which character would get "whacked" next.

After the second season closed with the seaborne execution of FBI informant Big Pussy, "People started treating it like it was Survivor: 'Who's going to die?', as if every season someone had to go," says Michael Imperioli, who plays Soprano lieutenant Christopher Moltisanti. "So everything got compared to that, and you'd hear there's not enough blood, there's not enough killing, and that was never the object of the show."

Still, The Sopranos continued to earn praise. It won 18 Emmys, including best drama in 2004. Chase planned to end the show after Season 4 but extended it three times because there were stories left to tell. (Huge paydays for top producers and actors didn't hurt.)

Though he mapped out how the series would end a few years ago, he kept going because "I never finished out the (Uncle) Junior story. There were things I wanted to do with Janice … Tony and A.J. … Meadow. We saw them as young children, and I wanted to finish out their story as young adults, to see how it all turned out for them."

Though shooting ends this month, the bullets will fly until June 10, when The Sopranos breathes its last. Except for star James Gandolfini, cast members are as sorry as fans to see it go.

"I'm profoundly sad, surprisingly so," three-time Emmy winner Edie Falco says. "You live this character for 10 years. As pretend as it may be, it starts to get under your skin."

But some die-hards will never let the show's memory be whacked. "I will forever be a fan," Simmons says. "I love this show and everything about it, and my living room, which is covered in framed Sopranos posters and memorabilia, will make sure that the show will never end for me."

Chase says he's "honored that people feel that way." And aside from a glint of doubt when he wrote the final episode, he doesn't regret the latest — and final — decision to end the series.

"The show business saying is, 'keep 'em wanting more.' I'm just glad they do."

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http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-03-22-the-sopranos_n.htm

Jersey ready for life without 'Sopranos'



The Sopranos gang hangs out in front of the fictional meat store Satriale's. The building will be torn down after the series finale this spring.

By Janet Frankston Lorin, Associated Press Writer
KEARNY, N.J. — When the pig is on the roof, people know The Sopranos are not far behind.

The life-size pig sits on an old boarded-up building that will soon come to life as Satriale's, a fictional pork store where Tony Soprano and his Jersey crew hang out on HBO's acclaimed mob drama.

As the show begins its final season on April 8, scores of Jersey businesses and residents are preparing for life without the cast and crew they have encountered over the past eight years.

The show is mostly filmed at a New York City soundstage, but many scenes are shot in the Garden State to provide a real Jersey feel. Most towns and business owners welcome The Sopranos— they get to watch the filming, snap photos of the actors and even earn some money.

Many scenes have been shot in Kearny, a working-class town across the Passaic River from Newark and about nine miles west of Manhattan. Residents have learned to recognize hints that a shoot is imminent.

"When you see those signs going up on the poles when you drive down Kearny Avenue, then you know it's getting close," Kearny Mayor Alberto Santos said, referring to the fliers advising residents that streets will be closed. "And when the pig goes on the roof, you know it's really close."

And when The Sopranos are in town, you do what they say — for a price.

The Irish-American Association, which occupies the building next to Satriale's, takes down its Irish flag and flies an Italian flag during filming. The association has been paid $20,000 in rental fees over the years, said Richard Dunleavy, past vice president. The town of Kearny has collected permit fees of $76,650.

"I'm sorry this will be the last season," Dunleavy said. "They will be missed."

The end of the show also will mean a different look for various Sopranos locales. The Satriale's building will be torn down and replaced with condos and a parking garage. In nearby Lodi, the Satin Dolls strip club, better known as the Bada Bing, will be renovated.

"It's an old building," said Satin Dolls general manager Nick D'Urso. "We like to keep up with current trends and keep a fresh face on the nightclub."

While Kearny is a regular spot, scouts were always looking for sites across Jersey to illustrate the scripts, said Regina Heyman, the show's location manager and a Jersey girl who grew up in Montclair. She said show creator David Chase is "avid about wanting it to be authentic. He grew up there. He wrote it for there."

The show employs four full-time scouts who drive around the state, sometimes for days, before finding a restaurant, office building or home to match what the writers dreamed up.

Scouts looked at 25 houses before they found Janet Cole's 121-year-old home, which was used for an episode in which Tony dreams he's gone to heaven and is visited by his dead cousin, played by Steve Buscemi.

"We weren't really sure if we wanted to do it and it would depend on the content of that particular episode," said Cole, who hadn't seen the show and watched DVDs to get a better sense of it. The family agreed, and had a great time watching the overnight shoot.

Other locations weren't as hard to find, such as a retirement community in West Orange called Green Hill. It became the setting for Green Grove, a fictional retirement community where Tony's mother, Livia, lived early on in the series and emerged again last season.

"I think the inspiration for Green Grove came because David Chase had his mom at Green Hill awhile ago when it first started," said Toni Davis, Green Hill's executive director.

When the scouts needed a conference room with a view of downtown Newark for an office scene, they eventually found attorney Kevin Marino, who was thrilled.

"They shot one scene and so much effort went into it," he said. "You really get a sense that a lot of hours go into just a few minutes."

There's a familiar aftermath at a half-dozen other sites around northern New Jersey where the show has filmed: photos of the actors and tales of invasion by dozens of cast and crewmembers.

They spent a day at Clear Eyes RX in Wayne, which fronted as an optical store owned by Ginny Sack's brother. Co-owner Fred Siwiec was surprised at how many technicians came in to change all the light bulbs, take measurements and hang their own posters for the merchandise.

"It was amazing to watch," he said, standing in front of photos of himself and Paulie. The business was compensated $6,000, he said.

The scouts eventually found Nori Sushi in Wayne for a scene where Carmela and Tony dine. Heyman said the script called for a specific look, and the restaurant also had to hold 75 people.

"There were plenty that didn't fit the bill of being in a strip mall," she said. "Once you find (the right place), the layout doesn't always work. A lot of sushi restaurants are small."

The show's work on location also has led to friendship and hospitality. Members of the Irish-American Association, the building next to the pork store in Kearny, have shared drinks with the cast and crew. But Dunleavy has yet to score an autograph from James Gandolfini, who plays Tony.

"Getting to Tony is like getting a meeting with the pope," he said. "So I just left him alone and hope to get my picture with him before he finishes up this job."

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http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-03-29-sopranos-cover_N.htm

Gandolfini, Iler sit down for father-son chat

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

NEW YORK — Robert Iler doesn't recall much about that summer in 1997, when at age 12 the former Pizza Hut pitchman won the role of a mobster's bratty son in the pilot episode of an edgy new cable drama.

"I just remember not wanting to be there. I wanted to be hanging out with my friends," Iler says.

Excitement built, even as veteran co-stars cautioned him that the odds were against the show ever becoming a series. "This is probably the last time you'll see any of us," he was told by Tony Sirico, who plays hot-tempered lieutenant Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri.

Ten years later, the cast of The Sopranos finally is preparing to say goodbye. Production is set to end on HBO's biggest hit — and one of TV's seminal series — just as nine final episodes begin airing April 8.

But not before the ties between Iler's Anthony Jr. ("A.J.") and Mob boss dad Tony take center stage, James Gandolfini, 45, and Iler, 22, reveal in their only joint interview, at a sprawling sports and studio complex on Manhattan's West Side.

"The relationship between A.J. and the parents is a very big part of the season," Gandolfini says. In burying the series after eight years and 86 episodes, creator David Chase explores the generational divide and the strange pull of the Mob "family" on the Soprano family, the heart of the series.

Last season, wayward teen A.J. dropped out of a local college, got fired from Blockbuster for stealing and was eager to stab his great-uncle Junior in retaliation for an attack that left Tony hospitalized in critical condition. In doing so, A.J. would have thrust himself into the mobster's life of crime.

For all the bravado, "Tony as a 19-year-old would have eaten A.J. as a 19-year-old alive, would've taken his lunch money," says Gandolfini, quoting a description by Sopranos writer/producer Terence Winter.

But as a parent, Tony has changed his tune.

"In the scene where he was going to go stab Uncle Junior, maybe in a different world Tony's father would have encouraged behavior like that, whereas Tony's like: 'You make me want to cry. You can't do this. I don't want you to do this for a living,' " Gandolfini says. "And (Tony) says to him, 'You're a good guy. You're a nice guy. You're not cut out for this kind of (stuff).' "

Do the actors bring any of their own upbringing to their TV personas? "I'm sure we do. My father used to swat me on the back of the head occasionally, which I did to him on the show," Gandolfini says, gesturing to Iler. "My father used to call me gogoots, which I didn't even tell David, and he wrote it into the show. I think it means eggplant." (Actually it's a squash, but colloquially it's an affectionate term for a stupid person.)

"His family is very old-world Italian, like mine," he says.

An unusually reflective Gandolfini speaks of a generational divide, calling Tony and his wife, Carmela, a different breed from his notoriously cold and psychologically abusive mother, Livia, as played by the late Nancy Marchand.

"We're better parents, but I don't think that's necessarily good in a way," Gandolfini says.

"Because we've become dependent?" Iler asks.

"Yeah, maybe," Gandolfini responds. "One way to look at it is they're going to toughen up when they have to. Another way to look at it is if you give them (grief) right away, they're used to it."

Which could just as easily apply off-screen.

The show's aura of authenticity also provides eerie parallels for the actors, who prefer not to discuss them. Iler pleaded guilty to robbery and drug possession in an incident in 2001; Gandolfini was in the midst of a messy divorce just as Tony and Carmela separated on-screen late in 2002.

"The show has a lot of real-life situations, not TV situations, so it's bound to happen in real life, too. And that can get a little weird," Gandolfini allows.

And it was just as strange for the adolescent Iler. "I was going from being at home arguing with my mom to going to work and arguing with my (TV) mom," Edie Falco. "It was weird; it was a great experience. I'm thinking about it now, how much I'm going to miss it. I don't know if it's fully hit me. This is going to be the first time since I'm 12 years old that I'm going to be unemployed."

Alone among his castmates, Gandolfini is itching to get out, saying that though he'll miss the cast and crew, the intensity of playing Tony for so long has taken its toll. "It's like you take a sponge and you wring out the sponge and then, you know, it's empty. After a while you've been to too many of the same places, and it's time to explore something new."

HBO chairman Chris Albrecht understands the three-time Emmy winner's emotions as the series winds down. "No one has had to take a character on this length of a journey, on this depth of a journey, through as long a period," he says.

And like a proud papa, Gandolfini is impressed with Iler's blossoming in upcoming episodes. (He's forbidden from describing them because of Chase's notorious penchant for secrecy.) Iler, he says, has "done incredible work this year; some of the scenes shocked me. I really was taken aback about how powerful some of the stuff was. Wow."

And Iler, who grew up in an Irish family, says that "after working with these people for 10 years, a part of me has become almost like Italian. I see myself pick up Italian mannerisms, little sayings. When you grow up with an Irish family, you say 'Cheers' I guess, but now, whenever I'm with my friends, it's like, 'Cent'ann'." It started like a joke between me and my friends, but now it's what I say."

Gandolfini grins, noting that "95% of the people on the show are Italian, really Italian." So for him, "it wasn't that big a stretch. I have an Uncle Al who reminds me of Uncle Junior. The only difference is the Mob stuff."

As for The End —the long-awaited and much-speculated-about conclusion to the often-violent drama — the series' final scene was shot last week at an ice-cream parlor in Bloomfield, N.J. The filming attracted throngs of nostalgic onlookers, although other scenes remain to be filmed before the series wraps its production in mid-April.

Betting sites are laying odds on which regular characters get whacked before it's all over and which loose ends are tied up. On that front, don't count on too many, thanks to the unconventional interests of creator David Chase.

But after all that has come before, the series finale "makes sense," says Michael Imperioli, who plays Soprano deputy (and cousin) Christopher, though, like life, "it's never really cut-and-dried and clean."

Adds Falco, Tony's wife, Carmela: "It's as unpredictable as everything else in this show."

Fans continue to be frustrated specifically by Chase's refusal to revisit the whereabouts of Valery, the Russian mobster last seen in "Pine Barrens," a beloved third-season episode in which Christopher and Paulie get lost in the Jersey woods.

"David has a vision of what he wants to do; he's not going to do something to have a nice clean ending, to have the audience satisfied that the Russian guy" reappears, Gandolfini says.

As the cast finished the final "table read," a run-through in which actors read through the script, "we all kind of sat there," he says. "I think for five minutes nobody said anything. It just kind of felt satisfying. Nobody was like, 'Whaaaa?' "

The actor had higher expectations than anybody: "I didn't want it to go out like something I didn't like. And I should have known he wouldn't do that."

When it ends, Iler has nothing lined up yet, but he says, "I want to start working right away." Gandolfini, who starred in a few films during the Sopranos run, plans to take some time off; he also is producing an HBO documentary about American soldiers wounded in Iraq.

But he's no longer sentimental about Tony Soprano, the character with whom he'll be forever indelibly linked: "No more beatings for a while and no more yelling for a while will be good. But I don't know what else I'm going to (expletive) play."

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http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/2007-03-28-1880071670_x.htm

Whacked 'Sopranos' actors recall exits

By Jake Coyle, AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK — David Chase looks like a nice guy. The 61-year-old television writer and producer is slight, wry and direct. But with a mere phone call, he strikes fear in the heart of actors -- after all, his rap sheet is a mile long.

As creator and executive producer of the beloved, violent "Sopranos," Chase has sent character after character to his or her demise, held up for sacrifice to the gods of taut, uncompromising drama.

Five of the actors who were whacked by Chase in their previous fictional life on the HBO mob drama, sat down with their executioner Wednesday night at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York.

Steve Buscemi (Tony Blundetto), Drea de Matteo (Adriana La Cerva), Vincent Pastore (Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero), David Proval (Richie Aprile) and Annabella Sciorra (Gloria Trillo) reflected on their fate in a panel discussion that also included "Sopranos" executive producer Terence Winter and was moderated by Bryant Gumbel.

"It's not a big deal to me," Chase stated flatly at the start. "These are not real people."

Their deaths came in a variety of ways: A shotgun blast on a country porch, offing in the woods, execution at sea, a bullet to the head over dinner and suicide off-screen -- all endings woven into the often-ugly fabric of New Jersey mob life depicted in "The Sopranos." The show, which began in 1999, starts its final season April 8.

The actors all said they have come to understand the reasons for their character's killings as befitting the show's grim reality.

"What are you going to do, put him in witness protection? That's NBC," said Pastore, whose character was discovered to be a police informant.

But while the deaths are obviously fictional, they can also be a severe blow to an actor's career and happiness. Getting the bad news from Chase can be shocking.

"I begged," said Sciorra, who played a depressed lover of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) who killed herself.

Proval's character was dispatched by Janice Soprano (Aida Turturro) after Aprile smacked her. Having learned of his fate, Proval received another call from Chase and asked, "Is this the governor's office? Is there a reprieve?"

Buscemi was scheduled to remain for two seasons, but his arc was cut short after his character, a loose-cannon cousin of Tony's, committed a murder Chase afterward realized would require comeuppance. Chase called it "a blunder."

"I was really, really sad," said Buscemi. "That's really just about missing the greatest job I've ever had."

Buscemi could be considered a pro at being murdered; he's developed a reputation for portraying characters that die, from "Fargo" to "Reservoir Dogs."

For de Matteo the conclusion of her character was especially painful since "The Sopranos" had done so much for her career. She alluded to difficulty she's had since leaving the HBO show -- she went on to the NBC sitcom "Joey," which concluded last year.

"They killed me on HBO, and then I went to NBC to commit complete suicide," said de Matteo, drawing a roomful of laughter. "I can't lie. I was still in love with Adriana."

For her final, tearful scenes, de Matteo said she channeled her real-life grief, thinking: "My career is over, oh my God!"

Each of the actors were able to take refuge in leaving with, as Proval said, "a top-notch exit." Chase explained that he's proud no character has ever died "face down in a bowl of linguini." He said the deaths come as the story dictates -- that characters aren't lined up "like cannon fodder."

Buscemi, de Matteo, Pastore, Proval and Sciorra all showed that the wound from being whacked still smarts, even years later. But their abiding love for "The Sopranos" was abundantly clear, and the evening conversation together long after-the-fact was, as Proval said, "like therapy."

Posted on Apr 7, 2007, 3:54 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

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by Unca' Joon' (no login)

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-06-05-sopranos-finale_x.htm



'The Sopranos' ends on disappointing note

NEW YORK (AP) — A disappointing season of The Sopranos ended disappointingly Sunday as nothing ... much ... happened.

Having started strong last March with the near-fatal shooting of mob boss Tony Soprano by his senile Uncle Junior, the sixth season of this HBO drama seemed to wilt, week to week, in synch with Tony's recovery.

The inevitable murder of Soprano captain Vito Spatafore — offed by fellow mobsters for being gay — had taken place in the next-to-last episode. But proving somewhat anti-climactic, it only whetted the audience's appetite for a decisive dramatic finish to the 12-episode season.

That didn't happen. (Spoiler warning: Read no further if you don't want to find out what did.)

Leaving viewers with neither a satisfying resolution nor a startling cliffhanger, the episode served mainly to drop a few hints of what might (or, then again, might not) happen in the series' final eight installments, airing next year.

Two potential biggies:

• An FBI agent warned New Jersey boss Tony that his riled-up New York rivals may have something unpleasant in store.

"Someone close to you may be in danger," Agent Harris told Tony (series star James Gandolfini) between bites of a hero sandwich at the pork store.

His intel was sound. In an earlier scene, viewers saw acting New York boss Phil Leotardo being urged by an associate to "pick somebody over there" to whack.

Tony's consigliere Silvio Dante? Christopher Moltisanti? No candidate was specified.

But later in the hour, Leotardo suffered a serious heart attack. Tony went to his Brooklyn hospital room to wish him well and try to make peace.

"We can have it all, Phil," said Tony at his bedside, taking his hand — "plenty for everybody."

• Tony's wife Carmela (Edie Falco) was still haunted by the disappearance of Adriana, Christopher's fiancee, who hasn't been heard from (except in Carmela's feverish dreams) since last season. Carmela seemed bent on hiring a detective to track her down, little suspecting that Silvio shot Adriana at Tony's orders and with Christopher's support after she had told him the Feds forced her to inform on Tony's operations.

What if Carmela discovered the truth? Except, late in the episode, she tossed aside the detective's business card. She seemed to lose interest.

A surprise: Ne'er-do-well teenage son A.J., forced by Tony to get a job in construction, met a sexy single mom at the work site, and instantly grew up. He became an attentive boyfriend and a loving surrogate dad to his girlfriend's 3-year-old son.

But what of perpetual screwup Christopher (Michael Imperioli), a captain in Tony's crew as well as his nephew?

After a quickie marriage to pregnant girlfriend Kelli a few episodes back, he seemed on the verge of a dicey clash in the finale. At an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, he hooked up with Julianna Skiff, a lovely real estate agent who, by chance, Tony had done business with — and still had unfinished business with.

With his new wife expecting, "the playground's closed" (as Christopher explained to his cronies), so he launched into a torrid affair with Julianna (played by Julianna Margulies), while keeping Tony in the dark that they were an item.

Would Tony go ballistic when he found out? Not quite. Christopher eventually got around to fessing up and Tony's response seemed little more than routine peevishness.

"This is my reward," he grumbled later to Dr. Melfi in their psychiatric session, self-pityingly noting that he could have bedded Julianna when they first met but had yielded to an odd urge to be loyal to his wife.

Even so, Christopher wasn't out of the woods. While Kelli waited, unsuspecting, in the new house he bought for her, he and Julianna were finding they had more in common than sexual heat. They jointly relapsed into booze and drug abuse.

"You know what's interesting," Christopher told her one night as they lay around her living room in a narcotized stupor: "Us being able to use again, but integrating it into our lives."

"Yeah," she agreed, proudly adding, "We don't use needles."

As Sopranos viewers know well, this wasn't Christopher's first brush with substance abuse, and sooner or later his luck bouncing back could run out.

But not sooner. The episode, and the season, ended with a big Christmas Eve gathering at the Sopranos' home, with Christopher and Kelli among those on hand.

Silent Night was being crooned on the stereo. The scene faded to black. And viewers who had hoped for a few treats to tide them over till next season found The Sopranos behaving like Scrooge.





Posted on Apr 7, 2007, 4:01 PM

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Finale ratings

by Anonymous (no login)

by DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - The 11.9 million viewers who watched "The Sopranos" finale brought HBO to the edge of a historic feat: a show on a pay cable network available in about 30 million homes was more popular last week than all but one


Only the premiere of NBC's "America's Got Talent," with 13 million viewers, did better, Nielsen Media Research said.

ABC, CBS and Fox are all available in 111 million homes for no extra charge, and nothing they aired last week did better than "The Sopranos."

It was the fourth most-watched episode of "The Sopranos" since the epic mob drama premiered on HBO in 1999, and best since the 2004 season premiere. With on-demand services, multiple showings on HBO this week and DVR recording, it's almost impossible to draw a bead on how many people will actually watch the finale.

And it seemed like everyone who watched had a strong opinion about the finale, which ended abruptly during a scene with Tony Soprano and his family at a diner.

With angry calls for creator David Chase to talk about his motives, he declined in an interview with The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. posted on Tuesday. Chase grew up in New Jersey, where the series was set.

"I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," Chase told the newspaper.

"People get the impression that you're trying to (mess) with them, and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them," he said. "Anybody who wants to watch it, it's all there."

Chase also said he doubted he would make a movie version of the series. "I think we've kind of said it and done it," he said.

"The Sopranos" finale topped both Game 2 of the
NBA Finals (8.6 million) and the
Tony Awards (6.2 million) in direct competition Sunday night, Nielsen said.

Hit-starved NBC was encouraged by the showing of "America's Got Talent." It joined two other games, two versions of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" and NBC's "Deal or No Deal," among Nielsen's top 5.

For the week, CBS averaged 7.2 million viewers (4.9 rating, 9 share), Fox had 6.1 million (3.9, 7), ABC had 5.7 million (3.8, 7), NBC had 5.1 million (3.8, 7), the CW had 2 million (1.3, 2), My Network TV had 860,000 (0.6, 1) and ION Television had 640,000 (0.4, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 3.7 million (1.9, 3), Telemundo had 1 million (0.6, 1), TeleFutura had 480,000 (0.3, 1) and Azteca had 110,000 (0.1, 0).

ABC's "World News" won the evening-news ratings race, averaging 7.7 million viewers (5.4, 12). NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.4 million viewers (5.3, 12) and the "CBS Evening News" had 6 million (4.3, 9).

A ratings point represents 1,114,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 111.4 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of June 4-10, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "America's Got Talent," NBC, 13 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 11.27 million; "So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 11.07 million; "So You Think You Can Dance" (Wednesday), Fox, 10.35 million; "Deal or No Deal" (Tuesday), NBC, 10.11 million; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 10.04 million; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 9.49 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.46 million; "NCIS," CBS, 9.36 million; "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader," Fox, 9.32 million.

___

Posted on Jun 12, 2007, 7:41 PM

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David Chase on the finale

by Anonymous (no login)

From Reuters at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070612/tv_nm/sopranos_dc_14;_ylt=AuONvocD5IvDrCQydRdLVbQE1vAI :

Sopranos" creator defends uncertain ending
Tue Jun 12, 2:41 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many "Sopranos" fans were furious at Sunday's unresolved ending, but show creator David Chase said he didn't mean to annoy anybody, and for those left wanting more he didn't rule out a movie based on the series.


After building tension for six seasons over 8-1/2 years, "The Sopranos," one of America's most critically acclaimed television shows, ended with a black screen. But for the nearly 12 million viewers tuning in, there was no clear answer to the big question -- would mob boss Tony Soprano survive or get whacked?

"I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," Chase told New Jersey newspaper The Star-Ledger in an interview from France where he was on vacation while avoiding the media frenzy.

"No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God," the paper quoted him as saying. "We did what we thought we had to do. No one was trying to blow people's minds or thinking, 'Wow, this'll (tick) them off."'

"People get the impression that you're trying to (mess) with them, and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them."'

The Star-Ledger, the real-life local paper in northern New Jersey where the show is set, said Chase agreed to the interview before the season began and before he decided to go to France to avoid day-after debates over the final episode.

In the final moments of the show, Tony Soprano, played by
James Gandolfini, was munching onion rings in a New Jersey diner surrounded by a smiling family.

A guy looking like a hit man had entered the restroom behind Tony and might be expected to come back out and kill the entire family, but then the screen went black for several seconds, leaving viewers to guess what happened next.

The blackout left many viewers dismayed or convinced they had lost reception. HBO, the Time Warner Inc.-owned pay-cable channel that launched "The Sopranos" in 1999, was immediately flooded with e-mails.

Asked whether the ambiguous ending was a way of setting up a movie, Chase said: "I don't think about (a movie) much."

"I never say never. An idea could pop into my head where I would go, 'Wow, that would make a great movie,' but I doubt it," The Star-Ledger quoted him as saying.

"I'm not being coy," he added. "If something appeared that really made a good 'Sopranos' movie, and you could invest in it and everybody else wanted to do it, I would do it. But I think we've kind of said it and done it."

Sunday's show drew 11.9 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched episode ever behind the 2002 fourth season debut (13.4 million), the finale of that season (12.5 million), and the debut of season five in 2004 (12.1 million), HBO said.

"The Sopranos," which averaged 7.8 million viewers in its Sunday airings this season, also topped the night's most watched program on broadcast television -- CBS news magazine "60 Minutes," which drew 9.5 million viewers.

Posted on Jun 13, 2007, 7:26 PM

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AP article on finale

by Anonymous (no login)

'Sopranos' last episode leaves much up in the air


NEW YORK (AP) -- Tony Soprano carries on.

The much-awaited conclusion of HBO's "The Sopranos" arrived Sunday night in a frenzy of audience speculation. Would New Jersey mob boss Soprano live or be killed? Would his family die before his eyes? Would he go to jail? Be forced to enter witness protection? Would Brooklyn boss Phil Leotardo, who had ordered a hit on Tony, prevail?

In the end, the only ending that mattered was the one masterminded by "Sopranos" creator David Chase. And playing against viewer expectations, as always, Chase refused to stage a mass extermination, or put the characters through major transformations, or even provide any kind of comfortable closure.

The most decisive development: Leotardo was crushed. But there were few other tidy resolutions. (Blog: What did you think?)

The series' 86th and final episode was brilliant yet perversely non-earthshaking -- just one last visit with the characters we have followed so devoutly since 1999. (EW: This is how it endsexternal link)

Here was the funeral for Bobby Bacala, Tony's soldier and brother-in-law, who was shot dead on Leotardo's orders last week. Here was Tony (series star James Gandolfini) paying a hospital visit to his gravely injured consigliere, Silvio Dante, also targeted by Leotardo.

Tony's ne'er-do-well son A.J. (Robert Iler) continued to wail about the misery in the world, and voiced a fleeting urge to join the Army and go fight in Afghanistan (Tony persuaded him to get involved in filmmaking, instead). Daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) harped on her plans to be a lawyer.

Tony visits his senile Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) at the nursing home. "You and my dad, you two ran North Jersey," Tony prompts him.

"We did?" said Uncle Junior with no sign of recognition. "That's nice."

Despite suspicions to the contrary, neither Paulie Walnuts nor Patsy Parisi sold out Tony. And neither was whacked. Dr. Melfi, who kicked Tony out of therapy last week, made no last-minute appearance.

Sure, headaches lie ahead for Tony. The Feds are still after him. And Meadow's fiance, Patsy Jr., is a lawyer who may well be pursuing cases that intrude on Tony's business interests.

So what else is new?

The finale displayed their lives continuing, for better and worse, unaffected by the fact that the series is done. The implication was, they will go on as usual. We just won't be able to watch.

Of course, Leotardo (Frank Vincent) hit a dead end after Tony located him with the help of his favorite federal agent. The execution was a quick but classic "Sopranos" scene: Pulling up at a gas station with his wife, Leotardo made a grand show of telling his two young grandchildren in the back seat to "wave bye-bye" as he emerged from his SUV. The next moment he was on the pavement, shot in the head.

Then you heard the car roll over his head. Crunch! Quick, clinical, even comical, this was the only violence during the hour.

Not that Chase (who wrote and directed this episode) didn't tease viewers with the threat of death in almost every scene.

This was never more true than in the final sequence. On the surface, it was nothing more momentous than Tony, his wife, Carmela (Edie Falco), Meadow and A.J. meeting for dinner at a cozy family restaurant.

When he arrived, Tony dropped a coin in the jukebox and played the classic Journey power ballad "Don't Stop Believing." Meanwhile, every moment seemed to foreshadow disaster: Suspicious-looking people coming in the door or sitting at a nearby table. Meadow on the street having trouble parallel parking her car. With every passing second, the audience was primed for tragedy. It was a scene both warm and fuzzy yet full of dread, setting every viewer's heart racing for no clear reason.

But nothing would happen. It was just a family gathering for dinner at a restaurant. Four people among many.

But then -- with a jingle of the bell on the front door, Tony looked up, apparently seeing Meadow make her delayed entrance. Or could he have seen something awful -- something he certainly deserved -- about to come down?

Probably not. Almost certainly a false alarm. But we'll never know. With that, "The Sopranos" cut to black, leaving us nourished after eight years. And flustered. And fated to always wonder what happened next.



Posted on Jun 13, 2007, 7:32 PM

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Albuquerque Tribune article

by Anonymous (no login)

A big `Sopranos' finale? Just you fuhgeddaboudit!
Analysis By J.A. Montalbano
Monday, June 11, 2007



In the end, we realize life is a journey. Or maybe it's just a Journey song.

To the strains of "Don't Stop Believin' " - and then to an ominous black screen that must have had millions cursing their cable provider before the credits finally rolled in silence - "The Sopranos" faded into history.

"Is this all there is?" Tony Soprano wondered to his shrink earlier this season. Some viewers probably asked the same thing after Sunday's finale on HBO. Or maybe they phrased it more like "Are you freakin' kidding me?"

In his predictably unpredictable manner, series creator David Chase (who wrote and directed the swan song) toned down the violence and played up the mundane. Despite having a target on his back the whole episode, Tony was constantly joking. He complained about his mother to a new psychiatrist and nagged his son about household chores.

(SNITCH ALERT: We're about to spill the beans about Sunday night's series finale. So, if you didn't watch it - and how could you have waited this long? - come back and finish reading later.)

In the end, Tony outfoxed his rival, Phil Leotardo, by making a deal with the Brooklyn boss's underlings and finally putting to good use the previous Brooklyn leader's inept son, Little Carmine, as broker.

Leotardo's execution in front of his wife and grandchildren was the only violence in the episode. (And not only did he get shot, but the rear wheel of one of those ubiquitous SUVs splattered his head.)

In the series' final scene, Tony - informed he faces almost certain indictment because one of his captains, Carlo, is talking to the feds - sits in a diner, waiting for his family to arrive. He flips through the selections on the tableside jukebox - "This Magic Moment," "Magic Man," Tony Bennett, classic rock - reminding us how integral the show's soundtrack has always been.

His family members show up one by one. Doom hangs in the air amid their ordinary banter. As the Journey song blares, we see suspicious characters come and go. Daughter Meadow is the last one to arrive, and she is flustered trying to parallel park.

Meadow, seemingly in a panic, runs toward the restaurant's front door. Was she merely worried about being late? Had she just found out she's pregnant? Does she know something's about to happen in the restaurant?

As Tony looks up to see his daughter arrive and Steve Perry croons "Don't stop," the screen goes black and silent for 10 seconds. Then the credits. The music's over.

Just another family dinner and a bittersweet ending? Or did that black screen mean the shady guy who went to the men's room came out with a gun, "Godfather"-style, and Tony didn't see it coming?

Or was it the rest of us who just didn't see it coming?

The final episode played with stereotypes, big and small, as if to remind us that Chase himself never forgot that he took guff for eight years because of how he depicted his fellow Italian-Americans. The finale had us swimming in images that tripped our biases and toyed with expectations:

Phil's right-hand man Butch walks a couple of blocks while talking on the phone, hangs up and stands perplexed amid a sea of Asian faces. (Have you been to Little Italy in Manhattan lately?)

Anthony Jr. wants to study Arabic and join the war in Afghanistan. In the end, though, he takes a job as a gofer on a movie set, finally snapping out of his seasonlong slouch toward Bethlehem.

Meadow wants to fight for civil rights because of the injustices she has seen her dad and other Italian-Americans put up with.

We get TV footage of President Bush dancing in Africa.

Tony's favorite FBI agent (and our first line of defense against the terrorists) has a nagging wife, cheats on her, helps Tony track down his rival and then, when told of Phil's hit, exhorts, "Damn, we're gonna win this thing."

And the people in the restaurant in that final scene - any one of them or none of them could have popped Tony at a moment's notice: a trucker in a "USA" cap; two black kids milling about; the jittery guy at the counter. Or maybe the table full of Boy Scouts could have saved his life.

For those who wanted Tony brought down in a hail of bullets or hauled off to jail by the FBI, Chase reminded us that life is neither that messy nor that neat.

The final nine episodes of "The Sopranos" were brilliant for reminding us that Tony wasn't a nice guy, to say the least, and never would be.

He wasn't going to see the light, despite his Buddhist fever dreams and his peyote-fueled exultation to the sunrise, "I get it!" (In the finale, he stares up at the sun while raking leaves in the backyard.)

He was brutal this year. When he wasn't bashing in the teeth of a goon who dissed his daughter or mocking his own son who was descending into a suicidal stupor, Tony was just a callous bully. With his own hands he killed his chosen successor, Christopher, and then went out to Vegas to sleep with one of Christopher's girlfriends, for good measure.

But his true sociopathic pettiness was re-established in the first of the final nine episodes. Seething over a drunken brawl with brother-in-law Bobby Baccalieri, Tony got revenge by ordering Bobby to carry out his first hit, essentially sealing the man-child's doom.

That first episode this year also brought home the bitter irony inherent to the Mafia: Family is everything. Unless it's your biological family we're talking about - parents, siblings, wife, children - because those loved ones are just around for blame and recriminations.

Not that you fared any better if you were Tony's "brother," Big Pussy; his "son," Christopher; or his "father," Hesh. Not to mention the actual cousin he blew away with a shotgun in Season 5.

Series guru Chase dawdled during last year's 12-episode run-up, trying fans' patience with Tony's extended coma, the never-ending saga of gay mobster Vito and other apparent dead ends. But this year, the storytelling was economic and powerful.

One by one, Chase showed us the fate of key characters. We saw psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi questioning her years of working with Tony; Paulie vegging out to "Three's Company" or sunning himself in front of Satriale's; Johnny Sacrimoni unrepentant while he lay dying of cancer; and Christopher drug-addled and gurgling for his final breath.

Chase was telling us very clearly that it's not pretty at the end for these guys. Most of them probably would have taken a hero's bullet in the head years ago to be spared such indignities. The sudden black screen to the slow fade.

Is it a victory to be sitting in a New Jersey diner munching on onion rings and listening to classic rock?

In Sunday's penultimate scene, Tony visits Uncle Junior, who sits toothless in a state-run nursing home, staring at the birds outside his window. Nothing Tony says registers with Junior. Not the whereabouts of his stash; not that little incident where he shot his nephew. That is, until Tony utters this phrase: "This thing of ours."

Tony is reminding Junior that he and Tony's father once ran things in New Jersey.

"We did?" Junior says sweetly. "Hmm. That's nice."

Posted on Jun 13, 2007, 7:33 PM

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Hollywood Reporter article

by Anonymous (no login)


Good times end for "Sopranos"
By Barry Garron Mon Jun 11, 6:07 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It looked like curtains for Tony Soprano. They descended, too, but never quite reached the moment when the show must cut to black.


In Sunday night's finale, did executive producer David Chase ingeniously spare us the ultimate trauma of seeing his most famous TV character meet a violent death similar to those he had prescribed for dozens of others? Most certainly.

The end was near. It was signaled in the penultimate episode when Dr. Melfi, Tony's psychiatrist, told him she could no longer help him. At that point, Tony had gotten to a place where, inevitably, no one could help. In the final scene, his doom was cryptically written into the titles of the songs that caught his eye in the restaurant jukebox. "I've Gotta Be Me," said one.

The proverbial noose was getting tighter. Tony was only moments away from being whacked by a rival crime family. Perhaps it would also be the end of his wife, Carmella, and his son, A.J. Maybe also his daughter, Meadow. It almost didn't matter that Tony was on the verge of being indicted and almost certainly convicted.

Although Tony and "The Sopranos" had both run their courses for more than eight years, Chase didn't want us to remember them by their demise. A.J., seated with his parents at a restaurant table in the show's final minutes, told his father fatefully, "Remember the good times." The line also served as Chase's message to viewers who had followed this landmark TV show through 86 of some of the most scintillating episodes TV has known.

The integrity of "The Sopranos," from its first episode in 1999, made it impossible for Tony to simply flee the country or go into witness protection. For guys like Tony, there's only one way out. Still, by stopping short of what appeared to be an imminent bloodbath, Chase neither dodges reality nor dashes our hope that somehow, some way, Tony survives, that he merely uses up one his nine lives, much like the cat he befriends in the finale.

The cat, by the way, helped bring the show full cycle. Early in the series, Tony's home was menaced by a stray bear, the result of suburban encroachment on natural habitat. If Tony was the bear in those early years, fending off all rivals to control the operations that had been run by his family, he was more like a cat toward the end. His brute strength was of limited use. He could survive only by being nimble. But, eventually, even Tony must run out of lives.

Chase and James Gandolfini, who poured as much of his soul into Tony as an actor could put into any role, understood that "The Sopranos" needed to conclude, particularly if it didn't want to tarnish its brilliant legacy by overstaying its welcome. Even viewers were ready to move on. Ratings had just begun to ebb. Tony himself had become less lovable. The nearly universal chorus of praise was not quite as loud as it had been. Critics looked increasingly for signs of age and thought they found them, particularly when Tony spent the opening episodes of last season in a controversial coma.

But, as A.J. implored, let's remember the good times. Remember how the show single-handedly revived interest in crime drama. Remember how it took two diametrically opposite concepts, middle class suburbia and brutally violent criminal enterprise, and combined them to create the most unlikely antihero -- a suburban dad with a tight grip on his crime family and a nagging depression that required years of therapy. Remember how the show, for years, influenced the pop culture climate and infused it with talk of whacking and ba-da-bing and fuhgeddaboutit.

The seeds of Tony's destruction were planted in the very first episode. There's no point in bemoaning his likely end. Instead, remember what can be achieved by an inventive creator, the freedom to explore drama in new ways, a remarkable cast and, of course, the good times.



Posted on Jun 13, 2007, 7:37 PM

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Reuters article on how Tony might have gotten whacked when everything went dark

by Anonymous (no login)

Sopranos" rub-out theory gains credence

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fans of "The Sopranos" are seizing on clues suggesting that the controversial blackout which abruptly ended the TV mob drama meant that Tony Soprano was rubbed out, and HBO said on Thursday they may be on to something.


One clue in particular, a flashback in the penultimate episode to a conversation between Tony and his brother-in-law about death, gained credence as an HBO spokesman called it a "legitimate" hint and confirmed that series creator David Chase had a definite ending in mind.

"While he won't say to me 100 percent what it all means, he says some people who've guessed have come closer than others," HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer told Reuters after speaking to Chase.

"There are definitely things there that he intended for people to pick up on," Schaffer said.

Chase suggested as much in an interview on Tuesday with The Star-Ledger newspaper of New Jersey when he said of his end to the HBO series, "Anyone who wants to watch it, it's all there."

In the final moments of Sunday's concluding episode, Tony, the conflicted mob boss who has just survived a round of gangland warfare, sits in a diner with his family munching on onion rings as the 1980s song by rock band Journey, "Don't Stop Believing," blares from a juke box.

Tension builds as a suspicious man wearing a "Members Only" jacket eyes Tony from a nearby counter before slipping into a restroom. Then, as Tony looks toward the restaurant's entrance, the screen abruptly goes blank in mid-scene -- with no picture or sound for 10 seconds -- until the credits roll silently.

Stunned viewers, many initially believing something had gone wrong with their cable TV reception, were left wondering whether Tony ended up "whacked" or whether his sordid life went on as usual.

The jarring, fill-in-the-blank finale, concluding a show widely hailed as America's greatest television drama, sparked a furious debate about whether Chase had conceived of an actual ending and whether he left the audience any clues.

The biggest hint, according to a consensus taking shape on the Web, is a scene from an earlier episode in which Tony and his brother-in-law, Bobby Bacala, muse about what it feels like to die.

"You probably don't even hear it when it happens," Bobby says while they sit fishing in a small boat on a lake.

"I think that is one of the most legitimate things to look at," Schaffer said when asked about theories that the flashback was meant to foreshadow Tony's death.

Posted on Jun 15, 2007, 3:23 PM

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a variation on that same article

by Anonymous (no login)

'Sopranos' Rub-Out Theory Gains Credence
By Reuters | Friday, June 15, 2007


LOS ANGELES - Fans of The Sopranos are seizing on clues suggesting the controversial blackout which abruptly ended the TV mob drama meant that Tony Soprano was rubbed out, and HBO said on Thursday they may be on to something.

One clue in particular, a flashback in the penultimate episode to a conversation between Tony and his brother-in-law about death, gained credence as an HBO spokesman called it a "legitimate" hint and confirmed that series creator David Chase had a definite ending in mind.

"While he won't say to me 100 percent what it all means, he says some people who've guessed have come closer than others," HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer told Reuters after speaking to Chase.

"There are definitely things there that he intended for people to pick up on," Schaffer said.

Chase himself suggested as much in an interview on Tuesday with The Star-Ledger newspaper of New Jersey when he said of his end to the HBO series, "Anyone who wants to watch it, it's all there."

In the final moments of Sunday's concluding episode, Tony, the conflicted mob boss who has just survived a round of gangland warfare, sits in a diner with his family munching on onion rings as the 1980s song by rock band Journey "Don't Stop Believing" blares from a juke box.

Tension builds as a suspicious man wearing a "Members Only" jacket eyes Tony from a nearby counter before slipping into a restroom. Then, as Tony looks toward the restaurant's entrance, the screen abruptly goes blank in mid-scene--with no picture or sound for 10 seconds--until the credits roll silently.

Stunned viewers, many initially believing something had gone wrong with their cable TV reception, were left wondering whether Tony ended up "whacked" or whether his sordid life went on as usual.

The jarring, fill-in-the-blank finale, concluding a show widely hailed as America's greatest television drama, sparked a furious debate about whether Chase had conceived of an actual ending and whether he left the audience any clues.

The biggest hint, according to a consensus taking shape on the Web, is a scene from an earlier episode in which Tony and his brother-in-law, Bobby Bacala, muse about what it feels like to die.

"At the end, you probably don't hear anything, everything just goes black," Bobby says while they sit fishing in a small boat on a lake.

That scene is recalled briefly in a flashback played at the end of the penultimate Sopranos episode, as Tony is lying in the darkened room of a safehouse clutching a machine gun to his chest in the midst of a mob war.

"I think that is one of the most legitimate things to look at," Schaffer said when asked about theories that the Bobby Bacala flashback was meant to foreshadow Tony's death.

Moreover, he said the man in the "Members Only" jacket could be interpreted as a symbolic reference to membership in the mob. "Members Only" also was the title of the episode in which Tony's demented Uncle Junior shoots him in the gut.

The "Members Only" guy was played by the owner of a real-life pizza parlor, Paolo Colandrea. Schaffer denied reports that Colandrea had appeared earlier in the series as the nephew of Tony's New York gang rival, or that there ever was such a character. He also dismissed reports that Chase had filmed more than one ending to the finale.

Posted on Jun 16, 2007, 5:47 PM

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James Gandolfini in the NY Daily News

by Anonymous (no login)


James Gandolfini: 'No Idea' What Happens to Tony Soprano
Friday, June 15, 2007

NEW YORK — Viewers weren't the only ones who didn't know what to make of the boldly ambiguous ending of "The Sopranos" -- some of the stars didn't, either.

James Gandolfini told the Daily News in Friday's edition that he had "no idea" what to think was to happen to his character, the emotionally tortured mob boss and suburban dad Tony Soprano, after the hit series' final episode closed Sunday with an abrupt cut to a blank screen.

"You have to ask ("The Sopranos" creator) David Chase that. Smarter minds than mine know the answer to that," Gandolfini said. "I thought it was a great ending. You decide."

The screen went black and silent as Gandolfini's character and his family sat down to dinner, leaving fans guessing -- and some complaining -- about the ending's meaning or lack thereof.

Some have suggested that the movements of a man in the background portended a "Godfather"-style shooting. Others surmised that the show, which delved deeply into the domestic life of its mobster protagonist, was simply ending on an everyday note. Chase has declined to explain.

Several of Gandolfini's cast mates echoed his praise for the show's open-ended conclusion.

"A conventional ending would have been a fraud," Steven Van Zandt, who played Silvio, told the Daily News.

"Life doesn't have tidy little endings," said Van Zandt, a member of rocker Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. "Even some great songs just fade out like the last episode of 'The Sopranos."'


Posted on Jun 15, 2007, 3:26 PM

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Gandolfini on future plans

by Anonymous (no login)

James Gandolfini looking beyond Tony Soprano
By Frazier Moore
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- There was no decisive moment, no seismic shift, no ceremony when James Gandolfini put “The Sopranos” behind him. But he has. Comfortably.

“I was told that it would be a transition,” he says and shakes his head. “Not much. It’s very calming to move on.”

Gandolfini, of course, had played gangster-in-therapy Tony Soprano — earning raves, clout and unsought celebrity — since the HBO drama premiered in January 1999.

Now there’s only one piece of unfinished business. The finale, which airs Sunday at 8 p.m. CDT, will bring to a close a saga as powerful and oddly relatable as anything ever seen on TV. This conclusion, however satisfying or disappointing, will surely leave “Sopranos” fans wanting more.

But not Gandolfini.

“The character has been with me for so long,” he says, “it’s a relief to let him go.”

No wonder. For 86 episodes, Gandolfini submerged himself in that fiendish, tormented character. He channeled the dark world of “Sopranos” creator David Chase. He was regularly summoned to his own psychic danger zone. All in all, the experience was “wearing,” he says.

There also was a physical toll. “The Sopranos” revolves around Tony, which meant Gandolfini had an exhausting workload.

“But in a way, being tired helped me play the character. If the guy had to look good and be handsome and happy, the hours we worked would certainly not help. They helped ME a great deal,” he laughs. “I was allowed to be grumpy and tired and look like (crap).”

That was then. Whatever awaits Tony in the series-ender — prison, death or some sort of escape — Gandolfini has already laid him to rest.

Time after time, Gandolfini felt the end at Silvercup Studios in Queens, and on locations such as Tony’s home turf of northern New Jersey. All during April, members of the large “Sopranos” cast would shoot their last scene with him, then leave forever. Then he’d shoot a last scene with another cast member, who would disappear.

“There wasn’t any grand finale,” he says.

Or was there? Gandolfini suddenly remembers his last scene alongside Steven Van Zandt, who since the beginning played Tony’s loyal consigliere Silvio.

“This is no indication of my feelings toward anyone else, but, for some reason, that really hit me when he left. Wow!”

Speaking to a reporter at HBO headquarters last week, Gandolfini, who recently signed a production deal with the network, was taking a break from screening footage for a documentary he’s making about U.S. soldiers in Iraq who recover from near-fatal injuries.

Dressed casually in short sleeves, chinos and running shoes, the 45-year-old actor is down-to-earth and deferential, yet remains a formidable presence even without Tony’s cockiness and mobster cred. His voice, while reflecting his New Jersey background, is richer, more robust than Tony’s astringent delivery.

Though famously press-shy ever since “The Sopranos” blindsided him with stardom, Gandolfini has consented to this rare interview. Nursing coffee from a foam cup, he shares nearly an hour in agreeable give-and-take, only drawing the line when one too many questions delves into his acting technique: “Oh, please! Who gives a (crap)!” he scoffs. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be abrupt.”

He misses no chance to deflect credit toward his colleagues.

“I might be in a lot of scenes, but the crew is in EVERY scene,” he points out. “The crew is there 16 hours a day, every day.

“And the cast totally propped me up in many scenes. After three or four scenes sometimes I was adrift, and because (the editor) could cut to such other good actors, they were there to help me.”

It was a two-way street, according to Michael Imperioli, who played Tony’s hothead nephew Christopher, now dead (thanks to Tony’s cold-hearted intervention) after a car crash a few episodes ago.

“Every time you go and do a scene with this guy,” Imperioli said at the start of the season, “he manages to give 105 percent. That rubs off. That makes YOU work harder.”

“I had the greatest sparring partner in the world, I had Muhammad Ali,” said Lorraine Bracco, who, as Tony’s psychiatrist Dr. Melfi, went one-on-one with Gandolfini in their penetrating therapy scenes. “He cares what he does, and does it extremely well.”

Saying goodbye to the crew and his co-stars — yes, that was hard, Gandolfini concedes, even if saying goodbye to Tony wasn’t.

Also hard: no more of those magnificent “Sopranos” scripts.

“Good writing will bring you to places you don’t even expect sometimes,” he marvels, meaning himself, and how the material could catch him off guard and take him somewhere new, even as he was performing it.

“It’s a ride that I was along on, with everybody else,” he says.

And like everybody else, he can’t help feeling appalled by Tony’s brutish misbehavior. After shooting a scene where Tony did something despicable, Gandolfini would sometimes upbraid his own character.

“I would shake my head and say, God, what a —!” Whereupon he helpfully substitutes his unpublishable outburst with a family friendly version: “What a jerk!”

So what’s the truth? Does he like this jerk who was part of him for so long?

“I used to,” he says. “But it’s difficult toward the end. I think the thing with Christopher might have turned the corner.” That was a soulless display: Fed up with his nephew’s shortcomings, Tony pinched shut the nostrils of the gravely hurt Christopher, ensuring he would choke to death.

But wait! Gandolfini thinks a moment, and more of Tony’s recent misdeeds — not homicidal, but clearly depraved — come to mind: “Maybe the gambling thing with Hesh. And maybe the thing with Tony Sirico (as Paulie Walnuts) on the boat.

“It’s kind of one thing after another. Let’s just say, it was a lot easier to like him in the beginning, than in the last few years.”

But back then, maybe it wasn’t so easy for Gandolfini to like himself. Early on, he felt a stronger kinship with Tony, mostly stemming from “that infantile temper that I certainly possessed much more of when I was younger.”

Meanwhile, the writers fleshed out Tony by cribbing from Gandolfini — in particular, his temper.

“In the first year, maybe they would see that sometimes when I have anger, it’s very funny. So they go with that. When I break something, it’s funny. So they’re gonna put it in again. And then I realize that I’m continually breaking things. So then I’m getting more angry because I have to continue breaking things. And then they decide, ‘Well, we’ve broken enough (stuff).’

“It was a learning process for all of us, I think.”

All in the service of David Chase’s vision. Pantomiming the pull Chase exerted over him (like everything on “The Sopranos”), Gandolfini playfully hooks his index finger in the corner of his mouth as if he were a trout at the end of Chase’s line.

A decade ago, Gandolfini was certainly hooked when he read Chase’s pilot script. A little-known character actor in his mid-30s (and the son of working-class parents who had grown up in Park Ridge, N.J.), he knew Tony was a role he was born to play. He also realized the cards were stacked against a beefy, balding, little-known actor landing the role.

But four years earlier, he’d made a brief appearance in Tony Scott’s comically bloody thriller, “True Romance”: a two-fisted confrontation with its star, Patricia Arquette. That performance won him his audition for Tony.

“True Romance” was also Edie Falco’s first peek at the actor with whom she would be wed cinematically as Tony’s wife, Carmela.

“I sort of knew the name James Gandolfini,” Falco recalled. “Then I watched the film, and he’s in a scene where he beats the living daylights out of a woman. I thought, ‘Ohhhhhhh, OK. Welllll, let’s see how THIS goes.”‘

And how did it go? “It was maybe the most perfect working relationship,” she said.

Now it’s over. One concluding episode, shrouded in secrecy, remains to be aired. The Soprano home has been struck from Studio X at Silvercup. And Gandolfini, now done with Tony, is looking ahead to other roles, perhaps as Ernest Hemingway in a film he’s developing for HBO.

“I don’t even think I’ve proven myself, yet,” he says. “The Tony character was from New Jersey, I’m from New Jersey — there’s not a lot of stretching going on, here.” Then he pauses, reconsiders, gives himself some credit. “In some ways, there is.” He shrugs. “In a LOT of ways.

“But I have yet to begin the fight, I think.”

Posted on Jun 15, 2007, 3:29 PM

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other cast members' takes (from E! Online)

by Anonymous (no login)


Sopranos Goodfellas Say Good Ending
by Josh Grossberg
Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:00:32 PM PDT


They may have abruptly been silenced when the screen cut out, but the cast of The Sopranos is finally breaking the omertà about the controversial series finale.

James Gandolfini and the rest of his onscreen families are praising show mastermind David Chase for leaving the audience guessing at the end of Sunday's swan song by having the screen cut to black for 10 painful seconds.

"You have to ask David Chase about that. Smarter minds than mine know the answer to that. I thought it was a great ending," the erstwhile Tony Soprano told the New York Daily News of the truncated last scene, in which Tony waits for his family to convene at a diner to the strains of "Don't Stop Believin'." The suspense builds as all sorts of sketchy-looking people come through door and Meadow struggles to parallel-park outside. Just as she's about to run in, the picture cuts out. The ambiguous ending ticked off many fans who hoped for a more traditional resolution.

But Gandolfini, who turned up with several castmates Thursday night for costar Tony "Paulie Walnuts" Sirico's benefit for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, disagreed. "The ending was exactly what it should have been."

The Emmy winner said he was also in the dark about any Sopranos movie, an idea that Chase has publicly whacked for now.

"Don't look at me. I don't have an answer. All I know is that it's over," Gandolfini said, adding that he had no idea how the show was going to end.

His onscreen spouse Edie Falco says she was equally in the dark about the last scene.

"I think the ending was just great. I mean that. I have never second-guessed David Chase, and I'm not about to start now," she told the newspaper. "Yes, I was at that table, but I have no idea what happened after the screen went blank."

Steven Van Zandt, whose consigliere Silvio Dante was last seen comatose in a hospital, was even more blunt.

"A conventional ending would have been a fraud," he said. "Life doesn't have tidy little endings. Even some great songs just fade out like the last episode of The Sopranos."

Van Zandt, who also hosts a Sirius Satellite radio show, also claimed that "the opinions [are] shifting across the country."

"It started out 50-50, and by last night, it was 80-20 in favor of the ending," he said.

Sirico was also on board with his cohorts. "I thought the ending was outstanding. We got Phil Leotardo. We went back to our lives. What do people want? More blood? A whole family whacked? I like that David Chase let the viewers decide."

Aida Turturro, who played Tony's sister, Janice, said she was pleased with the finale, but suggested that the abrupt ending meant Tony did get whacked—a theory popularized on many fanboards.

"Tony and [brother-in-law] Bobby [Baccalieri] talked a few episodes back about how when you finally get hit, you never see it coming and the world just goes black," she told the Daily News. (Bobby's actual quote was: "You probably don't even hear it when it happens.")

According to Reuters, the Tony-gets-hit hypothesis appears to be gaining traction, with an assist by an HBO rep, who said there were several "legitimate" clues supporting the scenario.

"While [Chase] won't say to me 100 percent what it all means, he says some people who've guessed have come closer than others," HBO spokesman Quentin Shaffer told the wire service. "There are definitely things there that he intended for people to pick up on."

Aside from the flashback conversation between Tony and Bobby, subscribers to the theory point out that Chase titled the first episode of this final season "Members Only." In the episode, Tony is nearly killed after getting shot in the gut by his demented Uncle Junior. Among the people who enter the diner in the final scene is a guy wearing a Members Only jacket. He's seen entering the restroom moments before the blackout, and many viewers have noted the resmblance to a similar scene in The Godfather in which mobsters retrieve their weapons from a restroom before an execution.

Shaffer intimated to Reuters that "Members Only" could also be a subtle reference to membership in La Cosa Nostra.

But any such subtlety was lost on those Sopranos–watching meatheads who apparently took out their frustrations on Chase—or rather, his Wikipedia entry.

Following Sunday's broadcast, someone defaced Chase's biography, listing him as a "homosexual American television writer, director and producer" even though Chase is a happily married man. The Wikipedia powers have since barred further editing on the page.


Posted on Jun 15, 2007, 5:37 PM

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more, from the NY Times

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/arts/television/10cart.html:

One Final Whack at That HBO Mob
By BILL CARTER
Published: June 10, 2007

WIDELY proclaimed as the greatest drama ever created for television, “The Sopranos” comes to an end Sunday night after 8 years, 86 episodes and 18 Emmy Awards. For fans the finale brings high expectation and deep reluctance. For the actors the predominant emotions are grief and gratitude.


In a series of interviews 10 cast members spoke one last time before the finale. There was plenty of giving thanks, in particular to David Chase, the show’s creator, and to James Gandolfini, who gave the world Tony Soprano.

Like all television actors whose on-air personas will live on — both in memories and repeats — most members of the cast concede they will never have roles to match these. Can Tony Sirico ever be anyone as inimitable as Paulie Walnuts? Will Mr. Gandolfini ever be costumed in anything as fitting as that white bathrobe?

And while no one in the cast was offering any hints of how Sunday night’s episode would end, a few smaller questions were answered. Like would there ever be a reference back to the famed Pine Barrens episode, in which Paulie and Christopher flailed around in the snow trying to kill a Russian? What is Bruce Springsteen’s favorite fight scene? And when did Christopher know he would be killed?

JAMES GANDOLFINI, 45: TONY SOPRANO

The only person who expressed neither regret nor reservations about walking away from “The Sopranos” was the man who spoke more of its lines than anyone. “Obviously this changed my life,” Mr. Gandolfini said. “But I’ve separated. I’m relieved.”

Keeping Tony alive, even figuratively, took its toll. Steven R. Schirripa, who played Tony’s brother-in-law, said that he had seen Mr. Gandolfini after filming had ended and that “he looked like someone who’d had a piano lifted off his back.”

Mr. Gandolfini took his leadership on the show seriously, most notably after his fractious salary holdout at the start of the show’s fifth season led HBO to shut down production. When he returned to the set, Mr. Gandolfini privately called a list of his colleagues to his trailer and, one by one, presented them with personal checks for tens of thousands of dollars, telling them, in the words of one recipient, “Thanks for putting up with me.”

Of his television wife, played by Edie Falco, Mr. Gandolfini said: “Edie is kind of a force of nature. When we’d have a scene, and she’d get angry, I could feel sheepish.”

Despite what he called “the most satisfying work I feel I may ever have,” Mr. Gandolfini is not looking back. “No, I’m very done,” he said.

EDIE FALCO, 43: CARMELA SOPRANO

She admits to being in denial. “We’ve taken many breaks,” Ms. Falco said. “So I can still fool myself that this is just another break.”

From the beginning she identified with Carmela, but she never thought she would win the role. “It was television,” she said. “I didn’t fit what they thought an Italian wife looked like.”

But once in costume she did. She is one of the few actors who wasn’t always recognized off the set. “I went out once, and some woman said to me, ‘I recognize you even in that disguise.’ I said, ‘This is how I really look.’ ”

For Ms. Falco, one moment in particular, involving the actress Nancy Marchand, who played her mother-in-law, set the standard for working on “The Sopranos”: “Carmela threw a party. There was food everywhere, all the stuff. We were shooting the scene at 3 a.m. on a Friday. Everybody was falling down exhausted. I’m doing the scene, and Nancy is off camera and she picks up a slice of salami from one of the trays and, trying to get me to laugh, she starts slapping it on her tongue. I couldn’t stop laughing. And I thought: Who on the planet has it better than me?”

STEVEN R. SCHIRRIPA, 49: Bobby Baccalieri Mr. Schirripa said the first script threw him because Tony unleashed a string of fat jokes, referring to Bobby as “a calzone with legs.”

“What’s this?” Mr. Schirripa wondered. “I’m not that much fatter than he is.”

It all became clear when he was provided with a fat suit that enhanced his natural proportions to the point that he was almost spherical. He was eventually allowed to drop the suit but retained his role as the “fat goofy guy,” as he put it. Soon the producers were outfitting him in cowboy hats and once even in lederhosen. The character outlived the jokes, however, and took part in one of the season’s most memorable scenes, a fistfight with Tony.

“Jim and I decided to make the fight as real as we could,” Mr. Schirripa said. “It was a sloppy fight. It was two fat guys having a sweaty, drunken fight. Jim was choking me, pulling my hair. We didn’t use stuntmen until he crashed into the table. At a charity event Bruce Springsteen told me it was the best TV fight he’d ever seen.”

MICHAEL IMPERIOLI, 41: CHRISTOPHER MOLTISANTI

In addition to playing Christopher, Mr. Imperioli wrote five scripts for the series, which gave him a certain edge among the actors. “There was always a lot of fear,” Mr. Imperioli said. “People wanted to know about being killed. I kept pretending I didn’t know.” But he did. “I knew I was getting killed a year before,” he said.

Mr. Imperioli did not write one of the most talked-about episodes in which he appeared, “Pine Barrens.” In it he and Paulie got lost in a snow-filled forest after trying, ineptly, to whack a Russian mobster.

“That episode was like a little one-act play,” Mr. Imperioli said. “Like a different version of ‘Waiting for Godot.’ ” Ever since, viewers have been waiting for the mobster to return, ready for revenge. But he has never reappeared. “This show was never what people expected,” Mr. Imperioli said.

TONY SIRICO, 64: PAULIE GUALTIERI, a k a PAULIE WALNUTS

“God put his finger on that one,” said Tony Sirico, who shared much of the Pine Barrens episode with Mr. Imperioli. The script never called for snow, but by the time the crew reached the location near West Point, N.Y., three feet had fallen. “I kept slipping and falling,” Mr. Sirico said. “It was 11 degrees. I was freezing my rear off.”

Even though Mr. Chase laughed off fans’ suggestions that the Russian would reappear, Mr. Sirico said a tease had been in the works. “We had a scene this season when Chris and I are talking in the bar about whatever happened to that Russian guy. And in the script we were supposed to go outside and there he was standing on the corner. But when we went to shoot it, they took it out. I think David didn’t like it. He wanted the audience just to suffer.”

Like every other member of the cast Mr. Sirico said goodbye to anonymity once “The Sopranos” got rolling. “I had no idea how big the show was until the second season, when we’re in Italy to shoot, and me and Vincent Pastore, who played Pussy, decided to go to the Isle of Capri — you know, because they wrote a song about it. So we’re not off the boat 10 minutes before 15 Irish people come over going: ‘Paulie! Pussy!’ I couldn’t believe it.”

Now he can. “Tom Cruise has nothing on me in the world of popularity. If I’m with five other Paulies and somebody yells, ‘Hey. Paulie,’ I know it’s for me.”

STEVEN VAN ZANDT, 56: SILVIO DANTE

Mr. Chase happened to be watching television when he caught a ceremony introducing the Rascals to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He thought the guy cracking jokes, Little Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, was funny and might work on his new television series.

“I think it was related to Bruce,” Mr. Van Zandt said. “I’d been playing consiglieri and best friend to Bruce, and this guy was the same thing to Tony Soprano. David could see that.”

The challenge of acting was made easier, Mr. Van Zandt said, by the elaborate transformation he had to pull off. “When I’d walk out of that trailer, I was Silvio Dante,” he said. “I’d do the hair and the clothes and slump myself down like I’d added some pounds. Little Steven could never have done it. But I was this other, tougher guy.”

Alone among the cast, Mr. Van Zandt had been up close to a cultural phenomenon before. But one thing struck him. “I am having the experience two times in my life of doing something that makes New Jersey fashionable. What are the odds on that?”

DOMINIC CHIANESE, 76: CORRADO (JUNIOR) SOPRANO

After a long career as both an actor and a musical performer, Mr. Chianese started playing Uncle Junior at the age of 67. In an effort to flesh out his character he initially toyed with the idea of adopting a limp. Then he was given glasses.

“The glasses truly helped,” he said. “It made me have a mask. And you couldn’t see five feet in front of you. In a scene with Tony, his head would be twice as big.”

But the glasses were never intended to define Junior. “Everyone else on the show has very large eyes,” Mr. Chianese said. “I have deep-set eyes. David wanted a consistent look. He’s a visual artist. So he gave me the glasses.”

ROBERT ILER, 22: A. J. SOPRANO

Having spent almost half his life as the son of Tony Soprano, Mr. Iler said he could hardly remember a time when he was not a Soprano. His most challenging moment surely came this season with A. J.’s suicide attempt. “It was the middle of January, and it was very cold in that water,” he said.

Did he think Tony was ultimately a good father? “Yeah,” Mr. Iler said, but he added, “I think sometimes he loved his son, but he hated him a lot more of the time.”

JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER, 26: MEADOW SOPRANO She was 16 when the pilot was shot and 17 in the first episode. “It almost feels like a dream, the past nine and a half years,” Ms. Sigler said. During the first seasons she didn’t have to leave Jericho High School on Long Island, making it to the prom and other school events.

The episode that has stayed with her the most is from Season 1, when Tony takes Meadow college shopping in Maine, only to run into — and eliminate — a former wise guy turned rat. At the read-through, Mr. Gandolfini, who always sat in a big leather chair that first season, welcomed her as a peer by showing her to the chair.

“He told me, ‘This is your episode,’ ” Ms. Sigler said.

LORRAINE BRACCO, 52: DR. JENNIFER MELFI

Dr. Melfi’s diagnosis of Tony Soprano as a sociopath was on target, Ms. Bracco said. “But she always believed she could really help him,” she added. “I think if Hitler had come in, she would have tried to make him come around. I do believe she made Tony a better husband.”

Dr. Melfi had one brush with Tony’s dark side, when she was brutally raped and had a chance at revenge merely by siccing Tony on her attacker. “Melfi is the moral through line of the series,” Ms. Bracco said. “Where would we have gone with that?”

For Ms. Bracco the highlights of the “Sopranos” experience were the scenes she shared with Mr. Gandolfini alone.

“I got to play with Muhammad Ali. I really got James at his finest.”

Posted on Nov 13, 2007, 4:34 PM

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NY Times review

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/arts/television/11sopr.html :

One Last Family Gathering
HBO



By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: June 11, 2007

There was no good ending, so “The Sopranos” left off without one.


The abrupt finale last night was almost like a prank, a mischievous dig at viewers who had agonized over how television’s most addictive series would come to a close. The suspense of the final scene in the diner was almost cruel. And certainly that last bit of song — “Don’t Stop Believing,” by Journey — had to be a joke.

After eight years and so much frenzied anticipation, any ending would have been a letdown. Viewers are conditioned to seek a resolution, happy or sad, so it was almost fitting that this HBO series that was neither comedy nor tragedy should defy expectations in its very last moments. In that way at least “The Sopranos” delivered a perfectly imperfect finish.

The ending was a reminder of what made David Chase’s series about New Jersey mobsters so distinctive from the beginning. “The Sopranos” was the most unusual and realistic family drama in television history. There have been many good Mafia movies and one legendary trilogy, but fans had to look to literature to find comparable depictions of the complexity and inconsistencies of American family life. It was sometimes hard to bear the encomiums — the saga of the New Jersey mob family has been likened to Cheever, Dickens and Shakespeare; scripts were pored over as if they were the Dead Sea Scrolls. But its saving grace was that the series was always many different things at once.



The decline and fall of the Sopranos — Tony; his wife, Carmela; and the rest — served as a parable of America in decline, yet week to week the series was also just a gangsters’ tale, with lots of graphic sex, gruesome violence and most of all a sense of humor.

In last night’s episode Meadow Soprano, trying to explain to her father why she wants to be a civil rights lawyer, said earnestly, “The state can crush the individual.” Tony replied, “New Jersey?”

And, as last night’s episode showed one last time, a troubled marriage struggles on, devastating intergenerational conflicts scab over but never quite heal, and power comes and goes. Some things endure, but nothing is permanent in American culture, or in the Soprano family.

Tony remains alive, still in business, his wife and children are safe, but he resumes his criminal enterprise surrounded by ever-darker shadows of prosaic impeding doom: an indictment and most likely a trial.

From the very beginning of the final season, there were myriad hints and red herrings suggesting completely different conclusions. It wasn’t hard to suspect that a cornered Tony would be turned and enter a witness protection program. And that seemed to be where he was headed when he went to the F.B.I. agent named Harris whom he had mocked and dismissed for so many years, and offered information about two Muslim acquaintances, saying, “Can I bank the result in good will?”

Soon both Tony and the F.B.I. learned that Phil Leotardo, a rival mob boss, planned to take down the Sopranos and rub Tony out. Last night when Tony asked for a secret meeting with Harris to seek his help in locating Phil, he was sent away. Later Harris changed his mind, leaking to Tony Phil’s whereabouts, which he learned during postcoital pillow talk with a female agent.

And that breach of F.B.I. ethics led to one of the series’s most revolting death scenes. Phil, who had gotten out of the S.U.V. in which he was riding with his wife and their two grandchildren, was shot dead by a gunman. His wife, horrified, leapt out of the car with the shift still on drive. As the vehicle drifted forward with the two babies strapped in their car seats, the scene seemed headed toward a tragic tableau of innocent children destroyed — the collateral damage of organized crime.

Instead it veered into sick comedy: the wheels slowly crushed Phil’s head with a juicy, crunching sound that made a bystander vomit.

Tony’s troublesome son, A. J., seemed headed for disaster all season, and instead ended pretty much where he began: a spoiled, materialistic layabout. A. J.’s obsession this season with being jilted, as well as with the Iraq war, terrorism and the heedless materialism in American society, led him to a suicide attempt; after a ziti-laden buffet that followed his Uncle Bobby’s funeral in last night’s episode, A. J. lashed out at guests cheerfully discussing “American Idol” and “Dreamgirls.” He quoted a line from Yeats’s famous poem, “The Second Coming,” though he pronounced the poet’s name as if it rhymed with Pete’s.

Tony even made his peace with Uncle Junior, so senile he didn’t recognize his nephew or remember that he had shot him.

Yet Tony’s rift with his longtime psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi — so sudden it seemed hastily added in the show’s final hours to make room for a last-minute dramatic resolution — was not mended. Instead Tony went to see A. J.’s new psychiatrist, an attractive woman, and, perhaps reflexively, began to tell his own family history: loveless mother and miserable childhood. Carmela, at his side, scoffed and sent him dagger looks.

But Mr. Chase’s last joke was on his audience, not his characters. Tony, Carmela and A. J. are gathered at a diner in a rare moment of family content that cried out for violent interruption. A shifty-looking man walks in and eyes them from the counter, then, in a move echoing a scene from “The Godfather,” ominously enters the men’s room. Outside, Meadow is delayed, trying to parallel park, then begins walking toward the restaurant.

Nothing happens. Credits. What?

Mr. Chase wanted to end his tale without melodrama or even a splashy denouement. He succeeded.

Posted on Nov 13, 2007, 4:29 PM

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Damon Lindelof on the WGA strike

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/opinion/11lindelof.html :

Op-Ed Contributor
Mourning TV
By DAMON LINDELOF
Published: November 11, 2007

Los Angeles

TELEVISION is dying.

I should have realized this four years ago when I first got my TiVo box, but denial is always the first stage of grief. I simply couldn’t acknowledge that this wonderful invention heralded the beginning of the end.

TiVo stores your favorite movies and shows on its hard drive, allowing you to pull up last night’s episode of “The Daily Show” as easily as you click open documents on your laptop. In fact, once you download the original broadcast — sorry, I meant to say “record” it — you can watch it at your leisure. The next morning. Next year. Your call. Because now? You own that episode.

Best of all, you got it free.

Television has always been free. Sure, if you want all the N.F.L. games in high definition, you have to pay the piper, but the broadcast networks still offer their entire schedules for absolutely nothing. The only catch, of course, is that you have to watch commercials. Economically, it’s a fair deal. The network pays for the shows, gives them to viewers, and makes its cash back through advertising. Which regrettably brings us to the most wonderful thing TiVo does: It enables you to ignore the commercials that keep the whole system running.

Twenty percent of American homes now contain hard drives that store movies and television shows indefinitely and allows you to fast-forward through commercials. These devices will probably proliferate at a significant rate and soon, almost everyone will have them. They’ll also get smaller and smaller, rendering the box that holds them obsolete, and the rectangular screen in your living room won’t really be a television anymore, it’ll be a computer. And running into the back of that computer, the wire that delivers unto you everything you watch? It won’t be cable; it will be the Internet.

This probably sounds exciting if you’re a TV viewer, but if you’re in the business of producing these shows, it’s nothing short of terrifying. This is how vaudevillians must have felt the first time they saw a silent movie; sitting there, suddenly realizing they just became extinct: after all, who wants another soft-shoe number when you can see Harold Lloyd hanging off a clock 50 feet tall?

Change always provokes fear, but I’d once believed that the death of our beloved television would unify all those affected, talent and studios, creators and suits. We’re all afraid and we’d all be afraid together. Instead we find ourselves so deeply divided.

The Writers Guild of America (of which I am a proud member) has gone on strike. I have spent the past week on the picket line outside Walt Disney Studios, my employer, chanting slogans and trudging slowly across the crosswalk.

The motivation for this drastic action — and a strike is drastic, a fact I grow more aware of every passing day — is the guild’s desire for a portion of revenues derived from the Internet. This is nothing new: for more than 50 years, writers have been entitled to a small cut of the studios’ profits from the reuse of our shows or movies; whenever something we created ends up in syndication or is sold on DVD, we receive royalties. But the studios refuse to apply the same rules to the Internet.

My show, “Lost,” has been streamed hundreds of millions of times since it was made available on ABC’s Web site. The downloads require the viewer to first watch an advertisement, from which the network obviously generates some income. The writers of the episodes get nothing. We’re also a hit on iTunes (where shows are sold for $1.99 each). Again, we get nothing.

If this strike lasts longer than three months, an entire season of television will end this December. No dramas. No comedies. No “Daily Show.” The strike will also prevent any pilots from being shot in the spring, so even if the strike is settled by then, you won’t see any new shows until the following January. As in 2009. Both the guild and the studios we are negotiating with do agree on one thing: this situation would be brutal.

I will probably be dragged through the streets and burned in effigy if fans have to wait another year for “Lost” to come back. And who could blame them? Public sentiment may have swung toward the guild for now, but once the viewing audience has spent a month or so subsisting on “America’s Next Hottest Cop” and “Celebrity Eating Contest,” I have little doubt that the tide will turn against us. Which brings me to the second stage of grief: anger.

I am angry because I am accused of being greedy by studios that are being greedy. I am angry because my greed is fair and reasonable: if money is made off of my product through the Internet, then I am entitled to a small piece. The studios’ greed, on the other hand, is hidden behind cynical, disingenuous claims that they make nothing on the Web — that the streaming and downloading of our shows is purely “promotional.” Seriously?

Most of all, I’m angry that I’m not working. Not working means not getting paid. My weekly salary is considerably more than the small percentage of Internet gains we are hoping to make in this negotiation and if I’m on the picket line for just three months, I will never recoup those losses, no matter what deal gets made.

But I am willing to hold firm for considerably longer than three months because this is a fight for the livelihoods of a future generation of writers, whose work will never “air,” but instead be streamed, beamed or zapped onto a tiny chip.

Things have gotten ugly and the lines of communication have broken down completely between the guild and the studios. Perhaps it’s not too late, though, for both sides to rally around the one thing we still have in common: our mourning for the way things used to be. Instead of fighting each other, maybe we should be throwing a wake for our beloved TV.

Because the third stage of grief is bargaining.

And bargain we must, because when television finally passes on, there will still be entertainment; there will still be shows and films and videos, right there on a screen in your living room. And just as the owners of vaudeville theaters broke down and bought hand-crank movie cameras, the studios will figure out a way to make absurd amounts of money off of whatever is beaming onto whichever sort of screen.

And we’ll still be writing every word.

Damon Lindelof is the co-creator and head writer of the television series “Lost.”

Posted on Nov 13, 2007, 4:22 PM

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quirkee.com interview w/ Cary Ann Hearst, just before the Austin City Limits Festival

by Anonymous (no login)

Cary Ann Hearst

Written by Scott Semegran
Thursday, 23 August 2007

Cary Ann Hearst has got an attitude. And there ain't nothing wrong with that. Her music has been described as "genuine country," yet with a punk flare. Whatever that means to you, there is a definite twang in her songs. Tattered and torn, her songs express the ache that is present in a true artist's heart.

Check out Cary Ann Hearst at ACL Fest 2007 on the BMI stage at 2:40pm - 3:20pm, Saturday, September 15th, 2007.

1. What are you looking forward to most about being at ACL Fest?

Besides the great music and the adventure, I am most excited about sharing that time with my band and with my family. Lots of my people are gonna be there... mama, daddy, my sweetheart, my best friends. No matter how it all goes down, we will be talkin about the adventure we had in Texas in the dog days of 2007.

2. Last year, it was 102 degrees on the Saturday of the festival and Sunday saw a torrential downpour. How do you prepare for playing outdoors?

Come hell or highwater, we will let it do what it do. I like the feeling of not knowin what to expect. And it don't matter if your Dylan or just little CA Hearst, if it rains, you gettin wet.

3. If you had some time of your own at ACL Fest, which other band would you most like to see?

OH, I will have some time on my own. I would have dragged my band half way across the damn country to see the White Stripes, Wilco, Winehouse, Specktor, Dylan and Spoon... oh wait. That's what I am about to do. Sweet JESUS!

4. People will surely be blogging about performances as soon as they are over. Last year, an air-conditioned tent was setup with computers inside. The Internet has contributed to the success of many bands in recent years. How has it helped your band?

I owe the internet my first born child. And I don't even use it to the height of its capability. My guitar player is always on the ball when it comes to net-splotation. Me, I add who wants adding to MySpace, and I sell my stuff of itunes and cdbaby. I am not into the hard sell cold call music marketing space-bot revolution. But I am here nevertheless!

5. If you were not playing music, what most likely would you be doing for a career?

Running a diner full of mean ass waitresses. The kind of place people stand in line all day waiting to eat their pork chops. It's a good thing I'm singin too, cause my chops and gravy would run any sucker chop fryer right outta bidness.

6. What instruments do you not know how to play but wish you did?

The fiddle (workin on that), the accordian, and the barrel house piano.

7. Do you have a philosophy to live by?

I have lotsa mantras.....underpromise and overdeliver..... worry is a waste of energy.... success is in the journey..... you are not important, but what you put into the world is.... Don't write a check your ass can't cash..... when in doubt, mind what your mother told you.



Posted on Oct 2, 2007, 8:10 PM

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you know you've lived in Columbia too long, if....

by Anonymous (no login)


You’ve ever taped a BUSCH beer box to your dorm room door with the “B” and the “H” torn off.

The bums in Five Points call you by name.

You know someone who knew someone who knows someone whose grandmother’s slave had sex with Strom Thurmond.

You know who Bob Peeler is and you miss his big red pick-up truck parked next to the State House.

You think the USC vs. Clemson game is a Federal holiday.

You’ve gotten into an argument with someone over the difference between a palm tree and a “palmetto” tree.

You know what a P-bug is.

You can’t remember the last time you saw a real hippie.

You miss Sherlock Holmes on Main Street.

You’ve seen yourself on ESPN’s College Gameday waving a rebel flag around and you weren’t making a joke about it.

You know where to get beer on Sundays even if you have to buy them can-by-can over the counter.

You actually miss Mr. Knozit.

You remember when the guy in the black Santa suit lit the Confederate battle flag on fire at the State House and you think he had the right idea.

You lament the loss of that hot chick, Carrie, who used to do Trivia Night at Delany’s. Even though she mispronounced the word “granite,” she was still hot, goddam it.

Meritage went out of business…and you still live here.

You think the Mojito is the hip “new” drink.

You know how to get on the roof of Knock Knocks, Sharkey’s, Groucho’s and The Village Idiot, and you still do it when you’re drunk.

You’ve successfully snuck into St. Patty’s Day in Five Points.

You’ve ever pointed out Bates West as “the place where they filmed that Road Rules episode.”

You remember $1 Corona’s at Knock Knocks – and miss it.

You have no idea, and don’t even care anymore, who the hell Wilbur Smith really is.

You’ve ever partied in Whaley’s Mill.

If you drank beer at a show at Greenstreets, you’re pretty damned old.

Or if you remember when the place that used to be Elbow Room was a diner.

You remember when 5 Points was a rock culture stronghold.

You can’t go to [name that bar] because you slept with the bartender or bouncer.

You remember Maurice Bessinger dressed in a white suit riding a white horse and NOT wearing a white-sheet and cone hat with the eyes cut out

When the temperature gets below 40 degrees you stock up on bottled water and imperishable goods.

You remember the palmetto trees in Five Points.

You’ve ever rented a house or apartment from state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

You remember “The Commons.” Extra points if you lived there.

You remember when you were allowed to drink beer outside other than Budweiser at 5 after Five.

You know that “chillin’ at the rocks” means.

You know not to go to Wal-Mart on Sundays if you don’t speak Spanish.

You remember when you could score a handjob on Senate Street from a gay prostitute.

You know the bathroom graffiti at the Art Bar by heart— and quote it regularly.

The highlight of your week is when Free Times comes out on Wednesday.

You know where karaoke is every night of the week and avoid it like the plague.

If you’ve never had a beer with Ruba Say… you haven’t been here long enough.

You ever witnessed a drunken couple having sex in a Buick in the parking lot of that blue and red train caboose on Gervais and Pulaski that doubled as an all-night diner. What was the name of that place?

Or, if you didn’t use profanity at Martin’s “Eats.”

You own every Salty Nut and Yesterdays T-shirt since 1998.

You have a surf rack on your SUV— but, sadly, no surfboard.

You’ve ever been to the Woodshed.

You’ve ever woken up in the morning and said “I don’t know how we ever ended up at Group, but…”

You own a Durkin’s membership card.

You’ve ever said, “We can’t go to [whatever bar] tonight because my ex might be there.”

You’ve worn a pink polo, croakies, Rainbow sandals, a camouflaged USC hat and shorts above the knees all in one outfit. And then you had to change because your roommate had on the same thing.

You miss the $1 “Drunk Trolley.”

You’ve ever been blessed by “The Black Pope” in Five Points.

You still compare every other hot dog in town to a “Frank’s dog.”

You skated The Slab or the Burger King bank.

You remember (or more likely have a hazy recollection of) a Rockafella’s rave night.

You actually spent more than a semester in the Towers.

You miss Tuesday nights at the Have A Nice Day Café

You remember when you could put USC in your March Maddness brackets.

You drive friends from out of town past the big metal fire hydrant downtown and say “So what do you think of that?”

You’ve ever actually counted the number squirrels on the USC Horseshoe

You have no qualms about Seersucker

You cried when Pearl Jam canceled their show at Rockafella’s.

You consider Groucho’s one of the five major food groups

You’ve ever referred to the Publix on Rosewood as “Club Publix”

You’ve actually said the words “Cola Town.” You weren’t joking when you said it either.

Joe Azar is currently running for Mayor and you’ve been mentioned in his e-newsletter


Posted on Jul 22, 2007, 5:36 PM

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Harpies!

by Anonymous (no login)







Posted on Jun 19, 2007, 6:06 PM

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Sen. Kay Patterson on Strom Thurmond

by Strom fan (no login)

Sen. Patterson is a long-serving African-American state legislator who was prominent in the civil rights movement in SC. But here's a quote from him at Strom Thurmond's funeral:

“It was Strom that helped to keep our historically black colleges and universities open here in South Carolina and throughout the nation. It was Strom that came to the assistance and aid of my constituents in active military duty as well as the veterans having problems with the Veterans Administration. It was Strom who helped my constituents through the bureaucratic maze of Social Security. It was Strom who helped my constituents with drainage and sewer projects. ... Strom touched many lives in South Carolina and throughout the nation. He touched yours, and he surely touched mine. ... I want to thank the Lord that Strom passed this way because Strom was a man of integrity and honor and he helped many people.”

— In his 2002 eulogy of the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, the onetime Dixiecrat candidate for president



Posted on Mar 4, 2007, 5:09 PM

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Lucy Lawless interview in Diva magazine

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.divamag.co.uk/diva/features.asp?AID=2378


Lawless Heart - Lucy Lawless takes on the pop world

She's played an Amazon, a greaser's girl, a Valkyrie, and a goddess.
Now she faces her biggest challenge to date – THE FICKLE WORLD OF POP.

Lucy Lawless chats with BRYONY WEAVER



'Do I miss Xena?' There's a pause at the other end of the line from
LA. 'I'd say no, I don't. That was then.'

Lucy Lawless is in a mellow mood. We've just swapped pleasantries
about each other's Christmases, and it sounds like much of her big
family holiday – she has five brothers, one sister, a hubby and three
kids – was spent outdoors.

'That's the problem with your Northern Hemisphere holidays,' she quips
in a soft Kiwi twang. 'You're stuck indoors, huddled over a single
radiator – you can't get away from each other. In NZ, we're out, on
the beach… it's so easy there, I'm telling ya!'

We get back to Xena, and while it's clear that Lawless is over the
leathers, she's polite about it. 'I don't hang around. I loved the
variety, the fact that I got to fight, to sing… but it was a hard job.
Everyday I had to do incredibly physical things–'
A bit like an assault course, I suggest. 'Yeah!' There's a bark of
laughter. 'It was!' She thinks for a moment. 'I miss the character,
though. She was such a challenge. Everything else has been incredibly
down-to-earth since then.'

Xena Warrior Princess (XWP to the HCNBs [Hard Case Nut Balls],
Lawless' nickname for Xena obsessives) was the answer to a lesbian
subtext hunter's dreams back in the day. At the height of its fame
(1998-2001 in the UK) there were few designated lesbian couples of
note on TV. Sure, Helen was making eyes at Nikki in Bad Girls, but
there was no over-the-prison-clothes action between them. Lesbian
sci-fi babe Original Cindy hadn't turned up in Dark Angel yet, Buffy's
Willow was still into boys with severe shaving problems at full moon,
and Babylon 5's Commander Susan Ivanova was bisexual.

Renaissance Pictures, the company that made XWP for Universal Studios,
realised it had an avid lesbian audience late in Series One, and, with
openly-gay co-executive producer Liz Friedman having input, it began
making occasional oblique reference to a possible closer-than-close
relationship between its leading characters.

In the Series Two episode The Quest, the scriptwriters had Xena give
sidekick Gabrielle a long, loving kiss – though, to keep younger
viewers and parents happy, she had to do it while inhabiting the body
of a semi-regular male character. References to Xena and Gabby's
soulmate status were peppered throughout the show's six series, in
acknowledgement that we were watching. XWP's hints at a possible-maybe
kept many fans hanging on for 'the big revelation scene' they hoped
was coming.

Gareth McLean, The Guardian's TV critic since 1999, and TV editor
since 2003, believes he knows why we thought we had a live one. 'Xena
was a strong female lead in the essentially male-dominated sci fi/
fantasy genre. While Xena was eye candy, she was also feisty, capable
and well equipped to deal with physical challenges. She rarely needed
saving and when she did, it was more often than not Gabrielle who came
to her rescue, confounding another stereotype. And, of course, that
signature yell – she could do amazing things with her tongue...'
Lawless, however, isn't convinced that Renaissance deliberately played
to the gay gallery. 'I don't think episodes were aimed at any sector
of the audience. That would be rather cynical, and I don't see there's
particular gain to be had through that,' she says thoughtfully, then
continues with a smile in her voice: 'They might have been simply
doffing their caps at certain people…'

Whatever the intention was, Lawless has had queer appeal ever since.
She appeared on a parade float with Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle) at
Sydney's Mardi Gras in 1999. In the US, she was in The Advocate twice
in 1999, and on the cover of Lesbian News magazine in 2003 – more than
a 'doffing' of the cap; more like an open thank you for the fact that
we'd been along for the ride in our thousands, worldwide.

But as Lawless says, that was then, this is now. Gone is the black
hair dye, and she's back to a natural mid-blonde, with far more curls
than Xena (or Gabrielle, come to that) had time for, and a penchant
for outfits that wouldn't have lasted two minutes in pre-Mycenaean
Greece.

Post-Xena, further tough girl roles were offered, and Lawless had a
blink-and-you-miss-her moment as a punk in Spiderman, dropped into one
ep of The X-Files as an indestructible super-soldier, and most
recently joined Series Three of the sexy, updated Battlestar
Galactica.


I'm addicted to live performances. It's like no other drug on Earth


What she has planned seems to be not to return to screen roles for a
good while. In 2005, she began to think seriously about linking into
her other love; singing. 'Singing's so scary, such a challenge, I'm
kind of drawn to it… and I've become addicted to live performances. I
just can't help myself. It's like no other drug on Earth.' So, in
another nod to her queer fans, she got her agent to land her a slot at
LA's Girl Bar.

'Lucy performed at Girl Bar in LA for our 15th Anniversary and she
absolutely packed the place. She has some very loyal fans,' explains
Dr Robin Gans, co-owner of the Girl Bar franchise and co-producer of
one of the US' biggest lesbian circuit parties, the Dinah Shore
Weekend – extended to the Girl Bar Dinah Shore Week, thanks to its
popularity.

'It was a riot,' Lawless agrees. 'There were go-go dancers shakin' it
and the place just went off! So Robin and Sandy asked me to sing at
the GBDSW, which I couldn't that year but this year it fits with
commitments. It's a midnight gig, so the place should already be
hopping!'

Posted on Feb 21, 2007, 7:52 PM

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Eyewitness Accounts of the Sack of the City. Kosovo? Chechnya?

by august (no login)

"The heat from the burning houses was almost unbearable. I spent a greater part of the night walking around the city - witnessing the terrible events going on around me. The beautiful gardens, flowers, trees, and shrubbery for which the city was noted were all destroyed. Churches, colleges and cathedrals were broken down and by daylight of Sunday saw the city a black and smoking desert of ruins. Around the charred ruins of their homes were grouped whole families, mourning and weeping over the terrible desolation."

- Samuel M. Byars, 5th Infantry (Iowa)


"Never in our lives have we seen such destruction and desolation. The people were in the parks and the woods and the fields without shelter."

- Pvt. Joe Saunier, 4th Infantry (Ohio)


"I trust I shall never witness such a scene again - drunken soldiers rushing from house to house, emptying them of their valuables and then torching them."

- August Conrad (German visitor to the city)



"Black women were for the most part victims of the soldiers' lust. A number of them were woefully mistreated and ravished. The disorder of the night had caused many to flee their homes and seek a place of refuge. But in the shadows and out-of-the-way places, more than one fell vistim to the soldiers' desires. The next morning their unclothed bodies, bearing the marks of detestable crimes, were found about the city."


- David Conyngham, The New York Herald



Kosovo? Chechnya?


The above are eyewitness accounts of the burning of Columbia, South Carolina. 135 years ago, Feb. 17th-20th, 1865.


"I saw property destroyed until I was perfectly sick of it....I do not believe you can find food enough in South Carolina to keep a dozen chickens over winter."

- Charles Brown, 21st Infantry (Michigan)



Posted on Feb 19, 2000, 2:21 PM

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a timely bump....

by ak (no login)

Tomorrow (Tuesaday) is the anniversary....

Posted on Feb 16, 2004, 3:38 PM

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the anniversary...

by Civil war buff (no login)

Another timely bump....

Posted on Feb 18, 2006, 11:21 AM

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the anniversary is at hand

by Anonymous (no login)

title says it all

Posted on Feb 15, 2007, 6:03 PM

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other accounts

by Anonymous (no login)

Newspaper account from the Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 18, 1865:

“Columbia has fallen! Sherman moved into and took possession of the city yesterday morning. ... From General (Pierre) Beauregard’s dispatch it appears that on Thursday evening the enemy approached the south bank of the Congaree and threw a number of shells into the city. During the night they moved up the river, and yesterday morning forded the Saluda and Broad rivers. While they were crossing these rivers our troops, under General Beauregard, evacuated Columbia. The enemy soon after took possession.”

From the Columbia Phoenix, March 21, 1865:

At about 10 a.m. Feb. 17, Columbia Mayor Thomas Goodwyn and a group of three aldermen traveled north of the city to meet with Union forces and officially surrender the city.

“The Confederate forces having evacuated Columbia, I deem it my duty, as Mayor and representative of the city, to ask for its citizens the treatment accorded by the usages of civilized warfare. I therefore respectfully request that you will send a sufficient guard in advance of the army to maintain order in the city and protect the persons and property of the citizens.”

From the journal of Columbia resident Mrs. Campbell Bryce:

“Every moment the fire extended and came nearer. We were constantly on the watch to prevent torches and matches being applied to the house or out-houses. When I look back at that night, I wonder how the people of Columbia lived through it — the horrible roar of the flames, the glare, the crowds of soldiers yelling, screaming, and threatening with torches to burn our homes, and turn us out in a bitter cold night.”

Bryce and her family eventually found haven with many other Columbians in the insane asylum on Bull Street, which remained east of the fire. She persuaded a Union leader to assign two guards to watch over her house, and the guards did a better job than some others in those positions. She had a house to return to the next day.

From “The Burning of Columbia” in Harper’s Weekly by George Ward Nichols:

“It was the grandest and most awful sight I had ever seen. The northern and western sky was not only all aflame, but the air was filled with myriad sparks and burning brands. They fell upon the wooden house-tops; they dashed against the window panes, lurid with reflected light; they fell in showers into the garden and among the trees; they mingled with the eddying dust which whirled along the street.”

From Union Gen. O.O. Howard, “Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard, Major General, United States Army”:

“It would be impossible to exaggerate the horrors of that long night between the 17th and 18th of February, 1865. ... The flames would lick up a house seemingly in an instant and shoot from house to house with incredible rapidity. The very heavens at times appeared on fire. A wide street was no barrier.”

From “’Ware Sherman: A Journal of Three Months’ Personal Experience in the Last Days of the Confederacy” by Joseph LeConte, a Confederate officer and a professor at USC:

LeConte fled town with fellow Confederate officers and their servants as the Union forces approached. He hid in the forests near the Broad River as the Union troops swept all around him. On Feb. 24, LeConte finally made his way back into Columbia on foot.

“We entered Columbia at the extreme northern end (Cottontown) and went down the whole length of Main Street for a mile and a half. Not a house remaining. Only the tall chimneys standing gaunt and spectral, and empty brick walls with vacant windows like death heads with eyeless sockets. The fire had swept five or six blocks wide right through the heart of the city. Only the eastern and western outskirts are left. We met not a living soul. Alas how the beautiful city, the Pride of the State, sits desolate and in ashes. But I have not time to moralize now — onward still with increasing speed — yonder see the brick walls of the campus and the buildings of the College, and see, there at last is my own ivy-covered home! ... Ran up the steps three at a leap. Door locked. Rap! Rap!! Rap!!! Loud, sharp, quick. Deep silence a moment — then the quick pattering of little feet along the hall — then in an instant open flew the door and (his children) all hung upon my neck with mingled laughter and tears.”

Click here or here.

Posted on Feb 15, 2007, 6:21 PM

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Kevin Smith has passed

by KevinMourner (no login)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=939668&thesection=news&thesubsection=general>



    
This message has been edited by august on Feb 16, 2002 3:27 PM

Posted on Feb 15, 2002, 7:56 PM

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This is so sad :(

by (no login)

Here's the text of the article above:



Actor Kevin Smith dies after fall in China

16.02.2002


Leading New Zealand actor Kevin Smith has died in a Beijing hospital after he was critically injured in a fall.

His agent, Robert Bruce, confirmed that the 38-year-old actor had died.

"I received a call from Kevin's family to say that he passed away in his sleep.

"It's a shock to us all, and a major shock to the family. They're just trying to come to terms with it all."

Mr Bruce could provide no further details.

Auckland-based Smith was injured in the Chinese capital 10 days ago and doctors treating him were concerned that he would not recover from serious injuries.

The accident occurred on February 6, the day after the actor finished work on a joint US-Chinese production, and as he was preparing to return to NZ.

The hunky local star was then to have headed to movie "boot camp" to prepare for what many believed would be his big break, a role in a Hollywood blockbuster starring Bruce Willis.

The doctor treating Smith told the Herald last night that staff from China's top movie production house, Beijing Film Studio, rushed him to the Beijing Union Hospital after the fall. Smith was believed to have been on a life-support machine before his death.

The doctor, who did not wish to be named, said Smith had suffered a severe injury to his skull and had been in a critical condition.

Acting sources have said he was injured when he fell from a great height, possibly six storeys.

Li Hao, a spokeswoman for one of the companies involved in Warriors of Virtue II, said Smith, who had completed his film contract the day before the fall, had made a big impression.

Smith's wife, Suzanne, and his parents, Geoff and Yvonne, are understood to have been with him.

In addition to his wife, Mr Smith leaves his three children, Oscar, 11, Tyrone, 9, and Willard, 3.

Mr Bruce said last night that the actor's family wanted to thank everyone who had sent messages of love and support.

Smith starred in many New Zealand stage, television and feature films and is perhaps best known for his role as Ares in Xena: Warrior Princess.

His ambitions to break into the American movie market were realised when he scored a role in the $US70 million ($166 million) Bruce Willis action film Man of War, due to start filming in Hawaii next month.

He had leaped at the chance to go to China because the role allowed him to learn from the stuntman who worked on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Smith, Auckland-born but Timaru-raised, got into acting when his wife and childhood sweetheart saw a casting call while he was sidelined by concussion during the rugby season.

He was soon a leading man, happy to laugh at his beefcake image.

"A nicer guy you wouldn't find anywhere," said friend and Comedian Mike King.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


And here was what I posted at Ascifi.com -

This is just so sad.

Someone - I believe Fredric March once said of Basil Rathbone (known as the dashing Romeo and Robert Browning in his youth, and later the cerebral Sherlock Holmes, the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham , and the titular "Son of Frankenstein") - "He was a good actor and a nice guy."

That pretty much sums it up.

I never had the pleasure of meeting him at a convention or anything, but I had two tiny interactions with him. In December of 2000, some months after "Jack of All Trades" had been cancelled, Stuart Devenie, the actor who had played the Governor, expressed interest in doing a celebrity chat with the show's fans, as a sort of farewell/thank you/closure kind of thing. He knew fellow "Jack" co-star Stephen Papps would be willing to participate via telephone, and he was staying at the home of his friend actress Darien Takle, so he developed the notion of various mystery guests showing up, and he plugged the idea at the Auckland Theatre Co. Christmas party the night before.

Sure enough, his old buddy from Christchurch theatre days, Kevin Smith, called up on what would have been for them Sunday afternoon. Smithy was getting ready to take his kids to see "the Grinch," and asked the chatters if they thought he needed another drink before he went! He answered tons of questions about Herc + Xena, and was generally witty and irreverent. He seemed especially interested in the weirdness of the Bush-Gore election, and had watched Gores's recent concession speech, observing that it was as if the losers of the Oscars had to make speeches too. (A partial transcript transcript is at http://www.angelfire.com/sc/joxerfan/devenie.chat7.html ) Stuart had the idea that if he held two phones receivers together, Smithy and I could talk, but the reception was terrible, so I only spoke to him briefly, but I'll never forget his cheery "Hallo, Mate!"

Two months later, Cam Cooley, an American actor living in NZ was cast in a small part in "Soul Possession," and I asked him to sneak a picture of himself on the Xena set with a sign or something saying "Hello, August." Cam did one better, and got Kevin Smith to pose with him, and the picture remains one of my prized possessions.

There's no reason why Smithy could not have been the next big breakout star from NZ, given the "hunk" factor combined with his extraordinary, stage-trained talent and his excellent singing voice.

And from what I understand, he was the most settled, down-to-earth family man there ever was.

He will be greatly missed.




Posted on Feb 16, 2002, 3:26 PM

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Sad News

by (no login)

I just heard the news about Kevin Smith. My heart goes out to his wife and children. It's an awful tragedy.

Ares was always my favorite character on Hercules and Xena. He was surely on his way to a huge career.

How awful to be cut down in his prime.



Posted on Feb 16, 2002, 4:47 PM

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Kevin Mourner

by Tears (no login)


Yes i know. I still can't believe this has happened. At the very top. In his prime of his career. So close to breaking into hollywood.Andnow.......... It just wasnt his time. Its not right. I keep running the words in my head. Kevin Smith died. Ican't seem to connect them together. Idonno im just wishing someone will send a post saying its all a big mistake. Hes not really dead. Hes ok. Inever once thought i'd ever be writing these words. What a sad time. Why'd it have to happen. I just dont understand. If there really is a god and a heaven then thats where he is noww. Ihope he can see us all.And one day we get to see him again. But when i go and face judgement day im telling god str8 up that this this was just not Kevins Time at all. I dont think i will ever forget this time. Its so sad. Inever once met the guy yet he's touched me life so much. Its like i have lost onee of my close friends. What a wonderful man. I will miss him so much.....

Posted on Feb 17, 2002, 10:02 PM

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Josh's comment

by August (no login)

This was from Josh Becker's website:

I only worked with Kevin Smith once, on the very last episode of "Xena" that I directed, "Soul Possession." I had met him quite a few times before that over the years and he was always friendly and pleasant to me. When we finally worked together I found Kevin to be a really terrific actor, loaded with energy, very interested in all the scenes he was in, and always thinking about how to improve his scenes. He continually came up with absolutely wonderful improvised lines, several of which made it into the show. For a guy that was ridiculously handsome, he was also incredibly humble, sweet, and kind -- an amazing combination I haven't run across very often. In fact, Kevin was so wonderful to work with that I called him before I left New Zealand to tell him so. He said he'd never had a director do that before. In this western movie idea Bruce Campbell and I have been kicking around we were thinking of Kevin for the other lead role. I never heard a negative or unkind word spoken about Kevin Smith. He was an honest-to-God terrific human being, as well as a fine, dedicated actor, and he will be sadly missed. I'm glad I knew him.


Posted on Feb 16, 2002, 4:58 PM

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Reuters News Item

by august (no login)

Actor Who Played Xena's Love Interest Dies
Sat Feb 16,12:44 AM ET

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand actor who played the leather-clad, bicep-bulging God of War, Ares, opposite Xena in the television series "Xena: Warrior Princess" has died in China after a fall.


Kevin Smith, 38, died in hospital late Friday from head injuries he suffered in Beijing, where he had been working on a film production, the NZ government said in a statement.

Smith played Xena's love interest in the fantasy drama based loosely on ancient mythology, which ended filming in New Zealand last year after being broadcast in more than 100 countries.

The NZ government paid tribute to Smith, saying he was "known not only for his enormous talent and amazing beauty, but also for his intelligence and self-effacing humor." The New Zealand Herald reported Smith's next role was to have been in a Bruce Willis movie, "Man of War," to begin filming in Hawaii next month.



Posted on Feb 16, 2002, 5:30 PM

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And from another NZ Paper...

by August (no login)

Head injury claims star
17 February 2002

By KIRSTY WYNN
Acting hunk Kevin Smith died yesterday in a Chinese hospital after suffering massive head injuries in a fall 11 days ago.

A doctor at Beijing Union Hospital said Smith, 38, had been on life support after being admitted on February 6 in a coma.

He had been unable to move and suffered severe brain damage.

The doctor - who did not want to be named - said Kevin's only other injury was a broken right hand.

His cause of death was suspected septic shock.

The doctor said Kevin's friend said he was fatally injured in a fall.

"His friend told us he fell from stairs," he told Sunday News.

Police were not investigating the accident, he said.

The doctor said Kevin's family wanted to take his body back to New Zealand for the funeral.

Oliver Driver - who directed Kevin in last year's play The Blue Room - said Kevin's death was a huge loss to all Kiwis.

"The world is a much less pleasant place without him."

Oliver said last night's premiere of The Vagina Monologues in Auckland was dedicted to the brooding actor and theatre-goers observed a minute's silence before the show.

The play stars Kevin's good friends and colleagues Lucy Lawless and Danielle Cormack.

Elizabeth Hawthorne starred with Kevin in last year's play A Streetcar Named Desire.

"He was beautiful to work with. He was terribly gentle, very funny, and of course, gorgeous," she said.

Kevin's ability to laugh at his macho image saw him take part in comedy debates alongside Sunday News columnist Kerre Woodham.

"He was a very clever man and it's a shame people won't get the chance to see more of his amazing talents," said Kerre.

"Someone that good looking and that talented could easily be a total jerk but he wasn't."

Once Were Warriors star Temuera Morrison said: "New Zealand has lost one of its talented sons."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1105524a10,FF.html

Posted on Feb 16, 2002, 6:05 PM

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a quote from Mark Hadlow in a Wellington paper

by august (no login)

Actor was 'better than Crowe'
18 February 2002

By MICHELLE BROOKER

Actor Kevin Smith was a dyed-in-the-wool Cantabrian, who
would have been bigger than Russell Crowe, says local
actor Mark Hadlow.
Christchurch colleagues were devastated yesterday as they
spoke about Smith's early career at the Court Theatre.
The former Timaru boy, who learned his craft at Christchurch's
Court Theatre, died at the Beijing Union Hospital on Saturday,
after suffering severe brain damage in a fall on February 6.
Hadlow said Smith was "a better actor" than Crowe.
"I am biased, but he touched my life, everyone's life in such a
lovely open way," he said.

Days after his death, mystery still surrounded how the actor fell.
Some news reports said he fell three storeys, while others
claimed he fell down a flight of stairs.

Smith had been celebrating with the staff from Chinese
production house Beijing Film Studio.

Beijing police are not investigating the accident.

Smith, 38, who was voted New Zealand's sexiest man last
December, had just finished filming a Chinese-American movie in
China's capital city. He was about to head to America to film his
first Hollywood movie, with Bruce Willis.

Former Court Theatre artistic director Elric Hooper gave Smith his
big acting break in 1987.

"He just walked straight into the foyer and asked me if he could
act," Hooper said.

"I told him to go away and come back with an audition piece.
People who look like that don't come along every day.
"He was with us for three years."

Hooper said Smith was "too talented".

"He could do everything," he said. "He was physically adept, he
could sing, and he had a great comic gift. But he had a dark
side.

"His temper was wonderful to behold. He punched a hole in a
theatre wall once. It is still known as Kevin's hole."

Hadlow said Smith's talent quickly shone through, and he asked
his agent, Robert Bruce, to meet him.

"I rang Robert and said, 'Look, there is this guy. His name's Kevin
Smith. You should see him. I think he will be amazing'."
Mr Bruce, Smith's agent for 12 years, said Smith had been "over
the moon" about his role as a navy man in the $166 million
blockbuster A Man of War, starring Bruce Willis.

"The role was a good-guy one," Mr Bruce said. "He was going to
be Bruce's mate, which is very important. He wasn't just going to
be one of the bad guys."

Mr Bruce said the irony was that he had told Smith his career
would not take off until he was in his late 30s: "I told him, you
have to get lines on your face and prove your talent."

Raised on a Timaru farm, Smith moved to Christchurch in his late
teens. He worked in a variety of jobs, including the advertising
department at The Press, before his big acting break. Smith's
parents, Geoff and Yvonne, still live in Timaru. They were at his
bedside when he died.

Hadlow said Christchurch was important to Smith because that
was where it all began: "Without Elric Hooper, there would be no
Kevin Smith."

Smith was not shy about declaring his love for Christchurch. In a
1999 interview with The Press, he said his move to Auckland to
further his acting career was temporary, and his heart would
always belong to Canterbury.

"It's where I came to when I first moved away from home," he
said. "Where I started making independent adult decisions. I
think I will always consider Christchurch home. I am still a
dyed-in-the-wool Cantabrian."

Smith had a string of television roles in programmes such as
McPhail and Gadsby, Gloss, City Life, Lawless, Xena Warrior
Princess, and Hercules.

He starred in the New Zealand films Desperate Remedies and
Channelling Baby.

Smith's body is expected to be flown home on Wednesday.
He is survived by his wife, Suzanne, and sons, Oscar, 11,
Tyrone, nine, and Willard, three.



Posted on Feb 17, 2002, 9:39 PM

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Another NZ Herald Article(more quotes from colleagues)

by august (no login)

Fans and colleagues mourn Smith

18.02.2002
By CATHERINE MASTERS
The body of actor Kevin Smith is expected to be brought home towards the end of the week after his death in a Chinese hospital at the weekend.

The funeral arrangements have yet to be worked out and his body would probably not arrive before the middle of the week - at the earliest.

Smith died in hospital in Beijing early on Saturday after falling several storeys and suffering critical head injuries just over two weeks ago.

The Herald has learned that two of Smith's personal doctors had flown from New Zealand to observe his treatment, but they were not actively involved in it.

Few other details emerged yesterday of the events that led to his fall. His agent, Robert Bruce, could not be contacted and Smith's family is still understood to be keeping details of the incident private.

While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is assisting his family with funeral arrangements, it did not know yesterday when his body might be brought home.

As celebrity friends of Smith mourned his death, fans around the world have been flocking to his website to express their grief. Many want to set up a memorial or trust fund for his wife and three young children.

Many of Smith's fans left messages saying how deeply shocked they were. "I and others are thinking of setting up a trust fund for Kevin's family. Nothing is carved in stone at this point," said one.

Another fan wrote:

"I just want to say how deeply sad I am. There is no easy way to deal with death. It is ugly."

Another says to take a lesson from Smith and from his life: "Let's try to see the goodness in people and the world around us, to live our lives to the fullest, like Kevin chose to. Kevin, I miss you mate."

As Ares, the god of war in Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess, Smith gained a huge and enthusiastic following and has several websites dedicated to him.

American actor Kevin Sorbo, who played the lead in Hercules, is said to be deeply upset after New Zealander Michael Hurst, his sidekick Iolas in Hercules, broke the news to him.

Hurst was to speak about Smith in the United States when he addressed a convention of Xena fans.

On Saturday night in Auckland at the Maidment Theatre, where Smith's friends Danielle Cormack and Lucy Lawless are appearing in The Vagina Monologues, a minute's silence was observed. Cormack and Lawless were too upset to comment yesterday.

Hurst's partner, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, who acted with Smith in the film Desperate Remedies, said the whole theatre world was there to pay their respects after the loss of their mate.

"There were lots of Kevin's friends and colleagues there and for me it was the best place to be, because I think Kevin would have wanted the show to go on."

The minute's silence was intensely emotional, she said, because everyone had special memories of him.

"I mean, really, the only thing missing was Kevin."

She said Michael Hurst, a close friend, was a little better than on Saturday. He had stayed up very late Saturday night in America with people who had worked on Xena reminiscing about their times with Smith.

"Michael spoke to Kevin [Sorbo] and they both wept on the phone together. That was really good that Michael could talk to him."

Caterina de Nave, who produced Channelling Baby in which Smith starred and also cast him in Shortland Street, said he was a fantastic man and the acting world was gutted.

"A gentleman, generous, funny, very masculine without being bombastic with it. Just a terrific guy ... I never once heard a cross word."




Posted on Feb 18, 2002, 1:40 AM

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The Details :(

by august (no login)

Kevin Smith fell from film set tower, agent reveals

19.02.2002 1.25 pm

It has been revealed that New Zealand actor Kevin Smith climbed a film set tower from which he suffered his fatal fall last week.

He hit his head several times on his way down and landed on the tower's stone base, his agent said today.

Robert Bruce said he was releasing more details of the incident on behalf of Kevin's wife and family.

The Smith family had earlier asked the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing not to release any information about how the actor died.

Mr Bruce said Mr Smith had been "checking out" some sets at the CCTV Film Studios in Hebei Province, the province surrounding the Chinese capital Beijing.

It is not clear what time Mr Smith was on the set and whether it was the set of the film where he had the previous day finished filming 'Warriors of Virtue II', or the set of 'Man of War', the new Bruce Willis movie, he was about to start filming.

Mr Bruce said Mr Smith was semiconscious when he was transported to the local hospital. After a CT scan, hospital staff decided Mr Smith should be transferred to the main hospital in Beijing.

It was while at this hospital that Mr Smith fell into a deep coma, Mr Bruce said.

"After several days in the coma, Kevin showed signs of recovery but unfortunately on the 4th day his body went into shock and he subsequently passed away on Friday."

Shocked fans were yesterday desperate for more information about the actors death.

"Although I now know it is true, I still know nothing of what happened to him," said one fan on an internet site where tributes to Smith are being posted.

"If someone could fill me in I would be most grateful."



© 2002 New Zealand Herald




Posted on Feb 18, 2002, 9:15 PM

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I'll miss you Smitty

by (no login)

I'll miss you Smitty! I only saw you as Ares, it has been heartwarming to learn you have been a dedicated father & family man as well.

Thanks for participating in Governor Croque's Christmas Party chat, I was a part of that!

Vive la Résistance

lasermn
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Posted on Feb 19, 2002, 1:28 PM

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A Sad Day!

by bill chasen (no login)

My heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the family of Kevin Smith. I'm stunned by his passing.
Outside of Xena/Hercules, Aries is the only role that I'm familiar with. He play the part exquisitely.
Terrible tragedy.

Posted on Feb 19, 2002, 3:56 PM

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more details

by august (no login)

From the NZ Herald



Kevin Smith fell from film set tower, agent reveals

19.02.2002 By LOUISA CLEAVE

Kevin Smith was climbing a film prop designed like a castle when he
fell on to a stone base, causing the head injuries that led to his
death.

The actor had been drinking but was not intoxicated, his agent said
yesterday.

Robert Bruce gave details of the New Zealand actor's death in China
on behalf of Smith's wife, Suzanne, and family.

He said the accident happened on Smith's last day on the set of the
movie Warriors of Virtue II, and no one saw it.

Smith had arranged to finish filming early so he could return to New
Zealand and spend time with his family before heading to the United
States. He was to enter a Navy SEALS "boot camp" to prepare for his
next role, acting alongside Bruce Willis in Hawaii.

Mr Bruce said he understood Smith drank a couple of beers, ate dinner
and took a walk around the Central China Television film studios
while he waited for a ride to his hotel.

The studios are in Shijiazhuang, the capital city of the Hebei
Province, 250km southwest of Beijing.

"He went for a wander around the film set and there was this castle-
type film set structure which he climbed and fell," Mr Bruce
said. "We don't know why but he was found at the base of that with
head injuries.

"On film sets there are no bars or anything like that. If you have a
couple of beers it's because someone brings in a six-pack at the end
of the night."

He did not know how much time elapsed before Smith was discovered,
semi-conscious. Mr Bruce said Smith's family had visited the film set
where he died and had told him the structure was about three storeys
high.

Smith was taken to a local hospital and then transferred to Beijing
in the early hours of February 6.

At the Beijing hospital he fell into a coma and did not regain
consciousness.

After several days, Smith showed signs of recovery, but his body went
into shock, said Mr Bruce who had told Friday night's Holmes
television show that the injuries were not life-threatening. He
learned early on Saturday that Smith had died.

Mr Bruce said there were no suspicious circumstances and police were
not investigating the accident. An autopsy was not carried out.

Asked if climbing a film prop was something Smith would normally do,
Mr Bruce said: "This was one which must have taken his fancy as a
lookout.

"I guess if you put yourself in the same position, you've finished
filming, you're in the studio, some people have gone home, you're
waiting for a lift and wandering around. Some of these sets I've been
on are absolute works of art.

"So yeah, there'd be a certain amount of interest [in this prop] I'm
sure."

Posted on Feb 19, 2002, 6:44 PM

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Can't believe it...

by (no login)

Wow! I am so shocked and sad...dang...I can't believe he's gone and that this even happened..he was my favorite actor on Xena..he was really cool..dang..what a sucky loss for the world....huh....


NatureSpell
Jack's Pack #37




Posted on Feb 19, 2002, 9:12 PM

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that is quite tragic...

by (no login)

so yes I've come out of hiding to express my sorrow at the death of a great performer (though let me tell that at first I didn't realized which Kevin Smith we were talking about and wonder why my fellow Clerks and Mallrats fans had not been beating down my door all day). He will be greatly missed!

~Juliet: the Bohemian Songbird~

PS. hi to all JOAT fans, I don't mean to abandon...the life of an aspiring actress is hetic around college audition time...I shall return soon however

Posted on Feb 19, 2002, 11:19 PM

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more info :(

by August (no login)

http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,82493-1-7,00.html


Details emerging about actor's death



New details are emerging about the death of New
Zealand actor and sex-symbol Kevin Smith, who
died in China on Friday, 10 days after a fall.

Agent Robert Bruce says Smith, 38, had completed
work on the film Warriors of Virtue Two, and he was
checking out some sets at a film studio in the
Hebie province.

He climbed one of the studio's towers and
apparently fell several metres onto a stone base
after hitting his head several times on the way
down.

Bruce says Smith was semi-conscious when taken
to the local hospital, and after a CT scan it was
decided to move him to the main hospital in
Beijing where he fell into a coma.

"No one saw him fall... he was found," Bruce said.

The New Zealand actor had gone exploring after a
dinner to celebrate the film's completion.

He is understood to have fallen while investigating
one of the sets.

Bruce denies alcohol was a factor and says doctors
checked for that straight away.

Bruce says Smith spent several days in a coma
before showing signs of recovery, but four days
after his fall he went into shock and died.

Bruce says there were no suspicious circumstances
and no autopsy was required. No police
investigation was necessary.

Meanwhile, Bruce is concerned about so-called
tributes to the actor in which some fan websites are
asking for cash donations in his memory.

Bruce says the a site being set up by Lucy Lawless
and Michael Hurst which will be the only official
memorial fund.

The foundation will help young actors eager to
follow in their hero's footsteps.




Posted on Feb 20, 2002, 1:37 PM

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a variation on that article

by august (no login)

http://entertainment.nzoom.com/entertainment_detail/0,1846,82229-129-134,00.html




Kevin Smith, one of New Zealand's hottest and hunkiest screen stars who had
just scored a role opposite Bruce Willis, died after being in a critical condition in
a Beijing hospital on Saturday morning.

Smith suffered head injuries in a fall on February 6 after filming in the Chinese
capital. Smith's Auckland agent Robert Bruce said he was not filming at the
time. National Radio quoted Bruce as saying he had received a call from China
confirming the death.

The 38-year-old had been in Beijing working on a joint
United States-China movie, and was preparing to return to
New Zealand. He was then to have headed to a movie "boot
camp" to prepare for what many believed would be his big
break, a role in a Hollywood blockbuster starring Willis.

Smith was known by the New Zealand public for his brooding
good looks, but his vibrant personality also made him a
popular favourite on set. He developed a huge fan base in
America due to his prominent role as Ares in Xena - Warrior
Princess.

Local acting sources have said he was injured when he fell
from a great height, possibly six storeys.

"He just went peacefully apparently. It's just such a tragic
loss," Bruce told National Radio.

"Kevin was just on the brink of really where his career was taking off and it's
bad from that point, but for all his friends and fans it's going to be a terrible
loss to us all."

Smith's family, including his wife and three sons, were with him when he died,
Bruce added, and have asked for privacy for the family.

Illustrious career recalled as tributes flow

Kevin Smith's ambition to break into the American movie market were realised
when he scored a role in the $US70 million ($165.68 million) Willis action film
Man of War, due to start filming in Hawaii next month.

He had leapt at the chance to go to China because the role allowed him to learn
from the stuntman who worked on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He was voted
New Zealand's sexiest man in a poll of 14,000 TV Guide readers last December.

Smith starred in many television, stage and feature films as well as Xena,
including Desperate Remedies, Gloss and Ladies' Night .

Simon Prast, the producer of the Auckland Theatre Company who worked with
Smith on Gloss, says his death is a terrible loss.

Prast says while there were many highlights in Smith's career, so much more
awaited him, including the Hollywood film role.

Prast says the opening performance of the Vagina Monologues in Auckland on
Saturday, which stars Smith's Xena colleague Lucy Lawless, is dedicated to the
actor.

And the government is expressing its sorrow at Smith's death. Associate
Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Judith Tizard says he was known not only
for his enormous talent and amazing beauty, but also for his intelligence and
self-effacing humour.

She says she is sure all New Zealanders will join with the government is
expressing their sorrow that this exceptionally talented New Zealander has died
in his prime after an appalling accident.

Bruce says the family would like to thank everyone for the many messages of
love and support they have received.



Posted on Feb 20, 2002, 1:52 PM

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The word relating to the Kevin Smith Foundation

by August (no login)

Notice to all concerned.

Regarding the recent tragic death of New Zealand Actor Kevin Smith.

Robert Bruce, Lucy Lawless and Michael Hurst with appropriate legal representation
will be establishing the Official Kevin Smith Foundation.

This foundation, and its website, is the one and only organization working with Kevin
Smith’s family.

Please consider and other people, organizations or web sites, while well intentioned
(or otherwise), as not official. We would request any contributions be withheld until
the Foundation and its website are established as a legal entity.

We appreciate peoples desire to contribute in Kevin’s memory, but we ask your
patience in this difficult time.

Regards,

Robert Bruce
Theatrical Agent

Updated 18/03/02

Posted on Feb 20, 2002, 1:39 PM

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Pasadena pics

by august (no login)

Images from the Pasadena Con, at the memorial for Kevin Smith:



















Posted on Feb 21, 2002, 3:13 AM

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Michael Hurst in the NZ Herald

by august (no login)



New Zealand Herald

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=940693&msg=emaillink


Farewell to a friend

23.02.2002

Actor/director MICHAEL HURST remembers a colleague and a chum.

I was in Pasadena attending a Xena Convention when I received the news that my friend and colleague Kevin Smith had passed away.

In the subsequently surreal environment of the Ritz Hotel, waiting for my turn to go and address the fans, I was struck by waves of grief and disbelief. He was such a constant force in lives of all of us who worked with him and who were his friends.

Kevin was loved. He threw himself into everything he did with extraordinary vigour and reaped the rewards of affection and respect.

His life was a "larger than life" kind of life. Of all the actors in Hercules and Xena, he was the only one who resembled his action figure.

He was one of the funniest men I ever met, and one of the wittiest. Kevin was clever. Boy, he was clever. He was generous and possessed of great humility. He was one of us, a good man, a bloke, a mate.

I worked with Kevin many times in different ways - directing him, acting with him, singing or debating with him - and I know in my heart that we had only just begun to see the depth of his talent. He was poised to fly, and fly he would have.

This is the hardest thing, the fact that we want more of him. We want the fulfilment of all that promise but must be content with only the idea.

He was a family man, a sporting man, a playful man and a thinking man. His smile was, and will always be, a beacon in the dark because I think he knew instinctively that heart was the first thing and that everything else followed.

I, like many others, will carry his memory with me undimmed, and it will give me both joy and sadness for the rest of my life.

We have lost a favourite son.

Safe journey, Kevin. We love you.



Posted on Feb 22, 2002, 5:24 PM

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update on services

by august (no login)

From:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/print/0,1103,1111810a11,FF.html

NATIONAL NEWS

SUNDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2002

Private funeral for Kevin Smith
22 FEBRUARY 2002

The body of actor Kevin Smith, who died a week ago after a fall in China, is expected in New Zealand at the weekend as his family prepares for a private funeral.

However, a public memorial service, possibly in Auckland's Aotea Centre, would be held later, Smith's agent Robert Bruce said today.

Smith, 38, died after apparently falling from a film prop in China where he was on the final day of filming the movie Warriors of Virtue II.

Mr Bruce, who has represented the actor for 12 years, told NZPA today until the actor's body was returned to New Zealand, details of both the private family service and the public memorial could not be finalised.

The private service could be held in Timaru, where the Auckland-born actor was raised.

Mr Bruce said the tentative date for the public service was February 28.

Mr Bruce said he had been meeting with actors Michael Hurst and Simon Praast over the public service and needed a large venue.

"That is why we were thinking it would to have to be the Civic or the Aotea Centre but we don't know about their availability."

Mr Bruce said he was not surprised at the level of grief expressed at the actor's death.

"It is just the guy. Every e-mail, every card, every letter is people who had either met him once, talked to him at a gig, played his music and everybody bar none has said what an amazing guy."

He said Smith's wife Suzanne and children were still in China and would come back with his body.

Mr Bruce said he had yet to deal with his personal grief over his friend's death.

"I haven't been able to fully allow myself to believe it has happened, because there has been so much to do. I think the reality will be once he actually gets back."

Mr Bruce said a Kevin Smith Foundation would be established.




Posted on Feb 23, 2002, 3:57 PM

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Kevin Smith on Internet fans

by August (no login)

From IDGNet, NZ

Thursday, 21 February, 2002

Kevin Smith on the web

Ria Keenan, Auckland


In 1997 the internet was only just penetrating the mass consciousness but already actor Kevin Smith had an ardent online following. Following his accident in China and untimely death, fans have been flocking to the web for information and to express sadness at his demise.

Smith's foreign fan base, which is probably even greater than it is here at home, goes back to his roles in Xena and Hercules. Locally, he is known from numerous television, stage and feature film performances but to overseas fans, he was simply Ares, God of War (in Xena), or Iphicles, Herc's half-brother.

This previously unpublished 1997 interview with Smith by former Computerworld reporter Ria Keenan was intended for an internet magazine which never saw the light of day. Keenan asked Smith about his growing fame and exposure to – and on – the internet.

"In Auckland I've lost a bit of anonymity because of the pop culture that's grown up around the show [Xena], so going to America has always been really cool. I'd just relax and be really laid back. But it's weird — I'm getting recognised over there now. One of the executives at Universal Studios, when I was visiting there recently, came up to me in the cafeteria and wanted me to say a line he really dug from the show. I just kept saying 'how does it go?'. I couldn't remember."

Smith is aware of the many fans he has on the internet and has met a woman who runs a fan club for him. "I met Beth while I was in Los Angeles. She's called ZepGirl on the internet. She drove up from San Diego to meet me."

Smith says the only email he's ever sent so far is a message to a young fan sick in hospital. The girl had a computer beside the bed and used it to communicate.

"She wrote to ZepGirl about it. She was stoked so it was really nice."

He sent his email from Auckland internet store LiveWire, because of "technical difficulties" with his home machine.

"We got a computer last year but it turns out that I'm so computer illiterate that it's just an expensive typewriter. My wife uses it for the soccer club committee and I keep scripts on it and that has been the extent of my involvement."

However, after looking over the shoulders of several friends while they are on the internet, he has decided to get a connection at home.

"There are some things that I want to do, which the internet might be able to help with. There's a play I want to get the rights to and it can be hard when you're writing letters around the world. I just found out the name of the production company — I don't know if emailing might help but it could be quicker to do it that way. I'd also use it for looking at new works, new plays.

"My friend Michael Hurst [who plays Iolus in Hercules], downloaded from the internet a version of Othello that we performed on stage. I've also got some good buddies in the States that I'd like to talk to because it would be cheaper than phone calls and I wouldn't have to worry about the time differences. Also, it would be useful for keeping in contact with my agents; I could email them stuff instead of having lengthy conference calls, which get quite expensive."

Smith sees the internet as being a tool for actors, singers, writers and TV and film production staff.

"I like the idea of a lot of information floating around out there. In this modern age people like Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner are using the internet and communications to control the flow of information around the world, versus the physical challenge they used to have of just getting the news across, say on horseback, to a newspaper office.

"I think web pages could be a tool for actors. If you set one up yourself then you've got a greater amount of control, obviously. I know a film crew agency site on the internet to which crew post their CVs for overseas production companies to pick and choose from. With actors it would be really handy to put their data books of roles played and so on, on the net — it's the next logical step."

What does he make of the web pages devoted to him?

"Occasionally a guy on the Hercules set says 'this is on your web page' this week. I did go to Pacific Renaissance one time [Hercules' and Xena's production company] and saw an entirely weird thing — an image from the show was being used as wallpaper for the website. I thought this is full on, it's groovy. People are really into the show. It's just amazing the amount of time people spend on the internet. I've got friends who get home at night and spend five hours surfing it."

Has he, like Lucy Lawless, ever ventured into a chat room to see what fans are saying about him?

"I did it once; it was ill-conceived folly. A friend was in a chat room and the Ares character was mentioned, so he said why don't you go on? He typed in 'I've got Ares with me here right now'. My typing was really bad, my spelling was bad and I was in trouble and my friend says 'what are you doing' and I said 'I'm looking for the 'H' key, man!' so he said 'you talk, I'll type'.

It was kinda weird but kinda cool."

Did the chat room people believe him?

"That's the thing — maybe because they knew this guy did work on the Xena crew, they seemed to believe. There was amazing venom; it was amazing just how into it people get.

"There were heated conversations and threats. I just imagined a lot of people hunched over, really typing in anger at their keyboards!"

So does Smith now realise how popular the Hercules and Xena shows are on the internet?

"Yeah, I realise down here we're insulated from the impact of the show. Over there it's a big deal. I mean Lucy Lawless is on the cover of TV Guide which is a really big thing in the States; she was on the cover of People magazine when I was there and on the cover of some computer magazines, too. Michael Hurst was on holiday recently and a couple of kids climbed up on a balcony across from his hotel so they could look into his room. It's the weirdest thing."

Smith says overseas he gets a lot of people asking him if he knows so and so from New Zealand.

"And I say 'look I'm from a country of over 3 million people', but it usually turns out that, yes, wouldn't you know it, I do know that person — especially if they happen to come from Timaru. Everyone knows someone in Timaru. It's like that Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon thing."

I say yes, I do know the web page he's referring to.

"Oh it's a web page thing is it? I read about it in a magazine, but it had the smell of a computery thing about it. Actually, I've got my own Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon story.

"I was in a film [Desperate Remedies] with Cliff Curtis, Cliff was in Once Were Warriors with Temuera Morrison, Tem was in a film called The Island of Dr Moreau with Val Kilmer, Val Kilmer was in Top Gun with Tom Cruise and Tom Cruise was in A Few Good Men with — you guessed it — Kevin Bacon!"

With that I let Kevin Smith go. He has to make some phone calls to find a local internet provider. He really is getting into this web page thing.


Posted on Feb 23, 2002, 6:41 PM

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:(

by (no login)

I heard about this on another message board I'm at and immediately came here. I was half hoping there'd be a post here saying it was a hoax. My prayers go out to his family, especially his wife and 3 boys.

Posted on Feb 16, 2002, 9:08 PM

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The AP article

by august (no login)

AP Worldstream
February 15, 2002 Friday
Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor set to appear in Bruce Willis movie, dies of
head injury

BEIJING: Kevin Smith, a veteran New Zealand actor who was in Beijing to film
a martial arts movie, has died of head injuries, a doctor said Saturday.

Smith, 38, died overnight in Beijing Union Hospital, said a doctor in the
hospital's intensive care unit. The doctor refused to give his name or other
details of Smith's death. But the New Zealand Herald reported the actor fell
from a great height, possibly six stories. The paper said he was not on the
movie set when he fell.

Smith worked mostly in his native New Zealand, but was preparing for his
first Hollywood role in the dlrs 70 million action film "Man of War,"
starring Bruce Willis. Filming was to start next month in Hawaii.

Smith was hospitalized after a Feb. 6 fall while in Beijing to shoot the
U.S.-Chinese martial arts film "Warriors of Virtue II."

Smith had reportedly wanted to do the Beijing film to work with the stunt
man from the martial arts hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

In his career, Smith starred in several plays, television shows and movies.
His biggest role to date was Ares in the New Zealand-made "Xena: Warrior
Princess" television action series.

In December, a magazine poll in New Zealand voted him the country's sexiest
man.

He is survived by his wife, Suzanne Smith, and three sons: Oscar, 11;
Tyrone, 9, and Willard, 3.




Posted on Feb 17, 2002, 1:17 PM

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NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo

by maggie (no login)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo . . .

Posted on Feb 19, 2002, 4:13 PM

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Re: NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo

by maggie (no login)

No No No No No, he is not allowed to die. I wanted to see him do leading roles in his 60's as a suave and charming older man. I wanted to tell my grand children I watched him way back when. I wanted his family to have him for the rest of their lives. I wanted to him to grace this world with his presence.

No No No No No
No
No


Posted on Feb 19, 2002, 4:17 PM

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cover of NZ Woman's Day Mag

by august (no login)



Posted on Feb 26, 2002, 12:33 AM

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Tribute to Smithy, read at Auckland Theatre Co.

by august (no login)

Tribute to Kevin...
[delivered opening night of 'The Vagina Monologues']


Good evening.

Tonight, we mourn the tragic loss of Kevin Smith. Our thoughts are with his family: Sue and the boys, his parents. Their grief and shock at this time
is unimaginable.

We have lost a friend and colleague: a gorgeous, gifted, generous, gentle soul; a consummate actor, whose immense natural talents were honed by
great discipline, enormous craft and a fine intellect.

And he could sing.

Kevin was a star. Throughout this country and around the world, his work on stage and screen brought so much joy and entertainment.

He could make women swoon and men laugh: a real-life action hero, who wore the mantle of New Zealand's sexiest man with a trademark grace and good-humour.

Most knew him only through the onscreen persona.

In life, he was full of love and laughter, a softy really, bemused by his many blessings, which he freely shared.

This is a very sad day.

He was a Prince of a Man we will sorely miss.

I ask that you now stand as we dim the lights of the theatre to observe a minute's silence, in memory and in tribute to Kevin.

Thank you.

The stories you are about to hear are all true: real words and real experiences, distilled by the playwright Eve Ensler from interviews with
over two hundred women.

They are intended as a celebration of life through acceptance of self.

Tonight's performance once more honours those courageous women and is dedicated to one very gentle man, who, in life, danced so dashingly
with us all and in death, whose soul we celebrate.

Thank you


Simon


Posted on Apr 13, 2002, 7:51 PM

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the memorial service

by august (no login)

From the New Zealand Herald:

Friends and fans celebrate life of Kevin Smith

01.03.2002
By AMIE RICHARDSON
Kevin Smith's life was celebrated yesterday by the acting community
and more than 1000 mourners in Auckland's Aotea Centre.

Auckland-based Smith, 38, known internationally for his roles in
Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules, died of head injuries almost two
weeks ago in a hospital in Beijing after falling from a film-set
castle 10 days before.

The memorial service was a chance for Smith's friends to celebrate
his life and say goodbye, after the private funeral in his home town
of Timaru.

Fellow actors, old friends and the Associate Minister of the Arts
Judith Tizard spoke about what Smith meant to them and to New
Zealand. There was a video presentation of Smith's life, three songs
and a performance of a haka by Temuera Morrison.

All speakers talked about the actor's generosity, modesty, humour and
beauty.

Xena star Lucy Lawless, choking back tears, said people should grieve
openly about their loss.

Actor Danielle Cormack spoke of Smith's relentless courage and quest
for perfection.

Auckland Theatre Company head Simon Prast entertained the audience
with his first memories of Smith when they starred in the TV soap
Gloss.

He said Smith was the man everyone wanted to hate - multi-talented
and handsome - but nobody could.

"His brain outboxed the brawn. He was voted New Zealand's sexiest man
every year for 10 years," he said.

Hercules producer Eric Gruendemann described Smith as the embodiment
of the raw vitality and unpretentious nature of New Zealand.

"Kevin Smith can never be replaced," he said. "There is no one like
him, no one like the performer and no one like the man. He was true
export-quality New Zealand."

The launch of the Kevin Smith Trust for Smith's children Oscar, 11,
Tyrone, nine, and Willard, three, was announced during the service.
Donations can be made through the Auckland Theatre Company.

* No pictures from the service accompany this report. Bridget de
Launay, a public relations agent for "friends" of Smith, banned news
photographers although it was filmed for television.






Posted on Apr 13, 2002, 7:53 PM

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More on the service

by august (no login)

This was, I think wrtitten by a woman named Trish Shields.

From another list.

I was given permission from someone on another list to post this here.
It's the first person report of someone who was in NZ at the memorial
service for Kevin Smith. Sounds like an Irish wake, with love and
laughter and fond memories mixed in. It's very heart rending to read so
please bear that in mind.


A lot of laughter
A lot of tears
A lot of applause
A lot of cheers

This just came to me as my computer was coming on, & as I was trying to
think of how in the world to write about this service. It was perfect.
End of story. Well, I can give you more details than that, but it was
beautiful. I jotted down some notes, but I don't know if I can do it
justice. Thank goodness Sandy was there, & we sat together, & maybe she
can fill in any blanks that I miss because, as I told her, we'll have two
different perspectives & will remember different things.

I spoke with someone from ATC & mentioned how beautiful their flowers
were. There were 2 very large arrangements of sunflowers, one on each side
of the stage with a light on each, that were from ATC. I was told they
were donated by Texas Florist as their gift to Kevin's family.
On the audience right was an additional very large arrangement of red &
white roses, carnations & ferns, also with a light on it.
The service was a tribute to Kevin, with his closest friends telling wild
&
wonderful stories about him; things I'm sure have never been printed
anywhere.

Those who were speaking sat in the front 2 rows of the theatre. Michael
stepped up first to welcome everyone, saying, "Kevin would love this."
He told us that the instrumental music playing throughout the Aotea was
Kevin's band, Say Yes To Apes.

He said this is a painful sense of loss, it's not fair, but thankfully we
all have memories to share. He said Kevin was right where he wanted to be
in his life and we'll never forget him.

Early in the service, Jennifer sang a song called "Why Should I Wake Up?"
accompanied on the beautiful grand piano by Jason Smith.
A friend named Michael Woodnorth spoke about Kevin, saying that he's been
working in Australia & returned just 3 weeks ago. He had spoken with
Kevin
& they were going to get together, but Kevin's not here & stood him up
again.
Charlie Haskell then spoke, saying that Kevin loved to sing Elvis songs &
impersonate Elvis. He said people used to call him "The big K." People
would see him, often wearing a cowboy hat & cowboy boots, carrying a
guitar, & they'd say, "Hey, here comes the big K."
Before the service, I was asked if I would escort a lady backstage. She
was
dressed very nicely, & I thought she was with the media. I introduced
myself, & asked her name as well, because we had an extremely tight
security network in place today, & only those who were listed specifically
on a form that ATC gave us were to have backstage access. She introduced
herself as Judith Tizzard, & said she had just arrived from Wellington &
would be speaking. I checked, she was on the list, I asked her to sign in
& took her to the stage.

She spoke just after Michael Woodnorth & Charlie, saying that she was
present on behalf of the Prime Minister. My mouth dropped to the floor,
because I had no idea she's with the government. But she relayed a
message
from the PM, Helen Clark, that Ms. Clark's memory of Kevin is from seeing
him in "The Blue Room," & that she's still recovering.

Ollie & Craig were sitting on opposite sides of the auditorium, & walked
onstage next. Standing next to each other, it was like R&G all over
again, & my emotions were all over the place. They stood together behind
musician, Geoff Dolan, who was in Kevin's band, while he spoke. Geoff is
a very funny guy. He went on & on about this wonderful man, how much
everyone loved him, what a great friend he was, then said, "There's only
one Spike Milligan," which brought a lot of laughter. I imagine you know,
but if you don't, Spike Milligan was a British comedian, one of The Goons,
& passed away a couple days ago at 89.

Geoff mentioned again about Kevin loving to sing Elvis & Tom Jones songs.
He said Kevin once did a comedy routine about after dinner mints & the
routine "was crap." So Kevin worked on the routine, fine-tuned it, had it
down perfect, & after 6 months, "it was still crap." He said some
people thought Kevin was too good looking to be funny. He also said the
tragedy of this routine is that it doesn't have a funny ending.

Craig had notes, & stepped up next. He said that with Kevin, every outing
was an adventure. The two of them did hundreds of Theatresports together,
& there was no one better to be with to share in the humiliation of
impromptu comedy. He said that Kevin had an encyclopedic mind full of 70s
TV cast lists. Craig had the audience laughing quite hard too.
Ollie was standing behind Craig, then stepped up to speak when Craig
finished. Ollie had no notes, he just talked from his heart. He said he
simply didn't know what to say. He said he was up until 4am trying to
think of what to say today. Then he did what Kevin would do, he went to
Starks.
(Starks is a tiny restaurant/bar in the Civic Theatre.) He then pulled a
cocktail napkin from his pocket & said, "So I made some notes there on
this," & again everyone was laughing.

Apparently Ollie & Kevin had gone to school together. He said that Kevin
once confided in him that he was a fat child. He said a lot of people
couldn't tell the two of them apart. But he said one of his fondest
memories of Kevin is from 8 years ago. A lady who was very important in
Ollie's life passed away. He & Kevin drove to Christchurch 2 days after
the funeral to do a gig, & in the car, he was telling Kevin about her.
Kevin told him, "Then tonight's gig will be for her." So Ollie said
that from now on, everything he does will be for Kevin.
Michael returned onstage & told about an exhibit called the Tibetan Sand
Mandela, which is currently on display at The Edge. It's a display by
Tibetan monks, & Michael said an invitation was offered for those at the
service to go to the exhibit following the service & light a candle for
Kevin. More on that later.

Michael went on to say he was in Pasadena when he got the news about
Kevin's passing away. He said the American actors who were there were
absolutely speechless.

Then he told about breaking the news to Kevin Sorbo, & he read a tribute
from Kevin. Kevin said that Michael told him, "In the blink of an
eye,he's
gone." Kevin broke down & cried, & said that Kevin was his "golfing
buddy -- that he hacked his way from bush-to-bush." More laughter.

Kevin Sorbo told how Kevin Smith would come to his house, light a cigar &
stink up his house. He said they had great debates about who had the
better workout program at the gym. He said Kevin was a class act actor, &
that "He was my half-brother on Hercules". He said we must all remember
how precious life is, & give lots of hugs & 'I love yous,' because you may
not get another chance.

Kevin's tribute was followed with applause, as each speaker was.Laughter,
tears, applause -- everything.

Michael then introduced Eric Grundemann, who he said flew in from L.A. to
be here.

Eric said that, "Thanks to Kevin, I know how to press a beer can on my
thigh." He said he feels robbed, & it was such a joy to share the set
of Hercules, Xena & Young Hercules with Kevin.

Lucy & Danielle Cormack went onstage next. Lucy spoke first & said it's
important that we grieve fully & openly. She said she feels privileged
for
having known Kevin.

Danielle, reading from her notes, said very loudly, "I can hear him now --
YOU DIDN'T EVEN LEARN YOUR LINES FOR MY TRIBUTE!!" More laughter. She
said that everyone felt a connection with Kevin, & that he had
unconditional love& support for his fellow cast & crew. She said, "He was
on the verge of greatness, but we know you already achieved that." She
said he left us with the gift of having known him, & she wanted to tell us
exactly what Kevin would say at the end of this tribute: "GET THEE TO A
DISTILLERY." Lots more laughter & applause.

During the service, a large picture of Kevin was displayed on the
onstage screen. Now a slide & video show of all sorts of photos & videos
of Kevin was shown. Forget the dry eyes, forget trying to hold back the
emotions.
A song called "Forever Young" played, but it wasn't the song of the same
name by Rod Stewart. I hadn't heard this one before, & I concentrated on
not listening to the words, because it was simply too sad.

There was wonderful footage of Kevin riding a horse along a beach, & it
was
mentioned a couple of times by his friends that he was an expert horseman.
There was a scene of Kevin in the white Elvis costume, looking very much
like Elvis. We saw Ares lifting Xena from the sea in an episode that Xena
fans would know. We saw slides of Kevin imitating John Travolta in
"Saturday Night Fever." Maybe Sandy can help me out here with recalling
more about the video.

The video ran for several minutes, after which a friend who has worked on
the technical side of films with Kevin spoke. His name is RichardHansen,
& he spoke on behalf of the NZ Technicians Guild. He said he talked with
Kevin's "tech buddies," & asked them to provide some comments for this
service. What he got was, "Always hits his mark." "Doesn't play sports
at lunch & sweat his costume out." Lots of laughter.

He said when Kevin was much younger & shared a house with some
buddies,they
prioritized the bills in this order: "Rent, beer, food." Food was
usually
Rice Bubbles (Rice Krispies) and tomato sauce. He said that once a
person was introduced to Kevin, they were always his friend. He never put
himself above anyone on the set. Richard spoke of film sets having a
heirarchy,& everyone has to know where they fit in, but with Kevin, that
stuff didn't matter. He would treat any executive the same way he would
treat "the guy who cleans the set."

Simon spoke next. First, he read a statement from Christchurch's Court
Theatre, which said in part, "We're devastated. The Earth has lost a
beautiful star." Then Simon read his article from "The Listener" that I
sent you, & it was wonderful hearing him put the emotion into what he had
written.

Joel came out next & sang a song called "Don't Dream It: Be It," with
Jennifer & Matthew Brown. Sandy & I said after the service that the
musical tributes really got to us, & how they got through them, I don't
know.

A man named Temuera Morrison was next, & said he was told by Michael &
Robert Bruce that Kevin loved a Haka. Temuera whipped off his jacket &
yelled, in true Haka fashion. Five men & 2 women ran from stage left to
do a Haka tribute for Kevin. It was very moving.

Michael asked everyone to stand for a minute of silence during the
service.

Robert Bruce then spoke. He thanked a friend of his, a lady named Trish,
who is a Line Director. He said Trish was in China when this tragedy
happened, & was very instrumental in helping when the news of Kevin came
through. He also thanked his 2 staff people, who have been barraged with
the media & fan cards & letters. He thanked the Prime Minister for her
help in arranging Kevin's return home, & that because of her & her staff,
Kevin was returned quickly.

Robert said there have been many cards from females, all saying they
remember Kevin's wonderful sense of humor. He said that Kevin had fan
clubs in the States & Britain, but the American one was cancelled because
it just got too big, & they couldn't keep up with it. He said Kevin made
everyone feel like his friend.

Robert said he remembered meeting Kevin "On October 23rd, 1989, at
1:30pm." Laughter. He said he couldn't forget meeting someone like Kevin.
He'd been told that Kevin was 6'3" tall, but when Kevin walked into his
office, he was about 5'9" because he was all bent over, very shy, & when
he sat down, he kept his head down & was mumbling. Robert wondered why in
the world this guy was sent to him.

He told Kevin he'd have to work out, & would have to be at training at
5am. Kevin kinda mumbled & agreed to it. "But every day, he got there at
5:07, & we don't know why. He became known as 'Seven minutes after seven
Smith.'"
Robert said that years ago, Kevin went to L.A. often, stayed with a
friend, Dan O'Connor, & they did theatresports. Dan had a very small
apartment in L.A., so Kevin would sleep under the table, because it was
the only place to sleep, but he didn't mind.

He said Kevin was a great horseman, but not a great golfer. He said he
did
great accents, & would call people, saying he was Robert Bruce. (Robert
has
quite a distinct Scottish accent.) He said Kevin loved doing American
conventions, he knew L.A. backwards & could've been a taxi driver there.
He
said they had their own language with each other, sort of a combination of
carnie (carnival) & gibberish, & they would e-mail each other with this
language.

He also said that at least once in L.A,. they ate at a restaurant called
The Deep, which is a real place that was featured in "Ocean's Eleven". He

said Kevin loved to eat after midnight, & he told the funniest story that
I'll always remember.

During the day Kevin would eat bagels, eggs & like that, but after
midnight
was a whole different story. In L.A. one time, they came out of a club
very late. They realized they didn't know where they were, so they
started
walking, hoping to find a main road soon. After a few blocks, they found
a
main road, but they also came upon a large group of people coming out of a
nightclub.

Kevin said, "We're somewhere that we shouldn't be," & they decided to just
walk past these people non-chalantly, hoping not to be noticed. They
walked right through this group, hoping to make it through alive, &
suddenly Kevin yelled, "ROB!! ROB!!" Robert thought they were about to
be attacked, when Kevin yelled, "LOOK, I FOUND A HOT DOG STAND!!" Sure
enough, there's a hotdog stand open in the middle of the night, so they
bought a couple hotdogs each.

By now a police car came cruising by, so they flagged him down. The
officer
was on the other side of the street, & as Robert said, "Probably because
he
knew better than to be where he & Kevin were." The officer asked them
what
in the world they were doing there," & that was the end of the story, but
they got back to wherever they were supposed to be okay.

Then Robert told about the fund for Kevin's family. He said it was
started
in the States, when someone approached him about it, but instead of having
a fund there & another fund here, it'll be just one fund. Its purpose is
"For Kevin's boys, to bring them up the way Kevin would've wanted."

Geoff Dolan spoke again briefly, & said that Kevin was voted New Zealand's
sexiest man, a title he hated, but now that he's gone, all NZ men have
moved up a notch. Then he sang an Elvis song, "If I Could Dream". He did
a superb job, had us all in tears, just made it through it himself, then
walked offstage in tears.

After all this, Michael had to come back onstage (he was sitting in the
front row when he wasn't onstage) & give some final comments. You could
just hear hearts breaking. Michael quoted Ted Raimi, something that Ted
said in Pasadena, that "Of all the people on Hercules & Xena, Kevin was
the
only one who looked like his action figure."

Michael said, "I'm not a big man, but we New Zealanders do a lot of
hugging." He said that when he hugged Kevin, he felt surrounded by his
arms. He quoted E.E. Cummins, & I didn't get the whole quote, but maybe
some of you know it: "Just laugh & lean back into my arms...." something
like that. He said that's how he'll remember Kevin. The tears were
flowing everywhere by then, & Michael turned to the large picture of
Kevin, still on the screen, & may have said, "Good-bye Kevin," but I was a
goner by then, & I'm not sure.

Everyone stood & applauded long & loud for several minutes.



Posted on Apr 13, 2002, 7:58 PM

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5 years later...

by Anonymous (no login)

Wow.

Posted on Feb 15, 2007, 6:08 PM

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Wow, this is purdy Nifty!!!

by (no login)

Hey August :) This thing is spiffy :) I'm not sure I've figured everything out yet, but thiswill be fun to play with anyway :) Say, how do you post pics? Laura

Posted on Jun 21, 1999, 4:53 PM

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Hiya, babe!

by August (no login)

Haven't figured out all the details yet myself. But the secret to posting pictures (and I'm giving away trade secrets here) is:
1) check off the "HTML" box above
2) type in <img src ="http://www.whateverURLyouwant">

Just be sure to get the URL for the picture corect, skip spaces where I did just now, and don't skip spaces where I didn't! And close off the RUL with quotation marks, and the entire command with < > marks.

Posted on Jun 21, 1999, 4:58 PM

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there's no thread like an old thread....

by Blonde-fan (no login)

A perfect opportunity to commemorate Laura's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!





Posted on Jan 12, 2007, 3:59 PM

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It was 20 years ago today.....

by (no login)

It was 20 years ago today. December 8th, 1980. My parents' generation always remembered December 7th as "a date that will live in infamy." Pearl Harbor Day. Hopefully big movies like "Saving Private Ryan" and little stage shows like "The Road to Victory" keep that memory alive.

But. December 8th, 1980.

John Lennon.

Nuff said.

There is a bar in my hometown called Group Therapy. Started in the 70's as little more than a corridor with a roof over it, it was a haven for aging hippies and college kids like myself home for the holidays.

Dark draft beer for 50 cents. Santana and Pink Floyd and the Dead playing. And of course the Beatles. In later years, it became the primo college hangout - tripled its size, began featuring bands, etc. I lived away during those years, but there is a story - probably apocryphal, although the music editor for the local paper swears it really happened - from the mid-80's that sums it all up.

Like the best bars, the music was played loud, from vinyl albums and often vinyl 45's. Bartender's choice. One crowded night somewhere around 1985, 15 years after the Beatles had broken up, long after McCartney's solo career had dwindled, the bartender put on a Beatles album cut. I think it was "I Want To Hold Your Hand," but everyone concurs that it was definitely from "Meet the Beatles." The song started and several hundred college kids (and a few older dudes) began vigorously singing along with the song. Everyone knew all the words, though few had been born when it came out.

The song ended. The bartender was evidently busy filling drink orders, and although he took the first record off, he had not yet put on a second record. Exactly …..4 seconds? 6 seconds? However long the break is between the first song and the second…… everyone launched into the second song on the album. A capella. Exactly on cue. 200 college kids not only knew the songs, they knew the order, and the pause between them.

Probably apocryphal. But maybe not.

In 1980, I was heavily into the Beatles and Lennon. I was not really old enough to appreciate them the first time around. When they played on Ed Sullivan, I was a 4-year old in a house of progressive English teachers who didn't believe in television, and listened to opera and symphonies on a tiny "record player." By the time I saw television, the Beatles were a bad cartoon show on ABC, not nearly as good as Scooby Doo or the Banana Splits. By the time a young Social Studies teacher played "Abbey Road" for my 7th grade study hall, they had already broken up.

But by college, I had corrected my former ignorance, and was majorly into the Beatles. "Double Fantasy" had just come out, and I played it over and over again, even the Yoko songs. "Give me something that's not hard/C'mon c'mon c'mon….." God, she was bad!

Punk music had finally made it to Nashville, TN, and it sounded remarkably like early 60's Beatles. The Beatles "Rarities" album had come out not too far back previously, featuring several alternate studio takes, and the German versions of "Komm Gib Mir Deine Hande" and "Sie Lieb Dich Yeah Yeah Yeah."

We figured Lennon would have to tour to support the album, Nashville was big enough to draw him. If not, my Beatle-friends Caroline and Karen and I were prepared to drive to Atlanta, Memphis.....wherever. And we just knew that it would be Nashville where the other three would decide to join in and jam with him.

"Our life..together....is so precious…together....we have grown...."

I was studying for a final exam in my British History class. 10:30 PM or so. I went downstairs in the dorm to the little mini-mart, with the intention of getting a frozen pizza. Suzie Sloan, with whom I'd done theatre, was working, and asked if I'd heard on the radio about John Lennon. I was mortified. Rushing back upstairs, my roommate Tom and I turned on both
the radio - WKDF-FM - and the TV. The radio was playing "Imagine." Monday
Night Football interrupted, with the news.

I called Caroline. She had just heard too. It was so inconceivable, so tragic, as surreal as if Lucy Lawless had been gunned down.

The next day at our final, my friend Leslie saw Caroline and Karen walking in. It seems silly now, and very adolescent, but both were wearing black. Leslie mouthed the words "I'm so sorry" as they picked up their blue books. In the cafeteria over coffee after the final, we all conceded that if any of the four were to die, and it to have meaning, it would have had to have been John.

The following Sunday, Caroline, Karen and I went to the parking lot of WKDF. A local
band, the Piggys, was playing Beatles songs on the rooftop of the station. At 1:00 PM, everything stopped. We all stayed silent for 10 minutes, per Yoko's request. And reflected on sublime, divine music. And innocence lost. And after about 9 and a half minutes, the parking lot, full of preppie college kids, and redneck middle Tennesseans, and aging hippies and Deadheads, and scruffy-looking Viet Nam vets, and weirded out punkers - all joined in when someone in the crowd began softly singing …. "All we are saying…..is give peace a chance." I held the hand of an unshaven man in a camo jacket next to me, and we sang with tears in our eyes.

I posted part of the above to a list this time a year ago, and I concluded with this:

I'm crying as I type this.

A year later, I am again.

Nuff said.



Posted on Dec 9, 2000, 12:09 AM

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Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play...

by askchick (no login)

I had just started high school when John Lennon was killed. I watched people on televison cry. I saw my parents look at each other with a sadness that is hard to describe. I went in my room and cried. Even though, at that time, I'd never heard an entire Beatles album.

Years later, a friend in college played Abbey Road for me. I was blown away. I listened to any Beatles and Lennon that I could find. And I suddenly understood why everyone cried.

Tonight I went CD shopping. I found Abbey Road and bought it since I only had it on vinyl. It brought back a flood of memories of much more innocent times.

I can't believe it's been 20 years. In some ways, it doesn't feel like it. In many ways, it feels like more.

Thanks, August, for posting. It was nice to see that someone else was remembering, too.

the dream is over
what can I say?
the dream is over
yesterday
I was the dreamer
but now I live on
I was the Walrus
but now I'm John
and so, dear friends,
you'll just have to carry on
the dream is over
---John Lennon "God"

Posted on Dec 9, 2000, 11:05 PM

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Missing John

by Father John-Paul-George-Ringo (no login)

Anyone who's listened to Paul McCartney's post-Beatles work--pleasant as some of it is--can tell you that John Lennon was the fire in the belly of the Beatles.

I remember being at work in my college bookstore in... when was it? '79?... when the single from Lennon's "comeback" album began to play... the song in which he's "watchin' the wheels go round and round" or something like that. My heart lifted because it sounded to me like the old John, an echo of the Beatles with an overtone of maturity, perhaps of growing peace of mind. In that year, it seemed as though, after the long, cheesy reign of disco, real rock-n-roll was making a comeback, and here was one more sign of the change. I felt happy as I rarely did in that year, and hummed along with a song I barely knew.

Not long after, Lennon was dead.

I didn't attend any rallies, but I was saddened, truly so. It's not often the passing of a stranger brings on a palpable emotion for me... Lennon's did.

I still miss this strange man and the music he might have made. I'm sad for his widow, his son, his family, his friends, and for the man who gunned him down. It's this sadness that make me disagree with Lennon's song, "Imagine." "Imagine there's no heaven"? I think not. Tragedies like this one are all the more reason to hope for a heaven, to hope that there's more "above" us than only sky. If we hope in ourselves alone we'll always be disappointed.

There's another John (or maybe it was Luke, Mark, or Matthew), who writes something like "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Especially at this time of year, with Hannukah (the
Festival of Lights) and Christmas just before us and the darkness of Pearl Harbor and Lennon's murder just behind us, I hold on to my belief in the light that is not overcome, that the light is in hands much larger and more capable than our own.

Somewhere, in some heaven, whatever that may be, I hope Lennon is singing. Singing in the light.



Posted on Dec 18, 2000, 11:02 AM

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December memories

by (no login)

Wonderful memories, dude, even if several weeks after that, we commemorated the event by listening to The Fanatics at von Henman's! I do remember telling you about that parking lot/rooftop thing, and as I recall I made you listen to all of the Yoko songs on Double Fantasy. "Wa-o-o-a-o-o-a-a-o-a-o-aaaaaaaaaaa......."

Hey thanks for the Amazon cert. - very kind - I got somethin' for ya, as Greg Lorris would say, but have not mailed it yet. Hey are you going to be in town? If so when and where?

AK

PS - get back to work!

PPS - McCartney is still bigger than Jesus. (Well, Jesus never toured with Wings, so.....)

Posted on Dec 18, 2000, 2:46 PM

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The Fanatics!

by Father John-Paul-George-Ringo (no login)

Ah, yes! The Fanatics! A Beatles-inspired combo... actually, more like a beetle-inspired combo.

Did you make me listen to those Yoko songs? Apparently, I have suppressed that memory way deeply in the old subconcious... Waaa-oooo-eeee-kaaa-naaa... sounds like Beavis on acid.

Julie and I will be making a whirlwind stop in town... just Christmas Eve afternoon and night, then heading back to the big city Christmas morn. Sadly, I don't think we'll have much time for visiting due to maternal activities, but why don't I try giving you a call, at least? Maybe late on C. Eve we can go get a beer or something, if anything's open. If that doesn't work out, I notice St. Pat's day is on Saturday this year. If you're up for it, I could probably come over then for a good old-fashioned toot. (Not the Robert Downey Jr. kind of toot, the party-in-the-streets kind!)

Not sure I have your correct phone number... please email it to me at work today or tomorrow (Thursday) if you can.

Tally ho!

Posted on Dec 20, 2000, 10:17 AM

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The 4 are Still FAB

by august (no login)

NEW YORK (Variety) - Even after the heady Christmas sales
season came to a close, the Beatles managed to notch their fifth consecutive week at
the top of the album charts, selling more than 450,000 units in an otherwise humdrum
post-holiday week ended Dec. 31.

``1'' (Capitol/Apple), a collection of the Fab Four's 27 U.S. and U.K. No. 1 singles, has
now sold more than five million copies after seven weeks of release.


Posted on Jan 4, 2001, 3:10 PM

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Article on the impending 25th anniversary....

by Lennon fan (no login)

(from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051120/ap_en_mu/music25_years_without_john )

Anniversary of John Lennon's Death Looms

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Entertainment Writer
Sat Nov 19, 8:16 PM ET



NEW YORK - The song was only six years old, but might just as well have been 60.

Walking out of a college dormitory after visiting a friend one December night 25 years ago, I heard John Lennon's sweet song of longing, "#9 Dream," wafting out from an open door. It sounded wonderful. It sounded odd.

Why would a radio station or stereo be playing that? So much had happened since. Disco. Punk rock. Lennon had reconciled with Yoko Ono after a separation and was only then beginning to publicly emerge from a period where he concentrated on home life more than music. I couldn't remember the last time I'd heard the song.

I walked home. Then, when I saw a cluster of friends quietly gathered around a television set, the reason became sickeningly apparent.

It was Dec. 8, 1980. A mentally disturbed fan who had collected Lennon's autograph earlier in the day waited outside of the Manhattan apartment building called the Dakota for the singer to return from a recording session. Mark David Chapman opened fire. Lennon didn't survive the trip to the hospital.

The musical hero of a generation was dead, and anyone who had ever sung along to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" or chanted "give peace a chance" also remembers where they were when they heard the news.

In his typically blunt manner, Lennon had told Beatles fans a decade earlier that "the dream is over."

Now it really was.

Twenty-five years later, the day stands as a cultural black hole. Lennon became an instant legend, even more so than before, but it was hardly worth the price. Millions of people who never met him felt they knew him, felt they knew all the Beatles. His music often felt like personal letters; on "Watching the Wheels" he explained why he needed to step off the merry-go-round of stardom. A friend was gone.

"I still miss him massively," former songwriting partner Paul McCartney told The Associated Press. "It was a horrific day for all of us."

That night, an ambitious young woman who had just moved to New York to make it as a singer or dancer was out walking a few blocks from Lennon's home on the Upper West Side. She heard the sirens, saw a crowd beginning to gather. A curious Madonna joined them outside the Dakota.

"I remember walking up and going `What's going on? What's going on?'" she recalled. "And they said John Lennon was shot. It was so weird."

Madonna was a toddler during the feverish days of Beatlemania. But she later recorded Lennon's utopian vision of a peaceful world, "Imagine," which has matured into an anthem and, 25 years from now, will likely be Lennon's best-remembered song.

Another version of "Imagine," by country singer Dolly Parton, is in music stores now. In her own tribute, Parton shot part of a video for the song in Strawberry Fields, the Central Park memorial for Lennon. Sharp-eyed viewers will spot the Dakota in the background.

Parton had been on a plane from Nashville to Los Angeles the night Lennon was shot. She was supposed to go out with friends, but instead they all went to her house to watch the news and talk about it. "Everyone was so heartbroken," she said.

"Like all young teenage girls back then, I fell in love with the Beatles," she said. "Back there in the Smoky Mountains, it was like something had been dropped from outer space."

Also in California, rock singer John Fogerty felt the loss of a kindred spirit. In 1969, Fogerty's band Creedence Clearwater Revival had sold more records than the Beatles, then an astonishing accomplishment. But both men spent the latter half of the 1970s publicly silent; Fogerty because of a business dispute, Lennon because he was "watching the wheels."

"I thought about him every day because he was that important to me," he said. "I was still a recluse but I was working on music in some fashion every day, and I would say to myself, `I wonder what John Lennon is doing?' For several years we didn't hear from him and I would always think about that fact."

Singer Neil Diamond had been in New York that December night for the premiere of his movie "The Jazz Singer."

Diamond had been a struggling songwriter when the Beatles hit. No one was interested in hearing him sing. No one was particularly interested in his creativity, either: They just wanted him to churn out songs that sounded like current hits. The Beatles made it standard for musicians to interpret their own songs, and to experiment.

"Aside from being broken-hearted about the loss of this man, I felt I owed him something," he said. "My life would not have been the same without the Beatles."

Lennon's music has even touched artists who weren't alive when he was, like 21-year-old singer Patrick Stump of the hit pop-punk band Fall Out Boy.

"It is like the Bible," he said. "You can't cite it without sounding cliched, but here's the thing, there's a reason why it's so citable like that. His body of work was so interesting and had so many valid points."

What has the world missed in 25 years without John Lennon?

Yoko Ono has grown old without a husband; she still lives in the Dakota and is the caretaker of the work he left behind. Sean Lennon grew up without a dad. He's tried music, too.

John's legacy remains frozen in time and, like James Dean's or Kurt Cobain's, burnished by sudden death far too young. Lennon didn't grow old in the spotlight, didn't have to contend with tired "steel wheelchairs" jokes like his peers in the Rolling Stones. He didn't have to watch his talent fade, his instincts betray him or hear the whispers that he'd lost it. McCartney could tell him a few things about that.

It's impossible to predict from his catalogue where his muse would have taken him.

Truth be told, his track record as a solo artist was wildly uneven in style and quality. The brutal confessional of "The Plastic Ono Band" was followed by the perfectly polished "Imagine." There's the leftist screeds in "Some Time in New York City," the tired wistfulness on "Walls and Bridges" and the domesticated work he made at the end.

Even during the Beatles' intense creative period, author Bob Spitz in this fall's new "The Beatles: The Biography" portrays Lennon as tormented by personal demons and drug abuse. Would it have crippled him as he got older?

"The level of engagement wouldn't have gone away," said music journalist Alan Light. "If he was going to be an activist, he would have been all the way an activist. If he was going to be a father, he would have been all the way a father."

Lennon clearly had courage as an artist. He wasn't afraid to mess up, or to speak up. Lennon mocked Bob Dylan with a song, "Serve Yourself," when he didn't like "Gotta Serve Somebody." It's not too hard to envision him making his own cracks about the Stones during their dreary years. Few others today have the stature or nature to speak up with a contrarian word, and know they'll be listened to.

By moving to New York and walking the streets, Lennon always seemed more accessible, more human than his peers, Light said. No one had more reason to fear the warped effect of fandom than the four men who lived through the hysteria of Beatlemania. Living outside of a bubble made Lennon a target.

Chapman remains in New York's Attica state prison, where his third request for parole was denied in October. Ono wrote to the parole board urging he not be released. Chapman won't be eligible for parole again for two years.

A legacy of Lennon's death is a lingering uncertainty among musicians about being in public. Tom Araya, lead singer of Slayer, admitted that he's "a little more cautious, conscious of his surroundings" than he might have been otherwise.

Losing the partner to whom he's wedded in history has been difficult for McCartney, in ways he could and could not control. With Lennon lionized, McCartney's reputation shrank in comparison. For a while, it became LENNON-McCartney.

It was unfair, and has since been corrected, but not before breeding an unwarranted insecurity. McCartney has spent years seemingly saying, "Hey, I was cool, too." Light was struck by how McCartney opens his current concert tour with a video reminding fans of his Beatles exploits, when the music can speak for itself.

"He just digs himself deeper into a hole no matter when he does it," Light said.

If Lennon had lived, McCartney said he believes they would have written songs together again. It all depended on the state of their relationship, badly frayed in the Beatles' fracture, but improving at the time of Lennon's death.

"We were having long telephone conversations about his cats and baking bread," McCartney said. "Ordinary things, which I think easily could have led us into being mates again."

After seven years of studying the Beatles, author Spitz said he doubted it. Lennon had left the Beatles behind and hadn't gone back before he died. The closest the world got was when McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr transformed Lennon leftovers "Free As a Bird" and "Real Love" into "Beatles" songs.

"I always assumed I would meet him," Fogerty said. "And when they are gone from you, you're almost overcome with the sense that you never got to say goodbye. I never got to touch base from my heart to his heart and I'm sure that millions of us felt the same way."

Lennon's words from " 9 Dream" still echo.

"So long ago. Was it in a dream? Was it just a dream?"


Posted on Nov 20, 2005, 2:10 PM

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Remembering John....

by Lennon Fan (no login)






And if I say I really knew you well
What would your answer be.
If you were here today.
Here today.

Well knowing you,
You..d probably laugh and say that we were worlds apart.
If you were here today.
Here today.

But as for me,
I still remember how it was before.
And I am holding back the tears no more.
I love you.

What about the time we met,
Well I suppose that you could say that we were playing hard to get.
Didn..t understand a thing.
But we could always sing.

What about the night we cried,
Because there wasn..t any reason left to keep it all inside.
Never understood a word.
But you were always there with a smile.

And if I say I really loved you
And was glad you came along.

If you were here today.
For you were in my song.
Here today.

- Paul McCartney, 1982



Posted on Dec 8, 2006, 6:40 PM

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new Lucy lawless interview

by lucyfan (no login)

From: http://www.afterellen.com/People/2006/11/lawless.html

.....¡§I'm drawn to spicy roles,¡¨ the perennial badass says. Besides playing a
warrior princess, the 38-year-old actor was recently in the studio
voicing the character of Wonder Woman for a Justice League DVD. ¡§I've
turned down just about every cop or journalist TV series,¡¨ Lawless
admits. ¡§I cannot chain myself to boredom.¡¨

......

Lawless did a lot of singing as a teenager but abandoned it in her 20s,
once she was no longer enjoying it. ¡§When Celebrity Duets came up, I
thought: I'm not getting any younger, and this is something I'd regret
my whole life if I didn't get out. I had to do it.¡¨

And she did so against the advice of her various representatives, who
were all aghast. ¡§I said, ¡¥They are bombing in Beirut. I am doing this.
As a human being I need to do it for me.'¡¨

Lawless doesn't regret the decision one bit. ¡§I am so glad and so
empowered by telling everyone who is supposed to be my advisors to get
out of my way and make the deal. Who works for who here?¡¨ In the end,
she says, those critics have become her biggest supporters.

¡§It was great for me,¡¨ she says. ¡§It's about joy; seize the day. It's
your life ¡X make it your sculpture and not what other people think looks
pretty.¡¨

.....

While being asked when she first realized she was a lesbian icon,
Lawless interrupts with a ready answer: ¡§Episode 8, Season 1.¡¨ That was
the episode of Xena being filmed when she and co-star Renee O'Connor
first realized a Sapphic storm was brewing.

¡§Renee and I were standing together in a warehouse down in Auckland ¡X
and it was quite cold at that time of year ¡X reading this faxed review
about it being lesbian, and going ¡¥Oh, that's really funny! How did they
get that?' And then we went, ¡¥Oh! Now, that makes perfect sense.' ....it just hadn't occurred to us, is all.¡¨

But Lawless says she and O'Connor were never concerned with whether
their characters were gay or straight: ¡§It doesn't make a difference how
you go about your job as a warrior princess and sidekick. It's like, a
female firefighter does her job regardless of her sexual orientation,
and that's why it never made a damn bit of difference to us.¡¨



Posted on Dec 1, 2006, 6:49 PM

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Jay Clifford (singer/guitarist for Jump) solo tour

by Jumpfan (no login)

2004 Jay Clifford Solo Tour.

Wed July 7 - Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle (seated) - All Ages - $10 - 9pm

Thur July 8 - Charlotte, NC - Evening Muse - All ages - $10 adv/$13 DOS

Fri July 9 - Greenville, SC - Handlebar (seated) - All ages - $10

Sat July 10 - Atlanta GA (TWO SHOWS) - Red Light Cafe - $15 7:30pm & 10 pm all ages

Sun July 11 - Nashville, TN - 3rd & Lindsley (WRLT) - $10 - All ages

Wed July 14 - NYC, NY - Sin-e - 18+ - $10 adv/$12 DOS

Fri July 16 - Boston - Paradise Lounge - 21+ $ 10 (((EARLY SHOW)))





Posted on Jun 17, 2004, 4:20 PM

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2005 Jay Clifford solo tour

by jay fan (no login)

That's right, the time has come, and you get to hear your favorite singer sing naked, uh, make that stripped. Stripped down, that is as this show is all Jay, all the time. Just Jay and his guitars, and possibly his 'magic' radio, which plays all kinds of funny noises. The tour details are below, and many of these venues will sell out for sure...So, get your tickets while you can!



The Jay Clifford "All the hits, all the time" tour...


Wed June 15th Greenville, SC Warehouse Theatre http://www.warehousetheatre.com/

Thur June 16th Greenville, SC Warehouse Theatre

Fri June 17th Athens, GA The Ritz http://athensmusic.net/product_info.php?products_id=1025

Sat June 18th Atlanta, GA Eddies Attic http://www.eddiesattic.com/

**Two shows - one early 7pm ALL AGES, one late (10:00pm) show 21 and up. Jennifer Daniels opens the late show only

Thurs June 23 Chapel Hill, NC Cat's Cradle http://www.catscradle.com/

Fri June 24th Charlotte, NC Neighborhood Theatre http://www.neighborhoodtheatre.com/

Sat June 25th Asheville, NC Grey Eagle Music Hall http://www.thegreyeagle.com/

Sun June 26th Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley (WRLT) http://www.3rdandlindsley.com/







Posted on May 19, 2005, 9:51 AM

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Jay Clifford in Greenville, SC on June 15, 16

by Peace Center Marketing Department (no login)

Jay Clifford will be performing at the Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, SC (37 Augusta Street) on June 15 and 16 at 8pm. Tickets are now on sale through the Peace Center Box Office: 864-467-3000 or 1-800-888-7768 or online: www.peacecenter.org. All seats are $15. Please publish this to all Jump/ Jay Clifford fans. Thanks!

Posted on Jun 6, 2005, 12:13 PM

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THANKS!

by Peace Center Enthusiast (no login)

Hey thanks for posting this here - feel free to pass along any and all news about Jay, Biv, et al. !

Post early, post often....

Posted on Jun 6, 2005, 7:41 PM

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Jump... and Ward Williams solo dates

by jump fan (no login)

Friday, July 1 - Jump & Friends will appear at The Party @ the Point in Charleston, SC. For more information, check out http://www.partyatthepointonline.com/main.html.


Sunday, July 3 - Jump & Friends will appear at Festival of the Eno in Durham, NC. For more information, check out http://www.enoriver.org/festival/info.html


And Ward Williams:

Thursday, July 7 - Evening Muse - Charlotte, NC $6 All Ages 8 PM

Friday, July 8 - Coffee Underground - Greenville, SC $6 All Ages 8PM

Wednesday, July 13 - Flicker Theatre - Athens, GA $6 Ages: 21+ Two Shows 8 & 10 PM

Thursday, July 14 - Eddie's Attic - Decatur, GA $8 All Ages 8 PM

And.... The Bivins Bros have joined forces in a new venture called, The Dole, check them out at www.thedole.com. You can expect to get a taste of them at the Jump & Friends show in early July. Also, they will be performing in Athens, GA at The Ritz with Count Kellam on July 24.




Posted on Jun 30, 2005, 8:50 PM

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Jump's Last Hurrah :(

by jump fan (no login)



Jump Fall 2005 Last Hurrah Tour

8/25 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s Tavern

8/26 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s Tavern

8/27 – Three Oaks, MI – Springdale Music Club

9/6 – Arlington, VA – Iota Club & Café

9/7 – Baltimore, MD – The Funk Box

9/8 – New York, NY – The Knitting Factory

9/9 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club

9/10 – Providence, RI – Century Lounge

9/11 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Falstaff’s

9/13 – Charlottesville, VA – Starr Hill Music Hall

9/14 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre

9/15 – Boone, NC – Legend’s

9/16 – Winston-Salem, NC – Ziggy’s

9/17 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse

9/19 – Knoxville, TN – Blue Cats

9/20 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel

9/21 – Nashville , TN – Exit/In

9/22 – Charlotte, NC – Tremont Music Hall

9/23 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle

9/24 – Athens, GA – Georgia Theatre

9/26 – Columbia, SC – Headliners

9/27 – Chattanooga, TN – Rhythm & Brews

9/28 – Birmingham, AL – Workplay Theatre

10/1 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Music Hall / Galliard Theater


Posted on Aug 16, 2005, 9:11 AM

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Jay Clifford Solo Tour - 2006! Georgia, Tenn., NC, Ala., even Boston and NYC!

by Jump Fan (no login)

Cool music - Jay Clifford - coming to a club/city near you!

One of my favorite singers is doing a solo tour right now, and probably will be playing near you !

Jay Clifford was/is the lead singer for the great regional band Jump (Little Children) and while the band is on hiatus, he's touring!

He's here on MySpace, so you can hear some of his work at:

http://www.myspace.com/jaycliffordmusic

And also the site for Jump at:

http://www.myspace.com/jump


Wed, Sept 6th - Birmingham, AL - WorkPlay
Thur, Sept 7th - Athens, GA - Melting Point
Fri, Sept 8th - Nashville, TN - 3rd & Lindsley
Sat, Sept 9th - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle (7pm Early Show)

Wed Sept 13th - Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle
Thur, Sept 14th - Winston-Salem, NC - Ziggy's
Fri, Sept 15th - Augusta, GA Blue Horse Music Hall
Sat, Sept 16th - Atlanta, GA - Eddie's Attic - 2 shows - 7pm &
10pm

Tues, Sept 19th - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
Wed, Sept 20th - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
Fri, Sept 22nd - New York, NY - Sin-e
Sun, Sept 24th - Boston, MA - Paradise Lounge

I cannot recommend him highly enough!


Posted on Sep 5, 2006, 10:37 PM

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Snakes on a mother-lovin' Plane!

by bad mother lover (no login)

The original article, from USA Today at http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-04-17-snakes_x.htm :


'Snakes on a Plane' sssssssays it all


By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY

There are snakes, 500 or so, from 5-inch vipers to a 20-foot python. There is a plane, a 747 going from Honolulu to L.A. with a witness who will testify against a mobster. But don't let the title Snakes on a Plane, as bluntly descriptive and irresistibly trashy as a Cosmo come-on, overshadow who really is propelling this venomous vessel. The most valuable carry-on in the Aug. 18 thriller, a pre-release sensation thanks to Internet connoisseurs of junk-food cinema, is Shaft himself. The one and only Coach Carter. That holy terror of Pulp Fiction— Samuel L. Jackson.

What other summer star has the right cool insouciance and simmering rage to make this creepy-crawler worth its weight in reptile carnage? "The fans are going to love seeing Sam in this role," says Snakes director David R. Ellis of his human lead. He also has been a hero offscreen, deflecting any suggestion to switch the stupidly smart title to a generic disaster like Pacific Flight 121.

"The title was what got my attention," says Jackson, who plays the FBI agent protecting the witness. "I got on the set one day and heard they changed it, and I said, 'What are you doing here? It's not Gone with the Wind. It's not On the Waterfront. It's Snakes on a Plane!' They were afraid it gave too much away, and I said, "That's exactly what you should do. When audiences hear it, they say, 'We are there!'"


Jackson, in his first interview since the Snakes craze went national, has tracked activity on such sites as Snakes on a Blog — the homemade trailers, the suggested soundtrack tunes, the gently mocking T-shirts. Most intriguing, however, have been the fake movie posters.

"It's interesting how they perceive you as an actor," Jackson says. "A whole faction thinks that I'm a bad (guy). I just happen to be in those kinds of films. I like to do sensitive movies, but they ignore those."

Additional scenes were shot in March with more gore, nudity and profanity so the PG-13 rating would become an R, the better to satisfy fan expectations. Best of all, Jackson gets to say his trademark obscenity in the new line: "I'm tired of these (mother-bleeping) snakes on this (mother-bleeping) plane!"

No surprise that this tough bleeper isn't afraid of snakes. "I grew up in the country. If we saw a snake, the snake was in more trouble than we were." Nor do planes rattle him.

"I fly way too much to be afraid. I plug in my iPod and fall asleep. My wife is a white-knuckle flier. She will shake me and say, 'Oh, the plane is having turbulence.' I tell her, 'Wake me up when we crash.' "

.........

Observed at another site:

"AK-47: when you have to kill every mother-bleeping snake on the plane, accept no substitutes!"

and a possible snippet of dialogue:

"Reach in that overhead compartment and hand me my carry-on."

"I don't know which one is yours..."

"It's the one that says 'BAD MOTHER-BLEEPER' on it!"

......



And an interesting footnote, again from USA Today at www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-08-29-blogsphere_x.htm :

Lieberman, 'Snakes' and the seductive mythology of the blogosphere

Posted 8/29/2006 8:18 PM ET
By Bruce Kluger

If ever America needed a wake-up call about the mythology of blogging, we got it this month.
On Aug. 8, Connecticut businessman Ned Lamont defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary, a triumph widely credited to the rah-rah racket produced by pro-Lamont armies stationed along the Internet.

Indeed, the bloggers had scored big. They had helped vault a local politician to national prominence and cemented the Iraq war as Issue No. 1 in the congressional elections. Not a bad day.

But their victory was short-lived. Even before the primary, Lieberman announced that, should he lose, he'd still run in November as an independent. This electoral chutzpah effectively rope-a-doped the bloggers and recharged the senator's fabled Joe-mentum. Lieberman's still the man to beat in the general election.

If this wasn't enough to drain the effervescence from the blogger bubbly, America's noisy Web wags were dealt an even more sobering blow 10 days later when Snakes on a Plane opened nationwide to a decidedly flat $15.3 million box office.

Before its premiere, Snakes had been the latest blogger darling, as swarms of online film geeks prematurely crowned it the summer's big sleeper. This hyperventilating fan base even convinced Snakes' distributor, New Line Cinema, to up the movie's rating to R, to ensure a gorier, more venomous snake fest.

But all that clapping and yapping couldn't put enough fannies in the seats. Ticket sales for Snakes' debut barely topped those of Talladega Nights, which was already in its third week.

Although Connecticut and Hollywood are a continent apart, the two events speak volumes about the capriciousness of the blog culture.

Lieberman's boomerang reminds us that voters represent a meager percentage of the total populace — and that bloggers are an even tinier subset of that group. Consequently, what appears to be a coast-to-coast juggernaut on a 17-inch monitor is, in the real world, simply an elaborate PC-to-PC chain letter — enthusiastic, but not necessarily the national mindset.

"There isn't much point in detailing the chest thumping of the various blognut extremists," wrote Time's Joe Klein in his analysis of the Lamont victory. "Their reach is minuscule."

For those who think Klein is underestimating the power of the blog, I have four words: Howard Dean for president.

But it is the underwhelming response to Snakes that reveals the real peril in relying on bloggers to take the nation's pulse.

"There were a lot of inflated expectations on this picture, with the Internet buzz," New Line's David Tuckerman told The New York Times after Snakes' lukewarm bow."But it basically performed like a normal horror movie."

Tuckerman hits the problem squarely on its blogging noggin. Ever since the first smarty-pants posted his first unsolicited opinion on the Internet, Americans have become captivated by blog-o-mania — for good reason. For once, we own and operate our own public medium. Power to the people. Vox populi. Yadda-yadda.

And yet, as the scrambling suits at Lamont headquarters and New Line Cinema now know, it's easy to be seduced by one's own hype, especially when that hype is preceded by a "www." Now it's time to play catch-up ball. Lamont's handlers will have to face a candidate who will surely try to have it both ways on the campaign trail; New Line will have to sell a boatload of popcorn. That's the way the blog bounces.

As an occasional blogger myself, I'm still wary of the phenomenon. On one hand, it can be liberating to log on and spout off, unencumbered by editorial oversight.

On the other hand, as August 2006 clearly demonstrates, bloggers can just as easily get it wrong. That's worth remembering.

The whole thing reminds me of child-rearing. As the parent of any toddler can tell you, the younger the child, the louder the screams for attention — and quite often, the degree of the crisis is in reverse proportion to the decibels of the bellows.

To that end, it's important to remember that the blogosphere is still in its infancy, and like any kid, it needs to be watched very carefully.







Posted on Sep 2, 2006, 5:03 PM

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The Who tour North Amercia and beyond!

by (no login)

The Who plan North American tour, album in fall


NEW YORK (Billboard) - The Who will kick off a fall North American tour September 12 in Philadelphia. Seventeen dates for the outing were announced Thursday by principals Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey via satellite from Berlin.

The duo also performed acoustic versions of the new song "Mike Post Theme" and the classic "Won't Get Fooled Again."

The group is planning on sprinkling in a handful of special shows, which Townshend said could include complete performances of such rock operas as "Tommy" or "Quadrophenia." Some dates may also be held in smaller venues.

The band has said 40 rarities are in consideration for the tour set list, although Townshend noted, "We may find other ways to do this stuff, like on a Web cast."

The tour will coincide with the release of the Who's first new album since 1982's "It's Hard," which is tentatively titled "Who 2" and will be released October 23 internationally. In addition to "Mike Post Theme," the set is expected to feature the song "Man in a Purple Dress," which Townshend likened to "a Bob Dylan song from the early days."

"Pete's music, for me, is still a driving force in my life," Daltrey said, adding that the new songs have "the Townshend magic."

After the North American tour wraps in December, the Who will make its first-ever appearance in South America in early 2007, followed by visits to the Far East, Australia and, in late spring, Europe.

Here are the Who's North American tour dates:

September 12: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center)

September 13: Wantagh, N.Y. (Jones Beach)

September 15: Ottawa, Ontario (Scotiabank Place)

September 16: Boston (TD Banknorth Garden)

September 18: New York (Madison Square Garden)

September 21: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)

September 25: Chicago (United Center)

September 29: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)

September 30: London, Ontario (Labatt Center)

October 3: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Center)

October 5: Calgary, Alberta (Pengrowrth Saddledome)

October 6: Edmonton, Alberta (Rexall Place)

October 10: Portland, Ore. (Rose Garden)

October 11: Seattle (Key Arena)

November 5: Los Angeles (Hollywood Bowl)

December 4: Toronto (Air Canada Center)





Posted on Jul 13, 2006, 5:29 PM

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David Eick on Ren Pics mythology

by Anonymous (no login)

from: http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=1482



iF MAGAZINE: Did you and co-creator Ron Moore watch the original GALACTICA before you started work on the new series?

DAVID EICK: I did a show with Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi called HERCULES. At one critical point during development of that show, Rob Tapert instructed everyone at the company to go home and read Robert Graves, to
become immersed in mythology and Greek myth. Everyone dutifully went home and read the materials, and I very deliberately chose not to.

Something interesting happened. Over the course of the next few months, I was the guy in the room that it had to make sense for. Someone in the room would say Narcissus was such and such, and I would say "I don't
know what that means." It was a good balance, because there was always a voice for the audience saying you can't just have things written for people who know the mythology, otherwise we won't have a TV show.


Posted on Jun 28, 2006, 7:51 PM

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Are you my mummy?

by are you? (no login)



Posted on May 13, 2006, 5:17 PM

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old interview w/ Adrienne Wilkinson

by livia fan (no login)

From: http://www.tv-now.com/intervus/adwilk/index.html


Adrienne Wilkinson


How do you interview someone who entered this planet via immaculate conception; someone who carried a sword as a bloodthirsty warrior capable of laying waste to entire villages; someone who not only wanted to kill her own mother, but tried numerous times to do the deed? You interview them with extreme caution and a fast car waiting in the alley -- motor running, of course.


Appropriately armed, I entered my interview with Adrienne Wilkinson. She just finished a fantastic run on Xena: Warrior Princess as Xena's daughter Eve, the lovely child who turned into the fierce warrior known as Livia.

The 23-year-old actress turned out to be a modern creature with the soul and intellect of someone much older. She is the first human I've met in over twenty years who can talk about Harold Robbins' "The Adventurers" with authority, agreeing with me that the fantastic action read of over 700 pages was mutilated on the screen with Yugoslav heartthrob Bekim Fehmiu playing Dax Xenos like he would have appeared if guesting on "Pee-wee's Playhouse". Adrienne even admitted that she has a Dostoevsky classic on her bookshelf.

Instead of wasting your time with other pearls of wisdom about Adrienne Marie Wilkinson from Springfield, Missouri, I'll stop writing and let you read. Hopefully her words will help explain how such a young thespian got to be so pleasantly mature.



The Adrienne Wilkinson Interview with Tony Bray

How does a Missouri girl get to Hollywood at nineteen?

Well, a bit foolishly. I am not the "little girl that had the dream of being an actress" by any means. I actually had scholarships set for college. I was a senior in high school - seventeen - and was just completely set to do the whole college thing. I could have graduated early. Instead I did a half day of school for my senior year. I only went until noon. Having extra time, I started getting involved more in extracurricular stuff. I joined a theater group. I just loved it. Fell head over heels in love the acting. By the end of the first semester, I had decided that I wanted to try acting as a career. It was just something I was desperate to do.

To the horror of my family, I decided to move to California after I graduated - right before I turned 18. I was trying to get settled and figure out exactly what I wanted to do; school or the acting thing. When I turned nineteen, I started working on acting full time. It's a crazy little journey, but it's so much fun, such a wonderful and challenging adventure. I always thought that if I didn't at least try, I'd always regret it.

In the beginning did you have help from your family?

I have a few relatives that live just outside of Los Angeles, so for the first two years I was able to live with them. I had jobs of my own and was trying to do school and everything at the same time. It was beyond a blessing that I had family here. It definitely made all the difference. I don't know how I would have handled it otherwise.
If you've had a day that sort of dragged everything out of you - rejections of some sort or whatever the day took out of you in Hollywood - just to be able to go home to family that loves you is such a huge blessing. You can put Hollywood on the back shelf on the weekends and just enjoy being a regular girl. I think it gives you this protection of having your values close enough to you that when Hollywood wants to question them, you have something solid and secure to fall back on. You don't fall into the traps that you hear about so often.

Can we talk a little bit about Xena?

Go for it! I love it! Are you kidding?

That show provided you with your best role so far.

The last episode aired in the middle of June. It was a bit sad, but really great to see the show end on such a high note.

After playing Xena's daughter Eve, a central character, is it now hard to read for a smaller role?

I'm lucky to have representation that supports me, and understands the aspirations I have for my career. My agency is very specific about the goals that we have created and the direction we are trying to go. It's ironic that you would ask that question now because I was offered a job last week on a soap opera. We collectively made the decision that it wasn't what I wanted to do, that it wouldn't lead to the opportunities that I am searching for, and that I'm certainly capable of handling. It's not that I would mind smaller roles, its more that I love a challenge, and that I want to take jobs that I know I will love, and that will inspire me creatively. I'm sure that my experiences on Xena only heightened that desire and that my expectations are even higher now.

It's scary. This year it's been very slow in the industry, especially in the last few months with the possibility of strikes. For everyone I know it's been the slowest few months that they can remember. As an actor it makes you anxious. I'm sure as a writer or any other entity in the business, it's the same. Anyway, back to your question, I have to say I wasn't very familiar with the show "Xena" when I booked the job. I was originally most excited about the location because it was filmed in New Zealand.

You didn't know how big it was worldwide?

I had absolutely no idea! I was certainly familiar with the imagery, but I wasn't a fan of the show at that point. It wasn't something I made a point of watching each week. And it turned out to be the greatest adventure I've ever had! Those beautiful hand-made costumes each week, the unbelievably gorgeous locations, it was by far the most challenging thing I've ever done. Every week, you're learning a new type of stunt sequence to do, challenging yourself in ways that you wouldn't in regular life.
I remember talking to my agency when I was finished and just saying how shocking it was that the job had been such a blessing. The job had so much adventure and interesting details that went along with it. I had no idea that my character would change or that I would essentially have different roles to play; that I would be challenged in different ways in every episode. Each new script was like getting a present. With most shows you can, to a certain extent, guess what things are going to happen to your character and what the line of your plot is with that character. But on "Xena", the shows changed countries, and storylines every couple of episodes. Everything changed so fast!

They were rewriting mythology and religion. That's kind of a big field! You can bounce around a lot with that.

Exactly, and being that there is so much to draw from - from the literary references they were using. There was just so many possibilities within each character and script. It was good. They did horror episodes, they did musical episodes, comedies and dramas. The boundaries that normally govern most shows didn't apply on Xena. Every week they would experiment with something new and with so many things that on most shows wouldn't be even a remote possibility.

Did you ever get any bad injuries shooting the battle scenes?

Not at all. The worst thing that happened to me was just some bruises, which I was actually very proud of, happy to get because I felt that I was really "in the moment" as opposed to being scary. I have to say the cast got to watch the final episode together when it aired in June. We all sat around, sort of just a get-together, a big goodbye. So many of us hadn't seen each other in awhile. When the beheading happened, we were all just so shocked.
What did you personally feel about that?

To be completely honest, I loved it. I know that fans worldwide were having very big issues with it because it was the end of "Xena". The reason that I loved it so much was that six seasons ago they started a story and in the final episode, they resolved that story. Six seasons ago Xena was evil, wanting to be redeemed and Gabrielle wanted to be a warrior. In the very final episode, those things both came to fruition. It was so powerful, so emotional and I thought it was beautifully done.

It also left your part very open so if somebody wanted to shoot a series on Eve, they could do it. I read some interview articles that mentioned the possibility.

Oh, absolutely. I know that they must be exploring new ideas for future projects. I would jump at the chance to again work with the people from Renaissance Pics. When we watched the final episode together, it was lovely to hear. "Wow, that was fun!" To hear them say "we need to do something else!" To hear the enthusiasm coming from everyone. Just the other day, I was talking with someone about how interviews for other shows often put the cast in the position of hiding dark little secrets. But on "Xena", there is not one person I didn't enjoy working with. There isn't one horrible bad day or horrible experience. We had great challenges every day. It's unreal how many people worked together to make that happen.

Do you get many calls from foreign directors because of the universal appeal of "Xena"?

I've actually gotten quite a bit of attention, specifically from European countries. It's amazing the network that "Xena" has created. Most of my episodes are only just now airing in foreign countries. It just cracks me up, how people perceive it. Instead of sending me a lot of their original ideas, it's unreal how many scripts have been submitted to me that are just my exact character from "Xena", further explorations and further adventures of Eve or Livia. It's amazing to me that people are so attached to the show that they are desperate to find a way to keep it alive.

Do you have any upcoming projects that you're excited about?

I do. Mostly just because I got to explore comedy a little bit. There's an MTV soap opera coming up that's mostly for teens and college-age kids. I know my siblings, who are thirteen and twenty-one, are excited to see it. Between two and three weeks from now, I have some episodes airing. It's called "Undressed". It does not mean that I am naked! It's just the name of the show. I'm excited about it because I love comedy. For whatever reason, my normal characters lean toward drama. It's rare that I get to experiment.
Comedy is harder to do.

It is, and I have to say, that until a couple of years ago, I was certainly more scared of it. But I have just fallen in love with it in the last two and a half years. Any chance that I have to do it, I jump at it. I actually filmed "Undressed" all the way back at the end of March. It's not airing until later in August. I'll be excited to see it, just to show a different side of my work. That will be fun. We also just redesigned my web site (www.adriennewilkinson.com). So I hope that everyone will take a moment to check it out. and I'm involved with a little film called 'Scavenger Hunt'. We are hoping to complete the project this fall.

Do you get enough work at your age to support yourself, not requiring another job to make ends meet?

Yes. I'm very blessed.

Did that happen because of Xena?

Yes. I'm almost twenty-four now. I've been supporting myself just on acting since right before I turned twenty-two. I stopped having the 'regular' sort of job at twenty-two. It's amazing. Projects that seem like they could provide a large paycheck sometimes don't. Then when you don't expect a large paycheck, it's there. When you make that transition, it's a brand new thing. I'm very grateful. You always wish that you had more in your back pocket, but I'm very happy with my position.

Do you suffer from hair damage because different roles have required different colors?

Last year, between Xena and two other projects I was working on, my hair was dyed 18 times and permed. It did fine until the perm, but the perm just hurt it like you can't believe! I didn't even realize it. You can't really tell by looking at it, but people that tend to it during shows tell me to be really careful. It's so interesting. They use such good products, but your hair just reaches a point where it says "that's it". For me, that was the perm. I could tell immediately afterward. It got a lot more brittle.

Considering your love of dancing, can you do the twist like they did last summer?

You better believe it. I can't believe you asked.

I noticed in your bio that you love dancing.

I love it! I've taken classes in just about anything you can imagine since I was about two years old. I've been on stage doing ballet, tap, jazz, celtic, highland, hip-hop - well, a bit of everything.

Have you thought about going to New York and trying Broadway with that kind of talent?

Eventually I would love it. I'm really focused on trying to get more established out here in Hollywood first, but it is so completely on my list you have no idea! I've always been able to sing a little bit, but I've never been brave enough to do anything with it until recently. In the past couple of years I have fallen in love with singing. I would absolutely love to do Broadway, both in straight plays and also musicals. I love the stage, I have a huge respect for it, and I can't wait for that opportunity to come my way.

Some girls have to diet a lot to stay at a certain level, but it seems to me that if you do a lot of dancing, you wouldn't have to do much else.

I dance a lot. But, I have to say that I am so blessed. My mom is petite and her mother is petite. I definitely got my genes from them.

If the people from "Xena" called you tomorrow and asked you to do a series based on Eve, and then Al Pacino called to ask you to play his daughter in an $80 million movie that films during the Eve time period, which role would you take?

Just because it's my nature -- if I had already said yes to "Xena", there is no way I'd back out. They've been so good to me I would never back out on a deal with them. But it would kill me! When you take any project you always think, �Oh, what if next week the project of my dreams came along?� I am a firm believer in fate. I think projects come along and you often have to help them get to you. I would beg and plead with Al to help me out!

You are the first one to say that they would stay with what brought them there.

It would absolutely kill me. I'd want the movie in a second, but I just couldn't go back on my word. I call "Xena" the gift that keeps on giving because it has brought me so much more that I ever, ever expected or anticipated.

Your biography show that you read Harold Robbins. What is your favorite book by him?

I really liked 'Raiders'. But I just love to read. I love beautiful writing. Reading is as exciting as watching films, because they both take you to new places, and introduce you to new characters. I think I get that from my mother. She reads all the time. If I'm not working I usually try to read about a book a day.

Have you ever read 'The Adventurers'?

I did, I did. Very good. I loved the book, but I was disappointed in the movie.

I was curious about your love of reading, let's say because you didn't go to four years of college anywhere, which I didn't realize.

Probably that's part of it, because even my grandmother has a degree. It really was a big issue when I decided to come here. My family is all so incredibly supportive of my career, but it is something that I miss and I definitely would like to keep college it in my future plans.

You had a really strong upbringing. That's why, in my opinion, you survived this long at what you're doing.

I think that definitely has part to do with it. My family is supportive enough and there for me. I think I always knew that if I didn't make it, I always had a place to go -- that they would love me regardless. I think that made me brave enough to take the chance, kept me grounded. There are so many foolish and easy ways to just get lost in this business. You go out to dinner and have fifteen people come up to tell you that they are a producer. If you don't have your wits about you, it's incredibly easy to get misguided.

I have two other questions for you. How long do you really have to work to get one minute of good film on something as complex as an action scene in "Xena".

There are so many different pieces that go together. Particularly with "Xena", because they have the "flips" in the choreography. The actual action scenes don't take tremendously long. They film it with the first unit, with all the regular actors. Then they film other angles where you wouldn't see the faces, with the second unit. That is usually done on an entirely separate day. All of that doesn't take tremendously long, but what takes long is the harness work (flips). The reason that the real actors don't do the harness work is strictly a lack of time. Most of the harness work is so specific that one flip can cause seven hours of rehearsals just to get it right. All for only three or four seconds of film.

Is there any other profession you could enjoy if you had to leave acting?

I had somebody ask me that the other day, and I have to tell you that when I'm on stage and a scene is clicking, when it's really exact, when it's what you're actually looking for, there is nothing in my life that gives such a rush. It's that connection which is beyond just yourself. I love that! I would certainly find a way to be content and enjoy my life still, but if you're asking for something that could give me the same fulfillment, I don't think so.
Career-wise, I just love being an actress. I love the challenge of it. I like how it's different every day and every character and even every performance. I love how it takes so many people working together to make it really work. I'm so analytical and organized - I'm a Virgo, always planning everything - that I'm surprised that I enjoy this career as much as I do. I think I thrive on not knowing what opportunities are going to come around the corner instead of having it planned out. I think it's great for me that it's a career that changes constantly and brings different things to my plate that otherwise I might not pursue.

You mention on your website that you want to get more involved in charities. Are you working with any now?

In the past year I've worked with nearly two dozen different charities. I still haven't picked one specific charity to be my focus. Because I love reading so much, I work with Book Pals for the Screen Actors Guild, which is a literacy program, reading to children. I love how easy it is to influence a child. I think it is the type of program that could be expanded even more. Anything with children and animals is big with me. Those are the two things that inspire me the most.

In the last year, the charity that I have worked with the most has probably been the James B. Ellis Foundation. It works with college scholarships for people that have been afflicted with cancer, whether it's the students themselves or their parents who have cancer. I've probably done eight or nine different fund raisers with them over the last year.

Young people don't get involved enough with charities.
I was fortunate because the show brought enough to me that it certainly wasn't a hard thing to get involved. Again, it's that immediate feedback - it's so wonderful to realize how little it takes to do so much for another person. I learned a huge lesson when I was younger and living at home. My family was very solidly middle-class growing up. We never wanted for anything, but certainly we weren't taking any lavish vacations or anything like that. One of the best learning experiences happened when my family adopted another family for Christmas. We set up a budget where we all went shopping for them. It was a family that sort of mimicked ours. Children about the same age and things like that. The benefit and joy we got was tremendous.

It sounds to me like you've got a very level head and don't have to worry about your career. You'll go a long way in life.


End of The Adrienne Wilkinson Interview



Before you leave this interview page, I'd like to mention something about Adrienne that I found out by visiting her Official Internet Site -- a place one must visit to learn more about the actress. You'll love her gallery.

Listed among her favorite films is the 1985 Oscar winner Amadeus, featuring Tom Hulce in his brilliant performance as the crazed musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and F. Murray Abraham (Best Supporting Actor Award) as his enemy in hiding, Antonio Salieri. Anybody who appreciates that Milos Forman film is definitely older than 23 -- mentally, that is. I rest my case.

Posted on Mar 26, 2006, 4:25 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Lost Season 2 - Interview with Cuse and Lindelof

by lost fan (no login)

TVGuide: First off, I have a bone to pick with you, Damon. Last July, I asked you if a female character was getting killed this season on Lost, and you said — and I quote: "I think it would be fairly silly for us to kill a woman — there are only three or four of them on the show. And they're all really hot." So, I guess my question is, how can I ever trust you again?

Damon Lindelof: I never said we weren't going to kill a woman. I said it would be silly. And you know, Carlton and I are pretty silly guys. You should see the hat that he's wearing right now.

Carlton Cuse: That's all I'm wearing.

Damon: And also a sock, but that's another story.

TVG: Did it bug you that Maggie Grace's people leaked that tidbit about her possibly joining the cast of X-Men 3 over the summer? It was a pretty major tip-off that she might be leaving the show.

Carlton: There's no incentive for them to preserve the creative sanctity of Lost. You have an agency full of people whose job it is to get Maggie Grace other work. And how could we begrudge her that? We can't prevent her from going out and earning a livelihood, you know?

TVG: There's the perception that Maggie had to turn down X-Men 3 because of Lost.

Carlton: I don't think that was the circumstance. We would have been accommodating had she been offered that job.

Damon: Carlton and I would have bent over backwards to see if there was a way to make it work.

TVG: Why was Shannon marked for death?

Damon: It was by no means a result of Maggie's abilities as an actress, which, we felt were gaining ground every time we saw her on the screen. But Shannon is a 22- or 23-year-old character, and the flashback stories and limitations in terms of her life experience… The younger the character is on the show, the more limited you are in terms of stories you can tell. So, before we started running Shannon into the ground and doing the same stories over and over again, it felt like it was a very natural time to kill [her] off. And the idea that was appealing to us, and certainly to Maggie, was that we would finally show Shannon in this different light. Make her incredibly sympathetic and then she would die.

TVG: Will Shannon be back, like, say, in one of Jack's flashbacks?

Carlton: It's always possible she could pop up in someone's backstory. But she is definitely dead. When a character dies on the island, they stay dead.

TVG: Are you concerned that Ana-Lucia is beyond redemption? I can't tell you how many e-mails I got from AA readers asking, "When is that bitch going to die?!"

Carlton: At the beginning of last season, people didn't like Josh Holloway's character either. And by the end of the season, he was one of the most-liked characters on the show. It'll be really interesting to see, as we tell more about Ana-Lucia, whether that changes the audience's perception of her. We think it will.

Damon: In the same moment that we decided Shannon would die, [we also decided that] Ana-Lucia would be responsible for that death. It would be the first time one castaway was responsible for killing another, and it would give so much inherent conflict and trauma [heading to] the merge. We're walking a very tenuous tightrope with her, but we feel that over the course of the next two episodes the audience will hopefully get a better understanding for that character and what she's been through.

TVG: Can you confirm that Shannon was, in fact, shot? Fans have been speculating that she looked like she had a stab wound.

Carlton: She was shot.

Damon: People are getting a little too…

TVG: They're reaching a little too much?

Carlton: They totally are. And she did not have a Dharma Initiative stamp on her.

TVG: Let's talk about Malcolm David Kelley and Walt. Why was his role reduced this season? Were you concerned about him aging faster than the time line on the show?

Carlton: That's a legitimate issue. We've only gone 50 days on the island, and he's a kid in puberty. But Walt's disappearance and, ultimately, Michael's efforts to reunite with him were part of a grander plan. There are also financial considerations. Since Walt wasn't going to be around for a lot of episodes, we had to make an arrangement to have his role be a more reduced role.

TVG: Whether you use him once or twice a year or every week, the aging thing will still be an issue, no? Might you recast?

Damon: To answer that question is sort of to reveal what the plan is for Walt, and there is a plan. I always feel like recasting is the nuclear option. You do not do it unless it is absolutely, 100 percent necessary. But obviously, we have a story that we want to tell about Walt and about Michael and Walt.

TVG: Last week Shannon and Sayid gave us our first big Lost sex scene…

Carlton: It was the second big sex scene. Boone and Shannon had sex together [last season]. So, if you have sex on the show, you're pretty much going to end up dead.

TVG: So, who's having sex next?

Carlton: (Laughs) As we move into the middle run of episodes, we're definitely emphasizing the Jack-Kate-Sawyer romantic triangle. The level of sexual tension between those three characters is definitely being ramped up.

TVG: How will Ana-Lucia figure into it?

Damon: As the respective leaders of their respective units, Ana-Lucia and Jack have a great deal in common with each other, and that's definitely something we're going to be exploring. But [the fact that] Ana-Lucia inadvertently murdered one of the members of the tribe doesn't exactly [lend itself] to candlelight dinners and walks on the beach. She is a woman; she will have romantic entanglements. But I think the one that will begin to emerge over the season will be the one that you least expect.

TVG: What about Charlie and Claire?

Carlton: We're definitely going to be paying attention to their relationship, but it's not going to turn in ways the audience expects.

TVG: Will we get any clarification about the numbers this season?

Damon: Carlton might want to punch me for actually going on record and saying this, but I think that that question will never, ever be answered. I couldn't possibly imagine [how we would answer that question]. We will see more ramifications of the numbers and more usage of the numbers, but it boggles my mind when people ask me, "What do the numbers mean?"

TVG: Will we find out why Ethan abducted Claire?

Damon: Yes. Carlton: You'll learn more about it this season.

TVG: Will Claire get some of her memory back?

Damon: The loss of her memory happened so long ago that it requires a sort of deft touch in order to reintroduce the concept. Once we start assuming that everybody is intimately familiar with everything that has ever happened on the island, I think the show risks becoming slightly confused. But all of that stuff is in play. It's just a matter of when and how we reactivate it.

TVG: Are you still planning to reveal why the plane crashed this season?

Carlton: Yes.

Are you saving that little doozy for the finale?

TVG: Carlton: We're saving it until later. We consider that on the ground of fairly major revelations.

Damon: We don't want to stick that one in the middle of March.

TVG: ABC billed last week's episode as the one "everyone will be talking about." What'll be the next one "everyone will be talking about"?

Carlton: Ironically, it's the next episode [airing tonight]. We think for us, it's even more of a water-cooler episode than the death episode. This is really a very special episode in that it's kind of a concept episode. It deviates from the form and style of our other episodes.

TVG: On Nov. 30 we'll finally learn what Kate's precrash crime was that landed her in so much hot water. Any other big flashback revelations this season?

Damon: In the next string of episodes, one of the really compelling backstory elements is what happened to Jack's marriage. We think Julie Bowen is amazing and she and Matthew Fox are so great in scenes together, and I think the audience is really curious as to what went wrong there.

Carlton: And you should pay attention to Mr. Eko's stick.

TVG: Seriously?

Carlton: Yeah.

Damon: Keep your eyes on Mr. Eko's stick.

Carlton: That stick is an important ongoing clue.

TVG: Will we learn more about Monster this season?

Carlton: Definitely.

Damon: Absolutely.

TVG: Has Disney approached you about doing a Lost feature film?

Carlton: No.

TVG: And if they did, what would your response be?

Damon: I would punch them as hard as I could. We couldn't even begin to wrap our brains around how we would produce a feature film. Obviously, the production team in Hawaii is amazing, but the amount of time [it would require] to do a TV show and a feature on top of each other… I think it's safe to say it would be impossible.

TVG: Last question: Will there be another death this season?

Carlton: (Laughs) You're very good, but we can't say.


Posted on Nov 16, 2005, 7:43 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Inside Pulse interview w/ Damon Lindelof

by lost fan (no login)

From: http://tv.insidepulse.com/articles/44411

Murtz Jaffer: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Damon Lindelof: I am from New Jersey originally. I went to NYU film school for college and then as soon as I graduated, I came out to LA. I just sort of did the learning process here. I worked for an agency for a year. Then I worked for Paramount for three years. In all that time, I was writing. I finally decided to take the leap and I got a job as a writer's assistant on this TV show called 'Wasteland' which was on the air in 1998 or 1999. That was sort of my break. It was Kevin Williamson's show who did the Scream movies and Dawson's Creek. He sort of gave me my shot and made me a writer on that show right before it got cancelled. The next job I got after that was Nash Bridges. I worked on that show for a year. That was its sixth and final season. After that I went to go work for Crossing Jordan in its first year and I worked on that show for its first three seasons and then J.J. and the rest is kind of history.

MJ: How old are you right now?

DL: 32.

MJ: That sounds like a pretty extensive resume for a 32-year-old. Is that usually how it works for all TV writers?

DL: The average age of a television writer is probably in the age-40 range. I am on the low-end of it and there are writers on the staff that are over 40, but most of them are in their mid-30s. There are younger staffs I am sure on shows like Family Guy. I am sure there are people over there that are in their 20s. On some of the procedural dramas like C.S.I., they are probably all over-40. It all depends.

MJ: Does it help being younger in the environment because I know that you can bring fresher ideas to the table. Don't older TV writers basically stick to being formulaic in their approach?

DL: I wouldn't say that is their default position. In fact, I think the longer that you are stuck writing the formula, the more eager you are to break out of it. If you take a guy like Marc Cherry for example, the creator of Desperate Housewives, he was a journeyman television writer who had worked on sitcom staffs going all the way back to the Golden Girls. He still created Desperate Housewives which was very fresh and innovative and had a fresh voice. I think it all comes down to who the writer is and I hope that I am still writing cool stuff into my 40s.

MJ: Can you tell me a little bit about the timeline of Lost and how you first heard about it?

DL: I got a phone call at the end of January (2004) from a friend of mine, Heather Kadin, who was at ABC at the time. She basically said that Lloyd Braun (who was running ABC at the time) wants to do a show about a plane that crashes on an island. I said 'what's the show' and 'how is that a series.' I didn't understand what would happen every week. She said that was exactly the issue. She said that Braun was trying to get J.J. Abrams to involve himself. J.J. of course was doing Alias and another pilot and she said that he didn't have the time but if somebody were to come in to co-write it, he might get involved. I was a huge fan of Felicity and Alias, so I said that any opportunity that I had to meet with J.J. was something that I would take and this was a Friday evening. Over the weekend, I just sort of started to turn the idea around in my head of how you could maybe get a couple of episodes out of that idea. On Monday, I came in and met with J.J. for the first time and we really hit it off. By the end of that week, we generated a detailed outline of what the pilot of our show would be. Essentially, 11 weeks later, we delivered the finished two-hour pilot to ABC. It happened all over the course of three months. From that first meeting to writing the script, to casting the show, prepping the show, shooting the show and cutting the show.

MJ: Was it an advantage to get it done that quickly. If you have an exam, if you study for it for like three weeks, you can stress yourself out. If you cram the night before, you tend to learn more. Was it the same thing here? Did the pressure produce a good product?

DL: I think that has a lot to do with it. I also think that the benefit of there being no time to really stop and think about all the reasons that it didn't work... I think that's the comment that we get the most (even with the second season) which asks how long are we going to be able to sustain the show. I think if we had just had a lot of time to just sit around and think about that, we would have completely talked ourselves out of it.

MJ: Heather Kadin said that they wanted somebody who would work well with J.J. Abrams. Why do you think that she thought you guys would hit it off so well?

DL: I don't know. She and I go way back. She was one of the first people that I met in Hollywood and she had been working as an executive on Alias for three years and I guess she just felt like, creatively, J.J. and I had the same lexicon of stuff that we loved. Like the Star Wars movies, anything that Spielberg has ever done, we had sci fi interests and we both loved The Twilight Zone. She felt like the talking points were the same. That we were horses of a similar color.

MJ: You developed a show with her and Thom Sherman. In hindsight, was it a blessing that that show didn't go through?

DL: Totally. That was the first pilot that I ever wrote and I learned a lot from writing it, but I think that I would not have all been prepared if the show had been picked up. It was a cop show which there is nothing wrong with, but I think the idea that it was much more between the lines of what a normal television show is as opposed to the big, grandiose, outside-the-box idea that Lost was. The good thing about that show was that it put me on ABC's radar as a writer that they wanted to work with again.

MJ: How do you explain the popularity and phenomenon?

DL: I don't know to be honest with you. If I sat and really thought about why it's popular, I would have the formula for creating a hit show everytime out. I think a big part of it is a matter of timing, in terms of the American public and the worldwide public was just ready for something fresh, exciting and new. I think that our cast is amazing. I think the fact that the show is shot in Hawaii and it looks different than everything else in TV really sort of attests to the success of it. We try a lot of stuff. The show is bold in many ways and it's not afraid to fall on its face in many ways. People sort of watch it like a car wreck. It's like a freeway chase. It's exciting and you don't know how it's going to end but you better watch the journey.

MJ: Do you find that there is something in particular that appeals to males 18-34 because I find they are the buzz group? Those are the ones who are talking about it every Thursday morning.

DL: It's interesting because for me, as a male between 18-34, I am sort of a member of the PlayStation generation. We sort of were like gamers. I think that men want to watch something whether it be a sporting event or something on TV that we can play along with. That is interactive. If I was a fan of the show, as opposed to writing it, I love the sort of Easter Egg-y quality. It allows me to theorize. It doesn't tell me what to think. It just gives me things to think about. As opposed to a traditional and procedural drama like C.S.I. or Law & Order which basically tells you at the end of every episode, who shot who. I think male brains like to figure things out. We're problem solvers. It is like a big adventure game. You get to watch and say here's my theory about this and here's what I think will happen if they do this. I want them to do this. Why are they doing that? It is a story as opposed to a condition. As a male in that demographic, that's what I respond to.

MJ: How important are the influences that you use? Alfred Hitchcock. Rosemary's Baby. Twilight Zone...

DL: I think that everything that I have ever seen and ever liked goes into the collective melting pot of the show. Obviously, Carlton Cuse (who came on very early in the first season), we work the show together, day-to-day, create the show. We sit in his office every morning and have breakfast and talk about stuff. He is a big Narnia fan and the fantasy and the influences that everybody has all contribute into the stories that we want to tell on Lost. Some movies (more than others) directly influence the show and obviously, one of the seminal key influences on the show is Stephen King's 'The Stand.' J.J., Carleton and I have all read it, and it is sort of very similar in good versus evil playing out in a dramatic and supernatural context. That is a work that is often referred to.

MJ: Originally, in the pilot, I heard that the Fuselage was supposed to start the show but that J.J. wanted to have Jack wake up in the jungle to lead. I am curious as to how the decision-making process works between you?

DL: Actually, in that case, in our first meeting I pitched the opening of the show. I pitched the Jack wakes up in the middle of the jungle idea. The decision-making process is all built around ideas and the thing is we find ourselves, all the creative collaborators, very rarely is there any incident where there is a disagreement about where to take the show or what to do. The best idea wins.

MJ: That's what I find so interesting. I would think that on a show that builds itself on so much theory and that this has to happen for this to happen and for that to happen, you would disagree more. Especially when you're working with a team. Usually isn't it just one guy calling the shots?

DL: I don't know. In my experience in television, there is a show runner or a single visionary that is basically there to distill whether to turn left or turn right. At the end of the day, television shows can only function as a collaboration because you are writing a script every eight days. Right now, you and I are talking on a Thursday afternoon. A script will exist a week from Monday that hasn't even been concepted yet. The rate of speed with which these things are created is astonishing. If you look back at season one of Lost, and we did 25 episodes between the months of May and April, so that's 11 months. A two-hour movie is produced in that same time period.

MJ: One of my favourite quotes of yours is when you said "sometimes we get frustrated ourselves and decide it's time to download a big chunk of mythology and then the audience says that they find this confusing and alienating and too weird. So then we pull back and they say that you're not giving us enough." How do you respond to what the audience wants and how much does that effect what you put out?

DL: I think that, obviously, the "audience" is relative. If you trolled the boards, that audience is a very vocal mythology-driven audience that wants answers constantly. The audience that I sort of respond to most is my wife or my mom or the people that are just watching the show and they like certain elements of the mythology, but they also want Jake and Kate to get together and all that stuff. You have to basically distill out what you think the global sense of things is. For example, after the finale last year, Carleton (Cuse) and I heard uniformly across the entire audience 'we wish that you had given us more than just them looking down at the hatch.' We don't regret the decision that we made. In fact, we stand by it. In fact, it was the only decision to make because at the end of the day, you need a cliffhanger. You want people talking all summer long about what is in there. We knew that we had something really cool in there and we knew that when people saw what it was, they would feel like it was worth the wait. Essentially, we try to be the audience ourselves and say 'wow, when was the last time we did a mythological episode, are we doing too much mythology, it's been awhile since we have seen Kate..." We try to be the audience in our own heads.

MJ: Can you give me an example of too much mythology, if there is one?

DL: There have been sort of moves along the road, for example in Episode 7 of last year, Raised By Another where Ethan takes Charlie and Claire that the mythology would have advanced considerably beyond where it did. We would have seen a couple of the other "Others." We pulled back and decided not to do that because it was infinitely more interesting to sort of understand 'wait a minute, there have to be more of them because this one guy is moving this pregnant woman and this guy through the jungle very quickly.' Isn't it scarier to not see how many of them there are or what they look like? To just keep them mysterious. When J.J. and I were breaking the pilot, we originally were going to discover the hatch at the end of the pilot. But we said that would be too much mythology. It's enough to just say that there is this f------ monster on the island and that's frightening, but let's dole it out in smaller doses. The too much mythology is stuff that we were thinking about doing and in fact didn't do and I feel like it was the right decision at the time that we didn't do it.

MJ: I know that a theme that you keep bringing up is how intelligent the show is. Do you every worry that the show is going to get so involved that people are just going to be like 'oh, it's too complicated, I can't watch it because it gives me a headache?'

DL: All the time.

MJ: Really?

DL: Sure. The thing is that is where I think that the X-Files... a lot of people look back on that show and they sort of grumble about it as opposed to how many great episodes they did produce. Mythology is another word for story. We all know that stories have beginnings, middles and ends. The audience begins to get frustrated if they feel that they are not being worked toward an ending and you just keep piling on the middle. When you're piling on the middle, it odes become dense and complicated and you can't ever satisfactorily answer things because you are just stalling. That is a fear of ours. The key is that we stick to the original plan.

MJ: Speaking of that plan, I know that Javier Grillo-Marxuach (supervising producer) said that you had a plan in place for several years in advance. When you told me that you basically have to write every episode in a week, how does the dichotomy work between having a plan and producing episodes so quickly.

DL: We always use the roadmap analogy which is basically that you do it season by season. There is the Rand McNally atlas of the world and that book is basically the entire series. Prior to that, every page is a map and we have a destination and that's a season. How you're going to get to a certain place and what route you're going to take... are we going to take the northern route? Are we going to take a rural road? Are we going to go through St. Louis? That is the sort of day-to-day amorphous process where we know that there are stories that we are going to tell but we don't know when we are going to tell them or how they all relate to each other. Nobody can come up with a plan that detailed and obviously that plan is contingent upon so many variables like whether or not its working. You can have an original design like it would be really cool if Shannon and Charlie hooked up. Then you see a scene between Charlie and Claire and you go 'wow, there's something there that I am really interested in writing toward so let's do that.' People might label that as making it up as you go along, but we say that the show is an organic thing and there has to be some degree of improv in the plan. It's like when you hear a band play a song that you love. When they play it live, it's great if they do something that they haven't done on the album that you have listened to a billion times. People want to be surprised. We have so many creative partners in the show, including the actors, that the actors do things all the time that you didn't put on the page or didn't anticipate and you just go 'that's great, I am going to start writing to that.'

MJ: Can you give me an example of when that happened?

DL: I'd rather not. Just because I don't like to go on record as ever having to say we changed our minds about anything.

MJ: Can you tell me about Javier Grillo-Marxuach in general? When did you first meet him and how did he get involved with the show?

DL: Basically J.J. wanted to hire a writing staff immediately after we had the pilot green lit so that we could start thinking about what the show was going to be and start building this atlas as I referred to. Javi was probably the first or one of the first writers that we met with. He was always hired to be the resident sci fi expert. He had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of science fiction television. In fact, he had written a lot of science fiction television and had worked on the show that was the most similar in construct to Lost in its early stages which was this thing called Earth 2 when he was an executive at NBC. I just remembered having a great meeting with him and saying that this guy has definitely got to be part of the core group of visionaries that begin to build the show.

MJ: So basically, he's the sci-fi guy. Does everybody on the writing team have a role like that?

DL: You try to build a writing team like a good baseball team. Everybody's a great hitter but if nobody's a great fielder, then you have a lot of offense but no defense. You pick people that play well together as a team. It's a constantly morphing process. Javi is the only original writer who is still on the show.

MJ: He mentioned something that I found absolutely riveting. He said that at the beginning of the show, you had the writing team pick names out of a hat to determine which writer would develop a character's backstory. Why did you decide to do that?

DL: I just thought that it would be a fun exercise for certain writers to begin to form bonds with specific characters, or else I feared that certain characters would fall by the wayside because there were obvious favourites out of the gate. Who isn't going to love Hurley? Who isn't going to love Jack or Sawyer? I wanted to make sure that Sayid and Claire and Charlie were also getting the same sort of care and attention to their backstories and character intricacies as everybody else.

MJ: The reason that I find that interesting is because you just said that Javi was the sci fi guy and I know that he worked a lot with Daniel Dae and Yunjin Kim. Those characters are so diametrically opposed to sci fi, so do you think that your plan worked out (it obviously did)?

DL: The thing is that at the end of the day, the show is a character show. It's not a sci fi show. It was that particular credential in Javi's resume that got him in the door.

MJ: He said that he worked very closely with the characters of Jin and Sun. Is there any reason why he got the Korean storyline, was it just the random draw?

DL: He pulled their names out of a hat I believe... I think he pulled Jin's name out of a hat. I mean it's not like he got it, he wrote House Of The Rising Sun, but again, that episode was broken by the entire staff. Who's name ends up on the script is a byproduct of whoever does the majority of writing on that script but every single story is broken by eight people and signed off on by Carleton and myself. Different writers have developed different amenities for specific characters just as the show goes on. Obviously, I think that Javi sort of keyed into the Korean characters in a way that is endemic to whatever Javi's personal tastes are.

MJ: Daniel Dae Kim said that he appreciated the beginning of the first season when the writers went to Hawaii a lot and discussed what they wanted with the cast. How often does this happen and is it hard to translate your vision from LA to Hawaii?

DL: The process is great because the show in Hawaii is run by Jack Bender and Jean Higgins is our line producer. She figures out how to do everything. We hired a guy this year named Stephen Williams. Basically Carleton and I are the primary conduits. We speak on the phone with them a lot, Carleton more than myself actually (to make sure that the script gets translated in the best way possible). But I think that it's good that we're not down in Hawaii, because I think that the process has to sort of be built around a system of trust. That they can do their job and once we have birthed the script, we want to make sure that it gets realized. If we were down there, breathing down their necks, that's another script that is not getting written. It wasn't an incredibly proficient process to send a writer down to Hawaii for two weeks to sort of supervise the shooting of their script.

MJ: And finally, how important is the internet to the show and where do you see the show going? Not in terms of storyline, but in terms of internet, audience and theme progression?

DL: We're actually starting to finally do what we wanted to do from the very beginning. I think that now that the show has caught on, especially in the Easter egg construct of it. We have a couple of websites that we run, like Oceanic815 and HansoFoundation. We're also starting a couple more that we're not going to announce and ones that people will hopefully find. That whole idea that you can go on the 'net and continue your interactive experience and find nuggets of information about the island that are not presented on the show or that the show will later payoff, I think is going to be really really cool.

MJ: So basically just keep going with the interactive aspect?

DL: That's the plan stan...

MJ: Congrats on the Emmy. Is it weird having an Emmy at 32?

DL: It is weird having it period.

MJ: Who keeps it? Is it in your office?

DL: All the producers get their own. You go backstage after you win, and they immediately take the one that they handed you out of your hands and there's a table over there that has a big pile of them and each producer signs a sheet and gets their own individual Emmy.

MJ: Is it in your office?

DL: No, it's at home. If it was in the office, I think I'd get distracted.

MJ: I think it's the best show on TV right now and given how much I watch and cover, I think that is a pretty bold statement to make.

DL: Thanks a lot man. I really appreciate it.



Posted on Nov 25, 2005, 3:18 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Gannett article on the writers

by lost fan (no login)

From http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051122/ENT/511220327/1005 :

'Lost' world created by diverse team

By Dinah Eng
Gannett News Service

The people who know the secrets behind the unfolding story of castaways stranded on a remote island on the hit ABC series "Lost" know that somewhere in our collective imagination, we all hunger for life's answers.

Behind the mystery of the hatch, the Others and those darn numbers is a creative writing staff that is constantly examining the journey of life from various cultural viewpoints, and conjuring up adventures that fans can relate to on multiple levels.

"The show is called 'Lost' because all the characters are lost in their lives," says Damon Lindelof, co-creator and executive producer of the show. "We're really telling redemptive stories. We show character flaws in the past, and explore ways these people can evolve on the island and redeem themselves."

Each week, 10 writers collaborate to create the tales that feature 14 major characters in a production process filled with tight deadlines. During November sweeps, the schedule is so packed that a request for a photo shoot of the writers was denied for lack of time.

Behind the scenes, everything begins in "the writers' room" on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, Calif., where the staff gathers to throw out ideas and chart storylines on big white eraser boards. Once Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse approve a story, a writer is assigned to craft an outline, which must be approved by the network. Writing then starts on as many as eight drafts before an episode is shot.

"We have an eclectic and diverse group of writers who have a shared vision of the show, but bring a unique perspective to the storytelling," says Cuse, who also created and executive produced "Nash Bridges" and "Martial Law." "The premise of the show -- a plane traveling internationally from Sydney to Los Angeles crashes on an island -- is a great vehicle for showing how people from diverse backgrounds can knit together as one society.

"One of the most important messages of the show is that we are interconnected, and our survival as a human race depends on our ability to trust each other. Despite the intensity and darkness of our storytelling, there's a hopeful message of optimism. We relish the opportunity to do that across the board with actors who come from different backgrounds and perspectives."

The writing staff behind the scenes is also one of the more diverse ones in Hollywood, comprised of eight men and two women, two of whom are Asian American. One is Hispanic American.

Javier Grillo-Marxuach, supervising producer on "Lost," says the working environment on the show is one of mutual respect, freedom and fun, allowing everyone to share ideas without fear.

"The writer's room is the world's most sustained and lengthy group therapy session," says Grillo-Marxuach, laughing. "We're all introspective and slightly neurotic. We make 22 episodes during the year, and there's a push to get more incidents and emotion into shows during the sweeps period, so there's pressure to out-do ourselves during those times."

What's fun, he says, is shaping stories and seeing a part of yourself in the final product, something that often happens out of the writers' discussions.

"When I was a senior in high school, some friends and I stole all the snowmen in a neighborhood and put all of them in someone's yard," Grillo-Marxuach says. "When we did the Hurley episode, it became a sequence where Hurley and his friend stole garden gnomes and put them in the evil boss' front yard."

Christina Kim, the most junior writer on the staff, says she identifies most with the female characters on the show, and tends to speak up when storylines involve the Korean couple, Jin and Sun, or potential romances between characters.

"I'm co-writing a script now with flashbacks around Jack," says Kim, who graduated film school two years ago and was hired after completing the CBS Diversity Institute Writers Mentoring Program, designed to increase the number of minority writers in television. "I've also helped out with Jin and Sun's story. We have a translator in Hawaii who translates dialogue into Korean, and it comes back to me to make sure it all makes sense."

Fans are constantly trying to figure out what's next for the characters on the island, but like all good storytellers, none of the show's writers are sharing any secrets.

"We know the answers to what the mysteries are, and who the characters are," says Lindelof, "but the process of how that unfolds has to remain organic and evolve. You hear lots of ideas, and we're all finding the answers together."




Posted on Nov 25, 2005, 3:25 PM

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USA Today interview with Josh Holloway

by Sawyer fan (no login)

From http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-11-29-holloway_x.htm :

Fame's a breeze for Holloway
By William Keck, USA TODAY

OAHU, Hawaii — Josh Holloway is standing under a banyan tree in a clearing not far from the shore in Kahuku, a picturesque place on an island where he works hard — and plays even harder.

It's a setting that has become imbued with mixed memories for the actor. It was in this spot, under the banyan, that as Sawyer, the bad boy of ABC's hit series Lost, he was tortured in one of last season's most memorable episodes.

"You get an emotional imprint of these places when you do something that intense," he says. "I spent two 12-hour days on my knees tied to a tree."

But not far beyond the banyan tree, he says, is a place that conjures more pleasant thoughts: "A beautiful bay where I did the scene where I came out of the water supposedly naked and caught Kate (Evangeline Lilly) looking at me." Later that night, he returned to the spot with his wife, Yessica Kumala, for some real skinny dipping. "No one caught us," he says. "It's pretty secluded."

The days of Holloway, 36, being able to slip by unnoticed may be dwindling. He has emerged as a surprise breakout in a large ensemble cast that includes plenty of memorable faces.

Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse predicts big-screen stardom, calling Holloway "a full-blown movie star."

So far, he has at least proved to be a popular magazine cover boy. One of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World this year, Holloway in January was one of six Lost actors on a series of collectable TV Guide covers. Holloway's cover outsold the rest by far, including star Matthew Fox's sexy mug. He was pictured on three subsequent TV Guide covers.

"We kept putting him on the cover," says TV Guide's Lost reporter Shawna Malcom, "because we'd see a bump in newsstand sales. He's the right actor in the right role."

And she adds: "And in many ways, Sawyer is Josh, this good ol' boy you'd want to sit down and have a beer with."

He's a Southern gentleman

Michelle Rodriguez, who plays new castaway Ana Lucia, sees him as a brother. "I feel like pinning him down and farting in his face. We have that kind of sibling energy." (When Holloway hears this, he laughs — hard. "That is exactly it," he says.)

The Lost co-stars with more tenure say he remains the same Southern charmer they met when the show pilot shot in Hawaii in early 2004. "He's the guy who will open doors for women, who will always carry the bags for women and make sure they feel protected," Lilly says. "It's a very endearing quality."

The Georgia-bred Holloway demonstrates just that, offering to act as guide on a 40-mile car tour of the island. Without being asked, he plays porter and deposits this reporter's luggage into the back seat of a rental car.

On the road, with Kumala along for the ride, it's clear that Holloway hasn't adopted many megastar ways. He apparently hasn't, for instance, hired a good accountant. He pulls up to a gas station convenience store for some food and drink and slips his bank card into an ATM only to find the account is tapped. He asks to be spotted a few bucks. He hasn't been going on extravagant spending sprees, he explains, just been too busy to deposit his Lost paychecks.

He also shares details about how he met Kumala, 28, a native of Jakarta, Indonesia, seven years ago at L.A.'s Sunset Room (now the Cabana Club). "I tried to run, but when it's undeniable, it's undeniable," he says with a laugh. "She gave me a slap on the shoulder, looked me up and down and said, 'Give me your number before you leave.' "

Yessie, as he calls her, came back a half-hour later and demanded his phone number but refused to give hers. "She had game," he says.

The morning after their first date, they were building sandcastles on the beach and planning their future. For their wedding on Kauai last October, they wrote what they call "realistic" vows. "There's no 'till death do us part,' because that doesn't normally happen," says Kumala, who sometimes calls her husband "Cornhusk," for his long, golden-lit hair. "If it doesn't work, we'll love each other enough as human beings to release each other."

Holloway quickly adds: "But that's our strength. We're still dating."

They talk of their belated honeymoon in Alaska, driving across the state in an RV for 18 days of fishing, cooking under the stars — and gaining weight. Holloway put on 14 pounds. "Sawyer had a big belly," jokes Kumala, who encouraged her husband to hire his first cardio trainer to kick-box off the pounds before Lost resumed for Season 2.

Just about the only question Holloway dodges: when he and Kumala might start a family.

As Holloway's island tour heads south toward Waikiki, he points out that the mounds of red clay remind him of his Georgia youth, where he roughhoused with brothers Brad, now 38, Sam, 34, and Ben, 28, all of whom work in the computer field. "My mom was a nurse, and my dad did two years of med school, so they were always patching us up," Holloway says. "We rarely made it to the hospital unless we were broken."

Break-in a 'wake-up call'

Holloway retains his affection for Hawaii, despite being robbed last month. During the early-morning hours of Oct. 13, a man broke into the couple's oceanfront Hawaii Kai home and held a gun to his head. The robber made off with cash, credit cards and their Mercedes-Benz, which was later recovered.

"It was an unfortunate incident, but it's something that could have happened anywhere. We still love living in Hawaii," he says. "We got a wake-up call, and now our house is fully secured."

Says Lost producer Cuse: "I think Sawyer might have been a little more hot-headed, but Josh handled the situation perfectly. He didn't confront the guy. He kept himself alive. You can always make more money."

And, Cuse is convinced, Holloway could have a lucrative career. He has "intelligence, immense charisma and a sense of danger — those three elements are what it takes to be a movie star."

But Holloway is proceeding cautiously. His first movie is a low-budget thriller, Whisper, due in 2006; he plays a reformed ex-con prone to rage. Most of the movie offers he has received have been copies of Sawyer. He passed on a role as a swashbuckler. And because of his TV shooting schedule, he took himself out of consideration for a role in a Brad Pitt Western and as Gambit, a character producers were considering adding to X-Men.

But "interest is definitely coming in those areas," Holloway says. "I'm looking for juicy roles in ensemble casts with veteran actors. I'm not looking to carry a movie just yet."

Until then there is, of course, Sawyer.

Holloway is eager for the character to recover from his gunshot wound and take on meatier scenes. He has been frustrated by being limited to brief scenes in a makeshift stretcher. "You show up motivated and alive and ready to work," he explains. "And as an actor, you want to work all the time."

Sawyer emerges more prominently in tonight's episode (9 ET/PT). Lilly says the Sawyer/Kate/Jack love triangle intensifies. "Something happens," she says, "that fans have been waiting a long time for."

Cuse confirms the love triangle is about to take center stage and says, "It's going to be fairly combustible."

Holloway is ready for Sawyer to be back, especially after some key scenes he filmed were axed. When the Whisper shoot wrapped, Lost producers had him keep the long-hair look he'd adopted for the film to do Sawyer flashbacks for an early-season episode. But producers felt the scenes, which showed a conniving Sawyer, didn't jell with the emotional raft scenes, so they went another route.

"I was disappointed," Holloway says, "but I was proud of the decision to fight for the integrity of the story."

Different Sawyer flashbacks will most likely air during February sweeps. Teases executive producer Damon Lindelof: "A con will definitely be involved, and we will get an understanding as to why he doesn't trust women."

Holloway also is concerned about a softening of his character. "He has done some things that are not so Sawyer-esque," he says. "He's trying to help people, and people are responding differently to him. It's too soon to let the (negativity and belligerence) go."

Lindelof agrees: "Sawyer is a guy who needs to be hated, internally. When he survives this knocking-at-death's-door, everyone will be looking at him as a hero. The fact that he is now looked at as a good guy completely destroys him."

Holloway is determined to reclaim Sawyer's edge. "That," he says, "is something worth fighting for."


Posted on Dec 1, 2005, 8:00 PM

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Zap2it.com mid-season interview w/ Cuse and Lindelof

by lost fan (no login)

The Journey of 'Lost'
By Kate O'Hare
Sunday, January 08, 2006


"Basically, 'Lost' is one of those things," says executive producer Carlton Cuse, "where you have to appreciate the journey and try not to worry about the endpoint. We're not in control of the endpoint."
The Wednesday-night ABC megahit about the survivors of the crash of a Sydney-to-Los Angeles airliner on a deserted island -- which turned out to be not so deserted after all -- returns on Wednesday, Jan. 11, with the first new season-two episode in a while.

According to ABC, in "The 23rd Psalm," tail-section strongman Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) quizzes recovering addict Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) about his heroin-stuffed Virgin Mary statue; upon discovering Charlie's secret, Claire (Emilie de Ravin) loses faith in him; and Jack (Matthew Fox) looks on as Kate (Evangeline Lilly) gives Sawyer (Josh Holloway) a haircut.


As hinted at by the guest-star list, the episode, written by Cuse and series co-creator Damon Lindelof, appears to include a flashback relating to Eko's Nigerian past.
But viewers probably shouldn't get their hopes up that it will provide a complete explanation for any one of the show's myriad mysteries.

As Lindelof points out, "When have we given you a definitive answer to anything?"

Serialized television is a curious thing. The writers control where a story begins, but networks usually say when it ends. That's especially true with a show that's a hit, whether it's "The X-Files" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Lost." Networks want hit shows to stay on as long as possible, even when the original story arcs should have long since come to natural conclusions.

"The reality is," Lindelof says, "that Carlton, myself, J.J. [co-creator J.J. Abrams], the creative brains behind the 'Lost' universe, we could all band together and say, 'We're ending the show after three seasons because that's the arc. They get off the island, and we reveal all the things we want to reveal.'

"And the network would say, 'No, you won't.' They will hire somebody and do 'Lost,' with or without you."

Beyond the network, real-life events can affect storytelling. On Dec. 1, two cast members who play recently introduced tail-section characters were arrested 15 minutes apart on charges of drunken driving in Hawaii, where the show is filmed.

According to published reports, the attorney for Cynthia Watros, who plays psychologist Libby, requested and was granted a continuance of the arraignment to Jan. 12, when she is expected to plead guilty.

Michelle Rodriguez, who plays tough LAPD officer Ana-Lucia, has had several brushes with the law, and is on probation for previous traffic offenses in Los Angeles. She pled not guilty to the Hawaii charges, and trial is set for March 30. Later this month, Los Angeles prosecutors are also expected to ask the court to schedule a probation-violation hearing.

Asked if producers have a contingency plan should Rodriguez fail to prevail in court, Cuse says, "We're just going to see how things play out, and we'll deal with it accordingly. She's a really good part of the show. We really value her and her character and hope things work out in her favor."

Apparently, Libby will come to the fore in future episodes.

"She's a little bit of a stealth surprise that we have cooking on the island," Lindelof says. "That is going to be very cool, when the longer game reveals itself."

No doubt Libby's revelations will answer a few questions but also add to the ever-growing list of inexplicable things on the island, which includes unseen monsters, a polar bear, underground bunkers, a slave ship and a horse.

On the other hand, if you're a dedicated fan of J.J. Abrams' other ABC show, the spy drama "Alias" -- which has a plot so convoluted that explaining it could cause a cerebral hemorrhage -- you've long since learned not to sweat the small stuff.

"We suggest you do the same on 'Lost,'" Lindelof says. "That's between the lines here. If you're watching the show because you're waiting for the big answers to come, you have to understand that by the nature of what it is -- it's not a movie, it's not a series of movies, it's not a trilogy, it's not a miniseries -- it's going to be on the air for as long as ABC wants to keep it on the air.

"How can you ever possibly think that 'Lost' will end in a satisfying way? Carlton and I can almost guarantee you that it will not."

In the meantime, the producers strive for a weekly thrill ride that won't disappoint. So far, they've succeeded, since "Lost" is the first "genre" series (a catch-all showbiz term for science fiction, fantasy and horror) to capture a mass audience since "The X-Files."

"Lost" also has perhaps the most diverse cast on television in terms of race, ethnicity and cultural background.

But, says Lindelof, there's more to it than that.

"It's essentially a cult show in its design and its genre, but what makes it accessible to a wider audience is that there is a character on the show who is like you, even if that character is Jin.

"It doesn't mean that you're Korean, but you're in a marriage where your wife doesn't understand you. You are working your ass off for her father, and she doesn't appreciate your contribution.

"Or you were in the army, and you identify with Sayid, he has a very soldier-like mentality. Or you are a father who doesn't have the kind of relationship with your kid that you would want to have, then you're Michael.

"You are searching for some sense of spirituality in your life, and you're Locke, or you're pregnant and scared to be pregnant ... there is a very wide range of entryways into the show in terms of characters you can identify with."

"That's why we found a mass audience," Cuse says, "because if it was just a genre show, if there wasn't the genius of Damon and J.J.'s flashback invention, it would be a much more limited-audience show. That is the secret of 'Lost.'"

Says Lindelof, "Don't tell."


Posted on Jan 10, 2006, 9:09 PM

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USA Today interview with Dom Monaghan

by domfan (no login)

From http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-01-24-monaghan_x.htm

Dominic Monaghan finds his realities
By William Keck, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — Dominic Monaghan plays heroin-addicted rock star Charlie on ABC's hit series Lost. And, cozied up on the back patio of a Melrose coffee house, the actor reveals his own rock-star side.



Dominic Monaghan is happy and in love with his Lost co-star Evangeline Lilly.


While on leave from the Oahu set, Monaghan, 29, is here to talk about tonight's hallucination-filled episode (9 ET/PT), which flashes back to Charlie's past and hurls him into an uncertain future. But he also talks about love (with co-star Evangeline Lilly), drugs (Charlie's habits and his own) and rock 'n' roll (well, mostly John Lennon).

His interest in the late Beatle goes deeper than the typical fan's. Many nights, he dreams of Lennon as his "God figure," and most days he surfs in the ocean, which he considers his personal Strawberry Fields, "a place of tranquility where I go to forget everything." His fascination with Lennon started on his fourth birthday, the day Lennon was murdered. Tattooed on his arm is the Lennon lyric: "Living is easy with eyes closed."

Monaghan believes he has found his Yoko Ono in Lilly, 26 (Kate on the show). "My ultimate search has been for a muse," he says of his girlfriend of more than a year. Someone "you can bounce ideas off and share artistic dreams with. It feels like I'm on the right track."

It's Lennon's example that inspires him to talk about drugs. While most celebrities cover up or downplay any risky behavior, Monaghan speaks freely about his past experimentation with marijuana and hallucinogens. He does so, he says, because that is what Lennon did.

"I came to understand that The Beatles grew a lot and understood a lot about themselves through taking certain drugs," says Monaghan as he waves away a spider weaving its way down into his teacup. "There's something very rewarding and sobering about getting involved with certain hallucinogens that strip away any sense of ego."

That contradicts his character's drug use, he says. Monaghan has long viewed Charlie's drug of choice, heroin, as "the ultimate No. 1 nightmare" and has steered clear. "You don't hear many happy heroin stories. And I'm not into the idea of sharing needles."

'It's always been an education'

Monaghan, the German-born son of a science-teacher father and nurse mother, first tried drugs at age 15 or 16, "when I was growing and finding a sense of who I was." But he stresses that he has never been an addict like Charlie. And, "I don't condone the use of drugs."

"Abusing drugs," he says, "is a mistake. But I've never felt that I've abused drugs. I've always used them. For me, it's always been an education, and I've always had a pen and paper with me whenever I've been involved in any kind of drugs. A door in your mind opens, and you may as well write down what you're experiencing in that state. I think I have the ability to use it as a tool. Some people don't."

Monaghan's research for the role of Charlie led him to conversations with actors who have fallen victim to heroin and other drugs. And he has known people who have overdosed or gone into rehab. "You see human beings at their lowest ebb when they would slit your throat for another bag of cocaine or a rock of crack."

The Lost writers concocted quite the dilemma for Monaghan's Charlie: a Catholic character faced with having to break statues of the Virgin Mary to get to a drug that could end his life. "That all has to do with the big thematic master plan of the show," hints executive producer Bryan Burk.

But the producer believes parents — not the TV show — have the responsibility to teach kids about the dangers of drugs. "We just present the best and most realistic entertainment that we can," Burk says. "We're not consciously trying to do pro- or anti-drug programming." But he also emphasizes that "there is no happy ending to a heroin addiction ... ever."

Tonight, Charlie's vision-inspired actions will lead his fellow plane-crash survivors, particularly Claire (Emilie de Ravin), to look at him in a different light. "He's definitely becoming an outcast," de Ravin says. "So Locke (Terry O'Quinn) is stepping in to take care of Claire."

And that does not sit well with Charlie, whose odd behavior, according to Burk, will "dramatically alter the way all the islanders relate to him for the rest of the season."

Monaghan says that, unlike Charlie, he is in a good place.

His Lost success comes after his blockbuster turn in the Lord of the Rings films, where he gained a sizable, and loyal, fan base.

He has been alcohol-free for more than a year. (Swearing off booze was his 2005 New Year's resolution.) The change, he says, has left him feeling "more present, clear and aware."

And he met Lilly.

For the most part, the couple refuse to modify their lives to avoid celebrity photographers, who often track them. They might drive around and around in a loop near his Hawaii home to bore shooters into leaving them alone.

But one incident did have him fuming. The couple were vacationing in Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, and, "This guy — this thing - had been following us for at least two hours into a very private place. We were having a nice weekend, and then shots appeared of us in the house we were staying at, through the window. Us making breakfast and stuff. Shots of us sunning on rocks. Going into town for Mexican food."

A lover of animals, too

Though often inseparable (they hang out in each other's trailers between scenes), Monaghan and Lilly have separate homes in Hawaii. She lives with two girlfriends, while he bunks with pet chameleons Karma and Traffic Light.

He also has played parent to cockroaches, lizards, scorpions, a leaf mantis, a black widow spider and an albino snake. "He's always collecting bugs for them on the set," says de Ravin, with a laugh. "He'll drop them in old nut containers. His pets are lucky to have him."

As Monaghan tosses granola pieces to an appreciative squirrel, he flashes forward to the day when he is able to transfer his caregiving skills to human babies, perhaps as soon as Lost concludes its run.

Him? A stay-at-home dad?

Asked when the timing will be right, he once again references Lennon, who was "financially, spiritually and emotionally" prepared to be a stay-at-home dad with son Sean.

"We'll see where I'm at at the end of Lost," says Monaghan, an admirer of the familial path taken by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. "Maybe one or two children of my own, and then what I really hope to do is adopt — perhaps a bunch of them."

Monaghan says he is now experiencing the highest highs of life, playing a role he treasures and falling deeper in love with Lilly, without any need for artificial enhancement.

"The temporary highs that I've felt on drugs pale in significance to the highs of a sober mind, catching a good wave in the water or being in love, or hugging my mama or feeding my chameleons."

Posted on Feb 22, 2006, 6:07 PM

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Sawyer's Nicknames (USA Today)

by sawyerfan (no login)

From http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-02-21-lost-nicknames_x.htm

The name's the game
By William Keck, USA TODAY

Love him or loathe him, Lost's Sawyer (Josh Holloway) always adds a chuckle with his insulting nicknames for his fellow castaways. And tonight's repeat of the two-hour 2004 pilot (9 ET/PT) shows the genesis of Sawyer's name game. USA TODAY invites you to match the Lost character to one of the memorable pet names bestowed by Sawyer — or, as the now-dead Boone once called him, the "ignorant hick."


When not hoarding supplies or ammo, Josh Hollloway's Sawyer has amused himself by assigning nicknames to the other castaways.


How does Sawyer choose nicknames?

"That depends on whether or not he likes you," Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof says. "He is inclined to nickname you based on the way that you look. He is sort of the ugly part of us that says the things we may be thinking but are afraid to say. The only endearing name he has for anyone is Kate."

In an upcoming episode, Sawyer will give new castaway Libby her first nickname: Moonbeam.





Posted on Feb 22, 2006, 6:10 PM

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Renee + Katherine Fugate at the 2006 Convention

by reneefan (no login)

This was circulated at any number of sites and mailing lists, and was written by "KTL" and is excerpted here, totally without any permission.



There really wasn't much news about the movie. Katherine Fugate was the second person to talk about it. (Sears being the first-talking about how one minute you might think something is happening and the next minute you get the phone call saying it isn't.)

Katherine reiterated what she and Rob said last year. That it's not the rights that are causing the problem, it's the budget. They have worked out enough of an agreement on the rights to go ahead. The hold up has been that Rob wants to do a big movie and the movie that Katherine wrote cannot be done for the amount that the studio is willing to spend to produce it. Katherine said that she has gone through the script and simplified it where she could but there are some things they won't sacrifice. And the studio just isn't willing to give
them the budget they need to make the movie Rob wants to make. Katherine said they were close to making it last year but they just couldn't close the gap. Fans immediately began to yell out that they would give money to underwrite the movie but Katherine said that there is no way a studio would make a movie that way.

.....

And on to Renee....


She had asked her boyfriend to take a picture of her pregnant so she could paint herself. She hasn't finished it, there's some blank areas that she said she would fill in with I think a flower in one spot and something else in another panel. She said she brought it over to her boyfriend's house the first time she met his parents, to show it to them. I wonder if they thought it was a hostess gift?

...

Someone asked her about "Diamonds and Guns", when it would be ready. She said that there had been a split among the little group of people who made it. That she and the "girl producer" were on one side and the director, the writer and the other producer were on the other. One of the writers pulled out. The other producer also left. So now it's kind of up to her.

"This project was not my baby to begin with. But I was left with it." She talked about how she had pulled people in from Xena. Ted Raimi had been pulled in to direct. A cinematographer, an editor, a composer from Xena, all
good friends of hers were helping with the movie. "And you guys give so much support."

"My relationship with them is more important than me getting tired and just walking away. This has been such a lesson in staying power. Perseverance. Keeping your word. Learning to ask for help."

...

She talked about another project also. "The themes are the same as Xena. It's about friendship. Friends all over the world. Being brave."

.....


She was asked if she'd work with Rob on a project again. "I would definitely do it. Rob is one of those people who if he asked me to do something, I'd do it. He's been so (good to me? supportive?) I'm so loyal to him." Then she said something about the nuances in her life, relating this to Rob also, I believe.

"What's your favorite episode?"

"I loved the last one. I know you guys. . ." (She didn't finish that sentence I don't think.) "The last one (did or didn't, I'm not sure) came out of left field. Rob was so brave. He always did what he thought was right for the character." (I THINK she also said that the series came full circle.) "Those two episodes I hold very sacredly."




Posted on Feb 5, 2006, 8:20 PM

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Bruce Campbell's media blitz/Summer o' Bruce Tour news

by brucefan (no login)

There are two new video interviews with Bruce at http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/videos/index.html - scroll down, and they are video choices 7 and 9 on your right. They take a lot of time to download, but are worth it - they are from just a few days ago, at the Fangoria convention in California, and are done for this "G4 Video Game TV" site. If you can't get to the page above, start out at their main page at http://www.g4tv.com/main.html and look for the feature called "Attack of the Show," and then look for "videos," and that should get you to the link above.

There's also a regular (i.e. print) interview with him in another section: http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/features/51940/Ten_Minutes_with_Bruce_Campbell.html

But you can read it here:

Ten Minutes with Bruce Campbell
written by Coury Turczyn on Thursday, June 09, 2005

The Greatest B-Movie Actor of Our Times Talks About His New Novel, the Industry, and Those Evil Dead Sequel Rumors


To any film geek, Bruce Campbell is the ultimate B-movie actor. Starring in the Evil Dead trilogy, directed by his lifelong friend Sam Raimi, he established an iconic figure in the annals of low-budget horror flicks: Ash. Single-mindedly wisecracking his way through hell and history, this blood-spattered, chainsaw-equipped character bore not a little resemblance to¡­ Bruce Campbell. Although most beloved for his Evil Dead films, Campbell has also played a multitude of characters in everything from The Hudsucker Proxy to Raimi¡¯s Spider-Man epics, as well as the title characters of his own TV series, Jack of All Trades and The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. While still acting and directing in movies like Man with Screaming Brain and Alien Apocalypse, Campbell has also established himself as an author with his autobiography, If Chins Could Kill, and his new novel, Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way. In this interview, he talks about the changing world of B-movies, working with Sam Raimi, and the likelihood of making Evil Dead 4.


Q: Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way: What¡¯s this book all about?

A: About 320 pages. It¡¯s a novel¡ªand I¡¯m the lead character. I take myself on an adventure outside of the B-movie world, and I venture into the A-movie world. I get an opportunity to co-star in a Mike Nichols film, and it¡¯s my first chance to flourish in that world. I decide that I must finally prepare as an actor; I can¡¯t just do it casually, I have to really get into it. Now, it¡¯s Mike Nichols¡ªone of the best directors working. And it all goes to hell in a handcart, basically. Because of me, this movie ultimately crashes and burns, and doesn¡¯t even get released. So it¡¯s a crazy romp in a fictitious world.


Q: What inspired it?

A: Originally, the publisher and I kicked around ideas for a gag relationship book, but we couldn¡¯t find a fresh angle on the whole thing. And we thought, ¡°Well, you¡¯d have a lot more fun if it wasn¡¯t non-fiction.¡± It basically morphed into a novel so that we could go crazy with the story and portray whatever scenario we wanted. So it¡¯s not a relationship book, that¡¯s for sure.


Q: Even though the title seems to indicate that it's about making love the Bruce Campbell way¡­

A: People will just have to figure it out, that¡¯s what I say. We¡¯ve given them an obtuse title they can interpret however they wish.


Q: Did you base any of it on your real life?

A: Most of what happens in the book is potentially true. And probably 80 percent of the characters in the book exist, but not necessarily under those names, so I¡¯ve changed the names to protect the guilty.


Q: What's it like being a B-movie actor in the movie industry today?

A: No different than it was 25 years ago! You get up, you go to work, you do your thing, and then you move on to the next. What¡¯s been good about the B-movies is that they¡¯re being financed more and more by DVD companies directly because of the way the industry¡¯s changed. So I¡¯ve got a couple of deals coming up with different companies that I never would have had been able to hook up with before. So, the change in the market is sometimes bad, and sometimes the change in the market is good.


Q: How have B-movies changed since you first started in the business?

A: B-movies have become A-movies, and A-movies have gone to television. A-movies have gone to HBO and B-movies are being made into A-movies, like The Mummy. That¡¯s considered an A-movie. Bulls**t! That¡¯s a B-movie! Mission Impossible? That¡¯s a B-movie; it¡¯s based on a TV show. What people call A-movies and what I call A-movies now are different. An A-movie doesn¡¯t have a stupid premise. To me, an A-movie is not written for 17-year-olds¡ªit¡¯s an adult drama. That¡¯s the main, fundamental difference. The Mummy is written for 17-year-olds. So the second you get into that, it¡¯s a whole different ball game.


Q: So what kinds of movie projects are you involved in right now?

A: I directed Man with the Screaming Brain. The Sci-Fi Channel is a partner in it, so it¡¯s going to air this fall. I¡¯m going to tour with it to 30 or 40 cities this summer, between now and mid-September. It¡¯ll all be on my website¡ªas long as people put a hyphen in between my name they¡¯ll find it. If you don¡¯t put the hyphen, you get Bruce Campbell Dodge, a dealership in Warren, Michigan. And I¡¯m going to make a movie for Dark Horse Comics this fall. Strangely enough, I play myself again¡ªin a movie. It¡¯ll come out some time in ¡¯06.


Q: How difficult is it to play Bruce Campbell, the character?

A: It¡¯s good because I can make myself an idiot or a genius¡ªit¡¯s up to me. People were wondering if some of the real characters in the book¡ªlike Mike Nichols or Richard Gere or Renee Zellweger¡ªhad any issue with it. And I said I hadn¡¯t heard anything yet, but I doubt that I will because my character is the dumbest character in the book. So everyone in the book is portrayed as being rational, reasonable characters¡ªexcept me. So I can have fun with my own world, I get to do that.


Q: How does it feel have become ¡°Bruce Campbell,¡± a cult character revered by fans?

A: I appreciate the support because it helps me do what I do. Because people support stuff, I can continue to make movies that I think a certain group of people will like. Fans are their own reward or punishment. If people are fans of something, it¡¯s generally going to perpetuate it. If you support horror, you¡¯re going to get more horror. So the fan support is terrific. On a day to day basis, it doesn¡¯t change my life much because I live in the woods of Oregon, and my neighbors could care less. They¡¯re unimpressed. And that¡¯s healthy.


Q: Do you ever feel constricted by how fans want to see you in movies?

A: Every actor is constricted like that. There¡¯s the perception, and then there¡¯s the reality. The perception is that I do mostly genre stuff, but I¡¯ve got a movie for Disney coming out this summer called Sky High. That¡¯s going to be PG at the most¡ªno one dies, there¡¯s probably no blood. So to me, I know that I¡¯ve been in stuff that¡¯s outside the genre. But it all depends on what fans watch. If fans watch Disney movies, they¡¯ll see three or four things I¡¯ve done for Disney. If fans only watch horror, yeah, that¡¯s all they¡¯re gonna know me for. So I don¡¯t fight it. It is what it is.

Q: Every fan¡¯s wish is to see new Evil Dead movies. What can you tell us about those projects?

A: I¡¯ll start with a theory: My theory is that the more of these movies that you make, the less impact they have. We¡¯ve done three of them. To me, that¡¯s 12 years¡¯ worth of work. I don¡¯t need anymore. But I understand the demand because people enjoy it and they think the movies are fun. But the trick is to keep it fresh. I tell people, ¡°Tell me the plot of Nightmare on Elm Street 8, I dare ya. Or Jason 7.¡± They all blend together; it all just becomes mush. And the rules change, and you run out of ideas, and you have to dick around like, ¡°What is it going to be? Ash Goes to New York City?¡± I don¡¯t know. It may very well happen one day, but Sam¡¯s busying doing a little thing called Spider-Man right now, so I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s going to reverse his engines anytime soon.


Q: What about the rumored sequel with Ash battling Jason and Freddie?

A: That was a legitimate rumor, in that there was a brief discussion with New Line Cinema about it. But look at the realities of it. First you start with the creative realities of it, and that would be Freddie, Jason, and Ash all have different realities¡ªthey have different worlds the characters operate in. They have different rules: How strong are they? What are they capable of? How do you kill them? And obviously, with Freddie and Jason, you can¡¯t kill them. There¡¯d be no reason for me to be in those movies unless I killed them and walked away alive, the victor. I¡¯d have to get that in writing. I mean, there¡¯s no question about it¡ªotherwise, why would I do it? I¡¯d rather sit home and pull lint out of my navel. So creatively, we found it to be fairly constricting; and in discussing it with New Line, the only control we would have had is over the Ash character. So, sure, he could have snappy one-liners, but what if all the other storylines and dialogue sucked and we had no control over it? So, creatively, it was pretty bankrupt, I thought. And economically, you¡¯re splitting the pie with two other franchises. That¡¯s not what it¡¯s all about. And I think the fans would have been ultimately disappointed.


Q: What about the potential remake of Evil Dead with another director?

A: That¡¯s pretty legit as well, but we have to focus our attention on it. We¡¯re all busy doing other things right now. I think it¡¯s going to happen, and I think we have a right to rip ourselves off. We¡¯re not taking somebody else¡¯s idea¡ªthis is something that we started, that we nurtured and created. The point is we still fully intend to scare the s**t out of people. It may be called Evil Dead, but I doubt that we¡¯ll have the character Ash, I doubt if we¡¯ll go back to that same cabin. It¡¯s a remake of an Evil Dead thing, but there are lots of evil things and lots of dead things. There are lots of stories you can tell within that framework. I would personally, as a general rule of thumb, go low-tech¡ªI¡¯d get real simple and real primitive, just scare the living crap out of people, make it the scariest movie they¡¯ve ever seen.


Q: Do you think Sam Raimi will ever go back to making movies like that?

A: He might, but Sam¡¯s always had a pedigree for high-budget filmmaking. I mean, he always makes movies beyond his means¡ªso Evil Dead is a low-budget film in many ways, but in many ways it¡¯s kind of a high-budget movie. We shot for 12 weeks; low-budget movies don¡¯t shoot for 12 weeks. Doesn¡¯t happen. They shoot for three or four or five weeks tops. I¡¯ve got a buddy who made a movie in 12 days for a legitimate company that¡¯s going to sell the movie. I¡¯m like, forget it. So who knows? But right now he¡¯s in a gravy train that¡¯s going in a different direction.


Q: What can you tells us about your upcoming cameo in Spider-Man 3?

A: Sam doesn¡¯t tell me s**t until three weeks before the shoot. He¡¯ll just tell me, ¡°Don¡¯t do anything in January.¡± He and the agents will work out some dates, but you don¡¯t get the script. They¡¯re not passing out dick to anybody. I don¡¯t know how they get these movies made¡ªno one gets a script. And then when I get my two pages for whatever scene I¡¯m in, it has "CAMPBELL" in giant letters. If that sucker ever got out, they¡¯d know who to hang¡ªthey¡¯d come right for ya. They¡¯re Nazis over there! So I have no idea. Sam just said, ¡°I¡¯m putting you in the next one.¡± I went, ¡°S**t yeah, you are.¡± He seemed to agree. So I don¡¯t know¡ªwe¡¯ll do something stupid.


Q: What¡¯s it like to work on film projects with someone who¡¯s a lifelong friend?

A: It¡¯s an unfortunate thing to know a guy so well, because Sam knows back to when we were doing dumb talent shows as the Bonzoid Sisters, dressed in long underwear doing bad acrobatics¡ªjust stunts and flips. So he knew everything that I could do or not do, and he would exploit it. And I think that¡¯s smart as a director.


Q: Have you found that your movie parts are changing over the years?

A: Now it¡¯s great¡ªgetting older, I can play fathers. In The Woods, this Lucky McKee movie, I get to play the girl¡¯s dad. So she gets covered in all the blood, she gets tortured, and I get to show up and say, ¡°Hi, honey! How¡¯s everything going?¡± It¡¯s great! It¡¯s coming out for MGM this fall.


Q: Which movie do you think you¡¯ve had the most fun working on?

A: That¡¯s dangerous, and that¡¯s why I don¡¯t look for a fun experience making a movie¡ªI think movies should be hard. It means you¡¯re doing something right. The movies I¡¯ve had the most fun on sucked. They¡¯re something about them that wasn¡¯t engaging, and I think it meant that not everyone was putting in time or effort or whatever. I¡¯ve had some projects that were dream projects, shooting in Utah, beautiful time of year, I only worked two or three days a week, I get to hike and mountain bike¡ªbut the movie sucked when it was done.


So I don¡¯t use that criterion anymore. I use the criterion of ¡°most satisfying.¡± The Evil Dead movies were satisfying because they got me into the movie business, and Bubba Ho-tep was satisfying because it was a completely independent film. The term ¡°independent¡± is so over-used it¡¯s unbelievable. If you¡¯re a Fortune 500 company, guess what? You¡¯re not independent¡ªI don¡¯t care what you say. If you raise money through doctors, lawyers, or an LLC¡ªokay, you¡¯re independent. On Bubba Ho-tep, the money was put up by the filmmaker. That¡¯s independent. And it wound up being distributed by a major studio on DVD, MGM. Bingo. That¡¯s a success story, to me, because we proved to them that we didn¡¯t need them. That¡¯s how it works.



Posted on Jun 15, 2005, 8:58 AM

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KOMO 1000 (Seattle) radio interview w/ Bruce

by bruce-fan (no login)

A radio interview with Bruce Campbell on KOMO 1000 in Seattle can be found at:
http://www.komotv.com/stories/37667.htm - the direct audio link is at:



He's promoting his new book "Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way," as well as what he refers to as "a tender love story called 'Man with the Screaming Brain.' " He also has some very telling comments on the state of Hollywood today, like how nothing is original anymore - he mentions, for example, that "Herbie the Love Bug has been remade so many different times that I've even been in one of them!"



Posted on Jun 28, 2005, 4:52 PM

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Evil Dead: Regeneration video game

by ashfan (no login)


evildeadregeneration.com/



Quote:
------------------------------------------------
Unlike "Hail to the king" and "Fistful of Boomstick" the game carries on after Evil Dead II, completly ignoring Army of Darkness. It takes place in an asylum after Ash is found and charged with the murders of his friends. At the asylum, an evil Doctor will use the necronomicon to summon up the undead. And again it will be up to Ash to save the day, but he will now be joined by a good deadite named Sam. (How Cute) This character will be voiced by Ted Raimi and will be Ash's sidekick. He can be used to solve puzzles and attack enemies. Ash can lift enemies into the air with his chainsaw, and then blast them off with his guns as before. He will also have a harthingy gun to draw enemies closer.

Of course Bruce Campbell will be voicing Ash, Sam Raimi is the character writer and supervising producer along with Rob Tapert.

Screenshots can be found at:

http://gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=6594

Posted on Jun 29, 2005, 6:40 PM

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ugo.com interview with Bruce

by bruce fan (no login)

From http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmtv/features/brucecampbellforever/default.asp


Picking Bruce Campbell's Screaming Brain

Review by Troy Rogers, contributing editor



Are you a fan of a gore and comedy? Do you enjoy B-movie horror? Well, they don't come any bigger than Bruce Campbell. Whether you enjoyed him as that crazy undead-killer Ash in the Evil Dead films or wealthy industrialist William Cole in his directorial debut, The Man With the Screaming Brain, one thing's for certain: Campbell's definitely at the top of his game on the A-list of low-budget cinema. Fortunately for us low-budget horror freaks at UGO who are eagerly awaiting the DVD release of The Man With The Screaming Brain, we recently caught up with Bruce Campbell on the tail end of his publicity tour for his latest book, Making Love the Bruce Campbell Way.

UGO: So, how do you make love the Bruce Campbell way?

BRUCE CAMPBELL: Fictitiously. Fortunately, there isn't a shred of love advice in the entire book.

UGO: The industry stuff that you're writing about is hilarious. Where did the inspiration for the book come from?

BRUCE: A desire to make fun of Hollywood because I think it needs it. Even movies where you're dressing up as a bat and flying around Gotham City; it's basically a silly idea. That, and it was time to write a novel; I wrote an autobiography but it was time to get into new stuff.

UGO: Along the way, how did you deal with all the B.S. you knew people in the business were feeding you?

BRUCE: Well, you always get that, and not just in the film business. There are people who are just full of B.S. It's just a life thing. You learn to filter it out the best that you can and Hollywood has more than the average place. People want to come here for artificial reasons, to be rich and famous and there's an element of B.S. that goes with that. The only creepier place is Washington, D.C., because people go to L.A. to be rich and famous. People go to Washington, D.C. to be rich, famous and powerful. So, the real A-types are in D.C.

UGO:Has anyone bitched you out because of the book?

BRUCE: No, I'm by far the biggest jerk in the book as written. With Richard Gere, or somebody else, I'm really just writing about him as he's sort of perceived in the public eye. He's known as a peace-loving Buddhist who's in these higher end sort of romance drama movies. I don't think there's anything he would bitch me out about, other than the fact that we get into a fist fight in his penthouse.

UGO: What's different about compromising in the book world and compromising in the film world?

BRUCE: There's more compromising in film because there's more money at stake. A lot of these creative battles boil down to money. I'll give you an example... If Terry Gilliam's movies were worth $1 million, he would never have anybody telling him anything. You don't have that many shifts at the low budget range. The more you spend - if you're making a $70 million dollar movie, and Miramax has never made a movie that expensive before, then, yeah, you bet he's going to hear a lot of opinions. So, if you make a book, it's not that expensive. Writers are known for being solitary creatures who work closely with an editor and then develop a relationship with the publisher. On the book, I had to deal with two people and on the movie I had to deal with about four or five. If I had something that was more expensive than that there would have been six or seven. It's all relative. If you're spending somebody else’s money, the bottom line is that they're going to ask questions.

UGO: What actually turned you on to acting?

BRUCE:The fact that I didn't have to work in a cubicle or wear a tie. It seamed like more of a freeing job. I enjoyed doing it as a kid and I didn't want to stop doing it.

UGO: The Man With The Screaming Brain involves a lot of physical comedy. Is that getting harder as you get older?

BRUCE: Of course. There's stuff that I won't do now that I would do in 1986. Thankfully, I'm not a guy like Buster Keaton who broke bones and screwed up his neck. I've done rough stuff but if comes down to throwing myself down a set of stairs, usually it's time for a stuntman.

UGO:Are you using them more now?

BRUCE: No, it depends on the scene. In Bulgaria, we couldn't really afford to have a stunt double, so I went, 'Alright, fine, I guess I don't get a stunt double on this movie.' In Screaming Brain I think there's maybe two gags where you see a stuntman, the rest is basically me.

UGO: It took nineteen years to get this project together. Are you happy with how it turned out?

BRUCE: I'm happy with... well, I would start the phrase with this: I don't think any filmmaker would ever be completely happy with how something turned out. I think that because filmmaking is a very fluid situation, actors create certain dynamics, even writers, directors and producers, on where you shoot the film. So, your film is always changing. I made decisions that helped the production, but weren't necessarily good for the movie. Production friendly decisions - like changing it so that it all takes place during the day. That's a big change from the fact that, originally, ninety percent of it was at night. The fun thing was the comic book of Screaming Brain. We were jokingly calling it the director's cut. In the comic book you can have it take place at night, at the end of a bridge, over a precipice with thousands of extras in a windstorm, rain or sleet. It doesn't cost them any more to do.

UGO: Comics definitely allow for more creative freedom and instant change.

BRUCE: Absolutely, it was fun. The comic is more of what the original story was meant to be, but I'm satisfied with what I had to work with.

UGO: I heard the pink Vespa that you guys destroyed in the movie was your interpreter's. Is that true?

BRUCE: Yeah, it belonged to my interpreter and I didn't know that they were going to destroy that particular one.

UGO: So, how did they feel about that?

BRUCE: I call that the Bulgarian surprise. That's what it's like working in Bulgaria. Her father gave it to her for her birthday. That just shows you that Bulgaria is not necessarily a good place to make a movie, because they have limited resources.

UGO: Is there anything more you want to do with the project beyond the comics?

BRUCE: No, we're pretty much good to go. It comes out on DVD October 4th and then we'll see what the DVD gods have to say about it.

UGO: Given how popular Evil Dead has become, what's the biggest difference in horror that you see today as opposed to the early '80s?

BRUCE: Horror is for pussies now. Horror is PG-13 now and I would venture to say that there is no such thing as a PG-13 horror film that's any good.

UGO: So you're not into any of the Asian remakes?

BRUCE: Absolutely not, I think they're a travesty. Here's one of those movies - weird shot, followed by a strange sequence, followed by a bizarre mood, followed by an odd shot and then the end credits roll. There is never a point where the lead character picks up a chainsaw and says, 'Okay, @%*#, let's go.' They're just images, haiku horror films. It's a bad phase. Hopefully, they'll just get back to scary-assed movies.

UGO: Looking back at Ash, how do you view his evolution as a character through all three films?

BRUCE: Well, it was never meant to be more than the one movie, so everything else is sort of an oddity and an aberration that was never meant to be. Having said that, it's fine. He's a useless college kid in the first one, he becomes the leary vet in the second one, and becomes the ugly American in the third one. It's a fun progression over time, but it's only because you could actually see us progress as filmmakers at the same time. Between the three movies, it's three pretty big steps in ability in all directions. Some people still like the first one, the people who like gore. People who like a little humor and a little horror, like the second one. People who are not comfortable with the really gory stuff like Army of Darkness. That's like a twelve-year-old's wet dream, Army of Darkness.

UGO: Are you and Sam [Raimi] planning to pass the torch with a remake and a new cast?

BRUCE:There's really no plans at all. No plans to do any of that stuff right now. No scripts, no start dates, there's really nothing to talk about.

UGO: Can you clear up the Evil Dead 4 thing, or the talk of a remake of the first one?

BRUCE: There's all kinds of information out there, but there are no plans right now. No financing, nothing.

UGO: Well, the popularity of VHS and cable has had a huge impact on your career. What is DVD doing for you right now?

BRUCE: DVD is good. The next couple of movies I make are going to be financed by DVD companies. So, they're doing well enough that they're making movies now and I say, "Bring it on!"

UGO: How would you describe Bruce Campbell the author?

BRUCE: A little irreverent and not worried about being silly. We all get better. The more we write, the better we get. I can see the possibilities.

UGO: Did anyone help you write Make Love or is credit all yours?

BRUCE: No, it's mine, I wrote it. You've got editors who put in their two cents worth and there are plenty of people who help correct your grammar and English. There are things that are going to be changed and enhanced by them, but I'm the guy typing on the keyboard.

UGO: Speaking of writing credit, on The Nuthouse specifically, what does R.O.C. stand for in R.O.C. Sandstorm?

BRUCE: Well, that's actually not me. R.O.C. has always been falsely attributed to me. I use Peter Perkinson. I don’t know who R.O.C. is.

UGO: Is it true that you don't like auditions?

BRUCE: I hate them. I don't really do them now.

UGO: In your audition for Briscoe County Jr., you did a back flip to get the part. How did that go down?

BRUCE: That wasn't too long after Evil Dead 2 where we did that sort of stuff. So, they wanted me to audition for a section where there was some action, like a fight, and it's really hard in someone's office. Like, how do you do a bar fight in a very small casting director's office? You don't do it, so I just flipped myself on the spot. The guy went, "Oh, my God," and stood up out of the chair. The part had to be physical as well so, unfortunately, at every audition the guy kept asking me, "You're going to flip, right?" I had to keep auditioning to get higher up the food chain and I finally got the part.

UGO: What do you miss most about that project?

BRUCE: That it wasn't given a longer run.

UGO: You've also directed episodes of Hercules and Xena. How is that different from directing The Man With The Screaming Brain?

BRUCE: Well, it's sort of like doing those two TV shows back to back, but they're very short. Television is a quick shoot. Screaming Brain was a twenty-day shoot, so you're moving pretty quick. I'm glad I had the experience doing television because it meant that the information would translate to doing Screaming Brain. I could use my experience directly to help me get it made on time with some form of style.

UGO: You've also done a lot of voice work on video games. What do you like most about that medium?

BRUCE: I have to drive about a half an hour from my house in rural Oregon to do it. It can be very creative and it's different than movies. The only difference is that you have to record tons of stuff that a player may never hear, because you have to allow for what a player might do. Like, what if he gets into this area here? What if he climbs up on here? What if he just stands in the corner and goes click, click, click? You have to eventually say, "There's nothing there, step away," or whatever. It takes a lot of time to record those suckers.

UGO: With Evil Dead 2 and The Man With the Screaming Brain on DVD, and the book tour all going on at the same time, are you getting tired of the press schedule?

BRUCE: Yeah. It's only because you get the same questions over and over again, but it's sort of a necessary evil. It's the third phase of thinking. The first phase is dreaming up an idea, the next phase is getting it financed and actually shooting it, and the next phase is selling it. Every phase, you're glad when it starts and you're glad when it's over. To me, when I write something I'm glad when I'm done and I'm excited to start shooting a movie, but by the time it's done you go, "Okay, great, I'm glad that's done." If you're touring thirty cities, yeah, I'm glad that this is done.

UGO:So, how is life in Oregon?

BRUCE: Fan-friggin-tastic. Whether you're an actor or whatever, they don't even know who you are.

UGO: I've read that if you weren't acting, you'd like to work as a park ranger. Will we ever see a horror movie with you as a park ranger?

BRUCE: It's very possible, I'm trying to make movies back in America, I'm kind of sick of going to the Eastern Bloc to shoot movies. I'm hoping the next two or three movies I do will all be in Oregon.

UGO: So, where do you plan on shooting your Dark Horse comic project?

BRUCE: In Medford, Oregon, close to home.



Posted on Nov 3, 2005, 8:12 PM

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ugo.com review of Alien Apocalypse dvd

by Anonymous (no login)

from: http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmtv/features/brucecampbellforever/alienapocalypse.asp


Alien Apocalypse

by Reg Seeton, contributing editor


Alien Apocalypse, starring legendary over-the-top B-horror funnyman Bruce Campbell and directed by Josh Campbell, is a movie that's best viewed with your loud, obnoxious movie-going buddies (or by yourself on a Saturday night in a dark room where no one knows you're watching it). Over the years, Bruce Campbell has given us a tremendous number of good times, with such favorites as Evil Dead, Maniac Cop, Army of Darkness, Bubba Ho-tep and many more. As the years have been good to one of the hardest-working guys in Movieland, Campbell seems to have found a level of comfort with the job of being an actor. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when it comes to Alien Apocalypse, one needs to ask the question, "Was this just another job?" Whatever the answer is, for campy sci-fi buffs the B-film world is most likely better off with Alien Apocalypse than without it - we wouldn't have such great tag lines to chew on as, "Yesterday, they were only astronauts. Today, they're humanity's only hope."

If you loved the concept behind Planet of the Apes (and obviously Becker did in this case, as he states in the features), you'll find the Alien Apocalypse storyline similar, but much more easily accessible on a B, or even C level of filmmaking. When a spaceship crashes to Earth after a four-decade absence, the crew, including Dr. Ivan Hood (Campbell), crawls out of the wreckage only to discover their once-beloved homeland is now inhabited by a race of hostile insect-like alien creatures. In a land filled with fear, bloody decapitations and violence, the Aliens dispatch human bounty hunters to corral the remainder of the human populous. The rest is pretty simple; Campbell and crew fight to save the day in a classic battle of man versus alien in a cheesy, over-the-top sci-fi gorefest. What do you say about a B-film that doesn't take itself seriously, in a genre that doesn't take itself seriously at all? Alien Apocalypse is completely at the mercy of individual subjectivity. You either love it, or hate it.

So, how about the DVD?

The video in 1.77:1 widescreen isn't the best transfer out there by any stretch. Anchor Bay has improved greatly in the past few years as far as giving below the belt films a decent visual atmosphere. In this case, though, the murky artifact issues, combined with a duller than average presentation, makes for a bumpy visual ride. The good thing about this shadowy transfer is the fact that if you don't mind lower than low-budget filmmaking, you're not looking for a flawless video transfer anyway. The audio in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and accompanying 2.0 gives you two decent options, the first making up for the lack of quality with the film itself, the second maintains the shallow atmosphere of the low-budget camp. Either way, good or bad, you can't go wrong.

The special features are fairly light, but do offer a "close to healthy" dose of entertainment value, most notably on the commentary track featuring Bruce Campbell and director Josh Becker. Campbell's commentaries are always fun and enjoyable and this one's not any different as you learn about custom-made space suits in Bulgaria, where exactly the alien bug house came from, which bounty hunter came from the Peace Corps, extras wearing vinyl instead of leather pants, and a lot more hilarity. As far as the behind-the-scenes featurette, it's a brief 2:25 minute montage of outtakes from the film, featuring Campbell and crew in the hot, barren wastelands of Bulgaria. As far as behind the scenes billings go, it's one of the shortest on the market. Rounding out the disc is a decent black and white storyboard gallery, all with hand-written captions, which chronicle a slew of scenes, sequences, camera angles, muzzled prisoners, bounty hunters and the space capsule's crash landing. If you're a budding filmmaker, give this a second look for storyboarding techniques you may (or may not) want to use.

You can look at movies like Alien Apocalypse with either a critical eye and say to yourself, "My God, this is beyond awful," or you can watch a film such as this and put it into the proper context of what it's meant to be - cheesy, campy, sci-fi entertainment for a specific audience. If you're looking for a similar experience on DVD, Alien Apocalypse offers the same atmosphere as the film - low-budget quality and what you'd expect for a B-release, especially with a fun, over-the-top color commentary from the man himself, Bruce Campbell.



Posted on Nov 3, 2005, 8:13 PM

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ugo.com review of Screaming Brain dvd

by brain-iac (no login)

From http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmtv/features/brucecampbellforever/screamingbrain.asp

The Man With The Screaming Brain

by Reg Seeton, contributing editor


A labor of love and passion for veteran B-actor, Bruce Campbell, Man With The Screaming Brain is one of those movies that, unless you're a fan of Campbell's work, you may not have the patience for, especially if you're the critically harsh, wannabe intellectual couch potato type. For the geek-centric brainiacs, the film's storyline is incredibly ripe with potential. In need of a quick tax fix, affluent pharmaceutical industrialist William Cole (Campbell) travels to the city of Bravoda with his wife Jackie (Antoinette Byron) but soon finds himself the target of a mad scientist (Stacey Keach) who performs a revolutionary transplant surgery on the tycoon, giving half of his brain to Yegor (Vladimir Kolev), a former KGB operative turned cabbie. Soon thereafter, the Campbell hijinks play out as Cole and Yegor compete for the same body and Jackie gets turned into a pop-locking robot. Unless you're a huge Bruce Campbell fan, Man With the Screaming Brain is an acquired, Frankenstein type of taste, and a hilarious one if you get it.

So, how does the film go down on DVD?

Given how the film was shot and filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria, the 1.77:1 widescreen transfer is perfect to showcase the striking beauty of the former communist fringe country. Although the film was low-budget, Anchor Bay does a great job on the clarity and sharpness of the transfer. It's definitely not picture-perfect, shadows and dark tones aside, but there's a vibrancy and clean edge to the visual appeal that provides balance on three specific levels - color, lucidity and contrast. For an example of the energetic conversion, check out the ruby red lips of the Gypsy at the film's outset. Also, you'll see just how lively the transfer is by the acute nature of Antoinette Byron's blonde bangs. Audio wise, Man With the Screaming Brain gets the Dolby Digital 5.1 treatment, which gives the film more depth than budget, and you more bang for your Bruce Campbell buck. Although the film has been widely panned by mainstream critics, its technical life on DVD is fairly impressive. This isn't a film that's going to show off the depths of your home theater system, but for a consistent and clean track, this 5.1 offering is a decent ride. Keep an ear to the ground on two levels - the sinister Frankenstein score by the geek-centric horror composer, Joe LoDuca, and the multitude of sounds effects throughout the film.

The special features shake down like this:

"The Making of Man With The Screaming Brain" offers an in-depth and hilarious look at how the film came to fruition, with thoughts from Bruce Campbell and producer David Goodman. If you've loved Campbell's off-camera humor throughout the years, you'll undoubtedly fall in love with this one too. Here, Campbell takes you on a candid, expletive filled journey of the film on many levels, including how working in Bulgaria struck fear in his heart, how the characters transformed from the original script, various changes to the story (like why William is going to Bulgaria), casting Antoinette as a Jacke O type, using communist statues throughout the city, and an awesome stair-falling breakdown using a dummy instead of Antoinette Byron. For entertainment value and insight, this is a must see. Trust me on this one, you won't be sorry and your brain will thank you for it later.

"Neurology 101 - Evolution of the Screaming Brain" reunites Campbell and David Goodman, this time in front of a chalkboard, which chronicles every step of how they got the money to make the project, spanning three decades - '80s, '90s and beyond. Once again, if you love vintage Campbell, this is a must see. Covering three decades of shopping the project, Campbell and Goodman reveal how they formed a legitimate limited partnership in the 1980s, spent three months cold-calling potential buyers, took a meeting with a guy they called Jabba the Hut, dodged another guy with a gun en-route to a meeting in Detroit, switching from individuals to venture capitalists then eventually Hollywood with an announcement in the Trades and a meeting with the legendary Roger Corman. Like the making-Of, don't miss one minute of this awesome adventure into how a film may or may not get made - it's Campbell at his off-screen and offbeat best, but yet somehow coolly professional at the same time.

The Commentary with Bruce Campbell and David Goodman offers another great look at the film, this time in even greater detail. As far as entertaining commentaries go, Campbell's mastered the art and he's not afraid to speak, and keep speaking to hold your interest. It's obvious Campbell loves to do commentaries, especially for his own film. Expect to learn about such interesting layers as how any actor can find work in Bulgaria, the amount of smog the town of Sofia produces, how Campbell cherry-picked actors from Alien Apocalypse, the legitimacy of actor Stacy Keach, driving with crazy Gypsies in Bulgaria and more. Like the first two features, this track is another great dose of Campbell's humor and passion for the film.

Rounding out the features is a brief behind-the-scenes/outtake montage set to the film's creepy low-budget score, a simple storyboard sketch gallery that walks your through various sequences, a very cool page and panel comic book gallery that offers a sneak peek at the film from the perspective of the 4-part Dark Horse produced comic series, the screaming trailer and previews for the newly released Evil Dead discs.

You have to admire Man With The Screaming Brain simply for the fact that it made it to screen after almost two decades of effort. If you're a fan of veteran B-actor Bruce Campbell, who also makes his directorial debut with the film, then you should respect the blood, sweat and tears of the filmmaking process. Getting a project to the big screen is, in most cases, an unlikely event. In all probability, you'd have more luck getting hit by lightning than one of your pet projects making it into theaters. Then again, there's always television, which can definitely be the lesser of two evils, as is the case with Man With the Screaming Brain, which was made in association with the Sci-Fi Channel. Now on DVD, Bruce Campbell fans have a great disc to wade through and have fun with, although it just may be an acquired taste for some of you. Start screaming now and have some digital brain candy the Bruce Campbell way.



Posted on Nov 3, 2005, 8:14 PM

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10 questions w/ Bruce on "Screaming Brain"

by bruce fan (no login)

http://www.kamera.co.uk/interviews/ten_questions_with_bruce_campbell.php


Ten Questions with Bruce Campbell
By Calum Waddell


Kamera recently caught up with Evil Dead icon Bruce Campbell in amongst his super busy schedule, which in 2005 alone has included his signing tour for his new book Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way and his new directorial effort The Man with the Screaming Brain (which us Bruce-fans in the UK eagerly await). Graciously agreeing to answer ten quick questions, whilst otherwise being kept busy by his life as a cult icon, Campbell had just one request... "Don't ask me any Evil Dead questions okay?" Of course, who are we to argue – and would you really want to beg to differ with a man that has battled the hordes of hell on three separate occasions and won...?

Exactly.

Q: Okay Bruce, so - tell us why we need to see your new movie The Man with the Screaming Brain? What makes it unique and exciting?

A: Because it's not the type of movie that you will see on an airplane! It's an odd-ball story that will hopefully appeal to the Evil Dead crowd as well as new folks. It is a very dark tale of greed, betrayal and revenge in Bulgaria – all with a brain transplant!


Q: What was you experience of directing the movie like?


A: Well I've directed numerous times before on the Hercules and Xena TV shows, so the process wasn't a mystery to me - but it's always challenging because my homework at the end of each day instantly doubled.

Q: Bruce, it seems that you are always more at home with comedy - but what makes you laugh? Can you tell us about some of the movies, or scenarios on set or day to day life, that crack you up?

A: I try to find humour in everything - otherwise, why are we here... to suffer? I think not. To me, humour can be found in anything from the bathroom, to slapstick, to even Three Stooges type violence. Pain can be very funny.

Q: Tell me a bit about shooting your film in Bulgaria - some of the stories from the country and were you ever recognized out there?

A: Well, it's a country in transition from communism to capitalism, and the main reason we filmed there was because the average Bulgarian worker makes $110.00 a month. I enjoyed the experience from a sociological standpoint, but from a filmmaking point-of-view, shooting there was a pain in the ass. The workers were great, but the country had infrastructure problems that made every day activities unnecessarily complicated.

Q: This is not the first project that you have directed - tell me about your previous directorial efforts and which ones you might urge your fans to seek them out...

A: I urge fans to do what they damn well please, but they can at least know that my goal is never to write beneath them, and that entertaining them is my number one priority.

Q: You have a great cast for Man with the Screaming Brain, which includes Ted Raimi and Stacy Keach - can you tell me some stories about directing these guys?

A: I have always worked with Ted, as I've known him since he was nine years old so Ted is an indispensable part of what I do. Mr. Keach was a pleasure, mostly because he's a seasoned pro. He was brought in on very short notice, and he was everything I hoped for in the part. When casting goes right, you don't have much more to worry about.

Q: You have a book, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way - why should I buy this? Sell it to me!

A: You're a pushy little son-of-a-B, aren't you? You should buy the book because it has about 150 very entertaining graphics, and the paper quality is unusually high. Aside from that, you might enjoy the 72,000 words also included for no extra charge.

Q: Judging from the pictures on your site, you are subjected to some serious makeup in Man with the Screaming Brain - what are the challenges of the makeup chair as a lot of actors seem to hate it...

A: The biggest beef is sleep deprivation, because of the extra hours tacked on to an already long work day in order to apply the makeup. The number 2 beef is the degrading effects from the chemicals applied to your face. During the filming of Bubba Ho-Tep, my face was in a constant state of shred.

Q: Another film you recently completed is The Woods directed by Lucky McKee. I am a big fan of McKee's May and am interested in this film - can you tell me a little about the plot to the film?

A: The film could just as well be called Creepy Evil Women, because it's a 17 year old girl's worst nightmare come true: being dropped off by your parents into a remote "reform" school, run by freaks. It's a weird, cool flick.

Q: Finally, then, if someone gave you a blank cheque to direct and act in any film - a completely original one, mind - what would it be and what would your role be?

A: It would be called City Limit, a drama about a developer that's kidnapped by a group of eco extremists and held for ransom. It's a good platform to explore to opposing ideologies. Send that cheque as soon as you can, alright?





Posted on Jan 20, 2006, 7:14 PM

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Joe Bob Briggs' preview summary of "Hercules and the Amazon Women"

by august (no login)

Just think about it: Is there any way at all that Joe Bob would NOT show a film called Hercules and the Amazon Women? It's right there in the title: Women. Amazon women. And if the Amazons weren't enough, the icing on this too-rich cake is the presence of Hercules, a man's man noted for kicking Classical World derriere around Mt. Olympus and back. With such goings on you won't even mind that there's no possibility for a motor vehicle chase.

Hercules and the Amazon Women opens with the promise of a wedding, but don't let that scare any commitment-phobes off. Seems that Herr Hercules' best friend is getting married and our favorite demi-god wouldn't miss it for the known world. The bride-to-be can't cook, can't mend clothing and can't care for the farm animals but she is darn good lookin', which Herc and buddy Iolaus discuss in a long male chauvinist argument before deciding that she's a Good Thing.

After disposing of an annoying hydra (yeah, like you're going to be in suspense about whether the duo survives), Herc and Iolaus prepare for the rigors of a fiance-cooked meal when a lurking peasant interrupts. Quick backstory reveals that his village is being attacked by mysterious, uh, attackers and that nobody else is willing to help. Herc sees his clear duty and can't talk Iolus out of tagging along to assist. By now, most of us are probably wondering where the heck are all the Amazon women but all that's worth saying at this point is just settle down and rest because once they do appear, you'll turn into some Tex Avery wolf with eyes a-poppin' and your back legs kicking your head. (The Amazons may be well-disciplined, man-hating warriors but they appear to have been hand-picked by Bob Guccione.)


The behind-the-scenes story may be more interesting than what's on-screen. Filming began in Thessalonia when Hercules arrived with an entourage of wood nymphs and a partially shaved satyr. An attack by a giant snake delayed the first day's shooting until... Nah, of course we're just hallucinating all that. There really is no Hercules and no Hera, no Zeus and probably not any Amazons either. But there is Mr. Kevin Sorbo, who gracefully agreed to pretend to be Hercules so that all these TV shows called "Hercules" could be made, not to mention our movie Hercules and the Amazon Women (which, like the TV show, was filmed in New Zealand). It might not have been this way since more-or-less reliable rumor is that Sorbo was considered for the role of Mulder on The X-Files, which might have lead to David Duchovny playing Hercules and a great imbalance in the forces of the universe. Equally unsettling when you watch Hercules and the Amazon Women might be suddenly spotting Xena the Warrior Princess, only you really haven't. That's Lucy Lawless all right, but this was a full year before the Xena show debuted so here she's playing a tough living Amazon named Lysia. She had even made an earlier appearance on Hercules playing a centaur's bride.

The Amazon queen, Hippolyta, is also the focus of some casting what-ifs. Elizabeth Hurley (Austin Powers), Vanessa Angel (TV's Weird Science) and Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel) were all considered before the part finally went to Downey. In one of those bizarre twists, when time came to cast Xena for that TV series, the producers decided on Angel, but she became sick so Lucy Lawless ended up as everybody's favorite warrior princess.

Hercules and the Amazon Women wraps up its entire story but fortunately leaves plenty for the TV series, though we're betting it doesn't follow Greek mythology too closely, since that had Hercules (or Herakles if you don't want the Latinized version) being driven mad and killing his wife and children with his bare hands. Ouch. MonsterVision's night of spectacle is much more entertaining and you could probably even let the kiddies watch.

Now here's the man of the late-night hour with those drive-in totals. "We have: Seven dead bodies. Two bewtocks. Three brawls. Death by being sucked into the ground. Three-headed giant snake fight. Multiple feet-washing. Stabbing. Choking. Tripping. Head-butting. Throat-slitting. Triple back-flip. Triple front-flip. Plummeting to death off an ancient Greek high-dive. Kung Fu. Swinging through the forest on a rope Fu. Amazon nookie. Four stars.


Hercules and the Amazon Women (1994)
Saturday, June 3 at 12:15 a.m. ET/PT
Rating: TV-14



Posted on Jun 5, 2000, 12:07 AM

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Joe Bob Brigg's on-air commentary on "Amazon Women" on TNT's "MonsterVision"

by (no login)


"HERCULES AND THE AMAZON WOMEN"

Joe Bob Briggs, with a special welcome to all the "Hercules" and "Xena" RAVING FANATICS who have tuned in to see the ORIGINAL Kevin Sorbo "Hercules" movie, the one they based the hit TV show on, with Lucy Lawless in her first "Hercules" appearance. It's "Hercules and the Amazon Women."

Speaking of dangers to society, I decided to kill three or four roller-bladers yesterday. I was walking along the sidewalk and I heard the familiar "whoosh" of a roller-blader passing my shoulder at roughly the speed of light, coming within one inch of my left bewtock. He was doing that duck-walk thing they do, where he skates like Hans the Little Dutch Boy, sailing out 3 feet to the right, 3 feet to the left, 4 feet to the right, 4 feet to the left, while his butt ticks up in the air like Charles Barkley diving for a loose ball. In other words, the only part of the sidewalk he DOESN'T take up is the little one-square-foot area you're walking in. Nervously.

And then I thought, "What if I did that?" What if I decided to start walking like R. Crumb, a big ole sloppy duck-step out to the right, then a big ole sloppy duck-step out to the left? And what if I did it, like, ONE SECOND before the roller-blader got there? Unfortunately, he has about 9 pounds of steel-reinforced petrochemical products on each foot, so I think I'd reconsider when I got to the emergency room.

You ever tried to change direction when a buffalo herd of roller-bladers is bearing down on you? They get OFFENDED. They tell you how hard it is to STOP. Poor babies. I could help em stop. I say stick em out on the street with the cabs and the motorcycles. If we're gonna make this into a contest, let's make it a fair contest. If roller-bladers wanna play chicken with the world, let's pick on people a little bit more mobile than old women hauling handcarts.

We've finally found the violent heart of the New Ager. These people who are bearing down on homeless men at 40 miles an hour are the SAME people who drink soy shakes for breakfast and protest against cruelty to tuna fish. But put four rubber wheels under each foot, strap a Sony Walkman to their head and they become Hell's Angels who left their bikes at home. Actually, that's an insult to the Angels, who are great drivers. A lot of these roller-bladers look like Bambi slipping around on the icy pond--and then they act like YOU did something wrong if they get all tangled up in their own arms and legs. And what are they listening to on those Walkmans anyhow? I bet it's that guy Yanni. Or the new John Tesh CD for loving couples. Yeah, that explains it.

Well, I just ran out of time again, so let's watch "Hercules and the Amazon Women," and do the drive-in totals at the first break. Roll it.

[fading] I know what they're listening to. Whales talking. You know those whale tapes they sell at the zoo? Well, here's a little CAPTAIN AHAB MUSIC for ya, you know what I mean?


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"Hercules" Commercial Break #1

Is that about the CLEANEST village you've ever seen? And isn't it kind of a medieval Renaissance Faire kinda place? Hercules was in ancient Greece, right? This looks about 1350 A.D., in ENGLAND. And then the way they speak. "Good to see ya, Hercules"? "Good to SEE YA"? Iolaus is apparently descended from the branch of the Greek myth based in MALIBU. And who knew that the ancient Greeks invented man-made fibers? It looks like they bought the wardrobe for this flick at J.C. Penney's. Anyway, this IS the FIRST "Hercules" movie made by Renaissance Pictures, the brainchild of the great Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Sam and Rob made five of these flicks for TV before they turned it into the mega-smash hit show, "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," and ITS spin-off, "Xena: Warrior Princess." Okay, let's do those belated drive-in totals. We have: Seven dead bodies. Two bewtocks. Three brawls. Death by being sucked into the ground. Three-headed giant snake fight. Multiple feet-washing. Stabbing. Choking. Tripping. Head-butting. Throat-slitting. Triple back-flip. Triple front-flip. Plummeting to death off an ancient Greek high-dive. Kung Fu. Swinging through the forest on a rope Fu. Amazon nookie. Four stars.

[fading] By the way, did you guys notice the juggler in that spanking-clean village? It's one of the rules of cinema: Every ancient village must have a juggler. They were like stray cats. "Don't touch the juggler, honey. We don't know where he's been."


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"Hercules" Commercial Break #2

Oh, isn't Ania a terrible cook! Ha ha! I think we need one MORE joke about Ania's cooking. That's the lovely Jill Sayre as Ania. And Michael Hurst as Iolaus the sidekick. Kiwi actor. That's what they call New Zealanders, which is, of course, where they shoot "Hercules" and "Xena." All right, so tell you something you don't know, right? How bout some trivia on Hercules himself, Kevin Sorbo? The first thing he ever did was a TV commercial for whiskey. He had one line: "This ain't Jim Beam." He was up for the part of Superman in "Lois & Clark," AND David Duchovney's role in "The X Files." But instead he got "Hercules," where he worked 14-hour days, bare-chested and in 12-pound leather pants, for five and a half years. I'd like to thank the New York Times for providing the weight on the pants. No wonder the guy called it quits last year. Stick that puppy in syndication and start sendin those checks. Okay, commercials and then back to "Hercules and the Amazon Women."

[fading] Everybody wants their show to go into syndication. That's when they get to sit by the pool drinkin passion-fruit iced tea and watchin their bank account grow like a pig on steroids. [sips beer] "This ain't Jim Beam!" How'd I do?


------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hercules" Commercial Break #3

"We're not beasts, Hercules. We are women." Man, how many times have we all heard THAT one? What's your comeback for that one? "Nope, you are NOT a woman. You are a BEAST." But doesn't Lucy Lawless look CUTE as a button? She's a firecracker, isn't she? Of course, she went on to be Xena in the TV series, and to get married to producer Rob Tapert, who we mentioned before. But I think she fits in more with the period here--why did they give her those 1980s bangs in the TV show? Of course, what period is it? I'm talking about these things like they HAVE a period. I guess it's the period of Argentinian-cowboy bolo-weapon masked-woman murdering witches. But then in the TV series Xena and her sidekick, Gabrielle, look like they just walked out of "The Facts of Life." Somebody write in and explain it to me, care of TNT, 1010 Techwood Drive, Atlanta, Georgia, 30318. Or e-mail me at joebob@turner.com. Actually, Gabrielle cut off her hair this season, but Xena's still got the bangs. Okay, let's do some ads and get back to the flick.

[fading] The Amazons DO go back to the Greeks. Homer mentions em. Their original home was in the forests of the Thermodon valley in Pontus in Asia Minor. Then when the ancient Greeks started exploring the Thermodon region and didn't find any Amazons there, they figured Hercules had driven em away. So in legends that come after that, the Amazons get further and further away, they're always JUST out of reach. Talk about a gullible audience. "There's no Amazons in Thermadon? Oh, they moved to Ephesus. They're not there either? Oh, you know what? They found a little village outside Naucratis--I can't believe I forgot about that. Nevada! They're in Nevada! Above the Arctic Circle! Antarctica--with the penguins. That's where they live now."


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"Hercules" Commercial Break #4

Did Hercules just ADMIT he's a chauvinist? And say "What if I tried to change?" What kind of panty-waist Hercules is THAT? Good GRIEF. Anthony Quinn needs to slap him around a little bit, remind him what a terror his mama is. So it's Tough Chick Night, [enters] and to help us out with that, and to bring us some of your more suitable letters, is Rusty, the TNT Mail Girl. WOW.

RUSTY: Do I look like Xena?

J.B.: You look like you could break my neck is what you look like. Did I pay for that outfit?

RUSTY: Yeah, but it's worth it, isn't it? Care to wrestle?

J.B.: Only if you spank me when I lose.

RUSTY: I'm a Greek Amazon--I don't give spankings!

J.B.: Then how bout you put me in a cage and make me your love slave?

RUSTY: Oh, for goodness sake, just read the letter. It's from Candy Peterson of Covington, Louisiana.

J.B.: Hippolyta put Hercules in a cage . . .

"Dear Joe Bob,

"I love MonsterVision and think you are the coolest. Your infintessimal knowledge of movies never ceases to amaze me. So far my favorites are 'The Devil's Rain,' 'The Fly' with Jeff Goldblum, 'It's Alive,' 'They Live' and 'Somewhere in Time' (just kidding on that last one!). My dream date with you would be to rent 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'Return of the Living Dead,' get a pizza, then go back to your place to watch them--in the dark, of course. Afterwards we could go out for coffee then we could come back and I could show you what a great personal assistant I'd make if you know what I mean and I think you do. Keep making me smile!

"Love, Candy Peterson, Covington, Louisiana."

Candy, very few people have had the insight to recognize my infinitesimal knowledge. We are obviously made for each other.

RUSTY: I don't think that's what she wrote.

J.B.: Sure she did--right there, see.

RUSTY: Look, it says "infant-tesimal." I think she's calling you an infant.

J.B.: She just misspelled it.

RUSTY: I don't think so.

J.B.: You wanna fight over it? Hand-to-hand, to the death? Come on, Rus. [he stands up, and she immediately stands and gets him in a choke-hold] Okay, okay, forget it. Uncle . . . Nude mud-wrestling, that's my sport. You know, ever since you started dating the Hercules guy at Universal Studios. [she tightens her hold] What, is that a secret or something?


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"Hercules" Commercial Break #5

Remember that book "Women Who Run with the Wolves"? Is that what this stuff is? Oiling up under the full moon, cinching your boosteyay, and doing some kind of feminist Tae Bo exercises before going off to rape men? I'm starting to like it. And that was such a nice speech Hercules gave, wasn't it? Hercules channels Mother Love. And I like seeing the bad side of Roma Downey here. The star of "Touched by an Angel" gets down and dirty. And she does in real life, too. You guys know about her affair with Michael Nouri? They were gettin cuddly in a restaurant during the Sundance Film Festival this year. And Michael IS married. He's also carried on with Ronald Reagan's daughter, the ex-wife of Haiti's ex-dictator, and a Playboy Playmate. But guess what? His wife DOESN'T MIND. Where do I get ME a wife like that? Michael, way to go. All right, commercials and back to the flick. Go.

[fading] Although, think about that--the ex-wife of Haiti's ex-dictator. That just sounds plain DANGEROUS, don't you think? Let's not get carried away, Mike. Remember "The Serpent and the Rainbow"? The nail-through-the-scrotum scene? Mike! If you're going anywhere in the whole Caribbean area, do not mix your sex with politics. They got voodoo powder, and, more important, they've got machetes.


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"Hercules" Commercial Break #6

What a bunch of WEENIES. Do you believe that? The whole message of this movie is that, if guys will just get in touch with their female sides, then women will be putty in their hands. But look who gets Lucy Lawless. The 164-year-old lech, Anthony Quinn! I wonder if Lucy looks back on her career and says, "Yeah, the real turning point was that hot sex scene with Anthony Quinn." Okay, we're closing in on the end, here. And, by the way, those of you who are in mourning over the loss of the "Hercules" TV show will find comfort in knowing that Kevin Sorbo's new show, "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" started shooting a couple of months ago. And, of course, when "Xena" ends--God forbid--she'll live forever in the Sony Playstation game. Okay, time for the exciting, feminist conclusion to "Hercules and the Amazon Women." Never mind that "Amazon Women" is redundant. Do the ads, and then roll film. Oh, and check out our website sometime, at tnt.turner.com/joebob.

[fading] Has Xena had her baby yet? How many single TV women have had babies now? Murphy Brown, the gal on "Frasier," and now Xena. Kinda makes you feel USED, doesn't it, guys? All we are these days is sperm-depositors. It just makes me feel DIRTY.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hercules" Outro

The old "let's reverse time and act like it never happened" ending. Well, we knew Michael Hurst was gonna come back to life, because he had to do four more movies and a TV series, didn't he? The wife kinda disappeared along the way, though. Did I mention that Potsie from "Happy Days" directed an episode of "Hercules"? Just thought I'd mention that. Okay, come back next week for your Stephen King health update, while we watch the classic automotive horror flick, "Christine."

That's it for me, Joe Oaxaca Briggs, reminding you that you can't teach an old dog new math. "Oaxaca" being the middle name of . . . Anthony Quinn. Everyone knows that.

You guys hear the one about the 75-year-old woman who goes to the doctor for a check-up? The doctor tells her she needs more activity and recommends sex three times a week. She says, "You better tell my husband." The doctor goes out into the waiting room and tells the husband that his wife needs to have sex three times a week. Her husband says, "Which days?" Doctor says, "Monday, Wednesday and Friday." Husband says, "I can bring her Monday on Wednesday, but Friday she's gonna have to take the bus."

Joe Bob Briggs, reminding you that the drive-in will never die.

[fading] Quasimodo goes to a doctor for an annual check-up. Doctor says, "I think there's something wrong with your back." Quasimodo says, "What makes you say that?" Doc says, "I don't know. It's just a hunch."



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Posted on Jun 7, 2000, 2:54 AM

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1/31 on Spike TV

by joe bob fan (no login)

This airs on Spike TV on Jan. 31st at 2 AM EST; "Circle of Fire" airs the same time on Feb. 1st, and "Maze of the Minotaur" airs on Feb. 2nd.

Posted on Jan 17, 2006, 7:08 PM

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Alexandra Luzzatto (nee Tydings) in the Washington Post

by alex fan (no login)

From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501675.html

Rock-and-Roll Yoga Instructor
Alexandra Luzzatto, 34, Washington

By The Insider

Sunday, December 18, 2005; Page M03

A DIFFERENT VIBE: I've been a yoga instructor since April, but I started practicing yoga 12 years ago in Los Angeles. One of my teachers was this guy named Steve Ross. His class was jampacked, and he played really loud music all the time. It was just a really different vibe. People laughed in class, people talked in class -- it was really wild. Nobody was doing it in D.C., so I approached Bentley [Bentley Storm, the owner of Hot Yoga] in August and the class started in September.

HARdcORE ROOTS: The audacity of doing something like a rock-and-roll yoga class definitely comes from my punk rock roots. When I was 14, I hated everything and discovered punk. My parents quickly figured out there was nothing they could do about it. My dad [Joseph Tydings, a former Maryland senator] stopped making me go to fundraisers, because I had purple hair. My first hardcore show was Rites of Spring at the Chevy Chase Community Center. So much of punk is teenage rebellion, and there were certainly racist skinheads running around, but somehow the D.C. hardcore scene was really smart. If someone started to fall down in the pit, everybody would pick him up. Nobody was going to get trampled.


It may look like classic yoga, but Hot Yoga instructor Alexandra Luzzatto, center, and her students don't listen to New Age music -- try the Clash instead. (By J Carrier For The Washington Post)

WARRIOR PRINCESS: I was in L.A. for 10 years and the more I was acting, the more I needed yoga. Hollywood can be a little superficial, to put it mildly. Yoga is a good place to get out of your head. Acting is wonderful, working is fantastic, and auditioning is hell. I was really lucky from the beginning because I got to make my living as an actress on "Xena: Warrior Princess."

BEGINNERS BEWARE: The class is growing for sure. It's attracting a lot of new people, which is fun but also tough because it's an advanced-level class. It's really loud music, so I'm not going to be able to walk you through all of the important beginning steps. I tell beginners they are welcome, but I want them to be very careful. I want them to listen to their bodies, come to child's pose all the time and take beginner classes throughout the week.

BODY BLISS: If you read some of the ancient texts of yoga, the point is to reach a state of bliss. It's not about doing the perfect backbend or the perfect handstand. It's about getting your whole being to a state of oneness with the universe. Listening to great music is inspiring. For me, it's right in alignment with classical yoga even though it's not what you'd expect.

MUSICAL MANTRAS: The music you hear in class doesn't have to be happy, but I want it to make you feel good. U2 works really well for yoga. I'm not a huge U2 fan, but I think it works, because it's so big and it has that "it's a beautiful day to be alive" feel to it. We've had some Clash, some Beastie Boys, some Dr. Dre. I try to talk loud over the misogynistic parts. The best music, from a creative point of view, is not about the words. It's about the melody, the bass line, the groove. You don't want to be listening to the words in yoga. If the words snap you into thinking in a verbal way, then that defeats the purpose.

NAMASTE: America is so results oriented and competitive that people get so nitpicky that they miss the whole point. Yoga is about spirit and feeling connected to something bigger than yourself. When you're more lighthearted, you end up having fun and actually working harder. Then, you get those results you were going for. I really like that a lot.

As told to Rachel Beckman


Rock-and-Roll Yoga is Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. (Luzzatto teaches the Sunday and Monday classes.) Hot Yoga, 3408 Wisconsin Ave. NW. $15. 202-468-9642.

http://www.hotyogausa.comorhttp://www.rockandrollyoga.com.


Posted on Jan 17, 2006, 7:05 PM

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This is cheesy, but...hey, gifts for Greek-o-philes!

by Helena (no login)

Sorry to do this, my fellow Xena fans, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do... get food in the kitty dish.



Please stop by: http://www.cafepress.com/greek2me

Efcharisto! (Greek for "Thank you")

Posted on Nov 26, 2005, 5:27 PM

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Cool!

by Greek fan (no login)

Not cheesy at all - anything Greek is always welcome here. :D

Posted on Nov 28, 2005, 8:55 PM

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EW article on "Lost"

by Anonymous (no login)

Here on the Hawaii set of ABC's hit drama Lost — that twisty mystery series about plane crash survivors fending for themselves on a South Pacific island inhabited by polar bears, a sadistic Frenchwoman, and unseen monsters — the cameras roll as Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Jack (Matthew Fox) stare at a mound of dirt marked with a wooden cross.

''Why didn't you just put him with the others when you burned the fuselage?'' asks Kate.

''Because I needed to bury him,'' explains Dr. Jack solemnly.

The two pull out some makeshift shovels and begin exhuming the dead guy, a U.S. marshal who was bringing fugitive Kate to justice before disaster struck. See, this marshal carried a wallet. And that wallet contained a key. And that key opens an impenetrable briefcase. And the contents of that case are important enough for them to endure this hellish process, which involves gagging, maggots, and a startling betrayal that the island gods want to keep hush-hush for now.


Heebie-jeebie hypotheses and heady head-scratchers are the keys to Lost, and America doesn't seem to mind the game: The nebulous, foreboding drama — evoking The Twilight Zone, Cast Away, and Lord of the Flies — has fast become one of the year's most talked-about shows. In its Wednesday-at-8-p.m. slot, it has attracted 17.6 million viewers (impressive for an early-evening drama), making it the No. 2 new series of the season. And along with Desperate Housewives and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Lost is rescuing ABC from ratings purgatory — and giving viewers the meatiest conspiracy-theory fodder since The X-Files. In short, not bad for a new show without CSI or Law & Order in its title.

Lost was first conceived in summer 2003 — the original idea came from ABC's then entertainment chairman, Lloyd Braun, but was further developed by rising Hollywood hyphenate J.J. Abrams (Felicity, Alias) and Crossing Jordan writer-producer Damon Lindelof. The duo came up with conceits that would liberate Lost from its inherent limitations: extensive flashbacks that ventured all over the globe, and an ongoing mystery that may or may not involve a man-hunting monster.

But by the time their 25-page outline got the go-ahead, pilot season was well under way, so Abrams and Lindelof began furiously writing and casting. Originally the noble doc Jack was to be quickly killed off (potential guest star: Michael Keaton), but the producers decided that the stunt was too gimmicky, and stayed Jack's execution. Instead, Party of Five's Fox was tapped for this leading role. ''I knew that it was utterly original,'' says the actor. ''[There] was nothing like it on television, and I felt that all the ingredients were there for something really, really big."



Meanwhile, a pan-demographic parade of actors auditioned from the completed portions of the script. Or not. ''If an actor would come in that we loved, but there was no part in the show for them, we said, 'F--- it. Let's write a character for that guy!''' says Lindelof, citing Jorge Garcia, who plays the plus-size jokester Hurley. Soon, a massive cast began to take shape, including druggie musician Charlie (The Lord of the Rings' Dominic Monaghan); scruffy malcontent Sawyer (Sabretooth's Josh Holloway); former Iraqi officer Sayid (Naveen Andrews of The English Patient); creepy wise man Locke (Abrams' staple player Terry O'Quinn, who appeared in Alias); very pregnant Aussie Claire (Emilie de Ravin); desperate housewife Sun (Yunjin Kim), whose domineering husband, Jin (24's Daniel Dae Kim), doesn't know she speaks English; and dad Michael (Oz's Harold Perrineau), who's seeking to bond with his young son, Walt (Malcolm David Kelley).

After a protracted search for leading lady Kate, the producers happened upon a tape of Canadian import Lilly, whose face was so fresh, she hadn't uttered a speaking line in Hollywood yet. ''She was beautiful, but there was a goofy quality about her,'' recalls Abrams, ''so it didn't feel like she wasn't a human being.''

Visa issues nearly scotched this find; Lilly was cleared for work less than 24 hours before shooting her first scene. Not that she was sold right away: ''When I first read [the audition scenes], I was like, 'What? Gilligan's Island with 15 people? And what is the thing in the bushes?' When I read the full script, I started to go, 'Wait a minute — these guys can write.' I'm not a sci-fi person. I'm not a big action-adventure person. I don't even own a TV. But I remember thinking 'Wow.'''



Lost premiered Sept. 22 with a gutsy two-parter that began at the site of a horrific plane wreck (whoa, that dude just got sucked into the engine!), featured a pilot being brutally killed by an off-camera creature, and ended with our veritable U.N. of survivors discovering a 16-year-old looped distress call indicating that they might not be alone. Despite having all the makings of a noble TV failure (glowing reviews, unusual premise), Lost drew 18.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched drama debut at 8 p.m. in five years (since NBC's Providence), and proving that a killer high-concept series can be king. ''Still, to this moment...I can't... it feels impossible,'' stutters Abrams, whose previous shows have teetered on the cusp of cancellation. ''I see the top 10 list and I see Lost is there and it looks like something that a friend would mock up just to hurt me.''

Cast members aren't sure what to make of the hubbub either — especially because they've been marooned far away on Hawaii's North Shore since shooting began in July. (They've finished 13 of 23 episodes and will wrap in March.) ''The agents call up from L.A. and say, 'Here's how you did last night,''' says O'Quinn (Locke). ''I'll have to have the empirical evidence before I believe anything.'' And on that rare visit back to the mainland? ''I did take a trip to L.A. recently with Matthew, and we were in the airport and we had a few really bizarre looks from people hoping that we weren't going to get on their flight,'' says Monaghan (Charlie). ''It's definitely weird walking around airports now, because we are associated with bringing down a 747.''



They're also connected to a series that raises more questions than a philosopher on speed. Are they all dead? What's up with the black and white stones? Will Gilligan ever hook up with Mary Ann? (Oh, wait — wrong island.) The query most often posed to the Lost bunch, though, is even more perplexing: What in the name of Mr. Rourke is that people-chomping creature tromping through the trees? ''It looks like a camera on a stick,'' quips O'Quinn, whose character is the only one who has seen The Thing. Even when it comes to their own backstories, the cast receives just the essential info. ''Which, by the way, could be a two-syllable word,'' says Ian Somerhalder, a.k.a. Boone, brother to spoiled babe Shannon (Maggie Grace). ''I've been waiting for over 100 days to find out what the hell I'm about. It's like J.J. and Damon are playing a chess game, we're the pieces, and they're just like, 'That was a great move! Check.''' Then again, certain cast members don't take nothing for an answer. Notes Grace: ''There's always an on-set writer and we can't resist. So we'll go out for drinks, wait till the wine kicks in, and go, 'Oh, hey, so about that monster...' But they don't usually bite.''

Considering those tantalizing TV mysteries that ultimately disappoint (damn you, Twin Peaks!), fans need to know: Are they getting strung along here on a creative high-wire act? While Lindelof promises that Lost isn't ''a big smoke-and-mirrors trick,'' Abrams acknowledges that they're still discovering the show for themselves. ''It's like using a Ouija board. You're telling this story, but you're like, 'Are you pushing it?' But we have a big-picture idea of eventually where this should go,'' continues the cocreator, who excuses himself twice during the interview to jot down story ideas that have popped into his head. ''I will say that if we can do a version of an ending that we've discussed, it would be mind-blowingly cool.'' Perrineau (Michael) sums up the challenge thusly: ''Our writers have a really big mountain to climb, and if they climb the mountain, then they're the champs. And if they don't, then yeaaaah, we've all crashed — but wasn't it an interesting ride?''



Here's what's lurking in the more immediate path for our fearful explorers (put on your anti-spoiler glasses before you read this paragraph): Locke makes a huge discovery. Someone will build a raft to try to escape. We'll meet other folks on the island who weren't on the plane, and learn two secrets about Hurley. The Bermuda Triangle continues to overlap with the Jack-Kate-Sawyer Triangle. (''I have a feeling that in the near term, it'll be Sawyer and Kate, and in the long term, it'll be Jack and Kate,'' says Fox. ''[But] there's not a whole lot of room for romance in the situation that these people are dealing with.'') Let's also heed this advice from Lindelof: ''The flashbacks serve as a great conduit to learn more about these characters, but that's not all they're there for. The idea that these people — way before they got on this airplane — have interacted with each other either directly or through third parties is one of the cool pieces of tapestry of the show.''

Of course, our Lost boys and girls have a few ideas of their own about what should happen on Danger Island. ''I'm just hoping it's going to go in this direction where we discover some magic nut in the jungle that's some sort of hallucinogenic,'' says Andrews (Sayid). ''I was hoping it would grow into an area where we have communes and free love.''

Holloway, clearly channeling his character, Sawyer, takes it one hedonistic step further: ''I would like to throw a big party with all my alcohol, and set up a little bar and have the girls dancing on the bar on bamboo stripper poles. It would remove us from all that ehhh for a minute. Dom already has the guitar. You could have people jamming, girls in their little torn-up stuff, and it'd be like, Yeah! Perfect episode.'' The one episode that they won't dare to think about, though, involves the R-word: rescue. ''No, dude,'' scoffs Perrineau. ''I want to have a job.''-


Posted on Nov 27, 2004, 4:38 PM

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Dom Monaghan article

by Anonymous (no login)

From USA Today:

'Lost' viewers are addicted to him
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY

The Lord of the Rings movies and ABC's Lost are divergent tales, but they have more in common than meets the eye. Both are runaway hits. Each features filming on a verdant Pacific island that allows for adventurous off-day activities.

"I love having the opportunity to surf," says Dominic Monaghan, 27, speaking from Hawaii, where he is part of the Lost ensemble.

And, of course, both share Monaghan — who came to renown as the hobbit Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck in the Tolkien trilogy — and his exceptionally devoted fan base.

That last common point has been a boon for Lost (tonight, 8 ET/PT), which drew its largest audience to date, 18.7 million viewers, for an episode Nov. 3 that focused on Monaghan's character, drug-addled Charlie. ABC says that's not a coincidence.

"We saw that over the summer, when we would do events. Dominic was mobbed by fans. They were burning up the Internet," says Lance Taylor, who oversees ABC's scripted shows.

For Monaghan, who was born in Berlin and grew up there and in England, some of the differences between the productions and characters offered special appeal. After becoming so identified as an adventurous hobbit paired with friend Pippin (Billy Boyd), Monaghan now plays a troubled rocker, one of 48 people stranded on an island after their plane breaks up in flight.

"It was important to me to choose something contemporary after the amount of fantasy stuff I've been involved with." Also, "I wanted something I knew was going to appeal to the audience."

He got that. Lost averages more than 17.5 million viewers, making it the second-most-popular new show of the season (behind ABC's Desperate Housewives).

Although some fans were skeptical when Monaghan chose a TV role, they quickly embraced Lost and the very different character of Charlie, says Cyndi Haulk, who runs The Dom Project (dominic-monaghan.us).

"I have not come across any Dominic fan who is not also a fan of Lost," says Haulk, 35, of Charlotte. "I know that many people started watching Lost because of Dominic's involvement, but I think people kept watching because it's genuinely good."

As much as Monaghan liked Lost's concept, he also admired the vision of one of its creators, J.J. Abrams (Alias). The feeling must have been mutual, because the Charlie character originally was to be a 45-year-old has-been rock star. With Monaghan in mind, the role was remade into a younger one-hit wonder.

Charlie's habit of writing such words as "FATE" and "LATE" on the tape on his fingers was inspired by Monaghan's own organizational technique. "I write on my hands, simply from a logistics point of view," Monaghan says.

In early episodes, Charlie has struggled with his drug problem and his identity, gaining self-esteem by rescuing Jack (Matthew Fox) and discarding his drugs in the Nov. 3 show.

That episode also revealed Charlie to have been a religious young man devoted to music who was pulled to the rock world's dark side by his now-reformed brother. (Another Charlie flashback episode is in the works, possibly for February.)

While battling his drug problem, Charlie has formed an intriguing relationship with mystery man Locke (Terry O'Quinn). That addiction will remain a struggle, Monaghan says.

"It will be quite a tough thing to go through," he says, adding that the show's early prime-time spot limits some graphic elements. "It's tough to show as much of the heroin addiction withdrawal as I would like to."

Charlie also has bonded with the pregnant Claire (Emilie de Ravin). The pair face a harrowing situation Dec. 8, although Monaghan won't discuss details. About the only detail he'll reveal is that a main character will die before season's end.

Monaghan is enjoying Hawaii, where he resides with his pet chameleon, Karma. He likes his Lost colleagues, but he generally keeps to himself off set.

He still retains close ties with his Lord of the Rings mates, with whom he spent three years filming in New Zealand. Orlando Bloom sent him a Christmas present, and Boyd and Elijah Wood will visit him during the Christmas hiatus.

But that's still weeks off, and after this interview, a beautiful day off in Hawaii awaits. What's an actor/hobbit/rocker to do?

"I'm going to go for a surf."





Posted on Dec 1, 2004, 6:05 PM

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Rolling Stone Article on Dom

by Dom Fan (no login)

From http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6862864



Lost Boy

How Dominic Monaghan snapped out of his hobbit depression and found himself with Lost

By GAVIN EDWARDS


On a hilly Hawaiian road, the centuries-old trees tower over the tarmac, forming a green pavilion that dwarfs the Toyota Prius driven by twenty-eight-year-old Dominic Monaghan. He interrupts his anecdote about fleeing from Paul McCartney at an Oscar party and marvels at the verdant world around us. "Isn't that great?" Monaghan says with a grin. "It's like the Shire."

Identifying an island in the Pacific Ocean as Middle-Earth is an easy mistake for Monaghan. He spent almost two years in New Zealand filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy, playing the hobbit Merry Brandybuck. Now he's part of the ensemble on Lost, the hit ABC drama about the survivors of a plane crash on an uncharted desert isle. Monaghan plays Charlie, formerly the bassist for the band Drive Shaft, who has gone through heroin withdrawal with only a few aspirin to ease the pain. Charlie is a pleasant bloke trying to shake off some of the darkness of his past. That description fits Monaghan as well. While we drive around Oahu, he flips through the discs in his CD changer: Interpol, the Beatles, Jay-Z. Monaghan likes Interpol, although he disapproves of lead singer Paul Banks, whom he once spotted wearing an Interpol T-shirt at another band's gig. Shaking his head, he says, "I'd never wear an I AM MERRY T-shirt to get laid."

Monaghan was born in Berlin to British parents who moved there to work in support roles to British troops: his mother, Maureen, as a nurse, his father, Austin, as a science teacher. "Nobody in our family had anything to do with acting," says Austin. "We thought it was a pipe dream." Not Dominic. "When we were kids, I was always convincing my brother to do little dramatic things in front of my mum and dad," he says. "I always wanted to be an actor, but there was an embarrassing element to it. Maybe it was from this English stereotype of 'if you're an actor, you're a homosexual,' which is a strange thing."

When Monaghan was eleven, his family returned to Manchester, England. "Manchester's a rough place," he says. "It's guys walking around in thick anoraks in the pouring rain, smoking that last cigarette and jonesing for a fight."

Monaghan lost his virginity at age fourteen: "It was very disappointing, almost forgettable. I remember having to sit down a couple of years later and say, 'Who did I lose my virginity to?' In hindsight, it screwed up some of my attitudes about sex. I would like to go back and make it about exploring an amazing new adventure instead of getting it over with."

When Monaghan got into trouble at school, he could usually talk teachers out of punishing him, but his charm didn't help him when he got arrested at age eighteen -- for stealing a cheesy horror movie from a video store. "Not even a good movie," he moans. "I didn't have the brains to steal Apocalypse Now." He attempts an explanation: "I had been drinking all day."

Meanwhile, Monaghan was appearing in local theater productions and working on his own scripts. They were intended, of course, as starring vehicles for himself. They featured lots of monologues by likable rogues -- "always with a twinkle," he says. In the middle of his first year at the College of Manchester, he auditioned for the TV show Hetty Wainthropp Investigates; when he was cast, he left school to take the job. "We had a big party at home," his father says. "I remember thinking that this was possibly what his career might amount to."

Hardly. The series lasted two years; after that, Monaghan did a couple of small films and some London theater. He also auditioned, via videotape, for the role of Frodo in Lord of the Rings. When the producers had trouble casting Merry, they returned to those Frodo tapes. Producer-screenwriter Fran Walsh remembers, "He had the flu and spent some time apologizing for the gravelly sound of his voice. He made Frodo sound like an Orc with a hangover, but he did make us laugh."

Monaghan got the good news on his cell phone, riding home in a van with several other actors. They all fell silent, chewing on their own jealousy. Monaghan spent the rest of the ride with one arm around his then-girlfriend, feeling euphoric and uncomfortable.

My meeting with Monaghan in Honolulu turns into drinks, dinner, a long drive around the island, lunch, a stop at his house, a hike through the hills where he points out insects, a visit to the set of Lost and a surfing expedition at Waikiki Beach.

Or, more precisely, Monaghan surfs, while I get the snot knocked out of me. Every time a big wave comes our way, I fall off my board as he twists his scrawny body, somehow using his torso to gracefully steer a board larger than his five feet seven inches toward the shore.

Monaghan learned to surf in New Zealand while filming the Rings trilogy. But his ultimate wave came this past New Year's Eve, when he went surfing with fellow hobbit Billy Boyd. After catching a big one, he shot to the top, only to realize the water behind him was about to collapse on him. "For about three seconds," he says, "I was surrounded by cascading silent walls of water -- then I shook the spray from my face and emerged on the other side, ten feet taller."

Boyd saw the whole thing happen but doesn't want to give Monaghan too much credit. "His surfing's all style and no substance," he says. "I'm a better surfer, by about a million." He laughs. "Make sure you print that -- it'll piss him off."

The Rings cast members pledged they would keep getting together annually. That hasn't happened, but Boyd and Monaghan have remained close. Boyd reports, "Dom's really good about letting you stay at his house, but when you're trying to watch a movie, he does insist on walking around the house in the nude and making cereal."

After the last Rings movie wrapped, Monaghan found himself at loose ends. He had just been on an epic quest to the other end of the world, and now he couldn't go home. He tried anyway. "You've changed," a Manchester friend said accusingly. Monaghan thought, "Of course I've changed. I've done more in the last two and a half years of my life than ever before. If I hadn't changed, I'd have to kick myself in the ass."

Not knowing where else to go, Monaghan moved to Los Angeles. He says quietly, "I never wanted to come to L.A. and feel backed into a corner, but that's exactly what happened." Monaghan would stay up until 5 a.m., drinking and smoking too much weed, playing video games and writing in his diary. Then he'd sleep until 4 p.m. and have the same day all over again, totally alone.

"I didn't have a car," he says, "I didn't have a phone -- but I didn't have any friends in L.A. anyway, no one that I could call up. I wasn't going out, I wasn't trying to get back on track. I was just spending a year doing nothing. It was unhealthy and melancholy for no real reason -- and it was cumulative, because I got pissed off that I was depressed."

When The Fellowship of the Ring started having premieres around the world in 2001, Monaghan was reunited with his castmates, all of whom had enjoyed more success than he did: "I was filled with shame and in this paradox state of clearly needing help but denying it when people offered."

He visited Mexico, where Boyd was filming Master and Commander. Boyd said he couldn't get him a job but advised him to do something that made him happy. "So he surfed a lot," Boyd says. "Being able to get in the water really helped him."

One morning, Monaghan woke up to find his depression had abated. He started answering the phone and eating better. "I just snapped out of it," he says, shaking his head at this small miracle inside his skull.

After J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof wrote the pilot for Lost, they had just twelve weeks to cast the show's fourteen lead roles (and one dog). There was no part for Monaghan -- Charlie was meant to be a faded pop star in his forties, someone of George Michael's ilk. But Abrams and Monaghan met and hit it off. The part was turned into a younger musician, a one-hit wonder. Monaghan soon showed that without his curly Merry wig, he could play a grungy, unreliable guy -- but with a twinkle. He soon proved so popular that the show's producers made an unusual public pledge that Charlie would never be killed. Halfway through the season, Charlie has already endured the plane crash, a cave-in, a near-death from hanging and a surprisingly quick withdrawal from heroin. "It's a Disney show," Monaghan says with a shrug. "They don't want me shitting in a bag and puking into the sand every night."

Monaghan knows the events in store for Charlie this season -- he wanted to make sure he could modulate his characterization properly -- but the cast is kept in the dark about the show's big mysteries. "It would be interesting for us to have dinner with a bunch of fans," he says. "They'd realize we talk about the same shit they do: Who's going to die next? What do you think the monster is? When are we going to cook the dog?"

Monaghan takes another bite of salad. We're eating lunch by the Lost beach set, under a tent with a view of the ocean. The show's ensemble seems cheerful and has good camaraderie. Monaghan enjoys the fake voice mails he trades with Abrams: "I call up as his Indian chiropractor, he'll call me as a gay DJ from Orange County and I'll call him back as a German professor wanting to get his waist measurements. I think that's going to continue for years."

After lunch, Monaghan heads for the makeup trailer. The marks on his skin tell a history. Tattooed on his right shoulder is the elvish symbol for nine, a mark famously shared by the principal actors of the Lord of the Rings movies. On his left shoulder is a quote from the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever": "Living is easy with eyes closed."

The Beatles are a huge influence on Monaghan: When he fled from McCartney, it was because the idea of talking to him was overwhelming. He's always loved being part of an artistic gang, and it's no accident that in his twin career peaks, Lord and Lost, he's part of a much larger ensemble. The second half of that lyric is "misunderstanding all you see," which explains how Monaghan chose the tattoo: as a caution to himself. He wants to keep his eyes open, be receptive to the world and ask himself, "What would Lennon do?"

Monaghan has one other tattoo, on his right foot. It's two small stars, one black, one white; he got them after his first year in L.A., when nothing was going right. "I wanted something that would inspire me to get freer, to get lighter," he says. "I came to understand that the black star was where I was at, and the white star was where I wanted to be."

Last year, when he was visiting New York, a woman wearing stiletto heels stepped on his foot. She apologized and left him bleeding. When his skin healed, there was a nick in the black-star tattoo. Friends told him to get it touched up, but Monaghan knew he shouldn't: Some of his darkness had vanished.




Posted on Feb 27, 2005, 5:19 PM

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Rolling Stone article on Evie

by Lilly fan (no login)

From Rolling Stone:



Little Girl Lost
Evangeline Lilly is the ultimate desert-island fantasy
By GAVIN EDWARDS


On an island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, strange things are happening, things not usually seen on network television. We refer, of course, to the Hawaiian island of Oahu, overrun by a marauding pack known as the cast of TV's hottest show, Lost.
"One night, we had all gone bowling," says Evangeline Lilly, 26, who plays the show's female lead, the beautiful but mysterious criminal Kate. "Most people left, so it was myself, Matthew [Fox], Jorge [Garcia] and Dominic [Monaghan] -- three goofy, out-there guys. So we're in the middle of a parking lot in Kailua, daring each other to do things. Jorge turns to me and says, 'I'll give you twenty dollars if you pee in that garbage can.'" Lilly flashes her America's-sweetheart grin. "Thirty seconds later, I've got my pants down and my bum hanging into this garbage can, and he has to give me twenty dollars."

Lilly laughs loudly. "I don't have a lot of inhibition," she adds, somewhat unnecessarily.

With her freckles and curly brown hair, Lilly has the wholesome/sexy good looks of Kate Beckinsale, or maybe a particularly convincing spokeswoman for a dating chat line (one of her past gigs). She also looks phenomenal in a bikini -- a fact that Lost's producers haven't been shy about taking advantage of. Lilly has become the ultimate desert-island fantasy of 2005 -- the tough girl with improbably well-conditioned hair who could kill you a boar but still look fabulous at the end of the day.

Lost is the strange, addictive, highly unlikely hit show that cross-pollinates Survivor, Twin Peaks and Gilligan's Island: an airplane traveling from Sydney to Los Angeles makes a crash landing on a remote island, leaving forty-eight survivors and a lot of luggage. The island has a whole lot of unexplained hazards, including a murderous tribe of "Others," a polar bear, an invisible monster and a weird goddamn hatch in the ground. Conjecturing about the show's overarching secrets -- It's a government experiment! It's purgatory! -- has become an obsession among fans, one that's reached a fever pitch going into the second season, which premiered on September 21st.

As if all that weren't complicated enough, every episode features one or two of the characters in flashbacks, showing what their life was like before the island. "Our characters are designed to be enigmatic," says Damon Lindelof, Lost's co-creator and executive producer. "We wanted to populate the island with people who didn't want to talk about themselves." They went on the prowl for likable, little-seen actors with a hint of mystery.

In a large cast filled out by unknowns -- Party of Five veteran Matthew Fox stood as the biggest star -- Lilly was the ultimate novice. She grew up in small towns in western Canada; her only previous acting experience was a handful of commercials and a few jobs as an extra in projects shooting in Vancouver, like Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital and White Chicks. Her father was a grocery-store produce manager, and her mom ran a day-care center out of the house. Raised Baptist and Mennonite, Lilly taught Sunday school for eight years, and one of her first jobs out of high school was as a flight attendant for a "really shitty airline." Not exactly typical network-TV-star material.

J.J. Abrams, executive producer and co-creator of Lost, rejected actress after actress for the role of Kate, insisting that they would find the alluring unknown they were looking for. Just two weeks before shooting was set to begin on the pilot, he saw Lilly's audition tape and proclaimed her to be both beautiful and goofy -- exactly the girl he wanted. But could she handle it? Before Lilly took the part, Abrams looked her in the eye and said, "You have no idea what's about to happen. If you don't really want this, run." Lilly avoided his stare and muttered that she was ready, thinking that if she didn't like making the pilot, she'd just go back to college and finish her international-relations degree. Turns out she may never get that degree after all.

"She's amazing," Fox says. "Stepping into the lead of a show with no experience? Her poise and confidence are remarkable."

According to Lilly, Fox tells her something different. Between takes on location, she'll shinny up a vine or maybe eat a slug on a dare, at which point she will receive a steely Fox gaze: "He's constantly looking at me and saying, 'Evie, do you realize you're really weird?' And then he'll just walk away."

Abrams (currently shooting Mission: Impossible 3 in Europe ) says that Lilly's inexperience kept cropping up in Season One; she'd rehearse her scenes at home and then feel off-balance when actors on the set made choices she hadn't expected. "It reminded me how wildly green she was," he says. "And she had mannerisms she had to unlearn, like crinkling up her forehead in a crazy way."

In a show with one mystery piled on top of another like a teetering Jenga tower, Kate's secrets have been central blocks, if confusing ones. In the course of the first season, viewers learned she had killed the man she loved, knocked over a bank to recover a toy airplane from a safe-deposit box and been on the lam for another, unspecified crime (hopefully one that makes more sense).

"I want to see Kate's psychotic side come out," Lilly says of Season Two. What she doesn't want: any more scenes where she sits on the beach pining for Fox's character, the good doctor Jack. "How many times have you seen Kate staring into the ocean, and suddenly Jack walks up and sits down beside her and they have a heart-to-heart?" she complains. "It became laughable. I would say, 'No, no, no way, not again, I'm not doing it.' And the director would say, 'Come on, do it for me, one more time.'"

Lost is that strangest of phenomena: a cult show with blockbuster ratings. Although it had an annoying habit of alternating excellent episodes with mediocre ones, it finished its first season at Number Fourteen in the Nielsens. But previous shows built around Big Mysteries have a way of going sour: Although The X-Files limped on for nine full seasons, it became tiresome after only five; Twin Peaks collapsed in Season Two, after viewers were told who killed Laura Palmer. The big trick for the Lost producers: Keep things puzzling enough to intrigue the audience, but not enough to frustrate the shit out of them. "That's the tightrope walk," says Lindelof. "Sometimes we get frustrated ourselves and decide it's time to download a big chunk of mythology. And then the audience says, 'I find this confusing and alienating and too weird.' So then we pull back, and they say, 'You're not giving us enough.'"

And the challenge for Evangeline Lilly? After a year that took her from Vancouver to Hawaii, from Sunday school to an international object of obsession, it's figuring out just who she is while the whole world is watching. Lilly doesn't have the most polished acting chops in prime time -- what people react to in Kate is her own personality, vivacious and a little inscrutable. "I really don't want to be mysterious," she insists. "Women in this business are expected to put forth a poised and perfect persona. I want people to see that I'm an ordinary-Joe girl. I blow my nose after work, I drool in my sleep and my shit stinks."

Some areas of her life, however, Lilly emphatically wants to leave obscure. When I ask her about recent British newspaper reports that she was married for one year and got divorced soon after Lost started shooting, she laughs and declines to comment, saying, "I don't talk about that kind of stuff. Wherever they got their information, it wasn't from me." She then abruptly changes the subject to the coral abrasions on her legs.

"She's a Christian, but she's a pottymouth," says cast mate Monaghan, formerly known as a Lord of the Rings hobbit. (The two are reportedly dating, although neither will confirm this.)

"Over and over again," Lilly says, "I've been called a walking oxymoron. I do things that you wouldn't associate with a good little Christian girl. People say I'm half-boy, half-girl." Before I can object that the visual evidence suggests otherwise, she continues, "I love style and dressing up, but I've also got competitive testosterone and I'm incredibly stubborn. When I'm going for a jog and I come up behind a guy on his bike, I try to beat him, even if it kills me."

Lilly is now earning far more than she ever did as a stewardess or an oil-change grease monkey (another early job), but her lifestyle hasn't changed all that much. She lives with two roommates (both of whom worked as her stand-ins on Lost). She relishes the idea of being an actress for five to ten years, then walking away and having babies.

She knows that in many ways her job is a dream, but despite Abrams' warnings she wasn't prepared for how overwhelming it would all become. She managed to put off the Big Meltdown until near the end of Season One. Worn down by her workload, she called her parents in full hysterics. They told her, "Screw Hollywood -- you come home and we'll feed you some chicken-noodle soup."

Instead, Lilly went to Rwanda, where a friend was doing missionary work. "I holed up and read and wrote and prayed," she says. "I just disappeared off the face of the earth." Ironically, the consequence of playing the character of a forgotten person stranded on one of the most remote corners of the planet is that she has to travel great distances to end up someplace where nobody will recognize her.

I meet Lilly in the parking lot of an airfield on Oahu's north shore; she wants to go for a glider ride. Lilly is wearing a white shirt and white shorts. She'd be the perfect tennis-player pinup, except for the smudges on her arms: "dirt" makeup from the show that doesn't wash off easily.

"Want to go for a swim?" she says, and spontaneously strips off her clothes, revealing a green bikini and an extremely well-toned body that looks even better in person than on TV. We run toward the Pacific. The surf conceals sharp rocks, but Lilly never slows down.

Back at the airfield, our pilot reports that the glider is ready. Lilly and I squeeze into a passenger seat that seems better suited to one person; she encourages me to put my arm around her. Another plane tows us into the air, and then we spend the better part of an hour flying around in circles without an engine, riding thermal pockets like a roller coaster. Lilly loves every gut-twisting moment in the air, lamenting only that this particular glider can't loop the loop. The pilot keeps up a running monologue, but when he says, "Youth is wasted on the young," Lilly interrupts him.

"It's not wasted on me."

(RS 984, Oct. 6, 2005)



Posted on Sep 24, 2005, 2:15 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Emile de Ravin interview

by Anonymous (no login)

Claire of the lagoon
Emilie de Ravin gets ‘Lost’

By IAN SPELLING



Emilie de Ravin is preggers again. As the mysterious alien Tess on “Roswell,” the petite Australian actress gave birth to an alien/human hybrid child. And on ABC’s runaway hit “Lost” she plays Claire, a plane-crash survivor who’s eight months pregnant and stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere.

“We shoot ‘Lost’ in Hawaii, and it’s a little sweaty,” de Ravin says, “But it’s not too bad, really. The actual prosthetic stomach is hollow, so it aerates slightly. And I take it off when I can.

“Also, even though the beach is hot, there’s always a breeze in Hawaii,” she adds. “Everyone wants me to complain about the belly, but it’s not that terrible.”
Those words – “It’s not that terrible” – don’t apply to Claire’s dilemma. Not only is she surrounded by strangers, but also a polar bear has attacked the group, an even larger, still-unseen menace killed the plane’s captain and a radio is repeating a 16-year-old distress signal sent from the island.


A half-dozen episodes into the show’s run, Claire remains a low-key enigma. She rarely grouses and has befriended several of the more visible characters, notably de-facto leader Jack (Matthew Fox), fugitive Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and heroin-addicted rock star Charlie (Dominic Monaghan). De Ravin fans, however, will finally get their wish Dec. 1, with the Claire-centric episode “Raised by Another.”

“You’ll learn about her back story,” the 21-year-old de Ravin says in her thick Australian accent, speaking by telephone from her Los Angeles home. “I really don’t know how much I can say, but it’s a surprise, what her story is.
“What happens to her is cool and creepy, very creepy in a lot of ways,” she says. “Hopefully people will enjoy it.”
And what’s in store beyond “Raised by Another”?
“Something happens to Claire,” de Ravin says, bursting into a chuckle. “It’s not something I can talk about. I’ve had a few weeks off, because of some happenings. I’m going back to shoot more soon, but there’s not much to report there yet.

“A lot of it is still a mystery to me.”

In addition to heightening the on-island intrigue each week, “Lost” executive producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof pull back the curtain on a different character’s past in each episode. And there’s a common denominator to the revelations: Everyone, well before finding himself or herself on the island, was lost, either emotionally or in terms of their life’s path.

“That’s definitely something I’m seeing come through,” de Ravin says. “In a way, maybe this is all meant to be. Maybe they’re on the island for a reason. Maybe it’s fate and it’s going to help everyone, because everyone was dealing with the same issues.

“Maybe these people just needed to step back and look at their lives,” she continues, “and this is their opportunity to say, ‘I’m just lucky to be alive. I shouldn’t be worried about this and that.’ And their issues, the ones they had before, are much more irrelevant because of the situation they’re in now. Now they’re just trying to survive.”

“Lost” debuted Sept. 22, two weeks before the release of the second season of “Roswell” on DVD. The actress relocated from Australia to Los Angeles for the show, and her role as the shadowy alien who came between star-crossed lovers Max (Jason Behr) and Liz (Shiri Appleby) won her kudos and a fervent fan base.

“It was my first big job,” de Ravin says. “I got to move down here, to L.A. I was just 18. We had a great bunch of people on that show. I had a lot of creative input and worked with people I learned a lot from, people who were very helpful to me, me being new to the country and trying to figure things out. So I have fond memories of ‘Roswell.’ ”

When the WB network contemplated axing “Roswell” after Season One, fans successfully campaigned for a second year. When WB canceled the show after Season Two, the fans – by inundating UPN executives with letters, e-mails, petitions, trades ads and bottles of Tabasco sauce, a favorite alien condiment – convinced UPN to pick up the series.

And ever since UPN let the sun set on “Roswell,” the show’s followers have lobbied for a feature film. It wouldn’t be unprecedented: Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series “Firefly” flamed out fast, but a best-selling DVD collection has emboldened Universal to gamble on an upcoming “Firefly” film.

So why not “Roswell: The Movie?”

“People keep saying that and everyone keeps asking about it,” says de Ravin, who herself appears in the upcoming horror/comedy “Santa’s Slay.”

“But I don’t know anything. I’ve never heard anything official from the producers about a film. “I hadn’t realized it was such a talked-about subject,” she adds. “It’s an interesting idea.”

Returning to “Lost,” some fans fear that Claire isn’t long for this world. The IMDB doesn’t list de Ravin as a series regular, and that ominous title “Raised by Another” has some worrying that Claire may die giving birth. The actress welcomes the conspiracy theories, but says that the theorists are barking up the wrong tree.

“That’s not it, but the title is interesting,” de Ravin says. “I am a regular on ‘Lost.’ I think it’s great that people are so worried. It ups the excitement about what’s going to happen, and it means that people care about the character, which is what you want to hear when you’re playing a role.”




Posted on Dec 3, 2004, 12:52 AM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Honolulu Star-Bulletin article on the Ladies of "Lost"

by Lost Fan (no login)

http://starbulletin.com/2004/12/12/features/story1.html



Evangeline Lilly, Yunjin Kim, Emilie de Ravin and Maggie Grace extend common bonds even after filming stops

By Tim Ryan

Evangeline Lilly has a warning to a boy from her Kailua neighborhood who occasionally collects souvenirs from her clothesline.

"I don't know who he is or if he knows who I am, but when I catch him, I'll beat the living stink out of the kid," promises the star of ABC's hit series "Lost."

"I love fun, funky intimate garments, and I have a lot of them, or had," Lilly said during a break in a fashion shoot for US Weekly at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel. "I don't have a dryer, so I hang all my clothes outside to dry."

While Lilly was working, a girlfriend of hers from Vancouver, B.C., saw the lad "stealing my underwear off the clothesline."

"He'd better return everything or I'll tell his parents. And if they're on eBay, he's going to have to buy them back!"

Like Lilly, who plays Kate on "Lost," her castaway co-star actresses -- Yunjin Kim (Sun), Emilie de Ravin (Claire) and Maggie Grace (Shannon) -- said they felt like survivors upon arriving in Hawaii.

"None of us came here knowing the place or anyone," said Kim, 31, a respected actor in her native Korea. "So the cast, out of need, became very, very close very, very fast. Real castaways of sorts.

"What I didn't imagine was that we would all get along so well. That's lucky. It would have been hard to be here without friends and family and not like each other."

Kim's eyes are closed so Hawaii makeup artist Bryan Furer can apply some mascara. She sighs.

"Actually, we may hang out a little too much," Kim confesses. "We cling to one another. Every Wednesday, we go to the actor's house whose flashback is on the show that night to have dinner and watch.

"We cheer each other on, and when we see a great scene, we'll clap or go give each other hugs and kisses."

American audiences by the millions are watching the weekly hour-long drama, making it the biggest new hit of the fall season and placing it in the overall top 10.

During eight hours of photo shooting and interviews, the actresses make dozens of quick changes in a packed Mandarin Oriental suite. Through it all, the quartet happily obliges.

"They're a dream to work with," Furer says later. "I've had some (actresses) who look at what the girl next to them is getting done, then they suddenly want that look. These women are direct, trusting, respectful and leave their egos at the door."

Each shares a love of Hawaii's natural beauty and outdoor activities: hiking, kayaking, swimming and surfing. The "Lost" cast is so connected that most, including stars Matthew Fox and Dominic Monaghan, live near one another in Kailua, although Kim chose a Waikiki condo.

"I love Kailua," Lilly says. "It's like this lovely and mellow surfing village."

Romantic interests do not figure into feelings of isolation.

Kim says she's "seeing someone" in Korea, but her tone suggests marriage is not in the offing; de Ravin has a boyfriend in Australia who she sees in L.A. or Oahu occasionally; Grace and Lilly emphasize they're solo.

"I don't have time right now or the mental and emotional energy," says Lilly, who doesn't believe in "male friends, ever, because they always get the wrong idea.

"Men are men. The guy is interested in getting you in bed, putting a ring on your finger, always something other than friendship. Men are practical creatures; they're bright but they're after something.

"I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. When I'm with someone, I'm with someone for a long time, and it's very serious. I don't casually date."

She admits she's picky.

"There are very few men who I'm attracted to, and (reporters) are always teasing me about all the great-looking guys on 'Lost,'" Lilly says. "I play the game and say how great and sexy and handsome they are, but honestly, I come across a man who I'm really attracted to about once every five years.

"I like men who can laugh at themselves. I don't go after pretty boys."

DE RAVIN is the only one rarely recognized in public. "Everyone thinks I'm actually eight months pregnant like my character," she says. "That's pretty cool!"

Even so, she has no idea when her "Lost" character will give birth, and is anxious to get it over with.

"That thing I have to wear is bloody huge. I'm ready to explode. ('Lost' creator) J.J. (Abrams) better not be keeping me pregnant for another three years because of some weird thing on the island."

The relative anonymity of working in Hawaii is a major plus for the actors.

"Hawaii is a place where it's easy to be alone if you want to be," says Grace, who celebrated her 21st birthday here in September. "I do a lot of hiking -- sometimes by myself. It's quite calming."

She has also surfed a few times in Waikiki and once at Haleiwa. Her eyes brighten when she recalls the first time she stood up on the board.

"I did it by myself without an instructor and then rode my first head-high wave. That was a fluke; it didn't look that big when I started paddling."

The downside was "big, awful black-and-blue bruises" on Grace's hip bones where they rubbed against the surfboard.

"Sooo ugly," Grace said. "Not exactly the best thing for bikini shots."

It didn't make much difference to producers, since all the actors get cuts and bruises from trudging and running through the jungle for "Lost." Grace's tanned legs have a half-dozen quarter-size bruises this day.

"There are a lot of things I want to try here, like parasailing and hang gliding ... but there's this clause in our contract that basically says we can't do any death-defying activities," says Grace, who bungee-jumped in New Zealand a few years ago.


THEY DO ENJOY quieter moments. Lilly loves portrait painting and visits Honolulu street fairs and celebrations alone.

"When you're by yourself, you can observe the world much better," she says. "When you're with someone, you have to interact."

How Lilly, 25, got the "Lost" role is the stuff of Hollywood legend. The Alberta-born actress was living in Kelowna, B.C., three years ago when she was approached by a Ford modeling agency scout. It wasn't the first modeling agency that approached her.

"I planned to work in international relations, so I wasn't interested one bit," she said.

The scout gave her a business card, but she didn't call until months later while attending the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. A friend asked her if she feared success.

"The acting business scared me because I believed it's such a corrupt, immoral industry. I just didn't know where I would fit in."

After doing some modeling and acting in Stephen King's "Kingdom Hospital," Lilly got the "Lost" part by sending in an audition tape. Abrams asked her to test for ABC executives in Los Angeles, the final stage of casting, and she got the part.

"I still wasn't sure, but thought, OK, let's see where this goes," Lilly says. "I know it was a blessing and an amazing opportunity, but I actually thought this wouldn't be a good situation for me."

But while filming the pilot, she "fell madly in love with acting."

"The show is such a family environment," she said. "I didn't find the Hollywood horror like some people told me I would. I was surprised by how happy I was acting before a camera."

Her life the last six months has been "a whirlwind" with "a lot of scary changes," she said.

"Sometimes this feels like a wonderful dream, sometimes a terrifying dream," she said. "There's this beast in motion that I have no control over. This industry is a beast that can eat you up if you allow it to, especially if you're a female."

There are many times when the actors participate in day-long publicity and photo shoots.

"I'd just finished an intense three weeks of filming one of Kate's episodes, then had to fly to New York to appear on 'David Letterman,' then come right back to work," Lilly said.

There also are pressures on young actresses "to be thin, beautiful, perfect and always put forth just the right image," she says. "See, I have this big noggin, so I wear my hair a certain way to hide it. And my ears stick out, so I wear my hair down. I think about that more now."

The four agree they must always be aware of compromising their ideals.

A few weeks ago, a reporter asked Lilly the names of family members, which she insisted remain private.

"A few weeks later, (an editor) called to say they wouldn't run the story if I didn't give them that information, so I told them not to run it," she said. "In those situations I say to myself, if I wasn't in the entertainment business, what would I do? And whenever I feel myself slipping, I call home."

KIM HAS BEEN a star for years, establishing herself in Asia with the film "Shiri." Still, she's astounded that Abrams wrote "such a great role, specifically for me. What a great compliment."

Hawaii allows her to be mostly anonymous.

"We don't feel the heat of the show out here, and with so many Asians I pretty much fit right in," she said. "Someone just starts talking to me as a regular person about totally unrelated subjects to the show; maybe it's the spaghetti sauce or the weather. Then, as they leave, they may say, 'By the way, I like your role on 'Lost.'"

Grace, who came to Los Angeles at age 16, describes locals "as mellow about the Hollywood thing."

"It's a different kind of recognition because the person may have a friend who works on the show, so they mention that," she says. "No one makes a big deal out of us."

The big deal for the actresses is exhaustion from the show's physical demands. Kim treats herself to massages or soaks in the condo's sauna; Grace likes a hot bath surrounded by scented candles; Lilly paints; de Ravin's choice is "definitely a shower."

On weekends the cast often heads to Fox's beach house.

"When we're hanging out there ... Matthew is so comfortable with us that he's always nude," Grace says. "He's comfortable with his body."

Grace jokes that she's seen more naked men on this series "than in my entire life."

"I guess you can count that as another positive about being in Hawaii," she said.

"All the girls will go skinny dipping too," Kim says. "But we have to get all the guys to do it, too. We have some beautiful men on this show."

Lilly shakes her head, looking like she's ready to call home: "I've heard those whispers, but you can count this Canadian girl out."

An ABC spokesman said "Matthew will not be surprised" by his cast mates' comments: "His fellow castmates are quite vocal about his nudism!"




Posted on Dec 16, 2004, 3:23 PM

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"Lost" for newcomers

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6746678/

Roadmap to ‘Lost’
Get caught up with the plane-crash drama

By Kim Reed

Since it premiered in September, viewers have become addicted to ABC's “Lost,” the saga of a group of strangers stranded on an island after a plane crash. But missing one or more episodes in this serial drama can be confusing. “Lost” returns to ABC with a new episode on Wednesday. To get you caught up, here is a summary of the first 11 episodes, a description of the major characters, and some speculation on what exactly is going on.



Crash landing

After a spectacular plane crash, Dr. Jack Shepard (Matthew Fox) emerges as a leader and bonds with fellow survivor, Kate (Evangeline Lilly). On their first night on the island, the 48 survivors hear a metallic clanking and growling sound, and rustling trees indicate a gigantic something moving around in the jungle.

The next day, Jack looks for the plane's transceiver, along with Kate and Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), a drug-addicted musician. They find the cockpit, and a surviving pilot, who tells them that the plane's radio stopped working, so he made an unscheduled turn for Fiji before they crashed. No one back in civilization knows about the crash, making a rescue improbable. The metallic growling starts up again, and the pilot is killed in a grisly fashion by the still unseen monster.

Jack gives the broken transceiver to Sayid (Naveen Andrews), a former member of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Meanwhile, Jack performs surgery on a U.S. Marshal (Fredric Lehne), who was escorting Kate, a fugitive. Sayid fixes the transceiver and a group heads to higher ground to try for a signal. On the way, a polar bear appears and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), a shady Texan, shoots and kills it. After recovering from the shock of finding a polar bear on a tropical island, the group picks up an SOS call, and determines that a French woman recorded it 16 years earlier. Boone (Ian Somerhalder), an eager young man, urges Shannon (Maggie Grace), his spoiled sister, to translate and she says that the French woman is saying that “it” killed everyone. Jack can't save the marshal, so Sawyer tries to euthanize him with a bullet, but fails, and Jack reluctantly finishes the job.

Boars and bodies

The survivors discover wild boars among the corpses in the fuselage, and Jack suggests they burn the bodies. Jack begins to regret taking on a leadership role. Claire (Emilie de Ravin), a very pregnant Australian, holds a memorial service for the dead. Kate heads out to hunt boar with Locke (Terry O'Quinn), a slightly creepy older man, and Michael (Harold Perrineau Jr.), estranged father to his young son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley). When Michael is gored, he and Kate leave Locke alone. Locke sees the monster and lives, but doesn't tell anyone what he saw.

Jack starts seeing his dead father, and follows him into the jungle. Jack falls off a cliff, and is saved by Locke, who tells Jack that the island is magic. Jack stumbles onto his father's coffin, which is empty. He returns to the group, ready to be a leader.

Jin and his wife Sun (Daniel Dae Kim and Yoon-jin Kim), a married Korean couple, don't speak English. Jin nearly kills Michael for wearing Sun's father's watch. While Jin is locked up, Sun explains everything to Michael, including the fact that her husband doesn't know she can speak English. The group discovers a cave with fresh water and two human skeletons. Jack proposes that they move to the cave. Some join him, but others stay on the beach, afraid they might miss a rescue plane or ship.

Locke convinces Charlie to kick drugs. Jack is trapped in a cave-in and Michael's construction skills and Charlie's slight stature come in handy in his rescue. Meanwhile, an unseen assailant attacks Sayid while he is trying to discern the source of the SOS recording, and breaks the transceiver.

Rousseau, Locke and other philosophers

Shannon starts to suffer from asthma attacks, and Boone can't find her medicine. Everyone suspects Sawyer has it, since he's been hoarding. After bargaining doesn't work, Sayid and Jack torture Sawyer. Later, Sawyer admits to Kate that he never had the medicine. Sun mixes a plant concoction to help Shannon. Sayid is disgusted by his actions and leaves to map out the island.

Rousseau, the French woman, captures Sayid. She tortures him and explains that she was part of a science expedition whose ship crashed on the island; she claims that all of her shipmates caught a disease and she had to kill them, and asks if he's seen her child, Alex. She also mentions something about a black rock. Ultimately, she lets Sayid go, but refuses to join the plane crash survivors.

The very pregnant Claire is attacked. Jack thinks it was just a nightmare. Claire angrily stomps off into the jungle, followed by Charlie. Hurley (Jorge Garcia), an oversized surfer dude, conducts a census using the passenger manifest, and discovers that a person named Ethan was never on the downed plane. Meanwhile, Claire goes into labor and she and Charlie are confronted by Ethan, who kidnaps them both.

Jack and Kate search for Claire and Charlie. They discover Charlie hanging from a tree, apparently dead. Jack performs CPR to no avail at first, but after a few agonizing minutes, Charlie is revived. Back in the cave, Charlie is in shock and can't remember anything, except that his captors just wanted Claire. Locke and Boone are also searching and they discover something large and metallic buried under the mud.

Back in the ‘real’ world

Each week, the island story moves forward, but in addition, one character's back story is partially revealed. To wit:

Jack's father was the chief of surgery, and always told Jack that he couldn't be a leader. Jack became a doctor and refused to cover it up when his father drunkenly botched a surgery and killed a pregnant woman. Later, Jack went to Australia to retrieve his father, who was on a bender. When Jack arrived, his father was already dead.

Kate crashed with a rancher in Australia. She tried to run away after a few months, but he persuaded her to stay. As he drove her into town the next day, Kate realized that the rancher knew she was a fugitive and had turned her in for the reward. Kate forced the truck off the road, but then missed her opportunity to escape the marshal when she stopped to save the rancher's life.

Locke worked for a bullying boss, and planned to fulfill a lifelong dream by going on a walkabout in Australia. The tour company turned him away when they found out that he was in a wheelchair. After the crash, Locke could walk, and no one on the island knows his secret.

Sawyer's father killed his mother after they fell prey to a con man. Sawyer vowed to find the con man and kill him. Instead, Sawyer became a con man himself, even taking on the original con man's name.

Sun and Jin fell in love although she was wealthy and he was poor. Her father agreed to let them marry as long as Jin came to work for him. Sun soon realized that Jin's work schedule kept them apart. When Jin came home covered in blood and refused to answer her questions, Sun started taking English lessons and made plans to run away. At the last minute, she changed her mind when she felt that perhaps Jin was still the man she fell in love with.

Charlie is the bass player for the band DriveShaft. His older brother and bandmate was more into the groupies and drugs than the music. Charlie eventually followed his brother's example, but his brother left the band and settled down. Charlie came to Australia to convince his brother to rejoin the band for a reunion tour, but his brother refused.

Sayid was an interrogation officer for the Iraqi Republican Guard. He was assigned to guard a female prisoner who turned out to be his childhood love. When ordered to execute her, Sayid helped her escape instead.

Claire got pregnant and her boyfriend left. Claire went to a psychic, who said that the baby was dangerous, and Claire had to raise him herself. Claire tried to give the baby up but ultimately went back to the psychic who put her on a flight to LA, where he promised there would be a couple waiting to adopt. Claire later realized that the psychic put her on the doomed flight, knowing what would happen.

‘Lost’ theories

— It's all someone's dream.
— The island has healing and/or rejuvenating powers.
— The castaways are really all in group therapy together and this is a guided imagery exercise.
— The island has the power to give people what they want the most.
— Everyone else on Earth died, and they are a new civilization.
— They're all dead/in hell/in purgatory/in heaven.
— They're all part of a scientific experiment.


Posted on Jan 6, 2005, 2:38 PM

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Jorge Garcia interview

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|92746|1|,00.html


Burly Hurley of 'Lost' Gets Cryptic
Tuesday, January 04 04:00 PM
By Daniel Fienberg

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) The plucky survivors of ABC's "Lost" could serve as a casebook for how most people would respond to being stranded on a deserted (and mysterious) island. Some folks would be as handy and altruistic as Matthew Fox's Jack or as malevolently resourceful as Josh Holloway's Sawyer. Few of us would show the eerie mastery of Terry O'Quinn's Locke, but the reluctant brattiness of Maggie Grace's Shannon would probably be in abundance. For most viewers, though, emulating Jorge Garcia's Hurley would be the best of all possible worlds.

Like the subject of Rudyard Kipling's "If," Hurley has kept his head when all about him are losing theirs. Like that poem's ideal hero, he doesn't necessarily look too good nor talk too wise, but on the fractious island, he's a friend to all and an enemy to none, a gentle giant perfectly willing to do hard labor, deskwork or even invent a liberating game of island golf. It's no wonder that Fox and Holloway and Evangline Lilly may get the press, Garcia has broken out as one of the show's most popular stars.

"I feel like suddenly I get a bit better customer service, where people are more anxious to help me," Garcia says of his public reception. "Usually when people spot me, they're really happy to see me."


While the other characters on "Lost" constantly appear grimy and miserable, stressed out and on the verge of giving up, Hurley always just seems happy to be alive. He's quick with a joke, the only castway who could possibly be described as happy-go-lucky. Garcia seems to be the same way. The 25-year-old actor arrived at auditions for "Lost" before the character of Hurley even existed and found himself reading pages for Sawyer. Even once producers assured him that his character would exist and that there copies of the pilot script were available, the actor wasn't in any kind of rush to see how many lines he got or whether he'd get to have any big emotional moments. Most familiar from comedic work on "Becker" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Garcia had all the information he needed.

"I had faith in J.J. Abrams and shooting in Hawaii and that was pretty much all I needed to hear," he laughs.

For the first half of the shooting schedule, production has just been wish fulfillment for the Nebraska-born actor.

"I love what I've gotten to do so far," he says. "The whole thing where I ran away from the plane and it exploded behind me and we dove out in the sand, very action star-ish, I thought that was awesome. That's not something I really expected that I would get to do in my career."

Garcia notes, "Really all I need is a sword fight and I'll be totally satisfied."

Viewers, however, are far from satisfied with the mere snippets of knowledge they've received about the life of Hugo Reyes. While certain characters, including Fox's Jack, have already had multiple episodes dedicated to their backstories, Hurley has gone entirely unexplained, barring some cryptic hints. That won't change until the season's 18th hour, an episode which hasn't even been shot yet. Garcia, in fact, hasn't even seen a script, though the producers have let him in on the character's "big secret." Whatever that secret may be, Garcia isn't telling.

"Because there were hints laid out, I kinda had an idea that it was coming from here," he hedges, revealing nothing of his backstory. "And then when I really stepped back and looked at it in the context of who Hurley has been up to this point, with the group, and that coming out in his revelation. Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool."

On the Internet, wags have been speculating for weeks over a perplexing line of dialogue where Hurley refers to his normal life by saying, "I'm known as something of a warrior myself," a statement that has prompted buzz that Hurley could be everything from an extremely large undercover spy to an extremely dedicated Dungeons and Dragons player.

"There are certain things where you never realize what exactly the audience is going to jump on and really wonder about and catch," Garcia says of his "warrior" comment. "I didn't give that one too much attention and then I realized the attention it got on the Internet. So it made me wonder, 'Yeah, actually I wonder what that is.'"

He adds that in the script, the character smiles after making the statement, but the camera never cut back to his face.

More than just an actor on "Lost," Garcia is a fan, prone to making his own wild guesses about different parts of the complicated plot. For instance, this week he's convinced that the unseen and murderous creature in the jungle is actually something mechanical, but he still doesn't know for sure. He's also wary about some of the more convoluted and mystical theories posited in cyberspace.

"I'm just hoping that we're not in Purgatory, the 'We're All Dead' one," he says. "It writes off a lot too easily. I'd like us to still be on Earth, just because as it continues to unravel and we discover where we are, I want a semblance that you have to work a bit to figure it out."

As much of a conspiracy buff as he may be, Garcia isn't stressing out about solving the riddles of "Lost." Like his character, he's just content where he is, taking his off-days to swim at a favorite secluded Hawaiian beach.

"I float in the water and reflect on how great my life is right now," Garcia sighs.

"Lost" returns to ABC with new episodes starting Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 8 p.m. ET.






Posted on Jan 6, 2005, 4:54 PM

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Damon Lindelof interview

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30246

Lost Answers Are Out There

Damon Lindelof, co-creator of ABC's hit series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that he and fellow executive producers J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk have carefully worked out the answers to the castaway island's mysteries, including the nature of the unseen jungle monster, some of which may be revealed by the end of the first season. "Every mystery that we present on the show—What is the monster? Where does Ethan come from? Why hasn't Claire had her baby yet?—all those are questions that we know the answers to," Lindelof told reporters at the network's winter press tour in Universal City, Calif. "But how and when we present those answers is not written in stone. ... Hopefully we ... won't betray the audience. ... All I can say is, we're trying, we're doing our best, and we think the answers that we have are pretty cool."

Lindelof said that a DVD set of the first season will come out this summer, before a second season begins in the fall. As the show progresses, he added, it won't venture too far into science fiction as its mysteries unfold. "We're still trying to be ... firmly ensconced in the world of science fact," he said in an interview. "I don't think we've shown anything on the show yet ... that has no rational explanation in the real world that we all function within. We certainly hint at psychic phenomena, happenstance and ... things being in a place where they probably shouldn't be. But nothing is flat-out impossible. There are no spaceships. There isn't any time travel."

As the first season winds up, expect guest stars, including former The X-Files star Robert Patrick, Lindelof said. "I think part of the fun of our show is that guest stars can pop up in flashbacks, and it'll be a real surprise to the audience," he said. "Instead of stunting it or promo'ing it that way, to suddenly see Robert Patrick on an episode of Lost, I think, is potentially very exciting for people. I'm kind of sorry that slipped out." Patrick appears in a scene during a flashback involving Sawyer (Josh Holloway). What about Keri Russell, who starred in Abrams' earlier series, Felicity? "Well, I don't know if she'll turn up on Lost or [Abrams' other ABC show] Alias or anything, but her and J.J. are always threatening to work together again, so it could happen anytime or anywhere. Keep your eyes peeled." Lost airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Posted on Jan 24, 2005, 7:17 PM

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J.J. Abrams on future seasons + plot developments

by lost fan (no login)

From: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30307

Lost Looks Ahead

J.J. Abrams, who co-created ABC's hit SF series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that he's already coming up with ideas for a second season. "We obviously know what we're doing for the rest of this year," Abrams said in an interview at ABC's winter press preview in Universal City, Calif. "We definitely have big ideas about what we want to do down the line, past just the second season, and a lot of ideas for the second season already."

But Abrams remained coy about his plans, though he promised to reveal some of the secrets about the island where 48 survivors of a plane crash—including Jack (Matthew Fox) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly)—have found themselves stranded. "There isn't one answer to everything," Abrams said. "It's, like, this island has an amazing history that we've talked about, and things will change as we go, it always does. ... [But] you don't have the time or the energy to figure out everything in the first season of a show that, ... if you're lucky, [you] get five, six, seven, eight years [to do]. But we have a few really big ideas that we hope we're on long enough to tell."

Abrams added: "The thing about Lost is that the show is not just about ... the mysteries of the island. This island has a lot of complex sort of mythology and stuff that we've discussed, and will over time be revealed. ... In order to do the story right, you need time. ... Each of these characters has a handful or ... more of important stories that you want to see told over time as well."

Abrams offered one hint for attentive viewers. "I don't know if you can see this yet, [but every flashback] makes reference to something else," he said. "So you'll get a beginning, middle and end of that flashback story, but you'll wonder, 'Wait, what the hell was he there for? That's weird.' And that will help prompt the next flashback. At the end of the day, what I think is cool about it is you'll be able to take the Sawyer [Josh Holloway] flashbacks, all of them, and you could cut them together so you see them as an entire sort of movie of this person's life. See where they started, see what happened to them over time, and make a sort of linear thing. And yet, we're seeing them every eight, 10 episodes, you'll see that person's story. ... If we get to do the story that we anticipate doing, there's a big thing and a big payoff. Whether we get to that at the very end or we get to that earlier, and it becomes the start of the next chapter, is part of the evolution of telling the story." Lost airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Posted on Feb 4, 2005, 6:31 PM

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LA Times article on "Lost"

by Anonymous (no login)

When J.J. Abrams turned in an outline for "Lost" last year, Lloyd Braun, then ABC Television Group's chairman, bragged excitedly to a buddy, "This, my friend, is 'ER.' "

Braun was so convinced by the 25-page outline in his hands, a hybrid of "Survivor" and "Cast Away," that he ordered a two-hour, $11-million pilot with no script, just the creators' vision of plane crash survivors on an eerie, not-so-deserted island.

"The outline was, quite honestly, the best piece of television I've ever read," said Braun, who had conceived the show and is now the head of Yahoo Media Group. "I was out of my mind."

Then came the reality check: The two-hour pilot, featuring an ensemble of 14 actors, would have to be finished in 12 weeks at the end of pilot season, when supposedly all of the hot talent had been scooped up. Which meant that co-creators Abrams ("Alias" and "Felicity") and Damon Lindelof, a writer-producer on "Crossing Jordan," and casting director April Webster would have to pull off a casting feat for the history books.

What they came up with broke new TV ground, but not just for its warp-speed casting efficiency. They also somewhat inadvertently managed something with more profound implications: They assembled an ethnically and geographically diverse cast, then hammered out a show for them that favored humanity over tokenism - a casting and writing coup that has sparked water-cooler chatter beyond the island's frightening man-eating monster, polar bears and other spooky human inhabitants. With its unmatched pan-demographic cast of characters who all defy stereotypical expectations, the show reflects the world as it is increasingly experienced by young people, who are less racially identified than older generations. "Lost" moves a step beyond even "ER," long considered the gold standard of diversity. In the Chicago emergency room, an institutional hierarchy to some degree dictates character development. On a remote island, anything goes.


Openness was job requirement No. 1 for 25-year veteran Webster, who casts "Alias" and was hired by Abrams and Lindelof to find the would-be castaways. With no script - the creators had not completed it - and few audition scenes, Webster alerted agents in New York, Los Angeles, Europe, Canada and Australia, and left the rest up to the universe. The passengers of Oceanic Flight 815, which departed from Sydney, Australia, and was heading for L.A., were supposed to come from all over the globe.

Steve McPherson, who headed Touchstone Television, the studio that produces "Lost," before it became his job as ABC's head of prime-time programming to schedule the show, said time pressure may have helped Abrams and his team buck the usual casting patterns and create truly innovative TV characters. "It just shows you what you can do when you don't try to control it too much," Webster said. "These actors were so willing and able to not know. And in that way, they helped the writers create such interesting people."

As a result of the speeded-up schedule and lack of clear script requirements, actors were cast for parts that didn't exist and other characters were altered to fit the qualities of actors the producers wanted to hire. Even the role of Jack, the show's doctor-hero, played by Matthew Fox, changed from a guest spot to a series regular when Abrams decided to let him live. Jack originally was going to be killed by the show's unseen monster and left hanging on a tree, which then became the unfortunate fate of the airliner's pilot.

"Because it was all so new and fluid, if they saw a great actor for another role, they'd create it right then and there," Braun said.

Case in point: Yunjin Kim, who was born in Korea and grew up in New York City and auditioned for the part of Kate, the fugitive-murderer, who ended up being played by Evangeline Lilly, a Canadian actress. What Kim did not know is that Abrams and Lindelof had a vague idea for another character who does not speak English, and meeting Kim was the spark for two more characters.

"She had this incredible career in Korea," Lindelof said. "One of her movies ["Shiri"] outgrossed 'Titanic,' and she was so talented, we really wanted her. So we thought, What if she's Korean and we have a couple and they're alienated from the rest of the group because they can't communicate?"

She became a character named Sun, and a search began for Sun's husband, Jin, who was scripted as a waiter before he married into a wealthy family and began working for his father-in-law's highly questionable business. Enter Daniel Dae Kim, a Korean-born actor who grew up in New York and Philadelphia. Jin and Sun speak in Korean, and how the show handles it is a TV first: When they're alone, their conversations are subtitled; when the other castaways are nearby, there are no translations.

"Nobody wants tokenism, and that's one of the reasons I'm so proud of this show," Daniel Dae Kim said. "It shows America and television executives and movie producers that you don't have to have a lily-white cast of twentysomethings to have a successful project. The story lines speak to America regardless of color and can even be enhanced by mixtures of race and gender." That same attitude transformed the character named Hurley in the minds of the creators from a 55-year-old redneck to the sweet and affable large guy who cracks jokes on the island. Jorge Garcia had guest-starred on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and the producers, taken with his comedic timing, requested that Webster track him down. All that is known about Hurley, so far, is that his real name is Hugo Reyes and he is a native Californian of Latino heritage.

"Whoever the characters were in their regular life gets thrown out the window because they're forced to live together in that situation," said Garcia, who grew up in San Juan Capistrano and is the son of a Cuban mother and Chilean father. "It doesn't matter who any of them thought they were or who society thought they were."

That may hold true in the South Seas, where the castaways are stranded, but Hollywood often misses an important point - one that Michael Crichton effectively made when he wrote the pilot for "ER" without including gender or race for any of the doctors.

"If racial identity is the only thing that's interesting about a character, that's extremely limiting and also insulting to how society works now," said John Wells, whose company produces "The West Wing," "Third Watch," "Jonny Zero" and "ER." "Sometimes in an attempt to diversify shows, the characters become stereotypical because they're there for the purpose of providing diversity and you're trying to write to that instead of trying to write human beings."

That was precisely Yunjin Kim's dilemma when she finally read the pilot script for "Lost" and thought her character "was really backward." The actress contacted Abrams, who quelled her concerns by sharing some of his plans for Sun, who, it turns out, had secretly learned English and is much stronger than she seems in the pilot.

"You have an image of what these characters are on the island but then in the flashbacks, you learn they are quite different," she said. "And not just the 'ethnic' characters. Even Jack, the perfect heroic doctor who saves everyone, is seen later having a nervous breakdown. The writers don't ignore race. They touch on it when it's needed, but it's not what these people are all about."

Occasionally, Sawyer, the Southern loudmouth (played by Josh Holloway) calls the Iraqi character, Sayid, "Mohammed," and he once blamed him for crashing the airplane. Desperate for something to eat, Charlie, the British rocker (Dominic Monaghan), once accused the overweight Hurley of hoarding the food. And when Jin, the Korean husband, spots Michael, the black father, wearing Jin's father-in-law's gold watch and talking to his wife, he attacks him physically. Michael at first assumes it's because he is black.

"When I first read that scene, I called up the writers because I'm from Brooklyn and I can't say that there's a huge thing between black people and Koreans," said Harold Perinneau, who plays Michael, a single father who turns out to have suffered for many years after being denied contact with his son, Walt (Malcolm David Kelley). "I felt it was important to speak up because I don't ever want it to dilute to the simple idea that people are going to be mad at Michael just because he's a black guy."

The actor and the writers compromised. After the fight, "Walt asks me about it and I tell him that I was just angry," Perinneau said. "There are a lot of shows where they have a black guy and when they have an episode about the black guy, it's about somebody dissing the black guy for being black. I'm not in that show. I'm not doing that show. We heard that one already."

Terry O'Quinn, who plays the slightly creepy but wise Locke, who was a paraplegic before the crash, said he would be proud if his show's legacy were to "simply cast actors because they were good and workable, rather than because they were a 33-year-old white man or a 22-year-old Oriental woman."

"If the world is becoming more global, we certainly should become more global in the business," he said. "At the same time, I want to make sure I always have a job. I'm an old white man!"



Posted on Feb 13, 2005, 6:04 PM

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Big USA Today feature on "Lost"

by Anonymous (no login)

From: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-02-22-lost_x.htm

Posted 2/22/2005 10:11 PM Updated 2/24/2005 3:47 AM



'Lost' Island burns with mystery
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY

Viewers came to Lost for the island mystery. Its writers hope they'll stay for the castaways.



Another secret arises: Michael is convinced that Jin is responsible for burning the raft survivors have been building on Wednesday's Lost.



ABC's Lost (Wednesday, 8 ET/PT) landed on the TV map not only because it was an immediate ratings hit — averaging 16.4 million viewers an episode — but also for its unusual story line and structure.

In the serialized mystery, one question looms over all: Where are they?

That single central structure might seem more appropriate for a novel, in which the author decides when to conclude the story, than for a TV series, whose writers can't control when it ends. But Lost's head writers, co-creator Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, say the structure they, along with co-creator J.J. Abrams, have devised can sustain tension and suspense for however long the series ultimately runs.

The strategy is to plant many mysteries and to turn the focus onto the 40-plus crash survivors of Oceanic Airways Flight 815.

"We're asking many questions," Lindelof says. "There is something in the jungle, which we're not showing you. Kate did something, which we're not telling you. There is a broadcast repeating over and over. What is the source?

"The key in the storytelling is when to answer questions and when to ask new ones. The longer the show goes, the more I hope the audience begins to realize there is no one answer."

Lost's unorthodox structure, combined with some conventions of series television, gives the writers tools to try to achieve their goals. They include:

•An unusually large cast. The 14-member ensemble gives the writers numerous possibilities for character development and relationships. The survivors and their intertwined back stories offer the best way to pace the show. "Most people are watching because of the characters," Cuse says.

•Flashback stories. The flashbacks let the writers create richer characters, new mysteries and revelations. Lindelof says Lost's biggest twist to date was not about the island, but that the adventurous Locke (Terry O'Quinn) used a wheelchair.

•A large collaborative process. A novelist works solo. TV writers are a team, whose efforts are interpreted by directors, editors and actors. An on-camera spark between actors Naveen Andrews and Maggie Grace led writers to create a romantic story for their characters, the Iraqi Sayid and the spoiled Shannon.

•Feedback. Lindelof and Cuse can't dictate when the story ends, but they can adjust based on ratings and other factors, such as Internet chatter. "We're getting feedback from people saying, 'We want more mysteries solved,' " Lindelof says. "Maybe we should answer a couple of more questions than we were actually planning on answering."

High ratings mean Lost will last longer, which requires a more gradual pace. On a failing show, mysteries could be resolved in a few episodes, Lindelof says.

Kevin J. Anderson, co-author of Dune: The Battle of Corrin, marvels at the writers' balancing act.

"I have to say I'm amazed as a writer. How are they going to keep this up?" he says. "They have a foreground story with problems on a mysterious island. But the back stories are just as interesting."

Not everyone believes Lost is moving fast enough. Best-selling author Stephen King, an early fan, has concerns. "It's been in neutral for the last month or so," he says via e-mail. "I have no clear sense that they know where they're going. My initial interest could be rekindled, but right now it's ... er ... getting lost."

Working forward, backward

Little about Lost is conventional. It started as not much more than a Survivor-meets-Cast Away concept from then-ABC executive Lloyd Braun; Abrams and Lindelof didn't get a chance to work on the script and casting until other fall pilots were much further in development. In some cases, they worked backward, hiring actors they liked, such as Jorge Garcia and Yunjin Kim, and creating roles (Hurley and Sun) for them.

Early in the season, Crossing Jordan alum Lindelof brought on the veteran Cuse (Nash Bridges, Martial Law), who had helped Lindelof get started on Bridges. Today, Lindelof and Cuse, executive producers with Abrams, oversee daily operations.

Neither Cuse nor Lindelof has worked on a show quite like Lost. It's a rare breed, unlike a cop or medical show, which could be a sign of how challenging the form is. Only a few other shows have had such complicated mythologies or mysteries, including Chris Carter's The X-Files and David Lynch's Twin Peaks.

But the two aren't troubled about plotting their series in such an open-ended medium. That's how TV is.

"We have to rely on gut instinct. I remember the frustration I felt with Twin Peaks as a viewer. It went from being totally great to totally frustrating, because it just got more and more obtuse," Cuse says. "We're really conscious of our show not doing that."

Cuse and Lindelof strongly dispute a contention they sometimes hear: that they are making up the series as they go along. They say mysteries and answers were part of a show "bible" devised early on. There are explanations for the monster, the polar bear, the hatch in the ground, the French woman and the island itself.

"We have a board in the writers' room with all extant mysteries: What questions are in play? Every time you put one up, you hopefully take one off," Lindelof says. Some answers will come by season's end; in addition, one of the 14 regulars will die.

At the same time, Lindelof wants the show to avoid becoming so twist-happy that it obscures the characters and stories. He says that after The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan's films were hurt: Audiences lost sight of stories as they waited for the twists.

Time and mysteries

Novelists and scriptwriters say TV has advantages and disadvantages for storytellers.

"It's an organic, dynamic process. If something isn't working, you can write a character off" or change a plotline, says novelist Joseph Finder, author of Paranoia and High Crimes. At the same time, "they're dealing with this strange limitation. They don't know how much time they'll get to do something."

George Pelecanos, author of the upcoming Drama City and a writer for HBO's The Wire, says TV can limit a writer's options. When he's writing a book and decides to change a story element, he can rewrite earlier chapters to make it match. Once a development has appeared on the small screen, writers can't undo it.

One big challenge for Lost was to get viewers to buy into the idea that people could survive a plane crash on an island but not be quickly rescued. "Once the audience accepts the basic premise that nobody's looking for them, it can become Lord of the Flies with adults," says Peter Lefcourt, a TV writer and novelist whose latest book is The Manhattan Beach Project. Lefcourt likens Lost to ABC's Desperate Housewives, in that both juggle character stories with ongoing mysteries.

Lost's characters and smaller puzzles help keep the bigger mysteries from becoming a viewer preoccupation. Cuse and Lindelof say Lost could continue even after answering the central question.

After the pilot, many viewers asked what the monster was. With subsequent story and plot twists, "I get asked that question a lot less frequently," Lindelof says.

But how long can they balance those elements? Anderson likens the effort to "the guy on the old Ed Sullivan Show spinning all the plates."

"I think they're doing it just right for now. But it's still only three-quarters through the first season. If this was the fourth year and they didn't answer anything, I'd be really impatient," he says. Eventually, "they need to give us profound and fascinating answers."

That's another challenge: making the mysteries' answers stand up to fans' vivid expectations.

Anderson and others say time eventually worked against The X-Files. In the final years of its long hit run, some viewers felt the mythology became too complicated and did not provide adequate answers.

Lindelof and Cuse say they've drawn a map to avoid such dead ends. "I liken it to taking a road trip from Los Angeles to New York. We know we're going to visit the Grand Canyon, we know we're going to stop in Omaha, we know we're going to Wall Drug in South Dakota. The route we take between these landmarks is what we make up as we go along," Cuse says. "And those landmarks are the answers to the mysteries."

Contributing: Bob Minzesheimer



Posted on Feb 24, 2005, 2:08 PM

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Zap2it.com interview with Josh Holloway

by Anonymous (no login)



LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) With the meteoric success of ABC's castaway drama "Lost" -- which returns with new episodes on Wednesday, March 30 -- the career of journeyman actor Josh Holloway, who plays bad-boy con artist Sawyer, has gone from near-zero to off the charts in a few short months. The 35-year-old former model is still coping with all this newfound attention.

"It's been fun," he says in his deep, Georgia drawl, "but it's still shocking at times. I still enjoy it a bit. I haven't been in it long enough to get jaded. Nothing in my life has ever just happened. I've had to seek out my directions in life, and they normally are long and arduous before it gets fun and exciting.

"This was the same, and I expected it to be so. I think it's human nature, we need the pain to enjoy the glory."


Holloway's experience on "Lost" is hardly the first time that an actor in his mid-30s has suddenly catapulted to stardom. George Clooney did it in "ER," and more recently, Julian McMahon did it in "Nip/Tuck." And while he's now a confirmed movie star, Harrison Ford was about that age -- and making ends meet by working as a carpenter -- when he got the role of Han Solo in "Star Wars" in 1977.

"Really?" Holloway says when told this. "He's a big inspiration for the character of Sawyer. I love him, Harrison Ford. That's what I used for my prep. I wanted Sawyer to be a cross between Han Solo and maybe Wolverine -- a little more edge and anger to him, but with the lovable scoundrel that Han Solo was.

"It's such a brilliant character. I love playing, not a bad guy, but a scoundrel. That's the key, to be the guy that you love to hate, not the guy you hate, or else, in the nature of this show, I would have been dead already."

And, since series co-creators J.J. Abrams ("Alias") and Damon Lindelof keep hinting a major character will die at season's end, Sawyer could be dead yet.

"And I still could be," Holloway says. "They remind us of that constantly."

It's not that Sawyer hasn't had his close calls, though. When he's not reading such books as "Watership Down," annoying physician and self-appointed castaway leader Jack (Matthew Fox) or exchanging double entendres with enigmatic fugitive-from-the-law Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Sawyer busies himself with stashing away whatever usable items he can salvage from the wreckage of the show's doomed Australia-to-Los Angeles flight.

This hoarding got Sawyer into trouble with Jack when, just out of spite, he refused to say whether or not he had needed medicine. Jack then turned to castaway Sayid (Naveen Andrews), a former Iraqi Republican Guardsman, to employ torture to get Sawyer to talk.

"I really liked it," says Holloway about filming the scene. "I knew it was going to be difficult physically, but I like that kind of stuff. I like getting beat up a little bit. It's normal. I grew up in the country with three brothers, and gosh, all we ever did was to come home with something my mom had to fix.

"So the torture was great, but it was torture, because I'm 35, and I spent 14 hours, two days in a row, on my knees. It was grueling, yelling, I lost my voice. At one point, I hyperventilated a little bit. It was very interesting, as an actor, to go there."

Regarding the question of whether there are any more like him at home, Holloway says, "They're all computer heads. They're very intelligent. The brother right under me is a nuclear physics major from Georgia Tech, so they're all brainy. I can barely send an e-mail."

He does, though, get a taste of home when he's hanging out with Fox, who, according to fellow cast members, likes to let it all hang out.

"Oh, Matt is unafraid," Holloway says. "He's just secure with himself and his family, and he is not afraid to be nude -- not out in public, but if he's around his house, he don't care, and I love him for that.

"He reminds me of my dad, because my dad was a total nudist. We grew up on a dirt road, way out in the country, no one can see you, so Dad was just walking around naked all the time. So Foxy reminds me of Dad."

While Holloway may get a little nostalgic for home, he doesn't miss modeling. "I have nothing bad to say about the industry, because it provided me with exactly what I wanted it for. I traveled extensively and made some cash. But it's just not fulfilling work.

"Oh, Lord, we made a joke that you carry around your modeling stick, so you could whack yourself on the head a few times right before they shoot, so you don't have a thought and get that far-off look in your eyes. It's really just from being smacked, that's all."

When Sawyer gets that look in his eyes, it's usually because Kate is around. In the torture scene, she took him up on his offer of information in exchange for a kiss that seemed to go on longer than strictly necessary.

"I was looking at that," Holloway says, "going, 'Well, shoot, Hollywood kissing's supposed to have tongue in it -- or is it?' I liked it. It went well. When I watched it and saw the tongue action, I was like, 'Oooh, maybe we shouldn't do that,' but my character, of course he's going to go for it."

As for the big, two-part finale in May (the final part is reported to be 90 minutes, with the last 30 almost commercial-free) and the mysterious death, Holloway says, "The last three episodes, they're going to answer some questions and create more, but they're going to move the story forward. In the season finale, they're not even giving us a script. We only get our scenes.

"We work for the CIA, I swear."



Posted on Mar 30, 2005, 9:12 AM

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USA Today article on Terry O'Quinn

by Anonymous (no login)

From: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-03-29-lost-oquinn_x.htm

Actor has a lock on 'Lost'
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY

Life on a Pacific island transforms Locke, the fascinating adventurer on ABC's Lost. It has done much the same for actor Terry O'Quinn.



What lies beneath: Terry O’Quinn plays the adventurer John Locke on the hit ABC series Lost.
ABC

For Locke, one of 48 survivors of a plane crash, the mysterious island has given him the chance to walk. Many consider the revelation Locke had been in a wheelchair the most riveting moment yet for the hit, which returns Wedneday (8 ET/PT) with its first new episode since March 2, featuring a Locke flashback.

O'Quinn's experience hasn't been quite so dramatic. But Lost and the accompanying move to Hawaii have been part of a great change for the 52-year-old actor and his wife, Lori. "My wife and I were going through such a bad time two years ago," dealing with family and money issues, he says. "My wife said, 'We've got to change our thinking. We're letting everything drag us down.' We made a conscious decision to become more positive."

Shortly after, Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams called to offer the role. O'Quinn, often cast as a military officer or government authority in such shows as Abrams' Alias, accepted instantly. "It was the easiest casting I'd ever experienced," Abrams says.

O'Quinn hasn't looked back. Enjoying life on Oahu, he and his wife, parents of two grown sons, recently auctioned off holdings from a home in Maryland. "It kind of is like tabula rasa," he says. The term, which means "blank slate," is the title of a Lost episode and also is associated with 17th-century philosopher John Locke, for whom O'Quinn's character is named.

It also appears to apply to Lost's Locke. With a previous existence as a box-company desk jockey erased after the crash, he rises from the wreckage as a skilled survivor with a shaman-like feel for the island.

Abrams says O'Quinn has a wisdom and depth — not to mention "a great, chiseled face" and steely eyes — that transfer to his characters. "It feels like he could have gone through the trenches and come out the other side."

Fans sense Locke's strength, which adds to the character's appeal. "The ladies love John Locke," series co-creator Damon Lindelof says. He gives off a whiff of danger that makes fellow survivors — and viewers — wary.

As Locke, O'Quinn has the "ability to look menacing and warm and friendly at the same time," says fan June Williams of Yonkers, N.Y. The character has a "Zen-like attitude which covers a pretty turbulent soul."

O'Quinn, who uses clippers rather than a razor to get his smooth pate, says he believes Locke is trying to do the right thing. "He understands some won't see what he's doing as right or may not appreciate his methods."

Tonight, Locke begins to suffer physically as he and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) try to open the mysterious island hatch. "Locke is confused. His faith is getting tested," O'Quinn says.

The actor has dropped about 25 pounds by changing his diet, swimming and walking. He's enjoying his success. "It's the first time in my career that everybody knows why they know me."

But he takes nothing for granted, knowing that producers plan to kill one of the central characters before the season's finale.

"They haven't even agreed that only one person dies. I assume when Locke dies, I'll find out when they hand the script to me."


Posted on Mar 31, 2005, 9:23 AM

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NY Times article on writing for "Lost's" 2nd season

by man of faith (no login)

From http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/arts/television/18manl.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnl=0&8hpib&adxnnlx=1127052927-ZhbNcRNF9qFlpsDSjsHPrQ :



The Laws of the Jungle


By LORNE MANLY
Published: September 18, 2005
LOS ANGELES

ON "Lost," one of last season's most successful series, some four dozen plane crash survivors confronted a Pacific island infused with mystery.

A monster devoured a pilot. A polar bear rampaged through the jungle. An enigmatic paraplegic could walk again. The first season ended last May with dual cliffhangers: two characters peered down a hatch they had found, only to be greeted by the spooky darkness of an unending vertical shaft, while another group of characters, attempting an escape by raft, were thwarted by scary strangers who sailed off with a child.

But the biggest puzzle the producers of "Lost" face as they enter their second season this Wednesday may well be how to avoid alienating the audience that has made it one of ABC's first water-cooler hit dramas in more than a decade.

The creators of shows like "Lost" - serialized dramas steeped in their own elaborate mythologies - face a dilemma. Audiences compulsively desire, even demand, answers. But reveal too much, too soon, and they might just bolt, as "Twin Peaks" discovered in the early 1990's.Or dole out only tiny hints about how the pieces fit together, and viewer obsession can curdle into frustration or even disdain, as happened in the latter years of "The X-Files."

"If you get to the point where you're just vamping," said Mark Frost, who created "Twin Peaks" with the filmmaker David Lynch, "just to withhold the trump card about the central mystery, you will start to see the series slipping."

"An audience will put up with being toyed with for only so long," he added. "But if the audience responds to the characters, the rest will take care of itself."

"Lost" is not your typical network drama, either in its genesis, its large and international cast or its fondness for deliberate ambiguity. The idea for the show was hatched in the summer of 2003 by Lloyd Braun, then the chairman of ABC Entertainment. Sitting at a clambake at his hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii, waiting for his family, he gazed out the beach and began thinking about how to translate "Cast Away," the Tom Hanks movie the network had just shown to good ratings, into a television series.

But a lone man and a mute volleyball on a deserted island do not make for compelling television, so Mr. Braun applied some Hollywood high-concept formula and came up with a hybrid of "Cast Away" and "Survivor."

The first attempt at a script, however, did not satisfy Mr. Braun, and neither did the rewrite. So Mr. Braun turned to J. J. Abrams, the creator of ABC's "Alias." and offered him a writing partner: Damon Lindelof, a longtime fan who worked on NBC's "Crossing Jordan."

"Basically, we had a two-hour meeting where we both came to the same exact solution to how to do the show, which was it had to have a lot of characters, the characters had to be really mysterious and the island itself had to be even more mysterious than they were," Mr. Lindelof said.

They started writing, and by the end of that week handed a 23-page outline to Mr. Braun, who then did something he had never before done - he approved a pilot based on nothing more than a treatment.

The gamble for ABC was immense. Compared to shows like "Law & Order," in which stories usually don't span more than one episode, serialized dramas - like "24" - are harder to re-run or syndicate. "There was nothing I wasn't worried about," said Mr. Braun, from the show's remarkable price tag (more than $10 million for the two-hour pilot) to its dark, moody tone to the ever-growing cast. "And don't forget, it was not like my position at the network was very secure at this time." (Mr. Braun was fired in April of 2004, and is now head of the media group at Yahoo.)

What's more, everyone remembered what had happened to "Twin Peaks": when it made its debut in April of 1990, the country quickly became wrapped up in the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer and the catch phrases of the F.B.I. special agent Dale Cooper ("damn good coffee"). Yet, just over a year later, the show was gone.



"The trick of these series is you've got to keep all of these balls in the air, resolving some stories while revealing others," said Mr. Frost. "Our problem was we really just had one truly compelling story line." Once Laura Palmer's killer was revealed partway through the second season, all that was left was a show that had descended largely into camp, a mere procession of dancing dwarves, inscrutable owls and log ladies. Mr. Frost said if he were to do the show again, he would have the later, more compelling mysteries begin immediately after the unmasking of the killer.

" 'Twin Peaks' looms large to me as cautionary tale," said Carlton Cuse, who joined "Lost" as an executive producer early last season to jointly run the show with Mr. Lindelof. "That was a show where the mythology sort of overwhelmed everything else, principally the construction of believable, plausible characters. It's constantly a presence in my mind about something we can't get sucked into doing on this show."

That fear of getting too wrapped up in the intricacies of the show's mythology keeps Mr. Cuse from trolling the numerous Web sites that fans have constructed to revere, obsess over, debate and criticize the show, like Lost-TV (www.lost-tv.com). "The genre aspects of the show are cool, and we have fun doing it," Mr. Cuse said. "But I am much more engaged by the people on the show, and I think that is fundamentally what we try to do."

Mr. Lindelof added, "It's all about character, character, character." (That's also the mantra Stephen McPherson, president of ABC prime-time entertainment, said he has impressed on the producers.) "Everything," Mr. Lindelof concluded, "has to be in service of the people. That is the secret ingredient of the show."

ON a sunny California day earlier this month, Mr. Lindelof, 32, and Mr. Cuse, 46, dropped in on their fellow writers, in the "Lost" writers' room on the Disney lot in Burbank. Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who also serves as a supervising producer, brought the two men up to speed on the team's progress at an early stab at the conceptual framework for the season's eighth episode. The working theme: forgiveness.

On a white board, below head shots of the cast and pages ripped from The Weekly World News ("Time Portal Found Over South Pole" reads one scoop put up by Mr. Lindelof), the writers had taken a shot at the trademark teaser that opens the show and attempted to map out the other five acts that make up each episode. But they have become tangled up in the various story lines, and are struggling to decide which character will get one of the show's hallmarks, the detailed flashback into his or her pre-island existence.

As they brainstormed, the pop-culture riffs came fast and furious. In an effort to guide the team's storytelling path and technique, Mr. Lindelof tosses out references to movies as varied as "Pulp Fiction," "Death and the Maiden," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Red October."

Mr. Cuse suggests they keep in mind the Biblical notion of forgiveness, adding, "That will have a lot of resonance."

He and Mr. Lindelof prod their writers to simplify. Figure out what's happening on the island, and the focus of the flashback will become clear, they add. "The story needs to play on a character level, so forgiveness is more than an arbitrary decision," Mr. Cuse said.

The two men have an easy rapport. Mr. Cuse gave Mr. Lindelof, who refers to him as C. C., one of his first staff writing jobs, on "Nash Bridges," the Don Johnson vehicle. And when J. J. Abrams found himself too tied up with "Alias" and preparations for the movie "Mission Impossible 3," Mr. Lindelof returned the favor, and asked Mr. Cuse to help oversee the staff of about 400 on "Lost."

They both believe in the necessity of a long-range plan for the show, but they both also like to venture off the beaten track. "It's sort of like a road trip from California to New York, and these milestones are cities on the way," said Mr. Cuse. "But on a day-to-day basis, when we get up in the morning we have to make a decision: Are we taking the Interstate, or are we taking the rural byways?"

The writers had planned, for example, to ratchet up the animosity between two characters, Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) and Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim), while developing a romance between Michael and Jin's wife, Sun (Yunjin Kim). But they became invested in the married couple's relationship as they developed their back story in Korea. Meanwhile, as Mr. Perrineau and Mr. Kim became good friends on the Hawaiian set of "Lost," the creative team sought to exploit the chemistry between them, even though their characters did not speak the same language. "When we see stuff we like, we write to it," Mr. Cuse said. "We're viewers with control."

One way they exercise that control is by hewing to the science-fact - as opposed to science-fiction - model they see in the novels of Michael Crichton. "There can be things that are happening that are quote, phenomenal, but there's always a scientific answer to it," said Mr. Lindelof. So when Jack Shephard, the surgeon and supposed voice of reason played by Matthew Fox, has visions of his dead father, care is taken to let the audience know he has gone without sleep for three days. Of course, the ghost does lead him to desperately needed water, so maybe he's not a hallucination after all.

The two men also share an admiration for the storytelling prowess of Stephen King. " 'The Stand' was a book that really informed the idea of 'Lost,' " Mr. Lindelof said. "Thematically they're about the same thing, which is this fundamental 'Live together, die alone' philosophy."

And they both delight in playing mind games with their viewers. Last season, when they introduced the character of Arzt, the annoying, know-it-all high school teacher based on a physics teacher Mr. Lindelof detested, they intentionally had him survive a run-in with the monster. "We let him play for three episodes so we could really convince the audience he was going to make it and not die," Mr. Cuse said. "And then we blew him up."

But some attempts to confound viewers' expectations can boomerang. Convinced that viewers would expect them to avoid a conventional cliffhanger, they went ahead with one, the sight of Jack and John Locke, the paraplegic character (played by Terry O'Quinn) mysteriously cured - if indeed he ever truly was handicapped -staring down into the hatch. Fans felt they were being toyed with and responded with virulent criticism. So at the beginning of this season, the writers have taken pains to be fairly explicit about what's found in the hatch and its implications for the people on the island, particularly on the ongoing and unpredictable battle between faith and reason exemplified by the characters of Locke and Jack.

DESPITE the efforts of Mr. Lindelof, Mr. Cuse and the rest of the creative team to keep the show from "jumping the shark," ultimately their biggest challenge may come from their very success. Unlike J. K. Rowling, who can take comfort in knowing the Harry Potter series will wrap up after seven books, the "Lost" producers do not have such a luxury; as long as the ratings are good, it will run.

The implications for storytelling are enormous. "If we knew this series was 88 episodes, we could plot out exactly where all the pieces of mythology were going to land, and we could build very constructively to an endgame," said Mr. Cuse. "But we don't know and we can't know. For ABC, this is a very financially successful enterprise, and rightfully their goal is to have to it go along as long as they can have it go along."

Mr. Lindelof quickly interjected: "It's the equivalent of, if you get the ratings for Episode 4 of 'Roots' and you call up Alex Haley and go: 'Look, this is doing huge. Does Kunta Kinte need to be free? Can he be freed in Season 3, or even 4 or 5?' "

Frank Spotnitz, who worked on "The X-Files" for eight of its nine years as a writer and eventually as a executive producer, said that series' creator, Chris Carter, did not think the series would go past five years and planned accordingly. When ratings and financial success demanded otherwise, the producers had to improvise. Originally, the plan was to reveal the fate of the sister of Agent Mulder, the F.B.I. agent played by David Duchovny, in the fifth season. Instead, the explanation was held back until Season 7.

"The longer you tease people along, the more hooked they become on the mythology of the show and the more disappointed they'll be by however it's resolved," Mr. Spotnitz said. The emotional resolutions among the characters are more important than fitting the past piece into an ornate jigsaw puzzle, and Mr. Spotnitz is plotting his new ABC show, "Night Stalker," accordingly.

Both Mr. Lindelof and Mr. Cuse embrace Mr. Spotnitz's theory that the show is about the journey, not the ending, and sound resigned to mixed reviews no matter how they resolve the various mysteries. One thing is certain: they won't go the route of the "Matrix" trilogy, in the second installment of which one character took a seemingly interminable amount of time to tell Keanu Reeves's character just what the Matrix was, his role in it and what was going to happen to him in the final movie.

"It's unsatisfying on every level to me as a storyteller, and to most people who saw it," Mr. Lindelof said. "The fact there is someone there to definitively tell me that I was wrong, that my imagination was wrong, is uncool."

But the creators do know how the series ends. The survivors will not learn they are part of some dastardly experiment, or discover they are in purgatory, or wake up from a bad dream. "These guys get off the island," said Mr. Cuse.

Then, nearly in unison, both men add, "If it's an island."




Posted on Sep 18, 2005, 2:53 PM

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USA Today article on Season 2

by Lost fan (no login)

From http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-09-13-lost_x.htm :

'Lost' in the face of death
By William Keck, USA TODAY
OAHU, Hawaii — The stakes are rising. No doubt about it.



The Others are out there, and they mean harm: They blew up the escape raft and kidnapped young Walt. The French-speaking "mad"-moiselle took Claire's baby for a few heart-stopping hours. And that deafening, unseen monster is still rustling in the trees.

(Related gallery: The Lost cast talks about what's to come in Season 2)

On the outskirts of Honolulu in a warehouse converted into what looks like a cheesy Hawaiian-themed restaurant with fake caves, lit tiki torches, wood-chip floors and plastic tropical plants, some of the stars of the hit ABC series Lost have assembled to shoot a scene for next week's second-season premiere (Sept. 21, 9 p.m. ET/PT). It promises to pick up the many threads left hanging by last season's two-hour finale, which repeats tonight at 9.

On the set, Matthew Fox (Jack) stands atop a mound of lava rocks to share disturbing news with the remaining survivors of Oceanic Flight 815: Another castaway, high school teacher Dr. Arzt, is dead, having exploded in the finale.

Mixed in with the crowd of extras are familiar faces from the series' freshman year: Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Maggie Grace (Shannon), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) and Emilie de Ravin (Claire), who is dangling Claire's infant son Aaron — actually, a disturbingly lifelike $8,000 replica — by one arm.

Director Jack Bender instructs the extras to do another take. This time, he kids, "with acting," as they respond to Jack's announcement that Arzt exploded while trying to transport dynamite.

"Be careful with your gasps; he's not the first (death)," Bender reminds them. "Was it that (expletive) noise out there? That monster? Let the panic bubble up. Think, 'Next time, it could be me.' "

Those words offer a particularly painful sting for the stars. The sudden dismissal late last season of series regular Ian Somerhalder (Boone) has made them all realize that the precarious nature of this dangerous island does not guarantee them the same job security as, say, the Desperate Housewives of the only slightly less dangerous Wisteria Lane.

"It's painful and nerve-racking," says Josh Holloway (Sawyer) of the producers' secret hit list. Holloway was about to purchase a boat with Somerhalder before Boone was killed. "It has changed the dynamic, and to say it hasn't is a lie. Before, it was all love and family, and now there's fear. It created a negative thing that wasn't there before. We're all watching our backs now."

Swimming for his life

When Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) decided over the summer that it was finally time to buy a home on the island — one of the last cast members to do so — he asked producers if he'd be around long enough to warrant such a purchase. His character was stranded in the middle of the ocean along with Holloway's Sawyer and Harold Perrineau's Michael in the finale.

All they would tell him — as they've told the others — was that the decision was up to him. "They have to be true to what they do," Kim says.

Perrineau went so far as to enroll in swimming lessons over his summer break in hopes of climbing back on that burning raft and saving his job. Growing up in Brooklyn, Perrineau had bad experiences in the city pool with aggressive cousins who prevented him from keeping his head above water. His daughter, Aurora, 10, had been teaching him a bit, but since early August he has been working with a professional coach.

"I can't stay afloat for a long time but enough to wade while they're setting up shots," Perrineau says. "Now, the only thing I have to worry about are the sharks."

He's not kidding. Just after midnight in the dark waters off Makaha Beach on Oahu's West Shore, Perrineau is among a second group of Lost stars shooting scenes from a different story thread. The still-flaming remnants of the escape raft harbor two of the three stranded characters; one fails to emerge.

The two men lucky enough to make it back onto the raft discover they are being attacked by a great white, as evidenced by three men in wet suits manipulating a 400-pound mechanical shark on the water's surface. But because of technical difficulties, the shark shot that ultimately was used came courtesy of a crewmember holding a fin on a stick. "It was ridiculous," Perrineau says with a laugh.

Although he was left on dry land in the finale, Monaghan remains confident in his job security based on the international following he brings to the show after appearing in the three Lord of the Rings films.

"England, Australia, New Zealand, everywhere I lived, the show's huge," he says matter-of-factly. "It's the biggest (U.S. import) show ever on England's Channel 4. Our agents can argue what we each bring to this show."

Yet he is cognizant that "they're going to have to start killing more of us." The next victim has, in fact, already been notified. Whispers of that unlucky actor's identity leaked to the mainland in early summer, inspiring a studio publicist to issue a stern warning to the cast and their representatives on the importance of remaining tight-lipped.

Down the hatch

But the biggest secret to date has been what's under the hatch, finally blown open in May's cliffhanger. The top-secret interior, to be explored in the season's first few episodes, was constructed in a Diamond Head soundstage about a half-hour from the caves, strictly off-limits to visitors.

"I've gone inside (the hatch) now, and I know to some extent what it's about," says the Emmy-nominated Terry O'Quinn, whose character, Locke, was fixated on the hatch for most of last season. "I'm afraid that people are going to be like, 'How can you possibly deliver on such a big promise?'

"But I think it's satisfying. I think it's as good as they could possibly do. They give you an answer within an enigma without giving away the whole balloon. There's a lot of new questions."

Standing near Fox at the base-camp set, O'Quinn is slicing a rope with a razor-sharp knife as his character tells the other survivors he's "going down" into the freshly opened hatch. O'Quinn accidentally cuts his finger, and a medic is called. But the unfazed actor insists on continuing the scene.

"I'm sick of waiting," his character gripes, "for the Others and the brave folks on the raft to come back with help."

Despite Lost's impressive ratings last season, many fans made clear they, too, were sick of waiting — for answers to the show's many mysteries. Why are they on this island? What is the monster that seemingly was revealed in the season finale to be a shadowy "security system" of sorts? Why did Locke regain his ability to walk after the crash, and why is he struggling again? What is the significance of the number sequence that won Hurley his lottery millions and is etched in the side of the hatch? And, of course, what's in the hatch?

Although that all-important last question will be revealed in the premiere, producer Damon Lindelof says the real revelation will come in Episode 3. Lindelof, along with executive producer Carlton Cuse, has been handed the reins now that Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams is off shooting Mission: Impossible 3 with Tom Cruise.

Lindelof says he sat Abrams down to go over an entire season's worth of stories, flashbacks and new characters leading all the way through May's season finale.

Love finds a way

Season 2 will find the characters beginning to adjust to their island home and exploring feelings of hope and even passion.

"We've been 40 days on this island dealing with very intense things and not a lot of room for romance," Fox says of the story line. "Anytime people are in extreme circumstances, there has to be moments where people need physical contact and a feeling of being safe."

For Fox's Jack, passion and physical contact likely will present itself through Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and the Furious, SWAT), whose new regular character, Ana Lucia, was seen briefly last season in an airport flashback with Jack.

Producers hoped to keep Rodriguez's casting a secret to protect the "big reveal" that a set of new castaways would be discovered along with the rear half of the plane early into the season. But someone leaked the news to the press.

Lindelof confirms that Rodriguez's character will throw a wrench into the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle, and Lilly expects obvious tension to develop between the female characters.

And don't expect a happy blending of the two groups. It will be more like a Survivor-esque battle between the tribes.

"Up to now, things have been relatively decent, if you ignore the episode where Sawyer was tortured," Andrews says. "But now things are going to get wild and a lot more violent for everybody. Life will become rather brutal."

And the body count will grow. "The Season 2 cliffhanger," Monaghan hints, "sets it up so that all of us could conceivably die."



Posted on Sep 24, 2005, 2:30 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Lucy lawless to star in "Vampire Bats" (as her character from "Locusts")

by bat fan (no login)

Straight from Mary D (well, actually straight from a CBS press release, re-posted by The Futon Critic at www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr.cgi?id=20050719cbs01 and re-reposted by Mary D...and now re-re-re-posted by me!)


CBS ANNOUNCES AIRDATES FOR NEW MOVIES FOR SEPTEMBER THROUGH NOVEMBER
Released by CBS

.....................VAMPIRE BATS (working title), Sunday, Oct. 30 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT), stars Lucy Lawless ("Locusts") and Dylan Neal ("Locusts") in a story about a voracious-insect specialist, now a college professor in search of a simpler life, who gets caught up in the investigation of a student who is found dead with his body completely depleted of blood and realizes that the killers are actually vampire bats that have mutated due to a tainted water supply.

Frank Von Zerneck, Robert Sertner and Jill Tanner are the executive producers for Von Zerneck/Sertner Films, in association with Sony Pictures Television.

........

{using a Jon Stewart expression and tone of voice} I think we all know what I'm thinking right about now..... I don't even need to say it.....

Oh. My. God.

Now that is hilarious.

Just when I thought the "Lucy's career is over for doing TV crap like 'Locusts' - when will she learn to to what I want her to do" contingent could not be possibly more humiliated after the movie beating 4 of 5 other
networks in the ratings for that timeslot...........

there's a freakin SEQUEL!

Hmmmm... Lucy is doing Locusts 2.... Sam and Ivan are doing Spidey 3.... Rob is doing ED 4 and Grudge 2 .... Ted is doing Raptor Island 2:Raptor Planet ..... Bruce is possibly doing Bubba 2, aka Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires (but starring Sebastian Haff ) .....

OK, I am now officially starting the lobbying movement for "Alien Apocalypse 2," as well as that long awaited primetime series "Back 2 Back Fish Sticks!"

Disclaimer: I enjoyed "Locusts," for what it was.



Posted on Jul 19, 2005, 8:16 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

assorted Lucy interviews

by lucyfan (no login)

There's a really good interview with Lucy Lawless at http://scifi.about.com/od/bgsonscifi/a/lucylawless1.htm - it focuses on her upcoming Battlestar Galactica appearance, and her career in general. (The "ME" is the reporter)

Snippets:

I asked her how she felt about Xena now that the show is over but she is still and always will be the Warrior Princess. Is she going to write a book, I am Not Xena, or does she look on the character still with affection?

LL: I think that everybody should be so lucky as to be identified with a successful show. It was so much fun, and it’s given me everything -- without it, I wouldn’t have my children, my husband…a lot of financial security. What’s to b!#ch about? It was six years of a lot of laughs.

Next up for Lawless, she’s guest-starring on an episode of Battlestar Galactica. September 9, in the episode, "Final Cut," she’s a filmmaker sent to Galactica to document life aboard the ship.
.....

ME: ....And it’s interesting that Xena was a show with strong appeal outside the usual sci-fi audience. And now you’re appearing on another show with great cross-over appeal. Any ideas about what makes a show reach popularity like that?

LL: It’s gotta catch. I hate to use the word “zeitgeist,” but it’s gotta catch the spirit of the times. And [the producers’] take on this show has been so original and so relevant. There’s an element of nihilism running through us today. The fact that the reward at the end of the episode for each character is raw survival -- that’s it. People have succeeded just by getting through another day. At the end of the episodes, they haven’t learned some feel-good lesson, but they’ve managed to survive against the odds.
........
ME: Did you know about the show before you got the part?

LL: Yes, because David [Eick] is an old friend and approached me earlier about playing Tigh’s wife. I don’t play anybody’s wife, thank you very much.

ME: It does seem once you play a wife, that’s all you get to play.

LL: Well, it’s a great part, and [Kate Vernon] does a great job with it. But it’s the Anne Archer Factor. You play the wife, you’re screwed. Besides, I didn’t want to do a one-hour drama so regularly. I like my freedom, and I love popping in and out. You know, I can never even get cast as the best friend. They won’t do it. I have this wonderful problem of being considered just for independent women roles.

ME: There are a lot of those in sci-fi, at least.

LL: Well, it’s not just sci-fi. I could have been a cop a hundred times in those single-lead, one-hour dramas. But I have very small children, and I don’t want to work 18 hours a day. I’ve turned down easily six series and some offers to produce, but I don’t regret a single choice.

There are also some good bits from her at Sci-Fi Wire, at:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=32090&type=0 ,
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=32112&type=0 , and
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?id=32071


including one bit that should pretty much be the final word on the "why doesn't Rob produce a movie for Lucy to star in?" debate:

Tapert and Raimi are also producing two upcoming Evil Dead movies, based on their original 1970s films. "Well, who wouldn't want to be in an Evil Dead movie?" Lawless said. Even as a zombie, Lawless said she would make an appearance, but she added that she's not pushing her husband or lobbying her friend Raimi for a role.

"It doesn't even occur to me [to] think like that," Lawless said. "It's more like, 'What are we having for dinner, and where are the kids?' Also, people think that it's so easy, that you should be able to lean on your family and friends for jobs or whatever. Or they should be making things for you, and it just doesn't work like that. And to ensure the health of your relationship, you just stay away from that kind of thinking."


Posted on Aug 22, 2005, 8:33 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Maxim Online interview

by Lucy fan (no login)

Lawless Nature

The former warrior princess is heading to outer space. And before you ask, no, she's not bringing her leather skirt along for the ride.

Maxim Online, September 2005

Interview by Patrick Richardson

Action pin-up Lucy Lawless has battled ancient gods, swarms of mutated locusts, and Kevin Sorbo's hair throughout an illustrious, nerd-herding career. Now the New Zealand native is traveling even further into the
eye of evil as a sexy wartime reporter with an agenda on the sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica. Here's what the retired warrior princess had to say about intergalactic politics, leather skirts, and why Maxim photo shoots
rule. (Hint: it's not the catering.)

Q: Were you a fan of the original Battlestar Galactica?

A: You know, it was a big phenomenon, but I was a little bit young. Though I do remember Starbuck and Apollo—I couldn't decide which one I had a crush on [laughs].

Q: How do you feel about the new Starbuck being female?

A: Well, the whole thing is a complete—I hate to use this jargon, but—reimagining. Anybody who can contemporize a '70s series deserves all the bloody success they can get. And, I'm sorry to say this, but it's so much better.

Q: You play a reporter who's invited aboard the Galactica to document the stressful realities of military life during war. Is this fair and balanced reporting?

A: She's there to do an exposé. Consequently, everybody's extremely guarded and extremely defensive, so she gets to push them over the edge just by her very presence. She's just got her hands up, feigning innocence—which makes her so dangerous.

Q: Ah, so you're more of a sci-fi Michael Moore…but in heels…and three hundred fewer pounds. Did you draw from any current political conditions for the role?

A: Her point of view is that the citizens on the show are in this mess because of a giant cover-up. And perhaps they wouldn't be in such a stinking hole had they been more honest and shed more light on the way things really
happened. Perhaps if they had a more informative choice, they'd be in a different situation—which obviously is a current running strongly through our society at the moment. We don't know who the villains are.

Q: Battlestar manages to weave a number of relevant themes into each episode: political, social, theological…

A: And realness. Even though it's out in space, it's not really high concept drama. The payoff at the end of every episode isn't that they've learned some feel-good lesson about Spock's kind or whatever. It's just, "Holy shit, we get to live another day."

Q: Do you get to kick any robot ass on the show?

A: No, and I've got to say, that was really attractive too. I loved it. My character's more mentally tough.

Q: Too bad, we like to see you in action. Speaking of which, does your husband keep the leather skirt around for recreational use?

A: You know, I do have one but it hasn't come out of the box for the last few years. I guess you should give these things out and let them earn something for charity. At least then it's doing something good and not just feeding moths.

Q: Maybe you should break it out for that Xena movie you recently expressed interest in doing. Any hopes of making it an R-rated film and seeing a little Xena-on-Gabrielle action?

A: [Laughs] I'm sure there's plenty of that on the bloody Internet somewhere. It might not be Lucy and Renée playing it, but I'm sure you can find it if your tastes run that way, my friend.

Q: Oh, believe us, they do. You should see what we've done with those photos from your Maxim shoot.

A: I love that shoot. I prefer when fans bring up photos to sign from the Maxim shoot—then I'm like, "Oh you thought that was sexy, too!"


Posted on Sep 11, 2005, 2:19 PM

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Lucy Lawless interview at about.com

by lucyfan (no login)

Xena turns to comedy in Eurotrip (from about.com)

Been a while since we’ve seen Lucy Lawless. She did an X-Files role near that show’s end, but that’s already a couple years ago. If you looked closely, you caught her in Spider-Man. But if you missed those, it won’t be too much of a shock to see Lucy Lawless in Eurotrip.

She’s wearing another leather outfit, this time playing a dominatrix, which is only a stretch from Xena in the moral sense. Xena used her power to whip bad guys. The dominatrix uses it on men who pay her. In this case, it is a hapless American tourist who’s expecting a different kind of sex house.

Lawless is totally playful about the role, and feisty. She responded to several of the touchiest questions with more questions, sarcastically challenging me to really prod about the film’s sex comedy overtones. But it’s all in good fun. Lawless has a sense of humor about her cameo (it’s one scene) and it’s hopefully a step towards establishing her as a comedic presence. But there will always be the Xena memories. Certain fans, especially the ones having plastic surgery to look more like her, won’t let her forget that.

Q: You’re used to tight leather outfits, right?
A: Yeah. What of it? Something wrong with that?

Q: How did the dominatrix compare to Xena?
A: When I saw this role, I thought, “Oh, here we go, just another bondage outfit.”

Q: Do you understand dominatrix fantasy?
A: Hmm, why are you asking? I think the appeal of the dominatrix, is it not, that a lot of powerful men – judges, lawyers, whatever – don’t want to have to make choices anymore or something. That seems to be the clientele of the dominatrix, is it not? It’s a stress reliever, I don't know. I would guess that [Cooper] is not the typical recipient of that kind of behavior.

Q: Why did you decide to do a small cameo?
A: Big cameo, baby, big cameo. Because I love these people and it was an extreme character filming in Prague. What kind of a nut would I be not to want to have that life experience?

Q: Do you consider yourself funny?
A: Usually? I don’t even consider myself usually. Soccer mom, that’s what I consider myself. Yeah, I think I’m a funny person. I started out in comedy. You know I remember the moment I realized the value of comedy is when I was eight years old and I was sitting in class and I realized that if I just acted really stupid, I could get away with a lot of stuff. And it would diffuse a lot of tension and the teachers would focus on you. I just found out the value of being a funny dunce at times.

Q: Was that your first acting experience?
A: No, I really was a dunce.

Q: How old are your kids?
A: One, four and a 15-year-old girl. Two little boys.

Q: What will they say when they see this role? You look hot, mom!
A: No. The two little guys won’t see this role until they’re old enough to be embarrassed by me, and my daughter is so laisez faire about it all. She really likes horror and sort of sex humor or whatever doesn’t really interest her much, at least not when she’s around me.

Q: What’s been the strangest Xena reaction?
A: Because we had such a large lesbian following, I find that when I meet lesbians, because I have two friends who are a couple, and when I meet their friends, their friends are really standoffish to me. At first I just think oh, they think I’m really boring or whatever. And then two weeks later, they kind of go oh, no, we’re fine with you now. We were just having trouble with the whole Xena quotient. The armor, what I wear, I don't know.

Q: Have you met the woman who thinks she is Xena?
A: Yeah, the one that’s had 27 surgeries? Yeah, she’s fabulous. She looks more like Xena than I do. There’s lots of them out there actually. And that guy with Xena tattooed all over his body.

Q: Could there ever be a Xena movie?
A: I think the horse might’ve bolted on that one. I feel that by the time they get around to making one, I’ll be too old for it. And who’s going to want to see a 50-year-old woman?

Q: Who should play her then?
A: No, still me. I want to see me. Glad you asked. I’d be pissed off if they come back and ask me to play her mother or something.

The Xena typecast and Eurotrip accent

Q: Have you been typecast by that role?
A: The warrior princess roles just don’t stop coming. That’s a bit of a lie actually. But they do want me to do action for sure. They want me to be in outer space, they want me to be killing vampires and I just had to say recently look, I’m sorry, I’m just done with the gods and monsters. What I want to do is comedy and that’s what I love. That’s what I hope is next for me.

Q: Is it hard to get people to see you’re funny?
A: Slowly it’s starting to happen. The thing for me really was I took so many years off to have kids when I perhaps careerwise could’ve been building on what I’d done before and I didn’t but I’m not sorry.

Q: But Xena had humor. Do people get that?
A: They do have a little trouble, like sometimes- - no, I had the opposite experience the other day where I got this call and it’s Mike Judge wants to see you at five o’clock today. I go oh my god, that clashes with the other thing, but I’m going to drive down to Venice right now. I’m not going to miss out meeting Mike Judge for this role in a movie. I didn’t even know what, so I drive down there, and I sit there frantically reading the thing. When I get to my bit, it’s like enormous woman stuffed into tights like Chyna on a bad hair day. I thought he had discovered I was a comic genius or something. No, he only wants me because he thinks I look like Chyna. So I don't think I got that job.

Q: Loved your Simpsons appearance.
A: I was stunning in that, I know.

Q: So are you stuck on that role because you’re so identified with that character?
A: Well, as an actor, you should be so lucky to have that problem. I don’t feel too hamstrung by it really because I never thought I was Xena and I was never confused about it. So, and I had so much more to do and whatever background. It’s just going to take a little time I think. I don't know how much time I have. Everybody’s got to be 18 these days to have a future, but I don't know, I’m having a good time.

Q: Are you good with accents?
A: Usually, but I can slip. You’ve got to keep practicing.

Q: What are the easiest to do?
A: For me, a southern accent’s much easier than a standard American accent. It’s quite hard for us, and I did it for a lot of years, but now I’m out of practice again, so I’ve got to brush up.

Q: The hardest?
A: Regular American can be quite hard to do perfectly, and Scots. It’s only because I haven’t heard them very much. I don't know how hard they really are to do. It’s just a matter of getting your hearing I think.

Q: Did you base the dominatrix accent on anyone?
A: I wanted her to be a real Dutch woman because of Xavier Hollander. But I really based it on Hans, who is the doorman at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin. I needed to find an authentic Dutch accent and I couldn’t find a Dutchman anywhere in Western Europe without actually going to Holland and it wasn’t on my flight path so I managed to find a Dutchman in Dublin.

Q: Did you make a backstory for this character?
A: No.

Q: Did you work with most of the cast or just Jacob Pitt?
A: No, I didn’t. I got to work with obviously Jacob, and I hung out a bit with Travis. I don't know why, but his scenes were placed around mine, and Scott and Michelle’s stories were elsewhere at that time. I was only filming a couple of days. So I was only around a week including costume fittings and stuff.

Q: Was anything in your scene cut and might appear on the DVD?
A: I don't know. I haven’t seen the final product so I don't know exactly what they used. I think you pretty much see everything. There’s just different versions of what you’ve already got because all that stuff had to be cut a certain way to maximize its funniness. A lot of comedy is in the editing and timing and everything, so I don't know that my scenes would be better if you made them longer. It’s gotta be just right, only the right length for each gag.

Q: Nothing racy?
A: Certainly not in my scene, no.

Travel tips

Q: What are the biggest tourist mistakes?
A: You’ve got to know your currency. That’s really important. You really have to understand the exchange right because you get terribly ripped off in certain places. Once I wrote them down when I was doing a lot of traveling, and I’ve lost touch with that book.

Q: Are you a responsible tourist?
A: Yeah. Traveler, not a tourist. I prefer to be a traveler. I find tourism ugly. You go to places that have no business being- - they just seem contrived. You can go to resorts in Hawaii that are six star resorts if that were possible, and you just think this has no business being here. The ecology can’t support it and it depresses me.

Q: What are your favorite places to travel?
A: Well, New Zealand is a big one of course. And I really enjoy going up to Canada. I really love the northern part of America and Canada. I’ve never been to South America. I’d love to do that. And Asia rocks. Asia is mind blowing.

Q: I’ve always wanted to see Hong Kong.
A: Hong Kong is so cool. You’ve got to go there. It’s just amazing because you get the old and the new right next to each other and you go on the old streets and people are still selling [weird things]. You can find crucified lizards on sticks and things that people put in their soups. You just see a way of life that lived on the street because there’s so little space, a way of life that you don’t see anywhere in our countries.

Q: Were you already in Europe when the Eurotrip producers called you?
A: They asked me to do it before I went to Europe. It was coincidental that I happened to be in Europe for about a month prior to this. That was for a documentary series on ancient warrior women for Discovery Channel. It was so interesting, went to China, went all over Europe. Then I went to Prague and then I went to the southwest of America, New Mexico.

Q: You’re the host?
A: Mm-hmm. It’s five documentaries, really good, each with a different subject. Such great fun making those.

Q: Are they out?
A: They’ve been out everywhere but not here yet. At the end of March they’re going to be in Asia and New Zealand. It’s been bought here. I just don’t know when it will screen.

Q: What is your role in Boogey Man?
A: Drug addicted mother gives up custody of her son who then grows up. You see me in flashbacks only and in his nightmares so I wear a lot of prosthetics.

Q: What is it about?
A: Boogey Man is about a young man who is troubled by this apparition, the Boogey Man. You see my character only in flashbacks as the mother who when addicted to drugs gave up custody with him. She gave up custody and then appears later on in his nightmares.

Q: Since your husband is producing, does it have a Sam Raimi sensibility?
A: I don't know, I haven’t seen it. In movies, it really has the stamp of the director. DGA rules are that a director doesn’t even have to show any of his material until he’s made a cut. So it’s not like producers in television who have their hand on the wheel every step of the way. So I would think it has the director’s flavor.

Q: Are you a horror fan?
A: Yeah, I grew up on them. I don’t watch them so much anymore because I’ve gotten a bit soft with motherhood. I’m a sucker for Court TV.

Q: At home, are you the regular mother, cooking dinner and everything?
A: I’m a terrible cook of all foods. I have no interest. I’m really good at cooking 20 minute meals that are really nutritious, pretty darn tasty and only using one pot because I don’t like cleaning up. My husband’s a chef and he makes unbelievable, ungodly mess and he doesn’t like cleaning up either. You know when you first get married, you strike some dumb deals where you go oh, I’ll cook and you clean, you go okay, that sounds fair and then you just regret it forever. I’ve renegged on that bet actually.

Q: Who cleans up?
A: I guess I do. My one year old last night, about three o’clock in the morning I could hear [clanking] and I get up and my child has gone from upstairs, he’s come all the way down, gone into the kitchen, pushed a kitchen chair to the barstool, from the bar stool to the bar. And he’s got the swinging hanging lamp and he’s smashing against the range. We removed the knifes and we just… We’re going to take the knobs off the stove.

Q: Your husband’s a chef? Did he quit producing?
A: Well, an amateur chef. He’s a cook. He’s a producer, but he loves to cook.

Q: You’re such a jokester, do you take this business seriously?
A: I don’t take business seriously, I take acting seriously. I take my job really seriously, but a lot of the job is not about acting, but I don’t take business seriously.

Q: What do you take seriously?
A: My kids, acting, I do.

Q: Would you want them to act?
A: I don’t mind what they want to do. Whatever they want to do is good by me.


~ Fred Topel




    
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Posted on Feb 20, 2004, 7:53 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

..and another at GameZone Online

by lucyfan (Login august)
Forum Owner

From http://ps2.gamezone.com/news/02_16_04_09_46AM.htm

Xena Star Lucy Lawless Chats with GameZone Online

by Louis Bedigian


“I would just take Tetris for hours and hours until I was seeing a block falling every time I closed my eyes.”


Sword fights, fantasy worlds, and a warrior princess who can kick more butt than a vampire slayer – Xena: Warrior Princess is one of the most beloved action/fantasy shows on the planet. Its fan following was (and still is) in the millions. The heroes were likable and you couldn’t help but hate the villains.

The Xena: Warrior Princess saga has spawned everything from video games and replicated weaponry to action figures and animated movies. Recently the series has been making its way to DVD. Seasons I and II have been out for a while now, and Season III hit stores last Tuesday.

Reliving the memories of Xena and its wonderful past, GameZone Online took a break from playing games to chat with Xena star and fellow gamer Lucy Lawless. Lucy tells us about the show, her upcoming projects, her addiction to Tetris, and more…

The third season of Xena: Warrior Princess has been released on DVD. Tell us about the time you spent on the show, and how it feels to look back on everything.

Lucy Lawless: I look back really fondly on it. We had such a d**m good time, with Renee, Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, and everybody on our crew. They were the wildest, funniest people. And the fact that we ever got anything done is a miracle (laughs).

What is your fondest memory from the show?

LL: Oh my God it was just... Everyday was a laugh. I'll tell you what my least fond memories are. Any time when you see that we are lying in water, or when we look cold, it was so cold because we hardly wore any clothes on the show. The whole thing was about you've got to see skin, people really relate to skin. There were some times when it was unbelievably arduous.

During the course of the show, were there any scenes cut from an episode that you were attached to? Anything that you wanted to be seen but wasn't?

LL: No, they showed everything (laughs). The opposite was likely to be true; things that I wish would never see the light of day were put on international television. You know there's times when you're working that hard, and sometimes you just get off track and you go off on your own crazy tangents. Josh, Ted and I would get so wild....and do something that didn't really fit the script. Those were the moments that I wish had been cut out.

The DVD set contains "complete and uncut" episodes. What new stuff should fans expect to see?

LL: I think the new content is a V-track (video commentary). They've got me and Renee doing behind-the-scenes [interviews]. It's where you get to see laughing and inappropriate moments, and get the real scoop on what was going on. Directors, they're all better at telling those stories than I am.

Are these interviews that were shot during the show?

LL: No, they're things that we're doing now. We will be doing season four, and season five and six. It's unbelievable that there is still so much demand for a show that's been off the air. I mean it's on Oxygen [Network], but you have to have cable to get it. But it's created this vibrant community and we're still getting mail. It's unbelievable.

On average, how long did it take to film an episode of Xena? How many hours did you shoot each day?

LL: It would take eight days of main units five days of second units, so about 13 days of crew work. It depended on the episode of course. If Rob Tapert was directing then the show would just be huger and huger and more complex.

Did you train a lot before doing the fight scenes?

LL: No, I kinda got thrown in the deep end there. That was not my thing at all. I was this wheezy, kind of non-physical person, I had no interest. I still have no interest! (Laughs.) But I just got thrown in there and I had to learn it. Otherwise I just got punched (laughs). I got the crap beaten out of me for about three years before I managed to avoid the bruises, but I was covered in them for years. I wasn't quick enough [before]. Now I'm pretty good. I can react without even thinking – you know, somebody throws something and I can catch it without even looking. I can do those things unconsciously. If I tried I know I would screw up. Unco, [standing for] “uncoordinated,” that was my former nickname.

Do you think there's room for another chapter in the Xena series? Maybe a side-story or a movie of some kind?

LL: Yeah, I do, but if they don't hurry up and figure out who's got the right idea then I'll just be too old.

Are you familiar with any of the video games based on Xena: Warrior Princess?

LL: Yes, I played the first one that came out. I think there's only one, isn't there?

I think there's one on PlayStation and a different one on Nintendo 64.

LL: That's right, I think PlayStation was the one [I played]. And of course I'm into other games. But I'm one of those people that when I play video games I get really hyped up. I can't really play them because I just get into it way too much.

What other games have gotten you hyped up like that?

LL: I really do have to avoid them. I remember when I was going through my divorce with my other marriage, it was back in the days of Tetris (laughs). And I know this is ridiculous, but in order to just escape the reality of my world, I would just take Tetris for hours and hours until I was seeing a block falling every time I closed my eyes. Do you have that? What do you play?

I play everything. There's a game called Tetris Attack, which is kind of a souped-up version of Tetris for the Super NES.

LL: So when you close your eyes at night do you see it?

I actually have dreamt about video games, which is just scary.

LL: Now there's a movie!

Yeah, there's an idea for a crazy character.

LL: My husband, Robert Tapert, has this idea where a cyber character living in a cyber world doesn't know that it's also an action figure. And every time someone tries to play the game the character gets sucked out of their matrix, their real world, which is not real. And eventually the cyber character escapes the game, breaks into real life, becomes a human being. That is the role I would love to do. Kind of like Run Lola Run, that kind of pace.

Besides Xena, which character have you enjoyed playing the most?

LL: I like the bad girls. Bad, funny girls. The younger Xena, the one you only see in flashbacks, she was really fun to play. And I really liked playing [Madame] Vandersexxx in Eurotrip, which comes out next week (2-20-04).

What was it like working on Eurotrip?

LL: Fantastic. Those guys are comic geniuses, the same guys that did Old School and Road Trip. And all goes back to Stripes, and the National Lampoon era. It seems obvious, but comedies are much more fun to work on. Like every day is just a blast during comedies.

Tell us about your other upcoming movie, Boogeyman.

LL: That is me doing a cameo for my husband. I'm playing a drug-addicted mother, you only see her in flashbacks with Tim. He's played by Barry Watson, who I like a lot. He's a good guy, a real solid actor.

What are the major differences between film and TV?

LL: A lot of film producers are so d**m mighty, they're really quite high and mighty. And they often think, "Oh, we'll just go dabble in television." And they just find that they can't hack it, because with television you've got to come up with those ideas every week. So you've gotta be on a train and have incredible stamina for television. A lot of them crap out.

Movies are hard in a different way, 'cause you work five years, two years, on one movie, and you only get one weekend for it to be a hit. It's very rare occasions like American Pie where it hits and then it just keeps growing. Evidently that's a young people phenomena.

You did Broadway for a short time in 1997. Is that something you'd want to do again?

LL: I think I would actually. It depends on the material and the people you're working with, but there's nothing like it.

Some actors think it's really stressful, others enjoy doing it. How do you feel about it?

LL: I love it all. I love every aspect of performance. It's a little bit like acting if you got punched in the stomach 'cause you risk failing every time, and God knows I've had my share of that. But I don't know, I have some sort of gene in me that allows me to get back up. You risk failing but you also can succeed hugely in life. [That's important] 'cause we're not here a really long time. Somehow I'm really aware of that.

What about voice work? Was it hard to get into the role of a cartoon character?

LL: It was kind of difficult actually because it's not like acting. If you just do natural acting it doesn't come across, so you've gotta be hyped up a little bit. Basically I knew was in a whole new world so I did whatever they told me. And if they told me a particular way I outright copied them.

What do you have lined up next? What will you be doing over the next few months?

LL: I'm promoting things I've already finished. Also, I'm in negotiations about doing a...there's a couple of television shows in LA that I'm kinda up for. So we're at a pretty delegate stage at the moment. So hopefully I'll be doing one of those and working on some more great comedies. That's what I love.

That's all the questions I have. Thank you for a great interview.

LL: Thank you for good questions.


Posted on Feb 20, 2004, 8:28 PM

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Aw, just start all over from the top

Another interview, from "Hip Online"

by lucyfan (no login)

From www.hiponline.com/artist/tv/x/xena/100453.html


Lucy Lawless has left, she's been here all the time! We talk to her about life, Eurotrip, and Xena.

"You’ve got Eurotrip coming out and Xena DVDs."

I know and a series for Discovery as well. I’m busy bee.

"Can you still believe the curiosity and fan interest still in Xena?"

I’m blown away; the show has got legs man. It’s got legs with boots on. I’ve really had nothing to do with it since it’s finished, but the demand for the DVDs, posters, and the conventions still go on. When it got people it got them good. They’ve taken something of it and made a community. It’s amazing.

"There are only so many shows that have that and you can’t believe the legs, it’s like Star Trek."

They had updates with movies and things and it’s an incredible thing. The Star Trek and Xena fans are different. The Star Trek fans are more into the science fiction aspect whereas our show was more about hearts and guts and more earthy. Different dynamics.

"Are there talks of a Xena movie like Star Trek?"

I hear people going on about that all the time. But there is a rights problem and nobody knows who owns the rights. For the moment it’s not happening.

"Can you embrace the fans love for the show still today? Or do you want to just move on?"

All these actors who complain about a character they played and being recognized are crazy. I love it. I still talk to Renee, and Ted Raimi all the time.

"Is it nice to have Xena in your back pocket?"

Having it in your back pocket doesn’t make it a cushion to land on because you still have to move on. I’m excited and it’s great to have a curiosity part. Everyone thinks I’m a 300 pound gorilla. I was on a set yesterday for a Mike Judge movie and I heard Mike wanted to meet me. So I got the script and was like “I’m so excited because they’ve finally discovered my comic genius” and then I read that the character was this huge Chyna like woman. I was like “oh my God they think I look like Chyna!” The funny thing is I look so different now and talk different too.

"I was reading about Eurotrip, was it great to have comedy?"

Comedy is my heart. We did a lot of comedy in Xena, but it was very tongue in cheek. I think that was part of its appeal. I want to do more comedy, but for some reason there is a perception that women can’t do comedy. I know I can do it.

"I saw some of Eurotrip, it seems they want to dress you up sexy and make you intimidating."

I know I have this weird, raunchy image. (We both laugh) This simply isn’t true, but its fun to play those bad girls. They are in me somewhere. I’m so damn suburban that it isn’t even funny. (We both laugh)

"Is it weird because you have children, you leave home, go to the set and here you are playing this person so different from yourself. "

It’s not so different than my outfits I have for special occasions, like Valentine’s Day. (Laughs) But seriously, that is what movies are for.

"Did you bring the Eurotrip costume home for your husband?"

No, they actually auctioned it off for charity.

"He didn’t bid?"

Who my husband? (Laughs) No, he probably would have loved to see it. You know what is weird? We filmed that part in Prague and they have the absolute most beautiful women in the world in Prague. So all the women around me are topless and are knockout human beings, but they don’t even know it. They are supermodels. It’s unbelievable.

"What are you working on?"

I did a thing for my husband in one of his movies where I’m a drug addict mother who gives up her son. It felt like a good part to do.

"When you go out in public do they say ‘Lucy can I have an autograph’ or do they call you Xena?"

You’d be surprised that no one recognizes me at all. I look nothing like her. My hair is curly, and I’m so much smaller and thinner than people expect and have kids hanging all over me. I’m a soccer mom. (Laughs)

"They think you are like six foot eight-"

-Yeah, that I’m some enormous woman like Chyna.

"I read there might be another TV show in the works."

I’m actually in very delicate negotiations right now about that and can’t get into it, but I’ll say it is incredibly exciting and nerve racking at the same time. That’s Hollywood for you. If I worked with Mike Judge I wouldn’t worry about another thing.

"Are you interested in doing things behind the camera?"

I’d like to write. I’d like to do something where I could have full control and not waiting for people to give you a job. I’d like to go away and write a novel.

"If you wrote something would it be serious or a comedy?"

I’d be a black comedy. Some dark humor.

"What is the advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?"

If you have something else you can do, do that. Unless you have what it takes to get up every morning just to get punched in the stomach. It’s got to be your only thing. You have to get up and say; “go on! Punch me in the stomach!” (Laughs)

"I wonder if American Idol isn’t throwing everything out of wack because kids think they can get famous overnight."

Right. And even when you get fame it’s not the Holy Grail. An Oscar isn’t the end of the line. Mike North said in an LA Times interview that he liked failure because when you win a statuette you go back to your room and are lonely, and when you lose you have happiness at home. Easy for me to say because I had a great job, but that is what you find when you have success.

"Losing can make you hungrier."

Yeah man, ain’t that the truth. (Laughs) It’s taken me years to want to get back to work.

Charlie Craine
Published: February.30.2004


Posted on Mar 6, 2004, 1:15 PM

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..and another, from "V-Teens Online"

by lucyfan (no login)

From: http://www.vteens.org/content.cfm?fuseaction=article&article_id=1046&channel=7%20

A Little-Known Secret: Lucy Lawless Interview
By: Lisa Lombardo

February 10th, 2004 marked the release of Xena: Warrior Princess, Season Three on DVD. It has been a long-haul wait for avid fans anticipating this release. However, the wait was worth it as the collection features twenty-two original episodes (re-mastered in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound) and exclusive bonus material. In celebration of the DVD release, take a moment and enjoy an exclusive question and answer session with Xena leading lady, Lucy Lawless.

Q: Before we delve into speaking about Season Three, would you mind detailing how you were originally cast to appear as Xena?

A: How was I originally cast? I was originally cast when somebody else fell out. They had been preparing for the role for months, but had gotten stuck in London and no longer wanted to come down to New Zealand for the role. I was just this lucky local kid on the spot. At that time it was a three episode arc on Hercules, the silly girl gave it up, and I'm very grateful.

Q: Before Xena, were you interested in mythology?

A: I don't think I was ever particularly interested in mythology. It was Aesop's Fables; they were just kid's stories to me. Now when people talk about vestal virgins or youngian archetypes, I feel like "yep, know her, met her, killed her." I feel like I know all of those characters personally. They're not thrilling to me, it's like "ah Caesar, he was a bastard, I dealt to him."

Q: The show spanned for an amazing six seasons. Throughout Season Three was there a time while filming that was most memorable to you? How did Season Three differ from the other seasons?

A: Season Three was, I think, where the show began to peak in terms of popularity and momentum, and it's when we really fell into a groove. The high point of Season Three was "Bitter Sweet." "Bitter Sweet" was just amazing for utilizing all of those brilliant talents. The songwriters, I think, were just incredible. It has one of my favorite performances by Kevin Smith, the late Kevin Smith, who we all miss terribly. I just thought it was genius on so many levels. To put all of those storylines and all of that symbolism into a musical drama is unheard of. I think it's the most successful television drama, television musical that I've ever seen. I mean, dramatically that works so well. Incredible that we did it on such a tight budget and in such a tight time frame. I'm very proud of that one.

Q: There were various special effects used in the making of Xena. How was it to film and then actually see it on a television screen? Were there times when even you were surprised by the final outcome and realistic feel of the stunts?

A: Well, the problem is that we're so accustomed to seeing brilliant special effects, that audiences, they now expect a lot. So, what you notice is when things don't work. Now with the genius of 'Lord of the Rings' everybody in television is just screwed as far as I'm concerned. I think 'Smallville' does it really, really well. You need to put a lot of money into that sort of thing. I think what people don't realize is how little money we had to work with and how much of what we had - everything - everything went on the screen. It wasn't lining anybody's pockets; that's for sure.

Q: On the DVD discs for Season Three, you had the opportunity to contribute much of the commentary. Is that a process you enjoy?

A: Yeah, I love it. It's wonderful getting together with those guys. I'm not very good at coming up with anecdotes about what happened when. I love hearing Renee's perspective and Rob's perspective because they just look at life so differently than me and analyze things in a completely different way.

Q: Kevin Sorbo had several guest appearances on your set. How was it to work with him?

A: Kevin's great, he's very professional and very charming. He's easy to work with.

Q: If you had to describe Season Three to a 'new comer' of the Xena experience, how would you describe it?

A: Season Three was such a mixture. It's where the show started to really find its feet. So, it's a rollicking ride through comedy, and drama and musical. I think it's got some of the most surprising stuff going on there.

Q: Before we wrap this up, is there anything you would like to add?

A: I just want to say "Thank You" to all the people who have loved the show so well. It obviously meant a lot to me and my life. It was a huge part of my life and I'm so glad that people continue to love it. It's still a little-known secret that show, and it's still something that not that many people truly understand…but WE know.



Posted on Mar 6, 2004, 1:19 PM

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Another, from Business World Online

by lucy-fan (no login)

From: http://www.bworld.com.ph/weekender/stayin/stayin2.html

TELEVISION

Lucy Lawless: Warrior woman

'Strong women are beginning to be taken seriously. We just have to tell our daughters that they can achieve anything. Even a father can do that.'

By Cesar Miguel Escaño

Wielding a broadsword and cooking dinner for her kids, Lucy Lawless epitomizes the modern kick-ass female. She earned the title of "warrior woman" as the star of the popular television show Xena: Warrior Princess.

This May, Discovery Channel Asia will release a five-part series entitled Warrior Women. Hosted by the once-warrior princess, the documentaries explore the lives of five female warriors.

The women featured in the series include Boudica, the red-haired queen who brought the Roman Empire to its knees in Britain; Wang Cong'er, the real-life Mulan who challenged the emperor of China in her search for justice; Joan of Arc, a 19-year-old girl who led the French to victory over the British only to be later burned as a witch; Grace O'Malley, the Irish pirate princess who won the respect of Queen Elizabeth I; and Lozen, an Apache shamaness and wife of Geronimo whose psychic skills enabled her to lead her people safely to Mexico.

Xena was cancelled after a successful six-year run but television audiences will remember her piercing war cry that immobilized male opponents. Ms. Lawless, 35, is the mother of two children, a daughter from a previous marriage and a son with her husband, Robert Tapert, the executive producer of Xena.

BusinessWorld had the opportunity to talk to Ms. Lawless during a teleconference call with Asian journalists while she stayed at her home in Los Angeles, California in the United States.

BusinessWorld: How are strong women today different from strong women in times past?

Lucy Lawless: Strong women in the modern world are more global in their views. In the feudal past, your reach went only as far as you could see. If you were born a pirate, that's what you'd likely be. The important thing is strong women have always existed. It°s just that we are able to do much grander things today. Women today have the potential of reaching the sky. Of course, there are obstacles that limit us.

BW: What are these obstacles that limit women today?

LL: Many things. Less jobs. Less openings for women. There are fewer female astronauts than males. There are less female CEOs than male CEOs. In entertainment, there are more actresses than actors but female roles are half as many as male roles. The limiting factors are there. The challenge is for women to dare the dream and ignore statistics.

BW: After Xena, have you heard of any change in perception for women in general?

LL: I believe the show had a profound effect on a number of people's lives. Before Xena, there were hardly any female-driven shows. Kieffer Sutherland was able to produce and release Femme Nikita because of the popularity of Xena. Studios were hesitant (to come out) with a show whose central character was female. Then Xena came along and this enabled [Femme Nikita's] producers to get the show.

BW: From what you've portrayed and from what you've learned from the shows you are hosting for the Discovery Channel, how difficult was it to be a strong woman in previous centuries, considering societies were patriarchal?

LL: Everyone had to be strong in those days, both sexes. There was always struggle. There were enormous demands to feed your family. Women were disadvantaged. There was a great amount of prejudice against them. Culture would simply not allow them outside the home. Matriarchal societies were torn asunder when Judeo-Christianity came along.

BW: Do you think strong women are seriously accepted in modern society?

LL: Yes, strong women are beginning to be taken seriously. We just have to tell our daughters that they can achieve anything. Even a father can do that. He just has to tell his daughter that "you're going to be great as long as you work hard." He becomes the ultimate role model for her.

BW: You have a teenage daughter. Is Xena a good role model for her?

LL: She thinks Xena is cool but it's just mum's job. The show was never really meant for kids. My role involved a lot of screaming. It was never really pleasant to hear screaming from the next room while we were having dinner. There would be screenings at 5 p.m. I'd tell them to turn it off.

BW: How did you get involved with the shows for the Discovery Channel?

LL: They rang me up and asked if I was interested. I said yes. It just sounded like so much fun. It was a great opportunity. The children never even knew I was gone. I agreed because I didn't have to leave my children at all.

BW: After Xena, aren't you afraid you might get typecast into playing similar roles? Which roles would you like to play?

LL: People are really curious. They think I'm a 700-pound gorilla. I want to make the audience laugh and cry. I would like the chance to play roles where I get to be really ugly or really stupid, those that involve moral peril and desperate circumstances. I love comedy. I started out with comedy.

BW: Would you play the role of a damsel in distress?

LL: I'm not really attracted to the role of a damsel in distress. It's so one-dimensional. I go for interesting roles.

BW: Who is your female role model?

LL: I'm crazy about my mother. I think what I do falls short of what she did for our family. Apart from her, I'd like to think I'm my own role model. You have to tell women today that they can be their own role models.



Posted on Mar 31, 2004, 5:53 PM

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From The ManRoom

by lucyfan (no login)

This one is from http://www.themanroom.com/interviews.php?id=7 - it has a sort of Maxim-like feel to it.


The Man Room

Armchair Interview: Lucy Lawless

February 19, 2004

She is known infamously worldwide for her portrayal of Xena: The Warrior Princess, a role that redefined sexy and powerful women during the television show's six year run. But lately Lucy Lawless has been laying low so we invited her to take a seat in our guest armchair for a little chat. Lucy came sans Xena outfit, but we think we've convinced her to consider otherwise for her next visit.

TMR: So what is Lucy Lawless up to nowadays?
LL: I am publicizing a movie that is coming out next week, and taking a lot of meetings about new television shows, and films, and it’s all very exciting.

TMR: How fun, or painful, is it to revisit Xena, your co-stars, and the series to record the audio and video commentaries?

LL: It’s not painful; I look back on Xena very fondly. Xena was very good to me, and I love all those people still. Renee and I still talk on the phone all the time, and Ted and Bruce, a few of the other New Zealanders when I’m in New Zealand…they’re good personal friends, so it was like school days. That’s how I can best sum it up. It’s like friends from school; even the bad times were hilarious.

{Ed. Note: Once again, she goes out of her way to include Ted and Bruce as being among her favorites, and mentions that she and Renee are close by her definition - which I should think would be the most important one.}

TMR: So, what is the best memory you have from your third season as Xena: Warrior Princess?

LL: Oh heck…I wish I had a list of all the episodes in front of me. Tsunami is a good example of “even the bad times good” That’s the one with Tony Todd in it. I think.

{Ed. Note: Once again, she shows that she doesn't remember the details of episodes from years ago - and doesn't care! }


A lot of these episodes have guest stars of people who are now on major series, like Kathryn Morris from Cold Case. There’s a little girl in “Forgiven” who then went on to be on Roswell, and she’s a fine little actress and a lovely human being. {Ed. Note: So much for worrying about feedback from the internet! :P }

I guess the nice thing about the third season was meeting incredibly talented people from around the world. I think we were on a bit of a “high” on the third season, and working with Bruce and Ted is always a scream.

TMR: Any experiences you would like to forget?

LL: There are a couple in there that are just kind of stinkers. I think King Con was not one of my favorites. There were no terrible experiences there. There was just one that I thought was a bit of a stinker (laughs), which was King Con, because it was such a small story. If you only buy it to see Lucy doing some really questionable tricks, there are lots of them in season three.

{Ed. Note: Wonder if that's a typo, or her own goof? }

TMR: Some actors and actresses hate to be typecast or best known for a single character they portrayed, while others appreciate being recognized for their work in a memorable role. Which side of the fence does Lucy Lawless sit? Do you want to go down in history as Xena: Warrior Princess?

LL: The latter I think. We should be so lucky to have such a problem really. It was a tremendous experience, really great. I’ll always be grateful to all the people that made that show happen.


{Ed. Note: And so much for the "Lucy wants to distance herself from XWP" myth.}

TMR: It’s rare to find an episode of Xena where every woman in the show wasn't drop dead gorgeous. What was that like and was there much competition between the girls? Any mud wrestling?

LL: No... Was there any mud wrestling?! Only after hours. (laughs) Earning a bit of money on the side, we’d go mud wrestling. There was no competition between the women, that was one of the good things on the show. It was a great environment for women. As long as you were a good human being doing your best, we totally accepted you. You’d have to be a complete pest and make a real nuisance of yourself to be unpopular down there. It was very inclusive.

TMR: I guess we won’t get any names out of you. When starting work on Xena, did you ever imagine it would run for 6 seasons and become a pop culture classic by the start of its third season? What do you attribute to the show's success?

LL: I think the reason the show was successful is that it always knew what it was. It was unashamedly good cheese. The tongue was always in cheek. We tried to play the drama straight, but we never thought of ourselves as being highfalutin, and I think our fans appreciated that. I’ve always thought of it as a dumb show for smart people. Even brainiacs want to take a night off from time to time.


TMR: Is there one episode, scene, or incident from season three that is memorable to you above all others?

LL: Warrior, Priestess, Tramp. No... Fins, Femmes and Gems. There were just some incredibly funny moments in that. I loved Renee, when her character is under the spell, a vanity spell. She falls in love with herself, and she just becomes an incredible minx. Renee can play five hundred shades of minx, she’s just a scream. She’s so funny in that, and Ted in the pink negligee, that’s one of my favorite episodes.

{Ed. Note: And once again, so much for the opinions of "all the fans." Funny how both eps mentioned feature Josh and Ted; also interesting that she doesn't say "oh that was meant to be a serious political statement episode until the 'suits' wouldn't let us."}

TMR: We’d prefer to see the naked Gabrielle triplets over Ted in the negligee. How much Three Stooges research did you do for episode 1, when the Furies struck Xena with madness?

LL: I had never seen the Stooges. Maybe as a child I had, but it wasn’t part of my television or film history growing up. The only exposure I’d had to it was hanging around Bruce, Ted, Josh Becker, and Rob, who are like the four stooges when you get them together.

TMR: Sounds like a day in TheManRoom. Once the series hit its stride we were treated to either drama or comedy in any given week, and sometimes both in the same episode. Did this come as a challenge to jump tracks so often or was it refreshing to switch it up every once in awhile?

LL: It was a great education; it was a wonderful opportunity to really practice your craft in both. I love comedy, that’s where I feel my home is, and it was just a golden role. They don’t come along but once in a lifetime and I know it, so I’ve been very blessed. I think we all loved that, switching it up and having different directors with different fortes. It was just an honor to work with so many talented, diverse people.

TMR: Xena can really kick some @#%$. Was that all special effects or am I in danger of getting my tail kicked if this interview goes awry?

LL: Well, there are times when I channel Xena for taking care of business, but there were a lot of special effects in there. It was really ambitious; you don’t get that many special effects on television shows. The one where Alti turns into a skeleton, I don’t know if that’s even season three actually, maybe I shouldn’t talk about that one.

{Ed. Note: See above.}


Or in “The Way” which is in a later season, those have so many special effects. I think audiences are so accustomed to seeing wiz-bang effects on movies that they really don’t question it on Television. Audiences have gotten very demanding, but the number of special effects that we would do on our budget surpassed, I think I can safely say, everybody else in television. You’d have to ask Rob specifically about that sort of thing, but we did far more than other people. Especially considering the money we had, a lot of value went on the screen.

TMR: We're big fans of lesbians here at TheManRoom. Xena had a huge lesbian following, borderline obsessive. Did that make you uncomfortable or did you find it more on the flattering side? Any memorable incidents?

LL: I’ve never been uncomfortable with that. We love all our fans. Any memorable incidents?... No. The only problem is sometimes when I meet lesbians they’re very, sort of, withdrawn around you. So you just think “Ah they’re not interested in me at all, as a human being.” Later on when they get used to you they’ll say “we just couldn’t deal with the ‘Xena’ factor.” But I never think of it myself, so I just think “this person thinks I’m an idiot” or something. I have friends that are a lesbian couple, and when I meet all their gay friends, there’s always a two week waiting period before they can actually talk to me.

TMR: Silly Lesbians! Our website was founded on the concept of a "ManRoom" - a separate room in the house guys like to call their own. Do you have a "ManRoom?" Maybe somewhere where you screen movies, shoot pool or something similar? Or is it a sewing room?

LL: I wish I had a ManRoom! I’m sitting in my husband’s ManRoom at the moment because the rest of the house is completely taken over by rug rats. So no, there is nowhere for me to get away.

TMR: Can Xena kick Hercules' ass?

LL: (Laughs) Yes!

TMR: Since there are three more Xena box sets on the horizon, does this mean we get to talk three more times? We're practically dating!

LL: I am always absolutely thrilled to be admitted into “TheManRoom”.

TMR: Ok, one more important question... Is the Xena outfit retired or can we find you prancing around in it as the Warrior Princess when the right mood hits you?

LL: I bring it out on very special occasions. Next time I come to TheManRoom I’ll wear it without fail.

TMR: And our members would very much appreciate that. Thanks for the chat!







Posted on Apr 8, 2004, 10:12 PM

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Re: Lucy Lawless interview at about.com

by (no login)

i would love to get i touch with lucy

Posted on Aug 23, 2005, 5:46 PM

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Earth to Planet Xena

by august (no login)

July 30, 2005, 7:07AM
Associated Press




This time-lapse image, provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, of a newfound planet in our solar system, called 2003 UB313, was taken on Oct. 21, 2003, using the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif. The planet, circled, is seen moving across a field of stars. The three images were taken about 90 minutes apart. Scientists did not discover the planet until Jan. 8.


New planet discovered in solar system
Find may renew the debate over the status of Pluto
New York Times


Add a tenth planet to the solar system — or possibly subtract one.

Astronomers announced Friday that they have found a lump of rock and ice that is larger than Pluto and the farthest known object in the solar system.

The discovery will likely rekindle debate over the definition of "planet" and whether Pluto still merits the designation. The new object — as yet unnamed, but temporarily known as 2003 UB313 — is now 9 billion miles away from the sun, or 97 times as far away as the Earth and about three times Pluto's current distance from the sun. Its 560-year elliptical orbit brings it as close as 3.3 billion miles. Pluto's orbit ranges between 2.7 billion and 4.6 billion miles.

The astronomers do not have an exact size for the new planet, but its brightness and distance tell them that it is larger than Pluto, the smallest of the nine known planets.

"It is guaranteed bigger than Pluto," said Michael Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech and a member of the team that made the discovery. "Even if it were 100 percent reflective, it would be larger than Pluto. It can't be more than 100 percent reflective."

The discovery was made Jan. 8 at Palomar Observatory in California. Brown and the other members of the team — Chadwick Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and David Rabinowitz of Yale University — found then that they had, unknowingly, taken images of the planet, using the observatory's telescope, as far back as 2003.

Brown said they had a name they have proposed for the planet, but did not want to disclose it publicly until it had been formally approved by the International Astronomical Union. "We have a name we really like, and we want it to stick," he said.

Informally, the astronomers have been calling it "Xena" after the television series about a Greek warrior princess, which was popular when the astronomers began their systematic sweep of the sky in 2000. "Because we always wanted to name something Xena," Brown said.

RESOURCES
Planet image:
http://www.nasa.gov

Samuel Oschin Telescope:
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/
palomarnew/sot.html



Posted on Jul 30, 2005, 2:46 PM

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XENA CONVENTION UPDATE 2006

by Daleglen (no login)

January 13-15, 2006
The Official Xena Convention
Burbank Hilton, California

Guests:

RENEE O'CONNOR Gabrielle

MICHAEL HURST Iolaus and director of episodes

TSIANINA JOELSON Varia

JENNIFER WARD-LEALAND Boadicea

More guests to be announced!
2006 MUSIC VIDEO CONTEST

Rules: up to two music videos about Xena may be submitted on VHS tape or DVD
(DVD preferred, no computer formats please).

Entries are judged on the following criteria: video quality, audio quality, editing quality,
inventiveness, song selection, and originality. Humorous submissions are encouraged.

Entries can not be returned, and person submitting entry is granting Creation the right to play this entry in perpetuity at Creation events worldwide. Creation does not sell music videos so your entry will never be sold as a commercial product, just presented at our events. Winners will receive a $100 gift certificate good for Creation products and services worldwide (if both your entries are selected you will still be entitled to only one gift certificate).

Winners will be announced and certificates awarded on site at our Burbank event; if you are not present we will mail the certificate to you so be sure to include your return address, phone number and e mail. You may call our offices to confirm receipt of your entry but we do not announce winners until the event. All entries are due at Creation offices by Dec. 15th with no exceptions.

Creation Entertainment
Xena Music Video Contest
217 S. Kenwood St.
Glendale, CA 91205

Thanks and good luck!

THE CREATION COSTUME COMPETITION
Here's the chance to let your creative abilities shine as we present audience members dressed in their finest costumes and special effects make-ups! Mini performances and imitations are allowed during your on-stage time! Come to win valuable prizes and audience recognition. THE CREATION COSTUME COMPETITION is set for SATURDAY! GRAND PRIZE is a $250 GIFT CERTIFICATE and there are other prizes as well.

Tickets and details here http://www.creationent.com


Posted on Jul 18, 2005, 11:18 AM

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Karl Urban, The Rock in "Doom"

by chainsaw user (no login)

Some details: http://www.first4figures.com/doom.htm

Tentative USA release date: October 21st, 2005

Budget: $70,000,000 (estimated)

Filiming dates: October 18th, 2004 - January 28th, 2005


Distributor: Universal Pictures

Starring: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson (Sarge), Karl Urban (John Grimm), Rosamund Pike (Samantha), Ben Daniels (Goat), Razaaq Adoti (Duke), Richard Brake (Portman), Dexter Fletcher (Pinky), Yao Chin (Mac), Robert Russell (Dr Carmack), Daniel York (Lt. Hunegs), Ian Hughes (Sandford Crosby), Sara Houghton (Dr Jenna Willits), Blanka Jarosova (Dr Hillary Tallman), Jaroslav Psenicka (Dr Thurman), Brian Steele (Curtis Stahle/The Baron)

Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak (Cradle 2 Grave, Exit Wounds)
Produced by John Wells, Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Written by David Callaham, Wesley Strick (The Glass House)




Posted on Jul 5, 2005, 4:48 PM

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Spider-Man 3

by spidey-fan (no login)

From http://www.nowplayingmag.com/content/view/1494/ :



Now Playing magazine got the chance to chat with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man director Sam Raimi earlier today, as well as his producing partner Rob Tapert, as the two are currently promoting the DVD release of the horror hit Boogeyman which comes from their Ghost House Pictures production company. Of course, during the course of the conversation Spider-Man 3 came up, and while Raimi remains mostly mum on the plot points of the sequel, he did fill us in on what’s going on with the visual effects for the wallcrawler’s next adventure. For starters, the director acknowledged that the effects will be a combination of the practical and the computer generated varieties, just as they were for Spider-Man 2’s Doc Ock.

“Absolutely, the new villain, the new powers [will be a mix],” Raimi says. “We’re shooting tests right now to determine what is best pulled off believably as a practical effect and what can’t be, what’s too dangerous, what is too unreasonable, and what looks better in CG.”

Raimi’s still not revealing which of Spidey’s villains will show up in the film; in fact, he says it’s so early in the process that a schedule hasn’t even been settled on yet for the shoot.

“We have different possibilities of different schedules and they’re being balanced with [each other],” he says. “If we start on a particular day, how many effects shots will we be able to shoot and for how long would we be able to work on them until delivery? If we start later, which is a little cheaper – not have everybody on so long – will it rush the effects too much? Will we have to have fewer effects? And at the same time, knowing we’ll have more money for those effects? So that’s the type of [things] that the producers, Grant Curtis, Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Joe Caracciolo, are juggling right now.”

Even though CG versions of New York City and Spider-Man already exist on hard drives somewhere from the first two films, Raimi prefers to more or less start from scratch with this movie when it comes to rendering the visuals.

“The problem is that, in my opinion, the demands of the audience for the quality of the effects rises every picture,” he explains. “So if were able to just say to ourselves, ‘You know what, the effects were good enough. Let’s use the database and go from there,’ it would be a tremendous amount easier. I could do a lot more shots a lot cheaper, but I don’t actually think that’s what the fans want me to do. They want to see, I believe – it’s always hard to know what other people want, but I’m trying to satisfy them and at the same time be true to myself – a finer quality of movement in Spider-Man, a more realistic looking Spider-Man, more of a sense that he exists in reality, in a real city. Although I can use a lot of the wireframes that have been built, the level of detail and the tools to achieve it and the textures and the overall ability of the end result, to improve it, we’ve got to move to the next stage of technology, which we’re doing. So I’m only able to use part of what we’ve created in the last two films. We could have used it all but I decided not to.”

For Raimi, who used to make his own fake blood when he was an unknown toiling away on The Evil Dead, the state of visual effects technology today is amazing.

“The process itself advances the technology,” he says. “We’re always trying to do things that haven’t been done before and we try to figure out ways to do them. And it’s through that process that the technology is advancing. I feel that’s what makes the process kind of exciting. And as John Dykstra says, you’ve got to imagine where the effects will be two or three years from now and actually try to raise the bar beyond that. That’s what you have to shoot for, and that is what we have done and are trying to do.”

......

He’s still keeping quiet about the film’s characters and plot for the most part, though he did offer us a quick idea on what to expect from Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and his now-girlfriend Mary Jane Watson’s (Kirsten Dunst) character arcs in part three.

“[Peter is] going to try to move to the next phase of his life, the next stage, young adulthood, and he’s going to now be dealing with issues of self-esteem and how he can carry on a relationship, which is much more complex than having an occasional date with some woman and not revealing all of your secrets to her,” says Raimi. “And it’s going to be about how she and he might find a way to live together with this responsibility and the conflict that being this person creates in this relationship… [MJ] is integral to the story, and the movie is going to really follow the continuation of her and Peter Parker’s love story.”

Raimi also confirms that the script for Spidey 3 is still being written.

“We’ve been writing away like madmen, Alvin Sargent and my brother [Ivan Raimi] and I,” he says, while also pointing out that ultimately Sargent, who penned Spider-Man 2 as well, will probably get sole screenplay credit. “It’s probably going to be Alvin’s screenplay but I have to leave that to the Writer’s Guild. [My brother and I are] just really working on the action scenes.”




Posted on May 19, 2005, 9:54 AM

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Anyone Going to Seattle?

by (no login)

Hey guys! ok, so I'm sort of SOL on a room for the first Thursday night in Seattle, and I really need a place to stay that night. Is there anyone willing to let me crash on their floor for the first Thursday of the con? I was flying with some pretty tricky tickets from priceline and there was a chance I wouldn't make it to Seattle until way after Lucy performed in GPB and there was no way I was going to miss that! So I had to fly in on Thursday.

Well, get back to me, I'm willing to pay. You can e-mail me at:
always_deeva@yahoo.com
always_idina@hotmail.com

THANK YOU!

amanda Mo

Posted on May 10, 2005, 12:46 AM

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So how was it?

by August (no login)

Sorry no one responded - did you find a place? And how was the event?

Thanks for visiting here and posting - come again - post early, post often! :D

Posted on May 16, 2005, 6:27 PM

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Jump's "Mexico" single on the radio

by jump fan (no login)

“Mexico” is being played on the stations listed below.

KATW 101.5
(208) 743-6564
LEWISTON
ID

KGY
(360) 943-1240
OLYMPIA
WA

KLOG
bill@klog.com
KELSO
WA

KOJM
406-265-7841
HAVRE
MT

KSIQ Q96
760.344.1300
BRAWLEY
CA

KSKU 106.1
316-665-5758
HUTCHINSON
KS

KWKQ 94.7
940-549-1330
GRAHAM
TX

KYEE 94.3
505-434-1414
ALAMOGORDO
NM

KYFM 100.1
918-336-1001
BARTLESVILLE
OK

WCIR 103
304-253-7000
BECKLEY
WV

WCMT
731-588-1410
MARTIN
TN

WELT 98.1
912-237-1590
SWAINSBORO
GA

WIQQ Q102
601-378-2617
GREENVILLE
MS

WKHG 105
270-259-5692
LEITCHFIELD
KY

WKNY
914-331-1490
KINGSTON
NY

WKZW KZ94
601-649-0095
LAUREL
MS

WMGZ Z97
(800) 247-HITS
MILLEDGEVILLE
GA

WMOA
614-373-1490
MARIETTA
OH

WXTQ +POWER 105
(740) 592-1055
ATHENS
OH

WRLT
615.242.5600
Nashville
TN

KCLC
314.949.4880
St Louis
MO

WLKG
262.249.9600
Milwaukee
WI

KQMA
785.543.2151
Phillipsburg
KS

KLAN
406.228.9336
Glasgow
MT

WSNN
315.265.5510
Potsdam
NY

KSID
suzy@ksidradio.com
Sidney
NE

KSCQ
505.388.4116
Silve City
NM

WCXU
207.473.7513
Caribou
ME

KFMI
707.442.2000
Mill Valley
CA


So, if you are stuck in bad weather… or can spare a few minutes of your time, please call/email and request Mexico.



Stay tuned to www.jumphq.com for news and tourdates!!!




Posted on Feb 27, 2005, 7:57 PM

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Jump Spring Tour Dates

by jump fan (no login)

Jump 2005 Tour Dates


4/4 :: Knitting Factory :: New York, NY
4/7 :: Paradise :: Boston, MA
4/8 :: The Call :: Providence, RI
4/14 :: Cat's Cradle :: Carrboro, NC
4/15 :: Ziggy's :: Winston-Salem, NC
4/16 :: Georgia Theatre :: Athens, GA
4/21 :: Shakori Hills festival :: Silk Hope, NC
4/22 :: Tremont Music Hall :: Charlotte, NC
4/23 :: Music Farm :: Charleston, SC
4/28 :: Exit/In :: Nashville, TN
4/29 :: Work Play Theatre :: Birmingham, AL
4/30 :: Variety Playhouse :: Atlanta, GA

Posted on Apr 3, 2005, 1:00 PM

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it's twue, it's twue - Sam Rob and Bruce are remaking "Evil Dead"

by Anonymous (no login)

It's in Variety, so it must be true. :P

..................................................

Raimi Readies "Dead" Remake

Sam Raimi is resurrecting the Dead.

The Spider-Man helmer, who shot to fame scaring the bejesus out of moviegoers as the writer, director and producer of the 1981 cult horror classic The Evil Dead, has unveiled plans for a remake, Daily Variety reports.

Raimi will develop the new Dead installment through his Ghost House Pictures with an assist from the production company Senator International and the film's original producing partners, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell.

Campbell also played Ash, the beleaguered, badass hero chased by dark zombie forces in The Evil Dead and its sequels: 1987's equally gory Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and 1992's Army of Darkness, which jettisoned the series' more stomach-churning chills in favor of slapstick.

The Evil Dead follows five friends who wind up at a cabin in the woods, where they find an archaeologist's taped translation of an ancient text known as the Necronomicon. When spoken aloud, the book unleashes an unspeakable evil from the forest that terrorizes the teens and turns them into flesh-eating demons. It's up to Ash to keep the dead dead.

The over-the-top violence, masterful camera work, and buckets of blood earned the low-budget feature a massive underground following and launched Raimi's career.

Because he's busy prepping Spider-Man 3, Raimi doesn't have plans to direct the new version.

"The Evil Dead is such a special film to Sam, Rob, Bruce and horror fans that we are going to take great care in renewing this franchise," Joe Drake, president of Senator International, told Variety. "By keeping its original formula intact and given audiences' appetite for horror, we expect that we'll have a real hit on our hands."

As part of the deal, Senator will put up the financing in exchange for worldwide rights to the picture and its executive producer, Nathan Kahane, will supervise production for the company. No word on whether Campbell will have a role in the update.

Meanwhile, Senator and Ghost House have also green-lighted a follow-up to The Grudge, now that the Sarah Michelle Gellar (news)-starring horror flick has just crossed the $100 million mark in domestic box office after 27 days in release.

Other upcoming pics include "Dibbuk Box" from the Pang brothers; "Scarecrow"; "30 Days of Night," in partnership with Columbia; and "Boogeyman," to be released by Screen Gems in February.

Posted on Nov 19, 2004, 7:20 PM

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Sam on his career and influences

by Anonymous (no login)

From: http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041206/NEWS/412060302/1023


'Spider-Man' director enjoys putting his spin on the comic classic

December 6, 2004

By Andrew Dansby, Houston Chronicle

HOUSTON — "Spider-Man "director Sam Raimi remembers "Fantastic Voyage" with detail that reflects the romance and enthusiasm that informs his life's work.

Raimi, 45, saw the 1966 film — an imaginative tour of the human body from the inside — at an old theater in his hometown of Detroit.

"On the rare occasion that we'd go to a movie, we'd dress in suits and ties," he said during a conference call. "When the curtain parted, I think I remember that some type came up. I was too young to read, so my father read it to me.

"'You are about to take a journey that no man or woman has embarked on before.' I believed it was real. It was a terrifying and exciting and triumphant experience by the end."

Raimi's entire career has been defined by such swirling forces. His enthusiasm for cinema has influenced cult classics like the "Evil Dead" trilogy, serious Oscar-contending fare such as "A Simple Plan" and titanic blockbusters like the two "Spider-Man" films.

The first "Spider-Man" made Raimi bankable. The second, which just came out on DVD, made him a magician. Few directors have created a sequel more compelling than its predecessor. Raimi, soft-spoken and modest, is quick to commend the source material, Stan Lee's generation-spanning classic comics, and particularly the character of Peter Parker.

Though Raimi isn't prone to Parker's web-slinging heroics, he does share with his protagonist a duality in which one foot is rooted in youthful enthusiasm, while the other kicks toward the responsibility of adulthood.

"A lot of ("Spider-Man 2"'s plot) came from Stan Lee's "Spider-Man" No. 50 story line where Peter got sick and decided he wanted to be Spider-Man no more," Raimi says. "The theme of the piece was a life out of balance: the commitment to do good and satisfying your own needs as a human being to be happy."

Raimi made his first significant bid to indulge his lifelong comic infatuation with 1990's "Darkman," an original superhero tale that sputtered at the box office but has, like Raimi's early work, found cult fandom in the years since.

In fact, much of the '90s treated Raimi poorly. Only his enthusiastic fans flocked to "Evil Dead"'s third part, 1993's "Army of Darkness," and his dazzling Western, "The Quick and the Dead." As a director, he wasn't safe money.

"A Simple Plan" (1998) proved a back-door success, though it was quickly tempered by "For Love of the Game," a Kevin Costner baseball bomb for which Raimi was brought on board after pre-production had begun. It was his unbridled enthusiasm for "Spider-Man" that prompted the film's studio to put it in his hands. Raimi's dazzling cinematic style fit the film like a superhero's suit.

"Usually in Hollywood, they go with the safe bet," he said. "I'd never really made movies that were successful before, at least not financially successful. After ("Spider-Man"), I felt a little humbled, frightened as to how it had happened and how it was to happen again. Some people are emboldened by success. I'm a very insecure person, and I was belittled by it."

Raimi doesn't just have two winners on his hands. The "Spider-Man" films have grossed approximately $1.5 billion worldwide. He's begun writing the third, trying to create new adventures for Peter Parker and also deciding which villains will make their bows.

Raimi currently has a contract for only the third film, and by the time "Spider-Man 3" is released, he will have spent more than eight years on the franchise's production. In a way, though, Raimi has been working on "Spider-Man" since he first fell for the comic books decades ago. It's his dream project, and any other aspirations will hinge on whether his fascination with Peter Parker continues.

"(After the third film) it will depend on if I have this great love for (him)," Raimi said. "To me, it's always a coming-of-age story. He's got life lessons to learn. If I have as much passion for this character as I do right now, you'd have to fight me off with a stick."




Posted on Dec 8, 2004, 5:18 PM

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Classic Sam, in a USA Today profile of the Spidey 2 dvd

by Anonymous (no login)

Raimi says he's not a big fan of providing DVD commentaries, but his conversation with actor Tobey Maguire, who plays Spider-Man and Peter Parker, is revealing about their relationship.

Punishing Peter Parker creates drama, Raimi says, but that means punishing Maguire. In an early scene, Parker drops his books and is repeatedly pummeled in the head by passersby's purses, gym bags and backpacks. During filming, the supporting cast wasn't hitting Maguire aggressively enough, so Raimi took some shots of his own, highlighted in the DVD's bloopers.

"You like to do a lot of takes when I'm being punished," Maguire says on the commentary. "I don't do that on purpose," Raimi says and laughs. "But you were a big sport to let us hit you with that bag so many times."



Posted on Dec 11, 2004, 4:22 PM

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a little more on Sam's influences

by (Login august)
Forum Owner

From http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/raimi%20overcame%20horror%20film%20fear%20to%20break%20into%20hollywood

RAIMI OVERCAME HORROR FILM FEAR TO BREAK INTO HOLLYWOOD


SPIDER-MAN film-maker SAM RAIMI forced himself to overcome his fear of horror movies so he could carve out a successful Hollywood career.

The director debuted with the low-budget, cult film THE EVIL DEAD, because he thought making "cheap horror movies" would provide him with the opportunity to break into the industry.

Raimi was convinced the fright genre was the right place to start after he first watched subtle 1963 classic THE HAUNTING.

He says, "Ironically, when I first tried to break into the film business, I didn't like horror movies because they scared me.

"But my partner and I decided that we could raise $100,000 if we agreed to make cheap horror movies for drive-ins.

"So I had to go back and study them, to learn how to make them, and it was films like The Haunting that really made me appreciate the craft.

"You look at it and you see that it's made with such a degree of professional artistry, and such stunning attention to detail. It really gets under your skin."



Posted on Dec 28, 2004, 11:15 AM

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"Box Office Prophet" article on Sam

by Anonymous (no login)

From http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=8713

Top 10 Film Industry Stories of 2004:
#6: Sam Raimi's Monster Year
By Kim Hollis
December 29, 2004

There was a time when Sam Raimi was known as the guy who created The Evil Dead. The executive producer of such cult television series as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, and American Gothic. The director of quirky little films like The Gift and A Simple Plan.

Obviously, things have changed since then.

After re-defining the superhero film and setting a bar for opening weekend gross that has yet to be surpassed with Spider-Man, Raimi returned to direct the second film in the Spidey saga. In 2002, the first installment in the Spider-Man series earned $114 million in its debut weekend, $404 million in North America, and another $418 million internationally. Along with the financial gains, the film was also critically lauded as one of the best superhero movies ever to come down the pike. Could Raimi duplicate his previous success or was Spider-Man 2 destined for disappointment?

As it turns out, Spider-Man 2 was a triumph. Although it failed to match the opening record that the first film attained, it still took in a whopping $88 million in its first three days. Additionally, the sequel's worldwide total was $783 million, a smaller total than the first movie but not by much. Critically, the film is viewed as one of the better sequels ever created, with many reviewers noting that it even surpassed the original. Sam Raimi was looking like a genius in June, but his year wasn't even close to being finished.

Along with his work on the Spider-Man saga, Raimi also has a company known as Ghost House Pictures that he set in motion with his long-time production partner Rob Tapert. In October, Ghost House Pictures leapt into the spotlight as it was the production house behind one of the biggest box office surprises of the year, The Grudge, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. On a minuscule $10 million budget, the film tallied a whopping $110 million domestically, setting in motion a number of movie deals for Ghost House. In addition to the forthcoming Boogeyman, which sees release in the first quarter of 2005, they've also set up a Grudge sequel, a remake of The Evil Dead, and new scary movies called Scarecrow, 30 Days of Night and Dibbuk Box. It's a return to his beginnings, and just seems an appropriate direction for Raimi to take.

Going forward, in addition to the Ghost House projects, Raimi has Spider-Man 3 on tap, and he's already working toward getting that film's storyline set and putting the production in motion. BOP will sure keep rooting for him - he's easily one of our favorite success stories working in the business today.



Posted on Jan 4, 2005, 9:45 AM

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a pic from that article

by Anonymous (no login)



Posted on Jan 4, 2005, 9:45 AM

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Sam remaking ED.... *and* a 4th installment?

by Sam Fan (no login)

From http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/story/0,1259,---23821,00.html


Raimi's Up for Fourth 'Evil Dead'
Sat, Dec 04, 2004, 08:12 AM PT
By Mike Szymanski

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) -- When he's all finished with the "Spider-Man" franchise, director Sam Raimi thinks he'd like to go back to his horror roots and add to his "Evil Dead" series.

Raimi first got noticed with his low-budget indie "Evil Dead" in 1981, followed by "Evil Dead 2" in 1987 and "Army of Darkness" in 1993 which follows the story of the reluctant demon killer Ash., played by Bruce Campbell, who has had cameos in all the "Spider-Man" films.



"I definitely want to do it and I think after -- whenever the Spider-Man jobs end -- I would love to dig in on that," Raimi says. "That's something I'm really looking forward to."


He's already approved the remake of his 1981 "Evil Dead" which is a sequel to "Army of Darkness," but he doesn't plan to direct the remake. Instead, he wants to continue the story with a fourth film.

Meanwhile, he has a 50-page draft of the third "Spider-Man" installment, and says, "I don't want to assume that they would hire me to direct the fourth or fifth one. I would love to direct them if they ask me."

He says with 40 years of the Marvel comic series there's plenty of material, but he's not sure he will be the right guy to direct more than three. "If I still feel there's a tremendous amount to tell about his growth as a human being, and I have as much of a passion for the character as I have right now, you'd have to -- you'd have to fight me off with a stick not to direct it," Raimi says.

Meanwhile, he's still figuring out the script for the third "Spider-Man."

Raimi says, "I'm about to start working with Alvin Sargent to work on the screenplay, the first draft."



Posted on Dec 12, 2004, 4:59 PM

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Rob Tapert (aka "Robe Teppit," if it's Lucy talking) on the remake

by Rob Fan (no login)

From http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30250

Tapert Raises Dead Again

Rob Tapert, producer of the upcoming remake of The Evil Dead, told SCI FI Wire that he and director Sam Raimi deliberated for a long time before deciding to redo their cult-favorite 1981 supernatural horror movie. "It took a long time to get to the point where we wanted to remake it," Tapert said in an interview. "The funny thing is, nothing is as you would expect. Our original investors and I think [original Evil Dead star] Bruce [Campbell] and myself were more resistant to remaking the movie than Sam."

The low-budget Evil Dead launched the careers of Michigan high-school friends Tapert, Raimi and Campbell and was the first of three movies featuring the zombie-fighting, time-traveling Ash (Campbell). Tapert went on to produce such TV shows as Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and with Raimi formed the production company Ghost House Pictures (The Grudge), which they run with Senator International.

Tapert said that Raimi (Spider-Man) initiated discussions about remaking Evil Dead, which has spawned hordes of fans since its initial release. "Sam, in his own special way, kind of led that charge," Tapert said. "I think Sam was really the one who said, 'Gee, I would love to give a new filmmaker an opportunity to use that title and use their skills to retell this in a new way for a new audience.' I talk to Bruce Campbell every other day, and he says, 'You should see the message boards and all of the stuff I get saying "Please don't do it!"' So we're certainly going to have to tread carefully."

Tapert said that he is confident that with Raimi and himself on board as producers, the remake will live up to fans' expectations. "As long as we stay true to what was the original model of the first Evil Dead, which was that we want to hurt and punish the audience, then those who love it will be satisfied," Tapert said. "We mean to bring that out to a whole new generation in something that honors all of the people that loved it and yet gives them a new and thrilling ride that they weren't expecting. That's the challenge, and hopefully if we succeed that's kind of the glory."



Posted on Jan 31, 2005, 5:40 PM

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More on the remake

by Anonymous (no login)

From: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30295

New Dead To Raise Unknowns

Rob Tapert, producer of the upcoming horror remake Evil Dead, told SCI FI Wire that he and fellow producer Sam Raimi are aiming for a largely unknown cast to star in the update of the supernatural movie that made Raimi a star director. Also, this time around, Raimi will hand over helming duties to another director.

"We don't have anybody in mind that I want to talk about to direct it," Tapert said in an interview. "A lot of 'Gosh, that would be great' and 'Wouldn't that be cool!' Cast-wise, although we haven't officially discussed it, our gut tells us we should get the best actors, but ideally people who aren't known."

Aside from that, the producers haven't decided what approach to take with the remake. "Because we're not even certain what we're telling, when we get the director that we want aboard we want to craft the best experience under the title and the franchise Evil Dead," Tapert said. "It may not necessarily be 'five people go to a cabin,' because that was just done in Cabin Fever. It could be some variation; we have a few tricky ideas up our sleeve that it's probably too early to talk about, but it may be familiar, yet a little different."

Tapert added that regardless who takes the helm of the remake, the film will enjoy a bigger budget than the $380,000 that was spent on the original film. "We'll certainly refine the edges, but it's not a project that demands that money [be] thrown at it," Tapert said. "It is a project that probably excels in ingenuity, so we're certainly not going to be making the $50 million Evil Dead. To attract a director who we think will be fun and cool and the audience will think is fun and cool, we may not be able to say, 'Here's $380,000 and a wheelchair for a dolly.' So somewhere in between those extremes, it's really going to be a function of director and story. They will have all the money they need and the tools to tell the story and entertain the audience in an overall fashion, but it's not something that we said we need to go out and get Ashton Kutcher to star in to get the audience to come and see it."

Posted on Jan 31, 2005, 5:46 PM

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Underground Online Interview of Sam

by Anonymous (no login)

Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert of Boogeyman (Screen Gems)
Interview by John Hutchins, contributing editor


With the substantial success of his two Spider-Man films, Sam Raimi has only recently come into the kind of "the kid stays in the picture" success he's deserved, arguably, since writing and directing 1987's Evil Dead II. His newly established Ghost House Pictures label - founded with longtime producing partner Rob Tapert - scored a hit last year with its first film, The Grudge, and seeks to follow up on that success with their latest endeavor, Boogeyman.

Similar in form and function to 2003's Darkness Falls, Boogeyman is a handiwork of the classic horror movie genre. From its shocking opening scene, it locks the loyal fright film aficionado in a stasis of tension and keeps them there for 90 minutes, all within a relatively gore- and T&A-free PG-13 domain. As the old line goes, "You'll pay for a seat, but you'll only use the edge."

We sat down with Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert to talk about Boogeyman, all things Spider-Man and to try and clear up some of those pesky internet rumors.

UGO: First, what can you tell us about the upcoming Evil Dead remake?

SAM RAIMI: We made the first Evil Dead 25 years ago, and we feel like that's long enough to bring it to a new crowd. We know the script can be improved. We know the dialogue and the directing can be improved. Very few people saw Evil Dead on the big screen, so we'd love to see it there. We only made about 200 prints, and it didn't even hit all the cities, so it's never really been a big theatrical experience. We think it's a fun, scary campfire story and if we find the right director and the right script, we think it'd be a great picture to produce.

UGO: Would the idea be to also include a more faithful tie-in to the sequel?

SAM: No, I wouldn't want to put my paws all over it. I'd want a new, young, hungry director who has a really dramatic vision to make a brand new picture of it. Something different.

UGO: But going along the same story arc, leading into a new Evil Dead II perhaps?

SAM: Maybe so. That's not a bad idea. How soon can you start shooting? [laughs]

UGO: You said recently, when asked about a possible Ash vs. Predator film, that you wouldn't want anyone else directing another Evil Dead.

SAM: I would want to direct Evil Dead 4, if we ever get around to making it. I wouldn't somebody else to. But as far as remaking the Evil Deads that have been done, I think a new director could bring things to them that I couldn't. I think that would be really exciting. For instance, I really loved Dawn of the Dead, I thought it was a great picture when it came out, and I loved this new one, too. I don't feel pictures, even if they're remakes, can ever take away from the original. The original of any movie is what it is, and if the remake is good, it's still good too. I don't feel protective in that way about the movies that I've made, just the stories I'm involved with and want to finish telling.

UGO: So is it too early to say, what with Spider-Man 3 looming, whether or not you'll finish telling Ash's story?

SAM: I'd like to one day. I can't promise that I will, but that's something I'd really like to do, and I let Bruce [Campbell] know it.

UGO: Is it easier to get things done now, in a producer role, with the success of the two Spider-Man films?

SAM:Spider-Man brought me, as a director in the industry, financial success which I'd never had. Although Rob and I had made Evil Dead, and it made 28 times its original money back to the investors, it's not considered in the industry to be a "hit movie." Same with Darkman. That movie made some money for Universal, but was never considered a hit. So for the first time in my life, with Spider-Man, after working in the business for 25 years professionally, I had a hit movie which I had actually had given up on having. What it gave me was the opportunity to start this company with Rob, and our partners Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake, where we could get financing to make fun, really cool, new-director-type exciting horror pictures. I can't say it's allowed me to make the kind of movies I've always wanted to make, because actually Spider-Man is the kind of movie I've always wanted to make. Evil Dead years ago was the kind of movie I'd always wanted to make. At the time, Darkman was that kind of movie I'd always wanted to make. Spider-Man's probably bought me a few more years in the business. People like directors for a while, finance their pictures, and then they kind of fall off the charts. People say "it's not cool to work with that guy anymore" unfairly for a lot of fine directors. My number was probably coming up, and it probably bought me two or three more years until they go, "He really sucks."

UGO: So is producing a new way to make sure you'll be around longer?

SAM: I've often been a producer. I was one of the executive producers, along with Rob, on Evil Dead. We went around with our briefcases and got the money together. He was the brains behind it, but we got the money together.

ROB TAPERT: We produced Hard Target and Timecop together.

SAM: I didn't look at it as a new thing, something to transition into. We've always liked producing. Some of our heroes are guys like Dino DeLaurentis, not just directors. We've always admired Dino DeLaurentis; his ability to weather all sorts of studios that come and go, regimes that come and go, trends that come and go. He's always there making pictures, and he makes a lot of great pictures. This guy was back making Fellini's La Strada, and he's still there 30 years later making King Kong, and that was 30 years ago. He's here now - I really love that movie he made, U-571, but he's still making great pictures. Rob and I have had the pleasure of knowing him, and finally we have the ability to make a company where we can produce pictures and produce in the real sense of the word - where we get the money for them. Modern day producers are often just hired by the studios, and in the studios' mind they're often replaceable. We didn't want to be in a position like that. We wanted to get the financing, have a hand in the sales, really determine who the right director is without having to ask anybody, "Can we do this?"

UGO: So was Boogeyman a project that was developed from the ground up at Ghost House?

ROB: When we first formed a partnership with [distributor] Senator to make Ghost House, they already had Boogeyman. At that time it was more of an 80s monster movie. [Director] Stephen Kay, in the development process, turned it into more of a psychological thriller. It changed in development.

UGO: How important is a test audience for you?

ROB: My favorite scene in Darkman got cut out by a test audience. Anything that's odd or out of the ordinary, the test audience is going to immediately reject.

SAM: I always listen to the test audience. The best way to listen is to be in the audience with them. You can feel when things are dragging, or you think, "That joke I was going to take out, they're really laughing, so I guess I'll leave it in." When you make the audience the critic though, and when you ask them to speak about the film, these weird, way out-of-the-ordinary moments that we do a lot of in our pictures don't hold up to critical analysis very well. Like the moment he's talking about in Darkman, where we didn't know this character was an evil person, but an inkling you get he's not exactly the person you suspect he is, is when he takes this bucket and dumps out onto his bed all these gold coins, and drops his robe and stands nude above the bed, and swan dives into them and rolls around. You realize, "He's not exactly the guy I thought he was." The test crowd reacted so badly to that; when they were asked, "What did you think about this scene where the guy swam naked in the gold coins," I mean, what are they going to say? "Oh, I thought it was original and interesting?" No, they said, "That was stupid," so the studio made us lose the scene. All the things that are original and striking, you don't really want those to be put to a non-professional critic.

UGO: So you're accustomed to giving up things you love because of test screening?

SAM: I haven't had to deal with it on any of the Spider-Man pictures. Amy Pascal [Chairman of Sony Pictures] has a great sense about what's working and what's not. Boogeyman less so. I think on The Grudge, the Japanese director was surprised that the American audience needed so much explained.

UGO: Did the test audiences freak out at the scene in Spider-Man 2 where Doc Oc slaughters all the surgeons?

SAM: That was an unusual situation because we shot that scene early; we needed to start the pipeline of effects. We didn't just shoot the whole movie and then start the effects. That was a scene I thought was contained, that we could get a lot of work done on, have a lot of experience with the puppeteers and learn a lot. Because of that it was finished early, and when Sony asked, "What can we show to the fans at Comic Con," I said, the only thing I really had that could be brought to a finished state was that scene. Unfortunately, I couldn't go, but they had a really good response from the kids there.


UGO: As far as internet rumors go, is there any truth to the rumors that Seann William Scott is being considered as the new Ash?

ROB: It could be true, I don't know.

SAM: I don't think we know who Seann William Scott is.

UGO: Stiffler from American Pie?

SAM: There's nobody in our minds. It's way too early.

UGO: And of course the Venom rumors. Can you say whether or not Venom will make an appearance in Spider-Man 3?

SAM: Actually, I'm not allowed to say anything about the villains or story lines or themes of the picture yet. I think Sony wants to make their own presentation, and not for probably a year when it gets somewhere in the neighborhood of the release. I think they want to keep it quiet for right now.

UGO: Any plans for a new Evil Dead video game?

ROB: THQ is working on Evil Dead 3: Regeneration. They've been a very good partner.



Posted on Mar 17, 2005, 4:38 PM

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Assorted Grudge Premiere pics of Sam, Lucy, SMG etc.

by Anonymous (no login)

http://star-net-nexus.com/StarNetNews/index.php?navi=article.php&newsid=373

http://star-net-nexus.com/StarNetNews/index.php?navi=article.php&newsid=372



Posted on Oct 21, 2004, 6:57 PM

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Grudge dominates weekend box office

by SMG Fan (no login)

The Grudge

The Grudge, a film that was remade by its own director, Takashi Shimizu, was indeed able to find success during the Halloween season. The PG-13 rated scare-fest took in an impressive $15.2 million on Friday, well ahead of what the majority of box office analysts were predicting for the weekend. With a similar creepy tone and style to another Japanese remake of a couple of years ago, The Ring, we're likely to see very similar box office behavior. The Ring scored a 3.1 Friday-to-Sunday multiplier; however, I have to knock The Grudge down just a couple of notches due to the fact that its word-of-mouth is nowhere near as stellar as that of the Naomi Watts film. Additionally, the high Friday number is a pretty strong indication that the audience rushed to see it. Give The Grudge a 2.7 multiplier for the weekend and a three-day number of $41 million. Sony and Sam Raimi are going to be thrilled with this performance.




Posted on Oct 24, 2004, 5:03 PM

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SMG, Ted, Sam and Rob edge out Nicole Kidman and Ray Charles flics

by grudgefan (no login)

From http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=598&e=2&u=/nm/20041031/film_nm/leisure_boxoffice_dc>

Horror 'Grudge' Reigns at Halloween Box Office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The haunted-house thriller "The Grudge," starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, held on to the No. 1 slot at the North American box office, scaring up $22.4 million in ticket sales during the Halloween weekend, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.

"Ray," starring Jamie Foxx in a much-praised turn as the late "Genius of Soul" Ray Charles, hit the road at No. 2 with $20.1 million in its first weekend, while the low-budget thriller "Saw" made the cut at No. 3 with $17.4 million.

Nicole Kidman's new movie, "Birth," was stillborn, opening at No. 11 with $1.7 million. The $20 million supernatural drama has won notoriety for a bathtub scene involving Kidman and a 10-year-old boy who claims to be her dead husband.

Kidman is the latest Oscar-winning actress to have a tough time at the box office this year, following Halle Berry ("Catwoman"), Charlize Theron ("Head in the Clouds"), and Gwyneth Paltrow ("Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow").

Rounding out the top five, the maritime cartoon "Shark Tale" was at No. 4 with $8.0 million, followed by the Jennifer Lopez -Richard Gere romance "Shall We Dance?" with $6.3 million. Both were down two places, and their respective totals rose to $147.4 million and $33.9 million.

After 10 days, "The Grudge" has sold $71.3 million worth of tickets and is expected to surpass the $90 million mark, according to conservative projections from the film's distributor, Sony Corp's Columbia Pictures.

"The Grudge," director Takashi Shimizu's $10 million remake of Japanese film "Jo-On," surprised again in its second round by losing only 43 percent of its audience. Many observers had expected it to slide by at least 50 percent, paving the way for "Ray" to open at No. 1. But Halloween festivities and its user-friendly PG-13 rating proved otherwise.






    
This message has been edited by august on Oct 31, 2004 3:48 PM

Posted on Oct 31, 2004, 3:47 PM

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The Grudge....Pt. 2

by Grudgefan (no login)

From: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30289

Raimi, Tapert Developing Grudge 2

Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, who produced The Grudge, are already working with director Takashi Shimizu again on a sequel to the American remake based on his Japanese horror film Ju-on, according to the Now Playing Magazine Web site. "We just came from a big story conference this whole last week," Raimi told the site. "[Shimizu] came to America, to Los Angeles, and we met with him in a little room on the Columbia Pictures lot and hammered out an outline for the first draft of part two. And he's planning, I think, on working in the same subtle, elegant way that he made the first film in."

In the same interview, Tapert said that The Grudge 2 will not be based on the Japanese sequel Ju-on 2, and will stand apart from the previous films in the series. "The second one is much more of a standalone movie than [the first one] was," Tapert told the site. "In fact, there are very few elements in the second one, at least where it is right now, that are derivative of previous works. [The first one] kind of borrowed from all of the previous movies that have gone before. [And this one is going in a new direction,] and that's one of the reasons that the director is interested. He's kind of told the story so many times that he didn't want to go back and revisit what he's done, and it was only that [he and] the writer had some new ideas that they wanted to explore in terms of The Grudge [that brought them back]."

There is no word yet on whether star Sarah Michelle Gellar will return for the sequel, but like the last film, it will be filmed in Japan, the site reported.

Posted on Jan 31, 2005, 5:43 PM

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Interview with Rob and Sam at DVD Talk

by robfan (no login)

An interview with Rob and Sam from http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/003691.html -


Whoever created that hoary old cliche that nice guys finish last obviously never met Sam Raimi. As the creator of that seminal scary movie The Evil Dead, Raimi's energetic style, meshed with a truly inventive artistic vision, has set the standard for homemade horror films over the next two decades.

Over the course of a career that saw him create a classic creature feature action hero (Bruce Campbell's loveable lunkhead, Ash) to an eventual move into mainstream filmmaking (he is responsible for titles as varied as the western The Quick and the Dead, the superb suspense thriller A Simple Plan and the baseball drama For the Love of the Game) Raimi is now among Hollywood's A list. Heralded for his work at bringing the comic classic Spider-man to the big screen in blockbuster fashion (both the original and the sequel have grossed a combined $1.6 BILLION worldwide), he is a true success story, a certified cinema geek made good in a notoriously impossible industry.

Such success has allowed Sam, along with partner and longtime friend Rob Tapert, to branch out into the production company game.

Their new enterprise, entitled Ghost House Pictures, is an opportunity for the duo to dabble in the genre they love the best. One of their premier projects was last year's The Grudge, an American remake of the stellar Japanese horror film Ju-On. DVD Talk got the chance to speak with Sam and Rob to discuss the upcoming release of The Grudge on DVD (available 2/5), as well as the overall state of horror in modern cinema. Friendly to a fault and eager to discuss just about anything, Sam and Rob prove that the independent spirit still lives, even in a couple of seasoned old pros like themselves.

DVD Talk: How did you actually become involved in the remake of Ju-On?

Sam Raimi: Robbie?

Rob Tappert: Umm, I think two people - Josh Donen, Sam's agent at the time, and another guy, Roy Lee, who is kind of the broker and the executive producer for many, many remakes of Japanese movies here in America brought Sam and myself the movie The Grudge and showed it to us to see if we were interested in remaking it. Sam and his brother Ivan and myself, and our partners at Senator at that time, Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane, watched the movie, had no idea what the story was but jumped out of our skin numerous times watching it...

And did that inspire you then to say 'this is something we think we can bring to an American audience and have them appreciate as well as we just sat here and appreciated it'?

Sam: Yes, we were so scared out of our minds watching the film that we thought it would be a great thing to open it up and show a good portion of the American audience an English language version of it. Because we never knew they'd see it, being a...it being a Japanese film with Japanese actors in Japanese. The American audiences don't see that many of those untranslated films.

Was it the storytelling itself or was it the visual style that Shimizu Takashi showed in the original film that really said this is something that American audiences have to see?

Sam: I think it was all about the director's style and choice of camera shots, and construction of the story and lighting and the performances that he got. Everything you can do on a small budget he did well. He crafted a really good scary, scary story and that was the strength...that was the strength. It certainly wasn't the effects or the size of the sets or the size of the production or the costumes. It really was his telling of this really fine ghost story. And that is why it was so important for Rob Tappert and myself to hire him to direct the English language version.

Was there ever a time when you thought that because, as you mention, this was a Japanese horror film that was coming from that kind of sensibility and the restrictions that he had, was there ever a fear that by bringing it to Hollywood, even with retaining the same director, you'd lose that feeling in the translation?

Sam: I was never worried about losing the feelings that he generated, the feelings of horror in the translation. I had other worries: would he understand the actors, because were connecting this Japanese speaking director with English speaking actors; will our writer be able to rewrite this story in a way that justifies six different Americans living in Japan realistically. Those were more the concerns actually that I had at the time.

Did you ever have a doubt or a fear that even if all those things fell into place, you'd still be, somehow, not giving Simizu-san's to an American audience, a thought that even if we get everything put in place correctly, they're still going to somehow miss this?

Sam: No, because I knew that Rob and I, with the construction of our new company Ghost House Pictures, would protect the director. And so I felt that as long as he was being protected and not being made to do things that he didn't really believe in, and if at the same time we could provide him with a good writer, good actors and a good production team, from sound to editors to support him, there probably wasn't too much to fear.

With the success of The Ring, which obviously inspires the increasing look toward Asian horror, was there a concern that you would take this to a studio or a distributor and they would say "well, that's great Sam, thank you very much, but we now need to either Americanize it or Hollywoodize it in the following fashion?

Rob: Because of the unique relationship with Ghost House Pictures, we can kind of fully finance movies without having to go to a US studio, so one of the beauties is, we can really protect the director. And once we have the movie in the shape that we want to present it to the studio, we take it to them and say this is the entire package. So, umm, Sony got a whiff of it, loved Ju-On and approached us and our partners at the time to pick up the US distribution rights. So it was really due to the nature and set up of Ghost House we're kind of able to look out for the directors in those weird situations.

As producers, is there something artistically creative that you can bring to a project other than protecting the director. is it as fulfilling for you sam as a director yourself, or is there a whole different mindset involved?

Sam: One thing that I know Rob brought to it, he may not speak for himself, is he went to Japan and tried to find the best use of the money and by doing that - it's not to save money for the producers in some greedy way - to give the director as much as possible, with the available resources. And Rob is great at that...

Rob: And equally, in post-production, we were able to offer (Shimizu-san) people, some of Hollywood's best like - the sound on The Grudge was done by Paul Ottosson, who was just nominated today for an Academy Award for Spider-man. We could propose and bring different composers that wouldn't be available in Japan. So it's really widening the resources that the director has available to practice his craft.

The end result...were you both pleased with it? did it do what it was supposed to do?

Sam: I was very pleased. I sat in audiences and kids were screaming and shrieking and having a walloping good time watching that picture and I really thought "YES, that's what a horror picture is supposed to do". So I was very, very please at what the director and the creative team had done, and I felt pleased as one of the producers to have had something to do with bringing it to America.

Sam, on the commentary track (of the original Japanese Ju-On release) you said that when you first saw the film, you thought that it was 'schooling' you in horror. could you describe a little about what Shimitzu-san was schooling you in.

Sam: Well, I was not aware of the manipulation, as I am in most American horror films. So I think what I learned from Shimizu-san was a lesson in subtlety. That it did not...to set up a sequence of suspense, you don't need the larger sledgehammer type techniques that I often employ. You can have a much higher degree of respect for the audiences intelligence and work in a much more subtle way, and they'll still be right with you. And in so doing, you remove the feeling of being manipulated. It's all manipulation of course, but to not be aware of it is part of the greatness of Shimizu-san's technique. So I was, again, reminded by him, watching his great movie, that any manipulation defeats its purpose once the audience becomes aware of it.

do you think that the current trend in bringing Asian horror to the western audience is something that will actually help progress the horror genre - an evolutionary step - or just some fad that five years from now we'll forget?

Sam: Both. I think that every time there is a new explosion of ideas in one culture, Hollywood, greedy America, just loves to accept them - Americans love new ideas and it reinvigorates Hollywood. And this explosion of ideas helps the movie business evolve - and visuals in movies in general evolve, as these great artists bring their craft and their technique. And we're very eager as Americans to accept them. And at the same time, I think you're other point is right, the fad in Japan will pass, the artistic pendulum will swing over to some other place and we'll probably ignore Japan's great ideas more than we should and we'll look elsewhere are start paying attention to the newest fad, the new artists to infuse the next set of visuals and suspense techniques.

You and Rob both mention that this movie was made under the auspicies of your new company which is called ghost house pictures. could you give us just a little information about why you decided to start this new production company.

Rob: Sam and I are both huge fans of the horror genre, and I hate to use the word 'genre' because it reduces the stature of all the great people who have worked in it. Over the years we've seen so many different horror movies and we've had the opportunity presented to us to form a company to make horror movies. It's something that we've always loved and even though some may not consider scaring the audience a noble quality, it still is entertainment and there are many people out there who are happy to be viscerally moved by motion pictures. So this is a form of entertainment, a form of entertaining people that we happen to love.

I've noticed in looking at some information on the company and upcoming productions and there are several very interesting proposed films coming out. it made me think of something that was attached to The Grudge, as well as other horror movies, that is, this whole 'PG-13 vs. R' debate. some people argue that a horror movie has to be a hard "R" while there are those who say the "PG-13" can live with it. Does ghost house a philosophy about that?

Rob: I think the individual project dictates what's the proper rating for the picture to carry because certainly PG-13 plays to a wider audience. If you're going to make a movie about people having their head ripped off, or five kids in a cabin stabbing each other, that's not a project that you should attempt to try and get a PG-13. So really, each project dictates what the rating is. We have some projects we know are automatically going to be R rated from the get go.

With all the success you've had sam, and all the accolades that have come now at this point in your career, do you feel secure as a filmmaker, or do you still feel, as you did with The Grudge, that there are things that can 'school' you and teach you into the next few films that you make?

Sam: I definitely feel that way, like a student. I think it's how you stay alive creatively, by keeping open to new influences and learning how to do things in a brand new way and taking in the art of great filmmakers around you and being taught, again, brand new ways for doing things that worked so much better than you ever thought.

- Bill Gibron



Posted on Mar 17, 2005, 4:21 PM

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Barre-Montpelier Times Argus article on Sam

by Anonymous (no login)

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050203/NEWS/502030312/1023

A new generation of horror movies

February 3, 2005

By George Thomas Knight Ridder

When he's not helping everyone's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man swing on America's movie screens, it's refreshing to know that director Sam Raimi still gets a kick out of making people soil their pants with thrills and chills.

Many people may not remember, but before his Spidey success, Raimi was known for horror films such as "The Evil Dead" and its sequel, "Evil Dead II," and although he's more behind-the-scenes now, Raimi still works to scare people in America's movie theaters.

He and his producing partner Robert Tapert created an American version of the Japanese horror film "The Grudge" (known there as "Ju-On"); it became a runaway success here with box office receipts of $110 million domestically. The movie, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and made its debut on DVD and VHS this week, continued a burgeoning trend begun by "The Ring" — the Americanization of Japanese horror.

Raimi said the success of "The Ring" and his film comes from the fact that the movies are genuinely scary, but there are other things at play. The movies aren't as in-your-face with violence as American audiences grew accustomed to with the "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" series. Subtlety has been a lost aspect in the American horror genre.

"I do think that our director (Takashi Shimizu) worked in much more subtle ways than any modern American director working," Raimi said. "I would say that (Roman) Polanski is more subtle, obviously — but I don't know a more subtle horror director."

Tapert sees the movies' impact another way. Older Americans remember Universal Studios' horror classics such as "Dracula," "Frankenstein" and "The Wolfman," and they introduced them to another generation, as did numerous local horror movie show hosts across the country. These movies stand the test of time; they're classics. Of the slasher genre that dominated the 1980s, only the first "Halloween" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" can claim that lofty status.

But younger audiences are now taking to the Japanese adaptations in droves.

"A friend of mine, although I don't know that it's true or not, said that (their success is) because they're new and different than anything that's come before it, and they are accessible via a PG-13 rating," Tapert said. "The young movie-going audience identifies these movies as directly 'their' horror movie. ... Therefore a whole new generation is able to claim these as 'their' horror movies."

Bringing something new to American audiences was one of the many reasons they decided to remake "Ju-On" into "The Grudge."

"When we saw the original "Ju-On," we were really blown away by it. It had great mastery of the horror craft that our director, Takashi Shimizu, had demonstrated, and we wanted to bring the whole package ... inclusive of its subtlety, its terrible shock and its strange Japanese lore, to the American audience," Raimi said.

Obviously Raimi and Tapert tapped into something, because they have agreed to make "The Grudge 2," and Raimi, whose life is normally occupied with all things Spidey, is producing several other films — "Scarecrow, Rise" and next month's "The Boogeyman" — in the general horror genre.

Going back to his roots, even if it's not in a directing role, provides somewhat of a respite from the webhead, Raimi said.

"It's wonderful. It's fun to do both and it does take my mind off the "Spider-Man" pictures in a great way," he said. "It also exposes me to other directors and, in this case, I learned a lot."

Maybe he'll use what he's learned when he revisits one of his earlier works — "The Evil Dead," which is considered a cult classic. Some might question his willingness to go back to the future and have it remade with a new director.

"The 'Evil Dead' movies were never theatrically successful and as much as we'd like to think that everyone has seen them, there's a whole generation who hasn't seen them, and a whole generation of filmmakers who have come up since then. It just seemed natural to find a new, young filmmaker, a new great filmmaker to retell or reinvent that movie, that franchise for a new generation of filmgoers in a whole new way."

In the meantime, he knows what will occupy much of his time while his horror projects creep through the creative pipeline. At this point, he knows some of what will happen in "Spider-Man 3," which is set to come out in the summer of 2007, but he's not willing to share the information. But he does backtrack on a statement he made while doing publicity for "Spider-Man 2" this past summer when he said the third film would be his last: "I'd probably make as many "Spider-Man" movies as they would ask me."





Posted on Mar 17, 2005, 4:23 PM

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Renee O'Connor Interview in "The Star Scoop"

by reneefan (no login)

From http://www.thestarscoop.com/renee.htm

Reneé O'Connor - one of the most fabulous talents you'll ever catch - is best known for her role as spunky Gabrielle on Xena: Warrior Princess. With new roles on the way and a short film in the Sundance Film Festival, her fans are finally getting a chance to see this gem of a star really shine! We talked with the incredibly sweet Reneé about her career and so much more!



THE STAR SCOOP:

How are you choosing your roles these days?



RENEÈ O'CONNOR:

Because I'm a mom now, as well as someone who wants to have a career, I have to really pick and choose what's going to be the best for everyone. So I'm trying to find things that I really feel passionately about. And that aren't too long of a commitment (laughs). So I'm looking for parts that are going to say something about someone who is growing and finding themselves - I believe that we do that throughout life in different stages or I love the hero stories: someone who rises above all obstacles and overcomes it to become something bigger than themselves. It's just a matter of reading some material and seeing if I resonate with it and then if I do, looking into how I can become a part of it.



THE STAR SCOOP:

How do you decide if you want to act or direct or produce or some combination?




O'CONNOR:

How do you decide? I think it comes down to the material and who else is attached. If it's something that I've just been asked to act in - then that's pretty self explanatory (laughs). But if it's something that I have designed the material myself and I want to create a project then I might come at it as a producer or actor or I might say I'd like to direct this and someone else produce it and act. But I do find that it's hard to take on all the roles at the same time. People do it, now especially with digital media, but it's a still a collaborative endeavor - filmmaking. And it's always nice to have other people around you that support your vision.



THE STAR SCOOP:

Do you think it takes a different type of talent to perform live vs. working in TV?



O'CONNOR:

There are different skills involved in both. In film and television you have to be able to see the whole picture in a different way than you do on the stage because you shoot out of order and you're working with technology. But on stage you're able to just take the character from one point to the end and it's a fluid, organic piece. It's about being completely present all the time, right there in the moment. And I guess with filmmaking you have the downtime so you have to sort of stay connected to the character, but you're able to have a cup of coffee and talk to someone else, (laughs) you know? It's more about elasticity in filmmaking - being able to kind of come and go within the work as opposed to on stage once you're on, you're on.



THE STAR SCOOP:

Alien Apocalypse and One Weekend a Month are more present/future based while Xena and Macbeth were in the past. What time period do you enjoy working in most?



O'CONNOR:

I believe right now I really love working in the present. But it's always different for me. When Xena finished I just really wanted to work with Shakespeare's material. It wasn't so much about the time frame of it, it was more about just working with his words. And I think right now I'm just enjoying finding something such as One Weekend a Month where I can really resonate with this woman's history and her situation. I feel for this woman. And I'm against the war. I mean obviously I'm pro troops. You know I believe in supporting them because they're the ones that are taking the brunt for all of us, but I just really wish that we hadn't started this to begin with. But what I think is great about One Weekend a Month is that it really brings to light the profile of a mother going to war. Something like this - because it's in our life right now, it's perfect for me to work on. I'd say present day right now.



O'CONNOR:

I'll tell you a little story about filming One Weekend a Month. They're going to show the short film on the sundance.org website on January 20-30th and it's interesting because there's a couple of children in the short film and I'm cussing the whole time and the way we staged it is that we worked with the little boy first I didn't say anything that was bad, you know and I just sort of acted out some things and then they filmed him and then they shot the little girl - well she's not little - she's about eleven now - it might be up to twelve. We did her material and then we started working with me and that's when the real rawness of this character comes out and she just cusses without even thinking about it. She's just so unapologetic about her environment which is pretty traumatic when you see the two children. But anyway, I was so kind of horrified of having to cuss in front of this beautiful girl, beautiful spirit. I said, you know I'm really sorry (laughs). And she said oh don't worry about it I've got a sixteen year old sister and she says everything to me. And I just thought oh my god, that's so...it was so funny but at the same time it was just so interesting for me because I was worried about cussing in front of her.



THE STAR SCOOP:

Do you think anyone will have a hard time not necessarily believing your character but - people see you as this very innocent, sweet, person and then they see you swearing. Do you think that will be hard for them to believe or that you think you played it pretty well?



O'CONNOR:

You know what it is? I think it's sometimes hard for people sometimes to accept, but not to believe. And the reason that is is because people have an idea of who I am based on the characters I have played, which is mostly Gabrielle because she's the most high profile. And I think because there is an essence of me that cares about other people and what other people think then that then makes me seem very sweet and polite. But on the other hand, I think as an actor, you tend to want to look at the darker parts of your psyche. And this character is still very much a part of me. I don't think it's that far off (laughs). But it's upsetting for me to watch because it's a character that I'm not proud of, and I guess that's why I told you the story about the cussing - because if people do log on who are sixteen, you know, I don't have that in my house. I don't believe in cussing around my son who's three of course, but I don't even believe in teaching that. I'm trying to teach him that it's about being a good person. It's hard for me to watch, every time I watch it, it's uh, it's ugly, you know. But I don't think that people find it unbelievable, I just think they kind of find it hard to accept. There's a lot of cussing. Not as much as the actual filming of the day, they took some of it out, but, you know, it is what it is.



THE STAR SCOOP:

Do you see your work making a difference in other people’s lives? How so?



O'CONNOR:

Well I hope it does. I hope that my work makes a difference because I think that's why I do it. I mean, I like to be creative because it challenges me to try to be better than I am as a person and I hope that in some way that that makes someone else think and feel something about themselves that then has given them the opportunity to grow. I can't imagine doing this kind of work if you're not going to affect someone. I just don't see what it's for. I mean yes you grow as a person but it's still about the greater consciousness of the world and to me that's truly why I'm doing this. I'm growing and learning all the time. Not only hopefully does it help my son but it will help everybody. And not to mean that I think I'm some special person, but I think we're all here for a very specific reason and once you figure out what that is then you're on the right track and we're all on the ride together.



THE STAR SCOOP:

You’ve really got your hand in everything – acting, directing, producing. Why did you decide to delve into these different aspects of the acting world?



O'CONNOR:

Well for me I think it's always been about a search - trying to figure out what can I do best (laughs)? How can I be here and make a difference in some way and feel like I'm trying to do something that is significant. And with Xena it was different because that was just a wonderful opportunity for me to explore another side to the filmmaking but now it's really about - I don't know - they're all so different. But it's just about getting the work done. So how do you do it? If you have somebody that's a great producer that's fantastic, then you can do other roles. But it just comes down to trying to get the work out there and however the team fits together then that's the way it sort of plays into itself. I think you have to have different tools for each job - you know producer is very different from a director and very different from an actor. But if you're able to kind of see those different jobs then I think that you can put the hats on take them off as you need to.



THE STAR SCOOP:

How do you prepare for an emotional role or scene?



O'CONNOR:

I think it changes throughout your mind. I think before, if I had not experienced something, then I would just try to replace the feeling with something that was specific for me. If I'm having to like say on Xena or something, Xena dying then I would sort of remind myself how I felt when one of my friends died. And so it was just sort of easy to replace that feeling with something that was specific for me. And then as you get older (laughs) life has many more challenges that present itself to you and you find that you want to explore everything about yourself that you've experienced up until this time and for me I've found that I have a well of life experiences that I can draw from and now for me it's about the courage to actually look at them and be able to use them. That's where I'm at. It's definitely about very personal experiences and you have to know how to relate to the character.



THE STAR SCOOP:

How did you end up with the role in Alien Apocalypse?



O'CONNOR:

I was hanging out with Rob Tapert - I don't know if I was at his house or with Lucy or what. But basically Rob who was the executive producer on Xena said that I should call up Bruce Campbell and Josh Becker - the star and director and let them know that I'm around and that I would like to do this because Bruce and Josh thought I was too young to play the part. But basically Rob just saw me and said you know what, you're perfect for this, you should call them up. And I did and it just went from there. But I've worked with these guys before, so it's like visiting relatives (laughs).



THE STAR SCOOP:

When is it set to air?



O'CONNOR:

The end of February. And it's going to be just fun, you know, it's like a cute little sci-fi flick from the sixties. It's just fun. It's all filmed very lightly and it's a lot of fun.



THE STAR SCOOP:

You climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Why did you decide to do that?



O'CONNOR:

Yes (laughs). I think at the time I was looking for something that was going to be interesting and fun (laughs). And I was always up for a challenge. And to begin with it wasn't my idea, which is funny, it was my mother's. But I just thought it was fantastic and brilliant and jumped right on the bandwagon and started training for it. I fell in love with Africa while I was there. And so to be able to experience another part of - through the essence of the country then all the better really for me. It was an amazing experience. It took a lot of strength and determination and patience. And it was in the type of place where you were able to see people from all over the world and yet see that we all had one thing in common and that was to reach the pinnacle of the mountain. And I think that's just such a great attitude to have in life - you know to see that we're all really connected in some way. That's a nice way to look at. it.



THE STAR SCOOP:

That's got to be hard, climbing that.



O'CONNOR:

You know it wasn't as much as you would think. It wasn't as treacherous as something that you might find near Mount Everest. It wasn't like that at all. I mean it was difficult but it wasn't as difficult as I was expecting it to be. Most of the way it was pretty flat, but just gradually, gradually taking you up this mountain. It was only the last night that was pretty treacherous and that's when we started at midnight with a flashlight on our head and took maybe a couple steps in the sand trying to walk straight up this one peak and it was odd. I remember singing these television show tunes or something in my head to keep myself distracted from what was going on (laughs).



THE STAR SCOOP:

Do you have any advice for teen girls about being happy with themselves?



O'CONNOR:

Don't look at magazines (laughs). Don't look at magazines because you really hear that it's hard to try to look at them and then compare yourself to them but it's really true - we're in a society as young girls we're expected that we have to dress a certain way and look a certain way. And truly, that starts so young for all of us and it goes all the way up until my age and I'm 33 and I'm still having to go, 'oh, you know, I really don't want to do this because it doesn't feel right for me.' And especially being an actress because I'm in a place where people look at you with a little more scrutiny. If you can find a way to just believe that who you are is so unique and so precious and if you find that place within yourself and feel connected to it just with such honesty, if you can find that now, then it's going to help you in the long run because it doesn't go away - people are always going to expect you to - we're women. I mean or girls, women, it's all the same. We are always just trying to be strong and yet in touch with our bodies and the only way you can really do that is to believe in yourself because that's all that you have. Just believe in yourself and to find spirituality that's going to carry you. Because all the rest is just fluff. All the pictures in magazines and all of that is fun but in the end it's all about your soul and who you are and have you connected with the people.



THE STAR SCOOP:

What three words would you say best describe you?



O'CONNOR:

Open, loving, (pause) hmm. I'm trying to take it down to a word. Inquiring.



THE STAR SCOOP:

You’ve been a hero to many people. Who is your hero?



O'CONNOR:

I think anyone who is brave enough to be who they are all the time. And that means people who aren't afraid to stand alone if it goes against the collective consciousness of what's happening in society. People who are open and non judgmental to others. All these people heroes to me. So it is all of us, if we choose it to be.



THE STAR SCOOP:

Choose one question you’d like to answer and answer it.



O'CONNOR:

Hmm (laughs). I've been looking at oil paintings from oriental artists lately, and the one artist who's inspired me right now is a man named Hokusai and I've had his book by my bed looking at how he interprets landscapes - mountains and water and flowers and birds. And there's this picture that's on the cover and its a picture of a Tsunami. And it's really interesting to look at it and go, "wow," you know - it's just spectacular how he animates this wave. And now I look at it and it's so incredibly haunting because you look at this piece - it's called The Great Wave at Kanagawa and it's enormous and it's just incredible to see how within our lifetime on this planet that people have all experienced such bizarre natural disasters. And I'm not trying to sound, you know, gloom and doom but it's just interesting to see I don't know - how you can connect something that's so old - this is from 1830 to now. And you go oh my gosh. This touches all of us forever. And it's so beautifully done, at the same time kind of frightening. So that's something that's been by my bed - how about the book by my bed lately - that was the question.



THE STAR SCOOP:

What is one thing about you that your fans don't know?



O'CONNOR:

It's kind of like what do the fans not know about you? I mean - well today...you know what I mean? Today they don't know that - well, that I really enjoy spending time with my son today - I don't know (laughs).



THE STAR SCOOP:

You don't have an official website do you?



O'CONNOR:

No, but I will be bringing one up. That's a question nobody knows. I'm definitely working on trying to get a website up.



THE STAR SCOOP:

Is there something outside the acting world you're interested in pursuing? You mentioned painting.



O'CONNOR:

Yeah. Painting is a hobby for me. Filmmaking in general is just really where I'm putting all of my energy. This is going to be my year for really trying to write. Because I've always been more afraid of writing than I have of doing anything visually such as directing or acting. But I think the writing is going to really start to become more introspective and that's what I'm going to concentrate on this year. And hopefully I will write and direct my first short film for myself.



THE STAR SCOOP:

Do you have any idea what you want it to be about?



O'CONNOR:

I do actually. I pulled this little article out of a newspaper while I was working on Xena but it must have been eight years ago or something and it was about a man who tries to fulfill his dad's last dying wish. And it's that story and it's really sweet. It actually started off really sweet (laughs) but now I'm starting to look at really more psychological scenes that I want to portray in the short film. So I'm experimenting with it and it's becoming a little more abstract - I guess I can say that for filmmaking. It's going to be fun. For me it's all about creating a goal and fulfilling it.



Posted on Jan 31, 2005, 5:35 PM

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Renee's short film available online

by Anonymous (no login)

http://www.sundanceonlinefilmfestival.org/2005/index.aspx


You have to register - all they need is an e-mail and a name. Then go go to "films" and choose "One Weekend a Month," and press to play.



    
This message has been edited by august on Feb 7, 2005 7:36 PM
This message has been edited by august on Feb 7, 2005 7:20 PM

Posted on Feb 7, 2005, 7:15 PM

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"Boogeyman" filming begins in Auckland; Lucy has a part!

by ak (no login)

From: http://www.screendaily.com/story.asp?storyid=13191 -

New Zealand hosts Boogeyman shoot for Raimi, Tapert


Jeremy Kay in Los Angeles 15 July 2003



Boogeyman, the first picture to be backed by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Senator International's genre label Ghost House Pictures, has begun filming in Auckland, New Zealand.

Barry Watson (Sorority Boys, 7th Heaven) has been cast in the lead role of a man who returns to his childhood home to confront a terrifying power.

Marcy Morris and Jeff Bernstein at Armstrong Hirsch negotiated on behalf of Watson, who is represented by ICM and managed by Mary Goldberg.

Emily Deschanel (Cold Mountain), Tory Mussett (The Matrix Reloaded, Peter Pan), Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) and Skye McCole Bartusiak (Don't Say A Word) will also star.

Raimi and Tapert are producing the film, which is being fully financed by Senator International. Screen Gems will release theatrically in North America.

Stephen Kay, whose credits include the remake of Get Carter and The Last Time I Committed Suicide, is directing.

The screenplay was written by Eric Kripke, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White and Darren Lemke.

"Screen Gems is thrilled to keep Sam Raimi in the Sony family, and we hope that this is only the first of many successful collaborations with Sam and Rob Tapert," Clint Culpepper, president of Screen Gems, said in a statement.

Ghost House's slate includes The Grudge, the English-language remake of the hit Japanese film Ju-on, which is due to go into production this autumn, and the vampire thriller 30 Days Of Night.

Columbia Pictures is co-developing 30 Days Of Night and will also handle North American distribution and several international territories.



Posted on Jul 15, 2003, 12:53 PM

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Boogeyman... that's what I am...

by Pope John-Paul-George-Ringo (no login)

Wow! This must be that bio-flick about K.C., of K.C. and the Sunshine band, I've heard so much about. "I'm your boogeyman... that's what I am..." About time, too! Can't wait to see what Raimi does with disco.

Anyway, how are you? We're headed to the beach next week, thank goodness. Nick is 2 now and putting together 2-word phrases.

Cheers!

Posted on Jul 15, 2003, 3:51 PM

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boogie

by August (no login)

Yes, but are you here to do whatever you can?

Glad all is well. Hope you saw all the fireworks and parades I arranged in honor of Nick's b'day.

Which beach? Is this an in-law kind of thing?

Posted on Jul 17, 2003, 7:47 PM

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Boogeyman article in Auckland newspaper

by ak (no login)

Forwarded by some New Zealander to Kiwi Attic to... oh, about three other second hand sources:

This is from the Western Leader, Thursday 24th July (the free weekly west Auckland/ Waitakere paper)


HORROR FEATURE A DREAM
by Charlotte Cox

There's no such thing as the "boogeyman".
But the makers of a new horror feature film, partly filmed in west Auckland,
want to convince people otherwise.

Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi are from Pacific Renaissance Pictures, the
company that produced Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules.
They have merged with United States company Senator International to form
Ghost Pictures, which is shooting Boogeyman around Auckland until late
August.

Set building began at the Henderson Valley Studios in May and the 100-strong
crew includes several west Aucklanders.
The studios are filed with activity as workers add the finishing touches to
the interior of a decrepit old American home.
The spooky "house" includes two identicle staircases, old floral wallpaper,
a nursery, bedrooms, bathroom and an old kitchen.
Exterior filmimg was shot at Karaka.

Boogeyman stars Tim Watson, Emily Deschanel, Tory Mussett, Lucy Lawless,
Skye McCole Bartusiak, Charles Mesure and Phillip Gordon.

Mr. Tapert says west Auckland is an ideal location.
"This is a project that lends itself to shooting here. It doesn't need to
be a big urban environment that you couldn't fake in New Zealand," he says.
Filming begins at the Waitakere City Council-owned studios this week.


There are several b/w photos of people working on the sets with the
following captions:

SPECIALLY MADE: Site builder Terry Lewell of Te Atatut puts finishing
touches on a nursery.

AGEING EFFECT: Head scenic painter Bob Askwith, above, works on a window
pane.

LIGHTING UP: Lighting rigger Brin Crompton,below, sets up space lights.

CEILING ROSE: Set builder Mike Brennan puts up a plaster ceiling decoration
on a fake pressed metal ceiling.

REPLICA STAIRWAY: Two identicle stairways were built as part of the set.

SKIRTING BOARD: Scenic artist Tane Griffith uses tinted wax for an aging
effect.

SHEDDING LIGHT: Rigging gaffer Stephen Prior, above, sets up a 12,000 watt
Fresnell light.

PAINTED UP: Set painter Jo Worley, below, wears a protective mask.


Posted on Jul 28, 2003, 1:41 PM

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Rob on NZ radio

by boogeyfan (no login)

This came from Mary D's site:


The following is from Carolyn S about the NZ National Radio interview with
Rob Tapert about the movie:

The item on tonight's National radio was totally an interview with Rob
Tapert. Note below that he says there's one Aussie in the cast.

He said that he and Sam Raimi are planning to make 1 or 2 (probably 2)
movies a year in NZ and one elsewhere. He said that Boogeyman was in the
style of Japanese ghost pictures that are very popular now.

He gave the reasons why he chose to film here in NZ, including the people,
the place and that he now lives here for a lot of the time, and also because
Boogeyman lends itself to being shot around Auckland.

He called it middle budget $NZ 22 million, $US16 million. It is the backbone
of what Hollywood and Independents were based on - and after last summer
when a lot of big budget movies failed, people are looking more at making
more modest budget movies that are less risky. He didn't accept the movie
had no major stars as the interviewer suggested. He said the young
lead guy is very popular internationally and his TV prog shows from 7th
Heaven on NZ channel 4 at Wed 7.30pm. When the guy showed up in NZ his NZ
female fans showed up to cheer him on.

When asked what effect it will have on the NZ industry, Rob said he couldn't
say except they always have given employment to a load of Kiwis and have
always taken on trainees, many of whom are now established in the industry.
The interviewer said that is only possible if you have longevity and don't
limp from film to film. Rob said that they were hoping to do many movies
here in the furture. He said everybody employed on the crew except the 1st
unit DOP are Kiwis. Of the cast of about 20 speaking parts, he thinks 3 are
from the US, 1 is an Aussie and the rest are Kiwis.

He said that the TV industry has changed and so its no longer possible to do
TV progs like Herc and XWP so they are going to concentrate on movies.


Posted on Aug 5, 2003, 4:33 PM

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Lucy and Rob on "Boogeyman"

by ak (no login)


There is a fairly extensive NZ telly look at the filming in progress, along with an interview with Rob and Lucy at http://www.geocities.com/xena2011/LucyRob-Tv3newsinterview/index.html

Posted on Aug 14, 2003, 11:56 AM

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More on "Boogeyman"

by ak (no login)

From the NZ Herald at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storyprint.cfm?storyID=3519051

A shiver runs through it

21.08.2003 - By REBECCA BARRY
Barry Watson wrestles maggots from his hair and hurls off his shirt.

The dead cat that has just struck him hits the ground like a flat basketball, convulsing gently with the squirming larvae. A camera zooms in on its entrails.

"That's not going to make the movie," he says, grimacing at the monitor.

Playing the lead in the horror flick Boogeyman seems more like Fear Factor than the moral American drama 7th Heaven he has starred in for the past seven years.

But he's in his element as Tim, a young man plagued by disturbing memories - and fake flying expired moggies - who revisits his childhood home to confront his demons. Whether or not they're real is the mysterious premise of the film.

A storyboard marked "Uncle Mike's Demise" dilutes the enigma, its comic-style grid of drawings depicting an ominous, faceless figure and a grisly slaying.

"It's a standard monster movie," says American producer Rob Tapert, whose inspiration came from Japanese horror films The Pulse, Dark Water, The Eye. "But by making it more psychological and embracing the films coming out of Asia, we thought we could play into the strange, 'Is it real, is it not?' aspect.

"There's been a resurgence of incredibly inexpensively made movies out of Korea, Hong Kong, Japan that have revitalised the horror genre. We're not remaking anything but taking that idea of westernising it."

That's nothing new for Tapert - he produced Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess, the cult drama series filmed in New Zealand that brought the age of mythology somewhat absurdly to the American mainstream, and Kiwi actress Lucy Lawless international fame.

Tapert and Spider-Man director Sam Raimi are making Boogeyman in New Zealand on US$20 million ($34.24 million) - a tough budget, according to American director Stephen Kay - and have employed a virtually all-Kiwi crew.

Lawless (also Tapert's wife) plays Tim's troubled mother, Charles Mesure of Street Legal plays his father and Pokeno plays the rolling countryside of small-town Pennsylvania. No one will realise it's too green to be America, he grins.

But with the winter come bare trees, and that's not much help when the film is supposed to be set in "fall".

So within a barren industrial area in West Auckland, its drab rows of buildings surrounding a rusty motel signpost to nowhere, a warehouse stores dead leaves that were collected during autumn.

It's an odd room - not only must the leaves be turned daily to avoid rotting, the wall is plastered with photographs, newspaper articles and drawings of smiling, missing children. On closer inspection, they are the identities of Boogeyman's cast and crew and much of the text is meaningless.

Next door, builders are constructing a replica of the main set which will be used in just one scene - but this partly renovated living room is capable of shaking as it would in an earthquake.

Scrupulous attention to detail has also been paid outside, where a rundown house, its windows broken like jagged teeth, gutters sprouting moss and dilapidated picnic table look 100 years old. But they were built - and wrecked - from scratch.

Inside the main set an uneasy half-light offsets a peeling bathroom. A quick glance outside shows it's not outside at all - a wall painted electric blue is lit up to look like sky. A surreal neon light illuminates a weathered rocking horse, tiny shoes and children's books.

It wouldn't be a pleasant place to find yourself alone at night, but Tapert says the film won't be so scary that it won't get a PG-13 rating.

"We dialled back on the blood. The Ring had a PG-13 rating in America," he says.

When Boogeyman is released in a year under a different name, he expects it will be promoted heavily, that the film's marketing will far outweigh the cost to produce the film alone.

But Tapert is a canny businessman.

"Spider-Man 2 is coming out a couple of months before Boogeyman so if they want to maintain a good relationship for Spider-Man 3, should there be one, they will go out of their way to push it."

Perhaps the distributors should take heed of director Kay's favourite Emerson quote: "He has not learned the lesson of life that does not every day surmount fear."

======

And from a recent Lucy interview:


The character that Lucy plays in this movie is called "Mary Jensen". From the recent TV3 News segment about the movie she described the character
Lucy plays Tim's mother in flashback scenes of his childhood. The mother is a "a drug-addled mother who gives up custody of her son"


And on Lucy's other movie, "The Ugly Americans" -

The character that Lucy plays in this movie is called "'Madam Van Der Sexxx'" From the recent interview in Out Magazine - August 2003 Lucy describes
the role as: "I'm playing the female Frank'N'Furter character, a sort of S/M madam."




Posted on Aug 21, 2003, 7:25 PM

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More scoop

by ak (no login)

Tons of "Boogeyman" scoop can be found at http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=1490 including a video clip of Rob and Lucy. It quotes some previous articles, but also has this bit from Lucy:

Lucy Lawless said the following spoilers about her appearance in the movie. "For Boogeyman, they're making my hair red and slightly shorter. They covered me in latex makeup on my hands, feet and all over my face to make me look about 80 years old. Even though they've got scum and blood squirting out my eyes -- I thought I looked kinda good actually. I thought I looked kinda glam. Like a glamorous older woman. Like . . . Germaine Greer. If I look this good when I'm fifty, I'll be so happy. Picture Germaine Greer with blood squirting out her eyes."

Lawless added the following as well. "Rob asked me if I wanted to be the drug-addled, messed up mother who gives away her child and, of course, I can't resist that sort of part. Barry Watson plays a young man named Tim who has psychological disorders. He's paranoid about a boogeyman chasing him. When he was a boy, his father vanished and his mother went crazy and gave up custody of him. So he has big abandonment issues. In flashbacks you get to see his mother -- who's the one with the red hair. Stoned and drug-addled, she can't put up with this troublesome kid any longer and sends him away with his uncle. The kid's always going on about the boogeyman. He's afraid someone's under his bed and in his closet.



Posted on Sep 22, 2003, 4:14 PM

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Ghost House/Boogeyman news

by boogeyfan (no login)

From the Hollywood Reporter:

24 February 2004
'Boogeyman': case study (between the lines)
by: Wakefield, Phil

Ask Senator International president Joe Drake what the best thing was about shooting Screen Gems' "Boogeyman" in Auckland, New Zealand, and the answer sounds like faint praise indeed: "It wasn't a disaster." When pressed, though, his thoughts on the location are far more enthusiastic. "We got what we expected, and that's a rare thing in the movie business," Drake says. "It's so tough not to come away from a place saying, 'God, that was brutal.'"

A horror thriller about a traumatized young man who confronts a monstrous entity from his childhood, "Boogeyman" is directed by Stephen T. Kay (2000's "Get Carter"). Although set in Chicago, the movie was filmed last year in Auckland's Henderson Studios and on location from June to mid-September.

Auckland, the nation's largest metropolitan center, is a second home to co-producer Rob Tapert, who shot 318 hours of series television there during the 1990s, including "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess." Tapert's wife--"Xena's" Lucy Lawless--stars in "Boogeyman," along with Barry Watson, Emily Deschanel and Skye McCole Bartusiak.

Drake says he knew little of New Zealand, apart from it being home to New Line's "The Lord of the Rings" franchise and a tourist destination. "Rob made a compelling case to shoot there because of his familiarity with the country and his relationships with crews," he says. "There were a lot of positives and not a lot of negatives--it was pretty much a turnkey operation."

Tapert, who produced "Boogeyman" with Brian Goldsmith for Sam Raimi's GhostHouse Pictures, says taking productions to New Zealand is attractive for several reasons, including a beneficial exchange rate (then 48 cents to the greenback), the local infrastructure, working conditions and indigenous, hardworking, nonunion crews.

But the same is not true of the nation's stages. "Studio facilities are nonexistent," Tapert says. "That's a huge downside to New Zealand. In Auckland--the major population, talent and crew base--there is no real studio, and that's going to stand in the way of Auckland developing into a film center."

Nonetheless, Tapert hopes to return within the next year or so to film at least another feature--though he doesn't plan to shoot more TV series in the region anytime soon.

"There's very little American TV you could shoot in New Zealand," Tapert says. "It's very hard to duplicate modern-day America in New Zealand: You couldn't do 'CSI: Auckland' for America."

COPYRIGHT 2004 VNU Business Media





Posted on Mar 18, 2004, 1:52 PM

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Sneak Boogey preview

by Boogeyfan (no login)

Some fan sent this in to the Ain't-It-Cool News Site:

Today I had the great honor of being in the first ever screening of Boogyman, the first horror movie produced under Sam Raimi's new company, Ghost House. A friend and I went to a small theatre and were prepped with the usual "no recording device" shpeal. About thirty of us mortals were there, along with Sam Raimi and the directors! They ran out of seats so a couple of us got beanbags.

The movie was a very rough cut. Strings were still attached to the actors and all the special effects shots were still in starting stages. The plot goes to the tune of this: A young man by the name Tim is haunted by memories of the Boogyman, who constantly haunted him as a child. A killer opening sequence has a young Tim sitting in his bed at night. He can't get to sleep: he keeps seeing glimpses of the monster, only to be a pile of clothes or toys when he turns on the light. It's such a great scene because we've all been scared like that as kids (hell, that s**t still gets me!). Finally, Tim's dad comes in to see what the fuss is all about and... well, I won't ruin any surprises for you!

I'm sure Raimi is glad to have this movie in his starting line-up for Ghost House. It isn't a grand opus by any means: but it is a great b-movie horror romp, much like a Wes Craven or even a modern day Evil Dead. The camera work is impressive; like another character on screen running around all the action. The suspense is definitely there, though they definitely use way too much of the "image-flash" technique (think the American "Ring") to try and get our blood pumping. Probably the best part of the movie is not knowing whether or not what's happening is real or if Tim is really just going nuts. In one scene he gets caught in a closet, and seems to be "attacked" by something inside of it, although it could just be the coat hangers scratching him. It adds another tier to the film that keeps it above the straight-to-video shelfs.

Hopefully they'll chop it a little shorter in editing, to keep it at a nice pace, and whip up a convincingly spooky monster....

Posted on Apr 24, 2004, 6:26 PM

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Boogeyman set to open amid media blitz

by boogeyfan (no login)

Preview info, stills, etc. can be found at http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/boogeyman.html

A mini interview with Barry Watson can be found at http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30276

The official site is at http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/boogeyman/

And the poster ooks like....




Posted on Jan 31, 2005, 5:39 PM

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Jack of All Trades on DVD Petition!

by (no login)

Hey all! Please go to the below URL to sign the petition to get the TV show Jack of All Trades, starring Bruce Campbell, to be put onto DVD!! Sent the link to all your friends and family!!

http://www.petitiononline.com/JOAT1801/petition.html

Heidi R =)
www.moviefanficchains.com

Posted on Apr 24, 2004, 6:40 PM

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Long Live Jack!

by August (no login)

Thanks for posting this here. I endorese this whole-heartedly!

Vive la Resistance!

Posted on Apr 27, 2004, 8:28 PM

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lets get it

by Troy (no login)

they need to bring it to dvd because i know many people that would buy a product such as that

Posted on Jan 27, 2005, 7:10 PM

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Glad to see you here, Troy!

by (no login)

Thanks for making your presence known! :D


In the meantime, feel free to visit the Jack of All Trades Forum and hang with the rest of the Jack Pack!


Posted on Jan 30, 2005, 8:08 PM

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LA Times article on the Xena Convention

by Anonymous (no login)

LOS ANGELES
Zeal for 'Xena' on Display at Burbank Gathering
Fans still convene four years after the TV show about the warrior
princess ended.

January 23, 2005

By Ashley Powers, Times Staff Writer

Warrior princesses who vanquish evil never really die. Their
resurrection is popping out of a three-tiered cake at a Burbank
convention center wearing go-go get-ups and wigs.

Xena's back, baby. Her best bud, Gabrielle, too. While mere mortals
thought they vanished in 2001, when syndicated "Xena: Warrior Princess"
wrapped up its six television seasons, devotees of the chakram-hurling
heroines partied on Saturday at their annual Xena love fest, just like
they've done for at least the last eight years.

Those not attending the three-day convention, which drew more than 1,000
devotees, might stifle a smirk and ask: Why? "I enjoy watching women
kick butt," said Mary Hines, 42, a volunteer for Creation Entertainment,
which runs the event. "I never could stand weak females on TV. I was
always like: Why wait for the guy to come save you?"

The name "Xena" was more a euphemism for girl power than the Spice
Girls. After the show's 1995 debut in syndication, Lucy Lawless (Xena)
and Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle) galloped into pop culture. Producers Rob
Tapert and "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi, among others, steeped story
lines with mythology that sparked cultish devotion.

During a trip to New Zealand, Lawless' homeland, then-Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright was quoted as saying: "One of my role models, Xena
the Warrior Princess, comes from here."

Xena's fandom is smaller than that of "Star Trek," whose Los Angeles
convention draws 8,000 disciples, but is almost double the 1,000 people
who flock to "Farscape" affairs, says a Creation Entertainment
spokeswoman.

And this weekend marked a decade since the show's birth — hence, Lawless
and O'Connor popping out of the cake. Both still ply the acting trade,
with parts in movies and TV.

At the Burbank Airport Hilton, half-sheet fliers advertised a "Xenites
Gathering!" to "Meet new fanatics!" Vendors hawked 8-by-10 glossies of
the show's stars. For a frame and signatures on a photo of the gals in
near-lip lock, fork over $90. Those less flush with cash grabbed $15
scripts, $30 laptop cases or a TV Guide from June 16, 2001. Lawless, of
course, graces the cover.

Wendy Gamble, 34, may have crafted a Xena-themed Monopoly game, in which
Boardwalk is the Elysian Fields. But "I hesitate to wear the 'Xena' get-
ups — I don't want to get lumped with the enthusiasts," said the court
clerk from Denver.

Still, she returned five or six times for the camaraderie; her buddies
nod in accord. Women, they say, view the series as two gals whose
friendship endures ancient Greece and Hades. Women who get Xena get each
other. They congregate.

Texans Wendy Woody, 36, and Deborah Abbott, 37, met at a prior
convention — "the year I was dressed in chains," said Abbott, a Xena
convention veteran and dead ringer for Lawless. The women offered
another theory about the warrior princess' longevity: Xena's creators
are stringing fans along. Her final episode — including her brutal death
— left some fans disgruntled. They hunger for Xena on the silver screen.

"Until they see a film, they won't admit it's over," Abbott insisted.

"They won't watch that episode, they won't talk about it," said Woody.

"It's like their best friend passed away," Abbott said.

Go figure: "Xena" was a spinoff of the television series "Hercules: The
Legendary Journeys." The shows once held their conventions in tandem.
But poor Herc doesn't merit a role at the event anymore, despite being
the world's strongest man.


Posted on Jan 24, 2005, 6:44 PM

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?

by slippy (no login)

wonder if there still making a campbell,jason,freddy movie?



    
This message has been edited by august on Jan 9, 2005 1:41 PM

Posted on Jan 8, 2005, 9:57 AM

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Re: ?

by (Login august)
Forum Owner

From an interview w/ Sam that's posted a few threads below this one:

IGNFF: The Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash rumors keep circulating. What are your thoughts on that project?

RAIMI: Well, I actually really like those, the Freddy movies, and Jason is a classic American horror figure now. I have a lot of respect for those series, and maybe one day they will meet up, but right now what I'd like to do is, well I'd first rather make another Evil Dead picture, and then maybe when we're done with it, if there's an interesting story that really seems like it's not just a device to make money, which I'm not saying it was. I know that they wanted to do something really cool, but I wanted to keep the option open for myself to make another Evil Dead movie without the limitations of what that story may have done. That's really, I think, what it is.


IGNFF: So you do hold complete control over the rights to the Ash character?

RAIMI: Yes.

IGNFF: So there's no way they can make that movie without your consent?

RAIMI: Right. I think that they were hoping that it might go. We talked about it, but then the press release came out and I think I would need more control than they would be happy with and I don't want to control some other director. Sean Cunningham's a brilliant director and I actually don't want to be in a position where I'm trying to protect Ash and the Evil Dead story and he's not getting everything he wants. Even though it might have been really great, I bet what he does is gonna be great, it didn't seem like a good position for me to be in. Anyways, they've got so many great possibilities with that franchise and those two characters, I don't think they really need the Evil Dead franchise to be part of it.


Posted on Jan 9, 2005, 1:43 PM

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You might be Australian if......

by (Login august)
Forum Owner

You might be Australian if......

1) You've mimicked Alf Stewart from the TV show Home and Away's broad, Australian accent, eg. "push off, ya flamin'drongo!"
2) You've had an argument with your mate over whether Ford or Holden makes the better car
3) You've done the "hot sand" dance at the beach while running from the ocean back to your towel.
4) You know who Ray Martin is
5) You start using words like 'bloody' and 'grouse' and call people 'champ'
6) You stop greeting people with 'hello' and go straight to the "how ya
doin'?"
7) You've seriously considered running down the shop in a pair of Ugh Boots
8) you own a pair of ugh boots
9) You've been to a day-nighter cricket match and screamed out incomprehensibly until your throat went raw.
10) You kind of know the first verse to the national anthem, but buggered if you know what 'girt' means.
11) You have a story that somehow revolves around excess consumption of
alcohol and a mate named 'Dave'.
12) You've risked attending an outdoor music festival on the hottest day of
the year.
13) You've tried to hang off a clothesline while pretending you can fly
14) You've had a visit to the emergency room after hanging off the
clothesline pretending you can fly.
15) You own a pair of thongs for everyday use, and another pair of dress
thongs' for special occasions.
16) You don't know what's in a meat pie, and you don't care
17) You pronounce Australia as "Straya"
18) You call soccer "soccer, not "football"
19) You've squeezed Vegemite through Vita Brits to make little Vegemite
worms.
20) You suck your coffee through a Tim Tam.
21) You realise that lifeguards are the only people who can get away with
wearing Speedos.
22) You pledge allegiance to Vegemite over Promite.
23) You understand the value of public holidays.
24) You're weekends are spent barracking for your favourite sports team.
25) You have a toilet dolly
26) You've played beach cricket with a tennis ball and a bat fashioned out
of a fence post.
27) You firmly believe that in the end, everything will be ok, and have
told a mate in tough times that "She'll be right, mate"
28) You use the phrase, "no worries" at least once a day.
29) You've been on a beach holiday and have probably stayed in a caravan.
30) You constantly shorten words to "brekkie", "arvo" and "barbie"
31) You've adopted a local bar as your own.
32) You know the oath of mateship can never be limited by geographical
distance. "
33) You own a pair of Aussie flag boxers



Posted on Dec 28, 2004, 11:07 AM

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Check Out This Out..Pass It On!!

by (no login)

http://www.m80teams.com/?TDoxMjE5

Posted on Nov 18, 2004, 4:50 PM

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Grab The Adventure

by solari001 (no login)

Visit http://grabtheadventure.com for great deals on the Xena dvd sets and a chance to win a great prize If you buy any Hercules, Highlander or Xena DVD from anywhere you can win a FREE letter opener!
The Letter openers are designed and handcrafted in Spain, and are usually sold for at least $19.95.
They will ship you the letter opener for FREE! You will not have to pay any shipping and handling.

Posted on Nov 13, 2004, 4:11 PM

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Bubba Ho-Tep

by ak (no login)

LA Times article:

February 26, 2003


MOVIES
'Bubba' unites cult heroes

A spry old Elvis Presley meets an Egyptian mummy when Don Coscarelli and Bruce Campbell join cinematic forces.

By David Chute, Special to The Times

In the somewhat rarified world of fan-geek worship, writer-director Don Coscarelli and actor Bruce Campbell are superstars. They became cult heroes more than 20 years ago, when Coscarelli wrote and directed "Phantasm" (1979) and Campbell starred in Sam "Spider-Man" Raimi's shoestring debut "The Evil Dead" (1982).

Now in their mid-40s, they still enjoy untarnished credibility with a hard-core fan base that seems to get younger every year.

One reason, Coscarelli says, is that "we both still have a genuine enthusiasm for the kind of weird genre material that teenagers like." But the oddness of the situation has struck them both, as Campbell notes in his cheerfully self-deprecating memoir "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor." The book, a hot seller on the cult film circuit, both confirmed and extended his popularity in certain circles.

Coscarelli's first film starring Campbell involves, among others, Elvis Presley and Egyptian mummies; "Bubba Ho-Tep," arrives at the American Cinematheque on Thursday already festooned with raves from bellwether fan sites like Dark Horizons and Ain't It Cool News. As well it might. "I just loved the idea of Elvis' fighting a mummy," Coscarelli says of the short story by mystery novelist Joe R. Lansdale that inspired the film. But the story had more to offer than a gonzo premise: It was a project in which both actor and director could act their age (and then some) without betraying their B movie roots.

The film they've made is a surprisingly touching genre send-up in which the King (Campbell), now a cranky elderly patient in a Texas nursing home, teams up with his neighbor down the hall (Ossie Davis), a blissfully goofy 83-year-old convinced that he is JFK. Shoulder to shoulder they battle supernatural evil (and a very dangerous scarab beetle the size of a fat pigeon), armed only with their walkers and the fastest bedpan in the West.

At this point, there is no American distributor for the movie.

The gonzo premise generates more thrills than one might expect, even though the action is mostly confined to the rest home and the movie's only "high-speed chase" involves a battery-powered wheelchair. "But what kept me coming back to the story," Coscarelli says, "was that Joe Lansdale also gave it a deeper level, about what happens to people as they get older, the loss of dignity. People of my generation are getting to the age now where the rest home is staring them in the face, and it is not a pretty picture. What I like best about the movie is that the sensitive stuff really seems to work."

Campbell and Coscarelli admit that they may have been spoiled by their early experiences making shoestring low-budget genre movies like "Phantasm" and "The Evil Dead" with groups of close friends. Physically those wing-and-a-prayer shoots were often grueling, Campbell recalls, "but there was also a zone of mental comfort there. Those were totally hand-made movies, and they were exactly what we wanted them to be. I've been trying to crawl back into that womb ever since."

Both films became instant cult favorites because fans recognized them as the work of kindred spirits. "One of the things I have aspired to ever since," Coscarelli says, "is make another movie that resonates with an audience that way. And we're beginning to get the feeling that 'Bubba Ho-Tep' might be it."

Iconic horror villain

None of Coscarelli's other films, which include "The Beastmaster" (1982) and "Survival Quest" (1989), has had the impact of "Phantasm" and its sequels. The film delivered such memorable shock images as a brain-sucking flying silver sphere and created one of the great iconic horror villains in Angus Scrimm's saturnine Tall Man, a killer mortician from the fourth dimension.

In three sequels shot over 20 years, Coscarelli has allowed the "Phantasm" series to darken, embracing the passage of time as a story point. In "Phantasm IV: Oblivion," footage of the performers as fresh-faced youths is deftly intercut with new scenes in which the same actors play their characters as haggard and alienated adults, pursued by the Tall Man across a post-apocalyptic landscape.

By contrast, Campbell is loved not so much for his seriousness as for his energetic playfulness, a quality abundantly evident in his performance as a gallant and chivalrous geezer-Elvis. In the "Evil Dead" pictures, he wields a snarling chainsaw with the athletic abandon of a zombie-hunting Errol Flynn.

The persona translates well to less sanguinary genres. Campbell made perfect sense as the dashing rogue Autolycus on the syndicated TV series Hercules (co-produced by Raimi), as a post-Indiana Jones cowpoke on the tongue-in-cheek Fox Western "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." (1993) and as a swashbuckling matinee idol in the film-within-the-film in "The Majestic" (2001).

Campbell and Coscarelli began plotting a collaboration three years ago, when the director co-wrote (with "Pulp Fiction" Oscar-winner Roger Avary) the screenplay for "Phantasm V," which had a juicy role in it for Campbell. "The idea was to sort of combine the 'Evil Dead' and 'Phantasm' franchises by bringing him in to fight the Tall Man. The fans of both series would go crazy for that," Coscarelli says. "But then you pitch it to executives and their eyes glaze over. Success in the genre is both a blessing and a curse. I'm always able to get funding for further 'Phantasm' movies at a certain budget level, but it also marks you as a little too cultish in the eyes of the Hollywood big shots."

Campbell is fed up with the big shots altogether and with the endless anxiety of aspiring to become one. He came closest as a runner-up for the title role in "The Phantom" (1996) but, he says: "The more I chased that brass ring the less it had to do with making movies."

"Bruce has blazed his own trail," Coscarelli says. "He has made a franchise out of himself. The direct connection he has developed with his fans is amazing."

Campbell and Coscarelli enjoy trading ideas for possible "Bubba Ho-Tep" prequels, retro period films in which a younger Elvis could play hooky from the set of "Clambake" to battle slinky vampire babes.

"And the longer we go on making them," Campbell suggests, "the cheaper they'll be to do. Eventually I won't even need make-up."



Posted on Aug 22, 2003, 4:10 PM

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Phantasm

by Diana (no login)

You're telling me that Bruce also was in Phantasm? The guy sure got around

Posted on Sep 1, 2003, 12:07 PM

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phantasm

by ak (no login)

Naw, read that again - the director, Don Coscarelli, did Phantasm, and Bruce had similar beginnings with ED.

Posted on Sep 2, 2003, 8:16 AM

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more Bubba news

by ak (no login)

From the New York Press, at http://www.nypress.com/16/40/news&columns/feature.cfm :

"The King of B-Kings"

By Matt Zoller Seitz

B-movies are Bruce Campbell’s blood and butter. And he knows it.

"Some actors are terrible at being movie stars," says Bruce Campbell, the B-movie icon whose latest film, the horror comedy Bubba Ho-Tep, casts him as an aged but still potent Elvis Presley locked in mortal combat with an ancient Egyptian mummy-demon.

"They don’t go out. They don’t do photo spreads in their homes. You don’t see them at premieres or parties. You have no idea what their kids look like. Then there are other people who are at every premiere, every opening, every gym. They’re living the life, but they’re shitty actors, because they’re not really being actors. They’re being movie stars. Once in a while you find a guy who can do both, but it’s rare."

A skeptic might say Campbell is rationalizing. The 45-year-old actor, who spoke to New York Press via phone from the set of a new horror movie in Toronto, has been acting for over 25 years now, and has yet to reach the upper echelon of the business. He’s a character guy with leading-man looks–he jokingly titled his autobiography If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor–and he’s carved out a specialized niche, playing self-deprecating action heroes in genre projects that cost about as much as Tom Cruise’s hair.

He’s appeared on and directed Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess and other genre programs, and he’s directed some tv shows, including the now-defunct Pamela Anderson action show V.I.P. He’s identified with a couple of key roles: the stalwart, zombie-killing hero of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy and the self-deprecating title character of the tv-western spoof Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., which ran on Fox from 1993-94.

But in another sense, Campbell is being disingenuous. In a different universe, he is both an actor and a movie star.

His performances rarely get noticed in the mainstream press, but that’s to be expected. With few exceptions–an intensely dramatic two-parter on NBC’s Homicide; a supporting role as Jennifer Jason Leigh’s hardbitten newsroom pal in The Hudsucker Proxy–Campbell rarely appears in anything outwardly respectable. He started out in fright flicks and has returned to them time and again; horror is his blood and butter.

Campbell grew up in suburban Detroit, where he attended high school with future movie director Sam Raimi (A Simple Plan, Spider-Man). They met in 1975 doing a lame improv in a classroom; they were soon shooting and editing Super-8 horror movies and screening them for anyone who would buy a ticket. Even then, they thought like businessmen. Raimi stood at the back of the theaters and listened closely to the audience’s reaction; when the movie ended, he’d go back into the editing room and cut out any part of the movie during which people talked or went to get popcorn.

In 1979, Raimi, Campbell and future producing partner Rob Tapert scraped about $175,000 together from local investors and made The Evil Dead, a perverse and sadistic zombie picture more notable for its shock effects and spectacular camerawork than for any higher dramatic qualities. Released theatrically in 1983, it made a relative fortune, spawning two sequels (Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and Army of Darkness) and setting Raimi and Campbell down the road toward professional success.

Too bad the road wasn’t paved. Campbell’s first movie after the second Evil Dead installment was an unmemorable slasher picture called "Maniac Cop."

"I was so excited," Campbell says. "I was finally in a non-Raimi movie. I was finally in the business. But as soon as it was over, I was broke again. I had to get work as a security guard. I also worked on a really crappy local soap that shot in Detroit. I got paid $35 a scene to shoot three scenes; I walked out of there with $105 in my pocket and thought, ‘Damn, this ain’t so bad.’"

Since then, Campbell’s career has looked like a waveform graph–a series of ups and downs, slowly trending upward.

"If you stay in the business long enough, the ups and downs aren’t so bad, because hopefully you’ve learned to manage your money. The big discovery you have to make is that it’s all relative. A million bucks doesn’t mean much if you’re a millionaire. A lot of people make the mistake of spending their first big paycheck–25 grand, 50 grand, a million bucks, whatever–because they’ve gone so long doing without, and they feel like they’ve got to make up for all that deprivation. That’s a huge mistake. I remember this one friend of mine, when he got his first big paycheck, refused to change his lifestyle at all. He stayed in the same little apartment. He bought a little sports car, but it was a Miata. He’s way ahead of the curve now."

Campbell is doing all right. If Chins Could Kill has become a minor classic among showbiz types–especially actors, who appreciate its hard-nosed advice and honest stories about Campbell’s misadventures in the screen trade.

"There’s way too much theoretical bullshit out there being fed to young actors, way too much misinformation leading the lemmings to jump off cliffs. I got an email from a guy saying, ‘Bruce, I never wanted to be an actor. Then I read your book, and after reading your book, I definitely don’t want to be an actor.’ That told me the book had done its job."

Campbell is working on a new book titled, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way, a combination novel and advice manual in which his fictional alter ego travels the world to learn more about love and sex.

"Sometimes the character is me, and sometimes it’s me in disguise, but only if I’m on a secret mission," he explains, not all that helpfully. "It has nothing to with acting whatsoever. It’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride."

He has been divorced once and is now remarried. He has two teenage kids by his first wife. He lives in Oregon, in the woods. He recently survived a head-on collision with a drunk driver. The other guy crashed through his own windshield and landed on Campbell’s and was badly hurt, but Campbell walked away without a scratch.

Somebody up there likes him.

"Things are working for me," he says. "I’m sick of going to the gym. I have my distinguished grey in this new movie, and I’m playing a father. That works for me. I’m glad I decided to not think so much about the other stuff and just be an actor, because in the long run, it helps you with your career bell curve. Who cares who the director of photography is or how big the distributor is, or if you’ve got a small role in a big movie or a big role in a medium-sized movie? The only questions that matter are, ‘What is the part and does it suck or not?’"

In a fair world, Bubba Ho-Tep would be Campbell’s breakthrough. It’s the best performance I’ve seen him give and my favorite lead performance of the year so far. Written and directed by Don Coscarelli, who’s best known for the freakish, bloody Phantasm movies, it’s a B-picture par excellence. But it works on more than a midnight-movie level. It has a surprisingly emotional core and many valid things to say about Americans’ tendency to worship pop-culture icons like graven images.

Equal parts horror comedy and rueful character study, Bubba finds Elvis wasting away in a rural Texas nursing home–a deposed King who’s a prisoner in both body (he’s missing a hip and has a scary bump on the end of his penis) and spirit. The plot, such as it is, is sheer comic- book nonsense–something about a reawakened mummy who was buried without a name and thus cursed to be a soul-sucking beast of evil. The evil manifests itself in spooky apparitions (the mummy drifts through the hallway like a rotting ghost) and biblical plagues (flesh-eating scarab beetles the size of wingtip shoes). Of course there’s a bumper crop of Elvis-themed catchphrases, clearly designed to pander to Campbell’s fan base. ("Nobody fucks with the King!" and "TCB, baby!")

But Elvis himself is a real character, brought to life in a world-class performance by Campbell. He plays Elvis both as an old man and a sad remnant of a once-vital culture; an aging trickster who tried to cheat death by swapping identities with an Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff. Elvis lived for decades under the impersonator’s name, but now he’s gotten old enough to realize that while one can delay death, one can never defeat it.

Coscarelli’s script is obsessed with long-gone potency and squandered potential. Elvis hates himself for becoming a prisoner of his fame, then fleeing it without regard for his family’s feelings. His possessions include a medicine bag that contains, among other things, a portrait of his daughter, Lisa Marie, whom he never really knew, and with whom he can now never reconnect with. While battling the evil that’s stealing the souls of nursing-home residents, Elvis befriends JFK (Ossie Davis). The former president’s room is filled with photographic mementos of his life and legend, including pictures of Jackie O. and a framed reproduction of Lee Harvey Oswald’s mug shot. Together, the men are pop-culture fathers who fear that they abandoned, or at least failed, their children.

"We weren’t there for our kids when they needed us, were we?" JFK asks Elvis, in one of many unexpectedly tender exchanges. Then he corrects himself: "I guess we were the best fathers we could be under the circumstances." The president and the King share a preoccupation with sex–and lost sexual opportunity. Elvis reawakens emotionally and physically when a bored nurse applies healing salve to his kingly scepter and it unexpectedly rises to life. Later, in a bold moment, the King, who otherwise treats his president with proper deference, asks what it was like to sleep with Marilyn Monroe.

JFK scowls at him. "That is classified information," he says. Then he adds, "But between you and me? Wwwww-wow!"

There’s another pop-culture legend in the old folks’ home, too–the Lone Ranger, identified here only as "Kemo Sabe," presumably for copyright reasons. In what might become the movie’s most enduring image, JFK and Elvis march into battle against the mummy in a longshot looking down the nursing-home corridor. Elvis is leaning on a walker; JFK rolls along beside him in a wheelchair.

"You’ve got JFK as an old man in a wheelchair and Elvis Presley, the stud of studs, as an old man whose hip is gone. He’s got cancer on his dick and he’s dying," Campbell says. "It’s a story about what happens when pop culture gets old."

Bubba Ho-Tep is based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale, a Texan who’s a cult figure in his own right. He’s a switch-hitting genre ace who’s published science fiction, horror, crime thrillers and just about everything else; he’s also a martial arts expert, drive-in movie aficionado and self-described "Mojo Storyteller" who posts a new piece of short fiction on his website (joerlansdale.com) every couple of days. The script’s crazy-quilt quality preserves Lansdale’s smiley-faced, everywhere-at-once vibe.

Fans of sci-fi marginalia may also be reminded of Howard Waldrop, the pop-culture-obsessed author who wrote "A Dozen Tough Jobs," a retelling of the labors of Hercules set in the South, and "Der Untergang des Abendlandesmenschen," a Sherlock Holmes western with vampires. Which is to say that the movie has a grubby yet intellectually legitimate pedigree, yet it’s 180 degrees from pretentious. It makes its statements quietly, without stopping the show. Much of its substance is contained within Campbell’s fearless, intense, often moving performance, which is augmented in voiceover with monologues that could be stripped out and reformatted as a one-man play titled Last Tango with Elvis.

In a grotesque, touching scene, Elvis disgustedly applies salve to his prick, then collapses on his bed and turns on the tv, which happens to be showing an Elvis film festival. "Shitty pictures," he mutters, watching the clip reel, "every last one of them."

Then he thinks to himself, "Here I was complaining about loss of pride and how life had treated me, and I realized I never had any pride, and much of how life had treated me had been good. The bulk of the bad was my own damn fault. I should have fired Colonel Parker about the time I got into pictures. Old fart had been a shark and a fool and I was an even bigger fool for following him. If only I had treated Priscilla right. I could have told my daughter I loved her. Always the questions, never the answers. Always the hopes, never the fulfillments."



Even if Bubba Ho-Tep does not find crossover success, it’s guaranteed an audience of Campbell fans–a core group of science fiction, horror and fantasy buffs who will see (or rent) anything he appears in. These are the folks who attend conventions armed with publicity photos and Sharpies. There’s one in every family.

Campbell satisfies their curiosity with his detailed website (bruce-campbell.com), which keeps tabs on everything he’s ever done and has yet to do. (There’s even an updated page providing showtimes and channels for any Campbell performance airing on broadcast or cable tv.)

"I went to one convention with an actress who’d never been to one before," Campbell says. "She never went to another. It freaked her out so bad… She was saying, ‘They’re looking at me! They’re taking my picture, they’re asking about my personal life! Oh my God!’

"She hated fishbowl life. She was so disconnected from the reality of the business that she couldn’t understand that when you do something in a movie, people may like it, and they may like it so much that they’re willing to show up at a forum and try to meet you, and there’s a good chance some of them will not be exactly like your neighbors.

"It takes a heightened interest to be willing to get into a car with six other fans and drive 200 miles to a Frightvision convention in Cleveland and pile into the same tiny motel room and then muster up the guts to walk up to an actor you like and try to meet them. It takes a more dedicated personality than most people can understand."

Which isn’t to say that fans don’t freak Campbell out, too.

"I did a documentary about fans called Fanalysis. I decided to turn the video camera around and put it in their face. They found it very disturbing. You watch them squirm on their seat. It gave them a sense of what it’s like to be an actor in that kind of situation. Just like an actor, a fan that’s being interviewed has no idea what part of the interview will be used. For all they know, I could make them look like buffoons by taking their comments out of context.

"But it’s nothing to worry about. I’d rather have people going to a Xena convention than a gun show to buy semiautomatic weapons they don’t need. Some of the fans are really tough-looking, but deep down, they’re terrified. Some of them can’t even look me in the eye. I sometimes thought it was disinterest, but I sort of came to think it was probably just nervousness.

"I don’t want them to be nervous. They’re my bosses. When you get down to it, I don’t really give that much of a shit about directors or producers. Fans should realize that. They should realize that they’re the bosses of this industry, and not support any movie that doesn’t deserve to be supported. That includes any movie described in newspaper blurbs as ‘a triumph of the human spirit’ and almost any Hollywood film released between the months of May and August."

Bubba Ho-Tep is not a May-to-August movie.

"Ever major distributor turned this movie down," Campbell says. "Every single one. And I’m not surprised. This is not an easy movie to market. It’s not the kind of movie where you can just put Mel Gibson on the poster holding a gun, staring into the camera and trying to look pensive, and be done with it. It probably sent the marketing guys running in the other direction.

"But that bodes well for it… It needs to find the Evil Dead audience, the midnight audience. I’ve seen it at a dozen midnight movies by now, and I can point to the places where the reactions are gonna be. The movie’s working. People get it."


Bubba Ho-Tep is now playing at the Angelika, 18 W. Houston St. (Mercer St.), 212-995-2570.

Volume 16, Issue 40

Posted on Oct 5, 2003, 4:51 PM

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Sci-Fi Weekly review of Bubba Ho-Tep

by ak (no login)

From Sci-Fi Weekly at http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue339/screen.html

A geriatric Elvis and an African-American JFK save an old folks' home from a soul-sucking mummy ... no, really

Bubba Ho-Tep

Starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis

Written and directed by Don Coscarelli

Based on the short story by Joe R. Lansdale




---------------------------------
By Cindy White
---------------------------------

Based on an award-winning short story, Bubba Ho-Tep is built on a foundation of several far-fetched notions. The first is that Elvis (Campbell) is alive (though not all that well) and living in a convalescent home in east Texas. According to his story, The King secretly switched places with an impersonator named Sebastian Haff some time before his death in an effort to escape the pressures of fame.


Unfortunately, Haff was just as attracted to the lifestyle of pills, booze and fried foods as Presley himself, and died very publicly in 1977. Having lost the proof of his true identity in a barbecue accident, the real Elvis had to continue making a living impersonating himself until a bad hip forced him to give up the stage altogether. He now languishes in the rest home, lamenting the mistakes of his past and unable to deny his declining health.

Also living in the home is Jack (Davis), an African-American who believes he is President John F. Kennedy. Jack maintains that that his skin was dyed black and his head filled with sand after the fateful shooting in Dallas. Elvis thinks he's crazy, but since Jack is the only one who believes his story, he gives his friend the benefit of the doubt.

One night, Elvis is attacked in his room by a large insect that he assumes to be a cockroach, but which is actually a Egyptian scarab beetle. Already aware of the mysterious happenings, Jack shares his research with Elvis, and the two come to the conclusion that the residents of the home are being preyed upon by an ancient Egyptian mummy who must consume souls to stay live. Together, Jack and Elvis must stop him before he destroys every last one of them.


Conventional filmmaking has left the building


At the risk of stating the obvious, Bubba Ho-Tep is not your typical Hollywood film. From the first few moments, in which Elvis worries about a possibly cancerous growth on his "pecker," to the final battle between the mummy and a walker-wielding King in his trademark studded jumpsuit, it defies the very notion of traditional moviemaking.

The film rides heavily on Campbell's ability to sell his role as the elderly Elvis, which he accomplishes skillfully, in spite of a glaringly amateur makeup job. Though Davis neither acts nor sounds remotely like JFK, his true identity becomes irrelevant by the end of the film. Through the courage of their convictions, Campbell and Davis make the outrageous premise work. The audience believe because they believe.

Coscarelli (who directed the Phantasm series) spends a little too much time establishing the Elvis character and not enough time expanding the underdeveloped mummy aspect of the storyline. Most of the time, the plot shuffles along like the senior citizens around which it revolves, occasionally scurrying through a light action sequence, only to slow down shortly thereafter to catch its breath. The director does employ some interesting time-lapse tricks, however, which deftly illustrate the monotony of life in a nursing home.

On one level, the film can be seen as a condemnation of an age-ist society that callously banishes the elderly to managed-care facilities to avoid facing its own mortality. On another, it's a creepy dark comedy that takes its inspiration from the pages of the Weekly World News. Coscarelli takes his inspiration from a wide range of sources, including Elvis movies (to the extent of recreating nearly shot-for-shot a sequence from the concert film Elvis Live on Tour), horror, mysteries, even westerns, and blends them together into one indefinable but utterly enjoyable cinematic experience.

If ever there was a film destined to achieve cult status, it's Bubba Ho-Tep. It won't be long before the film takes its rightful place alongside classics like Repo Man and the Evil Dead series. — Cindy





Posted on Oct 21, 2003, 8:19 PM

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Knight Ridder review of Bubba Ho-Tep

by campbellfan (no login)

From http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/entertainment/movies/8657722.htm

A scary parable for the Polident set

By CHRIS HEWITT

Knight Ridder Newspapers


Elvis is alive and not well, lounging around a shabby nursing home with smeary, mushroom-colored walls in “Bubba Ho-Tep.”

The film’s Elvis is a chunka-chunka barely smoldering love. Still polyester-pantsuited and fulsomely sideburned, he has been laying low for years while nurses tend to a sensitive medical issue.

He’s in Disgraceland, basically, but he comes back to life when he meets a black man who claims to be John F. Kennedy (the not-really-dead theme runs rampant in this movie) and who is on the trail of an Egyptian curse/witch/soul-sucker thing.

“Bubba Ho-Tep” is a comedy of sorts, but it’s more serious than the loopy premise sounds. That’s because its characters take themselves seriously.

Both men (Elvis is played by Bruce Campbell, JFK by Ossie Davis Jr.) genuinely believe they are who they say they are, and it’s possible that the movie believes them, too.

“Bubba” sounds like “Friday the 13th” for Polident users, and it has flashes of cheeseball horror, but it also allows for somber moments when the characters meditate on what it’s like to be forgotten. In fact, JFK and Elvis probably are symbols for the elderly, treated as if they were dead even though they are very much alive.

I didn’t care much about the soul-sucker, but among Elvis’ gross-out jokes, I found his decrepit dignity oddly moving. Campbell captures the essence of a once-proud man and, for that, he deserves a thankyouverramuch from the real Elvis. Wherever he is.


Rated: R for language, violence and brief nudity

Running time: 1:32





Posted on May 16, 2004, 3:50 PM

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FT. Wayne review of "Bubba"

by bubbafan (no login)

From http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/living/10063147.htm


Elvis, JFK materialize in cult ‘Bubba Ho-tep’

By Steve Penhollow

The Journal Gazette (Ft. Wayne)


If you’re looking for an atypical-but-still-in-the-same-ballpark DVD to rent this evening, you might want to seek out the 2003 cult film “Bubba Ho-tep,” in which an elderly Elvis and a JFK with coercively altered skin pigment fight an evil mummy.

For those of you whose mouths are hanging open in disbelief right now, it might help you to know that the first two characters I mentioned are residents of a nursing home who might or might not be suffering from a little dementia.

If this all sounds a little disrespectful or self-consciously crazy, trust me: The film is surprisingly moving.

The writer and director is Don Coscarelli, who knows a thing or two about bringing odd horror and fantasy concepts successfully to the screen.

Coscarelli created two of the more popular fanciful cinematic characters of the 1970s and ’80s: The Tall Man of the “Phantasm” series of horror films and the Beastmaster from the sword-and-sorcery series of the same name.

With credentials like these, you’d guess Coscarelli wouldn’t have a care in the world when it came to getting his movies made.

Guess again.

Coscarelli says it is just as hard for him to get original ideas to the screen as it ever was.

“The only time it’s easy is when I say I want to make a ‘Phantasm’ sequel,” he says wryly.

Coscarelli first stumbled across the “Bubba Ho-tep” concept in the early ’90s on the cover of a collection of short stories by Joe Lansdale.

“I saw the words ‘Elvis battles the mummy’ on the dust jacket and I just got it.”

But as he read the story, Coscarelli discovered it had quite a bit more going for it than zaniness.

“It has great characters and poignant moments and it answers the question of, ‘Whatever happened to Elvis?’ ”

Coscarelli took two years to write the screenplay and then began shopping it around.

Given the fact that Hollywood is financially conservative and the script was superficially bonkers, it is no surprise that Coscarelli found no takers.

So he decided to finance it and distribute it himself.

Oddly enough, an actor who was not Coscarelli’s first choice for the role of Elvis turned out to be the savior of the production in several senses: cult icon Bruce Campbell.

“The minute I read the short story, I thought about Ossie Davis for the role of Jack Kennedy. Bruce came after that. I knew Ossie could pull it off, but I wasn’t sure about Bruce.”

But Campbell proved to be a kindred spirit, a guy who – like Coscarelli – felt trapped by the horror genre and believed himself capable of much more.

“In a weird way, ‘Bubba Ho-tep’ was a bit of an attempt on Bruce’s and my part to make a movie that was firmly in the genre, but at the same time showed different chops.”

Coscarelli and Campbell had a lot of friends in the business – and subsequently owed favors – so the two were able to get great deals at discount.

And Coscarelli says Campbell instantly saw the substance behind the preposterousness in the film’s concept.

“If you look at Bruce in ‘Evil Dead’ and ‘Army of Darkness,’ he plays a character who is pretty broad. And when we first started talking about ‘Bubba Ho-tep,’ he had riffs on the character that were really funny.

“But he had a handle on it dramatically as well. That’s what interested me in the story. It was less about the horror or the broad comedy. I responded to the concept of Elvis having regrets and being provided with a vehicle for redemption.

“At his core, Elvis was a pretty decent guy. He loved his mother. He was very respectful of people. He was overwhelmed by the immense tidal wave of adulation that washed over him. There was no one to help him through it except hangers-on blood suckers.

“This gives fans a way to see Elvis go out as a hero.”

Campbell is nothing short of extraordinary as Elvis.

So successful was his portrayal that MGM Home Entertainment asked him to provide an in-character, improvised commentary track on the DVD.

“Bubba Ho-tep” has made its less-than-a-million-dollars budget back and then some. And it has stirred up new interest in Don Coscarelli.

Unfortunately, what many people seem to be interested in is a big-budget remake of “Phantasm.”

“It’s a blessing and it’s a curse. I can always get money to make another ‘Phantasm’ movie and that’s cool. I have director friends who don’t have that option.

“I’m getting a lot of interest in (a ‘Phantasm’ remake), so I have to sort through all of it. A lot of money is being talked about, but I wouldn’t want to exploit it. It’s a weird career.”




Posted on Nov 1, 2004, 9:48 PM

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