Issue 9
January 2014
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EDITORIAL HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here is the latest issue of Movies by Mills with quite a package of goodies for you to look at and read. Our main review is David O Russell’s American Hustle which was the last film of 2013 to creep in under the wire to be released in the UK It is a film that could not be ignored which is why it has MbM coverage. The other review is of The Railway Man which had high expectations which were not met and I explain why. Our cover is Amy Adams, star of American Hustle, and featured Close-Up which examines this extraordinary actress and her career, which just seems to be getting more exciting with every picture. And MbM is very pleased to conduct a Q & A with actress Laura Waddell which gives a wonderful insight to the aspirations and determination of an actress who left London to go to Hollywood resulting in her landing a role in Disney’s Saving Mr Banks. There is also an entirely new feature on screenwriting to try to explain how to go about writing one and to put things into perspective in this current climate. There are many misconceptions about this subject which I try to lay to rest. Writing a screenplay is not the same as writing a book. You are the sole author of a book, just you and your publisher and your agent if you have one...that’s it. Writing a screenplay means you are writing for a collaborative medium – a huge network, a team of multiple creative talents, each one important to the final end results. A screenwriter is in the first stage of filmmaking – pre-production, assuming that the project has been green lit by a production company. Writing a screenplay is a craft but not one that can be learnt from reading a book you must study your craft and leave your ego behind. Unless you are directing the film you will not be on the set while the film is in production because by that time your screenplay will have changed beyond your control. There are still the regular features on Extras which takes a look at What Maisie Knew and Film Fest Follower which looks at Sundance. The magazine is filled with quality images as usual which is intended to encourage you to leave your home and go the cinema. Thank you as always to my wonderful readers and my page designer Paul Ridler. Enjoy the read.
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AMERICAN HUSTLE We’ve got to get over on all of these guys. That’s what we’ve got to be thinking about right now. We’ve got to get over on all of these guys. Irv Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is seen in the opening shot of doing a makeover on his hair; he will have more than a bald patch to worry about, but right now that is where his attention is at and self-deception gets him through the day. He is a loan shark that you really would not want to deal with, and among his other business scams, he runs an art gallery full of forgeries. Bale is almost unrecognizable as the fat sleazy Rosenfeld. An ambitious FBI agent, Richie DeMaso (Bradley Cooper) coerces Irv into going undercover in an assignment to take the New Jersey Mayor, Carmine Politito (Jeremy Renner) by tempting him with a $2 million investment from an Arab Sheik that will supposedly revive Atlantic City’s casinos but they unfortunately did not consider Rosenfeld’s wacky wife, Roseanne (Jennifer Lawrence) botching the entire enterprise, allowing Politito’s Mafia pal, Victor Tellegio (Robert De Niro) to get suspicious. Sidney Prosser (Amy Adams) is the brains behind the whole operation, reinventing herself as Lady Edith in a world where everyone is trying to be someone else. It is in fact the women who dominate the film. Amy Adams is footstep perfect vying the two personas: Prosser and her British auto ego. She 4
has the authority of being in control of a situation without saying a word. Jennifer Lawrence is equally awesome and she has some great moments. A scene where she lets loose by singing Live and Let Die is a polished jewel. Though her character may appear to be stupid she wants to improve herself and is into self development and reads Wayne Dyer. Films about confidence tricksters are always entertaining as long as they are funny and likeable. Burt Lancaster was one of the best examples of this in The Rainmaker as Starbuck, who sells his rainmaking “powers” to unsuspecting, drought-ridden Western towns. David O Russell has reassembled a star cast that works beautifully together and is a director to be respected. Christian Bale and Amy Adams from The Fighter; Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro from Silver Linings Playbook. Only Jeremy Renner and Jack Huston have been added to his star casting repertoire. Another Russell trademark is the music, homage to the seventies. Danny Elman’s soundtrack includes Duke Ellington’s Jeep’s Blues, Electric Light Orchestra’s 10538 Overture and Long Black Road, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Wing’s Live and Let Die, The Bee Gees How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ Don’t Leave Me This Way, Tom Jones Delilah, Jack Jones I’ve Got Your Number, America’s A Horse With No Name, Jeff Lynne’s Stream of Stars, Chris Stills Live to Live, and Elman’s special theme for Bale’s character: Irving Montage, which starts quite cold but progressively warms with the character. Only a sour-toothed critic would fault this film – and I am not one of those.
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Q & A Laura Waddell BM: Laura, you started acting in numerous productions from the age of five, would you tell us a little about that? LW: Since I can remember, I’ve always loved performing and being part of some production or other. I was lucky enough to have a supportive family that encouraged my acting and at one point I was going to three different drama clubs a week, so I was very keen! I remember performing in everything from cheesy musicals to Shakespeare. BM: Your first big break began by appearing in the BBC TV drama series The Biz. Then you won a scholarship to attend and train at the East 15 Acting School. You were learning your craft with fellow actors, what were the major lessons that you learnt from this in helping you to perfect your career? LW: Drama school really does give you a great grounding and preparation for this career. You are completely immersed in a very intense but creative environment and by the end, you really know if you want to continue with it as your career! There’s not much room for ego because you just have to work together and you have to allow yourself 8
to be vulnerable. It really teaches you to be disciplined but collaborative and creative. It’s here that you often get the chance to play roles that are completely out of your comfort zone and casting type. I loved it but it is quite challenging and exhausting, as it should be! BM: After graduation you appeared in several plays, many of which were in London’s West End. Acting on stage is a totally different experience from acting in film. How would you describe the experience and how important do you think it is for an actor to have worked in the theatre if they want to eventually work in film? LW:I think having a background in theatre is incredibly helpful before progressing to film. Some would argue that it may make it harder, but I feel that the process of performing the same show each day for weeks or months makes you incredibly disciplined and focused and that ethos then translates to film when you work on that. I enjoyed working in the theatre in London immensely. Even though I loved filming, there’s nothing quite like the thrill of live performance, even if it’s your 25th night of the same show! Having an audience there really fuels you and you get to experience the character’s journey from start to finish each time. Working on screen though is still wonderful! Very different, but if you have the endurance and commitment from performing on stage, that can’t help but be a bonus when it comes to shooting 12-14 hour days! 9
BM: At what point did you decide that to further your career you had to leave London for Los Angeles? LW: I was enjoying working as an actor in London but as arts funding seemed to be diminishing more and more, not as many independent films were being made. There is still some of the best work being produced in the UK but there’s nothing like Hollywood when it comes to the range of film and TV projects. I had always wanted to go there but hadn’t thought it a possibility. I then met someone at a class that was just about to make the move and it got me thinking! Even though I loved working in London. I wanted to move into film and TV too and where better than LA! At worst I thought I’d get a nice bit of sunshine and some visits to the beach! BM: In 2011 you got the role of Kate’s Boss in the TV film William & Kate. A very important step for you, how did that come about? LW: That was my first TV role in the US and was a case of things falling into place at the right time! I had met the director of the movie, Mark Rosman, about six before at an event and we got chatting. We kept in touch and then when this role came up, he called me and I booked it! It just confirmed for me how important it is to build relationships, as it is in any industry. BM: Your first feature film was the leading role of Merle Eppis in Folklore, where you interview a series of mythical characters: vampire, zombie, angel, water nymph etc. Prior to this you have been kept very busy in 10
popular TV series, Torchwood, Living with Frankenstein and The Vault. And then...you get to be in one of the outstanding films of the year Saving Mr Banks, playing the part of a young mother on a plane in a scene with Emma Thompson? LW: Yes, I’ve had some wonderful roles and what a range! Shooting the very quirky, goofy lead role in Folklore was a very different to playing a brash nurse on the TV show Torchwood. I have been very lucky to have been cast in such varying projects and I think that’s all we can ask for as actors – to have a new exciting challenge each time we get given a role. My most recent part in Saving Mr Banks was definitely one of the highlights of my career! When you grow up watching someone like Emma Thompson, it is an amazing thing to then get to work on screen with her. She has this wonderful ability to make you feel completely at ease around her and shooting the scene with her was so much fun! I did have to be a mother for my role though and it was a new challenge for me to juggle a squirming child! I feel very lucky to have been part of such a fantastic film, so my move to LA was absolutely worth it! BM: How do prepare for an acting role and how much of that is interpreting the director’s vision along with your own personal experiences that you bring to the part? LW: Ah I shall never tell ha-ha! I have my own way of working and breaking down a script, but first and foremost, it is indeed so important to ensure that you 11
are supporting the director’s vision and that you are both on the same page. Using your own experiences is definitely a key in producing a truthful performance. I am not rigidly method but finding parallels or similar events in my own life really helps. BM: What are you currently working on and what other projects are in the pipeline? LW: I just worked on the new video game Batman: Arkham Origins for Warner Bros which was so much fun and it has just been released worldwide. I am also set to shoot a role in a new movie filming in Hong Kong later in the year, very exciting! BM: Finally, what advice would you give to anyone who is contemplating an acting career in film? LW: Don’t be put off! If it’s something you are really passionate about and you don’t want to do anything else, and then go for it! It is a tough pursuit at times but when you get to do something you love, that is the best reward! There is something wonderful about knowing that your work will be captured on screen forever. If you work hard, it will pay off! Also, it never hurts to be nice to people. Everyone prefers to work with people they like! BM: Laura, thank you so much for taking time out from your busy schedule to answer MbM’s questions. LW: Thank you so much for having me! 12
Laura against green screen and having fun making Batman – Arkham Origins video game for Warner Brothers.
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THE RAILWAY MAN I have suffered much but I know that you have suffered too and you mean everything to me. This is based on Eric Lomax’s autobiography of his experience as a Japanese prisoner of war. It recounts his memories, in flashback, to the torture he received at the hands of his captors; sometimes shown in brutal realistic detail. It starts with Lomax (Colin Firth) meeting Patti (Nicole Kidman) on a train and then using his encyclopaedic knowledge of train timetables to intercept her again on the platform of Edinburgh Waverly. In an earlier sequence, when we see them as a married couple, Patti discovers his agonizing nightmares as he relives his POW years when he worked on Thailand’s infamous Death Railway, which he refuses to disclose to her; forcing her to seek help and the truth from a fellow survivor, Finlay (Stellan Skarsgård). It is at this point of the film that we are taken back to his days at the camp, the younger Lomax being played very convincingly by Jeremy Irvine. These sequences are the strongest part of the film, the rest often distorting the narrative like an overheated railway line. It picks up a little when Lomax decides to go to Japan and meet face-to-face with his torturer, Nagasaki. The resulting confrontation is pivotal to the story and plays well. So what is the problem, why is the film unconvincing? The major problem is the casting of Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman which lacks total chemistry. Their scenes together are often too 14
painful to watch; Firth, far too young to have been a Japanese POW in World War 2, Kidman, with an expression that runs the gamut from A to B of her acting ability resulting in a coupling of two people who only appear to have one thing in common – boredom. Did they not read the script? One almost longs for something exciting to happen like High Grant appearing to punch Firth on the nose or Kidman to ditch Firth for Nagazaki....anything to escape the banality of it all. The yardstick for this particular war film was set by David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai, in comparison TRM is a B-minus. Lean’s film built beautifully to a nail biting climax with the destruction of the bridge. Alec Guinness was the POW who suffered at the hands of the sadistic Japanese Commander played superbly by Sessue Hayakawa. In addition William Holden and Jack Hawkins starred. Lean’s epic went on to win Best Film , Best Director, David Lean, and Best Actor for Alec Guinness. Unfortunately, The Railway Man makes you wish you had checked the timetable more carefully and either cancelled your booking or taken another train with a much more attractive destination. As an afterthought, unscathed from this rightly be proud of an actor of immense
the only one to come out is Jeremy Irving who can his vital contribution. He is promise.
Colin Firth is a strong enough actor to survive this disaster and I look forward to his next, a comedy under the direction of Woody Allen. Nicole Kidman can next be seen in Grace of Monaco. One can only hope that the film has a better reception than fellow Aussie Naomi Watts in Diana which bombed dismally at the box office. The signs are not good being that Kidman is the lesser of the two actresses.
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HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY THE FOUNDATION OF A MOVIE. A movie starts with a screenplay, it is the blueprint of a film in a collaborative medium which will go through various transformations from script to screen, each creative input from director to actors to editor changing the original screenplay. For this reason the writer is a cog in a very large wheel, which is why many great films are written by the director so that their influence is the major one on the finished work. But regardless of how many changes are made to the screenplay it is the screenplay that is sent to actors to read and consider before accepting the role in the film. The lesson to learn for would-be screenwriters is don’t read any books on how to write a screenplay. You cannot learn screenwriting from a book. You need to see as many films as you can on the particular genre that you are writing and read the screenplays of these films. DVD extras are a great source of information on writing for the screen: American Beauty has an audio commentary by writer Alan Ball and its director Sam Mendes. Another good example is Little Miss Sunshine with a commentary with Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris who wrote and directed the film. Terrence Malick writes long and detailed screenplays, disbanding them on the shoot and getting the actors instead to show what they would have said instead of 18
speaking the lines. He is more interested in the visuals than dialogue, and in To The Wonder, his star Ben Affleck says very little in the entire movie. Co-star Rachel McAdams found Malick’s way of working very liberating. Woody Allen is a good example of a writer and how a screenplay evolves. He writes and directs all of his movies but on the shoot he allows his actors to improvise. Scott Z. Burns, writer of Contagion and The Bourne Ultimatum, remarked, “A movie is made at least four times: when written, when shot, when edited, and once when marketed. Screenwriters make changes. This is called collaboration.” Let us look at an example of an opening sequence that sets the scene and introduces the leading character. It is from a feature comedy called “They’re All Nuts”. EXT.MANHATTAN. NEW YORK – MORNING. Spectacular shop window display of a fairy raising a wand above the head of Santa Claus and his reindeer, causing them seemingly to ride off above the rooftops and into the night sky. Reflected in the window is the face of of a woman, ROXY BARNES, a strawberry blonde thirty something, staring emotionless at the display while snowflakes hit the window, sliding down the glass and superimposing themselves on her face. EXT.CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK. LATER SAME MORNING. A wintry scene of Central Park. We see ROXY wrapped in a black hooded coat and wearing high boots traipsing through the snow. Her face is quite stern. Her pace quickens as 19
she nears a bench where a little old lady sits shivering and weeping but ROXY walks on by without looking at the distressed figure. Further along she is approached by a crippled beggar but ignores him, and as she continues we can see him give her the finger. A smiling child runs towards her until her mother pulls her away, but ROXY seems oblivious of the situation and just continues walking out of the park and crossing a road until she enters an apartment building. INT. ROXY’S APARTMENT. MOMENTS LATER. ROXY presses a switch on a speaker phone. JESSICA BARNES (O.S.) Hi Roxy, it’s Jess. I know you’re busy and all but we were wondering when we’re going to see you. Be kind of nice if you could get over for your nephew’s birth… Click. Beat. Click. JOHN P UPINASS Rox, XYZ’S scheduling a new series. Production meeting’s at eleven. I’m putting you up to anchor this. Be there. Here are some great examples of screenwriting if you would like to learn more of the craft. Crimes and Misdemeanors. Midnight in Paris. Annie Hall. Broadway Danny Rose. The Purple Rose of Cairo, all by Woody Allen. 20
***Woody Allen – A Documentary. This is film should be seen and studied over and over again as a perfect example of how a writer works from the initial idea to the final draft. For Woody, the most prolific filmmaker in the business today, it starts by writing his ideas for screenplays on little pieces of paper and stuffing them into a drawer and then rummaging through them until he finds the one he is ready to make next. If this does not inspire you, writing is not your game. Some Like it Hot by Billy Wilder & I. A. L. Diamond. North by Northwest by Ernest Lehman. Adaptation. Being John Malkovich by Charles Kaufman. Sweet Smell of Success by Clifford Odets. The Hurt Locker by Mark Boal Her by Spike Jonze. American Beauty by Alan Ball Little Miss Sunshine by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris.
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CLOSE UP AMY ADAMS MbM’S Cover Star Amy Adams’s career has spiralled upward to the point of not only being one of Hollywood’s top stars but also of being one of its greatest actresses. Her filmography is a star-studded walk of fame of outstanding performances. The Italian born actress unquestionably made her presence known in JUNEBUG in 2005, playing Ashley a very pregnant and loquacious wife who welcomes her brother-in-law and his wife to their somewhat quirky Southern family home and obviously producing a clash of two completely different cultures. Ashley tries to smooth over the cracks that threaten the visit by trying to be a reassuring and loveable presence. Amy’s performance won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting actress. Two years later Disney called and she was cast as Giselle in the magical and inspiring ENCHANTED. It was a role which Amy was born to play: a character that exuded a childlike innocence which is what attracted Amy to the part, bringing a fairy tale to life. From the animated world of Andalasia, princess-to-be Giselle is thrust into the live-action world of modern-day Manhattan. The film has since become a Disney classic. A wonderfully feel-good movie from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine, brought together Amy and Emily Blunt as sisters in an unlikely comedy SUNSHINE CLEANING about the dirty job of a crime cleanup business. It is both funny and warm hearted and the pairing of Amy and Emily was inspired and they have since become very close friends. It is another example that a totally independent film like this with quite a low budget wins Amy’s support every time if the screenplay is good. It was last day of the Edinburgh Film Festival that MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY was screened. It is about finding a new life and a new love, all in one day. Amy plays Delyssia Lafosse, a glamorous high-society singer and actress who employs a Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) as her social secretary to ‘sort her life out’. The experience for both of them is life transforming. THE FIGHTER was the first of two films that she made under the direction of David O Russell. It gave her the opportunity to be in a boxing film, rarely a genre for good roles for women, but the title is a double entende: referring to not only being a fighter as a boxer but also about being a fighter by working hard in life to reach 22
success, whatever that might be, so it has a wide appeal. Charlene Fleming (Amy) fights for everything she has got and is not a loser. To work alongside legendary actor Clint Eastwood came when she was cast as his strong-headed daughter in TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE, a story about a famous baseball coach who has one last chance of finding a player to save his team but denies the fact that his sight is failing. Mickey, who grew up with loving baseball but knowing that she would always be dumped with a relative when her father couldn’t handle raising her as a single parent after her mother died, decides to quit the job that she has worked so hard for, to travel with her father to help him. She matches her father every step of the way and will not take no for an answer. It is a brilliant film that was never given the credit it deserved. Amy’s versatility and ambition to try new genres is quite apparent when she got to play Lois Lane in the action packed MAN OF STEEL and as Sydney Prosser the conniving but likeable confidence trickster in David O Russell’s black comedy AMERICAN HUSTLE. Spike Jonze, the music video genius and director of two of the most innovative films of all time: BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION decided to direct his first film based on his own original screenplay HER, a futuristic love story about a loner who forms a relationship with an advanced operating system named “Samantha”, he could not have known that he made a film that is being recognised and accepted as one of the greatest films of the decade if not of all-time. Amy Adams plays Theodore Twombly’s (Joaquin Phoenix) loyal friend. It would seem that Amy Adams has reached the pinnacle of her career but I am sure that it is for her merely a stepping stone on the road to eventually winning an Oscar. She may not have long to wait with films like LULLABY a story about a man who is estranged from his family receives word that his father has chosen to take himself off life support within 48 hours. Highly anticipated is Tim Burton’s BIG EYES, Amy playing painter Margaret Keane and her remarkable success in the 1950s, and subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s. And Amy’s long ambition to play the rock icon Janis Joplin in JANIS JOPLIN: GET IT WHILE YOU CAN is at last in development. 23
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FILMFEST FOLLOWER MbM RECOMMENDS 16th January-26th January at *SUNDANCE
20,000 DAYS ON EARTH
Documentary. Writer and musician, Nick Cave, marks his 20,000 day on Earth.
GOD HELP THE GIRL
Set in Glasgow, the film is about a girl called Eve who is in hospital dealing with emotional problems and starts writing songs as a way of getting better. Stars: Emily Browning.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS Directed by Joe Swanberg. Stars: Anna Kendrick. Melanie Lynsey.
I ORIGINS Stars: Michael Pitt. Anna Kendrick. A molecular biologist and his lab partner uncover evidence that may fundamentally change society as we know it.
LEGGIES
Directed by Lynn Shelton. Stars: Chloe Grace Moretz. Keira Knightley. Sam Rockwell. A woman stuck in permanent adolescence lies to her fiancé about going on a retreat and spends her time hanging out with her friends instead.
LIFE ITSELF
Documentary. The film recounts the surprising and entertaining life of world renowned film critic and social commentator, Roger Ebert. A story that’s by turns personal, wistful, funny, painful, and transcendent. The film explores the impact and legacy of Roger Ebert’s life from his Pulitzer prize-winning film criticism and his nearly 25 year-run with Gene Siskel on their television 26
Review Show, to becoming one of the most influential cultural voices in America, and finally to Roger’s heroic and inspiring battles with cancer and the resulting physical disability.
LITTLE ACCIDENTS
Stars: Elizabeth Banks. Chloe Sevigny. Josh Lucas. In a small American coal town, the disappearance of a 14 year-old boy draws a surviving miner, the lonely wife of mine executive, and a local boy together in a web of secrets.
A MOST WANTED MAN Directed by Anton Corbijn. Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman. Rachel McAdams. Robin Wright. A Chechen Muslim immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught up in the international war on terror.
THE ONE I LOVE Stars: Mark Duplass. Elizabeth Moss. Ted Danson. Struggling with a marriage on the brink of collapse, a couple escapes for a weekend in pursuit of their better selves, only to discover an unusual dilemma that awaits them.
RUDDERLESS
Directed by William H Macy. Stars: Billy Crudup. Anton Yelchin. Selena Gomez. A grieving father in a downward spiral stumbles across a box of his recently deceased son’s demo tapes and lyrics. Shocked by the discovery of his unknown talent, he forms a band in the hope of finding catharsis.
THEY COME TOGETHER
Stars: Paul Rudd. Cobie Smulders. A small business owner is about to lose her shop to a major corporation.
WISH I WAS HERE
Directed by Zach Braff. Stars: Zach Braff. Kate Hudson. A struggling actor, father and husband, tries to find his identity. 27
BOXED SETS Harry Potter The Complete 8 Film Collection Starring Daniel Radcliffe. Emma Watson. Rupert Grint.
THE MARGARET LOCKWOOD COLLECTION With John Lodge and Carol Reed.
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EXTRAS
DVD OF THE MONTH
WHAT MAISIE KNEW FILM ****
Based on Henry James’s novel of a broken marriage as experienced by the couple’s little girl, Maisie. Screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival 2013. Starring: Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan, Onata Aprile, Alexander Skarsgård, Joanna Vanderham.
EXTRAS none.
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