In Contention

Tag: James Dean

  • INTERVIEW: ‘127 Hours’ star James Franco

    James Franco sits in one of the countless, nondescript rooms on the sixth floor of the Four Seasons hotel in Los Angeles remembering the time he first met mountain climber Aron Ralston in the same building, perhaps in a room not unlike this one.

    It wasn’t even a year ago — January, to be exact, right around the time of the Golden Globes. Director Danny Boyle had recently offered the actor the role of Ralston in “127 Hours,” a film that would depict the harrowing six days the outdoorsman spent with his hand wedged between a boulder and a canyon wall. It was an ordeal that ended with Ralston cutting off his own arm, just below the elbow, in order to survive. And the film would — naturally, given the material and the filmmaker involved — be anything but conventional.

    But Boyle was adamant that the performance not be an “outside-in approach,” as Franco puts it. It couldn’t be slavish mimicry of personality or behavior. But there was this abstract idea of confronting one’s potential demise that remained somewhat elusive for Franco, yet something he nevertheless wanted to reflect in authentic terms. Little did he know he’d find the answer during that first meeting with Ralston, Boyle, writer Simon Beaufoy, producer Christian Colson and production designer Suttirat Larlarb.

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  • INTERVIEW: Dennis Hopper

    Dennis HopperThe voice on other end of the line sounds nothing like the many wild and somewhat insane characters Dennis Hopper has portrayed throughout his career, which now spans more than 50 years. This is a man who has walked with James Dean (his mentor), John Wayne (who affectionately labeled him a “pinko”) and Francis Ford Coppola.

    As a director, Hopper was part of the movement that would bring the New American Cinema into play, closing the 1960s with his biker flick “Easy Rider,” and though he won prizes at Cannes and was hailed around the world, he has rarely directed since.

    Hopper portrayed perhaps the single most terrifying character in a film with his seething work as Frank Booth in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet.’  The same year he was nominated for an Oscar for his work as the town drunk seeking redemption with his son through basketball in “Hoosiers.”  Even Hopper was stunned that the Academy failed to nominate him for Lynch’s film instead.  He remembers roaring, “HOOSIERS?  You’re kiddin’ me, man” when being told of the nomination. “Blue Velvet” was a film the Academy obviously feared, allowing a single nomination to David Lynch for his dreamy, surrealistic direction of the classic.

    Currently Hopper is celebrating the upcoming DVD release and a low-key Oscar campaign for Best Supporting Actor in “Elegy,” a fine little film in which he portrays the poet best friend of Ben Kingsley’s introspective professor — Sir Ben as Hopper calls him.

    “I was a big fan of Isabel’s [Coixet, the film’s director] work”, he explains. “So when my agent called and said I had an offer to be in a film with Sir Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz, I jumped in. It was a very human story, the sort of film I like to see, and being a big fan of Philip Roth helped me along. The film had comedy and tragedy, and most of all characters I think we can all identify with.”

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  • 9/19 Oscarweb Round-up

    Benicio Del Toro• Peter Sciretta wraps up the Toronto Fest, live from Fantastic Fest.  It’s that time of the year… [/Film]

    • Oscar winner Diablo Cody responds to the haters: “I like my fake name.  It’s engraved on an Oscar.  Yours isn’t.” [MySpace]

    • Mark Olsen apparently reported over a week ago that Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” will not be released by Summit Entertainment until 2009 and no one knew about it. [Los Angeles Times]

    • The news kind of sucks for Sasha Stone’s latest Oscar column thesis… [Awards Daily]

    • …while it seems a questionable move to Jeffrey Wells. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Jeffrey Anderson runs down the best of Keira Knightley’s costume epics. [Cinematical]

    • Kevin Kelly talks to “Waltz with Bashir” star/director Ari Folman. [Spout Blog]

    • Lou Lumenick wonders if Heath Ledger’s legacy can equal that of James Dean beyond the inevitable Oscar nomination and Halloween get-ups (I know that’s my costume this year…the only reason I haven’t cut my hair since May). [Lumenick on Film]

    • Karl Rozemeyer talks to “Appaloosa” star Viggo Mortensen… [Premiere]

    • …as well as “Che” star Benicio Del Toro. [Premiere]

    • Alan Moore will be “spitting venom all over” Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen.” [Hero Complex]

  • TORONTO: Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn talk ‘Lovely, Still’

    Martin Landau and Ellen BurstynWhen Chris Cooper accepted his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2003, he pointed out that his co-star Meryl Streep had a great deal to do with his victory.  “We made great jazz together,” he said.

    “It’s easier when you like the person,” Martin Landau says, smiling.  “I’ve had to work with actors I could not stand, women I was not attracted to, and that is where the craft comes in.  But with Ellen, we know each other, we work the same way, we were trained in a similar manner and we both found a connection to the material. It was very easy, very enjoyable coming to work each day.”

    The chemistry between Burstyn and Landau in the Nik Fackler’s “Lovely, Still” is quite remarkable as we watch two lonely old souls looking for a connection, someone to love, to be with, to care for. The story veers off in an entirely different direction than the audience expects, however, which only adds to the stunning impact of both their performances and the picture itself.

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  • James Dean: over-appreciated icon?

    James Dean in GiantLet me state that I am aware of how much trouble I am going get myself into by writing this.

    With all the praise for Heath Ledger and his apparently electrifying performance in “The Dark Knight,” comparisons have been drawn to 50s method actor James Dean.  Great at his trade, a troubled social life, an early death, what might have been, etc.

    Ledger was a great actor, he should have won the Academy Award for his stunning performance in “Brokeback Mountain” and no doubt will be nominated for his turn as the Joker.  But Ledger’s body of work, though small, was superb and demonstrated a range that vastly surpasses that of James Dean, who was frankly similar in every role.

    The first time I saw James Dean on screen I too was stunned by performer, but for reasons you might not expect. Having heard so much about him, having read everything I could get my hands on, the film “East of Eden” was playing on the late show one night in the days before home video. I set my alarm and went to the cinema, and over two hours later I went back to bed wondering what all the fuss about.

    Later of course I watched “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant,” and still to this day I cannot understand those who believe Dean was one of the greatest American actors, so much so that he was elevated to the status of an icon.

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  • The Guardian dashes Ledger’s Oscar hopes

    Not particularly new or earth-shattering perspective, but worth a link nontheless.  From a Xan Brooks item this morning in The Guardian:

    History…is not on [Ledger’s] side. James Dean was twice nominated in the wake of his death and yet still finished up as a posthumous loser on the night. More recently, Oliver Reed (for Gladiator) and Ulrich Mühe (The Lives of Others) were both tipped in vain for at least a nomination. In fact, the only actor ever to be awarded a posthumous Oscar was Network’s Peter Finch. Felled by a heart attack during the voting period, he swept to glory on a tidal wave of grief.