Glenn Howerton talks about his role in FX’s hit show “Fargo”

Glenn Howerton can usually be seen on FX playing the slightly diabolical Dennis Reynolds on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, on which he also writes and executive produces. However this spring he’s joined the network’s newest drama, Fargo, based on the critically acclaimed Coen brothers film. Howerton plays Don Chumph a gullible personal trainer out to blackmail his client’s wealthy ex-husband with the help of Lorne Malvo (an intense Billy Bob Thornton). The multi-talented Howerton joined MediaMikes on a call to discuss Don, Fargo and was more than happy to field a few ‘Sunny’ questions as well.

What originally attracted you to the show and playing Don?

Glenn Howerton: I didn’t know a whole lot about it when I said yes to it if I’m being honest. You know, television moves at a different pace than film. I knew that the Coen Brothers were involved, I’ve been a big fan of FX dramas for a while, and obviously I’ve been a part of the family for many many years and the president of FX John Landgraf called me and you know, he knows my background is not really in comedy. A lot of my background is actually in a lot more dramatic stuff, weird. You know so he threw it out there, ‘would you ever want to be on one of our dramas?’ and I said absolutely. So it just came along and even though it’s kind of a comedic role, he felt like it was something I hadn’t really done comedically before and it was part of a drama and he explained the concept to me, who the character was, what the tone of the show was. I’m a big fan of the movie Fargo. Basically without ever even seeing the script, I said yes just because of all the people that were involved.

Would you say the character of Don is a reference to the character Brad Pitt played in the Coens’s Burn After Reading?

Howerton: I assumed the same thing you did when I read the script, that it was a pretty clear homage to that character. I don’t remember ever actually having that conversation with Noah [Hawley] but I know that he definitely wanted to distinguish it enough from that character. Which I think is something that happens naturally when you cast two actors. He and I are always going to have a different take on it. So yeah, I think the homage was clearly there but I certainly tried to stay away from anything Brad did in the movie. It was nice because I actually did rewatch a lot of Coen Brothers movies including Burn After Reading and I was like my god, Brad Pitt’s performance in that is so brilliant…I don’t even think I could match that even if I wanted to.

Your character is not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, how difficult is that to play?

Howerton: Well some of the tools are not meant to be sharp. So I’ll start with that, you know, you’ve got a lot of instruments in the tool shed…It’s kind of a difficult question to answer only because I’m one of those guys that I have to just kind of feel it. Otherwise it becomes a very intellectual exercise if I start thinking about it too much. So I think it’s more getting into a very open minded mindset where for me, I felt like this was the kind of guy who is very easily influenced. Especially by someone with such a presence as Lorne Malvo has. Obviously there is the threat of violence behind it all. But I think this guy’s not so much afraid of any kind of violence against him as he is of sort of getting caught. I don’t know, it’s sort of just the feeling of being innocent again. I mean it is a very different character than the character certainly I play on ‘Sunny’, who thinks he knows everything. I think this guy thinks he doesn’t know as much as he needs to know. But I don’t know…I think it’s just bringing a real openess to the role. More listening than demanding or saying.

How was it sharing scenes with Billy Bob Thornton as Lorne?

Howerton: Billy’s great. I’m always a little concerned any time I get into a scene with somebody who I–you know someone I have so much respect for as I do with Billy. Just because they say never meet your idol, you know, so…I don’t want to meet this guy and have him be a son of a bitch or something. But he could not be a nicer, easier person to work with. He’s extremely open to suggestion, very easy to work with. Very professional, being on set knowing all of his lines, clearly is listening. I’m a big fan people who I feel like when I’m talking to them in the scene, they’re actually listening to what I’m saying. So even if I did flub a line, he was listening to me, he’d pick up on it. So it was a lot of fun. It kind of became like a really weird sort of Abbott and Costello-y kind of relationship where I kind of end up becoming his lackey. It was a lot of fun and you know, I’m not accustomed to usually playing the, for lack of a better word, the dumb one in the comedic relationship. I’m usually the straight man so it was a lot of fun not playing the straight man.

Did you have a favorite scene while shooting Fargo?

Howerton: I’m thinking the scene that I did in the closet with [Billy Bob] was a lot of fun which in the script was actually a little bit of a longer scene with more in there. But as I’m well versed with ‘Sunny’, you only have so much time to tell the story so you gotta cut out anything that’s not absolutely essential. But I had a really good time shooting that scene.  It’s almost awkward to be literally inches away from someone’s face doing a scene. But I think that’s part of why it’s so awkward and funny to shoot.

Coming from writing and acting on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is it hard to resist coming up with input on this character?

Howerton:  It’s not hard for me to resist it because it’s not something that, this is going to sound weird, I’m not compelled often to be a writer. I would much rather as an actor get something that’s so well written that I don’t feel the desire to write it or rewrite it. And that was certainly the case with Noah’s writing. I think he strove for a certain amount of excellence in his writing where you said things pretty much word for word that would convey exactly the message that it needed to convey. So I really stuck pretty closely to the script on this one, but to Noah’s credit, there were certain sections where my character was sort of fumfering through a moment where he was absolutely open to me changing or altering things in any way that I saw fit. But to be honest, most of the time I stuck pretty closely to the script.

How would the ‘Sunny’ gang cope with the situation that Don’s found himself in?

Howerton: I think that’s a difficult question to answer certainly because…most of the guest star roles we have on Sunny are sort of mowed over by our extremely energetic, forceful characters. You know, in season seven we actually did have a similar situation of being trapped in a closet…so I think the difference between Don and Dennis, Dennis would have spent the entire time trying to get out of that closet. Whereas Don just you know, just spent the night eating whatever he had in the cabinet and peeing into his shoe. Or whatever the hell he did, I don’t know. I think he’s a much more thoughtful, trusting character, Don. Whereas Dennis is you know more cynical and untrusting.

There’s a rumored Lethal Weapon reboot happening, how would the Always Sunny Gang react to that news having made their own sequels?

Howerton: My god. I didn’t hear that. They’re talking about remaking Lethal Weapon?

Lauren Damon: Yeah, with Chris Hemsworth.

Howerton: Oh wow, wow. Okay. Well I think they you know, in true Sunny fashion, there would be some characters who would be excited about it. And I think there would be some characters who would be adamently against it. And then the characters would probably battle it out in some way. But personally, me? Sure. Why not? [laughs] I thought the Robocop remake was good, I’ll say that!

“Fargo” airs on FX Tuesday nights at 10pm

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” has recently began shooting its tenth season.

 

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Film Review “Only Lovers Left Alive”

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Anton Yelchin and Jeffrey Wright
Directed By: Jim Jarmusch
Running Time: 123 minutes
Sony Pictures Classics

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

May 2014 – “Only Lovers Left Alive” made its US debut at the New York Film Festival this past autumn, when this review was posted. It’s subsequently been on limited release since April. I can’t recommend this film highly enough and we are reposting the review in light of its nationwide expansion this month. Enjoy!

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, already pretty ethereal as they are, are well cast as vampire lovers Adam and Eve in Jim Jarmusch’s wonderful upcoming film, Only Lovers Left Alive. The film finds Adam at a low point in his long existence with wife Eve swooping in to lift him from his disappointment at the state of the modern world. It’s a clever, macabre character study that beneath its too-cool undead protagonists lies a tremendously romantic beating heart.

As Adam, Hiddleston drives away any and all comparison to that other shaggy, dark-haired immortal he has so expertly played recently. Adam is a fascinating creature who displays a wall full of iconic mortals in his den, all the while repeatedly protesting that he has no heroes. Everyone from Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde to Rodney Dangerfield and Iggy Pop are framed in a shrine to human imagination that at this point in time Adam is lamenting the “zombies” have lost. This admiration for human achievement somewhat undermines Adam’s intentions to kill himself with a wooden bullet obtained from his stoner human buddy Ian (Anton Yelchin in a Renfield-goes-Rock-n-Roll mode). Adam wants to seem the depressive loner, it’s a romantic notion that suits his look and music, but every so often there are cracks in this facade where Hiddleston lets through brilliant moments of enthusiasm. He can be completely enchanted by an unknown singer in a back alley club or excited over a new guitar despite an already huge collection. Adam gives an angry impassioned speech about the world’s dismissal of great scientists–Tesla, Darwin and the like–but that he is able to get so worked up about the fate of humanity weakens his stance that he’s lost all hope in it.

These small embers of optimism are fanned by Adam’s wife Eve and Swinton is perfect at embodying his more mischievous other half. When we meet her, Eve is living apart from Adam in Tangier trying to stir up some controversy in the mortal world by goading her friend, fellow immortal Kit Marlowe (John Hurt), into dusting off the Shakespearian authorship debate just for a bit of entertainment. She’s recalled to her husband in Detroit when she senses Adam’s melancholy over a touching video phone call they share.

Eve having to carefully engineer night flights to make such a journey possible is one of the many vampiric touches Jarmusch cleverly slips in without being explicitly expository about his brand of bloodsucker. Others include Adam’s usage of preternatural speed only when really pushed or their eyes growing paler the more in need of a drink they are. There are references to a larger crisis of contaminated human blood, causing Adam to haunt a complicit doctor (Jeffrey Wright, making a huge impact in just two scenes of bouncing dialogue off a hilariously unresponsive Hiddleston in scrubs) for a healthy supply, but that’s not the focus here.

Rather, Eve is content to share blood popsicles with Adam during a game of chess or bond over their mutual appreciation of Jack White. Such smaller moments are where Hiddleston and Swinton really shine. They have a chemistry that feels lived in without any of the negative connotations so often associated with the “old married couple.” And they really can’t get much older than these two. One gets the sense that Adam’s depression is just part of a larger cycle the two have weathered many times before with the gleeful Eve returning to turn over the hourglass that Adam says is running out of sand. In a particularly joyful scene, Eve finds Adam’s would-be means of suicide and defuses the tension by drawing him into a heartwarming dance to Denise LaSalle’s “Trapped by a Thing Called Love” instead of an argument. This tendency to physical interaction over words in many instances adds to an animalistic dynamic this little clique of vampires share. It becomes more pronounced when Eve’s party-vamp sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska) drops in on the couple. In the only concrete conflict of the film, the sister from LA throws a monkey wrench into Adam and Eve’s chilled out lifestyle, demanding they all go out and over indulge on their “good” blood. Like most bingeing, it doesn’t end well. The sisters together are able to push Adam around rather like the females in a pride of lions, an idea reinforced by Gerd Zeiss’s wild hair designs which incorporated actual animal furs.

Beyond the cool makeup design, Jarmusch creates a fascinating nighttime world for his characters to inhabit. Eve is surrounded by books in her lush Tangier location while Adam’s lair in Detroit is completely wired and filled with all the things he’s engineered himself from decades of technological equipment. Both the cities are richly shot by Yorick Le Saux who finds beauty both in the dark and in locations of complete decay. Jarmusch’s own band SQURL reinforces this dark environment with a hypnotic guitar driven soundtrack that will haunt viewers long after the credits roll. Still, despite its gothic trappings, Only Lovers Left Alive is a surprisingly funny and touching character study of what it is to sustain love and inspiration throughout a very long lifetime.

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Director Brin Hill Talks About Joss Whedon’s “In Your Eyes”

In Your Eyes held it premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Fest and fortunately for viewers became immediately available to stream thereafter. This intimate romantic comedy was directed by Brin Hill working from a script from none other than The Avengers’ Joss Whedon. Hill attended the festival in New York and sat down with me to discuss this unique, genre-blending story.

The film stars Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl David as two complete strangers, Rebecca and Dylan, who find themselves beginning to literally see out each other’s eyes. The unexplained connection—they can hear eachother as well— bonds the pair who use it to help each other navigate trying times in their respective lives. Casting the lead couple, Hill said, came about from discussions with producers and Whedon.         

“Joss really loved [Kazan] in this movie that he called ‘Spoledy Girl’ [2009’s The Exploding Girl] and he thought that she was a really inspired choice and Kai [Cole, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures ] loved her in that movie and Michael loved her in that movie and I loved her in all her movies. And you know she’s different, she’s not what you would normally think in the genre of like a love story, so that was really inspiring. And what I like about her was she’s quirky, you know, she brings a lot of range to her stuff so that was exciting.” As for Michael Stahl-David, Hill said “he just came in auditioned and I was like this is the guy…[he] was just charismatic and he just got it. He was just great in the read.”

The mysterious connection between Rebecca and Dylan manifests itself in the film as superimposed imagery in their shared vision, a decision Hill called intentionally “low-fi” adding “I wanted them to feel like an old bolex camera like when I read it I was like ‘Oh you shoot it once and then you roll the camera through and then you shoot it again’ and I wanted these two images on top of eachother. That was how I saw it…I tried to embrace it like something that was really happening to them.”

The result of the distant connection in the film is that Kazan and Stahl-David don’t actually share much screentime together. However to keep their relationship feeling natural, Hill had both the actors on set. “They both had to be there run-of-show so when we shot Zoe’s side in New Hampshire, [Michael] was there…They didn’t want to look at each other necessarily but he would be there. I mean like literally. Like I would have him under the desk. And so the idea was to build that chemistry and build that emotion between them and I think it worked.”

Although there’s a sci-fi conceit at the center of the film, Hill and Whedon didn’t trouble themselves too much with the exposition as to why or how the Rebecca-Dylan connection is established.  “They almost manifested it for themselves when they needed it” Hill said of the conclusion of the story. “I said to Joss, you know, to me what’s most important is that these people need this connection…they need this connection in this moment in their lives and that’s why it’s happening. And it doesn’t need explanation beyond that. It’s just like these people, when they need it, it shows up in their life and they need to find each other. And if they can find each other, they can break free. And it goes under that whole thing of sort of what Joss is dealing with in this movie —and all his movies sort of—is loner heroes that have to figure out a way to band together to overcome adversity. And eventually hopefully find their fate or their destiny…You can’t go it alone.” When asked if Hill would ever seek this particular brand of connection with another person given the choice, he wasn’t sure “I never asked that. You know, it’s a mixed bag I bet.”

Speaking of Whedon’s other work, while filming Avengers he went and made the lovely lower budget Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing. I asked Hill if doing that and then scripting In Your Eyes was for Whedon to avoid being pidgeonholed as the big sci-fi director.

“I think so.  I think there’s a little bit of, I mean the notion with [Bellwether] I think, to some degree, was just trying to do stuff differently and kind of trying to put stuff out there that was just different. And in a weird way experimental. I mean I know it’s not an ‘Experimental Film’ but it’s like we’re trying an experiment…Even in how they’re distributing it.”

Of the distribution, which was announced by Whedon during Tribeca, Hill was glad, saying  “It’s exciting to me. I like the idea of trying to get it out there to as many people as possible. I mean I’ve made stuff that’s been seen by a lot of people and I’ve made stuff that nobody’s seen yet and stuff that got released widely that not that many people saw. So for me, like casting the widest net with indie film is really exciting. We all independently have had different experiences with different sort of release strategies. Obviously this is sort of an extension of what they did with Dr. Horrible and you know, Much Ado had its own version. I think it services the film really well because I feel like it’s a fun sort of infectious movie. And I feel like people being able to consume it however they want to consume it is really kind of interesting to me.”

In Your Eyes, as noted above, is now available to stream online.

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“Intramural” Takes the Field at Tribeca Film Festival

I think you may have been hard pressed this past week at the Tribeca Film Fest to find a more entertaining red carpet than that of Andrew Disney’s sports comedy, Intramural. Packed with comedic talent, the film enjoyably marries the comedic sensibilities of 2001’s Wet Hot American Summer with the game plans of sports movies almost too numerous to list. Much of the cast and creators gathered on the carpet to discuss the inspiration behind the film and their characters.

Lauren Damon: Can you talk about movies that inspired Intramural?

Director, Andrew Disney: I think comedy-wise, Wet Hot American Summer, Hot Rod–which I think is so underrated—a bit of Happy Gilmore and Teen Wolf, I watched a lot of Teen Wolf–

LD: And from that you did manage to incorporate a little supernatural into your players–

Disney: Right! Right, which I love in Teen Wolf, they just accept it in that world.

Nick Kocher plays Grant, former Panthers team player, back on the field to coach the team to victory after an accident paralyzed him from the balls down.

LD: Your character goes through a dramatic transformation into the coach, did you draw the DNA from other classic sports movie coaches to create him?

Nick Kocher: Did I ‘draw the DNA’? [laughs] I love that! Yeah, I mean the character’s like somewhat similar to the Rip Torn character in Dodgeball in that he’s in a wheelchair but then my character’s also like 22 in the movie so like the fact that he becomes this–I think it’s more I drew inspiration from a guy who would draw inspiration from these coaches. He just watches these movies all day long and you know wants to be this person so literally becomes this character given the opportunity.

LD: You think these movies were most of his childhood?

Kocher: I think Grant hasn’t really had that much attention paid to him and then he gets a lot of attention paid to him when he makes this game winning  catch and realizes this is all he wants to do with his life…is just live out these weird sports fantasies and like get attention that way. That was sort of–I love that you’re asking me these in depth questions about this character!

LD: I enjoyed the movie!

Kocher: No, that’s amazing!

LD: Finally, is Coach Grant aware that there are two sports commentators [SNL’s Jay Pharoah and DC Pierson, recently of the Apple guy in The Winter Soldier] talking about his game?

Kocher: [laughs] No! I don’t think they can hear it. I think they’re aware there’s two like stoner guys who come to each game and they’re like ‘oh what’re those guys talking about? I dunno!’ but the stakes are just as high for all of them.

 

Beck Bennett, who is currently enjoying his first season on “Saturday Night Live”, plays the evil Dick Downs, captain of the opposing team.

LD: What famous film rivals inspired Dick?

Bennett: A lot of things that Ben Stiller does, he was always an influence. Like his character in Heavyweights and also in Dodgeball. Will Ferrell in Zoolander, that’s not a sports movie, but those types of bad guys. Also Bradley Whitford in…

LD: Happy Gilmore?

Bennett: Happy Gilmore.

LD: Oh, not Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison–uh oh, Adam Sandler mix up. I think we’ve committed an SNL crime!

Bennett: You lead me astray! I didn’t say it! You said it!

LD: I’m calling Lorne Michaels!

Bennett: [laughs] So yeah, those are some of the great comedy bad guys.

 

Backing up Dick Downs is the lackey whose actually a nice guy, Ace, played by Kirk C. Johnson.

LD: Do you have any favorite sports movie rivals?

Johnson: Yeah, for sure. Like Necessary Roughness, have you ever seen that? Yeah, they spit in each other’s mouths before to get each other pumped up. They hit each other on the shoulders and spit at eachother, that. And then like the actual real ones, like Remember the Titans, Rocky and Little Giants. Little Giants is very influential for me.
Kate McKinnon, also of SNL, plays the Vicky who Mckinnon described as “just a girlfriend who just really loves her man but just doesn’t know how to do it quite right.” I asked if she felt out of the sports action of the movie:

McKinnon: I didn’t feel left out not getting to do the sports scenes because I am a horrible athlete and it was Texas in July and I would have died. So no, I didn’t feel left out. I feel that I was spared from a terrible thing.

Creating a sports movie, I asked the cast whether there were any actual football going on off screen. Gabriel Luna, who plays Vinnie, first gave us the details of on-set games:

Luna: No, we played a lot of Cornhole which is a beanbag you throw in a platform. We did a lot of that. A lot of competitive drinking. A game that Nick and Brian [McElhaney] invented called Running Flipcup Charades. Which you may have seen on the Much Ado About Nothing extra features. They played it on a bus, which blows my mind, I don’t know if that’s even possible but apparently they did.

Disney: Cornhole? Yeah I played a lot of cornhole. I wasn’t as much in the competitions, I usually try–when I make a film, I try to abstain from alcohol which is hard but I think it’s good for a director. Like Cool Runnings how like that guy is always in his room studying while…well anyway! I don’t why I’m talking about Cool Runnings, I could talk about cool runnings forever!

Nick Kocher, who detailed the entire rules for Running Flipcup charades for me added:

Kocher: There’s lots of injuries. Brian broke his toe…Also I can say playing Running Flipcup Charades, people were playing much more intensely than they did the actual film sports film. People gave much more of their all to the drinking games.

Finally, seeing as so many of the creators mentioned [Walt] Disney sports movies as influencing them (McKinnon also cited The Mighty Ducks as a favorite), I couldn’t help but wonder if they could see Andrew Disney’s name bringing in the Miracle or Invincible-watching crowd:

Disney: I love Disney sports films! I mean I love like Cool Runnings and grew up watching every Disney sports film…

Johnson: [laughs] I hope! I hope that this says “DISNEY’S INTRAMURAL” that’d be great, yeah. We should make like a mock logo that looks exactly like it, it’d be perfect.

Kocher: GOD WILLING we get confused with the Disney sports film because then it’ll make a lot of money!

You can check out our 4-star review of Intramural, here, and view the trailer below:

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Leigh Janiak and Harry Treadaway talk about their film “Honeymoon” at Tribeca Film Festival

Director Leigh Janiak debuted her first feature, the horror film Honeymoon, this week at the Tribeca Film Fest. The film stars Rose Leslie (“Game of Thrones”) and Harry Treadaway (Showtime’s upcoming “Penny Dreadful”) as happy young couple, Bea and Paul. Their blissful honeymoon is interrupted when Bea is found disoriented in the woods one night, resulting in a terrifying personality change.

MediaMikes: Can you describe the idea of using something as happy as a honeymoon as your starting point?
Leigh Janiak: That’s where we came from when we started it. It was we’re going to take something really happy and seemingly beautiful and see what we need to do to it to really destroy it and watch it decay. And it was just like idea of how something so personal can become foreign and fall apart.

MediaMikes: Can you talk about your cast, because it’s mostly just the two of them throughout?
Janiak: They’re both lovely. It was the first time they’d both really done American accents to the full extent but I think that they did an amazing job, I’m completely blown away and you believe them. And you believe their love. They both have an incredible energy, they’re obviously extremely talented, but you never know chemistry-wise. We didn’t do a chemistry read before and it was kind of just like feeling their different vibes separately and it worked, thank god.

MediaMikes: Rose Leslie specifically has to undergo such a huge change in the middle of the film, did you discuss with her specifics about how her character is, I’ll say, pre- and post-op?
Janiak: We spent a lot of times with Rose just generally tracing her transformation and just understanding where she was hiding from Paul, when her character was trying to tell the truth but couldn’t do it. But it was really a scene by scene basis. And we did the same thing with Harry too by the way because Paul’s character transforms as well, just not quite so physically.

MediaMikes: Horror films tend to go either the way of the supernatural or the way of aliens, which one do you find scarier?
Harry Treadaway: I don’t know, like it depends! It’s also about almost what you don’t see, I think that’s what makes me scared. It’s sort of the emotions and stuff behind it that would actually get me scared. I think. Not aliens though, the other one!

MediaMikes: Ghosts?
Treadaway: Yeah!

MediaMikes: Coming up, you’ve got Penny Dreadful where you’re playing Dr. Frankenstein, what is the show bringing to this character?
Treadaway: That’s not for me to say…all that I’ll say is that it was, I mean, John Logan is you know a pretty incredible writer…Sam Mendes producing and then Juan Bayona who directed the first two is really amazing and we’ve got a cool exciting cast. And I’m just doing my little bit, really.

Here MediaMikes got into a little spoiler territory with both Leigh and Harry, so if you’d like to remain unspoiled, you can check out the trailer below, and keep an eye out for Honeymoon, which has recently been acquired by Magnet Pictures. For those of you who’d like some more gorey details head past the video. 

Spoilers ahead…In the film’s climatic scene with now-transformed Bea, the long suffering Paul has to essentially birth a slimy alien entity from Bea. I asked both Janiak and Treadaway to talk about creating and performing this standout horror moment.

Treadaway: That was another night. Just another night…That was the fourth scene up that night and we were like ‘right, how are we going to do this?’ and we tried to do it the best we could. But it was uh, certainly one of the most unusual scenes I’ve probably done.
Janiak: My special effects makeup artist was this guy named Christopher Nelson and he’s been working in this business forever. He’s also incidentally the groom in Kill Bill Volume 2, super talented, he works on American Horror Story. I had put together a really extensive look book and it’s funny I actually referenced like a shower cord but I wanted biological material. And we looked at things like The Fly or Alien. We wanted that really tactile physical effect. And he created this thing and it was perfect and really disgusting and awesome. That scene took two nights to shoot so it was a very intense time.

MediaMikes: Why did you opt for the alien approach rather than supernatural for your feature?
Janiak: It was really just about making an intimate body snatcher movie. So I think that a lot of the horror is actually grounded body-horror and then there was this idea of, we wanted to give answers, the main thing for me is about this relationship falling apart but beyond that we wanted the answers of what’s actually driving these transformations. And that’s why it was the extraterrestrial thing.

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Jon Favreau talks about “Chef” at Tribeca Film Festival

Chef, the new film from Jon Favreau held its premiere on Tuesday in New York. The hugely successful director of “Iron Man” and “Elf” hasn’t directed an independent film since 2001’s “Made” and was excited to debut the comedy, which he also wrote and stars in, at the Tribeca Film Festival.

In the film, Favreau plays Carl Casper, a chef whose embarrassing confrontation with a food critic goes viral on the web causing him to lose his job at a successful restaurant and start from scratch with a food truck and a road trip with his son. Favreau spoke on the red carpet about the inspiration for this story: 

Favreau: “When you write something like this, you’re not really sure where it comes from. I wanted to write something about a chef and something about being a dad and this is the film that came out. And the fact that I’m at the point in my career where if I have an idea like this, I could get it made and have such great friends who would come together and be part of the cast so I found myself very fortunate.”

Luckily for audiences, Favreau’s friends include Robert Downey Jr who plays Marvin. It’s a small but pivotal role as Marvin provides Carl with his new food truck.

How was it working with Robert Downey Jr. without having him playing Iron Man?
Favreau: “I love working with Robert and it was great for him to be on my movie. Because on the Iron Man movies, I feel like I was really there to help support him and make the character look good and make the story make sense and you know, be there in a supportive role. Here, he came on board my movie to do whatever he could to elevate the film.”

As the story concerns a man frustrated working for a successful business while being artistically unfulfilled, I couldn’t help but wonder if coming off of studio films, the story was at all autobiographical, but Favreau maintains this isn’t the case:

Favreau: “No, I’ve been very lucky, I work on big movies and small movies and I really am very proud of all of them. As a matter of fact, I’m going to do “The Jungle Book” [for Disney] after this which is much bigger than “Chef” so unlike the character in the movie, I really like mixing it up a bit. I think the character I play is a little more confused with what drives him. But I really did have a good time doing a small movie like Chef which is similar to how he feels in the film.”

Favreau was joined on the carpet by his onscreen son, the talented, 10-year-old Emjay Anthony, who had nothing but good things to say about his veteran cast:

Anthony: “Sofia Vergara is just drop dead gorgeous, and [John Leguizamo’s] kind of a ladies’ man and so am I, so there was a little contest there. And then Jon Favreau is just such a great actor.”

As for any upcoming projects for the young Anthony, he told us not right now, but “I’m open for business if anybody wants me!”

“Chef” opens in the US on May 9th.

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Tribeca Film Festival Review “Intramural”

Starring: Jake Lacy, Nikki Reed, Kate Mckinnon, Beck Bennett, Nick Kocher, Brian McElhaney, Jay Pharoah and DC Pierson
Directed By: Andrew Disney
MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Running Time: 98 minutes

Our Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

As in actual intramural leagues, there is basically nothing at stake in the film Intramural, Andrew Disney’s hilarious send up of the Inspirational Sports Movie. Not that this stops any of the players from being balls to the wall committed to the game. Complete with underdogs and training montage, Intramural is the sports movie full of characters who have watched their Mighty Ducks and their Karate Kids an unhealthy amount of times.

Caleb (Lacy) has turned his back on his flag football team after rival team the Titans paralyzed best friend and teammate, Grant (Nick Kocher) “from the balls down” as he made a game-winning play. Four years later, facing the LSATS and an accidental engagement to his crazed girlfriend (McKinnon), Caleb is drawn back to the game and the Titans are waiting to avenge their defeat.

Lacy is an amiable everyman lead but it’s when he reassembles the rest of the team that the movie really shines. As in every sports movie, the Panthers require an inspirational coach to whip them into shape. Fortunately, Kocher’s Grant returns to the fold now with a wheelchair and crotchety old man voice. He might be the same age as the players, but he’s got the soul of Rocky’s Paulie and a psychotic dedication to the sports movie formula. Kocher, of internet duo BriTANick, (partner Brian McElhaney here takes the role of illusionist player, Chance) plays Grant with such fevered conviction that you don’t doubt for one second that he’s seen every single installment of Air Bud. For better or worse.

Matching Kocher’s energy on the evil Titans side is Beck Bennett’s team captain, Dick Downs, a screaming man child to whom the game means everything. It’s as though he’s aware of his role in the sports movie universe but wholly oblivious to the fate of his character type.

Even with the predictable formula in place, Disney manages to find new laughs in how he pulls off the traditional sports movie tropes including a hugely crowd pleasing ‘magic’ play. Gifted with a cast of comedians who, like the Panthers, are giving their all. It’s a lot of yelling, a lot of dick jokes and a lot of fun.

Intramural debuted at New York’s Tribeca Film Fest and has remaining public screenings through April 26th. For more information check out their TFF Film Guide page.

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Julie Taymor Talks “Titus” at New York’s First Time Fest


April 7 – Tonight the First Time Fest will be honor director Julie Taymor with the John Huston Award for Achievement in Cinema. This will be her first film award after directing four features: The Tempest, Across the Universe, Frida and first film, Titus.

Made in 1999, Titus is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s violent revenge tragedy, Titus Andronicus. It stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as the titular Roman general whose murder of the sons of an enemy Queen (Jessica Lange as Tamora) leads to the destruction of his entire family. Taymor joined festival goers this week, along with composer Elliot Goldenthal for a screening and discussion of the film. It screened as a part of the fest’s First Exposure series highlighting successful director’s first features.

Even though Taymor had already produced the play “very simply and inexpensively” in a church in 1994, the film version did not come about until after her wildly successful production of The Lion King on Broadway.

“I came off The Lion King and what do you do next?” she told the audience, “I had to go to the opposite end of the spectrum–I mean I know that’s considered Hamlet–but really I think that I just didn’t want to be put into a box of any sort. And also I really wanted to work with the greatest writer in the English language…and I had loved the play when we did it.”

Taymor maintained it was her favorite Shakespeare play despite the popular opinion that it’s not one of Shakespeare’s best works saying it presented “a young man’s anger…before he got refined and self-reflective” and later adding “no contemporary movie compares to the bravado of that play. That you think Titus is going to be the good guy and then he kills his daughter! And then he kills his sons! And then Tamora and she says ‘cruel, irreligious piety’, her sons are taken away–you should understand everything that she does. And then look what she does.”

Along with her passionate discussion of the play itself Taymor offered additional trivia about the film itself including:

  • Al Pacino was in consideration for the lead role before Anthony Hopkins signed on.
  • Taymor initially planned to shoot the film in Las Vegas rather than Rome but after visiting Rome on the advice of production designer Dante Ferretti, changed her mind.
  • Many of the cast members including Jessica Lange, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Laura Fraser had never performed Shakespeare before the film.
  • Anthony Hopkins insisted a scene in which he has one of his hands chopped off be done in one take because, as Taymor recalled him telling her “ I know myself and what I’m gonna do, if i do it again, I will have a heart attack.”

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Filed Under: Film Headlines, Interviews, Misc Tagged With: fest, julie, talks, taymor, time, titus, ...

Film Review “Dom Hemingway”

Starring: Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demian Bichir, Emilia Clarke
Directed By: Richard Shepard
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 93 minutes

Our Score: 2 out of 5 Stars

Jude Law struts and blusters around the screen as a Cockney safecracker who’s just been released after twelve years in prison in Richard Shepard’s Dom Hemingway. The title character makes for a lot of fun and a surprising performance from Law however it’s undercut by an episodic script that doesn’t really know what to do with all its characters, least of all Dom.

Dom’s angry that he’s spent so much time in jail but his objections are foggy from the get go. Immediately he beats the bloody pulp out of his dead wife’s second husband, but then he’s remorseful over being estranged from his daughter (Emilia Clarke), but then that thread is dropped so he might go off and attain reparations for his prison time spent protecting crime boss, Mr. Fontaine (Demian Bichir, who is no more threatening than Dos Equis’s Most Interesting Man in the World character). But first Dom must go on a three day binge of coke and hookers.

Like most things in Dom’s life, his meeting with Mr. Fontaine goes awfully and is spent alternately yelling at the crime boss for money while lusting after his girlfriend and then apologizing for the yelling and the lusting at the behest of Dom’s partner in crime, Dickie (a wonderful Richard E Grant whose judgmental looks deserved more screen time.) This meeting features some of the film’s highlights including Grant chasing a nude Law through an orchard and a spectacularly over the top car crash scene that the remainder of the film can’t live up to.

For some reason the car crash is the near-death experience that rewires Dom into wanting to make amends with his daughter. It’s here where the movie is most problematic as it attempts to balance the deadbeat father-daughter dynamic with the larger than life criminal who’s more compelling when behaving badly. Additionally, it’s hard to believe that this character hasn’t had many near-death experiences in his mess of a life so what made this one so different? The film’s never quite clear on this and an outrageous sequence where Dom attempts to regain his safecracking infamy doesn’t help sell the angle that Dom would ever make good on going straight for his family’s sake. Shepard appears to think that the mere fact that Dom has a dead wife and an estranged daughter is reason enough for the audience’s sympathy without doing anything to actually earn it.

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Jim Jarmusch Hosts “Only Lovers Left Alive” Concert in NYC

In speaking about Only Lovers Left Alive– which seems to occur often since posting my NYFF review of the film. I usually compliment the distinctive world that director Jim Jarmusch created for his vampires Adam and Eve. This audience sentiment may have reached the director’s ears because on Tuesday night in New York, Jarmusch hosted a screening along with an immersive after party and concert to celebrate the movie’s limited US release on April 11th.

Having already staged similar events in London and Paris, the film took over the entirety of NYC’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema. The theater’s hallways were darkened and lit only through projections of dried blood. Audience members were encouraged to wear sunglasses and gloves in keeping with Adam and Eve’s costuming which made for a striking movie line on the not-so-sunny New York afternoon.

After enjoying the screening of the film, the audience moved a short walk away to Santos Party House where guests were welcomed by staff members in Adam’s “Dr. Faust” scrubs offering a spicy taste of blood at the door. The lower level featured a dj who played a mix honoring the film’s Detroit roots. Exciting for film fans in other areas of the floor, you could visit recreations of Adam and Eve’s rooms.

Heading upstairs was the concert of artists from the film’s soundtrack. Film composer Jozef Van Wissem took the stage first on the lute, eventually joined by the beautiful vocals of Zola Jesus.

The highlight for me was second act, Yasmine Hamdam. In the film, the Lebanese artist entrances Tom Hiddleston’s Adam in a small club in Tangiers and she had a similar effect on this crowd with her powerhouse singing.

Next came what can only be described as the intergalactic rock of White Hills which got the most excited response from the audience. Finally Jarmusch with his band SQÜRL took the stage and it was thrilling to hear, among other tracks, the film’s signature theme “The Taste of Blood” performed live just hours after the film’s credits had rolled.

…………

Should this concert make its way to more US cities, definitely check it out. In the meantime, Only Lovers Left Alive opens in New York and LA on April 11th in the meantime you can check out the film’s newest trailer below:

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Blu-ray Review “Thor: The Dark World”

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgaard, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Rene Russo
Directed By: Alan Taylor
Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 112 minutes
Release Date: February 25th 2014

Film: 4 out of 5 Stars
Extras: 5 out of 5 Stars

It’s no secret here at Media Mikes that Thor’s is my personal favorite storyline in Marvel’s movie lineup. The first film in 2011 by Kenneth Brannagh managed to brilliantly balance the Asgardian-out-of-water comedic elements with the weightier family politics at play. It boasted a great cast of established talent including Natalie Portman, Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins while effectively launching two more stars in Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston. Their on screen fraternal conflict as Thor and Loki respectively was strong enough to jump front and center in 2012’s The Avengers. The Dark World as a follow up to that megahit is slightly less successful in accentuating the appeals of the Mightiest Avenger and often struggles in balancing its tone. Still, with its strong cast of characters intact and imaginative otherworldly battles, the sequel remains a worthy entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Like the 2011 film, The Dark World begins in a prologue detailing an ancient battle between the Asgardians and the film’s baddies, the Dark Elves. Lead by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), the Dark Elves lost a powerful evil force known as the Aether to Thor’s grandfather who hid this mysterious red goo out of their reach. Ancient feud established, we move forward to Loki, who actually always manages to speak before Thor in his own trilogy, how’s that for a silver tongue? Last seen muzzled by the Avengers in Central Park, Loki is now on trial before Odin. By his mother’s (Russo as Frigga) mercy, Loki is granted life in the dungeons as punishment for the mess he made in New York. His adoptive brother Thor remains next in line for Odin’s throne. Finally we get to Thor, who has just restored peace to the nine realms yet is distracted by his lingering feelings for astrophysicist-turned-love-interest Jane Foster (Portman). He didn’t even think to call on his last visit to Earth. The nerve. For her part, Foster is still invested in intergallactic goings-ons from her new base in London. Her devices lead her to an unfortunate possession by the Aether, necesitating a field trip to Asgard with Thor to both exorcise her and prevent the Dark Elves from regaining their power. Long story short (too late!) there’s a lot going on in the universe.

With so much going on, you might expect a longer film but The Dark World is shortest in runtime in the MCU and suffers a bit for it. Reviewing the blu-ray I could feel myself suddenly resenting having had to endure the excesses of say, The Desolation of Smaug while being so acutely aware of cut scenes here. The fact is in its rush to get to the action and the big battles, The Dark World misses out on the strengths unique to the Thor franchise. Specifically the family dynamics. Thor and Loki at this point have so much history and when they’re forced to team up against the larger elf threat, it’s no surprise that the strongest scenes in the film are between the two brothers. Considering we last saw them pummeling the living daylights out of one another in The Avengers, it is a great relief to see both actors really using their on screen chemistry and in the case of Hiddleston, Loki’s scene-stealing sarcasm, rather than they’re weapons. Their grief over a loss in their familly is palpable but then they’re also capable of fighting like children over who gets to drive the spaceship in one riot of a flight sequence. Hemsworth too has great comedic timing that often is overshadowed by his physical presence when it shouldn’t be. The scenes featuring both brothers have emminently more life to them than any between the heroes and this film’s villains.

Likewise, when Jane Foster is able to get her science on instead of being saddled with the Aether, we’re reminded what made her passionate character so likeable the first time. Her continued friendship with Kat Dennings’ outspoken intern Darcy is even more fun this time around with Dennings giving a pretty realistic response to seeing a god teleport through space. At least, I too would be swearing.

A major upside to this galaxy spanning story is how much the scale of Thor’s world increased since his solo outing. Asgard itself is given an entirely new depth and has been equipped with some magnificent viking-inspired flying machines. There’s also the welcome return of Thor’s fighting companions, the Warriors Three and Sif (Jaimie Alexander’s shield maiden who gets the award for most bad ass entrance in the film). The climatic battle which whips all the players around every corner of the universe–cleverly keeping Earthbound Act-of-Marvel-Movie damage to a minimum this time– provides fun glimpses into realms we’ve both seen previously (hey, Jotunheim!) and might explore in the future. As Thor 3 was recently confirmed, here’s hoping next time the creators do take this opportunity to expand their horizons and realize when it comes to the Asgardians more is more.

EXTRAS: Poor Rene Russo–as with the first film, the majority of her lovely performance as mother to the two warring Princes is relegated here to the deleted scenes. There are approximately eight minutes of them which were mainly cut, we’re informed in commentary, to make the film go faster. Unneccessarily I think, but I’m nevertheless grateful they see the light of day here. And with the amount of additional footage that was splashed all over the film’s marketing campaign in the fall of last year that’s still M.I.A on this set, I have no doubt that’s there’s likely still more in the Marvel vault waiting for its turn in the Marvel Phase Two box set.
Seriously, where’s Loki rocking this look from?

I digress.

As with all the recent Marvel releases, the disk is in fact packed with bonuses. Beyond the deleted scenes, there’s a fun gag reel, commentary with Kevin Feige, Alan Taylor and Tom Hiddleston sharing easter eggs that I even missed on theatrical viewings. Hiddleston also gets a moment to comment on his time spent in Captain America’s suit for a shapeshifting sequence (“it fit like a glove!”) and if you have need to see him looking like Thor, you can also find that screen test on one of the Blu-ray’s featurettes.

Crucially there’s the most substantial Marvel “one-shot” short film to date with “All Hail the King.” We get to catch us up with Ben Kingsley’s Iron Man 3 character in a funny way but also in a way that has much larger implications to the Iron Man story. Also it has a hilarious cameo from a character I had genuinely not expected to see again.

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Filed Under: DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews Tagged With: bluray, dark, review, thor, world

Film Review “Grand Piano”

Starring: Elijah Wood, John Cusack, Kerry Bishé, Alex Winter
Directed By: Eugenio Mira
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 90 minutes

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Elijah Wood is Tom Selznick, a pianist who gets to rare chance to participate in the musical score to his own hostage situation in Eugenio Mira’s Grand Piano. Mira takes a fairly silly setup–think Speed or Phonebooth on a night at the theatre– and turns in a fun, stylish thriller that would not be out of place in The Twilight Zone.

Selznick is a piano prodigy returning to the stage for a concert honoring his mentor after a crippling public failure sent him into hiding five years before. He’s understandably nervous and it seems in a sea of people expecting him to choke again, his only support is his wife watching from the boxes. Everything is going smoothly in preparation for the concert, much to the chagrin of the anxious Selznick. He wouldn’t mind if, for example, his mentor’s flawless custom piano hadn’t been successfully shipped to the venue that evening. But no, it’s all fine until he flips open his sheet music to find scrawled in red ink “PLAY ONE WRONG NOTE AND YOU DIE” (Here is where I half expected Rod Serling to come in smoking for a recap, alas…) Understandably, Selznick views this as a prank until the sniper gets into radio contact and provides some proof. Wood, with his wide expressive eyes and array of nervous ticks, makes for a compelling hostage drawing us in as he grasps the gravity of the situation and then little by little steeling himself as attempts to regain the upper hand and keep everyone safe.

Meanwhile John Cusack is appropriately villainous as the menacing voice on the other end of the phone. He gruffly hints at the bitterness fueling this particular heist but the film wisely avoids backstory in focusing squarely on Selznick’s predicament. Also lending a hand on the side of the baddies is a shady theatre security guard played by Alex Winter who provides the muscle to the distant sniper. He’s great as a twitchy henchman who’s not quite as invested in the concert as Cusack’s caller is.

Taking place almost entirely in the concert hall, Mira composes some gorgeous shots often in the deeps red of the theatre upholstery to pile on the tension. Occasionally the cinematography, and the film itself really, drifts into campy territory but it seems fitting within the structure of this over-the-top cat and mouse setup. After an opening credits sequence that gives a horror house ride-like tour through the inner workings of the eponymous piano, you really don’t expect anything less.

Grand Piano opens theatrically on March 7th

 

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Film Review “Brightest Star”

Starring: Chris Lowell, Rose McIver, Jessica Szohr, Clark Gregg, Allison Janney
Directed By: Maggie Kiley
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 80 minutes

Our Score: 1.5 out of 5 Stars

If you already know that the universe is not going to deliver everything to you personally, then you are light years ahead of the main character of Maggie Kiley’s “Brightest Star”. We meet him, simply called “The Boy” (Chris Lowell), in his self-described “biggest, deepest black hole” Which turns out to be just after being dumped by his college girlfriend. It seems a little melodramatic and the flashbacks to the actual relationship in question don’t offer much to support this reaction.

The Boy fell for this ex, Charlotte (Rose McIver), at first sight in an Astronomy class. He gazes longingly at her until he manages to score an invite to a party she’s holding for a proper introduction. They bond over Very Important Things like mac n’cheese and proper game watching snacks but eventually drift apart as Charlotte progresses in her career while the Boy stalls in his search for purpose. He falls back on dating convenient friend Lita (Jessica Szohr) whose father runs the impressive company where the Boy wishes to work to win back Charlotte. In a vaguely creepy turn of events he seeks out Charlotte’s division specifically to work on a project with him despite her protesting his presence in her life. His Charlotte obsession combined with the neglect of backup girl Lita brings the already bland Boy into very unappealing and overly-entitled territory no matter how he may wax poetic about the universe. Which as it turns out is with about as much depth as one might expect from one semester of mandatory liberal arts credit astronomy.

Along the way, there are many conversations between the Boy and his peers about the meaning of it all and seemingly an endless number of dead-end jobs he plows through–there are a baffling amount of positions available for the untrained soul-searching young guy in this film’s economy–which makes the film seem as rudderless as its protagonist. The charismatic Allison Janney turns up late in the game as an actual astronomer to seemingly set the boy on the right course but it’s remains unclear as to why this Boy deserves such salvation.

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Bobby Moynihan and Method Man talk about FX’s new comedy “Chozen”

On Monday January 13th, FX will debut its animated comedy, Chozen from the creators of Archer and Eastbound and Down. Chozen stars Bobby Moynihan as the eponymous openly gay rapper who’s fresh out of a ten year prison sentence and looking to make it big on the music scene while getting revenge on those who put him in the slammer. I got to catch up with stars Moynihan and Method Man along with creator Grant Dekernion and executive producer Tom Brady at this year’s New York Comic Con.

Bobby Moynihan (this writer’s favorite Saturday Night Live cast member) was eager to join the cast of the show,  “I got the thing that said ‘do you want to put yourself on tape for this?’ where I had the drawing of all the characters and I saw—I was a big Archer fan—so I saw that and it was just like ‘I want to do this.’…I called my agents every single day. Like 9 o’clock in the morning, ‘hey found anything out about Chozen?’” This isn’t to say Moynihan identifies with the brash character, “he just says and does whatever he wants…he walks in the room, his sister’s having sex with somebody and he’s just like, [dropping into Chozen’s voice] ‘Ooh, you havin’ sex? Good for you!’ He’s just pumped about things. I feel like I would be like ‘Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I apologize!’ And then never talk to my sister again…Just everything he’s thinking is just out there.” The comedian did add a personal touch to how he sees Chozen spending his time in jail though. “In my mind he just spent a lot of time aggressively going after taking what he wanted and just watching Lost…I keep saying it so hopefully it will come out. I’m a weird Lost nerd…I want to do a whole episode where it’s just him in jail watching Lost.” Would Chozen then have enjoyed that drama’s finale? “YES. YES” Moynihan says emphatically of his cartoon alter ego before adding, “It was perfect, I truly loved it.”

Moynihan is also a talented improvisational comedian, notably appearing recently on IFC’s Comedy Bang! Bang! as murderous orphan Fourvel (it’s one less than Fievel). “I didn’t really have much other than the name [and] that one joke” Moynihan says, “Just being able to improvise with Scott [Aukerman] and Paul F. Tompkins was a blast.” Fortunately we’ll get to hear Moynihan improvise in Chozen as well—“I feel very very lucky. It’s a lot of fun improvising and a lot of ‘oh my god, that was crazy, don’t use that…I don’t want the people to hear the fact that I said those things!”

Method Man plays Phantasm, the villainous ex-band mate of Chozen who was responsible in setting up the drug bust that puts Chozen behind bars. The rapper maintains that the sleazy voice he lends to Phantasm “comes from a family member named Daddio…you know, he smokes these backwoods cigars and it’s gotten to the point where his voice is so low you can’t even hear him!” Despite his background however, Method Man maintains he’s not behind the musical writing of the series “since I’m playing a character and not Method Man, no, I will not” although he’s not ruling it out adding, “if they gave me a shot to, maybe.”

 Behind the songwriting, and singing voice of Chozen is creator Grant Dekernion who was asked if we can expect more musical acts to come on the show in the future, he explained: “Obviously we got Method Man which blew my mind—and that’s definitely helped us open doors. You know, we’re hoping later this season we might see some more musical acts, I think once the show comes out and people get behind it and see what it’s about, that’s definitely something we can play with in the future. But I think just a lot of people are just curious to see it.”

Both Dekernion and executive producer Tom Brady are particularly excited to be creating the show for the FX network. “Been doing this a little while and you know, I’ve been part of shows that have been on networks and different cable shows and stuff and this is the right show for the right network” says Brady. “The content, the subject matter, FX seems to invest in voices. In this case, Grant’s, from his brain. And if they buy into it, they support it, they let you grow and they nurture it.” Other FX hits include It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League. Of the creative teams behind those shows, Brady adds “we’ve heard them talk about how supportive FX has been and them finding what identity those shows have, so that’s been kind of cool for us to think ‘hey, maybe we could be like that.’”

Check out Chozen Monday January 13th at 10:30pm on FX.

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Film Review “American Hustle”

Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner
Directed By: David O. Russell
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 138 minutes
Sony Pictures

Our Score: 5 out of 5 Stars

The main cast of David O. Russell’s two previous acclaimed films The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook join forces with added Jeremy Renner and Louis CK to form the glorious and hilarious American Hustle. Set amidst the 1970s ABSCAM affair, Hustle is less concerned with historical accuracy, disclaiming only “some of this actually happened” and more interested in pitting ambitious larger-than-life players against each other. The huge personalities are well matched to the gorgeous kaleidoscope of 1970s hair and wardrobe on display. The result is a wildly fast-paced comedy that lives up to the promise of its powerhouse cast. Easily one of the best films of the year.

The film follows Christian Bale as Bronx con man, Irving Rosenfeld, who is hellbent on making something of himself with his shady loans dealings and forged artwork. He decides to reveal his true occupation, hidden behind a dry cleaning front, to equally ambitious schemer Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) with whom he hooked up with at a party. At first Rosenfeld regrets his decision but Prosser comes roaring back to him with a fully formed persona for joining in on his scams. Equipped with the poshest of fake British accents Sydney transforms into Edith Greensly whose alleged London banking connections make Rosenfeld’s offers that much more appealing to his marks.

The couple’s whirlwind romance and financial success is halted when they’re caught by FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) who aims to use the pair’s skills in order to entrap government officials and even bigger fish. DiMaso, like Irving, is also eager to make the bigtime. As DiMaso Cooper’s wild eyed hunger for getting the largest targets possible in the face of a sensible superior played by the brilliant Louis CK is one of the greatest joys of the film. Meanwhile Jeremy Renner as the affable politician DiMaso seeks to ruin helps to ground the emotional cost of the agent’s desperation. Mainly though Hustle is a fascinating power struggle between the trio of Irving, Richie and Sydney. Each scene is rife with a nervous energy as the three players face off and get themselves further and further in over their heads. Sydney’s real or feigned affection for both of the men adds additional tension for good measure with Adams doing some of her best work ever.

In lesser hands, the cast may have been outshone by the garish hair and trappings of the disco era, but here the pile of hair on Jennifer Lawrence for example seems downright tame on the head of her boozy Rosalyn, Irving’s wildcard wife. Her face-off with Adams over their mutual claim to Bale’s character is one of the most electric moments of the film and both actresses dive into their rivalry with relish.

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