Deacon takes a peak behind THE PAINTED VEIL and finds a Q&A with Edward Norton!!! (from Ain’t It Cool News, Monday Decemeber 18, 2006)

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here to introduce a new spy, Deacon Spires, who saw an early screening of the Edward Norton/Naomi Watts starrer THE PAINTED VEIL. I saw this flick in preparation for a Naomi Watts interview that ended up falling through, but the film isn't as much of a pain to sit through as I was expecting a period marriage drama to be. It actually has a very interesting twist on the whole thing, where the infidelity happens at the beginning... in a love-less marriage, and the characters have to grow to love each other after that.

Anyway, this screening Deacon went to had a surprise appearance by Edward Norton, who popped up to do a Q&A with the audience. Deacon dutifully transcribed the Q&A for you folks, so stay with him after the review to read that. Enjoy!

Hey Quint,

This past week I had the pleasure of taking in a preview screening of Edward Norton’s newest film “The Painted Veil” here in Toronto at the Cumberland theatre.

I have to admit. At first I wasn’t entirely keen on going as the plot of the film is adapted from a 1925 novel by W. Somerset Maugham set in the 1920’s about a young couple who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with another man.

The Cumberland is a theatre where I’ve taken in Toronto International Film Festival classics like “Undead” and “Evil Aliens”, so to sully that with what seemed to amount to little more than your average “chick flick” seemed almost reprehensible.

The screening was free however, and it did star Edward Norton who I’ve admired as an actor from the moment he leapt on to the screen with his terrific turn in “Primal Fear”, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

Luckily we arrived at the screening early enough to be able to line up inside, as other less fortunate souls were forced to wait outside, or as one person in line said were “Sent to their deaths” as the stereotypical Toronto winter was bitterly cold that night.

After a few minutes of waiting we were let into the theatre and given an introduction to the film by the screenings host Richard Crouse, a movie critic featured on a Canadian show called “Canada A.M.”. It was during his introduction to the film that I first learned that following the film a Q&A session with Edward Norton would take place which was very exciting.

The film itself is directed by John Curran whose previous films include “We Don’t Live Here Anymore” and “Praise” and stars Edward Norton (Walter Fane), Naomi Watts (Kitty Fane), Liev Schreiber (Charlie Townsend), and Toby Jones (Waddington).

While the film began in much the same way as countless other romantic dramas, the change in demeanor of Norton’s character after discovering his wife’s infidelities creates a much more interesting film.

After confronting his wife about the affair Walter lays down an ultimatum which leads to their relocation to a remote part of China that has been ravaged by a cholera epidemic.

The icy cruelness that comes out of Walter towards his wife is handled brilliantly by Norton and is a real treat to watch. One line in the movie serves as the perfect dividing line between the meek, caring Walter and the bitter, heartless man he initially becomes.

When Kitty first attempts to defend herself against the charges, Walter steps to her and utters the memorable line “If you interrupt me once more, I will strangle you.” The line was a very jarring moment in the film, as to that point Walter had shown little in the way of confidence or forcefulness. This line of dialogue was actually part of the first question asked of Norton during the Q&A following the film.

Upon arrival in the remote village the story takes on increasing levels of tension because of both the threat of disease and the violent political chaos China was experiencing at the time.

Naomi Watts and Edward Norton were excellent in their scenes together as Walter at first barely acknowledges Kitty’s existence. Through a series of events in the film the two eventually begin to warm to one another, but the scenes in which the hostility hangs in the air is where these two really shine.

It’s also worth mentioning Toby Jones’ character Waddington, who plays a British Deputy Commissioner in the film. He provides kindness and counsel to Kitty as she struggles to adapt to the environment and her husband’s treatment of her. Jones’ does a great job in the role and steals many of the scenes he appears in.

For a person who rarely enjoys this type of film, ‘The Painted Veil’ was a refreshing surprise and I would highly recommend it for the performances by Norton and Watts, in addition to some breathtaking cinematography.

I’ve also included a transcription of the Q&A session that took place after the film. Norton was fantastic as he spent a lot of time answering the questions posed to him and gave a lot of insight into the film and his career in general.

Deacon Spires

Here's Deacon's transcript of the Edward Norton Q&A!

Q1: Edward Norton is asked to comment on a line of dialogue from the film where he tells his wife that if she interrupts him ‘...one more time I will strangle you’ and what it means to him..

A1: Umm. I think it means to "choke the life out of..." and uh actually the first time I read the script I sat back in my seat when I hit that part which .. not that many scripts make me move physically reading them... I think that's what you're getting at is that that's the moment where you begin to see kind of an unsuspected depth of intensity in this guy and I think the layers that peel away from these two people as they experience... I feel like the characters almost get exfoliated by china, they get beaten down and humbled by what they go through until sort of all of their illusions about self and each other have been stripped away and they're forced to actually take a look at each other which is really interesting to confront as an actor.

Q2: Norton is asked what the film means to him...

A2: I'm always a little reluctant to talk about what I think a film is about because I think that's what we give it to you guys to do. But certainly I think the thing that threw all of us into it is the idea.. you know obviously it's part of the fun of cinema to go places like China, or the romanticism of a period is always a lot of fun but you do it because hopefully there's something in it that's still resonant in the story and obviously I think almost everybody can relate to the way everybody goes through the disappointment of confronting the person your in love with's weaknesses or failures.

Everybody goes through pain or... Those ways that men and woman struggle with each other are primal. And as you said I think that forgiveness is a difficult thing to sum up the courage to do, but then I think it can be a very transformative act and I think all of that, you know one of the things I enjoy watching is people watching the movie because you can feel peoples loyalties shifting kind of like... John Curran, I don't know if anybody saw his other film he did with Naomi before this one called "We Don't Live Here Any More", it was a small film, but it was a very savage depiction of two couples... John, like all great filmmakers has a very wise eye about relationships. He knows enough to depict them without judgment. He's very good at showing how people's strengths are their weaknesses and the way that nobody's really right or wrong sometimes.

Q3: How long were you in China and were there any special challenges you faced while filming?

A3: John and I were in China about five months and the filming was four months of that. It was a great adventure but it was fraught with many things.. There was no way to predict certain things that happened. You're dealing with the inherent inefficiency of working through translators.. We had Australian... Those guys really need translators! *laughs*.. We had a camera crew that were Kiwis, sounds guys were Australian, the wardrobe designer was British, and we had mutts like me and John and then all of our Chinese cast and crew.

The Beijing crews all speak Mandarin, and people that came on from the south speak Cantonese, and then out in the river towns they spoke a dialect that I wasn't exactly clear what it was called. John being John was shown many places that had roads and were accessible but he didn't feel they captured the compositions that he wanted in the river valleys and so he kept pushing further and further out and ultimately we were working in places where there was no word for pavement. It was worth it because it looks like unlike almost any place I had been. Making a movie in a place like that it's like an Army operation, half of it is the logistics of just getting all the people and things where you need them to be and that was challenging.

Q4: How faithful is the movie to the original novel?

A4: Ron Nyswaner who wrote this adaptation originally did it very faithfully, it was a very faithful adaptation of the book. Over the years he and I, I think by stages kind of expanded the scope of it progressively through a couple of stages, first emotionally sort of in letting the characters actually transcend their limitations a little further than they do in the book and then quite a bit further and then... The novel never really leaves the house in China, it's all in her head and even what Walter's doing you only hear from what she hears from other people. It's very claustrophobic.

Obviously we didn't want to go to China to film the inside of a wood cabin. When John came on, John I think was most responsible for saying look 'Let's not be vague about China, let's anchor the story in a specific historical context' and China in the 1920's was a very chaotic place, it was very akin to what's going on in the Middle East right now, it was basically torn about by factionalism and warlords from different regions like is depicted in the film and the nationalist army was just starting to form up and control the east. There was a lot of shooting of protesting workers, they gunned down a crowd and a huge wave of resentment swept through the country and lots of farmer's were killed out in the provinces. John initially looked at that and said 'Well that doubles up on the Cholera in terms of the climate of tension and fear he's taking her out in to.

As we worked on it, it was kind of impossible to ignore to that we started to have to deal with the issue of Westerners mucking around in other people's countries and telling them how to fix it at the point of a gun and umm.. It reminded us of something but it eludes me.. *laughs* All of that creates a texture for the film which is nice for me because it adds depth to that character he's also, he's not just concerned with his relationship with her, but he kind of stands for something that I think we recognize in ourselves almost, which is that connection of the rightness of our own ways. You know it was a long progress and the good news for us was that Ron, a lot of times a writer will move on to other things and Ron stayed with us the entire way. His faith in us and his willingness to stay with the project was really significant because the voice of the piece could stay consistent. All the ideas we had Ron executed them and really kept an integrity to it.

Q5: Norton was asked how his experiences with two other method actors (Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando) in the film "The Score" helped him as an actor.

A5: Oh.. I'm only just finding out that I'm a method actor.. *laughs* I don't even know what that means... (Original person who asked the question then says 'I read it on the Internet!' which also drew big laughs from everyone including Norton) Well then it HAS to be true! I could find out a lot about myself if I got on the internet and did more reading.

When someone calls and says these people are going to be in a movie, if I said 'What is it?' and they said 'Oh, we're going to read the phone book..' I'd be like 'Oh yah.. I'll come for that' .. I'd do that one to be in the poster, you know what I mean? It might have been nice if it had been something with a little more depth to it but.. Like I said I didn't really care what it was, I was gunna go and work with those guys just for the story. It was fun! We shot that in Canada in Montreal and had a wonderful summer in Montreal which is great. I'm not trying to be flippant. I had known both of those actors for a while. Marlon was this kind of.. Like the fat man on the hill.. He would have people up and you would visit him if he called you and he was sort of lonely in his old age. There were a lot of us who checked in on him now and then and I never thought that I'd ever get to work with him. I think that was his last film. That was kind of thrilling. De Niro is just everything that he's cracked up to be. All the things you imagine it would be like working with him. He's very meticulous; I liked seeing a kind of guy who as much as he's done it he still marches through the drudge work of it. He does all the detail work and he's very good at looking at a scene that's fat and stripping away what's not needed in it. It was a huge privilege to mix it up them.

Q6: What is it about this material that kept you fired up enough and interested enough to continually come back to it?

A6: A lot of the things that we’ve been talking about… You know you don’t run into stuff that’s complicated and rich like that every day. I mean it’s not like you’re choosing between phenomenal parts. When you get a good one, or you see one that you think you understand on some levels you hold on to it. In part too, to be totally honest, everybody can imagine when you’re watching a move like ‘Out of Africa’ or ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ you think ‘Wow, that’s gotta be so fun to make a movie like that’ and again you don’t see these great epic films all the time. For me I just thought I wanted to make one of those kind of movies and have that kind of experience and worth with an international crew and go somewhere. It felt a couple of times like we were cooked on it. It just wasn’t going to come together and I definitely had a few moments where I thought, I’m banging my head against the wall on this, it’s just not happening and maybe we should just move on. But, eventually we got Naomi and she was so responsive to it, so that sort of re-invigorated me. It did re-affirm for me that sometimes you just have to persevere with something.

Q7: You were a natural on that horse in the film. How did that happen? *laughs*

A7: Well I did this movie the year before called “Down In The Valley”. I spent a few months really working with rodeo riders and barrel riders and I got decently trained. That’s preamble to saying that the reason I looked so upright in that horse is that about three days before we shot the sequence on the horse I went out to check the horse that I had trained to do a few of these things specifically for those shots in Beijing to find that they hadn’t brought that horse. They were trying to hand me off another one and I was in a bad mood and so I got on it, which was a stupid thing to do and I knew better. Through a series of circumstances another guy ran his horse up the back of my horse and that horse threw me off really badly. So my back felt a lot like this mic stand and they put me in a brace and so that’s why I look so.. *laughs* We were in the mountains so there was nowhere really to go, we finished the film after about two weeks. I went to Hong Kong and I found out I had broken my spine in three places. So I can’t really ride a horse very well.

Q8: What country was subbing for Austria in the ‘The Illusionist’ and how much fun was it working with Paul Giamatti?

A8: That whole film was filmed in the Czech Republic. It was mostly in Prague and the surrounding countryside. The castle with the animal heads is one of the old hunting lodges. Prague is a great city. It’s magical in its own way. Paul Giamatti, I did a play with him when I was 19 and he was 21. He was really good then. He was kind of the guy who intimidated everybody when we were in college. He looked exactly like he looks now when he was 21. I was barely shaving and I saw him in college play George in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe’, you know he’s supposed to be like a 50 something year old man and I was looking at it like where’d they bring this guy in from. He was 21 and he was incredible.

Q9: How do you know when you’ve nailed a character that you are portraying in a film?

A9: I guess when you guys tell me. *laughs* I have no way of sensing sometimes.. If I’m lucky by the end of the first week on a movie I don’t feel like a fraud anymore. I usually feel in the beginning like a complete pretender, like cold, I can’t explain it. Some of the only times I’ve ever rolled into the shooting of a film feeling really ready were the very few times that I did a film where we did a rehearsal process. ‘25th Hour’ we rehearsed hard for a couple of weeks because we only had 35 days to shoot the film. It was great, I loved it, it was the theatre actor in me and I really, really prefer to have some rehearsal sessions. But you learn to trust that you’re doing fine and that if it’s a disaster you’ll all see it. If you’ve all made some terrible choices or judgment calls you can go back and do it again.

Every one of them is extremely different for me.. I never.. That’s why I was semi-joking about being a method actor. I’d probably feel much more confident if I had a plan every time I headed into one of these things. They’re just so different, it’s impossible to approach all pieces of work the same way. Sometimes it’s totally like an external thing of saying… Like on ‘The Illusionist’ the character almost seemed like a super hero to me, where he was so enigmatic. One of my biggest problems was that I kind of wanted to do it because when I read the stage performances and found it so cool and I didn’t know if I could pull that off. Then I started thinking about this and I realized everything he is described as, I don’t feel like I’m that guy. I actually ended up digging up one of those old.. Remember that Marvel comic called ‘Dr. Strange’? ‘Dr. Strange’ was this magician that had mystical powers and had black hair that was swept back and a widow’s peak and a black beard and I took it to this make-up artist I worked with and I said ‘I think that’s what we’re doing’.

I tried some black contact lenses just to see if I could get sort of shark eyes, but it didn’t work. As soon as they put you in those frock coats, all of a sudden you start to feel like that guy. On that one really, truly, the way he looked and the clothes and the boots and the hats and the capes and all of it, Paul Giamatti and I talked about it like the wardrobe has to work for you on a film like that. Those people didn’t move, they would never sit like I’m sitting here.

They were adults and they were upright. There was formalism to everything. Putting on a beard and putting on a cloak helped me on something like that. In ‘The Painted Veil’ it was a much more inside out process for me. I think that it started with me and Naomi kind of writing letters. I think we both felt like the challenge in these characters was to commit to their weaknesses in a way. I do find that sometimes when you start getting into a character you start to defend that character unconsciously. Maybe you if you don’t guard against that you don’t commit to that character. Naomi had to commit to the idea that ‘Kitty’ is shallow. She does have a narrow view of the world, she is all the things Walter says about her and he is all the things she says about him. It demands a kind of commitment to their flaws so we started, not as the characters, but over a year or so we just started writing to each other a lot about what our own experiences had been.

It was almost confessional; we did it with John too, talked about those moments. Tried to act out those experiences in our own lives to some degree which was interesting for me because I tend to gravitate to things that are very exotic to my experience. I’ve never found that my own personal experiences are a very deep reserve of insight for me. I generally go at it as more of an investigation kind of a process, or a process of trying to absorb what someone else’s reality is and then do it justice, as opposed to pulling on my own stuff. This film was interesting because I found that I related to the dynamic of these two characters and it created some interesting moments for me and Naomi.

We got into a place eventually where things came up and out in these scenes that weren’t in the script. I think Naomi may have made up that line ‘For someone as smart as you, you have so little sense of proportion.’ I think she just said it one time and it was brilliant. There were a couple of things in that scene that I thought just sort of came up and out of this long process of thinking about the characters. But I definitely felt at times more personally, like I was exposing myself more than in my other roles.

Q10: Do you have any interest in directing?

A10: Uhh. Sure! Yah.. I did it on one film. There’s things I’ve intended to do, but some of these other things got in the way. I was seriously thinking about doing something, but when this finally came together then… You know.. Life marches on. But I’ll do my best.

X-Men: The Last Stand -- Big finish or final flop?
Sat. May. 27 2006
Andy Johnson, CTV.ca News

As the comic book world's favourite gang of rag-tag mutants begins to unleash mayhem on the silver screen this weekend, it's anyone's guess whether X-Men: The Last Stand will serve as the headstone to the trilogy or a stepping-stone to future evolutions.

This, the third -- and apparently the last -- installment in the franchise hits screens Friday night, to a cult-like following of dedicated fans that have desperately awaited its release.

The film, like the X-Men themselves, travelled a troubled road to arrive at its destination.

Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men films, was absent from this production. He's now busy reinventing Warner Bros. Pictures' Superman Returns.

Matthew Vaughn, who directed Layercake, signed on to the massive project but later bailed under tight deadline pressure. Brett Ratner was called in to rescue the film. Ratner, who made his name with the big budget buddy-comedy Rush Hour, and the Silence of the Lambs prequel Red Dragon, then shepherded the project through to completion.

But dedicated fans were worried when Ratner took over, concerned that his take on the beloved comic book adaptation would tarnish the series.

"There was a ripple of fear in movie land when it was announced that Bryan Singer was going to take a pass on the third X-Men movie and go off and direct Superman, and Brett Ratner was taking his place," said CTV's film critic Richard Crouse.

"And the reason is, Brett Ratner is a hack. He makes bad movies that make a lot of money."

But during a recent round of interviews with CTV's eTalk, the cast pledged allegiance to Ratner and said they stand behind what he has done with the franchise.

"He told us how much he respected the characters we all created, how much he loved the series, and he also told us that he was pretty much scared to death because he knew he had big shoes to fill. And that let me know that he was going to be all right," said Halle Berry, whose character Storm makes her third X-Men appearance.

"He very much wanted to continue what Bryan so beautifully created, and he did put his stamp on it by bringing some fun to it, bringing big action to it, he very much made it a finale, you know, because this is probably, possibly, the last one."

Hugh Jackman, who brings Wolverine to life in the film, said he warmed up to Ratner after he told him he appreciated how Singer had established the X-Men's world, and had made the story revolve around the characters and their lives.

"And then he said, 'but I want to make it a little sexier, a little funnier, but more importantly, more emotional,' and he did that."

Original cast comes together

The original cast has been rounded up -- Berry's Storm comes complete with a new hairdo, Jackman's Wolverine is in fine fighting form, and Famke Janssen's Jean Grey surfaces from a watery grave to the delight of fans.

There's also Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, and Canadian Shawn Ashmore as the Bobby Drake/Iceman combo.

Bad guys Ian McKellen as Magneto and Rebecca Romijn as the stunning shape-shifter Mystique also help add tension to the story, and Kelsey Grammer makes an unlikely addition to the cast as the hairy, blue-tinted Dr. Henry McCoy -- aka Beast.

Grammer's character, a 400-pound, fur-covered hulk with fangs, is also the White House Cabinet's secretary of mutant affairs in the film.  

A fan favourite in the comic book series, he represents the mutant populace as they face the prospect of a simple injection that will destroy what makes them tick, and turn them into ordinary humans.

Magneto and his army want to destroy the humans and any mutants who oppose them, while Professor Xavier preaches tolerance and wants to find a solution that works for everyone --a predictable but cataclysmic clash ensues.

Grammer told eTalk the character was a "delightful" fit after 20 years as TV's Frasier Crane, and countless appearances as Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons.

He said he admired many of Beast's qualities.

"I just though he was still until he was active. It was pretty simple really. He was thoughtful, then he was provoked, then he took action that was relentless and unceasing until the time that the conflict was resolved," Grammer said.

"That's the kind of guy he is, he's not in for half, ever. He's a full measure of devotion and he would willingly give his live for others, and I admire the guy."

With a massive budget of $150 million, few expected this film to be short on special effects, and it's not, according to early reports out of the Cannes Film Festival, where the film debuted this week.

Most critics claim it delivers on action, with near start-to-finish sensory overload, but what it's missing is the heart and soul of the X-Men.

Without Singer's direction, and with the addition of more cast members and even more special effects, some Cannes critics say the film neglects to infuse the mutants with the complex, human-like character traits that have allowed viewers to relate to and care about them.

And gone is the clever subtext about race, sexual orientation and fear of change that lent relevancy to the first two films.

"These are stories about people that are different from us -- they have really resonated in the gay and lesbian community," Crouse said.

"Bryan Singer would have really explored some of these issues, but Brett Ratner seems to be saying 'social commentary, let's leave that for the eggheads -- let's just blow something up."

Jackman said that's okay with him. He said Ratner allowed him to have a little more fun with Wolverine in this edition, and he gets to lose his legendary temper a few more times.

"We talked about that a lot -- that in this movie we had to see more of his berserko rage. And he takes no prisoners in this one," Jackman said.

Cast members muse about future projects

Though none of the cast members would get specific about future plans for the franchise, there were certainly no flat-out denials that another X-Men installment can be expected to come down the pipe.

"I think the story lines are there to sort of continue," said B.C.'s Shawn Ashmore, who plays Iceman.

"I mean, if the desire of an audience is there I think it's possible to continue. Whether it will or not is a different story."

Elder statesman Patrick Stewart, the wheelchair-bound leader of the gang, agreed it is possible The Last Stand won't be the last stop for the X-Men.

"A couple of doors have been left slightly ajar, it's true," Stewart told eTalk.

And Hugh Jackman flat-out admitted he's well into the process of developing a spin-off Wolverine movie that will explain some of the history behind the complex character with the retractable claws and carbide-infused skeleton.

"I can tell you that it's probably going to be a prequel," Jackman said. "But ultimately, at the end of that movie, the Wolverine movie, definitively you need to know what makes him tick and who this guy is."

Wolverine's legions of followers couldn't have said it better.

As far as the future of the X-Men as a united big screen fighting force, Stewart said the cast has been discussing what comes after The Last Stand.

"Kelsey raised an issue in private conversation with us all yesterday morning. He said 'you know, I've been thinking about this, maybe the cure doesn't last. Maybe it wears off."

Fans will have to wait and see whether "the cure," really sticks.

Baring it all in the name of art
Do nude scenes help or hinder an actor's career?
Actresses should know what they're getting into
Mar. 25, 2006
NAOMI CARNIOL
STAFF REPORTER TORONTO STAR

Breast. Nipple. Bum. Spotting all three has become commonplace in movies and on the stage. When the musical Hair opened in 1968, many were shocked by its nudity. Now that the show is returning to the Toronto stage, it's an added bonus.

But baring all can still be a risky career move. And it's riskiest on the big screen, where one's privates can be exposed to a potential audience of millions.

For men, considering going nude is not a huge issue, whereas for women, it's "a minefield," says Wyndham Wise, former editor of Take One magazine.

"If a man has a really good-looking body ... then he can get away with it," says Wise. Famous examples include Ewan McGregor's full frontal in The Pillow Book and George Clooney's full moon in Solaris.

Men often take their shirts off. But dropping their boxers is a rare sighting.

Partly it's because the association that rates films "tends to frown on penises," says David Poland, editor of MovieCityNews.com.

An R-rated film can show a penis but the shot has to be brief and the penis limp. "Certainly nobody can get anywhere near touching it," Poland says.

There's a double standard, says Richard Crouse, co-host of the local Rogers TV program Reel to Real. "When men appear nude it's almost like it's a brave move — he was willing to bare himself for the role — whereas when women do it, it's either almost expected or just used completely for titillation."

It comes with the territory in a sexist society, Wise says. "We're much more prepared to have a woman go naked than a guy go naked." Above all, movies are about money. Some men will be more likely to see a mediocre film if a certain actress appears in it naked, says Jeffrey Wells, columnist for Hollywood-elsewhere.com.

But does it help an actress's career? Film critics have mixed opinions.

"If you want to be a movie star, keep your clothes on," Poland says, arguing the illusion of nakedness is more appealing than the real thing. Raquel Welch never showed her breasts, but "she was sex personified."

Heather Graham was first known as a serious indie actress. But then she played the porn star Rollergirl in Boogie Nights. The 1997 film turned her into a sex icon and her roles have reflected that ever since, Poland says.

Her recent sitcom failed partly because "all they were selling was `come look at Heather Graham' and people have all seen Heather Graham ... having sex in every possible position on screen."

But staying clothed isn't always the best move either, Wise says. Nude scenes can sometimes help the careers of young actresses even if "they don't like to admit it."

Brigitte Bardot appeared nude in And God Created Woman in 1956. "She was able to build a career on that," Wise says.

Drew Barrymore appeared nude in several films including 1994's Bad Girls. She hasn't been pigeonholed because she's got more going for her than her body, Wise says.

A good nude scene should fit the role and be "organic to the film," Crouse says.

Wells points to the sex scene in Monster's Ball between Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton. "It certainly involves nudity, but when it's driven in a really compelling moving way ... it doesn't feel like a nude scene."

That's not how many saw the nude scene in Swordfish (2001), when, for no apparent reason, a sunbathing Berry lowers a book and reveals her breasts.

"It was demeaning," Crouse says. "It didn't belong in the story."

Berry herself later called the scene "gratuitous," but noted that it gave her the courage to tackle the love scene in Monster's Ball.

Once some actresses achieve a measure of success, they aren't as willing to show their birthday suits again. Rachel Weisz appeared topless in The Constant Gardener. Now that she's won an Oscar, "I doubt very much she'd ever go naked anywhere again," Wise says.

Older women who do nude scenes can make themselves stand out because it's so rare, Wells says. He praises the moment in Something's Gotta Give when Jack Nicholson walks in on a nude Diane Keaton. Keaton was "being honest about sexuality among people in their 40s and 50s," he says.

Sharon Stone, 48, has confirmed she'll be naked in the soon-to-be released Basic Instinct sequel. What will hurt Stone's career most is if the movie is bad.

However, actresses need to know if they go nude in a film, those images will be around for a long time.

For instance, for a fee you can join MrSkin.com and view thousands of movie stills featuring nude Hollywood actresses. Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz and Reese Witherspoon are all on the site. You would have a hard time finding nude shots of your favourite male stars on the site — but it's not difficult to find those elsewhere.

Condo Honours 1950s
`If you look at me with my slicked-back hair and glasses, everyone identifies me with that (vintage) look'
December 23, 2006
By Kathryn Kates
Special to The Toronto Star

Richard Crouse is the host of Rogers Television's Reel to Real and The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen.

He's also the film critic for CTV's Canada AM and Newsnet and a pop culture/entertainment author, who is writing his seventh book. Three years ago, Crouse purchased his first home, an 800 square-foot, two-bedroom condo. When it came to decorating the place, which is located on the eighth floor of a 12-storey building near the Eaton Centre, the Liverpool, N.S. native's fascination with pop culture is evident throughout.

"My living room style looks like a 1950s' hotel lobby," says Crouse. "I didn't plan on it because I don't really have that much decorating sense, but that's how it turned out and I love it. This look suits me and suits the place.

"Once you walk in, it is not hard to imagine that I live here because of the '50s look. If you look at me with my slicked-back hair and my glasses, everyone identifies me with that '50s kind of look and it is certainly an era, in terms of music and film, that I'm a fan of. Although I think I'm very forward-looking in my image, I tend to be drawn to the 1950s-inspired design and the condo reflects that, I think."

When Crouse began his search for a condo, another unit in the building was the first place he saw. But he was encouraged to keep looking by his agent. He saw about 100 other offerings before being drawn back to the first building to check out another unit.

"It felt right and it was exactly the area I wanted to be in. I wanted to live downtown; I think it is important that people live downtown to keep a city vital and to stop it from turning into one of those big American cities that are ghost towns at night," he states.

Directly in front of the foyer is the kitchen that opens up into the living room that boasts floor-to-ceiling windows. To the left of the kitchen is the dining room. To the left of the foyer are two bedrooms with a shared ensuite in between.

The far room Crouse uses as a home office.

He plans to hire someone to repaint the place, but in the meantime, the walls are the colours chosen by the previous owners. All the rooms are dark beige, except the master bedroom and bathroom, which are painted a bright yellow. He hopes to have his bedroom painted a slate blue and will rely on a professional decorator to suggest other colours for the other rooms.

There is light-stained hardwood flooring throughout, except for the bathroom, where you will find grey ceramic tiles. The kitchen appliances are black, with light-stained cabinetry and black granite countertops.

Since he is a big fan of the late pop culture artist Andy Warhol, Crouse has a print called "Double Elvis" hanging in his bedroom – Crouse's pose on his sixth book – The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen – the same title as his TV show, was inspired by Warhol's print.

Another Warhol of Marilyn Monroe is in the dining room, along with two large silver wood cabinets, featuring roll-top desk fronts that house thousands of DVDs Crouse has reviewed over the years. In fact, he says almost every drawer in his condo is filled with DVDs.

Crouse is a collector of clocks; he has more than 20, many displayed in his home office.

"I'm a bit weirdly excessive about clocks, as it turns out," admits the television personality. "I never thought I was, but my girlfriend points out that whenever we go shopping, I always end up looking at the clocks first."

The living room is Crouse's favourite room. He works from home, so it was important for him when he shuts his office door at the end of the day, to have a room to relax in, he says. He spent a lot of time and money to create a space he could comfortably lounge around in.

The living room furniture includes one nine-foot black, art deco-style, leather couch with rounded arms, a small loveseat with high arms and white stitching, a black leather Barcelona-style chair and a black leather stool with a white diamond shapes and brown wood legs.

Also in the room is a clear glass-top, kidney-shaped coffee table with chrome legs and a smaller frosted, mobile kidney-shaped table underneath on wheels. There is a small waist-high, black wood and chrome table with a clock face top, a dark brown-stained Asian influenced cabinet between the kitchen and living room. Artwork includes a poster of Crouse as a character from the television show Monster Warriors; it is framed in black wood.

Unpopped kernels: The Nativity Story
Craig Courtice
National Post
Friday, December 08, 2006

Sometimes the Popcorn Panel makes for strange bedfellows. This week’s film was The Nativity Story so we thought it might be cute to ask our participants to reminisce about their favourite holiday movies.  At least one of them was merry.

Christa Oancia is a mom of five who teaches religion at a Calgary school. “My top Christmas-approved flicks include something old, something new and something goofy that are OK for my kids, too, she says.” Her first choice: It's a Wonderful Life. “I still cry every time.”

Then there is Richard Crouse, the author of The 100 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen (ECW Press, 2003) and host of Reel to Real on Roger’s Television. “Badder Santa is the unhinged director's cut of the rude and crude drunken Santa movie starring Billy Bob Thornton,” he says of his first selection. “Who couldn't love a movie with a Santa sex scene and the line, "F**k me Santa! F**k me!" It puts the X in Xmas.”

We can think of at least one family who might not love it, perhaps one with a mother whose second Christmas classic is the 1947 tearjerker Miracle on 34th Street. “OK, I cry with this one, too,” says Oancia.

Even Crouse must be touched by such sentiment, no? Judging by his next choice…probably not. “I know Black Christmas is not exactly a Christmas flick, but it takes a lot of eggnog to get the image of director Bob Clark's cross cutting between a gruesome killing and a choral arrangement of holiday music out of your head.” A nice gift for the horror fan on your list, 1974’s Black Christmas stars Margot Kidder (scary, indeed) and Andrea Martin. Not to mention, it’s Canadian.

“This one scares the HELL out of me,” says Oancia of her next selection. See, Crouse’s brand of Christmas cheer seems to be winning her over.  Of course, she is talking about A Christmas Carol, a different kind of horror film to be sure, but still frightening.

Finally, we have some crossover on these lists — almost. “Scrooged was trashed by critics when it came out as a soulless and unnecessary update on the classic A Christmas Carol,” Crouse says. “In some ways the critics were right, but the movie has improved with age. No Christmas movie is complete without a Jamie Farr cameo!”

The only writers with more longevity than Dickens might be the gospels upon which The Nativity Story is based on. While our panel disagreed about Catherine Hardwicke’s current entry in the holiday genre, Oancia is taking her brood to the multiplex to see it. “It’s destined to make our annual Christmas collection.”

Which leaves us with Mr. Crouse’s finale. Will it be A Christmas Story, the 1983 classic with Peter Billingsley as Ralphie, the boy who pines for Red Ryder BB gun? Or perhaps The Grinch who Stole Christmas, a darker tale to be sure, but one with an uplifting Seussian ending? Come on, Richard, tell us your heart has grown two sizes after doing this panel.

“Christmas Evil is the best of the Santa as serial killer movies,” he says. “Before you ask, there are quite a few of them. It's a story about a man who just wants to do good, and when he isn't allowed he goes on a murderous rampage. It’s ho ho horrible.”

Merry Christmas to all, and all a good fright.

The whole week boils down to a tale of the tape
By Johanna Schneller
Globe and Mail
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Damn that Christopher Guest. Ever since I saw his new ensemble comedy For Your Consideration on Sunday morning, I have been unable to extricate my life at the Toronto International Film Festival from his all-too-accurate send-up of the Hollywood buzz machine.

The screening ended at 11 a.m. At 11:15, when I sat down to do an interview for a different film, my mouth kept opening and closing like a fish’s, because I couldn’t think of a single question that didn’t sound as ridiculous as the ones in the movie. I’m sure the huge cast—Guest, co-writer Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Parker Posey, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge, Fred Willard and Bob Balaban, who have all worked together in Guest’s films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind—must have felt exactly the same at their press conference, where reporters lobbed questions both banal and utterly odd.

The highlight of these was asked by a woman from Italy: “Why are actors so alone, so deluded, so lacking in self-esteem?”

“You’d have to ask a doctor,” answered Guest, deadpan.

Now, everything I see and hear feels like a scene from For Your Consideration. Richard Crouse, a host of the cable show Reel to Real, told me that TV crews working the red carpet at Roy Thompson Hall have lackeys tap the microphones of rival reporters, thus ruining the sound for anyone trying to cop a quote off their camera time. Guest could have used that.

He could also have used the interview Brian Johnson did for Maclean’s magazine with the screen-writer Paul Haggis, who wrote and directed the Oscar-winning Crash, to promote his new film The Last Kiss. When Johnson arrived at his appointed time, a publicist greeted him with this urgent, Guest-esque line, “We have a situation here.” Turns out Haggis lost his voice in all the junketing. So he and Johnson conducted the interview in a conspiratorial whisper. “I want to do every interview that way now,” Johnson told me at Monday’s Alliance-Atlantis press dinner. “Everything sounds so important.”

Guest would also have appreciated the sweet-but-strange moment at the One X One charity gala on Sunday night when Wyclef Jean, on stage with the African Children’ Choir, got the richest stiffs in Toronto to wave their dirty dinner napkins in the air while he sang a vibey song about poverty. And I’m sure that Guest would have loved the woman I saw in the bathroom as the gala limped past 11 p.m., reaching into her plunging V-neck to apply fresh double-sided tape to her breasts. “You know it’s a long night when your tape wears out,” she said, completely earnest.

At the Stranger Than Fiction party at the Hugo Boss showroom, one corner was decorated like the bakery in the film, with tables spilling over with gorgeous, flower-bedecked cupcakes (tiny ones for dieters and big ones for me). But then I noticed a sign calling it The Anarchist Bakery—the baker, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, refuses to pay her taxes—and couldn’t help but think of The Anarchist’s Cookbook, which includes recipes for bombs.

Later, chatting with publicists about why some darker films such as The World Trade Center don’t have after-parties, we all confessed that we could easily picture the ultra-bad-taste party they could have had, decorated with rubble, scattered paper and those eerily beautiful arches that remained upright while the smoke machines blew. But that scene would be too black, even for Guest.

For Your Consideration is about how a bare hint of buzz infects actors making a melodrama called Home for Purim with wholly inappropriate Oscar fever. How wholly appropriate that it made it’s debut at TIFF, widely know as the festival where Oscar contenders are born. Unfortunately, this seems to be the year where movies that came in with Oscar hopes are dying like flies.

Every critic I’ve spoken to shakes his or her head sadly at the mention of All the King’s Men, a handsome-looking corpse that feels like its guts where ripped out in the editing room.

No one likes Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe’s frantically unfunny A Good Year or Anthony Minghella’s cumbersome Breaking and Entering, despite its gorgeous cast: Jude Law, Juliette Binoche and Robin Wright Penn. Bonneville, a road comedy starring Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen, is unbearably twinkly, and people are scrating their heads over The Fountain, Darren Aronofsky’s trippy love story (although I quite like it).

There is, however, great buzz on Penelope Cruz in Volver (place your Oscra bets on her for best actress, you heard it here first), and on the films Pan’s Labyrinth, a fantastical take on post-civil-war Spain from director Guillermo del Toro, and Catch a Fire, director Phillip Noyce’s apartheid drama starring Derek Luke and Tim Robbins (who came to the Away From Her gala to support Sarah Polley with whom he starred in The Secret Life of Words).    

See what I mean? We’re already buzzing about February’s Oscars on Sept. 13. We can’t help ourselves.

“If there were any sanity in the world, the whole festival would have shut down after the For Your Consideration screening,” Geoff Pevere, the Toronto Star movie writer told me. “We would have admitted our ridiculousness and gone home. But no, the whole thing clips along.” Bouncing, buzzing, deluded, delicious.

Pevere said more fascinating things, but neither of us can remember what they were. It’s a long week, and our mental tape is wearing out.

R & R do PDA for S-YL
Is Sook-Yin's racy new flick Shortbus the ultimate date movie? The sight of a certain celebrity couple canoodling at a Toronto screening indicates yes!
Shinan Govani, National Post
Published: Wednesday, October 11, 2006

How hot is the movie Shortbus? Not anywhere as hot as the two familiar faces that turned out for a screening in Toronto last Friday!

At the unspooling we speak of -- held at the Cumberland in Yorkville -- some of the cinemagoers couldn't help but notice an obviously affectionate woman sitting on the lap of her scruffy 21st-century prince. In fact, even Sook-Yin Lee and Richard Crouse noticed them! (She, who stars in the much-discussed Shortbus and is as famous as famous gets in Toronto, was there to introduce the movie. He, a professional movie-watcher who was there to introduce her!)

"They started their Q&A after the movie," a mole reveals, "by making a joke about how the movie seemed to be having the right effect on the young couple!"

People chuckled; they moved on; the marquee twosome sank ever-deeper into their seats. But then the story took a sitcomish turn when the lovebirds went over afterwards to talk to Sook-Yin ... and it turned out that it was Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams!

The same two canny Canadians, who took a page out of The Notebook, and hooked up as a real-life couple last year. The same two canny Canadians who put the MVP into PDA!

They went on to pay their compliments to the CBC personality/ actress. Told her they liked Shortbus, a movie with sex scenes that are famously quite out-there and un-edited.

It's been a spectactularly good stretch on-screen too for the handsome pair. Rachel -- who's been sitting in fortune's lap when she's not in Ryan's -- recently followed up movies like Wedding Crashers, Mean Girls and The Family Stone with a turn in Marriage, co-starring Pierce Brosnan and Chris Cooper. Her sweetheart, meanwhile, is the subject of endless Oscar talk for his earthy, honest performance in the indie flick Half Nelson.

Soon, very soon, Mr. Gosling starts work on his latest project, Lars and the Real Girl. It so just happens to be shooting in town. Meaning: Going to the movies in Toronto may be a lot more exciting for a few months still.