“Mississippi Masala” director Mira Nair says she was nervous to ask Denzel Washington to be more vulnerable in his scenes with Sarita Choudhury in the swooningly romantic 1991 drama.
“I fell in love during the making of this film during the writing of the screenplay of this film,” Nair recalled at a Women in Film screening Thursday night at Vidiots. “I experienced what I call the stupor of love. I was really weak-kneed,” she said in a post-screening Q&a. “And that was what I wanted from Denzel and Sarita. Sarita got it, but Denzel… no one talks to him like that,” she said with a smile.
She had hired because of his turn in 1988’s “For Queen and Country,” and said he was nailing every other aspect of the role. “He’s a consummate actor. He is just extraordinary. But when it came to the love stuff, I was wanting more.
“I fell in love during the making of this film during the writing of the screenplay of this film,” Nair recalled at a Women in Film screening Thursday night at Vidiots. “I experienced what I call the stupor of love. I was really weak-kneed,” she said in a post-screening Q&a. “And that was what I wanted from Denzel and Sarita. Sarita got it, but Denzel… no one talks to him like that,” she said with a smile.
She had hired because of his turn in 1988’s “For Queen and Country,” and said he was nailing every other aspect of the role. “He’s a consummate actor. He is just extraordinary. But when it came to the love stuff, I was wanting more.
- 9/30/2023
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Actors of United Kingdom, salutations! Here’s the freshest scoop on an exciting array of projects filming near and across the home nations. This info is piping hot, so roll up your sleeves and prepare for a helping of juicy industry details. Freddie Mercury fans, listen up! “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a new biopic about the late Queen frontman, seems to have resumed filming in and around London after replacing director Bryan Singer with Dexter Fletcher. Our sources tell us that Susie Figgis is in charge of casting. With producers like Robert De Niro and Brian May, don’t delay in seeking out any extra opportunities that might pop up. Can you do the fandango? Whovians, don’t miss your chance: “Doctor Who 11” is now filming once again Wales. The newest season is cast by Andy Pryor and is directed by Jamie Childs. Helmed by William McGregor, “The Dark Outside” is shooting...
- 12/15/2017
- backstage.com
The sequel to “Alice in Wonderland” has a casting director attached, Backstage has learned. Feature sequels are often cast by the same casting directors as the originals. But for "Through the Looking Glass," John Papsidera of Automatic Sweat, is set to take over casting duties from Susie Figgis, who worked on the 2010 feature based on Lewis Carroll's novel. "Looking Glass" will also have a new director, with James Bobin is set to succeed Tim Burton. Actors Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska, however, will reprise their roles as the Mad Hatter and Alice. Shooting begins July 14 in London. Meanwhile, Kellie Madison's upcoming feature, "The Tank," will be cast by Michael Hothorn. The thriller, which follows six people who enter an isolation tank designed to mimic the trip to Mars, will start shooting next month in Ohio.
- 3/18/2014
- backstage.com
Exclusive: Exclusive Media producing with James Gay-Rees; marks start of Exclusive’s new focus on UK non-genre productions.
Calendar Girls director Nigel Cole and writer Tim Firth are reuniting on new action comedy Daylight Robbery, about a group of British retirees planning a bank heist.
Exclusive Media is producing in association with James Gay-Rees of Playmaker Films, who also worked with Exclusive’s Hammer Films on The Quiet Ones.
This film marks Exclusive’s growing focus of producing non-genre films in the UK. Exclusive’s production outfit Hammer will continue to focus on genre films, including the forthcoming shoot for The Woman In Black: Angel of Death.
Exclusive is fully financing Daylight Robbery.
The story is about a group of feisty pensioners who are hit by the financial crisis and plan to rob a bank to save one friend who is on the verge of losing her home.
Susie Figgis is serving as casting director and is...
Calendar Girls director Nigel Cole and writer Tim Firth are reuniting on new action comedy Daylight Robbery, about a group of British retirees planning a bank heist.
Exclusive Media is producing in association with James Gay-Rees of Playmaker Films, who also worked with Exclusive’s Hammer Films on The Quiet Ones.
This film marks Exclusive’s growing focus of producing non-genre films in the UK. Exclusive’s production outfit Hammer will continue to focus on genre films, including the forthcoming shoot for The Woman In Black: Angel of Death.
Exclusive is fully financing Daylight Robbery.
The story is about a group of feisty pensioners who are hit by the financial crisis and plan to rob a bank to save one friend who is on the verge of losing her home.
Susie Figgis is serving as casting director and is...
- 10/17/2013
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Exclusive Media producing with James Gay-Rees; marks start of Exclusive’s new focus on UK non-genre productions.
Calendar Girls director Nigel Cole and writer Tim Firth are reuniting on new action comedy Daylight Robbery, about a group of British retirees planning a bank heist.
Exclusive Media is producing in association with James Gay-Rees of Playmaker Films, who also worked with Exclusive’s Hammer Films on The Quiet Ones.
This film marks Exclusive’s growing focus of producing non-genre films in the UK. Exclusive’s production outfit Hammer will continue to focus on genre films, including the forthcoming shoot for The Woman In Black: Angel of Death.
Exclusive is fully financing Daylight Robbery.
The story is about a group of feisty pensioners who are hit by the financial crisis and plan to rob a bank to save one friend who is on the verge of losing her home.
Susie Figgis is serving as casting director and is...
Calendar Girls director Nigel Cole and writer Tim Firth are reuniting on new action comedy Daylight Robbery, about a group of British retirees planning a bank heist.
Exclusive Media is producing in association with James Gay-Rees of Playmaker Films, who also worked with Exclusive’s Hammer Films on The Quiet Ones.
This film marks Exclusive’s growing focus of producing non-genre films in the UK. Exclusive’s production outfit Hammer will continue to focus on genre films, including the forthcoming shoot for The Woman In Black: Angel of Death.
Exclusive is fully financing Daylight Robbery.
The story is about a group of feisty pensioners who are hit by the financial crisis and plan to rob a bank to save one friend who is on the verge of losing her home.
Susie Figgis is serving as casting director and is...
- 10/17/2013
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed its 276-member-strong class of 2013.
The list, published by The Hollywood Reporter, includes actors, cinematographers, designers, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, "members-at-large," musicians, producers, PR folks, short filmmakers and animators, sound technicians, visual effects artists, and writers.
Jason Bateman, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Mortimer, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Peña are among the roster of actors, while "The Heat" and "Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig made the directors' cut.
"We did not change our criteria at all," says Academy president Hawk Koch of this year's larger-than-usual class. "Yes, this year there is a tremendous amount of women, a tremendous amount of people of color, people from all walks of life. This year, we asked the branches to look at everybody who wasn't in the Academy but who deserved to be.
The list, published by The Hollywood Reporter, includes actors, cinematographers, designers, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, "members-at-large," musicians, producers, PR folks, short filmmakers and animators, sound technicians, visual effects artists, and writers.
Jason Bateman, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Milla Jovovich, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Emily Mortimer, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Peña are among the roster of actors, while "The Heat" and "Bridesmaids" helmer Paul Feig made the directors' cut.
"We did not change our criteria at all," says Academy president Hawk Koch of this year's larger-than-usual class. "Yes, this year there is a tremendous amount of women, a tremendous amount of people of color, people from all walks of life. This year, we asked the branches to look at everybody who wasn't in the Academy but who deserved to be.
- 7/4/2013
- by Laura Larson
- Moviefone
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the 276 members of the entertainment industry invited to join organization. The list includes actors, directors, documentarians, executives, film editors, producers and more. Of those listed below, those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy's membership in 2013. "These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today," said Academy President Hawk Koch in a press release. "Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy." Koch also told Variety, "In the past eight or nine years, each branch could only bring in X amount of members. There were people each branch would have liked to get in but couldn't. We asked them to be more inclusive of the best of the best, and each branch was excited, because they got...
- 6/28/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Academy just added 276 Oscar voters.
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
That’s 100 more than last year, and part of an easing of a longstanding cap on the number of new members allowed to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year.
AMPAS usually adds between 130 and 180 new members, replacing those who have quit or passed away. The membership now stands around 6,000.
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emmanuelle Riva, and Chris Tucker are among the actors who have been invited to join, the organization announced today.
Other interesting additions: the musician Prince, Girls and Tiny Furniture writer/director/actress Lena Dunham,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 276 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2013.
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
“These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.”
The 2013 invitees are:
Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...
- 6/28/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
If you're a big fan of Snow White (Ed: obligatory celebrity rehab joke here), 2011 is truly your year. Three high-profile Snow White projects are in the pipeline, with two already casting and a third slated to go into preproduction in a few months.The project furthest along is Universal's "Snow White and the Huntsman," which will focus on the Huntsman character who figures prominently in the original fairy tale. He is instructed by the Evil Queen to take Snow White into the woods and do away with her, only he decides not to. The blogs have been abuzz with casting news, with Charlize Theron confirmed for the Evil Queen role and Kristen Stewart and Viggo Mortensen circling the roles of Snow White and the Huntsman, respectively. The film is being cast by London-based casting director Susie Figgis, who is also staffing up another hot project, Tim Burton's big-screen adaptation of "Dark Shadows.
- 2/4/2011
- backstage.com
Ahead of the release of Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, Gemma Arterton talks about the film, the next Bond movie, and green socks masquerading as snakes...
She's graduated from St. Trinian's, succumbed to the charms of 007, faced off against the Kraken, and will soon be seen, like, totally changing time in Prince Of Persia.
Now, Gemma Arterton faces her greatest test yet: six minutes with Den Of Geek.
How did you get involved in the film? Because we're going back some two years, aren't we? You'd done Quantum Of Solace by this point?
I think I'd just finished filming Bond. And I just got a phone call saying, "They want to meet you, the casting director wants to meet you for Prince of Persia." And I thought, ‘Oh, okay.' Because I have to say, I didn't know about the game. And she said, "It's quite a big deal.
She's graduated from St. Trinian's, succumbed to the charms of 007, faced off against the Kraken, and will soon be seen, like, totally changing time in Prince Of Persia.
Now, Gemma Arterton faces her greatest test yet: six minutes with Den Of Geek.
How did you get involved in the film? Because we're going back some two years, aren't we? You'd done Quantum Of Solace by this point?
I think I'd just finished filming Bond. And I just got a phone call saying, "They want to meet you, the casting director wants to meet you for Prince of Persia." And I thought, ‘Oh, okay.' Because I have to say, I didn't know about the game. And she said, "It's quite a big deal.
- 5/15/2010
- Den of Geek
British casting agents have begun the search for a HARRY POTTER. Agent Susie Figgis is looking for a child aged between nine and 11 to play the schoolboy wizard in the Holllywood film, to be based on the J.K. ROWLING novels. London-based Figgis is looking for children with acting experience and "the confidence not to be fazed by working with a film company". She is also looking to cast the other two main characters, RON and HERMIONE, in the Chris Columbus film.
- 4/11/2000
- WENN
There's nothing safe about Todd Haynes' ambitious, sensual and nostalgic musical romance "Velvet Goldmine", which divided critics at Cannes but won the filmmaker a special prize from the jury for best artistic contribution.
An upcoming Miramax release, "Goldmine" may not live up to its name at the boxoffice, but Haynes' sumptuously glamorous style, a glittery cast and super soundtrack will lure hip crowds in major markets and ensure a strong post-theatrical performance.
Set in the sex-and-drugs London music scene of the 1970s, evoking David Bowie, Brian Eno and other glam rockers, "Goldmine" is the story of fictional Brian Slade Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who fakes an on-stage shooting at the height of his career and disappears from sight when the hoax is revealed and his fans turn against him.
Ten years later, former fan and journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) goes searching for Slade. In the process, he revisits his idol's rise and fall through interviews with Slade's former lover, influential American star Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor), and former wife, Mandy (Toni Collette).
Haynes freely admits that "Citizen Kane" is the inspiration for the film's complex structure and occasional razzle-dazzle sequences. Indeed, Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece is visually referenced in several scenes and individual shots, but there's one giant difference between the two challenging films from vastly different decades.
Welles effortlessly draws one into the still-relevant, decades-spanning mystery of a wealthy tycoon and makes one care about the diverse cast of characters, while Haynes finds little resonance beyond gloomy reflections about the dangers of too much freedom. In the most important aspect of a work of art that wants to elucidate and entertain -- keeping one's attention from straying when the bisexual, drug-taking leads are colorful but a little distant -- Haynes is only moderately successful.
While the grand design of the film will not work for all viewers, there are too many standout moments to call the work a disappointment. After the brilliant "Safe", Haynes can be forgiven trying to push the envelope of narrative filmmaking on a slightly bigger scale, and he often succeeds.
Rhys Myers and McGregor blaze across the screen with great fury in fabulous makeup and costumes, while Collette is a crucial presence in the two-hour film's winding second half. These three, along with Bale to a lesser degree, transform from bright creatures of the night to fallen angels, with an ironic twist at the end that underscores the eerily totalitarian "present day" setting in 1984.
The film's visual riffs are seductive, with robust cinematography by Maryse Alberti and splashy production design by Christopher Hobbs. The many songs on the soundtrack, including several penned by Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry, and on-screen performances by the likes of Brian Molko, Anthony Langdon, Steve Hewitt and Donna Matthews threaten to turn the movie into one long music video, but Haynes knows how to explore the souls of his characters as well as their revolutionary exteriors.
VELVET GOLDMINE
Miramax Films
A Zenith Prods./Killer Films production
in association with Single Cell Pictures
for Channel 4 Films, Goldwyn Films,
Miramax Films and Zenith Prods.
Writer-director: Todd Haynes
Producer: Christine Vachon
Executive producers: Scott Meek,
Michael Stipe, Sandy Stern
Director of photography: Maryse Alberti
Production designer: Christopher Hobbs
Editor: James Lyons
Costume designer: Sandy Powell
Hair and make-up designer: Peter King
Music: Carter Burwell
Casting: Susie Figgis, Laura Rosenthal
Color/stereo
Cast:
Curt Wild: Ewan McGregor
Brian Slade: Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Mandy Slade: Toni Collette
Arthur Stuart: Christian Bale
Jerry Divine: Eddie Izzard
Running time -- 123 minutes
No MPAA rating...
An upcoming Miramax release, "Goldmine" may not live up to its name at the boxoffice, but Haynes' sumptuously glamorous style, a glittery cast and super soundtrack will lure hip crowds in major markets and ensure a strong post-theatrical performance.
Set in the sex-and-drugs London music scene of the 1970s, evoking David Bowie, Brian Eno and other glam rockers, "Goldmine" is the story of fictional Brian Slade Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who fakes an on-stage shooting at the height of his career and disappears from sight when the hoax is revealed and his fans turn against him.
Ten years later, former fan and journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) goes searching for Slade. In the process, he revisits his idol's rise and fall through interviews with Slade's former lover, influential American star Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor), and former wife, Mandy (Toni Collette).
Haynes freely admits that "Citizen Kane" is the inspiration for the film's complex structure and occasional razzle-dazzle sequences. Indeed, Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece is visually referenced in several scenes and individual shots, but there's one giant difference between the two challenging films from vastly different decades.
Welles effortlessly draws one into the still-relevant, decades-spanning mystery of a wealthy tycoon and makes one care about the diverse cast of characters, while Haynes finds little resonance beyond gloomy reflections about the dangers of too much freedom. In the most important aspect of a work of art that wants to elucidate and entertain -- keeping one's attention from straying when the bisexual, drug-taking leads are colorful but a little distant -- Haynes is only moderately successful.
While the grand design of the film will not work for all viewers, there are too many standout moments to call the work a disappointment. After the brilliant "Safe", Haynes can be forgiven trying to push the envelope of narrative filmmaking on a slightly bigger scale, and he often succeeds.
Rhys Myers and McGregor blaze across the screen with great fury in fabulous makeup and costumes, while Collette is a crucial presence in the two-hour film's winding second half. These three, along with Bale to a lesser degree, transform from bright creatures of the night to fallen angels, with an ironic twist at the end that underscores the eerily totalitarian "present day" setting in 1984.
The film's visual riffs are seductive, with robust cinematography by Maryse Alberti and splashy production design by Christopher Hobbs. The many songs on the soundtrack, including several penned by Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry, and on-screen performances by the likes of Brian Molko, Anthony Langdon, Steve Hewitt and Donna Matthews threaten to turn the movie into one long music video, but Haynes knows how to explore the souls of his characters as well as their revolutionary exteriors.
VELVET GOLDMINE
Miramax Films
A Zenith Prods./Killer Films production
in association with Single Cell Pictures
for Channel 4 Films, Goldwyn Films,
Miramax Films and Zenith Prods.
Writer-director: Todd Haynes
Producer: Christine Vachon
Executive producers: Scott Meek,
Michael Stipe, Sandy Stern
Director of photography: Maryse Alberti
Production designer: Christopher Hobbs
Editor: James Lyons
Costume designer: Sandy Powell
Hair and make-up designer: Peter King
Music: Carter Burwell
Casting: Susie Figgis, Laura Rosenthal
Color/stereo
Cast:
Curt Wild: Ewan McGregor
Brian Slade: Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Mandy Slade: Toni Collette
Arthur Stuart: Christian Bale
Jerry Divine: Eddie Izzard
Running time -- 123 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/27/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"How could this happen?" has been the incredulous refrain to the recent slaughter of schoolchildren in Jonesboro, Ark., perpetrated by two boys, ages 13 and 11.
Well, here's the answer in Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy", a piercing dramatic profile of a cherubic killer. Savagely unsettling, this Warner Bros. release is a mind-bender, a disturbing document that should stir up considerable comment and find interest among sophisticated audiences in select-site venues.
A prickly blend of deadpan humor and bloody mayhem, this insightful depiction of the making of a monster paints its deadly picture with chilling detachment. Framed and punctuated by the sprightly voice-over of a man who as a young teen murdered a neighbor lady, "The Butcher Boy"'s refracted perspective allows us to see the various elements that shape and warp an otherwise "normal" boy to monster proportions.
Based on Patrick McCabe's 1992 novel, Jordan and McCabe have shaped a scenario that is part psychological treatise, part sociological study and part cautionary tale. Fortunately, it has been skinned to the bone of any drivel that may sound academic or come from the dull pipes of the mental health establishment/industry.
Laced with a droll, distanced wit and coiled around a seemingly benign, middle-class household, Jordan has forged a harrowing story of a young boy's descent into monsterdom.
Set in a drab, provincial burg during the early '60s, "The Butcher Boy" is a larkishly toned depiction of small-town regularity. Centered around 12-year-old Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), a rambunctious chug of a kid who lives in a fantasy world of "Lone Ranger" episodes and adventure stories, Jordan shows how the youngsters escapist world is discolored by events from the "real" world. The countless TV shots of atomic clouds and, most particularly, the doomsday-like fear engendered by the Cuban Missile Crisis serve to shape and distort the boy's apprehensions of life, death and imminent destruction.
With his inner world shaped by TV and bogged down by popular culture, Francie's growth is also stunted by his horrific family life: His father (Stephen Rea) is a besotted lout who has boozed his way out of a promising musical career, and his mother is as nutty as the fruitcakes she compulsively bakes. Not surprisingly, Francie has no empathy for others and feels no remorse or compassion for his increasingly cruel boyhood deeds.
Thematically, Jordan and McCabe's screenplay is a perceptive balancing act in its visualization of Francie's increasingly fractured psychology. It methodically shows the "Lord of the Flies"-like cruelty that can fester within kid culture. Accordingly, viewers will likely not only find the film disquieting but a challenge to their sensibilities as well. Its rhythms and tones often run counterpoint to the surface narrative; in short, Jordan keeps us off balance and unsure how to view things, which ultimately shapes our eye to seeing below the surface of what appears to be mundane, everyday reality and "normal" behavior.
The performances are spare and revealing. As the monster-child, Owens brings a fresh-faced aura to his manic murdering. As the character unravels, we see clearly how his chirpy playfulness descends to cold-blooded mania. It's a fleshy, full performance, one that makes us coil and squirm. As Francie's loutish father, Rea clues us to the squandered promise that runs in this family's bloodlines, while Fiona Shaw rings true as a busybody shrew.
Technical contributions are a marvelous, complex mix, highlighted by composer Elliot Goldenthal's frothily eerie score and cinematographer Adrian Biddle's lethal-scoped framings.
THE BUTCHER BOY
Warner Bros.
Geffen Pictures presents
Producers: Redmond Morris, Stephen Woolley
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenwriters: Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe
Based on the novel by: Patrick McCabe
Executive producer: Neil Jordan
Director of photography: Adrian Biddle
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Editor: Tony Lawson
Music: Elliot Goldenthal
Costume designer: Sandy Powell
Casting: Susie Figgis
Art director: Anna Rackard
Special effects supervisor: Joss Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francie Brady: Eamonn Owens
Benny Brady: Stephen Rea
Joe: Alan Boyle
Mrs. Nugent: Fiona Shaw
Mrs. Brady: Aisling O'Sullivan
Virgin Mary: Sinead O'Connor
Running time - 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Well, here's the answer in Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy", a piercing dramatic profile of a cherubic killer. Savagely unsettling, this Warner Bros. release is a mind-bender, a disturbing document that should stir up considerable comment and find interest among sophisticated audiences in select-site venues.
A prickly blend of deadpan humor and bloody mayhem, this insightful depiction of the making of a monster paints its deadly picture with chilling detachment. Framed and punctuated by the sprightly voice-over of a man who as a young teen murdered a neighbor lady, "The Butcher Boy"'s refracted perspective allows us to see the various elements that shape and warp an otherwise "normal" boy to monster proportions.
Based on Patrick McCabe's 1992 novel, Jordan and McCabe have shaped a scenario that is part psychological treatise, part sociological study and part cautionary tale. Fortunately, it has been skinned to the bone of any drivel that may sound academic or come from the dull pipes of the mental health establishment/industry.
Laced with a droll, distanced wit and coiled around a seemingly benign, middle-class household, Jordan has forged a harrowing story of a young boy's descent into monsterdom.
Set in a drab, provincial burg during the early '60s, "The Butcher Boy" is a larkishly toned depiction of small-town regularity. Centered around 12-year-old Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), a rambunctious chug of a kid who lives in a fantasy world of "Lone Ranger" episodes and adventure stories, Jordan shows how the youngsters escapist world is discolored by events from the "real" world. The countless TV shots of atomic clouds and, most particularly, the doomsday-like fear engendered by the Cuban Missile Crisis serve to shape and distort the boy's apprehensions of life, death and imminent destruction.
With his inner world shaped by TV and bogged down by popular culture, Francie's growth is also stunted by his horrific family life: His father (Stephen Rea) is a besotted lout who has boozed his way out of a promising musical career, and his mother is as nutty as the fruitcakes she compulsively bakes. Not surprisingly, Francie has no empathy for others and feels no remorse or compassion for his increasingly cruel boyhood deeds.
Thematically, Jordan and McCabe's screenplay is a perceptive balancing act in its visualization of Francie's increasingly fractured psychology. It methodically shows the "Lord of the Flies"-like cruelty that can fester within kid culture. Accordingly, viewers will likely not only find the film disquieting but a challenge to their sensibilities as well. Its rhythms and tones often run counterpoint to the surface narrative; in short, Jordan keeps us off balance and unsure how to view things, which ultimately shapes our eye to seeing below the surface of what appears to be mundane, everyday reality and "normal" behavior.
The performances are spare and revealing. As the monster-child, Owens brings a fresh-faced aura to his manic murdering. As the character unravels, we see clearly how his chirpy playfulness descends to cold-blooded mania. It's a fleshy, full performance, one that makes us coil and squirm. As Francie's loutish father, Rea clues us to the squandered promise that runs in this family's bloodlines, while Fiona Shaw rings true as a busybody shrew.
Technical contributions are a marvelous, complex mix, highlighted by composer Elliot Goldenthal's frothily eerie score and cinematographer Adrian Biddle's lethal-scoped framings.
THE BUTCHER BOY
Warner Bros.
Geffen Pictures presents
Producers: Redmond Morris, Stephen Woolley
Director: Neil Jordan
Screenwriters: Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe
Based on the novel by: Patrick McCabe
Executive producer: Neil Jordan
Director of photography: Adrian Biddle
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Editor: Tony Lawson
Music: Elliot Goldenthal
Costume designer: Sandy Powell
Casting: Susie Figgis
Art director: Anna Rackard
Special effects supervisor: Joss Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francie Brady: Eamonn Owens
Benny Brady: Stephen Rea
Joe: Alan Boyle
Mrs. Nugent: Fiona Shaw
Mrs. Brady: Aisling O'Sullivan
Virgin Mary: Sinead O'Connor
Running time - 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
"Left Luggage" is clumsily made, but that doesn't hurt its potential for good boxoffice results in specialty markets in the United States and Europe. Female audiences especially should easily identify with the charming main character, a modern teenage girl who grows up while baby-sitting a troubled Chasidic child.
First the bad news: This English-language directorial debut of Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbe ("Immortal Beloved") is badly timed and jerkily cut. Too many scenes should have been truncated just before the actors could speak one melodramatic line too many, and either director Krabbe or the poorly motivated script by Edwin de Vries seem to have encouraged the actors to ham it up instead of concentrating on creating credible characters. The technical credits are good, though unpolished.
Here's the good news: Women should like this film. In her first leading role, young Briton Laura Fraser plays Chaja, a "modern" Jewish teenager in 1970s Amsterdam. She's sexually emancipated, has no awareness of any racial discrimination and no patience with her air-headed, cake-baking mother (Marianne Saegebrecht) or with her father (Maximilian Schell), who is obsessed with the past. (He spends the film looking for two suitcases he buried somewhere while fleeing the Nazis.)
Needing money, Chaja gets a job as a nanny for a Chasidic family with their repressive rules, funny clothes and general backwardness. But before she can quit, she falls for the 5-year-old son Simcha (Adam Monty) who, frightened by his overbearing father, refuses to speak. Chaja's relationship with Simcha is warm and funny, and young Monty is even cuter than Fraser, if that's possible.
While Simcha learns to speak, Chaja learns to respect both this unusual family and her Jewish heritage. In the end, Chaja also learns about loss, which brings her full circle -- to an understanding of the Jewish past that formed her family and herself.
Fraser's performance is unfortunately anything but subtle -- she loves rolling those big eyes, grinning, goofing, hamming and generally looking cute.
But what she lacks in accomplishment she makes up for with sheer energy and an impressive big-screen charisma.
Women should be able to put themselves in Chaja's shoes easily, and because the movie is well-meaning, if flawed, the audience will not feel embarrassed about pulling out the handkerchiefs.
LEFT LUGGAGE
A Flying Dutchman/Shooting Star production
in association with Favourite Films and Greystone Films
Credits: Director: Jeroen Krabbe; Producers: Ate de Jong, Hans Pos, Dave Schram; Executive producers: Craig Haffner, Brad Wilson; Co-producers: Dirk Impens, Rudy Verzyck; Associate producers: Maria Peters, Edwin de Vries, Jeroen Krabbe; Screenplay: Edwin de Vries; Based on the novel "The Shovel and the Loom" by: Carl Friedman; Director of photography: Walther van den Ende; Art director: Hemmo Sportel; Editor: Edgar Burcksen; Music: Henny Vrienten; Costume designer: Yan Tax, Bernadette Corstens; Casting: Susie Figgis. Cast: Mrs. Kalman: Isabella Rossellini; Chaja's Father: Maximilian Schell; Chaja's Mother: Marianne Saegebrecht; Mr. Kalman: Jeroen Krabbe; Chaja: Laura Fraser; Simcha: Adam Monty; Concierge: David Bradley; Herr Apfelschnitt: Chaim Topol; Sofie: Heather Weeks. No MPAA rating. Running time -- 96 minutes. Color/stereo.
First the bad news: This English-language directorial debut of Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbe ("Immortal Beloved") is badly timed and jerkily cut. Too many scenes should have been truncated just before the actors could speak one melodramatic line too many, and either director Krabbe or the poorly motivated script by Edwin de Vries seem to have encouraged the actors to ham it up instead of concentrating on creating credible characters. The technical credits are good, though unpolished.
Here's the good news: Women should like this film. In her first leading role, young Briton Laura Fraser plays Chaja, a "modern" Jewish teenager in 1970s Amsterdam. She's sexually emancipated, has no awareness of any racial discrimination and no patience with her air-headed, cake-baking mother (Marianne Saegebrecht) or with her father (Maximilian Schell), who is obsessed with the past. (He spends the film looking for two suitcases he buried somewhere while fleeing the Nazis.)
Needing money, Chaja gets a job as a nanny for a Chasidic family with their repressive rules, funny clothes and general backwardness. But before she can quit, she falls for the 5-year-old son Simcha (Adam Monty) who, frightened by his overbearing father, refuses to speak. Chaja's relationship with Simcha is warm and funny, and young Monty is even cuter than Fraser, if that's possible.
While Simcha learns to speak, Chaja learns to respect both this unusual family and her Jewish heritage. In the end, Chaja also learns about loss, which brings her full circle -- to an understanding of the Jewish past that formed her family and herself.
Fraser's performance is unfortunately anything but subtle -- she loves rolling those big eyes, grinning, goofing, hamming and generally looking cute.
But what she lacks in accomplishment she makes up for with sheer energy and an impressive big-screen charisma.
Women should be able to put themselves in Chaja's shoes easily, and because the movie is well-meaning, if flawed, the audience will not feel embarrassed about pulling out the handkerchiefs.
LEFT LUGGAGE
A Flying Dutchman/Shooting Star production
in association with Favourite Films and Greystone Films
Credits: Director: Jeroen Krabbe; Producers: Ate de Jong, Hans Pos, Dave Schram; Executive producers: Craig Haffner, Brad Wilson; Co-producers: Dirk Impens, Rudy Verzyck; Associate producers: Maria Peters, Edwin de Vries, Jeroen Krabbe; Screenplay: Edwin de Vries; Based on the novel "The Shovel and the Loom" by: Carl Friedman; Director of photography: Walther van den Ende; Art director: Hemmo Sportel; Editor: Edgar Burcksen; Music: Henny Vrienten; Costume designer: Yan Tax, Bernadette Corstens; Casting: Susie Figgis. Cast: Mrs. Kalman: Isabella Rossellini; Chaja's Father: Maximilian Schell; Chaja's Mother: Marianne Saegebrecht; Mr. Kalman: Jeroen Krabbe; Chaja: Laura Fraser; Simcha: Adam Monty; Concierge: David Bradley; Herr Apfelschnitt: Chaim Topol; Sofie: Heather Weeks. No MPAA rating. Running time -- 96 minutes. Color/stereo.
- 2/17/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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