Before winning a slew of industry and critics awards—even prior to hitting North American multiplex screens—Slumdog Millionaire was actually slated to be a direct-to-DVD release. How did the Toronto Film Festival play a part in getting the film released into movie theaters, thereby helping director Danny Boyle garner a BAFTA (British Oscar) and Golden Globe for Best Director, then go on to land several Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture? You’ll find out as Earl Dittman gets Boyle to answer that very question, after the jump.
Archive for March, 2009
CD review: The Answer’s
Everyday Demons
Let’s establish this reviewer’s hard-rock preferences: Sabbath up to Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, Deep Purple up to Burn, Van Halen avec David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar avec Montrose, and Aerosmith up to Rocks. AC/DC? One of the most overrated bands of all time. Lucky for The Answer that hundreds of thousands disagree with me on that last one, as the Aussies took these Irish lads out on their Black Ice world tour.
Still, the question about The Answer remains: How does the rock stack up?
Headmaster declares school vampire-free
Rumours of vampires on campus sent Boston Latin School into a fright this past week, reports the Boston Globe. What is stranger is that the school’s administration actually issued a notice assuring the staff, students and their parents that “rumours involving vampires” were nothing more than just that. Headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta declared that there were no vampires at the school, and adamantly offered assurances that no one at the school had been hurt, arrested—or bitten. The rumours of such bloodlust were reported to be causing anxiety and disruption among the students.
Interview: Seth Rogen, Kiefer Sutherland and the old one-eyed monster (vs. aliens)
We have a double shot of Canadian movie stars chatting with Earl Dittman today. Click on Read More to listen in as Seth Rogen talks about Monsters Vs. Aliens, Observe and Report and his new Green Hornet movie. Then click here for a little more CanCon with MvA and 24’s tough-as-nails Canuck, Kiefer Sutherland.
Interview: Kiefer Sutherland on Monsters Vs. Aliens (and 24)
“We are slowly taking over,” jokes Canadian Kiefer Sutherland when asked about the influx of his fellow countrymen in Hollywood productions—particularly the voice actors in the hilarious animated 3D epic Monsters Vs. Aliens. “Why are there are so many Canadian leading actors in Monsters Vs. Aliens (Sutherland, Will Arnett and Rainn Wilson)? You could ask the same thing about 24. I think, at one point, the cinematographer and the director for 24 were Canadians. The woman who played my wife, Leslie Hope, is Canadian. Elisa Cuthbert, who played my daughter, is Canadian. I’m Canadian, but why I have to go to Toronto to the Four Seasons to meet every American actor has always been bizarre to me. But, to never answer your question, it just never crossed my mind.”
However, in both Monsters Vs. Aliens and 24, Kiefer, the 42-year-old son of legendary New Brunswick-born film star Donald Sutherland, portrays prototypical American characters - the indestructible, U.S. government agent Jack Bauer in 24 and a gruff, no BS, animated military leader General W.R. Monger. While those who have seen the film liken General W.R. Monger to the fictional character of Dr. Strangelove (from the Stanley Kubrick film), Sutherland (the grandson of former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas) based his vocal characterization on two very opposite sources. “The entire time I worked on the film all I saw was the placard of the General Monger character and that was it,” recalls the star of such films as The Lost Boys, Dark City and Taking Lives. “When I saw the animation, this is where I think all of the George C. Scott (Dr. Strangelove) references come from - the physicality of the character. When I saw the character he was big, but I didn’t think he was going to shrink because of Ginormica, the 49-foot woman (the voice of Reese Witherspoon). He’s kind of square, and physically he kind of reminds me of Patton and Dr. Strangelove, but the voice references were completely separate. With regards to this character, I was focused on two quintessentially American voices and came up with a ‘Full Metal Yosemite Sam’ sounding voice.”
How tough is it to do a character voice and not sound like Jack Bauer or Kiefer Sutherland?
“Certainly, all of the animated stuff that I had done before, like The Wild or The Land Before Time and things like that, they had always wanted my voice to kind of sound like my voice, so that it would be recognizable. So, when I came in to do this, I said, ‘I have this idea for a character, is that doing to be alright?’ And, they said, ‘Not only is that alright, but that’s what we wanted you to do. For the military aspect of the character, I’ve always loved the voice of the sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, he was so abrasive and loud and kind of southern. So, I thought that would fit. Then, to kind of temper that for some humor, my favorite cartoon character is Yosemite Sam. In the Bugs Bunny cartoons that he was in, Yosemite Sam was always sitting in some kind of Western salon, and he would start off with a line like, ‘Bring on the heap of rabbits.’ So, I did that voice and the producers laughed and we started to kind of joke around with melding the two together and we came up with the voice of the general. And, we kind of went from there.”
What made you want to be a part of the Monsters Vs. Aliens project?
“Well, it was a combination of a few things. I believe that certainly in the English language, (producer) Jeffrey Katzenberg makes some of the best animated movies, so he was part of it. I had worked with Reese Witherspoon before and her voice is on a much higher register than mine, and I thought that would be a nice balance. Most importantly, I’ve never chosen films because of a specific character. I’ve always chosen something because of what the story is and how if affects me. And this story, specifically, what I liked about it was that it was geared to young people and it told them that it was alright to be different. And, not only was it alright to be different, but the thing that might make you uncomfortable or make you feel weird could be your greatest quality. That quality, in the context of our movie, allows Ginormica to save the planet. Certainly, when I was growing up, there were times when I felt different than other kids and that scared me, a lot. So, what I liked about this movie is that it told children and young people that it was alright.”
Can you compare and contrast the kind of enjoyment you experienced making an animated feature like Monsters Vs. Aliens with an action-adventure series
like 24, since they are very, very different?
“They are massively different. I wanted to do Monsters Vs. Aliens because I was able to do something that was kind of comic and fun. 24 has been an unbelievable experience, and I’ve been so involved with that character for such a long period of time that I think the real enjoyment that I get from that has been being able to discover those really small aspects of that character over a long period of time. The great enjoyment for me for doing an animated film is that you’re not limited by your own physicality and you have the absolute freedom of simply a voice and the dialogue, that’s a wonderful freedom for an actor. That was something that I really enjoyed.”
What do you think Jack Bauer would have done when the aliens came down to threaten the Earth?
(Laughs) “I think Jack Bauer would have been the first person that the aliens took out. (laughs) I’m sure he’ll be in the sequel, somehow. He would have been certainly been unconscious through this film.”
Since you play someone as dramatic as Jack Bauer, many people forget that you can do comedy. Do you just not look at doing live action comedies?
“I really don’t look at doing comedies. I mean, all of us can be funny at a dinner. But the gift of timing and the training of the great comedians of our time or of any given time is not light. It’s a real talent. Speaking of Canada, I used to watch Martin Short do these Bloch camera commercials. He was unbelievable, I was 15-years-old and I watched those commercials and said to myself, ‘You better be very good at drama,’ because comedy was not something innate in me. I don’t have that kind of gift. I think to my own detriment, I get -quite self-conscious very quickly, which a comedian can not have. I’ve also been drawn to drama, that is the aspect of storytelling and the human dynamic that I’m most interested in. It would make perfect sense that in an effort to be funny in a movie, it would be an animated film, because I could leave all the other stuff behind.”
Many 24 fans are still reeling from the death of one of the main characters…
“Which death, because I don’t know which episode you’re on?”
The character of Bill Buchanan. How was it decided he would be sacrificed, and how can you top a shootout in the White House?
“The most I can tell you about the end of this season of 24 is that it’s not going to end because someone cuts two wires and the clock on a bomb stops. It is going to end because a few of the characters are going through a very difficult emotional dilemma and it is going to end on a much more dramatic level than it is going to be a physical or action-oriented sequence. I also believe that it’s the most powerful important ending we’ve ever had. I think one of the most difficult things about 24 has been developing the relationship with actors and the trust with actors.this family that we have created and losing them from Leslie Hope in the first season, right down the line to Dennis Haysbert and Carlos Bernard - twice. (laughs) It’s really hard and as much as I know it services the story and it’s exciting for fans and dramatic for fans to do it, it’s been very difficult for as an actor to get into a rhythm with someone and let them go. So, it certainly wasn’t my choice, I think that it was very powerful. But certainly for all of us it was a sad day when the Bill Buchanon character was killed.”
What’s the status of the 24 movie?
“We thought it would be cruel and unusual punished to ask these writers to write the equivalent of twelve films a year and say, ‘By the way, in your off time come up with an unbelievable idea that is so superb that we can justify making a feature film out of it.’ We all kind of collectively decided that when the show is finished that we would then take on making, if anyone still wanted to see it, the idea of making a film.”
You are at the top of you game right now with what people are calling this the best season of 24. A lot of rock bands, for instance, say that they will stop after making their twelfth album or others keep doing it until they are sixty. How much longer can you do 24?
“Well, I’d love to do it until I’m sixty, but I don’t think anybody would accept it. I think it’s a great analogy to compare it to a rock band, because they have to write their music. So, the harder question is really to the writers, and the greatest burden of the creativity is really to them. You know, they are looking tired, it’s been a haul, we’re a really
competitive group, though, and we took a bit of a beating in season six and what I loved about our group is that I believe they rallied instead of kind giving up. I think all of us believe and understand that our whole experience with 24 has just been this giant learning curve, because no one has really done a show in real time. We really do believe that the idea is so special. We also believe that we capable of making a perfect season, and I don’t think that any of us have felt that we have done that. Every year we’ve learned something and go, ‘Oh God, I wish I could go back and fix that or do that better.’ Certainly, going into our eighth season, there were a couple of things, even from the second season, which we are immensely proud of, that we feel we can make better. So, we will continue to work until people say ‘Stop!’ or until we believe that we’ve made that perfect season.”
To continue on with the rock band analogy, you are more like the lead singer, you have to go up there and so all the thrashing around and all the physical labor. Are you up for more?
“I should do a Met commercial. (laughs) Physically, I feel fine doing it, and the character, if you look at Jack Bauer from season one to season seven it is a very different guy, so the character continually evolves. It’s a serialized show, so unlike something like Law and Order, where there is a beginning, middle and end, this guy continually grows. So, from season one, when he loses his wife and then his daughter, that effects the character through season two. And then when he loses Kim Raver and finds hope and love, that affects him through season three, and then when he loses her in season five it affects him, and right down the line. So, the character continually grows, so he is very different, not very different, but there are things that are vastly interesting for me to play from season to season. So, with regards to that, creatively it’s continually growing.”
Will Jack find love again?
“Oh, will be find love again? Well, I think he’s kind of in the process of it now in his own kinda speedy way.”
83 degrees of cool: Recession-ready Rolls 200EX takes NYC by storm
New York City, NY—You might be fooled into thinking the fine people at Rolls-Royce have in their possession a freakishly perceptive crystal ball. Or, rather, a freakishly perceptive crystal ball made of diamond. How else do you explain a forthcoming model from the esteemed automaker that will ring in at about $100,000 (US) less than any of its other offerings?
Recently on DRIVENmag.com
Diamonds, wearable sleep systems, Google telephony, rum: yum!, Marvel’s cruel geographical exclusion, BSG to Caprica, and the blarney of Sinn Féin.
Like an airbag for your social life
Whether you have been on the sending or receiving end of an ill-considered email or phone call—be it a drunk-dialing an ex or sending a venomous message to an in-law when all you really needed was a good night’s sleep—it is an oft proven fact that while technology provides convenience, it often destroys any chance for sober second thought.
Apple and Google recognize our human weakness, and have put time and money into helping users avoid alcohol- or rage-inspired mishaps. Google recently announced on their official Gmail blog that users will be able to install a “Panic Button” that will allow them to undo e-mails up to five seconds after they were sent out.
DVDs: Daniel Craig talks Bond; plus The Riches and more
This week, Daniel Craig talks to Earl Dittman about Quantum of Solace and when James Bond will finally bed more women, have more fun and maybe hit the slopes.
Also: Special edition DVDs of The Odd Couple and To Catch a Thief, plus a family of high-flying swindlers, all after the jump.
CD review: Joel Plaskett’s Three
It is time that Canada realized what a national treasure Joel Plaskett is. Whether with his band The Emergency or on his own solo recording, Plaskett keeps writing perfect pop songs with lyrics that will stick to you like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth. Now, in a time of music industry doom and gloom he has the audacity to release a triple CD Three.
