In an exclusive chat with the ever intense, ever versatile Emile Hirsch, the actor recounts his time working with acclaimed director Ang Lee on Taking Woodstock (opening today). After the jump, Hirsch recalls his conversations Heath Ledger about Lee, explains how he developed his character of Billy by working with real Vietnam vets, defends Speed Racer and discusses his plans to do a rock ‘n’ roll version of Hamlet — with Shakespeare’s original text.
Archive for August, 2009
Youth no longer driving
web innovation?
In the latest issue of DRIVEN, “Coolhunting 2.0” looks at a philosophical shift in the research performed by marketing departments — specifically, when it comes to sources. No longer is everyone scrambling to tap hyper-influential tweens to find out what’s “cool”; now there’s a growing movement towards tapping the average Joe to find out what’s a “trend”. It turns out there’s some actual empirical evidence that not all technological innovations are propagated by youth — that Twitter, one of the fastest growing and most influential communication tools on the net, actually owes its success to the post-college crowd. Read More
Interview: David Duchovny
on Californication
Teeming with edgy, in-your-face dialogue, controversial sex situations and tender family moments, Californication features David Duchovny (the former Agent Fox Mulder from the decade-long running series The X-Files) in the most hedonistic and narcissistic role of his career. “I don’t want people to judge it superficially or morally,” Duchovny says of Californication, the second season of which in now out on home video. “It’s not a show about a drug addict or a show about a sex addict or a show about all of these tags that you try to put on it because they’re spectacular or they might make good copy or they might enrage someone. I think it’s a comedy. It’s a human comedy. It’s an adult comedy. It’s not an adult acting like a six year old, which is what most comedies are like. It’s about an adult doing adult things.”
Check out Earl Dittman’s chat with Duchovny, and this week’s DVDs and Blu-rays, after the jump.
CD review:
Jay Reatard Watch Me Fall
No sooner did prolific Memphis-based musician Jay Reatard find a formula that struck a chord, than he scrapped it altogether. Watch Me Fall, the second solo LP from this garage-punk whiz, is a departure from the excellent Blood Visions (2006) which turned out to be one of those rare crossover records that could engage a large audience well outside of its supposed genre. Thankfully, this sophomore release — different though it may be — holds as much appeal.
Interview: Perlman, Sagal
and Sutter on Sons of Anarchy
From the twisted, creative mind of Kurt Sutter (a staff writer and eventual executive producer on the critically acclaimed The Shield), Sons of Anarchy follows the love lives, the sexual appetites, the lethal rivalries and illegal activities of an international outlaw biker gang that rules the tiny town of Charming, California.
Ron Perlman plays the hot-tempered Clay, the club president of this branch of SOA, head of their gun-running business “Sam Crow,” and stepfather of Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), the pensive 20-something son of a former SOA founder who is being groomed to take over the club by his devious, ambitious mom, Gemma Teller (Katey Sagal). With Season Two of the Emmy-nominated show slated to air next month, the show’s creator, Kurt Sutter, his real-life wife and the actress behind Gemma (Katey Sagal) and veteran character Ron Perlman sat down to discuss their roles, how real bikers are reacting to a bloody and violent show about them, and the dynamics between the lead characters.
INTERVIEW: Eric Bana
on The Time Traveler’s Wife
It’s been quite a year for Australian actor Eric Bana. After two show-stopping performances this summer (the first as Star Trek’s Romulan villain, Nero, the second opposite Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen in the dark stand-up comedy comedy Funny People), the Melbourne-native is playing the leading man (opposite Canadian beauty Rachel McAdams) in the sensational big-screen love story The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Read his chat with Earl Dittman after the jump. Read More
The DRIVEN Calendar, “Soon”:
Toronto Noir
Ongoing to August 15, Toronto – DRIVEN contributor Murray Foster will be appearing in the stage adaption of Toronto Noir, a collection of short stories about Hogtown. Foster, who plays bass for Great Big Sea, will be playing a man who plays bass, but not for Great Big Sea. The master of the bottom end has received at least one rave-ish review.
INTERVIEW: Paul Rudd & Jason Segel — The sequel
Becoming an instant box office smash when it was theatrically released in March, I Love You, Man — still one of the most original and smartest comedies released this year — arguably turned costars Paul Rudd and Jason Segel into the hottest new comedy team in motion pictures. If, for some crazy reason, you missed I Love You, Man when it was playing at your neighborhood multiplex, here is your opportunity to experience the bromance of the century in the privacy of your own home. In March, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel sat down for an exclusive chat with Earl Dittman to discuss the film (read it here).
With the release of the I Love You, Man on Blu-ray and DVD, may we now present our own extended version of the interview, containing questions deleted from the original chat. Consider it DRIVEN’s own Bonus Feature. Plus: this week in home video, after the jump.
Sincerely, John Hughes
A director whose films (and their associated catch-phrases) shaped the psyche on a couple of generations, left this world yesterday.
The reminiscing about John Hughes’ body of work — Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Home Alone, etc., etc. — and its impact will go on for quite a while.
However, it is hard to imagine a better tribute to the man himself than this blog post detailing the long and unusual correspondence he had with one teenage fan:
INTERVIEW: Downey, Jr. and Foxx on The Soloist
Based on the best-selling book of the same name, by Los Angeles Times journalist Steve Lopez , The Soloist stars two of the biggest actors on the planet in this true story of how Lopez (Robert Downey, Jr.) discovered that Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless schizophrenic man who played violin on the streets of Los Angeles, was once a classical music prodigy. The Soloist chronicles Lopez’s attempts to help the troubled genius find his way back to the music world he loved so dearly.
In this exclusive interview the Oscar-winning Foxx and Academy Award-nominated Downey, the Hollywood heavyweights recall meeting their real-life counterparts for the first time, while Robert explains why he wanted to look inside Lopez’s closet and Foxx, discusses how and why he studied the physical and emotional aspects of Ayers, and how playing a schizophrenic almost drove the former Dreamgirls leading man insane. Plus: this week’s Blu-rays and DVDs, after the jump.
