Everyone’s talking about the epic Chrysler spot broadcast just after the Super Bowl halftime show, directed by David Gordon Green and featuring Clint Eastwood tottering down a dark tunnel before emerging to exhort our country back to unity, pride and general greatness, hopefully behind the wheel of a Chrysler. “It’s halftime in America,” the actor-filmmaker announced, rousing millions of viewers nationwide. Stirring stuff — but how does it stand up against Eastwood’s previous commercial and PSA work? Let’s investigate. Remember that time when Eastwood urged folks to donate to the “Will Rogers Hospital and O’Donnell Research Laboratories” in their valiant fight against respiratory illness? It’s “Be generous, hmm?” kicker is just as inspiring as “Our second half is about to begin,” or maybe it’s just me. Here’s Eastwood opposing Proposition 18, the 1972 California ballot measure against obscenity that Eastwood derided as censorship. The measure failed (naturally): Easily the most memorable Eastwood spot before Sunday’s Chrysler ad, this anti-crack PSA has been lampooned , remixed and admired by many. “See this cute little viral here?” Yes, Clint, tell me more! Not to be outdone, erstwhile First Lady and tirelss anti-drug advocate Nancy Reagan teamed up for a more general broadside against the nation’s narcotic scourge. Who hasn’t told a drug pusher to take a hike? Eastwood wasn’t messing around with those punks who would defile our public parks, either: Eastwood later went to the plate for Honor Flight, an organization dedicated to arranging trips for veterans to visit memorials to their wars… …before asking folks to donate to the memorial fund honoring America’s fallen law enforcement officers: Of course no true California tourism PSA would be complete without the former Carmel mayor chiming in from the links with his signature line: And finally… It’s halftime, America. In an unfortunate twist, the team named the Patriots then went on to lose the Super Bowl, but hey. Thanks for the memories, Clint! Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Here’s a doozy to add to the annals of great PR stunts gone wrong: Last Friday, Woody Harrelson took to Reddit to promote his latest film, Oren Moverman’s Rampart , in which he gives a pretty terrific and tough performance as a corrupt L.A. cop. Harrelson’s been an open book to the world in the past, so why not sit him down for a session of “Ask Me Anything” with the users of the internet’s arguably most powerful (and famously no bullshit-taking) community? Well, because it can go very, very wrong . As when Reddit user AndyRooney asked Harrelson about a rumored onetime tryst with a high school student at a prom in L.A. “I swear this is a true story. I went to a high school in LA and you crashed our prom after party (Universal Hilton). You ended up taking the virginity of a girl named Roseanne. You didn’t call her afterwards. She cried a lot. Do you remember any of this and can confirm or have you been so knee deep in hollywood pooty for so long that this qualifies as a mere blip?” Harrelson refuted the claim and attempted to move on in the AMA chat, but things just were not going his way. For starters, Redditers became testy when the actor kept directing his answers toward Rampart — a trick employed by any actor or filmmaker or famous person who has something specific to promote. Media training, people! Well, it might’ve worked on the late night talk show circuit, but it didn’t fly this time; Harrelson fled the chat as users erupted over his using the open channel of AMA to pimp a product, his handlers reportedly flipped out , and the rest has made history among spectacular press flame-outs in recent memory. The victim in all of this, and I’m not talking about some 18-year-old young lady who may or may not have had a fling with an actor at prom, is the film itself — Rampart is Moverman’s sophomore feature, an intense character study filled with noteworthy turns by Harrelson and his castmates (including Brie Larson, near unrecognizable as Harrelson’s rebellious teenage daughter). Following the critical success of Moverman’s debut film The Messenger , a sensitively observed drama co-starring Harrelson and Ben Foster (who also appears in Rampart ), the cop drama hits theaters this Friday and needs all the attention it can garner. And truth be told, it deserves to be seen. But this kind of attention isn’t helpful to anyone except maybe the Reddit community, which holds on to their reputation as an iconoclastic, no-fools-suffering information exchange on the internet. Reddit’s “Ask Me Anything,” meanwhile, remains a brilliant way for certain celebrities to interact openly and candidly with internet denizens. But publicists — if you do expose your clients to the wonders of Reddit, at least make sure they know what they’re in for. Movieliners, here’s your chance: Ask me anything who’s to blame for the Great Harrelson-Reddit Debacle of 2012? [ Reddit via Mediaite , hat tip to Martini Shark ;)]
Stage and film veteran Ben Gazzara, whose career spanned five decades and included a stint directing television, has died at age 81 in New York. According to The New York Times , Gazzara succumbed to pancreatic cancer today in Manhattan, where he lived. Let’s bid a fond farewell to the Emmy-winning, Golden Globes-nominated Gazzara by remembering some of his most indelible work. After getting his start in the 1950s in television and on stage in productions like Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955, for which he originated the role of Brick. Film highlights include Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959), although he may be best known for his collaborations with John Cassavetes ( Husbands , The Killing of a Chinese Bookie , Opening Night ) and later highlights in Road House , Buffalo ’66 , The Big Lebowski , and Todd Solondz’s Happiness . For me and many of my generation the Gazzara role I’ve rewatched a zillion times is his turn as Jackie Treehorn in The Big Lebowski ; Click here for the film’s memorable (but nonembeddable) Jackie Treehorn scene and let’s take a brief hopscotch through the actor’s filmography over the years.
‘W.E.’ director tells MTV News she prefers directing because ‘If I’m the actor, I’m just … I’m a pawn.’ By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Madonna directing “W.E.” Photo: The Weinstein Co. Madonna has given the whole thespian thing a try several times over. So, the idea of hitting the big screen again in front of the camera doesn’t really appeal much to the “W.E.” writer and director. “No [I don’t want to act], but I do [act] every day of my life,” she told MTV News, before waxing a bit more philosophical about her future ambitions for a career on the big screen. “I like directing better,” she further explained. “If I write it and direct it, then it’s my voice. If I’m the actor, I’m just … I’m a pawn.” As Madonna embarks on yet another chapter in her always-evolving career, she explains that she hopes that people will be able to love her for every project she’s attached herself to in her decades-spanning career. “I’d rather not divide things up into categories, but I prefer the idea that people would say that I contributed to the culture, the zeitgeist from a female perspective as a musician, as a songwriter, as a filmmaker, in my political point of views of the issues that I’ve stood by and fought for,” she said. “I hope that I consider all of these things to be a part of my body of work and I’d rather not go, ‘Oh, she’ll be remembered as a great filmmaker, a great songwriter.’ ” “W.E.” opens Friday and follows two parallel love stories. It focuses on the vintage, tabloid romance between American divorc
Let’s hear it for Gang Grey , which handily sprinted off with first place at the weekend box office while fellow newcomers One For the Money and Man on a Ledge settled a little more quietly into their own top-five niches. A couple of unremarkable holdovers fared not much better, but hey. At least now we can look forward to February! Your Weekend Receipts are here. 1. The Grey Gross: $20,000,000 (new) Screens: 3,185 (PSA $6,279) Weeks: 1 Audiences got behind the Liam Neeson man-against-the-frozen-wild thriller in a big way — a surprisingly big way, if you believe some box-office observers. But come on: Since Taken in 2009, Neeson hasn’t led a wide release that opened below $20,000,000. And he’s only supported in one — The Next Three Days , which bombed out under $7,000,000 in 2010. Give the guy some credit! Big ups as well to distributors Open Road Films, who’ve hopefully shaken off their machismo-factory false start Killer Elite and can move forward accordingly. First start: Getting guys (and their dates) to come out for Super Bowl weekend and hold this movie up in Week Two. Developing… 2. Underworld: Awakening Gross: $12,500,000 ($45,126,000) Screens: 3,078 (PSA $4,061) Weeks: 2 (Change: -50.6%) Actually, 50 percent is a surprisingly low drop for this one against three new wide releases, so hats off to Screen Gems! Place your bets now as to whether or not it has what it takes to beat the franchise’s second installment, Underworld: Evolution , as the series’ highest grosser at $62.3 million. The math says “not likely,” but it’ll be close. 3. One For the Money Gross: $11,750,000 (new) Screens: 2,737 (PSA: $4,293) Weeks: 1 Well, that should just about do it for Katherine Heigl’s plans for a Stephanie Plum franchise. If this was One For the Money , I’d hate to think how the putative sequel, Two For the Dough , would be rebranded. Two For the Oyyy ? Two For Whatever Pocket Change You’ve Got on You ? Two For Anything But Another Katherine Heigl Comedy ? You tell me. 4. Red Tails Gross: $10,400,000 ($33,780,000) Screens: 2,573 (PSA $4,042) Weeks: 2 (Change: -44.6%) Needs more Liam Neeson. 5. Man on a Ledge Gross: $8,300,000 (new) Screens: 2,998 (PSA $2,769) Weeks: 1 Ouch . First the What to Expect When You’re Expecting poster , now this. It just wasn’t Elizabeth Banks’s week. That’ll teach her to take second billing to Sam Worthington. Seriously, Hollywood, stop doing that! [Figures via Box Office Mojo ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The most demoralizing awards season in recent memory continued over the weekend, with the Directors Guild and the Screen Actors Guild handing out their hardware to pretty much everyone you expected to receive it. I’ll factor all this into Oscar Index on Wednesday for a complete-race breakdown, but here are the five basic takeaways worth keeping in mind: 1. The Artist is not coming back. Michel Hazanavicius’s DGA win for Best Director, paired with last weekend’s Producers Guild win for Best Picture, all but cements The Artist ‘s standing as the thoroughbred way, way out in front of the Oscar pack. It isn’t about to slow up, either; the most that the teams behind such films as The Descendants , The Help and Hugo can hope for is that their principals cure cancer this week. And even that might not be enough goodwill to ratchet up their momentum. 2. Michel Hazanavicius/Tom Hooper/Quentin Tarantino are to 2012 what Robert Rodriguez/Kevin Smith/Quentin Tarantino were to 1994. If mellow is what wins, then Harvey Weinstein will give awards voters mellow. He’s about to go two-for-two with this (mostly) new stable of directorial talent, having previously made nominees of Tarantino and (ahem) Stephen Daldry. Next up in 2013, it’s Tarantino again with Django Unchained and Paul Thomas Anderson perhaps giving us back some edge as well with his new one. But mostly just look for Harvey to continue making whatever myths he can in the perennial quest to bolster his own. 3. Bank on Viola Davis. It’s not so much the precursors won — her SAG and Critics Choice awards for Best Actress, for example — that now have her ahead of Meryl Streep in the Oscar race. It’s her extraordinary class and grace and humility in accepting her plaudits — her belief in her work, her colleagues, and the power of what they created. Only the Artist gang has really shown any ability to match that, and thus look for both to be rewarded next month with the majority of the Academy’s top prizes — including… 4. Jean Dujardin should pull through. I don’t know what surveys or rankings some experts were reading that made Dujardin’s SAG win on Sunday an ” upset .” Movieline’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics has had the guy tracking in the lead for two months now , with Clooney only recently pulling even after the Golden Globes. Now Dujardin returns to the solo lead, probably for good. Big deal. 5. The Academy embarrassed itself nominating Glenn Close. I don’t have much outrage left about this year’s Oscar class, but just watching another goddamn tired Albert Nobbs clip and seeing Tilda Swinton’s gracious recognition of her own SAG nomination and thinking about Swinton and Charlize Theron and Kirsten Dunst and Elizabeth Olsen and at least three or four other actresses more worthy of Close’s Oscar nomination and what could have been had me so irretrievably embittered all over again. What a bunch of bozos we’ve built this beat around. Or maybe we’re the bozos. Either way, it’s a waste. 6. It won’t get any better next year. Who’s ready for the great John Hawkes ( The Surrogate )/Daniel Day Lewis ( Lincoln ) battle of 2013? I said, who’s ready — enh, forget it. And for the record, find the complete list of SAG motion picture award winners below. Congrats to all! 18th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® RECIPIENTS THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role JEAN DUJARDIN / George – “THE ARTIST” (The Weinstein Company) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark – “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER / Hal – “BEGINNERS” (Focus Features) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson – “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures) Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture THE HELP (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures) JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD / Hilly Holbrook ALLISON JANNEY / Charlotte Phelan CHRIS LOWELL / Stuart Whitworth AHNA O’REILLY / Elizabeth Leefolt SISSY SPACEK / Missus Walters OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson MARY STEENBURGEN / Elaine Stein EMMA STONE / Skeeter Phelan CICELY TYSON / Constantine Jefferson MIKE VOGEL / Johnny Foote Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Brad Pitt is well aware that an Internet search of his name yields hundreds of millions of results – not all of them positive and many full-on ridiculous. Heck, you can learn all about how he got Angelina Jolie pregnant , how he’s having an affair with Jennifer Aniston, and how he worried about Shiloh. Most or all of which is untrue, of course … which brings us to this quote: “On all the kids’ computers, we had our own names blocked,” the actor told Germany’s Bild in an interview. “They can’t Google their mom and dad.” “I don’t want to make myself dependent on what other people think.” Brad Pitt adds that he and Angelina Jolie aren’t exactly searching for themselves either, for good reason. “We don’t even notice all the noise,” he said . The same could be said for his stance on aging. Despite being just two years away from the big 5-0, the Moneyball star says he enjoys getting older. “I love becoming an older man. Your thoughts get clearer.” Those thoughts may include a wedding in the works. The actor told The Hollywood Reporter – for real this time – that he would like to marry Angelina. “It seems to mean more and more to our kids,” he added. Just don’t expect them to find out via celeb gossip sites.
Some adaptations of great literature become so beloved and important in their own right that it can be hard to separate where the book ends and the movie begins. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those cases. Released in 1962, two years after Harper Lee’s novel was published, the movie propelled the nationwide discussion on racial inequality and introduced characters that went against the norm yet were easy to relate and aspire to. Scout and Atticus Finch are finding their footing in a challenging environment, not an alien concept for generations of junior high and high school kids who are assigned to read the book. These days, those students might also be shown director Robert Mulligan’s classic film — featuring Gregory Peck in an indelible, Oscar-winning turn as Atticus Finch, a Southern attorney who defends an African-American man unjustly accused of rape — as a complement to Lee’s book. The movie has left an impression on generations of Americans, but two women with a close relationship to it — Peck’s onscreen daughter, Mary Badham, and his actual daughter, the filmmaker Cecilia Peck — found that it steered them into adulthood in a more direct way. (The Atticus role is so inseparable from Peck and his legacy that Badham, herself an Oscar nominee for her performance as Scout Finch, still refers to the actor as Atticus half a century later.) Indeed, an adult revisiting To Kill a Mockingbird will discover a new perspective on the story and its lessons, going beyond the adventures of Scout, Jem and Dill. For Badham and Peck, taking a look back also reveals how Atticus, and the man who played him so perfectly on film, shaped them as adults and as parents. Mockingbird is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a new collector’s edition DVD, due Jan. 31. Movieline caught up with Mary Badham and Cecilia Peck to talk about their memories of Gregory Peck, their affinity for Scout and the influence the film had on them and the nation. What was your relationship with each other at the time, and in the years since? Peck: It’s a family. I was 3, but Mary was like part of the family and has been ever since. Right, Mary? Badham: Yes, she’s the little sister I never had. And, yeah, Atticus was my other daddy. I lost my parents very early in my life. My mom died three weeks after I graduated from high school, and my dad died two years after I got married. So it was nothing for me to pick up the phone, and he [Peck] would be calling to check and make sure I was doing OK. If he was going to be somewhere doing his one-man show, he’d find out if I could come to him, and sometimes he’d come visit me. It was great, and whenever I’m out in California I go visit the family. Atticus and [Peck’s wife, Veronique] were great role models for me as parents, and I just can’t say enough things about what a great role model Atticus was especially. That’s so important for children when they’re growing up, to have a strong male role model. Did you realize at the time of the film’s release how important and beloved the story of To Kill a Mockingbird was? Badham: I had no idea, being all of 9 or 10 years old at the time, anything about the importance of the film at all. Now that I’m an adult, I am so pleased and honored to be a part of something that was so important to so many thousands and millions of people, and that has done so much good in this world. Peck: I had always known that my father was in a great film, and one of the favorite films of all time, and he won the Oscar for it. But for me, when my father was doing that one-man show that Mary mentioned that I filmed for a documentary called A Conversation With Gregory Peck in ’99 and 2000 — and Mary was often there — I heard how many people in the audiences had gone to law school because of Atticus or named their child Gregory or Atticus or named their daughters Scout. It wasn’t until then that I realized how lasting the influence of the film was on our whole nation, or fully became aware of how many generations of people it affected, and still does. Badham: The book is taught in all the high schools. It’s mandatory reading. A lot of my time is spent on the road visiting high schools, colleges, universities, libraries, talking about the importance of the book and the film and doing historical studies of then and when I was growing up, and to now and how it’s pertinent today. Peck: [My son] Harper’s reading it this year, in seventh grade. Badham: There you go! Peck: They’re just starting it. Badham: It’s so great that they teach it. I’ve been to England and Russia with this, and it’s just amazing. It has touched people all over the world. Has Harper seen the film? Peck: Yes, he’s seen the film. He’s seen it ever since he was little, and we all got together and watched it this spring when Mary was in Los Angeles at Grauman’s Chinese Theater as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival. So he was there — which we all were, onstage — and we were all talking about it. I think he does have a sense of what the film means. His school is doing a program on Martin Luther King right now, so reading the book and seeing the film is connected to their studies of the Civil Rights Movement. I think the film, which did come out before the civil rights legislation in our country, and before Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, was one of the ways that allowed people to start the dialogue about racism, which was so important at the time. It was ahead of its time, don’t you think, Mary? It was one of the first films that dealt with that subject. Badham: Exactly. And it gave the nation a way to talk about a subject that desperately needed to be discussed, and people were past ready to talk about it, but they didn’t know how to begin. But this gave them a stepping stone to work through it. That’s the way I understand it. To have a film such as The Help coming out this year, and up for nominations as well — it’s got some nominations for Academy Awards — I really feel it’s interesting that here, 50 years later, we have another film that’s still discussing this. It speaks to so much that’s going on today. To me, the root of all evil is ignorance, and this book speaks directly to the importance of getting an education because ignorance breeds things like bigotry and racism, and all that hatred. We’re still dealing with that, right here in the United States, if we’re talking about Muslims or Mexicans or immigrants, you know, it’s a major deal right now. So we’re still grappling with these issues. It’s just that people have changed their clothes, that’s all. This is not a 1930s black-and-white issue, this is here and now, today. (L-R) Mary Badham, Cecilia Peck and Veronique Peck at a screening of To Kill a Mockingbird in 2011 Do you think the 50th anniversary will shed more light on the film and introduce it to a new generation? Badham: I hope so. Peck: I know the collector’s edition that Universal has put together is such a beautiful gift and keepsake. I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet, Mary … Badham: Not yet. Peck: It’s got great script notes, some of the pages of the script with [Peck’s] notes of shooting, notes in the margin, and there are two documentaries … what else is in there? Harper [Lee] wrote something. My mother wrote something. It’s absolutely beautiful, and just full of treasures. The book, as Mary talked about, is read every year, and the movie is seen every year, but they have a really beautiful new edition coming out. What are each of your relationships with the character Scout Finch, and how would you say it’s changed over the years? Badham: Well, for me, I really feel like Scout was me as a child. I was very much a tomboy. I’ve always been rather outspoken [laughs], headstrong, and I’m pretty much that way to this day. I think that’s why they picked me for the role, and picked each of the actors for their role, because they were, in real life, so much like the character that they would be portraying. Gregory Peck was totally Atticus. I mean, there couldn’t have been anybody else picked for that role. Peck: For me, I think of all the little girls in the world who must have wished that they had Atticus as their dad, being Scout, and I did. And I think my father was so much an Atticus and became even more of an Atticus after playing this role. He parented us exactly like Atticus parented his children, except for the constant presence of his true love, my mother, Veronique. I think I wanted to be Scout, and tried to be like Scout, and look like Scout, too — right Mary? We did look alike … Badham: [Laughing] Yeah! Peck: … and maybe I took on a little bit of that dynamic with him of being a little bit of an outspoken, rebellious daughter, and then getting to have him as a real-life dad. Badham: He was such a proud but gentle daddy. He was the perfect balance, but the best thing about him was he had his sense of humor. Wouldn’t you agree, Cecilia? He loved to laugh and make other people laugh. Peck: Yes, people don’t really know that about him, but he was so witty and so charming, and so much fun to be with. I tried to show that side of him in A Conversation With Gregory Peck, which I did think gave people an insight into how funny he was. Badham: Yeah. Right. I thought you did a brilliant job with that. Peck: He was half Irish, and he had a real Irish wit. Did your view of the Atticus character change as you reached adulthood and became parents yourselves? Badham: I think it made us more mindful of what it is to be a parent. It’s one thing to have children. It’s something else to be a true parent, and the character of Atticus helped lead the way. And we had it in living, breathing reality with him because he embodied that whole sensibility of needing the respect of his children and demanding of himself to be the best role model for us that he could be. Wouldn’t you agree, Cecilia? Peck: Yes. I can’t even separate my dad and Atticus as far as parenting. My dad was extremely strict with us, but also fair and decent, but very strict. I rebelled against it, and we clashed a lot in my teenage years and I felt misunderstood, but now I’m exactly like he was. Badham: [Laughs] Peck: [Laughing] You have to set boundaries when you’re a parent, and you don’t always understand it as a teenager, but it’s so important for the parent to draw the line. How else does your child know where the boundaries are? Badham: And that’s where they find their safety. I’ve heard the saying that to say “no” is the most loving thing that you can say to your children. To Kill a Mockingbird doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects. How did your parents guide you during the making of the film, and what impression did that have on you? Peck: I think it’s a film that exists on so many different levels that you’re able to understand what you’re able to at the time of seeing it. I know that when I was little I was drawn toward the father-daughter story and the Boo Radley story, but I didn’t understand everything about the trial. So it is a movie about parenting as well, about Atticus being a single parent, as well as the issue of racism and the issue of abuse, or rape. I don’t think that my dad addressed that, or my mom, before we were ready to understand it. That’s something I came to later, and now I’m actually doing a documentary on the subject of rape, so it’s definitely something that’s been part of my awareness, and I think as a parent it’s one of the most important subjects to address. I think you get from the book and the film what you’re ready for at the time. Badham: I would agree with that. I don’t think there was any discussion on that subject. It was sort of a larger question of good against evil. And what I found with this book and this film is I have a lot of parents come to me and they say, “I just don’t know if my child is ready for that.” And I say, well, you as the parent are the only one who can judge that, and a lot of times you don’t need to worry about that. Children are going to take away from it what they want to. Most of the time, children concentrate on what the kids are doing in the film, and the trial stuff just goes by the way. So, you know, and then adults focus on the trial because that’s more the adult thing. I think that’s the way our parents approached it. If we didn’t ask, they didn’t talk about it because there was no need to. We weren’t concerned about it. Even as you were making a movie that dealt with issues so straightforwardly? Peck: Scout doesn’t know, sitting on that balcony, exactly what Tom is accused of, right? Badham: Right. I mean, Atticus said it so simply, you know, it was the carnal knowledge of a woman. OK, well, fine. A child back then was so innocent. They had no clue about any of that. What they knew was that this person accusing Tom Robinson was a very bad person. He was a very ignorant, mean person. And what the children were more concerned about was that Atticus was going to try and help Tom, who was innocent, and make everything all right. And then they’re just totally devastated when he doesn’t win. But Atticus knew he was going to lose — and that’s part of the lesson of life. You don’t always win, but you have to try. The 50th anniversary edition of To Kill a Mockingbird arrives Tuesday, Jan. 31, on DVD and Blu-ray. [Photos: Getty Images]
Actress has reportedly left Sherman Oaks Hospital, where she was admitted on Tuesday for ‘exhaustion.’ By Jocelyn Vena Demi Moore (file) Photo: FilmMagic Demi Moore has been discharged from Sherman Oaks Hospital, E! News confirms. The actress entered the Los Angeles area hospital on Monday, but it remains unclear exactly when she left the facility. The site further reports that her discharge is timed perfectly with Ashton Kutcher’s return to the States. He had been in Brazil shooting a campaign for Colcci along with supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio. His return to the U.S. on Thursday (January 26) had been previously scheduled and was not prompted by Moore’s hospitalization. When TMZ cameras caught the actor out and about in Brazil, he said nothing when asked about his estranged wife’s situation. There has been a lot of speculation in the days since Moore entered the hospital , including reports that she had been inhaling nitrous oxide from aerosol cans, which then led to seizure-like symptoms. However, her rep explained that she was hospitalized for “exhaustion.” A source tells UsMagazine.com that “she has spiraled and gotten to a place where she is struggling too much to function … Her life is completely in crisis. She is turning 50 and has no idea who she is or what her focus should be.” The news of Moore’s health scare comes just months after she announced her split from Kutcher . “As a woman, a mother and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life,” she said in a statement. “This is a trying time for me and my family, and so I would ask for the same compassion and privacy that you would give to anyone going through a similar situation.” While she will no longer be in the upcoming “Lovelace” biopic, she will appear in the Miley Cyrus film “LOL,” out later this year. Related Photos Demi And Ashton: From Bliss To Breakup
It says something about how far Ice-T has come since his gangsta rap days that his directorial debut, the hip-hop documentary Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap , premiered at Sundance to a house packed with hip-hop heads and white older moviegoers who likely know Ice better from Law & Order: SVU than “New Jack Hustler.” And it says something about the film itself, which explores the historical landscape of hip-hop in intimate detail with over 40 of Ice-T’s fellow rappers, that even the L&O -watching grandmas in the audience were bopping their heads the whole way through. Taking a fresh approach to the music documentary, The Art of Rap sees Ice-T as a tour guide of sorts, navigating the viewer through home and studio visits with fellow MCs on both coasts as he has wide-ranging discussions about the roots of rap, what hip-hop means, and the skills and talent required of a truly great MC. (Among the hip-hop titans appearing in the film: Chuck D, Grandmaster Caz, Afrika Bambaataa, KRS-One, Melle Mel, B-Real, Mos Def, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, MC Lyte, Q-Tip, Redman, Immortal Technique, Nas, Common, and Kanye West.) As he travels from New York City to Los Angeles — with a detour to Detroit to see Eminem, described as one of the greatest rappers of all time — Ice asks his subjects to spit “something no one’s ever heard before,” resulting in a tapestry of astounding, off the dome freestyles and rare rhymes from some of the best rappers alive. With the intention of keeping the film feeling fresh and present, Ice-T forgoes include archival or concert footage as he revisits hip-hop’s colorful past, a choice that turns The Art of Rap into something of a communal, if dense, oral history of the genre. The doc could be a bit brisker with further edits and more complete in its comprehensiveness (he began with a three hour film before shaving off an hour for Sundance, but has dozens of hours of footage left; an Art of Rap series has been suggested, though Ice-T declined to discuss the possibilities), but with legends like these on hand speaking comfortably to one of their own – spilling their vulnerabilities as artists, exposed beyond the typically hard façade of the genre – it’s all utterly fascinating. Following the film’s premiere Movieline caught up with Ice-T as he and wife/reality TV co-star Coco breakfasted in Park City, where the rapper-turned-actor-turned-filmmaker explained what motivated him to grab his Rolodex and a tiny crew in the first place, why rap needed an Ice-T film more than another album, why the genre doesn’t get the respect it deserves, and how the film’s success or failure will determine his future directorial aspirations. How do you think things went at your premiere? I wasn’t breathing the whole night before, I was so nervous. I put a lot of time and work into it, but you never know. Sundance was our goal when we made the movie — I only wanted to make it to Sundance. This was it for me. And if I could make it here, I was in the right company of good movies. Why Sundance? It was interesting to see it play well here for a crowd of predominantly white, older viewers, and last year Beats, Rhymes, and Life also did quite well. Well, I didn’t know what films would be here when we submitted the film and got accepted. When you think about it, I’m an indie artist; I started out making hardcore records, so I wanted to make something that was raw. I said, I know Sundance is artsy but if I can get accepted there, then I’m on the right track. White people, black people, it really doesn’t matter. It’s just a matter of is it good? So when the movie came on and people started cheering and laughing and bobbing their heads, it was like oh my god – we got it! It’s kind of like not a normal documentary, it’s like a performance experience, an intimate concerts with a lot of the artists that people love. I was just happy. You’ve said that once you decided a documentary on rap should be made it was easy to just call your friends to be in the film, but in terms of the actual filmmaking what was your approach? Did you study documentary form to develop the style you eventually used? Not really. I mean, I’ve been watching movies and I’ve been in the film business for 20 years so I know what’s good. I wanted to shoot it, but I wanted to blur the lines of the filmmaking and behind the scenes. If the mic was exposed, that was good. A lot of the stuff, you see me talking to people; I wanted you to get the idea of what it was like to make it, not just watch it. People are into reality right now so this was like real reality; you’re with me, you’re on the set, I’m going to walk up to this guy and ask him a few questions. So as I edited, I just wanted the camera to feel like it might be anywhere at any moment. There are times people are talking and you’re showing the wall, or his hands, or his shoes. And then we shot with a Super 8 to kind of break up the cleanness of high definition. And we shot the big cinematic shots because I felt that if you just shoot the talking heads the movie becomes claustrophobic, so it’s just like, listen, listen, listen, breathe. Listen, listen, listen, breathe. Those sweeping overhead cinematic shots, of the cityscapes over New York City and Los Angeles and the places you visit in between, also do well to connect visually to a sense of place and geography… even though that also makes it conspicuous when you don’t visit, say, the Bay Area or the South. That’s what Mos Def said in the movie — the music is dictated by the geography, and that’s why New York sounds different than Detroit, different than L.A. And you know, I couldn’t go to the South; the biggest problem I ran into with the movie was once we started, just the lack of time and the amount of film we shot. When I got the nod for Sundance I had a three-hour film and they said the longest they’d run them here is two. We had interviewed 54 [musicians]; even to make a three-hour cut we had 47, and I had 25 people waiting to be filmed when we had to wrap shooting! So like Chuck D said [at asked why this person wasn’t in it and why that person wasn’t, and you know what? The movie’s not about that, it’s not about ‘Come see your favorite rapper.’ I feel every form of rap, every style, was represented. Are you currently considering extending this two-hour film somehow into something else, perhaps a series? I won’t speak on that, only because we don’t want to lower the integrity of this as a film. We want it to be a film, and once it does its dance as a film, whether it’s a theatrical release which looks like it’s about to happen… I’ll put it like this: We’ve got two hours on each artist. Wow. That’s pretty incredible considering that many of the rappers we only see for a minute or two at most. [Laughs] I have two hours! So you look at KRS-One; KRS-One talked about so much stuff, but my job is, let’s show the part where KRS talks about being vulnerable, like the moment where he got dissed. I want you to see the different dynamics of these artists. See, when you take young artists, right, young artists have their guards up. They never want to show any weakness, they’re scared. They’re worried about their persona. When you talk to people once they’ve been down the lane, they’ll tell you the story. They’ll say, ‘Wow, man — I’m Public Enemy and Mel was dissing us!’ Now they’re comfortable with themselves. Even the stories, WC was talking about how I would use kids as teleprompters. Early in my career I wouldn’t have said that, but now I’m like, let’s laugh about it! I think that’s part of this film’s charm, too. There’s a segment where you’re talking with Ice Cube and 50 Cent is referenced; Cube jokes that you don’t want to get rich and die trying. Was that a jab at Fiddy, or just an offhand remark? No, that’s not a diss -– it’s more like saying, this is my play on what you said. I don’t want to get rich and die trying. 50 Cent said ‘Get rich or die trying,’ but you can get rich and die trying. So once you made it now, let’s not fuck it off. That would be part two of Fifty. The next one is Get Rich AND Die Tryin … I just think that the way that rappers speak about each other in the movie is very endearing, how they speak about how they were inspired by this one, and also I think really showing Grandmaster Caz as one of the unsung heroes. Grandmaster Caz wrote “Rapper’s Delight!” It’s important shit. That’s a nice quality to the movie; it engenders appreciation not only between the artists that you interview, but having MCs spit live, directly into the camera without music really highlights rap as a performance and an art form. And you’ve got to remember this: Nobody knew they were going to rap. That’s part of being a rapper. Nobody knew they were going to rap. It’s like at the [Sundance premiere Q&A] the guy said, ‘Ice, can you quote a rhyme?’ Yeah, I’m a rapper – I’d better know how to fucking quote a rhyme! I pulled Rakim outta my ass, and that’s it. But during the interviews I said, ‘You want to spit something – you got anything in the head, want to say something no one’s ever heard?’ And bam! They just, bam! I didn’t tell anyone, ‘You’re going to rap.’ I didn’t tell Kanye he was coming over to rap. But you knew they could, because that’s what they do . Exactly! That’s what they do. You can’t interview a basketball player on a basketball court, with a basketball within his reach, and he won’t take a shot. It’s just what they do. He’s going to want to dribble the ball – he’s at home! So when you get a rapper in a comfortable situation with one of their friends and say, ‘Spit something,’ they might go, ‘Aww, come on Ice!’ Then they might go, ‘Hold on…’ bam! And another thing I did in the movie, if you really watch — some of the rappers in their rhymes kind of fuck up. They kind of slur words, because they’re connecting two rhymes together. That’s the art. You know, what you hear on records is something different. But when you hear it live, that’s all good. I mean, hopefully none of the rappers are so vain that they’re like, ‘Ice, you saw me fucking up.’ But that’s just what they did. That’s real shit. Which of your interviews was the most challenging to pull off, or to break through to? None. None of them. Every interview was just as easy to do, the only hard part was getting Ice-T, them, and a camera crew from London in the same place at the same time. How did you find your crew? When I came up with the idea, my manager said ‘I’ve got somebody who might be interested in doing it.’ We hooked up with a guy named Paul Toogood, he does a TV show called Songbook where they interview singers and they break down a song. It’s right up his alley. He said, not only do I want to do it, I’ll get the money to do it. I had to find somebody who was as passionate about it as me, and thank god – these guys are incredible cinematographers… the thing about this film is there were only five people that made it. There’s Paul, the cinematographer, myself, my guys that helped me wrangle the artists, Coco, Little Ice, and the sound crew. It’s apparent how small your crew is in the film when you have trouble fending off onlookers and fans while interviewing Q-Tip in New York… We just grabbed Q-Tip on the corner and we started shooting, I’ve got one of the homies out there blocking, I’ve got a camera guy and a boom, and we just go. So it’s very guerrilla, but I think that’s part of what makes the movie good. That comfortable distance of time and age that you mentioned that allows you to be more open with your experiences – do you feel like the impetus for making this film came from a desire to revisit where you’ve been in your career, to reconnect with your roots after transitioning into acting and television and beyond? I think it’s trying to do something for hip-hop, but do something that I am the only one who’s really capable of doing it. It’s kind of like, Ice-T could make another record, but we all know that. Now Ice is in another lane, he’s moved up, he’s got different credentials. So now it’s my job; I’ve got to make a movie. I’ve got to give hip-hop something they didn’t even know they wanted. Right now you make records and people don’t listen to them. You write a book and some people read. But people go to movies! And I wanted to direct; I have a lot of films that are in my sights, but I always learned in business that if you’re going to start a new business, go for the lowest hanging fruit. Start with something you know the best, first. And this is what I know the best. So I said, let me do something that’s important, that’s my way of giving back to hip-hop, and if it’s successful I’ll move on with my filmmaking career. If it’s not, I’ll re-assess my mistakes, maybe try again, or I’ll stop. But what is your barometer for success with this film? When will you be happy or satisfied with the results? It’s really just the response of the people. I never go by the critics, because critics’ jobs are to criticize. So a critic will look at you and how well you’re dressed but they’re looking for something they don’t like. Film journalists, I respect. But anyone who uses the word ‘critic’ in their description, I don’t fuck with them. But I can tell from the fans. Now, the internet and all the ways people can get back at you… you’ll know if you did something good or not. My first barometer is the hip-hop community. If they love it, and they’re like, ‘Man, you did something great. Thank you, Ice…’ That’s the first thing. Secondly will be the people and how they respond to it. So far, I went home last night and went through 30 reviews and didn’t get one bad, not one. I’m speechless! In the movie, we ask the question ‘Why don’t you think hip-hop is respected?’ Well, to have this film respected kind of says it is respected. It’s maybe not vocal, but it is, because people loved the movie. So it is respected. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . Get more of Movieline’s Sundance 2012 coverage here .
