Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders will direct 90 Church for Universal. Tobey Maguire joins an indie project by Craig Zobel and the New York Times names a new chief. Bachelorette is an iTunes Hit Leslye Headland’s Sundance premiere Bachelorette is at number one on the iTuens top movies chart, the first pre-theatrical release to mount the spot, Deadline reports . Snow White and the Huntsman Director Rupert Sanders to Direct 90 Church Universal acquired 90 Church: The True Story of the Narcotics Squad from Hell , a book written by Dean Unkefer that Random House will publish Stateside. “The upcoming novel 90 Church refers to the address of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics when it was formed in New York City to combat organized crime and drug traffic in the mid-1960s through early ’70s,” Deadline reports . Kristen Stewart Won’t Be in a Snow White Sequel In related news to above, Universal has decided to shelf its Snow White and the Huntsman sequel and will focus on a solo Huntsman movie starring Chris Hemsworth. A sequel is being re-conceived as a spin-off story and it’s not clear if Rupert Sanders will return, but Stewart will not be returning, THR reports . Tobey Maguire Joins Z for Zachariah Maguire will star in the project which Compliance director Craig Zobel will direct. Based on the novel by Robert C. O’Brien, and adapted by Nissar Modi, the story is a post-apocalyptic drama centers on a teen who survives both a nuclear war and nerve gas because of a self-contained weather system. Carey Mulligan will also star, Variety reports . New York Times Names BBC’s Mark Thompson its New Head “The New York Times Company has announced that BBC director general Mark Thompson is to become its chief executive and president in November. The NYT runs national and regional newspapers and websites and said his experience in digital media on a global scale made him the ‘ideal candidate,'” BBC reports .
Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders will direct 90 Church for Universal. Tobey Maguire joins an indie project by Craig Zobel and the New York Times names a new chief. Bachelorette is an iTunes Hit Leslye Headland’s Sundance premiere Bachelorette is at number one on the iTuens top movies chart, the first pre-theatrical release to mount the spot, Deadline reports . Snow White and the Huntsman Director Rupert Sanders to Direct 90 Church Universal acquired 90 Church: The True Story of the Narcotics Squad from Hell , a book written by Dean Unkefer that Random House will publish Stateside. “The upcoming novel 90 Church refers to the address of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics when it was formed in New York City to combat organized crime and drug traffic in the mid-1960s through early ’70s,” Deadline reports . Kristen Stewart Won’t Be in a Snow White Sequel In related news to above, Universal has decided to shelf its Snow White and the Huntsman sequel and will focus on a solo Huntsman movie starring Chris Hemsworth. A sequel is being re-conceived as a spin-off story and it’s not clear if Rupert Sanders will return, but Stewart will not be returning, THR reports . Tobey Maguire Joins Z for Zachariah Maguire will star in the project which Compliance director Craig Zobel will direct. Based on the novel by Robert C. O’Brien, and adapted by Nissar Modi, the story is a post-apocalyptic drama centers on a teen who survives both a nuclear war and nerve gas because of a self-contained weather system. Carey Mulligan will also star, Variety reports . New York Times Names BBC’s Mark Thompson its New Head “The New York Times Company has announced that BBC director general Mark Thompson is to become its chief executive and president in November. The NYT runs national and regional newspapers and websites and said his experience in digital media on a global scale made him the ‘ideal candidate,'” BBC reports .
Movieline is excited to welcome Alonso Duralde back to the pages of this site with a new regular feature we’re calling High and Low . Every week, the dauntless Duralde will wade through the mind-numbing number of home-entertainment choices out there and recommend two must-see releases: His first pick will be geared for cineastes looking for essential viewing. His second will be aimed at movie lovers seeking out the highest form of guilty pleasure available: the offbeat, the campy, the kitschy and the just plain wacky. Take it away, Alonso: HIGH: Les Vampires (Kino Classics; $34.95 DVD/$39.95 Blu-Ray) Who’s Responsible: Written and directed by Louis Feuillade; starring Musidora, Édouard Mathé, Marcel Lévesque. What It’s All About: Consisting of 10 serialized chapters, such as “The Severed Head” and “Satanus,” Feuillade’s silent 1915 crime drama follows journalist Philipe (played by Mathé) as he attempts to investigate the notorious syndicate known as The Vampires. (Sorry, Twilight fans, no blood-sucking here.) Over the course of this epic, which has been strung together as a single six-hour-and-40-minute (approximately) movie, we get murder, robbery, identity theft, poison rings, codebooks, gas attacks, paralysis drugs and orgies. What’s not to like? Why it’s Schmancy: Critics of the era despised Les Vampires — even in 1915, crime stories were considered old-fashioned and beneath Feuillade’s abilities — but the serial was embraced by André Breton and other founders of the Surrealist movement, particularly for the way that Feuillade combined a very realistic portrayal of Paris’ streets and sewers with his fantastic tale of masked bandits and their over-the-top skullduggery. More recent fans include Olivier Assayas, whose 1996 Irma Vep featured Hong Kong superstar Maggie Cheung (playing herself) coming to Paris to star in a remake. (Sexy assassin Irma Vep — played by Musidora in the original — is one of the key members of The Vampires, and her name is, of course, an anagram.) Why You Should Buy It (Again): This two-disc set comes beautifully mastered in HD, from the 1996 35mm restoration produced by the Cinémathèque Française and supervised by Feuillade’s grandson. The score for the silent film was compiled and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. LOW: Godzilla vs. Megalon (Tokyo Shock; $16.99 DVD) Who’s Responsible: Written and directed by Jun Fukuda, story by Takeshi Kimura and Shinichi Sekizawa; starring Katsushiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi. What It’s All About: In this 13th outing for one of Japan’s most enduring franchises, the underground kingdom of Seatopia protests the damage that atomic testing has inflicted upon them by stealing the robot Jet-Jaguar and using it to guide their demon god Megalon to destroy mankind. (Megalon flattens Tokyo first, naturally.) Jet-Jaguar’s inventors use a remote control to regain power over their creation, and the cyborg joins forces with Godzilla to whomp the tar out of both Megalon and giant alien insect Gigan. Why It’s Fun: 1973’s Godzilla vs. Megalon sees the series moving in several entertaining directions; for one thing, the actual Godzilla suit has become more streamlined and less cumbersome, allowing the actor inside (Shinji Takagi, this time) to move around more and to engage in more physical combat. Also, the introduction of Jet-Jaguar came at a time when lots of Japanese kids’ shows, inspired by the success of Ultraman , started throwing in more robots, and giving Godzilla an automaton sidekick with which to defeat the bad guys gives the movie a real jolt. (This is one of those rare films that’s as much fun to watch unadulterated as it is on Mystery Science Theater 3000 .) Why You Need to Buy It (Again): Both the original Japanese version and the English dub, as well as a trailer and photo gallery. Alonso Duralde has written about film for The Wrap , Salon and MSNBC.com. He also co-hosts the Linoleum Knife podcast and regularly appears on What the Flick?! (The Young Turks Network). He is a senior programmer for the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and a pre-screener for the Sundance Film Festival. He also the author of two books: Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas (Limelight Editions) and 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Advocate Books). Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Before she was cast in Gary Ross ‘s The Hunger Games as District 5’s elusive Tribute — known only by the nickname “Foxface,” per her wily dexterity and appearance — actress Jacqueline Emerson was a devoted fan of the YA series. Big time . “I was obsessed!” she told Movieline ahead of this week’s Hunger Games DVD/Blu-ray release. “It was my new book series that I was in love with.” Upon getting the part (a connection to Ross’s daughter put her in the director’s sights), the high schooler had to keep her secret from friends and concerned teachers for months — and now, over a year and $684 million in Hunger Games box office receipts later, the one-time child rocker looking for her next adventure with college and a Spike Lee project on the horizon. Emerson, who deferred enrollment at Stanford University for a year to tend to her burgeoning career as an actress and musician, rang Movieline to discuss her Hunger Games experience, the challenges of playing Foxface — Katniss’s most intelligent fellow Tribute, and therefore a dangerous, enigmatic rival — and her unique industry beginnings as a sixth-grade member of the Disney-backed Devo cover band Devo 2.0. You loved the books, but you also happened to have a connection to Gary through his daughter. How did your casting as Foxface come about? Claudia, who’s Gary’s daughter, told her dad that I’d read the books because we knew each other. So I came in and did an interview with Gary because he was interviewing kids who had read the book. A couple of weeks later he gave me a call and said, “Jackie, I really see you as Foxface – would you come in and audition?” And I absolutely flipped out. It’s my favorite book series of all time! I would kill to be in the movie! I slept like four hours the night before, I was tossing and turning, I had a physics test the next day and I don’t even remember it, and I went to my audition after school. I was hoping I did well but I wasn’t really sure, but a week later I got a call from Gary and he talked to my mom and said, “We really want Jackie for the part, it’s not set in stone but she should begin training.” And I died. I was so excited. I immediately started training and working out and getting toned down. Let’s keep in mind though that I found out about this in March, and I wasn’t able to say anything until mid-May. I don’t know how you did it! I had signed a ton of NDAs so I couldn’t tell anybody anything, and my friends were getting really worried about me because I’d be missing school, and I was working out all the time. They couldn’t figure out why because I’d never worked out before. I was losing weight and toning up and getting muscular, and they were all really worried about me – it was junior year and so it was very stressful, I had teachers who would call me into their office and be like, “Jackie, are you okay? Are you feeling alright?” What would you tell them? I would say, “Oh no, I’m fine. I’m just busy.” I’d skate around it. Finally it was announced and I hadn’t signed any contract yet so I wasn’t even entirely sure it was going to be me. And I told a couple of my best-best friends because I needed a few people to help defend me from the rest of my friends [laughs] and everyone was so excited. What was your initial audition like? Foxface is an unusual character in that she conveys so much with no known name and no dialogue, so your performance had to come through silently. Yes. They had me come in and do a lot of reaction stuff — they’d map out a scenario for me and be like, “Okay, you stop here and look around and take it in and think about the complexity of it, but you’re scared at the same time,” but all with the face and without dialogue. It was a very unorthodox audition. Did you always relate to Foxface when you read the books? Oh yes, she was always one of my favorite characters. I was always intrigued by her. Her intelligence is a great element to the character and to the book — she’s a character who adds a lot of mystery to the proceedings during the Games. I loved that. And I loved how you knew so little about her and yet Katniss was kind of scared of her in a way. She was one of the only people in the game that Katniss respected. There’s a point where Katniss goes, “Maybe Foxface is the real enemy here.” I thought that was interesting. And amid all the bloodshed, Foxface manages to get far in the Games without harming people. She’s only defeated by herself, by stealing Peeta’s poisonous berries. I think it’s definitely one of those movies you want to see more than once. I liked it so much better the second time I saw it, and I liked it even better the third time I saw it. By the fourth time I was like, okay, I get it now. [Laughs] But it’s got to many levels. You watch it again and pick up so many subtleties. You’ve previewed the new Blu-ray releases. What’s your favorite special feature? For The Tribute Diaries, all of us got Flip cameras and in the couple of weeks leading up to the premiere we filmed all of us hanging out, the mall tours, and stuff like that so that’s a cool insight into us hanging out. There’s also a lot of the Tributes on set, which was really nostalgic for me to watch. It’s like watching a documentary of my summer. Your summer yearbook. Exactly! This cast grew pretty close, which happens with these huge franchises as young performers bond together on the shoot and press tour. Did you get any great advice from the older castmembers who are a few years ahead into their own careers? Jen especially gave me really really great advice, and she was there for me when I was freaking out or nervous or confused. She was always really, really supportive, from the beginning – from the first day I met her. She was there to help me along, and I appreciated that so much. It was really wonderful to have that. Your next film, Son of the South , is an indie with impressive folks behind the camera – Spike Lee is producing, and his frequent editor is directing. When do you start and how did you come to the project? I’m very excited — I’m not sure when it shoots yet because I’m not sure it has full funding, but I’m just excited to be a part of this project because it’s a really important story. It’s the story of Bob Zellner, who’s a civil rights activist, and I’m honored to be a part of it. It’ll be really fun to bring to life. Did you get to audition for Spike Lee or talk with him? No, I didn’t! I did an interview with the director and talked to him, and he sounds great. I can’t wait to work with him. You also have a parallel career as a musician, and you have a music video out. In addition to this, you were accepted to Stanford. So what’s your plan for the next few years? I’m taking a year off — it’s interesting, because I’ve wanted to take a year off since 9th or 10th grade because high school’s been very intense for me. I went to a very hard prep school, and I’m also not ready to leave my family yet and I’m kinda young for my grade. So this is great because it really gave me an excuse to take a year off and pursue what I love for a year in my artistic side, which, even though I’d done a ton of stuff in high school and I was part of drama and stuff like that, I didn’t get to really pursue it. I recently signed with a new agent and I signed with managers a couple of months ago, so I’m really beginning this journey. It’ll be a lot of fun. I will say that I went to Berkeley, so I unfortunately can’t fully support your choice of school. [Laughs] You did? I’m supposed to hate you, but I can’t! I’m so sorry! I wish you luck at Stanford nonetheless! And finally, I must ask about one of your earliest credits in a band called Devo 2.0. Oh my god, yes. I’m so curious about it. Is it correct to describe it as a family-friendly Devo cover band made of kids? Yes! It was wonderful! I had such a good time. I was in sixth grade, and it was the first audition I ever went on. We did a DVD, and a bunch of music videos, we did a two-week tour around the East Coast to different schools on a tour bus, and it was so much fun. We finished out with a performance at the House of Blues, and then it was kind of over. But I thought it was a great experience. My mom kept telling me the whole time, “You know, every journey has a beginning, a middle, and an end — and this is not the most important thing that you’ll ever do.” And I think that was probably the best advice that I could have gotten when I was in that, because otherwise I may have gotten too attached to it and too caught up in my two minutes of… fame. [Laughs] It was so happy to have my mom there because she really kept me grounded, and I had such a great time. It’s a memory that I will always look back fondly on. So you were basically a rock star in sixth grade. I know, isn’t it funny? I always forget about it because it was only for like a year, and then it was over. But it was a really great experience. You played the keyboard but you also sang — does that make you the Mark Mothersbaugh or the Bob Casale of Devo 2.0? I think I was the Jerry Casale. I don’t really know — they changed all the parts around, but Jerry actually toured with us and we met Mark a couple of times. What do you remember most about meeting or working with them? Honestly… I do not remember. [Laughs] I was in sixth grade! All I know is I had a really good time. Do Devo’s lyrics have different meaning to you now that you’re older? Yes — completely. I definitely had a very skewed understanding of them when I was younger. Actually I have a theory that Devo 2.0 was made to prove the point of devolution, because their songs went from having a lot of meaning to, like, “It is a beautiful world!” That’s the theory I’ve come up with in recent years. [Laughs] The Hunger Games is on DVD and Blu-ray August 18 at 12:01 a.m. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Lindsay Lohan has been actin a damn fool in Holllyweird again : Lindsay Lohan isn’t okay with sharing the spotlight at her favorite Hollywood night club. A source tells Us Weekly that the Liz & Dick actress, 25, appeared to be back to her old, headline-making antics at Bootsy Bellows on Tuesday night — and put a wrench in E! reality star Francesca Eastwood’s birthday bash. “Francesca was celebrating her birthday with around a dozen friends in a private area when Lindsay came over and started screaming that Francesca should leave,” the source says. “She was yelling ‘I’m a star, she’s a nobody, get her out of here!’” The source continues, “One poor guy came over and tried to calm [Lindsay] down and she acted aggressively. At that point the security told her to leave and it was totally embarrassing. She is acting like some bad ’80s film star, and it is hard to watch because she needs help.” But before Lohan embarked on her journey home, she and her party made one more cringe-worthy snafu. “Lindsay’s friend was driving and they sped out and almost hit one of the valet guys,” a witness tells Us. The Mean Girls actress has spent the summer hard at work on her upcoming Elizabeth Taylor biopic, in which she stars opposite Grant Bowler as Richard Burton. In June, an on-set source told Us that Lohan made no buts about hiding her chain smoking habits to soothe her nerves. “Literally every time she finishes a scene she lights up another cigarette,” the source explained. “You can hear the crew saying, ‘That’s cut — get a cigarette for Lindsay.’ In between takes she would sit on the director’s chair puffing on her cigarettes. Lindsay has been working hard, but without the nicotine she probably could not make it through as she appears stressed at times and they do seem to calm her down.” Somebody pull out the chair and give tell Lindsay “Ho Sit Down.” This girl is so far gone we don’t even know what to say anymore. We wish she would kick rocks, literally. Source
A photo of a topless Mark Zuckerberg was leaked to the Internet today, fueling rumors that his privacy functions may have just failed epically, That, or someone’s gonna be getting unfriended by the CEO real fast. The shirtless pic was only up briefly before being deleted, but a screen grab of it – with commentary – is making the online rounds . Pretty funny. Here’s Mark in the undated photo with some friends (presumably): The photo of Zuckerberg topless first surfaced on image-sharing site Imgur. The poster there claims it was “accidentally posted” by Boz, a.k.a. Facebook Director of Engineering Andrew Bosworth, who can be seen on the far right. Boz allegedly took it down “seconds later,” but on the Internet, that can be more than long enough for someone to see it and pass it along to others. At least he looks like he’s having a good time.
Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, filmmaker Michael Cimino is set to receive Venice Film Festival honors. Heather Graham will return to The Hangover , while Yancy Butler heads back to one of her former characters. And an Ohio man faces charges for brining a cache of weapons into a theater during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises . Michael Cimino to Receive Venice Honors The American writer/director/producer will be feted with the Venice Film Festival’s Persol 2012 Award, which recognizes a “legend of international filmmaking.” He will be presented with the award at a ceremony August 30th, followed by a screening of Cimino’s 1980 film, Heaven’s Gate . Around the ‘net… Willy Wonka Director Mel Stuart Dies at 83 His family said Mr. Stuart died at his Beverly Hills home after battling cancer. He began his career mainly directing documentaries. the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was Stuart’s second feature film. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1965 for his documentary, Four Days in November , about the assassination of John F Kennedy, BBC reports . Bourne Legacy Poised to Seize U.S. Box Office The Jeremy Renner starter is trending toward a $35 million weekend opening, enough to eclipse The Dark Knight Rises and outpace two other wide-release openers, Hope Springs and The Campaign , Reuters and The Wrap report . Heather Graham Heads Back to The Hangover Graham will return to her role as the stripper named Jade in The Hangover III from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. The pic will shoot this fall and brings back Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms – plus brings back Ken Jeong. Graham was absent from the franchise’s second installment, THR reports . Yancy Butler to Return to Kick-Ass 2 Butler will return to her role as the mother of Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s character, the villainous Red Mist. Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz are reprising their roles of Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Walls , THR reports . Man Faces Weapons Charges in TDKR Theater Incident Scott A. Smith, 37, is due in court Friday on two counts of carrying a concealed weapon and 19 counts related to carrying weapons “under disability.” He allegedly sat in the back of the theater with a bag that contained 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, two loaded magazine clips and three knives. Another knife was found on his person, CNN reports .
Lena Dunham pokes a nice-sized hole in The New Yorker ‘s we’re-witty-not-funny facade with her promotional-film-within-a-film for the magazine’s new iPhone app. In the first part of the clip, the Tiny Furniture filmmaker and Girls creator — who never lets her ego get in the way of good comedy — lolls around in a ridiculous pair of pants on a talk show hosted by Mad Men ‘s Jon Hamm. After explaining to Hamm’s technologically retarded character just what an iPhone app is, Dunham does what every talk-show guest does eventually: urges him to play her clip. Dunham stars as the New Yorker ‘s editor, despite bearing little resemblance to the publication’s actual chief, David Remnick. Girls cast member Alex Karpovsky also appears as her slow-witted assistant and offers up a series of slyly stupid reaction shots as Dunham then gives a so-rudimentary-its-funny demonstration of the app for those New Yorker readers who are really fighting the leap from print to digital. After breaking it down for the Luddite crowd, Dunham then suggests that she and her assistant have sex the following week. Actually, that’s the one false note of Dunham’s short. Everyone who’s ever worked at Conde Nast knows that the first rule of The New Yorker ‘s Sex Club is that you don’t talk about Sex Club — until a fact checker vets your comments. Check out the clip below, then write the New Yorker to suggest that Dunham, who has contributed a couple of smart pieces to the magazine, guest-edit a future special issue about anything she damn well wants. That kid is full of good ideas. Watch It on YouTube. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Also in Thursday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, political drama Knife Fight is heading to U.S. theaters courtesy of IFC Films . Saoirse Ronan will headline a new royal role and Steve Pink is eyeing the director’s chair for a remake of 1986’s About Last Night . Knife Fight Heads to Theaters Bill Guttentag’s political drama Knife Fight starring Rob Lowe,Jaime Chung, Julie Bowen, Richard Schiff, Saffron Burrows, Jennifer Morrison, David Harbour Eric McCormack, and Carrie-Anne Moss will head to theaters presumably before the election. The Tribeca 2012 premiere centers on a political strategist who spins every news cycle and a shrewd reporter (Bowen) on behalf of his clients: a philandering Kentucky governor (McCormack), a blackmailed California senator (Harbour), and an idealistic doctor turned gubernatorial candidate (Moss). The deal for the film was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Productions for Sundance Selects/IFC Films with WME Independent on behalf of the filmmakers. Around the ‘net… Sean Penn Eyes Crazy for the Storm to Direct Based on the survivor memoir by Norman Ollestad, Crazy for the Storm centers on Ollestad’s relationship with his father who forced him into the world of extreme surfing and competitive downhill skinning beginning at age three. Penn’s last directorial project was 2007’s Into the Wild , THR reports . Billy Crystal Working on a Book About Aging He’s hosted the Oscars and has multiple Emmys to show for it along with his many dozens of film roles. And to mark his 65th birthday next year, Crystal is using the milestone as a segue for a book and perhaps a stage show. He said he hopes to have the book completed by his birthday on March 14, 2013. “There are 77 million of us baby boomers in the country and this book will speak to them and how we look at the world,” he told A.P. Saoirse Ronan Dons Mary Queen of Scots Ronan will play the Scottish monarch in the Working Title project in a script written by Michael Hirst. Mary was crowned the Queen of Scotland at age one and her first husband became King of France. But she ran afoul of her distant relative, England’s Queen Elizabeth, Deadline reports . Steve Pink Eyes Sexual Perversity in Chicago The project is a remake of the 1986 film About Last Night from a script by Bachelorette director Leslye Headland. Michael Ealy is starring in the role originated by Rob Lowe and Kevin Hart is taking on the Jim Belushi role in the Screen Gems project, Deadline reports .
Filmmaker and actress Julie Delpy won accolades at the Berlin International Film Festival back in 2007 with her hilarious 2 Days In Paris , in which she starred opposite Adam Goldberg as a couple who stop off in Paris for a short visit, staying with her parents en route back to the U.S. Delpy, who wrote and directed the feature that did solid numbers in release jiggered the formula for a sequel, 2 Days In New York , which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January. This time, she stars opposite Chris Rock , and similarly to Paris her family factors into the dialog-heavy plot that’s riddled with eccentricity, social commentary and crazy mishaps. In the film, Delpy’s character Marion is now living with her boyfriend Mingus (Chris Rock) in a New York apartment with their cat and two children from their previous relationships. Marion’s father (played by her real-life dad, Albert Delpy), her sister and her over the top boyfriend suddenly decide to pay a visit from France, unleashing another 48 hours of family drama. Similarly to 2 Days In Paris , Marion’s family is sometimes unnervingly open in their discussions about sexuality and other topics most would consider crosses social boundaries. The French-American cultural disconnect only amplifies the gulf and the result is laugh out loud funny. Julie Delpy and Chris Rock chatted with ML about the film at Sundance. Initially Rock was about to leave, but sat down for a few minutes before heading out of Park City. Delpy, who first acted in none other than French-Swiss maestro Jean-Luc Godard’s Détective in 1985 and has since gone on to do many roles including Before Sunset , has since taken on the director’s hat herself and is a steadfast filmmaking convert. She talks about making films outside the studio system, though she said she’d like to try it sometime and would consider it another welcome challenge. In fact, she would like to try almost everything – almost… Similarly to 2 Days In Paris , you pulled together financing through Europe, can a dialog-driven film exist within Hollywood or is this the only way to put together a film like your latest, 2 Days In New York ? Julie Delpy: I never even thought of going to a studio. It’s just the way I do things. I put the financing together through a European financing system and it’s not easy – it’s a struggle. It might be easier in a way to go to a studio Chris Rock: I think it depends on who you are as a filmmaker. JD: I’m sure if it was through a studio, I wouldn’t be able to do this film exactly the way it is. Though I’m not really sure because I’ve never really been approached by a studio. I’m not sure if they know who I am or know I’m a filmmaker. They don’t even know I’m an actress – trust me [laughs]. CR: I think it depends on who you are as a filmmaker determines how much control you will have and, you know, if you want more control, you’re better off not going through a studio, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. JD: Some things in this movie may not have been their whole thing. They may have wanted a different ending, though honestly, I don’t know what they would want because I haven’t worked with them. For me, I just do it in the way I know how. How did you both come together for this project? CR: I saw 2 Days in Paris and I Loo-oooved 2 Days in Paris . JD: I’d seen his work and have always loved his work. I met him briefly once and he stuck in my mind. The minute I thought of doing a sequel to 2 Days in Paris , I knew I was going to be in a relationship with Mingus who is going to be Chris Rock, so he just came to my mind How has this contrasted with your most recent work Chris? CR: It’s fun, but the French thing – you have to get used to the fact you don’t understand what people around you are saying, but other than that it wasn’t much different than any other movie. I found working with the star and director was easy because you’re always talking to the boss. It’s harder when you’re talking to different people about different things. Because normally when you’re doing a movie, the star is kind-of half-way the director anyway… If the star doesn’t like what’s happening, you’re going to do what the star wants 90% of the time anyway. I hope I get to work with more star-directors… I read that when you were writing this story, you said you wanted to build on “real ground,” what did you mean by that? JD: I spent a lot of time with [Krzysztof] Kieslowski after we did White (1994) talking about movies and writing and everything. He’d tell me that I’m such a movie buff and I was obsessed. He’d tell me, ‘I haven’t seen this, or I haven’t seen that,’ and I’d say, ‘what have you seen?’ and he’d tell me, ‘real life.’ And that stuck with me. What can be more true than take some truth and build something from that. Obsession with death for instance – so something like that – and build from there into a story. 2 Days in New York is grounded in reality. There’s a couple with kids re-constructed and brought together… [ Chris Rock is pulled out of the room at this point and they say their good byes ] [ Continuing ]: I like to base my stories on simple things. It could have been a drama, but I love comedy so that’s what I did. But for this, I like to incorporate things that I know. So in it, I talk about my mother’s death. She actually passed away three years ago. She was in 2 Days in Paris and she was a wonderful actress. So she couldn’t be in this film obviously, so I had to find a way to talk about it… Your father is in this film as he was, of course, in 2 Days in Paris. Are his antics in the film similar to how he is in real-life? Yeah he’s very crazy. He’s very funny and very light, but also a very profound person. He’s not a superficial person at all. He’s fun and he likes to laugh and loves life, but he also has profound problems. He’s not happy all the time, but if we’re at a festival and the film’s playing well then we’re all happy. For me it was great to write parts for my parents in the first film and in this film for my father. It’s wonderful to be able to do that. They gave me so much by exposing me to film. My father gave me directing education through his past direction of plays. They gave me so much, so I’m glad I could give back a little bit. He keys a Hummer in this film in one memorable NYC street scene, and I was thinking it’s his almost child-like rebellious way of perhaps lashing out about global warming… Yeah exactly, that is a stand on global warming. Is he like that in real life? No, but my dad hates cars. They’re all over the place in Paris and they park on sidewalks and have no respect. As he ever keyed a car? No, but he’s joked about it for years so I let him have his fantasy in the film. I mean, I hate cars too. I live in L.A. so of course I have a car, but it’s the only real way we have for transport. But we’re polluting every moment of the day and we’ll pay for it. We’ll be gone [some day]… But Earth will be ok, but it’ll shake us out. So what do you think about Sequels? What about a 2 Days in L.A. or 2 Days in Tokyo ? I think the franchise is going to stop there. I’m not a James Bond kind of girl. I think it stops here at 2 Days in New York . But I’d certainly like to direct more films and will if given the opportunity to do it…I have a lot of friends who are directors and they call me to ask if I’d like to be in them – people like Richard Linklater etc. or maybe not someone who’s my friend but just someone I really like, but I think my first desire is filmmaking. What other kinds of stories do you want to do? Everything. Just everything from sci-fi to dramas – but maybe not sports movies. It’s not that I don’t like sports movies, but it’s just that I don’t get it. I don’t really understand sports, but everything else I’d like to do. I’d like to do a thriller, though I don’t know if I’d be good at it, but I’d like to try it. Maybe it’s pretentious and I’m crazy and all that, but I think I will do a thriller one day. It’s such a struggle to make movies. With this movie, we stopped two weeks before we started shooting and the film fell apart and then we put it all back together and then four weeks into the shoot we stopped. It was really, really hard. Was it harder than 2 Days in Paris ? In a way it was. There was more money involved with shooting in New York. I thought Paris would be more expensive. No, Paris is much less expensive. New York is… I think $3 million went into trucks, so I mean it’s really expensive. I mean like basically it’s very very expensive. And it’s fine if you have the money, and we had the money, but when the money fell apart at the last minute, it was just drama. It was the most painful experience to think you’re about to shoot and then everything just stops. Would you consider going a different route when tackling some of the other stories and genres you’re interested in doing down the line – maybe even the studios? I think I would do it if given the opportunity. But I’m also interested in working within limitations. I have limitations with my films which is typically major financial limitations, but having a studio tell you what to do would be a limitation too, but it would be manageable. I think the only thing that’s not manageable is death. People dying or people who are sick is not manageable. Everything else is nothing. You know I consider in life, people in movies lose perspective because it becomes so important… I’m not like that. It’s life, there are people dying around you, there’s craziness – that’s serious. A studio telling me what to do, that’s manageable. That’s just a boss telling you what to do and that’s fine, I’ll do my best within my limitation… So if that opportunity came along, then you’d do it? Yes, it’s almost fun to me, it would be a fun thing to do.
