Out-take: Rainy February Afternoon

A little burst of excitement on a rainy February afternoon as a package lands on my desk from the Academy. It contains the 'Class of 2007' photo of all Oscar nominees, taken at the nominees' luncheon three weeks ago in Beverly Hills. There I am - yep, gurning and jetlagged - two down from Steven Spielberg and next to Davis Guggenheim, director of An Inconvenient Truth, the compelling film version of Al Gore's climate-change lecture. At the lunch, we were told that we were all winners and that it was a democratic affair (though Eddie Murphy was ushered past the queue to get in) and that there were no power tables. Which meant I was split up from my Queen colleagues and sitting instead next to... director Davis Guggenheim. (Note to self: 'Don't tell him you flew all this way just for lunch) Post-photo, we were all given a box; on the lid, a Mark Twain quote: 'It takes three weeks to write a good off-the-cuff speech.' Inside, a Dictaphone. The commercial reality is that Oscar night is a show - a show that's been losing ratings. And, according to Laura Ziskind (Spiderman 2 producer and producer of this year's Oscar show): '"Thank you" is boring.' We are dispatched back around the globe with our homework. And on the subject of carbon footprints, Andy Harries, my fellow producer, is sanguine: 'Just think of the air miles, darling!' So I was thinking away while back in London last week, at a less formal lunch with Oscar veteran Alison Owen, an inspiring producer in British film (as well as being Lily Allen's mum). We're working together on The Other Boleyn Girl, adapted from the Philippa Gregory novel by the ubiquitous Peter Morgan and first feature for director Justin Chadwick, who directed the recent television Bleak House. Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson play Anne and Mary Boleyn and Eric Bana is Henry VIII, who bedded both sisters. Secrets from the Set: Natalie Portman's Special Serum Being on a different continent isn't enough to keep Natalie Portman away from her favorite skin soothing serum. While on the London set of her new film The Other Boleyn Girl, the actress's makeup artist phoned L.A.-based skin care line Arcona for emergency skin care help. Arcona over-nighted their Booster Serum, $68, a lightweight antioxidant cocktail that hydrates skin and boosts its ability to defend itself against stress, wind, pollution and other pitfalls of filming on horseback in the English countryside. Portman's co-star Scarlett Johansson is also a long-time fan of the line. Photo: Alex Bailey/Columbia Pictures; Courtesy Arcona We're editing in Soho at the moment. This is where the tone of the film will emerge. The cutting room can be a tense place: at one point, Justin asks Peter not to sigh so loudly (Peter can be an exacting presence in the cutting room). But the mood is collaborative and productive and the signs for the film are very promising. Meanwhile, the Oscars feel like an orchestra tuning up at some distance. I make a sheepish little call to Julie at Miramax: 'Don't suppose there's any chance of getting into the Vanity Fair party, is there? It's a sort of Holy Grail for us Brits' 'Honey, it's the Holy Grail for everyone. Rule is, if you win, you're in... stick with the gold. I got 13 people in last year on the back of one foreign language Oscar.' So, it's 'stick with Helen' then. That's Mirren, favourite for best actress. An email from Peter Morgan on an entirely different subject - Brian Clough. An adaptation of David Peace's brilliant novel The Damned Utd is the next project for the team behind The Queen. Peter wants to look at Cloughie's politics as well as football management. Michael Sheen will play Clough, but we don't have our Don Revie yet. Watching archive material of Austin Mitchell grilling Clough and Revie after Clough's disastrous reign at Leeds, I'm struck by how old fortysomethings looked back then. Cloughie, quite the dandy, seems young enough for 42 - if a little ravaged by his 44 days of hell. But Revie, at 48, could pass for 60. This will be an interesting casting challenge. Should Revie be paternalistic or simply a contemporary with different values? The script isn't written yet so there's time to contemplate such matters. Oscars are now like a ticking time bomb and I still haven't secured my Oscar dress. Miriam, a friend, is acting as stylist, having already worked wonders for the Globes and the Baftas. She has been calling up people I wouldn't dare approach and using the 'O' word. It's great -like having a back-stage pass cum platinum Amex. Much admired designers, previously only glimpsed on the pages of glossy mags, are happy to lend the dress of your choice and put you in touch with the very best jewellers to accessorise. Debbie at Ben de Lisi produces a gorgeous, long, red dress in georgette and fine jewellers Adler's tip the experience into a whole new realm with a pendant like the Koh-i-noor. A security man will have to meet me at Heathrow to sign this stuff out of the country; what a palaver, but I love it really. The night before I leave for LA, we celebrate my boyfriend, Christian's, birthday. Though 'celebrate' might be a word he'd dispute. Fighting for airtime in the all-encompassing flurry of awards season, his birthday is a low-key affair involving pizza. Unfortunately, he is ever so slightly aggrieved at what he considers an odd birthday present from me - a tennis racquet. He doesn't play - has never played - tennis. He's not particularly sporty, but I thought he'd like to take it up. He suspects, maybe with reason, that I've been more focused on dresses and jewellery. We go to see Hot Fuzz at the cinema and the mood is lifted. Frenetic, percussive, infectious comedy from the Shaun of the Dead team. It's very confident with a fresh take on some funny British stereotypes. Can't help putting everything into 'British' context at the moment and secretly feel on the eve of the trip like a member of a British Olympic team about to represent the country. I'm intrigued on the flight to LA by the sheer volume of beautiful Italian men seated in close proximity. The mystery is explained when Giorgio Armani pops in from first class to see them. They are his models, all due to appear in a very select fashion show/Oscar party to be held at a Hollywood mansion once owned by Harold Lloyd. Armani is a big pal of Martin Scorsese and will be cheering on The Departed. Oh well. It's raining in LA and the Four Seasons is mobbed, mainly by overexcited, jabbering Brits (self included). The BBC news crew which interviews Andy Harries and me is relieved that BBC strike action has been averted, albeit temporarily. Oscar coverage, at least, will not be affected. Miramax is hosting a cocktail party on Sunset Boulevard and my heart swells a little when I see a giant billboard just opposite for The Queen. Cameras flash on entry - ah, more gurning, jetlagged photos. My admiration for Helen Mirren grows every time I encounter these guys yelling and snapping madly. The party is celebrating Venus as well as The Queen and it's sweet to see what a warm rapport exists between Peter O'Toole and Jodie Whittaker off screen as well as on. I am a little nervous being introduced to Ben Affleck who is taller and better looking in the flesh (also funny and polite, though I think he thinks I'm a bit of a film rookie). Rather incongruously, I find myself sharing a lift to a party with Ralf Little from The Royle Family. Haven't seen him since I was working on Cold Feet in Manchester about 10 years ago. He's out here trying his luck in the pilot season. The party has taken over the villa from TV show Entourage. The colourful Hispanic spread in the hills is a decadent setting for Miramax's post-cocktail-party-dinner-party (great oysters). Helen Mirren is engaging in a spirited debate about Iraq with Peter Morgan's celebrated New York agent, Boaty Boatwright. My jetlag really kicks in just as Damien Hirst and some hearty revellers arrive and, despite feeling a party lightweight, it is time to call it a night. Shocked by my own self-discipline, but there are many parties to come. Not forgetting the Oscars themselves. Which is what we're here for, isn't it? Isn't it? (0) Comments

Posted: 3/11/2007 10:08:35 AM

Movies: The Other Boleyn Girl filming in Dover Castle

We were filming at the fabulous Dover Castle today were I spoke to some of the English Heritage staff, there were giving me the low-down. "We have not seen Scarlett yet but watched Natalie Portman and Eric Bana do a scene together which was wonderful." All the staff at English Heritage have been looking out for Scarlett and Natalie Portman. (The scene there is where Anne is imprisoned in the tower (Keep looks very similar to the Tower of London in the stonework and is easier for filming) as well as her execution. I asked the sfaff how the cast were and first thing he blurted out was what a total 'long-faced cow' Scarlett J. was. I was quite taken a back as the strength of these feelings as he has been there for years and not too into the celebrity thing. She apparently insisted on having at least 4 women accompany her to the toilet, insisted on 2 blankets covering her shoulders between takes in the outside scenes (whilst all the other cast and extras were happy to freeze their asses off!) and basically was very unfriendly to the point of rudeness. The staff on duty during the filming had a more intimate encounter with one of the actresses on the day.He said: "I was in the restroom which is next to the toilet and Natalie Portman came in with a minder wearing her voluminous, corseted, costume. "She disappeared inside and when she came out I said I bet that was difficult' and she threw back her head and laughed out loud". He said also Natalie Portman was a fine sort and he gathered from the staff and other extras during smoke breaks she was the most popular of the 2, and that Scarlett was rather 'hated' on set. The execution scene (most pivotal of course) took ages to film; they redid it countless times I was told. I have been working on the film from the start but not beeing a smoker I dont go out for these breaks. I never worked with Scarlett before, on the other hand this will be my four film with Nat. (0) Comments

Posted: 12/22/2006 10:23:05 AM

Movies: The Film Crew

As a professional cinematographer for over 25 years in the film industry you learn to take those opportunities when offered. Any chance that I get, you take. I have work on some of the best movies every made. I have good and bad memories of all the people have met over the years in front and behind the camera. I decided to start a journal that would show off two of my passions, writing and photography. I hope you enjoy this photo journal. Please feel free to email me at focuspuller_camera@hotmail.com.com if you have any questions Cinematographer. Nationality: British. Born: London, Career: 1968s—clapper boy at Gainsborough Studios; 1983—moved to Hollywood. 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick) (additional photography) 1971 Fangio (Hudson); A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick) 1973 David Niven (Burder—doc) 1974 Little Malcolm (Cooper) 1975 Barry Lyndon (Kubrick) Films as Focus Puller: 1977 The Fiesta Story (Worth); March or Die (Richards); The Disappearance (Cooper) 1978 Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (Too Many Chefs) (Kotcheff) 1980 The Shining (Kubrick); Fort Apache, the Bronx (Petrie); Terror Train (Spottiswoode) 1982 The Beastmaster (Coscarelli); El triúnfo de un hombre llamado caballo (Hough); Vice Squad (Sherman) 1983 Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi 1984 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (Hudson); Miracles (Kouf) 1985 A View to a Kill ... aka Ian Fleming's 'A View to a Kill' (UK): complete title) 1986 Assistant (ILM)Star Trek IV ) Camera Assistant Cocoon (ILM) 1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Camera Assistant (ILM) Back to the Future II Camera Operator (ILM) Ghostbusters II Camera Operator (ILM) 1990 Back to the Future III Camera Operator (ILM) 1994 No Escape 2nd Assistant Cameraman. Street Fighter (1994) second Assistant Cameraman. 1997 Paradise Road (special effects) 1st Cameraman. 1998 . Director Dark 1st Cameraman. 1999 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace effects director of photography 2001 The Mummy Returns Camera Operator (special visual effects) Planet of the Apes (special effects director of photography) 2002 Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones Assistant Cameraman. 2003 The Matrix Revolutions Assistant Cameraman. 2005 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Assistant Cameraman. 2006 V for Vendetta - Warner Brothers (Model Unit) 1st Cameraman. 2006 The Other Boleyn Girl 1st Cameraman on going at the moment. (0) Comments

Posted: 11/28/2006 5:51:24 AM

Movies: “The Other Boleyn Girl”

I have just got back from filming “The Other Boleyn Girl” in the UK. I had planned on having a showing and going to my bed. But that was just a dream because has soon has my lights went on in my house. I had friends around giving me all there gossip and wanting to know all about the film location and what the film is all about. For three mouths that’s how long I have been away I had the best and mouths of 2006 especially working with this film crew and of cores Natalie Portman. I have worked on films with Ms Portman before but that was me being apart of a big film crew, this time it was a little bit different that it was all English film crew and she know me from before, obviously it was had work. I'd loved ever time of it. Scarlett Johansson along with Eric Bana and Natalie Portman are the A list stars that will be spotted around Lacock this was the first film location. A-LIST stars Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman could be spotted in Lacock over the first few weeks as film crews return to the picturesque village. The two actresses are starring in The Other Boleyn Girl, the tale of sisters Anne and Mary Boleyn, who are rivals for the heart of Henry VIII. This unspoilt village stands at the gates of Lacock Abbey. There was a settlement here before Saxon times but Lacock first became important in the Middle Ages when a planned village was established for the estate workers of the abbey in the 13th century. From the 14th to the 18th century the wool trade brought wealth to the village and the weekly market set up by Ela Countess of Salisbury, the founder of the abbey, added to its prosperity. Lacock's location was ideal to take full advantage of this trade. The village is a day's journey from the fine grazing lands on the Cotswolds and Marlborough Downs, it is a staging post on the road connecting the wool trade centres in the West Country and has access to the sea via the River Avon. A publicist for the film confirmed the stars would be arriving in Lacock to film scenes in the coming weeks. "We will be filming in Lacock Abbey over the next few weeks. It just looks right for the period and we look forward to filming there enormously," she said. Australian actor Eric Bana, who appeared in Munich and Troy, will also be starring in the film and will play the part of Henry VIII. Lacock has been the location for a number of other films and television dramas and has featured in adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, The Mayor of Casterbridge and the first two Harry Potter films. Many Lacock residents were upset three years ago when it was announced Harry Potter would no longer be filmed in the Abbey and have welcomed the news film crews will be returning to the village. Jean Sheard, who works in the Lacock bakery, said: "I think it's absolutely great. We all love anything like that and I'm looking forward to it. Filming always has a high interest and I love to watch them. We'll be looking out for the stars." Parish councillor Christopher Doel said he was not aware filming was about to take place but was pleased Lacock was still popular with film producers. "It's always quite enjoyable to have something like this. "It won't affect the village if it is just using the Abbey as they have their own facilities. "It's always quite nice when they choose Lacock though and keeps our name on the map." The Other Boleyn Girl is based on the novel of the same name, by Philippa Gregory and has been adapted by Peter Morgan, who wrote the two-part TV drama Henry VIII. It is the first feature film for director Justin Chadwick, who won a BAFTA for his direction of the recent BBC adaptation of Bleak House. Scarlett Johansson, 21, plays Mary Boleyn in the film. She is famous for her roles in Lost in Translation, The Girl with the Pearl Earring and Woody Allen's Match Point. Natalie Portman, 25, who plays Anne Boleyn in the production, shot to fame after appearing in the Star Wars trilogy and was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Closer. So we are back the film crew and the days are already getting shorter and we have not started filming. News of their arrival had travelled far and one woman, Rosemary Greeley, made a special trip to the National-Trust-owned building in the hope that she would see her favourite actress. The 41-year-old from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, said: "I love Scarlett Johansson. She always gets the good roles and I have read the book the film is based on so I know it is a good story. "I am visiting friends in England so it was a perfect excuse to come to Wiltshire and Lacock is just so beautiful. "I have not seen Scarlett yet but watched Natalie Portman and Eric Bana do a scene together which was wonderful." A National Trust volunteer on duty during the filming had a more intimate encounter with one of the actresses on the day. He said: "I was in the restroom which is next to the toilet and Natalie Portman came in with a minder wearing her voluminous, corseted, costume. "She disappeared inside and when she came out I said I bet that was difficult' and she threw back her head and laughed out loud. "I saw the other one too and found them to be very pleasant and very nice. In my experience, that tends to be the case, the more serious the actor. "Nobody will believe me when I tell them I have met two Hollywood starlets and Catherine of Aragon in one day." Filming continued filming around the abbey for two weeks and then left Lacock for the film studio, with the crew in tow. (1) Comments

Posted: 11/26/2006 8:11:59 AM

Movies: Masterpiece: Goya's Saturn devouring a son

Goya's Ghosts: A controversial new film about the Spanish painter Director Milos Forman admits he is worried about Spanish reactions to his new film about Goya's life. By Mateo Sancho Cardiel After seven years of absence from the big screen, Oscar-winning Czech director Milos Forman - of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Amadeus' fame - is a bit nervous about how his new movie about Francisco de Goya will be received in the great master's homeland. "I'm afraid I might disappoint the Spanish people," the 74-year-old long time U.S. resident said in a telephone interview from his home in New York. He was talking about 'Goya's Ghosts,' which is set for release on 10 November, and was filmed in and around Madrid in English and starring Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman. But despite his apprehensions about how the film might be received, he added: "I never in my life worked with more pleasant, well-disposed and enthusiastic people." Forman's last film was 'Man on the Moon', his 1999 portrait of offbeat comic Andy Kaufman. As in 'Amadeus' which revolved around Mozart and his frustrated rival composer Antonio Salieri, Forman uses two historical individuals, Francisco de Goya and Brother Lorenzo, to describe social and individual rivalries in a certain place and time. In this case it is late 18th century Spain. "These are two very different visions of life: the pragmatic one of Francisco de Goya and that of a great believer - Brother Lorenzo," said Forman. Lorenzo, played by Bardem, is described by the director as "a man who wants to change the world, but in a mistaken way, first as an Inquisitor and later as a minister of Jose Bonaparte". While Goya, portrayed by the Swede Stellan Skarsgard, "is someone who just wants to be left alone and never had any kind of political involvement". The nexus between the two male protagonists is Inez, Goya's muse, played by Portman. She falls into the inferno of the Catholic court of priest-torturers who had taken it upon themselves to ensure the "purity" of the faith. Forman said he became fascinated with Goya, who died in 1828 and is renowned for his works portraying Iberian strife as well sublime depictions of royals, after visiting the Prado Museum in Madrid in the 1980s. He said he began research on "this person able to give expression to two worlds as distinct as those of portrait of the royal family and those of the Black Paintings". Late in his life, Goya used oils to paint directly onto the plaster walls of his home, called La Quinta del Sordo, making 14 works that have come to be known as the 'Black Paintings' somewhat dark or gloomy pieces seen by many to represent a shady side of existence. Forman said he found in the historical period covered by the new film parallels with the persecution rampant in his native Czechoslovakia "when I still lived there." That was in the 1960s, when the Communist repression of the Prague Spring in 1968 found him working on a project in Paris. He decided not to return to the Soviet-imposed police state, and headed for the United States. There he found enormous success, being catapulted to renown in 1975 with 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' the adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel that won five Oscars. Forman said he began and was obliged to give up on three other projects prior to completing 'Goya's Ghosts'. The new film also presented him with obstacles, particularly that of the language in which it was spoken. Although he said he never seriously contemplated making the movie in Spanish rather than English, "I did want to use the biggest-possible component of English-speaking local crew". Spanish actors Blanca Portillo, Unax Ugalde and Jose Luis Gomez have secondary roles, and Javier Aguirresarobe was in charge of the cinematography. The script was a collaboration between Forman and Frenchman Jean Claude Carriere, erstwhile close collaborator with Luis Buñuel and "a great connoisseur of Spanish culture," the director said. He had earlier worked with Forman on 'Valmont'. The Czech said that, no matter how the film is received at the box office or how it is reviewed by critics, the camaraderie and "lovely ambience" of its making leave it marked in his own mind as "the best professional experience of my career". (0) Comments

Posted: 11/21/2006 2:30:58 PM

Movies: Goya's Ghosts in Spain this month

Milos Forman’s most recent film while tolerable ultimately fails as an unfocused misguided sprawl. By the film’s end we don’t know much more about Goya, the Inquisition, or most importantly the human condition. Goya states that he is driven is his quest to unite mother and daughter because he cannot get the mother’s ravishing portrait out of his mind, which came as news to me. To wind such grand topics as the Inquisition, the power of suggestive condemnation, abuses of authority, the immoral nature of men, and the cycle of transgression into a tale wrought with near-miss meetings about reuniting a lost mother with a daughter who has long-since accepted her absence seems like an unfortunate waste of material. Following similar suit in terms of structure with his superior and stunning film, Amadeus, Forman takes his title character here Goya, there Mozart, and diverts much focus to surrounding characters and their interaction with the title character. In Amadeus that was Salazari and here it is Brother Lorenzo. Both Salazari and Brother Lorenzo are antagonists who to some degree mend their evil ways yet never become sympathetic but rather pathetic. This dichotomy is refreshing for not presenting black and white, good and bad characters but also for Forman’s tactic of subverting the main character’s direct influence and having his story told largely through supporting characters. However, Goya never reaches Amadeus’ brilliance in pre-conception or execution. In Forman’s films Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (despite my overall disproval of the last) characters are pushed to the edge of sanity. Goya follows on a similar though less extreme path, however, the performances of those films are engrossing, melting away into the sweep of the story. Goya is one of the few big name films that is not only miscast but on whose performances seem worn and inadequate. Skarsgard is Danish and Portman while born Israel is essentially an American actress, neither resemble anything Spanish. Skarsgard here is constantly showing off the same skeptical facial expression he has done before with Von Trier and elsewhere. And while we occasionally get scenes of his detached humor his character doesn’t paint (no pun intended) a strong enough portrait of who Goya was. The splintered script can assuredly be blamed for not writing a more complete part, but Skarsgard also seems to be replaying his old roles. While we get scenes of Goya painting his passion behind it never struck me as hard as it should have for the dark soul that was responsible for his beautiful images of horror. The casting of Bardem makes more sense but his character too is rather stock. In his first phase as the Inquisition zealot he plays the part as that monstrous bad-guy who expresses his malice with long stares, hushed responses, and the occasional piercing inquiry. The script grants him a quick plot-filling speech stating how he has changed from Catholic evangelist to French Revolution fanatic, though not very convincing. Finally, Natalie Portman ultimately throws the film completely off genuineness in a role that is completely at odds with her persona. Portman looks like the beautiful girl next door, she doesn’t resemble anything Spanish nor does coating her with globs of makeup to convince us that she just spent fifteen years in an Inquisition prison, or throwing on a harsh accent and some false teeth help to sell the role. Portman has been effective in films like Anywhere but Here, Where the Heart is, and the little known Beautiful Girls. Her recent promotion to stardom in V for Vendetta and the new Star Wars films as characters in science-fiction universes rings false. It’s like trying to cast John Wayne as Genghis Kahn, makeup does only so much and what one is capable of in one area does not always carry over. The script itself never seems to make a stand on anything specific. Lightly in the background is Forman’s anti-authoritative stance. The film finds irony in establishments seizing power condemning non-conformers only for the tables to turn with time. Brother Lorenzo ruthlessly pursues supposed dissidents, then forced into signing a false confession he becomes an enemy of his church and flees, to return later with French rhetoric and persecute the now imprisoned clergy, only for the clergy to re-accuse him when the British expel the French. Throughout the tumultuous history Goya manages to stay employed to the ruling powers by being apolitical. In the movie’s biggest speech scene Goya and now ex-Brother Lorenzo argue about the fate of Ines and her tramp daughter, each calling the other man the true whore; the disinterested artist who paints for anyone who pays or the vindictive ideal swapper. On a mere technical level I never felt the film breathing cinematically. In Forman’s past we are drawn into 18th century Austria, surrounded by a word of filth and paranoia, and imprisoned in the mental hospital. Yet, here, old Spain never really breathes the way it could or should have. The invasion of Napoleonic troops in the early 1800’s shows isolated moments of marauding soldiers and ravished countryside but never in a way that makes it feel all-encompassing. The art direction and suggestive cinematography are never felt. What the film does try to supplement with is costumes, which seem meticulously crafted and elaborate, so much so that they actually seem fake. Fancy dresses are spotless, the poor’s clothes look artificially ripped, and if you see Goya’s wig you’ll know just what I mean, sometimes you can try too hard. (1) Comments

Posted: 11/20/2006 11:32:30 AM

Movies: Film premiere opens on Nov 8 in Madrid

I've just heard Milos Forman himself talking to the press at the premiere and he's literally said "don't get me wrong, I love Natalie, but she has been forbidden to come by her manager because it wouldn't be good to her image" with a face of "and I'm not making any comment on it because saying something negative about her wouldn't be polite". Director Milos Forman and producer Saul Zaentz reteam for the first time since the Oscar-winning Amadeus (1984) with Goya’s Ghosts, a strongly crafted production which effectively brings to life not only the revered painter Francisco Goya but also the tumultuous period in which he lived. Tightly-scripted plotting (the film also reunites Forman and Valmont screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere), lavish design and a commendable performance from Javier Bardem combine well in a feature that has enough twists in its plotting to keep audiences engaged. Goya is a national hero in Spain, where the film opens on Nov 8 following a massive promotional campaign. There, audiences may prove to be somewhat more critical than in other territories of an icon’s treatment at the hands of a Czech film-maker and a French writer, although the casting of local talent in key roles should help. Certainly it should outpace lower-budget films featuring the artist, such as Bigas Luna’s Volaverunt and Carlos Saura’s Goya In Bordeaux, which opened within weeks of each other in Spain in 1999 (and each took less than $2m). Box-office prospects beyond Spain may account for more than the balance of the film’s theatrical returns. Aside from the billing of names such as Natalie Portman, Goya is known beyond home – in recent years he has been the subject of a well-received biography by Robert Hughes as well as a direct influence on the latest generation of artists – and the amount of period detail should help ensure an audience beyond art buffs. In Madrid in 1792 the Inquisition holds much of the power, cracking down on any anti-establishment ideas seeping in from the new republic of France. The young and beautiful Ines (Portman), accused of practising Judaism after refusing to eat pork, is tortured and confesses her guilt. Her father Bilbatua (Gomez), a wealthy merchant, forces Lorenzo (Bardem), a monk and one of the Inquisition’s most fearsome supporters, into signing a self-recriminatory confession, then uses it to appeal to the king (Quaid) and the artist Goya (Skarsgard), painter of Lorenzo’s portrait. When the document is made public, Lorenzo flees – but Ines, now pregnant by the monk, is left to rot in jail. Fifteen years later the French - under Napoleon - have “liberated” Madrid, expecting to be welcomed as heroes, but are set upon by locals in scenes that form the basis for some of Goya’s most famous works (and which are successfully recreated here). Lorenzo now holds high position under King Joseph, brother of Napoleon and new Spanish ruler, but is forced to flee when the English invade. Meanwhile Ines, by now half mad and with most of her family dead, has been released and starts searching for the child she gave birth to while in jail. But her daughter (also played by Portman) has become an elegant prostitute, catering to the carriage trade on the Paseo del Prado. The film ends with the execution of Lorenzo by strangulation. His inert body is thrown onto a cart that is followed by Ines, still distraught and clutching a baby abandoned in one of the street disturbances. Even more than Forman’s Amadeus, Goya’s Ghosts is less about the artist in its title than those around him. Goya is an observer of a key, tumultuous period in Spanish history, weaving in and out of the plot, as when he introduces Lorenzo to Ines; or when he attends the dinner at which Lorenzo is forced to sign a “confession”; or when he sketches Lorenzo’s execution. While Goya’s paintings are famed worldwide, their historical context is less well known. The screenplay wisely keeps the story fairly simple, concentrating on the artist’s embroilments with other characters, although some audiences may wince at certain historical clichés, including an Inquisition which owes more to Edgar Allan Poe than historical reality. Javier Bardem is always riveting as the twisted opportunistic monk, despite speaking heavily accented English in the film’s English-language version, and ably carries the weight of the story. Fine support comes from Stellan Skarsgard as Goya, a sympathetic and humane observer of the horrors around him, although the scene in which he suddenly finds himself totally deaf verges on the histrionic. Natalie Portman successfully applies herself to multiple parts, first as an innocent beauty, then as a desperate prisoner and finally as a vivacious prostitute. But Goya’s Ghosts really shines on the technical front. Production design is lavish – the shoot used several of Spain’s royal palaces – and recreates street scenes to winning effect, while costume design meshes with the change of moods. Javier Aguirresarobe’s photography is crisp and colourful and the editing propels the narrative along briskly. The only real technical flaw is a somewhat overpowering musical score which frequently grates, rising to absurd crescendos during certain key scenes. Peter Besas in Madrid (0) Comments

Posted: 11/9/2006 5:56:43 PM

Movies: It turns out that a Camera Man

He just so happens to be making a movie with Natalie Portman, at the moment The Other Boleyn Girl being filmed in the UK. So at the time and Ms. Portman happens to play a poker player, and it happens to be that someone needs to help Ms. Portman understand what it’s like to play poker. As it happens this person turns out to be Jean Barbe. I ask him just what such a job entails. "You know, we just covered general stuff and watched some video of Jennifer Harmon." "You were paid to be alone with Natalie Portman in a dark screening room." "It wasn’t anything so formal. We just went back to the hotel." "Her hotel?" "Yeah, there was a VCR in Natalie’s bedroom." "In her bedroom?" "Yeah." "You’re sitting in a chair with Ms. Portman in her hotel bedroom." "Well, there weren’t really any chairs. I mean, it’s a hotel bedroom" "So you’re on the bed with her." "Well, yeah, I guess." "And you’re being paid. Movie production money... to sit on a bed with Natalie Portman." "More or less." "Oh..." I’m not sure, but at a time like this, when a peer tells you that he’s getting paid movie production money to watch TV sitting on a bed with Natalie Portman, I think the only response that really makes any sense is "Oh..." I try to think of all the reasons, given his lack of juice in the film world, that Peter might get such a job. And try as I can, I can think of no better reason than it’s the kind of thing that, by association, will make me feel worse about my own life. I know this doesn’t make too much sense, but that’s the way my mind works. My new found loathing of Peter thaws quite rapidly though when he calls me up a few days later to ask for a favor. He explains that he needs to leave for his summer vacation a little early. He doesn’t think that Natalie will need him for anything but he wants to have a backup for the slim possibility that she needs something poker related while he’s gone. He wants to know if I’d be able to look after her in the off chance she needs something. Uh-huh. Working in the poker industry I get a fair number of calls from people asking for help. Really not so many like this though. Oh, and I’d also get movie production money for my time spent hanging out with Natalie Portman, talking about myself. Now I did try to consider the downside here. I did want to consider the possibility that I might be a little intimidated and I might in some manner grotesquely embarrass myself in front of one of the more attractive woman I’d be likely to meet this year. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that she’s far enough out of my league that it’d be hard for me to be intimidated. To feel nervous that you would blow a chance with a young starlet you would first have to be able to believe you had a chance with said starlet. I didn’t think that would be a problem in this case. Of course I did make the mistake of watching the movie Closer the other day which might have complicated things. Every so often a movie produces an image visceral enough that it stays with you for quite some time. Hannibal Lecter behind glass talking about Fava Beans, Tony Montana and his little friend being gunned down, etc. Closer had a moment that stuck with me as well. As it so happens, I’d like to believe that I could see Ms Portman as I should, as a three dimensional individual not completely unlike myself, and interact with her accordingly. However, face to face with her, I’m not quite sure I could muster up enough focus to not continually think of absolutely nothing other than the scene in Closer in which Natalie Portman is in a strip club bent over on all fours showing her hoo-ha to Clive Owen. And I imagine that might possibly prove a little distracting. If I was working with her I would definitely make a concerted effort to try not to think about such a thing, but I couldn’t make any promises. Of course as Jean is telling me all this I know that the true possibility of anything ever happening is probably well under 1.3 percent, tops. Still, if there’s anything poker players understand it’s the value of a free-roll. And for a little while it makes me happy to think about that 1.3 percent. It’s not unlike buying a lottery ticket. You know you’re not going to win but for 1 dollar you get to sit around for a little while and think "yeah, but what if...?" H. Kirshner in London (0) Comments

Posted: 11/8/2006 4:41:59 AM

Movies: Milos Forman "Goya's Ghosts"

Since Milos Forman presented the press conference of "Goya's Ghosts" yesterday in Madrid, about a thousand Spanish newspapers must be offering the news today. "El Correo" published today a couple of interviews with Milos Forman and Javier Bardem about the film. This newspaper also reports that neither Natalie nor Bardem attended the premiere. According to Forman, "Natalie's publicist has forbidden her to come to Spain." Apparently, that's all he knows about this matter. Further reports say that the press didn't like the movie. Forman has always been very concerned about the possibility of disappointing the Spanish audience, since "Goya's Ghosts" doesn't show a very bright point of view about Eighteenth-Century Spain. Forman thinks that his film talks about "the conflict between pragmatism and fanaticism." "Around the end of the XVIII Century, one out of every five Spaniards lived from the Church's charity" Forman says, "so when the Church stopped feeding them, the famine came and caused a reaction against the French saviors". Forman understands the character of Goya as an observer that depicted the objective reality of an era in his paintings. "Goya probably wouldn't have survived in the XXI Century;" he says, "nowadays it's really hard to be an observer without being punished for not being in one side or another." "Goya didn't annoy the powerful too much." "It is known that he was summoned by the Inquisition, and he should have told them something to get free of their wrath." Natalie Portman can't get away from filming The Boleyn Girls. "Goya's Ghosts" will be released next Thursday in Madrid and next Friday in the rest of Spain with a total of 375 copies. (0) Comments

Posted: 11/8/2006 4:39:45 AM

Movies: Goya's Ghosts Premiere in Spain this month.

There will be 3 premieres (they're really stretching the definition of aren't they?) of in Spain this month. The dates are- Madrid on 07/11 Zaragoza on 08/11 Valencia on 09/11 I also have met for the first time last week the man him self at a Jazz Cafe in Camden, London. “I didn’t know Natalie Portman at all,” Forman says. “I had bought a copy of Vogue or a similar fashion magazine and was reading it to relax when I was struck by the photo of the young woman on the cover who turned out to be Natalie. And as I’m looking at it, I open a book about Goya’s last painting in Bordeaux called A Milkmaid in Bordeaux, and I see they are the same face. “So I started to make inquiries about the qualities of this actress and I saw how much people like her. And then I saw the film Closer and saw how good she is and knew that I wanted her. Her range is amazing, big, surprising, and that was very important here. Basically she plays three different characters in the film.” “When I went to Paris to meet with Milos and Jean-Claude, I was surprised to discover that they wanted me in the film at first not because they’d seen my work but because the saw a photo of me and decided I looked like a young woman in some of the paintings,” Portman says. “I was interested and intrigued to meet them, and a little intimated, too, because I love Milos’s films. I was ready to read or test for the role, whatever they wanted. When they offered the part I was very excited. Ines figures in a part of history I never knew about. It was something terribly different from what I’d done before.” Babel is closing the London Film Festival tomorrow at the Odeon Leicester Square (the film is scheduled to start at 7pm) - I might mosey on down to see Nat guests, but TBH if either Pitt or Blanchett is attending. Well I´ve just watched the special screening for the crew of the Goya´s Ghosts film scheduled for this november the 5th, 2006 in Madrid and it was great, dazzling. Natalie is really amazing, she performs both parts (Inés and Alicia) perfectly... I´ll have the opportunity to watch the film again next november the 7th. Since Milos Forman presented the press conference of "Goya's Ghosts" yesterday in Madrid, about a thousand Spanish newspapers must be offering the news today. "El Correo" published today a couple of interviews with Milos Forman and Javier Bardem about the film. This newspaper also reports that neither Natalie nor Bardem attended the premiere. According to Forman, "Natalie's publicist has forbidden her to come to Spain." Apparently, that's all he knows about this matter. Further reports say that the press didn't like the movie. Forman has always been very concerned about the possibility of disappointing the Spanish audience, since "Goya's Ghosts" doesn't show a very bright point of view about Eighteenth-Century Spain. Forman thinks that his film talks about "the conflict between pragmatism and fanaticism." "Around the end of the XVIII Century, one out of every five Spaniards lived from the Church's charity" Forman says, "so when the Church stopped feeding them, the famine came and caused a reaction against the French saviors". Forman understands the character of Goya as an observer that depicted the objective reality of an era in his paintings. "Goya probably wouldn't have survived in the XXI Century;" he says, "nowadays it's really hard to be an observer without being punished for not being in one side or another." "Goya didn't annoy the powerful too much." "It is known that he was summoned by the Inquisition, and he should have told them something to get free of their wrath." Natalie Portman can't get away from filming The Boleyn Girls. "Goya's Ghosts" will be released next Thursday in Madrid and next Friday in the rest of Spain with a total of 375 copies. (0) Comments

Posted: 11/7/2006 7:58:21 AM