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Post by petrolino on May 9, 2020 21:19:51 GMT
Willem Dafoe
William James Dafoe was born on 22 July, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin, in the United States of America. His mother, Muriel Isabel Dafoe (née Sprissler), was a nurse, and his father, Doctor William Alfred Dafoe, was a surgeon. He's one of eight children, with two brothers and five sisters. He has French, German, Irish and Scottish ancestry.
“I’m not one of those guys that had a picture of Marlon Brando on his wall when I was a kid. I was just a dopey kid that loved being in plays, but I thought that was something that would pass, and one day I’d grow up and become an adult. It’s only after you’ve been working for a while that you say, ‘Well, I guess I’m an actor.’ It sounds suspicious, it sounds like, what, was I asleep? But somewhere deeply, I always thought I’d do something else.”
- Willem Dafoe, The Guardian
'Wasting My Time' - Robert Gordon
Born a cusp under the astrological sign of Cancer, Dafoe shares his birthday with isolationist artist Edward Hopper, etiquette expert Amy Vanderbilt, eerie entertainer Louise Fletcher, psychedelic funkmaster George Clinton, and decorated wrestler Shawn Michaels. Dafoe also shares a birthday with his good friend Danny Glover, whom he worked with on John Milius' 'Flight Of The Intruder' (1991) and Lars Von Trier's 'Manderlay' (2005).
Writer, philosopher, theorist and filmmaker Paul Schrader was born on July 22 as well. Schrader has directed Dafoe in five films to date : 'Light Sleeper' (1992), 'Affliction' (1999), 'The Walker' (2007), 'Adam Resurrected' (2008) and 'Dog Eat Dog' (2016). They're hoping to complete filming of their sixth feature together soon, a crime drama entitled 'The Card Counter', with Martin Scorsese serving as the film's co-producer. Production of 'The Card Counter' was closed down due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Other filmmakers born on July 22 include aesthete director James Whale, quality craftsman Bryan Forbes and wry satirist Albert Brooks.
"Back in March, Paul Schrader caused a bit of a stir when he wrote a Facebook post condemning the producers who stopped production on his film The Card Counter (starring Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe, and Tiffany Haddish). It was day 15 on a 20-day shoot when a “day player” on the set was diagnosed with the coronavirus. “Myself, I would have shot through hellfire rain to complete the film,” he claimed. “I’m old and asthmatic — what better way to die than on the job?” This wasn’t the first time the filmmaker roused indignation on social media. After writing last year that he’d have no problem casting Kevin Spacey if Spacey were right for a part, Schrader’s First Reformed distributor forbade him from posting anything between his Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay and the awards ceremony. After the Oscars, he jumped right back into the pit. Not that he perceives himself as a provocateur. It’s just that his instinct to say what others won’t (sometimes for good reason!) has gotten him where he is, and passionate responses — pro and con — embolden him.
The Schrader I’ve known for years is a deeply moral man with a deeper dislike of hypocrisy. Since his famously Calvinist midwestern childhood, he has ventured — creatively, anyway — into the darkest areas of the psyche. When Taxi Driver (for which he wrote the script) won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the audience reacted with boos, and even today the movie spurs angry disagreements. (It was a partial inspiration for the controversial Joker, which Schrader will not publicly discuss.) As a director, his films — among them Blue Collar, American Gigolo, Cat People, Light Sleeper, Auto Focus, The Canyons, and last year’s stunning First Reformed — differ hugely in setting but are thematically of a piece: People keep things in for various reasons and then suddenly don’t."
- Daniel Edelstein, Vulture
"I have actors who I’m speaking to and I’m calling who are brokenhearted and saying, “I’m here for you — any time, any day, any week, any year.” Here’s the thing that’s gonna be the most interesting: how theatrical will hobble back to life. Is there any way theatrical can reposition itself as an important force?
I think it was hanging on by its fingernails, and somebody just chopped those fingernails off, and it will reemerge in a specialized way, in the same way that blues clubs and symphonies emerge. But it will never ever assume the profile it once had."
- Paul Schrader, speaking in April 2020
Willem Dafoe & John Lurie
'Milwaukee' - Al Jarreau
A class project in his senior year at high school, for which Dafoe filmed on-camera interviews with a pothead, a nudist and a satanist, led to his expulsion. Dafoe still earned a place at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee to study drama, but then left prematurely in order to join the experimental theatre company Theatre X, who were based in Milwaukee.
He moved to New York in the mid-1970s and immediately became enmeshed in the booming underground punk scene. In New York, Dafoe was mentored by Richard Schechner, director of the avant-garde theater troupe, The Performance Group. The company shed a few members and mutated into the non-profit, experimental theatre company The Wooster Group, which debuted original material in 1975.
“I just don’t want to kill myself morning, noon and night, live in a box, eating poison food. Everybody I see in New York is just working around the f*cking clock just to f*cking pay the rent. I mean, the quality of life in that town is f*cked, man. Maybe it always was.”
- Abel Ferrara speaking in April 2019 (in advance of a retrospective of his films at the Museum Of Modern Art), IndieWire
"The easiest way to do it is to talk about this movie, 'Tomasso' (2019), which is a very personal movie. There are elements of both autobiography and elements that I invented. But Abel Ferrara’s using what is around him. And because I’m his neighbor, and I’m his friend, some of those things are around me, too. So in our private and personal lives we have some overlap — we have the same kind of language in certain situations and in certain things that happen. So for this movie, using the things around us, using people from our neighborhood, using his wife and child in the film — I have special information about all this, you know?
And he trusts me, so we’re basically improvising. All of this is improvised. He’s basically telling me a story where he’s imagining something he may want to see and then we execute. That’s the most beautiful kind of relationship with a director, when the director is basically saying, “This is what I see: you sit here—put yourself in there and don’t show it, but inhabit it. Make that happen.” Particularly when you’re improvising there’s a huge responsibility. But I knew this material so well that I didn’t feel the pressure or the responsibility so much. Often when people think of improvisation, they think of actors making up clever dialogue. But that’s not so true. In this case in particular it’s about situations and it’s about interacting with people. We set up certain situations and you roll. Because we’re working with a very loose camera, it’s just a different way of making a movie and I enjoy it.
We’re always talking. He has a big sense of family and the group of people that he makes movies with — more and more I’m part of that family. You know, we’ve made another movie together since this one. That’s the sixth one. So we’re always in touch and he’s always telling me things that he’s thinking about and that’s kind of how this was born. In some cases he’s telling me things like, “Let’s develop this.” Sometimes he’s not sure it’s a movie, but it may lead to a movie, so that’s where it starts. For this one he said he wanted to shoot it down and dirty — fluid; with a small budget; not a really long shoot; and he wanted to use his wife and his kid."
- Willem Dafoe speaking in May 2019, IndieWire
Elizabeth LeCompte & Willem Dafoe
Frances McDormand & Willem Dafoe
Frances McDormand & Steve Buscemi
'Civil Commitment Hearings' (1975) by Theater X
The Wooster Group was co-founded by Dafoe, Jim Clayburgh, Spalding Gray, Elizabeth LeCompte, Peyton Smith, Kate Valk and Ron Vawter - LeCompte and Valk remain with the company to this day. Longtime contributors Frances McDormand and Maura Tierney are on the theatre's current advisory board. It's located at the Performing Garage on 33 Wooster Street (between Grand and Broome Streets in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan). They've staged a lot of unusual plays as well as established classics, and provided a launching pad for the theatrical works of LeCompte and Gray.
Character actor and New York filmmaker Steve Buscemi goes way back with Dafoe; Buscemi's late wife, performance artist Jo Andres, worked as a choreographer for the Wooster Group. One of Buscemi and Dafoe's first collaborations in theatre together was the 1982 production 'L.S.D. (...Just The High Points...)', a radical reinterpretation of Arthur Miller's play 'The Crucible'. Buscemi directed Dafoe in a film I've not seen, the prison drama 'Animal Factory' (2000), which is based upon a novel by Eddie Bunker.
"From the age of four or five, Steve Buscemi knew he wanted to be part of the world of movies and TV, where guys like Cagney and Bogart and John Garfield reigned during the Golden Age and, later, an actor like Al Pacino could transform himself from the Quiet Corleone in The Godfather to the volatile Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon.
Yet, though the Brooklyn-born Buscemi has become known for intense, edgy roles - think Reservoir Dogs and The Sopranos - his roots lie in comedy, from boyhood joke-telling to doing stand-up in downtown New York City clubs. In fact his goal early on was "to make it as a stand-up and then get cast in a sitcom - to get to L.A."
"Still haven't made it," he joked the other day to a crowd of theater-boosters at a benefit for the Accidental Repertory Theater in downtown New York. "I was a terrible auditioner. I would get so nervous. So I just decided I'm not going to worry about that."
With a good day job as a New York City firefighter, he devoted his free time to experimental theater and comedy shows on the Lower East Side. In the thriving theater scene there, he found he could join the creative process rather than waiting to be cast in a role.
When he got around to studying acting -- with John Strasberg at the legendary Lee Strasberg Institute -- he initially felt terrified. But after doing his first scene in class, he recalls being told by Strasberg, "You really seem to enjoy this" - and getting the sense that, training and methods aside, having a good time counted for a lot. At the same time, exposure to great classic drama and comedy (Chekhov, Neil Simon) expanded his horizons, as did an affiliation with renowned experimental theater troupe The Wooster Group.
Quitting the fire department to pursue acting full-time was not exactly a leap of faith; rather, "it almost wasn't a choice," Buscemi says. But scary nonetheless. Asked about his greatest fear, he cites "just going into the business. I had a good job and I liked being a firefighter. But it wasn't enough. I didn't want to turn into that guy from Trees Lounge."
Trees Lounge (1996) was Buscemi's full-length writing-and-directing debut, and "that guy" was Tommy, the alcoholic barfly he played - a guy who had dreams, but never got out of the suburban Long Island rut in which he'd grown up. As the actor reflected on how he might have ended up a Tommy, and as I recalled the movie, I found myself nodding in recognition. A Long Island-raised boy myself, I knew plenty of guys who turned into Tommys. What they couldn't do - and what many actors, even successful ones, don't get a chance to do either - is get to the point where "it's all about creating your own work."
- Jon Sobel, TMR
"I was born in 1955, in Appleton, Wisconsin – primarily a paper mill town. I grew up with Eisenhower. It was a Republican kind of area. It wasn’t a bad upbringing. People were hardworking and good, but I always had the sense there was a bigger world out there that I would feel more comfortable in. I knew, even as a child.
I’m happiest when I’m in nature. I mean, deeply in nature. It allows you to forget and join the bigger picture. My favourite landscape is jungle down to water. My dream is to wear flipflops, boxer shorts and a vest all day.
I’ve thought about murder many times. I have dreams about murders. I haven’t done it yet because I don’t think it’s my talent. I’d get caught. I’m the guy that if I’ve got some food in my luggage and I get stopped at customs, sweat breaks out on my forehead. I’m not the murdering type. I’m not a natural killer."
- Willem Dafoe, The Guardian
Steve Buscemi & Willem Dafoe (with Iggy Pop in the 1st picture / Rosie Perez in the 2nd picture / Danny Trejo & Edward Furlong in the 3rd picture / Bono in the 6th & 7th pictures)
"Run away with me ..."
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Directors
Bill Murray, Wes Anderson & Willem Dafoe
Irene Jacob, Theo Angelopoulos & Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe, Mira Sorvino & Paul Auster
Héctor Babenco, Barbara Paz & Willem Dafoe
Kathryn Bigelow & Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe, Rachel McAdams, Anton Corbijn & Philip Seymour Hoffman
Willem Dafoe & David Cronenberg
Willem Dafoe, Jan De Bont, Sandra Bullock & Jason Patric
Abel Ferrara & Willem Dafoe
William Friedkin & Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe, Michael Shannon & Werner Herzog
Willem Dafoe & Spike Lee
Diane Ladd, Nicolas Cage, David Lynch, Isabella Rosselini, Laura Dern & Willem Dafoe
Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst & Willem Dafoe
Julian Schnabel & Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe & Paul Schrader
Willem Dafoe & Martin Scorsese
The Spierig Brothers, Willem Dafoe & Ethan Hawke
Oliver Stone, Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe & Tom Berenger
Lars Von Trier, Willem Dafoe, Bryce Dallas Howard, Danny Glover & Isaach De Bankole
John Waters & Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe & Wim Wenders
Tian Jing, Zhang Yimou, Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal & Willem Dafoe
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Films
Al Jarreau ' 'Spirit'
Willem Dafoe in 'The Loveless' (1981)
Judge Reinhold, Willem Dafoe, Kaaren Lee & Kate Vernon in 'Roadhouse 66' (1984)
Willem Dafoe in 'Streets Of Fire' (1984)
Willem Dafoe in 'To Live And Die In L.A.' (1985)
Willem Dafoe in 'Platoon' (1986)
Victor Argo, Willem Dafoe & Harvey Keitel in 'The Last Temptation Of Christ' (1988)
Gene Hackman & Willem Dafoe in 'Mississippi Burning' (1988)
Willem Dafoe in 'Off Limits' (1988)
Willem Dafoe & Tom Cruise in 'Born On The Fourth Of July' (1989)
Willem Dafoe in 'Cry-Baby' (1990)
Willem Dafoe in 'Wild At Heart' (1990)
Willem Dafoe in 'Flight Of The Intruder' (1991)
Willem Dafoe & Madonna in 'Body Of Evidence' (1992)
Willem Dafoe & Dana Delany in 'Light Sleeper' (1992)
Willem Dafoe & Mickey Rourke in 'White Sands' (1992)
Willem Dafoe & Nastassja Kinski in 'Faraway, So Close' (1993)
Willem Dafoe & Miranda Richardson in 'Tom & Viv' (1994)
Willem Dafoe & Jurgen Prochnow in 'The English Patient' (1996)
Sissy Spacek, Willem Dafoe, Professor Martha-Marie Kleinhans, James Coburn & Nick Nolte in 'Affliction' (1997)
Willem Dafoe & Harvey Keitel in 'Lulu On The Bridge' (1998)
Asia Argento & Willem Dafoe in 'New Rose Hotel' (1998)
Willem Dafoe in 'eXistenZ' (1999)
Willem Dafoe in 'American Psycho' (2000)
Willem Dafoe in 'Shadow Of The Vampire' (2000)
Willem Dafoe & Luo Yan in 'Pavillion Of Women' (2001)
Willem Dafoe in 'Auto-Focus' (2002)
Willem Dafoe in 'Once Upon A Time In Mexico' (2003)  Willem Dafoe in 'The Aviator' (2004)
Willem Dafoe & Robert Redford in 'The Clearing' (2004)
Willem Dafoe in 'The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou' (2004)
Dennis Quaid & Willem Dafoe in 'American Dreamz' (2006)
Denzel Washington, Willem Dafoe & Chiwetel Ejiofor in 'Inside Man' (2006)
Willem Dafoe in 'Paris Je T'Aime' (2006)
Willem Dafoe in 'Go-Go Tales' (2007)
Willem Dafoe & Jeff Goldblum in 'Adam Resurrected' (2008)
Michel Piccoli, Irene Jacob & Willem Dafoe in 'The Dust Of Time' (2008)
Willem Dafoe in 'Antichrist' (2009)
Willem Dafoe in 'Daybreakers' (2009)
Willem Dafoe & Shanyn Leigh in '4:44 The Last Day On Earth' (2011)
Willem Dafoe in 'Nymphomaniac' (2013)
Willem Dafoe & Adrien Brody in 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' (2014)
Willem Dafoe & Maria Fernanda Candido in 'My Hindu Friend' (2015)
Nicolas Cage & Willem Dafoe in 'Dog Eat Dog' (2016)
Willem Dafoe in 'The Florida Project' (2017)
Willem Dafoe in 'At Eternity's Gate' (2018)
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Post by petrolino on May 13, 2020 17:20:00 GMT
Willem Dafoe in 'The Strange Case Of David Patrick Kelly'
'Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away' - Stevie Wonder
David Patrick Kelly was born on 23 January, 1951, in Detroit, Michigan, in the United States of America. His father, Robert Corby Kelly, was an accountant by trade, and the recipient of a Bronze Star Medal for service during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. His mother, Margaret Elizabeth Kelly (née Murphy), was a homemaker. Kelly comes from a long line of Irish Catholic fighters, including decorated members of the Irish Brigade.
David Patrick Kelly, Charles Meshack, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Duke & director Mark L. Lester on location for 'Commando' (1985)
Kelly's mother presented him with a mandolin on Saint Patrick's Day in 1964. This stringed instrument changed the young Catholic boy's life forever and inspired him to pursue a career in the arts. Kelly became a composer and lyricist, writing for musicals being produced locally in Detroit. A gifted student, he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Detroit. He went on to study the art of clowning under Marcel Marceau and method acting under Mira Rostova. He also formed a rock 'n' roll band.
"I was an official part of the CBGB’s Summer of 75 Top 40 Unrecorded New York Rock Bands. The list included me, Talking Heads, Ramones, Blondie, and many, many others. A few years back I finally did a professional mix of a few tapes I had — I had a very talented band and I wanted to put it out there that there was more going on in that scene than is fully realized.
I added three more recent songs from a play I wrote and starred in at a place called Here in NYC. The song “Rip Van Boy Man” is about suddenly being an older fella in a flash and knowing the best is still ahead."
- David Patrick Kelly, speaking in Manchester, England in 2009
Richard Beymer & David Patrick Kelly in 'Twin Peaks'
Kelly is one of the most influential figures in experimental American theatre and a renowned interpreter of the classics. He's a member of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City, New York, the Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, Connecticut, and the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"Some nights, David Patrick Kelly saves audience members from the dreaded "Mind Attack" in Richard Foreman's latest Off-Broadway piece, Pearls for Pigs. But there is a price: To do it, he must endure the soul-bearing ordeal himself.
Kelly plays The Maestro, a man continually faced with contradictions, paradoxes and many questions about the life he's chosen to live -- namely as a practitioner of theatre. One of the many obstacles The Maestro must endure is a "Mind Attack," which, audience members are told, encompasses having our mistakes, errors and humiliations put on stage for all the rest of the audience to be amused by. At two recent performances, Kelly thankfully decided that he would endure the Mind Attack for us.
Kelly has been working with Foreman, the avant-garde legend, on and off for the past 14 years, beginning with Dr. Selavy's Magic Theater, one of Foreman's ventures into musical theatre with composer Stanley Silverman. But, it wasn't until 1986 that Kelly started working on Foreman's "Ontological-Hysteric" plays, with The Cure and Film is Evil, Radio is Good, which both received Obie Awards that year.
How does Kelly classify Foreman's plays? "I often say that his work is like Samuel Beckett writing radio plays for the Marx Brothers and then staging them. Because in the midst of all these deep philosophical and metaphysical concerns there's all this great humor and that's what leavens the idea and makes it pick up a little bit because the humor comes in the world as he sees it."
For 29 years, Foreman has been writing, directing, and designing plays for his own Ontological-Hysteric Theater. So far he's done more than 50, including Rhoda in Potatoland, My Head Was a Sledgehammer, Eddie Goes to Poetry City and Samuel's Major Problems. Foreman has received numerous awards and grants, including the coveted, MacArthur "Genius" Grant. His next play, Benita Canova, opens in January 1998. Kelly's introduction to Foreman's theatre occurred while attending the University of Detroit, in 1969. He recalls reading Foreman's essays and manifestos about theatre. When he moved to New York in the early 70's he was able to experience Foreman's theatre firsthand for the first time. Kate Manheim (now Foreman's wife) starred in all of the shows. Kelly said of her, "She was always the central focus - this kind of innocent adventurer in Sophia=Wisdom and Rhoda in Potatoland and all those early plays. She was this innocent, erotic, adventurer and [Foreman's] character was always. . . around the outside, in a kind of omniscient fashion. You would hear his mental processes working on her as the central character. As time went by, it became more balanced. You'd see him as more of a full interactive figure on the stage rather than this omniscient peripheral character and so it's come full circle to this Pearls for Pigs where he is the central character."
Kelly said, "These characters [from Pearls] like The Maestro, and Columbine and The Doctor and Pierrot are aspects of the world in which he [Foreman] lives. And so it's not just some kind of removed difficult philosophical discussion that he's doing. He has these philosophical concerns and he filters them through the poetry of his own light and the difficulty to continue creating in a poisonous environment -- where people may not be interested in your ideas. So, The Maestro embodies those concerns and represents this creative paradox, 'How do you create in the midst of all this poison around you?'."
Unlike most Foreman shows, Pearls was seen not only by New York's "Downtown" crowd, but by international audiences. In a tour organized by producer Jedediah Wheeler, Pearls played to crowds in Paris, Rome, Montreal, Los Angeles, and Hartford, CT.
For Kelly the most exciting part of the tour was, "The faces of the people and the fires that we lit. Some old man in Hartford coming up and saying 'I had a spaghetti dinner when I was 18 years old with Salvador Dali and Gertrude Stein came to Hartford. You enrich our lives'. This guy's eighty years old and these little fires throughout his life that had this meaning for him show us the importance of creative effort and the importance of this transcendence we're all searching for. This old man who had seen these different avant garde art events in his life, who's now eighty years old and the light was still burning in his eyes, hoping for this meaning. In France talking to Bernard Sobel, a holocaust survivor who had produced Richard for 30 years, and him saying "I died at Auschwitz, and I only live through producing Richard and Robert Wilson." In Rome, two young literary students came backstage afterwards -- very shy, hardly spoke any English -- but just the light in their eyes saying, 'We study letters, we study literature and thank you'. Wherever we went there was something like that.
But, Kelly's career is not limited to just one director. He's been on Broadway several times, including originating lead roles in the musicals: Working and Is There Life After High School?; parts in the Broadway plays : The Suicide, starring Derek Jacobi and Knockout starring Danny Aiello and The Government Inspector by Tony Randall's National Theatre Company. He has also worked extensively with film industry favorites like Spike Lee, David Lynch and Walter Hill."
- Sean McGrath, Playbill
David Patrick Kelly, Judith Light & Jeff Still in rehearesal for 'Therese Raquin' by Emile Zola
Throughout his career, Willem Dafoe has crossed paths with Kelly, who's slightly older, entered film a little before him, and seems to always work with each of their shared directors first. It's almost as if David Patrick Kelly has been a guiding light for Dafoe as they've continually manoeuvred within the same artistic circles, becoming acquainted with many of the same figures, be it Jim Jarmusch or Clint Eastwood, Raymond De Felitta or Stanley Tucci.
Both Kelly and Dafoe are men of the theatre, with a deep embrace of avant-garde theatre. In cinema, they've both worked with the filmmakers Wim Wenders, Walter Hill, David Lynch, Abel Ferrara and Spike Lee. More recently, both actors appeared in Chad Stahelski's action blockbuster 'John Wick' (2014), but it wasn't the first film project they'd collaborated on ... and hopefully it won't be the last.
David Patrick Kelly's Collaborations With Walter Hill, Wim Wenders, David Lynch, Spike Lee & Abel Ferrara
David Patrick Kelly, Eddie Murphy & Nick Nolte in Walter Hill's '48HRS' (1982) - also, 'The Warriors' (1979) & 'Last Man Standing' (1996)
Frederic Forrest & David Patrick Kelly in Wim Wenders' 'Hammett' (1982)
David Patrick Kelly & Harry Dean Stanton in David Lynch's 'Wild At Heart' (1990)  David Patrick Kelly in Spike Lee's 'Crooklyn' (1994) - also, 'Malcolm X' (1992) & 'Chi-Raq' (2015)
Abel Ferrara's 'The Funeral' (1996)
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Post by petrolino on May 15, 2020 17:28:10 GMT
Tom Berenger
Thomas Michael Moore was born on 31 May, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States of America. He has Irish ancestry and comes from a devout Catholic family. His father worked a variety of jobs, including a spell as a printer for the 'Chicago Sun-Times', the newspaper that Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert once worked for. He has one sister.
"Debra Winger doesn't let anything interfere with her performance, which is the way it should be."
- Tom Berenger
Kenneth Branagh, Tom Berenger & director Robert Altman on the set of 'The Gingerbread Man' (1998)
Born under the astrological sign of Gemini, Berenger shares his birthday with dedicated diarist Cardinal Jerzy Radziwill, epistemological poet Walt Whitman, renaissance leader Pope Pius XI, tricycling suffragette Rosa May Billinghurst, scandalous diva Alida Valli, cabaret dramatist Rainer Werner Fassbinder, power percussionist John Bonham and fallen ballerina Lea Thompson. If harkening back to radio, cinema and television's Golden Age, wireless superstar Don Ameche, big screen icon Clint Eastwood and television titan Jim Hutton were also born on 31 May.
"New York City was a magical place in the '90s. Rent was affordable, the Village was still weird, and fountains were full of dancing young urbanites. The most magical thing of all, though, was the fact that you could go to a restaurant staffed entirely by identical twins.
Opened in 1994, Twins Restaurant was located on the Upper East Side. Its staff consisted of 29 sets of identical twins who worked as hostesses, bartenders, waiters, and waitresses. It was owned by Lisa and Debbie Ganz (identical twins) and Tom Berenger (there is only one Tom Berenger). In fact, there were only two nontwins who worked there full-time: the chef and the general manager.
When Twins opened, Lisa Ganz told People, "It took us only two weeks to find enough twins to work here. We've had twins quit their full-time day jobs to work here. It's not about money—it's about the twin thing." Employees had to work at the same time and wear the same outfit, and if one called out sick, the other twin was forced to take the day off. If your twin got fired at Twins, that meant you got canned as well. Twins giveth, and Twins taketh away.
The New York Times' Ruth Reichl was a fan, writing, "Twins sounds like a pretty silly gimmick. Until you get there. When you are greeted at the door by two gorgeous and identical hostesses, then glance at the bar to find two identical men pouring drinks, the idea begins to grow on you."
The menu was full of twin-themed dishes like Twin Peaks nachos, twin burgers, and Paté Duke platter (Patty Duke had an "identical cousin," not a twin, but some puns are too good to eschew). According to Reichl, the best item on the menu was the cheese fondue, "which arrives bubbling over a fire and surrounded by cubes of bread, tiny hot dogs, curly fries and pieces of broccoli."
If you and your twin dined at the restaurant, you'd be treated to two-for-one drinks. The Ganzes claim they met "over 100,000 sets of multiples" during the five years they ran the restaurant, a place they call "a shrine for multiples around the world." But alas, like the Statue of Zeus at Olympia before it, this shrine wouldn't last forever—Twins closed in 2000. Although there have been rumblings of a new incarnation in Times Square,
Last year, a restaurant opened in Moscow called Twin Stars that was also staffed entirely by twins. However, Lisa Ganz complained that, not only had Twin Stars stolen their concept, but the eatery also "only has fraternal twins." A restaurant that only has fraternal twins? Now that's just weird."
- Nick Greene, Mental Floss
Twins Restaurant
Twin Stars Diner
Moore graduated from Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois. He went on to study journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. Having graduated in 1971, he decided to pursue a career in acting. He started out in regional theatre and wasn't afraid to travel (his father had worked as a travelling salesman), even taking a job as a flight attendant. He moved to New York to step up his pursuit of acting gigs, but was forced to change his name as there was already a Tom Moore listed as a member of the Actors' Equity Association. Undeterred, Moore opted for a new stage name, Tom Berenger.
"I don't care about being a star. I can do a supporting role; I don't have to be a lead."
- Tom Berenger
Distant Past : Tom Berenger lookalike from the archives
Berenger's big break came when he was cast as lawyer Tom Siegel in the popular soap opera 'One Life To Live'. Following several small but significant roles in theatrical features, Berenger was selected to star in Richard Lester's western adventure 'Butch And Sundance : The Early Days' (1979), a prequel to George Roy Hill's 'Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid' (1969). 'Butch And Sundance : The Early Days' would go on to become a television fixture, often seen on heavy rotation during daylight hours. For Berenger, he now had the opportunity to pick and choose roles, allowing him to take on more artistic projects as well as old-fashioned matinees and grand entertainments.
"The History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys broke cable television records on the initial airing of its first episode on Memorial Day (at 13.9 million viewers, it is the highest non-sports rating in cable history), but one person who likely isn’t surprised is star Tom Berenger.
Berenger stars as Devil Anse Hatfield’s uncle Jim Vance, one of the key members of the legendary real-life family feud. Berenger spoke to the West Virginia Herald-Dispatch about the miniseries and why he was so drawn to it.
Berenger has nothing but praise for the production staff on the project. He says, “This is an ‘Eastern,’ It was the script. I was sort of knocked out by the scope of it all and all the different characters which I knew could have been very difficult to cast and to shoot with but we had a brilliant director and staff and producers and it had the same kind of feeling that Major League and Platoon had for me, and this is really a bigger scope.”
Berenger elaborates on his appreciation for the script by pointing out how its colorful language recalls an earlier era. He says, “The language is great and very rich because our vocabulary was Victorian and we had a lot more words in our language before it was dumbed down by television and the Internet. Everyone was challenged with some of the very interesting expressions, you knew what they meant and it is dated in that sense. What I think is interesting is that a lot of the characters we portrayed could not read or write yet they knew what all of these words were by listening to the preachers of the King James Bible and by seeing any play that came by and by going to hear politicians who were brilliant orators who would give speeches for hours. So that is the world these people came from.”
In fact, another thing Berenger appreciates about Hatfields & McCoys is the sheer epic nature of the miniseries. He explains, “I think it is a different kind of entertainment and also for anyone interested in history it is the only way to do it. It is like when I was a kid they did Lawrence of Arabia and Ten Commandments and all of those type movies were movies with an intermission. You would go and see The Ten Commandments and spend the afternoon or an evening in the theater and didn’t go anywhere else. I know after I saw this it had that impact of lingering with me. I keep seeing these different scenes and I still keep thinking about it.”
- Chris McKittrick, Daily Actor
Tom Berenger and director George Kaczender during the filming of 'In Praise Of Older Women' (1978)
William Katt, director Richard Lester and Tom Berenger on location for 'Butch And Sundance : The Early Days' (1979)
His strength, athleticism, verve and versatility enabled Berenger to fit in with a volatile group of sharp-edged, hard-nosed actors you wouldn't want to mess with. They were all-American men of action who bestrode all viewing formats, from the silver screen to the drive-in, the television screen to the emerging home video. These men were born into the philosophical rechanneling of American action cinema that began to take hold in the early 1970s, with filmmakers increasingly drawing inspiration from the hard-boiled Japanese crime films being made at Toho, Nikkatsu and Toei film studios, and the growing influence of French existentialist crime cinema. They were actors like Scott Glenn (26 January 1939, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Nick Nolte (8 February 1941, Omaha, Nebraska), Stacy Keach (2 June 1941, Savannah, Georgia), Fred Ward (30 December 1942, San Diego, California), Peter Weller (24 June 1947, Stevens Point, Wisconsin), Keith Carradine (8 August 1949, San Mateo, California), Gary Busey (29 June 1944, Baytown, Texas), Tommy Lee Jones (15 September 1946, San Saba, Texas), Powers Boothe (1 June 1948, Snyder, Texas), and Ed Harris (28 November 1950, Englewood, New Jersey).
"Last month, Tom Berenger and his wife drove from their South Carolina home in a motorhome to appear at the South Florida premiere of the documentary at the Key West Film Festival. The movie would go on to win Audience Award at the fest. He joined Sanchez; Mark Ebenhoch, a military adviser on Platoon who also helped make the documentary; and actors James Terry McIlvane (who played Ace), Bob Orwig (Gardner) and Corey Glover (Francis).
There was also a surprise appearance by Edith 'Erika' Thomas (credited in Platoon as Li Thi Van), who performed alongside Berenger in one of the movie's more troubling scenes when she was only about 12 years old. In the scene, Berenger’s character, the sinisterly battle-scarred Sgt. Barnes, places a gun against the child’s head. Thomas was not an actress. Stone demanded Berenger get real tears from the girl, who has never appeared in a movie since. Though Berenger succeeded, it’s not something he feels proud of, and it still weighs on him to this day."
- Hans Morgenstern, Miami New Times
“Oliver Stone was smart enough to trust the actors’ improv – that’s how the line ‘tag ‘em and bag ‘em’ got in there. We learned the slang and then even made up our own, if Stone liked it, it stayed. Stone worked incredibly fast, 2-3 takes and we would move on. He just trusted us and let us push the limits.”
- Tom Berenger recalls the making of 'Platoon', Keys Weekly
Erika Thomas & Johnny Depp on location for 'Platoon' (1986)
Erika Thomas & Tom Berenger reunited at the Key West Film Festival in 2018
Berenger was reluctant to cash in by taking on a plethora of the sort of bloated action blockbusters he was now regularly being offered, so he remained true to his roots in theatre. Thus, he picked a range of interesting projects, often due to writers or directors involved, resulting in one of the more unusual careers in Hollywood. And when he was pegged by certain critics as being a has-been, following his appearance in a smattering of straight-to-video, action-by-numbers, bills-to-pay projects he'd personally underscored in the 1990s, he showed why he's never down and out, coming back with full force to headline a sequel to 'Sniper' (1993) and create a highly lucrative 21st century action series in the process. Fierce, fiery and never afraid to speak his mind, Berenger stands today as one of the major action performers from the Golden Age of American action cinema.
"Tom Berenger will receive this year's GI Choice award from the GI Film Festival, for good reason – when it comes to the actor's standout military efforts, there's plenty to choose from. He's portrayed a sergeant in a star-studded Vietnam War epic, a Confederate general in a defining Civil War saga, a future president leading the "Rough Riders," and a sniper in … well, in the "Sniper" series. His latest role, as a U.S. Army officer in "Wunderland," takes him into another of history's defining moments – World War II's Battle of the Bulge.
Berenger spoke about "Wunderland" – which grew from a short film of the same name that screened at the 2013 GI Film Festival – and his many other projects in an April 25 interview with Military Times. He covered his preparation for "Platoon," how some movie projects do (and don't) get the military details right, whether Colin Powell is a history buff (spoiler alert: Yes) and why you might see the actor, someday, on the deck of a tall ship at a theater near you."
- Kevin Lilley, Military Times
Tom Berenger in 'The Road Virus Heads North' (2006), an episode in 'Nightmares & Dreamscapes : From The Stories Of Stephen King' (2006)
Tom Berenger, Tony 'The Zip' Lip & D.B. Sweeney on the set of 'Stiletto' (2008)
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Films
Chicago perform live in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States in 1970 (Robert Lamm : Keyboards / Terry Kath: Guitar / James Pankow: Trombone / Lee Loughnane: Trumpet / Walter Parazaider: Woodwinds / Peter Cetera: Bass / Daniel Seraphine: Drums)
Tom Berenger in 'Looking For Mr. Goodbar' (1977)
Nana Visitor & Tom Berenger in 'The Sentinel' (1977)
Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger & Jean-Francois Stevenin in 'The Dogs Of War' (1980)
Eleonora Giorgi, Tom Berenger & Marcello Mastroianni in 'Beyond The Door' (1982)
Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline & William Hurt in 'The Big Chill' (1983)
Helen Schneider & Tom Berenger in 'Eddie And The Cruisers' (1983)
Jack Scalia, Tom Berenger & Michael V. Gazzo in 'Fear City' (1984)
Tom Berenger in 'Platoon' (1986)
Tom Berenger, Jerry Orbach, John Rubinstein & Mimi Rogers in 'Someone To Watch Over Me' (1987)
Tom Berenger & Sidney Poitier in 'Shoot To Kill' (1988)
Debra Winger & Tom Berenger in 'Betrayed' (1988)
Daphne Zuniga & Tom Berenger in 'Last Rites' (1988)
Tom Berenger in 'Major League' (1989)
'Born On The Fourth Of July' (1989)
Tom Berenger in 'The Field' (1990)
Ann Magnuson & Tom Berenger in 'Love At Large' (1990)
Tom Berenger in 'At Play In The Fields Of The Lord' (1991)
Tom Berenger & Martin Sheen in 'Gettysburg' (1993)
Sharon Stone & Tom Berenger in 'Sliver' (1993)
Billy Zane & Tom Berenger in 'Sniper' (1993)
Erika Eleniak & Tom Berenger in 'Chasers' (1994)
Barbara Hershey & Tom Berenger in 'Last Of The Dogmen' (1995)
Glenn Plummer & Tom Berenger in 'The Substitute' (1996)
Kenneth Branagh & Tom Berenger in 'The Gingerbread Man' (1998)
Tom Berenger & Melanie Griffith in 'Shadow Of Doubt' (1998)
Tom Berenger in 'Training Day' (2001)
Tom Berenger & Angela Asher in 'True Blue' (2001)
'D-Tox' (2002)
Tom Berenger in 'Inception' (2010)
If You Only Knew' : Tom Berenger with Larry King
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Post by petrolino on May 20, 2020 16:41:34 GMT
Willem Dafoe & Tom Berenger in 'Platoon' : Duelling Icons Of Vietnam War Cinema
'Sergeant Elias K. Grodin was a soldier in the Vietnam War. Assigned to the Bravo company, 25th Infantry Division, he was the leader of Alpha squad in the platoon.
He was a friend and mentor to Chris Taylor as he helps him after he falls down from exhaustion and kindly carries his excess baggage, and welcomes him into the Underworld. Later on he defends him after new recruit and Chris's friend Gardner is tragically killed in a ambush by the NVA from Sgt Red O'Neil and Bunny who chastises him after he is wrongly accused of falling asleep on ambush and also confides in him that he had long ago lost faith in the Vietnam war and knows that the Americans will lose.
Elias also chastises Barnes for having sent his inexperienced group out on ambush in favor of sparing O'Neil squad from having to go out on ambush due to them nearing the end of there tours of duties which led to Gardner's death and is at odds with his superiors and fellow Sgt's due to caring for his troops as they are new.'
- War Film Wiki
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Sergeant Elias K. Grodin
'Grew Up… with a sense of right and wrong. Sgt. Elias, an experienced military man, seems to think that the U.S. Armed Forces have lost the moral high ground. The conflict in Vietnam is, for Sgt. Elias, a futile struggle.
Living… in the middle of the jungle. Sgt. Elias has been in Vietnam since the beginning of the war a few years back. Unlike most of his fellow soldiers, Elias is capable of seeing beauty in the war-torn jungle. As he puts it, “I love this place at night, the stars. There’s not right or wrong in them. They’re just there.”
Profession… co-commander of Bravo Company, 25th Infantry Division. Elias, who sees himself as the moral compass of the platoon, often disagrees with the strict and emotionless Sgt. Barnes over how to run the unit.
Interests… getting high. Sgt. Elias says that “feeling good’s good enough,” when it comes to life in the war. He’s an avid smoker of marijuana, which he needs in order to escape from his hellish environment.
Challenge… preventing Sgt. Barnes from murdering innocent people. Elias knows that he has his hands full with the strong-willed and ruthless Sgt. Barnes, but he’s trying to do what he can to prevent his fellow soldiers from doing wrong. Young soldier Chris Taylor and some others are on Elias' side in the struggle, but Barnes has plenty of allies of his own – plus the "fog of war" to drive men to extremes and cover up wrongdoing.
Personality… jaded, contemplative, and often compassionate. Despite his good-nature, Sgt. Elias is tired of war: “We been kicking other people’s asses for so long, I figured it’s time we got ours kicked.”'
- CharacTour
Sergeant Robert 'Bob' Barnes
 'Grew Up… in the South, where he learned the art of discipline. Barnes is, and always has been, a tough guy.
Living… in the middle of a bloody war. Vietnam is the worst place on earth in 1967, and Barnes is right in the middle of it. Barnes will do anything to defeat the enemy, even it means sacrificing innocent lives.
Profession… co-commander of Bravo Company, 25th Infantry Division. Barnes and his fellow leader, Sgt. Elias, don’t see eye-to-eye on how the platoon should be run. The strict Barnes believes in following orders, regardless of any moral objections. As he puts it, “Now, I got no fight with any man who does what he’s told. But when he don’t, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, we break down!”
Interests… combat. Barnes looks and acts like a born solider. He’s come to terms with the hellish world of Vietnam. In his words, “There’s the way it ought to be, and there’s the way it is.” The way Barnes sees it, he deals with reality, period, not some imaginary utopia.
Challenge… taking control of the platoon before the troops’ divided loyalties break down the chain of command. Barnes sees a serious problem in the high-minded Sgt. Elias and those soldiers, like Chris Taylor, who seem to agree with him. In Barnes’ mind, there’s little room for independent thinking and integrity in the middle of a war. Just get the job done.
Personality… tough, sarcastic, and seemingly incapable of empathy. Sgt. Barnes is a natural born killer. Defeating the enemy is his job, and he’s willing to kill anyone who gets in his way. As he says in his fatalistic tone, “Everybody’s gotta die sometime.” If you get in Barnes’ way, your “sometime” might be coming up pretty quick.'
- CharacTour
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Post by petrolino on May 20, 2020 21:43:35 GMT
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. was born on 28 December, 1954, in Mount Vernon, Westchester County, New York, in the United States of America (Mount Vernon is the birthplace of Catholic comedian Art Carney). His mother, Lennis 'Lynne' Washington (née Lowe), was a beauty parlor operator born in Georgia. His father, Denzel Hayes Washington Sr., was an ordained Pentecostal minister from Virginia. Both of his parents spent a significant amount of time in New York, where his father gained employment with the New York City Water Department.
“I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you’re prepared for it.”
- Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Despite having barely entered into his teenage years, Washington was sent by his mother to the private preparatory school Oakland Military Academy in New Windsor, New York. She feared the worst for her son who was running errands with street hoods and misbehaving after dark. His friends weren't so lucky as virtually all of them wound up doing serious jail time.
Upon his release, Washington continued his studies at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University, a historic Catholic institute of education named for the Fordham neighbourhood of the Bronx in New York City.
"Anyone who knows me at all well will at some time have heard me telling my Denzel Washington dinner date story. It happened over 30 years ago when I was invited, along with twenty or so other journalists, to a big hotel in central London to interview the actor who was promoting his latest film Cry Freedom, (Dir: Richard Attenborough, 1987) in which he played South African activist Steve Biko. Up until then, his biggest role was as Dr. Philip Chandler in St. Elsewhere, but he was beginning to make a name for himself in film.
I was waiting for my turn to interview him in a state of quiet excitement when Denzel’s publicist came up to me: “Mr. Washington hasn’t eaten for hours and needs to have dinner, but still has interviews to get through. Would you mind doing your interview with him over dinner? UPI will, of course, be paying for your meal.” I stared at the woman as if she’d grown three heads — was this a trick question? Of course, yes, please!
And that was how I ended sitting across a hotel restaurant table with Denzel where between courses we talked about his new film, his career and how it all got started, how life as a Black Briton differed to that of African-Americans, and much else besides.
We also talked about what it was like to be parents — I had a baby daughter and he a toddler son and a baby on the way. He was open and happy to share that he missed his family. Yes, he was enjoying the work that was now coming his way, but not the time it took him away from home.
One of the issues he was struggling with, he shared, was an offer he’d just been made to stay on in England and film a post-Falklands war movie For Queen and Country, in which he would play the role of a British soldier. Firstly, it would mean staying away longer from his family, and secondly, would he face criticism as an African-American playing a Black Brit?
Ultimately, he took the part — he wasn’t yet in a position to turn down work. Though he did face criticism, mainly from Black British actors who thought the part should have come to one of them and it wasn’t a box office hit, For Queen and Country (Dir: Martin Stellman, 1988) remains notable as a post-Thatcherite critique of Great Britain, and for having ill-fated Stephen Lawrence as an extra.
What I remember most is how humble Denzel was; how unimpressed he was with Hollywood, fame, and money — except where it could make what he called a ‘difference.’ He was proud that he’d been able to buy his mother a new home, and help causes he believed in."
- Marla Bishop, Medium
Norman Jewison & Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington & Norman Jewison
Washington enrolled at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting and was immediately thrust into serious dramatic roles, performing in plays by William Shakespeare as well as authentic American classics. He performed in summer stock theatre in St. Mary's City, Maryland and began taking stage roles back home in New York. He also enjoyed a stint at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California, where he was introduced to a different kind of girl.
His big break came when he was cast in Michael Schultz's big screen comedy 'Carbon Copy' (1981) opposite George Segal. This national exposure led to his casting as Doctor Phillip Chandler in 'St. Elsewhere', a hospital drama set in Boston, Massachusetts that centred around the staff of St. Eligius Hospital. The show would serve as a forerunner to 'ER', 'Chicago Hope' and 'Grey's Anatomy', and is now frequently cited as being one of the greatest television series of the 1980s.
"Spike Lee had been trying for years to film the life story of the controversial activist, spokesman, ideologue, hero, scapegoat and martyr Malcolm X; this epic, 'Malcolm X' (1992), he eventually produced burned with a rightetous anger that would have made its subject proud. All the major points on the timeline are hit: the Harlem street hustling years, the education behind bars, the emergence from the cocoon of a leader of men and, finally, a seeker who started to see the world in colors other than black and white. And like the autobiography that's become a staple on school curriculae, Lee's film charts how the cause and effect of all of those sides led to Malcolm X becoming an icon. Denzel Washington claimed that he could feel the spirit of the late Nation of Islam minister moving through him as he played certain scenes, a comment that only seems outrageous if you haven't seen his incendiary turn."
- Dave Fear, Rolling Stone
"Spike Lee's hit crime flick 'Inside Man' (2006) is more than a suspenseful crime drama – it's a love letter to New York. It's also a surprisingly powerful demonstration of Denzel Washington's incredible range. When a group of criminals take a bank-full of hostages, a troubled NYPD detective Keith Frazier tries to negotiate the release. In fact, the whole movie is a series of negotiations – Frazier talks not just to the crooks, but also to the small army of onlookers, political officials, a mysterious fixer (Jodie Foster), and, via a series of flash-forwards, hostages after they've been freed. Sometimes he's a bad cop, sometimes he's chummy, sometimes he's deferential. But all the while he keeps his cool, even as the situation around him becomes more desperate. It's prime Denzel."
- Bilge Ebiri, Rolling Stone
Denzel Washington & Spike Lee
Spike Lee & Denzel Washington
Questions were raised by wealthy film executives about Washington's suitability to transfer his talent to the big screen. Disturbed by the fortunes of breakout stars Ed Begley Jr., Stephen Furst and Howie Mandel, they developed a singular belief in comedy being the key, unaware that Washington had already shared an ensemble Obie Award during his distinguished career in theatre. Undeterred, Washington accepted offers to perform in comedies and dramas, as did his fellow 'St. Elsewhere' alumni Mark Harmon, and it wasn't long before both actors were scoring successes across genres. "My career is based on saying no. Sidney Poitier told me many, many years ago that the first four or five movies that you do will determine how you’re perceived in the business. So I was very blessed that the second movie I did was with Norman Jewison, the third movie I did was with Sidney Lumet, and the fourth movie I did was 'Cry Freedom' (1989) with Richard Attenborough, for which I was nominated for the first time. I was off to the races.
There were other movies that I could have done and I didn’t do. One of them I called “The N*gger They Couldn’t Kill.” It was terrible. They said, “It’s a comedy!” Yeah right. So I didn’t do that. They were going to pay me a lot of money and I really thought about it, but I didn’t do it. I waited and six months later I got 'Cry Freedom'. That’s what I tell young actors. “You don’t have to compromise. Go do some theater and wait.”
- Denzel Washington, The Talks
"The film "The Mighty Quinn" (1989) stars Denzel Washington in one of those roles that creates a movie star overnight. You might have imagined that would have happened to Washington after he starred in "Cry Freedom" (1989) as the South African hero Steven Biko. He got an Oscar nomination for that performance, but it didn't even begin to hint at his reserves of charm, sexiness and offbeat humor. In an effortless way that reminds me of Robert Mitchum, Michael Caine or Sean Connery in the best of the Bond pictures, he is able to be tough and gentle at the same time, able to play a hero and yet not take himself too seriously."
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Tony Scott & Denzel Washington
Ridley Scott & Denzel Washington
Spike Lee presents Denzel Washington with the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019
Washington is currently preparing to play the title role in a new adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' that's set to be directed by Joel Coen. He's also shooting John Lee Hancock's new project, 'The Little Things', which is said to be a crime thriller about a Los Angeles detective investigating a murder.
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My Top 30 Denzel Washington Movies
Talking Heads in Jonathan Demme's concert film 'Stop Making Sense' (1984), filmed at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles, California
(Guitar: David Byrne / Guitar & Keyboards: Jerry Harrison / Bass: Tina Weymouth / Drums: Chris Frantz Guitar: Alex Weir / Keyboards: Bernie Worrell / Percussion: Steve Scales / Additional Vocals: Ednah Holt & Lynn Mabry)
Tom Berenger & Denzel Washington in Jud Taylor's 'Flesh & Blood' (1979)
Denzel Washington & Adolph Caesar in Norman Jewison's 'A Soldier's Story' (1984)
Denzel Washington in Sidney Lumet's 'Power' (1986)
Denzel Washington in Edward Zwick's 'Glory' (1989)
Spike Lee & Denzel Washington in Spike Lee's 'Mo' Better Blues' (1990)
Denzel Washington & John Amos in Russel Mulcahy's 'Ricochet' (1991)
Denzel Washington & Delroy Lindo in Spike Lee's 'Malcolm X' (1992)
Denzel Washington & Julia Roberts in Alan J. Pakula's 'The Pelican Brief' (1993)
Denzel Washington & Tom Hanks in Jonathan Demme's 'Philadelphia' (1993)
Don Cheadle & Denzel Washington in Carl Franklin's 'Devil In A Blue Dress' (1995)
William Forsythe & Denzel Washington in Brett Leonard's 'Virtuosity' (1995)
Denzel Washington in Edward Zwick's 'Courage Under Fire' (1996)
Denzel Washington in Gregory Hoblit's 'Fallen' (1998)
Denzel Washington in Spike Lee's 'He Got Game' (1998)
Denzel Washington in Norman Jewison's 'The Hurricane' (1999)
Denzel Washington in Boaz Yakin's 'Remember The Titans' (2000)
Denzel Washington in Antoine Fuqua's 'Training Day' (2001)
Eva Mendes & Denzel Washington in Carl Franklin's 'Out Of Time' (2003)
Dakota Fanning & Denzel Washington in Tony Scott's 'Man On Fire' (2004)
Jodie Foster & Denzel Washington in Spike Lee's 'Inside Man' (2006)
Denzel Washington & Paula Patton in Tony Scott's 'Déjà Vu' (2006)
Denzel Washington in Ridley Scott's 'American Gangster' (2007)
Denzel Washington & Mila Kunis in The Hughes Brothers' 'The Book Of Eli' (2010)
Denzel Washington in Antoine Fuqua's 'The Equalizer' (2014)
Denzel Washington in Dan Gilroy's 'Roman J. Israel, Esq.' (2017)
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Post by petrolino on May 22, 2020 21:10:54 GMT
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. was born on 29 November, 1964 in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States of America (Kansas City is home to current Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs). His mother, Bettye Cheadle (née North), was a teacher, and his father, Donald Frank Cheadle Sr., was a clinical psychologist. His family travelled a lot so Cheadle got to experience life first-hand in some of America's major cities, including Lincoln, Nebraska where he recieved a significant portion of his early schooling, and Denver, Colorado where he attended Denver East High School (Harold Lloyd, Hattie McDaniel and Pam Grier attended this same school).
TV Insider talks to Don Cheadle & Kristen Bell about their roles in the television show 'House Of Lies' (January 2015) :
Bell : We love being mean to each other on screen because there’s so much love between us in real life. I feel really lucky to be working with…what is your name again? Oh, right, Don.
Cheadle : The first three seasons, it was Mr. Cheadle. That’s probably why she’s forgotten my name.
Bell : The first season was “sir.”
Cheadle : That’s right.
Bell : I’ll broaden the love to everyone on the show, because Don is not the only one I like. In fact, he’s not even my favorite.
Willem Dafoe & Don Cheadle
Denzel Washington & Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle & Kristen Bell
Step inside the 'House Of Lies'
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Cheadle tackled all the arts from an early age. He was part of his student theatre company in high school and played saxophone in a student jazz band. He also sang in a choir and studied dance and mime. Multi-talented and hard-working, Cheadle enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater.
"Donald Frank Cheadle Jr was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and has used music as an escape since childhood. He played the saxophone, mostly alto, through his adolescence. As a teenager, he fell for the saxman Cannonball Adderley, which was what first got him into Cannonball collaborator Miles Davis.
Cheadle first took up the trumpet – Miles Davis’s instrument of choice – for the HBO TV movie The Rat Pack, in which he played Sammy Davis Jr. For Miles Ahead, he picked up tips from trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. When I ask if he’s considered playing the trumpet live in the future, Cheadle laughs. “I don’t need to do it out in public. I don’t need people to see it. I just love the experience of sitting in a room with people who can play, speaking in another language and on another plane. The fun of all these disparate voices coming together, all different walks of life, all different socioeconomic whatever, then you start playing music and all of that goes away. It’s just conversation that you’re having. Everybody’s following, but nobody’s following. Everybody’s leading, but nobody’s leading. It’s an experience that’s unlike anything outside it. That’s the most fun I’ve ever had doing anything.”
Acting, on the other hand, is all about leaders and followers. His first role was as Templeton the rat in a school production of Charlotte’s Web. I ask how one gets into the mind of a rat. “That’s what I was wondering at 10 years old. I come from a very hammy family. Everybody likes to play. It was a continuation of that.”
- Dave Schilling, The Guardian
Ambassador & Activist Don Cheadle
Author & Journalist Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle & Kristen Bell
Don Cheadle's street crew enter into a kung fu battle \ 'It's The Real Thing' - Angela Winbush ft. Debbie Allen's Dance Crew (Don Cheadle is Dancer #2)
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While still in the process of wrapping up his university studies, Cheadle was able to secure membership to the Screen Actors Guild, when he was cast as a burger flipper working at a drive-thru restaurant in Neal Israel's comedy 'Moving Violations' (1985). Two years later, Cheadle was part of the ensemble of one of the key Vietnam War pictures of the 1980s, John Irvin's nihilistic drama 'Hamburger Hill' (1987), a role for which he once again professed his eternal thanks to hamburgers. In between gigs, Cheadle acted in the short subject film 'Punk' (1986), which was crime filmmaker Carl Franklin's thesis film produced for the American Film Institute.
"To kick off the 10th anniversary presentation at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre, “Noir City,” a week-long festival celebrating the history and glory of film noir running August 17-23, will be presenting an Opening Night tribute to one of the modern masters of the genre, director Carl Franklin. A former actor who kicked off his filmmaking career working in the trenches for Roger Corman, he had his first big breakthrough with “One False Move,” a harrowing and powerful 1992 neo-noir about a trio of homicidal criminals (Cynda Williams, Michael Beach and Billy Bob Thornton, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tom Epperson) on the run to a small Arkansas town following a series of drug-related murders and the local sheriff (Bill Paxton in one of his first lead roles) who is preparing for their arrival and who shares a long-hidden secret with the woman. Although the film would go on to be celebrated as one of the best of the year and announce Franklin as a filmmaker to watch, the production company behind it had consigned it to direct-to-video oblivion and it was only due to the enthusiasm of critics like Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, who saw it and raved about it whenever they had the chance, that it was given what proved to be a successful theatrical release.
The success of “One False Move” brought Franklin to the attention of the studios and, with the assistance of Jonathan Demme, he was able to set up an adaptation of Walter Mosley’s 1990 novel “Devil in a Blue Dress” (pictured above), the first of a series of mysteries set in post-war L.A. and centered around the character of Easy Rawlins. A machinist unable to find work and struggling to make the payments on his cherished house, Easy (Denzel Washington) agrees to navigate the city’s predominantly African-American milieu in search of a missing white woman (Jennifer Beals) and quickly finds himself contending with crooked cops, sleazy politicians and an increasing number of dead bodies that he is about to be arrested for murdering. A near-perfect evocation of the noir form without ever becoming a slave to its elements, this proved to be an almost insanely entertaining film that told an engrossing story, looked fabulous and was further supercharged by performances by a pitch-perfect Washington and a then-relatively unknown Don Cheadle, whose turn as Easy’s loyal-but-homicidal pal Mouse was one of the great star-making turns of the decade. Alas, when it came out in 1995, it did not fare well at the box-office, meaning that one of the few attempts to establish a film franchise where one might actually want to see future installments never got off the ground beyond the first, albeit masterful, effort.
Franklin, whose subsequent career has included such further noir-influenced projects as “Out of Time” (2003) and episodes of such television shows as “The Riches,” “House of Cards” and the upcoming miniseries “I Am the Night,” will be appearing at the Noir City festival on the evening of August 17 for screenings of “One False Move” and “Devil in a Blue Dress” — both presented in 35MM—and will be doing Q&A’s after each one. Recently, Franklin got on the phone to discuss his fascination with film noir and the appropriately twisted journeys that “One False Move” and “Devil in a Blue Dress” — both of which are as good today as they were when they first came out — took to make it to theaters."
- Peter Sobczynski, 'No False Moves : Carl Franklin's Noir Films' Don Cheadle, Spike Lee, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett, Laurence Fishburne & Terrence Howard
Don Cheadle & Samuel L. Jackson
Mahershala Ali, Glenn Close, Olivia Colman, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Lady Gaga & Spike Lee compete on the quiz show 'Family Feud'
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Films
Burt Bacharach performs live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1977
Don Cheadle in 'Moving Violations' (1985)
Michael Boatman, Don Cheadle & Courtney B. Vance in 'Hamburger Hill' (1987)
'Colors' (1988)
Don Cheadle in 'Devil In A Blue Dress' (1995)
'Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead' (1995)
Don Cheadle & Melora Walters in 'Boogie Nights' (1997)
Ving Rhames & Don Cheadle in 'Rosewood' (1997)
'Bulworth' (1998)
Don Cheadle in 'Out Of Sight' (1998)
'Mission To Mars' (2000)
Don Cheadle & Luis Guzman in 'Traffic' (2000)
Don Cheadle & Kirk B.R. Woller in 'Swordfish' (2001)
Nick Nolte & Don Cheadle in 'Hotel Rwanda' (2004)
Don Cheadle & Chiwetil Ejiofor in 'Talk To Me' (2007)
Wesley Snipes & Don Cheadle in 'Brookyln's Finest' (2009)
Don Cheadle in 'Miles Ahead' (2015)
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Post by rudeboy on Jun 6, 2020 4:29:49 GMT
Interesting line-up of actors. Dafoe and Cheadle are among the best working in Hollywood today. Edgy performers with great range, unafraid to take on challenging projects. Always a bonus to any film lucky enough to have them.
Washington is a huge star whom I have never fully warmed to. He's not a bad actor but there's a smugness about him both on and off screen which I find off-putting at times. His best performances are those where he plays characters barely suppressing a seething rage - he's terrific in Malcolm X and Fences, in particular.
Berenger is a solid actor who has never really had the chances he perhaps deserved. His performance in Platoon is perhaps still his career high point.
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Post by petrolino on Jun 6, 2020 13:48:06 GMT
Interesting line-up of actors. Dafoe and Cheadle are among the best working in Hollywood today. Edgy performers with great range, unafraid to take on challenging projects. Always a bonus to any film lucky enough to have them. Washington is a huge star whom I have never fully warmed to. He's not a bad actor but there's a smugness about him both on and off screen which I find off-putting at times. His best performances are those where he plays characters barely suppressing a seething rage - he's terrific in Malcolm X and Fences, in particular. Berenger is a solid actor who has never really had the chances he perhaps deserved. His performance in Platoon is perhaps still his career high point.
Willem Dafoe, Don Cheadle and Tom Berenger have all acted in films starring Denzel Washington who's my favourite crime cinema icon of a generation. That's the genre I feel Washington really flourishes in and I like that he looks for crime formats with fantasy, science-fiction and horror elements and trappings, I find that to be quite unusual outide of low budget filmmaking.
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Post by petrolino on Jun 7, 2020 1:12:40 GMT
'The House Of Lies' : "Let's Go To Work ..."
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Kristen Bell
Interview
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Working Out with Kristen Bell
"Thanks for watching, guys. See you all soon."
- Kristen Bell
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Don Cheadle
Interview
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Post by petrolino on Jun 14, 2020 0:43:16 GMT
~ Anxiety, Depression And Loneliness During Lockdown :
'Love Ballad To Your Therapist' - Kristen Bell
I think, one of the most difficult subjects for people to address head-on, is their own mental health and physical wellbeing (the two things seem connected). With mental health issues and social care currently under the spotlight due to the Covid-19 virus and associated lockdowns, the work of Kristen Bell in this arena now seems more essential than ever.
Bell's discussed anxiety and depression in a number of interviews and been keen to help fellow sufferers since her diagnosis (I've shared some materials via youtube on Film General in the past). One of the most important things, especially during times of self-isolation, is understanding you are not alone; in most countries, there are mechanisms in place to seek help and you shouldn't be afraid to do this, if you feel under pressure. As a wider society, few of us like to think of our fellow citizens staying quiet and suffering alone because they fear they'll somehow become a burden. Sometimes, it's good to reach out ... you might just find a helping hand awaits you. Check out some of her videos on youtube if you like, or you can read a variety of articles and interviews published online.
"An overloaded schedule can take a major toll on your mental health—and not even celebrities are exempt from this kind of pressure. Kristen Bell knows this from experience. The actress just revealed the she found herself cycling between anxiety and depression this past month because she was trying to fulfill every obligation on her jam-packed calendar.
"And it's been awful," she shared in a keynote speech at last week's MINDBODY BOLD conference in California, which featured a conversation between Bell and the brand's founder and CEO, Rick Stollmeyer.
“I’m trying to figure out why, and I have all these checks and balances of like, ‘am I working out enough, does my medication need to be changed, why am I feeling so much'—cause it’s just burying me,” Bell explained. “And I think I realized it’s because I’ve been doing so many things that are forward-facing and not enough work on myself. Or not work on myself, but just being myself.”
Bell's hectic schedule is something so many people can relate to. Veronica Mars had been her full-time job six months out of the year, she told conference-goers, and she now also produces and appears in shows on Encore and Disney. On top of her film work, Bell recently cofounded This Bar Saves Lives, a granola bar company that donates money to various charities. She also launched (with husband Dax Shepard) Hello Bello, a plant-based line of baby products sold exclusively at Walmart. Oh, and she's an all-star mom of two young daughters.
Of course, work isn’t the only reason Bell is overwhelmed. She said that she’s always been the type of person who wants to help others, and never saying no to people who ask for a hand has become a part of her identity. “I don’t want to let anybody down—and then I end up letting them down because there are only 24 hours in the day,” she explained. “But I haven’t ever acknowledged how depleting that can be, and how I’m actually not of service to anybody if I’m not whole.”
Luckily, she’s found a way to cope. “I realized that my codependency was so crippling that I couldn’t say no to people,” she said. “So what I’ve been doing this month is practicing saying no to people in a very kind way.”
It’s perfect timing. Filming just wrapped for the fourth and final season of her show The Good Place—and Bell is taking the next two months off and feeling really good about it. She’s already started turning people down but says it hasn’t been easy. “It has been so hard to write emails that say no thank you,” she admitted. “My palms sweat.”
This isn’t the first time Bell has spoken openly about dealing with mental health issues. She previously hosted a Q&A using an Instagram story feature in which she revealed some of her coping mechanisms: “CBD from Lord Jones, getting outside, naming 10 things I love for every 1 thing I don’t, hugging my girls, my husband and my dog, doing something calm and nice for a friend, cooking, gardening and meditating.”
Working out has also led to major stress relief. “I need workouts for my mental health—that is step one for me,” she said.
Her go-to workout, Studio Metamorphosis—which she described as a mix between Pilates and CrossFit—has been so therapeutic that she cried through an entire recent class. “[The instructor] Erin was like, ‘just keep going, you got this,’ and I was literally doing lunges while sobbing and everybody there was fine with it. It’s a wonderfully accepting place.”
Crying certainly isn’t a sign of weakness to Bell—in fact, she became emotional while speaking about her mental health in front of the crowd at her keynote. (Quite a few audience members had tears welling up in their eyes.) “I’m not out of control, and I’m having an emotion that’s real and authentic to me, so why would you judge me for it?” she asked.£
- Rebecca Shinners, Health.com
Notes on depression
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Post by politicidal on Jun 14, 2020 14:55:48 GMT
By happenstance, I managed to catch a few films starring Tom Berenger in recent years. He sure had a good run in the 80s and 90s. Whatever happened to him?
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Post by petrolino on Jun 14, 2020 21:32:21 GMT
By happenstance, I managed to catch a few films starring Tom Berenger in recent years. He sure had a good run in the 80s and 90s. Whatever happened to him?
He's had nice character parts in big studio films like 'Training Day' (2001). 'D-Tox' (2002) and 'Inception' (2010), but his larger support roles haven't garnered as much attention. Some appear to be authority figures in straight-to-dvd actioners.
The 8th installment of the 'Sniper' series is upon us though, Kaare Andrews' 'Sniper : Assassin's End' (2020). Andrews received the Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards for his work on 'Spider-Man : Doctor Octopus'. Berenger makes his return as MGySgt. Thomas Beckett. |
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Post by jeffersoncody on Jun 15, 2020 4:00:08 GMT
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Post by jeffersoncody on Jun 16, 2020 17:37:30 GMT
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Post by petrolino on Oct 2, 2020 16:31:06 GMT
Check Willem Dafoe out in Ed Norton's outstanding and atmospheric literary noir MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN - one of the very best films of 2019. 
I watched 'Motherless Brooklyn' yesterday. For anybody intereseted in seeing it who has SKY Movies, it's premiered this past week, which is how I was able to see it.
I think your description "literary noir" is apt. Edward Norton's direction is often held around eye level and favours storytelling and performance. I tend to prefer the cinematic stylists when it comes to stories of vice and corruption in New York, be it Sidney Lumet, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Abel Ferrara or Spike Lee, but Norton's direction remains solid throughout the film's lengthy running time.
I've not read the book it's based on but I did get distracted by the neutering of racial slurs considering the period, particularly in a politically charged story like this. But elsewhere, Norton revels in the action of dialogue and exchange and you can tell he enjoys the possibilities offered him by his character.
Nice to see Willem Dafoe who has one of his fuller beards here. Thanks for the recommendation - I hope others get the opportunity to see it if it interests them.
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Post by jeffersoncody on Oct 2, 2020 19:22:43 GMT
By happenstance, I managed to catch a few films starring Tom Berenger in recent years. He sure had a good run in the 80s and 90s. Whatever happened to him?
He's had nice character parts in big studio films like 'Training Day' (2001). 'D-Tox' (2002) and 'Inception' (2010), but his larger support roles haven't garnered as much attention. Some appear to be authority figures in straight-to-dvd actioners.
The last good part Tom Berenger had was as the brutal, loyal Jim Vance in the dark. excellent Kevin Reynolds-directed, Kevin Costner-starring 3-part 2012 mini-series, HATFIELD'S & MCCOYS . Costner stole most of the acting kudos here (along with Bill Paxton), but Berenger also delivered the intensity and earned himself an Emmy nomination in the supporting category. From here it's been a string of piss poor B-movies. He has been overweight and florid-faced for years now. The fire seems to have gone out of him, but he probably still needs to earn and these B-movies - where he is generally top billed, pay quite well. Maybe he just wants to enjoy the good things in life.
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Post by petrolino on Oct 3, 2020 0:09:19 GMT
He's had nice character parts in big studio films like 'Training Day' (2001). 'D-Tox' (2002) and 'Inception' (2010), but his larger support roles haven't garnered as much attention. Some appear to be authority figures in straight-to-dvd actioners.
The last good part Tom Berenger had was as the brutal, loyal Jim Vance in the dark. excellent Kevin Reynolds-directed, Kevin Costner-starring 3-part 2012 mini-series, HATFIELD'S & MCCOYS . Costner stole most of the acting kudos here (along with Bill Paxton), but Berenger also delivered the intensity and earned himself an Emmy nomination in the supporting category. From here it's been a string of piss poor B-movies. He has been overweight and florid-faced for years now. The fire seems to have gone out of him, but he probably still needs to earn and these B-movies - where he is generally top billed, pay quite well. Maybe he just wants to enjoy the good things in life.
I know you're a Kevin Costner devotee and huge 'Hatfield-McCoys' fan. I've not seen it but have only heard good things. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Post by fangirl1975 on Oct 4, 2020 15:26:53 GMT
I've seen it. It was brilliant.
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