The Beaver
World Premiere!
Hollywood has come to Texas; The annual South By Southwest (SXSW) film festival is in ful swing in Austin, Texas. The growing popularity of this early spring festival can be demonstrated by the talent that is appearing; Oscar nominated actors Paul Giamatti, Jodie Foster, Amy Ryan, Vera Farmiga and Jake Gyllenhaal are all presenting new movies, walking red carpets and doing interviews with local press. Since 1987 SXSW has been premiering the latest the new year has to offer in new films. They are not all small films either; Gyllenhaal’s sci-fi thriller Source Code was the opening night film on Friday. Gyllenhaal with director Duncan Jones and co-stars Michelle Monaghan and Farmiga took the spotlight and focused the entertainment eye on Texas. Evidently fans in Texas were so happy to see Gyllenhaal they followed him into the restroom and started taking pictures.
SNL favorite Kristin Wiig presented her newest films, Bridesmaids in which she stars and wrote, and also Paul the alien comedy. Jodie Foster will present her new film on Wednesday night; one of the big focuses of the festival. Foster’s film The Beaver, in which she stars and directed has already been met with controversy since it is the first film starring Foster’s pal Mel Gibson following his very public personal problems. Billy Bob Thornton and Conan O’Brien both have documentaries debuting at the festival. Natalie Portman and Joseph Gordon Levitt’s new film Hesher debuted to rave reviews from critics on Sunday. Not every cast member or major name will attend the festival, it’s sometimes difficult to find who is there and who isn’t, but that seems to be some of the fun. The festival also scheduled “secret screenings” in the middle of the day where surprise film makers would debut their films to a audience.
The atmosphere at the festival is fun and those people brave or manic enough to deal with parking issues, long lines, and everyone handing out flyers for their event, will certainly be rewarded for their journey. Texas Art & Film is proud to be recognized at the festival and we look forward to bringing you the coverage from the festival, stay tuned.
Hollywood comes to Austin
By Dustin Chase W.
Two time Academy Award winning actress Jodie Foster presented her third directed film at the 2011 SXSW film festival to a full auditorium. She was asked many questions about why this film and working with her buddy Mel Gibson. Getting to speak with Jodie Foster and seeing her in person was a true highlight for me and the rest of the TAF crew. Foster flew in from Paris (where she was filming Carnage with Roman Polanski) just for the film festival. She wouldn’t remove her glasses because of the nasty eye infection she had, comparing herself to Jack Nicholson who always wears sunglasses during the Oscars. With Foster was the films screenwriter who is from Austin, as well as co-star Anton Yelchin. The Beaver world premiere was the film festival’s big film event this year and the line wrapping around two blocks proved Foster’s popularity. “I love Texas!” Foster said as she came out to introduce the film.
Tom McCarthy’s new film also debuted at the SXSW film festival. I had the oppertunity to interview the cast: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan and impressive newcomer Alex Shafer. I snuck a camera into the tiny, intimate press room and even got Oscar nominated Giamatti to say hello to TAF review editor Michael Woody, who was in the midst of the Japan Earthquake at the time.
For the debut of the new film Win Win written and directed by Tom McCarthy, whose previous films include The Station Agent and The Visitor, half the cast was on hand at SXSW for casual interviews and promoting the film that really is one of the years best. I saw the film prior to the interviews as was really stuck at how perfect McCarthy blends the realism of these characters with a light heartedness similar to his previous scripts. Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti (John Adams, Sideways) gives his best film performance, and Oscar nominee Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone, The Office) delivers yet another standout turn. The dramady also stars Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor and Melanie Lynskey, first time actor, 16 year old New Jersey champion wrestler Alex Shaffer steals the show.
“The title of this movie really is ambiguous; no one really does win anything. They don’t win the matches and they don’t win the money and he comes out a better person,” Giamatti said. The film follows a high school wrestling coach who takes in a stray teenager with lots of issues with his mother (played by Lynskey). Being his first film, Shaffer was asked many times about the difficulty of it, “It wasn’t that different from wrestling the way Tom wrote the choreography of the scenes; We kind of had room to wrestle, it wasn’t necessarily acting” commented Shaffer. Giamatti and Ryan admitted Shaffer didn’t ask for acting pointers, and they admired his detachment from the whole element; both agreed they likely learned more from him. The teenager did admit sometimes it was difficult doing a wrestling scene where he is focused on the sport then having to say a line to Giamatti.
I brought up the topic of awards, and how this film debuting so early might hurt its chances at the end of the year, McCarthy responded, “Fox Searchlight knows what they are doing, my main thing is getting the movie in at many theaters as possible. My one bummer is it got the R rating for language. When we showed it to younger people they really responded, there is a really strong message in a good way about family, and there is power in that.” McCarthy and Giamatti have known each other for 20 years, even attending drama school together. “I saw these movies he made and thought my God I would love to do this with him. He knew me really well as an actor and person, he knew my tricks which he made me avoid, he was tough on me at times but that was ok,” said Giamatti who won a Golden Globe last year for his performance in Barney’s Version.
When ask why McCarthy chose wrestling as a sport he admitted it was because he too was a high school wrestler and simply you don’t see it in film very often. I ask Giamatti what he saw in this character and this film over other projects he was offered, he said jokingly, “It was the money frankly (lots of laughter). A lot of it was Tom, more than practically anything, Tom saying he had a script for me to look at, and I said I don’t even need to look at it. I really liked the world of it, portraying sort of middle class suburban life and the character seemed like a lovely guy with conflicts, he’s a good guy, a family man, I don’t play many good guys like that.
Giamatti also says about the importance of casting the right actor as Kyle the teenage boy, “You don’t like that kid, the movie wouldn’t work.” Giamatti also commented that Shaffer seemed easy to direct because wrestling is a sport where you are used to taking so much direction. When Giamatti and Ryan first walked into the tiny room full of us eleven journalists, both actors seemed surprisingly nervous. “Paul and I are similar in that we are both shy at first, once the ball is rolling it feels like someone I have known my whole life,” Ryan said about working with Giamatti for the first time. She also commented on how many great roles are in this film for women. McCarthy has been known for his strong female characters.
I ask Shaffer about the tattoos Kyle has in the film, “The tattoos are not real!” he said. “My interpretation of the tattoos is the wings are an exit, a way out of his hard life. With the compass he didn’t have a lot of direction.” Perhaps the moment that really showcased Shaffer’s green nature to the entire acting world was when the journalist started bragging on his performance and questioning if he would peruse acting, “I am definitely going to keep doing it, I have an acting coach. I am doing acting programs this summer.” Then we mentioned Oscar and Golden Globes. “Alright that sounds just ridiculous, if I am ever up for one of those awards… I can’t even imagine what my friends would say to that, I don’t think I am anywhere near prepared for a golden globe or anything, but that’s nice of you to say so.”
Win Win will open in select theaters March 18th and then expand to more theaters. You can read my full review for the film here.
