By Iain Blair

There’s an interesting new doc just out, Chris & Don: A Love Story, about the great Brit author Christopher Isherwood (his Berlin Stories formed the basis of Cabaret) and his artist lover Don Bachardy.  The film, narrated by Michael York, mixes great archival footage with Bachardy’s own reminiscing and is well worth seeing.

It reminded me of the time I first met Chris and Don when I first arrived in L.A. in the late 70s. I went over to their house in Santa Monica Canyon and they took forever to answer the door. When they finally did, they were quite excited and explained that there was a young couple  - completely naked - making love on the roof of a house down below, oblivious to the fact that anyone might be able to see them. Of course we all rushed back to the window to watch. As Chris remarked, “It’s like watching two beautiful animals mating in the sun.” Pity they didn’t include that incident in the film….

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 By Iain Blair

Went to a special IMAX cast-and-crew screening of  The Dark Knight last week and wasn’t disappointed. The film works on every level– script, acting, direction etc. and looks AMAZING in IMAX.

Chris Nolan told me it’s the first time a major feature film has shot IMAX and he did all the major action sequences in IMAX, including the tense opening bank heist (where Chicago stood in for Gotham). He also told me that he purposely used very few CGI shots, and that also works -  when buildings and cars blow up, it just looks so much better than CGI explosions.

The scariest – and saddest – part of  the new Batman film (out July 18) is Heath Ledger, who gives a truly frightening performance as The Joker. In fact, while the film’s title may refer to Bruce Wayne’s alter ego,  it also fits as a chillingly apt, if unintended, reference to Heath Ledger. Ironically, the late great Aussie actor first made a splash as a leading man when he starred in the sunny, rock ‘n’ roll-themed A Knight’s Tale back in 2001. But watching The Dark Night on Saturday night, it was immediately obvious just how far behind the actor had left the golden-locked, carefree hero of A Knight’s Tale. It’s tragic that his career was cut so short.

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By Iain Blair

Movies lost a true visionary with the death of Stan Winston, who was just 62. All those great sci-fi FX films such as “Terminator 2,” “Jurassic Park” and “Aliens” were showcases for his artistry in VFX and makeup, and he deservedly won 4 Oscars for his work, as well as getting many Oscar and Emmy nominations over the years.

I talked to him many times, and he always had the same response to any question about advances in CGI eventually making his work outdated and redundant, that “a clever combination of CG, puppets and animatronics can often be far more effective than just CG.” And he was right. A film like “Jurassic Park” worked because Spielberg was able to shoot full-scale animatronic dinosaurs and combine that with CGI in post in a seamless blend.

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Went to a very early screening of Elegy, the new Samuel Goldwyn release out in August, directed by Spanish director Isabel Coixet. Starring Penélope Cruz – also in the new Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Ben Kingsley, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson and Peter Sarsgaard, Elegy is based on Pulitzer Prize-winner Philip Roth’s short novel “The Dying Animal” and tells the story of a college professor (Sir Ben) who becomes obsessed with a young student (Cruz). But their passionate affair soon runs into some speed bumps.The film, which also stars rock ‘n’ roller Deborah Harry, features a lot of casual nudity and terrific performances from all. In addition to being that rarest of film creatures – a woman director, Coixet also operates her own camera (with longtime collaborator and French DP Jean-Claude Larrieu), and the result is a highly personal and beautifully shot film.

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 By Iain Blair

Met up with one of the Internet’s most popular stars, Wong Fu Productions, at Jerry’s Deli in Woodland Hills. If you aren’t aware of these guys yet, for all things Wong Fu, visit their website: www.wongfuproductions.com and get on board. Their most popular video Yellow Fever has over 5 million total views and their site gets 1 million hits a month!!!  This hot independent production company is composed of three friends who met and began to work together in college - Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang - each of whom bring a variety of skills, knowledge, and talent to the group.  With strengths in design, photography, animation, writing, and directing, the trio has combined these artistic talents with a keen business sense and marketing acumen to create and build an immense following and fan base.

Millions of viewers have tuned in from all over the world to watch their shorts and music videos online and thousands have attended their events on college campuses across the country, including MIT, Yale and Harvard. As Philip says, “the traditional Asian stereotype goes to the two extremes – it’s either all about martial arts, or the kids become lawyers, engineers, doctors and so on. But this is a whole new creative path, and we almost feel like a rock band, with loyal fans who follow us around.”

Wong Fu are at the crest of a whole Asian-American movement, and are quickly making a name for themselves beyond the Internet with the recent announcement of their first major feature film project, tentatively titled THE SLEEP SHIFT. Written and directed by Wong Fu Productions, it is currently in pre-production and will begin shooting later this year. Their two short films also appeared in the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival this year. I predict these guys are going to be HUGE.

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By Iain Blair

After my recent Incredible Hulk blog, it’s good to see that the not-so-jolly green giant can still kick ass. Speaking of which, I went to an early screening of Get Smart  starring Steve Carell, of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and The Office, as agent Maxwell Smart, and co-star Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 in the new film version of the classic ‘60s TV show Get Smart.

The original TV show was written by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry and was very much a spoof of the Bond films. But the new film, although it has a lot of gags and comedy, will surprise audiences with just how much serious action there is. Directed by Peter Segal (Naked Gun 33 1/3) Get Smart is full of elaborate fights and stunts, and even shot in Red Square, Moscow. I spoke with Steve Carell who told me that for this hard-edged reworking of  Get Smart, he and Anne had to train pretty hard. “We both tried to get into decent physical shape so we wouldn’t kill ourselves.” They both succeeded. And Hathaway, who shot to fame opposite Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada,  is a revelation – she kicks and punches like a true super-agent.

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By Dyana Carmella

I was reading in a letter from AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon, that the AFTRA National Board approved the agreement made on May 28th with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on a three-year primetime television contract.

The main purpose of the agreement was to boost the wages for working actors during an economic crisis. They also needed to avoid another costly strike and wanted to follow suit of the Directors Guild and the Writers Guild who recently negotiated new primetime contracts. It was a tough fight for AFTRA negotiating committee. They showed a great deal of determination in creating a solid deal that would give stabilization to professional performers over the next three years.

“AFTRA members’ basic objective is to negotiate agreements that ensure two things: establishing and maintaining strong wages and working conditions—and creating real job opportunities through which we can earn them,” Reardon wrote.

All of us that work in production should applaud this committee for bringing this to a conclusion. We need to get production back to full throttle and the industry labor force working.

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By James Thompson

I just got a glimpse at a story slated for P3’s July issue. It’s about the best places to film in the U.S., and California isn’t even in the running. To qualify as a top production place, a state needs to offer producers incentives. In fact, this is the best way to attract producers from Hollywood. The states with the largest increase in productions are the ones offering the best incentives. So why then is the California government not doing all it can to dissuade producers from running to other locales?

With the high-profile press surrounding Ugly Betty’s recent decision to leave California for New York, I’ve been hearing press clips of Governor Schwarzenegger saying California must increase tax incentives as a way to keep producers from moving their productions out of state. In fact, just this morning on my way into work, I heard Schwarzenegger on KNX 1070 repeatedly saying it’s “stupid” for California not to have incentives. Well, talk is cheap. California’s administrators and lawmakers better get on the bandwagon or they’re going to continue to watch production leave the state.

For a look at some of the states that are reaping the benefits of high-profile production, stay tuned for the July issue of P3.

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 Iain Blair

Not surprised that You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Adam Sandler’s new comedy, did great box office over the weekend. It really delivers – if you’re a 12-year-old boy with fairly unsophisticated tastes. But then Sandler has never paid much attention to critics, and has always done his own thing. This time, with a wacky script cowritten by Sandler, comedy guru Judd Apatow (whose fingerprints are on nearly every comedy out there these days) and Robert Smigel (“Saturday Night Live”), Zohan is directed by frequent Sandler collaborator Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore) and co-stars a large ensemble cast that includes John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Chris Rock, with cameos by the likes of Mariah Carey and John McEnroe.  The film opens in Tel Aviv and Sandler and Dugan actually went there to shoot, using an all-Israeli crew. “But some of the beach scenes were also shot in Mexico,” says Dugan. “In Israel there’s a very distinctive orange umbrella, so we shipped about 100 down to Mexico.” The resulting continuity’s perfect – you’d never know the difference.

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 By Iain Blair

There’s a long history of musicians and rock stars trying to make it in Hollywood – everyone from The Beatles, and Elvis to Dylan, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Sting and Madonna all tried their hand at movie stardom, with varying degrees of success. Now comes Alicia Keys, the mega-selling singer-songwriter who’s in the middle of her hugely successful  worldwide As I Am tour, which is promoting her multi-platinum new album, also titled As I Am, which debuted at No. 1.
I chatted with Keys the other day about her new film career, as she’s about to make her film debut in The Secret Life of Bees, out later this summer. She stars opposite Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, and Jennifer Hudson. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, the period film is co-produced by Will Smith and will be released by indie powerhouse Fox Searchlight who really knows how to market small, quirky films – remember “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Juno”?  So how’s movies different from music for the star? “ Well, in many ways it’s different and in many ways it’s the same to me,” she says. “In regards to like the focus and the drive and the dedication of it, it’s the same.  You definitely have to want to give your best performance, and have to have a certain amount of abandonment when giving it. It’s a little different because the differences, I would say, are like when I am doing the music things it’s really my vision it’s my music, it’s my lyrics, it’s my life, it’s my thoughts, it’s my pains and my joys and all of that and with film it’s you’re definitely portraying another life.  And it has traces of me in it but it’s not 100% me.”  The other big difference between movies and music?   “Time,” says Keys. “Music is always so late.  Everything is late and you’re working holidays, weekends, New Year’s, Christmas, you work any day.  And film is totally different.  Everything is super early.  You’ve got to be there at four in the morning.  It’s totally, totally more regimented!”

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