The P3 Update Magazine Blog

By Iain Blair

I was so shocked to get a call from London about the sudden death of Oscar®-winning director Anthony Minghella, whose credits include The English Patient, `The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain. He was just 54 and one of the nicest people I have ever met. Over the years, I interviewed him many times for the LA Times and other outlets, and he would always go out of his way to make sure I had everything I needed for my stories, even calling me at home to chat about some aspect of his latest film. As John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Film Council says, “Anthony was at home in many art forms, but ultimately he was one of the great British filmmakers of his generation. He sweated over every frame of every film, but his influence went beyond the films and he was a top ambassador for the industry both in the UK and internationally. As Chairman, he laid the foundations for the renaissance of the BFI and he was a brilliant member of the UK Film Council board for five years. Even more importantly he was 100% genuine and he believed in the goodness of others.” Minghella was recently in Botswana filming an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s novel The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. It is due to air on British television this week. He was also very involved with the Oscar®-nominated film Michael Clayton, on which he was executive producer. He’ll be sorely missed.

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by Iain Blair

I went to a special screening of the 1978 mockumentary “All You Need Is Cash” at the Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, as part of the Mods & Rockers Festival. The thinly-veiled, yet affectionate satire of The Beatles was written by “Monty Pythonite” Eric Idle and stars “The Rutles,” a band made up of Eric, Neil Innes, Ricky Fataar, and John Halsey. All the band members were present for a very funny Q&A after the screening. I spoke with Eric, who I hadn’t seen in a long time, and who is also behind the new “Rutlemania” stage show.
The film and its general silliness still holds up well 30 years later, and it’s amazing to see how many big celebrities joined in the fun during the time of filming. George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, and David Bowie all make cameos in the film.
One of the funniest moments of the night was the reading of a special message from Mick Jagger about how sorry he was that he couldn’t be there. If you’ve never seen it, find a copy of the video message ASAP; it’s a hoot for any music fan.

For more info: www.modsandrockers.com

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by Iain Blair

When I heard that Arthur C. Clarke, the prolific sci-fi writer whose prophetic ideas about satellites and space travel helped to usher in the space age, had died in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the grand old age of 90, it brought back two vivid memories. The first was when I was a kid, going with friends to see “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the classic 1968 science-fiction film he wrote and collaborated on with director Stanley Kubrick, which was so stunning that we ended up seeing it three times. My second memory is the bizarre fact that our local plumber was one of his brothers. I still remember his comments about his famous brother’s work: he didn’t understand anything about his books or the films and that he was happy to stick to plumbing.

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 By Iain Blair

I was talking with famed producer Peter Guber, the former Columbia studio chief, who’s also a full professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television — he’s been a member of the faculty for 40 years — where he teaches an innovative course, “Navigating A Narrative World”. The course examines the power of narrative and storytelling, and the role these play in modern society. If anyone has a great insight into the industry today and how it’s changed, it’s him. “The movie biz has changed in 3 big ways since I first arrived at Columbia in the late ‘60s,” he tells me. “How movies are made, costs and distribution have all changed monumentally. And it hasn’t been an evolution — it’s been a revolution. And what’s happened in the past decade is that the rate of change has sped up. And now all different disciplines affect each other. And the digital world has changed the whole process. But one thing hasn’t changed  — at the end of the day, people at movies have to laugh, cheer or cry for the movie to be successful.”

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by James Thompson

I recently attended the first annual Computer Generated Images for Advertising & Marketing (CGAM) Conference in Hollywood, CA, and was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the digital images the auto industry is using to sell its cars.

The digital images used to show off car exteriors and interiors for commercials and Internet advertisements are unbelievably real. In fact, when one of the commercials that I saw at the show later appeared on my television at home, my kids couldn’t believe it when I told them the car was digitized.

The key to the digital process is lighting. At the conference, I got a crash course in how the masterminds of CGI can make an image appear to be completely authentic, by simply placing it in a real “location” setting and digitally creating proper lighting patterns.

So watch out! As this new technology becomes proven and more affordable, the industry will surely grow.

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by James Thompson

While we’ve become accustomed to viewing cinematographers’ work through a variety of mediums, it’s not often we get to see the personal side of these visionaries. Yesterday I was fortunate to witness a diverse collection of amazing still photographs taken by 79 of the world’s greatest cinematographers at the ASC’s traveling photo collection titled, “The Decisive Moment.”

ASC cinematographer Isidore Mankofsky worked with Brooks Institute to bring this still photography exhibition to Santa Barbara, Calif. Mankofsky says this display presents a unique opportunity to “show the sensitive side of the world’s most famous DPs.” Academy Award winners showcasing photographs included Richard Edlund, Conrad Hall, Vittorio Storaro, John Toll, Haskell Wexler, and Vilmos Zsigmond.

The exhibition runs through March 13th at the Cota Street Gallery located at 27 East Cota Street in Santa Barbara.

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 By Iain Blair

Sat down with Woody Harrelson the other day to discuss his new film The Grand. Set in the world of professional poker, it follows six players who reach the final table of the world’s second most famous high stakes tournament, and co-stars Ray Romano, Dennis Farina, Cheryl Hines and legendary German film director Werner Herzog. Woody’s reputation definitely precedes him – hemp and marijuana enthusiast, vegetarian and eco-nut, Oscar-nominated actor and all-around nice guy. You can now add accomplished poker player to the list. “I really got into it, and the whole film was improvised,” he told me. The star seems to be everywhere these days. He was in the Oscar hit No Country For Old Men, Semi-Pro, and now this. Next up? “I want to direct this comedy I’ve written,” he says. “It’s set entirely in Ireland, there’s a lot of slapstick in it, and I’m going to call it Fitzie after the main character, Fitzgerald Fitzsimon. I think I’ve learned a lot about directing over the years and studying guys like Oliver Stone, but we’ll see.” The first-time director hopes to start shooting later this summer.

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 By Iain Blair

With a career spanning almost three decades, Larry Gross is a renowned screenwriter-director-producer who’s written such big hits as 48 Hours, the Clint Eastwood-directed True Crime and We Don’t Live Here Anymore, which won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at 2004’s Sundance Film Festival.  He’s also won Western Heritage Awards for 1994’s Geronimo: An American Legend and the 2001 television movie-of-the-week, The Virginian.  His adaptation of the novel Veronika Decides to Die is currently in pre-production with Kate Bosworth attached to star. But he seems most excited about another new script he’s written with Walter Hill. “It’s called Visitor and it’s another sci-fi story – and don’t forget, the last sci-fi thing Walter did was a little movie called Alien,” he told me.  “It’s about a strange being that suddenly appears on earth and starts doing strange things – that’s all I can tell you. I’m also doing an adaptation of Moby Dick which has taken me 4 years to do.”

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 By Iain Blair

Brit action star Jason Statham never set out to be an actor, but after he was discovered by Guy Ritchie, who met him through a mutual friend, the quintessential London lad suddenly found himself playing exactly that in the flashy and hugely successful crime thriller Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Since then, Jason hasn’t looked back. Now, he’s starring in The Bank Job, a highly charged heist thriller that tautly interweaves high-level corruption, murder and sexual scandal in 1970s London.  The actor was thrilled to work with director Roger Donaldson. “He’s a brilliant director and storyteller who’s made all these great films like No Way Out and Thirteen Days, and I’ve worked with a lot of first time directors, so it was a real treat to work with someone like Roger,” he told me. Jason, who is well known for his martial arts skills and ability to do most of his own stunts, is currently in France shooting Transporter 3.  “It’s going to have tons of fast cars and great stunts. And it’s with Luc Besson again,” he says. “He’s not directing but he’s so involved he might as well be. He’s written it and he’s producing and we do all the rehearsals with him, so it’s really his baby.” Amazingly, Jason has never had a serious injury. “We just did a big fight scene in a garage which went ok, but then we just shot this other fight in a hotel bar, and I’m absolutely bruised and battered from it,” he told me. “But no broken bones, thank God. If you have one of those in the middle of a movie you’re just screwed.”

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 By Iain Blair

The other day I spoke with Donny Osmond. I had last interviewed Donny years ago, but throughout the conversation it became clear that he hadn’t changed.  He was still just as self-deprecating as ever! With regards to his career, however, he’s hotter than ever. Donny is currently starring in the new Martin Lawrence movie College Road Trip, the Disney family comedy about a girl eagerly looking forward to a girls-only road trip to check out prospective universities. When her overbearing police chief father (Lawrence) insists on escorting her instead, however, she soon finds that her dream trip has turned into a nightmare. “I’m not an actor,” Donny told me, “so I was pretty surprised when they called me to be in it. I’d done this music video, White and Nerdy with Weird Al Yankovic last fall, and had a blast with the character. And then Roger Kumble, who was directing College, called me and said, “We want that guy! That white bread annoying nerd!” he recalls. “I obviously created a monster. But it was such a great experience and I’d love to do more movies now.”

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