Q&A: I'm Not There. I'm Right Here With My Cat(s)
Monday, August 8, 2016 at 9:02PM Your questions a few days back really got me going so you're getting two weeks of Q&As out of them. Here's the first episode with eight questions answered on Hamilton, I'm Not There style biopics, dinner with movie characters and more...
IBIS: Cast This! The film version of Hamilton
NATHANIEL: Since they'll surely make us wait another 10 years for any movement on the film we'd have to suggest actors we've never heard of who maybe even haven't started acting yet so we can't think on this. I will say though that when everyone was so sad that the original cast was leaving the show I felt like hugging everyone and going "it'll be fine if you see replacements!" because the star of Hamilton is really the musical itself, if you ask me. Yes, the actors were great but it's one of those things that's so perfectly calibrated to be its best self, that the show is really the star. I swear to you. So please enjoy it when it goes on tour somewhere near you.
Plus the wait for a Hamilton movie gives Hollywood time to invest in some actors of color as future stars so that they don't panic when it's time to cast the movie and realize they don't know enough of them to fill this sprawling movie.
my favorite western RED RIVER (1948)SONJA: What is your least favorite genre?
I try to love all genres since they're all capable of greatness. My answer to this when I was younger would have easily been "westerns" or "horror" but I've seen enough classics now from each of those genres that I have newfound respect. I guess I will say "war films" in general. Yes, there are great ones... but too often it's just an excuse to indulge in manly violence for manly violence's sake, which is never really a thrill for me.
But if I can extend to television throw out that entire answer and just say "medical procedural". While watching TV the other night I saw a commercial for Chicago Med which I guess is a new show? And I was like REALLY? ANOTHER MEDICAL PROCEDURAL? AND ALSO: ANOTHER MEDICAL PROCEDURAL SET IN CHICAGO WHERE HALF OF THEM HAVE BEEN SET?!?" It actually made me angry. The showbiz community is sometimes just entirely allergic to trying new things... which is strange considering it's a profession which can only exist by harnessing creativity.
RYAN T: Since the Olympics is happening in Rio, do you have a favorite Brazilian film, actor, or filmmaker?
NATHANIEL: Funny you should ask as I was just lamenting that I hadn't planned a Brazilian series to celebrate and The Film Experience has always been popular in Brazil. My quick answer:
Film: Black Orpheus (1959) classic division / Central Station (1998) contemporary division.
Actors: Fernanda Montenegro and Sonia Braga are my favorite stars from Brazil but I'm sure Brazil has other wonders I am not yet aware of. Any Brazilians want to fill us in on who to get excited about? Recently I loved Regina Casé (Olympics opening ceremony, Holla!) in The Second Mother.
Director: I don't really have one. I know most people would say Fernando Meirelles but I've never truly loved one of his pictures. Critics are much harsher with Walter Salles-- and, yes, he can lay it on too thick -- but I actually like his work quite a bit overall. But favorite? Hmmm. I wish it were easier to track down foreign film submissions over the years because I'd love to see more Brazilian pictures.
For those who are interested Brazil has submitted three men more than any others for the Oscar honor and all are still alive! Carlos "Cacá" Diegues, who is 76, has been submitted six times (Xica, Bye Bye Brasil, and Subway to the Stars, Better Days Ahead, Tieta of Agreste, and Orfeu ). In second place is Nelson Pereira dos Santos, who is 87, with four submissions (How Tasty was My Little Frenchman, Ogum's Amulet, Tent of Miracles, and Memoirs of the Prison ). And in third place is Bruno Baretto who had three submissions (The Story of Fausta, Four Days in Septemberd, and Last Stop 174). Barreto, who is 61, was nominated for Four Days in September and here's a curious bit of trivia. He was married to the actress Amy Irving (then the ex-Mrs Steven Spielberg) for about 10 years.
THEIS: Have you seen the first photos from "Lion"? What do you think of Kidman's new hairdo?
I have not. Where are these photos?!
CARLOS: Which movie character would you like to have make you dinner? Or fix you a drink? Would you choose be Mildred's chicken? Clarissa's crab thing? The dude's white russian? PS: yes, I am hungry as I'm writing this.
Why do I have to choose? Mildred's chicken for lunch, Clarissa's crab thing for dinner, and White Russians with the dude very very late at night (since you know I'm hanging with Clarissa for as long as she'll have me. Hopefully I'll be witness to the unravelling.)
DAVID: What are your thoughts on the upcoming SPLASH remake with Channing Tatum in the Mermaid role?
I have nothing but thirst so I hope it takes place near fresh water.
JON: If they made a biopic of you, I'm Not There style, who will be the actresses and actors to play you (and in what time of your life)? Yes, consider Todd Haynes the director and Sandy Powell the costume designer.
Who would possibly want to here me discuss me so much? My life would make such a tedious biopic because all I do is go to movies and sit at computers writing about them. However, because you were kind enough to give me Todd Haynes and Sandy Powell and this non-truly-biographical but facet-like treatment it's a fun imagination exercize. I'll keep it brief and hopefully fun for those of you reading.
The Seeker - Setting: 1970s (strictly to see the Sandy Powell doing that period again, mind you); Cast/Plot: This would star Kier Gilchrist, who we dont see much of anymore but his performance in United States of Taracontinually touched me and this would be a more straightforward college age story (with jokes) about a guy trying to find himself, possibly through self-help books, spirituality, the arts, and uh boyfriends.
Lion Tamer / Crazy Cat Lady - A technicolor musical sequence starring Harry Shum Jr singing and dancing surrounded by big cats crosscut with Miriam Margoyles, puttering around a feline-crammed house.
The Fan - Werner Herzog is my alter ego in this one opining on actresses and movies and following bizarre trains of thought against the backdrop of my first college apartment in the 1990s where the walls were covered in black and white photos of my favorite celebrities.
The Gay Mormon - Let's have Eva Green in a torrid relationship with her sister wife Scarlett Johansson? They run off together during the church schisms that erupted after Joseph Smith's death in 1840s Utah.
The Writer -This would be the framing device so let's have Tilda Swinton dreaming all the other sections up but also being abstract and possibly untruthful about them and talking a mile a minute because she hasn't done that since Julia and she was so unexpectedly great at it. Note: this section would take place in NYC of the future and also star actors playing various friends o' mine as her in-home audience. So for those I'm going with Michael Peña, David Dastmalchian, Michael Ealy, Linda Cardellini, and Christina Hendricks.
The Twins - Because I'm a Gemini and vacilate wildly between all things including self-love and self-loathing this section (no costumes required) stars Tom Hardy and Logan Marshall-Green as twins in an intense and erotic love/hate affair in a Michigan forest. No, you're just making excuses to get Tom Hardy and Logan Marshall-Green naked!
Okay that was so much fun. I would totally watch that movie. I love Q&A time. We'll do another one next week since I only answered half the questions I wanted to get to. But now it's your turn. What's your favorite Brazilian movie thing? Do you want to see Channing Tatum as a merman? Would you watch my prismatic Todd Haynes directed insane biopic?
Reader Comments (24)
Gosh, Nelson Pereira dos Santos's film titles all sound like gay pornos from the 1970s.
HOw can you have Clarissa's crab thing for dinner and forgetting Laura Brown's Cake?
Ugh. Chicago med. I caught some of it on a plane and it included no less than three male characters pontificating wisely/explaining something to a woman. Pity because I wanted more of Yaya Dacosta.
I'd watch your biopic, especially this version. And anything with Eva Green being a gay Mormon.
Hmmm, if I had to cast Hamilton at the moment...
Alexander Hamilton - Oscar Isaac is the very first to come to mind.
Aaron Burr - Michael B. Jordan? But maybe he and Isaac would be too far apart in age when together.
George Washington - I think this could be a come back role for Jamie Foxx or maybe even Will Smith.
The Schuyler Sisters (and Maria Reynolds) - I don't feel like Hollywood would be able to handle three actresses from three different races playing sisters like in the show, unfortunately. So if they went with African American women to portray Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy/Maria I'd pick Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tessa Thompson, and Keke Palmer, respectfully. (Can Jurnee Smollett-Bell sing? If so, let's have her on standby for all 3 roles.) If they are leaning more towards Latina actresses, I'd suggest America Ferrera (Eliza), Gina Rodriguez (Angelica), and Naya Rivera (Peggy/Maria). I remember Ferrera singing Sondheims's Opening Doors fondly, Gina Rodriguez's rapping skills seem to have no limitations, and Naya would just slay Say No to This.
Lafayette/Jefferson - Donald Glover would match Digg's energy perfectly. (Though if they could only bring one OBC cast member to the film adaption, it should be Daveed.)
Hercules Mulligan/James Madison - John Boyega? Or maybe Harry Shum, Jr. since you've now made me thirsty for him and I just noticed there isn't any Asian representation on this list so far.
John Laurens/Philip Hamilton - eeesh, this would be the hardest to double cast since there is a scene with Philip as a nine year old. I'll say Jordan Fisher, who made my heart melt in Grease Live.
King George - Jonathan Groff would probably make the easiest transition to film. But let's all imagine Chris Pine revisiting royalty because he makes it so delicious.
That was fun.
I would totally go see the biopic you describe. Genius casting!
nathaniel,
re: brazilian movies, actors, off the top of my head, get to know maeve jinkings, irandhir santos, hermila guedes... please watch "o céu de suely" (suely in the sky), "tatuagem" (tattoo), "o som ao redor" (neighbouring sounds... I don't remember if you've watched it, your blog has covered it... from the director of "aquarius").
also a brazilian musical (!) dramedy I watched this year, "sinfonia da necrópole" (necropolis symphony). such a charming little picture, about an apprentice gravedigger.
fellow brazilians, let's do more suggestions!
Nathaniel: You should try "Playing", from Eduardo Coutinho. It's my favorite brazilian movie and my fovorite from the genre "Women Who Lie To Themselves".
A lot of the possible actors for the Hamilton movie have unproven singing voices, but Oscar Isaac, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Donald Glover sound good (as do original cast members). I can't shake the feeling that they might go comparatively unknown for the leads but splash on King George, so I'd love to see what Neil Patrick Harris or even Hugh Laurie (who provided the line 'you'll be back' to Lin originally) would have to offer.
@Peter
oh god, yes! "jogo de cena"... for a moment there I thought "what movie is 'playing'?".
It's so weird that The Hours premise sounds so far away from food, but each of the ladies has some kind of significant connection to their food in the film plot. Clarissa's shrimp, Laura's cake and Virginia's (lack of) meals.
You should be a casting director!
I love that you use a Montgomery Clift gif daily now.
Montenegro - Braga - Santoro
No
Who is playing Nick Davis?
Re: Nicole Kidman in "Lion"
I'm honored to bring this to your attention:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ConBiYPUAAAKJwu.jpg:large
The first images from the film were to be found at the blog Awards Today, but the article was swiftly removed from the surface of the earth. Luckily, the always reliable "Nicole Kidman Italian Fans" saved the pictures of Queen Kidman.
Nathaniel - maybe you can help Clarissa by dramatically separating egg yolks. That'd give her extra time to emote!
magicub - I see your point... but I also think I'd be put off by the weird neon blue colour!
Craver - that's true! The scene where Virginia insists on sending Nelly to London just to get some ginger always tickles me.
I would watch that biopic no doubt about it.
As far as brazilian movie recommendations go. Some of myfavorite contemporary titles that may have escaped you: Adrift, Estomago: A Gastronomic Story, If Nothing Else Works Out, Reflections of a Blender, Batismo de Sangue, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, Not by Chance, Tattoo, A Wolf at the Door, Don't Call Me Son.
Nathaniel, some brazilian directors you might check: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Karim Aïnouz, Anna Muylaert, Eduardo Coutinho, Cláudio Assis and Fernando Coimbra.
My favorite films from Brazil are Limite (1931) and Sudoeste/Southwest (one of the best films of 2013).
Both are not exactly fast moving, though.
Best Brazilian movie I've ever seen is Black God White Devil. Once I've see Scorsese say how much he was influenced by this movie and I managed to find it. (There's a long youtube video of Scorsese talking about Glauber Rocha, the director).
It's terrific, one of the best movies of all time.
I love the way you can always find masterpieces by following Scorsese's advices. Just search Scorsese on YouTube and you can find a lot of great tips on movies you've never heard of.
Thanks for answerin my question, Nat. 8)
It was quite a simple one... I couldn't think of something more interesting at that moment, but whatever.
My least favorite genre (and not something to hate at all) must be sport movies. I love Bend it like Beckham, A League of her own and Space Jam. That's it. *lol*
War movies can have interesting aspects. It depends of which war they handle.
As for medical shows... There must be a lot sick people in Chicago. Maybe they all travel there?
Your Biopic sounds really good.
I hope my biopic is an animated movie. Hand drawn! 8)
We have some of the same film and TV distastes. I also never have cared for westerns and war movies and no longer can stomach medical (and police/legal) procedurals.
From Brazil - I love Stan Getz, their flag, and Brazilian style soccer/football. Oh and Carnival.
Of course I would watch your bio done by Todd Haynes. I feel it's got an outside shot at an Oscar for best costuming.
daora que o Stan Getz nem é brasileiro AFFFF
Some positive words that start with s include sunshine and sunny.