Please read the title in your best exasperated Nomi Malone voice. Plz and thx. I can't read the words "different places" without hearing Showgirls in my head.

The big critics prizes (Los Angeles and New York) have come and gone but more cities are following suit declaring their bests. Now, by the magic of the expandable post, we can share them all without appearing to be as dull obsessive and monotonous about what we do here at the film experience as those investigations into unsolved cold cases are in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

I've lept from Nomi to Noomi so I pray you're still with me.

I just watched the first film in the Millenium trilogy months after the hoopla and and I'm sorry that I have to ask it: WHAT is the big deal? It's so inelegantly structured as a film and so TV like in its choices. It's also a shade too enamored of the misogyny it condemns. I'd been vaguely curious to see it because audience identification with this violent barely verbal girlwoman fascinates me; what does it say about us that it's been such a great year for aspergers anti-heroes (see also: Social Network)? 

The best moments in the film were rare tossed off funny bits, usually courtesy of Michael Nykvist (who you'll recognize from the great Swedish picture Together or the Oscar nominee As It Is In Heaven)  and a few fine details within Noomi Rapace's leading work as the very popular Lisbeth Salander. You can sometimes catch Lisbeth trying to decipher her own impenetrable emotions as if they're as myterious to her as they are to us, which was a very nice actorly touch. Noomi was recently nominated for the "Critics Choice" and though she's good in the role, I can't say it was the revelation I'd hoped for given the acclaim and the sudden explosion of job offers that followed the trilogy (I'm actually totally weirded out that anyone -- in this case the film's director -- thinks she's been mistreated or cold shouldered by Hollywood).

In other words, I'm interested to see what Rooney Mara does for David Fincher in the same role; every once in a blue moon cover versions are better than originals. We'll see.

Mostly I was disappointed in the writing and filmmaking and that it felt like a television show. Just about the only visual thrill in the long film was the scene where black and white photos are made to move as continuous negatives chase each other. That image is smartly repeated. They must have known that it really worked. The scene haunts like the girl's a living ghost, which is a neat trick given the narrative. We wonder, along with Mikael Blomkvist, what spooked this dead girl and redirected her blurry gaze away from the camera.

In short... Noomi: B/B+ Movie: C Opportunity to See David Fincher Take a Crack At This Material: B- On this last. Fincher is one of my favorite filmmakers but I'd rather he do something else since this film already exists but he's very talented and he'll surely improve on it... though I'll miss the Swedish authenticity given that they're not changing the locale and given that I'm never very excited about people remaking foreign films for America. But my main question is: Why does he want to do yet another unsolved mystery/serial killer story? It's too early in that career to start repeating himself, isn't it?


What were we talking about? 

Oh, yes, critics prizes. If you'd like to discuss Toronto, San Diego, San Francisco and who dared to plant a flag that didn't say "Social Network!" on it >GASP!<, read on.


I'll always hold a soft sport for the San Diego Film Critics for loving Michelle Pfeiffer in White Oleander back in the day (surely one of the most brilliant/least rewarded mainstream performances of the entire decade) so what did the SDFC love this year?

San Diego
Picture Winter's Bone
Director Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
Actress Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
Actor Colin Farrel in Ondine
Supporting Actress Lesley Manville in Another Year
Supporting Actor John Hawkes in Winter's Bone
Original Screenplay Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain and Chris Morris for Four Lions
Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
Foreign Language Film I Am Love
Documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop
Cinematopraphy Wally Pfister for Inception
Animated Film Toy Story 3
Editing Jonathan Amos & Paul Machliss for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Production Design Dante Ferretti for Shutter Island
Score Rachel Portman for Never Let Me Go
Ensemble 44 Inch Chest
Body of Work Rebecca Hall (Please Give, The Town, Red Riding)
Kyle Count Award Duncan Shepherd (Film Critic)

• Congratulate them for at least thinking for themselves. This dangerous activity, thinking for oneself can yield results both beautiful (John Hawkes!) and horrifying (Rachel Portman's aural assault. You are not the lead actress of your movie, Ms. Portman! Let Mulligan do that.)

Toronto

Picture The Social Network
[Runner up: Black Swan & Uncle Boonmee]
Director David Fincher for The Social Network
[Runner up: Darren Aronofsky & Chris Nolan]Actress Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
[Runner up: Natalie Portman & Michelle Williams]
Actor Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network [Runner up: Colin Firth & James Franco]
Supporting Actress Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit[Runner up: Amy Adams & Melissa Leo]
Supporting Actor Armie Hammer in The Social Network[Runner up: Christian Bale & Geoffrey Rush]
Screenplay  Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
[Runner up: The King's Speech & True Grit]
Foreign Language Film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
[Runner up: Mother & Of Gods and Men]
Documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop
[Runner up: Inside Job & Marwencol]
First Feature Exit Through The Gift Shop
[Runner up: Get Low & Monsters]
Animated Film How To Train Your Dragon[Runners up: Despicable Me & Toy Story 3]
Jay Scott Prize for Emerging Talent Daniel Cockburn
Special Citation Bruce Macdonald for directing four movies in 2010 This Movie is Broken, Trigger, Music From the Big House, and Hard Core Logo 2
Rogers Canadian Film Award Nominees Denis Villeneuve's Incendies, Vincenzo Natali's Splice and Bruce McDonald's Trigger

• Toronto's TFCA weirdly decided to honor a real supporting player (Armie Hammer) in one supporting category and then play fraud (Hailee) in the other. Why do critics organization do this? It's not like the Toronto Film Critics Association influences Oscar votes, so why lie? Also isn't it a touch bizarre that Uncle Boonmee (my review) is their runner up best picture AND their winner in foreign film but still can't manage to even be a best director runner up when the only reason anyone loves it so is that it's such a distillation of What Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul does? Joe is the reason people love the movie, period. It's the very definition of an auteur film.
  

San Francisco
Picture The Social Network
Director (tie) David Fincher for The Social Network and Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
Actress Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine
Actor Colin Firth in The King's Speech
Supporting Actress Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom
Supporting Actor John Hawkes in Winter's Bone
Original Screenplay The King's Speech
Adapted Screenplay The Social Network
Foreign Language Film Mother
Documentary The Tillman Story
Cinematography Matthew Libatique for Black Swan
Animated Film Toy Story 3
Marlong Riggs Award for Courage and Vision in the Bay Area Film Community Elliot Lavine who is a teacher, exhibitor and repertory curator for Bay Area programming. He helped revive popularity of film noir and pre-Code feature films.

• I love the specialized local awards that film critic organizations usually gives. That's a good use of their power. Oscar predictions is not a good use of their power. Just sayin'. Not that that's what San Francisco has done this year exactly... though they probably got a few "right"

David Fincher· Noomi Rapace· reviews· Rooney Mara· Scandinavia· The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo· The Social Network

"Different Places" (Critics Awards & Dragon Tattoos)

Please read the title in your best exasperated Nomi Malone voice. Plz and thx. I can't read the words "different places" without hearing Showgirls in my head.

The big critics prizes (Los Angeles and New York) have come and gone but more cities are following suit declaring their bests. Now, by the magic of the expandable post, we can share them all without appearing to be as dull obsessive and monotonous about what we do here at the film experience as those investigations into unsolved cold cases are in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

I've lept from Nomi to Noomi so I pray you're still with me.

I just watched the first film in the Millenium trilogy months after the hoopla and and I'm sorry that I have to ask it: WHAT is the big deal? It's so inelegantly structured as a film and so TV like in its choices. It's also a shade too enamored of the misogyny it condemns. I'd been vaguely curious to see it because audience identification with this violent barely verbal girlwoman fascinates me; what does it say about us that it's been such a great year for aspergers anti-heroes (see also: Social Network)? 

The best moments in the film were rare tossed off funny bits, usually courtesy of Michael Nykvist (who you'll recognize from the great Swedish picture Together or the Oscar nominee As It Is In Heaven)  and a few fine details within Noomi Rapace's leading work as the very popular Lisbeth Salander. You can sometimes catch Lisbeth trying to decipher her own impenetrable emotions as if they're as myterious to her as they are to us, which was a very nice actorly touch. Noomi was recently nominated for the "Critics Choice" and though she's good in the role, I can't say it was the revelation I'd hoped for given the acclaim and the sudden explosion of job offers that followed the trilogy (I'm actually totally weirded out that anyone -- in this case the film's director -- thinks she's been mistreated or cold shouldered by Hollywood).

In other words, I'm interested to see what Rooney Mara does for David Fincher in the same role; every once in a blue moon cover versions are better than originals. We'll see.

Mostly I was disappointed in the writing and filmmaking and that it felt like a television show. Just about the only visual thrill in the long film was the scene where black and white photos are made to move as continuous negatives chase each other. That image is smartly repeated. They must have known that it really worked. The scene haunts like the girl's a living ghost, which is a neat trick given the narrative. We wonder, along with Mikael Blomkvist, what spooked this dead girl and redirected her blurry gaze away from the camera.

In short... Noomi: B/B+ Movie: C Opportunity to See David Fincher Take a Crack At This Material: B- On this last. Fincher is one of my favorite filmmakers but I'd rather he do something else since this film already exists but he's very talented and he'll surely improve on it... though I'll miss the Swedish authenticity given that they're not changing the locale and given that I'm never very excited about people remaking foreign films for America. But my main question is: Why does he want to do yet another unsolved mystery/serial killer story? It's too early in that career to start repeating himself, isn't it?


What were we talking about? 

Oh, yes, critics prizes. If you'd like to discuss Toronto, San Diego, San Francisco and who dared to plant a flag that didn't say "Social Network!" on it >GASP!<, read on.


I'll always hold a soft sport for the San Diego Film Critics for loving Michelle Pfeiffer in White Oleander back in the day (surely one of the most brilliant/least rewarded mainstream performances of the entire decade) so what did the SDFC love this year?

San Diego
Picture Winter's Bone
Director Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
Actress Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
Actor Colin Farrel in Ondine
Supporting Actress Lesley Manville in Another Year
Supporting Actor John Hawkes in Winter's Bone
Original Screenplay Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain and Chris Morris for Four Lions
Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
Foreign Language Film I Am Love
Documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop
Cinematopraphy Wally Pfister for Inception
Animated Film Toy Story 3
Editing Jonathan Amos & Paul Machliss for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Production Design Dante Ferretti for Shutter Island
Score Rachel Portman for Never Let Me Go
Ensemble 44 Inch Chest
Body of Work Rebecca Hall (Please Give, The Town, Red Riding)
Kyle Count Award Duncan Shepherd (Film Critic)

• Congratulate them for at least thinking for themselves. This dangerous activity, thinking for oneself can yield results both beautiful (John Hawkes!) and horrifying (Rachel Portman's aural assault. You are not the lead actress of your movie, Ms. Portman! Let Mulligan do that.)

Toronto

Picture The Social Network
[Runner up: Black Swan & Uncle Boonmee]
Director David Fincher for The Social Network
[Runner up: Darren Aronofsky & Chris Nolan]Actress Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
[Runner up: Natalie Portman & Michelle Williams]
Actor Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network [Runner up: Colin Firth & James Franco]
Supporting Actress Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit[Runner up: Amy Adams & Melissa Leo]
Supporting Actor Armie Hammer in The Social Network[Runner up: Christian Bale & Geoffrey Rush]
Screenplay  Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
[Runner up: The King's Speech & True Grit]
Foreign Language Film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
[Runner up: Mother & Of Gods and Men]
Documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop
[Runner up: Inside Job & Marwencol]
First Feature Exit Through The Gift Shop
[Runner up: Get Low & Monsters]
Animated Film How To Train Your Dragon[Runners up: Despicable Me & Toy Story 3]
Jay Scott Prize for Emerging Talent Daniel Cockburn
Special Citation Bruce Macdonald for directing four movies in 2010 This Movie is Broken, Trigger, Music From the Big House, and Hard Core Logo 2
Rogers Canadian Film Award Nominees Denis Villeneuve's Incendies, Vincenzo Natali's Splice and Bruce McDonald's Trigger

• Toronto's TFCA weirdly decided to honor a real supporting player (Armie Hammer) in one supporting category and then play fraud (Hailee) in the other. Why do critics organization do this? It's not like the Toronto Film Critics Association influences Oscar votes, so why lie? Also isn't it a touch bizarre that Uncle Boonmee (my review) is their runner up best picture AND their winner in foreign film but still can't manage to even be a best director runner up when the only reason anyone loves it so is that it's such a distillation of What Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul does? Joe is the reason people love the movie, period. It's the very definition of an auteur film.
  

San Francisco
Picture The Social Network
Director (tie) David Fincher for The Social Network and Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
Actress Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine
Actor Colin Firth in The King's Speech
Supporting Actress Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom
Supporting Actor John Hawkes in Winter's Bone
Original Screenplay The King's Speech
Adapted Screenplay The Social Network
Foreign Language Film Mother
Documentary The Tillman Story
Cinematography Matthew Libatique for Black Swan
Animated Film Toy Story 3
Marlong Riggs Award for Courage and Vision in the Bay Area Film Community Elliot Lavine who is a teacher, exhibitor and repertory curator for Bay Area programming. He helped revive popularity of film noir and pre-Code feature films.

• I love the specialized local awards that film critic organizations usually gives. That's a good use of their power. Oscar predictions is not a good use of their power. Just sayin'. Not that that's what San Francisco has done this year exactly... though they probably got a few "right"

.

JA from MNPP here. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times yesterday Jon Favreau opened up about why he's not doing the third Iron Man film (Nat mentioned it yesterday), and in so doing this tid-bit presented itself:

"Favreau is set to direct “Magic Kingdom,” which the 44-year-old filmmaker described as a family fantasy adventure that will tap into the vintage Disney creations that “loomed so large in the imagination” of his generation. Favreau said that [David] Fincher ... will direct the studio’s ”20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” a Jules Verne bookshelf classic that is closely associated with Disney after the landmark 1954 film and the submarine theme-park ride, and Disney confirmed that to be the case. [Guillermo] Del Toro had already been announced as director of a new “Haunted Mansion” film."

That's right - David Fincher, currently swallowing whole every critic's prize in sight for his little Facebook movie, might be making a movie about a giant squid squatting on a submarine next.

Well after his adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo that is, which he's currently in the middle of filming. What does this mean for his adaptation of the French graphic novel The Killer that he's been attached to? Or his forever-gestating Rendezvous With Rama?

And what does this mean about the Disney live-action film in general? They seem to be putting at least some of that Pirates of the Caribbean and Pixar money to good use, hiring smart people and throwing them into curious projects. (Unless it's the fourth Pirates movie we're talking about; that's just desperate.) I'm dying to know what a David Fincher 20,000 Leagues would look and feel like. Or Del Toro's take on The Haunted Mansion, sure to be bursting at the seams with fantastic beasties.

But my real question now is how long until they hire David Lynch to make a Space Mountain movie? Because that's when shit gets real.

.

David Fincher· David Lynch· Disney· Guillermo Del Toro· Iron Man

Tackling the Magic Kingdom

.

JA from MNPP here. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times yesterday Jon Favreau opened up about why he's not doing the third Iron Man film (Nat mentioned it yesterday), and in so doing this tid-bit presented itself:

"Favreau is set to direct “Magic Kingdom,” which the 44-year-old filmmaker described as a family fantasy adventure that will tap into the vintage Disney creations that “loomed so large in the imagination” of his generation. Favreau said that [David] Fincher ... will direct the studio’s ”20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” a Jules Verne bookshelf classic that is closely associated with Disney after the landmark 1954 film and the submarine theme-park ride, and Disney confirmed that to be the case. [Guillermo] Del Toro had already been announced as director of a new “Haunted Mansion” film."

That's right - David Fincher, currently swallowing whole every critic's prize in sight for his little Facebook movie, might be making a movie about a giant squid squatting on a submarine next.

Well after his adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo that is, which he's currently in the middle of filming. What does this mean for his adaptation of the French graphic novel The Killer that he's been attached to? Or his forever-gestating Rendezvous With Rama?

And what does this mean about the Disney live-action film in general? They seem to be putting at least some of that Pirates of the Caribbean and Pixar money to good use, hiring smart people and throwing them into curious projects. (Unless it's the fourth Pirates movie we're talking about; that's just desperate.) I'm dying to know what a David Fincher 20,000 Leagues would look and feel like. Or Del Toro's take on The Haunted Mansion, sure to be bursting at the seams with fantastic beasties.

But my real question now is how long until they hire David Lynch to make a Space Mountain movie? Because that's when shit gets real.

.

Y'all remember when I did this for the ladies so I figure it's twin-time. You have to have both pieces of a matching set. Not that I'm looking forward to this one as much. Impress or surprise me fellas! You're not actresses so you have to work harder to provide Film Experience jollies. (If you have time to watch the full video it's at the bottom of the post.)

1:00 Robert Duvall (Get Low) tells a rambling story about becoming an actor and reveals "my brothers were both professional singers." The Duvall Brothers, eh? I so wanna hear that record. Would it be like the Osmonds except with less smiling?

3:00 The discussion turns to acting as a rewarding profession. Colin Firth (The King's Speech) picks up this Duvall baton.

"You get to play all your life. Most people have to grow out of it. The fantasy thing stays alive which is wonderful. It can be a little hard on the people living with you..."

  He then reveals the dangers in staying a child when you're a grown-up. Those who do get very susceptible to external matters of fame; they become needy about attention and far too giddy if someone pats them on the back.

4:00 The first laugh of the hour comes from Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) who pats Firth on the back. Right then.

Blazing young star and seasoned professional.

 6:03 Firth is still talking three minutes later but the thing that struck me here is realizing how young Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine) is. He just turned 30 two weeks ago. I never think about this but seeing him in this context I'm suddenly like 'oh, yes. baby star' Sometimes I forget that though actresses are regularly giant stars in their 20s, the male actors take longer to ascend. 

7:00 This is funny. The reporters try to lead Firth to name projects he hated.

Reporter: Have you done a film or a role where you really felt it wasn't quality and you knew it?
Firth: Have you glanced at my CV?

Funny. Firth is still talking. I don't recall any of the actresses hogging the convo this much.

7:40 Linguistic Trivia! Firth claims that English civilians use the word "resting" to describe time off between actor's roles but he says that actual actors don't use the word as there's nothing "restive" about it. Ruffalo says he calls this "rotting."

9:02 The toughest moment in Ruff's career? He's talking about the bi-coastal issue of theater and the perception being if you're doing theater in LA people think you're a loser. It took him forever to get his first movie role. So he's doing theater and bartending (in LA) and going "Where's my Rumblefish?" This leads to an incredibly off moment where James Franco (32) suddenly gets confused about how old Mark Ruffalo is (43). Awwwk-kwward. (From the looks of things, Jesse Eisenberg doesn't know what a Rumblefish is.)

For the record Rumblefish debuted in 1983 when Ruffalo was only 16 and not legally allowed to serve alcohol. He meant it aspirationally rather than real-time concurrently. Duh, Franco!

10:49 Ruffalo says he's from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wisconsin readers? Are you proud to claim the Ruff?

11:54 Now he is talking about seeing A Streetcar Named Desire on TV and realizing what acting was for the first time. This is the second random reference to Marlon Brando and we're only 12 minutes in. That man casts quite a long shadow with thespians.

14:00 Hmmm. Amazing descriptive nugget of great acting from Duvall "Terrific interior moment that works in the imaginary set of circumstances." I love that. But then he has to go and ruin it by bagging on critics for a split second. I hate when actors do this because it's so short-sighted. I always wish people would stop and ask themselves where the legends of entertainment would be, or rather, how large would their legend be if you removed the perceptive things that have been written about them over the years, the monuments to their performances and such. Not as legendary that's where they'd be.

17:24 Gosling explains that he worked on risky material now because of starting on undemanding television shows. He talks about growing up around a lot of crazy characters and not seeing them reflected on television or the screen.

They were good or they were bad [on film]. The people I was growing up around were everything all the time. They were good people but they were bad people. They were funny but they were doing terrible things. So I think I just naturally gravitated to those kinds or roles

He then talks about superhero films and the like and how he isn't sure he could do them and assumes they'd be hard to do, acting against nothingness rather than another actor. Brief shoutout to Michelle Williams for her difficult role in Blue Valentine.

20:54 James Franco claims that he no longer fights for roles. He thought he wasn't going to get 127 Hours but it turns out that the audition just went awkwardly because Danny Boyle thought he was stoned. The reporter, bless, says "were you?" "NO!" comes Franco's quick shocked response. Oh, Franco. Everyone always thinks you're stoned. It's the sleepy eyelids, glazed eyes and perpetual naughty smile.

21:53 Interesting bit on 127 Hours, where Franco likens the crew to actors since he had no one to act off of. So the cinematographer, director, etcetera felt like fellow actors to him.

25:37 Franco "I can only have one master." [*numerous hands raise for volunteering at computer screens across the world*]

26:15 The reporter brings up the not so uninteresting topic of disagreement with directors but these actors are too cagey to answer. Franco sees through this immediately and here is his silent response.

Firth makes an elusive stab at the question.

If you have faith in this person than you probably give your idea up for theirs. That's exhilarating. But that's awful if you don't trust the person which is not that unusual, really.

The King with the stammer then clams up after that tantalizing confession. So damn cagey. Why will no one answer? You don't have to name names. Speak cryptically to give us some guesswork at home. Think of the audience. You're entertainers, so entertain.

28:04 Ohmygod. It's weird. You know, I enjoyed watching The King's Speech but it's one of those movies that seems boring to discuss. They're talking about the research of playing a kingzzzzzzz. Biopics put me to sleep. Speaking of which why was Christian Bale not invited to this? Is it because he would hate this sort of thing?

34:00 We're still on researching biopics. I'm going to grow old and die while watching this. Cobwebs are growing twixt keyboard and screen. It's rather remarkable that Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) is just now speaking more than halfway into this thing and it's making me realize why the Actress roundtable was so much more interesting. And it's not, I swear, just because actresses are more interesting. I believe if you watched these back-to-back you would quickly realize that the actresses actually talked to each other. Banter sprung forth. This is just a group of six men waiting to be questioned. They're not interacting. Zzz.

Jesse says he was discouraged from researching Mark Zuckerberg but he found it impossible not to.

How could I not meet a guy I'm going to be playing?... I thought it would be limiting to play somebody real and so specific but it turned out to be really freeeing... maybe it would start as mimicry but then it would have some kind of visceral response and ultimately take you into it further.

36:50 Jesse talking about reading the script from Zuckerberg's point of view and feeling he was completely justified in everything. God, being an actor would be so weird, right? Constantly removing yourself and embodying other ethos and personalities.

38:40 There's a split second where I think we're going to get a good back and forth. Jesse glances at Mark and mentions that they've both worked for him (David Fincher though he is weirdly not named) but Ruff' doesn't respond. Duvall seems totally confused by Eisenberg's description of filming The Social Network ... since he keeps talking about 50 takes.

41:00 Gosling and Ruffalo are totally laughing about Eisenberg's candor and obsessiveness. He's telling about a director being pisssed at him for keeping track of which takes he thought he was terrible in and sharing his notes about which to use. (Not Fincher)

Duvall speaks his mind. He has opinions, this one.

42:05 Finally something interesting! It seemed like Duvall was deaf or confused by the Fincher discussion but it turns out he was listening. He says he turned down a role in Se7en (!) -- but mentions that he thought it was a great movie -- but is not happy to hear about Fincher's fondness for endless takes.

"Can I say one thing? To me 'The great Stanley Kubrick' was an actor's enemy. He was an actor's enemy. I can point to movies that he's done, the worst performances I've ever seen in movies. Terrible performances. Maybe great movies but terrible performances."

We'd probably have a spirited throwdown right then in a roomful of critics or chattier actors but these are polite hesistant interviews so he then trails off into discussing Brando again who has now been mimicked twice. Both Duvall and Ruffalo have done Brando during the first 42 minutes.

43:05 Finally some interaction. It took Duvall's Kubrick smackdown to wake them up (even if they didn't join in the fight) and they're actually talking to each other. Sometimes conflict on the set is good they all agree.

44:00 Franco says he's never had a director like that (hundreds of takes) but thinks that Fincher makes great movies.

45:00 God, I love Mark Ruffalo. He seems to be enjoying this the most (or is at least the most laidback of the six) and is describing those excruciatingly long days on Zodiac. 'You hit your stride and you're on take 25 and He starts walking toward you. You're thinking to yourself 'I hope he's coming over here to fire me' [laughter in room] And then he just walks past you and moves the extra behind you an inch...'

First there was no interaction and now physical interaction. Will there now be slash fiction involving Ryan & Mark? I offer this picture up for inspiration.

Ruff' says it's in moments like this that you realize that Fincher is a director who is always thinking of the entire frame and you are just happy to be taking up your small percentage of it. If this subject intrigues you and you're new to the Film Experience you might want to check out these recent comments from Jake Gyllenhaal on the same issue.

48:00 This leads to a bit about Gosling being fired from The Lovely Bones. Funny story about Peter Jackson and Gosling not seeing eye to eye on the character. "He hired me at 150 lbs and I showed up weighing 210 lbs" His diet consisted of melting down Häagen-Dasz and when he was thirsty he would drink it instead of water. YUM. Anyway, they had different ideas about the father and he was fired. "So I was unemployed and fat." He seems glad that he got fired which can only lead me to believe that he has seen the finished movie. The Häagen-Dasz saved him!

52:00 A question about expectations versus actual experience in Hollywood is asked but doesn't get traction. Jesse talks about his experiences as a child actor and trusting your own instincts about which projects to say "yes" to. He alludes to a horror movie (I'm guessing that'd be Cursed) that his agent and his dad were at odds about whether he should do and he went with the agent's advice but says his Dad was right.

56:00 The reporter tries to end with a "great takeaway from your life/career?" proudest moment type round table question.  Duvall brings up The Godfather but it sounds like he's bringing it up just because it's expected of him. What really gets his emphasis is the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove.

58: 21 Colin says he can't do it, can't answer this question. Colin is pissing me off. He talks so much but he won't answer the questions. Yet his refusals are complicated and verbose. Shut it Darcy.

59:00 Oh! Sorry. I didn't mean to force the issue. The video shut off on me just as I typed that. No joke. It's a sign from the blogging gods that I've gone too far; shut it Nathaniel.

Here's the complete video if you have a full hour free.



Footnote (just for the helluva it)
Movies/TV & Stars Name Checked

• Duvall: Marlon Brando, The Great Santini, Eleanor Dusa, Sarah Bernhardt, Sandy Meisner, Othello, Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Lonesome Dove, Se7en, The Godfather, American Buffalo
• Firth: Christoph Waltz, Nostromo
• Ruffalo: A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando, Stella Adler, Rumblefish, Zodiac
• Gosling: Young Hercules, Michelle Williams, Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones, Blue Valentine
• Franco: Danny Boyle, Milk, 127 Hours, James Dean, Alfred Hitchcock.
• Eisenberg: Adventureland, The Social Network

Brando· Colin Firth· David Fincher· James Franco· Jesse Eisenberg· Kubrick· magazines· Mark Ruffalo· Oscars (10)· Robert Duvall· Ryan Gosling

*Live Blog* The Hollywood Reporter's Actors Roundtable

Y'all remember when I did this for the ladies so I figure it's twin-time. You have to have both pieces of a matching set. Not that I'm looking forward to this one as much. Impress or surprise me fellas! You're not actresses so you have to work harder to provide Film Experience jollies. (If you have time to watch the full video it's at the bottom of the post.)

1:00 Robert Duvall (Get Low) tells a rambling story about becoming an actor and reveals "my brothers were both professional singers." The Duvall Brothers, eh? I so wanna hear that record. Would it be like the Osmonds except with less smiling?

3:00 The discussion turns to acting as a rewarding profession. Colin Firth (The King's Speech) picks up this Duvall baton.

"You get to play all your life. Most people have to grow out of it. The fantasy thing stays alive which is wonderful. It can be a little hard on the people living with you..."

  He then reveals the dangers in staying a child when you're a grown-up. Those who do get very susceptible to external matters of fame; they become needy about attention and far too giddy if someone pats them on the back.

4:00 The first laugh of the hour comes from Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) who pats Firth on the back. Right then.

Blazing young star and seasoned professional.

 6:03 Firth is still talking three minutes later but the thing that struck me here is realizing how young Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine) is. He just turned 30 two weeks ago. I never think about this but seeing him in this context I'm suddenly like 'oh, yes. baby star' Sometimes I forget that though actresses are regularly giant stars in their 20s, the male actors take longer to ascend. 

7:00 This is funny. The reporters try to lead Firth to name projects he hated.

Reporter: Have you done a film or a role where you really felt it wasn't quality and you knew it?
Firth: Have you glanced at my CV?

Funny. Firth is still talking. I don't recall any of the actresses hogging the convo this much.

7:40 Linguistic Trivia! Firth claims that English civilians use the word "resting" to describe time off between actor's roles but he says that actual actors don't use the word as there's nothing "restive" about it. Ruffalo says he calls this "rotting."

9:02 The toughest moment in Ruff's career? He's talking about the bi-coastal issue of theater and the perception being if you're doing theater in LA people think you're a loser. It took him forever to get his first movie role. So he's doing theater and bartending (in LA) and going "Where's my Rumblefish?" This leads to an incredibly off moment where James Franco (32) suddenly gets confused about how old Mark Ruffalo is (43). Awwwk-kwward. (From the looks of things, Jesse Eisenberg doesn't know what a Rumblefish is.)

For the record Rumblefish debuted in 1983 when Ruffalo was only 16 and not legally allowed to serve alcohol. He meant it aspirationally rather than real-time concurrently. Duh, Franco!

10:49 Ruffalo says he's from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wisconsin readers? Are you proud to claim the Ruff?

11:54 Now he is talking about seeing A Streetcar Named Desire on TV and realizing what acting was for the first time. This is the second random reference to Marlon Brando and we're only 12 minutes in. That man casts quite a long shadow with thespians.

14:00 Hmmm. Amazing descriptive nugget of great acting from Duvall "Terrific interior moment that works in the imaginary set of circumstances." I love that. But then he has to go and ruin it by bagging on critics for a split second. I hate when actors do this because it's so short-sighted. I always wish people would stop and ask themselves where the legends of entertainment would be, or rather, how large would their legend be if you removed the perceptive things that have been written about them over the years, the monuments to their performances and such. Not as legendary that's where they'd be.

17:24 Gosling explains that he worked on risky material now because of starting on undemanding television shows. He talks about growing up around a lot of crazy characters and not seeing them reflected on television or the screen.

They were good or they were bad [on film]. The people I was growing up around were everything all the time. They were good people but they were bad people. They were funny but they were doing terrible things. So I think I just naturally gravitated to those kinds or roles

He then talks about superhero films and the like and how he isn't sure he could do them and assumes they'd be hard to do, acting against nothingness rather than another actor. Brief shoutout to Michelle Williams for her difficult role in Blue Valentine.

20:54 James Franco claims that he no longer fights for roles. He thought he wasn't going to get 127 Hours but it turns out that the audition just went awkwardly because Danny Boyle thought he was stoned. The reporter, bless, says "were you?" "NO!" comes Franco's quick shocked response. Oh, Franco. Everyone always thinks you're stoned. It's the sleepy eyelids, glazed eyes and perpetual naughty smile.

21:53 Interesting bit on 127 Hours, where Franco likens the crew to actors since he had no one to act off of. So the cinematographer, director, etcetera felt like fellow actors to him.

25:37 Franco "I can only have one master." [*numerous hands raise for volunteering at computer screens across the world*]

26:15 The reporter brings up the not so uninteresting topic of disagreement with directors but these actors are too cagey to answer. Franco sees through this immediately and here is his silent response.

Firth makes an elusive stab at the question.

If you have faith in this person than you probably give your idea up for theirs. That's exhilarating. But that's awful if you don't trust the person which is not that unusual, really.

The King with the stammer then clams up after that tantalizing confession. So damn cagey. Why will no one answer? You don't have to name names. Speak cryptically to give us some guesswork at home. Think of the audience. You're entertainers, so entertain.

28:04 Ohmygod. It's weird. You know, I enjoyed watching The King's Speech but it's one of those movies that seems boring to discuss. They're talking about the research of playing a kingzzzzzzz. Biopics put me to sleep. Speaking of which why was Christian Bale not invited to this? Is it because he would hate this sort of thing?

34:00 We're still on researching biopics. I'm going to grow old and die while watching this. Cobwebs are growing twixt keyboard and screen. It's rather remarkable that Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) is just now speaking more than halfway into this thing and it's making me realize why the Actress roundtable was so much more interesting. And it's not, I swear, just because actresses are more interesting. I believe if you watched these back-to-back you would quickly realize that the actresses actually talked to each other. Banter sprung forth. This is just a group of six men waiting to be questioned. They're not interacting. Zzz.

Jesse says he was discouraged from researching Mark Zuckerberg but he found it impossible not to.

How could I not meet a guy I'm going to be playing?... I thought it would be limiting to play somebody real and so specific but it turned out to be really freeeing... maybe it would start as mimicry but then it would have some kind of visceral response and ultimately take you into it further.

36:50 Jesse talking about reading the script from Zuckerberg's point of view and feeling he was completely justified in everything. God, being an actor would be so weird, right? Constantly removing yourself and embodying other ethos and personalities.

38:40 There's a split second where I think we're going to get a good back and forth. Jesse glances at Mark and mentions that they've both worked for him (David Fincher though he is weirdly not named) but Ruff' doesn't respond. Duvall seems totally confused by Eisenberg's description of filming The Social Network ... since he keeps talking about 50 takes.

41:00 Gosling and Ruffalo are totally laughing about Eisenberg's candor and obsessiveness. He's telling about a director being pisssed at him for keeping track of which takes he thought he was terrible in and sharing his notes about which to use. (Not Fincher)

Duvall speaks his mind. He has opinions, this one.

42:05 Finally something interesting! It seemed like Duvall was deaf or confused by the Fincher discussion but it turns out he was listening. He says he turned down a role in Se7en (!) -- but mentions that he thought it was a great movie -- but is not happy to hear about Fincher's fondness for endless takes.

"Can I say one thing? To me 'The great Stanley Kubrick' was an actor's enemy. He was an actor's enemy. I can point to movies that he's done, the worst performances I've ever seen in movies. Terrible performances. Maybe great movies but terrible performances."

We'd probably have a spirited throwdown right then in a roomful of critics or chattier actors but these are polite hesistant interviews so he then trails off into discussing Brando again who has now been mimicked twice. Both Duvall and Ruffalo have done Brando during the first 42 minutes.

43:05 Finally some interaction. It took Duvall's Kubrick smackdown to wake them up (even if they didn't join in the fight) and they're actually talking to each other. Sometimes conflict on the set is good they all agree.

44:00 Franco says he's never had a director like that (hundreds of takes) but thinks that Fincher makes great movies.

45:00 God, I love Mark Ruffalo. He seems to be enjoying this the most (or is at least the most laidback of the six) and is describing those excruciatingly long days on Zodiac. 'You hit your stride and you're on take 25 and He starts walking toward you. You're thinking to yourself 'I hope he's coming over here to fire me' [laughter in room] And then he just walks past you and moves the extra behind you an inch...'

First there was no interaction and now physical interaction. Will there now be slash fiction involving Ryan & Mark? I offer this picture up for inspiration.

Ruff' says it's in moments like this that you realize that Fincher is a director who is always thinking of the entire frame and you are just happy to be taking up your small percentage of it. If this subject intrigues you and you're new to the Film Experience you might want to check out these recent comments from Jake Gyllenhaal on the same issue.

48:00 This leads to a bit about Gosling being fired from The Lovely Bones. Funny story about Peter Jackson and Gosling not seeing eye to eye on the character. "He hired me at 150 lbs and I showed up weighing 210 lbs" His diet consisted of melting down Häagen-Dasz and when he was thirsty he would drink it instead of water. YUM. Anyway, they had different ideas about the father and he was fired. "So I was unemployed and fat." He seems glad that he got fired which can only lead me to believe that he has seen the finished movie. The Häagen-Dasz saved him!

52:00 A question about expectations versus actual experience in Hollywood is asked but doesn't get traction. Jesse talks about his experiences as a child actor and trusting your own instincts about which projects to say "yes" to. He alludes to a horror movie (I'm guessing that'd be Cursed) that his agent and his dad were at odds about whether he should do and he went with the agent's advice but says his Dad was right.

56:00 The reporter tries to end with a "great takeaway from your life/career?" proudest moment type round table question.  Duvall brings up The Godfather but it sounds like he's bringing it up just because it's expected of him. What really gets his emphasis is the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove.

58: 21 Colin says he can't do it, can't answer this question. Colin is pissing me off. He talks so much but he won't answer the questions. Yet his refusals are complicated and verbose. Shut it Darcy.

59:00 Oh! Sorry. I didn't mean to force the issue. The video shut off on me just as I typed that. No joke. It's a sign from the blogging gods that I've gone too far; shut it Nathaniel.

Here's the complete video if you have a full hour free.



Footnote (just for the helluva it)
Movies/TV & Stars Name Checked

• Duvall: Marlon Brando, The Great Santini, Eleanor Dusa, Sarah Bernhardt, Sandy Meisner, Othello, Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Lonesome Dove, Se7en, The Godfather, American Buffalo
• Firth: Christoph Waltz, Nostromo
• Ruffalo: A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando, Stella Adler, Rumblefish, Zodiac
• Gosling: Young Hercules, Michelle Williams, Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones, Blue Valentine
• Franco: Danny Boyle, Milk, 127 Hours, James Dean, Alfred Hitchcock.
• Eisenberg: Adventureland, The Social Network