Archive for the 'Interviews' Category
2009 Cassavetes Award Presented to Actor J.K. Simmons
As terrifying as J. K. Simmons was as white supremacist Vern Schillinger in the acclaimed HBO prison drama OZ, it’s a little hard to imagine that he got his start as a singer, graduating from the University of Montana with a degree in music. His acting career began onstage with an off-Broadway stint in the 1987 musical Birds of Paradise; following a quick rise through the ranks, he made his Broadway debut in 1990 and went on to appear in Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Das Barbecü, and as Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls.
By 1994 he had already turned to the big screen, landing roles in The Ref and The Scout that were soon followed by The First Wives Club, The Jackal, Anastasia, and Celebrity. Recognized both for his versatility and his deep voice, he caught the eye of some of the industry’s top directors – repeatedly. Sam Raimi cast him in For Love of the Game, The Gift, and the ongoing Spiderman series in the key role of newspaperman J. Jonah Jameson. He undertook the unforgettable role of Garth Pancake, an explosives ace with irritable bowel syndrome, in the Coen Brothers’ 2004 remake of The Ladykillers (and he worked with the Coens again in Burn after Reading). He appeared in Gore Verbinski’s The Mexican opposite Brad Pitt, in Joan Chen’s Autumn in New York, in Lasse Hallström’s The Cider House Rules, and alongside Sam Elliott and Joan Allen in Campbell Scott’s Off the Map. That was all prior to the sensation that was Jason Reitman’s Juno (SDFF 30) – in which Simmons “brought down the house,” to quote Roger Ebert, as Ellen Page’s father Mac MacGuff. (Simmons also appeared in Reitman’s satirical Thank You for Smoking). Simmons continues to be in high demand for the small screen as well: he’s a major player in TNT’s The Closer, as he was in the classic series Law & Order.
With that “classic gangster mug,” as then–New York Times theater critic Frank Rich called it, J. K. Simmons was born to be an amazing character actor in the tradition of Ned Sparks and Eddie Albert. But stars are made, as Simmons is proving with simultaneous muscle and grace he shows in every part he plays – and for that we at SDFF 32 are grateful.
In this podcast interview, Simmons and noted film critic Robert Denerstein discuss the works of John Cassavetes, Simmons’ long career on stage and on screen, and look back on his most memorable characters.
Posted on November 30, 2009 // No Comments »
Everybody’s Fine Reprises Classic Italian Film
Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1990 classic Stanno Tutti Bene tells the story of a widower who, lonely during the holidays, embarks upon a tour of Italy to visit his children (all named, appropriately enough in this bittersweet melodrama, for characters from Italian operas). Everybody’s Fine Director Kirk Jones transplants the film to contemporary America – where the members of extended families, separated by long distances, have increasingly have become strangers to one another. Jones adapted the original screenplay, cowritten by Tornatore and Tonino Guerra (a collaborator of Fellini, Antonioni, Tarkovsky, and Theo Angelopolous) to explore the ways in which an impromptu train trip serves as an education for a father (Robert De Niro, in the role originally played by Marcello Mastroianni) who comes to learn more about his grown children than he ever imagined – or, perhaps, wanted to know.
In this podcast episode, Jones joins noted film critic Robert Denerstein to discuss the making of Everybody’s Fine, fatherhood, and working with De Niro.
Posted on November 23, 2009 // No Comments »
Two Spirits Documents Collision of Native American Culture and Small Town Intolerance
In 2001, 16-year-old Fred Martinez was brutally murdered near his hometown of Cortez, Colorado. He was poor, Navajo, and transgendered – a girl in a boy’s body. Fred was blessed to have grown up with the cultural belief there are four genders, not only male and female but mixed identities like his. Among his own people, he was accepted as nádleehí, a word that means “one who constantly transforms” in the Navajo language; it connotes a spiritual and sexual being who is also known to and honored by other Native American cultures as a “two-spirit person.” The traditional roles of such people have included healing, mediation, and the parenting of orphans. The tragedy of Fred’s life, however, is that also he grew up in small-town America, where far narrower views of both ethnicity and gender ultimately proved fatal to him.
In this podcast episode film critic Robert Denerstein is joined by Two Spirits co-producer Lydia Nibley, who gives us some additional background information on this film.
Two Spirits will be screened at 12:30 PM on Saturday, November 21 at the King Center.
Posted on November 20, 2009 // No Comments »
Hal Holbrook Honored with Excellence in Acting Award
Don’t misunderstand: Hal Holbrook was very happy and deeply grateful to receive this year’s Starz Denver Film Festival Excellence in Acting award. But if you push the Emmy- and Tony-winning legend on the subject, he’ll suggest that maybe the prize is a tad premature, because he still considers himself, at 84, a student of his art. “Even now,” Holbrook says, “I’m learning more about film work.”
In this podcast episode, Holbrook sits down with noted film critic Robert Denerstein to discuss his long career. Holbrook and Denerstein talk about his most famous role, as witty sage Samuel Clemens in Mark Twain Tonight!, how Sean Penn picked him for his Oscar-nominated role in Into the Wild, and his newest film, That Evening Sun, which screened at this year’s Starz Denver Film Festival.
Posted on November 18, 2009 // No Comments »
Lee Daniels Taking in Success of Surprise Hit Precious
Precious, the Opening Night film of 2009 Starz Denver Film Festival, set a limited-release record this past weekend by selling $1.8 million worth of tickets at just 18 theaters, proving once again that the festival has a knack for foreseeing surprise hit films (see Juno and Slumdog Millionaire from the past two years).
In this video podcast episode, Precious Director Lee Daniels joins film critic Robert Denerstein backstage during the film’s screening at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver to discuss the making of the film.
You can also listen to Denerstein’s interview with Precious co-producer Sarah Siegel-Magness.
Posted on November 17, 2009 // No Comments »
The Last Station Recounts Leo Tolstoy’s Final Years
If you attended last night’s Big Night film, The Last Station, you are undoubtedly more versed in the life and times of legendary Russian author Leo Tolstoy.
In this podcasts episode, The Last Station director Michael Hoffman joins noted film critic Robert Denerstein. The two discuss the making of the film, Tolstoy’s complicated relationship with his family, and the desperate grabs for power and affection from many of Tolstoy’s hangers-on.
Posted on November 15, 2009 // No Comments »
Precious Brings Challenging Film to 2009 Opening Night
We are one week away from one of the most anticipated events on the annual Colorado social calendar: Opening night of the Starz Denver Film Festival.
Chosen as the opening film of the 2009 festival, Precious is based on the 1996 novel Push by poet Ramona Lofton – a long-time urban social worker and teacher better known by the pen name Sapphire.
In this podcast episode, film critic Robert Denerstein catches up with the film’s co-producer Sarah Siegel-Magness, a Colorado native and Denver resident, to discuss Precious.
Watch the Precious Trailer:
Posted on November 5, 2009 // 1 Comment »
More with 2008 Cassavetes Award Winner Bill Pullman
In the second part of his interview with 2008 John Cassavetes Award winner Bill Pullman, film critic Robert Denerstein takes a look back at Pullman’s broad body of work.
The two discuss the long road Pullman has traveled to reach this point in his career, and also preview his upcoming film Your Name Here, directed by Matthew Wilder.
Posted on November 27, 2008 // No Comments »
Actor Bull Pullman Receives 2008 Cassavetes Award
On November 23, The Starz Denver Film Festival presented actor Bill Pullman with the Festival’s John Cassavetes Award at the screening of his new film Surveillance.
The John Cassavetes Award was established in 1989 in collaboration with Gena Rowlands, his widow. It is presented annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the world of filmmaking and whose work reflects the spirit of the late John Cassavetes. The first recipient of this award was Steven Soderbergh and recent recipients include Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, William H. Macy, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins.
This podcast episode is part one of noted film critic Robert Denerstein’s interview with Pullman. They discuss Cassavetes, the award given in his honor, and the making of the film Surveillance.
Watch the Surveillance Trailer:
Posted on November 26, 2008 // No Comments »
Thomas Imbach Brings Innovative Films to Festival
Thomas Imbach was born in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1962, studying history and philosophy in Basle from 1982 to 1984. A self-taught filmmaker, he has been directing, producing, and editing films in Zurich since 1986. Imbach’s work has consistently tested the boundaries between documentary and narrative, film and video, traditional cinematic techniques and novel technologies. He was one of the first filmmakers to use consumer camcorders for the big screen, linking electronic images with classic 35mm film.
Imbach is being honored at the 2008 Starz Denver Film Festival with the screening of three of his films: Happiness Is a Warm Gun, I Was a Swiss Banker, and Lenz. Imbach took a few minutes to speak with film critic Robert Denerstein about his unusual style of filmmaking.
For more information, click here.
Watch the I Was a Swiss Banker Trailer:
Posted on November 22, 2008 // No Comments »
