By Scott Feinberg
The time is fast approaching when movie buffs curious to learn about Hollywood’s “Golden Age” — that fabled time, more than a half-century ago, when studios were still run by moguls and employed directors and stars to churn out movies as if they were working on the production line of a dream factory — will be able to consult only second-hand sources.
By Sean O’Connell
It was the last film I managed to see at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
“Shame” reunites director Steve McQueen and his “Hunger” star Michael Fassbender for an intense study of a sex addict coping with his own unique hungers in the city that never sleeps. Fassbender’s performanceearned him the Coppa Volpi prize for best actor at the Venice Film Festival, and Fox Searchlight – which acquired the film for distribution at TIFF – hopes to push “Shame” through the Oscar circuit.
I was saddened to learn this morning that Betty Garrett, the great star of stage, screen, and TV, passed away yesterday at the age of 94 after suffering an aortic aneurysm.
Garrett was one of those rare people — like, say, Jack Valenti — who happened to be a witness to and/or participant in a remarkably high number of historic events of the 20th century. She was a member of Orson Welles’s famed Mercury Theatre company, and was with him on the night that he shook up America with his infamous radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” (1938); she was Frank Sinatra’s leading lady in two of the earliest great M-G-M musical-comedies, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (1949) and “On the Town” (1949); her career was greatly hurt by the Hollywood Red Scare after her husband, the Oscar nominated actor Larry Parks, refused to name names before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and blacklisted; she later came back and was a part of two classic TV shows, playing Archie Bunker’s liberal neighbor on “All in the Family” (from 1973-1975) and the singing landlady on “Laverne & Shirley” (from 1976-1981); and she was the beloved godmother of the Oscar winning actor Jeff Bridges and his siblings. Perhaps most remarkably, she was just as passionate about her craft at the end as she was at the beginning — in fact, she taught her regular musical-comedy class at Theatre West on Wednesday night before being stricken on Saturday. All in all, she was quite a lady.
I had the immense privilege and pleasure of interviewing Garrett at-length at her home in Studio City back on August 23, 2005, and I’d like to share with you the full transcript of our conversation.
If the Academy honors both Christian Bale and Melissa Leo with Oscars for their performances in “The Fighter,” as it is widely expected to do, it will mark only the eighth instance in Oscar history in which the best supporting actor and best supporting actress Oscars have been presented that those categories were won by performances from the same film. (Both categories have been presented for the past 73 years, meaning that it has occurred only 9.6% of the time.) The other seven…
Photo: Ruffalo, Bening, and Moore in “The Kids Are All Right.” Credit: Focus Features.
Last week, I posted a piece about the legendary director Stanley Donen, 86, to whom the Film Society of Lincoln Center is paying tribute over the next week, featuring audio clips from my recent interview with Donen as well as video clips of the most memorable song-and-dance numbers that he has overseen over the course of his eight decades in the business: Gene Kelly dancing with his alter-ego in “Cover Girl” (1944); Kelly dancing with Jerry the Mouse in “Anchors Aweigh” (1945); Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munschin in the opening number of “On the Town” (1949); Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling in “Royal Wedding” (1951); Kelly singin’ in the rain in “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952); Howard Keel & Co. barn dance in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” (1954); and Kelly dancing on rollerskates in “It’s Always Fair Weather” (1955).
On Wednesday, as part of the FSLC tribute, Donen participated in an extended Q&A at the Walter Reade Theater that was moderated by director Mike Nichols. One thing I was not able to share with you in my post was a recent photograph of Donen, but now, courtesy of FSLC, I am — the photo at the top of this post is of Donen answering a question during the Q&A, and the photo below the jump is Nichols making a remark about Donen during the Q&A. Enjoy…
Photo: Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network.” Credit: Columbia.