HELEN MIRREN TALKS ABOUT LOVE RANCH

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

Illustrious British actor HELEN MIRREN said her role as the madam of a legal brothel in the new film LOVE RANCH is right up her alley.

“Actually, much more so than The Queen in many ways,” Ms. Mirren, who won a BEST ACTRESS OSCAR for her performance in that film, said in a recent phone interview.

“I’ve always been slightly on the funky side of town, if you know what I mean.”

LOVE RANCH — which opens tomorrow in select cities — is inspired by the true story of Sally Conforte and Joe Conforte, who gained fame in the 1970s as the owners of the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada.

Their relationship hit turbulence during an alleged love triangle with heavyweight boxer Oscar Bonavena.

In the film, the brothel owners are named GRACE BONTEMPO (HELEN MIRREN) and CHARLIE BONTEMPO (JOE PESCI) and the boxer is ARMANDO BRUZA (SERGIO PERIS MENCHETA).

GINA GERSHON plays one of the brothel workers.

“It’s a woman’s movie, in a weird, perverse kind of a way,” HELEN commented.

“A brothel is run by a woman, it’s not run by a man — a legal brothel, I should say. It’s a woman’s world and only a woman can really run it.”

The film is directed and coproduced by Ms. Mirren’s husband TAYLOR HACKFORD, who won an ACADEMY AWARD for BEST SHORT FILM for 1978′s TEENAGE FATHER. In 2005, he was nominated for another OSCAR for helming RAY.

It’s their first feature collaboration since he directed her in 1985′s WHITE NIGHTS, where they first met.

For research purposes, Mr. Hackford — who is also president of THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA — insisted Ms. Mirren actually visit the real Mustang Ranch.

She had to be “dragged screaming and kicking,” she recalled.

“I just didn’t want to go, not for moralistic or puritanical reasons — well, maybe a little bit,” continued Ms. Mirren, who has also won four SAG AWARDS, four BAFTAs, three GOLDEN GLOBES and four EMMYS.

“I was thinking: Oh God, I’m going to be so embarrassed and feel so awkward. But also I didn’t want to feel prurient and voyeuristic and I didn’t want to feel people were peering at them. I hate people peering at me, if you know what I mean. I like to do my work but I hate, funnily enough, being watched while I’m working.”

She immediately felt at ease, though, when Susan Austin — co owner and madam of the Mustang Ranch — took her under her wing and showed her how the operation ran.

By the end of the evening, HELEN — who in 2003 was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order Of The British Empire — had to practically be dragged out.

“At two o’clock in the morning I was sitting at the bar, having a drink, going, ‘I don’t want to leave, Taylor, I’m fine! No, no, no, we don’t have to go yet, do we?‘” remembered HELEN, who was born in London and now lives in Los Angeles.

“These girls are called independent contractors: they’re free to leave whenever they want to, there is no coercion of any sort, they’re there because they want to be there and lots of girls come back year after year after year.”

“It’s not to say they’re not from difficult backgrounds — they very often are, so there are problems, psychological problems — but that’s about as safe an environment as they could ever have.”

JOE PESCI, who won an OSCAR in 1991 for GOODFELLAS, displays his quintessential take no prisoners side in LOVE RANCH as his philandering character grapples with issues surrounding his marriage and business.

At one point during a fight with HELEN’S character, he quips: “Who do you think you are, the Queen of fucking England?”

HELEN — who has played three British queens in different films and TV series — said the line was improvised.

“Joe and I put that in. We talked about it in the car and we put it in and then Taylor said, ‘Oh, I don’t know if we can use that,’ and I said, ‘Oh, well, see because it’s really good.‘ I’m really glad he kept it in.”

HELEN also shows a signature side of herself in the film: her sensual one, particularly in intimate scenes with Sergio Peris Mencheta, who hails from Spain.

“I was very comfortable with him. I think he’s an incredible future star. He’s got that wonderful animal quality on the screen.”

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN TO BE REISSUED

FROM ROLLING STONE

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN is rolling out a deluxe version of his classic 1978 disc DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN this fall, and according to E STREET BAND guitarist STEVE VAN ZANDT, the set will feature at least ten outtakes – and possibly more.

In an interview with a U.K. radio station, STEVE commented, “We’re doing a little bit of fixes on some Darkness On The Edge of Town outtakes, which is going to be a really fun reissue coming for Christmas.”

STEVE also revealed that BRUCE’S engineer has been combing the vault for unheard material from the Darkness era and – much like THE ROLLING STONES’ recent EXILE ON MAIN STREET reissue – the release will likely include new vocal overdubs on the old material.

“We put ten or so outtakes on the [1998] Tracks box set and we [have since] found ten more. I’m not sure how many we’ll put on there. We’ll go back and he might finish a lyric on one or two or finish a harmony on one or two, but we’ll keep them intact pretty much.”

STEVE didn’t mention whether or not the reissue will feature a bonus concert film, similar to the 1975 live footage that appeared on the 2005 reissue of BORN TO RUN.

The 1978 DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN tour is widely considered to include some of the best live shows that BRUCE ever gave.

OUTDOOR DANCE EVENTS: THE WIDE OPEN SPACES OF LOS ANGELES

FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

A concert under the stars stirs up images of picnic dinners and extravagant evenings for audiences.

But for dancers, outdoor venues are a unique canvas, offering site specific possibilities and their own set of challenges.

Now through October, Los Angeles’ two major outdoor theatres — THE FORD AMPHITHEATRE and THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL — will be showcasing 20 different dance companies, each customizing the space to match artistic vision and practicality.

The 1,245 seat Ford, with its bi level performance area, terraced steps and lush trees and vegetation, has proved to be a perfect stomping ground for Kultura Philippine Folk Arts. The 20 member company, founded by Celia Diaz de Fato in 1992, is making its sixth appearance in two nights in early July.

For two hip hop troupes, Lux Aeterna, directed by Jacob (Kujo) Lyons and Antics, founded by Amy (Catfox) Campion, the raked stage has made dancers’ head spins problematic. The companies will be on a bill of 10 performers as part of J.U.I.C.E., the third annual hip hop festival at the Ford in October.

Adam Davis is managing director of the Ford.

“It’s magical, but can offer challenges. It gets cool at night and we try to get in as many shows before the temperature dips in October.”

The last concert of the season will be October 9, when Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble, founded in 1983 by Eytan Avisar, presents Jerusalem Soul.

This year’s dance season at the bucolic venue is the biggest since the County Arts Commission first began programming there in 1993. Performances also include tango, flamenco, Brazilian and contemporary dance.

Laura Zucker, executive producer of the arts commission, is pleased that summer rain is infrequent in Los Angeles.

“We did have to cancel one year when Focus Fish [family circus and aerial acts] got rained out. Even though it stopped raining, the equipment was too slippery to finish what they were doing.”

Ford newbies this year include Invertigo Dance Theatre, IN/EX Dance Project and Method Contemporary Dance, a trio of companies that share the stage in September. Bradley Michaud founded the über athletic Method in 2005. The troupe usually performs barefoot but, as Bradley Michaud remarked, “We’re going to be wearing shoes since condensation could make it slippery at night.”

Making its eighth appearance at the Ford in late July is audience favorite Viver Brasil, which was founded by Linda Yudin and Luiz Badaro in 1997.

Dance also has a storied history at THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL, the 18,000 seat summer home of the LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC. Arvind Manocha, chief operating officer of the orchestra, points out that dance and music have “obvious symmetries.”

As to the weather, Mr. Manocha added, “Rain has never been an issue, but it does get cooler at night. The challenges of the Bowl are not unlike any of the other stage productions that involve non musical elements.”

Since its 1922 opening, groups such as THE MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY and THE BOLSHOI BALLET have graced the stage framed by the iconic shell. This season three troupes will join forces with musical organizations to present concerts.

One of those is locally based Diavolo, the hyper physical dance troupe founded in 1992 by Jacques Heim. The company will perform John Adams’ 1988 score Fearful Symmetries in September.

Conducted by Bramwell Tovey, the work is the second part of a trilogy commissioned by the L.A. PHILHARMONIC (the first, in 2007, featured Esa Pekka Salonen conducting his Foreign Bodies). Diavolo’s premiere includes a 5,000 pound motorized field, an 800 pound cube and 10 daredevil dancers.

For Parisian Jacques Heim, the challenge of appearing at the Bowl three years ago in September was the temperature.

“It was so hot that the Marley was soft and melting. But we stretched it and taped it and it worked out.”

He added that performing on the stage where some of the world’s greatest dance companies appeared was humbling.

“It’s like being part of a special club.”

In a way, all dancers and choreographers are part of a club – one that seems more exclusive when they’re performing in the Cahuenga Pass surrounded by trees, gorgeous fragrant greenery and the faint sounds of traffic.

RACHEL BILSON: STYLE DIRECTOR FOR SUNGLASS HUT

If you had seemingly limitless access to any style of sunglasses, which pair would you reach for?

If you’re RACHEL BILSON, the freshly appointed style director for SUNGLASS HUT, it’s all about the RAY BAN WAYFARER.

“They’re back and they’re totally my staple,” writes the actor, whose new role involves blogging and podcasting about eyewear on the company’s website.

“I’ve got a gazillion pairs.”

In addition to starring in the new ads, she offers up sunglass styling tips.

“It’s fun to wear [aviators] with something dressy because it adds a little edge to your outfit.”

For more from RACHEL, read her blog at SUNGLASSHUT.COM

THE GOLDEN GLOW OF NOSTALGIA: 1995

When I look back fondly on the past, I don’t get particularly nostalgic about the 90s. It’s not a decade that really gets me going.

Though 1995 was not a high water mark for me on a personal level, it was quite a fascinating year in terms of entertainment and pop culture.

PARTY OF FIVE and MY SO CALLED LIFE were on television. OASIS was riding a wave of incredible popularity. Hit movies included THE USUAL SUSPECTS, BATMAN FOREVER, SEVEN and the BEST PICTURE winner BRAVEHEART.

Our fabulous friends at EW have a slideshow dedicated entirely to 1995.

For the whole damn thing, please go here

NEEDLESS INJUSTICES: THE LION & THE WHALE

This article is written by INGRID NEWKIRK (president and cofounder of PETA) at THE HUFFINGTON POST

Vegetarianism is not my lifestyle. It’s too restrictive for me. I do eat meat on rare occasions along with some poultry and fish.

On a philosophical level, however, there is much that I admire about it.

Instead, I wear incredible looking fur that’s not real and purchase alternatives to leather whenever I can.

Under no circumstances should anyone be eating lion meat. Hell no. That’s an outrage so egregiously unacceptable that it deserves an equally outrageous penalty.

Two big and odd news stories about eating animals were in the media this past week: the International Whaling Commission battle that included whaling countries that paid cash and provided prostitutes to sway votes away from protecting whales and an Arizona restaurant that offered lion burgers to celebrate the World Cup playoffs.

Let me start with the lions.

People wanted to know where on earth someone so far from the Serengeti was getting lion meat. The restaurateur’s declaration that the meat was from lions raised on a free range lion farm fell flatter than an overbaked soufflé and even fewer people than bought the lion burgers bought that line.

The growling increased to a roar when it turned out that the purveyor of this particular lion meat had been brought up on federal charges for his dealings with other big cats back in 2003.

People soon learned that most lion meat often comes from canned hunts, the kind you often don’t know you are watching on hunting shows when some jackass appears to be out there in the middle of nowhere, bravely risking being gored, while, in fact, he/she is actually in a fully fenced compound into which bears, tigers, lions or other animals have been released.

Some of the animals are so tame that they walk up to the shooters who frequently shoot at them from their padded seats in a jeep only yards away. And where do these places get the lions? Some are discarded pets, bought at auctions after becoming too big for a backyard pen and some come from zoos with a surplus to get rid of, having done nothing to curb the birth of cute cubs, who draw crowds.

The idea that whales might lose their status and lions their hide made people see red and the blogosphere light up. That spoke well of our evolving sensibilities, but we need to keep going in that direction, not just settle for the easy stuff.

The Japanese and Norwegians bristle at our valiant attempts to deprive them of whale steak, people in China shake their heads at our disgust over dog soup and the Korean restaurants serving live, squirming octopus on a bowl of noodles do not understand why we march outside their premises holding picket signs and quoting studies showing that cephalopods are highly sensitive to pain. Causing needless suffering to any form of life should be out of the question for everyone, but they are justified in pointing a finger at us.

That’s because, down the road from the restaurants serving lion meat, whale steak, dog soup and live octopus, you will find other animals on the menu who regularly disappear down gullets without a ruckus.

They are, of course, all animals we do not find so fascinating, perhaps because they have traditionally been introduced to us on a dinner plate with a side of potatoes. They surely valued their lives and loves as much as the animals we are culturally conditioned to eat.

In fact, the lions surely suffered less than the animals who make up a regular burger or steak, given that they were not prodded and kicked down the ramp to the slaughterhouse as was the pig or cow.

And while the whale enjoyed a life with loved ones in the ocean until the harpoon hit, the chicken on the filthy factory farm endured chronic pain from cracked leg bones caused by breeding for increased breast meat and then finally suffered broken wings in a travel crate while being jostled down the highway in an open truck.

A free vegetarian/vegan starter kit is downloadable from PETA.org

THE HOTTEST SEASON IMAGINABLE

I love summer. It’s so languorously sumptuous and vibrant.

Our Friday musical highlight is a classic from the 80s: WISHING WELL by TERENCE TRENT D’ARBY.

Don’t let those evocative poetic lyrics lead you astray. It’s one of my all time favourites.

But there won’t be any long luxuriously detailed intimate chats. No kissing and telling in my little corner of cyberspace.

NOT EVER.

It’s not my style. Never has been. Never will be.

Just thought I’d better set that straight and reemphasize – unequivocally – before I exit. Stage left.

Sometimes ambiguousness is startlingly inappropriate.

It’s the weekend, my treasured magnificent readers.

You know what to do…

SUMMERTIME AT THE MOVIES: (ALMOST) EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

It’s summertime at the movies. Otherwise known as the deja vu season.

Yet new ideas occasionally pop up even in Hollywood – the place that thrives on sequels, remakes, spinoffs and adaptations based on best selling novels, TV shows, comic books or toys.

Among this summer’s handful of original stories are ANGELINA JOLIE’S SALT and LEONARDO DiCAPRIO’S INCEPTION from director CHRISTOPHER NOLAN.

With old standbys such as Sex & The City 2 and Robin Hood falling short of box office expectations, fresh concepts play a bigger role in determining the success of Hollywood’s hot season.

INCEPTION in particular has the industry and fans captivated, coming from a filmmaker with a track record for blockbuster entertainment that’s also bold and smart.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a man using technology to sneak into people’s dreams and steal their ideas, INCEPTION arrives in theatres JULY 17 with the best buzz for an original story since JAMES CAMERON’S AVATAR last December.

At $2.7 billion worldwide, AVATAR leads the box office charts, hurtling past HARRY POTTER and other franchise adaptations.

“I would like to say we were very encouraged by the success of Avatar,” CHRISTOPHER NOLAN said with a big laugh.

For many fans, AVATAR was as groundbreaking a movie experience as one of the prime cinema adventures of Mr. Nolan’s boyhood, STAR WARS.

“That was an entire world that didn’t exist anywhere else before. It only existed in that movie, your brain lived in it for a couple of hours and it stuck with you.”

“Ever since I saw that film, whether I knew it or not, my ambition has been to give the audience that kind of experience: to create a world that they hadn’t expected before and hadn’t seen before and let them lose themselves in it. There’s a huge advantage of jumping into something original that can be anything.”

So why does Hollywood keep coming back to the same old things?

Simple. It pays better.

Most of the movies that draw colossal audiences are based on something that existed before. Familiarity sometimes can breed contempt as audiences tire of characters, but it’s generally easier to get fans to buy tickets for the latest in a continuing saga.

Studios are not likely to change their ways unless they sense that audiences would rather see new things over the tried and true.

“It really is up to the audience and critics. A lot of people jump on Hollywood for that. But the truth is: if they’ll come, we’ll make them,” said producer LORENZO DI BONAVENTURA, whose credits include ANGELINA JOLIE’S upcoming spy thriller SALT.

Star power can certainly help. SALT, opening JULY 23, casts ANGELINA JOLIE as an American agent on the run after she’s accused of being a Russian mole.

But the box office numbers continue to support the tried and true. The year’s biggest opening weekends so far belong to sequels and adaptations — such as ALICE IN WONDERLAND and TOY STORY 3, a rare sequel from Pixar Animation, the one outfit that consistently turns original concepts into blockbuster business.

Even when audiences seem sick of a franchise, they can turn up in huge numbers.

While sequels have been around since the early years of film, the franchise has become Hollywood’s core business today, beginning with such boldly original hits as STAR WARS, ALIEN and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in the 1970s and 80s.

But money talks – especially in Tinseltown. It would seem that extensively used Hollywood formulas show no signs of going away any time soon.

THE STRATFORD FESTIVAL: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER OPENS IN THE TEMPEST TONIGHT

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

They’re rolling out the red carpet at THE STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL for tonight’s highly anticipated opening of THE TEMPEST, starring Canadian acting legend CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER.

The Toronto native, who earned his first OSCAR nomination at age 80 earlier this year for THE LAST STATION, plays Prospero the sorcerer in the show that Stratford officials say is of historical importance.

THE TEMPEST is helmed by Des McAnuff, the artistic director of the theatre festival in southwestern Ontario.

He said CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER is the greatest stage actor of our time and to see him at Stratford is a rare opportunity.

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER was just at the Stratford festival two years ago for his tour de force performance in CAESAR & CLEOPATRA, which was filmed and broadcast on BRAVO and screened in movie theatres.

But earlier this year, the two time TONY winner told The Canadian Press that he likely won’t be able to return to Stratford for several years once THE TEMPEST is done.

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER — whose great grandfather was Prime Minister John Abbott — has appeared in dozens of films and starred on stages from Broadway to Stratford to London.

For his role as Russian author LEO TOLSTOY in THE LAST STATION, he also received GOLDEN GLOBE and SAG AWARD nominations.

OSCAR winning British actor HELEN MIRREN, who costarred with Mr. Plummer in THE LAST STATION, calls him “one of the world’s greatest actors, no question.”

“He is one of the world’s Top 10 actors,” she told The Canadian Press in a recent phone interview.

“He’s just absolutely remarkable. I saw him recently in Caesar & Cleopatra (on television) and he was so fabulous in that. The whole production was great, actually.”

Ms. Mirren and Mr. Plummer have even had a running joke going on lately over THE TEMPEST, since she, too, just shot a film adaptation of it for possible release later this year.

Only in her case, she plays Prospera, a female version of the Bard’s protagonist.

“He keeps laughing at me whenever I see him. He always says, ‘I think I might play it in a skirt,’ because he knows that I just did Prospero, which he thinks is just hysterically funny.”

THE TEMPEST is a romance set on a mysterious island with themes of love, revenge and greed. The leading role of Prospero is said to be one of the greatest roles ever written for a classical actor.

“Prospero is a role of great complexity, richness and paradox, the culmination of Shakespeare’s skill as a dramatist,” commented Des McAnuff, who also worked on CAESAR & CLEOPATRA.

“There are very few actors who can play this part and we’ll have had two of them here within a decade: first William Hutt and now Christopher Plummer.”

THE NEW YORK BALLET SEASON: AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

In baseball, it’s referred to as a double header. That sounds a little unrefined for ballet.

But what else do you call it when two acclaimed visiting ballerinas are performing the identical role on the same day on the very same stage?

For die hard fans, a ballet double header — roughly six hours of SLEEPING BEAUTY — was well worth it last weekend, when AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE hosted both Alina Cojocaru, a magnificent dancer from THE ROYAL BALLET and Natalia Osipova, a Russian phenom and emerging star from THE BOLSHOI in Moscow.

Both were dancing the challenging role of Princess Aurora. It was Natalia Osipova’s very first crack at it. Alina Cojocaru was both delicate and extremely emotional, able to evoke not only cheers but real tears from the audience.

Ms. Osipova, who happily has embarked on a growing relationship with ABT this season, again displayed her remarkable physical abilities, particularly her stunning jump.

The day was only one highlight of a particularly rich season of ballet in New York, not just at ABT but also at NEW YORK CITY BALLET, across the plaza at Lincoln Center.

At NYCB, where the season ends Sunday, prolific choreographer Christopher Wheeldon entertained audiences with his latest work ESTANCIA, set on a ranch in Argentina.

The ballet, which evokes memories of AGNES DE MILLE and her RODEO, boasts a team of graceful dancing horses and a ravishing Tiler Peck, who can both act and dance up a storm and becomes more impressive every season.

ESTANCIA is just one of NYCB’S seven world premieres this season and part of the company’s ambitious ARCHITECTURE OF DANCE FESTIVAL, featuring sets designed by the architect Santiago Calatrava. Along with Christopher Wheeldon, the festival has included new ballets by Alexei Ratmansky, NYCB director Peter Martins and NYCB principal dancer Benjamin Millepied, among others.

Even more unusual has been a host of farewell performances this season at NYCB — four dancers are hanging up their ballet shoes, culminating on the final Sunday with Darci Kistler, Peter Martins’ wife and the last of a generation of NYCB ballerinas who trained with GEORGE BALANCHINE. The other retirees: Yvonne Borree, Philip Neal and Albert Evans, along with conductor Maurice Kaplow.

Farewells are always fun to watch and often deeply touching.

First, the dancer gets to choose his or her favourite roles to reprise…one last time. And then a procession of colleagues and friends fill the stage, bringing bear hugs and countless bouquets.

And sometimes more…

A sweet moment at the farewell for Yvonne Borree, a dancer of delicate physical beauty who spent two decades with the company, came when Damian Woeztel, the recently retired NYCB great, dropped his bouquet on the floor and instead presented her with a little red heart.

But the high point of the ballet season have been the appearances of Natalia Osipova, who is dancing three roles with ABT: Aurora, Kitri in DON QUIXOTE and in July, Juliet.

Most impressive so far was her Kitri. In ballet, there are passable jumpers, the good jumpers and the great jumpers. And then there’s Ms. Osipova, who doesn’t so much jump as launch herself into the air for an extended stay, with seeming total control over when (and whether) she might ever land.

And so when she hurled herself head first like a missile across the stage in her ABT debut as Kitri, one had to wonder what would have happened had her gallant partner Jose Manuel Carreno just stepped out of the way rather than catch her. Would she have continued flying, horizontally, into the wings?

A bit of an exaggeration, of course — Ms. Osipova is human, after all — but the audience at THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE justifiably gasped a number of times. This exciting ballerina, who also danced a smashing GISELLE last year at ABT, is clearly the star of the moment, with a future as boundless as that jump of hers.

If there was any flaw in her Kitri, it had nothing to do with her prodigious technique, which included not only those jumps but stunning fouette turns, whipped off with countless extra revolutions.

Rather, it was her acting that lacked just a bit, more specifically an emotional connection with her partner, the ever dashing Jose Manuel Carreno, who easily possesses the charm needed for Basilio…and can nail those pirouettes, too. The two would have seemed better matched if Ms. Osipova had looked at him more.

But such things come with time — witness the terrific chemistry between Angel Corella and Paloma Herrera.

These two veterans danced an earlier performance of DON QUIXOTE and the evening was filled with a happy sense of affection — between the dancers and with the audience. The effect on stage was absolutely lovely, a sense of two dancers enjoying each other and every bit of their evening together.

Angel Corella is only dancing two ballets at ABT this season and his fans surely want more – even if he is busy in Spain, where he is the artistic director of his own company Corella Ballet.

He may be slowly transitioning into a life of running a company, but judging from the cheers he got at ABT, the fans still want to see him dance.