MARK RUFFALO: THE KIDS ARE DEFINITELY ALL RIGHT

This article is written by BRAD BALFOUR at THE HUFFINGTON POST

Since MARK RUFFALO is involved with so many things, it’s inevitable that I run into him periodically. For instance, when he attended a special DVD release reception which paired him with another OSCAR nominee, director JOSH FOX, who codirected GASLAND.

But it’s no wonder MARK was there giving support to his neighbour – both were there addressing a cause that needs help – in stopping the fracking done to get at the natural gas supply. It pollutes water tables and is happening in upstate New York.

MARK is a guy who cares – especially when it’s happening in his own back yard. So to speak.

As a consummate actor, the veteran performer can play the nastiest of characters. But he does best with the guys who care – like his portrayal of PAUL in THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT.

The movie primarily focuses on the troubled dynamic between two married lesbians: NIC (ANNETTE BENING) and JULES (JULIANNE MOORE) and the teenage children they’ve birthed – both conceived by artificial insemination – and raised.

The LISA CHOLODENKO directed film turns on their discovery of their blissful, befuddled but sexy sperm donor Paul; when the kids bring him into their family life, all hell breaks loose – especially after an affair starts between Jules and Paul.

This role that MARK so brilliantly brings to life has garnered the actor many awards and nods, including an ACADEMY AWARD nomination for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR. The director and movie are also nominated in their respective categories as is ANNETTE BENING for BEST ACTRESS.

Q: One of the things I always appreciated about you, especially in doing THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, is that you have this connection to children because of your family. You’re a real family man, you have a passion about it and it’s great to see that you have enough of a passion that you want to be here and support the movie.

MARK RUFFALO: Yes. I’ve become very good friends with Josh [Fox] over the course of this. We’ve been in the trenches fighting it. Today we did NY1 together and did a debate against two guys from the gas industry. That’s on INSIDE CITY HALL tonight. It’s just rare you find another warrior. You have the same kind of beliefs and tastes. His place up there is 15 minutes from mine.

Q: You’re up along the Hudson, right?

MR: No, we live on the Delaware. I’m in Callicoon on the Delaware. And you know, we were in SUNDANCE together. We both won SPECIAL JURY PRIZES. So we were there together and we were sitting next to each other. Here are these two knuckleheads from upstate New York; it’s so weird. It’s one of those kind of special kindred spirit things. But I really believe in what he’s doing. Films can change the discourse. Films can teach us.

Q: What made you want to play Paul?

MR: It was a really interesting turn on an iconic American life character – a kind of Peter Pan bachelor who lives his life purely for his own pleasure. A lot of us have looked up to people like that and [have] wanted to be one. Then he has this really nice turn when he meets his biological kids. They make him [into] a pile of mush.

Q: How would you react if you suddenly learned you had grown children you never knew about?

MR: That would blow me away. That would be a lot to handle [laughs]. I could get around to caring for that person, but it would be very disruptive, to say the least [laughs].

Q: Is this role close to home for you? You’re a vegetarian too.

MR: I think I approach life and people with the same kind of attitude that Paul had. The guy has a fairly open heart. He’s not too judgmental of people. He’s interested, adventuresome and has got a sense of humour that I relate to.

I don’t have the confidence that he has. I never had the confidence with ladies he had [laughs]. And I wish that I’d found a sperm bank when I was in my early 20s [laughs]. Think of all the wasted talent.

But as far as the rest of it, he’s an amalgamation of people that I’ve really known and loved over the years.

Q: The outcome for your character is sort of tragic. What did you feel about that?

MR: Growth is painful. I think he gets spanked. But I’d like to think that he is going to have a relationship with his kids and that he’s going to buy a minivan [laughs].

You go from the beginning of the movie – that guy doesn’t have to beg a woman for anything. And would never do it, too – like begging Julie to stay with him and begging his father’s forgiveness. In a weird way, even that look to his son is begging for something, you know? Some connection. I think that’s a big change for him.

Q: Do you think he’ll grow from it?

MR: People change incrementally. I think the whole idea of having a family is possibly being entertained in a more serious way.

Q: What about being so irresistible that a lesbian can’t refuse him?

MR: I think Paul is like half a lesbian himself [laughs]. No, I’m kidding. You know, he’s got one foot in the door. He had two kids with her. So I think it’s a confluence of a lot of different circumstances that they end up together.

To me, the real telling nature of the relationship is when she’s riding him and using his face like a riding pummel on a horse saddle. That says it all. I don’t think there was really a deep connection other than just purely physical. I don’t know how real that relationship really is.

Q: It addressed issues that are often debated and put them in an interesting context. Have you met people who were in a similar situation?

MR: I haven’t met anyone who has [been in] this particular situation.

Q: Well, a man who got involved with a woman who was out of a lesbian relationship or someone who goes back and forth?

MR: It’s interesting. LISA is probably the one who could really talk about this. She understands it way better than I do.

I think statistically more people are on the fence than not. When it comes to sex, people have all kinds of kinky things that turn them on that I don’t think always reflect so much on who they are. Well, they certainly don’t make it in the movies. Not these kinds of movies.

Q: You have worked with JULIANNE MOORE before…and know her outside of working. Does that make it easier to do such intense scenes with her?

MR: Yeah. Your dream is to work with people who you have a vernacular with – who you’ve worked with, you feel comfortable with. You can work well with people like that. BLINDNESS was a tough experience. It was a hard movie to make. We had a great time, but the subject matter is intense. So you’re going through something.

She’s friends with my wife [actor SUNRISE COIGNEY]. It’s helpful with doing those sex scenes [chuckles]. To go to work and not have my wife be like, “Are you doing the sex scene today? Who is this girl? You like her, don’t you?”

She loves JULIE. She trusts her. So, in a weird way, it was a lot easier [laughs].

Q: LISA and STUART BLUMBERG worked on the script for a long time. How complete was Paul as written when you got involved?

MR: When I read something, a big part of it is daydreaming. I’ll start to get an image of the person. It was pretty clear to me who he was from the script. I mean, it’s filtered through my interpretation.

Q: Were there changes to the character and scenes once you came on board?

MR: It pretty much stayed the same. At some points I’d improvise a line here or there if I felt like there was a chance for humour in a place. I think what makes LISA such a great director is she really is interested in subtext and what’s happening between the lines. So you had a lot of behaviour off the lines, people responding to little looks. Even when the camera is not on you or you’re not speaking, something happens after a scene. Those are the flourishes that you put on as an actor.

Q: How does it feel to be nominated for an OSCAR?

MR: I’m lucky I got this far. Generally, I’m not OSCAR material. I do good work, but they don’t think of me that way.

Q: Are you shocked?

MR: I’m pleasantly, ecstatically shocked – a movie about two lesbians and their sperm donor dad. I’m so happy that we as a culture have come far enough to be able to celebrate that kind of a movie.

Q: Did you read that somebody at Harvard went in and destroyed 40 books on gay and lesbian literature?

MR: You’re kidding me. But you know what that is? That is the last desperate gasps of a dying mentality, a dying mindset that cannot sustain. I’m telling you, that boat has already sailed. There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle.

Q: You are absolutely, totally right.

MR: So you’re going to have some knucklehead who’s so angry and frustrated and so self hating that they’re going to go and destroy the books. But you know what? Those books are everywhere. You destroy those books; there are 20 others to jump in behind them.

Q: Your indie film roles really display your talents more than your Hollywood roles.

MR: You get to do more.

Q: Have you gotten frustrated by playing a lot of cops and such?

MR: I’ve gotten to play some great cops. Indie films are usually more character driven just because of the nature of it. You can’t [have] too big a plot, for a start, because you don’t have the time or the money. I’ve worked with real formal filmmakers and very informal filmmakers. Very kind of loose camera. Both have their own challenges.

I’d like to get a nice, beefy, juicy role in a feature film that was a big, big studio movie. But that’s outside of my control. I hope that would happen, but I also feel lucky that I’ve gotten to work with great people and I’ve learned a lot. I wouldn’t begrudge where I’m at.

Q: Who are you playing in THE AVENGERS?

MR: THE HULK. And I’m kind of excited about it.

Q: Right, you’re the new HULK! Think about the string of actors you’ll be following.

MR: It’s like my generation’s HAMLET, man.

Q: How many more episodes can they make?

MR: I don’t know. I think they have to die with me. They’re not going to make the 60 year old HULK.

Q: Were you a comic book fan?

MR: Loved them. I grew up on that, man.

Q: You should go down to MoCCA sometimes. Have you ever been?

MR: Yes, yes. It’s awesome. Yeah, I grew up on that and Bill Bixby’s Bruce Banner.

Q: And Lou Ferrigno.

MR: Awesome. I hope they use him in the movie. They have to. THE AVENGERS lost THE HULK a little too soon, I think.

Q: But I think they added some good characters.

MR: They did. What about ANT and WASP? They’re hilarious. That relationship.

Q: And GIANT MAN.

MR: Yes. He was a good addition.

Q: One of the things I think is good with you is that you stayed here in New York. You’ve not been caught up in the whole Hollywood thing. You’re still passionate about films that mean something.

MR: Yes…and they’re dying. They are few and far between. But we need them more than ever.

Q: You find the mix between things that have some meaning and value and things that are actually entertaining, which is a tough job. But you do find ways to find vehicles that do that and it’s a nice job if you can get that.

MR: I agree. I am the luckiest son of a bitch. For an actor I have pretty much done it my way. I’ve done the things that are interesting to me. What more could I possibly ask for? I haven’t lost much of my anonymity.

Q: People don’t get nuts around you?

MR: They don’t. They’re cool with me. They stay away. Who knows what AVENGERS is going to do? But I like where I see those movies going. I like that they’ll use somebody like me in those movies.

Q: You did your Hollywood thing and you’re back here and not going back?

MR: Oh no, I’m not going back if I can help it. That place is mind numbing. That grabs me by the insides and turns me out.

Q: Is there more directing coming? At SUNDANCE you premiered your strange rock/religious fable SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS which won the SPECIAL JURY PRIZE.

MR: Honestly, by the time I finished this movie last year, I was like, that’s it. I’m done with acting. I’m going to just direct.

Q: It’s so good to see you when you’re doing well.

MR: I told my wife, “Baby, I’m going to die either in your arms or on a stage. Get ready.”

THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF HOLLYWOOD’S TRAILBLAZING WOMEN

This article is written by FRANCINE LEFRAK at THE HUFFINGTON POST

It’s time once again for the OSCARS, when millions of Americans plunk down in front of their televisions to watch Hollywood’s young performers and veteran actors walk together down the reddest red carpet of them all.

Like so many years prior, our shared fascination with seeing female stars strut their glitziest and most glam looks will mean big ratings for the networks, not to mention box office bucks for the winning films. Our fervent interest in what Hollywood’s women are wearing, it seems, never goes out of fashion. But when it comes to the films they star in – specifically those with strong, pioneering female leads – our fascination has waned.

Several films from this year and last told the story of groundbreaking women in action, taking on the system to achieve their dreams, but none were met with box office success. If so many of these recent films have failed, it begs the question: has feminism in film become passe?

And if so, will it ever be fashionable again?

Last year was a painful one for movies about fearless women struggling for rights, freedom and equality. Do the titles SECRETARIAT or MADE IN DAGENHAM ring a bell? Probably not, because they came and went without much, if any, traction at the box office. This, even with the participation of big names like DIANE LANE and SALLY HAWKINS and despite generally favorable reviews across the board. In these films, women won the first Triple Crown for the United States in decades and fought hard for equal pay in 1960s Britain – among other amazing feats – and yet, no one was watching.

It’s not to say that all films with female leads were flops this year. After all, many flocked to theatres to watch ANNETTE BENING and JULIANNE MOORE portray lesbian partners in THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT and NATALIE PORTMAN play a tortured ballerina in BLACK SWAN. Clearly, female characters in film aren’t automatically unappealing to American audiences. But could it be that once these characters start to take on whatever system obstructs their goals, we’re no longer interested?

It’s hard to tell how or why feminism has fallen out of favour with moviegoers, but Hollywood certainly has taken note. Disney, for one, changed the name of its film RAPUNZEL to TANGLED, ostensibly to make it less girl centric and more appealing to audiences.

In 2007, industry blogs were atwitter about a rumour that WARNER BROTHERS’ head of production declared the studio was no longer interested in movies with female leads. While WARNER BROTHERS came forward and denied the claim that it wouldn’t even look at a script with a female lead, one can easily see this change of tide by taking a good look at what the studios have put out recently and what still remains in development limbo.

Anyone in the industry will tell you that it is next to impossible to get a movie green lighted these days, but this is particularly true for films that revolve around female leads that defy the status quo.

A biopic about JANIS JOPLIN, the singer/songwriter who broke ground in a male dominated rock industry of the 60s, has been on hold for years – so long, in fact, that the lead role has been passed from actor to actor. The delay has left many wondering if the film will ever happen.

HALLE BERRY recently revealed that it took ten years to get her recent film FRANKIE & ALICE made. If it takes HALLE BERRY ten years, what does that mean for other filmmakers trying to make movies about women battling adversity?

It wasn’t always this hard to get audiences interested in movies about women who break barriers.

In 2000, ERIN BROCKOVICH – the film dramatizing the real life Ms. Brokovich’s legal battle against the Pacific Gas & Electric Company – was a massive success, garnering five OSCAR nominations (including a win for JULIA ROBERTS) and big box office numbers. THE HOURS and BOYS DON’T CRY are two more examples of films made around that time that tackled female empowerment and succeeded both critically and financially.

So what has changed in the last decade that these kinds of motion pictures have now fallen out of favour with audiences? Perhaps moviegoers are looking for a fresh new take on female empowerment in film. Something wild and fun…and pioneering in a whole new way.

Maybe the film industry needs a LADY GAGA to call its own; someone to show younger audiences that empowerment can be cool. If filmmakers who want to tell these kinds of stories don’t innovate soon, we may see another slew of quality motion pictures about strong women come and go faster than you can even get to the theatre. A biopic of Margaret Thatcher starring the beloved MERYL STREEP has recently gone into production.

Can these films – and others – initiate a comeback? Or is feminism truly dead in Hollywood?

THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS

Our Friday musical highlight is from one of the most brilliant bands to ever conquer the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you WONDERWALL from OASIS.

And now it’s time for me to exit. Stage left…

14 FASHIONABLE FILMS

Our amazing friends at EW have assembled another grand and glorious slideshow for your perusal.

It features 14 films that are so magnificently glamorous that a major fashion designer was involved with the creation of the costumes.

Included are:

SABRINA – HUBERT GIVENCHY

BELLE DU JOUR – YVES SAINT LAURENT

BLACK SWAN – RODARTE

THE GREAT GATSBY (1974) – RALPH LAUREN

ANNIE HALL – RALPH LAUREN

AMERICAN GIGOLO – GIORGIO ARMANI

THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1999) – CELINE

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S – HUBERT GIVENCHY

To get a gander at the gallery, please go here

JENNIFER LAWRENCE HEATS UP WINTER’S BONE

This article is written by BRAD BALFOUR at THE HUFFINGTON POST

Thanks to her 2011 OSCAR nomination for BEST ACTRESS as REE DOLLY in WINTER’S BONE, relative newcomer JENNIFER LAWRENCE has now become one of Hollywood’s latest darlings. Of course, there are the perks of such adoration: fancy gowns, cool parties and lots of media attention – including having interviewers (like this one) pop hopefully clever questions.

The film details a dirt poor Missouri Ozarks meth plagued community in which Ree holds her siblings together thanks to a drug dealing absent father and mentally ill mother. When she’s told they risk losing their house since her missing dad had put it up for collateral to get bail after a drug bust, she searches for him amongst a dangerous crew of dealers and their associates including her addled uncle Teardrop (OSCAR nominee JOHN HAWKES) who thinks his brother has been killed.

DEBRA GRANIK’S directorial turn has won kudos for all involved. And in the very male centric world of mainstream movies, here’s an indie developed by women structured around a strongly female perspective, featuring a woman who succeeds in a world where the men are domineering losers. In turn, the tall willowy Louisville, Kentucky native parlayed experience through a subtle performance in the underappreciated THE BURNING PLAIN into her break out performance in WINTER’S BONE.

Released in early 2010, the film has earned JENNIFER other accolades or nominations for BEST ACTRESS at THE GOTHAM AWARDS, THE GOLDEN GLOBES and SAG.

JENNIFER has several other features set for release in 2011, including the JODIE FOSTER directed film THE BEAVER, as well as X MEN: FIRST CLASS and HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET.

She has also appeared in two SUNDANCE GRAND JURY PRIZE winners in a row – last year’s WINTER’S BONE and this year’s LIKE CRAZY.

Q: How did you get involved with WINTER’S BONE? Did you audition or meet specifically with DEBRA?

JENNIFER LAWRENCE: No, I had to fight for it. I auditioned for it three times.

Q: Who were you up against?

JL: I think everybody. I auditioned twice in LA and then they said I was too pretty. So I took the redeye – which, just for the record, will take care of that – and flew to New York like a psycho and showed up to the New York auditions with icicles in my hair and was like, “Hi! I’m back!”

I think that once they saw that I had the exact kind of stubbornness and competitiveness that Ree has, they were like “Oh, well, nobody else is going to be this stubborn and this crazy to embark on such a journey.”

Q: Did you find a link to the movie through your Kentucky roots?

JL: There were some things, there were some sayings that I was familiar with. I am familiar with the very close family and the hierarchy of the family. But my life is very different from that of the Ozarks that’s portrayed in the movie.

Q: What was it like shooting there in Missouri and the Ozarks?

JL: There were no sets on the whole movie. Everything was real and we spent a lot of time with the family whose property we were shooting on: the Laysons.

I went up a week before we started filming and spent a lot of time with them and that’s how Ashlee, who plays my little sister in the movie, was cast – because she lives there, that’s her house. We became so close that we thought, “Why would we cast this when it’s right here?” In the book I have two little brothers, but we changed it to Ashlee.

Q: What did she think about the experience of being in a movie?

JL: I don’t think she liked it. She had fun because we thought of it as make believe. But she didn’t like the camera, which I thought was awesome. I was like, you’re going to be cool when you grow up. Because when I was a kid I was like, “Where’s the camera?” So I’m always fascinated with little kids who are shy. I always think they’re going to be way cooler than I could ever be.

Q: So you were a real camera whore [laughs]?

JL: Oh my gosh! Like worrisome.

Q: Over the course of the film, different parts of Ree’s character become clear to the viewer. DEBRA said that she had to be a larger than life hero and have overly heroic qualities. At the same time, when Ree has her first conversation with her friend Gail, she gets the car and is like, “You are exactly the person I thought you were.” If she were in different circumstances she would have been a little emotional and manipulative.

JL: I think that they’re sisters and I think she just knew what she had to do – and the comment I said to her before when she couldn’t get the truck, “You never used to eat no shit.” I think that when you know somebody inside and out, you know their buttons. And she knows Gail’s buttons. So yeah, [Ree] probably did emotionally manipulate, which is something that we all do to get what we want or we feel like we need.

Q: What did you work out about Ree’s relationship with her father?

JL: I was confused about that and I kept asking, because what I felt kept changing when he left. And it wasn’t even that long ago. It’s not until we’re adults that we realize our parents are people and that they’re not perfect. What’s so sad is when we’re younger, if you have a bad parent, that’s normal to you and that’s what you think of as healthy. So if he left when she was little, I think she would have idolized him.

There’s a scene in the truck when Blond Milton takes me to the blown up trailer and I say, “He’s known for knowing what he’s doing,” and I’m proud almost.

I’m talking about him cooking meth and bragging about him. It was very important to keep the naïveté in the character and not make her a perfect hero, not make her smarter than everybody else and I think that she still has the 17 year old naïveté. Her dad is still someone that she looks up to amidst all of this and that’s why she still has respect for her family.

Q: Did DEBRA work up a back story about how the crazy mother ended up like that?

JL: Everybody kind of said their own thing. In the book it says she just kind of went into a shell and everything happened too fast and too hard. I think maybe there are some women that kind of go catatonic after they have babies and they realize they can’t be mothers and they just kind of step back. It’s like me with a math test – as soon as I start looking at a math test I just freeze. I don’t write anything. It’s just too overwhelming, it’s too much and I know I’m not going to be good at it. That’s how I’ve always viewed her.

But I didn’t research and didn’t ask around too much. I never want to know more than my character does because that’s not helpful. Any time Ree is talking about her mom she’s never talking through knowledge about it. She’s never talking from an authoritative point of view. She’s always confused and always thinks, “Well she keeps taking the pills but they’re not doing anything.”

So I don’t think we know really. Everybody has theories, but Ree doesn’t know. DEBRA could probably have the answer, but I didn’t really want or need it at the time.

Q: You read the book?

JL: I did read the book.

Q: What insights did you get from reading the book? Sometimes actors don’t like to read the book before they play the character.

JL: It was important to read the book because I imagined myself at a Q&A with people that loved the book. I love the Twilight books. I’m not even ashamed to say it. They are like methamphetamine to me. So when I heard KRISTEN STEWART say, “I only read the first one,” I was like, “Oh man,” because she wasn’t a huge fan of the books. I was like, for the book lovers I should probably read the books.

I honestly don’t know if the book helped. It could have helped to hear the inner dialogue of your character, but that would have been if I was doing an exact replica of the book. Sometimes if a script is based on a book, that’s what you should do: represent the book. I don’t know what I’m doing. So whatever you think happened – great.

I’m reading the script, I’m learning my lines and then reading the book, so I read it kind of chapter to chapter. It could have helped me, but it might not have. I’m still in this early stage where I’m still learning about myself and my craft and what helps me…and what I’ve realized mostly is that I don’t have that much of a craft.

Q: How did you develop your craft?

JL: I don’t know. I’m hoping to come up with an answer before these press days are over.

Q: Do people ask you that question?

JL: Yeah, every time…and I honestly don’t know. I never took lessons, I never went to classes, so I never learned the proper things to do. And then when I see other actors that come with journals filled with questions and things that they thought about, I’m like “Should I be doing that? I should ask more questions. I should argue more,” but I don’t. I memorize my lines and I show up. I think it’s just instinctual – and sometimes it’s wrong and the director says, “No, do it this way.”

And then I can change because I didn’t spend all night practicing it this one way. All I do to get ready for the day is the night before I read my lines once or twice, memorize them and then I show up.

Q: How is DEBRA as a director?

JL: DEBRA has a brain that’s not like ours. She has a mind that is on a whole other playing field. It took me a while to get in sync with that, because for a while it was like reading instructions, like this is just too smart for me. If I could only understand what the instructions meant I could get this radio going, but I just don’t get it.

Once you start understanding her, you start realizing she’s a genius beyond genius – her attention to detail, though of course so annoying at the time, because it’s like, “Do I really have to do that scene again? Do I really have to do it this way?”

Then I watched it in the movie and thought, “What if Debra hadn’t made me do that again?”

As I grew to understand her, I grew this immense respect for her that I will have for the rest of my life and I’d do anything for her. It wasn’t like an instant kickoff, like with other people, because she’s not like anyone else. She’s smarter than anyone that I know, that I’ve ever come in contact with…and that’s why she makes such incredible movies. So I think that our relationship was slow growing but very long lasting.

Q: DEBRA spoke about you on set and about your being convinced that you needed help. We heard about what she saw and about what your acting partner felt. What was your impression of that moment?

JL: Everything that we think comes across in our eyes. Our eyes really are the windows to our souls and that’s why at least I can tell when somebody doesn’t mean what they’re saying – if you just look at them in the eye. So if you’re thinking, “Please help me. Please help me. I need you,” pleading is going to come out of your eyes, I think.

I’m like an open book where I can’t hide anything. I think that that was really all I was saying. I probably just go doe eyed. I have a dad so I know how to do that. That was more about Dale, because I’m never going to show up on set with an impression or an idea about how I’m going to affect another actor.

I’m never going to act for the both of us. I’m going to do what I do and then you react off of me. I’m going to do my thing and if you react a certain way – with pity or with anger – that’s up to you.

So I did my thing, which was think “I need your help,” and look at her I supposed pleadingly and she reacted very maternally.

Q: Do you find yourself to be more of an actor who wants to be led by a director or do you basically have your thought in mind of how you’re going to portray your character?

JL: I view the director as my boss. I’m the pawn on the chess board. And though I’m not going to say anything stupid, there have been times that I’ve showed up and said, “I can’t say that.” But after it goes through nine levels in my head of “Is this ok to say?”

I don’t say something to the director easily, because they are my boss. I think that the biggest problem – if I can speak openly with recorders around me, which is about to be a mistake – I think the biggest reason that actors are complete idiots as soon as they become famous is because they forget that this a job. They think that it’s about them and it’s not.

We’re making a film…and I never feel like I’m above anyone or I’m even in a different position than you. We are all doing the same thing, making a movie, except my face is going in front of the camera – and that’s the only difference. You have to go behind the monitor and make sure I’m doing this right, let’s come up with something to say and then I’m going to say it in front of the camera, because that’s my job. Not because I’m awesome.

Yes, we’re all equal because we’re all doing the same thing, but the director is my boss. And if the director says, “I want you to do this,” unless I feel incredibly strongly about it, which hasn’t happened yet, I’m going to do it because I have respect for my elders mostly.

Q: At 19 or 20, there’s this huge world out there that you may or may not think is out there. Do you have certain expectations of yourself? Besides just what you’re doing next, do you have some ideas of goals? What is your view at 20?

JL: Yeah, I do have big ambitions. But I think we all do. I just want to keep working hard and being happy. When I think about myself in five years, sometimes I think about work and where I’ll be in my career. But I normally just think about what kind of person I’ll be. Will I be calmer or will I be more hyper? Will I learn how to listen or am I just always going to stay in this kind of 19 year old zone where I could just keep talking forever? There are a lot of things that I know I’m going to learn about myself, because we all do.

But yeah, I have big ambitions.

Q: And no specific thing?

JL: That’s a bad idea. I learned that you can’t have any expectations with life or with this business. THE BURNING PLAIN was a million dollar movie with huge movie stars and everybody was convinced that [it] was going to be huge and that was my star making role and that was my big outbreak. Every movie that has come out has been my breakthrough role.

Then WINTER’S BONE – the one that was a hundred dollars to make, tiny and everybody thought it will be fun but nobody will ever see it – has gotten huge. You never know what’s going to happen.

Q: You have a vision, you’re confident about it and you take that approach to life. Is there room in there for a quest for knowledge that you don’t have and what would that be?

JL: Absolutely. I am the biggest “But why?” question asker. Knowledge is honestly everything. It’s not just books and staying behind a desk and having a diploma. There’s also travelling and knowledge about people and what I do and scripts and books. I’m very very thirsty for knowledge.

Just because I’m good at something and have found success doesn’t mean I’m done. I’m not even close to being done. I don’t know if I ever will be done learning.

LENA HORNE’S POSSESSIONS TO BE AUCTIONED

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LENA HORNE was known for her elegance as much as for her sultry voice.

On Wednesday, 200 items that once filled her Manhattan apartment were being sold by her estate at DOYLE NEW YORK auction house, objects that epitomized her sophisticated taste: French style furnishing, elegant costumes, jewelry and fine art.

Many admirers of the singer/actor may find that owning a piece of the legendary star’s belongings may not be out of reach.

A sequined cardigan evening coat is estimated to sell for as little as $100 – $200, while a small LOUIS VUITTON trunk with stickers inscribed LENA HORNE HAYTON was being offered with a presale price of $500 – $700. A soft leather vanity case inscribed LH was estimated at $200 – $400.

Ms. Horne’s favourite designer was GIORGIO DI SANT ANGELO. A CHANEL five strand choker of gold tone metal links and faux baroque pearls had a $1,000 – $1,200 presale estimate.

The auction house said the estimates were based on current market values but that the celebrity provenance was the X factor that would determine the price at auction.

The highest priced item in the sale is a colorful abstract painting by African American artist and muralist CHARLES ALSTON, estimated to bring $30,000 to $50,000.

LENA HORNE’S refined taste extended to the furnishings in her Upper East Side home. A Rococo style gilt metal and glass 12 light chandelier and a pair of Continental Rococo style gilt wood mirrors are both estimated at $1,500 to $2,500.

Ms. Horne, who was also a dancer and civil rights activist, died last May at the age of 92. She appeared on screen, stage, on records and in nightclubs and concert halls. Her signature song was STORMY WEATHER but her vocal range extended from blues and jazz and to such RODGERS & HART classics as THE LADY IS A TRAMP and BEWITCHED, BOTHERED & BEWILDERED.

In the 1940s, LENA HORNE was one of the first black performers hired to sing with a major white band, the first to play the famed COPACABANA nightclub in New York City and among a handful with a Hollywood contract.

A striking figure, Ms. Horne was the subject of some of the artworks in her collection, including a 1959 portrait by GEOFFREY HOLDER, estimated at $2,500 – $3,500 and a 1950 bronze sculpture by PETER LAMBDA that could bring $3,000 – $5,000.

The collection also includes books and photographs, among them a group of books autographed by LANGSTON HUGHES ($300 – $500) and a selection of contact sheets by RICHARD AVEDON taken during a photo shoot with Ms. Horne ($75 – $100).

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THE GLAMOROUS LIFE: REFLECTIONS ON OSCAR CEREMONIES PAST

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The glamour, the gowns, the limos, the worldwide audience…and all those superstars.

THE ACADEMY AWARDS is Hollywood’s grandest pageant – and no matter how celebrated one’s stardom, a trip to the OSCARS is unforgettable.

Especially the first one.

NICOLE KIDMAN’S initial walk on the red carpet was back when she was still married to TOM CRUISE. She remembered being wowed by the scene and the sound of the screaming photographers. < So was MARCIA GAY HARDEN’S.

SOFIA COPPOLA was a little kid. JOSH BROLIN first went to the OSCARS as the guest of his nominated wife DIANE LANE. And once again this year, new performers such as 14 year old SUPPORTING ACTRESS nominee HAILEE STEINFELD are likely to log their own unforgettable memories.

Before she was nominated for MOULIN ROUGE and won for THE HOURS, NICOLE KIDMAN attended the OSCARS with then husband TOM CRUISE: “He was nominated. And I remember I got to wear this really short Valentino velvet dress and I was absolutely stunned. It was like the biggest thing I had ever seen. I couldn’t believe how loud the photographers were.”

VIRGINIA MADSEN also brought her mom – and the night is seared into her memory: “Oh, I remember every detail. I mean, I was Cinderella and I didn’t have to go home at midnight. I brought my mom with me and everything about that night was perfect. Everything was a dream come true – as I imagined it when I was five years old. I mean, I wouldn’t change a thing. It was really beautiful.”

MARCIA GAY HARDEN, who won for her role in POLLACK, also had crystal clear recollections: “It strikes me still with the clarity of a lightning bolt, that the first time I went there, I was graced to win…given the opportunity by Ed Harris to be in a great movie to play a real transformational character that caught the votes from some voters. And the glory of the night was that my dad was alive. My mom was alive. Ed was thrilled. My husband was there. It was surreal.”

Director SOFIA COPPOLA was just a kid when she attended her first OSCAR ceremony with her father FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA: “I must have been 7 or 8. I had a tuxedo dress. But I have vague memories. It was a lot of glamorous grown ups.”

MARISA TOMEI had a guardian looking over her shoulder when she was nominated and won BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS for MY COUSIN VINNY: “I remember Mary McDonnell was sitting behind me and she was so sweet. She just kept tapping my shoulder and being like, ‘How are you doing, honey?‘…I was scared and she was very motherly towards me and it was a nice little crowd that I was sitting with.”

JOSH BROLIN, who was nominated in 2008 for his supporting role in MILK, first came to the OSCARS with wife DIANE LANE when she was nominated for her lead performance in UNFAITHFUL: “There was a massive possibility that she was going to be up there soon accepting an award. But then you learn after a while that it is more about the get together and the appreciation of your peers nominating you and saying, ‘We really liked your performance.’”

Songwriter CAROLE BAYER SAGER, who has been nominated six times, remembered her first with mixed feelings: “I was at the Oscars with Marvin Hamlisch. We had both written a song called Nobody Does it Better, recorded by Carly Simon and it was for the movie The Spy Who Loved Me. And I remember trying to put that title in the lyric, and I found the line: Like heaven above me/The spy who loved me/Is keeping all my secrets safe tonight. Nobody does it better…And we lost. I don’t remember to what song. And I knew, at that moment, that the best part is being nominated because losing didn’t feel so good.”

JEFF BRIDGES, nominated for the sixth time for TRUE GRIT, said his most memorable trip to the show was last year: “It’s so exciting, you know, being recognized by your guys, saying, ‘Atta boy, Jeff. Good job.‘ Everybody standing up and all that. Oh, God, it is so thrilling. Then, to share it with my wife, who was there through the whole thing. It was a magical, magical evening for me.”

THE 25 GREATEST WORKING DIRECTORS

Our fabulous friends from EW have another stimulating slideshow for your perusal. In their estimation, these are the 25 greatest film directors that are currently employed in their profession.

This list includes:

25. WES ANDERSON
RUSHMORE, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

21. SPIKE LEE
DO THE RIGHT THING, INSIDE MAN

11. PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
BOOGIE NIGHTS, MAGNOLIA, THERE WILL BE BLOOD

8. TERRENCE MALICK
BADLANDS, DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE THIN RED LINE

7. QUENTIN TARANTINO
RESERVOIR DOGS, PULP FICTION, JACKIE BROWN, KILL BILL: VOLS. I & II, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

5. DARREN ARONOFSKY
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE WRESTLER, BLACK SWAN

4. MARTIN SCORSESE
ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, THE KING OF COMEDY, AFTER HOURS, THE COLOR OF MONEY, GOODFELLAS, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, CASINO, THE DEPARTED

3. STEVEN SPIELBERG
JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

1. DAVID FINCHER
FIGHT CLUB, SEVEN, ZODIAC, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, THE SOCIAL NETWORK

To get the gallery, please go here

BREAKING THE CODE OF SILENCE: LESSONS FROM LARA LOGAN

This article is written by KIM BARKER at PROPUBLICA

It was also copublished in THE NEW YORK TIMES

Thousands of men blocked the road, surrounding the SUV of the chief justice of Pakistan, a national hero for standing up to military rule. As a correspondent for THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, I knew I couldn’t just watch from behind a car window.

I had to get out there.

So, wearing a black headscarf and a loose, long sleeved red tunic over jeans, I waded through the crowd and started taking notes: on the men throwing rose petals, on the men shouting that they would die for the chief justice.

And then, almost predictably, someone grabbed my buttocks. I spun around and shouted, but then it happened again and again, until finally I caught one offender’s hand and punched him in the face.

The men kept grabbing. I kept punching. At a certain point – maybe because I was creating a scene – I was invited into the chief justice’s vehicle.

At the time, in June 2007, I saw this as just one of the realities of covering the news in Pakistan. I didn’t complain to my bosses. To do so would only make me seem weak. Instead, I made a joke out of it and turned the experience into a positive one: See, being a woman helped me gain access to the chief justice.

And really, I was lucky.

A few gropes, a misplaced hand, an unwanted advance — those are easily dismissed. I knew other female correspondents who weren’t so lucky, those who were molested in their hotel rooms, or partly stripped by mobs. But I can’t ever remember sitting down with my female peers and talking about what had happened, except to make dark jokes, because such stories would make us seem different from the male correspondents, more vulnerable. I would never tell my bosses for fear that they might keep me at home the next time something major happened.

I was hardly alone in keeping quiet. The Committee To Protect Journalists may be able to say that 44 journalists from around the world were killed last year because of their work, but the group doesn’t keep data on sexual assault and rape. Most journalists just don’t report it.

The CBS correspondent LARA LOGAN has broken that code of silence. She has covered some of the most dangerous stories in the world and done a lot of brave things in her career. But her decision to go public earlier this week with her attack by a mob in Tahrir Square in Cairo was by far the bravest. Hospitalized for days, she is still recuperating from the attack, described by CBS as a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating.

Several commentators have suggested that Ms. Logan was somehow at fault: because she’s gorgeous; because she decided to go into the crowd; because she’s a war junkie.

This wasn’t her fault. It was the mob’s fault.

This attack also had nothing to do with Islam. Sexual violence has always been a tool of war. Female reporters sometimes are just convenient.

In the coming weeks, I fear that the conclusions drawn from Ms. Logan’s experience will be less reactionary but somehow darker, that there will be suggestions that female correspondents should not be sent into dangerous situations. It’s possible that bosses will make unconscious decisions to send men instead, just in case.

Sure, men can be victims, too – on Wednesday a mob beat up a male ABC reporter in Bahrain and a few male journalists have told of being sodomized by captors – but the publicity around Ms. Logan’s attack could make editors think, “Why take the risk?”

That would be the wrong lesson. Women can cover the fighting just as well as men, depending on their courage.

More important, they also do a pretty good job of covering what it’s like to live in a war, not just die in one. Without female correspondents in war zones, the experiences of women there may be only a rumour.

Look at the articles about women who set themselves on fire in Afghanistan to protest their arranged marriages, or about girls being maimed by fundamentalists, about child marriage in India, about rape in Congo and Haiti. Female journalists often tell those stories in the most compelling ways, because abused women are sometimes more comfortable talking to them. And those stories are at least as important as accounts of battles.

There is an added benefit.

Ms. Logan is a minor celebrity, one of the highest profile women to acknowledge being sexually assaulted. Although she has reported from the front lines, the lesson she is now giving young women is probably her most profound: It’s not your fault.

And there’s no shame in telling it like it is.

AUSSIES RULE: BLUE TONGUE FILMS ARRIVES ON THE SCENE

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Australian filmmaking collective BLUE TONGUE FILMS has been around since 1996, when a handful of friends made a short that turned out to be good enough to warrant a special kind of persistence.

Now they’ll enjoy a moment in movies’ biggest spotlight: THE ACADEMY AWARDS. Among the nominees of Hollywood veterans and glamorous movie stars this year is JACKI WEAVER, whose SUPPORTING ACTRESS nod represents not just her fine, disarming performance in DAVID MICHOD’S crime drama ANIMAL KINGDOM, but the ascendance of BLUE TONGUE FILMS and its tenacious gang of mates.

“We’ll all be watching it from wherever we are,” said NASH EDGERTON, one of the group’s founders, speaking from Berlin.

“It’s a long shot, but awesome that it got that far.”

It’s been a remarkable year for the seven members of BLUE TONGUE FILMS, which isn’t a production company or a business arrangement of any kind, but a loose group of friends who look to each other for help and inspiration.

NASH EDGERTON, a seasoned stuntperson of many blockbusters, formed BLUE TONGUE with his actor brother JOEL and KIERAN DARCY SMITH — the two of whom had just finished drama school. Their ranks have grown to include DAVID MICHOD, LUKE DOOLAN, TONY LYNCH and SPENCER SUSSER, the lone American among the Aussies.

NASH EDGERTON’S gritty noir THE SQUARE came out last year to strong reviews. LUKE DOOLAN’S short MIRACLE FISH was nominated at last year’s OSCARS. In April, SPENCER SUSSER’S HESHER, a film starring NATALIE PORTMAN and JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT – about a heavy metal drifter that befriends a grieving boy – will be released. KIERAN DARCY SMITH recently wrapped shooting on his feature directorial debut SAY NOTHING, a psychological thriller.

“It’s an incredibly positive time,” said KIERAN DARCY SMITH, speaking from an editing bay in Australia.

“There’s been a lot of interest. It’s opened wider and more international doors. There’s a healthy kind of pressure that that brings.”

The members of BLUE TONGUE are typically scattered across the credits of their films. ANIMAL KINGDOM was written and directed by DAVID MICHOD, costarred JOEL EDGERTON and KIERAN DARCY SMITH, was edited by LUKE DOOLAN and included special thanks to NASH EDGERTON.

They aren’t bound by any esthetic mantra. But their films do share a gritty realism, particularly in suburban sprawl environs and genre movie templates. They constitute one of the most exciting, hard earned movements in years. FILM COMMENT hailed them as “the Next New Wave.”

In HESHER, a father and son (RAINN WILSON and DEVIN BROCHU) are shocked out of a stupor when a tattooed, often shirtless maniac (JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT) moves in. Similarly, BLUE TONGUE seems to be injecting a dose of energy into movies — a good, deserved smack in the mouth.

“I think the worst thing that anyone can ever say about your work is, ‘Eh, it was OK,’” commented SPENCER SUSSER, speaking from Los Angeles where he’s prepping the film’s release.

“You want people to be passionate in one way or the other.”

It all started with 1996′s 8 minute LOADED, which proved to the Edgertons and KIERAN DARCY SMITH that they — despite having no film school training — could succeed.

“It just inspired us to keep playing and we found that we played together well,” stated KIERAN DARCY SMITH.

“We were bouncing ideas off each other. There was a great collaborative spirit. We’re also all really good mates…We’ve become – really – family.”

Shorts have remained the group’s training ground, a way to get their names out there, prove themselves capable to investors and get familiarized with directing. LUKE DOOLAN and both Edgertons recently completed new shorts, including one by NASH. BEAR is a sequel to his darkly comic SPIDER, which was paired theatrically with THE SQUARE.

“Everyone is continuing to keep it up, keep the ball in the air,” remarked NASH, who’s currently writing a script for a film he expects to be bigger in scope than THE SQUARE. More than anything, BLUE TONGUE functions like a support system. They share each other’s scripts, seeking constructive feedback. When one succeeds, it only makes the others more confident that they might too.

“It was never something we talked about,” said SPENCER SUSSER.

“It was this group of friends that liked making films — kind of our hobby.”

SPENCER SUSSER fell in with the Edgertons while they were all working on STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES. Though he grew up in California, he counts himself as a “wannabe Aussie.” He filmed his short I LOVE SARAH JANE in Australia and is working a script of a feature length adaptation.

BLUE TONGUE’S kinship is partly based on their shared interest in portraying emotional authenticity — whether it comes in a crime drama like ANIMAL KINGDOM or a Zombie film like SARAH JANE.

“I really like stuff that’s honest,” said SPENCER SUSSER.

“Whether it’s fantasy or crazy or really silly, I like stuff that feels grounded. I feel like we all have that in common.”

It’s an inspiring tale: a group of filmmakers, thousands of miles from Hollywood, striving for years to build themselves into feature film directors, many of them arriving with their first movies simultaneously.

“After years and years and years of plugging away at home and getting into a lot of debt,” stated KIERAN DARCY SMITH, “it’s great now that it’s finally come to what I always thought it would: a film.”

With movies in the pipeline and scripts in the works, BLUE TONGUE may just be getting started.

“I’m keen to see what everyone does with a little more money and doing something a little bit bigger,” said NASH EDGERTON.

“Now, at least, some people will return our calls.”

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