THE MAKING OF FAIR GAME

This article was written by filmmaker DOUG LIMAN (the director of FAIR GAME) at THE HUFFINGTON POST

FAIR GAME has taken me on a wild journey around the globe, including a treacherous shoot in Baghdad. And now I’m happy to share with you the final steps of this amazing journey as I navigate the press corps in Washington, New York and elsewhere.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 19, WASHINGTON DC

My day starts with a 7:30 am pick up, a morning filled with live and taped TV interviews. Live interviews take a significant amount of energy, but not all of it is intellectual.

On a show called LET’S TALK LIVE the host treads into forbidden territory asking me intimate details about BRAD PITT and ANGELINA JOLIE.

(They met on the set of my movie MR. & MRS. SMITH.)

I am prepared for this – VALERIE PLAME has taught me how to take secrets to one’s grave – and I do not cave.

The afternoon is spent meeting with print journalists. Ironically, I am placed in a hotel suite in the Mayflower Hotel, which is the exact same hotel in which I first met VALERIE PLAME four years ago. FAIR GAME is a fundamental departure from the types of films I’ve directed before and nowhere is that more obvious than in the kinds of reporters I am meeting with.

The reporters I met that day mostly cover national security – they’re not interested in BRAD and ANGELINA – and they want to know about the classified material that appears in my movie.

When I see that Walter Pincus and Rich Leiby from THE WASHINGTON POST are scheduled to do a 15 minute interview, I ask my handlers to make it 20 minutes – I want five minutes to ask some questions myself. You see, Walter Pincus is an actual player in the story portrayed in FAIR GAME. He is one of the reporters who was leaked VALERIE PLAME’S name and I cannot resist the temptation to ask him about that.

He says he has testified about it so I can just read about it but I press him to tell me about it. I tell him that as a filmmaker, I would like him to paint a picture of the scene. What would it look like if it were a scene in a film?

Mr. Pincus goes on to describe the story he was researching about who in the White House knew, at the time, that Bush’s statement, in the State of the Union address, claiming that Saddam tried to buy uranium from Africa, was untrue.

He then received a phone call. It was from Air Force One, on its way to Africa with Bush. Ari Fleisher, Bush’s press secretary said: “You know, Wilson was sent to Niger by his wife. She’s an agency operative on WMDs.”

Like many of the other journalists to whom the White House leaked VALERIE PLAME’S name, Mr. Pincus chose not to print the information leaked to him. After all it was not relevant to the story he was writing and he didn’t believe it to be true. In fact, it wasn’t relevant to anyone’s story and VALERIE had not in fact sent JOE.

Now it was Mr. Pincus and Mr. Leiby’s turn. They wanted to know about the Iraqi scientist in the film. What were our sources for this highly classified material, most of which has never been reported.

I enjoy talking to journalists like this because they know better than I the challenges and risks of extracting top secret information from CIA employees and I think I impress them with the sheer moxie I had to rely upon instead of experience.

That night, we screened the film at the AFI Labor Festival in Silver Springs Maryland. It is a beautiful theatre and a packed audience who give JOE and VAL a standing ovation at the end. I participate in a Q&A with JOE and VAL moderated by NPR’s Neil Conan who starts off with a lively question: “So Joe, are you really as big an asshole as you appear in the film?” Everyone laughs, JOE included.

Then JOE says yes.

I’m in a great mood. I’ve just spent all day defending the facts of the movie to a press corps that would have skewered me had we not been so thorough in researching this story and I’ve passed with flying colours.

One of the first questioners wants to know what proof I have that the administration outed VALERIE PLAME since the reporter who first printed it got her name from the State Department.

I’m always well armed for this question, because the Justice Department investigation found five instances of the White House directly leaking VALERIE’S name to reporters. Plus, the State Department employee got her name directly from the White House. But I don’t need to go there.

“How about a call from Air Force One?” Thanks to Pincus, I go on to nail the poor guy.

Tomorrow I fly to the middle east.

PAUL REUBENS: THE SECOND ACT IS SWEETER

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The red bow tie is back. The white chunky loafers are as well. So is that tight grey suit.

The Secret Word today is: Comeback. Pee Wee has returned from exile.

PAUL REUBENS, who virtually abandoned the cult character he created nearly two decades ago following scandal, is making his Broadway debut with a reworking of the same theatrical show that started Pee Wee’s career in the late 1980s.

“I think it’s full circle. I view it even a little fuller, I guess. I feel that it’s full circle in that I can come back around to a really good place where I was. As opposed to having my career end on this sour note,” commented PAUL during an interview before a recent rehearsal.

“I absolutely feel like I want to redeem myself to a degree and this seemed like a really pure way to do it.”

PAUL has been soaking up the attention this time around. He has donned his Pee Wee suit and popped up all over New York to drum up attention for THE PEE WEE HERMAN SHOW, which officially opens NOVEMBER 11.

Everywhere he goes, people say: “Glad you’re back.”

“I really just never got any of this the first time around,” he remarked, getting a little teary.

“I feel really lucky and really blessed right now. I just feel like it’s my time. The stars are aligning for me.”

PAUL, who is as quiet and thoughtful in real life as Pee Wee is zany and high pitched, is still slim and boyish. He’s dressed for California on this chilly New York day — jacketless in jeans, a plaid shirt and a clunky digital watch. He’s pressed for time.

So much of it has been lost.

“I wasn’t feeling it for a long time. And then all of a sudden it became a long time. All of a sudden I was like, ‘Wow. How do you come back now out of this?’ And you know what the answer was? You just do it.”

“I didn’t feel like I needed anyone’s permission to come back. And what do I have to lose? Nothing really.”

Much of Pee Wee’s exile has been self imposed since PAUL’S July 1991 arrest for indecent exposure in Sarasota, Florida. He was handed a small fine but the damage to the character was incalculable.

“When I was arrested in 1991, offers poured in. All kinds. I mean, some of those offers weren’t things that I wanted to do and were taking advantage of the luridness of my situation, but I haven’t really had trouble working or existing or having a career. It just changed. Everything changed.”

For a performer who had spent a long time and a lot of energy tying to make people think Pee Wee was real, PAUL watched as the public unmasking put a cloud over his best known alter ego.

“It was one thing to say, ‘Paul Reubens, he’s this or that.’ But to move that into this work that I loved and that I thought was special and that I thought was important — that was extreme to me. That was something that the second it happened, I went, ‘Wow, that is so sad.’”

“And I can’t do anything about it.”

PAUL continued to act, playing characters other than Pee Wee and scoring successes in BATMAN RETURNS in 1992 and a 1995 EMMY nomination for a recurring guest role on MURPHY BROWN. He has also been on TV shows like 30 ROCK and the late lamented PUSHING DAISIES, as well as prominent roles in the films NAILED and LIFE DURING WARTIME.

In the years since the arrest, some could argue that PAUL got a raw deal, at least in comparison to other public figures who have almost instantly jumped back from controversy.

“I’ve become wise and mature. Not Pee Wee, but me. I’m absolutely a different person. All those cliches about what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? Somehow, I wound up being this evolved, wise person.”

Even in exile, he and Pee Wee had unfinished business. PAUL, who has several TV and movie scripts in his head starring his quirky nerd, wanted to bring him back.

“I didn’t see any reason to put Pee Wee away.”

So he went back to the beginning: a live show based on THE PEE WEE HERMAN SHOW that debuted in Los Angeles in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show.

It inspired Tim Burton’s feature PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE in 1985 and another film BIG TOP PEE WEE three years later. His television series PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE ran for five seasons, earned 22 EMMYS and attracted not only children but adults to Saturday morning TV.

Both silly and subversive and championing nonconformity, the Pee Wee universe is a trippy place, populated by things such as a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. The host, who is fond of secret words and loves fruit salad so much he once married it, is prone to lines like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture? It’ll last longer.”

The act was a hit because it worked on multiple levels, even though PAUL insisted that that wasn’t the plan.

“It’s for kids. People have tried to get me for years to go, ‘It wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was for kids. I always censored myself to have it be kid friendly.”

“The whole thing has been just a gut feeling from the beginning. That’s all it ever is and I think always ever be. Much as people want me to dissect it and explain it, I can’t. One, I don’t know and two, I don’t want to know and three, I feel like I’ll hex myself if I know.”

The new 11 actor show brings back many of the favourite characters in a plot centred on Pee Wee’s desire to fly. PAUL is the star, producer and cowriter, with renowned puppetry artist Basil Twist and director Alex Timbers also aboard.

“He’s terrific,” said Alex Timbers of PAUL.

“He’s very collaborative. He’s really funny. He’s a terrific actor. You’d think in a way that after doing a character for 30 years that he wouldn’t have a light hand, but he’s very open to new ideas.”

PAUL checks his watch. He knows it’s time to get back on stage and do a million things to tune up his show before opening night. This second bite of the apple seems that much sweeter.

“The future seems very bright and full of positivity…and I’m excited.”

ON LINE:

www.peewee.com/broadway

A DAY OF DESTINY: PAYBACK IS GLORIOUS

Never underestimate a blonde. It will be your f’ing funeral. Or very very close.

I don’t want to spend countless hours involved in these spectacularly passionate rants. They never get tiresome for me. But they conceivably could for the readership.

Perhaps I’ll be more inclined to good will and compassion with the coming of the festive season.

But for now…

First of all, there’s that demented sleazeball Chicago editor that I used to write for. Yeah, he’s still around.

He’s all over the internet with the 100,000 aliases he’s acquired. Apparently there’s nothing quite as fascinating as having a conversation on a message board with yourself.

This unhinged predator really digs IMDB. One page in particular. But envy won’t get this psychopathic monstrosity anywhere.

He should really be in a jail cell submitting to the twisted erotic attentions of some dude named Bubba. That would be the most incredible karma in the history of the world.

I don’t understand why this cretinous lunatic hasn’t dropped dead of HIV yet. The sooner it happens, the better for us all.

I’ve been laughing my perfect ass off with this latest bit of news.

One of my favourite publications (often referenced here) just conducted an interview with the Boston version of Woody Woodpecker. His wife had such wonderful things to say about him.

That’s so funny. If anyone would know what kind of a maliciously perverted scumbag that jerkoff is, it would definitely be her.

But there’s nothing like a little damage control when things get rough.

Do you know why that useless bastard has red hair? It’s because his brain is rusted.

I hope that he and his roly poly playmate have a good time with their ridiculous little show.

I won’t be watching.

Finally…

STAR has been one of my favourite film musicals since I saw it on TV on a Sunday afternoon during a particularly wild rainstorm. It’s one of JULIE ANDREWS’ finest performances.

She portrays theatre legend GERTRUDE LAWRENCE. Ms. Lawrence was quite the formidable woman: glamorous, free spirited, sexually liberated, outspoken, dramatic, forceful.

Definitely ahead of her time. Yeah…

In 1941, Ms. Lawrence appeared in a play called LADY IN THE DARK. The clip is a recreation of a showstopping musical number.

It’s called THE SAGA OF JENNY.

Apparently poor pathetic Jenny’s chief difficulty in life was that she actually made up her mind.

Not a problem for me. I’ve always been a forthright, decisive, strong willed, hard as diamonds, take no prisoners type of girl.

I’ve never been a jealous conniving manipulative head case that hangs around with morally bankrupt slimeballs.

Too bad. They can all rot. ASAFP.

That’s all I’ve got for today.

Enjoy your weekend, kids. Have fun and stay safe. Luxuriate in the candy.

There will always be more.

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

BLACK SWAN: NATALIE PORTMAN’S INTRICATE COUTURE COSTUMES

NATALIE PORTMAN may have glided with ease across the stage for her role as a prima ballerina in the upcoming ballet thriller BLACK SWAN, but it turns out that it was the team behind her tutus that were put to the real challenge.

While becoming the first fashion designers to receive a National Art Award from Americans For The Arts recently, RODARTE’S Laura and Kate Mulleavy explained to nymag.com the challenges of creating the intricate costumes for the film.

“A tutu is 13 layers of tulle sticking straight out and then it’s over the body, so you can imagine. It’s crazy!” said Laura, who had only seen a ballet costume up close once before the film.

The sister act was introduced to the film’s director DARREN ARONOFSKY by NATALIE – a long time RODARTE lover – and after that, were brought on board to create looks for the film’s SWAN LAKE performance.

“Building a tutu is one of the lost arts. Everyone will know it’s like getting your hand on the prize, like a coveted piece of couture that no one ever gets to see,” Laura explained.

“You can’t go rent a tutu. You have to own it.”

“They’re never actually perfect. But from afar, when you’re in the audience, it looks like one of the most beautiful things in the world.”

THE AMAZING MICHAEL AUSIELLO: ONWARD & UPWARD

MICHAEL AUSIELLO is a stand up guy and a journalist that I genuinely respect. There are a number of people at ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY that I have enormous affection for.

He is one of them.

MICHAEL is leaving EW for his own televison website. I will miss him. (Those wickedly hilarious red carpet interviews were the bomb.) But I’ll be eagerly keeping my emerald eyes open for anything new that he has in store.

MIKE, it’s extremely likely that you and I will run into each other at some point. Though my personal life must remain private (has to be – there is no other way…), I’m sure that there will be lots and lots and lots of fascinating stuff that you and I can dish over.

Good luck, MIKE. You won’t need it, though. You’ll be a grand success no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

Here’s something astoundingly apropos from THE BEATLES.

EMMA ROBERTS TALKS RED CARPET GLAMOUR

There’s rarely a dull moment on screen for EMMA ROBERTS. When she’s dressing for a premiere or a special event, the emerging fashionista likes to keep it just as interesting.

“I’ve just been doing different things,” the actor —and niece of screen legend JULIA ROBERTS — told PEOPLE a week ago at Spike TV’s Scream Awards in L.A.

“I think it’s fun to change it up. I don’t want to be boring.”

EMMA showed off a slightly wilder side in a PUCCI lace confection with Brian Atwood pumps at the ceremony.

“I’m [usually] pretty casual. I love just doing jeans and boots and a T shirt,” she explained.

“But when I go on the red carpet I like to be fun and just kind of wear whatever makes me feel comfortable.”

As for trying on new trends for fall?

“I’ve been trying the long dresses lately. But I think I’m too short,” revealed EMMA. (She’s 5’2″.) The actor has joined the ranks of Hollywood’s hottest shrieking stars, including MEGAN FOX and KRISTEN STEWART, as the newest member of SCREAM’S ensemble cast.

And while EMMA may not be afraid of experimenting with her style she admits that watching the original SCREAM gave her quite a scare.

“I watched half the movie with my eyes closed and my friends were like, ‘Emma, you’re gonna be in the next one. You can’t be covering your eyes while you’re watching the movie.’”

LOADED FOR BEAR

The end of the week has finally arrived.

Our Friday musical highlight is a rock & roll landmark from the late 70s: DANGEROUS TYPE by THE CARS.

Mmmmmm. They’re playing my song.

Enjoy the weekend, children. Be good. Or be careful. They’re not necessarily mutually exclusive concepts.

But it’s probably too damn difficult to do both simultaneously.

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