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THE FILM STRIP: Oscar Contenders - Smith, Honsou, Whitaker - Recognized First at EUR
Pierce Brosnan Wants To Turn You On And Liam Neeson Wants Folks To Move On 'Seraphim Falls.'
*You read it here first about Forrest Whitaker's extraordinary performance in "The Last King of Scotland" and Will Smith exceptional depiction of Chris Gardner in "The Pursuit of Happyness."
EUR readers also got a first glimpse of the remarkable roles of Leonardo DiCaprio along with Djimon Hounsou in "Blood Diamond" as well as Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren on these pages along with first-hand interviews.
The real life Chris Gardner and Djimon Hounsou's role epitomizes the extradinary lengths Black men will go to to protect their families that is not often seen onscreen. Recently a New York City man, Wesley Autrey, received national attention because of his hair rising rescue of film student Cameron Hollopeter, from Massachusetts, who had fallen onto the train tracks. There are many positive stories like these of Black men that never get told or recognized. Real life father figure and hero, Chris Gardner, has been recognized with both Globe and Oscar recognition. Will Smith, who plays Gardner in "The Pursuit of Happyness" was nominated for both a Globe and an Oscar.
This is one time the awards recognition was on point. Smith not only put in one of his best performances, but the human drama, "The Pursuit of Happyness," is last year's best film. It not only pulls at the emotional strings of the heart, but it tells a story of fortitude and triumph over the odds.
Winging it by himself to the top, The Film Strip asked Gardner if his wife in the film was that bad or worse?
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoohoo!," he exclaimed loudly, as he laughed. "That would be a sister asking me that. Let's get to the real, huh. Hmm. You know what, I'm gonna say this and that is, they were very kind to her in the development of the script. How's that?"
I told him I kind of felt that was the case. "They were very kind to her in the script," he reiterated, "and that was fine with me."
With so many biopics claiming to be the "real life story of" so and so, the next question was the authenticity of "The Pursuit of Happyness."
"I'm extremely comfortable with it and I would have to say it's as true as you could get it in a film," he confirmed. "Obviously you only have so many prints on a reel of film."
A driving force for Gardner was his mother and son.
"I attribute all of that to my mother. I attribute that [surviving all odds] to me embracing her spirit. I attribute that commitment to my child because of me growing up without a father and having a stepfather who was fond of reminding me every opportunity he got, 'I ain't your daddy. You ain't got no daddy,' with a few other words thrown in there. So I made a decision at five years old that when I had children my children would know who their father was and that no one would ever treat my child as I was being treated. So again it goes back to the spirit."
One of the most moving moments in the film was the wash down at the shelter. That poignant point in the picture was just as heart wrenching on reel as it was listening to Chris describes it in person.
"After a year in the streets, my son and I finally found a place to live," he recalled. And the utility company couldn't wait another day to get the $18 I owed them so they turned off the lights. I mean it happens. I was giving my son a bath by candlelight and this was when I was at my lowest emotionally. I did not know whether I was going to quit, crack or cry and I'm washing this baby, this two-year-old kid. He picks up on this and he stands up in the bath tub and says, 'Poppa you know what? You're a good poppa' and that was all I needed to keep going forward."
"Seraphim Falls"
Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson star in the enthralling and engaging, cat and mouse civil war drama, "Seraphim Falls." And yes, Seraphim, which refer to angels and Brosnan's name in the film of Gideon, do have Biblical references. In this story of revenge, forgiveness and redemption, Brosnan was asked if he had to ever deal with any of the film's dilemmas and the clean shaven Brosnan responded with a "Yes." The last time I interviewed Pierce he was promoting "The Matador" but he had a beard because he was filming "Seraphim Falls" then. He went on to say, "I have had to deal with forgiveness, but never revenge. Forgiveness is the mightiest thing to come to terms with."
"Seraphim Falls" would truly had been up for awards had it been released last year but Brosnan was afraid this indie would be lost in the shuffle and fanfare.
"I think this film speaks well quietly about the meaninglessness of war. I think it comes at a point when the history of this country is torn asunder in the confusion of war. Ultimately it's a piece of entertainment, you know, that one hopes will resonate with an audience and they have a good time at the cinema. It doesn't have the kind of hurly burly of filmmaking that we have in the world right now."
Some of the stunts and scenes in the movie are mind-boggling.
Brosnan even risked his life at one point jumping off a cliff into the snow. He, of course, upset the director, David Von Ancken.
"I'm glad you mentioned that," Ancken told The Film Strip. "We were on top this very steep mountain shooting with two crews. We had stunt men ready to do certain stunts and while I was checking on something else, Pierce said, 'I'll do that' and dove off the cliff into a pile of snow and I'm not kidding you. I had to say, 'OK, we're not doing that again. Get the stunt men!'
"Pierce is naturally just a tough guy. He's very willing to expose himself physically, and certainly emotionally." Pierce's response to this risk taking was right out of one of his Bond films. "Why? Because it was exciting. People wanna see something exciting. They go to the movies to be turned on and excited and challenged and to feel the fear."
After Pierce left the room, Neeson walked in dressed in all black. His response to the same question The Film Strip posed to Brosnan included revenge.
"I think we do have to grapple with revenge in these times, all the time don't we?" I concurred. "We live in such an age where revenge seems to be the most important thing for individuals and countries. And one of the reasons why I was attractive to this film was the fact that it has an act of forgiveness in it, which I find very appealing you know." It's like in the Bible, you love your neighbor and that means respect. You have to forgive each other, accept their differences and move on."
Director Ancken says, "I wrote this story as an anti war sort of story. It's something we had been repeating historically. This country classically, I think, we cannot seem to get away from the aggression of trying to kill each other. And if any message comes out of it, I won't beat the audience over the head--I think is very few individuals are better off having gone through a war.We can't love you forever and your past is going to catch up to you."
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