Post by Finaddict on Jan 1, 2007 22:20:48 GMT -5
this is from the New York Daily News-Movie Critic Denis Hamill
A columnist marks a milestone in memorable chats
Someone asked me recently, "Who was your favorite celebrity interview?"
It was then I realized I've been writing this column in the Sunday entertainment section for 10 years. But I don't have a single favorite. The stars I liked best were the ones who didn't act like stars. They were always the most secure, most talented, most likable, and had the most interesting stuff to say. So, in no particular order, I've selected a dozen favorite celebrities from my interviews.
CLINT EASTWOOD stands out because when I arrived at his hotel room to talk about 1997's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," he had a toddler running around screaming, his wife came out to say hello, Clint swigged a Heineken out of the neck, shook my hand and said, "Hey, man, thanks for doing this. Wanna beer?" I declined, and then we sat down and just shot the breeze with a tape recorder going. He talked about life, spaghetti Westerns, getting older, kids, women, movies and music, and about a "man knowing his limits." And instead of some frantic PR person bum-rushing you out, Eastwood says, "Sure you don't want that beer? Good and cold."
TOM HANKS answered the door to his trailer on W. 43rd St. on the set of "You've Got Mail" wearing a soiled undershirt and eating Chinese food out of a carton. "I hope you're hungry," he said. As we ate Chinese, Hanks talked for half an hour about his HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon," and you knew that those astronauts were what he considered stars. He talked about how he'd never forget living right down the block in the early '70s in a roach-and-rodent-infested apartment, waiting tables, scrounging for work. Then he found stardom on "Bosom Buddies" and blew it, because "I wasn't prepared for luck." Lighting struck twice when he was the ninth choice for, as he says, "a mermaid movie called 'Splash' being directed by Opie." But this time he was prepared for luck, and chose his scripts carefully - and never forgot what it was to struggle.
ROSARIO DAWSON didn't make it all about her when I interviewed her this year on the Williamsburg set of "Descent," an indie flick directed by her longtime pal Talia Lugacy. She made sure her director and producer, Jeff Mazzola, were in on the conversation about this little revenge thriller revolving around a date rape. "It's not like the role of the pretty girl who gets the guy at the end," Dawson said. "This is dark. This is tough." Traffic-stopping beautiful, with cheekbones like the Jersey Palisades, you have to admire this lady, who was discovered on a lower East Side stoop by a casting agent and cast in 1995's "Kids." Since then she has appeared in big-budget flicks like "Men in Black II," "Alexander," "Sin City" and "Rent," and still lends time and star power to a little indie film with a friend.
ALEC BALDWIN will talk to you about anything. He's not only one of the best American actors; he's also a real guy. He's never "on" when he's off-screen. He's passionate, funny, sincere and fearless about whom he might offend and what it might mean to his "bankability." That's called "onions" where I come from. He also said something I'll never forget about his dark genius for playing bad guys: "Every time you think tough, think smart instead." I also identify with the way Baldwin loves all his brothers.
SPIKE LEE might be provocative and abrasive on talk shows, but when you run into him on a movie set, or at the Garden, he's a warm guy with a quick smile who likes a good laugh. He's also a dead serious filmmaker who told me, "I refuse to make disposable films." By that he meant he always wants his pictures to have some social significance and resonance. Whether he's making "Do the Right Thing," "Summer of Sam" or "Inside Man," his movies are always unmistakably "Spike Lee" movies. Like Woody Allen, Lee is an unabashed New York filmmaker.
SHARON STONE looked the most like a real movie star when I met her on the set of "Gloria." Stone came across as anything but a diva: She talked about how in the early days of her career she lived in a rat trap on Elizabeth St. and how she used to pound the pavement shoving her 8-by-10 glossy under the doors of every casting agent in town. It sure didn't hurt my opinion of Stone after the interview came out when I came home from work to find a dozen red roses from "Sharon."
JAMES CAAN, the son of a German-Jewish butcher from Queens, was brutally honest. Between takes on the set of "Mickey Blue Eyes," he talked about his life, family, career and what a shambles he'd made of it all with cocaine. How can you not admire a guy who admits he was famous in Hollywood for the movies he turned down, including "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "M*A*S*H," "Kramer vs. Kramer," "Apocalypse Now" and "Love Story." He said, "I'm a guy from Sunnyside who worked Broadway, lived in the Playboy Mansion, had an audience with the Queen ... But you gotta learn to laugh at yourself, because in the scheme of things, [movie stars] serve less purpose to the community than the garbage collector."
WOODY ALLEN is not a bookish, intellectual nebbish like the characters in his movies. The truth is, Allen is a Brooklyn guy who likes to come home from work, kick off his shoes, open a beer and watch a ballgame. Even when he was going through the insane days of his breakup with Mia Farrow, Allen focused on his work, fought in the courts for his kids, lost, and continued on with his life. He was scorned for his romance with Soon-Yi Previn, but 14 years later they're still together, married with two kids. And, at 71, he's still making movies.
CHARLIZE THERON was a modest 22-year-old who'd appeared in only three movies when I interviewed her about 1997's "The Devil's Advocate." I was certain superstardom was imminent for this beautiful South African who sizzled with real acting chops. I asked if she were prepared for stardom. She scoffed as if I was crazy, explaining that she'd been turned down by director Taylor Hackford and Warners for "Devil's Advocate" because she was too beautiful. But Theron persisted, doing four screen tests. "I had to stop wearing makeup," she said, "wake up at 6 a.m., beat myself up, not brush my hair, and went to read with dark circles under my eyes. ... I had to go through hell to make them believe the Devil could be in me." She nailed the part. It proved to be a dress rehearsal for her Oscar-winning performance six years later in "Monster."
ICE-T lives up to his name - cool. When he signed to play a cop named Fin on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," I had to ask the man who wrote and rapped "Cop Killer" ... wassup with that? "Back then, I made clear the song was a piece of fiction, about a guy who lost his mind because of police brutality," he told me in a pizza joint on Third Ave. "I didn't sing it as me. I sang it about another cat." Sitting with him, you couldn't help liking this dedicated father, ex-Airborne Ranger, college lecturer, anti-violence youth organizer and best-selling author who claims he invented gangsta rap. "I even debated Tipper Gore on 'Oprah' over 'Cop Killer,' " he said. "Now I'm on 'L&O' every week. And if it's okay with NBC, I'm cool with it. If anyone else makes an issue of it, that's cool too. That's why they call me Ice-T."
AL PACINO can be loud and menacing onscreen, but off-camera he's a quiet, dignified and extremely intelligent man who loves to read. When he toured colleges in the early 1990s, doing readings from various writers he loved, Pacino heard groans when he mentioned Shakespeare. He asked how many of 500 students had read "Hamlet." Three hands went up. So Pacino told them the story of "Hamlet," read parts of it, and dramatized scenes. And hooked them. That inspired him to direct 1996's "Looking for Richard," which could be subtitled "Understanding Shakespeare," because it decoded "Richard III" and the Bard for the masses.
KYRA SEDGWICK told me in 1998 that her biggest regret was dropping out of school at 15 to do soaps. Although she had early success in movies with "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Phenomenon," she often was frustrated. "No matter how many people say, 'It's not personal,' it still feels personal when you don't get the part," she said. "You don't feel like you're good enough." With TNT's hit show "The Closer," Sedgwick now rocks in the role of a lifetime and was just nominated for another Golden Globe for the series. I hope this supertalented lady, married to another great actor named Kevin Bacon, takes that very personally.
TONY SIRICO was a struggling actor who did bit parts as "39 gangsters and two cops" in 41 films before he landed the role of Paulie Walnuts on "The Sopranos." I'd profiled Sirico, who idolized James Cagney, several times in his pre-"Sopranos" days when he lived with his aging "Ma" in a Bensonhurst apartment. Then after the first season of "Sopranos," I walked with Sirico through Times Square, where his face sneered down from a huge billboard. "Made it, Ma - top of the crossroads of the world!" he said, and in that instant became an overnight success after 30 years in the biz.
Originally published on December 31, 2006
A columnist marks a milestone in memorable chats
Someone asked me recently, "Who was your favorite celebrity interview?"
It was then I realized I've been writing this column in the Sunday entertainment section for 10 years. But I don't have a single favorite. The stars I liked best were the ones who didn't act like stars. They were always the most secure, most talented, most likable, and had the most interesting stuff to say. So, in no particular order, I've selected a dozen favorite celebrities from my interviews.
CLINT EASTWOOD stands out because when I arrived at his hotel room to talk about 1997's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," he had a toddler running around screaming, his wife came out to say hello, Clint swigged a Heineken out of the neck, shook my hand and said, "Hey, man, thanks for doing this. Wanna beer?" I declined, and then we sat down and just shot the breeze with a tape recorder going. He talked about life, spaghetti Westerns, getting older, kids, women, movies and music, and about a "man knowing his limits." And instead of some frantic PR person bum-rushing you out, Eastwood says, "Sure you don't want that beer? Good and cold."
TOM HANKS answered the door to his trailer on W. 43rd St. on the set of "You've Got Mail" wearing a soiled undershirt and eating Chinese food out of a carton. "I hope you're hungry," he said. As we ate Chinese, Hanks talked for half an hour about his HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon," and you knew that those astronauts were what he considered stars. He talked about how he'd never forget living right down the block in the early '70s in a roach-and-rodent-infested apartment, waiting tables, scrounging for work. Then he found stardom on "Bosom Buddies" and blew it, because "I wasn't prepared for luck." Lighting struck twice when he was the ninth choice for, as he says, "a mermaid movie called 'Splash' being directed by Opie." But this time he was prepared for luck, and chose his scripts carefully - and never forgot what it was to struggle.
ROSARIO DAWSON didn't make it all about her when I interviewed her this year on the Williamsburg set of "Descent," an indie flick directed by her longtime pal Talia Lugacy. She made sure her director and producer, Jeff Mazzola, were in on the conversation about this little revenge thriller revolving around a date rape. "It's not like the role of the pretty girl who gets the guy at the end," Dawson said. "This is dark. This is tough." Traffic-stopping beautiful, with cheekbones like the Jersey Palisades, you have to admire this lady, who was discovered on a lower East Side stoop by a casting agent and cast in 1995's "Kids." Since then she has appeared in big-budget flicks like "Men in Black II," "Alexander," "Sin City" and "Rent," and still lends time and star power to a little indie film with a friend.
ALEC BALDWIN will talk to you about anything. He's not only one of the best American actors; he's also a real guy. He's never "on" when he's off-screen. He's passionate, funny, sincere and fearless about whom he might offend and what it might mean to his "bankability." That's called "onions" where I come from. He also said something I'll never forget about his dark genius for playing bad guys: "Every time you think tough, think smart instead." I also identify with the way Baldwin loves all his brothers.
SPIKE LEE might be provocative and abrasive on talk shows, but when you run into him on a movie set, or at the Garden, he's a warm guy with a quick smile who likes a good laugh. He's also a dead serious filmmaker who told me, "I refuse to make disposable films." By that he meant he always wants his pictures to have some social significance and resonance. Whether he's making "Do the Right Thing," "Summer of Sam" or "Inside Man," his movies are always unmistakably "Spike Lee" movies. Like Woody Allen, Lee is an unabashed New York filmmaker.
SHARON STONE looked the most like a real movie star when I met her on the set of "Gloria." Stone came across as anything but a diva: She talked about how in the early days of her career she lived in a rat trap on Elizabeth St. and how she used to pound the pavement shoving her 8-by-10 glossy under the doors of every casting agent in town. It sure didn't hurt my opinion of Stone after the interview came out when I came home from work to find a dozen red roses from "Sharon."
JAMES CAAN, the son of a German-Jewish butcher from Queens, was brutally honest. Between takes on the set of "Mickey Blue Eyes," he talked about his life, family, career and what a shambles he'd made of it all with cocaine. How can you not admire a guy who admits he was famous in Hollywood for the movies he turned down, including "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "M*A*S*H," "Kramer vs. Kramer," "Apocalypse Now" and "Love Story." He said, "I'm a guy from Sunnyside who worked Broadway, lived in the Playboy Mansion, had an audience with the Queen ... But you gotta learn to laugh at yourself, because in the scheme of things, [movie stars] serve less purpose to the community than the garbage collector."
WOODY ALLEN is not a bookish, intellectual nebbish like the characters in his movies. The truth is, Allen is a Brooklyn guy who likes to come home from work, kick off his shoes, open a beer and watch a ballgame. Even when he was going through the insane days of his breakup with Mia Farrow, Allen focused on his work, fought in the courts for his kids, lost, and continued on with his life. He was scorned for his romance with Soon-Yi Previn, but 14 years later they're still together, married with two kids. And, at 71, he's still making movies.
CHARLIZE THERON was a modest 22-year-old who'd appeared in only three movies when I interviewed her about 1997's "The Devil's Advocate." I was certain superstardom was imminent for this beautiful South African who sizzled with real acting chops. I asked if she were prepared for stardom. She scoffed as if I was crazy, explaining that she'd been turned down by director Taylor Hackford and Warners for "Devil's Advocate" because she was too beautiful. But Theron persisted, doing four screen tests. "I had to stop wearing makeup," she said, "wake up at 6 a.m., beat myself up, not brush my hair, and went to read with dark circles under my eyes. ... I had to go through hell to make them believe the Devil could be in me." She nailed the part. It proved to be a dress rehearsal for her Oscar-winning performance six years later in "Monster."
ICE-T lives up to his name - cool. When he signed to play a cop named Fin on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," I had to ask the man who wrote and rapped "Cop Killer" ... wassup with that? "Back then, I made clear the song was a piece of fiction, about a guy who lost his mind because of police brutality," he told me in a pizza joint on Third Ave. "I didn't sing it as me. I sang it about another cat." Sitting with him, you couldn't help liking this dedicated father, ex-Airborne Ranger, college lecturer, anti-violence youth organizer and best-selling author who claims he invented gangsta rap. "I even debated Tipper Gore on 'Oprah' over 'Cop Killer,' " he said. "Now I'm on 'L&O' every week. And if it's okay with NBC, I'm cool with it. If anyone else makes an issue of it, that's cool too. That's why they call me Ice-T."
AL PACINO can be loud and menacing onscreen, but off-camera he's a quiet, dignified and extremely intelligent man who loves to read. When he toured colleges in the early 1990s, doing readings from various writers he loved, Pacino heard groans when he mentioned Shakespeare. He asked how many of 500 students had read "Hamlet." Three hands went up. So Pacino told them the story of "Hamlet," read parts of it, and dramatized scenes. And hooked them. That inspired him to direct 1996's "Looking for Richard," which could be subtitled "Understanding Shakespeare," because it decoded "Richard III" and the Bard for the masses.
KYRA SEDGWICK told me in 1998 that her biggest regret was dropping out of school at 15 to do soaps. Although she had early success in movies with "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Phenomenon," she often was frustrated. "No matter how many people say, 'It's not personal,' it still feels personal when you don't get the part," she said. "You don't feel like you're good enough." With TNT's hit show "The Closer," Sedgwick now rocks in the role of a lifetime and was just nominated for another Golden Globe for the series. I hope this supertalented lady, married to another great actor named Kevin Bacon, takes that very personally.
TONY SIRICO was a struggling actor who did bit parts as "39 gangsters and two cops" in 41 films before he landed the role of Paulie Walnuts on "The Sopranos." I'd profiled Sirico, who idolized James Cagney, several times in his pre-"Sopranos" days when he lived with his aging "Ma" in a Bensonhurst apartment. Then after the first season of "Sopranos," I walked with Sirico through Times Square, where his face sneered down from a huge billboard. "Made it, Ma - top of the crossroads of the world!" he said, and in that instant became an overnight success after 30 years in the biz.
Originally published on December 31, 2006