The Screengrab : larry david

Trailer Review: Whatever Works

Paul Clark — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Throughout my college years, I was a fairly rabid Woody Allen fan, watching his movies on video two or three in a row, much to the consternation of my roommates. Since then, his more inconsistent recent output has tempered my enthusiasm somewhat, but I still make sure to watch all of his new films in theatres, partly out of my long-established loyalty, partly out of hope that he’s got another masterpiece in him. Based on this trailer, Whatever Works probably won’t be that masterpiece, seeing as how it’s full of the sorts of easy potshots (particularly at Southern Christians) that mar most of his latter-day movies. Yet at the same time, it’s nice to see him back in New York after his years abroad- one hopes that his European sojourn has awakened a new creativity in him. And like a lot of people, I’m excited to see him working with Larry David, who is possessed of a similarly neurotic and cosmopolitan comic sensibility. If nothing else, David should be one of the better straight-up Allen surrogates to come around in ages. Miles better than Kenneth Branagh, that’s for sure.

The Screengrab Highlight Reel: April 11-17, 2009

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:00:00 GMT

It’s not funny, you know. Sure, Woody Harrelson Launches Method Assault on Undead Photographer makes for a cute headline. But if you knew anything about the craft, you’d know that this sort of thing goes on all time when we actors get so deeply involved with our characters. Do you know how many natives Brando beheaded with a machete on the set of Apocalypse Now? Sure, Paramount covered it all up, but when you’re in Hollywood’s circle of trust, you hear about these things.

It’s been a bad week for Woodies all around, as you know if you read Woody Allen, Larry David and the Blackness of Eternity and How Much Is Woody Allen’s Good Name Worth? Let me ask you this: When is Woody Allen gonna make a zombie movie? About time, I’d say.

Anyway, that paparazzo is thinking of suing me, so I’m gonna go consult The Best & Worst Get Rich Quick Schemes in Cinema History (Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six). And then maybe I’ll get around to the rest of these:

Reviews: Lemon Tree, Sleep Dealer, State of Play, Grey Gardens, The Hemingway Night

The Screengrab Holiday Special , Parts One, Two, Intermission & Three

The Legend of "Him", the Lost Dirty Jesus Movie

Transported: The Jason Statham Think Piece

Yesterday's Hits: There's Something About Mary (1998, Peter and Bobby Farrelly)

Unwatchable #37: Bad Girls from Valley High

How Much Is Woody Allen's Good Name Worth? American Apparel Replies, "What Good Name?"

Phil Nugent — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:00:00 GMT

"What is this," Woody Allen asks in Love and Death after receiving a couple of hard pats to the cheek, "Slap Boris Day?" Almost 35 years since writing that deathless scene, Allen may be feeling a little slap-happy himself. As we reported here a year ago, Allen is suing American Apparel for having used his likeness in its advertising without his permission. The case is only now coming to a boil, and in court papers filed yesterday, representatives for Allen complained that American Apparel has “adopted a ‘scorched earth’ approach”, threatening to drag his name through the mud, bringing up details of the disastrous, tabloid-friendly end of this relationship with Mia Farrow back in 1992. At worst, the company is clearly intent on doing its best to reward Allen for dragging them into court by making his left absolutely miserable. (Little do they know: he seems to kind of like it that way.) At, well, other worst, their official position appears to be that Allen is such an unredeemed slimeball that he has no rights at all, either as a human being or a marketable image. "“Certainly," says American Apparel lawyer Stuart Slotnick, "our belief is that after the various sex scandals that Woody Allen has been associated with, corporate America’s desire to have Woody Allen endorse their product is not what he may believe it is.”

Nasty comments about Woody the person are nothing new; once upon a time, Woody himself made his living as a chief dispenser of them. (Did you hear about the time he beat up the toaster?) But harsh judgements of the artist, though not unheard of, have a weird tendency to build to a sort of crescendo, then to fall away when he has an acclaimed international success big enough to count as a "comeback" (such as 2005's Match Point), only to rise up again, fiercer and more unforgiving than ever. A couple of weeks ago, in the course of lamenting the difficulty that Abel Ferrara's Chelsea on the Rocks has had finding a distributor, Danny Leigh in the Guardian really stuck the knife in: "[Ferrara] and we are left with the exact inverse of the fate of that other New York institution, Woody Allen: a veteran director making films that deserve to be seen, but which no matter how good simply can't get into cinemas." No offense to Ferrara, who is one of our favorite New York street crazies with a camera, but if Vincent Canby were to rise from the dead, the discovery that anyone in the English-speaking world could get away with suggesting that anything his beloved Woody made might have less reason to be shown than anything from the director of New Rose Hotel would only kill him all over again, just so he could spin in his grave. (Vincent Canby is dead, isn't he? I'm trying to cut back on the number of times a day that I have to go running to Wikipedia.)

Another Guardian writer, Andrew Pulver, ain't having it. Pulver writes that "what really makes me sad is that it's now so easy, and so acceptable, to give Allen a hard time. His faltering output in recent years has coincided with a general perception that he's foolish (at best) and a sleazebag (at worst). Of course we can advance arguments that an artist's life shouldn't be confused with their work, but Allen didn't help himself by regularly casting himself opposite nubile young actresses. (Thank God he seems to have packed that in.) He seemed wilfully to want to confuse the two himself; just like, in his 'early, funny' period, he used to get tetchy at people who seemed to think the nebbishy little characters he played on screen could be anything at all like the real Woody Allen. (How could anyone have got that idea?) I prefer to remember the glory days."

It is an honorable sentiment, and it perhaps speak well to the dense variety of Allen's output in the last forty years that we will be able to spend forever arguing about which days those were. (Pulver thinks that Allen's hot streak fell between 1979's Manhattan and Husbands and Wives, his last film with Farrow, which was released into the teeth of the media flare-up over their domestic messiness.) "Now, as the likes of Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood (his direct peers) have put their rowdy youth and questionable escapades behind them, and are relaxing into elder-statesmanship, Allen is heading the other way" in terms of his reputation and public image. That may be a bit much. (And it definitely fails to acknowledge that so many people felt betrayed, and therefore comfortable to judge Allen's morality, back in 1992 because he fell from such a high place in terms of personal reputation: however he compares to Scorsese or Eastwood as a filmmaker, he was, at his peak, an intellectual culture hero of a kind that they never were.) Ultimately, Allen's reputation, like that of every prolific major filmmaker, shifts a little with every new movie he turns out. Which way will it shift after his new Larry David picture sees the light of day? We've got our fingers and toes crossed.

Woody Allen, Larry David, and the Blackness of Eternity

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

I think we’re all in agreement that the casting of Larry David in the lead of Woody Allen’s latest film Whatever Works is pure gold, Jerry. Well, maybe everyone aside from Larry David. “I’d always been a fan. … I asked him to do it, and he said, ‘But I can’t act! I can only do what I do, I’m not an actor, you’ll be disappointed,’” Allen told Sara Vilkomerson of the New York Observer. “You know, those are the ones who can always do it. The ones that tell you how great they are can never do it. Larry is all, ‘I can’t do it. I can’t do it,’ but when it came time to do it, right out of the box, he did it.”

It’s not that David leapt at the chance. “I gave him every opportunity to get someone else. I was kind of uncomfortable. I was out of my comfort zone,” he said. Then he laughed. “Of course, the comfort zone is not very big! I take one step to the right and I’m out of my comfort zone.”

As Vilkomerson notes in her lengthy but thoroughly entertaining piece The Unshine Boys, Allen and David are responsible for two of the most indelibly neurotic portraits of New York City in pop culture history – Allen through dozens of movies over the past few decades, most notably Annie Hall and Manhattan, and David through the classic sitcom of the ‘90s he co-created, Seinfeld. (Unlike Allen, who has always loathed the place, David has moved on to skewering Los Angeles in his current HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm.) The similarities between the two aren’t hard to spot, but David reluctantly admits he may have a slightly less bleak view of the world. “I think [Woody’s] probably more of a pessimist about the big picture,” Mr. David said. “The hopelessness, meaninglessness of it all—the blackness of eternity—those questions. Whereas I suspect I’m probably more pessimistic about the smaller things: The relationship won’t work out, Obama will lose, the Yankees will lose, the movie will bomb—things like that. People won’t watch ball games with me because I’m so pessimistic. I’m no fun to be around.”

As for Allen, he insists he’s not “cynical and misanthropic and nihilistic,” just realistic. And there’s not much chance he’ll be seeing this post anytime soon. “It’s gone past me,” he said, of the Internet age. “I don’t have a computer, I don’t have a word processor or any of that stuff… I know I’m missing something. I know when friends Google instant information or things”—he keeps a Webster’s dictionary close by—“it just seems so futuristic to me! I’m still plodding and doing it the other way. I don’t say that proudly, or like it’s a good thing. I don’t think it’s a good thing. I’ve just never been able to make the transition.” Hey, whatever works.

Related:
Take Five: Woody
Woody Allen Doesn't Care What YouThink

Woody Allen Comes to Tribeca

Phil Nugent — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

The complete schedule for the Tribeca Film Festival, being held from April 22 through may 3, has been announced. The opening night attraction is Woody Allen's Whatever Works, which marks Allen's return to the city that figures so prominently in approximately 98.9% of his oeuvre, after a four-film tour of Europe. ""A lovely idea of showing my film in a film festival in my own city," gushed Allen. "It's very exciting." For longtime Allen watchers, much of the excitement comes from the news that, after seeing him try to palm younger actors ranging from John Cusack to Kenneth Branagh in what amounted to the Woody Allen role in some of his earlier pictures, he's using Larry David as the lead in this one. (Granted, it's set in a universe where David is married to Evan Rachel Wood.) Other notable features on the schedule include The Girlfriend Experience, Steven Soderbergh's new film starring the adult-film actress Sasha Grey; Serious Moonlight, directed by Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Cheryl Hines from a screenplay written by the late Adrienne Shelly; The Englishman in New York, in which John Hurt plays the aged Quentin Crisp, a role he played more than thirty years ago in The Naked Civil Servant; films that have already stirred up some buzz at this year's Sundance Film Festival, including Duncan Jones's sci-fi movie Moon, the political satire In the Loop, and the neo-blaxploitation thriller Black Dynamite; and Love of the Beast, Eric Bana's documentary about his car.

Tribeca made headlines last month when it was reported that Geoff Gilmore had agreed to come aboard as Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, the company that runs the festival, after nineteen years at the head of the Sundance Film Festival. Gilmore is generally credited with having helped to shape Sundance's distinctive identity over the years, so there's been plenty of speculation about what kind of impact his hiring may have on the future shape of Tribeca, which after seven years is still seen as a festival that is in search of a clear identity. This year's Festival includes 85 features and 46 short films, down from last year's lineup of 120 features. Last year's relatively concentrated lineup marked a deliberate effort to wrangle the festival into a manageable shape after the crosstown sprawl of earlier years. This year's further reduced slate reflects that plus the effects of the shattered economy. Tickets become available to the general public starting Monday, March 16.

Morning Deal Report: The Squeakquel

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT

I wish I could tell you there won’t be an Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel. Furthermore, I wish I could tell you it won’t be titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. But I cannot tell you these things. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Betty Thomas will direct the squeakquel, in which “Zachary Levi, star of the NBC action comedy series Chuck, has been cast opposite the computer-generated singing rodents.”

Woody Allen is going back to London. After a brief return to his New York stomping grounds for the upcoming Whatever Works starring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, Allen will shoot his latest project across the pond with Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins. “As usual, Allen is keeping title and plot under wraps,” Variety reports.

The Departed screenwriter William Monahan has another crime up his sleeve. Monahan will direct an adaptation of “The Art of the Heist: Confessions of a Master Thief, Rock-and-Roller and Prodigal Son, the forthcoming memoirs of career criminal Myles Connor. Connor became an art connoisseur and a rock musician whose band, Myles and the Wild Ones, backed Roy Orbison. He was also an accomplished art and antiques thief who was involved in a series of museum robberies that grabbed headlines in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s,” per Variety.

Star Trek Showdown II: William Shatner Responds to Sulu Snub

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:00:00 GMT

When last we checked in with the YouTube sensation William Shatner is Off His Meds, the Shat Man had a bone to pick with new Star Trek auteur J.J. Abrams. Shatner (enabled by his daughter Liz) claimed that he had never been approached to make a cameo appearance in the new movie, and went on to offer some advice as to how Captain Kirk could be resurrected for the film. (It’s as simple as putting his DNA in the hovering machine and throwing the switch on the right, after all.) Now Shatner is compelled to comment on the news that, unlike many of his former Star Trek cohorts, he was not invited to George “Sulu” Takei’s big gay wedding.

Way back when he wrote the first volume of his Star Trek Memories in 1994, Shatner was startled to learn that most of his co-stars from the original series considered him to be something of a dick. Takei elaborated in his own memoir, To the Stars, in which he complained of Shatner stealing lines and close-ups from him, and even went so far as to claim on the Howard Stern show that the Shat had denied Sulu a promotion to captain. So it’s not like there’s no crazy at all to be found on the Takei side of this story…but Shatner really outdoes himself in this latest clip. Who knows what he thinks he’s up to here? It would be nice to think he’s playing the character of “William Shatner, Unhinged Asshole,” sort of like Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm or Bruce Willis in What Just Happened, but…well, judge for yourself:

WALL-E’s Big Bowl of Jeff Garlin

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Sure, everyone adores the cute little robot who crushes garbage into a cube, and that’s perfectly fine. But how about a little love for the Captain? The blobby, genial pilot of the space cruiser Axiom could have easily let the remains of humanity drift forever through the cosmos, but darn it, he showed initiative! And dare I say, pluck! And who better to voice this genial blob of pluck than Jeff Garlin, best known as Larry David’s agent/sidekick on Curb Your Enthusiasm?

In an interview with The Guardian, Garlin discusses the early, not-so-hopeful days of his career. “I played the villain on Baywatch once, an evil disc jockey who tries taking over the beach, fights with David Hasselhoff and has a fantasy sequence with Pamela Anderson. I think it was the best acting I've ever done - even though when you watch it, it's obviously not good acting - but when David Hasselhoff is yelling at you, you try not laughing. And I didn't laugh, so I think it's pretty fantastic on my part.”

Things have improved career-wise for Garlin since then – not that he had much of an idea what he was getting into with WALL-E. “I really didn't have a clue that I was as much of a hero as I am. That was a huge surprise to me. It's like doing a radio show. I'm doing it scene by scene in a vacuum, not paying attention - you're wrestling this guy and that guy, talking to this one, doing all this and all that - so I'm totally out of it.”

Garlin has also been busy behind the camera, directing This Filthy World, a recording of a John Waters one-man show (“what a fine gentleman!”) and his debut feature, 2006’s I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. We’re still waiting for a rematch with Hasselhoff.

Related:
Separated at Birth: "Wall-E" and "Silent Running"
Andrew Stanton's Retro-Futurism

Today’s Reason To Live: The Scarlett Johansson-Penélope Cruz-Javier Bardem Ménage à trois!

Andrew Osborne — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

So, for those of you who haven’t received your Entertainment Weekly Summer Movie Preview yet (or read the news previously at Screengrab), hold onto your freakin’ hats: Woody Allen is filming a new movie in New York City with...deep breath...Larry David!!!

So, yes, despite Scoop and Melinda and Melinda and Hollywood Ending (and, uh, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Small Time Crooks and Celebrity and...well, you get the idea), I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope against hope that America’s favorite bald fuck has the power to resurrect Mr. Konigsberg’s erstwhile comedy mojo.

Oh...and the hot, spicy Johannson-Cruz-Bardem threeway?

Well, they’re all co-starring in Woody Allen’s upcoming summer release, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and because of that, according to the director, “...it got out that there was torrid sex in the picture.” But unfortunately, he cautions, “People who come and expect those exaggerations are going to be disappointed.”

There is, however, “a discretely photographed ménage à trois,” which should at the very least earn the flick a spot on my Netflix list.

Ah, who am I kidding? See you in the popcorn line on August 29th!

Morning Deal Report: Larry David and Woody Allen, Together at Last

Peter Smith — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Woody Allen's next movie will star Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, a combination of cranky neurotic Jew and precocious jailbait so patently Allen-esque that one wonders what took him so long.

Michael Douglas, Anne Archer and Robert Forster join Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

Hayden Panettiere will star as Kim Gordon in the Sonic Youth biopic Daydream Nation. No, I kid. It's just your standard teen movie with an alt-rock nod that'll probably be the best thing about it. (See also Can't Hardly Wait.)

Morning Deal Report: Black Lantern

Peter Smith — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Warner Bros. signed a director for the Green Lantern movie, but everyone's dying to know: is Jack Black still on board? (Okay, maybe just me.)

Cheryl Hines — Larry David's wife on Curb Your Enthusiasm — will make her feature directing debut with Serious Moonlight, from a script by the late Adrienne Shelly.

Michelle Williams will star in Lukas Moodysson's first English-language film.

— Peter Smith