I was about to do a theater post anyway today, but I had to go ahead and share this.
Per this article by David Gordon, the National Theatre of Greece will be doing a performance of The Persians from the historic –and we’re talking anciently historic– theater of Epidaurus this Saturday, July 25th.
The YouTube link is here. Get your O.G. (Original Greek) theater on!
Odds are, you’ve heard Rob Paulsen do voices in any of a number of shows. In this 20-minute video, he returns to his Detroit stomping grounds to deliver a TEDx talk, which was enlightening and entertaining.
As he was 88, I guess I shouldn’t ask “so soon?,” but news of Ian Holm’s passing is sad news for me this Friday. We collectively have seen him in so much.
You can read more about him and his career from articles and related material at:
I know many people, and the articles, cite his turn as Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings movies or his absolutely chilling performance as Ash in Alien, but for me, Ian Holm burst into my memory in 1981.
The first film, Chariots of Fire, is included in the montage below. He didn’t win an Oscar for supporting actor, but he did win a BAFTA and one from Cannes and the moment you see below is about a nice a quiet payoff moment as you can want as a character actor.
The second film, Time Bandits, was another family favorite and, perhaps being exposed to it in my formative years, Ian Holm’s portrayal of Napoleon remains one of my favorites (one of the three times he played Napoleon).
As the years went on, it was always a pleasure to see him pop up on screen. He had incredible presence in the moment, yet didn’t skew the scene or chew the scenery: a consummate character actor. Even where he plays a major role, he’s part of a team.
So let’s close with something that Ian Holm (as Napoleon) professed to like: little things hitting each other!
All sorts of physical businesses are suffering during this global pandemic and I know many people, dependent on in-person gigs for their livelihood who now have no income stream (to say nothing of creative freelancers, as one Nation article notes).
So this video posted last week by Joseph Haj, artistic director of the Guthrie Theater resonated:
I was lucky enough to grow up going to the theater and live performances frequently, something I’ve tried to pass on to my kids. I hope that time will come again soon.
It could be because we all have a bit more time to think about how we’ll reflect back on these days, or how we’re trying to help our children through this, but this video hit me particularly now.
With apologies to Polonius, I think I’ll lead with this one in addressing my own Laertes.
Online creativity is abounding, and it’s not just clever memes and personable actors giving us a positive news boosts. People are making movies.
In the past month, the 48 Hour Film project, a competition I’ve frequently done, has had a series of stay-at-home competitions.
So now indie filmmaker extraordinaire Roger Corman, who’s still sharp as a tack in his 90s, wants to see your short film. Seriously. He said so.
But better do it quick. You have less than two weeks.
I just re-watched Never Cry Wolf the other week, so Brian Dennehy’s ability to fully inhabit characters was fresh in my mind.
Sadly, Brian Dennehy has passed away at the age of 81.
One of the nice things about his work was that his characters were perfectly at east with who they were, be it an alien, a corrupt sheriff, or entrepreneurial pilot. If he turned out to be a villain, his character would metaphorically or literally shrug, as if to say, “Do you get surprised that a wolf is a carnivore?”
My all-time favorite scene with Brian Dennehy comes from Never Cry Wolf below:
The beauty of this scene is all the character and clues about motivation that Dennehy puts into Rosie. You think it’s just a fun, kooky scene when you first watch the film, but when Rosie turns up later in the film, you realize that everything he does is completely in line with what he told you in the beginning. His entire performance, as with so many of his others, is a kind of zen: totally in the moment.
That’s damn fine acting.
I’ve played a wide number of characters over the years, including henpecked husbands, Shakespearean fools, and villainous muleteers (I know, is there any other kind?).
But one character type I seem to have gotten several times is that of the well-intentioned jerk (an invaluable archetype in a number of training videos I’ve been a part of).
So perhaps it’s only fitting that, for a modern, social media kind of passion play, I get to be a doubting disciple. You can check it out on The Tandem Bicycle page on Facebook and evidently also on Instagram.
The first installment is here and the second installment (including a doubting yours truly) is here, with a nice combo segment later.
Based on the text, I pitched it as a modern vlogger/pundit, not unlike some of the pundits you see on TV who don’t really want change if someone in authority will be put out.
A towering presence in cinema –literal and figurative– had died. Max von Sydow, an actor we’ve seen on screens since the 1950s, has died at the age of 90.
You can read (and listen) to accounts in the BBC, Variety, and NPR among many others.
What struck many of us moviegoers was the wide range of parts he would play… and could play with such quiet conviction. Here is a man who played the Son of God as well as the Eternal Adversary. But whether as tormentor or tormented, he would bring a bit of gravitas to whatever work he was in, even if the work was more than a little cartoony (I’m looking at you, Ming).
His unequivocally prolific body of work means that audiences will find him in dozens of films for decades to come — and personally, that has always been a delight. Especially for some of his later work, where he moved from leading man to supporting character, his presence wasn’t always announced, so I adored his appearance in Intacto and wished for a few more scenes of him in Star Wars, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
As some have noted, he’s been a presence in our cinema lives for so long, it’s hard to imagine him not popping up again in this TV show or that movie, whether to be chilling or entertaining, but always affecting.
It’s been one amazing chess game, sir. Well played.
I haven’t been in a stage production for an age, but I was both on stage and backstage enough times to lose count — and I was a theatergoer long before that.
So I greatly appreciated Mark Evanier sharing actor, director, and all-around theatrical Larry Blyden‘s theatrical laws. Laws, do you hear?
Okay, to be honest, I haven’t always followed Law #5 or Law #10, but I definitely do my best with Law #17. Law #2 applies to films as well as plays and Law #6 applies just about everywhere.
So if you feel the need for greater regulation, check ’em out.