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On-Set Secrets! Shia’s Summer Flick, Eagle Eye

Posted by Vogt
at June 2, 2008

I first met the boy wonder on the set of a small passion project called, um, Transformers. Since then, I've kept up a friendship with the 21-year-old, two-time Vanity Fair cover boy and Steven Spielberg-anointed golden child Shia LaBeouf.

So, this week I was lucky enough to hang on the set of this summer's political thriller Eagle Eye (directed by the same guy who did Disturbia, D.J. Caruso), with Shia and costar/totally-cool-chick Michelle Monaghan.

Here's what I learned at the Santa Anita mall, near Pasadena, California:

Shia Has Kept His Head: Despite having found enormous sucWonder boy LaBeouf sneaks us behind the scenes of summer flick Eagle Eyecess since we first met, the Indiana Jones star is still the same old Shia: He's on a first-name basis with the crew, he engages with the hundreds of extras, and he even left the set before a take to salute his favorite film critic. (Check the photo!)

He's into Something Big Here: The story of Eagle Eye centers around mistaken identity, and Shia's and Michelle's characters are caught up in political and military hijinx that have them on the run. The film features an all-star cast, too, with everybody from Michael Chiklis to Rosario Dawson to Billy Bob Thornton.

Hey, What's in That Briefcase? In every take I saw, Shia was carrying a silver briefcase and talking on a pay phone. Like Cloverfield, which benefited big-time from the secrecy that surrounded it, Eagle Eye has some unknowns hanging over the story. The cast, of course, couldn't get too much into iton camera, at least!

Eagle Eye is scheduled to open Aug. 8.

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Frances McDormand Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Frances McDormand Biography.jpg

An intelligent, versatile character actress who virtually disappears into each role, Frances McDormand earned a Best Actress Academy Award as Marge Gunderson, the pregnant deputy sheriff of the Coen brothers’ “Fargo” (1996), her third film with husband Joel and brother-in-law Ethan. After graduating from Yale Drama School, McDormand hit NYC, appearing in several plays, notably “Painting Churches” and “Awake and Sing!” (both 1984). She also entered features as the dim, violent tart whose cuckold husband hires a hit man to kill her and her lover in “Blood Simple” (1984), the debut film of the Coen brothers. She then appeared as a nun in Sam Raimi’s “Crimewave” (1985), a slapstick crime comedy co-written by the Coens and Raimi, and reunited with the former pair to play a shrill, swinging Southern wife who offers Holly Hunter child-rearing advice in their broad-as-a-barn kidnapping comedy “Raising Arizona” (1987).

McDormand was still virtually an unknown when she won an Oscar nomination playing a meek Southern woman abused by her Klansman husband in Alan Parker’s “Mississippi Burning” (1988). Her character’s unconsummated relationship with Gene Hackman’s FBI agent produced scenes that were a stunning tutorial on how to express emotion without words. She played one of her few up-market characters–a lawyer–to Liam Neeson’s comic-book vigilante in Raimi’s “Dark Man” and won the admiration of Ken Loach for her turn as an American human rights activist in his political thriller set against the battleground of Northern Ireland, “Hidden Agenda” (both 1990), prompting the august British director to tell her as she was leaving, “Not only have you changed my opinion of actors, you’ve changed my opinion of Americans.” She also offered tense comic relief as the ex-wife of Peter Gallagher and lover of Tim Robbins in Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” (1993).

McDormand admits now that she took roles in the failed Hollywood comedies “The Butcher’s Wife” (1991) and “Passed Away” (1992) “to prove that I could be funny” and her lackluster part as Patricia Arquette’s sister in “Beyond Rangoon” (1995) so that she could travel to Malaysia. After “Fargo”, Hollywood needs no further proof that she can be funny. McDormand’s likable, reality-based performance as the deputy investigating a series of killings made the Coens’ chilling bit of madness safe for decent folk to laugh at and brought her much-deserved stardom along with practically every acting prize. She also delivered acclaimed turns that year as the alcoholic hooker June in the heist comedy “Palookaville,” a football-crazed divorcee in friend John Sayles’ underrated Western “Lone Star” and a psychiatrist interviewing a potential killer in the courtroom thriller “Primal Fear.”

McDormand flirted briefly with television in the 80s, acting in the 1985 TV-movie “Scandal Sheet” (ABC) and as a regular in the short-lived detective drama “Leg Work” (CBS, 1987), but her work for the small screen in the 90s has been more inspiring. She rejoined fellow Yale grad and NYC roommate Holly Hunter for Martha Coolidge’s “Crazy in Love” (TNT, 1992) and joined first-time directors Kathy Bates for the monologue drama “Talking With” (PBS) and Tommy Lee Jones for TNT’s “The Good Old Boys” (both 1995). She also turned up as Gus, a tough-talking mechanic, in HBO’s acclaimed look at the working poor, “Hidden in America” (1996), starring Beau Bridges. Her return to the stage as Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire” netted her a Tony nomination in 1988, and after performing at Yale Repertory in “A Moon for the Misbegotten” (1990-91), she was back on the Great White Way in Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Sisters Rosensweig” in 1992, followed by a turn in “The Swan” (1993) at NYC’s Public Theatre.

Since portraying a German Jewish doctor incarcerated by the Japanese during World War II in “Paradise Road” (1997), which she filmed prior to receiving her Oscar, McDormand has been very selective in her projects. In Dublin she courageously essayed the role of Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1998), and though the famous neurotic was a reach for her, one had to applaud her risk-taking. On film that year, she donned the habit as Miss Clavell, the headmistress of the boarding school girls of “Madeline”, based on the books of Ludwig Bemelmans, and she also returned to the New York stage in a modern adaptation of “Oedipus”. Teaming with director Curtis Hanson for his first foray into comedy, “Wonder Boys” (2000), McDormand excelled in the quiet, understated part as a college chancellor, revealing new facets of her screen persona. She next surfaced amidst the huge ensemble of Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” comedy-drama (2000), playing the overprotective, unintentionally funny mother of the young journalist (Patrick Fugit) drawn from Crowe’s experiences as a teenager writing for Rolling Stone. In 2002, McDormand stood by her man as husband Robert DeNiro realizes that the killer he has been searching for is his son in the crime drama “City By The Sea.”

The following year, she portrayed a entirely different kind of mother from her “Fargo” and “Almost Famous” roles in the indie feature “Laurel Canyon,” a drama that also co-starred Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale. Although the film was lackluster, it was invigorated by McDormand’s fresh and fearless performance as a sexually confident record producer in her 40s who sketchy personal choices and innate desire to stay youthful, hip and edgy has alienated from her son (Bale) and intrigued her future daughter-in-law (Beckinsale). McDormand was equally appealing in her too-brief turn as Diane Keaton’s tell-it-like-is sister in the romantic comedy “Something’s Gotta Give” (2003).

After a supporting role in the blockbuster bomb, “Aeon Flux” (2005), McDormand again appeared with her “Flux” co-star Charlize Theron in the far more competent and emotionally involving “North Country” (2005). She played a smiling, but tart-tongued truck driver at an iron mine who helps her friend Josey (Theron) speak out against the poor treatment of female employees by their male counterparts. McDormand earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by An Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. She also got a nod from the Academy Awards, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

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Laura Linney Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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This attractive blonde daughter of playwright Romulus Linney didn’t initially set out to be an actress but by her teens had settled on her chosen profession. After working in summer stock and training at Juilliard, Laura Linney began her big screen career with a small role as a young teacher in “Lorenzo’s Oil” (1992). She made an impression as the secretary sleeping with the president in the Ivan Reitman-directed “Dave” (1993). Linney went on to co-star with Steve Martin in “A Simple Twist of Fate” (1994), modernized spin on “Silas Marner” and then landed her first starring roles as the naive transplant to San Francisco Mary Ann Singleton in the PBS adaptation of “Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City” (1994) and as a member of an expedition into the jungles of South America in the critically derided but financially successful “Congo” (1995).

Linney’s ascendancy continued when she nabbed the co-starring role as the former lover now courtroom adversary of Richard Gere in “Primal Fear” and was solidified when Clint Eastwood tapped her to portray his daughter in the political thriller “Absolute Power” (1997). In between her film work, the actress squeezed in Broadway appearances in a revival of “Holiday” (in 1995) and co-starred opposite Jane Alexander in “Honour” (in 1998). Linney also reprised her signature role of Mary Ann Singleton in the Showtime sequel “Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City” in 1998.

Perhaps her highest profile role to date came when she was tipped to portray Meryl, the wife of Jim Carrey’s Truman Burbank in the satirical “The Truman Show” (1998). Under Peter Weir’s solid direction, Linney essayed the role of an actress playing the wife of a man whose life is broadcast on TV. Her multi-layered performance as the increasingly unhappy Meryl chafing under her duty to be loyal wife and commercial pitchwoman worked in counterpoint to Carrey’s fine work as the questioning Truman.

With the Sundance hit “You Can Count on Me” (2000), Linney proved her capabilities, turning in a richly nuanced turn as a woman coping with a demanding new boss (Matthew Broderick), raising her six-year old son (Rory Culkin) and the return of her prodigal brother (Mark Ruffalo). The actress’ utterly convincing portrayal never struck a false note and she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for her efforts, as well as several awards wins and nominations from key critics organizations. Such mainstream accolades did not induce Linney to sell out, however: A return to Broadway in “Uncle Vanya” opposite Derek Jacobi followed before she undertook the part of a lusty campaign manager in the TNT original “Running Mates” (2000). Keeping her indie credibility high, Linney then segued to early 20th-century Manhattan as the bitchy society matron Bertha Dorset in the exquisite adaptation of “The House of Mirth” (also 2000).

She kicked off 2001 reprising Mary Ann Singleton in “Armistead Maupin’s Further Tales of the City” (Showtime), brought life and humanity to actor-turned-director Rob Morrow’s sensitive Tourette’s Syndrome indie “Maze” (2001) and then co-starred with Gena Rowlands in “Wild Iris” (2002), a Showtime drama about an estranged mother and daughter forced by circumstances to share a home. The latter featured an agonizingly emotional performance that earned Linney an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. She also made an appearance in the HBO biopic “The Laramie Project” (2002), which chronicled events in Laramie, Wyoming, following the tragic hate-killing of gay teen Matthew Shepard. Her more commercial-minded efforts such as 2002’s dreary thriller “The Mothman Prophecies,” in which she played a cop who becomes involved with a man (Richard Gere’s) search for the legendary local monster that may have caused his wife’s death. Although she shared some nice scenes with Gere, Linney’s performance was unable to overcome the murky script. Her strong work in 2003′ “The Life of David Gale,” playing a woman involved with a death penalty opponent who suffers a mysterious end, was similarly overwhelmed by the film’s increasingly ludicrous plot twists and overwrought anti-death penalty message.

Linney reunited with Eastwood when she appeared in the director’s highly praised revenge opus “Mystic River” (2003), playing Sean Penn’s strong-willed second wife, and she was the only American in writer-director Richard Curtis’ large ensemble in the multistory romantic comedy “Love Actually” (2003), playing a woman who finally acts on her long-term crush on a co-coworker. In 2004 Linney scored an Emmy for her recurring guest performance as Dr. Frasier Crane’s professional matchmaker and love interest on the final season of the hit sit-com “Frasier,” while on the big screen she starred opposite Liam Neeson in the role of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey’s wife Clara in writer-director Bill Condon’s praised biopic “Kinsey” (2004). Her performance earned Linney Best Supporting Actress nominations for the SAG Awards, Golden Globes and Academy Awards. The actress’ next turn was as a lawyer who takes on a negligent homicide case involving a priest (Tom Wilkinson) who performed an exorcism on a young girl that resulted in her death in fact-based, character-driven thriller “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” (2005). That same year she appeared in writer-director Noah Baumbach’s admired “The Squid and the Whale” as the estranged wife of a failed writer (Jeff Daniels) who achieves literary success herself and engages in a painful back-and-forth with her ex built on their mutal affairs and attempts to raise their young sons.

Linney next shot two films simultaneously: Barry Levinson’s “Man of the Year” (lensed 2005), about a late night talk shot host (Robin Williams) who runs for president as a stunt and actually ends up winning, and “Breach” (lensed), a thriller which tells the story of FBI traitor Robert Hanssen.

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Bai Ling Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

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Bai Ling means “white spirit” in her Chinese dialect and she has become a rising actress on both sides of the Pacific. The delicate, almost ethereal actress was particularly memorable to USA audiences as Myca, the drug-pushing cannibal with a taste for eyeballs, in Alex Proyas’ thriller “The Crow” (1994) and as the President’s Chinese interpreter in Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” (1995). The latter role was almost ironic as Bai Ling had arrived in the USA just four years earlier not knowing one word of English.

Raised in a typical Chinese family, one accepting of the revolution, Bai Ling was a musical performer at age 14, inducted into the army and sent to Tibet to entertain the troops. In 1986, she also made her film debut in “Haitan” and subsequently appeared in films made in China. Worldwide audiences could catch a glimpse of her in Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Little Buddha” (1993), but it was her subsequent efforts in “Dead Funny” (1995) and her delightful turn as an Americanized immigrant in “Somewhere in the City” (1996) that brought her attention. Bai Ling made headlines when she landed the leading role opposite Richard Gere in the political thriller “Red Corner” (1997).

Her TV work has included “Nobody’s Girls” (PBS, 1994) a documentary with recreations in which Bai Ling was Mary Bong, a 15-year old Chinese woman who became famous as a midwife after she settled in Alaska. She made her American TV-movie debut in “Dead Weekend” (Showtime, 1995).

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