“The Northman is not a good movie, but it’s a failure made with chops. It’s made, in an odd way, without enough true drama to get in the way of the chops. The film doesn’t so much skimp on emotional resonance as slaughter it. It’s just numb enough to mark the kickoff of a whole new career.” — from Owen Gleiberman‘s “Is The Northman a Failed Art Film, or Is It Robert Eggers’ Stolidly Successful Blockbuster Audition?” (posted today).
This morning a friend sent an excerp Xxxx t of Paul Benedict Rowan‘s “Making Ryan’s Daughter: The Myths, Madness and Mastery” (New Island, 7.1.20). It had appeared in a 7.19.20 issue of The Independent.
What’s wrong with Ryan’s Daughter? Lean’s decision to cast the over-rated Christopher Jones, whom he impulsively decided upon after failing to sign Marlon Brando for the role.
Jones played a British Army officer (Major Randolph Doryan) whom Rosy Ryan (Sarah Miles) has a torrid affair with while married to a local school teacher, Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum).
I have always felt that Ryan’s Daughter is beautifully made and altogether half of a very good film. It is one-quarter spoiled, unfortunately, by Jones’ lifeless performance and one-quarter spoiled by John Mills‘ village idiot.
Summary: Jones’ performance and general professional manner was so stiff and unresponsive that Lean, Miles and Mitchum decided that drugging him with valium was the only way to solve matters.
Mitchum had hashish parties and imported women for what sounded like orgies. Miles became infatuated with the married Mitchum and eventually chased him back to Los Angeles, breaking up her marriage to the multiple Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Bolt.
And all this after Lean lost Marlon Brando at the last minute to play the lead and cast Jones instead, who had a nervous breakdown during production, not knowing he was being drugged. Post-filming Jones returned to LA and promptly quit acting.
Jones was living in Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski’s guest house on their rented Cielo Drive property. and claimed to have had an affair with Tate. She was murdered by Charles Manson followers during filming, which devastated Jones.
Miles and Jones grew to dislike one another, leading to trouble when filming the love scenes. Jones was engaged to Olivia Hussey, and said he was not attracted to Miles. He even refused to rehearse the forest love scene with her, which prompted Miles to conspire with Lean and Mitchum on the valium thing.
It was Mitchum who settled on the idea of drugging Jones by sprinkling an unspecified substance daily on his cereal. Mitchum overdosed Jones, however, and the actor was nearly catatonic during the love scene.
Last night Warren Beatty did a half-hour q & a with TCM Classic Film Festival host Ben Mankiewicz following a 6:30 pm screening of Heaven Can Wait (’78), which WB co-directed with Buck Henry.
Beatty was sharp and playful and half-evasive, as always. If he wanted to (if he had the herculean will), Beatty could write perhaps the greatest American history novel and first-hand confessional of all time, as he was right smack dab in the middle of things from 1959 on…he was friendly with everyone who ever mattered (including all the big politicians and corporate tycoons), did everything, swaggered around, had affairs with dozens of accomplished women…a first-hand witness to and participant in the last great period of American history…what a life! And having been out of the game since Rules Don’t Apply, the wokester Stalinists never came for him,
If you turn the volume all the way and listen on headphones, you just make out what they’re saying. Barely.
Remember: Beatty is the only person to have been nominated for acting in, directing, writing, and producing the same film, and he did so twice: first for Heaven Can Wait and three years later with Reds.
Joe Biden had already wished everyone a “happy, happy Easter” and had also said “all right” (as in “okay, that’s enough of that shit”). So it’s not like he forgot to wave. Maybe he was saying to himself “look, I’m here, I wished everyone well, I smiled, I applauded the easter bunny, I was careful not to mention anything religious …why do I have to fucking wave on top of everything else?”
Recorded last night at 7:15 pm, just before the TCM Classic Film Festival showing of Invaders From Mars.
Plus they’re all bunched up around the ankle and touching the ground/floor. Ethan Hawke’s HE stock just dropped a few points.
I attended two screenings yesterday at the TCM Classic Film Festival — Heaven Can Wait (‘78) and Invaders From Mars (‘53). The announced policy was “masks on unless you’re eating popcorn.”
Over the last two or three weeks I read several articles about the seemingly close race between French president Emmanuel Macron and his arch-conservative, Putin-favoring challenger, Marine Le Pen. The general tone of the pieces was alarmist…”the sky might be falling!”
Not so much, it turns out. Macron has reportedly defeated Le Pen in a landslide — 58% to 42%.
