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Kevin Smith has come full circle, picking up where 'Clerks' left off 12 years ago. Will it brand him a boy wonder also-ran or a comeback king?
THE opening credits of "Clerks II" feature a travelogue montage of suburbia, as a song by Talking Heads gently croons, "Years ago I was an angry young man." The same might be said of writer and director Kevin Smith. Since bursting onto the scene 12 years ago with the first "Clerks" — a rowdy, melancholy-laced comedy about dead-end jobs financed largely on credit cards — and over the course of six more features, Smith has become a curiously divisive figure, somehow symbolizing tremendous success and total failure.
His notoriously dedicated fan base, feverishly reciting quotes and rabidly buying up his merchandise, sees him as a regular guy made good. Critics, by and large, have come to see him as self-satisfied and lazy. Coming off the critical and commercial implosion of his previous film, "Jersey Girl," which was a conscious attempt at making a more conventional mainstream movie, Smith finds himself back where he started. Though it may be easy to dismiss the dour reception of "Jersey Girl" as simply a part of the backlash against the tabloid romance of its stars, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, there is certainly more to it than that, as the film exposed cracks in the foundation of Smith's work.
As if to encapsulate the rather uncertain position Smith now occupies in the Hollywood landscape, HBO's insider comedy "Entourage" recently dropped Smith's name (alongside Michael Bay, no less) as shorthand for sloppy, soulless filmmaking. By reviving the characters from his first feature in "Clerks II," Smith now takes stock of his emotional life in his mid-30s in the same way "Clerks" surveyed his 20s. A freewheeling farce on lack of direction, stillborn ambitions and a life of mindless drudgery has given way to a rueful examination of unfulfilled promises, dashed dreams and the resigned acceptance of one's lot in life.
Though he often projects a demeanor of laid-back affability, there is also a free-floating air of anxiety and discontentment that hovers near Smith as well. He has an astounding recollection of his own bad reviews — hello, Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — and exhibits an uncanny knack for diffusing criticism by preemptively turning it into a joke. Over the course of two encounters in the span of a few days, he wore similar-looking athletic jerseys with slogans emblazoned across the back — one read "Hack" and the other "Sell Out."
The first "Clerks" came about during that time just before the Internet (yes, such a time existed), the era of grunge and "Slacker," when many of those upon whom the Gen-X label was being imposed found themselves grappling with a heightened awareness of the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't choices that ambition brings, the inescapable compromises of trying to achieve success on one's own terms. That ambivalence remains very much at the core of Smith's films, as the overarching structures of his work are derived from an essential tension between the rowdy, fan-pleasing trash talk and a searching, yearning need for a deeper emotional resonance. The results are often something like an existential shrug.
"At the end of the day I can only do what I can do," he says. "You read a lot of reviews where people say, 'You should stretch. He should learn to stretch as a filmmaker.' After a dozen years now, don't they get it?
"This is what I do, this is the storyteller I am. Do I let myself off the hook by saying, 'I'm just not that talented?' Probably. But also I think it's important to know your limitations. I've kind of embraced mine. And I've had seven films' worth of practice to figure that out."
As "Clerks II" begins, the convenience store where Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) continued to work has burned to the ground. Both in their mid-30s, they soon find themselves working at one of the few jobs worse than the one they had, at a fast-food restaurant named Mooby's. Dante is planning to move to Florida soon with his fiancée (played by Smith's real-life wife, Jennifer Schwalbach), where her parents will give them a house and a carwash to run and they will live a respectable, regular life. But his escalating infatuation with the manager at Mooby's (the film's secret weapon, Rosario Dawson) makes him rethink his plans. (The film also features, as have all his films except "Jersey Girl," Smith himself as the character of Silent Bob, along with his sidekick, Jay, played by Jason Mewes.)
On a personal level, in the years since his debut feature, Smith, who turns 36 in August, has gotten married, become a father, entered his 30s and moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles. It's not difficult to look at his filmography as chapters in an ongoing autobiography. After the rather crushing fate met by "Jersey Girl," Smith had to really take stock of himself, and he found revisiting the characters of Randal and Dante to be just the way to do it.
"Each flick I've done is kind of a snapshot of where I was in my life when I wrote it; 'Clerks II' really speaks to where I am in life at the moment. You don't have to be an analyst to look at the movie and go, 'The Quick Stop means a little more than the Quick Stop, and Florida represents something more than just going to Florida.' That's kind of where I am. There's definitely something bittersweet about arriving at 'Clerks II.' "
Critic Amy Taubin first heard of "Clerks" after its first screening at New York's Independent Feature Film Market, attended by barely a dozen people. She called Smith directly for a tape, and her subsequent articles on the film in the Village Voice were instrumental in bringing it to the attention of festivals and distributors.
Speaking recently about "Clerks II," Taubin suggested, "Dante's desire to get out of the Quick Stop mirrors Kevin's desire not to be making these raunchy comedies, but how not to do that is not clear to him, just as the next step is not clear to Dante."
More than just a filmmaker
ASIDE from his role as writer-director of feature films, Smith has also created a number of sideline endeavors for himself. He makes appearances on the college lecture circuit, has done a series of spots for "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," has written comic books, done various guest spots, co-owns comic book and memorabilia stores in New Jersey and Los Angeles and, perhaps most important, has an extremely active and direct role online in a circle of Internet sites. The websites allow him to interact with a broad swath of fans, sell merchandise and, as with the case of "Clerks II," heavily promote his upcoming releases.
Smith recently co-published the first in a series of graphic novel prequels to Richard Kelly's feature film "Southland Tales," a futuristic fable of the apocalypse starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and The Rock. At a recent signing event, Smith showed just how deep his commitment to and connection with his fans goes. He patiently listened as fans told him about themselves, he posed for pictures, he talked to people's friends on their cellphones, and never hurried a single one. If things are moving toward a niche-oriented, long-tail model of cultural consumption, Smith already has self-created and corralled his piece of the niche.
"Kevin is incredibly savvy when it comes to marketing," Kelly says. "Part of preserving your auteur status, preserving your vision and continuing to make films the way you want to is developing an identity, a fan base and an audience that will always be there for you. I think Kevin has done that, and he's able to make exactly the films he wants to make."
Of course, this can lead to the dispiriting sense of a filmmaker "playing to the base," in the lexicon of contemporary politics, most obviously in Smith's in-joke heavy "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." For those who "want more" from Smith, feel that he is given to coasting and could easily develop into a more well-rounded and conventionally mature filmmaker and storyteller, his sidebar endeavors on the Web and as an all-round entertainer-entrepreneur could be seen as distractions standing in the way of him developing his true gifts.
"I don't buy that," interjected author John Pierson, a longtime fixture in the independent film community who was involved in the early careers of such diverse filmmakers as Smith, Richard Linklater, Spike Lee and Michael Moore. "He's made seven features in 12 years. Which, if you look at everybody else's track record, their production frequency, he's ahead of David O. Russell or Quentin Tarantino or plenty of other people."
Full of scatological humor, riffs on pop culture and inside jokes, "Clerks II" can be seen on the surface as the bawdy comedy Smith was trying to get away from when he made "Jersey Girl." He insists, however, that if examined more closely, it is just the kind of film many critics wanted from him, one that aims to synthesize the dueling sides of his personality, what he calls "the profane and the profound." Toward the end of the film, Randal makes a confession to Dante of his own fears and insecurities that is as heartbreaking as it is unexpected.
"I think the way it catches you off guard is that this actually is very moving," suggests Taubin. "It is a very big part of Kevin's talent. There's a thing about humor — it can be extremely defensive, it's a way of keeping your cool. And I think he uses humor in this way, and sometimes the veil, the comedy, falls away and you see there's something going on underneath.
"When he doesn't do that, that's when he gets maudlin like in 'Jersey Girl.' He so desperately wanted to do something that wasn't what he thinks of as broad comedy that it's like he forgot how to write. I think in Kevin himself, he realized that what most of his films depend on is a kind of desperately held-onto adolescent humor, that refusal to grow up and be mature. That's what's best about him."
He is, in a strange way, grateful for the failure of "Jersey Girl," even thanking it in the end credits to "Clerks II," as it puts him in the same position he was in after "Mallrats," a period that led to two of his best-regarded films, "Chasing Amy" and "Dogma." To say that Smith seems trapped by his own successes might not be entirely accurate, but it doesn't seem far off, either.
"There's something to be said for failing," he noted dryly. "It's not the failure you feel, it's the failure that people project when something disappoints. You're back to ground zero, where there's no expectations, and that's where I like to be. People like to set the bar high. I like to put the bar on the ground and barely step over it. I like to keep the expectations really low.
"After something like 'Mallrats' or 'Jersey Girl,' the expectations are in the toilet. People are like, 'He's over, he's done.' So it's easier to be, like, 'Ta-da, I'm not.' It's a much more comfortable place to work from. When you have an escalating career, and every time you have to outdo yourself, I couldn't handle that kind of pressure. But having to outdo 'Jersey Girl'? Not very difficult."
Early Don Messer fiddle to be sold
One of the first fiddles ever used by Canadian musical legend Don Messer, which has been untouched for 33 years, will be sold at a July auction, his daughter says.
"It makes me a little sad," Dawn Messer Attis told the Canadian Press, adding that she hopes the person who buys it at a July 23 auction will play it and "enjoy it."
The 1929 fiddle was bought by Messer for $105 in 1930 and has been sitting in a climate-controlled room at the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax since 1973 — the year the musician died of a heart attack.
Messer, who was born in New Brunswick, hosted the popular Don Messer's Jubilee on CBC Television from 1958 to 1969. The fiddler had a loyal following for his brand of what he dubbed "way-down East" music.
Messer began playing at the age of seven, performing at barn dances and weddings while collecting a small pile of fiddles.
The plain brown fiddle being sold is a copy of a Stradivarius — the invaluable stringed instruments made by Italian Antonio Stradivari in the late 1600s. There are less than 700 such instruments left in the world, highly prized for producing exceptional sound.
There are a few nicks on the fiddle and it shows "some wear and tear" because of its age, according to Keith Ross, who will play the violin at the auction in Coldbrook, N.S.
Messer left a note in its carrying case saying that the fiddle was "very responsive" and he was happy playing it for five years before switching to another one.
Messer had some 14 fiddles in his lifetime. A few have been sold and others given to friends. Attis, 72, kept one to pass on to her son. One fiddle was bought in 2004 for $8,000 at an auction.
Attis said the family considered leaving the fiddle at the archives, which houses much of Messer's memorabilia including awards, records and sheet music.
But she said they recalled one of her father's constant comments: "A good instrument has to be played."
Regina King clocks in with "24" gig
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Regina King, best known for her work in such features as "Jerry Maguire" and "Ray," has joined Fox's drama "24" as a regular for next season.
Additionally, D.B. Woodside is taking on a bigger role. Woodside plays Wayne Palmer, the strong-willed brother and former chief of staff of the late President David Palmer, played by Dennis Haysbert. On the show's upcoming sixth season, he will be elected president.
King will play his sister, a powerful advocacy lawyer.
Player upgrades, new devices on music horizon
SAN FRANCISCO (Billboard) - If the rampant speculation over the digital music plans of Microsoft and Apple Computer are to be believed, the digital music landscape is about to change radically in the very near future.
Both companies are said to be readying portable digital music players in time for the holiday sales season that significantly raise the bar on features and functionality previously unavailable in their respective product lines.
That Microsoft may actually introduce an MP3 player at all has generated the largest amount of buzz. Such a development would mark a major shift in the company's strategy. To date, the Xbox game console is the only product Microsoft makes itself. Historically, the company's model has been to license its technology to those creating the hardware and services, fostering an ecosystem of developers.
But in the digital music market, neither the MP3 player manufacturers nor online music retailers using the company's technology have proved capable of successfully competing with Apple's iPod and iTunes Music Store. Introducing its own combined device and service essentially is a vote of no confidence in the very ecosystem the company has been trying to create.
Microsoft has not commented to date on the rumors.
CUTTING INTO APPLE'S PIE
For Microsoft to mount an effective challenge to Apple, analysts say, it will have to bring something newer and/or better to the table than what the iPod currently provides. The consensus among several industry sources is that Microsoft will attempt to do this with a device featuring a Wi-Fi wireless Internet connection. This would allow users to download music and other content directly to the device without using a PC.
Whether this tactic will prove to be Microsoft's silver bullet remains a matter of debate.
"It's a nonissue," Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg says. "It's something that the geeks are into, but Wi-Fi isn't mainstream or ubiquitous enough to affect the masses."
Besides Wi-Fi's penchant for eating up battery life, Gartenberg says that the idea of music search and discovery on a handheld device is a user-interface nightmare, which makes it a questionable lynchpin. Instead, he hopes to see a device that builds upon the key factors that made the iPod a hit -- design, usability and marketing.
Its success with the Xbox proves Microsoft has the ability to develop hip products and the willingness to back them up with extensive lifestyle marketing campaigns. In fact, the same team responsible for the Xbox reportedly is behind this new entertainment initiative.
Meanwhile, Apple is not expected to stand idle. The company is rumored to be working on a Wi-Fi-enabled iPod. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster notes that Apple, which normally releases two new iPod models every 12 months, has yet to unveil a new product in the series this year. He expects Apple to introduce a wireless version of the iPod this fall.
GETTING VOCAL
Other Apple patent applications point to interest in text-to-speech and speech-recognition capabilities that would enable the iPod to "speak" song titles and allow users to give voice navigation commands. Additionally, there's the "real" video iPod featuring a touch-screen display, plus the long-rumored iPhone.
All of this is good news to the music industry. Microsoft and Apple have the clout to do much more than simply get existing iPod owners to replace their old devices.
"If these scenarios pan out, and we get some interesting products out there, the potential would be that these could be devices that attract more consumers to buying more digital downloads than physical CDs," says Michael McGuire, an analyst with Gartner G2.
But it's really the rumblings of an integrated device and service from Microsoft that has the music industry abuzz, and that's a significant feat, given the hype factor Apple has enjoyed to date.
Analysts suspect many consumers have not made the transition to digital music because they see it as Apple's domain and not a real market shift.
"It is important to have more than one or two vendors if you want the market to grow rapidly," McGuire says. "It is an actual ecosystem as opposed to a smaller ecosystem dominated by one company."
Additionally, music industry execs who publicly praise Apple's establishment of the digital music field have been waging a silent war with the company over exactly how digital music is sold, with such issues as variable pricing and device interoperability as battlegrounds.
If executed well, priced reasonably and backed by an extensive marketing campaign, a Microsoft challenge could set the stage for real competition to the iPod.
"Another strong player who can grow the market overall and take away some of the power Apple wields in negotiations is something people are quietly rooting for," Gartenberg says. "If the rumors are true, it'll be an interesting fall."
'Pirates' becomes year's top-grossing film
LOS ANGELES - "Pirates of the Caribbean" is looking more like "Treasure Island." Already a record-shattering blockbuster, Johnny Depp's sequel "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" dug up $62.2 million in its second weekend, raising its 10-day total to $258.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The movie has quickly become the year's top-grossing film, rocketing past "X-Men: The Last Stand," which has taken in $232 million in eight weeks. The "Pirates" sequel has grossed an additional $125 million overseas.
"It's really fun when you're riding a comet like this," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which based the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies on its theme park attraction. "This thing is just unbelievable. It creates its own wake."
Sony's "Little Man," the Wayans brothers' slapstick farce about a pint-size thief masquerading as a baby, opened as the No. 2 movie with $21.7 million. The tale stars Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who co-wrote it with brother Keenen Ivory Wayans, the director.
Universal's comedy "You, Me and Dupree," starring Owen Wilson as a houseguest causing chaos for a buddy and his new bride ( Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson), debuted at No. 3 with $21.3 million.
Hollywood's business dipped for the first time in two months. After eight straight weekends of rising revenues, overall receipts totaled $156 million, down 5 percent from the same weekend last year, when Depp also was at the top of the box office with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
Still, the second weekend gross for "Dead Man's Chest" topped the debut of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which opened with $56.2 million. "Dead Man's Chest" had the third-best second weekend ever, behind "Shrek 2" ($72.2 million) and "Spider-Man" ($71.4 million).
By next weekend, "Dead Man's Chest" should climb past the $305 million domestic total rung up by its predecessor, 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," Disney's Viane said.
"Dead Man's Chest" debuted with $135.6 million over the opening weekend, beating the previous record of $114.8 million set by "Spider-Man" in 2002.
Ending with a cliffhanger, "Dead Man's Chest" will be closely followed by a third "Pirates" movie due out next May, with Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and other co-stars on a voyage to rescue Depp's rakish pirate Capt. Jack Sparrow.
"Huge expectations. 'Pirates 2' is maybe the toughest act in box-office history to follow," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "'Pirates 3' is the definition of a predestined blockbuster."
After a strong start in narrow release the previous weekend, Warner Independent's sci-fi drug-addiction tale "A Scanner Darkly" expanded to more theaters and broke into the top 10 with $1.2 million. The movie, featuring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr., was shot in live action then painted over with digital animation.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," $62.2 million.
2. "Little Man," $21.7 million.
3. "You, Me and Dupree," $21.3 million.
4. "Superman Returns," $11.6 million.
5. "The Devil Wears Prada," $10.45 million.
6. "Cars," $7.5 million.
7. "Click," $7 million.
8. "The Lake House," $1.6 million.
9. "Nacho Libre," $1.5 million.
10. "A Scanner Darkly," $1.2 million.
Box office champ "Pirates" lashes dueling comedies
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Johnny Depp's hit "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel ruled the waves at the North American box office for a second weekend, while two new comedies were in a tight race for the distant No. 2 slot.
According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, Walt Disney Co.'s "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Curse" earned $62.2 million during the three-day period beginning July 14. Its 10-day total stands at $258.2 million, making it the biggest movie of the year so far.
Disney officials declined to predict the film's eventual total, but observers expect a possible third weekend at No. 1 as it nears $300 million. Some targets include $340 million, the studio record set by "Finding Nemo," and $380 million, the sum earned by last year's biggest movie, "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith."
The Wayans brothers lowbrow comedy "Little Man" claimed second spot with about $21.7 million, just ahead of fellow rookie "You, Me and Dupree" with $21.3 million. Rankings could change when final data are released on Monday, although the estimates did not provoke any dispute between the films' respective distributors.
"Little Man" stars Marlon Wayans as a jewel thief whose face is grafted onto the two-foot body of a child actor. It was directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, and also stars Shawn Wayans. The movie, which cost about $64 million to make, exceeded the expectations of its distributor, Columbia Pictures. The Sony Corp.-owned studio had hoped for an opening in the high-teens, on par with the $19 million opening of the siblings' previous effort, "White Chicks."
"You, Me and Dupree," a $54 million film starring Owen Wilson in a familiar slacker role, this time as the houseguest from hell, turned in a "solid showing," according to Nikki Rocco, president of distribution at Universal Pictures.
Exit polling indicated women made up 58 percent of the audience, a tribute to the appeal of both Wilson and co-star Kate Hudson. Matt Dillon also stars.
Rounding out the top-five were Warner Bros.' "Superman Returns" with $11.6 million, and 20th Century Fox's "The Devil Wears Prada" with $10.4 million, both down two places in their third weekends. Their respective totals stand at $183.6 million and $83.6 million.
The top-10 contained one other new entrant, the limited-release sci-fi saga "A Scanner Darkly," which rose nine places to claim the final spot with $1.2 million. The Warner Independent Pictures release, featuring animated likenesses of Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey, Jr., has earned $1.8 million after two weeks. It was playing in just 216 theaters, while most of the top movies were in more than 3,000 theaters each.
Shyamalan gambles with Lady In The Water
NEW YORK — So is Lady In The Water the riskiest, most controversial movie yet of M. Night Shyamalan’s storied film-making career?
Not necessarily, says the 36-year-old, India-born, Philadelphia-based director-screenwriter.
Even though Shyamalan will admit the fairy tale-fantasy-thriller, in theatres Friday, is certainly the most personal and revealing of all his movies — including The Sixth Sense and Signs — which have grossed a whopping $2 billion worldwide.
“There’s something irrationally pure about (this film) that’s really (about) who I am,” says Shyamalan, who got the idea for Lady from a made-up fairy tale he told his two daughters.
“The centre of the movie (is about) the idea that you don’t believe in yourself ... and that someone says, ‘That weird, stupid thing you’re writing,’ might (actually) have some effect. For me, it’s much more raw on a lot of levels and I love that. Someone asked what makes me tick, and I said, ‘Danger. Absolute, perilous danger. Just putting yourself out there.’ And hopefully, over the course of time, you will get very truthful things from me, in that way.”
But in an excerpt from the new book, The Man Who Heard Voices: Or How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career On A FairyTale, published in Entertainment Weekly, Shyamalan is depicted as devastated and crying after a dinner where executives from Disney — who had made his last four films — passed on making Lady.
The book was originally going to be about Shyamalan’s fifth movie for Disney, but took on a much more sensational tone in light of the events that unfolded.
“It wasn’t cruelty, they’re good people,” Shyamalan insists. “For me, I felt like this would be a great fit for that company: An eccentric, child-like, adult-imagination kind of thing. But it was not the right time and the right movie. And, really, it was coming from a parental place. And I appreciate that from them.
“But sometimes, you just want to go, ‘I’ve got to go to college. I’ve got to go do my thing. I’ll be back. Don’t worry. It’s all going to be good.’ There’s not a sense of ‘I hate you! I’m never coming back!’ The most important thing to happen for me out of that dinner, or that conversation with Disney, was I heard them say everything: ‘You’re insane!’ And I totally went, ‘Everything you said is valid and I still 100% believe in the movie. And so I’ve got to go make it.’”
Shyamalan wound up taking the movie to Warner Brothers. But he doesn’t necessarily think the controversy about getting Lady made, as detailed in the book which saw author Michael Bamberger receive unprecedented access to the director’s working life, will help its box office.
“I don’t know if it’s good for box office,”he says.
“What’s nice about (the book) is that people can see the struggle. Because the struggle is there in all of them. On every single movie there’s a struggle. It’s a torturous process to make personal movies, this weird thing that I’m doing, which is you’re making independent, personal movies. And released in a blockbuster capacity, that balancing act is a torturous balance and it’s not one that I contrived.
“It is naturally the sum of the elements of how I think. So the supernatural elements and the personal elements, if you go said, ‘Do whatever you want!’ this is what I do. So that part of it is really nice that people can see that it’s really fu--ing hard.’ The movie, the book, that whole time period, was really a huge giant act of faith for me going, ‘It’s all going to be okay. Put yourself at great, great risk.’”
Paul Giamatti, for whom Shyamalan specifically wrote a starring role in Lady, doesn’t mince words about the director’s film legacy.
“He’s making eccentric movies. That’s what I think is most interesting. And, I mean, they’re commercial movies. He’s just a fascinating guy in and of himself, what he’s doing, what he’s trying to do — and he pulls them off. But they’re eccentric movies. They’re very strange and I thought that was kind of great. I thought this was a very weird idea. And if he could pull it off, it would be amazing.I didn’t know if he could. I think he does. But it’s not an easy thing to pull off. It’s kind of an ambitious idea.”
Adding to the risk factor is the fact that Shyamalan picked an unlikely but talented pair for his Lady leads: Two critically respected actors — but hardly top box-office draws.
Bryce Dallas Howard — who starred as the blind, brave heroine in Shyamalan’s critically panned The Village — plays Lady’s title role, while Giamatti is the apartment complex superintendent who discovers her water nymph-like character in the building’s pool.
In the excerpt from The Man Who Heard Voices, Giamatti is depicted as supposedly keeping Shyamalan waiting before agreeing to make the movie. At one point, Shyamalan actually considered offering Kevin Costner — among others — the superintendent gig.
“It was probably five days and I think he was anxious,” says Giamatti, an Oscar nominee best known for his work in Cinderella Man and Sideways. “I felt bad when I heard that I made him so anxious. I think I was kind of tired and I was at home and I forgot to read it for a couple of days. When I heard that, I was like, ‘Oh, geez. I feel terrible. I made the guy wait.’ But I just think I was slow that day or something. I wasn’t really on top of it. I don’t remember there being a million things. But once I read it, I thought it was great.There was no question, no question.”
On top of all the other inherent risks in Lady, Shyamalan — who has appeared in all of his movies — decided to take on his biggest role yet as the apartment complex’s struggling writer.
“I’ve been kind of dancing with who I am in these movies,” he says. “There’s always this, ‘Well, what do you do? Do you do the Hitchcock thing? Do you do the Woody Allen thing? What do you do?’ I don’t really do anything. This is as big a role as I’ll ever play because there’s a physical limit to it, because I can’t direct. In the end, I think I was in 20 scenes out of a 100-and-something, so that’s the limit that it could be.”
Giamatti shook his head and laughed when asked if he gave Shyamalan any acting tips. “I thought he was really pretty good,” he says. “He was very good at directing himself and he was actually really hard on himself, which he shouldn’t have been, ’cause I thought he was good.
“He doesn’t fancy himself as any kind of great actor. He really enjoys actors and I think he’s fascinated by it. So he’s not out there, thinking he’s killing the world while he’s acting.”
...Report: Lavigne weds Whibley of Sum 41
MONTECITO, Calif. - Punk-pop princess Avril Lavigne has married a fellow Canadian singer-songwriter, according to published reports. Lavigne married Deryck Whibley, the guitarist and front man for the band Sum 41, on Saturday, at a private estate near Santa Barbara, People magazine reported on its Web site.
The young rockers had a mostly traditional ceremony, the magazine said.
The usually shabby Lavigne wore a Vera Wang gown, carried white roses and was walked down the aisle by her father as Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" played.
Lavigne, 21, and Whibley, 26, exchanged vows under an awning covered in white flowers.
Messages left by The Associated Press for Lavigne's label, Nettwerk Management, were not immediately returned Sunday.
The pair have been dating since early 2004 and bought a house in Los Angeles later that year. They became engaged in Venice, Italy, in 2005 while Lavigne was on a European tour.
Lavigne is working on her third album and recently gave voice to the possum Heather in the film "Over the Hedge."
RCMP mourns deaths of 2 Mounties shot in Sask.
Two RCMP constables who were shot more than a week earlier in central Saskatchewan have both died, an RCMP spokesman confirmed Sunday, saying their sacrifices would "never be forgotten."
Const. Marc Bourdages, 26, and Const. Robin Cameron, 29, had been in critical condition in a Saskatoon hospital since the shooting on July 7 near the farming community of Mildred, about 140 kilometres west of Prince Albert.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Brian Jones confirmed the deaths in a news conference in Saskatoon Sunday.
"We're all tremendously saddened by today's news," he said. "Mark and Robin were much loved.
"The sacrifice that both Robin and Mark have made in the line of duty will never be forgotten."
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Darrell McFadyen confirmed that the two constables died overnight.
"Robin died at approximately 11 p.m. and Marc about two hours later," McFadyen said. "Both succumbed to severe head injuries. Despite all of the excellent care that was provided to them, they were unable to recover."
'We knew she would never come back'
Cameron's father, Howard, talked about how proud he was of his daughter — and how her family came to realize she would not recover from her injuries.
"There was nothing wrong with her heart, but wounds to her head were so devastating that doctors told us, and we knew, she would never come back," he said.
The family of Const. Marc Bourdages, including his wife Natasha, who is also an RCMP constable in Spiritwood, thanked the Royal University Hospital and said there has been an outpouring of support from family and friends.
"Their love and support and the messages that we have received from across Canada helped us stay strong through this horrible week," his wife said. "But I believe that Marc is with us now in spirit and that he is in a better place where he can be peaceful."
Both officers leave children
The slain officers were both stationed at the RCMP detachment in Spiritwood, about 10 kilometres west of Mildred.
Cameron was a single mother with an 11-year-old girl. Earlier in the week, members of Cameron's family said they were grief-stricken that they may not have told her enough how proud they were for her successes, despite a turbulent childhood.
A member of the Beardy's and Okemis First Nation north of Saskatoon, Cameron was sent away to residential school as a child and dropped out of high school when she became pregnant. However, she was determined to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an RCMP officer, returning to school and even getting eye surgery to qualify for the force. She had been with the force for five years.
Bourdages was originally from Saint-Eustache, Que. He was married to another RCMP officer at Spiritwood and they had a nine-month-old boy. He had been with the force for 5½ years.
Started with dispute between Dagenais, mother
Police are still hunting for 41-year-old Curtis Dagenais, the prime suspect in the shootings, who is believed to be armed and dangerous. A week-long search has failed to find any trace of him. Dagenais has been charged with attempted murder for shots fired at a third RCMP officer at the scene, who returned fire.
The tragedy was allegedly sparked by a disagreement on the night of July 7 between Dagenais and his mother and sister at a home in Spiritwood.
Curtis Dagenais's mother, Elsie Dagenais, and other family members have claimed that the family dispute stemmed from a three-year divorce battle between her and the suspect's father, Arthur Dagenais, after decades of domestic abuse, including a property settlement.
Herb Jaster, the suspect's uncle on his mother's side, has said that on July 7, Curtis Dagenais found out that his mother was to be awarded half of the family farm in a divorce property settlement. He went to her house to confront his mother and sister, since he was expecting to get the farm for himself, Jaster said.
The argument escalated, police were called and Curtis Dagenais left in his truck.
Police gave chase, ending in the shooting near Mildred.
A massive police search was launched for the suspect but it was scaled back on July 13.
Suspect's father denied bail
Meanwhile, the suspect's father was denied bail on July 14 by a judge in North Battleford, Sask., who ruled his release would be a risk to public safety.
Judge Violet Meekma said Arthur Dagenais, 69, should not be released on bail because he has a history of animosity towards police. He was charged with obstruction of justice earlier in the week after returning to his farm, which police had ordered him to stay away from while they were searching for his son.
His next court appearance is July 26.