Film INDEX PROFILE
WILLIAM FICHTNER Born 27 November, 1956, Long Island, New York.
Background ‘I’ve got a Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice but I had to take one arts course as part of my core requirements,’ explains Fichtner, ‘so I took an improv class and by the end of college I was just taking theatre classes.’ Leading to roles in The Longest Yard, Mr & Mrs Smith and The Perfect Storm. However it was high profile roles on TV in Invasion, Prison Break and Entourage that really brought him into the public consciousness. What’s he in next? Fichtner plays ‘The Accountant’ in high octane horror movie Drive Angry 3D as he is sent from Hell to settle the debt Nicolas Cage owes the Devil after breaking out from the underworld to save his granddaughter from a bloodthirsty cult.
On filming in 3D ‘3D has no effect on a character’s journey or emotions but [director] Patrick [Lussier] really knows his way round 3D and sometimes you do need to exaggerate your actions, because certain elements of your movement really translate into 3D. It really reminds me of a 1970s road movie, really amped up tough talking characters, muscle cars, sex and violence.’
On playing The Accountant ‘There’s no reference points for a guy who works in Hell, which is great because you can just fill in all the blanks. You really need to find what they care about, that defines how a character acts, it doesn’t need to be grounded in reality but then you can figure out the motivations for all their actions.’
On choosing projects ‘You just read the script, if it’s a great part I’ll take it even if it’s just a scene like in Crash or Dark Knight. I read those scripts and just wanted to be in the film, you can make an impact with just a scene when it’s that well written.’
What’s next? Fichtner has been working on his own script for a new ‘project’ but is keeping things close to his chest. ‘Whether it gets made or not I’m proud of it.’ (Henry Northmore) ■ Drive Angry 3D, general release, Fri 25 Feb. See review at www.list.co.uk from Mon 21 Feb.
48 THE LIST 17 Feb–3 Mar 2011
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Paul Dale ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry Abel (15) ●●●●● (Diego Luna, Mexico, 2010) Christopher Ruiz-Esparza, Karina Gidi, Geraldine Alejandra. 85min. The bizarre, but poignant story of a young boy with unexplained psychological problems, returning from hospital to his small Mexican home town. After a period of silence, he suddenly begins to speak and is encouraged to proclaim himself head of the household. A comedy with serious undertones about parental abandonment. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Across the Universe (15) ●●●●● (Julie Taymor, US, 2007) Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson. 133min. Fascinatingly offbeat musical from renowned stage and screen director Taymor. This love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s anti-war protests moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the psychedelic enclave of Greenwich Village and beyond as star-crossed lovers, Jude (Sturgess) and Lucy (Wood) immerse themselves in the counter-cultural revolution. Part of Let's Get Lyrical season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Adventures of Robin Hood (U) ●●●●● (Michael Curtiz, US, 1938) Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Basil Rathbone. 102min. Sparkling, Oscar-winning excitement as Flynn and his merry men fight the evil prince and the wicked Rathbone to help the poor and capture the hand of the fair De Havilland. Peerless sword-play and an infectious sense of high spirits. Part of Weans' World. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Aimee and Jaguar (15) ●●●●● (Max Farberbock, Germany, 2001) Juliane Köhler, Maria Schrader. 126min. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. It’s 1943, wartime Berlin. Lilly (Köhler), a paragon of Nazi motherhood, brazenly conducts affairs while her soldier husband is at the front. Felice (Schrader), a Jewish lesbian posing as a Gentile, works for a Nazi newspaper while supplying the underground with information. Two more unlikely bedfellows could not be found. But the pair become lovers. A moving and completely true tale. Part of LGBT History Month. Sofi’s, Edinburgh. Alpha & Omega 2D (U) ●●●●● (Anthony Bell/Ben Gluck, US, 2010) Voices of Hayden Pannetierre, Christina Ricci, Justin Long. 87min. Cutesy and unremarkable
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
lupine rom-com featuring Kate (Panettiere) and Humphrey (Long), wolves from opposite ends of the social spectrum who find that they have more in common than they thought after being removed from their pack by some meddlesome rangers. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Animal Kingdom (15) ●●●●● (David Michod, Australia, 2010) Guy
Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, James Frecheville. 113min. See review, page 46. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Animals United (U) ●●●●● (Reinhard Klooss, Holger Tappe, Germany, 2010) Voices of Ralf Schmitz, Thomas Fritsch, Christoph Maria Herbst. 92min. Well- meaning but cliché-ridden German animation for very young children with an environmental message that we humans should respect our planet and fellow creatures more. Selected release. Ball of Fire (PG) ●●●●● (Howard Hawks, US, 1942) Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka. 111min. Stanwyck is the superbly named nightclub stripper Sugarpuss O’Shea who avoids the attentions of a gangster by hiding out in a house with Cooper and seven stuffy old professors who are researching slang for a new dictionary. A zany twist on Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Part of Hawks season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (PG) ●●●●● (John Whitesell, US, 2011) Martin Lawrence, Brandon T Jackson. 107min. FBI agent Malcolm Turner and son pose as Big Momma and Charmaine to infiltrate an all-girls performing arts school. See Also Released, page 46. General release.
✽✽ Black Swan (15) ●●●●● (Darren Aronofsky, US, 2010) Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis. 107min. Aronofsky’s follow-up to The Wrestler is an intense and gripping portrayal of psychological meltdown. Young ballerina Nina (Portman) finds herself thrown into a maelstrom of conflict, backstabbing and mental manipulation when she is cast as the white swan in a lavish production of Swan Lake. Dark and powerful. General release. Boulting Brothers Double Bill (PG) (Roy Boulting, UK, 1939/1940) 112min. Macabre thriller Trunk Crime is followed by gripping courtroom drama Inquest in this double bill of works by sibling production and direction team John and Roy Boulting. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (15) ●●●●● (Blake Edwards, US, 1961) Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Mickey Rooney. 115min. Peppard co-stars in
the role of frustrated writer and part-time gigolo Paul Varjak in this adaptation from the novel by Truman Capote. The iconic Hepburn has never made neurosis look so good, and while the film may have numerous redeeming features (not least the exquisite cinematography by Franz F Plane and the swinging soundtrack by Henry Mancini), it is she who remains responsible for making it such a well-loved classic. Cameo, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Brighton Rock (15) ●●●●● (Rowan Joffe, UK, 2010) Sam Riley,
Helen Mirren, Andrea Riseborough. 106min. Small-time hood Pinkie Brown (Riley) woos and marries waitress Rose (Riseborough) in order to keep her quiet about two murders she knows he’s committed. Director Joffe’s bold adaptation more than holds its own against the 1947 version. Selected release. Bringing Up Baby (PG) ●●●●● (Howard Hawks, US, 1938) Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Charles Ruggles. 102min. Zany gal Hepburn causes timid zoology professor Grant to lose a valuable dinosaur bone and mislay a pet leopard within the course of one screwball evening. Archetypal 30s crazy comedy with one outlandishly hilarious scene following another within the progression of an unerringly logical narrative. Both stars at their charismatic best. Part of Hawks season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Burke and Hare (15) ●●●●● (John Landis, UK, 2010) Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher. 100min. A darkly comic retelling of the tale of Edinburgh’s most notorious murderous residents, Williams Burke (Pegg) and Hare (Serkis), and their quest to supply doctors with fresh bodies for their experiments, from director Landis who proved he had a deft touch with horror comedy in An American Werewolf in London. Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (PG) ●●●●● (Robert Wiene, Germany, 1919) Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover. 90min. A landmark of expressionist cinema, feasting the eyes with bizarre, angular visuals despite its technical crudity. The acting and directing are superb, and the story of a fairground hypnotist who uses a sleepwalker to carry out murders still retains a unique sense of horror. This screening is accompanied by a live musical score, written and performed by Minima. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Captain Abu Raed (15) ●●●●● (Amin Matalqa, Jordan, 2007) Nadim Sawalha, Rana Sultan, Hussein Al-Sous. 104min. A widowed airport janitor is mistaken for a high-flying jetsetter while wearing a pilot’s hat he found in a bin, and begins to fabricate ever more fanciful stories for his neighbour’s children. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Michael Apted, US, 2010) Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, Tilda Swinton. 112min. Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Keynes) Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace (Will Poulter), where they meet up with Prince Caspian (Barnes) for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, and warriors before reaching the edge of the world. CS Lewis’ saga adaptation continues. Selected release.
✽✽ Confessions (15) ●●●●● (Tetsua Makashima, Japan, 2010) Takako
Special live score screening of Robert Wiene’s 1919 expressionist silent masterpiece about the demented shenanigans of a certain travelling hypnotist. Brilliant film accompanists Minima take to the floor. www.minimamusic.com ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Tue 22 Feb. Matsu, Masaki Okada. 106min. See review, page 45. Selected release. Conviction (15) ●●●●● (Tony Goldwyn, US, 2011) Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver. 106min. While performances from Swank and Rockwell are undeniably affecting, this tale of a Middle American wild-boy convicted of murder lacks any real gravity. Based on a true story of a sister who fights for her brother’s innocence, its patronising retelling belittles the plights of the real-life protagonists. Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Dear John (12A) ●●●●● (Lasse Hallström, US, 2010) Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins. 108min. Seyfried plays Savannah, a student who strikes up a relationship with on leave soldier John Tyree (Tatum), but their romance is stymied when Tyree decides to put his