Sci-Fi/Civil War

 On thursday I was in San Diego attending Comic-Con, along with Jim Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, and Jon Landau, rolling out 25 minutes of 3-D footage from AVATAR. 7,000 film/sci-fi/Cameron fans filled H Hall. Followed the footage we did a panel discussion and Q&A. It was a highly energized crowd and they were totally enraptured. The rest of my 18 hours in San Diego was spent doing many interviews with international, national and internet press. It is great to finally be allowed to talk about the film. I arrived home in NYC on friday evening, and on saturday morning my wife, T, and I drove to Hagerstown, Maryland where I spoke at a Civil War conference that night. The subject was "Acting Historical Figures".  That crowd was made up of about 100 Civil War devotees, attending a three day seminar on "Stonewall" Jackson. Although the crowd numbers and subjects were very different, both events featured very passionate and knowing fans. I enjoyed the events equally, and feel really fortunate to have been invited to participate in both. 

Rubber Tree Plant

I was acting an opening scene for a film on monday which required me to repeatedly run into a wall. After the 7th or 15th time the career metaphor  - crashing into walls, landing on my ass, and doing it again - became my sole motivation. I guess it's called 'optimism'. Like the song says, '......high in the sky, apple pie hopes'.  It's good to be in LA.

Like Heinz.....57

I turned 57 yesterday, which feels pretty much like 56, which wasn't that different from 55, which was......well, the point being that, in a best case scenario, change creeps up in digestible increments. My hair is a little grayer and my shoulder a little stiffer, but all things considered, things are working OK. 

I just returned from Vancouver, where I did a brief stint on PSYCH, a show on USA. A splendid group of people, who appreciate that they have a good thing going. They were very pleased to have me there, and made me feel welcome. They took me out for dinner, which is always a good way to my heart.

Vancouver has grown since I was last there 8 or 9 years ago. Lots of construction, but still has a good feel to it. You can see the surrounding mountains from everywhere, and that gives the city an open and natural atmosphere.

I'm heading to LA in the morning to film a new opening scene for THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, a film that I worked on last fall. The cast is stellar; George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey and Ewan MacGregor. The new scene is funny and strange, and a good opening for the film. The film will be released in October.

PUBLIC ENEMIES continues to do well at the box office. I have been really pleased and a little surprised by the critical attention that my role has received. Special Agent Winstead is not a large role, although crucial to the tale, and I enjoyed playing the part. The film has received very mixed reviews, from masterpiece to boring, which makes me think of something that Oscar Wilde said: "When the critics disagree it usually means that the artist is in accord with himself". This is absolutely true for Michael Mann. Michael is uncompromising and very true to his own vision. He makes exactly the film he intends to make. He has always been that way. I hadn't worked with Michael for about 20 years, and being reunited with him was one of the best things that has happened in the past few years.

slang

Malden and Mom

I wrote about my mother yesterday; kept it short and sweet. She was both; short and sweet. But she had a sorta comical mean streak as well, with a short and sweet list of things she could not abide. Heading that list were pigeons, peanut butter, and strangely, Karl Malden, whom she habitually derided as "Bignose" Malden. When I wanted to break her chops I would tell her that Karl Malden had just sent her a peanut butter sandwich by carrier pigeon, and it was under her pillow. She would gag and call me an unprintable name. I read in the obits today, (she would call it the Irish funnies), that Karl Malden just died, age 97. He was aces in my book. I liked his acting a lot. A total pro, sitting at the same table as Ernie Borgnine, blessedly still with us. "One Eyed Jacks","Streetcar" "Waterfront", "Patton" - he was memorable in all of them, and I'm sure others will be brought to mind. "Gimme a beer", he said in 'Waterfront', and I think he lit a cigarette and wiped his mouth on his cassock. Now, that's a priest! He offset George C. Scott perfectly in 'Patton'; I remember him raising an eyebrow when Patton prematurely pinned a third (?) star on his own shoulder. He was a lunch bucket actor, and that is high praise. I think that because there were so many things that my mother loved, she cherished her little hatreds, without taking them at all seriously. (Well, she really did detest pigeons). But whatever........I dug Karl Malden all the more, if just to annoy her. I dug him enough for both of us. He was 'old school', just like her, and it doesn't get any better than that. auld slang sign off