Carol Kane Tagged Articles at Cinematical
News Bites: Alyssa Milano Grabs a Boyfriend and Elisabeth Shue Bulks Up
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Horror », Romance », Casting », Fandom », Images »
It looks like Dan Aykroyd better work fast if he wants to get Alyssa Milano in the upcoming Ghostbusters sequel -- she's starting to line up the feature gigs. Following her horror stint in Pathology, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Milano is grabbing a rom-com. She'll star and produce My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, which might sound like a sexuality-bending role for the actress, but really it's just typical. She'll play a woman who meets two perfect men and must decide between them. One (played by Christopher Gorham) is a struggling novelist, while the other (Michael Landes) is an ad exec. Where the girlfriend fits in is anyone's guess. However, the pic does have Beau Bridges and Carol Kane in additional roles, so there's that going for it.Meanwhile, remembering the tough women I was asking for? We're getting at least one on the big screens soon with Elisabeth Shue. TMZ posted a snap of her shooting Piranha 3-D, and as you can see above, she's sporting some rather impressive pipes these days. They should do a good job against those flesh-hungry fish, or at least provide them with some good muscle to chew on. It's just a waste that it's just for a niche film remake. But could this mean -- maybe just maybe -- a possible future as an action heroine? It would be a waste for those pipes to be forgotten once Piranha is done filming, and we already know she has the acting chops to go with it.
The Write Stuff: Interview with 'The Hebrew Hammer' Screenwriter Jonathan Kesselman
Filed under: Comedy », Casting », Scripts », Home Entertainment », Interviews », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Columns », The Write Stuff »
Jonathan Kesselman wrote and directed The Hebrew Hammer, a comedy about an Orthodox Jewish Blaxploitation hero (Adam Goldberg) who saves Hanukkah from the evil offspring of Santa Claus (Andy Dick). The film has become a cult favorite, and you should add it to your holiday viewing list this year. In addition to being a successful screenwriter, Jonathan teaches Writing Comedy for Film and Television at Yale University. He has some great tips for aspiring comedy writers.
Cinematical: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Jonathan Kesselman: I always loved writing. When I was in the 5th grade, I was pulled out of my class and put onto the 12th grade yearbook staff writing copy. For a while, I thought I wanted to be a journalist. In college, I majored in Psychology -- neuroscience was my field. I realized that I didn't like slicing rat brains. I remember really searching for what it was that I wanted to do with my life. And I had always been obsessed with movies. I remember having this existential crisis pre-graduation, and then seeing a documentary on Your Show of Shows, and it hit me that I was put on this earth to make fun of people.
Cinematical: So you threw the rat in the air triumphantly...
JK: I ate the rat -- tasty! Yeah, I graduated, and decided I wanted to go to film school. I eventually went to graduate school at USC for film production.
Vintage Image of the Day: The Last Detail
Filed under: Comedy », Vintage Image of the Day »
Director Hal Ashby's birthday is on Saturday, although he died in 1988. At first I thought I ought to feature a photo from Harold and Maude, then remembered that I already did that earlier this week. So I found a fitting photo from The Last Detail instead. The 1973 film stars Jack Nicholson and Otis Young as two Navy men who are required to escort a young sailor to prison -- and the kid is played by Randy Quaid. The older sailors decide to show the lad a good time before he's locked up, and the above photo shows Nicholson approaching prostitute Carol Kane as part of this plan. Nicholson and Young curse like, well, sailors the entire time, but the film is oddly touching as well as raucous fun. Robert Towne adapted the script from a novel -- and he also wrote the script for a film made year later that starred Nicholson, Chinatown.
I thought of The Last Detail because I'd read some news related to the film, via MTV: Richard Linklater wants to direct a sequel. He's adapted the novel Last Flag Flying, which takes place years after the events of The Last Detail, but with the same (older) characters. I like Linklater a lot, but while I enjoyed A Scanner Darkly, I thought the remake of The Bad News Bears was inferior to the original and entirely unnecessary. Mr. Linklater, please stop messing with cynical Seventies films. You've got so many other projects you can focus on instead.
Scene Stealers: Carol Kane
Filed under: Comedy », Fandom », Scene Stealers »
Everyone is familiar with Carol Kane. But from where or from what do they remember her best? The actress has stolen scenes in so many films that you could have a room of twenty people and each person might choose a different title she's most memorable in. She's played so many types -- quiet and loud; cute and sexy and plain and creepy; young and very, very old -- it is amazing that she can sustain such easy recognition. Perhaps it is her tired, Bette Davis eyes. In a non-physical way, it is her distinct voice, of course, which people recall.
She held her own in early, small parts opposite Al Pacino, Woody Allen and Jack Nicholson before landing one of her few leading roles in the original When a Stranger Calls, where her ageless face allowed her to play her character as a teenager and an adult. She spent a season on the TV-show Taxi, though her presence was so huge it feels like she appeared throughout its five years. In My Blue Heaven, she had little to do, but she still left a mark with her swooning reception of one of the greatest pick up lines ever. She beat up Bill Murray with a toaster in Scrooged, called Billy Crystal a LIAR!!!! in The Princess Bride and most recently went AWOL on Vin Diesel in The Pacifier, leaving him alone to care for the film's children and deliver its comedy (he succeeds only in the former).
One film, a guilty pleasure of mine, for which Kane is not usually remembered, is License to Drive. Personally I think of her most fondly in that film, playing Corey Haim's pregnant mother. In fact, take out all those scenes with Corey and Corey, and you've got a great little maternity short starring her and Richard Masur. The role has a beautiful build-up, and it displays nearly all of Kane's traits and trademarks, allowing her to start out simple and finish with a tremendous bang.
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