James Cromwell Tagged Articles at Cinematical

October in Austin might mean the Texas-Oklahoma game to some people, or the welcome end of triple-digit temperature hell to others, but for movie lovers it brings us a week of Austin Film Festival, which celebrated its 15th year last week. I can remember when the festival was limited to one hotel and a couple of movie theaters, and the films were just something to do at night after the screenwriters' conference. This year, the conference spread out over several venues and the film festival itself, which lasts a full week, screened films in nine different locations around town.

The Paramount Theatre, which seats about 1,200 people, was packed for the opening-night film, W., with actor James Cromwell in attendance. This was a specially apt venue for the Oliver Stone film because if you walk outside the Paramount and look down the street, there's the State Capitol. The Governor's Mansion -- well, what's left of it right now -- is in walking distance of the theater. If we could only have blocked off Congress Ave. (hah), we could have posed Cromwell with the Capitol prominent in the background. Cromwell not only stuck around after the film for a Q&A, but stayed for the screenwriters' conference the next day to lead a conversation-style session about acting.

After seeing Oliver Stone's W., I found myself wishing I had a little more time to think it over before writing a review; then again, I'm sure there are some involved with the film who found themselves wishing they had a little more time to think over the Bush administration before making it. Distance grants perspective, or so we're told; what could a film about the life and presidency of George W. Bush released while he's still in office really have to say about his life and times? If distance grants perspective, though, you could also argue that proximity grants immediacy, and argue that Stone's W. is not meant as a somber, serious look back but rather a cautious, nervy attempt to peer into the recent past, a film with, in the words another Presidential candidate recently borrowed, "the fierce urgency of now."

But W. has plenty of urgency; you could argue that what it lacks is a point of view, or rather a point of view other than Freudian family psychodrama, with George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) fighting for the presidency and fighting in Iraq as a way to earn the respect and love of his distant, driven father George H. W. Bush (James Cromwell). But to many, examining the inner life of George W. Bush is like asking yourself about the source of the lumber when you're being hit in the head with a baseball bat. We get a lot of dialogue in W. about the difference between the external and the internal, between ideology and identity; Laura Bush (Elizabeth Banks) offers that "I don't think politics should define a human being ..." while George H.W. notes that "I've always believed in leaving personal feelings out of politics." But in W., it feels like Stone doesn't even want to let politics define politics, and leaving the politics out of the personal feelings he's exploring.

I feel like I have this long checklist of cast and crew that we're slowly crossing off for this theoretical film. Now, you can put Bryce Dallas Howard on the "would sign tomorrow" list, thanks to MTV. "I would love to be apart of any continuation of the franchise. But, I also really understand that there's so many different story lines that the fans are really excited to see, and the studio, and the producers, and the filmmakers really need to appease everyone," the actress said. "Whether or not Gwen Stacy comes back, I mean, I wish it was up to me, but it's not. But yes, if they'd call me, I'd be there in a heart beat."

I'm not sure how they can really fit Gwen Stacy in -- is there a point in having a romantic rival when Spider-Man is never ever going to leave Mary Jane onscreen? I remember when we all thought (or maybe it was just my corner of the Internet) that they would reverse comic book history, and kill off Mary Jane and hook Mr. Parker up with Gwen. (If House of M is to be believed, and it probably isn't, that's who he really wanted anyway.) Is there even any emotional impact if they kill off Captain George Stacy in a fourth film, as James Cromwell once said they planned on doing? Is the subplot of "I'm really sorry your dad died, my one-time love interest" really worth exploring? I could probably think more clearly if I could get the breakdancing scene out of my head.

Of course, this is all idle speculation when no official announcements have been made. And as for Sam Raimi he's now playing coy with MTV about returning to the director's chair, and says he wants to wear the Spidey suit instead. That's one way to cut the budget.

If you read any part of that draft of W., Oliver Stone's Bush biopic, which hit the net a few months back, you might think it ludicrous for the film to be likened to Shakespeare. But Stone himself has done so, as part of an L.A. Times set visit interview. Lumped in with a quote in which Stone also contrasts the project to the work of Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning director's statement is in response to the film's level of seriousness: "W. isn't an overly serious movie, but it is a serious subject. It's a Shakespearean story. . . . I see it as the strange unfolding of American democracy as I have lived it."

The Times piece, which reports from Shreveport, Louisiana, where Independence Bowl stadium fills in for the Texas Rangers' Arlington Stadium, is very filling for anyone with an appetite for more W. updates. Included are a description of and dialogue from a scene between George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) and George H.W. Bush (James Cromwell), details on a "baseball-oriented fantasy" sequence, Brolin stating that he's not out to do a SNL-style caricature and admitting his initial hesitance to take on the role, a general overview of the project's coming together, and, best of all, a picture (seen, cropped, above) of Brolin as the future Commander in Chief looking like he's just had the crap beaten out of him. Also a fact I'd somehow never known prior to reading the article: Stone was "briefly a Yale classmate of Bush."

Oh Ari Fleischer -- the David Cross of Press Secretaries. Wait a minute -- why didn't they get David Cross for this role? He'd be perfect. Anyway, MTV tells us that Rob Corddry (The Daily Show, Semi-Pro ... and a bunch of other random comedies) has signed on to play former Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in Oliver Stone's W. Corddry joins a cast that continues to get larger by the minute, and includes Josh Brolin (George W. Bush), Elizabeth Banks (Laura Bush), James Cromwell (George Bush Sr.), Ellen Burstyn (Barbara Bush), Thandie Newton (Condi Rice), Ioan Gruffudd (Tony Blair) and 50 Cent (as Colin Powell).

Yes, I'm kidding about that last one.

Earlier today, we clued you into a script review of W currently circulating the internets. According to some, the film seems to be taking the Bush is a moronic alcoholic fratboy route, which, if you watch, well, The Daily Show, is kinda old news. As Eugene put it, "Most people -- whether or not they accept it -- have already absorbed the meme that Bush is an arrogant, reckless, hard-drinking buffoon, and I'm not sure that this perception merits its own movie." I completely agree -- and I'd much rather have watched Stone return to Vietnam with Pinkville than sit down for a feature-length version of a joke that's way past its prime.

So far, there are only a few actors officially attached to Oliver Stone's W., the epic biopic about our current commander-in-chief. Josh Brolin was cast as President George W. Bush back in January, then recently Elizabeth Banks was chosen as his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, and last week James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn were locked into the roles of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, respectively. Unofficial casting bites, though, include a lot of other big name actors. Jeffrey Wright is reportedly in negotiations to play Colin Powell, Tommy Lee Jones is supposedly being sought for Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Duvall has been rumored to be the choice for Vice President Dick Cheney and now both Paul Giamatti and Toby Jones are being named as potentials for the part of Karl Rove (who Giamatti may have already channeled for his character in Shoot 'Em Up).

Right on the heels of the announcement that Elizabeth Banks would play the First Lady in Oliver Stone's ever-so-timely biopic of President George W. Bush (which is surely, as Erik Davis put it in the above-linked post, "one of the strangest projects in recent years"), Variety reports that James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn have been cast as George H.W. and Barbara. Josh Brolin is already set to play Dubya himself. The film is called simply W.

Cromwell is an expert at playing United States Presidents. He's portrayed fictional heads of state in The Sum of All Fears and an episode of The West Wing, as well as the extremely non-fictional Lyndon B. Johnson in the 2002 made-for-TV movie RFK. He's also played Senators, high-ranking military officials, and WIlliam Randolph Hearst. If anything, I'm worried that he might be too presidential for the role of the folksy George H.W. As for Burstyn, well -- if she can convincingly paint her face blue and run shrieking through the forest trying to kill Nicolas Cage in a bear suit, Barbara Bush should be a cinch.

Stone hopes to have the film ready before Bush leaves office next January, which is a pretty impressive turnaround as presidential biopics go. And while I usually have some sort of conception of what to expect from an upcoming release, I cannot even begin to imagine what W will be like. Can we expect more hysterical conspiracy-mongering à la JFK? The unexpectedly toned-down empathy of Nixon? The excruciating boredom of Alexander? The mind reels.

Yes, this is Gary Oldman week for me and retro cinema, but you won't see me complaining. Usually, the chameleon Oldman morphs and slides onto the screen for one of his many diverse supporting roles. Most recently, he's taken on heroes like Sirius Black and Lt. James Gordon, but he's got a past that includes the little person Rolfe, the creepy Mason Verger, Pontius Pilate, Zorg, a Russian hijacker, and as I shared earlier this week, Ludwig van Beethoven. 1993's Romeo is Bleeding, however, marks one of the few times like Immortal Beloved where we can see him shine in the lead.

Oldman plays Jack Grimaldi, a cop who has been lured by the dark side in a noir '90s landscape. (Think Twin Peaks' timeless quality and haunting music, but set within a violent urban environment.) To supplement his low-pay job as a sergeant, Grimaldi is working for the mob -- directing them to the locations of different witnesses under protection. For his efforts, he gets thousands of dollars, which he hides in the back of his yard. But this is only the tip of Jack's moral failings. While he has a wife named Natalie (Annabella Sciorra) at home, he's also acting out fantasies with his grating girlfriend, Sheri (Juliette Lewis).

For those still unacquainted, Becoming Jane is the upcoming film -- it's already been released in the U.K., where the reviews were middling -- that takes the brief, documented dalliance between novelist Jane Austen and an Irishman named Thomas Lefroy and blows it up into the romance to end all romances. The only thing history really knows about their relationship is that Lefroy is mentioned in a couple of Austen's letters and their two families were known to each other. The best guess is that they had a brief flirtation, which was quickly squashed when no prospect of a real marriage proposal was in the offing. Austen died at age 41, but Lefroy lived until 94, and is said to have confessed to having a "boyish love" for the by-then-famous authoress shortly before he died.

The movie stars Anne Hathaway as Austen -- word is that she had a lot of trouble with the British accent -- and James "I don't want to play Scotty in Star Trek XI" McAvoy as Lefroy. James Cromwell and Maggie Smith also have roles in the film, but apart the casting, I don't know a hell of a lot about it. Here's hoping the film is somewhat restrained in using Austen's life as a jumping off point for a bodice-ripping romance that certainly never happened. After all, we're talking about a family-supervised, above-board acquaintanceship that happened between two society young people in the late 18th century. How much heat could you possible get out of that? Becoming Jane is set for release on August 10. Click on the pic above to see the full-sized image of the new poster.

Earlier this week, I was fortunate enough to land a spot on the black carpet for one of the most exciting premieres to hit New York City in a long time. Only, this bad boy wasn't in the heart of Manhattan -- nope, they decided to take the premiere to Peter Parker's hometown, Queens. Not only was the black carpet a mile long, but there were fans screaming everywhere; I guess it could be compared to being on the field during a football game ... except, tack on about 700 screaming teenage girls. Though there was a lot of space for the stars to cover, Cinematical did manage to snag a few shots of the man himself, Tobey Maguire. Also included in the video is Spider-Man 3 director Sam Raimi, and I ask him what the chances are of him returning to direct a Spider-Man 4.

These events are pretty draining; although this video is roughly four minutes long, I was actually on the red carpet for about four hours. Yes, four hours. Tack on another two and a half hours for the actual movie, and I've spent an entire work day with this damn superhero. But it was a cool event, an exciting film and it was all worth it to see a ton of little kids lined up, excited to catch a glimpse of the guy they dress up as for Halloween each year. My favorite part of this video, however, is when I ask director Ang Lee whether he would be interested in taking on another comic book character. By the look on his face, you can tell how excited he was to answer that question. All in all it was a fun time; Spider-Man 3 officially arrives in theaters tomorrow, and you can check out my review of the film here.