TaliaShire Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Ah, Dim Sum -- the Chinese smorgasbord of tasty dishes where tray upon tray of steamer baskets filled with food swims around you until you're stuffed and satiated. Unfortunately, I don't get to order to my heart's content (translation) weekly, since my friend's Dim Sum group is too lazy to coordinate my appearance outside of Facebook. (It's a cult, cult I tell you!) Nevertheless, we're all going to get a taste of the Chinese treat through a new Canadian film that has just gone into production in Vancouver.

Variety reports that Anna Chi is directing a new film called Dim Sum Funeral, and both Bai Ling (Southland Tales) and Talia Shire (I Heart Huckabees) have been added to a cast that already includes Russell Wong (The Mummy 3), Kelly Hu (The Air I Breathe), Steph Song (jPod), Lisa Lu (The Joy Luck Club), Julia Nickson (Half-Life), Francoise Yip (AVPR), and Chang Tseng (Everything's Gone Green). According to Imagination-LLC, the feature centers on four estranged siblings who are called together by their childhood nanny (Shire) when their mother (Lu) passes away.

It is always a curiosity when Hollywood families come together for a project. I love seeing the Estevezes (aka Sheens) appear together -- sure, even in Men at Work. And sometimes the Coppolas do well with one another -- Talia Shire in her brother's Godfather movies, for example. But often it is a bad idea to work with or cast family members. The most obvious case is Sofia Coppola (Shire's niece) being in her father's The Godfather: Part III. Just recently Jake Paltrow received a paltry reception for a movie he made featuring his sister, Gwyneth. Now, another new filmmaker is attempting a similar feat: According to Variety, Bruce Dern will make his directorial debut with Hart's Location, in which he'll appear alongside his ex-wife, Diane Ladd, and his daughter, Laura Dern. Written by Ashley Reed, the film will appropriately be about family estrangement. Laura will star as a woman seeking to regain custody of her son while also attempting to locate her father, who left when she was 3.

It is worth noting that Diane Ladd has been nominated for three Oscars, all for films in which her daughter also appears (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; Wild at Heart; Rambling Rose). The last of these even saw a nomination for Laura, as well, marking the first time a mother and daughter were ever recognized by the Academy for the same film. So, for the women, at least, Hart's Location seems to be a great idea. Maybe there's more Oscars in their future. On the other hand, it also seems to have a sort of novelty to it, like the badly-received It Runs in the Family, which featured a lot of the Douglases (Michael, Kirk, Cameron and Diana), in what appeared to exist just for the stunt-casting. Like that movie, Hart's Location also unites a real-life divorced couple (Dern and Ladd parted ways in 1969). Interestingly enough, though, Ladd has already directed her ex-husband, in 1994's little-seen Mrs. Munck. Hopefully Dern can do better in this reversal of roles. As long as he spends more attention on making a good movie rather than on working out his personal issues (he told Daily Variety that the project makes sense for them because it's about the things you wish you'd said to your family members), then I'll be looking forward to it. The film begins shooting in New Orleans in February.

A couple of my best friends went to see Rocky Balboa on Christmas Day and came back debating over the reason why Talia Shire did not participate in the film. According to them, it came down to two reasons: The female of the group thought that, perhaps, time hadn't been too kind to Shire, and therefore she wasn't crazy about appearing on screen as Adrian. Seeing as the woman has acted in a number of films since Rocky V, that argument was rather silly.

My other friend felt that it had more to do with story; that Sylvester Stallone wanted the film to feel powerful, and so the only way to accomplish that would be to leave Shire out of it. I've heard some people claim she wanted nothing to do with the film, others said she hated the script and forced Sly to work around her character -- all of it adds up to a number of theories most moviegoers probably shared with one another as the final credit sequence rolled. Well, USA Today managed to grab Shire for a few moments during the Rocky Balboa premiere (she originally declined Sly's invitation because she was afraid the film would be too emotional of an experience for her. I shall not delve into the reasons why it would be too emotional because they could spoil the flick for those that haven't seen it).

So, why was she cut out? Why wasn't Talia Shire asked to return for the final installment of the franchise when she had appeared in the five previous films? Well, you'll have to head on over to USA Today to find out -- though keep in mind, there are spoilers.

[via JoBlo]