Tea Leoni Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Last December, Cinematical was the only movie blog invited to visit the set of Ghost Town over at the beautiful Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, New York. Directed by David Koepp, Ghost Town stars Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Téa Leoni, Billy Campbell and Kristen Wiig, and it arrives in theaters on September 19. Check out our report below ...

I always get nervous whenever visiting a film set. In the past, I've been a part of a larger group, which meant I could simply follow behind three other people and hopefully fade into the pack. I never want to stand out. I never want be the guy who's standing in the wrong place, on the wrong wire, or the guy who accidentally coughs during a three-minute period where everyone is silent. Sometimes a film set can be an intimidating place to visit if you're not working there, slaving away for hours upon hours -- there's a sort of team mentality and closeness that's shared amongst the crew that you're not a part of. You're the outsider, the blogger -- the guy who's there to criticize and report back on a project that's not yet complete. In some cases, you're the enemy.

But when you're part of the pack, it's easier to digest the experience. It's easier to not be that guy. However, when I showed up to the set of Ghost Town on a very cold day in December, I suddenly realized I was the only web outlet invited ... and knowing I'd be all by myself on this one, my Neurotic Jew Meter (Thanks Mom!) went through the roof.

Mark and Michael Polish may not be as well-known a fraternal filmmaking pair as Joel and Ethan Coen, but they could out-weird the Coens any day of the week. Their films range from virtually inscrutable (Northfork) to very strange (Twin Falls Idaho) to merely offbeat (The Astronaut Farmer), but it's clear they won't be getting hired to direct the sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks. So instead, they've formed their own production company, Prohibition Films, and are shooting two new projects back-to-back.

The first is entitled Manure, a title they should reconsider if only to make lazy film critics' jobs a little harder. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Tea Leoni, and my man Kyle MacLachlan, the movie will explore the world of manure salesmen in 1960's heartland America. Upon reading that I frowned for a moment, but then realized that had you asked me who would be most likely to write and direct a movie about manure salesmen in 1960's heartland America, I would unhesitatingly have said the Polish Brothers.

Okay... Before I get to the wonder that is Bruce Campbell, I've got to take a second and complain. If you remember anything about our previous coverage of Ghost Town, such as David Koepp signing on to direct Greg Kinnear and Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni signing on, and then Kristen Wiig, you probably remember the premise. A dentist (Gervais) heads in for a colonoscopy under the knife of Wiig, and he dies for seven minutes. When he comes back to life, he can see the dead -- especially a ghostly businessman (Kinnear) who wants him to break up his widow's (Leoni) upcoming marriage.

Anal surgery is no longer the culprit. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the dentist temporarily kicks the bucket during a "routine dental surgery." Now that is a really boring and lame change. What's wrong with a colonoscopy? Gah. At least we've got Campbell to soften the news. He has signed on to play Leoni's character's fiance -- the one that the dentist really isn't into. Since this ghostly apparition isn't through Whoopi, I keep wondering if it'll end up with Kinnear taking over Gervais' body to have a second chance with his wife. Or maybe Campbell will go Ash on his ass and take him out of the picture. He could always just say Deadites possessed the dude. Shooting has already begun in New York, and hopefully they haven't vanilla-ed anything else.

Post edited as the original THR post now says "Billy Campbell" is the other man, and not Bruce. Thanks to ***Lance*** for spotting that. What a shame.

Did you hear the one about the Polish hit man (Sir Ben Kingsley) who gets sent from Buffalo to San Francisco to sober up? That's the nutshell plot of John Dahl's You Kill Me, a return to the off-kilter crime tales of his earlier independents The Last Seduction and Red Rock West. Téa Leoni doesn't just play the flinty-yet-flirty San Francisco saleswoman who falls for Kingsley; she also came on board the film as a producer. Dahl and Leoni spoke with Cinematical in San Francisco about low-budget film making, scene-stealing and other petty larcenies.

Cinematical: Your previous film, The Great Raid was a effects-heavy period piece set during World War II; was part of the appeal of doing You Kill Me being able to do something more modern-day and not smaller in scope but less arduous on a production level?

Dahl: I think it was fun to do an independent film; but I think a lot of it is just kind of an amazing opportunity happened; Ben Kingsley and Carol Baum sent me a script and it was actually good. The challenge was – my first reaction when I read it was "Wow, this is a great script; no one will make it. It'll cost too much." It was like doing the limbo. I said, 'This is 11 million; maybe you could do it for seven. ..." And I think we finally settled on four.

Leoni: Three-point-four, I think we had at one point. ...

Did you know that if you die during a colonoscopy and are brought back, that you are able to communicate with the dead? No, no, it's not true, but it is the premise for Ghost Town starring Tea Leoni and Ricky Gervais. I'm not sure if anyone has ever died due to complications during a colonoscopy -- the synopsis on paper just made me laugh -- but I think that if anyone can pull it off, its Ricky Gervais (The Office, the BBC version.) Gervais is the unlucky patient in the film, and once he regains his life he is presented with a unique predicament -- he's haunted by the ghost of a businessman played by Greg Kinnear -- now I'm not sure if the cast can get any better. Gervais has some kind of tasks that he must fulfill -- he's kind of like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, apparently. The character played by Kinnear uses Gervais as a vehicle to stop the marriage of his still living wife, Leoni.

David Koepp wrote Ghost Town and is set to also direct the film. Koepp has a thing for dark spiritualism, having brought us Secret Window (the one where Johnny Depp plays an author stalked by a psychopath accusing him of plagiarism), War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise, underground aliens and lots of red veiny stuff) among other projects. We'll have to wait until at least 2008 to catch Leoni's ruined marriage plans, Gervais' near death experience and Kinnear's ability to control the living, since Ghost Town doesn't start filming until October of this year.

Just a few days ago we shared a rumor that filmmaker John Dahl might be in the running to direct the Thomas Jane-less Punisher 2 ... but I'll believe that when I see it. Until then (well, on June 22, anyway) we can focus on a movie that Dahl definitely DID direct. It's a dark comedy called You Kill Me and you can check out the new trailer right here. (I'd say the trailer probably gives too much of the story away, but I guess that's how they sell movies these days.)

The flick stars Ben Kingsley as an alcoholic assassin from Buffalo who's forced to take a job at a San Francisco funeral home and somehow gets romantic with Tea Leoni. Also on board are Philip Baker Hall, Luke Wilson, Dennis Farina and Bill Pullman. Heck, forget the trailer. I'd go see this movie based only on the cast and the director. Oddly enough, You Kill Me was written by the team that penned both of the Narnia adaptations. Interesting. And for those who don't understand why I hold John Dahl in such high regard, I recommend you check out Red Rock West, The Last Seduction or Joy Ride. (Yes, I said Joy Ride. It's good.) Plus he did Rounders, and who doesn't love that movie?

For some people, a complete magazine article is too much to read. Fortunately for them, there is Reader's Digest. For other people, a whole biographical book is too much to read. Fortunately for them, there are biopics. Fittingly the husband-and-wife founders of Reader's Digest, DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace, are now to be the subject of a biographical movie, which will be based on Peter Canning's "American Dreamers: The Wallaces and The Readers's Digest: An Insider's Story." The movie is being produced by also-husband-and-wife David Duchovny and Téa Leoni and it will detail the couple's rise as magazine publishers during World War II and their political compromising of their brand during the Cold War. According to Leoni, the story deals with the Wallaces' accumulation of great wealth and great vulnerability.

I know very little about Reader's Digest other than the magazine was partially responsible for me having food on the table growing up, as my father supplied illustrations for many issues throughout the 1970s and '80s. I never really thought this until just now, but the Wallaces indirectly impacted my life. Of course, their publication wasn't the only place my father found work, but it was a significant outlet for illustrators for many decades. So, certainly I am interested to see a biopic about the Wallaces, particularly some of the details Canning focuses on in his book, such as the couple's unusual sex life and the magazine's manipulation by the CIA and FBI. Canning, who worked for many years under the Wallaces as the managing editor of Reader's Digest, will be a consultant on the film, so hopefully he will make sure all the juiciest bits get in.

Odds and ends from Monday:

• Looks like someone is tired of his boring office job. John Krasinski (The Office) has signed on to write and direct an adaptation of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, written by David Foster Wallace. The book itself (which you either love or despise with a passion) consists of twenty-two stories which revolve around -- you got it -- a bunch of hideous men. Pic begins its principal photography this November and, with the exception of Krasinski himself, there have been no other cast announcements.
• IFC Films is looking to dance with the big boys, as they've committed to release four to six films a year with budgets ranging between $4-10 million. As part of the announcement, IFC Films has picked up all North American rights to the dark comedy You Kill Me, directed by John Dahl. Starring Ben Kingsley, Téa Leoni and Luke Wilson, pic revolves around an alcoholic hitman who, while taking a break from the killing, decides to become a mortician. Darkish hilarity ensues.
• Man, I love it when these "unnamed sources" decide to stir up crap on the internet. I swear, in my next life, I want to come back as an "unnamed source." Ya know, this way I can make up a ton of stuff and see who actually buys into it. Back on topic, an "unnamed source" told the U.K.'s Life Style Extra that, despite the fact their film sort of bombed with critics, as well as at the box office, Jaime Foxx and Colin Farrell both feel there's enough story present for a Miami Vice sequel. Eh, I can't see Michael Mann or Universal feeling the same way ... then again, stranger sequels have happened. (Ahem, Break'n Revolution?)

Odds and ends for Wednesday:

• For some reason, I love words that feature the letter 'T' followed by the letter 'Z.' Not sure what it is, but don't be surprised if I wake up hungover one Sunday and you see the name Tzerik Davis next to one of these posts. Now that things are a bit awkward, director Géla Babluani announced he will remake his award-winning film 13Tzameti in English. Even after finding a ton of success at Sundance and Venice, Babluani probably realized if Americans are going to watch this film, it will have to come in color, with a side dish of (Insert hot A-List actor here.) Oh, and hold the subtitles.

• Not in a million years had I ever considered placing the words Sarah Jessica Parker and "snuff film" within the same sentence. Wow, that was strange. The Sex in the City star has signed on to topline the thriller Vacancy for Screen Gems. Parker will play one half of a couple who check into a motel unaware that, not only are they being recorded, but they're also about to become participants in a snuff film. Please don't have her star opposite Matthew Broderick. That would be too, um, weird for me.

• Phew! Tea Leoni is still working. And here I was formulating some sort of protest (Save Tea? Free Tea? Tea Who?) to help combat those keeping her off the screen. The actress, along with Ben Kingsley and Luke Wilson, has signed on to star in the mob-ish comedy You Kill Me for Code Entertainment. Pic will revolve around a hitman from Buffalo who is sent west to "dry out" and attend AA meetings. While there, he finds a job in a mortuary and befriends the relative of one of his victims. Also on-board are Dennis Farina and Bill Pullman. If Farina can churn out a Midnight Run-esque performance, then I'm on line for a ticket as we speak.

• Christa McAuliffe: Reach For The Stars - Massachusetts native Christa McAuliffe has become quite inseparable from the image of the ghastly tendrils of smoke hanging over the Florida sky after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in January 1986, but she's also remembered as a schoolteacher who never stopped teaching. It is this second image on which first-time filmmakers Renée Sotile and Mary Jo Godges focus, going beyond blindly reverent fluff and digging into the humanity that made the loss of McAuliffe and the subsequent grounding of the Shuttle so much of a tragedy. With a warm, comforting narration by Susan Sarandon and a note-perfect song track by Carly Simon (whose tapes McAuliffe brought aboard Challenger), the film captures the spirit of exploration and discovery through McAuliffe's example, and not by just stating she was a shining star we should all try hard to emulate.