We all try to do the impossible with run-of-the-mill interviews. We try to tap into something unknown, pulling out morsels of both the person and the project. It's an extremely difficult practice to pull off. You get a very limited amount of time, the subjects are on their best behavior and ready to charm you, and you're in this removed, sterile, invisible box. Talking at a table somewhere for 20 minutes doesn't reveal anything. Unless something falls into your lap, you're destined for a run-of-the-mill question and answer session.

When the subject is a celebrity, it's all the tougher -- it's like a prospector trying to find gold on land that's already been pillaged. You are not only confined by the scenario, but also the wasteland of the interviewers who were there before you. What's new? How can you make this interesting? All of these things are the reason that I wish it was feasible and desirable to do more intimate interviews -- chatting on someone's couch, going out for a drink, etcetera. It's highly idealistic, but desired nonetheless.

"I'm making things that I'm afraid of." -- Eli Roth

Writer-director Eli Roth showed up to NYComicCon amped up and ready to get down to business. In person, he's a man on a mission; his mile-a-minute speech is filled with passion, energy and everything you'd expect from a young filmmaker who's worked his ass off to get to where he is now. Roth started shooting short films when he was a kid, attended film school at N.Y.U and worked almost every behind-the-scenes production job there is until, finally, he put together enough dough to make the low-budged horror flick Cabin Fever. Eventually picked up by Lionsgate (during a bidding war at the Toronto Film Fest), Cabin Fever went on to be their most successful film of 2003. And that's when Quentin Tarantino took notice.

Roth doesn't consider himself a straight horror director. After all, he began his career in animation (directing South Park-like stuff) before switching gears and helping to revive a genre by introducing a balls-to-the-wall style that's often hard to stomach. Unlike most filmmakers, Roth considers his film a failure if people don't walk out halfway through -- if they aren't outraged, if they don't write a bunch of nasty letters -- then he didn't do his job. Hostel: Part II is no exception; Roth fully expects moviegoers to have massive issues with this film; mainly because its three lead characters are all women. A bunch of us sat down with Eli prior to his panel discussion, where he talked everything from Hostel: Part III to auditioning for Quentin Tarantino's half of Grindhouse, Death Proof. Check it out ...


Eli Roth

On directing the trailerThanksgiving for Grindhouse: "'Quentin comes to me, and he's like (switches to Tarantino accent): "Okay man, we're gonna do this f**kin' thing, and it's gonna be really f**kin' cool, right. It's gonna be f**kin Grindhouse, and we're gonna have f**kin' fake trailers. And you gotta do one, right.' So there was this slasher movie that my friend Jeff and I had been dreaming about. Growing up in Massachusetts, Thanksgiving is the biggest f**king deal; it's all you hear about. There's two full-time working Pilgrim plantations that you go to. So, every year there's a new slasher movie for every different holiday -- My Bloody Valentine, April Fools Day, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Silent Night, Deadly Night -- I'm like, how could they not have done Thanksgiving yet? I mean, what are they gonna start doing Passover Massacre? So when Quentin asked what I was going to do, I told him Thanksgiving -- it was my 1981 slasher movie. I've been dying to do it for years. So I went from Hostel II -- we kind of recycled a bunch of stuff we had from that set (like a decapitated head -- and threw it all into this trailer. It was fun. I had a great time doing it."

[Note: If the video plays slowly for you, feel free to download it straight from Netscape. Also, the running time is just over 10 minutes.]

Cinematical recently attended a screening of What Is It?, which was written and directed by Crispin Glover. He also plays a small role in the film, and has been touring (it also screened at Sundance last year) with a print and his "Big Slide Show", where he reads and shows images from several of the books he has published. He's an extremely interesting guy, very well-spoken, highly intelligent, and couldn't have been nicer. It presents a real conundrum, because on one hand you have a really strange film, but on the other you have an intelligent person telling you why they made the choices they did in making the film. With Crispin Glover, it was like yin and yang / night and day.

Now having said that, What Is It? is without a doubt one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. There is a lot of stuff in here that will make you queasy, uncomfortable, and possibly even offended. A word of warning to the wise: if you're offended by people killing live snails in pretty graphic ways, you're going to want to avoid this one. Also, if you're disturbed by scenes of graphic sexuality, you'll want to skip this. Additionally, the use of a cast made up almost entirely of actors with Down's syndrome feels exploitative at times, and that could be bothersome to some people. If you can get through all of that, there's also a fair amount of swastikas on display, nude women wearing animal masks, a character in blackface, a mom forcing her disabled son to inhale smoke from a pipe through a tube, and Shirley Temple as you've never seen her before.

Perhaps the secret to filmmaking is simplicity. Simple notions can open an array of doors and options, whereas a complex starting point doesn't have the same easily-accessible origins. This seems to be the case with The Lives of Others, which was an incredibly simple idea that grew into a complex and compelling story. The film was born when a scene popped into Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's head of a surveillance man who expects disloyalty, but instead finds himself moved by what he hears. It's the inextricable flaw of Big Brother -- when run by human hands, there is no guarantee that someone will remain impartial.

As Martha Fischer described in her review, Stasti officer Gerd Wiesler watches Georg Dreyman evolve from a hands-off citizen to passionate rebel. Wiesler begins to spot the flaws in what he previously saw as a flawless system, and begins to act accordingly. But there is also a power behind the film that becomes clear when you step behind the scenes. When I saw the film at TIFF, the Q&A made everything a little bit clearer, and the recent interview with Donnersmarck for The Hollywood Reporter does the same.

This is a film that draws power from personal experience. While research and consultants are well and good, Others has an understanding that fuels the piece and makes it seem all the more real. Donnersmarck did conduct extensive research to get it right, but he also had his memories of travelling to East Germany, and an actor who knew the Stasi first-hand. Now, after winning a flurry of awards in Germany, it is the country's submission to the Oscars.

Have you always wondered what Sylvester Stallone's version of Beverly Hills Cop looked like? Or how about which Rocky film he considers to be a personal favorite? Perhaps you'd like to know whether Sly kisses on the first date, and if flannel pajamas are reserved only for special occasions -- like the kind that occur when no one else is home and Lifetime is airing a really sweet original film. Okay, while those Lifetime kisses aren't on the agenda, AICN has kicked off its twenty days of Sylvester Stallone questions -- yes, for twenty days they'll be asking Rambo a slew of user-submitted questions, most of which are pretty damn interesting.

Say what you want about the guy, he's been around for a long time, starred in some classic films and has a lot to get off his chest. Tonight I'm checking out Rocky Balboa, and seeing as I've always been a huge Rocky fan, I'm about as excited as one can get to see a flick. Of course, once the movie begins, I will have to switch over to my critic hat (a darling little piece I found in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart) -- but, for the next few hours, I'll be playing some Eye of the Tiger to get in the mood. Anyway, if you're a huge Stallone fan, there's still some time left to submit your own questions through AICN -- who claim to have received over 40,000 so far. Geez.

A few interesting tidbits that have come up: Mr.T and Ivan Drago will have cameos in Rocky Balboa, but Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is absent because he wanted way too much money for a three-second appearance. Rambo IV will not be called In the Serpent's Eye -- instead the current title is Pearl of the Cobra. Stallone is interested in voicing a character in The Incredibles sequel and there's a whole lot of stuff regarding his feature film about poet Edgar Allan Poe.

Unfortunately one of the most popular ways to hype a movie is to release a bunch of clips ahead of time -- but what purpose does that serve, really? All you're doing is spoiling small stretches of the movie for yourself; all the time wondering when "the fridge scene" or "that bit with the poodle" is about to hit the screen. But sometimes, like a little kid who can't wait for his birthday presents, I steal a few glances at the pre-release packages and try to enjoy the goodies. Not long ago we gave you the option to enjoy five isolated scenes from the Korean monster mash known as The Host, and today Fox Atomic has delivered a whole bunch of Turistas treats to all the coolest horror sites.

Turistas, for those who don't regularly read my horror-obsessed babblings, is about a group of VERY beautiful young adults who run afoul of something VERY unpleasant while enjoying the hedonistic pleasures of Brazil -- and I'm going out on a limb when I surmise that some of these hotties won't be heading home after the holiday. Directed by John Stockwell and written by first-timer Michael Ross, Turistas counts among its lovelies Olivia Wilde, Melissa George and Beau Garrett. Oh, and some male actors too.

Anyway, head on over to Arrowhead's if you want to pick through all sorts of EPK goodness from Turistas: Two trailers, five movie clips and more than a half-dozen interview-style soundbites ... all of which exist to convince YOU that Turistas is worthy of your ten-dollar investment come December 1. So far it looks like something the horror-hounds will devour ... but we've all thought that sort of thing before, now haven't we?

For the past week and a half, Cinematical has had a blast covering the Toronto International Film Festival. For those of you who may have missed some of the coolness, here's what we've covered so far:

Reviews

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
Born and Bred
Brand Upon the Brain
Death of a President (D.O.A.P.)
Penelope
Rescue Dawn
Shortbus
Suburban Mayhem

Foreign Language

Beauty in Trouble
Born and Bred
The Bothersome Man
Chacun Sa Nuit
DarkBlueAlmostBlack
The Dog Pound
The Host
The Italian
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen
Lights in the Dusk
The Lives of Others
Rain Dogs
The Way I Spend the End of the World

Documentary

Deliver Us From Evil -- Kim's Take
S&MAN

Interviews

Amy Berg, director of Deliver Us From Evil
Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host
Israel Adrian Caetano, director of Chronicle of an Escape
JT Petty, director of S&MAN
Scott Weinberg Chats Up The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne
On the Red Carpet for Black Sheep

Festival Deals

Deals for President and Nation
TWC Grabs Vince and Mandy
MGM Snags Rescue Dawn
Magnolia Loves Johnny To

Additional Coverage

The Rocchi Report: Before Toronto
Film Clips: From Telluride to Toronto
TIFF Photoblog: Around and About Toronto
Pan's Labyrinth Gets a Standing Ovation
Cinematical's Rountable #1 -- Pan's Labyrinth, Deliver Us From Evil and The Lives of Others
Film Clips: Toronto Brings Cheers for Zombie Flick, Bad News for Borat
Toronto's Midnight Report #1: Borat, Fido and The Host
Toronto's Midnight Report #2: Ashes, Sheep and Mandy Lane!
The Great Michael Moore Projector Conspiracy
Midnight Madness with All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

During a summer full of gigantic blockbusters, huge stars and massive special effects, Little Miss Sunshine swept its way into my life like a breath of fresh air. By far my favorite film of the year so far, Sunshine delivers in every way possible. From its near-perfect script to the outstanding performances from its cast, this little ray of light will travel real far ... if people actually go see it. And, trust me, they should.

After finding out she's been accepted as a contestant in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant, young Olive's entire dysfunctional family decides to band together and go on a cross-country trek, via an old-school VW bus, with only a couple days left before the show. Oh, but that's just the set up. The film's about so much more.

This past Monday, I had the pleasure of attending the press junket for Little Miss Sunshine, hosted by those friendly folks over at Fox Searchlight. For those of you who don't know much about how these things work, the junket was divided into three separate conference rooms, each with a table that can fit roughly ten people. Though the film's big stars were absent (Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell and Toni Collette), Sunshine's directors (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris) and the remainder of its cast (Alan Arkin, Paul Dano and Abigail Breslin) were on hand to answer whatever questions were thrown their way.

We'll have our review of Little Miss Sunshine later this month, as well as my one on one interview with actor Paul Dano. For now, I'll just give you a little recap of the morning's festivities and, hopefully, a sneak peak at what to expect from what, in my opinion, is this summer's sleeper hit.

We recorded an astounding amount of video whilst in Park City this year – so much, in fact, that we'll still be parcelling some of it out over the next two weeks. So stay tuned, for interviews with Shannyn Sossamon (Wristcutters: A Love Story), Alan Berliner (Wide Awake), and others. In the meantime, here's a guide to the video coverage that we've already posted:

• Is Sundance all about the swag? James sat down with Jono, a professional gift bag artist, to get to the bottom of that very burning question. Jono kindly inspected the one gift bag we managed to collect up to that point, and we thus learned that we weren't going to the right parties.
• We shot a total of four roundatable sessions whilst in Park City, in which we discussed the films, the scene, and the festival at large. In the opening Roundtable, we fittingly discussed the opening film, Friends with Money, starring Jennifer Aniston. Roundtable Two was all about sex: specifically, the missing Katie Holmes sex scene, and the too-twisted-for-buyers sexual subtext of Bob Goldthwait's Stay. Little Miss Sunshine was at the center of biggest sale of the festival, and in Video Roundtable Three, Jason, James and I discuss whether or not Fox Searchlight overpaid for the Steve Carell film. Then, in Video Roundtable Four Managing Editor Kim Voynar joined us for a discussion of the Closing Night Awards, which included honors for Stephanie Daley and Quinceanera. We also discussed the last few films we screened, including Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep, and Alpha Dog, starring Justin Timberlake.
• I had the honor of speaking with Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Festival Director, about his programming process and some of his favorite films at Sundance 2006. Here's a hint: we have one in common.
• Jason moderated a panel on Vlogging, Podcasting and the Right to Free Expression, featuring speakers Susan Buice (Four Eyed Monsters), Mika Salmi (founder of Atom Films), Ken Rutkowski (KenRadio), and SoccerGirl, creator of the wildly popular video podcast. Part 1 and Part 2.
• James interviews Lauren Greenfield, director of the harrowing documentary Thin. Amongst other things, Greenfield discusses the challenge of making a documentary about very sick women with a healthy crew.
• Red Doors didn't play at Sundance this year, but it did play – and win awards – just about everywhere else. Writer-director Georgia Lee served on the Sundance 2006 shorts jury, and she sat down with us to talk about festivals, filmmaking, and the threads dangling in between.
• When director Philip Groening decided he wanted to make a documentary about the Carthusian monks living in the French Alps, the monastary asked him to wait until they were better prepared for an outside visitor. After 15 years, they called Groening up and said, "We're ready." The resulting film, Into Great Silence, won a major award at this year's festival. C.K. Sample talks to Groening about the film, which broke box office records in his native Germany.

We've reached the halfway point of the festival, and we have quite a few bits of great video content up already with more to come in the next several days. Here's a quick rundown of the Sundance videos we've slapped together so far:

• We kicked off Sundance with our first Blogging Sundance: Video Roundtable 1 featuring a lively discussion between Jason Calacanis, Karina Longworth, and James Rocchi, about a variety of Sundance-related topics, including films Friends with Money, World According to Sesame Street, Flesh, Lucky Number Sleven, and Crossing Arizona, as well as discussion about documentaries at Sundance, competitions and titling, celebrities, and the opening press conference.
• Next up is video of a panel discussion on Vlogging, podcasting and the right to free expression, featuring Jason Calacanis moderating panelists Susan Buice, director of the film "Four Eyed Monsters", Mika Salmi, founder of Atom Films, Ken Rutkowski of KenRadio, and "SoccerGirl," creator of a wildly popular video podcast. The panel discussion is split into two sections: Part 1 and Part 2. Both are must-see for anyone interested in the future of film, video, and media on the Internet.
• The first of our series of video interviews features our own Karina Longworth speaking with Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Festival Director about everything from his programming strategy to the potential impact of technology on the festival's future.
• I had a chance to interview filmmaker Philip Groening about Into Great Silence, a film about his six month journey into life inside The Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order in the French Alps.
• James Rocchi sat down to interview writer-director Georgia Lee and actress-producer Mia Riverton from Red Doors, a movie that isn't actually showing at the festival to discuss their movie and to talk to Lee about her experiences as a Sundance Shorts Juror at this year's Festival.
• Last, but not least, Jono, from Moviefone, sat down with our own James Rocchi to give us an inside glimpse into the arcane art of gifting consultation and the gift bags that are often handed out to Sundance attendees and participants.

All these videos were shot and chopped by our own Randall Bennett and are available via the Cinematical podcast in the iTMS. Make sure you check back later today and throughout the week for more interviews and more roundtable discussions of everything here at Sundance.