william baldwin Tagged Articles at Cinematical
What if William Baldwin Never Left 'Thelma & Louise'?
Filed under: Casting », Fandom »
Brad Pitt had a whole lot of gigs before he nabbed his career-propulsioning role in Thelma & Louise -- from an uncredited preppie kid in Less Than Zero, to the soap opera wonder of Another World and Dallas, to sitcoms like Growing Pains. He's an actor whose notoriety rose with his talents -- he paid his dues and worked his way up from goofy commercial gigs shilling Pringles to big-screen success. But what if he never got to play with Thelma and Louise?See, Pitt was the third choice for the role. According to IMDb, William Baldwin was the first choice, but he gave it up to star in Backdraft. (George Clooney also lobbied hard for the gig.) The choice makes sense. Why play some bit part when you can star in a Ron Howard flick with Kurt Russell, Robert De Niro, and Donald Sutherland? If only the sensible always made sense... Alas, you don't hear people still talking about Baldwin's firefighting, you hear about the sexy robber known as J.D.
Backdraft didn't kickstart Baldwin's career, and while it hasn't tanked like, say, Stephen's, it hasn't been the greatest for a guy who had Brad Pitt grabbing his cast-offs. One of Baldwin's biggest recent gigs -- the partner TV show cop in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. But what if he stuck with the original gig and rocked it as well? Would it have led from Johnny Suede to A River Runs Through It, Interview with the Vampire, and ultimately, Se7en? No doubt Pitt would've still found his way, but would it have been different enough that Baldwin would've grabbed some of those early gigs and more long-lasting fame?
Sundance Review: Adrift in Manhattan
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Sundance », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie »
Typical misery-laden Sundance fare all the way, Alfredo De Villa's Adrift in Manhattan offers three semi-connected stories of angst, loss, loneliness and general unhappiness. Have a ball. Story #1 -- Heather Graham (Boogie Nights) plays miserable optometrist Rose Phipps, a heartsick woman who is suffering over the loss of her young son while dismissing the offers of reconciliation that her recently estranged husband (William Baldwin, Backdraft) keeps tossing out there. Story #2 -- Victor Rasuk (Raising Victor Vargas) plays a semi-creepy young photography enthusiast who has a subtly unsettling relationship with his mother and a potentially unhealthy obsession with the aforementioned (miserable) optometrist/hottie. Story #3 -- Dominic Chianese (The Sopranos) plays an old painter who is gradually going blind, but slowly kick-starts a tentative romance with a co-worker played by (an excellent) Elizabeth Pena (Jacob's Ladder) -- but will the younger woman (gasp) accept a man who is losing his eyesight??
Do any of these mini-movies sound particularly enthralling to you? How about all three in one 89-minute block? Well, this kind of flick is the absolute bread and butter of the Sundance Film Festival, which makes for a pretty depressing afternoon or two, trust me. While not exactly what you'd call a bad movie, Adrift in Manhattan is simply too predictable, familiar and obvious to warrant much in the way of attention or enthusiasm. (Throw a rock into any year's Sundance guide and you're guaranteed to hit at least two or three multi-pronged grave and oh-so-earnest weep-dramas like Adrift in Manhattan) A well-polished indie-style soap opera, the movie is packed with quivering lips, angry tirades and cathartic sex ... but none of it really adds up to a whole heck of a lot. Director Alfredo De Villa (who traveled somewhat similar territory in his Washington Heights) has a knowing touch for emotion and nuance, but ladles the angst so liberally that the movie begins to feel a little bit like a Lifetime Channel flick.
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