The A.V. Club has an interesting piece up on musicians who aced acting roles. Lot of good choices inside including Björk (Dancer in the Dark), Tom Waits (Bram Stoker's Dracula... how odd that we just barely spoke about that) and Frank Sinatra (The Manchurian Candidate) but it's obvious that their listmakers tried to steer away from... the obvious. "How you make a list like that and don't include Cher, I'll never know," he said whilst rolling his tongue and tossing hair back.
I think Dolly Parton was also aces onscreen. Sure, she was playing variations of Dolly every time but what giant movie star (outside of the small chameleon circle) doesn't do that exact same thing?
Why did Sting quit acting? He was doing it pretty regularly for awhile and his performances were fairly well received. Why do you suppose Gwen Stefani never tried again after that bizarre SAG nomination for The Aviator? Cyndi Lauper keeps dipping her toes in. She's already won an Emmy and she has a lead role in an indie called Here and There (pictured left) which is about New Yorkers marrying Serbian immigrants for the ole cash/citizenship papers deal. It's currently working the festival circuit.
What do you make of Justin Timberlake's screen career? What kind of role could they ever find for Lady GaGa? Amy Winehouse? [editor's note: I'm trying really hard not to mention Beyoncé in that Obsessed movie. The trailer is practically BEGGING for Razzie votes.] Wouldn't you like to see Sufjan Stevens in a movie (blue or otherwise)? What do you think P.J. Harvey thinks of Juliette Lewis's impersonation of her in Strange Days? Which musician are you fond of onscreen?
Why do I have so many questions today?!?It's like I'm ready to dance and there's no music playing. *
Remember when Tom Waits was actually a part time actor and not just a world class musician? Good times... especially the Lily Tomlin coupling in Short Cuts and the bug eating in Dracula.
One of my favorite film books, With Nails: The Film Diaires of Richard E Grant, has a few bits on Waits. Grant, like Waits, was a frequent supporting player in interesting / storied movies of the early 90s and he lived to write about it.
The cast of Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Draculagathersat the Coppola estate for a week long bonding / rehearsal session before filming. Gary Oldman looks sad and tells Grant that his 11 month marriage to Uma Thurman (Grant's co-star from Henry & June) is over -- he wonders if he'll be one of those people who marries a lot. The actor/diarist notices that Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves are "sibling-close" and he's amused by Keanu who has decide to call everyone by their second names "Laura Ryder, Leonard Oldman, Phillip Hopkins". Tom Waits arrives a day later, pulling the focus.
Tom Waits. How can I not introduce him to these pages without falling into the cheesy showbizzy-sleaze-shpeak of a lone motel lounge act compère - hit the snare drum, smash a cymbal, bang a drum and wind up with 'LADIES - AND - GENTLEMEN - THE - IN - HOLE - THE - WALL - BAR - AND - SNAKEPIT - SALOON - PROUD - 'N' - PRIVILEGED - TO - PRESENT - FOR - YOUR - ENTERTAINMENT - AND - YES! - GODDAMMITT!! - EDUCATION - TONITE - THE - ONE - AND - THE - ONLY - MR - LONELINESS - OF - A - LONG - DISTANCE - SONGWRITER - HIMSELF - IN - THE - FLESH - IN - THIS - HERE - LOUNGE - LADIES - 'N' - GENTLEMEN - LET'S - PUT - OUR - HANDS - TOGETHER - AND - GIVE - IT - UP - FOR - (gasping for breath) - MISTAH!!! TOM!!!!!!! WAITS !!!!!!!!!!' Everyone else is in smatterings of designer casuals. Mistah Waits arrives straight off an old record cover in a '64 open-topped Cadillac, with fins, with a funnel of dust trailing down the dirt road. The gravel voice gets out some howdy-doodys and his clothes and hair are crumple-sculpted to him. Doesn't seem to have a straight bone in his bearing and kills me off with his cool by growling out a compliment for Withnail. Out the side of his mouth. Like we might be being spied on by the bailiffs. Him, rolling tobacco and reefer. Winona and I are 'We've got all your recordings, Tom!!' To which he just heh-hehs.
I just noticed that Mistah Waits is in the cast list of Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassuswhich I'm more and more excited about. [previously excitement] Danger! Danger! One should never ever get excited about movies that only have release dates scheduled in Romania and the Czech Republic.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus clockwise from top left: Christopher Plummer as "Doctor Parnassus", Heath Ledger (and Johnny Depp and Jude Law and Colin Farrell) as "Tony", Tom Waits as "Mr. Nick" (some sources refer to this character as "The Devil"), your auteur Terry Gilliam, Lily Cole as the Doctor's daughter and Andrew Garfield as "Anton".
Lionsgate is going to be handling the film's UK release but I can't understand why nothing is set for the US? You'd think someone in a suit would remember that for all of Gilliam's recent film completion / box office troubles, it wasn't always this way (think Twelve Monkeys and The Fisher King... though I realize that Hollywood memories don't stretch back that far. Weren't movies silent and in black and white back then?). Plus there's the free publicity of being Heath Ledger's last film and having three A-Listers sub for his incomplete scenes and those Cannes rumors. Can we get this thing on the schedule already? Even if it's no masterpiece it'll surely be worth gawking at.
Starring "Heath Ledger" (Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law), Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Verne Troyer, Lily Cole Synopsis Traveling theater players, led by the 1000 year-old Doctor Parnassus, put on shows that includes a mirror where audience members can pass through and explore their own imaginations. Brought to You By Lionsgate Expected Release Date June 6th
Fox: I put Heath Ledger's name in quotes not out of any disrespect, but because I don't know how much actual face time he's given in the film. Regardless, this film will arrive with the weight of Ledger's last everything on it. I think it's kind of poignant that the film involves people going through a glass mirror... darkly or otherwise. I wasn't so fond of The Dark Knight, or the thought that Ledger will be remembered as The Joker. I'm not trying to ignite another TDK debate, I just think Ledger's talent deserves a better epitaph than it will likely get.
Also, I'm thrilled to see Terry Gilliam up on his feet again. I only saw part of his last movie Tideland, and it bummed me out. It was like watching an artist stewing in his own personal, horrible, dirty hell. I love his visions. Usually we get CGI blockbusters in the summer, so a production design extravaganza from Gilliam & Friends could be a refreshing break from that.
Verne Troyer??? I don't know. All I can saw is that Gilliam really likes dwarves.
Nathaniel: You know who else likes dwarves? David Lynch. Who, speaking of, also likes the multiple actors as one person and/or one actor as multiple people cinematic mind games. That's something else Parnassus will have given the Depp, Farrell & Law solution to the Ledger tragedy. Sight unseen and given the nature of the film, it seems like the best possible solution. If you have to have three other actors step in for you, could you do any better?
P.S. I hope Tom Waits sings. I can listen to him croon endlessly. Heavy rotation on the iPod y'all.
Whitney: I hope the revenue this movie sparks by being "Heath Ledger's Last Movie of All Time. Really. This is the Last One. Not Like 2Pac. This is Really The Last Movie" will finance his Don Quixote project that he's been trying to make his whole career. Ledger was really funny in Gilliam's last work, so I'm thinking four Ledgers will be even better.
Joe: Oooh, thanks to Whitney for reminding me how much I liked Heath in The Brothers Grimm. Which was otherwise disappointing. I tend to respect Gilliam's weirdness from afar; the films themselves are hit-or-miss. Given the circumstances, I hope this one pulls it all together.
Nathaniel: And now I'm sad again. 2005 was such an incredible year in Ledger's career. Think of the range displayed alone: The Lords of Dogtown, Casanova, Brokeback Mountain and The Brothers Grimm. Joe, I share your hope. I would love for Gilliam to have a success as big critically and commercially and Academy-ically (yeah I butchered the word to make a shiny gold man point) as The Fisher King again.
Matt Damon, Ledger and Gilliam on the set of The Brothers Grimm (2005)
JA: I still need to see The Brothers Grimm. A mad rush to Netflix! Parnassus would've made my list even without Ledger because of Gilliam alone. His floundering ability to get movies done drives me bonkers, so every one that makes it's way across the finish line is something to be cherished. I'm even one of the like ten people who defended and liked Tideland. But with this being the last footage we'll see of Ledger, absent a 2-Pac-or-Elvis-like ressurection, and with the actors stepping in to cover Heath being three of my absolute favorites, this became an even higher priority.
As for Troyer, to quote Colin Farrell's character in In Bruges, "They're filming midgets! They're filming midgets!" I share his enthusiasm.
Nathaniel: Where do you stand on Gilliam? Or are you seated? Reclining? Perhaps jumping up and down? Do tell in the comments.
In case you missed any entries they went like so... * We Can't Wait: #1Inglourious Basterds, #2Where the Wild Things Are,#3Fantastic Mr. Fox, #4Avatar, #5Bright Star, #6Shutter Island, #7Scott Pilgrim vs. The World #8Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9Nailed,#10Taking Woodstock, #11Watchmen, #12The Hurt Locker, #13The Road, #14The Tree of Life #15Away We Go, #16500 Days of Summer, #17Drag Me To Hell, #18 Whatever Works, #19Broken Embraces,#20Nine (the musical) intro (orphans -didn't make group list) *
Why did Sting quit acting? He was doing it pretty regularly for awhile and his performances were fairly well received. Why do you suppose Gwen Stefani never tried again after that bizarre SAG nomination for The Aviator? Cyndi Lauper keeps dipping her toes in. She's already won an Emmy and she has a lead role in an indie called Here and There (pictured left) which is about New Yorkers marrying Serbian immigrants for the ole cash/citizenship papers deal. It's currently working the festival circuit.
