Tony Goldwyn, last seen on the New York stage co-starring with Bryan Cranston in Network, will make a four-month return to Broadway when he joins the cast of Matthew Lopez’ The Inheritance.
Starting Sunday Jan. 5, Goldwyn will take over the role of Henry Wilcox from John Benjamin Hickey, who’s taking a leave of absence to direct the Broadway-bound production of Plaza Suite starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Goldwyn, best known to TV audiences for his seven-season run as Scandal‘s President Fitzgerald Grant, has starred in such other Broadway productions as Promises, Promises and Holiday. Off Broadway credits include The Water’s Edge, The Dying Gaul, Spike Heels and The Sum of Us, among others.
The Inheritance, playing at the Barrymore Theatre, is Lopez’s re-imagining of E.M. Forster’s Howards End, updated to 21st Century Manhattan and shifting the characters to a group of gay men,...
Starting Sunday Jan. 5, Goldwyn will take over the role of Henry Wilcox from John Benjamin Hickey, who’s taking a leave of absence to direct the Broadway-bound production of Plaza Suite starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Goldwyn, best known to TV audiences for his seven-season run as Scandal‘s President Fitzgerald Grant, has starred in such other Broadway productions as Promises, Promises and Holiday. Off Broadway credits include The Water’s Edge, The Dying Gaul, Spike Heels and The Sum of Us, among others.
The Inheritance, playing at the Barrymore Theatre, is Lopez’s re-imagining of E.M. Forster’s Howards End, updated to 21st Century Manhattan and shifting the characters to a group of gay men,...
- 12/9/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Tony Goldwyn will return to Broadway in Ivo van Hove’s much-anticipated production of Network, joining Bryan Cranston and Tatiana Maslany in the stage adaptation of the 1976 Oscar-winning film.
Goldwyn will play Max Schumacher, the TV exec in the midst of a mid-life crisis played by the Oscar-nominated William Holden in the film. British actor Douglas Henshall originated the role in the West End production of the play last year.
Known to TV audiences for playing President Fitzgerald Grant in Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal and next to be seen onscreen in Netflix’s Chambers with Uma Thurman, Goldwyn has a long stage history. Among his credits: Theresa Rebeck’s The Water’s Edge, Craig Lucas’ The Dying Gaul, Holiday at Circle in the Square opposite Laura Linney, and an Obie-winning performance in The Sum of Us. He most recently appeared on Broadway in the 2010 revival of Promises, Promises.
Performances of Network begin on Saturday,...
Goldwyn will play Max Schumacher, the TV exec in the midst of a mid-life crisis played by the Oscar-nominated William Holden in the film. British actor Douglas Henshall originated the role in the West End production of the play last year.
Known to TV audiences for playing President Fitzgerald Grant in Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal and next to be seen onscreen in Netflix’s Chambers with Uma Thurman, Goldwyn has a long stage history. Among his credits: Theresa Rebeck’s The Water’s Edge, Craig Lucas’ The Dying Gaul, Holiday at Circle in the Square opposite Laura Linney, and an Obie-winning performance in The Sum of Us. He most recently appeared on Broadway in the 2010 revival of Promises, Promises.
Performances of Network begin on Saturday,...
- 9/27/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Horror director Lucky McKee unfortunately remains one of those unknown, peripheral genre names, mostly thanks to a number of compromised or abandoned projects following his formidable 2002 debut, May. Over the past several years, he’s made headlines for 2011’s The Woman (another underrated gem from his filmography), and most recently the co-directed effort All Cheerleaders Die in 2013, an expansion of his 2001 short film, which is more or less the comically inclined romp you’d assume it to be. Prizing complex female characterizations, usually featuring muse Angela Bettis, McKee’s twisted visions, though few and far between, are enjoyable and entertaining, usually enhanced by a bit of subtext. About a decade ago, McKee’s sophomore feature, The Woods, would finally land on DVD in the Us following a limited festival circuit run, treated to a torturous release platform despite featuring several notable cast members. A period piece set amongst an all-girls...
- 9/29/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
As the summer parade of megaplex fare comes to a close, your weary eyeballs may be in need of some fresh content to view from home. Here's a handpicked roundup of excellent films, new and old, available across various streaming and VOD platforms that you may have missed. Trailers after the jump.Casanova (1976) Dir. Federico Fellini Netflix InstantSwitzerland's Locarno Film Festival just gave its top prize to Catalan director Albert Serra's "Story of My Death," a fantasy mashup of the Dracula and Casanova myths. That film still seeks a distributor but in the meantime, check out Federico Fellini's Oscar-winning interpretation of Casanova, now streaming on Netflix. The revisionist film stars Donald Sutherland as the titular libertine and adventurer, and he plays it with an air of detachment more dreamily cinematic than Heath Ledger's (Rip) grandly romantic, heartthrob portrayal in the 2005 Lasse Hallstrom snoozer. Every frame bursts with decadent beauty.
- 8/19/2013
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Vineyard Theatre 108 E. 15 St. -- currently celebrating its 30th anniversary season -- will present one-night-only 'reunion' readings this summer with the entire original casts of two of the most acclaimed productions in the company's history on Monday, June 24 at 800 p.m., Linda Emond, Cotter Smith, Tim Hopper and Robert Emmet Lunney will perform Craig Lucas' play The Dying Gaul and on Monday, July 1 at 800 p.m., Mary Louise Parker, David Morse and company will reunite for Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize winning play How I Learned To Drive.
- 5/6/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
On Tuesday, October 9, Primary Stages Executive Producer Casey Childs, Artistic Director Andrew Leynse, Managing Director Elliot Fox continued their celebration of the Foote Family legacy at the opening night of Him by Daisy Foote. This world-premiere production, the second of Primary Stages 28th season, features Tony Award nominee Hallie Foote Harrison, TX, Dividing the Estate Tim Hopper Present Laughter, The Dying Gaul, Steppenwolf, Adam LeFevre The Doctors Dilemma, and Adina Verson The Winters Tale at Yale Rep. Helmed by Obie Award-winning director Evan Yionoulis Three Days of Rain, Violet Hour, Him runs September 25 October 28 at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters.
- 10/10/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
As much as I find his whiny, macho-aggressive public persona unappealing – and while he certainly isn't your standard-issue Hollywood hunk – I just can't help but have a thing for Shia LeBeouf. It's hard to describe what it is, exactly – the mischievous glint in his eyes, perhaps? The smart-ass grin? The way his nostrils flare when he's angry? The come-hither bedroom stare he's prone to adopting in photo spreads?
There's just something about him that I can't quite put my finger on – something that makes me swoon, even as I feel guilty doing it.
In any case, given that my shame-based Young Hollywood crush is coming out in a new film this week – you might have heard of it, a little under-the-radar independent effort called Transformers: Dark of the Moon? – I thought it might be fun to look at a few other unconventional Hollywood sex symbols – those unlikely heartthrobs who manage...
There's just something about him that I can't quite put my finger on – something that makes me swoon, even as I feel guilty doing it.
In any case, given that my shame-based Young Hollywood crush is coming out in a new film this week – you might have heard of it, a little under-the-radar independent effort called Transformers: Dark of the Moon? – I thought it might be fun to look at a few other unconventional Hollywood sex symbols – those unlikely heartthrobs who manage...
- 6/30/2011
- by Chris Eggertsen
- The Backlot
Patty and the NYC premiere
this summerEarlier this month I met with Patricia Clarkson to discuss another fine year in one of the most pleasurable of modern character actor filmographies. Hers. I was waiting for the right opportunity to share it with you, and since Cairo Time is out on DVD, Academy voters are busy weighing the various Best Actress options, and today is Patty's 51st birthday, it was high time.
Through an unfortunate scheduling snafu I was less prepared when I met her than I am accustomed to being. I apologized with a wee warning that I'd be winging it. I bring this up because, as many of will remember, I have closely clocked her career. She came in at #2 in my 2005 countdown "Actresses of the Aughts" (yes we should revisit that list now that the decade has wrapped) and because I just want to share the unedited transcript.
this summerEarlier this month I met with Patricia Clarkson to discuss another fine year in one of the most pleasurable of modern character actor filmographies. Hers. I was waiting for the right opportunity to share it with you, and since Cairo Time is out on DVD, Academy voters are busy weighing the various Best Actress options, and today is Patty's 51st birthday, it was high time.
Through an unfortunate scheduling snafu I was less prepared when I met her than I am accustomed to being. I apologized with a wee warning that I'd be winging it. I bring this up because, as many of will remember, I have closely clocked her career. She came in at #2 in my 2005 countdown "Actresses of the Aughts" (yes we should revisit that list now that the decade has wrapped) and because I just want to share the unedited transcript.
- 12/30/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
HollywoodNews.com: The life of bluegrass music pioneer, Bill Monroe, will be brought to the big screen in a feature starring real life couple Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard.
Sarsgaard is set to portray Monroe while Gyllenhaal will easily play the musician’s lover Bessie Lee Mauldin.
Digital Spy overheard Gyllenhaal saying “Bill Monroe, who invented Blue Grass music, had a kind of Sid and Nancy-style affair with this woman Bessie Lee Mauldin throughout his life.
“T-Bone Burnett’s going to do the music and Callie Khouri, who wrote ‘Thelma & Louise,’ wrote the script so we’re going to do that together.”
Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard married in May 2009.
The Monroe biopic would mark the second time that the twosome have worked together onscreen. Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard starred alongside each other in the 2005 Sundance Film Festival entry “The Dying Gaul.” They will be appearing on stage soon in the Gotham...
Sarsgaard is set to portray Monroe while Gyllenhaal will easily play the musician’s lover Bessie Lee Mauldin.
Digital Spy overheard Gyllenhaal saying “Bill Monroe, who invented Blue Grass music, had a kind of Sid and Nancy-style affair with this woman Bessie Lee Mauldin throughout his life.
“T-Bone Burnett’s going to do the music and Callie Khouri, who wrote ‘Thelma & Louise,’ wrote the script so we’re going to do that together.”
Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard married in May 2009.
The Monroe biopic would mark the second time that the twosome have worked together onscreen. Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard starred alongside each other in the 2005 Sundance Film Festival entry “The Dying Gaul.” They will be appearing on stage soon in the Gotham...
- 8/19/2010
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
Peter Sarsgaard has played his fair share of, shall we say, ethically dubious characters. From his brutal killer in "Boys Don't Cry" to more vaguely menacing roles in "Flightplan" and "The Skeleton Key," the actor excels at making audiences question what's under the polite surface. In fairness, Sarsgaard has also played his share of good guys, earning laurels for his portrayal of The New Republic editor Charles Lane in "Shattered Glass." But the actor admits he hasn't made any films that his 3-year-old daughter Ramona (with wife Maggie Gyllenhaal) can watch anytime soon. "I don't have a single movie for her," he says with a laugh. "At least Maggie has 'Monster House' and now 'Nanny McPhee 2.' She can't watch anything of mine."The one exception is Sarsgaard's latest film, "An Education," which he says Ramona will be able to watch when she's a teenager. Written by Nick Hornby and Lynn Barber,...
- 12/10/2009
- backstage.com
Lucy Bevan was single when she got the call to cast "An Education." When she finished her work on the film, she had married and given birth to a child. "So that puts the amount of time and effort behind the casting process on an independent film like this into some sort of perspective," says the British casting director ("St. Trinian's," "The Duchess").The film follows 16-year-old Jenny as she goes from bright, bored schoolgirl to pseudo-sophisticate, thanks to an "education" that comes courtesy of David, a man in his 30s. With only one actor pre-cast—Emma Thompson, a friend of screenwriter Nick Hornby, who had agreed to play the closed-minded headmistress—Bevan rolled up her figurative sleeves and began the hunt for a David, her greatest casting challenge in this film.A number of British actors didn't want to play the unheroic figure who is having an affair with a much younger,...
- 12/8/2009
- backstage.com
Sarah Ruhl's brilliant comedy revolves around Lane, a doctor who can't stand to clean her own house. Unfortunately for the busy physician, her depressed young cleaning lady, Mathilde's attitude toward dirt is as follows: "If the floor is dirty, look at the ceiling." Zoloft doesn't help, but Lane's sister, Virginia secretly takes on the job with uproarious results.
The Clean House won the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, awarded annually to the best English-language play written by a woman, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Variety called the play a "...wondrously mad and moving work..." and The New York Times dubbed it a deeply romantic comedy... "a memorable play, imbued with a melancholy but somehow comforting philosophy: that the messes and disappointments of life are as much a part of its beauty as romantic love and chocolate ice cream, and a perfect punch line can be as sublime as the most wrenchingly lovely aria.
The Clean House won the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, awarded annually to the best English-language play written by a woman, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Variety called the play a "...wondrously mad and moving work..." and The New York Times dubbed it a deeply romantic comedy... "a memorable play, imbued with a melancholy but somehow comforting philosophy: that the messes and disappointments of life are as much a part of its beauty as romantic love and chocolate ice cream, and a perfect punch line can be as sublime as the most wrenchingly lovely aria.
- 11/6/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Long Wharf Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and Managing Director Ray Cullom, will present the beloved musical The Fantasticks, directed by Amanda Dehnert, from October 7 through November 1, 2009, on the Mainstage.
Press night is Wednesday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m. Curtain times are Tuesdays at 7 p.m., Wednesdays at 2 and 7 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3p.m. and 8p.m., and Sundays at 2p.m. and 7p.m. Tickets are $30-$70.
"I have loved The Fantasticks since I was a little kid," said Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein. "This will be so much fun for the entire family."
This hit musical with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, the longest running Off-Broadway musical in history, tells the story of Luisa and Matt, a pair entering the bloom of their youth. Their fathers, scheming to encourage their budding love, hire...
Press night is Wednesday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m. Curtain times are Tuesdays at 7 p.m., Wednesdays at 2 and 7 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3p.m. and 8p.m., and Sundays at 2p.m. and 7p.m. Tickets are $30-$70.
"I have loved The Fantasticks since I was a little kid," said Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein. "This will be so much fun for the entire family."
This hit musical with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, the longest running Off-Broadway musical in history, tells the story of Luisa and Matt, a pair entering the bloom of their youth. Their fathers, scheming to encourage their budding love, hire...
- 11/1/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Have a question about gay male entertainment? Send it to aftereltonflyingmonkey@yahoo.com! (Please include your city and state and/or country.)
A Note from the Flying Monkey: Of the many emails I receive every week for my column, some are so good that they simply can’t be answered in just a few words. So from time to time, the editors have decided to let me out of the “cage” of that regular column, in a feature we’re calling Monkey Uncaged!
Q: What, in your opinion, is the worst gay film ever made? Why? – A.R.
A: A couple of months ago, I wrote a list of what I considered to be the ten most “important” gay male films – not what I felt were the “best,” mind you, but the ones that I felt had had the most impact either on the Glbt community or society at large.
A Note from the Flying Monkey: Of the many emails I receive every week for my column, some are so good that they simply can’t be answered in just a few words. So from time to time, the editors have decided to let me out of the “cage” of that regular column, in a feature we’re calling Monkey Uncaged!
Q: What, in your opinion, is the worst gay film ever made? Why? – A.R.
A: A couple of months ago, I wrote a list of what I considered to be the ten most “important” gay male films – not what I felt were the “best,” mind you, but the ones that I felt had had the most impact either on the Glbt community or society at large.
- 10/14/2009
- by Brent Hartinger
- The Backlot
- This year's Spectrum section has been sectioned off into two: which if you ask me just makes pure logistical sense. Among the list are some regular Sundance faces and notably many first time filmmakers in this non-competitive category. The highly anticipated documentary film from Morgan Spurlock (that's him above on the camel) gets featured in doc section - after taking on McD's this time out he does what the U.S president has failed to do: actually try and find Bin Laden. Another film that will generate smiles is Stephen Walker's Young@Heart - imagine Coldplay sung by your grandma... Sony Pictures Classics picked up those rights a while back. Stacy Peralta goes from extreme sports back ground (Riding Giants) to looking an the gang wars between the blue and red teams in California.In the features section we have director (Xx/Xy) Austin Chick's newest about
- 11/29/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
- Less than a year ago, some of the critics at the NYTimes pulled out a “Best-of” list makring the best in literature in the past 25 years. On this compilation of top novels, the Pulitzer Prize-winning name of Philip Roth was perhaps the most crowned (his American Pastoral was among the tops) and thus perhaps this is one among one of several reasons why another of his books is getting fast-tracked to the big screen. Today, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the MGM project is getting more crowded. Rounding out the cast of A-listers Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson are thesps Peter Sarsgaard, Dennis Hopper and Deborah Harry. Clarkson and Sarsgard worked together very recently and had an excellent on screen repour with Craig Lucas film The Dying Gaul. The Lakeshore Entertainment pic to start lensing next month is based on Roth's novel "The Dying Animal" and scripted by Nicholas Meyer,
- 4/12/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
- 10. Tilda Swinton She starred in a variation of roles with different screen time presence - Constantine, Broken Flowers, Thumbsucker, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. What’s next? This busy-bee will be seen with the Sundance premiere of Stephanie Daley, followed by Michael Clayton, That Man from London, Nico. 9. Sienna Miller The 5 minutes in Layer Cake was enough to give some of us heart problems and she capped off the year with Casanova. What’s next? Camille and a lead role in Factory Girl. 8. Cécile De France We saw her briefly in The Russian Dolls, but it is her delicious performance in High Tension that was worth the mention. What’s next? Unless you speak French or live in France, you won,t be seeig much of this actress – whose got a trio of French leads. 7. Keira Knightly While we won’t
- 1/2/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
- Marcello Paolillo met with director Craig Lucas and actress Patricia Clarkson in New York. Patricia Clarkson Q: Craig talked about how nervous he was while shooting his first film. How was working with him? A: The Dying Gaul was his directorial debut, but he’s not totally new to films, and he definitely knew what he wanted and what he was doing. We gave some suggestions, but nothing major. The biggest issue was that we had only 25 days of shooting, can you believe it? Besides, Craig is an amazing screenwriter. Think at the job he did with the adaptation of The Secret Lives of Dentists! I had seen the play of The Dying Gaul before, but he did some great changes to the scripts. He opened it and rethought it completely in order to made the story more cinematic. It was a beautiful experience, but I remember we had
- 11/1/2005
- IONCINEMA.com
- There’s something rotten amongst the hills of Hollywood. Meet Robert, a young talented screenwriter living on the fringes and grieving for the loss of his male companion who died from complications of AIDS. One day, Robert receives a phone call. A big Hollywood producer, Jeffrey, wants to buy his script The Dying Gaul, a very personal work about the death of his boyfriend. Jeffrey offers Robert one million dollars, but there is a clause. Robert needs to change the script, turning the dying man into a woman for ‘obvious’ commercial reasons. Robert, at first, refuses, but then, slowly, gets won over by Jeffrey, who invites him to his spectacular glass house in Malibu with a stunning swimming pool and an amazing view overlooking the ocean. Here, Robert meets Jeffrey’s beautiful wife Elaine, a former screenwriter who gave up her career and buried herself (and her dreams
- 10/31/2005
- IONCINEMA.com
- The depressing films galore continued at the Mwff with many new addition to the list. In The Dying Gaul, a studio executive points out to a inexperienced writer that people don't want to see complex films or depressing films. They want to be entertained without having to 'think'. When we look at the very large number of masterpieces released by Hollywood this summer (sarcasm is intended here), we clearly see he is right. Perhaps the catastrophic summer for Hollywood cinema, although it's partly due by the screenwriters strike a few years ago (now we have to pay for it!!), will change the way studio executives think about commercial movies. I know it's unlikely, but I like to be utopic ... Film festivals don't fear complex and depressing movies however. The Mwff had its share of those films. Perhaps the most depressing is Self Medicated (pictured above). Unlike other films like
- 8/30/2005
- IONCINEMA.com
Cote d'Azur, a French farce directed by Olivier Duscatel and Jacques Martineau, will open the 23rd edition of Outfest, the gay and lesbian film festival, which runs July 7-18 at nine venues around Los Angeles. Boasting 232 narrative and documentary shorts and features from 28 countries, the fest will conclude with The Dying Gaul, written and directed by Craig Lucas and starring Peter Sarsgaard, Campbell Scott and Patricia Clarkson. The opening- and closing-night galas will take place at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. As part of the opening-night ceremonies, director Gregg Araki, whose latest film Mysterious Skin is in release, will be honored with the ninth annual Outfest Achievement Award.
PARK CITY -- Before it disappears into a fog of confusion and damaging contradictions within its characters, The Dying Gaul presents an ironic, provocative look at what its creator, Craig Lucas, calls a postmodern Hollywood noir.
A playwright-screenwriter who here makes his film directing debut -- his produced screenplays include Prelude to a Kiss and Longtime Companion -- Lucas clearly enjoys challenging audiences to look deep beneath the melodramatic surface.
He turns on their heads such stock characters as a smooth but cunning Hollywood producer, an idealistic screenwriter and a bored housewife so that everyone and everything feels fresh and intriguing. Then somehow, whether through third-act problems never resolved before shooting or the director's newness to filmmaking, Lucas' grip on the material slips.
This was always going to be a tricky film to promote theatrically. But with indie favorites Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard and Campbell Scott holding down the leads, the film has plenty of allure for those who appreciate demanding cinema. They might not even mind the obscurantism because Lucas invites viewers to form their own interpretation of what transpires. The film, based on Lucas' play, begins with an ironic, been-there-and-know-it-all-too-well sequence in which a powerful but seemingly sympathetic Hollywood producer, Jeffrey (Scott), cons a fledgling screenwriter, Robert (Sarsgaard), into not only selling his autobiographical script but making a painful change to the story. The script, titled The Dying Gaul, recounts his anguish during the dying days of his male lover. What the studio demands is that he change the lover to a woman despite the fact that the famous eponymous sculpture is a nude male.
When the price tag reaches$1 million, Robert acquiesces. His guilt is momentarily eased when Jeffrey pulls Robert into a heady lifestyle of power cocktail parties at his Malibu villa and a family life that includes his attractive, ex-screenwriter wife Elaine (Clarkson). She admires Robert's original script and empathizes with his struggle to change it.
Curiosity gets the better of Elaine when she contrives to meet Robert anonymously in an Internet chat room in the guise of Archangel, a male who knows things his dead lover would know. Then Jeffrey, who is bisexual, seduces Robert into a hot affair. When Elaine learns of this affair through her online dialogue with Robert, this sets off a chain of events that turns both deadly and illogical.
Essentially, one character must make a shift so radical and unfounded -- one that Lucas certainly has not laid the groundwork for -- that many are not going to buy it. Furthermore, the events are full of plot holes and mystification.
Grief is a hard thing to portray, but Sarsgaard makes Robert a compelling, sympathetic character, struggling with the legacy of a great lost love and the realities of Hollywood moviemaking. Scott plays the game of deceit and betrayal with the voraciousness of a true player, a man so slick you never are certain where truth lies. Clarkson shows the emotional connection Elaine has to a fellow writer and how that concern pulls her into a bad place.
The film enjoys a great location in the supermodern villa that lacks personality. Bobby Bukowski's prowling camera and Steve Reich's edgy, incessant music contribute to the sense of encroaching tragedy.
THE DYING GAUL
Holedigger Films
Credits:
Writer/director: Craig Lucas
Based on a play by: Craig Lucas
Producers: Campbell Scott, George Van Buskirk
Executive producers: David Newman, Paul Cohen
Joseph Caruso III, Jerome Schwartz, Shawn Fitzgerald, Paul Manafort
Director of photography: Bobby Bukowski
Production designer: Vincent Jefferds
Music: Steve Reich
Costume designer: Danny Glicker
Editor: Andy Keir
Cast:
Elaine: Patricia Clarkson
Robert: Peter Sarsgaard
Jeffrey: Campbell Scott
Bella: Robin Bartlett
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 105 minutes...
A playwright-screenwriter who here makes his film directing debut -- his produced screenplays include Prelude to a Kiss and Longtime Companion -- Lucas clearly enjoys challenging audiences to look deep beneath the melodramatic surface.
He turns on their heads such stock characters as a smooth but cunning Hollywood producer, an idealistic screenwriter and a bored housewife so that everyone and everything feels fresh and intriguing. Then somehow, whether through third-act problems never resolved before shooting or the director's newness to filmmaking, Lucas' grip on the material slips.
This was always going to be a tricky film to promote theatrically. But with indie favorites Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard and Campbell Scott holding down the leads, the film has plenty of allure for those who appreciate demanding cinema. They might not even mind the obscurantism because Lucas invites viewers to form their own interpretation of what transpires. The film, based on Lucas' play, begins with an ironic, been-there-and-know-it-all-too-well sequence in which a powerful but seemingly sympathetic Hollywood producer, Jeffrey (Scott), cons a fledgling screenwriter, Robert (Sarsgaard), into not only selling his autobiographical script but making a painful change to the story. The script, titled The Dying Gaul, recounts his anguish during the dying days of his male lover. What the studio demands is that he change the lover to a woman despite the fact that the famous eponymous sculpture is a nude male.
When the price tag reaches$1 million, Robert acquiesces. His guilt is momentarily eased when Jeffrey pulls Robert into a heady lifestyle of power cocktail parties at his Malibu villa and a family life that includes his attractive, ex-screenwriter wife Elaine (Clarkson). She admires Robert's original script and empathizes with his struggle to change it.
Curiosity gets the better of Elaine when she contrives to meet Robert anonymously in an Internet chat room in the guise of Archangel, a male who knows things his dead lover would know. Then Jeffrey, who is bisexual, seduces Robert into a hot affair. When Elaine learns of this affair through her online dialogue with Robert, this sets off a chain of events that turns both deadly and illogical.
Essentially, one character must make a shift so radical and unfounded -- one that Lucas certainly has not laid the groundwork for -- that many are not going to buy it. Furthermore, the events are full of plot holes and mystification.
Grief is a hard thing to portray, but Sarsgaard makes Robert a compelling, sympathetic character, struggling with the legacy of a great lost love and the realities of Hollywood moviemaking. Scott plays the game of deceit and betrayal with the voraciousness of a true player, a man so slick you never are certain where truth lies. Clarkson shows the emotional connection Elaine has to a fellow writer and how that concern pulls her into a bad place.
The film enjoys a great location in the supermodern villa that lacks personality. Bobby Bukowski's prowling camera and Steve Reich's edgy, incessant music contribute to the sense of encroaching tragedy.
THE DYING GAUL
Holedigger Films
Credits:
Writer/director: Craig Lucas
Based on a play by: Craig Lucas
Producers: Campbell Scott, George Van Buskirk
Executive producers: David Newman, Paul Cohen
Joseph Caruso III, Jerome Schwartz, Shawn Fitzgerald, Paul Manafort
Director of photography: Bobby Bukowski
Production designer: Vincent Jefferds
Music: Steve Reich
Costume designer: Danny Glicker
Editor: Andy Keir
Cast:
Elaine: Patricia Clarkson
Robert: Peter Sarsgaard
Jeffrey: Campbell Scott
Bella: Robin Bartlett
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 105 minutes...
- 1/25/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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