Here’s a fun”Guy Noir” episode from the Atlanta “Prairie Home Companion” show. My first extended attempt at Newt and Mitt starts at about 5:40.

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2012/05/12/videos/02.shtml

Join me as I give voice to geezer gangster Joey Roast Beef who is demanding to hear what lucrative scheme Guy Noir is cooking up. Everyone wants to know—Joey,  and my other characters,Lieutenant McCafferty, reporter Gene Williker, the despicable Larry B. Larry,Father Bert Smalley, George the Janitor, Mr. Ishimoto, Jimmy the Bartender, Mr. Kress of the FDA, and many more, including many, many more voiced by the talented Sue Scott—and Guy faces them one by one, as he pursues a dream of earning gazillions by selling a surefire method of dramatic weight loss. In this whirlwind caper Guy looks death in the eye, falls in love, and faces off with the capo del capo del grande primo capo Johnny Banana.Now available: “Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny” on a 4 CD audiobook. The radio series “Guy Noir” debuted on A Prairie Home Companion in 1995 and has been a regular part of the show ever since.  The dramitization of the new Garrison Keillor novel features Garrison Keillor, Tim Russell and Sue Scott with original music by Richard Dworsky.  4.5 hours on 4 CDs.

I’ll say right away that I have not read Suzanne Collins “Hunger Games” trilogy, so I came to the “Hunger Games” movie with no preconceived notions. The first thing I did to prepare for the viewing was to look up the word dystopia, an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one, since every media outlet used it at least once in describing the creepy premise of children murdering other children for entertainment. Now, while the post apocalyptic Panem is certainly dystopian, and I thought “Hunger Games” was  a serviceable bit of film-making by director Gary Ross, and I admire the monster box office the movie has generated in its first weekend, I found the film a pretty blah experience. I’m a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan and after seeing her Oscar nominated work in the indie “Winter’s Bone” her casting as Katniss Everdeen was inspired, but her range is limited by the one note, child in peril, survival tale. Like I said it’s all perfectly serviceable but I’ll be surprised if it gets any Oscar love next year.

Rated PG13 (“Bully” gets an ‘R’, really?)

My GPA: 3.0

“FALLEN BRANCHES” DIARY

On December 23, 2011 my agent received this inquiry from Matt Kane, Cinematographer- Producer, for “Fallen Branches”, a film to be shot in Minnesota in February 2012:

“Fallen Branches” tells the stories of a widely dispersed Minnesota family that is brought together–perhaps for the last time–to mourn the death of their matriarch. Under this story of past hurts renewed and old ties severed is a narrative that charts the boundary between love and resentment.

Our director, Andrew Gingerich, was very impressed with Mr. Russell’s performance in the film adaptation of A Prairie Home Companion (and of course the weekly broadcast), and if he’s interested, I’d like to schedule a reading for the part of “Sam Allcott”.

After reading the script by  Andrew, I was excited to be considered for the part. The script was intelligent, insightful, very well written. I told Amy, my agent, to put my name in for consideration with some concerns: “I read the script and it’s something I’d be interested in, drawing on my inner “Richard Jenkins” (actor). Not sure about climbing on a barn rafter and leaping from one to another, I’m no Tom Cruise, they’d need some serious movie magic there”.

I was asked to audition on tape with a scene in which I eulogize my departed mother at her funeral. It must have gone well because several days later I got the part.

A couple of weeks later I met with Andrew to discuss the role and to get to know each other. The costume designer Sara Jean Shervin came to our house to see about wardrobe and my wife Judy and I found her a kindred spirit when it comes to scrounging at Estate Sales. We found a few farmer-like plaids and jeans in my closet, which she enhanced with several other options on my first day of shooting.

We met on January 27^th for a rehearsal session with most of the cast in attendance. Andrew explained his shooting philosophy and broke us up into groups to rehearse certain scenes. A few of his scenes involve Robert Altman-like group dialogue so we got a chance to improvise in character. I had an opportunity to rehearse my argument scene with my on screen wife, Rosie (Colleen Barrett) with the instruction that we should make it so over the top that the actors in the other room would stop what they were doing. We let it all out, with Colleen tossing a few books off the shelf for good measure. The other room fell silent at the verbal violence of it all, very therapeutic.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2012

This was my first day of shooting. The main location for filming is a farm in Webster Minnesota, about 40 minutes south of Minneapolis, not far from I-35. The farm belongs to a very nice guy, Grant ,and it was a perfect set. Grant was in the process of remodeling the upstairs so the rooms were very flexible for shooting, but the biggest asset of the farm was a magnificent Oak in front of the house, an Oak Tree that symbolizes the history of the Allcott family. My character Sam has purchased the farm from his Minister father and has dealt with the caring and death of his parents. A strained marriage to his wife Rosie, his children leaving the nest, in addition to a threatened farm foreclosure and, finally, a diseased Oak Tree that needs to come down.

Our first scene was a complicated group gathering with relatives and family arriving for the next day’s funeral of Brownie Alcott, Sam’s mom. He has not seen much of his Pastor brother, Blair (Steve Hendrickson) or sister, Louisa  (Cynthia Uhrich), who have lived lives in distant states and left Sam to deal with his ailing parents and the farm. Sam’s son Luke (A.J. Sass) has arrived with his two kids (Eva and Janel Justin) and his wife Destiny (Judy Justin). Melissa (Brit Slater) is Sam’s college age daughter. Her cousin Roger (Josiah Gulden) is Blair’s college student son. Tyler  (Xander Krohn) is Sam’s High School aged son, who is considering entering the ministry. Assorted other relatives are all assembled in the living room awaiting the arrival of Blair and Louisa who are delayed by a Chicago snowstorm and are arriving the next day by bus, hopefully in time for the funeral.

Andrew shot several setups of all the disparate conversations and it will be fun to see his editing magic at work when it’s all put together. It was a challenge for our sound man Owen Brafford, a genial, ever patient, part of a crew that inspired complete confidence in the project. Matt and Andrew had amazing chemistry and were so in synch with what they wanted to accomplish that all of us felt very comfortable throughout the filming that we were in excellent, competent hands. All we had to do is know our lines and hit our marks and Andrew had a way of reminding each of us what our character was going though in the moment, to keep our performance on track. The first day included me bringing a dead Peacock into the kitchen (a real frozen bird slated for taxidermy. By the way, they weigh a lot), having a violent confrontation with the fallen branches of the Oak Tree, and saying grace before the family dinner, not in that order. It was a long, but fun day.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2012

The next day took Steve Hendrickson and I to a Chicken farm, a piece of Minnesota’s rural history surrounded by suburban townhouses in the middle of Burnsville, MN. Steve and Xander (Blair and Tyler) will have to hypnotize some chickens in the story, so we had to go where the chickens are. My scene involved driving brother Blair (Steve) to the Airport. So I got to drive a truck down the highway with the camera attached to the driver’s door, the Director and Cinematographer in the bed of the truck and the sound man, Owen, in the back seat. It was like “Fast and Furious”. Okay, more like “Slow and Deliberate”, but nonetheless fun.

We then relocated to yet another farm location, one with a working barn, to stage my jump from one barn beam, 20 feet in the air, to another, my first stunt. Andrew and Matt had hired a stuntman to do the actual leap and the beams were actually on a rig created by a carpenter about 5 feet up from a loft floor, but with creative camera angles and photographic magic it looked like I actually made the leap. We had to re shoot the landing on the other beam my second to the last day of filming and I padded my jacket with a car cushion but nonetheless ended up with some nasty bruises on my arm and leg. I’m no Harrison Ford; instead of a stunt from “Indiana Jones and the Tower of Doom”, I’m sure my moves look more like something out of “Sam Allcott and the Tower of Metamucil”.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Today I shot a scene with a tree trimmer (WWF wrestler Scott Broult). He hadn’t really seen the dialogue between us until he got to the farm, but he’s a performer so he quickly got the gist of the scene and we pretty much improvised the back and forth with Andrew’s direction.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2012

It’s Valentine’s Day. This day involves Sam and his siblings, Blair and Louisa, going though their parents papers in the Study and reminiscing about good and bad times.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012

The halfway point for shooting. Andrew posted a behind the scenes look at the project so far. Watch for Judy coming to the rescue as “The Church Lady”, playing the piano.

?t=9m18s/

The funeral scene is today at the historic Solor Lutheran Church (1870) in Webster Minnesota. I had asked my wife, Judy, if she wanted to be an extra and she invited our 80-year-old neighbor, Geri, too. This was an amazing day. The church was such a great set and the Pastor (John Edel), and Church Elder (Jim Westcott) were so authentic that it felt like a real funeral ceremony. There was a School Choir that was supposed to sing a hymn, but they couldn’t make it. The congregation was supposed to sing the hymn “Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go” but nobody knew the tune. I mentioned that Judy could read music so she was conscripted to play the piano for us and did a superb job. Our neighbor was picked to do a scene where she talks to my character about how wonderful my mother was. It turns out that she always wanted to be an actor so she was thrilled to participate. My eulogy required some emotional moments that I hope will appear authentic, with my parents and my wife’s parents all gone I had plenty of experience to draw from. The night shoot this day was another family dinner scene, with cross conversations and a group scene in the living room where Sam and Luke watch a basketball game while the rest of the family uncover some genealogical secrets in the family albums.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22. 2012

This was a long day of shooting, much of it spent in the kitchen with scenes with Rosie, Louisa, and Tyler. I had a scene with Tyler in the farmhouse basement that involved a rather violent Ping Pong match. I caught two wild serves in the face (thank God we weren’t playing handball) and retaliated with a serve to Tyler’s throat (sorry Xander). I hadn’t played Ping Pong in years and I’m certain the scene will verify that fact. Something else I haven’t done on over 30 years is smoke a cigarette and the next scene we shot involves me lighting up for a dialogue with my character’s son, Luke (A.J. Sass). Anyone who quit tobacco years ago will be glad to know that smoking again is such an unpleasant experience that the chance of becoming addicted again is virtually impossible.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

This was a big day for my character Sam and Rosie (Colleen Barrett). We started of with lots of small scenes for me. One scene involved me driving up and angrily rounding the back of my truck, reacting to something Rosie had done. On my way around the truck, I banged my shin on the trailer hitch- OWW! That made me cussing mad, for real, but I decided I better finish the scene, uttering a few choice expletives and throwing my hat on the ground while the camera was still rolling. Andrew intimated that my pain would not be for naught as he is inclined to keep that take, it was so authentic. After some shin bandaging we got set for the big bedroom fight scene between Sam and Rosie. We did about 10 takes with lots of coverage shots and were told by the farm owner Grant, who was listening in the living room, that it was a little too real sounding. Mission accomplished.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2012

This was a day for picking up a number of scenes that had been delayed earlier in the shoot. Once again, I had to light up in a scene in which my daughter Melissa busts me for starting to smoke again. We also reshot the end of my leap from one barn beam to another. I hope we pulled off the illusion. In the final take which seemed like a real winner, I forgot to take off my gloves. So, it may look like a continuity thing, or maybe it will just seem that I can don gloves in mid-air in less than two seconds. We’ll see. I also have a long dialogue with my semi-estranged brother, Blair (Steve Hendrickson) in which some secrets are revealed. This was the beginning of the scene we shot on the 9^th with the tree-trimmer. The weather gods have blessed the whole shoot since we have had a non-event winter this year in Minnesota. So the conditions of Day1 in the story pretty much match those of Day 5 even though the shoot covered an entire month.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2012

This was my final day of shooting and we and our first major winter weather event, but once again the weather gods have cooperated with us. The scene with Blair and Louisa stuck at O’Hare Airport by a winter storm was shot at the Lindbergh Terminal at MSP Airport with a timely snow burst outside the airport window. The next day the cast was able to film a very authentic scene depicting the storm affecting their bus trip to the farm. My final shot was mercifully inside and I made it home before the snow/sleet/freezing rain event got under way in full force.

“Fallen Branches” was a wonderful experience. The actors were a joy to be with. For example, A.J. Sass and Josiah Gulden are true renaissance men with an encyclopedic memory for film history and endless ability to impersonate their favorite performers. Colleen Barrett as Rosie, Steve Hendrickson as Blair, and Cynthia Uhrich as Louisa were all terrific and made my scenes with them a joy to do. It was fun to hear their enthusiasm for the film business. Everyone was aware that this was a special project, that Andrew was a wonderfully talented writer and director, that Matt was not only a great cinematographer but also a meticulous producer who organized a flawless month of shooting.

I have great hopes that this small budget independent film gets the attention it deserves and look forward to whatever these young talented filmmakers do next.

Here are my 2012 Oscar Predictions as seen on the Twin Cities NBC affiliate’s KARE 11 4PM News.

Well, the Oscars are being awarded this Sunday.

The top actress spot should be a battle between Meryl Streep, Viola Davis and Michelle Williams, all winners this award season. The nominees are:

Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”- My Pick
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

Rooney Mara was the surprise here, her take as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” was superb, but i still preferred Noomi Rapace’s version in the Swedish original. I thought Michelle was a lock when I saw “My Week With Marilyn”, but the work Meryl did as the “Iron Lady”, especially in the scenes of her playing Margaret Thatcher as an 86 year old, struggling with dementia, was unbelievably good. I think Meryl will finally win again, in spite of the lukewarm reception of the film itself.

One of the most interesting acting category will be the Supporting Actress award, where upsets can happen. The nominees are:

Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help” – My Pick

Melissa McCarthy is having a monster year and this nomination is the icing on the cake. It’s very unusual for the Academy to honor a comedic role, especially in a very raunchy, and very funny, movie like “Bridesmaids” (and I was thrilled that Kristin Wiig was one of the nominees for Original Screenplay), but I think the award will go to Octavia Spenser.

It’s been a good year for Brad Pitt with nods for Best Actor and as Producer of “Moneyball” in the Best Picture category. The Best Actor nominees were:

Demián Bichir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”-My Pick
Gary Oldman, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Brad was terrific in “Moneyball” and I was so glad to see Demián Bichir, nominated for his brilliant and touching work as an East LA, illegal immigrant, gardener. George Clooney gives one of his best performances in “The Descendants”, but I think the momentum is with “The Artist” and Jean Dujardin.

The Supporting Actor spot had one surprise, a nod for another silent performance, Max Von Sydow as the mute character in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”. The Nominees are:

Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”- My Pick
Max von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

I was glad to see Jonah Hill, a very funny comedic performer, recognized for his nuanced work in “Moneyball”.  Kenneth Branagh was terrific as Sir Lawrence Olivier, but I think the Oscar will go to Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”,  for a great performance, but also as a reward for a lifetime of acting achievement.

Best Foreign Language Film honors will go to “A Separation”, an Iranian film that was one of the very best movies I saw all year. Amazing direction and acting, a movie that you must go out of your way to see, make the effort to find it.

The Best Picture  slot could have included as few as five nominees but the Academy went with nine this year:

“The Artist,” Thomas Langmann, producer- My Pick
“The Descendants,” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” Scott Rudin, producer
“The Help,” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, producers
“Hugo,” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, producers
“Midnight in Paris,” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, producers
“Moneyball,” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, producers
“The Tree of Life,” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse,” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, producers

This should come down to “The Artist” and “The Descendents” and I think “The Artist”, will squeak out a win here with Michel Hazanavicius getting top directing honors.

The lion’s share of the technical honors will be split between “Hugo”, top nominee getter with 11, and “The Artist”, scoring 10 nominations in all.

The awards will be handed out this Sunday, February 26, and the show from the Kodak Theater will be aired on ABC. The reliable Billy Crystal is back and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

 The Best Foreign Film Oscar will go to the Iranian film “A Separation” this year, that’s my prediction and I’m sticking to it (unless it doesn’t, in which case this post will self-destruct in 5 seconds). This gripping domestic drama grabs you from the beginning as a couple in Tehran deals with the kind of family issues that might seem universal in any divorce situation. A mother, Simin(Leila Hatami), who wants to head west for a perceived better life with her pre-teen daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi), and a father, Nadar (Peyman Maadi), who struggles with his duty to care for his Alzheimer’s afflicted father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi) and who opposes his wife’s divorce petition. This domestic dilemma is complicated by Nadar’s need to find a caretaker for his father after Simin moves out. He hires a devout Muslim woman, Razieh (Sareh Baya), who secretly takes the job to help her unemployed husband, Houjat( Shahab Hosseini) a firebrand fundamentalist. The performances are spectacular. All the characters are flawed in one way or another and the complications of the engrossing plot bring us a look at a decidedly different justice system where aggrieved parties argue and defend their own case before overburdened  yet seemingly pragmatic jurists. To lay out the complications that rise from this domestic dilemma would spoil the many surprises the plot unveils, but each moment is portrayed with incredible skill by writer/ director Asghar Farhadi, Oscar nominee for Best Original Screenplay. “A Separation” is the rare film that stays with you long after you leave the theater and it deserves all the accolades it will get, including the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

Rated PG-13

My GPA: 4.0

I’ve never given the Silent Picture a good look but “The Artist” by Michel Hazanavicius has definitely opened my eyes. this silent picture within a silent picture is a Hollywood melodrama combining “Sunset Boulevard” Beverly Hills style with “A Star is Born” storyline, loaded with cinematic and visual references. It’s beautifully filmed with great attention to detail in set design, props, costumes, and an evocative musical score by Ludovic Bource. The impossibly attractive characters, George Valentin and Peppy Miller, played by the impossibly  attractive actors Jean Dujardin (star of Havanavicius’ “OSS 117″ series) and Bérénice Bejo (the real life wife of Hazanavicius), play out this story of his Hollywood Silent Film glory days fading while her star rises in the new “Talkies”. They meet cute (the big star helps out the eager newcomer) but don’t connect until George’s pride before and after the fall creates Peppy’s obsessive interest in protecting her former mentor after his disastrous refusal to accept cinematic progress. His only friend remains the incredibly talented terrier, “Dog” played by Uggie, who makes Rin Tin Tin look like a slacker. A few familiar faces acquit themselves nicely here. John Goodman plays the archetypical Hollywood mogul, Penelope Anne Milller as Doris, George’s unhappy wife, and James Cromwell (“That’ll do pig”) as Clifton, George’s forever loyal chauffeur. For those film goers tired of CGI mayhem “The Artist is a welcome look at the kind of bigger than life attraction that made the world line up to forget it’s troubles in those magnificent Movie Palaces of yesterday.

Rated PG-13

My GPA: 4.0

Tom Cruise may not be our finest actor, but he sure knows how to put on a show. “Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol” is the latest in the IMF saga based on the iconic TV show “Mission Impossible”, and it is the best one so far. As is usually the case with these big budget extravaganzas, don’t bother yourself with plot lines and just take in the amazing action, preferably in the IMAX format. Director Brad Bird has had success in the animation field with “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille”, so he knows about the importance of color. The IMAX version of this film is crystal clear and bright (as opposed to 3D) and Bird, with this film, shows he can handle non-animated superhero action sequences too. Micheal Nyqvist (star of the Swedish “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”) is a crazed Russian Nuclear strategist  who wants to start a nuclear holocaust in the belief that the remaining humanity will end up stronger (I told you not to get too involved in second guessing the plot). The IMF team’s mission is to stop him. Things get rolling with Ethan Hunt (Cruise) being spring from a Russian Prison with the help of team member Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg providing the film’s comic relief), you’re gripping the arms of your chair and the title credits haven’t even started rolling yet. Cruise’s team also includes Paula Patton as Jane Carter (providing the Babe factor with some serious fighting skills) and Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”) as a field agent turned analyst with some serious secrets to hide. The photography is amazing with Budapest, Moscow, Mumbai, and Dubai giving us plenty of scenic firepower. If you start to think ‘how could that possible happen’ you’ll spoil things for yourself, so sit back and take it all in. This will be the big box office winner of the holiday season.

Rating: PG-13

My GPA: 4.0

Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson take their bromance to a new level in Guy Ritchie’s new 2nd installment of his Holmes catalog, the action adventure “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”. Those who revel in the “elementary” deductions posited by Holmes in the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle might have to wait until the rousing final confrontation between Holmes and Professor Moriarity (Jared Harris) to get the full impact of his deductive skills because this film is full of Ritchie’s stop action hyper-edited action scenes that Hollywood demands from it’s action heroes, even if they are occasionally in drag. Let me say that Downey Jr. as a lady is not, to quote Holmes, “his best look”. Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler makes a brief holdover appearance from the first film to get things rolling and we are stuck by the fact that some things never change in the evil struggle for world domination with the first terrorist bombing engineered by Moriarity. His attempt to outwit Holmes includes  disrupting the marital bliss of the newly married Watson (Kelly Reilly as Mary Morstan Watson). Holmes comes too the rescue of his fellow sleuth and through s series of hard to believe premonitions, outwits the various attempts on their lives. They are aided by the Gypsy Sim played by the original “Girl in The Dragon Tattoo” Noomi Rapace. Fans of her work as Lisa Salander will agree, she isn’t fully utilized in this film. the rousing battle of wits involves a chess game between Holmes and Moriarity that echoes the action playing out on screen. It’s a thrilling finale.

Rated: PG-13

My GPA: 3.4