tagged w/ Men Who Stare at Goats
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It turns out that “The Men Who Stare at Goats” was not an aberration. George Clooney is as capable as any actor of making a really bad film.
“The American” is proof of that. It also offers a number of other revelations. For one, it suggests that, in the same way you can’t tell a book by its cover, you can’t tell a film by its trailer. Whoever created the coming attractions did a superb job of turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse.
Further, “The American” reinforces a basic truism: it’s often a lot easier to figure out a film if someone hands you production notes as you walk into a critics’ screening than if you walk into a theater blind.It turns out that “The Men Who Stare at Goats” was not an aberration.... more
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writa
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added this
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1 year ago
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Somewhere along the line, Jeff Bridges went from young actor to grizzled veteran.
It suits him. The son of Lloyd Bridges, the younger brother of Beau, Jeff has managed to forge his own path. His first Oscar nomination was for 1971's "The Last Picture Show"; two others would follow.
He plays a pivotal role in "The Men Who Stare at Goats," as Bill Django, an unreconstructed hippie who creates something called the New Earth Army, a unit whose members fight with their minds, not conventional weapons. He spoke recently about the film, and his years on sets, going from a "young punk" to an older guy (he's 59) who has been around.
Question: There's a lot of camaraderie on-screen in this film. Did you guys - George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor - get along off the set as well? Does that even matter?
Answer: Does it matter as far as the end product? I don't know. That's a good question. In one sense, no. I've done projects where I've had no fun, and the end product is the reverse. And the opposite. It was a wonderful time and it just misses, for some reason. . . . It's kind of a mystery how that all works. . . .
I made a film not too long ago called "The Amateurs." It was about a bunch of friends who had known each other all their lives. It was going to be a very quick shoot. So I said, "Let's meet down at my parents' beach house for a couple of nights, sleep over and hang out. Party and go over some lines." The intention of being close, that helps. And that can be put up on the screen. That's part of the fun of acting. But like I say, sometimes you can have that cathartic feeling, "Oh, this is great, I felt so close to you and the chemistry," and you see it and it didn't happen. Very mysterious.
Q: You've played some iconic roles, such as the Dude in "The Big Lebowski." Can you tell when you're making the movie?
A: I try not to think about that. I try to just do the job at hand. It's funny, you'd think, or I would think, as long as I've been doing it, I wouldn't be afraid of failure, or whether I can do it or not. I still have all those concerns. How are you going to be able to pull this off? I feel very new at it.
Q: In "The Men Who Stare at Goats," your character explores all manner of hippie and New Age sorts of experiences. Were you a part of that back in the day?
A: Oooh, yeah, I'm a product of the New Age.
Q: It's played for laughs in the film. Does it seem funny now?
A: Yeah. It's certainly good material to laugh at and make fun (of). But one of the things I liked about this movie is that, at the same time, while it's kind of laughable and seems ridiculous, (it moves) in the general direction of trying to figure out a way to evolve past war. War is such a primitive, ridiculous way for us to deal with our problems. It's getting more and more dangerous now. Even though these things, the specific techniques, might seem ridiculous, the general direction, I think, is a good one.
Q: You started out as a young actor. Do you see any of yourself in the younger actors on sets?
A: It's a funny kind of thing. I have a buddy, and he might hold the record on this, I don't know. . . . He's been my stand-in for over 50 films. Met on "The Last Picture Show." So he's like a thread through all these things. And we often talk about it. He says, "Isn't this wild? We used to be the young punks, man. Now we're the old seasoned guys." It's bizarre. It's funny. As you get older, too, you look at doctors, policemen, Playmates. You look at the birthdate of a Playmate and you say, "My God." It really puts it in perspective, how fast it goes.Somewhere along the line, Jeff Bridges went from young actor to grizzled veteran.... more
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Men Who Stare At Goats Spoof
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