popentertainment-interviews

[popentertainment-interviews]

Michael Connelly and Alison Ellwood

Return to Wonderland

by Jay S. Jacobs

Hollywood was a pretty wild place in the early 1980s; a mixture of glitz, glamour and seediness, aging stars and young up-and-comers, gorgeous homes and run-down hoods, big business and small-time crime, nature, shopping and lots and lots of drugs.

On July 1, 1981, four people were found violently executed in a house on Wonderland Avenue in the beautiful Laurel Canyon section of LA. This mystery has long fascinated Angelinos and true-crime buffs. Barbara Richardson, Ron Launius, Joy Miller and Billy DeVerell were killed in the home invasion, with Lanius’ wife Susan Launius surviving with serious injuries.

While since early on the responsibility for the crimes has been attached to LA nightclub owner and gangster Eddie Nash as retribution to Ron Lanius and DeVerell taking part in a robbery of Nash’s home, no one has ever been successfully charged with the murders. However, the events had tendrils which reached way out into Hollywood, ensnaring porn star John Holmes and Vegas icon Liberace, and even lightly brushing upon such 1980s superstars as John Belushi, Richard Pryor and Michael Jackson.

The Liberace, Belushi, Pryor and Jackson connections mostly came through witness Scott Thorson, Liberace’s former companion (he wrote the book Behind the Candelabra) turned drug dealer. Thorson is an infamously unreliable storyteller (he is referred to as an “enigma” in the series), however, it seems that he has mostly told the truth about the goings-on at Wonderland.  

Crime novelist Michael Connelly (the Harry Bosch books and The Lincoln Lawyer) has long had a fascination with the case, going back to his days as a crime reporter at The Los Angeles Times. He also lived right around the corner from the crime scene for much of the 1990s. His fascination led to his 2021 podcast on the crime, “The Wonderland Murders & the Secret History of Hollywood.” The podcast was such a success that it has been turned into a TV series to stream on MGM+.

A few years after we spoke with the novelist about the podcast, we checked back in with Connelly and series director Alison Ellwood to discuss the TV series version of The Wonderland Massacre & the Secret History of Hollywood.

Michael, you did a podcast on the case a few years ago. Why did the two of you think that it would make for an intriguing TV series?

Michael Connelly: I thought there'd be some pretty good archival stuff. I had some of that, but obviously I only had the audio of it for the podcast. I didn't know the wealth of stuff that Alison would find, going all the way back to Eddie Nash being on TV. That was something I was hoping for. That would be a reason to go from podcast to documentary. That idea, or that hope, paid off in much bigger ways than I even expected. I think that's a really big part of what keeps this series compelling.

Alison, what was it that interested you about making this a series?

Alison Ellwood: I had just finished doing the Laurel Canyon music series, and that was this beautiful place with these musicians and all this amazing music. By the time this story happens, it's like the negative image of what had become of this place: houses with artists creating music could become dens of drug thieves. That noirish turn in a place was what compelled me about it, plus getting to work with Michael. I'm a big fan of his books.

Scott Thorson died a couple weeks ago. He was a huge part of the show, and the series is dedicated to him. However, you always referred to him as “an enigma” and “an unreliable narrator.” He has told many stories of the Wonderland Massacre, and many seem to check out, but you never know for sure with him. He even said in your last interview that he was working on a book on the case, which will probably never see the light of day. How much of the story do you think he took to the grave with him, or do you think he shared most of what he knew?

Michael Connelly: I think he shared probably 90% of it, but he always inferred – we didn't put this in podcast or the show – he always inferred that if push came to shove, he would name other people that were there that night. That were dispatched to Wonderland to exact Eddie Nash's revenge. He was scared of these people, and said they were still alive. Whether that was baiting or exaggeration, I don't really know, but I'm pretty sure he took some stuff with him, and I don't think we'll ever be able to dig that out.

Alison Ellwood: I don't think he could know for sure, too. He said he suspected who met them at the house, but he didn't personally witness that.

A lot of other people also have gone to the grave since, people like Johnny Holmes and Greg Iles. Why do you think that Eddie Nash had that kind of effect on people that they were just so afraid to talk, no matter what happened?

Alison Ellwood: Well, look at what he did at Wonderland. I mean, it was brutal. They were terrified of it. They were all addicted to drugs too. He had that hold over them as well.

Michael Connelly: Yeah, it was money and drugs. It was obviously a key way of controlling people. And indications are that he had tentacles into power structures in Los Angeles, through payoffs and bribes and things like that. So, whether he really had it as wired as it appeared is one thing, but if people of that time believed it, they were going to stay in line. I think over the years that what happened at Wonderland served him well as being the scary figure that you don't cross.

The killings are in this weird netherworld of crime because it's officially still an open case after all these years, although everyone pretty much agrees they know the who, the why and what happened. Eddie Nash did end up spending a little time in jail on RICOH charges, but not nearly as much as he probably should have for what he did. Do you think that the fact that justice was never quite served makes this story even more interesting and more sordid?

Alison Ellwood: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you can see it in the detectives, the frustration and frankly, anger. They feel they had it. They had all the pieces. Everything was in place, and just one thing after another, the rug would get pulled out from under them.

Michael Connelly: That's my connection to the case, because I spend a lot of time with detectives to inspire and research the books I write. All the detectives in this story I've known for a while, long before I decided to do a podcast or a documentary series. This is the one that really sticks with them. As you say, it's unrequited justice. Sometimes some people were brought before the courts, publicly and so forth, but at the end of the day, X number of people went in that house and brutally killed four people. Every person that went in there, no matter how many it was – whether there was two, three or four – none of them served any time for what they did. That's why it's still open. Probably will always be open. You never know, this documentary series could spawn something, but at the end of the day, it's a story of unrequited justice, and that makes it pretty interesting.

As a novelist, you say in the series, you couldn’t get away with writing many of the things which happen in real life. What are some of the things that really happened here that if you were writing fiction, you would feel you could never get away with?

Michael Connelly: Just the idea of this guy who was appearing on Las Vegas stages with Liberace becomes at the center of this drug kingdom. Just the idea that a guy that's delivered to witness protection ends up on The 700 Club as a TV evangelist. Put that in a book and see what your editor says. I love the little story about how they were ahead of the wave of law enforcement with crack cocaine, where Thorson got pulled over, they found a baseball sized ball of crack, and the cops didn't even know what it was. They just tossed it on the hood of the car and then let him go about his way when he said it was a toy that his brother's kid used, or something like that. Just little things that have the ring of truth to them because they are outrageous. “When you write a crime novel, you have to be more real than real,” is one of the things that my editor told me once a long time ago. I would always seed my books with little anecdotes that I know are true, but they just seemed unbelievable. This case is full of them.

Alison Ellwood: Yeah, and Scott's claims just become more and more fantastical as it goes on. But they actually proved to be vetted out, so….

Alison as a filmmaker, was it fun and/or difficult to track down and go through all the footage of not just the case, but basically the United States in the 80s and Hollywood in the 80s and everything that was going on there?

Alison Ellwood: Yeah. We had researchers working constantly, bringing in material all the time and finding new things. One of the best things we found was [footage of] Scott after he'd been shot in Jacksonville. I mean, who knew that existed? That was crazy that we got that. That was like another point in telling of the story. It was just covered by local news. I guess he was still famous enough as being attached to Liberace, that they covered it as a local thing, but we never knew that existed. It was constant, bringing stuff in, even up until the very last minute.

Michael Connelly: The archival stuff that we were able to get, that Alison was able to get, really are the reasons to take it from podcast to visual storytelling. You can have, as I did in the podcast, Scott talk about knowing these people like Michael Jackson, but I've already said he's an unreliable narrator. In the documentary, we have a slew of photos of him with Michael Jackson, so it's confirmed. The documentary confirms a lot of the podcast that you can't just confirm with audio storytelling.

Just on a more basic level, why do you think that true crime stories make for such interesting television?

Michael Connelly: From my standpoint, it's because you're talking about the 2% of the world that gets involved in these things. It's almost like science fiction or something. You're taking someone into a world that they don't understand. When I do book tours, I usually say, “How many here have solved a murder?” and no one raises their hand. But they love reading books about solving murders, because it's an alien world and it's fascinating, and the stakes are always high. So, I think that does translate to this… I guess it's a vogue, or maybe it's always been that way… but that true crime is something that so many people are interested in.

Alison Ellwood: I personally prefer reading true crime to watching true crime because it's too scary. (laughs)

Michael Connelly: It helps when you have a story that extends the genre or takes it to a point where it has some resonance. The social history involved in this and the start of the crack epidemic, and the tendrils of this story that go into the underworld of Hollywood and the overworld of Hollywood. All that adds to it, I think, and gives you something that's more than a whodunit.

Alison Ellwood: Also, not to be just sensationalized. There's a much deeper story beneath all of this, both about the human beings, and how they got tripped up into all this. Storytelling is what interests me and this was very rich in that respect.

Are there any other Hollywood mysteries, or just mystery stories in general, that you'd like to explore for possible future series?

Alison Ellwood: Yes. (laughs)

Michael Connelly: We've had a good time on this. I enjoyed being a pseudo detective, so Alison and I are and the production company that made this, we're all talking about maybe doing something else.

You've long ago moved past your crime reporting to doing fiction. Was it fun to get your reporter’s cap back on and do all of the interviews and probe into the mystery?

Michael Connelly: Yes, definitely. I mean, I don't think I ever lost that. You're right, I've not done any kind of newspaper writing or anything like that. Even though it's been 25 years or so since I worked at a newspaper, I've always felt, even as I'm writing fiction, that I'm still a journalist at heart. Something happened in the last few years, maybe the craze of podcasts led me back to telling true stories and it's been fun. I don't want this one to be the last story I tell that's true.

You've also been having a hot streak on television right now with Bosch and Bosch: Legacy and The Lincoln Lawyer and now this. Writing books is very solitary work, and TV is much more interactive. You're dealing with people, everyone's putting things together. Are you enjoying all the different directions your TV work is taking in?

Michael Connelly: Yeah, I think it's therapeutic to get out of the isolation of a room where you write books and go into a [TV} writing room or go to a set. It appears that I'm more involved than I really am. What I do is gather people that I can trust with my work and let them do their thing, and then I bask in the glory of it. So, it's not like I'm totally there all the time. I pick my times to show up and to help out if I can, but for the most part, I'm back in that room by myself writing books.

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: September 8, 2024.

Photos © 2024. Courtesy of MGM+. All rights reserved.

Except for Photo 2 © 2024 Jay S. Jacobs. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Stephen Sanchez

Traveling Troubadour

By Emma Fox

Since his hit single “Until I Found You” went Triple Platinum, generated over 2 billion streams, and made the Top 25 of Billboard Hot 100, Stephen Sanchez has proven himself to be quite the powerhouse in music. Additionally, after the release of his debut album, Angel Face, Sanchez sold out his first ever headline tour, earning acclaim from the likes of Rolling Stone, Vogue, Billboard, and more.

We got the chance to chat with Sanchez following the release of the highly anticipated Angel Face (Club Deluxe), as he anticipates his worldwide fall tour. He discussed influences in songwriting, the depth behind his lyrics, and what we can expect from him down the road.

When asked about his influences and inspirations, Sanchez gave us some insight into a more intimate side of his creative process. Sanchez spoke of the films that he takes inspiration from, specifically Lost in Translation.

He stated that love is a “wonderful escape from reality a lot of the time, and then love becomes real once you shake off all the clouds.”

Films similar to this one that truly align with his songwriting and storyline as an artist he said are very inspiring, reminding him of “that magic, but also that reality of heartache and of circumstance pulling two people away from each other”.

A lot of Sanchez’s music is known to tug at the heartstrings, and his songs carry a lot of emotional weight within their lyrics. Storytelling is something that Stephen Sanchez does like no other, and for him, it’s exciting to be able to write from real stories and real feelings that have happened in his life, but then to “hide behind a character so it feels like it lessens the blow of vulnerability”.

Sanchez’s album Angel Face follows the story of the fictional musician/character The Troubadour Sanchez, who blew up in 1958 with “Until I Found You” and fell in love with Evangeline in 1964. Angel Face serves as his “long lost debut” that has been unearthed 59 years later.

During our chat, Sanchez was asked about what advice he would have for one of

his listeners if they found their way into a forbidden romance just like Troubadour Sanchez, in order for them to achieve a storybook ending.

Sanchez laughed and responded, “Oh my god, don’t. Don’t do that. Don’t do any of what that character did.”

He continued, “Storybook endings, what even are those? Who even knows? To each their own.”

Finishing his answer with some solid advice, he told listeners to “pursue a thing that’s healthy. They want to know you. You want to know them, that’s it. You’re on the same page”.

As we look ahead and see what the future looks like for Stephen Sanchez, there’s a lot to look forward to with the upcoming fall tour. Sanchez’s first headline tour told the story of Troubadour Sanchez, where on stage Sanchez and his band played the ghosts of the characters existing in the album, haunting each venue and walking fans through the storyline.

This time around however, fans can expect to be taken further back and have the opportunity to experience “the real thing, as if you were back in the 50’s, actually seeing The Troubadour Sanchez and the Moon Crests live.”

The journey and growth of Stephen Sanchez has been an incredible one to watch, and his influence is only continuing to rise. His ability to transform a room, command a stage, and take you back in time with his nostalgic aesthetic, smooth vocal tones, and powerful and emotionally intense songwriting is something that is a true testament to Sanchez’s pure talent and potential. We are so excited to see what he has up his sleeve next!

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: September 2, 2024.

Photos by Emily DiMarcangelo © 2023. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Sasha Lane

Riding the Storm Out in Twisters

by Jay S. Jacobs

“Don’t let me go! Don’t let me go!” That cry came from Sasha Lane as Lily, one of the storm hunters in the summer blockbuster Twisters, as a tornado nearly pulled her out of a collapsing movie theater.

Who says that acting isn’t an adventure?

A native Texan, Lane plays the group’s tech, who uses drones and VR goggles to help save the people of her neighboring state of Oklahoma. Riding around in a van across the plains, with the likes of Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Tunde Adebimpe, Katy O'Brian and Harry Hadden-Paton – chasing storms and saving lives.  

Starring in Twisters is sort of a childhood fantasy for Lane, but then again, her career has been taking off so much in recent years that she is living out lots of fantasies. The role of Lily comes hard on the heels of a head-turning gig in the acclaimed Apple+ series The Crowded Room with Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried. She’s also played significant roles in series like Utopia and Loki, as well as films like Hellboy and The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

As Twisters was being released for streaming and on demand, we caught up with Lane to find out about her life chasing Twisters.

You were basically a toddler when the original Twister movie came out. Were you familiar with it before getting involved with Twisters? Were you excited to be a part of the reboot?

Yeah, legit I grew up on Twister. We used to watch it all the time. Growing up in Texas too, it just felt like, “Oh yeah, we have tornadoes, too.” It was something that felt like you're from here, then you know about Twister. Then to be a part of Twisters… My own sisters are like, “No, I've never seen Twister” and I’m like, “Welcome to us. Welcome to our version.” So, it's cool yeah. It's super exciting to be a part of.

When originally reading the script for Twisters, what most intrigued you about the story and specifically about Lily?

The fact that she flies drones. That was this updated version of being able to collect data and the fact that it just felt like this like sick way to be like, “All right, yeah, we're going to get out there but I’m going to go around it and circle it and dive in.” I thought it was just super innovative. Even learning that that's what people do now and that they've just created so many different ways to essentially get information back to the centers and the stations and just for their own data. I just thought it was cool, and I'm so not tech savvy. I love the idea that I got to pretend for a moment that I knew.

Did you get to learn anything about the tech side of things?

Yeah, I watched a lot of videos. Watching Alex fly his drones and essentially telling about everything. It made me understand why people get so excited about them because at first, I just thought like “oh, those annoying things in the sky,” but now I'm like that's kind of cool. Especially to use it for something like what the storm chasers are doing with it, I think it's really dope.

Since this film is so much about the tornadoes and weather of Oklahoma, did you all run across any real twisters or weird weather that affected shooting?

We definitely had some crazy weather. There were so many times where our trailers were rocking and we're sending videos back and forth, like, “you feel this?” One time we were filming the scene where the entire town gets destroyed and lo and behold the entire street got destroyed seconds before filming, so it was like, “well, I guess that just saved everyone the trouble of having to go destroy everything themselves.” Tons of lightning, just a lot of good old Oklahoma weather.

Twisters is so much about special effects. As an actor, what was the toughest scene to film? Which one was the most fun?

I think the toughest scene to film, I guess for me, (chuckles) personally, when we're in the theater and we're yelling for everyone to come in and get down, get to the side. I am extremely uncomfortable in crowded spaces and all of the doors are closed. Everyone's screaming, and it just made me want to crawl into my own skin. But I'm supposed to be the one who's like, “get out, everyone!” I was begging to get flown out of that theater by that point. (laughs) I was like, “just put me on the ground and send me out, guys.”

Yeah, that was a crazy scene…

Or working outside in the pool scene – the empty pool and the tornado was coming. We were filming that in, like, December and so we're just freezing in these tiny little tank tops and shorts. It's just freezing. But, you know, it is what it is.

True…

I think the most fun for me, honestly, probably was flying. Just being on the harness and Tyler (Glen Powell’s character) having to reach out and get me. I like anything with stunts or anything that shakes it up a little bit. That was cool.

Glen is suddenly one of the biggest names in Hollywood. What were he and Daisy and the rest of the cast like to work with? You guys all looked like you were having a lot of fun there.

It was super easy to work with everyone. We're like the most well-mannered, good, light-hearted, spirited, down for the creative group of people I've ever been around. Everyone just had their own vibe, but also, we all clicked. There was no pressure to hang out but we all naturally found ourselves hanging out. Everyone was respectful, not like secretly side-eyeing [someone] being like, “we're kind of being mean to the PAs.” Everyone's mama, or dad, or grandparent – whoever raised them – raised them all just so well. They're great people.

Have you ever experienced a twister or any other natural disaster? I think you just said in Texas that you hadn't run across a twister, but have you ever been in anything like that?

Yeah. There's been times out here – hurricanes and all kinds of stuff. Hailstorms. It's so weird because I just go to sleep. There are a few times that you get woken up and you have to go hide for cover. Or I've been caught out – I'm at the park with friends and I'm booking it home and trees are flying in my face. It's a little scary but something about the intense weather just makes me mosey on up.

You grew up in neighboring Texas, so filming in Oklahoma must have been like going home almost. What was it like to film there?

I say this joke, sometimes you'll be driving in Texas, and you'll end up in Oklahoma by accident because you just went a little too far. That's really what it was. It was great because it felt familiar to me, which I really like. I was able to drive back and forth to see my daughter or meet her in the middle at a park somewhere. It felt like I didn't have to disrupt her world, but I could constantly just go back and forth not a lot of miles in. I love [the fact that] their bars have so many games. I started getting really good at darts for some random reason. Just hanging out. I was in the middle of a storm at a bar and it's just probably only three people there and they're like, “eh, it'll pass.” And I'm like, “all right, might as well go out with a gin if I'm going to go out.” It was good.

You play a very different role in The Crowded Room. Is it fun as an actor to play with all these different shades? What was that show like to be a part of?

Playing different roles is definitely something I find appealing, especially because in doing so it helps me tap into different parts of myself but with a filter, I guess. It feels like playtime… or like getting permission to daydream all day. But then you get roles like Arianna, and that’s definitely a different level of tapping in. It was terrifying at times having to be so vulnerable, having to dig so deep, but also, I found it very releasing. It made me fall in love with my work all over again. I felt truly proud to be a part of something that a lot of people put so much effort, heart, and time into creating and protecting. I’m very thankful for the Crowded Room experience. 

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: August 28, 2024.

Photo 1 © 2024. Courtesy of Mandy Kay Marketing. All rights reserved.

Photos 2-4 © 2024. Courtesy of Universal Pictures. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Alan Cumming

As Host of The Traitors, the Multi-talented Star Brings a New Flamboyance to The Peacock Network's Hit Reality Game Show

by Brad Balfour

Not one to watch reality TV, I didn't really get what The Traitors (the US version) was all about. But since it was hosted by Alan Cumming, the gender fluid actor/artist, I was intrigued to hear him speak about the show. He's the host of the reality game show, which is based on De Verraders, the Dutch show created by Marc Pos and Jasper Hoogendoorn. 

Having completed two seasons, the offbeat American version features Cumming in flamboyant costumes making grand gestures and arch pronouncements as contestants in the game move into a majestic castle. As a result, Cumming has garnered an Emmy nom for Outstanding Host for A Reality or Reality Competition Program (The Traitors). This further enhances the show's impact – but hopefully positive results will be in when the 75th edition of The Emmys airs September 15th on ABC.

The contestants work as a team to complete a series of dramatic and challenging missions. All of this to earn money for the prize pot. Some contestants are loyal, some are traitors – all of them established characters from other reality series.

Cumming – born on January 27, 1965, in Aberfeldy, Scotland – has had a long and distinguished career. He's done everything from editing pop magazines, a cabaret show, dramatic TV series, various stage versions of Shakespeare's plays and many starring roles in award-winning films. And, according to IMDB.com, "he's able to flawlessly change his voice and appearance for each role."

Now as he tackles The Traitors reality show, as both host and a producer, Cumming creates a new icon to connect to the LGBTQ community. At a recent screening of an episode, he spoke about this series just in time for Pride Month and preceding the Emmy nominations.

Alan Cumming, what makes you such an incredibly fun host to watch is that, unlike a lot of other reality shows, you really get into character. You become part of the cast in so many ways. What were your thought processes in coming into the show and figuring out how to play the role that you do within Traitors?

When they first talked to me about it, this was unlike anything I've ever done before. I couldn't quite understand why they'd ask me, but it sort of sounded fun. My agent said, "Oh, there's some show in a castle and they want you to do it." I took the meeting and realized they wanted me to, in a way, subvert the form of hosting a show like this by playing that sort of character. Everyone does a version of themselves when they host something that's not very true. But in this [case], it was actually a version of me and it's a very down-to-east Scottish layout. [My dog] Lala wasn't allowed to come the first time because of her papers, or COVID or something. But I said, "Oh, I should take my dog and pet her like a James Bond villain." I thought of it, and I still think of it as a character that I play who happens to be hosting all these people in this castle, which happens to be being filmed for American TV. 

What makes the character so interesting is that for long-time fans of reality shows, you have a lot of personalities who are binary in nature and larger-than-life. That is why we watch them year after year, characters like C.T. and Adra, who have been on American television for decades. You somehow manage to out-character them in many ways. It's like navigating a lot of those personalities while playing that character.

In a way, it's because they have characters and they all come with their shtick. That's what's so interesting about doing it. The first series was comprised of half-real and half-reality people. Definitely, the people who are used to the camera and have an inbuilt persona already. They play themselves very well and understand the role they have to do. Then they're thrown into this thing where everything's destabilizing for them. I just guide them into situations that hopefully will destabilize them even more. That's what's fun about it. Everyone has a character in a way. 

I think we're used to C.T. or Phaedra or people we've known for years. We understand their characters. We're now associates getting to know my character in it. I'm the stern daddy of it all. It's interesting to play that role and also, to try to keep some distance from them – the cast – on set. I don't talk to them or do takes. I don't engage with them in a chummy way like you might in a normal [situation] when there's other cast members. I very much think it's important that I have authority. They're scared of me. Then, of course, now, after it's all done, I can be like a normal person with them. I think you find that really overwhelming. They all came to my bar as it was when they were here earlier in the year doing the press thing. It was so hilarious. It was like them seeing Father Christmas having a drink or something.

That's the sign of a good host – that they're scared of you. 

They should be scared of me because I've got to reprimand them sometimes. There's a lot of things, obviously, that are captured in the show that I've got in those situations where I've really got to intervene. My word is law. It's great fun. Clearly, I'm a terrifying figure, but I don't think I'm scary. Also, I don't take any shit. I know how to play a scary person. I'm fair but firm in real life. 

Part of what makes The Traitors so unique is that in so many other reality shows, both competition and lifestyle, there's no real setting other than the competition. You go to Survivor Island and do this thing. Or, if you look at Real Housewives, it is their real-life kind of, from time to time. Here, you have this beautiful gothic backdrop. A lot of the events, whether it's the funeral or going to a cemetery, feels very theatrical – and creepy. We're almost subverting the narrative of what this type of show format really is while also being [true] to the format. 

What I think is liberating is the theatricality of it. Everyone in television is very scared of theatricality. If you ever try to pitch a show to a TV executive, the word "theater" or "theatrical" is poison to them. It's very liberating that theatricality is in its very DNA. It's gothic and camp in the true sense of the term. American people sometimes don't have the same understanding of what camp means to British people. What we're doing on the trade is camp. There's an annoyingness to it, an archness of theatricality, and a winking at the audience all the time about what it is. 

There's me in those insane costumes in this castle saying, "Welcome to my castle." We're bringing all these nutty personalities out of their comfort zones and then making them do insane things and pitting them against each other. It's so amped up already in a sort of gothic [manner] of what it's trying to do. The core of it is just a game. All those shows – as I've discovered now in my crash course in reality competition television over the last couple of years – are basically the same. 

Survivor is the same as RuPaul's Drag Race is the same as the chef one. They're all people doing things and then slowly one person gets put out and then they have to hold. Then there's intrigue. Basically, it's just like schoolyard games of pushing one person out until it's just the next thing. In a way, what's good about this is that that's all it is. But it's got all these psychological layers that I think people underestimate. Also, you're in a castle and they're maddened, these contestants, because they're not allowed to pick up their phones. They're not allowed to talk to each other. All they think about from morning to night is the show and the game. And they go nuts. It's great. 

We mentioned something, this idea of camp in the British sense of the term. Not necessarily what we think of it as evidenced by the Met Gala themes.

The theme was a good idea. People just didn't understand it.

The Traitors has a British counterpart. There was a version of this before the U.S. version. What's your take on what had to change within the format for a different audience, or if there had to be any changes, because television has become so much more globalized? Audiences are more open and receptive to different types of formats of television and different types of humor. 

I don't really know how to answer that question. I saw some of the first season of the British one. It's not as camp and theatrical as ours. I think this is probably the first time in television history that an American version of the show is more camp and theatrical than the British one. I think that's me, in my opinion. But I feel like, in a funny way, we were able to have more leeway in that department. That's partly down to the costumes and Sam Spector, the stylist – he and I had an idea of the character I wanted to play. 

[The British host] Claudia Winkelman has such a lovely personality and a lovely way in which she deals with people. They have real people, as well. They don't have celebrities. It's all a bit toned down and quite British. Whereas we were able – partly because it was a new show and partly because of the costume thing and me being this character – we've amped it up. It's got this higher level of theatricality built into it. I think sometimes other countries try to do that. But I don't think they're quite as nuts as we are. I know that now there's something someone said, "Claudia does your thing when she throws a picture on the floor now." I was like, "Yes, you bitch, throw away my little picture." But it's kind of funny. Sometimes I see little clips of people from other countries' versions. It's like, "Oh, it seems like it's sort of a fever dream." You know vaguely what they're talking about, but the circumstances are all different. 

Going to the opposite of toned down, your outfits on the show are probably some of the best parts of it. They somehow get even more fabulous and glamorous every episode.  How involved are you with choosing the outfits versus someone else? 

Well, very involved. I talk to Sam all the time. especially in the first season, because I said I wanted to be this dandy Scottish laird. You know what a laird means? It's like lord in a Scottish accent, a Scottish dandy, an aristocratic gent. To me, that means a lot of tartan, a lot of cloaks might be featured, things like that. I went to him with that idea and those sorts of things. Then he ran with it. We go back and forward. Then the second season, we were able to amp it up a bit. He themed the missions with my clothes. There's one with birds. I just have a funny big peacock on my hat and stuff like that. For the next one, I'm about to go and do it again. It's amped up again, more about layering things. 

I have this great relationship with him. We text all the time. He sends some stuff to me, just ideas and things to improve. I think we're going more and more and bigger and bigger. I think surely, they're going to stop us soon. But one thing I really do like about it is that – in terms of if we think about what's happening in America and the way that trans people and non-binary people are facing lots of hatred and challenges – me, in this show as a middle-aged man, I'm being quite femme-y and wearing a lot of practically feminine female clothes. What's really interesting is to be able to do that in a mainstream way, and challenge people's perceptions of what male and female is, and maybe be a bit in the middle. 

Hopefully, when the audience sees someone in the street who is non-binary or non-gender conforming, they won't be as shocked or horrified. They'll see me in a fanny dress and a cloak the night before. That's a really positive, accidental thing that's come out of this theatricality of the costumes. One of the things that didn't make it is ... I saw it today in my dressing room in my house because I was doing a fitting for some little film I'm doing. I opened this cupboard in the last episode of the last season. It was all on this big ship, which was another story because we had a hideous storm, and it was like "Triangle of Sadness." It really was. I was vomiting into a metal bowl. I'll never forget it. Thank you. And bon appetit. But there was a funny little hat that had a little galleon on it with sails. It was hilarious. It was this Tracy-esque sort of thing. Absolutely bonkers. So impractical and nuts. It was on theme for the thing. But it was so windy that day that it kept falling off my head. Now I have it as a little memory. 

As hosts, you are effectively the audience of the show. We're seeing a lot of the things that you're seeing and your commentary throughout the challenges is both biting and reflective of how we're thinking. One of the themes that emerges in this episode you all saw as well leads up to this idea with these contestants, of gamers, those who have been on competitive reality shows and the non-gamers – what they refer to as the bravo, basically anyone that sits up and has fancy wine as part of their show. Is there a core advantage to one side or the other?

No, it was the funeral episode. The funeral. Yeah, hilarious. But I just love that because I liked it. As the series went on, they showed me more of me laughing. Obviously, it's Pedro falling in the water. I just loved seeing how he's always getting wet.

Who doesn't? 

Who doesn't? But the thing I think about that, I thought was really interesting about the second season – this truly has been a crash course for me – I'm really at the center of it and I can experience it. I feel that a lot of people said that "Oh, the gamers, they know how to do this, the survivors, the big brothers, the CT did." The challenge, yeah. The perception is they are devious, and they know how to do this game, whereas the outsiders are, oh, you know. That's not true. It was proven wrong in this season because – like, who was the one who worked it all out, blew it in his execution of it – was the cutie little bachelor, Rafaela Peet. So, you know, the other non-gamer. That to me was really exciting because I loved when our perception about the game was just smashed. Although I guess two gamers did win, but you know ... it didn't necessarily mean it was because of their game win. It's that somebody had to win. I think it's really interesting. It's a much more level playing field. Also, it's a game of chance. You're a traitor because I tap you on the shoulder.  

That's why I loved it when, a couple of weeks in, they're going mental. They're like, "I could never be a traitor." I go, "You would if I tapped you on the shoulder." That's why the show is so good. It really screws with people's minds, with the psychological, and the hurt and guilt that people get as well. The guilt [comes from] lying to your friends and everything. It's layer upon layer of awfulness. Having seen people in physical distress, it's always hilarious. 

In the first episode of this [season], as you're walking around, you're going to pick the traitors. You do it a few times, and there's conversation afterwards amongst the cast members about the sound of your jacket rustling as you lift an arm. Or your footsteps and the sound of breathing happening. How did you approach that moment of, "I need to make this as secretive as possible?"

It was absolutely the most terrifying part of the whole thing. I could fuck it up immensely in one fell swoop if they heard me or something. There were more of them this year. I do all sorts of things. The first year, we filmed a thing where I touched every single person. We've got the close-up of my hand going on the thing. We filmed that first. They've got an idea of what it feels like to be touched. Then we go round and round and round and round. In terms of the rustling, I would do this. Right in front of their ears. It's so fun.  

I really enjoy it; it's the scariest part because I have a thing in my ear all the time. I can hear in the control room. When we're inside the castle, they're all in the control room, which is like NASA. It really is insane. I could feel the tension because it was the first thing of the show. Obviously, it's very tense in the room. When you're blindfolded, your other senses get much more aware. So it's really, really scary. I'm trying to get in and just do it without touching anything. I was just talking with Sam, the stylist, this week about what I was going to wear for that bit. Of course, there were things on my lapels. I thought that would be terrible if you heard them. You have to be really conscious of stuff like that. It's because everyone's senses are so heightened. But it is exciting and terrifying. 

Out of all of your friends or celebrities that you know, who do you think would be great on a season of The Traitors? And what would you have more fun with or which role would you think would be better – a traitor or a faithful?

I would like to be a traitor. I think everybody would like to be a traitor. It's just getting to go to the turret late at night and think who you're going to kill. I just think it's such fun. They get extra snacks when they go to the turret sometimes. But I don't know. Some people really don't want to be like that. That's why we do this thing now when I interview them. It's just hilarious. Lala and I are sitting there, and they come in one at a time, and they're really terrified. Some people are adamant they don't want to be a traitor. 

Of course, that's actually quite a good idea to make them a traitor when they're doing that. That's what I love about the game, is all these weird, confounding things you can do. Some people very much do think, well, you're not going to. It's actually really interesting, the mix of people that we choose for the show is all based on a lot of factors. But in terms of people that I know, we were just talking about her actually. 

I think Martha Stewart would be so good at it. She's so bossy and sort of strategic and so accomplished and everything. She would make that raft. She would get that catapult going. And, also, I just think she would be at home in a castle. So there's people like that. But I love those people who come on the show. I don't know who they are. 

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: July 22, 2024.

Photo #1 by Brad Balfour © 2024. All rights reserved.

Photos #2 & 3 © 2024 Ralph Bavaro and Euon Cherry. Courtesy of Peacock. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Thelma Schoonmaker

Legendary Film Editor Celebrates Late Husband Michael Powell by Debuting The Doc "Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger" at Tribeca Fest and More

By Brad Balfour

Maybe I should have attended the opening night screening of Black Narcissus when Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese introduced the Museum of Modern Art's [MoMA] retrospective of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger films, but I didn't. Instead, I made it the next night to see legendary film editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, share her thoughts about Powell – her late husband – when the institution screened Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger.

But hell, Marty was the sole narrator of this definitive documentary, so we hear him speak throughout a whole film celebrating the late Michael Powell and his partner, Emeric Pressburger, directed by David Hinton. In fact, Schoonmaker was introduced to Powell by Scorsese and his London-based film producer, Frixos Constantine. The couple were married from May 19, 1984, until his death in 1990. Since they had no children, Schoonmaker has been devoting herself to honoring and preserving the legacy of the many classic films that Powell directed.

Born in January 1940, this American film editor is best known for her five decades-long collaboration with Scorsese. Schoonmaker started working with Scorsese on his 1967 debut feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door, and has edited all of his films since 1980's Raging Bull. Awarded many accolades, she has won three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and four ACE Eddie Awards. The 84-year-old has been honored with a British Film Institute Fellowship in 1997, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2014, and the BAFTA Fellowship in 2019. 

In close collaboration with the British Film Institute (BFI), MoMA has been screening a comprehensive retrospective honoring this legendary filmmaking duo, creators of such classic films as The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death and Black Narcissus.

Powell's controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom was so vilified on first release that it seriously damaged his career, but it's now considered a classic and a contender for the first "slasher movie." Besides Scorsese, many renowned filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola and George A. Romero have cited Powell as an influence.

In 1981, he received the BAFTA Fellowship along with partner Pressburger – the highest honor the British Academy of Film and Television Arts can bestow upon filmmakers. This series – the largest and most wide-ranging exploration of their work ever undertaken – celebrates the duo's cultural legacy and enduring influence. It features several 35mm prints, as well as new digital restorations of such Powell and Pressburger classics as The Small Back Room, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and The Tales of Hoffmann. Rarely screened films from Powell's late period will include Oh... Rosalinda!!, The Battle of the River Plate, Peeping Tom, and his long-unavailable 1963 adaptation of Bela Bartok's opera, Bluebeard's Castle. The latter two are newly restored by the BFI National Archive and the Film Foundation. 

These true cinematic visionaries and innovators worked together on 24 films between 1939 and 1972, with Powell directing and Pressburger responsible for the scripts – though their duties blended often enough. For the films they produced together as The Archers, their credit reads "Directed and written by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger." The Archers worked with an exceptionally talented group of longtime collaborators who helped to craft and deliver their narrative worlds.

When Schoonmaker introduced the doc at MoMA, she offered these comments:

"I'm very glad that you are going to have a chance to see what it's like when I work with Marty. From the time I met him, he talked about the films of Powell and Pressburger. And when videos finally came around, he would send me home with one from the editing room so I could actually see why he was so excited. Of course, when I saw the films, I became as excited as he was. When he introduced me to Michael Powell at a dinner, while we were editing Raging Bull, I was stunned by him. "Much to the amazement of everyone, including Michael and myself, we began a relationship and eventually married. Michael was with us in New York from The King of Comedy until the film Goodfellas. He loved being back in the film world, and his presence meant so much to Marty as you will see in the documentary. So here's just a few notes, [then] we can get into the documentary about Michael's time with us in New York.  

"We have all these great masterpieces to try and get down to a length that's reasonable. Michael would stop me on the street in New York sometimes and demand indignantly, "Why isn't Mean Streets being run every day somewhere in New York City?" He thought it was a masterpiece. He's right. 

"Michael gave us the ending for After Hours. We didn't have a strong ending, and some people were giving us ideas like Cheech and Chong should fly away in a balloon. But Michael said no. Richard Dunn has to go back to the hell where we first saw him, teaching someone how to use a computer when what he really wants to do is write a great American novel. That's what Marty shot. 

"When The Last Temptation of Christ was under such severe attack even before it was released, we had to have bodyguards for Marty. Marty finally let Michael see an almost finished edit of the film. He was always so worried about showing Michael any edits of our films because he said if he doesn't like it, I'm going to jump out the window. At the end, Michael stood up and there were tears streaming down his face. And I thought, what an incredible gift that was for Marty to be given at that terrible time.

"Most importantly, when Marty couldn't sell Goodfellas to the studios, if you can believe that, because they said he had to take the drugs out. He said, 'I can't.' That's the story. So I think that's in the editing room when I told Michael about it. He got very upset. He said he was ferociously protective of Marty's artistic rights because of what he, himself, had suffered. "And he told me to read him the script. When I finished, he said, get Marty on the phone. When I did, he said to Marty, "This is the best script I've read in 20 years. You have to make it." Marty went in one last time and got it made. Can you imagine if Goodfellas had never been made? But Michael did not live to see it. 

"In return, what Marty has done for Michael and Emeric, is so enormous. Nobody's done as much as him to bring the films of Powell and Pressburger back from oblivion, in which they lingered for more than 20 years. He brought Michael Powell to the US, took him to film festivals where he got awards, entered Peeping Tom into the New York Film Festival in 1980, arranged for its re-release in America. And through his film foundation, he has raised the funds to restore eight of the Powell-Pressburger films. That is only a small list of what he has done through the years. 

"So when Nick Varley, one of the producers of Made in England: the Films of Powell and Pressburger, suggested making a documentary about them, Marty and I were thrilled. We knew that it should be directed by David Hinton, who had already made a lovely film for the South Bank show on British TV about Michael Powell, when he was still alive and when his autobiography was published. Hinton took everything Marty had ever said or written about Powell and Pressburger and in conjunction with Marty, skillfully created the beautiful script you are about to see. 

"David also insisted that Marty should be the only host in the documentary. No talking heads. How right he was. When Marty and I finished working on that little film, Killers of the Flower Moon, We joined into a wonderful collaboration with David and his editor Margarida Cartaxo. Edits flew back and forth across the Atlantic. It was a great joy for me to be living with the great films that I loved so much. You'll see a long list of organizations that funded the documentary, for which we are very grateful. With special thanks to George Harrison's widow, Olivia, who came in at the end to give us a much-needed boost. 

"Just in time, for there is an explosion of interest in the films of Powell and Pressburger around the world. The British Film Institute, at the end of last year, put on a major retrospective of their films. Large numbers of young people attended the packed screenings and events. Now, MoMA, collaborating with the BFI, has put on an equally major retrospective for you all to see. 

“We are so grateful to Dave Kehr, Olivia Priedite, and Sean Egan for the huge job of getting 50 films here for us all. And because of the amazing interest in the documentary, it is being distributed around the world, even in Beijing, where they screened it three times. We are so grateful to Altitude Movie and Cohen Media for making this possible. 

"To end, I want to give my undying thanks to Marty, for letting me help him edit 22 of his movies, for initiating me into the Powell-Pressburger cult and for giving me the most wonderful husband in the world."

In addition, after Tribeca Festival debuted Made in England/The Films of Powell & Pressburger, MoMA's retrospective began. In presenting the doc there, Schoonmaker answered a few questions from a moderator about the film:

What is it like watching this?

Oh, it's so emotional. This film was made with quite a few people who really love Powell. It came out of years of Marty sending me home with videos of their movies and educating me about them and talking about them all the time. The producer of this film, Nick Varley, suggested to me that we make a documentary about it because of the wonderful celebration of Powell and Pressburger last year in England, in which I participated a lot.

Now MoMA is doing exactly the same celebration. They're going to run 50 films of these men. I never get tired of these movies and was so thrilled to be part of it. Marty's deep emotion about this movie is just what makes it so strong. Nobody ever did more to bring Powell and Pressburger back to the world than Marty. Many other people – Ian Christie, Kevin Goff Yates, Bertrand Tavernier – did great work to bring it back. But it was Marty who really, because of his ability to create publicity for them, made sure that the Museum of Modern Art ran a retrospective many years ago. Getting Peeping Tom reissued, all these things Marty did. Then he introduced my husband to me. It's an amazing thing to share with you all. And I do hope you'll go and see things at the Museum of Modern Art. Yes, definitely. 

This is such a fascinating documentary, and it's very much a love story from Scorsese to them. 

When I went to the celebration in England, there were so many young people there. I would look out at the audience, and half of them would be young people. They are coming in droves to these meetings. They're rediscovering them. I went up to Toronto to show this documentary, and after that they ran 10 films of Powell and Pressburger. They said it was packed with young people. Michael and Emmerich would be so thrilled to know that. Any time would have been the right time, but we seem to have accidentally hit a particular moment. That is wonderful. 

Talk a little bit about the decision to tell the story of Powell and Pressberger's career through the lens of another filmmaker?

I think David – this movie's wonderful director – said that he wanted Marty to be the host. He didn't want a lot of talking heads. But he said, "No, I just want one person. I want Marty to do it." Of course, we agreed. I think he was absolutely right. 

He's been a champion for their films for such a long time. you can really feel the love and connection to their films through his films.

Yes, I think he's probably one of the best working filmmakers who can talk about film.

You made an interesting choice with the film to highlight just a few of the films. Do you think that there is one film that you could pick that is the most meaningful or most special to you from Powell and Pressburger? 

I hate that question because that's like saying, which of your children do you like best? I love them all. But my personal favorite is The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which I accidentally saw when I was 15. We weren't allowed to watch TV except when our mother chose what we should watch at night. But my mother worked as a nursery schoolteacher, and I got home before her from high school, and I turned on this wonderful million-dollar movie that Marty talks about in the documentary where they ran the same film nine times in one week. Marty would try and watch them nine times unless his mother got fed up and stopped him. I just happened to turn on the TV and there was this amazing film. I will never forget it. It just marked me so deeply. Little did I know that I would, many years later, meet the director and marry him.

Michael's personal favorite was A Matter of Life and Death. He loved being a magician and he could do anything he wanted in that movie. Create heaven and earth, forget all about continuity and the things we're supposed to do when we make films. Just do what was right. Of course, Rex Ingram – the director that he worked with at the Victorine Studios when he was young – had inspired him with this love of magic. So that was his favorite. 

Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger Opens Friday, July 12th Q&As with Thelma Schoonmaker, 7/12 & 7/13 The Quad 34 W 13th St. New York, NY 10011 Contact: info@quadcinema.com

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: July 12, 2024.

Photo #1 by Dan Diaz © 2024. All rights reserved.

Photos #2 & 3 © 2024. Courtesy of Cohen Media Group. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

David Rabadi

Author/Speaker Helps The World be More Aware of Mental Health Issues Prompted by Repressed Sexuality

by Brad Balfour

After David Rabadi was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder – previously known as “manic depressive” illness — he followed a long path to coping with his illness. Not easily understood by most, the condition prompts swings from deep depression to an abnormally elevated mood. 

Though Rabadi’s childhood was filled with joyful memories — house parties, family outings and dinners — he was a curious kid who loved Arabic music and belly dancing. He picked up the dancing from his cousin, Suhair, who was his babysitter. But when he was four, he accidentally caught a family friend who was secretly masturbating. The man then shoved his erect penis into the young boy’s mouth and threatened to kill him.    A few years later, at seven, he had another traumatic experience when his aunt Josephine passed away from breast cancer. His dad decided that he had to go to her funeral. There, with her body was in the casket, Rabadi’s father told him to “Go kiss her goodbye!” Given no choice, the boy walked up close to his aunt and kissed her forehead. Then, terrified, he quickly ran outside. Throughout the lad’s entire childhood, he spent much more time with females. He was a boy who liked playing with dolls and wearing his mother’s clothes. Even then, he knew that he was somehow different.    Once, at a special family party with a professional singer, a cousin grabbed Rabadi’s arm and moved him to the center of the room. “Dance!” she said, and everyone applauded as the boy happily followed the instruction. But another male relative said in a harsh tone, “You dance like a girl. You’re a faggot!” The young boy didn’t even know what a “faggot” was, but he knew his cousin was right: he danced in a different way from the other men and boys. From that moment on, he never wanted to dance in front of a crowd. And if he did, he tried his best not to “dance like a girl.”

During this Pride Month, it’s important to consider the mental health issues prompted by denying one’s own sexuality. Today, Rabadi is an inspirational speaker — a result of learning how to manage his disease and sexuality. He addresses diverse audiences, ranging from high school and college students to business professionals and mental health experts. In his talks, he stresses the importance for each of us of being honest with ourselves by facing our realities.    As Rabadi tells his listeners, “Accepting one’s reality is crucial to living a life that’s happier, healthier, more satisfying and productive.” This is further highlighted in his book, Live Your Truth: Live To Be Yourself or Die As Someone Else which came out a few years ago. It describes his struggle with a bi-polar condition that emerged as he confronted being gay in a world which condemned his gayness.   Rabadi’s path to this enlightenment didn’t come easily. His own self-healing involved accepting his truth that he is gay. Instead of denying this mental and emotional reality, this encouraging speaker now acknowledges and embraces it. To quote from a speech of his, “My message to each of you is, don’t feel shame for who you are. For example, if you discover that you have some mental illness, don’t be embarrassed to ask for help. Or if you’re struggling with sexuality, give yourself permission to discover your own reality.    “You’ll make wiser decisions if you don’t automatically judge but actually listen to your authentic self. Then, after acknowledging our truths, we can start to discover the approaches — even medicines, if appropriate — that will allow us to live and enjoy our lives to the fullest.”    When this Arab American’s parents came from Jordan, they brought along two older brothers and a sister. Born in Yonkers, New York, the child became a first generation Arab American along with his younger brother John. His father was an example of a strong work ethic and a willingness to do whatever was needed. He worked two jobs, one in a factory and the other as a cab driver while his mother stayed home to raise the kids.

As Rabadi became a teenager, he realized that he was indeed attracted to other males. Being a teenager is challenging for anyone, but being a closeted Arab American is even harder. Homosexual acts are forbidden in traditional Islamic cultures, sometimes punishable by death. Jordan and Bahrain are the only Arab countries where homosexuality is legal.    Even so, most LGBTQ people in Jordan face social discrimination. Until 2013, it was even legal there to kill a homosexual in a so-called “honor killing.” Ironically, many of the very progressive oriented protestors supporting the Palestinian cause are identified as LBGTQ nonbinary. In many Middle Eastern countries, they would be quickly rounded up and killed because of their sexual orientation. Today, Rabadi accepts his reality as a gay Arab American. He no longer feels embarrassed for having Bipolar One disorder. Instead, he now functions effectively, and publicly, as a published author and journalist. Having learned the positive value of accepting himself, he now actively spreads this awareness as an inspirational speaker for a wide range of audiences, from students to adults, Arabs and Americans and many more.

How old were you when you first realized you were gay? Describe the moment you realized it and how did you feel?   I was seven years old when I realized I liked boys. I had a friend that was the same age and one day we were in his room, and he asked me if I wanted to see what he saw his older brother do with a girl. I said okay. He told me to lay on the bed and then he got on top of me and started humping me. I felt a sensation in my stomach, and I immediately liked the feeling. At the time, I didn’t know that it meant I was gay. As I grew older, I learned that I was gay but kept it to myself because I was told that it was against God’s word, and I would go to Hell.    Once you understood it, how long did it take to develop relationships?   Once I understood that I was gay, it was very difficult for me to form relationships with boys because I’m Middle Eastern. In our culture it was the deepest point of shame and dishonor. Gay people in the Middle East are put in jail and even killed. I had a lot of fear, so I suppressed my sexuality for a long time. I did engage with gay sex but never had a boyfriend.    Given this revelation, how did it impact on your bipolar condition? I assume it expressed itself as you went through your teen years. Describe when you realized you needed therapy/medication?   I believe because I was suppressing my sexuality, it manifested as Bipolar disorder. I firmly believe you can brush anything off your shoulders but all that’s doing is changing its location. It wasn’t until I was 30 years old that I was diagnosed with “Bipolar One.” Before that I experienced shifts in my mood, but I thought it was normal and that everyone experiences it. I was very productive. I graduated college with my BA in theater and communication. I worked full time. I thought I was perfectly fine except for my denial of my sexuality.    When did you start your book? Was it a result of speaking out or did it come first?   I started writing my book after I came out as gay and was diagnosed as Bipolar. It took me eight years to write my book. I had to become comfortable in sharing my personal experiences and the trauma endured.    What did you feel the book needed to include to be inspirational?   It was important to me to share my story so I could be a person that faced adversity and triumph. I am the first Jordanian to come out as gay in the Arab community in Yonkers. I know I’m not alone. I’ve met other gay Arabs who are still scared to come out and they tell me I am an inspiration. And in regard to sharing I have bipolar, there is a big stigma when it comes to mental illness. I’m on a mission to make mental illness look so good everyone wants it. It’s time to live our truth and not be embarrassed or feel shame for who we are and what we struggle with.   Describe your talks and what’s happening on that front?   I go around to different universities and organizations and share my story. I ask the audience in every talk I give, “Do you want to live to be yourself or die as someone else?” Life is precious and we only live once. So do what makes you happy. And know that living your truth is the biggest gift you can give yourself.   How do you keep the bipolar condition under control nowadays after your revelations?   I have learned to keep my bipolar disorder under control. I have to take my medication every day. I have to exercise to build endorphins. I see a therapist every two weeks and it’s a great way to keep things in perspective for me.    Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: June 8, 2024.

Photo © 2024 Brad Balfour. All rights reserved.

Book Cover © 2022. Courtesy of Defining Moments Press Inc. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Marisa Abela and Sam Taylor-Johnson

"Back to Black" Features An Uncanny Performance as Amy Winehouse in Biopic

by Brad Balfour

Evoking classic R&B, the late Amy Winehouse emerged as a celebrated new star by making old music sound fresh. She possessed a deeply soulful voice which she used to sing songs of love, heartbreak, and struggles with substance abuse, such as in her Top-10 hit "Rehab." Winehouse sold 16 million copies of the LP Back to Black and won big at the 2008 Grammy Awards, taking home Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. All that success was overshadowed by the Brit’s personal troubles, which, according to MTV News, included an arrest for drug possession – there was a viral video of the singer smoking what was reportedly crack cocaine – and an emphysema diagnosis. 

Winehouse's demons tragically got the best of her. According to The Guardian, authorities were summoned to the singer's north London home in July 2011, where they found her dead at the scene. Winehouse was reportedly a heroin user, but a postmortem inquest pinpointed a different cause of death. According to The Independent, a London coroner found no drugs in her system, ruling that the singer died of alcohol poisoning following a period of three weeks of sobriety. Winehouse is believed to have consumed 416 milligrams of alcohol per deciliter of blood, well over the fatal level of 350 milligrams. She was 27 years old.

This complicated history has been fodder for articles, books, a notable documentary and now a feature film, Back to Black. The movie’s title is taken from the hot album of the same name. Directed by 57-year-old Sam Taylor-Johnson, her feature film debut was 2009's Nowhere Boy, based on the Beatles' singer/songwriter John Lennon's childhood experiences.

Marisa Abela – Taylor-Johnson’s star for Back to Black – made her TV debut in 2020 with leads in the Sky One political thriller, COBRA and the BBC Two/ HBO office drama, Industry.  Abela appeared in the 2022 films, She Is Love and Rogue Agent. In July 2022, she joined the cast of Greta Gerwig's Barbie (2023). Then the actress starred as Winehouse in this biopic. 

This Q&A comes from an appearance made by the duo at the Museum of The Moving Image shortly before the film's May 17th release.

This is a remarkable story and one that, in some ways, is privy to when she was alive. For each of you, what moved the dial from this is a remarkable story to this is a remarkable story that I need to tell? 

Sam Taylor-Johnson: When Alison Owen, our producer, called me and said, "I'm looking to make the story of Amy Winehouse, which would be interesting," I felt like I couldn't say "Yes" quick enough. After I said so, I suddenly processed the enormity of what I was taking on. It felt like it had to be made from [Amy's] perspective because, by living in London around the time when she was alive, I watched how her life was dissected and pulled apart in the tabloids and similarly post-death. I felt like going directly into her perspective. It was almost like allowing her to tell her own story through her words and her lyrics. It felt like a timely thing to do. 

Marisa Abela: Basically, I got a call from my agent who said they're doing it. I was about 13 when Back to Black came out, so I was aware of her music. I was singing the songs, but when you're singing “Love Is A Losing Game” and you're 13 years old, it doesn't mean that you really understood it fully. That was my understanding of Amy [at the time]. Then, because of all of the tabloids and the images and stuff, I knew of her in that way. So, I said, "Let me think about it." I was then in front of Sam Taylor-Johnson and Nina Gold, an amazing casting director in London. I knew they were being quite specific about who they were seeing, so I just didn't want to make a fool of myself, essentially. 

Then I started watching footage, the documentary, interviews about her life – things that really were quite telling [about] who she was as a person. There was just this thing about her and that carried me through the entire process I was watching. There was this magnetism, this intensity, this deep well of feeling, emotions and intensity, that I was so drawn to. I felt that we'd drawn from Amy, herself. It was all there in her music. For the people who still listen to her music often, this is for them. In the narrative around her life and death, I felt that what we'd lost really came through, but it seems like there's a double-edged sword here. 

There's so much media coverage, so many perspectives to sort through. Talk a bit more about your process and how you blocked out the noise and chose to privilege us with her perspective with what was there? 

Sam Taylor-Johnson: It was important from the beginning to just block out the noise. There was a lot, especially when we were filming, and it became louder and louder. The louder it became, the more determined I was to just keep driving forward with it through her eyes and to uphold her. Our press is quite famous for pulling down anything that might seem to be successful in any way. It felt like those voices saying we need to protect her legacy were also the ones who pulled her apart during her lifetime. That emboldened me in a way to shut those voices out. The decision around how and what sort of film was going to be quite quickly came into place.

When I sat down with Matt Greenhalgh, who wrote the movie, I said, "If we are going through her workstyle perspective, with Frank and then Back to Black, obviously those are the keys to this film. “Back to Black” really is a love story and tells us everything within it. It became our framework. I knew that that was difficult for a lot of people who had a lot of opinions and judgments. I felt like her declaration of love and the power of that love was important to uphold in order to understand the creative journey of Back to Black. In a way, we went into her perspective saying, she loved her father, and she loved Blake: therefore, that's our view. We still see some of the things that are highlighted in the documentary that people feel strongly about. They're still part of our film, but they're not seen through the lens of judgment. It was quite freeing to stay in her shoes on that journey. 

This being a love story, you think immediately of romantic love. But the relationships that I was most struck by were those she had with her family. Talk a bit about choosing actors and having them light up those roles? 

Sam Taylor-Johnson: With her Jewish grandmother, it was clear – during the research and hearing the stories from the family and others – that she was so much a part of the fabric of who Amy was, through Grandma Cynthia’s style and love of jazz and music. So it felt like, "Okay, this is worth going further into and strengthening that relationship."  But when I went to Lesley [Manville] initially, she said, "Oh, I don't know if there's enough on the page for me." I said, "Look at it like this is the fabric of Amy." Once Lesley came on board, we then wrote more scenes because she was just so exceptional. We just homed in on those relationships that we felt were really important to the narrative of this story. Obviously, within – I don't know how many minutes it was, I've forgotten – so much had to be dropped by the wayside. For me, as a storyteller, I have to just find my path. The Winehouses – Cynthia, Mitch, and Janis – plus husband Blake were on a path. 

Talk a bit more about the music. Obviously, there's a great blueprint here. Did you have to make difficult decisions about what songs were included? 

Sam Taylor-Johnson: I’ll start, but I want Marisa to take over on this because I'm talking too much. What I had quite early on was one of her playlists. On that playlist were The Specials and Minnie Riperton. It was quite a gift to have that. Amazingly, of all the things that were written that weren't Amy's music, we managed to have access to it. But when I started the movie, I had all the music rights from Sony and Universal. I didn't have to have approval for anybody. I could just make the movie I wanted to make. Matt wrote very specifically for the songs, almost like it's a musical in the sense that it belonged to the narrative structure. You couldn't choose "Love Is a Losing Game" and switch it with "Stronger Than Me." It really was laid out that way.

I'll let Marisa come into this because I just want to say, when I met Marisa for the audition, she said, I remember, "What about singing? I'm not a singer." But Marisa sang that entire movie. Every song you hear. So from the position of declaring she couldn't sing, what you saw is very contrary to that. Okay, you can talk about that...

Marisa Abela: I think what became clear was, as I was reading the script more and more, and watching more and more footage of Amy, was that these albums are so iconic and incredible from a songwriting perspective as well as a musical one. But what was so incredible about the performances I was watching was that they were completely different every single time. If she was in a bad mood – and she was often in a really, really bad mood – you wouldn't get half the song from her. If she was in a great mood, she was singing all over the place, amazing riffs. To certain members of the audience, this is the thing that made Amy a live performer. 

What weirdly felt like the most authentic choice was to be able to use my own voice to make whatever choice came to me in the moment from a purely impulse perspective as an actor. What was inspiring me at this moment? Is it that I'm looking at Blake during "There Is No Greater Love" and I'm so overwhelmed with feeling and emotion that I want to hold on to a specific sound for longer so that he can hear me through all of those decisions? In the same way, the first time you hear her write one of her own songs with "What Is It About Men," I wanted to be able to think about each line. How am I formulating this moment? you get to see the behind-the-scenes of the creation of a song. That's a really beautiful thing. If we were cutting to the studio recording of "What Is It About Men," for example, you couldn't have that scene of Amy sitting on the bed writing it for the first time, getting mixed up with certain words.

I basically felt I needed to get as close as possible to something that sounded as recognizable as possible to one of the most recognizable voices that you would believe in. The truth is, if you listen to them side by side, I'm sure there are huge differences. But it doesn't matter as long as you believe what she's saying and as long as you believe what she's feeling. That, to me, was always the most important thing as an actor, obviously. It's the intention that matters. Process-wise, I trained very hard and also learned to play the guitar. I listened to all the people that I think she would have grown up listening to. As Sam said, we had lots of playlists of hers. 

I was aware that she grew up listening to Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Diana Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Lauryn Hill, and Ray Charles. I just surrounded myself with that music and was singing along to it all the time. Then I was using the techniques I was learning with my singing teacher that were Amy's. We have a different face. She has a bigger jaw than me. She had a different nose to me. We use different resonances. So, it's different. But intention is the most important thing. I was training for two hours a day, every day, over the four months with my singing teacher.

There's so much to dive into with its emotionality, but can you talk about creating scenes like Glastonbury and the Grammys, all things that were enormous touchstones far beyond Amy's experience? These are media events that happen all the time. By recreating these scenes, which you do so successfully, can you talk some more about them? 

Sam Taylor-Johnson: Oh, I'd love to because I'm so proud of Glastonbury. When you see that big open-air festival, we shot it in a room not much bigger than this theater. We just had brilliantly creative teams working on this. Glastonbury for the rest of the year is just a field. So all of those stages and everything, we had to recreate and film it. I had an incredible sound crew. What we created; it took months to get that sound exactly right. Then the Ronnie Scott scene early on. That was the only time I ever saw Amy play, in a young, up-and-coming Voices of Jazz. How old was she? Probably 19 or 20. It was at Ronnie Scott's. I used my memory of what it felt like being in the room with her to recreate how that would have felt. But yes, a lot of it, like the Grammys, we had YouTube running alongside what we were filming to try and emulate it as much as possible – like the same camera angles. Marisa's performance, as you can see, was absolutely spot-on. Every finger movement was incredible. So it was fun. It was so fun to recreate this. And it's fun to watch it.

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: May 16, 2024.

Photos #1 & 2 © 2024 Brad Balfour. All rights reserved.

Photos #3 - 6 © 2024 Dean Rogers. Courtesy of Focus Features. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Donny Osmond

Starting Again

by Ronald Sklar

"Usually, when you take a big show on the road, you kind of scale it down, to save a little money and make a little money," says legendary performer Donny Osmond. "Well, I've done the opposite. I've embellished it. I'm taking the entire production from Las Vegas and I'm bringing it to the Beacon."

Donny's award-winning Las Vegas production, Direct From Vegas, will make a stop at New York's famous Beacon Theater on Friday, July 12, 2024, with, as Donny promises, all the stops pulled, and the kitchen sink included. 

Will a New York audience set their dark cynicism aside and brightly embrace a feel-good stage show without any sense of irony? 

"They can detect anything that is contrived," Donny says of Big Apple crowds.

There is nothing inauthentic about this live production of his 65-year journey through show business. It's a celebration of his time-tested reinventions, his greatest hits, and his countless memories. He'll also take requests. 

"I put all 65 of my albums on the big screen behind me," Donny says of the interactive request segment. "The audience for about 20 minutes dictates what the show is going to be. Whatever happens live during that segment, you just roll with it. I think New York audiences would appreciate that, because improv is a very difficult thing to do correctly."

Sounds fun, but sixty-five albums may make for a senior moment here and there, when audience members start suggesting deep cuts. 

"A few weeks ago, somebody asked for some obscure album track" Donny says, "and I'll be honest with you, I could not remember the song. I didn't try to hide from it. I actually said, I have no idea about that song. It's very real and you have to take chances and I think that's what New York audiences would want."

Face it, there is a lot of material to retain ("It took me sixty years to put this show together," Donny says). The show coincides with his work anniversary, which coincides with a new album with the fitting title, Start Again. 

"I've utilized that saying [start again] so many times in my career," he says. "It's one thing to get a career in show business, but it's a whole other thing to maintain a career. You're reinventing yourself, especially if you start at such a young age. There were so many victims who could not get out of that pigeonhole. I've had to reinvent myself maybe seven or eight times in my life. It's been a challenge to bring the audience along with me and to re-educate them as to what I am doing now."

The audience is diverse, from the Baby Boomer super fans who know all of his sixty-five albums by heart (Donny calls them the Puppy Lovers, after his 1972 megahit "Puppy Love") to today's modern young generation, who may only know his as Captain Shang from Mulan or from his appearance on The Masked Singer. Then, of course, there are the fans of The Donny & Marie Show, where he and his sister delivered a perfect hour of show biz every week for four years. 

"The Donny & Marie Show was just silliness," he says, "but close your eyes and listen to the music – we were doing about an album a week."

What kept him grounded through all the ups and downs? 

"I've lived a life that a lot of people just dream about," he says, "and despite the potholes and the landmines, I had a strong family foundation. My faith, my marriage. People poke fun at it, but, boy, that's what saved me."

Also, we learn the secret of an American legend who had discovered the proper way to go through an extraordinary life: be yourself. 

Of course, Elvis showed him the way. 

"When I first met Elvis, he impressed me so much because I saw him on stage – a monster," Donny says of The King's mastery of the art. "The next night, I'm preparing for a show with my brothers, and [Elvis] walks into the dressing room and he introduces himself ("Hi, I'm Elvis."). I'm fourteen years old, and I remember what an effect that had on me, that I saw a different side to the King of Rock and Roll.” (He was also a little bit country). 

However, behind that drink-milk smile, there has to be some dark moods and total bummers. Right? 

"Everybody has a dark side, and I'm no different," he admits. "I try to be as optimistic as I possibly can. I give one-hundred-and-ten percent on stage, and I expect everyone to do the same. I hand select these people and they get on stage, and they work their butts off. I guess the dark side to me is that I'm very impatient."

Then was it almost all upside? Was it all bubblegum and hair spray? 

"I lost all my money in the early '80s," he says. "I had to start over. I said to myself, 'I'm going to build this career so that I can be doing it for as long as I want.' You've got to be smart when you [start a career in show business]. You can't just say, 'I'm going to sing a bunch of songs.' You have to figure out what is going on in the marketplace."

He even asked fellow legend Michael Jackson for career advice. The King of Pop gave him some tough love. 

Jacko said, "Your name is poison. You've got to change your name." 

The radio did that advice one better: his 1989 megahit, "Soldier of Love," surprised everybody, even (and especially) DJs. WPLJ in New York played the record without announcing who was singing it. The song shot to #1. Donny didn't change his name; he just didn't give it. And this was just when he was getting ready to quit the business. 

"'Soldier of Love' was an accident," he says. "Nobody would touch me. I couldn't get a record deal. I met Peter Gabriel at a UNICEF charity concert in New York. I told him my sob story, and he said, 'not that I bought any of your records, but I think you have a great voice, and I would like you to come over to the UK and I would like to executive produce your next album.' It became a 'mystery artist' thing on the radio."

The good news: Donny had a #1-requested record in the #1 market in the country. The bad news: nobody knew it was him. The mystery didn't last long, even though it was during the tail end of the pre-Internet age. The nation was shocked to learn of the mystery singer, but it didn't freak out; it just chilled along with the song. That break led to more, and Donny was back on top before long, his resume doubling and tripling its content and power.

The intensity could be seen and verified for decades, since he first sang with his brothers (at age five, in the early '60s) on The Andy Williams Show. That was fresh off a barbershop-quartet gig on a Disneyland special. Once puberty hit, Donny was an official teen idol, with thousands (truly, thousands) of fan photos published in teen and movie magazines to go along with his gold records. 

"When you grow up in show business, you really don't know anything else," he says. "That is your life. To have a photographer take pictures of me or to see my pictures in a magazine, that was just my norm. I didn't think much of it."

Continuing his legacy of performing live before adoring fans, Donny subscribes to the work ethic that if you bring it, they will come. 

"I don't phone anything in," he says. 

Donny has partnered with City of Hope so that $1 from each ticket sale will go directly to City of Hope to support their fight against cancer, diabetes, and other serious illnesses. Find out more about City of Hope here. 

Find out more about Donny here. 

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: May 6, 2024.

Photos ©2023 Lee Cherry and Christy Goodwin. Courtesy of Guttman Associates PR. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Burton Cummings

These Eyes Have Seen a Lot of Life

by Ronald Sklar

“I realized very early that records are forever,” says forever-certified record-maker Burton Cummings. As the frontman (lead vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar) for The Guess Who, he created more than thirteen knockout punches of Top 10 singles between 1969 and 1975.  Included in this soundtrack of your life are “American Woman,” “These Eyes,” “Laughing,” “Undun,” “No Sugar Tonight,” “Star Baby,” and “Clap for the Wolfman.” 

“When you have hit records, you often don’t realize the trickle-down effect they have on people,” he said. “I had somebody tell me on social media that they used one of my songs at a funeral. It’s always very humbling to me and I’m always just a little bit surprised. That’s the thing about hit records: they’re forever.”

Close competition on those record charts included work from other forever-hitmakers like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Three Dog Night. Not too shabby for a group from Canada; by 1970, The Guess Who sold more records than the entire Canadian music industry combined. This is despite the dopey name, which was dreamed up by a record executive who thought he was being clever. The name “The Guess Who” would generate curiosity, he figured. Maybe people would think they're from England, like The Who. Turns out it was less about the gimmicky name and more about the music, which was original and timeless. 

“The odds of making it from Winnipeg were incredible back then,” Burton says. “That was something very new for Canada.”

Even more incredible was Burton achieving that world record while still a teenager. 

“We all have that same childhood dream,” Burton says about first hearing his songs played on the radio. “The dream had come true. For me, it was almost unreal, because I was not even twenty-one yet when we had our first gold record. It was all like Cinderella time.”

He remembers exactly where he was when he heard his first hit, “These Eyes,” played on the radio. He was in the backseat of a limo, crossing the 59th Street Bridge into Manhattan, going to some promotional event. The song was broadcast while he gazed at the twinkling skyline of the metropolis. 

"I'm this guy from Winnipeg looking at all these skyscrapers and suddenly hear the DJ say, 'There's that great song by Canadian rockers The Guess Who,’” he says. "It was a tremendous moment for a kid from the prairies listening to my first gold record. I thought, 'Am I dreaming this?'”

Burton gives equal credit to his former creative partner, Randy Bachman, who later formed the ‘70s band Bachman Turner Overdrive (with their uber-classic hit, “Taking Care of Business”). 

“It was easy to write with Randy and I think he found that with me too,” Burton says, “because we would come to each other with half songs. Between the two of us we would finish them. I think we complemented each other because I am a keyboard player, and he is a guitarist. There was that yin and yang right there.”

Burton is still writing and performing; in fact, he’s launching a 60th anniversary tour this year (“I have over two hours of hits to do,” he says), along with a new album on the way.

“I’m always writing,” he says. “I’ve got tons and tons of songs that no one has ever heard.”

That may change as new generations stream and download The Guess Who’s can’t-miss catalog, filled with songs that were made in the ‘60s and ‘70s but don’t necessarily sound like they were. See for your damn self: play it for a young'n and watch their reaction.

“I heard ‘No Time’ the other day and it didn’t sound fifty years old to me,” he says. “It didn’t sound that ancient and antiquated.”

That’s because “No Time” kicked the ass of the unforgiving test of time, along with the other tracks. Yet despite the rare achievement, he’s sensitive about being pigeonholed as a walking time capsule. 

“I’m at an age now where I don’t want to put something out that will sound soggy in a few years,” he says. 

Arguably, The Guess Who’s most recognizable song is one that Burton thinks maybe had fallen just shy of the bull’s eye.

“I was never really one-hundred-percent happy with ‘American Woman,’” he says. “I was very impressed with Robert Plant, and I wanted the song to be a screamer. I never thought I quite nailed it.”

He also feels the song is somewhat misunderstood. 

“It was never meant to be political,” he says. “It was an accident that happened at the right time. That song just played into that point in history. What was in my head was something more like: Canadian woman, I prefer you. I came up with the words on stage, trying to make everything rhyme. I was just trying to make it all rhyme. Randy’s riff was easy to sing over.”

That’s how it goes when you’re creating songs that endure – they come to you. And after the hits stop coming, all you can do is keep on keeping on: 

“I’m still writing music and I have a great band,” he says. “I’m still doing what I’ve always done. I’m just getting a little older.”

Find out more about Burton Cummings here. 

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: April 16, 2024.

Photos ©2024 Shillelagh Music, Maureen Lilla, B. Kelly and Luciano Bilotti. Courtesy of Big Hassle Media. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Fastball

Riding High at the Sonic Ranch

By Jay S. Jacobs

Fastball has been throwing the high heat right down the middle for 30 years now.

The band came together in the early 1990s in Austin, Texas. They teamed up after playing with local bands Big Car and The Goods. The trio has been made up of the same lineup for all these years – a trio of singer / songwriter / bassist / keyboardist / guitarist Tony Scalzo, singer / songwriter / guitarist Miles Zuniga and drummer Joey Shuffield.

Fastball signed with a major label (Hollywood Records) in 1995 and released their first album Make Your Mama Proud the next year. However, it was their sophomore album, All the Pain That Money Can Buy in 1998 which totally exploded the band, spawning the smash hits “The Way” and “Out of My Head,” going platinum and getting nominated for two Grammys.

While they have never quite hit those heights again, Fastball has soldiered on, releasing eight albums over the years – not to mention solo albums by Scalzo and Zuniga in the 2010s – and touring worldwide. We had previously interviewed Zuniga about the band in 2004 around the release of their then-current album Keep Your Wig On.

They returned to the pop cultural zeitgeist in 2016 when Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello featured Cabello singing a variation of the chorus of “Out of My Head” as the anchor of their huge hit single “Bad Things.”

This has led to another spurt of creativity in the band, with Fastball releasing two albums and a live record (with another studio album upcoming) in the last five years. Later this year – probably in the summer – their ninth album Sonic Ranch will be coming out on Sunset Boulevard Records.

We recently hooked up with Fastball singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Tony Scalzo to discuss the “Celebrating 30 Years” tour and their upcoming album Sonic Ranch. Also, check out an exclusive preview of the video for the upcoming single “Rather Be Me Than You” below.

Fastball has been together for about 30 years now. How crazy is that you guys have been doing it for that long?

It makes sense when you really think about it. (laughs) We could have done other things, but, honestly, I don't think we would have done as well as separate careers. I think we had just the right amount of success to where we can make that make that success be the thing to build on and just keep it the band. It's like a small company that just didn't get too big to lose the mom-and-pop aspect of it. (laughs again)

Do you think having two singers and songwriters in the band keeps the band interesting?

You said it right there. There are more dimensions to the band because there's two different frontmen and two different songwriters. And really a third songwriter, when you think about the collaborative end of things. So there's a lot of variety going on, at least the ideas that are coming out in songs. I mean, yeah, we're a pop, rock and roll band. I don't stray too far from that original mission statement, I guess.

When our writer spoke with Miles twenty years ago about your Keep Your Wig On album, he said that mostly you did your writing for the songs that you were singing, and he did it for the ones that he sang. But I saw in the press release that you guys wrote the new single “Rather Be Me Than You” together.

That’s true.

Is that something you’ve been doing increasingly over the years?

Even Keep Your Wig On, that record has a couple of collaborative compositions on it. I think every album we've included, maybe one, for the last few years anyway. That single “Rather Be Me Than You” is something that the two of us came together and turned it into an actual song when we had been struggling with the ideas that went into it on our own. We set a goal, let's try and make something out of this evening that we had open. That's a great thing when that happens because it's just all fun. It's not like labor. It was a good time, and we managed to get something out of it that didn't take a lot of pain. (laughs)

How do you feel that your musical artistry has changed over the years? How do you think that Sonic Ranch is different than say Make Your Mama Proud or All the Pain Money Can Buy?

The Make Your Mama Proud example is the easiest one to discern for me, I would say. (laughs) That's a record that that we recorded in 1995. It was during a time when all of us in the band were ready to do something. We were just very proactive on the business end of things and on musical delivery. We were a lot younger, and you tend to yell a lot more. (laughs) It was like Rebel Without a Cause, you're so adamant about all these things. It was just really poetry that I was just trying to make, turn into a song, to have songs to play in my dad's. This feed the machine of the band with more material, eventually, I think we improved as songwriters. We matured. All of our experiences feed into our art.

Of course.

Also, our influences have expanded over the years. Music hasn't faded from our lives. I honestly believe that there are a lot of people who start young and who are in a band and after a while, things don't work. They go back into the normal world of having a job and doing all that. We're fortunate enough to have this smallish but also successful thing that we build on. That has given us the incentive to stay in the music world, to stay focused on music. I think that like any art form, or any kind of profession, you have to focus pretty much on that world, for the majority of your life, if you want to improve and you want to grow.

In 1998, All the Pain Money Can Buy got the band two big hits with “The Way” and “Out of My Head” – both songs that you wrote and sang. You were all over the radio and TV for a few years. What was it like to be in the middle of that sort of whirlpool? Was it sort of surreal to be you at the height of your popularity?

That's the word I was definitely going to use. The whirlwind of activity, coupled with the constant adulation and back slapping, and people holding you up; all that stuff combines to make a really toxic…  not toxic, intoxicating… cocktail of surrealist ideas. You think this can never end. Why would it end? This record has sold a million copies. The next one is sure to sell three million copies. I was surrounded by people who were very successful, much more successful than us. Like we were opening up for the Goo Goo Dolls for the summer of ‘99. They were indie guys. They were a punk band. They did pretty well, nationally, on an indie level.

Right, the early Metal Blade albums…

They got a deal and not much happened. Then the next record, stuff started happening. Then by I guess the third or fourth album, boom, they've sold multi-million copies of records. They've been able to build on that really well. I assumed, because I was in that scene – in that zone of the music world – that would happen for us as well. I didn't take into account that it's a game. You have to understand how that game works and you have to play it well. You also have to be united as a team, just like a business. We're a team and we didn't know how to really do that effectively.

Okay….

For years and years, we managed to stay afloat and stay a band, and do lots of gigs. Gigs only slowed down to a rate of maybe… ten a year was probably our lowest point. Not counting the pandemic, where we didn't do very many shows in 2020 and those were on the front end of 2020, before everything happened. So, we've always been active, and we've always been doing it, but we've struggled. We've had some pretty hardcore longtime fans that won't give up on us. (laughs) That's really great. They've helped us build things to where they are now, which I feel like is on an upward trajectory.

Good.

We started a Patreon. That really helps with keeping money coming in. It's not a lot of money, but it's the kind of money that we're able to pay for things that come up. We need an extra $2,500 to finish a music video, or we need to print up shirts to sell on the road. Little things like that. That's helped. The fans and the Patreon subscribers have been a very functional part of keeping the band going and helping us put out new material. Thank God for them. I'm really glad that there's things like that today that can help people do their thing. I subscribe to a few Patreon, not artists, but podcasters are my thing. I like to take care of some of those people, because I'm so into what they do. If I’m going to expect people to support what I do, then I'll support people that I'm a fan of as well.

I read that “The Way” was based on a true story that you had read about. Is that true?

Sure, that's true. Naturally, it's a story I've told hundreds of times. I'm cool with it. I was at a loss for a subject matter to write about. I'm sure as a journalist and a writer, you have to figure out: Do I have something important to say? That's a dilemma I've grappled with all my career. I just couldn't find anything interesting to say. I called a friend of mine and asked him what he thought. He said, “Well, the Beatles did that thing with ‘A Day in the Life.’ You can maybe look at something in the paper or turn on the news.” I read an article in the newspaper about a couple that had been missing for about a week or two at that time. They were elderly, they're from the country and they had an extended family that was putting out the word and trying to help. Maybe on the TV news, they can show pictures of them. “Have you seen these people?” I just started running on that.

Nice.

I wrote that song, and it was like, maybe they're all right. They just wanted to get away from everybody. I've been married for a long time, but I've also had a lot of kids, and I can't wait until the day of the last bus. (laughs) So, I thought about that. I found out later that they had a tragedy. They crashed their car, and it was in a place where nobody could find it for a long time.

Yes, that’s sad.

How that incident informed the song is something that has helped develop my songwriting skills over the years. Now, I tend to write songs pretty regularly. Some are good and some are not. Or some are just okay. But some are good. Not everyone's going to be good but if you don't try and you don’t move and do the thing, then it's not going to happen. So I work on a weekly prompt that a group of people give me. We all write songs. There's only a few of us our email thread. We get a prompt every week, and I managed to come up with a song every week without fail. Once you put a seed in my little garden, I tend to be able to make something happen out of it, whether it be just a quick little ditty, or something really cool might happen. That's a good thing that whole story brought for me in an otherwise obviously, tragic story. It's a big part of what I do today.

Several years ago, Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello had a hit with “Bad Things,” which was based around the chorus of “Out of My Head.” What did you think of that song and how your song was reinvented for a new generation?

I was excited at the financial [prospect]. I knew there would be something if this thing was a radio hit – and it sounded like a hit to me when I heard the recording. I had nothing to do with the recording or the production of that song, but Machine Gun Kelly and Camila were working with… I'm trying to think of the name of the guys, I always forget. I'm so out of that world. This production company in LA, who write a lot of songs for a lot of different people (ed. note: It was The Futuristics) figured out a way to incorporate that chorus. It sounded amazing. I was sent a copy of the recording. I listened to it, and I was like, “Damn, that sounds like something you would hear on the radio.”

And you did.

It's nothing that I would have been able to make or do. I wouldn't have been able to update the original song or do anything with it. The sentiment is totally different than what's going on in the original song. It's a different song. But because it's so obvious that that song “Out of My Head” informs “Bad Things” that I'm in for pretty good things. I didn't have to do anything but say, “Sure. Yeah, let's do it.” (laughs) It's helped me personally over the last few years. It's turned my personal finances around, actually. To be frank and honest, it's helped a lot. I haven't gotten the yacht. Somebody else will take one of my other songs. Who knows, maybe this “Rather Be Me Than You” single that we’re putting out, maybe that be the one that puts me on a yacht, finally.

One thing I’ve always liked about your band is that you are not afraid to experiment with styles. On Sonic Ranch, there are songs of all diverse types. “Let Love Back in Your Heart” is very much power pop, “Grey Sky Blue” has a bit of a country feel, “America” has an almost spy theme vibe…

Yeah, that reverb feeling song…

“Daydream” is a bit psychedelic, “I’ll Be On My Way” is an offbeat piano ballad. Do you guys enjoy playing with styles on your albums?

I’m glad you hear that diversity is on the record. I think that's really great. A lot of this diversity comes from the two of us, as writers – Miles and myself – getting into all kinds of different music. I also can't leave out [producer] David Garza. He's just got this incredibly expansive palette musically, but also culturally. He's open to not just aping something, but really sitting in it. We’ve done some things over the years that are kind of… that's us trying to be country, or that us trying to do a ska thing. I believe that we really do pull it off, not just here, but on a few recent records that we've done. When we do something that's maybe a different style, it's not about the style, it's about the band.

Right.

It's about us playing what we like and keeping it real – to use an overdone 90s term. We're just trying to keep it real and not pretend. The pretending is over. Young people pretend. We're on the other side of that. We like sitting where we are and being where we are. We know that we have a career that we can be proud of.

“Hummingbird” is a pretty pointed song. Is it about anyone specific?

Well, I can’t really speak to that. That was Miles’ words almost all the way.

Okay, sorry, I didn’t have a breakdown of who wrote which songs on the new album.

I could talk about it as a fan of the song. I think it's really great. It's super hooky. It's got that mid-period Beatles vibe to me – that Rubber Soul or Revolver kind of vibe. Or maybe even for Beatles For Sale. It's almost to the point where they were super heady, but not quite. It's got these really colorful hooks and chord progressions, and the melody just can't be beat. As the arrangement goes, and the way it's recorded, we threw in harmonies, but they are only seasoning. They're just like a little dab here. Fastball, for our first few records, is notorious for yelling these harmonies and I can barely listen to it today. It's just like, what are you screaming about? Are you ready for the fallout? They could seize these lyrics. (chuckles) Anyway, there's fans that love that stuff, so that's great. I like what we're doing, and I want to continue to make records that sort of follow our path.

Another song that really sort of stood out to me lyrically, and again, I apologize that this is Miles, I'm not sure who wrote this. But “America” is not exactly a political song, but it is very much about the divide between people in the US these days. Why do you think people have so much trouble getting along?

That's just the way they get their information. That's all there is to it. That's the bottom line. That information is coming – not for the sake of information or informing the public – it's coming at people strictly based on capitalism, on both sides. It's a drag that there are both sides. It's not even like this whole entity. It's just this thing. It's just a line. At any rate, Miles and I wrote those lyrics together. We were definitely coming from a direction of unity. Let's see if we can be the United States, by looking at the people, and just looking at the fabric, without all the muck of information. People get so addicted to it, too. It's not like it’s coming out as through a foghorn. It's coming at us because we choose to go to these places that give us the dopamine. Each little thing engages us and makes a pleasurable experience for a minute. Then we remember that. We keep going back. Then we start realizing that it's just coming at us to spew. It really means nothing because it's not based on a concern for truth. It's based on how many customers we can line up to sell them $60 Bibles. (laughs)

Sonic Ranch is the third album you’re releasing in under five years. What do you think is the cause of the spurt of creativity? Were a lot of the songs on the last two albums written during the pandemic?

It started out just because we were almost going to abandon the idea of continuing to make a record, put the record out, record is forgotten in 14 days, and never to be seen or heard from again. (laughs) We decided we were just going to start putting up material and giving it to our Patreon subscribers and bringing it up. Then later, after we had given everybody, maybe 10, to 12, or 13 tracks, then we just turned it into an album. That's basically what we did with The Deep End, which came out back in 2022. We did that. Then we somehow found ourselves in a relationship with a record label. (laughs again)

Nice.

This record label – Sunset Boulevard Records. We were pretty happy to be an indie band for a long time. But there's going to be other people interested in what we're doing. Help to get the word out. Help to make the record. Help to form the record as an album in the way they want it formed and the way we want it formed as best we can come together because they're trying to make something happen. We're very grateful that someone wants to make something happen with us. So we've agreed to put out two albums with these guys so far. In October 2023, we put out a live record. Now we're getting ready to put this out, Sonic Ranch.

Good.

A lot of the tracks for Sonic Ranch were us going into Sonic Ranch studios in West Texas, to try and come up with more songs to keep filling the Patreon feed. Once a month, we try to put up original Fastball music before it's released. So what we've done now, because we have a record label – this is the ins and outs of Patreon versus putting out records – what we've discovered now is that the people on Patreon want to continue to give us support as a band. They also want interesting stuff. So I put up all these old demos and things. Concerts and weird interviews. They're very happy with that. I give them like two little things a month and try to keep it fresh. We're going to keep that going for as long as we can, but in the meantime, we’ve got this record to put out. I believe it's coming out June 14 now.

You’re going back out on tour. In fact, you’re going to be in Philadelphia in a couple of weeks, and I’m looking forward to seeing you. But do you prefer performing live or in the studio? In what ways are they different? Some better, some worse?

They're totally different for us. We don't do a lot of rehearsing for the studio, especially on this record. Sometimes something starts working really fast. We do a little bit of pre-production, but on the last few recordings we've done, David was there to help figure out what was going to happen. We don't do a lot of performing live to record. A lot of multitrack is happening. Sometimes a guitar and a vocal, or a guitar and a keyboard and a vocal will go on first, and then a drum track will happen. It's very Sgt. Pepper. It's very eclectic, as far as how you do it.

Got it.

Performing is always fun. In answer to the actual question, I think I prefer performing live. When things are going great in the studio, it's awesome. But it's very hard work and it's very hard mentally. Sometimes it gets emotional, because there's a bunch of different artists working together and trying to make their egos gel and vibe together. It's a challenge. It's a team sport, the way we do it, and I'm grateful for that too. Because a lot of our peers, it's usually one songwriter, and the band is interchangeable with different players. I like having a relationship to keep working on over the last 30 years and the future years. It's fun. It's a challenge. It also makes me proud. It gives me that head-held-high vibe about Fastball. And I can say Fastball, even though I originally thought it was the worst name for any band, I love it now. (laughs) I love how it sounds.

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: April 2, 2024.

Photos 1 & 2 © 2023. Courtesy of Plan A Media. All rights reserved.

Album Cover © 2024. Courtesy of Plan A Media. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Jack & Jack

The Return of the Jacks

By Emma Fox and Kayla Marra

Jack Johnson and Jack Gilinsky make up the power pop-rap duo known as Jack & Jack. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, the guys started making music together in high school, and have continued through the years to now. They went on to join Magcon, a touring meet-and-greet convention for fans to meet their favorite social media personalities. Though the tours and conventions came to an end, the creative journey for Jack & Jack did not. They have released two studio albums since then, a plethora of hit singles, and several incredible EPs. 

Now based in Los Angeles, we’ve connected with the talented pair various times over the years, the last time being in 2015. But just this week we were able to re-connect with them before their Philly tour stop and catch up with the guys about touring together again, reminiscing on the Magcon days, Jack G’s recent fatherhood, and more. 

We last spoke to you seven years ago. It’s incredible to hang out with you guys again! You originally released the iconic song “Like That” in 2014. What made you re-record it years later?

Jack Johnson: I think a big thing was that it was taken down off streaming platforms because of a copyright claim. The people who know us know this story, but we’ll give you a brief rundown of it. The piano part, in the beginning, was taken by the producer who sold us the beat from another producer. So, that producer got upset and we had no idea. It got taken down and copyright claimed.

Jack Gilinsky: It was off of all streaming platforms for five years, now, maybe four. 

Jack Johnson: Then we got on TikTok and saw a big resurgence. We saw the OG one was going viral on there and we were like, “Oh, man!”

Jack Gilinsky: Every time we posted, people were like, “Please put ‘Like That’ back on Spotify and Apple Music.”

Jack Johnson: We were done and had eleven songs on the album. Then two weeks before the album was set to drop, we were like, yo, why don’t we just revamp it? Use more updated, cleaner sounds. Get G’s new voice on there, my new voice on there. Change a couple of lyrics here and there. Make a revamped version. It felt like it was a full-circle moment for the record.

Jack Gilinsky: It felt right.

Jack Johnson: We’re really grateful for everything that record has done for us.

Jack Gilinsky: We’re grateful that we decided to do this, too, because it has 54 million streams, which plays into the whole total Home album streams.

Jack Johnson: At the end of the day, we’re trying to get everyone to listen to the other songs on the project, which we’re so proud of. Honestly, we’re a little more excited for those, just because they’re new and we haven’t heard them a trillion times. It’s been awesome seeing the fans sing new stuff live, and we feel like “Like That” could be a good gateway into the project.

This is so full circle for your OG fans, as well. I went to Magcon, so it’s incredible seeing you guys do this. 

Jack Johnson: It felt like a special one. 

What was it like being back together in the studio again?

Jack Gilinsky: It was awesome.

Jack Johnson: It was amazing. 

Jack Gilinsky: It’s funny because we didn't take too much of a break. In 2020, obviously, we took a little bit of a break because we were basically in different places. I went back to Omaha, and he stayed in LA. Halfway through 2020, we moved in together and had a studio in the house.

Jack Johnson: We would always make stuff; we just never knew what was going to happen with it. Actually locking in on a project and actually knowing we have a vision for it. Knowing we have a deadline we want to release it by this day. Knowing we had tour dates coming up. It really made it feel like we had a mission. It wasn’t just us willy-nilly in the studio, creating little ideas and not following through with anything. It was amazing to be able to lock in again, really on our own terms, make the music we wanted to make and not feel as puppeteered by a major label. As great as A Good Friend is, and I love that project, a lot of songs on there were demos that were sent to us by other writers or other artists. The label was just like, “you sing this line,” and I was like, this isn’t why we started making music in the beginning.

Jack Gilinsky: It was awesome creating Home the album, because every single word you hear and most sounds that you hear, even instrumentally, Johnson’s playing on the piano, I’m singing the lyrics I wrote, I’m singing some of the lyrics Johnson wrote for me.

Jack Johnson: It’s all just stuff that really came from us and it feels a little more personal this time around. 

Jack Gilinsky: We’re really proud of it.

That’s awesome to hear. With “Jack’s Version” at the end of “Like That” you’re really making it your own and taking back your art which is so powerful and cool to see.

Jack Gilinsky: We’re inspired by Taylor Swift, man. It’s pretty awesome to see what she’s done. We had to take that a little bit.

Jack Johnson: We want to set a guideline for other indie artists because this is the indie age we’re living in. The major labels are becoming a little bit less of a necessity as time goes on with how robust social media is.

Jack Gilinsky: Especially for smaller artists like us who have a core following and they support us through anything. We figured there was no need for a big system to get involved and take away what we all started for. We’re just grateful to have our crew and they’re always supporting us, like tonight. 

You released your latest album Home earlier this month, congratulations! 

Both: Thank you!

What was the recording process like, and what was your vision/goal with this album?

Jack Johnson: G actually lives about an hour away down by the Newport area, which is coastal California. Basically, we would just have three or four sessions throughout the week, and he would make the commute up into LA. We’re with a distribution company called CreateTV. They let us use their studios, and they have these great studios that we were super grateful to use. It would just be him and I in the studio and sometimes it would be a beat that producers would send us in packs, and we would be like, “Oh, we like this one.” It would just be me recording his voice and him recording my voice. I would make the first base mix and get a good reference point, and then we would send it all off to mixing. It was just a very hands-on process. We used to never really be involved in this stuff, as much as we like it.

Jack Gilinsky: Even in terms of creating the project, we didn’t really have a set goal and tried to have no expectations. Like, let’s just get in there and make a bunch of songs and see what happens. We started to make songs. We made one, then two, three, four five, and it started to be like, “Wait, all of these could go on the project.” It was never a thing, at least this year, that was said, “This one isn’t going to go on” or we’re just not hitting the right stride. I feel like we just got back in the studio together and it just kind of flew out of us. Within nine months – we recorded the last song in August, everything was done by September. It just came together.

Jack Johnson: With the whole “home” angle in terms of that creative for the project, there was this stop sign in our neighborhood we would always meet up at growing up. We were like, yo, let’s take our album cover picture there, change the “STOP” to “HOME,” another four-letter word. It was just something that was very sentimental to us rather than just slapping out a random cover art. It felt like it tied a bow on the whole thing with the creative packing of it all. 

We love the album! Everyone out there is loving it, too.

Jack Johnson: We love that you’re loving it. It’s been out nineteen days now. Even in Nashville on night one, it had been out for twelve days, and they were already singing all the hooks. They’re learning my verses; I have mouthfuls in there. 

Jack Gilinsky: It’s been crazy, the support has been awesome. 

Jack Johnson: We just can’t wait. We know Philly’s going to be jumpin.’ It’s going to be the craziest show of the tour so far.

As Philly always is.

Jack Johnson: They always show out. 

Jack (G), you’re currently in your “dad era,” congratulations!

Jack Gilinsky: I am. For the rest of my life, I will be!

How has having a daughter impacted your life?

Jack Gilinsky: I feel like it impacts it in every way possible. It just changes the way you look at the world. Even the most basic things, it changes your perspective on. Specifically working. It was all really, really fun growing up doing this with Johnson. I never really looked at it too much like a job because it was so much fun. It is still so much fun [except] being away from my daughter and Geneva. Thinking about raising my daughter, you’ve got to have a job and you’ve got to give it your all because if you’re going to spend time away from your loved ones, you need to be putting that work in. It makes me look at this a bit differently because I’m really motivated to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. Also regardless of having a baby, we’re just older and more mature now. We got to kill this, man, because this is our lives. We went out on a limb and didn’t go to college, and we’ve been away for four, five years.

Jack Johnson: We almost had a five-year gap, and there’s a very finite shelf life for artists. There’s a window that you have to take advantage of. We’re just so grateful that they’re all showing up, even after that time period. Seeing him with Hayven, I see an extra spark of motivation in his eyes, on top of him just having a lot of life changes, too. 

Jack Gilinsky: I appreciate it, because honestly, you said it very well. Having a daughter is the most amazing thing in the world. I’m just really grateful, and I’m grateful that we still get to do this for work. If I had to go work a 9-5 and be away from my daughter every single day like that, I think that would be harder than being with her ten months out of the year and then being on the road for two months. I love being on the road, so I wouldn’t do it for anything else, being away from my family. 

You talked about not going to college and pursuing being creative. Do you have a memory from that era or the Magcon time that stands out to you as an “I made it” moment or an “I want to do this for the rest of my life” kind of moment?

Jack Gilinsky: That’s a good question. Magcon Dallas was the very first one. Shawn made me sing a song with him on stage. I was like, you know what, this is really cool. We had never seen the people that are liking all of our Vines, Tweets, and Instagrams in person like that before. I always thought, “That’s a big number,” but it didn’t ever click that there were real people behind each number. 

Jack Johnson: It was weird. We just left for a long weekend from high school, and then we went right back. A lot of the boys started doing online school, but we stuck it out throughout our whole senior year and graduated with our class and everything. 

Jack Gilinsky: It made it real though, seeing it in person. I think for me, Magcon made me realize “oh shit, this is real.” There’s a career here that if we want to take it seriously. We can do this for our lives. It convinced us to take a gap year.

Jack Johnson: We just had a glaring opportunity in front of us, and sometimes you just got to seize life by the horns and just ride into battle you know.

Jack Gilinsky: Yeah, so I would say the Magcon thing made it real. Like alright, let's take this seriously. 

That’s awesome! We’ve both loved seeing you grow. Last time I saw you was 2018 at a pop-up show in Baltimore, so it’s been great to see you grow since then and it’s awesome to see you back on the road! Can you talk to us a little bit about what a typical day on tour looks like? 

Jack Johnson: Absolutely!

Jack Gilinsky: We actually wake up pretty late because we’ve been driving our bus. Johnson drove last night, I’m driving tonight. We’ve been switching off doing two-to-four-hour shifts, we’ll get into the hotel at 3-5am, depending on how long the drive is. Then me and Johnson get to sleep in because of how awesome our crew is, they load in by themselves. We wake up at around 12:00. 

Jack Johnson: Well unless the fire alarm goes off. 

Jack Gilinsky: Yeah, we had a fire alarm yesterday, it was pretty bad. But we wake up, we workout, come back upstairs and maybe have a bite to eat, and then get an Uber to the venue. Once we show up to the venue it’s straight into this thing called “Indoor Recess” which is an intimate meet and greet where you get to come backstage, we have a good conversation and take some photos. Then it’s straight into what’s called the “Soundcheck Experience.” 

Jack Johnson: We’ll actually do our soundcheck and then we wanted to give everybody a little extra something this time around because whether it was in our hands or not, we did have a five-year hiatus, and we feel bad about it inherently. We decided to add the “Soundcheck Experience” where we do a general Q&A with the fans, just have a talk and nice banter with them, and then we do a little acoustic performance just to warm them up for the night. 

Jack Gilinsky: Then we do the meet and greet!

Jack Johnson: It’s a good flow of a day. We’re starting to get the science down a bit more of how it’s supposed to run. Usually, we would tour with a 13 or 14-person crew, and we didn’t have to deal with any of these things. It’s a much more busy day, but I like it. It makes me sleep harder at night, makes me a little more locked in knowing that I do have more personal responsibility on this tour. I really do enjoy it because it feels like we’re taking our business into our own hands and being very meticulous about the way we’re doing things. 

Jack Gilinsky: Then after the meet and greet we have a two-hour break. I always cook my bison; I eat it every day. Then maybe have a banana, chill out, do our vocal warmups, and I have a vocal steamer that we do. Then it's time for the show! An hour and a half later we’re off stage, we shower, and pack up our things. 

Jack Johnson: We’ll say hi to some people outside the venue if they’re hanging around. 

Jack Gilinsky: If we have an off day, we’ll do this thing called a crew dinner. But tonight, we’re in Philly, we have an off day tomorrow, we’re going to get a cheesesteak. 

Jack Johnson: What’s the spot? We’ve been hearing a couple things. 

I will say, my favorite spot is somewhere on South Street, it’s called Ishkabibble’s. They have the best cheesesteak I’ve ever had. 

Jack Gilinsky: Bro we’re going. How far is that from here? I need to go, like I want one right now.  

Jack Johnson: Okay I’m screenshotting this right now.

Jack Gilinsky: Is that your favorite too? 

It’s also my favorite!

Jack Johnson: I’m literally telling our drummer right now – we have to go to Ishkabibble’s. 

What do you guys get on your cheesesteaks?  

Jack Gilinsky: On my cheesesteak, I order a Philly Cheesesteak and I eat it how it comes. What is it, peppers, onions?

What kind of cheese do you get?

Jack Gilinsky: I think I’m going to do provolone. 

Jack Johnson: I will usually do the steak, whatever cheese they recommend, I want to do what the locals do. Then I’ll maybe add some jalapeños, something that adds a little kick to it. I've become more of a spice guy. Maybe some grilled onions in there too. Wherever we end up I’m just excited to get a cheesesteak in Philly!

Jack Gilinsky: It’s going to be great, it’s Philly!

What’s been your favorite song to perform live so far?

Jack Gilinsky: I’m not even going to sugarcoat it, my favorite song to perform live is “Like That,” because every single person who bought a ticket knows every single word to the song.

Jack Johnson: There’s just a different energy. Not to say that the other songs are low energy by any means, the people who have been coming to these shows have been hype for all of them, even the new stuff. I’ve got to say though, “Stuttering” from the new project, for some reason there’s like some crack in that song. 

Jack Gilinsky: That’s going to be a hit, I feel it. 

Jack Johnson: It’s such a hype one live. It’s early in the set so everyone’s still fresh, it’s just been going up every night the energy’s been through the roof. I also really like performing “September’s Gone” because we have the whole band jamming. Writing that at a piano and actually seeing it live, it’s crazy. They’re all great, the medley is so fun to perform because we get to take a little trip down memory lane.

Make sure to stream Home by Jack and Jack, out everywhere NOW and catch the guys on tour through May! 

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: March 20, 2024.

Photos by Emma Fox © 2024. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

JA Bayona and Enzo Vogrincic

Society of the Snow is One of the Most Harrowing films of All Time – and Chilling As Well by Brad Balfour

It’s an understatement to say that I’ve seen lots of films with varying degrees of frightening circumstances informing them. But Society of The Snow was one of the most harrowing – well deserving of award nominations, including the Oscar for Best International Feature. Though the film is fiction, it’s based on a true story and is done in such a way that you feel yourself actually experiencing the cold, anguish and pain as the story reveals itself.

In 1972, a Uruguayan rugby team chartered a flight to Chile, which catastrophically crashed on a glacier in the heart of the Andes. Of the 45 passengers on board, 29 survived the initial crash, although more would die from injury, disease, and an avalanche over the following weeks. Trapped in one of the most inaccessible and hostile environments on the planet, the survivors were forced to resort to survival cannibalism of those who had already died in order to stay alive. However, rather than turn against each other, the survivors drew upon the cooperative teamwork they learned through rugby, along with their spiritual faith, in order to escape the mountains. Only 16 of the 40 passengers ultimately survived.

Director JA Bayona discovered Pablo Vierci's 2009 account of the crash, La sociedad de la nieve, while conducting research for his 2012 film The Impossible. He bought the rights for the book when he finished filming that movie. Bayona recorded more than 100 hours of interviews with all of the living survivors. The cast is composed of Uruguayan and Argentine actors, most of whom are newcomers. The actors had contact with the survivors and the families of the victims.

Society of the Snow was the closing film at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, in an Out of Competition slot. It played in theaters in Uruguay, Spain and a limited run in the United States in December 2023, before streaming on Netflix in January 2024. Society of the Snow received positive reviews and won 12 awards including Best Picture and Best Director at the 38th Goya Awards and was nominated for Best International Feature Film, representing Spain, along with Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the 96th Academy Awards.

This Q&A with writer-director Bayona and star Enzo Vogrincic took place in front of an audience a few weeks before Oscar Night.

Society of the Snow was shot in sequence, which is so rare now. Also shooting on location with all the challenges. How important was it to you to have an Uruguayan voice to this film, this passion in your life for the last decade?

JA Bayona: This story is not only well-known in the Spanish-speaking world, but also [throughout] the whole world. There are many documentaries about it. There were two movies already done (ed note: Survive! in 1976 and Alive in 1993), so we had to do this one right. We spent the time, and we wanted to shoot in Spanish. There was no way to shoot this film in another language than Spanish with a Uruguayan accent, since it was based on a book by a Uruguayan author with a Uruguayan voice and a Uruguayan actor. It took us 10 years to find the financing, find a place where we were allowed to show up and believe in the film, and believe in the level of ambition we were looking for, again in Spanish. Once we knew the film was going to be done – actually before then – we did auditions for nine months, looking for the actors. I saw 2,000 self-made tapes, and from those, I started to choose faces and meet actors online, because it was during the pandemic. We finally got our cast. That was at the end of 2020. We did two months of rehearsals – which is a luxury – maybe seven weeks. Then, all the cast met the real people they were portraying or the families of the dead. Then we spent a very long shoot, 140 days, which was extraordinary. We created such a beautiful family. Everything that’s in front of the camera was real. The friendship, the love, the sense of camaraderie, and we were there with our cameras. We captured that. 

Who was your continuity director? You've been recognized for makeup and hair. This was another-level continuity.

JA Bayona: I gave the actors a lot of space and freedom to improvise, because they were so well prepared. They spent two months in rehearsals, met the survivors, and read the book. They had all the information, and then they worked in similar conditions, with a context that was constantly stimulating the performance. There was a lot of space to improvise. We shot 600 hours of material. The heroes of this film are the editors because they had to deal with that. There were a lot of continuity issues that we had to deal with in the editorial.

Enzo, when it comes to rehabilitation in the hospital, the showers, the emaciated bodies – and being a 2024 film realist – it wasn’t body doubles. Your body weight went from 159 to 103 during the shooting of this film. That was real. How important was it for you, for the living and the dead, to honor your character?

Enzo Vogrincic: While we were making the film, as actors, we always thought we owed the people that survived and those that died, to tell their story as realistically as possible. Therefore, when we were filming things such as hunger or cold, we were barely able to move. It was a way of replicating what they had gone through, beyond our acting, because we knew that we had a responsibility to the people and to the characters. This was not a typical shoot whatsoever. It was part of the story, so fundamentally, we were willing to do whatever it took to get that realism in. After putting in 12 hours of filming and besides, we were eating very little, we found that we could set up a gym afterwards. At night, those of us who were not filming, we were training and continuing to lose weight.

How important was it to you that this project be delivered in a Uruguayan voice?

Enzo Vogrincic: This is something that was fundamental to us because this story has been told before, but not with our voice. I thought that was the key thing to do because – though some theories say we are human regardless of where we took place – but these were the stories lived and survived by actual Uruguayans. We thought that to be able to tell it in the original language, it was important for us to understand the tales of the survivors so we could tell the story better. There were terms, feelings, and all those things which mattered, because it hadn’t been done that way before.

There were scenes that involved faith, the notion of a higher power, permission from God. On the other hand, what kind of God would allow this? Those scenes were directed with great care. Tell us how you approached that?

JA Bayona: I always try to be as close as possible to the characters, to the reality, in order to be able to capture them with a sense of authenticity, a sense of place, of being there. These guys were, most of them, very religious. There was a lot of religious iconography. I like to think the film tries to be more spiritual than religious. I see these people like orphans, abandoned in a place where life is not possible, and they need to reinvent life. They need to, somehow, reconsider what is important and what is not, as human beings.

By doing so, the movie becomes a mirror of ourselves. They had to start everything from scratch. They were abandoned by the authorities, they were abandoned by their families, so they had to. For them, it was a journey of self-discovery. It was also a way of understanding that God was everywhere, in order to survive. There was not a religious institution in the middle.

When we mention cannibalism, when we talk about it, that's a word they don't like to use. I think this film makes a big change; in that it's not about taking. It's about giving, about giving yourself to others and suffering the same pain that they are suffering. By doing that, feeling empathy …understanding that you and the other person in front of you are really the same. It's like when Gustavo Zerbino told Roberto Canessa, "You have the strongest legs, you need to walk for us." [And he did just that, walking out from the crash down the mountain towards civilization until they were found, which saved everyone who remained.] 

There's an immediate realization that you and the other ones are the same. We are all the same. To me, that feels sacred, spiritual and transcendent. To understand that we are all part of the same thing. That resonates in the world we live in right now, especially with young people. We are surrounded by so much conflict, and finally having this story that tells you that we are all part of the same thing, that we are all aboard the same plane. We need to come together to find a solution. We had such an important message. That was our fuel. 

With today's GPS, the flight would have landed at its destination safely, one would hope. You had to get the technical details right. The formal report said it was pilot error. That's clear from your work. How challenging was that, starting with your visit to the crash site? 

JA Bayona: We had to give the context to make others understand what they went through, and by doing so, what they did. We put so much effort into all the details, like talking about the type of plane. We went to the Uruguayan Army. We had a very honest conversation with them. They accepted that it was human error. But it was actually a combination of human error with some kind of an early model of GPS that failed that day. They basically had to do this turn there because that kind of plane was not able to fly at 40,000 feet. So they had to go through a lower pass. They had to do this kind of U-turn. It takes 20 minutes to get from one side to the other. They turned to the right only when they were six minutes into it. That's why it's considered to be a human error because there was no way that the pilot didn't know that. The pilot had done that journey many times. But we really don't know what happened in that cockpit. I decided to leave the camera outside of the cockpit out of respect for the pilots. We knew that there was a machine that failed there. But anyway, we decided out of respect not to get into that space, so we stayed with the other characters.

Will your life ever be quite the same after the experience of filming this movie?

Enzo Vogrincic: In life, everything you do changes you. You're never the same after an experience this informative. Of course, I’ve changed. I am different. I like to take every opportunity to continue changing myself. The biggest changes were on a professional level and in terms of how much I learned. I had to go in depth into my character and we spent one to three years with those people talking about life, death, friendship, love, family and making friends. I've made 25 new friends and therefore I like to think that I did change.

Talk about your immersion in your new extended family. The family of the living and the family of the dead.

JA Bayona: I sent an email to the survivors in 2011 and in that first email, I already sent a line about Roberto Canessa that said, “Talking to the dead, accepting peace, gives us the chance to live other lives we didn't have the chance to live.” I was very struck by that conversation between the living and the dead and that sense of depth towards the dead. The more I was in contact with the survivors and the more we talked, the more I realized that they needed the film to be completed and released even more than I did.

My big question was what was left to say after so many documentaries, books, and movies. Now I realize, after seeing the film with them, that it was not about telling something that wasn't being told yet. It was more about giving them the chance to say thank you to people who’d been so important. I see how it was like a poetic thing, the fact that people who didn't make it, they gave everything they had for these people to be alive. Now they are using their testimony to bring these people back, to keep them alive again on the screen. By doing so, I realized that they were comfortable with the story. So it was more about giving these folks a chance to say “thank you” to those who had helped while capturing the mood, feelings and context of what they had gone through so that people seeing the movie would understand what had happened. 

In the hands of another director, the debate over sheer survival might not have been handled as beautifully as it was with you. There's a line in the script where Enzo’s character says, “What was once unthinkable became routine." As the black & white photos are being taken, there's a shot showing a human rib cage in the background, almost cavalierly, but it mostly was kept out of the photos. The pictures, of course, are still with us today. They're on the web for people to see. You've managed to take on such a life-and-death topic and deal with it matter-of-factly but with great respect and discretion.

JA Bayona: I'm so glad that you asked about that “unthinkable” line because that's life. That's life. First, you do what you think is impossible, then you get used to it, and then there's a moment that you don't pay attention to it. Our ordinary lives are about that. These people remind us how important every single detail is in our lives. It doesn't matter if your skin is black or white or if we’re American or Spanish. We each have our chance to live life. But when you meet these guys, you meet people who’ve been given an extra chance. That makes a big difference. Their story helps us realize that sometimes we complain and don’t appreciate what we have, the fact that we do have lives to live.

How cold did it get? At what altitude did most of the filming take place?

Enzo Vogrincic: Well, I have to admit, it was hard to tell this story. You feel you have to go through the pain yourself, in order to tell it well. The shooting was hard, obviously, because you have to connect the pain with your own body. We had to lose weight and experience the cold. You have to do it until your body becomes part of that character’s story. There were experiences that allowed us to feel the pain. We were able to work less on certain things and still retain the emotional tone of the story. The emotions didn’t take over necessarily when your body had to suffer. There were other important components, too, in addition to the pain and the suffering. You were able to see that you had a duty to carry out which took you beyond the pain, because you had a story to tell in a competent way. 

JA Bayona: Let me add one story. Enzo did such an extraordinary job. He was so committed to the performance of Numa that when we finished the shoot we had to go back to the Andes because the first time we went, there had been very little snow because of global climate change. We went for one year. Once we finished the shoot, we went back to shoot again in the background. Secretly he was in Uruguay, and I called Enzo and said, “What are you doing next Wednesday?” He said, “Nothing.” I said, “I want to take you to the actual place where the plane crashed. I don't have permission from the other producers, but I think I can manage to bring you there. How much is the ticket?” He said, "$400.” I said, “Well, we can pay $400. I can talk with the insurance company and the professional drivers.”

I secretly took Enzo finally with the blessings from the other producers just because he did so much. We had this shoot then we had the person in Germany that was to do this film. I really wanted Enzo to be there and be able to shoot some shots that were very helpful for the film. You can treat the audience by putting in a couple of shots of Enzo there and there. At the same time, Enzo had a closure to that journey. He was able to do these shots but was also able to stand in front of the great theater. I don't know what you said there, what you did there, but you had your moment there. To me that was very important. When you do a film, the whole atmosphere affects the final result. I pay attention to these kinds of details. Also, I wanted him to be there and have that closure.

Having just shared this in a theater, I know that’s what movies are designed for, communal viewing experience. But when someone watches your movie on a streaming device. How does it affect you? And to be honest, can you interpret it for any language that it needs to be interpreted for?  

JA Bayona: Can we take the Netflix people out of the room for a second? No, listen, we spent 10 years trying to make the financing for this film. We tried to do this film by conventional windows to the cinemas. Apparently, there is no market for Spanish films that are over $10 or $15 million in budget. We couldn't do this film with that budget. We spent 10 years and when we were about to give up, Netflix showed up and put in the money and gave us the freedom. They made the film possible.

At the same time, I come from Spain. To me, it's more difficult to handle the market in the US than in Spain. I'm quite popular there. We released the film on December 22nd. It was a limited release, 100 cinemas. Normally one of my films would be in 500 cinemas. We released the film in 100 cinemas. I decided to go with the film. Every week, I went to a different city and showed the film. The film is still in the cinemas, in the same number of cinemas. We've done 100 million admissions. The film actually is doing better since it's on Netflix. I'm very happy that Netflix made the film possible and made it accessible to the whole planet. We had 100 million people watching the film in the first 10 days. So it’s not true. There is a market for Spanish films. But I'm glad that the movie is still in theaters for people who want to see it there.

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: March 6, 2024.

Photos © 2024 Brad Balfour. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Tony McNamara

The Provocative Poor Things Starring Emma Stone has Racked up Multiple Award wins and Noms Due to a Great Script

by Brad Balfour

It may have taken a while, but director Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things ultimately rose to the Awards season challenge, winning several Golden Globes and garnering 11 Oscar nominations: Best Actress, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematography. In this fractured tale inspired by the Frankenstein creation story, actress/producer Emma Stone plays a re-animated Bella Baxter as a fully grown body woman with the brain of a rapidly maturing child.

Bella doesn't hold back as she discovers the joys of masturbation and, further on, energetic sex – which she calls "furious jumping" – with Mark Ruffalo's domineering, and equally unclothed, paramour. Then she explores the inner-workings of a Paris whorehouse engaging with many men in many ways – but on her terms.

The movie's sexual candor is only some of the trappings to this extraordinary story of a woman – though born of men – comes into her own. In exposing herself aesthetically and physically, the seemingly fearless Stone is one of the rare A-list actresses willing to risk such exposure for her art.

Poor Things is a no-holds-barred re-imagining of female empowerment displayed in a thoroughly fantastical environment of striking colors, costumes and landscapes. As a result, the movie is rated R for strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore and language. 

Though the cinematic vision is Lanthimos, the essential story comes from veteran scriptwriter Tony McNamara, an Australian playwright, screenwriter, and television producer. Born in 1967, he worked on the script for The Favourite in 2018, the historical comedy-drama film directed by Lanthimos, also starring Stone. Originally a screenplay by Deborah Davis, written 20 years prior to the film's release, Lanthimos and McNamara worked together to refashion it into a final script resulting in it winning, or being nominated for, many various awards at the time.

McNamara also created The Great, a series revolving around the life of Catherine the Great, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which premiered on Hulu in May 2020. It's based on his period play about Catherine, which premiered at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. McNamara also wrote a film adaptation of it as well.

This Q&A is based on an appearance by McNamara shortly before Poor Things began its run as an award nominee and cinematic phenomenon.

Talk about the process of adapting this from the book by Alasdair Gray. That Poor Things is very much written from the male perspective in terms of people discussing and describing their experiences with Bella. The film switched that into [a story] from a female view of the world. What did it take to adapt and shift the perspective?

The book is a big Scottish classic – it's wild and has hundreds of pages about Scottish nationalism which, you might notice, is not in the movie. Bella's story was told by the men like Duncan and Max; they all tell you what happened to her. You never get her experience of it. Yorgos read it and we both felt the same – she was the character he was interested in. That's an interesting story and it seemed like a great thing to do. The point of the novel was that the men controlled her narrative. While keeping that idea, I wanted to flip it so that film-wise, it was her story.

This is the first time that you've done an adaptation from a book. What were the unique aspects of doing that?

Yes, it was the first time. When I read it, I thought the first one should be the baby's brain in the woman's head [chuckles]. But Yorgos is amazing, and we had such a good time on The Favourite that the biggest thing was to work out what to tell from the book. We could just depart from the book because I adapted material from history and stuff. I'm always a bit like, "Well, a book, that's one thing and a movie is a whole other thing. How do we make a movie that has a relationship to the book but isn't really about the book."

That started with the Bella thing, which let me invent a lot because the men told her story [in the novel]. I could invent her story because we didn't really know... There was nothing there when she went to Portugal, we knew she went, but we didn't know what happened there. I was creating this sort of internal story when she went on her journey, Yorgos kept saying it was a fantasy. We're both Fellini fans so we thought it should be a big European style, old school stage movie.

How do I create a language that's going to be big enough for what he's going to do? I had to create this sort of dialogue that felt baroque but was also contemporary enough that you could feel it emotionally. That was my main thing. You've got to feel her journey.

You adapted from history before. What you do with language is take elements of period language, but then you really look at it from the perspective of a modern audience's lens into it. You created this unique amalgamation. So for this one, in particular, how did you find the way to make the language work in that regard?

I knew the scale of this story and also, I love language. Half the time, I'm not serving the audience, I'm serving myself [chuckles]. I think it's fun to create a particular language for a movie, which is why I was really drawn to doing this. Bella had a particular language, and it was a character where you had to evolve her language, which you never get to do. Usually the person just talks the way they talk. But with her, part of telling the story was changing the language throughout the narrative. So it's how to do that and make it fun.

It's interesting how her language changed, even [if it's] just with the grammar. It's the same way when you learn another language, you learn the present tense first. She's speaking specifically in the present tense in the beginning of the movie but that evolves. How did you find those different layers and textures of grammar and language for her?

It was like knowing where to start. We had this geographic journey, so I used the geography to change her language through each geographic point. She would change a little bit through it, and I knew where I wanted to start. She talked like my four-year-old. He was a real inspiration. He's very proud now. When Yorgos and I were developing it, we were having lunch one day and I was telling Yorgos about my son and I said, "He's kind of a sociopath and he's only four years old.” We were in a restaurant, and it was really loud. This baby was crying, and my son looked at me and went “punch that baby." I went to Yorgos, and he said that we should put that in! So when she's in the restaurant, she goes, "I'm just going to punch that baby." My son feels like he should get a credit now.

We should see if – in the DVD version – he's given credit. Bella changes so much throughout the script. You talked about thinking from different specifications. At the beginning, she started out pretty much a toddler and then we reached a point where this is when she's 16. When she's leaving home for the first time, she's like in her early '20s at first, then her mid '20s. How did you set about creating those different stages?

In my head it was just to create. Basically at its core. In a way, this is a coming-of-age story. It was as simple as that. It's like watching someone grow up and discover their sexuality and then their intellectual life and they come to terms with being mature and emotional. There's a point – on the boat – where she's so self-regarding and then realizes there's a world out there and she has to be part of it. I felt like there were certain points where… I think the contemporary thing for me was things like, "Oh, you go to college and discover books” and you're like "Oh books and ideas!" There were all these steps where you get a boyfriend and you think he's great and then you realize at some point, "Oh my God, he's the worst." There were simple things I was always thinking of but not to take it away from the bigness of it. I had to ask, what are the basics of it in terms of us, in terms of just a human experience?

That idea for Bella was to be like, "Oh, I've got a boyfriend but he's the worst." That's the arc of Duncan [Mark Ruffalo], where it's so great because he's such an audacious character. We understand that he's full of shit from the get-go. But she takes everything quite literally. So when he says, "I bedded over 100 women," she believes that to be true. What was it like writing the dynamic between those two characters with that in mind?

It was really fun to write because he is such a classic trope and yet I felt sorry for him because she doesn't have any of society's ideas which he owns. He has them all in his head and it's like a paradigm he lives through. She doesn't have any of that. So he can't even get the traction that he would normally get from a person. He sort of dissolves. I enjoyed writing it, but I didn't have as much fun as I did watching those two do it. They were so freakin' right.

How did you shape the tension that starts to fester in Duncan because the less that he succeeds with her, the more frustrated he becomes. He's also watching her with the idea of who he wants to be in a world with no care.

I think that was what the irony was. He sees himself as a free spirit and he's outside society like all the men who have their view of themselves. Everyone in the movie had a view of society that she doesn't ascribe to. Even when they try hard, she either resists it or is oblivious to it. It was constructing that, and some people understood that ... like Max [Ramy Youssef] who went on a sort of positive journey in that respect. Duncan just dissolved more and more because he didn't know what to do. I liked the idea of that.

It's great the way that you have other characters start to use elements of her language. Suddenly another character uses the phrase "serious jumping." How did you find those moments when you wanted other characters to step into her world like that?

She's such a powerful character as she goes through life and gathers agency, I think she's so charismatic because she doesn't [back down]. Beat to beat [it's] just a pure response that isn't shaded by anything. How she feels in that moment without judgment of herself, I think that's attractive. I felt like [with the] other characters, [it] starts to rub off on them a little bit. 

What's the difference in writing a character who is so innately reactionary but in such a positive way?

I was talking to Emma about it. It's great for you as a person. I think she felt the same, playing Bella. I think for her and me, and I'm sure for Yorgos, writing that character and her playing that character, you're aware of how much you're shaped by everything. For her, playing a character who is just shaped by a really pure response, and we don't get that. I think that's why she's a character people can respond to because it's a bit of a wish fulfillment of like, "that would be good if you could just live life like that."

We get an opportunity to watch her learning in real time and developing her back story as a character. How did you set about making sure that you are always cognizant of what she has already learned in the space of a scene to make sure that it comes into play here?

I have a really strong process. I guess I've always thought about what she learns. Yorgos and I were very meticulous as it goes. We didn't do that many drafts. But what we did at the end is, we just went line by line over three or four days separately. There's always time between it and as there's a three-week rehearsal. Then we tweak that a little bit if we hear things that aren't quite right or Emma would say, "Oh, that word seems too sophisticated for her at that point." We're very meticulous about her verbal journey as well as Emma and Yorgos creating the physicality of that.

It sounds like with that process as well in the way that you talk about the film previously that you really aren't doing rewrites during production and that even during rehearsal, it's right mental. 

It's joyful. I'd just hang out and drink coffee and watch them do their thing. No one sees the script for a long time. The first person to see the script was Emma. I think the producers didn't see it for years and then when they see it, he's ready to make it. I think his view of it is that we spent four years on this by making it because I think it's right. He is a very strong individual about how he feels artistically. He's like, "That's what we decided; it is what it is!" He never really made changes on The Favourite. He rang me once [to make a change] because they literally couldn't do something physically. Through the couple of films we worked together, he's never changed anything.

This was a project that Yorgos had been trying to make since before The Favourite. What was the chronology of when you two started working on the script?

He'd moved to London and started on The Favourite and knew he wasn't... He'd only made Dogtooth and Alps, so he was like, no one's going to give me the money to make The Favourite. It's going to cost a little bit because of the period. So he went off with his Greek co-writer, Efthimis Filippouand they wrote The Lobster so they could try and make something cheap. While he was doing it, he rang me and said he'd read this book [Poor Things]. Even when he was making The Lobster no one would give him any money to develop Poor Things. Everyone was saying, "We like you but we're not doing the baby brain!” Once he made The Lobster and there was some buzz, Film4 came in with some money and he was like, "Do you want to do it?" So we started it. We were in pre-production for The Favourite, and I started writing Poor Things.

Going back to Bella as well, one of the things that's so refreshing about her as a character is she's not necessarily carrying this internal dialogue. Everything that she thinks and feels throughout the movie is said out loud. How is that a totally different approach to writing a character for you?

When I write, I'm just asking myself, "Where is she coming from? What does she want and what's in her way?" I knew she didn't question herself much and that was the joy of her as a character because she wasn't super conflicted about anything. Except towards the end, when she has to confront her feelings for Godwin [Willem Dafoe], but even then, she has clarity in the two different feelings she has. I think that was why she was a really refreshing character to write. She manages to be very simple and very complex at the same time.

How did you find what you wanted to be the essence of the relationship between her and Godwin? It's such a fascinating dynamic. He's had the experience of her being an experiment and now he's kind of carrying it out with a lot of love and heart.

Yeah, I think for us it was one of the most interesting relationships we explored in a way because he was an experiment as well. In the book, he's not an experiment. I made that up so that we could understand him a bit better. His father made him an experiment, so it makes sense. He thinks everything is science and everything's an experiment. But deep down, he's a guy who wants someone to see him and not think he's ugly – someone to "get" him. He's someone that's never had that and he doesn't quite know how to deal with feelings.

That's why he rebels, but it's not in the book. There's the Margaret Qualley character where they just make another one [like Bella] but not quite. That was our idea of how we can show him go through a journey. I was like, "Oh, he makes another one." He'd go with his feelings; by the end of the movie, he realizes his feelings matter.

What was the difference that you wanted to show with Godwin and Margaret Qualley's character when that comes up? It's such a different experience for him.

I think because rather than replace [Bella], it was supposed to show the idiocy of what he did by trying to do that to himself. Then he understood it wasn't the experiment he loved, but it was her.

With the narrative up to where Bella goes back to her ex-husband to learn to visit her old life and learn about that. Initially the idea was that it was sort of a kidnapping, and it was against her will. But then you realize that it was important for it to be her choice to go there. How did that change for you?

Yeah, I think we've done it. We've done a couple of years, and we were having lunch, and everyone really liked the script at that point. We had long periods of silence. That's our process. We just sit there not talking for long periods. We all thought there was something wrong with the third act, so I said I'll go think of something and then I'll text Yorgos. What if she chooses it because she's choosing everything else? So why wouldn't she? She's fearless and that broke it open for us because the other way ­– when she was kidnapped, and then there was a shooting and that's how it ended – he was kind of like, I think they shot him or something and he died. It didn't feel totally right because it wasn't weird enough for the rest of it. So we brought in Christopher Abbott's character. I was always nervous about that because it's hard to bring in a character in two hours and have them hold their own in a big crazy movie like this. But Chris was terrific [as a bad guy].

How did you deal with the sexuality of the whole film? Decisions you made and didn't make, where it would and wouldn't be?

It was always part of that coming-of-age thing. She's at a certain age and starts to discover it. A man comes into her life and she's like, "What adventure do I want to go on?" For me, it was all like, every beat wasn't so much a sex scene. It was the evolution of the character and of the general story. How it's shot and how it's managed was really Yorgos and Emma working together. For us, it was always going to be a movie that was like those '70s European films where it's very... Emma Stone was very unapologetic. It made no sense for it not to be very unapologetic. Yorgos was really devoted to that '70s European aesthetic.

The way you write with layers of comedy which stem from a place of truthfulness. There's so much comedy and attention that's created from Bella's perspective in the world. The way that she refuses to be tied down to other people's ideas of her – how did you write that in a way that feels so grounded – and then find the layers of comedy that can stem from that?

I always go for whatever's real, I think I read that someone famous once said, "To make it real, make it funny." I always try to go from the emotional place of what they want, so I never just go for the joke.

Yorgos and I love comedy, but I think it's all built from the ground up and it's built into the structure – it's a satire. She's a fish out of water. Here's the basics. They're all trying to control her and can't, the poor things. They're idiots. There's a certain element of comedy that I built into the whole structure. I love funny dialogue.

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: March 9, 2024.

Photo #1 © 2023 Brad Balfour. All rights reserved.

Photos #2 - #5 © 2023 Yorgos Lanthimos and Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Ed Lachman

Legendary Cinematographer Gets An Oscar Nomination for El Conde, the Strangest Vampire Movie of All Time 

by Brad Balfour

When American cinematographer and director Ed Lachman joined the Oscar nom list, it was as a real outlier. All the other films nominated were expected – Poor Things, Maestro, Killers of The Flower Moon, and Oppenheimer. But El Conde was way out of left field, a satire about the life of late Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet. He's portrayed as a vampire who puts fresh hearts into a blender and drinks them like a smoothie.

Nonetheless, the film deserved recognition for its master director of photography. Born to a Jewish family in Morristown, New Jersey, Lachman attended Harvard and studied in a French University before pursuing a BFA in painting at Ohio U. Once he transitioned from painting to cinematography, however, the 75-year-old has primarily worked with independent filmmakers, winning accolades along the way. Serving as the cinematographer for Todd Haynes, including 2002's Far from Heaven and Carol in 2015, Lachman earned Oscar nominations. He has served as DoP for other directors such as Wim Wenders, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Schrader, Werner Herzog, Sofia Coppola, and Todd Solondz. He also did Robert Altman's final film in 2006, A Prairie Home Companion. 

Besides working with others, Lachman co-directed a segment of the anthology film Imagining America in 1989. Then, in 2002, he co-directed the controversial Ken Park with Larry Clark. In 2013, Lachman did a group of videos French electronic dance duo Daft Punk for their best-selling album Random Access Memories. 

Most recently he did El Conde with the Chilean-born Pablo Larrain, who has built a career making quirky yet significant films such as Spencer (2021), Jackie (2016), El Club (2015), and NO (2012), among others. El Conde imagines the story of Claude Pinochet, a royalist French soldier, who's discovered to be a vampire and survives an attempt to kill him. Witnessing the French Revolution and the execution of Marie Antoinette, Pinochet fakes his death and flees, participating in the suppression of revolutionary upheavals over the next centuries. Eventually, he ended up in Chile in 1935 and joined the Chilean Army under the name Augusto Pinochet. Rising to become a general, he overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973 and became the country's dictator. Quite a story laden with bizarre imagery and narrative, all shot black & white.

This Q&A was conducted before a preview audience at the Paris Theater.

It's an amazing movie and your collaboration [has produced] a timeless classic. How did your collaboration get started on this movie? You've been friends but haven't collaborated on something before. 

I like looking at films as much as working on them, maybe more. I first saw Pablo's work, Tony Manero, at the New York Film Festival and from there we developed a friendship. He said, "One day, I'll bring you to Chile," but I never thought that was actually going to happen. We were always friendly. He came to New York and worked with Darius Khondji who is a friend. So I thought, "Wow, he comes all the way to New York and works with a French cameraman. Why does he need to bring me to Chile?" We did a commercial in Los Angeles and he called me about a month later and said, "Would you come to Chile?" Sure. But obviously, I don't speak much Spanish and I've worked with his whole crew. Right from the beginning, Pablo said he wanted to work in black and white. Usually, today, you have to shoot in color, either in film or digitally and then transfer into a monochromatic image. But he convinced Netflix that it would be produced out of Mexico, and he was going to shoot in black & white. That opened up a whole door for me and I reached out to Arriflex, the camera manufacturer in Germany. I knew they had produced a large format camera for monochromatic but not a lighter weight camera. Another conceit that Pablo wanted to do was to be on a crane for the whole time – a short 15-foot Technoscope telescopic crane. His idea was that we could move quicker and find angles. That set was built for the size of the crane so we could move in and not have to take out walls. We did once or twice. There were all those factors that came into it. Arri was just coming out with their own camera, and I thought they'd never get there even if they were interested.  

Lo and behold, ten days before we were to shoot, they said we have a camera for you. I went back to Pablo and said, "We have a camera. Can the production afford it?" Well, he's the production company, so he said yes. Another aspect of the filming was that I worked with lenses that were actually made in the '30s for black & white. They were the primary lenses that shot black & white film. I just happened to remount those lenses for somebody who had told me about this glass that it was available in LA. Now I have the black & white lenses, the black & white sensors. All these things contributed. Then there's an exposure system that I used for the first time.

That's the system that you invented.

Basically, I don't make it complicated. If you knew Ansel Adams, he developed a way of evaluating exposure. You could read shadow detail and highlights and place your negative where you would get the most detail, which is a way of analyzing where your exposure was. I worked on an idea about doing that for digital technology. I was, again, very lucky – all the forces came together when a monitor company, SmallHD, came out with this inner monitor and they licensed it to me. I was able to use it for the first time in this film. That's why you have this incredible shadow detail that you would lose if you didn't know where you were placing your eye light. Sometimes, if you overexpose something, you have to print it down and then you don't get the shadow detail. I was thinking about looking at it today – what's the difference? Matthew Libatique shot Maestro in color then converted to black & white. You don't get the subtlety of midrange that you can get when you shoot monochromatic. The other thing is you can use filters that they used 50 years ago, black and white filters that you can't use on color film. You can try to do it in post, but it's not the same thing. 

It sounds like the perfect marriage of technique and intention to create this look that's both timeless and with a purposeful artificiality to it. You have worked in black & white before for some of Todd Haynes' films like Wonderstruck.  Give us a taste of what's more appealing to you in shooting in black and white, something maybe you get when you're not working in color. 

When you shoot in color, you have a problem with the color temperature of the day. It changes. I realized that again with black & white, because I hadn't shot black and white since Wonderstruck. However, that was with film, and this is digital. What's wonderful about black & white is that you can shoot from the beginning of the day to the end of the day and it's just contrast. It's light and dark. In color, the color temperature changes from cool to warm to cool to warm, and you have to modify what you're doing with color. They always say black & white is harder because you don't see in black & white, so you have to imagine how it will look. But once your eye gets more trained and, especially, when you're looking at it on a monitor, you can affect how the black & white [works]. We tested different colors for blood and ended up with blue. All the blood is blue because we found it had more luminosity. When I was in the hospital with my broken hip, at the end of the show, I found out that in our body, that's why our veins look blue. Our blood is blue and it's only red when it hits the air.

Let's go back to the beginning when you first were presented with the concept of Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire. What was your reaction and what pulled you into the story?

Pablo was my education and the way he expressed it was that Chileans have never been able to heal because they never had the justice to heal. The individuals and their families paid the price. Even the church.... There was a part of the church that did fight what Pinochet was doing to the people. There was another part of the church that went along with him. When he explained it that way, I understood why he is forever. He died a multimillionaire and died free. Which is why the Chilean people will never be able to have any resolution to the crimes that were committed. Not like in Argentina where the [dictator] goes to jail.

He's embarrassed about being called a thief, but he's not embarrassed about the murders. He thinks of them as a necessity. what kind of [perhaps] hemophiliac conversations did you and Pablo have watching this movie? Obviously, that recalls Nosferatu, Vampyr. What other movies have you visited?

I watched those films – Vampyr, Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau, and I did like Josef von Sternberg. In some ways, I liked working on films where I don't speak the language because then I can just look at it, in my own world. Things came together in abstract ways, there wasn't much of an intellectualization.

What did you bring to the table to make plausible the scenes of Pinochet flying over Santiago?

All the night footage is against the blue screen or green screen. All of the day scenes, they brought in – and I didn't even know about this – an acrobatic group from Colombia that worked on wires. One of our actresses, Paula [Luchsinger], had studied dance. So they put her on wires. We did have a stunt double and it was a 160-foot crane and in the middle of the crane was a seat on cable. The operator allowed us to show that double or Paula flying or moving around the landscape – it was a sheep farm in Patagonia. That's real air-to-air photography without the benefit of drones. We did use a drone for the point of view of when they're flying. The drone was the second unit, and they went out to film in areas all over Chile. I was there on a vacation watching what was happening.

What's your process with the other departments like production and costume design, especially when you're shooting in black & white? What is the harmony among the other technical departments?

The production designer there didn't speak any English and they work a little differently. Generally, I have an on-set prop person moving things around through the frame. But there he came out of the theater. He had no compulsion but to be on the set all the time and move things around. But wait a minute, that's my set now. But we got along even though sometimes we had discussions through Pablo like, "Don't move this, or move that."

When I'm working on a set, it's what's in the frame that's important to me: how you compose the frame, and how you move the image in the set. Your great production designer actually thinks about the frame when they design the set. He had a little different approach to it, more like theater. There's the stage and the set and you just work with it. We did all this testing with lighting which made the backgrounds always dark. I wanted that separation between the characters and the background so that there was a starkness to it.  

I did something different that I don't normally do. Even though there was an overhead bridge system for lighting, I mostly lit from the window and because we moved the camera around a lot, I couldn't have lights on in the set to help their eyes out. But I realized something that these people are hiding from themselves and hiding from each other. I let the eyes go darker than I ever normally would do and it worked. First, I thought it was a mistake, but here the eyes go in the shadow from cross light. That was important psychologically for the characters.

What was something specifically difficult during the filming? What sequence was most challenging to get right?

There were these big lights that I like to use, and nobody wanted to say no to me. So if I say I want eight 10Ks around the set. On pre-light day, I would be there, and the lights would not be there. They always promise they'll be available mañana, but they never are. I finally had to adapt to work with the equipment that I had. That was an improvement. If I'd had everything I wanted to begin with, I wouldn't have had the benefit of the adaptation.

Over your career, you've collaborated with so many and shot across genres. Do you have a filmmaker that you'd still love to work with? Who would that be? 

I went to art school and then ended up being a cinematographer, a cameraman for other people's films. I've always made some of my own films. There are always new people. I'm always inspired when I see other people's work, even other cinematographers. There's a reason why people create images the way they do because of the time period. That's something that Todd Haynes is very much into. He understands that the tools you use affect the look of the final image. 

On Wonderstruck he wanted to use the same apparatus of the periods ('70s and the '20s) like the dollies used to get those long tracking shots in the street and not see the track. We used something called the Western dolly that has rubber wheels. That was not the best way to do it but was the only way during that time period. I always find it interesting to go deeper into how it's done and why it's done. I studied painting, studio art and didn't like the idea that I'd be alone in a room. If someone brings me a story, I like the challenge of finding the visual language to tell that story.

Speaking of different techniques and tools that are available, there's obviously so many changes in the way films are shot. Some people still swear by film and others love the flexibility and freedom that digital brings to the table. Where do you stand?

I used to always think it had to be a film. But the way I feel about it now, certain stories can be told in the film, some can be done digitally. The problem is, it has become more and more difficult for student films. The craft of filmmaking is being lost because during the process you need a film loader, someone who loads the film in the magazine. Younger and younger people aren't coming up in the industry learning how to load film anymore. 

Film labs don't have some of the equipment anymore that helps judge the treatment for the film negative. Footage gets mistreated during digital transfer. The old classic cameras don't get repaired properly because of the lack of expertise and replacement parts. To continue shooting on film, we're going against what the industry is pushing because that's the way they make more money. They come out with faster lenses and higher-resolution cameras. But actual image makers don't necessarily want everything to look photorealistic. Sometimes it's essential for us to feel that we are actually watching a film and not being inside the storyline.

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: March 7, 2024.

Photos © 2024 Brad Balfour. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Dermot Mulroney

Look Out, Old Mack is Back

By Ronald Sklar

Once again, busy actor Dermot Mulroney is stepping – or in this case, singing and dancing – outside his comfort zone.

“I’m always comfortable when I’m having fun,” he insists, however.

This time, the fun presents itself not in another movie (there are lots of them. Check his IMDb), but as an “in concert” production of the Broadway musical Mack & Mabel (three nights only – February 16-18, 2024 – at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theater).

The fully staged, choreographed event is an inaugural production of the All Roads Theater Company; it’s based on the “forgotten” 1970s musical about Tinseltown’s earliest era. Expect Keystone Kops and flappers.

“It’s a romance and a beautiful story,” Dermot says. “It’s a major event in the musical theater world happening for a very short run.”

Dermot stars as silent-film director Mack Sennett and introduces Jenna Rosen as Mabel Normand, who became one of early Hollywood’s biggest stars.

A revival like this is no small thing for both the theater culture and for the actor himself.

“There are thirty people in this company,” Dermot says. “I’m learning so much from all of them.”

That the original show somehow slipped under the cultural radar is a baffling crime – the 1974 production starred no less than Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters; David Merrick produced it, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly, Mame). The show received eight Tony nominations and won none. Herman was not nominated. It ran for just 66 performances.

Yet somehow, over the decades, the original cast album grew an obsessive fan base, and there is new interest in the story.

Dermot says, “You learn now, in the computer age, that anything and everything has its following. The people who know Mack & Mabel are crazy about it.”

What else is crazy – so crazy that it makes perfect sense – is the shared hope for the show to make its way back to Broadway, fifty years later.

“There is every reason for that to happen,” Dermot says.

So why would a man who is known for so many movies suddenly take to the boards?

“I’ve decided to do Mack & Mabel for two reasons,” Dermot says. “One: I’ve never done this before, singing in a full musical. And two: because I’ve always wanted to do it. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when it came to me out of the blue.”

Leading man roles sure enough attach themselves to Dermot. He’s been at it for about forty years, starring in everything from My Best Friend’s Wedding to The Wedding Date and Young Guns. On TV, he played Rachel’s boss on Friends, as well as prominent roles in New Girl and Shameless. He is also an accomplished cellist and has played professionally on various on-screen projects as well as in live musical performances.

Mack & Mabel, however, is a whole different animal.

“It’s hugely challenging for me,” Dermot admits. “It’s a world I’ve never inhabited. The two times I’ve been in musicals were in my senior year at Northwestern University, a thousand-seat theater. I sang in an operetta, as Ko-Ko The Executioner in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado.”

There is also the one that got away: the time that Francis Ford Coppola chose Dermot to play The Big Kahuna in his ambitious Gidget stage musical (alas, it never got past the workshop phase). And he has indeed sung in public before: on the big screen, to Julia Roberts, on a boat (see it here).

Mack & Mabel, though, is the musical Big Time. It fits nicely with his continuing busy career, including a key supporting role in the current hit romcom Anyone But You, as well as his turn as Detective Bailey in Scream 6.

“I’ve just been incredibly blessed,” he says of his journey. “I’ll admit, that’s what I thought the assignment was when I first became an actor, to be a man of a thousand faces.”

His face can now also be regularly seen on social media, as he has pumped up his posts on Instagram. Most of them push his current projects, but he also shares the kick he gets out the universally common misspelling of his name (think “Dermont” on a Starbucks cup).

“That is so fun for me because it’s happened to me my whole life,” he says.

Still, he enters the world of social media carefully, and treads lightly, as online life can sometimes do bad things to our offline attention spans.

The solution?

“We have to re-expand our attention spans,” he says. “That’s why the four-five-six-month learning process on Mack & Mabel has been incredibly good for my brain.”

Find out more about Mack & Mabel here.

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: February 12, 2024.

Photo #1 © 2018 Robby Klein/Contour by Getty Images. Courtesy of Ken Werther PR. All rights reserved.

Photos #2 & 3 © 2024. Courtesy of Ken Werther PR. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

NXCRE and the Villains

Take Us Down to Dabbington City

by Natalie Orozco

We're sitting in an outdoor lounge area at The Broadway in Brooklyn, the band just wrapped up sound check and the anticipation is real. NYC based alternative band NXCRE and the Villains has been getting steady buzz since the release of their singles “Indigo” and “Usurper” earlier this year. Since then the band's nostalgic sound has been getting bigger, with their recent release “Dabbington City” it's clear they're just getting started. We were lucky enough to sit down with the band and discuss inspirations, their upcoming album Fean is War and more.

Can you share the name of your band and each member's respective roles within the group?

NXCRE: The Villains is a name that one of my boys named Mizzy coined for us back in the day. I was making a collective of dope people to collaborate with. At the time my boy Mizzy was just like, “Man, you’re all moving like the villains out here!” I’m just like, I like that! It's a whole group of people who we just rocked with. We just called ourselves The Villains. When I found my band, I just wanted to keep it The Villains and stick with that. In regard to the respective roles of each member, I'll let them say that one.

Loyalty: I'm Loyalty, better known as Shemari Fener. I play the drums and I basically help coordinate the song structure and give advice. I just practice, and yeah, that's it…

Jay Sambuco: My name is Jay Sambuco spelled J. A. Y. Last name Sambuco S.a.m.b.u.c.o. Similar to the liquor brand, it's an Italian coffee liquor. Or sambucas like cough syrup, you know what I'm saying. Anyways, I play guitar in the villains. I write riffs. I help with the arranging; I help come up with the stuff. The Villains, it's my life, I love it. It's what we do. And yeah, time for Coqui.

Coqui: Yo, what's good? I'm Coqui and I play bass in The Villains.

How would you describe the evolution of your sound and what influences have played a significant role in shaping your musical style?

NXCRE: Through my journey as an artist, I've experimented heavily with all types of sounds, trying to find what truly resonates with me. I'm a big fan of music varying from all genres, so it was very easy for me to find inspiration from multiple sources. Whether it's Jeff Buckley, Chris Stapleton, Michael Jackson, Frank Ocean, the Weeknd, Drake – it doesn't matter where it's from as long as it's great music. I always find some joy and inspiration from the sounds. It allows me to really pursue forward with my motivations. When I founded the band and we continued on creating, it felt like an evolution to the sound that I was creating earlier on in my days. Now it's heavier, it's fuller, it just fits so well. The way that the songs have been resonating with the people, it's a testament to that.

Loyalty: Basically, I started playing drums at a church. I was really inspired by this drummer named Shariq Tucker. I was influenced by the gospel genre at first and then I grew a passion for rock music as well, so I started practicing that. Luckily enough, it was a blessing that we all became a band of Villains because we have a unique touch in the rock scene right now. It's a blessing.

Jay Sambuco: My biggest influence when it comes to my guitar playing and style, first and foremost, has to be my first real guitar teacher, Jason Hagen. He was my guy! He put me on to everything. My first OG guitar teacher taught me how to play some Led Zeppelin tunes, but Jason Hagen taught me literally everything. In terms of actual artists, I would say Zakk Wylde, Jason Becker, and then like bands I love – Deafheaven, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osborne, Metallica, Megadeth, all those bands. I'm really into the classics. That's what shaped me as the guitar player that I am right now. I've also been blessed enough to be able to study at Berklee (College of Music). That's been shaping my sound as well.

Coqui: I was influenced musically a lot by, I guess, like…

Jay Sambuco: Your high school teacher!

Coqui: Yeah! There was a high school teacher. I was too poor to go on this trip and he was supervising all the kids who were too poor to go on the trip. He showed me a bunch of bands like Sonic Youth, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Bad Brains and L7 and all sorts of grungy underground acts and alternative shit that I like clenched onto for dear hell. They have influenced me to this day.

Would you like to mention any names?

Coqui: Mr. E, I don't remember his full last name. Mr. E, though, from MS 447. If you ever end up hearing this somewhere or another, hit me up, bro.

Can you share some insights into your songwriting process? How do you collaborate as a band? What themes or experiences inspire your lyrics?

NXCRE: First and foremost, everything starts in a studio. Whether it's a rehearsal studio, a recording studio, at the end of the day, it's a room where we all get together. We start laying down our ideas, our foundations, our influences, everything that shapes us into who we are today. After that, one of our major, major, major, major assets is our engineer, Steve Kay. Steve was the first ever engineer that I've ever recorded with, and he still records with me today. I trust that man with my life, That man understands my sound from ins and outs. I always call him the 40 to my Drake. He's been so, so impactful in my life. He's been there for us throughout this journey and helping us achieve the sound that we're creating right now. So, big shout outs to Steve, man. None of this is possible without him. Also shout out to Frank. I know Loyalty you have some stuff to say about Frank.

Loyalty: Yeah, shout out to Frank. He definitely helped me through recording the drums and giving me some tips and some fill ideas. He led me into the right direction [for] making some remarkable songs.

NXCRE: Frank, by the way, is our tracking drum engineer.

Jay Sambuco: The songwriting goes a lot like… either NXCRE or me would play a riff, or NXCRE will show a demo and then we'll build off of it and just expand. That's usually how it goes. One of us has something and we just build off of that. Then we get in the studio, Steve brushes it up, and we make it beautiful. Steve really is like butter to the bread… if that makes sense.

Coqui: We make lit shit for lit people who like to get lit, and that's it.

Live performances are a significant aspect of a rock band's identity. How do you guys engage with the audience during shows? What do you believe sets your live performances apart from other bands within the scene that you're in, or scenes that you guys are looking to get into?

NXCRE: Oh yeah, the live audience. The little fans up in the front. Let me tell you something about "Feans," My "Feans." Yes, indeed. When you come to the show, prepare to be a part of the show. You're not just there standing, twiddling your thumbs, looking at your phones. No. You're in the pits. You're in the entire moment. Just know that when it comes to a Villain show, you are equally as important to the show as we are performing. You are part of the performance. You are part of the overall theatrics of the whole night. I can't thank you all enough for coming along and supporting us as much as you have and giving us your energy. It really feeds us and allows us to do what we're able to do.

Jay Sambuco: The biggest thing with playing live is honestly just getting up on stage and realizing it's not that serious, you know? No one's going to realize if you make a little mistake. No one's going to realize if we play the song for an extra 10 seconds. At the end of the day, the crowd's going to love that extra 10 seconds, you know what I mean? Just go up on stage and just give it all. Play through whatever mistakes or mishaps happen, because with a live performance it's never going to be the same for each performance. Every single performance might have one little tweak. One little thing. Sometimes the mistakes, that's where the magic happens. Sometimes the mistakes, that's where beauty occurs. That's where we really find our true colors. Playing on stage, just playing live in a room, it's like this feeling where you're all taking a sip out of a milkshake together. I don't know how to describe it. It's like you're all connected with each other in a weird way. I don't know how to say it. You really have to be a musician to understand what I mean. It's like you're one with your boys.

Coqui: I feel like what differentiates us from your average band you'll catch is just there's an energy to being locked in and also just having fun. Like that combination of being able to take a set and not just focus on, "Oh, am I going to fuck up this part?" There's a huge part of it that's like, "How are you going to entertain your audience?" "How are you going to keep them engaged?" Individually, we all bring an energy that makes us thrive. We are able to engage audiences in that way. Also in large part, there's NXCRE's frontman-ship that is a very large thriving force to the way that audiences engage with us as well. Individually, you'll catch us always between sets and shit. We talk to everybody. We just be meeting heads. We love to meet people. We love anybody who enjoys our shit, anyone who doesn't enjoy our shit. We love to meet people. We love to make connections. I feel like that's what connects us to other people. We're not just going to play a set and be like, we're the shit, and not talk to you. We love to engage with our people, and that's some real shit. Jay has something else to say.

Jay Sambuco: We're all about community, bringing people together. That's what really defines us. We want to bring New York together; we want to bring the USA together. We want to unite people because that's what is important and that's what's missing in society.

Loyalty: As a drummer, I like to play a part of the song. The song already sets the crowd in a certain mood that is unique because like NXCRE said, we like to engage the audience where they feel a part of the band. We want to grow a community like Jay said, so I think that's how we do it.

Each single and each EP or album you guys put out represents a chapter in a band's journey. Could you discuss the creative direction of your latest single and how it reflects the current state of the band?

NXCRE: I would say everything is evolving, whether it's the quality of the music videos or the quality of the records. You're watching a band evolve in real time. It's something special because usually you wake up and all of a sudden, this band is already the biggest thing in the world. But a lot of people are discovering us before we're there yet. It's something that you can really latch on to and feel connected to because, hey, you may come to the show and there's 100 people in a room, all connected to the same thing that you fell in love with. Definitely take this for what it is and enjoy every moment of it because this is moving fast. We're just going to keep it going. I would say right now we're definitely planning an album. “Dabbington City” was our third single off of Fean is War. Fean is War is the encompassing album. "Indigo" and "Usurper" have been singles from that. We're preparing to release the rest of the album very soon. I've been very big on having visualizers for each song, a music video to really encompass what the song represents, how it feels, the emotions that it gives off to people. So, you can see the growth and the evolution in real time, again, whether it's the visuals, you'll see a quality in the visuals that's like, "oh wow, now they got a bit more." It's special to see because you're watching a band grow in real time.

Jay Sambuco: On some real talk, when it comes to the creative process and coming up with songs and stuff, there's no real process. We just kind of make it up as we go. Basically, I don't know how to say this, but it's like, we're all some young guys. We're still figuring out our lives. We have such a special opportunity to make something big. It's amazing that we've been able to find each other because we're all determined to do that. We all want to make it. We all want to be known. We all want to be seen; you know what I mean? It's about taking what we don't know, and then mixing it with what we do know. Just showing people what we can create with the knowledge that we have. Learning with the knowledge that we have, because you grow the most by focusing on your strengths, not by focusing on your weaknesses. If you focus too much on what you're bad at, then you're only going to think about what you're bad at. You're only going to be like, "Damn, I suck at algebra even though I keep practicing it. I still suck, but I'm really great at geometry." Like, you're great at geometry, bro! Keep focusing on geometry. You could be a geometry wizard. Do you know what I mean? It's about taking what you know and going at it. I've always loved rock and metal, so that's what I do on guitar. If I go to a jazz school, they try and teach me jazz. I'll learn some of it, but for the most part, I'm like, "Teach me some Led Zeppelin." Teach me some real shit that I could use because that's my strength. I'm really glad that I've been able to find people who work with my strength.

Coqui: I feel like with “Indigo” – that was that was the first single – that was sort of like let's test the waters real quick, let's see how this shit do, let's see like what we can do Very quickly there is an overwhelming response to the sound that we've manifested through those strengths that Jay has pointed out. We're bringing this vibe that's nostalgic but very new. It's just scratching two different itches at once. For me personally, I never played anything like it. I’ve played in countless bands before, fronted bands before. Initially it came as a bit of a curveball to be playing all metal. At this point with the release of "Dabbington City,” I feel like we're rounding out this sound. You get that really heavy grungy alternative metal sound with "Usurper." Then you get that nice smooth ballad metal vibe with "Indigo." Then with "Dabbington City" we're hitting you all with some classic fucking rock. Just some classic fucking rock. We're not ashamed of it because we're showing you all that we can take what it is that we do to all of our strengths. Not just utilize them to do one thing but to do anything that we want. The way that we make these things, it's not like we're incubating on some songs for fucking months. We're making these shits on the spot, basically. We're refining them. We're practicing them. Then we're hitting the studio and you're seeing this shit happen in real time. This shit is no bullshit, bro.

Loyalty: Weall basically decided to leverage our skills and take advantage of it and create a sound that's able to cut the market in a unique way. It's a blessing because we all have a passion for music, and we all want to inspire people. Nowadays, I feel like the rock scene is being neglected. It's a blessing that we have an opportunity to inspire other people, even musicians themselves, you know? If you work on your talent and you believe in your talent, if you just keep going, there's a way you can make miracles happen.

I know we briefly mentioned an album is in the works. What are you guys looking to bring to the table on this album individually and as a band?

NXCRE: I think Fean is War is going to do great in it showcasing how extraordinary individual abilities can come together and create unique moments of art that encompass time. With this album, I just want to make sure that I'm able to speak as much of my truth as possible, as much as my reality, my feelings on this project without having to limit what I want to say due to different types of instrumentals. With "Usurper," "Indigo," "Dabbington City," these are all moments and lyrics for me that I truly feel. It's just more of that in a sense. I definitely want to make a statement. I'm also a big believer in competition. To be fair, I feel like if you're going to go into something you better go into it with the idea that you're going to be the best – or else like why go into it? I definitely want to make a statement with Fean is War. I want to show the world this sound that's being made right out of the backyards of New York, right in the cities and in the dumps and the slumps, whatever you want to call it. It's true to us. It's the best that we could give you at that time. As the next one comes out, we're going to go even harder.

Jay Sambuco: When it comes to Fean is War, me being the guitar player, I want to showcase my guitar playing, my musicianship and whatnot. Regardless of that, I think the main thing with this album is we're really just here to show people; we're just a band, we've met randomly, we're all basically four strangers, we all met in separate places and we were able to come together." Because nobody like walks into a room and says, “what up?” to the person next to them anymore, you know what I mean? That's something that's been lost in our society through social media and all this other crap. No one wants to just say, "what up?" to another. I was lucky enough to walk into a room with NXCRE who was like, "Yo, you play guitar? You should come jam with me and Loyalty." I really just want this album to show that you can make stuff happen with a random person that you just met. All it takes is just saying, "Hey, let's get in a room together and just hang out. We'll just see what happens." Because at the end of the day, we’re four different people from four totally different backgrounds, and we've been able to just come together and create something beautiful. So yeah, I think this album will be a statement to just show that, alright, no matter what, you can make anything happen.

Coqui: So this album... I'm telling you... I'm telling YOU!...

Jay Sambuco: Is dedicated to the haters!

Coqui: ... It's dedicated to everybody. The haters. The lovers. Whoever you may be. It doesn’t matter. We're just going to come together. We're going to make music. We're going to drop that shit. It doesn't really matter what happens because we're having fun, a good time, a grand old time. We just hope you enjoy it. Personally, what I'm trying to bring to the table is doing anything I do the best that I can do. That's the only way that I will do what it is that we do together. Yeah, I don't know, maybe a Teezo Touchdown feature? Or Jaleel, hit us up, our DMs are open. Let me know. Let NXCRE know. Let anybody know. All our lines are open.

Right? Everybody's down for that.

NXCRE: I'm just a fan! I'm just a fan!

Loyalty: Basically dedication and inspiration, that's the principles that I set for myself towards the band. Now for the album, the same thing, inspiration, dedication, showing that our passion can reach through people through music. If you work hard enough, it will project a message to other people that says this kid looks like he's really serious, I could work with this person and stuff like that. I hope that makes sense towards the album that you guys are going to listen to soon. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Copyright ©2023 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: November 30, 2023.

Photos by Thomas Gracia © 2023. All rights reserved.

[popentertainment-interviews]

Phil Traill, Kevin Kopelow & Heath Seifert

Serve Up 90s Nostalgia With Good Burger 2

By Kayla Marra

The 90s were a time of iconic fashion trends, formative moments in pop culture history, unforgettable music, and timeless sitcoms. One of the most memorable films to stem from this era is Good Burger – starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. Though the movie was released nearly 27 years ago, it is still a cultural phenomenon. 

Director Phil Traill, alongside writers Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert, joined forces again in 2023 to bring back everyone’s favorite fast-food coworkers in an all-new feature film: Good Burger 2. The sequel includes an incredible cast, comprised of Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Lil Rel Howery, Jillian Bell, Kamaia Fairburn, Alex R. Hibbert, Fabrizio Guido, Elizabeth Hinkler, Emily Hinkler, Anabel Graetz, Josh Server, Lori Beth Denberg, and Carmen Electra. 

We were lucky enough to chat with Phil Traill, Kevin Kopelow, Heath Seifert in a virtual press conference about the newly released sequel. 

On the inspiration behind reviving the iconic 90s story as a sequel 26 years later:

Heath Seifert: Good Burger is a project that is near and dear to our hearts. We did the original 27 years ago, and we worked with Kenan and Kel starting All That 30 years ago. That’s when we did the first sketches. We’ve always been thinking Good Burger. It’s always at the front of our brains. When the time was right, we had a story that felt really relevant to tell now about technology and evil corporations trying to exploit workers. It felt like the right time to tell that tale, and everybody involved with the original film looks back on it fondly and wanting to do it again and wanting to do it right. So, it was really just a matter of getting everybody’s schedules to line up.

Phil Traill: (laughs)I just wanted some money!

Heath Seifert: Other people did it for the money. It’s a paycheck.

On handling the continuity and coherence of a film’s narrative years after its initial release:

Kevin Kopelow: We had written a lot of “Good Burger” sketches on All That, so we always had this voice down. Then we rebooted it, did the sketches again and it was just natural. It’s always in our heads, we’re always thinking Good Burger bits and, “Oh, you know what would be funny in Good Burger?” and we got to do it! It wasn’t too difficult to get back into it. 

On if Good Burger 2 is a continuation of Good Burger or the sequel was created from a different angle: 

Heath Seifert: I think we looked at the first film as a template of what we enjoyed and what worked. I love what Phil likes to say, “Then we emulate and elevate.” We kind of took that blueprint and tried to build a bigger burger, so to speak.

On if there was a moment on set that encapsulated the experience of making the film:

Phil Traill: When Kenan and Kel got into the burger mobile for the first time and drove out onto the real street, and people just stopped, screaming. It was slightly annoying because we were trying to film! Everyone just seemed so happy to be there – from Kenan and Kel in the burger mobile, in their outfits, and then us filming it, and then all the people lining the streets. It was just people smiling. 

Kevin Kopelow: The people that knew who they were, were so excited and the people that didn’t we’re going, “Woah, who are these two guys riding around in a burger?!” That’s the movie in a nutshell.

Phil Traill: I heard lots of dads telling their kids, “You’ve never seen it! We have to go home and watch it straight away!” They were explaining the world of it so quickly if the kids hadn’t seen it before. They’re going to be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade driving the burger mobile – Kenan and Kel! 

Kevin Kopelow: No one knows they’re doing it; they’re just driving. (laughs)

On what it was like seeing the film in its entirety after putting years of work into it: 

Phil Traill: I’ve seen it a lot. Each time’s a joy. We actually have our premier tonight. I’m really happy and satisfied because when we set it up to make a film, you don’t completely know what you’ll end up with. The target is quite small to hit for nostalgic fans, new fans, young people, old people. It’s quite a small target. It seems to hit that, so I’m really pleased that it seems to be hitting that target. I’m really happy each time we show it to people. 

Heath Seifert: Phil did an amazing job. It’s really fun to watch it. It’s really exciting to see it. I think people are going to be really happy.   

Copyright ©2023 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 1, 2023.

Photos 1-2 © 2023 Catherine Powell/Getty Images. Courtesy of Paramount+. All rights reserved.

Photo 3 © 2023 Vanessa Clifton/Nickelodeon/Paramount+. Courtesy of Paramount+. All rights reserved.