Steve Pond's Blog, page 2049
December 4, 2019
Trevor Noah Loves How NATO Leaders Who Mocked Trump Are ‘Gossipy Bitches Just Like the Rest of Us’ (Video)
Like a lot of people, Trevor Noah found the news that several world leaders were caught on camera mocking Donald Trump behind his back absolutely hilarious. Particularly because of how relatable the whole thing seemed to him.
“That video’s amazing for two reasons: One, it is crazy that we were able to hear a private conversation between major world leaders, did they not know this was happening?; and two, that when world leaders get together they are gossipy bitches just like the rest of us,” Noah joked on Wednesday’s “The Daily Show.”
For those catching up, Trump traveled to England on Monday night to attend the latest NATO conference where he expected to brag about his dubious accomplishments. Unfortunately, late Tuesday night, grainy cell phone video taken from a reception earlier in the day at Buckingham Palace appeared to show Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and French President Emmanuel Macron privately making fun of Trump.
Also Read: Constitutional Scholars Say Trump Committed Impeachable Offenses
“I thought after meetings with Trump, world leaders would be like ‘OK, we need to go back and draw up a new treaty.’ Instead,” Noah said about the matter, “they’re out here like ‘what was he wearing?’ And the French guy is like ‘OK so he can’t speak English? I mean I don’t speak English but he really can’t speak English.’ It turns out NATO is so catty they should get Andy Cohen to host it.”
Noah then turned to Trump’s reaction to the whole thing. On Wednesday, when asked about the whole thing during a joint appearance with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump said about Trudeau “well, he’s two-faced” in an unmistakably dejected tone. Shortly after, POTUS abruptly canceled a scheduled press conference and returned to the US ahead of schedule.
“To be fair, Justin Trudeau is two-faced. He’s got a white one and a brown one,” Noah joked, referring to Trudeau’s history of wearing racist costumes. “As for Trump going home early, guys, I think they hurt his feelings. It’s like Trump was at a sleepover, and all the other kids turned on him.”
Also Read: House Intelligence Committee Releases Trump Impeachment Report
But Noah had some surprisingly kind words for Trump, sort of: “To be honest, I don’t blame the Donald for flying home early. Mr. President, you shouldn’t be in a place where people are gonna laugh at you behind your back. You get on Air Force One and you fly straight back home, where we promise that we will laugh at you to your face.”
Watch the clip below:
Turns out world leaders are just like us: catty, gossipy bitches. pic.twitter.com/QjBau53yjE
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) December 5, 2019
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Colbert Catches Up on Impeachment Drama and Imagines Weird Hypothetical Trump Crimes (Video)
Stephen Colbert and “The Late Show” returned Wednesday from an extended Thanksgiving vacation, and at the start of the show Colbert caught the audience up on the latest impeachment-related happenings — and also imagined some weird hypothetical Trump criminality.
Earlier in the day, the House Judiciary Committee held its first hearing in the ongoing impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump. And in one of the day’s most notable moments, UNC professor Michael Gerhardt testified about Trump’s conduct that “If what we’re talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable.”
Colbert rolled a clip of Gerhardt’s statement, after which he slipped into his Trump impression. “Thank God, ’cause I can’t wait to tell you everything else that I’ve done,” Colbert-Trump said. “I’ll give you a hint, alright? This will whet your appetite. It involves ‘Shark Week,’ a weed whacker, and all the left-handed people of Denmark.”
Also Read: Constitutional Scholars Say Trump Committed Impeachable Offenses
Also on Wednesday, the House Intelligence Committee released its report that will serve as the basis for any articles of impeachment the Judiciary Committee writes. Colbert noted that even before that, the GOP issued its own report that insisted Trump did nothing wrong when he withheld aid from Ukraine in order to pressure the country’s president into investigating his political opponents, because “Trump was acting on ‘genuine and reasonable’ skepticism of Ukraine.”
“Yes, because the two words everyone uses to describe Donald Trump are ‘genuine and reasonable,'” Colbert joked. “Right after ‘athletic’ and ‘monogamous.'”
Watch the clip below:
TONIGHT: We're back with brand new shows and Congress is back with more impeachment hearings! #LSSC pic.twitter.com/tMvad4UzWf
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) December 5, 2019
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Altruistic Camgirls, Dancing Veterans, Looney Tunes and More at TheWrap’s Short Film Showcase
The directors of an eclectic array of six short films gathered at The Landmark in Los Angeles on Tuesday for TheWrap and Shorts.TV’s Short Film Showcase, where the filmmakers discussed their inspirations and the challenges behind their work.
For some of them, their shorts came from a very personal place. Bonnie-Kathleen Ryan wrote the script for her film “Real.Live.Girl” while she was working at the rooftop watering hole Skybar while taking care of her family. From that experience, she wrote a story about a camgirl who shows herself off online to support her Alzheimer’s-stricken father.
“I knew about the dichotomy of going out to work and being objectified and then going home to a family that I loved but didn’t know about the person that I was out in the world,” she said.
Also Read: How Hollywood's Streaming Era Has Changed the Game for Short Films
Family was also a drive for Jeremy Merrifield, a longtime Broadway production designer and director who wanted to make a short film for his 12-year-old nephew that could serve as a lesson about growing up in a world that expects men to behave in a certain way. The result was “Balloon,” a film about a junior high school student whose attempts to stay under the radar and avoid bullies are derailed when he gets superpowers.
“We hear so much about these school shootings and every time, the shooting is done by a boy,” he noted. “The way we raise so many boys in our society, they end up being bullied into becoming ‘stronger,’ and then we all are shocked when they become bullies. Doing this film helped me examine what my nephew was facing and in doing so helped me reexamine what I went through growing up.”
And some just did it for the sheer passion of filmmaking. Such was the case for Pete Browngardt, who directed the Looney Tunes cartoon “Curse of the Monkeybird.” In it, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig go on an expedition in a cursed temple, and for Browngardt, it was a chance to add his take on the two iconic characters to those of decades worth of animators who came before him.
Also Read: ShortList 2019 Filmmakers Share Their Biggest Challenges and Inspirations (Video)
“It was kind of like working with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin or Abbott & Costello in that they are these iconic archetypes. I wanted to pay homage to the classic Looney Tunes cartoons without directly copying them, especially when it comes to Daffy. I was inspired more by the silly, loony Daffy of the 30s and early 40s rather than the greedy Daffy from later on.”
Chris McCaleb created a more adult comedy with “15 Minutes at 400 Degrees,” about a widowed company owner who spends his days chatting with a camgirl who keeps him company online while he cooks his dead wife’s recipes. But his night is turned on its head when he is attacked by a desperate single father he fired a year ago, who in his anger has now plotted a revenge plan to raid his former boss’ house.
“It’s a story about desperation. Desperation for human contact and desperation for money,” McCaleb said. “One of the challenges was filming a story where one of the characters is not physically in the room and another who cannot move. We had a room for the camgirl scenes upstairs and the rest of us were downstairs. We shot it all live over the course of three nights, which happened to be the shortest nights of the year, shooting from 8:30 PM to 5 in the morning.”
Also Read: 'Avengers: Endgame' and '1917' Among 20 Films to Advance in Oscars VFX Race
Asher Jelinsky had a different personal challenge when finding the right place to film the short “Miller & Son,” a film about a trans woman who runs her family’s auto repair shop by day and expresses her femininity at night.” Jelinsky, who identifies as gender non-binary, was confined to the Los Angeles area to find an auto shop that looked like it came from a rural setting, and to their surprise found one in Santa Clarita run by a trans woman.
“The stars sort of aligned in that moment,” Jelinsky said. “The owner became our mechanic consultant and she was a big help because I didn’t know much about car repair so she helped with a lot of the detail of those scenes.”
The importance of finding a way to express oneself was also at the core of the showcase’s documentary, “Exit 12,” Mohammad Gorjestani’s exploration of a New York based dance company founded by a military veteran who fought in Fallujah during the Iraq War. The company was created to help veterans express their trauma and frustration with war through dance, and the film also highlights its work to make the country a better place.
“I’ve seen people wear shirts that say ‘If you don’t like how we do things here, I’ll help you pack,’ and I’ve wondered why people who have a more progressive vision of American ideals are the ones viewed as outsiders,” Gorjestani said. “So it was really important to make this documentary about a group of veterans who aren’t happy with what is happening with America, who are questioning why they fought in Iraq and need to find a way to cope with what they saw as soldiers.”
The panel followed a screening of the shorts introduced by Linda Olszewski, vice president of global acquisitions for Shorts.TV, which sponsored the showcase with TheWrap.
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How Hollywood's Streaming Era Has Changed the Game for Short Films
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The Scene at TheWrap’s Oscar Contenders Showcase for Best Short Films (Photos)
Guests at TheWrap’s Oscar Contenders Showcase for Best Short Films panel was moderated by TheWrap’s award editor Steve Pond and included “15 Minutes at 400 Degrees” director Chris McCaleb, “Real.Live.Girl” director Bonnie-Kathleen Ryan, “Balloon” director Jeremy Merrifield, “Miller & Son” director Asher Jelinsky, “Curse of the Monkeybird – A Looney Tunes Cartoon” director Pete Browngardt and “Exit 12” director Mohammad Gorjestani.
The Butterfly Hopes Jesus Forgives Her for Having to Lie About Being on ‘The Masked Singer’
(Warning: This post contains spoilers from tonight’s episode of “The Masked Singer.”)
Michelle Williams is the latest celebrity to be cut from “The Masked Singer,” meaning that she can finally end her months-long lie to friends, family and fans about her participation with Fox’s wacky singing competition. And the singer hopes that Jesus can forgive her for this trespass.
The Destiny’s Child alum tells TheWrap that she truly doesn’t “know how to lie,” but was forced to in order to keep her big “Masked Singer” secret until she was unmasked as The Butterfly on Wednesday’s episode.
“As a person of faith, you’re not supposed to lie. And I was like, ‘Jesus, I’ve been lying since September and I hope you’ve forgiven me for that, because that’s a good bulk of lying,'” she said.
“I think so, I pray. I hope I’m forgiven. It was for a good cause,” she added, with a laugh. “No one’s life was compromised by this, so I think I’m forgiven.”
Williams’ faith is closely tied with her career, as a lot of her music falls in the gospel genre. She used this to her advantage by choosing songs like Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer,” Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why,” and “Bang Bang” by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj for her “Masked Singer” performances, in order to keep her voice hidden from “mainstream audiences.”
But, had she continued, Williams says she would have enjoyed performing a song from her days as a trio with Beyonce and Kelly Rowland.
Also Read: Ratings: 'The Masked Singer' Recovers From CMAs Week - But Not Enough to Hold Off NBC
“I would have loved to have done a Destiny’s Child song because I think that would have thrown them off, thinking, ‘She definitely wouldn’t be singing one of her own songs. That’s corny,'” she said. “But I think my voice, something about my higher register, kind of gave me away. But I hope whoever does this next season, I hope somebody does sing a Destiny’s Child song.”
Additionally, Williams says she “definitely” wanted to perform one of her “sister” Beyonce’s solo tracks as a fun wink to her good friend, who is actually one of the reasons she’s gotten good at keeping a surprise.
“Listen, I am associated with one of the secret queens herself, Mrs. Beyonce Knowles-Carter,” Williams said. “You know, Destiny’s Child pops up at all these shows. So I’ve kind of perfected how to not tell people that I’m performing. I know that before we did Coachella [in 2018], I didn’t even tell my immediate family. Nobody knew. Until they watched it that night, they didn’t know. Nobody knew.”
“The Masked Singer” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Fox.
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‘The Masked Singer’ Unveils Another Celebrity Masked Singer: And The Butterfly Is… (Video)
(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Wednesday’s episode of “The Masked Singer.”)
Fox’s “The Masked Singer” revealed the identity of another Season 2 celebrity contestant during tonight’s episode of the smash-hit singing competition: The Butterfly.
On Wednesday, four out of the seven remaining second-season competitors performed, including The Butterfly, Thingamajig, The Fox and The Tree.
At the end of the episode, panelists Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke and the studio audience, along with returning guest panelist Joel McHale, chose the “weakest” contestant, which ended up being The Butterfly. She was unmasked and revealed to be none other than singer Michelle Williams.
Also Read: 'The Masked Singer' Reveals Another Celebrity Masked Singer: And The Flower Is... (Video)
Watch video of the reveal above and read our interview with Williams about her time on “The Masked Singer” here.
Now we’re waiting to find out the identities of the six remaining contestants, including The Leopard, The Flamingo, The Rottweiler, Thingamajig, The Fox and The Tree.
“Collectively, all of the Season 2 undercover celebrities have amassed 69 Emmy Award nominations, 42 Grammy Award nominations, 22 Broadway shows, three New York Times best-sellers and two have been named Time magazine’s Most Influential People,” according to Fox.
Also Read: Ratings: 'The Masked Singer' Recovers From CMAs Week - But Not Enough to Hold Off NBC
“The Masked Singer” will get a double helping of the competition next week, when one episode airs on a special night on Tuesday at 8/7c, followed by the holiday-themed semifinals episode in the usual 8 p.m. Wednesday slot.
“The Masked Singer” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Fox.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Ratings: 'The Masked Singer' Recovers From CMAs Week – But Not Enough to Hold Off NBC
'The Masked Singer' Reveals Another Celebrity Masked Singer: And The Flower Is… (Video)
Can the Newsweek Reporter Fired Over Inaccurate Trump Story Sue For Wrongful Termination?
Newsweek fired reporter Jessica Kwong last week for writing an inaccurate story about Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving plans. Kwong reported that the president would spend the holiday “tweeting, golfing, and more.” In reality, Trump made a surprise trip to visit troops in Afghanistan. He ridiculed the story by tweeting, “I thought Newsweek was out of business.”
Can Kwong sue the publisher for wrongful termination? Two New York-based employment lawyers spoke to TheWrap about whether or not Kwong has a case. Both agreed she doesn’t.
Emre Polat, an employment lawyer in New York, says it’s not a case of wrongful termination since Newsweek was — as far as he can tell — taking accountability in its own way by firing an employee in an at-will state where it’s legal to fire someone for any reason besides discrimination.
Also Read: Trump Re-Election Campaign Bans Bloomberg News Reporters From Rallies, Events
“Newsweek has a viable defense, I think, as to why they terminated her because this thing is out there and they may have jumped the gun on the story and done inaccurate reporting,” Polat said. “So they are taking measures, basically, to remedy that,” he added.
Maya Risman, another New York-based attorney, agreed. “I don’t see any legal case stemming from the termination. A newspaper can terminate a reporter for getting a story wrong. Certainly, that has happened multiple times in the past to reporters. There are various reasons why an employee can have an action against their employer, but that is not one of them.”
Kwong did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment on her firing, but she told the Washington Examiner over the weekend that the story was assigned to her in advance of Trump’s surprise trip and she reached out to the editor on duty on Thanksgiving to relay news of the trip. According to what Kwong told the Examiner, that editor chose to assign the story of the trip to a different reporter and didn’t update Kwong’s piece “in a timely manner.” A new headline and subsequent updates to the article came hours later. Newsweek demoted the editor involved.
Also Read: Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Troll Each Other After She Exits Presidential Race
While Kwong doesn’t seem to have any legal options, her firing is a cautionary tale for all newsrooms.
“I don’t know enough of the specifics to comment precisely, but it seems unfathomable to me that an editor (who is in charge no matter what) wouldn’t be the person to first own up to it and take responsibility for it, and let their writer flail in the wind and be attacked like that,” a politics editor at a national news site, who did not want to be identified, told TheWrap. “As an editor, even if your writer is the one who messed up, it’s your job to take responsibility.”
“The editor should have updated,” agreed Carl Coulanges, a professor of radio and television in New York. “Not doing so cost someone a job. The question is, ‘Was it worth it?'”
One Newsweek source pointed out to TheWrap that there is some “irony” in Trump’s response to Kwong’s story: “Did he or did he not spend his Thanksgiving tweeting?” asked the source, who also noted they weren’t “surprised” to see editors “covering their own mistake” with the firing.
Also Read: Robert Redford Calls Trump Presidency 'Monarchy in Disguise'
As of Wednesday, there was no further comment from Newsweek on the fallout from the publication of the piece.
“It’s a high paced, stressful job and as much as we don’t like to admit it we make mistakes,” said the politics editor at a national news site, “but I can’t imagine having that happen to a reporter and not publicly stepping up and saying, ‘Hey, this is on me.’ I mean, has the editor even been named yet?”
Newsweek has not named the demoted editor or any editorial staff beyond Kwong who may have been involved.
Lawrence Yee contributed to this report.
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Sorry, Oscar Voters: Here’s All the Swag They’re Not Allowed to Send You
At a party at Musso & Frank’s to celebrate the home video release of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” on Monday night – which is to say, a party that was designed to drum up awards votes more than to promote DVDs or Blu-Rays – a fellow voter for critics’ awards plopped his plate next to mine, introduced himself and struck up a conversation. Almost the first thing out of his mouth was, “So, what do you do with all that stuff we’re getting in the mail?”
I knew exactly what he was talking about. This is always the time of year when DVD screeners are accompanied by various packages of swag – but this year, the stream of goodies arriving at the door seems particularly heavy.
The funny thing is, the goal of every studio and every campaigner this time of year is Oscar nominations, then Oscar wins – but Academy members are the one group of voters to which you’re forbidden from sending any promotional items. So the approach is a roundabout one: If somebody sends me something cool and gets my vote for the Critics’ Choice Awards, then maybe that movie gets a nomination, and maybe a few more Oscar voters notice it.
Also Read: Watch Out, Oscars - '1917' Is Here, and It's the Real Deal
And at this point, I feel compelled to point out that I’m not implying you can get my vote by sending me something cool. You can get my vote by making a great movie. Sending me stuff, cool or not, mostly makes me wonder where I’m gonna put it.
Which I’m now wondering about the two packages that arrived while I was writing that last paragraph. Both were from Netflix, which is particularly, um, generous this time of year. One contained a bright red pair of bedroom slippers – papal red, you might say, since they say “The Two Popes” on them. The other is a very plush, cream-colored blanket, with a discreet leather patch in one corner that reads, “Marriage Story.’ A Noah Baumbach film.”
Anyway, for the benefit of Academy members who don’t get this stuff, I thought I’d compile an inventory of what is stacking up in my living room and office at this moment – in other words, what I’ve received in the mail over the last couple of weeks.
- Red “Two Popes” bedroom slippers
– A “Marriage Story” blanket
– Two hardcover “Marriage Story” books, one devoted to Adam Driver’s character and one to Scarlett Johannson’s, in a cream colored slipcase
– A plush figure from “Missing Link”
– An eight-pound “The Irishman” coffee table book
– A bottle of Windsor Vineyards cabernet sauvignon from “The Irishman,” with “For Your Consideration Best Picture” on the label
– A package of Bottega Calocco panettone from “The Irishman”
– A hardbound screenplay to “The Irishman”
– A hardbound screenplay to “Marriage Story”
– A hardbound screenplay to “The Two Popes”
– A bottle of avocado oil, a jar of bourbon lemon marmalade and a trucker hat from “The Biggest Little Farm”
– A jar of peanut butter and a jar of bourbon figs with vanilla & smoked salt from “The Peanut Butter Falcon”
– A bottle of Ernie Els white wine from Charlize Theron, with a note promoting “Bombshell”
– A tin of tea from “Downton Abbey”
– LPs containing the music to “Us,” “Missing Link” and the documentary “5B”
– A 45rpm single containing part of Randy Newman’s score to “Marriage Story”
– A coffee table book about “Rocketman”
– A coffee table book about “Missing Link”
– A coffee table book about “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”
– A coffee table book about “The Black Godfather”
– A hardcover movie-companion book about “Little Women”
– A “Knives Out” box containing a flask, earbuds, a portable Go game and a tube of Advil
– A hardcover copy of “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson
– A signed page from the score to “The King” by composer Nicholas Britell
– A book of storyboards and screenplay to “The Peanut Butter Falcon”
– A book of storyboards and art from the Japanese animated film “Weathering With You”
– A box from “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” containing book by Mr. Rogers, a bottle of hand cream, a Pop! vinyl figure of Mr. Rogers, a Mr. Rogers-themed tie and a red sweater that I would say is Mr. Rogers-style except that it’s a woman’s sweater and it buttons instead of zips
– A package from A24 that contains “Waves” earbuds, “The Lighthouse” soap, a “Last Black Man in San Francisco” map, a little “The Farewell” plushie and a sheet of “Uncut Gems” wrapping paper
– A “Collectible Commemorative Lithograph” from “Frozen II”
– A black-and-white print, in an edition of 500, from “Toy Story 4”
– A denim jacket festooned with “Dolemite Is My Name” buttons
Also Read: 10 Things I'm Thankful for This Oscar Season, From a Shorter Timetable to Joe Pesci
I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I see at the moment. And I’m not including all softbound screenplays or the CDs or the screeners or the lavish promotional booklets.
But sorry, Academy members – you can’t have any of it.
Now, can we got back to “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” for a minute? I like the movie a lot, but what gives with the way the title is printed on its screeners?
In ads, it’s always been “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” But on the cover of the screener, that ellipses has somehow moved, and it’s “Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood.” Which is it, anyway?
I know which version makes sense thematically, and it’s the one where the ellipses comes after “Once Upon a Time.” What I don’t get is why those pesky dots have moved.
By the way, it’s illegal to send Oscar voters a different version of a film than the one that originally ran in theaters, which means that “OUATIH” screeners can’t contain the extra footage that has been added to the theatrical cut for its re-release.
But I guess it’s legal to send them a version where the film is the same but the title has been re-punctuated.
Also Read: Meet Julia Butters, the 10-Year-Old Scene Stealer From 'Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood'
This was the week when nominations and awards started coming fast and furious: The Annie Award nominations and the Gotham Award ceremony on Monday, the National Board of Review winners on Tuesday, the New York Film Critics Circle winners and AFI top 10 list on Wednesday. And we know what the big winners have been so far, with “The Irishman” winning NBR and NYCC and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and “1917” and “Marriage Story” showing up everywhere as well.
But what are the real messages those voters are sending? They’re not trying to make sure that the Academy notices Scorsese or Tarantino, but they may be trying to move the needle in other places.
NBR: In addition to the usual suspects, they made a case for “Dolemite Is My Name,” “Richard Jewell,” “Waves” and “Knives Out,” all of which were considered on the fringes of the awards conversation. And above all, by naming Adam Sandler best actor for “Uncut Gems” over the likes of, say, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joaquin Phoenix and Adam Driver, they made a big push to put him and that film on the awards map.
NYFCC: Their selection of Antonio Banderas as best actor for “Pain and Glory” was not as dramatic as NBR’s choice of Sandler, but it nonetheless made a statement on behalf of a beautifully quiet performance. They did the same thing by going with “The Irishman” costar Joe Pesci over his more flamboyant castmate Al Pacino. Their choice of Lupita Nyong’o as best actress for “Us” was even bolder, since the genre nature of Jordan Peele’s smart horror film could be a problem for her with some voters. And by going with non-English films for cinematography, first film, nonfiction film and animated film, they made a case for voters to look beyond the international category and beyond “Parasite.”
Also Read: New York Film Critics Circle Awards: 'The Irishman' Named Best Picture of 2019
AFI: Again, it wasn’t the obvious choices – “The Irishman,” “OUATIH,” “Marriage Story,” “1917,” “Jojo Rabbit” – that sent the message. It was “The Farewell,” which had been overlooked by some other voters, and “Joker,” which launched with a bang but hasn’t gotten much awards love, and “Knives Out,” which is slowly turning from a pleasing popcorn whodunnit to an actual awards movie.
So those are the messages for this week. Next week, it’ll be L.A. Film Critics, Golden Globes, SAG … and then, mercifully, a break.
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Chiwetel Ejiofor Says Directing ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ Changed His Approach to Acting
Chiwetel Ejiofor didn’t set out to make “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” his feature film directorial debut. Instead the decision came about gradually as he started to visualize how the story should look. But directing the film, Ejiofor says, changed how he approaches acting.
“Directing, and moving into that I think changes me as an actor, which I’ve started to notice — that I’m evolving as an actor in a slightly different way,” Ejiofor told TheWrap editor in chief Sharon Waxman following TheWrap’s Awards Screening Series.
“The sort of microscopic nature of looking at this film making all of these choices and really examining a film and breaking a film down and creating the film does inform the way that I look at character and the way that I look at physical production now and the idea of giving an editor choices and, or limiting choices if you want, but certainly thinking about that process much more whilst acting,” he continued.
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Ejiofor adapted the screenplay for “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” from the bestselling book by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and based on Kamkwamba’s real-life story. Now streaming on Netflix, the film follows 13-year-old William Kamkwamba (played by newcomer Maxwell Simba), who is thrown out of the school he loves when his family can no longer afford tuition. After sneaking back into the school library, he finds a way, using the bones of the bicycle belonging to his father Trywell (Ejiofor), to build a windmill in order to save his Malawian village from famine.
Ejiofor, who is of Nigerian descent, said that one of the reasons he was drawn to write and then direct the film was in order to show audiences an authentic representation of African life.
“When I was reading William Kamkwamba’s book, one of the things I really felt was just that real sense of the authentic representation of village life and African village life,” Ejiofor said. “There’s not a generic Africa, so Nigerian villages are different to Malawian villages, though, there are certain similarities. But I felt that actually trying to tell the story of William Kamkwamba and represent that village life on the screen as authentically as I could was something that was quite powerful because it was something that I hadn’t really seen represented in cinema quite as accurately as I would like.”
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For that reason the “12 Years a Slave” actor said it was important to him not to just shoot the film in Malawi, but in the actual village where Kamkwamba, who after the events depicted in the film would go on to attend Dartmouth and become an engineer, built the windmill.
The film delves into the social and political life of Malawi and Kamkwamba’s village, and while the film is somewhat critical of the Malawi government, Ejiofor said they were actually OK with the film and there weren’t really any issues during production.
Though some of Ejiofor’s more prominent roles have been in films that explore some aspect of African and, or African-American life, as well as the trauma — “12 Years a Slave” and “Amistad” — and that’s important, it doesn’t dictate the kinds of stories he’ll look to direct or star in in the future. Though he is glad for the opportunity to tell these stories.
“I don’t have a oeuvre, really… I feel like films can be serious and they can be meaningful, and they can also be entertaining and they can be frivolous, and they can be all sorts of things,” he said. “[I enjoyed] having the opportunity to tell a story like this, to feel that there was some way of engaging an audience and engaging an audience, hopefully, in different countries and people who didn’t have any relationship to this place, and relating a sense of what I feel about the continent generally really.”
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December 3, 2019
Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Troll Each Other After She Exits Presidential Race
Donald Trump trolled Kamala Harris with a fake message of well-wishing on Tuesday after she announced she would drop out of the Democratic presidential primary, but Harris did him one better when she troll-replied with a reference t0 the possibility that Trump will be impeached.
The fun went down Tuesday afternoon, when Trump tweeted “Too bad. We will miss you Kamala!” in response to her announcement. As Trump insults go it was unusually civil, though still dripping in sarcasm.
Just minutes later, Harris came back with the comeback, tweeting at Trump “Don’t worry, Mr. President. I’ll see you at your trial.” Guess POTUS can’t count on her to vote “acquit” if the House of Representatives votes to impeach him. (Duh.)
Also Read: House Intelligence Committee Releases Trump Impeachment Report
Earlier in the day, Harris said in a letter to supporters: “I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete. In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do.”
The announcement came after a series of setbacks, most recently when a resignation letter by campaign state operations director Kelly Mehlenbacher was obtained by the New York Times. “This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly,” Mehlenbacher wrote. “With less than 90 days until Iowa we still do not have a real plan to win.”
Harris’s campaign also struggled with online fundraising and spent more than $1.41 for every dollar the campaign raised in its third quarter, according to the Times. She was also polling in the single digits for national and early-state polls.
But, on the bright side, she’s not being investigated for attempting to pressure a foreign government into investigating her political rivals.
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