Tag: True Detective

Actor’s Spotlight: Nate interviews Louis Herthum

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

I’m pleased to bring you my first interview in some time, with the incredibly talented Louis Herthum! Louis is a dedicated actor who has recently gained worldwide acclaim for his galvanizing, scene stealing portrayal of Peter Abernathy on HBO’s Westworld, and he has an epic career that includes appearances in films like City Of Lies opposite Johnny Depp, The Possession Of Hannah Grace, Truth, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and more. He also has many memorable television roles including Longmire, What/If, Breaking Bad, True Detective, True Blood, Revenge, Sleepy Hollow, Narcos and more. Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Nate: What is your background, and how did you find your way into acting/the industry? Was it something you always knew you wanted to do or did you fall into it unexpectedly?

Louis: I wanted to be a stuntman since the age of 12 when my father took me to see the Steve McQueen film, BULLITT. It was the chase scene in that film that was the inspiration. I was somewhat of a stunt-kid, always doing things that would see me getting a few stitches (or worse) at the doctors office but stunt driving was what I wanted to do the most. I made no bones about it all through the rest of elementary school, high school and the little bit of college (LSU) that I attended. In the mid 70’s I was working for a men’s fine clothing store and they asked me to model for their adds. I did, which led to more modeling jobs with an agency, which led to some on camera commercial gigs, which led finally to working on stage. Once I got on stage, my fate was sealed. I played the lead role of “Starbuck” in the N. Richard Nash play, THE RAIN MAKER. I won an award for the performance and that was it. I stayed in my home town Baton Rouge, did a couple more plays, playing “Will Parker” in OKLAHOMA and “Kenickie” in GREASE, then in January of 1982 I move to L.A.

Nate: Who were some of your influences growing up, favourite actors you’d watch in film and admire?

Louis: I never really had a favorite actor because I was never really that interested in acting. But of course, McQueen was an influence but I didn’t even realize it since it wasn’t his acting that inspired me. But I will have to say that believe it or not, John Travolta’s meteoric rise to fame did make an impression on me. Mainly in Saturday Night Fever. It may be strange to say it this way but I just felt like I could do what he was doing. I think that was very possibly Travolta’s best role ever by the way. And then Grease came along and I felt like… Hey, I can do that! So his rise to fame is what I was more inspired by, not to take anything away from his talent and abilities of course.

Nate: Westworld: such a brilliant performance in one of the best shows out there. Were you approached for the role or did you audition? How was your process in bringing that intense scene to life, basically staring down both Jeffrey Wright and Anthony Hopkins and giving a tour de force in under five minutes. How did you prepare to play Peter?

Louis: Well, first of all thank you for that comment. I had to audition for the role, if was not offered to me. I went in for the initial audition with the assistant casing director and was asked to return to read for the producers. I had several days between the two and I was told to come in and that the door was wide open (what door? ha!) to go as far as I wanted to with the physicality of the character. The scene that I read in the audition was the one you are referring to with Tony and Jeffrey however it was three different characters and different dialogue of course. It was simply a scene they wrote for the audition and every male actor who was playing a robot had to do it. Then you also read for the part you were called in to read for. For me it was the Sheriff. I did pretty much what you see in the show in the audition. Lisa Joy was the only producer in the room and she liked what I did and made comments that let me know that. Then she asked if there was anything else I would like to show them. I answered, “No thanks. I think I will quit while I’m ahead.” They laughed, I left the room and in about 5 or 6 weeks I got the word that I had booked “Peter Abernathy” and of course, I had no idea who that was because I had not read that part. Then my manager said to me, you know that part you read for the audition, that is Peter Abernathy. It was then that I realized I would be doing the scene with Mr. Hopkins because every the audition script named him as Dr. Ford and I had read that he was playing that role. As far as how I prepared for the scene; as I say I did pretty much what you see in the audition so I already had the blueprint if you will for the scene. I did rehearse with Lisa and Jonah one day, running through the entire scene, full tilt, twice. They liked what I was doing and in fact, three days before we filmed the scene, which was five pages long, they added three more pages to it. Most of that was not in the final cut but I think they simply wanted to give me a chance to do more with the character and see what happened. I think it was the better more than not enough scenario. But I think it was edited beautifully.

Nate: True Detective: a very memorable scene and your performance adds to the overall vibe of haunting unease in that area. How did you get involved and what was your experience shooting that scene with Matthew McConaughey? You yourself are from Louisiana and your involvement has an authentic feel. Are you a fan of the show overall?

Louis: I auditioned for that role as well. But I have to say, I went in to that audition daring them not to cast me. I knew that one was mine. I knew I could bring a more authentic Louisiana character to life, especially using a Cajun accent for the character. As for shooting the scene, it was pretty fast really. When I got to the set, Matthew and the director Cary where sitting on the porch of that house. Matthew introduced himself, then Cary and we shot the scene with me holding the shot gun, which was longer than in the final cut. Then we went inside and banged that one out. I didn’t take long at all and it went very smoothly. And I was a huge fan of Season one. Not so much two, and still have yet to watch S3.

Nate: Longmire: very memorable character you got to play here, what was the experience working on this show?

Louis: Omar was a great, fun character to play. Great cast, lots of fun to work with. And shooting in Santa Fe, NM was great. Great locations and lovely place to be for work. As for the role of Omar, I only wish there had been more of him. That role was supposed to be a “strong recurring” character in the series. Omar is very prominent in the books and was so in season’s 1 & 2 but after that, he was hardly seen at all. I found that odd but I guess someone thought that they only needed one “jack of all trades” and found other places for the comic relief, which I felt Omar provided.

Nate: City Of Lies: this film seems to have slipped through the cracks and never got a proper release, how was your experience on it? I was very excited to see it as it has you alongside many other actors I also admire (Peter Greene, Xander Berkeley, Toby Huss etc)

Louis: Oh man. First of all, the film is locked in some kind of legal issue. That is why it has fallen through the cracks. I don’t know if it will ever be seen by the public in the States. But working with Johnny Depp was absolutely delightful. He’s a very sweet, kind person and I think gets a bad wrap. And very funny. He was a pleasure to work with, as was Shea Whigham. And while I didn’t work directly with him, it was nice to see and old friend and magnificent actor, Dayton Callie on set. I had a wonderful closing argument scene as the City Attorney but the director told me he hated to, but that he had to cut it. That was devastating because while filming, jokingly, Johnny asked me, “can you do it worse?” He and Shea said they thought it would make the trailer to the film. I knew it never would but that was nice of them to say. Anyway, I was so hoping to get that piece of footage but alas, I may never see it. Nor anyone else for that matter.

Nate: Of the roles you have played so far in your career, which are some of your favourites?

Louis: Certainly Peter Abernathy is at the top of the list. A close second has to be “Foster” in WHAT/IF with Renee Zellweger. Not only because Renee and the entire producer team were such a wonderful group of people to know and work with, but the role itself was one that I had never been given the opportunity to play. And I thank Mike Kelly (creator) for believing in me enough to give me a character no one had ever seen me play. Stoic, strong, loyal, brave and a forceful character. And like I say, not to hard to come to work when you are playing opposite Ms. Zellweger. She is a delight. Omar was great but too little, and another favorite character was “Ness” in a little indie film I produced in 2004 called RED RIDGE. He was a despicable character but sometimes they are the most fun. You get to do things you would never do in real life. Very few people have seen that film, but with all the streaming services, maybe they will one day.

Nate: How is your life aside from the job, what else do you like to do in terms of hobbies, interests etc?

Louis: I have a great life. I cannot complain. I love art and antiques and have a great collection of both. Love to search for treasures at estate sales and swap meets. I have two classic cars, a 1968 Mustang Fastback which is my homage to “Bullitt” and a 1971 Corvette Stingray. I love to camp, hike, ride my bike, walk on the beach, boxing workout, which I have been doing since long before it was the cool thing to do (1978 to be exact) and of course visiting and hanging with friends, though I have not been able to do enough of that of late but I look forward to getting back to it once the apocalypse subsides, haha!

Nate: Do you have any upcoming projects (film related or otherwise) that you are excited for and would like to mention?

Louis: I recently appeared in an episode of FBI: MOST WANTED and the second season of DIRTY JOHN but that was before he shutdown and they have already aired. But since production has come back, I have started a recurring role on the CBS show, ALL RISE and should be doing more of those in 2021. I have just completed my part in the Apple TV show, HOME BEFORE DARK season 2 (was in season 1 as well). But with the shut down, work was non existent for many months, lets hope things can continue to get better from here. Fingers crossed!!

Nate: Thank you so much for you time Louis, it means a whole lot to myself, our team and all our readers that you took this time to share with us. Cheers to you and your family and best of luck in the future!!

City of Dark Angels: Nate’s Top Ten LA Noir films

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

Los Angeles is a place of bright sunny daydreams, hopeful aspirations of fame and fortune and the ever present hum of the Hollywood industry. It’s a fascinating arena to watch a film noir unfold but between the palms, roaming the hilly outskirts and permeating the cityscape is often a deep, sleazy corruption and sense of danger at every turn, apparent in many films that explore the dark, noirish side of town. Vice cops on the take, starlets on the run from powerfully evil forces, mobsters running the show from behind the scenes and grisly serial murderers that inspire films of their own, it’s all there and more. Here are my top ten in this sexy, beautiful and often hilarious sub-genre.. Oh one more thing! Please keep in mind I’m still a young’in and haven’t seen pretty much any of the old LA crime films dating back to black and white days of the 40’s and 50’s.. one day we’ll get to those, but for now these are my favourite one from a more contemporary scope of vision.. Enjoy!

10. Carl Franklin’s Devil In A Blue Dress

Denzel Washington sniffs out corruption most foul in this sweaty potboiler that includes a mysterious femme fatale (Jennifer Beals), a politician (the late Maury Chaykin) with some disturbing skeletons in his closet and a scary rogue cop (Tom Sizemore). The narrative is reliably serpentine, Denzel pulls off a smooth performance and the atmosphere is all grit, shadows and smoked out jazz clubs.

9. Lee Tamahori’s Mulholland Falls

In this vision of 40’s LA, corruption has to stand up to Nick Nolte’s Max Hoover, an off the book vigilante cop who doles out brutal frontier style justice on gangsters along with his equally ruthless crew (Michael Madsen, Chris Penn and Chazz Palminteri). This one has a bad rep but it’s fantastic, the scope of the central mystery spans to the outskirts of town and includes a mysterious songbird (Jennifer Connolly), a weirdo Air Force colonel (John Malkovich) and more. It’s a positively star studded piece of work with cameos buried like hidden treasure throughout, a spectacular sense of time and place thanks to lavish production design and a hard edged, angry lead performance from Nolte at his most battered and distraught.

8. Shane Black’s The Nice Guys

The buddy comedy gets a royal workout in this balls out pairing between Russell Crowe’s aloof thug for hire and Ryan Gosling’s moronic private eye. The plot here is almost impenetrable but it’s no matter, most of the fun is in the colourful, detailed 1970’s production design and Black’s trademark deadpan dialogue which we get in spades. Ooo, and an icily sexy turn from Kim Basinger as the city’s most corrupt government official, a deliberate callback to another film later on this list.

7. Robert Zemeckis’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Combining elements of classic noir with the zany cartoon aesthetic and using stunning technology to do so, this miracle of a film parades around pretty much every animated character you can think of in a tale of humans living alongside ‘Toons’ in an alternate reality Los Angeles. A trip to Toon Town, the sultry femme fatale Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner) a truly terrifying villain (Christopher Lloyd), an intrepid private eye (Bob Hoskins) and so much more can be found in this timeless, visually dazzling classic.

6. Curtis Hanson’s LA Confidential

A sprawling, diabolical tale of police corruption, this brilliant, galvanizing piece of crime cinema launched the international careers of both Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, both providing solid, brawny tough guy turns. Kim Basinger gives arguably her best performance as a blonde bombshell starlet, Kevin Spacey is splendid as a headline hogging super cop who reeks of self loathing and James Cromwell makes for one terrifying villain as the last guy you want as a Police Commissioner. The real star here is the script, a labyrinthine tale that takes its time imparting revelations and ends with several dark secrets and a bang-up shootout. Oh, and remember Rollo Tomassi.

5. DJ Caruso’s The Salton Sea

Val Kilmer explores the duality of man as both a nocturnal meth-head and a mournful trumpet player in this curious, dreamy and altogether captivating piece of pulp bliss. Populated by eccentric actors like Danny Trejo, R. Lee Ermey, Meat Loaf and Vincent D’Onofrio in a bizarre encore as a drug kingpin called Pooh Bear, this is one of the most distinctive and memorable crime flicks out there. From it’s haunting trumpet solos set against the sunset on the shores of the titular waters to the feverish late night shenanigans of Kilmer and his band of druggie freaks to a slow burn revenge subplot that creeps up from behind, this is a brilliant picture.

4. HBO’s True Detective: Season 2

This might be a controversial pick a) because it’s a season of television and not a feature film and b) because this season isn’t regarded as quality content in some circles. Well… with these lists I envision a world of blogging where film and TV occupy the same realm and also I will defend this incredible story to the grave. Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch and Vince Vaughn play lost souls in a fictional California county who begin to uncover a dense, decades old trend of conspiracy and corruption in their midst. It’s bleak, fatalistic and hyper stylized but the truth of each character and the season’s dark themes overall shine through wonderfully. It’s one of my favourite seasons of television ever produced and simply undeserving of any dislike thrown its way.

3. Ethan & Joel Coen’s The Big Lebowski

What do marmots, nihilists, White Russians, bowling, sarsaparilla, interpretive dance, dirty undies and the sheriff of Malibu have in common? It’ll take a couple of viewings to completely string together the Coen’s farcical cult classic and distill it to a point of cohesion, but is that really the point anyways? This film has sort of spawned a subculture and taken on a life all its own. A purebred masterpiece of screwball elements, abstract dream sequences, stoned out tomfoolery and the bad guy from Roadhouse playing a pornographer who likes to draw dicks… what more do we need?

2. Michael Mann’s Collateral

There’s a point in this film where a lone coyote ambles across the LA interstate while Jamie Foxx’s introverted cab driver and Tom Cruise’s philosophical hitman look on in dreamy bemusement to the tune of Groove Armada’s haunting ‘Hands Of Time’ in the background. It’s striking for a few different reasons.. it serves the plot none other than to highlight both the savage, jungle law nature of Los Angeles and to remind us that the colour of this beast’s coat mirrors that of Cruise’s hair and leaves us to wonder if that is deliberate or just us making conjecture. Mann’s brilliant crime thriller is full of moments like these, subtle instances, eerie coincidences and mood setting interludes that make it something more than just your average cat and mouse thriller, something deep, meditative and primal.

1. Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

As a once aspiring actor I’ve always had this fantasy of becoming casted by accident and catapulted into the LA scene by sheer happenstance, and that’s exactly what happens to hapless Robert Downey Jr in this hilariously meta send up of noir in general. Of course the lucky break isn’t without strings attached, the main one being Val Kilmer’s scene stealing private detective Gay Perry. The two of them bicker their way down a rabbit hole involving an aspiring actress (Michelle Monaghan, luminous), a shady tycoon (Corbin Bernsen) and numerous other lowlifes and weirdos the great city has to offer. Downey and Kilmer win the day with their utterly hilarious and touching characterizations, spurred by Black’s winning dialogue and an overall sense that everyone involved has a deep love for all things Hollywood.

Thanks for reading!! What are some of your favourite LA Noirs?

-Nate Hill

HBO’s True Detective: Season 2

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

So just what was it about season two of HBO’s True Detective that caused such a monumental ruckus of ruthless criticism? Well, who can say. I imagine it had something to do with the dark, difficult and byzantine way that creator Nic Pizzolatto presents the material. Maybe it’s the fact that it had to follow the lightning in a bottle, southern gothic, out of left field mastery of season one. Simply just the shift in tone and setting? I’m reaching for straws here because the hate and rejection that this brilliant piece of television has amassed always flew over my head. This is deep, dark LA noir at its finest, most gorgeously dangerous and I love every challenging, impenetrable episode to bits.

The setting shifts from bayous of Louisiana, the amount of lead characters multiplies significantly and where there was once eerie folk horror and occult conspiracy we now find decadence, corruption most high and a focused, implosive inwardness in exploring each individual the narrative focuses on. Colin Farrell is unbearably intense as LA cop Ray Velcoro, a haunted addict who has fallen from the grace of both the department and his family, but isn’t down for the count quite yet. Vince Vaughn is emblematic of every career criminal trying to go straight as Frank Semyon, a stubborn small time kingpin with dreams of scoring big in California real estate. Rachel McAdams is haunted as Ani Bezzerides, a cop with a tragic past and the deep set trauma to prove it. Taylor Kitsch is Paul Woodrough, a pent up special ops veteran turned state trooper who rounds out this quartet as they’re faced with the kind of miserable, insurmountable odds one always finds in the best kind of film noirs. There’s an unsettling, decades old conspiracy afoot in the fictional yet uneasily realistic county of Vinci, CA, a brooding, festering menace that seems rooted in the now booming transportation system that has taken the economy by storm. Our heroes struggle to fight treachery, debauchery and excess run mad everywhere they turn, for their souls and California’s itself alike as the slogan for promotional material “We get the world we deserve” seems stingingly apparent throughout.

Farrell is my favourite as Velcoro, the anxiety ridden badass who displays the horrors of his past in the manic whites of his eyes and drowns them out with enough booze and blow to feed a city’s collective habit. He’s an antihero type, moonlighting as an enforcer for Vaughn but maintaining a fierce moral compass when all else is naught. Vaughn feasts on the stylized dialogue here and produces verbal poetry so good it hurts and you hit the rewind button just to hear his delivery again. His Frank is a hard, jaded piece of work with a soul hiding beneath the layers of anger and distrust for the world around him. McAdams’s Ani comes from a place of childhood trauma so unthinkable that they barely show it in hushed flashback, and it’s apparent in her caged animal body language, by far the actress’s most affecting work. Kitsch makes the slightest impression of the four and his arc didn’t seem as immediate as the others but he still did a bang up job in intense physicality. After the success of season one a host of excellent actors were drawn to this project, standouts here include David Morse as Ani’s commune leader dad, Kelly Reilly as Frank’s intuitive wife and second in command, Rick Springfield (!) as a shady plastic surgeon, Ritchie Coster as Vinci’s terminally alcoholic mayor, W. Earl Brown, James Frain, Ronny Cox, C.S. Lee, Lolita Davidovitch and the legendary Fred Ward as Ray’s bitterly prophetic ex-cop father.

Pizzolatto spins a very different kind of story here, one composed of long glances, deep shadows, arresting establishing shots of Vinci’s sprawling highway system, as dense and tough to navigate as the season’s central mystery, which isn’t one you get a sense of in just one, two or even three viewings. Impatience and frustration are easy to understand with this narrative, but one shouldn’t write off this piece so easily and I’m sure that’s what happened. A few people don’t have the time to invest in it, get hostile and throw some negative reviews out there and before you know it it becomes cool to hate and there’s folks throwing around words like ‘flawed’ before they’ve attempted a single episode, but that’s the way the internet works I suppose. Balls to them though, this is a deliciously dark, highly stylized, very emotional ride through a world whose themes, intentions and true colours aren’t readily visible until you descend several layers deep alongside these compelling characters. It’s thoughtful, pessimistic yet just hopeful enough to keep a candle lit in all that darkness and has some of the most beautiful acting, camera, dialogue and music work I’ve seen from anything. Masterpiece.

-Nate Hill

HBO’s True Detective: Season 3

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

In season 1 of HBO’s True Detective, Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle observed that in a battle between light and dark, it looked to him as if the light appeared to be winning. The spectacular third season has has come to a close and without any spoilers it felt to me like that sentiment has never been more apparent in the series. The first story was a brilliantly existential gothic folk horror show gilded by unsettling conspiracies that went who knows how high up and permeated by the eerie, lived-in grottos of rural Louisiana. The second story was a brilliantly deep, dark, Byzantine labyrinth of California corruption, noir laced nihilism and fatalistic angst. The third story, no less phenomenal, sees a more intimate, emotional tale unfold against the mysterious backdrop of the Arkansas Ozarks, revolving around a crime the mechanizations of which gradually, steadily unfold in ways we both expect and also don’t. There’s a directness and fortitude to the story here where in the past seasons things could be a little more ambiguous and opaque, something I was fascinated by. Every season relies heavily on setting to make the case something you both remember and care about, from the sweaty bayous along the coast to the seedy industrial hum of Vinci. The Ozarks are considerably more picturesque with craggy mountains and thickets of boreal forest, but the atmosphere is no less portentous, the musical cues no less unnerving and the the clues embedded with no less regularity or tact.

One Arkansas evening, young Will and Julie Purcell (Lena McCarthy and Phoenix Elkin) disappear from their neighbourhood while riding bikes, prompting a statewide, decades long search that will go on to greatly affect the lives of everyone involved, especially those of the two lead detectives. Mahershala Ali is a pure sensation as Detective Wayne ‘Purple’ Hays, a haunted yet stalwart Viet Nam vet who can’t let the case go, Ali is a wonder whose eyes, physical mannerisms and tone of voice gravely and soulfully reflect a mystery that has entwined itself into his very essence. Stephen Dorff has been taking it easy for some years now, but casting him as gruff, take-no-shit Detective Roland West has proved a stroke of genius. Dorff has dimension and depth in the role, obstinately turning a somewhat second fiddle character into a complete scene stealer and fleshed out human being who is utterly compelling to watch and listen to. They are surrounded by a pitch perfect supporting cast that all turn in fantastic work. Scoot McNairy and Mamie Gummer are both knockouts as the parents of the missing children, underrated Carmen Ejogo gives a career best as Wayne’s wife and true crime author Amelia Hays, while captivating turns are observed from Brett Cullen, Michael Greyeyes, John Tenney, Ray Fisher, Steven Williams, Lauren Sweetser, Sarah Gadon and a welcome appearance from the legendary Michael Rooker.

‘Time takes everything but the truth’, we see emblazoned on the posters, something that goes from promotional slogan to sediment truth once we see how the show plays out in the unique fashion of three separate timelines unfolding simultaneously in a rhythmic dance that takes time getting used to but is such a fascinating way to tell this tale. We join our detectives in 1980 as the initial disappearance happens, in 1990 as the seemingly wrapped up case is reopened and again in 2015 when new facts come to light and the mystery approaches a conclusion that’s always just around the corner. Hays suffers from dementia in the third timeline and we see how this has affected his memory of the case, relationship to his family and his own familiarity with a psyche that is slowly fragmenting. Such a scattered trio of narratives could have proved too tough to fluidly impart, but there’s a remarkably steady hand in editing, direction and performance that makes the story as a whole, and each circling chapter really shine and come across clearly. Both time and memory are essential in not just understanding this story, but feeling your way through intuitively, because as Wayne’s mind starts to go, that in a sense is all he can do anymore in some instances. This is in many ways a departure from the two other seasons even though on the surface it appears to be very similar to the first. This i believe is a smokescreen of sorts and by every episode we see a unique story unfold that’s filled with secrets and explores obsession, heartbreak, violence, mental illness, the sad plight of Viet Nam vets, corruption, love, family, friendship and the darkness that ever dwells on the fringes of human society, always just a step outside our brightly lit towns, be it in a ghostly fog filled cave or mysterious grove of trees. A story worth telling, and a story worth hearing. Bring on season four please, I don’t see this hot streak stopping anytime soon.

-Nate Hill

BREAKING: Mahershala Ali for TRUE DETECTIVE Season 3.

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review

 

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Mahershala Ali at the 32nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival [Photo Credit: Devin Godzicki]
Mahershalla Ali is reportedly in final negotiations to star as the lead in the upcoming third season of TRUE DETECTIVE. The third season, written by Nic Pizzolatto and David Milch will begin filming soon. The cast is being assembled with Ali in the lead. No other details have emerged, but it certainly appears HBO is getting ready to officially announce the third season of their seminal show. Ali last appeared in Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT and most recently won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Juan in the film, making him the first Muslin actor to win an Academy Award.

 

We”ll have more when the story develops.

Episode 20: THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION with SPECIAL GUEST MELISSA MAERZ

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Podcast

EPISODE 20

We were joined by Entertainment Weekly television critic Melissa Maerz to discuss the continuation of the golden age of television.  Follow Melissa on Twitter, and check her podcast on Sirius/XM Women on Pop.

Intimidating Rust Cohle and assisting Walter Mitty: an interview with actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, by Nate Hill

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who has appeared in a very memorable turn as villain Dewall in season 1 of HBO’s True Detective, the rowdy, loveable helicopter pilot in The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, as well as films including A Walk Among The Tombstones, Contraband,  XL, Stormland, Beowulf And Grendel. He can also be seen in the TV show Banshee, as well as the upcoming fantasy action film The Last Witch Hunter, The much anticipated sequel to Zoolander, and the recently announced adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The BFG. He’s a super nice guy, and I think will be a huge upcoming talent in years to come. Enjoy!
Nate: How did you get into acting, was it something you always knew you wanted to do growing up, or did you fall into it?

Ólafur: I didn´t really decide to be an actor until after my first year of drama school. I know that sounds weird but I sort of fell into acting in college. When college was finishing up, I had no idea what I wanted to do, I loved acting but had never really considered a career doing that. Then one of my friends wanted to audition to get into the drama school here in Iceland and sort of dragged me with him. Of course I ended up getting in but he did not. Even though I got in it still took me awhile to really take the plunge. But in retrospect, getting in was the first step. I was lucky, I got a lot of work straight out of school, lot of smaller parts and as your get older you realize how important experience is. But I wasn´t really using all my potential.

As weird as it seems, one of the best things that has ever happened to me professionally was when I was fired from The City Theatre of Reykjavik in 2003. That really forced me to look at my career and where I wanted to take it much more critically. That´s where the decision was made. I was going to be a better actor, person, an artist. I was going to have a much more honest dialogue with myself and be someone who takes responsibility for their art.

Nate: Who were some of your favourite actors, filmmakers and films growing up?

Ólafur: I was in love with everything film. I remember walking home late New Years night about 25 years ago and seeing one of my favorite films, High Anxiety, I thought it was brilliant (HERE IS YOUR PAPER!) Jaws, Alien, Star Wars, Kentucky Fried Movie, all of James Bond, ohhhhh, to be able to go back and re-watch them for the first time?!!! I also remember loving these teen comedies like Better of Dead and Ferris Bueller´s Day Off. All those actresses and all that teenage angst. I had a crush on quite a few of them.
Nate: Working with Marteinn Thorsson: You and him have done several projects together, what is your working relationship like, and do you plan to collaborate again soon?

Ólafur: Me and Matti are blood brothers. We have done two features and one short together and have in the works at least a couple of films that we want to do. Marteinn is just such a great director to work with, he thinks big and has an extensive background in film, he has worked as a script supervisor, producer, editor, director and screenwriter. There are probably more titles he has held on a set. He is easy, fun, collaborative and honest. You can´t ask for more than that.
Nate: True Detective: You are an integral part of the story despite only appearing in one episode. How was your experience playing Dewall, working with Nic’s writing and acting opposite Matthew? How did ty approach the character? Backstory and intentions etc.

Ólafur: True Detective was such a great experience. I auditioned for a bigger role but was offered this part and fell in love with it. The scene in the bar with those excellent actors, Matthew McConaughey and Joe Sikora was so much fun to do. Joe who plays Ginger in the series is one of my best friends today.

I had studied an Algiers (a neighborhood in New Orleans) accent for my role in a film called Contraband which I was able to use in True Detective. And the writing made the scene easy to do. Overall it was a show filled with good, talented, hard working people led by a man who is one of the best directors working today, Cary Fukunaga.
Nate: A Walk Among The Tombstones: How was your experience working on this, playing Jonas and acting with Liam Neeson?

Ólafur: I had a general meeting in New York with the great Avy Kaufman during which she asked me if I would be around two days later to meet a director. When I met Scott Frank two days later, I had a taxi waiting for me downstairs to take me straight to the airport for my flight home. Scott is such a lovely artist, it was a pleasure to meet him and after a couple of Skype readings he offered me the role. And I can´t really tell you how happy that made me. I though Jonas was such a wonderfully twisted creation. Someone who could so naively get himself involved with the wrong crowd. A crowd consisting of two monsters really. And filming it was truly great. Liam Neeson is one of my favorite actors and he is such a good, kind man. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I would give anything to work with Scott again, which I hope might happen soon…
Nate: Walter Mitty: your character is so funny and memorable, you really gave him a sheepish drunken amiable quality that lights up the whole sequence. How was your experience playing him?

Ólafur: It helped that I had recently played an almost entire film “drunk”. I worked with Jermaine Clement on a film and he asked me twice if I really hadn´t been drunk, I think that might be the best review I ever got. But I have to say that Ben Stiller really made it easy. Both as a director but also as an actor, you could really feel how much he enjoyed the “acting” part and how he made me able to just relax and enjoy being there and not to worry about having to perform. I´ll admit that I there were moments where in my mind was going “holy s..t, that´s Ben Stiller and I´m working with him”. One of the best days of my life was spent at that table drinking that fake beer.

Nate: Do you have any upcoming projects you are excited for and want to speak about?
Ólafur: There are a few projects that I´m excited and a few that I can´t mention. I got to reunite with Ben for a tiny cameo in Zoolander 2. There is a Icelandic tv series called Trapped, which will premiere around Christmas. The series is the biggest thing we have produced here for tv and I´m really looking forward to seeing it. Then there is a film directed by Jörg Tyttel and Alex Helfrecht called The White King. A series for Cinemax, Quarry that really looks incredible and finally The BFG which was an absolute pleasure, directed by Steven Spielberg.
Nate: Thank you so much for chatting , Ólafur, and I look forward to all your upcoming projects, especially The BFG which is a favourite book of mine. 

I HEARD IT FROM MATTHEW WILDER: THE NEW GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Podcast

I Heard it From Matthew Wilder

Our latest monthly edition is with filmmaker Matthew Wilder.  Matthew’s credits include writing and directing YOUR NAME HERE, and he penned the screenplay for the upcoming Paul Schrader film, DOG EAT DOG which he adapted from Edward Bunker’s novel.  Matthew is also casting his next film, OLD MONEY and working on a miniseries based on Norman Mailer’s HARLOT’S CHARIOT.  Stay turned for more adventures of, I HEARD IT FROM MATTHEW WILDER!

PTS PROUDLY PRESENTS CINEMATOGRAPHERS CORNER WITH NIGEL BLUCK

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Podcast

NIGEL BLUCK

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Photo Credit: Lacey Terrell http://www.laceyterrell.com

We are absolutely proud to present Nigel Bluck, the director of photography of all eight episodes of the second season of TRUE DETECTIVE.  Nigel was the sole DP on the series this season, and did an amazing job giving the series an unprecedented and unique boost to its tone, setting the visual bedrock where we watched the new characters get the world they deserve.  Nigel also was the DP of Julius Avery’s SON OF A GUN, Julie Bertuccelli’s THE TREE, and he was the second unit director of photography of visual effects on THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE TWO TOWERS and RETURN OF THE KING.  Nigel was listed this year in Varity’s Top Ten Cinematographers to watch.  Please visit Nigel’s website here.

TRUE DETECTIVE 2.7 BLACK MAPS AND MOTEL ROOMS – A Review by Frank Mengarelli

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in True Detective

TRUE DETECTIVE 2.7 BLACK BLACK MAP AND MOTEL ROOMS

“Look me in the eyes.  I wanna see your lights go out.” – Frank SemyonTrueDetective207Main

So much happened in this weeks episode.  A tease to who the identity of the killer, Crow Head might be.  Frank engaging in a full-out POINT BLANK mode, Ray and Ani transition their brooding rage and anger into intimate feelings for one another, and Paul is dead.

Let’s start with Frank.  I am so completely satisfied with the transgressive story arc of Frank Semyon.  Anyone who continues to ridicule Vaughn’s performances is now, undoubtedly an idiot, and has no idea what they’re talking about.  Semyon rose to a successful gangsterless business man before we saw the first episode, and from that first episode we slowly watched Frank lose everything that he built, and now it’s time from him to rise like the phoenix from the ashes and completely obliterate anyone who has wronged him.  The escalation of the last scenes with Frank were a direct homage to the epic preamble of the climax to THIEF.  Remarkable writing.  I truly hope that Semyon makes it out alive, out of all the characters that we’re given this season, Semyon is the most pure hearted one.  He didn’t choose the life he has, it chose him, and he did his best to shake it.  I can’t imagine a better thematic end to Semyon than to get LONG GOOD FRIDAY’D.

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Ray and Ani’s final scenes in the episode together were beautifully poignant.  They are two people who are completely burnt out by their lives.  They are dead inside, partially from where they came from, but particularly the choices they made in the past and how they’ve dealt with their lives splitting.  Whether or not if Ray and Ani are good people is irrelevant.  They are good with each other, and trust and embrace each others shadows.  They are the only ones that can ever really understand and accept one another.

Then there’s Paul.  Wow.  I was legitimately sadden by his fate.  What made it even worse was cutting to his fiancée laying in bed, watching that old movie with Judy Garland embracing the baby.  Wow.  Just…wow.  Out of all the characters, I think Paul was the one who had the hardest time coping with life.  He was a killer, who lived the life of who he thought he should be.  He hit a breaking point of either ruining the life of his beautiful fiancée, Emily, or trying to make it work.  Maybe he couldn’t have, but he was going to try.  And now, now it’s all over.  He’s dead.  And his baby is inside of a pure hearted good woman who is stuck in a hotel room with Paul’s awful mother.  That might even be more profound and sadder than Paul’s death.

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As for Crow Head.  So, cult killings are out.  Blake fessed up to killing Stan, giving Frank a glorious scene to showcase his well warranted brutality.  My guess is Crow Head is either Tony, the Mayor’s son, or the girl from the diamond robbery where Caspere was the sole proprietor of.  Maybe that little girl was the one who worked at Caspere’s office and was seen in that photograph from the party with him.  Maybe she isn’t, and maybe it’s something bigger and/or completely different.  All I know is that next week is the finale, and they have not announced a director yet.  One can only hold out hopes for the likes of William Friedkin or HBO player Timothy Van Patten.  Or, maybe, just maybe Nic Pizzolatto will direct it.  That would be worth it if only to see all the rage hater’s heads explode.  Either way, I am counting down the days and cannot wait for the conclusion of what I still say is, the best show on television.

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