I wasn’t going to say anything about this because of the Tuesday embargo, but since someone else already did, I suppose I can say a bit about the screening itself, though nothing of the film. They invited the press and a lot of SAG members. There were free martinis on the way in and on the way out. There was a Q&A afterwards with some of the key cast members. There was a party with the cast afterwards that I didn’t attend. I also didn’t drink a martini because I knew I would need to be frosty watching this, one of the season’s hopefuls. Ms. Winslet and Mr. DiCaprio were charming, of course, but I dare say Michael Shannon stole the show in the Q&A. They talked about the film and took a few questions from the audience.
No Response for "Revolutionary Road Screening"
….I know Kate delivered in the sex scenes, she always does…and of course the acting too
Come on Sasha, can’t you give just a little bit of what you thought of it?
Tuesday embargo, Sasha? Nobody embargoed SAG members from talking about the film.
Thanks for the little report….so ok so because of the embargo you can’t say your comments about it but did you feel that the people loved the movie ? (hehe way to avoid the thing but hell, why not ? :p)
“I dare say Michael Shannon stole the show in the Q&A.”
Bodes well for a nomination. If the balance of the book is preserved, his character walks away with the novel too. Although ‘John Givings’ is mentally outside earth orbit, I got the feeling he was the character whose sensibilities most matched Yates himself. Back then, I think everybody with a chemical imbalance was either labeled a paranoid schizophrenic or manic depressive — ah, simpler times! — and it’s pretty much acknowledged Yates was the latter.
I’ve been trying to tamp down my high hopes because although the script was earnestly faithful to the novel’s dialog and storyline, it seemed to lack the stunning emotional screechiness going on in everyone’s misguided heads. Their screwy motivations were missing on the page.
I felt pretty sure Mendes would be able to re-inject that silent shrieking intensity, but it wasn’t showing up in the trailers either. Until this last version, with the skipping record. Then I thought: Mmm… nice ‘n’ nutso! yay!
Munch, Munch, Munch.* nom, nom, nom.
Sasha, you lucky dawg-ette.
“I also didn’t drink a martini because I knew I would need to be frosty watching this…”
When I need to be frosty I just ask for a margarita.
[*Munch, as in Edvard]
Sasha is considered one of the press, or don’t you know that, Mr. Outlaw? The press is usually embargoed from reporting on a film until a certain specified time when they are invited to a screening.
I can’t really give my thoughts except to say that take a look at the contender tracker….
But Paul has a point – there were SO many actors there that word is bound to seep out. A deal’s a deal and there are so many hissy fitters out there who would complain, believe me, you don’t even want to go there. What I will say is that in any given year in the ten years I’ve been doing this there are a few movies I can write about with depth and clarity, films that illuminate the human condition and those films are inspirational to cover. I feel like Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham choosing her ball player for the season but it isn’t even that direct – it was King Kong one year and that wasn’t even in the race. This year there have been a handful so far – I suspect that when I finally see Milk it will be one of those. Probably Slumdog too. Dark Knight is one. I can say without reservation that no matter if the critics trash it or not, if it goes the distance or not, if it’s an “Oscar movie” or not, RR is, for me, one of those I could write reams and reams on.
See, I conveyed it without using a single descriptive adjective.
p.s. Ryan, haha.
Aha, Sasha! Although I disagree with you about RR
I can’t wait to read your take on it and how you think it stacks up Oscar-wise against Deakins’ other film, since you seemed very favorably impressed by Doubt. I see the contender tracker is favoring RR, but what about Viola Davis, Howard Shore and Ann Roth?
Sasha
Gee, and I thought I couldn’t be more anxious to see this film then I already was , but your few comments increased my desire tenfold .
I look forward to reading your “reams and reams” of commentary on “RR”
Paul do you feel that way because you loved the book? I’m curious to see how others will regard the movie. I figure that Yates faithfuls will probably think it doesn’t live up – just like Cormac McCarthy faithfuls were disappointed with No Country – but film is a different medium. Much is afforded an author who has total command of the reader. You have so much more going on in a film, so many different interpretations, not just one vision…I thought the English Patient was disappointing compared to the great book but i can see how the movie is a different animal.
(not to sound condescending … i know you know this)
Oh, sorry Paul, I see your comments on the other thread. Yeah, I disagree with you completely, and in fact I walked out thinking Leo is about to win his first Oscar. He is so good, crazy good, scary good. Oh fuck, I’m supposed to shut up. Ahhhh, this is so hard.
Haha, Revolutionary Road is THAT good, huh?
No, Sasha, I had never heard of the book until a few months ago, but now I plan to read it over the holidays to see how much it differs from the film. I am willing to believe that my feelings about the film may change on a second viewing or sometime in the future, but right now I am not too thrilled by DiCaprio’s performance, among other things I mentioned in the previous RR thread.
I can’t wait to see the consensus (critical and elsewhere) on DiCaprio. I’m prepared to be in the minority–again. LOL.
“Oh fuck, I’m supposed to shut up. Ahhhh, this is so hard. ”
)
<==== oh don’t worry Sasha, put the blame on us, we pushed you too hard
“…it was King Kong one year and that wasn’t even in the race.”
That unfortunate Depp/Kong/Gosling/Mortensen fixation those 4 years in a row were not evidence of any faulty taste in movies, Sasha.
Just a somewhat troubling tendency to choose the wrong man.
Thanks, Sasha, for the “sort-of” heads up. I don’t doubt DiCaprio. He seems like an excellent fit for Frank Wheeler. He’s one of the great somewhat underrated actors out there. I know there were doubters about Brando in his time as well. I’ve read Revolutionary Road and can honestly say it’s both one of the saddest and most disturbing books I’ve read in a long time, even though it has a dark undercurrent of humor in it. It seems to take the American dream circa 1950’s or even circa NOW, and turn it on it’s head. I have to agree with what Sam Mendes, the director, said in a recent interview. These characters seem just as essential today as they were in the ’50s. And I can absolutely relate to their circumstances, the sense of being trapped and unable or incapable of escaping. As an interesting aside, apparently Yates’ daughter went to the film site in Conn. and watched some of the filming. She had nothing but good words for what she witnessed, including the acting and direction. She felt what she saw captured what her father was after in the book.
I’m a Cormac McCarthy fan and I thought No Country for Old Men was a masterpiece. So did Roger Ebert!
I can’t wait to see RR myself. Since I don’t live in a big city, I’ll probably have to wait until January to see it.
Where would you rank RR in the Sam Mendes canon? I would rank the others as follows:
1. American Beauty
2. Road to Perdition
3. Jarhead.
Zac, that is going to depend…obviously. As I look at that list you could say Mendes’ work goes from dark to darker to darkest. On that scale, RR is somewhere between 1. and 2. It doesn’t have the extreme highs of AB, nor the cheery ending. But it emotionally dead as 2 and 3. It isn’t as cartoonish as AB. For me it would land at the top and make me look forward to Mendes’ next film to see where he’ll go or what he’ll do but it will be different for everyone I think.
Sasha, What’s up with the Supporting Actress category, Viola Davis is getting raves for her performance while Amy’s is more mixed???
Dan, I added Davis but I think her performance, while powerful, was one scene mostly. I thought Adams’ part was more pivotal. Of the two I would expect Adams to get the nod, but i understand publicists needing to promote both equally. I guess both could get nominated if the category is weak.
Michael Shannon is one of the best young actors in America. Period. So Sash’s implication that he’s the best thing at the Q&A, I’m taking to be a veiled reference that he also stole the movie.
Kate and Leo on dry land? In Suburbia? Directed by her husband? I dunno…
Michael Shannon blew out the walls both onstage and in the film of “Bug” and in a little seen Indie “Shotgun Stories” he was beyond brilliant.
He was terrific on stage, this past season, directed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in his Labyrinth theater co.’s “Little Flower of East Orange” holding his own against Ellen Burstyn, no less, as his demented mother…
So Michael has got it all going on. But whether Leo or Kate do…I’m hearing “mixed” from my AMPAS sources(saucers?) and that Leo is definitely better than Kate…Kate’s got that problematic OTHER terrific film, which I hear is the better of the two and that she’s better in it, as well, “The Reader.” It will be interesting to see what the Awards Giving Bodies do with her abundance of performances this year.
I can tell you one thing. The National Board of Review could give her Best Actress for BOTH films. They have the flexibility to do that…
Amy Adams’ part in “Doubt” is NOT an award-bait role. Whereas Viola Davis’ as the AA mother of the boy in question has got the great flashy part that won a Tony and a Drama Desk for the great Adrienne Lennox, who played it on Broadway.
“What I will say is that in any given year in the ten years I’ve been doing this there are a few movies I can write about with depth and clarity, films that illuminate the human condition and those films are inspirational to cover. I feel like Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham choosing her ball player for the season but it isn’t even that direct – it was King Kong one year and that wasn’t even in the race. This year there have been a handful so far – I suspect that when I finally see Milk it will be one of those. Probably Slumdog too. Dark Knight is one. I can say without reservation that no matter if the critics trash it or not, if it goes the distance or not, if it’s an “Oscar movie” or not, RR is, for me, one of those I could write reams and reams on.”
Sasha, you sound like Addison Dewitt in the famous theater lobby scene when he describes his first reaction on seeing Eve perform.
Leo is definitely better than Kate
Umm…no. However, if you thought Leo was “better than Kate” in Titanic, and many–not the Academy–did, you may think the same thing about this film too.
who said Leo is better than kate? who? who? show yourself…that person deserves a spanking…LMAO!! I kid, I kid
On a serious note, I think Kate is better, way way better than Leo. With that said, I feel an Australia-ish obession with R. R emerging on this side. At least we won’t have to endure botox comments.
The word “better” is only referring to their performances in Revolutionary Road.
Ooops! Just checked out your Contender Tracker! “Revolutionary Road” is listed first in ALLLL categories!
Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay. Did I miss any?
That’s quite a “silent” review Sasha! Love it!
I can’t wait to see this movie!!! Kate Winslet and Leonardo DeCaprio are amazing all by themselves, but together…wow!
with a little comment from Sasha up above, I can’t wait to hear some more from you, Sasha. ..and also can’t wait to see the film in which, in a third world like my country, I really dunno where and when I will be able to see it.
Red Wine, ha. That’s so true. This year feels very barren of good films all of a sudden. A few were pushed to 2009 and there aren’t a lot of visually stunning ones — except Australia and Dark Knight, Slumdog Millionaire. It seems in stark contrast to last year when there were so many stunners to choose from. Interesting. I wonder why. At any rate, this is one of the reasons RR will, I think, resonate. And if it doesn’t, well so what. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve loved a movie others weren’t so keen on.
Kate was amazing, don’t get me wrong. Amazing. But I think Leo gets “the big scene.” Well, they both do, which is why I have them both at number 1, lol.
Stephen Holt wrote:
Michael Shannon is one of the best young actors in America. Period. So Sash’s implication that he’s the best thing at the Q&A, I’m taking to be a veiled reference that he also stole the movie.
************
I didn’t get the impression that because Sasha said that Shannon was the best thing about the Q&A, she was implying he stole the movie.
By problem with Leo is, whenever I’m watching a movie, I see Leo playing a character, I don’t see a character being played by Leo. As much as I try to forget that I’m watching Leo, it’s hard for me to convincingly say that this is a character…not an actor playing this part. The irony is I think Leo is an extremely talented actor so it’s hard for me to explain this phenomenon. I feel the same way about George Clooney and Hugh Jackman.
Kate on the other hand morphs in and out of roles like you have never seen before. I always forget I’m watching an actress because I instantly get sucked into the life of the whoever she’s playing. It happened in Titanic, it happened in Little Children and the list keeps going on.
It’s the same phenomenon I get with Philip Seymour Hoffman who manages to deliver performances so convincing that I feel like I’ve met those characters in real life. “Savages” is an example, what an amazing movie.
Yay, I’m so encouraged. I wanted to be hopeful about this project, but love the book and felt like there were a hundred ways it could go wrong. Like Ryan, I read the script and felt it was missing those tiny truths and insights the author’s voice conveys in the book. That’s the sort of thing that while it *makes* the book, you can’t see on the page of a screenplay, and that depends entirely on the actors, director, editor to convey on film. It sounds from these preliminary reports, at least, that they did a good job with it. Yay!
And getting ahead of ourselves a bit here, but hey, it is an Oscar blog: Wouldn’t it be a media sensation if Kate and Leo won their long-overdue Best Actor/Actress Oscars in the same year?
And yeah, Michael Shannon is about to break out, I think. His performance in Shotgun Stories was amazing.
Sasha, when do you plan on releasing a full review?
Cannot freaking wait. Just, cannot. Not at all. I seriously hope I don’t have to.
Sasha: But I think Leo gets “the big scene.”
And I thought “If you ___ one more time I will ____” was the big scene —hers. Then again, I thought almost every one of her scenes was “the big scene.” She kept outdoing herself.
Sasha, like all the journalists/critics attending these early press screenings are “Embargoed” is the phrase.
Meaning that although they were allowed in to see the movie a little ahead of time, woe be unto thee if thou doth not heed the embargo.
Next step, if you don’t heedeth said embargo, your press credentials go south. And you are not invited back by the studio involved, if it’s a major.
I have a feeling that kate would not win best actress but supporting actress. what do I know?
Sasha,
May I ask you how confident you are in Leonardo at least scoring a nomination for Best Actor?
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