HEATH LEDGER MAKES HIS STAND ON BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN By Brad Balfour Doing Brokeback Mountain, was as much a challenge for Heath Ledger, taking on what might seem to be a risky role — playing Ennis, a gay cowboy in love with Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) — as it was taking on a complex restrained character at … Continue reading
RACHEL WEISZ STEPS THROUGH THE GARDEN By Brad Balfour Though Rachel Weisz has received accolades before, none are more appreciated than an Academy Award nomination. And given that she dies a few minutes in the film The Constant Gardener, it’s even more appreciated she got this attention. But the film is a powerful statement – about … Continue reading
LUC JACQUET A DIRECTOR DOCUMENTS A NEW GENERATION OF EMPERORS By Brad Balfour For French documentary director Luc Jacquet, making The March of the Penguins, might have been success enough, but to see his tale of an emperor penguin colony under some of the harshest conditions on earth, become a summer sleeper family hit and one … Continue reading
THE TRANSFORMATION OF FELICITY HUFFMAN by Brad Balfour Although Felicity Huffman’s name has been before the public through the high-profile award winning ABC TV series Desperate Housewives, seeing her in Transamerica is the real shocker. In taking on the role of a man becoming a woman, Huffman tests her acting skills in ways the TV show could never possibly do. … Continue reading
Philip Seymour Hoffman Channels Capote by Brad Balfour Though the actor is almost a head taller than the late author and social figure Truman Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman brilliantly recreates the writer for the film about his life during the creation of his literary masterpiece, In Cold Blood – the story of two killers who massacre a … Continue reading
SARAH SILVERMAN IS MAGIC by Brad Balfour Even when she was growing up in New Hampshire, they thought she was from New York. “I am one of you” she used to tell her neighbors back home. Nonetheless, Silverman did move to New York to kick off her comedy career and eventually landed in Los Angeles, … Continue reading
ALYSON HANNIGAN MAKES HER DATES by Brad Balfour Though 29-year-old actress Alyson Hannigan made her rep as Willow Rosenberg, the dorky lesbian sorceress pal of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she has really established herself as a new comic talent through her work in films like those in the American Pie series of films and her new TV show How … Continue reading
SIENNA MILLER AN ACTRESS GOES AGAINST DOMESTICITY by Brad Balfour Though she’s gotten lots of public attention in past months, actress Sienna Miller has received the spotlight more for her personal hassles with fiancé Jude Law rather than for her work. With the Christmas release of director Lasse Hallstrom’s Casanova she hopes to change that focus. In … Continue reading
NAOMI WATTS TAKES ON KONG by Brad Balfour For Australian-raised Naomi Watts, taking on the challenge of playing Ann Darrow – the role made famous by Fay Wray in the original King Kong – was both daunting and a career move as well. Having been known as industrious actress willing to do anything from the sexually provocative Mullholland … Continue reading
RICHARD GERE THE SEASON FOR GETTING SPIRITUAL by Brad Balfour Because Richard Gere has spent years alternating between being a cinematic sex symbol (Chicago, Pretty Woman) and Tibetan Buddhist devotee, he had a unique experience to enhance his role as Saul Naumann, the college professor who encourages his young daughter Eliza to both become a spelling bee … Continue reading
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