HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP by Dana Kaminski

Women In Trouble, Pirate Radio, Dare

Women In Trouble is the grooviest. It’s also got a great cast of actors: Carla Gugino, Connie Britton, Adrianne Palicki, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Simon Baker, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Sarah Chalke, Cameron Richardson…

Unfortunately, it is only opening in LA and NYC theaters this weekend.  I’ll be contacting them to find out about other cities.

Check out the poster!

Pirate Radio

Actors in this film:
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Sturridge, Jack Davenport.  And on second thought, this film has groovy potential, too.

Dare

Cast in this movie are actors Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Ashley Springer, Ana Gasteyer, Alan Cumming, Sandra Bernhard.

Nixon/Frost, Doubt, Cadillac Records

These movies are being released in the next few days, and all are good ones.

I don’t know how much is “hype” but “Nixon/Frost”, directed by Ron Howard, is getting some great reviews.

The second trailer, “Doubt”, is ultra-high echelon stuff…it was a Pulitzer Prize winning theater piece, that had a good run, on the stage.  Adapted for the screen, and directed by the playwright himself (John Patrick Shanley)… in order to make sure that the film truly is organic to the author’s intent. (Can’t get more integrity than that!)  The cast is full of some the best American actors we’ve got: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams.  

The third movie, here, “Cadillac Records”, is also getting some surprisingly good reviews.  I am putting it here, on the site,  because it’s about on of my most favorite periods in music…I never grow tired of “At Last”, by Etta James. I still listen to it, quite a bit.  I’m from Philadelphia, which has a strong soul-music heart, and I grew up on soul.

As far as acting goes, generally, biopics are cast usually by celebrity power, instead of chops, but it’s improving somewhat, in the last few years. I don’t really see “Beyonce” as a heroin addict, but biopics tend to Hollywood-ize their biograpical casting.  I think she’ll do “junkie” quite glamorously, maybe that’s good for the movie; in the least, it won’t hurt it’s popularity.  I’m an acting- purist, I like my film junkies to really convincingly seem like a junkie… She does have an audience, charisma, and star-quality.  She also has that Beyonce voice.

I do agree that casting her will give the movie, and ticket sales, some mojo.  I assume that’s why she was cast, and because she can sing; unless they wanted to dub, they needed that…

Etta James really could too, unlike anyone else has ever been able to replicate.

I do think that Adrian Brody is a good strong actor, and Jeffrey Wright is too.  Those two’ll balance it out with their acting-power.

Actors, please remember….  It’s important to be fully stocked with acting skills, because you won’t get cast without them.  But, remember this, too: there are all kinds of reasons why particular actors get cast, and the other factors may count the most, in the final decision.  I say that, now, because  a lot of Hollywood Actor Prep users are auditioning, quite a bit, lately…

That’s all I can say.  

Need I say more?

This “auteur” is at the top of my list. Really, I don’t think there is a more creative or brilliant American filmmaker out in this Hollywood Nation, or anywhere else in this country…

I am a tough critic, and it is hard to “knock me out” with too much.  

HERE IS THE NEW CHARLIE KAUFMAN TRAILER!!!!  (YES I AM YELLING …WITH GLEE)   ;}