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BIG SCREEN
MUBI Farley Granger gorgeous star of Rope and Strangers on a Train has died at 85. RIP
Cinema Blend Our friend Katey is vlogging from Cinema Con in Vegas.
Antagony & Ecstacy has an amusing April movie preview.
IndieWire limits it to 8 limited release films that you must see.

SMALL SCREEN
Basket of Kisses is in tight with Matthew Weiner of Mad Men creation fame. I know because I went to a viewing party they threw in which he showed up! He spoke to them about what's going on with the show in light of all the negotiations and the dread news that we won't get the show again until 2012.
Basket of Kisses and here's some dire speculation about the cast cutting. Seriously, how on earth would they cut some of the headliners and still have the show?
The Daily Blam looks like they've already adjusted Wonder Woman's costume (previously discussed) to get rid of that vinyl shine on the pants.
A Socialite's Life Shangela from RuPaul's Drag Race got cast in a pilot for a hairdressing show starring Don Johnson. Kind of funny if you stop to think about it since Shangela was the one queen who couldn't style a wig for shit.
Pajiba lists the worst TV theme songs currently on the air.

How on earth do you cut this cast way down? They make the show!

OFF SCREEN
La Daily Musto Can this be true? Scissor Sisters asked to tone down their sparkle when opening for Lady Gaga. Boo! Never tell that awesome band to tone it down.
Cheyenne Jackson in the dentists chair. Hee. Truly nothing is private anymore. (thx)

Reader of the Day: Keir

Hope you're enjoying getting to know The Film Experience community with me. Some times I pick up bits from comments but this has been a much fuller picture, and so fun. I hope you've enjoyed. We wrap up tomorrow.

Today's featured reader is Keir.

Nathaniel: Do you remember your first moviegoing experience?
KEIR: Yes I do. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't a glorious experience. My Grandmother took me to see E.T., and I suppose I was a little wimp because every time E.T. would appear on the screen I would cry. I guess I thought he was scary. I think I remember her laughing a bit, then asking me if I want to see something else.

OMG. I went with my grandmother to E.T., too. Scout's honor. I remember she didn't like it and the rest of the year when everyone was like 'the whole world loves E.T.' I was like 'Um... Grandma 'Bel didn't!'

So... when did you start reading The Film Experience?
After the Brokeback Mountain mess. I wanted to vent my anger. (I knew that you were a big supporter, and couldn't wait to see what you had to say about it.)  I especially love and appreciate your tribute to actresses.

You work or worked for Disney as a performer, right?
Yes, I'm a dancer first and foremost. I also worked for Royal Caribbean, and did the national tour of "Contact". I also sing, but dancing is really my love and passion.

Keir (left) in a number based around Dr. Facilier (right) from "The Princess and the Frog"

What's your favorite musical number?
I was a soloist for the number "Mr. Bojangles" from "Fosse". It remains my favorite piece that I ever did. It took everything out of me each time I performed it. There was always a sense of accomplishment whether or not I executed the number technically perfect. Bob Fosse is by far my favorite choreographer and my favorite style.

What film genres besides musicals do you love?
Well, actually I would say that Dramas are my favorite film genre, I suppose because I'm such a drama queen myself.  I'm always affected the most by a film that stirs my emotions and makes me think.

A guilty pleasure for me are horror films. I know that 9 times out 10 it's going to be a bad film, but I love the thrill of it. It's always good to see a horror film with a date as well. I once went on a date to see The Notebook, and it was so awkward after.

Three favorite actresses. Go!
Hmmm...well, it will be hard to pick just three, but I would have to say: Meryl Streep is by far my favorite actress. I know it's such a typical answer, but that's for a reason. She is so versatile and natural in everything she does. I also look forward to her speeches, because she always makes me laugh. She is my acting God, for sure.

I've always had a thing for Gwyneth Paltrow. I'm in the minority that thinks she was absolutely the right choice back in '98. She is sophisticated and charming. I really had no idea that she could sing as well, which makes me like her even more. Sally Field is amazing as well.

He likes her. He really likes her. (So does Nathaniel!)

She has the right mix of humor and drama in her scenes. I've loved every single performance of hers.

On a side note, I LOVE Natalie Portman now. I'm biased in my belief that she was the rightful winner this year for obvious reasons. I love when an actor/actress can surprise you and knock your socks off.

Stage and Screen: "Facing East" and "Priscilla"

I'm still trying to work up to a weekly Theater series (as related to cinema as it can be) as I know that many readers are interested in Broadway, too... but we'll see. It's difficult to branch out onto those invite lists.

To most people the news that Broadway star Will Swenson, who was so sensational as "Berger" in Hair  is going to direct a film called "Facing East" about a Mormon family dealing with their gay son's suicide is just regular pre-production movie news. To me it's college nostalgia gone wild. The universe is just refusing to let me live in the present this past month or so. So many things keep throwing me backwards in time. See, Swenson went to BYU in the 90s when I was there and he's the second alum to make me feel completely unproductive. What have I been doing with my life? First there was Aaron Eckhart, who preceded us, becoming a movie star and now Swenson, directing on top of being an amazing musical theater performer? 

I have to thank Towleroad for sharing the news but it's more than news to me; it's personal.

The writer of the play Carol Lynn Pearson was kind of a heroine for me and my friends in college because she was a (controversial) Mormon celebrity who was speaking out within the Mormon community about the LGBT struggle when people just didn't talk about it. Or talked about it in horrific ways. (I could tell you horror stories.) We all read her memoir "Goodbye I Love You" (her ex-husband, a closeted gay man, died of AIDS) and went to see her one woman monologue show "Mother Wove the Morning." I haven't seen this play "Facing East" but if anyone is familiar do share.

While it seems odd for a Broadway star to get a movie directing gig, it's not an entirely random decision. Swenson was a headline star of that brief media-blip wave of Mormon cinema in the early Aughts. He knows the subject matter and he has one directorial feature under his belt already: Sons of Provo, 2004. I only ever saw one of those "Mollywood" (teehee) features, a murder mystery called Brigham City (2001) which was okay.

Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving in PRISCILLA (1994)

Currently Swenson is headlining Priscilla on Broadway. Yes, it's based on the 1994 Oscar winner. Swenson has the Hugo Weaving role of "Mitzi", who drives the narrative with her performing gig in the outback, taken for secretive personal reasons. Nick Adams is playing the showy Guy Pearce "Felicia" part and Tony Sheldon has the best role "Bernadette" previously played by Terence Stamp to Oscar nomination worthy effect. Damn you AMPAS.

(It's weird that Broadway is colliding with Mormonism right now, huh? The Book of Mormon is all anybody wants to talk about.)

OFFSCREEN 
For what it's worth Swenson is dating the one & only Audra McDonald. McDonald has been wasting her musical talents for some years now on television in Private Practice (unless that show has become a musical against my knowledge). Then again if she's not on TV she's not going to win the EGOT and she's only an Emmy and an Oscar away. She's already got two Grammys and four Tonys!

While I'm sure her bank account thanks her for the series regular decision, voices like hers (straight up magnificent) don't come around very often. If you are anywhere near the Boston area, try to get a ticket to the reimagining of Porgy and Bess that's coming in August with McDonald headlining. It'll most likely be a true event.

Cloud and "The Music Box"

Despite the egomaniacal reputations that usually fuse themselves to one-named-superstars, one of my favorite things about Madonna is how many careers she's helped bolster or even launch over the years. Whole armies of people owe their careers to her and even people who were doing all right for themselves before her involvement won new fans through her friendship or fandom or enthusiasm (Sandra Bernhard, Antonio Banderas, Alanis Morrissette, Sacha Baron Cohen, etc...) The last performer she took a shine to that I  latched onto was Daniel Cloud Campos. He had a showcased Madonna debut in the "Hung Up" video and went on to dance in other videos and on tour with her.

Now he's the writer/director/editor/actor/choreographer/dancer (whew) of the short film "The Music Box". It's ten minutes of goofy inventive cheer and a must-watch for people who love dance-heavy musicals and wish the movies would someday get another Gene Kelly (as if), someone whose joy of dance just made the audience feel all limber and gravity defiant inside.

Some people have too many talents. But we can't hate them when they're so generous and cheerful about the sharing.

Manuel Muñoz on Psycho, Nashville, and Movies as Inspiration

Interview
The Film Experience doesn't often push books upon you, but it's time for an exception. Manuel Muñoz's debut novel "What You See in the Dark" hits bookstores, virtual and otherwise, this week. While it is a work of fiction, it borrows from reality for its backdrop. The pre-production and eventual release of Alfred Hitchcock's immortal Psycho (1960) figure into the narrative in crucial and evocative ways and both The Actress and The Director in question are characters.

Consider this amazing "double feature"

Full Disclosure (as I always believe in such things): I met Manuel Muñoz at a poetry event about four years  ago and he introduced himself as a reader of The Film Experience. Though predisposed to rooting for him as a result (I'm only human!) we hadn't really kept in good touch. In the intervening years, I bought a copy of his second short story collection. Two months ago his first novel arrived in galley form and I ate it right up.  I think it's quite an amazing read.

Nathaniel: Before your beautiful novel, which we'll get to in a moment, you had two short story collections published. The first piece of yours I ever read was "Skyshot" which had an amazing Robert Altman thread. That really won me over. How did that story come about and has the cinema always inspired you creatively as a writer?

Manuel Muñoz: I was lucky enough to see Nashville on the big screen at the Brattle in Cambridge when I was in college. I was stunned by it, and it remains my favorite film (with The Piano a close second.) Altman's command of multiple character arcs enthralled me--it was the closest I'd seen a film parallel the possibilities of words on the page. He could shift magnificently and I loved that he could suggest interiority with camera movement: I was stunned when I realized the camera had crept up on Lily Tomlin as she listened to "I'm Easy." (He did the same to Ronee when she sings "Dues.")

At the time, I was coming to terms with identity and subject matter, so it confused me to be so attracted to a film like Nashville, which is far outside my experience.

Manuel Muñoz by © Stuart Bernstein

But I eventually thought of how often we use films to narrate our own lives. I've never sat at the back of a bar while in love with a performer on stage, but I've worn that look that Lily has on her face. Know what I mean?

Nathaniel: I think so.  But to the point on identity. I've always believed that specificity -- be it in sharply drawn characterizations or carefully observed milieus -- has a way of inverting itself so it's suddenly universal. I see that in your writing too as you're often dealing with the Chicano experience, which I have little connection to and yet it's totally alive for me.

I'm guessing this has a lot to do with an assured storytelling voice, one that's relaxed about the audience feeling whatever it is they're going to feel without forcing it upon them.

Read the full interview for more on Great Actressing, casting dreams, Psycho and unlikely inspirations.

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