Easter Podcast: Noah, Under the Skin, Budapest Hotel

SEASON PREMIERE
Ready for another year of the podcast? The gang is back: Nathaniel R, (The Film Experience), Joe Reid (The Wire), Katey Rich (Vanity Fair) and Nick Davis (Nick's Flick Picks) reunite to discuss this unusually robust auteur spring at the movies. 

This week's topics: Darren Aronofsky's peculiar muddy vision for Noah starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly & Emma Watson; Jonathan Glazer (Birth) and Scarlett Johansson's Under the Skin; and Wes Anderson's biggest hit The Grand Budapest Hotel. Did we want to check in and stay?

Under Noah's Skin at the Budapest Hotel
00:00 Noah (story diversion, auteur vision, character work)
18:45 Under the Skin (visual storytelling, interpretation, Scarlett)
29:00 Noah and Under the Skin (in communication)
36:30 The Grand Budapest Hotel (inside & outside friction, accepting Wes, art direction)
44:30 Ralph Fiennes and the movies Oscar buzz
49:00 Other movie recommendations: Le Week-end and Blue Ruin.

You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the post or download the conversation on iTunes. Continue the conversation in the comments.me, I Heart Huckabees, Taxi Driver, King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambíen, 

Under Noah's Skin at the Budapest Hotel

Noah Has Some Explaning To Do

Darren Aronofksy's Noah, which opens on March 28th, is expected to open well and is now getting rapturous advance praise with weirdly common references to The Fountain because it's "polarizing" and yet no one is saying they hate it, so, um try again! You have to have both love and hate for something to be called polarizing, duh.

I have been worried about it, just like Michael, but I'm excited now.

But if there isn't a scene where Noah apologizes for leaving The Last Unicorns behind, I'mma be pissed. 

related
Yes, No, Maybe So - JA on the trailer
Aronofsky's Familiar Faces - Mark Margolis and Gregg Bello are both in Noah - Are any of the Aronofsky's other preferred ensemble players?

Yes No Maybe So - Noah

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JA from MNPP here, taking a look at the first trailer for Darren Aronofsky's bible-epic Noah, giving us the titular tale of one man, one god, two of every animal, and a whole bunch of water. There have been whispers of a battle between the studio and the director over the film's tone - they want it to play straight for the church crowds and that Passion of the Christ money, while Darren Aronofsky, well, is Darren Aronofsky, and I think he probably doesn't have a lot of interest in not complicating Ye Olde Tale a little bit. Well now we've got an inkling, two and a half minutes of inkling, what's what.

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So let's break that sucker down into Nat's patented three-tiered system.

YES

-- Darren Aronofsky, of course - I might be more pro-Aronofsky than a lot of you, so perhaps you should take my opinion on this knowing that fact; I've loved deep in my bones every single film he's made (yes including The Fountain). His last film Black Swan might be my favorite even, but it was shamelessly playing right to my wheel-house so I could hardly help myself.

-- Emma Watson and Logan Lerman reunited! Let's hope they stick their heads out of the sunroof of the Ark while a David Bowie song plays.

-- You can already see the magic touch of Matthew Libatique all over it - some of that quick flashing nature photography is stunning. Speaking of...

-- Whatever this guy is! He's a big creepy plus. Do you think he's supposed to be Satan in the Garden? There's also a flash of an apple being picked, so I think I might be onto something. Anyway I hope there are all kinds of fanciful creatures mixed in with the usual elephants and giraffes and zebras we see in Noah stories.

-- The flaming sword scorching the Earth is kick ass!

NO

-- The CG animal stampede is kind of cheesy here in our first glimpse of it. Of course I don't know how you play that without it coming off cheesy. Hopefully by the time the movie's out in March they'll have made the CG a little bit more convincing, at least.

-- Similarly that shot of the Ark rocking in the waves at the end is some 2012 slash The Perfect Storm cheese. And way to give away the ending!

-- The fight scenes all look really monochromatic and good god we've seen that enough by now haven't we?

-- I never thought I'd be sick of Anthony Hopkins, but I'm sick of Anthony Hopkins.

MAYBE SO

-- Jennifer Connolly hasn't worked with Aronofsky since she gave that wonderful performance in Requiem For a Dream, which kind of kicked off her serious career. (Hey I love Labyrinth as much as the next guy.) - let's hope that the role of Noah's Wife is more than just the noble suffering "I'm With Stupid tee-shirt" role and she's got something to play. I've missed her lately.

-- I'm not the world's biggest Russell Crowe fan, and it's obvious that the studio wants us to think this is Gladiator 2: God's On His Side Now, but he looks pretty commanding with that shaved head and beard inside a tasteful yet butch rough-hewn cotton ensemble, and I'll admit, he's pretty perfect for the part.

So what say you people? Will you be boarding the ship with Darren and company on March 28th 2014, or are you feeling agnostic about this storm?
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Uh Huh Link Her

Erik Lundegaard on lipsyching w/ talent via Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Jimmy Fallon
Guardian Kevin Smith talks about Ben Affleck's Bat Cave. errrrrr....
Empire The Help reunion! Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer will co-star in a James Brown biopic for Tate Taylor. Unfortunately neither won of them is playing James Brown (This aint no I'm Not There)
THR Hugh Jackman will play a supporting role in Chappie, the next sci-fi epic from Neil Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium)

Towleroad James Franco's Sal Mineo biopic Sal which seems like it was completed many years ago finally gets a trailer
Deadline good grief. They put up and then removed a Diana poster from the Princess's crash site in Paris?
NY Times Magazine talks to director Kimberly Peirce about her stop and start career, from Boys Don't Cry to Carrie 

Today's Must Read
Interview Magazine is featuring a conversation between Darren Aronofsky and Scarlett Johansson about Her (which Aronofsky loves and which she vocally stars in) and the funny but serious banter reminds us of why we love both of them.

"I've got Patrick"... Scarlett photographed by Patrick Demarchelier for Interview

Scarlett even indirectly adresses what we were talking about on the last podcast, how she's totally become a more nuanced dimensional actress in the past couple of years:

JOHANSSON: I like doing voice work, and I've also become increasingly interested in pushing different parts of performance, whether it's a physical thing or a kind of vocal nuance, so this seemed like it would be an interesting thing to at least talk about...

ARONOFSKY: Did you think about what you were going to do with your voice in terms of what artificial intelligence might sound like? Or was the goal always just to be as present and natural with the performance as possible?

JOHANSSON: Well, one thing that Spike really emphasized was the fact that the character, Samantha, is really experiencing everything in the moment because she's developing, so she doesn't have any preconceived ideas of anything. Even her programming is not really preconceived—she has no opinion on anything until she forms it right then, in the moment. So Spike just wanted it to have a real levity and, I think, a curiosity. He also wanted that level of depth. So more than just the tone of the voice, which was ultimately sort of unimportant. With her, it was about finding the shape of things and building this character that's almost a babe—but just fresh out of the package in every way.

Fresh out of the package in every way, eh? That's how she feels as an actress of late. The change is 100 proof intoxicating.

Burning Questions: On Perfect Games and "Noah" Jitters

Hey everybody. Michael C. here. Quick question: By your estimation, which directors are currently pitching a perfect game? By which I mean, which filmmakers have yet to make a bad or even a so-so film so far in their career. I can think of three off hand: Spike Jonze, Brad Bird and Darren Aronofsky.

Darren Aronofsky and Logan Lerman on the set of NoahOf course, your mileage may vary on these choices. Right away, I’m sure a lot of you jump ship with The Fountain (Aronofsky), and one could debate whether Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Bird) is a great movie or merely great for a Mission Impossible movie. Feel free to substitute one of your own choices for any of the above. My point isn’t to reopen the debate on these movies. My point is, rarely, if ever, do filmmakers make it through a full career without stumbling at least once, more likely a few times. Even the Coens, who made it nearly two decades without a misstep (Shut up. I like The Hudsucker Proxy), eventually crashed against the rocks with Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. So when directors are in a golden period where they have yet to step wrong, it’s bittersweet because chances are excellent it is not going to last.

Not that a failure-free career should be an artist’s goal, anyway. If I can paraphrase Laurence Fishburne's sage advice from Searching for Bobby Fischer, you can’t play not to lose. The edge of defeat, that’s where you want to be. I prefer my filmmakers who approach things like Robert Altman. Taking huge, all-or-nothing swings at every pitch, knocking it into the parking lot when he connects, lying flat on his ass when he wipes out.

Take Aronofsky. I can't shake the feeling that his upcoming Noah is a giant miscalculation. 

I’m not looking to tread on anybody’s religion here, but it’s hard to deny the essential silliness of the Noah story, and the recently released first official images did nothing to quiet my concerns. I have tremendous faith in Aronofsky’s ability to raise some impressive Biblical thunder, but at some point Russell Crowe will start marching animals on to a big boat and when that happens it’s going to be difficult to keep a straight face, yes?

 

Chances are excellent Mr. Aronofsky will transform the familiar tale in ways I never anticipated, and when that happens I will shake my head at ever having doubted him. But even if my worst fears are fulfilled, it will still be gratifying to know we still have a cinema where filmmakers are free to indulge in a grand folly now and then.

Can you think of a director to who managed to make it a full career without tripping up? (One could make a strong case for Kubrick. I would disagree) Can someone out there give me reason to look forward to Noah? Let me know in the comments.

Previous Burning Questions
You can follow Michael C. on Twitter at @SeriousFilm. Or read his blog Serious Film