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De Palma a la Mod

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Recent Headlines
a la Mod:

Domino is
a "disarmingly
straight-forward"
work that "pushes
us to reexamine our
relationship to images
and their consumption,
not only ethically
but metaphysically"
-Collin Brinkman

De Palma on Domino
"It was not recut.
I was not involved
in the ADR, the
musical recording
sessions, the final
mix or the color
timing of the
final print."

Listen to
Donaggio's full score
for Domino online

De Palma/Lehman
rapport at work
in Snakes

De Palma/Lehman
next novel is Terry

De Palma developing
Catch And Kill,
"a horror movie
based on real things
that have happened
in the news"

Supercut video
of De Palma's films
edited by Carl Rodrigue

Washington Post
review of Keesey book

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Exclusive Passion
Interviews:

Brian De Palma
Karoline Herfurth
Leila Rozario

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AV Club Review
of Dumas book

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« May 2012 »
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Interviews...

De Palma interviewed
in Paris 2002

De Palma discusses
The Black Dahlia 2006


Enthusiasms...

De Palma Community

The Virtuoso
of the 7th Art

The De Palma Touch

The Swan Archives

Carrie...A Fan's Site

Phantompalooza

No Harm In Charm

Paul Schrader

Alfred Hitchcock
The Master Of Suspense

Alfred Hitchcock Films

Snake Eyes
a la Mod

Mission To Mars
a la Mod

Sergio Leone
and the Infield
Fly Rule

Movie Mags

Directorama

The Filmmaker Who
Came In From The Cold

Jim Emerson on
Greetings & Hi, Mom!

Scarface: Make Way
For The Bad Guy

The Big Dive
(Blow Out)

Carrie: The Movie

Deborah Shelton
Official Web Site

The Phantom Project

Welcome to the
Offices of Death Records

The Carlito's Way
Fan Page

The House Next Door

Kubrick on the
Guillotine

FilmLand Empire

Astigmia Cinema

LOLA

Cultural Weekly

A Lonely Place

The Film Doctor

italkyoubored

Icebox Movies

Medfly Quarantine

Not Just Movies

Hope Lies at
24 Frames Per Second

Motion Pictures Comics

Diary of a
Country Cinephile

So Why This Movie?

Obsessive Movie Nerd

Nothing Is Written

Ferdy on Films

Cashiers De Cinema

This Recording

Mike's Movie Guide

Every '70s Movie

Dangerous Minds

EatSleepLiveFilm

No Time For
Love, Dr. Jones!

The former
De Palma a la Mod
site

Entries by Topic
A note about topics: Some blog posts have more than one topic, in which case only one main topic can be chosen to represent that post. This means that some topics may have been discussed in posts labeled otherwise. For instance, a post that discusses both The Boston Stranglers and The Demolished Man may only be labeled one or the other. Please keep this in mind as you navigate this list.
All topics  «
Ambrose Chapel
Are Snakes Necessary?
BAMcinématek
Bart De Palma
Beaune Thriller Fest
Becoming Visionary
Betty Buckley
Bill Pankow
Black Dahlia
Blow Out
Blue Afternoon
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Bonfire Of The Vanities
Books
Boston Stranglers
Bruce Springsteen
Cannes
Capone Rising
Carlito's Way
Carrie
Casualties Of War
Catch And Kill
Cinema Studies
Clarksville 1861
Columbia University
Columbo - Shooting Script
Congo
Conversation, The
Cop-Out
Cruising
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De Palma & Donaggio
De Palma (doc)
De Palma Blog-A-Thon
De Palma Discussion
Demolished Man
Dick Vorisek
Dionysus In '69
Domino
Dressed To Kill
Edward R. Pressman
Eric Schwab
Fatal Attraction
Femme Fatale
Film Series
Fire
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Fury, The
Genius of Love
George Litto
Get To Know Your Rabbit
Ghost & The Darkness
Greetings
Happy Valley
Havana Film Fest
Heat
Hi, Mom!
Hitchcock
Home Movies
Inspired by De Palma
Iraq, etc.
Jack Fisk
Jared Martin
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Keith Gordon
Key Man, The
Laurent Bouzereau
Lights Out
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Magic Hour
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Mod
Montreal World Film Fest
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Murder a la Mod
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Nazi Gold
Newton 1861
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Palmetto
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Passion
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Print The Legend
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Raising Cain
Red Shoes, The
Redacted
Responsive Eye
Retribution
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Rotwang muß weg!
Sakamoto
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Sisters
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Sunday, May 20, 2012
RAPACE LISTENED TO LOTS OF WAGNER
AS SHE SUBMERGED HERSELF INTO HER 'PASSION' CHARACTER

Above is an Instagram picture, posted by Hein van Joolen, of a banner for Passion at the Cannes Film Festival. Van Joolen, a sales manager from Amsterdam, states in the photo's caption that he saw the first footage of Passion this week, and that the film will be released this winter. (Thanks to Lindsey for the translation!) Meanwhile, Noomi Rapace Online has posted scans from the June issue of the U.K. magazine Dazed & Confused, which features Rapace on the cover. Near the end of the article, Rapace is interviewed by phone from Berlin, where she was, at the time, working on Passion. Here is that excerpt from the article by Hannah Lack:

As the clock ticks towards the release of Prometheus, forgetting Rapace won’t be easy—she’s following up Ridley Scott by working with another film titan, Scarface director Brian De Palma. A few weeks after we meet, Rapace calls from an apartment in Berlin where she has set up temporary home while shooting De Palma’s new feature Passion, a remake of 2010 French cat-and-mouse psychodrama Crime d’amour. Her accent has taken on an American twang, and she’s submerged in a new character, tinkering with whatever volatile spirits will bring it to life. Today, this involves listening to a lot of Wagner. “I don’t usually do interviews while I’m shooting,” she pauses. "At the moment I’m so deep in it, it’s hard for me to step out. When I was doing the Millennium movies I’d drink coffee in a corner, while everyone else was talking and laughing. I was angry and isolated, but when I look back I see, of course, it was Lisbeth—she was in charge, leading the way. But with this movie, it feels like we’re becoming some kind of disturbed, dysfunctional family!” A car is on its way to escort her to the set—they’ve been wrapping at three or four a.m., but she’ll be up to take her son to school in the morning. Meanwhile, there are new scripts on the table, awaiting her consideration. Rapace has decided that whatever character she invites into her life next, it will not be a ditsy, Jennifer Aniston-style rom-com heroine. “A character who’s happy and doing a bit of yoga and going on a date? That’s not for me. I think life is both darkness and light, almost like a battlefield with those two forces. I’ve always been drawn to… not darkness, but things with an edge,” she says. “When I’m working, I don’t care if I look ugly or fat, skinny or shave my head… I took a decision early on that I refuse to be driven by my vanity.” She thinks for a second before adding: “Perfection is boring.” And with that, Noomi Rapace—former punk, new action hero—sums up why she’s the perfect antidote to every vanilla starlet on our screens.

Posted by Geoff at 3:05 AM CDT
Updated: Sunday, May 20, 2012 4:10 PM CDT
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Tuesday, May 15, 2012
'PASSION' TEASER TO BE SHOWN AT CANNES
AS NEW IMAGES HIT THE FILM'S FACEBOOK PAGE


According to the Facebook page for Brian De Palma's Passion, Wild Bunch plans to show a teaser for the film at its offices in Cannes during the film festival. The offices are located at 4 la Croisette. But the real exciting part of the new Facebook page is the set of six pictures posted yesterday, including the one above and the several below. These images are tantalizing, and anticipation for this film is only just ramping up...


Posted by Geoff at 12:27 AM CDT
Updated: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 12:29 AM CDT
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Monday, May 14, 2012
'PASSION' POSTER GOES TO MARKET AT CANNES
AND RAINER BOCK ADDED TO CAST CREDITS AT IMDB


The above poster is being used to represent Brian De Palma's Passion for SBS Productions and Wild Bunch Distribution at the Film Market of the Cannes Film Festival, which opens on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the IMDB has added Rainer Bock to its Passion cast credits, where he is listed as "Inspector Bach." Bock, pictured here, is a veteran German actor of the stage, TV, and film. He has appeared in Steven Spielberg's War Horse, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon. In 2008, Bock appeared in Caroline Link's A Year Ago In Winter, which featured Passion's Karoline Herfurth in a starring role.

Also of note is a post from Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, who visited Studio Babelsberg on Friday, one week after the Passion crew likely cleared out of there. Wells' post includes a couple of interesting videos he took while being given a tour of the studio. In one video, the tour guide, Eike Wolf (Studio Babelsberg's head of corporate communication), shows Wells where parts of Cloud Atlas were recently filmed, and in another, they walk through a room full of props, including a copy of the British prime minister's book from Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer.

Posted by Geoff at 5:13 PM CDT
Updated: Monday, May 14, 2012 5:55 PM CDT
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012
'PASSION' SET PIC WITH DE PALMA & RAPACE
This picture is tiny, but it shows Brian De Palma and Noomi Rapace rehearsing a circular dolly-track at Gendarmenmarkt while shooting Passion. The film was shot in Berlin between March and May.

Posted by Geoff at 10:09 PM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 10:11 PM CDT
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DE PALMA: DOMINIC COOPER IS NOT IN 'PASSION'
I asked Brian De Palma whether or not Dominic Cooper is indeed part of the cast for Passion, and he replied that he is not. After a Media Biz report from the Berlin Film Festival in February listed Cooper as part of a cast that includes Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, and Karoline Herfurth, it was widely reported and accepted that Cooper was indeed part of the cast. It is now clear that he is not.

Posted by Geoff at 12:07 AM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 12:09 AM CDT
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Tuesday, May 8, 2012
FIRST OFFICIAL STILL FROM 'PASSION'
AND A PLOT SYNOPSIS THAT LEAVES AN EXTRA TEASE

Just a week ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, Indiewire's The Playlist has the first official still from Brian De Palma's Passion (above), as well as a synopsis (initially posted at the Wild Bunch sales site) that amps up the anticipation level:

An erotic thriller in the tradition of "Dressed To Kill" and "Basic Instinct", Brian De Palma's PASSION tells the story of a deadly power struggle between two women in the dog-eat-dog world of international business. Christine possesses the natural elegance and casual ease associated with one who has a healthy relationship with money and power. Innocent, lovely and easily exploited, her admiring protégé Isabelle is full of cutting-edge ideas that Christine has no qualms about stealing. They're on the same team, after all... Christine takes pleasure in exercising control over the younger woman, leading her one step at a time ever deeper into a game of seduction and manipulation, dominance and humiliation. But when Isabelle falls into bed with one of Christine's lovers, war breaks out. On the night of the murder, Isabelle is at the ballet, while Christine receives an invitation to seduction. From whom? Christine loves surprises. Naked she goes to meet the mystery lover waiting in her bedroom...

Such a tease...! So, aside from a naked Rachel McAdams, there is one more new piece of information to glean from the above: it looks like the movie theater of the original Alain Corneau film (Love Crime) has been changed to the ballet. Knowing of De Palma's love for Powell & Pressburger's The Red Shoes, and recalling Carlito's longing for Gayle in the beautifully heartbreaking ballet class scene in De Palma's Carlito's Way, this sounds intriguing, to say the least.
(Thanks to Mary!)


Posted by Geoff at 1:33 PM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 12:26 AM CDT
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Monday, May 7, 2012
VIDEO: 'CARRIE' PANEL AT TEXAS FRIGHTMARE
P.J. SOLES SAYS DE PALMA'S VISION BROUGHT HORROR GENRE TO OSCARS

FrontRow's Adam Donaghey posted an account of the final day of this past weekend's Texas Frightmare convention, which included a Carrie panel made up of Piper Laurie, Nancy Allen, and P.J. Soles. "When asked how they originally perceived the script," writes Donaghey, "the cast of Carrie all agreed they thought it was satirical. Piper Laurie remarked that she’d even prepared some physical comedy bits, including pulling herself around the set by her hair. Director Brian De Palma’s response was something to the nature of, 'No, you can’t do that – you’ll get a laugh!'" Donaghey adds that "Carrie‘s major claim to fame is that it was a benchmark for genre films receiving Academy Award noms. '[Carrie] lead the charge,” said P. J. Soles, “Not because it was a Stephen King film, but because of De Palma’s vision.'"

Posted by Geoff at 8:03 PM CDT
Updated: Monday, May 7, 2012 8:04 PM CDT
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Thursday, May 3, 2012
'PASSION' INCLUDES FASHION SHOW SCENE, ETC.
FOR MUSEUM-SET SCENES, CORNELIA OTT DESIGNED FIVE SCULPTURES, "WITH WATCHES IN BELLIES & BREASTS"

An article posted today by Märkische Allgemeine's Ricarda Nowak (dated May 4, 2012), states that shooting on Brian De Palma's Passion wraps up on Saturday. The article features an interview with production designer Cornelia Ott, who talks about the way she and the Babelsberg Art Department transformed 30 of the film's Berlin locations, including a catwalk for a fashion show, which was filmed at the Sofitel hotel (a room of which is pictured below). Most interestingly, Ott designed five sculptures used in the scenes filmed at the Bode Museum, "with elegant watches stuck in their breasts and bellies," according to the article. What follows is an English translation of the first three paragraphs of the article (the fourth and final paragraph simply lists credits and plot for the film).

Salvador Dali-inspired sculptures appear to be in the Bode Museum, with elegant watches stuck in their breasts and bellies. Normally, visitors marvel at the Wilhelminian-built consumer product, but for the new thriller Passion by director Brian De Palma, the Bode Museum was transformed into a movie set. Berlin is the secret star of the movie. The Scarface director filmed on 30 original locations - which the Art Department of Studio Babelsberg either remodeled or supplemented.

For the shooting at the Bode Museum, where a reception of the watchmaker Bulgari takes place, production designer Cornelia Ott said the Babelsberg craftsmen were responsible for the construction of five sculptures, which were used as exhibit supports. In the paint workshop, various surfaces were imitated: white and green marble, bronze, gold bronze, stainless steel.

"For the most part, the locations got a new feature," said the production designer. Thus, the Schöneberg Town Hall served as the "London office" of an advertising agency. In the historical room of the Sofitel hotel, a fashion show was filmed: The art department made a transparent catwalk, so that the light from the illuminated floor below could be used. The metal workshop from the studio was also used to construct the iron frame designed for the catwalk. The studio craftsmen have "built my designs with excellent virtuosity," praised Cornelia Ott, who has worked several times with the Studio Babelsberg group, on international productions such as Unknown (2011) and Brothers (2009). And Art Department Chairman Michael Düwel was pleased to have been able to work for Brian De Palma.


Posted by Geoff at 8:25 PM CDT
Updated: Friday, May 4, 2012 4:21 PM CDT
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
'SISTERS'/'PHANTOM' DOUBLE FEATURE AT UCLA TONIGHT
DE PALMA/PRESSMAN/FINLEY FILMS SCREENED FROM 35MM PRINTS

Tonight at 7:30, UCLA Film & Television Archive presents a Brian De Palma double feature at the Million Dollar Theater. The two films, Sisters (1973) and Phantom Of The Paradise (1974), also happen to have been produced by Edward R. Pressman, and they both star William Finley, who passed away last month. Both will be screened in 35mm, with the Sisters print courtesy of the Edward R. Pressman Collection at the Academy Film Archive.

Posted by Geoff at 5:20 PM CDT
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Tuesday, May 1, 2012


Posted by Geoff at 12:39 AM CDT
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