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Domino is
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Listen to
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Washington Post
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Exclusive Passion
Interviews:

Brian De Palma
Karoline Herfurth
Leila Rozario

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AV Club Review
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Monday, December 9, 2013
BAUER TALKS 'SCARFACE' ON 30TH ANNIVERSARY
ALSO: 'WOLF OF WALL STREET' DISCUSSIONS INCLUDE MENTIONS OF 'SCARFACE'


Brian De Palma's Scarface opened in theaters thirty years ago today. Both Complex and Moviefone celebrated the anniversary today with "25 Things You Didn't Know About Scarface" articles. The Hollywood Reporter's Aaron Couch posted an interview with Steven Bauer, who said that having spent so much time with co-star Al Pacino while working on the film, shooting the scene in which Tony shoots Manny was difficult for him. He said De Palma did "at least 25 takes" focusing on different angles. "The way [Pacino] looked at me was a little hard to take, I have to say," Bauer tells Couch. "I was sort of secretly happy it was over in a second, and that he fires the gun right away. There's no scene where I say, 'You got it wrong.' I am really glad it was written that way. Oliver [Stone] made it short and sweet."

Bauer also repeated his story of being conratulated by Martin Scorsese following an early Hollywood screening of the film. Here's how Couch writes it:

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However, the director also gave him a warning. "'They are going to hate this movie in Hollywood,'" Bauer recalls Scorsese saying to him. "And I said, 'Why?' And he said, 'Because it's about them.'"

Bauer believes Scorsese meant there were similarities between the excesses of Tony Montana and some Hollywood executives at the time: "There's nothing wrong with chasing the American dream, but if you become greedy, it'll fall from under you. You will self destruct…. [Scorsese] knew there were tendencies in Hollywood to just be over the top."

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SCORSESE DISPUTES GANGSTER COMPARISONS TO 'THE WOLF OF WALL STREET'
Several early discussions of Scorsese's new film, The Wolf Of Wall Street, are using Scarface as a touchstone in discussing the newer film's irredeemably unlikeable main character, with some referring to Wolf as Scarface crossed with Boiler Room, crossed with Stone's Wall Street. In this excerpt from an article by Mary Kaye Schilling at Vulture from last August, Scorsese and Jonah Hill discuss some of these aspects:
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Jordan [Belfort] was a brilliant guy in a world where there may be no morality ­whatsoever,” says Scorsese. “He got caught at what a lot of people didn’t get caught at.” As he sees it, Wolf is about what happens when free-market capitalism becomes a matter of faith. “If you look at what occurred in the world of finance—many times now and it will probably happen again—you really have to ask the questions: Is dishonesty acceptable? Aren’t people expected to go too far?”

Jonah Hill plays Donnie Azoff, Stratton Oakmont’s second in command (a composite of a few characters in the book). Azoff, if possible, is even more gonzo than Belfort, who at least regretted ripping off clients. “Jordan told me that certain people [at Stratton Oakmont] actually enjoyed hurting people,” says Hill, who, along with [Leonardo] DiCaprio, spent time with current day ­traders before shooting began late last summer. “I imagine it’s a lot more politically correct and less chauvinistic now. It certainly couldn’t be more politically incorrect or chauvinistic. But it’s still very alpha male, or alpha female, depending on the person in training. People who are weak, or perceived as weak and emotional, are fed to the wolves.” At Stratton Oakmont, says Hill, the philosophy was kill-or-be-killed, and ­Gordon Gekko was fetishized, but so were Scarface and GoodFellas. “Those were their models,” he adds. “They kind of ran their businesses with those sensibilities.”

Belfort’s arc does sound a little like Henry Hill’s in GoodFellas—in this case, a nice Jewish kid from Bayside, Queens, with a genius for sales, gets seduced and corrupted by Wall Street. But Scorsese disputes comparisons between gangsters and stock brokers. “The parallel between the Mafia and Wall Street works only to the extent that they’re all interested in making as much money as possible, as quickly as possible.”

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A couple of months ago, someone posted a mash-up of the trailers from Wolf Of Wall Street and Scarface on YouTube.

Posted by Geoff at 11:58 PM CST
Updated: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 12:03 AM CST
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Thursday, October 10, 2013
WHATCULTURE ON 'SCARFACE'/'BREAKING BAD'
AND OLIVER STONE CALLS 'BREAKING BAD' FINALE "RIDICULOUS"
Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan has said that he envisioned his show as Mr. Chips becoming Scarface. Now that the AMC series has come to a close, WhatCulture's Joe Young has posted "8 Notable Comparisons Between Breaking Bad And Scarface." Moving from headings such as "Drugs" and "Family," to "Violence" and "Memorable Dialogue," the article is illustrated with images and video clips. The other headings are "Greek Tragedy," "Both Characters Are Eventually Honest With Who They Are," "Neither A Good Advert For Drug Use," and "Explosive Endings."

Meanwhile, during a press conference this week for the DVD release of his Showtime series The Untold History of the United States, Scarface screenwriter Oliver Stone called the Breaking Bad finale "ridiculous," according to Forbes' Todd Gilchrist. With SPOILERS from the season finale, here is an excerpt from Gilchrist's article:
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Speaking to press about the rejuvenating effects of working on documentaries in comparison to his feature work, he suggested that fiction filmmaking has lost respect for the kind of escapism it provides audiences, evidenced by the final episode of Breaking Bad. “There’s too much violence in our movies – and it’s all unreal to me,” he said. “I don’t know if you saw the denouement [of Breaking Bad], I happen to not watch the series very much, but I happened to tune in and I saw the most ridiculous 15 minutes of a movie – it would be laughed off the screen.”

Stone pointedly critiqued Walter White’s method of handling the gang that kidnapped Jesse. “Nobody could park his car right then and there and could have a machine gun that could go off perfectly and kill all of the bad guys! It would be a joke,” he insisted. “It’s only in the movies that you find this kind of fantasy violence. And that’s infected the American culture; you young people believe all of this shit! Batman and Superman, you’ve lost your minds, and you don ‘t even know it! At least respect violence. I’m not saying don’t show violence, but show it with authenticity.

The Untold History of the United States offers a fascinating look at American history, re-examining pivotal moments in the shaping of our culture and our democracy, by placing events like the development of the atomic bomb in a larger, more well-rounded context. When asked whether mainstream entertainment could provide similar sorts of lessons about American culture, Stone said that the infrastructure of studio blockbusters often obscures those potential insights.

“I wouldn’t criticize everything. I’m just saying it’s the level of violence,” Stone explained. “If people think that bringing a machine gun to your last meeting is a solution to a television series that’s very popular, I think they’re insane. Something’s wrong. It’s not the world we know. But I think there might be in Iron Man… there could be some good stories about war profiteering, some good moral tales. I agree. Comics were that for that reason, remember? But when you’ve reached this height of technology level of a Michael [Bay], of a Transformers, I don’t understand the meaning of it and the reason for it, except that it appeals to some visual sense, some kinetic sense of dynamism and a need for action. But action is not always a solution, character is.”

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Posted by Geoff at 7:48 PM CDT
Updated: Thursday, October 10, 2013 7:50 PM CDT
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Wednesday, September 25, 2013
RICK ROSS VIDEO USES CLIPS FROM 'SCARFACE'
ONE DAY AFTER DRAKE'S 'SCARFACE'-INSPIRED VIDEO PREMIERES

Posted by Geoff at 8:02 PM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 8:06 PM CDT
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Tuesday, September 24, 2013
STEVEN BAUER IN BILL POPE'S DRAKE VIDEO
SET IN 1985 MIAMI, RECALLING 'SCARFACE', BUT NOT REALLY

Posted by Geoff at 7:24 PM CDT
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013
PFEIFFER RECALLS 1ST TIME SHE SAW 'SCARFACE'
TELLS FALLON SHE WAS DISTRACTED BY FACT THAT COUPLE HAD BROUGHT CHILD

Posted by Geoff at 10:58 PM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 10:59 PM CDT
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Friday, September 6, 2013
DE PALMA/PACINO AT THE NEW BEVERLY FRI/SAT
'SCARFACE' 30TH ANNIVERSARY / 'CARLITO'S WAY' 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Posted by Geoff at 11:48 PM CDT
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Saturday, August 3, 2013
DAVID YATES IN TALKS FOR 'SCARFACE' REDO
AFTER SEVERAL SCREENWRITERS, UNIVERSAL HIGH ON CURRENT DRAFT
Deadline's Nikki Finke took time out of her vacation this past Wednesday to post a story about Universal's Scarface "reboot." "There’s a ton of curiosity and criticism about Universal‘s Scarface reboot since both the 1932 Chicago bootlegging film and 1983 Miami cocaine-dealing versions were so iconic," Finke states. "Understanding that, the studio according to my sources has been refining the script with several screenwriters and drafts while keeping all names and details under wraps."

One of Finke's sources is quoted, “Universal has been through a couple of drafts and now is very high on the current draft. The first stop is the director. This is before any conversations on talent or timing.” Finke says she has learned that British director David Yates, who is high in-demand after directing the final four "Harry Potter" movies, is in final talks with the studio to direct the picture. "Though he normally works at Warner Bros," states Finke, "Yates has been the subject of considerable chatter over which film projects he’d do next."

Posted by Geoff at 8:48 PM CDT
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Tuesday, July 16, 2013
DE PALMA TO APPEAR ON STROMBO WEDNESDAY
STEVEN BAUER LAST NIGHT: "EVERY SINGLE DAY IS A SCARFACE DAY"


Brian De Palma is a scheduled guest for Wednesday's edition of CBC Television's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. The web site description states, "Director Brian De Palma is here to talk about his new movie Passion and his long career in the movie biz. From Carrie, his breakthrough feature which redefined 'prom night disaster' to the iconic Scarface, this is a director who keeps the audience's attention."

De Palma's appearance comes just two days after Steven Bauer appeared on the show (see video above). Bauer is making the rounds for his role on the new Showtime series Ray Donovan, but spent most of his interview talking about Scarface. Stroumboulopoulos asked Bauer, "Does the Manny from Scarface thing happen every day in your life?" To which Bauer replied, "Every single day is a Scarface day." In discussing his role on AMC's Breaking Bad, Bauer mentioned that, again, Scarface came through for him, because creator Vince Gilligan, a fan of De Palma's film, had the idea to basically take Manny and put him in the show.

Bauer was also interviewed by Parade's Joel Keller, and dicussed screenwriter Oliver Stone getting banned from the Scarface set: "There was so much disagreement on some points that Oliver Stone was banned from the movie. He was banned from the set. Brian [De Palma] didn’t want him around. For the most part, Al [Pacino] didn’t either, because Oliver would show up with a big fat script under his arm and he’d say ‘Have you shot this today?’ And he would always find me: ‘Steve. Steve. Come here. Have you shot this scene?’ And I’d say, ‘No. They cut it. We’re not doing it.’ And he’d go crazy and he’d run into Al’s dressing room and he’d be nuts. He would have a big battle with Brian De Palma and Brian was just like ‘You know what? You did your job. You let us make the movie.’"

Bauer also told Keller about the initial bad reviews: "Some of them were really horrible on Al, on his acting. They were like ‘Oh, he’s over the top. He’s become operatic. He should go back to acting school.’ It was really, really terrible, and it’s funny because he had prepared me for it. We were together all the time and I used to speculate. I used to drive him crazy and say, ‘What do you think? Can you imagine…’ because we’d finish a scene and it would be so out there, so crazy. He always kept me with him and I would make him laugh and stuff. We’d joke about stuff and I’d say ‘What do you think your fans are going to think of this Montana character?’ He used to say, ‘All I can do is do what I do every day and try not to think about their responses.’ He said ‘They’re either going to love it or they’re going to hate it. It’s not going to be middle ground.’ And that’s exactly what happened."


Posted by Geoff at 11:35 PM CDT
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Wednesday, July 10, 2013
OLIVER STONE PRESENTS 'SCARFACE' SCREENING
AT KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL LAST WEEK
Oliver Stone was at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival last week, where he received a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Stone presented several of his films, including an "Ultimate Cut" of Alexander, and Scarface, for which he wrote the screenplay.

Stone posted the following about the fest on his Facebook page:
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Wonderful week long film festival. Was honored with the lifetime achievement award and was able to show "Alexander: The Ultimate Cut" in a large hall with wonderful projection. The film played out well for the first time. The Shanghai Film Festival projection was too dark almost by two full stops of exposure. Also able to show Chapter. 3 & 10 of "Untold History of the United States" to a very responsive young crowd.

They also screened "Scarface" (1983) at a packed screening of 1,500 people. The film doesn't feel dated. In fact, it seems slower, and was more able to concentrate on the acting of Al Pacino and wonderful supporting cast. Kudos to Miriam Colon and Robert Loggia. Also showing "Wall Street."

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In other Scarface happenings, a 36-minute video has been popping around the internet during the past few days. It seems to be the same video from the Scarface DVD special features. The video, broken down into three parts and posted to YouTube, was embedded in a post at The Playlist the other day, along with a terrific 1983 De Palma interview segment from The Movie Channel that was embedded here a couple of years ago.

Posted by Geoff at 12:26 AM CDT
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Monday, May 6, 2013
R.I.P. MARIO MACHADO
L.A. NEWS ANCHOR HAD ROLES IN SEVERAL FILMS, INCLUDING 'SCARFACE'


Mario Machado, seen at left in the above still from Scarface, died Saturday in California of complications from pneumonia, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was 78. Machado had roles as anchormen or TV interviewers in several other films, including, most memorably, in the RoboCop series of films. The L.A. Times obituary notes that Machado "had been ill for some time with Parkinson's disease."

Posted by Geoff at 6:50 PM CDT
Updated: Monday, May 6, 2013 6:51 PM CDT
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