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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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« March 2015 »
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Interviews...

De Palma interviewed
in Paris 2002

De Palma discusses
The Black Dahlia 2006


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De Palma Community

The Virtuoso
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The De Palma Touch

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Carrie...A Fan's Site

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No Harm In Charm

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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

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Cultural Weekly

A Lonely Place

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italkyoubored

Icebox Movies

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Motion Pictures Comics

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So Why This Movie?

Obsessive Movie Nerd

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Ferdy on Films

Cashiers De Cinema

This Recording

Mike's Movie Guide

Every '70s Movie

Dangerous Minds

EatSleepLiveFilm

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The former
De Palma a la Mod
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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
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Bill Pankow
Black Dahlia
Blow Out
Blue Afternoon
Body Double
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 Niro
De Palma & Donaggio
De Palma (doc)
De Palma Blog-A-Thon
De Palma Discussion
Demolished Man
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Dionysus In '69
Domino
Dressed To Kill
Edward R. Pressman
Eric Schwab
Fatal Attraction
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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
Jerry Greenberg
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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Print The Legend
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Raising Cain
Red Shoes, The
Redacted
Responsive Eye
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Rotwang muß weg!
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Sisters
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Saturday, March 28, 2015
VIDEO: PANKOW & GREENBERG FROM 2013
DISCUSSING 'DRESSED TO KILL', WITH CLIPS



While searching YouTube for video from Thursday night's conversation on stage between Bill Pankow and Stephanie Zacharek (see yesterday's post), I found the video above, from a Sight, Sound, and Story event presented by Manhattan Edit Workshop in 2013. This video is a small piece of that 2013 on-stage conversation. Two more short videos from the talk are up, as well: Bill Pankow discusses working with Jerry Greenberg, and Bill Pankow and Jerry Greenberg on "Kramer vs. Kramer" (Part 1).

Posted by Geoff at 6:58 PM CDT
Updated: Saturday, March 28, 2015 7:00 PM CDT
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Friday, March 27, 2015
PANKOW TALKS ABOUT WORKING WITH DE PALMA
FILM COMMENT INTV AHEAD OF LAST NIGHT'S 'CARLITO'S WAY' @IFC; W/ ZACHAREK POST-SCREENING


I hadn't heard anything about this beforehand, but last night, a 35mm print of Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way screened to a sold out crowd at the IFC Center in New York. After the film, editor Bill Pankow was interviewed on stage by special guest host Stephanie Zacharek, whose Sight & Sound blurb accompanies the IFC event description: "One of the ten best films of all time." The film's description on the page also begins by noting, "Named the Best Film of the 1990s by Cahiers du Cinema."

Meanwhile, in anticipation of the screening, Film Comment's Violet Lucca interviewed Pankow last week, and posted it online yesterday. In this terrific interview, Pankow talks about editing two great set pieces in Carlito's Way: the pool hall scene, and the Grand Central sequence. He discusses working with actors such as Pacino, being attuned to their subtle nuances and physicality. He talks about how the split screens in Snake Eyes and Femme Fatale were very carefully planned beforehand. He talks about working with De Palma as the ideal working method, and De Palma's skills as a visual sotryteller. He talks about getting the right sound for the crowbar to the head wielded by Sean Penn's character in Carlito's Way ("That’s very giallo," jokes Lucca). He talks about working with Jerry Greenberg, and how he really came into his own during the editing of The Untouchables-- and how he made De Palma laugh with his initial cut of Sean Connery's death scene. Go read the interview now-- it's great stuff.


Posted by Geoff at 8:18 PM CDT
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Thursday, March 26, 2015
KEITH GORDON DEVELOPING NEW A&E SERIES
WOULD WRITE, DIRECT, PRODUCE POTENTIAL PILOT - BLIND SCRIPT COMMITMENT
Almost four years ago, Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr reported that Keith Gordon had been hired to write and direct a supernatural thriller, based on an undisclosed novel, that Christopher Nolan's company Syncopy was going to produce. No new information has come out about that project since. In the meantime, Gordon has been busy directing all kinds of terrific TV shows. His episode of HBO's The Leftovers last year ("Two Boats and a Helicopter") was a particular highlight, a character study of a preacher that included a supernatural element, and a surreal nightmare sequence that really took the series to another level.

However, in an interview last year with Curnblog's Simon Butler, Gordon noted that on most TV shows, the director really is relegated to presenting the vision of the showrunner. "The writing and acting on the shows I’m lucky enough to get to do is as good or better than anything in the feature [film] world," Gordon told Butler. "But the mixed blessing for a director is, it’s not a director’s medium. The show-runner producer/writer is the one creating the arc of the show, the style and the tone, and my job is to convey his or her vision. That’s a little less artistically satisfying than making your own film. That said, it’s also a fascinating challenge because often the show will have a different visual grammar than the one I instinctively go toward. I do feel I’ve learned a lot during that process, going outside my comfort zone, shooting things in ways I might not ordinarily and trying to make things fit the tone and style of a larger whole. But I do miss being the one who sets the tone and style of the larger whole."

Well, it looks like Gordon may get his shot to be the tone and style-setter. After directing and executive-producing the pilot episode of A&E's new American version of The Returned, Gordon has been signed to a development deal with A&E, Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reported last week. "It includes a blind script commitment for Gordon who would write, direct and produce the potential pilot," according to Andreeva. Stay tuned...


Posted by Geoff at 11:58 PM CDT
Updated: Friday, March 27, 2015 12:34 AM CDT
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Wednesday, March 25, 2015
'SCARFACE' REMAKE / 'CAPE FEAR' REMAKE
DE NIRO AFTER PACINO / SCORSESE AFTER DE PALMA



Courtesy girlpacino.tumblr

Posted by Geoff at 8:32 PM CDT
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Tuesday, March 24, 2015
REVIEWS FOR IMMERSIVE 'CARRIE THE MUSICAL'
INCLUDING ONE FROM A WOMAN WHO HAD NEVER READ KING'S BOOK NOR SEEN ANY FILM VERSION

Brady Schwind's audience-immersive stage version of Carrie The Musical runs through April 5th at La Mirada Theatre in southern California. Here are some review samples:

Renée Camus, Reel Life with Jane
"Full disclosure: I’ve never read [Stephen] King’s book, or seen the movie; either the classic 1976 Brian De Palma film, or the recent remake. I generally don’t watch horror films—yet my favorite musical is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the brilliant and hugely successful horror musical by Stephen Sondheim. So why not a musical based on Carrie?

"...The show starts with Carrie’s classmate, Sue Snell (Kayla Parker), under a harsh spotlight, being questioned about the events that happen at the end of the musical. We know we’re headed for badness—but most of us know that going in anyway (the ubiquitous pictures of Sissy Spacek dripping red told me this without seeing the film). Lights brighten as the cast joins her for the opening number, which dissolves into Carrie in the gym shower discovering that she’s bleeding. Not knowing this part of the story, I was surprised to see the women all stripping down to their underwear, and I wondered why it was necessary. Then I noticed Carrie off to the side, directly in front of a single line of audience members at the back of the space, completely nude.

"Apparently the story calls for at least a reference to nudity, with its close association of sex and sinning, but I didn’t feel it was completely necessary for the cast to strip down (they probably could have hid it or made it less obvious). Having the audience so close to the action made it that much more uncomfortable. Especially given Margaret’s warnings to Carrie not to shower at school, it’s surprising that she would.

"Director Brady Schwind and producers Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W. Batman set out to create an interactive, immersive experience by transforming La Mirada Theatre into Carrie’s high school. Audience members get wristbands that separate them into freshman, sophomores, faculty members, or other school delineations, based on their seating assignments. They’re then taken into the 'assembly' by class, passing by beat-up lockers and graffitied desk-chairs, and seated in bleachers built onto the stage. Despite the attempts at emersion and interaction, the staging didn’t add much. The four sections directly on the floor are pulled and moved around, which perhaps put those audience members more in the thick of it, but for those of us further back on the immovable bleachers, it wasn’t quite such an interactive experience. Well, except for the pain in our buttocks from the vastly uncomfortable seats (make sure to bring a cushion with you when you go)."

David C. Nichols, Los Angeles Times
"Never underestimate the power of stagecraft. Case in point: Carrie: The Musical, now receiving a mind-blowing immersive production at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts...

"However, Carrie is a better musical than before, but it's still not a great one. Gore’s tunes are pleasant but, barring Carrie and Mom's songs, not very individuated, Pitchford’s lyrics are prosaic, at times prolix, and [Lawrence D.] Cohen’s book doesn’t explore its All Teens Are Alienated theme beyond surface considerations.

"That will scarcely matter to audiences craving a full-throttle theatrical experience -- Cirque du Soleil meets Disneyland, with pig’s blood -- and musical theater cultists should flock."

Eric Marchese, Orange County Register
"Lawrence D. Cohen, who wrote the screenplay for the 1976 film version, has crafted a book that gets at the heart of the story’s characters and themes. Composer Michael Gore’s gorgeous music and lyricist Dean Pitchford’s powerful, poetic lyrics express from-the-heart emotions, but without being sappy or trite.

"Director Brady Schwind’s immersive production unfolds on the venue’s stage, where roughly 200 patrons are positioned amid the cast. The movable front sections of seats are pushed and rolled to and fro, making the experience all the more intimate.

"Schwind and choreographer Lee Martino make full and brilliant use of the play itself and of a superb cast of 19. To top it off, illusionist Jim Steinmeyer’s special effects make Carrie’s telekinetic powers real, as objects move, levitate or fly at her command.

"At every turn, Carrie the Musical puts the angst of teendom on full display, its climax a stunning, bloody explosion of chaos and mayhem. La Mirada’s intimate staging is at once gripping, horrifying and beautifully moving. It’s also one of the best shows you’ll ever see anywhere – one not to be missed."

Steven Stanley, Stage Scene LA
"Suffice it to say that King/De Palma fans won’t be disappointed...

"The La Mirada Theatre has found its dream Carrie in Emily Lopez, who not only gives us the heartbreaking, deeply-felt portrait of a troubled teen discovering strengths she never dreamed she had, she sings with gorgeous power pipes and makes us believe in Carrie’s transformation from ugly duckling to exquisite swan."

Don Grigware, Broadway World
"The stage is the back part of the regular theatre stage and it has been cordoned off, serving as the high school gymnasium. Audience sit in the three-quarter and watch the action literally a few feet away from them. There are seats on two levels. The first group of seats called the pods are level with the stage. There are levels above for audience through which cast members make entrances and exits and sometimes play/sing and then there is a third level playing area above for only actors. Those sitting in the pods are moved at various intervals to the left and to the right, sometimes mirror imaging each other and other times, not. Hardly your ordinary seating arrangement, but it definitely puts you smack dab in the middle of the playing field. You are there, feeling what the characters are feeling, almost a part of the action.

"I sat in the tier above the pods so I had the advantage of looking down at the action on the stage and also up to what was transpiring on the third level. One scene in particular in Act One involves Carrie praying to Jesus on the cross within a room of her house. Jesus literally comes down off the cross and while this is happening, on the third level, Tommy Ross (Jon Robert Hall) and his girlfriend Sue Snell (Kayla Parker) are making torrid love. Quite the contrast as blatant sexuality and spirituality clash in full force right before our eyes! In Act Two what served as the back wall of the gym with basketball scoreboard opens up and becomes the dance floor for the prom. Stephen Gifford's scenic design for the entire show is awesome as is Schwind's staging of the actors, who are literally everywhere within the space, putting audience at arm's length for every experience, good and evil."


Posted by Geoff at 11:58 PM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 12:06 AM CDT
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Monday, March 23, 2015
VIDEO: DOMINIK GRAF ON DE PALMA'S 'BLACK DAHLIA'
GERMAN DIRECTOR OF 'BELOVED SISTERS' INTRODUCES FILM FOR TONIGHT'S ARTE TV SHOWING


Arte TV is showing Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia tonight, presented by Dominik Graf, the German director who is getting high praise for his latest theatrical feature, Beloved Sisters. A 12-minute video in which Graf discusses De Palma and The Black Dahlia is up now at Arte. If anybody has the ability and/or time to translate or summarize for us what Graf is saying, please by all means send it on in (either by e-mail or as a comment below).
(Thanks to Jochen!)

Posted by Geoff at 7:21 PM CDT
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Sunday, March 22, 2015
NANCY ALLEN'S DTK HOOKER-WITH-A-HEART-OF-GOLD
MAKES VARIETY'S LIST, UPON THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF JULIA ROBERTS' 'PRETTY WOMAN'
March 23rd is the 25th anniversary of the release of Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman. To mark the occasion, Variety's Matthew Chernov has posted a slide show called "12 Hookers with Hearts of Gold." On that list is Liz Blake, the Wall Street prostitute played by Nancy Allen in Brian De Palma's Dressed To Kill.

Here's what Chernov says about the character:

"The second of three hookers that Nancy Allen played for then-husband Brian De Palma (the others were featured in Home Movies and Blow Out), Dressed to Kill finds the actress stalked by a razor-wielding psycho after witnessing a brutal murder. Combining bold sexuality, streetwise humor and an unexpected degree of maternal empathy for the victim’s son, Allen is sensational playing an independent woman who’s smarter, and braver, than anyone gives her credit for."

Posted by Geoff at 7:06 PM CDT
Updated: Sunday, March 22, 2015 8:03 PM CDT
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'MI5' TEASER PAYS HOMAGE TO DE PALMA'S FILM
TOM CRUISE IN A SUIT, HANGING ON TO THE SIDE OF A PLANE TAKING OFF

The teaser trailer above for Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation climaxes with a nod to Brian De Palma's initial film in what has become a blockbuster franchise for Tom Cruise. The aforementioned scene shows Cruise in a suit that is very similar to the one he wears on the train at the end of De Palma's film. In De Palma's, Cruise ends up hanging on to the side of a speeding train. McQuarrie ups the ante on that and shows Cruise's Ethan Hunt hanging on to the side of an airplane taking off from a runway, presented, quite literally (from the mouth of Simon Pegg), as an OMG moment. Earlier this month, during a Twitter Q&A, McQuarrie responded to our friend Rado's query as to whether the new film would include any references to De Palma's film. McQuarrie responded with a simple "Yes."

This teaser is a TV spot that played today during an NCAA playoff game-- a full trailer is said to be hitting the internet tomorrow.

Posted by Geoff at 4:02 PM CDT
Updated: Sunday, March 22, 2015 8:04 PM CDT
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SERNA TALKS ABOUT 'SCARFACE'
"THE EDITOR SAID WHEN THEY SHOT ME WITH BLOOD IN THE EYE, I DIDN'T FLINCH"


The Los Angeles Times' Susan King has a profile piece on Pepe Serna in today's print edition (the article was posted online yesterday). The article, with the headline "After 45 years, Pepe Serna is finally a leading man," begins with discussion of Scarface:
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Pepe Serna arrives carrying a big bag. Inside is a treasured bit of movie history: his prop arm from Brian De Palma's 1983 gangster masterpiece "Scarface."

Though he's been in some 100 films, Serna is best known as Angel, Tony Montana's (Al Pacino) cohort in cocaine crime in the memorable thriller. Angel meets a grisly demise when his arm and leg are dismembered by a power tool.

"They tied me up," recalls Serna. "It was a real chain saw but with rubber. When they went to my face, they shot blood at me with a pressure gun. The editor said when they shot me with blood in the eye, I didn't flinch. I was so into the moment. At the time, it was the goriest scene in history."

Serna, 70, flashes a wide smile and puts the arm back in the bag.

The role of Angel has paid unexpected dividends for him. Serna, who has done motivational work with kids for 50 years, has found that these young students are thrilled to meet him because of "Scarface." "We are all the writer-director-star-producer of our own life," says the energetic Serna, dressed this overcast afternoon in a vibrant purple sports jacket. "We see life through our own eyes. That is my lesson to these kids. That is how I always look at everything."

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Serna also appeared in De Palma's 2006 adaptation of James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia.

MORE 'SCARFACE' NOTES: PACINO SUPPORTS REMAKE; MICHELLE PFEIFFER AS POP MUSE



Last week I linked to a Hollywood Reporter story about Universal's upcoming remake of Scarface. The Hollywood Reporter's Hilary Lewis followed that up a day later, having caught up with the actor at the New York premiere of his new film Danny Collins. Asked about the new remake, Pacino responded, "Oh, it's fine... It's part of what we do. We remake things... I may remake a movie I saw recently. I can't say what it is. It's about 50 years old."

Meanwhile, the number one song in the U.S. for the past five weeks or so (according to Billboard) is Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk. The song's first line is "This shit, that ice cold/ Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold." As USA Today's Carly Mallenbaum speculated back in December, the line, with its apparent cocaine reference, "seem[s] to be describing Pfeiffer’s feisty Elvira Hancock from Scarface." Mallenbaum's article also notes that Pfeiffer's name pops up in another recent top ten hit, Vance Joy's Riptide. In the latter case, however, Joy has said in interviews that the mention was inspired by Pfeiffer's role as Catwoman in Tim Burton's Batman Returns.


Posted by Geoff at 12:47 AM CDT
Updated: Sunday, March 22, 2015 3:38 PM CDT
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Friday, March 20, 2015
PAUL SCHRADER - FACEBOOK POST
"WHY DIDN'T DEPALMA'S REDACTED GET MORE RESPECT?" - LINKS TO PETER BRADSHAW REVIEW


Posted by Geoff at 1:05 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, March 20, 2015 1:07 AM CDT
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