A GLASS OF MILK WITH BOARDWALK EMPIRE’S RUTHLESS ARNOLD ROTHSTEIN

This week’s edition of Fangirl is handled by none other than the notorious Capt. Hank Sparrow of Black Pearl Philippines who is not only a pirate, but a bartender, former rock star and sometime journalist.

Who better to chat with Michael Stuhlbarg, the actor who plays legendary gangster Arnold Rothstein on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire?

Boardwalk Empire is one of the best shows on television at the moment—it is currently renewed for a third season in the US. It is set in Atlantic City in the 1920’s during the time of Prohibition and the story revolves around the lives of politicians, gangsters, government agents and the men and women who weave in and out of their world.

Rothstein is based on an actual historical figure—an enterprising mobster based in New York. He was “The Brain” who ran an organization that included “Legs” Diamond, “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Dutch Schultz. It’s inevitable for this kingpin and Atlantic City’s Treasurer Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) engage in some sort of highly lucrative but certainly shady dealings together.

The man surprisingly shunned alcohol and you may have notice a scene in the season one where he takes iced milk. I doubt he ever got teased about it (either that no one lived to tell the tale).

Michael's biggest break was being cast in a Coen Brothers film "A Serious Man," you may have also seen him in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award winning film "Hugo."

Manila Times: How much fun is it to play a legendary gangster (Arnold Rothstein) on an incredibly well made show like Boardwalk Empire?

Michael Stuhlbarg: It’s a great amount of fun but it’s also a great amount of responsibility--at least I take it as such. I’ve tried to delve as deeply as I can into his life, how he lived it, the people he knew, what he did, what influenced him. It changes you somewhat to learn about someone’s life, to get a chance to live in it for as long as I’ve gotten a chance to so far. It’s the longest amount of time I’ve ever spent exploring a character so that’s been a great delight and challenge as an actor. I can’t wait to see where they take the character this season.

How did you learn speak with the cadence and cool deliberate ruthlessness of Arnold Rothstein?

I looked around for any tape on him and couldn’t find anything, so I just used my imagination and took as much of the historical information that I could find. He was raised in a middle class household in New York City in the late 18oo’s.

I tried to just imagine what he would speak like. I saw as many gangster films as I could and let that sort of play around in my imagination. I imagined him to be a man of authority. He didn’t necessarily have to raise his voice. Historically, he was an even-tempered conservative man and didn’t necessarily show his anger unless it was essential to get his way. It was a natural organic process of just trying to figure out what felt right. I would be curious to know how he actually spoke (laughter) someday.

You have some of the best and wittiest one liners

Thank you. It’s been great writing so far.

Aside from Billiards did you have to learn other betting games and other forms of gambling for the role?

Yes, along with getting some tutorials on billiards, I was offered an opportunity to learn more about the game of poker. HBO hired a gentleman to help me learn more about the skills of poker playing. To practice, I have arranged some games of poker with my friends so I can keep up with the kind of mind that plays poker. So yes it’s mostly been about learning poker and billiards it’s been great fun and I’ve been enjoying it. I still have an interest in poker but I very rarely play for real money

Do you win?

I do better now then I did before.

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Catch Michael Stuhlbarg on Boardwalk Empire. Second season premieres in Asia on March 8 at 10pm on HBO. Also look out for him in Men in Black 3 and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.

Rothstein (seated) is known to have taught Lucky Luciano how to look sharp.

FILM VERSION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER INTRODUCES NEW VILLAIN AND NEW STORY FINALE

“Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter” was my favorite book of 2010. I read it because I thoroughly enjoyed author Seth Grahame-Smith’s “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” (2009) immensely and will always be fascinated by period pieces and a well imagined vampire story.

Tim Burton is currently producing the film version of the book and thanks to friends at 20^th Century Fox, I got to participate in a live “chat” last week (which was a bit like a 15 minute talk show) with director Timur Bekmambetov (Nightwatch, Daywatch, Wanted), author and screenplay writer Seth Grahame-Smith and actors Benjamin Walker and Rufus Sewell (Dark City, Knight’s Tale, The Tourist).

The film is treated straightforwardly like a “period piece with vampires,” as Grahame-Smith says he, Tim and Timur took the whole concept seriously, never winking and not making a joke out of it.

Grahame-Smith says while he had remained true to the sprit of the book, there were also things he had to let go of, “kill your darlings” so to speak. But the cast and director were ready to point out he had to “create new darlings” like Adam, the new vampire villain character to be played by English actor Sewell.

According to Sewell, “Adam is the first of the vampires…the vampire from which all other vampires came.” He is described as “formidable and ferocious,” yet also “a gentlemen, a great soldier for his cause…in a vampire election, you would vote for him, he’d make a great president for the vampires.”

Grahame-Smith goes further by adding, “We had this image of him in the script—we had him descending the stairs like Rhett Butler,” and describing him as “classic, elegant, but vicious.”

Sewell also says he gives “a nod to the great vampires of the past…when I grew up, it was Christopher Lee.”

For research, Benjamin Walker did a lot of reading—most especially work by Pulitzer Prize winner biographer and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and a book called Lincoln’s Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Shenk, which he found very “helpful” as it talked about “his (Lincoln’s) depressive nature, how he dealt with death, his gothic side…it lends itself nicely to the story we’re telling.”

Timur Bekmambetov on the other hand, read work by a Russian man named Bushkov, which contains “civil war secrets Americans don’t want to talk about.”

Regarding physical preparations for the role, Walker says he had to lose weight as Lincoln was a tall but gaunt figure; he did a lot of Wushu, stretching and “hitting people with rubber axes.” Rufus Sewell, on the other hand, says Adam is “high up on the blood chain,” and basically just sends his minions “so I did a lot of training sitting comfortably in a big chair” with his fight scenes happening in the “final reel of the film” in a new climactic sequence written for the film.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter is set for US release on June 22^nd. In the meantime, you’ll find Grahame-Smiths’ handiwork in another Tim Burton project, “Dark Shadows” starring Johnny Depp and set for release on the 11^th of May.

Photos courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Aliens Invade Moscow in "The Darkest Hour" (Manila next?)

In the Dr. Who series, in the event of an alien invasion, the creatures from distant worlds prefer to start by infiltrating or destroying London. Big Ben was demolished in Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks and in HG Wells’ novel the aliens also battled the humans in England.

In films over the last 60 years—King Kong, Soylent Green, Superman 2, Ghostbusters, Armageddon, Godzilla, Independence Day, Cloverfield, I Am Legend including the aforementioned Mars Attacks and the film version of War of the Worlds—the city of New York remained a perpetual favorite target. In Dragon Wars and Battle Los Angeles, the city of choice was Los Angeles—yet another favorite city to demolish.

In the upcoming film, “The Darkest Hour,” director Chris Gorak promises us “something different” from the usual alien invasion films. For one, the action is set in an “exotic” location—that location being Moscow. In a special presentation that coincided with the weekend of San Diego Comic Con 2011, Director Gorak took members of the press on a tour of storyboard images from the film as interpreted by comic book artists—including Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) and Pia Guerra (Y: The Last Man).

The director and crew were all very excited to set a story and shoot in the backyard of producer Timur Bekmambetov (Nightwatch, Wanted). The main characters are set up in place where the language, geography, cityscape and culture are unfamiliar and well, “alien” to them. “Come see Moscow. Worthy of destroying," producer Tom Jacobson has said in many an interview.

Second, these won’t be the usual aliens that may resemble insects, amphibians, cephalopods, or the typical large headed creature with the small nose and gigantic black eyes. These aliens are invisible.

Gorak says—“Normally with most kinds of invasions, you feel safest during day, you can see the dangers around you. In this scenario, the it’s safest a night.” That’s because the aliens react to electricity. The humans get to see them at night because of the (yellow-orange) light they emit.

The male leads are Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer, Into the Wild), Max Minghella (Social Network and incidentally also the son of late director Anthony Minghella) and Joel Kinnaman (Swedish American actor who appeared in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; and soon to play Lancelot to Kit Harington’s Arthur). All three were on hand at the presentation with Gorak, Jacobson and another producer, Monnie Wills.

The story begins with two American software entrepreneurs (Hirsch and Minghella) arriving in Moscow to do business, only to find out their deal has been sabotaged. They go to a club to temporarily bury the thought of the treachery. However something bigger and more treacherous is happening outside—lights appear in the night sky, and there goes the neighborhood. The aliens arrive.

The main cast is rounded out by Russian actors who have worked with Bekmambetov before: Dato Bakhtadze who was “The Butcher” in “Wanted” and Yuriy Kutsenko who played Ignat the incubus in “Nightwatch.” They are joined American actresses Olivia Thirlby (Juno) Rachael Taylor (Transformers).

How do these chaps in a strange land survive? How does the Russian homeland resist these invisible invaders? We’ll just have to find out in The Darkest Hour.

At the close of the presentation, while Gorak went on about the thrills of shooting in different and exotic locations for an alien invasion, some journalists inquired after a possible sequel. To which I uttered, “Invade Manila!”

Hmmm. Alien invasions. More fun in the Philippines. Now there’s an idea that deserves another go.

P.S. Here are my photos of Joel Kinnaman and Emile Hirsch.

A Chat with Fangtasia's Door Bitch

Believe it or not, Kristin Bauer has been in the business for over two decades. But it’s her role as Pamela Swynford de Beaufort on True Blood that has earned her the most recognition. Ms. Swynford de Beaufort, best known as Pam, is the offspring, aide de camp and girl Friday of Eric Northman played by Alexander Skarsgard.

Pam may rock the pencil skirt and sweater set or tight sexy gothic dress but the last thing you can expect her to be is nice (don’t even expect her to fake it), gracious and polite. Especially when she’s working the Fangtasia gate.

True Blood is currently on it’s fourth season and while it reveals more of Pam’s character, her feral nature, fighting spirit and loyalty to Eric Northman—not much is revealed yet of Pam’s back story. Kristin does have her own theory on Pam’s earlier life: “I got a bit of an impression from (the DVD special features) and a little bit of the books that Pam and Eric were lovers but then that was a long time ago. Alex and I joke that the first 50 years may have been passionate but things have cooled off.” Of course, Kristin is the envy of women around the world for the simple reason she gets to be beside him for a living—on that count she says, “I think he’s totally deserving of that adoration.”

To channel Pam and bring out her bitchiest, bluntest most abrasively straightforward self, Kirstin doesn’t look to another person or character for inspiration but says, “We have a bit of Pam in all of us. We all think the thoughts that she says but we don’t say them because we want to keep our job or we want to stay married or we still want that friend to call us for lunch.” For her, Pam is a really “truthful” character. “I feel that what she’s saying is actually accurate. In Season 2, she gives that speech to Lafayette where she says ‘I don’t know why people want to tell me their problems, maybe I smile too much maybe I wear too much pink, but please remember I can rip your throat out if I need to.’ So it’s just an accurate statement she’s really just telling the truth.”

I did get to see Kristin from a distance at this year’s San Diego Comic Con—the True Blood cast has been a regular fixture at Ballroom 20 for the past few years. Kristin loves getting feedback from the fans and audience about her character and apparently they really love the way she delivered the line from Season 3 “Bla bla vampire emergency bla.”

On a personal level, Kristin got married in 2009 to South African musician Abri Van Straten, she maintains a website www.kristinbauer.com, she is an animal rights advocate and she is also an artist and painter. She has been known to combine her passions: “Last year I did a sketch of Alexander that we auctioned off for a charity and then I was selling prints to fund a local animal rescue for dogs and cats. There is some True Blood art work that I want to do and I want to do one of Stephen next…I’ve gotten on this kick of painting flowers. I do very realistic oils and it’s so much fun it’s the most zen meditative time for me. Time just stops, it just doesn’t exist, I’ll look up at the clock and hours have gone by and it feels like it was 30 minutes so that’s a really great, rejuvenating thing.”

I think beyond just having Mr. Skarsgard to work beside, it seems Kirstin’s life is full of fulfilling pursuits and passions. I’m not writing down her age because I think just like a vampire, she’s ageless.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1: THE BEGINNING OF THE BIG BITTERSWEET END

I have a partial bias for the opening scene of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.” It feature one of my favorite actors Bill Nighy in extreme close up as Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour addressing his staff. Here you can see the same commanding presence he puts on when he’s Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean, Billy Mack the rock star in Love Actually or Viktor the vampire lord in Underworld.

While there’s always some sort of criticism or complaint made for every film (except maybe for Prisoner of Azkaban) one can’t deny the superiority of craft put into each one especially in the arena of design, special effects and acting. With the likes of Dame Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, David Thewlis, John Hurt, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Brendan Gleeson and Imelda Staunton—even when there’s a misgiving by a fan or critic about the story, you still can’t take your eyes off such talent and presence.

The first Harry Potter novel was published in 1997 and the world began its love affair with J. K. Rowling’s epic tale of the boy wizard. A look today at the website www.the-numbers.com puts the average worldwide gross for each film so far at $903 million dollars.

personally quite liked “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.” The film on the whole got a very adult, serious and intelligent treatment. It has grown up along with its audience. There are a few elements reminiscent of Lord of the Rings—an amulet that defies destruction (just like the Ring of Power) and Arthurian Legend—finding a powerful sword that has to be dislodged from it’s hiding place. But all this is very well done.

There’s likewise beautiful animation as Xenophilius Lovegood (Rhys Ifans) narrates the tale of “The Three Brothers” which explains the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.

The word “horcrux” however keeps popping up throughout the film to refer to the amulet. For those who have not read the book or are certified fanboys and fangirls, things like that still have to be explained more thoroughly. I had to go online to find out more about them and was treated to a very fascinating set of little stories.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” directed by David Yates is a fine build up to the final film in the franchise. As a moviegoer, I’ve grown attached to seeing the characters return on screen over the last decade. Now begins the seven month wait for the bittersweet finale which hits the screen in July 2011.

Breathing Life Into Lafayette: The Nelsan Ellis Interview

He was supposed to be dead and gone by the end of Season One but True Blood’s Lafayette Reynolds was too colorful, fearless and loved to just disappear into television oblivion. Last week, Fangirl got to join in on a chat with the man who brings Merlotte’s flamboyant cook to life, the one and only, Nelsan Ellis.

Nelsan Ellis was born in Chicago and grew up in a tough suburb in Alabama, he returned to Chicago for high school and discovered theater. Eventually, he found himself in Julliard where not only honed his acting skills but wrote an award winning play called Ugly.

Ellis considers himself a “boring person” compared to his beloved True Blood character. He says, “Lafyatte is bold, I’m a little bit shy. Lafayette is gay, I’m not.” He continues to explain the appeal of Lafayette who likewise deals V and engages in some rather questionable internet activities: “I love his boldness, I love that he is who he is, he’s unapologetic, I love that he walks, talks and acts absolutely the way he wants to, regardless of who judges him.”

Having read and watched several other interviews with Mr. Ellis, I truly wanted to find out something I didn’t know about him. My cousin Hank, who’s a bartender, came up with this simple question: If V (vampire blood) were an actual, real life drug, would you do it? I got a quick answer to that—“Absolutely, I would be a crackhead V-addict.”

Then again, who wouldn’t love heightened senses and extra strength?

While Lafayette can be a knockout in his large tank tops, elegantly tied bandanas, his L necklace and false eyelashes—you don’t want to be messing with him because he can he can throw a mean punch. I wanted to know where Nelsan, the actor, learned to throw down, punch and curse.

He reveals, “I have a tomboy momma. I kind of learned how to punch and fight from my momma. I learned how to curse from my momma.”

Aside from visiting gay bars, “I built (Lafayette) from behaviors my mother and sisters have—watching my mother and sisters, how sort of colorful and crazy they are, and I incorporate that into Lafayette.”

That said, his mother has never heard him swear. “My mother has never seen the show” he likewise adds, “in the South, you’re taught not to swear in front of your parents.”

Early this year, Ellis appeared in film called “The Soloist” about an LA Times’ writer’s relationship with an extraordinarily talented, homeless street musician. The film starred Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx and was directed by Joe Wright. Of his working experience with Downey, he says, “I particularly like Robert because he treated me like I was his son, he sort of took me under the wing and taught me all about acting during the shoot…Robert Downey Jr. is a beast when it comes to preparation. The man knows the whole script on the first day of the shoot including your lines and everybody’s lines.”

Next up, he plays a character named Eddie Sweat opposite Diane Lane and John Malkovich in a Disney film called “Secretariat” based on the name of a race horse who won the Triple Crown in 1973.

“I’d like to be all over the board in terms of what kind of character I’d like to play. And the furthest away from me the better because as I said, I’m a boring person.”

Ellis may say that about himself but surely, he can’t say that about his career.

The remaining episodes of True Blood Season 3 air every Monday night at 9pm on HBO and HBO HD with encore episodes Thursdays at 10:30 pm and Sundays at 2:30 pm.

Californication: From the X-Files to the XXX Files?

The Showtime network seems rather proud of their anti-hero leads in Dexter, Nurse Jackie and Californication. Californication has been around since 2007 and has earned an Emmy Award for it’s lead actor.

I jumped right into the thick of Season Three with episodes 7, 8 and 9—seeing main character, novelist and writing teacher Hank Moody, played by David Duchovny trying to put out one fire after another (literally and figuratively) in his crazy life.

At this point, Hank is looking at cleaning up his act and reuniting with Karen (Natascha McElhone) who he refers to as his soul mate. She also is the mother of his daughter Becca. He feels this the time for all three to move back to New York and be a family there.

But when your show is called “Californication” and it’s doing well and a fourth season is set for January 2011, you know things are going to get in the way of that fine goal.

First of all, Hank has currently accumulated three lovers he should be “breaking up” with: there’s Jackie, his student who also happens to be a stripper, Jill, his teaching assistant who he ended up having to “console” after a party and Felicia—the wife of the school’s dean.

Throw into the mix Jackie’s stripper friends, Evan Handler (Hank’s best friend who happens to be in the entertainment business), Rick Springfield playing a hilarious, out of control, god-awful version of himself, Dean Stacy Koons (Peter Gallagher), Becca’s BFF Chelsea (who happens to be Felicia and Stacy’s daughter) and Sue Collini (Kathleen Turner), Charlie’s sexually ravenous and ballsy boss—and you can be certain of things going out of control all over the place.

Hank Moody is a rake and a cad and someone you wouldn’t want your best friend, sister or daughter to date because despite his apparent skill in the bedroom, he’s got a lot of baggage to deal with and is a dead end when it comes to commitment no matter how hard anyone tries to cling to him. At one point, Koons says, “You’re the girl-whisperer”—alluding to the way women just gravitate toward him.

Yet he has a bit of charm, and part of him is quite earnest and rather honest. So you know with that type of person, trouble and personal pandemonium follow him like shadows.

It’s a wonder Hank’s daughter Becca has turned out to be intelligent, loving and honest—often providing her dad with the reality check he so often needs. On a personal note, I like the way she has this goth girl look to her with the black hair, straight cut bangs and black eyeliner.

Is there a happy ending out there for Hank Moody and his family? The writers, David Duchovny and the rest of the cast actually gets its audience to care.