Tyler Coates

Posts tagged blackbook

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I am very nervous to meet the peripatetic Stillman for coffee at Pécan Café, a restaurant on the corner of Franklin and Varick Streets just a few doors down from the Tribeca apartment he is subletting. I had spent the week re-watching his films and feared that the writer-director would be the doppelgänger of one of his over-intellectual Upper East Side misanthropes. When speaking to members of the Damsels cast, I realized I was not alone in my apprehension. “He’s a man of such etiquette,” Adam Brody, who plays the film’s love interest, told me. “I’ve since given it up, but when he used to email me, I would be very self-conscious about my replies, making them very formal in order to match him.” Greta Gerwig admitted that, to prepare for her lead role, she “tried to live in a way Whit would approve of.” But as soon as Stillman and I sit down, my anxiety abates. Dressed in a white dress shirt and a colorful plaid blazer, Stillman resembles a college professor rather than an Academy Award nominee. He’s soft-spoken, inquisitive, and lovably curmudgeonly, and he apologizes for bringing along a plastic shopping bag carrying a crumpled dress shirt that he plans to drop off at the cleaners after our interview.  You guys! My first big assignment for BlackBook was to write a profile of Whit Stillman, the writer/director of some of my favorite movies. My piece finally runs today. Please give it a look—I’m very happy with how it turned out! 

I am very nervous to meet the peripatetic Stillman for coffee at Pécan Café, a restaurant on the corner of Franklin and Varick Streets just a few doors down from the Tribeca apartment he is subletting. I had spent the week re-watching his films and feared that the writer-director would be the doppelgänger of one of his over-intellectual Upper East Side misanthropes. When speaking to members of the Damsels cast, I realized I was not alone in my apprehension. “He’s a man of such etiquette,” Adam Brody, who plays the film’s love interest, told me. “I’ve since given it up, but when he used to email me, I would be very self-conscious about my replies, making them very formal in order to match him.” Greta Gerwig admitted that, to prepare for her lead role, she “tried to live in a way Whit would approve of.” But as soon as Stillman and I sit down, my anxiety abates. Dressed in a white dress shirt and a colorful plaid blazer, Stillman resembles a college professor rather than an Academy Award nominee. He’s soft-spoken, inquisitive, and lovably curmudgeonly, and he apologizes for bringing along a plastic shopping bag carrying a crumpled dress shirt that he plans to drop off at the cleaners after our interview. 

You guys! My first big assignment for BlackBook was to write a profile of Whit Stillman, the writer/director of some of my favorite movies. My piece finally runs today. Please give it a look—I’m very happy with how it turned out! 

Filed under blackbook whit stillman

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The movie starts with a choir featuring our heroines Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton performing at what appears to be some nightclub. There’s a banner over the stage that reads “Joyful Noise,” just in case you forgot what movie you’re watching. And Kris Kristofferson is there as the choir director! And everything is so joyful! That is until Kris Kristofferson has a heart attack on stage. It’s not even five minutes before the first person dies, and this is before you check IMDb on your phone to answer the questions “How long is this goddamn movie?” and “Is Dolly starring in a reboot of Madame’s Place?” I saw Joyful Noise! I lived to tell the tale! I hated / loved it! Click here to read more!

The movie starts with a choir featuring our heroines Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton performing at what appears to be some nightclub. There’s a banner over the stage that reads “Joyful Noise,” just in case you forgot what movie you’re watching. And Kris Kristofferson is there as the choir director! And everything is so joyful! That is until Kris Kristofferson has a heart attack on stage. It’s not even five minutes before the first person dies, and this is before you check IMDb on your phone to answer the questions “How long is this goddamn movie?” and “Is Dolly starring in a reboot of Madame’s Place?”

I saw Joyful Noise! I lived to tell the tale! I hated / loved it! Click here to read more!

Filed under blackbook joyful noise queen latifah dolly parton

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Who else could play the daughter of Sasha Baron Coen and Helena Bonham Carter but the immensely talented and emotionally expressive Taylor Swift? Sure, you may suggest that her lack of any formal acting experience as well as her limited 22-year-old’s worldview might put her at a disadvantage when it comes to fully comprehending the complicated emotions of a young girl living in a politically volatile climate in a foreign land so long ago. But you will also forget that that classic ode to unrequited love, “On My Own,” is essentially just the musical theater version of Swift’s “You Belong to Me.” Eponine is really just a girl in love with a boy who just happens to also meet her untimely end at the bullets of the brutal French police. I mean, Swift was more emotionally scarred by Kanye West, right?  Musical Comedy Version of “Les Misérables” Headed to the Big Screen How can I ever express my gratitude to the crazy people who cast the new movie version of Les Misérables? It is their work that has validated my place on this earth.  [Image by Bobby Finger, obviously]

Who else could play the daughter of Sasha Baron Coen and Helena Bonham Carter but the immensely talented and emotionally expressive Taylor Swift? Sure, you may suggest that her lack of any formal acting experience as well as her limited 22-year-old’s worldview might put her at a disadvantage when it comes to fully comprehending the complicated emotions of a young girl living in a politically volatile climate in a foreign land so long ago. But you will also forget that that classic ode to unrequited love, “On My Own,” is essentially just the musical theater version of Swift’s “You Belong to Me.” Eponine is really just a girl in love with a boy who just happens to also meet her untimely end at the bullets of the brutal French police. I mean, Swift was more emotionally scarred by Kanye West, right? 

Musical Comedy Version of “Les Misérables” Headed to the Big Screen

How can I ever express my gratitude to the crazy people who cast the new movie version of Les Misérables? It is their work that has validated my place on this earth. 

[Image by Bobby Finger, obviously]

Filed under blackbook les miserables taylor swift

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bbook: Funny man David Cross has played a lot of memorable roles in his career, from various characters on Mr. Show, the ’90s cult sketch show he created with Bob Odenkirk, to Tobias Funke, the effeminate never-nude on the near-universally beloved Arrested Development. And while he’s currently starring in the third installment of the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise (unfortunately titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked), he’s more excited about the upcoming second season of his show The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, which begins this week on IFC. Cross plays the titular character, an American sales rep who transfers across the pond to lead the sale of a energy drink called Thunder Muscle to unassuming British consumers. The very straightforward title does not disappoint: Todd Margaret, seemingly unaware of the intricacies of British culture (as well as the basic concept of selling a marketable product), finds himself mixed up in a variety of mishaps and shenanigans. Rounding out a hilarious ensemble cast are fellow Americans Will Arnett and Spike Jonze, with Jon Hamm joining in for the second season. We sat down with Cross to discuss the benefits of working on a British TV show (and managed to not ask about the upcoming Arrested Development movie). David Cross on The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret Oh hey, I interviewed David Cross.

bbook:

Funny man David Cross has played a lot of memorable roles in his career, from various characters on Mr. Show, the ’90s cult sketch show he created with Bob Odenkirk, to Tobias Funke, the effeminate never-nude on the near-universally beloved Arrested Development. And while he’s currently starring in the third installment of the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise (unfortunately titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked), he’s more excited about the upcoming second season of his show The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, which begins this week on IFC.

Cross plays the titular character, an American sales rep who transfers across the pond to lead the sale of a energy drink called Thunder Muscle to unassuming British consumers. The very straightforward title does not disappoint: Todd Margaret, seemingly unaware of the intricacies of British culture (as well as the basic concept of selling a marketable product), finds himself mixed up in a variety of mishaps and shenanigans. Rounding out a hilarious ensemble cast are fellow Americans Will Arnett and Spike Jonze, with Jon Hamm joining in for the second season. We sat down with Cross to discuss the benefits of working on a British TV show (and managed to not ask about the upcoming Arrested Development movie).

David Cross on The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

Oh hey, I interviewed David Cross.

Filed under blackbook david cross the increasingly poor decisions of todd margaret

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I feel like what I’ve done is disseminate pop culture and fame, and the fine line…of [people] just being who they are in the world and longing for fame—the same kind of fame [examined in] King of Comedy. I didn’t write that movie; I was just fascinated by the juxtaposition of being who I am, which is a real person [who is] friends with famous people and [is] in the public eye, so I always played with those notions. And most of my work when I’m talking about celebrities, you know, is kind of made up, fictionalized. I don’t go for cheap shots; it’s not like I’m there to rip people apart. It may be a veiled critique, but it’s not just a critique of the performer. It’s a critique of what made that person and what people on the other side expect from fame. It’s very layered and never like, ‘She’s fat, she’s ugly.’ That’s not even in the realm of what I do, so I don’t think people ever are offended, and if they are they don’t understand it. Sandra Bernhard Celebrates New Year’s Eve in New York

I feel like what I’ve done is disseminate pop culture and fame, and the fine line…of [people] just being who they are in the world and longing for fame—the same kind of fame [examined in] King of Comedy. I didn’t write that movie; I was just fascinated by the juxtaposition of being who I am, which is a real person [who is] friends with famous people and [is] in the public eye, so I always played with those notions. And most of my work when I’m talking about celebrities, you know, is kind of made up, fictionalized. I don’t go for cheap shots; it’s not like I’m there to rip people apart. It may be a veiled critique, but it’s not just a critique of the performer. It’s a critique of what made that person and what people on the other side expect from fame. It’s very layered and never like, ‘She’s fat, she’s ugly.’ That’s not even in the realm of what I do, so I don’t think people ever are offended, and if they are they don’t understand it.

Sandra Bernhard Celebrates New Year’s Eve in New York

Filed under blackbook sandra bernhard