Q: How did you become involved in the production side of CHAPTER 27? Were you cast in the role first, or were you involved in production from the beginning?
A: It all happened simultaneously. It was an unique opportunity to participate in a different way. But my main focus was the definitely the role. Secondary was helping, if I could, to bring the directors vision to life. The producers were very kind to let me apprentice, in a way, throughout the process.
Q: You obviously put on a lot of weight for your role as Mark David Chapman. Was that a difficult decision to make? Why did you choose not to just wear a “fatsuit”?
A: It wasn’t a difficult decision at all. I would say the difficulty came after the decision was made. It was important to take on the physical challenges of this transformational experience as well as the psychological/emotional. The weight helped indicate many things about the character for me. Although it was a very important and obvious part of the process it was still just one part of the overall journey. And one that I am definitely very happy to be finished with.
Q: You also adopted a sort of whiny, southern accent for the role. Did you have to watch footage of Mark David Chapman to really take on his persona accurately?
A: His voice was very specific. Jarrett and I spent a lot of time discussing his voice and the importance of including it in the performance. I spend most days for months listening to archival tapes and interviews of his voice. Also while in Decatur, Georgia I found someone who had a very similar accent. That proved invaluable.
Yes, archival footage was very important and very helpful. It taught me a lot about who he was. I studied everything I could about his behavior from the inside to the out.
Q: Why do you think CHAPTER 27 documented only the weekend before John Lennon’s murder as opposed to delving further into MDC’s life or psyche?
A: Probably best to ask director Jarrett Schaefer about this but he had a very specific vision for the film which I thought was incredibly interesting and non-traditional.
CHAPTER 27 opens this Friday, March 28 at the Angelika New York. Leto will be attending the 8:00pm and 10:20pm shows on both Friday, 3/28 and Saturday, 3/29. Don’t miss it!
X-MEN writer Zak Penn does a 180 in directing his new movie, THE GRAND, a hilarious, low-budget poker-themed mockumentary that features an unbeatably witty cast that includes Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, Ray Romano, Chris Parnell, David Cross , Werner Herzog and Richard Kind.
The always articulate director chatted with us last weekend about the making of THE GRAND….check out what he had to say below.
THE GRAND opens Friday, March 21 at the Village East Cinema! Visit www.villageeastcinema.com for tickets and showtimes.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for THE GRAND?
Rising star Taylor Momsen makes her indie film debut next month in PARANOID PARK, Gus Van Sant’s totally enthralling new film that has critics (and regular people who were lucky enough to catch it on the festival circuit) raving.
Fourteen-year-old Momsen, who recently shot to enormous fame with her role as Jenny on the Gossip Girl , invited us to chat with her about her role in this moody, adolescent drama that will make you glad you’re not in high school anymore.
Click the PARANOID PARK still below to watch the video interview.
PARANOID PARK opens March 7 @ the Angelika New York and March 14 @ the Angelika Dallas and Houston.
Independent film star Vincent Gallo is debuting his new film, JOHNNY 316 this Friday and Saturday night at the Village East Cinema. Love him or hate him, the enigmatic and offbeat actor can always be counted on to shock and provoke. His new film, as described below, should be no different:
A modernized version of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Salome”, JOHNNY 316, directed by Erick Ifergan, unfurls in the boulevards of Hollywood, California. Vincent Gallo plays a penniless street preacher who spends his days giving out pamphlets and spreading the word of God. One day, he meets Sarah, played by Nina Brosh, a beautiful bereft hairdresser who lost her job. For Sarah, it is love at first sight. She follows the preacher home and tries to seduce him.
Knowing Gallo, whose controversial role in 2003’s THE BROWN BUNNY shot him to iconic status and tripled his following overnight, JOHNNY 316’s opening will be a downtown event you’ll want to be at.
Check out the exclusive trailer below, and don’t miss the film this weekend - if you’re lucky, Gallo might just show his face.
Legendary actor Jeff Bridges is coming to the Angelika Dallas this Friday to open THE AMATEURS. The film, which also stars Ted Danson, Tim Blake Nelson and Lauren Graham, is a charming and utterly hilarious adventure that follows a dubious group of small-town men who decide to cure their mid-life crises by creating the world’s most innocent, soft-core pornography.
Bridges will introduce the 5:30 show at the Angelika Plano, and will attend the 7:30 show in Dallas this Friday, 12/7. He’ll also be sticking around for a Q&A with our audience after the film. Don’t miss it!
