Date of Birth
1 January 1969, London, England, UK
Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)
Trivia
Trained at RADA
She is of half Nigerian/half European-Jewish heritage, but is a born and raised Brit.
Has a daughter, Aoife, from a relationship with Irish film editor Eoin Martin. She is no longer with him.
Invited to join AMPAS in 2005.
She is a graduate of Cambridge University.
In 2005, Okenedo became the first black actress since Angela Bassett in 1994 to receive an NAACP Image Award nomination for the same role in which she was nominated for an Oscar. Previous Oscar nominees Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Halle Berry and Queen Latifah were not nominated by the NAACP for the same roles.
Personal Quotes
I don't like going for more than a year without doing theatre. I don't mind falling flat on my face so long as I feel I'm open to the possibility of something extraordinary happening.
But I'm pretty secure about who I am. Anything that's truthful I'm not ashamed of.
When I do things that aren't very good, I'm worse as an actor. I don't know what I pick up - but it's something not very nice.
I'd hate to lose the character actress part of me, because, by God, the parts are much more interesting. As a black actress all I was offered in British film was the best friend role, whereas in TV I was offered a whole spectrum of parts. I'd love to be able to follow that through into my newly-formed film career which I didn't expect to get at 36!
I'm drawn to stories about ordinary people who get tangled up in an extraordinary event or idea or emotion. I'm not saying I don't love films about super-people or super-doctors, but my preference is for stories about how we get through this life, what it is to be human, because I'm always struggling with it myself.
Without hammering you over the head with it, the movie gets you to ask questions. That's what good movies do.
"I'm just going where the stories are. I'll quite happily work in a tiny theater in the middle of nowhere if it's the right story. It always leaves a bit of a nasty taste in my mouth when I do something purely for money. I always end up being absolute shit in it. I'm not really an actor who can make rubbish writing good. Some people are very good at it. It's a real skill."
From IMDB
Showing posts with label info. Show all posts
Showing posts with label info. Show all posts
Monday, August 6, 2007
Sunday, August 5, 2007
John Cusack Interview About "The Ice Harvest"
John Cusack Interview About "The Ice Harvest"
John Cusack on "The Ice Harvest," the Film's Tone, and Relatable Characters
John Cusack on "The Ice Harvest," the Film's Tone, and Relatable Characters
John Cusack on Character Development and the Blend of Genres in “The Ice Harvest:” Cusack stars as a mob lawyer who rips off his boss in "The Ice Harvest," co-starring Billy Bob Thornton.
“It’s obviously a crime story, but we relate to these characters. It’s about the illusions of the American dream and fitting into that, and guys at the end of their rope. But I don't think we do it because we go, ‘Okay, let’s blend this genre with this’ or ‘let’s do this with this.’ You get inspired by the characters. Or you think, ‘Oh man, that’s a piece of writing that is so true. This is interesting.’ And then later we put labels on it to sell it or to do these things.
It does come in a tradition of those films, of the noir films, but it was just these portraits of white malehood in America that are just so disastrous.
I thought [my character] Charlie had this great comic, quiet desperation to him. I thought there were some other themes that were so interesting.
There was no outward polemics to the movie. It doesn’t talk about left and right. I’m sure neither one of these guys care who’s president. It’s not about that at all. But there is this kind of subtle, these subtle jabs at consumerism. These guys kind of went into some version of the American dream about get the house, get the money, get the trophy wife, get the girl on the side, get the material possessions, get the great car. Get more women. Get more drink. And none of it’s making them happy and none of it’s fulfilling them.
I remember Arthur Miller said an era can be considered over when its basic illusions have been exhausted. And I thought of that. I go, ‘Yeah, these guys are just exhausted. None of it’s working.’ So they trade in that American dream and then go, ‘All right, we’ll do the outlaw dream where we make the big last score and hit the open road.’ And that’s pathetic and funny, too. These guys are lost in this dream world, or Charlie is. So why we respond to something, I don't know. Is it because it’s a noir? Is it a genre, or we’re going to do this genre? No. We just see these characters and we go, ‘Oh no, my god, they’re so fascinating.’”
John Cusack on the Contradictory Nature of the Characters in “The Ice Harvest:” “…I thought that was what was so real about it. I don't think anybody views themselves…most people view themselves as good guys but I don't think anybody views themselves as a bad guy. I think we rationalize things and we get put in these bizarre situations. These guys are definitely custodians of their own realities. They made their mess; they’re responsible for it.
No matter how low you get, I think people always want to be redeemed and they want to be free and they want to be loved. They want all those things. And then they find themselves in these horrible situations and then they have these impulses to be better than that. I don't know, that’s how I see them.”
John Cusack Reunites With His “Pushing Tin” Co-Star Billy Bob Thornton in "The Ice Harvest:" “He’s great. I really love working with him. Love it. Love it. He’ll go anywhere ,do anything. There’s nothing he wouldn’t try on a movie set. Not that you’d do it all the time, but the freedom of knowing somebody’s going to go with you anywhere you want to go. And he’s so funny and so talented, so sensitive, such a smart man.”
John Cusack Recalls Picking Up a Script and Seeing “Written by Richard Russo and Robert Benton:” “That’s one of the reasons I opened it. You see ‘The Ice Harvest’ and then you see Benton and Russo and you go, ‘Ohhh…’ You want to read. One of these guys is a Pulitzer Prize winner and the other guy, I don't know how many Academy Awards he’s won for writing and directing. He wrote ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ didn’t he? [He did] This is a great writer, a great filmmaker, so you know you’ll want to see what they’re going to do with this.
At first, I read it and I thought - it might have been just where I was in my life but I started reading it - and I went, ‘Oh, man, I don’t want to do [this]. This is too dark.’ I didn’t realize it was funny or a comedy because it was so real. It was so gritty. Then I started to understand there were some of those elements of satirical Americana in there. And then I thought it was funny. As soon as I realized it was going to be funny and grim, then I thought, ‘Oh man, this is something to do.’ And I wanted to work with Harold.”
John Cusack Praises His “The Ice Harvest” Director Harold Ramis: “He’s a great director. Amazingly bright man. And he’s been around a lot of these, I think, seminal things in comedy and film for a long time - and TV. ‘Animal House,’ ‘Second City Television,’ ‘Lampoon,’ I mean those actually were as groundbreaking to me in terms of thinking of comedy and film as Monty Python was. These were the real stars and subversive and intelligent and counterculture and disgusting yet sophisticated. He’s been around some of these really important things to me.”
From movies.about.com
John Cusack on "The Ice Harvest," the Film's Tone, and Relatable Characters
John Cusack on "The Ice Harvest," the Film's Tone, and Relatable Characters
John Cusack on Character Development and the Blend of Genres in “The Ice Harvest:” Cusack stars as a mob lawyer who rips off his boss in "The Ice Harvest," co-starring Billy Bob Thornton.
“It’s obviously a crime story, but we relate to these characters. It’s about the illusions of the American dream and fitting into that, and guys at the end of their rope. But I don't think we do it because we go, ‘Okay, let’s blend this genre with this’ or ‘let’s do this with this.’ You get inspired by the characters. Or you think, ‘Oh man, that’s a piece of writing that is so true. This is interesting.’ And then later we put labels on it to sell it or to do these things.
It does come in a tradition of those films, of the noir films, but it was just these portraits of white malehood in America that are just so disastrous.
I thought [my character] Charlie had this great comic, quiet desperation to him. I thought there were some other themes that were so interesting.
There was no outward polemics to the movie. It doesn’t talk about left and right. I’m sure neither one of these guys care who’s president. It’s not about that at all. But there is this kind of subtle, these subtle jabs at consumerism. These guys kind of went into some version of the American dream about get the house, get the money, get the trophy wife, get the girl on the side, get the material possessions, get the great car. Get more women. Get more drink. And none of it’s making them happy and none of it’s fulfilling them.
I remember Arthur Miller said an era can be considered over when its basic illusions have been exhausted. And I thought of that. I go, ‘Yeah, these guys are just exhausted. None of it’s working.’ So they trade in that American dream and then go, ‘All right, we’ll do the outlaw dream where we make the big last score and hit the open road.’ And that’s pathetic and funny, too. These guys are lost in this dream world, or Charlie is. So why we respond to something, I don't know. Is it because it’s a noir? Is it a genre, or we’re going to do this genre? No. We just see these characters and we go, ‘Oh no, my god, they’re so fascinating.’”
John Cusack on the Contradictory Nature of the Characters in “The Ice Harvest:” “…I thought that was what was so real about it. I don't think anybody views themselves…most people view themselves as good guys but I don't think anybody views themselves as a bad guy. I think we rationalize things and we get put in these bizarre situations. These guys are definitely custodians of their own realities. They made their mess; they’re responsible for it.
No matter how low you get, I think people always want to be redeemed and they want to be free and they want to be loved. They want all those things. And then they find themselves in these horrible situations and then they have these impulses to be better than that. I don't know, that’s how I see them.”
John Cusack Reunites With His “Pushing Tin” Co-Star Billy Bob Thornton in "The Ice Harvest:" “He’s great. I really love working with him. Love it. Love it. He’ll go anywhere ,do anything. There’s nothing he wouldn’t try on a movie set. Not that you’d do it all the time, but the freedom of knowing somebody’s going to go with you anywhere you want to go. And he’s so funny and so talented, so sensitive, such a smart man.”
John Cusack Recalls Picking Up a Script and Seeing “Written by Richard Russo and Robert Benton:” “That’s one of the reasons I opened it. You see ‘The Ice Harvest’ and then you see Benton and Russo and you go, ‘Ohhh…’ You want to read. One of these guys is a Pulitzer Prize winner and the other guy, I don't know how many Academy Awards he’s won for writing and directing. He wrote ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ didn’t he? [He did] This is a great writer, a great filmmaker, so you know you’ll want to see what they’re going to do with this.
At first, I read it and I thought - it might have been just where I was in my life but I started reading it - and I went, ‘Oh, man, I don’t want to do [this]. This is too dark.’ I didn’t realize it was funny or a comedy because it was so real. It was so gritty. Then I started to understand there were some of those elements of satirical Americana in there. And then I thought it was funny. As soon as I realized it was going to be funny and grim, then I thought, ‘Oh man, this is something to do.’ And I wanted to work with Harold.”
John Cusack Praises His “The Ice Harvest” Director Harold Ramis: “He’s a great director. Amazingly bright man. And he’s been around a lot of these, I think, seminal things in comedy and film for a long time - and TV. ‘Animal House,’ ‘Second City Television,’ ‘Lampoon,’ I mean those actually were as groundbreaking to me in terms of thinking of comedy and film as Monty Python was. These were the real stars and subversive and intelligent and counterculture and disgusting yet sophisticated. He’s been around some of these really important things to me.”
From movies.about.com
Interview: Oliver Platt for "The Ice Harvest"
Interview: Oliver Platt for "The Ice Harvest"
Oliver Platt knows how to play a drunk and loser with more effortless harm than any actor working in Hollywood. But he is as equally diverse as recent stints in the likes of TV's Huff, for which he has attained an Emmy nomination and the dark comedy, The Ice Harvest. A hulking character actor who brings new meaning to the concept of versatility, Oliver Platt has appeared in a dizzying array of films that make him instantly recognizable but not instantly placeable to the average filmgoer. Since making his screen debut as an oily Wall Street drone in Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988), Platt has lent his talents to almost every conceivable genre, including period dramas, political comedies, children's films, and campy horror movies.
The son of a U.S. Ambassador, Platt was born in Windsor on January 12, 1960, Platt and his family soon moved to Washington, D.C. Thanks to his father's job, he had an exceptionally itinerant childhood. By the time he was 18, he had attended 12 different schools in places as diverse as Tokyo, the Middle East, and Colorado. Long interested in acting, Platt received a BA in drama from Boston's Tufts University; following graduation, he remained in Boston for three years to pursue his stage career. In 1986 he moved to New York, where he performed in a number of off-Broadway productions and had the lead in the 1989 Lincoln Center production of Ubu. ollowing his screen debut in Working Girl, Platt began finding steady work in such films as Married to the Mob (1988), Postcards from the Edge (1990), Beethoven (1992) -- which featured him and future collaborator Stanley Tucci as puppy thieves -- and Benny and Joon (1993).
He also proved himself adept at cheesy period drama in The Three Musketeers (1993), which cast him as Porthos, and at all-out comedy, as demonstrated by his turn as a struggling comic in Funny Bones (1995). Rarely cast as a leading man, Platt has always been visible in substantial supporting roles, equally comfortable at portraying nice guys, bad guys, and just flat out weird guys alike. As Ashley Judd's suitor in Simon Birch (1998), he was the straight man, while in The Impostors (1998), his second collaboration with Tucci (two years earlier he served as associate producer for the latter's Big Night), he again displayed his capacity for broad physical comedy as a struggling actor who finds himself a stowaway on an ocean liner. In Dangerous Beauty (1998), Platt was able to exercise his nasty side as a bitter nobleman-turned-religious zealot in 16th-century Venice; that same year, his capacity for exasperated quirkiness was displayed in Bulworth, which cast him as Warren Beatty's put-upon, coke-snorting campaign manager.
1999 proved to be a somewhat disappointing year for Platt, as two of his films, Three to Tango (which featured him as a gay architect) and the schlock-horror Lake Placid, which cast him as an idiosyncratic mythology expert, were both critical and commercial flops. A third film that year, Bicentennial Man -- in which Platt played the scientist who turns the titular robot (Robin Williams) into a man -- fared somewhat better. The following year, Platt's comic abilities were again on display in Gun Shy, in which he hammed it up as a bottom-rung mafioso with an overblown ego. Since then, apart from his Emmy-nominated turn in TV's Huff, Platt's diverse film credits include Ready to Rumble, Don't Say A Word, Hope Springs, Pieces of April, Loverboy and Kinsey, with both Ice Harvest and Casanova due out within weeks of each other. In this exclusive interview, the always affable actor talked to Garth Franklin.
Question: Now you're a Diplomats son, you have this sort of early kind of seemingly exotic background. How exotic was it and how does it prepare you for the life of a nomadic actor?
Platt: Well you know I think that is the key word, you are definitely prepared for that part because you are very comfortable as much as it is on some level it is very unsettling on a superficial or outward level you're very comfortable, too comfortable you know packing your bags at the drop of a hat and going somewhere. But I think in a weird way you know without knowing it if you grow up and you move all the time and you get exposed to a lot of different cultures you become quite adapted, assimilating you know because especially as a kid you kind of want to you want to fit in and so you automatically go, even if you are not aware of it you are automatically going how do they walk here, how do they talk here, what do I have to do to be like these people and I think that is the sad truth about but though maybe it has served me and a lot of people like me.
Question: Did you feel that background was something that was conducive to your desire to be an actor, was it?
Platt: I think to call it a desire is a in my case quite romantic notion. For me it actually had more to do with you know necessity and survivals in the sense that I audition for play...Christmas play when I was 8 years old and I was at a new school that I was very unhappy at and I was like the only new kid in my class and I was quite isolated and miserable and I audition for the play, Christmas play and I was the Inn Keeper that turned Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus away from the inn, I had one line I said, 'Here there is no rest or bed for poor folks such as ye, the rich they lodge here but they pay plentiful'. And the whole place for whatever reason, either my timing was good that night or I said it with a certain vigour, but the whole place went nuts when the Inn Keeper turned Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus away, I don't know if they were supposed to but when your are...so that God knows when you are standing up on stage in front of 400 people and everybody goes nuts you notice it.
Question: So it is that sense of recognition that about you...
Platt: Well just response, you know what I mean a very primitive sense of response and hate to use the word but approval.
Question: So when did that develop into a need to do more of that you think?
Platt: Well again if...I didn't stop moving at 8 I kept on moving and so you know what I found is that it is a way if I were to just audition for the play I would invariably get a part and you have a kind of automatic group of friends to hang out with, which is a very powerful thing when you are nomad.
Question: How did that nomadic experience effect you in terms of your own emotional develop, I mean was it tough?
Platt: It was very tough. It is very tough being a new kid all the time and you revaluate this stuff as you get older, I mean 1 at the end of the day I am incredibly lucky because 1 of 2 things happens to family like that that move all of the time, they either disintegrate very quickly or they get very, very close and fortunately the later situation evolved with my family.
Question: Does it reflect what happens with your own children now?
Platt: Well it reflects I am determined to move my children as little as possible, I mean I do the travelling to work at a necessity but I like that we are very, very careful. I mean I would love to raise my kids in one place if I could but you have to understand I mean I think that in itself is arguably an overreaction you know, it is okay to move once or twice in your life not the end of the world people survive it all the time and I moved 12 times and I am okay. But that is right and you just don't want to perpetrate on your own kids what you feel was perpetrated on you. Of course my parents, my father was just making a living doing his job and like I say we are very lucky that we are close as an extended family.
Question: When did you realise that you wanted to be an actor professionally that this is something that you could actually make a living doing?
Platt: I didn't I was too stupid to know that it was in insane thing to aspire to and I didn't do anything else I mean you kind of gravitate towards your talent and again my parents were and this is very unusual this but my parents were always tremendously supportive and I didn't really realise what a blessing that was until much later on till I did start to work as an actor and surrounded myself with professional actors for real, I said this is very unusual.
Question: Was there a backup plan?
Platt: You know sure there is an abstract... I don't know my backup plan is that maybe I would be you know I don't know a rock star...
Question: So nothing realistic.
Platt: Nothing remotely realistic. Not a musician a rock star.
Question: An actual rock star. But you don't see yourself as a movie star though, do you?
Platt: No I absolutely don't... and when I say rock star that shows... I more highlighted the absurdity of the back up plan.
Question: Are you glad that you've become a character actor as opposed to a movie star, a John Cusack type, I suppose a leading man, whatever that is?
Platt: You know I feel very fortunate that my life has turned out the way that it has - whatever that means - I mean... you know, to say that I would be glad would mean that I planned it. Do you know what I mean? I'm a tremendously lucky guy. I think that there are aspects to being a character actor where you actually get offered more interesting roles and you have a wider variety of things you get to do.
Question: You've attained considerable success.
Platt: I work... yeah, exactly. I work enough, you know. I've never been terribly interested in being famous, it's not something that I've ever aspired to, and that's actually one of the aspects of the business that is more difficult to negotiate and can be very confusing because in a way if you don't achieve a certain degree of notoriety you're not doing your job, but what I'm much more interested in is ,doing good work. I do care about my reputation.
Question: Yeah, and people recognise you as somebody who's well known, but at the same time they recognise you as somebody who they can rely on as being a good actor who will be usually in a high-quality project. You don't seem to do a lot of shit really.
Platt: I'm lucky that way. I mean knock on something [knocking on wood sound] - please do it for me...
Question: Like this? [Knocking on a nearby table]
Platt: There you go - just touch it.
Question: There you go.
Platt: There you go. I mean it's relative, always. It's relative, and you always take the best job that's out there when you need a job. But I do think I've been very lucky.
Question: You don't have any particular aspirations beyond what you're currently doing?
Platt: Mmm... maybe producing and my interest in producing has led me to think that maybe I might need to direct one of the things that I've been developing for a while.
Question: How terrified are you at the prospect of directing, working with people like Hallström?
Platt: I wouldn't say terrified of it. I mean I'd probably be terrified if I felt I had to rely on it, but it's something I'm doing electively. I mean literally, if I had to direct these things it would be by default. I've always wanted to be a producer, it's been very attractive to me the idea of marrying sensibilities and developing stories, getting the right people to do this job, and the right person to do that job. That's very exciting for me, but I also realised... I've got something set up at the studio recently as a producer and, it's a story - it's an unpublished manuscript that has a remarkable movie at the centre of it - and I actually started to go down the list that the studio and I came up with for filmmakers and we offered to the first guy and, he would have had to piss a lot of people off to say yes but then we offered it to the second guy and I had this epiphany that producing is working your ass off on something for years and years then giving it away when the fun starts. And as soon as I realised I caught myself characterising that way I retracted the offer. Fortunately he didn't respond quickly, which allowed us to retract the offer and then I decided to...
Question: So does that mean you become a lot choosier as an actor so that you don't have to do as much stuff so you can prepare, to spend more time working on things that you want to do?
Platt: No, because I can't afford to say no to good stuff... there's so little good stuff out there now it's difficult to say no to it.
Question: So why this movie you've decided to direct?
Platt: Because I love the story. I just love the story. And again, I never set out to direct it but I'm somebody that I worked with once who was a very accomplished director and actor and writer sat me down - because we had a very satisfying working experience together - and he said, what do you want to do, you're a director and a producer and [I said] nah, nah, nah, no - love the producing, I'm not really interested in directing, and he said, well here's what's going to happen, he said you're gonna fall in love with a piece of material, you're going to try and find somebody to direct it and you're not going to be able to find someone who gets it the way you do. And he said this to me about ten years ago; it was very prophetic.
Question: So do you take on an Ice Harvest mainly for the opportunity to see how people like a Harold Ramis works?
Platt: No I take on Ice Harvest because it's a great role. I love the script and I just thought it was a great role. Like I say, it's like this - the script is like this sad, funny, desperate love song to the lost American man.
Question: And there aren't a lot of movies that explore that.
Platt: It's not remotely sentimental, you know what I mean. It's brutally honest, and I think often hilarious, but it's a sad movie, it's sad and truthful.
Question: But you're attracted to these kind of very sad and quiet, almost pathetic characters that have within them something...
Platt: Well as long as they're layered. As long as they're looking for something, you know, as long as they're...
Question: Are you concerned that the guy in Huff is going to go so far down that audiences will stop sympathising with him?
Platt: I think in telling that life, you have to keep people invested in him. That character - one of the best characterisations of alcoholism that I ever read, it was a low-level spiritual quest. I mean eventually he's going to have to start to get some sort of awareness of the kind of trouble that he's in - or... and I think if he doesn't people will stop caring.
Question: Is that going to happen in the second season ?
Platt: I think it might happen at the end of the second season. I think the situations he finds himself in as a result of his behaviour, he has no choice but to do some sort of reckoning.
Question: Do you relate to a character like Russell in Huff or do you know people like him?
Platt: I've known people like Russell. Not intimately because people like Russell don't ultimately let anybody into their life unless they behave the same way. But the thing is... I do find him very relatable because all he is, is a very extreme case of somebody who's scared of living, he's just terrified. He's running away from a lot of different stuff. I mean he's self-destructive. I think we all have those compulsions, the question is what do you do with them?
Question: Now you're re-teaming with Mr Cusack I believe...
Platt: You know, everybody... we already have finished doing a movie we shot it in the spring.
Question: And you actually get to play a much nicer guy in that movie - how would you define that character?
Platt: You know that was much more of a kind of cameo, I love the movie, I love the story, I love Johnny as a fun little role but it was more of a cameo, not anywhere near as developed as this role. But I played a somewhat eccentric science fiction writer who has recently widowed and becomes irrevocably kind of drawn to this very troubled foster kid, very traumatised foster kid, and all of his friends, including me, and I'm also his literary agent, tell him just don't... you know, don't do it. You know, grieve your wife, this is an impulsive thing and you have no idea the kind of trouble you're getting yourself into it. And of course he doesn't listen to me and he adopts this child. And it's kind of... it's like a... you know it's a love story metaphorically between the two of them. It's beautifully... I'm a sucker for an orphan story...
Question: Sounds very nice. You're pretty much done, I guess, with West Wing?
Platt: We do it on a case by case basis Nut, if it all ended the episode I did a couple of weeks ago, that aired a couple of weeks ago was the last one I was on that would be a very fitting end to Oliver Babish I think.
Question: What happens after you finish Huff? Are you taking a break?
Platt: I'm going to take a break. I'm going to take a little break, because we've been working for five months - and I did the movie with Johnny right before that.
Question: You have Casanova coming out.
Platt: I have Casanova coming out...
Question: What was the experience like in making that film?
Platt: Casanova? Oh, a delight. I mean truly.
Question: It's full costume...
Platt: It's full costume, it's full Venice man, every frame of that movie shot in Venice, Italy, I mean pretty much, which, if you know anything about movie making, is like an insane proposition. Making movies is about moving massive amounts of equipment and people around at very short notice, you know, and Venice, Italy is a city where no cars are allowed. It's, you know, gondolas and some ski boats. Motorised wheeled transportation is not allowed. So, I mean, a producer's nightmare but an actors dream, because we all hung in Venice for three months.
Question: But it's a Disney version of Casanova...
Platt: Well, you know... I don't know what you mean by Disney version. This movie is not made for kids. It's rated R and I don't think it quite deserves that R but it's definitely a PG-13. You know, Lasse Hallström made the movie, it's not like a dumb, sanitised version - not that everything Disney does is dumb and sanitised, but I think when you say... when people use Disney, you know, to describe something they usually mean that it's like, you know, for kids, and this is not for kids.
Question: Your character is not a broad comic character for you, right?
Platt: You know, it is and it isn't I mean... as an actor I never am thinking about broad, I'm thinking about truthful. And maybe for me somehow it always ends up broad, but those are maybe the parts that I'm offered and, yeah, let the chips fall where they may. But both Ice Harvest and Casanova are naturalistic filmmaking. If I'm playing larger than life characters well, you know, that's what happens but it's not commedia dell'arte.
Question: Well you get to fool around with Lena Olin, which is nothing - most men would be very envious of I would think.
Platt: And I got paid to do it. We all have our good days and our bad days, you know.
Question: And you don't get to do kind of romantic stuff all the time....
Platt: Well, no, no, no... funnily enough with Huff there's romantic in a very kind of dysfunctional way.
Question: Well it's dysfunctional romanticism...
Platt: Dysfunctional romanticism. But, I think that Russell tries to connect with people that's what he does. I mean actually in his weird little world when he's with a hooker he's... he doesn't know it, he's trying desperately to connect with that person. He's like paying somebody to create an environment where he can try and connect on his own, on his own terms, you know, and not have to worry about the consequences.
Question: So what do you do during your down time?
Platt: I just got out of a really exciting job which I'll tell you about next time I see you..
Question: Do you miss the theatre?
Platt: Yeah, I do. I've been looking for a play to do for a long time but when you have three little kids and you've got a mortgage.
From www.darkhorizons.com
Oliver Platt knows how to play a drunk and loser with more effortless harm than any actor working in Hollywood. But he is as equally diverse as recent stints in the likes of TV's Huff, for which he has attained an Emmy nomination and the dark comedy, The Ice Harvest. A hulking character actor who brings new meaning to the concept of versatility, Oliver Platt has appeared in a dizzying array of films that make him instantly recognizable but not instantly placeable to the average filmgoer. Since making his screen debut as an oily Wall Street drone in Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988), Platt has lent his talents to almost every conceivable genre, including period dramas, political comedies, children's films, and campy horror movies.
The son of a U.S. Ambassador, Platt was born in Windsor on January 12, 1960, Platt and his family soon moved to Washington, D.C. Thanks to his father's job, he had an exceptionally itinerant childhood. By the time he was 18, he had attended 12 different schools in places as diverse as Tokyo, the Middle East, and Colorado. Long interested in acting, Platt received a BA in drama from Boston's Tufts University; following graduation, he remained in Boston for three years to pursue his stage career. In 1986 he moved to New York, where he performed in a number of off-Broadway productions and had the lead in the 1989 Lincoln Center production of Ubu. ollowing his screen debut in Working Girl, Platt began finding steady work in such films as Married to the Mob (1988), Postcards from the Edge (1990), Beethoven (1992) -- which featured him and future collaborator Stanley Tucci as puppy thieves -- and Benny and Joon (1993).
He also proved himself adept at cheesy period drama in The Three Musketeers (1993), which cast him as Porthos, and at all-out comedy, as demonstrated by his turn as a struggling comic in Funny Bones (1995). Rarely cast as a leading man, Platt has always been visible in substantial supporting roles, equally comfortable at portraying nice guys, bad guys, and just flat out weird guys alike. As Ashley Judd's suitor in Simon Birch (1998), he was the straight man, while in The Impostors (1998), his second collaboration with Tucci (two years earlier he served as associate producer for the latter's Big Night), he again displayed his capacity for broad physical comedy as a struggling actor who finds himself a stowaway on an ocean liner. In Dangerous Beauty (1998), Platt was able to exercise his nasty side as a bitter nobleman-turned-religious zealot in 16th-century Venice; that same year, his capacity for exasperated quirkiness was displayed in Bulworth, which cast him as Warren Beatty's put-upon, coke-snorting campaign manager.
1999 proved to be a somewhat disappointing year for Platt, as two of his films, Three to Tango (which featured him as a gay architect) and the schlock-horror Lake Placid, which cast him as an idiosyncratic mythology expert, were both critical and commercial flops. A third film that year, Bicentennial Man -- in which Platt played the scientist who turns the titular robot (Robin Williams) into a man -- fared somewhat better. The following year, Platt's comic abilities were again on display in Gun Shy, in which he hammed it up as a bottom-rung mafioso with an overblown ego. Since then, apart from his Emmy-nominated turn in TV's Huff, Platt's diverse film credits include Ready to Rumble, Don't Say A Word, Hope Springs, Pieces of April, Loverboy and Kinsey, with both Ice Harvest and Casanova due out within weeks of each other. In this exclusive interview, the always affable actor talked to Garth Franklin.
Question: Now you're a Diplomats son, you have this sort of early kind of seemingly exotic background. How exotic was it and how does it prepare you for the life of a nomadic actor?
Platt: Well you know I think that is the key word, you are definitely prepared for that part because you are very comfortable as much as it is on some level it is very unsettling on a superficial or outward level you're very comfortable, too comfortable you know packing your bags at the drop of a hat and going somewhere. But I think in a weird way you know without knowing it if you grow up and you move all the time and you get exposed to a lot of different cultures you become quite adapted, assimilating you know because especially as a kid you kind of want to you want to fit in and so you automatically go, even if you are not aware of it you are automatically going how do they walk here, how do they talk here, what do I have to do to be like these people and I think that is the sad truth about but though maybe it has served me and a lot of people like me.
Question: Did you feel that background was something that was conducive to your desire to be an actor, was it?
Platt: I think to call it a desire is a in my case quite romantic notion. For me it actually had more to do with you know necessity and survivals in the sense that I audition for play...Christmas play when I was 8 years old and I was at a new school that I was very unhappy at and I was like the only new kid in my class and I was quite isolated and miserable and I audition for the play, Christmas play and I was the Inn Keeper that turned Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus away from the inn, I had one line I said, 'Here there is no rest or bed for poor folks such as ye, the rich they lodge here but they pay plentiful'. And the whole place for whatever reason, either my timing was good that night or I said it with a certain vigour, but the whole place went nuts when the Inn Keeper turned Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus away, I don't know if they were supposed to but when your are...so that God knows when you are standing up on stage in front of 400 people and everybody goes nuts you notice it.
Question: So it is that sense of recognition that about you...
Platt: Well just response, you know what I mean a very primitive sense of response and hate to use the word but approval.
Question: So when did that develop into a need to do more of that you think?
Platt: Well again if...I didn't stop moving at 8 I kept on moving and so you know what I found is that it is a way if I were to just audition for the play I would invariably get a part and you have a kind of automatic group of friends to hang out with, which is a very powerful thing when you are nomad.
Question: How did that nomadic experience effect you in terms of your own emotional develop, I mean was it tough?
Platt: It was very tough. It is very tough being a new kid all the time and you revaluate this stuff as you get older, I mean 1 at the end of the day I am incredibly lucky because 1 of 2 things happens to family like that that move all of the time, they either disintegrate very quickly or they get very, very close and fortunately the later situation evolved with my family.
Question: Does it reflect what happens with your own children now?
Platt: Well it reflects I am determined to move my children as little as possible, I mean I do the travelling to work at a necessity but I like that we are very, very careful. I mean I would love to raise my kids in one place if I could but you have to understand I mean I think that in itself is arguably an overreaction you know, it is okay to move once or twice in your life not the end of the world people survive it all the time and I moved 12 times and I am okay. But that is right and you just don't want to perpetrate on your own kids what you feel was perpetrated on you. Of course my parents, my father was just making a living doing his job and like I say we are very lucky that we are close as an extended family.
Question: When did you realise that you wanted to be an actor professionally that this is something that you could actually make a living doing?
Platt: I didn't I was too stupid to know that it was in insane thing to aspire to and I didn't do anything else I mean you kind of gravitate towards your talent and again my parents were and this is very unusual this but my parents were always tremendously supportive and I didn't really realise what a blessing that was until much later on till I did start to work as an actor and surrounded myself with professional actors for real, I said this is very unusual.
Question: Was there a backup plan?
Platt: You know sure there is an abstract... I don't know my backup plan is that maybe I would be you know I don't know a rock star...
Question: So nothing realistic.
Platt: Nothing remotely realistic. Not a musician a rock star.
Question: An actual rock star. But you don't see yourself as a movie star though, do you?
Platt: No I absolutely don't... and when I say rock star that shows... I more highlighted the absurdity of the back up plan.
Question: Are you glad that you've become a character actor as opposed to a movie star, a John Cusack type, I suppose a leading man, whatever that is?
Platt: You know I feel very fortunate that my life has turned out the way that it has - whatever that means - I mean... you know, to say that I would be glad would mean that I planned it. Do you know what I mean? I'm a tremendously lucky guy. I think that there are aspects to being a character actor where you actually get offered more interesting roles and you have a wider variety of things you get to do.
Question: You've attained considerable success.
Platt: I work... yeah, exactly. I work enough, you know. I've never been terribly interested in being famous, it's not something that I've ever aspired to, and that's actually one of the aspects of the business that is more difficult to negotiate and can be very confusing because in a way if you don't achieve a certain degree of notoriety you're not doing your job, but what I'm much more interested in is ,doing good work. I do care about my reputation.
Question: Yeah, and people recognise you as somebody who's well known, but at the same time they recognise you as somebody who they can rely on as being a good actor who will be usually in a high-quality project. You don't seem to do a lot of shit really.
Platt: I'm lucky that way. I mean knock on something [knocking on wood sound] - please do it for me...
Question: Like this? [Knocking on a nearby table]
Platt: There you go - just touch it.
Question: There you go.
Platt: There you go. I mean it's relative, always. It's relative, and you always take the best job that's out there when you need a job. But I do think I've been very lucky.
Question: You don't have any particular aspirations beyond what you're currently doing?
Platt: Mmm... maybe producing and my interest in producing has led me to think that maybe I might need to direct one of the things that I've been developing for a while.
Question: How terrified are you at the prospect of directing, working with people like Hallström?
Platt: I wouldn't say terrified of it. I mean I'd probably be terrified if I felt I had to rely on it, but it's something I'm doing electively. I mean literally, if I had to direct these things it would be by default. I've always wanted to be a producer, it's been very attractive to me the idea of marrying sensibilities and developing stories, getting the right people to do this job, and the right person to do that job. That's very exciting for me, but I also realised... I've got something set up at the studio recently as a producer and, it's a story - it's an unpublished manuscript that has a remarkable movie at the centre of it - and I actually started to go down the list that the studio and I came up with for filmmakers and we offered to the first guy and, he would have had to piss a lot of people off to say yes but then we offered it to the second guy and I had this epiphany that producing is working your ass off on something for years and years then giving it away when the fun starts. And as soon as I realised I caught myself characterising that way I retracted the offer. Fortunately he didn't respond quickly, which allowed us to retract the offer and then I decided to...
Question: So does that mean you become a lot choosier as an actor so that you don't have to do as much stuff so you can prepare, to spend more time working on things that you want to do?
Platt: No, because I can't afford to say no to good stuff... there's so little good stuff out there now it's difficult to say no to it.
Question: So why this movie you've decided to direct?
Platt: Because I love the story. I just love the story. And again, I never set out to direct it but I'm somebody that I worked with once who was a very accomplished director and actor and writer sat me down - because we had a very satisfying working experience together - and he said, what do you want to do, you're a director and a producer and [I said] nah, nah, nah, no - love the producing, I'm not really interested in directing, and he said, well here's what's going to happen, he said you're gonna fall in love with a piece of material, you're going to try and find somebody to direct it and you're not going to be able to find someone who gets it the way you do. And he said this to me about ten years ago; it was very prophetic.
Question: So do you take on an Ice Harvest mainly for the opportunity to see how people like a Harold Ramis works?
Platt: No I take on Ice Harvest because it's a great role. I love the script and I just thought it was a great role. Like I say, it's like this - the script is like this sad, funny, desperate love song to the lost American man.
Question: And there aren't a lot of movies that explore that.
Platt: It's not remotely sentimental, you know what I mean. It's brutally honest, and I think often hilarious, but it's a sad movie, it's sad and truthful.
Question: But you're attracted to these kind of very sad and quiet, almost pathetic characters that have within them something...
Platt: Well as long as they're layered. As long as they're looking for something, you know, as long as they're...
Question: Are you concerned that the guy in Huff is going to go so far down that audiences will stop sympathising with him?
Platt: I think in telling that life, you have to keep people invested in him. That character - one of the best characterisations of alcoholism that I ever read, it was a low-level spiritual quest. I mean eventually he's going to have to start to get some sort of awareness of the kind of trouble that he's in - or... and I think if he doesn't people will stop caring.
Question: Is that going to happen in the second season ?
Platt: I think it might happen at the end of the second season. I think the situations he finds himself in as a result of his behaviour, he has no choice but to do some sort of reckoning.
Question: Do you relate to a character like Russell in Huff or do you know people like him?
Platt: I've known people like Russell. Not intimately because people like Russell don't ultimately let anybody into their life unless they behave the same way. But the thing is... I do find him very relatable because all he is, is a very extreme case of somebody who's scared of living, he's just terrified. He's running away from a lot of different stuff. I mean he's self-destructive. I think we all have those compulsions, the question is what do you do with them?
Question: Now you're re-teaming with Mr Cusack I believe...
Platt: You know, everybody... we already have finished doing a movie we shot it in the spring.
Question: And you actually get to play a much nicer guy in that movie - how would you define that character?
Platt: You know that was much more of a kind of cameo, I love the movie, I love the story, I love Johnny as a fun little role but it was more of a cameo, not anywhere near as developed as this role. But I played a somewhat eccentric science fiction writer who has recently widowed and becomes irrevocably kind of drawn to this very troubled foster kid, very traumatised foster kid, and all of his friends, including me, and I'm also his literary agent, tell him just don't... you know, don't do it. You know, grieve your wife, this is an impulsive thing and you have no idea the kind of trouble you're getting yourself into it. And of course he doesn't listen to me and he adopts this child. And it's kind of... it's like a... you know it's a love story metaphorically between the two of them. It's beautifully... I'm a sucker for an orphan story...
Question: Sounds very nice. You're pretty much done, I guess, with West Wing?
Platt: We do it on a case by case basis Nut, if it all ended the episode I did a couple of weeks ago, that aired a couple of weeks ago was the last one I was on that would be a very fitting end to Oliver Babish I think.
Question: What happens after you finish Huff? Are you taking a break?
Platt: I'm going to take a break. I'm going to take a little break, because we've been working for five months - and I did the movie with Johnny right before that.
Question: You have Casanova coming out.
Platt: I have Casanova coming out...
Question: What was the experience like in making that film?
Platt: Casanova? Oh, a delight. I mean truly.
Question: It's full costume...
Platt: It's full costume, it's full Venice man, every frame of that movie shot in Venice, Italy, I mean pretty much, which, if you know anything about movie making, is like an insane proposition. Making movies is about moving massive amounts of equipment and people around at very short notice, you know, and Venice, Italy is a city where no cars are allowed. It's, you know, gondolas and some ski boats. Motorised wheeled transportation is not allowed. So, I mean, a producer's nightmare but an actors dream, because we all hung in Venice for three months.
Question: But it's a Disney version of Casanova...
Platt: Well, you know... I don't know what you mean by Disney version. This movie is not made for kids. It's rated R and I don't think it quite deserves that R but it's definitely a PG-13. You know, Lasse Hallström made the movie, it's not like a dumb, sanitised version - not that everything Disney does is dumb and sanitised, but I think when you say... when people use Disney, you know, to describe something they usually mean that it's like, you know, for kids, and this is not for kids.
Question: Your character is not a broad comic character for you, right?
Platt: You know, it is and it isn't I mean... as an actor I never am thinking about broad, I'm thinking about truthful. And maybe for me somehow it always ends up broad, but those are maybe the parts that I'm offered and, yeah, let the chips fall where they may. But both Ice Harvest and Casanova are naturalistic filmmaking. If I'm playing larger than life characters well, you know, that's what happens but it's not commedia dell'arte.
Question: Well you get to fool around with Lena Olin, which is nothing - most men would be very envious of I would think.
Platt: And I got paid to do it. We all have our good days and our bad days, you know.
Question: And you don't get to do kind of romantic stuff all the time....
Platt: Well, no, no, no... funnily enough with Huff there's romantic in a very kind of dysfunctional way.
Question: Well it's dysfunctional romanticism...
Platt: Dysfunctional romanticism. But, I think that Russell tries to connect with people that's what he does. I mean actually in his weird little world when he's with a hooker he's... he doesn't know it, he's trying desperately to connect with that person. He's like paying somebody to create an environment where he can try and connect on his own, on his own terms, you know, and not have to worry about the consequences.
Question: So what do you do during your down time?
Platt: I just got out of a really exciting job which I'll tell you about next time I see you..
Question: Do you miss the theatre?
Platt: Yeah, I do. I've been looking for a play to do for a long time but when you have three little kids and you've got a mortgage.
From www.darkhorizons.com
Interview with Oliver Platt about "The Ice Harvest"
Interview with Oliver Platt about "The Ice Harvest"
Question: Do you see any parallel in this guy (Pete) and the guy you play in Huff?
Oliver Platt: They’re very different actually. I think the guy I played in Huff is much more like Charlie’s character. He drinks so much that it doesn’t really affect him. He has to really put a lot of chemicals into his body to get to the state that this guy is in. Charlie’s really experienced. (Pete) is in a forced crisis. The forced gaiety of Christmas has made him really focus in on how bankrupt his life is. He doesn’t have anything important, and he obviously can’t hold his liqueur. He’s not a really an alcoholic. I think he may be on his way, but I don’t think he drinks like this a lot. I think he’s absolutely flipping out.
Q: But isn’t it funny that everybody is casting you as a semi-drunkard loser?
O.Platt.: You get cast for something people see in you… I don’t know. I really don’t know. I can tell you this though; they’re certainly a lot of fun to play, especially when they’re layered. It’s very easy when you meet this guy to say, “Oh, there’s a happy drunk”, but we all know there’s no such thing really, but then we find out. I think the writing in this movie is so beautiful. The story reveals that he’s desperate.
Q: Playing a drunk person may sound simple, but there are so many little nuances, little details. Were those things that you brought yourself, and if so, how did you research?
O.Platt.: It’s a physical state more than anything else more than anything else. It’s a very relaxed state that I would get myself into. Very kind of loosey-goosey. It’s like I said, you figure it out, then you forget about it. I heard somewhere the way Meryl Streep works with an accent, she’ll totally immerse herself in it and she’ll be walking around her house and the set, until they say action, and then she completely forgets about it. And that’s why it’s just there. And it’s the same kind of thing, I think, when playing someone who’s that inebriated. Or I think in any kind of state. It’s gotta be something that informs what you’re doing, but you can’t be thinking about it when you’re doing it, or that’s what it’s going to look like.
Q: So, essentially you were drunk for a couple of months?
O.Platt.: When they said action, yeah.
Q: What’s your favorite drink?
O.Platt.: My favorite drink would have to be probably a tequila type of drink. Yeah, the members of the tequila family. Beer and tequila, I always thought were the excellent kind of rocket fuel kind of mixture, you got the upper and the downer in there somewhere, and in the middle was…
Q: Are you a happy drunk?
O.Platt.: Yeah, I think I’m pretty friendly.
Q: I watched Casanova also, and I would call you the comic relief. You are the funny guy in most films. Is this something you are looking for?
O.Platt.: You know, I take the best job I’m offered if I’m not working. Those were both great jobs in my mind. Again, because they’re layered. Both (Pete) and Papprizzio are actually incredibly well defined roles for supporting roles in terms of having a great story, a beginning, middle and end, and a lot of depth to them. I was only too happy to take both of those roles.
Q: Both of the films are also comedies around you. How do you play the comic relief in a film that is already a comedy around you? Is there a degree where you can go too over-the-top in a film that is already a comedy?
O.Platt.: In a way you can over think that kind of stuff, and it’s just your job to play the role the way you see fit. Certainly in terms of Pete, the deal that I made with myself was the only way I could screw up would be to be afraid to make an absolute idiot of myself. People that have that degree of blood alcohol level, their sense of inhibition is completely gone. They’re certainly not thinking about how they’re coming off. What the safety net was for all of this was the script. In my mind it’s a beautifully written role, and so it’s all about playing the scenes. That level of drunkenness is like playing an accent. You plug it in and forget about it.
Q: Can you tell us what Harold Ramis adds to the equation.
O.Platt.: Well, you know what he adds to the equation, he add to the equation… He’s simply there. It’s like, with one of the godfathers, the crazy uncles of American comedy sitting behind the camera you feel a lot more safe making a complete idiot of yourself in front of it. And you know this is also a man of great intelligence who’s going to keep his eye on the story, is going to tell you when you’re going too far, if you’re not going far enough. Harold sits behind the monitor and cackles a lot. That’s music to your ears. When he opens his mouth, you really pay close attention.
Director’s don’t really need to come talk to me, because I almost always go talk to them first. And I very much like to draw out what’s going on in their head, and tell them what’s going on in my head. I usually try and make a lot of contact with a director before we start shooting. I think you work really hard before you get to the set, so when you get to the set you can play and you can really surprise yourself.
Q: I assume you’re familiar with a lot of his movies?
O.Platt.: Yes.
Q: Have any favorite Ramis films?
O.Platt.: Definitely my favorite movie of his is Groundhog Day. Just because I think that it’s really… He would hate this pretentious term, but I think it’s actually kind of an important movie. I think it’s the first great existential modern American comedy. It’s a deceptively sophisticated movie. It’s about a whole lot of stuff. I just loved it. I love all the other stuff too. Caddyshack. I love Stripes. I love all that stuff.
Q: Had you known John before, and what were your impressions of him?
O.Platt.: You know, I didn’t really know him before. He had called me once because I had worked with a director he wanted to work with. I had always admired him. I’d always admired his intelligence as an actor, his subtlety. His taste too. I love not only things that he chose to do, but I think he’s an incredibly tasteful. Like effortlessly tasteful actor, someone who really understands the concept of less is more. He understands the power of the camera. If you look at this movie and when you first are meeting him and he brings the money out of the bank and puts in the car, and he has this conversation with Billy Bob, and he says two or three words, but you know so much about that character right away. There’s more from what he doesn’t say.
Q: Any stories from working with him?
O.Platt.: You know, I’m terrible at the funny stories questions. I just am.
Q: How was Billy Bob?
O.Platt.: I didn’t work with him. I didn’t even meet him.
Q: Where was this shot? Was it shot entirely on location?
O.Platt.: Well, yeah, but in Chicago.
Q: Which was cold, I imagine?
O.Platt.: It was spring, late spring, which is still cold, but it was nothing like the real winter in Chicago or Wichita Falls.
Q: How was Venice? (Where Cassanova was filmed)
O.Platt.: Venice the weather was much more pleasant.
Q: What do you think the Midwestern setting does for this noir film that distinguishes it from other things we have seen in this genre?
O.Platt.: I think that this movie is in a certain catalogue a sad, love song to the precarious state of the American male. So I think you really need to set it in America. And by America, I think we’re talking about middle America. Not New York, because even though it’s where I live and I think it’s the greatest city in the world, it’s also an international city. And LA is the same thing. It needs to be more nondescript, utterly American city. I think that’s what their going for. Also, if noir is the point of departure for this film at least in terms of genre, these are not glamorous mobsters. I think that that’s one of the most genuine modern aspects of it. These are not glamorous, very powerful people.
Q: How do you think the people in Kansas will react to this?
O.Platt.: I hope that they’ll understand that this is a poetic kind of imagining of the… every town has got strip clubs and losers. And I hear that Wichita is a beautiful place. Please quote me on that.
Kudos to Oliver Platt for spending some time with us and sharing his insights with our readers. The Ice Harvest is now playing everywhere.
Oliver Platt Biography
Date of Birth
12 January 1960, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Birth Name
Oliver James Platt
Height
6' 3½" (1.92 m)
Mini Biography
The son of a career diplomat, he spent his childhood in Washington DC, Asia, and the middle east. Oliver graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Drama in 1983 from Tufts University. He then trained at Shakespeare & Co. with Kristine Linklater.
Spouse
Camilla Campbell (1993 - present) 3 children
Trivia
David E. Kelley originally wanted him to play the role of Bobby Donnell on the TV show "The Practice" (1997).
His father, Nicholas Platt, is an ex ambassador to Pakistan, Zambia, & the Phillipines.
Attended Tufts University.
Three children: Lily (b. 1995), George (b. 1997), and Claire (b. 1999).
Has an older brother, Adam Platt and a younger brother, Nicholas Platt Jr.
Avid Boston Red Sox fan.
A second-cousin, once-removed of Princess Diana, Princess of Wales.
Son of Nicholas Platt (b. 10.3.1936 in New York, NY), a career American diplomat, and wife Sheila Maynard. His mother, Sheila Maynard, is the daughter of maternal granddaughter of the Hon. Cynthia Burke-Roche (10.4.1884-8.12.1966, who married firstly Arthur Scott Burden (d. 6.1921) in 1906 and secondly Guy Fairfax Cary (d. 1950) in 1922). Cynthia was the sister of Edmund Maurice Burke-Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy in the Peerage of Ireland (of Irish and English extraction and son of an American Heiress), who was the maternal grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales. He is also the paternal grandson of American architect Geoffrey Platt (by whom he has remote Dutch American ancestry) and wife Helen Choate.
Was friends with "Huff" co-star Hank Azaria at Tufts University.
High school graduate from the Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, Colorado (near Aspen). The school's main curriculum is based on the "Outward Bound" education program, which teaches wilderness survival and expedition courses.
Personal Quotes
"The only thing I wanted to do when I was a young naive kid was to become a New York stage actor. I thought that would be nirvana. I think of myself as an actor. If other people want to pigeonhole me, if they want to think of me as a big deal or a medium deal or a small deal, well, that's up to them."
Where Are They Now
(June 2006) Making his Broadway debut in Conor McPherson's Shining City, at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. His brilliant performance was honored with a Tony nomination for best actor.
12 January 1960, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Birth Name
Oliver James Platt
Height
6' 3½" (1.92 m)
Mini Biography
The son of a career diplomat, he spent his childhood in Washington DC, Asia, and the middle east. Oliver graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Drama in 1983 from Tufts University. He then trained at Shakespeare & Co. with Kristine Linklater.
Spouse
Camilla Campbell (1993 - present) 3 children
Trivia
David E. Kelley originally wanted him to play the role of Bobby Donnell on the TV show "The Practice" (1997).
His father, Nicholas Platt, is an ex ambassador to Pakistan, Zambia, & the Phillipines.
Attended Tufts University.
Three children: Lily (b. 1995), George (b. 1997), and Claire (b. 1999).
Has an older brother, Adam Platt and a younger brother, Nicholas Platt Jr.
Avid Boston Red Sox fan.
A second-cousin, once-removed of Princess Diana, Princess of Wales.
Son of Nicholas Platt (b. 10.3.1936 in New York, NY), a career American diplomat, and wife Sheila Maynard. His mother, Sheila Maynard, is the daughter of maternal granddaughter of the Hon. Cynthia Burke-Roche (10.4.1884-8.12.1966, who married firstly Arthur Scott Burden (d. 6.1921) in 1906 and secondly Guy Fairfax Cary (d. 1950) in 1922). Cynthia was the sister of Edmund Maurice Burke-Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy in the Peerage of Ireland (of Irish and English extraction and son of an American Heiress), who was the maternal grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales. He is also the paternal grandson of American architect Geoffrey Platt (by whom he has remote Dutch American ancestry) and wife Helen Choate.
Was friends with "Huff" co-star Hank Azaria at Tufts University.
High school graduate from the Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, Colorado (near Aspen). The school's main curriculum is based on the "Outward Bound" education program, which teaches wilderness survival and expedition courses.
Personal Quotes
"The only thing I wanted to do when I was a young naive kid was to become a New York stage actor. I thought that would be nirvana. I think of myself as an actor. If other people want to pigeonhole me, if they want to think of me as a big deal or a medium deal or a small deal, well, that's up to them."
Where Are They Now
(June 2006) Making his Broadway debut in Conor McPherson's Shining City, at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. His brilliant performance was honored with a Tony nomination for best actor.
Bobby Coleman Biography
Date of Birth
5 May 1997, Los Angeles, California, USA
Birth Name
Robert Moorhouse Coleman III
Trivia
Son of Robert M. Coleman Jr. and Doris Berg Coleman.
Younger brother of Holliston Coleman.
Was named after his grand-father and father. He is the third generation to have the name carried on.
Auditioned for the part of Max in Where the Wild Things Are (2008).
From IMDB
5 May 1997, Los Angeles, California, USA
Birth Name
Robert Moorhouse Coleman III
Trivia
Son of Robert M. Coleman Jr. and Doris Berg Coleman.
Younger brother of Holliston Coleman.
Was named after his grand-father and father. He is the third generation to have the name carried on.
Auditioned for the part of Max in Where the Wild Things Are (2008).
From IMDB
Entourage episode with Amanda Peet
"Entourage" S02E01 - The Boys Are Back in Town (With Amanda Peet)
With filming on Queens Boulevard completed, Vince, Eric, Turtle and Drama arrive back in LA, ready to pick up where they left off. Eric tries to fulfill his new duties as Vince's manager, while also trying to control the frustrations caused by his relationship with Kristen. He also has to deal with Ari, who lets him know that offers to Vince have started to dry up, and that Vince should take the starring role in James Cameron's "Aquaman." Turtle steps up into his new role as the house manager and Drama finds an unconventional way to get a new set of headshots. Written by HBO
http://rapidshare.com/files/39439918/Entourage.S02E01.DVDRip.XviD-TOPAZ.r00
http://rapidshare.com/files/39439471/Entourage.S02E01.DVDRip.XviD-TOPAZ.r01
http://rapidshare.com/files/39439892/Entourage.S02E01.DVDRip.XviD-TOPAZ.rar
or
http://www.badongo.com/vid/194204
With filming on Queens Boulevard completed, Vince, Eric, Turtle and Drama arrive back in LA, ready to pick up where they left off. Eric tries to fulfill his new duties as Vince's manager, while also trying to control the frustrations caused by his relationship with Kristen. He also has to deal with Ari, who lets him know that offers to Vince have started to dry up, and that Vince should take the starring role in James Cameron's "Aquaman." Turtle steps up into his new role as the house manager and Drama finds an unconventional way to get a new set of headshots. Written by HBO
http://rapidshare.com/files/39439918/Entourage.S02E01.DVDRip.XviD-TOPAZ.r00
http://rapidshare.com/files/39439471/Entourage.S02E01.DVDRip.XviD-TOPAZ.r01
http://rapidshare.com/files/39439892/Entourage.S02E01.DVDRip.XviD-TOPAZ.rar
or
http://www.badongo.com/vid/194204
David Gerrold Biography and Work
Biography
David Gerrold, born Jerrold David Friedman (January 24, 1944), in Chicago, Illinois, is an award-winning science fiction author who started his career in 1966 as a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one chosen by Star Trek was filmed as "The Trouble with Tribbles", which has been one of the most enduringly popular episodes of the series.
Early works
After his early success with "The Trouble with Tribbles" Gerrold continued writing television scripts (mostly for science fiction series such as Land of the Lost, Babylon 5, Sliders, and The Twilight Zone) and science fiction novels, of which the most well-known are The Man Who Folded Himself (1973), about a man whose experiments with a time machine distorts the details of his life and reality, and When HARLIE Was One (1972), the story of an artificial intelligence's relationship with his creators. When HARLIE Was One was nominated for best novel for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. A revised edition, entitled When HARLIE Was One, Release 2.0, was published in 1988, incorporating new insights and reflecting new developments in computer science.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Within days of seeing the Star Trek series premiere "The Man Trap" on 8 September 1966, Gerrold wrote a sixty-page outline for a two-part episode called "Tomorrow Was Yesterday", about the Enterprise discovering a generation ship launched from Earth centuries earlier. Although Star Trek producer Gene L. Coon rejected the outline, he realized Gerrold was talented and expressed interest in him submitting some story premises. Bearing preliminary titles and, in some cases, preliminary character names, Gerrold submitted five premises.
Two that he had little recollection of involved a spaceship-destroying machine, eerily similar to Norman Spinrad's "The Doomsday Machine", and a situation in which Kirk had to play a chess game with an advanced intelligence using his crew as chess pieces. There has been some speculation by Trek and comic book historians that the chess game was inspired by an early issue of Justice League of America, published by DC Comics. The issue in question had the evil alien conqueror, Despero, playing a game of chess with one of the Leaguers, with the pieces depicting the other heroes. Gerrold has denied this, but the speculation persists.
A third premise, "Bandi", involved a small being running about the Enterprise as someone's pet, and which empathically sways the crew's feelings and emotions to comfort Bandi, and if necessary at someone else's expense. Gerrold noted, in retrospect, that it would not be like the Enterprise crew to have such attitudes against Kirk as Bandi induced, and that he might instead set the episode on another ship where laxity has been reported.
A fourth premise, "The Protracted Man", applied science fiction to use an effect seen in West Side Story, when Maria twirls in her dancing dress and the colours separate. Gerrold's story involved a man transported from a shuttlecraft trying out a new space warp technology. The man is no longer unified, separating into three visible forms when he moves, separated by a fraction of a second. As efforts are undertaken to correct the condition and move the Enterprise to where corrective action can be taken, the protraction worsens.
The fifth premise, "The Fuzzies," was also initially rejected by Coon, but a while later he changed his mind and called Gerrold's agent to accept it. Gerrold then expanded the story to a full television story outline entitled "A Fuzzy Thing Happened To Me. . .," and it eventually became "The Trouble With Tribbles." The name "Fuzzy" was changed because H. Beam Piper had written novels about a fictional alien species of the same name (see Little Fuzzy). The script went through numerous rewrites, including, at the insistence of Gerrold's agent, being re-set in a stock frontier town instead of an "expensive" space station. Gerrold later wrote a book, The Trouble With Tribbles, telling the whole story about producing the episode and his earlier premises.
This was one of two books Gerrold wrote about Star Trek in the early 1970s after the original series had been canceled. His other was a comprehensive analysis of the series entitled The World of Star Trek. He discussed them at various conventions where he was a frequent speaker and guest. In The World of Star Trek, he criticized some of the elements of the show, particularly Kirk's habit of placing himself in dangerous situations and leading landing parties from the ship himself, and suggested some things he would change about the show if it were to air again. Among these were a Klingon as a member of the crew, a counselor to look after crewmembers' inner lives, and crewmembers allowed to bring their families and children along.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
All of the above noted changes were incorporated into Star Trek: The Next Generation when it debuted in 1987. In particular, Gerrold can be credited for reshaping the position of "first officer" as the ship's executive officer and commander of "away teams" (to overcome the unrealism of the ship's captain routinely beaming into dangerous situations). He parted company with the producers at the beginning of the first season, after a dispute before the Writers' Guild in which the Guild required that Gerrold be paid additional wages for the work he did helping to create the series, because he had largely written the show's bible rather than the ailing Gene Roddenberry. He was awarded cash but chose to forego additional credit.
Roddenberry's partisans struck back after his death in 1991, with a lengthy passage in David Alexander's authorized biography, Star Trek Creator, suggesting that Gerrold had plagiarized the Martian-flatcat chapter in Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Rolling Stones for "The Trouble With Tribbles," (something that Gerrold had categorically denied in his book on the episode, saying he thought he was writing the "rabbits in Australia" story) and that only Heinlein's age and old-school graciousness had prevented him from bringing a lawsuit.
In fact, Heinlein and Gerrold became friends in the late 1970s, when Gerrold was an active blood donor in support of Heinlein's blood drives. They remained friends for many years, and Gerrold even dedicated one of his books (A Matter For Men) to Robert and Virginia Heinlein. After Heinlein's death, Ginny Heinlein gave up her California home, and Gerrold adopted Heinlein's cat, Pixel.
Another point of contention between Gerrold and the Star Trek: The Next Generation executive leadership was Gerrold's writing of an unproduced script that would have had an allegory to the AIDS pandemic along with some brief scenes with two Star Fleet crewmembers that would have subtly been identified as being a gay couple. Gerrold wrote this script in response to being with Roddenberry at a convention in 1987 where he had promised that the upcoming Next Generation series would deal with the issue of sexual orientation in the egalitarian future. The script was rewritten to remove the gay couple, and even then certain people seemed to be worried about airing an episode that made a plea for compassion for those people infected with AIDS. For more information see LGBT characters in the Star Trek universe.
Post-Trek involvement
Gerrold wrote a script for Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled Blood and Fire, which included an AIDS metaphor and an incidentally gay couple in the ship's crew. The script was purchased by the TNG producers, but eventually shelved. Gerrold eventually reworked it as a novel, Blood and Fire, the third book in the Star Wolf series (see below). He later reworked the script again, placing the story in the time frame of Star Trek: The Original Series in order for it to be filmed as an episode of Star Trek: New Voyages.
Gerrold had always wanted to appear onscreen in an episode of Star Trek, particularly "The Trouble with Tribbles." The character of Ensign Freeman, who appears in the famous bar scene with the Klingons, was originally intended by Gerrold to be a walk-on part for himself, although another actor eventually took the role. While Gerrold appeared as a crewman extra with other Trek fandom notables in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, he did not get the chance to appear in a Trek series until Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, when he appeared as a security guard in "Trials and Tribble-ations", set during the very same time frame as his original episode.
Gerrold also published a novelization of the Star Trek: The Next Generation series premiere "Encounter at Farpoint" (1987) and an original Star Trek novel entitled The Galactic Whirlpool (1980) based on the story outline "Tomorrow Was Yesterday". (It has been suggested that the "Specs" character in that novel was Gerrold himself.) In 2006, for the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, he co-edited with Robert J. Sawyer an essay collection entitled Boarding the Enterprise.
The War Against the Chtorr
Gerrold is the author of the War Against the Chtorr series of books, about an invasion of Earth by mysterious aliens: A Matter for Men (1983), A Day for Damnation (1985), A Rage for Revenge (1989), and A Season for Slaughter (1993). As of 2006, he was still writing the fifth book (A Method For Madness), and has contracted to write a sixth (A Time For Treason). The ending chapters of the series have been set aside for the seventh and final book, which will be A Case For Courage. His age, combined with his health issues (from www.gerrold.com) leads many to believe that this series will never actually be completed.
In an original twist, the invasion is an ecological one. Instead of armies, the unseen aggressors gradually unleash plants and animals from their older, more evolved planet. These outcompete and displace their terrestrial counterparts and Earth becomes more and more Chtorr-like as the "war" progresses.
Star Wolf
Gerrold is also the author of the Star Wolf series of books, centered on the star ship Star Wolf and its crew: Voyage of the Star Wolf (1990), The Middle of Nowhere (1995), Blood and Fire (2004), and Yesterday's Children (1972) which is actually an earlier novel that features the same main character republished as Starhunt and tacked into the main continuity as a prequel. The books were based on a concept Gerrold had originally planned for a TV series. The Star Wolf series reflects Gerrold's contention that, due to the distances involved, space battles would be more like submarine hunts than the dogfights usually portrayed—in most cases the ships doing battle wouldn't even be able to see each other.
Other works
He also wrote the non-fiction book Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, published in 2001.
The Martian Child is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on the author's own experiences as a single adoptive parent, with most of the key moments drawn from actual events. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and a movie version is currently in production for release sometime in 2007.
In 2000, his long-time admiration of the works of Robert A. Heinlein led him to create a new series, called The Dingilliad. It follows a resourceful teenager and his family as they try to begin a new life. Although not necessarily canon, there are hints that it ties into the War Against the Chtorr universe, with everything from the plagues to the rumored appearance of a giant purple worm. The trilogy contains the following books:
Jumping Off The Planet (2000)
Bouncing Off the Moon (2001)
Leaping To The Stars (2002)
Jumping off the Planet recieved the 2002 Hal Clement (Young Adult Award)for Excellance in Children's Science Fiction Literture http://www.goldenduck.org/winners.php
In addition, Gerrold has also published the following novels:
The Flying Sorcerers (with Larry Niven) (1971)
The Space Skimmer (1972)
Moonstar Odyssey (1977)
Deathbeast (1978)
Chess With A Dragon (1987)
In 2005, he was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology in Telluride, Colorado.
From Wikipedia
David Gerrold, born Jerrold David Friedman (January 24, 1944), in Chicago, Illinois, is an award-winning science fiction author who started his career in 1966 as a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one chosen by Star Trek was filmed as "The Trouble with Tribbles", which has been one of the most enduringly popular episodes of the series.
Early works
After his early success with "The Trouble with Tribbles" Gerrold continued writing television scripts (mostly for science fiction series such as Land of the Lost, Babylon 5, Sliders, and The Twilight Zone) and science fiction novels, of which the most well-known are The Man Who Folded Himself (1973), about a man whose experiments with a time machine distorts the details of his life and reality, and When HARLIE Was One (1972), the story of an artificial intelligence's relationship with his creators. When HARLIE Was One was nominated for best novel for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. A revised edition, entitled When HARLIE Was One, Release 2.0, was published in 1988, incorporating new insights and reflecting new developments in computer science.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Within days of seeing the Star Trek series premiere "The Man Trap" on 8 September 1966, Gerrold wrote a sixty-page outline for a two-part episode called "Tomorrow Was Yesterday", about the Enterprise discovering a generation ship launched from Earth centuries earlier. Although Star Trek producer Gene L. Coon rejected the outline, he realized Gerrold was talented and expressed interest in him submitting some story premises. Bearing preliminary titles and, in some cases, preliminary character names, Gerrold submitted five premises.
Two that he had little recollection of involved a spaceship-destroying machine, eerily similar to Norman Spinrad's "The Doomsday Machine", and a situation in which Kirk had to play a chess game with an advanced intelligence using his crew as chess pieces. There has been some speculation by Trek and comic book historians that the chess game was inspired by an early issue of Justice League of America, published by DC Comics. The issue in question had the evil alien conqueror, Despero, playing a game of chess with one of the Leaguers, with the pieces depicting the other heroes. Gerrold has denied this, but the speculation persists.
A third premise, "Bandi", involved a small being running about the Enterprise as someone's pet, and which empathically sways the crew's feelings and emotions to comfort Bandi, and if necessary at someone else's expense. Gerrold noted, in retrospect, that it would not be like the Enterprise crew to have such attitudes against Kirk as Bandi induced, and that he might instead set the episode on another ship where laxity has been reported.
A fourth premise, "The Protracted Man", applied science fiction to use an effect seen in West Side Story, when Maria twirls in her dancing dress and the colours separate. Gerrold's story involved a man transported from a shuttlecraft trying out a new space warp technology. The man is no longer unified, separating into three visible forms when he moves, separated by a fraction of a second. As efforts are undertaken to correct the condition and move the Enterprise to where corrective action can be taken, the protraction worsens.
The fifth premise, "The Fuzzies," was also initially rejected by Coon, but a while later he changed his mind and called Gerrold's agent to accept it. Gerrold then expanded the story to a full television story outline entitled "A Fuzzy Thing Happened To Me. . .," and it eventually became "The Trouble With Tribbles." The name "Fuzzy" was changed because H. Beam Piper had written novels about a fictional alien species of the same name (see Little Fuzzy). The script went through numerous rewrites, including, at the insistence of Gerrold's agent, being re-set in a stock frontier town instead of an "expensive" space station. Gerrold later wrote a book, The Trouble With Tribbles, telling the whole story about producing the episode and his earlier premises.
This was one of two books Gerrold wrote about Star Trek in the early 1970s after the original series had been canceled. His other was a comprehensive analysis of the series entitled The World of Star Trek. He discussed them at various conventions where he was a frequent speaker and guest. In The World of Star Trek, he criticized some of the elements of the show, particularly Kirk's habit of placing himself in dangerous situations and leading landing parties from the ship himself, and suggested some things he would change about the show if it were to air again. Among these were a Klingon as a member of the crew, a counselor to look after crewmembers' inner lives, and crewmembers allowed to bring their families and children along.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
All of the above noted changes were incorporated into Star Trek: The Next Generation when it debuted in 1987. In particular, Gerrold can be credited for reshaping the position of "first officer" as the ship's executive officer and commander of "away teams" (to overcome the unrealism of the ship's captain routinely beaming into dangerous situations). He parted company with the producers at the beginning of the first season, after a dispute before the Writers' Guild in which the Guild required that Gerrold be paid additional wages for the work he did helping to create the series, because he had largely written the show's bible rather than the ailing Gene Roddenberry. He was awarded cash but chose to forego additional credit.
Roddenberry's partisans struck back after his death in 1991, with a lengthy passage in David Alexander's authorized biography, Star Trek Creator, suggesting that Gerrold had plagiarized the Martian-flatcat chapter in Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Rolling Stones for "The Trouble With Tribbles," (something that Gerrold had categorically denied in his book on the episode, saying he thought he was writing the "rabbits in Australia" story) and that only Heinlein's age and old-school graciousness had prevented him from bringing a lawsuit.
In fact, Heinlein and Gerrold became friends in the late 1970s, when Gerrold was an active blood donor in support of Heinlein's blood drives. They remained friends for many years, and Gerrold even dedicated one of his books (A Matter For Men) to Robert and Virginia Heinlein. After Heinlein's death, Ginny Heinlein gave up her California home, and Gerrold adopted Heinlein's cat, Pixel.
Another point of contention between Gerrold and the Star Trek: The Next Generation executive leadership was Gerrold's writing of an unproduced script that would have had an allegory to the AIDS pandemic along with some brief scenes with two Star Fleet crewmembers that would have subtly been identified as being a gay couple. Gerrold wrote this script in response to being with Roddenberry at a convention in 1987 where he had promised that the upcoming Next Generation series would deal with the issue of sexual orientation in the egalitarian future. The script was rewritten to remove the gay couple, and even then certain people seemed to be worried about airing an episode that made a plea for compassion for those people infected with AIDS. For more information see LGBT characters in the Star Trek universe.
Post-Trek involvement
Gerrold wrote a script for Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled Blood and Fire, which included an AIDS metaphor and an incidentally gay couple in the ship's crew. The script was purchased by the TNG producers, but eventually shelved. Gerrold eventually reworked it as a novel, Blood and Fire, the third book in the Star Wolf series (see below). He later reworked the script again, placing the story in the time frame of Star Trek: The Original Series in order for it to be filmed as an episode of Star Trek: New Voyages.
Gerrold had always wanted to appear onscreen in an episode of Star Trek, particularly "The Trouble with Tribbles." The character of Ensign Freeman, who appears in the famous bar scene with the Klingons, was originally intended by Gerrold to be a walk-on part for himself, although another actor eventually took the role. While Gerrold appeared as a crewman extra with other Trek fandom notables in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, he did not get the chance to appear in a Trek series until Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, when he appeared as a security guard in "Trials and Tribble-ations", set during the very same time frame as his original episode.
Gerrold also published a novelization of the Star Trek: The Next Generation series premiere "Encounter at Farpoint" (1987) and an original Star Trek novel entitled The Galactic Whirlpool (1980) based on the story outline "Tomorrow Was Yesterday". (It has been suggested that the "Specs" character in that novel was Gerrold himself.) In 2006, for the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, he co-edited with Robert J. Sawyer an essay collection entitled Boarding the Enterprise.
The War Against the Chtorr
Gerrold is the author of the War Against the Chtorr series of books, about an invasion of Earth by mysterious aliens: A Matter for Men (1983), A Day for Damnation (1985), A Rage for Revenge (1989), and A Season for Slaughter (1993). As of 2006, he was still writing the fifth book (A Method For Madness), and has contracted to write a sixth (A Time For Treason). The ending chapters of the series have been set aside for the seventh and final book, which will be A Case For Courage. His age, combined with his health issues (from www.gerrold.com) leads many to believe that this series will never actually be completed.
In an original twist, the invasion is an ecological one. Instead of armies, the unseen aggressors gradually unleash plants and animals from their older, more evolved planet. These outcompete and displace their terrestrial counterparts and Earth becomes more and more Chtorr-like as the "war" progresses.
Star Wolf
Gerrold is also the author of the Star Wolf series of books, centered on the star ship Star Wolf and its crew: Voyage of the Star Wolf (1990), The Middle of Nowhere (1995), Blood and Fire (2004), and Yesterday's Children (1972) which is actually an earlier novel that features the same main character republished as Starhunt and tacked into the main continuity as a prequel. The books were based on a concept Gerrold had originally planned for a TV series. The Star Wolf series reflects Gerrold's contention that, due to the distances involved, space battles would be more like submarine hunts than the dogfights usually portrayed—in most cases the ships doing battle wouldn't even be able to see each other.
Other works
He also wrote the non-fiction book Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, published in 2001.
The Martian Child is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on the author's own experiences as a single adoptive parent, with most of the key moments drawn from actual events. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and a movie version is currently in production for release sometime in 2007.
In 2000, his long-time admiration of the works of Robert A. Heinlein led him to create a new series, called The Dingilliad. It follows a resourceful teenager and his family as they try to begin a new life. Although not necessarily canon, there are hints that it ties into the War Against the Chtorr universe, with everything from the plagues to the rumored appearance of a giant purple worm. The trilogy contains the following books:
Jumping Off The Planet (2000)
Bouncing Off the Moon (2001)
Leaping To The Stars (2002)
Jumping off the Planet recieved the 2002 Hal Clement (Young Adult Award)for Excellance in Children's Science Fiction Literture http://www.goldenduck.org/winners.php
In addition, Gerrold has also published the following novels:
The Flying Sorcerers (with Larry Niven) (1971)
The Space Skimmer (1972)
Moonstar Odyssey (1977)
Deathbeast (1978)
Chess With A Dragon (1987)
In 2005, he was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology in Telluride, Colorado.
From Wikipedia
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Amanda Peet Biography
Date of Birth
11 January 1972, New York, New York, USA
Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)
Mini Biography
Amanda Peet grew up in New York with her older sister and their parents, Charles, a lawyer, and Penny, a social worker. She made an unconventional stage debut at the age of three when she jumped onto the stage during a play; yet, despite this early start, she later studied acting more as a hobby than anything else. She studied history at Columbia University where a drama professor convinced her to audition for acting teacher Uta Hagen, with whom she later went on to study for a four-year period; during which time, she participated in the off-Broadway revival of Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing." She supported herself during the audition phase of her career by waitressing and with the residual checks she received from a Skittles candy commercial. Perseverance and hard work paid off, and in 1995, she was cast in a guest-starring role on the hit series "Law & Order" (1990).
Her feature film debut came in 1995 in the movie Animal Room (1995). For a while after, Amanda continued to find steady work, but also found herself appearing in a depressingly large number of indie films that were never picked up. She did however, meet her boyfriend Brian Van Holt on the set of indie movie Whipped (2000). Her turn as the ditzy hit-woman with the heart of gold in the hit comedy The Whole Nine Yards (2000) opposite Bruce Willis, that took her from supporting role status to leading lady. That same year she was voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful People In The World By People Magazine.
Spouse
David Benioff (30 September 2006 - present) 1 child
Trivia
Graduated from Columbia University in 1994.
Voted one of the 50 most beautiful people in the World 2000 by People Magazine.
Was maid of honor at actress Lauren Holly's wedding to Francis Greco. [10 March 2001]
Worked at "City Crab" in New York before hitting it big. (Source: Interview, "Larry King Live" (1985), 10 February 2000).
Replaced Amelia Heinle (the original Jack in the "Jack & Jill" (1999) pilot episode).
Attended Friends Seminary high school with actor Liev Schreiber when he was a senior and she was a freshman.
Educated at an all-girls' prep school in London.
Her father, Charles, has been a prominent corporate attorney in New York City for decades.
Ranked #44 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).
Engaged to David Benioff [July 22, 2005].
Has one older sister.
Named #87 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).
Did not learn to drive until she moved to L.A. in 2000.
Her character, "Jordan McDeere" on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (2006), is based on former NBC president Jamie Tarses.
Mother: the former Larry (sic) Levy, who was born in England.
At age 35, she gave birth to her first child. Daughter, Frances Pen was born on February 20, 2007 weighing 6 lbs, 10 oz. The baby's middle name is in honor of Amanda's mom, Penny.
Amanda and David were married at her alma mater, Friends Seminary high school, in New York City.
Personal Quotes
"And I also definitely love glamor. I mean, I love getting dressed up, and having someone do my make-up and feeling pretty. I'm not gonna lie about that, cause that's part of what I love about what I do. But celebrity.. it's like the feeling of going to the prom, the adolescent feeling of popularity. As an actor, my main focus is finding good writing and attacking a good role. I mean, I understand when you're incredibly famous that it becomes difficult to deal with the publicity aspect. But people who are like me, who go, "Oh, I'm not gonna do that. I'm just here for the work!" I find it to be a little pretentious, honestly. Cause you're not that famous. Calm down."
Info Provided by IMDB
11 January 1972, New York, New York, USA
Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)
Mini Biography
Amanda Peet grew up in New York with her older sister and their parents, Charles, a lawyer, and Penny, a social worker. She made an unconventional stage debut at the age of three when she jumped onto the stage during a play; yet, despite this early start, she later studied acting more as a hobby than anything else. She studied history at Columbia University where a drama professor convinced her to audition for acting teacher Uta Hagen, with whom she later went on to study for a four-year period; during which time, she participated in the off-Broadway revival of Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing." She supported herself during the audition phase of her career by waitressing and with the residual checks she received from a Skittles candy commercial. Perseverance and hard work paid off, and in 1995, she was cast in a guest-starring role on the hit series "Law & Order" (1990).
Her feature film debut came in 1995 in the movie Animal Room (1995). For a while after, Amanda continued to find steady work, but also found herself appearing in a depressingly large number of indie films that were never picked up. She did however, meet her boyfriend Brian Van Holt on the set of indie movie Whipped (2000). Her turn as the ditzy hit-woman with the heart of gold in the hit comedy The Whole Nine Yards (2000) opposite Bruce Willis, that took her from supporting role status to leading lady. That same year she was voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful People In The World By People Magazine.
Spouse
David Benioff (30 September 2006 - present) 1 child
Trivia
Graduated from Columbia University in 1994.
Voted one of the 50 most beautiful people in the World 2000 by People Magazine.
Was maid of honor at actress Lauren Holly's wedding to Francis Greco. [10 March 2001]
Worked at "City Crab" in New York before hitting it big. (Source: Interview, "Larry King Live" (1985), 10 February 2000).
Replaced Amelia Heinle (the original Jack in the "Jack & Jill" (1999) pilot episode).
Attended Friends Seminary high school with actor Liev Schreiber when he was a senior and she was a freshman.
Educated at an all-girls' prep school in London.
Her father, Charles, has been a prominent corporate attorney in New York City for decades.
Ranked #44 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).
Engaged to David Benioff [July 22, 2005].
Has one older sister.
Named #87 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).
Did not learn to drive until she moved to L.A. in 2000.
Her character, "Jordan McDeere" on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (2006), is based on former NBC president Jamie Tarses.
Mother: the former Larry (sic) Levy, who was born in England.
At age 35, she gave birth to her first child. Daughter, Frances Pen was born on February 20, 2007 weighing 6 lbs, 10 oz. The baby's middle name is in honor of Amanda's mom, Penny.
Amanda and David were married at her alma mater, Friends Seminary high school, in New York City.
Personal Quotes
"And I also definitely love glamor. I mean, I love getting dressed up, and having someone do my make-up and feeling pretty. I'm not gonna lie about that, cause that's part of what I love about what I do. But celebrity.. it's like the feeling of going to the prom, the adolescent feeling of popularity. As an actor, my main focus is finding good writing and attacking a good role. I mean, I understand when you're incredibly famous that it becomes difficult to deal with the publicity aspect. But people who are like me, who go, "Oh, I'm not gonna do that. I'm just here for the work!" I find it to be a little pretentious, honestly. Cause you're not that famous. Calm down."
Info Provided by IMDB
John Paul Cusack Biography
Date of Birth
28 June 1966, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Birth Name
John Paul Cusack
Height
6' 2½" (1.89 m)
Mini Biography
John Cusack is, like most of his characters, an unconventional hero. Wary of fame and repelled by formulaic Hollywood fare, the Chicago-born actor has built a successful career playing underdogs and odd men out--all the while avoiding the media spotlight. With the exception of mom Nancy (a former math teacher), the Cusack clan is all show business: father Dick Cusack is an actor and filmmaker, and John's siblings Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Bill Cusack and Susie Cusack are all thespians by trade. Like his brother and sisters, John became a member of Chicago's Piven Theatre Workshop while he was still in elementary school. By age 12, he already had several stage productions, commercial voice overs and industrial films under his belt. He made his feature film debut at 17, acting alongside Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy in the romantic comedy Class (1983). His next role, as a member of Anthony Michael Hall's geek brigade in Sixteen Candles (1984), put him on track to becoming a teen-flick fixture. Cusack remained on the periphery of the Brat Pack, sidestepping the meteoric rise and fall of most of his contemporaries, but he stayed busy with leads in films like The Sure Thing (1985) and Better Off Dead... (1985). Young Cusack is probably best remembered for what could be considered his last adolescent role: the stereo-blaring romantic Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything... (1989). A year later, he hit theaters as a grown-up, playing a bush-league con man caught between his manipulative mother and headstrong girlfriend in The Grifters (1990).
The next few years were relatively quiet for the actor, but he filled in the gaps with off-screen projects. He directed and produced several shows for the Chicago-based theater group The New Criminals, which he founded in 1988 (modeling it after Tim Robbins' Actors' Gang in Los Angeles) to promote political and avant-garde stage work. Four years later, Cusack's high school friends Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis joined him in starting a sister company for film, New Crime Productions. New Crime's first feature was the sharply written comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), which touched off a career renaissance for Cusack. In addition to co-scripting, he starred as a world-weary hit man who goes home for his ten-year high school reunion and tries to rekindle a romance with the girl he stood up on prom night (Minnie Driver). In an instance of life imitating art, Cusack actually did go home for his ten-year reunion (to honor a bet about the film's financing) and ended up in a real-life romance with Driver. Cusack's next appearance was as a federal agent (or, as he described it, "the first post-Heston, non-biblical action star in sandals") in Con Air (1997), a movie he chose because he felt it was time to make smart business decisions. He followed that with Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), in which he played a Yankee reporter entangled in a Savannah murder case.
Cusack has always favored offbeat material, so it was no surprise when he turned up in the fiercely original Being John Malkovich (1999). Long-haired, bearded and bespectacled, he was almost unrecognizable in the role of a frustrated puppeteer who stumbles across a portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich. The convincing performance won him a Best Actor nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2000, Cusack was back to his clean-shaven self in High Fidelity (2000), another New Crime production. He worked with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis to adapt Nick Hornby's popular novel (relocating the story to their native Chicago), then starred as the sarcastic record store owner who revisits his "Top 5" breakups to find out why he's so unlucky in love. The real Cusack has been romantically linked with several celebs, including Driver, Alison Eastwood, Claire Forlani and Neve Campbell. He's also something of a family man, acting frequently opposite sister Joan Cusack and pulling other Cusacks into his films on a regular basis. He seems pleased with the spate of projects on his horizon, but admits that he still hasn't reached his ultimate goal: to be involved in a "great piece of art".
Trivia
Brother of Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Susie Cusack and Bill Cusack. Son of Dick Cusack (actor, documentary filmmaker) and Nancy Cusack (teacher).
Last name is pronounced Q-sack.
Has a production company called New Crime Productions (that produced Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), and The Jack Bull (1999) (TV) among various stage productions) which he founded with two of his high school buddies Steve Pink & D.V. DeVincentis.
Education: Piven Theatre Workshop (Evanston, Illinois), run by the parents of actor Jeremy Piven. One semester at NYU.
Attended Evanston Township High School, Evanston, Ill.
Turned down Woody Harrelson's role in Indecent Proposal (1993).
Dated Neve Campbell. [2001]
Dated Lili Taylor.
Dated Alison Eastwood.
Dated Claire Forlani.
Dated Minnie Driver.
Turned down Bill Paxton's role in Apollo 13 (1995).
Close friends with actor Jeremy Piven. They have done 10 movies together: One Crazy Summer (1986), Elvis Stories (1989), Say Anything... (1989), The Player (1992), Floundering (1994), The Grifters (1990), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Serendipity (2001) and Runaway Jury (2003).
Is the product of a passionately liberal Irish Catholic family, visited the radical Berrigan brothers when he was growing up, and, like them, his mother still gets arrested for her anti-militarism and pro- human rights protests.
On free time likes to go "Helecopter Snowboarding" and kickboxing with stunt cordinator Benny Urquidez.
Tested for the role of Madmartigan in Willow (1988) but lost to Val Kilmer.
Is the subject of the song "Honorable Mention" by the band Fall Out Boy.
The novel "Love In The Time Of Cholera" by author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is prominently referenced in two John Cusack movies (High Fidelity (2000) and Serendipity (2001).
Sister Joan Cusack appeared in 8 of his movies:Class (1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Broadcast News (1987), Say Anything... (1989), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Cradle Will Rock (1999) and High Fidelity (2000).
Was originally set to play Walter Eberhart in the _Stepford Wives, The (2004)_ . Due to conflicts, he had to drop out and Matthew Broderick got the role.
Was once roommates with Jeremy Piven
Attended a theatre school in Chicago with sisters Joan Cusack and Ann Cusack. The theatre school was run by the parents of his best friend, Jeremy Piven
Irish-American.
His favorite group is the punk rock band, The Clash. He is also a big fan of The Specials and Elvis Costello.
Ranked #15 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100]
Die-hard Chicago Cubs fan.
Some kind of reference to his favorite bands (usually The Clash, The Ramones or The Specials) makes at least one appearance in most of his films. Most of the time, he wears a t-shirt of one of the bands (Say Anything... (1989), High Fidelity (2000), Must Love Dogs (2005), etc), but sometimes (Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)) he works in a poster of one of the bands. These bands are typically in the soundtracks to his New Criminal's productions as well.
Member of the "Brat Pack", the name for the actors who tended to star in teen movies of the 80's. Others include Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Demi Moore, Charlie Sheen and Diane Lane.
Most famous member of the Cusack family.
He and his good friend Tim Robbins made 6 movies together: Bob Roberts (1992), Cradle Will Rock (1999), High Fidelity (2000), The Player (1992), The Sure Thing (1985) and Tapeheads (1988)
Was, for a long time, attached to play the role of "Nite Owl" in the doomed movie adaptation of Alan Moore's comic-book mini-series, _Watchmen (2008)_ .
Was originally the actor chosen to play John Bender in the The Breakfast Club (1985). At the last minute, things changed and Judd Nelson ended up in the role.
Was good friends with Hunter S. Thompson and nearly got to play him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).
Was considered for the role of "Paul Brenner" in The General's Daughter (1999), but was deemed too young at the time, so the role went to John Travolta instead.
His performance as "Lloyd Dobler" in Say Anything... (1989) is ranked #72 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Apocalypse Now (1979) is one of his favorite films.
During the famous "boom box serenade" scene in Say Anything... (1989), he is actually playing his favorite Fishbone tape on the boom box, while Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" is played in the movie. (source: Cameron Crowe commentary on the DVD).
Growing up John and his siblings often put on plays at their home. He has mentioned that his older sister Ann once staged a production of "Cinderella" in their living room in which she played Cinderella, sister Joan played the Ugly Stepsister, brother Bill played Prince Charming and John played the dog.
Considers the scripts to Max (2002/I) and Being John Malkovich (1999) the best he has read.
Personal Quotes
"I was a teen star. That's disgusting enough."
[on celebrity] "I have a healthy fear of it. I'm not into the celebrity culture aspect of being an artist. To me it represents extinction. The more people know about you, the less they want to try to figure out what you have to say in your movies, and the less credibility you have. To me it seems: Go do your thing, then get out. That's the best way to do it." (January 14, 2004)
"Nope, no sex scandals yet. But I am open to offers!" (January 14, 2004)
Info Provided by IMDB
28 June 1966, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Birth Name
John Paul Cusack
Height
6' 2½" (1.89 m)
Mini Biography
John Cusack is, like most of his characters, an unconventional hero. Wary of fame and repelled by formulaic Hollywood fare, the Chicago-born actor has built a successful career playing underdogs and odd men out--all the while avoiding the media spotlight. With the exception of mom Nancy (a former math teacher), the Cusack clan is all show business: father Dick Cusack is an actor and filmmaker, and John's siblings Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Bill Cusack and Susie Cusack are all thespians by trade. Like his brother and sisters, John became a member of Chicago's Piven Theatre Workshop while he was still in elementary school. By age 12, he already had several stage productions, commercial voice overs and industrial films under his belt. He made his feature film debut at 17, acting alongside Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy in the romantic comedy Class (1983). His next role, as a member of Anthony Michael Hall's geek brigade in Sixteen Candles (1984), put him on track to becoming a teen-flick fixture. Cusack remained on the periphery of the Brat Pack, sidestepping the meteoric rise and fall of most of his contemporaries, but he stayed busy with leads in films like The Sure Thing (1985) and Better Off Dead... (1985). Young Cusack is probably best remembered for what could be considered his last adolescent role: the stereo-blaring romantic Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything... (1989). A year later, he hit theaters as a grown-up, playing a bush-league con man caught between his manipulative mother and headstrong girlfriend in The Grifters (1990).
The next few years were relatively quiet for the actor, but he filled in the gaps with off-screen projects. He directed and produced several shows for the Chicago-based theater group The New Criminals, which he founded in 1988 (modeling it after Tim Robbins' Actors' Gang in Los Angeles) to promote political and avant-garde stage work. Four years later, Cusack's high school friends Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis joined him in starting a sister company for film, New Crime Productions. New Crime's first feature was the sharply written comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), which touched off a career renaissance for Cusack. In addition to co-scripting, he starred as a world-weary hit man who goes home for his ten-year high school reunion and tries to rekindle a romance with the girl he stood up on prom night (Minnie Driver). In an instance of life imitating art, Cusack actually did go home for his ten-year reunion (to honor a bet about the film's financing) and ended up in a real-life romance with Driver. Cusack's next appearance was as a federal agent (or, as he described it, "the first post-Heston, non-biblical action star in sandals") in Con Air (1997), a movie he chose because he felt it was time to make smart business decisions. He followed that with Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), in which he played a Yankee reporter entangled in a Savannah murder case.
Cusack has always favored offbeat material, so it was no surprise when he turned up in the fiercely original Being John Malkovich (1999). Long-haired, bearded and bespectacled, he was almost unrecognizable in the role of a frustrated puppeteer who stumbles across a portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich. The convincing performance won him a Best Actor nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2000, Cusack was back to his clean-shaven self in High Fidelity (2000), another New Crime production. He worked with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis to adapt Nick Hornby's popular novel (relocating the story to their native Chicago), then starred as the sarcastic record store owner who revisits his "Top 5" breakups to find out why he's so unlucky in love. The real Cusack has been romantically linked with several celebs, including Driver, Alison Eastwood, Claire Forlani and Neve Campbell. He's also something of a family man, acting frequently opposite sister Joan Cusack and pulling other Cusacks into his films on a regular basis. He seems pleased with the spate of projects on his horizon, but admits that he still hasn't reached his ultimate goal: to be involved in a "great piece of art".
Trivia
Brother of Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Susie Cusack and Bill Cusack. Son of Dick Cusack (actor, documentary filmmaker) and Nancy Cusack (teacher).
Last name is pronounced Q-sack.
Has a production company called New Crime Productions (that produced Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), and The Jack Bull (1999) (TV) among various stage productions) which he founded with two of his high school buddies Steve Pink & D.V. DeVincentis.
Education: Piven Theatre Workshop (Evanston, Illinois), run by the parents of actor Jeremy Piven. One semester at NYU.
Attended Evanston Township High School, Evanston, Ill.
Turned down Woody Harrelson's role in Indecent Proposal (1993).
Dated Neve Campbell. [2001]
Dated Lili Taylor.
Dated Alison Eastwood.
Dated Claire Forlani.
Dated Minnie Driver.
Turned down Bill Paxton's role in Apollo 13 (1995).
Close friends with actor Jeremy Piven. They have done 10 movies together: One Crazy Summer (1986), Elvis Stories (1989), Say Anything... (1989), The Player (1992), Floundering (1994), The Grifters (1990), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Serendipity (2001) and Runaway Jury (2003).
Is the product of a passionately liberal Irish Catholic family, visited the radical Berrigan brothers when he was growing up, and, like them, his mother still gets arrested for her anti-militarism and pro- human rights protests.
On free time likes to go "Helecopter Snowboarding" and kickboxing with stunt cordinator Benny Urquidez.
Tested for the role of Madmartigan in Willow (1988) but lost to Val Kilmer.
Is the subject of the song "Honorable Mention" by the band Fall Out Boy.
The novel "Love In The Time Of Cholera" by author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is prominently referenced in two John Cusack movies (High Fidelity (2000) and Serendipity (2001).
Sister Joan Cusack appeared in 8 of his movies:Class (1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Broadcast News (1987), Say Anything... (1989), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Cradle Will Rock (1999) and High Fidelity (2000).
Was originally set to play Walter Eberhart in the _Stepford Wives, The (2004)_ . Due to conflicts, he had to drop out and Matthew Broderick got the role.
Was once roommates with Jeremy Piven
Attended a theatre school in Chicago with sisters Joan Cusack and Ann Cusack. The theatre school was run by the parents of his best friend, Jeremy Piven
Irish-American.
His favorite group is the punk rock band, The Clash. He is also a big fan of The Specials and Elvis Costello.
Ranked #15 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100]
Die-hard Chicago Cubs fan.
Some kind of reference to his favorite bands (usually The Clash, The Ramones or The Specials) makes at least one appearance in most of his films. Most of the time, he wears a t-shirt of one of the bands (Say Anything... (1989), High Fidelity (2000), Must Love Dogs (2005), etc), but sometimes (Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)) he works in a poster of one of the bands. These bands are typically in the soundtracks to his New Criminal's productions as well.
Member of the "Brat Pack", the name for the actors who tended to star in teen movies of the 80's. Others include Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Demi Moore, Charlie Sheen and Diane Lane.
Most famous member of the Cusack family.
He and his good friend Tim Robbins made 6 movies together: Bob Roberts (1992), Cradle Will Rock (1999), High Fidelity (2000), The Player (1992), The Sure Thing (1985) and Tapeheads (1988)
Was, for a long time, attached to play the role of "Nite Owl" in the doomed movie adaptation of Alan Moore's comic-book mini-series, _Watchmen (2008)_ .
Was originally the actor chosen to play John Bender in the The Breakfast Club (1985). At the last minute, things changed and Judd Nelson ended up in the role.
Was good friends with Hunter S. Thompson and nearly got to play him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).
Was considered for the role of "Paul Brenner" in The General's Daughter (1999), but was deemed too young at the time, so the role went to John Travolta instead.
His performance as "Lloyd Dobler" in Say Anything... (1989) is ranked #72 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Apocalypse Now (1979) is one of his favorite films.
During the famous "boom box serenade" scene in Say Anything... (1989), he is actually playing his favorite Fishbone tape on the boom box, while Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" is played in the movie. (source: Cameron Crowe commentary on the DVD).
Growing up John and his siblings often put on plays at their home. He has mentioned that his older sister Ann once staged a production of "Cinderella" in their living room in which she played Cinderella, sister Joan played the Ugly Stepsister, brother Bill played Prince Charming and John played the dog.
Considers the scripts to Max (2002/I) and Being John Malkovich (1999) the best he has read.
Personal Quotes
"I was a teen star. That's disgusting enough."
[on celebrity] "I have a healthy fear of it. I'm not into the celebrity culture aspect of being an artist. To me it represents extinction. The more people know about you, the less they want to try to figure out what you have to say in your movies, and the less credibility you have. To me it seems: Go do your thing, then get out. That's the best way to do it." (January 14, 2004)
"Nope, no sex scandals yet. But I am open to offers!" (January 14, 2004)
Info Provided by IMDB
Info About Martian Child
Martian Child
Plot Outline:Crushed by the death of his fiancée, a writer (Cusack) adopts a 6-year-old boy in an effort to create a family. The boy, who desperately wants a father, is troubled by the idea that he's from Mars.
Synopsis:The romantic drama 'Martian Child' stars John Cusack as a recently widowed science fiction writer who forms an unlikely family with a close friend (Amanda Peet) and a young boy he adopts that claims to be from Mars. The new couple ignores some sage parenting advice from the widower's sister (Joan Cusack) and gets more than they bargained for when a series of strange occurrences lead them to believe that the child's claim may be true. Based on an award-winning short story by sci-fi luminary David Gerrold, 'Martian Child' is directed by Menno Meyjes and produced by David Kirschner, Corey Sienega and Ed Elbert.
Main Cast:
Bobby Coleman ... Dennis
John Cusack
Joan Cusack
Amanda Peet ... Harlee
Oliver Platt
Sophie Okonedo
David Kaye ... Alex
Suzy Joachim
MORE
MORE
Plot Outline:Crushed by the death of his fiancée, a writer (Cusack) adopts a 6-year-old boy in an effort to create a family. The boy, who desperately wants a father, is troubled by the idea that he's from Mars.
Synopsis:The romantic drama 'Martian Child' stars John Cusack as a recently widowed science fiction writer who forms an unlikely family with a close friend (Amanda Peet) and a young boy he adopts that claims to be from Mars. The new couple ignores some sage parenting advice from the widower's sister (Joan Cusack) and gets more than they bargained for when a series of strange occurrences lead them to believe that the child's claim may be true. Based on an award-winning short story by sci-fi luminary David Gerrold, 'Martian Child' is directed by Menno Meyjes and produced by David Kirschner, Corey Sienega and Ed Elbert.
Main Cast:
Bobby Coleman ... Dennis
John Cusack
Joan Cusack
Amanda Peet ... Harlee
Oliver Platt
Sophie Okonedo
David Kaye ... Alex
Suzy Joachim
MORE
MORE
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