Tuesday, 11 July 2000

"He can't kick Captain Picard's butt for obvious reasons. But he could kick the sh** out of Captain Kirk. And you can quote me on that."

That quote from the mouth of Patrick Stewart at the X-Men print press conference held in New York on Monday. It came in response to a rather inane question about whether the wheelchair-bound Professor Xavier could kick Stewart's starship captain into submission. Stewart, who wasn't available for TV junket interviews because of his Broadway show, which was having a matinee and evening performance on Sunday's TV day, set the tone for the press conferences (one for the good mutants, one for the bad) and his jovial answer seemed to fit what was a genuinely happy group of X-campers, reconnected for the sake of the media.

My comments on the movie ran yesterday, but what struck me Monday was that I had become a fan of the troupe of actors and their leader, Bryan Singer, after a couple days of watching them behave. And not behave. Hugh Jackman does, indeed, have that Mel Gibson energy, pronounced by making a real point of thanking each journalist and shaking their hand after his interviews. His joy seems to do great things for Anna Paquin, who seemed more loose and open on this weekend than I've ever seen her. Perhaps I haven't seen her enough, but the media scrum will make a mouse out of a lot of actors. Famke Janssen can be more honest with a raised eyebrow than most pressroom players are in a week of interviews. And the simple red skirt competes with Rebecca Romijn-Stamos blue-painted skin for sexiest skintight costume choice. Speaking of R.R.S., she showed her mettle when on writer asked about her two-actor household. First, she wanted to get a good look at the guy asking the question. Then, she gave a standardized, "We stay grounded," response. Then she kicked in, "And how is your marriage?" Great. Ray Park and Tyler Mane both seem like great guys and both have an enthusiasm for being a part of the family. And Halle Berry kicked in a comments about feeling like a freak these last months as the media has used her as a punching bag, deserved or not. I think it was kind of generous for her to open that door, especially as interviewers have probably been dancing around the words "hit and run" for days.

One thing I realized about the movie as I sat there. The whole thing is made up of dyads. The primary relationship that drives the movie is the one between Wolverine and Rogue. Xavier and Magneto are old friends and caring adversaries. Jean Grey and Cyclops are a couple. (Don't rip off those glasses in the throes of passion or the heat will more than overcook your body temperature.) Even villains Sabertooth and Toad are teamed up, with Toad making smart-a** comments to his bigger and dumber partner in crime. Left out of these dyads are Storm (Berry) and Mystique (Romjin-Stamos). Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison) is a whole different story. But Berry's Storm really doesn't get a whole lot of range to play and I think, on reflection, that this has a lot to do with the way Singer and his writers structured the screenplay. And it seems less than surprising, as Apt Pupil also was a two-character exploration. In X-Men, the dyads start to blend into one another as the story progresses, merging the individuals into a group. But like the comic book, it never really is a group. There is always tension and characters always kind of pair off with their most trusted team members. Mystique doesn't suffer this loneliness quite as much as Storm because she gets to use her power to really drive the story a number of times. But really, she is alone, serving Magneto's purpose, but not really connecting with anything but her bad gal work.

So, I root for X-Men because I liked the movie. But I also want to see these folks come together again and again to explore and build their characters. And their stardom. Unlike Superman and Batman, these characters make big changes in the comic books. (Of course, the recent Batman movies really played off The Dark Knight, while the TV show really hit the lightness of the late 1950s comics and the new Superman seems to be focusing on some of the newer Superman themes while the Dick Donner/Dick Lester series focused on the traditional.) And of course, the addition of new characters, good and evil, is a natural. Bryan Singer actually mentioned that he had hoped to include The Beast (the X-Men character I most identify with), but budget and time precluded the hue blue-furred intellectual. But singer added a clear "this time," to his comment. And while I'm on the subject of a Poland/Singer mind meld, I should boast that as I had perceived in my comments yesterday, Singer confirmed Monday morning that the one comic book movie whose tone he was aiming at was, indeed, the first act of the first Superman. Cool.

ADDENDUM: There is reportedly some controversy about X-Men's running time. It's 100 minutes.

ON A LESS HAPPY NOTE: Word has it that Fox is playing serious Star Wars level hardball with exhibitors on X-Men and that some chains are just saying no. In fact, as of this writing, if you live in Wisconsin and want to see X-Men, you may have to drive to another state, as Marcus Theaters, which has done a lot of advance promotion for the film, has decided that it won't meet Fox's terms. And Marcus dominates Wisconsin. Then, of course, there is the ongoing Manhattan feud between Fox and Sony/Loews Cineplex theaters. Frankly, I meant to have a conversation about this with someone from Fox at the junket, but got distracted. I will keep checking into it. And if anyone out there has anything to add, you know where to e-me.

THE HORROR. THE HORROR: Michael Fleming has once again reported that Ben Affleck is about to sign for the Jack Ryan role in the next Tom Clancy movie, Sum of All Fears. I am not an Affleck basher. I think he is fun to watch. But the whole think about the Jack Ryan role is that the guy has an extra gear that you don't see coming. He makes things that he shouldn't be able to make work, work. And this was true of both Alec Baldwin's Ryan and Harrison Ford's Ryan. Ben Affleck is an actor with one gear. It's his earnestness while being a goofball that is his appeal. If Affleck is ever to be an action hero, it would have to be in a Die Hard type movie. He would have been fine in Reindeer Games if the script made a lick of sense. But Jack Ryan, like Indiana Jones, has to surprise you. And besides, would you put the fate of the free world in Ben Affleck's hands?

DARK DANCING: I'm hoping that those of us who didn't go to Cannes this year won't have to wait until the New York Film Festival to see Dancer in the Dark. New Line/Fine Line releases the film in the fall and word is that the strong feelings on both sides of the film (it seems like a love/hate deal) are keeping the film from being screened here in L.A. In fact, New Line took a leap of faith with "Roger Ebert & The Movies," with Richard Roeper seeing the film at a special screening in Chicago, and got a pair of downward pointing thumbs for their courage. Ooops. But I really, really want to see the film at least twice before forming an opinion. The sooner, the better.

THE MYERS WATCH: The countersuit against Universal by Mike Myers over Dieter hit the trades today and Myers' arguments haven't improved. Besides the rather silly complaint about the process server lurking around his house, Myers now argues that the reason the script wasn't good enough was that Ron Howard and Brian Grazer didn't give him enough help, telling him what to do in rewrites. That has to be an all-time first. A writer complaining that the producers didn't interfere in the script enough. Oy!

READER OF THE DAY: Not Bond, Not James Bond writes: "I wonder if there will be a period in cinema where filmmakers who want to make comedy movies will rely on peoples' insecurities and phobias than make these dumb ass-fu**in' gross out-semen spurting-let's kill some animals and shoot people in the balls monstrosities that are passing for comedies these days. I got an idea, if there's any movie producer (Harvey Weinstein) out there with a set of balls, why don't you make a movie that spoofs the legions of cloned idiots that numbingly pay $8.75 to see shi**y dreck like the current NUMBER ONE MOVIE IN AMERICA!!!! P.S. This country needs an enema!"

Meanwhile, `72 says: "I found Scary Movie to be MUCH funnier than Me, Myself, & Irene--a movie I fell asleep in, and I loved There's Something About Mary! I saw it five times in the theater. I will be going back to catch some of the things I missed in the laughter of this movie."

And Matt says: "Actually, I saw Scary Movie at the Atlanta press screening last Wednesday and, surprisingly, laughed a lot. It's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but I could have easily paid matinee prices and had a great time. With numbers like that, I can't help but see a drop off next weekend. But if the movie grosses over $100 million, I will say it was well deserved. Keenen Ivory Wayans needs a hit film, and he got one."

And G gets the last word: "I did see Scary Movie this weekend and thought it was silly, gross-out fun. I was definitely surprised by how well it did and believe it will NOT hold up over the weeks. It just doesn't lead you to repeat viewings. It also is not for people who have not seen the movies it is spoofing as the humor will not mean much to them."

E ME: What's scarier: semen jokes, not being able to see X-Men in Wisconsin or Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan?