August 16, 2005

Tuesday was a lovely day.

Breakfast with Fernando Meirelles… a chat with Rachel Weisz… word from Jim Sheridan… it was a bit like a perfect Oreo with genius cookies and a lovely English crème in the middle.

Fernando is, of course, out pitching The Constant Gardener. But mostly, he remains Fernando. Funny, humble, and clear on his personal agenda, he is a bit of a show biz anomaly. Getting home to his family is important enough for him to fly for 20 hours just to have a couple of days at home. His eyes light up when he talks about his actors. He solicits ideas for a title for the South American release of his film, aware that LeCarre does not have the power there that he does all over Europe.

Who would know that this man is very much in position to spend the next 20 years becoming revered as one of the best film directors to ever pick up a camera?

It is hard, without five hours and a print of the film, to really discuss the work he did here. But he is very easy, discussing the handheld 16mm camera that he followed Ms. Weisz and Hubert Kounde around the shanty towns of Kenya with, small enough that no one knew they were shooting. He explains how they put on a theatrical performance and just watched as the locals gathered, not needing to make any special announcement to draw an enthusiastic audience. He reminds me, gently, that the parts of the film set in England were shot with more conventional ways.

We discuss the intimacy of the moments between Ralph Fiennes and Ms. Weisz… some of the most natural, relaxed beats you'll see on film. He let the actors improvise with structure a lot, Mr. Fiennes coming up with an extended riff on Jacques Cousteau. We talked about the choice not to preach about the politics of the film in the film. It turns out there was a little min-doc that once was in the movie, doing just that. But when cutting, he knew it didn't belong. And he was so right, as it slowly becomes clear that The Constant Gardener is a love story first and a thriller and political story second.

As it turned out, Meirelles was already in Kenya before he ever got attached to The Constant Gardener. He was working on a smaller, more independent project of his own - which he still intends to make - and the money was on the rocky waves of show biz when Simon Channing-Williams brought this project to John Lesher who brought it to Fernando and voila!

But Fernando is not the only one interested in Africa these days. Michael Caton-Jones made the very intimate Shooting Dogs (before jumping into the very impersonal Basic Instinct 2) about Rwanda, shot in Rwanda, which will premiere in Toronto next month. Alejandro Inarritu is currently shooting Guillermo Arriaga's script Babel in a number of countries, including Morocco. Syriana shot there, as did Mimi Leder's Catherine Zeta-Jones starrer, Smoke & Mirrors. John Boorman is planning to make a movie there, as is the Asterisk & Obelisk team, doing their third film together.

I sat down with Rachel Weisz in no small part because of seeing her be remarkably available and downright pleasant at a Warner Bros event at ComicCon last month. You really don't see established names hanging out and being not only accessible, but genuinely interested in the enthusiasms of others.

Sitting in the room with her, she is gentle and genuine, but you can tell that she has mastered the art of being interviewed. She finishes her answers and waits for the next question, a soft smile and wide eyes. Had to put an end to that!

She lights up when you talk about people who are not her. Ralph's work in this movie. Samantha Morton… who she reveres and who she "has never caught acting." Jim Sheridan.

She has come to the moment in her career where she realizes that the experience as an actress is as much about the director as about the material. Working with Fernando was unique in that he often shot with multiple cameras and they ran scenes from beginning to end, over and over, so she and the other actors never knew what moments the camera's eye would catch. When she finally saw the film, she really had no idea what to expect.

Her career, which we didn't really discuss, is kind of surprising. She has not become a favorite of the best, most innovative directors of the day. She did a minor Bertolucci at 24 and Bernardo made her look 35 (and not as good a 35 as she has actually aged into). She did a wonderful Istvan Szabo, but not many saw it. She was in one of Winterbottom's most interesting films, but again, not much of an American audience. Her Annaud was well received, but not well attended. She even produced her own starring role in Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things, though somehow, she seemed miscast as a college co-ed.

For whatever reasons, she seems to be finding a place with older quality directors. Maybe its because of the toughness that makes her work in movies like The Mummy and Constantine… the same toughness that Meirelles has mixed with a precocious femininity that feels so close to her reality.

Perhaps the one-two punch of Meirelles and Darren Aronofsky may be the breakthrough her career has been waiting for. Her beauty has never been an issue. Now in her mid-30s, she is ready for the roles that the Nicole Kidmans and Jodie Fosters seem to be getting. But someone needs to take the leap. She needs the great roles that Sam Morton gets. She needs the chance to really front a movie.

But she seems remarkably happy… so proud of this film… so pleased to have been given a chance to bring real magic to the game. It's almost like she has, as so many people do, been treading water a bit getting to this place where she belongs. Talking to her, watching her energy shift and flow, you can feel her hunger for connection, the drive that has made her, as she passingly called herself, "a storyteller." At what would be the apex of some careers, she is just at the start of the best of her ride. Lovely.

Oh yeah… and I got to have a brief chat with Jim Sheridan yesterday afternoon. Editing on Get Rich or Die Tryin' is moving along, almost ready to lock it in, get the score done, put 50 Cent's voiceover on. And he has that wonderful lilt in his voice that lets you know that it all seems to be coming together a bit better than anyone expected.

We won't know for a while. The film is scheduled for November and won't be done for another 6 weeks or so, but good on ya, Jim. Good on ya.

E-ME.