“Nigeria seeks to ban blockbuster movie 'District 9' - Arizona Daily Star” plus 3 more

Nigeria seeks to ban blockbuster movie 'District 9' - Arizona Daily Star
Damon takes on a weighty role in 'The Informant!' - detnews.com
Kerns: Toga! Animal House' movie resurrected Tuesday at Caprock Caf - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Patrick Swayze was so unlike a movie star - Argus Leader

Nigeria seeks to ban blockbuster movie 'District 9' - Arizona Daily Star

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 12:07 AM PDT

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Damon takes on a weighty role in 'The Informant!' - detnews.com

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 12:36 AM PDT

Angela Dawson / Entertainment News Wire

"Doughy."

That was the one-word instruction Steven Soderbergh gave Matt Damon on his character's appearance for "The Informant!" So the handsome star of the Jason Bourne action movies started eating and eating and eating, until he gained 30 pounds, achieving the out-of-shape look he needed for the comedy.

"It felt fantastic, actually," says the Boston native of going pear-shaped for the role. "I've never had that much fun making a movie, really. I just ate whatever I wanted and thought about nothing but the screenplay and the other actors. It was really nice to not think about anything else. I mean, compared to, like, a 'Jason Bourne' movie where I go home after a day of work and I have to go to the gym, it just takes way too much time away from my family. I just prefer to eat."

Damon, 38, turned to his friend, actor Robert De Niro, who famously packed on 60 pounds for his role in "Raging Bull," for advice.

"He said, 'The first 15 pounds were really fun and then you have to go to work after that,' " recalls Damon. "It was true, almost, because I found (gaining) the 30 pounds to be really fun. Then, kind of towards the end, I was like, 'I guess I should get rid of this weight,' but I wasn't really that excited about it."

"The Informant" marks the fifth collaboration between the talented actor and the eclectic filmmaker Soderbergh. (Their previous efforts include the "Ocean's" trilogy and "Che.") "The Informant!" tells the remarkable but true story of a would-be corporate whistleblower ... with a twist.

Damon stars as Mark Whitacre, a corporate executive with food giant Archer Daniels Midland, who happily agrees to provide the FBI with inside information about his employer's crimes. At the same time, he appears to be so obliviously idealistic, he thinks ADM's board of directors will reward him for his efforts with a promotion after he brings down the company and its corrupt executives.

Only trouble is he's not quite hip to the game of working undercover. He nearly blows the investigation at every turn. Further, the information he gives the government is constantly changing, leaving FBI investigators frustrated and flummoxed. The story, based on an actual incident, is told from Whitacre's perspective.

Soderbergh decided not to follow the Hollywood formula of making a drama about corporate greed.

"Steven called me and said, 'Look, they made 'The Insider' already and it's really good. We don't want to remake that movie so we have to do something tonally that's different,'" recalls Damon.

Damon's narration, from his character's perspective, proves to be as unreliable as his actions are unpredictable, which only adds to the humor of the events that transpire. He has delusions of being a hero, but he's far from it. Damon never met the real Mark Whitacre, but he says it wasn't necessary.

"Once Steven made the decision to kind of take it in a more comic direction -- the tone of it -- it became less important for all of us to do rigorous character studies of the actual people. It was more about having fun with this terrific script," he says.

"I'm just going to do inner monologues from now on," he quips.

Scott Burns, who wrote "The Bourne Ultimatum," adapted Kurt Eichenwald's book about Whitacre and added the narration. It took a while for the project to get off the ground, though.

"Scott wrote it seven years ago and we've been kind of sitting with it, and so it was actually kind of more like a play in the sense that it was really well written and we'd kind of refer back to it once or twice a year," recalls Damon. "Steven and I worked together three times in those intervening years and we'd always say, 'Yeah, I read it again last night. It's still really good.' "

Besides gaining weight for the role, Damon wears a mustache and a prosthetic on his nose, giving him a completely nondescript look.

"Steven didn't want any hard edges on the character," says Damon. "He wanted him kind of undefined in a way that you can't quite pin him down for who he actually is."

Damon enjoyed collaborating again with Soderbergh, with whom he's developed a comfortable working relationship.

"It makes it much, much, much easier to do," he says. "If I could just go back and work with the people I've worked with already I'd be really happy, but Steven and I have worked together a bunch -- more than anyone, actually."

Damon has worked three times with Paul Greengrass (on two of the "Bourne" films and the upcoming "Green Zone") and twice with Gus Van Sant ("Good Will Hunting" and "Gerry").

Is another "Ocean's" going to set sail?

"You have to ask Steven," Damon says.

More likely is the return of Jason Bourne.

"I was talking to Paul Greengrass, because he gets the question a lot, too, and he said, 'That's a signal that we should really do another one,'" Damon says. "People want it and we love the character. We'd love to do another one. For us, that means reuniting with all of our friends who've made the other movies and going on this kind of big, around the world adventure again. So, personally, selfishly, we'd all really like to do it but we are really serious about trying to get the story and the script right, because the only thing more disappointing than not having another one of these movies for us, or for movie fans, would be to make one that wasn't good."

In the meantime, the Oscar winner (for co-writing "Good Will Hunting" with friend Ben Affleck) is prepping for "The Adjustment Bureau," directed by "Ocean's Twelve" writer George Nolfi. Damon will play a politician.

He recently wrapped "Invictus," Clint Eastwood's latest drama, in which Damon plays a South African rugby star. The film is based on a true story of South Africa's World Cup-winning rugby team that brought the racially divided country together.

"I had about six months to prepare, working on that accent, and I felt just a tremendous responsibility because I was playing (rugby star) Francois Pienaar and this is the most significant event in all of their lives that culminated in the World Cup," he recalls. "I can only say that I have incredibly high hopes for it. I talked to Clint last week and he's buoyant, and so I'm excited to see it."

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Kerns: Toga! Animal House' movie resurrected Tuesday at Caprock Caf - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 01:40 AM PDT

A bit of this and a bit of that ... with a reminder that the Caprock Caf, in the strip center at 5217 82nd St., will be showing the movie "National Lampoon's Animal House" at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Toga!

Perhaps the best college comedy ever made, the R-rated "Animal House" was directed by John Landis, with John Belushi pretty much stealing the show as Bluto, aka John Blutarski. Word has it Meatloaf was next in line for the part, just in case Belushi decided to bail.

The movie brought together a great many young actors who would go on to make much bigger movies.

Tom Hulce stars, making "Animal House" six years before earning the title role in the Mozart biography "Amadeus." Kevin Bacon makes his film debut as Chip. Tim Mathieson and Peter Riegert, an actor I like a lot, also are on board. The villain of the piece is John Vernon as Dean Wormer.

Landis also has a Hitchcock moment; look for him in the background in the bit role of a cafeteria dishwasher.

Music fans might want to keep an eye out for Stephen Bishop, billed in the credits as "charming guy with guitar," and blues recording artist Robert Cray, who has an uncredited role as the bass player for Otis Day & The Knights.

By the way, toga parties pretty much swept the nation's college campuses after this movie was released, and it certainly is not at all unusual for people to arrive at "Animal House" screenings wearing homemade togas.

It is difficult to believe 30 years have passed since the University of Oregon allowed filming on campus - with the provision that the college in the movie be named anything but the University of Oregon.

Caprock Caf owner David Cea, who also plans to boost the live entertainment offerings on other nights, is showing the Tuesday night movies on both of his 7-by-12-foot screens with high- definition projectors and a Blue Ray DVD player. The movie's soundtrack is piped through the caf's sound system.

The Tuesday night movie series opened with "Giant." Cea said that the turnout seemed to be limited to older demographics that night, which probably will find him lending extra emphasis to "more recent" films, although one hopes he'll stick with memorable movies.

Looking ahead, I am surprised to see that the Sept. 29 attraction is 2007 John Travolta comedy "Wild Hogs," not to be confused with "The Wild One," "Wild Strawberries," "Wild at Heart" or "The Wild Bunch" - but on the positive side, at least it's not "The Wild Wild West."

Moving along, one of Lubbock's more easily recognized and well-respected musicians is Junior Vasquez, who first made a name for himself playing with Peyote back in the 1970s.

I suppose I just assumed that Vasquez had recorded during past decades, so I was a bit surprised when he dropped by my office to drop off a copy of his debut CD, called "It'll Turn Around."

He also has his celebratory concert already planned.

Vasquez will headline a CD-release concert at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Firehouse Theater at the Underwood Center. He will be accompanied by most of the musicians who play on his new CD, titled "It'll Turn Around."

The $20 cover charge includes a copy of Vasquez's CD.

Call 790-8905 for more details.

Mind you, some may not recognize the Vasquez smiling back at us from the cover of the CD. Vasquez, 52, is also a trimmed and neat family man. So who is the long-haired gentleman on the CD.

Of course, it is Vasquez from some three decades in the past. It is no photograph, but rather an artwork, a charcoal drawing by former Lubbock artist Paul Milosevich.

"I've kept this drawing since 1975, and I finally have a chance to let people know I have a Milosevich drawing," Vasquez mentioned with a grin. "Besides, there are present-day photos of me on the inside."

You can't blame the guy. Who wouldn't be proud to have been drawn by the same artist whose charcoal drawings of Joe Ely and C.B. Stubblefield, among others, have become famous?

"It'll Turn Around" finds Vasquez singing three songs with his daughter Tori, and do not be surprised if Tori is releasing CDs of her own before too long. I have not listened to Vasquez's CD yet, but, not surprisingly, his song "Mick" was inspired by his wife, Mickie.

The album was recorded at Digital Base Studio in Lubbock, and no doubt Vasquez is proud that Mickie and their three children, Mikaela, Micah and Tori, all played heavy roles.

With the exception of Lloyd Maines, who played pedal steel, Vasquez is fairly certain that everyone who played on the CD will show up to help out at the CD-release concert. There's no way I can list everyone, but the short list would have to include Steve Williams, John Reid, Cary Banks, Donnie Maines, Brian Maines, Jay Lemon, Rusty Huddelson, Mike Carraway and co-producer David Dale.

Vasquez closes his liner notes by writing, "I have an incredible family. ... Our lives have always been showered with music, we live it and breathe it, so let it rain! Jesus is the Christ! Embrace him!"

Finally, the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra will open a new season Friday and Saturday at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, closing each concert with Beethoven's so familiar Symphony No. 9.

Last year found the orchestra setting ticket sales records. Never mind the economy, and the tough times facing arts organizations. Next spring's string chamber concert also is already sold out with a waiting list.

The Lubbock orchestra continues to earn those important Rs: respect and rave reviews. Mary Saathoff, president and CEO of the orchestra, told me last week that she credits the strong support to "the level of the artistic excellence of the orchestra....

"This is a combination of the leadership from the podium of Tomasz Golka, as well as the higher level of playing of the individual players. I also think there is a more demonstrative sense of pride by the entire community in the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra.

"It is very exciting to hear people comment on how the orchestra sounds better than ever, and how much they appreciate the fact that while other organizations are struggling, we are experiencing a period of growth."

To comment on this story:

william.kerns@lubbockonline.com l 766-8712

shelly.gonzales@lubbockonline.com l 766-8747

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Patrick Swayze was so unlike a movie star - Argus Leader

Posted: 19 Sep 2009 11:53 PM PDT

I've been to mansions in Beverly Hills, and to Malibu beach houses. I've been to magnificent hilltop homes with panoramic views, and penthouse suites in luxury high-rises.

But I've never been in any movie star's home like Patrick Swayze's.

In the fall of 1995, I drove along the 118 freeway to a rural area north of Los Angeles to visit the actor's home for an interview.

I got off the freeway, made a few turns and found myself on a dirt road. I checked the numbers on the mailboxes, and stopped my car in front of the address written on instructions sent by his publicist.

Frankly, it didn't look like the front of a movie star's home. There was a battered wooden fence across the driveway, and a small sign that read: "Bizarro Ranch."

It was the right place; I was told to look for the sign.

I spoke into a barely visible intercom and the door swung open. Swayze's pickup truck was parked inside the fence, and my car was halfway to the house when Swayze approached. He had been working with his horses - he owned Arabian stallions - and was dressed like a ranch hand. I appreciated that he felt comfortable enough to dress like that for an interview. His wife, actress Lisa Niemi, also walked over to greet me. They certainly didn't seem like a movie star couple, except for their movie-star faces.

I had interviewed the actor at least three times before, and I suppose I earned his trust so much that he invited me to the house

Patrick Swayze was one of the least movie star-like movie stars I've ever met. He spoke with an uncharacteristic honesty (for a movie star), and his lack of pretension was disarming. Even his nickname (Buddy) was un-movie-star-like.

At the time, he had come off two disappointing films, and even he doubted that his new movie "Three Wishes" would make a lot of money. But he didn't care. He had recently lost a family member and a friend to illness, and career success took on a different face.

"I'm much more comfortable in my own skin now," he explained over lunch prepared by his wife. "I don't feel I have as much to prove.