By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
The Junket Report
I write to you today (Monday) from The Greenbrier in lovely White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. You may wondering why 20th Century Fox decided to fly a bunch of journalists and movie stars to the middle of West Virginia for the junkets of Ever After: A Cinderella Story and There’s Something About Mary. Well, word has it that Fox had planned to have The X-Files junket here and had to change plans, leaving them a credit at this, one of the most exclusive golf resorts in America. So, why do The X-Files junket here? Is David Duchovny a golf nut? Is there a corn field nearby? Could they fit Cancer Man’s iron lung into the bar? None of the above. It turns out there’s a historic nuclear-safe bunker here that is supposedly where the U.S. government head honchos were headed in the event of a nuclear war. The perfectly paranoid location for The X-Files junket, right?
The morning started with a limited plate for Ever After. The film is a version of the Cinderella story with a decidedly modern twist. Cinderella (a name by which Drew Barrymore is never addressed in the film) is a self-tutored intellect who teaches the value of love to her Prince Charming. Unfortunately, Angelica Huston is in Europe, about to direct her second film. Well, unfortunate for us. Her first film, which ended up premiering on Showtime, Bastard Out Of Carolina, was quite good. So, we chatted with director Andy Tennant, who told us upon questioning, a rather dramatic tale about the day they shot the biggest scene in the film (the outdoor ball with 300 extras and lots of camera coverage). He not only had that pressure, but within a three-hour period, he found out his young daughter had been hospitalized, there was a potentially serious complication with his wife’s pregnancy and his father had had a heart attack. As it turned out, all ended up being OK health-wise and the scene, which they only had the one night to shoot, went just fine.
Next, it was Drew Barrymore. I am told that Drew was seen the evening before in the same blue shirt, roaming the halls of The Greenbrier (it’s awfully quiet around here). Nonetheless, she was, as always, a vision in blonde. And, as ever, she was upbeat, funny and a little goofy. (I mean that in the best way possible.) During the conversation, she insisted that she did not find herself sexy. Looked me right in the eye as she said it, so I guess she meant it. Like I said, goofy. She was exactly 36 hours from starting the first movie to be produced by her production company, and she was excited beyond belief. And she’s very proud of Ever After too, as a deconstructionist fairy tale in which the man learns and receives as much as the woman.
After lunch, the cast and directors of There’s Something About Mary hit the press room. As Cameron Diaz entered the room, I realized that I could never ask for a better double feature of blonde stars. One tall and lanky, the other small and curvy, both sexy as hell. And surprisingly, these two women are about as comfortable talking about themselves as any stars in Hollywood. Cameron talked about life in high school, blonde-haired, blue-eyed with a Hispanic name, her comfort with her naked body, but her insistence that it not be exploited and her complete lack of ego about magazine covers and screwy “awards” like being Entertainment Weekly‘s “It” Girl of 1998. Funny woman. A real charmer. Her beau and 20-year movie veteran, Matt Dillon talked about the teeth he wears in the movie (he kept them), the razor thin mustache (it was the key to his characterization) and his future (he hopes to direct a screenplay that he’s been writing for about two years). As it turns out, the two came to this project separately, though they were happy to be working together.
Chris Elliot was funny and surprisingly humble. People who know him from his brash appearances on “Late Night with David Letterman” would have a hard time recognizing the soft-spoken family man who “only work[s] when [he] runs out of money.” Chris took shots at his own Cabin Boy and remembered his short-lived TV show, “Get A Life,” as a bit before its time. And Ben Stiller was to the point as he talked about putting his ego aside to play the butt of so many of the film’s jokes, balancing directing and acting (he has two more films due out this summer) and being the son of the great comedy team Stiller and Meara. Ben answered GreySeal’s question: “Your show on the Fox network ‘The Ben Stiller Show’ was absolutely brilliant! Is there any chance you might bring an incarnation of it back?” The answer: “No. It’s too hard to keep the quality of the writing up week after week.”
Finally, it was the writing/directing team of Bobby and Peter Farrelly, who also came up with Dumb & Dumber and Kingpin. The brothers answered a reader question from Jason LeBlanc, who asked, “What do they think of New Line hiring Trey Parker and Matt Stone to write the new Dumb & Dumber movie?” Bobby Farrelly started the answer, “Given that they were going to do it as a prequel, without Jim Carrey, we weren’t that interested in doing it anyway. I think that the guys that they got were the right guys.” And Peter finished, “If they’re going to do it, I’m glad they got them.” The brothers also explained what is “too far” for them (“Anything that doesn’t make the audience laugh.”) and expressed their intense displeasure with MGM’s distribution’s department for the bungled release of Kingpin. And, of course, how great the actors were and how great Fox is (Tom Sherak in particular) and yada yada.
And then it ended. There will be more on this junket. Lots more. Keep an eye out for an upcoming Working Hollywood with the whole story and all the interviews.
READER OF THE DAY: Cameron answered a question from reader Bradshaw Davis, who sent me a whole bunch of questions, each one ending with the phrase, “And by the way, you are so damn fine, Cameron.” This got a big laugh from Cameron, who added, “I like his choice of words.” Don’t get too excited, Brad. Competing with Matt Dillon is probably as hard for a guy as competing with Cameron for Matt’s affections would be for a woman. Cameron answered the question, “What do you find to be the hardest part about being famous?” The answer: “I can’t pick my nose in public anymore.” And then, she laughed at me as my jaw dropped to the ground. “You look like you’re taking me seriously,” she laughed before adding, “It takes a lot of getting used to knowing people are watching you.”
