TOP 100 ACTOR SITES
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| Stick your job窶ｦ I'm a movie star now! Director Jason Reitman's follow-up to 'Juno' casts George Clooney as a man who fires people for a living. And his victims are played by ordinary people who have really lost their jobs. So what was it like being fired again on screen?When Kevin Pila was fired from his electronics distribution company in St Louis, Missouri last year, his immediate reaction was one of shock. He wanted to say something that would express both his anger and his sense of injustice at what was happening, but somehow he could not find the words. So he sat mutely as his boss tried to sweeten the pill with platitudes about hard times and global recession and the need "to let people go". And then Mr Pila, a father of four, walked out of the office into a bleak and uncertain future.Some time later he answered an advertisement in the local newspaper seeking participants for a film about job loss. He was interviewed on camera for about 10 minutes about how it felt to be fired and how it had affected him. It felt like a sort of therapy. "It gave me a chance to relive the moment and say all the things I wanted to say at the time," recalled Mr Pila. The film-makers were impressed, and soon he was embarking on an unlikely second career as an actor, appearing alongside George Clooney in a film now hotly tipped as an Oscars contender. For Mr Pila, the film is "giving real America a chance to tell their story".The movie in question, Up in the Air, is directed by Jason Reitman whose previous picture, Juno, became a surprise box office success. After its release in 2007 Juno was said to have inspired a spate of copycat pregnancies among a group of high school students in Massachusetts. Reitman's latest offering has found similar resonance with a public facing the rising threat of unemployment in the grip of a recession. Up in the Air stars Clooney as an Armani-clad "corporate downsizer" who fires people for a living while collecting countless airmiles criss-crossing the country and avoiding his family.Part of the film's success has been attributed to Reitman's decision to cast real people who had been recently fired. From the 100 hopefuls who turned up at open auditions in St Louis and Detroit, 22 made it to the final cut 窶 including Kevin Pila. "We would read them this boilerplate legal firing document that I found through an HR person," explained Reitman recently. "And the second they would hear this legal verbiage窶ｦ they would start to use sense-memory without knowing it. Their body language would change, their shoulders would fold, their eyes would turn窶ｦAnd they'd begin asking questions of our interviewer, who knows nothing of their situation. They'd ask them about severance, and their medical benefits, and why they were chosen and why not somebody else."Some of them would cry. Others became aggressive. One woman broke into hives. The result is frequently upsetting to watch, occasionally bittersweet but always totally authentic. And although the film itself has no easy resolution, there has been a happy ending for some of the cast. According to Reitman, a few of them have managed to find new jobs: "When we called to bring some people out to shoot the last scenes at the end of the movie, the nicest thing we'd hear was, 'I have to check with my boss.'"George ClooneyElizabeth Dayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Fergie thrilled to renew wedding vows Fergie is 窶彭elighted窶 about renewing her wedding vows. breakingnews.ie |
Open door The reader's editor on窶ｦ getting mixed up in the business of film and music reviewsThe screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, has been well received in some quarters and, as is the way of things, star ratings and quotes from reviews have found their way into an advertising campaign aimed at cinemagoers. A handful of readers asked why a full page advertisement for the film, on the back page of Film&Music this month, which attributed four stars and the word "superb" to "the Guardian", didn't match Peter Bradshaw's three-star review inside. "What's the true picture on the picture?" one of them asked.A search of the archive brings up an earlier, four-star, Guardian review containing the accolade "superb", which was written for the website in September, when the film was screened at the Venice Film Festival. Michael Hann, Film&Music's editor, said this kind of confusion sometimes happens when an early review by someone other than Bradshaw appears in the news pages or on the website.In the course of this mini-inquiry I discovered that the Guardian is sometimes paid a fee for the use of quotes and ratings in advertising campaigns. More surprising, freelance writers are entitled to a royalty of 50% of that income. Neither the Guardian, nor its reviewers are making much money from this. The revenue, I'm told, amounts to around ﾂ｣1,390 in the past nine months. Ratings and quotes are frequently used without permission, as happened in the case of the ad campaign for The Road, and the syndication department is hardly active in this area. Why then does the Guardian bother licensing this "content"? Partly, it seems, to ensure that adverts match reviews: permission is not always given. "We are here to protect the reputation of the journalism; not just to monetise content," said the general manager of syndication.I'm told that since April last year seven licences have been issued for the use of Guardian film and music reviews in ad campaigns. Four were granted for no fee and in three cases music writers received between ﾂ｣350 and ﾂ｣200 apiece. Contributors are contractually entitled to the money under the Guardian's freelance charter, which provides that freelance writers get 50% of any income from one-off or "spot" sales of their work.Peter Bradshaw has asked not to receive any payment when his film reviews are used in ad campaigns. The payments are made electronically and other writers may not be aware of them. Alexis Petridis, one of three music reviewers to have received a small amount in recent months, said he'd assumed that his article had been reproduced elsewhere (the usual reason for additional income) and pointed out that it wasn't obvious from his electronic notice what the payment was for. He had no idea that the Guardian granted licences for the use of quotes and ratings in this way. "I just assumed they were free," he said.Paul Lester, who also received a payment, said: "I've been music writing for ages and this is the first time I've been paid for a quote窶ｦ I can't imagine any reviewer going 'soft' on a music or film 'target' on the off-chance that they may get a bit of extra cash down the line, but if there were a ruling stating that no money would be forthcoming, I'd be fine with that."Dave Simpson, another recipient, said that payments are so few and far between it is unlikely that anyone would tailor a review. He is concerned about the misuse of his work. "I am sure there will be much debate on this but I would argue that the (meagre, very rare) payment system is a small price to pay for control over Guardian content." He added: "If a consensus concurs that the payments should stop, then so be it. But I would hope that requirement for permission does not."While it's possible to justify payments to the business when Guardian content is used in ad campaigns, payments to writers are more problematic. Contributors are contractually entitled to the revenue under the freelance charter, but the payments, though infrequent and small, risk impugning the journalism. The simplest solution may be for the Guardian to stop charging for this kind of licensing altogether, but that is not my call.The GuardianNational newspapersNewspapers & magazinesNewspapersFilm adaptationsFilm industrySiobhain Butterworthguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
窶狼oy Story 2 3D窶 even more enthralling in new format The re-release of this wonderful film in 3D simply emphasises just how clever and entertaining it was from the outset, filled as it is with little characters who enchant us. breakingnews.ie |
Todd Lasance a dope for taking cocaine FORMER Home and Away star will still have to convince US officials to let him into America. news.com.au |