To have staying power in showbiz you need to keep stretching. At least that seems to be the plan for the versatile, Oscar-nominated Anna Kendrick. She scored opposite George Clooney in a smart drama (‘Up in the Air’), sang beautifully in a trio of ‘Pitch Perfect’ comedies and has subverted her usually sunny cinematic presence with her current, emotional abuse drama ‘Alice Darling.’ Next: Directing (and starring in) ‘The Dating Game.’ Kendrick spoke with the HERALD about ‘Alice’; here are excerpts from that conversation:
Q: I see that you spent your fall making your directing debut with ‘The Dating Game’ and you are also producing and starring. It’s an incredible but true story about serial killer Rodney Alcala. Your character Cheryl Crawford ‘wins’ a date with, we discover, this madman. It sounds terrific and has been sold around the world already. Was that a dream come true time? Something you’ve been wanting to do for a long time, directing?
ANNA KENDRICK: Yeah, it’s funny. I wasn’t expecting that opportunity to come up; it did happen really suddenly. Obviously. Like, kind of terrifying as a professional challenge, I was just so grateful that that opportunity came up because I had so much fun doing it. I just like had the time of my life.
Q: And how was it to be the star of the movie and being directed by yourself?
AK: That was just another added layer of challenge, but I think for the most part, I felt like, ‘Well, at least I know what I hope to do in this scene. And it’s going to be challenging to gauge what’s working and what’s not.’ But the alternative is, like having zero control over that. Yeah, it came with its challenges. But it came with its benefits as well.
Q: And when do you think that’s going to be seen? Will it maybe be in Cannes?
AK: Oh, I don’t know. I’m just starting to edit.
NEW DVDs:
BACK AFTER 15 YEARS The cult-driven found-footage monster movie ‘Cloverfield’ (4K Ultra HD+ Blu-ray + Digital Code, Paramount, PG-13) is back in 4K Ultra HD and limited edition steelbook for its 15th anniversary. There is also an extra Blu-ray with alternate endings, deleted scenes and featurettes on the visual effects, creating the monster — who’s the size of a skyscraper! — and a Making of. Produced by JJ Abrams and directed by Matt Reeves (who does a commentary) who specializes in monster movies (2 ‘Planet of the Apes’ sequels, Robert Pattinson in ‘The Batman’), ‘Cloverfield’ has a monster destroying Manhattan until the Army decides they must completely destroy Manhattan to destroy the seemingly unkillable monster who spawns little parasite creatures who spring off its body. A global hit, a long-promised sequel has yet to happen.
LOVE GODDESS RITA One of Hollywood’s most famous flops, ‘The Lady from Shanghai’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, Not Rated) was both the biggest budgeted movie Orson Welles ever directed and the movie that confirmed his exile status for the rest of his life. ‘Lady,’ a 1948 noir that was Rita Hayworth’s follow-up to ‘Gilda,’ the defining hit of her extraordinary career, was a reunion for the Love Goddess and her director-writer-leading man Welles who were married, had separated and reunited for the film. Welles notoriously took the long-tressed redhead and reconfigured her as a blonde femme fatale whose look owed more than a little to Lana Turner in ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice.’ Welles rewrote the script feverishly as location filming went from NYC to LA and San Francisco, mostly aboard a yacht rented from Errol Flynn. Flynn, often drunk, captained the boat during the extended shooting. Then Columbia Pictures’ boss Harry Cohn, who considered Hayworth not only his biggest star but his personal property, insisted on extended reshoots, mainly with close-ups for Hayworth. Today, of course, ‘Lady from Shanghai’ is celebrated as among Welles’ greatest films, and stylistically the most ‘modern.’ This Blu-ray upgrade with new cover art looks fantastic and offers not 1 but 3 audio commentaries. One is from the late Hollywood historian and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich who interviewed Welles extensively about the film and recreates that for his commentary. Then film critic Tim Lucas offers a comprehensive overview of the complicated plot and the equally complicated filming. Lucas is not alone in cautioning that nothing Welles ever says can be taken at face value. Film historian Imogen Sara Smith offers her insights as she too tries to explain the bizarre if not incomprehensible plot. Finally, TCM’s ‘Noir Alley’ host Eddie Muller offers 3 informed comments on this ‘Lady’ who is destined to divide moviegoers for another 75 years.
BRONSON: A STAR IS BORN A super violent revenge thriller, ‘Death Wish’ (4K Ultra HD+ Blu-ray, Paramount, R) in 1974 was Charles Bronson’s star-making vehicle in the US. The coal miner’s son, in pictures since the early ‘50s, had been a star in Europe since the late ‘60s. ‘Death Wish’ transformed him into an A-list global headliner. In this 4K Ultra HD from a scan of the original negative, British director Michael Winner’s incendiary set-up nearly burns up the screen. A gang of punk thugs invades an Upper West Side domicile, raping and murdering the wife (Hope Lange) and leaving her daughter catatonic. With this horrific loss Bronson’s Paul Kersey transforms from traditional bleeding heart liberal into a vicious and very cannily effective vigilante, prompting debate on TV and radio. Look for Jeff Goldblum’s debut as one of the (doomed) thugs. Four more installments, beginning in 1982, would follow. There’s a blistering audio commentary from “Bronson’s Loose” author Paul Talbot.
CLASSIC ‘60s HEIST An early Michael Caine classic, the 1969 ‘The Italian Job’ (4K Ultra HD+ Blu-ray, Paramount, G) arrived as the English star was mired in a series of flops – ‘Gambit,’ ‘Hurry Sundown,’ a low-profile TV movie. Now in a 4k Ultra HD upgrade, ‘Italian Job’ practically defines Sixties cool with its cars, women and Caine’s Savile Row suits. Fresh out of jail Caine’s Charlie hatches a complicated heist in Italy’s northern city of Turin during traffic gridlock. Noel Coward, the celebrated English playwright-director and star, is here as a criminal mastermind, as is the mob. Quincy Jones’ score is as elemental to the film’s success as the comic flourishes. Audio commentaries by several sources: the screenwriter, the author of a ‘Making “The Italian Job”’ book, the producer and yet another author. There is also the 2002 documentary ‘The Great Idea’ and from 2009 a featurette ‘Mini Adventures.’ Plus deleted scenes with optional audio commentary.
ENGLISH CLASSIC HORROR Another cult entry, the 1972 English supernatural horror film ‘The Asphyx’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, PG) teams 2 distinguished Brits – Robert Stephens of ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes’ and Robert Powell who plays his adopted son – in a fantasy film about capturing a spirit at the moment someone dies. The Asphyx, it turns out, is the name of the ancient Greek Spirit of the Dead. Sumptuously filmed by ‘Lawrence of the Arabia” helmer Freddie Young. Special Features: In addition to the 86 minute release version, here is the extended 99 minute cut and an audio commentary.