Posts tagged scorsese
My 13 Greatest Director/Actor Duo’s Of All Time
Mar 16th
Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro – Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, Mean Streets….
In my humble but adamant opinion Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro are the greatest Director/Actor duo of all time, hands down, sign sealed delivered, unquestionably, by a country mile…..you catch my drift. Just look at their body of work, it’s actually ridiculous, some of the greatest movies of all time were made by these two. Hopefully there’s more to come.
Akira Kurosawa/Toshiro Mifune – Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo….
Kurosawa and Mifune made masterpiece after masterpiece together. In they’re respected fields of Directing and Acting, Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune are two of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. Of Akira Kurosawa, Mifune said, “I am proud of nothing I have done other than with him”. If you haven’t seen one of there films do yourself a favour and check them out.
Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars
These two are responsible for my favourite trilogy of all time. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is also one of my top 5 films of all time. If like myself you like badass characters with epic beards you can’t get much better than a Leone/Eastwood film.
Joel and Ethan Coen/Frances McDormand – Fargo, Blood Simple, Raising Arizona….
I’m a huge Coen brothers fan, they’ve had some great actor collaboration’s, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, George Clooney and for me the pick of the bunch Frances McDormand. Just watch Fargo and you’ll understand, she won about 1237312838721 awards for the role and she deserved every one of them. She’s so underrated it’s painful.
John Woo/Chow Yun-Fat – Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow 2, The Killer
As action movies come John Woo’s and Chow Yun-Fat’s are as good as you get. Western Audience’s have probably just seen Hard Boiled, check out their other collaborations, they’re just as good if not better.
David Fincher / Brad Pitt – Se7en, Fight Club, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Besides Brad Pitt’s godly admiration from women he is a hugely underrated actor in my books. I know guys hate on him due to the fact that there Mum’s/Sister’s/Girlfriend’s/Wife’s/Grandma’s/Dog’s would sell there soul just so he could breathe on them, envy aside he’s been in some great films. His three collaboration’s with David Fincher are three of my favourite modern films, particularly Se7en and Fight Club.
Werner Herzog/Klaus Kinski – Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Woyzeck….
These two both seem completely nuts. My favourite collaboration from the two and the most highly regarded was Aguirre, the Wrath of God, which was a huge influence on my favourite film of all time – Apocalypse Now. Herzog and Kinski may have had a rocky relationship but their films they made together are second to none.
John Ford/John Wayne – The Searchers, Rio Grande, Fort Apache….
John Ford and John Wayne made a gazillion films together, a number of them masterpieces and hugely influential, I’m not a big fan of John Wayne to be totally honest, I can’t take away the HUGE impact he made of cinema though. His finest work was definitely with John Ford for me.
Woody Allen/Diane Keaton – Annie Hall, Manhattan, Sleeper….
The films Woody Allen made with Diane Keaton are some of his best work, particularly Annie Hall and Manhattan which still stand up today.
Ingmar Bergman/Max von Sydow(also Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson) – Winter Light, The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly, The Seventh Seal…
When I interviewed Martin Scorsese a week or so ago he said of Berman’s and Max von Sydow’s collaboration’s as ‘in the blood of cinema’ which pretty much speaks for itself.
Spike Lee and Denzel Washington – Malcolm X, Inside Man, Mo’ Better Blues
I know Denzel Washington won his Oscar for Training Day but for me it was a crime he didn’t win it a few years before for Malcolm X. Spike Lee has had some great Director/Actor collaborations, the first one that comes to mind would be with John Turturro. I picked Denzel because he was more of a leading man in his films with Spike Lee than Tururro.
Robert Zemeckis/Tom Hanks – Forest Gump, Cast Away, Polar Express
I’m probably gonna get a load of sh*t for this but I don’t give a monkey’s, Forest Gump and Cast Away are classics and as a man who hates children’s movies I loved Polar Express. I know a children’s movie is good when I’m not spending the film wondering which character is the most annoying.
Don Siegel/Clint Eastwood – Dirty Harry, Coogan’s Bluff, Escape from Alcatraz…
Clint Eastwood has had some great collaboration’s, of course him and Serigio Leone which I inluded in my list, him as a director with Morgan Freeman, him directing himself and without a doubt him and Don Siegel. All five films they made together are great!
Honourable Mentions
Francis Ford Coppola/Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood/Morgan Freeman, Quentin Tarantino/Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Jackson/Andy Serkis, Elia Kazan/Marlon Brando, Steven Soderbergh/George Clooney, Akira Kurosawa/Takashi Shimura, Spike Lee/John Turturro , Jim Sheridan/Daniel Day-Lewis, Shane Meadows / Paddy Considine, Wong Kar Wai / Maggie Cheung, Takashi Miike / Riki Takeuchi , Christopher Nolan / Christian Bale, Kevin Smith / Ben Affleck, Christopher Nolan / Michael Caine, Zhang Yimou / Gong Li, Sam Peckinpah / L.Q. Jones, Pedro Almodovar/Penelope Cruz, Sydney Pollack / Robert Redford, Sam Raimi / Bruce Campbell, Guy Ritchie / Mark Strong, Robert Rodriguez / Danny Trejo, Clint Eastwood/Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese / Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese/Harvey Keitel, Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe, Liu Chia-liang/Gordon Liu, Tony Scott/Denzel Washington, Takeshi Kitano/Kenji Misumi, Takeshi Kitano/Tomisaburo Wakayama, Tim Burton/Johnny Depp, Paul Thomas Anderson / Philip Seymour Hoffman, Wes Anderson/Bill Murray, Danny Boyle/Ewan McGregor, John Carpenter/Kurt Russell
Who to play Frank Sinatra in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming biopic?
Nov 27th
After Martin Scorsese announced he is set to direct a biopic based on the life of Frank Sinatra a bunch of questions were raised around which aspects of Sinatra’s life the film show, he was an extremely complex man. It will be hard to fit everything into one film, will it just show his career in music and film – which in itself was legendary and lasted over 50 years, will it include his childhood, his Mob ties, his depression, his family life, his varying political activities and changing beliefs and the question I will covering in this feature, which actor will have the daunting task of playing the man himself? Playing an Icon as big a star as Frank Sinatra will be no mean feet.
In a recent interview with New York Magazine Scorsese said of the film ‘ it spans his life from being a young child to his twenties, his thirties to his late seventies, inter-cuts everything throughout time. ‘ This could mean he uses a number of actors to play Sinatra or he goes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button route and gets one actor to play the different ages. One thing that won’t be necessary for the part is the singing voice of Sinatra, reports have said Peter Guber and Cathy Schulman, the producers from Universal Pictures and Mandalay Pictures have secured rights to use Sinatra’s original recordings in the film from Frank Sinatra Enterprises — a joint venture of the Sinatra Estate and Warner Music Group. During Sinatra’s life he worked with and was friends with some of the biggest names of the 20th Century so expect a huge ensemble cast. This looks to be EPIC!
James Franco
James Franco is my personal favourite for the part, he looks a lot like a younger Frank Sinatra, he’s a great actor and I personally think having someone who isn’t the biggest star playing such a huge star would be more beneficial to the film, you would focus more on the character than a star playing a star, I can see the tagline’s now – ‘Johnny Depp IS Frank Sinatra’ too me that takes a little bit away from the man as a character, I think the role of Sinatra will be a great step for his burgeoning career as well
James Mardsen
I had a little look online to see what the movie community is saying about the role, a number of people brought up Marsden, which to be honest I hadn’t even thought about, he is a very good young actor who’s career is building with every film he’s in, he does also have the look for Sinatra – maybe a bit too pretty boyish.
Leonardo DiCaprio
If I was a betting man I’d put my money on Leonardo DiCaprio he’s appeared in Scorsese’s last four films (including Shutter Island which is coming out Febuary 2010) and is his current muse. For me he doesn’t have the look down at all and I think him being such a big star himself will take away from Frank Sinatra. I can see him playing another part in the film though, possibly John F Kennedy (he looks like him).
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp looks like he’s’ the studio bet for the part, he’s currently the most popular and arguably the most famous actor and would bring in his huge audience, he’s a great actor so it could definitely work and he does resemble him slightly (not as much as Franco and Mardsen though). The draw back for me is like Leo, I’m not completely confident in having a mega star play a mega star, I could understand if he was playing someone less commercially known, like Robert Di Niro did with Jake Lamotta in ‘Raging Bull’ but he’s not. Depp is great for the tortured soul sort of rolls but to me he’s not that masculine.
Christian Bale
Christian Bale is my dark horse for the role, he doesn’t’ look particularity like him, but out of all the younger actors today he is possibly the best at playing complex characters, I dunno if he’s be interested in playing another iconic roll though – he’s already been Batamn, John Connor and Bob Dylan (kind of)
Harry Connick Jnr
Harry Conner is the modern day Frank Sinatra and has got the crooner click your finger and sing in a tux roll on lock! I definitely wouldn’t be mad at him being cast, he has acted in films before, I don’t know about him carrying a whole film by himself but he’d definitely be a good choice.
Other possibilities include George Clooney, who Tina Sinatra, Frank’s daughter, has said she would like to play him. I can only see him playing an older Sinatra. Robert Pattinson has threw his hat in the ring himself, I would HATE to see him play Sinatra, whats he gonna play a moping around emo version of Frank
Sinatra is set for realease 2011
Shutter Island – New Trailer
Oct 28th
Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley and Jackie Earle Haly. In 1954, US Marshall Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) hunts down a murderess who’s escaped from the Shutter Island hospital for the criminally insane. Though she can’t get off the island, Daniels’ job is made harder by an approaching hurricane.
I’ve really looking forward to this, Martin Scorsese for me and most mentally abled people is one of the top 5 directors of all time, he’s made classic after classic. The only thing that makes me slightly sceptical about the film is that it was due to be released this October but has now been given a Febuary 2010 release, this kinda showed that Paramount don’t have much confidence for it’s Oscar appeal. The Oscars themselves for me are a joke though it’s all down to movie making insider studio politics so you never know.