|
Post by Ace on Sept 13, 2006 14:11:11 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 13, 2006 14:53:45 GMT -5
Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson ham it up for the camera after a late night bite on Avenue Road. Their movie "Seraphim Falls" screens at TIFF.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 13, 2006 16:28:24 GMT -5
Brosnan and Neeson survive 'treacherous' conditions on set of "Seraphim Falls"By VICTORIA AHEARN TORONTO (CP) - Pierce Brosnan's days of dodging bullets as Agent 007 were an apparent cakewalk compared to the "treacherous" conditions he and actor Liam Neeson faced on the set of their new film, "Seraphim Falls." "It was pretty brutal, actually," the former James Bond star said at a news conference at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the western epic is debuting. "It was terrifying," said Neeson. "Seraphim Falls," the feature directorial debut from David Von Ancken, is a Western saga set in the 1860s, five years after the end of the U.S. Civil War. Neeson plays a southern colonel who vows revenge on a northerner and former Union Army captain (Brosnan), whom he blames for a major act of atrocity at the tail end of the war. The film also stars Angie Harmon and Angelica Huston. Filming took place over 48 days last year in Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico, and although Neeson and Brosnan - both from Ireland - felt it was a dream come true to be in a western, they suffered from the rigorous terrain of Santa Fe. "It was thirsty work, that's for sure," said Brosnan of filming with mounds of heavy western attire in the desert last fall. Their solution? "A good night in the bar at the end of a long day," said Brosnan. Then there was the chase, which was central to the movie. Brosnan's character had to run on foot for most of the pursuit in the Santa Fe mountains, where the altitude "kind of took the stuffing out of you a bit the first two weeks," he said. The on-set conditions in Oregon in January of this year were equally extreme. There, Brosnan, fastened on a tether, had to jump off a waterfall taller than Niagara Falls into a river in temperatures as cold as -36 C - something even the Navy Seals who were in the area wouldn't do, said Von Ancken. "The ... people we had with us to protect everybody said the life expectancy in the river was four minutes without a dry suit on," said the director, who also co-wrote the script. "And so Pierce had his modified dry suit on but he ... exposed (his) hands, feet, face." Neeson didn't have it so bad. "Pierce ... he had to get in the water quite a few times and be naked and stuff," said Neeson, whose film credits include "Schindler's List" and "Kinsey." "I always had my bear skin coat on. He had it rougher than I did." Brosnan said it was a "fearsome" time but it made acting easy and provided another opportunity to shake his Bond affiliation. "I suppose I'd kind of painted myself into a corner there with suave and debonair," he said. "And it's time to get out there and do a bit of acting. Look for a bit of character work.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 14, 2006 3:10:12 GMT -5
Rare Western shines at Toronto film festby Michel Comte TORONTO (AFP) - A lack of Western movies at the Toronto film festival this week, with one beautifully shot exception, David Von Ancken's "Seraphim Falls," begs the question: where have all the cowboys gone? Von Ancken's first feature film, starring Irish-born actors Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan in a tale of revenge and redemption, is the only film in this genre at the Oscar precursor and the last of a sporadic few in recent years. Some suggest that US President George W. Bush, often described as a cowboy for his foreign policies and whose popularity has waned in his second term, has hurt the burly cowboy image and the Wild West genre. Others point to a young breed of Hollywood producers who do not identify with the genre, as well as slumping ticket sales, and fears of spiraling production costs for features mostly shot outdoors and vulnerable to the whims of Mother Nature. "George Bush is a fake cowboy with very little substance," Von Ancken told AFP. "This film is not about the president clearing brush on his ranch for a photo op, it's about two men linked by their rage." "There is even an anti-war sentiment in this film because the two main characters are trying to work out their feelings about their war-time experiences in a post US-civil war era," he noted. "I think there is a reservoir of people interested in the genre who just don't get to feed in that trough very often," he insisted. "But there is a big risk in making them, particularly if it's an expensive production, because most of the action is filmed outdoors and you risk being washed out by the elements. Most studios will not take that inherent risk," he said. "We filmed 47 out of 48 days outside with no cover." Film festival co-director Noah Cowan said only a handful of Westerns were offered to be shown here, and only one was chosen because audiences are no longer enthralled with cowboys. The genre is "old-fashioned and young Hollywood doesn't see its future in the Western," he said. "There are still a lot of liberals in the mountains and on the plains and if cowboy films are what they wanted to see, they'd go see them," Cowan said. "But they're not, and so producers are not financing them." But, "the iconography of being a cowboy remains a very potent symbol in American life regardless of their feelings towards President Bush," he added. A few scenes in a handful of films shown at the festival poke fun at the cowboy stereotype. Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev in a Stetson in the film "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" tries to greet a homophobic cowboy at a rodeo with a kiss on both cheeks, but is rebuffed. And, actor Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland" re-enacts Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's much-publicized lassoing of his ministers at a party. In Von Ancken's film, Neeson and Brosnan follow in the footsteps of their gritty hero, actor Clint Eastwood, in "Unforgiven" (1992) which saw men begging instead of dying stoically, and irredeemable characters executing revenge instead of good guys saving the day. Classic Westerns, such as those by John Ford, relied on simple storytelling: a white hat represents the good guy, a black hat represents the bad guy, and a showdown on a deserted street is likely to resolve their differences. Since the 1970s, several films have undermined this premise, including Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves" (1990) which presented Native Americans as good and the US Cavalry as bad. Coincidentally, Costner was in Toronto this week to promote Andrew Davis' film "The Guardian," not part of the festival, with co-star Ashton Kutcher. "Seraphim Falls" continues the trend of "inverted Westerns". "It is a Western, but not a purist Western," said Von Ancken. "Pierce is the bad guy, but his character is more layered. It's a parable about violence begetting violence, but also a chase movie from the snow-covered Rocky Mountains to the desert." The hunt begins with Gideon (Brosnan) evading capture by Colonel Morsman Carver (Neeson) while painfully trying to cut gunshot out of his arm. Brosnan's brilliant performance was felt by Toronto audiences who winced and screamed with him at its world premiere here. "It was cold. You didn't have to act cold," Brosnan said about shooting the scene in minus 36 degrees Celsius weather.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 14, 2006 11:38:16 GMT -5
Toronto Sun: Two Irishmen go into a bar ...Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson take their film festivities seriouslyBy LIZ BRAUN, TORONTO SUN Sept 14, 2006 Well, well — what would Liam Neeson be doing in dark glasses at a morning press conference? Neeson and Pierce Brosnan met the media yesterday to talk about their new movie together, a Western called Seraphim Falls. As for those dark glasses, Neeson said, quietly, “I’ve a little scratch on one eye,” unaware that some in the audience had noticed him at midnight having a pint or two at a festival party. "Anyway, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it," Neeson added sheepishly. When the laughter subsided, Pierce Brosnan said, “I almost wore mine, too. But two Irishmen in dark glasses — there’s something suspect there.” On the cowboy theme of the film, “I grew up on the pictures and on Westerns,” said Brosnan. “Clint Eastwood was one of my heroes, and John Ford type Westerns have always been on my wish list. I was enthralled by the script, and pleased that Liam was attached. We’ve known each other for years but never really worked together. And I’d seen Bullet In The Brain,” he continued, referring to the work of Seraphim Falls director David Von Ancken, “and it’s a beautiful haiku of a picture. And then, to shoot in Santa Fe — all the elements were there.” “My hero, even before Clint Eastwood, was Audie Murphy,” chimed in Neeson. “and those B-movie Westerns that he made. That whole Western myth, we were both steeped in it as children. To ride horses and shoot a gun and wear a cowboy hat — it’s that elemental. It was a joy." Seraphim Falls is set in the U.S. West just after the Civil War. Brosnan plays a hunted man, and Neeson is the man determined to catch him over something from their shared past. The whys and wherefores are slowly filled in as the hunter and the hunted go about their journey. The story opens in the Rocky Mountains, with Brosnan, shot and bleeding, escaping down a mountain and into a rushing river. Fatigue, wounds, hunger, climate, landscape and various bashings are but a few of the things against him. It was a punishing shoot. Neeson said, “Pierce had to get into the water and he had to be naked, so he had it worse than I did.” “It was brutal,” said Brosnan. For starters, filming began in the mountains at an elevation of 12,000 feet and that, said Brosnan, “Took the stuffing out of you.” Then there was the horseback riding. And the fights. And the falling down. And then there were those river scenes in Oregon for Brosnan. The water was so cold that specialists explained to the men that the life expectancy in the water without a wet suit was four minutes. Brosnan did the water scenes on a tether, landing near a log pile in the rushing river. Dangerous? The director was told that if the actor came off the tether he wouldn’t come up again until spring. This rough and tumble role is quite a departure for the man who played the suave and debonair James Bond. “I suppose I painted myself into a corner with suave and debonair,” said Brosnan, “and it was time to get out there and do a bit of acting, a bit of character work.” When a reporter yesterday asked about Daniel Craig playing the new Bond, Brosnan feigned dismay. “And this was all going so well,” he murmured. “Daniel who?” joked Neeson. “I’m looking forward to it, of course,” Brosnan then said, enthusiastically, “the way we’re all looking forward to it — he’s a great actor.”
|
|
|
Post by Lauryn on Sept 14, 2006 16:29:25 GMT -5
Red Carpet Video of Pierce and Liam at TIFF is up at youtube.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 14, 2006 16:59:12 GMT -5
Also:
Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan at Seraphim Falls Premiere
Pierce signing autographs:
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 14, 2006 17:18:20 GMT -5
Reuters: Western dreams come true for Brosnan and Neeson (9-14-06)
By Natalie Armstrong
TORONTO (Reuters) - Like many boys of their generation, actors Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson loved to play "Cowboys and Indians" and watch western movies at the weekend matinee.
So it was a dream come true for both Irishmen to co-star in "Seraphim Falls", a western epic about revenge and forgiveness set in the 1860s, shortly after U.S. Civil War.
"When Pierce and I first got our costumes on, on horseback ... the pair of us were just giggling like schoolboys," Neeson said on Thursday, the morning after "Seraphim Falls" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this week.
In the movie, Neeson's character, a former Confederate colonel chases Brosnan, a former Union army captain, from the Rocky Mountains to the desert to carry out his last mission: revenge for an atrocity.
"It was like realising a childhood dream, I mean that genuinely. I was steeped in the western genre as a kid. Playtime was always westerns: Audie Murphy westerns, all those B-movie westerns, and then graduated to John Ford films," Neeson said.
"Seraphim Falls" was shot on a brisk schedule of 48 days in what the stars describe as treacherous terrain in the Western U.S. In the first 20 minutes or so of the movie, Brosnan is shot, tumbles down a snowy mountainside into a river, and over a waterfall. The pursuit eventually continues into the desert.
The film has very little dialogue and the two stars only filmed together in the same scenes for about five or six days. Brosnan spends most of the film by himself, trying to get away from his pursuer, while battling to survive nature's wrath ahead.
The film also co-stars Anjelica Huston and Angie Harmon.
NORTH-SOUTH PARALLELS
For Brosnan, who plays the ex-Union captain, the Civil War-themed western brought up interesting parallels with the two actors' Irish roots.
"Liam's from the north and I'm from the south," said Brosnan, best known for his role as secret agent James Bond, and who was nominated for a Golden Globe for last year's role in "The Matador".
"That period (of U.S. history) was build on the backs of many an Irish man and woman. There were huge Irish regiments in the Civil War," said Brosnan.
While Brosnan moved to London at age 11, Neeson said growing up with civil unrest in Northern Ireland is also what partly attracted him to be part of a western film about forgiveness.
"I'm living in America now, the country's at war -- with everybody it seems," said Neeson.
"Everybody in the world wants their little plot of ground and have the freedom raise their families, that's what we all want, whether you're Palestinian, Jew, Irish, Yugoslav, whatever," he said.
"I'm aware of the responsibility we all have.... of how important it is to forgive and get on with life. I know that sounds very hippy-ish, but I believe it," said Neeson.
"Seraphim" marks the first feature for director David Von Ancken, who's best known for his television work. It opens in U.S. theatres on December 1.
"It wasn't so much that I was looking for Irishmen to star as mid-19th century Americans," said Von Ancken.
"These guys are some of the more 'behavioural' actors out there. Liam's roles have consistently been of the earth, these empathetic men who he can convey an enormous amount without saying anything. The same goes for Pierce. There's something in his eyes that is haunted and concentrated," he said.
"Every actor as a man probably at some level wants to do a western maybe once."
|
|
|
Post by Lauryn on Sept 15, 2006 1:03:16 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 15, 2006 1:30:27 GMT -5
Lauryn, is that the full press conference? I just got a few seconds of Pierce imitating the press cacophony. The Official TIFF site also has the press Conference available in Quicktime (in hi and lo speed) media.tiffg.ca/seraphimfalls.asp
|
|
|
Post by Lauryn on Sept 15, 2006 2:13:01 GMT -5
Lauryn, is that the full press conference? I just got a few seconds of Pierce imitating the press cacophony. No, it's just a snippet. Post-cacophony there should be about two minutes left with the three of them talking in turn. I would imagine this one is the full monty, though I can't get it to play more than a second or two without freezing up.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 15, 2006 2:17:48 GMT -5
I thought it was just me. I'm trying to get a link so I can download it and it keeps locking up, though it down show me 30 minutes in the tool bar.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 15, 2006 11:12:44 GMT -5
IRISH INDEPENDENT: Pierce chills out for new movie09/15/2006 Hollywood's heavyweights may be well versed in playing all sorts of roles - goodies, baddies, heroes, psychos - but few of them are any good at acting the maggot. The Irish, however, excel at this particular activity, as proved by the refreshing spectacle of Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan skylarking about the Toronto Film Festival like two schoolboys on the mitch. The pair, who co-star in an upcoming western,Seraphim Falls, behaved in a most un-starlike manner by appearing to actually enjoy themselves on a night out. They ate and drank heartily, took the piss out of each other and rewarded the posse of paparazzi with a staged scrap in the street. Perhaps they were just glad to be still in one piece. At a festival press conference, the two actors described the conditions on the shoot as ranging from "pretty brutal" to "terrifying". The film was shot in New Mexico and Oregon, and the going was tough enough to leave even James Bond and a Jedi master a little shaken and stirred. While filming in Oregon in the depths of January, Brosnan was fastened to a harness and instructed to jump off a waterfall taller than Niagara Falls, into a river as cold as minus 36 C - something even the Navy Seals in the area wouldn't do. The film's director David Von Anken explained: "The people we had with us to protect everybody said the life expectancy in the river was four minutes without a dry suit on," he said. Even Neeson said that his buddy drew the short straw. "Pierce had to get in the water quite a few times and be naked and stuff. I always had my bearskin coat on. He had it rougher than I did," he confessed. What kind of western is this, anyway? Pierce Brosnan naked and Liam Neeson running around in a bearskin? Sounds more like a must-see chick-flick to me... =============================================================== acting the maggot ... two schoolboys on the mitchSometimes Irish really is it's own language and I'm not talking about Gaelic.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 15, 2006 11:59:57 GMT -5
A snippet from Jack Garner of the Democrat & Chronicle: From the Toronto Film Fest Thursday, September 14, 2006 Seraphim Falls is an existential chase Western, a minimalist but violent film that is more Samuel Beckett than John Ford. Liam Neeson stars as a former Confederate officer who pursues a Yankee officer (Pierce Brosnan) for a war atrocity in the years immediately after the Civil War. ================================================================ Beckett? That should bring in the common hordes. Beckett. Now we know what appealed to the SMA. Toss in horses and insane physical stunts and how could he resist?
|
|
|
Post by Lauryn on Sept 15, 2006 13:36:46 GMT -5
A snippet from Jack Garner of the Democrat & Chronicle: From the Toronto Film Fest Thursday, September 14, 2006 Seraphim Falls is an existential chase Western, a minimalist but violent film that is more Samuel Beckett than John Ford. Liam Neeson stars as a former Confederate officer who pursues a Yankee officer (Pierce Brosnan) for a war atrocity in the years immediately after the Civil War. ================================================================ Beckett? That should bring in the common hordes. LOL!!!!! Not very John Wayne-ish, is it? To be fair, I think Samuel Beckett grew up within sight of a racecourse outside of Dublin, (for literary referents see All that Fall ) so he did know one end of a horse from another. Some say he had a strange fascination with horses' rumps, though that's a boundary of literary criticism I'd rather not jump over. My dear Ace. You forget he gets to get naked, too. That's the trifecta of SMA movie love.
|
|
|
Post by Yuliya on Sept 15, 2006 13:48:58 GMT -5
"Seraphim Falls" is a visually grand and striking Western set at the end of the Civil War. Liam Neeson is magnificent as a southerner who vows revenge on a Northerner [Pierce Brosnan] whom he blames for a major act of atrocity that occurred at the tail end of the war. You know, it's bad enough that I can't get Union and Confederation straight. The least they could do is not to confuse me any more than necessary. (It's from an older article, on the previous page, but I'm still trying to catch up after the last weekend before the next one hits.)
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 15, 2006 13:53:04 GMT -5
A snippet from Jack Garner of the Democrat & Chronicle: From the Toronto Film Fest Thursday, September 14, 2006 Seraphim Falls is an existential chase Western, a minimalist but violent film that is more Samuel Beckett than John Ford. Liam Neeson stars as a former Confederate officer who pursues a Yankee officer (Pierce Brosnan) for a war atrocity in the years immediately after the Civil War. ================================================================ Beckett? That should bring in the common hordes. LOL!!!!! Not very John Wayne-ish, is it? To be fair, I think Samuel Beckett grew up within sight of a racecourse outside of Dublin, (for literary referents see All that Fall ) so he did know one end of a horse from another. Some say he had a strange fascination with horses' rumps, though that's a boundary of literary criticism I'd rather not jump over. My dear Ace. You forget he gets to get naked, too. That's the trifecta of SMA movie love. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D But it's COLD! I wonder if Keely minds the insane stunts (this waterfall thing sounds crazier than anything he did as Bond) or is she just happy he's not getting naked with Halle Berry or Salma Hayek? ;D Ace
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 15, 2006 14:02:48 GMT -5
"Seraphim Falls" is a visually grand and striking Western set at the end of the Civil War. Liam Neeson is magnificent as a southerner who vows revenge on a Northerner [Pierce Brosnan] whom he blames for a major act of atrocity that occurred at the tail end of the war. You know, it's bad enough that I can't get Union and Confederation straight. The least they could do is not to confuse me any more than necessary. (It's from an older article, on the previous page, but I'm still trying to catch up after the last weekend before the next one hits.) Union=North = Gideon (Pierce) Confederacy=South= Carver (Liam)
|
|
|
Post by Yuliya on Sept 15, 2006 14:05:39 GMT -5
Frankly, -36 C sounds hard to believe - not that it can get that cold but that any insurance company will allow an actor to be submerged into something like that, wet suit nonwithstanding. 4 minutes survival time is a very accurate number, and one will get severe frostbite before one can say... Well, I won't repeat what one will say. Ace, I thought the same thing. Too cold to enjoy the view.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Sept 15, 2006 14:41:15 GMT -5
Really, it's so bad they can't get the Navy Seals to do it and yet they still do it with their lead actor? Isn't this what stuntmen live to do? Insane.
|
|