|
December 21, 2007 |
|
SAG Nomination |
Sam's
name was among the nominations announced yesterday by the Screen Actors Guild.
His performance as trainer in the TV film RUFFIAN
has earned him a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a
Television Movie or Miniseries. It comes as no surprise to those of us who have
seen the film! Sam does have some heavy-duty competition against John Turturro,
Kevin Kline, Michael Keaton and Oliver Platt. The awards ceremony will be held
on Sunday, January 27th, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center and
will be broadcast nationally on TNT and TBS.
|
|
THE ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND premiering in March |
The
romantic comedy starring Uma Thurman with Sam in the role of her father will be
opening in US theatres on March 7, 2008. The story centers on Emma (Thurman), a successful but uptight
relationship expert with a hit radio show and an upcoming book. She is serious
and sensible about the issue of love and gives frank, 'on the nose' advice to
women on how to find the right man without wasting time on the wrong ones. Emma
believes she has met her own perfect match in Richard (Colin Firth) a successful
and conservative publishing executive. However, just weeks before her wedding
Emma discovers she is somehow already married to Patrick (Morgan) an
irresponsible but charming neighborhood fireman with a big secret. |
|
JESSE JAMES DVD to be released soon |
If you were one of the unlucky ones that missed
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT
FORD in theatres, you’ll be glad to learn that Warner Home Video has
announced it will be released on DVD on February 5, 2008. The film received only
one Globe nominations going to Casey Affleck for Best Performance by an Actor in
a Supporting Role.
|
|
December 5, 2007 |
|
The Anthology Film Archives Presents... |
The New York Theatrical release of the documentary film "Bound to Lose"
will take place at NY's Anthology Film Archives from December 7 to 13. Each
night will have different live performances, rare short films and special
guests. On Sunday, December 9th, Sam and his son Walker will perform with the
Holy Modal Rounders, now incarnated as the Velocity Ramblers. Performances will
take place at 4 pm and 10 pm.
When
fiddler Peter Stampfel collided with guitarist Steve Weber during the ‘Great
Folk Scare’ of the early-sixties in New York, the two musicians formed a
powerful bond based on their shared fascination with American roots music and
early psychedelia. Dubbing themselves THE HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS, these eccentric
outsiders have been playing their unique brand of psychedelic folk for over four
decades, barely surviving on the fringes of the music industry while drawing a
dedicated following of luminaries and lunatics. The 52-minute documentary
features endearing and hilarious appearances by Sam (former drummer for the
Rounders), Dennis Hopper, John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful, Peter Tork of
the Monkees, Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg of the Fugs, Loudon Wainwright III,
Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo, music editor Robert Christgau of the Village Voice,
Wavy Gravy and many more.
On December 8th a film narrated by Sam called "Play on John: A Life in Music"
will be presented. John Cohen's fingerprints and influence have been felt, seen
and heard throughout the world of traditional American Folk Music. This
52-minute documentary tells the story of this remarkable individual and true
American treasure. He is a modern renaissance man - musician, painter,
documentary filmmaker, print maker and photographer. The documentary features
rare footage of Bob Dylan, an interview with legendary folk singer Pete Seeger
and showcases Cohen's involvement with the people and personalities of The Beat
Generation. It will make its worldwide television premire in 2008 on the
Smithsonian Channel.
|
ZABRISKIE
POINT will also be one of the films screened this week at the Archives. Sam
co-wrote the screenplay while the band was recording its psychedelic landmark
album "The Holy Model Rounders Eat the Moral Eels". “Removed from the
late-sixties climate of dissent, Antonioni’s only American-made film now stands
as a startling work of art, alternately stark and excessive, cathartic and
self-indulgent.
|
|
November 14, 2007 |
|
Sam Shepard Festival on Long Island |
Long Islanders get a rare chance to see three works by one of
the greatest contemporary American playwrights. The Dix Hills Performing Arts
Center at Five Towns College presents its Sam
Shepard Festival the next three weekends, with student performances of "Lie of
the Mind," "Fool for Love" and "Suicide in B Flat."
Instrumental in putting the festival together is Kathy Curtiss, director of Five
Towns' acting program and a self-described "Shepard connoisseur." Last year, she
directed a Shepard festival for Manhattan's Michael Chekhov Theatre Company and
previously directed Hollywood actor Stuart Whitman in "Lie of the Mind" in
California.
"I think he's one of the great American writers," Curtiss said of Shepard, "with
a rich contemporary language that has a lot of important things to say about
families and our way of life in this country." |
|
Wexner Center Appearance cancelled |
Most know Sam as a playwright, actor, or director, but for a brief stint in the
late 60s, he was a member of the original freak-folk outfit, The Holy Modal
Rounders. He was to appear at Ohio State University's Wexner Center on November
17th with the Rounders' latest incarnation, Velocity Ramblers, along with his
son Walker and original Rounder Peter Stampfel. However, due to an accident and
need for minor surgery, Sam will not be attending. Besides the concert,
the film, "Bound to Lose", a documentary on the Rounders will be shown
|
In the works |
In a recent interview producer Orian Williams announced that
he had completed a documentary in which Sam will appear. It covers twenty days
in the life of Jack Kerouac when he went up to Big Sur and wrote 'Big
Sur' right after 'On the Road' had come out to great success. He was sort of
depleted of all his energy and had returned to drinking and drugs. His buddy
Lawrence Ferlinghetti suggested he come up and stay in this cabin and kind of
detox. And he did, but he went darker and drank a bit more and went into a
pretty crazy place. The film is presently in the final stages of production.
|
|
October 28, 2007 |
|
Filming in Santa Fe |
Sam
has been in Santa Fe this month filming FELON, which also stars Vil
Kilmer, Stephen Dorff, Anne Archer, Harold Perrineau and Marisol Nicholas. His
role hasn't been defined but his character's name is Gordon Camrose. The
22-day shoot is being done at the Old Main section of the State Penitentiary,
site of the 1980 riots, the newer state prison, and in and around Santa Fe. The
drama is about a family man who is convicted of murdereding an intruder. He is
then sent to a maximum-security prison where he struggles to survive the violent
penal system in which a corrupt lieutenant tries to maintain power and order
even if it means crossing the line. Ric Roman Waugh, who worked as a stuntman
with Kilmer on "True Romance" is directing. This will be the second time Kilmer
has worked with Sam in Santa Fe with BLIND HORIZON (2003), but it's the
third time for their partnership with their more memorable film, THUNDERHEART
(1992). The producers hope for a big screen release next year. While
filming, Sam was spotted at Maria's Mexican Kitchen, which he became familiar
with back in the 80s when he lived in Santa Fe. The
couple was often out and about in town, including those Saturday breakfasts at
Café Pasqual's and polo out at the polo grounds.
|
|
Criterion Collection adds DAYS OF HEAVEN |
Texas
filmmaker Terrence Malick has entered the DVD pantheon with his work reissued by
the Criterion Collection. In
remastering DAYS OF HEAVEN, Malick evidently took an unsentimental
approach to his masterpiece: According to Criterion's technical director Lee
Kline, he forbade the words "golden" and "warm" - two adjectives invariably used
when the film comes up in discussions of the remastering. So while the
earlier DVD edition exaggerated burnished sunset glow, this one more often
spills a purplish chill in the air; it's a look that both rescues the movie's
beauty from its own legend and reminds us, even during the story's most carefree
moments, that paradise never lasts.
There is a simple eloquence to its story of a man (Richard Gere), his
lover (Brooke Adams) and his young sister (Linda Manz), who leave Chicago to
work in the wheat fields owned by a rich and dying farmer, played by Sam, whose
movie star sideline to his playwriting took off after this. The setting is as
gorgeous as the romance is cynical and the young sister's narration gives the
film its elegiac tone. What's interesting is that the voice-over wasn't even
planned until after the film was shot.
|
|
September 30, 2007 |
|
JESSE JAMES in limited US release |
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES
BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD premiered with a limited release in the US on
September 21. The delay in releasing the film was partly due to the complexity
of how to market the film since it's definitely not your standard western.
Producers can hardly complain with a respectable 75% on the infamous Rotten
Tomatometer. Brett Buckalew of Filmstew described Sam's performance as "Still possessing the right stuff - Sam Shepard is flinty perfection in a small
role." Yes, Sam's presence on the screen was far too little for those of us
who admire his ability to capture the American West, not only on paper, but in
film as well. |
|
July 30, 2007 |
|
JESSE JAMES Headed for Film Festivals |
THE
ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD will be screened at
the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 6-15, 2007.
The film will also be featured at the 64th Venice Film Festival, running frrom August 29
to September 8 in Italy. The September issue of Cowboys & Indians
magazine is previewing the movie on its front cover with a photo of Brad
Pitt, who stars as Jesse James in this long-awaited Western. Writer Jordan Rane
offers a detailed overview of Pitt's career, examines the mythos of the real
Jesse James, and reports on previous movies - ranging from the classic "Jesse
James" (1939) to the campy "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" (1966) -
that have focused on the 19th-century bandit from rural Missouri. The film is
expected to have a limited US release on September 21, 2007. |
|
A Doctorate for Sam |
New
York's Juilliard School conferred honorary doctorates to seven
distinguished artists and cultural leaders during their 102nd commencement
ceremony on May 25, 2007. Among the recipients was Sam, who was honored
with a Doctorate of Fine Arts degree. Other recipients included Stephen H.
Clapp, Frederic Franklin, Stephen Sondheim, Dan W. Lufkin, Benny Golson and
Audra McDonald. The Juilliard School has set this country's standard for
education in the performing arts since its 1905 founding. |
|
US Premiere of DEAD HORSE |
The Public Theater in NYC has announced its selections for
its 2007-2008 season. The season will conclude with the U.S. premiere of
KICKING A DEAD HORSE, a co-production with
Dublin's Abbey Theatre. Once again Stephen Rea will star with Sam directing. The
play premiered at the Abbey Theatre in March with a four-week run, and will also
be staged for 12 more performances at the Abbey from September 12-22. The play
will premiere on June 17, 2008. |
|
|
|