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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Thursday, September 28th, 2006 - 19 Comments »

Departed Discussions

departedtrio.jpg
Leonardo DiCaprio
Matt Damon
Vera Farmiga

19 Comments »

19 Responses to “Departed Discussions”

  1. frankbooth says:
    September 28, 2006 at 10:23 am

    De-pated? Is that a spoiler?

  2. EDouglas says:
    September 28, 2006 at 10:34 am

    ::frantically presses every button on the remote trying to change the inset picture to the ball game::
    Interviews are good, but I agree with Jeff Wells that this sort of three-minute interview format just doesn’t really allow the talent to elaborate much. I was hoping the “reaction camera” would have gotten a wider range of emotions… :)

  3. David Poland says:
    September 28, 2006 at 10:56 am

    Uh, ED…. really? 4 minutes is not a real amount of time for a deep conversation? Wow! How insightful of you and my #1 stalker.
    As you know, 20 minutes at a roundtable with Paul Fisher is nothing like a real conversation either. This is why we don’t do junkets at MCN very often and never do phoners. On the other hand, I don’t make light of people who choose to do their jobs that way because that is what’s available. (I do kick the shit out of people who pretend they had an exclusive at a roundtable or who use the occasion to whore themselves in some way.)
    The reason I was interested in doing this one was to disucss Scorsese, but then, unfortunately, MS decided not to do very much. So I did what I could and I think the talent offered what they could in four minutes in all three cases.

  4. seymourgrant says:
    September 28, 2006 at 11:08 am

    Anyone else having trouble getting the Vera one to work? The other two worked fine, but her’s isn’t working for me.
    I agree with David. I always laugh when on some sites they claim to have an exclusive interview and they play that up. Then you go to another site and it’s the same damn questions asked in their ‘exclusive interview’ and you realize it was a roundtable.
    I liked the insert as well, so DePalmaish. Nice to see the full back and forth, even if it’s just for a short time.

  5. Dr Wally says:
    September 28, 2006 at 11:13 am

    Thanks DP, those were good. But why was DiCaprio appearing to be mock-punching you at the start of the chat?!

  6. The Carpetmuncher says:
    September 28, 2006 at 11:59 am

    Not sure what incited the “mock-punching,” but the “treat it like boxing, stick and move, stick and move” is a quote from the immortal Biggie Smalls, which gives Leo another notch on the cultural credibility belt.
    Dave, you’ve got me really super-hyped for this one, and as a movie fan I was already hyped before you started to weigh in. Can’t wait.

  7. Solange1 says:
    September 28, 2006 at 12:29 pm

    nice interviews, Dave. These folks must get awfully tired of getting asked for the zillioneth time how it was to work with Scorsese, Nicholson. It would be nice if these press interviewers came up with some truly unique and interesting questions. Like for instance to Leo, why did he end up not doing The Good Shepherd which Matt of course took over.
    btw, Leo’s apparently been a huge rap fan since he was a kid so not surpriising he peppers his convo with rap lyrics.

  8. Blackcloud says:
    September 28, 2006 at 2:02 pm

    I had no idea there were any women in the movie.

  9. palmtree says:
    September 28, 2006 at 2:19 pm

    I like being able to see Mr. Poland’s side…interesting for me since I’ve been conditioned to have him talk straight into the camera.
    Is it just me or is Vera’s interview in mirror vision?

  10. David Poland says:
    September 28, 2006 at 4:53 pm

    I was saying that the effort of the actors sitting through these interviews was harder than it was for the interviewers, sitting around and being shuttled in and out. He agreed and the rumble in the NY jungle was his follow-up comment.

  11. EDouglas says:
    September 28, 2006 at 6:08 pm

    Geez, David… a little bit sensitive maybe? I’ve seen far worse criticism of you here than me commenting on my general feelings about those kind of 4 minute television blips…it was a comment on the system, not on you or anyone else who does them. At least you get exclusive stuff rather than the ridiculously overcrowded press conferences with Marty and the entire cast. (And no, Paul wasn’t there.)
    Surprised that Scorsese didn’t even do television interviews…that’s surprising.

  12. Kristopher Tapley says:
    September 28, 2006 at 6:32 pm

    Vera is so…magnetic? Sparkling? Seems like a smart cookie.

  13. David Poland says:
    September 28, 2006 at 6:55 pm

    Happy for you to comment, ED. Leave The Onanist on his blog, where he belongs. Bringing him into it expanded your comment beyond your less inflamatory words.

  14. EDouglas says:
    September 28, 2006 at 7:05 pm

    Well, I don’t agree with “him” on everything! But fair enough.

  15. Nicol D says:
    September 28, 2006 at 10:56 pm

    I know this is only tangentally related to the topic, but I just finished doing my own mini-Scorsese retrospective this past week and I gotta say…I think my favourite film of his is After Hours.
    I certainly do not argue it is his best, just my favourite.
    It is funny though how Scorsese has changed his style in the past decade. When I first got into him I used to think of him as a maker of films that were quick, short and brutal, either emotionally or physically. Like quick exclamation marks of cinematic passion. Most of them were under 2 hours.
    Now it seems like more and more he does long epics that are well over 2 hours and have a much more ‘bigger’ feel. I do not say this is bad, just different.
    It is interesting to chart his changes and similarities as a film-maker.
    I look forward to Oct 6. If only we could get him to reunite with Harvey and Robert one last time.

  16. T.H.Ung says:
    September 29, 2006 at 12:06 am

    Good Q & A, mostly A. Such love affairs between director and actors. Agree with you Kris about Vera, espec in the beginning. DiCaprio’s wink at the end to DP, did you feel it? Ouhh.

  17. jeffmcm says:
    September 29, 2006 at 12:43 am

    Interesting Nicol, what is it about After Hours that you like so much?
    I enjoy it, but I have never understood why it’s considered to be one of his absolute masterpieces by certain critics (Dave Kehr, I think). My absolute favorite Scorsese film is Taxi Driver, both as a great piece of cinema and for more personal reasons.

  18. EDouglas says:
    September 29, 2006 at 3:46 am

    I love After Hours, too… might be in my Top 10 or Top 20 movies of all time, and it’s one of the reason I moved to NYC (and was even more thrilled when I ended up working in one of the neighborhoods where they shot the film for five years). For those who have never lived or been here… or decided one day to go to a different neighborhood, there’s something so truthful about the night depicted and I enjoyed the intelligence of how things go wrong.

  19. Nicol D says:
    September 29, 2006 at 11:55 am

    Empirically, I actually think Taxi Driver is Scorsese’s best.
    I love After Hours though because it was the film I discovered Scorsese through. It is a perfect composition of order to chaos and then a return to order. I love the Howard Shore score, and the whole late night NY feel seems so barren and alien.
    The film, in a way, is a precursor to Pulp Fiction in that it has an eliptical plot where seemingly unrelated events all come together at the end.
    I love Dunne’s great hapless ‘everyman’ performance and so many other things. Arquette has never been better utilized (or sexier) and I love that Scorsese had the courage to use C&C.
    I also love the title credits design. This is a great little movie that I feel never got its due.

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