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By Steve Mason
September 14, 2006
Steve Mason is a Los Angeles-based talk show host for 710 ESPN Radio. He has previously hosted the nationally-syndicated "The Late, Late Radio Show with Tom Snyder & Steve Mason" for CBS Radio and worked the last five Olympic Games for NBC and Westwood One Radio Network. He is also President of Flagship Theatres which owns the University Village Theatres near downtown Los Angeles (www.FlagshipMovies.com) and Cinemas Palme d'Or in Palm Desert, California (www.ThePalme.com).
Attention Oscar voters: Maggie Gyllenhaal has arrived.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson (ThinkFilm), and I described Ryan Gosling as the best actor of his generation. This week, I want to write about my favorite actress of that same generation. Its Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The buzz about Helen Mirren's performance in The Queen (Miramax) is deafening after the film debuted at Venice, but, if there is any justice, Gyllenhaal will also be among the five Academy Award for Best Actress nominees at the Kodak Theatre in March. She is heartbreaking, honest, vulnerable and inspiring in Sherrybaby (IFC Films), which opened on five screens last Friday (9/8), earning a solid $6,954 per screen.
Gyllenhaal portrays Sherry Swanson, a recovering heroin addict, who returns home to New Jersey after a three-year prison sentence. She wants to stay clean and become a good mother to her five-year-old daughter, but she finds that both her family and the system itself are working against her.
I spent some time with writer/director Laurie Collyer this week, and she is equally amazed by Gyllenhaal's performance. "What Gyllenhaal does in this film is courageous. Some of the situations are pretty intense, and I felt I had to protect her. Ultimately, she put her trust in me. Unlike many young actresses, this 31-year-old isn't afraid to be seen in an unflattering way on the big screen. She's not vain," Collyer explains.
And there are some unflattering situations in this movie. There is some very awkward, frank sexuality as Sherry has sex in the basement of a halfway house for the first time since her parole. Later, she is forced to exchange oral sex in order to win a better job from a creepy social worker. This isn't 'movie sex' with soft lighting and a lush, romantic musical score. This sex is uncomfortable, embarrassing, desperate, dirty and sad.
The sex, like everything else in Sherrybaby, feels real. Collyer has rooted this gritty film in a sometimes ugly truth. Her inspiration was a childhood friend named Sue. "We were friends as kids. She needed money for drugs and went to prison for robbery. When I found out that one of my old buddies was locked up, I became fascinated." Collyer wrote an early draft of the film, then when she reconnected with Sue in 2001, she returned to the project.
"Much of the story comes from Sue's experiences. She told me about her relationship with her brother and sister-in-law, and her family was hard on her in a passive-aggressive way," says the young writer/director. This becomes a major part of Sherry's struggle. When she is sent to prison, her daughter goes to live with her brother- and sister-in-law. When she is paroled, they want to raise the little girl as their own.
Collyer, whose first film was the critically-acclaimed doc Newyorican Dream, which was nominated for the DGA Award in 1999, did some painstaking research for Sherrybaby. She interviewed countless ex-cons, and many of Sherry's experiences are culled from those conversations (including the scene in which she offers a sexual favor for a job). She also visited halfway houses, met with parole officers and sat in on AA meetings. The result is what may be the most authentic film ever made about the after-prison experience.
Collyer and her script were selected to be a part of the 2001 Sundance Screenwriters' Lab. "You meet with screenwriters and playwrights from all genres two or three times a day for a week," she explains. "They all read the script, and begin offering advice. You listen to everyone, and, when they repeat each other, you've really got to pay attention to it." After the first lab, she and Sherrybaby were accepted to the Sundance Directors' Lab, where she had the benefit of working with more film industry professionals, actors, directors, casting people and cinematographers. "You get to pick their brains. It's like summer camp for filmmakers."
The one piece of advice that was offered time and again at Sundance was that she needed to have an actress attached to the project in order to get Sherrybaby made. She got the script into the hands of Gyllenhaal's agent, and the actress expressed interest right off the bat. Collyer says she got it to this rising star at exactly the right time. It was after Secretary and before Happy Endings. She wasn't too famous. With Gyllenhaal interested, although not attached, she was able to win the support of producers Marc Turtletaub (Everything Is Illuminated, Duane Hopwood) and Syvan Lemore (The Ballad of Jack & Rose and Casa de los Babies, which co-starred Gyllenhaal).
Sherrybaby is shot in true verite style. In one heartbreaking scene, Sherry explains to her little girl why she went to prison. As the painful story is told, we don't get a closeup of Gyllenhaal's face. Instead, it's a two-shot, and we see it as if we are seated on a chair across the room.
I told Collyer that I love the natural performance of seven-year-old Ryan Simkens as Sherry's daughter. It looks like a little girl acting like a little girl with lines being improvised. She was intensely directed, as it turns out. Child actors go to a lot of auditions, and they go into a routine. Getting rid of all of her (Simkens') acting tricks was formidable. Gyllenhaal would improvise into scenes. She and Ryan would play and act silly leading into the scripted lines. What seems so natural on film was actually crafted in an incredibly organic way.
Contributing to the documentary feel of the film is the fact that Sherrybaby was shot with a very small crew at a variety of real New Jersey locations. "Maggie had to do some risky, courageous scenes, and I didn't want a lot of people around. A lot of the scenes were shot on a closed set."
The research, the conversations with real ex-cons, the work at Sundance, and the painstaking dedication to truth have paid off for Collyer. Sherrybaby gives us a portrait of a very real woman who wants to go straight and become a good mother, but the deck is stacked against her. "That's a big part of the reason I made this movie," says Collyer. "Some people are unlucky, and they can't seem to stop re-offending."
IFC Films expands the movie to nine screens this week, and, if Sherrybaby comes to your local arthouse, seek it out. Maggie Gyllenhaal has created one of the most complex and fully-realized film characters in recent memory. Like her brother Jake last year, she has arrived as an actor.
Sony set to break record for #1 box office debuts
Last weekend, Sony tied the all-time record for most movies to debut at #1 in a single year. The Covenant managed only $9 million for the weekend, but that was enough to give Sony its ninth new film to win a three-day weekend. They will break that record this weekend with Gridiron Gang, which will coast to an easy win.
For many years, Hollywood types believed that sports movies are box office poison, but the genre has become a solid staple at the box office in the past few years. Sony has added wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and rapper Xzibit to the recipe here, and Gridiron Gang is tracking like a monster among Under 25s.
Don't look for a work of art. This is a by-the-book inspirational story about a counselor who organizes a football team made up of troubled juvenile delinquents at a detention center, and early reviews are trending very negative. But on the heels of the over-achieving Invincible, this picture will take advantage of clever casting and our football-crazy culture to deliver $19-$21 million for the weekend.
Gridiron Gang By The Numbers
All-Time Top 5 Football Movies - Domestic Box Office
1. The Waterboy - $161,491,000
2. The Longest Yard (2005) - $158,119,000
3. Remember the Titans - $115,654,000
4. Any Given Sunday - $75,530,000
5. Friday Night Lights - $61,255,000
Top 5 Sports Movies of 2006 - Domestic Box Office
1. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (still in release) - $142,181,000
2. The Benchwarmers - $57,651,000
3. Invincible (still in release) - $45,654,000
4. Glory Road - $42,647,000
5. Stick It - $26,910,000
Top 5 Phil Joanou-Directed Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Final Analysis - $28,590,000
2. U2 Rattle & Hum - $8,600,000
3. Heaven'?s Prisoners - $5,009,000
4. Three O?'Clock High - $3,685,000
5. State of Grace - $1,911,000
Top 5 Duane "The Rock" Johnson Films - Domestic Box Office
1. The Mummy Returns - $202,019,000
2. The Scorpion King - $91,047,000
3. Be Cool - $56,046,000
4. The Rundown - $47,726,000
5. Walking Tall - $46,437,000
I sat through the plodding Hollywoodland (Focus) last weekend. Being a huge fan of film noir (Chinatown is my all-time favorite film), I bought a ticket despite mixed reviews. Despite winning Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, Ben Affleck fails to connect as George Reeves, the usually-good Diane Lane seems over-matched, and the mystery of Reeves death is revealed to be no mystery at all. As predicted here last Thursday, a disappointing $6 million was in the cards for this period yarn in week one.
One of the reasons that Hollywoodland flopped is that there has been more anticipation for the higher-profile and similarly-themed noir mystery The Black Dahlia (Universal), due tomorrow (9/15). The odd part of this dynamic is hat Focus is the specialty division of Universal. Why release these two films seven days apart Hollywoodland isn't very good, but given some breathing room, it could have been a minor hit.
Despite the horrible scheduling by the folks at Universal, I'm told that The Black Dahlia is tracking solidly, especially with the 25 Plus crowd. Brian De Palma doesn't always hit it out of the park, but even his failures are interesting. Plus the cast here includes Oscar winner Hilary Swank, the always-good Aaron Eckhart, screen beauty Scarlett Johansson and heartthrob Josh Hartnett. This one looks like it'll score solidly at $14-$16 million.
The Black Dahlia By The Numbers
Top 5 Brian De Palma Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Mission Impossible - $180,981,000
2. The Untouchables - $76,270,000
3. Snake Eyes - $55,591,000
4. Scarface - $44,668,000
5. Carlito'?s Way - $36,948,000
Top 5 Scarlett Johansson Films - Domestic Box Office
1. The Spongebob Squarepants Movie - $85,417,000
2. The Horse Whisperer - $75,383,000
3. In Good Company - $45,806,000
4. Lost in Translation - $44,585,000
5. The Island - $35,818,000
Top 5 Josh Hartnett Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Pearl Harbor - $198,542,000
2. Black Hawk Down - $108,638,000
3. Sin City - $74,103,000
4. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later - $55,041,000
5. The Faculty - $40,283,000
Top 5 Hilary Swank Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Million Dollar Baby - $100,492,000
2. Insomnia - $67,355,000
3. The Core - $31,186,000
4. The Gift - $12,008,000
5. Boys Don't Cry - $11,540,000
Top 5 Aaron Eckhart Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Erin Brockovich - $125,595,000
2. Any Given Sunday - $75,530,000
3. Paycheck - $53,790,000
4. The Core - $31,186,000
5. Nurse Betty - $25,170,000
Fans of Zach Braff's Garden State have been waiting for The Last Kiss, which is also due tomorrow (9/15) on just under 1,400 screens. It seems to me that Paramount blew it by not releasing this flick last Friday, taking advantage of a very weak slate. The distributor, however, wanted to premiere the movie at the Toronto Film Festival before its theatrical debut.
The good news is that the reception was very good in Toronto. The bad news is that despite being by all accounts a very good film, The Last Kiss can't seem to get any traction in the market. My hunch is that this picture comes in a little stronger than tracking might indicate, and, with a script by Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby), it has a chance to hold strongly in coming weeks. This weeked, it'll score in the $5-$7 million range
The Last Kiss By The Numbers
Top 5 Zach Braff Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Chicken Little - $135,386,000
2. Garden State - $26,782,000
3. Manhattan Murder Mystery - $11,330,000
4. The Broken Heart?s Club - $1,746,000
5. Blue Moon - $76,544
Top 5 Blythe Danner Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Meet the Fockers - $279,261,000
2. Meet the Parents - $166,244,000
3. The Prince of Tides - $74,787,000
4. Forces of Nature - $52,888,000
5. Too Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar - $36,474,000
Top 5 Tom Wilkinson Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Batman Begins - $205,343,000
2. Rush Hour - $141,186,000
3. The Patriot - $113,330,000
4. Shakespeare In Love - $100,317,000
5. The Exorcism of Emily Rose - $75,072,000
Fox will hit multiplexes with Everyone's Hero tomorrow, but this one is unlikely to do even one tenth of the business of the distributor's other 2006 animated film, Ice Age: The Meltdown ($195 million). This was the project that Christopher Reeve was working on at the time of his death, and he recruited actors like Whoopi Goldberg and William H. Macy to provide voices.
This picture skews very young with a G rating, and it has very little going on for teens or for grown-ups who bring the kids. I'm told that the tracking is very soft, but tracking for kids' pics is always a dicey proposition. With nothing in the marketplace for kids right now, there's always a chance for an upside surprise, but I say $3-$5 million will be Fox's take.
Everyone's Hero By The Numbers
Top 5 Animated Films of 2006 - Domestic Box Office
1. Cars - $242,140,000
2. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown - $195,330,000
3. Over the Hedge - $155,019.000
4. Monster House - $70,900,000
5. Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (still in release) - $66,885,000
All-Time Top 5 Animated Films From Fox - Domestic Box Office
1. Ice Age: The Meltdown - $195,330,000
2. Ice Age - $176,387,000
3. Robots - $128,200,000
4. Anastasia - $58,406,000
5. Ferngully: The Last Rainforest - $24,650,000
All-Time Top 5 Animated Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Shrek 2 - $441,226,000
2. Finding Nemo - $339.714,000
3. The Lion King - $328,541,000
4. Shrek - $267,665,000
5. The Incredibles - $261,441,000
Top 5 Christopher Reeve Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Superman - $134,218,000
2. Superman II - $108,185,000
3. Superman III - $59,950,000
4. The Remains of the Day - $23,237,000
5. Deathtrap - $19,282,000
Superman IV - $15,681,00
Top 5 William H. Macy Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Jurassic Park III - $181,171,000
2. Air Force One - $172,956,000
3. Seabiscuit - $120,277,000
4. The Client - $92,115,000
5. Mr. Holland?'s Opus - $82,569,000
Here are the weekend projections from your humble columnist and theatre-owner:
September 15-17
1. Gridiron Gang - $20 million
2. The Black Dahlia - $14 million
3. The Last Kiss - $6 million
4. Everyone?'s Hero - $5 million
5. Little Miss Sunshine - $3 million
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