Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 33

courierpostonline.comliving COURIER-POST, Tuesday, December 13, 2005 BflERTAINMENT MovieWinter at shore inspires 'Duane Hopwood' 'Good Night, and Good Luck' tops awards i i 1 j' I 1-23 i fl-r' 'HHN '7 ivi J-rtf urn Miff 7: I I 1,11 1 1 11 nTfTMtli iMMfl 5E does." Supporting acting honors went to Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback Mountain and Gong Li for Memoirs of a Geisha. Mrs. Henderson Presents, about a wealthy widow who started a nude revue in 1930s London, received the ensemble acting award. The National Board was the latest group to recognize Terr-ence Howard with a breakthrough-performance honor for his varied work in several films this year, including Hustle Flow, Crash and Get Rich or Die Try in'. He received similar honors over the weekend from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Online.

Noah Baumbach won the original-screenplay honor for The Squid and the Whale, his semi-autobiographical story about divorce in a literary Brooklyn family, and Stephen Gaghan won the adapted-screenplay award for Syriana, his multilayered thriller about oil, power and manipulation in the Middle East Syriana also was among the group's list of the year's top 10 films. The rest, in alphabetical order Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, A History of Violence, Match Point, Memoirs of a Geisha, Munich and Walk the Line. Golden Globe nominations were scheduled for Tuesday morning. The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, formed in 1909, is composed of film historians, students and educators. By CHRISTY LEMIRE The Associated Press The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures in New York City gave its best-picture award Monday to Good Night, and Good Luck, George Clooney's sparse, black-and-white depiction of Edward R.

Murrow's on-air battles against Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The group spread the awards around, naming Ang Lee as best director for the cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain. Two performers who underwent significant transformations for their roles received the top acting honors: Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in Capote, and Felicity Huffman as a preoperative transsexual in Transamerica. Even though Good Night takes place a half-century ago, the National Board of Review was struck by its relevance to the current state of journalism.

David Strathairn stars as Murrow, the pioneering CBS News anchor who criticized McCarthy for his communist witch hunts of the 1950s. Clooney is the director and co-star. "The press is very much on the tip of everybody's tongue what they're reporting, how much they're reporting," said Annie Schulhof, National Board of Review president. "I think it was an extraordinary film. Mr.

Clooney really nailed it. He really understood the issues," Schulhof added. "It got people talking, and many times, that's what a good film David Schwimmer (Duane Hopwood) and Steve Schirripa (Steve) share who spent his summers at the Jersey Shore. Photo provided by IFC Films a film directed by Matt Mulhem, available, he said. When Schwimmer came on board, it changed the dynamics of the casting and insured a green light.

"He finished the last episode of Friends a week before shooting," he said. Roger Ebert gave Duane Hopwood rave reviews, which boosted the film's image. "He's a guy who goes out of his way to support indie films. He understands what we're up against, getting screens from a theater which would rather slap up Harry Potter on four screens," Mulhern said. The director hopes the success of Duane Hopwood will give a second life to Walking to the Waterline.

But whether it does or not, Mulhern is committed to returning to his Jersey Shore roots again. "I loved the script to start off with. I loved the subtlety in the writing. After receiving so many Hollywood scripts, it was a pleasure to read something with more nuances, and less predictability," said producer Marc Turtletaub, founder of Big Beach Films, which financed the $1 million production. Turtletaub produced Laws of Attraction.

The story and the atmosphere sold producer Lemore Syvan, who founded Elevation Filmworks in 2004, and also was involved in Walking to the Waterline. Syvan produced The Ballad of Jack and Rose, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Catherine Keener. She says Duane Hopwood leaves viewers with hope, rather than a pat Hollywood ending. For Mulhern and the producers, the locale of the Jersey Shore in winter was as much a character as Duane and Linda. Mulhern spent his summers in Longport, where his grandfather built a home after he retired in the late '50s.

He still has ties to the area. His father, Bill Mulhern, lives in Longport year-round, and a sister, Gwen Meade, lives in Margate. "The Shore is an inspiration for me. And it was compelling to have this set in winter," Mulhern said. The Shore in winter mirrors the story, said Turtletaub, who was on the set every day.

"Here's a guy going through the low point in his life, and the dreariness of the weather Reach William H.Sokolic at (609)823- I i ft igCTjCTi 57? 3 HJk'iUlt A 91 59 orwsokoliccounerposton- grJg: iitMlrrWMm-ainjH Ky "I see 2 miles down I.V1 Th on the a deal 5 a scene from 'Duane matches that." Turtletaub, a Woodbridge native, said he also was impressed by the story's connection to the region where Mulhern grew up. "I love that part of New Jersey, especially in winter, with the locals there and the tourists gone," he said. "You get a true sense of the Jersey Shore. Matt layered in the feelings of someone who grew up local and ended up working in casinos. The juxtaposition was compelling to me." Cashing in Syvan said Atlantic City and neighboring towns presented a cinematic bonanza.

"Visually, it's pretty beautiful, especially in the off-season. That was captured in the film very well. The ocean and the different communities were a contrast to bustling Atlantic City." It wouldn't have worked as well shooting in July or August when the entire island buzzes with activity, she said. "It had to be after September. There was never a question of shooting it another time." Another plus in the winter: Renting the production office and the houses used in the film were less expensive.

Fewer people in town also meant less concern about stopping pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Mulhern finished the script for Duane Hopwood in 1998. By the time he got around to shooting the movie, Ruck was un Eve wwwiimw rv ni. ii tm. vmn if fiinuitiu.r mi tim vnrc uim auivi I stuuu(ii) ptioc ano mtJUDia (PO) rn.tm.nm tm.im.tM.tm 1:10.

HO, W0. Mi iSn iTJrWL I Continued from Page IE walk. Written and directed by Philadelphia and Longport native, Matt Mulhern, Duane Hop-wood grew out of a secondary character in Mulhern's 1998 directorial debut, Walking To The Waterline, also filmed around Atlantic City. Alan Ruck, of Spin City fame, played Hop-wood in Waterline, which centered on an actor who returns to the family home in Longport to sort out his life. "I wanted to set another story on the Jersey shore," said Mulhern, who played Lt.

Eugene Holowachuk in the TV series Major Dad. "The Duane character jumped out of Waterline, so I wrote a script and followed this one character. Atlantic City is a place where people go to from other small towns. In Duane's case, it's where he goes to work, and it's visible in the distance at all times. It's physically right there, and all that it represents, both the good and the bad.

It's near, and yet it's far." Bad news The film opens with Hop-wood getting nailed for a DUI while one daughter sleeps in the back seat of his car. "His inability to come to terms with his own behavior has caused problems," Mulhern said. His life rotates between the quiet solitude of Longport in winter and the 247 environment in a smoke-filled, noisy casino. MTV hosts annual bash Associated Press MTV's annual New Year's Eve party from Times Square will feature musical performances by Kanye West, Adam Levine, Shak-ira and Fall Out Boy, the network announced Monday. The two-hour telecast, which begins at 10:30 p.m.

(live), will have MTV VJ's Damien Fahey, Vanessa Minnillo, Quddus Philippe, La La Vazquez and Susie Castillo as hosts. Common, All-American Rejects and Young Jeezy also will perform. There will be an appearance by the Rev. Run and his family, MTV said. "For years, New Year's Eve on MTV has always meant the best new music to our viewers," said David Sirulnick, executive vice president, MTV News and Production.

"2005 is no different, with amazing performances from some of the biggest artists from the past year. We will have wall-to-wall music straight through to 2006." Jl Vf.l'lJ.'fUl I Ail, JU "i.M cmnuii Binr narniA: THE LION. THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (RWCDVS) 105 415 730 1200 1230 315 345 630 700 935 1005 SYRIANA 115 405 720 1015 unil ULUX 1230 255 515 735 955 hit niiuna 191(1230 440 650 915 YOURS, MINE AND OURS 1200 210 420 645 905 ll III 1)1 I I II I. III. I I I v.

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