The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| Banderas back with Almodovar for ‘Skin I Live In’ Posted: 13 Oct 2011 11:46 PM PDT  Cast member Antonio Banderas attends a news conference for the film "La Piel Que Habito", in competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2011. — Reuters pic The Oscar-winning writer and director cast Banderas in his first film, 1982's "Labyrinth of Passion," and since then the actor has starred in Almodovar's "Matador," "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" and "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" In the director's latest movie, "The Skin I Live In," which opens in Los Angeles and New York today and expands around the US later this month, the 51-year-old Banderas portrays an amoral plastic surgeon who takes terrifying revenge on the young man who rapes his daughter. Banderas recently spoke with Reuters about making the film, working with Almodovar, his upcoming movie "Puss in Boots" and the secret of his long marriage to actress Melanie Griffith. Q: On the surface, "The Skin I Live In" is like a crazy modern opera ─ there's sex, murder, rape, revenge ─ and plastic surgery. But there are also serious themes at work. A: "Yes, it reflects Pedro's interest in the nature of identity. It's about creation, and ultimately about survival. It's a claustrophobic story about this doctor who tries this very disturbing experiment, and the subject of this experiment is a human being. And it takes you on a very, very rocky path of different emotions in a world and universe that belongs to a guy called Pedro Almodovar, who's a genre to himself." Q: You usually play warm, humorous characters, close to your own personality, but you're as cold as ice in this. Was that a challenge? A: "It was one of the main comments that came up in rehearsals with Pedro. He said, 'Forget about all the fun characters you've played for years, even the ones you played for me. In this, we start from zero. I want you to be almost soulless, with a total disaffection for anyone's pain. You're playing a semi-god, a creator.' Which basically makes him a monster. But at the same time he's an artist." Q: You got your start with Pedro and worked with him on many of his best-known films. But you hadn't worked with him since 1990 and "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down." What happened? Didn't he want to use you anymore? A: (Laughs) "No, nothing like that. In fact he called me twice about being in a film with him, but I was under contract in Hollywood to shoot other projects and I couldn't get out of them. But we've always stayed in touch and are great friends." Q: Has Pedro changed much since you first worked with him back in 1982? A: "Yes, of course. We're older and he's matured as a director and as a person. He's become more austere ─ almost Japanese. He's become more profound, more complex." Q: You have some very energetic sex scenes with your co-star, Elena Anaya. How awkward is that for an actor? A: (Laughs) "For me it's no problem at all! And they're actually both very frustrated in the film, as they never actually get to finish making love. It's always just sex interrupted. As I was doing the scenes, I was thinking, 'What would Leonardo da Vinci have thought if he could have gone to bed with the Mona Lisa!'" Q: Your next film, "Puss in Boots," couldn't be more different. It's animated, fun, a spin-off from "Shrek." A: "It's the complete opposite of "Skin." They're further apart than L.A. and Moscow. This is the fourth film I've done as Puss in Boots and I love him. It's got a great cast. Salma Hayek plays Kitty Softpaws and Zach Galifinakis is Humpty Dumpty, and in such a violent world, it's great to be able to make kids and families laugh." Q: Speaking of kids and families. You and Melanie have been married for 15 years now. What's your secret? A: "It's very complex and also very simple ─ we love each other. That's the secret. Michael Caine very funnily once said the secret to a happy marriage is separate bathrooms, but we're still in the same bathroom and the same bedroom." Q: And you have two children, stepdaughter, Dakota, and your biological daughter, Stella. Are they following in their parents' footsteps and trying acting? A: "Dakota, who's 22 now, is doing quite a bit. She was in 'The Social Network' and she's done a couple of independent movies. She's a good actress." ─ Reuters Cast member Antonio Banderas attends a news conference for the film ''La Piel Que Habito'', in competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2011. ─ Reuters pic Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| China’s Ai Weiwei tops ArtReview power list Posted: 13 Oct 2011 06:01 PM PDT  Ai Weiwei poses for a photograph at the Tate Modern gallery, in London October 11, 2010. — Reuters pic Contemporary art magazine ArtReview published its 10th annual "Power 100" list yesterday, coinciding with the opening of the Frieze Art Fair in London which attracts many of the world's top galleries and collectors. Ai, famous for his "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium in Beijing and a recent installation at London's Tate Modern gallery comprising millions of replica porcelain sunflower seeds, was 13th in the ranking last year. Unchanged in second place was London's Serpentine Gallery co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist, joined by his colleague Julia Peyton-Jones this time around. They are followed by New York's Museum of Modern Art director Glenn D. Lowry, and, in fourth down from first last year, US gallery owner Larry Gagosian. Mark Rappolt, editor of ArtReview, said the choice of Ai by a panel of experts was not a political one. "Of course it's something about political activism that runs through the list this year," he told Reuters. "But I think it's more about expanding the concept of art that's not really solely contained in the privileged space of museums and galleries. It's about how it engages with the world. "It's expanding the possibilities of what you can do with art and as an artist how you can use your voice." Ai, who spent nearly three months in detention, was released in late June after being taken from Beijing airport and held in two secret locations. His family says he was targeted by authorities for his criticism of censorship and Communist Party controls, and Ai has remained largely silent since his detention because, under the conditions of his release, he is not allowed to be interviewed by journalists or use the Internet. Ai is only the second artist to have topped the ArtReview standings after Britain's Damien Hirst in 2005 and 2008. Hirst continued to slip further down the "who's who" list in 2011, moving to 64th from 53rd last year. Organisers highlighted the emergence of artist-filmmakers like Briton Steve McQueen (59) and Iranian Shirin Neshat (86) and agencies like Artangel (55), seen as key to funding art projects at a time of major spending cuts. German artist Gerhard Richter was in 11th position up from 55th last year while Frieze founders Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover rose to 24th from 41st. — Reuters Following are ArtReview's top 10 most powerful individuals in the world of art: 1. Ai Weiwei/China/artist 2. Hans Ulrich Obrist/Switzerland; Julia Peyton-Jones — gallery directors 3. Glenn D. Lowry/United States/museum director 4. Larry Gagosian/United States/gallerist 5. Anton Vidokle/Russian-born; Julieta Aranda/Mexico; Brian Kuan Wood/United States — partners in art network group e-flux 6. Nicholas Serota/Britain/museum director 7. Cindy Sherman/United States/photographer 8. Iwan Wirth/Switzerland/gallerist 9. David Zwirner/Germany/gallerist 10. Beatrix Ruf/Germany/curator. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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