The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| A Minute With: John Krasinski on life after ‘The Office’ Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:33 AM PDT
The Massachusetts native will appear on the big screen in the 3D animated film "Monsters University," which opens in US theaters on June 21, providing the voice for "Frightening" Frank McCay in the prequel to the Pixar and Disney 2001 hit movie "Monsters, Inc." He also has a guest role on the Internet video streaming service Netflix's revival of the Emmy-winning series "Arrested Development." Krasinski, 34, spoke to Reuters about the creative process, achieving hero status and how hard it has been to leave "The Office," which ended its nine-year run last month. Q: After playing Jim Halpert for so long was it difficult to take on the characters in "Monsters University" and "Arrested Development"? A: It was fun to do both those roles but they were small, fun roles ... For me it was just supporting two things I love so much. I think "Arrested Development" is one of the best shows ever on television, so I was just honored to be a part of that in any way. And it is exactly the same with 'Monsters University.' Not only am I a fan, but my nieces and nephews are bigger fans than I am, so it is the first time in my career that I reached hero status in their eyes. Q: You've worn a lot of different hats in your career. You're an actor, writer, director, film producer. Do you prefer one job over another? A: I really prefer acting over everything else. I think acting for me is the most fun. It is what I did from the beginning. All these other avenues have been fascinating roads to go down but, for sure, acting is the most fun. Quickly I am falling in love with writing and producing and all of it just because it is nice to be part of the process. The business is changing rapidly, so to be a part of the development of new ideas, new shows, new movies is really exciting, and to work with a whole bunch of different talent. Q: You co-wrote the film "Promised Land" with actor Matt Damon. Do you plan to do more writing in the future? A: I am writing two scripts right now. I got hooked. As soon as I did it with him I wanted to do it more and more. It is a lot of fun to sit down and write. It is challenging, but it is so exciting - to have the power to create characters and worlds, rather than to just read scripts that are sent to you. Q: Can you reveal what the scripts are about? A: They are totally different movies and definitely different from "Promised Land." One of them is an action-adventure kind of movie and the other one is ... sort of an investigation of one of the government agencies. Q: You have another project in the works, an HBO miniseries about the Chateau Marmont hotel with writer Aaron Sorkin, which you will executive produce. What attracted you to that? A: It is an incredibly historic hotel for our town; probably the most historic hotel ... There is so much of our town and of our business that was created in that hotel. We're definitely fascinated to tell the story of the hotel. Q: After nine years on "The Office," how hard was it to leave for the last time? A: "Each day I am not on set and not going through that routine with that group of people is excruciating. It is moving on not only from a television show but from an era of life ... It was the most important things in my career, and at the end of the day I may still be known as Jim Halpert more than anything else. And I am really proud of that. — Reuters |
| Hungary ‘Meistersinger’ triumphs over flooding Danube Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:25 AM PDT
The crowning glory of conductor Adam Fischer's eighth annual "Wagner Days" festival, in Wagner's 200th birthday year, was described as a "masterwork" by Hungarian critic Miklos Fay in Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag following Saturday's premiere that had the audience cheering every act of the five-hour-long opera. It was one of those magical musical moments when all the elements, including a superb cast, powerful choral singing and even the river nearing the top of retaining walls just steps away from the hall, conspired for almost unalloyed success. "Wagner liked destruction," retired Slovenian coal mine director Franc Zerdin, attending with his wife and a friend, said just before the performance began. Indeed, there did seem to be something electric in the air. Fischer, 63, who is steeped in the traditions of the Holy Grail of Wagner, having conducted at the composer's purpose-built opera house in Bayreuth, has thoughtfully and deliberately built up his own festival, beginning in 2006. Presented in a concert hall instead of an opera house, past seasons have seen clever, minimalist stagings of "The Ring", "Parsifal", "Tannhauser", "Tristan und Isolde" and "Lohengrin", but Fischer saved the biggest challenge, "Die Meistersinger", with its huge cast, for last."This opera needs the most careful staging, in a way," Fischer said in a recent phone interview. "Wagner is very theatrical, these are very long operas, and I thought at the beginning that we have to offer many more visual elements to the audience, not to be boring," he said. "But that is not really true because the possibilities of the hall, the acoustic and the atmosphere give us a lot more than I thought at the beginning. "I always say the worst thing is to get bored, and now I have confirmation that we can play everything here, with a minimum of staging." Fischer and his production team over the years have called upon the services of a variety of opera and theatre directors, and this time it was the turn of German director Michael Schulz. He directed a "Ring" cycle in Weimar that was noted for its stark setting, but brought a much lighter touch to his first production of Wagner's only comic opera. PROPAGANDA SHOWPIECE Wagner was notoriously anti-Semitic and "Meistersinger", with its infamous line "honour your German masters", became a propaganda showpiece for the Nazis under the Third Reich. This poses a problem for any director, maybe especially a German one, but Schulz tackled it, head on and comically. In the dramatic closing scene, when shoemaker and poet Hans Sachs, the hero of the piece, is singing the offending verse, Schulz brought on two boys to kick around a soccer ball - so that the "German masters" became football players from Bayern Munich or another top club, instead of something more invidious. "Even if I staged this in Germany, I wouldn't be interested in showing that in the rhetoric and demagogy of a Hans Sachs there is something lurking that could also have been the case in the speeches of Hitler or Goebbels," Schulz told Reuters in an interview during the interval. "That's just not interesting. Rather, the 'Meistersinger' is, for me, at the end of the day, a good comedy that one can work on, this ambivalence, this playing with reality, that's what interests me." The international cast included British baritone James Rutherford as Sachs and German tenor Klaus Florian Vogt as the knight Walther who wins the leading lady Eva. Vogt lost a bit of oomph toward the end, but the opera is nothing if not long. Eva was sung by German soprano Annette Dasch with flirty flair, while Danish baritone Bo Skovhus got the bulk of the laughs for his send-up of Walther's rival for Eva's hand as the toupeed, stuffed-shirt Beckmesser. Asked if he was pleased with what he has achieved, Fischer said: "Yes, it was a dream and everybody said it was crazy and we finished it. It is a gift of life for me." — Reuters |
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