They call me Sam

A new behind-the-scenes documentary film on Sam Sullivan’s successful run for the mayor’s chair in Vancouver last year premieres at the Whistler Film Festival on Wednesday night.

Citizen Sam shows a side to the mayor, who is quadriplegic after breaking his neck in a skiing accident at age 19, that few people have seen.

Viewers see Sullivan in the bath, getting dressed, having a spray-on tan applied and even having his daily morning single swig of scotch.

In one scene in the National Film Board film, Sullivan looks like an escape artist trying to free himself from a straitjacket as it takes him two minutes to pull a T-shirt over his head before he collapses into bed.

The mayor said he is surprised by what ended up on screen.

“I didn’t know how disabled I was, and when I saw myself from the way other people would see me, I was quite shaken by it, actually.”

Filmmaker Joe Moulins even installed a confessional camera in Sullivan’s den for him to use during quiet moments during the campaign.

In one such moment just two weeks before election day in 2005, Sullivan displayed a tough streak while talking about opponent Jim Green.

“All I gotta do is keep my foot on his throat and keep pressing. He’s definitely harming me. He’s scratching me but I’m going to keep my foot on his goddamned throat and keep pressing and see if the guy can breathe at the end of it all.”

Sullivan said his political advisers cautioned him against participating in the film. But he said he wanted the public to see that people with disabilities aren’t always heroes — and they’re not always victims.

“Boston Legal”

Nia Long has been hired to appear in three episodes of ABC’s drama series “Boston Legal.”

Meanwhile, after two guest appearances on ABC’s fledgling hit comedy “Ugly Betty,”
Christopher Gorham has joined the cast in a recurring role as the nerdy accountant and new love interest for America Ferrera’s title character.

There is a possibility for Long and Gorham to continue on the respective series as regulars next season.

Long will play Vanessa Walker, a disciplined, ambitious, micromanaging new associate from the New York office of Crane Poole & Schmidt who comes to Boston to solicit help from Alan Shore (
James Spader). Long’s credits include the two “Big Momma’s House” feature comedies.

Bruce Lee

A ceremony was held Sunday in park in Shunde, a Chinese town near Hong Kong, to lay the foundations of theme park dedicated to kung fu star Bruce Lee.

Lee’s younger brother, Robert, and actress Betty Ting Pei were at the ceremony to kick off work on the 200 million yuan ($29 million Cdn) park, according to the Bruce Lee fan club in Hong Kong.

Lee was born in the United States, but moved to Hong Kong as a child, and achieved fame with his intense fighting style in movies such as Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon.

The theme park is to include a statue of Lee, a memorial hall and a martial arts academy. Shunde is Lee’s ancestral home town.

Wong Yiu-keung, the president of the fan club, said he was not sure who was funding the planned park.

The park is expected to be completed in three years.

Lee died in July 1973 at age 32 from a cerebral edema, a swelling of the brain, in Pei’s apartment.

The Taiwanese-born actress donated a set of nunchucks, a martial arts weapon, for the theme park, according to a report in Hong Kong’s Apple Daily.

A statue of Lee was unveiled in Hong Kong in 2005 on what would have been his 65th birthday.

Christmas at the box office

Christmas is coming and the box office is getting fat. Movie grosses are up almost 7 per cent over last year as the studios move into one of the most lucrative parts of the year. Although the blitz began with The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause shortly after Halloween, Hollywood goes into full holiday swing starting this weekend, with American Thanksgiving. This year’s crop of films is looking more Christmasy than usual: There are more prominent family-friendly and children’s movies, religious films ( The Nativity Story, and a science-fiction update on the Nativity, Children of Men) and even some Oscar contenders.

Here are some promising packages, and potential lumps of coal.

This week:

Volver Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s new film, Volver, (literally, “coming back”) is a return to his childhood home of La Mancha, to lighter comic material and to working again with All About My Mother’s Penelope Cruz, who won the best-actress prize at Cannes for Volver. Buzz: Possible Oscar nominations for picture and director, and for Cruz as actress.

Bobby Emilio Estevez’s tribute to Robert Kennedy Jr. is a multicharacter look at life in Los Angeles’s Ambassador Hotel in the hours leading up to the senator’s assassination. Buzz: Hollywood political sympathies have given Bobby Oscar hopes the film doesn’t merit.

The History Boys Alan Bennett expands his stage play about an eccentric English teacher and his unruly literature students. Nicholas Hytner ( The Madness of King George) directs. Buzz: Stagy but accomplished, with Richard Griffiths (Uncle Monty from Withnail and I) staking a claim for best-actor honours.

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny A comedy about the fictitious origins of Jack Black’s comedy duo with Kyle Gass. Buzz: For tenacious fans only.

Dec. 1

Factotum Matt Dillon stars as Henry Chinaski, the alter ego of author Charles Bukowski, as he writes, drinks, has sex, smokes, gets fired and then does it all over again. With Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei. Buzz: Mildly appealing character study for a niche audience.

The Nativity Story Catherine Hardwicke, who made the controversial Thirteen in 2003, directed this story of Mary ( Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes) as a teenager who learns she is to be the mother of Jesus. Buzz: A simple account of Christ’s birth aimed at the Christian youth market.

National Lampoon’s Van Wilder:

The Rise of Taj The talented Kal Penn, who had a supporting role in the first Van Wilder movie as a South Asian rocker, and who starred in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, heads off to England to shake up prestigious Camden University. Buzz: Blighty gets jiggy.

Turistas A horror film about backpacking teenagers who run into gruesome trouble in a Brazilian rain forest. Buzz: Hostel on spring break.

Dec. 8

Apocalypto Mel Gibson’s epic about the end of Mayan civilization. Buzz: The trailers look impressive, but a dearth of stars and Gibson’s tarnished reputation make this a tough sell.

Blood Diamond This political thriller about a mercenary (Leonardo DiCaprio), a journalist (Jennifer Connolly) and an African (Djimon Hounsou) who knows the whereabouts of a valuable diamond, is set against the backdrop of the Sierra Leone civil war in the 1990s. Buzz: Director Edward Zwick ( Courage Under Fire, The Last Samurai) takes on morally difficult subjects but tends to come up short. An Oscar campaign is under way.

Breaking and Entering Anthony Minghella ( The English Patient) delivers a portrait of intersecting lives in contemporary London. Jude Law is an architect who tracks down a boy, the son of a Bosnian refugee, who has broken into his office. With Juliette Binoche and Robin Wright Penn. Buzz: Reviews have been respectful but reserved.

D.O.A.: Dead or Alive Hong Kong action guy Corey Yuen directs this adaptation of a video game featuring three fighting women (Jaime Pressly, Holly Valance and Sarah Carter.) Buzz: Charlie’s Angels with more action and fewer stars.

The Holiday Nancy Meyers ( What Women Want) wrote and directed this romantic comedy about two singletons, one a Californian (Cameron Diaz), one a Londoner (Kate Winslet), who exchange homes for the holidays and find new love interests. With Ed Burns, Jude Law and Jack Black. Buzz: The trailer looks frothy even by chick-flick standards.

Monkey Warfare (Dec. 8 in Vancouver, Dec. 15 in Toronto). A couple of middle-aging Vancouver political activists (Don McKellar and Tracy Wright) hide out in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood until a young woman (Nadia Litz) becomes their protégé. Buzz: This cleverly shot and scripted satiric comedy earned warm response at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Puffy Chair This $15,000 independent American film marks the debut of the brother team of Mark and Jay Duplass, with a script about a slacker trying to drive cross-country to deliver a vintage recliner to his father, accompanied by his girlfriend and hippie brother. Buzz: The winner of the Audience Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival has earned mostly positive reviews in the mainstream American press.

Unaccompanied Minors The Daily Show’s Lewis Black plays a grumpy airport official and Wilmer Valderrama of That ’70s Show is his clueless assistant in this comedy about a group of five kids trapped at an airport over Christmas. Buzz: Home Alone with luggage carts.

Dec. 15

Eragon A boy in a mythical land goes on a heroic quest; based on the novel by teenaged author Christopher Paolini. Buzz: In a year without a Harry Potter or Star Wars movie, fantasy fans need somewhere to turn.

The Good German Steven Soderbergh’s homage to forties dramas stars George Clooney as a reporter who returns to postwar Berlin to find his former mistress (Cate Blanchett). With Beau Bridges and Tobey Maguire. Buzz: Gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, a major director and good cast add up to a strong Oscar candidate.

Home of the Brave Irwin Winkler’s drama follows four soldiers trying to adjust to life at home after a tour in Iraq. Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, 50 Cent and Christina Ricci. Buzz: A timely theme, but director Winkler ( Life as a House) is, at best, erratic.

The Pursuit of Happyness A Christmas movie in the classic Hollywood mode: Will Smith plays a homeless man who struggles to keep his young son as he also struggles to keep up appearances during a stockbroker internship. Buzz: Smith, playing opposite his real-life son, Jaden, should charm if the script by The Weather Man writer Steve Conrad doesn’t get turgid.

Dec. 20

Charlotte’s Web A mixture of live action and computer-generated images is used to tell E.B. White’s classic story about a clever spider (voiced by Julia Roberts) who uses her words to save a pig from becoming Christmas dinner. With Dakota Fanning. Buzz: The story should be foolproof; and with 45 million copies of the book sold, the movie’s all but a guaranteed hit.

Dreamgirls Director Bill Condon ( Gods and Monsters) adapted this popular Broadway musical based on the rise of the Supremes. With Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy and Danny Glover. Buzz: An early Oscar favourite, with a strong cast and a knockout debut performance from American Idol contender Jennifer Hudson.

Night at the Museum Ben Stiller plays a security guard who accidentally invokes a spell that causes museum displays to come to life. Robin Williams, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Owen Wilson also star. Buzz: Why? Because it’s been weeks since Stiller’s last movie.

We Are Marshall This fact-based drama stars Matthew McConaughey as the coach brought in to run the football program at West Virginia’s Marshall University after the entire team and coaching staff were killed in a plane crash. Buzz: Sounds painful. But then, every Hollywood star has to have his inspirational-coach movie.

Snow Cake This feel-good Anglo-Canadian drama set in Wawa, Ont., is about the friendship between an autistic woman (Sigourney Weaver) and an ex-con (Alan Rickman). With Carrie-Anne Moss. Buzz: Depending whom you ask, either life-affirming or ill-making.

Dec. 22

The Curse of the Golden Flower Zhang Yimou’s third martial-arts epic after Hero and House of Flying Daggers, with Asian superstars Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li. Buzz: Typically enthusiastic, but whether Western audiences will continue to have an appetite for eye-popping depictions of Asian-legend stories is another question.

The Good Shepherd The early years of the CIA, told through the experiences of one agent from his college days through his soul-destroying career. With Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and Robert De Niro, who also directs. Buzz: The Oscar campaign is afoot, though it’s worrisome that De Niro took months to trim this down from an original three-hour running time.

Rocky Balboa Thirty years after he first came to the screen, a broke Rocky comes out of retirement to take another shot at the world championship. Written, directed and starring Sylvester Stallone. Buzz: Never underestimate the power of morbid fascination.

Dec. 25

Black Christmas This remake of Bob Clark’s 1974 horror film about an Xmas killer stars Michelle Trachtenberg, Lacey Chabert and Andrea Martin, who played in the original. Buzz: What Christmas is really all about — stabbing, slashing and sorority girls in their underwear.

Children of Men This year’s other Nativity movie, albeit set in a future dystopia. Humanity is on the verge of extinction when a London bureaucrat learns of the last pregnant woman on Earth. Alfonso Cuaron directs, based on a novel by P. D. James. With Chiwetel Ejiofor , Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine. Buzz: There’s strong critical support and Oscar predictions for a sophisticated combination of action thriller and religious allegory.

Venus Another Educating Rita-style comedy from Britain, with Peter O’Toole and Leslie Phillips as aging actors whose lives are disrupted by a young relative (Jodie Whittaker). Buzz: A warm response to O’Toole’s performance could mean a best-actor Oscar nomination.

Dec. 27

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Adapted from Patrick Suskind’s bestselling 1985 novel, and directed by Tom Twyker ( Run Lola Run, Heaven) this is a lush 18th-century period piece about perfume-maker Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), who will kill to get the scent he wants. Buzz: Mixed advance reviews indicate a visually impressive but emotionally detached film that might have been better in Smell-O-Vision.

Notes on a Scandal Cate Blanchett plays an art teacher who enters into an illicit affair with an underage student, and Judi Dench stars as an older teacher who knows her secret. Based on Zoë Heller’s 2003 novel, What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal, adapted by Closer author Patrick Marber, and directed by Richard Eyre ( Iris, Stage Beauty). Buzz: The pedigree is hard to beat.

The Painted Veil W. Somerset Maugham’s novel of marital troubles among Europeans in 1920s China was originally filmed with Greta Garbo in 1934. Naomi Watts plays the unhappy wife of Edward Norton; she has an affair with a colonial official (Liev Schreiber). Buzz: The cast looks strong, though director John Curran’s previous adultery drama, We Don’t Live Here Anymore, was more grim than insightful.

Dec. 29

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. star in a fictitious account of the work of the photographer famous for her freakish subjects. Buzz: A simple-minded, Freudian-themed horror film. (It opened in Vancouver on Nov. 17.)

Miss Potter The story of Peter Rabbit author Beatrix Potter, starring Renée Zellweger, employs a mixture of live-action and animated characters. This is the first feature from director Chris Noonan since his triumphant Babe. With Ewan McGregor. Buzz: Hop to it.

Pan’s Labyrinth (may not open until early January). This fable of lost innocence from Spanish director Guillermo del Toro ( Blade II, Hellboy) is set in 1940s Spain, where a girl discovers a mythical underground world. Buzz: This dark adult fairytale is earning raves for its visual originality.

Film release dates may vary across the country.

Betty Comden

U.S. songwriter and actress Betty Comden, who collaborated with Adolph Green to write some of the greatest stage and screen musicals such as “Singin’ in the Rain,” died of heart failure on Thursday in New York at age 89, media reports said.

Comden and Green won seven
Tony Awards together. They collaborated on the 1944 Broadway musical “On the Town,” which included the song “New York, New York” — the one that rhymed “The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down” with “New York, New York, it’s a hellava town.”

Comden started collaborating with Green as a member of the Revuers, a nightclub act that performed in New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1930s.

It was there that Comden and Green first accompanied Leonard Bernstein, one of many top composers they worked with through the years. Others included Andre Previn, Cy Coleman and Jule Styne.

Among the songs written by the Comden and Green team were “Just in Time,” “The Party’s Over” and “Make Someone Happy.”

Comden and Green wrote for nine films including the musicals “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952), “The Band Wagon” (1953), “It’s Always Fair Weather” (1955) and “Bells are Ringing” (1960).

Shortly before Green’s death in 2002, Comden and Green were presented with the Screen Laurel Award, the Writers Guild of America’s highest honor for screenwriting.

Through their friendship with Bernstein, Comden and Green were hired to write the book and lyrics for “On the Town” in 1944, and performed one of the numbers in the stage hit, which was the first Broadway show for all of them.

That collaboration, which also included famed director George Abbott and choreographer Jerome Robbins, led to other theatrical triumphs including “Wonderful Town” and “Peter Pan.”

Comden is survived by her daughter, Suzanne. She was preceded in death by her husband, Steven Kyle, and her son, Alan.

Peter Bogdanovich

When director
Peter Bogdanovich decided to update his 1971 documentary “Directed By
John Ford” he felt as if he’d been dealt four aces in a game of five card stud.

“I had 45 minutes of original interviews with John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart and Mr. Ford himself. Since The
American Film Institute ran out of money and never paid for many of the clips used, which meant it was only shown at a few colleges and on a PBS fund-raiser, I discovered I had a relatively brand new picture. Plus I had Orson Welles’ original narration.

“So I decided to get some financing to do new interviews with myself,
Clint Eastwood,
Steven Spielberg,
Maureen O’Hara,
Martin Scorsese, Walter Hill and
Harry Carey Jr., an actor Ford used regularly and whose dad was the star of several of Ford’s early westerns. When I edited everything together it became an entirely fresh documentary.”

The final result has been showing on the Turner Classics Movies cable station this month as part of a tribute to the six-time Academy-Award winning director.

Ford’s films show an evolution of American values from the men and women who shaped the frontier of the West to those who suffered from the poverty of the Depression.

The films shown include “Stagecoach,” “The Last Hurrah,” “Fort Apache,” “The Informer,” the 1941 best picture Oscar winner “How Green was my Valley” and what many critics regard as the greatest western ever made, “The Searchers.”

“‘The Searchers’ is perhaps the most influential film ever to many of the current crop of directors. You can see its theme of the search for family and justice against dramatic and physical hardships in Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’ Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven,’ nearly every Scorsese film … and in the original ‘Star Wars,”‘ he said, adding:

“One can teach a college film course on changing American values as seen through the lens of John Ford and his films. … He changed everyone’s life during the time he was making movies. Fonda, Stewart and Wayne were excellent actors but they became movie stars and icons after they worked with Ford.”

FORD’S SECRET

Bogdanovich believes the secret of Ford’s success with actors was how he used their fear of him to his advantage.

“Ford ran a tense set because he never wanted his actors to feel comfortable. The more ill at ease they were wanting to please him, the more intensity they would bring to each take. Fonda, Stewart and Wayne all regarded Ford as a father figure whose approval they were constantly seeking.”

Those three stars share stories in on-camera interviews supporting Bogdanovich’s claim. Perhaps the most interesting recollection belongs to Spielberg, who tells of the time the then teen-ager got to meet the elderly master of cinema.

The sentimental story basically boils down to Ford’s sage advice to not use the camera to draw attention to yourself and don’t frame shots as if they were picture perfect postcards.

With the possible exception of Alfred Hitchcock, who became a celebrity via cameos in his films and by hosting his own television series in the 1950s, no director has influenced filmmakers as much as Ford but his curt responses to a clearly intimidated Bogdanovich indicate he could not care less.

When Bogdanovich later attempted to get Fonda, Stewart and Wayne to star in a film entitled “Streets of Laredo,” Ford talked Wayne out of doing the picture.

“It would have been my masterpiece,” Bogdanovich said, refusing to say why Ford objected. Bogdanovich is also at a loss to explain why westerns aren’t made anymore.

“Perhaps it’s because they (Hollywood) can’t see today’s actors riding into a town then going into a saloon. They can see
Tom Cruise jumping on someone’s couch but then can’t see him jumping on a horse!”

YouTube

The stereotype of the Canadian as a beer swillin’ hockey nut is alive and well on the Internet, thanks to the computer prowess of a bunch of teenage Americans.

Young fans of the parody song Canadian Idiot by Weird Al Yankovic have supplied the Net with cheeky homemade music videos about the Great White North’s “Monopoly money” and “silly accent.”

The offerings, on YouTube.com, range from a simple animated video by 16-year-old Danielle Burke of Burlington, Vt., to the more elaborate lip-synching performance of 17-year-old Stephen Georg, of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

All, however, revel in the ludicrous Canuck images featured in Weird Al’s song — a spoof of the Green Day hit American Idiot.

Several of the video creators admit that many Americans know little about their northern neighbours.

“Canada isn’t really a place I often think about — but when I do think about it, I often think of maple syrup, Mounties, Celine Dion and Jim Carrey,” says Georg, a high school senior who dons makeup and black clothing for his video.

“I imagine Canadians wear a lot of red flannel shirts for some reason,” says Burke, a novice filmmaker who says she spent several hours on the computer project.

Weird Al has described “Canadian Idiot” as written from the perspective of an ignorant American and calls his song “a love letter to Canada.”

The ditty makes light of all things typically associated with Canada, for better or worse: “They all live on doughnuts and moose meat,” Weird Al croons.

“And they leave the house without packing heat, “Never even bring their guns to the ma-a-alllll.”

But it’s clear that some Canadians just don’t get the joke. Dozens of angry comments have been posted on websites featuring the homemade videos, with viewers admonishing the young filmmakers for encouraging the stereotypes.

“I am a Canadian,” lostxfreakx42 says in the comments section for a video tribute made by a 17-year-old named Anthony who goes by the moniker Apollo22237.

“I can laugh at this because pretty much all of it is untrue. But you sir, are an asshole.”

Canadians shouldn’t be offended by Weird Al’s lyrics, says Phil McCracken, a 13-year-old fan from Columbus, Ohio.

“It’s really making fun of the Americans and their views on the Canadians,” says McCracken, who acts out each verse of the song in his simple video.

“Al is trying to show the quick judgment of those different to us.”

Brit filmmaker Dominick Allen says he went out of his way to state in his YouTube bio that he’s from the United Kingdom, not the United States, to head off the flood of anti-American sentiment that initially flowed his way.

“The video is not meant to be racist in any way,” says Allen, a 15-year-old who lives east of London.

“It is more insulting to Americans than Canadians. It is saying, like: ‘Look you stupid Americans, this is what you think of Canada all summed up in 2:23 minutes, see how stupid you really are now?’ “ Burke, whose video features stick-figure animation and pictures mined from the Net, says she’s never heard of some of the stereotypes mentioned before, such as the claim that Canadians only eat “doughnuts and moose meat” or “Kraft macaroni.”

“When I hear kids talking about Canada where I live, it’s usually about how they wish they lived there because the drinking age is 18, instead of 21,” says Burke.

“I know that you have a bit of an accent. I’ve heard that Montreal is very high-class, but it’s different for the rest of Canada.”

Robert Altman

“MASH” director
Robert Altman, who revolutionized Hollywood filmmaking with a chaotic, irreverent style that critics hailed as “American Art Cinema,” has died at age 81, his production company said on Tuesday.

The director of dozens of films and TV dramas, Altman changed the vocabulary of American filmmaking starting with “MASH,” a black comedy about a madcap medical unit in the Korean war that came out in 1970 and became a lightning rod for anger many Americans felt toward officials over the Vietnam war.

Many of Altman’s other films were hailed by critics, including 1975’s “Nashville,” which along with “MASH” and the 1971 western “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” are considered among the best films of the 1970s. Other notable films included “The Player” (1992) and “Gosford Park” (2001).

He also made his share of flops, including the financial disaster “Popeye” (1980) and “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson” (1976).

“What I am looking for is occurrence, truthful human behavior. We’ve got a kind of road map and we are making it up as we travel along,” Altman once said.

His filmmaking style deliberately looked incoherent — actors would talk over each other and cameras would zoom in and out. Often what someone was saying did not correspond to what a viewer was seeing and always his characters were anything but black and white.

Film historian David Thomson said, “Altman’s place in American cinema is very high. He is the only real American independent director who sustained a career for the best part of 40 years. He always made films his way and scorned the money sources he used to make films. He made them feel lucky that he was taking their money to make his film.”

“INTERESTED IN CHAOS”

Thomson said Altman “was interested in chaos. He didn’t always like his characters. He was suspicious of them. It was like in real life, people were not to be trusted. His filmmaking techniques were designed to show life out of control.”

Many of his films engaged directly in social comment and, Altman, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was always considered a maverick in Hollywood where profits takes precedence over politics.

He was nominated as best director five times: for “MASH,” “Nashville,” “The Player,” “Short Cuts” (1993) and “Gosford Park,” but never won. He also shared Oscar nominations for best picture for “Nashville” and “Gosford Park.”

Perhaps to make up for the neglect, Altman in March this year received a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He revealed at the ceremony that he had a heart transplant a decade earlier but had kept it secret in order to keep working.

Altman was 30 when he made his first feature film.

On the strength of that he moved to Hollywood where his big break came with “MASH,” which centered on the antics of a group of doctors and nurses of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital — MASH for short — as they struggled to keep their sanity and save lives. When not tending to waves of wounded GIs, surgeons “Hawkeye” Pierce and “Trapper John” McIntyre passed their time playing practical jokes, canoodling with nurses and drinking to excess.

The film spawned the long-running hit TV series “M*A*S*H.”

Many of the actors who worked for Altman loved him, but
Warren Beatty who starred in “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” once said he that thought of killing him.

According to film journalist Craig Modderno, co-author of “I’ll Be in my Trailer: The Creative Wars Between Actors and Directors,” Altman and Beatty feuded over whether Beatty was trying to steal a scene from newcomer
William Devane.

Altman told Modderno, “Warren has never said a kind word about ‘McCabe and Mrs. Miller’ even though he got the best reviews of his career from it. When I die if that egotistical bastard says anything nice about me, then you know he’s lying, but I’ll haunt him to his grave for the unprofessional way that he treated me and our cast and crew.

“Other than him I’ve loved every actor I’ve ever worked with. When it comes to dealing with film executives…..well that’s a book in itself!”‘

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher’s newest update of her enormously accomplished, industriously self-destructive life opened to a gala audience ready to clasp her to their hearts. “I’m Carrie Fisher, I’m an alcoholic, and this is a true story,” the icon says as she appears against a stars in the night backdrop with a screen occasionally showing photos and film clips illustrating her story.

Dressed in a simple but elegant black suit, with what looked like the remnants of a princess’ tiara in her hair, she quickly has the house hanging on her every word while pianist Gerald Sternbach sets a cocktail bar mood and, occasionally as the night progresses, accompanies Fisher’s slow and sultry delivery of songs from her life.

It’s like watching a
Wikipedia article come to life, like seeing a celebrity on a late-night talk show take over the stage with an extended monologue, like taking a surrealistic voyage to a remote yet somehow familiar place hosted by a magical goddess. In this case, the goddess, who moves gracefully about the stage on uncertain legs and looks like she’s been through 50 years of hell, seems to be quickly becoming its sole inhabitant.

This first world-premiere production in what Geffen producing director Gil Kates calls “the reimagined Geffen Playhouse,” is rich in delicious tidbits and bitingly funny anecdotes about the private lives of Carrie, Debbie, Eddie, Liz, Dick, George, Bob, Paul and others. Once the word gets out, the Geffen should be packed until the show closes a few days before Christmas.

The main themes of “Wishful Drinking,” aside from the overarching substance abuse leitmotif, are not surprising. “Star Wars” and its director throw a large shadow over the night, in particular the personal miasma caused by the suffocating typecasting that still haunts Fisher. The fact that
George Lucas insisted Princess Leia not wear a bra because “there is no underwear in space” elicits one of the evening’s biggest laughs, while gossip columnists and other historians will appreciate Fisher confirming the rumor about her relationship with a certain “Marlboro Man” star.

The other main theme is her family’s corrupt genealogy, values and predispositions. It’s worth the price of admission to watch Fisher illustrate the twisted tale on a blackboard covered in photos of the many principals, after which she throws up her hands and concludes that her 12-year-old daughter and a possible cousin are “related by scandal.”

The key to the evening’s success, and making the show more than just another star hanging out her dirty laundry to dry, is Fisher’s ability to present what is, after all, an endless litany of depressing, poor-little-rich-kid stories without losing the sympathy of her audience. She does this with a wildly funny sense of humor and a self-deprecating commitment to, incredible as it sounds, limiting her emotional vulnerability. More subtly, she seems determined to validate who she is and her right to her life, which gives her and the audience a welcome sobering and life-affirming dignity.

Cast: Carrie Fisher

Playwright-performer: Carrie Fisher; Director: Joshua Ravetch; Set designer: Daniel Ionazzi; Co-producer: Kim Painter; Piano: Gerald Sternbach.

Chicago 10

Chicago 10, a documentary centring on the antiwar protests at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, will be the opening movie at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

The film, directed by Brett Morgen, looks at the clash among protesters, police and the National Guard in Chicago and the trial that followed.

“It seems fitting to me that a film about the importance of taking a stand should launch” the festival, said Morgen.

“For the past five years, I have laboured to bring this story into focus, and with each passing day, the film becomes increasingly relevant. I can’t think of a more appropriate time and place to unleash this beast.”

Activists such as Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale were put on trial in 1969 over the violence.

The title refers to the original eight defendants, known as the “Chicago Eight,” and their two lawyers, who were cited for contempt during the trial.

Morgen uses period music with footage of the events, along with animation segments featuring the voices of Hank Azaria, Mark Ruffalo, Dylan Baker, Liev Schreiber, Nick Nolte, Jeffrey Wright, Roy Scheider and Leonard Weinglass.

Morgen’s previous films include The Kid Stays in the Picture, a documentary about Robert Evans, a former studio boss at Paramount.

Sundance, the top U.S. showcase for independent film, runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Utah.