By Susan Thea Posnock
I met with director Roger Michell—who guided Peter O’Toole to his eighth Best Actor nomination in Venus—over lunch on a brisk afternoon last fall.
Before I could begin my interview in earnest, he noted the presence of failed presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, at a nearby table.
"The Oscars are a bit like John Kerry sitting over there: vastly campaigned for," he said. "They're quite corrupt in that way. They're not this sort of simple meritocracy."
He would know. Michell, who was born in South Africa but now resides in England, got his start as a theater director (and still dips in those waters between films), but has been helming features for more than a decade.
His first effort was Persuasion in 1995. Not only did it kick-off the Jane Austen big screen movie-a-thon, but this beautifully understated film remains my favorite among the numerous adaptations of her works. Over the years Michell’s worked on a mix of star vehicles and smaller, more personal films. He's probably best known for 1999's Notting Hill, with superstars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.
Read the rest here
No comments:
Post a Comment