 | 
NAME: Gilligan
CLAIM TO FAME: Mail-order tycoon. Sells his hair balls over the Internet. “The perfect gift for the cat who has everything. All highly collectible, all are signed, and come with a certificate of authenticity.” |
I know I'm always way behind in updating this thing... sorry. There remains a dearth of interesting personal info to share, and I remain in an introspective mode where I don't particularly feel like sharing every thought that passes through my head. ;) But this is a case where a lack of venting and complaining on my part means things are going relatively smoothly. Most of my neurological symptoms from earlier this fall have improved; I still have occasional back pain and muscle spasms, but nothing scary like before. My mother is also doing well, though her need to constantly throw large parties at the house is driving me crazy.
( Holiday Blues and Strategies for Combating Them )I am really excited about the gift I'm planning for my online friends and fellow Hugo fans, which I'm working on almost daily. It'll be a multi-media gift, but I can't say more about it just yet. ;) It's a lot more work than I expected, but hopefully it'll all be worth it in the end. I swear, the Hugo fandom has forced me to learn how to do all sorts of crazy things that never would have occurred to me before. One element of the gift concerns a stable method of sharing all the virtual/online articles I've accumulated over the years. You can see an experimental preview over at my Flickr account, but that's all you'll get before Christmas. I'm not sure if I'll revive my dormant Else Harbeau LJ here (it was my first attempt at sharing online material, but the direct copy/paste methodology was too glitchy, and if any articles were removed from their original sites, they'd disappear here too.) Since I pay for Flickr and my new sharing method allows me to post facsimilies of the articles in their original, online form, I might just stay with maintaining that as my primary Hugo Weaving archive and expand its parameters. I'd love to hear feedback on this, but bear in mind it's still very much a work in progress, and the best is yet to come. Also, this is only a small part of my planned gift.
Speaking of early presents, I followed my custom of using a slightly risque Hugo pic for the December calendar page, and it would be wrong of me to withhold it any longer...
( Hugo Weaving December Page )Of course, that's the climactic image from the 1998 Aussies Without Cossies event... well, for those of us without access to certain un-graped negatives. That's one Hugo Weaving Holy Grail item I've yet to uncover. Some others... we'll you'll have to wait and see. ;)
 | “The turkey? That juicy, delicious bird? Why, I have no idea.”
NAME: Winston
HOBBY: Selecting “bill me later” on all magazine subscriptions, but never paying |
Hugo is currently between shooting phases on his current film Oranges and Sunshine, costarring Emily Watson as the famed English social worker
Margaret Humphreys, who uncovered a scandalous transportation scheme which divided thousands of poor English families. David Wenham also costars. I have been able to confirm that Hugo was in Nottingham as part of the English shoot. I still have no info on what character he might play, but this suggests he is either playing Humphreys' husband or another English character. The filming resumes in Adelaide in a couple of weeks, which will allow Hugo to attend the Voiceless Grant Awards on December 7, and possibly the AFI Awards on the 19th, though given that the fix seems in to give Samson and Delilah everything it's up for, I couldn't blame him for skipping it. I recently read a Hugo interview from last year in which he accurately predicted what a banner year this would be for Australian cinema. I just wish that the awards weren't so bound up in condescending notions of political correctness. I've gone on about this subject before, so I'll spare you... but there are at least five films which look much more AFI-worthy than Samson and Delilah. I will be showing all of the major contenders in the Screening Room with John when they're out on DVD, and we'll uncover who's really worthy. ;) Anyhow, for tidbits on Oranges and Sunshine's English filming and early publicity, read
Variety,
The Australian,
Cineuropa,
Encore,
Matlock Today,
Icon's website, and
Adelaide Crew. For an article on the recent apology by Australia and Britain's prime ministers for the historical incident the film is based on, see this
AP/AOL News piece.
Hugo is also already doing promotional interviews for The Wolfman, which comes out in February (dates vary based on where in the world you live.. the US release date in February 12. Sorry I can't share any of these pieces with you yet, though I've exchanged pleasantries with some of the excited interviewers. ;) The magazines will probably be out in January, and I'll be sure to hunt them down for you. Meanwhile, a lot of you have probably seen the plethora of new posters for the film. I remain skeptical of Universal's nervous marketing strategy... they seem to respond to any negative review of their posters by flinging half a dozen new ones at the unsuspecting public. All of the posters are serviceable, not brilliant in my estimation. By far my favorite remains the
French poster I shared here in my previous entry. To show you just how many different posters there are already, I'll add them here under a cut... some are designed for different regions of the world, but the internet makes such niche marketing universal. Anyhow, has anyone ever decided to abruptly see a film just because they liked the poster at the theatre? Maybe I spend too much time studying the entertainment media. I know about most films many months before they're released, so the poster would be too late to help or hurt things. ;) That said, I adored the four posters for V for Vendetta... a unique example of creative marketing helping a misunderstood film get just that extra bit of attention.
Here are the mangy lycanthropic hordes... surely you'll find one or two you like. ;)
( It's An Army of Werewolves! )As far as official news of the film The Wolfman goes, Universal continues to worry eager fans with continued tinkering on a film that should really have been finished long ago. Hugo got bothered enough to suggest the studio should "get their shit together" and get the film released... and that was before Universal replaced Danny Elfman's score, added CG elements because they were nervous about the werewolf's running gait (seriously!) and abruptly hired two new editors to completely recut the thing last month. Supposedly none of this will delay the film further, but it's cause for concern. I don't frankly give a damn whether the wolf is bipedal or four-legged,how much CG is used in transformation sequences,or whether the music carefully adheres to "the beat of the action". If the script is compelling and characters intriguing, none of that will matter. If they aren't, none of that will help. The F/X will look old approximately six months after the film is released no matter how much money is thrown at them. What will endure are good storytelling and performances. I have confidence in this cast, but have no clue about anything else. So we'll keep our fingers crossed. Hugo's been very generous in helping promote the thing, even giving interviews to small-niche publications which might be really helpful in generating the right word of mouth. Universal owes him--and us--a film worth all the effort.
I don't have a ton of Wolfman material... it's easier to share the posters than reroute everyone to their sites of origin, which rarely add much but the blogger's personal opinion and Universal's official blurb about the plot. And I've avoided sites repeating dire speculation about what Universal's dithering might mean, though I've added my own abbreviated misgivings about that. There was an interesting little piece in
The Geek Files about the historical inspiration for Hugo's character, Frederick Aberline, and some giddily creative anticipation at
Villains and Heroes . If you want to read Hugo's only interview for the film posted thusfar (or read it again), go to
Fangoria.com .
I don't want to create the impression that my Thanksgiving was a total downer, BTW... I hosted some very interesting guests which I took photos of... it's not what you'd expect, but I got to stuff some birds despite sticking to my vegetarian diet. I'll add the pics here tomorrow. ;)
Hugo Weaving poses for Andy Baker, August 2005 | Hugo Weaving Quote of the Day:
"[The Australian film industry] is in a state a flux. The Film Finance Corporation [of Australia] has obviously been defunct and is now a completely new organization, the AFC is no longer... so it's going through a big structural change. I have a feeling next year might be a fantastic year for Australian film. I think there's been a lot of really interesting films...massive budget films made, and also some really interesting smaller pieces as well, so very, very varied film within this country, and outside this country by Australians."
--ABC Radio interview, November 2008 |
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