Glee Goeth Before the Fall: Michael Sheen (right) and Timothy Spall celebrate for the camera in THE DAMNED UNITED

To be clear, I’ve got nothing against sports films that exult in good sportsmanship and the triumph of the underdog and the sheer joy of human competition. THE NATURAL? Sure. BAD NEWS BEARS? No prob. THE MIGHTY DUCKS? Let’s not go crazy, now.

But to be honest, I’m more favorably inclined towards films like THE DAMNED UNITED, films that scrape past the noble veneer of sports, films that explore how the spirit that buoys the rise of underdogs could also, possibly, sink ‘em. The film, written by Peter Morgan (THE QUEEN, FROST/NIXON), is based on a novel by David Peace, a fictionalized recounting of the curious ascendancy and rapid fall of Brian Clough (Michael Sheen), a soccer manager who in the ’70’s drove the ragtag Derby County club to a championship and then, given a chance to manage the formidable Leeds United, a team formerly run by his arch rival Don Revie (Colm Meaney), lasted all of forty-four days. If you remember Morgan’s way with the ambition, ego, and desperation of powerful people and those who aspire to be, you know that this will be a brisk, sometimes funny, sometimes brutal trip.

In case you didn’t recall, Sheen was Tony Baxter in THE QUEEN and David Frost in FROST/NIXON — he’s sort of become Morgan’s one-man stock company. Throw in Meaney and Spall, and add Jim Broadbent as the owner of Derby County, and you’ve got a cast that’d be worth seeing even if they just spent ninety minutes mopping floors. I’d even pay the Fandango ticket fee for that.

Tom Hooper spent a few minutes with us, helping to sort out fact from fiction in this story, and drawing some interesting parallels between Brian Clough’s management style and the life of a director wrangling the cream of Britain’s acting talent. Click on the player above to hear the interview.

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Official Site [UK]

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Meanwhile, On This Side of the Pond

The Whale Hunters Hunted: Sea Shepherd challenges a Japanese whaling vessel

Paul Watson dropped out of Greenpeace because he felt they weren’t doing enough to protect whales from fleets hunting in supposedly protected seas. He founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and over the years has become the bane of whalers — Japanese in particular — by employing confrontational tactics that start at stink bombs (did somebody have a bad experience in high school?), run through fouling props, and don’ t rule out rammings, if necessary. Are they controversial? Well, Greenpeace doesn’t like dealing with them. Does it make for a riveting documentary? Yup, no question.

In AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, director Dan Stone (exec producer of Animal Planet’s WHALE WARS, which also focuses on Sea Shepherd) follows Watson and forty-six volunteers as they track down and challenge a fleet of Japanese whalers hunting in the protected waters of the Antarctic — the “edge of the world” mentioned in the title. With two ships, one built to handle the treacherous, icy waters but not capable of much speed, the other fast enough but lacking the ruggedness; a bunch of amateurs for a crew; and tracking equipment that’s largely a notch up from a game of Marco Polo, Watson dares to take on ships larger and more formidable, and Stone has found the material for a dramatic, beautifully photographed demonstration of how some people are willing to risk their lives to protect an endangered species.

I was able to talk to Stone and his cinematographer, James Joyner. They were willing to clue me in on why one shouldn’t necessarily trust a Japanese vessel labeled “Research,” and how there are few safe ports in the world for those who would entertain extreme measures to come to the aid of the dwindling whale population.

Click on the player above to hear the interview.

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www.whalecampaign.com

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Sea Shepherd on TV

Nia Vardalos (center), flanked by Rachel Dratch and Harland Williams and a buncha other folk in MY LIFE IN RUINS

Okay, let’s not kid ourselves, this weekend THE HANGOVER will be the comedy that moviegoers are lining up to see (and I can’t blame them — the thing is damn funny). But there’s another comedy opening this weekend: MY LIFE IN RUINS, starring Nia Vardalos as an ex-pat American turned Greek tour guide, Richard Dreyfuss as the tourist who guides her to reembracing life, and a tour busfull of recognizable types, including doofy Americans (Harland Williams and Rachel Dratch), stuffy Brits (Ian Ogilvy and Caroline Goodall), and raucous Aussies (Simon Gleeson and Natalie O’Donnell). But keep your eye out for Sheila Bernette as the adorably larcenous Dorcas — the Ealing Studios would be proud of her.

Director Donald Petrie — with prior credits that include MYSTIC PIZZA, MISS CONGENIALITY, and HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS — is no stranger to framing comedy from a woman’s perspective, so he’s on familiar terrain here, even if that terrain includes the Parthenon. Here’s my interview with Petrie.

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www.foxsearchlight.com/mylifeinruins

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Yup, Had to Go There

Tom (Scott Speedman), Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian) and Simon (Devon Bostick) in ADORATION

Okay, no fooling, I really like Atom Egoyan’s work. He got me at THE SWEET HEREAFTER, then I backtracked to EXOTICA and followed up with FELICIA’S JOURNEY, and found them all rewarding experiences. (WHERE THE TRUTH LIES didn’t quite do it for me, but hey, an occasional miss is only to be expected.) Something about his still, precise way of telling a story, his use of ritual to unveil a character’s motives, his empathy for humanity in all its desperation and folly, makes him the rare filmmaker that engages both the heart and the brain.

ADORATION continues the trend. Telling the tale of a teenager (Devon Bostick) who creates an elaborate fiction about his dead parents, then unveiling how that story spins out of control once it reaches the Internet to affect his adoptive uncle (Scott Speedman) and the drama teacher (Arsinee Khanjian) who encouraged the boy despite knowing about the story’s falsehood, Egoyan looks into the mechanisms of grief  with grace and subtlety, and adds in inquests into such present-day concerns as religious xenophobia and the obscuring power of the World Wide Web, just so thing’s won’t be too easy for anyone involved.

I’ve enjoyed doing all the interviews I’ve put up here, but getting a chance to talk with Egoyan was something special. Enjoy!

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www.sonyclassics.com/adoration

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