Wednesday, July 9, 2008 East Central Illinois

10th Annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival 2008

British actors feel right at home at C-U fest

By: Melissa Merli
Friday, April 25, 2008

British actor Timothy Spall finds the Illini Union intriguing. That's where he and his wife, Shane, and other guests of Roger Ebert's Film Festival are staying.

"My wife and I, we both feel about 195 because the average age around there is 19," he said. "We feel like we're from 'Jurassic Park.'"

Nevertheless, Spall said at the Ebertfest reception on Wednesday night at the University of Illinois president's home that he enjoys travel.

"The thing about being a Brit is that in America, everywhere you go you vaguely recognize because of growing up with the movies and telly. We share a lot in common, in intents, architecture, feelings. We're close cousins. It's always like being in a bit of a dream, partly due to jet lag."

Ebert's presence

Roger Ebert, recovering from a hip fracture in Chicago, might not have shown up in person at Ebertfest at Champaign's Virginia Theatre on opening night. But he did show up, 12 years younger, on the screen.

After the showing of "Hamlet," a video clip of "Siskel and Ebert at the Movies" was shown. In it, the two critics discuss the 1996 film.

Ebert noted that the running time of "Hamlet" is one minute shorter than the longest-ever Hollywood production: "Cleopatra."

"Congratulations, you made it through 'Hamlet,'" Ed Tracy told the Virginia audience after the screening, in 70mm. Tracy, executive producer of programs at the Pritzker Military Library, a major sponsor of Ebertfest, moderated the post-screening onstage discussion, which featured David Bordwell, a film scholar at the University of Wisconsin, and Spall and British actor Rufus Sewell, who has a bit part in "Hamlet," which is heavy on minor roles for major actors.

"I did all my filming in one day, three weeks before shooting officially started," Sewell said. "It was an afternoon's work for me."

The handsome actor said the challenge for him was to be "imaginatively in the story," as he was not reacting to other actors in his scenes.

"I felt I was in an advanced Duran Duran video," he quipped.

Robin Williams also shot his scenes alone, after arriving in England from San Francisco on his private jet, according to Sewell.

"Hamlet" director and star Kenneth Branagh, a lover of Shakespeare who has made five film adaptations of the playwright's work, did not cut one line from the original "Hamlet." Most film and stage directors including Orson Welles have compressed the play.

"The bit parts make you realize the language is worth rejoicing in," Spall said. "It's about paying homage to the language."

Much of the epic movie was shot at Blenheim Castle, a sprawling late 19th-century castle built of sandstone in Oxfordshire. Spall said some of the massive dolly shots lasted six to seven minutes. As Branagh aimed for fluidity, he had cast members rehearse scenes for up to seven hours before turning the camera on.

Homage to Branagh, Leigh

Spall and Sewell had nothing but praise for Branagh, saying he is straightforward, totally egalitarian and flattering toward his actors, particularly when he asks them to play a role in one of his films.

Asking Sewell to portray Fortinbras in "Hamlet," Branagh told him: "I'll put you on a bloody big horse. I'll put you in armor. You'll look like a god, and I'll put you in a trailer with Jack Lemmon," Sewell related.

"It was one of the most amazing things, being there with Jack Lemmon, Julie Christie, Charlton Heston." he said. "I would have stood there in the background with cookies."

Spall said Branagh is "utterly and deeply informed" about his projects, knows exactly what he wants and is "one of the best man managers you'll ever meet."

"He gets this amazing sense of collaboration," Spall said.

Spall also praised British director Mike Leigh, with whom he's worked on six films over the last three decades.

"Mike Leigh and I have similar taste. We love to try to get into the soul of the ordinary. We like to pay homage and to try to understand the poetry inside ordinariness and to make ordinariness extraordinary."

Ace emcee

After coming onstage to begin the Thursday session of the five-day Ebertfest, Chaz Ebert walked up and down the stage, waving to people in the balcony and on the far side of the podium.

"Roger told me to treat each day as if it's a new day and to welcome each audience as if it's a new audience," she explained. "If you see him or send him an e-mail, tell him that."

She said her husband was doing better Thursday and considering writing a blog. "This year, he wants to put his health first," she said. "He'll do everything he and his doctors think are in his best interest so he can heal quicker and plan Ebertfest for next year."

That elicited applause and cheers.

She then plugged director-writer-actor Hadjii's new book, "Don't Let My Mama Read This: A Southern-Fried Memoir," available in the east lobby of the Virginia along with books by Ebert and Ebertfest souvenirs.

"It is a little raw, but it is so funny," she said.

Hadjii, a frequent Ebertfest guest, will sign copies of the book, published by Broadway Books, a division of Random House, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the General Lounge of the Illini Union, 1401 Green St., U.

Chaz Ebert also announced that the first four people who waited in line to buy individual tickets to Ebertfest earlier this month would receive books written and autographed by her husband. It was his idea.

"They were out before 7 a.m. on a 30-degree day," she said.

Analog in digital age

It's strange to see film cameras in this digital age. But on Thursday, you saw just that outside the Virginia Theatre. There Brian Rose, a new-media graduate student from Southern Illinois University, was taking photographs with not one but three 35mm Pentax film cameras.

All three were loaded with black-and-white film, on a platform tripod and covered by a dark cloth. Each lens was covered by a filter – red, green or blue. Two silvered mirrors were set up between the cameras.

Rose explained that the mirrors help him capture people in motion and act as beam splitters that break up the light in multiple directions. He said the setup mimics the Technicolor process.

"I like the old processes," he said. "I'm a big fan of Technicolor, and with this, I'm able to mess around with it a little bit. It's a real nightmare to work with, but the colors are amazing."

The 23-year-old student attended Ebertfest last year and had a great time so he decided to return, this time with his tri-camera setup. If his photographs turn out well, he will incorporate them into a school project and post them at a photo-sharing Internet site.

Rufus Sewell, revisited

British actor Rufus Sewell was back at the Virginia Theatre on Thursday after staying up until after 1 a.m. that day to discuss festival opener "Hamlet" with the audience.

He said he finds Ebertfest amazing, mainly because the audience stayed for the four-hour screening and discussion.

"That is unknown. The people here are incredibly enthusiastic, very generous and really love film. It's quite energizing for me. It was just a fillip, quite a buzz."

Asked if he sat through "Hamlet," in which he plays Fortinbras. Sewell replied, "You'll never know ... I've seen it before, anyway. I watched it a little more than I thought I would. It holds up very well. Its coherent. For clarity and following the story, it's extraordinary, especially for a four-hour film."

As for his current projects, Sewell is about to start a television series he can't yet talk about and recently appeared on Broadway in Tom Stoppard's new play, "Rock 'n' Roll." He got good reviews, with Ben Brantley of The New York Times writing, "Rufus Sewell's performance is that rare thing in acting, in which you see all the layers of a single life."

Sewell said he has no idea how he got into the profession. "All my attempts to do other things were unsuccessful," he said.

News-Gazette staff writer Melissa Merli can be reached at 351-5367 or mmerli@news-gazette.com.

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