From: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org (good-noise-digest) To: good-noise-digest@smoe.org Subject: good-noise-digest V5 #39 Reply-To: good-noise@smoe.org Sender: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk good-noise-digest Thursday, April 4 2002 Volume 05 : Number 039 Today's Subjects: ----------------- A Mighty Wind [" Gina" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 23:08:43 -0600 From: " Gina" Subject: A Mighty Wind I'm sorry I can't remember which mailing list we discussed "Best in = Show" and "Waiting for Guffman" on. So, it's going out to three of = them. This new movie, "A Mighty Wind" should be a hoot! Print this page Tuesday, April 2, 2002 Now Adjusting Rabbit Ears Television: Eugene Levy plays an ex-hotshot producer on 'Greg the = Bunny.' Meanwhile, he's preparing for another mock documentary. By PAUL BROWNFIELD, Times Staff Writer Eugene Levy was surprised when it seemed he had to audition for the = part of Gil Bender, the children's television show producer he plays on = the new Fox comedy "Greg the Bunny."=20 On "SCTV," the legendary Canadian sketch comedy series that ran in = syndication and on NBC from 1977 to 1983, Levy had played characters = ranging from Bobby Bittman, the bombastic stand-up comic, to Earl = Camembert, the slightly befuddled local news anchor in the town of = Melonville. With writer-performer Christopher Guest, he had collaborated = on two quintessential mock documentaries, "Waiting for Guffman" and = "Best in Show."=20 "I thought, well, listen, if I have to read for this, I may as well = pack it in," Levy said recently, over breakfast in Brentwood.=20 It didn't help that he'd gone to the "Greg the Bunny" meeting in = pain, having just been released from the hospital for treatment of a = herniated disc. Levy ultimately didn't have to read for the part, but he = did improvise bits of Bender, whom he sees as a former big-shot producer = from the '70s, "when comedy was loud," now relegated to working on a = kids show.=20 "The ideal thing would be to have the show hit reasonably well, so = that Fox kind of says they like the show, and everybody takes a deep = breath and relaxes, and allows the show to keep creeping into an area = that's more daring," he said.=20 Levy's daring happens in fits and starts--movie and TV roles that = don't necessarily exploit his gifts, interspersed with the kind of work = the 55-year-old writer-performer was doing back in the Toronto and = Edmonton days on "SCTV."=20 His family home is in Toronto, but Levy also has a place in L.A., = where he is currently entrenched in guitar lessons--preparation for his = next movie project with Guest, called "A Mighty Wind."=20 The film, which is scheduled to begin shooting in May, will root = around in the earnest subculture of aging folk musicians, in the same = way "Guffman" spoofed local theater and "Best in Show" lampooned the = Westminster Dog Show.=20 In this one, a talent manager's death prompts his acts to hold a = reunion/tribute concert (the title is based on a folk anthem written for = the movie). Already, it is clear, Levy and Guest are having fun coming = up with their own kind of folk oral history.=20 "You look at the groups and you say, 'OK, now how did this group = form?'" Levy said of the back stories he and Guest are inventing. "These = guys played with this other group, they picked up these two guys who = used to be known as the Troubadours, and then they picked up another guy = out there--you know, Ramblin' Sandy Pitnick--and they hooked up and = formed this group, and then they joined this group, and together they = formed the Main Street Singers."=20 The sincerity with which folk musicians approach their craft became = a memorable joke in the movie "Animal House," where John Belushi happens = upon a folk singer strumming a heartfelt tune on the stairs of his frat = house. Belushi listens for a few beats, then grabs the guy's guitar and = smashes it against the wall.=20 * * * Working on Third Film With Christopher Guest=20 "What he hit on in 'Animal House' is kind of what we're trying to = tap into, which is there's kind of a pomposity and a little bit of an = arrogance about folk music and folk artists, some of them," Levy said. = "You find there's not a lot of people with a great sense of humor about = themselves and about their work. They're just too intense, they're = trying to get out the message."=20 As with the two previous films, character-building is much more = essential to what the movie becomes than scripted dialogue.=20 "Most of the work that we do is put into character and character = backgrounds that usually don't end up in the final thing," Levy said.=20 Though this is Levy's third film with Guest, the two have not been = working together all that long. According to Levy, Guest called him in = Toronto, out of the blue, in 1995, saying he wanted to collaborate on a = film idea--what was to become "Guffman." The two weren't friends; in = fact, Levy said, they'd only worked together previously on a 1980s Billy = Crystal special, "Don't Get Me Started."=20 "He's not the easiest guy to get to know," Levy said of Guest. = "He's kind of standoffish, or he appeared to me to be a little = standoffish and not overly warm. When you come to know the man, you know = that nothing has changed--no, this is just his way. But he's a very = warm, funny person."=20 What has changed, Levy said, is the eagerness with which Castle = Rock Entertainment, the studio behind their films, has approached their = work. For "Guffman"--released in 1996 and made on a budget of $4 = million--he and Guest had to pitch the idea first, write a treatment, = rewrite a treatment and then produce a script. The film was a cult = success and opened the market a bit for "Best in Show," which received a = wider release.=20 On their latest project, Levy said, producers didn't much hesitate. = "They heard the idea and said, 'When do you want to shoot it?'"=20 Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times=20 [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type image/gif which had a name of printer_icon.gif] [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type image/gif which had a name of blank.gif] ------------------------------ End of good-noise-digest V5 #39 *******************************