Interview articles from June 2003

Interview archives from June 2003

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... REAL APPEAL Dear Interview, It's past 2 A.M., and I'm listening to dear ol' Madonna Ciccone's True Blue, my "letter soundtrack' for today and the perfect theme song for your April [2003] issue! As I scavenged through the magazine, I...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 1, 2003... In a letter from Nancy Ramos, which ran on the May 2003 Letters page, a Copy Department misreading of the original handwritten version of the letter led to the erroneous statement that Ms. Ramos' 10-year-old son is HIV-positive--in fact, he is...

Blue skies ahead: for fall...fashion's new up side. (Fashion Forecast).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... It used to be that a case of the blues was a downer in any language, but at the collections for fall and winter 2003 (shown back in March) it became almost impossible not to feel things were looking lighter and brighter, as sky-blue-hued bags...

Sarah Paulson: the return of the good old-fashioned girlfriend. (Movie Breakout).(Down With Love)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Recalling her audition for the new farce Down With Love, a throwback to the Rock Hudson-Doris Day comedies of the late 1950s and early '60s, Sarah Paulson says, "I didn't think I had a chance. There was no way an unknown should have gotten it."...

Clayton Watson: to this actor, acting and surfing are not so different. (Movies--Ones to Watch).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Clayton Watson has just returned to Sydney from a surfing holiday and is preparing to join the ever-expanding Down Under hot list in Hollywood--and knowing how to ride a big wave will certainly help. The 25-year-old is set to appear in two of...

Cillian Murphy: the lad who ditched law books for movie scripts. (Movies--Ones to Watch).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Cillian Murphy, 27, was studying law in Cork, Ireland, when in 1996, he landed a lead in a local play called Disco Pigs, about two anarchic teenagers. Soon his law books were gathering dust. "My family was less than pleased," he admits. "But...

Seth Green: a prince among goofballs. (Comedy Corner).(Interview)
June 1, 2003... Every great comedy needs its fool, which may explain why Seth Green is rarely in want of work. But this 29-year-aid is nobody's foal. Whip-smart and hubris-free, he's a hardworking pro with a career that spans 22 years and more than 30 movies....

The Italian job. (Preview).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... (Paramount) Directed by F. Gary Gray A remake of the 1969 British caper, master thief Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) pulls off a gold bullion heist by orchestrating the biggest traffic jam in Los Angeles history. With Charlize Theron....

Finding nemo. (Preview).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... (Disney) Directed by Andrew Stanton The marketing folks at Disney have been trumpeting this story of a deepwater dad's search for his Clown Fish son--in waters from the Great Barrier Reef to a fishbowl--as the remedy for those to whom...

Bruce Almighty. (Preview).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... (Universal) Directed by Tom Shadyac Finally, Jim Carrey stops trying to prove he's a dramatic actor and gets back to what he does best--comedy. Almighty is a be-happy-with-what-you've-got parable about a reporter (Carrey) who...

2 fast 2 furious. (Preview).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... (Universal) Directed by John Singleton "Where's the fuel?" might be the question on moviegoers' minds during this Vin Diesel--less sequel to the 2001 blockbuster. With beefcake Paul Walker left holding the wheel, expect plenty of fast...

When Harry met Lloyd: Dumb and Dumberer. (Preview).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... (New Line) Directed by Tray Miller Stupid is as stupid does, and no one is more agreeably dim-witted than Harry and Lloyd, except perhaps those who sit up at night dreaming of making Dumb and Dumber (1994) prequels. This one's for...

Whale rider. (Review).(Movie Review)
June 1, 2003... (NewMarket) Directed by Niki Caro A village of depressed New Zealand Maori looks to its sons for a leader; a young girl who is to be the tribesfolks' deliverer is hidden from their gaze by ancient prejudices. Caro's Whale Rider swept...

Sweet sixteen.(Movie Review)
June 1, 2003... (Lions Gate) Directed by Ken Loach Martin Compston excells as a doughty youth who, desperate to provide for his jailed junkie mom, cuts in on her boyfriend's heroin trade and gets involved with vicious gangsters. Unsentimental and...

The Heart of Me. .(Movie Review)
June 1, 2003... (ThinkFilm) Directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan Starring Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, 2001) and Helena Bonham Carter, this melodrama begins and ends with a death, with loads of tragedy in the middle. Bettany is a man caught between two...

Together. .(Movie Review)
June 1, 2003... (UA) Directed by Chen Kaige When a 13-year-old violin prodigy and his father leave the countryside for Beijing, the stage is set for a commentary on fame and fortune. But while the film has its moments, its sentimentality is...

Yerba Buena: they've got tongues wagging, toes tapping, and booties shakin'. (This Month's Word-of-Mouth Band).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... With the release of their debut album, President Alien (Razor & Tie), and their spirited summer shows, New York's Yerba Buena are building on their already robust following. Founded by influential Venezuelan-born producer Andres Levin, the...

Gavin Degraw: this year he entertained grammy winners. Next year he could be one of them. (Music Heat).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Ever since Olive Davis introduced him at his annual pre-Grammy party this year (an honor previously given to an unknown Alicia Keys), singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw has been one busy 26-year-old. Despite recently hopping from New York to Los...

Fannypack: how a DJ to be and two mallrats became a catchy, hilarious girl group. (Music Scoop).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... It started simply enough. Two DJ-type guys named Fancy and Big Black Matt thought it would be fun to form a hip-hop group. They had the chops and connections, but there was one problem: They wanted to form a girl group. Luckily, the pair...

The Sounds. (Sound Advice).(Living in America )(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Living in America (Scratchie/New Line) Haven't heard enough of the synth-pop '80s from all those campy TV-sold compilations? Check out Sweden's time-frozen Sounds, whose Blondie-blonde front-fox Maja Ivarsson retrobubbles like Kim Wilde...

Radiohead. (Sound Advice).(Hall to the Thief )(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Hall to the Thief (Capitol) On the latest Radiohead effort, oddball anti--power ballads rub up against the Jeff Buckley expansiveness--meets--Aphex Twin dissonance we've come to love since 2000's abstract masterpiece Kid A. Jagged...

Annie Lennox. (Sound Advice).(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Bare (J Records) Lennox's first album of original songs in eight years comes on the heels of her divorce, so the themes it explores--sorrow, anger, regret--are no surprise. (Nor is the layered, wall-of-synth Euro-soul sound she first...

Electric six. (Sound Advice).(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Fire (XL/The Beggars Group) Front man Dick Valentine works a manic Tom Jones pose on this pulsating slab of garage rock, riding high on the fumes of disco. Musically, it's a potent combination, but like most shtick, Valentine's is great...

Verbena. (Sound Advice).(La Musica Negra )(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... La Musica Negra (Capitol) Nevermind the Vines: Verbena's third disc flaunts a total command of the rock form and rivals Kurt Cobain at his peak. Soul-sellingly-good rifts. Swaggering rhythms. Salvational lyrics ("Take your friends made of...

Spacek. (Sound Advice).(Vintage Hi-Tech)(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Vintage Hi-Tech (!K7) This disc from English trio Spacek sums up the strengths and weaknesses of the down-tempo chill-out genre. It's sexy, elegant wallpaper music that never threatens to take over a room; but before long it sounds so...

Jesse Harris and the ferdinandos. (Sound Advice).(The Secret Sun)(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... The Secret Sun (Blue Thumb) Jesse Harris is the guy who supplied five of the best songs on Norah Jones' debut, including the Grammy-winning "Don't Know Why." The anachronistic troubadour's first major-label release is charming, sad,...

Lil' Mo. (Sound Advice).(Meet the Girl Next Door )(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Meet the Girl Next Door (Elektra) Lil' Mo's vocals contain the necessary Houstonesque emoting--the problem is, she churns out bland, saccharine songs like "1st Time." Even the Missy Elliott--produced "Doin' Me Wrong" can't save this...

The Isley Brothers. (Sound Advice).(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Body Kiss (DreamWorks) Though the Isley Brothers have been around approximately forever, maestros Ernie and Ronald Isley (and his alter ego Mr. Biggs) remain relevant. Classical percussive cadences mingle with soulful seductions, stripping...

Tipper. (Sound Advice).(Surrounded )(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Surrounded (MyUtopia) Imagine the haunting melodies of Pink Floyd, the hypnotic electronics of Brian Eno, the abstract atmosphere of Massive Attack. Mix them up-and you've got Tipper, architect of 2003's first down-tempo masterpiece....

Do-Ho Suh: light work, weighty ideas. (Gallery Buzz).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The Korean artist Do-Ho Suh has established an international reputation in the last few years, with exhibitions in New York, London, and Tokyo; he also represented South Korea at the 2001 Venice Biennale. How appropriate, then, that what has...

Are you red-y? To come...to be red lipped or red coiffed is to be red hot. (Look of the Month).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... If you want the scoop on the beauty trend for this fall, here's a hint: Start seeing red. The gorgeous red-headed Tilda Swinton not only walked the runways in the Viktor & Rolf show, but she was also the inspiration for all the other models in...

Troy Garity: the son of Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, this actor is making a name for himself. (TV Tip).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... On a recent trip to Afghanistan, Troy Garity was surprised to be recognized as Isaac Rosenberg, the brooding white boy in last year's comedy Barbershop. The son of actress Jane Fonda and California State Senator and "Chicago Eight" member Tom...

Capturing the Friedmans: father knows best--it's not. (This Month's Must-See Documentary).(Interview)
June 1, 2003... In an extraordinary new film punctuated with haunting home movies, a family--husband and wife Arnold and Elaine Friedman and their sons David, Seth, and Jesse--falls to pieces while truth and justice are anything but black and white. It is a...

Days between stations: a new collection plucks Lora Logic, a punk-rock gem, from the wings of time and places her front and center. (Music Column).
June 1, 2003... Lora Logic isn't an obvious collect-and-reissue candidate. As part of the experimental post-punk London scene from 1978 to 1982, her one-woman, four-man combo, Essential Logic, never had the profile of Gang of Four, the Raincoats, or the...

Shots in the dark: the relationship between mothers and sons has been fueling the arts for eons. Here are two new movies that prove the tank is far from empty. (Movie Column).(Respiro and Sweet Sixteen)
June 1, 2003... "Oedipus, Schmoedipus, what does it matter so long as the boy loves his mother?" goes the old Jewish joke that triggered Dennis Potter's Schmoedipus. That 1974 BBC play is about a housewife (Anna Cropper) who fantasizes her long-lost...

All the dish: candlelight? Foie gras? Chocolate truffles?--Must be a NYC diner. (Food Column).(Restaurant Review)
June 1, 2003... Even before "French food" became a loaded phrase in parts of the country, such all-American, nostalgia-steeped items as pot pies, deviled eggs, and iceberg wedges had been creeping onto some of the city's most stylish menus. So it was only a...

Letter from the Editor.(Editorial)
June 1, 2003... "It was fun to go to work every day using the techniques and costumes of old Hollywood," recalls Renee Zellweger in a story that begins on page 64 of this issue. It's just one of many reflections she makes as she talks to musician Pete Yorn...

Renee Zellweger.(Interview)
June 1, 2003... THE UNKNOWN WHO ONCE HAD MOVIEGOERS SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS SAYING "WHO?" IS NOW HEARING HERSELF COMPARED TO THE LIKES OF DE NIRO AND MONROE. BUT ZELLWEGER'S NOTHING IF NOT HER OWN WOMAN. SINGER-SONGWRITER PETE YORN FINDS OUT MORE As the...

Fleetwood Mac.(Interview)
June 1, 2003... WHEN LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM'S LATEST SOLO ALBUM FAILED TO TAKE FLIGHT, THERE WAS ALWAYS THE OBVIOUS--GET OVER THE PERSONAL PLOT TWISTS, IGNORE THE SOAP OPERA HISTORY, AND CALL MICK, CALL JOHN, DEFINITELY CALL STEVIE. THERE MIGHT BE ENOUGH FLEETWOOD...

From Russia with pop: these artists' nonstop social commentary is bound for this summer's Venice Biennale.
June 1, 2003... In 1985, 40 years after the end of WWII, I visited an art school in Moscow. Even though the war had been over decades before most of the students were born, the halls bristled with heroic battle scenes and grim shrapnel from hand-grenade...

Harrison Ford.(Interview)
June 1, 2003... HE'S PLAYED EVERYTHING FROM A SPACE-AGE SWASHBUCKLER IN STAR WARS TO A WHIP-CRACKING TREASURE HUNTER IN THE INDIANA JONES FILMS, AND AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT IN AIR FORCE ONE-BUT IN REAL LIFE, HE'S AS MYSTERIOUS, COOL, AND HIP AS BIG-TIME MOVIE...

Splendor in the grass. (Jewel Garden).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... This summer sees a convergence of tradition, trend, and nature in the hands of some jewelry designers that has reintroduced the insect world--including bugs, beatles, butterflies, and other small wonders--as an accessory concept to a generation...

Stephan Jenkins.(Interview)
June 1, 2003... IF YOU BELIEVE THE NOISE, STEPHAN JENKINS WAS THE INDUSTRY'S ANSWER TO A ROCK 'N' ROLL STEREOTYPE--THE PRETTY-BOY LEAD SINGER OF A CHART. TOPPING BAND. IN TRUTH, THE NAYSAYERS, INDUSTRY TYPES, AND MEDIA WERE OFF FOR ONE SIMPLE REASON: JENKINS...