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DABIS CHERIEN - AMREEKA
In her debut feature, Cherien Dabis takes a family experience and makes it into
a universal story that breaks down the stereotypical view of Arab Americans and
uses humour to say something meaningful; when casting the central character, she
was looking for the quality of optimism, she tells Andrew L. Urban.
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DALE, DARREN - THE TALL MAN
Gut wrenching, emotionally draining and demanding, making the documentary about Cameron Doomadgee’s death was also rewarding, the film’s producer, Darren Dale tells Andrew L. Urban.
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DAMON, MATT – THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
The Hollywood shine has not affected Matt Damon, whose family keeps him grounded
even as his career reaches yet another level with The Bourne Supremacy; but he
has to remember his mother’s admonitions about screen violence, he tells Andrew
L. Urban.
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DAMON, MATT: LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE
The kid-like quality that makes Matt Damon so endearing is still in healthy
abundance as he confesses his own surprise at making it to the top of the pecking order,
while recognising that he has a cool and exciting life, as he admits to Jenny Cooney
Carrillo.
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DAMON, MATT: THE BOURNE IDENTITY
What was Matt Damon’s greatest fear when taking on the role of an action hero in The Bourne Identity, a Bourne-again spy thriller? It wasn’t the stunts for which he spent five months in training, he explains on a Sydney visit to promote the film. Andrew L. Urban reports.
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DAMON, MATT: THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY
To retain contact with ordinary people, Matt Damon has a
car with tinted windows so he can watch people without being
stared at, he confides to MARY COLBERT while in Berlin to promote
his latest film, The Talented Mr Ripley.
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DARCY-SMITH, KIERAN & PRICE, FELICITY – WISH YOU WERE HERE
A Danish ghost (nothing to do with Hamlet) hovers around the filmmakers as they create Wish You Were Here, set in Sydney and Cambodia. But ironically, it’s all about reality and truth, they tell Andrew L. Urban.
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DAVIS, HOPE: The Daytrippers
PAUL FISCHER
chatted with Hope Davis (pictured) in Toronto,
where her latest film, The Myth of Fingerprints, was being
screened.
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DAY LEWIS, DANIEL: GANGS OF NEW YORK
Acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis explored rage at close range for his starring role as Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese’s epic drama, Gangs of New York, and found a perverse sort of pleasure in it, he admits to Jenny Cooney Carrillo.
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DAY, MATT : Doing Time For Patsy Cline
Matt Day is one of a new generation of Australian actors on
the brink of international success. He shared a coffee with PAUL FISCHER.
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DE HEER, ROLF - TEN CANOES
Set in northern Arnhem Land and in not one but two distant pasts, Ten Canoes
is nevertheless easily accessible and surprisingly funny, and has already earned
director Rolf de Heer an award from Cannes (Un Certain Regard jury prize) and
accolades everywhere it’s screened. But it was unlike any other film in the
making, de Heer tells Andrew L. Urban.
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DE HEER, ROLF : COLOURING THE ROOM
Talking about the making of The Quiet Room, Rolf de Heer
tells Andrew L. Urban he wanted to avoid the kitchen sink.
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DE HEER, ROLF : EPSION - LONGING FOR NATURE
From the confined space of a dirty room in Bad Boy Bubby, to the
wide open expanses of space and the endless Australian outback:
Rolf de Heer talks to Andrew L. Urban about making Epsilon, his
intergalactic love story.
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DE HEER, ROLF – DR PLONK
How missing mosquito spray led to a discovery in the fridge which inspired Rolf
de Heer to make a silent black and white comedy – just when he needed a quick
movie idea, as he tells Andrew L. Urban.
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DE HEER, ROLF – THE OLD MAN WHO READ LOVE STORIES
Despite the loss of a crucial dead sloth on the last day of shooting, and a brittle relationship with the film’s French producer, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories has turned out to be the film that resonates most personally for Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer, he tells Andrew L. Urban
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DE HEER, ROLF: ALEXANDRA'S PROJECT
Rolf De Heer can’t really say where his ideas for films come from, and like Bad Boy Bubby, his latest one comes from somewhere dark. It just started with a woman talking to a video camera, and if she’s doing that she’s unhappy, he explains to Andrew L. Urban.
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DE HEER: THE TRACKER
Archie, an Australian mechanic who once wrestled a Jaguar, used to help keep Rolf de Heer ‘in perspective’- and his influence carried on into The Tracker, in which de Heer is doing a bit of political Jaguar wrangling himself, reports Andrew L. Urban.
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DEAN SPANLEY – OUR TALKS WITH SAM NEILL & MATTHEW METCALFE
It’s amazing what a glass (or two) of vintage Hungarian Imperial Tokaji will
do to a man’s recall …. in Dean Spanley, it helps shake loose his memories of
his life as a dog. Sam Neill and producer Matthew Metcalfe explain the
inexplicable to Andrew L. Urban
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DEAVER, JEFFERY: THE BONE COLLECTOR
Jeffery Deaver wrote his first 'novel' at 11, a four page manuscript that is still
unpublished. But seven subsequent books have been; and much to his surprise, the sixth,
The Bone Collector, has been made into a big budget thriller, directed by Australia's Phil
Noyce (and photographed by another Aussie, Oscar winning Dean Semler). ANDREW L. URBAN
talks to Deaver.
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DeBONT, JAN: Speed 2 Cruise Control
DeBont gets on DeBoat...for Speed 2, and tells PAUL
FISCHER the critics are unkind.
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DELING, BERT - PURE SHIT
Bert Deling is “a bit surprised at the size of the fuss” being made about the
DVD release of his 1975 film, Pure Shit, and feels it has achieved some kind of
legendary status even though very few people have actually seen it, he tells
Andrew L. Urban.
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DELPY, JULIE: American Werewolf in Paris
French actress Julie Delpy pulls no punches as to her
feelings about her latest movie, An American Werewolf in Paris,
not to mention Hollywood. PAUL FISCHER sat down with Delpy on the
set of her latest movie, Los Angeles Without a Map, for this
candid interview.
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DENCH, JUDI: Mrs Brown, Tomorrow Never Dies
Australians can see her as Victoria, the reigning monarch
of 19th century England one day, and as
M, the reigning head of the British Secret Service the next.
Talking about it all, Dame Judi Dench told ANDREW L. URBAN how
she shared Billy Connolly’s blue sense of humour.
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DENEUVE, CATHERINE (2008)
The undisputed queen of French cinema flew in to Australia on a brief
promotional visit for the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival (March 2008)
and revealed she not only didn’t like nude scenes, she doesn’t even like to see
sex on the screen, because these scenes are hardly ever erotic, she explained to
Andrew L. Urban.
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DEPP, JOHNNY: BLOW
Researching his role as the real life George Jung for his movie,
Blow, Johnny Depp discovers that real life and real people are a
lot more complicated than the movies might suggest, he explains
to Jenny Cooney Carrillo.
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DIAZ, CAMERON: A Life Less Ordinary
Few beautiful models have made such a remarkable transition
to the world of acting stardom, as has 25-year old Cameron Diaz.
Indeed, this is a gal most extraordinary,
as PAUL FISCHER found out when he spent some time talking to the
ex-model in a ritzy New York hotel room.
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DICAPRIO, LEONARDO: THE BEACH
What's it like being Leonardo DiCaprio? That's the question asked over and over again at press conferences wherever the star appears on his global glide to promote The Beach. NICK RODDICK attended one of these in Berlin last month….
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DICKENS, KIM : Mercury Rising
Dickens is the female
lead opposite Bruce Willis in the Hollywood blockbuster Mercury
Rising, and will be seen later this year in the off-the-wall
thriller, Zero Effect, co-starring Bill Pullman. PAUL FISCHER met
her in Los Angeles.
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DIESEL, VIN - THE PACIFIER
Tough guy Vin Diesel follows Arnie into the kindie comedy routine with The Pacifier, and gets all soft and mushy about having children of his own. Jenny Cooney Carrillo reports from Los Angeles.
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DIESEL, VIN: xXx
Doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, kicks butt and has a career path that includes not one, but two movie franchise characters, the latest being Triple X, the secret agent and reluctant hero made for our cynical times. Andrew L. Urban meets Vin Diesel – alias XXX. (Mr X to you!)
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DIMITRIADES, ALEX - SUMMER CODA
Variety is what actors like in roles, and playing the quiet farmer Michael in
Summer Coda came as a great contrast to his role as Mihali the loud nightclub
operator in The Kings of Mykonos, Alex Dimitriades tells Andrew L. Urban.
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DIMITRIADES, ALEX : Head On
There is an assuredness in 24-year old actor Alex
Dimitriades one rarely finds in actors of his age, says PAUL
FISCHER; except when it comes to his mother seeing his latest
film, Head On.
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DIZDAR, JASMIN – BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
Like many in Eastern Europe, Jasmin Dizdar - director of Beautiful People - was once a Yugoslavian, but is not any more. These days he's a 'former' Yugoslavian, a Bosnian, married and living in London, where NICK RODDICK did the right thing, and bought him a drink.
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DO, KHOA – FOOTY LEGENDS
Footy Legends is an upbeat story from a downbeat suburb in Western Sydney, where
believing in yourself is a big call, but Khoa Do and his brother Anh turn their
own footy fantasies into screen reality. The two filmmakers, along with Angus
Sampson from the cast, tell Andrew L. Urban what it meant to make the film.
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DO, KHOA – THE FINISHED PEOPLE
A new voice (or is it a lone voice?) from Australian filmmaking is pushing through the cracks into the sunlight of recognition by its sheer power and gripping reality. The Finished People is raw, real and a window into lives in Sydney’s dark, drug and crime riddled Cabramatta; yet the film’s effect has been a force of change – for the better, it’s maker Khoa Do tells Andrew L. Urban.
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DOBROWOLSKA, GOSIA: GOSH, IS THAT HOW HE SEES ME?
Gosia Dobrowolska talks to Paul Fischer about her latest
character of repressed sexuality.
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DONALDSON, ROGER
New Zealand director Roger Donaldson has come a long way
since helping to start a fledgling New Zealand film industry with
low-budget successes such as the ground-breaking Sleeping Dogs. He talks to Paul Fischer.
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DONALDSON, ROGER – THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN
The World’s Fastest Indian is one of the world’s slowest films to get made, as
its long-suffering maker, Roger Donaldson, explains to Andrew L. Urban. The
spirit was willing but the cash was weak.
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DOWN ELISSA - THE BLACK BALLOON
Flying home triumphant from the Berlin Film Festival, The Black Balloon
writer/director Elissa Down pays tribute to those who helped her with the making
of her debut feature, which seems to make everybody laugh and cry, she tells
Andrew L. Urban.
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DOWNEY, MIKE - F.&.M.E. EYES AUSTRALIA
Having completed 25 films in the first five years of its existence and in the
process of completing seven international feature film projects with a total
budget of $42.7 million by December 2006, Film & Music Entertainment is the
second most prolific production house in the UK after Working Title; and it now
wants to make movies with Australians, fun loving Managing Director Mike Downey
tells Andrew L. Urban.
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DRYNAN, JEANIE; SOFT FRUIT
Three mum roles take Jeanie Drynan to new career heights, giving her the power to
choose, she (delightedly) tells ANDREW L. URBAN.
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DUIGAN, JOHN : LEADING THE MAN
His sister Virginia wrote the script, and director John
Duigan fell in love with it - in Sydney, Duigan talks about his
latest film, The Leading Man - and about casting Jon Bon Jovi in
the title role - to Andrew L. Urban.
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DUIGAN, JOHN: Lawn Dogs
Australian director John Duigan has made some memorable
films, from early classics such as The Year my Voice Broke, to
Sirens and the rarely seen Journey of August King. PAUL FISCHER
met with him at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to talk
about Lawn Dogs, his latest film, which has already won awards
and adulation, as Duigan's most mature film to date.
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DUIGAN, VIRGINIA : LOVE TO ORDER
With a husband and a brother as filmmakers, Virginia Duigan
is well positioned to be a scriptwriter. Her first original
feature screenplay, The Leading Man, has now been made by her
brother, John Duigan; her husband, Bruce Beresford, never read
the script, but liked the film. Virginia spoke to Andrew L. Urban
about her Leading Man.
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DUNCAN PETER: Passion
Passionate pianist Percy Grainger comes to life as the eccentric, sado masochistic, mother
loving son of a gun he was, in the form of actor Richard Roxburgh and at the hands of
director Peter Duncan, who explains to ANDREW L. URBAN how he wanted the audience to fall
for Percy.
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DUNCAN, MICHAEL CLARKE: THE GREEN MILE
HOW BIG MIKE BECAME A BIG KID
Michael Clarke Duncan's life changed forever the day his agent rang to say he got the role of John Coffey opposite Tom Hanks in The Green Mile. It was the day the man they used to call Big Mike (he's 1.98 metres tall, weighs 140 kilos) had to discard his bouncer image and soften up, he tells ANDREW L. URBAN.
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DUNCAN, PETER : A Little Bit of Soul
As Peter Duncan begins pre-production on Passion, the life
and naughty times of pianist Percy Grainger, his latest film, A
Little Bit of Soul, opens around Australia. Duncan talks to
ANDREW L. URBAN about both, and explains the enormous difference
between Passion and Shine.
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DUNCAN, PETER – UNFINISHED SKY
After a nine year hiatus, Peter Duncan returns to feature directing with
Unfinished Sky, a dramatic love story with universal themes and global
relevance; the trick was to make the film worth re-telling in Australia, he
tells Andrew L. Urban.
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DUVALL, ROBERT : The Apostle
ANDREW L. URBAN met Robert Duvall at the Cannes film festival this year (1998), where
The Apostle was selected for Un Certain Regard – a gesture of recognition for the
film that Duvall had to finance himself to get made. He wrote it. Produced it. Directed
it. And he stars in it. You get the idea.
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DWAYNE THE ROCK JOHNSON – THE GAME PLAN
The toughest thing he had to do in his new comedy, The Game Plan, is yell at his
8 year old on-screen daughter, real-life father Dwayne Johnson tells Andrew L.
Urban. That’s coming from a guy who was nothing but trouble as a teenager, last
arrested in Bethlehem.
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