‘AT THE MOMENT STUDIOS ARE DOING REMAKES AND SEOUELS BUT EVENTUALLY THINGS WILL IMPROVE'
Sims/zinc rift/iv Spot/ass Mind. and there was the cannibal in Robert Rodriguez‘s Sin City. who is eaten by his own pet wolf. Alongside his central performance in Green Street. Wood has also completed filming the road movie lz’i'r'rjvtliing is I/llllllfllult’ll. which he describes as 'incredibly funny and quite emotional’. Adapted by director I.iev Schreiber' from Jonathan Safran lioer‘s cult novel. it casts the 24-year-old actor as an American trying to track down the woman who saved his grandfather in the L'kraine during World War ll.
'As an actor I‘ve always wanted to be part of
something that‘s quite different from the last thing I‘ve done.‘ says Wood of these diverse roles. ‘I think that what happened with The 11ml rift/iv Rings is that it so permeated the public consciousness for three years. and that it was such a huge part of popular culture that it made my drive to be part of something different that much greater. (‘hallenging myself as an actor. though. has always been something I believed in.‘ At the moment Wood isn‘t short of outlets for his creative talents: he’s optioning a Russian book Nrit't’I with Cur-nine. setting up a record label. and trying to start a satellite radio show. He admits that it‘s harder to get films made in Hollywood that ‘ar'e of any quality" and to find projects that he himself wants to sign up for as an actor. 'There was a time when it was easy to finance anything independent] he says. talking now with genuine passion. 'A few films came out that were massively successful and everyone started using the term “indie” and any movie that had that sensibility attached to it got financed. People lost a lot of money and people got scared. l‘inanciers are now tighter with their money. and the same thing could be said with music industry — now it‘s much harder for big companies to release things just based on their sensibilities.‘
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But Wood isn‘t unduly pessimistic about the long term future of mainstream American cinema. He points to the commercial success of documentaries such as I’ultrr'nlwit 9/1] and Super Size Me. ‘films which illuminate what‘s going on in our world and how it‘s changing politically and socially“. ‘l‘m not a jaded individual. I look for the positive. At the moment the studios are doing remakes and sequels. but eventually things will improve. The system can‘t stay like this forever. And there will always be somebody out there doing powerful and interesting work.‘
Cineworld, 623 8030, 23 Aug, 7.30pm and 24 Aug, 8.30pm, £7.95 (£5.20).
Claire _
BREAKING THE MOULD
Elijah Wood is not the only star playing against type this Festival - here are five others.
Jason Biggs The dirty penis pastry boy from American Pie has gone all Yossarian (Catch 22) on our asses in Guy X — a decidedly adult black comedy about a soldier who is accidentally posted
to an Arctic military base in 1979. Cineworld, 623 8030, 22 Aug, 7pm and 23 Aug, 5. 75pm. £7.95 (£5.20).
Roman Duris This pretty boy French actor was discovered in the street by filmmaker Cédric Klapisch (Pot Luck. Good Old Daze). and has made a career of being a versatile if "r- occasionally fey heartthrob in many of Klapisch's films. But in Jacques Read My Lips Audiard's excellent Parisian thriller The Beat That My Heart Skipde (based on James Toback's 1978 film Fingers), Duris flexes his dark mettle as wannabe pianist and real estate crook Thomas Seyr with magnificent results. Fi/mhouse. 623 8030, 20 Aug, 7pm, £7. 95 (£5.20).
Guillermo Toledo Better known in his homeland Spain for playing weak and mildly messed up thinysomethings in films like The Other Side of the Bed and
A Only Human, Toledo
comes on like a deranged Cary Grant in Alex de la Iglesia‘s comedy thriller Ferpect Crime. Cameo, 623 8030. 27 Aug, 70.45pm, £7.95 (£5.20).
Diane Kruger To date this former model’s film role choices have been more than a little iffy (Wicker Park. Troy). but now is your chance to see her 2001 debut film
~ Frankie, about the sordid life and times of a catwalk model. See feature. page 39. Fi/mhouse. 623 8030, 20 Aug. 2.30pm, £7.95 (£5.20). Cameo, 623 8030. 27 Aug, 7.30pm, £7.95 (£5.20).
Chiwetel Ejiofor Great British actor Ejiofor is best known for playing seriously noble characters (Am/’stad. Dirty Pretty Things). but in the Ealingesque farce
Kinky Boots he almost goes camp as the wide eyed innocent who is charged with taking over his daddy's ailing shoe factOry. Cineworld, 623 8030. 27 Aug, 7pm and 24 Aug, 8pm, both £7.95 (£5.20).
l l 25) Aug 200:") THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 37