Time Magazine has compiled a montage of some of the greatest one liners in movies. Watch them here–
Continue readingThe Role of Persistence and Respect in Filmmaking
‘You’ve got to lend me your story; I will tell it and then hand it back to you.’ “
Continue readingNFL Leadership Styles – Can You Help?
Sometimes it is really useful to look at the Character Types of real people to see how what they do or say defines them. The SuperBowl and the magnificent victory by Green Bay and their young quarterback Aaron Rodgers is a great example to start off with. I’d like to type all the major players in the NFL in terms of their leadership styles. I’m looking for some help here– with quotations or a link to a video as an illustrations. Can you help fill things out?
Continue readingModern Day Sherlock Holmes on the BBC
Sherlock Holmes is indeed a Power of Reason character– Everything can be explained/deduced rationally and logically. “It’s elementary, my dear Watson.”
Continue reading“King’s Speech” and “Fighter” lead the SAG Awards
Film
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The King’s Speech
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble
Inception
Television
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (TV Drama)
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (TV Drama)
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Comedy Series
Modern Family
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (TV Comedy)
Betty White, Hot in Cleveland
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (TV Comedy)
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Miniseries/TV Movie)
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Miniseries/TV Movie)
Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack
Mark Zuckerberg on SNL
The lesson here is FaceBook and Zuckerberg’s deft handing of The Social Network movie. Despite being a fictional and immensely unflattering protrait, Zuckerberg wisely refrained from going ballistic in the press– which wouldn’t have helped and would have only made him look worse. Now he is at the point of being able to laugh at the whole thing and wins points for not taking himself too seriously.
Continue readingTony Curtis – Power of Ambition
(In the film) Sidney Falco, Broadway publicist, is telling his secretary Sam how far he wants his ambitions to take him: “Way up high, Sam, where it’s always balmy. Where no one snaps his fingers and says, ‘Hey, Shrimp, rack the balls!’ Or, ‘Hey, mouse, mouse, go out and buy me a pack of butts.’ I don’t want tips from the kitty. I’m in the big game with the big players. My experience I can give you in a nutshell, and I didn’t dream it in a dream, either. Dog Eat Dog. In brief, from now on, the best of everything is good enough for me.”
An actor doesn’t often get a role that upends his Hollywood image and reveals his inner demons. Tony Curtis, who died Wednesday at 85 of cardiac arrest at his home near Las Vegas, found that dream-nightmare part in the 1957 Sweet Smell of Success. Sidney Falco, a name that replaced Sammy Glick as the slick nogoodnik par excellence, is a pretty boy on the make — all hustle, no morals, and with a line of patter like petty larceny…
…Another refugee from the New York streets, and one of the first postwar actors to produce his own movies, (Burt) Lancaster … cast him in Sweet Smell as Sidney, the publicist trying to get his clients’ items in the gossip column written by Lancaster’s J.J. Hunsecker.
In the script, by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets, Sidney’s status floats between villain and victim — he peddles flesh and secrets, and pins the Commie label on an innocent young musician, before getting climactically framed by J.J. — but (actor) Curtis was the victor in the movie. It’s easy to imagine that, that when the actor first read this script, he thought exultantly, “That’s me all over!” A shark in the Broadway aquarium, Sidney looked like a million bucks, all counterfeit. FULL ARTICLE HERE
A character driven by the Power of Ambition can be a hardworking, eager, charming optimist with a “can-do” spirit— or a lying, manipulative, backstabbing striver who will do anything to get ahead in life.
The definition and meaning of “success” is at the heart of a Power of Ambition character’s story. The basic question for this character’s emotional journey is: “What does it profit a person to win the whole world but lose his or her own soul?”
That what we watch Sidney Falco do, lose his soul, over the course of The Sweet Smell of Success. It is a film well worth watching and a master course in the Power of Ambition Character Type.
Invictus – Power of Conscience
The excellent film, Invictus, starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela is a great study in Power of Conscience leadership.
Continue readingTarantino’s Top 2009 Movie Picks
Quinten Tarantino, leaving his film Inglourious Basterds out of the mix, lists his favorite films of 2009. Not necessarily my choices but interesting never the less.
Continue readingStorytelling In The Digital Age: Gary Carter
I’ve had the great opportunity to work with Gary Carter, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Creative Officer of Fremantle’s experimental division, FMX. I’ve worked with him on the broadcast side of FremantleMedia’s business. FMX is the division that is working with me on my online drama and interactive website.
Continue reading