HOLLYWOOD...THE BUSINESS OF SHOW BUSINESS

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Language level: Proficiency

Standard: American

Speaker: Chuck Rolando

A world of movie-lovers watched Hollywood on February 27th when the Academy Awards, or “Oscars,” took place. For the lucky winners, it may just be the highlight of their movie careers, but no matter how successful they are now, they had to start at the bottom. They all had “day-time jobs” in bars or restaurants, and they went to auditions in their spare time. And they undoubtedly signed up with a talent agency, which probably still represents them today. The Affinity Artists Agency is a typical example, it is headed by Ross Grossman, who was himself a child actor, and later a comedian, writer and therapist, before becoming an agent. As he explains, even when you become a star, there’s no guarantee that it will last.

Ross Grossman

(Standard American Accent)

Recently Adam Sandler and a bunch of other celebrities, Chris Rock, they were all sitting around, I think it was 60 Minutes, and they were being asked: “Do you feel like you’ve made it, do you feel like you’re good, you’re set?” and all of them said: “No, no way!” Because they said: “We picked up a People Magazine from five years ago and we looked at all the people who were on top and almost none of them were still on top. “ So,it is a very fickle business. I think that the public generally likes new. New is interesting to them. And, at a certain point, I think either the casting directors or the public gets tired, or wants something new. Now, there are certain people, Jackson Nicholson, you know, there are certain actors, Tom Cruise, that are able to ride the wave and stay on it, but eventually most of them seem to fade.

CHARISMA

We then asked him the classic Hollywood question: What makes a star?

Ross Grossman

Charisma is a big peace. There is an ethereal fairy dust that is on certain people. . how they got that way is a very complex…we’d have to have clones and put people in laboratories to figure out how ths person showed up with this much charisma, but there are some people who have so much charisma, or something about their character that is so unique, that you just know: they’re riveting. It’s like when you watch a lion or a tiger, you’re riveted because there’s something so spontaneous and so strong and so confident. And that doesn’t mean that each performance is playing a confident person; they could be playing a nervous wreck, but there’s a confidence about them, and a oneness of purpose and just something very magnetic. But some people try to create a false magnetism by being super-big and important and loud and intense, and it’s or like that. It doesn’t come from outside, I don’t think, but some people try to wow you with what they believe charisma is. But I think, really, what it is knowing yourself and making strong bold choices with your acting skills and with your personality. Personality does go a long way. People in Hollywood want to work with nice people. So, if you’re talented, but you’re really not a pleasant person, there will be plenty of other people who could take your place.

THAT LOOK

And what about physical appearance? Are looks everything?

Ross Grossman

You have to remember that movies and television are a visual medium: we can’t forget that. And, because of that, many films and television shows use visual shorthand. As soon as you see Paul Giamatti, or just any number of actors, as soon as you see them, there’s a whole bunch of script that doesn’t have to happen because you just get, “Oh, this is this type of person. And that’s like a visual shorthand for people. Just as when you see Charlie Chaplin as the little tramp, that speaks volumes. You know, you don’t have to hear his entire story. It’s a visual shorthand, so, yes, the look does count, but that look cold be geeky, that look could be odd, that could be unusual, or plus size, or frightening. It doesn’t have to always be gorgeous. It just has to be unique and striking.

ENERGY

But, says Ross Grossman, talent, charisma and the right looks are not enough. Aspiring actors also need a sense of initiative. Having an agent isn’t enough, they should build their portfolios, and increase their selection of footage, or “reel.” And Ross Grossman introduced us to a Hollywood neologism; the “webisode.” This is a combination of “web” and “episode.”

Ross Grossman

And then, once they have an agent, is running out there and doing stuff, getting in plays, getting into more independent films, getting better reel, meeting people, socializing. If they can’t find scripts to get in, finding people, , acting troupes, people who want to put together webisodes. That’s the new trend, is get a bunch of people together, get some writers together, start doing some webisodes, don’t wait for someone else to make you known.

There’s an expression that o love, and I…it was from a man named (Wes) “Scoop” Nisker, he was newsman in San Francisco, and he would always sign off the news with this phrase and that is: “If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of you own!”

My Name is Salt, Angelina Jolie

Source: Speak Up

Language level:  Advanced

Speaker: Chunk Rolando

ANGELINA JOLIE MY NAME IS SALT

Angelina Jolie is currently one of the world’s most famous people. This is partly due to her impressive movie career and partly due to her private life. She and her partner, Brad Pitt, are so well known that they are often referred to as ‘Brangelina.” Although they have only been together for five years, they already have six children, three of whom are adopted.

Brad and Angelina are not technically married, but both are divorcees. Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston, while Jolie was married first to Jonny Lee Miller and then to Billy Bob Thornton. These are actors, as is Jolie’s father, Jon Voight.

Yet there were no questions about her private life when Angelina Jolie met with the press to talk about her most recent movie, Salt, in which she has the starring role. She plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who goes on the run when she is accused of being a Russian spy. Ms. Jolie was asked what had attracted her to the role.

Angelina Jolie

(Standard American accent)

I’d done action movies before but I’d never done one based on reality. And when we started to talk about it, we realized there really hadn’t been one with a woman and that was very strange to me. And so it felt like kind of uncharted territory that would be fun to try to explore and…and a good challenge. I’d also…hadn’t worked for a year-and-a half and I’d had two babies and I felt very “mommy.” And I was sitting in my nightgown reading the script with the baby cribs and everything and I started to flip through it and read about jumping off trucks and though. “You know, that night be really good for me right now! And I think it would be a good balance. I think it would be good to…”so the physical part of it felt like a really smart thing to do, just to get out and get moving again.

FEMININITY

In the past a CIA agent on the run would probably have been played by a man. Did the fact that it was played by a woman add to the excitement?

Angelina Jolie

I don’t know. I think because it’s new, it’s going to be exciting. If it was the first time it was a man, it would have been exciting, maybe. We made a point not to use her sexuality, or her femininity, in the film, in ways that are usually, you know, that is usually done in films with women, especially in this kind of genre. And I don’t think the film’s lacking in any way for it. So, I think that was a conscious choice we made, to not let it become anything other than a really good spy movie with a tough spy, who happens to be a woman!

THE REAL THING

As part of her research for the role. Ms. Jolie spent some time with a real female. CIA agent. Presumably this had helped.

Angelina Jolie

A lot. Part of it was just meeting her. You know, this idea of, I think, in movies we think we’re going to play a tough CIA girl: what’s it going to be?And what’s she going to look like? And then you meet her and she’s so lovely and she's so elegant and she's against any stereotype of some obvious tough woman. So that immediately helped me kind of…transitioned into what I was allowed to do. We had long talks about the inability to talk to anybody in your family about what your daily life was and what your job was and how isolating that was and how lonely that was. And only when you’re retired are you able to really discuss your life and what a huge relief that is. The idea that it would take you 20 years until you’re able to have a real conversation with your husband over dinner, you know, and not lie and not hide something – is an extraordinary sacrifice that all these people make. And it makes for a very specific type of personality. So I drew mostly from that.

CROSS-DRESSING

At one stage the fugitive Evelyn Salt even dresses up as a man. This was certainly a challenge.

Angelina Jolie

It was a lot of fun. I’ve never done that before. It’s always fun to do things you’ve never done. You know, it’s this odd…cause then you actually start to really think about what is my man what is my internal man? You start to get really particular about know he does his hair, or what kind of an outfit he would wear, or this…it’s just bizarre, and then, when I dressed up and when I walked on set for the first time, the crew was so uncomfortable, so uncomfortable! The guys didn’t want to stand near me, you know, just kept staring at me, but like…you know, stayed away from me. The girls kind of…some of them, I think, thought I was cute! But, you know, kind of also didn’t know what to do, like it was just it was just the most unusual feeling, but the only thing to do was to just kind of really get into it and enjoy it, or else you’d feel awkward. So I just got fully into it and…and loved hanging out as him.

HANDS ACROSS THE SAND Part II, Audio

Source: Speak Up

Speakers: Jason Birmgham and Chuck Rolando

Standard: American Accent

INTERVIEW

IN DEEP WATER

      One of the most dramatic events this year has undoubtedly been the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, better known as the “BP oil disaster.”

      The spill lasted from April 20 to September 19. BP estimates its total cost to rectify the situation as $ 40 billion. According to Wikipedia, it is the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.”

      Not surprisingly, the disaster has given great impetus to the environmental movement and has made people think again about alternative energy sources. On June 26^th a series of events called “Hands Across the Sand” took part. They linked hands across beaches around the country in order to protest against offshore drilling.

      One person who was closely involved in the organization was John Weber, of an environment group, the Surfrider Foundation. He met with Speak Up on a rather noisy beach. As he explained, the Deepwater Horizon Spill is just one of many in a long line of American oil disasters.

John Weber

Standard: American Accent

In  1969 there was an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California and there were many dead seabirds and sea life and it was such that people in California could see the damage right in front of their eyes and many people think that that helped give rise to the modern environmental movement in the United State. So, after that, offshore oil drilling was questioned because in Santa Barbara that was a bad accident. So that was over 40 years ago and then. In 1989, we had the Exxon Valdez oil spill. An I haven’t been there myself, but people say you can go to Prince William Sound in Alaska and dig down a few inches in the dirt, or among the rocks, and there’s still oil there. And Exxon never properly cleaned up there, and they never properly compensated fishermen and people that made their living in such a way. Exxon neverspent more money fighting it in court, on lawyers, than it would have taken just to compensate people properly.