Demetri MartinElliotDemetri is an Emmy Award-nominated and Perrier comedy award-winning American comedian, actor, artist, musician, and writer. Based in New York City, he writes, produces, and acts in his own television series, Important Things with Demetri Martin for Comedy Central. He is also writing a book, and will write and star in upcoming films Will and Moon People, and will be seen soon in Young Americans. There are some scenes that we shot that are not on the final cut where you see some of my private life as a gay man that I'm keeping from my parents. Elliot is closeted at that time... I hadn't thought about the idea that this was criminal in some sense at that time [in the 1960s] or at least cops could go raid bars and like beat people up and stuff.
- Martin on his character, Elliot Tiber Liev SchreiberVilmaLiev Schreiber's many feature credits include Gavin Hood's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, opposite Hugh Jackman; Edward Zwick's Defiance, with Daniel Craig and Jamie Bell; John Curran's The Painted Veil, with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts; Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate, opposite Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington; Phil Alden Robinson's The Sum of All Fears, with Ben Affleck; James Mangold's Kate & Leopold, also with Hugh Jackman; Norman Jewison's The Hurricane, also with Denzel Washington; Michael Almereydea's Hamlet, as Laertes to Ethan Hawke's Hamlet; Tom Gilroy's Spring Forward, opposite Ned Beatty; Tony Goldwyn's A Walk on the Moon, with Diane Lane; Greg Mottola's The Daytrippers; Nora Ephron's Mixed Nuts; and Wes Craven's Scream trilogy. Schreiber plays Vilma, an ex-marine drag queen, who gets hired by Elliot as the security 'guy' at his parents' motel. I thought it would help the story about how Elliot transforms over the course of the movie, how he is able to come to terms with who he is maybe a little bit more through Vilma. That if someone like Vilma can exist in the world, so why couldn't someone like Elliot? I thought that it's good that that Vilma embodies some of the contradictions of sexuality.
- Schreiber on his character, Vilma Emile HirschBillyIn 2007, Emile Hirsch garnered attention for his captivating performance in Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn. Based on the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer and adapted for the screen by Mr. Penn, Into the Wild starred Mr. Hirsch as real-life adventurer Christopher McCandless. The portrayal earned him the National Board of Review award for Breakthrough Performance by an Actor; the Rising Star Award from the Palm Springs International Film Festival; Gotham and Critics' Choice Award nominations for Best Actor; and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, in the lead actor category as well as (shared with his fellow cast members) the ensemble category. The Los Angeles native was recently again a Screen Actors Guild Award nominee in the latter category as part of the ensemble of Gus Van Sant's Milk, in which Mr. Hirsch starred as real-life activist Cleve Jones, opposite Mr. Penn's Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award-winning performance as Harvey Milk. Ang LeeDirector, ProducerTaiwan-born Ang Lee is one of the world's most revered and honored film directors. He has won 2 Academy Awards (in 2006, for his Direction of Brokeback Mountain, and in 2001, for Best Foreign-Language Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). His films have twice won the prestigious Golden Lion Award for Best Picture at the Venice International Film Festival (in 2007, for Lust, Caution, and in 2005, for Brokeback Mountain) and twice won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival (in 1993, for The Wedding Banquet and in 1996, for Sense and Sensibility). His most recent film, Lust, Caution, swept Asia's Golden Horse Awards (Taiwan's equivalent of the Academy Awards), with 8 wins including Best Film; it is one of the highest-grossing and most critically acclaimed films in the history of Chinese-language cinema. Brokeback Mountain won 2 additional Academy Awards - Best Adapted Screenplay (Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana) and Best Original Score (Gustavo Santaolalla) - and was nominated for 5 more, including Best Picture. Additionally, Mr. Lee and the film's star Jake Gyllenhaal were honored with the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award; and Brokeback Mountain was named Outstanding Film [Wide Release] by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's (GLAAD) Media Awards. I would like to pick up the innocence, the heart to believe, that has hope, that things can be changed. I think the naive part back then was that I thought things can be changed quickly and altogether - I think that's the naive part, but it did plant many good seeds that we keep developing now. I hope they pick that up and can relate to that - an optimistic... the heart of Woodstock.
- Ang Lee on what he hopes audiences take away from the film James SchamusScreenwriter, ProducerJames Schamus is chief executive officer (CEO) of Focus Features. He is also a screenwriter, and received Academy Award nominations in the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Song categories for his work on Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The blockbuster Good Machine feature, which Mr. Schamus co-wrote and executive-produced, won 4 Academy Awards. Mr. Schamus has had a long collaboration as writer and producer with Ang Lee on eleven feature films, with the director's Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, released worldwide through Focus Features. Elliot TiberAuthor of Taking Woodstock: A True Story of A Riot, A Concert, and A LifeElliot Tiber has been a professional creative writer for over 35 years. He has written and produced award-winning plays, scripts, and musical comedies for theater, television, and films around the world. As a humorist, Mr. Tiber has appeared on CNN, NBC, CBS, CNBC, and 20/20, as well as on television shows in France, England, Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, and Belgium (where he starred in the popular RTB-TV comedy series Sketch-Up) . He has also performed his one-man stand-up show, Woodstock Daddy, for clubs, theaters, and television. Mr. Tiber's memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of A Riot, A Concert, and A Life, which he wrote with Tom Monte, was first published in the U.S. in August 2007 by Square One Publishers. Among his other books are the nonfiction Knock on Woodstock, published in 1994, which included many of his own photographs documenting the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair; and the Dutch-language Jacques Brel Blues. He was recently named an Honorary Board Member of The Gay American Heroes Foundation (GAHF). He has been recognized by The New York Times as a 'gay-rights pioneer,' and remains proud of his role in the 1969 Stonewall Riots. |
