FILM REVIEW: MY DOG TULIP

A scene from My Dog Tulip.

Ruff times

By Don Simpson

J.R. Ackerley (voice by Christopher Plummer) is not a dog lover at the moment when -- nearing 50 -- he adopts Tulip, an 18-month-old Alsatian. Ackerley lives in a small Putney flat overlooking the Thames (where he lived the final 25 years of his life) and Tulip plows into his life and home with reckless abandon, a wild and uncontrollable ball of energy. Tulip grows quite fond of Ackerley and slowly but surely begins to settle down. Ackerley -- a gay man beyond his days of cruising for dates -- finds Tulip to be his ideal companion. In fact, during their 14 years together, Tulip turns out to be the one true love of Ackerley’s life.

My Dog Tulip reveals an author who is not the least bit timid or embarrassed to ruminate quite lengthily about his dog’s bowel movements or his grand desire to locate a suitable mate for Tulip. These strange quirks and obsessions add a unique level of realism to the story -- adapted from Ackerley’s 1956 book, an account of Ackerley’s relationship with his real-life Alsatian Queenie.

At times, My Dog Tulip feels like Plummer is merely narrating a book on tape with The New Yorker cartoon style images moving around onscreen, but little flashes of absurdity (such as Plummer’s musical number in which he croons "You smell my ass, I smell yours" and strange anthropomorphic sequences in which Tulip walks on her hind legs and wears clothes) push the film into a much more visually interesting realm.

Written, directed and animated by Paul and Sandra Fierlinger, My Dog Tulip is the first animated feature ever to be entirely hand drawn and painted utilizing paperless computer technology.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: MICHAEL HOFFMAN

Christopher Plummer in Michael Hoffman's The Last Station 

Taking The Last Station with Michael Hoffman

By John Esther 

Over a decade in the making, writer-director Michael Hoffman is taking audiences to The Last Station. Based on the novel by Jay Parini, The Last Station recounts the relationship between the great writer, Count Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) and his wife/muse/collaborator of 48 years, Countess Sofya Tolstoy (Helen Mirren), during the last year of his life. 

Tormented by his newfound and confounded new religion to essentially leave his materialist nothing upon his death, Sofya torments the great, Russian writer (War & Peace; The Death of Ivan Ilych) with bourgeois tantrums. Torn between his principles and the prodding of his most devoted disciple, Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), and the grand love (and lust) for his wife, Leo cannot continue to live the life he has had nor let it go. 

Clearly not a typical biopic from the director of such films as One Fine Day, Restoration and Game 6, Hoffman summoned his own experiences of marriage to his wife, Samantha Silva, to finally bring the picture to life. 

Born in Hawaii, raised in rural Idaho and educated at Boise State University, Oxford University and Oriel College, we recently caught up with Hoffman. 

JEsther Entertainment: Why did you want to make this film? 
Michael Hoffman: Well, I don’t know. When I first read the novel I didn’t really see what the film was. It took me a second reading 14 years later to see the movie in it and I think it was because I was married 12 of intervening 14 years. I guess I wanted to make a movie about the difficulty of living with love and the impossibility of living without it. When I see some of the shit that goes on in my marriage; it’s so absurd the way we get in our own way. It’s kind of amazing to see this self-proclaimed prophet of love, a person everybody looks up to as a living saint, a saint of love unable to sort things out in his own life, in his own bedroom. 

JE: Then there is the negotiation between artistic integrity and materialistic comfort. 
MH: Absolutely. You have to deal with the gap between the claims of the ideal and the claims of experience. You have to somehow learn to love or work in the real world. And you’ve got all these material constraints – the most of which is your body. 

JE: Speaking of work, what do you think of Tolstoy’s work? In what ways has it influenced you? 
MH: I don’t know if Tolstoy’s work has been a big influence on me. Tolstoy, I would say, is fundamentally a psychological novelist and he’s interested in the psychology of his characters. He has a remarkable gift reprising things within himself that also ring true, but it was really [Anton] Chekhov who I’ve always been obsessed by and who was key to finding the tone in this movie. 

JE: Did you feel uncomfortable making the film in English, since that is not what they spoke as a first language? 
MH: So someone will see it. [Laughs]. That’s the way for this film to reach the largest audience. It’s challenging in Russia because the Russians have an ingrained anxiety with foreigners telling their stories. And maybe we would, too. Maybe we would think “The Russian Ben Franklin Movie” was weird. [Laughs]. For Russia we are going to dub the film rather than keep it in English with Russian subtitles. We have a great distribution in Russia. 

JE: Lastly, what do you think about interviews where you discuss your work? Does it serve the film? Should the work speak for itself? 
MH: I’m probably political enough that it’s important to try to position a film, this film particularly. It’s important that people go into it knowing a couple of things. One, there’s humor in it – and it’s intentional [Laughs]. Two, it’s a movie about love; it’s not a biopic about Tolstoy. If an audience goes into it knowing that and they still don’t like it, then fair enough. But if they go into it looking for a different movie, then that’s a little frustrating.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: VERNE TROYER

Verne Troyer (right) with the late Heath Ledger (left) in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. 

Short attention spanning

By John Esther 

As one of the shortest men in the world, Verne Troyer has had a lot of attention thrust upon him throughout his life. While a lot of this attention has been unwanted, sometimes annoying, the stunt double-turned-actor has used his height to his advantage, forging a sturdy career in film and television.

Born and raised in Centreville, Michigan, after his high school graduation in 1987, Troyer moved to Frisco, Texas, where he got his first break as a stunt double for a nine-month-old in the 1994 film, Baby's Day Out. Picking up more stunt work, then acting, along the way in both TV and film, the two-foot, eight-inch Troyer got his big break with the role of Mini-Me in Jay Roach and Mike Myers' movies Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

Among the many roles before and after Mini-Me, the lifelong bachelor had a brief appearance in Terry Gilliam's excellent 1998 film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Apparently this encounter with Troyer made an impression on the former member of Monty Python (the only American member) because Gilliam wrote the role of Percy in his latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, just for Troyer.

A fantastic world where imaginations are allowed to run wild through the magical mind of Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), the cynically inclined Percy and his mates move from town to town enticing people to break free of their prisons via the Imaginarium. But there will be cost for all involved.

Like many of Gilliam's previous films, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, hit a big obstacle during the making of the film. On January 22, 2008, the film's protagonist, Heath Ledger, accidentally died of from a lethal combination of prescription drugs at the age of 28. Undeterred and motivated by Ledger's untimely death, filming of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus continued when Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell agreed to perform in scenes never filmed with Ledger.

When we spoke to Troyer in November, it was obvious the experience of making The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was very bittersweet experience, with much being left unsaid.

JEsther Entertainment: Why did you want to be in this film?

Verne Troyer: Because Terry wanted me in it [Laughs]. That's all it took.

JE: What do you think you have in common with your character?

VT: Terry actually wrote it with me in mind. That's an honor by itself. He knew a lot about me. A lot of me went into this character -- from the sarcasm to me being sadistic. If you really get to know me I'm a bit like that.

JE: What were some of the things you discovered about yourself doing the role or having someone like Terry write a role for you?

VT: I discovered that -- as nervous and challenging as I thought it was going to be -- it was actually fun. I really enjoyed more than I thought I would so it's something I want to pursue a little more of.

JE: You mention how fun it was making the film, but obviously there was a great tragedy during production. How did the passing of Heath alter the atmosphere of the project?

VT: It altered the whole gamma of shooting. The strong group of people we had were dedicated; we just came together as a family to finish the film. We wanted to finish this film, not only for ourselves, but also for Heath. We all just helped each other in a very difficult moment. We all knew what we wanted to do.

JE: What is it like working with Terry Gilliam as opposed to different film directors?

VT: I enjoy Terry. It's not like I don't enjoy other directors. I love working with [Austin Powers' director] Jay Roach, too. But Terry is crazy cool. He knows what he wants. He knows what he's going for. You see these weird angles where he's putting the camera and you say, "What's he trying to get with that?" Then you go look at the screen and it's like "Wow, how's he getting all 

this light? It's all coming together and it's really amazing."

JE: In the film there is the psychological aspect of people going into his or her imaginarium. What do you think your imaginarium would look like?

VT: I imagine I'm Hugh Hefner [Laughs].

JE: Mini-me became a cultural icon. How did that change your perception of acting?

VT: It changed my life dramatically. It came from me doing stunt work and people not knowing who I was to being known all around the world. People know my name. That surprises me. It's a big thing. Sometimes I don't like to think about it, but I have to [Laughs]. I'm very honored to be given this opportunity.

JE: For many reasons you have drawn attention throughout your life. 

VT: Yes. When I was younger I always got attention because of my height. People would just stare. Now they notice me as an actor, and not necessarily because of my height. The whole process of how my life has changed, I'm enjoying it as long as I can because I don't know when it's going to end. Unfortunately, these days everyone has a camera phone or something like that. The paparazzi right now is ridiculous. You just got to be careful what you do in public.

JE: What is the one question you are tired of being asked?

VT: I'm tired of being asked, "How was it working with Heath?" Everyone asks it in every interview.

JE: Phew!

VT: Yeah, you didn't. That's good. [Laughs.]

JE: Lastly, what do you think about these interviews where you talk about your work and yourself? Does it serve the work? Should the work speak for itself?

VT: They both compliment each other. It's good to stay in touch with people who actually go out and watch your films. Actors and entertainment writers need each other in order for us both to continue working. 

 

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