Casting director and producer Don Phillips, who helped launch the careers of such actors as Sean Penn, Matthew McConaughey and Mary Steenburgen, passed away on Thanksgiving Day from natural causes. He would have turned 81 on Dec. 21.
Phillips received his first break when he landed an entry-level job in the casting department of filmmaker Otto Preminger’s 1971 movie Such Good Friends. Impressed by Phillips, Preminger took an ad in Variety and Backstage to praise the novice’s work on the film.
The acknowledgement led to Phillips getting hired to do extras casting on Sidney Lumet’s Serpico starring Al Pacino with his job subsequently expanding to casting the entire film. Lumet then tapped him as casting director on his next film, Dog Day Afternoon, also starring Pacino. Phillips is credited with holding out for actor John Cazale to be cast opposite Pacino as Sal.
Phillips went on to cast the cult...
Phillips received his first break when he landed an entry-level job in the casting department of filmmaker Otto Preminger’s 1971 movie Such Good Friends. Impressed by Phillips, Preminger took an ad in Variety and Backstage to praise the novice’s work on the film.
The acknowledgement led to Phillips getting hired to do extras casting on Sidney Lumet’s Serpico starring Al Pacino with his job subsequently expanding to casting the entire film. Lumet then tapped him as casting director on his next film, Dog Day Afternoon, also starring Pacino. Phillips is credited with holding out for actor John Cazale to be cast opposite Pacino as Sal.
Phillips went on to cast the cult...
- 11/27/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
One of our favorite writers, Dennis Cozzalio, is with us again for today's Saturday Matinee. Dennis, not coincidentally, presides over one of our favorite film blogs, Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. The occasion is the premiere of Allan Arkush's commentary for John Landis' Animal House which will run this coming Monday. Dennis happened to be an extra on the film so we asked him to share his experiences. We're also pleased to present some rare production stills courtesy of Katherine Wilson, the movie's local casting director in Oregon. Enjoy! Eugene, Oregon, Fall 1977. I was a first-term freshman trying to squeak out at least a 3.0 Gpa my first time at bat at the University of Oregon. I had enrolled in the film studies department, officially proclaiming it my major, fully expecting to broaden my horizons by seeing a lot of films to which I had never had the opportunity to be exposed.
- 10/4/2014
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
It certainly looks like a can't miss proposition -- a popular French export (1984's "Les Comperes") remade as a Robin Williams-Billy Crystal vehicle (their first time starring together in a movie), directed by comedy maven Ivan Reitman from an adaptation by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel ("City Slickers", "A League of Their Own").
Yet somehow, and surprisingly, the promising elements never quite add up in "Father's Day". Williams and Crystal (ranked Nos. 1 and 21, respectively, in a recent listing of the 50 funniest people alive), only occasionally manage to generate the anticipated kinetic comic chemistry.
The rest of the time the actors and their director seem somewhat out of sync with each other, causing the entire picture to feel off a beat or two.
That said, the prospect of Williams and Crystal together at last should be enough to draw considerable audiences during the film's first couple of weeks, but it will ultimately lack the legs to last beyond the real Father's Day.
Assigned to the roles played by Gerard Depardieu and Pierre Richard in the French version, Crystal and Williams are unwittingly brought together by a mutual old flame (Nastassja Kinski) to search for her runaway teenaged son after each are informed that he is the boy's natural father.
The two couldn't be more different. Jack Lawrence (Crystal) is a short-tempered, successful Los Angeles attorney, while Dale Putley (Williams) is a manic-depressive, struggling writer who has made something of a career out of attempted suicides.
But with their hitherto untapped paternal instincts now turned up to high, the pair embark on a common cause to bring their potential son back home and determine who's the real daddy.
"Father's Day" is not without its share of amusing moments, but every time it looks as if the picture is going to finally take off, it falters again.
The Ganz-Mandel adaptation, remaining remarkably faithful to the original, could be part of the problem, forcing Williams to play a more subdued character than audiences are probably expecting.
If the part had allowed for a few more of those vintage manic outbursts, there would have been more for Crystal's determined-to-be-in-control character to play off. As it is, both are fine individually, but together they only hint at the kind of collaborative, loosely improvisational spark they've demonstrated during those Comic Relief specials.
Among the other key cast members, it's nice to see Kinski back in front of the cameras, but her screen time is limited to a handful of brief scenes.
The same goes for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose proven comic abilities are used as Crystal's perplexed wife. Charlie Hofheimer, meanwhile, makes a solid impression as Kinski's errant adolescent.
As is to be expected from a Reitman picture, everything looks and sounds good, including fine lenswork from frequent Brian De Palma collaborator Stephen H. Burum and an emotionally centered James Newton Howard score.
As a bonus, Paul McCartney kicks in a couple of fresh tunes, most notably the pleasingly Beatlesque "Young Boy", played during the opening credits.
Header: Mon, May 5, 1997, 32, Mike Farkash, End of Header.
FATHER'S DAY
Warner Bros.
A Silver Pictures production
in association with Northern Lights Entertainment
An Ivan Reitman film
Director:Ivan Reitman
Producers:Joel Silver and Ivan Reitman
Screenwriters:Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel
Based on the film "Les Comperes" by:Francis Veber
Executive producers:Joe Medjuck, Daniel Goldberg & Francis Veber
Director of photography:Stephen H. Burum
Production designer:Thomas Sanders
Editors:Sheldon Kahn, Wendy Greene Bricmont
Music:James Newton Howard
Costume designer:Rita Ryack
Casting:Bonnie Timmermann, Michael Chinich
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dale Putley:Robin Williams
Jack Lawrence:Billy Crystal
Carrie Lawrence:Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Collette Andrews:Nastassja Kinski
Scott Andrews:Charlie Hofheimer
Bob Andrews:Bruce Greenwood
Russ Trainor:Charles Rocket
Shirley Trainor:Patti D'Arbanville
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Yet somehow, and surprisingly, the promising elements never quite add up in "Father's Day". Williams and Crystal (ranked Nos. 1 and 21, respectively, in a recent listing of the 50 funniest people alive), only occasionally manage to generate the anticipated kinetic comic chemistry.
The rest of the time the actors and their director seem somewhat out of sync with each other, causing the entire picture to feel off a beat or two.
That said, the prospect of Williams and Crystal together at last should be enough to draw considerable audiences during the film's first couple of weeks, but it will ultimately lack the legs to last beyond the real Father's Day.
Assigned to the roles played by Gerard Depardieu and Pierre Richard in the French version, Crystal and Williams are unwittingly brought together by a mutual old flame (Nastassja Kinski) to search for her runaway teenaged son after each are informed that he is the boy's natural father.
The two couldn't be more different. Jack Lawrence (Crystal) is a short-tempered, successful Los Angeles attorney, while Dale Putley (Williams) is a manic-depressive, struggling writer who has made something of a career out of attempted suicides.
But with their hitherto untapped paternal instincts now turned up to high, the pair embark on a common cause to bring their potential son back home and determine who's the real daddy.
"Father's Day" is not without its share of amusing moments, but every time it looks as if the picture is going to finally take off, it falters again.
The Ganz-Mandel adaptation, remaining remarkably faithful to the original, could be part of the problem, forcing Williams to play a more subdued character than audiences are probably expecting.
If the part had allowed for a few more of those vintage manic outbursts, there would have been more for Crystal's determined-to-be-in-control character to play off. As it is, both are fine individually, but together they only hint at the kind of collaborative, loosely improvisational spark they've demonstrated during those Comic Relief specials.
Among the other key cast members, it's nice to see Kinski back in front of the cameras, but her screen time is limited to a handful of brief scenes.
The same goes for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose proven comic abilities are used as Crystal's perplexed wife. Charlie Hofheimer, meanwhile, makes a solid impression as Kinski's errant adolescent.
As is to be expected from a Reitman picture, everything looks and sounds good, including fine lenswork from frequent Brian De Palma collaborator Stephen H. Burum and an emotionally centered James Newton Howard score.
As a bonus, Paul McCartney kicks in a couple of fresh tunes, most notably the pleasingly Beatlesque "Young Boy", played during the opening credits.
Header: Mon, May 5, 1997, 32, Mike Farkash, End of Header.
FATHER'S DAY
Warner Bros.
A Silver Pictures production
in association with Northern Lights Entertainment
An Ivan Reitman film
Director:Ivan Reitman
Producers:Joel Silver and Ivan Reitman
Screenwriters:Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel
Based on the film "Les Comperes" by:Francis Veber
Executive producers:Joe Medjuck, Daniel Goldberg & Francis Veber
Director of photography:Stephen H. Burum
Production designer:Thomas Sanders
Editors:Sheldon Kahn, Wendy Greene Bricmont
Music:James Newton Howard
Costume designer:Rita Ryack
Casting:Bonnie Timmermann, Michael Chinich
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dale Putley:Robin Williams
Jack Lawrence:Billy Crystal
Carrie Lawrence:Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Collette Andrews:Nastassja Kinski
Scott Andrews:Charlie Hofheimer
Bob Andrews:Bruce Greenwood
Russ Trainor:Charles Rocket
Shirley Trainor:Patti D'Arbanville
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
God appears to have picked out Seth Warner as a decent guy in need of spiritual torture. He loses his faith, his wife, his hope and almost his mind. Will it do any good to fight back? The unlucky lead character played valiantly by Aidan Quinn finds out in "Commandments" -- a Gramercy release opening in March that recently premiered at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Writer-director Daniel Taplitz, who has directed several movies for cable and broadcast TV, almost pulls off this screwy romantic tragedy of biblical proportions, but the film's complicated agenda includes too many cosmic twists and wild shifts of tone to be taken seriously, while the humor is an unsteady mixture of the quirky and magical. "Commandments" faces a tough test itself in the marketplace.
A doctor whose young wife disappeared under strange circumstances, Seth has also been victimized by freak storms and other personal catastrophes. After he's struck by lightning one stormy night in New York while yelling at God on a rooftop, he moves in with Rachel (Courteney Cox), the equally attractive sister of his drowned wife.
Rachel is unluckily married to a macho jerk (Anthony LaPaglia), who resents the intrusion and puts down Seth whenever possible. With uncomfortingly religious parents and a smarmy boss who fires him without warning, Seth revolts against his fate and declares, "The covenant is history!"
Seth takes to the bottle and makes a list of the Ten Commandments. He proceeds to break them one by one until he has an answer for why God makes a good man suffer. An attorney and a romantic, Rachel is supportive and there is plenty of chemistry between the two. Her husband, an ultra-cynical tabloid reporter, provides an opening for Seth, but he pushes her away.
From the climax during a hurricane to the ongoing subplot about an elderly couple-with-God who gives away a small fortune, "Commandments" is an unholy mess but not without a few saving graces.
With a strong screen presence, Cox (TV's "Friends") makes the most of her dream-girl role. Quinn likewise relies on his skills to bring some depth to an edgy, difficult character. And LaPaglia is fun to watch playing the blowhard.
COMMANDMENTS
Gramercy Pictures
A Northern Lights Entertainment production
Writer-director Daniel Taplitz
Producers Michael Chinich, Joe Medjuck,
Daniel Goldberg
Executive producer Ivan Reitman
Director of photography Slawomir Idziak
Production designer Robin Standefer
Editor Michael Jablow
Costume designer John Dunn
Music Joseph Vitarelli
Casting Lynn Kressel
Color/stereo
Cast:
Seth Aidan Quinn
Rachel Courteney Cox
Harry Anthony LaPaglia
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Writer-director Daniel Taplitz, who has directed several movies for cable and broadcast TV, almost pulls off this screwy romantic tragedy of biblical proportions, but the film's complicated agenda includes too many cosmic twists and wild shifts of tone to be taken seriously, while the humor is an unsteady mixture of the quirky and magical. "Commandments" faces a tough test itself in the marketplace.
A doctor whose young wife disappeared under strange circumstances, Seth has also been victimized by freak storms and other personal catastrophes. After he's struck by lightning one stormy night in New York while yelling at God on a rooftop, he moves in with Rachel (Courteney Cox), the equally attractive sister of his drowned wife.
Rachel is unluckily married to a macho jerk (Anthony LaPaglia), who resents the intrusion and puts down Seth whenever possible. With uncomfortingly religious parents and a smarmy boss who fires him without warning, Seth revolts against his fate and declares, "The covenant is history!"
Seth takes to the bottle and makes a list of the Ten Commandments. He proceeds to break them one by one until he has an answer for why God makes a good man suffer. An attorney and a romantic, Rachel is supportive and there is plenty of chemistry between the two. Her husband, an ultra-cynical tabloid reporter, provides an opening for Seth, but he pushes her away.
From the climax during a hurricane to the ongoing subplot about an elderly couple-with-God who gives away a small fortune, "Commandments" is an unholy mess but not without a few saving graces.
With a strong screen presence, Cox (TV's "Friends") makes the most of her dream-girl role. Quinn likewise relies on his skills to bring some depth to an edgy, difficult character. And LaPaglia is fun to watch playing the blowhard.
COMMANDMENTS
Gramercy Pictures
A Northern Lights Entertainment production
Writer-director Daniel Taplitz
Producers Michael Chinich, Joe Medjuck,
Daniel Goldberg
Executive producer Ivan Reitman
Director of photography Slawomir Idziak
Production designer Robin Standefer
Editor Michael Jablow
Costume designer John Dunn
Music Joseph Vitarelli
Casting Lynn Kressel
Color/stereo
Cast:
Seth Aidan Quinn
Rachel Courteney Cox
Harry Anthony LaPaglia
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 1/28/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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