The who's who of the summer's biggest films

X-Men: the Last Stand

The Starlet
X-Men: The Last Stand star Anna Paquin uses her super acting powers to move beyond misunderstood-teen roles

Call her intense, quirky, childlike or precocious if you must—just don’t call Anna Paquin a troubled teen. “I’ve done 200 shades of adolescent angst,” says the radiant New Yorker during an afternoon stop at the East Village tea shop Podunk. “And I’m happy to say that, at 23, I’m really not a teenager anymore. But I’ve had the good fortune of being able to use acting to thoroughly work out various aspects of my own adolescence.”

But Paquin has one more angsty-adolescent outing yet to play: Rogue, the tortured Southern superhero with a deadly touch, who makes her third big-screen appearance May 26 in the epic X-Men: The Last Stand.

Paquin’s own teen years were spent in the public eye. When she was only 11, the Canadian-born, New Zealand–raised child thespian won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1993’s The Piano. “By all fairness, one third of that award goes to [writer-director] Jane Campion and one third to Holly Hunter,” Paquin says. “I don’t feel like it’s fully my achievement—it’s the very good handling of a small child.” Since that memorable debut, the young veteran has carved out a distinct niche as the dark nymphet, whether in 2000’s Almost Famous, 2002’s 25th Hour or last year’s The Squid and the Whale. Her sharp, subtle performance in the latter film as Jeff Daniels’ student and sometime lover reaffirmed that she was anything but a “former child actor.”

After making ten films before the age of 18, Paquin decided making movies wasn’t completely fulfilling. So, in 2001, she made her stage debut, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, in Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living, which kicked off a slew of screwed-up, strung-out teenage parts in Broadway and Off Broadway plays. Her ongoing work on-stage has become the de facto acting school she never had. Stage rehearsals, she discovered, are far more rigorous and demanding than the quick prep of film shoots. “I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into,” she says. “But I really like the challenge.”

It was during a 2002 West End production of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth that Paquin caught the eye of its playwright-turned-filmmaker (writer of Gangs of New York and Analyze This), who wrote his next film with her in mind as the lead. Paquin was flabbergasted. “When my agent told me Kenny had written a script all about a young girl,” she says, “I was like, ‘Let me guess: Do they want me as her best friend?’?” The result is her first starring role: The lead in Margaret, slated for release this fall.

In Lonergan’s drama, Paquin plays a flirtatious Manhattan high schooler who catches the eye of an Upper West Side bus driver and unintentionally distracts him into running a red light and killing a pedestrian. Her subsequent guilt is nearly devastating, as she wrestles with her conscience about how to make amends. “She’s the most tormented, brutally intense character I’ve done,” Paquin says. “And it’s probably the last time I’m going to get away with playing that age—especially since I’m not being carded quite so much when I see R-rated movies.”

With a strong theatrical career under way, Paquin nonetheless agreed to return for a third X-Men film, although she had originally only agreed to make two. “I wasn’t bound to do anything past the first two X-Men films,” she says. “Most of us weren’t. And what was appealing about this one is that so many of us came back together. I wouldn’t have even considered it otherwise.”

As expected with any hotly anticipated comic-book sequel, the plot is under tight wraps, and Paquin is contractually sworn to secrecy (“I don’t want to lose the pinky fingers on both my hands!” she says with a giggle). Suffice it to say that Rogue has continued to grow and mature, even as the world finds itself a stage for the ultimate mutant smackdown. Adding to the ominous mix is the arrival of the resurrected Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), in the form of the dangerous Dark Phoenix.

This latest X-Men movie is officially the end of the trilogy, but executives at 20th Century Fox make cryptic references to potential spin-off pictures with characters such as Wolverine. While Paquin is open to the idea of future Rogue appearances, she’s just as happy to bid farewell to the franchise—especially since she won’t have to sport the character’s signature stripe of white hair anymore. “Oh man, I think it’s brutally ugly,” she says about the skunk streak that her character gained at the end of the first film. “In X2, I dyed my hair, and it kept turning yellow every few days. After five months of retouching, it just broke off into a bang. Really unattractive.” This third time was the charm: In Last Stand, she wears a hairpiece. “It’s really amazing how creative people can get when they don’t have an option,” she says.

Now that she’s put X-Men behind her, Paquin may finally get a chance to settle some unfinished business—specifically, a degree from New York’s Columbia University, where she has only completed her freshman year since enrolling in the fall of 2000. “I’m nowhere near being finished,” she says. “I’ve deferred multiple years. I’ve attempted to go back, and then ended up getting jobs I wanted to do. This is a really awesome period of time in one’s career if you’re young and female and in this particular industry.”

And whenever she decides to return to life as a college student, she’ll always have a miniature plastic doppelgänger as a reminder of her comic-book adventures. “I’m going to be playing with that Rogue action figure when I’m 75,” Paquin says. “Hey, look at me in hot black leather! See, I did have a great body—and I have the toy to prove it.”

COLD COMFORTRogue (Paquin) warms up to Iceman (Shawn Ashmore).

The Science of Sleep

The director

Michel Gondry got his start crafting visually inventive music videos (for Björk and Beck, among others) before directing 2004’s fantastical feature Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Gondry’s latest film, The Science of Sleep, hits theaters August 11.

Time Out Chicago: What qualities does a film director need?
Michel Gondry: You need to be able to control chaos.
TOC: Are you speaking metaphorically, or do you just mean it takes a good head for logistics?
MG: I mean both. You need to be able to absorb a lot of things from around you and infuse them into your work without thinking about it too much. A director is always being bombarded with choices: Is it B or A? Green or blue? My responses to this kind of question are almost unconscious.
TOC: Being decisive is more important than what decisions get made?
MG: Exactly—unless people are so sure of what they’re doing that they aren’t making decisions at all. There’s a kind of set where every part of the crew is dying to show off all they can do. You end up with a film where everyone is made up like a great painting and dressed in a marvelous costume, which ruins the story. When faced with this problem, I confuse the crew to the point that they end up doing the bare minimum instead.
TOC: So professionalism on the set is a major obstacle?
MG: I’m exaggerating for effect, because now I know people I can work with. But even with them, I use certain tricks. I don’t call “Cut!” for example, I just reset without stopping the camera. It uses 30 percent more film stock but the results are worth it. Because a lot of times an actor reaches his peak at the end of a take, and you want him to start again in the same mood. If you yell “Cut!” everybody turns away to deal with small technical details that don’t really matter, while the actor relaxes and gets lost.—Cliff Doerksen

HANDY MAN Gael García Bernal (right) puts up his dukes against co-worker Alain Chabat.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

The screenwriter

Don Payne moonlighted from his day job as a writer and producer on The Simpsons to turn out the script for the romantic comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend (out July 21), starring Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson.

Time Out Chicago: You’re a writer and producer for The Simpsons. Does that get you past any velvet ropes at the clubs?
Don Payne: Only at a comic-book convention.
TOC: A lot of people see screenwriting as the rote execution of formulas. Convince us that there’s more to it than “Insert stock character A into standard plot B.”
DP: Well, sometimes that works. But even then you have to get past all the distractions and sit down and do the work. The hardest thing for me is to force myself to write what I call the puke draft. That’s the first version you do quickly and badly. It is much easier to re-write it than it is to force yourself to get all the way through it.
TOC: Your script has superheroes, but you’ve mixed it with the comedy of when relationships go bad.
DP: I tell people that this movie really isn’t a superhero movie or even a superhero parody, it’s a romantic comedy that happens to have a superhero in it. Actually, it is kind of a twisted romantic comedy that happens to have a superhero in it.
TOC: English comedian Eddie Izzard plays your villain. That must have really been satisfying. I am a big Eddie Izzard fan; I’m sort of wondering why he isn’t…
DP:…used more? Yeah, I don’t know. He is really, really funny. And he is really smart. And he came up with a couple jokes on the set, which are great, and which I am happy to take credit for.
TOC: So, you’re telling me Eddie Izzard actually wrote this script? I didn’t even realize!
DP: Yeah, but you know what, my name is on it, I am getting the residual check, I’m fine with that.—Hank Sartin

BLOWN AWAY Luke Wilson takes aim at his ex, played by Uma Thurman.

Over the Hedge

The director (animation)

Tim Johnson parlayed his Northwestern lit degree into a career directing animated films like Antz. This summer, he’s one of the men behind the animated romp Over the Hedge (out May 19), featuring Bruce Willis, Steve Carell and Wanda Sykes.

Time Out Chicago: What’s the difference between a director of animated films and someone who directs live-action features?
Tim Johnson: It really is the same. Your job as a director of a motion picture, whether it is animated, stop action or live action, is to tell a story. So you work with a team of people to tell that story.
TOC: You had to direct the voice acting. Is there a special skill to that?
TJ: Well, [the stars] are just in front of a microphone in a rather gray room, usually. Your job is to not only help them craft a good performance, but to give them all the tools they are lacking from the environment.
TOC: If we’re taking a date to your movie, what should we say to sound smart?
TJ: Every single strand of hair is something the computer has to calculate. So when you see some images where there are ten furry characters on a backyard full of grass, you can tell your date, “I think there might have been 50 million polygons in that image there.”
TOC: That’s it! The use of the word polygons is sure to impress.
TJ: That is geek-chic right there.
TOC: I don’t know if that’s going to help me score or not…
TJ: But you will at least sound like you know what you’re doing.—Hank Sartin

BOYZ ON THE HOOD Over the Hedge’s cuddly critters do a little unconventional grocery shopping.

Superman Returns

The cinematographer

Newton Thomas Sigel has been behind the camera on everything from Three Kings to the first two X-Men movies. This summer, he teams with director Bryan Singer again for Superman Returns (out June 30).

Time Out Chicago: Superman Returns, like X-Men, is a special challenge for a cinematographer, because you have to make people comfortable believing in superheroes.
Newton Thomas Sigel:X-Men is kind of a rougher world, where the distinction between good and bad is not always so clear. In Superman Returns, there is a more nostalgic feel. What interests me about early Superman comics in the late ’30s and ’40s is the color palette, and the sort of pastel quality.
TOC: You have worked with Bryan Singer quite a lot. How do you two work together?
NTS: Some directors say, I want A and B and C. Others prefer it if you bring them choices and they say, I like B but not A. That’s Bryan. We do a trial-and-error period until he is comfortable with what I am giving him.
TOC: More movies today involve the use of computers and digital effects. How is that changing your job description?
NTS: It changes it tremendously. With Superman, so much of the look is being created for postproduction. The cinematographer had better learn to give up some of his ownership of that name because there are other people doing a lot of elements of the visual shot.
TOC: Is traditional film stock on the way out?
NTS: We’re not done, but it’s on the way out.
TOC: It’s going to be a very different environment.
NTS: I think from an audience point of view it will only get better: The quality of the projection and the quality of the original material will be sharper and clearer and more fantastic looking. You won’t necessarily know whether you are watching a movie shot on film projected on film, or a movie that was shot on film and projected digitally, or just all digital.—Hank Sartin

A KISS BEFORE FLYING Superman (Brandon Routh) locks lips with Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth).

Art School Confidential

The producer

In 1998, actor John Malkovich formed a film-production company called Mr. Mudd with seasoned execs Lianne Halfon and Russ Smith. The company’s tenth film, Art School Confidential, written by Dan Clowes and directed by Terry Zwigoff (who previously collaborated on Ghost World), is in theaters now.

Time Out Chicago: What do you do as a producer?
John Malkovich: It depends on the project. My partner Lianne was the point person on Art School Confidential while I was more the “development girl”—I commented on the script and the editing, and made the phone calls to get a cast together.
TOC: Are there satisfactions you get from producing that you don’t get from acting?
JM: Sure. Producers are the dream initiators: They exist—or ought to exist—to support a director’s vision. Taking responsibility for realizing that vision, fighting for it—that’s the job.
TOC: It’s about creative altruism for you?
JM: And creative expression, absolutely. That’s why
we’re involved with pretty much all of our films right from the inception. TOC: What are the essential attributes of a good producer?
JM: Attention to detail is key. Being really, really rich would help, because you always end up spending your fee getting the film made. And you need a good sense of humor, a very thick skin and an ability to take massive psychic punishment, because you are going to be kicked in the head every day.
TOC: Do you see yourself as possessing those traits?
JM: Well, we are working on it.—Cliff Doerksen

THE NAKED TRUTH Malkovich acts, produces and even does on-the-set physicals for the cast.

Wordplay

The subject

If you’re like us, you’ve wondered about the elusive editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle since the first time you got schooled by the Friday version. Turns out Will Shortz is 53 years young, and personable—funny, even. In the doc Wordplay (out June 23), he’s put under the microscope as the leader of the crossword culture.

Time Out Chicago: Was it weird going from anonymous crossword junkie to red-carpet celeb?
Will Shortz: The interviews are not new to me—they’re standard with my job and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. To see myself on a big screen—that was an unusual experience.
TOC: Several celebrity crossword fanatics make cameos in the film, including Bill Clinton. Were you aware that he was such a fan?
WS: I actually saw him solve a puzzle in six minutes and 54 seconds—a medium-level crossword. On my 50th birthday, he sent me a handwritten note saying, among other things, that the crossword is the one part of the paper he can get enjoyment with.
TOC: What does it take to be a good puzzler?
WS: You have to know a little about everything; if you’re too oddball you’re not going to be a great solver. A sense of humor helps a lot, too.
TOC: Are crosswords likely to become a fad with the release of Wordplay?
WS: This year’s tournament was the biggest turnout ever—498 contestants. Most people come back because it’s generally fun, no matter where you finish. So I wonder how [the film] is going to affect the turnout in future years. I would like as many people to come to the tournament as possible.—Lauren Viera

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

The costume DESIGNER

Spending hours measuring Johnny Depp’s inseam is just another day on the job for Penny Rose, who designed the dashing costumes for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its upcoming sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (out July 7). We ask Rose for tricks of her trade, but she is one tight-lipped costumer—especially when it comes to Keira Knightley’s cleavage.

Time Out Chicago: The Pirates costumes involve a lot of tight clothes, but there’s a lot of action. How do you design for the elegant, clean look but also allow for all that running, jumping and swordplay?
Penny Rose: When you’re fitting them, you make them go through the motions of what they have to do, and you make sure every aspect of the garment works.
TOC: Did any of the actors beg not to wear this or that?
PR: No. It’s the most fabulous group of actors imaginable. They’re collaborative; they will stand still for hours. From that point of view, it’s a dream job.
TOC: Let’s talk about Keira Knightley. She’s not exactly buxom, but in these movies, she’s very curvaceous.
PR: That’s because I’m clever.
TOC: What’s your secret?
PR: I’m not allowed to tell you.
TOC: Our small-chested friends are going to be so disappointed. Did you modify the costumes for recurring characters in the second film?
PR: We’ve got completely different looks in the second, particularly Keira. Johnny stayed the same, but everyone else definitely moved in other directions. Will was a little blacksmith boy, and now he’s more of a pirate. So, before we had him dress very simply, and now we made him more flamboyant.
TOC: Speaking of flamboyant, pirate movies often have a homoerotic aspect.
PR: Bullshit.
TOC: You don’t think that Johnny Depp’s character and Orlando Bloom’s character might just run off together?
PR: No, I do not. What absolute drivel. I have to say one thing: This has got to stop. This wretched cowboy movie now has everyone reading everything as potentially [gay]. It’s rubbish. These are big, swashbuckling, mean pirates. They are not limp-wristed in any shape or form. —Kevin Aeh

YOU DID WHAT WITH THE BOOTY?It’s a pirate’s life for Bloom, Knightley and Depp (left to right).

John Tucker Must Die

The TV transplant

Best known as the boy-toy gardener on Desperate Housewives, Jesse Metcalfe makes the leap to the big screen this summer in the teen comedy John Tucker Must Die (out July 28), playing the eponymous lothario whose exes set out to teach him a lesson.

Time Out Chicago: You did a lot of time on soap operas, some guest appearances on Smallville and you did Desperate Housewives. How was shooting a feature film different from TV?
Jesse Metcalfe: Well, shooting a film is a lot slower pace than television. In television they really turn it out. Soap operas are shooting sometimes 30 pages a day. And on a film, you’re lucky if you shoot three.
TOC: You have played a lot of teenagers, but you are in your late twenties. Do you find it hard to get back to the teenage feeling?
JM: No, I find it easy actually. From an acting standpoint, it really is just a lot of fun. You get to relive high school in a weird way.
TOC: You have a big scene in this film in a woman’s thong. Do you find it awkward filming that stuff?
JM: I guess I have become kind of accustomed to it. You know, so, I don’t really get that embarrassed about much. Maybe it is from doing these kinds of scenes for the past couple of years. But hey, if you can run down a hallway in a woman’s thong in front of about a hundred extras, you can do just about anything. Although it is a little embarrassing, that first take, it is pretty liberating at the same time. You have to commit yourself. If you don’t commit yourself to it fully, that is when you get embarrassed.
TOC: So one question that I am compelled to ask: chest waxing? Do you shave or wax?
JM: Can we skip that one?—Hank Sartin

THREE’S A CROWD Metcalfe and squeeze Arielle Kebbel aren’t ready for waitress Brittany Snow to take their orders just yet.