Word: scripted
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Robert Altman couldn't believe it. before him sat two talented actors, Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, with a script for a movie they wanted to direct together. "We'd talk for a while, and then he'd suddenly say, 'Now, you guys have never directed anything before, right?' And we'd say, 'Nope, nothing on film.' And we'd talk for 10 minutes, and he'd say, 'You never directed anything?'" recalls Scott, who worked with Altman on Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. "But in the end, he said, 'Oh well, it's not too damn hard anyway...
...accuracy and relativism get very complicated and, well, postmodern. All of which is stimulating, analytically speaking, but it can get dizzying as theater. Thankfully, there is enough good, old-fashioned sexual intrigue in both plots to keep the audience interested, even when the verbal dueling gets ridiculously complex. The script is also full of vicious one-liners. When the nubile and conniving Chloe is rejected by her would-be prey, another character remarks: "I wouldn't worry about Chloe. She's old enough to float on her back...
...Honey and Nick, Jesson and Souza tackle somewhat more difficult roles, for their characters seem, at first, to lack any of the depth and inner turmoil of their elder colleagues. Honey hops into and through the production with an acebandaged ankle, a successful addition to the original script (Albee never calls for her injury), be it an intentional move by the director, George O'Keefe, or a lucky unintentional slip-and-fall by Jesson herself. Perhaps portraying a ditz is difficult, but Jesson's performance, while adequate, leans toward the uninspired. Hubby Souza exudes the young preppiness of a just...
...other great wonder about Dole: How has someone who has managed to survive 36 years in Washington come this far in presidential politics without a tight circle of advisers around him with the stature to tell him what to do, when to straighten up, when to stick to the script no matter what? Maintaining a strict posture on his message and delicately balancing competing agendas are the essential first and second positions of presidential ballet. And it is vital to have a merciless coach or two. Ronald Reagan had them. So did George Bush. And as his campaign gathers speed...
Apparently, Molinari didn't know that the first time she was asked about marijuana, in 1992. She said she'd never smoked pot, leaving herself open to being nailed later for lying. Now she understands the drill. When she followed the prescribed script, she instantly became virtuous enough to open the convention. There were no complaints, even from those militant Christian-morality monitors I have come to think of as the Khomeini wing of the Republican Party. Dole and I went back to our Scotches...