Photo credit: George Kraychyk

 

Ben Affleck Takes Flight

 

Noir is back in fashion.  In the aptly titled Hollywoodland, Affleck revives the notoriously unresolved mystery of the silver screen’s Superman, George Reeves, who died of a single gunshot wound at 45.  It was widely reported that Reeves’ death was suicide, with a typecast and fading career theorized as the cause but 10 days later, two more bullet holes were discovered by police.  Nearly 50 years after the fact, speculation continues to surround his death and the case remains one of Hollywood’s most enduring mysteries.

 

Affleck, no stranger to the world of tabloids, broke into our consciousness with his Academy Award-winning script for Good Will Hunting and the well publicized romance with a certain Latina pop star.  He sympathized with the curse of celebrity:  “For me, there was a much larger responsibility even than that of playing a real person. This is a man who, in his life, would not get credit for being his own person.  I found that he had been in a car crash once and kind of fainted.  The newspapers then said, ‘Superman Faints at Sight of Own Blood.’  People were very flip and snide about him.  It was demeaning, and he deserved better.”

 

Already generating Oscar buzz, Affleck’s role as the doomed superhero is a departure from the testosterone-charged, comedic, and art-house films in his repertoire.  Producer Glen Williamson says of him: “I’ve worked with Ben before, and I hadn’t seen him as happily focused on his work as I did on Hollywoodland.  There were a lot of actors who wanted to play Reeves, but I knew Ben would identify with the role and be perfect for it.”

 

Director Allen Coulter says: “I started sending Ben Affleck materials on George Reeves as soon as he agreed to do the film.  He watched a hell of a lot more of the Adventures of Superman episodes than I did.  We found a tape of Reeves speaking as himself, not in-character.  Ben was fascinated by that, and would listen on-set to that tape or to excerpts from Reeves’ movies or television shows.  He’s do that right before we’d start shooting.  He learned Reeves’ voice, posture and manner.”

 

Academy Award winning actress Diane Lane plays Reeve’s love interest, Toni who was married to Edgar Mannix, the general manager of the legendary film studio MGM.  She was at least eight years older than Reeves, and although he as the celebrity, it was she who paid for his Hollywood Hills home and the lifestyle he enjoyed.  “At the time Toni came along in George’s life,” says Affleck, “she represented something that he wanted – a fresh start, and to feel younger and more alive.  In some ways, she used the fact that she gave him money, paid his expenses with her husband’s money, to control him.  Although I believe they really loved each other, ultimately she came to represent something to him that made him unhappy.  But once she was out of his life, his life went sideways.”

 

Allen Coulter's HOLLYWOODLAND, a Focus Features release.  Photos by George Kraychyk.

 

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SOUNDS

 

WORLD TRADE CENTER Craig Armstrong (SONY) Consistent and poignant, the score to Oliver Stone’s 9/11 flick is a gem from start to finish.  The string-heavy score is emotive and succeeds in standing alone if you haven’t seen the movie.  Golden Globe winning composer Craig Armstrong, known for Ray, Moulin Rouge and Love Actually, adds another memorable soundtrack to your player.
MASTERBEAT: SPF 2006 (Master Ent.) The 2-CD set of dance mixes has a distinctly European feel but also features such dance floor hits likes Leela James' Music (Eddie's Bring It Back Mix), Meleni Smith's Meet Me In The Bathroom (L.E.X. Bathroom Vox Mix), Inaya Day & China Ro’s Movin' Up.  The ever-popular DJ Brett Henrichsen brings the party home.
BOMBAY DUB ORCHESTRA Remixed EP (Six Degrees) Already #1 on the iTunes chart, this lush and seductive remix EP delivers the sounds of South Asian electronica through the mixing talents of masters like Thievery Corporation and Banco de Gaiai.  The brainchild of English musicians Andrew T. Mackay and Garry Hughes, Bombay Dub Orchestra fuses east and west flawlessly.