The "Youthquaker" and her Mentor: Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol finally reunite in a retrospective of their collaboration at FIDMarseille

E. Nina Rothe July 4, 2018

"I'm in love with everyone I've ever met in one way or another. I'm just a crazy, unhinged disaster of a human being." -- Edie Sedgwick

You can have your Kim Kardashians, your Gigi Hadids, your newly transformed princesses and Instagram sensations, I'll take Edie Sedgwick every day over any of them. In fact, nearly fifty years after her death, she remains for this child of the 70s a favorite fashion icon, an "It Girl" like no other and an example whose style and attitude I always keep in my consciousness.

So why has Sedgwick remained such a star, even though she could appear to have done little more than be born a socialite and die at age 28, of an overdose-slash-suicide after several stretches in mental institutions? Because she once met Andy Warhol, whom with his usual flair for discovering the broken yet utterly fascinating -- see Jean-Michel Basquiat and Candy Darling among many many more -- made of Sedgwick the original reality star. She is the predecessor of the Kardashians, only her reality was captured on film, by Warhol, a master artist of creation.

To Live an Honest Life: Filmmaker James Ivory

E. Nina Rothe June 21, 2018

I can't help but think of this iconic image of James Ivory at the Oscars this year, wearing the Andrew Mania designed shirt featuring the likeness of 'Call Me By Your Name' co-star Timothée Chalamet. It's everything it should be and more and it's the recognition this giant of the indie film world deserves. What Luchino Visconti was to cinema in the 1960s and 70s, James Ivory -- and his partner, the late Ismael Merchant -- have been to it since then. All the way to 2018! A film featuring either of their names means quality, beauty, poetry and most of all, cinematic dreams galore.

So I wanted to revisit this interview with the Grand Maestro himself, from 2016, which I managed to secure on the occasion of the re-release of 'Howards End', a touching beautiful film about human connections. And love, so much love. In between the serious questions, Ivory and I also exchanged some recommendations on current films to watch -- I suggested 'Elvis & Nixon' which has the feel of a Merchant Ivory production, starring Michael Shannon as, yes, Elvis Presley! -- and I shared my love for 'A Room with a View' the first film I bought on VHS tape, to own and cherish until video went away.

Matteo Garrone on 'Dogman' and the man who finally made the film happen, his actor Marcello Fonte

E. Nina Rothe May 20, 2018

The magic of Matteo Garrone's latest 'Dogman' lies in the Italian filmmaker's fantastical vision -- a creativity simply like no other in narrative cinema. There is something about how this Cannes Competition title was shot, almost surrealistic and old timey, and how the story has been told without compromise that left me breathless.

'Dogman' is a true collaboration between two exceptional individuals, Garrone as its director of course and his leading man Marcello Fonte, whom the filmmaker allows to steal the show without any ego or possessiveness to the story he wrote (along with Massimo Gaudioso and Ugo Chiti). In fact, Fonte manages to be even more mesmerizing than the dogs in 'Dogman' and those four legged creatures are plentiful and quite spellbinding themselves. Some would say that by the final image of 'Dogman' Fonte has become one of them, an ownerless dog who just lost his master.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BUNYA PRODUCTIONSEwen Leslie in a still from Warwick Thornton’s ‘Sweet Country’ — PHOTO COURTESY OF BUNYA PRODUCTIONS
Ewen Leslie in a still from Warwick Thornton’s ‘Sweet Country’

“People clapped when I died in Toronto”: Ewen Leslie on Playing the Perfect Baddie in Warwick Thornton’s ‘Sweet Country’

E. Nina Rothe April 13, 2018

“The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.” So Alfred Hitchcock once famously said and no one argues with the Master of Suspence.

Recently, I found that for me the triumph of Warwick Thornton’s ‘Sweet Country’ lies in Ewen Leslie’s performance as Harry March. Part dysfunctional sociopath, part shell-shocked soldier and a whole lot of smoldering angst to fill in the shades of grey in between, Leslie’s performance as the racist, sexual abuser March kicks off with a vengeance this poetic Indigenous Outback western with a Tarantino-esque twist.

I had the pleasure to interview Leslie in person a couple of years ago in Dubai, when ‘The Daughter’ played as part of the Dubai International Film Festival 2015 line-up. In person, the handsome Australian exudes a warmth and kindness which only add to his undeniable charm. And yet, here was this perfect gentleman being a complete bastard in ‘Sweet Country’. I mean, he wasn’t the model dad in ‘The Daughter’ either, but at least in Simon Stone’s film he upheld a certain moral standard. Not so in Thornton’s film, not at all, not as far as the eye can see — for the whole of maybe fifteen minutes he’s on the big screen! Leslie is every bit the perfect villain and more.

Photo courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia

“Being a woman I see as a great advantage”: Lucrecia Martel on ‘Zama’, Quentin Tarantino and Avoiding Gender Violence in Films

E. Nina Rothe April 7, 2018

While I interview Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel in Venice I can’t help but feel incredibly vulnerable. For one, I started writing about cinema and attending film festivals after her previous film ‘The Headless Woman’ was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. And I never had a chance to watch either ‘The Holy Girl’ or ‘La Ciénaga’ before that. So I’m a Martel virgin going into her latest ‘Zama’.

But mostly, I feel unguarded, bare in the presence of this quietly powerful woman. She is a filmmaker, an artist, an undeniable trendsetter — Martel smokes a cigar during our interview and of course, there are those trademark cool glasses she wears — but she is first and foremost a formidable woman. I gush constantly and I’ll admit hearing myself on tape to transcribe our interview afterwards is painful.

Jeff Goldblum photographed on opening night of the Berlinale 2018, on the red carpet for Wes Anderson's 'Isle of Dogs'Photo courtesy of Berlinale — Jeff Goldblum photographed on opening night of the Berlinale 2018, on the red carpet for Wes Anderson's 'Isle of Dogs'
Photo courtesy of Berlinale

The pastel hues of Jeff Goldblum: On watching 'Isle of Dogs' for the first time and Wes Anderson's "some kind of wonderful"

E. Nina Rothe March 23, 2018

I met Jeff Goldblum in Berlin, where his latest project, Wes Anderson's stop-motion animated masterpiece 'Isle of Dogs' premiered and kicked off the 68th edition of the Berlinale. The actor was dressed to the nines, as he typically is, in the past even having prompted a special quote from his three-time director, "I like the pastel hues of Jeff Goldblum –' That’s the title of something," which remains a personal favorite quote to describe Goldblum.

In person Goldblum is bigger than life but in a way that's not burly or self-important. He simply is the man with the constantly evolving good looks, the actor who has gotten better with age and who, at 65 years old, can still hold a table of jaded journalists spellbound. For the half hour we chatted with him, there seemed to be no one else in the room, even with Bill Murray and Liev Schreiber just feet away at other tables. That's how charismatic Goldblum is. It is a quality that definitely comes across whenever the actor is photographed, like the photographer captured the shot above.

A still from ‘Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!’

“I think movies can be revolutionary”: Morgan Spurlock Talks ‘Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!’

E. Nina Rothe March 3, 2018

Morgan Spurlock’s latest film ‘Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!’ is quite simply a perfectly truthful, wonderfully watchable, life-changing and good habit forming example of why movies will always show us the way forward.

Following is the interview I conducted with Spurlock in Dubai, where he talked about the mafia of “Big Chicken”, how poultry farmers get the short end of the nugget in the U.S. and how to vote for better food practices using the power of our wallets.

Claes Bang in a still from 'The Square' directed by Ruben Östlund

Claes Bang on doing sex scenes, working on the Oscar-nominated 'The Square' and the one word that defines him

E. Nina Rothe February 28, 2018

I meet Danish actor Claes Bang at the Dubai International Film Festival, at the height of the sexual harassment tidal wave of scandals that has engulfed the entertainment industry since early October 2017. Major Hollywood players keep falling around us, left and right and in fact, not even a week after my interview with Bang, another filmmaker whose film is featured at the festival, Morgan Spurlock, comes out with his own confession of wrongdoings, on Twitter.

Yet Bang seems unaffected by the hoopla, his soave behavior unchanged as he gazes deep into my eyes and with an almost unrelenting stare. He also sits quite close to me and doesn't care about crossing into my personal space often, during our interview. I don't mind one bit, it's actually refreshing to talk without reservations about sex with a spellbinding man I'll probably never meet again. I won't even have to go out with him, or have to sit through a glass of wine together, while I struggle to keep quiet and "let the man talk" -- as my BFF has often admonished me -- while sitting on my hands to avoid moving them around too much.

‘We Are Facing a Disaster’: Berlinale Winner Gianfranco Rosi Talks Fuocoammare

E. Nina Rothe February 10, 2018

Can a film change the world?

Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi’s latest masterpiece Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) was awarded the top prize at this year’s Berlinale and jury president Meryl Streep declared the film “urgent, imaginative and necessary filmmaking,” when handing him the Golden Bear. Fuocoammare also received the Ecumenical Prize and that jury released a statement saying that Fire at Sea is “a film that refuses to allow the status quo to go unquestioned.” If that isn’t changing the world through cinema, then I give up.

COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL ASAC

James Toback Gets Me, He Truly Gets Me? In ‘The Private Life of a Modern Woman’

E. Nina Rothe February 8, 2018

For me, James Toback’s ‘The Private Life of a Modern Woman’ — which he shot in just nine days and is only 70 minutes long — is the perfect film. Because it not only combines the talent of actress Sienna Miller with the filmmaker’s wonderful visual sense, but it also offers a view into what it’s like to be a woman in today’s America, and even more specifically in NYC. Those smug stares and taunting looks men bestow upon us on a daily basis to undo us from within, and the subtle violence we face in everyday life, coming at us from all directions, no male reviewer has caught it in their writing. But we women, we know. We feel it and now Toback filmed it, for all to see. If cinema is a way to decode the world around us, perhaps this is a step towards the genuine emancipation of the modern woman — because trust me, we still got a long long way to go to be truly free, to be exactly who we want to be. Even in our good ol’ U.S. of A.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL/ASAC

‘Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond’ in Venice: Will the real Jim Carrey please stand up

E. Nina Rothe February 7, 2018

On a recent sunny afternoon in Venice, I sat in the company of Jim Carrey in a corner of a shaded garden and found before me a human being who is both wise and charming, as well as a handsome fifty-something man who captured my imagination and filled my thoughts for days thereafter. Part spiritual guru, part Saint Francis — yes, there was a bee buzzing around him the entire time, the animal clearly enamored with his scent and the actor unaffected by the imminent danger — Carrey appeared like the romantic hero with a sense of humor I had come across so many years ago. In ‘Once Bitten’ what is probably one of his first and most forgettable films, when I was in my teens and he, well, super young too.

But a few days after our tranquil interview, when we talked to Carrey about his latest project ‘Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond’, a Vice production premiering at the Venice Film Festival, the actor pulled a red carpet prank at NY Fashion Week and all was hilariously-Jim-Carrey-right-with-the-world once more. I imagined Carrey giggling to himself after our talk, thinking “I got that journalist, I really got her good, now she thinks I’m a smooth, great looking mystic and will write the most beautiful piece about me.”

*Photo by Ben Rothstein © 2016 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Ratpac-Dune Entertainment Llc*

Actor Michael Shannon Redefines Fatherhood, Good & Evil in 'Midnight Special'

E. Nina Rothe February 7, 2018

Ladies, get a hold of some waterproof mascara, ‘cause you’ll need it!

In Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special, actor Michael Shannon gives everyone a daddy complex, by being the best father we all wished for in our youth, or that fantasy baby daddy we’ve dreamed about in the thick of the night. And the tears, well those are a fabulous byproduct of this charismatic actor’s latest, cathartic performance.

Stephen Dorff: ‘Today Is a Gift’

E. Nina Rothe February 7, 2018

Stephen Dorff has come a long way, from his early stint as a teenage heartthrob on TV sitcoms and playing through the darker side of characters, in sometimes forgettable films.

These days Dorff is navigating us comfortably through his own intoxicating brand of understated sensuality, in roles that span from his turn as discontented superstar Johnny Marco in Sofia Coppola’s touching 'Somewhere', to captured Israeli fighter pilot Yoni who becomes unlikely ally to a reluctant Palestinian teenager in Eran Riklis‘ latest masterpiece 'Zaytoun'. He is, easily, the modern thinking woman’s sex symbol.

COURTESY OF THE LOCARNO FILM FESTIVALIrrfan Khan in a still from Anup Singh’s ‘The Song of Scorpions’ — COURTESY OF THE LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL
Irrfan Khan in a still from Anup Singh’s ‘The Song of Scorpions’

Irrfan Khan in Locarno: “My only religion is telling stories.”

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

The last time I met Rajasthani-born superstar Irrfan Khan was in Abu Dhabi, and as we spoke, sitting in a busy hallway inside the grandiose Emirates Palace, waiters and chefs from India and Pakistan working for the hotel would approach him constantly, to ask for an autograph and get their picture taken alongside their idol. The actor indulged them every time, with grace and class.

PHOTO: LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL BY SAILAS VANETTI

Visionary Producer Michel Merkt in Locarno: “I would rather surprise than be expected.”

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

Visionary, global, modern, iconoclastic, young and cool, Michel Merkt has revolutionized the landscape of independent cinema internationally and changed the way we go to the movies. Whereas before films like ‘Toni Erdmann’ and ‘My Life as a Zucchini’ would have been relegated to the darkened rooms of arthouse movie theaters, they are now titles that trip off global audiences tongues as easily as any blockbuster or Hollywood rom-com. And for the past decade, producing an average of five titles per year, Merkt has guaranteed his place in the firmament of star film producers.

Olivier Assayas in Locarno: “Festivals are the place where movies are protected”

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

Apart from Olivier Assayas being one of the most perfectly articulate persons I’ve ever met, indulging each and every question without any sign of haughtiness or “I know better than thou” attitude — which of course is the case because I’m convinced the man knows everything! — personally, I’m a huge fan of his cinema. Assayas’ films are cinematic human mysteries, to be enjoyed on the big screen of course, yet to be re-watched, relished time and time again so that their magic can truly be absorbed. At the moment, I am obsessed with watching ‘Personal Shopper’ starring Kristen Stewart over and over again, each time discovering new images and uncovering new, pardon the pun, personal truths within it.

In-depth interviews and casual chats with the personalities and influencers of today, yesterday and tomorrow.

The "Youthquaker" and her Mentor: Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol finally reunite in a retrospective of their collaboration at FIDMarseille

To Live an Honest Life: Filmmaker James Ivory

Matteo Garrone on 'Dogman' and the man who finally made the film happen, his actor Marcello Fonte

“Being a woman I see as a great advantage”: Lucrecia Martel on ‘Zama’, Quentin Tarantino and Avoiding Gender Violence in Films

The pastel hues of Jeff Goldblum: On watching 'Isle of Dogs' for the first time and Wes Anderson's "some kind of wonderful"

“I think movies can be revolutionary”: Morgan Spurlock Talks ‘Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!’

Claes Bang on doing sex scenes, working on the Oscar-nominated 'The Square' and the one word that defines him

‘We Are Facing a Disaster’: Berlinale Winner Gianfranco Rosi Talks Fuocoammare

James Toback Gets Me, He Truly Gets Me? In ‘The Private Life of a Modern Woman’

‘Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond’ in Venice: Will the real Jim Carrey please stand up

Actor Michael Shannon Redefines Fatherhood, Good & Evil in 'Midnight Special'

Stephen Dorff: ‘Today Is a Gift’

Irrfan Khan in Locarno: “My only religion is telling stories.”

Visionary Producer Michel Merkt in Locarno: “I would rather surprise than be expected.”

Olivier Assayas in Locarno: “Festivals are the place where movies are protected”

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