Headey Disses Gilliam

Lena Headey is still doing the press rounds for 300, and she's been quoted on the subject of Terry Gilliam.

On the subject of shooting The Brothers Grimm:

The director didn't want me in the role and let's just say he wasn't too subtle about showing his dislike for me. Once the film came out and didn't do so well, he blamed me for absolutely everything. It was pretty appalling, and it made me want to not work for a while.

Well, that's not fair. At all. She clearly wasn't Gilliam's first choice for the role - that was Samantha Morton - but the truth of how Gilliam felt about Lena's uneven performance is... a lot less simple. Bob McCabe's book Dreams and Nightmares: Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Grimm & Other Cautionary Tales of Hollywood covers it all in detail.

In essence, Headey turned in a substandard performance for weeks, but Gilliam persevered. She received a lot of coaching and support. Eventually, she started to play better. Gilliam then congratulated her - immediately - and their relationship began to thaw. She was notably happier on set from this point on. All of her remaining scenes were greatly improved...

...then, in the edit, some of Headey's leaden, lumpen work came back to gaunt Gilliam and Lesley Walker. They had to work around Headey, not with her. I suppose this had echoes of Kim Greist for Gilliam.

I'd be angry at her too. But does Gilliam go around bad mouthing her to the press? No, he praises her for what she finally acheived. He saves his criticisms for the genuine villains of the piece - Bob and Harvey Weinstein. If they hadn't been involved, Samantha Morton would have been in the role, anyway.

Fraser 3D Is A New Milestone

I love the Real D process. Very much. Indeed, the 3D version of Meet the Robinsons is one of my most eagerly anticipated releases of the year.

Next year, Eric Brevig's Journey 3D is to become the first live action film to be released in the format. Sign me up. One day, when my kids find 2D films antiquated and unappealing, and I myself consider at least new 2D films to be conceited in their disregard for my second eye/the third dimension, I'll enjoy remembering the beginnings of Real D.

In the new film, Brendan Fraser is to star as a geologist who with his teenage son and teenage son's teenage friends (it's a family film, then) follows the path Jules Verne took on his journey to the centre of the world. It's another one of those metatextual ploys, such as in Brothers Grimm, in which famous fictions are treated as or blended with history - something I have a weakness for, I must admit (and indeed, I have my own killer take on this subgenre safe and snug up my sleeve).

We also know, thanks to Variety, that Eric Brevig is directing and the script is by D. V. DeVincentis, one of the many Grosse Point Blank scribes, so nothing really off-putting has been announced about this project so far. Good.

We're still waiting for the official announcement that Brendan Fraser will not be returning for the third Mummy, but Journey 3D seems to be shaping as an easily superior replacement.