Feature film "Boulevard" opens in New York
By Lauri Neff
NEW YORK (AP) --Dito Montiel says Robin Williams sometimes goofed around on set while filming "Boulevard," but the director says more often, the late actor spent the time between takes contemplating what his character would do next.
"Sometimes he'd do a show for sure. That's kind of him. Then sometimes he's sitting there really thinking about the character," says Montiel. "He really cared about the characters a lot."
"Boulevard," which opened in New York on Friday, is Williams' last dramatic role to be released following his death last summer.
In the film, which expands to other theaters on July 17, Williams plays a closeted gay man who comes out in his 60's and then leaves his lifelong love, his wife of 40 years, played by Kathy Baker.
Montiel says he was thrilled when he got a call saying Williams wanted to talk to him, but he never dreamed it would be about this indie film.
"I was like, 'Whoa, that's crazy,'" the director says, thinking maybe it was about a new "Mrs. Doubtfire," which was rumored to be up for a sequel.
Montiel says he "loved" working with Williams on "Boulevard" and even though he was an admirer, he was a bit surprised at how well Williams immersed himself in the role.
"He won an Academy Award for being a dramatic actor, so I was not that surprised he could tap into it," the director says. "I was surprised at how well he could, honestly, because you have this pre-conceived notion about a lot of famous people."
Montiel, who admits he still keeps some of the phone messages Williams left him, says it was "incredible" getting to know the actor while they worked on the film and says it was even better to hear Williams say he was pleased with his performance.
"All I kept thinking was, 'Man, I hope he really likes it' and he really liked it," Montiel says. "I miss him. It was really nice to make a movie with him."
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More