CHANGELING: Reviews and Features in the Media

[Dan Dassow]

Globe and Mail link

When Vatican says no, Vancouver studio says yes
FIONA MORROW

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

May 15, 2009 at 4:47 PM EDT

Vancouver — "I'm sure when His Holiness the Pope gets the movie on Blu-ray, he's going to say: 'Wait a second! That's not the right statue.' He's going to realize."

Visual-effects supervisor Mark Breakspear is talking about how the Vancouver company he works for — CIS — recreated the inside of Rome's churches for Ron Howard's new movie, Angels & Demons. "We were never intending to do an architectural study," he continues. "So we didn't put statues everywhere they exist — we put them where they looked good." ...

That quality is why the company is fast becoming one of the industry leaders. They worked on the Harrison Ford thriller, Firewall, and Clint Eastwood's Changeling. Eastwood has returned to them for his next project, The Human Factor, about Nelson Mandela's post-apartheid presidency. Things are going so well, they're on a hiring drive — currently they employ 130 in Vancouver and about 70 people in their Los Angeles facility. ...

[Dan Dassow]

Backstage link

Top 25 Power Casting Directors in Film and TV
May 24, 2009

The following is a list of the top 25 Power Casting Directors in film and television. We began with more than 100 candidates. In some cases, collaborations were so closely tied that we considered multiple people as one entity. Several drafts later, all 25 spots were cast. ...

Ellen Chenoweth

Ellen Chenoweth was first bitten by the casting bug in the mid-1970s when she took an office job at the Actors Studio. "I was a young girl exploring possibilities in New York," she says. "Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, and Arthur Penn were all there. I was putting together casts for Studio projects and people started calling me from outside for recommendations."

Having since served as casting consigliere to Clint Eastwood, Barry Levinson, and the Coen brothers, Chenoweth remarks that her New York residence keeps her in touch with many stage actors. For Changeling, she auditioned several on tape and sent the footage to Eastwood.

In addition to casting, Chenoweth occasionally has a hand in selecting music for movies. "I have done it a few times, such as on Wag the Dog, and I love it." ...

[Dan Dassow]

TV Week (link)
Top 55 TV Programs for Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 2009
Posted by television
on August 27, 2009 at 6:00 am

SATURDAY, SEPT. 5, 2009

◊“Changeling” (9 p.m. on Cinemax): Clint Eastwood directs Angelina Jolie in this fact-inspired drama about a woman whose son vanishes in 1920s Los Angeles. Years later, detectives from the then-ethically challenged Los Angeles Police Department find a boy who claims to be hers, but she has her doubts. An activist (John Malkovich) is virtually the only person who supports her as others debate her maternal worthiness.

[Dan Dassow]

Society of Camera Operators (link)

In their own words: A Conversation with Stephen Campanelli, SOC on Changeling

In 1994, I ended up working with Jack Green, Clint’s Director of Photography on a movie we did in China. I figured if I work really hard on that movie that hopefully Jack would mention my name to Clint. Circumstances just happened and we all ended up in a cornfield in Iowa doing “Bridges of Madison County” and that was my first film with him. I went up to him and said, “Mr. Eastwood, it is a pleasure to work for you, thanks for having me.” He said, “Call me Clint.” And that was it. I started out a huge, huge fan of his and now I’ve been working with him for the last 15 years. It’s just insane.

To work on one of his films and then to go and work on somebody else’s film is a real night and day thing. Everybody in this industry, from the top on down, should visit a Clint Eastwood set to see how movies are made and should be made. Just trust everybody. Get the greatest crew you can, the greatest cast, the greatest scripts like he does and tell a story. That’s exactly what his forte is.

Clint has an absolute trust in everybody in his crew. He doesn’t get involved in anybody’s job. He knows that you are a professional; if you give him your opinion, he’ll believe you. He’ll trust you. ...

[Dan Dassow]

This article [Changeling (film)] will appear on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on January 11, 2011.

[KC]

That is an incredibly detailed piece of writing (well-documented too, I might add)!

[Dan Dassow]

That is an incredibly detailed piece of writing (well-documented too, I might add)!

I agree, KC; the pricipal editor for this article, Steve, did an excellent job. He is a great editor and a technical writer by trade. I was a secondary editor and enjoyed working with Steve.

[Dan Dassow]

Calgary Herald (link)

Angels and devils: the best and worst of movie moms
By Jamie Portman
May 7, 2011

There’s an old proverb that tells us that God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers. ...

That reminds us of the role that Hollywood has played both in celebrating mothers from heaven — and mothers from hell.

Hollywood has turned out a succession of memorable movies about memorable mothers — and more than a few monster moms. So with Mother’s Day on our doorstep, who are some of the best and worst screen mothers. ...

Angelina Jolie in Changeling (2008). Jolie delivers an emotionally powerful performance as a grief-stricken mother whose life turns into a nightmare when the Los Angeles police tries to pass off an imposter as her missing child. ...

Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) waits for the truth about her son’s disappearance from convicted serial killer Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner) in the provocative drama from director Clint Eastwood, Changeling.
Photograph by: Photo Credit: Tony Rivetti, Jr.