Jurnee Smollett plays Samantha Booke in the film “The Great Debaters” (set at Wiley College in Texas during the Great Depression), who becomes the first woman selected by debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (played by Denzel Washington) to compete on the debate team, which defeats the University of Southern California’s team (changed to Harvard in [...]
Ellen Page and Diablo Cody on taking risks Ellen Page, to “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody: You have to take risks and go against conventional wisdom and structure. What was that like. Diablo Cody: I guess I didn’t see the point of adding another conventional story to the pile; there are so many. I guess I [...]
A flawed, messy character In her new film “The Savages,” written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, Laura Linney [imdb] plays Wendy Savage, an aspiring playwright and temp office worker. “She’s not a typical protagonist,” Linney says [in the article Anything but typical, by Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, Nov 29, 2007]. “She lies, she cheats, [...]
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