We’ve hunkered down
for the time being, and with the news being so grim and frightening, we got to
thinking about distractions. What better distraction is there than watching
movies?
Earlier this week,
the actor Peter Sarsgaard was a guest on The Late Show. We have not been
keeping up with his work in recent years, and at 49 years old he was barely recognizable,
with his thinner face and bald head. But the voice was familiar from the 2003
film, Shattered Glass. We really remember enjoying this movie 17 years
ago, so we decided to watch it. The following is excerpted from Wikipedia,
where I learned that Peter Sarsgaard and I share a birthday (19 years apart):
2003
marked a significant turning point in Sarsgaard's career, when he starred in
the feature film Shattered Glass. He depicted journalist Charles Lane, the lead editor of The New Republic. Shattered
Glass is based on the real events of journalist Stephen Glass'
career at The New Republic during the mid-1990s and his fall when his
widespread journalistic fraud is exposed… According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Peter
Sarsgaard is appealingly level, a stolid straight-shooter as Lane".[34] A
reviewer from the Chicago Tribune noted that Sarsgaard plays
Lane with "great subtlety and grace".[35] The
newspaper concluded with, "The character doesn't seethe with personal
resentment; when he does a slow burn, he conveys a much deeper sense of a man's
value system being violated past the breaking point."[35] Sarsgaard's
performance in the film earned him his first Golden Globe Award nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination.[36]
34.
Elliot, David (November 13,
2003). "Credibility Gap 'Shattered Glass' chronicles a media fraud who
shattered all around him". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
35.
Caro, Mark (November 6,
2003). "Movie review: 'Shattered Glass'".
Chicago Tribune.
Rotten Tomatoes had
given the film a 91%. It was every bit as enjoyable now as it was all those
years ago, and I highly recommend it as a great distraction in these trying
times.
We were supposed to have gone to a taping of The Late Show last evening. Those tickets are not easy to come by, and we were thrilled a couple of weeks ago to discover that we had in fact landed two of them. But, needless to say, a few days ago we decided not to go and sent a cancellation. From past experience, we know that they have a substantial “wait list,” because we have been on that list many times. We watched last night’s show early this morning, and, in one of those small world stories, the main guest was Hank Azaria, who played Michael Kelly, The New Republic editor, in the movie Shattered Glass. This was just a coincidence, I suppose, but still an amusing side note.
Stay well!
Love,
Rebecca
p.s. They announced on The Late Show that this Friday will
be their last performance in front of a live audience for the undetermined
future. So, I suspect when things get better, it will take another few years
for us to land those tickets!
No comments:
Post a Comment