Stone Cold Pimpin'

BY TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
February 1, 2008 10:48 AM

Brad Bird's tenacity as a young man has paid off.
Born in Montana, he visited the Walt Disney Animation Studios when he was 11 years old and told animators there he would be one of them one day. Three years later, he turned up with a short film.
Not that he joined the payroll immediately -- he attended CalArts before taking a job he couldn't refuse at Disney (despite dropping out of CalArts, Bird says they love to have him back to speak to students).
Now, his films -- "The Iron Giant," "The Incredibles," and "Ratatouille" -- offer some of the greatest pleasures of the last ten years in terms of universal appeal, design, and storytelling. "Ratatouille" was denied a Best Picture Oscar nomination despite garnering rave reviews (he received Rottentomatoes.com's Golden Tomato award for the best-reviewed film of the year), but the film still managed five nominations from the Academy.

Brad Bird stands at far left with Patton Oswalt, middle, who voiced Rata's adorable lead character, Remy, seen here, and with one of the film's producers, Brad Lewis. Below, Bird stands with Peter O'Toole, who voiced the character of cranky food critic Anton Ego.
DISNEY PHOTOS

On Saturday, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival invites Bird for a "Conversations With" event, preceded by a screening of the documentary "The Pixar Story."
He first worked on 1981's "The Fox and Hound." It was there where he was mentored by some of the best classical animators of the era, but his real break came when Steven Spielberg asked him to script a live action episode of "Amazing Stories" in 1985. That led to a second episode, this time fully animated. "Family Dog" became his calling card: Bird could animate and tell a good story.
This episode led to executive consultant jobs on The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and then finally the chance to write and direct an animated feature, "The Iron Giant," based on the Ted Hughes book. Pixar took notice and offered Bird the step over into computer animation. In the 12 years since Pixar's "Toy Story," Bird says both technology and perceptions have changed.

"It's amazing," he says. "Look at the human characters in those (Toy Story and Ratatouille). It's very different. There's such control now, and so many controls the animator has at their disposal. (Computer Generation) is a tool like any other, but I think it's a really flexible, wonderful one.
"We are moving past an unfortunate period where studios thought that CG was the only way to be successful," he says. "It's not what you use to make the film, it's how you tell the story. It's the characters, and it's the graphic style. Now we have successful films that are not just CG, but traditional 2D animation, or stop-motion. All kinds of films can and should be made."
Bird now juggles the mantles of writer, director, and animator. But what of the young boy who wanted to draw cartoons?
"I can draw, I can storyboard, I can even design some characters if you hold a gun to my head," he says. "There are sections in all my films that I know specifically how it should look. I draw the scenes as I write them, I don't do it later.
"The writers' strike is seen by some as a symposium on us directors. But as a writer-director, it's its own continual process. I'm even writing in the editing room, when I'm reshaping the narrative in the final cut. I don't know, would you call that directing? Or writing?"
Although known for films that appeal to all ages, Bird says that having kids of his own hasn't changed the way he writes. He certainly wouldn't write for kids.
"No good things can come from that," he says. "You have to write for yourself. But it has helped me as a director in that it's taught me patience." As he is accustomed to doing, Bird lets out a hearty chuckle. "Adults, like children, seldom ask directly for what they want. Adults are just like kids, but with an ability to disguise what they think behind sympathetic patter."

CONVERSATION WITH BRAD BIRD, preceded by screening of 'The Pixar Story'
When: Screening begins at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, discussion at 6 p.m.
Where: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.
Cost: $13
Information: 963-0761 or www.sbiff.org

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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COURTESY PHOTO

TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 31, 2008 8:19 AM

For more then 30 years, actor Tommy Lee Jones has found a comfortable niche playing both hero and villain and characters that share a little bit of both.
He's played killer Gary Gilmore in "The Executioner's Song" -- his first Emmy Award -- and Loretta Lynn's husband in "Coal Miner's Daughter." He's been in some of 1990s biggest blockbusters -- "The Fugitive (his first Oscar, too, for Best Supporting Actor) and its sequel; "Men in Black" and its sequel.
But 2007 turned out to be a dramatically successful year for Mr. Jones as well. His grief-stricken father in Paul Haggis's "In the Valley of Elah" and his troubled sheriff in "No Country for Old Men," both embody a country that still knows what it takes to be great but fears it has irrevocably lost its way. The actor receives the American Riviera Award from Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Friday at the Lobero Theatre.
In interview, however, Mr. Jones remains serious and taciturn. And though he does own a ranch outside of San Antonio, he's reluctant to draw any comparisons between his characters and himself. "I don't identify with any of the characters I play," he says. "I think that professional objectivity is important to me."
Yet his desire to act and his big break stem from a desire to be something larger than life. Although his first film role was in "Love Story" (in which the Ryan O'Neil character was modeled on both Mr. Jones and his roommate at Harvard, Al Gore), Mr. Jones managed seven years in New York theater, some appearances in episodic TV drama, and then scored his breakthrough with Roger Corman, who cast him as Coley Blake in "Jackson County Jail."
"I left (New York City) saying what I really want to do . . . was play a character who gets to carry a big pistol and have a woman at his side. And I got to do that . . . and that's when I started making American movies. I earned enough money I could buy myself a second-hand pickup."
In answering several questions about acting, Mr. Jones' views are utilitarian. There's no mystery to it. It's a job. His ability to navigate a career without the typecasting is equally without special meaning. "I don't put it down to anything. I just do my best in the role."
What does animate Mr. Jones is talking about the San Antonio ranch, and even then, it's to note that it isn't a getaway -- there's hard work, too.
"When I'm there I drive around in my truck with a clipboard and make sure things get done. I try to be on hand for cattle working. I'm there when we buy cattle, and I deal with stocking rates. I could tell you more, but it would sound like Agriculture 101."
Mr. Jones' Hollywood clout and determination to tell stories has led to directing, once in 1995 ("The Good Old Boys") and in 2005 for "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada." It's a film he holds dear -- and one that few people have seen.
He urges his fans to seek it out.
Mr. Jones also holds rights to Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" and another novel adaptation he is trying to get off the ground, Ernest Hemingway's last novel, "Islands in the Stream."
"It was made into a bad movie once," Mr. Jones says. "But I believe there's a good movie in the book." He has co-written the script and plans to direct.
Regardless, he begins 2008 ready to work as usual. Does he have time to relax? The answer is typical Tommy Lee Jones:
"Well, I'm pretty well relaxed most of the time. I'm relaxed on set. The faster you work, the more you have to relax."

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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Actress Amy Ryan is all smiles as she walks the red carpet to receive her award at the Lobero Theatre on Wednesday night.
MIKE ELIASON / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 31, 2008 8:09 AM

Not one, but five upcoming actors received honors Wednesday night at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. In what one actor joked was a sort of "new kids on the block" of stars, the quintet made up of Casey Affleck, Ellen Page, Amy Ryan, Marion Cotillard and James McAvoy was honored with the new Virtuosos Award at a packed Lobero Theatre.
Four of the five actors are up for Academy Awards.
Mr. McAvoy may have been snubbed this year for an Oscar, but his performance in Joe Wright's "Atonement" has won him many adoring fans, as did his lead role in 2006's "The Last King of Scotland."
"Recognition is a bonus," he said of receiving awards, and added that the knowledge that people are seeing the film is what's important.
Mr. Affleck is Oscar-nominated for his supporting role in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," where he plays the title assassin. The role, he said, is "the first time I could play a character that complicated." And he noted that a "good chunk of time in the film" is devoted to each facet.
He followed up "Assassination" with "Gone Baby Gone," directed by his brother Ben, where he shares screen time with fellow honoree Amy Ryan.
Ms. Ryan, who flew in from sunny Spain to extra chilly Santa Barbara after shooting a film, co-stars in "Gone Baby Gone" as the drug-addicted mother of a missing child. The role earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination.
Asked if she saw any similar thread running through her four fellow honorees, the actress said, "I see that doe in the headlights look."
The youngest member of the group, Ellen Page, has come into the public's consciousness with the teen-pregnancy comedy "Juno," in which she plays the title character.
She has noted how the film earned her many new young, female fans that have seen the film "three to five times or more."
The character of Juno can hopefully show young women "the passion that we need" to get through that experience, she said.

Actor Casey Affleck, shown in a digital camera's viewfinder, is on his way to accept his award

Although Mr. McAvoy and Mr. Affleck attracted many excited fans outside on the red carpet, Marion Cotillard's fans serenaded her when she stepped out of her limousine. The song of choice was appropriate -- "La Vie En Rose" -- for the actress who portrays chanteuse Edith Piaf in the film of the same name.
Her transformation through the film from energetic street singer to crippled yet famous star earned her a Best Actress Oscar nod. Her research -- through books and film footage -- was broad, Ms. Cotillard said, and even though she loved the script there was so much to Piaf's life that "you could do a lot of movies about her."
The evening devoted time to each actor, with a career montage followed by an interview with film editor of the Hollywood Journal, Gregg Kilday.
At the end of the evening, all five shared space on the stage for further discussion.

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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"No Country for Old Men" star Javier Bardem talks to members of the media on the red carpet at the Arlington where he was present to receive the Montecito Award.
MICHAEL MORIATIS / NEWS-PRESS
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 29, 2008 7:26 AM

Although blessed with a leading-man face, actor Javier Bardem has spent his years in film disappearing into roles.
He has gained weight, lost hair and been aged 50 years through make-up artists. But this ability to metamorphose and disappear into character has earned the actor two Academy Award nominations, and he was winner of the Actor in a Supporting Role category at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild awards. And at this year's Santa Barbara International Film Festival Monday night at the Arlington Theatre, it led to the Montecito Award.
Mr. Bardem currently stars as the evil monster of a hitman, Anton Chigurh, in the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men." The role earned him his second Oscar nomination.
The actor, however, takes all the attention with a great deal of modesty.
"I guess they had some impression from (my character's) haircut and cattle gun," he said, as he stopped for questions on the red carpet.

Javier Bardem chats with SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling at the Arlington where he received the Montecito Award.

True, Chigurh's appearance and way of dispatching victims makes the picture. But as SBIFF Executive Artistic Director Roger Durling pointed out in his introduction of Mr. Bardem, it is the character under the pageboy haircut that gives us nightmares.
"I'm overwhelmed by the size of the theater . . . and by the size of the people," the actor joked of the three-quarters- filled Arlington. He said he was also happy that "somebody may be interested in what I'm doing."
Audiences have been interested since Mr. Bardem began acting on Spanish television in the '80s. A montage of clips highlighted his multifaceted career Monday night, from Spanish films rarely seen in America to his recent appearances in "The Sea Inside," "Love in the Time of Cholera," and "Collateral."
Outside the theater, Mr. Bardem said it was hard to watch himself in his films, even when he looks so different. Can he ever separate himself from the person on screen?
"I wish," he said, "but it's impossible. That's the test for an actor. But all you see is your stupid face making stupid faces."
His fans disagree.
"He's a class of actor who's so invested in a role that he disappears into it," said Peter Gelles, who came from Los Angeles for the show. "Peter Sellers was another actor like that."
"He so takes over aspects of a character . . . their mannerisms, that you don't recognize him," agreed Karoliina Tuovinen, who assisted in the editing of the montage, but is first and foremost a Bardem fan.
Woody Harrelson, Mr. Bardem's co-star in "No Country for Old Men," was the presenter of the award.
Mr. Bardem maintains strong ties to his home city of Madrid. Asked about learning English to gain more roles, he said that he still attends the same acting school that he's been at for 20 years. "I have the same teacher, too, Carlos Corazza."
For the actor, the attention is not just about his name, but that of his whole family, all of whom are actors or directors or tied to the arts. It was important, he said, because not long ago actors "were not allowed to be buried on sacred land," he noted, adding that the (Spanish Catholic) authorities considered them "as homosexuals and prostitutes."
Now, facing the attention and affection from the audience and the film festival, he said, "I feel like I can do anything."

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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From left, Jody Nelson, Allen Park and Diane Stevens were among the filmmakers whose documentaries were shown at the Marjorie Luke Theatre on Sunday.
MICHAEL MORIATIS / NEWS-PRESS
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 28, 2008 7:33 AM

Affordable equipment and the increasing number of filmmaking classes throughout Santa Barbara mean that more and more residents are directing and producing movies than ever before.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has been aware of this for many years now and includes a regular series of "Santa Barbara Filmmakers" within the fest, with shorts, experimental and documentary works receiving their own showings.
This year's Student Documentary section revealed how flexible the definition of both "student" and "documentary" can be.
Although Diane Stevens has been out of Brooks Institute for many years, her film "Don Riders" comes not just from her directing and producing hand, but also from the collective of high-school filmmakers and musicians whom she assembled for the project.
Ostensibly, the documentary focuses on Santa Barbara High School's low-rider bicycle club, where Latino youth build fabulously kitted-out (fully equipped) bicycles from scratch. Membership is contingent on keeping a 2.0 average or higher.
At 35 minutes, the doc stretches to show how the club has kept its members out of gangs, but also shows how the members utilized the free music studio at the Twelve35 Teen Center to create the film's soundtrack. The film itself is proof how art -- whether film or building bikes -- can make a difference.
Ms. Stevens got inspired after visiting the club's 2007 banquet. She pitched the idea of a film to the high school, suggesting that media students be the ones to shoot the footage. Two cliques that had never interacted now had to work together.
"The shoot was organized chaos," Ms. Stevens says. "The (film) students were scared as hell . . . when we went into the low riders' neighborhoods. But they've made major connections since and now a lot are friends."

Photo MICHAEL MORIATIS / NEWS-PRESS
Jody Nelson is a former physical education teacher who is currently a returning student at SBCC's SOMA classes.
She's earned her degree but continually takes classes, she says, to keep up with new technology.
As a result of several courses she took from instructor Curtis Bieber, she has produced and directed three shorts. "Iron Boy," which the SBIFF selected to show, focuses on a 9-year-old triathlete named Brynn Sargent. Ms. Nelson's film keeps it short and sweet, creating a portrait of this Sacramento native who speaks with the confidence and clarity of a man twice his age.
"I made the video for Curtis' class and turned it in on time," she says, "but Curtis pushed me to work on it more and send it out there."
Ms. Nelson's SBIFF showing demonstrates to her that her career shift is starting to pay off.
Allen Park's "Scene and Heard: A Musical History of Isla Vista" came out of similar circumstances.
This history of Isla Vista and its music scene started off as a project in Dana Driscoll's documentary class at UCSB, but when Mr. Park and his producing partner, Brett Service, hit a rich seam of subject matter, the two continued with the film as an independent study.
"We think it's a very important historical document," says Mr. Service of the film, which features a wide selection of archival footage on UCSB student life and of the evolution of its "student ghetto," where bands can spring out of nowhere and play to thousands of students on Del Playa and Anisquoyo Park a day later. Mr. Park includes interviews with Jack Johnson, Henry Sarria and Paul Marshall (of Strawberry Alarm Clock fame), as well as other musicians. As a short (25 minute) overview of a misunderstood part of larger Santa Barbara, the film "speaks for itself," according to Mr. Park.

The hour-long program of docs screens again on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at Center Stage Theater, 9:30 p.m. Those wanting tickets to the event can call 963-0761.

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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Golden Globe nominee Amy Ryan will be one of five performers recognized during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's Virtuosos Award ceremony
COURTESY PHOTO
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 28, 2008 7:30 AM

Few performers in Hollywood can claim overnight success. Amy Ryan isn't one of them either -- she paid her dues until a key minor role in the 2005 film "Capote" raised her profile.
Ms. Ryan played Marie, wife of Alvin Dewey, the Kansas Board of Investigation detective. The Deweys let Capote and Harper Lee stay at their home, and though these scenes are short, Ms. Ryan's Marie is no background character. The actress makes her feel like a living being and not a plot device.
"I had casting directors calling me back after that," Ms. Ryan told the News-Press. "They kept saying 'I didn't recognize you!' But I had been here all along."
Her tenacity has paid off with a breakout performance in Ben Affleck's "Gone Baby Gone," where she plays the complex Helene, the drug-addicted mother of the film's missing child.
Now with a Golden Globe nomination, Ms. Ryan's talent will be celebrated Wednesday at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's Virtuosos Award ceremony, where she will share the honor with four others: Casey Affleck, Marion Cotillard, James McAvoy and Ellen Page.
Ms. Ryan says she's getting used to the attention.
"I like the awards where they just announce the winners, like the NYFCC," she says (that's the New York Film Critics Circle, who awarded her Best Supporting Actress.) "You get a call and it's, 'Would you like to dress up and come to this party? We have an award for you.' Sure! I'd love to."
In between "Capote" and Mr. Affleck's crime drama hangs her best-known role, for those with HBO, anyway: As Officer Beatrice "Beadie" Russell on "The Wire." She became a central part of Season Two's sex-trafficking and port authority storyline, a patrol cop who rises to the occasion when a great crime is uncovered.
That show's gritty realism has been carried over to her work on "Gone Baby Gone."
"In terms of creating the character, I started with the words on the page and the words in the book," she said. "And then Ben and I talked a lot. I told him that she can't be all evil; she truly loves the daughter despite what happens. But she's a very guarded person, and very much into self-survival."
And though Ms. Ryan hails from Queens, N.Y., ("born and raised, yeah," she says stretching out the last word with an exaggerated accent for fun), she's managed to disappear into every character's voice and mannerisms, from "Capote's" Kansas to "The Wire's" Baltimore to "Gone Baby Gone's" Boston dialect.
"I couldn't have gotten the character right if we weren't filming in Boston," she said. "You can have a dialogue coach, but sitting down to lunch with these people is the best way to learn the accent."
Not to mention that the role is, as Ms. Ryan describes, a collaboration with Ben Affleck. She has nothing but praise for this actor-turned-director.
"He's the best," she says.
"I think it's his natural calling. He's gracious and generous and knows to surround himself with the best, such as John Toll, his (director of photography). He's also not shy enough to stop sometimes and say, 'Hey, I'm lost.' "
Ms. Ryan is wrapping up Paul Greengrass' next film, tentatively titled "Green Zone," with Matt Damon, and is looking forward to the premiere of Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling," where she shares scenes with SBIFF honoree Angelina Jolie.
Not a bad place to end up after 20 years of hard work.
"And right now," she said, "I'm seeing where this path leads me."

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 27, 2008 7:23 AM

Many in the audience who sat enthralled by the dark villainy of Anton Chigurh, the killing machine in the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men," may not have recognized Javier Bardem as the same actor who starred in Julian Schnabel's "Before Night Falls" as gay Cuban poet and dissident Reinaldo Arenas. The Arenas role earned Mr. Bardem a Golden Globe nomination; "No Country" won him one (for Best Supporting Actor).
He has another honor in the bag: the Montecito Award, presented by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The Spanish actor will pick up the award, created to honor a series of classic and standout performances, Monday night at the Lobero Theatre.
Mr. Bardem, 38, has been working in front of the camera since he was 6 -- not too much of a surprise when you consider his grandfather and uncle are both directors and his siblings also act. But there was also a time when he was a member of the Spanish national rugby team.
Foreign film buffs may recognize his first Spanish breakout role as the lover of Penelope Cruz's character in "Jam0x97n, jam0x97n" from 1992. It took until 2000 and "Before Night Falls" to break into American film, but he did so to obvious success.
Since then, he's made appearances in Michael Mann's "Collateral" and starred in "The Sea Inside," but even still, "No Country" feels like a revelation.
Mr. Bardem chooses carefully, some might say too carefully. His interviews and articles for previous films describe a reluctant actor who needed major convincing before taking a part.
In an interview with the News-Press, Mr. Bardem said he wasn't sure if his style is a quality or a curse.
"I guess it's about facing what you really are and knowing what you can bring to other people's process," he said. "It's best to know your limitations and good to step out if you're not the right guy. It's good to have no surprises."
Of course, this sounds odd coming from someone with Mr. Bardem's rèsumè -- and mid-sentence he reconsiders.
"But you never know what those surprises will be. That's the fun part. Some people love to jump off the cliff into the water without checking how deep it is," he said.
In "No Country For Old Men," Mr. Bardem's Chigurh chases Josh Brolin's Llewelyn Moss, who has stolen a bag of money from a drug deal gone bad. Chasing both is Tommy lee Jones' Sheriff Bell, who follows a trail of bodies left in Chigurh's wake.
Though the trio is connected by fate, the actors never share a scene together, except for a murky gunfight in a street.
"It was like we were doing three different movies," Mr. Bardem recalled.
"The only connection between all three is Kelly McDonald's character." (Ms. McDonald shares major, separate scenes with all three).
For Mr. Bardem, he has his own theory for why this works.
"They are three different sides of male behavior. Tommy is goodwill; Josh is an impulsive kind of violence; I play this kind of nonsense violence, just pure aggression . . . the movie is a statement of too much testosterone making things go very wrong."
Mr. Bardem recently wrapped on Woody Allen's latest film, "Vicky Christina Barcelona," shot in Barcelona, Spain.
"I have no idea what the finished movie will be like; that is up to Allen's magic," the actor said. "It was a great pleasure to work with Allen, but very demanding. He puts you in a position where you are . . . obliged to just 'be.' There is no time to 'act.' For my country, it is a big honor to have him shooting here."

The Javier Bardem tribute is 8 p.m. Monday at the Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St. Tickets are $65. For information and tickets, call 963-0761 or 963-4408, or log on to www.sbfilmfestival.org.

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MICHAEL MORIATIS / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 27, 2008 7:20 AM

From dressing like the Virgin Queen to playing Bob Dylan in drag, actress Cate Blanchett has had a busy 2007. And with both of those roles earning her Oscar nominations (Best Actress for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and Best Supporting Actress for "I'm Not There"), she was honored Saturday by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
She received the Modern Master Award in a tribute that included a look back on a career that includes nearly 40 films in about 13 years.
Despite the bad weather, film fans turned out in great numbers to see the program at the Lobero Theatre.
"I know we are honoring her as a Modern Master, but Cate is an incredibly young and vital person," said presenter Todd Haynes, director of "I'm Not There."
In the Bob Dylan-based fantasia, the actress plays the poet and singer in drag, when Mr. Dylan "was at his most androgynous," according to Mr. Haynes. The 1966 version of Mr. Dylan, the mysterious figure of D.A. Pennebaker's "Don't Look Back" and "Subterranean Homesick Blues," suited Ms. Blanchett, who has been adventurous in movies like Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes," where she played two versions of herself in deep conversation with each other.

Ms. Blanchett said she inhabited the Dylan character for three weeks.
"I lost a lot of weight and studied the raw footage of his press conferences from that time. Dylan's manager Jeff Rosen gave me a lot to watch."
If there was one song that helped her get into character, it was "Tombstone Blues," she said. "It was important to Todd that it be a liberating role, and not just mimicry."
Asked if she had any ill effects after playing "Bob" for all that time, she smiled and said, "The smoking! I'm not a smoker, and Dylan chain-smoked through the entire thing."
Last year and this year may well be one of Ms. Blanchett's busiest periods so far, she said. On top of these two roles, she spent time working on David Fincher's "The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button" (alongside her "Babel" co-star Brad Pitt) and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
Saturday's tribute, hosted by critic Leonard Maltin, looked back on a body of work that includes her breakthrough film, "Oscar and Lucinda" (1997), "Elizabeth" (1998), "The Talented Mr. Ripley," all three "Lord of the Rings" films and "Notes on a Scandal," which, along with "Elizabeth," earned her Oscar nominations.
It was 2005's "The Aviator," in which she played Katharine Hepburn, that earned Ms. Blanchett her first Oscar.

Ms. Blanchett, visibly pregnant in her green evening dress, took time to meet with fans before the show.
One of them, Matt Wallace, said he was lucky enough to have his festival pass signed by the actress.
"I said congratulations to her," said Mr. Wallace, who was impressed by the evening. "It's a really touching tribute. The festival puts a lot of time into these events, and the stars looked very touched by them."

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Julie Christie heads into the Lobero Theatre for a special evening in her honor where a question and answer session and a montage of film clips awaited her.
MICHAEL MORIATIS / PHOTOSNEWS-PRESS

TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 26, 2008 7:31 AM

"She is not a woman who lives in the past. She is not a woman who likes delving into the past. That is why this is a special evening."
Critic Leonard Maltin was speaking about the actress Julie Christie, whom the Santa Barbara International Film Festival honored in its second evening with a career-spanning tribute at the Lobero Theatre. The usually private Ms. Christie answered questions from Mr. Maltin at the near-capacity theater.
The actress is in the limelight thanks to her role in Sarah Polley's 2006 film, "Away From Her," which has earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress -- her fourth nomination. The others were for "Afterglow" (1997), "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971) and "Darling" (1965), which she turned into Oscar gold.
That film, though not her first, began her career, and led to a string of popular and critical hits. The list reads like a course of classic '60s and '70s cinema: "Doctor Zhivago," "Fahrenheit 451," "Far from the Madding Crowd," "Petulia," "The Go-Between," "Don't Look Now," "Shampoo" and "Heaven Can Wait."
"Even from her first films," said Mr. Maltin in his introduction, "she has always projected an intelligence and curiosity."

Director Norman Jewison and an unidentified friend stop to chat with the media and fans at the Lobero Theatre on Friday night.

"Away From Her" stars Ms. Christie as Fiona -- wife of a philandering husband -- who begins to succumb to Alzheimer's disease. She decides to check herself into a home rather than put her husband through the emotional upheaval of looking after her. The film, which screened at last year's festival and returned for a special screening earlier Friday, manages many levels of complexity and allows the actress an impressive spectrum of emotions.
Asked about the film on her brief but courteous red carpet appearance, Ms. Christie spoke less of herself and more about her director, Sarah Polley. The young actress-turned-director had worked under Atom Egoyan, one of Canada's most respected directors, and her debut film is very polished.
"She's very tenacious," said Ms. Christie. "She has a very clear vision of what she wants, and she will absolutely hold on to it. She's also great fun to work with. She's very funny and very lighthearted and creates a relaxed atmosphere on set. Which of course is what we actors love to have."
Asked about her favorite scene in the film as an actor, she smiled and said, "My two favorite scenes got cut out."
It was hard to tell if she was kidding.
"Away From Her" deals with Alzheimer's in a direct, sometimes unflattering way, but the star said that it serves a purpose.
"It has made me and many other people aware of mortality," she said. "Whether through Alzheimer's or not, (the film is) a way of making you prepared for one's own demise."
Although her rèsumè shows a steadily working actress, a film like "Away From Her" is called a "comeback," a notion Mr. Maltin tried to dispel in his introduction.
"Well, as for a comeback, she's never gone away," he said. "She works when the spirit moves her, and she chooses well."

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

Posted by Ted Mills at 07:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NIK BLASKOVICH PHOTO
Ted Mills
January 25, 2008 9:05 AM

Sigmund Freud once said, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." And sometimes a bar is just a bar. That is, while many of the bars we stop at offer pages of cocktails and their variations, some bars keep it simple. Real simple. Nobody's stopping by asking for a Blue Hawaii. So it was as our mixology party stepped into Monty's Sports Bar.
The bar takes up a humble space next to Woody's Barbecue in the Magnolia Shopping Center, a retail space that includes a supermarket, a health food store, a karate dojo and a fencing school (we want to meet the person for whom this combination makes for one-stop-shopping).
Don't let the dark windows fool you, the interior of Monty's is as well lit as a coffee shop, laden with announcements for game viewings, contests and of course, karaoke night .
But tonight it's slow, and Mo Boek stands behind the bar, at first wondering what we're all about. Well, we're all about sampling cocktails, and Boek doesn't let us down.
First up is a classic margarita, on the rocks and in a lowball glass, with the requisite-but-still-hair-raising rim of salt. Boek balanced the flavors just right, lining them up in opposition to the salt.
Boek has been tending bar at a number of Santa Barbara and Goleta locales for many decades.
Mo made us a Perfect Manhattan ("Perfect" in that it mixes both sweet and dry vermouth), which came in a charming small Martini glass. Many bars skimp on the vermouth, unbalancing the whiskey, but here (with Beam's Eight Star) the mix was correct.
We left with a straightforward, no-nonsense Martini. If you like your martinis light on the vermouth, then Mo's version might be for you.

VODKA MARTINI (Monty's style)
2 oz. Level vodka
1 oz. dry vermouth

Fill a glass half-full with crushed ice. Add vermouth and let sit for 20 seconds. Strain out most of the vermouth, then add vodka to remaining ice, add contents to shaker and agitate. Pour straight into martini glass and garnish with olive.

MONTY'S SPORTS BAR
5114 Hollister Ave.
683-1003
Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily

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By Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 25, 2008 8:38 AM

"The way people used to surf, the way we used to surf, was this: we were waiters, we were bus boys. And we'd save up money and go surfing." The voice belongs to surfing legend Shaun Tomson, executive producer of "Bustin' Down the Door," a historical documentary on the moment when surfing turned into a professional sport . . . and a huge money-making machine.
The last five years have not only been good for surf films, but also for serious studies of the sport and its history. "Bustin' Down the Door" unveils a transformative time and aims to appeal outside the usual cult audience, much like 2006's "Chasing the Lotus." The world premiere of the documentary Sunday at the Arlington aims to educate and to bring back together the original crew of men who changed the surfing world.

Surfing legends, from left, Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew, Mark Richards and Santa Barbara-based Shaun Tomson spent their younger years together, championing the surfing culture. The trio comes together again in Tomson's new film, "Bustin' Down the Door," showing Sunday in its world premiere debut at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Courtesy Photo

Along with Tomson, Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew and Mark Richards formed the core group of Australians and South Africans who had a simple dream: "All we wanted to do was prolong the surfing lifestyle," Tomson says. "We wanted to get paid to surf. It was a novel idea."
At the time -- 1975 -- Tomson and the others were between 19 and 21 years old. Tomson and his cousin were still attending university, pursuing degrees in business. They were also poised to become world class surfers, and with a little skill and nerve, they managed to infiltrate the Hawaiian surf culture, win contests, and set a standard that defined professional surfing.

Below, Tomson was photographed for a 1975 cover of Surfing Magazine.

In interview, Tomson remains cagey about the exact details of how this all came to pass within two years. He insists viewers attend the film to see how it all came about.
He is also fond of hinting at a darker history promised in the film. "We put our lives on the line in the water and we risked our lives on land," he says. "Success brought us big problems and took us down an unexpected road." That road, presumably, is in the film.
"We weren't disrespectful of Hawaii (and Hawaiian culture), but others had that sense about us," Tomson says. "We had zero respect within the mainstream industry, but once we brought professionalism and commerce into it, we gave (the higher class of surfer) the time to just focus on surfing. And therefore they improved."
Ironically, the industry Tomson and company helped create now churn out surf films that, he says, "exist to sell shorts and T-shirts. They're advertising campaigns, not films." "Bustin' Down the Door," directed by first-time filmmaker Jeremy Gosch and narrated by Edward Norton, funded itself independently, without corporate sponsorship.
Tomson went on to become a surf legend, winning South Africa's Gunston 500 six times in a row. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to start up Instinct Apparel and Solitude Clothing. Having settled in Santa Barbara 12 years ago, he has since become involved with the Surfrider Foundation and acts as chair of its advisory board.

Montecito resident Shaun Tomson, right, discusses soon-to-be-premiered "Bustin' Down the Door."

The other five members also had their successes. Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew heads the Association of Surfing Professionals. Mark Richards is considered one of the best board shapers. All have earned numerous titles.
And if luck will have it, all of them will be attending the premiere, a rare chance for this group to be in the same room.
"When I look at the movie, it's like looking at someone else's life . . . We all look so fragile," Tomson says. "I'm amazed that it all happened the way it did."

'BUSTIN' DOWN THE DOOR'
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Arlington Theatre,
1317 State Street
Tickets: $15
Information: 963-4408, www.bustindownthedoor.com

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

Posted by Ted Mills at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 25, 2008 8:37 AM

That particular time of year has fallen on us again. The mutable weather hovers between sun and rain. Despite the cloudy weather, unfamiliar people from southern cities wear sunglasses. When the wind rises it catches on laminated movie credentials hanging around necks, making them flutter in the breeze. People unfamiliar with State Street stumble out of dark theaters, amazed at what they've seen, then try to figure out where to eat for 30 minutes before diving in again.
Yes, it's the 23rd Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which, as you read this, has already been in town for one evening. But today, running through Feb. 3, is when the real schedule-juggling, stargazing, contact-making party begins.
Here's what the Film Festival seems to have learned from last year: don't mess with the formula, just add to it. Celebrity appearances and award presentations serve as a linchpin for each evening, and the list is formidable: Angelina Jolie, Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Ryan Gosling, Javier Bardem, Julie Christie and more. The Virtuosos Award -- new for 2008 -- honors five rising stars for the price of one. What a deal!
The series of panels -- on directing, producing, writing and more -- return in force this year, as does the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking competition, which often results in some of the quirkiest and freewheelin' short films in the festival . . . and they're homemade too.
The festival divides 215 films into several categories and sidebars -- the regulars, such as Latino Cinemedia, To the Maxxx (extreme sports films), and East x West (Asian cinema), plus new sidebars, such as Eastern Bloc -- again focusing on developments in sub-layers of film with their own devoted followers. And for kids (and families) there's the absolutely free Applebox, a weekend, morning-only fest of family films.
The festival tantalizes with the idea that maybe you'll see a brilliant, life-changing film and be the first one to know all about it. Not all films are guaranteed to have as much as a DVD shelf life, so pay attention, because those memories remain important.
Lastly, let's not forget what makes a festival great, other than the films -- the schmoozing, the celebrating and the party going. The mass gathering of the film tribes always is cause for much merriment. Can the festival top the Biltmore-set Will Smith party last year, of which people spoke in rapturous tones for days? Or Q's Sushi a Go-Go turning into three levels of hell, purgatory and heaven? We'll let you know in 10 days.
For a full schedule, check www.sbiff.org.

Ted's Top-10 checklist
With 215 films, so little time, what am I curious to see?
'The Unknown Woman'
Closing night film from the director of "Cinema Paradiso. One of his best, they are saying.
'In the Company of Actors'
Sure, I'd love to watch Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving rehearsing "Hedda Gabler," as this doc does.
'Vexille'
I missed last year's anime spectacular, "Paprika," and it took me months to catch up. Not this time.
'Away From Her'
Brilliant actor Sarah Polley turns out to be a brilliant director, I have been told by my sources.
'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'
Because I missed it when it passed through town. What can I say?
'Triangle'
Three Hong Kong directors for the price of one: Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnnie To!
'D Tour: A Tenacious D(ocumentary)'
The D Men make me laugh, who knows what awaits in a doc?
'Frank & Cindy'
What happened to the man behind OXO's one-hit wonder "Whirley Girl"? This doc sounds like a dysfunctional journey I'd like to take.
'George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead'
Yeah, I know I can wait for a regular release, but this is Romero!
'The Mourning Forest'
Naomi Kawase's film has sent online reviewers into comparisons with Mizoguchi and Kiarostami. I'm intrigued.

Note: My list is subject to change once the festival begins!

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 25, 2008 7:50 AM

Norman Jewison's thoughts on the film industry can be summed up in the title of his autobiography, released in 2005: "This Terrible Business Has Been Good To Me."
That is has, with five Oscar nominations for best director and a resume of blockbuster and Oscar-winning hits including "Moonstruck," "Fiddler on the Roof," "Rollerball," and the movie that first raised his profile in Hollywood, "In the Heat of the Night."
Yet the studio system that once gave Mr. Jewison his daring breaks has been replaced by corporate entities that, he says, are really only concerned with comic book sequels.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival honors Mr. Jewison by naming him Guest Director for 2008 and plans to screen three of his best-known films.
Born in Ontario, Canada, Mr. Jewison continues to cultivate young filmmakers through the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies in Toronto, which he founded. In an interview, he is lively, down to earth, and ready to let rip on the state of the business, although never with the taste of sour grapes.

News-Press: The prep for this interview included watching "The Thomas Crown Affair". . .
Norman Jewison: Ah! Thank you. It has that wonderful score by Michel Legrand, one of the best scores of any of my films. I love the chess scene (between Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway). It's a great piece of photography by Haskell Wexler, and a great piece of editing by Hal Ashby.
NP: It's striking that, in a film billed as a romance-thriller, Faye Dunaway's character only meets Thomas Crown once we're halfway through the movie.
NJ: In those days you could take your time with films. "The Thomas Crown Affair" moves gracefully. It's not choppy. So many films these days have that MTV editing. It's sad. I think you need time to tell a story. But now, Hollywood and the studios have been taken over by multinational corporations, and marketing forces are in control. Once that happened, American films lost their originality. Everything interesting has moved to independent films. These are films we talk about at the end of the year.
NP: You've said that betrayal is one of your favorite themes. Why is that?
NJ: When I was very young, about 4 or 5 years old, everybody called me "Jew-boy" or "Jew-y" because of my name. "Jewison": why, that means "son of a Jew." But at 6 or 7 years old, my mom took me aside and told me 'You're not Jewish! You're a Methodist!' And for some reason, I felt betrayed by it. . .I think that's why that may be a major theme. We've all been betrayed in our lives, by a girlfriend, by our family, by our jobs, or by our country. It pervades all my films.
NP: Your films have often had socially aware themes. Where does that come from?
NJ: When I started I was a Canadian, coming to New York at end of the '50s to work. My first opportunity to deal with issues like racism and immigration was on the CBS television special with Harry Belafonte. I became very involved in the battle for equality in '60s. A lot of us were. After the success of "In the Heat of the Night," I knew that racism was a subject I wanted to revisit. And I did with "A Soldier's Story" (1983) and "The Hurricane" (1999). But if you said 20 years ago that a black senator was going to be a viable candidate for president, I would have said you're crazy. We've watched America change, and three of (those films) have something to say about this transition. It's a remarkable time right now.
NP: Still, "The Hurricane" managed to anger a lot of people. (The film, which starred Denzel Washington as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, drew complaints and lawsuits that Jewison and his writer had ignored certain facts and taken liberties with others).
NJ: Yes! It's like they wanted to try him all over again. I couldn't believe the hate mail that the film generated, and so much of it from Newark, NJ. But "Hurricane" is a cold case of justice denied. That lingering racism is why it's remarkable that we can even make films like that. Denzel's performance is one of the best in any of my films.
NP: Do you cultivate up-and-coming directors?
NJ: Yes. I do spend a lot of time with new directors, producers and writers. I'm very proud of Sarah Polley, who directed "Away From Her." She spent time at our Canadian Film Center, which is like Canada's (American Film Institute). There's a point in a career when you can pass on all the information you know. I like that. When I met with Roger Durling, that's what he explained I would be doing at the fest.
NP: Who were your mentors?
NJ: It was a combination of people. William Wyler let me come to his sets before I even made a picture. Freddy Zinnemann was also very supportive. I showed him the first cut of "Fiddler on the Roof" to ask him what I should take out. There were many others. They would give you the whisper in the ear you needed, they would take you out to lunch. It's important, because filmmaking is such a difficult thing to teach.

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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Actress Abigail Breslin, co-star of the movie "Definitely, Maybe," talks to the media during the walk on the red carpet at the Arlington Theatre on Thursday night.
MICHAEL MORIATIS / NEWS-PRESS
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
January 25, 2008 7:45 AM

Torrential rain may have flooded the streets of Santa Barbara, but they did not deter the 23rd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival from celebrating its opening night with a star-studded ceremony.
With an entire block of State Street closed down in front of the historic Arlington Theatre, fans and press waited, not for limos, but for a VIP tent to produce stars onto the red carpet.
The festival, which runs through Feb. 3, hosts 215 features, including 21 world premieres, numerous shorts, nightly awards and tributes honoring some of Hollywood's most exciting actors and actresses, themed mini-festivals of genres like sports and nature documentaries, and panels of directors, producers and writers.
"This I what I envisioned five years ago (when I started), that we'd be an 'Oscar' festival,' " director Roger Durling said. "I'm having an out-of-body experience right now."
The opening-night film, "Definitely, Maybe," starring Ryan Reynolds and Abigail Breslin, is a romantic comedy about a father explaining his relationship history to his daughter on the eve on his impending divorce. Both Mr. Reynolds and Abigail ("Little Miss Sunshine") walked the red carpet, talking to fans, posing for photos, and answering questions, along with co-stars Derek Luke and Liane Balaban.
"Most of the scenes with Reynolds and Breslin take place in her character's bedroom," said director Adam Brooks, who also appeared and introduced his film. "So we set up a very cozy, nice place for her to work. Abigail is a very focused actress. She has enormous powers of concentration."
Also spotted on the red carpet Thursday evening: actress Shohreh Agdashloo and actor Dennis Franz. The former, who starred in "House of Sand and Fog," also sits on the festival's panel of judges.
The death on Tuesday of actor Heath Ledger hung over the festival, as only two years ago the actor, fresh off his Oscar-nominated role as Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," received the Breakthrough Performance of the Year Award. In his introduction to the event, Mr. Durling spoke to the audience about the 28-year-old's sudden passing.
"We have lost a member of our family," Mr. Durling said. "Please let's honor him for what he gave us . . . he gave us art." With that, Mr. Durling announced that this year's festival would be dedicated to Heath Ledger's memory.
As they did last year, the celebrity invitations announced at the beginning of the year mirrored the Oscar nominations that were announced this month. Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Ellen Page and Julie Christie have all earned Best Actor and Actress nominations; Casey Affleck, Javier Bardem, and Amy Ryan received Best Supporting Actor and Actress nominations (as did Mr. Jones and Ms. Blanchett, for different films). All seven will be in town during the festival to receive awards.
"We must have a little magic crystal ball," said Mr. Durling, noting that invites to the Santa Barbara festival typically go out in May -- long before Oscar nominations are announced. "The gods are looking after us."
Two films nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, "Mongol" and "The Counterfeiters," will also screen at the festival. Last year, a popular festival favorite, "The Lives of Others," went on to win that Oscar .
After the film, the opening night festivities spilled out into the still-tented street and Arlington foyer for a party. While the streets in the immediate vicinity were in blackout mode -- thanks to a storm -- the festival still had enough backup juice to keep the party going.

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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NIK BLASKOVICH PHOTO
Ted Mills
January 18, 2008 11:57 AM

You don't have to wait for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for Hollywood to come to Santa Barbara. In fact, Hollywood already works the bar at Trattoria Vittoria, the hot Italian restaurant in town. Charlie Manzo, or "Hollywood" to his fans, has been tipping and flipping tipple for the restaurant since its Valentine's Day grand opening. When he's not managing the bar here, he'll likely be found at Stateside where he DJs.
When our gang rolled up on Thursday night, we were lucky to grab the last seats at the end of the bar -- the rest of the restaurant was packed. Up first on the menu was the Mixed Berry, a mix of three flavored Stoli vodkas (blueberry, raspberry and black cherry), fresh muddled berries and a splash of Chambord. The drink comes served in a midnight blue martini glass with a sprig of mint, so none of us really knew what the cocktail looked like. Sweet up front, but with a tart, sour aftertaste -- whether this was a vagary of the sometimes-sour berries, we couldn't say.
Hollywood returned with a shooter/chaser called the Sweet Tart, a pleasing mix of Southern Comfort, Red Bull, fresh lime juice and orange juice, straight from his own recipe book. Southern Comfort and Red Bull make fine bedfellows, strangely enough, as they seem quite close on the taste spectrum.
A few more friends joined us, and soon the orders were coming two-fold. More drinks to sample? We were set. The peach bellini balances the tartness of the champagne with the sweetness of the peach puree. Hollywood disappeared down the far end of the bar near the classical "order-up" archway that looks into the kitchen, and returned with a blazingly red cocktail in a martini glass. At first the color threw us off as to what we were tasting, but soon we figured it out (or rather, Hollywood told us): a mix of Malibu rum, sour apple mix, cranberry juice and a dash of Sprite.
Stuck for a name for this just-realized concoction, we polled our companions and chose the obvious: Hollywood. And because we were surrounded by delicious food -- especially desserts -- our cocktail of the week choice has to go to the Liquid Tiramisu, which is, as they say about some power drinks, a meal in itself. Creamy, sweet and a little bitter, this is a beautiful cake-in-a-blender type of drink.

LIQUID TIRAMISU
2 oz. Espresso
2 oz. Faretti Biscotti
1 oz. Dulseda
1/2 oz. Vanilla Stoli Vodka
Combine in shaker and add ice. Shake and strain into martini glass.

Trattoria Vittoria
30 E. Victoria St.
962-5014, www.trattoriavittoria.com
Hours: Dinner: 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
Lunch:11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

Posted by Ted Mills at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

COURTESY PHOTO
By Ted Mills, News-Press Correspondent
January 18, 2008 11:47 AM

Charlayne Woodard comes from a tough, competitive background in storytelling -- her family.
"Sundays used to mean being at my grandfather's, surrounded by my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and my second cousins," she says. "And my granddaddy would start us off, and he'd tell a story, and I'd be thinking, how am I going to wow him."
Now Woodard wows audiences with her series of one-woman shows that spin tales of family and growing up. Her most recent play, "The Night Watchman," premieres in workshop form at this Saturday's Ojai Playwrights Conference, along with other works in progress from other writers.
"You couldn't be gentle with your stories around my granddaddy, or you'd be cut off," she says. "You had to bring it. And my family would jump in with questions, and I'd have to start all over again."
Woodard doesn't face audiences that tough anymore, but it gave her the training to stand up for herself and standout. Much later, when she left the world of New York theater for the Hollywood film industry, she found that her storytelling was attracting attention.
"People would keep saying, that's a great story, you should make it into a movie," she says. But to Woodard, that was just one tale among many. Actors weren't storytellers like they were on the East Coast, she realized, and if people seemed enthralled by her yarns, well then ?
Her first one-woman play went into workshop at a church retreat for women, where Woodard stood up in front of 450 women and, as she tells it, "450 women finished my sentences for me. Women were coming up afterwards to say, 'Thank you for telling my story.' "
That play became "Pretty Fire," a tale of Woodard's trips from her Albany, New York, home to her grandparents' home in the Deep South. The play premiered in 1992, and since then, she's returned to the storytelling format several times, with "Neat" in 1997, and "In Real Life" in 2000, as well as a multi-character drama, "Flight," in 2005.
Outside her appearances in her own plays, she has racked up a resumé of television appearances ("E.R." and "Law and Order," among others) and appearances in films such as "The Crucible," "Sunshine State," "Unbreakable," and "The Million Dollar Hotel." She also recently finished up a mentally exhausting role as Kate in Rebecca Bayla Taichman's modern-dress version of "The Taming of the Shrew."
"The Night Watchman" returns Woodard to stories of childhood, but she's assembling them around a question of the modern life of kids, not her own past.
"(Children) are assaulted with so much information these days," she says, "and it's a lot for them to synthesize ? I feel that there's less and less attention paid to the family unit.
"This is still an infant play, I haven't really talked it out," she says. Under Keith Bunin's direction, Woodard says she'll be using the chance to perform in Ojai as a way of shaping future incarnations of the play. "The audience becomes my scene partner," she says. "It's just between me and 400 folks."
Other artists at the Ojai Playwright Conference include Neil Patrick Harris, Sally Field, Noah Wyle, Allison Janney, and more. See www.ojaiplays.org for full schedule.

OJAI PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE
When: Readings begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dinner and Celebrity Auction 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Matilija Auditorium, 703 El Paseo Rd., Ojai (Readings), and 1105 N. Signal Street, Ojai
(Dinner, Celebrity Auction)
Cost: $65 to $225
Information: 646-6090, www.ojaiplays.org

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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NIK BLASKOVICH PHOTO
Ted Mills
January 11, 2008 11:04 AM

These have been hard times for the mixology crew -- the cold/flu illness won't go away, one of our drinking partners is on holiday, the rain and the freezing weather . . .
So it's nice to know, in these hard times, that two things stay constant: The delicious taste of a sweet, sweet cocktail and the cozy warmth of Dargan's Irish Pub & Restaurant.
Bartender Yvonne Owens puts in the kind of energy and speed to serve customers that would shame another person twice her size. Being Irish, she's in her element pulling Guinness here in the back room bar (Dargan's has two bars), which she's been doing most nights for over two years.
Dargan's indeed has a drinks menu and offers some strong martinis. But we're in Owens' hands now and her gears are turning. She first sets us up with an Irish Soda, a mad mix of Guinness, Coca-Cola, Kahlua and vanilla vodka. The key to the cocktail comes in getting enough Guinness to float and form its trademark creamy head, while underneath, the sweet liquors mix into something strong and refreshing.
"Is that enough Guinness?" Owens asks us, clearly concerned about making the drink just right, even as she juggles a bar becoming busier by degrees.
The most famous Irish shot is undoubtedly found at the bottom of a pint glass -- the remnants of an Irish Car Bomb (a shooter of Bailey's dropped into a half-pint of Guinness) -- but Owens wanted to show us more. So we wound up with something called The Reacharound, a drink surely designed to embarrass us.
In a shot glass, Owen mixed Stoli Blueberry, Stoli Vanilla, Chambord, soda water and fresh cream, then topped it with whipped cream. The "Reacharound" entails the friendly interlocking of arms and the simultaneous downing of the drink.
Seeing we could take the drink, Owens sent us out into the night with a cocktail created on the spot. We even got to name it, a first for this column. Next time you're at Dargan's, ask for a Dargan Dangler. Its creamy texture finishes off an evening meal and tastes like a chocolate covered orange. It has our blessing.

DARGAN DANGLER
2 parts Chambord
2 parts Bailey's Irish Cream
1 part Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
1 part Stoli Orange
1 part fresh whipped cream

Combine all in a shaker with ice, shake and strain into martini glass.

Dargan's Irish Pub & Restaurant
18 East Ortega St.
568-0702, www.dargans.com
Hours: 4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. weekdays, 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. weekends

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

Posted by Ted Mills at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Frogs huddle together in the frame of Ines Roberts' award-winning shot "Frog Assembly," above. Roberts, a longtime Santa Barbara resident, beat out 32,000 other contestants to land in the winner's circle for the 2007 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Roberts also was a finalist in 2003 with her piece "Waterfall Milford Sound Co.," below.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF INES ROBERTS
By Ted Mills, News-Press Correspondent
January 11, 2008 10:49 AM

Ines Labunski Roberts' first camera was a Zeiss Ikon, a small 35 mm camera that began this Polish-born woman's trip into photography, a life-long obsession that recently landed her in the winner's circle for the 2007 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
"I started in painting," Roberts says, "but it seemed to me that photography was all about seeing -- it was about constantly discovering. Wherever I go, I am an explorer."
Those years of exploring included a trip to the Sierra mountains, where walking back down to their car, Roberts and her husband passed a hot springs pool steaming in the middle of the snowy landscape. The water was boiling hot, too much for anybody to sit in, and the snow was freezing cold, but in a drainage pipe the water was just right. Not for humans, of course, but for a knot of small frogs.
Camera at the ready, Roberts tried not to disturb the frog party as she closed in on them. The final photograph, which seems to picture the amphibians in a watery, floating space away from nature, made the final list, where Roberts went up against 32,000 photographers who didn't have her eye or luck.
"It's very tough for a woman of my age to go up against professionals whose job it is to travel around the world," Roberts said.
Roberts, who is in her seventies, prefers to discuss the status of women photographers in general.
"It's only in this year's competition that there are more photos by women," she says, referring to the 2.2 percent increase in female entrants from last year to this year.
Sure, a handful of women have broken through to the mainstream (Diane Arbus and Annie Liebovitz for a start), but women remain unrepresented in the photography field, Roberts notes.

Maybe it has to do with her history. After picking up the camera, her travels (and marriage) led her to Scotland, where she was the only female member of a photo enthusiasts' club.
"At first I didn't want to learn all the technical things," she says. "All the men in the club wanted to talk about optics. I was more about aesthetics. But then somebody told me, if you don't know your tools, you will never get better."
Ever since then, her husband Gilbert Roberts has encouraged her. An engineer by profession -- he helped design mechanisms for the Hubble telescope -- he was an amateur photographer when he first met Ines.
"When he met me, he sold his camera," she says. "He told me there would be no use for it." She adds that recently he's once again picked up a Minolta.
Her life in Santa Barbara since settling here has been full of photographic successes. Roberts has been the subject of one-woman shows, several other awards, and taught workshops at UCSB from 1978 to 1990.
Like many photographers who have straddled the changes of the last 50 years, Roberts has slowly joined the digital revolution.
"It took me a long time to accept color film too," she says. "But digital gives you the most wonderful freedom."

©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press

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