answers to nothing is a 2011 drama mystery film written and directed by matthew leutwyler .

the film stars elizabeth mitchell , dane cook , julie benz , and barbara hershey .

answers to nothing was released in theaters by lionsgate and roadside attractions on december 2 , 2011 .

answers to nothing ( film )

any movie that calls itself answers to nothing ought to be 100 percent sure it ' s about something .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing answers to nothing near you .
with his latest effort ' answers to nothing , ' co - writer - director matthew leutwyler appears to have confused glum with profound .
i just seen answers to nothing today on my dvr after i recorded it on hbo yesterday night and i was pleasantly surprised .
“answers to nothing” is rated r ( under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian ) . it has strong language and blunt sexual situations .
now available to the public is not the original film which micheaux screened for film audiences in january 1920 .
answers to nothing is so many things in one but most of all it is a roller coaster of emotions . as a vignette film it spends just enough time on each character so that you still . . .
some fine performances and an embrace of understatement make matthew leutwyler ' s oddly titled
answers to nothing
a respectable entry in the multiple - stories - that - interlock genre .
when the film begins everything seems to be typical when it comes to agency .
from the setup of interconnected story lines , i was expecting something more along the lines of crash , where everything feeds into one final outcome , but answers to nothing didn ' t . . .
most black - owned film companies of the post - world war i era—including the frederick douglas film corporation , the unique film company , and the rosebud film corporation—presented african american men as embodiments of good and evil , either as epitomes of virtue or dastardly ogres .
” challenges what we deem as a stereotypical normal children’s film and proves to be progressive .
i think that the film wants the audience to walk away with a feeling of possibility .
in closing , peter pan is a complicated film that displays agency and interpellation .
some fine performances and an embrace of understatement make matthew leutwyler’s oddly titled “answers to nothing” a respectable entry in the multiple - stories - that - interlock genre . it’s a bit jarring that the event around which these delicately told vignettes coalesce — the kidnapping of a girl — seems borrowed from a cheesy police thriller , but the film has its satisfactions nonetheless .
there ' s a lack of real conclusiveness to many of the film ' s characters and situations .
when an 11 - year - old girl goes missing in los angeles , a chain of events is unleashed that will affect several strangers all struggling to find their own paths to redemption . dane cook , barbara hershey and julie benz , star in this tale of lost souls who will together find the answers to nothing .
dane cook leads a stellar cast , including elizabeth mitchell ( “lost” ) , julie benz ( “dexter” ) , zach gilford ( “friday night lights” ) , and barbara hershey ( black swan ) , as a man struggling with his own infidelity in answers to nothing . set against the backdrop of a missing girl case , the film tells interweaving stories of several los angelenos trying to do the right thing .
david denby has been a staff writer and film critic at the new yorker since 1998 .
while it is odd to think of a film having both interpellation and agency , i am suggesting just that .
this statement reaffirms the idea of interpellation of typical male and female roles in this film . ”
dane cook leads a stellar cast , including elizabeth mitchell ( “lost” ) , julie benz ( “dexter” ) , zach gilford ( “friday night lights” ) , and barbara hershey ( black swan ) , as a man struggling with his own infidelity in answers to nothing . set against the backdrop of a missing girl case , the film tells interweaving stories of several los angelenos trying to do the right thing . . . . full synopsis »
this leaves the tree as nothing more but a stump , which is what is left of a tree after it was chopped down and killed .
after all , a young lady should not think of adventure , but marriage according to the interpellation in this film .
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a journal for multimedia history article on oscar micheaux ' s film , within our gates
) .
the power that wendy felt at the beginning of the film seemed repressive to her ; however , it has become ideological .
4 . the film spins an entirely fictitious account of dawn brancheau’s death in order to advance its anti - captivity narrative .
while there are several indications in the film that boys are better rescuers , and that women are just emotional and have to have the assistance of a male , i don’t feel that this is the main message of the film .
interpellation clearly occurs in the beginning of the film while the children are with their parents and aunt millicent .
the eight - reel film was produced in 1919 and released in chicago and detroit in january , 1920 .
the storyline to this film is similar to that of pulp fiction , magnolia , crash , etc . thematically speaking , it is more like crash .
6 . the film falsely suggests that important facts about tilikum were concealed from his trainers and that seaworld is indifferent to trainer safety .
imagery . the entire film is centered on a movie the children go see , called “asses of fire . ”
in fact , the pictures include almost no object in that is not directly involved in the story , meaning there is nothing used in the background of the pictures to fill the space .
also , i will explain how the film is adult - centered in spite of the agency the child characters possess .
however , i am also suggesting that there are two separate worlds in this film in which the two issues occur .
decides to travel to the “city” to find “warrior” bugs to help fight off the grasshoppers .
helps establish micheaux ' s significant contributions to american cinema , african american cinema , and our understanding of changing portrayals of black manhood in film .
there comes a moment in many a comedy star’s life when he decides it’s time to try his luck with dramatic acting . apparently , that point is now for comedian / actor dane cook . though he’s made his name with mediocre comedies like good luck chuck and employee of the month , cook took on a more dramatic part in 2007’s dan in real life , and now he’s doing his darkest turn yet in answers to nothing .
8 . in addition to those directly involved , many others both inside and outside germany knew that terrible crimes were being committed against jews , yet did nothing to stop them . did these people have a responsibility to act ? if not , why not ?
to make these ultimately false and misleading points , the film conveys falsehoods , manipulates viewers emotionally and relies on questionable filmmaking techniques to create “facts” that support its point of view .
ethics on film : discussion of
the act of killing
alex woodson , carnegie council it is not hyperbole to call this documentary an epochal film . it brings viewers into the minds of mass murderers , illuminates a horrific piece of recent history that few know anything about , and could end up ushering in a new era in indonesian politics and identity . ( ethics on film , august 2013 . article )
when watching the film and trying to figure out who has agency over whom it seemed difficult because of the fact that there are several characters that are involved .
aunt millicent clearly indicates what role she believes wendy should possess in society with her reply , “but child , novelists are not highly thought of in good society , and there is nothing so difficult to marry as a novelist . ”
the film misrepresents , through the use of footage four decades old , that seaworld takes a cavalier approach to safety and qualifications of its trainers . this is completely untrue . the path to becoming a killer whale trainer is rigorous and lengthy : it takes years to be qualified to work with killer whales . the film ignores all the steps and protocols trainers must take in order to be promoted through the ranks .
however , her desire to fly could also be attributed to interpellation—she wants to be able to do what everyone else is able to .
to take the pig to a cottage in the forest to keep her safe .
unfortunately , those alternative positions are never fully articulated in the film , nor , for that matter , are any specific problems with the revised chronology . by short handing particular perspectives , the film becomes biased towards rohl’s revised chronological solution , when other solutions could have been discussed . when i asked mahoney media why that was the case , steve law , the film’s co - writer , indicated that test audiences wound up becoming fatigued by “to much information . ” ultimately he indicated that “to us , the emphasis given in the film to the general idea of chronological revision not only was more cinematically engaging , but also has the most explanatory potency . ”
anya is a strong willed , brave , and intelligent girl . through out the film she is learning to become russian royalty , all the character surrounding her expect her to become the princess anastasia .
5 . to advance both its anti - captivity narrative and its false theories surrounding ms . brancheau’s death , the film falsely suggests that tilikum had become psychotic and aggressive .
5 . to advance both its anti - captivity narrative and its false theories surrounding ms . brancheau’s death , the film falsely suggests that tilikum had become psychotic and aggressive :
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4 . the film spins an entirely fictitious account of dawn brancheau’s death in order to advance its anti - captivity narrative . to support this bias slant , and specifically the idea that tilikum was a psychotic and violent animal because of captivity , the film engages in a series of false and misleading statements about the circumstances of ms . brancheau’s death :
home alone does a great deal of displaying typical child case prototypes throughout the film . adult perceptions of children are especially construed through the two burglars ,
it’s no surprise that the film is billed as “provocative” and “game - changing , ”mahoney opts to change everything we think we know about egyptian history in order to get it to match more closely with the biblical chronology . but , contrary to what the filmmakers would have you believe , there is nothing new here , just a dejected theory . indeed , most of the scholars interviewed in the film , even those who believe in a traditional biblical dating of the exodus , reject this revised chronology and opt for less - sensational , less provocative , less game changing , more accurate and more nuanced descriptions of the archaeological evidence of the exodus .
family is portrayed as poor and unhappy . nothing seems to go right for them , mainly because of the fact that they don’t have any material wealth . the rich family holds the happiness of the poor family in its hands . the rich family has
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
though there may be some sarcasm meant by the writers of the film it still says to society that it is okay to have your own opinions as a women but when it comes to her husband she better be obedient and believe what he says .
like far too many comedians - turned - actors , cook mistakes a dour expression and permanent frown for a dramatic performance . cook is miscast and unconvincing as a husband , therapist , and inveterate brooder , but his incongruous presence is all that sets this film apart from the never - ending flood of everything - is - connected crash / magnolia / amores perros knock - offs littering undiscriminating film festivals . answers to nothing ’s thinly drawn characters orbit one another like fading satellites until their stories intersect and overlap in arbitrary ways . it doesn’t build to a climax so much as it winds down with a halfhearted shrug and a few feeble false shots of hope . ( maybe we aren’t so different after all ! ) films like these have taught us that suffering is the incontrovertible existential fate of attractive los angeles residents . must these dour exercises in alienation make audiences suffer as well ?
it is something used to make the readers rethink how they are conditioned to react to books .
in the 2003 universal pictures version of “peter pan , ” the children are depicted as strong , independent individuals with their own agency throughout a great portion of the film .
2 . the film relies on former seaworld employees , most of whom have little experience with killer whales , and others who haven’t worked at seaworld in nearly 20 years .
and what’s it all about ? oh , you know : a bunch of depressed and sinful people are seeking redemption in the big city , occasionally affecting others while learning lessons they probably don’t deserve . built around lackluster “a - ha ! ” moments that are sprinkled throughout a laborious 123 - minute running time , the movie skips from scene to scene , intro to intro , dropping breadcrumbs with the nagging promise that all will come together . but rarely have the ends of such a structure felt so daft and unrewarding , and it’s anyone’s guess what one asinine moral or random affirmation has to do with the other . why does ryan observe that , “intellectually [ he ] knows what love is , but emotionally [ he ] forgot” ? why is his estranged , overseas father stringing his lonely mother along ? why is the nerdy gamer prone to kumbaya vigilantism ? speculation is futile , as plausible , worthwhile answers are the last things answers to nothing is prepared to give . not that you really cared anyway .
as the story the progresses the boy’s age drastically changes from child to teenager to adult to elder to a frail dying old man .
is significant because it remains the oldest surviving example of african american feature filmmaking . it is also critical to understanding micheaux ' s oeuvre because of the many ways he reworked the film after its original release .
the film similarly trades in fictional theories about the circumstances surrounding the death of daniel dukes , an intruder who broke into the back area of shamu stadium after hours and jumped into tilikum’s pool . the film claims there was a “public relations version” of the death and that mr . dukes’ death was somehow caused by an act of aggression by tilikum . a review of the official sheriff’s report reveals that virtually nothing said in the film about our conduct that day is true . in fact , naomi rose , ph . d . , an outspoken critic of seaworld who actually appears in the credits to blackfish , was quoted after the incident as saying “ since the body was found on tilikum’s back , it’s unlikely the whale was behaving aggressively…… . the whale was probably playing with the man and continued to play with the body after the man died . ”
the film falsely suggests that seaworld “blamed” ms . brancheau for her death . we have never done that . she was our colleague and we mourn her loss to this day . the film , however , does blame ms . brancheau , and it accomplishes this through former trainers with little or no relevant experience . these trainers were not present on the day she died , and callously presume to critique her interaction with tilikum .
after twelve years of work , filmmaker tim mahoney is finally releasing , for one night only ( tonight ) his documentary , “patterns of evidence , ” about the archaeological and historical evidence for the biblical exodus . i had the opportunity to view a pre - released version of the film back in november and can attest to the production value that twelve years of work creates . the film has already won awards for its craftsmanship .
eventually attracted the attention of george p . johnson , booking manager of the lincoln motion picture company , a successful black film production company . the lincoln company expressed interest in filming the novel but during negotiations micheaux decided he should supervise the motion picture production in los angeles . this was not acceptable to the lincoln management and ultimately led to the formation of the author ' s own firm , the micheaux film and book company .
on the plus side , it doesn’t seem like cook is the problem . it’s impossible to judge his performance from these brief clips , but from here he looks no better or worse than any of the other actors in the movie — all of whom have much more dramatic acting experience than cook does . answers to nothing may not be the ideal start for this new period in cook’s career , but if he does well here , who knows ? he probably won’t become the next tom hanks , but maybe he could be the next dax shepard . that guy used to star in things like let’s go to prison , and now critics are always going on about how surprisingly good he is in parenthood .
, however , decides to go off on his own to try ( again ) to help his colony .
the readers have to be conscious to how they respond to such material , as opposed to a conservative book that reinforces old ideas or beliefs .
seaworld was aware of keltie byrne’s death when it acquired tilikum . we adopted special precautionary protocols regarding work with tilikum , including prohibition of performance in - water work . these protocols were impressed upon all trainers who worked with tilikum , yet the film falsely implies that important safety information about tilikum and his background were withheld . this is untrue . nothing was ever concealed from tilikum’s trainers . during the osha trial surrounding ms . brancheau’s accident , seaworld provided more than 35 hours of testimony concerning our killer whale program and topics such as our detailed safety protocols and how they are communicated to our trainers . all of this testimony was in the possession of the filmmakers , but ignored by the film .
gerald butters ,
portrayals of black masculinity in american silent film , 1896 - 1929
( ph . d . diss . , university of kansas , 1999 ) , 185 - 229 .
it is true that the valuable lesson in this book could be interpreted as to never take advantage of a mothers love , but there is nothing funny about the mother figure in the book being used up at the end and the so called “boy” as an old man near death . it could be seen that the old man came to the tree to die ; he says that he needs “just a quiet place to sit and rest .
this is the problem with the documentary format . it is not the best format to put forth and test supposed “new” ideas and solutions no matter how much they are qualified by “perhaps’s” and “could’s . ” time constraints mean that creditable opposition is never addressed . in “patterns , ” all scholarship becomes flattened in a “them” vs . the revised chronology paradigm . the film lumps together traditional biblical maximilists and secular minimalists in a gang of “archaeological giants” that the revised chronology will take down with nothing but a sling and a prayer .
separation : the film highlights two separations . in one instance , involving a whale named takara , the film leaves you with the impression she was a calf when separated . in fact , takara was 12 years old when she was moved . in the second , involving a whale named kalina , the film misleadingly shows footage of a calf that is only days old . kalina was moved when she was 4 ½ years old because she was disruptive to her mother and other whales . we do not separate killer whale moms and calves , and in the rare occurrences that we do move whales among our parks , we do so only in order to maintain a healthy social structure .
one of his most provocative and scandalous . released shortly after a summer of race riots in 1919 and criticized by segments of both the black and white communities , the film had numerous problems with the censors .
to continue on , this book has a very similar layout to that series .
much more responsibility and has to learn to believe in himself before others will .
while i think the film will be popular among many church - goers as a new arrow in the quiver of apologetics , i doubt many serious biblical scholars will agree with its conclusions . indeed , those conclusions are widely connected to a historical theory which has been carefully negated in scholarship ( even among otherwise orthodox biblical scholars ) . because of this , i fear that the film’s popularity with churches will wind up leaving the church ridiculed for trying to fire another broken arrow at the “white tower establishment” .
after viewing product detail pages , look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in .
lucas also starred in micheaux ' s first film , the homesteader . a very light - skinned , handsome leading man with
good
hair and a strong physique , he was the classic micheaux hero figure .
, captain hook and maleficent , all of which are most likely already infamous to the player for their deeds in their respective films . the game presents them as completely irredeemable - they are evil , corrupt , and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals , even if it means dealing with the mysterious heartless . of course , one by one their plans backfire and they are either defeated by
hroughout the silent era , micheaux created cinematic portrayals of african american manhood that stood in sharp contrast to hollywood ' s depictions . mainstream film companies portrayed black men largely as humorous objectsdim witted , slow moving , shiftless caricatures who would not threaten mainstream audiences .
prove themselves to be remarkably self - sufficient . the children are intelligent , eager to learn , and able to think about and react to the situation at hand .
the film blatantly mischaracterizes the events that led to the death of trainer keltie byrne at sealand of the pacific , a park that was never owned or operated by seaworld . tilikum was one of three whales in the sea pen at the time ms . byrne drowned , and the jury in the coroner’s inquest ( the canadian investigation of the incident ) , which considered the testimony of 19 witnesses , did not identify any one of the three whales as the leader in the incident . nevertheless , the film claims that tilikum was the instigator , relying upon an interview given by two local residents . another key fact never disclosed in the film : david duffus , who is featured in the film numerous times as an “expert” , was the foreman of this very same coroner’s jury that investigated the sealand incident . mr . duffus testified that it was inconclusive that tilikum was primarily responsible for the death of ms . byrne .
1 . blackfish employs false and emotionally manipulative sequences concerning the collection and separation of killer whales : through stock footage and video mismatched to the narrative , the film implies that seaworld collects killer whales from the wild and separates mothers and calves . neither is true .
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i continue to add to this collection as i find new examples of strong writing .
however , soon wendy realizes that she truly does wish to grow up and decides to return to her home with her parents .
, in that the other ants try to force him to act like everyone else .
causes us to challenge all that we have known to be true about educational books .
she is introduced in the film as a women’s rights activist and how she protests all the time and is incredibly active in things that could easily get her arrested ; when mr . banks is home she is extremely submissive .
we object to blackfish because its two central premises are wrong : ( 1 ) that life at seaworld is harmful for killer whales and for trainers working with these animals , and ( 2 ) that seaworld has attempted to cover up the facts surrounding the tragic death of trainer dawn brancheau in 2010 , as well the history of tilikum , the killer whale involved in that accident . nothing could be further from the truth .
purely for shock value , the film includes a recording of an emt technician , subsequently proved to be mistaken , suggesting that tilikum swallowed ms . brancheau’s arm during the incident . this is false . this fact was readily available to the filmmaker in the documentation she obtained from the secretary of labor , yet was not included .
lisa , a little girl , has to explain an extremely important concept to her father .
this factor does make the book more appealing to children by appealing to the imagination but uses this to bring about more serious themes which many wouldn’t assume to be in a children’s book .
in children’s film anastasia ( which is not a disney movie ) there are a lot of forms of interpellation , which i have never noticed before . interpellation is when a film or book works to make certain social values more important . these can be values of race , gender , class , or any other values society thinks are important . in the video “mickey mouse monopoly” they look at how disney tries to portray values within their films . some watch this and can’t believe they did not see it before but that is why interpellation is so important , it is mostly done unconsciously .
in six hundred theaters tonight , viewers will come away from the film with no idea that they have just picked up a broken arrow . they won’t know that the revised egyptian chronology is not a new theory and has been shown to create as many problems for biblical chronology as it solves .
is a controversial character because of her ability to do as she pleases even around men but she still plays right into the stereotype that the male should be in the dominant seat . the film does seem to have a hint of sarcasm about the role of the women as stated earlier but in the end it seems to be just a bit of humor that does not disprove the interpellation .
rather , they wait in ambush for peter pan and wendy to attempt to rescue the boys .
they show kindness to the dwarf throughout the story even though he was not nice to them .
is forced to show him where the cauldron is to save both his life and the pig’s .
tries to defend herself and fight back , but eventually gives in to her emotions and cries .
, but she never asks him to , or orders him to , or even suggests it .
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
the text does not wish for children to challenge the things that their mother tells them to do .
she allowed agency to be taken when there was a lesson to be taught in letting them go .
to bring him back and help the rest of the colony—and this time she is able to fly .
the morrow of his wedding would mean death to her to foam on the sea” ( 69 ) .
book series used to be my absolute favorite book to read for the very same reasons listed above .
2 . the film relies on former seaworld employees , most of whom have little experience with killer whales , and others who haven’t worked at seaworld in nearly 20 years : these individuals , who speak with apparent authority , have little or no firsthand knowledge of the incidents they describe . most of them had no experience with tilikum , and several never even performed with killer whales in the water . the film’s “cast” is completely unfamiliar with current conditions and techniques at seaworld , and are certainly in no position to critique a trainer of dawn brancheau’s caliber or her last interaction with tilikum .
this would allow the archaeological remains associated with earlier egyptian dynasties to coincide with a 1450 date for the exodus . fantastically depicted in the film’s best feature , an imaginary expanding “wall of time” shows how the different levels ( biblical chronology , egyptian chronology etc . ) are aligned by rohl , bimson and mahoney’s chronological shift .
before finally admitting to his parents that he found the answers to the iq test , cory takes a second intelligence test . this test reveals that he has the iq of an average sixth grader . cory proudly says , “yep , that’s me . the lights are on but nobody’s home . ” by saying “nobody’s home , ” the writer indicates that someone of sixth grade intelligence is brainless . it is this common assumption that adds to the adult - centeredness of the episode because adults like mr . feeney are portrayed with high intelligence , while the child is not corrected when calling himself a moron .
when wendy begins to talk of her dreams of adventure , her aunt millicent puts a stop to it .
by , having the ability to outsmart the adults , hansel proved to have a great amount of agency .
after mary has accomplished what she came to do , which would be to show the family how to be a family and how to have fun and take the time they have and cherish it , she allowed the agency to be taken back by mr . banks .
all of the falsehoods and misleading techniques in blackfish are employed in the service of the film’s obvious bias , one that is best revealed near the end of blackfish by a neuroscientist with no known expertise in killer whales . she claims that all killer whales in captivity are “emotionally destroyed , ” and “ticking time bombs . ” these are not the words of science , and indeed , there is not a shred of scientific support for them . rather , they are the words of animal rights activists whose agenda the film’s many falsehoods were designed to advance . they reveal “blackfish” not as an objective documentary , but as propaganda .
the scene then changes to cory’s home . his mom and younger sister , morgan , are discussing when morgan can get a halloween costume . the mom tells morgan that she is very busy with work but that eric , the oldest son , will take her shopping . eric enters the room and asks morgan , “want to learn how to be a big girl ? ” morgan with great excitement answers , “yeah ! ” this sends the message to the children viewing the show that being a “big girl” or grown - up is more desirable than being a child . eric responds to her excitement by saying , “because big girls know how to take out the trash so their brothers don’t have to . ” morgan knows better than to fall for this , but the scene exemplifies interpellation in the sense that eric has been given a typical male job . morgan becomes impatient and again announces her desire for a halloween costume . eric agrees to help but can not do it unassisted . he still needs his mom to take them to the store and his dad , when he gets off from work , to then pick them up .
by dr . and mr . doris haggis - on - whey to assess how it relates to other books .
the mere appearance of the book is shockingly similar to those i have read as a tool to induce learning .
the book is just too progressive and turns how we would normally react to a story from natural to unnatural .
there are many possible reasons why the mbti is so entrenched in workplaces and promoted so enthusiastically . there ' s the expense and training involved , mentioned above . it may be because everyone uses it , so people conclude it must be reliable , and thus its success becomes self perpetuating . also , any personality type you get assigned is invariably positive . there is no combination of answers you could give on the mbti which says ' you ' re an arsehole ' .
in that kind of book , the author usually wants to the reader to think for her or himself , to understand that some things are difficult , even for adults .
dot is very rebellious and attempts to gain agency in a few ways , the first of which is trying to use her wings to fly before they were fully grown .
3 . the film also relies on animal rights activists masquerading as scientists : the film relies heavily on the dubious reflections of scientists who have aggressively campaigned against marine mammal display for decades , and have no expertise with killer whale behavior in captivity . these scientists include howard garrett , lori marino and ken balcomb . mr . garrett , along with cast members samantha berg and carol ray , joined with peta in a previously filed lawsuit against seaworld . in this lawsuit , they equated seaworld’s work with killer whales as slavery under the 13th amendment . although their case was promptly dismissed by the court , their anti - captivity bias is obvious . likewise , the film relies on the statements of david duffus , a professor of geography and purported expert in the area of killer whale behavior , whom occupational safety and health administration’s ( osha ) judge kenneth welsch found “ has no expertise in the training of captive killer whales . ”
is free to say and do what he pleases , to whomever . this scene depicts the role reversal of authority .
it seems as if in this case interpellation coincides with agency which seems to put the happy ending to the movie .
she seems very rule - oriented and unable to function unless she knows what it is she is expected to do .
she seems to be unable to simply observe a situation and come up with an answer—she has to know what was done in the past , what her mother did , etc .
this is a way for authors to pass on their ideals without observably stating the idea they wish to pass on .
, the big he tends to , is an oracular pig , he is pushed to take on a new role .
the film includes a seaworld video of a female trainer riding a killer whale , while one of the cast members , samantha berg , talks about her “experience” at shamu stadium . this segment misleadingly implies that ms . berg had relevant experience when , in fact , the video used in the film was shot 10 years after ms . berg had left seaworld . the trainer depicted in the video is not ms . berg but rather is a current seaworld employee . of just the 3 years ms . berg spent working at seaworld , she spent only one year working with killer whales and she never conducted direct training with tilikum .
the original english intertitles were lost , except in four cases . the film has since been restored by the library of congress but the intertitles on the restoration only approximate micheaux ' s originals . translated back into english from the spanish translations , the original african american syntax and slang were lost in the new version .
that said , epstein ' s concerns about spielberg ' s emphasis should not be dismissed entirely . the danger that schindler ' s list will be interpreted as a story of triumph and exceptionalism is absolutely real . at the same time , it is hard to imagine a film about the holocaust reaching an audience of this size without giving the viewer some cause for hope and optimism .
for a while , wendy realizes that she does not belong there and chooses to return to the safety of her family .
he uses the spaceship ( which shrinks to a microscopic level ) to go in peter’s body and terminate all his sperm .
parents are usually the ones to teach these lessons to children ; however , lisa is the true “parent” in this scene .
us to think that the men are supposed to be the ones acting on their feelings and saving people and even thinking .
he acts as a free agent in that sense—it was his idea to leave , although he did have to get permission .
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he first half of the film centers on piney woods ,
far from all civilizations and in the depth of the forests of the south where ignorance and the lynch law reign supreme .
micheaux clearly points out the geographic distinctions in racial prejudice in the united states . while micheaux encouraged african americans to migrate west rather than north , he clearly illustrated the racial hostility blacks faced in the south .
gains total agency in this film . he no longer has any parents to tell him what and what not to do . before his family left , kevin was punished because he was fighting with his older brother and was getting in everyone’s way . now , kevin can run around the house and jump on beds , while having no one to tell him to stop . he also takes his brother buzz’s toy rifle from his room and plays with it , something that would have been totally forbidden if buzz were there . a perfect example of kevin displaying agency is when he makes a total mess in the
in its opening sequence , the film misleadingly cobbles together separate pieces of innocuous training and performance footage , synched with the actual 911 calls , to mislead the audience into believing it is viewing the actual footage of ms . brancheau swimming with tilikum prior to the fatal incident . in fact , the opening sequence does not depict either ms . brancheau or tilikum , or an attack of any kind . from the date tilikum arrived at seaworld , no one was allowed to swim in the water with tilikum , and ms . brancheau never did so .
role . in the film , this role is played by the elderly neighbor , who kevin is afraid of for the majority of the movie . however , after talking and the old man admits that he has become a different person because of lost relationships in his life , kevin provides him with advice as well as takes it himself . kevin becomes aware that he needs his family and does not want to lose them like the old man lost his . so the two agree to change and do something about their unfortunate situations . after this conversation , kevin returns home but once he has used up all of his traps to mislead the two burglars , he runs next door to call the police . the men are aware of his game this time and catch him before he is able to . then , when it looks like there is no escape for kevin , the old neighbor hits both burglars and saves kevin , taking him out of the house and away from danger . the adult character coming in at the end to save the child is typical of many children’s texts and also relates to the child and adult centered notion also featured in this film .
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they ] kept their mother’s cottage so beautifully clean and neat that it was a pleasure to go into it…the mother sent the children into the wood to collect fagots…the mother sent the two girls to the town to buy needles , thread , laces , and ribbons . ”
she would rather her children be torn to pieces by “wild animals” than have to share her food , and sacrifice her own hunger .
things seem to all fall into the stereotypical place that society likes for them to be in both in terms of agency and interpellation .
new students are turned away every day because of the lack of funds . sylvia decides that she must raise money for the school . with her bags packed , she tells wilson ,
it is my duty and the duty of each member of our race to destroy ignorance and superstition .
the film then introduces dr . v . vivian ( charles du lucas ) , a man
passionately engaged in social questions ,
who is about to meet sylvia while rescuing her from a thief .
the pictures tell the story of everything that is going on , which makes it more or less unnecessary for a child to be able to read in order to understand what is going on in the story .
the wife was clearly selfish and evil , as she wanted to “be rid” of her children so she could have more food to eat .
they end up staying however , and the ants come up with a plan to keep away the grasshoppers—they make a bird to scare them .
in some ways he gets his wish , but he has to prove to himself that he is capable before he can fulfill his role .
novels as well as his films , micheaux attempted to demonstrate the qualities needed to be a successful black man . he had written , in
watchers of the sky : film screening & conversation with luis moreno - ocampo luis moreno ocampo , former chief prosecutor , international criminal court ; eddie mandhry , yale university what are the challenges facing the international criminal court ? how can it be more effective ? former icc prosecutor moreno - ocampo explains . ( carnegie new leaders , march 2014 . audio , transcript )
at the beginning of the book , annabelle wanted to be in charge of her own life , and wanted to know why nobody told her mother what to do , and that she wanted the same rights . so , annabelle’s mother switched them to teach annabelle a lesson , so that annabelle could understand exactly what she was saying , and to learn for
goes out to investigate and tells anastasia to stay where it is safe . this is saying that it is the male’s job to protect the female and make sure she is safe . there are two events in which
mrs . banks opinions are totally contradictory to things that mr . banks says but when she talks to him she agrees with everything he says .
books seem to revel in it . but rather than being the simple creatures that we are used to seeing in so many children’s books , the
seems to resent his human blood because it makes him weaker than other demons , and takes offense to being mocked for his heritage . one of
saves her , but after he saves her , she stands up to rasputin and it is her who kills him . throughout the movie anastasia is under great pressure to become the lost princess . at the end of the movie she chooses not to be the princess but instead to be with
disclosure of material connection . i was given the opportunity to view an advanced version of the film mentioned above for comment and review . some of the links above are affiliate links . that being said i only promote things which i thoroughly believe my readers will benefit from and that i use myself . i am disclosing this in accordance with the federal trade commission’s 16 cfr , part 255 : “guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising . ”
partially right , since “ida” is certainly a story of identity ; it’s certainly a spiritual journey , too . his irritation may be caused by a certain hostility in poland to an exiled filmmaker who returns bristling with ideas about the country . ( pawlikowski may want to work there again , and needs to sweeten the atmosphere . ) whatever he says , he’s made a movie that breathes history in every frame , and his annoyance reminds me of d . h . lawrence’s remark , “never trust the teller , trust the tale . the proper function of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it . ” all right , then : again and again , “ida” asks the question , what do you do with the past once you’ve re - discovered it ? does it enable you , redeem you , kill you , leave you longing for life , longing for escape ? the answers are startling .
he replied , “i am looking at my little white cat , which is sitting up on the roof and wants to say goodbye to me . ”
as they came to a “great piece of water” on their journey home from the gingerbread house , they realized they had no means to cross it .
mary gave them chances to be their own judge but she was always there to pull them back and take over when things were out of hand .
urltoken is here to search the geographical , textual , and archaeological remains of the ancient near east to better understand the biblical text and god ' s redemptive history . providing individuals and ministries the resources to do the same .
if dogme is to become more of a force for social change within the very small goldfish bowl that we inhabit … it has to nail its colours to the mast . … . is dogme to be more than just a rejection of meaningless tasks and bland stodge from the publishers ? ( gordon )
belle avoids the interpellation of her peers and society through staying true to herself , and , in the end , she gets her prince . she does not succumb to the prodding of gaston , and even her father in the beginning , to marry and become a mainstream household wife . instead , she uses her ability to love truly to find the man , or beast , with which she is meant to be . it is through this rebellion of society’s norm that belle uses her agency in life to stand firm against interpellation .


ross partridge ( born february 26 , 1968 ) is an american actor , director , screenwriter and producer .

he has worked on a number of films produced by kevin spacey 's production company trigger street productions , including interstate 84 as writer and director , which was shown at the 2000 toronto international film festival , and the pbs documentary america rebuilds : a year at ground zero , narrated by spacey .

his most notable work is the 2015 adaptation of the book lamb , which partridge wrote , starred in and directed .

he also has a recurring role in the critically acclaimed netflix science fiction series stranger things .

ross partridge

ross partridge was born on february 26 , 1968 in kingston , new york , usa as ross whitman partridge . he is an actor and producer , known for
- daniel wu / ross partridge / cherry glazerr ( 2015 ) . . . himself - guest
ross partridge directs himself in this tricky yet clear - eyed adaptation of bonnie nadzam ' s novel .
ross partridge is an american actor who portrayed lonnie byers in the netflix original television series stranger things .
ross partridge , oona laurence , jess weixler , tom bower , scoot mcnairy , joel murray , lindsay pulsipher , jennifer lafleur , ron burkhardt .
“lamb , ” with ross partridge , the director , left , as the title character and oona laurence as the girl he takes on a journey .
with : ross partridge , oona laurence , jess weixler , tom bower , scoot mcnairy , joel murray , lindsay pulsipher , jennifer lafleur , ron burkhardt .
steve coogan - 2008 - 09 - 12 - jonathan ross [ couchtripper ] . avi
steve coogan on the jonathan ross show full interview ( 20 - 4 - 13 ) .
when steve coogan was on the jonathan ross show as alan partridge to promote his new book . broadcast on 1st october 2011 . check out my family guy vid - urltoken
- the pressure to murder ( 1996 ) . . . eric temple ( as ross patridge )
ross also lived with actor michael paul for more than twenty years , until his death in 2011 .
april ross is a beach volleyball player who , along with teammate jennifer kessy , is a dominant figure on the international circuit . ross and kessy took the silver medal at the 2012 summer olympic games .
production : a shot clock presentation in association with silent helicopter . produced by mel eslyn , taylor williams . executive producers , ross partridge , william ruch . co - producer , jennifer lafleur .
paste : wow…alright , so let’s hit the pause button . lafleur : pause . now we go to ross .
with : dax shepard ( darren ) , katie aselton ( annie ) , frankie shaw ( coffee girl ) , ross partridge ( bartender ) , sean nelson ( john ) and bellamy young ( jessica ) .
it all starts pleasantly enough . partridge introduces his guest keith hunt , the fictional new host of
ross partridge doesn’t harbor any illusions about the controversial nature of his feature film , “ lamb , ” a project that he deems both “troubling” and emblematic of audiences’ desires to box emotionally fraught stories into easily consumable boxes .
paste : nice . and ross , how about you ? have you found the next novel to adapt ? partridge : i have not . i am looking . i’m open to suggestions . i’m reading a bunch of stuff .
as self - made men who are victims of a biased media , perhaps trump and partridge will get along swimmingly . partridge , as the most abrasive persona of the nineties , has perhaps inadvertently inspired farage , and farage inspires trump . in fact , all told , partridge has a lot to answer for .
paste : so i understand . and was that a good experience , ross ? should we all be looking forward to that ?
tracee ellis ross is an american actress known for roles on such tv shows as ' girlfriends ' and ' black - ish . '
paste : who should go first , who’d make for a better story ? partridge : jenn should go first .
on the big screen , ross appeared in the drama the evening star ( 1996 ) with shirley maclaine and bill paxton . this film was the sequel to the 1983 hit tear - jerker terms of endearment . a pop culture icon , ross also appeared in celebrity ads promoting milk with fellow famous tv moms shirley jones of the partridge family and florence henderson of the brady bunch in 1998 .
actress marion ross became one of america ' s favorite television moms in the 1970s for playing mrs . c on the sitcom happy days .
a dangerously unclassifiable relationship between two lost and lonely individuals is the focus of “lamb , ” writer - director - star ross partridge’s beautiful and troubling sophomore feature . in adapting bonnie nadzam’s novel about a middle - aged man who befriends a young girl and coaxes her into joining him for a week at his rural hideaway , partridge navigates risky material with assurance , [ … ]
in addition to film , ross worked steadily on the small screen as well . she made guest appearances on such shows as the lone ranger and perry mason . in the early 1960s , ross landed her first television series . she appeared on the short - lived the gertrude berg show .
as a teenager , ross and her family moved to san diego , california , where she enrolled at san diego state college . there , she continued to pursue her passion for performing . ross & apos ; s talent became apparent early on—she earned the title of
most outstanding actress
during her first year .
according to legend , betsy ross made the first american flag . despite a lack of credible evidence to support this , she remains an icon of american history .
partridge describes himself as
misled
about participating in the not - entirely complimentary portrayal of his life as a failed bbc broadcaster .
known for his fast and easy
wet - on - wet
painting technique , bob ross reached millions of art lovers with his popular television program the joy of painting .
ross partridge has been cast opposite winona ryder in netflix’s supernatural period drama stranger things . described as a love letter to the ’80s classics that captivated a generation , stranger things is set in 1980 indiana , where a young boy vanishes into thin air . as friends , family and local police search for answers , they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top - secret experiments , terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl . partridge will play lonnie , the disgruntled albeit charming ex - husband of joyce ( ryder ) . stranger things is written by matt duffer and ross duffer , who also executive produce with shawn levy , and dan cohen . partridge , repped by icm partners and weiner management , recently wrapped billy ray’s secret in their eyes and also wrote , directed and starred in the independent film lamb .
head to soho ! join director and actor ross partridge and actor oona laurence for a discussion and q & a about
lamb .
the provocative film—based on bonnie nadzam’s novel—centers on the unusual friendship between david lamb ( partridge ) and tommie ( laurence ) , a neglected 11 - year - old girl he’s drawn to . when he takes her on a road trip from chicago to the rockies , the journey shakes them in ways that neither expects . don ' t miss it !
after happy days ended , ross went on to appear in a number of different tv shows . she played a grandmother on the early 1990s sitcom brooklyn bridge . later in the decade , ross landed a recurring role as drew carey & apos ; s mother on the drew carey show . she also appeared on several episodes of that & apos ; 70s show as well .
in an interview at the times , mr . partridge spoke about the film and the complicated friendship at its center . here are excerpts from the conversation .
born in minnesota in 1928 , actress marion ross made her film debut in 1953 & apos ; s forever female . she later became famous for playing mrs . c on the sitcom happy days , which aired from 1974 - 84 . afterward , ross worked on such series as brooklyn bridge and the drew carey show . more recently , she appeared on nurse jackie and the middle .
after all , the veteran broadcaster might feel that their backgrounds are similar . partridge is , like trump , a shameless self - promoter . when he appeared on
american businessman ross perot ran for the u . s . presidency as an independent candidate twice , in 1992 and 1996 . he is one of the most successful third - party candidates in american history .
paste : are you looking through the staff picks at a local bookstore of every town you go to ? partridge : yeah , yeah . that’s how i roll . i just do staff picks and then we’ll see . lafleur : that’s it . that’s actually not a bad idea . partridge : it’s not a bad idea at all .
if that sounds familiar , it’s because partridge , like today ' s post - truth politicians , channels the worst excesses of the privileged white man who considers himself nonetheless a victim .
singer and actress diana ross was part of the 1960s pop / soul trio the supremes before embarking on a successful solo career , also starring in such films as ' lady sings the blues ' and ' the wiz . '
beloved television actress marion ross was born on october 25 , 1928 , in albert lea , minnesota , and dreamed of becoming an actress at an early age . when ross was just 13 years old , she changed the spelling of her name from
marian
to
marion
because she thought it would look better on a marquee . she started taking drama lessons as a high school student at minneapolis & apos ; macphail center for the arts .
. but his guest quickly wins the crowd over by using his catchphrase and having it completed by the audience . partridge , wounded , then spends the rest of the segment trying to ruin hunt .
paste : she’s like a hurricane - force breath of fresh air . partridge : yeah . it’s not like a gentle breeze , it’s like a “oh , here comes the force . ” [ laughs ]
he brings hunt ' s son on stage , but warns hunt that he can ' t talk to his son , because he doesn ' t have custody that weekend . partridge proceeds to humiliate hunt live on air , by showing how he has forgotten his estranged son’s birthday . “don’t despair , ” partridge then comforts the son .
we’ve got you a present . we’ve got you an alan partridge tie and blazer badge combination pack – there we go , you take that – and not only that , we’ve got you an all - expenses - paid trip to disneyland with your mummy and her partner this weekend ! ”
paste : maybe a fallback plan ? partridge : maybe something with stability would have been the perfect remedy for someone like me , but no . lafleur : maybe a completely useless minor in something like computer sciences .
nigel farage famously copied partridge ' s blazer , but the two men ' s resemblance is more than sartorial – it extends to the former ukip leader ' s anti - immigration stance and his “traditional” views on women .
if you’re an indie film fan , you’ve probably seen at least a few of the performances of ross partridge—perhaps the off hours , baghead , cold turkey or this year’s lamb ( which he also wrote and directed ) —and of jennifer lafleur—perhaps the do - deca - pentathlon or the midnight swim . if you’ve seen their performances , you know how talented they are . and , if you’ve met either of them , probably walking around a film festival , you know how wonderful they are .
this nostalgic sitcom proved to be a big hit with tv viewers , and ran from 1974 - 84 . several years after happy days went off the air , the show remained popular in syndication . ross received two emmy award nominations for her work on the series .
crew : directed , written by ross partridge , based on the novel by bonnie nadzam . camera ( color , widescreen , hd ) , nathan m . miller ; editor , chris donlon ; music , daniel belardinelli ; music supervisor , marguerite phillips ; production designer , lanie faith marie overton ; art director , sarah eslyn ; costume designer , diaz ; sound , james weidner ; sound designer / re - recording mixer , kelsey wood ; assistant director , drew langer ; casting , allison estrin .
paste : how bad was this mustache ? was it like the hitler mustache , like michael jordan ? lafleur : no… partridge : it was more like tom selleck . lafleur : yeah , it was more like tom selleck .
paste : no doubt . i have used the phrase “breath of fresh air” to describe jenn much more than once . partridge : now it’s more like she’s a breath of fresh air that comes in like a goddamn hurricane .
, therefore , makes perfect sense . but , given the international aspirations of some of this country ' s leading brexiteers , you must wonder if partridge ' s ability to embody the future goes further than the under - fished shores of little england . farage was an advocate of donald trump ' s campaign for presidency , and the feeling was mutual . trump even described farage as
mr brexit
. so will partridge be a trump fan ?
based on bonnie nadzam’s novel of the same name , “lamb” features partridge as david lamb , a down - on - his luck 47 - year - old who forms an unexpected connection with the equally as hapless tommie , an 11 - year - old girl played by the remarkable oona laurence . as the pair become more involved with each other , the film edges closer and closer to some very complicated situations that are likely to put more than a few people into the throes of some serious unease . but what’s really playing out on screen ? is it , in fact , a controversy worth getting worked up about ? or is nadzam and partridge’s story just something different ? partridge has some ideas .
partridge , too , is a regular chauvinist , who describes his first sexual encounter with his new wife in painful detail .
i was a virgin ,
he says .
whereas carol had been hymen - free for the best part of six years .
on this evidence , the farage who said on lbc that women who wished to breastfeed should
perhaps sit in the corner , or whatever it might be
, might well enjoy a pint with partridge .
a dangerously unclassifiable relationship between two lost and lonely individuals is the focus of “lamb , ” writer - director - star ross partridge’s beautiful and troubling sophomore feature . in adapting bonnie nadzam’s novel about a middle - aged man who befriends a young girl and coaxes her into joining him for a week at his rural hideaway , partridge navigates risky material with assurance , delicacy and a deepening sense of intimacy that can turn , without warning , into complicity : the more at ease we feel in the characters’ company , the more disturbingly questionable the situation becomes . superbly shot and movingly acted , especially by young oona laurence , this arthouse - ready item should prove a potent conversation - starter at festivals , where even naysayers may be hard pressed to deny the film’s cumulative emotional impact .
i try to be as objective as possible in my interviews , but it should be noted that not only am i a raving fan of ross , of jenn , and of ross & jenn , they also appear in my upcoming movie , 6 love stories . so i could in no way be objective about my love for them when we sat down to discuss their background , their relationship , and the ups and downs of being an indie film couple . but i do hope you’ll find our conversation interesting and inspiring—and be sure to stick around until the end for a special surprise guest appearance !
read article :
happy days’ cast : where are they now ?
the
happy days
cast ( clockwise , from top left ) : henry winkler , tom bosley , anson williams , marion ross , ron howard , erin moran , and don most . ( photo : abc / photofest )
paste : exactly , you could both be working at xerox right now . so why don’t one of you take the lead in telling me how y’all met ? who tells the story better about how you met ? partridge : who do you think ?
paste : ross , i think there needs to be an amazing panel you need to lead at the sarasota film festival about how to write an amazing script that needs very little rewrites . because i know a lot of people , including me , could use that panel . partridge : it’s much easier when you’re adapting a book . writing something from scratch , i don’t know about that capability [ laughs ] . lafleur : i think he was so great about sticking to the heart of the book . bonnie nadzam wrote such a beautiful book , but ross diligently had to think about how the poeticism of the writing could translate onto the screen and work with that . he really just stuck to the heart of the film and didn’t try to overcomplicate it . he is just a great writer and a very soulful person and i feel like that shines through in the final project as well .
the sketch not only shows how close to the bone tv chat shows really are , but serves to illustrate the narcissism and barbarism of partridge , a failed broadcaster from norwich , who spends more time settling personal scores and balming his embittered ego than doing a professional job .
a minor blip on a warm chicago afternoon . no one seems to notice that an 11 - year - old waif , tommie ( a precocious oona laurence ) is grabbed and pushed into a car by a stranger , the 47 - year - old david lamb ( director ross partridge ) . her pals — two seventh - grader girlfriends from school standing beside her — don’t even bother to report the feigned abduction , which is david’s twisted provocation after they dared the diminutive , eager - to - please child , decked out in attention - grabbing stiletto heels , to bum a cigarette from this complete stranger .
ross has two children from her marriage to freeman meskimen , jim meskimen and ellen plummer . the couple divorced in the late & apos ; 60s . both of her children have followed in their mother & apos ; s footsteps . her son is an actor and her daughter has worked as a producer and a writer on such shows as friends .
when confronted by plaid cymru leader leanne wood after speaking out against the alleged 60 per cent of hiv - diagnosed uk residents who are not british nationals , farage protested :
it ' s a fact . it ' s a fact . it ' s a fact . well , it ' s true .
it could be a direct callback to partridge ' s comment about the number of people in china in a 2011 interview he did with jonathan ross .
there are loads of them ,
he says , explaining his intention to crack the chinese tv market .
there are ! it ' s a fact !
paste : and then ross came walking right behind him . lafleur : [ laughs ] and i was kind of just staring at him and admiring how handsome he was and wondering why he had this terrible mustache . he kind of just stopped right in front of me , and at first i thought it was because i was staring at him . but he looked at me and said “are you here for bash ? ” i said “yes i am , i’m jennifer , ” and he said “hi , i’m ross . ” and i said , “nice to meet you . so , the mustache . is it yours or for the character ? ” and he was like “oh , it’s for the character . ”
paste : so i just realized , i don’t think i’ve ever talked to either one of you guys about your growing up , your family , the early years . lafleur : we pretty much had the opposite experience in childhood . partridge : you couldn’t meet two more different people [ laughs ] .
after graduating from college in 1950 , ross worked at the la jolla playhouse . she made her film debut in forever female ( 1953 ) with ginger rogers and william holden . other film work followed , including sabrina ( 1954 ) with audrey hepburn and humphrey bogart . she later appeared in the popular comedy operation petticoat ( 1959 ) with carey grant and tony curtis .
paste : [ laughs ] so for this valentine conversation , i kind of felt that i would start by talking to both of you about growing up and where you’re from and what make you who you are…all that kind of stuff . then i’d love to talk about how you met , and obviously we’d want to talk about lamb , and then what you all are doing now . i also want to get into what the ups and downs of being a couple in the same crazy industry is like . how does that sound ? ross partridge : that sounds great . although , the fact that this is a crazy industry…i don’t know what you mean . [ laughs ]
paste : please tell me you all have tracked down the employee who picked it and sent them a thank you note . lafleur : that is a great idea ! we haven’t . partridge : i tweeted at the store and they did tweet back , but we should find out who it was . lafleur : ross was like , “i don’t know if i’m crazy , but i think i want to make this into a movie . ” i read it that night and was just like , “oh , for sure this is what were doing . ” we had been bouncing around all these different ideas , and it was just 100 percent crystal clear that this is what it should be . ross went about getting the rights , connecting with the author and building a relationship with her . by december 2013 , we had the rights , and by february 2014 he had written an amazing version of the script that needed very little editing and rewrites , so we just tweaked it a little bit here and there . we were in preproduction by may and shooting by june .
lamb — played by the movie’s writer and director , ross partridge — first meets tommie ( a solid oona laurence ) when she toddles up to him in a parking lot clutching a pink purse and almost falling off her high heels . she’s a stick figure with a curtain of lank hair , but she has grit , watchful eyes and friends who have dared her to bum a cigarette . for reasons that are never altogether clear , including , apparently , to lamb , he gives her a smoke and then hustles her into his suv , insisting that he’s teaching her a cautionary lesson . this abduction turns out to be a practice run for the extended snatching that consumes much of the story .
paste : that actually suggests another good question . jenn , jumping forward , what is the biggest difference between the way you thought about ross then and the way you think about ross now , as far as who he is ? if you have gone from a breath of fresh air to a hurricane of fresh air , he has gone from what to what for you ? you don’t have to match it in romanticism , you can just be honest . lafleur : i don’t know that it’s changed all that much . i think . partridge : old dog . lafleur : that’s definitely true , there have been moments where i’ve said “people don’t change , do they ? ” and he’s an old dog . that’s okay , i think that the ways that we are different are what makes it work . i don’t know if ross would be able to operate in this world with someone who is exactly like him , and i don’t know if i would be able to operate in this world with somebody who operates the same as me . i think that if i was with someone just like me , we would run each other to the ground by never stopping . we would go , go , go , go and ross and that other person would run each other to the ground . [ laughs ] he is so incredibly bright and creative and soulful and inventive . he’s always thinking about new things , and i help him harness those things and bring them into a reality . in a lot of ways , he is the creative force behind a lot of the stuff we work on together while i work in the beginning part to get it going and then i grab it and run with it and drag him along with me on the adventures or misadventures , however they may turn . luckily there have been far more adventures than misadventures . i don’t know if that answers your question or not .
paste : as your relationship progressed , what was the first project you two initiated together ? not just as actors on someone else’s projects , but the first that was yours , that you did together . lafleur : well , after we did bash together , my friend justin ball and i created a small theater company called the great theater , and the first play that we did was called things beyond our control by a playwright i went to grad school with named jesse kellerman , and we knew that we wanted ross to be a part of that . ross’s title was an actor but he had come from a production background and really just came on as producer and made it happen . we were this scrappy little theater company making productions working with new playwrights . we did a couple of plays together doing that . so it really started in the theater , both working as actors . ross had met mark and katie duplass at the nantucket film festival right before he and i met , and they really hit it off . mark encouraged his brother jay to come and see the play that we were in together , to come see bash and after he saw ross in bash , they cast him as the lead in baghead . he said to me , “you’re wonderful , we don’t really have a role for you , but do you want to come out and play this small little role ? ” i had never done a film before , so i was like “yeah , let’s go to austin , texas , let’s do it . ” but i think collaborating with the duplass brothers is how we started to work in film together . ross went on to then produce their next film , the do - deca - pentathlon , which i acted in . then we made wedlock together . so we started with them , then peeled off and started to develop scripts . ross would primarily come up with the ideas and bounce them off me , and we would hash them together and go back and forth , and then we would write the script and i would edit them , and then he would do a rewrite . he found the book lamb when he was at skyline books . it was a staff pick , and he kind of just picked it up and started reading it . and an hour later he was just standing there like “i should probably buy this . ”
the friendship between a middle - aged man and a young girl is at the heart of “lamb , ” a drama from the director ross partridge , who also stars as the lead character david lamb , and adapted the screenplay from the novel by bonnie nadzam . the character , adrift and searching for meaning , meets an 11 - year - old girl , tommie ( oona laurence ) , in a parking lot when she asks him for a cigarette . this begins an unlikely friendship , one that may raise eyebrows and cause discomfort for many viewers . the film , and book from which it is adapted , looks at the not - easily - definable contours of the relationship in compelling ways , but the subject matter is tricky to say the least .
paste : [ laughs ] i’m not going to touch that one . partridge : that story has been nearly perfected of how that went down , and every time i tell it , i’m immediately edited with “no , no , no , you’re telling it wrong . ” lafleur : [ laughs ] well ross is the one to always kind of downplay things . i , i , have a small— partridge : and jenn’s always the one to want to embellish things . [ laughs ] lafleur : it is not embellishment . [ laughs ] just a little flourish here and there . partridge : it kind of goes back to how different our paths are . she comes from this beautiful type of background where her parents love her , they adore her , they have video footage of her singing when she was four , five six , seven , eight , nine , 10 , 11 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 . lafleur : i mean , i’m still sending them videos . partridge : the first time i went over to her house , her dad was like “have you seen the dvds ? ” and i’m like “what are the dvds ? ” and it is literally chronologically organized from every month of jenn’s life since she was like five . [ laughs ] it’s her singing , every month of her life since she was five . so i come from a background where we’d move around and have a family get - together and look at each other and wonder “how the hell are we related ? ” [ laughs ] we come from completely different upbringings . so i’d say one is light , one is dark and somehow we find it in the middle . so yeah , jenn is better at telling happier stories , that’s not my natural tendency .
now in her 80s , ross continues to perform on the small screen , acting in a variety of series and tv movies . she has enjoyed recurring roles on such shows as gilmore girls and brothers and sisters . her trademark red hair and warm smile have been seen on everything from medical drama grey anatomy to the family sitcoms the middle and hot in cleveland . she also has provided the voice of grandma squarepants on the popular cartoon , spongebob squarepants .
paste : do you have “work ross & jenn” and “home ross & jenn” and you have to toggle between the two ? or is it pretty much a very similar dynamic both ways ? lafleur : i think it’s probably a pretty similar dynamic . if anything , we have to challenge ourselves to differentiate them a little bit more . you know , almost create business hours and outside of business hours where you’ve got to just drop it and not talk about the movie for a little bit . because we definitely went down rabbit holes where , you know , it’d be , like , two o’clock in the morning and we’re still talking about a certain scene and whether to use this take or that take and what we need to do for the story arc and going on and on and on and finally it got to the point where i needed to start saying , “i can’t talk about the movie anymore today . starting at 9 a . m . , i’m reopen for talking about the movie , but for tonight i’m done . ” especially when it is , you know , an indie film and ross is writing and directing and producing and going on location scouts and starring in the movie . you know , i was producing . which again , on an indie film means that i’m , like , helping out with catering and craft services and locations and casting . so when you’re wearing so many hats , it feels like it takes every single second of every day . so you’re just supposed to keep working on it no matter what the time and i think that , you know , we had to just kind of create boundaries there . partridge : jenn was better at it than i was . for sure . lafleur : yeah . he wouldn’t shut up about it . [ laughs ]
paste : that’s awesome . and ross , what were you thinking at this time ? besides , obviously , “hubba hubba ? ” partridge : originally when i saw her i was like wow , she was so…i am 11 years older , and i had been living in la and i’d been dating a bunch . i felt a bit sullied by the time i met jenny , and i just felt a bit downbeat , like this is never going to work out . she was just a breath of fresh air , she just had such a spirit . and i immediately was like , “this is such goodness in people’s lives . ” she was new start…i think i said to her at some point , “you’re like my last shot at doing it right . you’re a good person in people’s lives . ” she’s such a good human being that you just have to hold on to .
mr . partridge , a character actor who looks like he auditions for dermot mulroney types , has a relaxed , pleasant presence ; what he doesn’t have is a grasp on the story’s ugliness , its viewpoints or how his nice - guy vibe is at odds with the self - deluded exploiter he plays . in the novel , lamb is a fantasist who uses tommie as a blank ( pure ) slate on which to write a new life story . mr . partridge never figures out how to complicate his version and its voices , or maybe doesn’t want to . he softens lamb and tommie with tears , safe hugs and averted looks and , once they land in the countryside , mires them in sentimentality . he tries to turn lamb into a sheep in wolf’s clothing , but it’s a bad fit .
the cigarette is a ruse , a macguffin really , which triggers some latent impulse in david to seize the chance for some highly unusual , if highly stigmatized , unspecified , uncategorizable form of bonding . the bottom line , as partridge tells stephen saito in urltoken , is “ ( david’s ) need for love is so much greater than his logic . ” conventional filters dissolve in a jumble of mental shakeup and surfaced repression .
partridge : yeah , it’s a great show . i just did , like , a small little arc on it . but it’s really cool—it’s kind of one of these shows you can watch with your whole family . i’ve actually seen a couple of the episodes already and i think it’s going to do really well . it’s a really fun , clever world , so i look forward to it . yeah , it was great .
paste : and ross , tell me more about where you were born and grew up ? partridge : i was born in morristown , new jersey . i lived there very briefly . my father was involved in radio . he was kind off a big radio disc jockey , and he was on the radio in manhattan with a station called wnew , and has a radio show called milkman matinee , which was kind of big for early morning commuters . i’ll talk to people’s parents and they’ll know about my dad . he had a booming radio voice , and he was the quintessential spokesperson . he did commercials , and did radio . that’s kind of how i was around it . my mom worked in traffic , and was in the traffic department of the radio station , and that is basically how they met . my mom was his third marriage , for my mom , my dad was her second marriage , so she had two sons prior , and my dad had four children prior .
paste : beautiful . well the last question i have for you guys is that , given you two are individually—like , every single person who knows either one of you , individually each of you is one of their favorite people . people hold you—each of you—very near and dear to their heart . and then together you’re , like , just this unbelievable couple . so , since this is the valentine’s issue and we’ll have some lovers reading , why don’t you give your best advice for the lovers out there ? how to be a couple as awesome as the two of you . [ laughter ] lafleur : you go . partridge : aw , come on . lafleur : ross is actually really blushing right now . he’s full - on blushing . he doesn’t do well with compliments . [ laughs ] wait . we’re gonna get some advice from mark duplass here . partridge : hey , mark , what’s the key to keeping , uh— lafleur : to being a good working relationship and personal relationship . he’s the master . partridge : mark’s the master . mark duplass : um . i would say proper grooming is very important . don’t let yourself go . [ laughs ] um . i would say , what i call 98 percent honesty . don’t lie 98 percent of the time ; that’s very important . and then i would say make sure you pick someone whose smell you really , really like , because that will get you through it . that’s my top three . partridge : actually , one of marks’ favorite pieces of advice that he gave a long , long time ago is when you were talking about when you were planning the wedding and you were like , “you know , when your wife is planning the wedding you basically just have to say , ‘uh huh , uh huh , uh huh , ’ and you agree to , like , five out of the seven things she’s bringing to you on a daily basis , but on the sixth time you basically , just have to be like , ‘no ! ’ no matter what it is , you just have to say no so they know you’re paying attention . ” [ laughs ] lafleur : see , i was going say something sweet , like , “kindness and patience . ” ( laughs ) but really it’s just about , you know , proper grooming and telling mostly the truth and picking somebody who smells good to you . [ laughs ]
paste : i’m here . keep going ! partridge : i mean , when you work on something , you know , it’s two years of your life so you have to , i think , be very specific and be aware of the fact that it’s going to be this much all - consuming and you have to—it’s almost easier because , you know , you lay your head down at night and you’re with the person who’s working on it with you the most and they understand .
gary and tommie may get hugsy , but whether he crosses the line into pedophilia is an unresolved question , at best , for the viewer . is his behavior towards her sexual , predatory ? or is it an expression of platonic affection ? lacking the two astonishing lead performances , the film’s courageous forays into relatively untapped territory might bypass credibility . bonnie nadzam’s 2011 novel , on which the film is based , is equivocal about gary’s motives : he wants to rescue tommie from a life of mediocrity , but he also owns up to her sexual effect on him . in the film , partridge restrains himself from digging too deeply into either impetus , enabling us to calculate results for ourselves . all of the cuddling with tommie , whom he’s wrapped in a blanket , his caressing her face and assuring her how beautiful she is : david goes up to the edge of transgression . crossing the line or not , partridge , unlike nadzam , maintains an air of ambiguity .
paste : well , i mean there is a certain element of that kind of , uh , andre agassi / steffi graf thing . right ? where— partridge : you couldn’t have picked a better quote for me ! could not have picked a more right quote for me . you know i’m obsessed with tennis ? lafleur : he’s obsessed with tennis . he’s obsessed with andre agassi . we’re here at a pool party and he’s feeling sad because his favorite tennis player lost today . [ laughs ]
paste : so you became one of seven , the youngest of seven between them…wow . partridge : yeah . we didn’t see a lot of them often . my brothers came in and out , so it was kind off a very transitory place . my dad , being in radio , eventually got out of new york and then we bopped around the east coast for a while , pennsylvania , new jersey , new hampshire and then we ended up in massachusetts . ironically , 20 miles from jenn’s hometown .
the film , which has played around the festival circuit since first debuting at sxsw last year , even has a poster that boasts of its hard - to - pin - down nature , including pull quotes that hinge on its “intensely provocative” nature and even a rallying cry to “let the controversy begin . ” but that’s not why partridge was compelled to the make the film , which he wrote , produced , directed and starred in . he just loved the story , and maybe that will be enough for audiences to take a chance on it .
paste : but no , there is a sense in which , you know , any of us can appreciate how good either one of you are , but there’s also a sense in which , from the inside as a great actor , ross , you can better appreciate just how good jenn is and vice versa . jenn , as a great actor yourself you can better appreciate just how great—that would make you fall for each other more than it would make any civilian fall for you , i would think . lafleur : for sure . partridge : for sure . i mean , yeah . i think that’s still a matter of opinion , but i aspire to be as good as jenn . i don’t know how she feels about me ; i’m actually much more complicated in the sense that , like—jenn also knows that she’s really good . i think she’s great , but i think jenn also is pretty confident that she’s damn good . i don’t think that goes the other direction . i think jenn’s great and i just usually most of the time think that i’m pretty bad . [ laughs ] but yeah , and at least i aspire to , like , wow . i actually am inspired for other people to realize how great she is , too .
paste : yeah , i guess it’s kind of a good - news - bad - news thing . like , that thing you’re thinking about all the time ? the good news is your partner’s thinking about it all the time too . the bad news is your partner’s thinking about it all the time too . lafleur : [ laughs ] exactly . partridge : but there’s a point where , like i said , i think it’s easier for them—for jenn especially to kind of put it away , i guess , when we were finished with the movie . then the real work started beginning , when i was trying to get the movie out into the world and then that becomes a whole other beast of conversation . lafleur : yeah . partridge : so for the production of it for a year was one thing , but then it’s the year after where you’re still in this world of trying to get it out there and how to go about doing that and , you know , that can be an all - consuming thing as well , so…she was better at shutting it down , and i still had to live with it pretty much all the time .
in the mid - & apos ; 70s , ross took on the role for which she is now best known : starring as marion cunningham on the sitcom happy days , set in the 1950s and & apos ; 60s . her character quickly became one of the beloved tv moms of all time . her character , also known as mrs . c , supported and guided her two youngest children richie , played by ron howard , and joanie , played by erin moran , through the perils of the teen years . she also doted on her husband howard ( tom bosley ) . mrs . c looked after richie & apos ; s friends , too , including arthur
the fonz
fonzarelli , played by henry winkler .
paste : sure . lafleur : also , when you’re in a relationship together and you’re working on the same thing , there’s none of those professional filters that you put on when you’re working with colleagues . or , you know , when you’re talking to the distributor you talk a certain way and stay calm and don’t freak out . you get off the phone and we start , not yelling at each other ; just basically yelling to each other about what needs to happen and how it’s going to happen and if it’s going to be able to happen . partridge : or at each other , too . it’s definitely the trigger for some greater things , for sure . lafleur : well i don’t think we ever yelled at each other ; it often felt like we were . it often felt like you were yelling at me , but i knew that it wasn’t . it was just you expressing concern and talking it out . partridge : i’m an alarmist and jenn is not . lafleur : but me as a producer to you and as a girlfriend to you , i want to be able to provide what it is that you want and feel like you need . and so then it feels like it becomes my burden to take on . partridge : that’s the personal side of trying to manage this stuff in a professional way . sometimes the two go hand - in - hand . i think that’s the thing with also making art of any sort is that it is a personal thing . it brings forth all your most personal sides of who you are : your own psyche , your own insecurity , your own feelings of love . all these things that come into play because you’re making something that you’re passionate about . it’s not like a pragmatic thing ; filmmaking is based on feeling and emotion . so how do you really separate the two ?
paste : that’s crazy . so before we start talking about you all meeting , let me just go back for a second . ross , you felt that you wanted to study film studies in college . were you thinking of going on to be a critic , or an academic , or did you not think it through and just wanted to study cinema ? partridge : no . i knew i wanted to study cinema and make movies if i could . in high school i had a great english teacher who encouraged me in creative writing . i didn’t have that much confidence . i wasn’t quite into school all that much . i was actually working a lot during high school . i was actually worked almost 30 hours a week all the way through high school . from selling waterbeds to making pizza , to doing whatever i could in order to make some money . so it was kind of like a dream that i would get into film . i loved movies , but i was also not so focused until college . my main goal was to get into college and when i did , everything else like getting into theater just kind of happened , with my roommate and so forth . i had an idea that i wanted to make movies , but at that age it was kind of like if i could do anything , why not make movies ? without realizing there were so many more important things to do [ laughs ] .
paste : that’s crazy . partridge : yeah , basically my dad bought a radio station in this small town called auburn , massachusetts . my parents bought it together . and then my mom , we ended up moving to this place from pennsylvania . my father was from worchester mass , so it was like coming home for him . he wanted to be this big fish in a little pond , and boy did he get it . my mom arrived in this town and was basically like “we have to get out of here . ” my parents split up . i moved all over the place . i lived with my mom for some time in upstate new york…