Okay, I did the tag wrong. Just pretend that didn't happen, yeah. :0)

lynnie | October 15, 22:21 CET

Inspiration: my kids

Doesn't he only have the one son?

fortunateizzi | October 15, 22:50 CET

Yes, he only has one son, but has said numerous times that he is guardian for his niece. I guess that is where the plural comes from.

kellyhk | October 15, 23:26 CET

Singin' in the Rain is one of my all-time favorite movies.

Reddygirl | October 15, 23:55 CET

It led to one of the best tv adverts ever.

Simon | October 16, 01:46 CET

Simon, that is indeed phat. I can't believe I've never seen this.

Harmalicious | October 16, 01:56 CET

That is a cool ad Simon. I have to wonder if Gene Kelly would have danced like that if he had been from this era. He always seemed open to dance in general, not just a certain style.

oanimation | October 16, 02:10 CET

I am so glad that James is so busy he can't do a Q&A till December.

spikeylover | October 16, 02:57 CET

Great ad, Simon. I had not seen that.

Does anyone know what film project JM is involved in?

palehorse | October 16, 03:09 CET

Palehorse, he is filming the movie P.S. I Love You, which is starring Hilary Swank, Kathy Bates, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow and Gina Gershon. James will portray the role of ‘John’, the best friend and partner of Gerard Butler’s character.

The film is based on the novel by Cecilia Ahern and will be directed by Richard LaGravenese. The picture centers on a widow whose life is rejuvenated when letters left by her husband send her on a series of adventures. Production will begin mid-October. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros.

Here is the link to JM's official web site, which is where I got the above blurb :-)

Julchek | October 16, 04:23 CET

The IMDB web site also lists Jeffrey Dean Morgan, James Marsden, and Marcus Collins as attached or in talks with the film’s producers.

Looks like some quality company for James - shiny!

showgirl | October 16, 04:31 CET

Just saw that VW ad with Gene Kelly busting a few million moves. If he was at his prime now, I would picture him trying hip-hop. This remix of "Singing in the Rain" is a lot better than what the Gap did to Audrey Hepburn.

impalergeneral | October 16, 04:35 CET

Richard LaGravenese's track record is a bit uneven. I give him total props for his screenplay of The Fisher King, but he also wrote *cough,* The Mirror Has Two Faces, notable only, as far as I'm concerned, for Lauren Bacall's appearance. However, this is a real step up in visibility for James. I.Am.Thrilled.

Tonya J | October 16, 04:41 CET

Happy that he's busy filming and always glad when James gets great work, but we all have heard how much boring down time there is on movie sets. I guess I'm just feeling a little "gee, can he afford it?" A paragraph woulda been nice...

We get "beef jerky"?

Willowy | October 16, 05:15 CET

I guess I'm just feeling a little "gee, can he afford it?"

Huh?

lynnie | October 16, 05:44 CET

Richard LaGravenese' also wrote the screenplay for the BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY and changed it enough that it got Streep an Oscar.. The fact he's gotten OScar nominees/winners out of his work is probably a reason why so many high profile types like working for him.

spikeylover | October 16, 06:09 CET

I just missed winning the "how long would it take for someone to complain that James is too busy to do the q & a" pool by five minutes.

Yes, there is down time but maybe he has other things going, like recording the Dresden audiobook he's signed on for. Not to mention he'll be on location on the East Coast while his family is on the West Coast. Maybe some of that down time will be spent traveling?

iowagirl | October 16, 06:11 CET

I don't think James Marsden or Marcus Collins are in it.(although I guess I could be wrong)
I believe Gina Gershon plays James' character's wife.

[ edited by spikeylover on 2006-10-16 05:29 ]

spikeylover | October 16, 06:15 CET

I confess I loved The Mirror Has Two Faces, but I'm also a big Streisand and Bridges fan.

Simon, great ad. I also think the new Gap ad, where we see Audrey Hepburn from Funny Face dancing to AC DC's Back in Black is also a fantastic use of a classic Hollywood musical.

Reddygirl | October 16, 06:21 CET

Mrs. Pointysends massive Singin' in the Rain/Gene Kelly love from the Great Beyond.

[ edited by Pointy on 2006-10-16 06:29 ]

Pointy | October 16, 06:51 CET

Willowy said

"A paragraph woulda been nice...

We get "beef jerky"? "


Well (unless you're Joss Whedon) if someone asks what your favourite treat is or what you last purchased you're hardly likely to go into long lyrical descriptions .


" On man, my favourite treat is Beef Jerky , there's just something about the air dried-ness of the deceased bovine and that chewy texture which sends me into transports of snack food related delight ... plus it takes like a really long time to eat so it helps me to retain my compact yet well muscled physique ... and don't even get me started on the last thing I bought! Have you seen the price of gas these days? Mind you we should all be more environmentally aware ,so if rising gas prices make us pay more attention to the plight of mother nature and thus lead to the development of sustainable energy sources for the future then that's all well and good"


Seriously it's nice of the guy to take the time to answer questions at all. And it's nice that he's going to be a tad busy for the next few weeks and that he may want to focus on , oh I don't know , making a movie or something rather than faxing stuff back and forwards with his office.

[ edited by debw on 2006-10-16 09:16 ]

debw | October 16, 11:16 CET

JM's too busy filming to do the November Q & A? That's the kind of deprivation I don't mind enduring. ;)

anindoorkitty | October 16, 11:33 CET

I liked his comment about the only thing that makes him nervous is an audition where he knows he's not right for the part. Brings to mind the time Spielberg's people had him in to audition for the role of Anakin Skywalker!

James Marsters quote from Bookworm's database:

I got interviewed for the Darth Vader Role because George Lucas was aware of me. His daughter is a fan. And he is like every good Dad and he loves everything that his daughter does so he loves me. Yeah they came to the set once, I still got this candle from his daughter. So I went out on this interview for the Vader role in which he was supposed to be 17 and I was just standing there going. “You know, I don’t want to cut my self off at the knees here you know but, I’m not really 17” And they were like, “we know, we just wanted to meet you and see if there was anything down the road and stuff.”

Berry | October 16, 14:45 CET

*Looks at debw, suspects she may be Joss in disguise* ;0)

That's the first thing I thought of too Berry. Time will tell whether that was worth the effort too. You never know when they might go "Remember that guy, well he's in such and such, let's see him again". It's all gravy.

lynnie | October 16, 17:05 CET

Wow. I'd never seen that Gene Kelly ad either. I love Gene Kelly. The epitome of masculine grace. Not sure how I feel about the ad.

The first time my teenagers saw the the Audrey Hepburn Gap ad one of them remarked, "That sucks. They took someone cool and made her look stupid!"

And I love that George Lucas story!

Xane | October 16, 18:15 CET

Hmm, as far as how much time James will have while filming...if he were to answer, I expect 'beef jerky' would be as much as we would get from him, and yes, I do think he would technically have time for a 3 minute phone call with his manager for the Q&A(or god forbid James get with the e-mail system!), but since he's doing it all as a nicety to fans anyway, I don't really think it's fair to expect that a favor become a priority. There are a lot of things I technically have time to do that get passed by the wayside in a day, and I'm not deluded enough to think that this monthly Q&A is a priority for James or his management.

Rogue Slayer | October 16, 18:16 CET

I love Gene Kelly. The epitome of masculine grace. Not sure how I feel about the ad.

Know what you mean Xane. Feels a bit off using someone in a way they wouldn't necessarily approve of (and long after they'd be able to say no) to sell product. And it takes one of the seminal moments in cinema history (IMO) and drags it down to the level of mere commerce. Seems wrong.

(compare and contrast with the 'Carlsberg' ads that used scenes from 'Ice Cold in Alex' a few years back - though i'm not sure if they ran overseas ?)

Re: Q&A, the terseness is going to vary as his time does but maybe rather than having a 3 minute (or 10 minute or whatever) sesssion to answer them, James could be given the list of questions at the start of the month to answer as and when he can fit them in so that he can offer longer answers when his time permits ? Then the answer's could be returned and posted at the web-admin's leisure.

(I agree he doesn't have to do it at all though, very decent of him)

Saje | October 16, 18:40 CET

No offense to fans of hip-hop dancing, but IMO it would take Gene Kelly maybe two minutes to master the abrupt, unfluid movements in hip-hop, and another two minutes to expand its parameters in new and inventive ways. Then he'd move on to something more interesting to occupy his creativity than being human beef jerky.

jaynelovesvera | October 16, 18:43 CET

Well, I think Fred Astaire would beat Kelly in the grace department, but Kelly would certainly beat him in athleticism. In any case, I love both of them, and I would have to agree with jaynelovesvera that Kelly would certainly master the moves of hip-hop in minutes and would undoubtedly transform it into something new.

I thought initially that contemporary ads featuring long-dead celebrities were off-putting and sacrilege (but then I thought putting Gone With the Wind on television was, too, at the time of the debate over that). The first, I believe, was Fred Astaire, who was made to dance with a vacuum cleaner. But now they are everywhere. Audrey Hepburn for the Gap is just awful. Nevertheless, the advantage is that they might accidentally invite some people to try to find out something more about them, so maybe that is not such a bad thing. Since everything is fodder for consumerism these days, at least something good should come from the use.

Anyway, thanks above for the info on the film project. Somehow I had missed that.

palehorse | October 16, 18:58 CET

Never thought I would be happy not to have a Q&A from James. BTW, I have been listening to James doing the Dresden Files, and I am, not surprisingly, quite impressed. He does a great job with the voices. They are spendy, but I plan on getting them all, as usual, when it comes to James, I am hooked.....

luvspike | October 16, 20:18 CET

Only slightly off-topic - does anyone have a link to where I can find the Dresden Files audiobooks in the UK? They're not on amazon, and I've never seen them in shops.

Mehitabel | October 17, 14:37 CET