A Prairie Home Companion

[Gold Trumpet]

it is to just create a general emotion or feeling.

See, when he uses it sparingly, I can understand that working scene by scene. But to base an entire story off this concept is dubious. It makes his films have lttle considerations for all the other elements important in a story. It also leaves me with the general impression I always have gotten from his work that nothing he has done has ever been intellectually challenging. They flow over me with great ease and ask very little of my attention.

[Reinhold]

GT, what you didn't like about the backstage conversations-- their meandering "real" quality-- is what makes them work in a Prairie Home movie. 

part of what i love about the the radio show is that it's something you're supposed to remember like it happened to people you know... despite how obviously packaged it is. i thought that their pointless backstage conversations were a beautiful adaptation of that element of the show.

[JG]

this is block party with white people.  its a nostalgic celebration of life and i enjoyed it quite a bit.  like GT, i knew nothing about the show coming into the movie, but in no way did that hinder my experience.  i don't know how necessary the madsen subplot was, but her performance certainly didn't help the cause. 

oh and garrison keilor for best actor. 

[Ultrahip]

Has anyone noticed the reason behind the PG-13 rating?

"Risque Humor"

[soixante]

Just saw it.  A delight.

Humorous moment:  when Tommy Lee Jones, as a corporate henchman, asks Kevin Kline what F. Scott Fitzgerald has written.  If that doesn't signify cultural cluelessness, what does?

I thought it was rather poignant when the set was broken down by a bunch of apemen who obviously would never go into a theater otherwise.  Kline plays the piano amidst the din. 

[MacGuffin]

New Line has just revealed that Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion will arrive on DVD on 10/10 (SRP $27.95). The film will be offered on disc in anamorphic widescreen video with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Extras will include audio commentary with director Robert Altman and star Kevin Kline, deleted scenes (with optional commentary), the Come Play with Us: A Feature Companion featurette, the Onstage at the Fitzgerald: A Music Companion featurette with extended musical performances and advertisement segments, song selection and the film's theatrical trailer.

[Gold Trumpet]

GT, what you didn't like about the backstage conversations-- their meandering "real" quality-- is what makes them work in a Prairie Home movie. 

part of what i love about the the radio show is that it's something you're supposed to remember like it happened to people you know... despite how obviously packaged it is. i thought that their pointless backstage conversations were a beautiful adaptation of that element of the show.

Sorry I missed this originally. I'll reply briefly.

The word realism is being thrown around too much as a description of quality work. In the 1940s and 50s the word did hold more place with differentiating good and bad or stale and ambitious. Now that we're 50 years past that period and realism is an everyday thing in film, I think we should begin to look for other words, such as structure, plot, meaning, character, depth and purpose.

Yes, the film simultaneously adapts the live show along with backstage conversations. But for what point? I think the film missed out in many ways to give larger comment on the show. The only thing this film does is reenact a point of criticism from Andy Warhol. He asked that films be judged on what was more interesting: the film or the coversation between actors at lunchtime? The question here would refer to the live show or the actors talking during hair and make up. I'll gladly remember the live show as the better part of this movie.

[MacGuffin]

Altman, Keillor Share `Prairie' Tales

What was it that made "A Prairie Home Companion" such a quintessential Robert Altman movie that also captured the gabby spirit of the Garrison Keillor radio show on which it was based?

Maybe it's because when Altman and Keillor get together, they don't sound that different from the rambling raconteurs of the radio program and the chatty Altman characters who talk over one another's dialogue.

Altman and Keillor sat down with The Associated Press to discuss their oddball movie, a solid theatrical mini-hit that debuts Tuesday on DVD.

The cast includes Keillor as host of a fictionalized version of the radio show, along with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones, Lindsay Lohan, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, Virginia Madsen and John C. Reilly.

Debuting in 1974, the show airing on public radio stations features songs, jokes, gag commercials and Keillor's monologue about the make-believe town of Lake Wobegon.

The show is going strong. But Keillor, who wrote the screenplay, set the film on the show's last night as the St. Paul, Minn., radio station where it's produced is scheduled for demolition.

The story weaves in a supernatural element with Madsen's character, an angelic visitor from beyond.

It's far different from what Keillor imagined when he first met with Altman about collaborating on a movie. As they share a sofa at the Four Seasons hotel, Altman and Keillor trade sociable barbs and interrupt each other's thoughts, much like the Altman characters of "M-A-S-H," "Nashville," "The Player" or "Gosford Park."

AP: What sort of movie did you originally have in mind?

Keillor: I had some morbid story that I wanted to do ...

Altman: About people sinking in a boat ...

Keillor: Something like that. So he listened to it. He didn't listen to it for very long. I think about 20 minutes, 15 minutes ...

Altman: That's a long time ...

Keillor: Ten, actually. And we got to the end of it, and he just didn't think it was anything he wanted to do. It would have been a Lake Wobegon movie. A small town where all the women are strong ...

Altman: All the men are good-looking. I didn't want to get into a film where all the men were good-looking.

Keillor: It kind of limits your hand there, doesn't it?

Altman: Yeah. Puts me in a game I don't want to be in.

AP: So it sounds like you turned it back around at Garrison and said, "Why not do `A Prairie Home Companion'?"

Altman: That's my exact quote. I said, why don't we do your show? Why don't we just do your show?

Keillor: It was a terrible idea, but I managed to revise it to save him from the disaster it would have been if he had gone ahead as he wanted. He wanted to have a Lake Wobegon monologue in it, and he wanted to have actors reading off pieces of paper as we do in radio. ... I saved him from his path toward disaster.

Altman: Well, but I've been saved by all kinds of people.

AP: Who had the idea of adding the fantastical element with Virginia Madsen's character? (Altman and Keillor point to each other.) OK, I take it it was a pure collaboration?

Altman: Absolutely. This thing grew like top seed.

Keillor: He was an easy person to write for, because he doesn't go in for meetings.

Altman: I don't like meetings. Since we had the set lit and ready to shoot, when the script came in at that exact moment, I didn't want to stop and have a meeting. So we just went ahead and shot.

Keillor: He was easy to write for also because I don't think he ever really read the script.

Altman: Well, the script is not to be read.

Keillor: I would send it by e-mail attachment, and a couple of days would pass, and I'd get a response from him. He'd say, "This isn't bad," "I think you're on to something here."

Altman: I have a whole list of those.

Keillor: If I'd been in development with a studio Disney, just to name one ...

Altman: I wouldn't have been there ...

Keillor: There would have been a 50-page memo, and it would have been filled with conflicting observations from 14 different people ...

Altman: Conflicting egos.

Keillor: "You need to pick it up a little bit at this point." "We need a point of quiet reflection." "The arc of the story lags here." "Where is the hero and the hero's wound?" "Where's the chalice?"

Altman: We get all that.

Keillor: You must never have read Joseph Campbell.

Altman: Who's Joseph Campbell?

AP: Did you always expect Garrison to co-star?

Altman: It never occurred to me, doing this without Garrison in it.

Keillor: It occurred to me.

Altman: Then one of us becomes redundant.

Keillor: I thought they were in serious negotiations with George Clooney to play me, and I was all for that. That's why I had my character putting his pants on at the beginning of the movie. I thought it would be really interesting to have George Clooney pulling his pants on.

AP: Why was it important to have Garrison on-screen?

Altman: This is what the movie is about. This was the reason to do it. He's a performer of a very unique DNA.

Keillor: Unique would be a very polite way to put it, yes. ... It's a piece of variety, and so the beauty of it is, it gives each of these performers tremendous freedom to do these wonderful turns, to sing and to perform. My character is the little wooden figure who comes out of the clock every so often and makes a little circle and then goes back in.

Altman: Carrying an ax.

Keillor: You have to have some kind of an M.C., and that's what I do. But I was very careful to write the part to place it comfortably within my parameters as an actor, which are very narrow. I run the gamut from A to B.

Altman: He did do that.

AP: How do you think Garrison really did as an actor?

Keillor: I'll leave the room if you want me to leave the room.

Altman: No, no, no, no.

Keillor: What he said at the time was, I was adequate. Marvelously adequate.

Altman: No, he served the purpose.

Keillor: Remind me to ask you for a blurb for my next book.

Altman: Do I have to read it?

Keillor: No.

Altman: Then I can give you the blurb, yes.

[wilberfan]

This might just be clickbait (so many things are), but I'd never encountered this notion before in my PTA-wanderings. (I was quite familiar with this notion of 'backup director', but not that he might have been more creatively involved than that.)

10 Movies Rumored To Have Been Directed By Other People

2/10 A Prairie Home Companion
When celebrated filmmaker Robert Altman signed on to direct the 2006 musical comedy A Prairie Home Companion, he was unfortunately rather unwell at the time, with the movie being his final creative effort. Hiring director Paul Thomas Anderson to help him out with the physical side of the job, Anderson was officially considered a 'back-up' director for the project should anything happen to Altman during the shoot.

It's also reported however, that Anderson was much more active in the production than his back-up status let on, getting heavily involved with the actors as well as setting up shots. Due to this, it's widely believed that while Altman is credited as the film's sole director, Anderson was the key creative force behind the production.