Magnolia Narrator:
Who is he?
What's his story and how did PT find him?
Has anyone seen the commercial with this guy's voice, he says something very similar to, "and there are stories of coincidence and chance"
Have you ever heard of Ricky Jay?
For more info, here's a thread that turned into a Ricky Jay discussion:
http://xixax.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=229
is the new strategy to put xixax link banners under rocks?
sorry, i'll be nice. Hello, guy! doubt u'll read this. PEOPLE SOILED OUR GREEN! i've got a headache and it's not a tumor.
FUCK
Know Ricky Jay well but never put it together, or went to imdb, should have done that, big gap in my brain...
Thanks,
Wonder why he'd do that commercial, $$$, in the Narrator tone.
Don't feel bad, I never realized that until just now either. Damn.
Let me just say, this is the best narration I've ever heard. I fuckin get chills when the camera starts pushing in on the kid and sydney's mom and everybody and he's saying all that awesome stuff..."oh no...these strange things happen all the time." Fucking perfection.
I've always liked the teaser where Jay is speaking over the scene of Mrs. Barringer pointing the shotgun and shooting Sydney Barringer as he goes by. I tend to think it's better than the full trailer.
Interesting tidbit on his resume:
Forrest Gump - illusion wheelchair designer
When I first saw Magnolia, I thought that Martin Scorsese did the narration because I remember watching Boogie Nights and thinking it was visually like Casino and PT Anderson must really like Scorsese. Now I know that the voice belongs to the immortal Ricky Jay.
Anyone seen the new Cisco commercial that Ricky does?
Nevermind. I've posted this before. I am going to try to tape it.
Quote from: XixaxAnyone seen the new Cisco commercial that Ricky does?
Nevermind. I've posted this before. I am going to try to tape it.
C'mon ladies...
Use the internet.
http://www.cisco.com/offer/powernow/video/index.html
Beyond Jay's narration in Magnolia he also plays right hand man to Phillip Baker Hall, and he has the great scene in Boogie Nights where John C Reilly does the cheesy floating the glass trick and RJ almost breaks up laughing because here is Reilly doing a cheesy as shit trick for one of the world's greatest magicians and Reilly sells it like only he can,like this thing is something truly mystical. ***Beuatiful***
As to why did RJ do the Cisco commercial in the "narrator" voice. Ummmm..... What voice should he use, it's his voice!!! Watch House of Games or even better is Heist and it's just the tone and staccato he has.
"we met on the level and part on the square" F-ing beautiful!
I saw House of Games again last week and remembered how much I like it.
I'm not sure why I like it, because the acting in it is so incredibly stiff and forced. The Psychiatrist lady is completely stiff, and Joe Mantegna has been much better elsewhere. Ricky was fine - doing the thing he always does. But they needed much better leads. That movie would have been 100% better than it already was. The story was just phenomenal.
If, in fact, the female lead was TOLD to act stiff as part of her character, then shame on Mamet. Great story, shitty direction where acting is concerned. Visuals were just so-so. Still, the story was so excellent that I can overlook the other shortcomings of this movie and still give it a thumbs up.
I always got the impression that House of Games was supposed to feel stagey and not naturalistic to suit the subject matter.
you guys must have seen that other david mamet film 'heist'. that has to be rick jay's best part, from the ground up. i mean, the guy's name is pinky pincus, for crying out loud! and there's this terrific line when he's in the back of the car and sam rockwell's in the front...fuck, i can't for the life of me remember how it goes. it starts 'my motherfucker's so cool...'
JESUS how does that line end?!
hang on, i'm going to check out imdb.com
of course.
'my motherfucker's so cool, when he goes to sleep, sheep count him.'
what a fucking excellent line. david mamet's getting better at directing.
Quote from: The Walking Clicheof course.
'my motherfucker's so cool, when he goes to sleep, sheep count him.'
what a fucking excellent line. david mamet's getting better at directing.
u mean getting better at writing, yes?
my favorite line in the film is when the chick is at the bar about to take a shot of whiskey and the guy says "you know that stuff rots your stomach" and she goes "yeah but I get to drink it first." also, when she and what's his name are outside the truck and the cops are coming, he goes "just act calm" and she goes "what kind of people try to act calm?"
i did mean better at directing (he's always been a killer writer, i think that heist was just able to show it off some more - just check out glengarry glen ross) it's just my prose styling was hampered by the fact i kept on checking the clock 'cos i was meant to be doing some work. sorry.
another is, in reference to rebecca pidgeon's character - 'she could talk her way out of a sunburn'.
actually, if you look at the quotes for heist, there are shit loads. more fantastic quotes per page than any other i'd be betting.
check out these:
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Bergman: Don't you want to hear my last words?
Joe Moore: I just did.
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Bergman: Everybody needs money! That's why they call it money!
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Bergman: I hate to do anything as dramatic as count to three but one, two, three.
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Jimmy: No one can hear me.
Joe Moore: No one can hear what you don't say.
Jimmy: Hey, I'm as quiet as an ant pissing on cotton.
Joe Moore: I don't want you as quiet as an ant pissing on cotton. I want you as quiet as an ant not even thinking about pissing on cotton.
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Coffee Cart Man: Hey buddy. You forgot your change.
Joe Moore: [Takes the change] Makes the world go round.
Bobby Blane: What's that?
Joe Moore: Gold.
Bobby Blane: Some people say love.
Joe Moore: Well, they're right, too. It is love. Love of gold.
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Bergman: What, do you want to tell me what made you a criminal?
Joe Moore: What made *you* a criminal?
Bergman: Nothing made me a criminal. I *am* a criminal.
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Joe Moore: Why should we believe her? Why the fuck did he send her here?
Jimmy: I think she came to me on her own.
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D.A. Freccia: You're not that smart? Then how did you figure it out?
Joe Moore: Well, I tried to imagine a fellow smarter than myself. Then I tried to think, what would he do?
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Bergman: What's that lady see in you, anyway?
Joe Moore: I'm very resilient.
Bergman: So's Gumby.
Joe Moore: I've got a better profile.
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Bergman: This other thing, the Swiss thing, if I was a publisher I'd publish the plans.
Bobby Blane: Why don't you publish the plans?
Bergman: Yeah, no, I said that's what I would do if I was a publisher. Unfortunately, I'm a thief so I have to do that thing.
.
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Bergman: What do I want? I want you to do the other thing!
Joe Moore: You screw me on Wednesday, you screw me on Friday. I've gotta go, I've got my face on a cereal box.
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Pinky: It's a shame you know what, we didn't actually get to do the thing, the swiss job. It's a beautiful plan.
Joe Moore: Cute, huh?
Pinky: Cute as a pail full of kittens.
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Joe Moore: You want to play the dozens? Huh? Here we go. There was an error at the hospital, you died at birth, your turn.
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Jimmy: You going somewhere?
Joe Moore: What are you, the social service lady?
Jimmy: You thinking of going somewhere?
Joe Moore: You come to take the baby back?
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Pinky: Oh my, oh my. Go sell chocolates you Heidi-motherfuckers, go sell cukoo clocks, we got your gold!
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Quote from: budgieI always got the impression that House of Games was supposed to feel stagey and not naturalistic to suit the subject matter.
You would think so, but Mamet also has the actors act very stagey in "Oleanna," "Homicide" and somewhat in "Things Change" too. I think it has to do with his background in theater.
Quote from: MacGuffinQuote from: budgieI always got the impression that House of Games was supposed to feel stagey and not naturalistic to suit the subject matter.
You would think so, but Mamet also has the actors act very stagey in "Oleanna," "Homicide" and somewhat in "Things Change" too. I think it has to do with his background in theater.
I don't remember thinking that with Homicide, or State and Main for that matter, but then maybe it's that the narrative affects the way I see the acting... dunno. I guess it's always theatrical, and I couldn't say because it's a while since I saw one of them, but is the camerawork quite static, so making the performances the focus?
I agree with Budgie. I didn't feel like State and Main was "stagey" at all.
...It just sucked. :wink:
i'm not sure. i know mamet is really strict with his scripts. he doesn't let actors really change much at all, no improv. whatsoever. i guess the star of his movies is the writing, not the camera work.
Quote from: budgieQuote from: MacGuffinQuote from: budgieI always got the impression that House of Games was supposed to feel stagey and not naturalistic to suit the subject matter.
You would think so, but Mamet also has the actors act very stagey in "Oleanna," "Homicide" and somewhat in "Things Change" too. I think it has to do with his background in theater.
I don't remember thinking that with Homicide, or State and Main for that matter, but then maybe it's that the narrative affects the way I see the acting... dunno. I guess it's always theatrical, and I couldn't say because it's a while since I saw one of them, but is the camerawork quite static, so making the performances the focus?
I didn't mention State and Main. The films I mentioned, early in his career, have a certain sense of stageyness. Oleanna is basically his play filmed, so the camerawork for this one is very locked off/back and forth cuts. Homicide's camera is static for the most part, and Joe Mantegna gives a performance very similar to House Of Games in terms of line readings.