Where The Truth Lies

[MacGuffin]

Bacon can't understand fuss about film's steamy sex

A thriller about two over-sexed Hollywood celebrities set in the 1950s may run into problems with contemporary American film censors even though the director and its star, Kevin Bacon, cannot understand the fuss.

Bacon, co-star Colin Firth and director Atom Egoyan said on Friday they were surprised by the media focus on sex and orgy scenes in "Where the Truth Lies," about two stars whose careers fade after a beautiful woman is found dead in their hotel suite.

"One of the things about this film is that when we're having sex we're naked and that's what kind of flips people out," Bacon told a news conference at the Cannes Film Festival after its world premiere, when asked about fears of U.S. censors.

"Personally, I leave some of my clothes on, but I don't know about the rest of you," Bacon added to laughter. "It's unfortunate that people find that so disturbing. To me the sex in this film is extremely appropriate."

Egoyan, a Cannes favorite with five films here in the last 11 years, said there are no graphic sex scenes in the fictional drama about the two popular entertainers whose appetite for drugs, alcohol and women is insatiable.

"I wanted to create this world that was intoxicating," the 44-year-old Canadian director said. "They could take any amount of drugs they wanted and have as much sex as they wanted. It was an unbridled atmosphere."

But when asked about fears censors, like the Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Ratings Board, would give his film a commercially unfavorable rating that would restrict anyone under 18 from seeing it, he said:

"I never think about censors. We probably will have issues. But we're pretty firm with what we want the film to do. I'm surprised by the focus on sex rather than violence. It seems people are obsessed by the sex. I do think it's essential to the story."

BACON STILL FAMOUS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Bacon and Firth play two fun-loving entertainers whose antics on telethons and on stage, set in 1959, vaguely recall a Dean Martin or Jerry Lewis-style of singing, dancing and comedy. But after the dead beauty is found submerged in the bathtub of their hotel suite following a steamy menage-a-trois, their reputations are shattered and their career together ends even though neither is charged.

The story then jumps forward 15 years to the early 1970s when a young woman journalist probing the reason for their breakup uncovers the surprising truth about the murder. Bacon and Firth play the roles as faded celebrities with great aplomb.

"I don't dare look into my future after doing a film like this," said Firth, a British actor who has become best known opposite Rene Zellweger as Bridget Jones' clumsy love interest .

"I was famous 15 years ago and I'm still famous now," Bacon added. "I'll just keep my fingers crossed."

When asked what it was like to play a "pill-popping, over-sexed bisexual" in the film, Firth replied: "It's a role that is not usually a stretch for most actors. To play 'Lord of the Manor of Derbyshire' requires more research. I feel comfortable in this sort of a drama."

[MacGuffin]

Atom Egoyan's Film Depicts Sex, Violence

Atom Egoyan has learned from his latest film that audiences will play the puritan on sex scenes, not ugly moments of violence.

"Where the Truth Lies," Egoyan's convoluted exploration of a musical-comedy duo's demise, premiered Friday at the Cannes Film Festival and provoked plenty of commentary about its explicit sex.

Yet Egoyan wondered why viewers were so complacent about a scene in which a performer (Colin Firth) viciously pounds an audience member's head on the floor for heckling his partner (Kevin Bacon).

"It really is interesting to me how people respond to the sexuality but not to the violence," Egoyan said at a news conference, responding to reporters' questions about why he went as far as he did in sex scenes involving Bacon, Firth, Alison Lohman and other co-stars.

"No one says that it goes too far when he's bashing his head against the floor. No one ever talks about that. That's the most gory scene I've ever done, and people don't have a problem with that. It's weird. We're still really kind of obsessed about sex."

Adapted from Rupert Holmes' novel, "Where the Truth Lies" stars Bacon and Firth as a duo living it up with all the drugs, sex, booze and adoration of the public they can handle.

Bacon plays Lanny Morris, the unruly American schoolboy of the act, opposite Firth's Vince Collins, a button-down Brit who's the duo's authority figure. At the height of their popularity in the late 1950s, they split amid a scandal and cover-up involving a woman found dead in their hotel suite.

Fifteen years later, journalist Karen O'Connor (Lohman) hooks up with the two after persuading Vince to do a series of interviews for a tell-all book. The film weaves through a labyrinth of half-truths and lies as Karen gradually peels away the public faces of Lanny and Vince to learn who they really are and discovers what actually happened to the dead woman.

Lanny and Vince's sexual conquests, including a threesome with the woman who ends up dead, are presented with steamy explicitness, sometimes as comical commentary on their lifestyle of debauchery.

Karen also is lured into Lanny and Vince's carnal activities, including a lesbian encounter with a woman in an "Alice in Wonderland" getup.

Bacon figures it may not be the movie's sex that disturbs people so much as the naturalness of it.

"Sex is often times all right to see as long as the participants are clothed, or some sort of piece of furniture is put in the way of the nudity," Bacon said. "One of the things about the movie is that when we have sex, we're naked.

"That's what kind of flips people out, which I don't understand. Sometimes, personally, I leave some of my clothes on, but usually ... I don't know about the rest of you. It is unfortunate that people find that so disturbing. To me, I think that the sex in the movie is incredibly appropriate."

[Gold Trumpet]

I'm really liking Bacon's choices lately for films to do. Playing risky roles isn't new for him, but he never had a great rap sheet for picking good films, only good roles. Now he seems destined to be in films that are also acclaimed. Egoyan is a gem of a director. I've been harping this personally to friends the last two years, but I think Kevin Bacon may be the best actor working. I think Robert Duvall is the best living, but he doesn't work consistently the way Bacon and others do. Maybe Bacon's stock will finally rise with the public and critics.

[MacGuffin]

'Truth' hurts as ThinkFilm plans to appeal NC-17

Call it a case of ratings interruptus.

Independent movie distributor ThinkFilm said Friday that it plans to appeal the commercially problematic NC-17 rating awarded to Canadian director Atom Egoyan's "Where the Truth Lies."

The only problem is that the Motion Picture Assn. of America's Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA) says it hasn't officially published the movie's rating yet, and no appeal date has been set.

Based on a murder mystery by Rupert Holmes, "Truth" concerns an investigation into an unsolved murder that marred the career of a '50s stand-up comedy team (Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth). The film includes a menage a trois sex scene involving Bacon, Firth and actress Rachel Blanchard that many observers expect will result in an NC-17, which would make the movie off limits for viewers younger than 18.

In addition to restricting the audience, the NC-17 tag also reduces a studio's ability to market the movie, with some newspapers refusing to publish ads, and some theater owners refusing to screen such movies.

According to sources familiar with discussions between CARA and the director, Egoyan has trimmed several scenes to the point where they would earn the less-restrictive R rating but that the menage a trois scene remains in NC-17 rating territory according to CARA. "Our understanding is that you must first accept the rating, which we did Thursday, and then you can request an appeal," one source said.

When journalists queried Egoyan about the movie's possible ratings difficulties at a media luncheon at the Cannes Film Festival, the director said: "I guess I'm naive. I really had no idea it would be a problem. I just heard the deciding factor could be thrusting. Apparently, anything over three thrusts and you're in trouble. Well, nobody told me. I didn't even do covering shots, so there's nothing I can cut away to. This is what you get."

ThinkFilm chairman Robert Lantos, who also is the film's producer, acknowledged the challenge in reshaping the scene in question, saying: "This scene is done using a single sustained mastershot in order to allow the actors the most conducive environment for intimacy and intensity and in order to best communicate what happens in the film's pivotal scene. It cannot be cut without compromising the central scene of the narrative and thus rendering the mystery of the film incomprehensible. It remains more than a bit absurd to me that this scene would garner an R if shot exactly the same but from just the torso up but becomes an NC-17 because the mastershot reveals full bodies."

The film is to be released October 14 in Los Angeles and New York, with a national expansion October 21.

[modage]

The film includes a menage a trois sex scene involving Bacon, Firth and actress Rachel Blanchard that many observers expect will result in an NC-17

not quite sure what that means?  

which would make the movie off limits for viewers younger than 18.

oooh, okay.  wouldn't having a movie set in the 50's about a stand-up comedy team have already made it off limits to most viewers younger than 18?

[polkablues]

oooh, okay.  wouldn't having a movie set in the 50's about a stand-up comedy team have already made it off limits to most viewers younger than 18?

Atom Egoyan doesn't really pull in the teen crowd anyway.  Except the ones who rented "Exotica" based on the cover art.

Side note: wasn't Rachel Blanchard the girl who played the Alicia Silverstone role in the TV version of "Clueless"?  I always knew she would end up in Canadian art-house movies having threesomes with Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth.

[MacGuffin]

Trailer

Release Date: October 14th, 2005 (NY/LA)

Cast: Kevin Bacon (Lanny Morris), Colin Firth (Vince Collins), Alison Lohman (Karen O'Connor), Sonja Bennett (Bonnie Trout), Rachel Blanchard (Maureen O'Flaherty), Kristin Adams (Alice), Rebecca Davis (Denise), David Hayman (Butler), Shannon Lawson (Rose Wannamaker), Michael J. Reynolds (John Hillman), Anna Silk (Gina), Kathryn Winslow (Publicist), Don McKellar, Maury Chaykin

Director: Atom Egoyan (Ararat, The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica)

Screenwriter: Atom Egoyan

Premise: A young female journalist tries to uncover the truth behind the breakup, years earlier, of a celebrated comedy team after the duo found a girl dead in their hotel room. Though both had airtight alibis and neither was accused, the incident put an end to their act.

Based Upon: Based on the novel "Where the Truth Lies" by Rupert Holmes.

[Ghostboy]

They won't be showing that trailer in America.

I wonder if the whole NC-17 issue ever was resolved?

It'll be interesting to see what a 'commercial' Atom Egoyan film is like.

[Pubrick]

Side note: wasn't Rachel Blanchard the girl who played the Alicia Silverstone role in the TV version of "Clueless"?

yes, yes she was. also starred in the babelicious film Sugar & Spice. i don't think ppl are realising what Rachel Blanchard + controversial sex scenes equals.

another dvd in my collection.

[MacGuffin]

'Truth' hurts for Canadian director

Canadian director Atom Egoyan on Wednesday lost his appeal against the commercially damaging NC-17 tag given to his upcoming mystery film "Where the Truth Lies," which boasts a menage a trois.

The Appeals Board of the Motion Picture Assn. of America's Classification and Rating Board upheld the NC-17 rating after hearing statements from both Egoyan and actress Rachel Blanchard.

The rating was given to the film, which will be released by independent distributor ThinkFilm, because of what the board described as "some explicit sexuality." The tag denies entry to anyone aged 17 and under. Some theaters refuse to show such movies.

ThinkFilm requested the appeal after Egoyan had already made several cuts to the film in hopes of receiving an R rating, which requires viewers under 17 to be accompanied by an adult.

At issue, according to ThinkFilm, was the mystery's pivotal scene, which involves a menage a trois among Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Blanchard, which leads to a young woman's death. According to Egoyan, the shot was filmed as a single sustained master shot and he couldn't cut it any further without rendering the mystery incomprehensible.

"As a parent, I would feel comfortable taking a mature 16, 17-year-old to this movie," Egoyan said in an interview. "I feel dismayed that they wouldn't now be able to see it in a theater. Yet there is a double standard because anyone can watch it at their home."

Because of the ruling, ThinkFilm has decided to release Egoyan's original version of the film, which premiered in May at Cannes, before he made any cuts. The company, which isn't an MPAA signatory and isn't required to carry ratings, has not yet decided whether to release it with the NC-17 or unrated.

"I wasn't happy with the version I showed this morning," Egoyan added. "The good news is the film will go out as it was originally intended."

ThinkFilm has released unrated product in the past, including its current documentary "The Aristocrats." In this case, though, Egoyan was contractually obligated to provide an R-rated cut, and ThinkFilm, convinced of the movie's commerciality, wanted the added playdates that an R rating could contribute.

"We believe the film is more mainstream than anything Atom has ever made," said Mark Urman, head of U.S. theatrical at ThinkFilm. "It's also more commercial then anything we've released before. The cast is certainly mainstream, and we believe it's an R-rated film."

ThinkFilm is also contractually obligated to deliver an R-rated version to Sony's Columbia TriStar Home Video.

Fortunately for Egoyan, ThinkFilm chairman Robert Lantos is also the film's producer, and he supported the decision not to cut the scene in question completely, the director said.

[MacGuffin]

Atom Egoyan’s films are so fascinating, provocative and daring. Apparently his latest Where the Truth Lies is dividing audiences all over the world even in his adopted home country of Canada. But Where the Truth Lies is his most human film since the doubly Oscar nominated The Sweet Hereafter.

Where the Truth Lies is set in 1972 and cub reporter Karen O'Connor [Alison Lohman] has been hired to write a book by entertainer Vince Collins [Colin Firth]. A lifelong fan, she's more interested in finding out why he broke up with his comedy partner Lanny Morris [Kevin Bacon] after a dead housekeeper named Maureen turned up dead in the duo's hotel room bathtub.

Daniel Robert Epstein: This is a film that can’t be described in one sentence. Did you have trouble raising money for this?

Atom Egoyan: It was difficult because I needed the film to have the richness of the era with a high degree of production values because we were trying to recreate a world that was at the peak of a certain type of glamour. Fortunately I have this team of people I’ve been working with for many years, like producer Robert Lantos, so we all were able to rise to the challenge.

We’re able to access funds through co-productions and alternate ways. It’s been really satisfying. I think you get these films like Where the Truth Lies, Sweet Hereafter and Exotica, which are able to enter into the system, but maybe wouldn’t have been able to have been made through a classical studio system.

DRE: How did the book, Where the Truth Lies, come to you?

AE: In galley form through my agency.

DRE: Do they send you a certain kind of book?

AE: This came out of the blue. It was a junior person at the agency who thought I would respond to this material and I certainly did. But it was not the traditional type of book I’m presented with.

DRE: There is a lot more music in Where the Truth Lies than your previous films.

AE: Yes, think that it’s the most heavily scored film I’ve ever made. I was dealing with different periods of music that I adore. I adore music from the early 70’s like progressive rock, jazz influenced artists like Santana and Funkadelic. All of the Enoesque Roxy Music influences and then going back to the jazz stuff with Mingus and then this Bernard Herrmannesque noir string section. All that was just a thrilling part of the filmmaking process and being able to have access to those different styles and finding a way of amalgamating them and using them was a really exciting part of the project.

DRE: It was interesting for a film like this would be made by someone from Canada who doesn’t spend a lot of time in LA. Is this your LA revenge story?

AE: It’s revenge, but it’s also an ode to a certain time because I think popular culture is something that defines everyone to some extent. Our relationship to it and our obsession with it and the way we project ourselves into celebrity and our disillusionment with that are huge themes in any North American life. I remember as a kid waking up Sunday morning and seeing the tail end of a telethon and going, “Oh my God. While I was sleeping, they were entertaining.” There was something mythological about that. I wanted to create a world where we were transported back to a time when we could idolize our celebrities without this degree of scrutiny, yet deal with that moment where our understanding of our own power as viewers to go further in our curiosity. In the early 70’s there was this advent of new journalism where the journalist could really invest themselves into a story. I think that had a huge profound change on the way we view these structures. That was what was exciting about this movie to me. It looked at both celebrity in the 50’s, where there was this degree of control that a celebrity had over their life and then it looked at a time when they were losing that as well.

Maybe it isn’t so much revenge but an examination of what makes them have such a powerful hold on our imaginations and subconscious. That whole idea of the Alison Lohman character as a young girl adoring these two guys, then later on, wanting to reveal who they really were. It’s natural impulse. I’m always seeing those stories of cross generational situations where someone who you might have adored as a parent figure suddenly reveals themselves in a different light.

DRE: When were you first disillusioned by celebrity?

AE: I can tell you the precise moment. It’s when I convinced my dad to take me to San Francisco to go to Carlos Santana’s vegetarian restaurant because I adored Carlos Santana. I fully expected that Carlos Santana would be at the restaurant and that I’d meet him when he would serve me some vegetarian dish. I remember just waiting there all day long. It just wasn’t going to happen. Then I think it was a year later going to see Led Zeppelin and being in the crowd. At one point, I was sure that Robert Plant was staring right at me then I realized that when you’re on the stage and there’s all those lights on you, you can’t see anyone in the audience at all. We all project a relationship especially when we’re younger with celebrities that can’t really sustain itself. It’s just delusional to an extent.

DRE: I saw the film last night and I was very surprised to see that it got rated NC-17.

AE: It’s just shocking and totally comprehensible. Isn’t it crazy?

DRE: I was a little confused by it.

AE: Yeah, it’s been kind of the most ridiculous process. I fully expected it to be R-rated.

DRE: Do you think it’s because of the ménage a trois scene?

AE: The MPAA is not based on any particular code. It’s based on the feeling they get as they’re watching the movie. So I think that it’s a combination of the ménage a trois scene being a master shot combined with it being famous actors in a situation that makes them feel uncomfortable. It seems to be transgressive to them because otherwise it doesn’t make any sense. We did appeal it but it didn’t get overturned.

DRE: How did you come to cast Alison Lohman?

AE: She’s just fascinating to me because she’s 26 years old and she always plays people 10 years younger than her. Alison had to play someone who is both innocent as a child and also play herself as a young adult. She was really the only person I could imagine playing this.

DRE: Obviously Colin and Kevin needed to have some chemistry together. Did you cast one of them first?

AE: I sort of cast them both together and just prayed that they would actually be able to make the act real. That was the greatest sort of surprise and delight of the whole experience to see that act come together.

DRE: You really could see them going on tour together.

AE: Yeah, it’s kind of interesting. The most audacious aspect of the film was trying to construct two entertainers at the peak of their popularity who didn’t actually exist.

DRE: In the book, was Colin’s character always British?

AE: No, the book is very much based on Martin and Lewis. I wanted to reinvent that because it was very distracting.

DRE: How comfortable are you directing sex scenes at this point?

AE: Once you make it clear to the actor what the parameters of a scene are and you talk about why the scene is necessary, as long as there aren’t any surprises then there’s no reason to be uncomfortable. It’s like any dramatic scene. I think where people get flipped out is when an element is introduced at the last moment that they were not expecting.

DRE: I spoke to Francois Ozon earlier for his new movie, 5 x 2. He says he likes to do sex scenes because that’s when the real actors comes out.

AE: I think that an erotic or a sexual scene conveys something essential about the character’s makeup such as the way they approach intimacy. So the possibilities of what we can learn about that character are fascinating to me. Since I’m curious about the people I’m depicting, I have to be curious about the way they approach intimacy and sex. I like working with actors who are also curious about that as well. They are really interesting scenes though I don’t know if they require any more concentration than any other scene, but they are certainly an incredible way to explore aspects of the character that wouldn’t be revealed otherwise.

DRE: How important is the mystery element of the story which you also used in Exotica?

AE: I like mystery. I like being in a space where you’re trying to understand and put things together. In a film like Where the Truth Lies, it’s constructed in a more classical way where you know there’s been a death and there are a number of possibilities and explanations and you’re trying to figure out which one of them is true. In a film like Exotica, the murder is not as important as the aftermath. Or films like Sweet Hereafter or Ararat, it’s not as classically constructed. In this particular film, it’s set up in such a way that you are expecting certain answers and certain points.

DRE: I read that you’re putting together some operas.

AE: Oh yeah. I’m really involved in that. I’m writing the books for them and right now we’re doing this major production of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung in Toronto. We’re also opening up a new opera house next September.

DRE: Do you know what film you’re doing next?

AE: No, I don’t.

DRE: Do you like not knowing?

AE: I like writing so I’m writing right now. It might be an original script but you never know when someone’s going to present you with a book or a script that completely surprises you, which is what happened with Where the Truth Lies.

[Ghostboy]

This movie is pretty mediocre.

There's a lot of sex and nudity, and Kevin Bacon rules, but it's a pretty rote mystery.

The threeway is not shocking or extremely graphic or anything. There's a lesbian scene earlier that pushes far more boundaries than the threeway does. Stupid MPAA.

Once again, the Roger Ebert/lesbian sex theory is proven correct.

[modage]

i'll agree, the movie was okay (C).  alison lohman (though i do like her) didnt seem believable to me as this character.  she may be 26, but she still looks 16 and it seemed more like a kid playing dress-up (sorry).  i also am not sure i bought bacon or firth in these roles either, though they were both good, i didnt quite surrender to the film.  it seemed as if they were acting (and that it was good).  we actually came in about 5 minutes late, which i think worked to the films advantage, because as many twists and turns as it takes, we were working extra hard to try to catch up never knowing what the missing piece might've been.  it mostly reminded me of Auto Focus which i also found to be OKAY.  celebrities, very period setting, mystery, murder, sex, blackmail, etc.  many similarities.

[w/o horse]

I really want to further the conversation I am having the in the The Squid topic, but I cannot without the expression outright for my love for this film.  If the conversation has progressed to an unmanageable point for me in that thread, I hope that I can bring it back around by simply bringing this film to the forefront of conversation.  Even now I have not read the earlier replies to this thread, but I should hope that they are all exemplary, that they all exalt this movie as brilliant.  I have seen Egoyan's prior films, I have seen his The Sweet Hereafter and I have seen his Exotica and his Ararat, but I was not prepared for this experiance.

It was pure cinema, at every beat.  There was no irony, no deprication of truth, in the nature of cinema, and there was not a moment in which I did not fully believe the story.  The characters were smart without being smart, they lived inside of a world which was internment upon them existing.  I cannot express in this state of anomie just how fully fulfilled I was by this film.  It was a constant moving forward, a constant awe, a constant speculative jaw-dropping disbelief in the art of the filmmaker.  Egoyan here surpassed not only my expectations for himself, but also my expectations for genre.

Did everyone feel this?  I hope so.  I would not wish to call it my film of the year, but the best theatrical experience I have had in my lifetime.

[Ghostboy]

Did everyone feel this?

This movie is pretty mediocre.

i'll agree, the movie was okay (C).