In the late '40s and early '50s, Hollywood was hit by something even worse than all of the recent and impending guild strikes, as the government started taking a serious look at subversive screenwriters who may be instilling alternative political agendas (translation: communist ideals) into their work, and one of the men targeted was Dalton Trumbo, a prolific and respected screenwriter under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Because of his outspoken politics, Trumbo was put before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 along with nine others, all declared to be communist sympathizers, put in jail and ultimately blacklisted in Hollywood, to the point where Trumbo was forced to write films like Spartacus, Roman Holiday and The Brave One under assumed names.

Decades after his death, his son Christopher Trumbo wrote the touring play Trumbo, based on his father's personal letters from that era of turmoil, letters so beautifully written that it enticed a who's who of award-winning actors to recite them as monologues in Peter Askin's film of the same name. The documentary features the likes of Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Liam Neeson, Donald Sutherland, Michael Douglas, Nathan Lane, Brian Dennehy, David Strathairn, Joan Allen and Josh Lucas reading Trumbo's stirring and amusing letters, interspersed with archival interviews with Trumbo himself, footage of the HUAC hearings and interviews with Trumbo's direct family and those who knew the man, making it an intriguing and memorable film.

Anyone whose interest in this period in history may have been piqued by Strathairn's turn as Edward R. Murrow in George Clooney's Good Night, And Good Luck will be interested in seeing how Joe McCarthy's actions affected Hollywood and one man and his family in particular.

ComingSoon.net had a chance to talk with Christopher Trumbo, director Peter Askin, as well as actors David Strathairn and Josh Lucas, about the making of the movie and why Dalton Trumbo was so important back in his day and why his actions are so relevant today.

"When your father goes to jail and he's constantly mentioned as an 'enemy of the state,' you're more guarded than anything else," Trumbo's son Christopher told us when asked about the origins of the play and now the movie. "Over time, as people became less frightened and more willing to look at what actually happened, rather then what they were told was going on, they started discovering the actual materials and the truth of the matter in what happened, the attitudes gradually changed. In 1997, I put the play together for the first time, and I expected that it was only going to be a one-night show, and the reaction of the audience was so pleasant to me, that I said, 'This can go someplace else.' It just kept on growing until I met Peter and that really was the best part, that we were able to develop the play in a very nice way, because everybody needs the input of other people in order to make something work. Peter was valuable in that way."

"The spine of the play, as well as the movie, has always been the letters," Askin continued, replying to a query about transitioning Chris' play into a documentary film. "It's a question of organizing those to help tell the story and help give a dramatic thru line to the story and then it was a question of trying to utilize a wealth of some visual footage, primarily photographs that Chris' sister and mother took, documenting their family during this time. They're both professional level photographers. We knew we had some film clips that we could possibly utilize, and the other aspects was more of a typical documentary with interviews with people like Chris and Mitzi. I guess the nice surprise was finding interviews with Trumbo himself. We tracked some things down we were surprised to find and some audio material was wonderful, like the Studs Turkel interview with Trumbo was great, as well as Ring Lardner's memorial. I didn't realize until we got going that the memorial service was recorded."

"What I wanted to do with this is I wanted to contextualize it so that we don't have history as a series of flashcards," Trumbo added. "What happens is you actually have somebody telling their own story in their own words. I don't think many people have the access to that kind of material or that kind of knowledge but the letters, all of which he left behind, his papers have a way of being able to present a very interesting personality through a specific period of time that tell that story. That was what I actually set out to do, tell the story of one man and one family, but I wanted to do it through the ways he was reacting and dealing with what happened."

"I love doing big pieces that are informative about bygone times, especially stuff like this where in many ways, the issues are repeating themselves," Strathairn explained about his decision to take part in a project that parallels his Oscar-nominated portrait of Edward R. Murrow. "To have landmarks, not only artistic in the film industry but theatrical creative arts, to have people acknowledged and remembered, I think is important. We keep these people who set certain standards alive, I love that. Just the material itself is fun to read, because it's great writing. He was a great writer. There's so much in all the letters, the colors in there, so it's just in this performative essence it's great, and I always learn something from doing things like this myself."

The original play had stints by Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy, both appearing in the movie, as well as Paul Giamatti, who played the secondary narrative role in the original play, but "blatant commercialism" was the main reason Askin gave for the decision to cast multiple actors reading letters for the movie. "In the play, it was different," he explained. "One actor did the evening with a second actor contextualizing it with monologues that Chris had written for the play. (The movie) was a way of getting a number of actors into the film, which certainly helps with the commercial aspects of it, but once we knew also had some footage of Trumbo himself, we did debate that idea, but it seemed like a wonderful way to present a varied and yet unified voice. I think having Trumbo himself throughout the film, as well as Chris and Mitzi, helped unify those multi voices into one voice. A friend of Chris saw eight different actors do Trumbo and each time, this person said, 'That person is absolutely perfect for Trumbo.' They bring different interpretations. No one tried to be Trumbo, thank goodness. That would have been discouraged immediately, but with this kind of language, it attracts actors because it's rich dramatic material. As has Chris has pointed out when we tried to edit them, his father wrote letters in three-act structures. Some people read funny but don't sound funny, but Trumbo's language also sounds funny in the right mouths. Really, Nathan's letter in the film, he's a master of comedic timing, not that other actors didn't do it really well but I thought why would you waste that opportunity?"

As one of those actors, Josh Lucas explained how they shot his monologues. "They had me read a letter that I'm on film doing, the letter we all read at a certain point, the last letter, which is all the jobs he did, and then I did another letter which actually Joan (Allen) did in the movie as well, so some people did multiple letters so he had a choice of which way to go with it."

"Actors simply respond to this language," Askin stated when asked how they convinced so many prominent actors to take part in the film. "It's quite unique and there's an emotional range to it. It's stirring and moving and poignant and blisteringly funny and acerbic and Trumbo's personality seems to come out through it."

Both Lucas and Strathairn agreed with that sentiment. "You think of a screenwriter writing a personal letter...or is it the other way around? A letter writer who writes screenplays," Strathairn mused. "He had an ear for the human condition specific to whatever he was writing. You might think he crafted those letters, but they come with such passion and flow that you know it comes from him, but yet again, there's the mind of a craftsman in there, so that's what makes them doubly resonant."

"The direction was 'Don't try to be like Trumbo, don't even think about it'," Lucas agreed. "But also, the material really speaks for itself. It's got such depth and poetry and humor and pain and all the different elements of it, and I think what he was trying to capture more than anything. Each actor I think he wanted them to bring their own style and essence of what they do. I'd loved to have seen this play with David doing it and Nathan Lane doing it, so you see the difference in one person going at it the way Nathan goes about it and then the way David goes about it would capture totally different sides of Trumbo and I think both sides of Trumbo were there."

Askin talked about what makes Trumbo's story so relevant and timely to today's audiences: "I think when 9/11 happened and Bush's first administration, he brought in a guy named John Ashcroft and the Patriot Act was established. You had a sense that Big Brother was watching, and it was interesting in the early days of the stage version, the day Tim Robbins came in to do it, his film Bull Durham was pulled from Cooperstown because of Tim's politics, and a fan came up to Chris Cooper after a performance one night and said, 'You've just made John Ashcroft's list.' Then of course, you have the Dixie Chicks, and even though it wasn't a blacklist, it's insidious and pervasive in a way that it wasn't officially government-sanctioned, but it was. You had the religious Right being a watchdog, so I think that's one of the reasons it's relevant today."

"History repeats itself," Strathairn would tell us when asked about how Trumbo's story is as relevant as when his movie Good Night, And Good Luck was released a few years ago. "They're very much connected in the issues obviously. They're constitutional and civil rights and civil liberties issues. They're different arenas, Murrow and Trumbo, but they're basically carrying the same halberds I think in a different way. Murrow was a pretty creative writer himself, but he was coming from a different kind of forum than Trumbo."

To wrap things up, we asked Lucas and Strathairn if there were any writers today who could exemplify what Trumbo was doing in his day. "Writing-wise, I'm not 100% sure if I instantly (think of) a writer who does that," Lucas told us. "I have a tremendous value for Sean Penn. I lived with him and spent time with him for a section of time, and I think he has done something very similar and he risked his ass. You have to remember he went to Iraq not long after in the same way McCarthy said, 'By questioning people's patriotism to create fear', that's exactly the same thing that happened with the Bush and Cheney administration. They did precisely the same thing and there wasn't a clear-cut black list but I just worked with Susan Sarandon who talks very clearly about the fact she felt her and Tim's involvement, as strong as it was, limited things for them, and made things difficult for a period of time. I think Sean would probably say that. That's just from an actor's perspective, but the breadth of media is so much larger now, that there are probably people doing it all over the place that we don't necessarily know, because it's contained within their environment. Obviously, Sean is a public personality; that way it's easier to identify him. In this period of time, Trumbo and Kazan, they were the same sorts of media personalities. I'm sure there are a number of writers out there, but again, that's what's changing throughout the industry and media as a whole right now, because it's so large."

"Alex Gibney is doing some amazing stuff, and it seems to be more in the documentaries," Strathairn concurred. "It's something for discussion and will always be, but back when Trumbo was writing and Murrow, the community was really small, and the industry was 2 or 3-pronged or less pronged than it is now. Murrow was talking to 3 million people; now, Fox News speaks to how many more millions? Every little hub does, as do writers and as does film. As large a personality as maybe Sean and Susan and Tim and Michael Moore, in today's world, it's deluded and that's why it's great to remember these pillars so it gives some footing to those who were out there doing their own short film somewhere and think, 'No one is hearing us.'"

Trumbo opens in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and Landmark Sunshine, as well as in Los Angeles, on Friday, June 27.

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Capone and David Strathairn Discuss Trumbo
Ain't It Cool
June 24, 2008
By Capone

Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here with one of the great all-purpose chameleon actors of his or any other generation, David Strathairn, who is currently appearing in the documentary Trumbo (beginning its limited release this Friday), along with other notable names like Paul Giamatti, Joan Allen, Michael Douglas, Nathan Lane, Liam Neeson, Brian Dennehy, Donald Sutherland, and others reading the letters of one of the greatest screenwriters to ever live (look him up to see what films he's written over the years), Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo was one of the Hollywood 10, a group of creatives who were blacklisted after testifying before the Joseph McCarthy-fueled House Un-American Activities Committee. Trumbo was luckier than some of his blacklisted peers since he was still able to work under assumed names during his time on the black list, although maybe "luck" is too strong a word. The studios took advantage of his predicament and paid him a fraction of what he was worth. The documentary is a mix of straight biography, and some of the most interesting and worthwhile recitals of his personal letters you're ever likely to hear.

It seems wholly appropriate that Strathairn, who took on McCarthy's tactics playing Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, And Good Luck, should be a part of this project. I first remember becoming familiar with the actor's work in his frequent collaborations with writer-director John Sayles. The two met in college and both made their first film together, The Return of the Secacus 7. Since then, they have teamed up in such films as The Brother From Another Planet, Matewan, Eight Men Out, City of Hope, Passion Fish, and one of the best films either has ever made, Limbo. Strathairn has also taken on memorable roles in films like L.A. Confidential, A League of Their Own, Sneakers, The Firm, Blue Car, The Notorious Bettie Page, We Are Marshall, Fracture, and most recently My Blueberry Nights, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and The Bourne Ultimatum (Jason Bourne pays a visit to Strathairn's office in one of the film's more memorable scenes).

Strathairn, like his friend Chris Cooper, is the perfect Everyman. There is nothing he can't play. He can play the hero in one film and the villain in the next, and you might not ever recognize that it's the same actor. I was profoundly honored to get to talk to him. Here is David Strathairn...

Capone: How are you today?

David Strathairn: I'm fine. How are you?

Capone: A whirlwind press day for you?

DS: Not too windy, not too worldly. [laughs]

Capone: I'm going to guess that the question you're asked most often is, How familiar were you with Dalton Trumbo's work as a screenwriter and as an almost reluctant activist prior to your involvement in this film?

DS: I remember the name vividly from having read Johnny Got His Gun, back when it first hit the streets. That to me was a seminal piece of literature, in terms of activism or, at least, the insight into the effects of war. And, then, when his name would come up, I was, like, 'Oh, that's the guy who wrote Johnny Got His Gun.' I see Spartacus, 'Oh, yeah, that’s the guy who wrote Johnny Got His Gun.' And, then, more recently, maybe about 10 years ago, there was a project that was about the Hollywood Ten that I was involved in the beginnings of... Obviously, his name came up then. And, then, the play, I saw the play [the format of the play was adapted into the movie Trumbo]. Then, when [director] Peter [Askin] called, this is as close as I've gotten really to a hands-on...as close to Trumbo, you know.

Capone: You mentioned the play. How long ago did you see that?

DS: When was that? Umm, I saw it with Richard Dreyfuss when he was doing it. It must have been... Well, Peter's been working on this about seven years now, so it had to be within that span of time, I think.

Capone: I'm not familiar with the play. Was it...?

DS: It is the letters.

Capone: One person reading them?

DS: One person, yeah, it's one person. That was the director's and sort of a collaborative idea, decision to have one person, being a lot cheaper for an Off-Broadway production to have one actor. And, then, to read the letters, which were the spine of the piece, and, as it turns out, this film could not--as Peter has said--would not have existed without the letters, because they are the most vital and insightful evidence of this guy.

Capone: When I finished watching the film--and as great a screenwriter as Trumbo was--the whole time I was watching this film, I was thinking, 'Nobody writes letters like this anymore.'

DS: We've discussed that a couple of times already. Yes, it's really a wonderful remembrance and acknowledgement of the art of letter writing. And, here’s a screenwriter who, you know...you couldn't help but think he’s crafted these letters, because they flow so well, almost like these mini-plays. But, that was him. I think that was his gift. He was sort of to the manner born.

Capone: Yeah, each one has a theme. He'll make a reference in the beginning and then bring it back again at the end. It makes me feel like the art of letter writing is dead today, because I've seen this and heard these letters.

DS: Yeah, well, with instant messaging, you don't have to embellish. You get just the facts. Yeah, that's one of the wonderful things about the film, I think. I'm glad people recognize that.

Capone: I taught a writing class here in Chicago, and it's hard even getting the students to remember to use capital letters half the time, because, like you said, we live in a culture of instant messaging.

DS: Yeah, e. e. cummings has taken over. [laughs]

Capone: That's right. What is it about Trumbo's story that resonates so strongly today? Why is it still so relevant?

DS: Well, much in the same way that Edward R. Morrow, or you can even go back to Brutus and Cicero, who by means of colloquy and exchange of ideas through writing, they...obviously, in the political arena, the resonances are apparent. And, I think, it's important for us to remember that there have been people who have come under the, you know, throughout our history, people have come under oppression and being vilified and accused and condemned for speaking out against the powers that be. In particular to Trumbo, today, the whole slippery slope of civil liberties and First Amendment, our Bill of Rights and the Constitutional issues that have been assaulted by this administration...it's important to acknowledge somebody who, although maybe he lived in a different time, was doing essentially the same thing--speaking truth to power--and using cunning coupled with his passion and his rage and his humor, spoke to these issues, was really one of the canaries in the mind...I mean "mine"...

Capone: That's a good slip, though.

DS: [laughs] Yeah... It's something that we constantly have to remind ourselves of, that you can find ways to speak out, and you should. When he was, through his creative works, using the alias, the producers are smart, you know, they're going to pay him less, but they're still going to make a product...I don't know, he's just one of those characters who can inspire and encourage, and you can sort of hold up as a halberd for saying, 'Oh, yeah, he did it', and look how he is revered today for what he did. He wasn’t afraid. All of those things, they're kind of self-evident, when you get to know the guy.

Capone: I couldn't help thinking, watching all the different actors read his letters...and I believe, if I'm not mistaken, you're the first one we hear in the film...it seemed that you're one of the more central people to have in this group, because of having played Edward R. Morrow, who battled McCarthy with words in a not-so-different way, I suppose. I'm guessing the parallels weren't exactly lost on you...

DS: No, I think they were really beautiful. Although they came from different podiums, but the elegance of Murrow, the incisiveness, and his passion. In many ways, they were both men destined to be these voices. They had a different aesthetic, but the parallels or the connective tissue is pretty apparent.

Capone: In the last nine months, or so I've spoken with both John Sayles and Chris Cooper about different things. But, I truly love talking about the group of actors and the creative types that work with John Sayles. Obviously, the two of you have a great actor/director relationship. I'll ask you the same thing I asked Chris: Can you put into words the nature of the connection you have with him? Why does it keep coming up? You haven't worked with him in a while, but you did--for a while, at least--keep coming back to him. Although I guess, technically, The Spiderwick Chronicles could be looked at as your reunion [Sayles got a writing credit for the film].

DS: [laughs] Yes, I guess it could, an indirect kind of reunion.

Capone: He was really the guy who made me aware that independent films existed when I was a younger man. And, I'm always fascinated to see the familiar faces that appear in so many of his films. You two, in particular, have something that... Is there a way you can describe it?

DS: In essence, it's the same as what Chris was saying, but, for me, it's the relationship with John's work. It dovetails with a lot of my politics, my ideas of collaboration, communal experience on a film, working in a...you know, lots of equanimity throughout production, the characters--each is an essential part of the tapestry. I love the stories he tells and also John's certainty about how he wants to tell the story that he wrote.

There's very little mystery, it's very much about the work. By mystery, I mean you are not left to figure out how are you going to do this, because John's map through each day and through the production and through the stories is so clear, so it's very accessible. You know what you're on about, and where your responsibilities are, vis-à-vis the character and the story. It's always been very refreshing, rewarding experiences. And, the integrity to the work, too, is exemplary. You know a John Sayles film, and you always will know a John Sayles film... All of those things.

And, he's very generous about telling you what he expects. He does a lot of backstory for you, and by that, I mean he's done this over and over again. He says, 'This is who the character is', and it's your job then to fit those attributes into the film. It’s different than a lot other directors. And because he's the writer, the director, and the editor, that offers a lot more access to the essence of what he's trying to get to. But, all of those things are part and parcel of the experience.

Capone: You mentioned that there's not often mystery in what he's attempting to get at, but you were in what many would consider his most mysterious work, Limbo. I remember the first time I met him was at a screening of Limbo before it opened, and, if you can have a positive reason to riot, I think the audience at that film almost did...

DS: [laughs] I know. I was in a theater in Philadelphia and I saw it, and someone threw their popcorn at the screen at the end. It's, like, 'You can’t do that!'

Capone: And then, of course, it has come up again recently, when Sopranos left the air--a show that you were on. It ended up that they had 'stolen' their series ending from John. And, the same theory applies to both as to why they ended that way, because there's no way that either writer could have created an ending that would satisfy everybody--so, why not write no ending at all.

DS: Exactly.

Capone: Do you ever take a break?

DS: Oh, yeah, jeez, yeah.

Capone: ...Because it seems like you make three to five movies a year.

DS: No, no, it seems that way, but that's just because they accumulate, and they sort of get stacked up on the tarmac, and then they get released all at once or something, but no.

Capone: But, by the same token, it seems like you make a lot of films that...and I spoke to Chris Cooper about this, too, and he seemed very aware of how he's perceived by casting directors and sort of attributed that to the reason he's cast in so many military roles or someone in authority. You, on the other hand, are much more of a chameleon. Just in a single year, I've seen you The Spiderwick Chronicles and My Blueberry Nights and Bourne Ultimatum. These characters could not have been more different. Do you deliberately try not to repeat yourself?

DS: Yeah, I think it's important to keeping changing up, because you can get pigeonholed pretty quickly, for better or worse. Some people say, 'Yeah, it's great. I'll dial this one in, this is what people expect, and this is what they want.' But, just for my own personal entertainment, I like to change it up, yeah.

Capone: Thinking of Murrow and then the character you play in Bourne Ultimatum, that's your range, like, that's anybody's range, really. There couldn't be two more different people. I think sometimes people forget it's even the same actor, because the roles seem so diametrically opposed.

DS: [laughs] Well, you hope they do. That's one of the traps, too...is that, 'Oh, there's that guy again!' So, you hope to keep it fresh, fresh and new.

Capone: You and John both seem to have a very workmanlike approach to the films that you do. It's not a passive thing for either of you. Is that a fair thing to say, that you don’t just dive in?

DS: Yeah, it's important...you dig in. You're given the responsibility to represent either an idea and sometimes a person, like in the Murrow thing...

Capone: Not everyone's like that, I guess thats my point, even though they probably should be, especially actors, they're not always like that.

DS: Well, it depends on the material. Sometimes the material does not bear the weight of investigation, in-depth investigation. That's just maybe the nature of the story and sort of the tone of the film. But, for me, it's important to get as much of a gestalt on the situation, character, because you’re under a microscope. And, you want the audience to get something extra, hopefully, you know, surprise or learn something or perceive a person differently. But, I feel it's important, I consider it my duty, really, to study a character.

Capone: How much do you really allow your mind to think like the characters you play? I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. It's maybe the character in a movie that you made that still sometimes haunts me a little bit...I'm thinking of your work in Blue Car. How much do let the thought process of a person like that creep into your own mind?

DS: I don't know. It's hard, because it usually happens in the moment, or on the day, or in the two or three weeks, whatever time you're involved in the picture, that you're trying to access, obviously, a different kind of neurology or a different kind of thinking. But, I don't know, I don't think I could quantify it very well.

Capone: I did want to ask you about a couple of things you have coming up. Of particular interest to our readers...I think it's now called The Uninvited...

DS: Oh, yes, I think it was Tale of Two Sisters, now it's Uninvited.

Capone: I've seen that original Korean film.

DS: Yeah, I did, too.

Capone: What did you think of that?

DS: Well, frankly, I thought, 'Why are they remaking it?' [laughs]

Capone: That question could be asked a lot lately about different projects.

DS: Yeah. I haven't seen the film. I have no idea how they put it together, what the ultimate outcome of that is going to be. It was interesting to work on, because of having seen the Korean one and seeing how it had been sort of adapted... I don't know, my jury is certainly out, because I don't have much evidence, but I'll be real curious to see how that comes to fruition.

Capone: I take it you play the father of the two girls?

DS: Yeah.

Capone: What did you actually think of the original film, other than, 'Why are they remaking this?' You must have liked it to a certain degree, if you thought that.

DS: Well, actually I saw it after I finished shooting the later one, so it was a little more surprising to me, why they remade it. Different, really different, the feeling of this production versus the original. Very different feeling.

Capone: Okay, I guess that's always a possibility when you're remaking a film from Japan or Korea or anywhere. It feels like it's only been in the last couple of years that you've done some of this genre work.

DS: Yeah, Fracture and this one tale is... I've never done those kinds of films before. Yeah, they're a lot different than a John Sayles film, that's for sure. [laughs]

Capone: Better believe it. The other thing, when I was speaking to Wong Kar Wai about My Blueberry Nights, he mentioned that the segment that you and Rachael Weisz are in--I'm sure he told you this, but I was looking for your take on it--was his attempt at writing a sort of Tennessee Williams play in a sense.

DS: Yeah, you do get that feeling, isn't it? It's very evocative of Tennessee Williams, the whole environment, and her character, especially, is just exquisite in that kind of…and the texture. I wanted so much more of her character, really.

Capone: ...Of Rachel's character?

DS: Yeah, oh yeah.

Capone: And, I mentioned it to him, too, that that whole scene, even before it turns violent, just feels like it's going to get violent. It's just brewing under the surface the whole time. When you see somebody that jealous, you just know that violence is imminent.

DS: Well, he's a master of mood, that's for sure.

Capone: Yeah, absolutely. And, you've made a film that Paul Giamatti's in as well.

DS: Yeah, that was a fun little thing. I had a couple of days on that one. Cold Souls, I think it's still in post-production.

Capone: What is your role in that?

DS: I play a doctor who sells soul replacements. Yeah, we can give you a new soul, if you're not happy with yours. And, Paul gets a hold of one that creates all sorts of ramifications and complications. It's a very wonderful, little whimsical, odd tale. It's got a great tone to it. I'm really excited to see how that turns out. Plus, of course, Paul is a comic genius.

Capone: Based on your description, I wasn't sure it was going to be whimsical. It could go in a very ugly direction.

DS: Could do, could do, but it's not. It has a nice aesthetic to it. I think it'll be surprising.

Capone: David, thank you so much for talking to us, and it was great to hear you read the words of Trumbo.

DS: Okay, man. My pleasure. All the best.

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David Strathairn: eccentric uncle
Los Angeles Times
February 14, 2008
By Josh Getlin

He's played a brooding, chain smoking journalist, a diabolical Hollywood pimp and a high school English teacher who brazenly slept with Tony Soprano's wife. In a 30-year acting career, David Strathairn has been identified with dark, introspective characters who smolder their way through memorable performances.

But now he's appearing as an aging, eccentric uncle in The Spiderwick Chronicles, opening today, and the contrast is striking: Strathairn spends much of his time on screen interacting with computer-generated characters. It's a visual effects-laden fantasy that's a far cry from his Oscar-nominated turn as newsman Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck.

Is it a radical departure? "More like on-the-job training," he joked, in a phone interview from his upstate New York home. "It was quite a learning experience, both fascinating and intimidating."

For Strathairn, 59, the challenge was getting used to the intricacies of green screen work: "The mark where you are placed on the set is measured and related to something that's going to happen way down the road, so there are more constraints as far as action is concerned. You're relating to a giant griffin, which is actually a piece of white tape on a grip stand. All of this becomes a real test of the actor's imagination and concentration."

Not exactly what the actor--or his fans--have become accustomed to in a career including seven films by John Sayles (one of his closest friends and one of the screenwriters for The Spiderwick Chronicles). Other roles have included Pierce Patchett in L.A. Confidential, as well as parts in Silkwood, A League of Their Own, Bob Roberts, Lost in Yonkers, The Firm, Losing Isaiah and The Notorious Bettie Page, among nearly 90 movies.

Strathairn said some of his most noteworthy moments have come from work with iconic, fiercely independent writer-directors. The richness of his experience as an actor has been kindled by the sense of community they create.

He noted, for example, that Sayles, whom he befriended in the 1960s, has a rare gift for ensemble filmmaking: "What's special about working with John is that after a while you develop a shared intuition about what he expects," he said. "There's a wonderful shorthand that develops. It's a case where familiarity breeds clarity."

Strathairn, born in San Francisco, began his career in 1980 with Sayles' Return of the Secaucus Seven, later appearing in the filmmaker's The Brother From Another Planet, Matewan and Eight Men Out. And even though his appearance on The Sopranos was limited to three episodes, he relished the ensemble world created by David Chase. "That was such a well-oiled machine," he noted. "And I was one of the few characters who crossed the family and survived." Asked about his on-screen seduction of Carmela Soprano, he answered with a laugh: "I actually lived to tell the tale. That about says it all."

Where you've seen him: David Strathairn, who began acting at Williams College in the 1960s, earned an Oscar nomination in 2005 for his portrayal of Edward R. Morrow in Good Night, and Good Luck. He has appeared in The Bourne Ultimatum, L.A. Confidential and other films, including seven by director John Sayles. He stars next in My Blueberry Nights, playing an alcoholic policeman, in a cast that includes Norah Jones (in her screen debut), Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz and Jude Law.

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DAVID STRATHAIRN: ACTOR TAKES SPRITELY TURN IN SPIDERWICK
The New York Post
February 10, 2008
By Sara Stewart

When it comes to cinematic worlds of fairies and trolls, David Strathairn isn't exactly an obvious casting choice. The veteran character actor does complicated, dissolute and tortured like nobody's business--but the sight of the guy being whisked away by a CGI flock of wood sprites seems truly odd.

The Spiderwick Chronicles has one of its screenwriters, John Sayles, to thank for Strathairn's involvement. The pair attended Williams College together in the late '60s, and Strathairn has appeared in [seven] Sayles movies to date.

Spiderwick, however, was a far cry from the low-budget sets of Sayles and the gorgeously smoke-filled newsrooms of Good Night, and Good Luck,, in which Strathairn made an Oscar-nominated turn as Edward R. Murrow. For one thing, there were a lot of green screens.

"It was on-the-job training," he says. "It was exciting, watching these skilled technicians set up the shots and all the equipment and the measurements--I'd never seen that kind of technology."

But Strathairn is hardly becoming a kiddie actor; he's in rehearsals at the Public Theater for the very grownup Conversations in Tusculum, about Julius Caesar's political manipulations, in which he stars with Brian Dennehy, Maria Tucci and Aidan Quinn. He's also appearing in the indie film My Blueberry Nights, out in April.

"I play a kind of alcoholic, local town policeman who's having a hard time dealing with the fact that his wife doesn't want him anymore, and has moved on," he explains.

In other words, a welcome return to complicated, dissolute and tortured.

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Patricia Sheridan's Breakfast With...David Strathairn
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 10, 2007
By Patricia Sheridan

Elegantly serious, actor David Strathairn wasn't always so composed. To watch his cool command of roles such as CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen in The Bourne Ultimatum or Edward R. Murrow in his Oscar-nominated performance in Good Night and Good Luck or even in a guest spot on HBO's The Sopranos it's hard to imagine he began as a clown. After graduating from Williams College, he joined the circus. Strathairn, 58, started a children's theater company and finally got a break when John Sayles cast him in Return of the Secaucus 7. The Bourne Ultimatum is available in stores on DVD tomorrow.

Q: Your parents were professionals. Was there some dismay when you ran off to join the circus?

A: I don't know. You know, I never really had a one on one, except for, after the fact. Yeah, I suspect there was a bit of dismay. I remember both of them kind of instilling us with whatever you feel passionate about, go for it. Although the times, from let's say 1960 to '75, were tumultuous. There probably were a lot of parents who were dismayed. (Laughing)

Q: Clown College wasn't the worst thing you could be doing.

A: Well, no. It may have been one of the more bizarre things to be doing.

Q: Speaking of bizarre, is it true your first gig was to play half a Siamese twin?

A: I think that is why I was hired, basically. One half of the twin gag had left the circus and moved on to something else. So they needed someone to fill that void, and, indeed, I was the right size to fit the costume.

Q: Today you are described as a very elegant actor. You have a certain seriousness about you, yet you started out in such a playful way.

A: I think you sort of go through the doors that are open to you, and it's a double-edged sword. Doors get open to you based on the one you came through before. If you are not careful you end up being pigeonholed in this business. That's not to say, if a door opened on to a, you know, a clownish room. I wouldn't go through it. It comes with the territory.

Q: Have you developed a routine for memorizing lines?

A: No. No I wouldn't say I have one particular methodology. It depends on the kind of line, on the kind of project. If it is a play, you have weeks of rehearsal to have them become a part of you. But, for instance, in The Bourne Ultimatum, very often, we were getting new lines on the day. So you have to be prepared to learn them or at least get a reasonable facsimile of them going quickly.

Q: How have your aspirations as a young actor changed, if they have?

A: They haven't, I don't think. It's always to be able to stand and deliver and do well enough that someone will consider you yet again.

Q: Have any of the roles you've played taken longer for you to find your rhythm?

A: Um, that's an interesting question. Let's see, well, I'll put it this way: I've taken as long as I've been allowed [laughing] to find the rhythm. Sometimes you land a part, and you have a week to get ready. Sometimes you have as much as, well, at least for me the most I've had is about two months. It's like the weather. You have to be prepared.

Q: Do you have a preference for playing fictional or nonfictional characters?

A: No, but they definitely have different requirements. One is wide-open exploration with infinite choices, and the other is a framework you have to work within.

Q: Once you've finished a film project, do you enjoy seeing it or is it on to the next job?

A: I enjoy seeing it. Not right away sometimes, because I find, as far as film goes, it's a learning tool. You get your feedback on how well I accomplished what I thought I was doing. You pop in, you pop out and then you see your work later. Film is so much more of a technical thing than stage is.

Q: Can you take the movie experience and apply it to stage work?

A: I don't think I can quantify that very well. I see it as the responsibility of the actor as essentially the same thing, to be present in the moment and fresh and creating the illusion of the first time each time you do a take or a performance.

Q: When you go home, do you bring these characters with you or can you leave them at the door?

A: Well, when you are in a play the character is always sort of with you. Ultimately, that's what it is. I do take them home with me as long as the projects are ongoing. It's one of the things you live with when you are living the character.

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Pacing of story key to Bourne actor: Strathairn enjoys action movie debut
Boston Now
December 10, 2007
By John Black

When you hear an actor tell you that making a movie was like "dancing across hot coals", you might think it was a bad experience.

In the case of David Strathairn and The Bourne Ultimatum, though, just the opposite is true. Although he faced the pressure of being the new guy--and the third villain, CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen--to go up against Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) in a very successful film franchise, Strathairn said the experience turned out to be one of the best of his career.

"I've never been involved in this kind of film before and while I was excited by the idea, I was a bit daunted, too," Strathairn said. "There was a lot of on the job training, so to speak, but it gave me such confidence to work with really great filmmaker."

The filmmaker he's talking about is director Paul Greengrass who has made two of the three Bourne movies.

"Paul made it fun. Quite frankly, I'm sure those first few days on the set I looked like a deer in headlights because this was so different from anything I've done before, not only in terms of the action, but of the style of film Paul was making with lots of hand held cameras and other innovations to keep the tension level high."

Despite early days of flop sweat--or 'actors neurosis' as he called it--Strathairn, who has been making movies for close to 30 years, eventually found a way to play the character.

"This is going to sound weird, but there is a music, or a rhythm, to what Paul does and when you find that it all falls into place," he said. "Basically, The Bourne Ultimatum is a cut to the chase movie, but there's an pulse to it that makes it more than just car crashes and snappy dialogue."

The Bourne Ultimatum comes out on DVD tomorrow.

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A break in the action: David Strathairn has a way with sexy costars
The Boston Globe
December 8, 2007
By Carol Beggy and Mark Shanahan

David Strathairn's got the Midas touch when it comes to leading men. George Clooney, his costar in Good Night, and Good Luck, was People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" last year, and Matt Damon, his costar in The Bourne Ultimatum, was "Sexiest Man Alive" this year. Does that mean Martin Short, Strathairn's costar in The Spiderwick Chronicles, due out next year, will be "Sexiest Man Alive" in '08? "I don't know about that," Strathairn said, laughing. "He might be the sexiest underworld gremlin creature." A Williams grad whose impressive resume includes several John Sayles films, Strathairn said it was a big treat to work with Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum. "Matt embodies something I haven't heard articulated overtly," Strathairn told us. "He was able to imbue the Bourne character with an amazing amount of integrity because, really, that's something that emanates from him."

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IGN Interviews Bourne's David Strathairn: Bourne baddies speaks out!
IGN
December 7, 2007
By Christopher Monfette

With such a stoic demeanor and calculated performance, David Strathairn often comes across as a Serious Actor--perfect for the black-and-white, smoke-filled rooms of films such as Good Night and Good Luck. His performances almost always carry a kind of relentless authority--a quality which lent itself perfectly to the character of Director Vosen in The Bourne Ultimatum. Calling the shots from the C.I.A. command center, Vosen is by definition a company man, keeping pace with Bourne by a series of barked orders and frantic deduction.

We recently had a chance to sit down with Strathairn and discuss the character and his possible future within the Bourne franchise.

IGN: Just to begin at the beginning, how was it that you came to be involved with the project?

STRATHAIRN: It came down the usual channels, I suppose. When I was over in London during Good Night and Good Luck they'd worked it out that I could meet with Paul Greengrass. I was really excited about the way he was looking at the material and I'd been very impressed by United 93. I'd never been involved with this type of film and so we tossed around some character ideas and it was just a great meeting.

IGN: Were you very familiar with the films at that point?

STRATHAIRN: I'd seen the films, but I'd never really been in the hopper for those kinds of movies prior to this. Most of my admiration for Paul was based upon Untied 93 and how he was looking to deal with the landscape of Bourne's quest.

IGN: Vosen is a very complicated character in that, while being the villain, he's not without nobility.

STRATHAIRN: I had a different idea of him when I first read the script. On the page, I didn't actually see him as the helmsman of the situation. It's not much that you form about Vosen from what he's doing vis-à-vis the moment, but you do see that he's a career guy. He believes in it; he's a zealot; and for better or worse, his M.O. is predicated by his job. You could make a case for him being a right-wing conservative, or a nihilistic policy-pusher. But if there's any humanity there--which I think there is a small amount--it's inferred from the images.

IGN: Your performances generally appear very carefully and intelligently crafted--which is interested given Paul's style of filming and the breathing-room that he allows his actors. What was your process like throughout the filming?

STRATHAIRN: It was a combination of stuff that was on the page and the stuff that was tweaked or discovered at the last moment... And it's a credit to Paul because it was made up in so many pieces, catching little inferences of character and plot. The way we shot it was fairly piecemeal and apart from the scenes with Joan, you're on the ice and you're skating fast and trying to stay focused on the moment. Paul really captured this guy and put him together from a lot of individual pieces. It's an indication of his ability to create a character without much ice-time... The days felt like dancing on a hot skillet, and yet Paul was always there with a very supportive, positive energy, saying, "Don't worry. It's all good; just go for it."

IGN: Is there an element of Vosen that has transformed from youthful idealism to being, in a sense, blinded by the power available to him?

STRATHAIRN: Obviously, in order to live with oneself in that kind of world, you've gotta believe in the ideals. Moe often then not, these guys are countries and days and time-zones away from these deeds they order, so that distance might give them comfort. They're not pulling the trigger. So the ideals are a lot of the motivation, but then when push comes to shove, he proves to be more vulnerable than he's put on. And what little you see of that breakdown is evidence of a rather fragile ideology. He's hiding behind a lot of technical prowess. Big toys. Ultimately, he's a company man and as long as the company keeps him safe and glossy and there's no blood on his desk, he's insulated.

IGN: There's a kind of surprising and unexpected continuity between the second and third films--

STRATHAIRN: Not to interrupt, but that's a such a great point. There's a very interesting progression from two to three. And not too many people discuss this or put it on paper, but what Damon is doing with the character lends this--and it'll sound a bit esoteric and weird--but there's kind of a Greek thing going on here. There's a case to be made that this kind of person in modern times is a bit of a mythic person. And his quest for himself and his identity is beautifully nuanced. There's a resonance that makes the film more than just a big car chase.

IGN: With that continuity in mind, do you see any opportunity for Vosen to come back in further Bourne films?

STRATHAIRN: It would be really exciting. I don't know who's pulling those strings, but I know that there's nothing written, and it might be a tall order to create something beyond this one. He's done what he needed to do and he's free to go. I don't know if there's enough propulsion into whatever comes next. There's penultimate and then ultimate, but it would certainly be exciting to do this all again.

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The Greenville News (12/02/2007) - photo copyright © The Greenville News

Photo Galleries: Public Appearances

Noted actor shares his craft with teens: David Strathairn visits Govenor's School
The Greenville News
December 2, 2007
By Ann Hicks

A slender man in perpetual motion, acclaimed character actor David Strathairn intermittently tugs at his neatly trimmed, graying beard while he explores the art of performance with a gathering of eager actors-in-training.

A whole world emerges from the details Strathairn has shared for two days with the students of the South Carolina Governor's School drama and writing classes. He arrived Thursday, invited by drama department chair and fellow actor Daniel Murray.

Now, down to a few more hours before he leaves, Strathairn has the students working exercises during which he tells them not to be afraid to explore their craft, to "invest the words with intention" and to explore the "connective tissue" between the writers' words and the actors' actions.

The San Francisco-born [58]-year-old master teacher graduated from college in 1970, and spent several years as a clown in a traveling circus. Since becoming an actor in 1980, he has appeared in 55 movies and numerous plays and television dramas and has won critical acclaim for many of those roles.

Among them are Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations for best actor for his portrayal of famed CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck (2005), directed by George Clooney.

Most recently, Strathairn played Noah Vosen in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and has completed for release in 2008 two more films, The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Tale of Two Sisters.

Asked to talk briefly about the relationship between the actor and the writer, Strathairn says, "It is a given that without the writer we wouldn't have the words."

It is the writer who provides the blueprint, the story, and it is the actor's responsibility to respect it and investigate it, he adds. And in case an actor is asked to help, perhaps to explore a word or reinvestigate a play with a living playwright, then "you offer up yourself as a tool, as an instrument of expression to the writer."

About making Good Night and Good Luck with director/actor Clooney, who recently filmed Leatherheads in the Upstate, slated for release in 2008, Strathairn says, "Working with George was quite extraordinary."

It had everything to do with his passion about the project, his preparation, his expertise around the camera, and his instinct to create a supportive, safe and playful environment for the actors.

"To say it was easy, it wasn't, but it sure was smooth," he says.

Strathairn will be next seen on stage in a new play, Conversations [in] Tusculum, at New York's Public Theater, written and directed by Richard Nelson.

The play takes place in 45 B.C. in a town outside Rome where Cicero, Cassius (Strathairn) and Brutus are discussing the Republic. The play explores loving one's country and its values being destroyed by a misguided leader.

Asked about the social responsibility, if any, an actor has in choosing to portray a role, Strathairn says, "I'm a citizen before I'm an actor, and I do care about what's going on."

He says he loves the word "entertain" and quotes Clooney in an interview about Good Night and Good Luck: "This is not entertainment. What Edward R. Murrow was doing and what we're doing is asking you to entertain these thoughts, these ideas" we present.

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Thessaloniki: Tandem Master Class with Chris Cooper & David Strathairn
FilmFestivals.com
November 22, 2007
By Alex Deleon

Day number five of the fest opened with a One-Two punch tandem Master Class delivered by Oscar winner Chris Cooper and multiple award nominee David Strathairn, two of the best character actors currently active in American cinema. Both are here in Thessaloniki accompanying director John Sayles on his full-scale career retrospective, ongoing throughout the festival. Both actors have appeared in a wide variety of roles in Sayles pictures and have made their mark in countless other films with various other directors.

Strathairn came to wide international recognition for his iconic portrayal of mythical American journalist, Edward R. Murrow in Goodnight and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney in 2005, and Cooper was attributed a Best Supporting Oscar for his portrayal of a Swamp rat recluse opposite Meryl Streep in Adaptation, 2002. He was also remarkable as the gay ex-marine living next door to Kevin Spacey in American Beauty, a multiple Oscar winner in 1999, and as the savvy horse trainer in Seabiscuit, 2003. Both are the kind of actors who can disappear so fully into a role that one barely remembers them except as the character in question. There are many other shared commonalities between them, (original roots in the theatre, near contemporaries in age, born 1949 and 1951, respectively) although they tend to portray vastly different kinds of characters on screen, Strathairn more at home in urbane sophisticated roles, whereas Cooper, who hails from Missouri and Texas, is more likely to appear as an earthy mid-westerner or a sly country bloke.

In response to an audience query as to what questions he would himself ask a director when trying to decide whether or not to accept a part offered, Strathairn, after considerable reflection, said that he would, first, want to know why the director chose him in particular over other candidates for the role, secondly, what was the directors view of the character, and, finally, what was he trying to say with the film. Both actors agreed that "having to go to places with a character who goes very much against the grain of your own personal beliefs"-- i.e., playing unsavoury or politically loathsome characters--(the gay Marine in American Beauty, the Bush-like politician in Silver City, the psychotic cop in My Blueberry Nights, the dyslexic babbler in City of Hope)--sometimes forces them to do their best work.

Cooper and Strathairn have both been featured in numerous Sayles films in both supporting and leading roles and regard him as a mainstay of their acting careers. Asked if he ever does a job just for the money Cooper replied that it was "about a three-to-one proportion"--three good films he really wants to do, and one 'whore job' to pay the bills. What these two unusual screen craftsmen really share, however, is a kind of theatrical honesty which makes them totally believable no matter what the role, and a dedication to the profession that is a light year away from the narcissism of Hollywood. One might also add that both actors have very distinctive speech patterns (in Strathairn's case an almost professorial, vocabulary-rich delivery, with Cooper, a seductive mid-western drawl that isn't quite a drawl after all...) and a kind of low-key screen charisma that ploughs them into your sub-conscious whether you like it or not.

This session turned out to be a true "master class" in that it had the qualities of a compact College Course that could have been entitled "Screen Acting 101", monitored, incidentally, by festival president, George Corraface, who is himself a well-known Greek actor and a dead ringer for the early Tony Curtis. The entire proceedings were recorded on tape and will comprise a separate report elsewhere. Some of the subjects covered were; the influence of dreams in the role preparation process, the various approaches to the composition of a character, working methods--staying in or out of character during the filming process, the joys and difficulties of the metier, and innumerable personal observations from lengthy parallel careers. Suffice it to say that this two-hour tandem disquisition on the art, psychology, and philosophy of acting, both screen and theatrical, was alone worth the trip to Greece.

Of films seen during the day, two are worthy of special mention. In the ongoing section on New Spanish cinema, The Ferpect Crime (El Crimen Ferpecto) which deals with a very Imperfectly accomplished killing by a department store Don Giovanni, was a rip roarer, with co-star, delicious Ugly Duckling Monica Cervera, in attendance, and Juno, Jason Reitman's follow-up to Thank You For Smoking wowed an eleven PM audience. The latter film was very well received in Toronto and won a prize at the recent Rome festival. The mostly unknown cast, especially newcomer Ellen Page (the saucy 16 year old heroine) and Jason Bateman, the reluctant adoptive father, will certainly emerge from obscurity with this one.

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DAVID STRATHAIRN & CHRIS COOPER MASTERCLASS
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
November 21, 2007
By unknown

"With us today we have two of the most prominent members of John Sayles' family who aren't interested in star status, but in making us part of the cinematic world that they have been faithfully serving for years." With these words, the Director of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Despina Mouzaki introduced David Strathairn and Chris Cooper at the masterclass they gave on Tuesday, November 20th at the packed John Cassavetes Theatre.

Coordinating the discussion was the President of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, George Corraface, who started off with the subject of actor typecasting. David Strathairn mentioned that typecasting is unfortunately an indivisible part of cinema: "It's a trap, a kind of 'copying', a problem for actors who want to explore their art. We want to be the messengers of the world. However, the film industry doesn't like to take risks so it forces actors to play the same roles. These are the conditions of our work. Therefore, you either go back to the theatre, or you go...to John Sayles." On the same topic, Chris Cooper said: "Typecasting is like a bad joke. They are always offering me the part of the bad father, the government official or the soldier." Regarding how he selects the films he plays in, Cooper said that he uses the three-one rule: "Three films for the heart, and one for the money."

In a question regarding the research that they do for the roles they play, David Strathairn said that "this is one of the best parts of our job. You learn about the clothes that were worn in any given time in history, about the politics of the time and you generally have a lot of information and data to think about. If you’ve done your research properly, then the result is truly educational, both for yourself, as well as for the audience."

The two actors were also asked whether they have ever been afraid of accepting a particular role. Cooper mentioned that it depends on how high the actor aims for: "In American Beauty, every time I read the script, I became more and more disheartened. I kept dwelling in darker areas. Finally, I listened to my wife and accepted the role." Strathairn noted: "When you say no to a role and then someone persuades you to accept it, you usually end up regretting it. You question your own judgment and blame yourself for trusting someone else rather than your instinct."

Regarding how difficult it is for actors to switch in and out of their roles, Cooper claimed that he isn’t affected by it: "Of course, the characters continue to exist inside of you even after the film is finished, but that doesn't bother me." On the same topic, Strathairn compared an actor to an athlete, and each role as a separate and active member of his body.

In a question regarding their collaboration with John Sayles, the two actors revealed that he is one of the few directors who gives concise resumés of the roles when he offers them to actors. "This is something very special and an incredible help to actors, who have a starting point for their research," said Chris Cooper. David Strathairn added that he only experienced something similar to that in Goodnight and Good Luck by George Clooney.

Finally, regarding the Oscars and the changes they brought in their lives, Strathairn was firm: "There is no way that an Oscar can change the 25 years of my work in cinema." Cooper agreed and added: "We became more popular, which isn't bad, but nothing more. Regardless, we don't even live in Hollywood."

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Vanity Fair (10/2007) - photo copyright © Howard Schatz

Photo Galleries: Publicity & Photo Shoots

In Character: David Strathairn
Vanity Fair
October, 2007
By Howard Schatz

The actor transforms into a boy learning about sex, an evangelical preacher, and an apoplectic soccer dad.

Left: You're a 9-year-old boy hearing about the details of sex for the first time from your 16-year-old brother.

Center: You're an evangelical preacher, screaming to your flock, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, JESUS!"

Right: You're an ex-jock dad, apoplectic over the penalty the soccer ref has called against your seven-year-old son for a tackling foul.

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Power plays unacceptable to Bourne's Strathairn
The Gazette
September 6, 2007
By Jamie Portman

It was marketed as a thriller and was a big summer hit. Yet, it's proved to be a lot more than just a brilliantly efficient piece of cinematic escapism. Whatever its original intent, The Bourne Ultimatum has touched nerves and provoked serious discussion among filmgoers and commentators about the use and misuse of government power.

For actor David Strathairn, one central question emerges from the film. It concerns what he terms "lethal action instituted by an institution against individuals." Is such action ever justified? Strathairn has no trouble answering that one: The answer can only be no.

But in The Bourne Ultimatum, he portrays a public servant named Noah Vosen, a veteran CIA operative who does believe that the ends justify the means. Strathairn's performance as a man who sanctions illegal government action to achieve his ends has triggered a lot of reaction, including comparisons with U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney. Strathairn won't comment on the Cheney parallels, but he does say he's glad the movie is prompting serious discussion.

"I love that these questions are happening over an action picture," the [58]-year-old actor says. "It's really great."

He adds that the movie's impact is a testament to the skills of British director Paul Greengrass and star Matt Damon, who delivers his third performance as Jason Bourne, the killing machine created and programmed by the CIA to assassinate America's perceived enemies.

In the film, Bourne is on a ruthless quest to rediscover his true identity and to unmask those who taught him how to kill. He therefore represents a threat to Washington's security establishment, which fears public exposure of its secret policy of training international assassins. Vosen is the "patriot" determined to take whatever measures are necessary, including eliminating ordinary civilians who stand in his way, in order to find and destroy Jason Bourne.

Strathairn, one of Hollywood's most respected character actors, is aware of the irony involved in his taking such a role. After all, he will always be remembered for his Oscar-nominated performance as legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck. That performance depicted Murrow's lonely battle against the late U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy, the notorious instigator of an anti-Communist witch hunt that destroyed innocent American lives more than half a century ago.

"We have the use of force, the use of violence, the use of trained programmed assassins to compromise a perceived threat--for the sake of what? That's where the equation for the discussion begins. ...In this story, it is excessive and reprehensible because all he (Vosen) is looking out for is himself."

But is Vosen truly evil? Strathairn, who lived with this character during months of filming, thinks not. But he does see a cautionary lesson in the spectacle of an essentially banal human being elevated within the system to the point where he is capable of doing serious harm in the name of patriotism.

Strathairn likens Vosen to "a corporate clerk...one of those guys who probably never was in the field...and has ascended to a place where he might feel now he is a bit of a Napoleon."

Strathairn will offer audiences a less sombre side of his talent this year. He'll be seen in the family fantasy The Spiderwick Chronicles, playing "a wonderful kind of mad botanist, naturalist, animist kind of guy," who also has access to "a magical kingdom of trolls and goblins and fairies and sprites."

He is currently in Vancouver shooting another movie, A Tale of Two Sisters.

[www]

Show Magazine (09/2007) - photo copyright © Show Magazine

Who's That Guy? David Strathairn
Show Magazine
September, 2007
By unknown

Over his 27-year acting career, David Strathairn has appeared in close to 90 films and TV shows, sharing celluloid with Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Kevin Spacey, Sigourney Weaver, even Sidney Poitier. Still, most of us have never heard of him. Not a clue. David who? The 58-year-old Strathairn happens to be one of the most dependable character actors in the business, but even his star turn in Good Night, and Good Luck--which earned him Golden Globe and Oscar noms for best actor--didn't make him a house-hold name. The same goes for this year's role as a world-weary D.A. in Fracture. Even appearing opposite Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum hasn't put his name in lights. Then again, if the steady pace of Strathairn's upcoming projects (six films this year and next) is any indication, fame doesn't seem to matter all that much.



Strathairn Ultimatum!
AlloCine
August 16, 2007
By unknown

AlloCine meets Academy Award® nominee David Strathairn, one of the most accomplished character actors working in Hollywood today.

AlloCine: How did you come to be involved in The Bourne Ultimatum? Obviously you know [Bourne producer] Patrick Crowley from L.A. Confidential.

David Strathairn: I didn't know Patrick was on-board, and I'm not sure how it fell my way. When I was doing the rounds with Good Night, and Good Luck. We were in BAFTA and I heard that I was under consideration. Paul Greengrass was there and we had a short conversation about Bourne, how he wanted to approach the film and the like. And I was a big fan of the franchise and I think that was my audition.

So an informal interview...

David Strathairn: Exactly that, discussing what we thought and after that I wrote him a sheet on ideas that I had--kind of Monday morning quarter-backing and he responded, which was nice. And then the dice rolled my way.

What did your sheet of ideas say?

David Strathairn: I saw Noah as someone who had been ensconced in the basement of whatever Blackbriar's infrastructure was and he'd been cultivated and gradually ascended to this new position. Basically, he was like a clerk for this company. Not necessarily an evil guy, but a product of his nurture, and his nature took a backseat to this world, so he became very efficient and had a real aptitude. I saw him behind the scenes, with his fingers all over the surveillance toys, and someone they put forward to voice their policy. And Paul thought it was a great idea, and then the character evolved into what you see in the film, and there are some allusions to those real Noah types out in the world.

You said that you were a fan. What is it about the films that you like?

David Strathairn: Well, I don't rush out to see the next big action picture, but I'm a huge fan of Matt Damon. He's such a terrific actor, very thoughtful and with a combination of gifts that he's using very wisely. He can fill the bill for an action hero, because he's got the physique, but he's also Matt Damon, and that really infuses the character. And I also love the use of camera and that the stunts and action are really plausible. There's a real authenticity to it all. I like it on this Greek level; a hero who's been spewed out by the system, like Odysseus, who has this very successful career as a killer, but is on a quest to find out who he is.

And not just to take down the system...

David Strathairn: Yeah, it's not just vengeance. Obviously, killing his nemesis was a big thing for him, but I love it that he holds onto that motivation. James Bond, for example, doesn't really hold onto his love, while Jason does, and that fuels his journey, too. And that he's on his way home, after the war.

Like Odysseus returning to Penelope...

David Strathairn: Exactly that, and I love it. You're not hit over the head with it, but all great stories are made of something like that--if they're to last they need that ingredient.

And there's also that sense of tragedy...

David Strathairn: Yeah, a sadness like some Greek epics. It's not easy, and it's not black and white. It's a man's journey back to himself.

As an accomplished actor yourself, can you elaborate on Matt's specific talents?

David Strathairn: I didn't really get to work with him; I'm in this movie chasing that guy but only interact with him during that phone call. That was a bit frustrating, to never have had a scene with him.

Patrick Crowley said that your strength comes from your 'softness'. What do you think he means by that?

David Strathairn: I'm not sure! Well, with the character you can't see the razor edge on him. If you got into a fight with him, he'd lose. He loses throughout, even to Landy, and hasn't got the balls to take her out. He's kind of ineffectual when it comes to doing the deed. You might expect him to shoot Landy, but he can't take her out to cover his ass. Noah's kind of nebulous. You could put your finger in there, he's physically vulnerable. When I was thinking about the character, I thought of certain political people who are surrounded by this grey fuzz--it's almost as if you could put your hand right through them and it'd come out dripping with stuff. So maybe that's what he means by the 'softness'.

Did the character evolve during filming, or was he nailed down by the time you started shooting?

David Strathairn: He evolved, which was fun, and each day there was that quest to discover the scene. And Paul's so adept at keeping the character on the table, while also working through what he needs the character to do. If you go too far the character can get bogged down, and detract from the story. So he was really clever at guiding you--doing something very specific for the character, and then doing something for the story.

Did you work very tightly to the script, or was there some leeway, providing the scene got to its destination?

David Strathairn: It was exactly that. Paul's very collaborative. Once we discovered where the scene needed to be, how it fit the puzzle, the script would just be a guide. It'd demand the necessary emotion, but Paul would change things. Sometimes that was hard to inhabit right away, it creates panic in any actor, but there was also the way that he used the camera. The camera was very generous in respect of getting your lines.

How do you mean?

David Strathairn: Well, the camera would never be static and fixed on you, so you got a lot of takes, because the camera was rolling round the room, picking up bits of information on the fly. So you'd get a bit of that line here and there--there was this fluidity, as if they were spying on us when we were spying on them.

What most impressed you about Paul, other than what we've discussed?

David Strathairn: He's there up on the bridge of this vast juggernaut of a production--they went around the world twice--and the pressure of paying off from The Bourne Supremacy, with all that expectation, was huge. They're dropping a bundle on this and yet he held onto how he wanted the film to work. And to keep that sensibility was a rough go, to forge ahead that way while honouring all the requisites of a big studio blockbuster.

And he has to better those wonderful action sequences from Supremacy...

David Strathairn: Yeah, to equal or better them. And he was leading this army of people around, and it was a long process, and yet each day he'd come in saying, 'This is another great day in the making of The Bourne Ultimatum.' He'd keep things in perspective, that we're just making a movie. And whatever you did wasn't wrong – it was all part of the grist to his mill. So he made you feel comfortable, and then took us to the pub! I didn't expect somebody with all that pressure to be able to have fun. But Paul did.

Did you learn much about this clandestine world while working on the film?

David Strathairn: It's a weird world, but I didn't seek out anybody specific to help with the nuts and bolts. But this is a world of disclosure, and there's a lot of information out there about this world, so can construe a lot of that stuff.

You've had a very rich and varied career, what roles stand out as your favourites? Presumably Good Night, and Good Luck is right up there...

David Strathairn: Oh, Good Night, and Good Luck, of course. That was one of those rare parts that you really hope comes along. But I've been very fortunate with the parts I've got to play. Some were hard to get into and inhabit, like Dolores Claiborne was rough, getting in and around that guy. And there's been a lot of projects that if I hadn't been involved with, I would definitely have gone and seen. Stories that I want to hear told.

I have to ask you about going to clown school!

David Strathairn: I really should take that off my bio! There was a clown college, set up by the Ringling Brothers, which was like a farm system to find their cannon fodder for the next circus season. It's a great idea, watching a bunch of old movies, like Harold Lloyd, and learning what the art of clowning really is, learning how to fall down without hurting yourself. There were also pies in the face! It's like leaving graduate school and then going into plumbing!

You've had a very bountiful relationship with John Sayles. How did the two of you meet at college?

David Strathairn: He was behind me in school and ran a theatre group there. We then hooked up at a summer theatre where he was acting and directing, and we hung out over a span of six or seven years. Then he wrote Return of the Secaucus Seven with a bunch of people from that company and we shot it on the grounds of the theatre and we felt very good. John is just so generous, including those people in his subsequent projects. He built his career always remembering those people that he started with.

I guess he could trust you all with what he was doing...

David Strathairn: Yeah, there was that like-mindedness, because his productions were very roughly hewn. So there was that common language we all shared and the stories are always this social anthropology and I love those films. Eight Men Out and Matewan are so great you can almost taste the stories. And I cut my teeth learning from him, discovering how to act on film.

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David Strathairn Discusses The Bourne Ultimatum
About.com
August 3, 2007
By Rebecca Murray

Oscar nominee David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck) plays the heavy in the third film of the Bourne franchise, The Bourne Ultimatum.

David Strathairn Press Conference

How did you prepare for this role?

"Mostly in collaboration with Paul's thoughts and thinking about what precedent was set in the other films, what kind of requirements there were for this particular genre. But then take it away out of such generalization to this particular design of film. We came to sort of settle on the fact that he's not a consciously evil mastermind and if he were to be, that might tip the tone of the film out of the plausibility, the authenticity, the sort of gritty realism that is one of the great things about the Bourne movies.

"He's sort of to the manor born.

"He may have grown up within this system, and for better or for worse, he is the point person now. Maybe now that he's implementing the methodology can be considered evil, yeah, but to stay within the delineation of a corporate clerk for a company whose interests are sort of high stake interests. There's a lot of pressure on him but he's one of these guys who probably never was in the field. He was in administration, in policy, and he went down that alley to get to where he is. And where he is now, he has ascended to a place where he might feel now he is a bit of a Napoleon. But it wasn't, 'Let's make evil Monster Man.'"

Did you see any topical issues in the story?

"In specific, no, but there's a lot of allusions. And the fact that there is a display of technical toys available that are probably the ones they have discarded to the public--nowadays they have more incisive technology--I think that in a way is topical.

"The particular threat of Jason Bourne...I love it that it's a threat that is coming back home, not necessarily a generalized threat like the threat of terrorism. That a company like this would address its expertise to, that it's coming home. One of the reasons I think the film succeeds is that it awakens all this plausibility and potential topical terrain. Therefore it's entertaining on more levels than just a cut-to-the-chase good guy gets bad guy. To Paul's credit, it's that he has managed to evoke all these things in this film, and that Matt has made this man so human that you have various kinds of entertainment in this film. You've got the great chase, you've got the great actions, you've got all the plausible technology, you have people you care about, and you have a wonderful camera. The camera is a character in and to itself.

"But in terms of topical, I think people can walk out of this film and go, 'Yeah but what about all the cameras that London has, and CCTV and all the surveillance cameras that we see in our world today?' It rings a lot of bells."

Did you create your own backstory for him?

"By watching the other two films, to see what sort of niche this character occupies, what this character contributes. And the back story as to whether he takes his kids to school or what is his favorite hobby, that really wasn't pertinent to what I had to do [which was] basically stay on point with the chase. 'Your stakes are high, you've got to get this guy. If he gets home he can burn your house down.' All those things could be applied to anybody in that kind of situation. So I didn't do a lot of biographical work. Like when I was researching Edward R. Murrow, that was a different creature altogether in that film."

This guy considers himself a patriot and that the end justifies the means. What would Edward R. Murrow or Joseph McCarthy have thought of him?

"That's interesting...muse about that. Gosh, I don't know what Joseph McCarthy... Well, you know, I'm going to jump to some conclusions that might be right. Probably not. I think Murrow would love to get an investigative assignment on somebody like this. But I also think he would have understood the potential good use of an entity like Blackfriar. And I'm saying 'potential' good use. He would understand its necessity in the world, and he was such a historian in that he was aware of many many implications happening at the same time. I mean he was an amazing reporter because he was a student. He wasn't just a crow on a tree branch. I think he would have assessed the situation and said, 'Okay, Vosen has stepped out beyond his camp, so to speak, as did Joseph McCarthy.'

"Now, what Joseph McCarthy would have thought about this guy--he probably would have said, 'Yeah, our system is threatened. We need to take care of that threat.' Because that's the way he went through his accusations. He was part of a system and he would have felt threatened and cut to the chase, get rid of the threat. So he probably would have been pretty much in character today as they were then."

The moral question of whether violence is justified hangs over the film. Did you find your opinion on the subject changed after working on this movie?

"I love that these questions are happening over an action picture. It's really great, and it's kind of a testament to what Paul has achieved and what Matt has achieved, what this trilogy has achieved. It's great.

"The use of force, use of violence, use of trained programmed assassins to compromise a perceived threat for the sake of what? And I think that's where the equation for the discussion begins. For the sake of what? In this story, it is excessive and reprehensible because all he is looking for is himself. It's kind of mythic, kind of Greek, that here is a hero who is returning from the wars, who has been spewed out of some system to do its duty, and he is now becoming awake and he is returning home. It's quite mythic, really great. He's not a threat, but they don't know that. But they should know that. So I think Vosen's implementation of this is loathsome and reprehensible, and therefore he should be taken ignominiously away in car. I hesitate to expand beyond the film because it's such a huge discussion about the world we're in. Hence, the topical thing about Bourne.

"My own personal feeling? The use of lethal action is never--lethal action instituted by an institution upon individuals--no."

[www]



David Strathairn Interview, Bourne Ultimatum
Movies Online
August 3, 2007
By Sheila Roberts

MoviesOnline recently sat down with Oscar nominee David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck) at the Los Angeles press day for The Bourne Ultimatum directed by Paul Greengrass. In the third installment of the franchise, Matt Damon returns as trained assassin Jason Bourne for the latest showdown. The film also stars Julia Stiles, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, and Joan Allen.

Strathairn plays Noah Vosen, the complicated new head of the covert wing of the CIA assigned to track down the re-emerging Jason Bourne. His character operates the umbrella black-ops program known as Blackbriar. Producer Patrick Crowley, who first worked with Strathairn on L.A. Confidential, notes that the filmmakers were interested in Strathairn because his "strength comes from his softness. There's a depth of intelligence that he brings to whatever he's doing."

Strathairn was eager to become part of the Bourne players. Of his agency, he explains, "Blackbriar is an operation whose primary responsibility is to gather information and take action against a previous threat. Vosen is part of--and maybe even responsible for--this operation formed to perpetuate what Treadstone put in motion." Here's more of what David Strathairn had to tell us about his new movie:

Q: YOU'RE PLAYING A CHARACTER WHO'S AN AMALGAM OF ALL THE EVIL GUYS IN THE HISTORY OF FILM. HOW DO PREPARE FOR A ROLE THAT IS ALSO GROUNDED IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY?

A: Well, how did I prepare for this? Mostly in collaboration with Paul's thoughts and thinking about what precedent was set in the other films--what kind of requirements there were for this particular genre. But then take it away out of such generalization to this particular design of film. And we came to sort of settle on the fact that he's not consciously an evil mastermind and if he were to be, that might tip the tone of the film out of the plausibility, the authenticity, the sort of gritty realism that is one of the great things about the Bourne movies--that he is sort of to the manor born--he may have grown up within this system, and for better or for worse, he is the point person now--maybe how he's implementing the methodology can be considered evil. Yeah. But to stay within the delineation of a corporate clerk for a company whose interests are sort of high stake interests, so that there's a lot of pressure on him, but he's one of these guys who probably never was in the field. He was in administration, in policy, and he went down that alley to get to where he is. And where he is now, he has probably ascended to a place where he might feel now he is a bit of a Napoleon. But it wasn't, 'Let's make evil Monster Man.'

Q: PAUL GREENGRASS SAID EARLIER THIS FILM IS CONTEMPORARY BUT NOT TOPICAL AND HE FIRST AND FOREMOST WANTED THIS FILM TO BE ENTERTAINING AND NOT SO MUCH REFLECTIVE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL THINGS GOING ON IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. IN YOUR MIND, DID YOU SEE ANY TOPICAL ISSUES IN THE STORY?

A: In specific, no, but there's a lot of allusions. And the fact that there is a display of technical toys available that are probably the ones they have discarded to the public--nowadays they have even more incisive technology--I think that in a way is topical. The particular threat of Jason Bourne--I love it that it's a threat that is coming back home--not necessarily a generalized threat like the threat of terrorism--that a company like this would address its expertise to, that it's coming home. And the disclosure--that's plausible, that's topical. And one of the reasons I think the film succeeds is that it awakens all this plausibility and potential topical terrain. Therefore it's entertaining on more levels than just a cut-to-the-chase good guy gets bad guy. It's to Paul's credit that he has managed to evoke all these things in this film, and that Matt has made this man so human that you have various kinds of entertainment in this film. You've got the great chase, you've got the great actions, you've got all the plausible technology, you have people you care about, and you have a wonderful camera--the camera is a character in and to itself. But in terms of topical, I think people can walk out of this film and go, 'Yeah, but what about all the cameras that London has, and CCTV and all the surveillance cameras that we see in our world today.' It rings a lot of bells, a lot of great entertaining ideas.

Q: THIS COULDN'T BE FARTHER FROM YOUR EDWARD R. MURROW PERFORMANCE. HOW DID THEY THINK OF YOU FOR THIS? DID YOU PURSUE THIS ROLE AT ALL? AS I WAS WATCHING THIS, I KEPT SAYING TO MYSELF, "CHENEY, CHENEY."

A: [Laughs] I think if they could have gotten Cheney--I don't know. Yeah, this is different from Edward R. Murrow for sure. I don't know how they decided or thought of me or how I got on the list. It was certainly a privilege to be asked. It was sort of a surprise to begin with for me, because usually I'm more involved in kind of character-driven dialogue and I've never really been in an action so to speak picture, so I don't know how the dice rolled my way, but I'm certainly glad to be a part of it.

Q: YOUR CHARACTER WAS THERE FROM THE BEGINNING BUT WE DON'T SEE HIM UNTIL THE THIRD FILM, DID YOU TRY TO CREATE YOUR OWN BACK STORY FOR HIM?

A: Well, by watching the other two films, to see what sort of niche this character occupies, what's his role, what this character contributes. And the back story as to whether he takes his kids to school or what is his favorite hobby--that really wasn't pertinent to what I had to do--basically stay on point with the chase. Your stakes are high, you've got to get this guy. If he gets home, he can burn your house down. All those things could be applied to anybody in that kind of situation. So I didn't do a lot of biographical work. Like when I was researching Edward R. Murrow, that was a different creature altogether in that film.

Q: DID YOU GO BACK AND READ THE ROBERT LUDLUM BOOK AND SEE IF THERE'S ANYTHING IN THERE ABOUT THE CHARACTER?

A: Yeah, but it has sort of evolved from that, mutated a little bit from--and sometimes that can be a distraction and often it's a help. You get ideas that you can access, see if you can fold it in, but the main thing is the script that you get and the way Paul wanted to approach it.

Q: I'VE NEVER SEEN YOU GIVE A BAD PERFORMANCE.

A: Oh, thank you very much.

Q: DOES THIS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR THEATRE BACKGROUND? AND HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT CHOOSING YOUR ROLES?

A: That's a good question. For a long time I've felt that I'm still on a learning curve vis a vis film acting a little behind the learning curve because I just started in theatre. That was a more familiar world to train myself within. They're different things, you know, when you're doing a play and doing a film. In film you're working in the moment, and it's very often disconnected from your next moment. Whereas theatre you're doing the whole thing every night. It's a different kind of energy, different kind of focus, but when it comes down to building character and doing basic nuts and bolts, learning your lines, showing up and doing everything that any discipline requires, they're kind of the same. The one difference is that you don't get time to rehearse with either your character or the people you're in the scene with. You don't get to rehearse as much, so you're kind of catching it as it happens. You don't get to hone it and build it over time. Sometimes that's frustrating, sometimes it's great because you come loaded up with who you think you are and you meet for the first time and then what happens can be very exciting.

[In terms of] choosing a script, usually it's the story. Rarely I think are you lucky enough to have a story like Good Night, and Good Luck come your way, but for me, it's the story. Do I want to listen to this story? Do I want to be a part of this? Yeah, that's my departure point, starting point.

Q: YOUR CHARACTER CLEARLY CONSIDERS HIMSELF A PATRIOT AND THINKS THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS. WHAT WOULD EDWARD R. MURROW HAVE THOUGHT OF HIM? AND WHAT WOULD JOSEPH MCCARTHY HAVE THOUGHT OF HIM?

A: That's interesting to sort of muse about that. Gosh, I don't know what Joseph McCarthy--well, you know, you can--I can even jump to some conclusions that might be right, might be not; probably not. But I think Murrow would love to get an investigative assignment on somebody like this. But I also think he would have understood the potential good use of an entity like Blackbriar. And I'm saying "potential" good use. He would understand its necessity in the world. I mean he was such a historian in that he was aware of many, many implications happening at the same time. I mean he was an amazing reporter because he was a student--he wasn't just a crow on a tree branch. So I think he would have assessed the situation and said--okay, Vosen has stepped out beyond his ken, so to speak, as did Joseph McCarthy. Now, what Joseph McCarthy would have thought about this guy--he probably would have said, 'Yeah, our system is threatened, we need to take care of that threat.' Because that's the way he went through his accusations. He was part of a system that if he felt threatened, he would cut to the chase to get rid of the threat. So they probably would have been pretty much in character today as they were then.

Q: FOLLOWING UP ON THAT--THE MORAL QUESTION THAT HANGS OVER THE ENTIRE FILM IS WHEN IS VIOLENCE JUSTIFIED AND WHAT IS THE JUSTIFICATION FOR USING EXTREME FORCE? DO YOU FIND THAT WORKING ON THIS FILM AND RESEARCHING THE CIA HAS CHANGED YOUR OPINION AND THE WAY YOU LOOK AT THAT?

A: I love that these questions are happening over an action picture. It's really great, and it's kind of a testament to what Paul has achieved and what Matt has achieved, what this trilogy has achieved. That's great. The use of force, use of violence, use of trained, programmed assassins to compromise a perceived threat--I think that's where the equation or the discussion begins. For the sake of what? In this story, it is excessive and reprehensible because all he is looking for is himself. It's kind of mythic, kind of Greek, that here is a hero who is returning from the wars, who has been spewed out of some system to do its duty, and he is now becoming awake, and he is returning home. It's quite mythic, it's really great. He's not a threat, but they don't know that--but they should know that. So I think Vosen's implementation of this is loathsome and reprehensible and therefore he should be taken ignominiously away in car. I hesitate to expand beyond the film because it's such a huge discussion about the world we're in--hence, the topical thing about Bourne. My own personal feeling? The use of lethal action is never--lethal action instituted by an institution upon individuals--no.

Q: WELL, JUST TO GO WITH A HYPOTHETICAL, IF TREADSTONE HAD TASKED JASON BOURNE ON SEPTEMBER 10th TO GO AFTER THE HIJACKERS THAT WERE GOING TO FLY INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, WITH THAT KIND OF SCENARIO, IS THERE EVER MORE JUSTIFICATION FOR THAT KIND OF EXTREME ACTION?

A: Tough one. Tough one. It's a real good question and one we have to wrestle with every day. It's hard to answer. That's going to be something we'll probably have to live with and do. It's a really good question.

Q: JOAN ALLEN'S CHARACTER IS YOUR ANTAGONIST IN THIS DEBATE. HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO HAVE SOMEBODY LIKE HER TO PLAY AGAINST?

A: Oh, it's great. Her contribution to this--not only just the Ultimatum but also to the Supremacy and throughout--is that, in my opinion, she's the only other real heart that has real blood in it in these films, and to have her present that with all her intelligence and the cache that we've succeeded in bringing her in to use, and then Vosen realizes there's something about her that threatens him, and what is that? I think that she--much like Matt--has invested their characters with a humanity which threatens a man, Vosen, who I think basically is a shell. He's either forgotten about his heart and soul or whatever and so she offers this threat--not only a threat to the system but a threat to him. And I think it's great. I think it's a piece of the puzzle that is so essential and what she brings with her laser intensity. She is an operative. She is close to being able to implement the stuff that Vosen does. She would have that choice. She's intelligent enough. But why is she behind a desk? It's because she is who she is and I think that gives the film something that people can taste. And having her stand across the desk from me, slowly just (he makes a slashing sound), and I'm sitting there [going], 'Oh, I'd better get a good lawyer.' It's great.

Q: IF YOUR PERFORMANCE CHANGES WHEN YOU WORK WITH SOMEONE LIKE THAT, IS IT POSSIBLE YOU MADE SOME DECISIONS ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER BEFORE YOU STARTED THIS MOVIE AND THEN JOAN WALKS ON THE SET AND SUDDENLY YOU'RE PLAYING YOUR CHARACTER A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY?

A: Good question. Well that's the thing about doing film or theatre. You're surprised and you have to be on your toes and react in the moment. That's what makes it exciting. Yeah, that scene in the office where she increasingly becomes in my line of sight as I have to deal with this--Vosen has to deal with her as well as [the actor has to] create an awareness of a relationship that you don't necessarily see on the page. You can choose to have it there, but when it actually happens, it's really exciting. It gives the work--it kind of makes it bristle and come alive.

Q: DID IT EVER COME UP THAT A HIT MIGHT BE BROUGHT ON JOAN'S CHARACTER WHEN HER CHARACTER UNCOVERS YOUR GAME?

A: Yeah, I'm sure it went through their minds that we should--and if they had a window into Vosen's mind, I'm sure in his quiet, paranoid moments, he was saying, 'I gotta take her out, too.'

Q: I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO GET HER.

A: If I had, maybe there would be Bourne 4. [Laughs]

Q: WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEXT?

A: I'm just beginning a project in Vancouver now for DreamWorks called A Tale Of Two Sisters.

Q: YOU'RE ALSO IN A FEW OTHER PROJECTS THAT HAVE FINISHED. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER IN SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES?

A: Yes, Spiderwick Chronicles is going to be completed in the near future. I play Arthur Spiderwick, the man who has written sort of the field guide to the magical kingdom of trolls and goblins and fairies and sprites that he has locked away. Because he has all these dangerous secrets--kind of a Pandora's Box of the fairy kingdom--and he's hidden it away and gone off into the world to contact them because he really believes the world is full of them, and he gets tracked out there, and the children discover this and then everything's opened up and the world comes alive again. So I play the...maybe he's eating too many mushrooms, but I don't know. He believes there are things we cannot see, that the world is animated. He's a wonderful kind of mad botanist, naturalist, animist kind of guy.

Q: WHO DO YOU THINK HAD THE GREATER ULTIMATUM IN THE MOVIE, BOURNE OR YOUR CHARACTER IN TERMS OF WHAT YOUR CHARACTER WAS TRYING TO DO AND WHAT JASON WAS TRYING TO COME HOME TO?

A: Oh, Jason. That ultimatum is much more human and, therefore, universal than Vosen's sort of temporal, paranoid visions of the world.

Q: WHAT ABOUT PATRIOTISM?

A: Well, patriotism is a pretty good ultimatum but it depends on what you're patriotizing, I guess, if I can put it that way. But definitely it's Bourne's ultimatum.

[www]

Empire Magazine (08/2007) - photo copyright © Empire Magazine

Curtesy of Felicity

Bourne Ultimatum: Matt Damon is back. And he's not running anymore.
Empire
August, 2007
By unknown

[ Excerpts from article: ]

David Strathairn--former circus clown, doyen of US indie cinema and Oscar nominated actor--doesn't do blockbusters. In fact, the closest he's come in his distinguished career was a supporting role in Sneakers and Curtis Hanson's The River Wild and L.A. Confidential. So, when he signed on for Paul Greengrass' trilogy-capping big-hitting The Bourne Ultimatum, as shady CIA bigwig Noah Vosen, he did so for three reasons: 1) the lure of the highly respected Greengrass; 2) he wanted to see how an "ocean liner" worked in practice; and 3) he was told that his part would be over quickly--a couple of shots on location in New York, the rest on soundstages in Pinewood Studios. Piece. Of. Cake.

Famous. Last. Words.

"I was told it would take three to five weeks, with a little bit around the corner, back in November," Strathairn says, safe in his New York home and able now to laugh at the memory. For that "little bit around the corner" has turned into a series of callbacks and reshoots, as the Bourne Ultimatum shoot edges close to day 150.

"I'm not done yet," he adds wearily. "I think there's still some stuff to be shot." We're talking, by the way, in the middle of June. The movie's out in the US on August 3.

Still, Strathairn's not alone...

[ On the New York car chase ]

For Strathairn, the experience was an eye-opener. "We were running up and down the streets of New York without it being shut down!" says the actor. "We had a couple of guide cars, but it was up to the driver to negotiate through real traffic. And I was trying to do lines on camera...it was really deer-in-the-headlights stuff!" He pauses, sounding mildly horrified. "Actually, I think that's what we're going to be reshooting a little bit of in a month..."



David Strathairn on The Bourne Ultimatum
CanMag.com
July 31, 2007
By unknown

Didn't it seem like Bourne had finally gotten all the corrupt government types? They keep finding more to pursue him. In The Bourne Ultimatum, David Strathairn pops up in the wake of Brian Cox and Chris Cooper. Strathairn plays another leader of a secret government program who doesn't want Bourne to find out what's up.

"We came to sort of settle on the fact that he's not a consciously evil mastermind," said Strathairn. "If he were to be, that might tip the tone of the film out of the plausibility, the authenticity, the sort of gritty realism that is one of the great things about the Bourne movies. He may have grown up within this system, and for better or for worse, he is the point person now. Maybe how he's implementing the methodology can be considered evil, but to stay within the delineation of a corporate clerk for a company whose interests are sort of high stake interests. There's a lot of pressure on him but he's one of these guys who probably never was in the field. He was in administration, in policy, and he went down that alley to get to where he is. And where he is now, he has ascended to a place where he might feel now he is a bit of a Napoleon."

His willingness to dispatch an American agent like Bourne without due process may reek of current political figures, but even the actor does not want to take away from the fun of the movie. "There are a lot of allusions, and the fact that there is a display of technical toys available that are probably the ones they have discarded to the public, I think that in a way is topical. One of the reasons I think the film succeeds is that it awakens all this plausibility and potential topical terrain. Therefore it's entertaining on more levels than just a cut=to-the-chase good guy gets bad guy. To Paul's credit, it's that he has managed to evoke all these things in this film, and that Matt has made this man so human that you have various kinds of entertainment in this film. You've got the great chase, you've got the great actions, you've got all the plausible technology, you have people you care about, and you have a wonderful camera. The camera is a character in and to itself. But in terms of topical, what about all the cameras that London has, and CCTV and all the surveillance cameras that we see in our world today? It rings a lot of bells."

Ultimately, Strathairn's job was just to be the foil. It wasn't the sort of role that required a lot of research. "[I prepared] by watching the other two films, to see what sort of niche this character occupies, what this character contributes. And the back story as to whether he takes his kids to school or what is his favorite hobby, that really wasn't pertinent to what I had to do: basically stay on point with the chase. Your stakes are high, you've got to get this guy. If he gets home he can burn your house down. All those things could be applied to anybody in that kind of situation. So I didn't do a lot of biographical work like when I was researching Edward R. Murrow. That was a different creature altogether in that film."

However, The Bourne Ultimatum could get audiences thinking as much as Good Night and Good Luck. "I love that these questions are happening over an action picture. It's really great, and it's kind of a testament to what Paul has achieved and what Matt has achieved, what this trilogy has achieved. It's great. The use of force, use of violence, use of trained programmed assassins to compromise a perceived threat for the sake of what? And I think that's where the equation for the discussion begins. For the sake of what? In this story, it is excessive and reprehensible because all he is looking for is himself. It's kind of mythic, kind of Greek, that here is a hero who is returning from the wars, who has been spewed out of some system to do its duty, and he is now becoming awake, and he is returning home. It's quite mythic, really great. He's not a threat, but they don't know that, but they should know that."

The Bourne Ultimatum opens to theaters on August 3rd.

[www]



Strathairn Prepares For The Magical World Of Spiderwick Chronicles
MTV.com
July 25, 2007
By Shawn Adler

With the global success of Harry Potter, you'd think everybody and their brother would be jumping at the chance to compare their fantasy films to J.K. Rowling's creation, maybe hoping a little of that Boy Who Lived magic would rub off on them.

Think again. "It's a lot different, well, at least in the books I read," David Strathairn said of The Spiderwick Chronicles, an upcoming fantasy movie based on a popular series of children's books. "I don't think it's going to be the next Harry Potter."

Both Spiderwick and Potter center on a group of young children as they're introduced to a magical world full of faeries, and goblins, and other fantastic, mythical creatures. The big difference, Strathairn giggled, might be his character--not so much a mentor as "the mad scientist, the mad botanist, the guy who maybe took too many mushrooms," he laughed. Try THAT on for size Albus Dumbledore!

"I play Arthur Spiderwick, the man who discovered the magical world of fairies and sprites and goblins and trolls and recorded it down into this secret tome," Strathairn continued. "This tome has been latched and you open it to your detriment. The kids [Freddy Highmore and Sarah Bolger] find it release all the secrets. There is this big battle for the power of the magical world."

Also starring Nick Nolte and Mary-Louise Parker, The Spiderwick Chronicles opens February 2008.

[www]



David Strathairn on The Spiderwick Chronicles
Shared Darkness
July 23, 2007
By unknown

At the recent press day for The Bourne Ultimatum, David Strathairn took some time to also talk about his work on the forthcoming fantasy film The Spiderwick Chronicles, directed by Mark Waters. To wit: "It's going to be completed in the near future," says the Oscar-nominated star of 2005's Good Night, and Good Luck. "I play Arthur Spiderwick, the man who has written a field guide to the magical kingdom of trolls and goblins and fairies and sprites, which he's locked away because it has all these dangerous secrets, it's kind of a Pandora's Box with the fairy kingdom. He's gone off into the world to contact them because he really believes that the world is full of them," Strathairn continues, describing his character as a "mad botanist" and naturalist. "Maybe he's eaten too many mushrooms, I don't know," he jokes. "But he believes that there are things we cannot see."

Adapted from Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's best-selling series of youth-skewing books, with a much labored-on screenplay (John Sayles, as well as Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio), The Spiderwick Chronicles is set for release from Paramount and Nickelodeon Films in February of next year, with Martin Short, Andrew McCarthy, Joan Plowright and Mary-Louise Parker joining young Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland) and Sarah Bolger (Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker) as the obligatory kids inspired by wonderment.

[www]

FilmInk Magazine (03/2007) - photo copyright © FilmInk Magazine

Curtesy of Felicity

Keeping It Reel: FilmInk Loves...David Strathairn
FilmInk
March, 2007
By unknown

Who?

Along with William H. Macy and Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Strathairn is undoubtedly one of the greatest character actors currently working in American cinema. A rugged but sensitive screen presence has seen him excel in a wide variety of supporting roles, and his rare forays into leading man territory have been equally fruitful. Born in 1949 in San Francisco, Strathairn attended Williams College, where he developed a great interest in acting, and upon graduating worked for a time as a circus clown while hitchhiking his way across America. Strathairn eventually reunited with an old friend from college in what would prove a watershed moment in his career. The friend was future indie hero John Sayles, who gave the actor his first role in the low budget drama Return of the Secaucus 7. Strathairn would star in several more films for John Sayles, while constantly building on his reputation for strong character work. In 2005, he finally gained the recognition he deserved with an Oscar nomination for his brilliant performance as quietly crusading journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, And Good Luck.

Notches On His Belt

Though it is undoubtedly John Sayles who truly revels in Strathairn's abilities and has given him his greatest roles (a taciturn sheriff in Matewan; a compromised baseballer in Eight Men Out; damaged but warm men in Passion Fish and Limbo; a raving madman in City of Hope), this actor has delivered a handful of equally strong performances for other directors: he oozed oily malevolence in L.A. Confidential and Dolores Claiborne; effectively played the straightforward husband in Losing Isaiah and The River Wild; toughened up for The Firm; and provides his reliable brand of solid support this month in The Notorious Bettie Page and We Are Marshall.

Why We Love Him

He's a working actor in a room full of show-boaters.

Lip Service

"I think that in terms of an actor's role in popular culture that we may be the messenger, but we have to somehow be aligned with the message. I do try my darnedest to do films that are important to me and that reflect my values, my thoughts, my wishes."

"Film is our literature, so we should tell stories that are apropos of our culture, in that we can learn something about ourselves."

"So much money and energy is expended in making a film that I think it should be used for positive ends."

"Yeah, I was with a circus for a while. More like cannon fodder than a clown, changing costumes sixteen times a show."

The Last Word

The Quiet Man



Wearing humility on his sleeve
The Denver Post
November 18, 2006
By Lisa Kennedy

[ Excerpt from article: ]

And as humility goes, so goes actor David Strathairn. Sitting in the kind of purgatorial space the Auraria campus is still notorious for, the actor nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck, was just as interested in talking about Denver as he was the three films he appeared in at the fest: Steel Toes, The Sensation of Sight, and a short called The Shovel.

Strathairn, a fine staple in John Sayles' films (Return of the Secaucus 7, Passion Fish, Limbo) has been on the radar for the festival's John Cassavetes Award for a while. But according to Henderson, Strathairn always says he'd rather come to support the movies he's in.

"I'm hoping there's a ways to go to get a lifetime achievement award," Strathairn said. "I mean it's a great thing, a really flattering thing to know your work's appreciated. But I'm not much for awards in a collaborative art like this."

Standing in the lobby of the FilmCenter, Henderson reeled off a series of Strathairn performances, including his dark turn in Blue Car. ("A very courageous film," said Henderson, adding, "The thing about David Strathairn is, when he walks on the screen, you feel his presense."

Strathairn said he achieves that aura by "immersion"--not an imitative gesture, but "from the nuts and bolts of the script. Then into any thing that seems related. I surprise myself when thinking about a character, how many things it provokes peripherally. I see something or hear something or read something and a bell will go off.

"It's like I drop the pebble in the middle of the pond of the character and everything radiates out and hits all kinds of shores and then comes back."

[www]



Armed with the word
TODAY Singapore
May 26, 2006
By unknown

If there was an Academy Award for best vocabulary, David Strathairn would be the hands-down winner. While some actors struggle to explain their craft, the 57-year-old star of LA Confidential (1997), Dolores Claiborne (1995) and A League of Their Own (1992) spells things out so clearly that he could just as well be a journalist, a professor or a judge.

It's not every Hollywood actor who can get his tongue around words like "proselytise", "maligned" and "constitutionalist" much less have the nerve to use them in a sentence. Strathairn bandies about such terms like a politician, yet manages to come across like an ordinary Joe.

"Has anyone ever told me I sound like a à what? An elocution teacher?" he said with a chuckle in a recent phone interview with Today from Atlanta. "I thought you said I sounded like an electrocutioner."

With his gift of gab--and dry sense of humour--the last thing Strathairn needs is a lesson in public speaking. In fact, coming off an Oscar-nominated performance as silver-tongued TV broadcaster Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck, which began an exclusive run at the Cathay yesterday, it's fair to say that the actor has his delivery down pat.

In the film--which was co-written and directed by George Clooney, who also plays a leading role--Strathairn invests the real-life figure of Murrow, America's most celebrated broadcast journalist, with all the courage, integrity and single-mindedness for which he was renowned.

"There's no question he's one of the greats that American journalism has produced," Strathairn said of the TV news pioneer. "Murrow set the standards for many things, put a lot of balls in the air. In playing him, you have a responsibility to honour the man, the deeds and his memory."

It's a responsibility the actor said he took seriously.

To Murrow, with respect

Set in the early 1950s when the threat of Communism had the US in the grip of an all-encompassing paranoia, Good Night, and Good Luck traces Murrow's on-air battle with Senator Joseph McCarthy, a now infamous figure who tried to exploit the public's fears to further his career. From his post as head of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, McCarthy helped destroy the lives of scores of fellow politicians and ordinary citizens with his unfounded accusations that they were communists. As host of the influential TV news programme See It Now, Murrow took a stand against McCarthy's red-baiting tactics, swaying public opinion and helping bring about the senator's fall from grace in 1954.

Steeped in history it may be, but that didn't make Good Night, and Good Luck any easier than a fiction film for Strathairn to star in.

"It's a tricky undertaking," the actor said of portraying a real-life figure, something he's done often during his 26-year-career. "Tricky especially in this case, with a man who was so much in the public eye and in history, because the danger is that you give a revisionist interpretation and do a disservice to him and the people he knew."

To ensure that his portrayal was as accurate as he could make it, Strathairn pored over endless hours of vintage TV footage of Murrow, read virtually every word he wrote and worked closely with long-time Murrow colleagues.

Director Clooney, whose father was a TV anchorman, had a unique strategy for getting his cast into their reporter characters. "Every day, we'd have a copy of The New York Times corresponding to the script day," Strathairn said. "You know, we'd have April 16, 1953, and George would say: 'OK, you've got national, you've got sports, you're on entertainment, you're on obits. Everybody pick an article and, if it's in synch with the issue of the movie, then go ahead and pitch it and we'll just ad lib'."

Much of this improvisation ended up in the film, the actor added, but not before Clooney indulged his appetite for a bit of good-natured ribbing.

"If someone missed a cue, or you blew a line or you kerfluffled," he said with a laugh. "It wasn't as if George thought, 'Oh my gosh, we shouldn't pay attention to that because the person might be a little chagrinned. He'd milk it for all it's worth."

Blasting loose cannons

Clowning aside, while it may have been Clooney's goal to make a political statement with his film, Strathairn denied its intended target was US President George W Bush.

"It was never his intention to polarise the audience," the actor said in response to the suggestion of parallels between the aura of fear in America in the 50s and that of today. "He wanted to present a platform for discussion. Raise a few questions and not propagandise or proselytise or point fingers in only one direction."

Likening Clooney to a reporter, Strathairn said the director's aim was to be as objective as possible, to offer insight into the state of journalism and highlight the extent to which a free press remains the "lifeblood" of democratic societies.

And what is there to separate someone like Murrow, who offered his opinions freely but is still held up as the archetypal newsman, from modern-day broadcast journalists who are slammed for doing the same?

"One difference is that he said this is my opinion," Strathairn said. "He distinguished himself from the corporation that he was working for. He adhered to the highest standards of journalism. Not slander and not innuendo.

"Today, I feel that there are those loose cannons out there who are destructive to a process of complete enlightenment. Today's media seems to be more often than not divisive and accusatory. Murrow never went down that road. He never said that this is what you should think."

While Strathairn acknowledged that the media has seen big changes in the decades since current affairs programmes like Murrow's ruled the TV airwaves, he wasn't about to concede that serious-minded entertainment has had its day.

"That's what this movie is," he said. "But in a way it's kind of an action-drama. Pitting these two people, Murrow and McCarthy, against each other in a very potent arena, it has all the feelings and pace and momentum of an action movie."

A villain in Poland

If, as Strathairn suggests, it's fair to describe a smart, fast-paced but decidedly talky period piece, set almost entirely in a TV studio, as an "action movie", then it's one of the few such films the actor has done in his career.

Sure, he co-starred with Robert Redford in Sneakers (1993), acted alongside Tom Cruise in The Firm (1992) and matched wits with Meryl Streep in The River Wild (1994), but more often than not Strathairn has gone the indie route.

It's not that he's against big-budget projects, the actor explained, it's just that stories and ideas are the first things he looks for when deciding on scripts.

"I like these movies where you can learn not only about a person, but there's this tapestry of culture in them," he said. "As storytellers, it's our responsibility to be true to that stuff. As Murrow said, this instrument (the movie camera) can teach, it can inspire, it can even illuminate.

"There's a lot of product out there which are just great stories: Action films and comedies. I enjoy being involved in projects where you learn something that you didn't necessarily know, with a depth that only a film can deliver."

With its focus on issues of politics, history and press freedom, it would be hard to argue that Good Night, and Good Luck doesn't fit the bill. Although, as Strathairn noted, even when a film-maker goes in with the best intentions, occasionally a movie's message can get lost in translation.

Take, for instance, the reception Good Night, and Good Luck received when it screened recently in eastern Europe.

"When it opened in Poland, I was in Warsaw and the film had a fascinating response," he said. "The populace and the press were coming at it from the point of view of having endured decades of communist oppression.

"So, McCarthy, in their view, was a great guy who saved western civilisation from communism. And Murrow was trying to bring down somebody who, had they had that person in Poland, would have saved them from suffering all the horrors of the communist regime."

So, how did it feel to go from a hero to a villain to millions? "Not as bad as you'd think," Strathairn said with a laugh.

Autograph Collector (03/2006) - photo copyright © Autograph Collector

Curtesy of Vince A. Liaguno

Finally Getting Their Due: David Strathairn & Phillip Seymour Hoffman Reach for the Gold
Autograph Collector
March, 2006
By Vince A. Liaguino

[ Excerpt from article: ]

Although box office returns were lackluster this past year, 2005 was a banner year for two venerable Hollywood actors who struck gold with their cinematic portrayals of real-life characters. With their critically lauded roles in Good Night, And Good Luck and Capote, respectively, longtime character actors David Strathairn and Phillip Seymour Hoffman have finally landed on the A-List. Although general audiences are just discovering these mega-talented actors, Strathairn and Hoffman have long swam in Hollywood's pool of well-respected supporting players. And with matching Golden Globe nominations and Oscar nods likely, it seems the time has come for these two actors to finally cement their reputations among Hollywood's finest.

Strathairn Takes on Murrow

For 57-year-old San Francisco native David Strathairn, landing the role of Edward R. Murrow in actor-turned-director George Clooney's acclaimed black-and-white biopic Good Night, And Good Luck came down to an aversion to smoking. In his characteristic self-deprecating style, Strathairn jokes that Clooney would have probably taken on the role of the famed 1950s journalist himself if it hadn't been for his dislike of cigarettes. But luckily for Strathairn, Clooney settled on a supporting role in his second directorial effort, which left Strathairn free to carry the film as the courageous newsman who publicly took on the nefarious Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Strathairn has forged a successful career on unconventional, gutsy choices. After graduating with a liberal arts degree from Williams College, he set out for Florida to visit his grandfather, who sadly passed away while he was en route. Without family or friends or a job in unfamiliar surroundings, Strathairn joined the Ringling Brothers Clown College and spent six months as one half of a Siamese twin act in a traveling circus. Adventurous in spirit, the newely-credentialed clown relocated to New York where he opened a children's theater, spending summers hitchhiking cross-country and performing with various theater groups. In a fortuitious twist of fate, Strathairn reconnected with old college chum and fledging director John Sayles during a theater gig in New Hampshire and was cast in Sayle's directorial debut, The Big Chill precursor Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980). His role in the critically lauded independent film garnered the attention of director Mike Nichols, who subsequently cast him opposite Meryl Streep and Cher in 1983's Silkwood.

In addition to becoming a perennial Sayles favorite in no less than six subsequent collaborations, including The Brother From Another Planet (1984), Matewan (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), City of Hope (1991), Passion Fish (1992), and Limbo (1999), Strathairn went on to establish himself as a dependable character actor in a long string of ensemble films. One of those actors you recognize even if his name escapes you, his notable film credits include Memphis Belle (1990), A League of Their Own (1992), The Firm (1993), The River Wild (1994), Dolores Claiborne (1995), LA Confidential (1997), A Map of the World (1999), Blue Car (2002), and Twisted (2004). Television audiences may also remember Strathairn from the two years he spent playing Moss Goodman on the TV series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1988-90) and his 2004 guest-starring gig on HBO's mafia juggernaut The Sopranos. And the actors career shows no signs of cooling, with no less than four films wrapped, including the dramas Heavens Fall, Missing in America, The Notorious Bettie Page and The Sensation of Sight. Strathairn lives with his wife Logan and their two sons Tay and Ebbe in upstate New York.

Prior to Good Night, Strathairn's fans have had little problem collecting his autograph. Through-the-mail requests have generally been answered within a few months depending upon his work schedule and the soft-spoken actor has been an equally willing in-person signer. With his skyrocketing popularity, it remains to be seen if this trend will continue, but at a recent press junket the somewhat reticent actor was still signing in-person autographs.

Strathairn's autograph has jumped in value, with signatures alone bringing about $20 to $25 and signed photos fetching in $50 to $75 range. If he wins at the Golden Globes or Oscars, expect prices to to rise further.

[ Special thanks to Vince A. Liaguno ]

HotDog Magazine (03/2006) - photo copyright © respective owners

Photo Galleries: Publicity & Photo Shoots

Curtesy of Libby

Rushes Hot: Setting the screen alight - David Strathairn
HotDog Magazine
March, 2006
By Tristian Burke

David Strathairn, up until now perhaps best known for his memorable turn as Fleur de Lis proprietor, nay high-class pimp, Pierce Patchett in L.A. Confidential, is about to receive the worldwide acclaim he so richly deserves.

Playing Edward R. Murrow, the broadcast journalist who sets about bringing down Senator and scaremonger Joseph McCarthy in George Clooney's sophmore directorial effort Good Night, And Good Luck, Strathairn's Golden Globe-nominated performance is nothing short of mesmerising.

Clooney, who stars Murrow's producer Fred Friendly, briefly considered taking the lead role himself, but after he and co-writer Grant Heslov saw Strathairn audition, both knew that they'd found the man to take on McCarthy.

"We knew he was a great actor but you still can't tell, particularly when it's playing somebody as iconic as Murrow," Heslov explains. "However, the second he was in front of the camera, and started doing some of those huge speeches, he was transformed. I've been with a lot of actors and I've never seen anybody as transformed to the point where I'd look up and forget it wasn't Murrow. It was uncanny but he's brilliant."

"The one thing you knew about Murrow is that you always felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and David is the kind of actor that always feels like has the weight of the world on his shoulders," Clooney adds. "So the minute we realised how much David could look like him [Murrow], and the gravitas and sadness he could carry, he was the perfect guy to cast."

A modest David Strathairn simply states that he's just thrilled to be part of the project, and has nothing but praise for its makers, Clooney and Heslov. "George really is the Edward R. Murrow of this production, and Grant is the Fred Friendly," Strathairn analogises. "These guys have put together a world and a group of people and an amazing crew where everybody's on the same page. You feel like there's this momentum and energy, and that we're making something special."

Good Night, And Good Luck is out on 17 February.



Reeling from success
The Gazette
February 11, 2006
By John Griffin

[ Excerpt from article: ]

But Rendez-vous is also upping the number of premieres among the 190 films set for this year's edition. One of them is Steel Toes, a Montreal Galafilm adaptation of David Gow's powerhouse play Cherry Docs, directed by Gow and Mark Adam.

In a case of pure serendipity for this Rendez-vous, Steel Toes co-stars David Strathairn. Strathairn, it should be noted, was legendary news anchor Edward R. Murrow in last year's Good Night, and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney.

He, and the movie, and Clooney, are now up for Oscars. Rendez-vous has a best-actor Academy Award nominee in its lineup.

"The whole dog and pony show is in play right now," the veteran, low-key Strathairn said about the Oscar circus earlier this week. "It isn't affecting me. I'm too far along the road for that. I have no spots left to change."

Strathairn first came to Steel Toes--and what would become a low-budget two-hander about racism co-starring N.D.G. native Andrew W. Walker--through the theatre, a first and constant love.

"I did the play a couple of years ago in Philadelphia and told David (Gow) it would make a great, potent film and to call me if there was ever a chance to get it made. He did, and it was."

Strathairn shines as a liberal Jewish Montreal lawyer assigned to the case of Walker's white supremacist skinhead, accused of racially motivated murder. Mutual intolerance could be an issue here.

"This is a story that resonates with ordinary people living ordinary lives every single day," Strathairn explained. "And there are no easy answers. That David took it by the horns and told it to as wide an audience as possible--more power to him."

Strathairn won't be coming for the Steel Toes Rendez-vous premiere Feb. 22. He'll be getting fitted out for his Oscar night "halter and bit at the time."

But he sends his best and gives every impression he'd rather be here, or anywhere, than Hollywood.

[www]

Daily Record (02/2006) - photos copyright © respective owners

Photo Galleries: Just David

Morristown's link to the Oscars: Couple hopes Good Luck will be good enough for son-in-law as best actor
Daily Record
February 28, 2006
By Miguel Riera

Among the millions of movie fans around the world watching the 78th annual Academy Awards will be a longtime Morristown family with a special rooting interest.

Ted and Carol Goodman, town residents since 1961, will be following the Sunday show on television very closely: Their son-in-law, actor David Strathairn, has been nominated as best actor for his leading role in the film Good Night and Good Luck.

As Carol Goodman sees it, the nomination of their son-in-law is long overdue.

"He is a fantastic actor," she said. "We have always known how great an actor David is. He is just not very well-known."

Good Night and Good Luck, directed by actor George Clooney--also an Oscar nominee, depicts the journalistic work of CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow during the height of the McCarthy era. Set during the early days of television news, the film shows Murrow and producer Fred Friendly as they pursued an investigation into the witch-hunt tactics against alleged communists used by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the early 1950s.

The film has received six nominations including best picture and best director.

Also nominated with Strathairn for best actor in a leading role are actors Philip Seymour Hoffman for the film Capote, Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow, Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain and Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line.

Strathairn and his family lived in Morristown during the late 1980s before moving to upstate New York, according to his wife, Logan Strathairn, a former Morristown business co-owner who specialized in decorative tiles.

"I think he doesn't really think about (the Oscar), but he thought it was a great movie, a very important movie," she said.

"We have lived in Morristown for many years," Ted Goodman, a former town planner, said of the family that also includes daughters Charity and Elisabeth, along with son Walter.

"My daughter went to Morristown High School, and she had a tile business in town," he said. "The business was called Fire Bird, and it was located near the railroad station in downtown Morristown. I think they have a piano store there now."

The news about the nomination came to the Goodmans through a phone call from their daughter.

"It was great," Carol, an artist, said. "We love the movie, and we remember Ed Murrow, and to see David in a movie about Murrow--it was just lovely."

The family plans to travel to the Strathairn home in New York to watch the Oscar ceremony, Carol said.

"It will be just family. We are not planning anything special for that night. We are just going to watch and enjoy the show and look for our daughter and David," she said.

Ted said that soon after the Oscar nominations, he and his wife saw their daughter and son-in-law on television. "I think they were in Hollywood for the Golden Globes," he said. "I told my friends at the Rotary Club, and everybody there is very excited. We all talk about the nomination."

After marrying in upstate New York, the Strathairns lived on Madison Street in Morristown, according to Ted Goodman. Their first baby was born in New Jersey.

"We have two grandsons: Tay, he is 24, and [Ebberly] he is 18," he said.

"David was always acting," said Carol Goodman, "and he keeps getting better and better--everybody keeps telling him."

Strathairn had a group of friends in college, many of whom have become actors and writers, according to Carol.

"David always works with his friend (director) John Sayles; they started together," Carol said.

Strathairn was born in San Francisco in 1949 and began acting during his years at Williams College in Massachusetts where he met Sayles. The two worked together in Strathairn's first film, Return of the Secaucus 7, in 1980, which also was Sayles' directorial debut.

Their professional relationship continued, and they worked together in City of Hope in 1991, Passion Fish in 1992 and Limbo in 1999.

Ted Goodman said he thinks all of his son-in-law's films are great, but that Passion Fish is a favorite.

Good Night and Good Luck earns special praise.

"We love his movies, and this last one is good, very good," Carol Goodman said.

"It is fantastic that he is being recognized like this," she said. "He loves acting, and he is a wonderful actor."

[www]



Oscar Exclusives: Secret Scottish Roots of Best Actor Nominee David
Sunday Mail
February 26, 2006
By Julia Hunt

He was born in sunny San Francisco...but Oscar hopeful David Strathairn's roots are firmly in Scotland.

We can claim the Best Actor nominee as one of our own thanks to his grandad Thomas, who was born and raised in Crieff, Perthshire.

And the Sunday Mail can reveal that the star of Good Night, And Good Luck got his first taste for the stage in a village hall on Speyside.

While visiting Scots relatives for the summer, 15-year-old David took part in a cabaret show in Boat of Garten.

It started a journey which led to an Academy award nomination for his role as US broadcaster Edward R Murrow in George Clooney's acclaimed black and white movie masterpiece.

The film details Murrow's fight against Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist witch-hunts.

David's cousin, Caroline Bashford, said his star quality was obvious even in his Boat of Garten debut in 1964.

Caroline, who will watch next month's Oscars from her home in Edinburgh, said: "I must have only been nine when David and the American cousins came for the summer.

"Every year young people in the area would put on a show at the village hall called the Boat Busters Ball.

"David was really fantastic. He did a very dramatic cabaret number and stood out a mile. It's easy to see why he went on to become an actor.

"My husband Ian and I are in contact with David and meet up whenever he is in Britain. He loves Scotland, particularly the west coast.

"I hope that if he comes over for the UK premiere of Good Night, And Good Luck he will get the chance to visit."

David, 57, can trace his Scots roots back to his grandfather Thomas Scott Strathairn, who grew up in Crieff.

The star is so proud of his heritage he named his son Tay and still has a holiday home on Skye.

David's brother Tom, a school teacher in San Marcos, California, said, "The family comes from Crieff and it's where the name's from. It was spelled Strathearn on my great-grandfather's birth certificate.

"My grandad Thomas Scott Strathairn was a musician, travelled east and then Australia before ending up in Honolulu, where he married my grandmother Lei.

"David gave his oldest son the Scottish name honour the Scots.

"He rents a house [and] loves the solitude and friendly people."

Tom's last visit Scotland was in 1964 with his parents, David and his sister Anne.

This followed a trip to the US by Scots cousin Hubert Scott Strathairn and his wife Betty in 1962. Hubert, 88, a retired officer in the Malayan Police, said: "We're very pleased about David's Oscar nomination."

[www]

Entertainment Weekly (02/10/2006) - photo copyright © respective owners

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Oscar 2006: David Strathairn: Good Night, And Good Luck
Entertainment Weekly
February 10, 2006
By Steve Wulf

It's not just the cigarettes, though he did have to smoke up to 50 of them in a day's shooting. It's not just the Brylcreemed hair, or the pin-striped suits, or the knitted brow. It's not just the same words, spoken in the same cadence, with the same inflection.

No, what turns David Strathairn into Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck is the weight he seems to carry, his search for truth in a medium that doesn't really want it. Strathairn, 57, goes beyond imitation into a portrayal that makes director George Clooney's meticulous re-creation of TV news in the McCarthy era seem even more real. "He's an actor who is able to play a test and subtext," director John Sayles, a classmate at Williams College, has said.

Strathairn first appeared on screen in Sayles' 1980 debut, Return of the Secaucus 7. Since then, he's tackled a wide range of roles: heroic, villainous, nerdy, sexy, and zany. He's played other historical figures, from pitcher Eddie Cicotte in Eight Men Out to A-bomb scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the CBS movie Day One. But Strathairn and Murrow were a match made, if not in heaven, at least at the first table read. Milo Radulovich, the airman whom Murrow helps to exonerate in the film, was there, and so were Casey Murrow, his son, and Ruth Friendly, widow of producer Fred Friendly, who's played by Clooney. After the reading, Ruth told Strathairn, "That was just great, you know." Of Murrow, Strathairn has said, "He had the skill to tell a story and get across the resonances of it, the kind of feelings involved and what it means in a larger scope. That is very hard to do, and his particular skill was in that." He could have been describing his own performance.

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"Ultimately, awards don't mean anything..." - David Strathairn, the star of Good Night, And Good Luck, talks Oscar silly season with Total Film
Total Film
February 7, 2006
By unknown

Congratulations on all the awards that have been coming your away for Good Night, And Good Luck, including your Best Actor Academy nod...

Thank you. I'm very grateful, of course, but quite frankly, awards are very odd to me because I think each award recognises everybody who made that character. It's an ensemble piece that has captured the interest, or has captured something in our psyches and we want to respond to it, we want to thank somebody for telling this story--it should be the production people, all the designers and all the actors. It's a thank you to George Clooney and Grant Heslov who wrote the piece and to whom we owe so much. At any given moment there’s a performance that should be lauded in some way, so an award is not for one person. For me, ultimately, it doesn't mean anything.

The movie is very stylised. Was that tone already in place when you came onboard?

They had specific ideas how to do the project. One idea was that they were going to do it live--they wanted to do an actual live news-broadcast. George's preparation with the historical material was amazing. He also pulled together a team of artists who provided an atmosphere. It was all shot in a studio and there are very few locations but we all needed to understand what it was like to be in that news studio. George's understanding was from an innate experience that he had when he was growing up and he provided that for us. We would walk into the studio and there were copies of The New York Times from the 1950s corresponding to each script. He provided a world for us to immerse ourselves in.

How open was Clooney to the actors developing their own interpretations of the characters?

George is a very good director and a very generous director, very certain. He gives the actors a lot of room to move and a lot of support. If he disagreed with something or something didn't go exactly as he’d envisioned, we didn't know that. He never undermines the impulse and energy of the actors and that, in a way, is a safety net--it's a very generous and wonderful thing.

How difficult was it portraying a real public figure? Were you conscious of the difference between acting and impersonating?

Yes, I was concerned. I asked myself, "Is this an impression? Is this just mimicry?" George told me not to worry about it. We just picked up on little things, like Edward R Murrow smoked a lot of cigarettes, his hair looked a certain way and he was very stylish, he had a particular way of speaking. All of this took a little of the onus off. Also, we weren't under the pressure of doing someone who is in the foremost in our awareness but I felt that my responsibility was to affect a sense of the man inside this given event. It's not a biopic, so we're not investigating him at home with his family or how he was in society.

So how deep did you go when researching him?

It's a daunting task to represent somebody who remains a standard bearer, it's a great responsibility. I immersed myself in the biographies, and he's referenced in almost anything that's written about journalism. There's footage of the scenes that are in the movie, so I watched and watched and listened and listened. I was only five or six when this was actually happening so I obviously had no sense of what was going on but I remember picking up on it. I knew it was something important because of the energy that was going through my parents and their friends.

Has the film changed your politics or your view of the media?

I would say I could concur with Murrow in his views although the film doesn't necessarily say what his politics are--but the standards he espouses in the film, that we all have the right to face our accuser, all of the things that are spoken about in the film I agree with. It hasn't changed my view of journalists themselves but I think the movie offers a glimpse into the infancy of an industry. They say the press is the fourth estate and a great democracy cannot exist without the fourth estate and this film shows that.

You've mentioned Murrow's sense of style...

Well, you have a lot to learn about dress when dealing with any historical character--you learn about their world by what they wear. One thing that was a signature of Murrow were these big, red braces with this little graphic of a woman on them. If they'd have shot in colour, nobody would be able to take their eyes off of that.

Senator McCarthy has a major role in the film...

Yeah, how did we keep him on set! He was so demanding, he wanted the biggest trailer and he took the longest in hair and make-up--actually, I think he should have been submitted for Best Supporting Actor. Seriously, having that footage there was another brilliant thing on the part of George and Grant and the design of the film. To have an actor play that part would have been even harder than having an actor play Edward R Murrow. George and Grant decided that we had to use McCarthy in the same way Murrow did, to have him appear and sort of fall on his own sword. It meant that we were being respectful of journalistic ethics and letting the man speak for himself.

Where does Murrow's "Good night, and good luck..." sign-off come from?

Good question. He got that phrase from the streets of London during the blitz, when he would walk around the bomb shelters. The English people would use it as an expression and I figured he bowed his head on "...good luck" because it cuts both ways. It's good luck to the person they're talking to but it's also an invocation, good luck for themselves.

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The newsman cometh: George Clooney has made him a star, but is David Strathairn as outspoken as his new role suggests
The Sunday Times
February 5, 2006
By Tony Allen-Mills

It took David Strathairn almost 25 years to become an overnight sensation. After more than two decades of quiet, quality work in more than 70 films, his life was changed by a telephone call. "It came out of the blue," says Strathairn, a lean, pensive figure, whose face has long been better known than his name.

"I was sitting at home and the phone rang, and the conversation lasted about three minutes," the actor recalls as he tucks into a slice of coffee cake at a Greenwich Village café.

The caller was George Clooney, asking Strathairn to star in his film about the communist witch-hunts of the 1950s. "George just laid it on the table. We're going to do it in six weeks, we're going to do it in black-and-white, and we'll get back to you. I was stunned. And that was just the start of it."

In Good Night, and Good Luck, Strathairn plays the American broadcaster Edward R Murrow, who risked his career by standing up to Senator Joseph McCarthy. Originally, Clooney, who had written the film and intended to direct it, was worried investors would only be interested if he took a starring role. He privately considered himself the wrong man to play Murrow, a stern, intense, highly principled journalist. When he raised the $7.5m he needed to finance the project, Clooney relegated himself to an unglamorous supporting role and telephoned Strathairn, who bears a striking physical resemblance to Murrow.

Strathairn's magnetic performance as the American journalist, who made his reputation reporting from London during the worst of the Blitz, has earned him a string of accolades: a best-actor award at the Venice Film Festival, a Golden Globe nomination and now an Oscar nomination.

Yet the 57-year-old actor modestly bats away any suggestion that his performance, described by one American critic as "smouldering, steely-eyed", and by another as "phenomenal", is the key to the film's success. He insists that Good Night, and Good Luck--the title was Murrow's signing-off catch phrase--is an "ensemble piece". He also seems endearingly dismayed by the attention he has begun to attract. Although he has appeared in many successful films--notably Silkwood, The Firm and L.A. Confidential--Strathairn invariably left promotional work to better-known stars, and declares himself a "babe in the woods" when it comes to giving interviews. He admitted last year: "I hate to talk about myself."

Instead, we begin by talking about the increasingly politicised Clooney, who has been dismissed by right-wingers as "a beautiful airhead". Strathairn grimaces.

"I'm continually, and quite sincerely, in awe of how George embraces and articulates his passion (for politics)," he says. "He has picked up the gauntlet that's out there for all artists of any kind of clout or cachet. And he does it with such bonhomie and joy and frankness--and self-deprecation. You keep thinking: is this for real?"

Yes, says Strathairn, everything you've heard about Clooney is true. He really is the playboy, the drinker and the practical joker we read about in the tabloids. He is also a "master of timing and suspense", according to one American critic, and he has produced a "marvellous and intoxicating" film, says another.

"George proved to be all and everything people accuse him of being," Strathairn adds. "But he's also a stand-and-deliver kind of guy. This was dangerous territory to tread, but he guided us through it with a very objective approach. He was a real motivating force."

What seems to have impressed Strathairn most about Clooney was that he never attempted to turn Good Night, and Good Luck into a scathing polemic about right-wing fanaticism aimed at the Bush administration. Although Clooney has emerged as a passionate supporter of Democratic causes--and a fierce opponent of the war in Iraq--he appeared determined to strike a more subtle balance between Murrow's concern for freedom of speech and America’s fears of communist infiltration.

Set in the early 1950s, the film describes how Murrow set out to discredit McCarthy once it became clear that the Republican senator was fabricating evidence of communist activity. The broadcaster braved the classic McCarthyite riposte: that, to criticise the senator, he must be a communist sympathiser. Several critics have drawn parallels to recent warnings from the Bush administration that opposition to the government's security policies "helps the terrorists". But the point is never laboured in the film.

"George could have chosen to be very polarising and indicting with this film," says Strathairn. "But he wanted to create a platform for discussion, not an arena for combat."

Strathairn applauds Clooney's willingness to speak out on political issues, but keeps his own views close to his chest. "I'm not the kind of person who would ascend to the mountaintop and start screaming because I was put there by a moment like this," he says. "Artists get vilified if you use these transitory moments to speak out. But that George has done it is an inspiration."

Strathairn's acting career started, of all places, in a Florida circus. Accompanying a friend to a school for trainee clowns, he turned out to fit the costume of a missing clown, and played a white-faced Siamese twin. "You could say I fitted the bill," he says. The experience didn't last long--he grew his hair long, and there was no market for a hippie clown. The circus showed him the door, and a versatile Hollywood career was born.

At college in Massachusetts, Strathairn ran into an ambitious young student named John Sayles, who would later become one of America's most inventive film-makers. Strathairn appeared in Sayles's first film, Return of the Secaucus 7, and became part of the director's semi-permanent ensemble. Sayles's later work included the cult science-fiction fantasy Brother from Another Planet--in which Strathairn played an extraterrestrial bounty hunter--and City of Hope, featuring Strathairn as a mentally disturbed vagrant. It is the latter film, Strathairn feels, that contains some of his most memorable work.

When he wasn't doing movies, he was in the theatre. He performed on Broadway with Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen in Strindberg's Dance of Death, and appeared in a double American production, in the mid-1990s, of Harold Pinter's plays The Birthday Party and Mountain Language. Intriguingly, Pinter turns out to be another of Strathairn's politically outspoken heroes. "He came and spent a week with us in the theatre," Strathairn says. "That was very, very special."

Renowned for the virulence of his anti-American views, Pinter recently devoted his Nobel prize acceptance speech to a harangue about the evils of US power. Strathairn politely acknowledges that Pinter's rantings are "not as constructive as possible", but he turns out to be surprisingly supportive of the cancer-stricken playwright's antiwar views.

"I don't doubt his sincerity at all, or his courage to say it," he says. "I'm glad there is someone who is not cowed by being vilified. The artist is the canary in the mine for our culture. We certainly hope to create discussion. Pinter does it vehemently, and there's a fist attached, but there's a need to create platforms of debate."

A platform such as the Oscars, I mischievously wonder? If Strathairn were to bag the best- actor prize, would he be tempted to shed his natural reticence and use his acceptance speech for a Pinter or Clooney-like outburst?

The actor grins. "I would probably be mumbling and bumbling my way through, trying to say something pertinent and respectful," he says. "You've got to pick your spots, I guess. If I had to, I would just reference Ed Murrow. That's more than enough to ring any political bells."

Quite where all this excitement is leading, Strathairn isn't sure. For all his success in Good Night, he can still sit discreetly in a New York café without being recognised--although that may be due to the ragged salt-and-pepper beard he has grown since his clean-cut appearance as Murrow. He is also patently not the type to turn into a headline-grabbing public figure. When he's not acting, he lives quietly in the New York State countryside with his wife, Logan Goodman, a nurse. They have two sons, aged 26 and 18.

Nor is Strathairn convinced that success playing Murrow will lead to more high-profile roles. "People, through no fault of their own, get pigeonholed," he says. "You can only be what people perceive you to be, and I'm sure that at this stage of the game, I'm perceived as someone who can show up and do the job as a character actor, really, not the leading man."

He thinks about that for a moment and frowns. "Frankly, I have a hard time making the distinction between the leading man and a character. But if it brings more roles like Good Night, and Good Luck, it would be great."

Good Night, and Good Luck opens on February 17.

[www]



Strathairn praises Oscar rival Ledger
MSN
February 3, 2006
By unknown

Heath Ledger's Oscar rival David Strathairn says the Australian actor hasn't received enough recognition for his portrayal of a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain.

"Heath is getting recognition for it but I am surprised why he is not getting more because that was not an easy thing to do," Strathairn told AAP from the United States.

"Heath went out on a limb there and really held on.

"His performance is a quiet one...but I think what he has done was really hard to do. He took some really brave choices character-wise and just locked onto them."

Ledger and Strathairn, for his performance in Good Night, and Good Luck, were nominated for March's 78th Annual Academy Awards on Thursday.

They will go head to head with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Terrence Howard for the best male actor category.

"Brokeback Mountain is a difficult piece, not just because of what it is about but it is the persona, the person, a creation that we have yet to have seen in the modern era in film," said the 57-year-old Strathairn.

"It upended this mythic thing of the cowboy...and Heath manages that myth and the revelation of this character. Really, I can't say enough about it."

Brokeback Mountain, a story of the forbidden love of two men in America's west, has caused much controversy in the United States.

"It has struck a bell," said Strathairn.

The Oscars will be held at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on March 5.

And as the cliche goes, Strathairn was happy just to be nominated.

"Getting nominated is it for me," he said, adding that he had never come close to a nomination in more than 25 years working in the industry.

"I have never even been close enough to peek under the tent then all of a sudden I am inside there, sitting in the stocks in front of everyone."

Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story of Ed Murrow's bitter feud with Senator Joseph McCarthy, which came to a head on March 9, 1954, when Murrow exposed the deceit, bullying, and manipulation of the then-powerful McCarthy, head of the Senate Committee on Un-American Activities, on the CBS TV program See It Now episode.

Good Night, and Good Luck was written and directed by George Clooney, who received Oscar nominations for best screenplay and director for the film.

"When I first saw a rough cut of it, I knew it was going to have some kind of bells and whistles," said Strathairn.

Speaking more generally on this year's Oscars nominees, Strathairn noted that it was a strong batch of "small budget films with potent themes".

"Maybe the pendulum swings more often than not now to small budget films because of budget constraints and also the production friendly technology that everyone has," he said.

Looking forward, Strathairn confirmed that his next film would be Fracture, a thriller co-starring Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins.

"It will be an honour," he said.

Premiere Magazine (02/2006) - photo copyright © respective owners

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Great Performances 2005: David Strathairn (Edward R. Murrow, Good Night, And Good Luck)
Premiere Magazine
February, 2006
By Glenn Kenny

David Strathairn can project a thoughtful, serious mien merely by showing up. Director George Clooney handed him a somewhat more formidable task when he cast the actor as groundbreaking broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, And Good Luck (which Clooney also cowrote and costarred in.)

While roles in films by Strathairn's longtime collaborator John Sayles allowed the actor to plumb the inner depths of his characters, few such opportunities were afforded him in Good Night. Still, Strathairn says, "You try. It's all my inference as to what's going on when [Murrow]'s not talking. But you have to be careful not to do too much, because you don't want to derail the audience's participation into anything other than the story."

Whatever added value the character projects from the screen, Strathairn modestly avers, has less to do with him than with the people behind the camera. "I think to a large extent it was accomplished by the cinematography and the editing. You know, picking and choosing little glimpses; it was done really deftly, how they built this guy."

Nevertheless, he is the one being chatted up as a potential Oscar nominee, which Strathairn, who's managed an exemplary career onstage and screen while always staying under the radar, considers odd. "It feels as if you put on a many-pocketed coat with one hundred cell phones, all on vibe alert, and they all start going off at random times, and you begin to think, this is pretty uncomfortable. You can't possibly answer all these phones, nor should you. 'Buzz'--that's really a quite apropos word. They say it's great for the film. Well, if it's great for the film, that's great."



Oscar tips: David Strathairn finds the spotlight
BBC News
January 27, 2006
By unknown

David Strathairn is the kind of actor you know by face, if not by name, but an Oscar nomination on Tuesday for best actor could change all that.

Strathairn is a classic example of a gifted supporting actor; he has starred in some of Hollywood's most popular films, yet has rarely played the lead.

But with his role as US broadcaster Edward R Murrow in George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck, the 57-year-old actor may finally reap the rewards of years of dedication to the stage and screen.

Good Night, and Good Luck sees Strathairn give a thoughtful, understated turn as 1950s broadcaster Murrow, capturing his on-air conflicts with Senator McCarthy with intelligence and integrity.

Critics have called it "the performance of a lifetime".

Director Clooney told reporters at the Venice film festival that within moments of Strathairn's audition, he knew he was the man for the role.

"We knew he was a great actor but you still can't tell, particularly when it's playing somebody as iconic as Murrow. However, the second he was in front of the camera, and started doing some of those huge speeches, he was transformed."

"I'd look up and forget that it wasn't Murrow."

Director Clooney describes Strathairn, who picked up the best actor award in Venice last September, as the kind of actor "that always feels like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders".

So it comes as a surprise to learn that the actor, who owes his craggy looks to his Scottish-Hawaiian roots, studied clowning in his youth.

Born in San Francisco, Strathairn's interest in acting was piqued by his friendship with indie director John Sayles whom he met while studying at Williams College in Massachussets.

Following his graduation, Strathairn took the unusual step of training as a clown at Florida's Ringling Brothers Clown College and spent six months working for a travelling circus.

He later relocated to New York where he helped found a children's theatre, growing his acting experience by working in local theatres across the US during the summer break.

During that time he ran in to his college friend, John Sayles who cast him in his first film, Return of the Secaucus 7 (widely believed to be the inspiration for The Big Chill) in 1980.

The two men went on to collaborate on a number of films, including The Brother From Another Planet, Matewan, Eight Men Out, Passion Fish--and perhaps, most memorably, 1999's Limbo opposite Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

Strathairn's turns in popular big screen hits include the role of Tom Cruise's wayward brother Ray McDeere in The Firm, Meryl Streep's husband in The River Wild and seedy millionaire Pierce Patchett in LA Confidential.

His distinguished career spans 25 years and more than 70 films, but as the chain-smoking Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck, he is finally winning some long overdue recognition.

The actor lives in upstate New York with his wife Logan. He has two sons, one a university student and the other, Tay, a sometime actor, turned jazz musician.

[www]

Filmink (01/2006) - photo copyright © Filmink

David Strathairn: Working with Georgey Clooney and playing Edward R. Murrow
Filmink
January, 2006
By Danny Peary

Did you know George Clooney before he called you to play Edward R. Murrow?

"I didn't even know who George Clooney was. Of course, I'm kidding! But unlike others in the cast, I not only hadn't worked with him, I hadn't met him. So I can tell you that I had no expectations of him as a director. Fortunately, the actual making of the movie day-to-day was a delight, to put it mildly. George just understands every requisite of directing, particularly working with actors. He provided a safety net for us, which actors really need. And at the same time, no one was safe from any of his jokes."

I know that Clooney shot some scenes in one take. Was that the most difficult thing for you as an actor?

"Not really. What comes to mind was hat a couple of the broadcasts were pretty scarey to shoot. Because of the tight relationship I had with the camera, my movements were constrained. The words, the cadence, and his focus were so important. Keeping Murrow in focus through those scenes was a task every day. But George gave me a lot of support, trust, and a sense of freedom, and I had the feeling I was giving him what he wanted."

Talk about the responsibility playing a real character as opposed to a fictional character.

"They are two different beasts, but in both cases you are always responsible to the script. In playing a fictional character, you have to pull something out of the imagination of the author from the get-go. In playing a real character, especially when it's someone of such magnitude as Edward R. Murrow, at the very least you should be respectful to the image people who knew him still have. There is also a responsibility to present an objective, respectful image to people who have no idea who he was. This isn't a standard bio picture. George wasn't exploring a man at home or anything but Murrow as a television personality. I didn't do an impersonation, but for the Murrow I play in the movie, there was much archival material I could look at, including the iconic images of Murrow on the McCarthy broadcast."

When you were delivering Murrow's 1958 speech in which he seems upset at the direction television news had taken since his confrontation with McCarthy in 1954, did you question whether he considered himself a success?

"I'm sure that wasn't the case. He was a very humble man who shied away from the limelight, even though he embraced it in a fashion and was very aware of how the camera gave him magnitude. I think he was propelled to do what was right in regard to McCarthy; he wasn't saying, 'I'm going to make a hero out of myself by going after these people.' In fact, it took him a long time to get into the game. He was very reticent to go out against McCarthy."

So do you think he thought he failed?

"A great question. I think he had an abiding hope that he was doing the right thing, an innate confidence. I think--and this has been said by others--that he was never quite sure that he got it right."

Murrow seemed deadly serious yet somehow his humour came through. That's how it is in the movie.

"George didn't give me any funny lines, but he told me, 'if you do this, you'll get a laugh.' Murrow was quick and he was witty, but at this particular time in his life, maybe he didn't exhibit a sense of humour as much as he did a sense of irony."



Clooney crowd filled Sardi's air with talk, laughter
The Baltimore Sun
December 20, 2005
By Liz Smith

Trekked over to Sardi's famous theater restaurant the other eve to meet the one and only George Clooney, his sidekick and screenwriter pal Grant Heslov and their two distinguished stars, David Strathairn and Frank Langella of Good Night, and Good Luck.

We sat down in the very back because the restaurant was jammed with Christmas celebrations and a pre-theater crowd. Strathairn has been Golden Globe nominated for best actor, George and Heslov for their screenplay, George for best director and the movie as "best drama." Everyone was in a high good humor and Langella lorded it over the others, pointing out his caricature on the wall of Sardi's as being one of the high points of his glorious award-winning career.

Then to add to our fun, in came former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, who was going on to see the Edward Albee play, Seascape, with me that evening. She brought her friend Mr. Clooney a celebratory gift from Texas. It is "The Tom DeLay Pinata" with the embattled congressman's photo on it.

Langella, who plays the late CBS titan William Paley in Clooney's extraordinary film, is an old friend of mine. Strathairn is someone I know less well, but admire extravagantly. He is the late Edward R. Murrow of this black-and-white masterpiece set in the '50s and dealing with how this dedicated newsman fought the late Sen. Joe McCarthy and his red-baiters to the bitter end. (Strathairn's got Murrow down pat; it is a restrained and passionate portrayal--just right!)

When I talked about the possibility that all of them might well waltz out of the Golden Globes--and later the Oscars--with coveted prizes, they laughed. Strathairn said, "Not to be corny and say, 'It is an honor just to be nominated,' but we all feel we have 'won' already. We have had the satisfying experience of making this film!"

While Ann and George delved into their pet passion--politics--I listened to David and Frank tell me of their regard for their director. These veteran actors seemed to be putting Clooney in a special category: "I never had so much courtesy, so much input. And to have a director who comes so totally prepared. Well, it is incredible and unusual in the business." Both of them offered these thoughts even though the star himself wasn't listening. He and Ann were hot on the campaign trail for 2008.

Frank and I swapped some theater lore stories trying to shock David. But he was implacable and just smiled at our juvenile antics. Frank then asked if I had ever slept with William Paley? Sitting in shock I could hardly answer before this irrepressible actor followed up. "I ask every woman I meet this question. I did it to research my role as Paley. And they all invariably answer, 'No, but I could have!' (I was just about to say that!)

So I noted that my impression of Mr. Paley, who I liked very much during his CBS heyday, was that when he was not near the girl he loved, he loved the girl he was near.

Nobody drank at this get-together but we behaved as if we had. As Ann and I exited Sardi's, we heard a great roar. Almost the entire restaurant was applauding George Clooney and his merry men, as they came through behind us to the front door. Clooney waved good-naturedly. It was a powerful display of his popularity.

Good Night, and Good Luck is an extraordinary movie and I hope to see all of these guys sweep the Globes and then be nominated for Oscars when the time comes!

[www]



Interview: David Strathairn of Good Night, and Good Luck
Cinematical
December 17, 2005
By James Rocchi

For years, David Strathairn's held a curiously split place in American film. For devoted indie-film fans, he's a must-see actor whose name in the credits alone is enough reason to seek out a movie, with great performances like Blue Car, 8 Men Out and Limbo on his resume; to more mainstream audiences, he's been a subtle, tricky scene-stealer in Hollywood films like L.A. Confidential, Sneakers and A League of Their Own. With the release of George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck, starring Strathairn as '50s newsman Edward R. Murrow and earning him his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama), there's the question of if Strathairn's attained a whole new level of mainstream fame...or if the mainstream's finally caught up with him. Relaxed and affable, Strathairn was able to join us in his native San Francisco to talk about moviemaking, working with director George Clooney and how the experience of making Good Night, and Good Luck served as a crash course in the history of '50s America...and the realities of the here-and-now.

When you realized you'd be playing Edward R. Murrow--a newsman who left behind so much recorded material and archived broadcasts--did you simply dive into the material, or did you approach it more tentatively?

I dove in...but then I was very tentative in my reading through it, because I wasn't sure how much would be apropos to the script--or, to put it another way, George (Clooney, director and co-writer) said it's not a biopic. So that helped with my tentativeness, because we weren't concerned with him as a young man, or what he thought about when he was at home, or what he liked to eat or his relationship with his son and his wife. So then I could sort of funnel my focus into a particular moment; I went directly to the kinescopes and the archival footage of the broadcasts, the See It Now broadcasts and the Person to Person broadcasts and...his 1958 speech to the Radio and Television News Directors of America, so I could concentrate on that. Once I realized where I was headed, I started paddling like crazy.

A lot of Good Night, and Good Luck shows the sheer work of making TV, the grind of it, and the nuts-and-bolts of journalism; a lot of the finished film really has the crackling energy of a procedural. Could you feel that while you were shooting it?

Well, George (Clooney) knew that world; he grew up in that world. His father, Nick Clooney, was a broadcast journalist and an anchorman and George was working with the teleprompter when he was nine or 10, so he knew that energy. ...(and) I had never been in a newsroom, before this one. You look at the microphones that are the size of softballs, the console, the knobs look like they're from Star Trek and the huge lumbering cameras that they had to move around; those round erasers with the little brushes on them, those beautiful old typewriters. All these things, which took time to use and didn't have the alacrity of the technology we have today--and yet the energy of the people (in Good Night's fake newsroom) was exciting. It felt like we were making news. We were making a movie, but we were also making news.

We had copies of the New York Times that corresponded to the very day (of events seen in the film), March 9, 1953--the headlines were there. George would say, 'All right, Matt, you're going to cover local news. Robert, you do obits today. You do the sports page. You find anything about Eisenhower or McCarthy...' so the headlines were there, (and the actors) could pitch their stories directly from the newspaper, so that improvisation was happening a lot during the scenes. They were making the scenes about making the news as we were making the film.

The decision to not cast an actor as Joseph R. McCarthy but instead use real footage of McCarthy--it certainly helps the realism of the film, but at the same time it sets the movie up as a struggle between two people who are never in the same room; was it hard to work opposite 50-year-old news footage instead of a flesh-and-blood actor?

Well, they never really met; as far as I know, they were only together in a room once. A year or so after (the events of Good Night, and Good Luck), some time after this had all come to pass. McCarthy had been moved to the back of the Senate and Murrow was marginalized at CBS. (At a public event,) McCarthy came up to Murrow and banged him on the back and said, 'No hard feelings!' And Joe Wershba (a reporting peer of Murrow's played by Robert Downey Jr. in Good Night, and Good Luck), who related this to me, was standing right next to Murrow and Murrow turned to McCarthy and said, 'Yeah, all right.' McCarthy walked away and then Murrow asked Joe, 'Who the hell was that?' And Wershba said, 'That was Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.' And Murrow, uncharacteristically, in public, said, 'That son-of-a-bitch!'

So it was true...they didn't confront each other, except through letters--there was an incredible amount of negotiation going on about how they were going to do these broadcasts and who was going to pay for them. McCarthy wanted CBS to pay for them, and Murrow said, 'No way, we're not going to pay for it'. It was a very terse and respectful exchange of letters, but that's the way it was done. They met each other through the camera. That's the way it was done, just the way we saw it.

And being able to watch that footage of the real McCarthy while filming?

It had to be there. It helped to put me there as much as it could, that when I would turn to the monitor and say, 'Now the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph R. McCarthy...' and boom! There he is. So, it was kind of haunting, but what a great thing to--Not only was that a piece of the world we were in, but the set, the costumes, the whole thing was so--the cigarettes!

There's a lot of that in the film; were you 'Method Smoking?'

Well, I had to smoke. There was a bit of madness in that. You sort of had to do that. They did--Joe Wershba was there. He said they smoked like that; everybody smoked like that. And Murrow died (of lung cancer) in 1964 when he was 57 years old.

At the same time, the movie's not a period piece; it feels relevant to today.

Absolutely. (Good Night, and Good Luck) could have been made in 1941. It could have been in the 1800's, or 1941 with the Japanese-American internment camps...the fear of Indians, so we'd better take away their civil liberties and put them on a reservation. It could be Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, any place that is where fear has been used...and confusion and the oppression of news has been used. The light has shined on it by this film. I don't think it's any coincidence that it's coming out now. I think that it's just a wonderful confluence of timing, that George (Clooney) got it together to make this film. I imagine if (George W.) Bush hadn't gotten a second term, it wouldn't be quite as potent an illumination, but there's always going to be something going on apropos of this, on this issue. Especially today, where we are fearful, but I think we are more confused; we're more paralyzed by our confusion as to who's telling us what, and what do we believe, and where's the truth?

I mean, it's sort of relative now. One news network is really only speaking to those people who need to be re-affirmed of their particular ideology and another one is (supporting another)--so these tribal factions in our society are feeding off these wildly opposing founts of information. Murrow was not about that. Murrow was about information for all, for the good of all. It's not a film to polarize or proselytize or indict, it's just to examine and to maybe build a platform for debate about these issues, and the responsibility of the journalist to find what's most important. Sure, we need to find out what's going on as a result of (recent hurricanes), but to what extent? To the extent that it puts a smokescreen over the (Alito) confirmation hearing or Gonzalez vs. Oregon, a physicians right's (case)? There are so many issues out there that Murrow would have targeted, because they were so important to our daily lives.

Watching the film, I was thinking that George Clooney might be following in the steps of John Frankenheimer--someone who came up from TV and learned a lot of hard-and-fast things that he's been able to bring to making films.

He knows this; he knows what he's doing; he knows how to do it. (He's) very, very savvy and very certain and skilled, in addition to being who everybody thinks he is--this charming star. It was great working with him, for all those reasons, because he brought a great energy, a playfulness, an excitement (and) very incisive intentions to this film. (Clooney has) not only a technical understanding, but a feel for the time--and then as an actor, a generosity of spirit, knowing what actors need to do their best work, what kind of direction, or how much or how little, and also how to provide a safety net for them out there. He was on top of it, really. He absolutely knows what he's doing.

People on the Left think the media are corporate tools; people on the Right think that Liberals control the media. I think that may just be because news has gotten so much shorter, that it's easy to feel like the complexities of your thoughts about an issue weren't covered. Did Murrow's kind of journalism reach a higher level than what we have today?

I'm not sure--there are journalism schools, which I hope and I think are teaching those ideals, those standards. But...what actually is journalism--is journalism saying, 'Well, there were three reporters. One had a spiral notebook and a pen, one was doing it just off the top of his head, and one was typing on a computer?' What does that mean? What's that? No, it should be something more inside the (news), (whereas now) journalism seems to be just, 'Let's get something out there that catches some kind of synapse, but ultimately dissolves.'

But I think it's happening. I think that there's been a sea change. Blogging--that's a frontier unto its own. The coverage of Katrina: CNN started to do something there, they started to call people on the carpet and look for (answers)--But that's only because they were there and they actually saw something. They actually saw something and said what they saw. They presented what they saw. They didn't do any spin or anything like that. And that's what Murrow was great at. He was just...telling the story as he saw it, not as it should be told or (asking) 'What's the agenda?' Just...tell the story to the people.

When you signed up to play Murrow, did you have any idea you'd be getting grilled about your take on media ethics and broadcast journalism?

(Laughs) No. I think the movie speaks for itself and I'm really glad to talk about it, but I had no idea it was going to be just little old me in odd rooms like this.

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Clooney's black-and-white take on McCarthyism
The Sydney Morning Herald
December 16, 2005
By unknown

To put it bluntly, Good Night, and Good Luck sounds like cinematic Valium. Worthy but dull. Even the film's lead actor agrees.

"I can understand that people might think it's a black-and-white movie and that it's set in the 1950s, and so that it's something that might end up on The History Channel," says David Strathairn, who plays journalist Edward Murrow. "But it's stunning how compelling it is. And how beautiful."

Murrow worked as a London correspondent during World War II and returned to the US to become the anchor of TV news show See It Now. Cigarette in hand, Murrow sombrely told millions about the issues of the day.

Among the biggest issues was Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade, which was snuffing out careers left, right and centre. Well, mainly left.

In 1953, with the grudging support of his bosses at CBS, Murrow took on the seemingly unassailable zealot.

"Murrow was an amazing guy," Strathairn says. "And the great thing about this film is how it shows the innocence of the news industry back then. It was very simple; there were three or four stations and Murrow was talking to 60 million people at one time. He was the source for news. Compared to today, when it's like somebody took the marble and hit it with a hammer and there are shards everywhere."

Among the film's strengths is its dialogue. Clooney has the actors talking over one another, as happens in a newsroom. He also has them quoting Shakespeare and wielding language deftly--unlike today, when reporters often wield it like a brick.

The language is typified by an exchange between Murrow and producer Fred Friendly (Clooney).

Ed: "You always were yellow."

Fred: "That's better than red."

Clooney, who has always had something of the '50s leading man about him, suits his part perfectly.

"He's very fond of that era," says Strathairn, a veteran of Silkwood and LA Confidential.

"The style, the music, a time when men were men and women were women. He's very classic in that way."

Clooney has a reputation as a practical joker, but Strathairn says he was well behaved on set. So was Robert Downey Jr., despite his reputation. But still there were a lot of laughs.

"I had to be the serious one," he says. "George was cracking everybody up and I had to be the prince of doom. But there was a lot of frivolity and playfulness. And Robert looked like he was in great shape. He's one of our most inventive and compelling actors."

During the shoot, the parallels between McCarthy's anti-communist crusades and George Bush's "war on terror" became obvious to Strathairn.

"You could just change the names between today and then, and you have the same scenario," he says.

"But George didn't intend to make a movie that was accusatory or polarising, as Michael Moore does, who pulls the veil back but is very divisive and very antagonistic.

"Actually, I was reading about these sedition laws in Australia, and there you go with what Murrow said in the film, that we must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.

"Dissent is essential, otherwise power becomes unchecked and ultimately corrupts."

Strathairn says not only is Good Night a tribute to journalists putting government under the microscope, but a tribute to Clooney's broadcast journalist father and his hero, Murrow.

"Murrow was one of those guys who strapped himself to the mast at a very crucial time. If he hadn't taken on McCarthy, thousands more people would have been unjustly accused and lost their lives or livelihoods."

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