MOVIES | IN THEATERS NOW

KNOW YOUR ACTORS

(by Ali Naderzad) On a snowy Martin Luther King Day in New York City, things can get drab pretty quickly. What’s a film critic to do? The Walter Reade Theatre seems like it’s leagues away from here. You’ve seen all the movies and read all your movie news digests. You can either watch “Citizen Kane” for the 321st time or get reacquainted, as I did today, with the New York Times-led series on Youtube called Screen Test. Shot elegantly in black and white, the clips give each interviewee about five minutes of air time to tell us the first movie they ever saw (for Marion Cotillard, it was “E.T.”), whether sex scenes are difficult to shoot (vodka is helpful for some, apparently–surprised?) and their five favorite sounds. Interestingly enough, I found some of the actors who were interviewed for the series to be slightly uncomfortable, compared to, say, when they appear on the Actors’ Studio. I guess candor is probably the best weapon against awkwardness. As a result, the responses have, for the most part, a depth and fragility you don’t usually see in other interviews. If you have not already seen these, I recommend watching the whole series at least once. Maybe you’ll learn something. For example, I did not know that Naomi Watts does a terrific Posh Spice impression. (I’ve included her clip at right)