Give Your Regards to Broadway The Great White Way has never looked greater than in Stars on Stage: Eileen Darby & Broadway’s Golden Age: Photographs 1940–1964, by Mary C. Henderson (Bulfinch Press, $40). Photographer Darby’s camera vividly captured Ethel Merman perched on a motorcycle, Brando and Tandy in A Streetcar Named Desire. . . . Ah! The Theatah!		What’s Ewan Doin’? Racing through New York to prevent a suicide in the thriller Stay. A mental patient tells his psychiatrist (Ewan McGregor) of his plans to end it all, sending the doc on a chase while he contends with a depressed girlfriend (Naomi Watts) and supernatural phenomena. Whew! Tough day at the office. Opens October 21.

Bewitched, Bothered

and BeWILLdered

Classic screen clowns are in the business of being laughed at, but they shouldn’t be laughed off. And the really good ones—like Will Ferrell—are worth celebrating. The 38-year-old Ferrell, who got off to a rocky start on “Saturday Night Live,” has become the go-to comic actor of his generation, grabbing the reins from the vaunted Jim Carrey. How’d that happen?

The 6-foot-3-inch Ferrell is a master of irony-free comedy. While the rubber-faced Carrey can boisterously wink-wink his way through stuff like How the Grinch Stole Christmas or
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, can you imagine him pulling off Ferrell’s unabashed innocence in the utterly charming Elf ? That modern-day Christmas classic depends on Ferrell’s not being in on the joke.

Unlike many of his comic peers, Ferrell never did stand-up. So instead of dropping one-liners, Ferrell creates comedic riffs that flow organically from the characters he inhabits—such as Jacobin Mugatu (“I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”), the delirious designer from Zoolander, and the just-married Frank from Old School. Earlier this year, Ferrell also classed up films like Bewitched, and he popped up uncredited as Chaz Reingold in the summer hit Wedding Crashers.

The funny man appears poised to scale greater comedic heights, with half a dozen projects, including The Producers, due to hit screens over the next two years.

Among these is a lower-profile film, Winter Passing, in which Ferrell plays a would-be rock musician who has moved into the house of a reclusive writer (Ed Harris). The movie, it should be noted, is a sobering drama.

Hold it—not laughing at Will Ferrell? That’ll take some getting used to.

—Kenneth M. Chanko

	Don’t expect any cryin’-in-yer-beer songs from Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand, whose Dream Big (Capitol Records Nashville) puts a tight, bright spin on country tradition. Sure, you’ll hear guitar, fiddle and banjo—but also punk, reggae, hip-hop and Latin inflections. Our fave track: “Oh How I Miss You.”
	Kirsten Royale Shoe exec (Orlando Bloom) meets perky flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst), and love triumphs over business failure and flaky Southern relatives, in Elizabethtown. Didn’t Reese Witherspoon already make this movie? Opens October 14.

Being Green

When northern Californians Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt formed a band in 1988, stadium tours and Grammy wins were probably far from their minds. After all, the aspiring rock stars were only 14 years old. But why let age trump talent? It took their group, Green Day, only 12 months to put together an impressive first album, 1,000 Hours. And it took only a few more years for the band (now rounded out by hyperactive drummer Tre Cool) to hone its brash three-chord punk into Dookie and the grand, anthemic rock sound that would rule the airwaves for the next decade.

By 1994, Green Day had scored a multi-platinum album, five rock radio hits, one Grammy and a headlining gig at Woodstock ’94.

For many rock bands, this is where the journey ends. But Green Day kept going. The biggest surprise came last year: Armstrong and his bandmates took a huge artistic leap and made—gulp—a rock opera. But instead of being a bad idea, American Idiot came off as a welcome return to the epic sounds and story lines of classic Pink Floyd and The Who—only much, much louder.

Oddly, the album’s best track is also its quietest: “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” was a huge crossover hit this year because it embraced melody and pop without sacrificing emotion. Sure, Green Day has worked with acoustic guitars before, but “Boulevard” perfectly captures a sense of loneliness that most radio-friendly ballads can only fake. The song also features one truly monstrous guitar workout, courtesy of Armstrong. Even after 15 years and mainstream success, Green Day still wants to make noise.

—Kirk Miller

The Talented Mr. Bean

Say the name “Sean Bean” to most Americans and you’re likely to get a blank stare. Say the name “Boromir,” and you’ll get a flicker of recognition (FYI: the conflicted warrior in LOTR who tried to swipe the ring from Frodo). Odysseus? Think warrior/narrator in Troy. How about the suave and savage villains in
GoldenEye, Patriot Games, Don’t Say a Word, National Treasure and The Island? Well, there’s your man—a versatile 20-year veteran of British stage, screen and television. Now that Bean is appearing in Flightplan and this month’s North Country, perhaps U.S. audiences will appreciate just how versatile—and begin to take notice. Here, a few thoughts on these roles and more.

MORE MR. BEAN

SKY: Tell us about North Country.
Sean Bean: [The film] is basically a true story about these women who brought a class-action [suit] against the steel company because of the abuse they suffered. It’s a very moving story. It’s a very gritty, very sort of hard-hitting, but very poignant tale. Such good characters. It’s almost like a play. A really good piece of theater.
SKY: And you play a sympathetic character—for once?
SB: Yes. He’s the boyfriend of the Frances McDormand character. He’s quite an easygoing guy, and he’s had to retire from an injury from work.
SKY: Now you’ve also got Flightplan, in which you play the captain.
SB: Yeah. I’m the captain and sort of trying to keep things together. Calm in this sort of very intense situation, which starts getting out of hand very quickly.
SKY: You had the rare opportunity to work with Jodie Foster. She doesn’t make as many films as she used to.
SB: No. But she’s really good in this. She’s very intense. Very focused on what she’s doing. And it’s really good working alongside her, because she raises your game as well.
SKY: You’ve worked with some heavy
hitters in this business. Is there any one person you’ve learned more from than others?
SB: John Hurt. Just watching him and seeing how he reacted. Pete Postlethwaite. He’s a brilliant actor. And recently, I’ve worked with Peter O’Toole [in Troy], whom I’d always wanted to work with, and whom I admire. He’s very much his own man and quite incredible. Mesmerizing. He’s always been a hero of mine, and it’s good to work with him.
SKY: Well, we have to ask about Lord of the Rings and Boromir.
SB: It was quite a long time before I got the part. And eventually, I got the offer, and I was so overjoyed, of course. I didn’t realize at the time—I don’t think any of us realized at the time—how big it was going to be. Monumental.
SKY: In less capable hands than Peter Jackson’s, a movie like that would have been a disaster.
SB: He’s a very shrewd guy. Very funny, very easygoing, very imaginative. He knows what he wants with each shot.
SKY: There isn’t as much screen time for Boromir as there is for some of the other characters, and yet it’s a crucial role, because he establishes what’s to come in the rest of the trilogy.
SB: They did sort of tend to be very dramatic moments, when I sort of lost control, and I think it was a benchmark for how powerful this ring was, especially for humans, who were highly susceptible to its powers. And I enjoyed playing the tortured—the tortuous, troubled man that Boromir was.
SKY: Tortured, troubled . . . do you ever want to play comedy?!
SB: [Laughs] I’d love to! Something lighthearted.
SKY: It would be nice to flex some different acting muscles.
SB: Yeah. It would be. Smiling a little.
SKY: Well, you got to flex some different muscles after Lord of the Rings, some stage muscles, if you will. I understand you played Macbeth on the London stage?
SB: Yeah. That was quite an experience.
SKY: Why did you choose Macbeth?
SB: It was just something I’d always wanted to do. I saw Ian McKellan and Judi Dench play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth when I was about 17, 18. And that was the reason that inspired me to act.
SKY: And then you ended up working with Ian McKellan.
SB: Yeah. And it was great. Just to talk to him about Macbeth. And I talked to Peter O’Toole and exchanged stories, because it’s such a fathomless piece, and it’s a fathomless character. And you never feel that you can get to the bottom of it. No matter what you do, there’s always something off there to be discovered. But that was a big reason why I started acting, and that’s why I wanted to do a Macbeth. I was in New York, and I went out and got the play from the bookshop. I just happened to think, “I’m going to go get it and read it again.” And then I rang my agent, and I said, “Do you think any chance of getting this together and doing it on the London stage?” And then she got in touch with Sonia Friedman, who’s a producer in the West End. And we got it together and did it about two years ago, and fulfilled my biggest ambitions, really.
SKY: How did you see the character?
SB: I think he’s a man that is very successful, and he has everything. They’re like David Beckham and Posh Spice in the beginning. Everybody loves them. They’re good-looking. They’re young. They’ve got everything. I think it’s just a power, you know, that they’re just chipping away, and then just a little bit more. And the imagination, especially for Macbeth—it’s a wonderful thing, imagination, but in his case it became, you know, he became paranoid. It was, you know . . .
SKY: Too potent.
SB: Yeah. And you just take it a little bit further and a little bit further, and [he’s] being egged on by his wife, who then loses her mind. And then he just loses all respect for her. And in the end he just dwells in the evil of it, being disturbed and paranoid, and he embraces that in the end and believes he’s invincible, because he thinks there’s just nothing left: “I don’t care, I don’t fear anything.”
SKY: So I imagine, after Lord of the Rings, there must’ve been a bit of a letdown; how nice for you to have something to sink your teeth into.
SB: Yeah. It was. It was good to go ahead and plunge into something. Which I did, because I had not done any theater for about 13 years. So I was sort of jumping in the deep end, and I knew it. It was very consuming. It just takes over your life for a few months, really. It’s one of those parts that you just live with. But it was great. And [I] talked to Ian McKellan about his version of things. Everybody’s a bit protective, I think.
SKY: Trade secrets, huh?
SB: [Laughs]. Yeah. I don’t know why. [Even] myself, a bit, you know. I think it’s because it has such an impact on the actors that play it. They almost don’t want to talk about it too much.
SKY: Afraid of anything bad happening?
SB: [Laughs]. Maybe.
SKY: Do you think, since you’ve done this, that you’ll return to the stage more often?
SB: I hope so. Maybe in the next year or two, I’d like to do it again, because it’s so refreshing and so different, and it’s enjoyable: You get your days off, you work nights, you get to lay in bed the next morning. [Laughs] And apart from that, it’s good for you.
SKY: There’s nothing like that connection to a live audience.
SB: There is something quite magical about it, in that it’s quite stirring. So we’ll see how that goes. I’d like to do it again. Not Macbeth, but I’d like to do Macbeth on film.
SKY: Unless Kenneth Branagh beats you to it, so you’d better hurry.
SB: Yeah. Yeah. Don’t mention. [Laughs] I think there are a few people trying to get it together at the moment. I think there are a couple of scripts knocking around. A couple of friends and myself, we’ve got a good script at the moment. It’d be great to take another crack at it.
SKY: Is there anything else in particular that you’d like to take a crack at—on stage, on film, on TV?
SB: At the moment I just want to stay at home and watch television on the settee. [Laughs] But I’ve not got any particular role I have in mind; I like getting surprised by things that come up and challenges that come up. I think Macbeth was the one, the one I always wanted to play, and I did it. I was very proud of that. And very gratified.
—Nancy Oakley

Big Cheese

Kids—and parents—will have a plasticine blast with British animator Nick Park’s clever canine Gromit and his master, Wallace, in the feature film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
(October 7). In the movie, a “runaway bunny” threatens a local vegetable competition, challenging Wallace and Gromit to save the day. For another treat on the order of Wallace’s exotic cheeses, check out the just-released DVD Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures, featuring all three beloved W&G shorts.
Info: www.wandg.com.—K.M.C.

Calendar

October 1–30 Be the envy of your friends by catching Othello in its last month at Washington, D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre.
www.shakespearetheatre.org
October 9 Forget “Blue Moon” and think “Blue Man” as Blue Man Group moves into its new Las Vegas digs: The Venetian resort’s 1,750-seat theater. www.blueman.com
October 14–15 Grab your best toe-tappin’ boots for some pickin’ and grinnin’ at the Grand Ole Opry’s 80th-birthday bash.
www.opry.com
October 19–November 6 Ready to get your groove on? The 23rd Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival honors Bobby Short, Ray Charles and Jimi Hendrix, along with the cool sounds of Etta James and Poncho Sanchez, among others. www.sfjazz.org
October 27–29 From Russia—make that Atlanta—with love: The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra brings you Prokofiev and Shostakovich. www.atlantasymphony.org
October 27-29 Riverdance, Schmiverdance. For some wicked steps, see Ballet Flamenco José Porcel at the Orange County Perform-ing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California.
www.ocpac.org
November 1–5 Who has the last laugh now? The New York Comedy Festival. Take your wife, please.
www.nyccomedyfestival.com

Had To

Finally! A film festival with no dress code requiring black turtlenecks and Gucci sunglasses! The Had to Be Made Film Festival is a true celebration of independent fi lms open to anyone-yes, anyone. Just go to the festival's Web site (www.hadtobemadefilmfestival.com), find a video store that's participating, find out which films are up for competition(a series will be released every week through November), then rent a film and vote for it online. The winning films-which will be announced in February-will receive much-needed revenues for distribution.

PHOTOS BY ANDREW ECCLES/JBG, BY JOHN KUCZALA, COURTESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORP., COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT, COURTESY OF CAPITOL RECORDS AND BY KIM KULISH/CORBIS, COURTESY OF AARDMAN ANIMATIONS, MICHAEL DAVIS, DARBE ROTACH/BMP

Give Your Regards to Broadway

What’s Ewan Doin’?

Bewitched, Bothered and BeWILLdered