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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > June > 02
Friday, June 2, 2006
‘Marshall’ crew brings in inflatable crowd
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are a few inflated heads on the football stadium sets being used around town for the “We Are Marshall” shoot this week. And no, we’re not talking about the film’s stars Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, David Strathairn or Ian McShane. A California-based outfit aptly named Inflatable Crowd Co. has trucked in 4,000 “fans” for use in the sports flick’s game sequences. We’re told that an ordinary workshop vacuum inflates the torsos of the three-dimensional stand-ins, and then the dummies are dressed in 1970s-period clothing. Real extras are sprinkled throughout the airheads to achieve a more natural effect. The inflatable fans were also used in “Friday Night Lights” and “Cinderella Man.” “We Are Marshall” continues shooting here for two more weeks. An October opening in theaters is planned.
‘Rent’s’ cast knows about close quarters
If the national touring cast of “Rent” appears especially chummy onstage this weekend as the 10th-anniversary production of the Broadway musical hits the stage at the Fox Theatre, it’s not all acting.
The cast members are also roommates off-stage this summer.
This is particularly effective for actor Warren Nolan Jr., who plays Tom Collins. The actor who plays Collins’ lover in “Rent” is sharing rooms on the road with Nolan.
“The situation is pretty amazing,” Nolan told us Thursday on his way in from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. “When I get onstage, I don’t have to pretend to like him. It gives us all additional layers to work with onstage.”
Nolan says the impact of the 2005 film version of the musical has only drawn new people into theaters to see the live version.
“We’re seeing 12- and 13-year-olds who have seen the movie, wanting to experience it live,” he explains. “The great thing about this show is even a decade into it, everyone is still so affected by it when they see it for the first time. It’s been an amazing ride.”
Nolan will be familiar to some of the folks in the Fox audience this weekend. From 1998 to 1999, he was a music and pre-med biology major at Morehouse College.
“I’m hoping to have time to get out to some of the places I used to hang out at,” he says. “But I’ve got to be honest. I’m actually trying to remember the different spots. The airport looks a lot different. With Atlanta, it might all be completely changed by now.”
In keeping with late “Rent” creator Jonathan Larson’s original wishes, same-day $20 front-row tickets for the show’s youngest — and most broke fans — will be available today, Saturday and Sunday. The $20 seats (plus a $2 Fox restoration fee) are cash only and go on sale two hours before showtime. Tonight’s curtain is at 8. Saturday performances are at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday’s are at 1 and 6:30 p.m. For more info: 404-817-8700 or www.foxtheatre.org.
Almost celebrity docket
Former Libertines frontman Pete Doherty (who is currently this close to having the phrase “troubled rocker” permanently affixed to his name in this space), was searched for drugs at a Barcelona, Spain, airport Thursday, but was cleared to proceed after no drugs were found on his flight from London, authorities said.
Doherty, 27, and his band, Babyshambles, were on a flight to Barcelona from Gatwick airport, EasyJet spokeswoman Samantha Day said in London. The captain radioed ahead to ask police to meet the plane at El Prat airport after noticing suspicious behavior by Doherty, she said.
“The captain asked for a police presence because a passenger was taking too much time in the bathroom and he suspected that he might be taking drugs,” Javier Gaspar, a civil guard spokesman in Barcelona, told The Associated Press.
The airline said a syringe had been found in the bathroom, but Gaspar said, “We have found no syringe, nor any illegal substances.”
Doherty was apparently traveling to the Primavera Sound Festival. He was released without charges, but he and his band have been banned from flying on EasyJet, Day said.
Sick bay
Film critic Roger Ebert, who has battled cancer in recent years, will undergo surgery again, according to a published report.
In Thursday’s Chicago Sun-Times, where Ebert has been the movie critic for almost 40 years, columnist Robert Feder reported that Ebert will have surgery June 16 to remove a cancerous growth on his salivary gland.
“It’s not life threatening, and I expect to make a full recovery,” the 63-year-old critic and host of the nationally syndicated movie review show “Ebert & Roeper” told Feder. “I’ll continue to function as a film critic during this time.”
“This is known as a slow-growing and persistent cancer,” Ebert said. “You live with it.”
Ebert said he plans to tape enough shows with Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper that the program will continue to air during his recovery.
Celebrity birthdays
“Prison Break” actor Stacy Keach is 65. Singer William Guest of Gladys Knight and the Pips is 65. Drummer Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones is 65. Actor Jerry Mathers (“Leave It to Beaver”) is 58. Actor Dennis Haysbert (“24”) is 52. Comedian Wayne Brady is 34. Drummer Fabrizio Moretti of the Strokes is 26.
Contributing: News services. If you have a tip, 404-526-2749. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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