A Man For All Seasons
Award-winning actor Hector Elizondo has had a successful career spanning 40 years that includes film, television, theater and radio. In 1997, Elizondo won the prestigious Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Dr. Phillip Watters on CBS’ “Chicago Hope.” For six years on the show, Elizondo delivered a heartfelt and poignant performance that earned him four Emmy nominations, while creating a character that will be etched in television history for a long time to come. More >

Versatile actor, writer, director, and producer Jon Cryer has been a force in Hollywood for years. Since bursting on the scene with his critically acclaimed performance opposite Demi Moore in 1984’s No Small Affair, Cryer has gone on to star in such blockbusters as Pretty in Pink, Hot Shots!, Hiding Out, as well as Robert Rodriguez’s latest family film, Shorts. More >

Dr. David S. Boyer helped co-pioneer the formation of Retina Vitreous Associates Medical Group in Los Angeles amost 30 years ago, and since then the group has grown in size and stature. Now, with seven other doctors and four other locations (including one in Beverly Hills, the practice has become a nationally recognized leader and continues to serve communities in Southern California. More >

The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) is the largest manager of charitable assets and the leader in planned giving solutions for Greater Los Angeles Jewish philanthropists. It combines the best attributes of a bank, trust company, investment firm, and nonprofit agency and provides donors with the flexibility to give to a wide array of causes. Created by The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles in 1954, The Foundation is notable for its enduring stability, which has enabled assets to grow to $700 million. More >

At age 84, Hal Holbrook is experiencing an exciting redirection of his illustrious career. Beginning with 2007’s Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award and an Academy Award, Mr. Holbrook is now getting roles that Hollywood never thought to offer him before.

Perhaps best known for his one-man show Mark Twain Tonight (for which he won a Tony), Mr. Holbrook has appeared in over 50 films. He recently spoke to Beverly Hills [213] about his latest project, the very personal and riveting drama, That Evening Sun.

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For a little over 15 years, James Tupper was your typical struggling actor. He would spend his days working as a carpenter and spend his nights in acting class, going to the occasional audition. But he never gave up the belief that he could make it as an actor.
Why?
“I just did,” he says, “I don’t think it’s any more complicated than that. I just always thought, well something great’s going to happen.”
Before moving to Los Angeles, James did a lot of theater in New York. More >

Rex Reed is arguably the most well-known, well-respected, and most- feared film critics of all time. Known for his caustic wit, beautiful prose, and incorruptible integrity, filmmakers practically live and die by his word. A positive review by Reed, rare as it is, can make a film. A negative one, however, can be devastating.

Beverly Hills [213] recently spoke with Mr. Reed recently about the current state of film today.

BH [213]: How did you become a film critic?

Rex Reed: I don’t really think there’s any particular way to prepare to become a critic but it does help to devote most of your life to seeing the things you’ll be writing about.

I started out in the publicity department at 20th Century Fox after Louisiana State University. It’s a miracle I’ve lasted this long, because I really would not have the interest to write about the stuff that’s coming out now. It’s all I can do to suffer through it, because its so bad, and I grew up in a great time...post war America. That’s when movies were at their height of creativity and excellency With the studio system, they really knew how to make movies. Hollywood was really exciting.

BH [213]: What is the status of films today?

RR: There are movies today that I don’t even want to sit through once. Something very bad is happening to me lately. I’ve started falling asleep and it’s almost impossible for me to keep my eyes open in some of these films. They have no rhythm, no texture. They don’t go anywhere.

But I really love movies and when something comes along that reminds you why you went into this business in the first place. then it all seems kind of worthwhile.

In this past year, it was very hard to make out a top ten list. There were so many horrible films. For every movie like “An Education” there are ten more like Bruno, Anti Christ, another Adam Sandler movie to suffer through and these movies are lousy. Look at the movies that make money. Avatar to me is like the Japanese concentration camp torture of having bamboo shoots under your fingernails.

BH [213]: Any hope for the film industry?

RR: I think that the future of the film industry depends entirely on the people who won’t settle for second best. I think there are still a few of them around. I loved Up in the Air. I loved Public Enemies. I loved The Last Station, a movie about Tolstoy. Do you think anybody’s lining up to see that? Of course not.

The Hurt Locker is the best movie you never want to see twice. The best movie of 2009 that I never want to see again. That’s true of a lot of this stuff, whereas little pictures really have to beg for an audience.

Sherlock Holmes, which is an absolute noisy, filthy, horrible, stupid, disgrace of a movie is making money.

I just don’t know what the answer is as far as getting people to wake up and see movies that matter. They don’t want to think. We’re living in a bad time.

BH [213]: What do you think is at the root of the problem?

RR: People don’t really know how to reflect their society. A man like James Cameron really doesn’t know anything about life. His movies are about teenage comic book fantasies and I think movies do a really poor job of illuminating the human condition. People who finance these movies—what do they do in Hollywood? They study charts and graphs to see which market a potential movie could appeal to in order to turn a profit. So what do they do? They end up copying what ever worked that previous year. That’s why you get so many prequels and sequels, part 3 and part 4 and there’ll probably be an Avatar, Part 5 one of these days.

Why there is so little original, freshness, or imagination in the business is because people who cared about it are gone. And they’re not being replaced. There’s very little that an enlightened, imaginative person would waste time on in the movies and they are losing track of that audience.

BH [213]: Do you watch the Oscars?

RR: I used to, but I don’t. I think there are something like 72 awards shows now. So who cares? Nobody cares. And there are so few movies worthy of anything. How many times can you tune in to something to watch what Sandra Bullock is wearing? This is so ridiculous.

BH [213]: Are you ever afraid of running into someone you’ve eviscerated in a review?

RR: No. I just say what I believe and that is why I still have a career. Do you know how many people were movies critics when I started out? Nobody even remembers their names and they’re not even around any more and they’ve completely vanished...even the ones who did not die—vanished! I’m still here doing this. Why? Because I never compromise and the one thing I will say is because I have good taste. I still have good taste. And am I a snob? YES! I’m a snob about mediocrity. I’m up to my eyeballs in second-ratedness. And I just won’t tolerate it.

A lot of people fear you if you have an opinion. They’re terrified of opinions and look at what passes for movie opinions today.

It’s true that times change. It’s pretty sad if you don’t change with times. I think I have changed with them. I don’t think I really live in the past. But every time I go to a movie, I want to see All About Eve all over again. But new.

BH [213]: Do you have a favorite review that you’ve written?

RR: Oh, no, because you know why? Because I can’t remember what I’ve written from one week to the next. As the movies all become Xeroxes of each other, the reviews tend to fade as well. But it is more fun to sit through and appreciate a good film, but it’s much more fun to write a bad review. But in my own defense I really don’t think I’m imbalanced. I think I write as many good reviews as bad reviews. But they’re not as much fun to write. You can’t play with words as much.

But I can never escape the feeling that nags away at me that maybe I never really lived up to my full potential, because I think I am a good writer, but who cares if you spend your life writing about movies? I should have written loftier tomes a long time ago. I did write one novel and I loved it! So that’s what I want to do next, when I hang it up. I want to write another novel.

BH [213]: Have you ever thought about writing a movie yourself?

RR: I don’t want to write a screen play. I would have in the days when there were great directors around to direct screenplays, but I wouldn’t want to write a screenplay for a committee. That’s what you do now. Unless you can get a really good director that you can believe in to work with you on a screenplay, you have no idea what’s going to happen to your screenplay after it’s purchased. I mean, you’re very lucky if its purchased or if it’s optioned but then it’s out of your hands. The last person to be invited to a film set is the writer.

BH [213]: Final thoughts on the movie business?

RR: I think the thing that’s happened to movies is what’s happening to the publishing business and journalism. The individuality has gone out of it because times have changed and people don’t care any more. They’ll sit through anything just to get out of the house. And that wasn’t true in the old days. People would go to a Clark Gable movie because they knew what to expect. They would go to a Betty Davis movie because they knew there would be some quality acting and great camera angles. I go to movies now...I just hope I can get through them without falling asleep.

All I want is for my tombstone to say, “He tried to make things better.”