Hey folks, Harry here... Several years ago whilst in New York, I had the distinct pleasure of taking my editor's assistant to the Broadway production of David Auburn's PROOF with Mary-Louise Parker. We were both blown away by how wonderful the play was and felt certain that it would make for a wonderful film some day. Sure enough, eagle eyed Harvey Weinstein caught sight of the material... teamed it up with John Madden and an outstanding cast. Actually, this film reunites Madden with his star from SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, Gwyneth Paltrow! Tonight in New Jersey he tested the film and from the looks of things, the film is every bit the gold the play was. Look for this film to be a strong contender at the end of 2004 for "Best of" lists. There's still a long ways to go for this film. It was extremely rough tonight with a temp soundtrack and a good deal of editing yet to go.
Well, I just got back from seeing a screening of Proof in Clifton, NJ and want to share my thoughts on the film. In short, the PROOF is in the acting of this one!
Saw the play before it became the winner of a bunch of Tonys a couple of years ago with Mary-Louise (look at my giant boobs) Parker and she did a pretty amazing job - I don't remember the other three people in the play so I guess that doens't say much about them. Knowing that performance on stage, I was interested to see if Gweneth would be able to pull off the same role on film.
Surprisingly enough, not only does she do a grreat job in this pretty complex (and depressing) role, but the rest of the guys who support her did really well too! Anthony Hopkins plays her dad, Hope Davis plays her sister (she sucked the most out of everyone), and Jake Gynenhall (or however the helll you spell the name) played her boyfriend (sort of). It was very talky like the play and there isn't a whole lot going on aside of the character development but all in all, it was a damn good movie.
You know, while the story plot might be easy to explain, it gives a bunch away - it's a pretty complex story line that really revolves around math, formulas, "proofs", etc - and while it is an "intellegent" flick, it was still easy for a moron like me to follow along! Here is the story description taken from hsx.com:
Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Anthony Hopkins star in the drama Proof. Paltrow plays the daughter of a dead mathematician dealing with his brilliant legacies and one of his young students. John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) directs the picture adapted from a David Auburn play by Auburn and Rebecca Miller.
It looks like this movie is slated for limited release for Christmas - perhaps Harvey is looking to make something out of this one - he stands a better chance with this than that COMPLETE piece of shit An Unfinished Life. I saw that screening about 2 months ago and while Redford and Freeman whooped ass all over the screen, J Lo just killed the damn thing - I was in a focus group for that one and I hope they took my advice - kill her off in the first ten minutes to save the film!!!!!!
Sorry for the side bar - Didn't get to be in the focus group for this screening but it must have been important cause Harvey was there in attendence....
Keep your eyes on this one - could be eithe r ahuge hit or another miss by the ever fluxuating Miramax....
Peace!
Call me Mr. Evolution
