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THE DECEMBER HOLIDAYS ISSUE
Happy holidays! This month’s we celebrate my dad’s birthday, the feast of the patron saint of the all-girl’s school I attended, The Tree Of Light Celebration, Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, and, if you are a Seinfeld fan, Festivus. If you and your Near & Dear celebrate other holidays, please write to me and I’ll add them to the list.
Finally, my e-mail seems to be working. This also enhances my festive mood.
For those of you who have asked, I have no idea what Mr. Rickman’s next project will be after Antony and Cleopatra.
For a holiday film currently playing in theaters, I highly recommend A Bug's Life, Pixar's remake of the Kurasawa classic, The Seven Samurai and its American remake The Magnificent Seven.
On this month’s Letters To The Editor, we have an update from Beverly on the snickerdoodles recipe, and where to find those sought-after Rickman ideos we all need for the holidays. Jutta and Robyn answer the questions I posed last month regarding Antony’s armor, plus a comment from Noel.
Suzanne sent this month's recipe Rich Baritone Molasses Cookies in honor of our deep-voiced hero.
Karen, from the Alan Bates Archive, sent a wonderful interview, titled WINTER GUEST: INTERVIEW WITH ALAN RICKMAN .
With my thanks to Karen, this month’s link..
My thanks to Beverly, Claire, Jutta, Karen, Noel, Robyn, Stezi, and Suzanne
The Rickmanista Review
Dear Fausta,
If any fans are having trouble finding AR videos, have them contact Critics Choice Videos, PO Box 749, Itasca, Illinois 60143-0749, or call toll free to order: 800-367-7765. They carry the following: Closet Land, Bob Roberts, Die Hard, The January Man, Rasputin, Robin Hood, and of course S&S. They don't have The Winter Guest yet, but I'm sure it will be in soon. Keep up the good work. I enjoy your news.
Bev
(PS: In the batch of recipes I mailed you earlier this summer is a recipe for Snickerdoodles (cinnamon cookies). While I was on vacation I entered a batch in my County fair and got a big purple Champion ribbon. I'm really proud of that.)Beverly
Thank you for sharing this information, and your wonderful cookie recipe, Beverly!
Photo courtesy of Claire
Jutta and Robyn went to see Antony and Cleopatra and came back with full reports on the armor. In alphabetical order, we have their answers to last month’s questions. First, Jutta’s report
"Hi Fausta,Robyn also filled us in on the details:
just read your November Rickmanista (which is wonderful as always) and I want to say something about that costume. I had tickets for the third/second row ( I went two times), so I was quite close.
"From the way they handled it it is approximately 6-8 Ibs. The costume consists of three parts, one for the chest and two for the arms. Plus a sword, which weighs maybe 1-2 Ibs, not more. It is not difficult to remove, but the three parts are held together with belts and buckles, no Velcro, so it takes a little time to close/open them.
"He doesn’t wear it in the death scene.
"And it is clinky, although not so much that you can hear it when he’s not seen (backstage) or something. When he wears it he’s running around a lot, so it can be heard, but it goes together with shouting and loud footsteps, so it’s not interfering in a funny way
"Hope this helps. I know what it’s like to be curious, so I thought I should tell you right away.
"Ciao,
Jutta"
"In answer to the breathless queries on your page!My heartfelt thanks to Jutta and Robyn for enlightening us on this matter."1. I think, specifically in an effort to keep the weight of the costume down, the coins were made of plastic or a lightweight wood or metal. I distinctly remember several of them flying off the costume when Antony/AR flings the vest down onto the stage floor in rage. A few came flying off and "tinkled". It had the vague sound of tin, aluminum or painted plastic. The sound came off the higher scale of the sound range (like gambling chips), not really the darker sounds of heavier metals.
"2. The costume had to be buckled on and unbuckled off. Those actions were incorporated into the script, as Cleo/Mirren specifically buckled Antony/AR into his fighting uniform. At the end, when all is lost, Antony commands his servant, Eros, to remove the costume as quickly as possible. Eros fumbles with huge buckles at the shoulders and waist before the two sleeves and front can be removed. He had large (maybe 2-2 1/2") leather straps across the chest that kept the front in place.
"3. Yes, you can hear AR when he's about to re-enter the stage: his costume announces him! It sounds vaguely like a small tambourine or someone's pocketful of change jangling. (NO "MR. TAMBOURINE MAN" JOKES!!! I mean it!)
"4. Antony paying for passage? Never! Only underlings carry purses...royalty and the upper reaches of the military never carry money. No need to. "Robyn
(Your humble yet intrepid reporter)"
Dear Fausta,
I couldn't help but think that I would like to see AR's Antony after he spent all his coins on his fare to Alexandria! *wink, wink!*
Noel.
RICH BARITONE MOLASSES COOKIES
Suzanne sent this delicious recipe, in honor of our deep-voiced hero.
Yield: 4-8 dozen cookies
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) butter
½ cup molasses (or 2/3 cup if using mild molasses)
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cloves
Heat oven to 350°F.
Butter and flour cookie sheets.
In large bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add molasses and eggs; beat well. In medium bowl, combine all remaining ingredients. Add to butter mixture;mix well.
For 2-inch cookies, drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, or for 4-inch cookies, drop dough by walnut-sized balls onto buttered and floured cookie sheets.
Bake at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookiesheets.
Then serve immediately, while they're "warm, sweet & smooooth" (now who does *that* remind you of?).
Photo courtesy of Stezi
Moving as flawlessly and gracefully across the movie screen as the snow on its mute, chilly Scottish landscape, The Winter Guest inspires amazement and awe as the work of a novice director, Alan Rickman. The acclaimed star of films as diverse as Die Hard,Truly Madly Deeply, Sense And Sensibility, and Michael Collins, has assembled a stunning ensemble cast whose glowing centerpiece is an adult parent and child played by real life mother and daughter Phyllida Law and Emma Thompson.
Rickman met with journalists in New York to share his hopes, daily struggles and visions regarding this formidable first effort.
PRAIRIE MILLER: What enticed you to choose The Winter Guest for your debut directing challenge?
ALAN RICKMAN: I didn't really search for it. It sort of found me. I commissioned it as a result of a conversation with a friend of mine about her mother, who was ill at the time. It was a mind altering illness, and she had found her standing in the garden wearing a wedding hat and boots pruning the roses. I thought it as the kind of story that doesn't get told very much, especially about older women.
So I rang Sharman MacDonald, the great theater writer that she is, and the play was commissioned. Then people started talking about it as a potential movie. It all just came together in front of my eyes.
PM: Emma Thompson must be a wonderful actress to work with. Does she constantly surprise you?
AR: I'm not surprised anymore. I'm just appreciative, especially on one's first film, that you have this kind of consummate skill that her mother also shares or has given her, if you like. It's in the genes. And it makes your job more challenging. She'll look at you and listen, and if she trusts the situation, she can move>off in any direction.
PM: Describe the experience of your first directing adventure.
AR: It depends what hour and what day of which week. Because it's a job that seems to go on and on and on. Not that I'm complaining, but the actual directing is in the dim mists of time, because since then there's been a long editing and release process.
PM: Talk a little about the stark weather and brooding landscape as kind of characters of their own in the film.
AR: Yes. I suppose the qualities of winter exaggerate people's vulnerabilities. So that it puts a very clear focus on those areas of human need. And I suppose whenever you think of cold, you immediately think of the need for warmth. So that the getting inside, people getting warmer and lighting fires, is as important as the wind, the snow and the gales outside. And it's very much to do with people's hearts, given that it's examining what's going on in the hearts and minds of eight people of every conceivable generation.
The landscape is crucial to the film because it's very much people and figures in a landscape. It's very isolating, and it makes you look at the outlines of these people and their courage in the face of the elements.
PM: I heard your cast members complained a little about the elements!
AR: Not just the cast members, it was the director too! It was ten below sometimes, and the bus stop was completely wrecked by what amounted to a hurricane. I know Emma talked of putting her boots in the microwave between takes. Yeah, it was tough. Everybody got the flu at one point or another. You just forget what it's like to be out in that kind of a temperature all day. We had a frozen camera at one point.
PM: How do you want people to be affected by this story?
AR: Everybody will come away with the bit of it that touches them. And the fact that there are children in it touches your memory, I hope. It's also partly about a moment in many people's lives when the child will become the parent, and you have to accept or not accept that responsibility.
I hope there are memories and echoes for everybody. And I hope everybody writes the story of the film in a way, you know. The way it ends is up to you. I know that good writing is about recognition. I think the acting is so accurate and honest, that it's inescapably about people we know, and lives we live.
PM: And it's often ordinary lives that can be portrayed so beautifully on film.
AR: Yes. And they become heroic too, and epic. Ordinary people being heroes.
PM: Describe what it was like directing real life mother and daughter Phyllida Law and Emma Thompson, and how that enhanced the story.
AR: Well, I know them both as individuals, and hugely respect them. So the mother/daughter thing was never something I really thought about, to be honest.
Except at times. There was one moment when Phyllida said about a certain scene that this is a bit close for comfort. And out of respect for them, you step back a bit. You think, we won't talk about it, because I know that they'll be using their knowledge of this scene, or the raw nerves that it's touching. I know they're going to use it, so there's not really much need for me to say anything. And they're both as women and as human beings people whose emotions are very close to the surface, and very available to you as a director. So that's a great luxury.
PM: Will you say anything about the mystery identity of the winter guest?
AR: Again, it's for you to say. I don't mind what you say it is. Some people will say it's death, but I find that a little forbidding and dark. It's just as likely to be connected to whatever it is the characters are looking at when they're standing on the beach looking out to the horizon. Something that's out there. Other forces that are there to enter your life. A bit like the cat that walked into the film at the beginning. I dn't know it was there.
PM: What did those Scottish villagers think of all you guys up there in this little town?
AR: They were very patient, given the fact that every morning they had their streets sprayed with white stuff. And the crew running around telling them they could not come out of their kitchens until we said 'cut.' But they were great, they were wonderful.
PM: What about your acting. Are you involved in taking on any more movie roles right now?
AR: I have one film I shot in Maine called Dark Heart. I suppose it's what's called a love story and a thriller, but I'm not allowed to tell you the plot! The other film is called Judas Kiss. It's actually with Emma Thompson, strangely enough, by accident. We're playing opposite each other as a rather tacky Bogart and Bacall.She's an FBI agent and I'm a detective, both of us with thick New Orleans accents.
PM: That must have been fun!
AR: It was. Terrifying!
PM: I'd love to hear your New Orleans accent.
AR: Pay your eight dollars, and you will!
PM: Do you ever feel an identity crisis going back and forth from Shakespeare to Hollywood?
AR: No. It's a privilege to be able to do both. I'm very lucky...Why would it be an identity crisis? It's wonderful to be able to do different stuff all the time.
PM: What do people remember you most for in your films when they come up to you? Which ones do they mention most?
AR: Lately people talk an awful lot about Truly Madly Deeply.I guess that's become some sort of cult video. Which is terrific, because we loved making that film. Maybe it's something to do with Anthony Minghella having all this newfound fame because of The English Patient. I think that film means a lot to people, and they talk about it a lot. There's even a pop song at the moment called that for some strange reason, I believe.
PM: What made you switch from your first labor of love, graphic designing, to acting?
AR: Oh, I think I probably had always known that acting was what I wanted to do. It's just that it wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do at eighteen . . . I think it's a shame that people are herded into decisions about their lives. It would be great if people were able to change careers even when they're older, and stay awake to the possibilities that your life can alter or move in a different direction. I became an actor when the time felt right, I suppose. And when I felt that I was coming to it with a bit of focus.
PM: Are you setting your hopes on Oscar consideration for The Winter Guest?
AR: I would love to see Phyllida getting recognized. I think it would be great, and right and proper.
PM: Do you make New Year's resolutions?
AR: No. Not anymore. What's the point. I know I won't keep them.
Copyright 1998 by Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller, WINTER GUEST: INTERVIEW WITH ALAN RICKMAN., Star Interviews, 01-01-1998.
Karen's 
Photo courtesy of Stezi.