Starring, Texas!

True Grit brings Texas to Oscar, SAG hits Houston & Rick Perry builds an actingcareer

Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit.
Matt Damon as LaBeouf
Photo by Wilson Webb/Paramount Pictures

Legendary actor John Wayne received his only Oscar for playing an ornery, grizzled U.S. Marshall in the original version of True Grit. He claimed that his character, Rooster Cogburn, was “a mean old bastard, a one-eyed, whisky-soaked, sloppy old son of a bitch — just like me!”

That was 1969 and way before screen actors even thought about recognizing the works of their peers with an award of their own. Here it is 2011 and the prestigious Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will be held for the 17th year on Sunday night and a new True Grit is collecting accolades left and right. Jeff Bridges, the latest Rooster Cogburn, is up for a best actor SAG statuette and an Oscar himself. (True Grit landed 10 Oscar nominations Tuesday morning.)

This makes Lone Star actors and industry pros real happy because the current True Grit, unlike its predecessor, was shot mostly in Texas; in Austin, Blanco and Granger. A lot of Texans worked on the new incarnation by filmmakers Ethan and Joel Coen.

On Sunday evening, anyone who’d like to party with Texas actors, directors, writers and producers and watch the Annual SAG Awards on a big screen together can choose from three events throughout the state. Eat, drink and be merry and get your own 15 seconds of fame on screen as partygoers will be Skyped between each city’s event.

Texas SAG branches are hosting the screening parties simultaneously in Houston, Dallas and Austin. They’ll commune by beaming up each other’s revelry during commercial breaks. Who says you can’t be in more than one place at one time?

Actor and former Houston television personality Bob Boudreaux is the “designated overseer” of the H-Town screening at Stag's Head Pub on Portsmouth Street. He was proud to point out that Houston stuntman Mark Chavarria, whom we hope will be at the party, is up for a SAG award for his performance in Inception.

Texas has quite a few stunt actors, by the way, including Houston’s lovely blonde Jody Haselbarth, who most recently worked on the HBO film Temple Grandin. There’s even a regional organization for stunt performers, The Houston Stuntmen’s Association.

Native Houstonian Dennis Quaid is up for SAG’s best TV actor for his portrayal of Bill Clinton in The Special Relationship; the acclaimed HBO drama about United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. Quaid’s next appearance in movie theaters will come April 15 when the true-life film Soul Surfer opens. He plays the father of a competitive teenage surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack.

Houston talent reaches beyond the screen as well. Our own JoBeth Williams chairs the national SAG Awards Committee and is president of its foundation. The actress, who still has family in Houston, is well known for her screen roles in Poltergeist and The Big Chill but more recently played Rita Morgan’s mother on Showtime’s Dexter. She just wrapped The Big Year with Steve Martin, Jack Black and yet another talented Texan, Owen Wilson.

Oh, and she won an Oscar for directing the short film On Hope.

Williams, along with fellow committee member Scott Bakula, will announce the stunt ensemble winners from the red carpet on live TNT and TBS webcasts prior to the televised ceremony. Fingers are crossed for Houston's Mark Chavarria.

Doesn’t all this Texas talent make you proud?

Law & Order: SVU actress Mariska Hargitay, nominated for SAG best actress in a TV drama series, is not from Texas but her famous mother, Jayne Mansfield, was raised in Dallas. Mansfield grew up there and attended the University of Texas to study drama. Known as a 1950s and '60s “blonde bombshell,” she was second only to the iconic Marilyn Monroe in popularity.

Reportedly, she had an IQ of 163 and was indeed a very good actress, but her extraordinary beauty and, well, physical attributes kept her locked into dumb blonde roles. Sadly, she was killed in a horrific traffic accident at age 34 when daughter Mariska was only a toddler.

Texas governor Rick Perry is a bonafide card-carrying SAG actor. He recently made a cameo appearance, as himself, in the upcoming independent film Deep in the Heart, which is the true story of Richard Wallrath, the largest donor to the Texas 4-H and Future Farmers of America associations. The Gov is also credited as James Richard Perry in the 2005 film Man of the House, in which he plays himself. In fact, as far as I could find Perry plays himself in all his credited roles.

The SAG Awards party in Dallas will take place at the historic Texas Theatre. Steve Summers, a voice-over actor overseeing the Big D event, says the theater was once owned by Houston’s Howard Hughes, the billionaire film producer and renowned aviator. Aside from its state-of-the-art status in 1931 as a movie palace, the Texas was the first Dallas theater to have air conditioning.

It’s also where Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F. Kennedy, was hiding — in the fifth row in the back — before being captured.

The Texas, now on the National Register of Historic Places, has been saved from the wrecking ball countless times over the years (hope springs eternal for Houston’s own River Oaks Theatre!) and last August its lease was taken over by Dallas filmmaker Barak Epstein’s company Aviation Cinemas, Inc. The theater’s new life will be something more to celebrate at the Dallas SAG soiree.

Austin’s party venue is The Highball, a retro sixties combo of adult diner, bowling alley and ballroom. Woman-in-charge Mindy Raymond (the Texas actress who is the voice of both Wonder Girl and Bat Girl for D.C. Universe Online) says actor Jesse Plemons is expected. Plemons, a Dallas native, plays Landry Clarke in Friday Night Lights. Austin’s party will feature co-emcees: Grayson Berry, the actor already profiled in CultureMap for his role in Drop Dead Diva and who has since been in the Texas-shot series The Good Guys, joins accomplished actor Brandon Smith who was in No Country for Old Men and the upcoming Richard Linklater film Bernie.

Both emcees are Houston natives. That's worth a smiley face.

Anyone ready for their close-up can save a few bucks on party tickets by getting them in advance online www.txmpa.org.

Proceeds from the trio of events will help fund the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, the non-profit group that works to bring more productions to the Lone Star State and put more of our good actors and crew to work.

Cynthia Neely is a veteran of the Texas motion picture industry who helped found the Texas Motion Picture Alliance.

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Movie Review

Twin sisters set out for revenge in Tarantino-esque film 'Is God Is'

Photo by Patti Perret

Kara Young and Mallori Johnson in Is God Is.

The revenge story is one of the most enduring in all of cinema as it can be adapted to multiple different genres. It most naturally fits in the action/thriller genre, but comedies, dramas, Westerns, and more have made good use of characters seeking revenge. The new film Is God Is demonstrates that malleability by detailing an intensely personal story that turns into something bigger.

Twins Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) have lived a difficult life, going in and out of foster care and forced to endure stares and taunts because each bears burn scars from a childhood attack. Racine, whose scars are “only” on her left arm, has developed into the protector of Anaia, who suffered burns over much of her face.

An unexpected call from their mother, Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), who was burned almost beyond recognition in the attack, gives them a purpose: Seeking revenge on the man who ruined their lives. Setting out in a barely working car and with only a small amount of direction, the sisters attempt to fulfill the mission without losing their souls.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Aleasha Harris, the film may remind some viewers of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, and not just because Fox has small roles in both films. Harris has a knack for dialogue, especially between the twins, that ably gets across the story exposition and entertains at the same time. There are many instances where she has the sisters hold silent conversations told on screen via subtitles to convey twin-speak, a method that deepens their connection and draws the viewer in.

Harris also has her characters engage in the type of shocking violence that Tarantino has used to great effect. The difference here, though, is that even though the story is heightened to a certain degree, the egregious nature of the crime perpetrated upon the girls and their mother makes the whole thing feel bracingly real. This revenge plot is not meant to merely entertain; it’s designed to put the audience in Racine and Anaia’s shoes and fully embrace the call for justice.

There are a few times when the lack of experience by Harris shows up, especially in the climactic sequence where the stunt work could have used some more precision. But overall, it’s a self-assured filmmaking debut for the playwright-turned-director, who’s adapted her own play with a richness and depth that is not often found from someone stepping behind the camera for the first time.

Young and Johnson don’t especially look alike, but they embody the essence of twin sisters, and it’s their chemistry together that makes the story as impactful as it is. They’re joined by other strong female performances by Fox, Erika Alexander, and Janelle Monáe, each of whom brings a different vibe. And anyone who loves This is Us or Paradise should prepare themselves for a completely different kind of role for Sterling K. Brown.

Is God Is uses a variety of inspirations for its storytelling, but in the end it becomes its own thing. The filmmaking world can always stand to have another strong Black voice, and Harris has made an auspicious debut, one that should have cinephiles wondering what she’ll do next.

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Is God Is opens in theaters on May 15.

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