Sep 8, 2006

Film Preview: Hollywoodland.

Hollywoodland.

On June 16th, 1959 actor George Reeves, best known for playing Superman on TV, killed himself. That is the official story. To this day, there is still controversy over whether he killed himself or was murdered.
In Hollywoodland, a 1950s private detective (Academy Award winner Adrian Brody) investigates the mysterious death of Reeves (Academy Award winner Ben Affleck). As he uncovers connections to his own life, the case turns more personal. The film also stars Bob Hoskins as studio executive whose wife (Diane Lane) had a torrid affair with Reeves.

Initial reviews are very positive, suggesting that this is Affleck’s strongest work to date. Affleck was not the original choice for the role, Hugh Jackman was originally slated to play Reeves, but stepped out due to scheduling conflicts. Benicio Del Toro was also supposed to play Brody's role, but also had to drop out. Brody eventually got the role after beating out Joaquin Phoenix.

2 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

This movie did not work at all for me. The two-story approach diminished both tales. Affleck was good enough but Brody seemed to be acting in a spoof of the detective genre and the concentration on his home life was puzzling. Even Diane Lane seemed miscast as a femme fatale. The production values were the only good thing for me. Hope you liked it more.

MysterLynch said...

I thought the performances were good, but the movie was so-so. Affleck was very good, Brody seemed to sleep walk through his performce. Of course, he had a fairly undemanding role, just how much could be added to it?