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lOB T-The. ivchigan Daily Wep k n isgp4re -4T 54.rdoy,.February 5, 1998

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The MIvichigan OalIy-W en1

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2 Film Feature
Modern 'Great Expectations' poses dickens of a problem

Q Weekend, etc. Column

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

The Los Angeles Times
When the filmmakers who updated
Charles Dickens' classic novel "Great
Expectations" for the big screen consid-
ered the idea, even they didn't know
what to expect.
But they knew that they faced a dick-
ens of a problem.
"Great Expectations" stars Ethan
1Lawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne
Bancroft and Robert De Niro.
Hawke, screenwriter Mitch Glazer
("Scrooged") and director Alfonso
Cuaron ("A Little Princess") were more
than a little unsure about the plan of co-
producer John Linson and his father,
producer Art Linson ("The Edge," "The
Untouchables," "Melvin and Howard"),
to modernize the 1861 literary classic.
Instead of another costume drama a la
"Emma" or "The Wings of the Dove,"
this latest version of "Great
Expectations" is set in modern-day
Florida and New York City.

"It's oftentimes done with
Shakespeare. Dickens is kind of an odd
choice. I was very skeptical," Hawke
said.
"I literally said 'no' for months,"
Glazer added. "I wanted to make sure it
was something I could bring into the
'90s.
In the screenplay by Glazer, a Key
Biscayne native, who grew up in Miami
Beach, Pip becomes Finn Bell (Hawke),
a Gulf Coast fisherman's nephew turned
child prodigy artist. Mrs. Havisham is
transformed into eccentric dowager Ms.
Dinsmoor (Bancroft). The convict
Magwitch becomes Lustig (Robert De
Niro). Estella (Paltrow) stayed Estella
because, Glazer said, "There is no
match."
"I didn't want to do this film;' Cuaron
said. "David Lean did the perfect adapta-
tion of 'Great Expectations' (in 1946). I
saw this as a re-adaptation. Mitch Glazer
took the bare bones of the material and

then we just ... created our own film."
Filming for "Great Expectations"
began July 8, 1996, in Sarasota at the
Ringling mansion, which became
Dinsmoor's "Paradiso Perduto"
(Paradise Lost). The filming then moved
to Cortez Island, representing a Gulf of
Mexico fishing village, and then to New
York City and a loft on Astor Place.
There's a good reason why so many
literary classics are again being updated
for the big screen.
"The themes are powerful and spec-
tacular. And Dickens is a master of plot,"
Glazer said.
"Everybody's looking for great mater-
ial. And the classics have great stories."
Cuaron added.
Glazer, whose "Scrooged," starring
Bill Murray, was a remake of Dickens'
"A Christmas Carol," said he attempted
to retain the novel's big themes for his
screenplay. "To me, there were certain
timeless themes which were still applic-

able, obsessive love and the father/son
relationship, The thing that wasn't (time-
less) was the 19th-Century obsession
with class -- the dream of becoming a
gentleman."
Cuaron explained how his visual style
focuses on the character of Finn: "I think
that what really affected (the results) the
most was telling the film from one point
of view, the perspective of Finn's charac-
ter.... So everything that you see is noth-
ing but a projection of his inner life."
Paltrow said: "I know (Estella) comes
off kind of really horrible and that she's a
mean spirit, but I really didn't think of
her that way.
"The meaner she is, the more her
mother tells her she's a good person. I
think in her heart, she's a good person."
In the movie, Finn sketches Estella in
his Manhattan apartment. The drawings
and paintings were by internationally
acclaimed Italian painter Francesco
Clemente. Although the scene is rather

tame, it involved full nudity for Paltrow,
who sat for the original drawings and
paintings by Clemente "butt-naked in a
SoHo loft" and then recreated the scene
for the film, with Hawke imitating the
drawings.
Hawke and Paltrow agreed that their
friendship made filming the scene more
comfortable.
Said Greenwich Village resident
Hawke, who, with "Gattaca" co-star
Uma Thurman, 27, is awaiting their first
child: "This movie is kind of a sensual
movie and it could have been really, real-
ly uncomfortable. But she's (Paltrow) a
real pro. You can kind of tell how com-
fortable she is with the sAt. Her mother's
(actress) Blythe Danner. (Her father is
director Bruce Paltrow). You can see that
it comes very easily to her."
"Paltrow kind of grew up in the whole
New York theater scene. We had known
each other via that, which made the
movie a whole lot easier."

I've tried on many occasions, in
my own limited and imperfect way,
to reach a cogent, working under-
standing of the dynamics of male
and female relations.
I've tried to figure out why it is I
still have friends from back in grade
school, all of whom are
men, and yet I can't seem
to maintain any kind of
relationship with a
woman for more than a
year or two. at the most.
I've pondered why I can
sit around with other
men-folk for hours on end
and talk about the most
petty, meaningless stuff
- cartoons, automobiles,
sports, professional
wrestling (not to be con-
fused with sports) and,
well, women. Yet at the
same time, I always have to struggle
to come up with something to talk
about with women.
And no matter how brilliant and
cultured the topic may be, my con-
versation with women invariably
degrades into an argument about
why I refuse, even under the great-
est duress, to ever, ever see the
movie "Titanic." (I mean, hey, I was
watching Leonardo DiCaprio back
when he was an extra on "Growing
Pains." There wasn't anything spe-
cial about him then, and there isn't
anything special about him now.)

But no matter what I do, no mat-
ter how hard I think about the
issues, I haven't been able to come
up with a solution to the differences
between men and women.
Really, though, it shouldn't be all
that difficult, should it? When it
comes down to it, are we
really that different? A cou-
ple mixed-up parts and some

varying levels of hormones
don't really seem to amount
to much -- at least, not
much that a decent plastic
surgeon couldn't take care
of.
Why, then, do so many of
us spend so much time
struggling with members of
the opposite sex? People
build careers - rather prof-
itable careers, no less - on
analyzing the problems that

- the one element keeping human
beings around the world from ever
truly joining in love, peace, harmo-
ny and, most importantly, working
marriages.
Forget about psychology. Forget
about Freud and Jung and all the
great thinkers of the 20th Century.
It all comes down to one simple
word: Flatulence.
Hmm. I seem to sense a surpris-
ing sense of disbelief emanating
from the reader. But you see, it real-
ly makes quite a bit of sense.
We're all, of course, used to deal-
ing with flatulence on a completely
humorous, comical level. But when
you think about it, flatulence plays a
central, even intrinsic role in mod-
ern society.
Still doubtful? Allow me to
explain. It has often been said that
something's importance can be
determined by the amount of words
a culture creates to describe it.
You know the argument: Our cul-
ture may have just three or four
words for something like snow. The
Eskimos, on the other hand - for
whom the cold is much more impor-
tant - have something like 100 dif-
ferent words for snow and its many

states.
Now I ask you: Can yo
think of anything in the Eng
guage that has more desig
official and unofficial, th;
lence? Fart, poot, gas, rip
cheese, toot, beef, breaking
The list can go on and on.
Sure, sexual terms ma
close in number, but th
match flatulence for pure,
neous creativity. You do
need to know slang terms f
lence - making up pretty r
kind of goofy-sounding wo
long "ooo" sound in the mid
ally does the trick.
Face it, flatulence is an
slice of Americana, and not
comes close to sizing up th
ences in the battle of the se
In a nutshell, men like to
men love to fart. They relis
stink like dogs smelling the
a tree for yesterday's urine.
Women, on the other han
ly find flatulence distast
disgusting. Nay, even offei
them, it's uncouth nothi
than a measure of immaturi
But for men, a good fart
usually determined by som

C.HRIS
FARAH



develop between men and women.
Experiments are performed, mil-
lions of dollars of research money is
spent, books are written -- all
because we can't figure each other
out. When a piece of literature with
a title as ridiculous as "Men are
from Mars, Women are from Venus"
becomes a bestseller ... well, people
are obviously grasping at straws.
That is, people including yours
truly. But I think I may finally have
done it. I think I may finally have
come up with the fundamental dif-
ference between males and females


Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
Gwyneth Paitrow and Ethan Hawke embrace in a passionate rain scene.

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