Madonna at the Toronto International Film Festival

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'W.E.’ reviews should focus on movie: Madonna

 

Madonna says she has no problem with critics panning her new film, “W.E.” — as long as the scribes are judging the movie on its own merits.

 

The pop star-turned-director was speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday, flanked by stars Andrea Riseborough and Abbie Cornish.

 

Madonna said that some reviews have focused on her and her personal life, rather than on the film itself.

 

The movie jumps back and forth in time and focuses in part on Wallis Simpson, the American socialite whose romance with Edward VIII ultimately led to his abdication of the throne.

 

Madonna said she did extensive research on Simpson and wanted to show that much of what is believed about the infamous divorcee is false.

The Premiere & Press Conference

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Behind The Scenes

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Everything you wanted to know about Madonna's W.E.

 

From the Nathalie Atkinson post at The Ampersand:

 

At the noon press conference for W.E., the cluster of photographers are warned that once their 90 seconds is up they will be escorted out of the room. About 10 minutes late, after weve all been told strictly no still photography even from our cameraphones, writer/director Madonna emerges, along with composer Abel Korzeniowski and two cast members: Abbie Cornish, who plays the modern-day Wally of the tale, and Andrea Riseborough, who plays Wallis Simpson. A burly security guard looms over one photographic straggler, a flick of the chin silently motioning for him to leave.

 

Moderator Richard Crouse introduces each one, stopping at Madonna (one of the most famous people in the world) with an abbreviated litany of her accomplishments from the first pop hit in 1983 to her New York Times bestselling childrens book. Here, Madonna closes her eyes a bit and smiles to herself. The room is a little tense, to be honest. Later, every so often throughout the presser Madonna interjects a barbed quip or corrects and clarifies Korzeniowskis English. Shes clearly in charge. And shes wearing power red a crimson blouse with a crisp black pencil skirt. One rambling, rather unctuous question from one reporter gets the most laughs. It was kind of like a Chanel fairytale, he gushes of the film. Did you notice that in the movie that all the women kind of looked like you? And is it just me that every beautiful woman looks like you, or is that your plan? This elicits a big tension-relieving round of laughter from the audience. That was two questions again, Maury, says Crouse. Madonna chimes in, Cheaters, cheaters, cheaters, before answering. Really? I never thought anyone looked like me. First of all theyre all brunettes. So Long pause, and: Im not. Im not a brunette. Im not. More laughter.

 

Some of the best bits, below.

 

On the singalongs the cast did on set, between takes

Who said this? We did have singalongs, she allows, but it wasnt a [directorial] trick. It was a way to pass time. When its pouring down rain and you were shooting outside and you were stuck inside some grey dirty shack and waiting for the sun to come out. What can you do but make up a song? Crouse asks what songs they sang. Um, well, lets see. She starts campfire sing-songing: Were making a movie, isnt it groovy, welcome to my house. And now, Mrs. Charisma Ciccone, however forbidding and haughty and not suffering fools she may be, well, she has the room. That was one of them, she deadpans. Still more laughter. The composer chimes in that they would also sing along while mixing in the studio. You were jumping on the couch, he reminds her. I dont remember that. Ssssh! she tuts.

 

On her daily ritual on set

One of my rituals, one of the most important rituals for me was to help finish dressing the actors or the actresses. I loved putting the finishing touches on them and feeling a connection with them before we began the day of shooting. So, putting on their necklaces and their bracelets and fine-tuning their hair and clothes and finding an excuse to touch them, basically, was my ritual.

 

On her use of a Sex Pistols song in a certain scene

Because I thought that King Edward VIII was quite punk rock, she says. He was very rebellious and cutting-edge in his point of view about life and how to run the Empire and I thought that using the Sex Pistols was a perfect marriage between the monarchy at the time and what they were doing drinking Benzadrine cocktails while watching a Charlie Chaplin film.

 

Does Johnny Rotten know?

Of course he knows, I had to pay him. Chuckles all around.

 

On the choice to use parallel storylines

I was never interested in making a straight-forward biopic, so I created the modern-day story and the modern-day character of Wally Winthrop, so that I could have a point of view in which to tell this story. Because I think in the end truth is subjective and we can all read the same history book and have a different point of view and get something different from it. It was important for me to not present the story and say this is the one and only story but rather this is the story that moved me and inspired me. Thats how the two love stories were created.

 

On cinematic approach

First of all it was important to me to underline and express the world of luxury that these characters came from, the Royal Family, the world that Wallis Simpson lived in. She was very much a presentational character that cared deeply about the rooms that she was in, the lighting, the flowers, her dress. And then of course Wallys character, she lives on Park Avenue she also lived in a world of good taste, refinement and luxury. So I wanted to express that in the film. Also, the Sothebys auction aspect of the film was very much about objects and objects being used as a device to go back and forth in time, objects with a very tactile sensibility about them, so you needed to see that shiny gleaming-ness of the martini shaker or the pillbox or the linen, the tactile quality of touching a linen tablecloth. So it was important to pick up on those details and nuances.

 

On the overall cinematic style

A lot of the movies that I referenced or that inspired me were movies where there was a lot of tracking shots or Steadicam I like a lot of movement with cameras, not locked-on shots. I like the magic that is created, I like the lyricism and the dance that the movie becomes with the camera moving and following. Its like a living breathing creature that has to be choreographed and I equate a dolly tracking shot and a woman walking down the street as something extremely feminine and mysterious. That was some of the millions ideas that I had.

 

On the films position for wide release in December, high Oscar campaign season

My legs and my fingers are crossed.

 

After a pause, Crouse points out that Madonna happens to be wearing a small necklace with the initials W.E. on it. Why do you want to point that out? she asks him. Because its a nice promotional item, he explains. It was actually a birthday gift from my staff, so I love it. So there, Richard.

 

On feeling pressure in music versus in film realm

Of course I do [feel pressure], because its new. And I had the same kind of pressure when I started my music career. And I was nervous and I didnt know what to expect and people didnt know what to expect and I had to earn my way in the world of being taken seriously in the music department. And now Im well aware that I have to do the same in the world of film.

 

On whether she cares what film critics think

Well I do when I think that its a fair criticism. I can tell when people are reviewing my film and when they are reviewing me personally. I welcome criticisms of my film when its viewed as an artistic form and not when people are mentioning things about my personal life or my achievements in any other field. Theyre irrelevant to the film. So when they stick to the film, I do care. I pay attention to it.

 

On the origins of the modern-day storyline heroine Wally

She was mostly inspired by a character in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel Tender is the Night, which was an important book for Wally and for Abbie to read.

 

On her interest in Simpson

She was and is a very provocative character in the history of world politics, in the world of fashion, in the decision of King Edward VIII made to leave the throne. It changed the British empire. It changed things enormously. And she is a mysterious, enigmatic creature. Not conventionally beautiful. Not young. Twice divorced. Not anything fabulous about her background and somehow she managed to capture the heart of the man who at the time held the most important position in the world. That story intrigued me. I wanted to understand it.

 

On portraying Simpson sympathetically

But also what I was interested in was the idea or the concept of the cult of celebrity, which we are all consumed with, now and then. And the idea is that there are so many rumours that are now believed to be true about Wallis Simpson and when I investigated her story, there were so many of them yet I could find no empirical evidence stating that they were true. I realized that we have always since the time of Chris or Cleopatra or you can go back through story and name any iconic or historical figure - we hear its like Chinese whispers. It starts off as one story and by the time it gets to us, its something different and we believe it to be true. And we often reduce our historical figures, or our iconic figures, to a soundbite. And its tremendously unfair. We forget that they are human beings. So what was important to me was to portray Wallis Simpson as a human being.

After Party

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Pictures from the Venice Screening

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Hello! Magazine

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W.E.'s Official UK release date is January 12th 2012.

Andrea Riseborough honoured with Hollywood Spotlight Award

 

Andrea Riseborough will be honoured for her role in Madonna's "W.E." at this year's Hollywood Spotlight Award ceremony, intended to highlight promising up and coming actors who gave breakthrough performances this year in film.

 

"It is a privilege to honor Carey Mulligan, Bérénice Bejo, Jean Dujardin, Elle Fanning, Amber Heard, Andrea Riseborough, Shaileen Woodley and Anton Yelchin for their great talent," Carlos de Abreu, founder and executive director of the event, told The Hollywood Reporter.

 

The 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards run from October 20 to 24, 2011.

London film festival's UK premiere of W.E. Is next sunday is anyone going to go ?. I really wanna.

i no some people who are going, is there tickets left?

I know some people going too, I don't care for the film I wanna see Madonna lol.

Wallis' painful sexiness

 

Madonna's stylist says Wallis Simpson was "one of the best students of fashion".

Arianne Phillips is an Oscar nominated costume designer for her work on films including the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line, and Tom Ford's A Single Man.

She has also been Madonna's stylist for years.

Madonna decided there was no one better to design the costumes for her new film W.E.

 

W.E. follows the life of Wallis Simpson, an American woman famous for causing Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor to abdicate the throne so he could marry her.

Arianne was inspired by Wallis's style.

 

"She was sexy in a painful way; a painful sexiness," she explained to British newspaper The Telegraph. "The clothes she wore were austere, but sensual. It was the movement of her body that made her attractive - she was like a perfume, or the way a veil moves - like a ghost almost. We use clothes to erase our mistakes and to highlight what we like; Wallis is one of the best students of fashion school in that way."

 

Wallis was famous for her simple sophisticated style. She was also acutely aware of the power of fashion.

 

"I'm not a beautiful woman," Wallis said. "I'm nothing to look at, so the only thing I can do is dress better than anyone else."

 

Wallis died in 1986 but her fashion legacy still lives on. The wedding dress that Stella McCartney designed for her new stepmom Nancy Shevell was thought to be inspired by a Wallis Simpson garment.

 

"[Nancy's wedding dress] looks like it was inspired by Wallis Simpson's Mainbocher wedding dress, but in a different colour," Arianne said.

Other collections exploring Wallis Simpson's style include Miu Miu, Preen and Jonathan Saunders.

 

Fom the Belfast Telegraph.

Tonight's the big night for london. I'm sure the british press will LOVE to slag W.E. off.

London Premiere Pictures

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