Thoughts of seeing the Georgia O'Keefe Museum went out the window - no GPS ( I had already gotten lost three times which eats up a lot of time, btw) , meant that my time was limited as I had to get ready for a premiere. WHAAAAT? Yup. Dad was taking me to a benefit/premiere of "Fair Game" the film starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts as Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson. (Husband and wife, Valerie was the CIA agent who was exposed in a syndicated newspaper article as retaliation to her husband basically calling the White House liars about that little thing called Weapons of Mass Destruction)
Valerie and Joe now live in Santa Fe - hence the premiere.
Here's Valerie
And husband Joe:
The movie. Well. To the point: It rambled. and meandered. And Miss Watts? Well, I realize the part was a tricky one as Valerie Plame never spoke about what happened during the "scandal" but still. I look at the director when the actor is floundering. An editor can only work so much magic.
Look at these two! The story is great. Real life spies that are actually hot looking! What could go wrong? There was a book to base it on! Look, it was paint by numbers! Fact based story!
Then the Q&A after the film. Doug Liman (the um, ahem, director AND DP, God only knows why. OY), Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson (the former CIA Agents) and another producer whose name I can't remember. He was the moderator - and if I could I would have fired him within 5 seconds. He blew.
Valerie and Joe - were great. That is, when they were allowed to speak. Which was a rare occurance.
Doug? Guess what he did? Rambled. And meandered. And rambled. And meandered. People started leaving. I mean, my God, you have a friggin captive audience in Santa Fe, AND two former CIA agents on the stage, and Mr Liman not only takes over, but the audience flees to escape his incessant yakking.
I went to the lobby, and watched as the people started to exit. Shirley MacLaine even left! She had no where to go - she was just hanging out in the lobby, then talking to friends and asking where do you want to go? Do you want to go out to eat? Should we go to the Atrium?
She didn't have to be anywhere.
The Governor left. The GOVERNOR. Who wouldn't want to stay and listen to CIA agents who were just portrayed on screen by A List movie stars?
Yes, I know Liman did Bourne Identity and Mr and Mrs Smith amongst others. BUT...
Doug, they were not there to ask you questions, it was all about Valerie and Joe. Idiot. This was like his college thesis film that he never got to make. He had a captive audience to talk about his Father (he mentioned it a good 10-12 times) the direction (his), cinematography (his) , the writing and re-writing and re-writing - no - you don't say, Doug? I would have never noticed.
Now, a side note: My father is the type that sits through all credits of every film. He would never dream of walking out of a Q&A, regardless of how horrifically boring it was. He's that kind of old school polite.
This was my last night in Santa Fe with Dad and I was being held hostage by a insecure Hollywood Director. Not much had changed.
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