CHARLOTTESVILLE--Each year, the
This year's festival, which screened more than 60 films on the broad topic "In/Justice" in four days ending Sunday, followed tradition by flying in the Oscar-, Emmy- and Tony-winning Vanessa Redgrave
The two sessions were powerful and entertaining, in different ways.
Before an audience dotted with dinner jackets and glittering gowns for the opening night gala that followed, the tall and elegantly striking Redgrave screened her new film "The Fever," which ponders what roles wealth and privilege play in poverty and injustice.
The film, directed by Redgrave's son, Carlo Nero, follows her character through a fever dream of sorts.
It's an extension of the Wallace Shawn play/monologue written in the early 1990s as a look at the "social divide between the first and third worlds, and the guilt that results."
In the movie, an HBO Films presentation, Redgrave's character pulls viewers along as she considers what effect her happy, possession-filled life might have on everything from starving children to rebels (Angelina Jolie is one) forced to fight to survive.
While many in the crowd were moved by the intense, sometimes surreal film, its wealth-questioning moments and jabs at the riches of excess struck at least
Indeed, one of the more riveting exchanges in a Q&A with Redgrave, her son and producer Jason Blum came when an audience member asked her if she "had read a book about economics since 1945."
The actress, who serves as the special representative for the performing arts to the United Nations Children's Fund, quoted several.
She then suggested that the questioner--who tempered his inquiry by saying that he didn't want to seem "too cheeky" by asking it--might want to read some of the recent U.N. reports
Friday night's session with Grisham had a very different feel. The best-selling author talked about the experiences of having nearly a dozen of his legal thrillers made into major motion pictures. His talk was interspersed with scenes from the films.
Those at the Grisham session seemed mainly curious for inside Hollywood facts and star stories Grisham shared.
Such as the moment in the making of "The Rain Maker," when director Francis Ford Coppola used a unique approach to get Matt Damon ready for an emotional scene.
Grisham, who spent more time on the set of that movie than most others his books have spawned, said Coppola called Damon over, backed him up against a wall, and then berated him about the way the young actor was "screwing up his movie."
Then, without giving him a second to recover, the famous director suddenly yelled "Action!" and shoved the young actor straight into a scene where he had no trouble seeming intimidated.
Another story that drew a warm rustle from the crowd dealt with the sale of the movie rights to one of Grisham's first novels.
Grisham said that back in the early '90s, he was amazed to learn that studios were looking at a manuscript of his book "The Firm" that he'd never sent them.
Someone, he said, had pirated a copy of it, made 25 copies and distributed them to Hollywood studios who might be interested in buying the movie rights.
The whole thing came to light after a bidding war ensued that made the "theft" very public, enough so someone tipped off Grisham's book agent.
"The first I knew of it came when I got a frantic call from my agent," Grisham said. "He wanted to know if he could have my permission to accept the highest bidder from Paramount, Disney, United Artists and others."
When Grisham, at that point a lawyer writing novels in his spare time, heard his agent say he was hoping to drive the price up to $400,000, he said, by all means, accept away.
"This was for a book I hadn't yet gotten a publishing deal on," said Grisham. "The rights ended up selling for $600,000. I'm really sorry the movie business doesn't work like that anymore."
Grisham shared other stories that touched on his popular books/movies from "The Pelican Brief" to the more recent "The Runaway Jury."
He noted that one initially had Sean Connery in the lead, with the big issue in the jury tampering subplot a case against the cigarette industry.
After a long delay and new players in the movie being made, it starred Gene Hackman and dealt with a suit against firearms manufacturers.
Grisham said he learned quickly that if you sell the movie
He implied that you learn to take some comfort from the concessions a studio makes.
Like approval of lead actors.
And $600,000 checks.
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