The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 08, 2004, Page 7, Image 7
■ ALFIE
Continued from page 6
few regards for the consequences of his
actions.
Sarandon is known for her acting
abilities, not her beauty, yet she’s
thrown into a role of a supposedly
drop-dead gorgeous older woman.
The role does not fit her in the least.
Director Charles Shyer tries to give
Alfie depth as the movie progresses in
an attempt to draw sympathy for him,
and while Law gives a great
performance, the role is not far
removed from his own life — he is a
newly-divorced Hollywood playboy
who may be experiencing similar
sentiments of regret in his possibly
promiscuous past.
The shallowness Alfie exudes in the
beginning of the film makes it hard for
viewers to relate to him when he
eventually realizes how empty his life
actually is.
Supposedly a romantic comedy,
Alfie melodramatically and
unsatisfactorily ponders the meaning
of life, and the only, reason to pay to
see it is Jude Law’s alluring smile.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc. edu
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■ PAN
Continued from page 6
when you think about the beauty of
getting older and wiser.”
Before embarking on the picture,
which opens Friday, Forster, who grew
up in a Swiss mountain village with
legends of Heidi rather than Peter Pan,
researched Barrie’s life thoroughly. He
wanted to be sure the author wasn’t a
pedophile, as had been rumored, and
that his motives were aboveboard,
especially in light of Michael Jackson’s
problems and the fact that the singer
called his complex Neverland.
“Neverland used to be something
different to people,” he said; “it was
innocent and beautiful, and people need
to see the beauty of it. It’s important to
bring that out.”
Fortunately, “Peter Pan dealt with all
of that so easily,” Forster said. “He
simply stayed a child, always innocent,
no responsibilities. And I think we all
love being childish, because it is such a
romantic notion. And it’s even more
important now since there is so much
emphasis on staying young.”
In the case of Barrie, you don’t have
to probe deeply to see how the Peter Pan
notion formed in his mind. He was
influenced by the children of an
acquaintance, as detailed in the film, but
even before that, the author had some
unnerving previews of adulthood.
Early in his life Barrie’s brother died,
at 14, and the job of caring for their
mother fell to Barrie. And then, when he
turned 14, for reasons unknown he
simply stopped growing, which had a
profound psychological effect on him.
The payoff, of course, was the
creation of Peter Pan.
“He never grows up, he has
adventures, he fights pirates, he has a
iany. wuai muic luuiu auyuuc w«uii:
said humor columnist Dave Barry,
who, with fellow author Ridley
Pearson, wrote the adventure novel
“Peter and the Starcatchers,” the first of
a prequel trilogy to the Peter Pan saga.
“There really is something about that
character and that time of your life,
when you are fighting pirates.”
The inspiration for the book came
when Pearson’s daughter asked him how
Pan and Captain Hook met.
“Immediately I knew what I was going
to write next,” said Pearson, who phoned
Barry and asked him if he wanted to
collaborate. “It was the easiest book I’ve
ever had to explain — the story of how
Peter came to be, how he got his start as a
kid who is going to become a legend.”
In their book, Barry and Pearson,
both fathers of daughters, decided they
wanted to create a strong female
character, to counter the cloying Wendy
(who, some feel, represents the
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transitional grown-up in Pan’s life).
“If we’d had sons, it probably would
have been different,” said Pearson.
“Yeah,” said Barry, “more booger
jokes.”
“But we have these girls and watch
them play together and grow up
together,” Pearson said. “And so, what
we wanted was a real kick-a— girl. This
is our fantasy daughter; we don’t like the
Wendy character and we don’t want our
daughters to be like her, because it’s not
what they’re like. We want her to be a
worthy complement to Peter. Actually, I
like her best.”
When it comes to Peter Pan, though,
sexuality is an ambiguous thing. Forster
says Barrie was pretty much asexual, and
really didn’t like to be touched.
Barrie was also responsible for
creating the long-standing tradition of
casting a young woman in the role of
Peter Pan: from 1904, when Nina
Boucicault donned the tights, to today,
when Olympian Cathy Rigby is
wrapping up a 30-year career as the boy
who never grows up. In fact, the role has
been played by a man only a handful of
times in the past century.
Actresses who have played the role
have included Glynis Johns, Elsa
Lanchester, Hayley Mills, Maggie
Smith, Susannah York, Lulu, Jane
Asher, Gayle Hunnicutt, Veronica
Lake, Maude Adams, Jean Arthur, Mary
Martin, Sandy Duncan and Mia
Farrow.
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Johnny Depp stars as J.M.
Barrie in "Finding Neverland."
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