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MaineWriter:
from the Los Angeles Times:

Why did Fox take on 'Deception'? Hugh Jackman

The Aussie actor's "X-Men" work has made a mint for the studio.

By John Horn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 24, 2008

THE basic message of "Deception" is that all that ultimately matters is a trustworthy relationship. That's the main reason, too, why the blackmail thriller, in theaters Friday, landed on 20th Century Fox's release schedule.

Fox has a well-deserved reputation for narrowly focusing on easy-to-market movies with a clearly defined audience and built-in sales hooks: "Horton Hears a Who," "The Fantastic Four," "Live Free or Die Hard." Which makes Fox's involvement in "Deception" -- an R-rated, sex-filled adult drama whose biggest role is played by Ewan McGregor -- so out of character.

But "Deception" is produced by and costars Hugh Jackman, and when it comes to important Aussies on the Fox lot, Rupert Murdoch and Jackman run a close one-two. Jackman not only starred in Fox's three "X-Men" blockbusters, but also stands at the center of next summer's spinoff "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (he's producing and starring). Later this year, Jackman plays opposite Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's cattle-drive epic "Australia," which Fox believes has Oscar potential, and could earn the kind of award attention lavished on Fox Searchlight but rarely seen at the main studio.

So if Fox scratches Jackman's back by distributing "Deception," it's only fair: He's made the studio a windfall and classes up the joint. And Fox is hardly the first studio to support an actor's or a producer's passion project -- it's as enduring a show-business tradition as screaming at assistants.

Audience tracking surveys show "Deception" is headed for a devastating debut in wide release of about 2,000 screens this weekend, and may just barely crack the Top 10. The real drama will be which new film wins bragging rights for the No. 1 spot: the surrogate mother comedy "Baby Mama" or the silly slacker movie "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay." Both movies could gross around $16 million in their debuts, but we're giving the narrow edge to Universal's "Baby Mama."

"Deception," on the other hand, may take in as little as $5 million this weekend. Given the film's subject matter and marketing challenges, it's not a surprising outcome. The film stars Jackman as Wyatt Bose, a too-convivial-to-be-true lawyer, who befriends inhibited (is there any other kind?) accountant Jonathan McQuarry (McGregor). By accident or design, McQuarry and Bose end up with each other's mobile phones. McQuarry soon starts accepting phoned invitations to sexual liaisons apparently intended for Bose.

The sex club's women are beautiful, willing and, unlike Eliot Spitzer's high-priced acquaintances, don't charge a penny. One of McQuarry's companions, known only as "S" (Michelle Williams), is a little more alluring than the others, and before long McQuarry wants to break the club's rules about anonymity and friendship. But since the movie is called "Deception" (earlier titles included "The List" and "The Tourist"), "S" and Bose aren't quite all they seem.

Some six years in the making and shot more than a year ago, "Deception" was once in development at Fox, which ultimately declined to underwrite its under-$25 million price tag. Producer Arnold Rifkin and Jackman's Seed Productions, which makes its debut on the film, were able to secure backing from independent financiers Media Rights Capital and Summit Entertainment, which sold foreign rights.

Fox initially was going to distribute "Deception" only in Australia but agreed to release the film in North America after Jackman's representatives called the studio, according to people familiar with the deal. With a minimum guarantee of close to $10 million and limited advertising, Fox could break even if "Deception" does a couple of weeks of middling business in theaters and performs well enough on DVD and pay television, these people say. (Six years ago, the studio released to modest success the adultery drama "Unfaithful," but it had Richard Gere, not McGregor, in the lead role, and "Fatal Attraction" director Adrian Lyne, not "Deception's" first-timer Marcel Langenegger, behind the cameras.)

"Deception's" reviews are not likely to be strong, and female moviegoers have not embraced the sex club story line, according to someone familiar with the film's marketing. Williams, the film's best publicity hook for attracting women, isn't doing media interviews because of the recent death of her former boyfriend, actor Heath Ledger.

Even if it doesn't make much (if anything) on the film, Fox's bond with Jackman and "Deception" is not unusual. Studio executives frequently take special care of their top talent, often taking on movies their inner bean counters realize are risky business.

Paramount likely would not have made the "Abre Los Ojos" remake "Vanilla Sky" with Tom Cruise had not its "Mission: Impossible" star insisted upon it. Having made a fortune on Tom Shadyac's comedies ("Liar Liar," "Patch Adams"), Universal let him direct the drama "Dragonfly." Jerry Bruckheimer has sold hundreds of millions of tickets for Walt Disney Co., which helps explain why the studio agreed to "Veronica Guerin," a Bruckheimer-produced drama about a murdered Irish journalist.

Everyone says Hollywood is built on relationships, but "Deception" proves that it's not just empty talk.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-word24apr24,1,6625193.story?track=rss

MaineWriter:
from the Herald Sun, Australia:


Hugh Jackman talks summits and sideburns

Claire Sutherland

April 24, 2008 12:00am

HUGH Jackman may have the film industry clout that goes with being one of Australia's biggest movie stars, but even he knows when to put his hand up and say he's failed.

Hugh Jackman had plenty of good ideas for the future of Australia when he attended last weekend's 2020 Summit.

Among them was the encouragement of creativity, support for scriptwriters, and mutton-chop sideburns for all.

Jackman laughs when asked if he thinks his spectacular Wolverine facial hair might start a parliamentary trend.

‘‘I noticed the Prime Minister's chops do on occasion err south,'' he says. ‘‘Have you noticed that?
Maybe if he gets re-elected for a second term he might make an even bolder choice there.

‘‘Though I don't think it would garner any more votes, or certainly any more attention at home. Not if my experience at home is any reflection.''

Joking aside, Jackman relished the opportunity to have his say at 2020 and was spewing (literally) that he missed Sunday's session, the ‘‘business end'', due to a bout of food poisoning.

‘‘I think it was exactly as it was billed, a genuine chance to start a conversation, bring forth ideas,'' he says.

‘‘I loved it. Held in Canberra, the home of politics, but it was not a overtly political event.''

He dismisses criticism of co-chairwoman Cate Blanchett's decision to attend with her five-day-old son.

‘‘If that's the kind of thing outraging people, they need to get a little bit of a life,'' he says.

‘‘What she does as a mother is her business. What I applaud entirely, 100 per cent, is her commitment to doing something and making a difference in the community.

‘‘If you're spending all your time looking for possible flaws -- if there are any -- in Cate Blanchett, then you really have far too much time on your hands. To me she's nothing but admirable in every way.''

Jackman's passion at 2020 was his belief Australia should nurture a supportive atmosphere for homegrown creative types. His own Seed production house, based in Sydney and LA, is an attempt to foster projects here and overseas.

The latest, Deception, is a snaky thriller starring Jackman, Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams. Jackman plays a conman who befriends a lonely corporate auditor (McGregor) and draws him into a convoluted plot involving illegal money transfers and a high-end sex club.

Jackman is profoundly relaxed about the picture's prospects. The film had broken even before filming started, thanks to a canny policy of keeping the budget low and the international sales high.

‘‘That took a lot of pressure off, financially,'' Jackman says. ‘‘The film is not a massive film budget-wise. We thought it unrealistic to put that kind of pressure on us as a young company, to make a film that had financial pressures of having to break even was too much to take in. So we had this amazing situation of being in the black before we'd even shot a frame.''

The fact Deception was financed outside the studio system meant Seed could take a chance on a first-time director, Swiss Marcel Langenegger, and on casting decisions.

‘‘We really got to make some interesting choices,'' Jackman says.

‘‘Even the sex montage. If we had a studio, if there was more pressure on us box office-wise, every one of those women would be a Victoria's Secret model probably. We could be far more eclectic.

Having someone like Charlotte Rampling play that little cameo, I think, gives the film an unexpected richness that people who go to see it are not expecting.''

Also unexpected is a rare outing as a bad guy for the irrepressibly likable Jackman.

‘‘It's a universal law. Every actor wants to play the bad guy and I really, really enjoyed it,'' he says.

‘‘It's really a frightening thing, but there has to be some empathy at some level in order to play it.

‘‘The worst thing you can do as an actor is judge your character. And let's face it, my job is being a conman.''

The late Heath Ledger was a regular visitor to the New York set and his then partner Michelle Williams.

‘‘At the time of shooting, beginning of last year, the situation was very different, those guys were together and both very committed parents and Michelle obviously still is,'' Jackman says.

‘‘I just really feel for her. It's an incredibly difficult time and she's an unbelievably committed mother. As a working actress, a year ago her focus was very much on (daughter) Matilda and looking after her. Nothing has changed there.''

Jackman is unashamedly pleased with Deception, its clever financial underpinnings and Williams' performance in particular after a baptism of fire in the producing department when one of Seed's first projects, the US TV show Viva Laughlin, crashed and burned, dumped by CBS after two episodes.

Ask if he thinks the show -- like so many in TV history -- wasn't given a chance and deserves a new life on DVD, and Jackman refuses to grasp the face-saving lifeline.

‘‘You know I'm always happy to stand up when something's done well and tell people about it, and I don't mind admitting we failed pretty spectacularly on that gig,'' he says.

‘‘But you can't win them all, and we've moved on. I don't think there will be much effort put into the DVD. I'm proud we did it. People didn't watch it and that's OK. It's time to move on.''

It's 8pm and Jackman is only halfway through his interview commitments, but he affably dismisses the idea he's being worked hard by his publicists.

‘‘Not really, because if it wasn't this I'd be doing a night shoot at Cockatoo Island and finishing at 6am. I get off at 1am so it's not so bad.''

Jackman is deep into shooting an X-Men spinoff and new Seed project Wolverine in Sydney with co-stars Liev Schreiber and Ryan Reynolds.

‘‘I'm used to these movies now,'' he says. ‘‘They're big and there's a lot involved, a lot at stake, so it's always high pressure. But Gavin Hood, our director, is a real force. He's an Oscar-winning director (for Tsotsi) and he's used to working under different kinds of pressure and stresses.''

Jackman hand-picked Melbourne youngster Kodi Smit-McPhee (Romulus, My Father) to play Wolverine as a young man.

‘‘He's one of those kids who's fearless,'' Jackman says. ‘‘I hope he doesn't read this article because yes, there is pressure on him because of who he's playing and the expectations of fans. I was lucky to be completely ignorant of fans' expectations and the whole world before X-Men came out. I just hope he doesn't read too much or go on the internet because he naturally has the goods I know the fans will love.''

It's indicative of Jackman's clout that he arranged for Wolverine to be shot in Sydney.

‘‘As the Baz (Luhrmann) movie went a little longer, as producer I needed to be around for pre-production,'' he says. ‘‘I couldn't just sit around and let that all go. Also, it was a strong choice because of my family situation and schooling and the kids. Our son's almost eight, so the gypsy lifestyle isn't as convenient as it used to be.''

Almost as anticipated as Wolverine is Luhrmann's Australia, which Jackman shot with Nicole Kidman until earlier this year.

‘‘I have seen snippets, a fantastic 12-minute piece Baz put together before we finished,'' he says.

‘‘Recently I saw another five minutes, and I just pinch myself I'm a part of it. It's an amazing moment for Australian film. Fingers crossed we can pull off the ambitions being set.''

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23592022-5006023,00.html

MaineWriter:
Oh dear.

As of this morning, Deception is at 6% on rottentomatoes.com, with 31 reviews posted. "Clunky dialogue, plot holes, even the sex isn't that great" seem to be recurring comments from various reviewers.

Oh well...

L

MaineWriter:
Since Deception is getting ripped to shreds, there's only one thing to do: Play, "post the funniest quotes" from movie reviews. Hey, he has a turkey, let's celebrate creative writing...LOL

Here's a few to get started. From the New York Daily News:

Every actor has a few titles on his résumé that he'd love to forget. So should you ever have the opportunity to meet "Deception" stars Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor, we highly recommend you pretend this movie was never made.

But the real culprit is first-time director Marcel Langenegger, who seems to have studied for his debut by watching nothing but Cinemax.

from the Boston Globe:

Calling your terrible crime thriller "Deception" is like naming your bad cooking movie "Food" - an advertisement for laziness.

It's just your garden-variety straight-sex-with-strangers group that includes, momentarily, Charlotte Rampling, whose on-screen appetite for erogenous adventure knows no apparent bounds. In "Deception," she informs us that she likes 'em young and pretty much leaves the movie, presumably going back to France where the lousy sex thrillers at least have decent sex.

more on Charlotte Rampling, from the New York Times:

Cougar fans take note: Charlotte Rampling plays a sex club denizen, sometimes seminude.

from FilmSchool Rejects:

And here’s a nice suggestion, Hollywood. If you want a film to have this many twists, it’d be best to not name the movie Deception. That would be like naming Citizen Kane something like It’s a Sled or renaming Psycho with Norman Bates is the Killer Who Dresses Like His Dead Mother.

and from the Chicago Sun Times:


What can compare with the white-knuckle suspense of uploading a file? "Deception," that's what. This is a movie jam-packed with all the thrills of watching that little progress bar grow and grow until it fills the alloted space in the pop-up box on your computer screen.

all I can say is...ouch!

If others want to contribute quotes, feel free....

louisev:
omg those quotes are a howl!

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