How Patrick Wilson spent his summer vacation (SPOILERS)...be prepared...

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/26/05 at 3:48pm

He filmed the movie listed below last summer (18 days shooting, starting in mid-July.)

Pretty intense. I think it's now time to do something light--like "Barefoot in the Park" on Broadway in the fall... C'mon Patrick, please ink a deal!

Aan article about the premiere screening of Hard Candy:
http://www.parkrecord.com/Stories/0,1413,122~8140~2674161,00.html

INDUSTRY, CROWDS TURNOUT FOR MIDNIGHT PREMIERE

'Hard Candy' attacks with intensity
By MATT JAMES, Of the Record staff

Somewhere along the line, over the course of the first three days of the Sundance Film Festival or in the weeks before that, "Hard Candy" gained some critical mass, garnering enough buzz to make its premier an event. Whatever created that buzz, it certainly wasn't a lush suite of industry screenings.

"We literally finished the film a day and a half before I came out," said director David Slade.

Nevertheless, there were more than a few studio executives and film buyers in the ticket line for "Hard Candy," and others who crowded around the doors of the Egyptian Theatre trying to gain admission to the midnight premier. Exacerbating the problem, the surround-sound system at the theatre failed almost immediately before the audience was set to enter, creating a further delay.

It all added up to a mass of humanity pushing toward the single entrance of the theatre, and while the group was not a heartless mob, there was a sense that the best way to gain admission was to push, prod and squeeze one's way in.

Before the screening, earlier in the day, Slade said he didn't know what the audience's reaction to the film would be.

"The thing will be whether the people chase the film from the screening, puke in the aisles or walk away blank-facedly," he said.

"The other two movies that I just finished were much bigger," explained Patrick Wilson, who plays Jeff in the movie. "I really wanted to do something very small."

"I first got the script and fell in love with it," said Ellen Page, who plays Haley. The emotional range and originality of the role both attracted her to the role, said Page.

"I don't want to play what the mainstream media thinks teenage girls are," she concluded.

From the movie's opening scenes with Jeff Kohlver's careful seduction of Haley Stark, the movie gradually takes hold of the viewer. At first, he or she is interested in the dialogue between the pair, and then entranced. As the pair's situations change, the movie holds viewers tighter and tighter, entrapping them and moving them from intrigue to surprise, from surprise to shock and then further.

"Hard Candy" is the pot of water whose temperature is slowly but steadily rising; the audience is that pot's frog. With each new step, the intensity grows.

And the characters evolve to trigger that intensity. At one moment, Jeff is in power and at another, he is the victim. Haley goes from a state of navet to one of power in seconds, even occasionally throwing off her childhood for the role of an adult.

"I wonder why they teach Girl Scouts things like camping and cooking," she says. "This is what's really useful."

As the movie progresses, the characters' roles and their situations reverse and reverse again. The viewer never knows exactly what might come and what might go.

"I knew going into it that it would be a very, very difficult shoot," said Page.

The movie's unique combination of factors, from its subject matter, to its budget, to its time-frame, made the movie that way.

"I guess what was difficult about it was not just the content but that we had to shoot it in 18 days," said Page. "It was kind of like acting boot camp."

"With that short amount of time, it just needed to be as real as it could," said Wilson, adding his key philosophy was simply to commit completely to the role.

"You just know that you're going to go there, and if you're going to go there, go all the way," he concluded.

Wilson had nothing but positive words for his co-star, as well.

"Ellen Page is pretty wonderful in the movie," he said. "Certainly for a 17-year-old with the subject matter, she pulls it off. She came at it in a very open, giving way."

Her spot-on performance, combined with Wilson's full-on approach, give the film almost everything it has, which is a lot.

The industry executives certainly think so. Monday evening Slade said he had barely stopped. "I'm still in shock," he said. "I haven't gotten any sleep."

"The sales end of it is insane," he said. "I can't talk about figures, I can't talk about names."

He did say, however, that he and his team had been talking to industry representatives through the night, and almost all of Monday.

Slade also talked about his reaction to the film's first screening.

"I became obsessed with just watching people's reactions," he said. "I saw one guy just get out of his chair and squat with his hands on his head."

The screening, and the positive reactions been vindicating, rewarding and satisfying, said Slade.

"It was terrifying; it was crazy," he said.

But now the business side of the film equation is staring him in the face. Slade, however, said he would not waver artistically in his discussions with the companies.

"I had to say there's a caveat," he said, "that you can't cut any scene. It cannot be, and it won't be."

Updated On: 1/30/05 at 03:48 PM

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/26/05 at 5:03pm

I'm sure he'll be fabulous in "Hard Candy."

But...read the film description below and you'll see why playing Paul Bratter with a rambunctious wife like Cori might be a pleasant contrast. LOL

"No doubt, the strong reaction was related to the camera work by David Slade (a veteran English commercial and music-video director) and mostly by a spectacularly grisly scene in the film which had more than a few men in the audience crossing their legs. But Page's performance has to be regarded as a major breakthrough in what is one of the buzz films of the festival.

Page plays a precocious 14-year-old girl, Hayley, who is lured to meet a man through the Internet. The man [B](Patrick Wilson)[/B] is a fashion photographer, but there's reason to believe he may be a violent pedophile. [B]In the tradition of films like Death Trap and Sleuth, Hard Candy is essentially a two-person, one-location game of cat-and-mouse. Key to its effect is the use of implication, with the worst horrors taking place more in the minds of the viewers than on the screen[/B].

[etheb]

Posted: 1/26/05 at 5:54pm

i saw your name in both the "posted by" and "last comment" columns and i thought to myself, "oh no, beacon's talking to herself again..." thought i'd reply and give you some company. any word yet on US distributers of Hard Candy? it really doesn't look like my kind of movie, but i'll see it for *The Man*

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/26/05 at 5:56pm

I think I'm scared to see the Man play that kind of role. Seriously.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 1/26/05 at 6:36pm

Lion's Gate bought world-wide rights to film save for England, Australia, and one other country.

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/26/05 at 7:15pm

Spain

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/26/05 at 7:19pm

LOL etheb

oh no. Beacon's talking to herself again.

LOL

Do you think Patrick thinks that when he lurks on here.
Poor man... He must think I'm a shut-in spinster with many cats who talks to the television like the actors can hear her.

Ya got a problem with that, LOL?????

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 1/26/05 at 9:24pm

I think it would be so interesting to see him play an evil guy for once! bwaha

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/27/05 at 8:28am

O MI GOSH...This sounds absolutely mind-blowing

Mike Goodridge in Park City 27 January 2005

HARD CANDY

Dir: David Slade. US. 2005. 103mins.

Whip-crackingly taut psychological drama Hard Candy is the most talked about movie at Sundance this year and one of the most riveting directorial debuts seen at the festival in a few years. A two-hander in which a teenage girl turns the tables on the paedophile who has picked her up on the internet, it will certainly cause a stir in the media wherever it opens throughout the world and, as initial reaction in Park City is indicating, it will provoke adult audiences into a flurry of discussion and debate that will set word-of-mouth on fire.

It’s the directorial debut from British commercials and music video director David Slade, who so superbly sustains the tension between the two protagonists by ingenious use of close-ups, sets, a specific colour palette and perfectly precise camerawork (care of cinematographer Jo Willems) that he delivers a sub-$1m film with the impact of one that might have cost tens of millions more.

Disturbing and discomfiting thought it may be, Hard Candy is also as compelling as any thriller and it’s no wonder distributors were swarming all over it at its midnight screening world premiere last Sunday. After foreign buyers Redbus (UK), Aurum (Spain) and Icon (Australia) sealed pricey territorial deals, sales representatives William Morris Independent and Traction Media closed a $4m deal for the rest of the world with Lions Gate.

As the leading independent distributor in North America, Lions Gate is probably the perfect home for the film. It is unlikely that any studio or specialised division would feel comfortable bringing such a provocative title into their conservative corporate folds.

Not that Slade and screenwriter Brian Nelson have included any graphic elements that will generate prohibitive ratings around the world. Although there are passages of intense psychological violence, the film should comfortably achieve an R rating in the US and equivalent certificates in international markets.

For Slade’s tightly-coiled drama to work, he had to score two remarkable actors to play his lead roles and did so in Patrick Wilson (The Phantom Of The Opera, The Alamo, TV’s Angels In America) and Canadian newcomer Ellen Page.

Page is an intelligent, charming, tomboyish 14 year-old called Hayley who finally agrees one morning to meet Jeff, a guy she’s met on the internet, in a coffee shop in Los Angeles. He is a handsome 32-year-old fashion photographer who treats her as an adult and flatters her. She suggests they go to his house to listen to some music.

Once at the house, a hip modern pad in the Hollywood Hills, she continues to flirt with him, mixes him drinks and starts stripping off some clothes so he can take pictures of her. But when he picks up his camera, Jeff starts to feel faint and passes out.

When he wakes up, he is tied to a chair. Hayley is searching his house for evidence that he is a paedophile, that she is not the first girl he has brought home and that he has something to do with the recent disappearance of Donna Mauer, another teenager who frequented the same coffee shop.

As Hayley continues to taunt and antagonize her helpless prisoner, audience sympathy for her starts to waver, especially when she starts preparing the equipment needed for castrating him.

By the extraordinary climactic showdown between Hayley and Jeff, Slade has thoroughly confused any conventional morality or notion of right and wrong and specialised audiences will be haunted by the maelstrom of emotions they have been put through.

For Vulcan Productions, the Paul Allen-owned, Seattle-based outfit which financed Hard Candy, the film represents the first to emerge from a new initiative into low budget pictures after sporadic success with higher budget pictures like Titus, Far From Heaven and The Safety Of Objects. So far, so good.

Prod cos: Vulcan Productions, Launchpad Productions
US dist: Lions Gate Films
Int’l sales: Lions Gate Films International, excluding Redbus (UK), Aurum (Spain), Icon (Australia)
Exec prods: Jody Patton, Rosanne Korenberg
Prods: David W Higgins, Richard Hutton & Michael Caldwell
Scr: Brian Nelson
Cine: Jo Willems
Prod des: Jeremy Reed
Ed: Art Jones
Main cast: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Holmes

[feinstein9]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 2:51am

can't wait to see this. thought i'd finally tell you all alamo was shot on my dad's ranch outside of austin... you'd think that'd count for something in getting tickets to hard candy, huh? but nooo...

[kaycee]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 3:17am

Oh wow, that's awesome Is the set still up or did they tear it down?

[thespian geek]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 3:29am

Woah. Seriously? That's freaking awesome.

[feinstein9]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 4:21am

yeah they tore it down, unfortunatly, but it was pretty cool. lots of horses. plus patrika = pretty.

[wink]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 5:55am

I still consider myself one of Patrick's biggest fans, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy a movie about a pedophile who uses the internet as a way to meet teenagers.

I have a twelve year old who is sometime required to use internet searches as part of his homework. It scares me just thinking of everything he can access.

I'm sure Patrick is wonderful in this movie, but I'm afraid I might have to skip this one. Sorry, Patrick.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 8:15am

Nothing ever says that his character *is* a pedophile, though. The girl accuses him of being one though without (as far as we know so far) finding any evidence of that.

Ah well. I'm still psyched for this movie. I know, I'm weird.

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 12:03pm

Another blurb about "Hard Candy" at Sundance Festival...

'Hard Candy' is the most interesting take on teen sexuality at the festival so far. Geoff (Patrick Wilson), a 32-year-old fashion photographer, meets 14-year-old Hayley (Ellen Page) on an internet chat site and arranges to meet her in person.

British director David Slade delights in the ambiguity of their encounter, before taking his film somewhere else entirely - a very dark place that involves castration, suicide and torture. It's a smart, confident debut.

[Allie]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 12:18pm

I was reading the newspaper yesterday, and saw an article about Ellan Page. She's from Nova Scotia! I was just excited... I'm from Nova Scotia.

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/28/05 at 10:48pm

From Filmthreat.com:
http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=6851

HARD CANDY
by Eric Campos
(2005-01-27)
2005, Un-rated, 103 Minutes (He gave it 5 stars)

Online dating is bad, mmmkay?

Hooking it up on the Internet isn't a subject that's foreign to indie film. I've seen several of these films, each at varying degrees of success in engulfing the viewer in this new cyberworld of love, but I've never seen one so honest and raw and, yes, absolutely terrifying as this. After watching “Hard Candy”, you'll more than likely sprint to your computer, delete all of your profiles on Matchmaker.com, LonelyHearts.com and AssSearch.com and learn to appreciate the virtues of masturbation.


“Hard Candy” opens with the innocent meeting of two online daters. Hayley is a shy teenage girl and Geoff is a suave, handsome guy in his early thirties. This public meeting seems to be going well and Geoff appears to be a nice enough guy that Hayley decides to accompany him back to his house. The two have drinks, but, using her best judgment, Hayley does not drink anything that she hasn't mixed herself. Geoff completely understands and to show a little faith in her, he agrees to drink one of her concoctions.


“Hard Candy” is an excellent title for this film, but “Bad Move” would've been just as suitable.


Geoff passes out and awakens to find himself tied down and at the mercy of this fairly angry young girl who has a razor sharp grudge against Geoff and she has no reservations in letting him know all about it. So begins the feature length physical and mental torture as we're slowly dipped into Geoff's past, leading us to figure out just what exactly this axe is that Hayley has to grind.


“Hard Candy” is a tough sit, but it attracts more than repels you. It commands your attention. Once it lands its hooks in you, there's no tearing away. Being a part of the Sundance 2005 film festival, this is so far the only film I've seen that's had the entire theater firmly in its grip with many an audience member leaning forward in their seat anticipating, but dreading the next awful deed.


Yeah, this candy is hard to handle, but at the same time it's oh so sweet.

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/29/05 at 9:03pm

Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page in "Hard Candy" which earned major buzz at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and has been purchased for US and international distribution.

From Variety:

Wilson, currently onscreen as the courtly benefactor in "The Phantom of the Opera," spends most of the picture unbecomingly sweaty and hog-tied, but is entirely convincing as the smooth-talking photog.

Aesthetically and in terms of subject matter and the frank presentation of an acutely sexualized young teenage girl, "Hard Candy" feels much more like a European film than an American one, despite the Yank characters and Hollywood location. Whether it's Eurotrash or Eurosmart will be a matter of opinion.

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 1:21am

Feinstein9

Did you meet Patrick and the rest of the cast while The Alamo was being filmed????

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 1:30am

omg Feinstein lucky!!!

urgh I wanna see Hard Candy soo badly!

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 1:38am

From the on-line edition of the NY Post

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/39464.htm

For sheer envelope-pushing, it was hard to beat David Slade's revenge melodrama "Hard Candy," in which a teenage girl (newcomer Ellen Page) who is lured by a 30-year-old man (Patrick Wilson) she meets in a chat room, castrates him.

Oh my...that really cuts to the chase (no pun intended...)

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 1:43am

lol! castrated huh? how..interesting

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 4:02am

Assuming his character is conscious when this act occurs, I can't even begin to understand what emotional depth Patrick had to plumb to produce a convincing portrayal of a man under-going torture and then castration. I almost can't bear to think about the reaction he had to give to such an experience.

*tummy feels a bit queasy considering what Patrick had to picture in his mind*

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 4:20am

From "Eric's Blog" (via Google)

Next up was "Hard Candy," recently purchased by Lions Gate for eventual theatrical release. It is about a pedophile who meets a 14-year-old girl through the Internet for predatory reasons and comes to regret it, because she is hell-bent on teaching his pedophiliac booty a lesson. The star is Patrick Wilson, a Broadway actor most recently seen boring audiences as Raoul in the movie version of "The Phantom of the Opera." He is a good deal more lively in "Hard Candy," particularly in the scene where the vengeful girl states her intentions to castrate him. ("Don't mutilate me; that's all I ask of you" would be a good song lyric here.)