Names and faces
A tearful Rebel Wilson testified Tuesday that a series of magazine articles published in Australia were a deliberate attack on her character and damaged her acting career. Wilson is suing Australian publisher Bauer Media for defamation over several articles published in 2015 that the Australian-born actress said led to her film contracts being terminated. The articles said Wilson had lied about her name, age and upbringing in Australia. Wilson, testifying in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, rejected the publisher’s argument that the stories were lighthearted and had no serious impact on her career. “These articles were a deliberate malicious takedown of me,” the actress said. Wilson, known for her work in comedies such as Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids, said she has only had two roles since the articles were published, one for the film Absolutely Fabulous and the other a stage role in London. She is seeking unspecified damages.
No event is more devoted to the “auteur” filmmaker than the Cannes Film Festival. Directors are hailed with long standing ovations, while movie stars parade on the red carpet. With all the attention focused on the “above-the-line” talent, the little guys are usually unseen or absent. Yet one film in Cannes, Filmworker, pays tribute to one of the hardest-working, least wellknown collaborators to one of cinema’s greatest visionaries. The film, directed by Tony Zierra, is about Leon Vitali, the longtime right-hand man to director Stanley Kubrick. Despite his significant contributions to the Kubrick’s bigscreen artistry, Vitali was an unsung figure in movie history. Vitali worked as a jack-of-all-trades for Kubrick until his death in 1999, doing everything from coaching actors and overseeing restorations to catering to the taskmaster filmmaker’s obsessive instructions. Filmworker is an ode to the gritty, unassuming dedication of, as Zierra said, “the people in the credits” — the essential but seldom-celebrated foot soldiers of cinema. Vitali sacrificed his own growing fame as an actor to hep Kubrick realize his vision. “I can honestly say I’ve never sat there and thought: Was it worth it? I’ve sat there and thought there was nothing I could do about it,” said Vitali. “Sometimes things aren’t in your power. You’re led there.”