Burns looks back on student film Working

Gosling plays Armstrong

LOS ANGELES, June 9, (RTRS): Since garnering an Oscar nomination in 1981 for his first documentary feature, “Brooklyn Bridge,” Ken Burns has chronicled events and influential figures in American history. His films seek to examine situations from all perspectives, and in doing so he has made American history a riveting narrative fit for all audiences.

After the success of 1990’s “The Civil War,” Burns became a PBS mainstay, making docu series “Jazz” (2001), “The War” (2007) and “The Dust Bowl” (2012). His latest project, “The Vietnam War” was released in 2017, and is an Emmy contender this year. The 10-part, 18-hour film, co-directed with Lynn Novick, is Burns’ second longest endeavor. (His 1994 series “Baseball” was 1812 hours.)

Burns received his first mention in Variety on May 10, 1976, when he was nominated for the American Society of Cinematographers’ studentfilm competition award, for his 27-minute film “Working in Rural New England,” which Burns made as an undergraduate at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass.

Question: What’s it like to look back at this?

Answer: It’s bittersweet to talk about because the co-producer on “Working in Rural New England,” Kirk Simon, recently passed away of a heart attack. I have so many memories of my early-morning drives to production with Kirk.

Q: What is “Working in Rural New England” about?

A: It’s about Old Sturbridge Village, which is a living history museum in Massachusetts. They wanted a film that would describe what their village did, which was re-creating life in rural New England from 1790 through the 1830s — basically right up to the point when New England started to get industrialized. So the film is about how people lived and farmed back then. Q: How long did it take to make? A: It was my senior thesis and took two and a half years. Q: Did this inform your later work? A: Yes. I learned a lot about myself while making this film. I learned how to write a proposal. I learned how to write, make and keep a budget. I learned how to shoot as a cinematographer. I learned how to pitch and do presentations. I learned how to edit. All of the skills that I needed to be a filmmaker were tested on this project.

Q: Did any Hampshire professors make an impression on you?

A: I worked with a professor named Jerome Liebling, who was my mentor on “Working in Rural New England.” I’ll always remember in the middle of editing we got to one point when he was reviewing a cut, and he thought I should it a certain way, and I felt strongly I should it another way. So he pushed back, and then I pushed back, and then he let go. It was one of the most amazing moments in my life. I suddenly realized, “Oh, my God. I’m on my own.” He had let me go. Cut the ropes, so to speak. I remember that vividly. Q: Did you win the ASC student award? A: I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I don’t remember. It’s not even on my resume anymore because in the beginning (of my career), it was a big deal of course, but then I made “Brooklyn Bridge.” After that I pressed the reset button and decided to say that “Brooklyn Bridge” was my first film.

Q: Did this film make it possible to create “Brooklyn Bridge”?

A: When I went out looking for funding to make “Brooklyn Bridge” I was 22, but I looked about 12. I think in large measure the fact that I had shown promise in my true first film, “Working in Rural New England” is the reason why I was given bits of money from various people and organizations to make “Brooklyn Bridge.”

Burns

LOS ANGELES:

Also:

Ryan Gosling is headed to space. The first trailer for his next movie, “First Man,” debuted Friday night during “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” showing Gosling as the first man to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong. It’s Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to “La La Land,” which scored both him and Gosling Oscars.

The trailer, in addition to giving the first glimpse of Gosling as Armstrong, also showed Claire Foy as his concerned wife, Janet. “This isn’t just another trip, Neil,” she tells her husband at one point. “You’re not just going to work.”

Indeed, the trailer focuses mostly on the dangers surrounding the risky Apollo 11 spaceflight. Neil Armstrong faces questions from politicians, and is even asked by his son, “Do you think you’re coming back?”

“First Man” debuted its first footage to theater owners at CinemaCon in April. There, Chazelle promised exhibitors that audiences would not only be taken on an “immersive journey,” going with Armstrong and his crew as they took their first steps on the moon, but to give a look at Neil and Janet’s difficult marriage.

In addition to Gosling and Foy, “First Man” also stars Pablo Schreiber, Kyle Chandler, and Jason Clarke. It’s set to fly into theaters on Oct 12.

LOS ANGELES:

Ellen Burstyn has joined Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm in Noah Hawley’s new film from Fox Searchlight.

Burstyn will play Portman’s character’s grandmother.

Dan Stevens is also on board to star in the film, which used to titled “Pale Blue Dot.”

“Fargo” and “Legion” creator Noah Hawley is directing from a script by Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi. Reese Witherspoon, who was attached to star at one point, will produce with Bruna Papandrea.

The still-untitled film follows a female astronaut who, after coming back home from a mission in space, starts to unravel when confronted by her seeminglyperfect life. The film explores the theory that astronauts who spend long periods of time in space lose their sense of reality when they return home.

Hamm will play Portman’s fellow astronaut who she aggressively pursues after returning to Earth.

With “Legion” wrapped and Hawley’s other FX series, “Fargo,” not shooting until next year, production on the movie is expected to start in the spring.

Burstyn was last seen in the Sundance drama “The Tale,” which recently premiered on HBO. The veteran actress appeared in such pics as “The Exorcist” and more recently in “House of Cards.” She is repped by ICM Partners and MGMT.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.