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At the age of 84, Clint Eastwood has become something of a national treasure in America, where he appeared in his first movie nearly 60 years ago.

He has been in 66 films, produced 40, directed 37 and won five Oscars. He has been equally active in his private life, having fathered seven children, aged from 17 to 50, by five women.

His 17-year marriage to Dina Ruiz, 35 years his junior, ended last year and he has since been linked to a couple of women. His latest girlfriend is said to be Christina Sandera, who works at Clint’s Mission Ranch Hotel in California.

He’s just finished shooting American Sniper in which a Navy SEAL, played by Bradley Cooper, recounts his career.

But his latest release is Jersey Boys, out today, the film he’s directed based on the musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

What led to you directing what is essentially a 1960s pop musical?

Quite simply I was asked if I was interested in doing it. I hadn’t seen the play so I went and saw it three times and said I’d love to do the film. The play had been in New York for nine years and in London for five or six, and I thought it had a good international feel to it.

What did you know about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and  the music of the early 1960s, before you saw the play?

I was too much of a jazz freak to have been into their music and the rock era was not my favourite. I wasn’t a big fan of the music that came out of the 60s, but I think the Four Seasons did some great stuff. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You was probably the closest thing to a classic song that came out of the 50s and 60s.

Music has played a big part in many of your films, and more so in this than nearly any other that you have made.

I don’t really think of it as a musical. What was fun for me was that it’s about musicians, much as Bird, the movie I did in 1988 about Charlie Parker was about a jazz player. The Four Seasons had all these hit songs but they were just guys from the neighbourhood – a place where, if you were a singer, you were looked down upon as strange, unless you were Sinatra.

What are your memories of the 1960s as an era?

There were a lot of changes going on but I was a little slow so I didn’t catch on. When everybody else was experimenting with drugs, I was drinking beer. I was still liking Charlie Parker and jazz. Along the way I developed a love for country music, where they told a story and you could actually understand the lyrics.

Was it a good time for you?

Yeah, it was a good time. I was working in Rome and in London. It was also an interesting period culturally. But I was brought up during the 40s and 50s when you had great singers like Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Billy Eckstine, plus the women such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee.

Apart from Christopher Walken, the Jersey Boys has pretty much an unknown cast. How did you manage to find them?

Most of them had been working in the play for years so I figured why not go and take advantage of them having that experience? I have always believed that if a film works, it has to work as an ensemble and you can have the biggest names in the world but it doesn’t make any difference if the picture doesn’t work.

What made you decide to have a Hitchcock moment – giving yourself a brief cameo appearance?

It was suggested that I join in on a production number, dancing down the street to run during the end credits, but I said, “No. A man must know his limitations.” Then one of the actors suggested that during a party scene he could be watching me in the old TV series Rawhide, so we did that. That was my way of having a Hitchcock moment without actually having to do anything.

Do you have any other projects lined up after American Sniper?

I have a couple I’ve been looking at but I’m not going to do anything for the rest of this year. I’ve done two in a row and I’m just going to stand back and smell the roses a little bit. But if a good project popped up I’d probably change my mind.

How are you enjoying single life?

My single life? I’ve been working so much I haven’t had a chance to be fancy in any way. I’ve done two pictures in a row and just finished one a couple of nights ago.

What’s your secret for keeping so fit and youthful?

I believe in plenty of sleep. What keeps me going is my interest in the work I’m doing. My secret is never letting the old man in. I keep busy and I have done since Rawhide in 1959.

What’s important to you?

Family and friends, in that order. I’m always worried about getting back to family and friends again. You are always worried about their situation and hoping they have as nice a life as you are having.

Can you ever go back to the past after you've closed the book on it, and would you want to? Will you like what you find there?

These are not just the central questions in the movie "Veronica Mars," which premiered yesterday at SXSW, but questions that filmmaker Rob Thomas, his cast, and the audience who enjoyed the three-season TV series have addressed. After seven years, can you successfully return to the setting and characters of a TV show to make a low-budget feature film?

The answer is yes. Thomas and his co-writer Diane Ruggiero have penned a self-avowed love letter to the fans of the series, but grounded it in a solid thriller with compelling characters and bright comic moments.

After a short recap of Veronica's (Kristen Bell) high school private investigator days, the movie leaps ahead nine years after the last episode of the TV series to show us where the title character ended up. She left the bizarrely corrupt town of Neptune, CA and has closed the door very firmly on her past, as she prepares to take the bar exam and work as a high-powered corporate New York attorney. But it’s her past that's getting her in the door for job interviews, like it or not.

READ MORE: Jason Dohring on Stepping Back Into The Role of Bad Boy Logan Echolls For The 'Veronica Mars' Movie

After her old teen flame Logan (Jason Dohring) is accused of murdering one of their fellow high-school classmates, Veronica ventures back to Neptune, trying not to get sucked into a growing mystery. She's also hoping to avoid her 10-year high school reunion, but there's no way this film would miss the opportunity to show us such a quantity of characters from the TV series in a single setting.


Sequences like the reunion are part of the many ways Thomas caters to the "Veronica Mars" fanbase that funded the film in a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign. Fortunately, the film winks at the fans without patronizing them, and without making other audiences members feel left out. Minor but beloved characters appear briefly, and the theme song pops up unexpectedly (performed by Alejandro Escovedo). Thomas might have underestimated fans' enthusiasm, however, and doesn't allow enough time for audience reactions to happen without stepping on the next lines. (He needed maracas, a la "Some Like It Hot.")

A well-paced, well-structured mystery keeps the film exciting for all audience members, with shades of Hitchcock and "Charade" lurking around several scenes and characters. The dark silhouettes and sinister framing in several shots provide reminders that these mysteries are grim situations Nancy Drew never had to deal with.

It's the characters and their relationships that anchor "Veronica Mars," working in tandem with suspenseful aspects of the movie to keep it engaging. Veronica's relationship with her dad (Enrico Colantoni) has always been my favorite part of the series, and it's just as sweet and funny here. The scene where Veronica returns to her father's office for the first time to surprise him hits all the right notes... and economically shows the futility of her desire to shut out the past.

Veronica is far more interesting in Neptune than in New York. She has a smart mouth on her. She's absolutely fearless. She hates injustice and wants to get to the bottom of anything that smells fishy. This is a character I want to have a beer with (and not at a bad karaoke dive), as opposed to the corporate-lawyer-to-be in the prim suit with the boyfriend who works for "This American Life." It's easy to see that Veronica can't escape what's bred in the bone, to paraphrase Robertson Davies.

The supporting characters drawn with the broadest strokes work best in the film. Ryan Hansen as Dick Casablancas gives the film its goofiest comic moments... apart from a couple of cameos by familiar faces in a nightclub scene. Venal Sheriff Don Lamb (Jerry O’Connell), loopy groupie Ruby Jetson (Gaby Hoffman) and Krysten Ritter's party girl Chloe -- I mean Gia -- are over the top but entertaining. Unfortunately, Jason Dohring as Logan is a character whose passionate personality traits are talked about more than shown -- if you haven't watched the show, he seems little more than the Wronged Woman stereotype with a gender reversal.

Because the movie Veronica Mars is set nearly a decade after the TV show, it lacks the high school stratification setting many fans believed was integral to the series. (For those of us who prefer mysteries over mean girls, this is a boon.) And at times, the voiceover narration, a stock feature of the show,  feels excessive and unnecessary here -- too much telling, not enough showing. On the other hand, the snappy dialogue, another carryover from the series, gives "Veronica Mars" a sassy edge, balancing suspense and smartassery quite successfully for all viewers.

Criticwire Grade:

Rating: B

News Source: www.indiewire.com

NEW YORK (AP) — That’s a wrap, Lupita Nyong'o, but may all the best dresses keep coming your way.

With a supporting actress Oscar now in her possession, a tearful Nyong'o concluded a red-carpet season Sunday night as a fashion darling for sexy silhouettes and colors that wow.

She didn’t disappoint at the 86th Academy Awards, wearing a pale blue Prada goddess gown and a sparkly gold-and-diamond headband from Fred Leighton.

Nor did Jennifer Lawrence in a $2 million, 100-carat diamond necklace from Neil Lane to accent her girl-on-fire orange-red strapless dress from Dior. On Cate Blanchett’s ears were 33 carats of opal in a huge drop design that did justice to her beaded Armani gown in a light tan color.

Blanchett’s heavily embellished gown sparkled under the lights at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles when she collected her Oscar for best actress in ‘‘Blue Jasmine.’’

While she’s not under contract by Giorgio Armani, Blanchett does favor the house. ‘‘Armani has made donations to the theater that she and her husband run in Sydney, so she’s very loyal to him,’’ said Hal Rubenstein, editor at large of In Style magazine.

Muted colors, like those worn by Blanchett and Nyong'o’s ice blue, were one of the night’s big trends, said Estee Stanley, a stylist who worked with Portia de Rossi, in a regal Naeem Khan halter with beads and lace, and Jessica Biel, dressed in a metallic sparkler from Chanel dripped with diamond jewelry from Tiffany.

Fitted, body-conscious gowns prevailed on the red carpet, said fashion bloggers Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez.

‘‘The colors of the night were pinks and blues. Statement necklaces were back,’’ Fitzgerald said.

But Marquez mused: ‘‘A general sameness hung over the whole thing. There was not enough experimentation.’’

While some of the necklines plunged, said Rubenstein, ‘‘there was nothing overtly sexy. They were all fairly reserved.’’

Here’s our five to talk about:

LUPITA NYONG'O

‘‘I felt Lupita’s dress was glorious,’’ Rubenstein said. ‘‘She’s just not making a mistake.’’

He praised her color choice and the full-pleated gown with a plunging bodice. The color, he said, was perfect for her dark skin tone. He called her jeweled headband a nice touch of youth and wit.

‘‘There are now so many other awards shows where you can take chances. You can be silly, you can be funny. The Oscars is like coronation night. On Oscar night you look for classic glamour, you look for the glamour that really is defined for us by Hollywood, by the movies that we've seen. All those great Edith Head costumes. ... The way Grace Kelly was dressed by Hitchcock. That’s what we have drilled into our head as what glamour is and so many people reference that type of glamour,’’ Rubenstein said.

On this night, Nyong'o was among them.

‘‘She carries herself so beautifully. She has such poise. Such grace,’’ he said.

Marquez added: ‘‘I loved this, full stop. Every single bit of it. The color is perfect, the way the skirt flows and moves is sublime. She won the entire night as far as I'm concerned.’’

Fitzgerald said he ‘‘loved it, but not as much. I think the neckline is too plunging and too wide. Everything else about is pretty close to perfect, though. It’s a fresh take on the princess gown, with an even fresher take on the tiara.’’

JENNIFER LAWRENCE

Ok, so yeah, she tripped again, this time on the red carpet as opposed to running up the Oscar steps to collect a statuette, but she giggled it off and stunned in strapless Dior akin to the bright color of a Calvin Klein she wore in 2011.

Of a Lupita versus Jennifer smackdown, Rubenstein chided: ‘‘C'mon now, they both looked beautiful. Jennifer’s was also a beautiful color.’’

Lawrence, with a swept-back bob, pulled off a bit of ruffle at the hip. It was a form-fitting dress in contrast to her full gown at last year’s Oscars, when she stumbled as she made her way up the stairs to collect her award for ‘‘Silver Linings Playbook.’’

‘‘The Dolby is a very big theater and when you wear a dress with a lot of volume like she did last year, you kind of get lost in that volume,’’ Rubenstein said. ‘‘The more body-conscious dress really focuses on you.’’

Fitzgerald and Marquez were not quite as impressed.

‘‘I'll say it: I'm bored,’’ Marquez said. ‘‘It has none of the drama of last year’s Dior gown. It’s just another slinky gown on a night with more than enough of them.’’

Fitzgerald added: ‘‘I have to agree. And the red seems kind of done. It just doesn’t feel very fresh.’’

SANDRA BULLOCK