What fun! Last night the 49th SF International Film Festival closed with
A Prairie Home Companion to a packed house at The Castro. You can always count on
Robert Altman. With guest appearances by two members of the ensemble cast,
Lily Tomlin and
Virginia Madsen, the screening ended with a terrific Q&A. Lily Tomlin has been one of my heroes since the Laugh-In days and over the years I've never missed her one-woman shows--always brilliant and generous with her audience and her colleagues, last night was no exception. She and
Meryl Streep play the surviving members of the singing Johnson Sisters, playing off one another and with one another throughout their scenes together, their chemistry and fun-loving spirit sparkles on screen. Tomlin told the Castro audience that she took singing lessons for several months before the shoot and still told Altman she was concerned about her singing badly, his response was something like 'then don't sing.'
Kevin Kline ever splendid and funny.
Woody Harrelson and
John C. Reilly hilarious as Dusty and Lefty, two cowpoke trailhands singing every bad joke you may have heard or a few new ones written by Keillor, who als
o wrote the screenplay. Virginia Madsen talked about not knowing what was going to happen with her character the Angel and that she'd just walk about the set, sometimes directed by Altman and then pulled off because it wasn't working. She said she hung around the set each day sitting on the first row in the audience watching because she just couldn't leave, it was all too much fun and wonderful. A live radio show in a movie. Perfect.
A Prairie Home Companion was shot on location at The Fitzgerald Theatre (the sight of the radio show). There are multiple great scenes as the action takes you on stage, backstage and down to the dressing rooms. Exceptional scenes include the ones between Yolanda
and Rhonda Johnson as they sit in front of the make-up mirrors reminiscing and talking with Lola played by
Lindsay Lohan ---a tribute to classic Altman filmmaking and a triumph for Streep, Tomlin,
Keillor and the rest of the cast. A delight.
What fun! Last night the 49th SF International Film Festival closed with A Prairie Home Companion to a packed house at The Castro. You can always count on Robert Altman. With guest appearances by two members of the ensemble cast, Lily Tomlin and Virginia Madsen, the screening ended with a terrific Q&A. Lily Tomlin has been one of my heroes since the Laugh-In days and over the years I've never missed her one-woman shows--always brilliant and generous with her audience and her colleagues, last night was no exception. She and Meryl Streep play the surviving members of the singing Johnson Sisters, playing off one another and with one another throughout their scenes together, their chemistry and fun-loving spirit sparkles on screen. Tomlin told the Castro audience that she took singing lessons for several months before the shoot and still told Altman she was concerned about her singing badly, his response was something like 'then don't sing.' Kevin Kline ever splendid and funny. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly hilarious as Dusty and Lefty, two cowpoke trailhands singing every bad joke you may have heard or a few new ones written by Keillor, who als
o wrote the screenplay. Virginia Madsen talked about not knowing what was going to happen with her character the Angel and that she'd just walk about the set, sometimes directed by Altman and then pulled off because it wasn't working. She said she hung around the set each day sitting on the first row in the audience watching because she just couldn't leave, it was all too much fun and wonderful. A live radio show in a movie. Perfect. A Prairie Home Companion was shot on location at The Fitzgerald Theatre (the sight of the radio show). There are multiple great scenes as the action takes you on stage, backstage and down to the dressing rooms. Exceptional scenes include the ones between Yolanda
and Rhonda Johnson as they sit in front of the make-up mirrors reminiscing and talking with Lola played by Lindsay Lohan ---a tribute to classic Altman filmmaking and a triumph for Streep, Tomlin, Keillor and the rest of the cast. A delight. 
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