Ron Gilbert

Paul Giamatti inspired me tonight in his performance in Barney’s Version

By Ron Gilbert

Inspiration is the key to getting you up in the morning to start a new day with excitement and fervor and those goals that you have set for yourself in whatever you do. As a writer I need to be inspired so that I can explode with creative dialogue so that you can read about a film that moves me. Tonight that happened. Michael Konyves’ script based on Mordecai Richler’s novel, Richard’s directing the producing team lead by Robert Lantos, the actors and the makeup personal who did an amazing job with the characters changing over a 30 year period. I had a choice of 3 films to see tonight and they are all Award front runners so I will have other opportunities but Barney’s Version is only on screens for 1 week to qualify for the Oscars and Golden Globes and when the Consul General of Canada David Franzen, sends you an invite, you accept for many reasons. Canadians are fun people to hang with plus the reception with food and drinks would complement the evening and also one of my favorite actors Paul Giamatti as the character Barney Panofsky and his crazy but eventful life with its ups and downs with romance and heartache and frustrations. Perhaps if he had a life coach he might have done better but the story would not have been moving.  The writer Mordecai Richler was called “the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and we would all remember his film” The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz with Richard Dreyfus. Mordecai was my father’s name and he worked in the garment business in New York and Richler has such richness in writing about the Jewish people of which I am very familiar.

But let’s get back to Paul whom I have been a fan  ever since I saw him in the film American Splendor which put him solidly on the Hollywood map and then the film Sideways where he hit the big time. He is everyman and also a great actor who makes you feel so deep inside yourself and makes you laugh and cry in the flash of a moment.  As a member of The Actors Studio I am very sensitive to actors who are pushing the emotion or doing a role for the nomination. Paul who is a graduate from the Yale University School of Drama just does the work in such a way that you are watching a real person not an actor. Of course there is Michael Konyves’ script which allows him to transition and the director  Richard J.Lewis is there covering the action  with the perfect  cast of  Rosamund Pike,Minnie Driver,Dustin Hoffmann,Scott Speedman ,Bruce Greenwood, Mark Addy,Saul Rubinek, Jake Hoffman, and RachelleLefevre.You are seeing actors at the top of their game. They are all incredibly believable in this adaptation of the Mordecai Richler’s novel which will rivet you to your chairs and you will not be checking your watch or tweeting or texting.because you will not want to miss a moment of this film. I did not read any synopsis of this film because I did not want to anticipate anything, I knew Paul would make me laugh and I was not in the mood for heavy dramas because we see too much of that on the news everyday.

I spoke with writer Michael Konyves and told him what a wonderful script he wrote and how he did the Mordecai’s novel proud. I just wanted to hug Paul Giamatti and the funny thing is that I’ve heard him say that he is surprised that he is such a sought after actor. Rosamund Pike who has come a long way from being a Bond girl and is also appearing in the film Made in Dagenham and has become an accomplished actress along with her beauty. We discussed her American accent which was flawless and she was beaming when I told her this.

This film will definitely be an Oscar contender and Paul should be up there with a nomination for best actor

So rush out this week and catch the film and if not Sony Pictures Classic film will release it on January 14, 2011

http://www.sonyclassics.com/barneysversion/

Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffmann