Seeing Tracy Morgan up and about was a sight for sore eyes as we’ve all awaited his return following his recovery. And his appearance as host of Saturday Night Live’s third episode of it’s 41st season gave us all reason to smile.
On Wednesday, October 14th “The Diplomat,” a documentary about the life of the legacy American diplomat Richard Holbrooke premiered at One Time Warner Center.
The film is directed by David Holbrooke, Richard’s eldest son, who also directed Hard as Nails, which aired on HBO in December 2007. His other works include Freaks Like Me, Time for a New God and A Redwood Grows in Brooklyn. He also produced long-form pieces for The Today Show, CBS News and CNN, has been a contributing editor at GQ and written for the Huffington Post.
In the Diplomat, David Holbrooke “get[s] to know [his father] better in death,” David says, “than I ever did in life.” The senior Holbrooke’s singular career spanned fifty years of American foreign policy- from his early years as a foreign service officer in Vietnam through his success in securing a peace between Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia, and finally, to his work as special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In the film, David interviews the many people who had personal relationships with Richard Holbrooke including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Wesley Clark, David Petraeus, Kofi Annan, Diane Sawyer, Bob Woodward, and foreign presidents past and current. The film is a frank portrait of Richard Holbrooke’s relationships with his sons. It gives insight into Holbrooke’s public persona: a single-named celebrity in certain circles, the “diplomatic hope of a generation,” contrasted against a man his sons struggled to know better. The film shows that Richard’s fatherhood weighed against ambition, drive and the force required to affect change throughout the world. The documentary takes you behind the scenes of high stakes diplomacy where peace is waged and wars are ended.
The film premieres on HBO Monday, November 2 – the 20th anniversary of Holbrooke’s crowning achievement: the Dayton Peace Accords which ended the war in Bosnia. Check out our red carpet interviews with David Holbrooke and the producer of the film, Stacey Reiss:
Q: When did you know you wanted to make a documentary film about your father?
David Holbrooke: It was about month after his death when I stood on a stage with President Obama, Hillary Clinton and former President Clinton – with all these luminaries and realized he was a historical figure and felt that story really needed to be told. At first I thought someone else should do it but then I realized that I really needed to understand him better and so I set out. It was a crazy odyssey but here we are, the film is coming out on HBO.
Q: Did you know how you wanted to structure the film?
David Holbrooke: I knew that I wanted to have a voice in it so what I set out to do my story of his life. I knew there were two things that were important- 1 there was a linear structure: so we started during his first job at Vietnam, then into Bosnia and finally Afghanistan. I followed his life but I also knew sadly it was going to end with his death so that was really important. The other thing is I wanted to go to the places he had worked in. I wanted to go with the people who had been there with him and so that was the key to the film. To be in Afghanistan was one thing but to be there with Dexter Filkins who covered him for The New Yorker and The New York Times was another thing. This gave me an insight both in the person and in the place.
Q: Do you feel like there were parts of your father that you did not know about but uncovered throughout the making of the film?
David Holbrooke: Sure, there was lots that I learned about him now that I spent 4 years making it. I hope that it’s something everybody does- speak to their parents and interview them and just sit down with them because I never had the chance to actually interview him while he was alive.
Q: How did you get involved in this project?
Stacey Reiss: After David’s father died, he called me up and asked if I was interested in working with him on a film about his father and I knew Richard as David’s dad because David and I are friends but I didn’t know all of his work so I lept at the opportunity and got the opportunity to see all the work that he did as we traveled around the world.
Q: Have you produced other films?
Stacey Reiss: This is my 3rd HBO documentary and interestly each of the films I’ve done for HBO are about people and it’s often about a person not necessarily known by name but once you know their work it sheds light on who they are. This is another example, not everybody knows Richard Holbrooke by name but they certainly know about the Dayton Peace Accords, the work that he accomplished.
An explosive new series from Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Beyond the Lights,” “The Secret Life of Bees,” “Love & Basketball”) and Reggie Rock Bythewood (“Beyond the Lights,” “Notorious”).
Grey’s Anatomy star Sara Ramirez has signed on to produce the new film Loserville, a film starring Darby Stanchfield (Scandal), Matt McGorry (Orange is the New Black), and Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos).
Nicki Minaj: My Truth came out in 2012, Nicki Minaj: My Time Again was released this year, and it seems like there’s no stopping the television deals she’s getting, as she has just signed into make another series.
Now is a great time to start watching old cult classics.
Helen Mirren. Fred Armisen. Bill Hader. Seth Meyers. Guest stars. Sumarlioi V. Snaeland Inigmarsson (he’s gonna be big guys, trust me).
She recently was voted America’s favorite female television character. She’s been playing the same character for over fifteen years. To put that into context, her character has lived longer than teens entering high school this year.
Olivia Benson is why people watch Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. That, and the phenomenal writing, great cast, amazing directing, show-stopping plot, and more. Mariska Hargitay plays Olivia Benson. Read our interview with Hargitay and SVU producer Warren Leight about Oliva and the show.
How’d you become a director?
Mariska Hargitay: I’ve been luckily paying attention for years and I have the A-team that writes to my strength as a director and it’s been an incredible inspiration and a joy. I obviously have a pretty strong view about things, so for years you see someone going, “Oh, no those are this way.” But it’s been an incredibly fun challenge and trip and education. I really love it, I find it very challenging, and because it truly is a different set of skills and you need the different tools. And sometimes I’m up for the challenge and sometimes I’m so exhausted I can’t see straight. My confidants, my consiglieres, we all talk about when I should do it and when I shouldn’t. But I’ve enjoyed it and I was blessed with these incredible actors and the last one with Danny Pino and Armand Assante surpassed my wildest dreams. It was an incredible experience and again, it was perfect. But it was an education though because actors can be sort of myopic in what they see and how they experience things. You know, it’s “How would I feel? What would I do? Me, me, me, I, I, I.” And you have to be as an actor, but as a director, no one cares about you at all. And you have to be everyone, and see every side and you have to rally a group of people and be a true leader so there are all these great things. You know, some things I’m great at, some things, I’m like “Ok, I need to work on.” But it was a thrill. It was a thrill.
Benson is America’s favorite TV character. What is it that America is responding to?
MH: You know, it’s so encouraging and exciting to me, this character, this beautifully conceived and written character. I think it really speaks to compassion and strength, and what women are – in so many ways, it’s the best part of who we are. She is fearless, she is a lioness, she is a protector, she is compassionate and empathetic, so we feel safe with her and all of those feminine things that we are. And yet, we’re not pigeon-holed because she’s a bad ass, she’ll kick your ass, she’ll get it down, she’ll protect you. And even though she has fear because she is human, she’ll fucking do it anyway. You know what I mean? And I think that’s what it is, and the writers have written this character again because she’s noble and flawed like we are, but she keeps her eye on the goal and keeps her eye on the truth. You know, it’s funny, my friend gave me the Wonder Woman book today—my niece and nephew gave it to me. It was so meaningful because what is she? She is the defender of truth, and I think a woman from Harvard conceived this character—you know, she’s the best in all of us. And I think that’s what Olivia strives to be and recently does it too. She does it all- it’s not easy but she doesn’t quit trying. Takes the hit, gets up again.
Warren Leight: She’s evolved a lot, these past five years.
MH: Yeah, she’s evolved and keep evolving. Being a mother and saying I can’t do this and she’s this, the boss, and she has a kid—she’s boss and in charge of a kid. But I think this idea of evolving and stretching and growing and showing up and being there is really helpful- I just love that that’s what people are responding to.
WL: Well what I love in that poll is that men found her their favorite woman as well and that was significant to me, because you think they’re going to go for something dumber. There’s this fear if there’s a strong female central character in your show, that’s off putting to men, but it isn’t. They actually responded very very strongly to Olivia and that’s the surprise for network executives- that she can run the squad and no one’s put off by it or throwing around the bitch word or anything.
MH: Well one of the important things that occurred to me while I was playing this character, again, was the compassion piece. That was when I went through the forty hour training to become a counselor and what we learned there is the idea of this bad ass cop who almost serves as a rape crisis counselor. [She] married into one but also maintained her own femininity and heart while she evolves and grows up and that was so important to me because humanity is right there. And she always comes to me from a broken place. She didn’t come into this world like “I’ve got everything going for me.” No she’s the broken product of a rape victim and then said, “How can I take this hole, this deficit, this pain that I am, that keeps me related and understand people and then make it my strength?” That’s also what we’re looking for: nobility of people. If somebody takes their setback, whatever cards we’ve been given, and then overcomes it, so I think that.
Ta’Rhonda Jones plays Porsha on Fox’s hit show “Empire.”
On September 17 Los Angeles showed it’s true colors as Hollywood’s elite came out to celebrate Audi’s Annual Pre-Emmy event.