Idol Chatter

Maybe it's the current melancholic climate in the country, but I found "Superstars of Dance," NBC's Eurovision-esque dance competition, to be far more engaging Monday night than the "inner beauty pageant" of "True Beauty."

Now I have nothing against the concept of testing the ethical attractiveness of ten of America's hottest men and women, but having to live through an hour of declarations of supreme beauty and rivers of conceit to get to the final twist was rather beastly. And, it's not just beastly for the viewer, but for the contestants as well: After learning that they are not just in a superficial beauty competition and that they have, in fact, been judged on the goodness of their actions as well, the loser is told that they basically aren't a good person. Double devastation!

Watch this exclusive clip from "The Walton's: Season 8" DVD, where the narrator Earl Hamner, whose family the hit show was based on, talks about how the show celebrated values in American life.

In this May 2008 interview, actor Jon Voight, a Catholic, talks about his support of Israel.

In the new issue of Rolling Stone, writer Mark Binelli got a chance to sit down with Brad Pitt, currently starring in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a movie anticipated to get its share of Oscar nods, to talk about life with partner Angelina Jolie, their children, and the diverse movie roles he's chosen over the years.

In this part of the Q & A, Binelli asks Pitt about his character Tyler Durden in the 1999 cult classic "Fight Club":

Benjamin Button is your third film with Fincher. Going back to Fight Club, though, I found a quote where he talks about how you're actually sort of similar to your character, Tyler Durden.

In that I don't bathe?

He didn't mention that specifically. He said, "It's probably a character closer to Brad in real life than most people would be comfortable knowing."

[Pitt laughs]

"There is a childlike sense of anarchy....He is kind of a shit-stirrer and one of those people who is 'Huh? Is that the current thinking? I don't really buy that.'"

Well, that probably comes from growing up in a religious community. I just found it so stifling, my religion. I know it's very comforting for other people.

Did you go to church every Sunday?

Yeah. And it was too much of what you shouldn't be doing instead of what you could be doing. I get enraged when people start telling other people how to live their lives. It drives me mental. This Prop. 8 thing just drives me mental.

Read the complete Rolling Stone interview here.

Last spring I wrote about the superb documentary At the Death House Door when I interviewed its subject, Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville. The film was the first-time direction collaboration between award-winning directors Steve James ("Hoop Dreams") and Peter Gilbert ("Vietnam: Long Time Coming"). James was nice enough to answer some of my questions about the film.

How did you first hear about Pastor Carroll Pickett?

Steve James: Gordon Quinn at our film company Kartemquin was approached by The Chicago Tribune because they thought we would be interested in doing a film focused entirely on the investigation of the Carlos De Luna case by Steve Mills and Maurice Possley. Gordon knew that Peter and I would be interested in the subject and set up a meeting with the reporters. In the course of telling us about De Luna, they also mentioned Pastor Carroll Pickett who had been haunted by the memory of De Luna, and recorded these feelings in an amazing audio tape about the execution right afterwards. When they revealed he'd recorded audio tapes about all 95 executions he'd
ministered to, we were hooked. We decided from the get-go, that we wanted Rev. Pickett's journey to be our main story, and bring us to why De Luna was so important to him.

What was your original intention for the film and how did it evolve?

SJ: See answer above... As stated, the original intention of the Tribune was to have us do a film about Carlos De Luna, but its hard to do a film about a man who was not famous or led a well-documented life, and who was executed 17 years before. With the mention of Pickett, it was clear that we had a unique and potentially powerful story to tell about a man's past and also who he is today. This is one time when the original conception of what the film could be was pretty much on target for what the film ultimately became.But that doesn't mean that the filmmaking process did not evolve. We didn't anticipate guard Fred Allen, nor Carlos' sister Rose, nor Carroll's family and the significance they would all play in the film. Nor did we anticipate just how closed and "well armored" Carroll was as a person and how this film would ultimately - in his words - prove to be "the therapy he never got."

What films inspired you to create documentaries? What documentaries most influenced your approach?

SJ: I was initially influenced by fiction films - one director in particular whose work was always characterized by complex portrayals of his subjects. That director was the great Jean Renoir, director of such classics as The Rules of the Game and Grand Illusion. But I was also affected by less celebrated films of his like "Toni" and "The Crime of Mister Lange." Renoir was the ultimate humanist filmmaker, a great observer of the human condition. Documentary influences were the films of Barbara Kopple, particularly Harlan County, U.S.A., 35 Up by Michael Apted, and The Times of Harvey Milk by Rob Epstein.

As a parent, it's impossible not to feel the anguish that John Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, are feeling right now as they mourn the death of their son, Jett. It makes you want to hug your kids a...

The first tragic celebrity news of 2009 came way too early as reports quickly appeared on Friday that Jett Travolta, son of actor John Travolta and actress Kelly Preston, died in The Bahamas over the New Year's holiday. Jett was...

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What do a Hindu monkey god, a Madonna and child, and a gambler's chit have in common? They are just some of the tiny good luck trinkets that soon-to-be-president Barack Obama carries with him. They are charms that have...