ALWAYS A “THIRD PERSON” IN RELATIONSHIPS

Academy Award Winner director Paul Haggis (“Crash) once again explores complex characters in the intriguing interconnected stories in “Third Person” starring Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, Maria Bello, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, Loan Chabanol and Moran Atias.

Photo courtesy of Axinite Digicinema

                At the core of the story is Liam Neeson, who plays Michael,  a Pulitzer Prize winning author who has holed himself up in a hotel suite in Paris to finish his latest book.  He recently left his wife, Elaine (Kim Basinger), and is having a tempestuous affair with an ambitious young writer, Anna (Olivia Wilde) who has her own agenda.

At the same time, Scott (Adrien Brody), a shady American businessman, is in Italy to steal designs from fashion houses. Hating everything Italian, Scott is in search of something decent to eat when he meets Monika (Moran Atias), a breathtakingly beautiful gypsy, who is about to be reunited with her young daughter. When the money she has saved to pay her daughter’s smuggler is stolen, Scott feels compelled to help.  They take off together for a dangerous town in Southern Italy, where Scott starts to suspect that he is the patsy in an elaborate con game.

Julia (Mila Kunis), an ex-soap opera actress, is caught in a custody battle for her 6 year-old son with her ex-husband Rick (James Franco), a famous New York artist. With her support cut off and her legal costs ruinous, Julia is reduced to working as a maid in the same upscale boutique hotel where she was once a  frequent guest. Julia’s lawyer Theresa (Maria Bello) has secured Julia one final chance to change the court’s mind and be reunited with the child she loves.

“Third Person” tells three stories of love, passion, trust and betrayal, the tales play out in New York, Paris and Rome - three couples who appear to have nothing in common and only tangential connections. But there is always a third person in any relationship -- perhaps not romantically, perhaps you aren't even aware of their existence, but they are there.  At its heart, Third Person is much more than a collection of love stories -- it is a mystery; a puzzle in which truth is revealed in glimpses, and clues are caught by the corner of your eye -- and nothing is truly what it seems.        

Renowned actress and activist, Bello shares, “Like most of the characters in this film you don’t really understand who this character is until it unfolds towards the end.  Paul is such a beautiful writer that the character keeps getting more and more complex, so in the beginning you think  Theresa’s  this   straight   arrow  lawyer   who’s  representing  Mila   Kunis’ character Julia in her custody case, but then you find out towards the end that she has her own complication and pain going on”.

 “Paul Haggis has been a dear friend for ten years, but we’ve never worked together, and I’ve always loved his writing, so, when I first read this, like, every other script he’s ever written, I fell in love with it and really, really wanted to do it and I’m so pleased to be here. It’s fun working with him but of course there’s this fine line between ‘friend’ who I’ve known forever, and ‘director’… and he walks that edge so beautifully. He’s incredibly supportive and has very strong vision about what he wants so, as an actor you feel very safe in that, and yet very free to express yourself,” Bello says further.

ACADEMY-AWARD WINNER ADRIEN BRODY PAIRS UP WITH MORAN ATIAS IN “THIRD PERSON”

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 Adrien Brody who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of real-life Holocaust survivor Wladislaw Szpilman in Roman Polanski's “The Pianist” and he is, to date the youngest person to have received the Oscar in that category stars in the latest romantic thriller “Third Person” opposite an impressive cast that includes Liam Neeson, Kim Basinger, Moran Atias, James Franco, Mila Kunis and Olivia Wilde.

                “Third Person” spans three stories of love clothed in mystery where Brody plays Scott, a shady American businessman and reluctant globe- trotter, who is in Italy to steal designs from fashion houses.  At the end of his trip and looking for something American to eat, he goes in search of a decent hamburger and a Budweiser, and finds Bar Americano, where, to his consternation, he finds nothing he is seeking. He is about to leave when in walks Monika (Moran Atias), a breathtakingly beautiful gypsy.  Unable to stop from flirting, Scott discovers that Monika is about to be reunited with her young daughter. When the money she claims to have saved to  pay  her  daughter’s smuggler  is  stolen,  Scott  feels  responsible  and  is compelled to  help.  Though she  is  skeptical  of  his  intentions, she  reluctantly agrees and quite literally takes him on a ride. While they explore the more dangerous corners of southern Italy, Scott starts to suspect that this girl they have set out to rescue may not even exist. Nothing about their encounter is quite what it seems.

“My character Scott Wallace is a man who’s made some errors in life and some mistakes are permanent and too difficult to overcome. I think he’s grappling with a lot as a result of that and he’s unable to forgive himself.  He encounters a very interesting, alluring young woman in Rome while on a business trip and he somehow needs that excitement she embodies but that too is a tumultuous chapter of his life.    At the same time, it pulls him away from the weight he’s been experiencing and is kind of unable to escape on his own”. .   It’s way more interesting to observe imperfections and people’s ability to get past those imperfections. That’s more inspirational than overly heroic characters,” explains Brody.

                Further, Brody shares that “I strive to find material that is unusual and speaks to me and that’s either something with incredible social relevance or something that is a learning process for me as a human being, not just as an actor and that I can share. There’s a degree of that in this piece – the processing of emotions and the need to overcome certain things that prevent us from moving forward and being present.   Tragedy befalls many people’s lives and you have to surmount that, or it destroys any possibility of the future.    I also think that there are many flaws in all the characters in this film, they’re all really flawed human beings and I think film should celebrate flaws rather than create perfect people, because people are imperfect.”               

Atias, who plays the gypsy Monika, is an immigrant from Albania trying to scrape together a living on the fringes of a world where people like her are considered to be less than dirt – all con artists and criminals.  “Her character’s strongest motivation is simple – survival.  .  It’s not a question whether or not she wants to do certain things; she sees no other choice.  Hers is just a very basic need.  One key characteristic about her is that she doesn’t trust anybody and she has a really good reason not to trust anybody, especially men,” says Moran.

                A model and an ambassador in worldwide disaster relief operations, Atias shares that “I’ve done a lot of research to play Monika, even on things that I knew were not going to ever be in the script, but I just wanted to explore the life of the gypsy in Italy..   I became so respectful of their courage and dignity and that force of life to continue.”

                “Third Person” opens June 18 in theaters nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.

Third Person movie review

The movie is about third wheels in relationships. A situation like that is always complicated. In the movie, there are three stories that happens the same time and it happens the same time in the duration of the movie. It was quite a long movie but it will not bore you if you are the thinking type of audience.

Among the three fragments of the movie, I like Adrien Brody and Israeli actress Moran Atias. Their fragment contributed a little adventure in the movie. For Liam Neeson and Olivia Wilde's fragment of the story, it provided some funny moments but it was also a serious matter. The most serious was Mia Kunis and James Franco's because it concerns child custody. You won't see Liam Neeson does any role like this in his mainstream movies.

There are some scenes that are so serious that it may give you a large gasp in some specific parts. Overall, it was done intelligently. But it will give you heavy heart when you leave the cinema. This movie is more like an independent production.

Third Person in now showing in Philippine cinemas. Released and distributed by Axinite Digicinema. For more quality reviews, cast interviews, and movie updates and promos; like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook and follow this blog.

MILA KUNIS VS. JAMES FRANCO FOR CHILD CUSTODY IN “THIRD PERSON”

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Award-winning director Paul Haggis’ latest romantic thriller “Third Person” follows the journeys of three sets of couple at three different stages of a relationship set at the backdrop of Paris, Rome and New York.  The movie’s main character Michael, played by Liam Neeson, a novelist who’d been famous for his previous work has holed himself up in a hotel suite in Paris finishing his latest book.  Within the hotel works a maid named Julia, Mila Kunis’ character – an ex-soap opera actress who was once a frequent guest at the hotel.

               

                Julia is caught in a custody battle for her 6-year old son with her ex-husband Rick played by James Franco, who is a famous New York artist.   With her support cut off and her legal costs ruinous, Julia’s lawyer Theresa (Maria Bello) has secured Julia one final chance to change the court’s mind and be reunited with the child she loves.     Julia’s sole motivation in life is to gain joint custody of her son but her fragile psychological state and the circumstances of her marriage break-up make that a big challenge.

A fan of the director’s works, Kunis had no qualms joining the cast, “I’ve been a fan of Paul’s work and he has a very specific way of writing so I didn’t necessarily know what to expect but I knew it was going to be intertwining storylines. I can honestly say that there are those movies that come along that they make you realize why you love doing what you do and working with Paul Haggis made me fall in love with my job again. I love it, I love every aspect of how he works, how he interacts, how, confident he is and how confident he makes you feel.   I think we just kind of get each other’s work ethic and work rhythm.   He trusts me and I trust him that’s just so incredibly important”.

“Given the complexity of the film, Julia is a hard character to explain,” says Kunis of her character.  “She’s slightly misunderstood but she means well.   Technically speaking, she’s in a custody battle with her ex-husband Rick for their child Jesse.  At heart, Julia’s a sweet person but she’s always late and if a person has to make a right or a left turn, she always makes the wrong choice, but it’s not on purpose so you can’t blame her for it.  Maybe she just has the world’s worst luck, or maybe not.    She seems to be constantly put in situations where she’s just being attacked or accused of not being good enough.”

Photos courtesy of Axinite Digicinema

“Rick is one of a number of characters who come in and out of the film and he’s an artist, a painter in New York and has a child with Mila Kunis’ character Julia. He and Julia have had a very rocky past and she seems to be emotionally unstable and irresponsible and maybe even dangerous towards Jesse, our child. So, I gain custody of Jesse and I prevent her from seeing him because I think she might hurt him. Paul writes very intricate characters.  I remember years ago he once told me that he likes to make himself the villain.  He likes to put himself into his characters,” Franco enthuses.

“Mila Kunis and I have done something like seven projects together, after working together so many times, there’s certainly a shorthand with Mila Kunis and I.    We just get along very well.      We’ve kind of done everything together - fantasy, comedy, drama, a weird vampire thing, an experimental movie, so I guess the only thing we haven’t done is maybe action, so we’re looking for a, an action script next!” concludes Franco.

“Third Person” opens June 18 in theatres nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.

OLIVIA WILDE IN “THIRD PERSON”

Modern-day renaissance actress Olivia Wilde, who effortlessly transitions from sharing the screen with renowned actors to working alongside devoted doctors and teachers in Haitian refugee camps stars in the upcoming romantic thriller “Third Person” opposite Liam Neeson.

 Scripted and helmed by Academy Award Winner Paul Haggis (“Crash”), “Third Person” is set in Paris, New York and Rome that follows three intersecting stories of love and relationships in crises.  Michael (Liam Neeson) is a Pulitzer Prize winning author who has holed himself up in a hotel suite in Paris to finish his latest book.  He recently left his wife, Elaine (Kim Basinger), and is having an affair with an ambitious young writer, Anna (Olivia Wilde) who has her own agenda.

Wilde’s character Anna is young, beautiful and damaged.  An aspiring New York writer but currently working as a gossip reporter at a fashion magazine, she is protege to Michael, a successful novelist who is also her mentor and charismatic lover.  Anna enjoys the thrill of taunting Michael and using her youth and beauty to toy with him and her arrival in Paris brings much-needed inspiration and excitement to him.    Although she is damaged and complicated, her love for Michael is very real.

“They’ve known each other for some time and as is revealed they’ve been carrying on this relationship. Things are kind of coming to a head and she has a lot of her own personal issues that we learn a bit about, but ultimately she’s in love with Michael and has a kind of obsession with him at the same time as a real romantic love for him,” Wilde explains of her character.   “It’s interesting playing Anna but I don’t know if I’d say I’m enjoying playing her because I wouldn’t want to ‘be’ Anna.  The experience has been a real case of  ‘There but for the grace of God go I.   I’m playing an incredibly damaged and painful role, but it’s really interesting to play. It’s not one of those fun roles where you think like ‘yeah I can’t wait to get to work and… sob today!’’ 

Moreso, Wilde says that “The characters are all so complex and that really appealed to me.   I found parallels   between   their  struggles   really   interesting   and   I   found   myself empathizing with everyone because everyone’s damaged here - men, women and children but they’re all ultimately driven by love.   I think the mark of a great writer is when you can empathize with all of their characters, even though they tend to hurt each other”. Third Person is much more than just a drama.    It’s a thriller and a mystery where these three stories begin to intertwine”.   And (director) Paul Haggis is wonderful to work for.    He’s so personally attached to the material  and  he has  such  great  understanding of  the  characters that  he’s helpful at all points. There is no question he can’t answer with real sensitivity. And  as a director he’s fantastic. He and I have a great shorthand, friendship and mutual respect now we’ve worked together three times”.

“Liam is incredible and so perfect for the role of Michael. He has such a gentle spirit as well as a real solid strength. I think that’s part of who he is - a really sensitive person. I think it’s absolutely imperative the audience empathize with Michael’s character, despite what can be seen as the cruel moves he’s making towards his wife and towards Anna.    Despite that we find ourselves following him, loving him and forgiving him. And I don’t think any other actor could make that work. It takes someone with Liam’s sensitive spirit,” Wilde says of working with Liam Neeson.

Rated R16 by the MTRCB, “Third Person” opens on June 18 nationwide (ahead of U.S. release) from Axinite Digicinema.

LIAM NEESON’S DANGEROUS AFFAIR WITH THE “THIRD PERSON”

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From Paul Haggis, director of Oscar winning film “Crash,” comes “Third Person” starring a powerhouse cast led by Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, Kim Basinger, Adrien Brody, Mila Kunis, James Franco and Moran Atias that tells three stories of love, passion, trust and betrayal.  

 

                The idea for “Third Person” started within days of finishing shooting The Next Three Days, Haggis’s last film.  It began with a series of conversations between Paul and actress Moran Atias, who suggested Paul should write a multi-plotline film about love and relationships. Shared stories and painful and joyous anecdotes about love and relationships turned into fiction over the next months as the characters took form and the stories slowly found shape.  Paul found this the most challenging of his screenplays “because I wrote it all wrong, from the inside out.  I let the characters tell me where the story was going, and often they just wouldn’t speak to me – or worse, they lied to me” he said with a wry smile.

 

                Haggis enjoys exploring complex characters,  “While we don’t often see it in movies, I believe people often take actions that are completely contrary to their needs, and make little to no sense to those around them.  How often have you seen a friend and asked ‘why is she with that horrible man?’, or vice versa. Sometimes they are too close to see what is so blindingly clear to us.  And other times what is clear to us is simply a mirage.  We think it’s the awful woman using the lovely man, when in truth the lovely man is just much better at hiding his crueler intentions”.

 

                “I had all sorts of questions about relationships that I couldn’t answer.  Like how do you deal with an “impossible” person?    Do you try and get what you need by changing them?  And in the rare event that you succeed, do you change them into someone you no longer love?     Or if you know in your gut that someone is lying to you, what are your options?  What happens if you decide to trust a totally untrustworthy person?  Is complete belief transformative?      Do people come to embody the virtues or sins we imbue them with?  In matters of love, do you only truly win if you surrender?  Or does the victor just walk away with the cruelest of smiles, as our egos will warn us?  And if some of us are doomed to only fall in love with the wrong person – is that wrong person really the right person, we just can’t recognize it?  As you can see by these questions, in relationships, I am that impossible person.”

 

                Reminiscent of Paul Haggis’ “Crash,” the tales play out in New York, Paris and Rome - three couples who appear to have nothing in common and only tangential connections. But there is always a third person in any relationship -- perhaps not romantically, perhaps you aren't even aware of their existence, but they are there.  At its heart, Third Person is much more than a collection of love stories -- it is a mystery; a puzzle in which truth is revealed in glimpses, and clues are caught by the corner of your eye -- and nothing is truly what it seems.

 

                “Third Person” opens on June 18 in cinemas nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.