Stars Since Birth

Venice - Day 7 The days are melting into one another here on the Lido and yesterday felt like Minority Report: everybody ran. With back-to-back interviews, spread between two hotels that are poles apart, there was little time for movies, particularly as everything was running late. First up was a press junket for Birth, and Empire was pretty stunned to find itself standing up to greet the one and only Lauren Bacall, screen legend and still a superb actress at the age of 79. "Please," she rasped, "don't rise on my account!" Marvelling at having her first ever film in the festival, Bacall was a wonderful, irascible, earthy presence, dismissing any attempts by us at heroine-worship and painting herself as a practical woman who travels alone, has never had an entourage, packs her own cases and doesn't suffer fools. As she was whisked away to her next appointment she shuffled mock-wearily through the door, muttering, "God, it's like being a robot." Waiting to come in was her co-star Danny Huston, son of John and an old family friend. "Guess who's coooominnng to diiiiinnnnerrrr!!!" she called over her shoulder as he entered the room. Huston was great company; an underrated actor who so far appears to be relegated to supporting player status in tragic roles (see 21 Grams), and Birth is further proof of his flair for this. Personality-wise, his infectious smile is at odds with this but he claims to have little desire to 'do' comedy, preferring to exercise his classical training in serious roles. Next up for him is Scorsese's The Aviator, which he says is amazing, singling out Dante Ferretti's sets for special praise. "It's probably the last movie of its kind," he said, somewhat ruefully but chuffed to have been there. After Huston, who took some time to take his cue from the PR to leave, we met Brit director Jonathan Glazer, who revealed himself as quite the perfectionist. Talking of one scene, which focuses on Nicole Kidman's face for a full two-and-a-half minutes while Wagner plays on the soundtrack, Glazer confessed that it was originally a full seven minutes, and it took him about a year to cut it, snipping one frame a week because he couldn't bear to do it in one go. Ending the proceedings was Kidman herself, who was on fine form, telling us that Lauren Bacall has since become her "New York Mom", giving advice on her private life and leaving delightfully grumpy messages like, "Nicole, you haven't called me for a WEEK!" Kidman acknowledged that her work schedule was punishing, but hinted that it wasn't about to stop any time soon. The good news for us is that any enmity between herself and Lars Von Trier is gone and they will be working together again, albeit not on the Dogville trilogy. Even better was her announcement that she's setting up a project with Wong Kar-Wei and Gong Li. Obviously, no script exists and no start date has been pencilled in but there is a premise and she's genuinely excited about it. Just don't hold your breath after the 2046 debacle. So the Birth stuff was good fun but by that time is was time to race down to meet Ellen Barkin and Todd Solondz, in town to promote Palindromes. Barkin was a surprise; a real sweetheart and a great interview. She told us she couldn't care less about being "a Hollywood whatever", which is why she walked away from it all at the height of her success to be with her husband and family. She sealed the deal by dissing Sea Of Love, explaining that she only did it to work with Al Pacino. In fact, she added that Solondz is the only true auteur she's ever worked with, and even he hasn't really lured her out of semi-retirement since she's more enthused about teaching (at the Lee Strasberg school) than making movies. Solondz, for his part, seemed as a reluctant as usual to take the spotlight. Nerdier than ever in his preppy shirt and geek glasses, he gave a convincing argument for his controversial film, which deals with abortion with a sense of humour that walks a fine line between compassionate and evil. He told us he didn't feel like a filmmaker, wasn't a writer or a philosopher, and when we pointed out that he seemed pretty much defined by the things that he's not, he kicked himself and mentally grinned: "Unfortunately you listen to everything I say." Movie-wise, we didn't see the Kim Ki-Duk, Three Iron (good, we hear), and the new Colin Farrell, Home At The End Of The World (not, we heard), choosing instead to see the terrific 1967 western Quien Sabe? (aka Bullet For The General), complete with inept English subtitles. After this turfed out at midnight, we repaired to the nearest late-night bar, where Daniel Craig rocked up with Rhys Ifans to celebrate the warm reception for their new film Enduring Love. Craig was chuffed with Empire's coverage of next month's Brit-crime flick Layer Cake and we told him we were happy to oblige, but unfortunately someone spiked our booze with alcohol and the rest of the night (morning?) is a blur