Barry Levinson

The Other Side of Fame

by Brian Smith on June 1, 2009

Tim Daly turns the tables on Paparazzi

Does this look fun?

Fame is a funny thing. A lot of notions about fame and celebrity are based on which side of the velvet rope you find yourself.

There’s a great scene in Barry Levinson’s “PoliWood” where two actors shoot down any notion that Hollywood celebrities are motivated by the desire for photo ops.

Sure, it’s a necessary part of the business. Red carpet photo ops are one of the ways motion picture studios promote their latest releases. Just those 4-color flyers for your local hardware store.

But fun? I don’t think so…

Imagine running a gauntlet of this on your way into the movies.

Actually, to quite honest, the photographer who blasted me with his flash was extremely nice and quite personable. We ended up having a drink together. We were at a party, after all. If he seems more dapper than you’d imagine for a paparazzi, there’s a good reason for that. It’s actually actor Tim Daly giving me my 1/15 second of fame…

Tagged as: 15 Minutes of Fame, Actor, Barry Levinson, Camera, Celebrity, Fame, flash photography, Hollywood, Paparazzi, Photo Op, PoliWood, Privacy, Red Carpet, Tim Daly

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Matthew Modine Walks in Your Shoes

by Brian Smith on May 11, 2009

in Celebrity Portrait Photography

I ran into Matthew Modine at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Barry Levinson’s documentary PoliWood. After the screening, Matthew took the stage with several of his follow actors and director Barry Levinson to speak about the film. I loved Matthews’ response to a question about why Hollywood was…so…liberal.

I loved Matthew’s response. As he sees it, actors spend most of their lives preparing for a role – slipping in and out of different characters in all walks of life. When you’re constantly walking in the shoes of another person, you can’t help but have empathy for your fellow man.

Matthew’s words rang true. In fact the words he spoke hit very close to home. As a magazine photographer, I’m constantly dropping into the lives of the people I photograph. I’d have to say that the best part of my job is that one day it could be a conservative billionaire, the next day a rapper. This has given me an opportunity to meet people from every sector of society – even if it’s a just a brief glimpse. I’ve witnessed the best and the worst of humanity and come to realize that on my worst days, I’m luckier than most.

One thing that I learned the first time I met Matthew is that he’s quite a good photographer himself. Matthew showed up on the set of Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 Vietnam War masterpiece Full Metal Jacket, in which he starred as Private Joker, armed with his weapon, his gun and his Rollei. You can read Matthew’s behind-the-scenes account of the making of the motion picture and see his photographs in his book Full Metal Jacket Diary. It’s a wonderfully revealing look inside the movie making process. If you’ve ever been curious about how movies are made, or what it was like to work with Stanley Kubrick, Matthew’s book lifts the curtains and takes you inside.

I shot this photo of Matthew a few years ago as he was preparing for a role in Arthur Miller’s final play Finishing the Picture which Miller wrote as a thinly-veiled autobiographical examination of the time Miller and his then-wife Marilyn Monroe spent shooting The Misfits. For this shoot, we went old-school, shooting with a 1950s Graflex Super D camera and Polaroid positive/negative film.

Matthew Modine

We shot this while Matthew was filming Transporter 2 across the street from me. Matthew and Amber Valletta were my movie “neighbors” in the film. If you watch closely, you can catch a glimpse of our house in the background of the driveway kidnapping scene…

Tagged as: Amber Valletta, Barry Levinson, Books, Film, Full Metal Jacket, Full Metal Jacket Diary, magazine photographer, Matthew Modine, PoliWood, Premiere, Stanley Kubrick, The Creative Coalition, Transporter 2, Tribeca Film Festival

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Mr Smith Goes to Washington

by Brian Smith on May 7, 2009

in Books

I’m in Washington, D.C. today with The Creative Coalition joining a delegation of artists from The Creative Coalition headed Creative Coalition president – actor Tim Daly along with Dana Delany, Alfre Woodard, Matthew Modine, Kerry Washington and Rachael Leigh Cook presenting a mock-up of my book ART & SOUL to The White House and Congress to support public funding for arts and arts education.

The Creative Coalition in Washington, D.C. "ART & SOUL" photographed by Brian Smith for The Creative Coalit

The book features my portraits of celebrities including Tim Daly, Alfre Woodard, Kerry Washington, Dana Delany, Tony Bennett, Anne Hathaway, Zooey Deschanel, Alyssa Milano, Ellen Burstyn and David Hyde Pierce accompanied by handwritten personal testimonials from each artist which express their support for the importance of the arts in our lives.

The project was made possible through generous sponsorship from Hachette Filipacchi Media, American PHOTO and Sony. My thanks to Kayla Lindquist, of Sony Artisan’s of Imagery program, Robin Bronk, Barbara Horvath and Briana Mulherin of The Creative Coalition, Jeffrey Roberts, Al Silvestri, Alissa Reynolds, Anna Martin, Athos Kyriakides, David Schonauer and Russell Hart of American PHOTO and Hachette Filipacchi Media, Eileen Gittins and Robin Goldberg of Blurb, Arri Weeks and Matthew Schulert, our fabulous digital tech from Splashlight, Joel Warren and Eddie Tricomi and over a dozen hair and make-up artists from Warren-Tricomi and Ted Okada, Steve Sommers, Phil Lubell, Kristen Elder and Mark Weir of Sony. But my biggest and deepest thanks goes to my lovely wife Fazia who always makes sure everyone always look great on our shoots – thanks for believing in me all of these years…

Friday night we’ll all be with director Barry Levinson for the Washington, D.C. premiere of his documentary film PoliWood, which examines the intersection of celebrity and politics. The film debuted last Friday to a sold-out theater at the Tribeca Film Festival. Catch it if you can! Things wrap up Saturday with the White House Correspondents’ Brunch and Dinner

Tagged as: Alfre Woodard, Art & Soul, Barry Levinson, Books, Brian Smith, Congress, Dana Deleany, Kerry Washington, make-up artists, Matthew Modine, PoliWood, Sony a900, Ted Okada, The Arts, The Creative Coalition, Tim Daly, Warren-Tricomi, Washington DC

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A Lesson from Levinson

by Brian Smith on May 1, 2009

in Film, Inspiration

09-poliwood-009 I’m in New York attending the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Barry Levinson’s film PoliWood with my friends from The Creative Coalition. The film both examines lobbying efforts by Hollywood celebrities as well as how the television media has changed since it’s origins as “profit” has overtaken “public service”.

Since I was working on the book Art and Soul as Levinson was editing his film, I was invited to a rough cut screening. Watching the transformation from rough cut to release is a fascinating process if you’ve never seen it. After the rough cut screening I was aked by Levinson and producers Robin Bronk and Robert Baruc, for suggestions about what they should change. I must say that I thought the idea of giving “notes” to the Oscar-winning director of Rainman may seem absurd. But what this taught me was that though Levinson might not have need a critique of camera angles, he clearly wanted to know how he could better communicate his message.

“Better Communication of Your Message” Can’t we all learn from that? If an Oscar-winning director like Barry Levinson wants to know how to communicate better, shouldn’t we all?

"PoliWood" world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

"PoliWood" director Barry Levinson with Frank Luntz, Matthew Modine, Tim Daly, Josh Lucas, Wendy Malick and Ellen Burstyn at the Tribeca Film Festival world premiere.