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Follow-up to 'American Gigolo' premieres at Berlinale
2007-02-13
Hollywood director and screenwriter Paul Schrader revisits the ground he covered in "American Gigolo" in his Berlinale entry, "The Walker", starring Woody Harrelson as an ageing high-class escort. Harrelson's Carter Page III, the gay black sheep of an old-line political family, squires the grande dames of the Washington social scene played by Lily Tomlin, Kristin Scott Thomas and screen legend Lauren Bacall. Schrader, who is also serving as the jury president at the 57th Berlin Film Festival, told reporters that he had based the character on the real-life "walker" of Nancy Reagan in the 1980s, Jerry Zipkin, who offered her platonic companionship and a regular date to Washington social events. "It's a certain kind of gent, usually fairly witty, sometimes money is exchanged but more often than not it's men who like this world and like girl-talk and gossip," said Schrader, 60. "It's kind of a progression of a metaphor I've used in the past, like Taxi Driver," he said, referring to the screenplay he wrote for the gritty 1976 drama starring Robert De Niro. He said the trajectory of male icons ran from the angry young man in "Taxi Driver" to Richard Gere's male prostitute in "American Gigolo" in 1980 to the natty 50-year-old toupee wearer in "The Walker". "In 'American Gigolo' there's a scene that's become famous of Richard Gere dressing. So I thought, OK, we'll do a scene of Woody undressing but we'll end it with him taking his hair off," he said with a laugh. Bacall, 72, said she relished the chance to play the doyenne of the group and had no plans to retire. "I have too much energy to stop working," she said. "I like the adventure and the discovery of it and the enthusiasm of it." Although the film touches on contemporary politics in the United States, presenting a deeply conservative administration enmeshed in the Iraq war, Schrader said the film was not intended as a political statement. "This is a character study," he said. Schrader declined to be drawn on his opinion of De Niro's Berlinale competition entry, "The Good Shepherd", or any of the other contenders. "See these fingers here?" he asked, holding up four. "They cut them off if I answer that question," he quipped. "The Walker" is screening out of competition at the Berlinale, which wraps up Sunday after the top prizes are awarded at a gala ceremony Saturday night.
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