Tom Hulce. Emmy Award, Tony Award. Four Golden Globe noms. Remember him in “Animal House,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and as Oscar nominee for “Amadeus”? Now he’s produced Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” starring Annette Bening and Saoirse Ronan, which opens Friday at the Paris and the Angelika.
“Something shifted, and I never want to act again. Loved it but no more. I haven’t acted in 15 years. My awards are in a trunk here, shelf there.
“Directing’s what I did for 20 years. And actors can’t have vision. Now vision’s exciting. I’m responsible for choosing the project, putting pieces together, picking director, screenwriter, cast, designers, investment partners, and daily creatively fighting huge obstacles that aren’t solved with money.
“We shot ‘The Seagull’ in 21 days upstate at a camp with lakes and a manor house. Chekhov, whom I never read as a child, is challenging. Daunting. We kept story and characters as they were but had the luxury of surroundings. A dramatist did an exact translation. With language more accessible, we wrote the screenplay.
“Plus we had the gorgeousness of quality acting. On just Day 2 of shooting Annette did a scene with an incredible range of emotion. Extraordinary.”
OK, fine. So Hulce. Where’s he live?
“I live in New York, work in New York, rehearse in New York and hop in a car to my country place along the Hudson. Where else should anybody be?”
Some of us knew the former AG was bad
Dribbles of Eric Schneiderman’s sipping a little and bad-boy behavior were oozing out before this week’s bombshell. Nobody believed it. But being New Yorkers, nobody discounted it either. His usual 411 was, “The only pass he ever made to anybody was for money.” And “Schneiderman’s idea of an orgasm is a successful fund-raiser.”
Smartass guess among smartass knowitalls is: First step toward resurrection is always rehab. Watch. Next we hear that’s where he’s headed. I mean, New York’s flexible. Higher standards than other states. We don’t mind crooks in Albany. We just draw the line at perverts.
Mentioned as maybe replacement is Preet Bharara, Nassau Rep. Kathleen Rice, Public Advocate Tish James. Also a crate of lawyers, each of whom thinks he’s bigger than his small practice.
With bad boys in LA, bad boys in DC, bad boys in Albany, bad boys in NYC, bad boys on TV, seems the only hero America has left is O.J.
More political BS. Biden, who’s made a presidential shot before and gotten shot down, wants another shot. Listen up: Obama people are not lining up behind him.
More. Candidate Nixon’s eye is on City Hall. Current first lady then gets a high-up job in Cynthia’s administration. But watch Scott Stringer, who knows how to beat the odds. Cuomo, no place to go, grabs a big money career. De Blasio, another office — not the Oval one.
Book nook
Laurie Burrows Grad, Abe Burrows’ daughter, wrote a new book. Its title: “The Joke’s Over, You Can Come Back Now: How This Widow Plowed Through Grief and Survived” is almost longer than the paperback, which claims 75 percent of us are widowed by age 56.
Besides Earth, females are also overtaking the sky. “Flying Jenny” is another read by Theasa Tuohy. Her mom, friend of Wiley Post, first to fly solo around the world, was a pilot in the ’30s. And Elinor Smith in 1928 flew a Waco 10 plane under all NYC bridges. Mayor Jimmy Walker then suspended her for 10 days.
Our ex-attorney general may have to deliver incriminating information.
Gossip says Schneiderboob crept out of his cave same time as the groundhog.
Seeing his shadow, he already sensed there’d be only three more months of stonewalling.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.