|
|
Heard
on the Net:
When I take the time to search all of the various newsgroups and websites which might mention Julian Sands, I occaisionally find something amusing (even downright hilarious!) or telling. Julian is frequently mentioned on the Anne Rice newsgroup (as people continue to insist that he should be cast as the vampire Lestat). While I rarely find any hard-news, there's usually something I'm glad I read, and it helps me keep my finger on the pulse of Julian's image in the world at large. I've saved some select bits of commentary for your perusal. Be forewarned, while the bulk of what I've found is positive (usually clamouring for Julian to play a certain part), some of it was not, and the things that seemed interesting or that I found so ill-informed (or ill-tempered) that they were amusing are included right along with the raves.
Julian as Anne Rice's Lestat?:
"I must definitely say i was completely surprised by the way Tom C. pulled of the role of Lestat but i do think Julian Sands could do a much much better job."
"... I just wish Julian Sands wasn't forty - he IS Lestat."
"JULIAN SANDS JULIAN SANDS!!!! JULIAN SANDS!!! *jumping up and down and screaming*"
"Julian Sands is at least 60 now. I can't really picture him playing Lestat." - "Just a little friendly FYI, Julian Sands turned 40 Jan.15. I don't know if he could give good performance or not, I just SEE him as Marius...My image thats all."
"Julian Sands is the only one in my mind who can play Lestat. Since day 1, he has been Lestat." - "Wow! I thought I was the only one who immediately thought of Julian Sands as Lestat. I thought I was the only person who even REMEMBERED who Julian Sands is! The only other person I thought of was maybe Sting, but he's too old."
"Hell I thought John Malkovich would have been perfect for Lestat until now. Sands would have been ideal."
"JULIAN SANDS!!!!! JULIAN SANDS!!! Is Akashik the only one who agrees with me??? JULIAN SANDS!! Watch Gothic, Boxing helena and Warlock.. THAT is Lestat....JULIAN SANDS!!!!!!!"
"Well, apparently A. Rice did base Lestat on Rutger Hauer for his role in Bladerunner (good call) :) But when all is said and done the actor who SHOULD have been given the role of Lestat is none other than Julian Sands. If you cross his two roles in Warlock and Gothic you can see he's already played Lestat before. And he is the man you love to hate :)"
(someone suggests Julian is too "rugged" for Lestat) - ". . . 'rugged'? Julian Sands? Maybe my definition of 'rugged' is a little different, but Julian has always struck me as being a very beautiful, elegant and slightly androgynous actor. Certainly much more so than Leonardo who is too baby-faced to be considered 'beautiful'. I think someone suggested that Leonardo would make a good Armand. I agree."
"YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!! I was saying this years and years ago when I started reading TVLS...*sigh* what a beautiful man....Julian Sands. Anyone else see his teeny tiny part in The Turn of the Screw?"
"...and for those doubters, the booksigning I had gone to on Miami Beach for SotB last year? Where she made the comment about Antonio? *(And I recall this vividly...) Anne: I wonder what Antonio [Banderras] would look like with blond hair... Jesse: Oh no, Anne, you can't seriously be thinking of Antonio as Lestat; Julian Sands was made for that role. Anne *contemplating*: Now THERE'S an idea..."
"I have it!! Julian Sands!!!! See Boxing Helena, briefly in Arachnaphobia, the first Warlock??? Tall, blond, stunning, perfect accent, and graceful enough to be adequately creepy. If he is biting, I'm buying."
"Julian Sands has appeared in Warlock (as the warlock), Arachnaphobia (as a scientist), and Boxing Helena (as the smitten mad doctor). I would suggest watching Helena to get a good idea of his.........suitability (she said with a leer). He is NOT rugged, except for those fabulous runners legs-- he's more sensual, seductive and must find his way to one of these roles. The voice is very calming, the accent very stimulating -- a perfect combination for the fear/compulsion inspiring qualities we're looking for!!!"
More lustful thoughts....
"...in the movie "A Room With A View", Julian Sands takes a skinny dip with the other men around a pond. He's gorgeous and romping around with his pride and glory swinging in the breeze! Has anyone scanned a still of this moment and put it on the internet?! Please let me know!"
"OHHHHHH!!! Julian Sands!! We watched him in "Room With A View" during lit class in sec 4, also starring Yardley Model Helena Bonham Carter and the very yummy Daniel Day Lewis (altho he looked like a TOTAL FREAKO in that one). There was this scene where Helena B Carter fainted and he *swooped* her into his arms..... gosh, that was enough to make anyone swoon. "
"Can I say that THE most erotic scene in A Room ( I WUUUUV E. M Forster!!!) Is uh- Rupert Graves and Julian Sands chasing each other around the pond? I can block out the other guy- if I try really hard....OH YUMMMMMM" (...to each his own....)
"Girls on
Film Bonus List: Top Five Ass Shots:
1. A Room With a View
We'd dive into an
icy pond if we could grab Julian Sands' buns!" (Yeah,
you and an army of women and
men... <wg>)
"What is so _incredibly gorgeous_ about him?" - "Sheesh, it's the whole attitude....Not just the looks (which are none too shabby) but the way he carries himself, and of course the accent doesn't hurt either. Sigh...."
"It's not so much Julian Sands' looks that I like (I can think of many other men whom I would rate higher on that scale). I think it's his voice I enjoy... it has a deep, sultry timbre to it. And the accent just adds to the enjoyment of hearing him speak."
Some general thoughts and comments, and more casting ideas....
"I think that Julian Sands would make a perfect Legolas (from Tolkien). He should have played Lestat too instead of that Tom Cruisemissile :)"
"He's a very interesting actor because he can be sympathetic and gentle, or cold and evil."
"I know he has played a rather evil character in several films and therefore has probably been stereotyped, but I have always thought that Julian Sands would make a beautiful Rice character. Any one of them, I don't care. Or has someone else already suggested this?"
"Sands would make a good Mael..."
"I probably missed some detail that would make this really unlikely, but should they film it, Courtland always made me envision Julian Sands."
"Allright it's now time. I've wanted to see Julian Sands in a Anne Rice movie for years now. With 2 confirmed movies he has to be cast somewhere. Any suggestions?" - "My suggestion would be Lasher/Julien. It is mentioned many times that quite a few people mistook the "First Street Ghost" for Julien when he was alive. There was so much inbreeding in that family that I think they could double cast many actors to play 2 separate Mayfairs of different generations."
"Yes, yes, yes!! Julian Sands would be a perfect Lasher. He's tall and graceful!! I love it!!"
"He seems to have disappeared..." - "Yeah, I think he's doing Alaskan volvo commercials these days." (Actually, that would be a Japanese Honda commercial, and he's in good company, with Jodie Foster having also done one, and big box-office stars like Schwarzenegger and Stallone also in the Japanese commercial club...)
"For some reason I think Sting or Julian Sands (who might be one in the same) might make a good Julien (from Anne Rice's The Witching Hour). Also, Sting or Julian Sands would have been the best Lestat for that matter. I was surprised that neither of them were. In the comic books...Lestat looked just like them."
"But, come to think of it , Julian Sands was nude a good deal of Gothic (or at least that's the way I remember it) and Eric Stolz did full frontal in Haunted Summer ....I guess if an actor plays Shelley he has to drop trou....hey, that what missing in The Modern Prometheus ...no nude Shelley!!!"
"Hi folks! Trimark is making a new WARLOCK sequel,but I heard Julian Sands might not do it.Who do you think would make a good Warlock?? David Bowie?? CAST YOUR VOTE!! Well, if not Julian Sands, then maybe Gheorghe Muresan (professional basketball player and - suitably - cast as the title role in My Giant with Billy Crystal)." (I'm hoping this was a joke...)
"I always thought Julian Sands would make the *perfect* Jay (from a novel by Poppy Z. Brite), especially after I saw Boxing Helena and that wierd film about people who get hooked on the powder used to kill cockroaches... Anyway, he's got the perfect balance of psycho and gentleman. I think."
"...but Julian Sands as Andrew (Poppy Z. Brite, again)... it's interesting. I was thinking either Gary Oldman or Tim Roth, but for the moment I'm filled with mental pictures of James Spader kissing Julian Sands and it doesn't suck."
On casting some Neil Geiman books: "Julian Sands would be good. He has an awesome 'get out of my way or I'll kick your ass' look."
"I think that Julian Sands would make a great Ishy (from a Robert Jordan book), just dye his hair and let him act like he normally does....psycho."
"Julian Sands, of the Warlock films, "Gothic, and The Doctor and the Devils. Tall, gaunt, stately, AND he can act. He looks like Elric (from a Michael Moorcock book) and he's got presence to spare.
On Boxing Helena: "...As it was, the ending made the whole thing cliche. Sherilyn Fenn was great, though..." - "Julian Sands wasn't chopped liver, either! ;-)"
"Byron (character from tv series Babylon 5) reminds me of Julian Sands (Arachnophobia, Warlock, A Room With a View). He even talks like him. Who the hell is he [the actor playing Byron], anyway? Robin Atkin Downes?" (yes, that's him... another of my favorite actors...)
"I don't think Julian Sands gets all the attention he deserves. A really interesting actor."
On Leaving Las Vegas: "The parts with Julian Sands as the Latvian pimp were never made clear. His relationship with Shue is never explained. The mob weirdos that snuff him is never explained. His final bow out scene had that David Lynch "let's be weird to be weird" feel to it. You get the feeling that all that stuff was explained in the book, which makes it even worse. Sands does a great Latvian accent, though. (Now there's a change in the usual review!) The cheesy clothes and the hair, it was good."
On Warlock: The Armageddon - "Plot: Uh, there's these crystals which are the key to bringing on the end of the world, an evil sorcerer chasing them (Julian 'Hell, it's work' Sands), two teenagers trying to stop him, a gross of special effects and ... zzzzzz ... The original "Warlock" was a bit of a sleeper. Tied up in litigation for years, it turned out to be a minor but fairly entertaining little horror/fantasy. Now let's be clear that this sequel has almost no connection, plotwise or other, with the original film except for the presence of Julian 'No, I didn't read the script before I signed on. Why?' Sands." (No, I'm not going to let this go by without a comment.... Unfortunately, the comment I've got is: well, maybe he's got a point (although not doing Warlock 3 may be an indication he's figured this out).... I addressed the script issue myself in My Response to the Critics. It's admirable to do 3 or 4 films a year, but bad films with bad scripts do not an Oscar nomination make. Hopefully the trend is to stick with Mike Figgis as much as possible from now on.... Do 3 or 4 Figgis films a year, and we might see some real recognition for Julian's acting.)
Interesting bits of information from the variously disgruntled people department:
"Surely I was inconvenienced by the *worst* movie ever made -- "Boxing Helena" -- which was filmed at my condo complex for several weeks a few years ago. Night after night of Julian Sands standing around, having to re-wet his little nylon running shorts, and that "Twin Peaks" Audrey chick in a teddy spritzing her cleavage in the widow across the way (hope I haven't spoiled anything for those of you still planning to rent this). And lots of attitudinal 18-year-old techies ordering people to move their cars here and there, to stand here/don't stand there. And Jennifer (?) Lynch, who seemed half-drunk the whole time. And all those bright lights on until 1 a.m. And, worst of all, the sucky final product."
Aside from the film-critique, I have to wonder: if this was so inconvenient, why did this person stick around and watch closely enough to see them spritzing Sherilyn Fenn's cleavage in the window across the street and notice Julian's "little nylon running shorts"? Well, whatever floats your boat....
the E! on-line gossip columnist reports seeing: "- Julian Sands, jogging with a pal at Fairfax High in L.A. Sands, wearing shorts and a purple T-shirt, clocking his sprints. Body didn't exactly show it, though. Looked a little pudgy (sort of like my little love handles)." Considering that this report was dated shortly before filming was in full-swing on Phantom of the Opera (and judging by those pictures of him from the film) Julian was undoubtedly preparing for the role, and obviously did a fine job, since "pudgy" is the last word that should be used to describe him as the Phantom. What a picky, superficial bunch of people we are....
"...Something called "The Tomorrow Man." He plays an android from the future that time-travels to the present. Sounds miserable from that little blurb, but Julian Sands is playing the android, so as I said, he's probably not available. (...But I agree, Sands would make an excellent Master....) Unless his show gets cancelled (I don't think Tomorrow Man ever made it past the pilot film...), but CBS really has no business cancelling ANY of it's shows, they're all so horrible."
Now, finally, for the last word - let's hear it again:
"JULIAN
SANDS JULIAN SANDS!!!! JULIAN SANDS!!! *jumping up and down and screaming*"
(If you recognize any of the above quotes as coming from yourself, and think you should have credit, please let me know. While items posted to Usenet Newsgroups are about as close to public domain as it gets, I'm not going to deny anyone the right to put their name on their words. I elected not to use names here as it doesn't seem to add anything to the information, nor did I want anyone getting angry over any cosmetic changes I made to the original posts for their usage here.)