The fourth wall- a newsie type of story
By Darrell J Banks
Cr2021
Well, I’ve written a few things to post on this blog. But I haven’t posted them. Capitalism, requires well capital. And expending good capital for bad results is not well, good business. But I renewed the video/blog subscription in the hope that I’ll write more posts to motivate you the reader to check out my books on Amazon. Capitalism, as I learned in economics 101 despite tick tock, you tube, etc. does not include things such as a free lunch. Thus, this free news story as things move from the zoom world to the exclusivity of live events ala Cannes Film Festival and the Tribeca event.
So I’ve spent my time absent time from the blog, editing the first 60 plus pages of the legal thriller, going back to the November 2020 horror novel and well wasting time. UNTIL
NICOLE KIDMAN
I was scheduled to see the premiere the night before. I fell asleep, having seen Nicole in person and inspired for decades, well. I saw the replay on you tube. The only other actresses I am fixated on are Halle Berry ( but she has a boyfriend again) and Charlize Theron ( not dating). But Nicole was the first adult star crush since Days of Thunder, having seen her at TIFF in some beautiful gown, giggling as she walked up the stairs. I was dazzled. That is why we watch television shows and movies to see the beautiful ones. I was reminded by a female Sundance host that Charlize Theron is quite beautiful too.
Looks after all form the fourth wall.
Well, until this zoom call with Nicole and her costar Hugh. Their appearances created slight, but growing, jagged line in the fourth wall between film, television and reality.
That was a slight crack in the fourth wall. Not that the crack had not appeared before. In most of Nicole’s pre Dogville films, she played the supportive Hollywood type. ( Batman, Days of Thunder, etc. etc.) Then she did Eyes Wide Shut and in Dogville she was sexually assaulted. But that slight crack, expounded into let’s tear the building down in films such as The Paper Boy, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Little Nicky, (Big Nicky is from Deadline Hollywood) has always taken risks in her film and television careers (see her in Big Little Lies). There she plays well off of Meryl Streep in season two of Big Little Lies.
THE FOURTH WALL
Film as shown in the theater has it’s own fourth wall in the physical building of the theatre; escalators, elevators, popcorn, drinks and the dark cool of the theatre room.
Within our own minds we have a vision of what a star should be, or can be.
So when I watched Hugh Grant eat some nuts and drink grape juice/liquor on that zoom webinar with Nicole.
Well.
I wondered if he was going to pick his teeth online. Because it seemed as if something was stuck in his mouth. But then the most human of interactions, the need to take a drink. Hugh was eating as Nicole talked, so I wondered if he knew he was on screen.
But when Nicole, took a swig from a bottle as if she was standing on a NYC corner, on a hot muggy August day.
Well.
THE FOURTH WALL EVAPORATED
As my father the director/actor has said they ( movie stars) go to the bathroom too. So be careful on placing stars on a pedestal, they might fall off of it, or you may see something you really didn’t want to observe. Which brings me to another news item.
So the other day on Instagram. I observed Sharon Stone go through a painful, dramatic and yet funny moment.
Sharon Stone was famous before Halle, Charlize or Nicole. She was the sex action symbol in the Specialist and Total Recall. The total sex symbol actress in Basic Instinct and the villain in Cat woman.
I’ve waited months for Ms. Stone to conduct an Interview with Anderson Cooper. So when I saw this little snippet based on her book The Beauty of Living Truth. I felt blasting down the fourth wall was the best thing for some movie stars.
SHARON STONE
Here, Ms. Stone shows us her humanity, and her need to compassionately care for a writer friend who was in a death spiral from cancer. Her concern for her friend led her to lay in bed and watch television together. Until she saw the red carpet, and realized she had to make an Oscar presentation. Without having ordered a dress, she had to take anything black from her clothing and play costume designer.
This fourth wall crack reminded me that Sharon, Ms. Stone, can play comedy, drama and crisis within one moment (her best film The Muse).
So I have not lost faith that those stars who jump over the fourth wall, crack it or sometimes sneak under it will continue their careers and delight us on and off the screen. Because beyond the fourth wall, is the fifth wall of virtual reality. Hear that, Halle, Nicole, Sharon and Charlize?
Ciao.
Writer Photos Darrell J Banks 
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