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старое, для архива.

«The Performance of Heartbreak and Other Plays»

7 ноября 2015 Скотт встречался с поклонниками в грин рум Samuel French, Theatre & Film Bookshop (книжный магазин а Лос-Анджелес), отвечал на вопросы и подписывал копии книги.
Собрала под катом найденные фото, видео и чужие впечатления от встречи.

@_valleygirl07:
- The room was packed to standing room only for Scott's signing. It was so awesome!!! Had a great time. So so so lucky I got to go : D : D : D
- Scott is trying to get The Trouble We Come From published thru Samuel French, so for all of us hoping to get our hands on it fingers crossed
- It's incredibly hard to fill seats in LA Theatre, so he's taken a loss on the plays he's done.
- Broadway/off Broadway is so competitive that in meetings he doesn't get asked about the play, but about whether a big name celeb will star.
- It sounded like he's been made an offer to be in a play Off Broadway, but didn't say for what/if he was going to do it.
- It's harder for him to be in a play that he's written himself because he can't turn off the part constantly wondering if people will hate it
- He'd look forward to the chance to be in a play he didn't write just to experience it without all that baggage.
- But, he will never stop writing and being in his own plays. : )

@H50News:
- It was great seeing n talking 2 Scott 4 the 4th time, at his book signing.15 or so present n we talked 4 about an hour. Awesome,genuine guy.

@Missy262:
- I'd call any scotty event that ends with a hug, kiss on the cheek, and a "thanks for always being so supportive..." a major win. #lovehim
- when I said it was good to see him again and mentioned being at "a few plays"..he said"yep.I remember seeing you"..ahh. so surreal : )
- he definitely has such a passion for plays and writing....so i am hopeful we see another one come next summer! : )
- #ScottCaan is one of the funniest,sweetest,most awesomely talented people there is.Such a great speaker/story tellerand so sweet to talk to!

@SamFrenchBkshp:
- Scott paid for the book for our guest in the wheelchair. That's the kind of guy he is!

@romeoperlman:
- l got my Signed Copy.. so blessed to have had the Wonderful opportunity/privilege to be taught by this amazing Artist. He is a true #Mensch and a hardworking #Yid in Hollywood. SO POUD of you #ScottCaan. So glad that these plays have finally been published... I laughed and cried. #ThePerformance Of Heartbreak. Amazing plays. You'll fall in love with all of them.

@_valleygirl07:

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@theregoesthebellhop:

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Фотоальбом встречи в галерее "Samuel French"



jadenalda: I had the pleasure of meeting Scott today. He's good people. #scottcaan #hawaiifive0 #Cbsstudio #ncisla #grateful #actorslife #goodtimes #mesiner #playhousewest #jadenalda #actor #lifeisgood #blessed #success #movie #warnerbrosstudios #family #hollywood #onday #studio #active #acting #rich #wealth #creative #sanfrancisco #free #onedirection #paramountstudios



lonestar262: So much fun at #ScottCaan book signing !!!



samuelfrenchbookshop: Scott Caan #samuelfrenchbookshop #scottcaan #greenroom #actors #playwright #performanceofheartbreakandotherplays

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Скотт говорит о своем сборнике на Good Day LA (FOX 11 News):

— Scott Caan on writing his own roles and 'Hawaii Five-O'

@темы: видео, истории, 2015, candid/bts, проект: The Perfomance of Heartbreak and other plays, интервью

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mrdougellin: I'm full

@темы: 2016, candid/bts

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июнь 2015, постановка "The Trouble We Come From" в The Falcon Theatre, Калифорния


summerspiro: Been a dream to watch these talents at work for the last few months. Bravo darlings! It was an epic run! #TheTroubleWeComeFrom @falcon_theatre




terireeves: Dinner break with these cool cats. #TheTroubleWeComeFrom @falcon_theatre




edensassoon: 23 years ago I Found my 1st #LOVE and #heartbreak #twentythree years later WE UNDERSTAND, RESPECT just that & will always have the best #laughs and childhood memories #EdensLoveStory 💋 saw "The Trouble We Come From" written by #ScottCaan & as expected it was HONEST and from the HEART ☺️👊😂 A MUST SEE #RomanticComedy #FalconTheatre #lifeat42




terireeves: Closing night. Gonna miss these crazy cats. #TheTroubleWeComeFrom @falcon_theatre




clairevandboom: We took down Opening Night!#AdrenalineRush




nicolettenoble: Blown away after watching #ScottCaan #MichaelWeston #ClaireVanDerBoom & #TerriReeves in #TheTroubleWeComeFrom -if your in LA check out Garry Marshalls theatre< #FalconTheatre

@темы: 2015, проект: The Trouble We Come From, candid/bts

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Промоушен «Rock the Kasbah»

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Скотт (с Тейлором Кинни и Лим Лубани) на HuffPost Live:



— 'Rock the Kasbah' Stars LIVE


Скотт (с Тейлором Кинни и Лим Лубани) на AOL BUILD:



— S2 E396 : Scott Caan



jammi_york: Some of the cast from "ROCK THE KASBAH"
Scott Caan,Leem Lubany and Taylor Kinney. For Aol Build.

@темы: 2015, роль: Джейк (Rock the Kasbah)

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danieldaekim: Love #H50 style. #massageparty

@темы: candid/bts, H50 cast, роль: Дэнни Уильямс (Hawaii Five-0), 2014

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Промо-материалы для "The Dog Problem"

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Фотосессия Скотта (вместе с Джованни Рибизи и Меной Сувари) для Premiere Magazine [US] (выпуск 4, том 20):



Полный сэт в галерее Scott Caan Web или на CorbisImages

— photo by Bryce Duffy || September 11, 2006

еще 4 фотосессии

Фотосессия Скотта (вместе с Джованни Рибизи) на 31-м ежегодном TIFF (Торонто, Канада):



Полный сэт в галерее Scott Caan Web или на GettyImages

— photo by Carlo Allegri || September 12, 2006



Фотосессия Скотта (вместе с Джованни Рибизи и Меной Сувари) на 31-м ежегодном TIFF (Торонто, Канада):



Полный сэт в галерее Scott Caan Web или на GettyImages

— photo by J. Vespa || September 11, 2006



Фотосессия Скотта (вместе с Джованни Рибизи) на 31-м ежегодном TIFF (Торонто, Канада):



Полный сэт в галерее Scott Caan Web или на GettyImages

— photo by KMazur || September 11, 2006



Фотосессия Скотта (вместе с Джованни Рибизи) на 31-м ежегодном TIFF (Торонто, Канада):



Полный сэт в галерее Scott Caan Web

— September 11, 2006

@темы: фотосессии, 2006, проект: The Dog Problem, роль: Каспер (The Dog Problem)

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duncan_baker_movie: @d.irmas in action for #heartbreakepilogue #danielirmas #scottcaan #sherrytheater

@темы: видео, 2015, проект: The Performance of Heartbreak: An Epilogue

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«The Performance of Heartbreak: An Epilogue»

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Рецензия на пьесу Скотта "The Performance of Heartbreak: An Epilogue":

The Performance of Heartbreak: An Epilogue begins in familiar territory for Scott Caan: a writer, Jimmy (Daniel Irmas), struggles with relationship issues and turns to his best friend Giovanni (the always delightful Joe Pease) for help. Caan’s writers are often tortured and tormented men, but in Heartbreak, a finger is finally put on the pulse of that despair: capitalism. The play opens with Jimmy flipping a coin, a decision weighing on his mind. Giovanni patiently waits his friend out as he rambles about trips to Paris, babies and the aggravation of his live-in girlfriend taking over “his” space. Jimmy: Having a woman move in with you is like the worst deal in the history of bad deals. Think about it. She gets a new house, new furniture, new place to put all her shit, and what do you get in return? Love? Support? Occasional affection. But what the fuck? She’s still getting all that shit too. Nothing’s changed, except mine becomes ours, and I just became we. For what? I mean, I was just having sex with you, regularly, for free, and now I’m paying for it.” Giovanni: Someone has to be the Masculine and someone has to be the Feminine. I mean, everyone plays a part. You move in, she moves in. Someone wears pants…Generally the one wearing those very pants wakes up every morning and puts money in them.” The very language Jimmy and Giovanni use to seek an understanding of cohabiting with a romantic partner is infused with patriarchal capitalist constructs. The negotiation of two human beings merging their individual lives is overshadowed by fiduciary concerns. Someone wears the pants in the family, someone has financial responsibility, and that someone is male. The man provides (Masculine = active) and the woman takes (Feminine = passive). And thus it becomes clear how desperately patriarchy relies on capitalism to maintain its power. What’s fascinating to note is that while Caan never mentions marriage, which in its historical tradition outright treated women as property, even the act of cohabitation between Jimmy and his girlfriend replicates that patriarchal structure. And an equal relationship turns into an unequal one. By moving from her house to Jimmy’s, where everything has been bought and paid for by him, she no longer carries the burden of financial need, but that doesn’t mean she stops “owing.” She pays her debt with her body. And sex that was once “free” becomes a business transaction, turning her into the very definition of a prostitute. (That a wife “owed” her husband sex was in large part why spousal rape wasn’t considered a crime until the mid 1970’s and didn’t become law in all 50 states until 1993.). What does she get in return for all this? Status with her female friends, Giovanni guesses. Talk about a bad deal… It might be easy to dismiss both Jimmy and Giovanni as unrepentant Neanderthals at this point, but it would also be a mistake. We are all born into a cultural history, born into traditions and values that lurk beneath the surface in our psyches even when we no longer believe they’re the truth. Masculinity, we are taught, has more value than femininity. And while femininity can gain value when infused with masculinity, masculinity is devalued when infused with femininity. It’s the patriarchal playbook. And though Caan’s work doesn’t touch on race, capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy go hand in hand. Ultimately, though Jimmy and Giovanni maintain the binary construct of Masculine and Feminine throughout their discussion, they also boil people’s behavior down to individual choice, and women can choose the “masculine” behavior just as men can choose the “feminine.” Essentially it comes down to what feels right to each individual person, no judgment. It’s progress, and as come to find out, Jimmy’s churlishness about sharing his things doesn’t so much stem from selfishness as it does from that very pressure to be the “provider.” To make enough money to provide all the things and the trips to Paris and babies…because Jimmy wants to quit his soul-sucking job, writing for a popular television show. Jimmy: “These people. This machine. They don’t have hearts. There’s no pulse. They don’t give a shit about feelings…It’s actually a prerequisite. I know this sounds crazy, but I’m pretty sure, in order to be an executive at one of these big television networks, you have to take a class on how to ignore compassion.” No matter whether your business is producing television or selling coffee pots, when profit is given a higher value than people, people simply become things, cogs in a machine that have no value as human beings. And when art is reduced to a profit making business, it’s only imperative is to make what sells. And it has a vested interest in selling the values of capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy, in upholding the system that made it profitable to begin with. And here is the crux of Jimmy’s despair. He has become one of those cogs. Even worse, he’s become complicit. Jimmy: “It’s all our problems now because we signed up. We said ‘okay, I’ll play along, but just for a bit. I’ll feel it out.’ We didn’t know that once you settle in, it’s hard to come back… Money. We move for it. We break for it. We sell our original dreams for it. We take the blueprints we set up, and turn ‘em into something else to fit the way. We trade our heroes for homes and speedboats that don’t work anyway and we teach our kids that creativity and passion’s for someone else. Or that it just plain ain’t. Period. That’s the performance. That’s the heartbreak. Life." The system breaks for no one. And this is why I see this as one of Caan’s darkest plays, because despite Jimmy’s romanticizing of the starving artist, the hard reality is, no money, no food, no roof over your head, no survival. The purpose of life has been reduced to making enough money to live. And the truth of the matter is, the poorer you are, the harder you work. Throw in centuries of sexual and racial oppression that barred women and people of color from educational systems and equal opportunities and fair pay. Throw in the historical truth that this country’s economy was built upon the backs of African slaves. And now toss in the all too common eagerness to blame immigrants, women, black people, brown people, Irish people, and on and on and on for your own despair. And the system keeps rolling, its power undiminished. We are all trapped in this machine. It’s why civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King began to see that their fight, our fight, wasn’t just with the system of white supremacy, or patriarchy, it was with capitalism itself, which gave white supremacist and patriarchal oppression a place to flourish. And yet, in art there is still hope. Art not bound to financial gain. Art written with the express purpose of pushing against the darkness in search of a way out. Art that gives representation to women, to people of color, and to alternative forms of masculinity that aren’t toxic to everything around them. Jimmy and Giovanni see the theater as the stage for that hope. But theater is also a business, and even if one isn’t interested in making a huge profit, one has to at least make enough to keep the lights on. So unless the theater is privately funded, productions that made money would need to be given some kind of priority to keep the seats filled. But that would be quite the dream, wouldn’t it? A theater as a philanthropic project dedicated to producing work that is resistant, representative, and revolutionary. Someone, make it happen, please. I can’t help but think that in addition to art, Caan offers us one other glimmer of hope. That Jimmy was on to something when he finally realized that what his girlfriend gives him (in exchange for a couch) is patience. Because isn’t patience one of the most important things we can give each other, and ourselves? Compassion is intrinsic in patience, as is connection. Patience gives us the breath we need to keep listening, to try again, to not give up on other people, on ourselves, and even on change. Most of us live with some form of privilege, most of us, at some point, are going to screw up as we wend our way through issues of sexism, racism, sexual orientations and gender identities, and class. When we do, we can only hope there’s someone in our lives patient enough to take the time to explain it to us. In this sense patience is an act of resistance. It’s not passively waiting for something to happen. Rather, it’s the deliberate act of giving another person a chance to grow. And that finally might lead to a little progress, instead of perpetually spinning around in circles.

— The Performance of Heartbreak: An Epilogue
written by Janet || Apr 5, 2016

@темы: 2016, рецензии, проект: The Performance of Heartbreak: An Epilogue

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«What Lies Beneath: Mercy as a Cultural Muse and Why She Had to Die»

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Рецензия на фильм Скотта "Mercy":

Scott Caan’s film Mercy (2010) is often described as a romance, but I believe the film reaches beyond that, and at its heart, is more rightly understood as one man’s struggle with identity. While there is a romance at the core of the film, the crux of the story is an exploration of the interconnectivity between people and how they understand themselves and their place in the world. At the center of this exploration is Johnny Ryan (Scott Caan), a writer of romance novels who doesn’t believe in love. “I write about love as I see it. Fantasy. Fable. It’s called fiction for a reason it doesn’t really exist.” But what is fiction and what is fable comes into question when Johnny meets Mercy (Wendy Glenn) and falls in love. The film is divided into three parts: Before Mercy, With Mercy and After Mercy. All three parts are woven together in a tangled non-linear structure that gives viewers only glimpses into Johnny and Mercy’s life together. We see them fall in love. And then we see Johnny reacting to her absence. How we interpret the missing pieces, how we perceive in what manner Mercy might have broken Johnny’s heart, reveals a great deal about the viewer’s own assumptions about what a romantic narrative looks like and how we expect those narratives to end. The movie opens with no words, just a vision of two people obviously in love. It is an idyllic scene complete with the giving and accepting of a ring. At the same time, it’s informed by a musical backdrop that dips repeatedly into minor keys, an indication that while momentous, this particular moment in time is not what the movie is ultimately building to, nor one that is going to last. The melancholy undertone the biggest clue that a “happily ever after” most likely won’t be found here. Even before the romance has started, we’re already anticipating its end. The first words we hear Johnny speak, indeed the very first piece of dialogue in the movie, sums up Johnny’s feelings about romantic entanglements and sets the stage for his journey to follow. In reference to the woman who’d shared his bed the night before, he says, “She left. Good girl. I love it when they leave.” From the scene before, we already know Johnny is going to rue the day he ever said those words. But at this point in time, before Mercy, Johnny bases a woman’s worth on their sexual availability and emotional detachment. Her willingness to leave when the sex is done with no expectation of a future. This scene is immediately followed by Johnny’s friend Erik (John Boyd) relaying the story of how he drove through the night to find his ex girlfriend, who he’s positive is “the one,” in an attempt to put their broken relationship back together. Erik clings desperately to that which Johnny has disavowed—the notion of true love, the culturally familiar origin myth as told by Aristophanes in The Symposium that states people spend their lives searching for their lost other halves. The Yin to their Yang. The one person who completes them and makes them whole, i.e. the very backbone of most romantic fiction. There’s something important I want to state here. In this film, investment in the trope of romantic love is not gender specific. Women are not hardwired through their DNA to be invested in love and marriage. Men do not by nature view marriage as a ball and chain. Johnny wants no strings attached sex. Erik pines for love. This may seem obvious. But in my experience, it’s pretty rare to find such open awareness that these ideas are constructed, not biological imperatives. It is always a delight to see Caan dive straight into complexities rather than accept the status quo. And it makes his work far more interesting to analyze than more mainstream film and fiction. Johnny is a man who believes in free choice. His life story speaks to the myth of individualism and the self made man. As related by his friend Dane (Troy Garrity), Johnny chose to stop drinking. He chose to stop being a menace to society. He chose to write. He chose success. Johnny believes that men and women act on their own agency. Their decisions are theirs alone. If a woman sleeps with him, it’s because she wants to - her choice. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter to him if she says yes or if she says no. If she doesn’t want to, he’ll just move on to someone who will. For Johnny, before Mercy, life is not complicated. Johnny never considers the possibility that it is in fact the actions, beliefs and influences of others that have spun him down the path he’s walking. It doesn’t occur to him to dig into the reasons why he prefers to maintain emotional detachment from women, why, to put it crassly, he prefers to fuck women, rather than talk to them. Why, as Johnny explains it, women’s speech is garbled gibberish, unintelligible to his ear. Chris (Alexie Gilmore), Dane’s wife, is the only woman he appears to engage with on an intellectual level. Enter Mercy. She’s unimpressed by Johnny’s suave and wheedling flirtations. She’s assertive and sure of herself. Uninterested in hooking up and “getting intimate.” And perhaps most significantly, unapologetic for it. Caan does not judge or shame Mercy for possessing these character traits, traits which have, culturally speaking, often been used to signify a woman as unfeminine, and therefore unworthy. Traits that have marked that character an easy target for mockery. But here, Mercy is a benchmark in the film, a guide for the possibility of what could and should be. He also cleverly pokes fun at the cultural unease with women and anger. While Johnny’s latest romance novel gets rave reviews from the Hollywood trades and major newspapers—the gatekeepers and purveyors of cultural norms, there’s one bash. One lone voice that stands out. It floors Johnny even as Jake (Dylan McDermott), Johnny’s agent, urges him to ignore it. “Was it written by a woman?” Jake asks. [He nods knowingly] “It was. Written by an angry woman.” There is no easier way to dismiss a woman than to accuse her of anger. It implies lack of self control. Dismisses her as overly emotional, unstable, and irrational. It is the ultimate in verbally shaming a woman into silence. Except Mercy is not silenced and it’s Jake who is summarily dismissed as Johnny runs off to face his “accuser” and ends up listening to what she has to say, even making a “date” so he can hear more. It may be the first time Johnny has ever made plans with a woman to simply have a discussion, and no one is more stunned than Johnny himself. He suddenly finds himself engaging in the very unfamiliar act of self-reflection. “Talk,” Mercy prods Johnny. “Who are you?” And for the first time Johnny begins to truly explore the underpinnings of his own history. To tease out the things in his past that helped make him who he is. To understand that everything from his perception of women to his disbelief in love are constructions. So Johnny, as he begins writing a new book, begins the process of rewriting his own life. That process shifts the ground beneath his feet and makes his life before Mercy one to which he can’t return. Perhaps even more importantly, one he has no desire to. Just as Johnny and Mercy are becoming a couple, as Johnny is tentatively embracing the new path Mercy has shown him, the movie time shifts. Johnny, who was happy one frame, is bitter, angry and depressed in the next. We are given one cue as to what might have happened. As Johnny’s sitting in a bar, aggressively interrogating the bartender about his love life, the bartender responds by guessing, “What happened, your girl left you? Clocking someone else, huh?” Johnny responds by assaulting the bartender, landing himself in jail. When Dane bails him out, Johnny finally breaks down, admitting that he misses her and that he no longer knows what he’s doing. This particular time shift plays with absence, most especially Mercy’s absence and its lack of context. Her name is never spoken, her existence barely referred to. Where Mercy is concerned, the voices of Johnny and his friends are largely silent. The bartender is, in fact, the only character to venture an explanation. And it’s one that calls back the very origin story of Johnny’s misogyny. Women are not to be trusted. Love is a lie. There is no doubt that Johnny’s life has been shattered. The carefree player we met in the beginning is gone. But the absence of that Johnny is not something we, or he, mourns. In fact, if anything, this particular time stamp lays bare the void that already existed in that life. Earlier in the film we met Heather (Whitney Able), a cocktail waitress Johnny had been heavily flirting with for weeks, the culmination of which fell through when Heather witnessed Johnny flirting with Mercy. When we first met Heather, she was “sweet” and “innocent.” What one might generally term a “good” girl. She was charmed by Johnny’s attention and eventually swayed by his persistence. But when she realized Johnny’s attention wasn’t meaningful, she was surprised and crushed. You probably recognize her—she’s the girl who plays the lead in most romantic narratives, the girl who turns the “bad boy” good. But when Johnny runs into her again, she’s a changed woman. She’s fully absorbed the societal imperative that her value is based solely upon her body and sexuality. Heather is the woman Johnny had desired, but he’s no longer the man who can enjoy her. But just as Heather’s value is based upon her sexual availability, so is Johnny’s, and in this regard, he is sorely lacking. Their attempt at sex is an utter failure. Heather is flabbergasted. In disbelief she mutters, “That’s a first.” But when Johnny turns to her and demands, “What’d you just say?” Heather stares straight back and says, “Nothing.” With nothing to say to each other, Johnny leaves, and turns his back on that version of himself for good. It’s at this turning point in Johnny’s life that he meets Robin (Erika Christensen), a friend of Chris and Dane’s. Like Mercy she’s assertive and smart. And while this meeting is most definitely a set up on Chris’ part, it serves a larger purpose within the film’s narrative, for it’s in Johnny’s reaction to Robin’s story about the death of her husband, in his outpouring of grief-fueled anger, that we’re finally given a glimpse of how the gaps within Mercy and Johnny’s story will be filled. But Johnny’s journey isn’t finished. There’s still a wolf at the door. One man who has haunted Johnny’s story from the beginning: his father. When we are introduced to Gerry Ryan (James Caan), Gerry has already met Mercy, and it becomes clear that Johnny has visited his father again with one purpose in mind, to hear what his father will say when he finds out Mercy is gone. Introducing Gerry in the after Mercy timestamp exposes the monster lurking in the shadows. Gerry’s words call back Johnny’s assertion early in the film that love is a fiction, and because love is a fiction, women have no intrinsic value. “To the inevitable,” Gerry says in toast to Mercy’s absence. “The truth…you did seem happy. I didn’t want to say anything because I knew sooner or later you would find out. It’s just not going to work. The funny thing is that I almost believed you. I almost remembered feeling the way you felt about your mother. You know the feeling, that everything, one way or another, is going to be just swell, just as long as we have each other. But yet, here we are. Love is a myth. Unfortunately it does not exist.” Of course, Gerry is not wrong. Love is a fiction, so overwritten by cultural values that even Gerry’s language is cliché. Traditionally speaking marriage, children, family: these are the endgames of romantic love. It is not Gerry’s indictment of love that’s a problem. It’s the way that indictment was turned against women, as if the collapse of that mythology was her fault and hers alone. But it doesn’t question the myth itself. Gerry’s anger stems more from the fact the myth was stolen from him by Woman’s betrayal than that the myth was never real to begin with. In the next scene, Caan pulls us back into the past to watch the final act of Johnny and Mercy’s love play out. They are beautiful and their love is beautiful, and Johnny takes Mercy to meet his father, to show him that he was wrong. That they were wrong. Love does exist and it’s a beautiful thing, even if Johnny can’t explain it. “She is the last thing I ever wanted, and since meeting her I wouldn’t be able to tell you who I was without her.” Gerry is unconvinced, but he is charming to Mercy nonetheless. But it’s a charm that has lost its allure. In the shadow of Gerry’s misogyny, his casual flirtations are hollow at best. But watching Gerry interact with Mercy is like watching Johnny before he met her. It is easily apparent just how much Johnny was Gerry’s son. It brings into sharp relief the power fathers exert over their sons. And how easy it is to not recognize that one’s identity is not autonomous, but immersed in the belief systems of those closest to us. If the movie ended here, with Johnny giving Mercy a ring, walking down the traditional path of marriage, we’d still see Johnny turning his back on his father’s misogyny, of making a remarkable inroad to not repeating the cultural oppressions of the past. But it doesn’t. Mercy dies. And we see Johnny spin in an entirely new direction. Though he’s angry and confused, he doesn’t fall back into his old life. He is a man without a mooring, his sense of self completely shattered. Not just facing the question of whether or not love is a myth, but engaging with the possibility that life has no meaning. This is the path to nihilism and despair. When Johnny returns to his father after Mercy’s death, he’s standing on that crossroads. He’s looking for meaning. “The minute you catch yourself thinking that it [love] does [exist]…well, it’s just a question of time before you realize the hard fact of life. We just don’t mix. Fuck her son. Fuck her wherever she is. So deeply filled with sorrow and regret…but… Fuck your mother too.” When Gerry gives Johnny’s loss the same narrative structure as his own, it draws into stark relief its artificiality. Gerry treats his belief as a universal truth. But here’s the thing: That’s a choice. The fact that choices are rarely free does not negate that choice exists. And recognizing that your choices, your identity, is wholly tied to cultural/personal influences does not negate the need for identity. And identities are never born in vacuums. They are bound to language, to names, in the ability to comprehend the world around us. This is exactly why the systemic displays of sexism and racism and homophobia are the hardest to combat—because they are the hardest to see. They’ve been so naturalized and normalized by culture we can’t even recognize them for what they are: these are cultural constructions that can be named and refused. In losing Mercy, Johnny is unable to move simply from one cultural norm (the misogynistic playboy individualist) to another (true love and marriage). Johnny moves into a space that is something else altogether. His life doesn’t end with Mercy. After confronting his father he stands on the shore, watching the sun rise, his face bathed in light. For the first time in his existence he is fully conscious and aware. The man he was before Mercy is gone. He’s a man who now writes books that demand people think. He’s done with shallow and popcorn endings. And while there are plenty of people who have no interest in engaging with a work of depth, there are those, like Robin, who will. Who want to talk and discuss and communicate. It is not a given when Johnny and Robin walk off together into the night at the end of the movie that they are destined to be together. They are two people engaging in dialogue, and while the pull of the romantic in me is strong, and the thought of Johnny and Robin together makes me smile, the movie leaves its characters’ lives a question. And leaves us pondering the narratives that inform our own lives. I can’t bring this to a close without commenting on the powerful performances in the film. There is not one weak link in this cast, both Caans and Troy Garrity in particular give standout performances. The film is also beautifully edited and scored, and the director, Patrick Hoelck, gave the film both the time and space it needed to reach the depth of the written material. Mercy is one of those films in which I find new insights with every viewing. It’s not a film to be watched once and put away to gather dust on a shelf. Like a good piece of literature, it is something that calls to be returned to over time.

— What Lies Beneath: Mercy as a Cultural Muse and Why She Had to Die
written by Janet || Jul 22, 2013

@темы: 2013, рецензии, проект: Mercy, роль: Джонни Райан (Mercy)

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«No Way Around But Through»

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Рецензия на пьесу Скотта "No Way Around But Through":

Scott Caan’s play, No Way Around But Through, is a modern love story, though the audience never sees the beginning or the end. The characters are stuck profoundly in the middle, in the through if you will. It’s a messy place, a confusing vortex where the only certainty to cling to is where you’ve been because you sure as hell don’t have a clue where you’re going. Caan has written a complex play that captures the sense of “muddling through” that, for many of us, is everyday life. The play begins with Jake (Scott Caan) and his “girlfriend when I want one” Holly (Robyn Cohen) attempting to have a conversation about Holly’s pregnancy and what that means to them separately, and as a couple. That Jake is having this conversation, that he hasn’t already peeled a couple hundred bucks out of his wallet to help with the abortion and bailed, is our first clue that Jake is not simply a one-dimensional man whore. He’s struggling. With what it means to be a man. With what it means to do the right thing. With what it means to be better than he is. Desperately Jake talks in circles, preferring to hide in the abstract than deal with the reality of the situation. In doing so, he confuses and perplexes Holly who just as desperately tries to navigate his linguistic gymnastics. But eventually Jake zeroes in on the crux of the problem: Mommie Dearest, a monster of a mother who has spouted so much poison over the years that she has pretty much ruined him for all other women, and ruined all women for him. Recognizing that Jake is so mired in the past he cannot move forward, Holly gives up. She tells Jake he’s off the hook and lets him go, though not before making it clear that he was not the only one who had a crappy childhood, and hers sucked way more than his: Holly was molested by her father for five years. As Holly leaves, Jake turns and stands still, staring at the road ahead. Thus begins the journey of the play, for neither Jake nor Holly can simply walk away. I love the set design here. A crossroad on the stage with a long empty road as a backdrop. It’s entirely fitting. Jake and Holly are literally at the end of the road. The question is where do they go next? As both Jake and Holly seek refuge with their best friends, Frank (Val Lauren) and Rachel (Bre Blair) it’s clear that everyone’s life is in crisis. Frank is in therapy, banned from doing the one thing in life that gives him any pleasure: have sex. He’s miserable, convinced his therapist has ruined his life beyond repair. But he asks the question of Jake that we all have for him: how could you say such dumb, hurtful things to a woman who’s just told you she’s carrying your child? He suggests it’s time for Jake to do something different. To take a different perspective on his life, to look at it sideways, and in so doing, finally change it for the better. As for Rachel, she’s a self-professed hater of people and of men. Her friendship with Holly is the only thing that makes any sense. She doesn’t like Jake, and even though she tries to go against her better instincts and lie to Holly in order to be the support she needs, in the end, she just can’t. Holly reveals herself the most in this scene. She loves Jake. Hopelessly. And for no rational reason that she can put into words. And yet as she beats herself up for turning Jake’s life upside down when, as she finally admits to Rachel, she doesn’t even know for sure she’s pregnant, it becomes clear that Jake’s emotional damage is a large part of the draw. To heal those wounds is her mission and it’s the foundation of her crazy plan to find Jake’s mother and suss out the root of his problems. Enter Lulu (Melanie Griffith), who in the end, isn’t all that different from the rest of them. If she’s a monster, then they are too. Which is perhaps the point. Jake has the same idea as Holly and so both end up in Lulu’s living room where Holly takes her stand and forces mother and son to dredge up the past, though not without resistance from both of them. Lulu verbally batters Jake, and as Jake and Holly form an alliance against her, Jake finally lets loose all the anger and hurt that has built up over the years. Progress is made when at last Lulu relents. While she won’t apologize for the past, she does acknowledge that her actions have had a negative effect on Jake’s life. No one could be more surprised than Jake, who never expected, and I think perhaps never wanted, his mother to offer this olive branch. Blame is easy. Change is hard. There is a moment of epiphany when Jake is railing against his mother, when he reminds her that in the end, she was the adult, he the child, and to fuck with her issues. It was her responsibility to grow up and be his mother. The words bring Holly to a complete standstill and she interrupts. She tells Jake he should listen to himself. But even though he ignores her, doesn’t accept that he himself needs to shut up, grow up, and stop saying stupid things, his body registers the weight of the moment. Emotions, long buried and denied, overwhelm him and Jake becomes physically ill. The end of Jake and Holly’s story is really another beginning. As they face life as a couple, expecting a child (now a fact proven by a pregnancy test), they acknowledge that they both need help by visiting a therapist - together. They still don’t know exactly where they’re going or how they’ll get there, but they believe they will, or at least they might, and it’s the first step through to the other side. Frank and Rachel also start to believe. They discover and give in to newfound feelings for each other. That belief is all they have, and for both self-admitted sex addicts, god only knows if it will be enough. There are no happy endings here. You could say there’s no proper ending at all. For all we know, despite their best efforts, Jake and Holly could implode a week later. But when you think about it, the only real ending is death. Everything else is transition and change. Or not. If there is one thing this play taught me, it’s that Scott Caan is a lover of language. One line in particular speaks to me. Lulu is telling Jake that she likes Holly, and she stumbles over her words. She explains to Jake that after they knew for sure that Holly was pregnant, she and Holly had a “moment.” “But,” Lulu says. And then she stops herself, shakes her head and says firmly, “not but, and…and I like her.” It is an amazing thing how one tiny word can hold such an abundance of meaning. And it’s not just words themselves, but also their sounds and rhythms and flows that seem to fascinate Caan. If the actors weren’t so captivating to watch I could have closed my eyes and simply listened to them speak. Across gender lines, Caan’s characters are honest, raw, and real. For some reason, it made me giddy to realize he writes for women as well as he writes for men. He’s also funny as hell. I wish I had the play in front of me so I could quote from it. Alas I don’t. What can I say about Scott Caan? His comedic timing is impeccable. In role after role Caan proves he can easily run a gamut of emotion. His ability to show vulnerability is one of things I like most about him as an actor. It’s no different here. Holly doesn’t have to tell us why she loves him, we can see why for ourselves. One of his most memorable moments in the play is when he thinks he’s having a heart attack. Huddled on the couch, swaddled in a blanket, voice reedy and trembling, he’s a hot mess. And he’s hilarious. Making you want give him a shake and a reassuring hug at the same time. Melanie Griffith is sublime. She completely embodies her character. Lulu is infuriating and caustic and critical. She has a biting wit and wounds that have never healed. Jake may think she’s a horror, but Griffith makes her human. We see her fragility. We see her hurt. We see her guilt, even if she can’t admit it. And she has a palpable connection to Caan’s Jake. After mother and son have begun to take tentative steps towards each other, there is a moment when Lulu reaches out, touches Jakes chest and says, “I feel you. I want you to know that I feel you.” It was an amazing thing to see and left me with a desire to see Caan and Griffith do much more work together in the future. Robyn Cohen is a delight as Holly. I think her best moments are in some of the smaller scenes, with Rachel at the beginning, and the first time she meets Lulu. Her body language is much more pronounced than either Caan or Griffith. It’s a difference perhaps due to varying degrees of stage experience, but the contrast is slightly jarring. Cohen’s Holly is likeable and loving, sweet without being cloying but is still able to put her foot down when it needs doing. She makes you pull for her, and I wanted Holly to be pregnant simply because that’s what Holly wanted. Val Lauren and Bre Blair are magnificent. They’re the sidekicks, but I cared about Frank and Rachel every bit as much as I cared about Jake, Holly and Lulu. Lauren is utterly charming, Blair completely natural and real. They have wonderful chemistry with Caan and Cohen, and an obvious connection with each other. I’d seen a few performances from both of them before this play, but none of those roles offered the range of emotions they got to play with here. Now I want to see more of these two engaging actors. As someone who had the immense luck to be in the right place at the right time to see a Scott Caan play with such a wonderfully talented cast, all I can say is that I hope you have the same luck I did. No Way Around But Through is a play worth seeing, and I’m looking forward to Mr. Caan’s next work. I’ll end with a personal anecdote. Though my roommate, and one of my best friends, who saw this play with me disagrees with my take on Caan’s “wordiness.” (I’m pretty sure she was itching to take her red pen to the sсript), she also was profoundly affected by the subject matter. I came home from work one day and we ran into each other in the kitchen. I asked her how her day was, and she said it was horrible. She and her sister had gotten into a fight with their mother. And in the course of that fight, she’d blurted out almost verbatim Jake’s rant about being an adult and taking responsibility for your actions. Her mother hadn’t been receptive, which led to a discussion about both of our mothers, the damages they’d inflicted and our need for closure. My mother died when I was twenty-two, with all those gaping wounds still there between us. But as we talked about it, what became clear was this: no matter where you’ve been, if you’re going to move forward, you can’t go under it, you can’t go around it. There is no way around but through. The trick is to keep moving.

— No Way Around But Through
written by Janet || Jun 14, 2012

@темы: рецензии, 2012, проект: No Way Around But Through, роль: Джейк (No Way Around But Through)

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Perspective: Actor Scott Caan Interview

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— Savannah Film Festival

@темы: видео, 2009, интервью

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ribeirojiujitsula: A pleasure to help break in your Black Belt, Scotty Caan! #ribeirojiujitsula #jiujitsulife #blackbelts #hawaiifive0 #scottcaan #ribeirojiujitsu

@темы: джиу-джитсу, 2016, candid/bts

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Со съемок Hawaii Five-0 2x02

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Quick story about this pic – Scott Caan (Danno) was filming a scene where he is on this street corner reading a newspaper. Suddenly he recognizes someone of “interest” and makes a dash for it across the street. Problem is a car with Japanese tourists came quickly around the corner at the same time! Fans and on lookers thought the near miss was scripted and part of the show !!!

Scott took it like a pro and shook the entire incident off. He was a pure gentleman about it. What wasn’t soo funny was the look on the Japanese driver and his family when they realized that not only did they just drive right thru a live film set, they almost slammed right into one the main stars of the show !!!! OMG !!!! All Scott did was kept yelling to the producers “keep rollin”, “keep rollin” …

— x / x

@темы: 2011, истории, роль: Дэнни Уильямс (Hawaii Five-0)

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marcusviniciusbhjjc: Sung Kang, Marcus Vinicius Di Lucia, Scott Caan and Vinny Di Lucia at BHJJC.
#California #bhjjc #bh #fastandfurious #hawaii50 #bjj4life #bjj #celebrity

@темы: джиу-джитсу, 2016, candid/bts

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Powerplant Choppers: My favorite couple #scottcaan @byxbeeatelier at Disneyland strolling hard in the Powerplant jackets . ‪#‎disneyland‬ ‪#‎ʇuɐldɹǝʍod‬ #‎dano‬

@темы: 2016, candid/bts, окружение: Кейси

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tiaresaito: Omg can I just say that I freakin love my job! Got a picture with Scott Caan (Dano from Hawaii 5-0). He's such a sweet and awesome guy! Thanks for the picture. Lol didn't know he was a close friend of my boss. #hawaii50 #scottcaan #fangirlingatwork #workperks #LAliving #dano

@темы: 2016, candid/bts

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чиби Скотт

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jaydiola: Can't wait for this tuff guy to come home!

@темы: candid/bts, детские/старые фото

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Скотт и Кейси

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jessefaen: Two of my favorite people just happen to be a couple of love birds. @kacyelizabeth and her man Scott... Thank you both and @alexiegilmore for making my bday extra special and full of laughs. The finale of Scotty on piano was nothing short of impressive... I want to keep it here @toddmoffett and @beautyundone! #musicroomfortalentedfriends

@темы: 2013, candid/bts, окружение: Кейси

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6x18 | “Kanaka Hahai”

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markkatoarchery: Hawaii Five O Season 6 episode 18 Me on set as the archery technical advisor. Scott, you were awesome to work with! You never once complained or questioned anything I said. Thank you again for the opportunity 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 #correctarchery #hawaiifiveo #scottcaan #katnisssucksatarchery #ishoukdhaveworkedonhungergames #archery #archerylife #archeryaddict

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markkatoarchery: Working on the set for Hawaii five O episode 18 that aired tonight. Scott, you were awesome to work with! Me on set as the archery technical advisor. #correctarchery #hawaiifiveo #scottcaan #katnisssucksatarchery #ishoukdhaveworkedonhungergames #archery #archerylife #archeryaddict



markkatoarchery: Hawaii Five O season 6 episode 18 a little behinds the scenes. 15 hour day of filming was well worth it. I'm happy with how it came out 👌🏻#correctarchery #hawaiifiveo #scottcaan #katnisssucksatarchery #ishoukdhaveworkedonhungergames #archery #archerylife #archeryaddict



markkatoarchery: Hawaii Five O season 6 episode 18 Me on set as the archery technical advisor. Scott, you were spot on! #correctarchery #hawaiifiveo #scottcaan #katnisssucksatarchery #ishoukdhaveworkedonhungergames #archery #archerylife #archeryaddict

@темы: 2016, candid/bts, роль: Дэнни Уильямс (Hawaii Five-0)

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wendyglenn: Love this....it pretty much sums up actors between takes (at times ) #setbants #lovemyjob #tbt #scottcaan

@темы: candid/bts, роль: Джонни Райан (Mercy)