Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn

NEW YORK – Sandra Bullock remembers exactly where she was on Sept. 11, 2001, when two hijacked jetliners crashed into Lower Manhattan’s Twin Towers.

She was at a boutique hotel in Soho. But, being a media-savvy celebrity, she declines to say exactly which hotel, for fear that her revelation would be interpreted as some sort of commercial endorsement.

“But I had full view of both towers,” she said. “I was there, I saw the second plane, I saw people, I saw people helping people. And that for me is what resonates about the city of New York. I saw within a second the entire city come together and help one another in a way they hadn’t the day before.”

During press interviews for the Oscar-nominated film “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” hosted by Warner Bros. at the Regency Hotel, Bullock talked about the cathartic nature of acting in a movie that addresses the excruciating aftermath 9/11 for families of victims.

In the film (her first role since winning the Oscar for “The Blind Side”), Bullock plays Linda Schell, widow of a man killed in the terrorist attack and the mother of a precocious young son who embarks on a painstaking journey around the city to come to terms with his beloved father’s senseless death.

Bullock said she believes the film has the potential to help people heal, but she rejects the idea that it will bring about any sense of closure.

“There will never be closure, I think for me or for so many people,” she said. “I have so many memories and emotions of it, some that still don’t register I think because your mind doesn’t let you register why someone would do that. So in a good way I hope (the memory) doesn’t ever leave, that vibrancy of what happened afterward, because it made me aware of so many things I wasn’t aware of before. So no closure but as long as everyone can talk about it and grieve I think that’s what this story is, the allowance to talk about this thing and be able to grieve.”

Bullock was born and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., but in many ways she said she considers herself a New Yorker.

“My father was a voice teacher and we’d go back and forth between here and D.C.,” she said. “And my mother sang opera here, so we were always on the trains coming to New York.

“My first memory, my mom took me to see ‘All That Jazz’ on Broadway, and at that moment I knew I wanted to become a dancer,” Bullock recalled. “Did I become a dancer? No. I’m a big girl. But it’s one of my great passions, when I saw ‘All That Jazz’ and I saw the live performances.

“(New York) has always been where we went,” she said. “We had a tiny little studio apartment with a kitchen in the closet. We slept on floors and pulled out couches. In New York, there’s something for everyone. You never feel out of place in New York City. That’s a fact. Unless you’re a really poorly dressed tourist with the black socks and sandals. I think no one should wear polyester black socks and sandals. That should just be outlawed.”

- Dennis King

Sandra Bullock

You’d have to be a hard-hearted, unrepentant cynic not to be at least initially moved by the soul-wrenching tragedy at the core of “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.”

And yet, even through the tears you can’t help but feel the heartstrings being plucked and see the dolorous poignancy being ladled out in big dollops as director Stephen Daldry skillfully and deliberately adapts Jonathan Safran Foer’s controversial 9/11 aftermath novel to the screen.

The contentious 2005 novel – roundly drubbed as cloying, sentimental and shamelessly exploitative by heavyweight critics ranging from John Updike to the New York Times – charted a delicate, diligent spirit quest across New York’s five boroughs by an achingly precocious young boy named Oskar Schell (gifted newcomer Thomas Horn) as he struggles to come to grips with the death of his beloved father (Tom Hanks) in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11.

Oskar is a singular literary invention, preternaturally bright, painfully articulate, inquisitive, eccentric and perhaps suffering from Asperger’s syndrome. A social misfit and a – some would say charming, some annoying – bundle of neuroses, phobias and curious theories on mankind, he is a sort of Holden Caulfield for the post-9/11 era, maddening and endearing at the same time.

In flashback – before what Oskar refers to as “the worst day” – we see this obviously special but delicate boy in full bonding with his clever, nurturing father, Thomas, a jeweler with a Swiss-watch mind and a penchant for constructing intricate games and puzzles to challenge his restless son. On the sidelines of this intense father-son relationship is patient wife and mother Linda (Sandra Bullock, biding her time in a slow-boiling role).

In the horrific days, weeks and months after the terrorist attack, the story focuses on Oskar’s determined mourning, his deep guilt (over desperate phone messages left by his father but kept from his mother) and his obsessive need to make some cosmic sense of his loss.

To that end, Oskar doggedly pursues the mystery of a key found among his father’s possessions. Tucked in an envelope marked with the word “Black,” the boy deduces that it unlocks a connection to someone from his father’s past. So he compiles a list of 472 Blacks from the city phone books and sets off on foot (he’s afraid of subways), rattling his therapy tambourine, to contact each name on the list and find out the mystery of the key.

Sometimes accompanied by a mute, wizened old boarder from his grandmother’s apartment, known only as The Renter (Max von Sydow), Oskar encounters a multi-cultural array of New Yorkers – most uncommonly kind and nursing their own 9/11 terrors. Chief among them is the kindly Abby Black (Viola Davis), a Brooklyn woman undergoing a painful divorce yet touched by Oskar’s heartbreaking quest. But it’s a long, grueling trek to Oskar’s catharsis.

The film, mounted with all due compassion and restraint by Daldry (“Billy Elliot,” “The Reader”) and screenwriter Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”), feels like one of those pictures poised for high-minded praise. It trickled out at the end of 2011, dressed in solemn, “important picture” finery and clearly hoping to snag a few awards-season kudos.

Certainly, the amazingly mature performance of young Horn is noteworthy, and the cast around him is stellar. But all artfulness and good intentions aside, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is at best self-consciously precious and precisely designed to move – or is it to manipulate?

- Dennis King

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

PG-13
2:09
2 1/2 stars
Starring: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis
(Emotional thematic material, some disturbing images and language)

BY DENNIS KING

NEW YORK – Oscars and Oscar nominations abound among the cast and crew of “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” but the dramatic impetus for the searing post-9/11 drama rests on the slight shoulders of a 13-year-old whose only previous acting experience was as a grasshopper in a fifth-grade play.

Thomas Horn

Directed by three-time Oscar nominee Stephan Daldry (“Billy Elliot,” “The Hours,” “The Reader”), adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2005 novel by Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”) and photographed by two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Chris Menges (“The Mission,” “The Killing Fields”), the film stars Tom Hanks (Oscars for “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump”), Sandra Bullock (Oscar for “The Blind Side”), Viola Davis (Oscar nomination for “Doubt”) and the Swedish acting eminence Max von Sydow (Oscar nomination for “Pelle the Conqueror”).

And in the midst of all that Academy Award bling stands Thomas Horn, a precocious and thoroughly unpretentious Oakland, Calif., teen – now at 14 a high school freshman – who’d never acted on screen and whose only brush with celebrity had been a dominating appearance on TV’s “Jeopardy! Kids’ Week,” where he won $31,800 and a family vacation in Alaska.

In “Extremely Loud …” the articulate and young-looking Horn defied the odds and earned the highly coveted and dramatically daunting role of Oskar Schell, a brilliantly eccentric New York City boy whose beloved father (Hanks) perishes in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11. In the excruciating aftermath, Oskar finds a puzzling key among his father’s possessions and sets off on a spirit quest to unlock the mystery of the key and to cling to a tenuous connection with his dead father.

During a press conference presented by Warner Bros. at the Regency Hotel, Horn sat poised and patient amid his co-stars and fielded a barrage of questions like a seasoned old pro.

Daldry noted the precise importance of casting just the right young actor in this crucial and demanding role.
“I think we were all aware that the film rests on the shoulders of whoever plays Oskar,” the director said. “We did auditions all over North America and indeed even in Europe, and we were lucky to find Thomas. I was aware that the film couldn’t go ahead unless we found the right kid.

“Thomas is very unlike the character in the story, and that’s part of his brilliance that he can portray that,” Daldry said. “There’s no loss in Thomas’ life, his parents are wonderful and supportive human beings. And to go on that emotional journey to find out what’s special about (Oskar) was fantastic. Thomas is the brightest, most determined, most courageous actor you could possibly hope to work with and has a huge emotional life. That’s astonishing.”

Max von Sydow, who plays Oskar’s mute neighbor and wise sidekick on his journey around New York, also said he was impressed by Horn’s innate maturity.

“My first thought after I read the script was, I hope they have a good boy for this,” the revered actor said. “Because it is his movie. It is his story. And I came over to do some tests and met Thomas and was very impressed by what he showed. It’s been a great pleasure to work with him, and it’s remarkable what he did.”

Young Horn grinned and shrugged modestly at the compliments and offered a matter-of-fact assessment of his first acting experience.

“Here’s what I think,” he said, forthrightly. “I think I had a really great experience so far in film acting. I understand that not all experiences, in fact most experiences for most actors from what I’ve heard, aren’t like this. Which I can definitely understand because I’m working with the best of the best here, and I can’t always expect that.”

Was he ever intimidated by all the star power around him?

“No, everyone was really nice to me,” Horn said. “And everybody really made me feel at home, on set and in rehearsals. Stephen (Daldry) was sensitive and great and would always give me tips, whatever I could do better. He would always give me suggestions if I was doing something wrong.

“All my fellow co-actors were really amazing, both as actors and personally they were really nice,” he said. “And they made me feel comfortable. I mean they could have looked down on me considering what wonderful actors they are, so much better than I am in every way, but they didn’t. They were always nice, so I never felt intimidated at all.”

Horn said he particularly enjoyed shooting scenes with Hanks.

“Acting with Tom Hanks was an experience in itself because he’s such an amazing actor,” the teen said. “And a very kind and nice person, too. Our characters have a very special relationship because Oskar’s dad is like 95 percent of his focus in the world. I mean Oskar really doesn’t have any friends at school, unlike myself, and he’s afraid of many things. He’s afraid of machinery especially, and things that could be loud or dangerous like bridges or tunnels. He’s also afraid of people, everyone except his dad before his dad dies is not able to be trusted, is scary. So the only person he can trust is his dad. So most of the energy in his whole life is directed at his dad. That was a very special, very meaningful, very deep relationship.”

Horn said he still marvels at his luck in getting this role.

“Mine wasn’t a typical casting process,” he said. “What happened to me – about two years ago I was watching an episode of ‘Jeopardy!’ and an ad aired during a commercial break offering online tests for ‘Kids Jeopardy.’ And my family said, ‘you know, Thomas knows some trivia. Maybe he’d do OK there.’ So I took this online test and they called back a few months later for a quick audition in L.A. A few months after that I was surprised to find that I’d been invited for a taping. And an episode aired in July of 2010. And from what I heard someone in production high up at the formation of the new movie, they saw me and thought I would be good to audition along with many, many other kids for the role.

“So they sent me material to make a tape. And, of course, I knew nothing about film or the entertainment industry at all,” Horn said. “I mean I was a total newcomer. But I thought, ‘you know what, what do I have to lose by sending in this tape? I might as well try it.’ So I did my best to make the material into a little tape, and then sent it back. And for two months I didn’t hear a thing. And I thought, ‘OK, they didn’t like me, that’s fine.’ So I went on with my life. But after that, they called me up and said, ‘Oh, would you like to come to an audition in New York?’ I was surprised. I didn’t even think I’d get that far.”

But he got all the way to a starring role in an important studio movie.

So, he’s asked, is he now sold on an acting career?

Horn furrowed his brow thoughtfully and replied, “What I really want is a career that has multiple disciplines and many options in it. And that probably means having many skills. I want to continue with my studies and go on to a good college and learn something practical like computer science or hydrology – the study of water and the water cycle and how we can help manage that, because water is a big issue. And I think anyone’s life would be better if you could do multiple things because you have options if one thing goes dry and you have opportunities in many areas.

“But, I think,” Horn said after a pungent pause, “definitely if I get another opportunity in the entertainment industry that has a good script just like this one, and a good director and actors I’d like to work with, I would seriously consider that.”

This week, the most offbeat DVD to appear on release lists is:

“Action: The Complete Series”

“Action” ran for only one truncated season on Fox in 1999, but fans of take-no-prisoners satire still remember it for its dead-on lampooning of Hollywood’s outrageous blockbuster excesses and cutthroat culture.

Over 13 episodes, a fearless Jay Mohr took on the role of Peter Dragon, the arrogant, foul-mouthed head of Dragonfire Films, and in the process created one of the most relentlessly vulgar and dislikable sitcom characters in TV history.

The season’s story arc follows Dragon as he reels from the aftermath of a disastrous, $150 million box-office bomb called “Slow Torture” and tries to save his studio from ruin with a lame action script titled “Beverly Hills Gun Club” that he accidentally bought from a novice writer.

Along for the politically incorrect ride are Ileana Douglas as Wendy Ward, an ex-child star turned prostitute, and Buddy Hackett as Uncle Lonnie, a sage, profane chauffeur who dispenses crazy advice. And an amazing roster of big-star cameo appearances includes Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Salma Hayek, Stuart Pankin, David Hasselhoff, producer Gavin Polone, E! network anchors Steve Kmetko and Jules Asner and “Saturday Night Live” star Maya Rudolph.

Only eight of the 13 episodes aired on Fox before the series was cancelled, but in hindsight the show appears to have been a precursor to such pushing-the-envelope shows as “Arrested Development” and “Entourage.” All 13 episodes plus outtakes and a “making of” featurette are included on two discs of “Action: The Complete Series.”

-Dennis King

Jeremy Renner in a scene from "The Hurt Locker."

BY DENNIS KING

Having earned a living for a couple of decades by babbling on about movies, it is perhaps impolitic to admit that I’m not very good at guessing Oscar winners. The average popcorn Joe predicting in the average Oscar office pool probably has as good a track record at picking winners as me.

It’s not a function of movie knowledge or keen insight or anything like that. It’s just that quirky tastes in movies often lead to quirky predictions when it comes Oscar time (I’d much rather vote the low-budget underdog than the fabulous front-runner). That, and the fact that reading the tea leaves on how 6,000 or so official Oscar voters will vote (they are indeed a fractious bunch) is sheer folly.

My favorite axiom on Oscar expertise is drawn from that grand screenwriter and two-time Oscar-winner William Goldman, who famously wrote, “In Hollywood, nobody knows anything.”

Early on in my tenure as a professional “film cricket” (Homer Simpson’s term), I concocted an admittedly goofy experiment in which I tacked lists of Oscar nominees on a dart board and let fly a dart at each of the Big Six categories (supporting actor, supporting actress, actor, actress, director and best movie). Then I compared my own furrow-browed prognostications with the whims of the dart.

And the dart’s random picks were more successful than mine. D’oh!

So anyway, after that long-winded prelude, here are my best guesses at statuette winners of the 82^nd Academy Awards to be presented Sunday evening in an overstuffed ceremony airing on ABC from Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre.

Best actress in a supporting role: Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart.” (The Academy’s actors’ branch is the largest and most politically fragmented voting body, and it’s often in supporting categories that upsets and surprises occur. But Gyllenhaal, so good in this gritty, naturalistic serio-comedy, is a popular candidate who’s compiled an impressive body of work. So it just feels like her time.)

Best actor in a supporting role: Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger.” (The movie, one of several fine meditations of late on the terrible toll of war, is perhaps too grim and little seen to attract voters. But the sometimes erratic Harrelson proves himself a serious acting force in this tightly contained yet volatile performance. It is indeed Oscar-worthy.)

Best actress in a leading role: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side.” (Another popular – and populist – actress who is finally nominated for a role weighty and inspirational enough to attract lots of sympathetic voters. It just feels like she’s due.)

Best actor in a leading role: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart.” (Call it the Lebowski Effect, but Bridges inhabits broken-down, psychically damaged roles like Bad Blake as if he were born on a barstool in a bowling alley. He’s another actor whose body of superb work should win him loads of popular support among fellow actors, even in a shaggy-dog movie such as this.)

Best director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker.” (All indicators – previous awards ceremonies – point to a breakthrough Oscar for Bigelow. First woman ever to win and all that. Aside from the juicy satisfaction of seeing her beat out James “King of the World” Cameron, her ex-husband with his monumental ego, Bigelow simply deserves to win for a superior piece of film storytelling – rich in detail, complex human dimension and thrumming dramatic impact.)

Best picture. “The Hurt Locker.” (With all the hoopla about expanding the best picture category to 10 nominees, in the final run it seemed to narrow down to a two-picture race between “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar.” Low-budget indie grit versus big-budget special-effects razzle-dazzle. Gut-level storytelling versus high-tech eye-candy. Art versus commerce. Perhaps setting up this David-and-Goliath dynamic will succeed in drawing in more viewers to the Oscar telecast, but if Oscars are in truth about celebrating some mythic “best” in the year’s movies, then all 10 nominees are winners. But “The Hurt Locker” should be first among equals.)