Teenage Paparazzo and Takers
No doubt that the city is starting to make all sorts of preparations for the Toronto Film Festival which happens in a couple of weeks and so are the hundreds of photographers who make a pretty penny from capturing that right picture of the right celebrity. A new documentary directed by Entourage Star Adrian Grenier opens in this weekend which turns the spotlight on paparazzi culture and another film brings the Heist movie back to the big screen with a stylish twist.
The movie ‘Teenage Paparazzo’ is directed by Adrian Grenier who most people know as ‘Vinny Chase’ from Entourage. It’s opening in select theatres in Toronto this weekend .
The premise is simple enough, one night while being hounded by photographers outside of a restaurant a young lad approaches Adrian and asks if he can take his picture innocently Adrian agrees expecting this fan to use a phone or something and Austin, our lead in the film pulls out a professional camera the size of a mini machine gun and take almost 30 pictures in one shot. Intrigued by who this kid is and what his motives are , He decides to go behind the camera to follow out of all things a person who makes money following him, a celebrity photographer – hoping to understand the motives, the mayhem and the madness that is paparazzi culture.
Does the film try to play the celebrity as the victim or portray more how the paparazzi business works?
At first the doc unfolds with the images we are use to seeing a la your nightly entertainment shows showcasing the uncanny ability for these photographers to capture personal moments and their excessive need to invade privacy. I was a little worried at the beginning of the film when I heard that Adrian was narrating the story that we’d get stuck in this ‘oh poor us’ mood of a story where the hunted becomes a hunter to understand the madness. Instead what happens effectively through the eyes of this 13 year old Austin who is the focus of the documentary is we see a mini anthropological study of how it is in the trenches of the paparazzi world, why they do what they do and just how wide the demand is for the right shot.
I had a chance to attend a Q and A with the director after the screening this week, what were some of the things you were able to gather after the film?
Well, 1 – you get so caught up in watching this life of the paparazzi and seeing what must be over a 100 sources of images on screen that I had to wonder how hard it is to make a film like this. Sure it was probably easy to gather the likes of Eva Longoria, Paris Hilton and the cast of his hit show Entourage to interview them but as someone who has made doc style content before I know it’s not easy guide a story like this and get the rights you need to make it work. Adrian went on to remark that it took him longer to edit and clear the film this last 10 months then it did to shoot everything and what you will appreciate is that the movie touches on so many elements of pop culture that we almost take for granted and their is something in it for everyone who has ever been interested in this world.
the movie is not just about this 13 year old kid Austin?
No, in fact he sort of uses Austin as the hook to get people interested in the premise and takes quite a few tangents to keep the viewer interested, which works well because any more of Austin screen time would be like watching Justin Beiber on Inside teh Actors studio – in other words the substance starts to fizzle after you except the novelty of his work. And to that point Adrian starts to develop a strong relationship with Austin the film in this father figure type role and you can see even as the director he feels he needs to back off of his subject in order for the movie to find a reasonable ending.
The Heist movie is such an interesting genre because we mostly always know what’s coming. There is always the anti-hero or in this case anti hero’s who capture our intrigue and sympathy early enough for us to forgive their criminal acts so we can witness their fresh attempt at getting away with the big score. In the Takers we have a crew who live like kings: flashy suits, fast cars and penthouse apartments. These Takers aren’t loose cannons.
So do we see a re-invention of this genre or is it the same old recycled stuff we are use to seeing?
I like to call this movie Oceans 11 meets Reservoir Dogs with dialogues written by Steven Seagal and action directed by Jean Claude Van Dame. It’s a modern day mash up of so many great films but fails to get past some bad acting (including by famous rapper T.I.) and chooses style over substance. I recommend Takers only to those who are looking to turn their minds off for a couple of hours and watch a bunch of money being blown both on screen and making the movie itself.
Takers opens across the city in wide release while the film Teenage Paparazzo opens at the Royal Cinema and the AMC Yonge and Dundas. You can hear this and other film reviews from the past weeks at cbc.ca/metromorning.
