Free Republic

There's a movie out now that imagines modern America in the grips of a civil war. It is, as far as I can tell, a wholly logic-free bit of fantasy (California and Texas uniting as a rebel front!), with a script that hits its ideological touchstones like a piledriver. It's an election year, so expect more of the same, but it's worth comparing this First World fever dream of social collapse with a story grounded in a very real, recent, historical moment. The Dancer Upstairs (2002) begins with four people driving at night along a country road. They're listening to...

John Malkovich is an actor, an expatriate, a clothing designer, a director with an art-house film opening this week and a man still game to try anything. From The NYT Sunday Magazine: Being Any Number of Versions of the Self He Has Invented By LYNN HIRSCHBERG John Malkovich may have to leave his life. Or at least the part of his life -- no small part -- that is his home in the south of France. Except when he's making a movie on location, Malkovich and his family live here, near Provence, year round. But lately he has been involved...

Saturday, 4 May, 2002, 08:21 GMT 09:21 UK MP stunned at actor's outburst A Scottish Labour MP is taking legal advice after the Hollywood star John Malkovich allegedly said he would like to shoot the politician. Malkovich is reported to have said that the Glasgow Kelvin MP, George Galloway, was one of two people he would most like to kill. The source of Malkovich's anger appears to be Mr Galloway's condemnation of Israel's action against Palestinians and his criticism of the west's policies on Iraq. The actor was addressing students at the Cambridge union debating society when he was asked...

John Malkovich knows the French better than most Americans, having lived in Aix-en-Provence for years with his wife, Nicoletta Peyran, and their two children. But as much as he loves his adopted land, he thinks the French have forfeited their right to suggest what the new Iraq should look like. "Why should America listen to what France now has to say?" Malkovich asked the other day. "The French say that everybody else has a self-interest (in Iraq)," Malkovich said. "But none is more obvious than theirs. And they're absolutely blind to it. Sometimes ignoring other countries is the right response,"...

   Sat 4 May 2002 Galloway in the line of fire from actor Malkovich CHRISTINE GRANT GEORGE Galloway, the outspoken Labour MP, is consulting his lawyers after Hollywood star John Malkovich allegedly said he would like to shoot him. Malkovich - star of movies including Dangerous Liaisons and The Killing Fields - is reported to have said that Mr Galloway, the Glasgow Kelvin MP, was one of two people he would most like to kill. The MP yesterday expressed astonishment that the actor should have such animosity against him - or indeed should ever have heard of him. The...

Scottish Labour MP is taking legal advice after the Hollywood star John Malkovich allegedly said he would like to shoot the politician. Malkovich is reported to have said that the Glasgow Kelvin MP, George Galloway, was one of two people he would most like to kill. The source of Malkovich's anger appears to be Mr Galloway's condemnation of Israel's action against Palestinians and his criticism of the west's policies on Iraq. The actor was addressing students at the Cambridge union debating society when he was asked who he would most like to "fight to the death". Malkovich, star of movies...