His competition is Peter Krause, Anthony LaPaglia, Martin Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland. Personally, I'd echo the Globes and give it to LaPaglia , but Williams is as worthy as anyone, I suppose.

I drop my s... everywhere. Every time I walk through the door there's a pile of crap. It's 'Where's my keys, where's my wallet?'

Political Rescuers: Jeff Goldblum, Anthony LaPaglia, Liev Schreiber Star in "Spinning Boris" Premiering Sunday, March 14 on SHOWTIME

Serio-Comic Film Traces the Americans Who Mounted Russian President Boris Yeltsin's 1996 Bid for Re-Election

NEW YORK, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, March 14, at 8:00 PM ET/PT, SHOWTIME premieres the Original Picture SPINNING BORIS, starring Jeff Goldblum, Anthony LaPaglia and Liev Schreiber as a trio of elite American political consultants who were hired by a group of Russian businessmen to manage Russian President Boris Yeltsin's election campaign in 1996. These consultants secretly orchestrate one of the most spectacular political comebacks of the twentieth century -- Yeltsin's successful re-election.

SPINNING BORIS is based on the improbable but true story of three Americans whose involvement in Yeltsin's campaign retooled the Russian president's image and helped convince a nation to denounce Communism. The intriguing story later garnered the cover of Time magazine. The film is directed by Roger Spottiswoode ("The Sixth Day," "Tomorrow Never Dies" and the SHOWTIME Original Pictures NORIEGA: GOD'S FAVORITE and HIROSHIMA) from a script by Yuri Zeltser & Cary Bickley. Andrew Licht, Jeffrey A. Mueller and John Morris are executive producers. SPINNING BORIS is a Licht/Mueller Film Corporation production.

SYNOPSIS

After a slow year in U.S. campaigns, a trio of elite American political consultants, George Gorton (JEFF GOLDBLUM), Dick Dresner (ANTHONY LAPAGLIA) and Joe Shumate (LIEV SCHREIBER), receive a call from a secretive group of Russian businessmen about campaign strategy.

After several additional calls, and despite their disbelief and fear, the trio agrees to manage Russian president Boris Yeltsin's campaign bid for re-election. The election comes at a time when the ailing Yeltsin is plagued by dismal approval ratings because of economic hardship, the proliferation of organized crime and the on-going war in Chechnya.

Arriving in Moscow to cold weather and an even colder reception, the consultants are promptly denied access to their "client" due to concern that American involvement will make Yeltsin look like a tool of the West. The three discover that their only hope of changing the Russian political machine is to win the confidence of Yeltsin's daughter, Tatiana Dyachenko (SVETLANA EFREMOVA).

In addition, the Americans discover dismal polling numbers and a growing distrust of Yeltsin by the Russian people. If that's not enough, they are becoming increasingly wary of Yeltsin's closest advisors, whose plans to undermine the election for fear of losing power if Yeltsin is defeated are a daily threat to the campaign -- and their lives.

With help from Tatiana, the trio employs American-style political polls and marketing techniques to influence the Russian voting public and secure Yeltsin's victory over his main rival, Communist Gennady Zyuganov, in the June election.

LaPaglia wins Globe
Date: January 26 2004


Anthony LaPaglia was the only Australian in the winners' circle at the Golden Globes ceremony tonight with Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe all missing out on awards.

Australian director Peter Weir and actress Judy Davis also failed to have their names called out at the gala event at the Beverly Hills Hilton.

For Kidman, Blanchett, Crowe and Weir, the Globes are a setback in their hopes for next month's Academy Awards.

South Africa's Charlize Theron firmed as the favourite for the Oscar after she beat Kidman and Blanchett for the Globe in the best actress in a film drama category for her amazing transformation into a serial killer in Monster.

Sean Penn also distanced himself from Crowe in the race for the Oscar when the American was awarded the Globe for best actor in a drama for his tough guy role in Mystic River.

In one of the most emotional moments of the awards, LaPaglia dedicated his Globe to his wife Gia Carides and daughter Bridget. As LaPaglia spoke, tears welled in the eyes of his Australian actress wife.

"I really want to thank my wife the beautiful Gia Carides who supports every single bad habit that I have and has helped me get to this place," LaPaglia said.

"And to my beautiful daughter Bridget who turned one recently."

The Globes ceremony began with a bang for the Australians when the Adelaide-born LaPaglia won the second award of the night for his starring role in the Nine Network crime television series Without A Trace.

Bookmakers in Las Vegas and Britain did not give LaPaglia much of a chance in the best actor in a TV drama series category, with the four other nominees - Kiefer Sutherland, Martin Sheen, William Petersen and Michael Chiklis - regarded as better bets.

The Globes' first winner of the night was American actor Tim Robbins who collected the best supporting actor in a film for the drama Mystic River. Robbins joked on stage how the early victory meant he could relax and have a drink.

"Now I can drink with Tim," LaPaglia said with a smile when he accepted his Globe a few minutes later.

The trophy cabinet in 44-year-old LaPaglia's Los Angeles home is running out of space.

The versatile actor won a Tony Award in 1998 for his Broadway performance in Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge, an Australian Film Institute award in 2001 for Lantana and an Emmy in

2002 for a guest appearance on the TV sitcom Frasier.

Good news for Simon Moon fans. ALP is making a guest appearance on the one hour series finale of Frasier scheduled for May 13th.

In Without A Trace Anthony LaPaglia, an agent in the missing persons’ department of the FBI, has a different problem. A superb character actor, who was exceptional as a detective in the movie Lantana (2001), he exudes confidence, gravitas and emotional complexity. But the demands of contemporary American television are such that he is rarely given scenes of appropriate duration for him to fully take flight.

The head of a crack team which was last night charged with tracking down a missing wife who had taken flight from an abusive husband, LaPaglia is forced to share screen time with numerous other characters and their stories. Essential when competing with the multi-strand hits such as CSI and Law & Order, but if the second series tightened the focus on LaPaglia, Without A Trace might have greater success in burrowing into my weekly "can’t miss" file.

At the moment it remains a case of "can" and often "will" miss. Pity. LaPaglia deserves better, while Hannah deserved worse.

SOME 65 films - including 30 world premieres with such stars as Daryl Hannah, Denise Richards and Anthony LaPaglia - will compete for prizes at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, which runs from May 1 to May 8.

...

* "Winter Solstice," a suburban drama starring LaPaglia along with Aaron Stanford and Allison Janney.

Tickets will go on sale on April 24. For more information, go to tribecafilmfestival.org.

In May, Fernando Meirelles ("City of God") will begin shooting "The Constant Gardener," based on the John Le Carre novel and starring Ralph Fiennes, Anthony LaPaglia and Rachel Weisz

Ralph Fiennes stars as Kenya-based English diplomat Justin Quayle, whose wife is murdered, along with a man she's suspected of having an affair with, a local human rights activist. When Quayle starts investigating the killings, he discovers a connection between local politicians and a large Western pharmaceutical conglomerate.

In May, Fernando Meirelles ("City of God") will begin shooting "The Constant Gardener," based on the John Le Carre novel and starring Ralph Fiennes, Anthony LaPaglia and Rachel Weis

I thought ALP was going to film "View from the Bridge" this spring.

A CHANGE OF PACE: "Without a Trace" regular Anthony LaPaglia says his upcoming indie film "Winter Solstice" was a welcome change of pace from his FBI drama. "I'm raising two sons and trying to keep the family together," says LaPaglia, who plays a widower in the indie film. "Then the eldest son decides to leave home, and the father goes out on a date for the first time (since his wife died). I liked it a lot." The movie also stars Aaron Stanford, Mark Webber and "West Wing's" Allison Janney as his love interest in the film.

The actor, who won a Golden Globe Award for best actor in a drama series for "Without a Trace," says he continues to get "nothing but positive feedback" on the CBS show. "People seem to really love it. There was a girl who told me her parents were both FBI agents and the show rang really true."

There was a girl who told me her parents were both FBI agents

A View of Anthony
Anthony LaPaglia's talent and charm bridges Hollywood and Broadway.
By Melissa Rose Bernardo

There's a place on the Internet where you can kiss Anthony LaPaglia. At his unofficial fan club site (http://lapaglia.org), just click on the actor’s face with your mouse, thereby planting "a wet one." LaPaglia finds this hilarious. "I’ll have to get on and do like 90 hits, just so I don’t feel bad," he laughs. And though he claims he's never been considered a sex symbol – "I always thought I was the scary guy" – the 38-year-old Australian native definitely possesses a certain appeal. It's partly what makes him such a scene-stealer on screen, whether in character roles or bona fide leads. It also qualifies him to play Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge", now through Feb. 1 at the Roundabout Theatre’s State Right. But LaPaglia’s success in theater, film and TV goes beyond any kind of sex appeal; it's really his acting that rivets audiences, wins over co-stars and pleases directors.

"He’s incapable of false notes,” says Mercedes Ruehl, who in The Rose Tatoo played Serafina to LaPaglia’s Mangiacavallo, the strangely seductive banana truck driver. "I was onstage for 45 minutes before he made his entrance. And when I heard his voice offstage, every single night, I used to think, 'Thank God. Here he comes to save the day.' He would come on with this great big, bright, true, honest energy and the whole show would be a dance from that point on."

A View from the Bridge director Michael Mayer gives and equally glowing endorsement. “He’s really got animal magnetism. That’s so appropriate for Eddie, because he’s like a cage beast for much of the play. Anthony has a wonderful, lively way of inhabiting the frustration of this inarticulate man flooded with feelings he can’t begin to understand."

Arthur Miller’s drama tells the tale of a married Italian-American longshoreman who becomes obsessed with the blossoming young niece living in his care, with tragic results. It’s a part LaPaglia has wanted to do for years. “I usually try to take on roles that, for whatever reason, I identify with on an emotional level,” he says. “Don’t ask me why, but I identify with Eddie. He reminds me of people I have known in my life. Look, to one degree or another, we’ve all experienced just about every emotion. Everybody knows what it feels like to want to kill someone, to lust, to covet, to be possessive. How far you take it – that’s the trick. [As Eddie], I have to take it further than I normally would.”

Eddie is another in a long line of working-class character that LaPaglia seems to favor. Fellas named Jo (Empire Records, Innocent Blood), Frank (Nitti, 29th Street), Mick (Bulletproof Heart), Stevie (One Good Cop, Betsy’s Wedding), or Harry (Commandments) – meat and potatoes kind of guys. “They’re more interesting to play,” he says. “The majority of the world is made up of middle-class working people, or whatever the social structure is beneath that. The reason there’s so many more stories about them is that there’s something so many more people can identify with. But I don’t gravitate towards any particular thing; I just gravitate toward what’s well-written.”

Perhaps that’s why LaPaglia isn’t as big of a “star” as he undoubtedly could be. He chooses his projects carefully – “Everything comes under the heading of ‘life’s too short.’ And if I don’t really like what I’m doing, then I better not do it” – and sometimes puzzlingly. Though he’s done his share of theater in high-profile outlets, he put a steady film career on hold in 1995 to make his Broadway debut with The Rose Tatoo at Circle in the Square. And last year, he took a similar detour – to prime time, stepping into Steven Bochco’s drama series Murder One as defense attorney James Wyler. “I thought that if you do a TV series, that’s somehow inferior,” he admits. “But how many good movies do you see? How many of them have good writing? They’re crap. Murder One had great writing every week. And that meant more to me than some general perception that being on TV is ‘less than.’ It was a great time for me, because I stopped caring what other people think. I just don’t believe there’s any restrictions on you as an actor. If you’ve got the chops, you’ve got the chops, and you can do it anywhere – TV, film, theater, wherever.”

LaPaglia uses his chops in all those venues; he’ll even tackle radio this spring, when he, Frances McDormand, and Chazz Palmienteri do a reading of Bridge to benefit L.A. Theaterworks. But when he talks about theater, the drags on the cigarette get slower, and the smile becomes bigger. “The thing I love about it the most," he says, “is that you can’t fake it. You can’t get saved by an editor; you can’t show up just looking good; you can’t be some kind of celebrity based on your shenanigans. You don’t find supermodels jumping up on stage - not yet, anyway. Because theater is truly frightening, and you need to know your stuff to pull it off. It’s the only place left in the business where the work still means something. That’s becoming more and more important to me all the time.”

It was theater, in fact, that gave LaPaglia the idea to act. Eighteen years ago, he had left Australia to “get a different life.” Recalls the former shoe salesman, “I had no direction. I was sort of aimless.” But a 16th century restoration comedy called The Way of the World changed all that. “I just couldn’t get it out of my head. It was the only thing I genuinely felt something for. It wasn’t a big, cataclysmic event. It wasn’t like, ‘I must act!’ It was a slow thing, like ‘I’m interested in this, I’ll explore it more, I’ll go study it and see if I like it.” I’ve always felt reluctant about acting – still, to this day. Sometimes it’s a great occupation. Sometimes it’s a complete bonehead occupation. It requires so many things that are so unattractive, you know? Self-involvement, ambition; it can be a very selfish occupation. You get very caught up in it. I have a love-distrust relationship with the whole thing.”

That distrust is especially apparent when he’s speaking about movies. That’s where the bulk of his credits lie, but he’s definitely dissatisfied with what he calls the state of the business. “The era of the short, dark Italian guys is not in. Now, it’s the blond, WASPy guy,” he says matter-of-factly. “I equate the ‘90’s with the ‘60’s. In the ‘60’s, the studios thought they were losing their audiences to TV. So 20th Century Fox developed Vista Vision, which was about spectacle. The scripts went from great things like All About Eve to things about guys running around in Roman togas where there were no stories – jus costumes and Vista Vision. Then in the ‘70’s, that great generation of actors started: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris. People wanted to get back to reality, to making movies about people.

“In the ‘90’s, we’re right back to spectacles. They’re just not in Rome anymore; they’re  in outer space,” he says with some disdain. “And I could be wrong, but with the coming of the millennium, my guess is we’ll see it go back again. You’ve got movies like The Full Monty completely outperforming most studio films. What does that tell you? People are sick of spectacle. As an actor, I have no desire to do them. Don’t care about them at all. It’s not acting. You act on a blue screen, they do everything with the computer later. Just give ma a table, a chair and some people in the scene, and let’s do it.”

Which is exactly what he’s doing in Bridge; with minimal scenery in a 499-seat theater, he’s delving into the psychosexual depths of Eddie Carbone’s Red Hook, Brooklyn. And despite his discontent with the industry, his film career continues to thrive; soon-to-be-released is the independent Phoenix, with Ray Liotta and Anjelica Huston. Also in the can: a deal with Sony-TriStar to produce and develop his own on-hour drama series; he’s partnering up with DeNiro’s Tribeca Productions. Such a flurry of quality activity would be unlike if LaPaglia were cruising by solely on good looks; even the website, which dubs him “one of today’s most talented and underrated actors,” admits that.

YO, BRO: Anthony LaPaglia, now starring in "Without a Trace," won an Emmy in 2002 as a guest performer for his turn as Daphne's conniving brother Simon.

The amazing Anthony LaPaglia arrives as Daphne's mooching brother.  Best line: Martin, to Daphne in praise of Simon: "He's a great storyteller.  Is it true you wet your pants the first time you saw a Chinese person?" 

It's worth a look if a place near you carries Variety, plus I bet you these things will be worth a lot to "Frasier" and TV collectors in the future.