Claire Danes

[lostgirl]

Here's the pic that goes with it:

Andrea Mohin/The New York Times
Claire Danes in rehearsal for a work to be performed at P.S. 122.

 

[Captain_Lydia]

Wow, that dancing thing looks really cool. Didn't know Claire could dance.

But damn! I never noticed how skinny she was until those candids of her in the brownish jacket crossing the street on a profile! She practically disappears!

She looks really amazing in those shots of her in the black dress at the Shopgirl premiere too. I've never seen her more beautiful.

 

[lostgirl]

Some new candids from newscom:

 

[Ninja Pirate]

"Actress Claire Danes performs a solo dance piece, "Christina Olsen: American Model," choreographed by Tamar Rogoff, during a dress-rehearsal, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005, in New York. During her performance, Danes explores the life of Christina Olsen, the woman depicted in Andrew Wyeth's painting "Christina's World," who suffered from a muscular deterioration that left her arms weak and her lower body paralyzed, but who found ways to move relying only on her own strength"

 

[lostgirl]

^^I can't see the pics..

 

[Morrowbright]

Claire during dress rehearsals. Source: News.Yahoo.com

I'm just so thrilled for her getting such great reviews for Shopgirl and having the courage to express herself artistically in a new medium. (I know she was a dancer before she started acting, but that was a long time ago)

 

[lostgirl]

Thanks for the pics.


Yeah I think it's great too. I think she's very brave as a performer in general. She often makes risky choices. Dance isn't EXACTLY a new medium for her- she did study it for 10 years before she was an actress. But after all this time it';s got to be difficult getting back in shape for it, and figuring out how to express things in terms of dance again... I think it's a very brave choice. And I can't wait to see Shopgirl.


BTW, Welcome to tFS

 

[Morrowbright]

Thank you for the kind welcome and for all the gorgeous pictures you've provided in this thread. Claire's pretty much the reason I'm here; I've admired her for a long time. And you're absolutely right about her being a brave performer in general--I think that's what captured everyone's attention in MSCL and Romeo and Juliet--just how much of her own vulnerability and strength she brought to her work.

 

[lostgirl]

Well, she's one of my favorite actresses too. It's great to have another Claire fan here!

 

[lostgirl]

Some more pics of Claire at the Shopgirl press conference:

 

[Captain_Lydia]

Some more pics of Claire at the Shopgirl press conference:

Not digging that outfit, but her hair and makeup are very nice.

 

[lostgirl]

Not digging that outfit, but her hair and makeup are very nice.

I like it. It's cute.

 

[Morrowbright]

Thank you for the pics, lostgirl! I was surprised we hadn't seen any posed pics from the day until now. I wouldn't be a big fan of that blouse in and of itself, but I think it flatters her nicely.

 

[urd]

it seem that she is getting more and more beautiful

 

[lostgirl]

Claire talking about her next project, The Flock:
The Deal Report by Michelle Kung
What's the best foreign movie you haven't seen? That'd be 2004's twisty-turny drama Infernal Affairs. Claire Danes was so impressed that she's just signed on for IA codirector Andrew Lau's first American flick, The Flock. "My character [who's a federal agent] is about to replace Richard Gere's character
because he's 'retiring,' a.k.a. being fired," says Danes. "He has an unorthodox method of getting information from sex offenders--he really empathizes with them to beocome aware of their thought process--and during these two weeks [of training], we share an intimacy and rescue each other literally, but emotionally too."

And talking about her mentor, Jodie Foster:
Claire Danes, now 26, started acting at 12, "so I'll never be as experienced as Jodie is, because she started at, like, 3." But Danes too has set out to "be like Jodie." Danes worked with Foster in Home for the Holidays. After TV stardom and a break into the movies, she too took time off to go to Yale. Danes says she has let Foster be her guiding light ever since she came to Hollywood.

"I really appreciate her focus and discipline," Danes says. "This industry is very powerful and overwhelming and intimidating. She knows it and has created her own culture within it. And that integrity. She's got it."


And the trailer to her upcoming movie "The Family Stone" is up here:
http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=583732

 

[lostgirl]

Tidbit about "The Family Stone" and a poster:

The Family Stone reminds me a bit of Meet the Parents, but in reverse. Instead of having a guy meet the very conservative parents of an over-protected daughter, we now encounter a son who must introduce his fiancé to his slightly chaotic family. Forget the parents, look out for the siblings.



The Family Stone


A man [Dermot Mulroney] brings his ice-queen girlfriend [Sarah Jessica Parker] home for Christmas to meet his eccentric family. Overwhelmed by the hostile reception, the girlfriend begs her sister to join her for emotional support, only to trigger more problems.

Though I didn't think I would be entirely game for a film that features both Mulroney and Parker, The Family Stone definitely has its perks. For one, check out the official movie poster for the film [found at MovieGoods]. Any film willing to market in this form definitely gets a couple of bonus kudos. Now, add the fact that the trailer for the film does look pretty interesting and features some great, or should I say classic, background music, and this film could just be the next Meet the Parents.

For a couple more bonus kudos, the film also features Diane Keaton, Claire Danes, Craig T. Nelson, Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams.

 

[lostgirl]

Here's a good review of Claire in Christina Olsen: American Model





Christina Olson: American Model
by Ron Lasko

Claire Danes in
Christina Olson: American Model
I've never been a huge fan of evening-length solo dance work. I've always found the range of one person's movement in space to be a bit limiting. It can be quite effective for short pieces, but with longer works redundancy is inevitable.

Tamar Rogoff has done an admirable job with her newest choreographic exploration, Christina Olson: American Model, now at P.S. 122. This evening length solo piece is based on Andrew Wyeth's iconic 1948 painting, "Christina's World," which is of a young woman in a pink dress lying on a hill and looking toward an old farm house on the horizon. The model, Christina Olson, suffered from an undiagnosed degenerative muscular disease that weakened her arms and left her lower body completely paralyzed. She didn't care for wheelchairs and found ways to move relying only on her physical strength.

The piece stars Claire Danes, the actress best known for TV's My So Called Life and many films, including Stage Beauty, Romeo + Juliet and The Mod Squad, in her dance debut. It is an unusual and bold career move, especially at a time when so many young actors are conservative and safe. You can't help but applaud her bravery.

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The good news is that Danes really can move. She doesn't quite have fluidity of someone who has been dancing for years, but it is certainly an impressive debut. She could easily hold her own among many more seasoned modern dancers. Danes also has a magnetic stage presence.

Most of Rogoff's choreography is athletic, with sporadic moments of graceful, fluid movement. Danes spends much of the piece rolling around on the floor in wide circles between the two signature columns in PS 122's upstairs space. There is also quite a bit of jogging around and a rather odd stretch of jumping in place. The most compelling segment was one in which Danes rolled around on a very small raked platform raised four steps above stage level.

Rogoff wisely breaks up the movement with recitations of text passages from Christina Olson: Her World Beyond the Canvas by Jean Olson Brooks and Deborah Dalfonso and Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life by Richard Meryman. There are also several videos interspersed throughout. The longest, and most memorable part of the evening features Danes dragging herself across 10th Street and up the stairs of PS 122.

The design of the piece is a rather mixed bag. Liz Prince's pink dress, which Danes repeatedly peeled off to reveal a turquoise slip and put back on again, is exquisite. The sporadic music by Rachel's was also quite effective. Perhaps it's intentional, but David Ferri's lighting is a bit too harsh and flat for a piece based on such a soft, sunny painting. Unfortunately, the overall piece has very little emotional resonance. In fact, the only moments that I truly felt moved were unintentional. At several points over the course of the hour-long piece, visible cuts dripping with blood opened up on Danes feet and legs. It made one stop and think about how difficult it would be to be paralyzed and have to drag oneself around. Christina Olson: American Model
Choreographed by Tamar Rogoff
Music by Rachel's
Video by Harvey Wang

 

[lostgirl]

That was from Broadway.com, BTW.

This is from Hollywood.com:
The film actress Claire Danes began her career as a dancer. She started taking lessons in New York when she was only 4 and studied and performed for 10 years, until Hollywood called and Danes starred as Angela Chase on the ABC series "My So-Called Life."

Now 26, Danes has briefly returned to dancing for the first time in a dozen years. Under the direction of the New York choreographer Tamar Rogoff, she is performing the world premiere of a solo piece titled "Christina Olson: American Model." And while the hourlong work alternates between being haunting and annoyingly flat, Danes proves a fluid and sensual dancer whose firm technique conveys the fierce emotions that fuel this piece at its best.

Who was Christina Olson? She appears in a famous 1948 painting by Andrew Wyeth titled "Christina's World." Wearing a pink dress and with her back to the viewer, Christina seems to be sitting on a sloping field and gazing toward a gray house far in the distance.

In fact, Christina is crawling. Afflicted with a mysterious disorder that affected her balance and muscle control, by age 55, when Wyeth painted her, she could no longer walk. Refusing to use a wheelchair, however, she propelled herself with her arms and literally crawled from place to place, including along the hillside of her home in Maine.

At Performance Space 122, the room where Danes interprets Christina's private world is bare except for a flight of broad steps at one side, leading to a video screen. Danes looks slim and muscular in a clinging rust-colored dress. Her feet are bare, and her blond hair is pulled back in a high pony tail. This is a dance piece whose subject is movement: the ugly movement of a leg and a foot turned in, of arms twisting grotesquely behind the back, the birdlike movement of an extended back and legs stiffly trying to walk. The excruciatingly slow movement, seen on videotape, of Danes crawling across the street to P.S. 122. Movement often accompanied by pulsing music, at other times only by Danes' breathing and the stomping of her feet.

Danes infuses Rogoff's choreography with grace and intensity, ultimately portraying Christina's emotional life through dance. At some point, however, the choreography fails its subject. Rather than providing additional variations on the movements she has created, Rogoff repeats and by the end the piece begins to tire. Danes is luminous and expressive; Rogoff's vocabulary, finally, is as narrow as Christina Olson's world.

Christina Olson: American Model
Presented by Performance Space 122
in association with Tamar Rogoff Performance Projects
Credits:
Choreographer-conceived by: Tamar Rogoff
Lighting designer: David Ferri
Costume designer: Liz Prince
Composer: Christian Frederickson and Rachel's
Videographers: Harvey Wang, Andrew Baker
Cast: Claire Danes

 

[lostgirl]

Claire Danes returns to dancing for the first time in a dozen years.


from the Hollywoodreporter.com


and some smaller pics from the Shopgirl press conference:

from wireimage.com

 

[Erin]

I saw a preview of the Family Stone today on ET... I CANNOT wait until November to see it!