Arts & Entertainment
The ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’ Interview
Kam Williams
Special To The Skanner News
L
Lee Daniels
ee Daniels is best known for direct-
ing and producing the Academy
Award-winning film Precious which
was nominated for a half-dozen Oscars in
2010, including histwo for Best Picture and
Best Director. Mo’Nique won for Best Sup-
porting Actress while scriptwriter Geoffrey
Fletcher landed another for Best Adapted
Screenplay.
Lee’s production company, Lee Daniels
Entertainment, made its feature film debut
in 2001 with Monster’s Ball, the dysfunc-
tional family drama for which Halle Berry
would earn her historic, Best Actress Oscar.
Last year, he wrote, produced and directed
The Paperboy, an adaptation of the Pete
Dexter
novel
starring
Matthew
McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack,
and Nicole Kidman.
Here, he talks about his new picture, The
Butler, a civil rights epic recounting the
real-life story of an African-American who
served in the White House at the pleasure of
eight presidents, from 1952 to 1986.
Kam Williams: Hey Lee, what a phe-
nomenal film!
Lee Daniels: Did you like it?
KW: I loved it!
LD: Thanks, Kam.
KW: I was born in the Fifties so all of the
ground you cover in terms of the father-son
relationship and the Civil Rights Movement
resonated with me and touched me very
deeply.
LD: That makes me feel good. Thank you
very much.
KW: So, what inspired you to make the
movie?
LD: What attracted me to the project was
the father-son story which I looked at as a
love story with the Civil Rights Movement
as a backdrop. That was intriguing to me
both because I’d had issues with my own
dad, and because I have issues with my
teenage son. I think the father-son love
story is a universal one which transcends
See THE BUTLER on page 8
New Movies Opening Aug. 9
By Kam Williams
Special To The Skanner
News
Elysium (R for pervasive
profanity and graphic vio-
lence) Sci-fi thriller, set in
2154, in a world where the
wealthy live on an exclusive
space station while the rest
of humanity is stuck on a
polluted,
overpopulated
planet that’s looks like a
Third World slum. Plot
revolves around an ailing
factory worker’s (Matt
Damon) attempt to reach the
heavily-fortified, orbiting
retreat for some urgently-
needed cancer treatment.
With Jodie Foster, Alice
Braga and Sharlto Copley.
Percy Jackson: Sea of
Monsters (PG for scary
images, mild epithets and
fantasy violence) Logan
Lerman reprises the title
role in this sequel based on
the Rick Riordan novel of
the same name which finds
the son of Poseidon and his
pals presently embarking on
an epic journey in search of
the fabled Golden Fleece.
Cast includes Alexandra
Page 6 The Portland Skanner August 7, 2013
Daddario, Brandon T. Jack-
son, Leven Rambin and
Stanley Tucci.
Entertainer, Brad Garrett,
John Cleese, Sinbad and
Larry the Cable Guy.
Planes (PG for mild
action and rude humor) Ani-
mated adventure about a
rickety, farm crop duster
with a fear of heights (Dane
Cook) who with the help of
a veteran aviator (Stacy
Keach) prepares to compete
in a famous, high-flying
aerial race against the das-
tardly reigning champ
(Roger Craig Smith). Voice
cast includes Val Kilmer,
Teri Hatcher, Cedric the
We’re the Millers (R for
pervasive profanity, crude
sexuality, drug use and full-
frontal
male
nudity)
Raunchy road comedy
revolving around a cash-
strapped pot dealer (Jason
Sudeikis) who enlists the
assistance of a stripper (Jen-
nifer Aniston), a latchkey
kid (Will Poulter) and a teen
runaway (Emma Roberts) to
smuggle two tons of mari-
juana out of Mexico by
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
posing as a family on vaca-
tion. Ensemble includes Ed
Helms, Luis Guzman, Nick
Offerman, Thomas Lennon
and Kathryn Hahn.
I Give It a Year (R for
profanity, sexuality and
See MOVIES on page 8