We first met George Clooney back in the 1990s when he was one of many actors who had a bit part in The Thin Red Line. At the time Clooney was beginning to breakthrough into movies after coming to prominence as Dr. Doug Ross in E.R. Finishing his tenure with the show at the end of 1999; Clooney ascended to movie star status during the early 21st century. In 2002 he directed his first film, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and three years later would helm his second feature which netted him a Best Director nod.
That film was Good Night and Good Luck; which earned six nominations in all including two for Clooney in both the directing and screenwriting categories. Clooney also starred in the film as Fred Friendly the co-producer of notorious broadcaster Edward R. Morrow. The story focuses on Morrow's various attacks on Senator Joseph McCarthy and in particular his criticism of the scaremongering tactics that were being employed by his administration. The war begins when Morrow criticises McCarthy's prosecution of a young officer without having any proof of his wrongdoings. Their battle intensifies when McCarthy outright accuses Morrow of having communist leanings to which the host of 'See it Now' totally denies. Clooney and co-writer Grant Heslov's script looks at the effects of this war of words on both the CBS network and Murrow's colleagues on the 'See it Now' show. These include Joseph and Shirley; a married couple who have to keep their relationship a secret from their colleagues due to CBS guidelines. Also featured heavily is CBS journalist Don Hellenbeck, who is criticised in the press for being a 'pinko' and who ultimately commits suicide. In my opinion it's the relationship between the staff members that makes Good Night and Good Luck so successful especially when you come to realise they're like a little family. I especially liked the loyalty displayed by CBS Boss William Palley, the father figure of the group, who defended Murrow's actions to the advertisers who were worried about his barbed attacks. I also liked the way in which the film's narrative was book-ended by Murrow's speech to the Radio and Television News Directors Association in which he condemns the way in which TV is dumbing down.
It's clear that in both his writing and direction of Good Night and Good Luck that Clooney has a particular affinity with the 1950s. I wasn't surprised to learn that Clooney's father was a TV news journalist as there seems to be a certain respect of the profession running throughout the film. Indeed Murrow's words about the descent of TV in general looked to be Clooney's critique of the reality-heavy output of 21st century television. The script was just one of the things that made Good Night and Good Luck a solid piece of factual drama that obviously struck a chord with the academy due to its political message. The fact that the film was shot in black and white made it stand out from the colourful films that were nominated alongside it. The decision behind the colour scheme was to do with the fact that Clooney wanted to use black and white archive footage of McCarthy. Interestingly some audience members thought that McCarthy was being played by an actor and actually criticised the authenticity of the performance. However, the acting from top to bottom in Good Night and Good Luck is outstanding and it's hard to pick a weak link from the bunch. I particularly liked the tender turns given by Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey Jr. as the married couple who had to hide their relationship at work. Ray Wise as the tragic Hellenbeck and Frank Langella as the strong-willed Palley were also on top form. But the stand out turn has to be the one given by David Strathairn as Murrow himself a fact the academy recognised by awarding the star with a Best Actor nomination. Strathairn portrays Murrow as a reserved individual whose passion kicks in as soon as he is able to talk about things that matter. I really liked the fact that the ensemble shared a great chemistry which made the character's family dynamic all the more believable. Whilst Good Night and Good Luck didn't win any of the six awards it was nominated for, Clooney did pick up his only acting Oscar to date for his role in Syriana.
Whilst Clooney did indeed pick up an acting award for Syriana it was in the supporting category and the actor would have to wait another two years to be recognised in the lead actor field. That recognition came for his performance as the eponymous anti-hero in Michael Clayton. Although Clooney had delivered fine performances up to that point he brought an extra tinge of vulnerability to the titular legal fixer. Director Tony Gilroy's script for Michael Clayton was brilliantly structured as he briefly tore away the layers of each character to reveal their true nature. In brief the film sees Clayton called to action by the head of the law firm for which he works when one of their senior litigators has a breakdown during a high profile deposition. Although the troubled Arthur Eden had been dealing with bipolar disorder, Clayton believes that his latest outburst is bigger than simply his illness. Gilroy later reveals that Arthur's paranoid suspicions are valid as he is being followed by goons hired by U-North; the agricultural company that the legal firm were defending. Halfway through the film Arthur is murdered however everyone bar Michael believes that he took his own life. From that point on, the film becomes a conspiracy thriller as Clayton tries to follow in Arthur's footsteps whilst evading suspicion from the U-North group. The unscrupulous U-North is represented by Karen Holder, a brusque general counsel who herself is suffering from mental difficulties. Events come to a head during the film's most iconic scene in which Michael's life is essentially saved by a group of horses. Although the film's ending is a little too neat, I did enjoy the fact that Michael decided to opt on the side of self-preservation while at the same time revealing the truth about the villainous U-North.
Usually I don't like dramas which start halfway through before flashing back to the beginning of the tale. However, in the case of Michael Clayton I think this worked as Gilroy makes the audience anticipate the events that we witnessed during the opening ten minutes. Gilroy's script is perfectly paced as he takes his time to let us get to know the characters before plunging us into the world of conspiracy. The character of Clayton himself isn't every inch the smooth-talking charmer that Clooney had been known for portraying up to this point. Indeed he has his demons which include a serious gambling habit and a recent bankruptcy caused by a bad investment in a bar. Clooney is great at portraying the infallible nature of the character as well as he is when conveying the cool, calm and collected part of Clayton's personality. Giving a similarly brilliant turn was Tom Wilkinson as the troubled Arthur Eden, who may be more sensible then everyone gives him credit for. Wilkinson seemed to be having an absolute hoot playing Arthur, especially when he went off the rails and stripped naked at the deposition. Wilkinson's ability to make us care for Arthur before his eventual demise meant that we then were rooting for Clayton to expose the truth behind his murder. Oddly, although both Clooney and Wilkinson were nominated for Oscars, the only winner on the night was Tilda Swinton. This decision struck me as a little odd as Swinton didn't make any big impression on me mainly as her character Karen Holder isn't on screen for a great deal of time. It almost felt if the Academy were honouring the film as a whole by letting Swinton win one of the seven categories in which Michael Clayton was nominated. Even though I've watched Michael Clayton before it didn't make as big an impression on me as it did this time round. I found it to be an intensely gripping thriller that revealed its hand gradually and was all the better for doing so. However I'm not shocked that it didn't win Best Picture and in a way I'm surprised that it was even nominated in the first place.
Next time we look at a film that occurs over three different timelines that are linked by one specific piece of literary work.
Showing posts with label Sydney Pollack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sydney Pollack. Show all posts
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 268-270: Dustin does the Double
In the 1970s we saw Dustin Hoffman star in a diverse range of films and garner a couple of Best Actor nomination. But it was only during the ceremonies of the 1980s did he finally get rewarded for his fine body of work. In fact in two of the three films below he won Best Actor Oscars and, coincidentally, both films went on to win Best Picture awards.
Hoffman's success started early in the decade when appeared in Kramer Vs Kramer, the winner of Best Picture at the 1980 ceremony. The film saw him play harassed advertising executive Ted Kramer a man who spends a lot more time at work than he does at home. Ted's life changes dramatically one day when his wife Joanna walks out on him without giving him any notice at all. Ted is then forced to bring up the couple's son Billy single-handedly, a task that he finds more than a little difficult. Ted struggles to find the balance between handling a major account at his advertising firm and dealing with the kind of minute details that raising a seven year old brings. These problems are highlighted by the tantrums that Billy has as well as the accident that occurs when he falls off a climbing frame. But gradually the father/son bond grows and Billy becomes the most important thing in Ted's life. So events become even more complicated when, eighteen months later, Joanna returns claiming that she wants Billy to come and live with her. With the bond between Ted and Billy stronger than ever, Ted decides to fight her claim and the two enter a bitter court battle together. The case itself sees major dirt thrown on both sides and ultimately only one side comes out victorious. Just like the rest of the film, I found the ending to be sweet without being saccharine and more than anything it made a lot of sense.
In his script for Kramer Vs Kramer, Robert Benton creates characters who are supremely flawed but are ultimately capable of caring for one another. Ted Kramer is somewhat of a workaholic who we basically see become a proper father to his son over the course of the film. Though Ted makes mistakes, he appears to learn from them and the scene in which he rushes through traffic to get Billy to hospital is extremely moving. Similarly, Benton turns Joanna from the villain of the piece to somebody who we sympathise with due to her final decision in the film. Her actions may not always be right but, just like her ex-husband, she always does what she thinks is best. I have to say, I struggled to like Billy initially and felt that Benton had written him as just a precocious child but he also developed over the course of the film. His realisation that Joanna didn't leave because of him was well-handled and was another example of how true to life Benton had made his characters. In addition to providing some incredible characters, the film offers up some really thought-provoking situations about what it really means to be a parent as it dealt with the changing face of both fatherhood and motherhood. Benton also ended up directing the film after François Truffaut pulled out and it appears as if this was the right decision as he is able to see his words realised on screen. Truffaut's long time cinematographer Néstor Almendros adds some beauty to the piece and is great at capturing some of the silent moments between father and son. One of my favourite recurring motifs is the way that the pair's breakfasts together change over time and the routine they get into by the end of the film is somewhat magical.
I feel Hoffman's Oscar win was more than justified as he appears in nearly every scene of the film and is magnetic throughout. Here he is tasked with playing just a run-of-the-mill father and yet is able to make his character feel every inch a movie hero. Hoffman really communicates Ted's inner turmoil and the love he feels for Billy as the film goes on. Meryl Streep, here winning Best Supporting Actress, is great as Joanna and gives the film a real poignancy whenever she appears. Streep didn't overplay her role and instead brought a quiet fragility to the custody battle in which she and Hoffman both excel. Young Justin Henry was absolutely terrific as young Billy and was much more than just a token child. He made us believe that Billy had been forced to grow up quickly and the chemistry between he and Hoffman was just brilliant. At just over an hour and half, Kramer Vs Kramer never outstayed its welcome and was well-paced throughout. The result of this was a snappy film, with three incredible performances and an incredibly realistic script. Though you'll have to find out if I think it deserved to win Best Picture, I thought that Kramer Vs Kramer was a great film that explored the true meaning of the word family.
In between his two Oscar-winning turns, Hoffman starred in another Best Picture nominee, but this time mainly played it for laughs. In Tootsie, Hoffman played Michael Dorsey an actor who was frequently out of work due to the fact that often argued with directors about what his characters should be doing. Forced to take a job as a waiter, Michael is waiting to raise enough money to put on his flat mate Jeff's play. Informed by his agent that nobody in New York will hire him, Michael goes to extraordinary lengths to continue his career. After providing moral support at a soap audition for his friend Sandy, Michael later takes the drastic step of dressing up as a woman and auditioning for the role himself. The plan works and soon 'Dorothy Michaels' is playing Emily Kimberly, the new administrator on Southwest General. With Jeff and his agent the only two people in on the act, Michael must keep his new identity from Sandy and at the same time begins a relationship with her. But Michael is soon drawn to his new co-star Julie, a single mother who is currently in a disastrous relationship with the soap's awful director. To make things more complicated Julie's widowed father starts to develop feelings for 'Dorothy' and declares his intentions to begin a relationship with her. As Dorothy begins to get more famous, Michael realises that he has to end the charade one way or another. The way he chooses is completely ridiculous and I have to say that I was laughing all the way through this final scene.
In Tootsie, Hoffman really shows his diversity and brings an excellent comic timing to the role. Though we've seen him in comedy films in the past, most notably The Graduate, this is the first time he's been able to show off his comic timing. The script is great at parodying the life of a penniless actor as well as spoofing the ridiculous world of the soap opera. But, unlike most comedies, it is playing for more than just laughs and actually has something serious to say about gender identity. Julie in particular is a character who tells 'Dorothy' that she finds it hard being a woman in the 1980s especially seeing as she's trying to hold down a job and be the sole carer to a young child. The fact that Michael is only able to find fame once he plays an older woman also speaks volumes and I found that Hoffman was utterly convincing whenever he had to play Dorothy. One thing I would have like to have seen was Michael's first transformation into Dorothy and similarly I would have like to have seen more from him when he finally revealed his true identity. Another element of the film that I wasn't a fan of was the film's theme tune 'It Might be You', a generic 1980s number that feels shoehorned in to the movie. But those are just minor niggles in a film that had a lot to offer namely its ensemble cast led by the fantastic Hoffman in another Oscar nominated turn. Jessica Lange, who won the only one of ten awards Tootsie was nominated for, was great as the softly-spoken Julie and added a slice of realism to the film. I have to say though I preferred fellow Supporting Actress nominee Teri Garr as the quirky and paranoid Sandy. Charles Durning as Julie's father, Bill Murray as Jeff and Tootsie's director Sydney Pollack as Michael's agent were all excellent and Murray in particular added a deadpan feel to his character. Whilst Tootsie wasn't the greatest film ever, it was a comedy that had heart and a message while in addition it showed the vast repertoire of styles that Hoffman provided.
Of all the performances we've seen from his so far, Hoffman employed the most amount of method acting to play Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man. Raymond is a high-functioning autistic who has lived in an institute since he was young after his parents were afraid that he'd hurt his younger brother. Due to this his brother Charlie never knew he existed until after the death of their father who left all of his money to Raymond. A product of the 1980s, Charlie is a used car salesman with a beautiful European girlfriend and a fast-talking mouth. Following the death of his mother, he and his father had an incredibly strained relationship and barely talked until his death. Furious that he's been swindled out of his inheritance, Charlie essentially kidnaps Raymond from his house and takes him back to L.A. in an attempt to get half of his money. To add insult to injury, Raymond doesn't even understand the concept of money so Charlie's even more mad that he's now in possession of three million dollars. As Raymond hates to fly, Charlie is forced to drive cross country and along the way starts to learn more about his brother. Initially Raymond's outbursts annoy Charlie but he soon learns to cope with them and is later astonished to discover that his brother was his imaginary friend 'Rain Man' that helped him cope during his childhood. The trip climaxes in a trip to Las Vegas in which Charlie uses Raymond's extraordinary abilities with numbers to swindle a casino out of thousands of dollars. Ultimately the film comes down to whether a bond can develop between family members or if Charlie's greed will mean he's willing to put a price on his new-found relationship with Raymond.
Having seen Rain Man before, I knew what to expect and perhaps the reason that I found a lot of it quite over-the-top. I found the screenplay to be incredibly deliberate and the character of Raymond in particular was fairly over-bearing at times. Though I'm sure writers Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass did their research before creating the character, Raymond's autism feels like a plot device at times rather than something that is particularly well-drawn. Thankfully, Hoffman brings the character to life and this is the first time that we've seen him play a particularly middle-aged character. In the six years between Tootsie and Rain Man he appears to have aged significantly and the disparity between his ageing features and Raymond's childlike nature make for a great balance. But for all the plaudits that Hoffman received for the film, including the Best Actor Oscar, I felt that Tom Cruise gave the better performance as Charlie. At the time Cruise was a big movie star with films like Top Gun and Cocktail putting him on the map. But it was in Rain Man that we first saw that he could really hold his own against an acting great like Hoffman. Cruise is forced to turn Charlie from an arrogant salesman into a loving brother and he portrays the transformation beautifully. The chemistry between Cruise and Hoffman builds throughout Rain Man and in my opinion is one of the reasons for its success. I found that both John Seale's cinematography and Hans Zimmer's score to be the film's other positive attributes with the former capturing the American highway during the brothers' journey. Though it may be forced at times, Rain Man is certainly a very good film that is made better by the performances of both Cruise and Hoffman. Oddly, after all of his success in the last two decades, Hoffman wouldn't appear in another Best Picture nominee again for another sixteen years. But I feel that the three films above all demonstrate his terrific range and show why he's regarded as one of the best actors of his generation.
Next time we head out to Cambodia and follow the journey of an American reporter.
Hoffman's success started early in the decade when appeared in Kramer Vs Kramer, the winner of Best Picture at the 1980 ceremony. The film saw him play harassed advertising executive Ted Kramer a man who spends a lot more time at work than he does at home. Ted's life changes dramatically one day when his wife Joanna walks out on him without giving him any notice at all. Ted is then forced to bring up the couple's son Billy single-handedly, a task that he finds more than a little difficult. Ted struggles to find the balance between handling a major account at his advertising firm and dealing with the kind of minute details that raising a seven year old brings. These problems are highlighted by the tantrums that Billy has as well as the accident that occurs when he falls off a climbing frame. But gradually the father/son bond grows and Billy becomes the most important thing in Ted's life. So events become even more complicated when, eighteen months later, Joanna returns claiming that she wants Billy to come and live with her. With the bond between Ted and Billy stronger than ever, Ted decides to fight her claim and the two enter a bitter court battle together. The case itself sees major dirt thrown on both sides and ultimately only one side comes out victorious. Just like the rest of the film, I found the ending to be sweet without being saccharine and more than anything it made a lot of sense.
In his script for Kramer Vs Kramer, Robert Benton creates characters who are supremely flawed but are ultimately capable of caring for one another. Ted Kramer is somewhat of a workaholic who we basically see become a proper father to his son over the course of the film. Though Ted makes mistakes, he appears to learn from them and the scene in which he rushes through traffic to get Billy to hospital is extremely moving. Similarly, Benton turns Joanna from the villain of the piece to somebody who we sympathise with due to her final decision in the film. Her actions may not always be right but, just like her ex-husband, she always does what she thinks is best. I have to say, I struggled to like Billy initially and felt that Benton had written him as just a precocious child but he also developed over the course of the film. His realisation that Joanna didn't leave because of him was well-handled and was another example of how true to life Benton had made his characters. In addition to providing some incredible characters, the film offers up some really thought-provoking situations about what it really means to be a parent as it dealt with the changing face of both fatherhood and motherhood. Benton also ended up directing the film after François Truffaut pulled out and it appears as if this was the right decision as he is able to see his words realised on screen. Truffaut's long time cinematographer Néstor Almendros adds some beauty to the piece and is great at capturing some of the silent moments between father and son. One of my favourite recurring motifs is the way that the pair's breakfasts together change over time and the routine they get into by the end of the film is somewhat magical.
I feel Hoffman's Oscar win was more than justified as he appears in nearly every scene of the film and is magnetic throughout. Here he is tasked with playing just a run-of-the-mill father and yet is able to make his character feel every inch a movie hero. Hoffman really communicates Ted's inner turmoil and the love he feels for Billy as the film goes on. Meryl Streep, here winning Best Supporting Actress, is great as Joanna and gives the film a real poignancy whenever she appears. Streep didn't overplay her role and instead brought a quiet fragility to the custody battle in which she and Hoffman both excel. Young Justin Henry was absolutely terrific as young Billy and was much more than just a token child. He made us believe that Billy had been forced to grow up quickly and the chemistry between he and Hoffman was just brilliant. At just over an hour and half, Kramer Vs Kramer never outstayed its welcome and was well-paced throughout. The result of this was a snappy film, with three incredible performances and an incredibly realistic script. Though you'll have to find out if I think it deserved to win Best Picture, I thought that Kramer Vs Kramer was a great film that explored the true meaning of the word family.
In between his two Oscar-winning turns, Hoffman starred in another Best Picture nominee, but this time mainly played it for laughs. In Tootsie, Hoffman played Michael Dorsey an actor who was frequently out of work due to the fact that often argued with directors about what his characters should be doing. Forced to take a job as a waiter, Michael is waiting to raise enough money to put on his flat mate Jeff's play. Informed by his agent that nobody in New York will hire him, Michael goes to extraordinary lengths to continue his career. After providing moral support at a soap audition for his friend Sandy, Michael later takes the drastic step of dressing up as a woman and auditioning for the role himself. The plan works and soon 'Dorothy Michaels' is playing Emily Kimberly, the new administrator on Southwest General. With Jeff and his agent the only two people in on the act, Michael must keep his new identity from Sandy and at the same time begins a relationship with her. But Michael is soon drawn to his new co-star Julie, a single mother who is currently in a disastrous relationship with the soap's awful director. To make things more complicated Julie's widowed father starts to develop feelings for 'Dorothy' and declares his intentions to begin a relationship with her. As Dorothy begins to get more famous, Michael realises that he has to end the charade one way or another. The way he chooses is completely ridiculous and I have to say that I was laughing all the way through this final scene.
In Tootsie, Hoffman really shows his diversity and brings an excellent comic timing to the role. Though we've seen him in comedy films in the past, most notably The Graduate, this is the first time he's been able to show off his comic timing. The script is great at parodying the life of a penniless actor as well as spoofing the ridiculous world of the soap opera. But, unlike most comedies, it is playing for more than just laughs and actually has something serious to say about gender identity. Julie in particular is a character who tells 'Dorothy' that she finds it hard being a woman in the 1980s especially seeing as she's trying to hold down a job and be the sole carer to a young child. The fact that Michael is only able to find fame once he plays an older woman also speaks volumes and I found that Hoffman was utterly convincing whenever he had to play Dorothy. One thing I would have like to have seen was Michael's first transformation into Dorothy and similarly I would have like to have seen more from him when he finally revealed his true identity. Another element of the film that I wasn't a fan of was the film's theme tune 'It Might be You', a generic 1980s number that feels shoehorned in to the movie. But those are just minor niggles in a film that had a lot to offer namely its ensemble cast led by the fantastic Hoffman in another Oscar nominated turn. Jessica Lange, who won the only one of ten awards Tootsie was nominated for, was great as the softly-spoken Julie and added a slice of realism to the film. I have to say though I preferred fellow Supporting Actress nominee Teri Garr as the quirky and paranoid Sandy. Charles Durning as Julie's father, Bill Murray as Jeff and Tootsie's director Sydney Pollack as Michael's agent were all excellent and Murray in particular added a deadpan feel to his character. Whilst Tootsie wasn't the greatest film ever, it was a comedy that had heart and a message while in addition it showed the vast repertoire of styles that Hoffman provided.
Of all the performances we've seen from his so far, Hoffman employed the most amount of method acting to play Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man. Raymond is a high-functioning autistic who has lived in an institute since he was young after his parents were afraid that he'd hurt his younger brother. Due to this his brother Charlie never knew he existed until after the death of their father who left all of his money to Raymond. A product of the 1980s, Charlie is a used car salesman with a beautiful European girlfriend and a fast-talking mouth. Following the death of his mother, he and his father had an incredibly strained relationship and barely talked until his death. Furious that he's been swindled out of his inheritance, Charlie essentially kidnaps Raymond from his house and takes him back to L.A. in an attempt to get half of his money. To add insult to injury, Raymond doesn't even understand the concept of money so Charlie's even more mad that he's now in possession of three million dollars. As Raymond hates to fly, Charlie is forced to drive cross country and along the way starts to learn more about his brother. Initially Raymond's outbursts annoy Charlie but he soon learns to cope with them and is later astonished to discover that his brother was his imaginary friend 'Rain Man' that helped him cope during his childhood. The trip climaxes in a trip to Las Vegas in which Charlie uses Raymond's extraordinary abilities with numbers to swindle a casino out of thousands of dollars. Ultimately the film comes down to whether a bond can develop between family members or if Charlie's greed will mean he's willing to put a price on his new-found relationship with Raymond.
Having seen Rain Man before, I knew what to expect and perhaps the reason that I found a lot of it quite over-the-top. I found the screenplay to be incredibly deliberate and the character of Raymond in particular was fairly over-bearing at times. Though I'm sure writers Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass did their research before creating the character, Raymond's autism feels like a plot device at times rather than something that is particularly well-drawn. Thankfully, Hoffman brings the character to life and this is the first time that we've seen him play a particularly middle-aged character. In the six years between Tootsie and Rain Man he appears to have aged significantly and the disparity between his ageing features and Raymond's childlike nature make for a great balance. But for all the plaudits that Hoffman received for the film, including the Best Actor Oscar, I felt that Tom Cruise gave the better performance as Charlie. At the time Cruise was a big movie star with films like Top Gun and Cocktail putting him on the map. But it was in Rain Man that we first saw that he could really hold his own against an acting great like Hoffman. Cruise is forced to turn Charlie from an arrogant salesman into a loving brother and he portrays the transformation beautifully. The chemistry between Cruise and Hoffman builds throughout Rain Man and in my opinion is one of the reasons for its success. I found that both John Seale's cinematography and Hans Zimmer's score to be the film's other positive attributes with the former capturing the American highway during the brothers' journey. Though it may be forced at times, Rain Man is certainly a very good film that is made better by the performances of both Cruise and Hoffman. Oddly, after all of his success in the last two decades, Hoffman wouldn't appear in another Best Picture nominee again for another sixteen years. But I feel that the three films above all demonstrate his terrific range and show why he's regarded as one of the best actors of his generation.
Next time we head out to Cambodia and follow the journey of an American reporter.
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