32 | ENTERTAINMENT

ReviewsTodayEmiratesToday | December 14 | 2005

TODAY@DIFF FILM OF THE DAYMADINAT ARENA15.00 Walk the Line 20.00 Contemporary World

Cinema Gala:Edison MADINAT THEATRE14.30 Kiss Me Not On The

Eyes 17.45 Bab El Web 21.00 Kosovo: The Hand of

Friendship 23.30 Broken Flowers CINESTAR 2,MALL OF THE EMIRATES14.30 I Did Not Kill Gandhi 17.30 Lamhe 22.00 The Embassy is in the

Building CINESTAR 12,MALL OF THE EMIRATES15.15 Water 18.30 The Long Night 21.15 Haunted; Cow & Co;

6 Girls;Yasmin’s Song 00.00 West Bank Story;

Being Osama CINESTAR 4,MALL OF THE EMIRATES15.45 The Night of Truth 19.00 Sisters 21.45 Peacock CINESTAR 5,MALL OF THE EMIRATES13.00 The Dance of Love

(+ Reflections) 16.15 Under the Ceiling 19.15 L’Enfant 22.15 Wail of the Conch

CINESTAR 6,MALL OF THE EMIRATES 18.30 A Perfect Day 21.15 The Sleeping Child CINESTAR 7,MALL OF THE EMIRATES13.30 From Dust 15.45 The Play 18.15 Kiran over Mongolia 21.00 OuagaSaga 23.45 Paradise Now CINESTAR 8,MALL OF THE EMIRATES 18.30 Election 21.30 The Last Moon CINESTAR 9,MALL OF THE EMIRATES18.00 Forgiveness 21.15 One Night CINESTAR 10,MALL OF THE EMIRATES 19.15 The Death of Mister

Lazarescu 23.15 The Consequences of

Love DUBAI MEDIA CITY AMPHITHEATRE “SCREEN ON THE GREEN”20.00 Autobus

FILM INFORMATION■ All films start promptly. Arriveat least 15 minutes before thescreening. Strictly no admittanceafter scheduled start time.

■ TICKETS: All regular screenings:Dh20 per ticket; Dh15 for stu-dents with valid ID. Dubai Red

Carpet Gala Screenings: Dh50per ticket; “Screen on theGreen”: FREE screenings atDubai Media City Outdoor;Amphitheatre (seating for thefirst 1,000 people). The “SIXTIX” Deal: Dh100 (six regulartickets for the price of five).Twotickets per screening.

BOOKING■ Tickets can be bought onlineat:www.dubaifilmfest.com■ By calling 04 367 6701 ■ By visiting Advance Box Officelocations:CineStar Cinemas, (Mall of theEmirates,12pm-8pm) Madinat Theatre (Souk MadinatJumeirah,12pm-8pm) Dubai Media City (CNN build-ing lobby,10am-6pm).

››Part of the festival’s OperationCultural Bridge programme,Being Osama sees directorsMahmoud Kaabour and TimSchwab look at the post-9/11lives of six Arab men living inMontréal in Canada, who are allnamed Osama.

All diverse in background,interests and character – one is abudding rock-star, another is aDJ – they are united by their firstname and by their experience ofdealing with the aftermath of theNew York events.

The poignant, sometimesdarkly humoured, film exploresissues of race, immigration anddisplacement, and their storieshighlight the fact that manyWesternised Muslims are nowliving their lives against a back-drop of continuing conflict andsuspicion between the West andthe Arab/Islamic world.

Unfortunately, they have notonly their name in common withthe Al Quaeda leader, but alsothe experience of being on thereceiving end of personal attacks

or problems because of it. Thisfascinating documentary is amust-see and will undoubtedlybe one of the festival’s manyhighlights.

BEING OSAMA Documentary 45 mins

DIRECTORS MAHMOUD KAABOUR AND TIM SCHWABSTARRING: SIX REAL-LIFE OSAMAS

■ Five of the six real-life Osamas in Being Osama■ Ravi By Fire

Sheikh Mohammed calledand I answered,” saysMorgan Freeman inthose famous prophe-sising tones as he talks

about why he returned to the Dubai International FilmFestival this week for a secondyear running.

It is not surprising that Free-man is so often cast in wise roles.As he carefully considers eachquestion from Emirates Today, theman behind those characters isobviously thoughtful and percep-tive. Yet despite a monumentalcareer in acting, he does not dis-play the self-importance youmight expect from a Hollywoodicon. He seems genuinely excitedto be back in Dubai as he chatsabout the festival in his laidbackTennessee drawl.

“I’ve been to a lot of festivals –Sundance, Cannes, Shanghai,Switzerland… but in a few years Ithink the Dubai festival will beone of the best.While most festi-vals are a marketplace in which tolaunch a film, this one is gen-uinely about bringing differentcultures together through themovies they show. It’s aboutbridging those gaps and that’s avery exciting concept.”

While Freeman’s legendarymovies, Driving Miss Daisy andThe Shawshank Redemption, arebeing shown at the festival, hislatest project Edison is making itsGulf premiere at a screening in

the Madinat arena tonight. In thismovie he plays a world-wearynewspaper editor who fires a cubreporter, played by Justin Tim-berlake, after a series of contro-versial articles. The movie wasJustin Timberlake’s first big breakinto films but Freeman isadamant he didn’t offer the popsinger any guidance.

“I don’t give advice. I don’tthink it’s a good idea to go aroundgiving advice to any one becausesometimes the advice you’re giv-ing is not right,”he explains.

“Sometimes there are tech-niques that I’ll offer just as theywere offered to me, but I don’tlike to go around pretending Ihave the answer to everything.”

While he may not be willing tohand out acting lessons on set, at

the age of 67 Freeman is still keento learn new skills from his fellowactors. He says that for the finalscene in Edison, Timberlakepassed on a few dance tips. “He’s

an incredible dancer, he’s just likewater. I used to be a dancer – I didjazz, tap and ballet – but hepassed on a few of his moves.”

At the age of 24,Timberlake isfortunate to have made a seem-ingly effortless transition intofilms, but Freeman wasn’t quiteso lucky.

“I got my big break in themovies late in life,” he explains.“It wasn’t a conscious decision. Iwas trying from the age of 21 butit just never happened. I got outof the military and ended up onstage, which was great trainingfor the future.”

At the age of 50, after making aname for himself on Broadwaythis “big break” arrived in the roleof Fast Black, the volatile pimp inStreet Smart. Despite this latesuccess, he doesn’t show anybitterness and is surprisinglyphilosophical about his late rise tofame. “I’m sort of a fatalist,” heexplains.“I believe whatever hap-pens, happens for the best. I’veaccepted that my late success wasin my favour. I mean I’m stillalive, I’m not a drug addict, I’mnot a has-been and I think that’spartly because it didn’t come atan age when I wasn’t quite liter-ally prepared for success.”

From both a professional andpersonal point of view,he believesthe fact that his breakthroughopportunity arrived when mostpeople would be consideringretirement was a blessing in dis-

‘It takes some luck to be

■ Morgan Freeman seems genuinely excited to be back in Dubai for the film festival GETTY

“Money or fameis all so very short-lived youjust have to takeit as it comes”

Morgan Freeman, in Dubai to attend the film festival, talksto Emily Ashman about his life, career and fame

››TO CONTACT THE ENTERTAINMENTDESK, PLEASE CALL 04 306 2266 AND

ASK FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR,

OR E-MAIL YOUR STORY TOentertainment@emiratestodayonline.com

TALKBACK

ENTERTAINMENT | 33EmiratesToday | December 14 | 2005

››PALM GARDEN IN THESHERATON JUMEIRAH: Tucked away behind a forest ofpalm trees, the cosy Palmgarden offers a seafood tonightfrom 6pm. Enjoy the freshseafood from the buffet for just Dh150.■ Call: 04399 3333

››FONTANA IN AL BUSTANROTANA HOTEL: If you fancy a great curry tonighthead down to the all-you-can-eatbuffet at Fontana. A wide selec-tion of curries from all regions ofIndia is laid on between 7pm and11pm for Dh99.■ Call: 04 282 0000

››GARDINIA IN TOWERS ROTANA HOTEL: Seafood lovers will be in heavenat Gardinia tonight. For Dh115you will be served all-you-can-eatshrimps, mussels or squid allnight. Served in rustic bucketswith beverages included in theprice, this is a deal to be enjoyedwith a big group of friends.■ Call: 04 343 8000

››AL DAWAAR AT HYATT REGENCY: Check out Dubai’s only revolvingrestaurant tonight for an enter-taining international buffet forabout Dh300 per person.■ Call: 04 209 1100

EATINGOUT Today’s food and drink deals

TONIGHT:The Laughter Factory: Andy Askins, Danny Bhoy andManocha will all be providingstand-up entertainment at Zincfrom 9pm.■ Call: 04 331 1111

THURSDAY 15:China White Tour Part 2: DJ Dirt T will be kicking off thesecond of the London’s infa-mous China White club nights.Entrance is free before midnightand Dh30 after midnight.■ Call: 04 406 8769

FRIDAY 16: Eric Morillo at Trilogy: The Subliminal head honchoand MTV presenter will bebrought to Trilogy for the secondtime this year by Deep. Expect apumping set of funky Latin andUS house.■ Call: 04 3432360

Timo Maas at PeppermintOne of the new sounds emergingfrom house music, Timo Maashas been setting dancefloorsalight in recent years and he issure to do the same in Dubai.■ Call: 04 332 0037

CINEMAGUIDE

WHAT’S ONTHIS WEEKAT THE MOVIES…

DUBAICineStar, City Centre04 249 9000Grand Cineplex, Grand Hyatt 04 324 2000Grand Megaplex,Ibn Battuta Mall 04 366 9898Mall of the Emirates Cinema,Mall of the Emirates 04 341 4222

ABU DHABICentury Cinemas,Abu Dhabi Mall 02 645 9499

AL AINGrand Al Ain Cineplex,Al Ain Mall 03 7511228

SHARJAHCentury Cinema,

Sahara Centre 06 531 6500

RAS AL KHAIMAHGrand Manar,Al Manar Mall 07 227 8888

FUJAIRAHDana Cinema, Mohammed BinMathar Road 09 224 3100

■ King Kong Over-sized apeterrorises New York. Thriller directedby Peter Jackson (who also directedthe Lord of the Rings trilogy) starringNaomi Watts.

■ Neal “n” Nikki Vancouver-set romantic comedystarring Uday Chopra and Tanisha.

■ Flightplan A mother mysteriouslylooses her child on a flight fromBerlin to New York. As she franticallysearches the plane, her fellowpassengers begin to doubt her sanity.

■ Chicken Little Animatedadventure from Disney, starring thevoice of Zach Braff (Scrub’s JD) as achicken trying to save the earth.Unfortunately, more turkey than a chicken.

■ Lord of War Thriller featuring

Nicolas Cage who stars as an arms’dealer in the Middle East.

■ The Exorcism of Emily RoseSupernatural thriller about apossessed girl. Gripping andfrightening viewing.

■ Goal! A rags-to-riches tale abouta football player plucked from thestreets of Los Angeles and throwninto premiership stardom. Easyviewing with a few cameoappearances from real-life footballstars, such as David Beckham.

■ An Unfinished Life A farmer isracked with regret after the loss ofhis son. When his daughter-in-law,who he blames for his son’s accident,arrives to live on the farm he mustovercome his grief and learn to moveon. A predictable drama with a star-studded cast of Morgan Freeman,Robert Redford and Jennifer Lopez.

HINDINEW

NEWTHISWEEK…

■ Al Dawaar, Dubai’s only revolving restaurant has a nightly European buffet.

guise. “There is a level of arro-gance that some people developwith success. I think that arro-gance can be very detrimental. Itcan be dangerous to think you’reGod’s gift to the world becauseyou never are that special – pureand simple.”

Freeman’s role in Street Smartwon him his first of four Oscarnominations, but it wasn’t untilthis year that he actually got hishands on a gold statuette for hisrole in Million Dollar Baby.

“After being nominated threetimes and not winning, I startedto wonder why I felt so bad aboutit. But then I thought: ‘Wait.Whatwould I actually win?’You don’thave winners; you just have los-ers,” he reflects. “So you get anaward. Big deal.You still have togo out and stump for a job. I’vefound a lot of people who getthose awards actually disappear –mostly because they’re expectingthings that are never actuallyrealised. People think the moneywill pour in, the jobs will pour in,but that’s not always the case.”

So what does it take to be anOscar-winning actor? “Luck.Your name is put up for nomina-tion because you did outstandingwork, and then it’s just the luck ofthe draw after that. I mean howcan you decide that kind of thingin such a non-defined profession?How can I be better than you thisyear, but not next year? No, it’s alittle bit of talent and a lot ofluck,”he says.

The role that bagged Freemanthe Oscar for best supportingactor was that of another world-weary, wisened character – anex-boxer in Million Dollar Baby.

Indeed, Freeman’s rise to famehas been highlighted by the wisewords of the experienced men heportrays. “I am detecting a pat-tern developing,”he admits.

“You know someone recentlywrote: ‘Morgan Freeman alwaysplays the wise,old man who sticksthe white character. He needs tostart doing other roles.’ But youknow what works,works. I have tokeep making a living. So I dowhat appeals to me, and thesekind of roles appeal to me.”

Wise roles and Oscars aside,Freeman is obviously from thetraditional school of acting. Hedenies employing any form ofmethod or study behind his per-formance, and just like his acting

hero Spencer Tracy, prefers tosimply use instinct to portray acharacter. “It’s not rocket sci-ence,” he laughs. “I just act.Someone told me that the teach-ers in New York classify me as anintuitive actor. I don’t do a lot ofstudies, there’s not a lot of discus-sion about it.You read the script,you act out the lines.

“After 20 years I’ve kind of gotthe hang of it. I know how tobring a character to life. Like Isaid, it’s not rocket science.”

Freeman may remain humble,but his presence is undeniable ashe walks around the festival.Camera bulbs flash at a rate ofknots, mobs of fans gather withinseconds of his arrival on the red

carpet and even the VIP’s ofDubai seem in awe of this inim-itable character. It is astonishingthat international fame simplydoesn’t seem to touch Freeman.It is not that he is unaware of hisown star quality, he simply seemsto have spent so many years inhard toil to reach the top, bidinghis time, performing on stage andwaiting for the right roles, that heis now aware of the fickle natureof fame.

As he rightly puts it before heleaves our interview to face morephotographers: “Money or fameor what-have-you is all so short-lived, so you just have to take it asit comes. As I like to say fame isfeeble,but oblivion is for ever.”

an Oscar-winning actor’

■ Morgan Freeman poses at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai on Monday GETTY■ Morgan Freeman and his wife Myrna Colley-Lee REUTERS

30 | ENTERTAINMENT

CelebrityTodayEmiratesToday | November 18 | 2005

It’s still difficult for the aver-age person to listen to hip-hop without conjuring upimages of gun-happy, gut-ter-mouthed sexist men

mouthing off about their latestconquest or their proudestcriminal moment.

So imagine the brick wall ofstereotype Missy Elliott faced asshe battled to establish herself as aserious and respected hip-hopartist. Not only is she a woman,but weighing in at more than 16stone at the start of her career, shedidn’t exactly represent the sleekgirls who booty-shook their waythrough her male contemporariesrap videos.

But through determinationand resilience Missy has clawedher way to the top of the maledominated hip-hop ladder estab-lishing herself as a well respectedartist, an inimitable character andone of the few household namesin rap.

With five Grammys and sixmulti-platinum albums under herbelt she is not the most approach-able person to call for a chat. Butas soon as Missy picks up thephone to talk to Emirates Todaytwo weeks before her big gig inMedia City she eases into amica-ble banter without a hint of anyover-inflated rapper ego.

It is immediately obvious thatshe stands apart from her con-temporaries not only through hergroundbreaking music but bybeing warm, witty, not taking her-self too seriously while still man-aging to project that urban coolpersona. “I have always intimi-dated people” she chuckles,sounding like she has just gulpeddown half a gallon of sedatives.

“That’s just what I do, but I’mproud that I’m a woman askingfor respect. I think my musicopens doors for girls who wannasay what I wanna say. It’s like I’vebecome a mouthpiece for allthose frustrated women that areout there.”

ABUSIVE FATHERMissy’s fight for respect startedwhen she was a child, during herearly years she regularly wit-nessed her father physically abuseher mother.

But the moment Missy and hermother finally walked out on herfather marked the beginning of anew era for the shy little girl fromPortsmouth,Virginia. “My inspi-ration is my mother. She’s awoman who went through a lotand I watched her going fromweak to strong with my father.

“She had to find out what it

was like to survive without himaround and that’s the hardestthing when a woman has beenwith a man who’s so controllinglike that. But when she left shefound out she was stronger thanshe’d ever been with him.”

Like all aspects of her life,Missy has tackled her troubledchildhood with astoundingcourage. Rather than shy awayfrom talking about her experi-ence of domestic violence, in2003 she became a mouthpiecefor Break the Cycle, an organisa-tion which is dedicated to helpingyoung people break the chain ofdomestic abuse.

MOTHERLY INSPIRATIONIn a further demonstration of herstrength of character, her latestalbum, The Cookbook, gives fansan intimate insight into her childhood struggle. “I’ve alwaysbeen open about the fact I grewup in an abusive home, I talkedabout it in interviews and stuff.But I felt I’d talked about every-thing else in my music and thetiming was right to now talkabout this,” she explains.“ I thinkit was a burden off my shoulders,it was almost a relief for me tototally get it out in the open.”

This brave soul-bearing hasbrought a new maturity and seri-ousness to Missy’s music and has

bowled over critics who are nowhailing The Cookbook her bestalbum to date.

Once again Missy has laid apath where other rap artists willfollow with her innovativeapproach to making music andher shockingly honest lyrics.

Not surprisingly, despite beinghailed as the inspiration behindall this success, Missy’s mother isstill shocked by her daughter'sbrash mouth: “My mother isreally religious so she hates mylyrics,” Missy laughs. “She’sreally proud though, I give her allmy Grammys and she’s got themall over the house. But she’s saidthat before this is over, before sheleaves this world, she wants me todo a gospel album.”

So while her mouth is busyworrying her mother, how doesMissy’s intimidating persona godown with potential love inter-ests? “It’s always been the casethat I intimidate men,” she says “Ithink it’s because half the time it’sthe guys who are saying slick stuffto a woman so it makes them a lit-tle nervous when a girl is talkinglike that. But I think it’s fun. I likeit that women come up to me andsay: ‘Girl that’s my favouriterecord. I’ve always wanted to saythat to a guy.’That makes up forthe fact guys are sometimes toointimidated to talk to me.”

LOOKING FOR LOVEIndeed such global professionalsuccess has required some sacri-fice. “I’ve been in the studio somuch, I think anyone who’d getwith me would break up with methe next day,” Missy explains.“But of course I’d love to get withsomeone, my ideal guy would besomeone who makes me laughand who doesn’t wanna talkabout my music. I need someonewho’s not gonna be asking meabout it, who’s got interestingstuff to talk about. You know,someone who just takes me awayfrom work and out of that zone.”

While music has always beenMissy’s escape hatch and herpath to achieving the dreams thatwould take her away from herabusive home, she has nowreached the point where shewants to pursue other ambitions.“I’ll always make music but Idon’t know if I’ll be performingwhen I’m old and grey. I’d like toown my own record label andhelp to develop other artists.

“I’m getting really into direct-ing music videos at the moment.I’m working with Ashley Simp-son on her new video and that’s alot of fun.” And with a string ofalternative projects includingdesigning her Respect Me cloth-ing line with sports giant Adidasand standing as the spokes-woman for a number of charities,Missy doesn’t believe in pigeonholing herself. “I think it’s impor-tant to keep breaking the mould.”

TOP FEMALEAs we talk through Missy’sastounding success as the bestselling female hip-hop artist of alltime, it’s obvious that she still can-not believe how far she’s come.She describes in awe-filled toneshow she recently made the officialAmerican Who’s Who as thoughsomeone’s just given her a win-ning lottery ticket: “You knowyou think you’ve made it then

something else comes along toblow you away again. I was sosurprised to see I’d made that list.It’s got people like CondoleezzaRice and Hillary Clinton on it soto be in the company of suchgreat figures is an honour.”

Perhaps the most remarkablething about this ground-breakingwoman is the fact that despite hericonic status she seems so normaland down-to-earth.“Every artistis a human first of all,” sheexplains. “At the end of the dayyou may see the Missy on thestage or the Missy on the red car-pet but I’m just me, I’m just a reg-ular person with feelings andgood and bad days.” She doesn’ttry to add formalities or projectan aura of grandeur and you get asense she is confident and happy

with who she is. Indeed she is stillendearingly humble about hersuccess, never once seeming totake anything for granted. “I feelso blessed to be doing what I’mdoing,” she enthuses. “It’s stufflike coming to Dubai – which isnot a place that people just jumpout of bed and have the opportu-nity to visit – that kind of stuffreminds me that people would killto be doing what I’m doing andmakes me thank God every dayfor what I’ve got.”

■ You can catch Missy Elliott andBusta Rhymes live in concert inDubai Media City Amphitheatreon December 1.Tickets are avail-able from Virgin Megastores,Hallmark shops and the TimeOut ticket line on:800 4669.

Missy opens cookbook of hits forher Dubai show

■ Missy Elliot will swap Hollywood for Dubai Media City next month GETTY IMAGES

THE INTERVIEW

Emily Ashmantalks to MissyElliot aboutstardom, love and the influenceher mother has had on herphenomenallysuccessful career

“It’s stuff like coming to Dubai,that makes me thank God for what I’ve got”

ENTERTAINMENT | 31EmiratesToday | November 18 | 2005

›› MISSY’SLANDMARKDISCS

››TO CONTACT THE ENTERTAINMENTDESK, PLEASE CALL 306 2266 AND ASK

FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR,

OR E-MAIL YOUR STORY TOentertainment@emiratestodayonline.com

TALKBACK

■ The hip-hop star has pushed herself to become one of the biggest selling female singers of all time GETTY IMAGES

Musical Inspiration: “PublicEnemy Salt ‘n’ Pepper, MC Light, allthe old skool stuff.”Song she wished she’d written:“Michael Jackson, Don’t stop tillyou get enough.”Ideal collaboration: “MichaelJackson. I always say MichaelJackson. I don’t know about what goes on in his house, but theMichael I know just makes great,great music. Otherwise, I’d alsolove to work with Prince.”Favourite Grammy of her five: All of themIdeal Man: “50 Cent. I always jokethat 50’s my little husband.”Final lyrics to the world wouldbe: “F**** Haters.

›› MISSY MOMENTS

■ With Mary J Blige, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera

■ Rapper Busta Rhymes will be performing on the bill with Missy at the Dubai show GETTY

Supa Dupa FlyMissy’s debut long player,featuring guest appearancesfrom the likes of Busta Rhymesand Aaliyah, marking a powerfulmove into the world of hip-hop.

Miss E… So AddictiveThe Timbaland-produced Miss E journeys through hip-hopto drum’n’bass, establishingMissy as one of the industry’sheavy hitters.

The CookbookReleased in July, albumnumber six once again treadsfamiliar ground, with a host oftop name production and guestappearances.