By LIDIA LOUKEpoch Times Staff

“The Duchess” North America premiere at Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, gar-nered a large buzz with the TIFF audience and the media. At the press conference on Sunday, the actors discussed their characters and their fates.

Keira Knightley had a few rea-sons to like her character Georgina Spencer. “I was completely fasci-nated that you have a huge public persona and a huge fashion icon, and yet in her private life she was incredibly vulnerable… I liked the fact that she wasn’t perfect. I liked the fact that she was full of contradictions.”

Her character was exotic not only in her behaviour and views but also with the way she looked and dressed her hair, and in one scene in the movie, Georgina’s hair caught fi re—quite literally. Keira Knightley commented on the elaborate hair design.

“[The costume designer] was making these bird cages and then putting hair on top of them, and they were rather heavy”.

As for the ending of the fi lm and Georgina’s decision to stay with her oppressive and abusive husband for the sake of her children, Knightley shares: “I think, she really didn’t have a choice. My character has to compromise hugely, but I think if you speak to any parent, they would actually say she has made the right choice.”

Ralph Fiennes plays Georgina’s husband, Duke of Devonshire. “Of course, on the fi rst reading of the play he could be played as a vil-lain…and I thought that it would be fun to play against it. I think he is insensitive, but I don’t think he is intentionally cruel.”

One of the intriguing facts about “The Duchess” is that Georgina Spencer happens to be the ances-tor of Diana Spencer, or Princess Diana. When asked about the con-nection, director Saul Dibb said “to me, it was about making a fi lm about Georgina. Her story was so

fascinating, so strong, she is such an interesting character, but I am not naïve enough to not know… that people drew some parallels as well.”

“The Duchess” will open in the United States on September 19, 2008.

By AMIR TALAIEpoch Times Staff

TORONTO—What do you get when you put the legendary guitar-ists Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge, and the White Stripes’ Jack White on screen together? An unbelieva-ble Christmas gift that would please any rock fan for years over.

However, the documentary fi lm, “It Might Get Loud,” directed by “An Inconvenient Truth” Acad-emy Award winning director, Davis Guggenheim, is far more than just a jam-session. It truly gives you an inside look at each of these legen-dary musicians and their take on the electric guitar.

But despite Page, The Edge, and White’s great respect for Davis’s work, there was some slight hesita-tion on their part about what the project would be like and what would come of it.

“I was obviously aware of Davis’s work prior to this. And I must say, the way that Davis pre-sented this to me was quite unique, because you know my forté is actu-ally playing music. I am more at home playing on live stage than any other place” said Page.

“I guess like Jimmy I was a little uncertain how it would work if you had musicians talking about their music,” added The Edge.

“I thought to myself well this could be interesting if he hap-pens to catch us on a good day or it could be incredibly boring and just so dull and something could go horribly wrong, and so we did the interview and at the end of the interview, I just thought, I get

where he’s coming from. He’s on to something here so, I said I am in!”

The Edge praised the fi lm as more than just about the electric guitar, but also about the journey a musician takes.

“I think what he has done is made a fi lm everyone will fi nd entertaining and will fi nd interesting because he has made it not about just the technical part of guitar play-ing, not about the music, but the personal journeys that have brought the three of us through to the point we are now and doing what we do.”

The documentary, which pre-miered at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, was an idea born from producer Thomas Tull, a producer for the critically acclaimed Batman

fi lm, “The Dark Knight.” Tull, a long time guitarist, spoke

with Guggeinheim about a more original take on the electric guitar, focusing on its attributes as a musi-cal instrument from the perspectives of several of the great guitarists.

“I have always wondered: what is it about this instrument more than any other that I think captures peo-ple’s imagination, and why when you pick up this instrument does it just feel right… and nothing I had ever seen really felt like, ‘yeah, that’s why you pick this up and why you take that journey.’”

Once Page, The Edge and White had signed up, Guggenheim went to work, learning from his experi-ence on “An Inconvenient Truth”

to fi rst conduct audio rather than video interviews, to develop a nar-rative for each guitarist.

“The fi rst interview with Jimmy, I fl ew to London, we sat in a hotel and we talked for 3 hours. Just audio, no cameras. And the next day we talked for 3 hours. I had no notes, no pre-disposition. And so whatever comes out of those interviews would be his story. Same thing with Jack, we met him in LA. With Edge, it was Burbank one day and then London the next, and I took those audio interviews home, cut them as stories, put them up on the wall and said, ok now I am ready to shoot.”

“This process allowed me to fi gure out, now I know where these stories are going,” added Guggenheim.

The Edge: Reinventing U2 U2’s The Edge also touched

upon what has kept U2 around decade after decade. He cites over-coming the diffi culty and fear of starting a fresh slate to record a new album.

“We fail most of the time, actu-ally, and we got used to going in on any given day and coming out with nothing that is of any interest or value to us. But sometimes you just come along, and for whatever the reason that we can’t fi gure out, you hit on something new and something fresh …you get something great.”

“We live for those moments.” The Edge cited Nick Singer

from the Yah Yah’s and the Secret Machines as a couple of excep-tional new electric guitarists and musicians in the mainstream.

RIGHTEOUS KILL

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September 11 – 17, 2008

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Album Review

Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes of ‘The Duchess’ at TIFF

GEORGINA SPENCER: Keira Knightley (R) plays the wife of a Duke in “The Duchess.” NICK WALL/PARAMOUNT VANTAGE

AXE MEN: Guitarists The Edge and Jimmy Page speak at the ‘It Might Get Loud’ press conference during the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES

Movies Released This Weekend

By IAN RITZEpoch Times Staff

B.B. King’s latest album “One Kind Favor” shows that a true master craftsman never loses his touch. At the age of 82, it’s an inspiration to see the King of the Blues capturing another moment of history with his signature sound and solid songwriting on the release of “One Kind Favor.” Over fi fty years after King’s fi rst Billboard chart appearance, 15,000 live performances, and movie appearances, he can still sing the blues without missing a beat.

Riley B. King was born Sep-tember 16, 1925, and much has changed in the world since his youth. He adopted the nickname B.B. after working for WDIA, the fi rst all black staffed and man-aged radio station in the U.S. The name “Beale Street Blues Boy” was shortened to B.B. and has stayed with King until this day.

Shortly after King’s work on the radio, his single “Three O’ Clock Blues” made its way on to the Billboard R & B music charts in 1952. King did not cross over to the pop charts until 1969 with the release of “The Thrill Is Gone.” After enjoying some success on the pop charts, King toured with

The Rolling Stones on their 1969 American tour.

Currently with Geffen Records, King has had a monumental journey playing with a variety of artists from Eric Clapton to U2. His farewell tour was held in 2006 although this new album makes one wonder what’s on the horizon. For an 82 year-old, B.B. King is still on top of his game.

The fi rst track on “One Kind Favor,” “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” creates the impres-sion that King may be presenting a conclusion album—though this track is the only one on the album that lacks memorable emotion.

The second song “I Get So Weary” delivers and sends listen-ers into fourteen more solidly crafted blues tracks. King’s raspy but powerful voice croons lyrics of heartbreak and life’s struggles as his signature guitar lines fl ow through a multitude of scales and solos that keep the band following along song after song.

“Waiting on Your Call” is six minutes of artistic perfection for a blues artist.

“One Kind Favor” is a must have by the Beale Street Blues Boy for any fan of the twelve-bar style. If you are a fan of the blues, or quality song writing, this album is worth a listen.

‘It might get loud’ debuts at TIFF

B.B. King—‘One kind favor’

TYLER PERRY’S THE FAMILY THAT PREYS

THE WOMEN

Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, 50 Cent, Donnie Wahlberg

Director: Jon Avnet

Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama and Thriller

Rating: R

ALFEO DIXON/ LIONSGATE

KEN REGAN /OVERTURE FILMS

KING OF THE BLUES: B.B. King performing at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival on June 14, in Manchester, Tennessee. ROB LOUD/GETTY IMAGES

PICTUREHOUSE

Starring: Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, Rockmond Dunbar, KaDee Strickland

Director: Tyler Perry

Genres: Comedy, Drama and Kids/Family

Rating: PG-13

Starring: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith

Director: Diane English

Genres: Comedy and Adaptation

Rating: PG-13

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