R*Philippines
01-07-2006, 02:02 PM
Who Says She Isn't Popular Anymore?
Jewel can't help it but wether she likes it or not, her name will always be mentioned whenever her cousin has a project.
That's the prize of being popular.
Reach Carla Wheeler at (951) 368-9584 or cwheeler@pe.com
Opening night
The 15-year-old works reviewers, crowd, like a pro
11:12 AM PST on Friday, January 6, 2006
By CARLA WHEELER / The Press-Enterprise
PALM SPRINGS - With Colin Farrell finishing up rehab and director Terrence Malick staying out of sight, the new star of "The New World" almost took over the film's publicity herself.
Rodrigo Pe?a / The Press-Enterprise
Q'Orianka Kilcher, the 15-year-old who plays Pocahontas in "The New World," was passed over for a Golden Globe but did win an award from the National Board of Review for best breakthrough performance by an actress.
For a 15-year-old actress with little red-carpet experience, Q'Orianka Kilcher talked up the movie like a pro before an opening night screening Thursday at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
"To work with such an accomplished cast, it was an honor. Colin Farrell took me under his wing like an older brother," said Q'Orianka, who was cast after a seven-month search for the perfect Pocahontas.
She plays the Indian princess to Farrell's Capt. John Smith, who like in the legend of Pocahontas, falls in love with her in "The New World." Q'Orianka's first kiss came from the roguish Farrell.
"At first, I was 'Oh, my God!' " said Q'Orianka, wearing a lacy and beaded white dress to the gala. But she said Farrell acted like a gentleman. "Nobody would put me in an awkward position."
As Q'Orianka worked the red carpet, shaking interviewers' hands and smiling brightly for the photographers, about 1,000 people poured into Palm Springs High School to see what some critics have described as another Malick masterpiece steeped in history. Malick also directed the critically acclaimed war movie "The Thin Red Line," along with "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven."
Al and Gerri Langley, visitors from Ventura, were excited to see the film. "From what I read, he has followed history closely," said Al Langley. John Smith "wasn't the nicest guy in the world and Pocahontas, she saved him from her tribe."
"The New World" has relatively little dialogue, relying heavily on visuals and the motions and expressions of Q'Orianka, Farrell, Christian Bale and the actors who played Algonquin Indians to tell the story.
"She brings the mystery, depth and stillness to the role. Her face changes. It's like elastic," said "A New World" producer Sarah Green.
For Malick's style of filming -- a stream of consciousness shots and saving the editing for later -- Q'Orianka was the perfect fit, Green said.
"She's an outdoors girl. She climbs trees and loves rain. (Malick) was happy. Who wouldn't want a Pocahontas who wants to run in a field in the rain?"
Though passed over for a Golden Globe nod, Q'Orianka won the National Board of Review's award for best breakthrough performance by an actress.
Though she's not from an East Coast Indian tribe, she has the pedigree to play Pocahontas.
Her father is a Quechua Indian from South America and Q'Orianka means "golden eagle" in the Incan language of that region. Her mother, of Swiss descent, grew up in Alaska.
She's also a cousin to pop singer Jewel Kilcher, which may be a reason she loves to sing. Q'Orianka worked as a street performer in Santa Monica before taking up acting.
She plans to release a CD of her own music, tentatively titled "Set Free."
"They are songs inspired by making the motion picture," Q'Orianka said.
Though she seems mature for her years, the girl who played the Pocahontas of the 17th century did something the average American teenager would do in the 21st century. She got a tattoo placed on her right ankle, about an inch above the glittery high heels she wore Thursday night: 8-29-04.
The date signifies the day she began filming "The New World" near Jamestown, Va. "It was," said Q'Orianka, "a changing point in my life."
Though Farrell had planned to do publicity for "The New World," he dropped out after deciding to go into treatment for exhaustion and an addiction to painkillers. The 62-year-old Malick, considered a genius in filmmaker circles, never speaks publicly and is rarely photographed.
Reach Carla Wheeler at (951) 368-9584 or cwheeler@pe.com
Jewel can't help it but wether she likes it or not, her name will always be mentioned whenever her cousin has a project.
That's the prize of being popular.
Reach Carla Wheeler at (951) 368-9584 or cwheeler@pe.com
Opening night
The 15-year-old works reviewers, crowd, like a pro
11:12 AM PST on Friday, January 6, 2006
By CARLA WHEELER / The Press-Enterprise
PALM SPRINGS - With Colin Farrell finishing up rehab and director Terrence Malick staying out of sight, the new star of "The New World" almost took over the film's publicity herself.
Rodrigo Pe?a / The Press-Enterprise
Q'Orianka Kilcher, the 15-year-old who plays Pocahontas in "The New World," was passed over for a Golden Globe but did win an award from the National Board of Review for best breakthrough performance by an actress.
For a 15-year-old actress with little red-carpet experience, Q'Orianka Kilcher talked up the movie like a pro before an opening night screening Thursday at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
"To work with such an accomplished cast, it was an honor. Colin Farrell took me under his wing like an older brother," said Q'Orianka, who was cast after a seven-month search for the perfect Pocahontas.
She plays the Indian princess to Farrell's Capt. John Smith, who like in the legend of Pocahontas, falls in love with her in "The New World." Q'Orianka's first kiss came from the roguish Farrell.
"At first, I was 'Oh, my God!' " said Q'Orianka, wearing a lacy and beaded white dress to the gala. But she said Farrell acted like a gentleman. "Nobody would put me in an awkward position."
As Q'Orianka worked the red carpet, shaking interviewers' hands and smiling brightly for the photographers, about 1,000 people poured into Palm Springs High School to see what some critics have described as another Malick masterpiece steeped in history. Malick also directed the critically acclaimed war movie "The Thin Red Line," along with "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven."
Al and Gerri Langley, visitors from Ventura, were excited to see the film. "From what I read, he has followed history closely," said Al Langley. John Smith "wasn't the nicest guy in the world and Pocahontas, she saved him from her tribe."
"The New World" has relatively little dialogue, relying heavily on visuals and the motions and expressions of Q'Orianka, Farrell, Christian Bale and the actors who played Algonquin Indians to tell the story.
"She brings the mystery, depth and stillness to the role. Her face changes. It's like elastic," said "A New World" producer Sarah Green.
For Malick's style of filming -- a stream of consciousness shots and saving the editing for later -- Q'Orianka was the perfect fit, Green said.
"She's an outdoors girl. She climbs trees and loves rain. (Malick) was happy. Who wouldn't want a Pocahontas who wants to run in a field in the rain?"
Though passed over for a Golden Globe nod, Q'Orianka won the National Board of Review's award for best breakthrough performance by an actress.
Though she's not from an East Coast Indian tribe, she has the pedigree to play Pocahontas.
Her father is a Quechua Indian from South America and Q'Orianka means "golden eagle" in the Incan language of that region. Her mother, of Swiss descent, grew up in Alaska.
She's also a cousin to pop singer Jewel Kilcher, which may be a reason she loves to sing. Q'Orianka worked as a street performer in Santa Monica before taking up acting.
She plans to release a CD of her own music, tentatively titled "Set Free."
"They are songs inspired by making the motion picture," Q'Orianka said.
Though she seems mature for her years, the girl who played the Pocahontas of the 17th century did something the average American teenager would do in the 21st century. She got a tattoo placed on her right ankle, about an inch above the glittery high heels she wore Thursday night: 8-29-04.
The date signifies the day she began filming "The New World" near Jamestown, Va. "It was," said Q'Orianka, "a changing point in my life."
Though Farrell had planned to do publicity for "The New World," he dropped out after deciding to go into treatment for exhaustion and an addiction to painkillers. The 62-year-old Malick, considered a genius in filmmaker circles, never speaks publicly and is rarely photographed.
Reach Carla Wheeler at (951) 368-9584 or cwheeler@pe.com