Harold Ramis 1944-2014

Harold Ramis, one of the definitive comedic writers and directors of the last 40 years, died on Monday at the age of 69. The Chicago native started his career in comedy when he became a joke editor and reviewer for Playboy magazine in the early-Seventies. Like the Cambridge Footlights Review in England did to shape the career of Monty Python's Flying Circus, it was at Chicago's Second City Improv that Ramis fell into the band of comedic icons like Bill Murray, John Belushi and Gilda Radner leading him to excel his comedic talents on stage and at the typewriter when he became head writer of Canada's version of Saturday Night Live, SCTV.

In 1978, Ramis began a long and fruitful collaboration with director/producer Ivan Reitman writing the screenplays for Animal House (which Reitman produced), Meatballs, Stripes, and Ghostbusters, in which Ramis starred in the latter two films opposite Second City alum, Bill Murray. In 1980, Ramis made his directorial debut by helping one of the great comedies of the last thirty years, Caddyshack. The success of Ramis' goofball golfing film led him to direct a slew of other comedy hits like National Lampoon's Vacation, Groundhog Day and Analyze This. While not behind he camera, Ramis made cameo appearances in films such as As Good As It Gets, Knocked Up, and Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story. In the last few years of his life, Ramis directed several episodes of NBC's hit comedy series, The Office.

Ramis will be remembered by his collective achievements in film and television whether it be his nerdy presence as Dr. Eagon Spengler in Ghostbusters, or coming up with gag after gag on some of the most celebrated comedies of the last four decades. Ramis set a standard that many other comedic writers and directors have strived to live up to, such as Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg and Judd Apatow. I would be hard pressed to believe that no one would think of a Baby Ruth bar floating in a swimming pool or Robert De Niro confiding his fears on the couch opposite Billy Crystal and not think of Harold Ramis.

Long Live Film

It's 8:30 in the morning and I'm holding back my yawns since I've been up since 4:30. I'm wearing a jean jacket and tie-dye shirt my parents gave me for Christmas as I browse the shelves in a local bookstore once, twice, three times until...."Cut!" The director walks over to the leading actor and goes over the next line of dialogue while the cinematographer is positioning the camera in the right position and making sure the lighting is just right. As for me, I'm still browsing through the books as if the camera was still rolling until the director tells me I can take a break.

My first day as an extra; it may seem like nothing since I had no dialogue, I wasn't hobnobbing with any major actors, and I wasn't looking at the camera waiting for Mr. DeMille to give me my close up, but it was an eye-opening experience as a film critic feeling the pulse of the ever beating heart that is film. I mention my minor venture on the set of an undisclosed film because in the last few weeks, I have heard nothing but the end of film.

As broad as a statement as it has been by several members of the film industry, such as those at the Technical Awards ceremonies in the past month, which have honored the technological and scientific achievements in film, the medium is still thriving yet polarized by those who hold a high regard to celluloid versus digital film. Richard Edlund stated to the Hollywood Reporter that "this year may be the last full year that the movie labs are going to be running."  Sure, it might be an end to celluloid as the definitive object for filmmaking versus the abundant use of digital cameras, but let's not think that the filmmaking process is dead. If anything, film is more alive as it has been at the ripe age of 136 since Edweared Muybridge shot "A Horse in Motion." If we're talking about film as an object, it is fading, but as a collective partnership between people with ideas and stories being recorded for all to see, then it continues to grow.

When the director told me to take a break, I pushed myself back into the corner of the store where the film was being shot and watched the monitor as the director pressed forward along with the rest of the crew as they managed to get the film done and my heart expanded as my eyes did by watching great art being made. I felt the same sense of joy and wonder as Cameron Crowe did when he went on tour with Led Zeppelin as a young reporter for Rolling Stone or Norman Mailer watching Muhammad Ali defeat George Forman by the side of the ring. It's not enough to just sit and watch a film as it is to watching the process of a film being made, which is something very special. As the wheels of technology, such as life, keep spinning, so does the process of filmmaking.

Philip Seymour Hoffman 1967-2014

Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the defining actors of his generation, was found dead today in his Greenwich Village apartment of an apparent drug overdose, according to law enforcement officials. Born in Fairpoint, New York, Hoffman had a deep infatuation with the theatrics since he was in high school and attended the Tisch School of the Arts, for which he earned a B.F.A. in Drama. His film career began with the small, but memorable roles, in Leap of Faith and Scent of a Woman. While not playing supporting roles in big budget films, he was walking the planks as an off-broadway actor.

In the mid-Nineties, his friendship with a budding writer-director, Paul Thomas Anderson, blossomed into one of the most fruitful collaborations between actor and director in recent memory. Hoffman gained wide acclaim in 1997 as a gay sound engineer for porn films in the modern classic, Boogie Nights and as the caretaker to a dying Jason Robards and the ensemble drama Magnolia. In Punch-Drunk Love, he went head to head with Adam Sandler as a sleazy mattress salesman. His last collaboration with Anderson occurred in 2012 when he played the flamboyant cult leader, Lancaster Dodd, in The Master.

Hoffman was no actor to be thought of as typecast as his roles spanned the spectrum from playing a sexual deviant in Todd Solondz's Happiness to Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. In 2005, Hoffman's portrayal of Truman Capote in Capote earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor as he channelled the iconic writer and his struggle in completing his novel, In Cold Blood. Aside from his only Oscar win, Hoffman was nominated three more times for his performances in Mike Nichols' cold-war satire, Charlie Wilson's War, John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, and in Paul  Thomas Anderson's The Master. In 2010, Hoffman made his directorial debut with the independent romantic comedy, Jack Goes Boating.

In the past year, Hoffman has made critically acclaimed performances on Broadway as Willy Lohman    in Death of A Salesman and in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. In a recent news announcement on IMDB.Com, he signed Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal to star in his second film as a director,  Ezekiel. Sadly, his death struck a blow to the world of film and theatre. He is survived by his three children and his girlfriend, Mimi O' Donnell.

Suffice to say, it's been a tragic year in terms of losing some of the most influential actors of our time, such as Peter O' Toole and Maximilian Schell. Philip Seymour Hoffman was not only one of my favorite actors, but one of the defining actors of my generation as Brando was for his generation or Olivier was for his. Hoffman's ability to immerse himself into a role and delivering such iconic performances will not be forgotten.