fipril 9, 2003

Culture

 

the other press

 

Concert Review

Attempting to prove that lightning can indeed strike the
same place twice, Conor Oberst and his rotating musical
collective Bright Eyes returned to Vancouver on April
4th. Aftér a downright magical performance at Richard’s
on Richards last year, expectations for the “emo” phe-
nomenon and his gang of musical cohorts were running
high. Unfortunately, due to the success of their Richard’s
performance and the hyperbolic praise being heaped on
their latest album, Lifted or The Story is in the Soil Keep
Your Ear to the Ground, the show was bumped up to the
higher-capacity Commodore Ballroom this time around.
Despite Oberst’s valiant efforts, recreating the intensity,
immediacy, and vigor of the more intimate Richard’s
show was essentially impossible within the vacuous
dimensions of the Commodore. With only six band
members (including Oberst) spanning the Commodore’s
generous stage, versus the 14 who had crammed onto the
diminutive stage at Richards, the evening lacked the
communal energy that had so inspired the previous audi-

Julia Frittaion:

fi Portrait by Dawn-Louise McLeod
OP Contributor

  

“You have no idea how much I can talk. I couldn't do this
job if I couldn't talk,” says Julia Frittaion, her silver hair
complemented with a faux fur vest, dark glasses, and red
lipstick.

And she’s talked her way through more than twenty fea-
ture films, including the recent Insomnia, and Agent
Cody Banks (starring Malcolm in the Middle’s Frankie
Muniz). As Vancouver's first film publicist, she was
instrumental in creating the category of publicist in the
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
(IATSE), and is now head of that department.

Frittaion began her career producing and editing pro-
grams for cable television.

“I knew nothing about television programming. I have a
degree in English,” she says.

Then, as sales manager of an Ontario business magazine,
she had the opportunity to write articles, one of which
uncovered an acting-school scam. In 1980, while in
Vancouver investigating a similar incident, someone in
the film industry asked if she would be interested in
doing film publicity. The result was her first feature film
work, Out of the Blue, which was directed by, and
starred, Dennis Hopper.

Frittaion says, “The producers just gave me a script and
said, ‘come up with an angle.’ I didn’t know what they
meant by that.”

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ence. Of course not every show can measure up to one
exceptional performance, and in all fairness there were
moments when Oberst’s talented and passionate song-
writing and delivery did seep through to transcend the
lackluster atmosphere at the Commodore. The deeply
personal yet epic sounding songs that seem to erupt from
the young Oberst convey an intelligence and maturity
that belie his 22 years of age. Tackling topics as well-worn
and potentially clichéd as relationships and artistic self-
doubt, Oberst consistently comes across with an honesty,
ferocity and lack of pretension that resonates with his lis-
teners. For many, as Oberst’s voice quaked emotionally to
the grand orchestral arrangements of his confessional
songs, it was difficult not to be swept up in the tragically
beautiful world of Bright Eyes. Even amid the chatty,
nonchalant crowd at the Commodore Ballroom.

While inferior in other ways, there was one thing the
Commodore show had that the Richards’ show didn't—
a surprise opening set by Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan.

Not the Same-Old Same-Old

During filming, the set was picketed by two film
unions—the Alliance of Canadian Television and Radio
Artists (ACTRA) and IATSE. The task of sweet-talking
the picketers fell to her by default, says Frittaion—there
was no one else to do it.

“The producers would make me go out to the picket line
and talk to them, and I wouldn’t know what to say,” she
says.

Work on Out of the Blue was further complicated by the
star director.

“I spent all my time keeping stories out of the newspa-
pers,” she says, mentioning Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by
Peter Biskind, a book that details creativity and excess in
Hollywood.

She hesitates, and then adds, “You know—sex, drugs,
rock n’ roll. That was Dennis. We had narcotics officers
dressed as extras, trying to get on the set.”

Frittaion then worked with a Montreal-based producer in
film development and national release campaigns before
going to work for Telefilm Canada as a marketing advi-
sor.

Regarding the latter, she has little to say, other than,
“Seven years is as long as anyone should ever work for the

 

government.”

Frittaion feels she made the “We had
right choice in returning to :
feature publicity. “I like the narcotics
job,” she says. During a :

film’s production, she = officers
ates a photographic, audio- dressed as

visual, and written record of
the making of the movie.
“You really have to keep the
ball rolling so that publicity
photos don’t end up in an
actors trailer for three set.
days,” she says. Frittaion
does frame-by-frame IDs—identifying who is in each
shot—of production stills from each day on set.

“It's extremely time consuming and very tedious—I’ve
always said a trained monkey could do it,” she says, “but
I haven't found one.”

extras, trying

to get on the

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Again, the venue was ill-suited for Bazan’s brand of int
spective melodic folk-pop, but despite having to comp
to be heard over the generally inattentive crowd, Baz
received an appreciative response from the pleasantly s
prised and grateful fans that had bothered to listen.
evening’s other performers, Arab Strap, were greeted w
a similarly semi-enthusiastic reaction. Although t
crowd perked up temporarily with the Strap’s cover
ACDC'’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” in their he:
Scottish brogues, it was too little too late coming as it ¢
at the end of their lengthy and brooding set. Perhap
smaller venue would have elicited a more complete a
less detached performance from all three of these tale
ed and innovative bands/artists, but even the diluted v
sions offered up at the Commodore contained glimp
of what were truly capable of. So maybe lightning do
nt strike the same place twice, but that’s okay, I'll ta
less-than-thrilling performances over massive electro
tion any day.

Frittaion also creates B-roll (behind-the-scenes videota
for DVDs, and puts together Electronic Press Kits, whi
contain interviews with a film's principal actors, direct
and producers.

“It can be extremely high-pressure—you have to be f.
and adaptable,” she says. “You might set everything
for an interview or a photo shoot, then the actor deci
they’re not feeling well. It can take all day to do one int
view, depending on what’s happening on set,” she ad
mentioning that some actors don’t want to be ph
tographed or videotaped while the camera is rolling.
“Let’s name-drop some more,” she says. “For Insomn
neither Al Pacino nor Robin Williams would do publi
ty during the making of the film. On the other hand, y
put a video camera in front of Williams and he’s going
start performing for it. We couldn't use half the stu
because he just got really outrageous.”

Such impromptu performances are part of why Frittai
likes her work. “Each film is an entirely new project.
not the same-old same-old,” she says, and mentions
online journal of working on Insomnia, “Diary of
Publicist”—it sums up why she’s in the film indust
instead of in a 9-to-5 job.

“The crew provides a familial feeling,” she continu
“and there’s travel to lots of small towns’—towns li
Hyder, Alaska, where the crew shot the film on a glaci
and got “hyderized” together on the 150-proof liquor.
Regarding work on Harry Tracy, Desperado with Bru
Dern and Helen Shaver, Frittaion says, “It was advent
ous. I got to hang out with Gordon Lightfoot in the p
in Wells, BC.”

Much as Frittaion enjoys the work, there are projects s
avoids. “If it’s something I wouldn't want to see, I wo
work on it,” she says. And she won't work with noto
ously difficult people, although she says, “Having th
attitude at the outset of my career wouldn't have gott
me very far.”

Frittaion names a few troublemakers, and says, “If 1 kn
that there are going to be big problems, I won't do it. S
leans back, and reapplies her lipstick. “That would just
more of the same-old, same-old.”

© 2003 Dawn-Louise McLeod

 

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