Actually FATHER GEEK should be doing the introduction for this, but he's sawing logs in the other room. I've had to endure many...ahem...important lectur...I mean stories about Abbie Hoffman and that period in history. What did I gain from that? Well, a sense of fighting for what you believe in, and not stopping till what you believe... is. So here's the report from a Cigar.... ahem...
Just got back from meeting the always-cool Vincent D'Onofrio and the luverly Jeanne Tripplehorn in Niagara Falls on the set of the Abbie Hoffman biography, Abbie! If you younger Ain't-It-Cool regulars aren't caught up on Hoffman, get hip! Fascinating activist from the '60s, forced underground by the FBI. He resurfaced in the late '70s under a new name and fought for the environment until he died in 1989. The FBI has admitted to hundreds of illegal wire taps, and thousands of illegally opened mail. An amazing life, and an amazing story, and D'Onofrio looks great in the role. He told me he spoke with lots of D'Onofrio's friends and family members for the part, but "his enemies won't talk".
They were in the Falls for a scene near the Maid of the Mist, with hundreds of extras milling about. Strangely enough, hardly anyone recognied D'Onofrio or Tripplehorn. A lot of them were there looking for Janeane Garofalo, who plays Hoffman's wife, but she wasn't around. I'm trying to tell people who D'Onofrio is, and they draw a blank until I say "the cockroach guy in Men in Black". I'll always dig him as the wacko from Full Metal Jacket.
Hope this is a groovy flick on a true American hero. It's directed by Robert Greenwald, who did The Burning Bed with Farrah Fawcett.
Take care,
'Cigar'
