Well, the reviews are in, and my mom is gonna kill me.
“…kudos to Kenny, who plays gross, sleazy and deeply creepy with immaculate perfection.”—Devin Faraci, CHUD.
“…Glenn Kenny as one of cinema history’s most appalling sex-trade hobbyists…”—Stu VanAirsdale, Defamer.
“Internet blogger/film critic Glenn Kenny is cast as a sleazy online writer who induces Chelsea to have sex with him so he can ‘review’ her services. He gives her a nasty review.”—Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter.
“Glenn Kenny…has fun playing what must surely be the snootiest sleazebag in the history of cinema.”—Owen Gleiberman, EW/Hollywood Insider.
“…Glenn Kenny, apparently typecast for his talent at cracking even the toughest girl’s shell via his written word…”—Karina Longworth, Spout.
But seriously—I’m very flattered by the many kind words coming my way about my performance in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience; I was happy with what I did on the set and I’m glad that it seemed to work for most people. Situations such as this are invariably open to catcalls of “stunt casting” and such, and my recognition factor among a lot of Sundancers aside, the reception for the film suggests that what I did was actually effective as a performance.
And, yes, it was a performance. Bilge Ebiri, writing on New York magazine’s Vulture blog, cited “uncomfortable laughter from our row when Soderbergh noted in his Q&A that these people were essentially playing versions of themselves. Sorry, Glenn!” Well, there’s a fairly reliable empirical test of whether I’m playing “myself” in the film or not, and it has something to do with the fact that I’m married, and to an incredibly wonderful woman to boot. (Oh shit. My in-laws are gonna kill me too.) But I understand Steven’s point—the character’s vocabulary is certainly my own, and his attitude is not entirely foreign to me. Nevertheless, I was taking direction here, based on two questions I asked Steven before we got to our first scene, those questions being, “So, how ‘on” is this guy?” and “Where does he land on the crass meter?” The answers being, “Oh, he’s ‘ON,’ ” and “In the red.” So there you have it.
As for the blurb from Ms. Grey in the hed, it was delivered after the second and final take of our first scene. In case you were wondering.
And now back to our regularly scheduled esoteric film blogging. We’ll discuss this further when the film actually debuts—I can’t wait to hear the takes from Armond White, Lauren Wissot, Nathan Lee, and, I can only hope, Chuck Stephens. I’ve got to wrap up that Early Hawks blogathon entry by tomorrow…
Looking forward to your Hawks entry, as well as your obvious casting against type. 😀
So how exactly did you land this role? Did Soderbergh do a film-critic casting call, or what?
Is this going to make it to IFC On Demand, or what? Because I’d sure like to see it.
Hey, Glenn. Those are some serious reviews! Can’t wait to see it.
@S.F. Hunger: The screenwriters, Koppelman and Levien, suggested me to S.S., who I first met around the time of “The Limey” and had always gotten along with.
@Bill: Yeah, it’ll be very easy to see once it comes out—it’s one of those HDNET things that debuts simultaneous day-and-date in theaters, on DVD, and on demand.
Any chance you’ll be in Iron Man II?
Manohla Dargis called you the scum of the earth. Congratulations!
How many minutes are you on screen?
And, did you get your SAG card outta this?
@Tess: Don’t know my screen time. I’d guess more than two minutes, less than ten.
And no, no SAG card. I’m gonna have to fire my agent.
Porn stars going straight, film critics going porn. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad media world…
Here’s the new episode of “PG Porn” featuring the chick that co-starred in Glenn’s Soderbergh movie:
http://www.spike.com/video/roadside-ass/3101845