Who Plays Who?

Demetri Martin Imelda Staunton Henry Goodman Jonathan Groff Emile Hirsch Eugene Levy Liev Schreiber Edward Hibbert Paul Dano Kelli Garner Clark Middleton Bette Henritze Sondra James Jeffrey Dean Morgan Christina Kirk Gail Martino Adam LeFevre Andy Prosky Dan Fogler Gabriel Sunday

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Elliot Sonia Teichberg Jake Teichberg Michael Lang Billy Max Yasgur Vilma British Gentleman VW Guy VW Girl Frank Annie Margaret Dan Carol Town Clerk Dave Bob Devon Steven

What Do The Critics Say

"It’s the spirit of the festival and its message, not the music that Lee is interested in portraying. It is a lovely idea and the result, in a field crowded with sharp, aggressive, edgy comedies is something much more gentle, rounded and endearing. Yet it’s not altogether warm and fuzzy: there’s plenty of bite here and wry insight, too. The movie’s much more in line with Lee’s sharp and funny "The Wedding Banquet" than his tragic love story "Brokeback Mountain. Working again with screenwriter James Schamus and a new cinematographer (Eric Gautier, Lee returns to his favorite theme: the desire of a repressed Everyman to break out." Richard Wright WINDY CITY TIMES "It's interesting and often amusing stuff, populated as it is with a cast of oddball characters, but it's also uneven, with a tendency to sag for stretches." Mike Scott TIMES PICA-YUNE "Lee's larkiest film by far, Taking Woodstock features faces familiar and fresh." Lisa Kennedy DENVER POST "It's really a sweet-natured coming-of-age tale, with a famously groundbreaking rock concert lurking in the background." Moira MacDonald SEATTLE TIMES "Lee uses a subtle build to show how 'three days of peace, love and music' transformed a rural farming community." Laura Clifford REELING REVIEWS "In his adaptation of Elliot Tiber's memoir, Lee follows Teichberg's small but crucial role in the the planning stages of the now infamous music festival, currently celebrating its fortieth anniversary. In the course of the film, Elliot also takes acid in the back of the van with two random hippies (a long haired Paul Dano and Kelli Garner). He also kisses a boy. Perhaps most importantly, he stands up to his mother, the formidable Imelda Staunton. Taking Woodstock is enormous fun." Marcy Dermansky ABOUT.COM

"With the same sensitivity he brought to The Ice Storm and Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee takes us back to 1969 to tell Elliot Tiber's untold story - beyond the music, free love and hair-decked flowers of Woodstock. It's a story somewhat left of field involving a small community and a broke, dysfunctional Jewish family whose son inadvertently becomes a vital cog in the wheel of the music festival's birth. One thing is for sure, life could never be the same after Woodstock. Ang Lee's film is a hypnotic carpet ride that allows us to understand that: close up and from afar." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "Along with Schreiber and Levy, Staunton and Goodman make you wish "Taking Woodstock" never left the grounds of the El Monaco. They provide the moments that are fresh and fun, not caked in ersatz memories that have been fermenting for 40 years. The more tightly Taking Woodstock focuses on history, the more satisfying the experience." Jeffrey Westhoff NORTHWEST HERALD "I loved this sweet, gentle film, and prize its charms and heart far more than the debatable weightiness of Lee's Lust, Caution." Ken Hanke MOUNTAIN XPRESS "Taking Woodstock is a fine film, it just isn't what it wants to be or what it should be." Matthew Razak THE EXAMINER "The movie is a celebration of the way this event has gone into memory and of the meaning it has acquired." Mick LaSalle SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "1969 was a unique time in the world, when the two extremes of the human condition were battling it out: in Viet Nam, young men were slaughtering each other; in much of the West, young people were loving each other. In July, Armstrong took a giant leap for mankind on the moon, and in August half a million people descended on quiet ole White Lake outside New York. The film is based on the memoirs of Elliott Tiber (the Teichberg character) and it feels totally authentic. If it wasn't really like this, it should have been." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE

The Inside Story Remember Woodstock? Well, if you do, as the saying goes, then: you probably weren’t there! While Woodstock itself is a great subject, it’s one not readily able to be captured in a film; and, furthermore, it’s been done definitively; Michael Wadleigh’s three hour 1970 documentary feature "Woodstock" won an Academy Award. 1993 and 2006 Golden Horse Award winner James Schamus, played a big part in bringing "Taking Woodstock" to the screen, for not only did he produce the film, he also adapted the film’s script from Elliot Tiber with Tom Monte's book: "Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, A Concert, and A Life". "What we’re doing is telling a tiny piece of that story, from a little corner of unexpected joy that happened almost by accident and which helped this incredible event take place." It was almost by accident that Tiber’s tale happened to come to Schamus's long-time filmmaking partner, 2006 Academy Award-winning director and producer Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain"). In October 2007, Lee was booked on a San Francisco talk show to discuss their film "Lust, Caution", which was about to open locally. Tiber was booked on the same show to discuss his book, which had recently been published. While waiting to go on, Tiber struck up a conversation with Lee, and gave Lee a copy of his memoirs. Lee remembers: "A few days later, an old friend from film school, Pat Cupo, called. He told me he had heard that Elliot had given me the book, and encouraged me to read it." Tiber enthusiastically recalls, "Getting the ‘yes’ from Ang Lee was truly the ultimate trip. I have found in my life that whether you find the action, or the action finds you, the crucial thing is to act; and always now." Lee saw "Taking Woodstock" as following naturally from his previous work. If his movie "The Ice Storm" was, as he says, "the hangover of 1969", then "Taking Woodstock" is the beautiful night before and the last moments of innocence. "After making several tragic movies in a row, I was looking to do a comedy; and one without cynicism. It’s also a story of liberation, honesty, and tolerance: and of a 'naïve spirit' that we cannot and must not lose." Schamus also cottoned to the project immediately, and saw bringing the film to audiences as an opportunity for "a new generation to go back and visit Woodstock and get a feel for what it must’ve been like when you could have hope, and really move some mountains and enjoy it. Because we embraced that ethos, Ang actually enjoyed the hard work on this film. This is Ang’s and my eleventh film together; he keeps raising the stakes for himself and meeting new challenges." To make Taking Woodstock, the pair was joined by 2004 and 2005 Emmy Award winning producer Celia Costas ("Angels in America" & "Warm Springs") who notes, "Ang Lee was going to be making a movie about when I came of age, almost in my backyard: an opportunity I couldn’t pass up! In the late 1960s, the world was your oyster, whether politically or socially. We were in the middle of a war, but despite that it was such a positive time and we felt that if we got together we could do anything. That’s something which has sorely been missed, and perhaps we are trying to begin to recapture that now." Costas found that "with his script, James created a smart and funny world that Ang can flourish in; he’s able to give Ang situations and concepts that Ang, as a unique humanist filmmaker, can and does, run with." "Underneath all the comedy in this movie are emotions, and meditations on what it means for people to transform themselves," says Schamus. "Taking Woodstock" continues Lee’s career-long exploration of familial/generational dynamics. For Elliot and his Jewish immigrant parents Sonia and Jake Teichberg, getting unexpectedly caught up in the preparations for Woodstock, gifts them all with a learning experience, and then some; "For the first time in their lives, they have the opportunity to emotionally reveal themselves to one another," Costas ("Charlie Wilson's War") notes. "In the midst of a great cultural moment, Elliot comes to fully accept who he is. His gay identity is part of the story, and so is his identity as his own man, not just as his parent's son,"says Schamus. "Woodstock is freeing and transforming for all three of them, but it’s Elliot’s life that’s the most positively impacted." Demetri Martin ("Important Things with Demetri Martin"), makes his feature film debut as Elliot Tiber. Martin had been brought to the attention of the filmmakers by Schamus's teenaged daughter, Nona. While working on her home work with her father, she urged him to watch a clip of one of Martin’s comedy routines, "The Jokes with Guitar" on YouTube. Schamus liked what he saw: a presence conveying "a ferocity of intelligence, coupled with a non-assaultive style and vulnerability that is unusual in a stand-up comic." Just as the story had suddenly found Lee, Martin’s audition and screen tests convinced the director and Schamus that they had found their leading man. "I’d never worked with a comedian," says Lee. "But we made a very good choice. You want to see more of Demetri; you like him, he’s a fresh face. In his demeanor and his disposition, he is very close to the characterization in the script. Plus, he’s genuinely funny." "In stand-up I’m trying to be myself. Doing this meant I would have to be someone else, and interpret another writer’s words and storyline," Martin explained. "For me, this was an exciting opportunity to work with Ang Lee and learn about acting." Martin did just that, logging three weeks of rehearsal prior to the start of filming and also spending time with Tiber "to ask him about some specific details." David Silver, hired as the film’s historian, was given a mandate to put together what became known as the "Hippie Handbook", a compendium of articles, timelines, essays, and a glossary of 'Hippie Lingo', from "freak out" to "roach clip". Even words that had long permeated the culture were re-investigated. "The first hippies were 19th-century German immigrants who came to Northern California and lived a communal agrarian lifestyle. Some decades later, the term 'hippie' derived from 'hipster' and 'hip', the idea being that these people as a whole were cool. The word has a light feeling, and did not necessarily mean someone was radical, or an activist. They were more interested in smaller, interactive changes between and among people," Silver revealed. Lee clarified another important point: "Woodstock didn’t happen in Woodstock. But we don’t think of it as 'White Lake' or 'Bethel', we say Woodstock." In 1969, the dream ;was being realized by Woodstock Ventures' Michael Lang (played by Jonathan Groff); Artie Kornfeld (played by Adam Pally); Joel Rosenman (Daniel Eric Gold), and John Roberts (Skylar Astin). Lang had emerged as a memorable figure in the documentary "Woodstock", and no less so in Tiber’s account of his own encounters with him. Schamus praised Lang; who visited the set, met with the filmmakers, and spent time with Groff, as someone "who sometimes put being a businessman first, as he had to; yet he never seemed cynical. It must have been incredibly exhausting; he had to maintain this aura of a beautiful hippie. Jonathan, whose first movie this is, precisely caught the wave of all of those nuances in Michael’s character." The uphill quest undertaken by Lang and his team of festival organizers complements the underdog story of Elliot and his transformation over the course of the summer of 1969. Yet, as executive producer Michael Hausman ("Amadeus" & "The Firm") notes, "literally and figuratively, the festival remains just over the hill from the motel and the people there." Comedy icon and five time Canadian Comedy Award winner Eugene Levy (2001, '02 & '04) who plays Max Yasgur notes, "The timing was right for Woodstock; it was at the end of probably the most dynamic decade of the 20th century. I have to admit I didn’t know a lot about Woodstock before it happened, but on the weekend it was underway, it started hitting the news in a major way." And did Lee offer advice on the character? "Ang wanted me to look and sound like Max as much as I could. I read up on Max and looked at what little footage exists. Ang described Max to me as an old-school Republican. Woodstock was a business venture for him, and Max grew to love what it turned into. He had suffered a serious health crisis about a year before, and after that he decided that nothing seemed quite so scary or intimidating." The 'good businessman' description could not be applied to the Teichbergs, but, as Levy notes, "Elliot and his parents made a lot of money in a short time. It’s a turning point for them." Henry Goodman ("The Life and Death of Peter Sellers"), who plays the Teichberg patriarch, sees the family’s benefits as more than financial. He emphasized, "Each person, in their different way, moves forward in positive steps through the course of the movie." While Goodman had known 1999 Screen Actors Guild Award, 2004 Coppa Volpi and two time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton O.B.E. from having starred together onstage in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" years prior, he was gratified at how "Ang worked to start a dialogue among our on-screen family. He was keen for Imelda and Demetri and I to come together for over a week. That way, by the time of filming, we could connect to each other and get to places very quickly as actors." With her nature forged by her immigrant history, Elliot’s perpetually disapproving mother Sonia is the source of comedic moments in the film. But, as Staunton notes, "Those come from a very dark place: which, of course, most of the best comedy comes from. Ang and I discussed how I would not be playing it for laughs. What Sonia grew up with in Russia has never left her." In contrast to the petite Staunton stands six foot three inch Liev Schreiber as Vilma, the cross-dressing ex-Marine who joins the Woodstock preparations by becoming security detail at the El Monaco hotel. Vilma’s mere presence helps cue an essential realization for Elliot that he must live his life as a gay man "and he ever so gently encourages Jake and Sonia to live their lives, too," Costas notes. Lee sees Schreiber’s character as "someone who has found peace within himself, though not without struggle, and is therefore a role model for Elliot. We are all very complicated creatures. How can all these elements; wartime experience, cross-dressing, goodness, coexist in one person? But they do, and it’s not Vilma’s problem; if it’s anyone’s, it’s yours. This was a true acting test for Liev." The 2005 Venice Film Festival Biografilm Award and Laterna Magica Prize winner says in his research he "found that the whole gender-bending movement was very active by 1969." Did he have any reservations about throwing on a dress? "Since I’d done it before (1994's "Mixed Nuts"), I had no real concerns over playing a man in a dress. Well, there is always the concern that you might not look good in a dress." Synopsis

Working as an interior designer in Greenwich Village, Elliot feels empowered by the gay rights movement. But he life is dogged by the family business: a dumpy, run-down and uninsured Catskills motel called the "El Monaco", run by his overbearing parents, Jake and Sonia Teichberg. In the summer of 1969, Elliot is forced to move back home to the El Monaco in order to help save it from being taken over by the bank. Upon hearing that a planned music and arts festival has lost its permit from the neighboring town of Wallkill, NY, Elliot calls producer Michael Lang at Woodstock Ventures to offer his family’s motel to the promoters and generate some much-needed business. Elliot then introduces Lang to his neighbor Max Yasgur , who operates a six hundred acre dairy farm down the road. A deal is struck and the Woodstock staff is move into the motel. It will lead to half a million people decending on Yasgur’s farm for "3 days of Peace & Music in White Lake." Another million will clog the roads leading to the venue.

The Verdict "Four decades on and the memory of 'Woodstock' has been revived. Not the actual concert, but rather the story behind how the iconic festival, which had such a profound effect on the American psyche, managed to get off the ground. Those aging hippies who attend a screening hoping for a concert featuring historic footage or look a like band members lipsynching to songs performed at White Lake, Town of Bethel, New York State, will be sorely disappointed. While there are, near the films end, a glimpse of the distant concert arena, "Taking Woodstock" is a tribute to the man who managed to pull off what many described as the miracle of the century: the President of the Bethel Chamber of Commerce, Elliot Tiber, who after Woodstock, sold the El Monaco Motel (which operated as a motel and restaurant until 2004), and fled to Europe. The Woodstock Festival was originally planned to take place near Woodstock, NY, which is sixty miles from Bethel. But plans fell through for that location and the festival moved to Wallkill. In July of 1969 Elliot read that the festival was in trouble in Wallkill. He phoned the Woodstock offices, spoke to Mike Lang, and invited him to avail the festival with his permit. Initially he offered them fifteen acres of his land on the corner of Route 17B and Route 55. It was totally unsuitable. The organizers were just about to leave when he mentioned his good friend and supporter, dairy farmer Max Yasgur, had the perfect spot, a natural ampitheatre. Max agreed and the rest is history. "Taking Woodstock" is a film you'll either love or hate. It tells a fascinating story and one that deserves to be told, despite the fact that some of what the film portrays is still disputed to this day. Eric Gautier's cinematography is outstanding. Recommended. 4 STARS." The Production Team

Directed Screenplay Adapted from Producers Original Music Cinematography Film Editor Casting Production Designer Art Direction Set Decoration Costume Design

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Ang Lee James Schamus the book by Elliot Tiber & Tom Monte Ang Lee & James Schamus Danny Elfman Eric Gautier Tim Squyres Avy Kaufman David Gropman Peter Rogness Ellen Christiansen Joseph G Aulisi

Run Time 120 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2009 - Focus Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2009 All Rights Reserved The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.