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August 29, 2014
 Mark
September 14th on your calendar for the new Ken Burns PBS series
narrated by Peter called "The Roosevelts: An
Intimate History". The seven-part, 14-hour
documentary weaves the stories of Theodore, Franklin and
Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of one of the most
prominent and influential families in American politics.
The series marks the first time their individual stories
have been woven into a single narrative. Meryl Streep
will do the voice-over for Eleanor with Paul Giamatti as
the voice of Theodore and Edward Herrmann as the voice
of Franklin. Rounding out the cast are Patricia
Clarkson, Adam Arkin, Philip Bosco, Keith Carradine,
Kevin Conway, Ed Harris, John Lithgow, Josh Lucas, Carl
Lumbly, Amy Madigan, Carolyn McCormick, Pamela Reed,
Billy Bob Thornton and Eli Wallach.
 On
Thursday evening, LA RANÇON DE LA GLOIRE (The
Price of Fame) premiered in competition at the 71st
Venice International Film Festival. Boyd van Hoeij of
The Hollywood Reporter writes, "French actor-director
Xavier Beauvois ("Of God and Men") unearths a rather
unusual story that happened to Charlie Chaplin. Though
the true story about two marginalized immigrants in
1970s Switzerland who decide to dig up Chaplin's coffin
for ransom money, is quite small, Beauvois manages to
turn it into something big, brash and even quite moving
through sheer mastery of the filmmaking tools at his
disposal. This should do solid numbers when it'll be
released in France, and will be more of a specialty item
abroad, though the material offers enough marketing
hooks for savvy arthouse distributors everywhere to get
their money's worth." Hoeij gives praise with "the most
impressive supporting turn comes without a doubt from
Peter Coyote, who plays the extremely dedicated
Chaplin family butler."
The
film synopsis reads: On the shores of Lake
Geneva lies the small Swiss town of Vevey. It’s the end
of the seventies. On his release from prison Eddy—a
40-year-old Belgian small time crook— is met by his
friend, Osman. They have made a deal: Osman will let
Eddy stay in his shed and in exchange, Eddy will take
care of his 7-year-old daughter Samira while her mother
is in the hospital. It’s the Christmas season, but their
shared, grinding poverty has made Eddy quite bitter.
Then Charlie Chaplin’s death is announced on the
television, as well as the true extent of his fabulous
wealth. Eddy starts daydreaming... and comes up with a
crazy idea: what if he stole the actor’s corpse and
demanded a ransom from the family?
And the director's statement reads:
The idea here is not to retrace truthfully the sad epic
of the two comrades, or to make a documentary film about
an event that, in the end, doesn’t really deserve such
attention... but rather to slide, little by little,
towards a bittersweet comedy of sorts, a movie that is
both funny and moving... What could be called a comedy à
l’italienne, in which a humble and sincere homage would
be paid to the man who, in Einstein’s words, “was
understood by everyone while no one on Earth understands
me.”
At the end of filming, the cast was
feted by a celebration on May 3, 2013 at the Hotel Des
Trois Couronnes in Vevey. In the photo below, Peter
poses with Trustee Laurent Ballif and Municipal Elina
Leimgruber. Peter said he was completely won over by the
town and its surroundings.
July 28, 2014
 This
week Peter will be putting in a personal appearance at
the San Antonio Film Festival. Celebrating its
20th year, the festival will feature producers,
directors and actors at various screenings. At 7 pm on
Friday evening, "E.T." will be screened with
Peter in attendance.
"E.T." premiered at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival
closing gala and opened the following month in the USA
on June 11. This wonderful children's story was directed
by Steven Spielberg and remained the highest grossing
film of all time for 11 years until another Spielberg
effort called "Jurassic Park" took the mantle.
Peter plays the mysterious government agent known only
as “Keys” due to the jingling of keys hanging from his
belt. He sums up the film by saying, "Any movie which
has touched millions and millions of people must have
something going for it and 'E.T.' does. The performances
are wonderful. The story will make you laugh and cry.
It's wonderfully conceived and shot and it's a touching
story carefully told."
Good
news! Peter's second book will be coming out in the
spring of 2015. Called "The Rainman's Third Cure",
the spiritual memoir will be published by Counterpoint
Press. The title refers to a Bob Dylan song called
"Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" in
which Dylan wrote, "Now the rainman gave me two
cures..." Peter says his book chronicles his journey in
finding a place of wisdom.
July 3, 2014
Our
Coyote man is working in Paris where he has a role in a
new film called EVA ET LEON. I'm waiting for
French agent Lizzie Sebban to give me some information
on this project. In the meantime, I can tell you that
the director is Emilie Cherpitel and that Clotilde Hesme
and Clotilde Courau will star.
June 24, 2014
 The
third season of the TNT crime drama series,
PERCEPTION, premiered on June 17th. With Peter now
part of the cast, star Eric McCormack was asked what it
was like to have Peter play his father. He responded,
"I've gotta say, that’s just been awesome. It’s an
ongoing storyline through the whole season. The idea is
that Pierce has a father that he hasn’t spoken to in 20
years, who has just as much hubris and is just as
arrogant as Pierce is, but who also now has a mental
condition. He has Alzheimer’s. So, to have this man with
paranoid schizophrenia trying to be a father to his
father, who’s living with a serious condition, has been
very touching and also very funny. Peter is acerbic and
so intelligent. It was a real battle of minds and battle
of wits. It’s a story that I think the audience will
love."
As
previously reported, Peter did a movie earlier this year
called THE SECRET PLACE, directed by Jay
Silverman. The film tells the powerful true story of a
troubled teenage girl who finds healing in the most
unlikely of places, and who must choose to either invest
in her own recovery or succumb to the trauma of her
past. Here are a few more on-location photos.
 France
has just released a poster for the new comedy by Olivier
Baroux called ON A MARCHÉ SUR BANGKOK. Filmed in
Thailand last spring, the movie stars Kad Merad and
Alice Taglioni as journalists in search of the best kept
secret in modern history. Peter describes his role -
"It's a very silly comedy in which I play the
head of the CIA trying to prevent two French reporters
from tracking down the last living person who has proof
that during the Apollo Moon landing, the American
astronauts were beaten to the punch by Aliens." The film
will premiere in France on October 22. Other cast
members include Chawanrut Janjittranon "Nutcha"
Claude Perron, Etienne Chicot, Michel Aumont, Claire
Nadeau, Sebastian Marx and Kate Moran.
As
many of you know, Peter was ordained as a
Buddhist priest in the layman lineage and is
part of Mill Valley's strong Zen Buddhist community.
Here is a wonderful portrait of him by photographer
Marco Guerra.
In
recent weeks the Coyote man has hit the highways
across the country meeting up with family and old
friends. And what he is driving? Well, his old
Power Wagon has been transformed into this
magnificent new transport!
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