Vincent Gallo Can't Block Embarrassing Audio

- Court News Service

Wednesday, July 20, 2016 By DON DEBENEDICTIS

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A judge has blocked actor-director Vincent Gallo's lawsuit against a Japanese journalist, so the reporter's allegedly secretly taped recording of Gallo insulting several Hollywood heavyweights will remain posted online.
     Gallo sued Hikari Takano in May for making public a recording of him "mocking Francis Ford Coppola's weight" and harshly criticizing Spike Jones, Sofia Coppola and Eric and Julia Roberts.
     After other websites reposted his comments, Gallo said, he lost work and Francis Ford Coppola refused his phone calls, according to Takano's attorney Jeffrey Lewis, with Broedlow Lewis in Rolling Hills Estates.
     Superior Court Judge William Fahey on July 13 granted Lewis's anti-SLAPP motion, finding the lawsuit had been filed years after the statute of limitations ran out.
     Under California's "single publication rule," Fahey wrote ruled, "the statute of limitations begins to run at the time the offending statement is first distributed to the general public, regardless of when the plaintiff becomes aware of the publication."
     Gallo's comments were posted online in 2010.
     Gallo is best known for writing, directing and starring in two provocative independent films, "Buffalo '66" in 1998 and "The Brown Bunny" five years later.
     Takano interviewed him in 2003 for a Japanese men's motorcycle publication. Gallo claimed that Takano surreptitiously recorded a conversation between them before the formal interview.
     The magazine article drawn from the interview appeared in February 2004. Then in April 2010, Takano posted audio files of the interview and the allegedly private conversation on his website, according to the complaint.
     When Gallo found out, he asked to have them taken down, and Takano complied, the lawsuit states. But last year Gallo discovered they had reappeared and sued.
     Takano responded in June with the special motion to strike, citing the First Amendment.
     On that issue, Fahey found that Gallo "is and has been a public figure for many years, defendant is a journalist and his interviews of plaintiff dealt with matters of public interest."
     The second question in an anti-SLAPP motion is whether the plaintiff has a good chance of winning his lawsuit. Citing the statue of limitations, Fahey wrote, "plaintiff cannot establish the probability of prevailing on the merits of his claim."
     Gallo's attorney Joseph Costa, with Costa Besser & Childress in Pacific Palisades, argued that Takano should have been prevented from raising the statute of limitations because he reneged on his promise to take down the recordings.
     Fahey said that didn't matter. He said Gallo's lawsuit "specifically alleges that he learned about defendant's publication 'shortly after' February 2004. ... Yet plaintiff did nothing."
     Also, Takano kept the recordings on his website "almost continuously from April 2010 to the present day," the judge said.
     In an interview Tuesday, Costa said he may appeal.
     "I think the court completely ignored the primary argument in the case, which is that the statute of limitations was not applicable because the material had previously been taken down in response to a demand letter from Vincent," he said. "The court gave no consideration to that argument."
     Lewis said that argument was trumped by the single publication rule.

Decide SLAPPs Down Vincent Gallo’s Lawsuit Towards Hikari Takano

By TBN - July 22, 2016

An audio clip of Vincent Gallo’s unflattering feedback in regards to the Coppola household, Julia Roberts and others will stay posted on-line, after a decide granted a movement to strike his invasion of privateness lawsuit filed in opposition to the person who recorded him.

Gallo sued Hikari Takano in Might, stemming from a decade-previous interview concerning the indie multihyphenate’s controversial movie The Brown Bunny for a Japanese journal. He claims Takano recorded him with out his consent and posted the audio on a for-revenue web site in violation of his proper of publicity and of his privateness.

In June, Takano’s lawyer Jeffrey Lewis filed a particular movement to strike the grievance underneath California’s anti-SLAPP statute which prohibits authorized motion on points arising from Constitutionally protected exercise.

To beat an anti-SLAPP movement Gallo must show that the dispute did not come up from protected exercise and set up the likelihood of prevailing on his declare.

Decide William Fahey discovered he did neither and granted the movement to strike the criticism.

“The Courtroom particularly finds that plaintiff is and has been a public determine for a few years, defendant is a journalist and his interviews of plaintiff handled issues of public curiosity,” states Fahey’s order.

That Gallo is accusing Takano of prison exercise, recording him with out consent, is not any assist, because the courtroom discovered “[Takano] doesn’t concede and the proof doesn’t conclusively set up any violation of regulation.”

Fahey finds Gallo cannot set up the chance of prevailing on the second prong of the evaluation as a result of the “single publication rule” applies to web sites, which implies his grievance wasn’t well timed.

“A reason behind motion accrues, and the statute of limitations begins to run, on the time the offending assertion is first distributed to most of the people, no matter when the plaintiff turns into conscious of publication,” Fahey writes.

Throughout a Monday listening to, Gallo’s legal professional Joseph Costa had argued that his shopper complained to Takano and his web site internet hosting firm when he discovered the recordings had been posted on-line in 2010. The posts had been eliminated, Takano says as a result of he quickly modified hosts and his URL, and Gallo understood the matter to be over — although he intermittently checked to see if the recordings had resurfaced.

Fahey finds the admissible proof reveals the supplies in query have been posted “virtually constantly from April 2010 to the current day” and Gallo’s admission that he checked chat rooms and web sites solely “‘up via parts of 2012’ is deadly to his argument.”

In a press release to The Hollywood Reporter, Takano’s lawyer Jeffrey Lewis echoes the courtroom’s discovering that Gallo is a public determine and his consumer’s interview was a matter of public curiosity.

“Journalists shouldn’t should look over their shoulders in worry of civil lawsuits for merely doing their job,” Lewis says. “We’re grateful that the court docket took the time to learn the voluminous supplies submitted by the attorneys, utilized the regulation appropriately and disregarded the inadmissible and speculative proof provided by Mr. Gallo.”

Costa has not but responded to a request for remark.

Peter Stormare says "Method Acting & Meisner Method is all phony bullshit!"

Countryman Microphones the Ideal Choice for Hikari Takano

Los Angeles, CA – February 2015… Interviewer, Editor, Producer Hikari Takano has a diverse background that involves work both in front of and behind the camera. As an actor, he made his feature film debut in Fred Schepisi’s Mr. Baseball, starring Tom Selleck. Subsequently, he appeared in Barry Sonnenfeld’s For Love or Money as well as numerous television commercials. Since those days, Takano has moved behind the camera into the production side of the business, where he now functions as an interviewer with projects involving well known celebrities such as Harvey Keitel, Mickey Rourke, Billy Bob Thornton, David Lynch, Thomas Jane, and countless others. To ensure the best possible audio quality for his projects, he routinely uses the B3 Omnidirectional Lavalier microphone from Menlo Park, CA-based Countryman Associates.

Takano described his search for the “right” microphone, “With the popularity of DSLR cameras being used for interviews, I and countless other production professionals quickly discovered that the DSLR’s audio quality was generally horrendous. Hence, it became a necessity to use external recorders plus lavalier or shotgun mics, or both. Then, as the cameras got better—particularly the Sony mirrorless cameras I started filming with—I wanted the very best sound quality possible that performed consistently without any clipping and didn't record at levels that were too low or too loud. I started searching for a higher level lavalier mic and Countryman’s General Manager Rosa Pimentel suggested I try the Countryman B3.”

“I used the B3 in my most recent interview with actor Peter Stormare (of Fargo, Armageddon, Prison Break, and 22 Jump Street fame),” Takano reports. “Unlike other interviews that sounded good once a lot of audio filtering and processing had been performed, the Countryman B3 delivered the sound just as it should be—without all the manipulation. The great thing about the B3 lavs is that I don't have to touch the audio track at all if I choose not to do so. That's a nice position to be in and it’s definitely a time saver!”

Takano described his preferred production method for his interviews, “I don’t use my lavalier mics wirelessly simply because adding a receiver to my workflow means relying on another battery source. For the most part, I work alone, though sometimes I’ll take an intern to help me set up and press the camera record buttons. I have to be prepared for the possibility of the interview going much longer than planned. The more original content I have, the better, so I run the B3 microphone’s XLR cables directly to the external recorder, which is powered via an AC Adapter to avoid the possibility of battery failure during the interview.”

When queried about those attributes of the Countryman B3 lavalier microphone that he finds most appealing for his type of work, Takano offered the follow thoughts. “Obviously, the most important consideration when choosing a lavalier mic is the sound quality. The Countryman B3 produces the cleanest and most natural sound I have ever encountered. It also certainly helps when the dimension of the lavalier mic is just right, as it is with the B3. It’s very common for a lavalier mic head to be a little bigger than desired or way too small, like the pin-style lavs that don't stand on the clip properly. And I personally love the longer cord on the B3 mics. A cord that's too short can be a real hindrance.”

Before shifting his focus to an upcoming project, Takano summarized his experience regarding Countryman’s reliability and his overall fondness for the B3 microphone. “I’ve been extremely pleased with the Countryman B3,” Takano said. “The microphone is well designed, well built, and very reliable. I’ve never needed to contact the company for support or service since taking delivery of the product. It just works.”

He continued, “I would strongly recommend the Countryman B3 mic to the documentary filmmaker or TV/web content creator who wants to take his or her audio quality to the top level while feeling confident they are capturing the cleanest and most realistic sound possible for their project. To repeat what I stated earlier, the biggest surprise and the most impressive aspect of using the Countryman B3 was the fact I had to do so little to the recorded files.”

Hikari Takano was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1964.  After attending boarding schools in England, he enrolled at the University of Redlands in California.  Takano, 4 a year varsity player and  NCAA Division III National Champion in Tennis, graduated  with in 1987 with a B.A. in History.

In 1988, Hikari moved to N.Y. to study acting with the legendary Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

In 1991, Hikari made his feature film debut in Fred Schepisi’s “Mr. Baseball”, starring Tom Selleck. He also served as Mr. Selleck’s bilingual assistant for the four month shoot in Japan.

In 1992, Hikari was cast as Leon in Barry Sonnenfeld’s “For Love or Money”, starring Michael J. Fox.

In 1993, Hikari appeared on Benetton’s billboard campaign in Times Square, New York City, for 20 months (photo). Olivieri Toscani photographed the controversial semi-nude billboard.

Hikari appeared in numerous TV commercials (Peugeot commercial), Off-Broadway, and Regional Theatre productions in his 11 years in New York City.

In 1999, Hikari moved back to Los Angeles, California, and began working as an interviewer for magazines like The Book LA, Perfect 10, Penthouse, Free & Easy, Cigar, and numerous Japanese movie magazines.

www.HikariTakano.com was officially launched on September, 2009.

Hikari has had the opportunity to interview hundreds of celebrities, such as: Dennis Hopper, Sydney Pollack, Harvey Keitel,  Mickey Rourke, David Carradine, Sugar Ray Leonard, David Lynch, Milos Forman, Norman Jewison, David O. Russell, Joel Schumacher, Mike Figgis, Spike Jonze, Kevin Costner, and Billy Bob Thornton.

INSIDE Hikari Takano Interviews with Hikari Takano

Can you please provide a short background history on your career?

I studied acting in New York with the great Sanford Meisner when he was still alive. I was mostly an actor in New York in the 90’s. I also taught tennis and did some bilingual producing on Japanese TV shows and commercials that came to New York.

When I moved to Los Angeles in 1999 my brother, also an actor, was working as a trainer to the then undefeated boxing champ Oscar De La Hoya. When a very famous Japanese magazine came to interview my brother while he was training Oscar up in Big Bear, California, they asked him if he knew anyone that could help set up future U.S. projects for them. After producing a couple of fashion projects for the magazine I felt like I could do more so I suggested the idea of my doing celebrity interviews. Their reaction was, “Stars! Well, if you can get them then absolutely.” I had no experience booking or interviewing movie stars, directors, or athletes at that time, but it was one of those situations where I knew I was perfect for it.  Still, someone had to be the first, and it was my idol, Harvey Keitel, who stepped up for me. He didn’t know who I was or what I did, and his publicist already had declined my request because Harvey was busy shooting a film in Italy. I got lucky, however, when the publicist agreed to at least forward my faxed letter to Harvey directly. I wrote a heartfelt letter to Harvey–if nothing else, it was an opportunity for me to thank the man for what his work meant to me as a young actor coming up in New York. Harvey agreed to do a phone interview, and literally within days Mickey Rourke, Stan Winston, and Sugar Ray Leonard wanted to be in the same issue. I never got terribly nervous or star struck, but this was an exception. I mean, we’re talking about the voice of ‘Charlie’ from Mean Streets and ‘Mr. White’ from Reservoir Dogs coming through my speakerphone! I was lost for words for a few seconds.

Are you a one-man crew or do you have a team you work with?

Yes. I’m a one-man band these days for sure. I used to collaborate with a cameraman for a couple of years but after so many projects with missed footage, bad angles, no custom white balance, and no audio (yes, the recorder wasn’t turned on–not once, but during two big interviews in a row!) I decided to take more responsibility and really studied how to shoot and record decent audio. Of course, I’m always in front of the camera conducting the interview so I try to bring an assistant or two with me to keep an eye on the cameras and audio devices during the shoot. But–I set up all the technical stuff before we roll, and I also do all the post work myself.

What is one of your favorite interviews and why?

Honestly, I’m totally satisfied with about 90% of the interviews I’ve done which I think is a pretty good average. Mainly because I’ve always pitched the subjects I’ve wanted to interview, even back in my magazine days. Some of my personal favorites, and interviews that I feel can hold up to anyone else’s are; Mickey Rourke, Dennis Hopper, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Billy Bob Thornton, Steve James, Pete Rose, Brett Morgen, Jason Isaacs, and I really like the way this year’s interview with Thomas Jane turned out. The controversial interview I did with Vincent Gallo in 2004 is still extremely popular, probably because of the shock value. My website crashed when I first uploaded it in 2010. I thought it was just a piece of audio where Gallo spewed out a bunch of crazy hate, but it got major traction on the internet within minutes. Personally, I think my interviews with Sydney Pollack, Jon Voight, Spike Jonze, Milos Forman, or Ulrich Thomsen are way more entertaining, and definitely more important. A great interview is all about the interviewee and how much he or she is willing to give you. Of course, I am thoroughly immersed, researched and over prepared for every interview but it’s more about the atmosphere I try to create for the star. If you really know your stuff and they feel like you’ve done your homework and are really listening, and–if I’m lucky they might feel like, “it’s worth telling all to this guy.” Most people love to tell their story but only if the other person is truly interested. Otherwise it’s a waste of time and effort.

When you do these interviews are there certain circumstances that you’re challenged by?

The biggest challenge is time. I come into each interview having spent days or weeks researching and preparing my equipment. But if the star wants to finish when they’re supposed to, or cut out early, or if a DP or assistant failed to capture the video or audio at some point, that’s not good. Luckily, almost all my interviews go two or three times longer than the agreed upon time because again, they feel like it’s worth their time. But it’s the time management and the not knowing aspect that gets me nervous before an interview. Not the interview itself.

What do you count on to have a smooth running production?  Any special technology that you find super useful?

One thing I’ve always tried to do is to use the best tools available both in production and in post. For instance, my editing workstation features two AMD 16-core Opteron CPUs, and the Firepro W8000 GPU. It’s a monster to edit with. I’ve always edited on Sony Vegas Pro which is every bit as powerful, if not more powerful than FCP7, FCPX, or Adobe Premiere Pro. I also rely heavily on great color grading tools and effects from GenArts Sapphire 8, BorisFX BCC9, Film Convert, and Vegasaur.

The little introduction I do for each interview is where I get to do creative work using all their highlights and clips. In production I shoot exclusively with Sony Alpha Mirrorless cameras. I currently use the a99, a6000, a7s, and RX100M3.

The main front angle of the Thomas Jane interview was shot with the tiny Sony RX100M3, but it was shot with the XAVX-S codec (50mb/sec) which was excellent for coloring. I would take the image from that little $800 camera over anything from a Canon 5D MKII. The Sony a7s literally shoots in pitch darkness. Amazing innovations that are leaving Canon and Nikon in the dust.

Something has to hold up these great cameras. Not only for my interviews that are mostly from fixed positions, but also for my other outside projects where I need perfect panning and tilting heads. After trying several big-name tripods I just couldn’t find a tripod that was a combination of smooth, super sturdy, and not too heavy. Especially since the new Sony mirrorless cameras are generally much smaller than the standard DSLRs. That’s when I discovered CARTONI tripods. I currently use 2-3 CARTONI Focus HDs and a Cartoni SmartPro tripod. Steve Manios and Chris at Manios Digital put together a custom version of the SmartPro that’s become my go-to for the quick setup and exit situations. I have been incredibly impressed because every minute counts once I’m there. The search is over. The total efficiency and assembling speed of the CARTONI tripods plays a crucial part for a smooth workflow in my projects now.

8 Bits of Wisdom from David Lynch's 53-Minute Interview

By Jake Folsom | Indiewire 

David Lynch fans are in luck as celebrity interviewer Hikari Takano recently released a 53-minute interview with the director, conducted back in 2006. Topics are the standard fare for a Lynch Interview: from "Mulholland Drive" to "Blue Velvet," from transcendental meditation to the 1950s.

You can access the full video on Takano's website. Below you will find some highlights.

A good night's sleep never hurts.

"I still need to sleep…so I have some fuel to go on the next day…a lot of times you work long times, but there comes a point where it's diminishing returns until you get some sleep. It depends on the schedule, but ideally it's 'earlier to bed, earlier to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.'"

"Knowing thyself" comes through meditation.

"You don't know yourself by talking to yourself or looking in the mirror. You know yourself by diving in and experiencing the self. The big self. And when you grow in that, it all becomes clearer and clearer and clearer. And you really start unfolding the full potential of the human being. It's [laughs]… you can say 'Well, it's not for me.' Whatever! But some people hear this, and it has such a ring of truth for them, they wish they'd heard it earlier. They want that experience, they want to grow rapidly…It's not a religion and it's not a cult. It's so naturally a part of the human condition."

He'll reuse actors, but only if they're "right for the part."

"I'm faithful to no one, I'm faithful to trying to get the right person for the part. If it's someone I've worked with before and love, that's beautiful…I'd love to work with Dennis [Hopper] again, he just hasn't happened yet…to be right for the part. That's the only rule."

His work is surreal, but it isn't pulled from dreams.

"I always say, I hardly ever have gotten ideas from dreams. I love dream logic. I love the feel. Ideas come to me from sitting in a char, walking around, walkin' down the street, you don't know when they're gonna pop in. An idea isn't there, and then, bingo, an idea enters the conscious mind. For me, doing things [is helpful to coming up with ideas]."

Forget the tortured artist stereotype.

"It's like, hello? It's so obvious — suffering kills creativity. If you're sick and you're vomiting, and you've got a splitting headache, how much good work are you gonna do?! You're not gonna do good work. That's not feeding anything. That's blocking everything. You start getting well, the sickness goes. You feel so good, you're catching ideas and you've got the energy to do them now. And you feel god about doing them. That's the name of the game."He rarely reads scripts.

"I don't have time to read things, and more often than not I like to catch my own ideas. But if someone said, 'Oh there's this story,' and I hear it and I say 'Wait a minute, I would like to read it,' just from a few words…something happens, maybe I'd be very interested. I don't know. It's funny how it goes."Across mediums, his process varies.

"For a film, it comes in fragments…In painting, a lot of times, for me, painting is a thing where I just get one idea that's enough of a thrill to get me out of the chair and start the process. What I notice there, in painting, is it's more action and reaction, and the thing starts evolving from its original idea. In film, I get ideas, I write them down, and then I try to translate that and get that thing on film. Along the way, new ideas can come in and join…the puzzle isn't finished 'till it's finished…some ideas don't fit and they're thrown away."

Film is holistic.

"A film is trying to get every element to 100%. How absurd would it be if casting were [worth] 90% [of a film's merit]. Let's say you got Jack Nicholson and Nicole Kidman. Great cast. But you didn't have a good story…you had lousy sets, you had horrible music, ridiculous dialogue. How good a movie would that be? Every element is critical!"

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Watch: 53-Minute Interview With David Lynch On His Films, Meditation And The Importance Of Ideas

By Nicholas Laskin | The PlaylistDecember 3, 2014 at 2:04PM

It’s been a real drag not having any cinematic output from David Lynch since 2006’s meta-movie freakout “Inland Empire." Renaissance man that he is, Lynch has dabbled in a slew of creative pursuits since his last two feature films —the other being “Mulholland Drive,” arguably the most potent distillation of his gifts as a storyteller— which include transcendental meditation, painting, landscape photography and music that sounds like being dragged kicking and screaming into the crimson-red vortex of your darkest nightmares.

And yet, in spite of his dilettante proclivities, Lynch is first and foremost a filmmaker, which is to say he’s a fashioner of dreams. No filmmaker since Luis Bunuel has plumbed the murky depths of the human subconscious to such illuminating and disturbing effect. He’s also given us some of the most haunting and unforgettable screen imagery of the last half-century —we all love the dreadlocked dumpster monster from “Mulholland Drive,” but Robert Frost’s demonic, pasty-faced partygoer from “Lost Highway” will forever be burned into my brain.

Lynch is a fascinating, polarizing figure in the world of art and cinema, and in this fantastic 53-minute interview with Hikari Takano, he dishes on some of his favorite topics, including the notion of universal consciousness, the peculiar rhythms of the creative process and the music of Roy Orbison.

Not surprisingly, Lynch doesn’t seem particularly interested in dissecting his filmography in any sort of intellectual way. Although countless think pieces have attempted to decipher the enigmatic dream logic of films like “Blue Velvet,” “Mulholland Drive” and “Eraserhead,” his best films tend to play out like real dreams. They are absurd, terrifying, nonsensical and enshrouded in a lustrous sheen of mystery that makes his nightmare visions all the more unnerving.

You’d expect the director of a deeply fucked-up murder ballad like “Wild at Heart” to possess what could be called the arrogance of genius, but the Lynch we see in this interview is genial, enthusiastic, and even a little square, not unlike the characters played by his longtime leading-man surrogate Kyle MachLachlan. In fact, he seems like he’d be a pleasure to be around. In his typical, unabashedly earnest fashion, Lynch expounds on a variety of topics, which run the gamut from his now-unmistakable wardrobe (apparently, dude doesn’t care for wind on his collarbone, hence his signature button-up) to the genius of musician Chris Isaak, who recorded music for “Inland Empire” and whom Lynch calls “one of the best musicians [he] has ever worked with.” 

The director also dispels the notion of the “suffering artist” (Lynch refers to suffering itself as “big squeezing” and a “clamp on creativity”) as well as his book “Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness & Creativity,” which explores the complex relationship between dreams, creative output and existential awareness. It’s enough to make one wish that Lynch would return to the silver screen, but until then, we have the reboot of his seminal television program “Twin Peaks” to look forward to—let’s hope that doesn’t disappoint. In the meantime, the following interview is a penetrating look inside the warped, beautiful mind of one of modern cinema’s last remaining radicals. It’s a doozy.

Watch the full interview below. Preferably with a cup of damn fine coffee, or Frank Booth’s beer of choice, Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Update 1/21: Interview removed by request of Hikari Takano. You can watch it in full here.