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Photo by Rick Schmitt UCLA Today Kevin Spacey talks to UCLA Extension "Sneak Preview" students about his Bobby Darin biopic, "Beyond the Sea." Spacey stars in and directs the film.

Before the buzz

Course makes you a Hollywood insider

by julie jaskol and anne burke

When Enrique Rivero became a public information officer for the health sciences last February, he had no idea he would soon be joining a group of film buffs at exclusive movie previews where they can talk to big-name filmmakers about their work.

For the past three years, Rivero’s coworkers have been attending UCLA Extension’s popular “Sneak Preview” course. Offered quarterly, the course presents screenings of feature films before they are released in theaters, followed by enlightening conversations with the filmmakers and, occasionally, the actors.

“You get a better sense of the movies before all the criticism comes out,” said Rivero. “You see them with a fresher eye.”

Rachel Champeau, Rivero’s colleague, also likes the social aspect. “It’s a great way to bond with coworkers,” she said. “We go to dinner and carpool to the movie. I’d recommend it to anyone.”

Held at the Veterans Wadsworth Theatre and the Writers Guild in Beverly Hills, “Sneak Preview” attracts some of the industry’s heaviest hitters and most talked-about films. Director Peter Weir discussed the considerable challenges of making “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.” Edward Zwick talked about directing “The Last Samurai,” and actor-director Mel Gibson swung by one evening to share anecdotes about the making of his Academy Award-winning “Braveheart.”

“We just love it,” said UCLA nurse practitioner Sherry Goldman, a “Sneak Preview” regular who attends with her husband, Barry, and four friends. “It makes you feel like you’re in the loop, and it’s a wonderful social night out.”

The course, which UCLA employees can enroll in at a 25% discount (available for all Extension offerings), allows Extension students to connect with a film in a way that’s not possible at the local multiplex. Following a screening of “Hotel Rwanda” earlier this month, the audience stood in admiration and applauded when Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life subject of the film, walked on stage for a conversation with moderator Anne Thompson, a veteran film-industry journalist. A recent winner of best feature film award at AFI Fest 2004, “Hotel Rwanda” tells the story of Rusesabagina’s heroic efforts to shelter Tutsi refugees during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

In October, “Stage Beauty” star Billy Crudup spent time on the “Sneak Preview” stage talking to Thompson about the movie.

“He handled personal questions with a lot of grace,” Rivero noted, referring to an awkward moment when someone in the audience asked Crudup about his tabloid-fodder relationship with co-star Claire Danes. That wasn’t exactly the kind of discourse that Thompson had hoped to generate, but it did confirm that she had picked a movie with buzz.

“I’m trying to identify films that are going to be in the Oscar race and also films that give audiences something to talk about,” said Thompson.

Finding high-profile films and guests is the most challenging part of moderating “Sneak Preview,” according to Thompson. “But luckily, ‘Sneak Preview’ is well-established and well-respected, and the studios are all familiar with it and happy to cooperate.”

According to Jane Kagon, director of UCLA Extension’s Entertainment Studies and Performing Art program, “Sneak Preview” benefits from being in the movie capital of the world.

“Nowhere else could you have access to filmmakers, writers and actors of this caliber, eager to share their vision with our students,” Kagon said. “It’s a terrific way to introduce audiences to new artists and films, and to expand their appreciation for the art of filmmaking.”