This week's Project Runway loser was a particularly tragic entry: level-headed, poised to rank higher than eighth place, and committed to a hard-carved personal aesthetic. After the jump, meet the contestant who met an untimely end last night, and hear all about how Michael Kors isn't so enlightening after all.
For many people watching Nurse Jackie last season, Merritt Wever was an unknown actress -- until she started stealing scenes from the show's title character. The New York City native has been on television before, playing Matthew Perry's assistant on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and because of her success on Jackie, Wever's schedule is filling up fast. Just last month, she appeared opposite Annette Bening in an L.A. stage production of The Female of the Species and this weekend, viewers can catch Wever twice -- in Noah Baumbach's Greenberg, which opens in theaters today and Nurse Jackie's second season premiere on Sunday.
Talking to Movieline today, Wever discussed her busy schedule, the most valuable lesson she learned from Edie Falco and the reason it was hard to return to Nurse Jackie for a second season.
· The poster for Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables features something that looks like it should either be a mid-level enemy from Castlevania III or the genesis of an Ed Hardy fashion story. Click for bigger.
· Lionsgate has acquired the rights to the thriller Dibbuk Box. So it's like the first scene of A Serious Man, but feature-length?
· To no one's great surprise, a Final Destination 5 is coming.
· The classic novel A Wrinkle in Time is having a moment right now: Not only was it featured in this week's Lost, but Jeff Stockwell's been hired to adapt it into a feature.
· "I did not like The Hurt Locker," confesses Michael Moore. "It's a lazy way to make a movie, frankly. I could put you on the edge of your seat quite easily, and have you feel the tension for 2 hours." That's how I felt during Canadian Bacon!
Time now for a Friday afternoon palate-cleanser: Hugh Jackman -- new global pitchman for Lipton Iced Tea -- steps, shimmies, spins and slides around a hotel filled with Japanese people. (But the announcer is British. So who's going to see this ad? It's global! Globalish people are.) Did Christopher Walken do it first, and better? Probably. Get over it, grumpypants! There are no new ideas. [Videogum]
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It was another momentous week for the New York City housewives. There were cat fights, brief glimpses of other C-list stars (Dina Lohan) and per usual, the only episode's wisdom was delivered by a housewife's pint-size offspring. That's not to say that the women didn't try to philosophize about their relationships -- the most valiant effort was delivered by Jill Behar about Bethenny: "I really made a deposit in that friendship bank and I feel like she took the money and ran. I feel like she cleaned out our bank account." After the jump, Movieline sifts through rest of wives' sentiments and fundraiser clashes to pinpoint the truest and fakest moments of the night.
Every Friday around this time, Movieline's young receptionist will call into the newsroom, her mousy voice tremulous with awe, announcing the arrival of the Say Whaaaa? Singers. And it's hard to blame her, as few other cultural observers have quite their knack for processing the absurdities and craziness of the prior week's most baffling news. So welcome them as usual, and let's see if we can't sort out some answers in a messiness so profound that you'll find Armond White, Corey Feldman and Sofia Coppola coexisting in the same baffling space. Take it away, fellas.
FlashForward's return after a three-month hiatus yielded its lowest ratings yet for ABC: 6.6 million viewers, down 10% from its last new episode back in December. First Paula Abdul pulls out of Star Search and now this? Sheesh. TV blackouts are having the worst week ever. [THR]
It's no surprise that Floria Sigismondi would end up in the feature film world, as it's one of the only forms of media she hasn't conquered. The 45-year-old is best known for directing music videos for Marilyn Manson, the White Stripes, and Christina Aguilera, but she's also worked in painting, sculpture, and fashion photography. For a woman who's so steeped in artistic expression, what better film directing debut than The Runaways, where Sigismondi can pay tribute to two other sets of artists: Runaways musicians Cherie Currie and Joan Jett and their film portrayers Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart.
The Runaways comes out today, so Sigismondi sat down with Movieline to discuss her career arc, the frightening story she couldn't fit into the film, and her odd identification with Kim Fowley, the Runaways' unscrupulous Svengali.
How did James Cameron achieve the dazzlingly nuanced computerized performances of Avatar? The answer, at least partially, lies in makeup. Where an expensive and labor-intensive system using reflective beads had previously been the industry standard for digitally mapping an actor's emotional landscape, Cameron had determined early on that he'd use paints instead -- offering far more comprehensive coverage, and, he hoped, a huge leap forward for the medium. The only problem was that the paints didn't exist.
Enter makeup department head Tegan Taylor. A veteran Hollywood makeup artist, she came to Avatar with extensive motion-capture experience, having worked with Robert Zemeckis on earlier experiments in the genre like The Polar Express and Beowulf. But what Cameron and the effects artists at Weta Digital were asking for would require some ingenuity.
Project Runway's getting choked up because it loves New York. And because Michael Kors couldn't make it to the taping. No, wait, that's me getting choked up -- and downright peeved -- because we were promised full attendance from our pitcher's mound-colored maven! At any rate: Recall your favorite Carrie Bradshaw narrations and Academy Award-winning performances from Dianne Wiest, because Project Runway's tribute to the Big Apple's neighborhoods is inspired, quintessentially Manhattan, and a little hare-brained.
Just face it, ABC is totally onto something with their live figure skating competition in which professionals shred the ice for the chance to win cash for their favorite charity: themselves. And by adding pop music, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and a voting system for viewers at home....psssshh, who needs the Olympics? If ABC's Thin Ice (which airs tonight and Sunday) is successful, we can surely look forward to the Disney network adding popular votes to other Winter Sports. America's Next Top Luger, anyone?
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Warner Bros. has become the first studio to spell out what's become increasingly obvious in Hollywood: From here out, every WB tentpole, superhero film, and effect-heavy release will be shot in 3D. (The studio is so high on the format that Clash of the Titans was converted to 3D in post-production, though buzz on the transfer is not good.) Obviously, the next studio to follow suit will be Sony Pictures Classics. [Slashfilm]
Yes, you read that figure correctly. Sarah Palin is asking $1 million to $1.5 million per episode of the reality show she is shopping with uber-producer Rob Burnett. And a few networks are considering the offer, even though they could get five Heidi Montag, Audrina Patridge and Lo Bosworth trios for the same price. (Psychic manager not included). After the jump, see which television networks are considering Sarah Palin's price tag on the real Last Frontier.
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No good deed goes unpunished -- especially in India, where Lindsay Lohan will reportedly learn the hard way that you just can't go around branding yourself as the Oskar Schindler of New Delhi. The controversy stems from a visit the actress made to the country last December, where she participated in a documentary about the exploitation of Indian women and children. Which wouldn't have been so bad -- except for the tweets that followed.
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If you've got 30 minutes and the ability to get through the rest of your work day essentially wrecked by heart-rending meet-cute robot romance, then consider hightailing it over to the Web site now hosting Spike Jonze's short film I'm Here. And I do mean "hightail," because from the looks of it, the movie is a limited-edition-viewing situation closely monitored by Jonze's patrons at Absolut Vodka.
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