Michel Gondry has made some of the most indelible music videos of all time for some of the biggest acts of the last two decades, including Radiohead, Björk, Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, Beck and even Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones. So when Movieline caught up with him today to discuss his forthcoming documentary Thorn in the Heart, it seemed a great opportunity to feel him out on the new vanguard of the form: Lady Gaga, whose epic "Telephone" video has swept popular culture with a fury, frenzy and inspiration not seen since the glory days of which Gondry himself was a part. His response -- which swept through genre monoliths from Michael Jackson to Madonna to Marilyn Manson -- was unexpected to say the least.
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Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes have separated, they announced today. An attorney for the couple released this statement: "Kate and Sam are saddened to announce that they separated earlier this year. The split is entirely amicable and is by mutual agreement. Both parties are fully committed to the future joint parenting of their children. hey ask that the media respect the privacy of the family." The two have one child together, a son named Joe Alfie, as well one daughter from Winslet's previous marriage to Jim Threapleton, whom she divorced in 2001. [CBS]
Dreams of being cast in your first U.S. cable series can come true -- if you are a beautiful woman romantically attached to George Clooney at least. Elisabetta Canalis, the Italian actress and TV presenter best known in the states for walking her beau down the red carpet, has been cast in her first U.S. television show. Elisabetta will guest-star in five episodes of TNT's Leverage, opposite lead Timothy Hutton, as a mysterious woman named "The Italian." [People]
Celebrity Apprentice is back, and this time it has a couple of legendary Olympians to make you feel sad. Summer Sanders, Michael Johnson, and more expected reality show participants like Sharon Osbourne, Bret Michaels, and Sinbad line the proceedings. How did the debut episode fare? Julie Miller and I break it down (and have a breakdown) after the jump.
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The trailer is out for Nicole Holofcener's guilty comedy Please Give, and for the most part it really feels like film itself: There's a lot of sharply observed, awkward funnytimes involving Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, and Rebecca Hall, and then it kind of just ends! Alas, there is one notable scene the trailer simply couldn't include, and that's the delightful opening montage of breasts being placed in a mammography tray, set to "No Shoes" by The Roches. Trust Movieline when we tell you that you have not seen this many bare boobs in a movie in the last decade. (Hey, Sony Pictures Classics, let's put that on the poster!)
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In a swank Santa Monica hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean this weekend, Miley Cyrus spoke to reporters about her upcoming film, The Last Song -- the latest romantic weepie from best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, and the first for which he also wrote the screenplay. Also a first for Sparks: Song was conceived and specifically written for Cyrus, who was looking for a project to help her break out of Hannah Montanadom and graduate to more mature roles.
"It's interesting to leave my security blanket behind. It was such a huge deal in so many kids' lives," Cyrus said about the upcoming Hannah Montana finale. But as for revisiting the character in another film, she made it clear where she stands. "[Hannah's] wig is," she whistles, "out. One will be in a museum, and one will be... burned, or something."
I admitted to having developed a guilty pleasure addiction to her Twitter feed, and went into Miley tweet withdrawal when she abruptly pulled the plug in October with a message reading, "FYI Liam doesn't have a Twitter and he wants ME to delete mine with good reason." (Liam, or course, refers to her Song co-star and now boyfriend, handsome Aussie discovery Liam Hemsworth.) So what, exactly, was that reason?
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Daytime soap operas may be on their way out as a tenable format, but if they're going down, they're going to go down swinging. The almost 54-year-old soap As the World Turns will shut its doors this fall, but before then, producers have taken a page from the James Franco playbook by reenlisting Julianne Moore, who got her start on the show playing twins Frannie and Sabina Hughes. Still, now that the first still has been released from her one-day return to the series, we can't help but wonder where all the Franco-esque flourishes and double meanings are. Don't be afraid to channel your inner Wiseau, Julianne. A Washington Post op-ed could be yours for the taking! [Soap Opera Digest]
The NY Times weighed in today with its assessment of the utter shitshow that is Variety, assaying a nicely observed survey from a few thousand feet above what appear to be the lawsuit-addled, staff-hemorrhaging, cash-poor trade institution's death throes. Sure, there are a few generally insane disclosures here, like the part about editor Timothy Gray removing that infamous Iron Cross pan "after a lawyer for the director and producer, Joshua Newton, objected, but reposted it after viewing the film and deciding to 'stand by the review as it was written.'" But for my money, let's go directly into the newsroom for a profile in abject terror from an anonymous staffer.
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The Amy Poehler vehicle Parks and Recreation has really come into its own this season, and wouldn't you know, that's when all the fiddling begins. Rob Lowe and Adam Scott were both added to the sitcom's cast in recent weeks, spooking fans who wondered if that might mean less screen time for the current regulars. Now, the LAT has confirmed that train of thought: Paul Schneider will be exiting the show.
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Production is about to begin on the Ryan Reynolds superhero movie Green Lantern, and director Martin Campbell has filled the last two important roles in the cast. New Zealand filmmaker/actor Taika Waititi (Eagle vs. Shark, Boy) will play the hero's best friend, while fellow Kiwi Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors, Attack of the Clones) has been cast as the pivotal, ring-bestowing Abin Sur. All this, and it's not even shooting in New Zealand or anything! (The tax break-granting New Orleans has the honors.) [THR]
This just in from a horror panel over the weekend at SXSW: Against all odds, the MPAA ratings board has upheld the stomach-turning integrity of Ti West, director of the upcoming The Innkeepers: "In figuring out how he was going to get a prosthetic member discharging pus past MPAA, he recalled shooting three different scenes only to see the most graphic version slip right by. 'I want to hate them, but I don't,' said [West]." That does it: I never want to hear the "automatic-R for smoking" argument ever again. [THR]
Since last week narrowly missed Movieline's quota for outlandish critic-related scandal, please find below yet another rousing bit of gossip involving a publicist, a "respected New York film critic," and the cryptic, curious case of a review that borrowed a little too liberally from another writer. Which is about all anyone knows -- or all anyone's telling, anyway.
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· Will Ferrell's Gary Sanchez Prods. has cast two Saturday Night Live alums in its untitled Comedy Central sitcom. Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz join Jon Heder in the comedy, which stars Heder as a man chasing big dreams -- even as he loses his job and moves back in with his parents. Sanz and Parnell will play his friends -- one an ex-convict and the other a burned-out teacher. The three pals try to save their hometown but ultimately fail in each episode. Production on the multi-cam series, which is being written by Lew Morton (Walk Hard) is set to begin on March 31. [Variety]
NBC eyes Jack Bauer, ABC hires two Proposal stars, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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As the lead in HBO's megabudget miniseries The Pacific, Badge Dale finally gets to rise to the front of an ensemble. The 31-year-old actor first appeared as the ill-fated Simon in the 1990 adaptation of Lord of the Flies, then resumed acting as an adult, landing a high-profile arc as Jack Bauer's partner during the third season of 24. Since then, he's been busy with a multitude of projects: In addition to his role as Robert Leckie in The Pacific, he'll appear in Robert Redford's The Conspirator and topline AMC's next drama, Rubicon.
Dale called Movieline last week to chat about all three upcoming projects, but before we began our conversation, I had a little bit of bad news for him.
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If you ever thought theater chains in the States were extortionate, check out what's happening in Denmark, where Copenhagen moviegoers are paying double the standard 10-euro ticket price to watch Avatar in 3D. That amounts to about $28 -- not a whole lot more than what they're paying in Slovakia (eight euros) or around the rest of Europe on average (seven euros). I mean, Land of the Lost probably could have shattered global box-office records at those prices. And people still line up to pay them! Brutal. [Deadline]
