Do Thor Nerds and Racists Have A Lot in Common, and 6 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today
Also in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: So that's how Burlesque got its Golden Globe nomination... James Cameron gives everyone a Prius... Mel Gibson's crazy (emphasis) comeback gets an actual, official release date... and more ahead.
· Does anyone not like Idris Elba? Well, yes: The people behind Boycott Thor, a website that may or may not be run by the Council of Conservative Citizens, a certified hate group. I know what you're asking: Why are they boycotting Thor, besides the fact that it looks awful? Well: "Marvel has viciously attacked the TEA Party movement, conservatives, and European heritage. Now they have taken it one further, casting a black man as a Norse deity in their new movie Thor. Marvel has now inserted social engineering into European mythology." Sounds totally rational. If being upset about Elba's casting in Thor sounds familiar, that's probably because, as Devin Faraci points out, "a certain segment of the online population that went nuts" when it was announced he would play the traditionally white Heimdall. Elba has yet to comment, which might have more to do with the fact that the Luther star doesn't want to remind people he's in Thor than anything else. [Badass Digest]
· Still scratching your head about the inclusion of Burlesque on the list of this year's Golden Globe nominees? Perhaps this will enlighten you: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association "took a Sony-sponsored trip to Las Vegas to see Cher in concert" before the nominations. J'accuse! Of course there is another explanation: The films that would qualify as "musical/comedies" in 2010 were uniformly pretty bad, leaving the HFPA with precious few options. Sorry, nerds: I loved Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, too, but that wasn't getting nominated -- and in some circles, it might have been viewed as illegitimate a choice as Burlesque. [LAT/Big Picture]
· You get a Prius! You get a Prius! You get a Prius! But not you, key grip. James Cameron and producer Jon Landau have reportedly given the 11 principle cast members from Avatar blue Toyota Prius' this holiday season. Take that, Lexus commercials! [Deadline]
· Your prayers have been answered! Summit Entertainment will begin Mel Gibson's comeback tour on March 23 when The Beaver gets a limited release. It will go wide to more theaters on April 8. [Deadline]
· Sounds like New Year's Eve keeps getting worse. Better, I mean? Sarah Jessica Parker has reportedly been cast in the Garry Marshall superfilm, with Halle Berry and Zac Efron in talks as well. They would join Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank and Jessica Biel. [THR]
· Speaking of casting: The producers of Rock of Ages are looking at Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin and Gwyneth Paltrow for roles in the big-screen adaptation. This has Mamma Mia camp potential, folks. [EW, The Wrap]
· That awesome Jimi Hendrix biopic that Paul Greengrass was going to make with Anthony Mackie? Yeah, that's dead. [Deadline]
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Comments
Burlesque was great! Well worthy of a Golden Globe.
I love how the Council of Conservative Citizens write TEA Party like it's an acronym. What does it stand for? Tilted Extremist A*holes?
Troglodytic Extremist Americans
Actually, it stands for "Taxed Enough Already." (I spend way too much time on Wonkette.)
If only Marvel would have hired the casting director from "The Hobbit" this never would have happened...
New Year's Eve does have an eclectic cast. DeNiro and Efron, together at last.
I'll say this about the Thor casting, Hollywood has never been overly concerned with historical accuracy, so why should they start now? Casting Elba isn't about social engineering, it's about Hollywood realizing that 21st Century America is much more racially diverse than in the past and that they need more diverse casts in order to maximize profits. Kudos for putting Elba in the movie, but Thor still looks sucky.
To make a mythology believable you have to admit the existence of africans, they were here first. The Mormons made the bible real to another half of the world by casting the inhabitants of the western hemisphere as the lost tribes and africans as the sons of Cain.
Did DC fans go nuts when Billy Dee Williams was cast as Harvey Dent in Batman? Don't paint an entire group with the same brush just because of the actions of a few fringe wingnuts. BTW, the trailer for Thor looks AWESOME! If you don't like the genre, don't watch the films.