Alice in Wonderland Panel: Johnny Depp's Surprise Appearance
Tim Burton had one last trick up his sleeve at the end of the Alice in Wonderland presentation: the Mad Hatter Himself, Johnny Depp. More photos after the jump -- full report later today.
Comic-Con Couture: The Queen of Hearts
Fashion Week? Feh. Milan? Meh. More than any other cultural gathering, Comic-Con is responsible for those trickle-down fashions you'll be rifling through later this year on racks at Forever 21. But we at Movieline want to move beyond the obvious Alice apron dresses and Wolf Man leather jackets, and sniff out those edgier, chic-er, and just generally more far-out looks to catch our eye at this year's Con. Geek is the new black.
We begin with the Queen of Hearts. She's after the jump.
New Moon Cultists Storm the Barricades Early at Comic-Con
As noted here yesterday, Movieline's fearless Seth Abramovitch and Kyle Buchanan are en route to San Diego for this year's Comic-Con. But guess who beat them (and pretty much everyone else, apparently) to the geek confab?
Jennifer's Body to Feast First at Toronto Film Festival
Jennifer's Body will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, organizers announced this morning, also laying out the rest of the selections in the fest's Midnight Madness and Documentary sections. Highlights after the jump.
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Leelee Sobieski on Eyes Wide Shut: 'Even As a Little Kid, I Could Feel It'
We continue our celebration of the 10th anniversary of Eyes Wide Shut with these recollections from another cast member: Leelee Sobieski was only 13 when Stanley Kubrick cast her as the daughter of creepy costume shop owner Mr. Milich, who offers up her sexual services to Tom Cruise's Dr. Harford in a disturbing sequence that bore all the hallmarks of the Kubrick rubric. At the Public Enemies premiere, we asked Sobieski to reminisce about the experience. Battling to be heard over the screams of fans greeting the arrival of Johnny Depp, the actress recalled the director as being the most "open I've ever worked with ... even as a little kid, I could feel it."
The video is after the jump.
Charles Darwin Biopic to Open Toronto '09
Organizers at the Toronto International Film Festival this morning announced almost two dozen new selections for 2009, including the opening-night film Creation. The film, featuring Paul Bettany as the troubled Charles Darwin and Jennifer Connelly as his God-fearing wife, is the first non-Canadian title in years to open the fest; it joins Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!, Ricky Gervais's The Invention of Lying and Neil Jordan's Ondine among this year's higher-profile selections; more films will be announced as the festival's Sept. 10 opening day approaches. [indieWIRE]
Openly Gay Director Todd Holland Advises Young Hollywood To Remain Proudly Closeted
If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area this week, you can catch Outfest, one of the largest gay, lesbian and transBono'd film festivals in the country. In addition to a strong lineup of feature films and shorts offering a welcome, dildo-free alternative to the exploits of Brüno and friends, this year's fest hosts the Strand Releasing 20th anniversary program, as well as a variety of panels -- there's still tickets available for God Only Knows: A Look at 'Big Love' and A Li'l Bit of 'Glee,' for any polygamist showtune-lovers among you. (Insert Seven Brides for One Brother joke here.)
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Stoning, Jamaican Odyssey Among Big LAFF Winners
The Los Angeles Film Festival wound down Sunday with the requisite awards news, highlighted by the Caribbean cruise odyssey Wah Do Dem (What They Do)'s selection as the year's Best Narrative Feature. The brutal, ripped-from-the-headlines Iranian drama The Stoning of Soraya M. (left) claimed the fest's Audience Award for narrative feature. The documentary jury chose the immigration saga Those Who Remain as the festival's best non-fiction feature, while the audience went with Jeffrey Levy-Hinte's nifty '70s-era concert-film revival Soul Power in the same category.
Both Wah Do Dem and Those Who Remain go away with $50,000 cash from chief sponsor Target, which will easily keep the filmmakers in shower curtains and Cherokee dress shirts for the rest of their natural lives. Congrats to all, and read on for a complete list of this year's winners.
Stephen Dorff Tells Movieline Sofia Coppola's Somewhere is 'Going To Be Really Special'
Our Public Enemies premiere coverage continues with this short interview with Stephen Dorff, who's currently shooting Somewhere -- a Sofia Coppola film that also boasts a Fanning, a Jackass and a Wolf Man among its eclectic cast. Dorff is clearly invigorated by the plum role, described by Variety as "an aging bad boy actor who comes face-to-face with his 11-year-old daughter."
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EXCLUSIVE: Shawn Hatosy On Playing Good Lieutenant to Nic Cage's Bad Lieutenant In Herzog Redo
The last of the John Turturro headshots and trampled Bad Boys 2 DVD cases had barely been swept away before Westwood Village played host to another red carpet event of epic proportions: LAFF's Centerpiece Gala screening and the L.A. premiere of Michael Mann's period gangster drama, Public Enemies.
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The Bittersweet Last Beekeeper
The Last Beekeeper (LAFF screenings tomorrow and Thursday) is a documentary tribute to an ancient profession -- one subject calls it the "second oldest" -- rapidly going extinct. Clocking in at a lean 66 minutes, Jeremy Simmons's film profiles three apiarists struggling mightily to keep their businesses afloat. In today's market, that requires loading up their bees onto 18-wheelers and making the long trek to California for the annual almond crop pollination. (There's just no more money in honey, hunny.) But the journey is a devastating one, as the mysterious colony collapse disorder or CCD -- an HIV-like bee pandemic with no known cause or cure, that's claimed 35% drops in North American honeybee populations last year alone -- has been wiping out thousands of their flock a time.
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This Weekend in NYC: Asian Film Festival Takes the Crazy Reins
Let's say that some minor logistical constraints -- like, oh, living 3,000 miles from California -- will keep you from attending the opening weekend of the Los Angeles Film Festival. Fair enough. You'll be missed, but you don't have to feel alone: The New York Asian Film Festival also launches today, bringing a boatload of rare treats, temptations and otherworldly bafflements to a city in need. True, you won't see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen bowing here. But you can have a first look at Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl -- among other treats noted after the jump.
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Movieline Hits the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival
After an all-too-brief stay at CineVegas, Movieline is headed a little closer to home for its next festivalgoing jaunt. Or maybe a lot closer -- as in Westwood, where we'll be on hand for this year's Los Angeles Film Festival. Opening tonight with the world premiere of the Ryan Reynolds-in-tights indie dramedy Paper Man, winding through a mildly high-profile Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen event, and concluding June 28 with a gala screening of animation legend Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo (with numerous other screenings, panels and events in between), there seems to be something for everyone. And plenty to keep us busy.
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CineVegas in Black and White
Like any great Sin City institution, the CineVegas Film Festival augments its visitors' experiences with irrepressible glitz, spectacle, leisure and color. Still, the latter quality can actually be kind of overrated around here, as I discovered over the last few days of observing the festival environs a little more minimally. The stars, showgirls and style are still there, but reduced to black and white, is Las Vegas really the same city? Maybe, maybe not. Judge for yourself with the photo album after the jump.
