When David Slade was announced as the director of the third Twilight film, Eclipse, it seemed like a risky proposition: he had only made two other movies (Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night), and both indicated a sensibility that might be too aggressive for the romantic Stephenie Meyer series. Perhaps that's exactly what the franchise needed, though, as Slade's turned in a well-received installment that's a good deal more propulsive than Chris Weitz's sluggish New Moon.
The day after Eclipse's Los Angeles premiere, Slade was still riding high from the audience's reaction as he talked to Movieline about the tough shoot, his thoughts on the controversial Breaking Dawn, and the follow-up he definitely isn't making next.
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Of all the reasons to love Dame Helen Mirren -- her taste, class, grace, skill, discipline, fearlessness and ageless eroticism among them -- 2010 might be the year we get the best look at her versatility. Having already given us the outsized wife of Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station, the Oscar-winner arrives in theaters this week as the flat-accented, fur-clutching, no-nonsense brothel madam Grace Bontempo of Love Ranch. October will bring the action-packed intrigue Red, featuring Mirren's turn as a former CIA spook eluding an assassination rap alongside Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich. The jury's out on the latter film, but the long-delayed Love Ranch (directed by Mirren's husband Taylor Hackford) indeed provides a worthwhile study of grande dame by way of Nevada desert.
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This week sees the opening of Love Ranch, the long-delayed, fact-based retelling of the life and times of the first legal brothel in the United States. And this year sees the 30th anniversary of Caligula, a movie whose A-list depravity first arrived on these shores in February 1980. What do they have in common? Dame Helen Mirren, who stars as Love Ranch's willful, no-nonsense madam Grace Bontempo and appeared as Caesonia -- the courtesan who bears the mad emperor's (played by Malcolm McDowell) child -- in the notorious, massively expensive film whose power struggles involved everyone from Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione to screenwriter Gore Vidal to top-shelf English talent like McDowell, Mirren, John Gielgud and Peter O'Toole. Reached today to discuss Love Ranch, the Oscar-winner indulged Moveline's flashback.
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In many ways, Melissa Rosenberg has the Twilight franchise's most difficult job: as screenwriter, she has to satisfy not just the original novelist Stephenie Meyer, but the actors (including Kristen Stewart, who famously won't say a line if she doesn't believe it), directors, and fans, too. The imminent Eclipse is her third crack at the series, and up next is the very controversial Breaking Dawn, which Rosenberg is busily splitting into two movies.
In a candid interview with Movieline, Rosenberg discussed fan frustrations, her thoughts on Summit's director selections, and just how she pictures that Breaking Dawn split.
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The gossip headlines may ask, "Is Colin Egglesfield dating Kate Hudson?" but rest assured, it's only for the movies. The 37-year-old Egglesfield has spent spring canoodling with Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin as the male lead in the in-production romcom Something Borrowed, a high-profile boost after the actor was bounced from the struggling revamp of Melrose Place. Egglesfield takes it all in stride, however; it's just another curveball in a career that's been full of them, zig-zagging from his pre-med background to high-fashion modeling to daytime soaps.
How did it happen? He told Movieline.
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"I hope if anything that's we've made the most visceral war documentary that one can see, and the most honest." Those were Tim Hetherington's words in January, a week before his and Sebastian Junger's Restrepo won the Sundance Film Festival's U.S. documentary jury prize. The film opens theatrically today to even more acclaim. For the occasion, Movieline is republishing Seth Abramovitch's in-depth interview with the filmmakers from Park City.
Twenty-four hours after catching Restrepo at Sundance -- a war documentary that offers an unprecedented glimpse at a full year's deployment in the most dangerous region of Afghanistan -- and I still can't shake its startling, enthralling, and frequently devastating images. If anything, they've only embedded themselves deeper. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to speak at length with the two filmmakers, veteran war correspondents both, responsible for bringing Restrepo to the screen: Sebastian Junger, best-selling author of The Perfect Storm, and award-winning photojournalist, Tim Hetherington. Our conversation follows.
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It only took 25 years after their first, small collaboration, but director Taylor Hackford finally found the right film to make with his wife Helen Mirren. And to think: Love Ranch, which opens next week, almost didn't open at all. The fictionalized story of the first legal brothel in the U.S. -- and the crimes of passion (and otherwise) that helped sink it in 1977 -- was in distribution limbo for most of 2009, ultimately breaking out earlier this year. Along with it come Mirren as a no-nonsense Nevada madam and Joe Pesci (in his first starring role in more than a decade) as her bare-knuckled pimpresario husband.
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Welcome back to Moment of Truth, Movieline's spotlight on the best in nonfiction cinema. Today we hear from director Oliver Stone about his new documentary South of the Border, which opens tomorrow in limited release.
For all the political heat Oliver Stone has withstood (and will continue to withstand) over the years, no one can really call the guy a slacker. Take his latest doc South of the Border, which Stone filmed and edited during the course of making two narrative features and a 10-hour documentary he's still working on. The concept was simple enough, even while the implications were more than a little complex: Introduce the leaders of seven Latin American countries to U.S. and European audiences who, for too long, have received the wrong idea about them from the media. Does it work? That's up to you.
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Joan Rivers probably works harder in 2010 than every standup comic who ever called her groundbreaking. In the new documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, the legend repeatedly caws that she is no artifact. She's riding creaky elevators down New York cellars and wisecracking to crowds. She's on TV. She's selling a stage show overseas. And she's never satisfied with her 50 years of performing -- there's too much money to be made, too many opportunities to pounce upon, and too many disappointments to overcome. She is work. But as the film proves, she is also a scratchy sage who can articulate the thrills and pitfalls of ambition better than any of her colleagues in the mic-brandishing game.
Movieline phoned the 77-year-old comic great yesterday to discuss the A Piece of Work, the flattery of Johnny Carson's resentment, her favorite comedians, and the failures (including the suicide of her husband Edgar) she refuses to forget.
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When it came time for Mark and Jay Duplass to choose a leading man for Cyrus, their first studio film, it had to be John C. Reilly. The 45-year-old actor has spent much of his career taking what's on the page and embroidering it with improvisation and inspiration, and that's the exact approach the Duplasses have spent their last few movies refining. Whether he's riffing wildly in Talladega Nights or taking a much more controlled approach (as he does in Lynne Ramsay's upcoming We Need To Talk About Kevin), Reilly has the ability to make even the craziest lines and behavior of his characters seem utterly natural.
Last week, I met up with him at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles to talk about Cyrus, tease Kevin, and discuss his ever-shifting attitude toward his own work.
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The new comedy Cyrus may be low-budget by most studio standards, but for directors Mark and Jay Duplass, it was a whole new world. The brothers made their name in mumblecore until Fox Searchlight came calling, but with more money, more crew members, and actors like Jonah Hill, John C. Reilly, and Marisa Tomei involved, the Duplasses had to work just as hard to preserve the shaggy, improvisatory aesthetic that got them the job in the first place.
In a candid interview with Movieline, Mark and Jay opened up about what their crew thought of them, why they're unlikely to direct someone else's script, and what's in store for their next movie, the stoner comedy Jeff Who Lives at Home.
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Ever since Colin Hanks's first major film role in the 2002 teen comedy Orange County, he's been aware of his character niche: a likable, wry, non-threatening everyman. While he's played that type several times and bears a strong resemblance to his two-time Academy Award-winning father, Hanks still displays a balance of comic timing and magnetic sanity he can call his own. Now, on Fox's flashy new cop dramedy The Good Guys, we watch as the 32-year-old actor amps his appeal to an explosive high as Det. Jack Bailey, who must survive duty alongside his Starsky and Hutch caricature of a partner, Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford).
Hanks phoned Movieline last week to discuss what drew him to The Good Guys, his intriguing Mad Men stint, and the reason Turner and Hooch recently made him laugh.
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Historically, pop culture is full of vampires who are calm, collected, and more than a little mysterious, which is what makes Deborah Ann Woll on True Blood such a hoot. Her fledgling vamp Jessica is none of those things -- instead, she's equal parts giddy and grossed-out (and blessedly free of those centuries' worth of wisdom that make most other vampires such a drag). Heading into season three, Woll's just as much of a delight as ever, and even feature film auteurs like Paul Thomas Anderson are beginning to take note.
What's in store for Jessica this year -- and for Woll herself? Movieline talked to the 25-year-old actress about the third season's arc and her upcoming projects.
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Actor James LeGros has a long history of independent film work -- in fact, in the early 90's, he was regarded as something of an indie version of Brad Pitt (who he reportedly parodied in Tom DiCillo's Living in Oblivion). Now 48, the actor is probably best known to mainstream audiences for TV roles in shows like Ally McBeal and Mercy, but he's still an independent at heart, as proven by his starring role in the LA Film Festival entry Bitter Feast, which premiered at the fest this weekend. The Joe Maggio-directed, Larry Fessenden-produced horror film wring dark laughs from LeGros's celebrity chef, who gets the ultimate, torturous revenge on a blithe food critic (Joshua Leonard).
LeGros is currently in New York for Todd Haynes's HBO miniseries take on Mildred Pierce, but he rang up Movieline to talk about Bitter Feast, his relationship with Haynes, and the state of independent film today.
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If you're a young actor in Hollywood, there's no hotter role up for grabs right now than the lead in Marc Webb's reboot of Spider-Man. Casting has been underway for months -- and two more names were recently added to the shortlist -- but one constant has been 17-year-old Josh Hutcherson, who's been rumored to be a heavy favorite. When I talked to Hutcherson earlier today for his role in The Kids Are All Right, I tried to find out how he was dealing with all the added scrutiny.
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