Last night at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, television talent and executives from Showtime, CBS and CW circulated to promote their programs at the latest buffet-fueled TCA event. Amidst the botanical gardens, disillusioned waiters and network emblazoned pastries, we found Edie Falco, who graciously agreed to play My Favorite Scene with Movieline.
more »
As a photographer, Bruce Weber's impact has been unmistakable: He's shot covers for every top magazine, ushered in a new era of mainstream homoerotica with his Abercombie & Fitch campaigns, and immortalized in portraits some of the biggest stars and supermodels of the last few decades. As a filmmaker, though, his work has been harder to appreciate simply because it's less available, a problem the Sundance Channel hopes to rectify this month by bringing eight of his films to television for the first time ever (including his Oscar-nominated Chet Baker documentary, Let's Get Lost).
I spoke to the legendary photographer and raconteur for Movieline, and discussed his films, his famous subjects, and photography in the age of digital narcissism.
After impressing in 2007's Bridge to Terabithia, Josh Hutcherson has navigated his teen years with aplomb. He can currently be seen in the ensemble drama Fragments (formerly Winged Creatures) opposite Dakota Fanning and Forest Whitaker, and he'll star in Paul Weitz's The Vampire's Assistant in October, but he's got two big roles ready for 2010: playing son to Annette Bening and Julianne Moore in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids are All Right, and fighting off the Chinese in the remake of Red Dawn. We talked to the sixteen-year-old Hutcherson about cool names, the notorious Oakwood apartments, and his old co-star Kristen Stewart.
more »
Last weekend, Paul W.S. Anderson was at Comic-Con promoting the upcoming Pandorum -- a claustrophobic space horror he produced that stars Ben Foster. We took the opportunity to pick the AVP: Alien vs. Predator director's brain about Predators, the Robert Rodriguez-produced franchise reboot set for a July 2010 release. He told us that AVP would be his last venture into the realm of the rastaterrestrial mercenaries, but advised Rodriguez et al. to start stocking up now on KY Jelly: the sexual lubricant 9 out of 10 Predators prefer!
With studios tightening their belts and mini-majors dropping like flies, the days of festival feeding frenzies are long over. But then there's always the exceptions to the rule. As Fox Searchlight's Adam gets nudged into the big, bad world today -- gradually, of course, on four screens, typical of the measured strategy that turned Little Miss Sunshine and Juno into massive sleeper hits -- we asked director Max Mayer, an East Coast theater veteran, to recount the night his microbudget romance was scooped up at Sundance.
more »
For four seasons, America welcomed veteran star of stage and screen Peter Gallagher into its living rooms, as The O.C.'s Sandy Cohen -- the most righteous (in both the literal and dude-slang senses) surfer/lawyer/parental unit on TV. Gallagher plays a similar kind of father to Rose Byrne -- perhaps more deeply faulted, but just as passionate and well-meaning -- in Adam, the disarmingly charming Asperger's romance opening in theaters tomorrow. He talked to Movieline about his O.C. surrogate family, his current little-Sundance-movie-that-could, and another he starred in two decades earlier, from an unknown filmmaker named Steven Soderbergh:
more »
The gang behind Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock gathered last night for the film's New York premiere, a tented affair beneath hot, unforgiving monsoon skies. I guess it was better than the last Lee event I attended here -- the Lust, Caution debut where the pushy Hong Kong press called me white trash (true story!) -- but Woodstock's much-improved vibes were bound to trump all red-carpet discontent. Especially for Lee and his longtime creative partner (and Focus Features benefactor) James Schamus, who both offered insights on how to best channel the free, permissive '60s spirit on film -- starting with an acid trip.
more »
A little concerned about the surplus of new villains in Iron Man 2? Don't worry -- as the filmmakers told Movieline at Comic-Con, they are, too. Still, they argued, it was essential to introduce those new characters to fix the one niggling issue they had with their original film: the villain.
"It's hard to believe that ever played on the Disney Channel," said Tim Burton, looking a little shellshocked today at the Museum of Modern Art. The museum had just screened part of his long-lost short film Hansel and Gretel, a mad hallucination of neon fluids, fire, vomiting windows and a witch wielding candy-striped nunchucks and weaponized cookie cutters. It was the first time an audience had seen it since 1983, when the short debuted on cable. "I think they showed it once at 3 a.m. on Halloween night."
Of course, that was well before Tim Burton was, you know, Tim Burton.
With just days to go before Judd Apatow cuts the cord on Funny People -- his third, most thematically ambitious film -- Hollywood's reigning comedy mastermind sat with us this morning for an in-depth discussion that touched upon his childhood, his career, and his philosophies on what makes good movies work.
more »
Exhausted the classic canon? Fed up with the current cinema of remakes, reboots and reimaginings? This week The Cold Case talks to Vera Farmiga, exhuming a recent, underappreciated gem by one of America's most overlooked acting talents.
Having Orphan in multiplexes is a treat for fans of the brilliant Vera Farmiga, who usually have to track her work down on the festival circuit or await its DVD release. The most notable exception, of course, was 2006's The Departed, in which she seemingly appeared out of nowhere to hold the screen with Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. But even after that Best Picture Oscar winner, Farmiga's films, from her 2004 breakthrough Down To The Bone onwards, remain remarkably underseen.
If Comic-Con has a geek goddess, it's surely Kristen Bell. The actress is a regular fixture at the Con, and her resume nails every niche: a cherished cult TV show (Veronica Mars), a stint as a superheroine (Heroes), a videogame voiceover (Assassin's Creed)...hell, the women even donned Princess Leia's slave bikini for Fanboys. Bell was at this year's Comic-Con promoting the voice she contributed to Astro Boy, but beyond that she's poised for mainstream success, with a slew of big comedies (including the Vince Vaughn-Jon Favreau reunion Couples Retreat) on the way.
Bell took the time to talk to Movieline about her Con dominance in a wide-ranging interview that also touched on Veronica Mars, her stint on Party Down, and her excitement over campy auteur Tommy Wiseau.
Scarlett Johansson's path to playing Black Widow in Iron Man 2 had one very public obstacle -- Emily Blunt was cast in the role first, then had to drop out due to scheduling issues -- but as Johansson told me at Comic-Con, there were several other cinematic superheroines she'd previously discussed playing with Marvel.
more »
Though his character on Friday Night Lights made it out of high school a while back, Scott Porter's still got a little ways to go. In a few weeks, he'll be seen as a complicated underclassman opposite Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka in Bandslam, but next year, he'll play closer to his age as Channing Tatum's foil in Lasse Hallström's romantic drama Dear John. On the verge of a milestone birthday, I spoke to the up-and-coming actor about age, Austin, and auditioning against his old castmates.
more »
Now that the Taylor Lautner-related squealing has subsided at Comic-Con (sorry, Robert Pattinson -- your artfully mussed hair is in danger of being eclipsed by a 17-year-old's ten-pack), I think it's safe for me to present you with "My Favorite Scene: Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart Edition!" What movie moments did the two Twilight stars tell Movieline they loved?
FILM NEWS 