This just in to ML HQ: "The Weinstein Company announced today that The King's Speech PG-13, the family-friendly version of its Academy Award-winning historical drama about King George VI, will open on 1,000 screens nationwide on April 1, and will be the only version available in theaters. [...] 'We are thankful to the MPAA for their wisdom and swift action in approving the release of The King's Speech PG-13 release. The action enables those to whom it speaks most directly -- young people who are troubled by stuttering, bullying and similar trials -- to see it.'" And there goes Sucker Punch's second weekend, no doubt. [TWC]
Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron recently took a trip together to South America, meaning the True Lies brain trust was in the same place at the same time. You know what that means? Sequel talk! Either that or just some good ol' alone time between two of Hollywood's biggest titans and the leader of the Kayapo tribe.
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The strange tale of Passion Play will come to an end in May, when the Megan Fox-led film will be released both theatrically and on DVD (May 6 and 31 respectively). Holy short window, Batman! Just because the release of this long-in-development Toronto International Film Festival disappointment is being tossed off, though, doesn't preclude Passion Play from getting a poster -- one that even recalls Black Swan. Hey, why not?
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As director Zack Snyder demonstrates in this week's Sucker Punch, there are few filmic thrills as satisfying as watching women band together to turn gender assumptions upside down. But Emily Browning's Babydoll wasn't the first to grab a weapon and lead her lady friends into the fray; plenty of women have cleared the path for the Sucker Punch gang where sisterly solidarity is concerned, even if some of them used sex appeal or caustic wit instead of samurai swords or machine guns to deal death blows to the enemy. Join Movieline in revisiting the varied history of sisterhood in cinema as we catalogue over a dozen case studies of fierce femmes fatale doing it for themselves on film.
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Rule No. 1 of the Internet: If you say something in front of a camera at any point in your life, the chances are good someone will post it online. Eventually. Even if it's on a VHS tape that needs the tracking adjusted. Back in 1992 -- while recording voice over for The Pagemaster, of course -- Whoopi Goldberg recounted the tale of how she smoked pot before winning the Best Supporting Actress award at the 1991 Oscars. Take it away, Whoop!
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Also in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: A familiar face joins Wes Anderson on his next film... Josh Radnor gets an education... Game Change finds its John McCain... and more ahead.
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Long before we were launching investigations into whether or not a mediocre romantic comedy showed Jake Gyllenhaal's penis, the British classic Don't Look Now unleashed a cinematic sex mystery which puzzled film fans for years. Did Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland actually have sex in the film's affecting, explicit and totally groundbreaking love scene?
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To top off this day of Elizabeth Taylor commemoration, here are four final videos where Hollywood's finest stepped out to honor the brazen screen star. The toasting celebs range from Taylor's costars and close personal friends to the class of modern stars she inspired. Yes, some moonwalking sneaks into the fun.
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The worst-kept secret (or most obvious development, however you want to read it) of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival was confirmed today: Terrence Malick's long-delayed The Tree of Life will debut on the Croisette in May. The film joins Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris as the only selections officially set for this year's fest, though its status in or out of competition remains unknown. Tree of Life opens Stateside in limited release on May 27. [Thompson on Hollywood]
A dark cultural day darkens still with the news that Richard Leacock, the prolific filmmaker who, with fellow directors D.A. Pennebaker, Robert Drew and the Maysles Brothers helped pioneer the nonfiction format known as "direct cinema," has died at 89. A sampling of his influential work -- and a few valuable life lessons for the up-and-comers out there -- after the jump.
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The news of the Elizabeth Taylor's death is difficult for any film fan -- even if her New York Times obituary was so old that its writer died in 2005. Now that you've read about her life, her great over-the-top performances, and best cameos, let's give the mic to Twitter and allow five celebrities (who often know better than us) to highlight Ms. Taylor's unmistakable presence. Take it away!
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That didn't take very long at all. Fans of Japanese manga Akira are already up in arms about the report that Warner Bros. is looking to cast the film from a list of Caucasian actors that includes Robert Pattinson, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Fassbender. Who could have seen this one coming?
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If Elizabeth Taylor, who died Wednesday at age 79, was both a great star and a wonderful actress, she was also the frequent object of gentle, or not so gentle, ridicule. She is survived not just by her children and friends, but by lots of old jokes about her vast collection of husbands and diamonds, by the Saturday Night Live parody of her super-soft-focus "White Diamonds" perfume ad, by the legacy of being one-half of a famous couple (twice!) that even the New York Times casually refers to as Dickenliz. How does an actress hang onto her own identity, with so many people appropriating bits of it for their own aims?
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Perhaps this news can tide you over until that imaginary Stefon movie gets the green light: Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson has been cast in Party Starters, a "high concept comedy" from producer Lorne Michaels. Starters isn't based on any of Thompson's SNL characters, however, which begs the question: What up with that? (Nailed it.) [Deadline]
On Monday, somewhat incredibly, The Hobbit finally started filming. Amid the seemingly weekly reports of turmoil and lawsuits surrounding the two-part Hobbit film over the last few years, it's easy to forget just how long this movie has been in production -- and the minor miracle it is that not only is The Hobbit being filmed, but Peter Jackson is behind the camera. So let's take a quick look back -- a "Dummy's Guide," if you will -- at the timeline associated with the long, torturous journey that finally got us to where we are today.
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