You read the tea leaves, you absorbed our suggestions, but it seems like Hunger Games director Gary Ross may have found his Katniss Everdeen in recent Academy Award-nominee Jennifer Lawrence. Deadline is reporting that Lawrence has emerged as the front runner for the underfed lead role of the dystopian film franchise, leaping ahead of other contenders like True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld, Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin and Sucker Punch's Emily Browning. Talks are reportedly set to begin next week, but take this casting news with a grain of salt, though: remember when we all thought Jamie Bell had Spider-Man all locked up? [Deadline]
The much-maligned Battle: Los Angeles won the fight for audience money if not critics' love on Friday, coming in a strong number one. Lizardy Johnny Depp took second place while the sexy villagers who sex of Red Riding Hood came in at number three. And poor, poor Mars Needs Moms blew up at the launch pad, debuting at a distant fifth place. Your weekend receipts are here.
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SXSW Film attendees sat star-struck in the aisles, angling to get a look at Jake Gyllenhaal in the flesh -- and that was before his latest vehicle, Source Code, premiered as the opening night headliner. As in the film, which focuses on Gyllenhaal in various states of confusion as an war veteran recruited to re-live the same eight minutes in time in hopes of averting a terrorist attack, Thursday night's screening was all about Jake -- and that could very bode well for Summit as they look to open strong next month.
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Let us herewith call an end to a week when you couldn't help but feel under attack -- from the sky, from the ground, from the sea... oh, from the sea. What's more to say that Movieline's old standby Week in Review can't say any better? Drop by in the days ahead for the fine binary-code stylings of weekend editor Dixon Gaines and all of our coverage from SXSW. Have a great weekend!
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· The amiable Conan O'Brien's more sinister side will be unleashed in the new documentary Conan O'Brien Can't Stop. That's fine, except -- what's with the title? "Can't Stop" sounds like a two-hour stand-up special by Richard Pryor or Sam Kinison or The Amazing Johnathan. Oh, well. It's better than Coco Before Cable Channel, I suppose. More of "The Last Word" after the jump. [PopEater]
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No classic film's milestone anniversaries are safe from the reissue spotlight these days, hence the 35th anniversary restoration of Taxi Driver that debuted Thursday night in New York. But at least Sony made it count, reuniting director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader for their first joint appearance on the film's behalf since it won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival three and a half decades ago.
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Despite the fact that by all accounts, Baz Luhrmann is likely well into pre-production on The Great Gatsby -- which will likely be shot in Australia, and in 3-D, and feature Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan in starring roles -- the elusive director refused to admit anything at a dinner for Geoffrey Rush in Brooklyn on Thursday night. "I'm not doing Gatsby right now for this reason," he told Vulture when asked why he was shooting Gatsby in Australia when his "team" was mostly located in New York. "Because despite what might be out there, I have made no comment about anything. So until I say it, it's not said, you know." Not really.
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It wasn't just Red Riding Hood that got dragged over the coals by the critical mass this week -- fellow Friday release Battle: Los Angeles is apparently pretty bad, too. As Movieline's own Michelle Orange wrote, Battle: Los Angeles is such a slave to the shaky cam aesthetic that it may as well have been shot by her iPhone-using mother. Ouch. Though considering the all-time pan Roger Ebert wrote for Battle, perhaps Apple-based cinematography and wooden characters are only the beginning. Ahead, the nine most blistering sentences in Ebert's half-star review.
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Yes, Sarah Palin has heard the big Hollywood news that some "gal" named Julianne Moore will play her in HBO's upcoming movie Game Change, but that doesn't mean she's happy about it. Maybe she's just not a big Boogie Nights fan?
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Not going to SXSW? No worries! Not only does Movieline have you covered in Austin, there's also this fine recommendation for the more DIY Newman's Ownly Experience. All you need is Netflix Instant, Newman's Own Butter Boom Popcorn, and, apparently, the troubling "half-breed Apache" flick Hombre: "In truth, not only is the blackface approach racist and absurd, it's also executed so poorly I spent most of the movie thinking Paul Newman was placed in some sort of ramshackle 1860s witness protection program where they just throw a wig at you and make you really, really dusty. I can still see you under there, Paul Newman!" It's either this or Red Riding Hood, which is no choice at all, right? [The Hairpin]
· Steven Soderbergh is retiring, but clearly not before getting his licks in on Ewan McGregor for making the Star Wars prequels. Ahead, check out some behind the scenes pictures of MMA fighter Gina Carano beating McGregor off his feet on the set of Haywire, then stick around for more Buzz Break.
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So Sarah Silverman walks into an unspecified hotel hallway and meets President Barack Obama. They get to talking about nudity in film and afterward, his aides tell the raunchy comedienne that she can never, ever speak of their meeting. What does she do? She shares the details with Howard Stern.
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Sometimes all it takes is one prominent supporting film role to force an actor into a type. Take Bradley Cooper, for instance, who shot to fame after playing the appropriately named Sack in Wedding Crashers. "On Alias, I played the nicest guy in the world and then I would try to audition for movies after that and the feedback was like 'Wow, Bradley's such a nice guy,' 'Yeah, I don't really see him in that part,'" Cooper told James Lipton recently at a taping of Inside the Actor's Studio. "[But] after Wedding Crashers, 'Bradley? Yeah, he's an a*shole.'"
Want to know what it's really like covering the film industry from a journalist's standpoint? Movieline will join representatives from MSN, the LA Times, and UGO this Sunday in Austin for a wide-reaching SXSW panel discussion on the realities of writing about film in the internet age. (Spoiler alert: It's complicated.) Mark your calendars and get ready to peel back the layers as we go inside the sausage factory!
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Nothing like going out on top? Speaking with Studio 360's Kurt Anderson, beloved director Steven Soderbergh reiterated that he plans to retire from filmmaking after he makes two more films. "When you reach the point where you're like, 'If I have to get into a van to do anther scout I'm just going to shoot myself,' it's time to let somebody else who's still excited about getting in the van, get in the van," Soderbergh said. "For the last three years, I've been turning down everything that comes my way, so you're not going to have Steven Soderbergh to kick around anymore." You will, however, have the opportunity to kick Soderbergh for his planned swan song.
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