Between taking to the web to pull a Tyler Perry, announcing a public auction for distribution rights, and issuing his own press release publicizing a protest of the protest of his film, Kevin Smith's done all he could to wring every ounce of publicity out of his Sundance entry, Red State. (What is this, Slamdance?) But how much does anyone care, really?
Courtesy of MTV, a new picture from the set of the Spider-Man reboot has shed some light on Andrew Garfield's new Spidey suit. Chief amongst the changes from the old Tobey-era suit appears to be the presence of Spider-Man's mechanical webshooters.
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Sir Anthony Hopkins, best known as Hannibal Lecter and, of course as Tom Cruise's boss in Mission: Impossible 2, is in talks to play the similarly creepy Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. The movie will detail the struggles that Hitchcock went through to make Psycho, a film that many thought would capsize his career. Sacha Gervasi, helmer of the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, is in talks to direct. I think Anthony Hopkins could make a great Hitchcock, so long as he starts packing on the pounds. Sir Tony is a pretty slight fella, and Hitchcock was one of our more porcine directors. Just a thought! [THR]
Evidently there's a thin slice of pie we didn't quite see on Jack Donaghy's NBC Programming Priority chart -- Refusing & Then Immediately Picking Up A Superheroine Drama. After initially joining every network in America in turning up its nose at David E. Kelley's Wonder Woman pilot, NBC changed its mind and has picked it up.
"Let's tear this place apart!" So instructed director Jason Eisener before Friday's midnight premiere of Hobo with a Shotgun, the unabashedly campy Canadian-American grindhouse flick about a homeless drifter who cleans up the streets of a depraved urban metropolis with only a pawn shop shotgun and plenty of gloriously insane death-dealing catchphrases in his arsenal. And while it may have disappointed Eisener and Co. that an actual riot didn't erupt before or after their film, they must have been pleased that Hobo played exactly right to just the genre-loving crowd it was made for.
Startin' here, startin' now, honey everything's coming up Portman! While her terrifyingly bi-curious ballerina is still raking in the dough (and the awards), Natalie Portman enjoyed a number one opening, as No Strings Attached came out on top this Friday, bumping down the boys club of The Green Hornet and The Dilemma to numbers two and three, respectively. Your Friday box office is here.
Here at Movieline HQ we like to keep our fingers on the pulse of the film world, so we'll be polling film critics and bloggers in Park City on a variety of topics throughout the week. Check in each day to hear what our panel of experts have to say about the hot films, deals, and stories coming out of Sundance '11... starting with Day 1's Big Question: Which three films do you refuse to leave Park City without having seen?
· First, read Movieline's interview with Fred Armisen. Second, preview his six-part IFC show Portlandia before it premieres tonight. That way you'll be prepared to make fun of Oregon ahead of time. [Zap2It]
Closing time, suckers! Another week successfully completed here at Movieline HQ, which means it's time for another edition of our award-winning* Week in Review. Check back here on Saturday and Sunday for the hilarious words and sentences of weekend editor Dixon Gaines, and stick around for more Sundance updates from our team in Park City. In the meantime, click ahead for the good stuff!
Since we're still all bitter that Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work wasn't considered for the Oscar documentary shortlist, Movieline's giving its own awards now. "Best Tommy Lee Jones/Fuhrer Joke" goes to Joan "You Don't Even Know Me, Judd Apatow" Rivers. At the tail end of a week where Rivers mocked Sarah Palin on Fox & Friends, she just named The Fugitive's Oscar winner as Hollywood's evilest, most Hitler-conjuring man. We had no idea! Let's watch her explain.
Internet users, you've created a monster. Antoine Dodson, the Huntsville housing project resident who shot to insta-stardom after providing an unintentionally hilarious local news segment about his sister's attempted rape (only in America, guys) has become a viral sensation -- he's already been featured at length on Tosh 2.0 -- and served as inspiration for "Bed Intruder," a popular iTunes remix by the Gregory Brothers. And now, Dodson might be coming to a television set near you. To paraphrase America's newest sweetheart, "hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husband."
It's still eerily quiet here in Park City, so Movieline popped into Main Street's only pop-up insurance agency for our first Sundance Swag Report. Those crazy kids over at Fox Searchlight have constructed an entire insurance agency to promote their Sundance entry/coming-of-age comedy Cedar Rapids, about a small town insurance agent (Ed Helms) who has the weekend of his life at a convention in Iowa. Because nothing says "sexy Sundance swag" like wood paneling and hot apple cider! (Sexy, sexy swag pics within.)
It looks like Kevin Smith might get sacked. (Nyuck, nyuck.) Deadline's Mike Fleming reports that a large number of potential Red State buyers are upset that the film screening on Sunday night conflicts with the AFC Championship game between the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers. Writes Fleming: "A lot of indie distribution executives hail from New York and New Jersey (as does Smith), and they've waited a long time to see the Jets get into a Super Bowl." Somewhere, Bob and Harvey Weinstein are nodding in agreement. [Deadline]
These days, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise feels less like a magnificent Disney attraction and more like a poorly themed miniature golf course in a Midwest suburb. At World's End was the grim eighteenth green where we lost our patience for good. And yet, avast: The new pics of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides exhume the drag queen shenanigans we loved about the first film. There's Ian McShane putting the "Merrol Flynn" flair in Blackbeard. Enjoy the preview now, as the actual film will feel probably like endless dinner theater. (Sorry, Geoffrey Rush.)
As you are probably aware, Anne Hathaway was cast as Selina Kyle earlier this week in Christopher Nolan's new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. Slightly buried in that news was the announcement that Tom Hardy will be playing the character Bane. Which -- for non-hardcore Batman fans -- led to a collective, "Tom Hardy? That's cool, but who the eff is Bane?" So, for those not in the know -- and for those who did themselves a great service and never watched 1997's Batman & Robin -- let's take a look a five things that you probably don't know about the other new Batman villain, Bane.
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