Also in today's edition of The Broadsheet: Determining "the Audrey Hepburn of our generation"... Keith Richards bashes Jean-Luc Godard... Transformers does NASCAR... Whoopi Goldberg's eerie Gabby Giffords-related prediction... and more...
The first still from Pedro Almodóvar's upcoming The Skin That I Inhabit is a doozy; a funny, sinister image that looks like it was ripped straight from a 50's Sci-Fi movie that starred Antonio Banderas. That said, it's still difficult to tell what direction Almodóvar is going with this one. The novel the film is based on, Mygale by Thierry Jonquet, concerns a plastic surgeon obsessed with exacting revenge for his daughter's death while also trying to create a new type of skin. But previous synopses for the film emphasize the revenge aspect and completely ignore the science-fiction angle. Either way, it's a great still. Check out Banderas and his experiment after the jump.
Sad news: The acclaimed British director and producer Peter Yates has passed away at 82 following "a long illness." Yates is perhaps best-known for revolutionizing both car chases and Steve McQueen's coolness in Bullitt, but his entire filmography is varied and remarkably consistent. It includes such titles as Year of the Comet, Breaking Away, The Robbery, Krull and possibly one of the best crime films ever, The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Check out the terrific trailer for this hard-hitting Robert Mitchum film after the jump. And just so Monday doesn't start on a completely sad note, I've also included the one-minute "refund" clip from his Oscar-nominated Breaking Away, which is still one of the best cures for a long day that I've ever found.
Speaking with Metro News, Paul Giamatti let slip a few details about his character in The Hangover 2, saying that he's a "bad guy," connected somehow with Ken Jeong's Mr. Chow character. I was wondering how they were going to fit in Mr. Chow, the funniest part of the first movie, and making him an underling to an evil Paul Giamatti would certainly work for me. Just so long as it turns out they're part of a web of intrigue controlled by President Bill Clinton, of course. [Metro]
Marshal Rooster Cogburn finally got his bounty in the form of box office gold as True Grit took the top spot after two weeks in second. Nicolas Cage's latest camp-a-thon, Season of the Witch came in third and proud Goop-er Gwyneth Paltrow's Country Strong came in movie-weak at number six. Your weekend receipts are here.
I'm kind of curious as to what the senior citizens of 2050 are going to look like; tattoos are so ubiquitous now that a large swath of our future elderly will be explaining away their bad tribal bands or how their saggy gray parakeet was originally a screaming American eagle. But lord only knows how the two jokers after the jump will justify their terrible Justin Bieber and Twilight cast tattoos.
Today we are all cowboys. After two weeks of being the talented bridesmaid to Little Fockers ugly bride, True Grit finally landed on top, winning the Friday night box office. The Ben Stiller joint followed at number two, with Season of the Witch coming in at number three and Country Strong opening wide at a weak number four. Your Friday box office is here.
You just can't keep a good halfling down. Unhampered by the fact that his character, Frodo, does not appear in the book, Elijah Wood has confirmed that he will be appearing in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit. Also joining him in the "Hey Remember Us, You Really Liked Us In The First Movies, Come See This One Too" Tour are Cate Blanchett's Galadriel and, allegedly, Orlando Bloom's Legolas. Those two have the advantage of being immortal elves, though; I'm not sure how Frodo will be appearing before he's born. Flash-forward? Flashback? Flash-sideways that will turn out to be some type of Hobbitty purgatory? Who knows! [Deadline]
Happy New Year! If the week's apocalyptic occurrences are any indication, it might be our last together. The Mayans were close! As such, let's have a browse through the news, notes and happenings that shaped the beginning of the end. Oh, and if we're all still here, drop by tomorrow for more from the celebrated Dixon Gaines. Have a great weekend! (And don't think I don't see you checking out my bottled water stash.)
· It had to happen eventually: The Ted Williams craze has trickled down to city streets all over America, where you could be stepping over the next undiscovered homeless talent powerhouse. Take this woman from Indianapolis, who'd astoundingly never heard of the golden-voiced Williams ("I was probably asleep in my cubby hole," she says) and croons a few bars of "Amazing Grace" on command for the folks watching at home. Pitchy, dawg. Click through and cringe. [Videogum]
With a bun in the oven and her Black Swan Oscar nod pretty much in the bag, Natalie Portman was all aglow and perky as she joined co-star Ashton Kutcher, director Ivan Reitman and screenwriter Liz Meriwether at today's press conference for this month's rom-com No Strings Attached, a date movie about twentysomething "sex friends" who accidentally fall in love. (Think Love and Other Drugs minus the tragic debilitating disease, penis drugs and actual nudity.) Naturally, topics of conversation included casual sex, Ivan Reitman's intercourse-related instructions, the apocalypse, Lil Wayne's adult beverage of choice, and an extended rant on the female orgasm... by Ashton Kutcher. Dive in:
We're obviously on Team Jacki around these parts, but that doesn't mean we don't have a tremendous soft spot for Hailee Steinfeld. The True Grit teen star has displayed poise, humor and blingatude during the initial stages of awards season, and now -- like Mattie Ross -- she's even showing herself to be a master at revenge. Just take a peek at how she gets back at Glee star Lea Michele for making her "practically" cry.
Just hours after AMC announced that Mad Men will probably return for a fifth season, pint-size actress Kiernan Shipka appeared at the winter Television Critics Press Tour to promote her upcoming Hallmark Channel Movie Smooch. Not-so-oddly, the journalists were more interested in talking to Shipka than her co-stars. When asked about her own tween crushes, Shipka enthusiastically answered, "I love Twilight. I like Robert Pattinson. I love Justin Bieber. I don't think I have Bieber fever though. I'm more of a Twilight person." In other Shipka revelations, the actress is not allowed to watch Mad Men, wants to attend Yale, and doesn't think that acting on Mad Men is any different than acting for the Hallmark Channel.
· If you needed further proof that George Clooney is the real deal when it comes to humanitarian outreach, check out this nearly five-minute video interview of him on CNN discussing an upcoming referendum in Darfur that could allow the war-torn country to become a free state. No one front on George's Darfur knowledge, k? That he's wearing an awesome khaki vest is only an added bonus. Click ahead to watch (and learn something!), then stick around for more Buzz Break.
Party like radio is relevant again! Hot on the heels of Ted Williams' burgeoning radio -- and film? -- career comes word that 2010 scandal princess Bristol Palin has been offered her own radio show on an adult contemporary mix station is Arizona. What, did someone find Bristol panhandling for change near a median on I-17?
FILM NEWS 
