"Like much of the film-going world, my eye was caught this week by the re-emergence of a Hollywood star with a history of mental health issues that sent their once-glittering career off the rails," writes Danny Leigh at the Guardian. "But I'm not thinking of Joaquin Phoenix, protagonist of what we all know for sure now is the hoax documentary I'm Still Here -- although that does make for an interesting comparison. Because the person on my mind has been Anne Heche." Mine too! Who's with us? [Guardian]
Earlier today, with the news that Tom Cruise was almost cast in Goodfellas, Christopher Rosen asked "Can you imagine Tom Cruise as a coked up Henry Hill?" Well, yeah, I actually can! This was a Tom Cruise that just came off an Oscar nomination for Born on the Fourth of July. But could Goodfellas have been better with Tom Cruise as Henry Hill? Ahead, Christopher and I try to get to the bottom of that very question via the convenience of Gchat.
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Tonight Show staffers are just like us! They help fellow motorists in need and are the subjects of heartbreaking Craigslist Missed Connection posts. If you, Jay Leno's assistant who bears a striking resemblance to "Clark Kent/Superman," were dancing with a pretty young thing at West Hollywood's Red Rock on Sunday night, click here. This might be the only way to find happiness in your Leno-subservient life. And you, Missed Connection author, may Movieline suggest 4chan. [Craigslist]
· New set photos from the small town transformed for Super 8 showcase the sleepiest hamlet since Sam Bottoms swept the streets of Anarene in The Last Picture Show. See the quaint high school after the jump.
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Looks like Jeremy Renner's schedule just got slightly less complicated. According to the actor, Paul Thomas Anderson's much-anticipated Scientology film The Master -- which would have starred Philip Seymour Hoffman as a cult leader in the vein of L. Ron Hubbard -- has been thrown into development hell. "I was really bummed about that," Renner told the print edition of Total Film. "It really kind of stalled because when we were rehearsing -- Phil, Paul and myself -- we kept coming up against a wall that we couldn't overcome. Or at least Paul couldn't overcome." Don't worry: You can overcome by watching There Will Be Blood again. [Total Film via The Playlist]
With the news today that Tom Cruise and Madonna were originally considered to play the leads in Goodfellas, film fans the world over are once again left with that loaded question: What might have been? In the case of Goodfellas, a crappy movie -- can you imagine Cruise as coked-up Henry Hill? -- but what of other famous Hollywood near misses. Ahead, Movieline chronicles five of the biggest.
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Film critics in Italy have taken a much harder line toward the globetrotting sumptuousness of Eat Pray Love than their American counterparts did, dismissing the film as Hollywood ethno-porn of the worst kind. "It rains spaghetti, the Italians are always gesticulating and following foreign girls shouting vulgarities but then getting engaged to a nice housewife to please their domineering mothers, all this under the sign of 'dolce far niente'," Curzio Maltese wrote in La Repubblica, echoed later by the Torino daily La Stampa: "That's the way they like us in the United States, dark, boisterous, uninhibited; we've always known that, but this time the effect is beyond the limits." Nobody tell them about Jersey Shore, cool? [NYT]
After false rumors, starts, stops and a two-year wait, we still won't get to see Terrence Malick's Tree of Life until 2011. So in the meantime, why not help Movieline caption a photo that leaked from the set of his even newer film, currently known only as Untitled Terrence Malick Project? This one stars Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko, and the photo below was taken when Malick and a small crew were shooting in Oklahoma at the Indian Summer Festival. That might explain the person decked out in full Native American garb next to Kurylenko, but let's hear your take! Caption away after the jump.
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You're forgiven if you feel like you're in some sort of film industry time-warp today. First Ben Affleck won the box office, and now distributors at Toronto have just made another huge round of distribution deals on independent films. Does this mark a return to the lost days of devil-may-care acquisitions and bidding wars at festivals? Or will all of these movies flop and pave the way for a completely desolate marketplace at next year's festivals? Check out the full list of recent buys after the jump and decide for yourself! This time we've got an evil Santa Claus, Megan Fox with wings, Will Ferrell giving drama another shot -- and more.
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Welcome to the Broadsheet, a new, daily Movieline feature gathering some of the morning's top stories from film, TV and the rest of our glorious culture. In today's talking points, Sarah Silverman teases her forthcoming nude breakthrough, Community gets animated, Robin Williams gets serious, Randy Quaid has a brand-new mug shot, and more...
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Like the Academy, Toronto audiences just can't resist a well-done, historical dramedy. Or maybe they just love Colin Firth. Regardless, Tom Hooper's The King's Speech, in which Firth plays the stuttering King George IV, took the Audience Award at this year's festival. The diverse jury of international critics ventured into darker territory, awarding Shawn Ku's school-shooting-aftermath drama Beautiful Boy the prize for the Discovery Program. Also, a surprising number of unofficial consolation prizes were dealt out in the form of distribution deals. Congratulations to the all of the festival winners, which are listed after the jump.
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Josh Brolin has played a number of eclectic parts in the last few years -- grotesque Civil War vet, a homicidal politician and an inept bumbler -- but evidently those weren't weird enough for Brolin. In the press notes for You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger, Brolin revealed he had some terrible suggestions for his character.
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So does this mean the recession is over? A zealous sparkly vampire fan reportedly shelled out more than $60,000 for the privilege of going to the Breaking Dawn set in Vancouver and hanging out with Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson to talk about God knows what. Now, granted the money is going to the Stand Up To Cancer charity, but still! That's a lot of money! And plus, for all that dough, he/she doesn't even get to fly directly into Vancouver. He has fly to Seattle and drive to Vancouver. That's like a three hour ride! Way to make him work for his money, Twilight.[ONTD]
Proving there are actually plenty of second acts in American lives, Ben Affleck notched a number one in his actor/director belt as his thriller The Town hit number one. Coming in as a strong number two was Emma Stone in Easy A with the M. Night Shyamalan-produced Devil further behind as number 3. Your weekend receipts are here.
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Twenty years ago today, Goodfellas opened nationwide. Arguably the finest film outside of the Godfather saga about the mob, Goodfellas introduced us to the hothead stylings of Ray Liotta, made Lorraine Bracco a star and taught us all to be terrified of Joe Pesci's anecdotes. After the break, watch the original trailer (but try not to laugh when the voice-over guy actually says "In a world...") and Pesci's infamous "How am I funny?" scene, re-enacted by Peppermint Patty, Marcie and the rest of the gang from Peanuts.
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