Perhaps you've heard the rumors that Woody Allen spent so much time directing French first lady Carla Bruni for his new Midnight in Paris that he had her replaced with actress Lea Seydoux? "This is a hundred percent untrue," the director said in Toronto this weekend. "Everything she shot is in the picture. I love her. She's great. It's not a big part, but it's a respectable part. Everything was totally made up. Now, I did hire another actress late in the picture for another part, for a totally different role. They're both in the picture...I'm used to celebrity journalism, and I've had my share of untrue things printed. But this one was really one of the craziest." [HuffPo]
Mark September 22 down on your Tivo schedule as the day that Joaquin Phoenix will return to the Late Show with David Letterman, this time to promote his unsettling new documentary I'm Still Here. The actor/rapper last appeared on the show in February 2009 in one of the greatest late night segments of the decade. By the time the segment wrapped, the Late Show host was asking his cranky guest about the Unabomber and threatening to show up at Phoenix's house to chew gum. [Vulture]
Since Resident Evil: Afterlife wiped the floor with the box office competition this weekend, it's not a huge surprise that Milla Jovovich confirmed plans for yet another sequel. Only this time, it's going to be an interactive process, with Director Paul W.S. Anderson discussing the project with fans on "twitter and stuff" to get ideas for the movie. No word yet on whether they will take posts like "make a good movie for once" into account. [Vulture]
That didn't take long. Starting next month, The Hollywood Reporter will remake itself as a glossy, weekly magazine. The venerable trade paper -- which brought in former Us Weekly editor Janice Min to overhaul things last year -- will broaden its focus to general entertainment news with the hopes of snagging readers who would count themselves as "opinion leaders, early adopters and taste makers who set consumer trends." Godspeed. [NYT]
Prolific actor Kevin McCarthy died over the weekend at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, MA. McCarthy appeared in almost 100 films over his nearly 70 year career, including The Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Death of a Salesman, for which he received his only Oscar nomination. He was 96. [NYT]
Also in this morning's Hollywood Ink: Matthew McConaughey and Emile Hirsh find their Killer instinct... Saoirse Ronan embraces her inner Hit Girl... Scream 4 adds another hottie cast member... and more ahead.
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And you thought ringing cell phones were annoying. At a recent screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, an audience member on LSD lost control and started flailing his arms and yelling during the film's Star Child sequence. How he kept his cool through Hal's revolt and the trippy Star Gate sequence is anyone's guess. Thanks to mobile phone cameras, the freak out is now making the Internet rounds and even though his ramblings are mostly incoherent, the video is quite a spectacle. It also made me think about those rare instances where audience disruption can actually enhance moviegoing.
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It turns out that we do in fact need another ultraviolent satire of comic book movies. I'm not sure how many people would have argued this before the Toronto Film Festival, but after the buzzed-about midnight premiere of James Gunn's SUPER and the immediate sale that followed, it seems like a pretty safe assumption. Now, those of us who aren't at the festival can get a first look with this new clip from the film.
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Claude Chabrol, the director and critic who helped found the French New Wave along with François Truffaut and Jean Luc-Godard died Sunday in Paris at 80. Many called him France's answer to Hitchcock. His films such as The Butcher, Hell, and The Cousins were stylish, suspense films that often explored French class systems and skewered the bourgeoisie. Sad news, but Chabrol had a great run, directing over 60 films in his lifetime right up to last year's Bellamy with Gerard Depardieu. He even had a late-career surge with recent well-received films like A Girl Cut in Two and The Bridesmaid.
[NYT]
Sh*it's been dark on Mad Men these past few weeks, man. Becoming a sloppy, vomiting drunk, seeing his daughter branded a sexual deviant, losing his one solid lifeline to cancer and nearly becoming another notch in Duck Phillips' Okinawan kill list, Don Draper has really been through the wringer. But fortunately, Ida Blankenship, his be-wigged secretary played by Randee Heller, has been able to inject a little levity to the grim goings-on.
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Milla Jovovich had a very good weekend while everyone else counted their pennies to see if they had enough to afford a dollar taco as Resident Evil: Afterlife dominated as only a 3D zombie shoot 'em up could. Your weekend receipts are here.
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Che dramma! It's been a whirlwind of emotions for Hollywood scionette Sofia Coppola in the last few days. Her new film Somewhere underwhelmed the audiences at the Venice Film Fest -- Sad! But then she won the Golden Lion! -- Happy! And now her ex-boyfriend and jury president Quentin Tarantino has been accused of blatant favoritism by the Italian press -- Gasp!
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Everyone and their mother is up in Toronto (including our own S.T. VanAirsdale!) for all the film festival hi-jinkieries. While braving our Commie-Pinko-Socialistic Neighbor to the North, ComingSoon sat down with Basil Iwanyk, producer of Clash of the Titans, who gave the depressing news that the sequel is in the works.
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For all those Swedish book enthusiasts out there who were bummed that the English language version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gave the eponymous role of Lisbeth Salander to Rooney Mara rather than Noomi Rapace, the original Swedish Salander -- cheer up! She might have just gotten her big American break after all.
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Milla Jovovich's latest installment of shooting at zombies very, very slowly racked up another win as Resident Evil 3D easily dominated a sleepy box office. The dapper gents of Takers and the well-armed hit men of The American tussled over the number two slot while horny travelers and angry Mexicans filled out the rest of the top five. Your Friday Box Office is here.
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