Does there come a point in reenacting exploitation, humiliation, and sexual degradation where the reenactment essentially becomes real life for the performer forced to endure it? It's a tough question about whether in its making, art can perpetuate or exploit the very moment it purports to condemn, and I guess we'll have to ask Lindsay Lohan about it after she tries to get a dog to have sex with her in her new film, Inferno.
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Did you have to wait in line for hours to get your hands on thew new iPhone 4 today? Jason Bateman didn't -- when the actor showed up at the Grove in LA this morning, an Apple Store worker spotted him and allowed him to jump the long line, ensuring that Bateman could pick up the new phone before anyone else. He was summarily booed. All that Hoffman-kissing goodwill, burned off already! [ONTD]
· Vulture's got the poster for Todd Solondz's Happiness sequel, Life During Wartime. Head over there to check out a high-res version.
· There will be a teaser for Paranormal Activity 2 attached to Eclipse.
· How does Chris Rock feel about Kobe Bryant's recent cold shoulder at the NBA finals? "Oh the hell with him!" Rock told The View. "I don't care about no Kobe Bryant!"
· Suffice it to say, that Jeremy London kidnapping thing is turning out to be as fake as you'd first thought.
· Wolfgang Peterson is developing a bigscreen version of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, which we thought had already kinda been covered with the Hugh Jackman film Real Steel?
Namely...kill him? I mean, we wish only the best for Sean Connery, but after viewing the promo reel for Sir Billi, the animated film that Connery has come out of retirement for, I couldn't help but think of the debacle that was Delgo. That cheaply animated 2008 film was the ignoble final credit for the legendary Anne Bancroft, and I'm legitimately worried that Connery's capstone may be Billi, a spooky, weird cartoon about a drowning squirrel or something, with the tagline, "Can this OCTOGENARIAN and his GOAT save the day?" View the footage and let me know what you think:
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Great Hope Springs is not just another marriage-counseling drama. It's a pedigreed, Oscar-baiting marriage-counseling drama that now counts Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges as front-runners for its two leads. They would play a middle-aged couple in the middle of a marathon matrimonial crisis during which they decide whether or not to stay together; Jessie Nelson is set to direct from a script by Vanessa Taylor. Roll out the Thank You Cam, someone's going to need it. [Production Weekly via The Playlist]
Oscar-host discussions will get underway next week, said new Oscarcast co-producer Bruce Cohen, who naturally anticipates a popular front-runner you may have heard of. "All options are open. And I'm sure we'll get a big push for Betty White. I can feel it coming." Asked if he and fellow producer Don Mischer would invite White aboard, Cohen replied, "I think she'd be great in some capacity. [Laughs.] I don't know if she'd want to host the whole show." Commence Facebook campaign in 5... 4... 3... [LAT]
· Word on the street has Matt Damon in talks to join We Bought a Zoo, Cameron Crowe's previously reported adaptation of a memoir by a man who spent his family's life savings on a zoo -- and 200 animals -- slated for annihilation. And his wife has cancer. It's still pretty early in the development game, but go ahead and be moved accordingly. [Deadline]
Fernando Meirelles and Peter Morgan have a collaboration in mind as well, IMAX inches us closer to the apocalypse, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Bristol Palin's acting debut on The Secret Life of the American Teenager is upon us, and it is not an Emmy-winner. The Wasillan native looks like an American teenager, but her delivery lacks "secret life." At any rate, enjoy her knack for cello player jokes! [NYMag]
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The last few weeks have seen a bit of back and forth about how Lionsgate would release The Expendables; to hear producer Avi Lerner tell it, test audiences would have at least some influence on the rating depending on their reactions to PG-13- and R-rated cuts. But more evidence emerged today that the film will arrive in the theaters the way Sylvester Stallone intended. And I think we all know what he intended.
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After calling Santa Fe residents drunks and nicknaming his county "the homicide capital of the Southwest," Val Kilmer has finally made nice with San Miguel County. Flanked by a six-person security detail, the Tombstone actor apologized to county commissioners and explained, "I have the same concerns as anyone else when you hear negative things about a place you love." Kilmer hopes to obtain a permit to turn his Pecos River Ranch house into a bed and breakfast. Now if only he would apologize to Vietnam veterans for calling them "borderline criminals." [AP]
The Real World comes back next week with its Back to New Orleans season, and with each passing year, it's impossible not to pine for the series's best days. Last year's Washington D.C. trip marked a step in the right direction, but the prime seasons of Real World are so much less contrived and self-aware -- it's impossible to shake them from memory. Here we revisit the show's ten greatest stars, the ten castmates who were smart enough, cool enough, or downright problematic enough to make the kind of reality TV you might be proud to have watched.
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Samuel Goldwyn Films will take over the Sundance drama Welcome to the Rileys for Sony Worldwide Acquisitions Group, placing the film in art houses and (hopefully) beyond later this year. The film -- which features Kristen Stewart as a hooker and James Gandolfifni as the grieving father who befriends her (Melissa Leo also stars) -- originally had a spot in the Apparition line-up before chief Bob Berney hit the road last month. Hooray for happy endings! No pun intended. [indieWIRE]
It's a big day for premium cable castings. Hours after Cynthia Nixon joined The Big C, Mos Def has hopped aboard Mike White's HBO project, Enlightened. The comedy series stars Laura Dern as a self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening and decides to lead an enlightened life which creates chaos at home and work. The Emmy-nominated actor will play Dern's new boss. [Deadline]
· Wow! I'd always heard that the Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World Avatar Creator adds 10 pounds, but the finished product remains a little scary. Anyway, here's your procrastination opportunity for the day. Thank me later.
· The writer-director of Major League says he's working on a script for the franchise's third fourth installment -- and that original co-star Charlie Sheen is ready to lead it. But: Will Wesley Snipes return as Willie Mays Hayes? Priorities, folks.
· Landon Donovan's last-minute, game-winning goal this morning aside, you probably won't be watching the U.S. in the World Cup final when it screens in multiplexes July 11.
· "Chevron makes BP look like a model corporate citizen." Fighting words! Literally, when it comes to filmmaker Joe Berlinger's ongoing case against the oil company.
· If you had tickets to see Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman in concert on his U.S. tour, I'm sorry. It's canceled. Blame Detroit.
· "This film is like Jason Miller's That Championship Season, except with douchebags who think they're funny." Marshall Fine has just about all you need to know about Grown-Ups. (At least until we hear from Stephanie Z.)
Look -- I couldn't agree more with Dixon's comments here the other day about sympathizing with Robert Pattinson. I like what little of the guy I've seen onscreen and in person, and I wouldn't wish ill on anyone just because they're famous or complicit in New Moon or whatever. And I get his and Kristen Stewart's frustration with the media machine that preys on their their every moody misstep. But to the extent I'm complicit in this very item, it might be as close to mutually assured destruction as contemporary culture gets. Someone needs an intervention.
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