Stage and film veteran Ben Gazzara, whose career spanned five decades and included a stint directing television, has died at age 81 in New York. According to The New York Times, Gazzara succumbed to pancreatic cancer today in Manhattan, where he lived. Let's bid a fond farewell to the Emmy-winning, Golden Globes-nominated Gazzara by remembering some of his most indelible work.
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It’s the biggest, most important question of the season, people: Whom will Reese Witherspoon choose, between pillow-lipped Brit Tom Hardy and confident playboy Chris Pine, in the spy vs. spy love triangle rom-com This Means War? While you won’t get any spoilers here for the Valentine’s Day release, let Hardy and director McG tease you with the envelope-pushing alternate ending ideas that didn’t quite make it to the final cut. (And no -- McG didn't learn from Terminator: Salvation, which he admitted he “pussed out on.” Hindsight, my friends.)
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The current Twitter trend "RIP Eddie Murphy" has gripped the unwashed microblogging masses with equal parts earnest apoplexy ("Idiots on twitter, why would anyone want to trend something like that") and predictable cheap-shottery ("Hey Eddie: 'RIP Eddie Murphy' is God trying to tell you something about your career.") -- not that unlike the last time Murphy "died" on Twitter. The most we can take away from this experience? People are very eager to paint Twitter itself -- what with its frequent death hoaxes and other misinformation -- as the worst mass killer since... well, you name it:
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Forget Transformers TV spots and Oscar frontrunner Jean Dujardin's racy French posters; let's talk about Best Actor nominee Gary Oldman and the Jersey Shore bump he's about to get from this dramatic reading of Snooki peeing her pants. Jimmy Kimmel put the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy star up to the stunt on his late night show -- Which is on television! That thing that Oscar voters watch!
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The much-anticipated Daniel Radcliffe ghost-story thriller The Woman in Black opens Feb. 3. This calls for a giveaway! But considering what you stand to win (including an iPod Nano and a signed WIB poster), we're going to make you work for it. (Sort of.) Welcome to Movieline's Daniel Radcliffe Mini Fan Fiction Sweepstakes! [UPDATE 2/2: Contest is now closed -- thanks to all who participated! Scroll down for the winning submission.]
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Banned in France! Well, kinda: Movie posters featuring Oscar-nominated Jean Dujardin, up for Best Actor for his turn as a silent film star in the sweet and wholesome The Artist, have been deemed too racy by French censors who recommended that certain billboards for Dujardin's French language film Les Infidels (The Players) be taken down. Judging from the film's redband trailer, Les Infidels is a comedy that features lots and lots of sex. Dirty sex. Upside down sex, suggest the naughty, naughty posters!
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Yes, I just wrote the words "Transformers Oscar campaign." Sigh. It's time we come to terms with the fact that each installment in Michael Bay's robot action series has technically been nominated for one or more Academy Awards -- deservedly so, really, given the technical achievements these CG metal-on-metal bashfests have under their belt, even if everything else in these films are aggressively, brain-numbingly mediocre. But Paramount aims to take home one of them statuettes this year, by god, and so they've created an awards campaign to break through to Oscar voters in the most effective way possible: Through their TV sets.
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It's official: Comedienne-activist Roseanne Barr is a Green Party Presidential Candidate. "As POTUS I will forgive all student loans and ALL HOMEOWNER DEBT AND ALL CREDIT CARD DEBT [sic]," she Tweeted shortly after her candidacy was announced. "As potus, I will pursue all lawbreakers-financial terrorists first," she continued, adding an aside to a follower regarding health tips: "u will have 2 stop using diet coke if u r to survive." Let's follow this woman into the future! [@therealroseanne]
Every performer must pay their dues, but with this week’s old school-flavored ghost pic The Innkeepers character actor Pat Healy cashes in over a decade of memorable supporting turns and guest spots for the spotlight at an auspicious moment in his career. Having popped up in a number of great films over the years (Magnolia! Ghost World! Rescue Dawn!) Healy stars with Sara Paxton in the Ti West film as a sardonic desk clerk at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, where spooky happenings are afoot; meanwhile, Healy also earned writing credits on the award-winning In Treatment and recently took Sundance by storm with Craig Zobel’s controversial Compliance. And to think: It all began with the one-two punch of My Best Friend’s Wedding and Home Alone 3…
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For the grand finale of Contest Week at Movieline -- which previously entailed conjuring Daniel Radcliffe-flavored fan fiction and Hunger Games haiku -- I humbly bring you the single greatest prize we have ever offered our readers. One word: Pawtograph. (UPDATE: Many thanks to everyone who played along here, on Twitter and Facebook; read on for our winners!)
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"My early experiences as an agent honed the 'me against the world' edge that was always nascent within me, and it served me well: I grew to see everyone, other than my clients, as enemies... When you sign a client, it is almost gladiatorial in that you’re taking away the livelihood of your competitor: It is very visceral and gratifying in a primordial way, not unlike biting into the flesh of an animal you’ve hunted." [NY Magazine]
Need poetic inspiration for the Hunger Games haiku you're composing for tickets to the premiere? Look no further than the newly unveiled Hunger Games Super Bowl trailer, which will air this weekend and features new footage of special moments with Prim, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), and Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), the all-important mockingjay pin, and the deadly goings-on in the Games.
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Focus Features and the good folks at WNYC are going all out for first-time Oscar nominee Gary Oldman, lining up a six-film retrospective of the actor's work that will culminate Feb. 8 in Manhattan with a screening and Oldman Q&A for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The best part: It's free. Which naturally means you'd better act fast to reserve your seats.
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In New Zealand! And how's this for a welcome from "New Zealand First" leader Winston Peters: "'To reside in New Zealand indefinitely, well, what does that mean? Full-time, part-time? ... If someone was coming to live in New Zealand and become a New Zealander, that is a different matter.' Mr Peters criticised the decision as typical of the 'stupidity' of the Government and the 'rubber-stamp merchants' at the OIO. 'If [the applicant] was bringing some expertise to expand this country's export wealth, particularly if it was land to be developed, or better utilised, that would be a different matter.'" Seriously! It's not like Avatar sequels grow on trees. [NZ Herald]
Bruce Lee as Spidey? Harvey Keitel as Wolverine? Now this is fantasy superhero casting I can get behind. Check out these and more pieces of gorgeous concept art from French artist/creature designer Alexandre Tuis, who racked his pop culture-loving memory banks to envision Marvel's most famous heroes as played by a roster of legends and favorite actors. Rutger Hauer as Thor? Come on now. Perfection.
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