Welcome back to Movieline Attractions, your one-stop guide everything new, noteworthy and/or not-so-earth-shattering at the movies. This week brings us an awkward collection of studio also-rans overshadowing a fairly busy, competitive bundle of limited releases and Oscar fare; sort it all out with us after the jump.
· At this table read for The Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show, the room erupts in deafening laughter at a scene in which James Gandolfini is made to look ... fat? I think? I didn't laugh at all? Perhaps you will laugh? I'll stop asking questions now? OK? OK. [via THR]
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It's Jim Henson's birthday today -- he would have been 73 -- and to celebrate the Supreme Creator of that most sensational, Muppetational universe, we thought we'd pull together five things you may not have known about his beloved Muppets. They're after the jump.
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We're not going to count our bunnies before they've hatched, but to judge from Hugh Hefner's Twitter today, there's a strong chance that Diablo Cody could be boarding Brian Grazer's biopic about the Playboy founder. Let us not forget, this project also has Brett Ratner and Robert Downey Jr. attached. What a group of shrinking violets! [Twitter]
Newmarket Films today announced a deal to acquire Creation, the utterly underwhelming Charles Darwin biopic that opened this year's Toronto International Film Festival. It's the latest pick-up in a relatively busy post-fest week that saw Get Low, I Am Love and Lebanon find buyers as well. Newmarket has yet to announce a release date, but expect a concentrated protest against the movie at that time -- and that's just for Paul Bettany's lead performance. Surely the evolution subplot will raise some hackles as well. [indieWIRE]
A couple of things about David Mamet's The Diary of Anne Frank, that recently announced remake you know you were never totally comfortable with: First of all, it's not a straight "remake" at all, but rather a contemporary exploration of anti-Semitism. And second of all -- and this should really help you relax about the project -- it's not going to be made anyway. At least not at Disney.
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My TV, my laptop, my bus stop: Fame's cast of unknowns keep popping into my life at the most unwanted moments, like celebrity-worshiping Jehovah's Witnesses encouraging me to examine their Fame pamphlets and perhaps sign up for a "Claim Your FAME" essay writing contest while I'm at it. Then there's that ubiquitous Coca-Cola-like logo, meant to evoke $$$/power/corporate backing/whatever, and suitable, like all religious iconography, to wear around my neck and ward off evils, like anonymity or being dropped from my label. Where was I? Oh right. Fame opens tomorrow. It hasn't screened for many outlets, but the reception from those for whom it has has been overwhelmingly negative. Here's the nine ugliest reactions to emerge so far.
9. "The 2009 version is pure hell - boring, redundant and talentless. In attempting to "reinvent" the original story, screenwriters Aline Brosh McKenna and Allison Burnett offer us the plot of "High School Musical" without its charm and appealing musical beat." -- David Foucher, EDGE
· Hey, it's Lego Jake Gyllenhaal, for next year's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I'm assuming this one is supposed to have plastic abs.
· Edward Norton is entirely willing to continue his game of Avengers Chicken for another round. Your move, Marvel!
· If the Dancing with the Stars tribute didn't sufficiently taint your Patrick Swayze afterglow, let his posthumous attack on Jennifer Grey suffice.
· Seth Rogen wrote a Simpsons episode where Homer is forced to lose weight in order to play a cinematic superhero. Yes, yes: sounds familiar.
· Stephen Moyer's border collie will serve as ringbearer when he weds Anna Paquin, says the actor. Just don't be surprised when he morphs into Sam Merlotte and objects to the vows.
What's going on with Randy Quaid? First there was that weird Brokeback Mountain lawsuit, then there was the little matter of Actors' Equity banning him for life because of abusive behavior, and now...well, let RadarOnline tell you: "An arrest warrant has been issued for Randy Quaid and his wife Evi...The Santa Barbara County police department has been investigating the Quaids for allegedly skipping out on their hotel bill at the luxurious San Ysidro Ranch after racking up more than $10,000 in charges." OK, so now we know which city the Vacation franchise won't be going to next. [RadarOnline]
Hugo Chavez doesn't get to New York very often, but when he does, he knows how to make it count. An A-list reception greeted the Venezuelan president at last night's US premiere of the Oliver Stone documentary South of the Border, where Susan Sarandon, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan and other stars all dropped in to pay their respects. And since Chavez had already ascribed the characterization of Satan to George W. Bush on his last trip here, he didn't really have much of a way out when a very frisky Courtney Love accosted him at the after-party. More photos of this fall's most unlikely cultural summit after the jump.
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Movieline is looking for a few good interns for our office headquarters in Los Angeles. We'll need a time commitment of four hours, at least twice per week. Duties will vary -- everything from administrative support to editorial research to sending you out on assignments. Anything is possible! And the rewards: a small stipend or class credit, and a lifetime of memories. If you're interested, send a resume and short cover note to Charles Runnette, our General Manager, at charles@movieline.com. Good luck!
Funny: We were just talking yesterday about how director Christian Alvart's Pandorum and Case 39 might make for a great double feature of Bad Movies We Love -- if, that is, the latter film ever found its way off the Paramount shelf where it's rested for more than three years. Then, no sooner had we looked back on a year of high-profile dumpings then the 'Mount gave us our first burial of 2010: Case 39! Small world!
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Heads exploded around the Web last night as David Cronenberg was reported to be planning a remake/reboot of The Fly, the 1958 cult classic that he already remade/rebooted in 1986. The filmmaker's timetable is as uncertain as his reasoning; he has both The Matarese Circle and Cosmopolis currently in development, and he has stated previously that he had no interest in returning to the man-insect horror tale. On the other hand, Cronenberg did produce the film's opera adaptation last year, the screen adaptation of which deserves as much of a shot as Barbie, He-Man or any other retreads on the assembly line. Insert the benefit of the doubt here. [Risky Biz]
· After nearly a month of internal discussions (aka letting the headlines subside), executives at MTV have decided to air the eight banked episodes of the late DJ AM's drug-intervention series Gone Too Far. The timing remains to be worked out, but the network is apparently counting on the star's own suspected drug overdose on Aug. 28 to underscore the ravages of addiction more than it emphasizes the ghoulish exploitation factor of the whole enterprise. Good luck with that. [THR]
More Weinstein Company cuts, Burlesque gets a male face, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· The Mozart of pop culture montages, Rich from FourFour, put together this amazing array of horror and suspense movie characters all expressing an inability to get their cellphones to work. We'd tell you more about it but we have no signal. AGGGGGGHHHHH!
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