Back in 2007, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock revealed that Heath Ledger had plans to shoot a video for one of the band's songs "King Rat," using animation from Ledger's friend Terry Gilliam. The actor died several months later while shooting Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and while Gilliam underwent his own hurdles to finish his film, so too did Modest Mouse eventually pick up the pieces and complete Ledger's music video.
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At the Sherlock Holmes press conference at Comic-Con, I was struck by a response to a question asked of Rachel McAdams -- who plays ersatz love interest Irene Adler -- regarding how she felt about the romantic thrust of Guy Ritchie's take on the detective classic focusing on the close relationship between Holmes and Dr. Watson. Before she could respond, Robert Downey Jr. leaped in, saying, "Well she doesn't give me any! It's called circumstantial homosexuality."
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MTV has announced its nominees for the Video Music Awards, and Lady Gaga and Beyoncé lead the pack with nine nominations each. Joining them in the lineup of potential winners just waiting to be mocked by host Russell Brand is Britney Spears, with seven nominations. Gaga, we have some wardrobe ideas for the big night. I think it's time to bust out the Pepe the Prawn necklace! [People]
When even your own leading lady can't fake the funk on behalf of your late-summer tentpole, it might be time to reconsider exactly how that movie is perceived -- and where. That's the scenario Paramount faces with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which, after weeks of skeptical speculation by critics and other industry insiders, the studio has officially withdrawn from review consideration. Unless, that is, you're one of a select few discriminating professionals Paramount can trust to blow smoke up its ass -- with the aid of the inner 10- to 13-year-old for whom G.I. Joe was apparently made.
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In anticipation of August 21st's Avatar Day, when all schools, banks and government buildings will shut down so that families can spend some quality time together painting each other blue and standing in long lines at IMAX-branded theaters to glimpse 15 minutes of James Cameron's 3-D masterwork, we thought we'd bring you as much Avatar-related material as we could scrounge up on the Web.
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Closing out this year's Traverse City Film Festival, founder Michael Moore dropped in to introduce his annual screening of "Mike's Surprise" -- a previously unannounced title that this year's festgoers were hoping might be a sneak preview of his new financial-collapse expose Capitalism: A Love Story. Alas, Moore told the crowd, the documentary isn't quite finished. And even if it were, the lawyers aren't ready to let it out of their briefcases.
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I don't know if this will be a regular feature, or if it's just coincidence that another noteworthy Val Kilmer bomb was released on DVD this week. But considering that no one has been able to see Delgo since last fall, when it notoriously set a new benchmark for all-time box-office futility, today's video unveiling seems far too momentous to allow to slip through unannounced.
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A new site called SpeedCine launched this morning, offering perhaps the most addictive workplace diversion you'll experience all week: A comprehensive list of every movie legally available for free on the Internet. It's not all C-grade, '50s-era schlock, either (though you can probably find plenty of that as well); Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski, Brian De Palma, Michael Mann (including The Last of the Mohicans, pictured), Werner Herzog, Paul Verhoeven and scores of other surprises are hiding in plain sight. Meanwhile, spontaneity-loving, Internet-hating critic Richard Corliss will be hospitalized with severe cognitive dissonance by lunchtime. [SpeedCine]
· Hugh Jackman has attached himself to The Greatest Showman on Earth, a musical biopic about the life of P.T. Barnum. Jackman's Academy Awards producer Laurence Mark will rejoin him here, as will awardscast writer Jenny Bicks. The project should not be confused with Columbia's planned Barnum film Showman, though it will likely represent the midway point in Jackman's unofficial "Man Trilogy," between his previously announced comedy Avon Man and his rumored, much-anticipated remake of C. Thomas Howell's blackface classic Soul Man. [Variety]
Steve Zahn raises a Wimpy Kid, Carla Gugino and Zack Snyder reunite, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Who is responsible for the Obama as Joker posters showing up around L.A., Matt Drudge wants to know! Here's a theory: Some bored "guerrilla artist" who wants to be noticed?
· Local dialect coaches rejoice! Flavor-of-the-Month Sam Worthington is filling the role vacated by Tom Cruise in The Tourist, playing the part of an American abroad used by an Interpol agent (Charlize Theron) to track down a criminal.
· If the very fate of the karaoke-appraising universe was not at stake, we'd almost find Fox's continued tormenting of Paula Abdul by officially announcing Kara DioGuardi's return to American Idol today kind of amusing.
· The Internet is ablaze with news that Sesame Street will be parodying Mad Men this season, with a producer hinting only to "think about the title 'Mad Men' and think about the emotional curriculum that might be linked to that." The best we can make out is that the show will introduce children to the smooth, tasty joys of filterless smoking.
A little tip to the web-heads at Esquire: When uploading pictures of Mad Men's Christina Hendricks to your online slideshow, it'd typically be good form to first scrub them of file extension names like "christina-hendricks-breasts," "christina-hendricks-ass," "christina-hendricks-sexy," and "christina-hendricks-cleavage-0909-lg.jpg." Might we suggest "christina-hendricks-intelligent-with-sparkling-personality.gif" (it'd be a Blingee) next time? [Esquire via ONTD]
Harry Knowles tracked down James Cameron himself to get to the bottom of the True Lies 2 rumors floated yesterday by the original film's co-star Tom Arnold. "I think Tom was joking," Cameron replied. "[S]ince September 11, I've never felt comfortable generating laughs with nuke-toting Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. True Lies, even though it has a cautionary thread underneath the pratfalls, is in a strange way a product of a more innocent time. But if we ever do another True Lies, I wouldn't dream of doing it without Tom. He's a good friend and a very funny guy." Unless you're the New York Times, in which case he's probably enjoyed his last profile for a while. [AICN]
Russell Crowe's manager is denying a British tabloid report that the actor was banned from a pub in Surrey, near the location where Crowe is currently shooting Robin Hood. After all, why would Crowe want to cause trouble at the bar where he spends so much quality time with his 3- and 5-year-old?
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· Sure, War Machine may have the cool new costume in Iron Man 2, but can he pull off a forest green polo with such aplomb?
· Bethenny Frankel is returning to the Real Housewives franchise, she has confirmed. Thank goodness she found time in her busy schedule (of talking weekly to Page Six) to attend dinner parties and partake in producer-suggested storylines.
· In other Housewives news, did Atlanta's NeNe choke Kim?
· Kevin Costner barely survived a tragic stage collapse at a country music concert this past weekend.
· Somewhere, an executive exists who spent $150 million on the guinea pig action movie G-Force. Never forget.
Here's a recap of everything that happened on last night's Entourage, the fourth installment of a twelve-episode season that will ultimately be jam-packed with the same amount of plot as a typical CSI cold open : Vince's Ferrari movie is pushed back three months, causing him to become amazingly bored. Roll end credits.
Six seasons into a show that hasn't been overly concerned about having "things happen" in about four years, there's really little point in complaining that Vince, E, and the gang don't do much besides lunch on the Ivy patio and needle each other about all the ass/how little ass they're pulling; if we're still watching (and we are, for some reason!), we're getting what we deserve. But given the news that HBO, happy to ensure that another two dozen or so struggling actresses earn their SAG cards for putting in their obligatory time as a Chase sexual conquest, is bankrolling another round of bottle service for the boys for next summer. Rather than being just another voice whining about a once-beloved show's frustrating stagnation, Movieline has some helpful suggestions that would provide Entourage's seventh go-around (and probably last, right? This has got to end eventually, doesn't it?) with the kind of water-cooler moments it's been pathologically avoiding since Aquaman shattered the box office record.
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