When NPR decided to censor its review of Outrage so as not to name the closeted politicians profiled in the documentary, Movieline discovered two incidents where the organization's cited ethics policy -- that NPR would not comment on the rumors about a public person's sexuality -- had recently been broken. In summary: though NPR was too squeamish to address Outrage's allegation that Sen. Larry Craig (arrested, as you might remember, for homosexual lewd conduct) is gay, the network had no problem speculating on the putative homosexuality of entertainers like Queen Latifah and Adam Lambert.
Now, the network's ombudsman and executive editor are weighing in on the network's double standard.
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It was the skull-collision heard 'round the world: the unstoppable noggin of a huge television action star crunching into the immovable nose of a top New York fashion designer. Since then, tongues have not stopped wagging about what's being referred to at Cannes as "l'affair headbutt" (pronounced ed-BOOT). But until now, the raging bull himself -- the man who'd allow nothing, not even a pushy fashionista, to get between Brooke Shields and her Coke & 7s -- has remained coolly silent.
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· Tim Gunn will don Iron Man's suit for an upcoming Marvel comic book. We'll get excited when Michael Kors is tapped to play Pepper Potts.
· Yes, yes, we know: Clay Aiken is determined to trash the goodwill earned by his 30 Rock cameo by daring to criticize sacred gay Adam Lambert.
· SPOILER ALERT! Here's your look at the computer-generated cameo from Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator Salvation.
· Scarlett Johansson is releasing her second album: a series of duets with Pete Yorn that she recorded two years ago.
· Fringe producer Jeff Pinkner really wishes there was a "do not like" button for fired star Kirk Acevedo's Facebook status update.
The first pictures from M. Night Shyamalan's "no twists, no trees" comeback, The Last Airbender, have been released to USA Today. Not a lot of surprises, since the film's look is heavily influenced by the cartoon it's based on (and incidentally, am I the only one who immediately hums the theme song to Mysterious Cities of Gold when reading about this project?). Oh, but there is one unpleasant revelation in this paragraph about Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel, who plays the film's villain. See if you can find it:
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For Rachel Weisz's extraordinary performance alone, The Brothers Bloom is worth seeing once. And now filmmaker Rian Johnson is hoping that a talky experiment of his might be worth seeing the con-man dramedy a second time.
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Thanks to French Premiere (via The Playlist), we're able to bring you three clips of Antichrist, the Cannes sensation directed by bad boy auteur Spencer Pratt. Wait, we mean Lars von Trier. Unlike the rest of the film, these three scenes are totally safe-for-work, and admit it: you're a little disappointed. Us, too -- the self-eating fox who announces "Chaos reigns" (sadly, not included here) is totally going to be our new site mascot when this comes out. So adorbs!
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Michael Eisner hasn't lost a step since leaving Disney four years ago. Unless, that is, you count his acquisition of the floundering Topps Card Co. in 2007, or his odd multimedia efforts to revive the brand. (An office comedy about baseball cards! Genius!) But no matter how strange the mogul's detour looks on paper, you can't deny his singular vision -- especially today, now that we know he's planning a movie based on bubble gum.
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· 600 SAG members attended a "raucous town hall meeting" Thursday at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel, where Alan Rosenberg loyalists gave the deposed leader a standing ovation while booing his interim replacement David White. Former SAG president Ed Asner then compared the potential impact of the proposed deal to the Holocaust, earning the star harsh criticism for the comparison -- but not nearly as harsh as the boos that greeted his shameless plug for Up, which he called "the least Auschwitzy time you could possibly have at the movies. Take the kids!" [Variety]
More Ink after the jump!
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Welcome back to Movieline Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and franchised to within an inch of its life at the movies. This week offers an embarrassment of mass-market riches and at least a couple art-house gems for anyone wanting to spend some of the holiday weekend indoors; let's break through the bottleneck after the jump.
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· Local L.A. comedian and actress Suzi Barett put together this video letter to a friend thinking about moving to the big city, and in doing so has tapped into thousands of frustrated Angeleno psyches. It's like the travelogue equivalent of rooting through your closet and screaming to no one in particular how you have nothing to wear. Goddamn hilarious viral videos.
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Forget all the speculation about Adam Lambert's sexuality. (We mean it! Forget! He's dead now, there's nothing we can do, we have to keep moving!) The new hot is-he-or-isn't-he question is this: Is the fat kid from Up supposed to be Asian? Let's investigate!
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Oh, those two crazy kids Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn! For some people, renewing one's vows means holding a second ceremony for family and friends. For the Penns, it means issuing a frantic takeback on divorce papers. The Milk actor has dismissed the impending legal separation case against his wife, and People reminds us that this isn't their first trip to the fake divorce rodeo:
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"This is the hottest Christmas ever," Jim Carrey observed today before an appreciative group of journalists baking beneath the noonday sun on a platform at L.A.'s Union Station. To give you a sense of the weirdness afoot, just minutes before, four carolers decked in layers of Victorian winterwear had regaled us in a cheerful rendition of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," as a light flurry of chemical-based snow-product filled the air.
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· For all the tension and agita over last night's Idol finale, it was still the lowest-rated ever in key demos. Clearly, the Nielsens are homophobic.
· When asked by Vanity Fair which living person he most despises, Alec Baldwin (perhaps retiring Kim Basinger and her lawyer to his Most-Hated Hall of Fame) responded, "The person who leaked Christian Bale's audiotape."
· Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attended a Cannes party surrounded by eight bodyguards. Was Maddox off-duty?
· Russell Brand would like to see gay marriage legalized in Las Vegas, so that he might marry MTV reporter Josh Horowitz.
· RunPee.com is supposed to tell you during which boring part you can safely leave a movie to use a restroom. Genius concept, middling execution (its reader submissions tend toward, "Leave after five minutes when you realize you shouldn't have bought your ticket sike !!1!!")
