Drive sound editor Lon Bender, up for the Oscar against The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and War Horse, on director Nicolas Refn's unusual sound requests: “In the sound world, there often is a propensity to want, at least for things like car chases, guns or weapons, to use sounds of the real weapons or the real cars. But when I went to Nic to talk about car engines and the specificity of the kind of cars they were, he said, ‘I don’t even have a driver’s license and I’ve never driven a car. I don’t care what they sound like! They just have to sound exciting.’” [NYT]
"What the box office success of the re-released Special Editions told Hollywood is that the only way to create another global phenomenon is to make a new STAR WARS movie. 1997 was the start of the modern-day fanboy/geek culture that now runs Hollywood. Fanboy culture (Comic-Con, Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Rings, J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, Marvel comics, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Glee, Aint-It-Cool-News, Attack of the Show) is a groupthink mentality that claims to be democratic, what with its we-know-what’s-best-because-we’re-fans ethic, but is really pop culture fascism. And it’s the fans’ demand (remember, fan is short for fanatic), that led to Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace — the most hyped (and possibly most reviled) blockbuster in movie history." [Some Came Running]
Minutes ago came this terrible reminder from Moviefone: "Good news and bad news: awards season only lasts another five days — which means you've only got five more days to bask in the glow of Uggie the dog. [...] He's the dog you love to love; after all, despite Martin Scorsese's campaigning, you don't see Blackie from Hugo with a Facebook fan page numbering nearly 12,000 members." Or with his own cookies! Anyway, this calls for a slideshow. Bring Kleenex. [Moviefone]
I mean, obviously: "Now, anyone who's ever been grossed out in hindsight by the big smooch Leia gives Luke in A New Hope (whose renaming here is way too hysterical for us to give away) be forewarned: The incestuous high-jinks go way, way further in this version. For one, in an effort to earn her freedom, Leia (Allie Haze) blows daddy-o Darth Vader (Lexington Steele—speaking of which, at what point exactly did Anakin turn bla ... never mind). For two, Luke (Seth Gamble) joins Han in double-teaming Sis as celebration of blowing up the Death Star. [...] And the effects! Yes, we've seen a lot of highly impressive effects in adult productions over the last several years, but this undeniably and unequivocally sets a new bar. The lightsabers, the battle ships, the droids, the Death Star ... if you didn't know any better, you'd think someone from Lucasfilm actually had a hand in crafting this." [AVN, link NSFW]
Ahem! Billy Bob Thornton wants to clear something up: "I would never make a movie about my best friend, either, or any other ex of mine, or something. That's not my bag. I don't mind exposing myself, but I'm certainly not gonna make a movie about someone else. [...] If she came to me, or any of my friends came to me, and said, 'I would like for you to write a film about these experiences I’ve had,' then I would consider that. But no — we don’t even know how that happened." Alas. [Vulture]
"When he stepped down as Oscar producer in November over the use of an anti-gay slur, Brett Ratner committed to work with GLAAD on issues pertaining to LGBT images in Hollywood. Now the media advocacy group announced a new video campaign, which will be produced and directed by Brett Ratner. [...] The upcoming video series will feature Hollywood celebrities, athletes, musicians and politicians ‘coming out of the closet’ as supporters of equality." I'll Brett you're GLAAD that's settled, amirite? Sigh. [Deadline]
It'll cost you, but hey! Good cause! "In conceiving the actor’s characterization of the iconic character, Mr. Oldman conferred with director Tomas Alfredson and costume designer Jacqueline Durran over just which would be the right pair of glasses for Smiley to wear throughout. He found the desired pair in the U.S. and brought them to England for filming there. The glasses up for auction are the ones that Smiley acquires and begins wearing in the film, after the prologue and flashbacks, for the duration of the 1970s-era story as he tracks a double agent compromising Britain’s highest espionage ranks." [Charitybuzz]
Whatever you say, Nicolas Cage: "I think that if you go about making movies to win Oscars, you're really going about it the wrong way. I think that it's... right now, what I'm excited about is trying to create a [pauses] kind of a cultural understanding through my muse that is part of the zeitgeist that isn't motivated by vanity or magazine covers or awards. It's more, not countercultural, but counter-critical. I would like to find a way to embrace what Led Zeppelin did, in filmmaking." [Moviefone]
Because one good Lynchian turn deserves another: "I found myself intensifying the experience of Jeffrey's scenes with Dorothy with a kind of conceptual narcotic inhaler: it involved, ahem, imagining Isabella Rossellini was her mother and that Kyle MacLachlan was actually playing this love scene with Ingrid Bergman. And it is very easy to do – not merely because Rossellini looks and sounds so much like Bergman, but because of the film's intense noir atmosphere. Perhaps I need therapy. But there is something in the infectious and mesmeric weirdness of David Lynch which makes it feel all right." [The Guardian]
"I hated this so much. It also has a very good shot of winning." [The Awl]
Speaking with MTV, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirmed general details on a fourth planned movie in Paramount's Oscar-nominated Transformers series, which will indeed see Michael Bay returning behind the camera. (First, however, he may finally shoot his bodybuilding crime pic Pain & Gain.) Though it's expected we'll see main robot characters like Optimus Prime return, summer of 2014's Transformers 4 -- Trans4mers? Tr4nsformers? -- will be a reboot, di Lorenzo says, because of course we need a Transformers reboot already. Of course. [MTV]
This should be interesting: Variety's Gregg Goldstein reports from Berlinale that Billy Bob Thornton is working on a script for an "'ethereal' road movie" entitled And Then We Drove. Based partly on experiences from his time with ex Angelina Jolie, Thornton says "[it's about] a guy who's on a road trip and picks up this girl along the way, and what happens to them. It's about the question of life: 'What is this? Where do I fit in?'" Or, maybe: Honey, Have You Seen My Vial of Blood? Thornton, who premiered his latest directorial effort Jayne Mansfield's Car in Berlin, will also direct. [Variety]
"Over the past several days Warner Bros.' California headquarters has received nearly 400 individual sheets of paper adding up to the more than 16,000 signatures the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) collected in 2010 and 2011 to make all Harry Potter chocolate Fair Trade. The pages were sent by more than 200 members of the HPA from across the country, as a part of the 'Not in Harry’s Name Campaign,' to show WB how important Fair Trade chocolate is to fans of the Harry Potter series." From the "Muggle Howlers" to the Fair Trade chocolate frogs, it gets better. [HPA]
"There was one particular time I knew I wasn’t going to win, and when they’d train the camera on me as one of the losers, I wanted to be able to rip open my tuxedo shirt and just have stenciled on my chest, 'Oh, shit.' But my wife wouldn’t let me do it." While he's at it, here's more vivid imagery from Hoffman recalling his days rooming with fellow Oscar winner Robert Duvall: "One time he came home when a girl and I were taking a shower, and the next thing you know he had taken off all his clothes, got in with us, put his hand out, and said, 'Hey, I’m Dusty’s roommate, Bob Duvall. Can I have the soap?'" [Maxim via Moviefone]
"Production on the movie was delayed last winter with Legendary reportedly looking to trim the $100 million-plus budget by 10 to 20 percent. The intricate special effects needed to bring a celestial battle between heaven and hell to life required a substantial investment in technology that made the cuts impossible, the individual told TheWrap. Even the addition of rising stars like Bradley Cooper, Casey Affleck and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter actor Benjamin Walker was not enough to secure a greenlight." No shit. [TheWrap]
