"I'm going to suggest something radical: We'll never know whether Grant was or was not gay, and it does not matter. What matters was that his image, for all its perfection, also had its points of flexibility -- living intimately with a man for long stretches of time, doing cute man things together -- that leaves the possibility open. Grant made millions of women swoon, and millions of straight men aspire to his likeness. But he also provided thousands of queer audience members with the hope that famous, successful, high-profile performers and homosexuality were not mutually exclusive, further suggesting straight, high-class masculinity as an elaborate masquerade." [The Hairpin]
Tucked away in this report that Orson's Welles's Citizen Kane Oscar finally sold this week for $861,542, find this depressing revelation: "Underbidder David Copperfield had been eager to acquire the statuette because Welles apparently was something of a magician himself. Copperfield already owns many props from the movie." The winner of the auction has not been identified, but whatever. "Underbidder David Copperfield." Saddest holiday ever. [Deadline]
For those of you who've ever wondered if or how Xenu factors into the more conventional holiday season, along comes this dispatch from the Church of Scientology: "Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard honored the great religious leaders of the past for the wisdom they brought to the world, writing that Scientology shares 'the goals set for Man by Christ, which are wisdom, good health and immortality.' It is in this spirit that Scientologists celebrate the holiday season, whether Christmas, Hanukah [sic], Kwanzaa or any other religious or cultural tradition. [...] In an annual tradition beginning in 1983 when Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard provided a 60-foot Christmas tree as a gift to the people of Hollywood, Winter Wonderland holiday village is erected each year on Hollywood Boulevard as a service to the community." Annnnd now I can't get "Frosty the Thetan" out of my head. [Press release]
Even after the frustration and angst vented by the franchise's erstwhile star, Matt Damon hasn't given up hope of reprising his role as super-spy Jason Bourne: "I think if [Bourne Legacy] doesn't work, we can just ignore it and pretend it didn't happen, and that'd be fine. But I expect that it will work and only help us if we did another one, which I'd love to do." With Paul Greengrass instead of Tony Gilroy, of course, but anyway. Hang your hopes accordingly. [THR]
"There are three reasons to watch a Christmas film. [...] I have the perfect culmination to all three of those scenarios, and it not only involves a shit-ton of novelty songs, but also Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. So here's the truest thing I'll ever tell you: Holiday Inn is the Classic Hollywood Christmas Movie to rule them all, and the $2.99 you'll spend renting it on iTunes is a third of what you'd spend on a glass of wine at a respectable establishment. (That is how I judge expenses: that sparkly Christmas dress costs five G.O.W [glasses of wine]; a ticket to see The Fassbender in the theater costs two.)" [The Hairpin]
Did you know Diane Keaton and Steve Jobs were neighbors once? That could have gone better: "And he starts talking and all he's talking about is the computer thing. How the computer was going to take over the world. And I'm sitting there like, 'OK, right.' And he keeps talking about how everyone is going to have a computer in their life, in their world, in their home. And I'm going, 'Right, Right.' And I never saw him again ever, because obviously I just wasn't prepared for that. I thought, 'Is he nuts?' [...] Can you imagine? What an idiot I was." [Ellen DeGeneres Show via THR]
Don't believe the hype -- yet, anyway: "Studio's [sic] are passing rumors but I'm not sure what I'm doing? I know I'm going to do Pain and Gain early spring but that's it for right now. I'm leaving all my options on the table. I've got several Studio meetings in the next two weeks." [Shoot For the Edit]
A Croatian author has filed a lawsuit suit accusing Angelina Jolie of lifting parts of his 2007 novel for her writing-directing effort In the Land of Blood and Honey, basically arguing that the female protagonist in both works is subject to "being raped continuously by soldiers and officers" before becoming "a servant at the camp headquarters, a duty assumed by very few of the captives." Having seen Blood and Honey, I can tell you this isn't even an especially accurate description of the film or the context of the woman's servitude, but hey. No such thing as bad publicity, etc. etc. [Radar]
Maybe it's more like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Too Soon: "There is also the question of whether or not certain aspects of Sept. 11 -- such as the people who leapt out the tower windows -- should even be dealt with in a fiction film. 'Should you show the jumpers or not?' wonders Angus Kress Gillespie, who teaches a course on the history of Sept. 11 at Rutgers University. 'It's very controversial. It's terrifying, it's horrible, but it needs to be shown. This is not an abstraction that it was a horrible event; it was a horrible event.'" [LAT]
Starting with the magic of Gilda: "I DIE. I die a thousand Classic Hollywood beautiful deaths. There's a pantheon of perfect moments in cinema, and this moment resides there, right between the moment when Paul Heinreid lights Bette Davis' cigarette in Now, Voyager and Claudette Colbert hikes up her skirt on the side of the road in It Happened One Night. (Feel free to add your own classic moments [...], but realize that this one wins by default.) The film doesn't need anything else but that moment, but it one-ups itself with Hayworth singing 'Put the Blame on Mame.' TWICE." It all ends tragically, but still! Go read this. [The Hairpin]
I think it's the best thing ever, but others' mileage seems to vary -- convincingly so, regarding films like The Hangover Part II and The Change-Up: "It's ridiculous; it's like, one minute the skeevy dude in the married dude's body is like 'I'M GOING TO BANG YOUR WIFE' and then he's overcome by feelings and can't and the uptight dude in the player-dude's body is like 'I'M GOING TO BANG THIS HOT WONDERFUL CHICK' and then he just can't because of also his feelings. So... somehow, no one ends up having sex." Hmm. May I suggest Shame? [The Awl]
A day after Movieline launched the unofficial awards campaign on behalf of The Artist's sublime canine co-star Uggie, it's so far, so good: The "Consider Uggie" Facebook page is getting around slowly but surely, and this morning finds the cause featured at the NYT's Carpetbagger awards blog. "He has an impressive list of credits on his own - from Disney fare to Water for Elephants -- and has already been the subject of glowing reviews," writes Melena Ryzik. "And in a silent film, it doesn't matter much that he doesn't, you know, talk." Amen! Keep spreading the word, folks... [NYT]
"'I've noticed that the publicists have started to sit behind me," [Gene Siskel] explained. 'I think they're supposed to spy on my reactions and report back to the studios.' I doubted this was true, but now I became aware of Siskel sitting behind me, possibly to spy on my reactions. So I moved to the back row to outwit the son of a bitch. I picked the end of the row nearest the door, so I could sneak out to the men's room without calling undue attention to myself. Most people have bladders the size of oil drums, but I usually have to pee at least once during a movie. A few of my colleagues share this need, and I am sympathetic while watching them bend over and make a Groucho Marx run in front of the screen in the futile hope that no one will notice them." You relate, right? [Roger Ebert's Blog]
Oldboy producer Roy Lee recently spilled some vague details on Spike Lee's Josh Brolin-starring remake, promising a "darker" retelling of Park Chan-wook's Korean thriller also adapted from the original manga. "It's very similar, but we've added new elements. Or, Mark Protosevich has come up with new elements to it that will throw off the audience who have seen the original movie because there are new characters and new situations that present themselves in a way that changes the story but eventually go in the same direction." Sure, Spike. Let me just go get my hammer... [Collider via Slashfilm]
"As I went around the room, looking for a thumbs up, I saw their faces reluctant to give it to me. So I pulled out the trump card. Michelle Williams. Now my girls are lucky enough to know Michelle Williams and they know her daughter too. She is as sweet to my daughters as she is to her own. When a hair colorist had made a mistake on one of the girls, Michelle did an operation worthy of Bond, James Bond, and got it all sorted and fixed. In my house, that made her a folk hero. And that proved to be the closer." [Huffington Post]
