While discussing the presidential biopic that he is gearing up to shoot in Richmond this fall, Steven Spielberg described what he does not want Lincoln to be. The 2012 title will "not [be] a battlefield movie. There are battles in it, and being in Virginia, we have access to those historic battlefields." Additionally, "the movie will be purposely coming out after next year's election. I didn't want it to become political fodder." On the other hand, Lincoln will chronicle "the great work Abraham Lincoln did in the last months of his life." The drama stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president of the United States alongside Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and John Hawkes. [Orlando Sentinel]
Variety's Showblitz reports that youngster Liam Hemsworth, who gets his biggest break since dating Miley Cyrus in next year's The Hunger Games, has been cast in the sprawling ensemble of The Expendables 2. Wait, you say -- isn't he, like, four or five decades too young for this film? At 21, Hemsworth is quite a bit less wrinkly than his co-stars. Let's start guessing now who he'll play: Sly's son? A flashback version of Jean-Claude Van Damme? Mickey Rourke's bicep? [Variety]
OK, let's try this again: Two years after Roman Polanski's journey to Zurich to collect a lifetime achievement award turned into jail stay followed by months of international legal and diplomatic intrigue, the 78-year-old director will return to the city's film festival to finally receive his honor in person. The Sept. 27 ceremony will precede the world premiere of what has been identified only as a "full-length non-fiction film." Any guesses? [Variety]
"Originally, Michael Douglas was supposed to star in [the movie]. And he walked away. At that point I was left there with my then-wife, Geena Davis and myself, and a company that was already belly-up. We begged to be let go. We begged that we didn't have to make this movie." In fact, the couple was so frightened that they sunk their own money into a last-ditch script rewrite. "We felt that a pirate movie with a female lead was suicidal, but we were contractually obligated. [...] I personally spent a million dollars of my own money, I hired Mark Norman, who had won an Oscar for writing Shakespeare in Love." Even so, Cutthroat Island turned out to be one of the biggest box office disasters of all time and sunk Carolco production company. Lesson learned! [KCRW via SlashFilm]
"He asked about my character in How Do You Know, and I told him I'm a guy who gets into some hot water, and though his intentions are good he gets indicted by the government for possible violations. And Obama says, 'Oh, so you're playing a congressman.' And I was like, 'No, actually I work for my dad in this corporation.' I'm trying to explain, and Obama interrupts me and says, 'It was a joke.' I just felt so stupid. Of course it was a joke, and it's actually a pretty good one. I'm normally pretty good at catching them. If you're not the fucking President of the United States, I can usually identify when you're joking." Now you know. [Playboy]
"I wanted to do a portrait film with extended takes. Smoking came into it later, as the ploy to get people to stand still and not be totally conscious of being filmed, although a big part of Twenty Cigarettes is that very self-consciousness of a person in front of a camera and how that changes over time. Cigarettes also have this built-in duration and people will smoke at a different rate, and they'll smoke the whole cigarette or part of the cigarette. Smoking has such a stigma now, especially in the U.S., so I thought it would be interesting to make a film where I won't have any value judgment at all on smoking." Sorry! This has NC-17 written allllll over it. [NYT]
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If you've been wondering whether Megan Fox, the Transformers bombshell who dared to compare director Michael Bay to Hitler, has seen Dark of the Moon after being replaced by pouty pin-up Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, the answer is no. "I haven't seen it yet, but I will see it," Fox told Moviefone. "I mean, if they hadn't been hitting me so hard on the press tour, I would have gone to the theater. [...] I love Shia to death; I love him unconditionally. And I love that crew. [...] I want to see it for them. I know it looked amazing in the trailer." [Moviefone]
Carrie Fisher would not approve: "Mistakes are a drag, because you get in the area of regret and self-pity. I don't like to linger in this zone. Obviously, drug use is a huge mistake. So I've made some bad choices. That's reflected in the Princess Leia thing. I do not take it on. Me having a tantrum in the corner for my cut of Star Wars toothpaste? I don't want to get into it. Every so often, I wonder if Natalie Portman is getting more money than the none I'm getting. If she's holding a check for Princess Amidala's likeness in one hand and her Oscar in the other, that would piss me off." [The Daily Beast]
That was fast: "Mel Gibson has shown nothing but antagonism and disrespect to Jews. [...] Casting him as a director or perhaps as the star of Judah Maccabee is like casting Madoff to be the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or a white supremacist as trying to portray Martin Luther King Jr. It's simply an insult to Jews." [THR]
"Even with all the Norbit-level garbage he's been in, all the shit that he's done to hurt his career (like when he stormed out of the Academy Awards after not winning the Best Supporting Actor award in 2007), I still root for Eddie Murphy, hoping he'll return to the glory days of Beverly Hills Cop and Trading Places and Delirious, the same way I still listen to every Weezer album, hoping they'll record one more song as good as 'Jamie.'" Totally fair. Will you settle for Beverly Hills Cop 4? [SplitSider]
Let this be a cautionary tale for all baristas in the New York metropolitan area: If you mouth off to Alec Baldwin, he will report you on Twitter. "Starbucks on 93 and B'way. Uptight Queen barrista [sic] named JAY has an attitude problem." You've been warned. [@AlecBaldwin]
Nick Broomfield's documentary Sarah Palin: You Betcha!, which premieres this week at the Toronto Film Festival, has made a domestic theatrical deal with Freestyle Releasing. The crowd-funded film is said to scrub away the sheen of the miserably received pro-Palin doc The Undefeated, trickling into limited release in New York and L.A. on Sept. 30 -- not long after when the ex-governor's long-rumored presidential bid would likely launch, if it launches at all. Intrigue! [Deadline]
After former Heroes co-star Greg Grunberg, who has an epileptic son, tweeted his outrage over a joke in the recent Tower Heist trailer referring to Ben Stiller as "little seizure boy," director Brett Ratner issued an apology and has reportedly asked Universal to alter the film's marketing. Grunberg tweeted his thanks and lifted "my personal boycott of ur hilarious film." No truth to the rumor Grunberg attempted to leverage his grudge in pursuit of Oscar-hosting duties, though presenting is probably not out of the question. [THR]
Due to the four-day holiday frame, Sunday's standard Weekend Receipts feature will not be seen today. Please return to this space on Monday for a full reading of Labor Day at the box office, and refer to our earlier dispatch for the preliminary figures shaping up the flaccid competition. (Spoiler alert: The Help wins! Again!) See you tomorrow!
Dear Reader: Please take a moment and issue a hearty welcome to the esteemed Alison Willmore, a fine critic and film journalist who this week joins the Movieline family. You can find Alison's first ML review, for The Debt, here, with more to follow in the weeks and months ahead. She is a longtime contributor to IFC, the AV Club, and numerous other publications, and she will be helping out as Stephanie Zacharek reports from the Venice and Toronto film festivals and Michelle Orange takes short leave for a book project. We are thrilled to have Alison aboard; please say hello!
