Happens to the best of us: "'At the beginning people [say], "You’re going to be going to the Oscars," and you’re like, "Whatever, doesn’t matter, don’t think so." But after a while it does penetrate. After a while you’re like, "Anyway, so I’m going to the Oscars…"' He laughs. 'And you start to believe it. And I did. I thought I was going. And then I found out I wasn’t and I was upset. I was very upset by it. The first reaction was "What the fuck…?"' He sounds frustrated that he had let himself get sucked in. 'It’s a vanity thing. It does become important to you. And it shouldn’t.' On reflection, he decided that he had learned something about misplaced priorities. 'A good little lesson.'" [GQ]
"Alan Rickman has signed on to play the legendary owner and founder of CBGB in Randall Miller and Jody Savin’s project revolving the seminal New York rock club. [...] Rickman will play Hilly Kristal, who in the late 1970s sought to create a venue for county, bluegrass and blues music (the 'CBGB' of the name) in New York City. But after acts playing that music were tough to find, Kristal allowed local performers to play. That decision was precipitous, as the club soon became ground zero for rock & roll as well as punk, launching the careers of performers such as The Ramones, Blondie and Patti Smith." On the other hand, this was supposed to shoot last fall; let's hope the Rickman coup pays off for the new June production date. Developing... [THR]
After every accolade, award and box-office accomplishment enjoyed by The Artist over the last year, it's hard to feel too bad for the Weinstein Company's silent-movie juggernaut after this weekend's re-release netted a mere $161,000 on 751 screens — an average of $214 per theater. Uggie wouldn't even write a book for that little. Still, odds are that you ruined Harvey Weinstein's Mother's Day, so at least a few pangs of bitter guilt are in order. Call the guy and apologize, will you? [Box Office Mojo]
"[C]ompare the breaking-water scenes in What to Expect and Showtime's Shameless. In the former, when a character's husband steps in a puddle in the hospital, she responds, 'That's my water, you idiot!' In the latter, a young woman in labor unleashes a string of curses before wondering whether she just urinated on herself. True to that spirit, the Shameless birth scene leaves nothing to the imagination, and the show's props workers devised what co-executive producer Mark Mylod calls a 'prosthetic rig' to simulate crowning: 'It was almost like part of a small tennis ball, really.' [...] 'There wasn't any debate,' Mr. Mylod says. 'It just seemed the obvious thing to do, just because of the whole tenor and tone of our particular show and the liberating circumstances of being on pay cable. If we want to do that, we can do that.'" Now you know. [WSJ]
Only in Hollywood: "In the commentary on the Gremlins 2 DVD, which has been ported over to its Blu-ray (out this week), [director Joe] Dante calls Gremlins 2 'one of the more unconventional studio pictures ever. And if it weren't for the fact that the studio was in dire need of another one of these movies to put into the cans and send to the theaters, I can't conceive of us getting away with this.' He took advantage of that dire need by taking the piss. On that same commentary, [producer Michael] Finnell recalls Warner Bros. head Terry Semel telling them, 'Just come up with something. Whatever you want. It doesn't matter. Between 90 minutes and two hours, call it Gremlins 2, and we'll make it.'" [Gawker]
Look, people: If you keep giving Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer money to make their cheap-o spoof flicks, they're going to keep the lowest common denominator drivel coming. Case in point: The Starving Games, the next in the duo's empire of big screen parodies, will take aim at Lionsgate's mega-hit The Hunger Games with a little something for every fanboy and girl. Variety reports: "Though The Hunger Games will be front and center for many of the jokes, other pics to be pilloried include The Avengers, Sherlock Holmes and the finale of the Harry Potter franchise." Ready, aim, spoof. [Variety]
Alec Baldwin will reportedly head off to Cannes as part of James Toback's next project, an unscripted slice of life featuring the actor as himself, doing all the things Alec Baldwin might do at the world's most venerated, glamorous film festival. Neve Campbell, who will not travel with the team, is said to star as Baldwin's wife; she shot material in New York last week. Sounds great! Though if this just turns out to be a long-form Capital One commercial, I'm going to be pretty pissed. [Forbes via VF]
"Olivier spent his last 30 years as a workaholic, reproducing the same rigorous performance schedule that had characterized his rise to fame. He worked so intensely, and for so long, that many interpreted it as a means of making penance for his behavior toward Leigh. Still, there are dozens of plays, movies, roles, and dalliances this piece hasn’t even touched. I could spend another 4,500 words of your time simply describing his 1960s career, the influence of his filmic Shakespeare, or the dozens of accounts, some more substantial than others, that he was bisexual. But for all of his genius, all of his work in sustaining and rejuvenating the theater before, during, and after World War II, his passion for Leigh — and hers in return — remains his defining feature." [The Hairpin]
Honestly, the part where 10 Things I Hate About You helmer Gil Junger admits he's made more in residuals from the flick than he was paid to direct it kind of explains it all, but: Junger tells Variety he's directing a sequel to his 1999 Heath Ledger-Julia Stiles teen comedy Shakespeare riff, with Captain America's Hayley Atwell starring, "which advances the situations from the original film." Oh, also? It's about suicide. "Two people who go to the same place at the same time to end it. … Their chance meeting is so awkward, so raw, and so funny, they postpone their intentions and go their separate ways." [Variety]
The celebrated Up documentary series that has chronicled 14 Britons every seven years since age 7 is back underway with 56 Up. I repeat: 56 Up. Feel old yet? Though maybe not as old as director Michael Apted: "As long as I'm above ground, I'll carry on,' says 71-year-old Apted when we meet on the 20th floor of ITV's London HQ. 'Maybe if I wasn't above ground, someone else would take it over. Having come so far it seems a pity to just unilaterally stop it unless there is good reason. I've only ever said we'd stop if too many of them pulled out, or people didn't want to watch it any more. But neither of those things has happened.' Producer Claire Lewis, who joined at 28 Up, wonders what will happen when the participants start to die. 'When we lose somebody it'll make the others think very hard about doing it again. I don't know what effect that would have on us and on them. It's very hard watching yourself grow old on screen.'" [The Guardian via The Awl]
God bless TMZ, which not only went digging for the truth about the Great Avengers Shawarma-Joke Caper of 2012 (no spoilers here, but: "At Ro Ro's Chicken — a famed Lebanese joint in Hollywood — the manager says shawarma sales jumped 80% in the days after the movie opened") but also accompanied its findings with a photo of the Marvel superheroes gazing lustily at a Middle Eastern platter that appears to be... not shawarma?
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The influential, Oscar-nominated talent whose breakout year included six roles has taken to her Facebook page to officially pass on Iron Man 3: "My schedule is jammed packed and I can't fit anything else in. The press announced my possible attachment far too soon. I know many of you wanted me to be involved, and I'm so sorry to disappoint you. Hopefully there'll be another Marvel film in my future. Shane Black and everyone on the IM3 team are really wonderful. I'm very excited to see the film when it comes out." Asked for their reactions, every other young actress in Hollywood sighed in unison, "Finally." [Facebook via ComicBookMovie]
The extended Q&A transcript from James Cameron's China-focused chat with the New York Times and The Economist reveals the extent of Cameron's Avatar-tunnel vision. "I’ve divided my time over the last 16 years over deep ocean exploration and filmmaking. I’ve made two movies in 16 years, and I’ve done eight expeditions. Last year I basically completely disbanded my production company’s development arm. So I’m not interested in developing anything. I’m in the Avatar business. Period. That’s it. I’m making Avatar 2, Avatar 3, maybe Avatar 4, and I’m not going to produce other people’s movies for them." Looks like it'll be all Avatar, all the time from here on out, which is... good news? [NYT]
When you get a chance, go read Dennis Hensley's interviews with Elizabeth Berkley and Paul Verhoeven from the days before Showgirls was a cult cause célèbre. It's worth every minute: "Oh my God, I just saw it like a week ago. You have to understand, I’ve been working at this since I was like 5 years old so it was pretty overwhelming. I sat in the screening room by myself. The lights went down and I started to cry because it was just overwhelming at first. I’m such a perfectionist, but a certain point, was able to get lost in the story, which was a good sign to me. I really thought that I was watching another girl." Oh, you wish, honey. [Dennis Hensley via The Hairpin]
The Tourism Promotion Board of the Middle Eastern country of Yemen would like to thank Ewan McGregor and the makers of the romantic dramedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, I'm sure, for inspiring thousands of Brits to consider their own soul-searching retreats to the nation. But you might want to reconsider actually booking that trip, because guess what? There aren't really salmon in the Yemen. And, more importantly: "The Foreign and Commonwealth Office last month issued a red warning over the Yemen, telling visitors to 'avoid all travel to the whole country.' It warns that attacks against western and British interests could be indiscriminate, including targets such as residential compounds, military and oil facilities, and transport and aviation interests." [Telegraph via Movie City News]
