Prolific as The Girlfriend Experience director Steven Soderbergh might be, he'll probably never catch up with the resume of his film's 21-year-old star, Sasha Grey. Sure, Grey sort of cheated -- but 80+ movies is her advantage as one of the world's most in-demand porn actresses. And anyway, none of those carry the weight of Girlfriend, Grey's mainstream breakthrough coming to theaters next week.
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In the most recent segment of his 30-year acting career, Bruce Greenwood has played two U.S. presidents, Truman Capote's lover, and has squared off with no less a force than Will Smith. But the segment starting Friday may yet be the one that comes to define him: J.J. Abrams's Star Trek reboot features Greenwood as Capt. Christopher Pike, the man who plucks young James T. Kirk from his bar-brawling Iowa inertia on the way to intergalactic glory. Not to mention a massive Hollywood franchise with its own sprawling subculture. No pressure, right?
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In the comic melodrama Rudo y Cursi, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna (reunited onscreen for the first time since Y tu mamá también) play the titular soccer hero brothers -- and yes, Y tu mamá fans, that familial link means they don't get it on. The brotherly love in Rudo is much more competitive, a terrain that's familiar to longtime friends Bernal and Luna, not to mention Rudo director Carlos Cuaron (brother of Y tu mamá director Alfonso Cuaron). Over the course of a breezy interview with Movieline, both actors displayed a spirited sparring that was still very much in character, with Cuaron stepping in when necessary to play unconventional referee.
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After seeing Tilda Swinton in nearly a year and a half of mainstream Hollywood fare (including an Oscar win for her panicked corporate cutthroat in Michael Clayton), American audiences have exactly two chances to watch the mercurial star in action in 2009. And each will require a trip to the art house this month: First, her long cameo in Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control (opening today) features Swinton as a film-obsessed cipher in a droll web of intrigue. But the real show unfolds in Julia (opening May 8), director Erick Zonca's acerbic tale of one woman's alcoholism, desperation and ravaged quest for redemption.
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Scott Speedman may never fully escape the shadow of Ben Covington, the college swimmer and brooding heartthrob he played on Felicity, and that's fine with him. Now 33, his squared-off good looks and narrow gaze mellowed by a few character lines, Speedman looks back on his Felicity days as a "a hugely special time in my life." But while opportunities abound to return to series television, the actor has committed himself to establishing a career in feature films, with results ranging from the big-budget ridiculous (he twice played a vampire-romancing werewolf warrior in the Underworld movies) to the indie sublime.
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The Tribeca Marathon officially became thrilling Saturday, when my festival rounds brought me face-to-face with perhaps the event's unlikeliest leading man. I found Gary Coleman -- the Gary Coleman -- killing some time at a pre-premiere party for his film Midgets vs. Mascots, touted by its makers as a "shockumentary" in the vein of Jackass and Borat. The title speaks for itself; a squad of little people including Coleman, porn star Gidget the Midget and others square off against a team of costumed nemeses for a coveted cash prize. Not Oscar material, but amusing enough from the previews available online. Amusing, that is, for seemingly everyone but Gary Coleman.
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Add one more to yesterday's list of noteworthy Tribeca Film Festival viewing: Outrage, director Kirby Dick's documentary expose about closeted gay politicians. But not just any closeted gay politicians, but those whose conservative leanings prompt their allegiance to virulently anti-gay policy. Take Idaho congressman Larry Craig, arrested for soliciting sex in a men's bathroom, yet who voted against HIV/AIDS support 11 times in almost 20 years. Or Charlie Crist, the Florida governor who advocated a gay-marriage ban in his state despite leaving a trail of male lovers throughout his political rise. Outrage follows that trail among others, compiling evidence, experts and other testaments to the hypocrisies compromising gay rights nationwide.
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A pulpy, pulsating morsel of B-movie pop, Fighting reunites director Dito Montiel and actor Channing Tatum for the tale of a struggling small-town transplant who stumbles into contender status on New York's underground fighting circuit. It doesn't hurt young Shawn MacArthur's chances that he encounters one catalyst after another: the hustler turned de facto manager Harvey (Terrence Howard); the beautiful club waitress (Zulay Henao) who's closer to him than he thinks; and archnemesis Evan Hailey (Brian White), the mixed martial arts champ who just happened to initiate Shawn's falling out with his father years before. All too convenient? Of course. But that's only part of the story.
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On paper, at least, it's a perfect, polarizing storm: Mike Tyson as told to James Toback. A portrait of the artists as old men, hustler on hustler, mapless, searching. And upon their delivery from the sultry swamp of compulson, the record of their journey. Pull up a chair, you gotta hear this, ignore at your peril. Believe it, though? Maybe. Maybe. It's the most these two old friends could hope for with Tyson, as evocative and infuriating a documentary as they come, and as sincere an effort as either lost soul could command.
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Though many directors have tried to mimic a grindhouse aesthetic with the luxury of a ton of money, directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are building their Crank series on the two things an actual low budget can best provide: ingenuity and innovation. As they prepare to release Crank: High Voltage today, both men talked to Movieline about their dangerous camera setups (handled by the directors themselves), the choice to shoot the film on consumer-grade cameras, and where they plan to go from here (hint: it won't involve the Josh Brolin-starring Jonah Hex, which they recently departed). Oh, and Corey Haim. Naturally.
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Better known for a heretical fashion sense and red carpet ubiquity than her lengthy acting resume, we thought it was time to start taking Bai Ling a little more seriously. She has two movies in the pipeline that we absolutely want to see: hyperkinetic action-trash romp Crank: High Voltage, which opens this Friday, and the upcoming Love Ranch -- Taylor Hackford's retelling of the creation of Nevada's first legal brothel, co-starring Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci.
She showed up promptly and cheerfully for lunch at a crowded outdoor cafe on the Eastside, dressed, somewhat disappointingly, in a tasteful black raincoat over babydoll dress. She looked cute. Over a bowl of chef's salad the size of her head (which she steadily devoured throughout the course of the interview), the actress was relaxed and forthcoming on just about any topic we threw at her. From her tabloid-friendly dalliance with Mickey Rourke to her infamous LAX arrest, Bai talked. And we listened.
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Say what you will about the Rush Hour franchise and anything else in Brett Ratner's cinematic oeuvre, but never accuse the guy of not having taste. The 40-year-old director recently plucked a handful of out-of-print film books from his home library, giving them a long-overdue revival under his new Rat Press imprint. Among them: Jim, filmmaker James Toback's 1971 memoir about his tense, orgiastic days living with football great Jim Brown; and Lawrence Grobel's expansive interviews with Marlon Brando and producer Robert Evans. Each approaches their subjects' legacies with wit, candor and unparalleled access, revealing perspectives that Ratner says have influenced him -- and should influence others -- for years.
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Though she's played some forbidding characters on-screen (including her breakout role in The Devil Wears Prada), it's easy to fall for Emily Blunt. For me, affection came instantly over lunch at the Chateau Marmont as Blunt picked up a menu and cried out, "Arugula and bacon-wrapped dates! Have you had them?"
"Yes," I said. "Bacon-wrapped anything is--"
"Awesome. I know."
A woman after my own heart. And Blunt's clever summation of the actor-ridden Chateau--"It's a bit like a drama school party, isn't it?"--didn't hurt either.
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Admit it: when you heard that Drew Barrymore was being cast as Little Edie Beale in HBO's Grey Gardens (based on the story of Jackie O's eccentric cousins that was immortalized by a 1975 Maysles Bros. documentary of the same name), you were a bit skeptical that she could pull it off. It's OK--so was writer/director Michael Sucsy. He talked to Movieline about how the project got started and what Barrymore (who went on to give a knockout performance) did that finally impressed him.
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Of all the heavy metal legends to ever cause a stir in Times Square, Anvil drummer Robb Reiner is likely the first to do so by drawing comparisons to Zorro. But there he was on 42nd Street, a few minutes removed from an interview on MTV -- resplendent in his customary black leather jacket and skullcap, from the latter of which spilled a coarse, jet-black mane of hair that caught the attention of schoolkids awaiting their Broadway matinees.
"Crazy," said Sacha Gervasi, the band's friend and former roadie, who took in the scene with Reiner's bandmate Steve "Lips" Kudlow. "Just fucking crazy."
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