James Spader doesn't just make a great lobbyist in in Lincoln. The actor, who provides welcome moments of comic relief as William N. Bilbo — the Democratic operative whose methods of persuasion prove invaluable to the passage of the 13th Amendment — gave an answer befitting a contemporary Beltway arm-twister when I asked him to name his favorite president. more »
Young women bullied by their peers into committing suicide has become a staple of today's news cycle, but as Anna Karenina demonstrates, it's hardly a new phenomenon. Whether you're talking about 19th-century Russian aristocrats or Midwestern teens in the age of Facebook, as Keira Knightley tells me, "The rules of society change, but the way that society works does not." more »
The Twilight film franchise may have worked its way through Stephenie Meyer's books, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's over. Just watch my red-carpet interview with Elizabeth Reaser at Thursday night's New York premiere of Breaking Dawn — Part 2. The actress, who plays Esme Cullen, suggests that there may be more life in store for this undead saga. more »
Guess who's not in Kansas, anymore? That would be James Franco in Oz The Great And Powerful. He plays two-bit magician Oscar Diggs who rides a hot-air balloon into a cyclone and travels from a dusty black-and-white world into a vibrant colorful one populated with munchkins and witches, played by Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis and Michelle Williams. more »
The trailer opens with a gender-bending Alan Cumming meeting a guy at a cabaret, but the frivolity appears to end there. After the pair get together with his closeted lawyer partner, Cumming's Rudy befriends a developmentally disabled adolescent who is being neglected by his mother. The story goes from there in what turns out to be a fight for civil rights and the welfare of a child.
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Can aliens be bigger drama queens than vampires? Next spring will tell. With the last installment of The Twilight Saga opening this weekend, Summit Entertainment has begun priming Twi-Hards for its next Stephenie Meyer project, The Host, which hits the big screen on March 29. more »
The Twilight Saga is finally coming to an end this week as Breaking Dawn Part II sparkles into theaters, which means tonight is the last Hollywood Twilight premiere humankind will see. This saddens me, because Twilight premieres have become one of the great constants of modern culture, at least for the past four years: Hordes of screaming fans will gather, many of them having slept on the ground in Los Angeles for days. I repeat: On the ground. In Los Angeles. That's real dedication.
The air will be thick with hopes and dreams and friendship and vampire marriage proposals. And whether or not said fans actually make it into the theater alongside the idols their devotion and ticket dollars skyrocketed to fame, they will have the best time ever just being there. How many fandoms can claim that sort of eternal, electric energy?
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Don't use the term "killer whale" in front of Marion Cotillard. In her new Oscar contender Rust and Bone, the actress may play a whale trainer who loses her legs to one of the creatures, but at an advance screening of the picture in New York on Thursday, Cotillard told me she prefers the term "orca." Free Willy the movie is not, but that didn't stop Cotillard from bonding with her new aquatic pals.
In my red carpet interview, below, Cotillard also has something to say about Americans who don't watch French films.
R. Kelly is taking his multi-chapter, possibly never-ending R&B hip-hopera, Trapped in the Closet, so super-seriously; the least we can do is return the deliciously campy favor. Watch R. Kelly transform - via prosthetics and a fat suit - into "Randolph," a la Tyler Perry, in a new behind-the-scenes look at Trapped in the Closet, which hits the airwaves on November 23 on IFC. more »
Well, maybe Brad Pitt won't save all of us. As you can see in the first full trailer for Marc Forster's big-budget action pic World War Z (via Apple), a few billion Earthlings will kick the bucket (but will probably reanimate, so there's that) when the undead rise against us. Watch the trailer to get a look at Pitt's shaggy-maned family man hero, who must to leave his wife (Mireille Enos) and their kids to go fight the zombie apocalypse for the sake of humanity in next summer's World War Z.
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Daniel Day-Lewis may specialize in weighty roles, but that doesn't mean he's without a sense of humor. The star of Lincoln cracked up the crowd at the BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia awards on Wednesday when he referenced Clint Eastwood's now-famous empty chair speech at the Republican National Convention this past summer. more »
I'll admit I was a bit iffy on this whole live singing concept in Tom Hooper's epic Les Miserables film adaptation... until now. The new international trailer swells with emotion, as everyone from Hugh Jackman to Anne Hathaway, to Amanda Seyfried, Russell Crowe, and Eddie Redmayne warble Claude-Michel Schönberg's iconic tunes like their Oscar hopes depend on it. Which they do. more »
The critics blurbs in this clip say "romantic comedy" — as does the purple sex-toy scene — but the melancholy soundtrack and the sad, pensive looks on Lizzy Caplan and Alison Brie's faces say bring some Puffs when you see Michael Mohan's Save the Date. more »
Tommy Lee Jones has played a lot of curmudgeonly sons of bitches over the course of his career, but his latest is his something to behold. The actor's portrayal of the rapier-tongued Pennsylvania congressman Thaddeus Stevens is one of the cornerstones of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, and now that Disney has released a clip of one of his key scenes, you can see for yourself why he's generating Oscar buzz. more »
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