"I met you once for a handshake and I was terrified," Darren Aronofsky told Clint Eastwood during their Tribeca Talks Directors Series discussion on Saturday. "I’m still a little terrified." more »
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 »
It looks like Clint Eastwood is facing another empty space, but this time the repercussions could hit the wallet. Beyoncé Knowles has quit his forthcoming remake of A Star is Born - and it's even for the second time. The musical take on the well-known tale has been made three times by Hollywood.
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Three new titles essentially scored the number one spot, but they topped a very anemic box office that did not have any titles score anything above $13 million. The top 10 added up to almost $73.5 million, a bit of an improvement over last week's $65.36 million, but still slow. End of Watch grossed $13 million, on par for director David Ayer's previous effort. House at the End of the Street also grossed $13 million, but in more theaters than Watch. And Clint Eastwood's latest Trouble with the Curve bowed with just over $12.7 million.
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Clint Eastwood is not the type of movie star to disappear into a role, especially not at this point in his career. He's more icon than actor, and a grumpy, bristly icon at that. Tonewise, there's not actually that much separating the improvised shtick Eastwood offered to the Republican National Convention in August and the scripted routine (by writer Randy Brown) he goes through at the start of Trouble With The Curve. On the small screen he addressed an empty chair. On the big one he talks to his penis, which is not cooperating with him in his morning micturition. In both cases, he's gruffly displeased. more »
Also in Friday morning's round-up of news briefs, Jesse Eisenberg has tapped Vanessa Redgrave for an Off-Broadway play. A judge has ruled on a request to close Innocence of Muslims video. And a look at the Specialty offerings coming out this weekend.
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Producer Avi Lerner dropped a handful of big names when asked which action heavyweights are being courted for the inevitable Expendables 3; I'm willing to bet at least one of them (*cough* Snipes *cough*) takes him up on the offer. "We've approached Clint Eastwood to be one of the guys, we've got a character in mind for him," Lerner told Total Film. "We're talking to Harrison Ford. [And we want] Wesley Snipes when he comes back from prison. I'll give you one more name, we've got Nicolas Cage to play [one of the characters]... And we're going to bring Mickey Rourke back, if he won’t be too crazy." Which begs the question: When has Mickey Rourke not been "too crazy?" Is he still Mickey Rourke if he isn't acting just a little insane? [Total Film]
Also in Tuesday afternoon's round-up of news briefs, Tribeca Film's War Witch has been selected to represent Canada in the Oscars race. CBS has set a date for the People's Choice Awards. And Gong Li will star as a Chinese Empress in a new U.S.-China co-production.
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Making his first press appearance since that headline-grabbing Republican National Convention speech, Clint Eastwood laughed off his rambling, off-the-cuff missive to an invisible Obama. “It didn’t get the response I wanted,” joked the 82 year-old actor and filmmaker at a press conference for his upcoming baseball flick Trouble With The Curve, “because I was hoping they’d nominate me.”
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Days after his empty chair speech made Clint Eastwood a polarizing symbol of the Republican National Convention, hometown paper The Carmel Pine Cone scored an exclusive follow-up with the 82 year-old former Mayor. His explanation? He made it up on the fly moments before taking the stage. You don't say! "They vet most of the people, but I told them, 'You can’t do that with me, because I don’t know what I’m going to say'... There was a stool there, and some fella kept asking me if I wanted to sit down. When I saw the stool sitting there, it gave me the idea. I’ll just put the stool out there and I’ll talk to Mr. Obama and ask him why he didn’t keep all of the promises he made to everybody." [Carmel Pine Cone via USA Today]
Also in Thursday morning's round-up of new briefs, the Academy is set to honor four at its annual Governor's Awards dinner. Toronto's When I Saw You lands distribution. And new Clint Eastwood film is headed to the Tokyo International Film Festival.
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As they used to say in my hometown, Kal Penn knocked Clint Eastwood's dick in the dirt Tuesday night with a smart — and subtly smart-alecky — celebrity turn at the podium on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.
In contrast to 82-year-old Eastwood's aimless — and heartless — speech in support of Mitt Romney, Penn, 35, gave a focused, funny speech that, like the Harold & Kumar franchise, proved to be a lot smarter than it's stoner-targeted marketing campaign advertised. (Actually, I think there's an argument to be made that stoners are some of the sharpest cultural consumers on earth, but that's an argument for another day.) more »
Also in Friday morning's round-up of news briefs, Sylvester Stallone's son died of 'natural causes.' The Academy sets initial deadlines for awards consideration and more…
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Clint Eastwood made Twitter's Day — or at least its night. The veteran actor and filmmaker's bizarre, aimless speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Thursday night — to a chair that purportedly contained an invisible President Obama — brought out plenty of celebrity tweeters on the social media site. more »
Clint Eastwood has starred in and/or directed some of the smartest, most thought-provoking movies I've seen in the last 10 years. And that's making it very hard for me to get my head around his trite, addled performance at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.
I'm not bitching about Eastwood's politics. I'm pretty certain that I don't share his ideology, but I can't help but respect someone who's not afraid to be politically unpopular in largely liberal Hollywood. more »
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