In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Older and wiser

    Hope Davis’s recent complaint about the issue of Hollywood ageism, prompted by being offered characters well over her actual age, seems to have struck a bit of a chord this week. The Guardian’s discussion of the matter was also recently picked up on in the New York Times, while Cinematical contributed to the discussion by celebrating Julia Roberts’ willingness to acknowledge her over-40 status in “Duplicity.”

    Coincidentally enough, the issue also crops up in a recent Guardian interview with the delicious Catherine Keener. Ostensibly to publicise Michael Winterbottom’s “Genova” (a sadly rather negligible work, though Keener is stellar is always), it’s more of a reflective career profile, opening with the staggering (to me, anyway) revelation that she is 50 years old. (Seriously?!) Here, she describes the pleasures of ageing as a character actress rather than as a movie star:

    “Interesting characters are pretty rare if you really want to be the lead. That’s the usual complaint of actresses my age, and they’re not wrong. They depend on you being beautiful. Since I’m not cast for my physicality, I’m not that interested in those parts. I find that playing so many characters in so many films is a way to stay in the moment.”

    She says she feels sisterly towards other women actors her age, and would concur that Hollywood remains ageist and sexist, especially when it comes to big-budget material. Somehow, she has found a niche that avoids these traps. She despairs a bit of the new generation of women coming up: “Everyone seems so frigging young and naive. They had some survey of younger women and they asked them what they aspired to be. The most popular answer was to be the assistant to a movie star – not the movie star, but the assistant!”

    Yeah, as if Catherine Keener isn’t sexy. Anyway, she’s a really smart, engaging interviewee; read the rest here. Meanwhile, with Michelle Pfeiffer shortly to appear on our screens as Rupert Friend’s decades-older seductress in “Cheri,” something tells me this isn’t the last we’ll hear on the “older women in Hollywood” issue in the months to come.

  • ‘Mysteries of Pittsburgh’ trailer

    Am I the only one who had completely forgotten that “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” was even coming out in two weeks’ time? Read into that what you will, but you’d expect the adaptation of a novel as successful and widely beloved as Michael (“Wonder Boys”) Chabon’s 1988 debut to be a bigger deal.

    Still, that’s what happens when you hand it to the writer-director of “Dodgeball” and cast the yet-to-ignite likes of Sienna Miller. And its reviews at last year’s Sundance fest didn’t exactly set the world alight. Neither, for me, does this trailer. File this under “wait and see.”

  • Time for the below-the-liners

    Jeff Wells got the following from a tipster following yesterday’s news that the Oscars will be bumped a few weeks to avoid the 2010 Winter Olympics:

    The reason for the new Oscar date…is that a lot of the below-the-line [guys] who work the Oscars will be working the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies in Vancouver and will be out of the country during the ramp-up to the show. They just need the time.

    Makes sense to me.

  • Enough already

    Right, so Michael Sheen obviously ignored my career advice to lay off the biopics for a while. That’s okay. He’s a lot more famous and successful than I am, so I guess he probably knows best.

    But seriously, a third go-round playing Tony Blair in yet another factional Peter Morgan-scripted project? If you haven’t heard already, “The Special Relationship” is a planned BBC/HBO collaboration covering the political allegiance between Blair and Bill Clinton at the tail-end of the century. From the Guardian:

    Michael Sheen is due to return as the former prime minister for the third time, alongside Helen McCrory, reprising her Cherie Blair from The Queen. Dennis Quaid is attached to play the ex-US president, reportedly beating Russell Crowe, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin and Tim Robbins to the role. Julianne Moore is lined up to play Hillary Clinton. Morgan intends to sidestep casting of Monica Lewinsky by showing the former intern solely in archive footage, including video of her closed-door testimony to Congress.

    Sure, Sheen has that particular impression nailed, but what does he (or we, for that matter) stand to gain from reprising it once more? He’s a gifted actor, no doubt — but I can’t be the only one who’d like to see him expand his range a little. (In any case, wouldn’t it be interesting to see another actor’s interpretation of the role?)

    Much the same, in my opinion, goes for Peter Morgan, who is apparently set to make his directorial debut with this. I’d love to see his evident grace and wit as a dramatist put to work on something loose and fictitious — perhaps even more genre-based. Anyway, kvetching aside, I’m sure this will be a typically classy, intelligent effort. Just wake me when it’s over.

  • ‘Away We Go’ one-sheet

    Same jaunty home-made aesthetic as the trailer. And hey, who knew Jonathan Franzen was playing romantic leads these days? Oh, wait.

    Anyway, I like it, but I’m still having trouble squaring such imagery with the tag of “from director Sam Mendes.” Is this coming from a genuine place inside him, or did he think, “Hmm, I think I’ll try my hand at one of those gentle indie comedies that have done quite well lately?” Nothing wrong with that. Kudos for the change of pace, either way.

  • Ang Lee’s ‘Taking Woodstock’ gets a trailer

  • Embarrassment of riches

    Remember when, a few weeks ago, Freida Pinto was automatically declared Woody Allen’s new “muse” simply because she had committed to his next film?

    Well, it seemed premature then — and now that none other than Nicole Kidman has been added to a cast that already included Naomi Watts, I think it’s fair to say the focus (not to mention the pressure) is off Pinto.

    Even by Allen’s own lofty casting standards, Kidman is quite a coup. As usual, we have no other details of the project, but I would love to see Kidman let loose in a comedy for a change. With Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas also in the mix, it’s certainly an attractive line-up. But then, when does one of Woody’s films not look good on paper?

    (UPDATE: Thanks to diligent commenter Billyboy, I can inform you that the film is “a dramatic comedy which is set in London (and) revolves around the romantic intrigues, sexual desires and ambitions of a group of people.” Business as usual for the man, then — not that we’d want it any other way.)

  • Ebert ‘Knowing’ rave

    From the big guy’s four-star review of the film, right at the top:

    “Knowing” is among the best science-fiction films I’ve seen — frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome. In its very different way, it is comparable to the great “Dark City,” by the same director, Alex Proyas. That film was about the hidden nature of the world men think they inhabit, and so is this one.

    I have no comment yet.  Still haven’t bothered to see it.  But I admit to this weird sense deep inside that all the belly-aching might actually be knee-jerk and that there’s a good movie out there with Nicolas Cage and the end of the world waiting for me.  Maybe it’s just my contrarian style.  After all, my senior yearbook quote was right out of Mamet: “I subscribe to the law of contrary public opinion.  If everyone thinks one thing I say bet the other way.”

  • The Stooges are set

    Why does this project look like an absolute failure waiting to happen?  And strangely, only Penn seems to fit here.  Del Toro really doesn’t work for me in the role of Moe and there’s something, I don’t know…off about Carrey as Curly, but we’ll see what they come up with.

    Variety reports the casting news here.  Brad from Rope of Silicon has slapped together a nice Photoshopped image of the actors in character here:

    (from left) Jim Carrey, Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn as The Three Stooges

  • ‘Wild Things’ trailer

    Great call using Arcade Fire in this thing. It looks absolutely AMAZING:

    See it in HD at Apple.

  • The Oscars are moving back to March for a year

    OscarsI’ve been hearing a lot of folks over the last few years tell me they think the Oscars should move back to March.  I’m not entirely sure why, but there is support out there.  You’ll recall, 2005 marked the first year the ceremony was pulled a full month back from the end of March to the end of February, drastically (and for some, thankfully) shortening the season.

    Well, good news for those who want things expanded.  It seems the show will move two weeks to March 7 next year.  The brief from the AP:

    The Oscars will be presented a little later in 2010.

    Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, says the 82nd Annual Academy Awards will air live March 7 on ABC television from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

    This year’s telecast aired Feb. 22. The sleeper hit “Slumdog Millionaire” won best picture, Sean Penn won best actor and Kate Winslet scored the trophy for best actress.

    Of course, this is actually pretty good news for entertainment outlets like Variety, The Envelope and The Hollywood Reporter, which depend on studio advertising during the awards season to stay afloat.  An extra two weeks can mean a lot of dough to them.  But this will be a one year deal to avoid the Winter Olympics, “Peter” tells us in the comments below.

    The seemingly endless awards season will be a little longer next year.  Buckle up.

  • Oscar winner Simon Beaufoy to write ‘Wolverine 2?’

    Simon Beaufoy at the 81st annual Academy AwardsUPDATE (3/27): I figured I’d include the latest here, so this entry is up to date.  /Film has the following today:

    Earlier this week we reported that Slumdog Millionaire screenwriter Simon Beaufoy had mentioned during an appearance at the Bradford International Film Festival that he had been offered and accepted an offer to write a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Hours later our friends at FirstShowing heard back from 20th Century Fox who claimed that “the executives haven’t talked with any writers” for the project. Now Entertainment Weekly confirms that “Beaufoy was approached by Wolverine producer Lauren Shuler Donner to gauge the writer’s interest in W2, but no formal offer was made.” So that’s the final word on the story — there was some truth to the story after all.

    EARLIER: Peter Sciretta at /Film landed a pretty interesting scoop this afternoon.  It seems Simon Beaufoy, the Oscar winning screenwriter of “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Full Monty” has been tapped to pen the sequel to May’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”  Can anyone say paycheck?

    Honestly, I don’t see how this fits but I’ll give Beaufoy the benefit of the doubt.  I’m still heavily anticpating Gavin Hood’s film, though I’ve heard terrible things ever since negative word-of-mouth on David Benioff’s script was making the rounds a few years back.  And let’s face it.  Benioff hasn’t offered a suitable script since his debut, “25th Hour,” seven years ago.  Troubled production, late re-shoots and a general cloud of doubt around the Wolverine film haven’t broken my spirit…yet.  But if there’s a new project in the pipeline, maybe there’s hope.  Maybe.

    Here’s what Sciretta’s tipster had to say:

    alright guys, im currently working at the bradford international film festival in the UK, and tonight we had simon beaufoy, screenwriter of slumdog millionaire doing a screentalk. anyway he dropped a bit of a scoop, hes been employed to write the script for “wolverine 2″ a film i didnt actually realise was even in the pipeline. he commented that while he was apprehensive about the project (claiming to not even know what a wolverine was!) his agent pursuaded him to take it on.

    The bold is mine. Like I said, paycheck. Agents make bank in this town when their clients do, after all.  And kudos to Peter for at least trying to double source the story before just posting it up, since he’s been hanging onto the scoop for a day now.  AICN has different standards, which forced his hand, but there we are.

    Here’s the latest trailer for “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”:

  • With the emphasis on ‘Ho’

    Here’s an, um, interesting addition to “Slumdog Millionaire’s” long list of accomplishments: how many Best Original Song winners are treated to a Pussycat Dolls remix? Words fail me.

    (Memo to Ms. Scherzinger: it’s pronounced “jye,” not “jay.”)

  • Watch this face

    You can’t lose much by making “star is born” pronouncements. If you’re right, you get to brag about your stunning foresight, and if you’re wrong — hey, nobody remembers anyway.

    But back in October last year, as I watched stunning young French ingenue Léa Seydoux illuminate Christophe Honoré’s lovely, woozy teen romance “La Belle Personne,” I was convinced there and then that I was seeing a major talent in the making. The César voters agreed, nominating her for Most Promising Actress. (The film, which you may remember I liked a great deal, got a limited U.S. release over a fortnight ago — catch it if you can.)

    So I was excited to see her name pop up on yesterday’s press release for Ridley Scott’s as-yet-untitled Robin Hood venture. My guess is the role won’t amount to much — but hey, Marion Cotillard did her time as eye candy in a Scott film (let’s not name it, shall we?) a little over two years ago, and she’s doing all right for herself these days.

    Seydoux will also be seen shortly in “Inglourious Basterds.” The girl’s going places, I tell you.

  • New WTF still from Von Trier’s ‘Antichrist’

    I go back and forth with Lars Von Trier.  Lots of respect for “Breaking the Waves,” hated “Dancer in the Dark,” “Dogville” topped my list in 2004 (though shamefully I’ve yet to see “Manderlay”), etc., etc.  But I can’t wait to see “Antichrist.”  This new still from the film totally freaks me out but I can’t look away.  What’s most striking, however, is how classy the composition is.  I thought about linking rather than posting, since “NSFW” is arguable, but I figured screw it (no pun intended):

    Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist

    (Courtesy: filmz.dk)

  • 20 years later…

  • Go get it

    Bolt on DVD and Blu-ray

  • Kevin Smith on the dark side of the Internet

    Kudos to Peter Sciretta of /Film for pointing us to this video of Kevin Smith dishing the Internets, a somewhat timely discussion with all the poo-slinging going on this week.  Like Sciretta says, “It’s interesting to hear about this world from the side of a filmmaker.”  Have a look: