(via /Film)
Blog
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‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ trailer leaks
I’m not going to post an embed because I KNOW this thing will be pulled down, so catch it while you can. Awful quality, the sound goes out toward the end, but oh well. The real deal will be up tomorrow. Too bad someone couldn’t wait.
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‘Antichrist’ poster
Yes, we’ve seen the image and typography already, but since they were so striking, why not carry them through to the poster too? I’m guessing this is not a design you’ll be seeing at your local multiplex any time soon — all the more reason to savour it:
[Source: IMP Awards]
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Get a haircut and get a real job
OK, so this story of Daniel Day-Lewis becoming the first person to receive the freedom of County Wicklow, Ireland, isn’t really of immense interest to anyone outside, perhaps, breathless followers of the Wicklow social scene. (My apologies to those of you reading.)
But this photo of Day-Lewis certainly grabbed my attention, if only because of just how unnervingly normal he looks in it. He’s barely recognisable as the floridly coiffed bohemian dude who rocked up at the Academy Awards last February. I’m hazarding a guess that the cropped hair is for his Jesuit priest role in Scorsese’s “Silence,” but where are the pirate earrings? The oddball Paul Smith tailoring? And we can’t see them, but I’ll bet his shoes even match.
I feel strangely let down. What next, Mickey Rourke in simple black tie? Let your freak flag fly, sir.
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Bored?
I figured I’d come home tonight and throw in the “X-Men” Blu-ray trilogy as “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (which I saw this afternoon) makes for a nice lead-in to the series. For no reason whatsoever, I’m thinking I’ll live Tweet the proceedings, so if you’re bored and/or have no life like yours truly, feel free to keep up. Just put in “X2.”
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Fox tries to explain the ‘Wolverine’ fib
Okay, so last week when junketeers got their first look at “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” many (especially the AICN crowd) were quick to dog-pile the studio for having the gall to “lie” when the film leaked earlier this month. Fox honcho Tom Rothman, at the time, said the completed version of the film contained 10 minutes of footage not seen in the leaked workprint.As it turns out, this was reported as false (albeit through the heavy glaze of snark). But that didn’t stop the studio from going on the record with Patrick Goldstein today to clarify:
Fox’s senior vice president of corporate communications, Chris Petrikin…explains that he was probably the person who told Rothman that 10 minutes were missing from the pirated version of the film. He stressed that the studio was under enormous pressure after the piracy as it attempted to sift through a host of often wildly speculative Internet reports about the theft.
“There was no ‘fibbing’ involved — that would imply that we were so on top of things that we anticipated having one of our biggest films of the year stolen and had time to concoct a plan to purposefully ‘spin’ wrong information,” Petrikin told me. “Remember, Tom gave this [Entertainment Weekly] interview a day after we learned of the theft. A lot of information and misinformation was flying back and forth then, and there was no way to sort it out quickly or definitively. In fact, I think I told Tom that there might be 10 minutes missing from the stolen version, based — obviously — on misinformation I was given or misinterpreted. The real issue is the scale of this crime and that the film was not finished when it was stolen.”
Eesh. I might have just embraced the old adage “Mum’s the word.” Pieces like this seem to be making more of a mess of things.
Anyway, I’ll get into why “Wolverine” doesn’t suck near as bad as I thought it would tomorrow.
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Important
Since it’s a level-headed assessment of another journalist’s work and not the bitching and shouting that has come to color similar exchanges, I think it is important to pass along two links: Bill Wyman calls foul on Nikki Finke’s re-editing of a story that got the facts wrong, and Patrick Goldstein links to same, giving more from his side of the story and giving Finke the chance to comment.
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‘Wall Street’ sequel moving forward with Oliver Stone, Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf?
Not long ago, what with the housing market on the fritz and certifiable capitalistic ruin staring down the face of America, not to mention stoke brokers being painted as the devils of the earth, it seemed a great time to revisit Oliver Stone’s 1987 film “Wall Street,” the Michael Douglas starrer that put “greed is good” into the lexicon of trade pushers everywhere.Back before the release of Stone’s “W.,” screenwriter Stanley Weiser talked about the prescience of “Wall Street.” At the time, “Gekko’s character was written to create an engaging, charming, but deceitful and brutal being,” Weiser said. “I have nevertheless run into quite a number of younger people, who upon discovering that I co-wrote the film, wax rhapsodic about it . . . but often for the wrong reasons.”
The time for a sequel, likely with a much more pointed message, seemed at hand. Then word came that Stone had dropped out of pursuing a follow-up in favor of the long dormant “Pinkville” project. But today, Patrick Goldstein offers the following juicy (but sourceless) tid-bit:
…Fox is now saying the movie has a green light again. Stone is back aboard as director, Michael Douglas will reprise his role as Gordon Gekko and the studio is in negotiations with Shia LeBeouf to play a young Wall Street trader under Gekko’s spell — a somewhat updated version of the character Charlie Sheen played in the original film. The sequel’s original writer was Stephen Schiff, who has now moved on, with Allan Loeb (“Things We Lost in the Fire”) having done a rewrite of the script. Fox hopes to have the film in production as early as sometime this summer.
The film is now simply going under the title of “Wall Street 2,” having shed its original “Money Never Sleeps” moniker. No one is offering a lot of specifics about the storyline, except to say that the focus remains on the Gekko character, whose exploits will closely reflect much of the greed and chicanery seen in the past year on Wall Street.
I’m not really sure how I feel about it. Getting someone like LaBeouf seems like the obvious play, but Stone is also something of a master at making an impact with the obvious, so perhaps this could work. Read the rest over at The Big Picture. (UPDATE: There’s also this AP story with quotes from Douglas and Fox spokesman Gregg Brilliant.)
Meanwhile, allow me to submit this: Could “Wall Street” be the most dated film of all time? Seriously. That cell phone! The art work! Darryl Hannah! Anyway…
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INTERVIEW: Michael Caine
So far 2008 hasn’t offered much for an Oscar shortlist beyond a few festival offerings that have yet to see a domestic release. Certainly nothing in the way of powerhouse awards-caliber performances has come down the pike, leaving some to talk up smaller, menial turns amid the lull. But one actor has certainly put forth an effort in the year’s first half that deserves the kind of recognition we cover here at In Contention.In John Crowley’s “Is Anybody There?,” a delicate little film focused on the unlikely friendship between an aged magician and a death-obsessed young boy, Sir Michael Caine gives perhaps his best performance since 2002’s “The Quiet American.”
It is, of course, his first significant role in the seven years between the two films. Supporting work in “Children of Men,” “The Prestige” and the Batman franchise has certainly been laudable, but in Crowley’s fourth feature the actor shows that he still has both the chops to carry a film and the courage to explore mortality in ways that unexpectedly cut close to home. I had the chance to speak with Caine about the film last week and found a delightful legend trying his best to have a blast with the opportunities he’s given.
“It’s an attitude you have to have towards growing old,” he says, calling from London. “People ask, ‘How do you feel about getting older?” Well, what is the alternative? I think it’s great. I’m one of those people who tries to have fun the whole time.”
And whether it be the high-budget antics of a blockbuster like “The Dark Knight” or something as independent as Crowely’s film or Caine’s upcoming “Harry Brown,” the actor tries to approach all material with the same philosophy.
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‘Silence’ smack-down
I stumbled onto Noah Forrest’s ribbing of Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs” over at Movie City News today toward the end of this piece, and frankly, I found little I could argue with.Here’s the key graph:
I think seeing Bill Hader’s brilliant impression of Jame Gumb on a recent SNL made me question a lot of things about The Silence of the Lambs. First off, Jodie Foster is plain old not good in that film. Her accent is awful and she over-emotes constantly. Secondly, Ted Levine’s performance as Jame Gumb has turned out to be the most memorable thing about that film (“Is she a great big fat person?”). Thirdly, that film is really not that great and it pains me to say that because I always held it in high esteem. In fact, it plays better as an unintentional comedy than as a thriller.
Ever since the film was released back in February of 1991, I’ve found myself scratching my head at its somewhat over-elevated status as a modern classic. I fully agree with Forrest’s assessment of Jodie Foster’s Oscar-winning performance, for starters, and beyond the sheer thrill-factor of the film (it can’t be said that it’s not a solid genre entry), I never…ever…understood the awards train it dominated in the fall of that year.
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Get your votes in!
Just a reminder that today is the last day for the second part of round one in our “most influential film of all time” poll series. Get your votes in over in the left sidebar. The new poll will hit tomorrow at 2:00pm PST. I’m still shocked “The Godfather Part II” is surging ahead of the pack, but oh well.
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Watch Chad’s film, ‘Luke and Brie are on a First Date’
Some of you may not know that our own Chad Hartigan recently finished up his first feature, “Luke and Brie are on a First Date.” The film played in and around the festival circuit and is finally available to buy or rent via Amazon Video on Demand. Pretty decent price for a rental if you ask me, so give it a look if you have the time. Here’s the trailer for the film:
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The professional
It’s not as if we were short of reasons to admire Liam Neeson in the first place. The man is a remarkable actor, by all accounts an intelligent, decent human being, and even in the face of his wife’s untimely passing, has always managed to keep his private life laudably, well, private.But even by his own stand-up guy standards, Neeson went above and beyond the call by returning to the set of Atom Egoyan’s new thriller “Chloe” to complete his scenes, a mere week after Natasha Richardson’s death. A deeply impressed Egoyan says:
“He was very committed to the film and finishing his role, and he didn’t need to come back that soon … But he really thought it would be best for the film, and it was just such an unspeakably generous thing for him to do. And he’s an extraordinary, extraordinary person.”
As for the film itself, I must say I’m intrigued. Egoyan, Neeson (who co-stars with Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried) and ultra-left-field scripter Erin Cressida Wilson (“Secretary”) occupy very different artistic spheres in my mind — given the auteur’s patchy form of late, the combination could get messy. Still, together with Sundance winner “Five Minutes of Heaven” (in which he does sterling work), it indicates a move into the kind of gutsy arthouse territory Neeson hasn’t entered much in recent years.
In any case, Neeson’s recent mini-comeback has been one of the more pleasantly surprising developments of the past year. “Taken,” for all its sleeper success, was a rote effort, while you may recall I was none too impressed with “The Other Man” — but it’s encouraging to see a 56 year-old thesp (and one who has always seemed more comfortable as an actor than a star) getting major leading-man roles. Meanwhile, “Lincoln” and “Clash of the Titans” await him. Score one for the good guys.
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Megan Fox in ‘Jonah Hex’
I’ll leave it to the readership to answer the question, lest I seem like some kind of ass (too late). But is it okay for one site to take another site’s exclusive pics and slap a watermark on them? Anyway, Megan Fox is looking great in these new pics from the set of “Jonah Hex,” a project that has my fingers crossed:
Check out the rest at Movie Gab.
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New stills and trailer for ‘Antichrist’
Chances are it won’t net him the same level of mainstream kudos as “Slumdog Millionaire,” but a series of newly released stills for Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist” confirms that we can expect some pretty special work from Academy Award winner Anthony Dod Mantle. (How great does it feel to read those last six words, by the way?)
You can view more stills here, but it’s the milky lighting and Brothers Grimm-style atmospherics of the following shot that really got my attention. Whether the film is straight-up, balls-out horror fare or not (and given Von Trier’s ever-defiant track record, I can’t help wondering if we’re being wrong-footed by the marketing here), it’s clearly going to be a thing of considerable beauty. Cannes can’t come soon enough.
A second gorgeous still after the cut, plus a new (presumably European) trailer: the latter isn’t significantly different from the first, but it quickens my heart nonetheless.
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The trouble with ‘Margaret’
Last month, I discussed my frustration over the terminally delayed status of Kenneth Lonergan’s sophomore feature “Margaret,” while sharing a slender hope that linking of composer Nico Muhly to the project might bode well for its eventual completion.Unfortunately, an extended LA Times investigation into the matter suggests that “Margaret” is a long way from seeing the light of day — if that ever happens at all. John Horn’s interesting piece provides by far the most comprehensive breakdown to date of the factors delaying the film, and it doesn’t make for encouraging reading. With Lonergan apparently incapable of completing an edit that satisfies him and/or the film’s backers, “Margaret” is now deeply tangled in legal limbo.
A number of producers and editors — including (Scott) Rudin, (Sydney) Pollack and Martin Scorsese’s legendary editor, Thelma Schoonmaker — have tried but failed to help Lonergan complete his movie, court documents and interviews show. With his financing from (Gary) Gilbert and Fox Searchlight cut off, Lonergan borrowed more than $1 million from actor and close friend Matthew Broderick (who has a small part in “Margaret”) in an attempt to complete the editing of the movie, according to a person close to the production.
The film’s lengthy post-production sparked two lawsuits, which are scheduled to be tried in June and September. Last July, Fox Searchlight sued Gilbert and his production company, claiming he failed to pay the studio half of the film’s production costs. Two months later, Gilbert’s Camelot Pictures sued Fox Searchlight and Lonergan, alleging that the studio and Lonergan thwarted Gilbert’s many attempts to finish the movie, forcing Camelot to pay for “a clearly inferior and unmarketable film” that Lonergan, several people say, will not support.
There’s a lot more messy detail where that came from, and the article lays it out better than I can. Horn also offers the bittersweet revelation that the troubled film buried beneath these unfortunate circumstances may well be worth saving.
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SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Obsessed’ impressed
America liked it and they put a ring on it.Beyonce’s new thriller “Obsessed” topped the domestic box office this weekend with $28.5 million, adding another impressive performance to the budding actress’s career. Impressive box office performance that is.
Whether or not Beyonce truly and gracefully inhabits the character of a woman forced to kick ass when some other crazy bitch starts stalking her man, I can’t be certain. This should easily make $70 million+ from a $20 million budget so all involved have just gotten a nice bonus.
Despite gunning for the same target audience, Universal’s “Fighting” also performed admirably and earned $11.4 million for third place. You can’t accuse them of not being straight to the point and enough males or teens must have thought that a movie called “Fighting” had to be bad ass and worth their $10. Channing Tatum’s career lives to fight another day.
Actual star power enters the fray at number four with “The Soloist.” Joe Wright’s once-Oscar hopeful earned $9.7 million, which is okay but not enough to justify moving out of the 2008 season. Even though audience reaction is bound to be positive, I just don’t see the legs being great here and a sub-$30 million finish won’t have anybody remembering these folks when ballots are due next year.
