• David Poland painstakingly seeks out assumed evidence to support his theory that “The Hurt Locker” will be this year’s Best Picture victor. [Movie City News]
• John Horn sits down with “Precious” screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher. [Los Angeles Times]
• Dave Karger chats up Viggo Mortensen and his “Road” co-star Kodi Smit-McPhee. [Oscar Watch]
Obviously Hollywood Reporter gossip hound Roger Friedman hasn’t been reading our Contenders section, or else he’d know there are plenty of lead actress hopefuls out there, not the dearth he apparently perceives.
Friedman rattles off 12 contenders in a recent piece titled Shortage of “Best Actresses in the Coming Oscar Season,” but he misses some key possibilities. Abbie Cornish in “Bright Star,” for one, who didn’t necessarily impress me much, but could certainly be in the hunt. “Precious,” meanwhile, is considered a ripe opportunity for supporting contender Mo’Nique, but lead Gabourey Sidibe could certainly find her share of notices.
Gwyneth Paltrow in “Two Lovers” and Zooey Deschanel in “(500) Days of Summer” are two extreme longshot contenders whose films have already been released, but Penelope Cruz deserves to be in the discussion for “Broken Embraces,” surely, as does Tilda Swinton in “Julia.”
It seems the folks behind the summer romance “(500) Days of Summer” have been up to some extra-curricular activities as of late. Director Marc Webb and actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel recently put together a short film inspired by heist cinema and movie musicals that is…frankly kind of pointless. But it served as a nice exclusive for USA Today and will surely be a delightful diversion for the film’s many fans.
Here’s a taste of Anthony Breznican’s story:
Gordon-Levitt plays a stoic man in a neat blue suit, turning to crime in a moment of absolute desperation. Deschanel is the gorgeous, wide-eyed teller, disarming the dangerous man (metaphorically speaking) in a playful, twirling, fox-trotting dance through the stuffy, starkly lit marble lobby. The other dour denizens go about their business unaware.
Providing the soundtrack: the song Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? by She & Him, Deschanel’s retro-rock duo with musician M. Ward.
• Gael Garcia Bernal: activist. [Daily Telegraph]
• Phil de Semlyen chats it up with Bruno. [Empire]
• Michael Powell goes deep on “Golden Age” survivor Andrew Sarris. [New York Times]
• Mike Jones profiles the child actors of Harry Potter, wonders if their fame can last beyond Hogwarts. [The independent]