Happy Wednesday! Also in this edition of The Broadsheet: Carey Mulligan on her part of earning Shame ‘s controversial rating… Sylvester Stallone gets sued over The Expendables … The End is nigh for Warner Bros…. Shakespeare supporters protest Anonymous … and more.
Mamma Mia! is a celebrated American film where Meryl Streep tries to convince you she’s brain-damaged for 108 minutes. She has no guess as to who birthed her blonde, blue-eyed, ABBA -squawking daughter, but she’ll storm about a sunny Grecian isle until we all agree to forget she’s doing this for an obese stack of cash. What a Swedish fishy musical this is! It gives Stockholm Syndrome to thinking people. Let’s watch it 30 times, channel Agnetha and Anni-Frid using ethereal harmonies and beige lipstick, and recount the five greatest musical numbers in this insane, aquamarine spectacle of light, sound and sheer embarrassment.
Quite likely cinema’s first Shakespearean conspiracy thriller-meets-royal romance fable, Anonymous features Rhys Ifans as Edward De Vere — the Duke of Oxford long considered a front-runner for having authored many (if not all) of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. It’s a role that even the charismatic Welsh actor wasn’t sure he would lock down before encountering director Roland Emmerich, the erstwhile apocalypse visionary whose boldness made a fine complement to Ifans’s own.
Another day, another goodie from the viral treasure chest also known as Mouth Taped Shut . The official Girl With the Dragon Tattoo repository has unveiled a new poster borrowing — as recently promised by director David Fincher — the Swedish adage that we’ve already seen accompany two other Dragon Tattoo properties . Anyway, let’s not belabor this… see below for the latest.
Stars — they’re just like us! They don silly costumes, dress as sexy fill-in-the-blanks, and cavort around like giddy schoolchildren on Halloween. Some of them even take the October fright festivities a little too far (Heidi Klum, we’re looking at you… in awe). Even politicians and Governators get into the spirit come Oct. 31! Click ahead to get inspiration for your clever costumes in Movieline’s gallery, after the jump.
If there’s anyone who knows about breaking barriers in the visual effects industry, it’s Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett and John Rosengrant, whose computer-generated dinosaur effects on Jurassic Park forever changed the FX landscape, earned them Academy Awards and famously caused George Lucas to tear up with joy. But their work pioneering new technologies did not begin or end with Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic. The artists have worked on some of Hollywood’s most technologically innovative titles including Star Wars , E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial , Predator , Terminator 2: Judgment Day , A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Avatar .
Now hear this! No, seriously, hear this : Alec Baldwin has a new NPR podcast called Here’s the Thing , which will comprise a series of conversations with the actor’s Hollywood peers and other cultural luminaries (including “makers of public policy, critics and comedians”) about “what motivates them” and “how they feel about what they do” — among other things. The first episode, which you can listen to below, feature Michael Douglas and is pretty much just as awesome as you’d imagine.
Aardman Animation can do no wrong, ladies and gentlemen: From Chicken Run to Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit , these folks stick to loopy, yet dry material and make it fun for kids and adults every time. In their new feature The Pirates! Band of Misfits , Aardman takes buccaneering out of Jack Sparrow’s realm and back into the world of kiddy imagination. The new international trailer features all the bug eyes and red beards you can muster, plus the vocal talents of Hugh Grant, Jeremy Piven, and Salma Hayek.
After writer-director Lynne Ramsay ( Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar ) debuts her latest film, this December’s moody Tilda Swinton-Ezra Miller pic We Need to Talk About Kevin , she’ll set her sights on more classic fare: Herman Melville’s Moby Dick … only, set in space. “We’re taking the premise into the realm of the galaxy; it’s creating a whole new world, and a new alien, a very psychological piece” Ramsay told Radio 5 Live’s Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo. “Mainly taking place in the ship, a bit like Das Boot , so it’s quite claustrophobic. It’s another monster movie, in a way, ’cause the monster’s Ahab.” Stick around for more happenings in today’s Buzz Break.
Empire Magazine gathered ex-Hobbit pals Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry (otherwise known as Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan) for a reunion photo shoot to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring , in the December issue. It’ll include Viggo Mortensen’s behind the scenes photos, concept art, and stories from the set, and to whet your appetite Empire’s released a brief “trailer” from its recent Hobbit cast reunion.