Josh Radnor has spent much of his time on television including most recently in How I Met Your Mother , but the actor also has two Sundance features he’s directed, written and also starred in, including his latest, Liberal Arts , which premiered at the festival in January. The feature stars Radnor along with Elizabeth Olsen , Zac Efron , Allison Janney and Richard Jenkins. The trailer sets up the main premise of film. Disenchanted and newly single student counselor Jesse Fisher (Radnor) falls for younger college student, Zibby (Olsen). But perhaps not quite as racy as it sounds, Jesse apparently travels to visit his favorite professor at his alma mater where he meets the feisty Zibby, so apparently no student-counselor conflict here exactly. As the story moves forward, the classical music-loving sophomore revives his long-dormant feelings of possibility and connection. One character not making an appearance, however, in this trailer is Zac Efron. IFC Films acquired Liberal Arts at the Sundnce Film Festival and will release the feature September 14th in the U.S. Radnor’s directorial debut happythankyoumoreplease debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. View the trailer via YouTube .
You can bet your Ben Wa balls E.L. James is going to cash in on her Fifty Shades of Grey merchandising empire once the steamy lit porn’s movie adaptation gets going. But while Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele have yet to be cast, you can start getting in the mood with the official 50 Shades of Grey Classical Album, featuring fifteen classical ditties referenced in the books that got James’ creative juices flowing — a preview of the eventual soundtrack to Christian Grey’s big screen S&M outing? Fifty Shades of Grey – The Classical Album will include such sensual classics as Thomas Tallis’s ‘Spem in Alium,’ a tune put to squirmy, orgasm-inducing use by Christian and Ana in the book. If you recall, Christian ties Ana up and plops a set of headphones on her and then THIS goes down: “The singing starts again … building and building, and he rains down blows on me … and I groan and writhe … Lost in him, lost in the astral, seraphic voices … I am completely at the mercy of his expert touch … Ahem. Not coincidentally, sales of ‘Spem in Alium’ have since skyrocketed in the UK. The album, released by EMI Records digitally in the U.S. and Canada on August 21, and on CD September 18, promises to “[set] a mysterious and alluring atmosphere with just the slightest hint of danger.” Mark your calendars (or pre-order now) and get ready for Fifty Shades to bring sexy back… way back. Like, from the 16th century. Full track listing: 1 Lakmé (Act I): Flower Duet (Mady Mesplé, Danielle Millet) 2 Bach: Adagio from Concerto #3 BWV 974 (Alexandre Tharaud) 3 Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasilerias #5 – Cantilena (Barbara Hendricks) 4 Verdi: La Traviata Prelude (Riccardo Muti / Philharmonia Orchestra) 5 Pachelbel: Canon in D (Sir Neville Marriner/ Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields) 6 Tallis: Spem in Alium (The Tallis Scholars) 7 Chopin: Prelude #4 in E minor, Largo (Samson François) 8 Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #2 – Adagio Sostenuto (Cecile Ousset, Sir Simon Rattle / CBSO) 9 Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (Sir Adrian Boult / LPO) 10 Canteloube: Chants d’auvergne, Bailero (Arleen Auger) 11 Chopin: Nocturne #1 in B-flat minor (Samson François) 12 Faure: Requiem – In Paradisum (Choir of King’s College, Cambridge / Stephen Cleobury) 13 Bach: Goldberg Variation – Aria (Maria Tipo) 14 Debussy: La Fille Aux Cheveux de Lin (Moura Lympany) 15 Bach: Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring (Alexis Weissenberg)
Bachelorette had my attention from the moment I saw that Lizzy Caplan is in it, but wait until you see the Red Band trailer. Caplan plays Gena, a secret romantic with a memorably filthy mouth — isn’t that always the case — who joins her longtime friends and fellow bridesmaids Katie (Isla Fisher), and Regan (Kirsten Dunst) for a wild night out in Manhattan after their bride-to-be bestie insists on a tame bachelorette party. Adam McKay and Will Ferrell are producing the picture, which writer-director Leslye Headland adapted from her own play of the same name. Headland used to be movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s assistant, an experience which inspired her to write another critically acclaimed play called Assistance . Fetching Diet Cokes for Weinstein has paid off in at least one more way: Weinstein’s Radius-TWC is releasing Bachelorette on video-on-demand on Aug. 10 and theatrically on Sept. 7.
