Back in 2008, Casey Affleck teamed with his then-brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix to film the experimental mockumentary I’m Still Here . The film was controversial at the time of its release due to Phoenix’s Andy Kaufman-like immersion in his role, which culminated in a notorious David Letterman interview that left many convinced the actor was suffering some sort of mental collapse. Many predicted that Here would do irreparable damage to both Affleck’s career, and now it’s beginning to look as though that may be the case – but for reasons that have nothing to do with the failure of the movie. Currently, Affleck is enjoying a wealth of awards season buzz for his performance in Manchester By the Sea , and he’s currently considered in Best Actor Oscar race. Unfortunately for Affleck, the increased media attention generated by his awards push has brought with it some renewed interest in a some disturbing allegations from his past. In 2010, two women who worked on Here came forward to accuse Affleck of multiple acts of sexual harassment. Producer Amanda White and cinematographer Magdalena Gorka sued Affleck for $2 million and $2.25 million respectively, claiming that Affleck verbally and physically harassed them during their time working on the film. White alleged that Affleck often boasted to her about his “sexual exploits,” and at one point instructed another crewmember to show her his penis, despite her objections. She also claimed that Affleck tried to get her to stay in a hotel room with him, and that when she refused, he “grabbed her in a hostile manner in an effort to intimidate her into complying.” Gorka made similar allegations and claimed that Affleck once climbed into a bed she was sleeping in and proceeded to “caress her back,” adding that “his face was within inches of hers and his breath reeked of alcohol.” Gorka described her encounters with Affleck as “the most traumatizing of her career.” Affleck was married to Phoenix’s sister Summer at the time of the alleged incidents. Shortly after White and Gorka filed their suits, Affleck publicly denied the allegations and threatened to countersue. He later settled both cases out of court for an undisclosed sum. Affleck’s situation is drawing comparisons to that of Nate Parker , the star and director of Birth of a Nation , who was also the subject of critical acclaim and awards buzz until the revelation that he was accused of a brutal gang rape by a woman who later committed suicide. Obviously, the allegations against Parker are far more disturbing (he was acquitted at trial, but his co-defendant served several years behind bars), but many still feel that Affleck is benefiting from a double standard. Parker, a black man, found himself at the center of a firestorm of criticism and negative press coverage, while Affleck has scarcely forced to answer for the charges against him. Parker’s name was quickly dropped from all conversations about awards season contenders, and his film quietly came and went from theaters. Audiences and the industry will likely be much more kind to Affleck. The younger brother of Ben Affleck has already taken home acting prizes from the Gotham Awards and the National Board of Review, both of which are considered early Oscar predictors.
Christopher Nolan is one of those directors who has his guys and sticks with them. Michael Caine, Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Marion Cotillard have all appeared in multiple Nolan films. But the latest actor to join the cast of his new film Interstellar is someone who has never worked with Nolan before: Casey Affleck. Affleck joins Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, and the aforementioned Caine in the excellent cast. While few plot details have been revealed, the film is described as “a heroic interstellar voyage to the furthest reaches of our scientific understanding.” Production is expected to begin late this year, with a release date set for November 7, 2014.
Christina Aguilera is coming out with a new album, going on a new tour… and getting herself a new man? According to the new issue of Star , the singer – currently taking a break from The Voice – is nearly done with her boyfriend of two-and-a-half years, Matthew Rutler. “Their relationship is convenient. It was always casual, very on and off, and not something Christina saw a future in,” an insider tells the tabloid. So, where will Aguilera goes when she breaks it off with this relative no-name? “She’s wasting no time setting her sights on a number of eligible bachelors,” claims the source, adding that Aguilera “wants an A-list boyfriend to complement her newfound confidence.” With a hot music career, “all that’s missing is a hot, headline-stealing man on her arm,” concludes the mole, saying Xtine even have two names picked out: “Colin Farrell and Jared Leto.” Someone should tell her that Justin Bieber is single. Now there’s a relationship that would make headlines!
Wednesday, April 10 was National Siblings Day, but even though it’s April 11, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give props to the celebrity brothers and sisters out there. Star sibs are everywhere, sharing love like the rest of us (only with better genes). This year marks the 14th annual occurrence of National Siblings Day, which isn’t as big as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Heck, we didn’t know it existed. Well, it’s time that changed, don’t you think? Agreed, THGers. Go ahead and give your sibling(s) a call in honor of this national day of familial love. Then browse through a little gallery of celebrity siblings we put together. Who’s your favorite? Who’d we miss? See/comment below!
Wednesday, April 10 was National Siblings Day, but even though it’s April 11, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give props to the celebrity brothers and sisters out there. Star sibs are everywhere, sharing love like the rest of us (only with better genes). This year marks the 14th annual occurrence of National Siblings Day, which isn’t as big as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Heck, we didn’t know it existed. Well, it’s time that changed, don’t you think? Agreed, THGers. Go ahead and give your sibling(s) a call in honor of this national day of familial love. Then browse through a little gallery of celebrity siblings we put together. Who’s your favorite? Who’d we miss? See/comment below!
Promised Land is not the first nor even second collaboration between filmmaker Gus Van Sant and actor Matt Damon . Van Sant helped usher in the age of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with their Oscar-winner Good Will Hunting back in 1997 and Damon and Ben’s younger brother, Casey Affleck worked with Van Sant in Gerry . Fast forward nearly a decade and a script Damon had been collaborating on with John Krasinski from a story by Dave Eggers set in a small town needed a director. Damon, who had originally planned to direct the feature, realized he could not because of his packed schedule, so he reached out to his old friend Gus Van Sant and the result, which will head to theaters later this month, has caught the wind of Oscar chatterers. Van Sant discussed his latest pic and why he “always wants to work with Matt” during a NYC screening of Promised Land . “The genealogy of this is that John Krasinski was observing a mining operation in Alaska and spoke to Eggers later about writing a screenplay about installing wind power,” Van Sant said at the post- Promised Land screening. “Matt Damon was going to direct [ Promised Land ] himself but then decided he didn’t have time. They thought the project might go away, but then he contacted me – and a year ago, I said yes…” Van Sant said Damon packed schedule had once kept him from playing in one of the director’s most celebrated recent films. He had originally been slated to play Dan White in the 2008 Oscar-winner Milk , but again the actor’s long queue of roles interfered. But, Promised Land posed the next opportunity and the planets aligned. “When you work together you become friends and you wonder what else you can do together again and Matt and I became friends,” said Van Sant. “I felt like we’ve had successful collaborations so the idea of doing something again was really interesting… Working with Matt on this film – I always wanted to work with him on every film.” Set in a fictitious Pennsylvania town that could represent much of small town America that has taken economic blows due to de-industrialization, agribusiness consolidation and the fallout from globalization generally, the story revolves around Steve Butler (Damon) a former farm boy turned big city business guy who teams up with Sue (Frances McDormand) to sell financial prosperity to the struggling town. The sales execs offer up easy cash in return for drilling rights on their property. Though economically hard pressed, the town, along with many others across Rust Belt states, sit atop a rich resource of natural gas once thought unreachable. But through the controversial advent of fracking (fracture drilling) the resource is recoverable though at what ecological cost is not fully known. Steve and Sue think their stay in the town will be short, but a respected schoolteacher (Hal Holbrook) complicates what they think will be an easy sell when he questions the environmental risk. Steve meets a local school teacher (Rosemarie DeWitt) as they bunker down to sway in the town and things get really sticky when an environmentalist (John Krasinski) shows up and raises the stakes. “When we arrived in Pittsburgh during [pre-production] the hydraulic manufacturing companies were moving in and just happened to be having a convention at the hotel we were staying at,” Van Sant said. “So right away we had some sources we could go down and talk to. Also the people in contract talks were also the people we wanted to [scout] for locations.” The tracking process at the center of Promised Land ‘s plot has been hailed by some economic prognosticators as a short cut to energy independence while even cutting carbon emissions. But it has been criticized by others for polluting underground water-tables and even causing earthquakes in areas where they’re almost nearly unknown. Documentaries such as GasLand (2010) and others have depicted frightening scenarios of ecological degradation in the race for plentiful energy, which is not lost on Van Sant though he also sees the film as describing an even larger topic about corporations. “By default its playing into discussions that are political having fracking as a topic,” he said. “But I think the emotions of the story are about corporate maneuvering and inner corporate personnel maneuvering and it could relate to any corporation’s maneuvering including mine or Focus Features. [The film] will obviously play into politics…” [ Promised Land opens December 28 via Focus Features, trailer below.] Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Steven Spielberg will screen his Oscar contender in the U.S. Senate. Also in Thursday’s round-up of news, Casey Affleck is eyeing a crime thriller; Tron is making another return; records were released surrounding TDKR Colorado shooter James Holmes; and Glenn Beck & Vince Vaughn are developing a documentary filmmaker competition. Lincoln Invited to Screen U.S. Senate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has invited Steven Spielberg to screen Lincoln in the Senate chamber later this month. The film screened by invitation of President Obama at the White House on November 15th, Deadline reports . Casey Affleck Eyes Boston Strangler Pic Affleck hopes to star in the thriller about the desperate search to find the mass murderer who gripped Boston in fear in the early ’60s. Warner Bros. picked up the thriller, Deadline reports . New Tron Back in Development A Tron 3 sequel to 2010 reboot Tron: Legacy is back on track. Plot details are being kept secret, but Joseph Kosiniski, who directed Legacy is attached to direct the new pic, THR reports . TDKR Shooter’s Records Released as Theater Is Set to Re-open The documents reveal a romantic relationship accused killer James Holmes had and one of his professors feared for her students’ safety. The theater where the shooting occurred is set to reopen January 17th during a ceremony that will be attended by Colorado’s governor, THR reports . Glenn Beck and Vince Vaughn Teaming for Documentary Filmmaker Competition Show The conservative personality is working to start a reality show called Pursuit of the Truth with Vince Vaughn in which 20 documentarians will compete for financing and distribution of their films and is accepting “filmmakers of all walks of life,” Indiewire reports .
Gus Van Sant may go from fracking to thwacking with his next film project. At a luncheon for the director’s new film, Promised Land , which deals with fracking in a Pennsylvania town, Van Sant said that he’s in the process of writing a script to a “martial arts” film that is “a little bit of a superhero movie and a little bit of Stephen Chow ,” the director, writer and star of Kung Fu Hustle . Van Sant’s story is set in a very specific location, “Hollywood Boulevard and Gower, near the Pep Boys sign,” where, he explained, an encounter with a “very frail” looking woman with bags inspired him to write the story. “I thought, Oh my God, she’s going to get hit,” Van Sant said. “And then I thought that maybe she has more going on than I think. Maybe I should give her more credit. Maybe she could kick my ass.” That led to a story about “a small area of Hollywood that is besieged by crime” and a group of mere mortals who “get together to clean it up.” Van Sant said the story is nowhere near being ready to go before the cameras. “I have to keep writing it,” he said, but perhaps it bodes well that the idea has led to other forms of creative expressions for the filmmaker. Van Sant said that he’s also been creating watercolor paintings of fictional “characters on Hollywood Boulevard” that, he acknowledged, were connected to his idea for the martial-arts movie. I hope it becomes a movie. Van Sant took part in roundtable discussions with the media at a luncheon at the midtown Manhattan restaurant Aquavit. The event was also attended by Matt Damon and John Krasinski , who co-star in the movie and co-wrote the script, which is based on a story by Dave Eggers. Damon said that Promised Land was not a political movie but rather one about the democratic process. Regardless of the issue, he said, “if you don’t engage, the decision will be made for you.” On the subject of engaging, Damon said that he and director David. O. Russell talked after the actor and director separately declared from the podium of the IFP Gotham Awards that they’d like to work with each other. The Bourne star was coy, however, about whether the meeting yielded anything more than mutual admiration. “I’m a huge, huge, huge fan of his,” Damon said, adding: “I would love to work with him.” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The first wave of Sundance 2013 programming has been unveiled ( find the full list of U.S. and World narrative and documentary titles, plus the NEXT line-up, here ) along with some intriguing first images from films like David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints , starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck as 1970s outlaw lovers, and Primer director Shane Carruth’s sophomore film Upstream Color . The U.S. dramatic competition line-up is filled with exciting titles and filmmakers; below, check out the first images from Ain’t Them Bodies Saints , Upstream Color , and another highly anticipated film on my Sundance radar, Fruitvale — about the last day in the life of Bay Area man Oscar Grant, who was shot and killed by BART police in a headline-grabbing 2009 incident that sparked outrage in Oakland, California. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints , director and screenwriter David Lowery Synopsis : The tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met. Cast : Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, Keith Carradine. Upstream Color , director and screenwriter Shane Carruth) Synopsis : A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives. Cast : Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins. Fruitvale , director and screenwriter Ryan Coogler Synopsis : The true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008. Cast : Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O’Reilly, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray. Get the full first slate of Sundance competition titles here and stay tuned for more first looks at the Sundance 2013 lineup… Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
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