What horror fan doesn’t watch The Walking Dead ? Musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie jokes it’s because he needs to catch up on Cheers first, but the reality is he’s a horror purist who takes the genre very seriously. That dedication led to Bob Weinstein handpicking him to relaunch the Halloween franchise back in 2007, and Paranormal Activity and Insidious producers Jason Blum and Oren Peli seeking out Zombie to direct an original horror flick. They certainly got one in The Lords of Salem . Blum and Peli gave Zombie complete creative control over the feature, and he marvels at what that freedom allowed him to accomplish. “I remember the first time I watched this movie with an audience. The whole last chunk of the movie I was like ‘Wow. This really could only be made without studio meddling,” Zombie told me, adding: “‘ Cause it’s pretty out there .” How out there? Zombie said friends have told him “Man, it’s weird. No, it’s weirder than that…No, it’s still weirder than that!” But Zombie says he doesn’t worry about his work being accepted by the mainstream. “I really just do what I like,” he explained. “I don’t understand what the general public likes sometimes.” In fact, Zombie feels there’s only two things you can count on with universal appeal: Coca-Cola and the Beatles . Check out my full in-depth interview below: More on The Lords of Salem : WATCH: Rob Zombie’s ‘The Lords Of Salem’ Trailer Looks Like A Crust-Punk ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ WATCH: ‘The Lords of Salem’ Video − Rob Zombie Channels Rodgers & Hammerstein
To paraphrase the Who’s classic song ” Won’t Get Fooled Again” : See the new trailer/Same as the old trailer. Seriously, there’s not a whole lot different in the second official trailer to be released for the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson buddy comedy The Internship . We get the same fisting joke, the same Flashdance riff, scenes of a smarmy Max Minghella being an ageist dick, and, oh wait, here’s something that’s different: In the new trailer, Google executive Mr. Chetty ( The Daily Show ‘s Aasif Mandvi) gives the interns a little HR quiz and asks them if dating a fellow intern is okay. Google HR Training Video #1 In the second trailer, Mandvi asks — cue dramatic music — a different question: whether having a beer with your boss is kosher. What’s not different: Vaughn and Wilson answer “Yes” to both questions when…the answer…is…no! Google HR Training Video #2 If you notice any other differences, please reveal them in the comments section. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
To counter the operatic heat of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby , I now bring you the cinematic cool of Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling . A zen-like calm dominates this red band trailer for Only God Forgives , despite some very violent shit going down. In the filmmaking duo’s follow-up to the similarly cool Drive , Gosling reportedly plays a drug smuggler who descends into Bangkok underworld to avenge his brother’s death, and production stills of a battered Gosling certainly suggest that brutality will rule the day. The red band trailer contains plenty of mayhem, to, but with Gosling playing calm, cool-and-lethal — ” wanna fight?” is going to get a lot of usage in the weeks to come — that song with the music-box chimes playing over a lot of the action, even the scene where the guy gets his hands knifed to the restaurant table seem, well, all part of God’s beautiful plan, man. Check it out: The Zen of Ryan Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Has The Host already entered its twilight as a potential film franchise? Stephenie Meyer has said she envisions her sci-fi follow-up to the blockbuster Twilight novel franchise, as a three-novel story arc , but the probability of those future books translating into a movie trilogy is looking iffy at best. A spokeswoman for The Host says information regarding the probability of a sequel “is not available at this time,” but the film’s dismal opening weekend does not bode well for a follow-up. The hordes who swarmed the film adaptations of Meyer’s Twilight saga apparently did not find a romance about a parasitic alien nearly as compelling because they did not show up at the cineplex last weekend. The Host ‘s Box Office Sales Were Dismal According to Box Office Mojo , The Host did $10.6 million its opening weekend, and as of April 2, it has made only $23.5 million worldwide — little more than half of its $40-million production budget. International box office results, which have become increasingly important, also lagged behind domestic. (In comparison, G.I. Joe: Retaliation , which is getting a sequel, has grossed almost $140 million worldwide at the box office as of April 2.) But that’s not the only factor that makes a sequel unlikely. At the Los Angeles premiere of The Host on March 19, Meyer told EW.com that she was still working on the second novel. (The movie’s director Andrew Niccol, who expressed interested in helming a sequel even cracked, “Show me the book, Stephenie….You shouldn’t be here. You should be home writing.” The Follow-Up Novel Isn’t Finished The longer Meyer takes to finish the book, the greater the likelihood that the already meager interest in the movie version of The Host — and any sequel it might spawn — will dissipate further, while the first film’s cast members, who’ve expressed an interest in doing a sequel, grow older and commit to other films. In other words, you have a better chance of contracting a tapeworm than seeing a sequel to The Host . [ Box Office Mojo , EW.com ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
A new trailer for The Great Gatsby has hit the web. Let’s see if it has all the ingredients of a Baz Luhrmman joint: Hot, youthful actors with well-defined jaws? Check. Eye-popping colors? Check. Settings suitable for an Architectural Digest cover story, even when they depict abject poverty? Check. Iconic period-piece story juxtaposed with hot-right-now soundtrack? Check. Multiple scenes of operatic emotional outbursts? CHECK! Luhrmann may make cool films, but his cinematic world runs hot. So, it’s amusing — but not surprising — to see that there is quite a bit of screaming going on in this new clip, which you can watch in its entirety at the end of the post. The first example can be found at the 35-second mark when Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jay Gatsby reacts rather emotionally to Joel Edgerton’s needling. (He plays Tom Buchanan.) From there, it’s a glimpse of the hell of war, as seen once more through the gaping mouth of DiCaprio: Next comes a shot of Tobey Maguire all dressed up and looking like he’s auditioning for the part of the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man . A little later, we get Jason Clarke , who was so damn good in Zero Dark Thirty , pulling off a complex running-and-screaming combo. And then it’s back to Maguire for what looks like a five-vein meltdown…. Put those all together and you get this:
A recent production still from Iron Man 3 shows that movie’s presumed main villain, the Mandarin , in a kind of evil Stevie Nicks “Stand Back” pose with what appears to be a translucent cape or tapestry draped from him. And right now, I’m obsessed with the text that’s on it. Earlier this month, I wrote about director Shane Black ‘s comparison of Ben Kingsley’s character to Marlon Brando’s portrayal of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now as “a guy who’s gone off the reservation” and is “incorporating all these different symbols and iconography into his worldview.” The above photo offers some clues into that worldview, and despite Black’s comment (contained in that same post) about the Mandarin’s “obsession with Sun Tzu and ancient arts of warfare,” the writing on that cape points to the Bible and a bastardization of American capitalism. In other words, the Mandarin’s name may evoke the Far East, but, in the above photo, he’s surrounded by text and images more frequently associated with the far right. The Far East Vs. The Far Right Whether that fabric is an item of clothing or some type of banner, aspects of it resemble the typeface and designs found on American dollars. Instead of “In God We Trust,” however, the Mandarin’s motto appears to be “In Chaos We Trust.” There’s no clear depiction of that saying, but if you look at the circular design on the right side of the fabric, you can make out “In Chao…” while “Trust” can be seen on the circular design to the left. (That’s assuming symmetry, by the way.) Is He Referencing The Bible? Also, on the left side of the fabric is a partially obscured hand-scrawled phrase that appears to be “redeemed through blood” (and may be written in blood, given its color). That phrase is commonly used in writings about the Bible and often refers back to the Tenth Book of the New Testament, Ephesians 1:7 : “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” (That’s from the New American Standard Version of the good book. ) In its Biblical usage, the redemptive blood belongs to the martyred Jesus Christ, but it’s unclear whether the Mandarin sees himself as a Christ figure or whether he’s twisted the phrase into something much more nefarious that requires a lot of blood to be spilled before his idea of redemption can occur. If there are any Marvel Comics-loving Biblical scholars or GOP pundits out there who can shed more light on these clues, please enlighten me in the comments section below. More on the Mandarin: WATCH: The Mandarin Isn’t Talking Funny Anymore ‘Iron Man 3’ Director Spills On The Mandarin & He Sounds Like….Mike Ovitz? Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Here’s a novel way to keep from getting worked up about your main Oscar rival: forget his name entirely. For Time magazine’s Great Performances video feature on this year’s Oscar nominees, Les Miserables co-stars and Oscar nominees Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman spend some time lauding their competition. Hathaway even praises the computer-generated tiger in Life of Pi . But watch what happens around the 2:09 when Jackman slyly raises the topic of Lincoln . If you need any further proof that Wolverine a) can act and b) possesses a wit that’s as well-developed as his pecs, keep a close eye on his poker face as he claims not to remember the name of Daniel Day-Lewis , who, according to conventional wisdom, will emerge the victor when the Best Actor Oscar is handed out on Feb. 24. ” Lincoln is the movie, but the lead guy who I always forget…,” Jackman says to Hathaway without any hint that he’s having a bit of fun. In fact, it’s Hathaway who can’t keep a straight face as she jogs Jackman’s memory and he refers to Day-Lewis as simply “Lewis” — in case, I guess, any Academy voters will be deciding how to cast their Best Actor vote after watching this video. Jackman does admit that the actor whose name he can’t seem to remember is “awesome” in Lincoln though, and he also waxes enthusiastic about Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in The Master. You can also access video interviews with Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain, Sally Field, John Goodman, John Hawkes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Quvenzhané Wallis, Christoph Waltz and Naomi Watts at the Great Performances link above. In the meantime, here’s a compilation clip. Oh yeah, and take a close look at the photo of Hathaway resting on Jackman’s buff torso with her thumb in her mouth. Saucy. Featured Photo Photo by Paola Kudacki for Time [ Time] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Is Disney still suffering from Shrek envy? Over the last two days the blogosphere has generated unconfirmed reports that the House of Mouse is developing a Yoda movie, as part of its Star Wars franchise reboot, and that Marvel Studios , which is owned by Disney, is planning a standalone Hulk movie that would tie together The Avengers 2 and 3 movies. Disney’s Yoda Movie The Yoda report, which is a little vague on details, was posted by Ain’t It Cool News on Monday. The story doesn’t indicate whether the chartreuse Jedi Master will be the focus of J.J. Abrams ‘ Star Wars Episode 7, but I agree with IndieWire ‘s assessment that, if this report stands up, the Yoda movie will probably complement Abrams’ picture and pave the way for other Star Wars movies built around a single character. (AICN claims there’s even a Jabba The Hutt idea out there, which sounds preposterous — and, um, slow-moving, plot-wise — but maybe fan favorite, Boba Fett, can finally become the star he should have become decades ago.) If Disney’s Star Wars strategy is indeed to develop movies built around key canon characters that link to Episode 7 and upward, it wouldn’t be all that different from the game plan that Marvel Studios has been working since around 2008. The comic book publisher’s movie arm started with standalone movies — Iron Man , Captain American , Thor — then had those characters converge for the extremely lucrative first Avengers movie. Given the richness of the Star Wars universe that George Lucas created, the inverse could work just as well — or, perhaps, better — if Abrams and Disney introduce a new ensemble of Force and Dark Side characters, instead of simply re-imagining the old movies. That said, if Yoda — and not his Force ghost — is going to be involved in Episode 7 , that would mean the story would have to be set before Return of the Jedi , in which the green sage died at the ripe age of 900. Marvel’s Plans For A Hulk Movie As for the other green superhero, Latino Review — which has scored some big Marvel scoops over the last few months — is reporting that either in the third act or post-credits scene of The Avengers 2 , the Hulk will be shot into space by the Illuminati, the secret organization of Marvel superheroes that includes Iron Man and Doctor Strange , after the green giant is deemed too dangerous to remain on Earth. This will set up the premise for the Hulk’s standalone movie , and if you don’t like spoilers, stop reading now. Latino Review claims the plot of that movie will be based on Greg Pak’s 2006 Planet Hulk comic’s storyline. To make a long story short, after Hulk smashes a lot of extraterrestrial ass, he’ll put together an army and return to Earth good and pissed off, thereby setting the scene for Avengers 3 , which the site claims will be based on Pak’s 2007 Planet Hulk follow-up, World War Hulk . Marvel fans are all worked up about this, but I remain skeptical about the Hulk’s promise as a standalone character. Audiences enjoyed him in The Avengers , because Hulk provided comic relief. The problem is, there’s no art to his anger, and, as we saw with the first two Hulk movies, scenes of a giant green brute smashing shit becomes pretty tedious pretty quickly. At least Yoda talks funny. [ Ain’t It Cool News , Latino Review , IndieWire ]
Twenty years after John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson , as Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, became arguably the most iconic hitman duo in contemporary cinema, it’s hard to imagine any other actors tackling those roles — especially the Royale with Cheese conversation. But the new issue of Vanity Fair serves as a reminder that their Pulp Fiction parts almost went to other actors. The magazine’s annual Hollywood issue includes an oral history on the making of Quentin Tarantino’s violent 1994 masterpiece that recalls Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein was seriously opposed to Travolta being cast as the marvelously mooky Vega. “John Travolta was at that time as cold as they get,” Tarantino’s William Morris Endeavor agent Mike Simpson tells the magazine. “He was less than zero.” When Tarantino, who was dead-set on Travolta playing the role, submitted a term sheet that included his final choice of actors for the movie, Weinstein approved all of his choices except for the onetime Saturday Night Fever star. Two much more bankable actors, Daniel Day-Lewis and Bruce Willis , had read the script and expressed interest in playing Vega, and Sean Penn and William Hurt were also on Weinstein’s short list. But Tarantino and his agent proved to be even more stubborn. When negotiations over Travolta came down to the wire, and Weinstein attempted to put off casting the actor, Simpson told the movie mogul: “You’re going to agree to it right now, or there’s no deal.” Weinstein blinked, and former Miramax production head Richard Gladstein says that 20 minutes into a screening of the finished film, Harvey cracked, “I’m so glad I had the idea to cast John Travolta.” Jackson, on the other hand, almost lost the role to Paul Calderon ( Out of Sight , 21 Grams ) and had to fly in for an eleventh-hour audition. He wasn’t happy about it, especially after one of the producers confused him with actor Laurence Fishburne ( The Matrix ). That actually turned out to be a good thing based on this distillation of the audition: “I sort of was angry, pissed, tired,” Jackson recalls. He was also hungry, so he bought a takeout burger on his way to the studio, only to find nobody there to greet him. “When they came back, a line producer or somebody who was with them said, ‘I love your work, Mr. Fishburne,’” says Jackson. “It was like a slow burn. He doesn’t know who I am? I was kind of like, Fuck it. At that point I really didn’t care.” Gladstein remembers Jackson’s audition: “In comes Sam with a burger in his hand and a drink in the other hand and stinking like fast food. Me and Quentin and Lawrence were sitting on the couch, and he walked in and just started sipping that shake and biting that burger and looking at all of us. I was scared shitless. I thought that this guy was going to shoot a gun right through my head. His eyes were popping out of his head. And he just stole the part.” Lawrence Bender adds, “He was the guy you see in the movie. He said, ‘Do you think you’re going to give this part to somebody else? I’m going to blow you motherfuckers away.’” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Two weeks after carrying home the big prizes from the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe Awards , Argo firmly established its Oscar front-runner status with another one-two punch in the form of the PGA’s Motion Picture Producer of the Year honor and the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast. And in a season of confusion and contradiction, that front-runner status gives Argo traction that none of its Best-Picture rivals have. The PGA win was not a surprise, especially after Argo ’s strong showing with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Content-wise, it’s the type of film that charms producers, being a taut political thriller 65% of the time and a stack of insider Hollywood jokes the other 35%. Apart from that, you have The Affleck, and the time has come to love and praise The Affleck . Rejuvenated and relevant again, Ben Affleck is this year’s Oscar story. When the nominations came out, who was the “snubbed” director? It wasn’t Kathryn Bigelow , Paul Thomas Anderson , or Wes Anderson , the three directors whose films appeared on the most end-of-year lists. It was The Affleck, and within 72 hours, The Affleck was redeemed with populist awards broadcast live on the CW and NBC, making Argo the People’s Film and Affleck the Oscar story of the year. For Best Picture prognostication, the PGA Award is a major get. Since it was started in 1989, the Producers Guild has awarded the eventual Best Picture Oscar winner nearly 70 percent of the time, and has been perfect over the past 5 years. Additionally, the PGA uses a preferential ballot just as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has done since 2009. What this means is that Argo and Affleck do not need to top all ballots, they just need to be agreed upon by most ballots. I don’t have scientific findings to present here, but think about the conversations you’ve had about the Best Picture nominees: Lincoln , Les Misérables, Django Unchained , and Silver Linings Playbook are much more polarizing than the crowd-pleasing Argo . For what it’s worth, Argo also has the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of all the nominees, 96, followed by Zero Dark Thirty , 93, and Amour , 92. The movie’s SAG win was more of a surprise. Argo is not an Actor’s Movie. This is not to say the award was not earned, simply that most of the attention was divided between the flashy Les Mis and the kitchen sink acting of Silver Linings Playbook . But there’s that word: “divided.” The Screen Actors Guild is a massive organization of nearly 160,000 members (though only current on dues are eligible to vote), so while theater types might have leaned toward Les Mis and classically-trained types might have opted for Silver Linings or Lincoln , the one film the Guild ended up agreeing on was Argo and its Affleck-led cast. It was, in a word, the most popular. (Keeping with the populist theme, note how the SAG Awards are the only guild awards that appear on billboards). SAG has a terrible track record with Best Picture. The two top awards aligned less than half of the time since SAG started their awards in 1995. But this is a season when stats mean less than they would normally. The film with the most Oscar nominations is no longer the film to beat. Harvey Weinstein , who put Affleck on the Oscar map with the 1997 movie Goodwill Hunting, is fighting an uphill battle. There’s a legitimate front-runner in town, and it does not have the director’s nomination assumed necessary. (And I’m not talking about Django Unchained .) This season, the Best Picture race is all about tone and attitude, and Argo and its affable director are all about tone and attitude. Affleck is an A-lister once again, charming every room he enters — his jokes won the room at the PGA breakfast Saturday morning — and his film’s recent run of awards-season honors have made its Best Picture prospects impossible to ignore. After months of having several films on the radar, there is finally one at the center of it. John Hendel is a playwright from Los Angeles. Follow John Hendel on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.