He’s about to embark on his ambitious one-man Mark Twain show , and soon enough Val Kilmer will also be a doctor, courtesy of William Woods University ! Kinda. “It’s embarrassing if you have a brother with a real doctorate. [Laughs.] I called him up without thinking — I was so excited! — and said, ‘You won’t believe it! They called me out the blue. I’m going to be just like you! Dr. Kilmer.’ There was a long pause, and I immediately realized what a mistake this phone call was.” [ Vanity Fair ]
James Franco , Selena Gomez , and Harmony Korine are down in Florida filming Spring Breakers , a movie about four coeds (including Disney tween queen Gomez) indebted to a rapping dealer named Alien (Franco) after they rob a bank to finance their spring break trip and he bails them out. All of this sounded innocent enough, at least as much as a Korine film can seem, until images of Franco emerged from the set. Some called his look Kevin Federline-esque ; rapper Riff Raff stepped forth to actually claim, proudly, that Franco’s cornrowed, blinged-out drug dealer persona was based on him . In any case, get a look at your 2011 Oscar nominee James Franco as… I don’t even know what to call this. Movieliners, caption away! Via INF Daily – click for more . Here’s a bonus look that confirms that this isn’t just a shared psychotic Friday afternoon daydream we’re all having, posted by Gomez to her Twitter account yesterday with the message “This is where the trouble begins…” (The shoot is being heavily documented both on Tumblr and Twitter , for those interested in candid shots of Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, and Vanessa Hudgens in bikinis.) Meanwhile, Fuse TV got Riff Raff on the line to explain that he was originally offered a part by Korine before Franco came to adopt his style in the film, which also supposedly stars Gucci Mane, AKA that rapper with the ice cream cone tattoo on his face : “I sent him a few things. But all you gotta do [to see how I dress] is search through my videos. I got a pretty distinct style, with the braids, the jewelry.” Damn. Somewhere in Florida, where they’re shooting Spring Breakers, at this very moment, James Franco looks exactly like this. On the movie as a whole, Riff Raff said, “I feel really kind of privileged because I got this big actor playing the role of me but at the same time, like, damn, I wish I was there… “Even though I couldn’t be a part of this project, I’m still glad that James Franco could play the role of me. That’s like if Denzel Washington was playing the role of O.J. Simpson. Even though it’s not O.J. Simpson, O.J. Simpson still gotta be like, ‘Denzel Washington is playing me.'” Sure thing, Riff Raff. In other words: This is my new most-anticipated movie of 2013. [via INF Daily , @SelenaGomez ]
Here’s a last bit of breezy entertainment as you head into the weekend: The first trailer for Miami-set dance sequel Step Up 4 , AKA Step Up: Revolution , in which a new pair of star-crossed lovers leads their crew into syncopated battle against prejudice rival gangs foreclosure evil land developers. This series has wound a long, glossy path since the days of Channing Tatum b-boying in the parking lot, but hey: It’s a new Step Up movie! As long as that Moose kid and Madd Chadd show up, I’m good to go. Of course, Jon M. Chu has moved on from the Step Up films to helm the G.I. Joe sequel (Chu directed the second and third installments of the series, making the franchise a hit) but he remains a producer with music video veteran Scott Speer in the director’s chair . (Speer previously directed the “Duet” episode of Chu’s online dance series The LXD , which inspires some faith in his eye for movement and storytelling.) My biggest hangup about Step Up 4 , however, isn’t that the two new leads, Kathryn McCormick and Ryan Guzman, are unknown — following in Step Up tradition — or that the trailer is almost too-slick looking, or that dancers on pogo legs don’t really do much for me. It’s that flash mobs are so tired already; once Justin Timberlake used them to woo Mila Kunis last year and Howie Mandel hosted a reality TV show about real people springing grandiose flash mob-gestures upon their estranged loved ones, I was kind of done with them. Also: What is Peter Gallagher doing in this movie playing the evil real estate developer who will threaten to dash the community’s dreams before being defeated by the power of dance?? He was in Center Stage 1 AND 2! YOU’RE ONLY ALLOWED TO BE IN ONE DANCE FRANCHISE, OTHERWISE THE UNIVERSE IMPLODES!!! Verdict: Seems like a missed opportunity to open Step Up 4 in 4-D, but I’ll give it a whirl anyway because yes, I am a sucker for these movies. Step Up: Revolution Against Peter Gallagher opens in theaters July 27.
Screen Gems spilled the news today that they’re already filming a feature adaptation of Benson Lee’s 2007 dance documentary Planet B-Boy , about a crew of American breakdancers who compete on the world’s stage against crews from foreign lands. Sure, it sounds like just another dance movie. But I ask you: What’s wrong with that? I LOVE DANCE MOVIES ! And if you love dance movies like I do, then there are at least two additional reasons why you’ll totally mark your calendars for this particular project.
