Source: Frans Schellekens / Getty The Surviving R. Kelly documentary has brought up so many heavy conversations and so many of our former faves are being exposed. According to reports, the late Michael Jackson is next up to be chronicled for his alleged sexual misconduct with minors. Rolling Stone: The two-part, 233-minute Leaving Neverland , named after Jackson’s famed California ranch, will receive its world premiere as part of the festival’s Special Events category before airing on HBO this spring. In a release, the filmmakers confirmed the accusers featured in the film as choreographer Wade Robson, the now-36-year-old who filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Jackson in 2013 claiming Jackson molested him when he was seven years old, and James Safechuck, Jackson’s companion as a child who sued Jackson’s estate over sexual abuse claims. We round out the 2019 #Sundance program with additions to the Documentary Premieres and Special Events sections! — SundanceFilmFestival (@sundancefest) January 9, 2019 Bruh, 2019 is going to be a long year. Continue reading →
These ten nude scenes probably shouldn’t have been deleted from the films themselves, but we’re grateful that the filmmakers saw fit to give them to us after all. Here are our Top Ten Deleted Nude Scenes!… read more
It’s hard to reconcile, considering the degree to which adolescents now dominate popular culture, but the idea of the teenager is a uniquely 20th-century invention, born out of advances in psychological theory, changes in child-labor laws and a boom in leisure-time activities for the under-20 set. A feat of both editing and blurring-of-the-edges nonfiction technique, Matt Wolf ’s mesmerizing, scrapbook-style Teenage conveys the transition in how the world perceived this emerging in-between stage via a series of first-person portraits of exceptional individuals set amid a whirlwind of vintage footage. Ironically, the demo in question seems least likely to appreciate the pic’s arty, innovative approach. The conventional thinking goes that until roughly World War II, society and scientists alike thought of life as two distinct stages, divided between children and adults. The former were patronized and sheltered up to a certain point, then shuffled off to work in factories at a young age. In the introduction to his paradigm-shifting book, Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture , Jon Savage , who collaborated with Wolf on this film, reveals that his initial research into the subject began as background for a possible television series, suggesting that he always intended a multimedia approach to the topic. Eschewing the traditional TV documentary style, Wolf innovates a radically different format for the material, blending archival artifacts with invented elements to create an intimate, far more personal history of the emerging demographic across the four decades between 1904 and 1945, when Elliot E. Cohen published his young person’s manifesto, “ A Teen-Age Bill of Rights ,” in the New York Times . Though much of the footage has a stock newsreel feel, Teenage is clearly intended to suggest a home movie record of its era. To that end, Wolf interweaves staged, retro-styled scenes of various characters to foster the illusion of a candid look at various youthful cliques of the time, ranging from London’s Bright Young People to the anti-Hitler “Edelweiss Pirates.” Pic’s most obvious innovation is the absence of a dry, all-encompassing narrator, replaced by four voiceover actors hired to read excerpts from journal entries of the period (embellished with original dialogue designed to match elements from the filmmakers’ research). Jena Malone performs an early-century American girl, Ben Whishaw represents the British youth, Jessie Usher captures the unease of African-American teens and Julia Hummer plays a German fraulein whose lines were excerpted from Melita Maschmann’s chilling Nazi-era memoir, Account Rendered — each directed to sound distractingly contemporary. When combined with the vintage (or vintage-styled) visuals, these recitations produce an almost Terrence Malick -like effect, contrasting personal impressions with the more objective, journalistic imagery presented onscreen. As a work of sociological history, Teenage withholds too much context to be of use, overemphasizing the European side of what it calls “an American invention.” As a thought experiment, however, it is uniquely crafted to inspire auds to muse on how the experience of adolescence must have felt at a time cusp-of-modern moment when engaged and driven young people wanted to play a more proactive role in their world. Nearly the entire history of cinema — much of it targeted at consumers in this very age range — retroactively applies our relatively recent understanding of teenagers as a distinct developmental stage to its young characters, and Teenage suggests how famous historical and literary figures (from Marie Antoinette to Romeo and Juliet) might have actually been perceived in their time. Still, 77 minutes is hardly adequate to cover the breadth of the four decades in question, and the film alternates between elegant transitions and confusing stretches as it tries to address everything from promiscuous, free-wheeling American flappers and “victory girls” to the ultra-organized, hyper-disciplined Boy Scouts and Hitler Youth. More on Teenage : INTERVIEW: ‘Teenage’ Filmmakers Matt Wolf & Jon Savage Make A Doc That Swings Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Even as Zero Dark Thirty has come under fire by key Senators criticizing its depiction of torture in the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, the film shrugged off the pressure, at least at the box office, in its initial limited roll out Wednesday. [ Related: Golden Globes Unveil 70th Edition Nominees ] The Sony release opted for a specialty-style roll-out Wednesday, opening in limited locations in New York and Los Angeles before it heads wide January 11, not so coincidentally, the day after Oscar nominations are unveiled. The pic, which re-teams Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal ( The Hurt Locker ), scored the biggest Wednesday limited opening ever (without a Disney-style stage show), according to Deadline.com . The film starring Jessica Chastain grossed a tremendous $124,848 in one day from just five theaters giving it a stellar mid-week $24,969 average. The numbers outstrip the likes of other Wednesday openers American Beauty which took in $73K with six theaters and Little Miss Sunshine with $66K from 7 runs. The film has been an early darling for critics with prestige organizations including the New York Film Critics Circle, the Chicago Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review giving the two-and-a-half-hour-plus feature its choice for Best Film of 2012. It also received four Golden Globe noms, including Best Motion Picture, Drama though others such as Lincoln , Django Unchained and Les Misérables scored more. Still, Zero Dark Thirty is expected to be a heavy-hitter come Oscar nomination morning. Some, however, have begun to speculate whether the percolating controversy over the film’s perceived suggestions that water-boarding, extreme isolation and other techniques were useful in ultimately locating Bin Laden and how that may affect Academy voters should the story hold staying power in the headlines. A report from A.P. yesterday said that former Vietnam War-era P.O.W. Senator John McCain slammed the film after viewing a screener earlier this week and BBC reports that McCain and two other Senate colleagues made their objections official in a letter to the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The letter said the pic is “perpetuating the myth that torture is effective” and that “the fundamental problem is that people who see Zero Dark Thirty will believe that the events it portrays are facts.” It goes on to say, “the film therefore has the potential to shape American public opinion in a disturbing and misleading manner,” and that the “use of torture in the fight against terrorism did severe damage to America’s values and standing that cannot be justified or expunged.” Also signing the letter, which was made public, were Senators Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin, all of whom are members of the Senate Intelligence committee. Bigelow has said that her film depicts a “variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods.” She and Boal have also indicated their distaste for torture in statements last week. [Sources: Deadline , BBC ]
Whether the world ends tomorrow, a new, more enlightened era dawns or absolutely jack shit happens, it appears that Darren Aronofsky will be immersed in the culture that set off all this wild speculation in the first place. The filmmaker tweeted Thursday morning that he’s “going to maya country to pay respect to the great ancient astronomers who knew tomorrow would one day come.” going to maya country to pay respect to the great ancient astronomers who knew tomorrow would one day come. hail xibalba & flaming serpent.— darren aronofsky (@DarrenAronofsky) December 20, 2012 If you like to follow alarmist Internet writings, then you know that on Friday, Dec. 21, a 5,125-year cycle of the Mayan calendar will end, which some so-called enlightened types are saying will either result in a spectacular end to life as we know it or a promising new beginning. Hell, I’ll take that second option any day, but as the New York Times , and other less gullible providers of information have noted, the doomsday prophecies are a misinterpretation of the Maya Long Count calendar and Dec. 21 is simply the day when one cycle ends and a new one begins. Sure, Aronofsky is probably in an apocalyptic frame of mind these days because he’s shooting Noah with Russell Crowe , but clearly he’s being cheeky here. Aronofsky is an adventurer at heart — he was at the Marrakech International Film Festival just a few days ago — so I don’t doubt that he’s going to Maya country. Thousands of people are amassing near Mayan ruins in Merida, Mexico as I write this in hopes of witnessing something big (and smoking some amazing weed). But look at how he signs off: “hail xibalba & flaming serpent.” Xibalba is the name of the underworld in Mayan mythology where the Mayan death gods and their helpers have apparently been twiddling their thumbs and sending messages to Mel Gibson for a very long time. As the sage Franklin Harris also reminds me, Xibalba is featured in Aronofsky’s seriously cosmic The Fountain . Xibalba is the nebula where Tom (Hugh Jackman) takes the tree bearing the essence of his beloved, dying wife Izzi (Rache Weisz). Aronofsky has said that the film “is about coming to terms with your own death.” I’m not sure about the flaming serpent part — maybe a Mayan culture expert can bring me up to speed in the comments section below — but that message reads to me like the smart-ass Mayan geek equivalent of “Live long and prosper.” I’ve asked Aronofsky’s publicist if he’d like to elaborate on his travel plans. I’ll update if I hear back. More on Darren Aronofsky’s Noah: Snakes On A Boat! Noah Cinematographer Libatique Tweets First Look Inside Aronofsky’s Ark [ New York Times , Huffington Post ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
With indie cinema season kicking off next month in Park City, Slamdance TV is here to help with a five-part behind-the-scenes primer on making movies (for dummies) by Slamdance vets Kevin M. Brennan ( It’s a Disaster ) and Doug Manley ( Modern Imbecile’s Planet World ). First up this week, exclusively on Movieline : How to cast your low-budget indie feature, survive audition ad-libs, and find “yesterday’s Robert De Niro, today.” Check back next week for the next installment of Modern Imbecile’s Idiot’s Guide To Making Movies For Dummies . We’ll have you on your way to indie movie stardom in no time! Slamdance alums Kevin M. Brennan and Doug Manley have teamed up with Slamdance TV to present Modern Imbecile’s Idiot’s Guide To Making Movies For Dummies. In the five part web series, Slamdance TV’s very own Ben Hethcoat goes behind the scenes of Wallace Cotton’s latest feature film, COP HEAT starring Brennan and Manley as the titular duo, Don and Lizard Man. COP HEAT: “Two hot for the streets. Two hot to handle.” Episode 1: Casting Writer/director Wallace Cotten guides Ben through the rewarding and oftentimes frustrating process of casting a low budget indie feature. Join the festival ‘By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers’ in this Slamdance TV original web series which explores the independent filmmaking process. Slamdance Film Festival takes place January 18-24 in Park City, UT. For more information visit slamdance.com Facebook.com/SlamdanceFilmFestival Twitter @Slamdance Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Rihanna’s camp cited conflicting schedules but we all know that’s just the professional way to act like you’re not sore when you’ve just lost out on a blockbuster-movie role. According to The Daily Mail : In April it was reported that Rihanna was gearing up to play a villainous role in the upcoming blockbuster The Fast and the Furious 6. But it has now been revealed that Rita Ora has been cast for the part over the Diamonds singer. Rita, who celebrates her 22nd birthday Monday, apparently impressed during castings outshining the 24-year-old Rihanna. A source told the newspaper: ‘Rihanna impressed movie bosses with her role in Battleship. But schedules didn’t work out and Rita really shone during castings. The Hot Right Now singer, who has previous acting experience proved to be a big hit with the filmmakers, as the source added: ‘They loved her look and her attitude.’ News of losing what was meant to be her second blockbuster role is set to rub Rihanna the wrong way according to reports. Rita is set to star in the movie alongside Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. The sixth installment of the speed racing franchise is set for release in May 2013 and filming is currently underway. Congrats Rita…and make sure you do a better job with this chance at acting than Rihanna did in ‘Battleship’! Images via tumblr
First, Abe Lincoln was a vampire hunter . Now he sounds like he might have been a very early member of the Green Lantern Corps. The 16th president’s tough formative years will be explored in The Green Blade Also Rises , which will mark the directorial debut of Terrence Malick ( The Tree of Life ) protege A.J. Edwards who also wrote the screenplay. Malick will produce the film, which despite its sci-fi-sounding title, will depict the hardships that molded young Abe into the man who became one of America’s most influential presidents. Lincoln has yet to be cast, but the filmmakers announced on Friday that Wes Bentley ( The Hunger Games ) will play the president’s first teacher, and Brit Marling (Another Earth) will play Nancy, Lincoln’s biological mother. Diane Kruger ( Inglourious Basterds ) and Jason Clarke ( Public Enemies ) are also on board as Lincoln’s step-mother and father. Edwards got his start as an editorial intern on Malick’s The New World and served as the editor on his most recent film To The Wonder .
They’re both behemoth British authors, but that does not necessarily translate into desire to pick up the other’s books for a read. On the eve of J.K. Rowling’s first post- Harry Potter series roll-out The Casual Vacancy , the mega-selling author of the fantasy series, which spawned a mega-multiple movie franchise said she hasn’t read fellow author E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Grey and probably won’t. The paperback version of 50 Shades managed to surpass the Harry Potter series as the fastest seller of all-time, though naturally the two literary blockbusters target different audiences. Rowling certainly hasn’t done bad with Potter , with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. “I haven’t [read 50 Shades of Grey ], have you?” Rowling told an interviewer from The Guardian , adding, “Well, if I’m truthful, it’s because I promised by editor I wouldn’t.” She quickly added that she was joking, but her editor did say, “Well, don’t read it,” she said. Asked further if she thought she was “missing out” on something, Rowling said, “Not wildly, no,” but added, “It could be amazing, but no I haven’t read it.” Rowling’s latest, however, moves into the adult-themed world that E.L. James’ wildly popular books have dominated of late. The Casual Vacancy reportedly takes on prostitution, drug use and class, according to The Guardian. “The worst that can happen is that everyone says, ‘That’s shockingly bad,’ she said about the pending novel. The Casual Vacancy will be available beginning September 27th. And as has been the focus of attention throughout the recent Summer, 50 Shades of Grey , of course, will now be heading to the big screen and speculation has been a constant over who will play the two leads. The debate and media attention may bode well for the forthcoming film version, though compared to the $2.3 billion Harry Potter franchise juggernaut, 50 Shades will have quite a hill to climb. The Casual Vacancy plot as described by the publisher’s parent company, Little, Brown Book Group: “When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?” [ Sources: The Guardian , Wikipedia , Box Office Mojo , via The Insider ]
Speculation and excitement have been building among Quentin Tarantino fans for the Christmas-day release (in N. America) of Django Unchained , starring Leonardo DiCaprio , Samuel L. Jackson , Jonah Hill , Christoph Waltz and Kerry Washington . But for those Tarantino fans just jonesing for a Tarantino fix ahead of that roll out, Lionsgate and Miramax are teaming up on a massive Quentin Tarantino Blu-ray disc boxed set. There may be a bit of sticker-shock for some, but the $119.99 list price includes eight film in addition to two bonus discs with five hours of extras, according to Home Media magazine. The box set includes titles Reservoir Dogs , True Romance , Pulp Fiction , Jackie Brown , Kill Bill Vol. 1 , Kill Bill Vol. 2 , Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds . Critics; perspectives on the filmmaker’s films and a feature containing interviews with stars and other filmmakers dubbed “20 Years of Filmmaking” highlight the bonus material. [ Source: Home Media ]
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