Welcome to THG Asks, a feature in which our two celebrity gossip experts debate a topical issue in the entertainment world and readers decide on which side they fall. Today, we turn our focus not just to Kristen Stewart and her shocking affair with Rupert Sanders , but to her unusual decision to issue a public apology regarding her actions. We ponder both arguments and then THG Asks: Should the actress have taken this step? ——————————————- NO. By Free Britney Kristen Stewart owes the public one thing and one thing only: the best performance she can give on screen. She’s an actress. She didn’t cause any personal or emotional harm to a single fan out there and, no offense, but if she did… that’s your fault, not hers. Kristen owes Robert Pattinson an apology. She owes Liberty Ross , the wife of Sanders, an apology. She owes the director’s two kids an apology. These were people actually affected by her lapse in judgment. But what Stewart does in the privacy of her own home – or in the front seat of a car , apparently – is between Stewart, the person she is doing it with and those connected to either or both. When it comes someone such as Kristen, who has clearly never craved fame, I choose to judge her solely on her acting chops and don’t expect her to meet any sort of ethical standard in her personal life. And I certainly don’t need her to apologize to me when she fails to do so. YES. By Hilton Hater Hi, Free Britney. Welcome to 2012. Your argument may have made sense a couple decades ago, prior to tabloids and the paparazzi and the Internet and the blurring of lines between the public, the private and the professional. But this isn’t a debate over how thing should be. It’s a debate over how things are . And this is how they are in this age, especially for a star such as Stewart and a franchise such as The Twilight Saga: the movies are sold as much on Kristen and Rob’s relationship as they are on vampires, werewolves and half-human babies. It’s very easy to argue that Stewart’s dalliance with Sanders will cost the studio millions, considering fans who simply won’t be able to stand her on screen any longer. Yes, Twihards take their Robsten very seriously and, whether Stewart wanted to play that game or not, she profited significantly from it. The investment of others in her relationship with Pattinson shot this actress on to the A-list. And she knew that. She may have disdained the spotlight, but she was aware that countless fans were staring at her in it and expecting her – at the very least – not to cheat with a married man nearly twice her age. I mean, seriously. Are we really at the point where we’re second guessing an apology? Isn’t that what we ask for from those who make a mistake? Your turn, readers. What do YOU think? Should Kristen Stewart have issued a public apology for cheating on Robert Pattinson?
Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis face off as political rivals vying for the same Congressional seat in The Campaign — but should Democrats or Republicans be more worried about being skewered for laughs in the August 10 comedy? Movieline pal Grace Randolph hit the star-studded NYC premiere with Beyond the Trailer for the scoop from candidates Ferrell and Galifianakis, catching up with a flurry of SNL alums, 30 Rock players, ABC News vet John Stossel and Jon Hamm to discuss the pressing issues of the day. Such as: Are babies good at improv? And yes, Will Ferrell. Anthony Weiner would make a fantastic politician guest for Between Two Ferns , if only to see what Galifianakis would do with the poor guy. MAKE THAT HAPPEN NOW. Rubbing elbows with The Campaign set, guests at the premiere party hosted by The Peggy Siegal Company swilled specialty cocktails courtesy of SVEDKA Vodka, who designed special red, white, and blue bottles to match the patriotic theme. The Campaign hits theaters August 10. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
In the wake of the Kristen Stewart cheating bomb that dropped today , at least one PR pro thinks Stewart’s subsequent apology stinks of forced reparations . Meanwhile, gossip maven Lainey Lui zeroes in on the repercussions of the Twilight star issuing such a perplexingly earnest-sounding mea culpa after years of fiercely protecting her private life from outside eyes: “Kristen Stewart has been neutered. She’s officially owned now. She belongs to them. And she belongs to us.” Continued, from Lainey Gossip : “You don’t want to answer questions about your private life? But you just gave me every reason to ask about your private life because you told ME how sorry you are, sobbing through your words, that you may have ruined your love. One day you’re diving into the dumpster avoiding photographers when I want to see a picture of you holding hands with your boyfriend, the next day you’re begging me to understand that you made a bad judgement call, essentially pleading for my forgiveness. Who turns down power when it’s presented to them? Certainly not me. Certainly not us.” Lainey’s been covering the Twilight beat within the larger celebrity world for years now, and she’s always come across as one of the realest-talking gossip fixtures in the biz. Here she nails Stewart’s PR predicament precisely on its head: In a nutshell, one of Hollywood’s most hounded celebrities has uncharacteristically and without prompting pulled back the curtains on her private life — and how — and judging by how her People exclusive apology reads it seems like she was thinking about as strategically as a plaintive, emotional teenager, not the megastar who just months ago swore she didn’t care about those who “want to turn truth into shit.” What’s fascinating here to celeb-watchers is that Stewart felt she needed to apologize publicly at all after becoming quite adept at protecting her private life. Then again, that kind of 24-7 privacy-guarding would be exhausting for anyone. But if anyone demanded an apology, it wasn’t necessarily the fans, though it likely helped stem the tide of vicarious betrayal many have vocalized. So why do it? [ Lainey Gossip ] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
His film The Avengers is one of the highest grossers of the year and legions of fans gave adulation to him at the recent Comic-Con and even more did so at the box office. So what do you do when you have a blockbuster that has made nearly $1.5 billion worldwide and quickly counting? Take on Shakespeare and Much Ado About Nothing ! Well, he’s done it already and it’s headed to the Toronto International Film Festival in September, but the film adds to the filmmaker’s wide-ranging repertoire which has included, of course, The Avengers , a portion of last year’s doc Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope (as a writer) and TV episodes of Glee , The Office and Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Whedon’s version of Much Ado About Nothing will be a contemporary version of the Shakespearean story, which was shot in just 12 days, the Los Angeles Times notes . Toronto programmers noted the black and white movie “offers a dark, sexy and occasionally absurd view of the intricate game that is love.” The Bellwether Pictures project actually completed shooting last fall, well ahead of The Avengers massive debut in April. The film stars Amy Acker (from Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods and Alexis Denisof ( How I Met Your Mother ) as Beatrice and Benedick, which Bellwether calls “the least likely lovers” who are headed for their “inevitable tumble into love.” It is not the first time the story has been picked as a springboard for a contemporary re-telling. Kenneth Branagh took it on back in the early ’90s. That version starred Branagh along with Emma Thompson, Keanu Reeves, Kate Beckinsale and Denzel Washington. Also starring in Whedon’s Ado are Nathan Fillion ( Waitress , Clark Gregg ( Avengers , Fran Kranz ( Cabin in the Woods and Reed Diamond ( Moneyball ). [Source: Los Angeles Times ]
Juno Temple (recently, Selina Kyle’s special friend in The Dark Knight Rises ) and Riley Keough (the granddaughter of Elvis seen briefly in Magic Mike ) star in Bradley Rust Gray’s Jack and Diane , a dark romance about two young ladies experiencing puppy love and the peculiar transformations that ensue. After the jump watch the first official trailer, which sets up their sweet sapphic connection but shies away from major spoilers. Jack and Diane burst onto the collective radar a while back with its horror-tinged setup (which I won’t ruin here) and once was set to star Juno BFFs Ellen Page and Olivia Thirlby in the title roles. As the first trailer highlights, Temple and Keough promise to bring a different dynamic to the tale — theirs is a naive, elemental chemistry, glimpsed in snatches, made ominous by animated sequences by the Brothers Quay. Cara Seymour and Kylie Minogue also co-star. Who can resist? Still, Jack and Diane floundered with critics upon its Tribeca Film Festival debut . But between Magic Mike , TDKR , and this week’s Killer Joe (which features Temple as the object of Joe’s affections), there’s no better time for Magnolia to capitalize on their stars’ rising cache. Verdict: Looks cute. But will it come together? Jack and Diane debuts on VOD on September 28 and is in theaters November 2.
So, The Dark Knight Rises happened. But as much as Christopher Nolan’s Batman finale tied the themes of the entire trilogy together with emotion and weight, capping what began in Batman Begins and continued in The Dark Knight with a full-circle completion of Bruce Wayne’s journey as a hero and symbol of hope in Gotham City and the world, well, there were just a dozen too many plot holes and contrivances along the way to ignore. Or were there? Let’s dive right into spoiler territory and navigate the WTF-iest of TDKR ‘s more perplexing leaps of logic, shall we? SPOILERS FOLLOW, OBVIOUSLY. Bane’s Overly Complicated 5-Month Plan Let’s start with the dastardly terrorist plot that sets TDKR in motion. Bane gets slimy exec guy Daggett to hire Selina Kyle to steal Bruce Wayne’s fingerprints to make some fraudulent deals (via very public hostage-taking assault on the stock exchange) in order to force Wayne Enterprises into Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul’s hands, so they can bankrupt the billionaire superhero whose identity they already know and then manipulate him into giving them the technology that can be fashioned into a nuclear bomb. *Gasps for breath* Then Bane destroys Gotham with a few neat set pieces (the football stadium explosion and the simultaneous bridge attack are superb, I’ll admit) thereby cutting Gotham City off from the rest of the world, unleashing the prison population into the streets, and imposing chaos on the citizenry… but only for about 5 months, until his bomb will nuke the city anyway — conveniently enough, the perfect amount of time to leech hope from the people of Gotham AND allow Bruce to recover from a broken back, climb out of the pit, trek across the globe with no ID and no money and no smart phone, sneak back into Gotham City, and save the day! Bruce Wayne and Miranda Tate’s Out of Nowhere Hookup If The Notebook taught us anything, it’s that two attractive people caught in the rain will get to boinking sooner or later. That’s just what happens. So of course Bruce, who’s been grieving the loss of his beloved Rachel for 8 years, will fall into sexytime with the pretty board member who he’s never so much as locked eyes with until like two days ago, let alone had any meaningful chemistry with. IT’S SEX RAIN. GET OVER IT. There must be missing footage on the cutting room floor that sets up Bruce and Miranda’s chemistry better, and maybe even shows us a bit of the action, so to speak. There must . Why would Gotham’s preeminent costumed detective superhero let down his guard enough to leave a strange lady sleeping in their fireside bed, alone in his house of secrets, where the push of a button on a desk opens the door to the Bat-cave? Especially since she herself has mysterious scars and secrets of her own? Probable answer : The back-on-the-saddle hubris that led Batman to ruin the cops’ pursuit of Bane in his first return to crimefighting also makes him underestimate Talia. Bedding her is a step forward in his return to life and becoming a whole man once again after nursing his broken heart (and likely being a celibate creepy old mansion hermit). And maybe he spent a few hours offscreen in his Bat-cave Googling Miranda and doing an extensive background check on her before going there, only the League of Shadows has really, really good hackers and fake identity engineers on their payroll, in addition to prison doctors and Mongolian-chic wardrobe stylists. Terrible Hand-to-Hand Fight Action That Makes No Damn Sense Bane’s a hulking, physically superior adversary who can kill people with his finger and batters Batman (admittedly, an over-the-hill, hasn’t hit the gym in 8 years Batman) around like a rag doll — which explains why their first fight in the sewers is so awkwardly one-sided. But once Batman recovers from his broken back, does a few prison push-ups, and then suits up after focusing his anger into his workout regimen for months… their fist fights look pretty much the same. There’s a shot on the City Hall steps where Batman leaps ahead of Bane, then turns to face him like a kid on a playground that made me groan. In no way does Batman seem to have learned from his past failures against Bane; he doesn’t employ strategy or gadgetry to defeat his stronger nemesis. When Bane grabs a shotgun, of all things, to finish the Caped Crusader, it’s Catwoman who offs Bane with a blast from the Batpod. And then we forget Bane was even in this movie for the rest of the film. Sigh. Side note : It’s worth acknowledging that the entirety of TDKR ‘s final act is constructed so that the people around Batman must step up individually to help save Gotham. The fact that Batman can’t do it all by himself, and can’t even defeat Bane alone, reinforces the theme. Maybe he’s getting too old for this shit after all. Still, it’s not very satisfying when the individual parts don’t make total sense on their own, is it? Batman’s Superhuman Time Management Before zooming off in the Bat with nuclear bomb in tow, and shortly after returning to the city after five months in the middle of nowhere prison with about a day to save the world, Batman somehow manages to put all of his legal affairs in order, leaves the pearl necklace for Selina (heh) and detailed instructions to Blake in a duffel bag at his lawyer’s office, sets a gasoline fire on the bridge in the shape of the Bat, saves Gordon in the nick of time, saves Blake in the nick of time, and fixes the Bat-symbol. I don’t know how he does it! Literally. Best explanation: He’s Batman. Enough said? Bruce/Batman’s Coincidental Death Are you telling me that nobody notices that Batman “dies” in a blaze of glory the same day that Gotham’s most famous billionaire playboy also dies, leaving his estate to a bunch of orphans and willing his duffel bag of spelunking gear to some junior cop? Which brings me to… Bruce and Selina’s European Vacation I don’t believe that A) Emo Alfred would sit there on his fancy-sad vacay, see Bruce at the next table, alive and well, and not go give him a huge weepy hug, or B) a presumed dead billionaire playboy like Bruce Wayne can just go brunching in the open in France or whatever Florence and not be recognized. I kinda dig the idea that with nothing left in the Wayne coffers Bruce and Selina have retired to the French Riviera Italy to live off of her burgling money. Possible answer: This is just Alfred’s fantasy version of what he’s always wished to see, and Batman/Bruce Wayne is really dead, and Chris Nolan has Incepted us all over again. Selina’s Special Friend, Wink Wink Presuming Selina Kyle has a more than friendly relationship with Juno Temple’s minx-in-training is a stretch, though they certainly seem to be BFFs/roommates/collaborators, ladies from the wrong side of the tracks trying to hustle their way up the food chain. That said: What’s up with that one hug? You know what I’m talking about. Temple pretty much disappears once the movie gets going, but maybe she has additional scenes that flesh out their relationship that didn’t make the edit. Discuss. Possible answer that I hope isn’t the case: Selina is bisexual and uses her sensuality as a tool against male marks… until she falls for Bruce/Batman and runs away with him to live happily ever after, leaving her girlfriend behind in Gotham. Ten bucks says this comes into play in the eventual TDKR XXX porn parody. Good luck, Robin! The good news: You’ve got a cave full of fancy toys and extra Bat-suits. The bad news: There’s no money left to finance the operation. At least you know where the Bat is parked, on top of some building under some camo tarp. No one else will find it there, obviously. Probable answer: Blake will take up the Batman cowl and figure out his own way of doing things, thus launching an entirely new Bat-series which I’ll totally watch because Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the best thing about TDKR . Room For The Justice League? So WB wants to carve out a superhero super-team up, a la The Avengers , around DC’s Justice League. Fair enough. But if folks like Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Superman exist in the same universe, where the hell are they during Batman’s five-month absence from Gotham City? If the Justice League is possible in this film world — and maybe it’s not, since Nolan’s said to be done with his Batman storytelling, and despite his involvement in Man of Steel perhaps the two franchises aren’t designed to co-exist just yet — then you have to think some other superhero out there would have swooped by to prevent the total destruction of one of America’s biggest metropolitan populations, especially given that even the U.S. government has been rendered useless, leaving the entire city in the hands of a madman. Does it really matter? Either any potential Justice League spin-off will not connect to the TDKR world, or it’ll conveniently take place after the events of TDKR . This will likely be explained away or disregarded if/when the Justice League movie moves forward. — Phew . All that said, TDKR was visually breathtaking and thematically resonant. Plus, it was Batman! At least there were no codpieces or Schumacherisms to complain about. So there will inevitably be two kinds of people: Those who can’t help but be irked by the plot holes riddled throughout TDKR , and those who don’t care and love it anyway. Where do you stand? Was this the movie Bat-fans deserved, or the one they needed? Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Today Warner Bros. released the first teaser for 2013’s superhero reboot Man of Steel , an elegiac glimpse of Clark Kent ( Henry Cavill ), as a man and a boy, accompanied by memories of childhood paternal advice telling him of his destiny as Earth’s savior. But Clark/Superman has two dads — biological Kryptonian pop Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and adoptive farmer pa Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), giving fans a neat double tease: One teaser, two voice-overs. From the looks of things in the Zack Snyder-directed, Christopher Nolan -produced Man of Steel , it appears that Clark Kent is taking some “me” time off from his superhero calling to moonlight as a deep sea fisherman, Deadliest Catch -style. That vocation should give him time to ponder the childhood advice gleaned from his two dads, one who tells him he’s destined to save humanity, another who tells him that destiny is his choice to make. “You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They’ll raise behind you. They will stumble. They will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.” [Via MSN ] “One day, you’re going to have to make a choice. You have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be. Whoever that man is, good character or bad, it’s going to change the world.” [Via Yahoo ] The teaser had already been reportedly attached to prints of TDKR in theaters. I do like the idea of Hobo Superman slinging crawfish by day and hanging with a scruffy boatyard dog by night as he ponders life and stuff. But you tell me. Man of Steel will be released June 14, 2013. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, China is readying a simultaneous roll-out of Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises ; a rundown of new titles in an otherwise quiet weekend for new specialty releases. And highlights from the upcoming HollyShorts Film Festival in Hollywood. NYPD Increasing Dark Knight Rises Security After Shooting New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is promising increased security measures at TDKR showings in the city “as a precaution against copycats and to raise the comfort levels among movie patrons in the wake of the horrendous shooting in Colorado,” THR reports . Steven Spielberg Eyes Chris Hemsworth for Robopocalypse Apparently under a veil of secrecy, Spielberg wants the actor Hemsworth to star in his next project, said to be a “big techno-thriller.” The Disney-Fox-DreamWorks project is slated for release in April, 2014, Deadline reports . China OKs TDKR and Amazing Spider-Man Showdown Chinese officials are set to open The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man on August 30th, but Warner Bros. is asking for a September release for the final Batman installment, Variety reports . The Queen of Versailles and The Well-Digger’s Daughter : Specialty Box Office A pair of new titles are among the limited releases that are braving the Batman trilogy finale onslaught including The Queen of Versailles and The Well-Digger’s Daughter , Deadline reports . Penn Badgley Comedy Short to Debut at Festival Penn Badgley stars in a comedy short that will screen along with a group of other shorts that will open the 8th annual HollyShorts Film Festival August 9th at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, THR reports .
This morning’s horrific Colorado multiplex shooting , which left at least 12 attendees of a midnight Dark Knight Rises screening dead, has prompted an ongoing wave of reactions from Hollywood to the White House and beyond. President Barack Obama, who canceled a campaign event scheduled for this evening, issued a statement : “Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado. Federal and local law enforcement are still responding, and my Administration will do everything that we can to support the people of Aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time. We are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety of our people, and caring for those who have been wounded. As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family. All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends, and neighbors, and we must stand together with them in the challenging hours and days to come.” Also from the campaign trail came comments from presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, who cited preliminary casualty reports: “Ann and I are deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence that took the lives of 15 people in Colorado and injured dozens more. We are praying for the families and loved ones of the victims during this time of deep shock and immense grief. We expect that the person responsible for this terrible crime will be quickly brought to justice.” Meanwhile, Warner Bros. called off its Paris premiere and issued its own statement: “Warner Bros. is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time.” MPAA chief Chris Dodd spoke out as well: “We share the shock and sadness of everyone in the motion picture community at the news of this terrible event. We extend our prayers and deepest sympathies to the victims, their loved ones and all those affected by this tragedy.” Reactions on Twitter are those of sustained shock and grief, perhaps best characterized by Michael Moore, whose 2002 documentary Bowling For Columbine explored the issue of gun violence in America (particularly in Colorado): Too sad at the moment to comment. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) July 20, 2012
Any re-hash of Beetlejuice will have to include Michael Keaton, Tim Burton who directed the 1988 original that also starred Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara has said. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter writer Seth Grahame-Smith, who is currently penning a script for the Beetlejuice sequel said in May that he’s spoken with both Burton and Keaton about the proposed follow-up. In Beetlejuice , Keaton played the ghost in the film, which went on to gross nearly $74 million in the U.S. and cost about $13 million at the time to make. “I think he would be willing to do it. He would have to be [in] it,” Tim Burton told MTV News at Comic-Con where he was promoting his new stop-motion pic “Frankenweenie.” “He was great as that character. I think it’s a way to unleash your inner whatever. I bet you he would get right back into it.” Continuing, Burton added, “I’m finishing this, and then I need to [revisit ‘Beetlejuice 2’].” Grahame-Smith told a crowd in Austin, TX back in May via Aint It Cool News “It’s one of the things I’m producing at Warner Bros and it’s one of the things I’m supposed to write…I met with Michael Keaton and Tim Burton about it and they said the same thing, ‘if you come up with a story that’s worthy of us actually doing this for real and not something that’s about cashing in or forcing a reboot down someone’s throats, then we’ll think about it.” He also said he has his own restrictions for proceeding with the possible second Beetlejuice : “If it’s not something we all get super-excited about then why do it…” He said he told the studio it “can’t be a reboot or remake.” The project would have to be in his words, “a straight, pure sequel. If it’s 27 years after the first movie, then 27 years will have transpired in the next movie.” An animated Beetlejuice series ran from 1989 to 1992 first on ABC and then Fox, loosely based on the 1988 film that Burton developed and executive produced. [Source: MTV News , Aint It Cool News via http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a394412/tim-burton-michael-keaton-would-need-to-be-in-beetlejuice-2.html]
