Last week we wondered if, as reported by the band Here We Go Magic during its ongoing tour, filmmaker John Waters was in fact hitchhiking his way across America. We had little reason to doubt that he was (who would lie about picking up John Waters in Ohio?), and now, with photographic evidence of Waters cropping up via Twitter, we have definitive answers at last. To wit, he’s in… Kansas? Shout out to Movieline commenter “Knoob,” who sent up this tweeted flare at Movieline’s original post : Wow, this just sent to us from a sweet gal, Sarah Trimble, in Kansas!! Look who she found… yfrog.com/nttpyypj — Here We Go Magic (@herewegomagic) May 21, 2012 Brilliant. Hats off to the guy for taking his time in the heartland, too; I once stopped in Salina, Kansas, just long enough to do laundry and get sick at a Sonic. (Which reminds me: Thanks for nothing, Salina.) [ @herewegomagic ]
“Midnight showings were conceived as a way to reward the most ravenous consumers and offer a two hour block in which their anticipated movie could be enjoyed alongside the small contingent of people who actually gave a shit as much as they did. They were niche activities, like nudist weekends or snake-handling conventions. Every fat dude with a Jabba The Hutt mask in a thirty mile radius was honored for one night with an evening to argue about who shot first, and within that small window of time, those fat dudes with stains on their signed R2D2 medium t-shirt didn’t have to feel like the weirdos. They were among friends. Sadly, over the past few years, the policy that allowed that escape has changed to welcome every Han, Luke and Lando with even a passing interest into the screenings. The result is an atmosphere filled with people who, on average, care far less.” [ Cinema Blend ]
“‘Yeah, Romney. He’s just such a disappointment, an embarrassment. Chin up, hair up. He’s just one of those guys, one of those guys who says he’s going to change everything. And he’ll get in there, and they’ll smile at him and introduce themselves: “We’re Congress, we make sure nothing changes.” He won’t do it. He can’t. Everybody wants to be Barack Obama. And what did he change?'” [ Esquire ]
Politics lurched to the forefront Tuesday in Cannes as director Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly took its turn as the spotlighted world premiere here. But this isn’t just any world premiere: This one featured Brad Pitt, who manages to still excite even some otherwise jaded festival attendees. Mobs climbed over each other as the actor entered and exited the morning press conference for his new film about a group of criminals and mobsters vying for self-interest. One can only choose which bad guy to root for. Based on George V. Higgins’ ’70s-era novel Cogan’s Trade , Dominik adapted the story, setting his mob-infused drama against the backdrop of the economic crisis and the election of President Obama in 2008. “What I liked about the book was that it had great characters,” said Dominik, who previously directed Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in 2007. “But when I was adapting it, I realized it was a book about economic crisis. I always feel crime films are about capitalism. All the characters are motivated by money only, and I realized also that people in America are concerned about money – and people in Hollywood are motivated by that… I was.” Brad Pitt plays Cogan, a pragmatic hit man whose job is to whack armed robbers who held up a gambling session packed with mobsters. Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Johnny (Vincent Curatola) pull off the heist in a dingy back room brimming with scowling gangsters. Though a messy job, they manage to take off with the loot, humiliating their otherwise intimidating victims. “[While] reading this story, I realized it is a commentary on the times now, the foreclosure debacle and the economic crisis,” said Pitt, who also serves as a producer on the film. “It wasn’t until the end of the story that I saw it was in fact a microcosm of what’s happening now as a [manifestation] of the macro world.” As with John Hillcoat’s Lawless , which premiered here Saturday, the use of violence – and there certainly is a good amount of it in Killing Them Softly – became a momentary hot topic in the packed press conference with both Dominik and Pitt defending it as necessary and a reflection of society generally. “I don’t understand the obsession with violence,” Dominik said. “It’s like people who don’t want to show children fairy tales. But fairy tales dramatize children’s concerns and emotions.” Added Pitt: “Violence is an accepted part of the gangster world. It’s an accepted possibility when dealing in crime. I’d have a much harder problem playing a racist for instance than, say, shooting someone right in the face.” Continuing, Pitt related violence to everyday life and perhaps inadvertently ushered in 10 minutes of conversation about politics and even his personal life — some of which is bound to generate standalone headlines including rumors about his marriage, how he is likely to vote and even gay marriage. “We live in such a violent world,” he said. “I grew up hunting. If you have a hamburger… Have you seen how they butcher a cow? It’s so violent, it’s morbid. It’s part of the everyday. So violence has a place in film. I don’t see a world without it.” Pitt’s character in the film, which drew early mixed reactions here today, is centered on self-interest. He doesn’t particularly crave violence, but uses it as a means to an end. He’s not bloodthirsty nor does he particularly find murder palatable, but he’s willing to do it as painlessly as possible in order to get ahead. “It’s a metaphor for business — it’s cutthroat but has to be done,” he said. “I’d love someone to develop a documentary about what makes a Democrat or a Republican,” Pitt added. “How do people vote against their own self-interest? I lean Democrat and to the left, but I am interested in how all people think.” At one point, the conversation meandered way off the Killing Them Softly script and the titillating subject of Pitt’s pending marriage to Angelina Jolie came out. He said there is no truth to the rumors that they’ve set a date, but a wedding is in the future, but added, “I’m still hoping we’ll figure out the marriage equality situation in the States before that happens.” Pitt had said some years ago he and Jolie would marry once gays were allowed to be married. He also said they’d “love to do a movie together again sometime.” Despite the film’s not-so-subtle metaphors about the economic crisis and President Obama’s election, Dominik and Pitt said its planned Stateside rollout this September had nothing to do with the pending fall presidential campaign in the US. Pitt did, however, take a jab at the financial fallout that began in ’08 — as well as those responsible: “The economic crisis was criminal, by the way, and there have been no repercussions from that criminality.” Read more of Movieline’s Cannes 2012 coverage here .
As much as I hate the movie theater talkers, cell phone texters, loud popcorn-chewers, backseat-kickers, nervous leg-jigglers, smelly food-eaters, and armchair hogs who combine evil forces to make going to the movies these days a distracting, living hell, I stop myself short of physical violence when it comes to laying down the law of theater etiquette. Which is what one enraged theater patron in the Seattle area did not do when he caught a case of theater rage and slapped an offending movie talker in the face. Making matters worse: The talker was a ten-year-old kid. Per the Seattle Post-Intelligencer : King County prosecutors contend 21-year-old Yong Hyun Kim knocked out one of the boy’s teeth after the child and several other youths refused to quiet down and stop throwing popcorn in April. According to charging documents, Kim admitted to hitting the boy and appeared ashamed when confronted by police with the boy’s age. Kim allegedly said he thought the boy was an adult when he slapped him in the face. Kim has been charged with a felony assault and probably feels terrible, not to mention he might have to go to jail for slapping a child in the face . The offending kid may or may not have learned a lesson in unruly theatergoing, but he’s missing a tooth. Who’s also to blame, IMO? The management at said AMC Theater who did not stop a bunch of children from ruining another patron’s movie before theater rage took hold. Theater chains, take note: Policing bad behavior is on you, not your ticket-buyers. (And let this be a reminder: Encouraging texting in theaters is still an awful idea .) [ Seattle PI via @thefilmcynic ]
Ron Burgundy and his team of crack news reporters are back for Anchorman 2 , and they’ve already cut a teaser that tantalizes with a glimpse of what lies ahead : More bad clothes, more cheeky one-liners, and Will Ferrell ‘s fine, fine mustache. Is “jean creamin'” the new “pants party?” Well, at least we have sub machine guns and boobies to look forward to, even if Anchorman 2 doesn’t even begin filming until 2013. Watch the trailer debut at Funny or Die . [ Funny or Die ]
“It is terrible that such a tragic event as Chernobyl is being sensationalized in a Hollywood horror film. Thousands of people have died and over 400,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Today over 5 million people still live on contaminated land. The horror is not mutants running around, the real horror is the effect that Chernobyl continues to have on the lives of millions who have been devastated physically, emotionally and economically. If you feel compelled to go see this movie, take the adrenalin you get from the horror to go do something good and make a difference in the lives of those still living with Chernobyl every day.” [ TMZ ]
After a whirlwind press tour spent stymieing journalists in character as his General Aladeen of the Republic of Wadiya, Dictator comedian Sacha Baron Cohen sat with the BBC for a rare straight interview — no costume, no shenanigans , no spilling the ashes of late despots on unsuspecting talking heads. The result: An actually coherent, fascinating filmed chat with Cohen about toeing the line of sensitivity with his despotism comedy, why he almost never gives interviews as himself, and how he took inspiration from the “ludicrous” power-hungry dictators of the world. Cohen (who’s rather handsome when not in character!) spoke with BBC reporter Will Gompertz in Cannes, citing a few of his favorite dictators, so to speak: “I had always found Colonel Gaddafi hilarious, and I wanted to do a character that was inspired by him. I had all these other ludicrous characters like Türkmenbaşy, who was the president and dictator of Turkmenistan, who renamed the day Thursday and the word for bread after his mother. When the doctor told him to give up smoking, he banned smoking from the whole country because he didn’t want to be reminded of cigarettes. And then you had someone like Kim Jong-il who claimed to have hit nine holes in one in his first ever game of golf. And obviously Colonel Gaddafi who had these 30 virgin guards, dressed unintentionally like a 60-year-old woman and would often break wind when being interviewed for the BBC…” To read Movieline’s review of The Dictator , head here . [via BBC ]
Are you obsessed with designer ladies’ shoes, or do you know a woman who is? (Aren’t we all? Let’s go shopping, OMGZ!) Then here’s the documentary for you: God Save My Shoes , from director Julie Benasra, which purports to be “the first documentary to explore the intimate relationship that ties women to their shoes.” Watch Fergie, Dita von Teese, and a bunch of other real life Carrie Bradshaws gush over their Louboutins in the film’s trailer (which, incidentally — of course — includes Louboutin himself). Look, I like shoes as much as the next girl. And there are certain angles to this exploration of the ladies’ shoe that could be fascinating enough. (Why is a stiletto so sexy? Because it elongates your silhouette and can double as a murder weapon, perhaps? Discuss.) But this chick caressing the curve of her pump, these ladies drooling over their shoe caverns, Fergie Ferg insisting that shoes tell the world who you are… I can’t even. And then there’s Kelly Rowland, credited as “Singer/Former Destiny’s Child/ Shoe Mommy .” SHOE MOMMY. Is that a thing?? (Seriously, what is that?) Maybe Shoe Mommy is what she calls herself because, apparently, she names her shoes like they’re her children. God Save My Shoes is available On Demand.
Also in this afternoon’s Biz Break: The breakout director of Animal Kingdom plots his next (possibly with the help of Robert Pattinson), Rupert Everett to direct himself as Oscar Wilde (with the help of a few friends of his own), and more… Kino Lorber Wants You to Meet the Fokkens The specialty distributor has announced a deal to bring Gabrielle Provaas & Rob Schröder’s documentary Meet the Fokkens to the US; the film tells the story of 69-year-old twin sisters experiences as prostitutes and brothel owners in Amsterdam’s red-light district. The doc will enjoy its Stateside premiere next month at the SilverDocs Film Festival before debuting Aug. 8 in New York. Michôd, FilmNation Take Aim at The Rover FilmNation continued its Cannes newsmaking streak , announcing the acquisition of Animal Kingdom filmmaker David Michôd ‘s follow-up The Rover . The story follows two men through “a dangerous and dysfunctional near future. Eric has left everything and every semblance of human kindness behind him. When his last possession, his car, is stolen by a gang of dangerous criminals, Eric sets off to track them down and is forced along the way to enlist the help of Reynolds, the naïve simpleton member of the gang left behind in the bloody chaos of the gang’s most recent escape.” Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson are said to be in talks for the roles of Eric and Reynolds, respectively. XLrator Floors It With Action Series XLrator Media has announced the multi-platform TURBO by XLrator label, which will bring an international slate of action films to North American audiences. The first three movies set for release this year will be Naked Soldier (from Hong Kong), Blood Money (filmed in Sydney, Hong Kong and Miami) and Brawler (shot in New Orleans). Former Weinstein Co. exec Mike Radiloff has joined as president of marketing and distribution. Around the ‘net… What Went Wrong With Battleship ? A power shortage in the cast… An underrecognized source property… A failure to reach young men… The Battleship box-office post mortem is officially underway as experts determine what sunk Universal’s costly would-be blockbuster in the US. THR reports . German Director Promises “the Real Fassbinder” Marco Kreuzpaintner is set to revive his influential, short-lived filmmaking compatriot Rainer Werner Fassbinder to life in his next project, Rainer . “It will be a homage to his movies,” Kreuzpaintner said of the projct, which he described as less a straightforward biopic than a melodrama. “But we want to show the real Fassbinder, will all the dirt, drugs and excess.” THR reports . Rupert Everett Gets Wilde with The Happy Prince The actor and Oscar Wilde devotee will make his writing-directing debut with a tragicomic chronicle of the writer’s final days. Colin Firth, Emily Watson an Tom Wilkinson are attached to co-star; Variety reports .
