Actor Charles Durning, who starred in the 1982 film Tootsie died on Christmas Eve in New York. His long time agent Judith Moss confirmed his death at 89, BBC reports . In Tootsie he played the would-be suitor of Dustin Hoffman’s starring character. Durning received Best Supporting Actor nominations in 1982 and 1984 for roles in To Be or Not to Be and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas . He also won a Golden Globe in 1991 for Best Supporting Actor in the mini-series The Kennedys of Massachusetts along with a number of other critical accolades throughout the decades. In 1982’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, he played the corrupt governor. A veteran of World War II, he began his acting career in the ’60s at the New York Shakespeare Festival, first gaining notoriety in 1973 playing a bad cop in The Sting alongside Robert Redford. “I never turned down anything and never argued with any producer or director,” he said in 2008. “Not only was Charlie a World War II hero but he was also a hero to his family,” his stepdaughter, Anita Gregory said in a statement. “Charlie loved Christmas and if he could have chosen a time to pass, he would have chosen this day.” Durning will be buried in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. [ Source: BBC ]
Django Unchained will not be making filmmaker Spike Lee ‘s year-end top 10 list nor any other list for that matter because he says he won’t see it. The outspoken Red Hook Summer director said the slavery-centered feature by Quentin Tarantino may deal with the topic in a manner that is less than respectful. In an interview with Vibe magazine, Lee said: “I can’t speak on it ’cause I’m not gonna see it. I’m not seeing it. All I’m going to say is that it’s disrespectful to my ancestors to see that film…” [ Related: Quentin Tarantino Wants You To Feel The Inhumanity Of Slavery In ‘Django Unchained’ ] Lee was quick to add that he is only speaking on his own behalf and stopped short at a full condemnation, but said America’s dark history in slavery was not akin to the story portrayed in a film like Django Unchained . “I can’t disrespect my ancestors,” he said. “I can’t do it. Now, that’s me, I’m not speaking on behalf of anybody but myself.” Lee had commented earlier via Twitter alluding to the film, according to Yahoo U.K.: “American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.” Lee took on Tarantino when Jackie Brown hit screens, criticizing the plentiful use of the n-word, which also is uttered throughout Django Unchained / “I’m not against the word. And some people speak that way,” he said. “But Quentin is infatuated with that word. What does he want to be made – an honorary black man? I want Quentin to know that all African Americans do not think that word is trendy or slick.” [ Sources: Vibe via Yahoo U.K. ]
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 ]
A front-runner in the Oscar race, Zero Dark Thirty received some harsh words from an unlikely source – Senator John McCain. The Arizona legislator who was a P.O.W. and endured torture during Vietnam watched the film by Kathryn Bigelow Monday night and said it left him sick and called it, “wrong.” McCain said that the controversial technique, known as water boarding, which simulates drowning, did not yield useful information from al Qaeda’s number three leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been in U.S. custody since 2003. The film suggests that the technique resulted in useful information that lead the CIA to al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed. “The filmmakers fell for it hook, line and sinker,” the Republican senator is quoted as saying by A.P. Last year, McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years in captivity by his North Vietnamese captors, asked then-CIA director Leon Panetta whether the hunt for Bin Laden came from information provided from Mohammed. The lead to the courier, however, came from a detainee held in a separate country. “Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading information,” McCain said in a speech in the U.S. Senate. California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee concurred that water boarding did not lead to the tip that eventually saw U.S. special forces raid a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. McCain said that water boarding is dangerous because it damages the U.S.’s reputation and character and might be used against Americans. “I do not believe they are necessary to our success in our war against terrorists, as the advocates of these techniques claim they are,” he said. [ Source: A.P. ]
For three decades, we’ve been treated to numerous looks-back on the Dan Aykroyd -John Belushi comedy team, and the one perfect film they managed to make, 1980’s The Blues Brothers . So much dirt has already been dished over the decades that it almost feels like we know everything we’ll ever need to about the hard-partying tendencies that ultimately killed Belushi in 1982. We would be mistaken, as a new Vanity Fair profile will no doubt demonstrate that however many skeletons you think might have been unearthed, there’s always room for one or two more in the mass grave of a dead celebrity’s life story. The January issue features a new and very detailed look into the making of The Blues Brothers . Part fond remembrance, part cautionary tale, and part “Jesus H Christ, seriously. You seriously did all that,” it delivers absolutely delicious — and absolutely tragic — stories from Belushi’s friends, family and former coworkers about that film’s troubled production. We’ve culled a few choicer nuggets from the online preview: * The ’70s were even more decadent than we think. According to Dan Aykroyd, “We had a budget in the movie for cocaine for night shoots” during the making of > em> The Blues Brothers. And just like that, films like Zardoz suddenly begin to make more sense. * Belushi’s drug problem had gotten so out of hand that they actually asked Carrie Fisher – Carrie Fisher! – to keep him from consuming. I wonder if they also asked Chevy Chase to keep Dan Aykroyd from making bad decisions about the roles he intended to take during the late ’80s and early ’90s. * Belushi and Robert Downey, Jr. have a lot in common: Apparently Belushi disappeared from the set one night, and Aykroyd found him at a nearby home where, the homeowner told him, Belushi had just showed up, raided the man’s fridge like it wasn’t even a thing, and passed out on the couch. Obviously, this thing just became required, end-of-the-year reading. It goes without saying also that we’re very glad this kind of addiction is no longer enabled so blatantly. [ Source: Vanity Fair ]
Singer and actor Lenny Kravitz is planning to take on playing late performer Marvin Gaye in a feature that has caught the eire of the “Let Love Rule” musician’s former classmate, Marvin Gaye III. “The producers and directors of this film are very wrong and shameful,” Marvin Gaye III told TMZ . “[They’re] trying to do a film about a low period in his life. They don’t even know the whole story.” Kravitz will play the late singer under the working title, Sexual Healing , which reportedly centers on Gaye’s life in the ’80s, a period in which he battled drug abuse and depression. Gaye’s father shot and killed him in 1984. Gaye III said that he and Kravitz are schoolmates and continue to be friends, but said he wants to meet with Kravitz and “talk to him about why he would do this.” Family members including Gaye III have reached out to lawyers to try and halt production and expressed his hope that Kravitz is pursuing the project without realizing the extent of opposition coming from the Gaye side. “I would hope [Kravitz] doesn’t have any idea that we are against this film being done,” said Gaye III. Kravitz, whose credits include Precious and more recently in The Hunger Games is taking on the role of Marvin Gaye for director Julien Temple ( London: The Modern Babylon ). [ Sources: Huffington Post , TMZ ]
George Lucas will take some part in the planned Star Wars: Episode VII planned by new Lucasfilm owner Disney, but it will likely be a minimal role. Speaking at the Governor’s Awards Saturday, he gave some insight on his duties in the next Star Wars installment being guided by Disney. “[If the filmmakers ask],’Who’s this guy?’ I can tell them,” he told Access Hollywood at the event in Los Angeles. “I mean, they have a hundred encyclopedias and things, but I actually know a lot. I can say, ‘This is this and this is that.'” Continuing, Lucas added, “Basically I’m not — I don’t really have much to do.” Lucas recently said in a more official capacity following the sale of Lucasfilm: “… Now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime.” He also said he’d like to do “little personal films” going forward . Speculation has continued to swirl over who will direct the next Episode VII , though Lucas’ longtime friend, Steven Spielberg, nipped any rumors he’s in the running recently saying Star Wars is not his ‘genre.’ “I’m pretty sure he’d never want to do that!” Lucas said when asked if he’d give his approval should Spielberg ever change his mind. “I don’t think he’d want to.” Star Wars: Episode VII is slated to hit theaters in 2015. [ Source: Access Hollywood ]
The Griffins have sung their way through the small screen, making a Broadway-style splash at the start of each program about “Violence in movies and Sex on TV.” And apparently, they’ll have their chance to do just that on the big screen. Family Guy creator – who of course will fete the big screen as this year’s Oscar telecast host – said that a feature length movie about the animated irreverent nuclear family is in the offing, though it is not clear when it will actually happen. During a visit to UCLA for MTV’s series Stand In , MacFarlane said that “it will happen at some point,” he’s quoted as saying via Huffington Post . MacFarlane also announced a new Oscars contest in the surprise visit to the Westwood campus in L.A.’s Westside. He told an undergraduate film and television class that a contest sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will allow college students to appear on the February 24th Oscar telecast. Up to six winners will serve as trophy carriers during the show, replacing models who typically carry in the statuettes. “In re-imagining what we want the Oscar show to be, we wanted everyone appearing on that stage to feel a deep commitment to film and its legacy, and most importantly, its future,” said Oscar telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron in a statement. “That was the impetus in creating this special honor for young film students who will inspire a new generation to create the films that will be honored in the future.” MacFarlane said that Family Guy is based on his own student film. Speaking of Oscars hosts past, MacFarlane offered up his empathy, noting jokingly that the event is a “crazy little variety show,” adding, “all I can do is do what I think is funny and most entertaining.” He noted to the UCLA class: “The Oscars is a tricky venue. The (hosts) who have not done well, I would classify them as a noble failure, an honorable failure, because at least they were trying something new… If I can do it without torpedoing my career and getting drummed out of the business… All I can do is my very best.” [ Source: Huffington Post ]
Christopher Nolan may have left the door wide open for speculation at the end of The Dark Knight Rises where Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Gotham cop John Blake is concerned, and he is producer/co-writer on Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel , which the rumor mill suggests could see a Very Special Gordon-Levitt cameo . But in a chat with Film Comment about his entire Batman trilogy, Nolan was asked if he was completely done with his Dark Knight universe. So what are the implications for those JG-L rumors? (Spoilers, if you haven’t seen TDKR …) “For me, The Dark Knight Rises is specifically and definitely the end of the Batman story as I wanted to tell it,” Nolan said, “and the open-ended nature of the film is simply a very important thematic idea that we wanted to get into the movie, which is that Batman is a symbol. He can be anybody, and that was very important to us.” I know, I know. Nolan keeps using phrases like ” specifically and definitely the end ” but it’s just so hard to let go of the hope that he’s just messing with us. ” Nah, J/K you guys — Joe’s totes the new Batman! ” the geekosphere desperately waits for him to say. Well, good luck getting anything concrete out of Nolan. I believe him when he says his run with the Batman universe is over, although that doesn’t mean it’s not possible that Gordon-Levitt might pop up at the end of Man of Stee l in a bat-cowl to give Superman a Justice League fist bump. Warner Bros. may love Nolan for giving them a super respectable, arguably Oscar-worthy Batman series, but they’re not dumb. WB will squeeze every drop of Bat-juice out of the character, regardless of how Nolan retains the integrity of his fully explored, definitely closed chapter of Bat-lore. “Not every Batman fan will necessarily agree with that interpretation of the philosophy of the character,” Nolan said, “but for me it all comes back to the scene between Bruce Wayne and Alfred in the private jet in Batman Begins , where the only way that I could find to make a credible characterization of a guy transforming himself into Batman is if it was as a necessary symbol, and he saw himself as a catalyst for change and therefore it was a temporary process, maybe a five-year plan that would be enforced for symbolically encouraging the good of Gotham to take back their city.” “To me, for that mission to succeed, it has to end, so this is the ending for me,” he continued. “And as I say, the open-ended elements are all to do with the thematic idea that Batman was not important as a man, he’s more than that. He’s a symbol, and the symbol lives on.” Symbol, protege, replacement, reboot — what do you make of the Gordon-Levitt rumors in light of Nolan’s comments? [ Film Comment ] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Kathryn Bigelow’s angular thriller Zero Dark Thirty begins and ends with events that have been seared into public memory — the attacks on September 11, 2001 and the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan, two incidents that bookended a decade in which America’s sense of security and place in the world were radically shaken. The film presents the story of what happened in that dark space between. Using a combination of whatever details screenwriter and journalist Mark Boal could turn up in his research and cautious fiction, Zero Dark Thirty details how the U.S. was finally able to track down and kill the elusive head of the organization responsible for the worst terrorist attack on our soil. But at almost two and a half hours long — an epic running time that never seems excessive but makes you feel the stretch of the years being chronicled — the film also teases your attention away from those known events, and brings it to the gritty, exhausting and sometimes ugly work being done on the ground and the type of people who engage in it. It’s a curious thing that two of the awards season’s most significant films are stealthy procedurals: Lincoln , which beneath the surface gloss of a prestige biopic is a vivid showcase of the messy, difficult means by which the amendment to outlaw slavery was passed, and Zero Dark Thirty , which is an examination of how contemporary warfare has so much more to do with information than with sending troops out into battle. Both reveal the strenuous, time-consuming and ethically complicated efforts behind their well-known achievements. While Steven Spielberg’s film uses these exertions to bring animation, prickliness and warmth to characters that could have been wax-museum distant, Bigelow’s consciously holds its emotions at arm’s length, where they’ll be less likely to interfere with the work being done. Such is the choice made by its heroine, known only by her first name, Maya, and played by Jessica Chastain as a crisply dedicated but green CIA analyst with few other interests in her life other than tracking down bin Laden — a target she comes to fixate on as she builds experience and confidence. Zero Dark Thirty plays out in the shrouded and unpretty backstage of the War on Terror: embassy cubicles, dusty military camps and black sites where detainees undergo “enhanced interrogation techniques” that the film does not soften. Maya arrives fresh from D.C. to witness a prisoner being worked on by Dan (Jason Clarke, slipping easily from sardonic to savage). Sleep deprivation, waterboarding, confinement boxes and beatings — Maya doesn’t take easily to these techniques but doesn’t shrink from them either. Soon she’s ordering them herself as she searches for information about Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, rumored top al-Qaeda courier and the man she thinks is key to finding bin Laden. The early fuss by Obama opponents who claimed the film (originally slated for an October release) would be a propagandizing election tool is laughable in context. The story starts long before Obama’s arrival on the presidential stage, and his on-screen presence in a single scene, in which Maya and her colleagues watch his televised speech about America not engaging in torture, is representative, in a wincingly complicated way, of how the new administration’s stance will complicate and slow what they’re doing. Zero Dark Thirty eschews the personal by design. We know nothing about Maya’s background, she has little enough of a life to explore outside of her work and doesn’t take to others easily. Our sense of her emerges slowly by way of Chastain’s elegantly steely performance. Maya doesn’t tend to let down her guard in front of others, and so our ideas about her inner life come from glimpses around its edges and through those moments when she lets things slip — from the warmth that bleeds into her interactions with her coworker and eventual friend Jessica (Jennifer Ehle) or the way she takes to writing the number of days of bureaucratic inaction on important information she uncovered on the door of her boss George’s (Mark Strong) office. Maya is suited to this life, as draining and dangerous as it is, and Chastain’s physical delicacy provides stark contrast to the character’s strength. She’s an unconventional action heroine with an amusingly atypical (for a female lead) interest in making nice with those around her. Like Jeremy Renner’s bomb tech in The Hurt Locker , Maya hones herself to become the perfect tool for the job at hand. But Zero Dark Thirty is less interested in movie indulgences than its predecessor, which may be why its coolness makes it an easier effort to admire than to lose yourself in. Its periodic action sequences — involving two very disturbing bombings, a shootout and the raid itself, which is staged in urgent darkness and threaded with misgivings about whether or not it’s a mistake — are brilliantly staged, but they’re stations along the journey, to be braved, pushed past or endured. Maya’s true place is at a computer or making her case with growing conviction in a conference room as important men played by Kyle Chandler, Harold Perrineau, James Gandolfini, Mark Duplass and others are confronted by the force of her will, and the SEALs brought in to storm the compound (among them Chris Pratt, Taylor Kinney and Joel Edgerton) eye her with wary respect. Zero Dark Thirty makes you feel every step of Maya’s journey, but it’s her impressive achievement and that of the film itself that we’re left contemplating, not her humanity — a stunningly well-realized whole with few soft spots to latch onto. RELATED STORIES: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’: Strong Women, Ambiguous Ethics Drive Bigelow’s Oscar Pic TRAILER: Jessica Chastain Hunts Bin Laden In Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ CIA, Defense Dept. Sued Over Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama Bin Laden Movie, Naturally Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
