Also in Thursday evening’s round-up of news briefs, the Academy names a director for the 85th Oscars telecast. And a slew of Venice and Toronto titles find homes, leading them to U.S. theaters in the coming months. Don Mischer to Direct 85th Oscar Telecast Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said Don Mischer will direct the 85th Academy Awards telecast, marking the “continuation of [his] multi-faceted relationship with the Academy, which includes pro ducting the Oscars red carpet pre-show and producing the annual Governor’s Ball.” Richard Gere to Receive Hamptons International Film Festival Honors Aactor Richard Gere will attend the 20th anniversary HIFF to receive The Golden Starfish Award for Lifetime Achievement in Acting on October 6th. The award will be presented during the festival’s “Conversation With Richard Gere”, a discussion with Mr. Gere about his life and career, moderated by the festival’s Honorary Chairman, Alec Baldwin. The 20th Hamptons International Film Festival takes place October 4th – 8th in Long Island, NY’s East End. Fandango Eyes Advanced Ticket Sales for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 The final installment of the Twilight behemoth will first go on sale October 1st at Midnight ET, more than six weeks before the movie’s November 16th release, the online ticketed said. Deadline also reports that MovieTickets.com is offering the advanced tickets on its site too . Advance tickets for the November 15 Twilight Marathon – where all five films of The Twilight Saga will be shown in order at select theaters – will also go on sale on October 1st. And, as part of a special sweepstakes on Fandango, two fans will also have the chance to win a trip to the world premiere of Breaking Dawn, Part 2 in Los Angeles. Visit their site for more details. Venice and Toronto’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist Heads to U.S. Theaters IFC Films picked up North American rights to the film, directed by Mira Nair, which opened the recent Venice Film Festival and screened last week at the Toronto International Film Festival. Starring Liev Schreiber, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, and Riz Ahmed, the film tells the story of a young Pakistani man (Ahmed) whose pursuit of corporate success on Wall Street leads him on a strange path back to the world he had left behind. The deal for the film was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Productions for Sundance Selects/IFC Films and Hal Sadoff for DFI and Bart Walker of Cinetic Media on behalf of the filmmakers. Toronto’s No Place On Earth Heads to U.S. Theaters Magnolia Pictures picked up U.S. theatrical rights to the emotional directorial debut of Janet Tobias’ Toronto documentary No Place On Earth . The film, which recently had its world premiere in Toronto, tells the little-known story of thirty-eight Ukrainian Jews who survived World War II by living in caves for eighteen months, the longest-recorded sustained underground survival. Built upon interviews with former cave inhabitants, as well as Chris Nicola, the caving enthusiast who unearthed the story. negotiated by Josh Braun and David Koh at Submarine with Dori Begley, Magnolia’s Senior Vice President of Acquisitions. Magnolia will release No Place On Earth theatrically in 2013. While We Were Here Heads to U.S. Theaters The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival premiere is set on the isle of Ischia off the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The film follows a young American writer named Jane (Bosworth) who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroadswhen she accompanies her husband Leonard (Goldberg) on a business trip. While escaping the mundanity of her comfortable marriage by delving deeper into adapting her grandmother’s WWII stories into a memoir she stumbles into a romantic affair with a younger man (Blackley) who complicates her life even further. L.A.-based distributor Wrekin Hill release the film in the U.S., which stars Kate Bosworth, Jamie Blackley and Iddo Goldberg. How To Make Money Selling Drugs Heads to U.S. Theaters The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival Friday. Directed by Matthew Cooke, the provocative documentary offers an in-depth look at the high-stakes world of drug dealing and drug enforcement by blending authentic reportage with pop culture references. Tribeca Film, the distribution component of the group that oversees the Tribeca Film Festival, plans a 2013 theatrical release as well as Video On Demand platforms.
Steven Spielberg debuted the trailer to Lincoln , his highly anticipated film about the 16th U.S. President at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, but the experience was less-than-mesmerizing. That’s because the webcast was initially plagued with glitches that left some viewers with nothing more than a “buffering” notice or moments when the trailer seemed to fade in and out of blackness. The Google + Hangout session with the filmmaker and Joseph Gordon-Levitt , who stars as Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln, was also bedeviled by sound problems that turned the question-and-answer session into an annoying echo chamber. If you didn’t — or couldn’t — see the trailer during its premiere, check it out after the jump, along with the first images from Spielberg’s ’12 Oscar contender. PHOTOS: First Images From Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln The sound problems were eventually corrected, and Spielberg remarked that Lincoln “is a figure in this national landscape who hasn’t been re-examined enough,” except, he added, as parody. According to Spielberg, the last movie to take a substantial look at the historical figure was the 1939 feature Young Mr. Lincoln , in which Henry Fonda portrayed him in his pre-presidential days as a lawyer. “I think a figure as great as Abraham Lincoln deserves re-examination,” Spielberg said. Gordon-Levitt took a more personal approach to the Q&A, taking time to give a shout-out to his high-school AP U.S. History teacher, Mr. Bechtel — I’m guessing at the spelling here — who the actor said was one of his favorite teachers because he presented history as if it were “story time” instead of reducing it to “a bunch of facts and multiple-choice questions.” Gordon-Levitt also said he was “honored” to work with Spielberg. Here’s the trailer. Instant Oscar powerhouse? Watch it on Youtube. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
We have an update on the love life of Demi Lovato. First, the singer and new X Factor judge sat down with E! News and denied that she’s in a relationship with Niall Horan of One Direction, even though the singers were spotted at dinner last Thursday following the MTV Video Music Awards. “There is nothing going on. Niall’s my friend,” Lovato said . “I’m just focusing on my work right now, and that’s pretty much that.” But is that pretty much it? The Daily Mail reports that Lovato dined with former flame Wilmer Valderrama at upscale restaurant El Torito in Sherman Oaks on Sunday night. Dressed in a short skirt and ankle boots, Lovato was photographed alongside the actor and serial dater, who donned a skin-tight T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Moreover, according to witnesses, Demi and Wilmer didn’t simply eat dinner together. They wet back to the singer’s place afterward for what we can only presume was desert… of the naked variety! [Photo: WENN.com]
Call it the zen of Ryan. During a roundtable interview with Ryan Gosling and filmmaker Derek Cianfrance for their latest film, The Place Beyond The Pines , I asked the actor if he felt that the media focused too much on the more superficial aspects of his acting career — remember the hubub over Bradley Cooper being chosen over him as People magazine’s sexiest man of the year last fall? — when he keeps proving himself to be one of the finest actors working today. “I’m not really allowed to have an opinion so I just choose to not think about it,” Gosling said. “It is what it is.” After memorable performances last year in Drive , Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid Love , Gosling is riveting in The Place Beyond The Pines as a former stunt motorcyclist who turns to bank-robbing to support a son he fathered. Although the film has yet to secure a distributor, the buzz at the festival on Saturday night was that it was only a matter of time. During the roundtable interview — more of which we’ll post tomorrow — Gosling and Cianfrance, who previously worked together on the 2010 heartwrencher Blue Valentine , did not look like they were worried about their film reaching a wider audience. Asked what made the actor special, Cianfrance sounded mostly sincere when he called Gosling a “magic person who makes things better,” adding: “We’ve all seen him save people from getting hit by a car, and we’ve all seen him break up fights in the city. He makes the world a better place. And that’s what he does in a movie. He makes me a better filmmaker and everyone around him better.” In response to the same question, the deadpan Gosling replied: “I look like Derek.” Gosling declined to reveal the plot of his directorial debut, How to Catch A Monster , during the interview, but, elsewhere in Toronto, the star of his movie, Christina Hendricks was spilling the beans to Vulture . The actress said she portrays a single mother “supporting two children and trying to provide a home for them ” who finds herself working a “very surreal” fetish club “that gets me into a sort of predicament” while her two boys discover an underground city. Sounds like Fifty Shades of Grey meets City of Ember . Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Paul Thomas Anderson ‘s The Master was set to receive the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter ‘s inside source, until a decision to allow only two major awards per film forced jury members to re-assign the top honor to another contender. When the awards were doled out earlier today by Venice jury president Michael Mann, the best picture prize went to Kim Ki-Duk’s ultraviolent mother-son flick Pieta while Best Director went to Anderson. (Full list of winners follows.) Per THR : “Apparently during the jury’s first deliberations, members decided to give The Master — a drama loosely based on the origins of Scientology — the top prize, as well as the Silver Lion directing award to Anderson and the acting award jointly to co-stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman.” UPDATED: Asked to redeliberate, the jury instead gave the Golden Lion to Pieta , leaving The Master with a joint Best Actor prize shared by stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, along with the Silver Lion (Best Director) for Anderson. The Master had been hotly tipped for The Golden Lion, backed by a groundswell of critical praise ahead of its September 21 theatrical release. Full list of Venice Film Festival winners announced today, via Indiewire / Venice Film Festival : Golden Lion (Best Picture) Pieta , Kim-Ki Duk Silver Lion (Best Director) Paul Thomas Anderson – “The Master” Volpi Cup – Best Actor Joaquin Phoenix & Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master” Volpi Cup – Best Actress Hadas Yaron – “Fill The Void” Special Jury Award Ulrich Seidl – Paradise: Faith Mastroianni Award – Best Young Actor Fabrizio Falcone – “Dormant Beauty,” “It Was The Son” Best Screenplay Olivier Assayas – “Something In The Air” Technical Achievement Daniele Cipri – “Il Stato E Figlio,” Luigi De Laurentiis Award (Best First Feature) “Kuf: Mold,” Ali Aydin Orrizonti: Best Feature “Three Sisters,” Wang Bing Orrizonti: Jury Prize “Tango Libre,” Frederic Fonteyne FIPRESCI Award (Competition) “The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson FIPRESCI Award (Orizzonti/Critics’ Week) “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Constanzo SIGNIS Award “To the Wonder,” Terrence Malick SIGNIS Award (Special Mention) “Fill the Void,” Rama Burshtein Audience Award (Critics’ Week) “Eat Sleep Die,” Gabriela Pilcher Label Europa Cinemas Award “Crawl,” Herve Lasgouttes Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award “Pieta,” Kim Ki-duk Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award (Cinema for UNICEF mention) “It Was the Son,” Daniele Cipri Pasinetti Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Constanzo Pasinetti Award (Documentary) “The Human Cargo,” Daniele Vicari Pasinetti Award (Best Actor) Valerio Mastandrea, “Gli Equilibristi” Pasinetti Award (Special) “Clarisse,” Liliana Cavani Brian Award “Dormant Beauty,” Marco Bellocchio Queer Lion Award “The Weight,” Jeon Kyu-Hwan Arca CinemaGiovani Award (Best Film of Venezia 69) “The Fifth Season,” Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth Arca CinemaGiovani Award (Best Italian Film) “The Ideal City,” Luigi Lo Casco Biografilm Lancia Award “The Human Cargo,” Daniele Vicari; “Bad 25,” Spike Lee CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo CICAE Award “Wadjda,” Haifaa Al Mansour CinemaAvvenire Award (Best Film of Venezia 69) “Paradise: Faith,” Ulrich Seidl CinemAvvenire Award (Diversity) “Wadjda,” Haifaa Al Mansour FEDIC Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo FEDIC Award (Special Mention) “Bellas Mariposas,” Salvatore Mereu Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award “Something in the Air,” Olivier Assayas Future Film Festival Digital Award “Bad 25,” Spike Lee Future Film Festival Digital Award (Special Mention) “Spring Breakers,” Harmony Korine P. Nazareno Taddei Award “Pieta,” Kim Ki-duk P. Nazareno Taddei Award (Special Mention) “Thy Womb,” Brillante Mendoza Magic Lantern Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo Open Award “The Company You Keep,” Robert Redford La Navicella-Venezia Cinema Award “Thy Womb,” Brillante Mendoza Lina Mangiacapre Award “Queen of Montreuil,” Solveig Anspach AIF-FORFILMFEST Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo Mouse d’Oro Award “Pieta,” Kim Ki-duk Mouse d’Argento Award “Anton’s Right Here,” Lyubov Arkus UK-Italy Creative Industries Award “The Interval,” Leonardo Di Costanzo Gillo Pontecorvo-Arcobaleno Latino Award Laura Delli Colli Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Award “Low Tide,” Roberto Minervini Interfilm Award “Wadjda,” Haifaa Al Mansour Giovani Giurati del Vittorio Veneto Film Festival Award “The Company You Keep,” Robert Redford Giovani Giurati del Vittorio Veneto Film Festival Award (Special Mention) Toni Servillo Primio Cinematografico Award “Terramatta,” Costanza Quatriglio Green Drop Award “The Fifth Season,” Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth
Keep The Lights On director Ira Sachs ( Forty Shades of Blue , Delta ) tapped into his own experience in a tumultuous relationship that would eventually morph into the film that screened to accolades at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals earlier this year, winning the New York-based filmmaker a Teddy Award at the Berlinale. Keep The Lights On morphed out of the disintegration of a relationship he had with a man that spanned a number of years in New York around the turn of the century. Career demands, extra-relationship temptations, addictions, obsessions and more play into the rocky road experienced by the young couple. Sachs took inspiration for Keep The Lights On from the likes of Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right , Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances and Jacques Nolot’s confessional Before I Forget , constructing Keep The Lights On as a gay man in NYC while embracing at times details some may consider unflattering. Danish actor Thure Lindhardt plays documentary filmmaker Erik, while American Zachary Booth plays closeted lawyer Paul, a couple who embrace each other while passionately forming a dramatic relationship rife with sex, drugs, highs, lows and dysfunction. Ahead of Keep The Lights On ‘s theatrical release this weekend, Ira Sachs invited Movieline over to his NYC apartment, which, perhaps not so coincidentally served as a prime location for his film. He talks about embracing depictions of addiction and sexuality, the challenges of making indie film today, how making the film affected him personally and what his former partner, who helped inspire the project, thought of the film. When did you decide that you actually wanted to make this film? I saw a film called Before I Forget by Jacques Nolot at (New York’s) Cinema Village, which was programmed by Ed Arentz — who is now my distributor. And what I saw [was] a film that reflected sort of contemporary life — Parisian life — of a filmmaker who was gay, but also what his life in Paris is that looks like something specific. As a gay person how we live looks very specific today and different than it did 20 years ago. I felt like there was no film that looked like my life, and no film which really reflected the community that I live in which is very mixed. The boundaries between gay and straight, I think, for most of us in our everyday lives, though not in our psyche has dissipated. So I wanted to make a film about sort of what I had seen in the last many years here. But specifically I ended a relationship in 2008 and I had a sense that 10 years before that was an interesting story. I started writing and I put it away for a couple of years, and it was really Mauricio Zacharias, my co-writer who read that material and said, “Well clearly this is a story you have to tell.” And in a way because I was doing something so autobiographical, I think I needed someone else to give me the blessing that it would be relevant. So how much of it is similar and how much of it is a departure to your own life during a certain time period? We began with the journals, and diaries, so we began with the raw materials from my life, but then ultimately we were creating a screenplay, which is constructed around its own laws and orders. And in a way, all my films have begun with things that I feel like I know more than anyone else. They’ve begun in a very intimate place. So you’re creating it similarly to the approach you took in Forty Shades of Blue for instance? Forty Shades was kind of about my dad actually. I grew up in Memphis with this larger than life figure who always had these younger girlfriends. And my relationship to those girlfriends was my entry to the film, and that sort of thing. And then when you start making a movie [like Keep the Lights On ] and you’ve cast a Danish actor to play a character based on yourself, then you’re like off to the races because you’re making a film. So what made you decide to go that route with a Danish actor? Was it that the actor Thure Lindhardt personally that appealed to you? I sent the screenplay to an agent that I have worked with in Hollywood, and I got the response that no one in the agency would be available for this [project]. And I knew even before that I wanted to make this film different. I thought that this film needed to be a truly independent film, so it would be financed that way. It would be made that way. So I heard about Thure who I was told was the bravest actor In Denmark and one of the best, and I knew that he would be. I sent him the script and he was alone in a hotel room in Spain, and he ended up using up all the scenes one could shoot alone, which were a series of masturbation scenes. And I knew that he was both comfortable with the material, but also really amazingly interesting to watch. So I casted him. Is this a little reflection, perhaps, on American actors, that they’re less inclined to do this sort of thing? I have a Danish lead actor. I have a Greek cinematographer. I have a Brazilian co-writer. I have a Brazilian editor. I had a Romanian script supervisor. I surrounded myself with non-American sort of sensibilities. And I think that’s a big part of the film. It’s a film about New York, and it’s a very New York film, but I think it’s told in a way that’s not repressed, and it doesn’t look at sex as some foreign object that has to be viewed only in the dark. Do you agree that that’s sort of the American POV generally, that violence in movies is acceptable, but sex is taboo? I do, I do. I think when this film played in Berlin, it was the most ordinary movie you could see.It was extremely ordinary which is very different than how it played at Sundance. How did it play at Sundance then? The subject matter and the sexuality made people uncomfortable. I think there’s a fear of difference in American cinema. And I was thinking a lot about that when I made this film because there used to be an idea that independent cinema was independent cinema . And that production and the means of production were actually separate from commercial cinema. And that gave you certain rights and opportunities — and I had all those rights and opportunities. I am one of a number of filmmakers who started out making films about gay people who stopped. My whole generation, most of us stopped. We either couldn’t make films, or we had to make other kinds of films. And I think that that’s partially about the individual, but it’s mostly about the culture, and trying to figure out how to sustain a career. I think for me, ultimately, I feel now that in some ways my marginal voice is actually my most powerful. It’s also possibly economically my most fertile, because I’m the guy who can make these films. Is there still a pretty low glass ceiling for gay filmmakers generally in this country? It wasn’t any easier to make a film about a Russian woman living in Memphis ( Forty Shades of Blue ). When you’re trying to make non-broad character-driven stories, and I’m interested in documentary as forum, so I’m actually trying to get the details right, which makes it even more specific in a certain way. Going back to Keep the Lights On and Thure’s character Erik, I got the feeling he was a little bit a love junkie. Yeah, and I would agree. He was someone who didn’t feel complete without obsessing over something. I think, no one’s used that term, but I think it’s a good one. It’s better than a sex addict. I mean, I like love junkie… He is someone who just emotionally needs some attachment. I think that there’s a compulsive need to be connected to another person. And I think the film in a lot of ways is less about addiction and more about obsession. There was something, these two guys, both of them are obsessed with the idea of maintaining their life together. And I think with obsession, sometimes it seems like the most comfortable place to be, because it shuts out everything else because you think, “Well if I can control this situation, then I can control my life.” So was it emotional reliving this to a degree? It wasn’t. No? It wasn’t really. I mean, I think by the time that I made the film I really believe I’d done all the therapeutic work and transformation in a lot of ways. Occasionally it felt like déjà vu. It was like an odd sensation that occasionally I was creating fictional scenes that were replicating things that were close to my own life. But mostly I just really felt like my life was one of the drawers that we can open. And I was always very willing to share as much as I could with the actors. But I never felt like they needed to try to do anything other than what was natural to them as actors and as people living the story. I mean, a lot of what I think I do as a director is try to give everything over to the actor. So I disappear. I mean, but the helms are their helms. The spaces are their spaces. I don’t rehearse with my actors. Then what’s your methodology of instruction? I talk to them individually, but I never talk to them together. So really in a certain way it’s more difficult for the actor because there’s a lot of risk, but actually that risk I think is the element that you could actually name in the performance in this film, and in my films in general. I think there’s something risky about it all. This is the moment. So I think to trying to capture the moment means that you’re really valuing the present, which includes the past, but it is about the present which is about the actors, it’s about flirtation, it’s what happens between them. Did you ever consider not emphasizing the drug use? Maybe there would be some other more acceptable vice like — alcoholism? An everyday addiction… Yeah, an everyday addiction, a “legal” addiction, yeah. You know, I really wanted to be unashamed and unabashed about the truth of my relationship and my behavior, and to not shy away from the details, and to not judge the action. So pot-head, crack addict, different kinds of distractions, different kinds of consequences, but the root of addiction is usually similar in lots of ways. And I feel like the drug use that the film talks about is really prevalent in the gay community at least. It’s something I feel like goes unspoken. So has your former partner seen this film? Yeah, he has seen the film. I showed him the film before Sundance. And he’s been very supportive. I mean, I think it’s not him. It’s a story about our relationship as seen through my eyes. Next: The New York filmmaker gives his personal Top 9 NYC films
Camille Grammer won’t just be returning to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills next season. She’ll be doing so as a VERY rich woman. Sources close to the reality star tell TMZ she is finally close to settling her ugly divorce battle with Kelsey Grammar , and that she’s set to ink a property settlement with the actor that will net Camille around $30 million. The final price tag will be established once three homes the former couple shared are off the market. Sound like an astronomical sum, considering Kelsey earned most of the fortune from his long-running stints on Cheers and Frasier ? Perhaps. But insiders say the troubled star – he battled an addiction to drugs and spent a great deal of time in rehab early in his career – was actually close to fiscal ruin when he met Camille. She reportedly took over the family’s finances and is largely responsible for the millions that are now close to being split. We didn’t see that coming – and we hope this is finally the end of the very public bashing that has gone on between the Grammers for years. Just shut up and count your money, please. Both of you. [Photo: WENN.com]
Hollywood.TV is your source for all the latest celebrity news, gossip and videos of your favorite stars! bit.ly – Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com – Become a Fan! Twitter.com – Follow Us! Amanda Bynes is being charged in connection with two alleged hit-and-run car accidents. The charges are related to crashes on April 10 and Aug 4 and Amanda faces a possible sentence of six months in jail for each count, if convicted. Kanye West is proud of his girlfriend Kim Kardashian’s sex tape and even wrote a song to prove it. The rapper’s new song “Clique” Includes a reference to the infamous film, with the lyric “Eat breakfast at Gucci. My girl a superstar all from a home movie.” Katie Holmes is the first ever face of Bobbi Brown cosmetics. Neither the actress nor the makeup company would confirm the news but landing the cosmetics deal would be another sign that Katie, who is set to debut her clothing line at New York’s Fashion Week, is a rising star in the beauty industry, Hollywood.TV is the global leader in capturing celebrity breaking news as it happens. We cover all the major Hollywood events including The Golden Globes, The Oscars, The Screen Actors Guild Awards, The Grammy’s, The Emmy’s and the American Music Awards, as well as all the red carpet movie premiers in Los Angeles and New York. HTV is on the streets 24/7, at all the industry events and invited by the stars to cover their every move in Hollywood, New York and Miami. Hollywood.TV is currently the third most viewed …
As they used to say in my hometown, Kal Penn knocked Clint Eastwood’s dick in the dirt Tuesday night with a smart — and subtly smart-alecky — celebrity turn at the podium on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. In contrast to 82-year-old Eastwood’s aimless — and heartless — speech in support of Mitt Romney , Penn, 35, gave a focused, funny speech that, like the Harold & Kumar franchise, proved to be a lot smarter than it’s stoner-targeted marketing campaign advertised. (Actually, I think there’s an argument to be made that stoners are some of the sharpest cultural consumers on earth, but that’s an argument for another day.) What I particularly appreciated about Penn’s speech was that it hit important DNC talking points without sounding like corny propaganda, and the actor struck an inclusive note that, I suspect, could sway some hawkish-yet-hip fringe voters to cast their ballot for President Obama. And that was in a single sentence: “I’ve worked on a lot of fun movies but my favorite job was having a boss who gave the order to take out Bin Laden and is cool with all of us getting gay married,” Penn told DNC delegates. “So thank you invisible man in the chair for that.” Duuuude! In a single soundbite, Penn, a former Associate Director for the White House’s Office of Public Engagement, accomplished a remarkable hat trick: He twitted Eastwood’s RNC performance; reiterated the administration’s support for gay marriage and reminded us that Osama Bin Laden was taken out under Obama’s leadership — a goal that, given America’s post-9/11 fury, should have been accomplished during the eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency. Penn’s reference to Bin Laden’s death was particularly smart because it sent the message that the Democratic Party does not engage in facile stereotyping. Penn is Indian-American, but if he hasn’t been singled out at an airport because his skin tone resembled the 9/11 terrorists’, I bet that he knows a lot of people who’ve had that experience. When Penn plainly stated his support for Obama’s silencing of Osama, I could hear a hundred Fox News-perpetuated stereotypes vaporizing with a satisfying sizzle. It’s not the first time that Penn has messed with the American public’s pat view of good and bad in a post-9/11 America, by the way. He blew me away in 2007 when he played Ahmed Amar on 24 . Penn’s performance repeatedly defied my expectations — especially when he turned out to be the terrorist that, I assumed, he couldn’t be thanks to my own internal stereotypes about political correctness. Penn’s decision to take that role at that particular time in American history was brave indeed, and that same year he told New York magazine that he’d almost turned down the part because “It was essentially accepting a form of racial profiling.” “I think it’s repulsive,” Penn explained. “But it was the first time I had a chance to blow stuff up and take a family hostage. As an actor, why shouldn’t I have that opportunity? Because I’m brown and I should be scared about the connection between media images and people’s thought processes?” Penn blew stuff up again tonight — in the best way possible. President Obama was smart to use him as a convention opener. Check out Penn’s speech below and please tell me whether you agree or not in the comments section below. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
As they used to say in my hometown, Kal Penn knocked Clint Eastwood’s dick in the dirt Tuesday night with a smart — and subtly smart-alecky — celebrity turn at the podium on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. In contrast to 82-year-old Eastwood’s aimless — and heartless — speech in support of Mitt Romney , Penn, 35, gave a focused, funny speech that, like the Harold & Kumar franchise, proved to be a lot smarter than it’s stoner-targeted marketing campaign advertised. (Actually, I think there’s an argument to be made that stoners are some of the sharpest cultural consumers on earth, but that’s an argument for another day.) What I particularly appreciated about Penn’s speech was that it hit important DNC talking points without sounding like corny propaganda, and the actor struck an inclusive note that, I suspect, could sway some hawkish-yet-hip fringe voters to cast their ballot for President Obama. And that was in a single sentence: “I’ve worked on a lot of fun movies but my favorite job was having a boss who gave the order to take out Bin Laden and is cool with all of us getting gay married,” Penn told DNC delegates. “So thank you invisible man in the chair for that.” Duuuude! In a single soundbite, Penn, a former Associate Director for the White House’s Office of Public Engagement, accomplished a remarkable hat trick: He twitted Eastwood’s RNC performance; reiterated the administration’s support for gay marriage and reminded us that Osama Bin Laden was taken out under Obama’s leadership — a goal that, given America’s post-9/11 fury, should have been accomplished during the eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency. Penn’s reference to Bin Laden’s death was particularly smart because it sent the message that the Democratic Party does not engage in facile stereotyping. Penn is Indian-American, but if he hasn’t been singled out at an airport because his skin tone resembled the 9/11 terrorists’, I bet that he knows a lot of people who’ve had that experience. When Penn plainly stated his support for Obama’s silencing of Osama, I could hear a hundred Fox News-perpetuated stereotypes vaporizing with a satisfying sizzle. It’s not the first time that Penn has messed with the American public’s pat view of good and bad in a post-9/11 America, by the way. He blew me away in 2007 when he played Ahmed Amar on 24 . Penn’s performance repeatedly defied my expectations — especially when he turned out to be the terrorist that, I assumed, he couldn’t be thanks to my own internal stereotypes about political correctness. Penn’s decision to take that role at that particular time in American history was brave indeed, and that same year he told New York magazine that he’d almost turned down the part because “It was essentially accepting a form of racial profiling.” “I think it’s repulsive,” Penn explained. “But it was the first time I had a chance to blow stuff up and take a family hostage. As an actor, why shouldn’t I have that opportunity? Because I’m brown and I should be scared about the connection between media images and people’s thought processes?” Penn blew stuff up again tonight — in the best way possible. President Obama was smart to use him as a convention opener. Check out Penn’s speech below and please tell me whether you agree or not in the comments section below. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
