Golden Globe nominees Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor turned out for a special screening of their epic tearjerker The Impossible and talked to me about how they summoned the emotional wherewithal to play a couple whose family is torn apart by a tsunami. The picture’s director, J.A.Bayona also attended and told me he had no qualms about casting a Scottish and an Australian actor to play the real-life Spanish couple on which the harrowing story is based. Bayona pointed out that the film never clarifies the couple’s nationality. Besides, the actual husband and wife who inspired the story were on the carpet and they were clearly supportive of the film. Check out my full interview below: RELATED: Golden Globes Unveil 70th Edition Nominees Globes Analysis: Hooper, Russell, De Niro Snubbed & Is Waltz Really A Supporting Actor?
Philadelphia soul man Bilal is your favorite rapper’s favorite soul singer. While the left-of-center jazz man has collaborated with many of today’s biggest stars like…
The birthday girl broke down her epic year during our ‘Big & Best’ live stream. By Jocelyn Vena Taylor Swift at the 2012 Grammy Awards Photo: Dan MacMedan/ Getty Images
Hugh Jackman is way more emo than I thought. But I’ll get to that in a moment. Among the filmmakers who turned up to praise the Les Misérables star at the Museum of the Moving Image’s salute to Jackman in lower Manhattan on Tuesday night was The Dark Knight Rises director Christopher Nolan who grew an enormous Cheshire-Cat grin when I asked him if the Superman reboot he is producing, Man of Steel , would see a cameo by Joseph Gordon-Levitt , or any actor, as Batman, and if he had any objections to a cameo as a continuity move to tie the Supes movie to the 2015 Justice League movie. “I can’t talk about that. You know that,” Nolan said cheerily. I didn’t know that, actually, but now that I do, I feel compelled to point out that, despite the frustratingly inconclusive nature of his answer, it’s not a ‘No.’ Yes, JG-L’s camp shot down the speculation as “entirely false” back in November, but if the idea had been ruled out, wouldn’t Nolan be saying something along those lines, too, so that the fan boys could move on? You know how angry they can get when their casting hopes and dreams are suddenly deflated after being allowed to build for months. The impish smile on Nolan’s face as he issued that no comment also heightened my optimism, especially in the wake of the powerful Man of Steel trailer that’s now burning up the Internet. Zack Snyder’s take on Superman clearly aspires to have the kind of psychological heft and dark undertones that made The Dark Knight trilogy so satisfying. If the movie attains or even approaches those standards, a JG-L Batman cameo would not dishonor Nolan’s work and it would set the bar high for Justice League . No pressure, Warner Bros. Nolan, Hathaway, Weisz Honor Jackman At Museum of The Moving Image Fete Getting back to Jackman, who’s on the fast-track to a Best Actor Oscar nomination , Nolan had much more to say about the actor, who he directed along with Christian Bale in The Prestige . The filmmaker told guests at the Museum of the Moving Image fete that though “ruthless” is not a word usually associated with Jackman, The Wolverine star is indeed “ruthless creatively” and a performer “driven by intense ambition.” The director also said that he looked forward to working with Jackman again, “probably not on a musical though,” despite Jackman’s urging him to direct one. Also praising Jackman were his wife, actress Deborra-Lee Furness, his X-Men Origins: Wolverine co-star Liev Schreiber , director Mike Nichols, former Saturday Night Live cast member Rachel Dratch , who got big laughs mocking Jackman’s Australian dialect and two of his Les Misérables co-stars Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne . In an effusive, rambling speech, Hathaway called Jackman “deep as the sea.” Rachel Weisz offered up an even more intriguing description of the actor, calling him an “incredible cocktail of light and dark.” She also told the most revealing story of the night: During the filming of The Fountain , which was directed by her ex-husband Darren Aronofsky , Weisz said that Jackman gave himself so completely to a scene in which his character realizes he’s going to die that “he sobbed for about half an hour after the cameras stopped” while Weisz comforted him. “He’d gone to the deepest, darkest place a person can go,” she said. “And he wasn’t faking it.” Jackman kept his speech much lighter saying that his Christmas gift wish list was a simple one. All he wanted, he said, was “a movie with me starring in it to open on Christmas Day.” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Matt Damon channeled Bill Clinton on a recent Tonight Show with Jay Leno . He recalled a trip he made to Camp David during the Clinton presidency when he and Ben Affleck brought along their Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting . Damon recalled how a producer from the film told the Prez that he was friends with John Travolta who was starring in Primary Colors , a film considered unflattering to Bill Clinton and did a great impression of him. Damon recalls the story and then morphs into the then POTUS. Check it out…
Critics can’t get enough of Quentin Tarantino’s latest irreverent offering and its ‘bloody stew of history and hysteria.’ By Kevin P. Sullivan Jamie Foxx in “Django Unchained” Photo: The Weinstein Company
Between crowd-surfing at the Europe Music Awards and two Grammy nods, the ‘Call Me Maybe’ singer has had plenty of standout moments. By Emily Blake Carly Rae Jepson Photo: Scott Legato/ WireImage
Why yes, there are musical numbers in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey , which hurtles into theaters this week. Alas, none of them are eligible for the Oscars’ Best Song category, though I’d love to see Richard Armitage, AKA Thorin Oakenshield, face off against Katy Perry and Adele on that Academy Awards stage. Listen to Thorin and his not-so-merry band of dwarves prepare for peril with a solemn ditty in a clip from The Hobbit . Verdict : It’s no “Bilbo Baggins,” but then again, what is? [via TheOneRing.net ]