Kristen Stewart fans may have been disappointed that the Twilight superstar did not make an appearance at last week’s MTV Video Music Awards, but crowds here in Toronto had the chance to see the actress on the red carpet for the North American premiere of Walter Salles ‘ On The Road along with fellow cast members Garrett Hedlund , Kirsten Dunst , Amy Adams and Sam Riley . Stewart spoke with ML about the part she had actually landed before she filmed her first Twilight installment. Stewart shared her thoughts on the steamy relationship between her character Marylou and Hedlund’s Dean Moriarty — a life-long relationship that was rife with affairs, drugs and a wild ride on the road. [ PHOTOS: Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Kirsten Dunst at the Toronto premiere of On The Road ] “They really are ‘simpatico.’ It was a tumultuous relationship. And it’s hard to love like that, but they were so in love with each other and you don’t know this from reading the book, but they stayed lovers until the end of his life,” Stewart said during a conversation with ML at a Toronto hotel over the weekend. Stewart first read On The Road as a high school freshman. A short time afterward, she was approached by director Walter Salles who had been told to consider Stewart for the part of Marylou after fellow filmmakers saw her in Sean Penn’s Into The Wild and suggested that he consider the young actress. The project took a number of years before the actual shoot commenced and in the meantime, Stewart began doing the enormously popular Twilight series, propelling her fame into the stratosphere. “I got the [ On The Road ] job on the spot and I drove away vibrating,” Stewart said. In the film version of the book written by Jack Kerouac, Stewart plays the unconventional free-spirit Marylou, the former wife and still frequent lover of Dean Moriarty, a fast-talking charismatic with an insatiable libido. Dean and best friend Sal (Sam Riley), a young writer whose life is shaken after Dean’s arrival take to the road. Marylou frequently accompanies Sal and Dean’s travels across the country in adventures fueled by sex, drugs and the pursuit of the “It” – a quest for understanding and personal fulfillment. “He kind of raised her and she always had a place in his heart, even though there were a lot of spots in that heart, but she was definitely one in the center and the same goes the other way around,” Stewart said of Marylou and Dean, the On The Road names of the real-life individuals described by Kerouac. “They both helped each other grow up.” One of the seminal works of literature of post-war America, On The Road took decades to be made into a film, even after Francis Ford Coppola acquired the filmmaking rights to the story. Stewart said she believes that society may have not been ready to see On The Road in theaters in the immediate years after the book was published, acknowledging that the film, which has not yet been rated, is racy. “I think it’s a good time to see this story visually because we are not shocked by some of the things that we were so shocked by before and it would have veiled it,” said Stewart. “It would have been so shocking seeing people doing drugs and having sex that you wouldn’t have seen the spirit of [ On the Road ]. You wouldn’t have seen the message behind it. Maybe it would have been good because it would have forced people to look, but maybe they weren’t able to do it then.” She also expressed the need for young people to have dreams and a zest for life, similarly to the characters in the film, even if those dreams are not fully comprehended. “At that stage of your life there’s so much ahead of you, at least it feels that way. At that age you need to have a faith and feelings you can’t articulate yet because at some point you need to hold onto them and you’ll find the words to describe them.” [ Movieline will have more from our interviews with Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Walter Salles this week. ] Read more from the Toronto Film Festival. Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Joey Buttafuoco is writing a tell-all book about the Amy Fisher saga. Seriously. Buttafuoco believes it’s “clean the slate” and move on with his life … by dredging up the infamous crime 20 years later? Anyway, it’s gonna be called Closure . “Everyone thinks they know [the story] but they really don’t,” says Joey. Joey says the book his ex-wife Mary Jo Buttafuoco – who Amy Fisher shot in the face after Joey’s affair with her in 1992 – wrote back in 2009 is not true. It’s an “angry account of an ex-wife who pieced together her own vision of why things happened. [She] had no knowledge of my life away from home.” Buttafuoco tells TMZ that “It’s finally time for all of us to move on. My book is closure for everyone and our respected families. It’s time.” Sure it is man. [Photo: WENN.com]
Demi Moore has reportedly moved on from Ashton Kutcher, as recent reports link her to actor Martin Henderson . But might the actress soon revisit her past in an explosive tell-all? Books & Review sources say Moore has agreed to a $2 million deal with HarperCollins to author a memoir. The question now remains: On what/whom will it focus? One insider says Moore pitched the idea herself and will center the book on her complicated relationship with her mother, but another tells The Daily Star : “She’s going to blow the lid on her six-year marriage to Ashton,” while a final mole reveals: “She’s planning to spill all the juicy details on her addictions, her meltdown and her marriages.” Regardless of the topic and the release date and really any details at all, the memoir is already generating a great deal of buzz. Unfortunately for Demi, the same can be said of Kutcher’s new relationship: He’s totally nailing Mila Kunis .
SMH @ this “Honey Boo Boo” child character being exploited by her mama… HONEY BOO BOO” has become an overnight sensation – but the sassy 6-year-old pageant queen almost didn’t have her shot at prime time after charges of child abuse nearly kept TLC’s hit new reality show off the air. “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” premiered to huge ratings on Aug. 8. The show follows the lives of the Thompson family from rural McIntyre, Ga., including TLC’s new runaway star, Alana, aka “Honey Boo Boo.” The network decided to give the unforgettable little girl her own series after videos of her appearances on the cable network’s “Toddlers & Tiaras” went viral earlier this year. BUT production of the show nearly came to a screeching halt shortly after filming began in March when investigators from Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services made an unannounced visit to the family’s home. “Honey Boo Boo’s upbringing raised eyebrows with neighbors,” a source told The ENQUIRER. “The parents feed her energy drinks, cheese puffs for breakfast and brag about how they cook roadkill for meals. She even eats roadkill with flies swarming around her head!” But the authorities didn’t get involved until a videotape of Honey Boo Boo dancing for dollars on a table in a bar was posted online. In the scene, which was not filmed by TLC, mom June defended her daughter’s actions by explaining that it was a college bar, not a “sleazy” one. Investigators found reason to bring the case to court, but June’s court-appointed attorney was able to convince the judge to throw it out, and filming resumed in May. The first episode of the show – which showcases a whole lot of belly-slapping and gas-passing – drew an impressive 2.2 million viewers, but it also received a considerable amount of criticism. And that criticism is bound to increase later in the season after Alana’s 17-year-old sister Anna, aka “Chickadee,” gives birth to a baby girl with two right thumbs – and grandma June makes fun of the defect! “If the family had been charged for having bad taste,” added the source, “the judge would have thrown the book at them!” We’re already not feelin’ these people. Something tells us that they’re just putting on an act to make money and we hope that little girl doesn’t let her mom use her up to the point where she’s damaged long term. Although with all the Red Bull and Mountain Dew she’s been drinking she has to be feeling some kind of effects. Source
Before she was cast in Gary Ross ‘s The Hunger Games as District 5’s elusive Tribute — known only by the nickname “Foxface,” per her wily dexterity and appearance — actress Jacqueline Emerson was a devoted fan of the YA series. Big time . “I was obsessed!” she told Movieline ahead of this week’s Hunger Games DVD/Blu-ray release. “It was my new book series that I was in love with.” Upon getting the part (a connection to Ross’s daughter put her in the director’s sights), the high schooler had to keep her secret from friends and concerned teachers for months — and now, over a year and $684 million in Hunger Games box office receipts later, the one-time child rocker looking for her next adventure with college and a Spike Lee project on the horizon. Emerson, who deferred enrollment at Stanford University for a year to tend to her burgeoning career as an actress and musician, rang Movieline to discuss her Hunger Games experience, the challenges of playing Foxface — Katniss’s most intelligent fellow Tribute, and therefore a dangerous, enigmatic rival — and her unique industry beginnings as a sixth-grade member of the Disney-backed Devo cover band Devo 2.0. You loved the books, but you also happened to have a connection to Gary through his daughter. How did your casting as Foxface come about? Claudia, who’s Gary’s daughter, told her dad that I’d read the books because we knew each other. So I came in and did an interview with Gary because he was interviewing kids who had read the book. A couple of weeks later he gave me a call and said, “Jackie, I really see you as Foxface – would you come in and audition?” And I absolutely flipped out. It’s my favorite book series of all time! I would kill to be in the movie! I slept like four hours the night before, I was tossing and turning, I had a physics test the next day and I don’t even remember it, and I went to my audition after school. I was hoping I did well but I wasn’t really sure, but a week later I got a call from Gary and he talked to my mom and said, “We really want Jackie for the part, it’s not set in stone but she should begin training.” And I died. I was so excited. I immediately started training and working out and getting toned down. Let’s keep in mind though that I found out about this in March, and I wasn’t able to say anything until mid-May. I don’t know how you did it! I had signed a ton of NDAs so I couldn’t tell anybody anything, and my friends were getting really worried about me because I’d be missing school, and I was working out all the time. They couldn’t figure out why because I’d never worked out before. I was losing weight and toning up and getting muscular, and they were all really worried about me – it was junior year and so it was very stressful, I had teachers who would call me into their office and be like, “Jackie, are you okay? Are you feeling alright?” What would you tell them? I would say, “Oh no, I’m fine. I’m just busy.” I’d skate around it. Finally it was announced and I hadn’t signed any contract yet so I wasn’t even entirely sure it was going to be me. And I told a couple of my best-best friends because I needed a few people to help defend me from the rest of my friends [laughs] and everyone was so excited. What was your initial audition like? Foxface is an unusual character in that she conveys so much with no known name and no dialogue, so your performance had to come through silently. Yes. They had me come in and do a lot of reaction stuff — they’d map out a scenario for me and be like, “Okay, you stop here and look around and take it in and think about the complexity of it, but you’re scared at the same time,” but all with the face and without dialogue. It was a very unorthodox audition. Did you always relate to Foxface when you read the books? Oh yes, she was always one of my favorite characters. I was always intrigued by her. Her intelligence is a great element to the character and to the book — she’s a character who adds a lot of mystery to the proceedings during the Games. I loved that. And I loved how you knew so little about her and yet Katniss was kind of scared of her in a way. She was one of the only people in the game that Katniss respected. There’s a point where Katniss goes, “Maybe Foxface is the real enemy here.” I thought that was interesting. And amid all the bloodshed, Foxface manages to get far in the Games without harming people. She’s only defeated by herself, by stealing Peeta’s poisonous berries. I think it’s definitely one of those movies you want to see more than once. I liked it so much better the second time I saw it, and I liked it even better the third time I saw it. By the fourth time I was like, okay, I get it now. [Laughs] But it’s got to many levels. You watch it again and pick up so many subtleties. You’ve previewed the new Blu-ray releases. What’s your favorite special feature? For The Tribute Diaries, all of us got Flip cameras and in the couple of weeks leading up to the premiere we filmed all of us hanging out, the mall tours, and stuff like that so that’s a cool insight into us hanging out. There’s also a lot of the Tributes on set, which was really nostalgic for me to watch. It’s like watching a documentary of my summer. Your summer yearbook. Exactly! This cast grew pretty close, which happens with these huge franchises as young performers bond together on the shoot and press tour. Did you get any great advice from the older castmembers who are a few years ahead into their own careers? Jen especially gave me really really great advice, and she was there for me when I was freaking out or nervous or confused. She was always really, really supportive, from the beginning – from the first day I met her. She was there to help me along, and I appreciated that so much. It was really wonderful to have that. Your next film, Son of the South , is an indie with impressive folks behind the camera – Spike Lee is producing, and his frequent editor is directing. When do you start and how did you come to the project? I’m very excited — I’m not sure when it shoots yet because I’m not sure it has full funding, but I’m just excited to be a part of this project because it’s a really important story. It’s the story of Bob Zellner, who’s a civil rights activist, and I’m honored to be a part of it. It’ll be really fun to bring to life. Did you get to audition for Spike Lee or talk with him? No, I didn’t! I did an interview with the director and talked to him, and he sounds great. I can’t wait to work with him. You also have a parallel career as a musician, and you have a music video out. In addition to this, you were accepted to Stanford. So what’s your plan for the next few years? I’m taking a year off — it’s interesting, because I’ve wanted to take a year off since 9th or 10th grade because high school’s been very intense for me. I went to a very hard prep school, and I’m also not ready to leave my family yet and I’m kinda young for my grade. So this is great because it really gave me an excuse to take a year off and pursue what I love for a year in my artistic side, which, even though I’d done a ton of stuff in high school and I was part of drama and stuff like that, I didn’t get to really pursue it. I recently signed with a new agent and I signed with managers a couple of months ago, so I’m really beginning this journey. It’ll be a lot of fun. I will say that I went to Berkeley, so I unfortunately can’t fully support your choice of school. [Laughs] You did? I’m supposed to hate you, but I can’t! I’m so sorry! I wish you luck at Stanford nonetheless! And finally, I must ask about one of your earliest credits in a band called Devo 2.0. Oh my god, yes. I’m so curious about it. Is it correct to describe it as a family-friendly Devo cover band made of kids? Yes! It was wonderful! I had such a good time. I was in sixth grade, and it was the first audition I ever went on. We did a DVD, and a bunch of music videos, we did a two-week tour around the East Coast to different schools on a tour bus, and it was so much fun. We finished out with a performance at the House of Blues, and then it was kind of over. But I thought it was a great experience. My mom kept telling me the whole time, “You know, every journey has a beginning, a middle, and an end — and this is not the most important thing that you’ll ever do.” And I think that was probably the best advice that I could have gotten when I was in that, because otherwise I may have gotten too attached to it and too caught up in my two minutes of… fame. [Laughs] It was so happy to have my mom there because she really kept me grounded, and I had such a great time. It’s a memory that I will always look back fondly on. So you were basically a rock star in sixth grade. I know, isn’t it funny? I always forget about it because it was only for like a year, and then it was over. But it was a really great experience. You played the keyboard but you also sang — does that make you the Mark Mothersbaugh or the Bob Casale of Devo 2.0? I think I was the Jerry Casale. I don’t really know — they changed all the parts around, but Jerry actually toured with us and we met Mark a couple of times. What do you remember most about meeting or working with them? Honestly… I do not remember. [Laughs] I was in sixth grade! All I know is I had a really good time. Do Devo’s lyrics have different meaning to you now that you’re older? Yes — completely. I definitely had a very skewed understanding of them when I was younger. Actually I have a theory that Devo 2.0 was made to prove the point of devolution, because their songs went from having a lot of meaning to, like, “It is a beautiful world!” That’s the theory I’ve come up with in recent years. [Laughs] The Hunger Games is on DVD and Blu-ray August 18 at 12:01 a.m. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The World Premiere of Ang Lee ‘s Life Of Pi will open the New York Film Festival September 28th. The screening launching the 50th anniversary of the annually anticipated film event will be a return for the Oscar-winning director, who screened Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the festival’s closing night event 12 years ago. Robert Altman, Pedro Almodóvar and Francois Truffaut are the only other directors to have had more than one film chosen to bow the festival. Lee’s The Ice Storm opened the 1997 edition of NYFF. The film stars Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tobey Maguire and Gérard Depardieu. Life Of Pi will the be the first 3-D NYFF opener. Based on the book that has sold more than seven million copies and a number o f years on bestseller lists, the feature takes place over three continents, two oceans, many years and a wide world of imagination. Lee’s vision, coupled with game-changing technological breakthroughs, haas turned a story long throughout un-filmable into a totally original cinematic event and the first truly international all-audience motion picture. Life Of Pi follows a young man who survives a disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship’s only other survivor…a fearsome Bengal tiger. The Twentieth Century Fox release is due in theaters November 21st. Life Of Pi is a perfect combination of technological innovation and a strong artistic vision,” Richard Peña, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center said via a statement. “And Lee has managed to make a deeply moving, engrossing work that will delight audiences as much as it will astonish them. We’re enormously proud to have this film for our Opening Night for the 50th NYFF.” “I am both delighted and honored to be back a the New York Film Festival with Life Of Pi ,” Lee said in a statement. “I have the deepest respect for Richard Peña and his team and to be selected by them as the Opening Night Film for the 50th anniversary is extremely gratifying. I am also excited because this is my hometown, and to be unveiling this film that I am so proud of here is a real pleasure.” Last week NYFF said it will close out its festival with the world premiere of Robert Zemeckis’s Flight , starring Denzel Washington. Previous Opening Night Gala titles include Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1963), Gill Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1967), Akir Kurosawa’s Ran (1985), Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994), Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies (1996), Stephen Frear’s The Queen (2006) and David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010). Produced by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the 50th New York Film Festival will take place September 28 – October 14th Watch the trailer on YouTube .
Joan Rivers stopped by a Costco in Burbank, California yesterday. To purchase a six-gallon tub of ketchup and 300 toilet paper rolls? Not exactly. The comedian showed up at the chain in protest of the fact that it’s refusing to sell copies of her book, “”I Hate Everyone … Starting With Me,” on the ground that the jacket displays a few curse words.
Love him or loathe him, Ted Nugent will never sugar coat his views. As such, it’s only a matter of time until he makes more headlines because of them. Actually, compared to some of his recent tirades against President Barack Obama – encouraging fans to chop heads off , etc. – this one isn’t that bad. Nugent was as extreme and unfiltered as ever when asked about the 2012 election in a recent interview. How does he size up the presidential race? With President Obama and Mitt Romney running tied or close to it in most polls, Ted sees the contrast as one that could not be more polarizing: “On important issues, I am saddened to admit that Obama represents everything bad about humanity and Romney pretty much all that is good.” “It is really that stark.” Nugent, of course, raised eyebrows earlier this year when he said that “if you can’t go home and get everybody in your lives to clean house in this vile, evil, America-hating administration, I don’t even know what you’re made of.” Safe to say he’s voting for Mitt in November. You? For more of the rocker’s political sound bites, browse these Ted Nugent quotes . You have to hand it to the guy for being completely unabashed. [Photos: WENN.com]
