New details have emerged in the strange, sad case of Johnny Lewis , an actor who was found dead in California and is believed to have murdered an 81-year old woman. The former Sons of Anarchy star was released from L.A. County Jail just six days prior to yesterday’s incident. According to TMZ, Lewis had “several criminal cases” filed against him – the natures of which are unknown at this time – and had also recently completed a stint in rehab. Moreover, a dead cat was found inside the home that Lewis had shared with the landlady who he allegedly killed. The house was also ransacked. Authorities have said Lewis is the sole suspect in the elderly woman’s murder. Witnesses spotted him fighting with two other men prior to jumping on the roof of the building and eventually falling to his death. Tweeted Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter after learning of the news: “it was a tragic end for an extremely talented guy, who unfortunately had lost his way. i wish i could say that i was shocked by the events last night, but i was not.”
The Bourne Legacy is a passable movie that has the peculiar misfortune of being part of a very successful, influential and distinctive franchise. Box office-wise, this is probably not going to be much of a hardship, but in terms of content and style it definitely suffers in comparison. The Bourne predecessors, particularly the two directed by Paul Greengrass, are by my count some of the most exhilarating action movies in recent cinematic history. The Bourne Legacy is not. Still, it has two very good leads in Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz and a few tense, rangy sequences in a half-restored house in the Maryland woods and in the sterile confines of a high-security lab. Tony Gilroy , who worked on the screenplays for the past three films in the series, gets a bump up to director in this installment (he also shares a writing credit), but, that jowly opening fight in Duplicity aside, he’s no great facilitator of action scenes. Gilroy also has to reverse engineer this ungainly “sidequel” to fit around the existing mythology of the previous trilogy without overlapping it too much — Jason Bourne ( Matt Damon ) himself is mentioned many times while never appearing, but his actions are what spur the events in this film, which takes place in approximately the same time frame as The Bourne Ultimatum . The result is a convoluted back-end story that’s grouted around what’s happened before, but is essentially the tale of a brutal clean- and cover-up. Bourne looked for clues to his identity and his reason for being; Cross (Renner), the hero of The Bourne Legacy , is just trying to stay whole. It’s a process that’s more complicated than straightforward survival for him. Cross is an agent of Outcome, which, like Blackbriar, is a successor program to Bourne’s black ops Treadstone operation. The twist for Outcome participants is that they’ve had their physical and mental abilities enhanced by a carefully managed regimen of space age pills adjusted for their specific chemistry — “chems” are what Cross calls them, and the frequency of his insistent demands for them could be the basis a decent drinking game (it turns out he’s got a good reason for not wanting to degrade back to his standard self). Out of fear it’ll be discovered in the Blackbriar/Jason Bourne fallout, Outcome is shut down and everyone involved, agents and scientists alike, are killed. Cross happens to escape the burn down, and goes in search of the sole surviving doctor from the lab, Marta Shearing (Weisz). She’s been made a target herself, and before you know it the two are off and running to a facility in the Philippines where they hope to stabilize Cross’ condition while the National Research Assay Group, led by Eric Byer (Edward Norton), use all the technology and operatives at their disposal to track them down. Renner’s Aaron Cross is no Jason Bourne, in welcome ways. Where Bourne was half traumatized boy scout, half instinctual killing machine, Cross’ eyes are wide open — he’s had no mental break, no soul-deep shock from which to recover, no dark past to rediscover. He’s also matter-of-fact and funny, with traces of the worldly swagger Renner showed as his disturbingly fearless bomb disposal expert in The Hurt Locker ; in the midst of the on-the-go running that makes up most of the film, he manages to get a laugh out of the outrage he displays when Marta reveals she doesn’t know his name. Weisz plays her character as a dorkily committed, slightly scattered professional who’s always focused on the results of rather than the reasons behind her work, and who’s only slowly realizing the seriousness of what she’s been involved in. There’s not much time for nookie in The Bourne Legacy ‘s multinational pursuit, but the pair have the crackle of legitimate chemistry, enough to make you want more scenes of them together and less of them in visually garbled clashes and chases. The Bourne Legacy mimics the nigh revelatory look of the second and third Bourne movies without sharing their stomach-dropping sense of space and awareness of the physicality of their characters (the cinematographer is Oliver Wood, who also shot The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy ). The brief fight scenes seem edited together punch by punch, while a race across Manila rooftops recalls the Tangier sequence in Ultimatum without its clammy-palmed tautness — it looks more like your now-standard blockbuster parkour display. The aspects of The Bourne Legacy that work, chief among them Renner and Weisz, feel like they should somehow be salvaged and put into their own potentially more standard action movie. As is, the film feels hampered by its own franchise, by the shoehorned-in scenes in which David Strathairn, Joan Allen, Albert Finney and others continue their covert agency cold wars that are now once removed from what’s happened to our current protagonist, and by the awkward extended intro in which Cross has been sent on a kind of probationary exercise into the wilds of Alaska during which he literally wrestles a wolf. And as the latest bureaucrat-cum-villain, Norton has distressingly little to do but bark orders at techs operating computers, the lone flashback to a past interaction with Cross giving no great sense of tie between the two, or weight to the high-tech cat-and-mouse game. Like much of the movie, Norton’s presence has a patient, diligent quality to it, as if what’s on screen is just a slog to get through before some promised fun in the next installment. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
“Obamacare.” “Romney Hood.” The political name-calling sounds like campaign season is well under-way (though does it ever end or begin?). The art of the possible will get a comical twist this weekend with the release of The Campaign , starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. The pic follows two rivals who clash in an election that will decide who will head to the U.S. Congress from their North Carolina district (Ferrell appears to even flash a not-so-subtle coif similar to former V.P. candidate John Edwards). The film, which opens this weekend, prompted ABC’s Political Punch reporter Jake Tapper to offer up his Top 10 political films of all-time (documentaries were excluded) and “political film” was kept to a narrow definition. See if you agree with this list and let the campaign begin. 10. In The Loop , directed by Armando Iannucci (2009) Starring Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini, the 2009 Sundance premiere is a satirical play on the build up to the war in Iraq and the relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. In the film both countries are on the verge of launching a Middle Eastern war and the story follows a behind-the-scenes drama in which there are officials trying to promote armed action and those trying to stop it. A British government minister tells a radio interviewer that war may be inevitable, but is then shot down by the Prime Minister’s aide, played by Peter Capaldi. But then, the aide himself makes a further mistake saying there may be a need to “climb the mountain of conflict,” further muddying a delicate situation. 9. The Parallax View , directed by Alan J. Pakula (1974) Based on the 1970 novel by Loren Singer, Warren Beatty plays a newspaper reporter who takes on a dangerous investigation into a corporation that engages in political assassination. Presidential candidate Senator Charles Carroll (Bill Joyce) is assassinated atop the Space Needle in Seattle and one witness, journalist Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) tells her former boyfriend, reporter Joe Frady (Beatty) that she believes there is more to the killing since six of the witnesses have died and she fears she may be next. The Parallax View is the third in director Alan J. Pakula’s political paranoia trilogy including Klute (1971) and All the President’s Men (1976) (and also the only one not to receive an Oscar nomination or win). 8. Z , directed by Costa Gavras (1969) Also based on a novel, this time the 1966 book of the same title by Vassilis Vassilikos, the French political thriller is a vaguely fictionalized take on the events around the assassination of democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant as an investigator, the film combines dark humor and a satirical view of politics though it managed to be the 10th highest-grossing film of the year in the U.S. in 1969. It also received both an Oscar-nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture. 7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb , directed by Stanley Kubrick (1964) Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden this black comedy takes on the nuclear scare and the Cold War. Based on Peter George’s novel Red Alert , the story revolves around a rogue U.S. Air Force general who orders a nuclear assault on the Soviet Union. The President of the United States and his staff as well as a Royal Air Force officer attempt to return the planes as they head to deliver their apocalyptic payload, while separately the film follows the crew on one of the planes as it heads to its target. The U.S. Library of Congress called Dr. Strangelove “Culturally Significant” in 1989 and is preserved in the National Film Registry. 6. Bananas , directed by Woody Allen (1971) South American politics take the focus in this comedy in which Allen stars with Louise Lasser and Carlos Montalban. Allen plays Fielding Mellish, a bumbling blue collar guy who wants to impress his activist love interest Nancy (Lasser) by getting involved in a revolution in a fictional South American country. He shows concern for the locals, but after he’s nearly killed by a military chief, he is saved by the revolutionaries and he finds himself in their debt. Soon, he learns to be a revolutionary himself, but when the revolt succeeds and their Castro-esque leader goes mad, he inadvertently finds himself as their new top figure. Back in the U.S., he faces trial and he reunites with his love… 5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , directed by Frank Capra (1939) This classic has shown up on lists throughout the decades. Starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart and based on an unpublished story by Lewis R. Foster, the film proved a controversy when it was released back in ’39, but received 11 Academy Award nominations and a win for Best Original Story. The story revolves around an unnamed Western governor who by chance chooses Jefferson Smith (Stewart) to serve out a term in the U.S. Senate following the death of the sitting incumbent. The governor believes he’ll be able to manipulate the naive Smith. His good intentions soon collide with an apparatus of political corruption and then all hell breaks loose. 4. Charlie Wilson’s War , directed by Mike Nichols (2007) Aaron Sorkin adapted for the screenplay based on a true story by George Crile III’s 2003 book Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History . The drama recounts how U.S. congressman Charlie Wilson, a Texas Democrat, played by Tom Hanks, teamed up with the C.I.A. to support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Also starring Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman along with Amy Adams, Ned Beatty and Emily Blunt, Wilson’s political maneuvering and his allies in the spy agency’s Afghanistan task force results in the mujahideen being armed to the teeth complete with stinger missiles which can shoot down Soviet choppers. The result is a Soviet quagmire and ultimately a triumph for the mujahideen, but the unintended consequences imply an unwieldy Afghanistan that was left to fend for itself after the Soviet withdrawal. 3. Wag the Dog , directed by Barry Levinson (1997) This film came out before the Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, though the film is often identified with it. The black comedy stars Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro about a Washington spin-master who hires a Hollywood producer to create a fake war with Albania (of all places) in order to distract the electorate with a sex scandal just days before a presidential election. The caption at the beginning of the film says it all: “Why does the dog wag its tail? Because the dog is smarter than the tail. If the tail were smarter, it would wag the dog.” 2. All the President’s Men (1976) Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein The 1976 Oscar-winning political thriller is based on the non-fiction work of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, better known as the The Washington Post journalists who blew the lid off the Watergate scandal. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play Woodward and Bernstein respectively. The crisis that ensued ended in the resignation of President Nixon, the first U.S. head of state to resign and the subsequent inauguration of Vice President Ford in 1974. 1. The Candidate , directed by Michael Ritchie (1972) Robert Redford also stars in this film about an unlikely and idealistic Democratic candidate from California. Bill McKay (Redford) is initially more interested in espousing his liberal views publicly than winning and decides to take to the campaign trail to vocalize his opinion since his challenger, the incumbent Republican is a given as the victor. McKay wins the party nomination, but then finds out he’s likely to be overwhelmingly trounced in the election. He figured he’d lose, but not by such a humiliating margin. So, in order to avoid embarrassment, he broadens his appeal by dousing his ardently liberal message resulting in a rise in the polls. He also appeals for his father’s help (a former governor) to endorse him since the media is speculating that his silence is a tacit thumbs up to the opposition. As the debate looms, more compromises are made and the result entrenches McKay in the political establishment. [ Sources: ABC News , Wikipedia ]
“Obamacare.” “Romney Hood.” The political name-calling sounds like campaign season is well under-way (though does it ever end or begin?). The art of the possible will get a comical twist this weekend with the release of The Campaign , starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. The pic follows two rivals who clash in an election that will decide who will head to the U.S. Congress from their North Carolina district (Ferrell appears to even flash a not-so-subtle coif similar to former V.P. candidate John Edwards). The film, which opens this weekend, prompted ABC’s Political Punch reporter Jake Tapper to offer up his Top 10 political films of all-time (documentaries were excluded) and “political film” was kept to a narrow definition. See if you agree with this list and let the campaign begin. 10. In The Loop , directed by Armando Iannucci (2009) Starring Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini, the 2009 Sundance premiere is a satirical play on the build up to the war in Iraq and the relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. In the film both countries are on the verge of launching a Middle Eastern war and the story follows a behind-the-scenes drama in which there are officials trying to promote armed action and those trying to stop it. A British government minister tells a radio interviewer that war may be inevitable, but is then shot down by the Prime Minister’s aide, played by Peter Capaldi. But then, the aide himself makes a further mistake saying there may be a need to “climb the mountain of conflict,” further muddying a delicate situation. 9. The Parallax View , directed by Alan J. Pakula (1974) Based on the 1970 novel by Loren Singer, Warren Beatty plays a newspaper reporter who takes on a dangerous investigation into a corporation that engages in political assassination. Presidential candidate Senator Charles Carroll (Bill Joyce) is assassinated atop the Space Needle in Seattle and one witness, journalist Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) tells her former boyfriend, reporter Joe Frady (Beatty) that she believes there is more to the killing since six of the witnesses have died and she fears she may be next. The Parallax View is the third in director Alan J. Pakula’s political paranoia trilogy including Klute (1971) and All the President’s Men (1976) (and also the only one not to receive an Oscar nomination or win). 8. Z , directed by Costa Gavras (1969) Also based on a novel, this time the 1966 book of the same title by Vassilis Vassilikos, the French political thriller is a vaguely fictionalized take on the events around the assassination of democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant as an investigator, the film combines dark humor and a satirical view of politics though it managed to be the 10th highest-grossing film of the year in the U.S. in 1969. It also received both an Oscar-nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture. 7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb , directed by Stanley Kubrick (1964) Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden this black comedy takes on the nuclear scare and the Cold War. Based on Peter George’s novel Red Alert , the story revolves around a rogue U.S. Air Force general who orders a nuclear assault on the Soviet Union. The President of the United States and his staff as well as a Royal Air Force officer attempt to return the planes as they head to deliver their apocalyptic payload, while separately the film follows the crew on one of the planes as it heads to its target. The U.S. Library of Congress called Dr. Strangelove “Culturally Significant” in 1989 and is preserved in the National Film Registry. 6. Bananas , directed by Woody Allen (1971) South American politics take the focus in this comedy in which Allen stars with Louise Lasser and Carlos Montalban. Allen plays Fielding Mellish, a bumbling blue collar guy who wants to impress his activist love interest Nancy (Lasser) by getting involved in a revolution in a fictional South American country. He shows concern for the locals, but after he’s nearly killed by a military chief, he is saved by the revolutionaries and he finds himself in their debt. Soon, he learns to be a revolutionary himself, but when the revolt succeeds and their Castro-esque leader goes mad, he inadvertently finds himself as their new top figure. Back in the U.S., he faces trial and he reunites with his love… 5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , directed by Frank Capra (1939) This classic has shown up on lists throughout the decades. Starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart and based on an unpublished story by Lewis R. Foster, the film proved a controversy when it was released back in ’39, but received 11 Academy Award nominations and a win for Best Original Story. The story revolves around an unnamed Western governor who by chance chooses Jefferson Smith (Stewart) to serve out a term in the U.S. Senate following the death of the sitting incumbent. The governor believes he’ll be able to manipulate the naive Smith. His good intentions soon collide with an apparatus of political corruption and then all hell breaks loose. 4. Charlie Wilson’s War , directed by Mike Nichols (2007) Aaron Sorkin adapted for the screenplay based on a true story by George Crile III’s 2003 book Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History . The drama recounts how U.S. congressman Charlie Wilson, a Texas Democrat, played by Tom Hanks, teamed up with the C.I.A. to support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Also starring Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman along with Amy Adams, Ned Beatty and Emily Blunt, Wilson’s political maneuvering and his allies in the spy agency’s Afghanistan task force results in the mujahideen being armed to the teeth complete with stinger missiles which can shoot down Soviet choppers. The result is a Soviet quagmire and ultimately a triumph for the mujahideen, but the unintended consequences imply an unwieldy Afghanistan that was left to fend for itself after the Soviet withdrawal. 3. Wag the Dog , directed by Barry Levinson (1997) This film came out before the Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, though the film is often identified with it. The black comedy stars Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro about a Washington spin-master who hires a Hollywood producer to create a fake war with Albania (of all places) in order to distract the electorate with a sex scandal just days before a presidential election. The caption at the beginning of the film says it all: “Why does the dog wag its tail? Because the dog is smarter than the tail. If the tail were smarter, it would wag the dog.” 2. All the President’s Men (1976) Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein The 1976 Oscar-winning political thriller is based on the non-fiction work of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, better known as the The Washington Post journalists who blew the lid off the Watergate scandal. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play Woodward and Bernstein respectively. The crisis that ensued ended in the resignation of President Nixon, the first U.S. head of state to resign and the subsequent inauguration of Vice President Ford in 1974. 1. The Candidate , directed by Michael Ritchie (1972) Robert Redford also stars in this film about an unlikely and idealistic Democratic candidate from California. Bill McKay (Redford) is initially more interested in espousing his liberal views publicly than winning and decides to take to the campaign trail to vocalize his opinion since his challenger, the incumbent Republican is a given as the victor. McKay wins the party nomination, but then finds out he’s likely to be overwhelmingly trounced in the election. He figured he’d lose, but not by such a humiliating margin. So, in order to avoid embarrassment, he broadens his appeal by dousing his ardently liberal message resulting in a rise in the polls. He also appeals for his father’s help (a former governor) to endorse him since the media is speculating that his silence is a tacit thumbs up to the opposition. As the debate looms, more compromises are made and the result entrenches McKay in the political establishment. [ Sources: ABC News , Wikipedia ]
Janet Jackson Denies Slapping Paris Jackson Or Calling Her Expletive Janet Jackson is so upset over reports that she slapped her niece Paris and called her a lil beyotch that she’s considering suing the media outlet that first published the story: Last week, internet rumors surfaced concerning an alleged altercation between Janet Jackson and her niece Paris. Today, Janet Jackson’s attorney, Blair G. Brown, tells The Insider that Janet vehemently denies the altercation. “Ms. Jackson did not slap Paris, and did not call her a ‘spoiled little b!tch’ or a ‘b!tch,’” says Brown. According to Brown, Janet is threatening legal action towards the source that originally reported the claims. Brown says that the “false statements are highly damaging to Ms. Jackson’s reputation and have caused her significant harm.” Yesterday, attorneys for the estate of Michael Jackson confirmed to The Insider that Janet, Randy, Rebbie and Jermaine Jackson (and all of Katherine’s GRANDCHILDREN belonging to them) were prohibited from entering the Calabasas home shared by Paris, Prince, Blanket and Katherine Jackson “following the events of July 23 in which certain members of the Jackson family showed up unannounced at the Calabasas residence of Michael Jackson’s mother and children, causing a very public disturbance.” The attorneys for Michael Jackson’s estate did not elaborate on the nature of the disturbance and what exactly took place. This whole thing is a mess and we still can’t understand why Janet got involved in the first place — especially to side with her adult hoodrat brothers Randy and Jermaine who wed and had kids with the same woman! SMH, you know that family got problems when there are kids running around who are brothers AND cousins! Source
Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, the San Sebastian Film Festival unveils its roster of Spanish-language films for its September event. Sex and Sunsets production rounds out its cast; and a look at the coming weekend’s new specialty releases including Killer Joe , Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry , Ruby Sparks and more. Museum of Modern Art to Fete Quentin Tarantino New York’s MoMA will honor the writer/director at its 5th annual Film Benefit December 3rd. Tarantino’s latest film, Django Unchained will be released by The Weinstein Company December 25th. “As a celebrated auteur director, Tarantino has leveraged his deep knowledge of cinema history to engage, entertain, and inform a new generation of movie fans,” said Rajendra Roy, Chief Curator of Film at MoMA. “Honoring him is a small way to pay homage to the important service he has done to propel and promote the art form.” Sara Canning and Catherine O’Hara Join Sex and Sunsets Canning ( Vampire Diaries ) and O’Hara ( Frankenweenie ) will join Ryan Kwanten in in the Serendipity Point Films production. Sex and Sunsets revolves around Leo Palamino (Kwanten), a failed writer-cum-dishwasher made famous for his many flaws and shortcomings in a blog called “Why You Suck,” written by his ex wife. He meets Colette, the girl of his dreams on the day she is marrying the perfect man. And so the ultimate underdog love story begins. Around the ‘net… Harvey Weinstein Wants Summit on Violent Movies The TWC chief told the Huffington Post that Hollywood “can’t shirk our responsibilities” for depicting violence. “I think, as filmmakers, we should sit down – the Marty Scorseses, the Quentin Tarantinos, and hopefully all of us who deal in violence in movies – and discuss our role in that,” he said, Deadline reports . San Sebastian Film Festival Reveals Spanish Film Lineup Among the highlights is new work from Oscar-winner Fernando Trueba with The Artist and the Model , Antonio Bayona’s Thailand-set The Orphanage with Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts based on the 2004 tsunami and Sergio Castellitto’s Twice Born with Penelope Cruz who escapes war-torn Sarajevo with her newborn, but returns to rediscover the father of her child, THR reports . A Preview of New Specialty Releases this Weekend… Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry , Killer Joe , Ruby Sparks , Big Boys Gone Bananas!* will roll out this weekend. LD Entertainment is attempting to make proverbial lemonade out of its NC-17 rating for Killer Joe , which has had audiences clamoring for tickets at festivals and other events, more at Deadline .
Starring in a short film that’s paired with a blockbuster movie seems sort of like being a pinch-hitter who sat on the bench but got invited to take a victory lap with the starting team; the glory is automatic, but it would have been great to be able to play in the big game. But for Marvel movies, short films are more like audition tapes, and Item 47 , which accompanies the September 25 Blu-ray release of The Avengers , introduces two characters – played by Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford – who may soon find themselves joining in on the superhero action, if they prove as appealing to audiences as their ingenuity does to S.H.I.E.L.D. In the short, directed by Marvel co-president Louis D’Esposito, Claire (Caplan) and Benny (Bradford) find a Chitauri weapon and use it to rob banks following the events of The Avengers . Following a fan screening of Item 47 at Comic-con Friday night, Movieline sat down with Caplan and Bradford for a fun conversation about their past, present and (hopefully) future experiences with superhero movies. Had either of you gone out for superhero parts in the past? The industry keeps making those movies in greater numbers. Caplan: Yes, they do. Bradford: Yes, I’d read for a couple, but just because I think this is funny, I read for Captain America . I was literally looking at the material, going, “What are they, crazy? I’m not right for this.” I got nothing to lose by going in there, but I know I’m not going to get it. And I’m walking in there going, “They should just give this job to Chris Evans – he’s perfect for this!” He’s my buddy, and as I was auditioning, I was picturing Chris Evans saying the words. Caplan: That’s hilarious. Had you gone out for anything? Caplan: A few things. I don’t think really for anything Marvel, but a couple of things. But I feel like I’ve gone out for people in those movies who aren’t necessarily superheroes, which is sort of a buzzkill. If you do it, you want to be the hero. How much did they pull back the curtain for you to see Marvel’s machinery? This is meant to be part of a larger universe – although these characters didn’t exist previously, was there anything you had to be careful about with your characters? Caplan: Well, they had it so planned out in their heads by the time we showed up. I mean, they knew everything, and we just kind of had to slide into position – which is cool, because at their compounds, Marvel, they’re just like excited kids about all of this stuff. And so when you walk in, it’s very difficult not to get swept up in that. Bradford: Yeah, they kind of nerd out on their own nerdery in the best way, so it’s contagious. Caplan: They’re nerding their way all of the way to the bank. Bradford: Snort-laughing all of their way to the bank. You guys seemed to be having fun with the fans last night, Lizzy, telling the kid in the audience about all of the emotions you went through during filming. Caplan: I did talk to him, until four in the morning, if you catch my drift. Don’t put that as a headline. Oh, that’s a headline. Caplan: (snapping a pen cap) Aah! Okay, okay, I won’t make that the headline. Bradford: She was thinking about all of the passion last night. Caplan: No, we were talking – we were just talking! Until you gave him the chocolate milk that made him sleepy. Bradford: [Laughs] He’s so cute when he drinks chocolate milk. Caplan: So cute when he just goes to sleep and doesn’t remember. Bradford: He looks like an angel – just like an angel. Wait – what were you really asking us? How much of the humor in the short was on the page, and how tough was it to sort of acknowledge the weirdness of it without sacrificing the believability? Bradford: I think that was there from the start. That was written into the tone for me. Caplan: Yeah, the Marvel guys, I got the feeling that nothing is more hilarious to them than just watching stuff explode. Like that’s the greatest joke they’ve ever seen – which is great, because that’s pretty easy to do. But yeah, there was a lot more footage of us messing around and improvising that they had to tone us down a little bit. Bradford: And they gave us the freedom to do that, which was really nice, and they also shot it properly for that. We were there in a shot together, actually having an interaction, which is better for comedy than cutting. They were going for comedy. Caplan: Yeah, and I think if they let us include how we started shooting that scene, the film would have been like 25 minutes of cutting back and forth, of us doing stupid, stupid stuff. Bradford: We were going on tangents. Caplan: Long ones. Did they talk to you about coming back for one of the films, even if it was in a non-superhero role? Caplan: Honestly, not at the beginning. I didn’t hear until later that they might use these one-shots for this. I thought it was just contained when I signed up. Bradford: Well, I asked in the first meeting I had. Caplan: I don’t ask questions. Bradford: I said, “What’s the goal here?” and they said exactly what the answer is, which is, “The possible goal is that these guys become a part of the world. The other possible thing is that this is it. We just don’t know yet.” So yeah, it’s up in the air. Is there a role that is out there that you’re determined to jump into, transform yourself physically, and become the superhero, or do you prefer playing the roles where you are reacting to the superheroes? Bradford: I think if you’re interested in acting, then you want those kinds of roles. It doesn’t have to be a superhero, really; I mean, I would love to play a skinny, disheveled heroin addict and things like that – it doesn’t have to be a fantastical thing. But you have to find characters that you can really sink your teeth into, and it’s obviously exciting to do. Caplan: I personally love it when I see actors that you wouldn’t expect in movies like this. Like I think Robert Downey Jr. was sort of that in Iron Man , and he was amazing in that. I want to see people I identify with other types of films in something with a scale like this. Bradford: But I also really enjoy playing characters where you’re essentially just being yourself. I don’t think everybody is good at that – it’s kind of a skill to just be sort of natural. Caplan: Sounds like pretty lazy acting to me. Bradford: Well, yeah. Item 47 will debut on the Avengers Blu-ray release on September 25. Todd Gilchrist is a Los Angeles-based film critic and entertainment journalist for a variety of online and print publications. You can follow his work via Twitter at @mtgilchrist .
Topics ranging from film finance, pitching, marketing, video on demand and micro-budget filmmaking are set for the American Film Market, taking place October 31 – November 7 in Santa Monica. AFM attendees from over 70 countries will take part in the AFM Conference Series, which takes place 9:15 – 12:45 daily from November 2 – 6. The AFM Conference Series launched in 2011 and sold out in its first year with more than 700 attendees at each event. “AFM is attended by industry leaders from more than 70 countries so the AFM Conference Series has a tremendous pool of experts and innovators to draw from.” said Jonathan Wolf, executive vice president of the Independent Film & Television Alliance and managing director of the AFM. “This makes the AFM Conference Series unique and invaluable.” Details on the events follow: The 2012 AFM Conference Series follows with information provided by AFM : Finance Conference, Friday, November 2 Leading CEOs, filmmakers, financiers and studio executives converge to explore the state of independent film financing, emerging trends, where the money is, new opportunities and incentives, and what the future holds. Pitch Conference, Saturday, November 3 A good pitch can get a bad film made and a bad pitch can leave a terrific project languishing on the shelf. Pitching is part art (it’s creative), part science (needs to follow a tight script) and part salesmanship. Conference attendees will first learn the essential rules and tools of pitching from the experts. Then, volunteers from the audience (you?) will pitch a panel of Hollywood decision makers. They will give unvarnished feedback on each pitch – saying what worked, what didn’t, and why. Warning: This session is not for the weak. Marketing Conference, Sunday, November 4 Connecting with and engaging the audience in authentic, creative ways is critical. Word-of-mouth and friend recommendations can make or break the box office results. The gurus behind the most successful and innovative new media marketing campaigns discuss reinventing the marketing wheel, explore how the consumer can be the most effective marketing tool and reveal how to win over the broadest possible audience. Video-On-Demand Conference, Monday, November 5 Video-On-Demand is a growing revenue stream for filmmakers and content providers. Like the excitement of a gold rush, many hope for a future when all films are available worldwide and every film finds an audience. Producers, distributors and platforms will come together to disclose who is making money, how they are doing it and what the future holds – separating fact from fiction. Micro-Budget Conference, Tuesday, November 6 New and unconventional financing, marketing and distribution resources are proving very successful for Micro-Budget films. Producers and distributors will reveal how to find the money, making the most of budgets, what distributors are looking for, reaching your audience and how these new tools are redefining the film business. The 2012 AFM Conference Series will be held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel (101 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica). For additional information, visit their website .
The official version of a collaboration between Miley Cyrus and Rock Mafia has hit the Internet. Following a demo leak of “Morning Sun” that made its way online last year, the group has released the following listen today for free, giving fans an early copy of a track that will be featured on its upcoming EP. Cyrus mostly just sings backup vocals, but this isn’t the first time she has worked with the band. In 2010, she made out with Kevin Zegers in the Rock Mafia video for “The Big Bang.” Watch and enjoy now: Rock Mafia (Ft. Miley Cyrus) – “Morning Sun”
Happy Fourth of July, everyone! In honor of America’s birthday, we’re paying tribute to the stars and stripes via a series of celebrity salutes, Star Spangled Banner style! Sit back, light up some fireworks (safely!) and click through the following celebrity versions of our National Anthem, starting with the undeniably best of all-time… Whitney Houston National Anthem: The Best Ever The Fray National Anthem Kelly Clarkson National Anthem (Super Bowl) Kristin Chenoweth Sings National Anthem Steven Tyler National Anthem Performance: Yay or Nay? Demi Lovato Sings the National Anthem Zooey Deschanel Sings National Anthem Scotty McCreery National Anthem Performance NBA Finals Anthem Keri Hilson Sings National Anthem Kris Allen, National Anthem
