Also in Monday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Michael Douglas ‘ And So It Goes proves popular with buyers; Argo heads to Doha Tribeca Film Festival; and Cafe de Flore shines at the Specialty Box Office. Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Terrence Stamp Lead Noms at British Independent Film Awards Stamp, 74, and Redgrave, 75, are cited for Song for Marion , in which they play members of an amateur choir. Dench, 77, is nominated for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel , as is her co-star Dame Maggie Smith, also 77. Broken , starring Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy, has nine nominations for the awards, which take place December 9th, BBC reports . D.C.’s Million Puppet March to Save PBS 1,000 people took part in a ‘Million Puppet March’ in the U.S. capital in a bid to keep PBS funding. Republican nominee Mitt Romney pledged to de-fund public television in a ‘Big Bird’ reference that became a key catch phrase of this election season, Deadline reports . Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton’s And So It Goes Sells Around the Globe Douglas plays a self-centered eccentric realtor whose life is turned upside down when his estranged son drops off a granddaughter he never knew. But his determined and lovable neighbor (Keaton) enters the picture and unexpectedly helps him to love again. The film is selling well around the world at the American Film Market currently underway, THR reports . Argo Heads to Doha Tribeca Film Festival Robert DeNiro will also be feted with a special event at the festival organized in part with the Tribeca Film Festival. Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist will open the event in the Gulf state of Qatar, taking place November 17 – 24, THR reports . Specialty Box Office: Cafe de Flore , A Late Quartet Lead Pack of Newcomers Specialty movies openers bowed mostly middling at at best, and a couple of pictures may have suffered residual Hurricane Sandy trauma. Adopt Films’ Cafe de Flore took the per-theater-average crown with $10K in one location. Entertainment One’s A Late Quartet bowed in 9 theaters with a fairly solid average of 8,433, although the distributor suggested the figure was lower than it might have been if The Sunshine in Manhattan’s Lower East Side had been able to re-open sooner, Deadline reports .
To cast Sergeant Calhoun, the no-nonsense video game heroine with a heart in Wreck-It Ralph , director Rich Moore looked no further than Hollywood’s favorite ball-busting dynamite gal: Jane Lynch . Alongside John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and a cast of fellow character actors and comic veterans, Lynch brings Calhoun to life with pathos and dimension, not to mention a burning passion for blasting evil space bugs into pixelated oblivion. Movieline sat down with Lynch to talk Wreck-It Ralph , the fun of bringing Calhoun to life, and how the film’s deeper themes of self-determination and destiny resonated with the once-aspiring actress who left home to pursue her dreams. But first, the whip-smart Glee fave spitballed an impromptu back story for her space warrior alter ego, known in the film only as Sergeant Calhoun… Only after watching the movie did I learn that your character’s full name is Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun. How much of a life before the game within the movie did you imagine for her? Tamora Jean. Tammy Jean! Get out of town. I’m going to write a whole story about her right now: She grew up as Tammy Jean in Alabama, and when she joined the military right after high school she said, “I’m no longer Tammy Jean – I’m not even Tamora Jean. I’m just Calhoun !” You know, there was a back story for my character that is revealed in the film; she was in love, and her husband-to-be was killed by the Cy-Bugs. Cy-Bugs! Her mortal enemy ! I wasn’t sure if anyone involved had seen MacGruber , but MacGruber shared a similar fate. With Will Forte? I love him. I wonder if we ripped it off from him… Did it mean a lot to you to be a part of a Disney film like this? How did you get the call to voice Calhoun? It was huge working with Disney – I mean, to be in a Disney animated film was so preposterous it wasn’t even on my bucket list. So that was a huge thing. Then John Lasseter, who heads up Disney Animation these days, invited me and Jack [McBrayer] and Sarah [Silverman] and a bunch of other great character actors to fly up to San Francisco about two and a half years ago to do a table read. It was like a field trip, we all met at the airport and jumped on a plane, then jumped on a bus… We spent the day with John and within six months we were recording here in L.A. They showed us a rough rendering of our characters and everything involved; Richard, our director, has been working on this for four years. He’s been in a little cave literally for four years and is just now seeing the light of day. Researching arcade games must have been more fun than your average movie prep work. I learned a lot about this world because I’m not a gamer, and am still not a gamer. But the whole world of the arcade, that resonates with a lot of kids. It’s geared toward children of today who know games like Call of Duty, which Hero’s Duty is based on, but there’s a lot more for the now-grown adults who played 8-bit games as children decades ago. Were those games in your life at all when you were a kid? Not a lot. I think I played Pac-Man a couple of times and I played Asteroids in college, but not obsessively or anything. Just at the bar. Your character is, interestingly enough, one of the only representations in Wreck-It Ralph of modern gaming – she’s the heroine of a first-person shooter called Hero’s Duty , and one of the sole female characters in this male-dominated world. But she’s also got a soft core inside that Jack’s character, Fix-It Felix, is able to find . He fixes my heart! And he doesn’t even need to use his magic hammer. No, just by looking at me with the honey glow. “Well, I’m getting the honey glow!” You two have so many great lines; were they all written beforehand or did you slide in some improvisation? They were all written, so I can’t take credit for them. We did improvise a little bit because I got to work with Jack in the sessions, but not a lot, but that always brings the chemistry element into it. Rich really loved that and the stuff we did in those sessions, he used it all. My favorite Calhoun line is “Flattery doesn’t charge these batteries.” I might try to use that in real life, maybe in a bar situation. Go for it! [Laughs] The big theme in this film for Ralph is that he’s turning 30 years old, facing a life crisis. He’s turning 30! I’d never looked at it that way – I’ve been going into adulthood, have been doing the same thing for 30 years and now I’ve got to shake it up. Wondering if you’re on the right path in life, or if that’s even something you can change – is that something you feel you can relate to? Oh, yeah. More about when you’re 20 and stuff like that, but when you’re going into 30 there’s a certain set of expectations that you should be into your adult life now, you should be into your purpose, and a lot of people aren’t. And, you know – should’ve, would’ve. Who knows when the right time is for that? But I think Ralph is at a point where he’s been doing the same thing over and over for years, how many times a day, countless times a day, and he’s not getting any appreciation for it. He’s not enjoying it. He’s not getting invited to any of the parties; he sleeps in the garbage dump. It’s awful. So he says, “You know what? I’m not going to do this anymore.” He thinks being a hero is about getting a medal, but he finds out that being a hero is all about his relationships. He meets Vanellope and cares about her and champions her, and he comes back to where he started, like Tennyson says, and it’s like he’s seeing it for the very first time. Everybody appreciates him now because when he left the game fell apart; he’s like the prodigal son. He takes pride in his work and he knows it’s not about a medal. I love the end of the movie; I burst into tears at that moment. Have you had any Ralph-like moments of revelation in your own life? Getting out of my hometown; going to college was what everybody did, but when I went to graduate school I didn’t have any support for that. Wanting to be an actress, it was like, find something you can do and learn to type. I got offered a scholarship to Cornell to go to graduate school and although my parents were like, “Wow! That’s really great,” they were like, “Theater? Theater ?” I was like, I’m going to do it anyway. I hopped on a train and went to Ithaca, New York. I worked to make money and was given a fellowship, and I taught a class in order to make money, but I did it on my own. What did you teach? Acting. It was part of my fellowship. I think we made $120 a week or something, but it was enough. It was enough in those days, anyway, to pay my rent and keep me in beer and coffee. The essentials! So I think we all have those things where we go, you know what – I’m not getting a lot of support here for this, but I just have to go. I have to go do what I need to do, and I have to take the chance. I can’t take one more day of being in the doldrums because that hurts too much. That’s what I love about this film; these are games, but they’re such metaphors for life. You’re playing your game, but you can “jump” your game. Wreck-It Ralph is in theaters; read along as Movieline gets way existential with star John C. Reilly here . Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Kristen Stewart has a big Grauman’s Chinese Theater Hollywood premiere this weekend and vampires are no factor. That didn’t stopping legions of teens to line Hollywood Blvd to catch a glimpse of Stewart (and who knows who else) who is starring along with Garrett Hedlund , Sam Riley , Kirsten Dunst , Amy Adams and Steve Buscemi in Walter Salles ‘ stunning On the Road , screening as a Centerpiece Gala at AFI Fest where it is having its U.S. premiere. In the film version of one of the most celebrated works of 20th Century American literature 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. Stewart spoke with ML during the Toronto International Film Festival where the film had its North American premiere. She shared thoughts on her character’s “hard love,” how she grew herself being a part of the film and how this was the “biggest experience” she’s felt on a set. So what was your road to On the Road ? I was 14 or 15 when I first met Walter Salles. I spoke to him when I was 17, I think I may have shot the first Twilight , I’m not sure – possibly I was about to go do it. At first I was talking about playing another part, so it’s been a long time coming. I don’t know how I was able to get around that kind of energy, but to convey that I loved this thing in the way [Walter Salles] does and as soon as you get around that energy it passes between you, nothing really needs to be said. I got the job on the spot, and I drove away just vibrating. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Plus I was very young, I wasn’t quite old enough for the part yet. When I read the book many years ago, I found it sprawling and didn’t seem to have elements that would make it translatable to the screen – at least I remember thinking that at the time. What did you think of the book when you first read it? I was reading it for school, so I had to read it. I did independent study when I was in high school. I remember, I took so long to read the book. All I had to do was read it and write a report, it wasn’t like I had to do an intensive study of the book, and it took me months and months – I was late. But, I think my teacher was OK with it because I think ultimately the paper was good. But, people say it’s different when you read it at different ages – but for me at the time, it was fun! At that age you start realizing you have a choice in who you surround yourself with. Up until that point, you’re just around circumstantially who you’re with – your family or whatever – but at that point you can start choose your family – and I’ve got a great family by the way – but I mean just the people you decide to surround yourself with. I don’t want to sound cliché, but people should pull something out of you that would otherwise remain unseen. And when I read the book I thought, ‘gosh I need to find people like that.’ I’m definitely not [my character, Marylou’s] type. As I continued reading it and got older, the weight of it started to mean more. I was totally enamored by the colors and the way he wrote it and jumped over words and how it read like a song. Then when I did the movie, to play a part like Marylou – she’s very vivid. She’s very colorful and interesting and on the periphery so you don’t know how and why she can do the things that she does. By the time it came to bring it to life, I didn’t want to play just a crazy, wild sexy girl. I wanted to apply all the whys and get to know the people behind the characters. There’s a weight to it. It’s not easy to live a life like that. That’s what makes these people kind of remarkable. It’s a give and take. There’s no way to have this without pain, but they’re not frivolous, they can feel it… Marylou’s a forward thinking progressive soul, but she’s also surrounded by this situation with her ongoing yet ever-changing situation with her ex-husband, Dean, who is still an emotional roller coaster, both for himself and her. Did you ever judge her in respect to why she’d tolerate him for so long? No, I never had done so. I always wondered how she could take it. How deep is that well? How much can you give and how much can you let be taken from you? What I found about her is that she’s very unique to her time, but nowadays she’d be something else. Her capacity to see everyone’s flaws and appreciate them is really unbelievable. Any interview we did with anyone who was involved with them [before doing the movie] always said the same thing – that she was such a wonderful woman. She’s infectiously amazing. So, no I didn’t judge her. So then, how would you describe the relationship between your character, Marylou and Dean? They really are simpatico. It’s tumultuous. It’s hard to love like that. But they’re so in love with each other. You don’t know this from reading the book, but they stayed lovers until the end of his life. He kind of raised her and she always had a place in his heart, though I think the capacity was so enormous that there were also others in that heart, but she was at the center. And the same goes the other way around. I think they helped each other grow up and they raised each other. How do you hope your Twilight fans will approach seeing this movie? Undoubtedly some will be curious to see you doing something outside of Bella and this may be for many their first chance. How do you hope they’ll approach seeing this film? Well, I mean you just walk into a theater [laughs]… I think if I can have anything to do with just one person that would not have otherwise read On The Road , then that would be incredible and I’m very happy to be a part of that. I think that if you have any inclination of seeing this being a Twilight fan, I have to say I don’t have much control over the things that I choose because I do need to feel compelled to do the roles that I do. I very rarely tactfully think about my career and how people are going to perceive it and I think that’s what people appreciate and if that’s not the case, then it’s kind of like – um, that’s not going to go away. It’s a false thing. I think people will really like it and if you didn’t like the book, then don’t watch the movie. You know what I mean? However anyone wants to interpret it is all good with me. People describe On the Road as a “watershed moment” in American culture in that it upended the strict conservative culture that prevailed in the 1950s in the U.S. So from your perspective as a 20-something, how do you see it as relevant culturally today? I think this is a good time to see this story visually because most people can watch it and not be shocked by it as they might have before. Back then, it would have been so shocking to see people doing drugs and having sex that they wouldn’t have seen the spirit behind it – the message behind it would have been [diluted]. Though, maybe it would have been good because it would have forced people to look. But maybe they weren’t able to yet. There’s always going to be conflicting intuitions that might not even go together, but these are people who have the strength to be OK with people disagreeing. At that stage of your life, there’s so much ahead of you – at least it feels that way. The reach is so important even if something is unbeknownst to you, but you feel compelled to find out what it is… Don’t ignore it! At that age, it’s important to have a faith in feelings you can’t articulate because at some point you need to hold onto them. And these guys found a word for that, it’s the ” It ” and I don’t think that’s ever going to go away. So what is that ” It “? How would you describe the It ? [Laughs] Trust me, we’ve talked about that so much… It’s the pearl . It’s that thing that makes your life bounce. I think if we knew it… I honestly think it’s an individual thing, but if something is funny to you and you’re alone you can smirk at it or whatever, but suddenly if you’re with a lot of people that also find it funny, you can be hysterically laughing. There’s something about life that you can’t completely describe. It also goes along with not ignoring that burn and going, ‘OK, I’m content right now to be smart and conservative and hold onto what I’ve got.’ I just think it’s important to keep going for it. How has your experience playing Marylou or in On the Road generally influenced your life professionally or personally? You said you’ve been a part of this project for a long time, so you’ve had quite a turn at experiencing this culture even as you took on other roles including, of course, Twilight . It was the most time I’ve ever spent feeling. Twilight was a good five years and was a very indulgent creative experience. [Most projects] are usually only about five weeks, three months or six months tops. But because I was attached to On the Road so long, the build up and pressure inside by the time we go there was just bigger than anything I’ve ever felt on a set. We had four weeks of proving that we were so thankful and happy to be there because we’re all fans of the book, but we had put in the work and we knew the purpose and the weight of it and how so important it is to so many people. It’s all to Walter [Salles’] credit, but if anything, what this has taught me is that if you stop thinking and just breathe through it, you’re such a better actor. You just have to put in the initial work and then not become too analytical because you have to trust that you’ve already done it all. So it’s opened me up in a way that’s appropriate to my age. I’m just a bit less inhibited. Just being able to not think so much before you speak is good. It has helped me in that way. It’s not being less shameful, it’s just being so much more unabashedly myself. I think that all started when I was 15. I can be around people and say what I think and have a conversation with a stranger and it’s all good.
Is it hot in here or is it just us?? Alicia Keys Featuring Nicki Minaj “Girl On Fire” (Inferno Version) Alicia Keys has been a pretty busy lady lately. Between shutting it down at the iTunes Festival in London, handling motherly duties, becoming one of the newest members of Reebok, and preparing for a new album, you would think that the multi-talented superstar wouldn’t have time to release another video. See the video and read more at Hip Hop Wired
David O. Russell ( The Fighter ) is gunning for awards season again with his Silver Linings Playbook , and Movieline’s got a signed poster from the Oscar hopeful to give away! So sharpen your pencils and your wits and submit your best 10-word review of any film by director Russell for a chance to win. Silver Linings Playbook stars Bradley Cooper as Pat, a guy who’s lost everything – job, marriage, sanity – and moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver), where he meets an intriguing woman named Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). The dramedy has been steadily gaining momentum since its debut at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival, and marks Russell’s second film in two years to aim for the Oscars. (Read more at the Silver Linings Playbook Facebook page, where sports nuts can submit their best-worst sports obsessions and listen to four Pandora playlists “selected” by the film’s eccentric characters.) CONTEST RULES: – Submit an original 10-word review of any David O. Russell-directed film in the comments below, on Twitter, or on Facebook. Entries must be exactly 10 words, no more, no less! – Enter with your full name and an email address where you may be reached. – One (1) winner will be selected and announced on Friday, November 2. Contest ends Friday, Nov 2 at 5pm ET/2pm PT — so get to reviewing! More Silver Linings Playbook goodies can be found over on Facebook : The Silver Linings Playbook ” Gameday ” allows fans to join in on the Solitano family sports obsession by submitting their own game day superstitions, the best of which will make it onto the Silver Linings Playbook website. Meanwhile, music fans can check out the Silver Linings Playbook ” Playlist ” app, which allows you to listen to four different playlists created by the four main characters in the film. For example: Jen Lawrence’s Tiffany is a Dave Brubeck kind of girl; Bradley Cooper’s Pat Jr. likes his Tom Petty. Silver Linings Playbook hits theaters November 21. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Also in a Monday afternoon round-up of news briefs, doc filmmaker Werner Herzog eyes a fiction project for his next directorial; Robert Zemeckis set for a Chicago Film Festival award; The Austin Film Festival names its winners and the Toronto International Film Festival sets its 2013 dates. Hugh Grant Joins Romantic Comedy Grant will star in the untitled romantic comedy that begins shooting in New York next April. The story revolves around a witty Englishman who wins an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Years later he is washed up and broke. He takes a job teaching screenwriting at an East Coast school. He’s not thrilled by the idea of teaching, but thinks he could make the moves on young co-eds. But then he finds romance with a single mom. This will be the fourth collaboration with writer/director Marc Lawrence. Toronto International Film Festival Sets 2013 Dates The 2012 event boasted 147 world premieres with over 300 attending filmmakers, according to TIFF. The festival said its 38th edition will take place September 5 – 15. Sparrows Dance and Informant Top Austin Film Festival Winners Noah Buschel’s Sparrows Dance and Jamie Meltzer’s Informant took the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature prize at the 2012 Austin Film Festival. Narrative short went to Bryan Buckley’s Asad , while See The Dirt by Chelsea Hernandez and Erik Mauck took the doc short award. Around the ‘net… Stephen Colbert to Appear in Hobbit Trilogy The Colbert Report host will have his big screen acting debut with a small role in an upcoming Hobbit pic. Details about his role are not known, but he will not appear in the first of the films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey . Fans will have to wait for the next installment in 2013 or the finale in 2014 to view him on the big screen, Access Hollywood reports . Wener Herzog to Bring Return to Fiction for Vernon God The Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker will return to fiction for an adaptation of DBC Pierre’s 2003 novel, Vernon God Little His last fiction feature was the eccentric My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done in 2009, and he has concentrated on documentaries in recent years, with Cave of Forgotten Dreams , about the Ardèche cave paintings, and Into the Abyss , a study of Texas’s death row, The Guardian reports . Robert Zemeckis Wins Chicago Film Festival Award Robert Zemeckis will be honored with the Founder’s Award at the 48th Chicago International Film Festival on Thursday. His latest film, Flight is his first return to live-action in 12 years. Starring Denzel Washington, the story revolves around an airline pilot who brilliantly lands a crashing plane, but his heroism masks dark secrets, THR reports .
James Franco as Freddie Quell? It almost happened, the actor revealed during a panel at the Austin Film Festival, until The Master director Paul Thomas Anderson asked Franco one little question: “Do you feel like you can do this?” Franco’s confidence, he says, is what did him in as he and Anderson chatted about The Master ‘s troubled, potion-drinking veteran before Joaquin Phoenix came into the picture. “Paul Thomas Anderson was getting ready to make The Master and he called me and we met,” Franco said (as reported by EW ). “And we talked and we ended up meeting for coffee. We didn’t talk about The Master but I met him to chat. And then he kept calling me and he wanted to talk and talk but I didn’t know what he wanted to talk about because we’d always just kind of bulls— on the phone.” He continued: “So then when he started talking about the role he said, ‘Do you feel like you can do this?’ And I said ‘Yeah, totally. Look, I think you’re like the best American director. I feel confident. I know I can do this.’ And he said to me, ‘But I want this to scare you. I want this role, going on this journey to scare you.’ And I was like ‘Scare?! I know I can do it.” “And so, incredible movie, needless to say I didn’t get the part. I guess I wasn’t scared enough or something, or whatever reason I didn’t get it. And then when I saw Joaquin in that movie I realized ‘Oh, he wanted me to like lose my mind.'” Yes, James Franco! PTA wanted you to completely lose your shit , lick windows, and freak out inside of a prison cell like a caged animal in the name of art. It’s hard to envision anyone other than the feral, Ed Grimley-esque Phoenix as Freddie Quell but I imagine Franco’s version would’ve been a lot more smiley, and a lot less scary. That said: I would in a heartbeat watch two filmed hours of PTA and James Franco calling each other for phone dates. Concluding his Master story, Franco added a zinger at the Oscars, to which he famously contributed one of the more bizarre hosting performances in awards history. “The Oscars was challenging because the material they gave me was CRAP!” Guess Franco and Phoenix have one more thing in common . [via EW ] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
A decent weekend overall, Paranormal Activity 4 lead the pack though its debut came in rather slow compared to previous installments. Argo held strong in its second weekend, showing word-of-mouth is cementing its box office prowess, while Hotel Transylvania , Taken 2 and Alex Cross rounded out the top five at the weekend box office. 1. Paranormal Activity 4 Gross: $30.2 million Screens: 3,412 (PSA: $8,851) Week: 1 The latest installment of Paranormal Activity lead a robust box office weekend. Still, it debuted comparatively lower to last year’s Paranormal Activity 3 , which opened with over $52.5 million in 3,321 theaters and a $15,829 average. Paranormal Activity 2 bowed with just under $40.7 million its opening weekend in October of 2010, averaging $12,649. 2. Argo Gross: $16,625,000 (Cume: $43,191,489) Screens: 3,247 (PSA: $5,120) Week: 2 (Change: – 14.6%) Debuting second to Taken 2 last week, Ben Affleck’s Oscar-buzzed political thriller held strong adding just 15 more theaters in its second run, holding solidly in the number two position again. Word-of-mouth is clearly propelling the title as it continues its run. 3. Hotel Transylvania Gross: $13.5 million (Cume: $119 million) Screens: 3,384 (PSA: $3,989)a Week: 4 (Change: – 21.7%) One month into release, the animated title is holding strong. It placed fourth in its third weekend and managed to up one spot in its fourth weekend out. The title added nine theaters in its fourth run. Last weekend the title grossed $17.3 million. 4. Taken 2 Gross: $13.4 million (Cume: $105,971,000) Screens: 3,489 (PSA: $3,841) Week: 3 (Change: – 38%) The number one film when it debuted, it tumbled over 55% in its second weekend, but managed to stem the fall a bit in the current round. The pic lost 217 theaters compared to the previous weekend and dropped from 1st to 4th place. 5. Alex Cross Gross: $11.75 million Screens: 2,539 (PSA: $4,628) Week: 1 Word had given the title based on crime novel I Alex Cross by James Patterson reaching the $20 million mark in its debut. Its the lowest debut for a movie starring Tyler Perry and it compares to a $13.2 million debut for Alex Cross title Kiss the Girls at $13.2 million and $16.7 million for Along Came a Spider . 6. Sinister Gross: $9.03 million (Cume: $31,950,168) Screens: 2,542 (PSA: $3,552) Week: 2 (Change: – 49.9%) The title had a hefty nearly 50% fall from its initial run, but it should be noted that it also faced a new challenger in the form of Paranormal Activity 4 . 7. Here Comes The Boom Gross: $8.5 million (Cume: $23,224,328) Screens: 3,014 (PSA: $2,820) Week: 2 (Change: – 28.1%) The title placed seventh after debuting in fifth place and held at the same number of theaters. Its 28% drop shows some momentum. It averaged $3,981 in its bow. 8. Pitch Perfect Gross: $7,009,100 (Cume: $45,769,448) Screens: 2,660 (PSA: $2,635) Week: 4 (Change: – 24.4%) The title dropped two places from its third weekend sixth position, but its b.o. change of just under 25% was much less steep than its 37.6 per cent drop from its third weekend. The title lost 127 theaters from the previous week. 9. Frankenweenie Gross: $4,434,000 (Cume: $28,343,000) Screens: 2,362 (PSA: $1,877) Week: 3 (Change: – 37%) Tim Burton’s latest stop motion animation had only a slightly lower drop in its third weekend than last week. It lost 643 locations, after holding in 3,005 theaters in its first two weeks. Last weekend it averaged $2,348 and debuted with a rather weak $3,798. 10. Looper Gross: $4.2 million (Cume: $57,840,132) Screens: 2,223 (PSA: $1,889) Week: 4 (Change: – 32.3%) The drop in receipts was less than the previous weekend’s nearly 50% drop and the film’s second run drop of nearly 42%. Looper lost 382 theaters in its fourth weekend. [ Sources: Box Office Mojo , Rentrak ]
Also in Monday morning’s round-up of news briefs: The deadline looms for the 19th Screen Actors Guild Awards consideration. Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter receive London Fest honors; And a Chinese-Japan row over uninhabited islands spills into the Tokyo International Film Festival. Sundance London To Return for 2nd Round The Sundance London Music and Film Festival will return again next year and 2014. The second Sundance London will take place from 25-28 April, 2013, and host the international and UK premieres of American independent films fresh from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah as well as live music performances, panels and events. The 2013 program will continue its 2012 focus on presenting new work by American filmmakers and music artists. Sundance Institute, which annually presents the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, will select the films and related programming. Screen Actors Guild Deadline Loom Acting submissions for this year’s 19th Screen Actors Awards consideration is fast approaching. Submissions must be turned in by Thursday October 25th at 5pm PDT. For the first time, submissions are only accepted online . Around the ‘net… Specialty Box Office: The Sessions Tops Debuts; Holy Motors , Brooklyn Castle , The Flat Solid Fox Searchlight’s highly anticipated The Sessions starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy debuted with a robust $30,100 average in its four-theater run in New York and Los Angeles, by far topping newbies in the specialty arena, in another crowded field of newcomers, Deadline reports . Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg Donate $1M Each to Obama Super PAC A filing to the Federal Elections Commission show the Oscar-winning filmmaker and DreamWorlds Animation CEO made their donations, one of the largest to the Obama campaign, on September 24th, Deadline reports . Tim Burton Honored at London Film Festival “It’s good because there’s no jealousy at home,” partner Helena Bonham Carter who also received an award said. “It’s very thoughtful for them to give us both one at the same time,” BBC reports . Tokyo International Film Festival to Screen Feng Shui Despite Official Withdrawl The Chinese film was withdrawn from the Japanese festival and director Wang Jing and actor Jiao Gang canceled their visits due to political tensions between the two Asian giants. But the Monday night screening went on as planned, THR reports .
Pop superstar Kylie Minogue may be an unlikely figure to appear as a tragic figure in French filmmaker Leos Carax’s surreal Holy Motors , but given the numerous twists and turns the Australian-born singer has had, first gaining notoriety in what now seems like a former life as a soap star, the ever adventurous performer is always seeking out the new. So, Holy Motors is a perfect pit-stop. Describing this sensually unnerving and stimulating adventure is simply boarding a fast train to hopelessness, it’s a day-long ride through Carax’s imagination. But to give some sense of the film, which had its U.S. debut at the recent New York Film Festival and is slowly heading into theatrical release this week, Minogue is one character in a series of “appointments” for Monsieur Oscar. In her moment, she gets to do what legions of her fans love – she sings. But even for a crooning vet like Kylie, even that was a new experience. “Leos is enigmatic and in your face. A very different energy that I liked and was intrigued by,” Minogue told ML during the recent New York Film Festival. “I was looking to do acting, but I wasn’t knocking on doors. It was kind of unexpected.” Minogue met the publicity-averse (or is he?) filmmaker through French filmmaker-actress Claire Denis. A pop sensation whose stardom has been compared to Madonna on the world stage, she has taken a comparatively less high profile role in her adulthood acting gigs. She played the green fairy in Moulin Rouge in 2000 and in Anthony D’Souza’s Blue in 2009. And, she will next be seen in indie filmmaker Bradley Rust Gray’s Jack and Diane . “I was living in NYC and trying to stay a year in Williamsburg living anonymously,” she said. “I worked on Bradley’s film which was great. I’ve been drawn to independent films. It’s a great yin to the yang of other things that I do. They satisfy a different part of my being, so I feel a bit more whole by this experience. My role [in Holy Motors ] small, but in my life it’s turned out to be a big thing and it’s expanding.” In Holy Motors , Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) journeys from one role to the next, accompanied by Céline (Edith Scob), the woman driving an American-style limo that transports him through Paris. He’s a “conscientious assassin,” going from one place to the next going from dizzying highs to humbling lows in pursuit of a mysterious driving force and the women and spirits of past lives. Minogue’s turn with Monsieur Oscar actually takes the pop-star full circle so to speak. While she said she wanted to take on the project “stripping Kylie away” – meaning, letting go of her normally over-the-top celebrity, Carax had her do something she is best known for – singing. And of course she did it with gusto, though even Carax took her to a sphere that she found unusual, which is quite a feat for someone who regularly packs in huge stadiums of fans for her live shows. “He had me sing the part live, not pre-recorded in a studio,” said Minogue. “The big challenge with that was performing it so it sounded nice, but not perform it . I’ve never done that before. Normally, you have to do certain things with your face when you’re singing, but I couldn’t here. It was a new place to go.” Minogue showed up on set minus the trappings of her fame, which was just fine enough for her. She said she wanted to be a canvas for Carax, though she appreciated his emotional support. “Usually it’s like a big plane going over cities and everything is big and flashing around and then I had to touch down to land and be in Leos’ world. I was in a holding pattern for those days I [shot the film]. Of course I was sick like a dog. I had to go to that place as a character. As a director, he only said what I needed to hear and he’s very precise with his words and is gentle. But he held my hand through it.” The film’s release has also given Minogue a chance to not be at the center of adulation. And though she’s never too far from her notoriety, Holy Motor ‘ premiere in Cannes and subsequent debuts at NYFF allowed her to step back and take it all in outside the center, which she described as a learning experience. “This French thing was very surreal for me,” she said. “I was pretty shell-shocked when I saw it at the premiere in Cannes. There was a bit of polite applause at first, then it grew and grew and there was a standing ovation. All that energy was hitting Leos. I got some of the over-spill, but that experience taught me something. It is usually going toward me and you can be blindsided when you have people telling you everything’s amazing. And you wonder, ‘was it?’ And that experience enlightened me to step away and be involved in it, but see it differently. I said to myself, ‘don’t forget that moment.'” But Minogue’s stint on the movie sidelines may not be a long one. Aside from the roll out of Holy Motors and the pending Jack and Diane , she does not rule out a full-on studio experience down the road. “I would work in a Hollywood movie. They’re different beasts but I’m not anything if I’m not malleable. I’m open to opportunity – definitely. Going forward, I’m happy to slow the [direction] I’ve been going and bring in some different energy and experiences. We’ll see, this has opened a lot of doors for me.”
