Before she was an Oscar winner, Melissa Leo was nothing but a teenage streetwalker…or at least she played one in a movie . And even though she’s moved up in the world, Melissa has always retained the skinful spirit of her feature film debut, going nude as recently as 2005’s The Three Burials of Meliquades Estrada . So we were somewhat shocked to learn that Melissa has never done a full-frontal scene in her career…until now! Our Skin Skout reports from South by Southwest that Melissa makes her full-frontal debut in the new movie Francine , also starring Melissa Leo as a fragile woman struggling to re-enter society after being released from prison. A mere two minutes into the film, we see Melissa in the prison shower the day of her release; first we see some side butt in the background, then faraway frontal, then as the camera moves forward ” the background soon turns to the foreground as we get a nice full look at Leo’s breasts and bush. ” Speaking of early release… Bone up on the skin resume of Oscar winner Melissa Leo right here at MrSkin.com!
MacFarlane and Wahlberg discuss their forthcoming live-action collaboration ‘Ted’ at the SXSW Film Festival. By Kara Warner Mark Wahlberg at “A Conversation with Seth MacFarlane” during SXSW Photo: Getty Images The talent booked for the “A Conversation With” panels at this year’s annual South by Southwest Film Festival were big enough draws to warrant very long lines of fans and hopeful attendees eager to spend an hour and a half with the likes of Joss Whedon and Seth MacFarlane. Whedon’s panel delivered a few fun newsy bites about “Marvel’s The Avengers” and his surprise adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” MacFarlane’s panel took the surprise element to the next level in presenting the enthusiastic audience with eight minutes of footage from his upcoming live-action directorial debut, “Ted,” as well as the very raunchy red band and the very special guest appearance of star Mark Wahlberg . The “Family Guy” mastermind and “Fighter” star spoke enthusiastically about their shared experiences making the R-rated buddy/ semi-romantic comedy, which revolves around the friendship between a grown man (Wahlberg) and his childhood best friend, a magical talking teddy bear (voiced by MacFarlane), and how that gets in the way of his romantic relationship with girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis). MTV News was lucky enough to chat with MacFarlane and surprise guest Wahlberg after their very well-received panel on Sunday, during which their mutual admiration for each other along with their genuine love for the film were obvious. “He was a huge pain in the ass, man, he asked for $70 million, the bastard,” MacFarlane joked about the difficulties in getting the actor/producer to sign on. “I only got $65 [million],” Wahlberg countered. “Sometimes you gotta make compromises in this economy.” “This was a natural fit from the get-go,” MacFarlane said about their partnership, before being interrupted by a noisy bird squawking in the tree overhead. “What the f— kind of animal was that?” Wahlberg asked, causing MacFarlane to bust out in laughter. “First I thought it was Henry. I’ve never heard that kind of squeak … it’s up there somewhere.” “Do you all have spider monkeys here in Austin?” MacFarlane joked, before getting back to explaining why Wahlberg was the perfect choice for the lead role. “It was a good fit from the get-go. It’s a balance tonally for the script, it had to be funny and at the same time it had to be real,” he said. “It was kind of a comedic tightrope. It was a very contemporary style of comedy and on top of all that, the actor was going to have to interact with empty space most of the time. “The thespian,” Wahlberg corrected. “Yeah, the thespian,” MacFarlane said with a smile. “This guy just knocked it out of the park.” “I just fell in love with the script,” Wahlberg admitted about what interested him in playing opposite a CG teddy bear to begin with. “I read the script before I had the opportunity to meet with Seth and before, I think, there was any interest from him in me playing the role. Even the premise, it all depends on who’s telling you the premise because it could sound really great or really ridiculous. As soon as I read the script, literally 30 pages in, I forgot that it was a teddy bear. I loved the relationship between these two guys and also the relationship with the female character, Mila’s character.” And while there are plenty of sweet, warm, fuzzy moments between the two best friends, this is a Seth MacFarlane movie, so there are just as many outrageous moments that will have audiences rolling in the aisles. “Mark gets into a pretty full-on ‘Bourne Identity’-esque fistfight with his teddy bear, which is definitely something I don’t think people have seen before,” MacFarlane revealed. “I think what’s pretty outrageous as well is that the teddy bear is having sex with the checkout girl at the back of the supermarket on top of a bunch of fresh produce, and instead of getting terminated, he gets a promotion because of it,” Wahlberg added. “It does happen.” Wahlberg and MacFarlane’s live-action collaboration “Ted” opens in theaters nationwide on July 13. For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos South by Southwest 2012 Related Photos SXSW 2012
An inevitable consequence of the ugly Kim Novak/ Artist soundtrack-rape saga had to be that other artists and actors would use the analogy to describe how, unauthorized, new legacies are built or enhanced using elements of their older ones. Right on cue, enter Courtney Love: “Courtney Love believes Kermit the Frog and his gang of Muppet friends ‘raped’ the memory of her ex-husband Kurt Cobain — by bastardizing Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ in their 2011 movie … without her permission. But there’s another side to this … We’re told Courtney sold off half of her rights to Kurt’s music to a company called Primary Wave Music. And there’s more … Courtney also gave Primary Wave the exclusive right to distribute Nirvana’s entire catalog.” Mm-hmm . Anyway, isn’t this stuff supposed to be limited to awards season? Better luck next year, Courtney. [ TMZ ]
It wasn’t tough to spot Channing Tatum or Jonah Hill at the after party following the SXSW premiere of 21 Jump Street ; they were the ones, beaming unselfconsciously in the middle of the crowd, wearing bicycle-cop uniforms. More specifically, wearing their costumes from the movie, in which they play a pair of bumbling rookie policemen sent undercover to high school — a set-up that so delivers beyond its premise that the ’80s Johnny Depp TV series adaptation is actually one of the best new films of 2012, comedy or otherwise. Sony’s March 16 release had screened a handful of times for press leading into the SXSW premiere, establishing surprisingly strong word of mouth for months. Catching up with 21 Jump Street directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord after the film’s equally supportive public debut found the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs helmers in fantastic spirits, and with good reason: If audiences follow the lead of critics and SXSWers, then 21 Jump Street could become a deserving critical and commercial hit in the mold of last year’s Austin breakout Bridesmaids . Credit goes to an exceedingly sharp script and great chemistry between leads Hill and Tatum, whose onscreen two-man comedy team rapport carries what might, in a lesser film, have been reduced to a fairly banal by-the-numbers plot (the pair go undercover in search of the source of a powerful and dangerous drug making the rounds in the high school set). The reboot takes its job seriously than, say, the Starsky and Hutches that came before it; if you’re wondering how the hell anyone could justify resuscitating a decades-old idea from the depths of nostalgia, for example, the film beats you to it. If you’re skeptical of seeing Ice Cube as Tatum and Hill’s angry black police captain, Cube’s Captain Dickson clears the air in his very first scene. But 21 Jump Street isn’t just clever in its construction and aware of its own inherent vulnerabilities to criticism — it’s pretty hilarious to boot. Two of the best jokes in my estimation come not from Tatum, who is genuinely funny and, more importantly, comfortable flexing his comic muscles here, or Hill, but from supporting players Dave Franco as the crunchy, Berkeley-bound popular kid and 21-year-old lady rapper Rye Rye as a fellow undercover Jump Streeter. The film even manages to use Rob Riggle well without succumbing to the near-universal rule that almost any comedy featuring the (talented!) Riggle turns out to be kind of terrible. Curse broken! Monday’s 21 Jump Street debut also marks yet another strong showing for a studio release at SXSW after Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s Cabin in the Woods and the surprise horror entry Sinister . Drop back by Movieline on Thursday for Stephanie Zacharek’s review of 21 Jump Street , and catch up on all of our SXSW 2012 coverage here . Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
’21 Jump Street’ star tells MTV News, ‘We’re waiting to hire a director and then bring it all home.’ By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Ice Cube Photo: MTV News In addition to his comedic work in “21 Jump Street,” Ice Cube has been busy behind the camera, attempting to put two passion projects together as a producer. In recent months, rumors have swirled about a fourth “Friday” movie and a biopic on the members of N.W.A. When MTV News’ Josh Horowitz sat down with the rapper-turned-actor and producer, Cube offered an update on the latter. Addressing rumors that his “Boyz n the Hood” director, John Singleton , could possibly helm the project based on the rap group, Ice Cube basically said that he couldn’t say. “We’re interviewing a lot of directors. I don’t want to say ‘ye’ or ‘nay,’ but we’re interviewing directors,” he said. “So, the movie’s in progress in this high speed, and it’s coming along. Hopefully, we get it done.” The director remains the biggest missing piece of the puzzle, as Ice Cube confirmed that the script is where it needs to be for the flick to move forward. “I’m happy with the script. The script is about 75 percent there. We’re waiting to hire a director and then bring it all home,” he said. “It’s always stumbling blocks in Hollywood. There are always ways that the movie can not get made. Until they green-light the picture, start cutting checks, it’s still just a dream.” The most prevalent rumor around casting the film has been that the members’ sons will play their fathers. Cube said he wouldn’t have a problem with his son playing him, but he wants a traditional casting process first. “That’s a dream come true, but we’re going to find the best actor to do the job. That’s the thing about movies: You have got to find the best people to do the role,” he said. “It is going to be a role that I think is right for unknowns, people who you haven’t seen before. I think that’s the best way to pull this off.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ’21 Jump Street’
‘I’ve professed my love for her pretty much,’ Banks tells MTV News of Suzanne Collins. By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket in “The Hunger Games” Photo: Capitol Couture Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth — all names you’ll want to stand up and applaud for when the credits roll on “The Hunger Games,” no doubt. But if there’s one person you’ll really want to tip your hat to, it’s Suzanne Collins. Like J.K. Rowling with the “Harry Potter” series and Stephenie Meyer of “Twilight” fame, Collins is the novelist who dreamed Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne into existence. Without her, you wouldn’t have a tribute to fight for. Without her, you wouldn’t be on the cusp of what’s sure to be 2012’s biggest blockbuster so far. Certainly, actress Elizabeth Banks identifies Collins as the great hero of the “Hunger Games” franchise. In fact, “hero” isn’t a strong enough description — to Banks, Collins is a full-fledged rock star. “To me, the biggest star here is Suzanne Collins,” the actress and hard-core “Hunger Games” fan told MTV News about her feelings on the novel’s author. “She created this entire world, all of this pandemonium, all these characters. She birthed this whole situation. She couldn’t be a nicer lady. She’s the loveliest lady, and I’m a total geek around her. To me, she’s a total rock star.” Just as many fans would kill for the chance to spend time with the “Hunger Games” cast, so too did Banks swoon over getting one-on-one time in with Collins. “I’ve professed my love for her pretty much,” Banks laughed. “The books are done, and they’re the books, so she doesn’t need me to dissect them with her, but I’m very happy that she’s happy with the film. So to me, it was always about, ‘Let’s make director Gary Ross happy with the film, let’s make Suzanne happy. Everyone else, who cares.’ ” Of course, Banks cares very much about the fans, a group she described as “unbelievable.” “The passion of everyone here is crazy. It’s very exciting,” said Banks. “I’m very excited to see this movie with an audience. I saw it in a small room with two other people, so the energy in the room is going to be ballistically bananas. I brought tissues. It’s very emotional, this movie! I cried making it; It’s very emotional for me.” If Banks is already emotional over “Hunger Games,” she’ll want to bring plenty of tissues with her for “Catching Fire,” the planned sequel to the Collins-inspired movie. Though Banks wouldn’t confirm a start date for “Catching Fire,” she did tease a fashion item that she might end up wearing in the sequel. “In the books, Effie appears at the Reaping in a green dress,” she teased. “I did not wear the green dress in the movie. But we have it. It exists. So I think we’ll break that one out in ‘Catching Fire.’ ” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos Live From ‘The Hunger Games’ Red Carpet Premiere Related Photos ‘Hunger Games’ World Premiere Red Carpet
Stewart bids a topless farewell to her days as Bella Swan in the celebrity-studded clip. By Kevin P. Sullivan Kristen Stewart in the “On the Road” trailer Photo: MK2 Productions The trailer for “On the Road,” an adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s seminal beat generation novel, finally hit the Web and brought the cool of 1960s America with it. We saw Kristen Stewart shake it and roll one up. Garrett Hedlund talks about the dumb stuff that he does and can’t explain, and Sam Riley sounds disturbingly like Heath Ledger’s Joker. Here are our five key scenes from the “One the Road” trailer. KStew Rolls Deep This is not the Bella Swan you know. This is Marylou, the 16-year-old, reefer-smoking chick that Dean Moriarty (Hedlund) just married. We’re not sure if there could have been a more striking image to let us know that Kristen Stewart has left Forks, Washington, far behind her. A Breezy Drive Let’s take that last part back for one second. If we needed a clearer image that Stewart is removing the mantle of Bella Swan for her future career, we have what looks like a shot of the actress removing something else in the front seat with Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley: her top. We’ve seen Stewart with an edge in several of her other films, but for “On the Road,” she seems to be bidding “Twilight” adieu in style. The Freakout As a key work of the beat generation, what would a film adaptation of “On the Road” be without a good old-fashioned drug freak-out dance? Here we see Hedlund tripping out and getting his freak on. It’s rare that we see such a loose Hedlund, and the scene gives a good idea of the kind of shenanigans Dean will be up to.
In a step up from previous Skyfall publicity memes like #Banal007 and James Bond’s Big Gay Resort brochure , the Daily Mail has a glimpse at Javier Bardem in character as the film’s as-yet-unnamed villain. The catch: He’s in costume as a police officer. Where have we seen this before? As other observers have pointed out , the blockbuster-franchise-baddie-as-cop routine perhaps reached its zenith in The Dark Knight , featuring Heath Ledger’s Joker impersonating one of Gotham City’s finest before busting loose with an assassination attempt. Bardem’s character has the same malevolent scowl; I doubt he’s charged with issuing parking tickets on double parked Aston Martins, but who knows? [ Daily Mail via Cinema Blend ]
Movieline is pleased to present the first installment of One-Sheet Wonder , a new column on the best, worst, weirdest and other milestones of contemporary movie-poster art. — Ed. We’re a little more than two months away from the debut of the Cannes Film Festival opener Moonrise Kingdom , Wes Anderson’s first live-action film in five years, and the promo push is on. The first trailer hit a while back, and the first poster was revealed last week. And while the trailer is an exhilarating promo clip, on first glance it’s easy to dismiss the poster. It feels minimal and rather meh overall, like a starving-artist, Bob Ross knock-off masquerading as a one-sheet (“Look at that happy little waterfall…”). But since The Life Aquatic , posters for Anderson’s films have trended to a less-is-more approach. The Darjeeling Limited , for example, focused on, essentially, a snapshot of the three leads in a moment of quiet introspection, whereas Rushmore is all about bombastic (Photoshopped) revolution. The reason for this change is Anderson’s movies, increasingly, have been sold to his fans rather than audiences at large. Not surprisingly, this began with The Royal Tenenbaums as Anderson established his unique visual style. Since then, his posters have become more conceptual and more for his acolytes. ( Fantastic Mr. Fox — aimed squarely at kids with its kooky, busy everything-but-whackbat design — is the exception.) Moonrise Kingdom is the zenith (so far) of this marketing strategy. It’s not very active, but it picks up many of Anderson’s trademarks. Sam and Suzy, the film’s leads, are in full-on Anderson mode — Sam carries a popgun and pulls his best young Bud Cort impression while Suzy is loaded down with a travel record player and Margot Tenenbaum-esque style/ennui — and their straight-on confrontation of the viewer is an Anderson trademark. And while the foreground is fairly flat, there’s a world of depth and texture in the background, a staple of Anderson’s cinematography. The poster also continues the practice (begun on Darjeeling ) of placing the credit block at the top of the poster, above the title, drawing our eye (and consideration) to an image rather than text. When you factor in the font-type similarities to the invitation script at the beginning of Tenenbaums , it could be that Anderson is finally establishing a design continuum for his ad art to complement the one in his films. Visually dazzling? Maybe not to the motion-poster (blech) crowd, but for Anderson devotees it’s exciting. It picks up on his filmmaking sensibilities like no poster before it — and it aesthetically establishes Moonrise Kingdom ’s place in Anderson’s legacy vis-à-vis the Criterion Collection. Criterion’s releases of Bottle Rocket , Rushmore , Tenenbaums , Aquatic and Darjeeling are whimsical, but they eschew studio publicity shots for a handcrafted, Andersonian representation of a scene or the essence of the film. (Criterion’s Tenenbaums and Aquatic releases had studio art slipcovers over the hand-drawn ones because they were the only official releases of the films, Buena Vista didn’t likely want to scare off the normals with childlike illustrations.) Moonrise Kingdom is the first theatrical poster for an Anderson film to similarly disregard poorly edited stills (a la Rushmore or Bottle Rocket ) for a painted distillation of what we can imply is the film’s spirit. Ultimately, it might seem this poster is selling Anderson’s sensibility more than the film, but that’s because they’re one and the same. The poster says, “Wes Anderson has a new movie coming out,” and that will either sell people on it or drive them away. Such is the plight of an auteur. Focus Features understands the audience for this film — the cinephile who genuflects at the Wes Anderson altar — and the studio absolutely reaches it with this poster. It might not be the flashiest of Anderson’s ads to date, but it’s certainly the most authentic. Dante A. Ciampaglia is a writer, editor and photographer in New York. You can find him on Twitter , Tumblr , and, occasionally, his blog .
At South by Southwest film festival, star Jesse Williams says Joss Whedon’s horror flick is ‘both awesome and terrifying at the same time.’ By Kara Warner What’s a horror movie without a few sensational death scenes? One that could be described as less-than-satisfactory by the gung ho gore fans out there. And although there is a lot of secrecy surrounding the action in “The Cabin in the Woods,” it is not spoiling anything to say that there might be a gory death or two. When MTV News caught up with castmembers Anna Hutchison, Jesse Williams and Kristen Connolly at the film’s South by Southwest film festival press day, we asked them to describe how the deaths in the Joss Whedon-penned, Drew Goddard-directed film are different from what we’ve seen onscreen before. “I think people get connected to the characters, but somehow I find the murders in this film are more thrilling,” Williams said. “You know the train wreck effect where you want to look away — something that is both awesome and terrifying at the same time? “Like, one time I almost touched a shark in the open ocean. I didn’t realize it was a shark. ‘I’m excited, but I’m going to die.’ So, those kind of things happening at once. Anna knows what I’m talking about.” “Well, lose a hand. I don’t know about die,” Hutchison offered. “It’s a bit dramatic.” “She’s from New Zealand where it’s like playing in the yard for them: ‘Go play with the sharks!’ ” he teased. “I think it’s both those things happening at once where you’re uniquely thrilled, but you’re going to miss that character — but that’s not saying that any of us die or don’t die in the end.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos South by Southwest 2012 Related Photos SXSW 2012
