Argo received eight Oscar nominations and has grossed over $166.4 million at the box office worldwide and now Iran wants in on the action. But don’t expect the Islamic Republic to toe the line of how events transpired in the version directed and starring Ben Affleck . [ Related: Iran A Possible Oscar No-Show After Boycott Threat AND Ben Affleck Goes For Gracious Post-Oscar Passover ] Iranian director Ataollah Salmanian an Iranian news agency that he is making a counter-feature to Affleck’s film which is based on the true story of a C.I.A. plan to rescue six Americans from Tehran during the outset of the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. Titled The General Staff , Salmanian told the news agency his film “should be an appropriate response to the ‘a-historic’ film Argo ,” according to BBC. Not surprisingly, Argo has ruffled feathers in the Iranian hierarchy and Salmanian is hoping to receive funding from the Middle Eastern country’s government. Iran has long had a contentious relationship with its filmmaking community even as its filmmakers won awards around the world. Last year Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language film. Despite praise for the win at the time, the country’s establishment banned its filmmakers from submitting to the Oscars race officially due to the controversy surrounding the anti-Islam video that hit YouTube last year, Innocence of Muslims . Others have faced persecution and silence including celebrated director Jafar Panahi who served house arrest and later prison. The director documented his house-arrest in This Is Not a Film , which was smuggled out of Iran in a Flash-Drive and hidden inside a cake. It later screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and other festivals. [ Source: The Guardian ] Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The news of Jurassic Park 4 probably sent a lot of you scrambling for your brain’s groan button, and I can’t blame you. Though the original film is an important milestone in special effects, and boasts the last decent score John Williams ever wrote*, it preserved Michael Crichton’s dubious grasp of human nature and the book’s b-movie philosophizing – and the less said about the sequels, the better (especially the second film, which seems to consist largely of references to classic monster movies). Still! The dinosaurs, even the ones created using paleolithic CGI back in 1993, look insanely great, and given the advances in special effects that have occurred just in the 12 years since Jurassic Park 3 we can look forward to even more spectacular sauropods. But it isn’t just CGI that has advanced in the last twenty years; paleontology has also made some rather amazing discoveries. Beginning with the discovery of the feathered Sinosauropteryx fossil in 1996, over 30 new specimens have been found, and scientists are beginning to conclude that almost all dinosaur species probably had a coat of feathers. That sounds like a small difference, but it’s huge when you consider how radically that changes the appearance of these beasts. Despite the fact that the first feathered fossils of Archaeopertyx were discovered in the 1860s, dinosaurs were still seen in a largely reptilian context until quite recently. The 1970s and ’80s saw some major breakthroughs (among them the acceptance of the asteroid collision theory of dinosaur extinction), but even though the relationship between birds and dinosaurs was becoming more fully understood, that context remained the norm. Now, it would be a mistake to assume anything in Crichton’s novel is scientific, but his book did make great effort to plausibly reflect the consensus at the time. Jurassic Park , published in 1990, partly reflects that consensus. Dinosaurs in the novel were cloned from preserved DNA found in fossilized amber, with gaps in decayed DNA filled in using amphibian, reptile, and avian DNA. And regardless of the DNA used, as we saw in the film, with the exception of Velociraptors, they still largely resembled giant reptiles. However, Spielberg & Co. have the chance to update their look, and best of all it wouldn’t even require much of a stretch, plotwise, to explain the genetic retcon. Simply explain that advances in paleontology proved that their previous cloning relied too heavily on amphibian and reptile DNA. New clones corrected that mistake, relying more on avian DNA, and the result is a pack of dinosaurs that bear colorful plumage that would make Liberace seethe with jealousy. This doesn’t even begin to get into the new species we’ve discovered, like the aforementioned Sinosauropteryx (which would have been about the size of a chicken), that could populate the new film. And why should it have to? Apparently, T-Rex probably had feathers too. I could think of nothing cooler than that. [ For more on feathered Dinosaurs, check out this great article from Nature, published last summer. ] *Yeah, I said it. Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow Ross Lincoln on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
In 2009 Chris Colfer rocketed to stardom as the out and proud Kurt Hummel on Fox’s Glee , a role that nabbed him two Emmy nominations, a Golden Globe, and the adoration of legions of fans worldwide. This week the 22-year-old actor, singer, New York Times bestselling author, and screenwriter makes his feature film debut in Struck By Lightning , in which he stars as an ambitious small town teenager killed by a bolt of lightning, a coming-of-age story which he also scripted. Like Colfer’s Glee alter-ego, Struck By Lightning ‘s Carson Phillips is a restless young man with a yearning for what lies beyond the confines of his high school hallways. But the Glee comparisons fade quickly. For starters, there’s no singing — just a little blackmail, used by wannabe journalist Carson to coerce his rivals into joining an extracurricular program that’s bound to score him points on his college applications. More importantly: Struck By Lightning , a story Colfer first wrote in high school, never acknowledges its hero’s sexual orientation. “I don’t want to do another orientation story!” Colfer exclaimed to Movieline . “I don’t care what it is… I didn’t want an orientation to take away from someone learning the lesson of [Carson’s] story.” Colfer spoke with Movieline about his feature acting and writing debut, the real life upbringing in Clovis, CA that inspired Struck By Lightning , his burgeoning literary career, and more. (The film is available On Demand and hits limited release today.) Struck By Lightning is a project that’s been with you since high school – what was the original seed of the idea that inspired you to write this as your debate project? Even back then I knew I wanted to screenwrite eventually one day, so I started writing it as a screenplay back then when I was 16, and it was a way to vent about my frustrations with my peers in high school and whatnot. Then I got involved in speech and debate and decided to do it as one of the events there, so I compressed all the events into a ten-minute version and I played all the characters. I think I did pretty well with it – I’m not sure if that was the year I got the big trophy or the smaller trophy, but I did do well with it. Then when I finally got Glee and got into this world I started to pursue it even more. You based it on your experience growing up in Clovis, CA. What was it like? Very flat, very conservative, and very strict. Strict? Socially strict – they had a very strict dress code, like, guys weren’t allowed to have our hair grow past our ears, things like that. With all due respect to it, because it is my home, I think there is a lot of progress that could be made there – and even people there know there’s a lot of progress that can be made there. But even though the movie takes place in a place called Clover, it wasn’t me pointing at Clovis – it was more like me winking at Clovis, I would say. And it’s much bigger than Clovis is. Clovis is like 100,000 people and it keeps getting bigger and bigger; Clover is supposed to be this tiny, small, podunk town. How many of the characters of Struck By Lightning did you base on actual peers and friends and people you knew? Only a few, really. A couple of the characters are combinations of the people I knew but the only character really based to a T was Mallory [played by Rebel Wilson], who was based on my best friend Melissa. How did she react to seeing how you filtered her personality through your eyes, onscreen? She knows it was exaggerated heavily and that it was more for Carson having that sidekick like she kind of was for me. But she’s very excited about it – she’s in the movie! She has a cameo, in the scene where I’m arguing with the chemistry teacher and she goes, “I believe in Creationism!” and he goes, “Exhibit A” – that’s her, sitting right in front of me. She’s always been a part of it. Where did the screenwriting impulse come from? I’ve always loved storytelling and I think that’s the current-day method to do it. I think that’s the best way to tell stories and ever since I was a little kid I’ve been writing stories. It’s always been something that I had to do. What about directing? Are you making your way from actor to writer to director as well? Not so much, because when I think about directing I think about lining up shots; I don’t necessarily think about creating a story or characters, and that’s what I’d like to do. But I’d never say never. Which filmmakers most influenced you growing up? Oh gosh! I don’t know. Honestly, unfortunately, I was always more inspired by the characters in a story that I never thought about the people behind them. I always thought “X-Men,” I never thought “Bryan Singer” or “Stan Lee,” you know? I have my favorite writers that I love, like Diablo Cody, Jennifer Saunders ,Tiny Fey – I love that they can make every line funny. Every line is quotable. And I love Woody Allen. So you grow up in Clovis, you move to LA, Glee happens, and you realize you have the opportunity to break into film. How did you approach the task of expanding your Struck By Lightning script into a feature film knowing it’s your first film and such a personal project? A quote that gets out a lot is “Write what you know,” and I definitely knew this character well because I was this character growing up. I felt that it was a very endangered character; every movie is about the same type of person, like a jock with a talent or an aspiring cheerleader trying to be popular. I wanted to know where the stories were for the kids who had dreams and goals and their life was about accomplishing those. Not the John Hughesian archetypal teenagers – the other kids in the hall? With all due respect, because there’s no way this movie would have been made without John Hughes making a mark in the industry, yeah – kids like me! I felt like it was almost an ignored genre all these years. Structurally speaking, why start the movie by killing your protagonist off the bat before we even get to know him? I don’t know where that came from. That was a choice I made in the beginning and I made it work. It’s funny because I ended up making symbolism out of lightning but just the mental visual image of Carson being killed by a bolt of lightning in the beginning of the movie and the audience going, “What?!” I thought that was hysterical. You open this movie, you don’t even know who this kid is, and boom! I thought that was really funny. How fun was it to have the opportunity to cast your own movie parents? Oh, it was great – it was like reverse-adoption, almost. Allison [Janney] was the only person I ever had in my mind to play [Carson’s mother] since day one, and she’s the actress whose voice I had in my head when I was writing it. Dermot [Mulroney] was one of the miracles of the movie; I don’t know if we thought he would ever do it, but a friend of a friend of his said, “You know who’d be great in this? Dermot!” It was that easy. You’re also now a published author, with a companion book for Struck By Lightning out accompanying the film and a novelization, not to mention your own separate novels. How did your literary career come about? It was something that I’ve always wanted to do – I started with The Land of Stories , which is a novel that I’ve always wanted to write since I was 8. I came up with the story then and promised myself that I would get it done eventually, and I never tried pursuing it in any form other than a book, because it came to me as a book – this was going to be a book that kids could read and have an intimate journey with these characters. Struck By Lightning , I never thought about turning into a novel until my publishers saw the movie and asked me if I’d ever like to turn this into a novel and I decided ultimately, yes I would. But I think when you’re writing a novel you’re 100 percent responsible for the story. When you do a movie, you have help – you have a director, a cast, people to help you bring what you write to life. You’ve worked closely with Ryan Murphy on Glee and also read for Dustin Lance Black’s 8 ; what’s the biggest takeaway you’ve gotten from working with folks like these over the past few years? With 8, my involvement was very easy – I got a call asking, Would you like to do this? It was an amazing experience and I think what I learned the most from it was I love people’s stories. I love picking people’s brains. So whenever I get to be in a room, whether it’s Polly Bergen or Allison Janney or George Clooney, or Dustin or Ryan, I’m always picking people’s brains. That’s my favorite thing in the world, just hearing about experiences. There will be inevitable comparisons between Kurt on Glee and Carson in Struck By Lightning ; they’re both high school outsiders striving to be heard, although the similarities mostly end there. Knowing people might draw that parallel, was it important or not for you to present a character that was very different from your Glee character? It’s so funny – people make comparisons that are convenient to the tone of whatever they’re writing, and some people think I made Struck By Lightning only to play a different character and show that I could do something else, but that wasn’t the case. For one, the character’s been with me much longer than Kurt has been with me so I definitely knew who he was before I knew who Kurt was. And had I wanted to do something just to show the world I could do something else, it would have been, like, something on Mars – I wouldn’t have played another high school outcast! [Laughs] It’s ridiculous. But people still like to pigeonhole me into that with their opinions. Were there certain aspects that you deliberately wanted to emphasize, or avoid, in order to evade those Glee comparisons? Not necessarily to stay away from Glee but I never wanted to reveal a sexual orientation for Carson. For one, because I don’t want to do another orientation story! I don’t care what it is. That was number one. And number two, I didn’t want an orientation to take away from someone learning the lesson of his story, because in my Glee experience sometimes if you state a character is gay or straight, the other orientation stops listening or stops paying attention, and thinks, “Oh, I can’t relate to them now.” I didn’t want that for this character. I wanted everyone to be able to feel like they could relate to him. I made him very asexual for that reason but also, does every character have to be defined by an orientation? No! I don’t think you miss it in this story. He’s so set on something that you don’t focus on who he wants to sleep with. He wants to get into college! That’s who he is. It doesn’t matter. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Lindsay Lohan was a complete mess on the set of The Canyons over the summer – even by her standards – according to a writer embedded in the indie production. Stephen Rodrick, who says he was allowed to chronicle the project, says he saw a seemingly drunk LiLo get in her car and drive off set after a boozing session. According to Rodrick, Lohan was out of control , acting like an utter disaster and initially fired from The Canyons after blowing off two days of filming. Rodrick says Lohan showed up outside the director’s hotel room, pounding on the door, hysterically crying and begging for her job back – for 90 MINUTES. Eventually, she was hired back … but things only got worse . Lohan began constantly criticizing producers and her co-stars, and got drunk before shooting a scene in which she would be simulating a four-way sex scene. After the scene, which featured real-life porn stars, producers offered Lindsay a hired car to drive her home … but she refused and drove off in her Porsche. According to Rodrick, whose report was publicized by TMZ this afternoon, producers “all hoped they would still have a lead actress in the morning.” In the article, Rodrick says Lindsay Lohan freaked about another sex scene in which she was supposed to get naked … and locked herself in a closet. Rodrick says the director had to beg her to do the scene and even stripped naked himself and had the crew do the same to show her it was no big deal. The gimmick worked, and Lohan filmed the 14-minute sex scene. Unfortunately, the hits just kept on coming, however. Lindsay partied with Lady Gaga one night until 5:30 a.m., when she had a 6:00 a.m. call time. She showed up at 9 a.m., but left soon after a doctor said she was too sick to film. Somehow, the film got made … and looks like the worst movie ever: The Canyons Teaser Trailer (’50s) The Canyons Teaser Trailer
It’s a good morning for Harvey Weinstein , Fox and Sony Pictures Classics . Sifting through the more surprising-than-usual list of Academy nominations , these are the three big winners of the fierce behind-the-scenes campaigning that movie studios, their specialty divisions (and their consultants) do to get their pictures, directors, actors, etc. onto the hallowed Oscars short list. The Weinstein Company has the enviable dilemma of now having to decide how to run two Best Picture campaigns for Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained. It also managed to get Joaquin Phoenix a Best Actor nomination for The Master despite Phoenix’s slagging of the Oscars as the “stupidest thing in the world” and the picture’s quick fade as a contender in the awards buzz circus. David O. Russell’s nomination, after being passed over by the Director’s Guild , is another sign of TWC’s political muscle, particularly since the Silver Linings Playbook director is an outsider in Hollywood — like Weinstein and Phoenix, for that matter. (Okay, so Weinstein may be way more inside than he was in the Miramax days, but he’s still an outsider. Fox employee and this year’s Oscars host Seth MacFarlane made that clear earlier this morning, when referring to the Best Supporting Actress nominees, he cracked: “Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein.”) Fox and Sony also did well in the Best Picture category: Fox 2000 has Life of Pi and Fox Searchlight has Beasts of the Southern Wild in the top category, but Sony is the more interesting story here. While the Annapurna-produced Columbia Pictures-distributed Zero Dark Thirty was nominated for Best Picture as expected, director Kathryn Bigelow’s omission in the Best Director category goes down as one of the biggest snubs of this morning. On the other hand, the nominations of Sony Pictures Classics’ Amour in the Best Picture and Best Foreign Picture categories and Michael Haneke for Best Director is quite a coup for the mini major given the competition this year and the film’s difficult subject matter. In other words, Haneke’s gain is related to Bigelow’s loss. Thoughts? Leave them in the comments section. More On Today’s Oscar Nomintions: Academy Award Nominations — What Were The Biggest Snubs & Shocks Of The 2013 Oscar Noms? Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Lincoln , Les Misérables and Life of Pi lead the pack Wendesday among the 2013 British Academy Film Award nominations, with Spielberg’s pic on the 16th U.S. president receiving ten nominations including Best Film while Les Mis and Pi each received nine, also picking up Best Film noms. [ Related: Directors Guild Award Nominations: Was The Wrong Director Snubbed? ] Neither Les Miérables director Tom Hooper nor Spielberg landed in the Director category, however, though Pi ‘s Ang Lee made the category along with Quentin Tarantino , Michael Haneke for Amour , Ben Affleck for Argo and Kathryn Bigelow ( Zero Dark Thirty ). The U.K.’s Skyfall , meanwhile failed to receive Best Film or Director nominations by the group, though it did receive eight other nominations, including Outstanding British Film. EE British Academy Film Awards which will take place on Sunday 10 February at London’s Royal Opera House. 2013 Nominations follow: BEST FILM ARGO – Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney LES MISÉRABLES – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh LIFE OF PI – Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark LINCOLN – Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy ZERO DARK THIRTY – Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison DIRECTOR AMOUR – Michael Haneke ARGO – Ben Affleck DJANGO UNCHAINED – Quentin Tarantino LIFE OF PI – Ang Lee ZERO DARK THIRTY – Kathryn Bigelow LEADING ACTOR BEN AFFLECK – Argo BRADLEY COOPER – Silver Linings Playbook DANIEL DAY-LEWIS – Lincoln HUGH JACKMAN – Les Misérables JOAQUIN PHOENIX – The Master LEADING ACTRESS EMMANUELLE RIVA – Amour HELEN MIRREN – Hitchcock JENNIFER LAWRENCE – Silver Linings Playbook JESSICA CHASTAIN – Zero Dark Thirty MARION COTILLARD – Rust and Bone SUPPORTING ACTOR ALAN ARKIN – Argo CHRISTOPH WALTZ – Django Unchained JAVIER BARDEM – Skyfall PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – The Master TOMMY LEE JONES – Lincoln SUPPORTING ACTRESS AMY ADAMS – The Master ANNE HATHAWAY – Les Misérables HELEN HUNT – The Sessions JUDI DENCH – Skyfall SALLY FIELD – Lincoln OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM ANNA KARENINA – Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster, Tom Stoppard THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL – John Madden, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Ol Parker LES MISÉRABLES – Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh, William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS – Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin SKYFALL – Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer)- The Imposter DAVID MORRIS (Director), JACQUI MORRIS (Director/Producer) – McCullin DEXTER FLETCHER (Director/Writer), DANNY KING (Writer) – Wild Bill JAMES BOBIN (Director) – The Muppets TINA GHARAVI (Director/Writer) – I Am Nasrine DOCUMENTARY THE IMPOSTER – Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis MARLEY – Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel McCULLIN – David Morris, Jacqui Morris SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN – Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn WEST OF MEMPHIS – Amy Berg ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY AMOUR – Michael Haneke DJANGO UNCHAINED – Quentin Tarantino THE MASTER – Paul Thomas Anderson MOONRISE KINGDOM – Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola ZERO DARK THIRTY – Mark Boal ADAPTED SCREENPLAY ARGO – Chris Terrio BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD – Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin LIFE OF PI – David Magee LINCOLN – Tony Kushner SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK – David O. Russell FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AMOUR – Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz HEADHUNTERS – Morten Tyldum, Marianne Gray, Asle Vatn THE HUNT – Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann RUST AND BONE – Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux UNTOUCHABLE – Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun ANIMATED FILM BRAVE – Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman FRANKENWEENIE – Tim Burton PARANORMAN – Sam Fell, Chris Butler ORIGINAL MUSIC ANNA KARENINA – Dario Marianelli ARGO – Alexandre Desplat LIFE OF PI – Mychael Danna LINCOLN – John Williams SKYFALL – Thomas Newman CINEMATOGRAPHY ANNA KARENINA – Seamus McGarvey LES MISÉRABLES – Danny Cohen LIFE OF PI – Claudio Miranda LINCOLN – Janusz Kaminski SKYFALL – Roger Deakins EDITING ARGO – William Goldenberg DJANGO UNCHAINED – Fred Raskin LIFE OF PI – Tim Squyres SKYFALL – Stuart Baird ZERO DARK THIRTY – Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg PRODUCTION DESIGN ANNA KARENINA – Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer LES MISÉRABLES – Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson LIFE OF PI – David Gropman, Anna Pinnock LINCOLN – Rick Carter, Jim Erickson SKYFALL – Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock COSTUME DESIGN ANNA KARENINA – Jacqueline Durran GREAT EXPECTATIONS – Beatrix Aruna Pasztor LES MISÉRABLES – Paco Delgado LINCOLN – Joanna Johnston SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN – Colleen Atwood SOUND DJANGO UNCHAINED – Mark Ulano, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Wylie Stateman THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY – Tony Johnson, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Brent Burge, Chris Ward LES MISÉRABLES – Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst LIFE OF PI – Drew Kunin, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton, Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill SKYFALL – Stuart Wilson, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White LIFE OF PI – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer MARVEL AVENGERS ASSEMBLE – Nominees TBC PROMETHEUS – Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Trevor Wood, Paul Butterworth MAKE UP & HAIR ANNA KARENINA – Ivana Primorac HITCHCOCK – Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY – Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater LES MISÉRABLES – Lisa Westcott LINCOLN – Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou SHORT ANIMATION HERE TO FALL – Kris Kelly, Evelyn McGrath I’M FINE THANKS – Eamonn O’Neill THE MAKING OF LONGBIRD – Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson SHORT FILM THE CURSE – Fyzal Boulifa, Gavin Humphries GOOD NIGHT – Muriel d’Ansembourg, Eva Sigurdardottir SWIMMER – Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw TUMULT – Johnny Barrington, Rhianna Andrews THE VOORMAN PROBLEM – Mark Gill, Baldwin Li EE RISING STAR AWARD Elizabeth Olsen Andrea Riseborough Suraj Sharma Juno Temple Alicia Vikander
Lincoln , Les Misérables and Life of Pi lead the pack Wendesday among the 2013 British Academy Film Award nominations, with Spielberg’s pic on the 16th U.S. president receiving ten nominations including Best Film while Les Mis and Pi each received nine, also picking up Best Film noms. [ Related: Directors Guild Award Nominations: Was The Wrong Director Snubbed? ] Neither Les Miérables director Tom Hooper nor Spielberg landed in the Director category, however, though Pi ‘s Ang Lee made the category along with Quentin Tarantino , Michael Haneke for Amour , Ben Affleck for Argo and Kathryn Bigelow ( Zero Dark Thirty ). The U.K.’s Skyfall , meanwhile failed to receive Best Film or Director nominations by the group, though it did receive eight other nominations, including Outstanding British Film. EE British Academy Film Awards which will take place on Sunday 10 February at London’s Royal Opera House. 2013 Nominations follow: BEST FILM ARGO – Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney LES MISÉRABLES – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh LIFE OF PI – Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark LINCOLN – Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy ZERO DARK THIRTY – Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison DIRECTOR AMOUR – Michael Haneke ARGO – Ben Affleck DJANGO UNCHAINED – Quentin Tarantino LIFE OF PI – Ang Lee ZERO DARK THIRTY – Kathryn Bigelow LEADING ACTOR BEN AFFLECK – Argo BRADLEY COOPER – Silver Linings Playbook DANIEL DAY-LEWIS – Lincoln HUGH JACKMAN – Les Misérables JOAQUIN PHOENIX – The Master LEADING ACTRESS EMMANUELLE RIVA – Amour HELEN MIRREN – Hitchcock JENNIFER LAWRENCE – Silver Linings Playbook JESSICA CHASTAIN – Zero Dark Thirty MARION COTILLARD – Rust and Bone SUPPORTING ACTOR ALAN ARKIN – Argo CHRISTOPH WALTZ – Django Unchained JAVIER BARDEM – Skyfall PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – The Master TOMMY LEE JONES – Lincoln SUPPORTING ACTRESS AMY ADAMS – The Master ANNE HATHAWAY – Les Misérables HELEN HUNT – The Sessions JUDI DENCH – Skyfall SALLY FIELD – Lincoln OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM ANNA KARENINA – Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster, Tom Stoppard THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL – John Madden, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Ol Parker LES MISÉRABLES – Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh, William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS – Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin SKYFALL – Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer)- The Imposter DAVID MORRIS (Director), JACQUI MORRIS (Director/Producer) – McCullin DEXTER FLETCHER (Director/Writer), DANNY KING (Writer) – Wild Bill JAMES BOBIN (Director) – The Muppets TINA GHARAVI (Director/Writer) – I Am Nasrine DOCUMENTARY THE IMPOSTER – Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis MARLEY – Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel McCULLIN – David Morris, Jacqui Morris SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN – Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn WEST OF MEMPHIS – Amy Berg ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY AMOUR – Michael Haneke DJANGO UNCHAINED – Quentin Tarantino THE MASTER – Paul Thomas Anderson MOONRISE KINGDOM – Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola ZERO DARK THIRTY – Mark Boal ADAPTED SCREENPLAY ARGO – Chris Terrio BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD – Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin LIFE OF PI – David Magee LINCOLN – Tony Kushner SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK – David O. Russell FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AMOUR – Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz HEADHUNTERS – Morten Tyldum, Marianne Gray, Asle Vatn THE HUNT – Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann RUST AND BONE – Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux UNTOUCHABLE – Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun ANIMATED FILM BRAVE – Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman FRANKENWEENIE – Tim Burton PARANORMAN – Sam Fell, Chris Butler ORIGINAL MUSIC ANNA KARENINA – Dario Marianelli ARGO – Alexandre Desplat LIFE OF PI – Mychael Danna LINCOLN – John Williams SKYFALL – Thomas Newman CINEMATOGRAPHY ANNA KARENINA – Seamus McGarvey LES MISÉRABLES – Danny Cohen LIFE OF PI – Claudio Miranda LINCOLN – Janusz Kaminski SKYFALL – Roger Deakins EDITING ARGO – William Goldenberg DJANGO UNCHAINED – Fred Raskin LIFE OF PI – Tim Squyres SKYFALL – Stuart Baird ZERO DARK THIRTY – Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg PRODUCTION DESIGN ANNA KARENINA – Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer LES MISÉRABLES – Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson LIFE OF PI – David Gropman, Anna Pinnock LINCOLN – Rick Carter, Jim Erickson SKYFALL – Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock COSTUME DESIGN ANNA KARENINA – Jacqueline Durran GREAT EXPECTATIONS – Beatrix Aruna Pasztor LES MISÉRABLES – Paco Delgado LINCOLN – Joanna Johnston SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN – Colleen Atwood SOUND DJANGO UNCHAINED – Mark Ulano, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Wylie Stateman THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY – Tony Johnson, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Brent Burge, Chris Ward LES MISÉRABLES – Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst LIFE OF PI – Drew Kunin, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton, Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill SKYFALL – Stuart Wilson, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White LIFE OF PI – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer MARVEL AVENGERS ASSEMBLE – Nominees TBC PROMETHEUS – Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Trevor Wood, Paul Butterworth MAKE UP & HAIR ANNA KARENINA – Ivana Primorac HITCHCOCK – Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY – Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater LES MISÉRABLES – Lisa Westcott LINCOLN – Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou SHORT ANIMATION HERE TO FALL – Kris Kelly, Evelyn McGrath I’M FINE THANKS – Eamonn O’Neill THE MAKING OF LONGBIRD – Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson SHORT FILM THE CURSE – Fyzal Boulifa, Gavin Humphries GOOD NIGHT – Muriel d’Ansembourg, Eva Sigurdardottir SWIMMER – Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw TUMULT – Johnny Barrington, Rhianna Andrews THE VOORMAN PROBLEM – Mark Gill, Baldwin Li EE RISING STAR AWARD Elizabeth Olsen Andrea Riseborough Suraj Sharma Juno Temple Alicia Vikander
Joseph Gordon-Levitt had quite a blockbuster 2012 with roles in The Dark Knight Rises , Lincoln and Looper , but he’s holding onto his indie big screen roots at this year’s Sundance Film Festival . Aside from his feature directorial debut, Don Jon’s Addiction , which will bow in the festival’s Premieres section, the actor and now filmmaker has been tapped to host the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony. [ Related: Sundance Film Festival Reveals 2013 U.S. & World Competition Slate AND Sundance Film Festival Unveils Star-Studded Premieres & Documentary Premieres Lineup ] Gordon-Levitt is certainly no stranger to Sundance, having appeared in seven films post 3rd Rock from the Sun days including Mysterious Skin , Brick and (500) Days of Summer . He also debuted his directorial short Sparks at the fest in 2009 and his online production company hitRECord installed an exhibit in Sundance’s New Frontier in 2010, followed by a live performance in 2012. Don Jon’s Addiction , which stars Gordon-Levitt as well as Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore, centers on what the festival describes as “a selfish modern-day Don Juan attempts to change his ways” (above is a still from the film). It is screening Out of Competition. Last year, actress Parker Posey had been slated to host the awards show, but Sundance staff including festival Director John Cooper had to take over after she fell ill. Along with the overall festival, the awards are a harbinger of the year ahead for American indies and beyond. Beasts of the Southern Wild took last year’s Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic prize, while The House I Live In won in the Documentary category. Oscar short-listed docs Detropia , Searching for Sugar Man and The Invisible War were also among prize-winners last year. Noted Cooper in a statement: “Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s accomplished and original artistic perspectives have contributed greatly to Sundance Institute and the independent film community. As host, he is sure to add flair to our Awards Ceremony in similarly exciting ways, and we are thrilled that he will join us in recognizing outstanding achievements at this year’s festival.” The 2013 Sundance Film Festival takes place January 17 – 27. Movieline will be there with daily coverage.
Trey Songz has already written a song about fear — literally . His track “Don’t Be Scared” soothes a hot chick who’s afraid of her carnal desire for some sweet, sweet loving. Of course, calming a girl into bed is easier than calming a girl while you’re both running from a blood-lusted maniac. But Texas Chainsaw 3D director John Luessenhop knew Trey Songz could handle the challenge when he saw the thrice Grammy-nominated R&B singer float down from the ceiling during the BET Awards and seduce Solange Knowles and the crowd; the next day, Luessenhop called his agent and asked if he could send him the script for the horror sequel — if Songz could control a stage, maybe he could command a screen. And so Trey Songz (AKA “Mr. Steal Yo Girl” as he calls himself in his club banger “Bottoms Up,” AKA Tremaine ‘Trey Songz’ Neverson) stumbled into his unlikely starring debut in a slasher flick playing the boyfriend of Leatherface’s cousin, a brunette goth named Heather (Alexandra Daddario). Will Songz’ fans still swoon over his six-pack abs when they’re slicked with blood? Maybe — although on YouTube, commenters are threatening to storm out of the theater if he doesn’t survive. (We won’t spoil anything, but, um, have they ever seen a horror movie before?) Not only is Texas Chainsaw 3D a first for Songz, Songz is a first for the Texas Chainsaw series: Its first MTV fixture-turned-cast member, its first black star, and the first male love interest to cross the color lines. Plus, it’s the first time in film history where someone dies because a Trey Songz jam on the stereo muffles their screams. We ask Songz about breaking ground in Hollywood — and if R. Kelly should follow in his footsteps. When you told your friends you were the first major black character in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, did they immediately say, “You die, right?” Trey Songz: They wanted to know if I’d die in the credits! In the first ten minutes. It ain’t even a question if I died — it’s how quick. “How fast will it happen?” is what they wanted to know. On IMDb, the first three plot keywords for Texas Chainsaw 3D are: “interracial romance,” “pretty girl,” “interracial kiss.” What’s that about? It’s an obvious thing that’s still very present in this world. In Texas Chainsaw — a huge franchise that started in the ’70s that’s been remade four times, five times, however many times — there’s never been a relationship like this. And although it’s very present in here, I think it’s still a shock to some people that it’s so real. People are starting to erase the color lines. Which is awesome. It definitely is. In your songs, you have this reputation as being a player. I was curious to see if Ryan would be this sweet boyfriend who would change your image — but it turns out Ryan isn’t the best at monogamy. I think Ryan wants to be a good guy. He wants to be there for his girlfriend. You know, they’re young kids having a good time, and he’s messed up a time here or there. Heather, the girl who Alex [Daddario] plays, is kind of a mystery herself. She doesn’t know much about her past, and meanwhile her friend is going behind her back with Ryan and saying, “Hey, I was drunk, I didn’t know better — but let’s do it one more time.” Singing seems like it would be good preparation for acting. You learn that it’s not just what the line is, but how you say it. Singing is all about certain inflection on certain lines. I used to listen to tapes of everybody from Michael Jackson and Prince to Earth, Wind and Fire. They would have different vocal inflections. If the line insinuated pain, they would cringe on some lines. I remember Live at the London Palladium , Marvin Gaye is singing this song about love and he’s talking about how a man ain’t supposed to cry. And he’s going, “Oooohhoooh! Ohhhoooohh!” singing and crying at the same time. That was a good learning tool. Memorizing lines, too. I memorize my own words — I write my songs without writing the lyrics down most of the time, and that’s great practice. There’s a great scene in the movie where one of your friends is in the next room screaming for help, and you can’t hear him because you’ve got the stereo cranked up and playing, uh, one of your own songs. Rip in the space/time continuum? “I’m only here for the ladies and the drinks” — I’m going crazy. That’s funny. The beauty of that is this being my first film, a lot of people will relate to this as me being Trey Songz versus me being Ryan throughout the bulk of it. To those people that aren’t really within my world of music, it’ll be a good moment for them to tie that together as well. At the same time, you know, this is Trey Songz in this movie and this is Trey Songz’ song — if my fans go crazy, too, I’ll appreciate that. You’re already used to have cameras on you on tour and when you’re shooting videos. Do those same cameras feel different when you’re on a movie set? It’s a bit different, but I’d say having directed some of my videos, having shot I don’t know how many videos, and being in short movies sometimes or having very small roles in films, I have been prepared well. Most of the time I’m not speaking in these videos, but that’s probably about the only difference. You’ve said you were a shy child. Are you now used to attention? I wasn’t really ever that shy. That’s some misquoted s–t. I was the kind of kid who loved singing, I loved rapping, I loved attention. But for me, it was more about chasing the dream of being a superstar because of the town I was from and because of what I’d seen. That’s why I say wherever I go, all around the world, it don’t matter where you’re from, or what you’ve got going on, or who’s made it in what profession. You can do whatever it is you plan to do if you really stay focused. Several of the people you’ve worked with musically are making their own moves towards acting. I’m going to say a couple names — tell me what kind of movie you think would be perfect for them as their big break. Cool. Okay: Soulja Boy. A movie like Roll Bounce . Nicki Minaj . I think she could play anything. She’s a character within herself. Last one: R. Kelly. He’s always wanted to act. I don’t really know that about him, but if you listen to his songs, albums after albums after albums, they’re stories. He writes movies in his songs. He’s on Trapped in the Closet , like, 30 by now. I think he’d be good at it, actually. He could play any kind of role. He could play anything from a preacher to a villain. Which he kind of does in Trapped in the Closet . You wrote your joking response song “Out of the Closet” back when you were rivals. Now that you’ve made peace, when you heard he was making more chapters, did you want to get involved? That fact that he’s able to tell a story through music that’s so profound and deep — and with great vocals and great production — is amazing. That’s the end-all, be-all of it. Texas Chainsaw 3D is in theaters Friday. Amy Nicholson is a critic, playwright and editor. Her interests include hot dogs, standard poodles, Bruce Willis, and comedies about the utter futility of existence. Follow her on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Scoring more than $160 million in three weeks to become China’s highest-grossing domestic film ever, Lost in Thailand is a boisterous, joyously hokey comedy that connects with auds through its explicit desire to please. Helmed by lead actor Xu Zheng, the $2.2 million-budgeted follow-up to 2010’s modest hit Lost on Journey is unexpectedly well honed for a debut feature. Peppering this feel-good road movie with the perkier thrills of a cat-and-mouse chase, Xu draws sparks from a talented comic trio cast as three Beijingers on an accident-prone journey to Chiangmai. Boffo B.O. should stoke offshore ancillary interest. Having clocked nearly 30 million admissions (it’s poised to challenge China’s two top-grossing films, Avatar and Transformers: Dark of the Moon , this lightweight entertainment is no masterpiece, but has proven a refreshing antidote to the year-end glut of blockbusters. Written and directed by Hong Kong duo Raymond Yip and Manfred Wong, Lost on Journey starred Xu and Wang Baoqiang in an odd-couple road pic modeled on Planes, Trains & Automobiles . Relocated to a foreign country, the sequel sacrifices its predecessor’s strong regional color for broader attitude and greater narrative whimsy. Playing new characters, Xu and Wang retain the oddball dynamic they had as men of different class and values, but the plot devices that bring them together feel more scripted. Thankfully, this is offset by the decision to bring character actor Huang Bo into the mix (he previously teamed with Xu in Crazy Stone and Crazy Racer ), creating a more complex synergy. An energy-company exec who helped develop a miracle fuel called Supergas, Xu Lang (Xu) is determined to secure the patent before his colleague Gao Bo (Huang) does, and he tries to track down reclusive prexy Zhou to buy out his stake. When Xu learns that Zhou has retired to a temple retreat in Chiangmai, he books the next flight to Thailand, unaware that Gao is hot on his heels. On the plane, he is besieged by friendly overtures from fellow passenger Wang Bao (Wang), an onion-crepe chef armed with a tourist’s to-do list that rivals Eat Pray Love. Although Xu can’t wait to get rid of Wang at Bangkok Airport, circumstances and self-interest conspire to make him take on the doofus as an unlikely travel companion. The first big comic setpiece takes place in a deluxe hotel (riffing on a similar setup in Journey ). The highlight is a farcical bedroom sequence that crosscuts between two wildly incongruous activities, the bawdy effect of which is enhanced by the three thesps’ expressive body language; still, the tasteless jokes directed at transvestites will make many auds cringe. From that point onward, Wang and Xu get into one scrape after another as they traverse the Thai hinterland, while Gao keeps leaping out of nowhere to sabotage their activities. Amid the din of fast-moving dialogue and slapstick, the narrative pauses for a serene scene of Thai locals hoisting airborne lanterns into the sky, one of the film’s numerous reminders to stop and smell the roses — a message that seems to have struck a chord with busy mainland auds. This theme also lends philosophical depth to the comical clash of mindsets between Wang and Xu: One lingers to absorb every new experience, while the other can’t wait to reach his goal. One’s bottomless desire to please is met by the other’s crabby displeasure. Xu’s eventual shift in perspective, though formulaic in nature, still packs an emotional wallop. Wang’s flamboyant character has broad appeal as an outre variation on the gullible hicks he played in Blind Shaft , World Without Thieves , Mr. Tree and Lost on Journey . Xu plays the dyspeptic go-getter with barbed wit, softened with a hint of self-doubt. The most mean-spirited role falls to Huang, who proves as irrepressible as Wang in his determination to have his way. The tech package is garishly slick; the postcard Thai locations, though pleasant, mostly serve to advance the plot. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
