This end-of-the-Mayan-Calendar crap is starting to get on our nerves over here at Movieline virtual headquarters, but it did give us an idea for a fun question to put to you, our esteemed readers: If the world was really about to end, what’s the one movie you would choose to see before things went all Michael Bay ? Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: If the world was ending, I would not be watching no movie, unh-unh. You’d be getting busy or frantically calling your shrink (who’d be frantically calling his shrink) or looting the nearest Best Buy so you could briefly experience the pleasures of the iPhone 5 without having to actually pay for one. But imagine that panic does not ensue and you have the time and desire to see one last movie before everything fades to black. What would it be? I see it as an emotional choice rather than a critical one: What is the one film that will leave you in the proper frame of mind to say goodbye to it all? I’ll get the party started. I’d have to go with the 1957 noir classic Sweet Smell of Success , starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis . To help give you an idea of why this movie means so much to me, let me tell you a very old joke: An Englishman, a Frenchman and a New Yorker are captured by cannibals. The captives are told they’re going to be killed and eaten and their skins are going to be used to build a canoe. The cannibals are an empathetic and well-equipped group, however, and they allow each of their victims to choose how they’d like to die. The Englishman asks for a gun and shoots himself. The Frenchman chooses a sword. When it’s the New Yorker’s turn, he asks for a fork. The cannibals think this is odd, but they give him one — at which point he begins stabbing himself all over his body. “So much for your fucking canoe,” the New Yorker says before he dies. That’s Sweet Smell of Success distilled into a sentence. It’s a dark, ugly (in terms of its subject matter) movie that never fails to exhilarate me because it oozes with old-school chutzpah. Curtis plays a sleazy publicist named Sidney Falco who will do just about anything to get into the gossip column of the corrupt and powerful J.J. Hunsecker (Lancaster) and the two characters’ toxic relationship unfolds like a thrilling prize fight in which the punches consist of lethal lines of dialog written by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman. I could go on about director Alexander Mackendrick’s stark black-and-white depiction of late 1950s New York and Elmer Bernstein’s score which are as ballsy as the screenplay and the performances, but this post is supposed to be about you, not me. My point is, if the end is near, I’m going to watch a movie that puts a little swagger in my step before I get devoured by a fiery serpent or whatever is supposed to happen when the Mayan calendar ends. So now it’s your turn. What movie would you pick? Leave your choice in the comments section, preferably with the reason(s) for your choice. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Twenty-two-year-old Samantha Bark s may have been destined to play Eponine in Tom Hooper ‘s ambitious Les Miserables film adaptation, given that she’d warble the iconic character’s songs into the mirror at age six and, years later, would go on to earn acclaim playing the tragic innkeepers’ daughter in London’s West End and in Les Miz ‘s 25th Anniversary concert. But Barks really knew she’d made it when she found herself sparring with onscreen dad Sacha Baron Cohen on the Les Miserables set: “I can’t believe I actually spat in Ali G’s face!” Barks’s Eponine is a standout among Hooper’s cast of known triple-threats and familiar faces, but the production required her to undertake perhaps the most difficult transition of all – adjusting from playing Eponine onstage in front of thousands to translating the character’s heartbreaking devotion to rebellious student Marius ( Eddie Redmayne ) for the intimacy of the screen. Her version of ” On My Own ,” filmed in a long, rainy shot per the film’s more virtuoso numbers, might be the umpteenth time Barks has sung the iconic ballad in her career to date, but as the Isle of Man native told Movieline , “every time I hear that song, or perform that song, it just sets my heart on fire.” I love Eponine — she’s one of the best roles in Les Miserables , the one I identify with most. How does it feel right now to be at this point in your journey with her, this being your first film and a character you’ve lived with for so long? I feel ecstatic because I played this role on the West End for a year, took it to the O2 Arena for the 25th anniversary, and now to the film — it kind of feels surreal to have had three different experiences of this wonderfully iconic role. Each one has been different, but I’ve spent over four years of my life making her really the most consistent thing that’s been in my life for the last couple of years, and I feel so proud just to be a part of her. I happened to be on Twitter the night Cameron Mackintosh made the surprise announcement, onstage after your show in front of an entire theater, that you had landed Eponine in the film . There were Tweets left and right and it sounded like quite a magical way to learn that you’d won the role. Take me back to that moment. How do you remember it? Oh, gosh. It was the most shocking, amazing piece of news I could receive, but done in the most unique way I think you could ever find out you’ve got a role, you know? It was very unheard of to find out like that! I was in a state of shock. He walked onstage as I was taking my bow and he made a speech about Oliver Twist and Charles Dickens, and he managed to segue onto the fact that I’d won the role of Eponine in the Les Miserables film! And that reaction of mine — I was just completely speechless. It’s also exciting for me to actually be able to watch that clip; I’ve seen that clip on the internet, and it’s kind of proof that the moment actually happened. If you had to guesstimate, how many times do you think you’ve sung “On My Own” in your life? [Laughs] It’s hard because I’m rubbish at math, but basically… eight shows a week for a year, and then the O2 performance, and then some rehearsals on top of that, plus another definite 15 takes for the film, and rehearsals — so there’s a lot of singing that song! [ Ed. note: That puts Barks’ number at 400+. ] And it’s funny because every time I hear that song, or perform that song, it just sets my heart on fire. It’s such a tragic tale. It’s a role I relate to so much that getting to perform that song every single time makes me feel so alive. I feel so lucky to get to sing it. You’ve played Eponine opposite Eddie Redmayne ’s Marius — not to mention Nick Jonas’s Marius — but what do you see at the core of these two characters’ relationship that makes it so compelling no matter who’s playing the role? Girls can relate to unrequited love and that’s one thing, but what not a lot of people can relate to is exactly how dark Eponine’s life is. She has a line in a song where she says, ‘Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to,’ and that’s her life — Marius is really Eponine’s everything and it’s not just about falling in love with somebody on a teenage level, it’s also about somebody being your only piece of light in a very dark life, and that’s heartbreaking about Eponine. Was Eponine always the character you loved and identified with most? When I was six I would sing ‘On My Own’ into a hairbrush in front of a mirror and wanted to be Eponine, which is crazy because she’s got such a tragic life! It doesn’t make any sense that I’d want that for myself but it’s one of those things where you’re a young girl, ‘I want to be Eponine! Or Cosette, or Fantine, or whatever. This is your first film, and there’s a significant difference between how performers modulate their performances for the stage versus for the camera. Did film acting come naturally to you, or did it feel alien? Having never done a film before it was definitely something I had to learn, how to play it. I’d done the stage version of Les Miz , but for me when you come to the screen so many details shine through on camera, so you need to be a lot more detailed with it — you can’t have loose ends like you can in a theatrical piece because it’s heightened. With this you need to be more specific, you need to be detailed, and we’re so lucky to have Victor Hugo’s fantastic novel there to add those details and depth to these characters. You know in the book, Eponine spends a couple of months in prison. That gives you more of an insight into the background she comes from, and that’s why it’s more miraculous when she does eventually do a good deed. How helpful or challenging was it to be immersed in those environments filming musical scenes in long takes, as you did with ‘On My Own,’ literally in the rain, 15 times?I imagine it’s quite a different experience than performing it on a stage without cold water and elements being thrown at you. It was hard. The challenges were physically very difficult. Singing under a rain machine, you’re shivering all day. Someone on set was like, ‘What’s that sound?’ ‘Oh, it’s Sam’s teeth — they’re chattering!’ I can’t help it! These long takes were really fantastic because it meant that you could really build that musical arc throughout the song organically. The hard thing was sometimes Tom would say, ‘Ok guys, build a barricade — Action!’ And you’d have to build a barricade from pianos that were flying out of the windows. The adrenaline that goes through you is intense. They actually dressed up cameramen as students and sent them out amongst us. And what [Tom] does is he captures these real moments of fear that are so fantastic to be a part of, because when he yells ‘Cut!’ the adrenaline flowing through you is just like no other. It’s incredible. What was it like to have Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as parents? When I first found out that I was going to be playing their daughter I thought, that’s a pretty cool claim to fame! They are the coolest onscreen parents I could ever wish for. And working with Helena — she’s so quirky and the most unique person I’ve ever met. The things she says are so fascinating and wise, it’s incredible. And Sacha is a comic genius — I grew up so obsessed with his work. Did you watch Ali G? Oh yeah, I used to watch Ali G in da U.S.A. ! He was phenomenal. And actually, the scene we had wasn’t very comedic at all, because in the scene he slaps me and I spit in his face. And he actually slapped you? Yeah! We went for realism. I was like, ‘Bring it on!’ So I can blame no one but myself. I left the day with a very sore, red cheek, and he left feeling extremely gross because I’d spat at him all day. And I was like, ‘I can only apologize for that.’ I can’t believe I actually spat in Ali G’s face! READ MORE ON LES MISERABLES : Eddie Redmayne On ‘Unlearning’ ‘Les Miserables’ & Prince William’s Singing REVIEW: ‘Les Misérables’ Hits High Notes, But Also Skitters Early Reaction: Oscar Race Heats Up As NYC Screening Of ‘Les Miserables’ Prompts Cheers & Tears Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Whether the world ends tomorrow, a new, more enlightened era dawns or absolutely jack shit happens, it appears that Darren Aronofsky will be immersed in the culture that set off all this wild speculation in the first place. The filmmaker tweeted Thursday morning that he’s “going to maya country to pay respect to the great ancient astronomers who knew tomorrow would one day come.” going to maya country to pay respect to the great ancient astronomers who knew tomorrow would one day come. hail xibalba & flaming serpent.— darren aronofsky (@DarrenAronofsky) December 20, 2012 If you like to follow alarmist Internet writings, then you know that on Friday, Dec. 21, a 5,125-year cycle of the Mayan calendar will end, which some so-called enlightened types are saying will either result in a spectacular end to life as we know it or a promising new beginning. Hell, I’ll take that second option any day, but as the New York Times , and other less gullible providers of information have noted, the doomsday prophecies are a misinterpretation of the Maya Long Count calendar and Dec. 21 is simply the day when one cycle ends and a new one begins. Sure, Aronofsky is probably in an apocalyptic frame of mind these days because he’s shooting Noah with Russell Crowe , but clearly he’s being cheeky here. Aronofsky is an adventurer at heart — he was at the Marrakech International Film Festival just a few days ago — so I don’t doubt that he’s going to Maya country. Thousands of people are amassing near Mayan ruins in Merida, Mexico as I write this in hopes of witnessing something big (and smoking some amazing weed). But look at how he signs off: “hail xibalba & flaming serpent.” Xibalba is the name of the underworld in Mayan mythology where the Mayan death gods and their helpers have apparently been twiddling their thumbs and sending messages to Mel Gibson for a very long time. As the sage Franklin Harris also reminds me, Xibalba is featured in Aronofsky’s seriously cosmic The Fountain . Xibalba is the nebula where Tom (Hugh Jackman) takes the tree bearing the essence of his beloved, dying wife Izzi (Rache Weisz). Aronofsky has said that the film “is about coming to terms with your own death.” I’m not sure about the flaming serpent part — maybe a Mayan culture expert can bring me up to speed in the comments section below — but that message reads to me like the smart-ass Mayan geek equivalent of “Live long and prosper.” I’ve asked Aronofsky’s publicist if he’d like to elaborate on his travel plans. I’ll update if I hear back. More on Darren Aronofsky’s Noah: Snakes On A Boat! Noah Cinematographer Libatique Tweets First Look Inside Aronofsky’s Ark [ New York Times , Huffington Post ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
In our pre-Mayan apocalypse era, when you want to ensure that whatever you say is disseminated far and wide faster than the time it takes to tweet ‘DID YOU SEE THIS ###$$!!!’ the best advice is to master the subtle art of trolling with useful facts. Case in point: Joss Whedon , who screened The Avengers and afterward, sat for one of Jeff Goldsmith’s Q&As Tuesday night at the Director’s Guild of America in Hollywood. During a discussion that also included some tantalizing non-reveals about elements that almost, but didn’t make it into The Avengers , he decided to troll the entire universe by insisting that Star Wars: A New Hope is better than The Empire Strikes Back . Kind of! Slashfilm was on the scene and reports this comment: “I still believe that even though The Empire Strikes Back is better in innumerable ways than Star Wars , Star Wars wins,” Whedon said, “because you can’t end a movie with Han frozen in carbonite. That’s not a movie, it’s an episode.” Okay, after putting my fist back down and unclenching it, I see his point. Empire began what has become the most troubling aspect* of Hollywood’s obsession with trilogies; a stand alone first installment, with two subsequent films that work better as a duo rather than taken individually. A true trilogy ought to either feature three films that either work as stand alone stories linked by a common theme, or two cliffhangers in a row with resolution coming in the third movie. Empire , and to a lesser extent Jedi , manage the trick with some subtlety, but there’s a short line between them and Matrix Reloaded / Revolutions . And we must never forget Matrix Reloaded , lest we repeat the mistakes of the past. Anyway, those comments came during a circumspect discussion of how he envisions the Avengers franchise, and should probably be taken to mean that we won’t be getting an Avengers ‘trilogy.’ Good news, that, because instead we’re getting the crazy experiment that is the Marvel movie universe. Slashfilm ‘s recap is worth a full read, particularly because it includes more confirmation that the inclusion of the Wasp was indeed considered in the event ScarJo wasn’t available — interesting in light of recent rumors that Lizzy Caplan , who stars with Jesse Bradford in the Marvel short Item 47 , is a potential candidate to play the diminutive mutant. Read the whole thing here . * Second most troubling: claiming that three thematically unrelated sequels constitute a trilogy I AM LOOKING AT YOU DIE HARD . [ Source: Slashfilm ] 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 him on twitter (@rossalincoln). Follow Movieline on Twitter .
If you loathe Transformers – Michael Bay but have a soft spot for the Bay who made not one, but two Bad Boys es, then the first trailer for his true crime pic Pain & Gain is going to push all the right buttons: Beefy macho men, fast cars, a slick Miami setting, Mark Wahlberg hitting that Dirk Diggler sweet spot of dumb overconfidence, and everyone’s favorite muscleman, The Rock… it’s enough to make the truly disturbing real life saga of a gang of bodybuilding thugs-turned-killers who bungled their way through unspeakable acts of torture and murder into a feelgood American Dream antihero tale! Wahlberg stars as real life ringleader Daniel Lugo, a small time Florida dreamer/ short shorts enthusiast who tapped his workout buddies to pull the most inept — and, don’t get it twisted, unforgivably violent — extortion attempt in recent history. Things didn’t turn out so well for the Sun Gym gang, and things certainly didn’t shake out in slo-motion hero shots and hilarious sound bite quips for their victims. The trailer is CSI Miami -slick and stuffed with all the usual Bay signatures that made him the commercially successful bombast-specialist auteur that he is, but I can’t help but wonder if, after making relatable Lugo & Co.’s yearning for more, and glorifying the bromantic shenanigans that unfold as they cook up a scheme to steal money from Monk, Bay will flip the table on his audience and shine a harsher light on the crimes that put these “heroes” on death row in real life. Since this is Michael Freaking Bay we’re talking about here, I have no idea what to expect on the moral ambiguity tip, but best case scenario, this could be his most mature and complex look at modern machismo yet. (Maybe that’s not saying much.) Pain & Gain is based on Miami New Times writer Pete Collins’ fascinating report on the Sun Gym gang and the Fargo -esque trajectory of their eventual downfall and arrest. The full saga is a must-read: Find it archived here . Pain & Gain hits theaters April 26. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
This was a terrific year for movies. I don’t know that I have more to say about it as a whole than that, because 2012 was such a varied year in cinema, too. We saw procedurals, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln , that dug into the immense work behind known moments in history; movies about the movies, like Holy Motors and The Cabin in the Woods , and sensory creations like Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Master , with their very different protagonists who each seem, at times, tuned into a clearer sense of the universe. This year also saw the continued fade-out of celluloid and the push for new cinematic experiences with the 48fps of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey , the 3D wizardry of Life of Pi and the prosthetic and make-up-aided gender and ethnicity crossing-casting of Cloud Atlas . But my biggest pleasures in the theater this year tended to be the old-fashioned type: from a luscious 70mm screening of The Master at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York to the throwback sensibility at the center of Rust and Bone. Then again, it’s contemporary technology that allowed my number-one pick to be shot and smuggled to its Cannes premiere inside a cake. Film is changing, sure, but there’s no arguing its vividly alive. 10. Dark Horse “I know that life has been unfair to you because it has given you every possible advantage,” man-child Abe (Jordan Gelber) is told in a dream sequence, a perfect encapsulation of an existence spent in paralyzing, frustrated inadequacy. Both he and his eventual reluctant fiancée Miranda ( Selma Blair ) are in their thirties and living with their parents in New Jersey, crushed by their inability to prove themselves to be as special in adulthood as they’d always been as children. Todd Solondz doesn’t mock his ridiculous, defensive and unhappy protagonist with the same mercilessness that he used to skewer his back catalog of memorable losers, but he doesn’t allow Abe to be lovable or cuddly either. He’s inherited a dissatisfaction that has kept him caught between entitlement and self-loathing, and stands alone as a marvelously drawn and tragic figure of toxic ingrained American aspirations. 9. The Cabin in the Woods It’s an ingeniously geeky and loving deconstruction of the horror genre. It’s a meta-critique of what we want from slasher flicks and why we enjoy them. It’s a reworking of and an explanation for the silliest recurring habits of scary movie victims, and it’s also, somehow, a workplace comedy. Mostly, though, Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon’s clever, clever film was maybe the best time you could have had in cineplexes this year. It was rewarding both as a reference-laden (bloody) valentine to hardcore film fans and a rollicking standalone feature that offered up far-from-disposable characters and an elaborate high-tech system to explain why they ended up running from baddies in the woods.
Back in the 90s there was a persistent (and very silly) rumor that Jet Li secretly had a ton of triad tattoos on his arms and chest, which is why he never took off his shirt on camera. Dumb, yes, but stuff like that made the Hong Kong movie biz seem so much more dangerous than ours. Now Jackie Chan has done his part by claiming in an interview with a Chinese publication that he once carried a huge arsenal for protection from organized criminals. While sharing stories about Triad hoods who bullied actors during productions, he revealed “They opened fire at me once I got off the airplane. From that moment on, I needed to carry a gun every day when I went out.” Chan also claimed that in one incident, he confronted a group of men armed with knives “with two guns and six grenades.” Proving once and for all you should never bring a knife to a Rambo fight. He is now under investigation by HKPD for violating that city’s strict gun and weapons control laws, and has since claimed in a blog post that “I told the media about my unruly behavior to express that I had the thought of resorting to violence because of my lack of education. I cannot express myself properly sometimes, I only want to say that people need discipline, and our government should manage the public and resources in a fair way.” Translation : He was probably talking shit the first time. But even if these claims are true, hopefully HKPD understands that Chan had to carry so many weapons because if he tried to fight mobsters off, he would have accidentally convinced his long-suffering girlfriend that he was cheating on her. [ Source: South China Morning Post via Kotaku ] Follow Ross A. Lincoln on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The payoff in this official trailer for Daniel Schechter’s Supporting Characters is in the very last line, delivered by the always acerbic Kevin Corrigan ( Pineapple Express ). I’m not going to spoil it, so check it out for yourself. Along the way you may also feel like you’re watching a preview for an episode of Girls since Alex Karpovsky has one of the lead roles in this film and Lena Dunham also makes a brief, tattooed appearance. (Karpovsky was also memorable as the very frank stand-up comic Ian Gilmore in Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk with Me. ) Here’s the official synopsis for the picture: Best friends Nick (Alex Karpovsky, Girls ) and Darryl (co-writer Tarik Lowe) are a New York film editing duo hired to salvage a botched comedy from a manic director (Kevin Corrigan, Pineapple Express ) gone AWOL. But what starts as a simple job quickly sends their relationships—with their significant others and each other—reeling. Amidst trouble with his fiancée (Sophia Takal, V/H/S ) , Nick finds himself falling for the film’s flirtatious ingénue (Arielle Kebbel, 90210 ); Darryl, meanwhile, struggles to focus on his editing work in between fights with his tempestuous girlfriend (Melonie Diaz, Be Kind Rewind ). With real humor and heart, Supporting Characters offers a sharp, knowing take on life and love in the big city. Schechter, by the way, is slated to direct the Jackie Brown prequel that’s currently in pre-production with Jennifer Aniston , John Hawkes and Mos Def. Supporting Characters is available on VOD on Jan. 22 and opens in select theaters Jan. 25. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino defended the heavy dosage of violence in Django Unchained , his latest film starring Jamie Foxx , Christoph Waltz , Leonardo DiCaprio , Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson . As with many of his past offerings, Tarantino’s Oscar hopeful includes a graphic depictions of blood and gunshot victims. Tarantino was asked about the violence over the weekend in New York in the wake of the tragedy in a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 dead, most of them children. At a Saturday press event, Tarantino said that real-life violence is the fault of perpetrators and didn’t appear to accept a correlation between incidents like the weekend’s massacre in Newtown, CT and violence on the big screen. “I think you know there’s violence in the world, tragedies happen, blame the playmakers,” he said according to BBC, adding, “It’s a Western. Give me a break.” Django Unchained received five Golden Globe nominations last week and is a strong contender for Oscar nominations next month. Still, Django star Jamie Foxx did say he believes the big screen can influence people’s actions. “We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn’t have a sort of influence. It does,” he said. In the spaghetti-western style feature, Foxx pays a freed slave who sets out to rescue his wife from a ruthless plantation owner, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Representing more divide among the Django crew that is perhaps a microcosm of society generally, Christoph Waltz said he didn’t believe films provoke violence, adding that the film contained violence because it was in fact part of American history. “The media’s responsibility is greater than the story teller is because… Django is violent, but it’s not inspiring violence,” said Waltz. Kerry Washington offered up that violence in film can serve as an important learning vehicle, educating audiences about historical atrocities such as slavery. “I do think that it’s important when we have the opportunity to talk about violence and not just kind of have it as entertainment, but connect it to the wrongs, the injustices, the social ills,” said Washington. Meanwhile, Paramount decided to move premiere events in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh for Tom Cruise’s new action pic Jack Reacher “out of honor and respect for the families of the victims whose lives were senselessly taken.” The feature opens with sniper shooting several people. And Sunday night, new episodes of Family Guy and American Dad were dropped, with Fox network opting for repeats of the shows in order to avoid showing any potentially sensitive content. A scheduled repeat of The Cleveland Show was also swapped out. Twenty six children and six adults died at Sandy Hook school in Newton, CT. The gunman is identified as Adam Lanza, 20. He killed his mother before heading to the school Friday. [ Source: BBC ]
Christopher Nolan recently said it’s as tough for older actors to get roles as it is for older actresses. Not if you’re Alan Arkin . This has been a big week for the 78-year-old actor, who was nominated for a Golden Globe on Thursday for his performance as a crusty film producer in Argo. Earlier this week, Arkin ht the red carpet for his new flick Stand Up Guys in which he stars opposite Al Pacino and Christopher Walken. The film’s director Fisher Stevens was also on hand and told me he much prefers directing to acting. It’s better to paint the entire picture than just be a small part of it, he says. As for Julianna Margulies — another Golden Globe nominee for her work on The Good Wife — she said co-starring in the film was like taking a master class in acting. Hoo-ah! Check out my full interview below: Follow Movieline on Twitter . Follow Grace Randolph on Twitter . WebRep currentVote noRating noWeight
