Finally, some news about Kristen Stewart that doesn’t involve her love life . Vulture reports that the actress has landed the lead role of Peyton Loftis in Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper’s adaptation of William Styron’s 1951 novel, Lie Down in Darkness . The project — and the role — sure sound like the level of work that will propel Stewart toward that Oscar that I’m counting on her to win. The film is set in 1950s Virginia, and according to the site, Stewart’s character’s “intense physical beauty makes her the object of her frigid mother’s jealous hatred and the target of her father’s incestuous, alcoholic lust.” Yikes! [ Vulture ]
The new trailer of Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels ‘ The Paperboy hit Wednesday. Shots of the film, which premiered in Cannes this past May give a great tease including Zac Efron dancing with sex kitten Nicole Kidman in his tighty-whities and it shows John Cusack as the frightful villain (stalking in a Florida swamp no less). “He’s good looking, the camera can’t help but love him… And I’m a gay man – you know!” said Daniels in Cannes when asked about Efron being “eroticized” in the film at a press conference . “I don’t think I was supposed to feel comfortable,” said Efron, laughing after Daniels’s quip. “This character is learning the ways of the world and it is uncomfortable. It was a great character to play.” Based on a novel by Pete Dexter, The Paperboy is set in late ’60s Florida. Efron plays Jack, a young guy who’s aimless and living with his dad and soon-to-be step mother. His older brother (Matthew McConaughey) is a journalist who comes to town to investigate a death-row inmate (John Cusack) he believes is wrongly convicted of murder. Meanwhile, Cusack is corresponding with a platinum blonde (Nicole Kidman) with a fabulous wardrobe, fake eye-lashes and pillowy lips. She’s also the object of Jack’s raging hormones — and things get complicated. The film divided audiences in Cannes where it had its avid fans and vocal detractors. Daniels, who is currently filming The Butler and a pic on Martin Luther King’s assassination afterward. This will likely be his most racy feature though for the foreseeable future. Millennium Entertainment opens The Paperboy October 5th in the U.S.
Heads up, fanboys and girls: Marvel has released a barrage of Avengers clips ahead of its September 25 Blu-ray/DVD street date, including the geek-baiting post-credits scene that had fans in a tizzy. No, not the one that boosted sales of shawarma around the nation ; the other Easter Egg, which revealed a menacing glimpse of the real orchestrator behind Loki’s invasion of Earth. The impending Blu-ray/DVD release has also given Marvel occasion to release a handful of additional clips from the film, reminding what life was like before The Dark Knight Rises came along and stole everyone’s thunder. I’d include a spoiler warning here, but if you’re reading this now and haven’t seen Avengers yet… well, I can’t help you there. The post-credits peek reveals Marvel baddie Thanos, who is believed to be the villain in the next Avengers pic. This might also be the closest we’ll come to another Hellboy sequel. (Kidding!) [via Badass Digest ]
The story of a man named Brady and his irritatingly chipper blended family is as much a part of ’70s pop culture as shag rugs and free love, maybe more; neither of those dated phenomena lived on in the popular consciousness as tenaciously, and exhaustively, as The Brady Bunch . The series already enjoyed five seasons, an afterlife in syndication, many lesser spin-offs, and — the true marker of any Hollywood institution — an E! True Hollywood Story . So who really thinks we need another Brady Bunch reboot? Vince Vaughn , that’s who! THR confirms that executive producer Vaughn and CBS are developing a rebooted version of the series that continues the cycle of marriage, divorce, and re-marriage centered around Mike Brady’s youngest kid, Bobby Brady, who’s now grown and building his own modern family. “The CBS effort would include Bobby and his new bride’s exes and, like the original, feature their kids from previous marriages, along with the couple’s shared child,” THR reports. Fine, fine. I can come to terms with a tenuously connected contemporary Brady Bunch spin-off made for the CBS primetime audience as long as nobody gets any funny ideas about making more movies. That said, I can’t say I don’t still chuckle at the sight of an airplane full of normal, sane people (read: AUDIENCE SURROGATES) telling the singing brood to STFU. [ THR ]
Well . Orchestrating a luminous, fiery 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony celebration that somehow managed to combine film, music, live theater, dance, the Beatles, a giant baby, flying men on freaking jetpacks, Mr. Bean, James Bond AND The Queen, Danny Boyle set the world abuzz with his tribute to British culture. While Olympics-watchers process the epic Brit-centric extravaganza, we’ve got good looks at 9 beautifully bizarre moments from the Opening Ceremony. Dive right in to Movieline’s Olympics gallery and revel in the Boyletastic theatrics. Your move, Brazil ’16. Maybe I missed the memo and someone out there can explain why so many of the random UK cultural icons in Boyle’s uber-British, at times verging on Gaga-esque mad dance party are words that begin with the letter B? B eatles, B ond, B owie, (Mr.) B ean, that terrifying b aby, the b ubble people, B eckham … on a b oat! 1. James Bond and The Queen Her form is impeccable. 2. David Beckham “He’s on a boat (I’m on a boat)…” etc., etc. 3. David Bowie A nice segue into the “Starman” segment, and perhaps a visual approximation of what Danny Boyle was thinking at this very moment . 4. Mr. Bean Instagram waits for no man. 5. That Giant Baby Homage to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children, or preview of tonight’s nightmare visions? 6. Winged Bicyclists Great new Olympic sport idea, or best new Olympic sport idea? 7. He Who Shall Not Be Named If he wasn’t terrifying before, kids… 8. Flying Mary Poppinses! Shout out to Bert, over in the corner sweeping the world’s largest chimney tidying up after the molten Industrial Revolution rings. 9. FREAKING. JET. PACKS. DANNY BOYLE’S GREAT BRITAIN IS THE FUTURE. Click here for the full 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony Gallery. [Photos: Getty Images] Follow Movieline on Twitter .
As breathlessly reported by Variety’s Jeff Sneider via Twitter : “Ladies and gentlemen, The Master primed for limited release on Sept. 14, will expand the following weekend!” The Weinstein Co. will release early in prime awards season moving the pic up from an October release, rolling the Philip Seymour Hoffman-starrer wide on September 21. The bad news for Austin, Texas film geeks: The timing seems to contradict speculation that Anderson’s hotly anticipated pic might debut at Fantastic Fest, which runs September 20-27, though it may still screen there post-limited release. A Venice , late Toronto , or Telluride premiere is likely. [ Variety ]
The title character of Ruby Sparks is a 26-year-old painter from Dayton, Ohio played by Zoe Kazan, who also wrote the film’s screenplay, She has bangs and wears brightly colored tights. Her first crushes were on John Lennon and Humphrey Bogart. She loves to cook, can’t drive and doesn’t own a computer. Her problems, as someone points out, are all of the “endearing” variety. She’s also entirely the invention of Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano), a blocked author who wrote a hit novel at age 19 and 10 years later, has yet to follow it up. Living a solitary life in Los Angeles, he’s advised by his shrink Dr. Rosenthal (Elliott Gould) to write about meeting someone while out walking his dog, Scotty. Ruby first appears to Calvin in his sleep, and soon he’s fleshing her character out on his typewriter. For the first time in ages, words come to him easily as he tells the story of how his literal dream girl meets and ends up with a guy who’s a lot like him. Directed by Little Miss Sunshine ‘s team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Ruby Sparks isn’t the exercise in stevia-dusted whimsy that it sounds like, especially once a flesh-and-blood Ruby suddenly materializes — exactly as Calvin wrote her — with no awareness that she began as a fictional literary character. This touch of movie magic is actually a way for the filmmakers to tartly examine the cinematic trope of the manic pixie dream girl and the larger problems inherent in searching for someone who’s perfect for you. Ruby is perfect for Calvin because he wrote her to be that way. She’s not your stereotypical pneumatic blond lust object because while sex is certainly part of the relationship Calvin is looking for, control and security are more important. She’s adorable but vulnerable because she’s been treated badly. She’s eager to please, and though Calvin is nothing like the other men she’s dated, she falls in love with him instantly and even promises him, “I will never get sick of you.” As Calvin’s older, married brother Harry (Chris Messina) points out when reading his sibling’s description of Ruby before she ever manages her transition into the physical world, “you haven’t written a person, you’ve written a girl.” And Kazan has written a portrait of a self-pitying, self-protective creative type that becomes so progressively biting that the film’s hopeful epilogue doesn’t quite fly. We learn more about Calvin as he initially freaks out about Ruby’s presence — he thinks he’s going nuts until he realizes other people can see her — but then gratefully comes to accept it. In ebullient montages, the pair goes to an arcade and out dancing. They settle into a life together. Calvin and his brother figure out early on that Ruby is a malleable creation. Calvin can dictate his dream girl’s behavior by continuing to write about her. At first, he vows not to play God and locks up his work in a drawer, but Ruby starts to chafe at being Calvin’s sole companion and at being expected to support his self-centered behavior. His treatment of Ruby grows crueler and as we meet his ex-girlfriend Lila ( True Blood ‘s Deborah Ann Woll) and realize that his account of their breakup is seriously slanted. Ruby starts building a life away from Calvin, and soon he’s pulling out paper and trying to fix her problems with him (instead of himself). Dayton and Faris have created a very grounded L.A. for this not-so-grounded story. They make notable use of the all-white bungalow in which Calvin spends most of his days sitting by the backyard pool . Dano is very good at morphing from the shaggy, appealing literary genius he appears to be at the film’s outset into a troubled, not-so-nice guy who comes sharply into focus at film’s end. After all, Ruby Sparks is really about Calvin. Ruby is simply a mirror — which is why the ending strikes the only real false note of the movie. Calvin gets a dose of much-needed self-awareness and what feels like the wrong sort of chance at redemption. As a whole, however, Ruby Sparks lands like a punch. It’s a smart counter-jab to the many movies out there that put forth the myth that the world is full of quirky angels in ballet flats who are just waiting for some morose protagonist to come along in need of their love. It’s as much of a fantasy as Kelly LeBrock emerging from a teenager’s PC. Real people have problems that can’t be dismissed with a sweeping sentence on a page — and real relationships involve compromise and dealing with those problems, not holding out for someone who indulges your every foible and asks nothing in return. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
I should admit up front that I’ve long been skeptical of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson ‘s off-screen romance. They make a beautiful couple, as the Twilight franchise box-office numbers demonstrate, but, if you ask me, their real-life relationship has always had an odor of Hollywood hoodoo — the inspired idea of some marketing or public-relations executive who saw a way to keep fan interest in the blockbuster saga alive between movies. Then again, a slew of respectable publications and websites are telling me it’s real, and so who am I to disagree? People.com reported today , for instance, that a “heartbroken and angry” Pattinson had moved out of the Los Angeles home that he shared with Stewart, despite her head-turning public apology for cheating on him by making out in a car with married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders . The whole episode and the media frenzy it has provoked brings out the armchair analyst in me (I do have a Bachelors in psychology, by the way) and, whether I look at this from the perspective of a couples counselor or a cultural critic, I can’t help but think that Stewart — subconsciously or consciously — is telling us that she doesn’t want us to think of her as Bella anymore. Although she seems to have become better adjusted to being in the spotlight recently, Stewart has never appeared comfortable with the insane kind of fame that the Twilight movies brought her. (Indeed, the last time she had to issue an apology was when she compared the paparazzi’s photographing of her to being raped.) I’ve never met her, but I wonder if that discomfort has to do with her self-image as an actress instead of teen idol movie star. Stewart’s excellent performances in Into the Wild and the extremely underrated Adventureland tell me that she has Oscar potential. (I also thought she did Joan Jett justice in The Runaways .) With the right roles, she could be her generation’s Jodie Foster . But at the moment, she’s got to feel more like Mark Hamill. Stewart’s headlines-making cheating episode reminds me of the furor that erupted in 2008 when Vanity Fair published a tastefully topless photo of Miley Cyrus in the magazine. Like Stewart, Cyrus apologized for the incident saying she was “embarrassed” by the photo. But the episode was really a smart bit of positioning on Cyrus’ part: the image sent the message that Cyrus was leaving the adolescent world of Hannah Montana behind. Intentionally or impulsively, Stewart has sent a similar message to the millions of Twi-hards out their who breathlessly monitor her every move. Bella, and maybe Robsten too are history. As one friend told People: “I’m not sure they’ll be able to recover from this.” I bet that friend is right. Sometimes you have to break a few hearts to get what you want. Even when those hearts belong to your biggest fans. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on
David Dinerstein (President, LD Entertainment), William Friedkin, Matthew McConaughey, Gina Gershon, Tracy Letts, Mickey Liddell (CEO, LD Entertainment). Photo by Nick Hunt/Patrick McMullan Co. Killer Joe had a gala screening Monday night in New York with stars Matthew McConaughey and Gina Gershon on-hand along with Oscar-winning director William Friedkin who had some choice words about gun violence, the law and their relationship to movies. His film, which will be released this weekend, described by its official website as a “Totally twisted deep-fried Texas redneck trailer park murder story” received an often-dreaded NC-17 by the MPAA for “graphic disturbing content involving violence and sexuality and a scene of brutality.” McConaughey and Friedkin weighed in on violence and its sources post- TDKR tragedy at the event, hosted by the Cinema Society. “Well, it’s a lot longer answer than I can give you now, but I will just say that is, one thing that we shouldn’t be saying in society when something like that happens anymore, we shouldn’t be saying ‘unbelievable,'” McConaughey told THR at the event. “It happens, and we don’t know the answer to it right now, but there’s definitely, people now more than ever, people can make a very murky line between reality and illusion.” Continuing he added, “They can make a very murky line between the games that are played and civilization, without any thought of consequences at times…” But Friedkin gave a more emphatic response to the violence that took place at the final installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, saying the Joker references made by the accused gunman James Holmes was simply an act. “He was not insane. He premeditated that. He bought 6000 rounds of ammunition, he was eligible to buy guns and ammo, he set it up, he booby trapped his room…” Violence, insanity pleas and societal ills aside, the event, which was also co-hosted by Bally and DeLeón for LD Entertainment’s Killer Joe was a typically pleasant affair. The after-party took place at nightspot No. 8 and DeLeón tequila flowed. Also attending the event were Tracy Letts who wrote the play and screenplay for the film and other brass from the movie including producers Christopher Woodrow and Molly Conners, Mickey Liddell (CEO, LD Entertainment), David Dinerstein (President, LD Entertainment). Among the other notable guests in attendance were: Mélanie Laurent, Alan Cumming, Ethan Coen, Roseanne Barr, John Stamos, Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Camila Alves, S. Epatha Merkerson, Courtney Love, Rinko Kikuchi (Babel), Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), Isiah Whitlock (Law & Order SVU), Tony Danza, Russell Simmons, Tiki & Traci Barber, Billy Magnussen, John Cameron Mitchell, Alex Karpovsky (Girls), Stavros Niarchos, Jessica Hart, Rachel Roy, Nicole Trunfio, Dan Abrams, Debbie Bancroft, Daniel Benedict, David Zinczenko, Nicky Hilton and Cinema Society founder Andrew Saffir. Movieline will have a full interview with director William Friedkin soon. [ Source: THR , Cinema Society ] [Photo: Nick Hunt/Patrick McMullan Co., courtesy of Cinema Society]
If you thought you were getting any work done during the second part of the day, think again. The good people at Vulture have apparently teamed up with the RAND Corporation and NASA to devise a series of charts with endless permutations that rank today’s most valuable movie stars . But, we ask: Who are today’s Most Valuable Indie Stars? How does one determine who is most valuable? Vulture is more than willing to pull back the curtain on their methodology . (Oh, if only the folks at Diebold could learn a thing or two from celeb-obsessed journalists!) They may have their nifty algorithms, but we’ve got our gut instincts. Using those and those only, we’d like to devise a highly unscientific list of the most valuable indie actors working today. 6. Michael Shannon He’s got many more credits than you might think ( Kangaroo Jack! ) but he first came to our attention as an unusual leading man in Jeff Nichols’ Shotgun Stories . His turn in Werner Herzog’s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? secured him a lifetime of indie cred, and this was before Boardwalk Empire and Take Shelter . By my algorithm, he can appear in Man of Steel and two sequels and still be considered an indie star. 5. Mathieu Amalric It isn’t crazy to call this French import a next gen Steve Buscemi. Amalric’s worked with a number of top level international directors like Julian Schnabel, Alain Resnais and Arnaud Desplechin. When he works in Hollywood it’s in top tier material like Munich and Quantum of Solace , which, you must remember, looked like it was going to be good on paper. 4. Michelle Williams From Dawson’s Creek to Synechdoche, NY , Michelle Williams is such a beloved indie star we’ll put up with her breaking our hearts ( Blue Valentine ), forgive her, then let her do it again ( Take This Waltz .) No trip to the Park Slope Food Co-op is complete without thinking you see her in the loose tea aisle. 3. Michael Fassbender From his indistinguishable accent to the phallic puns about his last name, it’s impossible not to give this guy a high ranking. I was hesitant to see Hunger because we’d already seen the Bobby Sands story in Some Mother’s Son , but when I realized it was one of the shirtless dudes from 300 we got curious. Since then he’s put in remarkable turns in Inglourious Basterds , A Dangerous Method , Jane Eyre and Haywire . Even when he does a major studio picture it is with an provocateur in the director’s chair like Matthew Vaughn or Ridley Scott. Fassbender is one of the few actors out there that elite moviegoers will follow from project-to-project indiscriminately. 2. Tilda Swinton …and in that regard, he’s right alongside Tilda Swinton. Who else out there has punk rock cred from her early Derek Jarman years and is also the descendant of medieval landed gentry? From the films of the Coen Brothers to Jim Jarmusch to Lynne Ramsay to Wes Anderson to oddball gems like Julia and I Am Love , Swinton strikes me as someone who doesn’t need to work, to the point that she’s very selective about what she does. As such, anything she’s involved in is very much worth your time. 1. Paul Giamatti If you’ve missed Michelle Williams in Brooklyn, maybe you’ve seen Paulie G around. A gifted comic, and uncannily sympathetic, Giamatti brings a level of excellence to everything he does. Barney’s Version is, I hate to say it, not a good movie. Yet Giamatti’s performance made me literally laugh and cry – oftentimes in the same moment. What’s more, Giamatti is quick to use his Hollywood clout to champion far-flung indie films, which was made abundantly clear during this year’s Sundance with the ultra-niche John Dies at the End . Those are our indie-world MVPs. Have more to add? Make your case below!
