Let’s see, what day is it? Jan. 31? Oh , then it must be time for everyone to fulminate over the Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue , specifically its lack of diversity among the featured cover stars. It’s a seasonal ritual almost as inviolable as Groundhog Day, with equally severe implications of who made the cover (and where). To wit, a lot of white chicks. Cue six more weeks of winter! At least in the grocery checkout aisle, anyway. It’s hard for me to get exercised about this tradition anymore — especially in 2012, after so many years of black, Asian, Latino and other young talent of color being routinely nudged aside for the likes of… Lily Collins. Of course, let’s be fair: Pariah star Adepero Oduye is in the center of the spread’s second page, and Paula Patton is there on the third page. And if we think of breakthrough actresses of color whom VF missed and should have included, it’s kind of a short list, isn’t it? As in: I can’t think of any off the top of my head. Which likely says more about Hollywood and/or me than about VF . Kind of. Placement is placement. Anyway, suggestions welcome! And: I’m fully expecting Viola Davis on next month’s cover to coincide with her imminent Best Actress Oscar win.
Controversial Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani was recently banned from her homeland after the French fashion magazine Madame Le Figaro published topless photos of her, thus prompting a support page on Facebook featuring other Iranian activists posing topless or entirely nude. Oy, guys, you’re doing it wrong. I’m all for freedom and would love to see things like A Separation ‘s dual Oscar nominations and Farahani’s personal choices and just basic human rights of filmmakers like Jafar Panahi respected. Yes to all these things! But let’s be honest: If your goal is to raise global awareness with a Facebook page in Farahani’s name, then you’re probably best off not turning the site into some lo-fi variation on AdultFriendFinder — which was never especially hi-fi to begin with. (Click the image at right for a NSFW look.) I doubt that the conservative-minded leaderships of both Facebook and Iran will be down with this, and then what? We’re right back where we started. Anyway, the page is currently hovering around 3,500 likes. I’d lend it some #ConsiderUggie juice , but he’s nude in his photos, too, so hey. Anyone want to volunteer a more persuasive approach? [via TheWrap ]
“You think if Brad Pitt wins the Oscar this year, people will say he’s had it coming since Seven Years in Tibet ? Guys, let’s all say that!” [ This Had Oscar Buzz ]
What? We ruined a perfect 0% on Rotten Tomatoes for this? “[Katherine] Heigl herself does an okay job in the role. She never quite pulls off the Jersey persona but she comes close enough. With her dyed brown hair and slightly more curvy appearance she certainly looks better than I’ve ever seen her look. I never thought of her as that attractive before, but she’s quite sexy here. She should definitely keep the dark hair. Despite the weakness of the mystery and the failure of the humor to be as funny as it should be, there is just enough of everything plus a dose of likable charm from Heigl to keep the story moving along.” Get me my pitchfork and torch, please . [ Three Movie Buffs ]
You know how when you’re browsing around online, and you arrive at a news site or some other ad-supported publication that digs into your Web history for the most appropriate display ads to show you on your visit? Except they’re not appropriate, like, at all ? Try this recent combo found by a Movieline reader in Australia: I mean, sure! Sydney restaurateur survives 25-meter fall from balcony + your desirable age/economic demographic + Sam Worthington’s slow career suicide new film opening soon = Marketing genius . If only we’d had a guy plunge eight stories in one of our bigger American metropolises! This movie might have made some money . Anyway, can’t wait to see Titanic 3-D ads automatically show up on every story about the Costa Concordia for the next two months. You’re welcome, James Cameron. [ Sydney Morning Herald ]
If you think his screenplay is implausible , check out Pablo Fenjves’s earlier work: “Fenjves, who lived in Brentwood in the early ’90s, was the person who heard a dog wailing at the time of the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Even odder, Fenjves found himself years later ghost-writing Simpson’s If I Did It pseudo-memoir.” [ THR ]
“I’m trying to work in studio movies, but they won’t hire me. I get feedback from my agent saying, ‘She’s too much of an indie queen.’ And then on the other side, my name doesn’t get the financing to do a movie over $1 million. And I’m called ‘the indie queen.’ So it’s really a challenging path because I know so much about the indie side of the business. Because I grew up in it. It’s like I’m back in junior high here at Sundance . There’s John Cooper and Trevor Groth and we all grew up together, you know? But it’s different times. And this stuff gets projected onto me. People are like, ‘You’re here every year, you do so many indie movies.’ And I’m like, ‘No, I did Broken English five years ago.'” [ indieWIRE ]
It’s so hard to find a reasonably enjoyable thriller these days that anything with a marginally intriguing premise and fewer than 10 plot holes has come to seem like a minor miracle. Man on a Ledge might have been that kind of modest miracle: Sam Worthington stars as Nick Cassidy, a pissed-off ex-cop who’s been convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Somehow – and the whole of Man on a Ledge deals with the whys and wherefores of that somehow – he springs himself from Sing Sing, suits up in some phenomenally nice-looking threads, and checks himself (under an assumed name) into a room on one of the upper floors of a midtown Manhattan luxury hotel. After a room-service breakfast of champagne, lobster and French fries, he creeps out onto the ledge and greets the cops who respond to the call with some very specific demands. Chief among those requirements is that he’ll speak with only one NYPD psychologist, Lydia Spencer (Elizabeth Banks). Spencer has been having a rough time on the force of late: When we first see her, she’s barely able to rouse herself from her bed – she’s having some sort of killer morning after, and her messy tumble of blond hair makes her look like a discarded Barbie doll. Cassidy, of course, has specific reasons for wanting to speak with Spencer. And even if he makes her day tougher than it was at the beginning, it’s clear from the way her superiors order her around – they include a sarcastic nutbuster played by Edward Burns and Titus Welliver as an overly caricatured, gum-chewing NYPD bossy-pants – that they don’t take her as seriously as Cassidy does. Somewhere in there, Jamie Bell and Genesis Rodriguez sneak around as part of a carefully orchestrated plan to… well, to tell you too much would give the game away, but it involves a giant honker of a diamond that Cassidy supposedly stole from a loathsome Donald Trump type (played with great relish by Ed Harris, who usually gets to portray only principled guys). Meanwhile, Cassidy’s close friend and former partner (played by Anthony Mackie), frets about Cassidy’s fate. Because Cassidy is, after all, clinging somewhat daintily to a narrow strip of stone some 20 stories off the ground: This is a guy who doesn’t care if he lives or dies as long as he ultimately proves his innocence. And as you watch Man on a Ledge , you’ll have good cause to wonder why he’s going to such extremes. Director Asger Leth (son of Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth and also the director of the 2006 documentary Ghosts of Cit
As you may have heard or read, the 2012 Academy Award nominations have stirred strong reactions in certain pockets of the Oscar snubculture. And you just know that Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close filmmaker Stephen Daldry — a first-time non -nominee for Best Director — is seething somewhere out there: “But at least two of those guys won’t even show up! ” Fair enough! Or is it? While everyone expects Michel Hazanavicius, Alexander Payne and Martin Scorsese to attend the 84th Oscars ceremony on Feb. 26, the odds do not especially favor appearances by Woody Allen and Terrence Malick. Allen, who used to have his longstanding jazz dates at the Cafe Carlyle to excuse him from from the old Monday night Oscars (he has never formally accepted any of his three Academy Awards — two in 1978 for Annie Hall , one for Hannah and Her Sisters in 1987), has only deigned to drop by the Sunday night Oscars once: In 2002, mere months after the Sept. 11 attacks, he drew a standing ovation before introducing a montage of classic films set in New York. By all indications, Allen’s opinion of the event and its organizers hasn’t changed much from 34 years ago, when he lobbed one of history’s most enduring Oscar dismissals : “I have no regard for that kind of ceremony. I just don’t think they know what they’re doing. When you see who wins those things — or who doesn’t win them — you can see how meaningless this Oscar thing is.” That said, Allen would do well to represent the biggest professional success of his career — particularly on a night that’s already shaping up as a showcase for Hollywood’s complicated relationships with both nostalgia and the future. Moreover, this year’s class of Director nominees contains three world-renowned masters (including Allen) at whom it would be pretty unreasonable to cast aspersions, plus a man who made a silent film about the futility of pride. Industry back-patting aside, this year — of all years — would be the one to express a little artistic solidarity with peers like Scorsese and Malick. Oh, right: Malick. Terry, Terry, Terry. The legendarily publicity-shy filmmaker attended the Cannes premiere of Tree of Life last May but delegated producer Bill Pohlad to accept the Palme d’Or on his behalf. But according to Pohlad , Malick was “genuinely happy” to hear about Tree ‘s nominations and may be responsive to persuasion when it comes to attending. “I’m hesitant to push Terry to do something he doesn’t like doing, but I also want him to enjoy it,” Pohlad told the LAT , adding: “Sometimes, its frustrating how removed from it he tries to keep it, but it comes from a real place. He’s tried to do something original and adventurous and he wants the focus to be on that.” Hmm. Well, trust me, Mr. Malick: We all pinky-swear to focus on The Tree of Life and all of its originality and adventurousness and the rest if you just drop in for a little while. Ryan Seacrest promises not to accost you on the red carpet; Christopher Plummer promises not to bring up any more hard feelings about The New World . The Academy even promises not to vote for you if not having to take the stage would guarantee your attendance. We’ll do anything! Just say the word. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Remember Patton Oswalt’s Oscar-snubbee Twitter fan fiction — specifically the part wherein Tilda Swinton and Andy Serkis rocked out together to “Life on Mars”? Well, Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert or someone might want to get on that, if Swinton’s priceless reaction is any indication. Per Vulture : “Oh, how fun! Is he there now?” she said. We explained that it was merely his Twitter feed. “But is it real? We should go! Where is he?” she asked, grabbing for her keys and heading for the door. Actually, we explained, he was kidding. “Oh, he’s making jokes. What a shame. I think we should do it for real. How faaabulous!” she said. When she read the tweet, “Serkis & Tilda are singing ‘Is There Life on Mars?'” Swinton said, “That’s a dare! That’s an excellent dare. Okay, Patton, you’re on. Let’s get Andy and let’s go for it!” Genius . Or maybe Swinton could finally fulfill her promise to portray Conan O’Brien on Conan , introducing her and Serkis? There would not be enough health insurance in the world to cover all the exploded heads. [
