Unless you have a Google Alert set for “Antonio Banderas, Sam Elliott, James van der Beek, Snoop Dogg, Autumn Reeser and missing stripper” you probably haven’t heard of The Big Bang . That’s OK, because your official introduction to the dark thriller — due in theaters May 13 — awaits you ahead and, thankfully, this feature promises to be nothing like the similarly-named CBS sitcom.
That didn’t take very long at all. Fans of Japanese Magna Akira are already up in arms about the report that Warner Bros. is looking to cast the film from a list of Caucasian actors that includes Robert Pattinson, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Fassbender. Who could have seen this one coming?
The news of the Elizabeth Taylor’s death is difficult for any film fan — even if her New York Times obituary was so old that its writer died in 2005 . Now that you’ve read about her life , her great over-the-top performances , and best cameos , let’s give the mic to Twitter and allow five celebrities (who often know better than us) to highlight Ms. Taylor’s unmistakable presence. Take it away!
A dark cultural day darkens still with the news that Richard Leacock, the prolific filmmaker who, with fellow directors D.A. Pennebaker, Robert Drew and the Maysles Brothers helped pioneer the nonfiction format known as “direct cinema,” has died at 89 . A sampling of his influential work — and a few valuable life lessons for the up-and-comers out there — after the jump.
Sympathy for Delicious wasn’t exactly the toast of Sundance 2010, but with a cast that includes Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney, Juliette Lewis, Noah Emmerich, John Carroll Lynch, screenwriter Christopher Thornton, and first-time director Mark Ruffalo, it earns a second look in its new trailer. We can quibble about the use of Rolling Stones lyrics to illustrate the movie’s theme of healing, but at least “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” stays out of the fray.
The worst-kept secret (or most obvious development, however you want to read it) of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival was confirmed today: Terrence Malick’s long-delayed The Tree of Life will debut on the Croisette in May. The film joins Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris as the only selections officially set for this year’s fest, though its status in or out of competition remains unknown. Tree of Life opens Stateside in limited release on May 27. [ Thompson on Hollywood ]
To top off this day of Elizabeth Taylor commemoration, here are four final videos where Hollywood’s finest stepped out to honor the brazen screen star. The toasting celebs range from Taylor’s costars and close personal friends to the class of modern stars she inspired. Yes, some moonwalking sneaks into the fun.
But she can’t confirm or deny reports about his nudity in their movie ‘Bel Ami’: ‘I didn’t see his bum once!’ By Kara Warner Robert Pattinson Photo: Steve Granitz/ WireImage Throughout the course of his first few years in the business, Robert Pattinson has had a great run with quality leading ladies. During MTV News’ recent live interview with the star, he joked that he has a special place in his heart for working with “hot girls.” When MTV News caught up with one of the “hot” women in question, Uma Thurman, she laughed off the compliment and turned the praise back toward her co-star and his impressive work in their upcoming period drama, “Bel Ami.” “Robert Pattinson is, I think, going to be a really serious actor,” Thurman said while promoting her new movie “Ceremony.” “I think he’s incredibly concrete in his presence on the set and obviously is very handsome. [He] is a very nice person and he’s sensitive. He’s present. … He’s a really good actor.” Thurman went on to say that while a lot of attention is focused on his attractiveness, he was very professional during filming and held his own with all the women who appear in “Bel Ami.” “Yes, he’s extremely dashing, like an old-world movie star,” Thurman admitted. “[But] he’s got a lot of weight to him. I don’t think he was knocked down by all the women they threw at him [during the filming of ‘Bel Ami’], which I think is probably lucky for him.” Speaking to Pattinson’s comments that we might see a lot of his bum in “Bel Ami,” Thurman revealed she was not privy to any RPattz nakedness. “I didn’t see his bum once!” she said, laughing. “So I can’t tell you about it. I don’t know what happened to him with other characters, I have no idea, to tell you the truth,” she said, adding that just because she didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it won’t be in the film. “I haven’t seen the film cut together, so there may or may not be Robert’s bum.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV First: Robert Pattinson
‘Eclipse,’ ‘Social Network’ stars and more may snag nominations in the new category as voting begins today. By Eric Ditzian Taylor Lautner in “Eclipse” Photo: Summit New MTV Movie Award categories come and go. Best Kiss has been around since the beginning (“My Girl” co-star Anna Chlumsky and Macaulay Culkin were the inaugural winners in 1992), while Sexiest Performance and Best Virtual Performance lasted just a year (congrats, Jessica Alba and Gollum!). For the 2011 show, one new category joins the field: Best Line From a Movie . Folks like Justin Timberlake (“Social Network”), Taylor Lautner (“Eclipse”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“Inception”) will compete to make the final list of nominees. We should add, however, that we’ve seen something like this before. For two years at the turn of the millennium, we presented a category called Best Line. Robert De Niro won that first year for asking Ben Stiller in “Meet the Parents,” “Are you a pothead, Focker?” The next year, “Legally Blonde” star Reese Witherspoon triumphed for delivering this line to Selma Blair: “Oh, I like your outfit too, except when I dress up as a frigid bitch, I try not to look so constipated.” While comedic movie lines won twice in the past, there’s no telling what’s going to happen this year. Potential nominees are both young (“Grown Ups” star Alexys Nycole Sanchez: “I want to get chocolate wasted!”) and, well, not as young (“Tron: Legacy” star Jeff Bridges: “You’re really ruining my Zen thing”). There are laugh lines (“With no power, comes no responsibility,” Aaron Johnson said in “Kick Ass”) and deadly serious ones (“If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook,” Jesse Eisenberg declared in “The Social Network”). A few quotes are a little too dirty to print in full (“It’s in the shape of a giant co–,” cracks Chlo
It’s going to be a bumpy weekend. A scant couple of millions separated first place Limitless from fifth place Rango in the Friday box office, with the difference between number two Battle: Los Angeles , number three Paul and fourth place Lincoln Lawyer being just a few hundred thousand. Look for a lot of jockeying for position and a lot of chest-puffing the next few days, and of course watch the numbers change as the final amounts coming pouring in. Your Friday box office is here.