With the final installment of The Twilight Saga hitting theaters in under a month (November 16!!!), we can confirm a slew of media appearances over the next few weeks by the film’s main stars. Robert Pattinson , for example, will be a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live on November 5; Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on November 8; and Ellen on November 9. Taylor Lautner , meanwhile, will also stop by Leno on October 31; as well as The Today Show , Live with Kelly and Michael and Fallon all on November 9. Finally, Kristen Stewart , who recently landed in Japan to promote the film abroard, will appear with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan on November 7. Got all that?!? Set your DVR accordingly, visit THG for videos of all their appearances and check out the latest Breaking Dawn 2 featurette now!
If we had a nickel for every Jennifer Lopez nipple slip we’ve seen this month, we’d have a dime! We’re saying, for the math impaired, that it’s happened twice in three weeks. Here’s the latest, from her concert in London: She goes hard, and sometimes her wardrobe pays the price. While performing on Monday night, J.Lo revealed quite a bit of herself as she strutted her stuff on stage. The latest J. Lo nipple slip occurred in a Zuhair Murad bodysuit. The same exact skintight outfit, as luck (or fabric) would have it, that the 43-year-old was wearing during her October 12 concert in Italy when a similar incident occurred. Might be time to give Zuhair a call about this issue. It’s only a matter of time before this titillating fashion snafu happens again. We have November 1 in the pool. In other wardrobe malfunction news: Kris Jenner nip slip alert! [Photos: Pacific Coast News]
Contrary to various online reports, Stacy Keibler and George Clooney remain an item. They walked the red carpet this weekend at the Carousel of Hope Ball in Los Angeles. What has been Keibler’s secret to sticking with the world’s most eligible bachelor for so long? Aside from looking great in a bikini ? A lack of pressure, apparently. “I’m not really interested in thinking about marriage or kids at all,” Keibler told E! News yesterday, making it clear such life decisions are simply “not on my radar.” “I live in the moment,” Keibler added. “I’m more of a guy that way.” On the professional front, Keiber will be hosting Lifetime’s Supermarket Superstars and developing her own line of healthy snack food. “I really feel strongly about trying to reeducate people about food and how you can really heal yourself with food,” she said. “I realized it’s such a passion of mine. I feel like I’ve found myself. I hope I can help people everywhere.”
In case you needed a reminder that George Clooney is just a little bit cooler than everyone else on the planet… The actor was a guest at last night’s Carousel of Hope Ball in Los Angeles, looking his typical dapper self and guest-starring on vocals when Neil Diamond swung by during a rendition of his classic track, “Sweet Caroline.” Did Clooney know the chorus? Of course he did. Did he make for an idea duet partner? Naturally. Did he also receive the Brass Ring Award in recognition of his above-and-beyond humanitarian efforts? Come on. Do you really need to ask? George Clooney and Neil Diamond Duet
South Park is either getting seriously meta, or bizarrely free-associative in its advanced age. The beginning of Wednesday night’s new episode of the Comedy Central series saw the relentlessly cheerful and naively optimistic character Butters Stotch become a pint-sized rageaholic that is initially attributed to his Hawaiian roots, but later turns out to be about the charmed life of Ben Affleck . After arriving on the island of Kaua’i to engage in a rite of passage that, presumably, will cure him of the furies, Butters inexplicably vents about Affleck, wondering how after the mediocrity of Daredevil , the actor/director “can hit a home run that everyone loves,” a reference to Affleck’s critically well-received Argo . “You shouldn’t be able to be good looking, and be with Jennifer Lopez and be a good director,” Butters wails ” Argo is a good movie! It holds up! Ben Affleck has everything, Braaaaa!” (Affleck and Lopez were featured in a famous 2003 South Park episode called “Fat Butt and Pancake Head.” At one point, Butters summons up enough rage to sink a cruise ship with a golf ball. His battle cry: “Stupid Ben Affleck!” The cure for his vexation: Jennifer Garner . Butters cools his jets when someone points out that Affleck is no longer with JLo and is now married to Garner. “He’s just married to Jennifer Garner? Oh my gosh, I feel so much better!” Butters says, setting up one of the most creative insults I’ve heard on South Park . “Ben Affleck has a lot going for him,” Butters says as he walks off into the Hawaiian sunset with Kenny. “Not everything, but a lot.” Maybe I’m reading too much into this plot point, but I wonder if creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are making a bigger point here, or whether they were just free-associating at such a high speed that things appear to mean more than they do. Regardless, there are some interesting coincidences that have me looking for a larger meaning. For example: -Is there some kind of connection to be drawn between Butters’ ire and the fact that Garner’s latest movie is titled Butter ? -Are Parker and Stone somehow also having some fun with Argo producer George Clooney? One of the subplots of the South Park episode is about residents of Kaua’i claiming to be natives of Hawaii when they’re just longtime residents who got there before the more recent tourists, whom they despise. Although Clooney’s name is not mentioned in the episode, I was reminded of the plot of Alexander Payne’s 2011 movie The Descendants , which starred the actor and got him an Best Actor Oscar nomination. In the movie, Clooney plays a genuine Hawaii native who’s grappling with selling his family’s 25,000 acres of pristine Kaua’i land to a developer. -Am I spending too much time looking for meaning in South Park episodes? If anyone out there can make sense of this, I’d love to read your interpretation in the comments section. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
To be honest, I came up with this idea before I actually saw Argo on Tuesday night, but now that I have seen Ben Affleck’ s gripping, well-directed film, I can’t let it go. When I learned about the plot of the movie — in which a CIA agent (Affleck), a Hollywood make-up artist ( John Goodman ) and a movie producer (the wonderful Alan Arkin ) — gin up a fake movie to rescue a group of diplomats trapped in Iran during the hostage crisis — it struck me that Argo was the inverse or the flip side of another fake movie that got a lot of press this past summer: Innocence of Muslims . Argo is about the power of film harnessed for humane reasons — specifically, to extract American diplomats who would have probably faced grisly, public executions had they been caught after slipping out of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when it was taken over by militants in 1979. Innocence of Muslims is about the dark side of that equation. It’s the power of film — still potent even when the so-called movie is little more than a collection of half-assed scenes cobbled together and thrown on YouTube — misused to incite violence and stoke mistrust and anger between Muslim nations and the United States. Argo , which is based on a true story, is about saving lives. Innocence of Muslims was linked to violent attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Libya on Sept. 11 that left four Americans dead, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. When I saw George Clooney, who is one of Argo ‘s producers, at a private screening and dinner for the film at the Time Warner Center on Tuesday night, I ran my idea by him. Was there any lesson, I asked, to be learned from the controversy and the tragedy that Innocence of Muslims provoked? I’m not a big fan of asking celebrities their opinions about international or national affairs, but I’ve come to admire Clooney’s political activism and his understanding of the way the world really works, as well as his humanitarian spirit. (In March, he was arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington for protesting the country’s blockage of food and aid to its own starving people.) After listening to my take on Argo and Innocence of Muslims , Clooney suggested that I was making a bit of a leap, but he did answer my question. For one thing, he said, “I’m not quite sure that those diplomats did die as a result of that movie. It seems more like that was a coordinated effort by Al Qaeda” to make a statement on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil. But getting to the root of my question, Clooney told me: “Freedom of speech means you have to allow idiots to speak, and that’s the unfortunate thing.” “This guy clearly wanted to create problems,” he continued referring to Nakoula Basseley , the Egyptian immigrant who appears to have masterminded the making of Innocence of Muslims . Clooney added that he saw part of the YouTube video: “It made me mad and I’m not Muslim,” he said. “It made me mad for the quality of film that it was, more than anything. But the simple truth is that in order to make [democracy] work, the idiots get to have their say, too. And that’s unfortunate.” I agree. What do you think? Please let me know in the comments section below. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Tuesday night was a celebrity bonanza at the Time Warner Center in New York’s Columbus Circle for the New York premiere of director/star Ben Affleck ‘s acclaimed Argo . Stars Bryan Cranston , Alan Arkin , John Goodman as well as producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov were just part of the cortege of A-listers and New York glitterati who dined at the Porter House Steakhouse where Affleck held the spotlight in the bar talking to folks. Guests were divided into two screenings of the Toronto and Telluride film festivals world premiere based on the true story about a CIA agent (Affleck) who rescues six Americans hiding in the Canadian embassy at the dawn of the Iranian hostage crisis that began in November 1979. ML caught up with actor Bryan Cranston as well as Affleck at the event. Between chatting with a parade of well-heeled well-wishers including best pal Matt Damon, Oliver Stone, Sting, Ted Koppel, Brian Williams and more, Affleck gave a little insight on what motivated him to take on the project, telling ML he decided to make Argo happen because it was a fascinating story that was also a challenge, admitting to some fear in the beginning. “I wanted to direct it because it’s a challenge directorially,” he told ML. “It has three competing challenges: It’s a comedy, it’s a nail-biting thriller and it’s a CIA-intrigue spy story. I thought if I can execute that and combine those elements and execute them, unify them and tell something that is true and maintain the integrity of the truth of the stories then I could do something quite special. It’s the favorite thing I’ve ever been involved with.” In the movie, actor Bryan Cranston plays Jack O’Donnell, one of the six Americans hiding in the Canadian Ambassador’s residence after a daring escape into the streets of the Iranian capital soon after the American embassy was overrun by angry mobs with the acquiescence of the country’s new ruler Ayatollah Khomeini. Cranston said he received the Argo script from his agent and that Affleck and producer Grant Heslov had specifically asked for him to read it. “I thought, ‘Oh that’s flattering.’ And I thought, ‘Please God, let the story be as good as the offer,'” he told ML. “And it was quite frankly even better. The story is fantastic. It’s true, important and the screenplay by Chris Terrio is great. What I took away from this and what I think what audiences will is that it’s a simple story about people being selfless and doing things for all the right reasons – just to save other human beings. There’s no greater noble effort than this.” Ahead of production, a fellow actor touted to Cranston the chance to work with Affleck who in turn put a plug in for Affleck’s work ethic and being an all-around great guy. Events such as Tuesday night’s are meant to showcase Oscar contenders in their best light. And the Peggy Siegel Company, which hosts a number of these dinners and parties tied to screenings, is front and center in organizing events for titles hitting the awards circuit. “I got a tip from Jon Hamm, who said, ‘You’re going to love working with [Affleck].’ And I went, ‘Oh good,'” said Cranston. “As an actor turned director he’s one of the best and just as a director in and of itself, he’s terrific. He’s a kind and a thoughtful man. And he’s willing to do the work. People only see the finished product, but he’s very passionate about stories.” “I didn’t want to make a story that was partisan right before the election,” Affleck said to ML about Argo and the audience he hopes will come to see it when it opens this weekend. “I want a movie that the Repubicans I know and am friends with can go see. I do not want a movie that could be politicized internationally vis-a-vis, Iran. I went to great pains to just tell a factual story with out being didactic or tell the audience what to feel.” Argo Log line: On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies. Academy Award-winner Ben Affleck ( Good Will Hunting ) directs and stars in the film, which is produced by Oscar-nominee Grant Heslov ( Good Night, and Good Luck ), Affleck, and Oscar-winner George Clooney ( Syriana ). [ AbovePhoto by Marion Curtis/Starpix ]
Barbara Broccoli was born into the world of James Bond ; along with co-producer Harry Saltzman, her father, Cubby Broccoli, brought 007 to the big screen with Dr. No when Barbara was only two years old. It would be inaccurate to say Broccoli inherited the Bond legacy — she’s made it her own, serving as producer from Goldeneye onwards, and in many ways, ushering cinema’s favorite secret agent into the modern era. The Skyfall producer rang Movieline to talk about the early days, Bond’s role in the cultural conversation over the years, and what the future holds for the character who, fifty years later, is still synonymous with effortless cool. Tell us a little about the beginning of the Bond film franchise. How did your father, Cubby Broccoli, along with Harry Saltzman, make the decision to adapt Ian Fleming’s spy novels? My father had wanted the rights to the films early on, but they eluded him. Harry Saltzman had an option, and my father heard this, called him up, and they joined forces just as the clock was ticking down, as the option was about to expire. Fortunately, they went to Arthur Kremp, who my father had a relationship with, and asked him if he would finance the film ( Dr. No ). David Picker, who was the young executive in the room, loved the Bond books, and he persuaded United Artists to take a shot and make the film, which was a huge commitment then. A million dollars for a budget, at that time, was significant. They were a force to be reckoned with. Cubby and Harry were both very passionate, determined men. They were driven. They wanted to see this series of books made into a film, and they were very passionate about their choice of Sean Connery, who was an unknown. They fought for him, and there was a lot of resistance because he wasn’t well known at all. The studio wanted a star, they wanted an American and all these various things, but [Broccoli and Saltzman] stuck to their guns, and the rest as they say, is history. Bond is turning 50 this year. In 2012, he’s still going strong. Why has the franchise endured? It basically comes down to Ian Fleming. I think he wrote a very complex character that has been able to evolve through the decades, with the assistance of the extraordinary men who have played the role, starting with Sean Connery who established the role to great effect in Dr. No , and all the subsequent actors have taken it and made it their own and made it of their time. I think Bond the character is distinct: He’s British, he has a certain code that he lives by, he’s incorruptible… he’s a classical hero, but he’s also fallible. He has inner demons, inner conflicts, and he’s a romantic. He gets himself caught up in all kinds of situations because of his heart, which gets broken in Casino Royale . He knows at the end of that first story that in order to do the job he does he has to make a lot of personal sacrifices, and one of them is that he cannot really have a proper relationship or a family, and that is a burden to him. By that same token, how do you think the character of Bond has evolved over the years, beginning with Sean Connery and running up to today with Daniel Craig ’s portrayal? With Daniel, the first film he did was Casino Royale , which was the first book, so that’s very much about how Bond became the Bond that we all know and love. It explains a lot about his history and why he got to be the way he is, particularly in his relationships with women, as I described. He knows he’s unable to really form a proper commitment with a woman because he may be captured, tortured, as he is in Casino Royale … he can put himself in that situation but he couldn’t put anyone else he loved, like a wife or a child, in that kind of jeopardy. So, I think with Daniel, it’s sort of come full-circle. We started with Fleming and fifty years later, we’re back to Fleming again: He’s very much central to the making of these films. The spirit of Ian Fleming is always with us and we particularly honor and celebrate him now, fifty years later, during this anniversary. Can you talk a little about your own relationship with 007 from a personal standpoint and how it’s changed from your childhood to the present? I was born in 1960, my father did the deal in ’61, and the first film was made in that year and released in ’62, so my life is synonymous with Bond. Growing up he was a huge figure in our lives, so much so that I thought he was a real person [laughs]. But it soon dawned on me that he was a fictional character. I spent a lot of time on the sets growing up. We would go on vacation from school, go on location, where the films were being filmed. Wonderful places: Exotic locales like Japan and the Bahamas, and the people making the films were part of our extended family. My father would be with them all day long and they would all come home for dinner. We were always together. It was a very large, happy family. Do you think Bond’s place in the pop culture spotlight has been constant, or has it fluctuated over the years? What kinds of challenges arise in making this franchise relevant to audiences today? There have always been challenges. I remember when we were doing Goldeneye and people were saying “The Cold War’s over, the wall’s down — does the world need James Bond anymore?” Of course, the answer was a resounding “Yes!” Just because the wall came down didn’t mean the world was at peace. In fact, good and evil were slightly blurred, and we didn’t know who the enemy was. I think we’re always trying to come up with intriguing storylines and villains for Bond to go up against, and when you look at Skyfall , and you look at Javier Bardem you’ll find… [laughter] he’s sort of the ultimate Bond villain. He’s provided a very exciting counterpoint to Daniel. How did Sam Mendes get involved with Skyfall ? Well, Sam and Daniel had worked together on Road to Perdition , and they’d had a great collaboration. When we were looking for a director, Daniel called us up and said “Oh, I was just at a party last night with Sam and I asked him if he wanted to do a Bond film — it turns out he’s a huge fan. What do you think?” And we said, “Oh my goodness, do you think we could actually get Sam Mendes? He’s a consummate film director, Oscar-award winner. Do you really think he’d be interested?” So we met with him, and it turns out — who would have known it – he’s a big Bond fan. So we snapped him up. He’s made an unbelievably terrific film, so we’re delighted. Has it been a little different working with a director like Sam, who is such a force of nature, on a franchise project like Bond that in the past has largely been producer-driven? I guess our attitude towards Sam was “We have a set of parameters as far as what we feel a Bond film is, but within those parameters…” There’s no point in hiring someone like Sam Mendes and then tying their hands. We wanted him because of his talent and his vision, and we worked together very closely on the script, and set the parameters together. He wanted to make a great Bond film, so it all turned out extremely well. As it turns out he was just like a kid in a candy store [laughs]. He loved the challenge, he lived up to it, and he exceeded all expectations. So I think the film has got all the wonderful, dramatic intriguing storylines and characters — we have a wonderful cast, many of whom were attracted to this because of Sam — and he’s also delivered tremendous action and excitement. He’s ticked all the boxes as far as I’m concerned. Learn more about Barbara Broccoli and the Bond legacy in the EPIX documentary Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 . Read more in Movieline’s ongoing Bond at 50 series leading up to the November 9 release of Skyfall . John Jarzemsky is a contributor at LitReactor, Twitch, and can be read semi-regularly at his personal blog, the ineptly named Super Roller Disco Monkey Hullabaloo! or on twitter @jtjarzemsky . He is big in Japan. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Former President Jimmy Carter gives Ben Affleck’s talked-about new movie Argo a shot of credibility in this behind-the-scenes clip from the movie. The former Commander in Chief, whose presidency was hobbled by the Iranian hostage crisis — during which 52 Americans were held for 444 days from Nov. 4, 1979 to Jan. 20, 1981 — acknowledges that, as told in Argo , there were six diplomats who managed to evade capture and were spirited out of the country as the crew of a fake Canadian science-fiction movie. Check out Movieline ‘s photo gallery from the Argo premiere featuring Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Stacy Keibler here. Adding to the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction quotient of the movie is the character of Academy Award-winning make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman) , who, in addition to working on the Planet of the Apes movies and inventing Spock’s pointy ears for Star Trek , was a CIA agent. Chambers, working with his agency colleague Tony Mendez (Affleck) played a key role in the story. In the clip, Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston, who plays CIA officer Jack O’Donnell, says that although Argo, which opens Friday, is steeped in espionage and bureaucracy at the highest level, truly, when you get down to it, it’s about the human experience and what lengths people will go to save the lives of others.” Argo is in theaters Friday. Read more here . Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
One is among the most respected actors in Hollywood. The other is the top male singer/songwriter of his generation. And both celebrate birthdays today, with Matt Damon turning 42 and upcoming Saturday Night Live host Bruno Mars officially 27 years old. Study their expressions, picture them without any clothes on and decide below: Which of these A-listers would you rather take home with you tonight?
