Ian Somerhalder split with Nina Dobrev last week and then was accused of cheating on the actress. But he took Twitter this weekend not to address that personal situation, but to call out Justin Bieber for a bit of monkey business. With Bieber being asked to pay for his pet Mally – who was seized by German customs after Justin entered that country for a concert and is now in an animal shelter, her fate unknown – the beloved actor and animal enthusiast called out Bieber yesterday. “@justinbieber i hope the welfare of this animal is a priority for you.Its on you to set a good example man,” Somerhalder wrote. So far, no response from Bieber and no word on what will happen to his monkey. The Ian Somerhalder Foundation, meanwhile, was started in response to Hurricane Katrina and dedicates its resources to saving animals and the environment. What do you think of Ian Tweeting to Justin in such a manner? And what did you think of The Vampire Diaries Season 4 finale? Crayz, huh?!?
It’s hard to reconcile, considering the degree to which adolescents now dominate popular culture, but the idea of the teenager is a uniquely 20th-century invention, born out of advances in psychological theory, changes in child-labor laws and a boom in leisure-time activities for the under-20 set. A feat of both editing and blurring-of-the-edges nonfiction technique, Matt Wolf ’s mesmerizing, scrapbook-style Teenage conveys the transition in how the world perceived this emerging in-between stage via a series of first-person portraits of exceptional individuals set amid a whirlwind of vintage footage. Ironically, the demo in question seems least likely to appreciate the pic’s arty, innovative approach. The conventional thinking goes that until roughly World War II, society and scientists alike thought of life as two distinct stages, divided between children and adults. The former were patronized and sheltered up to a certain point, then shuffled off to work in factories at a young age. In the introduction to his paradigm-shifting book, Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture , Jon Savage , who collaborated with Wolf on this film, reveals that his initial research into the subject began as background for a possible television series, suggesting that he always intended a multimedia approach to the topic. Eschewing the traditional TV documentary style, Wolf innovates a radically different format for the material, blending archival artifacts with invented elements to create an intimate, far more personal history of the emerging demographic across the four decades between 1904 and 1945, when Elliot E. Cohen published his young person’s manifesto, “ A Teen-Age Bill of Rights ,” in the New York Times . Though much of the footage has a stock newsreel feel, Teenage is clearly intended to suggest a home movie record of its era. To that end, Wolf interweaves staged, retro-styled scenes of various characters to foster the illusion of a candid look at various youthful cliques of the time, ranging from London’s Bright Young People to the anti-Hitler “Edelweiss Pirates.” Pic’s most obvious innovation is the absence of a dry, all-encompassing narrator, replaced by four voiceover actors hired to read excerpts from journal entries of the period (embellished with original dialogue designed to match elements from the filmmakers’ research). Jena Malone performs an early-century American girl, Ben Whishaw represents the British youth, Jessie Usher captures the unease of African-American teens and Julia Hummer plays a German fraulein whose lines were excerpted from Melita Maschmann’s chilling Nazi-era memoir, Account Rendered — each directed to sound distractingly contemporary. When combined with the vintage (or vintage-styled) visuals, these recitations produce an almost Terrence Malick -like effect, contrasting personal impressions with the more objective, journalistic imagery presented onscreen. As a work of sociological history, Teenage withholds too much context to be of use, overemphasizing the European side of what it calls “an American invention.” As a thought experiment, however, it is uniquely crafted to inspire auds to muse on how the experience of adolescence must have felt at a time cusp-of-modern moment when engaged and driven young people wanted to play a more proactive role in their world. Nearly the entire history of cinema — much of it targeted at consumers in this very age range — retroactively applies our relatively recent understanding of teenagers as a distinct developmental stage to its young characters, and Teenage suggests how famous historical and literary figures (from Marie Antoinette to Romeo and Juliet) might have actually been perceived in their time. Still, 77 minutes is hardly adequate to cover the breadth of the four decades in question, and the film alternates between elegant transitions and confusing stretches as it tries to address everything from promiscuous, free-wheeling American flappers and “victory girls” to the ultra-organized, hyper-disciplined Boy Scouts and Hitler Youth. More on Teenage : INTERVIEW: ‘Teenage’ Filmmakers Matt Wolf & Jon Savage Make A Doc That Swings Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Ron Howard’s time across the pond looks like it has been good for him. With the exception of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby , I’ve never been a fan of racing movies. I realize that death lurks around every curve, but, from a spectator’s perspective, auto races are about as thrilling as Major League baseball games. There’s a lot of monotony in those laps (and innings). I feel the same about Howard’s stolid filmmaking style — have you seen The Da Vinci Code lately? — so when I learned he was the director of Rush , the story of the 1970s rivalry between Formula One race-car drivers Austrian Niki Lauda and Brit James Hunt , I didn’t exactly put it on my must-see list of 2013. But after watching this revved-up UK trailer for the movie, I’ve changed my mind. I’m now eager to see Rush, if only to determine whether Howard has shaken up his filmmaking style as much as this clip indicates. To use a punny driving term: he looks like he’s really released the clutch on his safe style. There’s real tension and unpredictable energy in this footage, which was shot in the UK and Germany, as well as a kind of feckless romance that is so Seventies. (As Hunt, the rakish Chris Hemsworth , says in voiceover: “The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel.” Oh yes, and Olivia Wilde plays 70s model Suzy Miller.) And pay special attention to Daniel Brühl , who may not be as handsome as Hemsworth, but is much more compelling as Lauder, the Austrian driver who was horribly burned in a crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix. Remarkably, he returned to the track six weeks later to keep Hunt from knocking him from his standing as the number-one ranked drive in the world. The actual outcome of that race is rather anticlimactic in movie terms — Lauda retired from the race — so it will be interesting to see whether Howard can make it pay off dramatically. That said, the film’s September release date — when the film industry is getting into the awards-season mindset in earnest, suggests that he’s found a solution. I’ll be watching. Ron Howard’s Shakes Up His Filmmaking Style With Rush Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The central conflict of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host stems not from vampires and werewolves, but something more intangible yet equally eerie. Depicted in the Andrew Niccol -directed film as a glowing organism of sorts, these parasitic alien “Souls,” as they are called, gain access to humans through an incision made at the back of the victim’s neck, where they override their host’s human circuitry. At least that’s what’s supposed to happen. In The Host , Melanie, played by Saoirse Ronan , does not relinquish control to her invader and eventually learns to coexist with her. Given this premise, Movieline thought that Cinema Society’s screening of the movie, and the party that followed at Jimmy at The James Hotel in Tribeca, were good places to ask a single question of the VIPs and swells who attended: If your body was inhabited by a parasitic host, which celebrity would you want it to be and why? There are some real provocative answers here, and if you want a really racy one, head straight for actress/model Meki Saldana’s response. Diane Kruger , actress, The Host : Michael Jackson. He’s the coolest. He’s my favorite singer. I cried when he died Stephenie Meyer, author, The Host : If it’s my body that’s invaded, then I don’t get a choice. But, if I’m the invader, and I get to pick the body? I guess maybe Beyonce . I’d get the talent. I’d have the voice. She can do all that cool stuff. I could dance if I were her. My bones are not connected right; I can’t do those moves. And I can’t sing. Saoirse Ronan, actress, The Host : A celebrity? I would want it to be…someone like Bill Murray or Jack Nicholson . They’re fun and interesting and they’ve been around a long time. And maybe I could get some of their memories from all the things that they’ve done over the years. Max Irons , actor, The Host : If my body was invaded? Stephen Hawking . If I said Jay-Z or something, he’d be in my body and he’d look in the mirror and go, What the fuck? Whereas, Stephen Hawking — he might be a little bit grateful. Just a little bit. We trade: I get his magnificent brain and he gets my body. Jake Abel, actor, The Host : Somebody’s coming in my body? I would say David Bowie , so I can sing and dance on stage. Boyd Holbrook, actor, The Host : Larry Bird . Fantastic ball player. He’d be in my body. Final answer. Lee Hardee, actor, The Host : Stephen Colbert! He’s hilarious. The whole day would be entertaining. Everything you did, everything you said would be awesome. Raeden Greer, actress, The Host : I think if I would have someone in my body, I think it would have to be…this is really hard. Maybe a guy. So, I could just, you know, see what it’s like to think like a guy. I’ll go with Woody Allen . Gabourey Sidibe , actress: You know what? I’m learning something about myself, because the first name that came to mind was Tony Danza . And I don’t know why. For some reason I see him tap dancing in there. What did I get into?! Dylan McDermott, actor: My favorite celebrity of all time, Barbara Eden [from] I Dream of Jeannie . Jason Wu, fashion designer: I want to be Diane Kruger. She’s so glamorous. She’s one of those girls I just love hanging out with. Amazing inside and out. Tatiana Maslany, actress: Nicki Minaj . She’s amazing. I would love to have the guts that she has and her “whatever” [attitude]. Ve Neill, academy award winning makeup artist and reality TV judge: Would it have to be a female? Let’s say Johnny Depp . I’ve worked with Johnny off and on for many years since I did Edward Scissorhands with him. He’s fabulous and I adore him. Meki Saldana, actress and model: Either Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie or both. I want both of them inside me. Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Let me back up, let me back up. Oh my god, I just said something I shouldn’t have said. No, no, I just think that they’re very strong personalities, but at the same time very humble. I would definitely want something that they have inside me. Still wrong. Holly Kiser, Make Me a Supermodel : Joaquin Phoenix , because he’s a crazy ass motherfucker, or Robert Downey Jr. [They] have all these, like, demons inside of them, and they’re just trying to work with that as actors. Nell Alk is an arts and entertainment writer and reporter based in New York City. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Manhattan Magazine, Z!NK Magazine and on InterviewMagazine.com, PaperMag.com and RollingStone.com, among others. Learn more about her here. Follow Nell Alk on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The German fairytale Snow White gets a retro reinterpretation in Pablo Berge r’s enchanting Blancanieves . Set in 1920s Spain and shot as a black-and-white silent film, the ivory-skinned beauty in this update (lush-lipped Macarena García ) doesn’t just do housework for a pack of idiosyncratic little dudes. She follows her beloved father’s footsteps into the corrida to become a revered matador. There are dwarves, however, a wicked stepmother ( Maribel Verdú , from Pan’s Labyrinth ) and a poison apple, although, as you can see from the clip, Blancanieves doesn’t fall for the evil trick right off the bat. Snow White, The Matador Click here to view the embedded video. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Roland Emmerich likes the Air Jordans scene in White House Down . As you may have heard, Emmerich and the leading men of his movie, Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum , gave moviegoers in New York and London a sneak peek of about eight minutes of footage from their Washington-under-siege movie on Tuesday, and, at the risk of sounding like Chance the Gardener, I had the unexpected opportunity of watching the director watch his handiwork from the audience. Emmerich and Foxx appeared before a hyped-up crowd at a Regal cineplex in Manhattan’s Union Square and were joined via satellite by Tatum, who was at a screening in London. Audiences in both locations were first shown the trailer for White House Down (posted below), then Good Morning America ‘s Sam Champion asked a lot of how-did-it-feel-type questions of the trio and their respective roles. Tatum plays John Cale — screenwriter James Vanderbilt must be a Velvet Underground fan — a cop who is on a tour of the White House with his daughter when it is attacked during a coup attempt, and President James Sawyer, portrayed by Foxx, is taken hostage. The two men team up to battle the paramilitary forces — homegrown, based on Emmerich’s comments — that are attempting to take control of the country and, on a more human scale, to rescue Cale’s daughter. After Emmerich admitted to some reservations about showing an extended look at his work-in-progress, the lights went down a second time and the crowd was treated to approximately eight minutes of footage that better established Tatum and Foxx’s characters. Prior to the White House tour, Cale is shown apologizing to his daughter for not being a better dad and lifting her spirits by telling her about the White House tour they’re going to take right after his interview for a plum Secret Service gig. That interview which is conducted by a tough-talking Maggie Gyllenhaal, goes terribly, and, based on the footage shown, implausibly. Gyllenhaal is shown quoting evaluations by Cale’s law-enforcement superiors and there are enough negative ones that, given that the job involves protecting the president, it’s unlikely the interview would have even been scheduled. But things picked up considerably from there. Just before all hell broke loose, a White House tour guide refers to the part of the White House “that got blown up in Independence Day ,” which the crowd loved. That was followed by extended footage of another national monument, the Capitol Building being destroyed in spectacular fashion. (Trust me, it’s more memorable than the short version you see in the trailer.) By then, Emmerich had left his seat next to Foxx at the front of the theater and plopped down on the floor in the middle of the theater next to yours truly — there were no seats to be had at this point — presumably to watch the footage from the crowd’s perspective. As the Capitol Building imploded, I watched Emmerich out of the corner of my eye to see if the German filmmaker was looking impressed with himself or particularly gleeful at the cinematic destruction of an iconic American image. He wasn’t. He watched the footage intently but without any evident emotion. The scene that got an obvious rise out of Emmerich was one in which, after Cale and Sawyer make their way to the president’s living quarters, the Commander-in-Chief breaks out a pair of sweet Air Jordans. The director laughed out loud at that scene, and also appeared to enjoy another bit of comic relief later in the picture where Foxx kicks a terrorist who’s grabbing at his feet and says, “Get your hands off my Jordans!” (Foxx told the crowd that he was not playing a fictional version of Barack Obama, but that he did do “Obama-type things” in the movie, and the Jordans certainly seemed to reference our actual president’s love of basketball.) Eight minutes of footage does not a movie make, but if Emmerich can maintain the level of humor, action and drama that his sneak peek demonstrated, White House Down could potentially dwarf the $30.5 million opening weekend that Olympus Has Fallen notched and become another Independence Day-sized hit for Emmerich. At the very least, it will earn him the distinction of the filmmaker who blew up by blowing up the White House — twice. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Miley Cyrus has done it again. The singer debuted a new hair color over the weekend, keeping her locks short but dyeing them blue. Sorry!!! Not blue. “My hurrr ain’t blue,” Cyrus Tweeted. “That s–ts PLATINUM.” Okay, okay. We hear ya, Miles. But is that s–t an improvement? You tell us, readers: What do you think of Miley’s platinum hair? Love it! Loathe it! View Poll »
Kate Middleton is certainly staying active during her first pregnancy – but not dangerously so. She went to a wedding in Switzerland, but did not go skiing. Kate Middleton in Switzerland Along with Princes William and Harry, she bundled up in daytime formal wear for the wedding of athlete pals Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mark Tomlinson. The next day, she opted for a much more casual look for a walk through the stunning mountainside at the Arosa resort while the brothers went skiing. In one of the most pronounced shots yet of the expectant royal’s changing shape, Middleton braved the cold in a short sleeve loose print blouse. The adorable, growing Kate Middleton baby bump was nicely accessorized by black skinny jeans and black snow boots. Isn’t she just the cutest? Bearing a striking resemblance to sister Pippa Middleton , Kate kept a serene expression behind sunglasses, her brown hair held back with a clip. A German tourist who spotted her told the Daily Mail: “She was walking down the hill with three men. She was very sweet and smiled at people who looked at her. She seemed to be taking in the scenery.” Meanwhile, for Saturday’s wedding ceremony, the Duchess wore a cream coat with brown fur trim and brown hat (by Lock & Co) plus a MaxMara dress. After the couple exchanged their vows at the chapel, Kate was seen outside “throwing white confetti in the air and laughing with joy,” an onlooker said. Kate was also seen walking her dog last week.
It must be hard for Heidi Klum to accept that she’s no longer the prized hen at the fair….but is instead old, tired, a mom of her own army of mixed race kids that were spawned from some creepy German scat fetishes gone wrong….and a few illegitimate encounters for good measure….because as I see her on set of her TV show in Hawaii…she looks sad…that even when throwin’ out her huge, awesome cleavage, no one but the paparazzi were bothering taking pics of her…..I mean sure, she’s making money, but when you have all kinds of money, sometimes all you really want is a photographer to tell you you’re beautiful….or that you still got it….keepin’ busy or not…she’s a fraction of what she was and that’s a fucking downer…but at least there is always new blood, new body, to bring out the old…and bring in the new….like a never ending turnstile of talent I want to have sex with….because I want to have sex with everything vagina…even old, tired, sad Heidi Klum…cuz damn them titties b eHOT LIKE FIRE no matter how old they are…. Here are a couple pics of her on set.
Adolf Hitler was maniacal about more than just world domination during his evil reign over Germany in the 1930s and 40s. In a new interview with The Telegraph , Margot Woelk explains that she was seized by the SS many decades ago and forced to become the dictator’s food taster for two-and-a-half years, checking meals everyday to be sure they were not laced with poison. “Only after all of us had tried it was it driven to the headquarters by the SS,” Woelk tells the newspaper. “It was all vegetarian, the most delicious fresh things, from asparagus to peppers and peas, served with rice and salads. It was all arranged on one plate, just as it was served to him. There was no meat and I do not remember any fish.” Wow. Who knew the Führer would have whipped up something akin to an Indian Cauliflower Pizza recipe if he were alive today? A German citizen, Woelk says her husband was sent off to war while she worked for Hitler, and, of course, she was “afraid” to take each bite. But “we were forced to eat it, we had no choice,” she says. Woelk is thought to be the only surviving member of Hitler’s food tasting team. She was smuggled out by a sympathetic solder, according to this report, and placed on “Goebbels’s train.” All others with whom she worked were shot by the Russians. Fortunately, while Hitler later joined the deceased and his Aryan fantasies were wiped away, delicious vegetarian recipes live on.
