Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber are still going strong, as the couple were spotted out just last night on a date in Los Angeles. But the 19-year old singer has called it quits with the other steady presence in her life, telling Facebook followers over the weekend that she and backup band The Scene won’t be playing together for a bit. “My band and I are going our separate ways for a while,” Selena wrote. “This year is all about films and acting and I want my band to play music wherever with whoever. We will be back but, it will be a good while. I love them and I love you guys.” Gomez and The Scene released “When the Sun Goes Down” last year, an album that peaked at number-three on the Billboard 200 chart. But it’s true that Selena’s film career is taking off: she’ll voice a character in Adam Sandler’s animated Hotel Transylvania later this year; and then star alongside James Franco and Vanessa Hudgens in Spring Breakers , a movie about a group of college girls who take over a fast-food joint in order to finance their Florida spring break.
Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood is meticulously faithful to the book it’s based on, Haruki Murakami’s 1987 novel of the same name: It takes no significant liberties with the plot, and it captures the novel’s delicate, half-hopeful, half-mournful tone. So why, unlike its source material, does it feel only half-alive? It’s so easy, too easy, to get lost in the book-vs.-movie debate. But a movie like Norwegian Wood is a peculiar case – its intentions are sterling, and it’s hard to pinpoint any technical flaws. The problem, maybe, is that it’s trying too hard; Tran has such firm control over the storytelling that the resulting picture has no room to breathe. Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) is an aimless young university student in late-1960s Tokyo. His closest friend, Kizuki, committed suicide at age 17, leaving behind his childhood love, the fragile Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi, the Japanese actress who made a splash in the 2006 Babel ). Watanabe “inherits” the friendship of Naoko, and it seems that the two might fall in love. But Naoko disappears – the intensity of the blossoming relationship is too much for her, sexually and emotionally, and she enters a retreat-like sanitorium in the country. Though Watanabe continues, sweetly, to pine for her, he also starts tagging along with his more sexually adventurous roommate, Nagasawa (Tetsuji Tamayama). He also embarks on a fledgling friendship with another student, Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) ,who, unlike Naoko, seems boldly certain about what she wants out of life. She is, perhaps, a little too bold for Watanabe: She outlines her idea of the ideal lover (essentially, a man who will be at her beck and call, so she can then turn him away). And she informs him that she already has a boyfriend, anyway. Watanabe continues to visit Naoko in her forest retreat, though his time with her is nearly always supervised by Noako’s half-protective, half-possessive roommate, Reiko (Reika Kirishima). The rest of Norwegian Wood outlines the rather delicate dance between the things Watanabe might think he wants and the things he may actually be able to have. Tran adapted the screenplay himself, with obvious care and precision (though the resulting movie doesn’t do much to address, as Murakami’s novel did, the social unrest among young people in late-‘60s Tokyo). His actors have plenty of moments of grace and subtlety, particularly Kikuchi – somehow, she makes us see a deeply troubled soul in Naoko, not just a wan, self-absorbed victim of circumstance. And there isn’t a single frame in Norwegian Wood that isn’t gorgeous to look at: The cinematographer is Mark Lee Ping Bin, who also shot In the Mood for Love (sharing credit with Kwan Pung-Leung and Christopher Doyle), and every inch of the movie’s surface fairly glows. Or, rather, every millimeter glows — the picture creeps along at a very leisurely pace, which shouldn’t by itself be a problem. Norwegian Wood is Tran’s fifth feature. (The director, who was born in Vietnam and who lives in Paris, is perhaps best known for the 1993 The Scent of Green Papaya .) I kept watching Norwegian Wood waiting for that pleasant, wide-awake state of hypnosis to kick in, the slipstream effect that a well-constructed, slow-moving picture sets into gear. But for reasons that are hard to pinpoint, Norwegian Wood seems to be hampered by its own integrity; it’s like a ghost wearing a trailing nightie that’s just too long. Would the movie be more effective if every lingering shot were cut by just a second or two, or if the dialogue between characters had just a little more energy and crackle? Maybe. But whatever it is that’s wrong with Norwegian Wood couldn’t possibly be remedied by any quick fix. That’s both its tragedy and its virtue. Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
This just in from Nikki Finke: Paramount’s cheap wannabe found footage hit The Devil Inside — which drew reports of audible grumbles and boos as the credits rolled at sneak screenings in Los Angeles and New York last night — has already made back double its acquisition costs . ” The Devil Inside acquired for $1M opened with $2M midnights from 1,400 theaters. It goes wide into 2,300 theaters today,” Finke writes at Deadline, adding that “the genre film plays very young and very ethnic so it will probably be frontloaded.” Nice. Very young and very ethnic. If the pic turns into a Paranormal Activity -esque hit, you know who to blame. [ Deadline , @STYDnews , Moviefone ]
Happy Friday! As if heading into the weekend wasn’t already wonderful enough, here comes a casting move that oughta keep you tickled for days: According to The Hollywood Reporter, James Franco is in talks to star in Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s The Game , adapted from Neil Strauss’s dating how-to bestseller, in the role of famed, instantly unforgettable pick-up master Mystery. Hollywood can pretty much drop the mic as Friday closes out, because no other casting move this week can possibly top this. If you weren’t familiar with Mystery (born Erik von Markovik), the expert pick-up artiste whom Strauss learned from to write The Game , well, where do I begin? Co-writer of such helpful tomes as The Mystery Method: How to Get Beautiful Women Into Bed and The Pickup Artist: The New and Improved Art of Seduction , Mystery even dallied in reality television in his 2007 VH1 reality series The Pick-Up Artist , in which he taught clueless schlubs how to cast out their lines and reel in the ladies. Also? He looks like this: What? It’s called peacocking! How else can a man stand out from the crowd enough to catch a woman’s eye? Anyway, MGM’s The Game is produced by Chris and Paul Weitz. And I for one cannot wait to see Franco decked out a la Mystery, soul patch and all. James Franco in Talks to Star as Pick-Up Artist in ‘The Game’ [THR]
I can kind of see a resemblance between Demi Moore and feminist activist/journalist Gloria Steinem, whom the former Mrs. Kutcher has been tapped to play in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Lovelace . But at this point the porn biopic — the one starring Amanda Seyfried as Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace, to feature a cameo by James Franco as Hugh Hefner — feels like it’s turning into a bizarrely distracting hit parade-sideshow of stars/names playing real life Lovelace acquaintances. (Further evidence, just announced over the wires: Eric Roberts as… lie detector test administrator Nat Laurendi! For reals.) According to a press release, Moore, Roberts, and Adam Brody are the latest cast members to join Lovelace , with Moore’s Steinem turn described by Variety’s Jeff Sneider as just a cameo-length role. Brody, meanwhile, will play porn actor Harry Reems, who co-starred as the doctor diagnosing Lovelace’s unusual condition in the 1972 XXX flick Deep Throat . Raise your hand if you’re ready to see the guy from The O.C. with a porn ‘stache. (*crickets…*) The popularity of Deep Throat and its crazy, mob-financed backstory notwithstanding, Lovelace’s life is rife with rough drama: Her entry into the porn business under the thumb of abusive husband Chuck Traynor (portrayed in Lovelace by the ultimate guy you can’t trust in movies, Peter Sarsgaard ), her later claims that he forced her into prostitution and unwilling sex acts under pain of violence, including in scenes of Deep Throat , and her eventual foray into the anti-porn movement with supporters like Steinem. Based on Eric Danville’s 2011 book The Complete Linda Lovelace , the film’s supporting cast already includes Franco, Sharon Stone, Juno Temple, Wes Bentley, Bobby Canavale, Chris Noth, Robert Patrick, and Hank Azaria; it’d be a shame for Lovelace’s compelling life story to be lost in a cast almost entirely comprised of actors unable to completely disappear into roles. I imagine Big and the T-1000 talking about porn over ’70s shag carpeting. (Okay, okay: Noth plays Deep Throat backer Anthony Romano, while Patrick plays Lovelace’s father.) Anyway, I digress. Filming is currently underway on Lovelace , so here’s to hoping the pic turns out to be as penetrating a biopic as it promises to be. [Press release]
Here’s one way to deflect attention from NYU GradeGate : Variety reports that James Franco is in talks to play Playboy impresario Hugh Hefner in Lovelace , the porn biopic starring Amanda Seyfried as the titular XXX actress Linda Lovelace, of Deep Throat fame. Unfortunately — or fortunately? — Franco’s role would be limited to a one-day cameo, which sounds like something along the lines of his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Green Hornet appearance. The film is currently shooting in Los Angeles. [ Variety ]
A former New York University film professor made headlines recently for suing the school, which he said fired him for giving barely present graduate student James Franco a D in his class. José Angel Santana alleges not only racist employment practices at NYU, but also that, “In my opinion, they’ve turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco’s purposes, a possession, something you can buy.” Burn. Anyway, none of this would matter were it not for the requisite Taiwanese news animation showcasing both Santana’s firing and a reimagining of 127 Hours that’s quite possibly better than Danny Boyle’s film itself.
“For a film that claims to be sexually responsible, the Twilight movies are awfully dependent on teenage sex to attract viewers,” James Franco, actor/director/writer/student and now film critic, reveals in his write-up of Breaking Dawn – Part 1 in the Paris Review . “The actors prance about like pieces of meat, their disturbingly developed bodies on full display; Taylor Lautner’s rippling teenage chest is just a little better than the child beauty-pageant stars at the end of Little Miss Sunshine .” For Franco’s complete thoughts on Team Jacob vs. Team Edward and Bella’s nightmare pregnancy, click here . [ The Paris Review ]
If there’s one thing we still need to discuss, it’s the 2011 Oscars and how co-host James Franco bungled them up. (If you believe that, I have bunch of leftover Sarah Palin jokes I’d like to fly for you.) Fellow Freaks and Geeks alum Seth Rogen responded to a question regarding Mr. Franco, and he finally weighed in on the Oscars’ decision to hire young hosts. Specifically, he thinks the Academy screwed James Franco over.
You remember Candy . It’s the “first transversal style magazine” that put a vampy James Franco in drag on the cover of their first issue. For their third issue (the second featured male model Luke Worrall done up like Marilyn Monroe) Candy has put their first woman on the cover. It’s Chloe Sevingy as Terry Richardson , and it’s kind of brilliant. She’s got the pose, the clothes, everything is just… Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Fashionista Discovery Date : 02/11/2011 06:57 Number of articles : 2
