Happy Monday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: Arnold Schwarzenegger sets another action comeback… James Franco gets kinky with James Dean… Doris Day draws love from the critics… Michael Shannon teases a bit of General Zod… and more.
James Franco loves his little stunts , and this one’s an Evel Knievel-grade spectacle: On the new issue of L.A.’ s Flaunt magazine, Franco graces two different covers — one where he’s staring innocently from a school desk (boring), and another where his naked ass crowds the lens, boasts a tramp stamp, and looks like it’s about to speak. Need I say more? Click through for the cover.
While promoting Tower Heist during a recent television interview, Eddie Murphy took a moment to forecast that he will be the most awful Academy Awards host of all time. (Has he seen last year’s ceremony co-hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco?) Click through to watch Murphy repeatedly cut off his Tower Heist co-star Ben Stiller to predict just how bad his Oscars show will be. Spoiler alert: It ends with a powder blue suit and a golden statuette shower.
Nope, new movies 50/50 , Courageous , and Dream House didn’t take the weekend box office away from Moneyball and Dolphin Tale . Boo, I know. But that doesn’t mean your favorite Twitter celebrities didn’t have anything to say about it! In today’s Twit Wit, we see what Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, and one staggering Jeopardy! champ have to say about the cineplex. I’ll take ” Moneyball Jokes” for $600, Alex.
Spoiler alert : James Franco’s character wasn’t always supposed to survive the Rise of the Planet of the Apes chaos. According to an early script , Franco’s Will Rodman was supposed to die in the arms of his primate pal Caesar after being hit with a bullet during the dramatic forest showdown. At the last minute, the filmmakers decided to change the ending and flew the actor cross-country to film an alternative goodbye scene with Caesar (Andy Serkis). The casualty-free climax made the final cut, Rise of the Planet of the Apes grossed over $400 million worldwide and Will Rodman lives to film a potential sequel. [ THR ]
Did this guy have to cut his arm off with a pocket-knife too?? Hit the jump and find out! A 64-year-old hiker named Amos Wayne Richards survived 96 hours (that’s four days, people!) trapped in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park with a broken leg and dislocated shoulder. What was he doing out there in the first place? Why, he was inspired by the film 127 Hours starring James Franco! So how did this all happen? It seems like the North Carolina native took the film—based on Aron Ralston’s real-life journey—a little too much to heart and decided to go on the same hiking trip earlier this month through Little Blue John Canyon that Ralston embarked on, according to published reports. Things didn’t go exactly as planned. The 127 Hours super-fan took a ten-foot fall, which broke his leg and dislocated his shoulder. Ironically enough, Richards found himself trapped not far from where Ralston had to cut off his arm with a pocketknife. “It took me about three or four minutes to work my shoulder and get it back in place,” Richards told WBTV in Charlotte. “Once I got it back in place, I stood up and realized my ankle hurt a little bit.” Thankfully, park rangers realized something was wrong when the hiker failed to return to his campsite and searched for Richards. Two days later, they found his car near the Little Blue John trailhead. Once rescued, Richards, who had been slowly dragging himself back the way he had come, was treated for a shattered leg and dehydration and is now recuperating in North Carolina. Sorry chief, but that movie isn’t exactly inspirational, more of a cautionary tale if anything. It isn’t like people rushed to the beaches after JAWS came out…SMH Source
Whether he is playing a cultural icon, a pajama bottomed-stoner or a soap opera performance artist “whose canvas is murder,” James Franco oftentimes relies on a gravely stage whisper to deliver his lines. From anyone else’s mouth, it would sound creepy, but coming from Franco, it is acceptable and even worthy of Academy Award recognition.* In celebration of his patented delivery, New York Magazine has assembled sixty seconds worth of the actor’s most inspired dramatic whisper work over the past decade. Click through for take-off.
Sad news, theater fans: James Franco will not be making his Broadway debut this fall in David Cromer’s production of the Tennessee Williams drama Sweet Bird of Youth . Monday, the actor’s publicist confirmed that Franco was no longer attached to the play, where he was set to star as the gigolo paramour to Nicole Kidman’s voracious movie star. As of now, Cromer is not sure if or when the Scott Rudin-produced Sweet Bird will take the stage. [ NYT /ArtsBeat ]
Hoo boy. The late-summer movie bottleneck has caught up with Hollywood, relegating this weekend’s trio of new wide releases to the bottom of the top five at the box office. Above them, a pair of leggy holdovers scrap for the top spot, with the ladies of The Help putting some distance between themselves and James Franco’s tenacious Rise of the Planet of the Apes . Your clinically lethargic Friday box office is here.
Illustrator/writer Lisa Hanawalt saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes over the weekend, and came away feeling a bit overwhelmed. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this movie, it’s that apes are CONSTANTLY jumping through glass windows. The shattering glass must feel good on their fur?” [ The Hairpin ]