Movie’s stars Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd stop by for a chat about the movie, which premieres Friday. By Kevin P. Sullivan Paul Rudd in “Wanderlust” Photo: Universal As part of “MTV First,” Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston premiered a never-before-seen clip from their upcoming comedy “Wanderlust” … but that was only the beginning. In the clip, their characters embrace their new lives on the Elysium commune with some new, let’s say … experiences. Now we have an extended NSFW version of the same scene that takes a raunchier look at life at Elysium. The extended version contains some drug references, so some viewer discretion is advised. In “Wanderlust,” Rudd’s character, George, loses his job and leaves New York with his wife, Linda, in search of a new beginning. After a failed attempt to shack up with George’s brother, they head off again in search of a new home. But they accidentally wind up stuck in the hippie commune inhabited by a wide range of characters. One of those characters introduced in the clip is Seth, the spiritual leader of the commune, played by Aniston’s real-life boyfriend Justin Theroux . The couple met while making the film, and in the clip, we see their onscreen introduction. We’re also introduced to the characters played by Lauren Ambrose and Jordan Peele, Almond and Rodney. The clip was just the beginning of the fun. If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to check out MTV News’ Josh Horowitz’s entire interview with Rudd and Aniston, which followed the premiere of the new clip from “Wanderlust.” During the interview, they addressed things like onscreen nudity and took questions from the fans via Twitter. “Wanderlust” opens in theaters on Friday. Check out everything we’ve got on “Wanderlust.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV First: Paul Rudd & Jennifer Aniston Related Photos ‘Wanderlust’
Ok guys, get your rotten tomatoes ready, because this is just ridiculous. After reportedly insisting that producers cut her topless scene from her new movie Wanderlust , Jennifer Aniston has been going on a media blitz to promote the film. “So what”, you say? Here’s what: she will not shut up about how great her nude scene was . in an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada , Jennifer says that ” ‘Liberating’ is a good word to use ” to describe the experience of shooting her topless scene, which she says ” fit the spirit of the movie .” Not only that, but she went on Chelsea Lately last night for an interview that skewed heavily towards discussing the nude scene that reportedly isn’t even in the film , including this infuriating statement by Chelsea Handler : “I’ve been lucky enough to see you topless in our private life, but now America, when they go to see the movie, will get to see her topless running!” Jen went on to say of her naked male co-stars, ” Finally, for once, the men have to disrobe! Trust me, there is your fair share of breasticles as well …” Breasticles? BREASTICLES?? Commence fruit-flinging…now!
Happy Oscar week! Time for another one of Movieline’s virtual awards roundtables , this time featuring nominated filmmakers behind this year’s contenders for Best Foreign-Language Feature. Meet our distinguished panel:
In the grand tradition of the late, great Robert Opel : “It’s long been rumored that Opel’s streak across the screen was not necessarily a unilateral act of transgression by Opel, and that he may have had a co-conspirator or two. The facts that he gained access to the backstage area in order to stage the streaking, and that he was given a post-show press conference, give rise to the suspicion that the event was set-up by the producers of the broadcast, maybe to give the long-venerated institution a little jolt.” [ The Awl ]
Next month brings the launch of The Hunger Games , one of the most-anticipated releases of the 2012 calendar and the first installment of a hopeful franchise based on Suzanne Collins’s bestselling young-adult adventure trilogy. In selling their film, studio execs at Lionsgate have ramped up all manner of marketing to immerse fans in the experience — and, in doing so, have made the least-populated jursdiction on the planet a financial beneficiary. The Hunger Games series features teenaged heroine Katniss Everdeen and concerns a North America remade into a dystopian dictatorship, renamed Panem and ruled by the governing body called The Capitol. As Lionsgate has expanded its promotional campaign, a wide array of affiliated websites has sprung up in an effort to make Panem as real as possible, many of those bearing obscure web addresses (e.g. www.Capitol.pn) to imply that the sites originate in the nation depicted in the film. This unique designation is not a studio fabrication, however. The .pn modifier is the domain offered up by the very real government of the Pitcairn Islands, a collection of four land masses comprising 18 square miles in the middle of the southern Pacific Ocean. This British territory rests over a thousand miles west of Easter Island and just as far east of Tahiti. So how did Pitcairn, with barely over 50 residents and intermittent electrical services, become the Internet home of a major Hollywood franchise? “It’s a happy coincidence,” Bill Haigh, governmental registrar for the island’s domain offices, told me in an e-mail correspondence. “Lionsgate have found .pn useful to them, and it has been helpful for bringing benefit to the island.” As the movie studio looked into creating an online presence for the film’s fictional nation, a functional domain was already in place. The Pitcairn government offers up these domains primarily for corporations to establish and/or protect their brand, and Haigh explained that the proceeds go a long way toward the islands’ infrastructural upkeep. “The sale of domain names is of great benefit to the 50 or so inhabitants of Pitcairn Island,” he said, “because revenue thus gathered is used to bring modern telecommunications to this extremely remote spot on the globe via satellite. This is quite an expensive process. And it is not only for telecommunications but generally for supply shipping, children’s education, medical care etc.” The result is that The Hunger Games has become a boon for this tiny territory, one that lacks a movie theater and receives but two cable channels — CNN and Turner Classic Movies. While Haigh declined to divulge the number of Web addresses purchased by the studio (Lionsgate reps did not respond to requests for comment), he did direct me to an online registry where one can inquire about the availability and ownership of various selections. Along with already established Capitol.pn, and CapitolCouture.pn, there are registrations for Panem’s various districts (District1.pn, through District13.pn), and each of the main characters have their own addresses (e.g. PresidentSnow.pn). Ultimately it’s impossible to deduce exactly how many Hunger Games characters, phrases and permutations thereof have staked a .pn claim. After browsing the registry for a while, however, it seems safe to assume that Lionsgate may have vastly more addresses collected than there are Pitcairn residents. And based on the fee of $100 NZ (appx. $75 US) per registered address, Hunger brings in revenues well into the thousands of dollars — a tidy supplement to the islands’ steady tourism business. As geographically remote as the Pitcairn Islands are, this Hunger Games dalliance does not make for their sole involvement with Hollywood. Most of the surnames found on the island are shared by characters from the oft-adapted novel Mutiny on The Bounty ; the book and numerous films are based on historical events that occurred on and around Pitcairn. For this reason cruise ships are a common sight in Bounty Bay, where visitors will find the outpost isle’s own capitol. However, as much of a windfall as Hunger Games may prove for the islands, it is doubtful “Everdeen” will appear anytime soon in the area phone books. Read Movieline’s full Hunger Games coverage here . Brad Slager has written about movies and entertainment for Film Threat, Mediaite, and is a columnist at CHUD.com . His less insightful impressions on entertainment can be found on Twitter .
Brian White is married to a Latina and made a lot of sisters mad after pointing out that black women on reality TV act like a bunch of chickenheads, but now he wants to set the record straight. Good ol’ Brian hollered at Essence Magazine for a “let’s clear things up” interview. Check it out: ESSENCE.com: You’ve caught a lot of flack for your comments about how Black women, so we just have to ask, Brian White, do you hate Black women? BRIAN WHITE: No, come on. I’m Black Carpenter [the title of his book and youth development program]. I’m out making sure kids have a future. I did that interview on speakerphone and my mom was in my car with me. I said the majority of what we, as a community, celebrate in the media, isn’t worthy of our women. Not the ones that I know and love. I’ve been out on the road with the UNCF, NAACP, and National Urban League doing Black Carpenter or working with little girls and boys in schools. I’m about that, more so than anything else. I’m not trying to be famous; I’m trying to make a difference. That’s all I meant to say. I apologize for any confusion. ESSENCE.com: Why do you think the story of you hating on Black women picked up so much steam? WHITE: I don’t know. There are probably lots of reasons, but I feel like that’s what sells. In our community, it’s very difficult to sell substance. I’ll say this: anything that can be construed as negative gets a lot of play but if it’s super positive getting actual creditable media and then that extra blogger is much harder. ESSENCE.com: Speaking of substance, you were very critical of reality TV and said something like; ‘You can’t call it a stereotype if it’s the majority.’ What did you mean by that? WHITE: I’ll use my role as Randy in the movie ‘I Can Do Bad All By Myself’. People get mad and say that’s a stereotype of Black men. I’m saying guys like Randy might be a stereotype but when I go to the club on Friday, I see 150 of them grabbing sisters by the wrist going, “Yo, come over here.” That’s not how gentlemen act. We support those images because they’re a little closer to truth than we care to admit. Let’s take a character like, Madea, who is based on Tyler Perry’s aunt. She’s like 6-feet-tall and probably has a gun in her purse right now. Tyler is holding up a mirror. In traveling across the South doing plays, I met a lot of Big Mommas, like Martin Lawrence’s character. Sure, we’re exaggerating a little bit, but there’s some reality in there. ESSENCE.com: Your comments caught the ire of NeNe Leakes who said you were “jealous” of the success of reality stars. What did you think? WHITE: [NeNe] responded to the blogs. I know that they were inflammatory on purpose. I think she handled it very well. I’m not saying anything negative about NeNe the woman. I want to her succeed. I want all Black women to succeed. I just don’t want it to be at the expense, or the example set for our kids. I’m so happy for people who have success on the reality TV, but I don’t know how to tell my little sister to follow in their footsteps. ESSENCE.com: Your comments may have been taken the wrong way since you were also criticized for marrying a woman who wasn’t Black [ his wife Paula is Latina]. Do you constantly feel like you have to defend yourself? WHITE: Yes, I do. I have five younger sisters. My sister Ashley has a Caucasian husband and my sister Erin has an African husband, from Liberia. My other baby sister is a sophomore, and she’s dated every race from all over the world. And that was why I popped off about my wife. Because that’s the biggest love of my life, acting is second. It made me uncomfortable to be challenged on who I love. I thought, ‘There are 31 flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, can I like one?’ Does it mean that I don’t like the others? No. It’s just confusing because I try to be positive and I think I’m about something that’s valuable, and to be slighted for love, or whatever, it’s just frustrating especially in 2012. Aw poor baby. Y’all was picking on him. Sorry Brian but it sounds like you still feel that the stereotype of Black women on TV is the reality of how the majority of Black women are. WENN Source More On Bossip! Put On Blast: One Of Game’s Black Wall Street Homies Posts TwitPic Of Gloria Govan In His Bed, eBeefs With Matt Barnes! Not So Secret: We Decipher All The Hidden Messages Rih Rih And Breezy Sent Each Other On Their New Songs Together! Sidepiece Showdown Pt. 2: Hollyweird’s Most Notorious Mistresses From Riches To Rags: A Gallery Of Huge, Multi-Million Dollar, Ballerific Cribs That Have Been Foreclosed On
Magic Johnson is in many ways the starting point guard for Black America. To really register this, you have to look outside of Los Angeles Lakers history and really go into his own personal story of life and experiences. This 6’9″ kid out of Lansing, Michigan has dropped some serious dimes on and off the court, and we have indeed benefited. 1. Surviving With HIV – In 1991 HIV/AIDS was the ultimate death certificate. No one had no idea when Magic would go but the world and even he himself thought it would be soon. Magic was forced to retire from the game he loved after severe scare from some NBA players due to lack of knowledge. He would indeed flip this negative to a positive using his status to make people aware of HIV when he shot the video “Time Out” with popular night host and actor Arsenio Hall. His contributions and information has helped thousands and possibly millions protect themselves from HIV or has helped people learn how to live with it. It has been officially 20 years since that 1991 press conference yet Magic is still pushing awareness and protection and wants people to know ”He’s Lucky and just because he has lived this long it doesn’t mean anyone else will” 2. Magic Johnson Theaters – In the year 1994 Magic took a shot at the movie industry. Although at the time his vision of putting plush and high quality multiplexes in urban communities seemed crazy and a sure-fire fail, Magic showed that when he is involved in “Showtime” it’s a huge success! His theaters opened on Crenshaw in Los Angeles California and in Harlem New York. It 10-15 screen theaters with SDDS Stereo and Stadium seating not only became a great entertainment place but it also created more jobs and created economic growth in the cities they were placed in. Some theaters still remain. A merger with Loews Cineplex and now a full ownership by AMC has freed Magic’s hands to work on other projects. 3. Starbucks – Although not founded by him or even created by him…Magic Johnson is a major piece in the success of Starbucks! How? Well he built 114 of them across the US! This then lead to the National exposure through word of mouth, commercial advertising and consistent growth of the business. He went in 50/50 with Howard Schultz and is solely responsible for Starbucks being in minority communities 4. Avant – A common unknown fact is Magic Johnson Music. Magic was on a roll through the 90’s despite his HIV announcement. With all of his business success rolling he took a shot at being CEO of his own record label! Who was his first artist to release and have success??? Ohio native Avant! Check out his cameo in Avant’s first video! Avant would later release “My Thoughts” which would have hit single “Separated” on the album and further make him a mainstay in the R&B world an being compared vocally to R. Kelly. 5. Minority Owner – Before Bob Johnson, Nelly, Usher and Jay-Z it was Magic Johnson who first put in his Minority ownership bid to be apart of the team that he helped take to NBA Titles! The year was 1994 and the estimated percent was 10 which is a MAJOR DEAL for not only African Americans in the NBA but Also Athletes. There had been black Player Coaches [Bill Russell] and GM [Elgin Baylor] but no minority ownership at that time. Magic found yet another way to show there is plenty of life after basketball. Magic has now sold his share of The Lakers and is looking into buying both The LA Dodgers and His hometown team, The Detroit Pistons! The underlying blessing that Magic Johnson has been to Black America is truly immeasurable. From poor Midwest kid, to HIV stricken pro athlete to Multimillionaire and businessman with family Magic proves that no obstacle is too big if you truly want to be as great as your dreams! – written by @itsthecaptain
With its soapy survey of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe, the new NBC potboiler Smash is clinging to reasonably good ratings since launching last week. And now The Weinstein Company, never one to miss an opportunity, has discreetly hitched its double Oscar nominee My Week With Marilyn to Smash ‘s own (alleged) Marilyn-fueled momentum. There’s the obvious Oscarcast factor as well, but the implications in this note just over the ML transom are clear enough: The Weinstein Company announced today that they are expanding MY WEEK WITH MARILYN into 600 theaters nationwide. This will give audiences a chance to see for the first time or revisit the film in theaters in advance of the awards. MY WEEK WITH MARILYN garnered two Academy Award Nominations for Michelle Williams, Best Actress, and Kenneth Branagh, Best Supporting Actor. Audiences are again embracing Marilyn Monroe with the success of the film and now the small screen hit, SMASH. MY WEEK WITH MARILYN is currently in select theaters and will be expanding on February 24th. A little desperate, sure, but at least it beats ” WHAT MOVIE REPRESENTS THE THING THAT HAPPENED IN CINEMA THIS YEAR? ” You’ve come a long-ish way, Harvey. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Today is the next-to-last day of competition screenings here at the Berlinale , which means people are speculating about a possible winner – to the extent that speculation is ever possible. This year’s jury is headed by Mike Leigh, and at dinner the other night some friends and I were playing the “WWMLL” – What Will Mike Leigh Like? – game. Voting for prizes is a democratic process, but the jury president can set the tone. Even so, it’s hard to say, rummaging around in the Berlinale 2012 bag, what Leigh and co. might possibly go for. The critics’ favorites so far seem to be Christian Petzold’s Barbara , an unusual, slow-building drama set in 1970s East Germany, and Miguel Gomes’ Tabu , an inventive melodrama that uses old-school movie conventions – and sensuous black-and-white cinematography – to weave a story of love and loss. But critics’ favorites and a jury’s choices don’t necessarily align. At this point, the field is fairly open. I’m wondering what a Mike Leigh-led jury will think about Postcards from the Zoo , by the young Indonesian filmmaker who goes by the name Edwin. Postcards is a gentle story, with a loose-jointed, somewhat impressionistic narrative structure, about a young woman, Lana (Ladya Cheryl), who spends her life in a Jakarta zoo, though she doesn’t officially work there. She helps bathe the zoo’s baby tiger; she knows many facts about the zoo’s giraffes, which she shares authoritatively with the zoo’s visitors; and, one day, she takes up with another zoo denizen, a magician-cowboy who turns her into his assistant and accomplice. (She dons an Indian-girl outfit and takes her place in his knife-throwing routine.) During this meandering journey of self-discovery, Lana also becomes a massage girl at a spa, serving men who nonchalantly stop in for full-service satisfaction, complete with a happy ending (if they’re willing to pay for it). The picture is gorgeously filmed – the early section really is a series of postcards, a gentle meditation on the zoo’s peaceful, inspirational nature, including shots of a mother and baby hippo idling in a pool, and a droll little sequence in which Lana muses aloud about why one of the tigers won’t eat. (She surmises that he feels sorry for the hens that become his dinner.) Postcards , Edwin’s second feature, is so low-key that its emotional effects don’t really linger – the picture is inconsequential, but it’s also reasonably enjoyable, particularly for its pensive, low-key aura. Wang Quan’an’s White Deer Plain, on the other hand, is anything but low-key. This nearly-three-hour Chinese epic includes no real battle scenes and very little pageantry, but it does something that’s perhaps harder to pull off: It wrestles with the changes and hardships that the country endured between 1910, the end of Imperial China, and 1938, the time of the Japanese invasion. The story, an adaptation of a controversial historical novel by Chen Zhongshi, uses the power struggle between two village families – a struggle that’s intensified by the woman, played by an expressive actress named Kitty Zhang Yugi, who enters their midst – as a means of talking about sweeping and painful change in China during the first half of the last century. The picture is gorgeous to look at — well, not the famine sections, but pretty much everywhere else. Wang has a weakness for showing, over and over again, the shimmering golden wheat fields that play a key part in the story, and they are beautiful. The human characters, unfortunately, often take a backseat to the scenery. They’re cogs in the machinery of the country and in that of the movie, too – perhaps that’s intentional, but it does keep White Deer Plain from being as involving as it might be. So who knows, from what we’ve seen so far, what the Berlinale 2012 jury will go for? (The group also includes François Ozon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anton Corbijn and Charlotte Gainsbourg, as well as Asghar Farhadi, the director of last year’s Golden Bear winner A Separation .) A Hungarian picture that screened this morning, Bene Fliegauf’s Just the Wind, draws its subject matter from recent real-life horrors, in which several Romany families were murdered in their homes, the targets of racial hatred. The picture is harrowing, yet it’s also somewhat detached – Fliegauf often works harder than he has to, maybe, to underscore the fear and anxiety visited upon the community in the wake of these murders. But the picture is topical, and that’s sometimes a quality that makes a jury sit up and take notice. We’ll see what happens on Saturday, by which time I’ll have bid the Berlinale adieu for another year – though before that, I’ll be checking back in with a look at Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod’s Bel Ami , featuring the Pale One himself, Robert Pattinson. Read more of Movieline’s coverage from the 2012 Berlinale here . Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
