Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, theater chains are OKing Peter Jackson ‘s Hobbit technology; Sundance Channel is developing programs by Robert Redford and Michael Fuchs; And the MPAA gives Obama a congratulations. MPAA Chief Chris Dodd Congratulates Barack Obama “I congratulate Barack Obama on his victory tonight. President Obama has demonstrated a great understanding of the importance of intellectual property to the fundamental strength of the American economy. In an era of partisan discord, there is bipartisan agreement that protecting American creativity and innovation is critical to our competitive edge in the global marketplace. I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Obama Administration to ensure the creative industries have every opportunity to thrive.” Around the ‘net… Theater Chains OK High Frame-Rate Hobbit Despite Format Challenges “Major exhibitors Regal and AMC lined up Tuesday to support Warner Bros. as it readies for the Dec. 14 U.S. release of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in the high frame rate of 48 frames per second. Meanwhile, the studio moves cautiously with its plans to introduce the theater technology, which has encountered a number of problems as it goes through a testing phase,” THR reports . Skyfall Results ‘Beyond Studio’s Wildest Dreams’ So far, Skyfall has exceeded the wildest dreams of even Eon, MGM and Sony, with a stunning £53.44m ($85.36 million) in just 10 days. Previously, no film had grossed £50m in 10 days in the UK. The final Harry Potter film managed an impressive £44.3m at that stage of its run, while Toy Story 3 stood at £39.8m after two weekends, The Guardian reports . Sundance Developing Dramas from Robert Redford, Michael Fuchs, More The AMC-owned network is developing five scripted dramas to join its legal entry from Oscar winner Ray McKinnon ( The Accountant ) hailing from producers including Sundance co-founder Robert Redford, THR reports . Donald Trump Has Twitter Meltdown After Election The Apprentice host said, “We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!” he wrote. “Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us. We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!” Other celebs reacted via Twitter, including Alec Baldwin who wrote: “You trust the voters when they choose The Apprentice . But not now?” Yahoo reports .
AFI Fest has been underway for nearly a week with a mixture of Galas, free screenings and other events, but last night it slowed its heavy rotation of movies and activities to watch returns in what can be best described as a mostly liberal party at the festival’s Cinema Lounge at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Shouts, applause and flailing victory high-fives mounted as returns came in on a big screen first tuned to CNN, but then changed to NBC when the news network seemed to be behind in their projections. Outside the hotel, a lone anti-Obama protestor made his passions against gay marriage, “that Muslim Obama ” and liberals in general as festival-goers headed in for the mostly open party. Inside, the political equation, perhaps not surprisingly, leaned left though there were noticeably mostly quiet individuals politely sitting with long faces as Obama’s victory seemed assured. Instead of trying to compete with what was a big night in the making, the festival decided to capitalize on it and turn it into a big event, complete with mostly open bar, sliders, pigs in a blanket, desserts and other treats. “When we set our dates last year, we knew the election would fall during the festival and we’re not going to try and compete with the election,” AFI Fest Director Jacqueline Lyanga told ML Tuesday night at the Roosevelt. “We’re all movie lovers, but at the same time, we’re all passionate citizens and so we wanted to find a way that people can come to the festival and see movies, but still be a part of the process. So we wanted to encourage people to get out to vote, so we didn’t have as packed of a film schedule today – we screened far fewer films today.” In keeping with the festival’s mostly egalitarian approach – for the fourth year running, all festival screenings are free – anyone including patrons on down to free ticket holders were invited into the evening to watch the returns and enjoying sponsored free of charge food and drink. The event last night appeared to be a hit and the final victory sent most people into a group cheer. A group of filmmakers and festival organizers from Ohio, which gave Obama the final win, were especially elated. “We invited in pass holders but also anyone who has a ticket from a movie from this week,” said Lyanga. “It’s great because it brings together filmmakers, pass holders, our patrons and the free ticket holders and celebrate the electoral process together. But while we’re here talking about politics, I’m also getting into conversations about cinema and getting to know our audience in a way that I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.” Lyanga plugged this year’s event saying attendance has been strong across the board. The event opened last week with Hitchcock and the festival has played host to a wide-range of Galas including On the Road from Walter Salles, Olivier Assayas’ Something in the Air , Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone and more. It will close out Thursday night with the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln . And while the big Grauman’s Chinese premieres have, as might be expected, drawn crowds and gawkers, smaller more challenging content have also been well attended, no doubt encouraged by the free ticketing. “For Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta we had to turn people away,” noted Lyanga “As a programmer, that’s extraordinary to see people be as excited as you’ve been about them for the past eight or nine months. We’re really building an audience of cinephiles. It’s a blending of older fans and newer younger fans.” Continuing, Lyanga added: “I think New York has always been a city that has had a vibrant art house audience and it’s great to now see that L.A. also has that. It encourages more filmmakers and distributors to take a chance on LA. It’s still a tough market, but this festival has given encouragement to the art house in Los Angeles.”
AFI Fest has been underway for nearly a week with a mixture of Galas, free screenings and other events, but last night it slowed its heavy rotation of movies and activities to watch returns in what can be best described as a mostly liberal party at the festival’s Cinema Lounge at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Shouts, applause and flailing victory high-fives mounted as returns came in on a big screen first tuned to CNN, but then changed to NBC when the news network seemed to be behind in their projections. Outside the hotel, a lone anti-Obama protestor made his passions against gay marriage, “that Muslim Obama ” and liberals in general as festival-goers headed in for the mostly open party. Inside, the political equation, perhaps not surprisingly, leaned left though there were noticeably mostly quiet individuals politely sitting with long faces as Obama’s victory seemed assured. Instead of trying to compete with what was a big night in the making, the festival decided to capitalize on it and turn it into a big event, complete with mostly open bar, sliders, pigs in a blanket, desserts and other treats. “When we set our dates last year, we knew the election would fall during the festival and we’re not going to try and compete with the election,” AFI Fest Director Jacqueline Lyanga told ML Tuesday night at the Roosevelt. “We’re all movie lovers, but at the same time, we’re all passionate citizens and so we wanted to find a way that people can come to the festival and see movies, but still be a part of the process. So we wanted to encourage people to get out to vote, so we didn’t have as packed of a film schedule today – we screened far fewer films today.” In keeping with the festival’s mostly egalitarian approach – for the fourth year running, all festival screenings are free – anyone including patrons on down to free ticket holders were invited into the evening to watch the returns and enjoying sponsored free of charge food and drink. The event last night appeared to be a hit and the final victory sent most people into a group cheer. A group of filmmakers and festival organizers from Ohio, which gave Obama the final win, were especially elated. “We invited in pass holders but also anyone who has a ticket from a movie from this week,” said Lyanga. “It’s great because it brings together filmmakers, pass holders, our patrons and the free ticket holders and celebrate the electoral process together. But while we’re here talking about politics, I’m also getting into conversations about cinema and getting to know our audience in a way that I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.” Lyanga plugged this year’s event saying attendance has been strong across the board. The event opened last week with Hitchcock and the festival has played host to a wide-range of Galas including On the Road from Walter Salles, Olivier Assayas’ Something in the Air , Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone and more. It will close out Thursday night with the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln . And while the big Grauman’s Chinese premieres have, as might be expected, drawn crowds and gawkers, smaller more challenging content have also been well attended, no doubt encouraged by the free ticketing. “For Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta we had to turn people away,” noted Lyanga “As a programmer, that’s extraordinary to see people be as excited as you’ve been about them for the past eight or nine months. We’re really building an audience of cinephiles. It’s a blending of older fans and newer younger fans.” Continuing, Lyanga added: “I think New York has always been a city that has had a vibrant art house audience and it’s great to now see that L.A. also has that. It encourages more filmmakers and distributors to take a chance on LA. It’s still a tough market, but this festival has given encouragement to the art house in Los Angeles.”
As Bella Swan goes, so goes Kristen Stewart . The Twilight saga star appeared on Today on Wednesday to talk a bit about her evolution from passive heroine to ass-kicking vampire in Breaking Dawn – Part 2 , and ended the interview with a quote which suggests that, like Bella, Stewart has learned to be more of a bad-ass when it comes to her fans’ and the media’s prying into her personal life. Stewart looks typically uncomfortable self in the clip below, and awfully tired. When the Today cameras first zoomed in on her, I thought the dark circle beneath her right eye looked like a shiner. But what made an even bigger impression was the way in which the actress handled the inevitable question about her off-screen relationship with Robert Pattinson . Keep in mind that, in the clip. Stewart is facing three interviewers by her lonesome: Savannah Guthrie, Matt Lauer and Natalie Morales. That’s not easy, though four people took part in Stewart’s 2009 Today interview for Eclipse . Guthrie gets the RPatz question in just as the Today theme music begins signaling that the interview segment is ending. “Kristen, you have so many fans, and they will be mad at us for not asking,” she says before asking if Stewart and Pattinson are back together. Watch Stewart’s face as she processes the question. She flashes a split-second expression of annoyance before responding with an answer that would probably meet the new Bella’s approval: “Funny you mention that,” Stewart replied in a deliciously deadpan manner before putting a nice sharp stake in heart of the off-screen romance story. “I’m just going to let people watch whatever little movie they think our lives are and go for it. Keep them guessing, I always say.” A little mystery goes a long way. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
As Bella Swan goes, so goes Kristen Stewart . The Twilight saga star appeared on Today on Wednesday to talk a bit about her evolution from passive heroine to ass-kicking vampire in Breaking Dawn – Part 2 , and ended the interview with a quote which suggests that, like Bella, Stewart has learned to be more of a bad-ass when it comes to her fans’ and the media’s prying into her personal life. Stewart looks typically uncomfortable self in the clip below, and awfully tired. When the Today cameras first zoomed in on her, I thought the dark circle beneath her right eye looked like a shiner. But what made an even bigger impression was the way in which the actress handled the inevitable question about her off-screen relationship with Robert Pattinson . Keep in mind that, in the clip. Stewart is facing three interviewers by her lonesome: Savannah Guthrie, Matt Lauer and Natalie Morales. That’s not easy, though four people took part in Stewart’s 2009 Today interview for Eclipse . Guthrie gets the RPatz question in just as the Today theme music begins signaling that the interview segment is ending. “Kristen, you have so many fans, and they will be mad at us for not asking,” she says before asking if Stewart and Pattinson are back together. Watch Stewart’s face as she processes the question. She flashes a split-second expression of annoyance before responding with an answer that would probably meet the new Bella’s approval: “Funny you mention that,” Stewart replied in a deliciously deadpan manner before putting a nice sharp stake in heart of the off-screen romance story. “I’m just going to let people watch whatever little movie they think our lives are and go for it. Keep them guessing, I always say.” A little mystery goes a long way. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Scarlett Johansson got a new tattoo and she’s showing it off for the internet because that’s what people do when they get new tattoos…at least all the people I see with half sleeves who now all of a sudden rock tank tops that they never rocked before…or all the people with calf tattoos who still wear shots in winter…just so people see their 300 dollar investment….not that Scarlett Johansson’s new tattoo cost 300 dollars…shit looks like she got it done at a flea market…you know with an AIDS ridden tattoo gun…all filled with Hep like it was Pam Anderson cuz the don’t have running water at the flea market to clean the shit…I mean this is so bad…it looks like she got it in prison with pen ink and a vote for Obama pin….but as someone who loves the cowboy movement…especially that of the 60s…I guess it’s kinda cute…and I mean any excuse for any girl to pull her shirt up…is a good one…even if it is visually not all that awesome.
Joanna Krupa has been grinding at this bikini model shit longer than I’ve been running a blog…from Maxim to FHM to years of fucking silence…cuz girls who have fake titties and decent bodies are a dime a fucking dozen…and there are actual models everywhere who are better suited for this shit…and the reality is…she never landed a respectable fucking job…but fucked a producer, got on Dancing with the Stars…even though she was never a fucking star…but the show needed cleavage dammit…there’s only so much Steve Wozniak a motherfucker can take when his wife makes him watch the smut as quality family time…cuz the TV is our babysitter, our brainwashing evil box, that allows us to focus on other people and their lies…rather than ourselves… Now she’s a Real Housewife…because that’s just the kind of low level garbage she is…but at least she’s in a bikini… TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICS FOLLOW THIS LINK
My Bieber Experience has been going on for about a two years now. It all started when I found out there was a contest to meet Justin. I worked really hard, sending in thousands of entries and sure enough, I won. I drove 11 hours from Texas to Atlanta, GA to meet Justin on December 23, 2010. To make a long story short, we had to go in groups and I ended up being shoved away from Justin. Scooter tried to help, but Justin was busy. I thought it was the end, but thankfully it wasn’t. I was very blessed to have a second chance. In other words, a do over, which not many people are lucky enough to get. I met Justin for the second time on October 30, 2012 in Houston, TX. I literally practiced how I was going to pose next to him for months. I was really nervous the whole week leading up to this day. I walked through the curtains and saw Justin standing there with both of his arms out ready for someone to get beside him. A man told me to get on Justin’s left, but I had practiced for his right, so I completely ignored him and was walking straight for Justin because someone was blocking me from his right side. Justin was standing there waving his arms in a really playful way, like ‘Which side are you gonna choose?’ I remember looking at him and thinking “Oh my God he’s flawless.” It all happened so fast that I couldn’t register what was going on. It was like one of those dreams where you can’t really see anything. When we took the picture Justin raised his arm like “HEY” but the picture was taken before his arm was all the way up, so it looks as if there is a invisible fan with us. It’s funny because now my picture is literally all over the internet and people are cropping me and drawing stick figures and stuff saying they are with Justin! When the picture was done I turned to Justin and said, “Justin” and he looked at me but I couldn’t look at him. I gave him a bracelet that I sell for charity and a man was motioning me to leave so I hurried out. On my way out I completely missed the curtain opening and almost ran into a bodyguard. I was in a daze. When I left, it was like my feet were glued to the ground. I couldn’t move and I’m pretty sure that the people after me left before I did. I started crying my eyes out and I was like, “What just happened oh my god.” My mom was like freaking out too. I looked up and saw Lil Twist and stopped crying . He was walking my way. My mom asked him if I could have a picture and he said yeah. A man came up to me to cut off my M&G wristband while I was trying to take a selfie. When he was cutting it off Lil Twist goes, “That’s dangerous!” Then I accidentally took a video of us, but he was so chill about it and waited for me to take a picture. After that I gave him a bracelet and he told me thank you. He walked away and I started crying, again. We went outside and were supposed to be let back in at 5:30 p.m., 30 minutes before everyone. But security never let us in which sucked because Pattie was right in front of the doors we were at. I was front row, and when I was sitting waiting for Carly to come on, I looked to my left and saw Justin’s grandpa Bruce! I ran over to him and was apparently the only one who noticed him. I asked for a picture and he told me that he couldn’t take a posed picture, but I was welcome to stand in front of him and take one, which I did and he smiled for it. I then gave him a bracelet and he read it out loud. “Make a change, that’s definitely what Justin does!” After that, Carly came on and looked and sounded amazing. When she finished performing her drummer gave me one of his drum sticks! After that was Justin, which was the best concert experience of my LIFE. During a song I was holding up a heart that said ‘Avalanna’ on it and he looked straight at me and smiled SO BIG! The show ended and I waited by the busses, as everyone else did. I saw DJ Tay James but before I realized it was him, he was gone. Justin never came out so we eventually left. I live 2 hours from Houston and on our way home we decided to get some food. We pulled into Wendy’s and saw a tour bus in the drive thru . I was in complete shock. Fredo was standing by the speaker thing and before I could calm down, he got back in the bus. That was basically the end of the best experience of my life. -@AmaniForSPCA/@amanisahyounie Read more: My Bieber Experience has been going on for about a two years…
Is Wreck-It Ralph a video game flick for kids, or the saga of a destructive 30-year-old loner on an existential journey of rediscovery? We put the bigger questions to John C. Reilly , whose smash-happy villain Wreck-It Ralph goes game-jumping through his arcade world in search of his inner hero — crashing a first-person shooter and a candy-colored racing game in the process — in the Disney animated adventure. There’s a lot for children to enjoy in Wreck-It Ralph , but adults may find even more to grasp onto in Ralph’s story – he’s basically just turned 30, is having an existential crisis, unsure of his destiny and his job and what he’s supposed to be doing with his life. It’s no accident that Disney is over the moon with the age range of people that are enjoying the movie already. Yeah – there are some deep things said in the movie, in a very fun, video game world kind of way. The kids watching it may not understand some of these life crises for a few decades. They will one day! Was that something you had in mind as you gave voice to Ralph? Did you see him as a 30-year-old in crisis? I wasn’t so focused on the time span of it, and I wasn’t thinking of it so much as a mid-life crisis or existential crisis kind of thing. It was much more emotional, and it was immediate, too – “Why doesn’t anyone like me?” “Because you smash things!” I know, but that’s just what I do for a living! Give me a break! To me, the thing I was most conscious of was someone in the beginning of the story who doesn’t know himself, and he can’t accept who he is, because he doesn’t really know who he is. That’s one of the things that the journey he goes on gives him when he’s put into these tight spots and is called upon to be something bigger – he rises to the challenge and learns who he is, and accepts who he is. And then everything’s fine! Don’t give away the ending! Well… I was talking about people in general. But everything might be fine in the movie. Who knows? Do you relate to Ralph’s quandary of being defined by the job that he does? Yeah. I think that’s true – I noticed, working in France, that’s just not something people do. “What do you do?” That’s not the first thing they ask you at a party. I can’t remember what is the first thing they ask, but they’re a lot more private and people don’t share personal information quite so readily there, for whatever reason, they’re a little more formal. But here the first thing anyone asks is “What do you do?” So that’s the first bit of information where people start to judge you or size you up. That’s Ralph’s problem, that everyone sees him as what he does. In your own life and career have you felt that similar feeling of being typecast, or thought of in a way that you wanted to break out of? Every time I did, I did something else. It doesn’t happen very often. But I’ve done a lot of different stuff over the years and people are always surprised at what I end up in. I’m sure they’ll be surprised to see me in this. You had an interesting start to your career, with Brian De Palma. Casualties of War ! Do you remember that experience vividly still? Yes, of course! It was a big, life-changing experience. I’d never been on an airplane before, I’d never been out of the Midwest before, I’d never been in a movie before. I met my wife on that movie. There were a lot of big changes. All these characters we meet, the hundreds or thousands who exist in Ralph’s world from his game and the other games connected to his via power lines, are just the characters within this one arcade. Right. So here’s the big question: If there are, say, hundreds or thousands of similar arcades out in world beyond the confines of Litwak’s Family Fun Center, does that mean there are potentially many more Ralphs out there? And are they all going through the same existential journey at the same time, in their respective arcades? Duplicate Ralphs?! Multiple souls, maybe? What’s going on here? Wow . I never even thought about that. That’s surprising, after three days of a press junket, to think about that for the first time. I don’t know! Are they all experiencing the same thing at the same time, or is it a Matrix -like situation? This is the next creative leap. The next leap of imagination that people can make after they see the movie. The first one is like, what is it like to be inside a video game, to be a video game character – that could be a sequel, or something. And could you go into the surge protector and into the electricity network… That could be the next destination. I think you’re cooking up a sequel here! Meanwhile, there’s a moment in the film when Ralph fantasizes about being the toast of the town, and there’s a shot of him on the disco floor. Was that a nod to Boogie Nights ‘s Reed Rothchild in some way? It wasn’t a nod on my part, because I had nothing to do with that. Unless there was dialogue in the scene, I most likely wasn’t even aware of it. What were you most surprised by when you watched the film, having taken part in just that one aspect of it? The level of detail and how many people are in those scenes. The racing scenes in the candy world, it’s insane the amount of work that went into that. I was also surprised at how funny Jane [Lynch] and Jack McBrayer’s scenes were, because I literally didn’t see any of it, I didn’t even see rough cuts of those. You were paired in the recording booths together with Sarah Silverman, as Jane and Jack were. What’s your fondest memory from recording with her? She’s awfully fun to be around, she’s a real sweetheart and very funny so it was always fun to work with her. The ‘doody’ line gets a big laugh in the film. There were probably six more that she had that were not in the movie! But I like the scene where I have to break her heart, because Sarah was really good in that dramatic scene. That was kind of traumatic actually, that day – for both of us. We’re both right there recording it and she’s screaming, “No, Ralph!” It was a pretty heavy day. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Stephen Colbert is the Lord of the Lord of the Rings . The Colbert Report anchor appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live with his friend and Comedy Central colleague, Jon Stewart , to talk about how their cultural interests define them and to further fuel speculation that Colbert will be making a cameo in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Kimmel, who is broadcasting from Brooklyn this week, had both Colbert and Stewart on the show Thursday night, where he asked the former if he is going to be making an appearance in the first Hobbit film , as media reports have suggested. Colbert said he could ‘neither confirm nor deny” such a report — virtually the same thing that Peter Jackson said when EW asked the same question — but he didn’t exactly quell speculation when he recounted his experiences on the New Zealand set of The Hobbit over the summer. There, during “a party with all of the dwarves,” Colbert said he went hairy toe-to-toe with Jackson’s resident Tolkien expert Philippa Boyens in a 50-question quiz. “I smoked her,” said Colbert. “Peter Jackson officially said I’m the biggest Tolkien geek he has ever met.” Jackson also told EW that Colbert won the geek off, noting that “his encyclopedic knowledge of Tolkien is spectacular, and points to a deprived childhood in some respects.” Stewart had an even better line. Referring to Colbert’s knowledge of all things Tolkien, he told Kimmel: “Bilbo Baggins turned to him on the set and said, “Enough already…And he said it in Elvish.” The Daily Show anchor also pointed out that while Colbert is the only person he knows “fluent in the Bible and Lord of the Rings,” he is “more of a pop-culture nerd.” “You’re a Star Wars guy,” Colbert replied. ” Star Wars , The X-Men,” Stewart replied. That explains everything! Watch the boys shtick it up in the clip below. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
