The NRA finally broke its week-long silence after the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut today with a press conference — technically a speech, as no questions were answered — that proved once again that reactionaries are as terrible at popular culture as they are at generating positive outcomes from their preferred policies. The real culprit to blame for tragedies such as Newtown, according to NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre? Movies. In Washington, D.C., LaPierre delivered an obtuse tirade to assembled journalists in which, per the current fashion, he blamed numerous video games like Bulletstorm and Grand Theft Auto before laying into the movie industry. “We have bloodsoaked films out there like American Psycho , Natural Born Killers ,” he said. “They’re aired on propaganda loops called Splatterdays, and every single day.” Yes, he said ‘splatterdays,’ a word no one has ever used. LaPierre also offered the organization’s prescription for solving the problem of frequent mass killings: stuff our schools with guns. LaPierre claimed that rules prohibiting guns in public schools contribute to these killings, suggesting that “We need to have every single school in America immediately deploy a protection program proven to work — and by that I mean armed security.” He then announced that the NRA will be funding a “safety” program for interested schools dubbed the “National School Shield Emergency Response Program” which, if implemented as described in the press conference, would significantly militarize the educational experience. Far be it from me to point out the ridiculousness of blaming films from 12 and 22 years ago for violence which occurred last week — though for what it’s worth, I can’t recall seeing any 24/7 marathon of any of Oliver Stone’s lesser movies. We’ll just note instead that, as if to add a particularly grim punchline, at the same time LaPierre embarrassed himself and his organization on the national stage, another unspeakable tragedy happened: Three people were killed by a Pennsylvania gunman who then took his own life. Notably, guns are not prohibited on Pennsylvania roads. I’ll wait with bated breath for the film the NRA will blame for that. [Via CNN ] Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow him on twitter (@rossalincoln). Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Amour is a true rarity, and for lovers of cinema it is one of the year’s high notes, though it’s most certainly no easy ride. Austria’s Best Foreign-language contender in the Oscars race, the feature by director Michael Haneke is a true masterpiece dealing with a topic most would rather ignore. The feature, which will be released by Sony Pictures Classics this weekend Stateside, most certainly is in the running for more than one Oscar nomination or at least it should be. Amour deservedly won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in May where it debuted and was even picked by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association as their Best Film of 2012. That is some feat for a film that centers on an elderly Parisian couple who are suddenly faced with illness and life’s sunset, beating out Hollywood’s big contenders. [ Related: LA Film Critics Name ‘Amour’ Best Picture, Boost ‘The Master,’ Jazz Up Oscar Race ] [ Editor’s Note: Movieline covered comments by ‘Amour’ director Michael Haneke and its terrific actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva at the Cannes Film Festival in May and is re-published here timed to the film’s opening Friday December 21. ] Haneke is certainly no stranger to awards in Cannes. He won the top prize just in 2009 for The White Ribbon as well as Best Director in 2005 for Caché (Hidden) and the Grand Prize of the Jury for The Piano Teacher back in 2001. Actors Jean-Louis Trintignant ( The Conformist ) and Emmanuelle Riva ( Priest ) sublimely portray the couple whose lives suddenly change after Riva’s character, Anne, suffers an attack. She is left in a slowly deteriorating state of dementia and her husband takes on the burden of caring for her while their daughter, played by Isabella Huppert, feels shut out. Mostly a theater actor in recent years, Trintignant was persuaded by Haneke to once again take to the screen for his first film since 1998’s Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train by Patrice Chéreau. “I didn’t want to act in films; I prefer the theater. But Haneke offered me this great opportunity,” he said — then clarified, “But I won’t do it again.” Trintignant, who was an early target of the paparazzi here back in the late ’50s because of rumors he was having an affair with Brigitte Bardot, his co-star in …And God Created Woman , added, “It’s a great joy to work with Michael Haneke. I’ve never met such a demanding director. He knows the cinema through and through.” Haneke will probably never be accused of being overly forthcoming when discussing his films. The heavy subject matter in Amour quite frankly will not appeal to everyone, but it’s already being called a masterpiece. He did acknowledge, however, that the material is challenging. “I never write a film to show something. Once you reach a given age, you have to contend with the suffering of someone you love,” Haneke said. “It’s inevitable – in my family as well.” In telling this story of slow loss, Haneke made great effort to avoid heavy emotion, which might have been an easy method of audience seduction. With that backdrop, Riva said she became familiar with Anne as she played her on set for over two months. She also noted that she almost doesn’t think of the person she sees on screen as herself. “Michael said to me, ‘Don’t be overly sentimental when playing Anne,’ and then it really clicked into place for me,” she said. “When I watch the film I get the feeling I’m seeing someone else. Obviously it’s not a universe steeped in beauty. I raced to the set every morning. I was in a hurry to get back to the set to act.” Added Haneke: “Within a dialog you have to find the right emotions. It’s like an opera in that sense.”
Charismatic, easy on the eyes and exuding charm, actor Garrett Hedlund magnifies many of the hypnotic traits of the the person he plays in Walter Salles ‘ On the Road . Magnetic, intelligent and a wild side that became the inspiration and fascination of Beat author Jack Kerouac, the adventures and misadventures Neal Cassady inspired became a pivotal nucleus for the novel On the Road , considered one of the most important works of literature in post-war era America. [ Related: Kristen Stewart Goes ‘On The Road’ & Chats Up Her Racy Role ] Neal Cassady also had a dark side in the form of booze, drugs, many women and even dabbling in other sexual dalliances unspoken about in the conservative mores of the period. Talking about On the Road and the real-life characters behind it involves the necessity of a roadmap itself since Kerouac changed their names. In the film, directed by Walter Salles, Hedlund plays the book’s Dean Moriarty, aka Neal Cassady, while Kerouac assigned himself the name Sal Paradise. Kristen Stewart stars as Marylou (LuAnne Henderson), the former wife and frequent lover of Dean, while Kirsten Dunst plays Camille (Carolyn Cassady), the second wife and mother of Dean’s children. Shot over 100,000 kilometers and with years of research heading into the project, the film based on the Beat Generation bible finally made good on numerous failed adaptation attempts in the past. The pic features Sam Riley ( Control ) as Sal, who falls under the spell of the intoxicating Dean Moriarty, who himself chases around America for freedom and the elusive ” It .” Sal, Dean and sometimes Marylou and others travel around the country indulging in drink, drugs, sex, fast driving and the whims of a youthfulness hellbent on not conforming to post-WWII America. While their behavior may still shock some now, it would have been next to impossible to produce decades ago. Indeed Francis Ford Coppola picked up the rights to the book way back in 1979 and it took another few decades for him to hand it to Walter Salles to direct. Many reasons ultimately delayed the movie version of On the Road , but sex and booze on the big screen were most certainly no-gos in the ’50s and Hedlund’s character Dean embraced vice as a simple by-product of life. Garrett Hedlund spoke with ML about Neal Cassady/Dean Moriarty and On the Road taking pains to care for a character he clearly admires. He talks about his own experience getting to know On the Road , Dean’s complicated, unconventional relationship with Marylou and what he hopes newcomers to the novel will discover after seeing the movie. On the Road novel is often characterized as a cultural watershed moment though the real people and lives depicted in the book, of course, didn’t realize that at the time. How do you look at it as someone who grew up a few generations later? I think it’s built up bigger and bigger over the years. The Beat Generation – that term is even more familiar now, even more than say the ’70s. Hype is built and established and people link it back to a certain generation, in this case the ’40s and ’50s. Now everyone knows that that group was the Beat Generation. At the time though, that was something Kerouac described [in passing] and it was then that a fellow put the [label] on it and said, ‘this is what we’re going through now’. But Kerouac was just drunk in a bar when he first said [Beat Generation]. It’s everything from the jazz and the music to the beat and he’d even write to a beat. His method of typing on a typewriter almost simulated someone playing the keys on a saxophone. These guys were all great minds and thinking alike and writing in the style of their communication. So with these guys, Ginsberg and Kerouac and others, their thoughts were conveyed onto paper and it was just about getting it out at the pace of their thoughts and forget about format. In the present time you don’t really establish what you’re going through, but after time it’s declared something. Right now there could be some writers doing something expressing their thoughts in a whole different style that we’re not aware of. This could be the “in-between the notes generation…” But the Beats were just a new era coming out of swing that was identified in a post war, conservative era. They went the opposite way on what was a one-way street. How familiar were you with On the Road and how did you come to play Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady)? I read the book at a young age and then looked up more about it and saw that Francis Ford Coppola was to direct it and I thought, ‘awe man, the director of The God Father , Apocalypse Now ,’ but I was 17 and living in Arizona at the time, then I moved to L.A. and got some success in films and then a few years later I met Walter [Salles]. When you read the book as an aspiring writer and going through the desire to engage in creative writing, world literature and journalism, I was grabbing every book I could to study different styles between F. Scott Fitzgerald and how he was brought up and wrote and J.D. Salinger and how he was brought up and wrote and becoming a recluse. Then I was introduced to Kerouac and became familiar with this whole spontaneous prose. [Kerouac’s] The Town in the City which, was really inspired by Neal Cassady, was so inspired by this style of writing in which you just capture your thought and that inspired his style for On the Road . The way he captured Neal/Dean shows how magnetic he is. He’s infectious and the ladies just love him and guys just want to be around him. His intellect and memory was astounding. People [who knew them] would recall that Kerouac was the one with the great memory but then some would say he was the one with the note pad. Neal could rap off all kinds of statistics and observations and ideas about the world he was in. Neal also aspired to be a writer but was also the guy with all the mischievousness, stealing all kinds of cars before he was even 15. Neal/Dean was such a charismatic personality as you say. Sal/Jack wanted to be around him. Marylou, his ex-wife and sometimes lover, stayed with him throughout his life and he had a knack for charming a crowd. How did he manage to carry that and how did you capture that for the film? The guy had a wonderful wild side. That wild side had less boundaries than most people have within themselves and an openness that is more accepting than most people would allow themselves. In the book, he monologues on about knowing America and its people and it comes from all the experiences of all those rambunctious years. How would you describe the relationship between Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, a.k.a. Dean and Sal? Dean and Sal were brothers who didn’t know which of them was responsible for the love in their relationship. Neal’s wife, Carolyn [Cassady], was quoted saying that neither of them knew how much the other one loved the other. Each thought they were the one giving that love and they never knew how the other felt. In a way they were so complimentary as well. They both lost their fathers and needed somebody. Having someone like Sal who takes the time to record everything being said and Dean who is someone who speaks and is so quotable and wild and educated – they were the dream pair. Someone who is as intelligent as Dean could have someone follow him and take them on adventures and even if none of that gets published, it would make for a great diary. And then, how would you describe the relationship between Dean and Marylou? That is a relationship that people watching this movie so many decades later may still find unsettling. I like to think in a way that Marylou is almost like the female Dean in a way. She knew what she was in for and that’s why she stuck around with these guys – and also why she left them. She left Dean in New York to go back to her sailor. Dean leaves her in Denver to go back to Camille in San Francisco and there was a similar acceptance of freedom and lack of [rules]. But there was so much love in that relationship. They continued to communicate all the way up until he passed away. And unfortunately, she passed away just months before we started filming. But we got to meet a bunch of her family members including her daughter who loved her mom so much and her niece. When I met her niece in San Francisco toward the end of shooting it was awkward, but almost in a good way. Her hair was a similar color to how you imagined Marylou’s to be and I was playing Dean who is a person she’s been surrounded by all her life. On the Road is a big part of these people’s lives and to see her looking how we imagine her aunt to almost look like was surreal. Carolyn Cassady (the character Camille in the film) came out and we had dinner the second to last day of filming. We had to get up at 5am, but she could always go for another drink, so Sam [Riley] and I went with her arm and arm up to [frequent Beat Generation haunt] Vesuvio’s in San Francisco right by City Lights Bookstore and she hadn’t been there since going there with them many years ago. Just sitting there with her – I wish I had the camera [working] on my iPhone. The sole of her shoe had come off while we were walking, and this might sound disgusting, but I took off my boot and had my wardrobe socks still on and I took the sock off and put it on her shoes so she could continue walking. She’s in her late 80s now. It was a wonderful moment… Dean is a set of contradictions. He’s a forward thinking enlightened soul but also there’s these misogynistic elements to him, would you agree? Yeah, I mean. Hmmm. Marylou did know what was going on. Just as much as she wanted to be with Dean, she also wanted to be with Sal. Going to New York, she knew he would be fooling around with women at the bars and she said that it’s only fair that she gets to be with other men too. Neal said ‘it’s fine with me as long as you don’t mess with Al Hinkle.’ [Hinkle is the only male character from On the Road alive today]. He actually told me that story and said he didn’t know why he happened to be the one he mentioned, but he had heard it while pretending to be asleep in the back of the car. So with the Camille (Carolyn Cassady) side of it, he wanted to be with her because of respectability. Camille was also incredibly intellectual and when he had his first daughter with her, he had the family he was longing for. And now he had the ability and the desire to provide for them and got a job on the rail and at a tire shop and he worked long hours to provide. John Cassady expressed to me big time how wonderful of a father he was and when he came home from work, all three of them would grab on to his bicep and he would lift them all up. There were lots of stories from them. Stories of sadness or of adventure that were not as careless as On the Road sometimes makes him seem. They were very touching. How do you think audiences should approach seeing On the Road today? I hope they’ll want to pick up On the Road afterward. A lot of these family members don’t get credit for the lives they’ve lived. Carolyn Cassady took the famous photograph of Neal and Kerouac and she doesn’t see a dime from any of this stuff. She has a wonderful book Off the Road that is the female perspective of what she went through and it’s beautiful. If women think they’re in a tough relationship – then, well, read Off the Road [laughs]. Carolyn said when asked, ‘What would you tell girls these days?’ She said, ‘Well for one, jealousy is stupid.’ I just hope they will read On the Road and other Beat material and discover people beyond Kerouac like Ginsberg, Burroughs and others and explore. [ IFC Films opens On The Road beginning Friday, December 21st]
Clifford Harris ain’t the only trouble man in the news Ex-Washington Wizards Player Javaris Crittenton Arrested For Domestic Abuse According to TMZ reports : Javaris Crittenton — ex-NBA star and accused murderer — is now being accused of slapping his baby mama in the face while she was breastfeeding their 1-day-old child … TMZ has learned. Crittenton has temporarily been ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from Tyress Daniels and their newborn son … after she filed court docs outlining a pattern of domestic violence. In the docs, filed in L.A. County Superior Court, Daniels claims JC attacked her on three separate occasions. The first incident allegedly took place when she was pregnant and he roughed her up in a hotel room. According to Daniels, the 2nd incident occurred at a hospital on Nov. 1 — less than 24 hours after she gave birth to their son. Daniels claims, “I was breastfeeding the baby and we got into an argument over what the baby would wear for pictures. Javaris hit me in the face while I was breastfeeding because he said I had a smart mouth.” Not while ya seed is on the tidday playa…SMH! Daniels claims Javaris tried to grab the baby and leave … but hospital security rushed in and stopped him. He was eventually kicked out of the room. According to the docs, Daniels claims JC got rough with her a 3rd time on Nov. 26 … scratching her face and busting her lip. She also claims Javaris later sent her a text message saying she would end up like her “dead mother” and he will have the child. Cotdamn ni**a! Is it REALLY that serious??? After Daniels filed the docs, a judge awarded temporary custody of the kid to Daniels — and set a hearing for next month … when the judge will decide if the restraining order will become more permanent. It’s another major legal fight for the 24-year-old former Washington Wizards player … who’s facing a murder charge for the shooting death of a 22-year-old woman in 2011. Javaris has denied any wrongdoing in the murder case. Just put this azzhole in prison already, clearly he isn’t doing anything productive with his current freedom. Image via AP
Some wedding day Yeezy wear? Kourtney Kardashian Says She Wants Kanye West To Design Her Wedding Dress G.O.O.D music head hancho Kanye West might have to pump the brakes on popping the question to his boo-thang Kimmy Cakes until she’s done duking it out in court with her future ex , but there IS one other person who’d like Yeezy’s help getting down the aisle: her sister Kourtney. The rumored to be engaged mommy-banger of two recently admitted that she’d love to have her sister’s kilt-rockin’ loverboy design her wedding dress. via Entertainmentwise Kourtney Kardashian has revealed that she wants Kanye West to have creative control over her wedding dress and would love for him to design the perfect gown when she marries her partner Scott Disick. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star obviously trusts the ‘Mercy’ rapper, who has his own clothing line KW and is dating her younger sister Kim, to do a good job. The mum-of-two revealed to More! magazine, ”I’m going to let Kanye design my wedding dress. Just not right now!” We’d love to see what Yeezy comes up with if it actually does happen…the possibilities are disastrous endless..
Look, Heidi Klum, we get it. You are very rich, famous and beautiful. Must you rub it in our faces?!? The super model took to Twitter this week and posted a picture of herself sunbathing on some tropical island. Shirtless! And while we’re never against any Heidi Klum nude shots, we can’t help but be reminded that: 1. We do not look like this; 2. We are sitting at our computer with two sweatshirts on at the moment. Klum, we’d imagine, is spending the holidays with bodyguard/boyfriend Martin Kristen , as this will be her first Christmas in seven years as an unmarried woman. Kristen may get to tap this any time he wants, but, hey, we can stare at Kate Upton bikini photos all day and night. That’s pretty much the same thing, right?
Rihanna might not have a man but she’s got a man-sion! Via TMZ reports : Rihanna’s moving on after her leaky Beverly Hills home disaster last year — plunking down $12 million on a brand new mansion in the Pacific Palisades … just a few miles away. The 11,000 sq. ft. house features 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, a cutting edge kitchen, a dining room with a 14-foot ceiling, an outdoor BBQ and bar, a swimming pool, a sun deck, 4-car garage, and a 6,000 sq. ft. backyard. Not bad, considering Rihanna’s last L.A. real estate venture was a nightmare. As we first reported, Rihanna filed a lawsuit last year against the person who sold her a Beverly Hills mansion, claiming the place was a leaky piece of crap. Rihanna purchased the home for $6.9 million — and sold the place last December for a measly $5 million. Congrats on the new crib RihRih! Check out more pics on the flip… Photo Credit: MLS
Sean Penn is obviously still recovering from his divorce with ex-wife Robin Wright after three years. He calls it a fraud in the new issue of Esquire. The Gangster Squad actor opens up his struggle to understand the concept of marriage, especially after going through two heartbreaking splits. Penn was also married to Madonna from 1985-1989. “There is no shame in saying that we all want to be loved by someone,” he reveals. “As I look back over my life in romance, I don’t feel I’ve ever had that. I have been the only one that was unaware of the fraud in a few of these circumstances blindly.” Penn says he didn’t know truth about his relationship, presumably with Wright, until it was over. “When you get divorced, all the truths that come out, you sit there and you go, ‘What the f**k was I doing? What was I doing believing that this person was invested?'” “Which is a fantastically strong humiliation in the best sense. It can make somebody very bitter and very hard and closed off, but I find it does the opposite to me.” That’s … good at least?
I’m Brittany and those of you who know me or follow my Twitter know how long I’ve been trying to meet Justin. My dream finally came true. On November 23rd I attended the Ottawa Believe tour and YES it was hella good. I was lucky enough to get VIP M&G tickets for my birthday from my mom. I was counting down the days, it felt like forever! I was always told I was too young to enter contests, I didn’t live in the right area, I was always too young to see him at Much Music etc., but this time I finally got the chance to meet him. I waited in line for the M&G and got one of his tour picks! They let us walk in and we had to walk down about 100 stairs. When I was waiting I saw Alfredo. He winked at me and waved! At this point I was already planning my funeral because ALFREDO winked at me . I walked in and there he is. My idol, my inspiration, the person who changed my life, my everything. Justin grabbed my arm and said, “Hey sweetie!” and hugged me. I had planned to thank him for many things because he honestly did change my life. If Justin wasn’t around I wouldn’t be the person who I am today and that’s very true. I was like, “Thank you, uh thank you for everything. You’ve really changed me,” and he looked at me and said, “You’re welcome cutie.” JUSTIN DREW BIEBER CALLED ME CUTE. (I didn’t look cute either, I looked like shit from waiting outside in the rain for 6 hours lol) I bursted into tears and he was like, “No don’t cry! It’s okay!” and I just looked at him in awe. Did he really think it was okay? I WAS DYING. Then the security said it was time to go and I just looked at Justin and we stared into each others eyes. He hugged me again and said bye. Then I walked out. Yes this was about 2 minutes. Yes it was the best two minutes of my life. Yes I will never forget it and I’m very thankful for it. After I sat 3rd row at his show which was perfect. I literally cried most of the time. I sang my heart out and cried.. a lot. Pattie, Jeremy, Fredo, Jazzy, Jaxon, Bruce and Dianne were about 1 METER from me! While I was crying Pattie looked at me and said ‘It’s okay!’ How embarrassing eh. Oh well, I will never forget this day ever. Thank you Justin for everything! Don’t ever give up beliebers. Your dream WILL come true! -@bieberholic101 (I’m on the right) Read the original: I’m Brittany and those of you who know me or follow my…
Kris Jenner has labeled rumors of a divorce from her husband of 22 years as “ridiculous.” But a new tabloid story is fueling talk that this union is about to crumble, as Star Magazine reports Bruce Jenner is looking to take children Kylie and Kendall and move out of the family mansion. Kylie and Kendall “broke down crying” when told of their father’s decision, a source tells the tabloid, while the same insider says the real tension stems from Kris placing her children’s careers over their childhoods. Somewhere, Kim Kardashian has no idea at all what this person is talking about. According to Star, a huge fight broke out between Bruce and Kris recently, with the former storming out and stepchildren Kourtney, Khloe and Robert actually taking his side because they want what’s best for their younger siblings. Simply put, “the family really is in an all out war,” concludes the mole. For more on this possible divorce, pick up the above copy of Star. It goes on sale today.
