NFL star Pacman Jones, the poster child for pro athletes behaving badly, must pay $11.6 MILLION in damages to the victims of a Las Vegas strip club shooting. Pacman (real name Adam) had been sued by Aaron Cudworth and Thomas Urbanski, two security guards who were shot outside Minxx strip club in February 2007. The now-famous incident began when Jones “made it rain” with THOUSANDS of $1 bills … then got pissed when a stripper began taking it without his permission. A fight ensued outside the club and three people were shot, including Cudworth and Urbanski. Pacman was sued, even though he was not the actual shooter. A Nevada jury found Pacman Jones responsible and awarded Cudworth $1.3 million in damages. Urbanski, who was paralyzed from the waist down, got $9.6 million. Urbanski’s wife sued for loss of marital relations and won $750,000. At the time Pacman pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct, receiving just a year’s probation and 200 hours of community service. He was suspended for the entire 2007 NFL season and part of 2008 as a result, and is currently a member of the Cincinnati Bengals … at least for now. [Photo: WENN.com]
Deena Cortese makes our celebrity mug shot hall of fame with this one. The pint-size Jersey Shore star, as you may have heard, got popped last week for being drunk and disorderly in the middle of the day, and it shows! Check out her booking photo, taken by the Seaside Heights P.D. after they saw Deena creating a ruckus and dragged her drunk a$$ back to the station … Deena was arrested on Sunday when she was dancing drunkenly in the street outside a Mexican restaurant … and drawing huge crowds of onlookers. She was then trying to swipe at passing cars for some reason, at which point officers were obliged to step in and end the charade before it got ugly. “It was nothing major, but we can’t put up with it,” Police Chief Tommy Boyd said. Deena’s parents picked her up at the jail later that day, though no bail was posted; she was issued a summons and cut loose pending a July 3 arraignment. How does this rank with other celebrity mug shots ? Follow the link and vote!
Watching a thriller requires a certain willingness to be a dupe. The whole idea is to give yourself over, and the ideal is to find yourself moving from scene to scene – as if you were cautiously exploring the rooms of a very mysterious house — asking, “And then what?” In the Paris-underworld thriller The Woman in the Fifth , director Pawel Pawlikowski is skillful enough to keep you wondering, from scene to scene, exactly what that what is going to be, and I was with the movie every step of the way, right until the final credits began rolling – at which point I realized that the whole thing made no sense whatsoever, and that none of my nagging questions about what the hell was going on would ever be answered. There’s a distinction to be made between being a dupe and being had. I know, I know, I’m being way too literal – The Woman in the Fifth is one of those movies of the “It was only a dream!” variety, designed to tickle our imagination as we ponder the distinction between what’s real and what’s only illusion. Some “It was only a dream!” movies work beautifully — The Wizard of Oz is one of them; Femme Fatale is another. But The Woman in the Fifth leaves a tantalizing trail of breadcrumbs only to lead us to…one last breadcrumb. I enjoyed watching Kristin Scott Thomas shimmer through the picture as a sultry viper woman, and I felt a kind of embarrassed tenderness for Ethan Hawke as his character tried to express himself in stubby blurts of bad French. But by the end, I only wished I had some stinky cheese rinds to throw at them. That may be less their fault than Pawlikowski’s. (Pawlikowski adapted the screenplay from Douglas Kennedy’s novel of the same name, which I have not read, though now I’m extremely curious – I need to read it to find out if it has an actual ending.) Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke) is an American college professor who, as the movie opens, shows up in Paris to reconnect with his estranged wife (Delphine Chuillot) and the couple’s young daughter (Julie Papillon). The wife is none too happy to see him – she not only bars him from seeing his child, but calls the police on him. He runs off, boards a bus, falls asleep and awakens at the last stop — in a crap neighborhood, naturally – only to find that his bags have been stolen, though luckily he still has his passport. He makes his way to a shabby café where a tired-looking but beautiful Polish blonde named Ania (Joanna Kulig) waits on him cautiously. Ricks needs a room – is there one available? Ania waves him over to her bass, the café’s owner, the super-shady-looking Sezer (Samir Guesmi), who agrees to give him lodging but insists on keeping his passport as a formality. In his desperation, Ricks obliges without even a blink. That’s one of those deliciously ill-advised decisions that only fictional characters are allowed to make, and you can’t help wondering what it’s going to set in motion. During the course of the movie, Sezer gives Ricks a job, Ricks is forced to share a bathroom with a big black guy who won’t flush the toilet, and a mysterious femme fatale insinuates her way into Ricks’ life. That would be Thomas’s Margit, a mesmerizing creature who works as a translator. The two meet at a half-pretentious, half-pathetic literary party, and she slips him her card, urging him to call her. “Anytime after four,” she purrs. Up to this point, and really pretty much up to the end, The Woman in the Fifth is beautifully noirish. Shot by Ryszard Lenczewski – in Paris, no less! – the picture has a dull glow that’s both elegant and ominous. The performances are suitably low-key and intriguing: Hawkes’ Ricks is a walking pile of trouble, a man whose anguish virtually sweats through his pores. Hawkes is a shambling actor, often so understated that it looks as if he’s doing nothing, or as if he were simply on his way somewhere else and got caught up in a detour – I’ve always liked that about him. As for Thomas, I don’t believe there’s any beautiful actress working who looks more like a lizard – and I mean that as a compliment. Those heavy-lidded eyes, that patrician sculpted jawline: In The Woman in the Fifth , she looks as if she should be perpetually sunning herself on a rock, if only it wouldn’t wreak havoc on her aristocratic milky pallor. I loved watching The Woman in the Fifth . But the ending is both so oblique and so murderously obvious that I felt I’d been had. Where the devil were those stinky cheese rinds, which I know I should carry with me at all times? Pawlikowski – director of the 2004 My Summer of Love , which featured a then not-so-well-known Emily Blunt – guides us artfully through the picture, keeping us asking all sorts of questions, only to leave us at the wrong bus stop. With no luggage. Did I really just spend 90 minutes watching this thing, pretty much enraptured for most of the time? No! It was only a dream! If only.
The Los Angeles Film Festival opens Thursday night with Woody Allen ‘s To Rome with Love and the event even scored the presence of the director himself — at least, according to reports. But after the spectacle of opening night carries into the main core of the festival’s selection, new and established filmmakers from around the world will be screening their latest in the festival’s various sections. Movieline asked filmmakers in the LA Film Festival’s Narrative and Documentary competitions to share some thoughts on their work. Also take a look at their trailers and be in the know… Dead Man’s Burden , directed by Jared Moshé [Narrative Competition] Synopsis : Opening with a startling act of violence, this tense, classically crafted indie Western takes place in the aftermath of the Civil War on a hardscrabble homestead in New Mexico where the McCurry clan has been struggling to survive. Martha McCurry sees salvation in selling the family farm, against the wishes of her father. With the patriarch’s death, she seizes her opportunity, but her plans are upset by the unexpected return of her brother Wade, a defector to the Union Army long thought dead. Jared Moshé’s impressive first feature depicts a family in the lethal grip of its own civil war. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Comments by Jared Moshé : Why Dead Man’s Burden is worth checking out at LA Film Festival : I hope audience will check out my film at LAFF because they’re interesting in a story that explores a country divided by the Civil War through the lens of a family it ripped apart. After the Civil War, America embraced the Western as a myth to reunite the North and the South. We looked West for a fresh start. And we got one. But wounds still festered darkly beneath the surface. Dead Man’s Burden looks at those wounds and what it would take to heal them. Also, they might want to see a classic western on the big screen. Tales from the set… Well, we shot on location at the end of a two-mile dirt road that became a clay pit every time it rained. More than once we had trek up on foot – sometimes in the dark with jumper cables. There was no cell phone reception and a limited amount of film. Dust was everywhere and in everything. We were making a period piece with strong-willed horses; attention seeking goats that would eat anything and everything; chickens that loved to hang out in the production office; and black powder guns that actually fired except when we needed them to. Making a western was a living a western. Thoughts about the trailer… With the teaser we hope to convey a sense of the world you’ll be entering when you go to see Dead Man’s Burden . This is a classic Western with vast open spaces captured on a wide screen with cowboys who ride tall in the saddle, nefarious bankers playing the angles, and women who… well, maybe you’ll just need to see the film. — Four , directed by Joshua Sanchez [Narrative Competition] Synopsis: Over the course of a steamy 4th of July night, four people discover the difficulties of making an honest connection with someone else when they are trapped by the lies they tell themselves. In Joshua Sanchez’s psychologically and ethnically complex adaptation of an acclaimed Christopher Shinn play, a father and daughter, each enshrouded in loneliness, reach out for sexual intimacy: he with a nervous, self-hating teenage boy, she with a smooth-talking wannabe homeboy. Wendell Pierce, Aja Naomi King, EJ Bonilla and Emory Cohen shine in this touching, sometimes raw depiction of the evasions, power games and isolation of everyday American life. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Comments by Joshua Sanchez: Sanchez gives his take on the film : A steamy July 4th night brings four people together in two tales of seduction and conflicted desire. Joe is a black, middle-aged, married man out on an Internet date with June, a white teenage boy. Abigayle is Joe’s precocious daughter, out herself with a hot, wisecracking, Latino basketball player named Dexter. As the two couples get to know each other intimately, their realities are tested, and the outcome is bracing. Based on the play by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie-winning playwright Christopher Shinn, Four stars Wendell Pierce, acclaimed for his roles in the HBO series The Wire and Treme and Emory Cohen from NBC’s Smash . Why audiences should check out Four at LA Film Festival : The performances in this film are going to blow people away. The characters are not easily defined and challenge the audience to think about their own lives in unexpected ways. FOUR is based on a play that is beautifully written piece about four people who are struggling to connect with others and with themselves. Tales from the set : We shot the film in the summer of 2011, almost exactly a year ago. It took about five years and lots of fits and starts to make it. The shoot was intense and mostly shot at night in cars. We had a lot of long nights on process trailers that nearly drove me crazy. But I think the performances and visuals in this film speak for themselves and draw people into the world we worked hard to create. We shot the film in lots of long take close-ups and close-up two-shots. I was inspired a lot by Faces and Kids , both of which are films set on one night with four main characters. Thoughts about the trailer… For this one minute teaser, I wanted to create a sense that the film is a ride you go on over the course of one night. I think it sets up the characters and the situation nicely, while hinting at some of the drama that will unfold, while not giving away too much. — A Night Too Young , directed by Olmo Omerzu [Narrative Competition] Synopsis: On a snowbound New Years Day, two gawky, innocent 12-year-old boys are asked to buy vodka by Katerina, a young woman they barely know, and the two men who accompany her: one her reluctant lover, the other his friend who wants to be her lover. The boys bring the booze to her apartment, and so begins a night they’ll never forget, as they become silent pawns in the strange sexual power games that grown ups play. This finely polished gem of a comedy, by gifted 26-year-old Czech director Olmu Omerzu, subtly shifts from humor to menace to dream, compelling the audience to watch with the same wide-eyed fascination as these two bewildered boys, who will never be quite so innocent again. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Comments by Olmo Omerzu: Omerzu gives his take on the film : In a New Year’s Night two boys on the edge of puberty end up together with two men in a young woman’s apartment. Here they become witnesses and at the same time tools for the invidious relation games of the adults. David, Katerina and Stepan are torn between seduction, lust and yearning for love, which ultimately leads to hurt and disappointment.With the break of dawn each of them is at least one night older. Why audiences should check out A Night Too Young at LA Film Festival : A Night Too Young is not a typical coming-of-age story. I would label it as some kind of allegory, where the child’s world is reflected in the adult world and vice versa. Each child character has his own adult representative, an adult alter ego. The parallels between the child and adult characters allow us to work out what each child will be like when they’re grown up. Tales from the set : The very first shooting day was actually the “love” scene between Katerina and the boy – it was necessary because of the location planning – so it was a real icebreaker for the actors. From that moment the mood on the set was relaxed. Thoughts about the trailer… We wanted to create the feeling of urgency and uncertainty, to leave the viewer with questions to be answered. We believe the trailer is disturbing and energizing at the same time, also thanks to the selection of music. — The Iran Job , directed by Till Schauder [Documentary Competition] Synopsis: Director Till Schauder spent a year in Iran with journeyman American pro basketball player Kevin Sheppard, who signed on to play for the upstart Iranian Super League team A.S. Shiraz as one of two non-Iranian players (his roommate is a giant Serb). This lively, well-told tale is not simply a standard “fish out of water” sports doc: it’s also a snapshot of the radical fissures in Iranian society. Sheppard, a gregarious charmer, makes friends wherever he goes and forms a fascinating relationship with three strong, independent Iranian women who bristle at the restrictions of an oppressive theocracy. Their touching, unlikely bond makes for an illuminating study in cross cultural understanding. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Comments by Till Schauder: Schauder give the spiel on the film : The Iran Job follows American basketball player Kevin Sheppard as he accepts a job in one of the world’s most feared countries: Iran. Why audiences should check the film out at LA Film Festival : Because Kevin will make you laugh in spite of the prospect of playing in a country that’s supposedly full of illegal nukes and Islamic terrorists. In the process he will challenge your expectations about a hated nation – from the perspective of a duh-rag wearing, hip-hop loving, cross-culture-curious American athlete. With the world’s attention laser-focusing on Iran, and elections just around the corner, this is a critical time to take a fresh look at Iranians. Tales from the set : I filmed Kevin in Iran over several visits, while my wife Sara, who’s also the producer of the film, was back in Brooklyn, pregnant with our second child. On my last trip – in the run-up to Iran’s controversial presidential election – I was informed that I had made it onto a “black list” (for reasons still not clear to me), and was put in detention in a kind of “hotel-prison” inside the glitzy new Tehran airport. So while Sara was at home, 5-months pregnant with kid number 2, I was stuck in Tehran hand-shredding some not-so-cool-documents-when-you’re-stuck-in-Iran and flushing them down the toilet. I was sent back to New York on the next plane — a stroke of luck in retrospect given the number of filmmakers and journalists recently arrested in Iran. I’m still not allowed back in, which is a shame because I’d really like to take my kids there, and of course share the film with the people in Iran. And further thoughts… People are people everywhere in the world. If we focus on that we’ll find a way to work around our differences. Stay tuned for Movieline’s coverage of the LA Film Festival , which kicks off tonight with Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The Los Angeles Film Festival opens Thursday night with Woody Allen ‘s To Rome with Love and the event even scored the presence of the director himself — at least, according to reports. But after the spectacle of opening night carries into the main core of the festival’s selection, new and established filmmakers from around the world will be screening their latest in the festival’s various sections. Movieline asked filmmakers in the LA Film Festival’s Narrative and Documentary competitions to share some thoughts on their work. Also take a look at their trailers and be in the know… Dead Man’s Burden , directed by Jared Moshé [Narrative Competition] Synopsis : Opening with a startling act of violence, this tense, classically crafted indie Western takes place in the aftermath of the Civil War on a hardscrabble homestead in New Mexico where the McCurry clan has been struggling to survive. Martha McCurry sees salvation in selling the family farm, against the wishes of her father. With the patriarch’s death, she seizes her opportunity, but her plans are upset by the unexpected return of her brother Wade, a defector to the Union Army long thought dead. Jared Moshé’s impressive first feature depicts a family in the lethal grip of its own civil war. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Comments by Jared Moshé : Why Dead Man’s Burden is worth checking out at LA Film Festival : I hope audience will check out my film at LAFF because they’re interesting in a story that explores a country divided by the Civil War through the lens of a family it ripped apart. After the Civil War, America embraced the Western as a myth to reunite the North and the South. We looked West for a fresh start. And we got one. But wounds still festered darkly beneath the surface. Dead Man’s Burden looks at those wounds and what it would take to heal them. Also, they might want to see a classic western on the big screen. Tales from the set… Well, we shot on location at the end of a two-mile dirt road that became a clay pit every time it rained. More than once we had trek up on foot – sometimes in the dark with jumper cables. There was no cell phone reception and a limited amount of film. Dust was everywhere and in everything. We were making a period piece with strong-willed horses; attention seeking goats that would eat anything and everything; chickens that loved to hang out in the production office; and black powder guns that actually fired except when we needed them to. Making a western was a living a western. Thoughts about the trailer… With the teaser we hope to convey a sense of the world you’ll be entering when you go to see Dead Man’s Burden . This is a classic Western with vast open spaces captured on a wide screen with cowboys who ride tall in the saddle, nefarious bankers playing the angles, and women who… well, maybe you’ll just need to see the film. — Four , directed by Joshua Sanchez [Narrative Competition] Synopsis: Over the course of a steamy 4th of July night, four people discover the difficulties of making an honest connection with someone else when they are trapped by the lies they tell themselves. In Joshua Sanchez’s psychologically and ethnically complex adaptation of an acclaimed Christopher Shinn play, a father and daughter, each enshrouded in loneliness, reach out for sexual intimacy: he with a nervous, self-hating teenage boy, she with a smooth-talking wannabe homeboy. Wendell Pierce, Aja Naomi King, EJ Bonilla and Emory Cohen shine in this touching, sometimes raw depiction of the evasions, power games and isolation of everyday American life. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Comments by Joshua Sanchez: Sanchez gives his take on the film : A steamy July 4th night brings four people together in two tales of seduction and conflicted desire. Joe is a black, middle-aged, married man out on an Internet date with June, a white teenage boy. Abigayle is Joe’s precocious daughter, out herself with a hot, wisecracking, Latino basketball player named Dexter. As the two couples get to know each other intimately, their realities are tested, and the outcome is bracing. Based on the play by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie-winning playwright Christopher Shinn, Four stars Wendell Pierce, acclaimed for his roles in the HBO series The Wire and Treme and Emory Cohen from NBC’s Smash . Why audiences should check out Four at LA Film Festival : The performances in this film are going to blow people away. The characters are not easily defined and challenge the audience to think about their own lives in unexpected ways. FOUR is based on a play that is beautifully written piece about four people who are struggling to connect with others and with themselves. Tales from the set : We shot the film in the summer of 2011, almost exactly a year ago. It took about five years and lots of fits and starts to make it. The shoot was intense and mostly shot at night in cars. We had a lot of long nights on process trailers that nearly drove me crazy. But I think the performances and visuals in this film speak for themselves and draw people into the world we worked hard to create. We shot the film in lots of long take close-ups and close-up two-shots. I was inspired a lot by Faces and Kids , both of which are films set on one night with four main characters. Thoughts about the trailer… For this one minute teaser, I wanted to create a sense that the film is a ride you go on over the course of one night. I think it sets up the characters and the situation nicely, while hinting at some of the drama that will unfold, while not giving away too much. — A Night Too Young , directed by Olmo Omerzu [Narrative Competition] Synopsis: On a snowbound New Years Day, two gawky, innocent 12-year-old boys are asked to buy vodka by Katerina, a young woman they barely know, and the two men who accompany her: one her reluctant lover, the other his friend who wants to be her lover. The boys bring the booze to her apartment, and so begins a night they’ll never forget, as they become silent pawns in the strange sexual power games that grown ups play. This finely polished gem of a comedy, by gifted 26-year-old Czech director Olmu Omerzu, subtly shifts from humor to menace to dream, compelling the audience to watch with the same wide-eyed fascination as these two bewildered boys, who will never be quite so innocent again. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Comments by Olmo Omerzu: Omerzu gives his take on the film : In a New Year’s Night two boys on the edge of puberty end up together with two men in a young woman’s apartment. Here they become witnesses and at the same time tools for the invidious relation games of the adults. David, Katerina and Stepan are torn between seduction, lust and yearning for love, which ultimately leads to hurt and disappointment.With the break of dawn each of them is at least one night older. Why audiences should check out A Night Too Young at LA Film Festival : A Night Too Young is not a typical coming-of-age story. I would label it as some kind of allegory, where the child’s world is reflected in the adult world and vice versa. Each child character has his own adult representative, an adult alter ego. The parallels between the child and adult characters allow us to work out what each child will be like when they’re grown up. Tales from the set : The very first shooting day was actually the “love” scene between Katerina and the boy – it was necessary because of the location planning – so it was a real icebreaker for the actors. From that moment the mood on the set was relaxed. Thoughts about the trailer… We wanted to create the feeling of urgency and uncertainty, to leave the viewer with questions to be answered. We believe the trailer is disturbing and energizing at the same time, also thanks to the selection of music. — The Iran Job , directed by Till Schauder [Documentary Competition] Synopsis: Director Till Schauder spent a year in Iran with journeyman American pro basketball player Kevin Sheppard, who signed on to play for the upstart Iranian Super League team A.S. Shiraz as one of two non-Iranian players (his roommate is a giant Serb). This lively, well-told tale is not simply a standard “fish out of water” sports doc: it’s also a snapshot of the radical fissures in Iranian society. Sheppard, a gregarious charmer, makes friends wherever he goes and forms a fascinating relationship with three strong, independent Iranian women who bristle at the restrictions of an oppressive theocracy. Their touching, unlikely bond makes for an illuminating study in cross cultural understanding. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Comments by Till Schauder: Schauder give the spiel on the film : The Iran Job follows American basketball player Kevin Sheppard as he accepts a job in one of the world’s most feared countries: Iran. Why audiences should check the film out at LA Film Festival : Because Kevin will make you laugh in spite of the prospect of playing in a country that’s supposedly full of illegal nukes and Islamic terrorists. In the process he will challenge your expectations about a hated nation – from the perspective of a duh-rag wearing, hip-hop loving, cross-culture-curious American athlete. With the world’s attention laser-focusing on Iran, and elections just around the corner, this is a critical time to take a fresh look at Iranians. Tales from the set : I filmed Kevin in Iran over several visits, while my wife Sara, who’s also the producer of the film, was back in Brooklyn, pregnant with our second child. On my last trip – in the run-up to Iran’s controversial presidential election – I was informed that I had made it onto a “black list” (for reasons still not clear to me), and was put in detention in a kind of “hotel-prison” inside the glitzy new Tehran airport. So while Sara was at home, 5-months pregnant with kid number 2, I was stuck in Tehran hand-shredding some not-so-cool-documents-when-you’re-stuck-in-Iran and flushing them down the toilet. I was sent back to New York on the next plane — a stroke of luck in retrospect given the number of filmmakers and journalists recently arrested in Iran. I’m still not allowed back in, which is a shame because I’d really like to take my kids there, and of course share the film with the people in Iran. And further thoughts… People are people everywhere in the world. If we focus on that we’ll find a way to work around our differences. Stay tuned for Movieline’s coverage of the LA Film Festival , which kicks off tonight with Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
“I feel like the real me is somewhere else…” Ethan Hawke is American writer Tom Ricks, flailing at a personal and professional rock bottom in the City of Lights. Kristen Scott Thomas is the mysterious widow with whom he strikes up an affair. But all in Pawel Pawlikowski’s moody thriller Woman in the Fifth (in select theaters Friday) is not what it seems; watch Hawke lay it all bare — in Scott’s bathtub — in Movieline’s exclusive clip. Based on Douglas Kennedy’s novel of the same name, The Woman in the Fifth marks the fourth feature from Polish-born writer-director Pawlikowski ( My Summer of Love ). Star Hawke has earned critical praise for his turn as the haunted Ricks, whose dark past throbs with menace. Full synopsis, courtesy ATO Pictures: American writer Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke) arrives in Paris to be closer to his young daughter who is living with his estranged ex-wife. Completely broke, he accepts a job as a night guard for a local crime boss. Stationed in a basement office, his only task is to push a button when a bell rings. The tranquility of the night, he hopes, will help him focus on his new novel. His days become more exciting when he starts a romance with Margit (Kristin Scott Thomas), a mysterious and elegant widow who sets strange rules to their meetings: she will only see him at her apartment in the fifth arrondissement, at 5 pm sharp, twice a week and he should ask no questions about her work or her past life. When people suddenly start dying around Tom, he begins to believe that a dark force has entered his life, punishing anyone who has recently done him wrong. After the police accuse him of murdering his neighbor, Tom tries to use his weekly visits to Margit’s apartment as an alibi, only to find out that she hasn’t lived at this address for the past 15 years. The Woman in the Fifth opens in select theaters Friday. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
“I feel like the real me is somewhere else…” Ethan Hawke is American writer Tom Ricks, flailing at a personal and professional rock bottom in the City of Lights. Kristen Scott Thomas is the mysterious widow with whom he strikes up an affair. But all in Pawel Pawlikowski’s moody thriller Woman in the Fifth (in select theaters Friday) is not what it seems; watch Hawke lay it all bare — in Scott’s bathtub — in Movieline’s exclusive clip. Based on Douglas Kennedy’s novel of the same name, The Woman in the Fifth marks the fourth feature from Polish-born writer-director Pawlikowski ( My Summer of Love ). Star Hawke has earned critical praise for his turn as the haunted Ricks, whose dark past throbs with menace. Full synopsis, courtesy ATO Pictures: American writer Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke) arrives in Paris to be closer to his young daughter who is living with his estranged ex-wife. Completely broke, he accepts a job as a night guard for a local crime boss. Stationed in a basement office, his only task is to push a button when a bell rings. The tranquility of the night, he hopes, will help him focus on his new novel. His days become more exciting when he starts a romance with Margit (Kristin Scott Thomas), a mysterious and elegant widow who sets strange rules to their meetings: she will only see him at her apartment in the fifth arrondissement, at 5 pm sharp, twice a week and he should ask no questions about her work or her past life. When people suddenly start dying around Tom, he begins to believe that a dark force has entered his life, punishing anyone who has recently done him wrong. After the police accuse him of murdering his neighbor, Tom tries to use his weekly visits to Margit’s apartment as an alibi, only to find out that she hasn’t lived at this address for the past 15 years. The Woman in the Fifth opens in select theaters Friday. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Robert Pattinson is feeling a little combative these days. The actor recently went off on the nickname of R. Patt and then followed that up in the same interview with The Guardian , focusing his ire on celebrity activities and especially singling out those who got involved with Occupy Wall Street. “I remember when Occupy happened in LA. I knew a bunch of actors who went down to it,” Pattinson said . “They all drove down there, because no one takes the train, and parked one stop away, because they didn’t want to be seen driving their free Audis, and then got on the train. “I was like, ‘What are you doing? You’re probably ruining it for the other people’. I guess that’s kind of a bubble; you want to say things, but you are being hypocritical. I’ve never really been in a position to give my opinion on political stuff before, it doesn’t really come up. But suddenly you’ve got to take an enormous amount of responsibility.” Pretty heavy stuff from Robert. If you prefer to think of the actor solely as eye candy, you’re in lucky: new Breaking Dawn photos have been released! [Photo: WENN.com]
He hasn’t gone all Charlize Theron on us, but Matthew Morrison will be sporting a new look this summer. The Glee star – who is working on his second solo album – Tweeted a photo of himself yesterday with a buzz cut, a startling change for an actor well known for his curly hair. What do you think of the move? Are you still watching Glee ? Or do you think it’s become a painful weekly PSA wrapped in a number of iTunes-friendly singles that totally ignores the concepts of character development and logic? Sorry. We got carried away there. But vote now on Matthew’s new hair!
Drake is adamant that he did not beat up Chris Brown last night, claiming he was in the process of leaving the nightclub when the stars’ entourages threw down. Chris Brown’s fight with Drake and his posse at a New York club left him with a gash on his chin (he posted a pic of it on Twitter that he later took down). He says he was leaving when $h!t went down though. His rep said: “[Drake] did not engage in any activity which resulted in injury to person or damage to property.” “Drake did not participate in any wrongdoing of any kind last night at W.i.P. He was on his way out of the club when the altercation began.” Earlier reports indicated, contrarily, that Brown and Drake had been hanging out in the VIP section when Drake began pointing and yelling at Brown. Brown began yelling back, witnesses say, and that’s when members of both entourages rushed in and began shoving each other repeatedly. With tensions escalating, someone threw a bottle, causing an all-out melee. It’s unclear who threw it, but bedlam erupted and security called the police. Now, a new witness claims it was a rapper hanging out with Drake, Meek Mill (pictured below), who was screaming at Chris and vice versa, not Drake personally. One of Chris’ “lieutenants” was also involved in the screaming match. The informant won’t say what specifically the music stars’ camps were arguing about, “for fear that someone will get hurt.” You can use your imagination there. Another source says Chris was hurt when Meek Mill hit him with a bottle. What’s clear is that Brown and Drake left the scene by the time the cops showed up, but several members of their entourages remained at the club. Multiple members of both crews required medical assistance and the club suffered some serious damage in the fight, including many busted tables, broken mirrors, shattered lighting and glass scratches all over the floors. Take a look: Whose side are you on? [Photos: WENN.com, TMZ, Twitter]
