The Sundance hit Homework , the Emma Roberts/Freddie Highmore film that Fox Searchlight snatched up the day of its premiere, is now retitled The Art of Getting By . Is the trailer worth analyzing? Ish. But you know what deserves more scrutiny? The fact that these stars look 11 and 8 respectively.
It’s not exactly conventional, but Brooke Mueller’s arrangement – drug rehab during the day and taking care of her kids at night – does the job. At least a judge felt that way when denying Charlie Sheen’s bid for full custody of their children and leaving their custody agreement in place. The custody judge ruled she’s still able to take care of her twins per the deal struck with Sheen – with help from an army of nannies, of course. The judge did make one change in the agreement. Both Brooke and Charlie must submit to random drug testing weekly, more frequently than before. Also factoring into the decision not to award full custody to Sheen? The fact that we’re talking about Charlie Sheen here. Brooke has a lot of leeway. Judge Hank Goldberg was well aware Brooke had relapsed , but was equally disturbed by Charlie’s drug abuse and the fact that he brags about it. Goldberg also felt Charlie’s parenting skills – or lack thereof – did not warrant a change . Brooke’s lawyers raised issues of domestic violence, too. From what we can tell, no new allegations were made against the actor, although you don’t have to look too far back in order to find some.
Documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington, a 2011 Oscar nominee who directed the acclaimed Afghanistan war film Restrepo , was killed today in Libya. The veteran correspondent was only 41 years old. Hetherington died in the Libyan city of Misurat Three photographers working in alongside him chronicling the Libyan civil conflict, were also injured. One, Chris Hondros, reportedly suffered a critical brain wound. Guy Martin, who was with Hondros and Hetherington, is said to be in “grave” condition. The British-born Hetherington found great critical success with Restrepo , which he co-directed alongside frequent journalist collaborator Sebastian Junger. The Oscar-nominated film followed American soldiers in Afghanistan’s deadly Korengal Valley, known as the deadliest valley in the war zone. The film was widely critically praised and took the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010. It earned an Oscar nomination for best documentary. While details are still emerging as to exactly what happened, Reuters reported that Hetherington and his group were attacked by fatal mortar fire . “Sad news Tim Hetherington died in Misrata now when covering the front line. Chris Hondros is in a serious status,” wrote fellow photographer and close, longtime Hetherington friend Andr
We take a look at the eclectic list of roles the Oscar-nominated actress, and new Superman love interest, has played. By Eric Ditzian Amy Adams Photo: Getty Images Henry Cavill might have been getting a little lonely in Metropolis. Two months after landing the role of Superman in Zack Snyder’s reboot of the superhero franchise, the 27-year-old actor still hadn’t found out who’d become his Lois Lane. The answer arrived on Sunday: Amy Adams will be play the Daily Planet reporter and Superman love interest . In a statement, Snyder called Adams “one of the most versatile and respected actresses in films today.” That’s hardly an overstatement: The 36-year-old star has performed in indies and blockbusters, musicals and animated fare, solemn dramas and bawdy comedies. Along the way she’s managed to earn three Oscar nominations, the latest for her supporting turn last year in “The Fighter.” A former Hooters waitress, Adams made her debut in 1999’s “Drop Dead Gorgeous” as a dim and cheerful beauty-pageant contestant. Supporting roles on the big and small screen followed, but her next step up the Hollywood food chain didn’t arrive until Steven Spielberg cast her as Leonardo DiCaprio’s love interest in 2002’s “Catch Me If You Can.” While things were undoubtedly going well for the actress, she then took a step back from the spotlight over the next few years and only fully resurfaced in very unlikely fashion. “June Bug,” a sort of “Meet the Parents” for the art-house crowd that starred Adams as a wide-eyed gal named Ashley who’s days away from giving birth and seemingly miles away from planet earth, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005. The performance won her a special jury prize for acting — and a year later she earned her first Oscar nod for the part. The decision to avoid mainstream fare turned out to be just what Adams’ career needed. “If you love the project, you love the project, and you could be making millions of dollars and have millions of dollars to spend or no money to spend and making no money,” Adams told us at the time . “But it’s about the script and it’s about the people and it’s about the story.” From there she began mixing studio pictures (“Talladega Nights”) with indie roles (“Sunshine Cleaning”), and ended up wowing critics and audiences in “Enchanted,” a film that managed to breathe new life into movie musicals while at the same time paying deep respect to the genre. There was also a short but satisfying arc on “The Office” as Jim Halpert’s (John Krasinski) handbag-slinging girlfriend. By the start of 2009, Adams would earn her second Oscar nod — this one for playing a 1960s-era nun in “Doubt” — and yet she couldn’t quite get used to the idea that she was indeed a movie star. “You see yourself onscreen, or you see pictures of yourself, and it can get really heady. I don’t think human beings are supposed to look at themselves that much,” she said in a 2009 Allure interview , adding that she used to think of herself as “homely” and “painfully small, short, with too much blue eye shadow because I thought, ‘It matches my eyes, so why not?’ ” Perhaps by now, following her third Oscar honor, she’s more comfortable with the notion of celebrity. Hopefully. Because her star is about to rise to a whole new level. There’s her turn as Jason Segel’s girlfriend in “The Muppets,” set to premiere later this year, and she wrapped production last year on “On the Road” opposite Kristen Stewart. In addition, she’s attached to play Janis Joplin in a big-screen biopic . But none of that will compare to the exposure the new “Superman” movie will bring her when it premieres in December 2012. Snyder, for one, couldn’t be happier with the choice. “Amy has the talent to capture all of the qualities we love about Lois,” he said. “[S]mart, tough, funny, warm, ambitious and, of course, beautiful.” What’s your favorite Amy Adams performance? Tell us in the comments. For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
Sundance lit up at Win Win , an indie comedy about a failing wrestling coach (Paul Giamatti) who works out shady dealings to collect on an old man’s health-care wages. In this new clip from Moviefone , we pick up on the slight cynicism of Giamatti’s character Mike Flaherty — and the fact that he may exhibit less valor than, say, John Adams.
Ed Helms is noticeably more anxious than the last time we spoke. In 2009, Helms was promoting his supporting role in a little film The Hangover — a film which you’ll recall went on to become the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all-time. Back then, Helms was just a co-star; now he’s both the lead and executive producer on Cedar Rapids , a Sundance favorite about a mild-mannered insurance man from Wisconsin who heads to Cedar Rapids and has more than a few life-changing experiences. As the saying goes, “What happens in Cedar Rapids, stays in Cedar Rapids.”
‘First Take: Live With Kevin Smith’ streams live Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET on MTVNews.com. By Eric Ditzian Kevin Smith Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images It’s strange to think of a guy like Kevin Smith as an underdog. He’s a onetime indie filmmaker who long ago broke into mainstream pop culture, the voluble guardian of 1.7 million Twitter followers and a master ringleader able to sell out events at college campus across North America. And yet an underdog Smith most certainly is, as he attempts to remake the Hollywood distribution model and release his latest feature — the politically charged horror flick “Red State” — himself. It’s an audacious plan, one that encountered fury from all corners as soon as he announced it during a scorching, I-ain’t-gonna-take-this-crap-anymore speech following the film’s Sundance premiere. In short, 2011 finds Smith in a position unlike any he’s occupied since “Clerks” debuted at Sundance in 1994. Where does he go from here? Follow along with MTV News and you’ll soon find out. That’s because we’re presenting “First Take: Live With Kevin Smith,” an hour-long live stream hosted by Josh Horowitz and exclusively airing on MTVNews.com this Tuesday, February 8, at 3 p.m. ET. The filmmaker has largely avoided the media in the last year, but now he’ll be answering all our questions about “Red State,” Sundance, the future of his career and much more. He’ll be answering your questions too. All you have to do between now and the show is tweet your question with the hashtag #AskKevin . What’s more, we’ll also be debuting an exclusive clip from “Red State” during the show. Before Smith heads out on a road-show tour with “Red State” in March, bringing the film to auditoriums around the country, MTVNews.com is the place to hear what Smith has to say and to hit him with your own questions. So tune in Tuesday, February 8, at 3 p.m. ET for “First Take: Live With Kevin Smith.” What will you ask Kevin Smith during Tuesday’s live stream? Tweet your questions with the hashtag #AskKevin now!
So you might have heard director Gregg Araki’s latest, Kaboom , is somewhat… forward with its sexuality. This isn’t exactly a new development for the indie bad boy, who has long approached his films’ subject matter — from The Living End to The Doom Generation to Mysterious Skin — with a frankness as tender as it can be shocking. Movieline’s Alonso Duralde caught up with Araki at Sundance, where the filmmaker and his cast (including, pictured from right to left, Juno Temple, Thomas Dekker, Chris Zylka and Haley Bennett) elaborated on the process of exploring and nailing down Kaboom ‘s funny, trippy and, yes, horny dynamics.
Tired of those run-of-the-mill biopics and staid Iraq war dramas that avoid sensationalism out of respect for their subjects? Want a peek into the orgiastic, debauched, ultra-violent underbelly of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq? Director Lee Tamahori brought all that and more to an unsuspecting audience — and conjured his own comparisons to David Fincher’s The Social Network , naturally — with The Devil’s Double , the guiltiest thrill of Sundance 2011.