Now here’s a proper celebration of Roger Ebert’s life. Tilda Swinton , dressed like David Bowie and channeling Ellen DeGeneres rouses 1,500 people at Ebertfest in Champaign, IL to shake their money makers to Barry White’s “My First, My Last, My Everything” at the Virginia Theater on April 20. (That’s Ebert’s widow Chaz introducing the actress.) The film festival, which is organized by the College of Media at the University of Illinois where Ebert was an alumnus paid tribute to its namesake, who succumbed to cancer on April 4. When he was alive, his prose danced just like Swinton. Ebertfest 2013 Dance Along from Ebertfest on Vimeo . More on Roger Ebert: Roger Ebert’s Death (1942-2013): Forefather Of Movie Blogging Passes Away Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Here at Skin Central every day is a party where we celebrate famous women getting naked, so we have to hand it to Lena Dunham who so frequently directs herself to get nude. Now her contentious creation Girls , is about to debut its second season, and Lena dropped by the Today Show to assure everyone that going au naturel is only natural: “It’s not that brave to get naked if you’re not stressed about being naked” This in the wake of the New York Post calling Dunham a “pathological exhibitionist” likes that’s a bad thing. We’d never encourage any actress to cover up, and any gal who wants to show off her ingenue num-nums is ok by us. So congratulations, Lena, and keep pushing that nude envelope!
Get ready to shuffle your queue, because we’re on Netflix purely for the skin! First up, Christina Ricci has some nippy scenes in the dark comedy Pumpkin (2002), but it’s her sorority sister Erinn Bartlett who really delivers the gourds. Then the Tim Roth directed shocker The War Zone (1999) is not for the feint of heart or weak of pants since it features full frontal from Lara Belmont and the real post-pregnancy peepers of Tilda Swinton . And last but not least, there’s Sophie Rois in a devil’s threesome for 3 (2011), Katie Boland ’s boobage in Daydream Nation (2010), and Bridget Fonda ’s butt in Jackie Brown (1997). See pics after the jump!
If you thought you were getting any work done during the second part of the day, think again. The good people at Vulture have apparently teamed up with the RAND Corporation and NASA to devise a series of charts with endless permutations that rank today’s most valuable movie stars . But, we ask: Who are today’s Most Valuable Indie Stars? How does one determine who is most valuable? Vulture is more than willing to pull back the curtain on their methodology . (Oh, if only the folks at Diebold could learn a thing or two from celeb-obsessed journalists!) They may have their nifty algorithms, but we’ve got our gut instincts. Using those and those only, we’d like to devise a highly unscientific list of the most valuable indie actors working today. 6. Michael Shannon He’s got many more credits than you might think ( Kangaroo Jack! ) but he first came to our attention as an unusual leading man in Jeff Nichols’ Shotgun Stories . His turn in Werner Herzog’s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? secured him a lifetime of indie cred, and this was before Boardwalk Empire and Take Shelter . By my algorithm, he can appear in Man of Steel and two sequels and still be considered an indie star. 5. Mathieu Amalric It isn’t crazy to call this French import a next gen Steve Buscemi. Amalric’s worked with a number of top level international directors like Julian Schnabel, Alain Resnais and Arnaud Desplechin. When he works in Hollywood it’s in top tier material like Munich and Quantum of Solace , which, you must remember, looked like it was going to be good on paper. 4. Michelle Williams From Dawson’s Creek to Synechdoche, NY , Michelle Williams is such a beloved indie star we’ll put up with her breaking our hearts ( Blue Valentine ), forgive her, then let her do it again ( Take This Waltz .) No trip to the Park Slope Food Co-op is complete without thinking you see her in the loose tea aisle. 3. Michael Fassbender From his indistinguishable accent to the phallic puns about his last name, it’s impossible not to give this guy a high ranking. I was hesitant to see Hunger because we’d already seen the Bobby Sands story in Some Mother’s Son , but when I realized it was one of the shirtless dudes from 300 we got curious. Since then he’s put in remarkable turns in Inglourious Basterds , A Dangerous Method , Jane Eyre and Haywire . Even when he does a major studio picture it is with an provocateur in the director’s chair like Matthew Vaughn or Ridley Scott. Fassbender is one of the few actors out there that elite moviegoers will follow from project-to-project indiscriminately. 2. Tilda Swinton …and in that regard, he’s right alongside Tilda Swinton. Who else out there has punk rock cred from her early Derek Jarman years and is also the descendant of medieval landed gentry? From the films of the Coen Brothers to Jim Jarmusch to Lynne Ramsay to Wes Anderson to oddball gems like Julia and I Am Love , Swinton strikes me as someone who doesn’t need to work, to the point that she’s very selective about what she does. As such, anything she’s involved in is very much worth your time. 1. Paul Giamatti If you’ve missed Michelle Williams in Brooklyn, maybe you’ve seen Paulie G around. A gifted comic, and uncannily sympathetic, Giamatti brings a level of excellence to everything he does. Barney’s Version is, I hate to say it, not a good movie. Yet Giamatti’s performance made me literally laugh and cry – oftentimes in the same moment. What’s more, Giamatti is quick to use his Hollywood clout to champion far-flung indie films, which was made abundantly clear during this year’s Sundance with the ultra-niche John Dies at the End . Those are our indie-world MVPs. Have more to add? Make your case below!
When it rains, it pours, and we are positively dripping with skin-filled options this week on DVD and Blu-ray: First, True Blood Season 4 hits DVD with things that go hump in the night like Anna Paquin , Alexandra Breckenridge and Janina Gavankar . Then hot hockey groupies Brandy Jaques and Veronica Malinowski flash their pucks in Goon (2011), Tilda Swinton gives us something to talk about in We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), and Harriet Andersson gives us a tit-story lesson in Summer with Monika (1953), the film that solidified Sweden’s reputation as a SKINema pioneer. Plus, if you prefer your vampires foxy, French, and full-frontal, check out the re-releases of Jean Rollin ‘s Demoniacs (1974), Requiem for a Vampire (1971) and The Rape of the Vampire (1967), all nude on Blu-ray. More after the jump!
The easiest way to start an interview is to ask someone, “Was there a cock sock or not?” Take Jason Ritter, who plays Wally, the sub-par musician friend of Jillian (Jess Weixler), in Free Samples — which premiered last weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival in the Spotlight program. “It was cock sock,” Ritter said, marking the second time Ritter appeared pantsless in a Tribeca film costarring Jesse Eisenberg. “[Before] was The Education of Charlie Banks , but this one was the first time I’ve been bare-assed for an entire scene.” Meanwhile, the new film’s plot is simple enough: Jillian gets roped into handing out free ice cream samples from a truck as a variety of characters weave in and out of the scene. Samples acts as a counter-point to the classic indie slacker story, as the characters deal with having plans that fall apart — Jillian was in law school and had a fiancé before deciding to “become an artist” — as Ritter plays “Jason Ritter” in Mark Webber’s Sundance film The End of Love , portraying an established, mature version of his actor persona. “I feel like there are a lot of movies about late 20s, early 30s being directionless and you wonder, ‘How are any of these people surviving?'” Ritter said. “What do they do? I really like that there does seem to be more thought put into this character Jillian. It’s been fun to jump in and do a day here and a day there on each of their films.” Just when it seemed like we were getting to the heart of the film’s subject, alas, Ritter complicated things by revealing how he’d blacked out the memory of Weixler slapping his ass. “Did you?” he asked. “I did smack you on the ass, it’s in the movie,” Wexler replied. “I barely remember doing it either. It just went into some black hole. I’m sure it was great at the time.” “Just like Levar Burton on the slave ship in Roots ,” Ritter said. “He doesn’t remember it at all. That’s true, by the way. He doesn’t remember shooting the slave ship sequences in Roots ,” “It’s the same thing as Roots then,” Weixler concurred as her castmate and confidante was shuttled off to another interview. So Free Samples is the food truck of equivalent of Roots then? “I guess so, according to Jason Ritter,” she said. While that could be taken any number of ways, it’s just as well to ignore it. Although being in a single location for the 12-day shoot gave Weixler the mood for being hungover, she kept a clear vision of the character’s overarching traits in mind. “What I made very clear to myself when I went into the role that it wasn’t a slacker role,” she told Movieline. “This is somebody who has been very ambitious her whole life. She was really on course and now she doesn’t know why she was doing what she was doing.” It’s the type of role that’s weird to see, since — as both Ritter and Weixler alluded — hungover slackers have been the film festival norm for the better part of two decades. Say what you want about Free Samples overall, but there seems to be an obvious tonal shift among indies when it comes to growing up and moving on. (Other Tribeca 2012 films like Consuming Spirits and Any Day Now investigate this as well.) But there are more functional questions for director Jay Gammill and co-star Jocelin Donahue — like why does Upright Citizen’s Brigade co-founder Matt Walsh appear to condemn food trucks that can’t give him stamps? And what’s up with the vignette nature of the film that continues on until Tippi Hedren appears to console Weixler? It ultimately comes down to the whims of shooting and editing. “As a director, I’m concerned with how we’re going to pull that off every time,” Gammill said. “What could be a weakness we have to make our strength. It was fun to cast a wide variety of people from different backgrounds. I think every person had their own unique performance.” The same duality lies in art vs. practicality, since both sides are shown to be equally screwed up in Jim Beggarly’s script. “I think that’s one of the major themes,” said Donahue. “How do you choose your path when you desire to do something more creative than the more conventional path?” “What do you base your choices on?” asked Gammill. “Does your family push you into it?” That’s getting a little heady over uneven ensemble comedy, but the sentiment resonates: Free Samples represents a shift that may end the days of freewheeling indies in favor of growing up. Especially if it includes a cock sock. Read all of Movieline’s Tribeca 2012 coverage here . John Lichman has written for The Playlist , Washington City Paper and does a fine Armond White impression. He tweets here .
You already know you’re in for a twee-fest packed with richly colorful characters and a healthy dose of quirky charm in Wes Anderson ‘s period kid romance Moonrise Kingdom , so watching these six newly unveiled clips from the film probably won’t spoil all that much. Instead, they give us more of what we’re already expecting: Game turns by Anderson regulars like Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman as well as Bruce Willis , Frances McDormand , and Ed Norton , the hazy muted palette of the isolated New England countryside as if filtered through Instagram, and our two preternatural adolescent heroes, plotting their summer camp flight through the wilderness in the name of love. Obviously, avoid the below clips if you’d like to go in completely spoiler-free. While I’m guessing the scenes in question occur in the below order in the film, who knows? The charm of Moonrise Kingdom promises to be in the performances (get a fun glimpse of Tilda Swinton ‘s ball-busting turn as Social Services, for instance), though I will add this spoiler: Moonrise Kingdom ‘s dolly shot budget appears to have been quite high. “New Penzance” “The Most Important Decision in Your Lives” “Were You Followed?” “Loaded Question” “I’m Deputizing the Little Guy” “Juvenile Refugee” Official synopsis: Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl. Moonrise Kingdom debuts at Cannes and opens in limited release May 25.
For the 14th consecutive year, the folks at Time Magazine have once again passed me over when considering their annual roster of the world’s 100 Most Influential People . Heretics! So be it — even an incomplete list is worth visiting judgment upon. Let’s check out (and rank, naturally) the film personalities included this year. And to my publicist: You’re fired! 10. Chelsea Handler * 9. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy 8. Asghar Farhadi 7. Claire Danes 6. Jessica Chastain 5. Viola Davis 4. Kristen Wiig 3. Louis C.K. 2. Tilda Swinton 1. Harvey Weinstein As for the rest of the list? I defer to Harvey . *: As long as Chelsea Handler makes terrible ethnic jokes at mainstream movie junkets, she will be a film personality. And the least-influential to boot. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The off-Broadway musical adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie may have outlasted its 1988 stage predecessor by four times the stage run, but it died nonetheless last weekend — two weeks early! The NYT has the post-mortem: “Several theater producers contacted recently said that Carrie , no matter how well acted and sung, presented far more than the usual share of difficulties, the most insurmountable being that nearly every character is dead at the end….Several reviewers complained about certain songs and a one-note blandness in the high school scenes, but the sharpest criticism was that Carrie had been de-camped to the point of dullness.” Chloe Moretz , you’re our last hope! [ NYT via Movie City News ]
Where does Martin Scorsese stand on the enduring cultural clash between vampires and zombies? Where else? “I happen to like vampires more than zombies. A vampire, quite honestly, you could have a conversation with. He has a sexuality. I mean the undead thing… Zombies, what are you going to do with them? Just keep chopping them up, shooting at them, shooting at them. It’s a whole other thing that apparently means a great deal to our culture and our society. There are many, many books written about it and many movies. I saw one in London when I was doing Hugo. I saw one late at night one weekend. It was called Colin, by a young filmmaker [Marc Price]. He shot it, I think, digitally by himself, edited it himself. It was savage. It had an energy that took the zombie idea to another level. Really interesting filmmaking. Disturbing.” Also: He gets Raging Bull II just about as much as you and I do. [ GQ via /film ]
