No, not that one — the other one: “This distinguished 250SL has a very desirable option package that includes ZF four-speed automatic transmission with floor shift, air conditioning, power steering, removable hardtop and a hidden soft top. The 250SL is the rarest of the W113-bodied cars, having been built only in 1967 and 1968. Its predecessor, the 230SL, was vastly improved upon in this model, while the last of the W113 cars, the 280SL, had a slightly larger engine and improved steering. This was one of the most popular cars that Mercedes-Benz ever built, and is extremely popular with collectors. The fantastic Natalie Wood lineage makes this 250SL all the more desirable. It is expected to fetch $30,000 – $50,000.” What a steal! Cheaper than a Willy Wonka costume , anyway. [ Profiles in History ]
Also in Monday morning’s Biz Break: With only two days and some change before the 65th Cannes Film Festival opens with the world premiere of Focus Features’ Moonrise Kingdom , the event revealed its full jury for its Un Certain Regard sidebar. Meanwhile, specialty openers had a drab weekend overall and overseas releases proved a mixed bag for Hollywood. Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Complete Alongside the jury for the Official Selection is Un Certain Regard, this year lead by actor/director Tim Roth. The festival unveiled his partners in judgment two days before the festival kicks off. Joining him on the jury are actress Leila Bekhti, director/producer Tonie Marshall, Argentine critic Luciano Monteagudo and Sylvie Pras, cinema head at Paris’ Pompidou Center. The section opens May 17th with Lou Ye’s Mystery and wraps with Gilles Bourdos’ Renoir. Twenty-two films are in competition . Around the ‘net… Isabella Rossellini Joins Jake Gyllenhaal in An Enemy Inglourious Basterds ‘ Mélanie Laurent and Cosmopolis ‘ Sarah Gadon will also star with Gyllenhaal in the Denis Villeneuve-directed psychological thriller, Deadline reports . What Does Disney Mean in 2012? It is a brand that, almost since its founding in 1923, has become synonymous with family. But since he took over from Michael Eisner in 2005, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger has been busy spending billions of dollars to acquire costly pinch hitters that now threaten to eclipse the Mickey Mouse. The company spent $4 billion for Marvel in 2009; $7.4 billion for Pixar in 2006 and the Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004 for an undisclosed sum – said to be less than a quarter of a billion dollars, Vulture reports . Specialty Box Office: Blasé Weekend for Openers; Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Scores Specialty openers did not fare well: Sony Classics lead a rather unspectacular crowd of rollouts, bowing Where Do We Go Now? in a trio of locations, grossing nearly $17K and an average just under $6,000. Magnolia also opened a pair of titles with not so good results, Deadline reports . Foreign Box Office: Dark Shadows Opens a Distant No. 2; American Reunion Hits Record Dark Shadows opened in 42 territories, grossing $36.7 million and placing second (well behind The Avengers ) with a $6,500 average. American Reunion , meanwhile, is now that franchise’s top foreign performer. THR reports . MGM Options On the Island The studio is in negotiations with Twilight producers Temple Hill Productions to produce the Tracey Garvis-Graves’ NY Times bestseller about a teacher and student who crash land on a deserted island, Variety reports . Is it Time To Wash Out Hollywood’s Mouth? A backlash is growing against filmmakers’ increasing reliance on foul language. It’s OK to provoke, shock, titillate — if appropriate. Otherwise, watch the salty talk, The Los Angeles Times weighs in .
Robert De Niro in Midnight Run alone accounts for nearly a dozen of the epithets spouted in this new supercut, the happiest/angriest/bitterest/goofiest/meanest/most exhilarating — OK, fine, the only — “son of a bitch” collection you’ll see all day. Needless to say, it’s NSFW, though it’s probably not too far afield of the general mood at most workplaces on an average Monday morning, so you tell me. [ Ziccup via Filmdrunk ]
The long wait is over for fans of Kristen Stewart , Chris Hemsworth , Charlize Theron , revisionist fairy tales , dwarf clans , and summer blockbusters in general: The world premiere of Snow White and the Huntsman is getting underway shortly in London. For those of you in America, Movieline will even save you the travel expense by bringing the red carpet to you live. The happenings get underway at 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT… watch, learn, enjoy! And drop back by Movieline for more coverage of Snow White and the Huntsman as its June 1 release date approaches. [via Nowlive ]
Also in Thursday afternoon’s Biz Break: Gavin O’Connor ( Warrior ) is set to direct a post-tsunami Japan crime thriller, Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon’s Sunlight Jr. will preview at Cannes, Nigel Lythgoe teams with BAFTA L.A., and Venice winners are spotlighted in NYC Italian film series. Cameron Diaz and Benicio Del Toro Set for Agent: Century 21 Exclusive Media will produce and finance the action/comedy. The film revolves around a divorced mother (Diaz) who does a task for her boss that gets her kidnapped and thrown into the center of the Mexican drug war. Adam Hashemi will make his directorial debut from a script by Greg Brooker. Provincetown Film Festival to Open with Bachelorette The festival will host the East Coast debut of the dark comedy which debuted at Sundance. Producer/director Roger Corman will receive the festival’s Filmmaker on the Edge Award (and will appear in a live conversation with John Waters). Parker Posey will be honored with the Excellence in Acting Award and director Kirby Dick ( The Invisible War ) with the Faith Hubley Career Achievement Award. The Provincetown International Film Festival takes place June 13 – 17. Venice Film Festival Winners and More Set for Italian Film Series in NYC Called Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, the series will also feature debuts by two of Italy’s finest screenwriters, Francesco Bruni ( Easy! ) and Ivan Cotroneo ( Kryptonite ). Hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the series takes place June 8 – 14. For a full list, visit their website . Nigel Lythgoe to Chair 2012 BAFTA L.A. Britannia Awards The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles will celebrate 25 years and the American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe will lead oversight of the 2012 Britannia Awards set for November 7th at the Beverly Hilton. Around the ‘net… Gavin O’Connor to Direct Japan Crime Thriller Yakuza The story revolves around an American intelligence expert who becomes involved with a yakuza ‘godfather’ set against a criminal underworld of post-tsunami Japan. Brian Grazer will produce, Deadline reports . Naomi Watts/Matt Dillon Pic to Get Cannes Preview A promo reel of Sunlight Jr. will be shown in Cannes by Hyde Park International. Directed by Laurie Collyer ( Sherrybaby ), the film revolves around store clerk Melissa and her paraplegic boyfriend who are excited when they learn they will be having a baby. But when she loses her job and they are evicted from their motel, things go from bad to worse. Hollywood Wiretap reports . Shia LaBeouf to Bring Movie Critic Film to Cannes The Transformers star directed the short Howard Cantour.com , billed by organizers as an “offbeat, irreverent vision of film criticism.” The film debuts in Critics Week May 18th, The Guardian reports . Studios, Guilds, Agencies Align for Vets Movie studios, TV networks, talent agencies and the entertainment unions, together with a host of nonprofit groups, have created the “Got Your 6” initiative, a multi-pronged effort to support military veterans and their families, A.P. reports .
You I asked for it, you got it: The first poster for Madea’s Witness Protection , which finally brings Tyler Perry’s muumuued menace to Manhattan. It’s about time! Also: Who invited Eugene Levy ? This isn’t an Olsen twins movie , for Christ’s sake. Whatever. I’m just heartbroken to have not been invited to this set. Or was this the one that burned down? I can’t keep any of this straight anymore.
Ponder that burning question as you watch the trailer for SyFy Channel’s forthcoming creature feature Piranhaconda , about — you guessed it — a piranha-anaconda hybrid monster people-eater hunting down nubile hotties, a film crew, a gang of mercenaries and Michael Madsen as a scientist. The tagline: “Part Snake! Part Fish! All Killer!” Everybody wins! No one moreso than Madsen, who appears to have a writing credit on the creature feature as well, according to the trailer’s credits. Let the awful CG and worse acting roll via the Piranhaconda trailer: Even after enjoying a career resurgence following Sin City and the Kill Bill movies, Madsen’s resorted to more and more low budget indie work; it’s therefore not terribly shocking to see him pop up in a movie like this, but still . And yet: Hardcore exploitation fans may find added reason to check out the telefilm on account of director Jim Wynorski ( Chopping Mall ), who’s behind the camera for producer Roger Corman. A release/airdate has yet to be set. [ TwitchFilm ]
Among Wednesday morning’s Biz Break: Rebecca Hall chases Iron Man 3 , Clifford the Big Red Dog is headed for the big silver screen, and word of a possible “Hollywood studio” for Queens. Rebecca Hall In Line for Iron Man 3 Role Hall would take over the role in the Marvel franchise recently declined by Jessica Chastain via her Facebook page . Gwyneth Paltrow, who was in the previous two Iron Man movies, will return as Pepper Potts, Deadline reports . Illumination and Universal Team for Clifford the Big Red Dog Matt Lopez has been set to write the script for the project, which will be a live-action and animated hybrid. Clifford follows the adventures of a 25-foot-tall red dog and his owner, a child named Emily Elizabeth, THR reports . Susan Sarandon Joins Mother’s Day The actress and her daughter Eva Amurri Martino are set to star in the indie drama which follows 12 sets of mothers and daughters over the course of a Mother’s Day, Deadline reports . NY Senator Schumer Pushing for Hollywood-style Studio in Queens New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is asking the feds to make it easier for New York City to build a movie studio that would compete with Hollywood. The federal government is holding up the final approval for Kaufman Astoria Studios to build an architecturally flashy movie lot gate at 36th Street and 35th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, CBS New York reports . Clark Gregg Joins Jason Reitman’s Labor Day Reitman is adapting the script from the novel by Joyce Maynard. The story follows a boy, played by Gattlin Griffith and his divorced mother (Kate Winslet) who offer a stranger (Josh Brolin) a ride during Labor Day weekend. The man is an escaped convict who teaches the boy life lessons, THR reports .
With an imminent debut at one of the numerous, unrelated Riviera events orbiting the Cannes Film Festival, The Lucifer Effect has issued a trailer and a press release detailing the horrific, publicity-friendly happenings undergirding what its makers seem to believe will be the industry’s next found-footage phenomenon. It has footnotes and everything — as though David Foster Wallace and William Castle collaborated on some sincerely unholy afterlife marketing effort. You should see this! The pitch, that is, not the movie (though maybe that, too). First the trailer, which was hovering at a very, very spooky 13 views this morning: And now the press release just over the transom at Movieline HQ, which I really must provide without commentary, if only because it’s kind of its own commentary after a while. (To wit, who’s a fan of this new number order 1, 6, 3, 5, 2? Never mind.) ========= CONTROVERSIAL NEW BRITISH HORROR MOVIE, ‘THE LUCIFER EFFECT’ TO DEBUT AT CANNES NEXT WEEK Film reported to be ‘cursed’ and contain subliminal messages in a hidden frame storyline The controversial new British horror movie, THE LUCIFER EFFECT 1 will overcome its alleged ‘curse’ to debut at the Cannes Film Festival next week. The film has been in and out of the headlines following a number of bizarre incidents, disappearances and even police intervention during filming last year. ‘The Lucifer Effect’ first hit the headlines last year when one of the participants 6 was almost throttled by another cast member. Police seized the footage and the film was put on hold. However, despite the film’s original director 3 also having gone missing, the film has been completed by a new documentary film crew headed by Edward Boon and is now set to premiere at Cannes on 16 May. The film studies the social condition known as ‘The Lucifer Effect’ 5 – a psychological consequence that is said to occur when ‘good’ people are given power over others in an evil place. The effect was first investigated in the 1970s during the infamous Stanford Prison experiment. The Lucifer Effect producers recreated a modern day equivalent in an abandoned mental asylum 2 . The film also uses subliminal imagery and has a secret secondary storyline interwoven in hidden frames beneath the main storyline – the first feature film in the world believed to use this controversial technology. The use of subliminal scenes has added to the rumours of a curse. Reports of a curse originally surfaced due to the fact that the film features footage of disturbing events which occurred when the participants in the film held a Ouija board session during their brief stay in the asylum. Unlike other films that it has been compared to, such as ‘The Blair Witch Project’ or ‘Paranormal Activity’, the footage and events in ‘The Lucifer Project’ are actually real, there was no script, and the reactions of the participants are genuine, including the unfortunate assault. As a result police in Lincolnshire seized the footage and the film was put on hold, creating a lot of international media attention. The story was also widely covered in the British press. The film centers around eight people who volunteered for a role in a movie on buyamovierole.com , only to be locked inside a reportedly haunted mental asylum 2 for three days and nights, with no communication from the outside world and little food to eat. Since these events, two of the cast have been hospitalized with other cast members receiving counseling and treatment for depression and any possible after effects. All involved had signed release forms and given their consent before entering the asylum, although some of the actors are now looking to sue the film company for false imprisonment. It is reported that some of the cast believe the producers are still pulling their strings one year on. Adding to the stories of a curse is the fact that the director who oversaw the filming of the original events is also now missing. This is coupled with rumours that one of the actresses has been sectioned in South America. In order to investigate whether the alleged ‘curse’ can have any effects on the public at large, the film has added an innovative social media angle. When the trailer on the film’s Facebook and social networking pages is viewed, their webcam is activated, thereby involving the viewer in what is seen onscreen. Already, there have been reports of doors mysteriously opening and closing, shadows appearing and lampshades moving in the background. The producers added the webcam feature after the ‘curse’ reports surfaced to pick up on any paranormal activity once the film trailer had been watched. The producers say if anything interesting or unusual is recorded whilst watching the trailer there is a chance that the recordings will be featured in the final cut of the film when it is released. Watch the trailer here: http://www.thelucifereffectmovie.com – END – 1. For further information and Movie Trailer: www.thelucifereffectmovie.com [ Back ] 2. Rauceby Mental Asylum in Quarrington, near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, was originally opened in 1902 as the Kesteven County Asylum, and from 1924-1933 the Kesteven Mental Hospital. In 1940, it was taken over by the RAF and renamed No. 4 RAF Hospital Rauceby with 1,000 beds treating crash and burns victims. The pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe worked here on members of his so-called “Guinea Pig Club”. The main hall burnt down in 1947 and the RAF handed the premises over to the newly formed National Health Service, which then returned to using it as a mental asylum. The site was closed in 1997 amid allegations of abuse. The site includes two graveyards, a mortuary, and a series of underground tunnels connecting wards. [ Back ] 3. Original Film Director, Tim Burke was Born 8 May 1979, Kensington, London, UK. Grew up in Bristol, Avon & Somerset. Bought a film camera at the age of 12, and formally learned his trade at the Panico Films School (now part of the London Film Academy), London, where he passed out top of his class. Using his extensive celebrity and entertainment industry contacts, Tim Burke founded the charity BuyaMovieRole, which, in 2010, raised money for charity by auctioning off donated movie roles. [ Back ] 4. “Enigmatic technique” takes acting improvisation to its extreme and is the complete opposite of the discredited “response directing” where actors are told what they should be feeling. Instead, he keeps actors as much in the dark as possible, as detached as possible from any production crew, then subjects them to frighteningly realistic situations and lets the actors react naturally to whatever happens. In this way, he seeks to film emotions that are genuinely felt rather than put on. The Lucifer Effect was Tim Burke’s first real exploration of this technique. [ Back ] 5. Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil is the title of an academic textbook for college psychology students by Philip Zimbardo, professor emeritus at Stanford University. He is best known for his Stanford Prison Experiment in which 24 normal students were assigned to be either “prisoners” or “guards” in a mock jail set up in the basement of the university’s psychology building. The planned two-week experiment was terminated after just six days due to the emotional trauma suffered by the participants where the “guards” rapidly became sadistic and with the “prisoners” descending into extreme passivity or depression. In 2004, Zimbardo testified for the defense in the court martial of a US military police sergeant guilty of torturing prisoners in Iraq. Zimbardo argued that few people could resist the powerful situational pressures of a prison and that the sergeant should not be given the maximum sentence. He drew on his study of this case to write Lucifer Effect. [ Back ] 6. Emrhys Cooper, Mohammed Al Turki, Hofit Golan, Natalie Celino, Liziane Villamil, Anouska O’Hara, Ryan Lutz, and Jack Walther all appear as themselves. [ Back ] ###
The celebrated Up documentary series that has chronicled 14 Britons every seven years since age 7 is back underway with 56 Up . I repeat: 56 Up . Feel old yet? Though maybe not as old as director Michael Apted: “As long as I’m above ground, I’ll carry on,’ says 71-year-old Apted when we meet on the 20th floor of ITV’s London HQ. ‘Maybe if I wasn’t above ground, someone else would take it over. Having come so far it seems a pity to just unilaterally stop it unless there is good reason. I’ve only ever said we’d stop if too many of them pulled out, or people didn’t want to watch it any more. But neither of those things has happened.’ Producer Claire Lewis, who joined at 28 Up , wonders what will happen when the participants start to die. ‘When we lose somebody it’ll make the others think very hard about doing it again. I don’t know what effect that would have on us and on them. It’s very hard watching yourself grow old on screen.'” [ The Guardian via The Awl ]
