Links: Sharp Objects, French Directors, Emmy Ladies

THR amazing casting news: the great Patricia Clarkson will play Amy Adams estranged mother in HBO's Sharp Objects. Both roles are so juicy. Filming starts soon but we're talking next summer's Emmy nomination's not 2017's. Speaking of...
Decider Joe Reid's already thinking of the Lead Actress in a Miniseries Emmy race: 10 women, only 6 slots
/Film original Ghost in the Shell actors will dub the new film for Japanese relates

 

Salon looks back at memorable Russian villains in movies and on TV
All Things Considered wonders if you can make a King Kong movie without perpetuating racial undertones
Variety winners for the Miami Film Festival: Family Life and Maria (and Everybody Else)
Awards Daily 77 films about women on the way. That sounds like a lot, so, yay!
The Sun a couple of more pictures from the set of Mary Poppins Returns. A polka dot bowtie on Mary!
Decider Girls found the line that HBO wouldnt cross for sex scenes 
/Film Edgar Wright's Baby Driver starring Ansel Elgort premiered at SXSW so here's the trailer 
W Mag classic Linda Evangelista photo. Love.

French Waves, Not New
The New Yorker has an article / theory on why France hasn't produced a great director in three decades. Interesting ideas but I disagree with the thesis. France may never be the critical hotspot in international cinema -- there's always some exciting country of the moment in international cinema and it changes every handful of years -- but they're consistently strong.

Thirty years ago was 1987. Directors who made their first feature films after 1987 include Claire Denis (1988), Arnaud Desplechin (1991), Jacques Audiard (1994). Does The New Yorker really exclude all of them from a list of great French directors? I admit France isn't turning out the greats as consistently as they once did and Brody is right that the new exciting directors dont seem to stay as exciting for as long as they should now (what happened to Christophe Honore, for example?) but let's be reasonable! I personally have high hopes for Celine Sciamma (Girlhood), Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Mustang) and Alice Winocour (Disorder) so maybe the future is female? 

"Complicit"
Did you see SNL's perfume ad of Ivanka Trump starring Scarlett Johansson? The Titanic joke is rich.

Was King Kong a Box Office Monster?

What did you see this weekend?

check out that monster-sized beard on KONG SKULL ISLAND director Jordan Vogt-Roberts!

After catching up on TV shows like Big Little Lies and Feud, I went to Kong: Skull Island with a friend. Afterwards I eagerly read Chris's review, nodding a long at most of it. It's an easy-sit with surprising charm (mostly by way of John C Reilly's ad libbing... he seriously saves the movie from its paint-by-numbers blockbuster strategy) but wow was it disposable. Will anyone remember anything about it in a year's time?

And this to build a whole franchise on? Not too many of my audience members stayed for the stinger after the credits but that it was an enjoyable visual tease of other iconic kaiju like Godzilla, Ghidra, and Mothra. While the film opened at #1 it seems likely that Warner Bros was looking for much bigger numbers to launch a whole franchise on. The last installment of Godzilla, for example, opened to over $90 million.  Perhaps by pairing them in Kong vs Godzilla (due in 2020) they can get closer to $100? Box Office charts for the weekend and some related news items are after the jump...

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5 x 5: Buffy's 20th, Instagram Edition

Manuel here. One Ms Buffy Summers celebrated 20 years this past week (in her televised incarnation, at least) and I'd be remiss if I didn't add to the celebrations. That plucky Slayer and lover vampires remains my most cherished pop culture icon, infecting and influencing how I think, quip, and write. She even got to me to try my hand at video essays ("The Key to the Hellmouth") and was why I so warmed up to Stephen Dunn's wonderful Closet Monster which is a queer descendent of Joss Whedon's show (a character is, after all, named after her).

Back in July 2014, for reasons I can't even remember now, I began a silly Instagram project wherein I'd caption all the photos I'd upload on that social channel solely with episode titles from Whedon's show. It became a daily challenge (yes, there was a spreadsheet) and one which only a crazy fan could concoct. Buffy, you see, cannot help but inspire those of us who love her in sometimes absurdly enjoyable ways.

Echoing our (second) favorite slayer and in keeping with Nat's 5x5 theme, I went ahead and chose 5 (out of 140!) Instagram posts to give you a taste of how crazy us Whedonites can be...

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Big Little Tweetweek

Basics: "We're glad the season is over so we won't hear more about your Isabelle Huppert."
Me:.. pic.twitter.com/c379TiY5zO

— Ali Benz (@Alibenzkr) March 12, 2017

The hilarious thing is she's always worked this much. Good luck to all the new completists out there at ever finishing her filmography!

After the jump Chris Hemsworth, Big Little Lies, the Gyllenhaals, film critic humor, and prayers for Barbra Streisand... 

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"The Dude" Honors John Goodman for his Star Ceremony

John Goodman, currently onscreens in Kong: Skull Island, just got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Jeff Bridges got in "The Dude" character via The Big Lebowski with a quick costume change to honor him.

Watch: