Persona Non Linka
Friday, September 30, 2011 at 8:03AM Thank you to Glenn for drawing our attention to this Melancholia poster starring Lars von Trier (one of a series). When was the last time you saw a director on his own movie poster?
I mean apart from Hitchcock's Psycho -- the one where he warns you about not entering the theater late -- I can't think of one (unless the director is also the lead actor of course). It's impish fun to use von Trier this way in marketing since anyone buying a ticket to Melancholia is going to know who he is. But the "persona non grata" Cannes seal in the upper left corner is the real design coup here. Well done, whoever thought of it.
Links!
My New Plaid Pants chooses five fav Gwyneth Paltrow performances. Where the hell is Flesh and Bone? That'd make mine.
Thelma Adams recruits female pundits and critics to talk Best Supporting Actress
EW is eager to meet all of your Avengers needs
Flickr More Drive art. See also this week's Curio column
i09 selects the ten best sci-fi death scenes. Number 2 should be number 1, duh!
Shakesville offers up Princess Bride Monopoly (click image to view larger). Well done.
Awards Daily new pics of Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe
Form is Void Have you ever seen Jim Henson's Time Piece (1966)? It gave him his first and only Oscar nomination (Best Live Action Short Film). It's "surprisingly spicy."
Finally, it seems that Bennett Miller will follow up Moneyball with Foxcatcher which is the story of crazy rich person / killer John DuPont, the heir to the DuPont fortune who killed an Olympic wrestler on the massive DuPont estate. His defense claimed paranoid schizophrenia but he was still found guilty. Steve Carell will play the challenging role. And, given what Carell has been able to do in Little Miss Sunshine and even Crazy, Stupid, Love. is there any reason to believe this couldn't be an Oscar nominated next career step? This project is so fresh it doesn't even have an IMDb page yet (though I suspect that will change today given that this news is all over the 'net)
I guess Bennett Miller is only going to do true stories that are essentially tiny- window biopics of famous or somehow notorious men: Capote, Moneyball, Foxcatcher? It's a niche but at least everyone agrees that he's good at it. As for tiny-window biopics -- they're the best kind! The only good kind.
Reader Comments (14)
Steve Carell must have either a supremely-talented agent or a very strong knack for career-planning. He avoided almost every major pitfall that usually accompanies overnight comedic stardom-he didn't quit his hit television show when the plum movie offers started coming in (had he done that, Evan Almighty may have been his undoing), he has continued to be the "co-lead" in most of his work as to avoid being pigeon-holed, he has cultivated a rep as an actor as well as a comedian, and is choosing to work with extremely talented people in his post-Office career (Gosling, Moore, Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, and now Bennett Miller) in hopes that the next stage of his career will have the quality longevity that is afforded to only a few comedians. With any luck, his only terrible family film and/or remake will be Get Smart, and then he got to work with Anne Hathaway, and even if the project was terrible, wouldn't we all want to do that?
If I ever saw Flesh and Bone I have zero recollection of it... strangely I feel this twinge in my brain as if I did see it when it came out maybe? But yeah, zero recollection of anything outside of that. If I did I haven't given thought to that movie in 18 years. So I should revisit it, is what you're telling me, Nat? ;) I do love some good vintage Dennis Quaid.
Baz Luhrmann is probably creaming himself right now - he's inserted himself into the marketing of his films in every way BUT the posters.
I only saw a little of Flesh and Bone but what I saw of Gwenyth in it, she was terrific. And, she was not yet "GWENYTH PALTROW!" She got a bit of some of that mojo back in The Royal Tennebaums - that's the sort of stuff she needs to do more often, boundary-pushing stuff. Take some cues from La Kidman, Gwennie.
I know nowadays it's cool to hate on Gwyneth but God help me I love her.
And haters go hate but she has a very impressive filmography for an actress who stopped making movies for a few years, who had to endure the public eye since a very young age and who suffered enormous backlash from her Oscar win (I preferred Montenegro but Gwyneth was better than Blanchett in my book - and I LOVE Cate).
She followed her Oscar win with a very respectful project - The Talented Mr. Ripley - in which she was very good, she has delivered consistent work throughout this decade (2001, Royal Tenenbaums; 2003, Sylvia; 2005, Proof - she took on a role made iconic by Mary Louise Parker on Broadway and transformed it into her own; 2008, Two Lovers) to add to memorable performances in the 90s (Se7en, Emma, Hard Eight, Shakespeare in Love, Flesh and Bone). And she even got time to snatch a supporting part in one of this decade's most praised superhero comic book adaptation (and be excellent in it). How many actresses in Hollywood can compare to that? What is strange to me is why she didn't get the mandatory afterglow nomination. Or why the Academy is not eager to have her back. For example, Reese or Halle I get it. Hell, even Renée Zellweger got to be nominated three times.
I don't know; is it the GOOP newsletter? Is it because she doesn't pretend to be grateful for it all like Kate Winslet (I love Kate but that stunt at the Emmys was TOO MUCH)? Guess you can't have smart women who think for themselves in Hollywood.
If this happens, I think this is Steve Carell's Oscar.
Jorge relax.
/3RT,
Ah ah my rant was really long wasn't it? And I don't even like her that much.
John Waters appeared on the poster of his last film "A Dirty Shame" - it was just a small picture in the bottom corner, but he's there. And he's in the trailer too. It works for Waters because he goes for that schlocky William Castle gimmick factor.
Also, Clint Eastwood multiple times... and any other director who stars in their own pictures.
Robert -- well, yeah. but i accounted for actor/director exception in the post ;) but John Waters. I'd totally forgotten about that. Good call.
Jorge I love your passion. I love Paltrow in Tenenbaums.
Paltrow's triumph for me is Two Lovers, one of my favorite films of the last decade
Hey, Nathaniel! Thanks for sending folks my way. Great post, as always!
I definitely concur with Flesh And Bone as one of Gwyneth's best. It's a crime that Paramount squashed that film; it was in and out of theatres in two weeks in November 1993.
The fact that few people saw it may not have hindered Paltrow's career but it certainly poisoned Steve Kloves against the industry to the extent that he hasn't directed since.