Where My Girls At? Susan, Tilda, Uma, Sir Ian
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 11:15PM The Man Who Loved Actresses Too Much. That's the title of my forthcoming memoirs. Because I love too many actresses I often lose track of their upcoming film projects so let's look at some recent casting notices (by recent I mean I'm sorry I didn't mention them earlier this month!) involving ladies I, and hopefully you, love.
Susan Sarandon, currently co-starring in Cloud Atlas, has been working consistently since her career peak (1988 through 1995) but her parts haven't been so great or the films have left one wanting. Can The Last of Robin Hood reinvigorate her career or spark passion in her fanbase again? The Hollywood bio film is from the indie directing team of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (full disclosure: I used to be friendly with Glatzer) who previously made The Fluffer and Quinceanera. It's about Errol Flynn's (Kevin Kline) affair with a 17 year old actress at the end of his life who he first seduced when she was all of 15. Sarandon will play the young actress's stage mother. Here's why I'm hopeful - the mother Sarandon will play actually wrote a book about this love affair called "The Big Love" so her role could be substantial -- though I'm unclear as to whether this film is based on that or wholly original.
Julianne Moore is a screen queen I never lose track of, per se, but sometimes the projects disappear! Does Being Flynn really exist? Did Shelter? What happened to that period-noir-detective-with-addiction-issues series she was going to star in for HBO? Given the populist genre of her next project, it's less likely to disappear. She's about to reteam with Liam Neeson as screen husband for the thriller Non-Stop. Neeson is an US Air Marshall and they're fighting a mysterious enemy who is texting him. Oh please let it be Amanda Seyfried! #AwkwardChloeReunioin
The ginger goddess will also co-star in Dan Fogelman's directorial debut, a dramedy called Imagine. Fogelman's credits include writing one of Julianne Moore's best screen jokes for Crazy Stupid Love, well, and the rest of the movie, too. The film stars Al Pacino as a former rock star who discovers he has an adult son (played by Jeremy Renner). Julianne Moore will play the hotel manager where Pacino lives.
Uma Thurman needs a strong director -- nothing wrong with that if you're great when you get 'em -- and she's had a rough go of it, screen-wise since the Kill Bill series. Wising up now, she's joining Lars Von Trier's increasingly star-studded "porno" Nyphomaniac. There's no word on what her role will entail (though most believe it's the same role that Nicole Kidman vacated) but it's not the title role. That would be Charlotte Rampling, who isn't shy about onscreen eroticism (see: The Night Porter or Under the Sand). update: LOL. My wishful thinking substituted Charlottes Charlotte Gainsbourg, who is a von Trier favorite (Antichrist, Melancholia). Uma doesn't trade on her own erotic appeal nearly as often but she should. Beyond Tarantino's oeuvre I'd argue that her best performance is in the very libidinous Henry & June. To this day I'm still certain she caused the NC-17 even though she (mostly) kept her clothes on.
Uma's been low key enough lately that I blinked and missed the news that she had her new baby in July and named her "Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson"! Take that, Gwyneth.
Tilda Swinton is supposedly filming the new Terry Gilliam film The Zero Theorem right about now. The film is about a computer genius (Christoph Waltz) seeking the answer to whether life has meaning or not. I can solve the puzzle for him. Tilda Swinton exists and that is an inexplicable miracle so life obviously has meaning. The meaning being TILDA.
Sir Ian McKellen, who we'll soon see reprise his Oscar-nominated Gandalf role, is the star of the most hilarious news you'll read all week: Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi will be co-starring in a British sitcom about two senior gays living together called "Vicious Old Queens". This seems like it couldn't be true but it is, hunty, it is! The title and stars alone make it a must-see but -- even better -- British series tend to be short which still leaves plenty of time for the drama queens to make their film appearances, too. If the show is half as good as the casting and title, we all win.
Are you excited about any of these projects?
Which actress have you recently lost track of?
Reader Comments (16)
I thought Charlotte Gainsbourg was the lead in Nymphomaniac?
"Vicious Old Queens"!? Count me excited for that one! Hadn't heard about it. Best news of the week!
Yeah, Eric C., I'm afraid Nathaniel made a mistake.
Didn't Ian accidentally out Derek Jacobi in their younger years? Did I make that story up? Sounds great though.
The lead is Charlotte Gainsbourg, right? I imagined a very interesting film with Charlotte Rampling. :P
Yes, Gainsbourg is the lead Rampling is n't in this
RE Sarandon i think she has had some really gr8 supporting roles in moonlight mile,in the valley of elah one of my 2007 supporting nominees and igby goes down.
Moore is is Crrie and I can't wait to see what she does though acting opp moretz won't help,she has been excellent in lots of films since 2002 kids are all right,and a single man especially,non stop is obviously a pay check role.
Thurman is a weaker actress and needs to stick to what shes good at tarantino films or femme fatales,those late 2000's comedies were woeful.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who confuses Charlottes Gainsbourg and Rampling, even if they're not very similar at all. Same artistic wheelhouse, I guess.
I hadn't heard about 'Vicious Old Queens' but it sounds like the best thing British TV has greenlit for YEARS.
i guess it was my wishful thinking that substituted Charlottes. LOL. my apologies.
Conrado -- right? It sounds like a made up story, but it's true!
I wish Sissy Spacek would appear in more films. After a smallish role in The Help (and another smaller one in soon to be released Deadfall) she has nothing in pre-production according to imdb.
I thought Sarandon was terrific in Arbitrage, maybe even Best in Show. (That last scene was just...gah!)
Fingers crossed she and Thurman get some meaty material they can masticate like the screen huntresses they are!
Uma Thurman + Lars Von Trier = needles in my eye
Where the hell is Jessica Lange? I believe she had a small role in The Vow, but she deserves better than that. Susan Sarandon is suffering because of the same bias. Ageism toward actresses is virulent in Hollywood, always has been. But I thought we would have outgrown that nonsense by now. I remember watching a doc about the life of my lovely Jennifer Jones. As the film prepared to switch to a new segment, narrator Peter Graves gravely intones "at the age of 36, Jennifer Jones would have to prove she was still a viable and desirable leading lady." You gotta be kidding me. What a load of fecal matter.
Moore is quite busy which is nice... but there is no obvious Oscar-bait among her next projects, which is not so nice.
Imagine and Non-Stop are expected to shoot in the next 6 months. Then there are Carrie, What Maisie Knew, The Seventh Son, Don Jon's Addiction and The English Teacher (all in post-prod / completed) coming out next year.
7 upcoming movies. But where's the Oscar role?
Nathaniel, I saw that Jacki Weaver was cast in the new JFK pic. You love her as much as I do, if I remember correctly.
I swear I am too excited for Silver Linings. Jacki + Jennifer is my dream. Give Elle Fanning a cameo and I can die happily.
Vicious Old Queens!!!!! That is by far the most amazing thing I have heard all year.
brookesboy - Jessica Lange is doing quite well for herself on TV, winning a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her performance on American Horror Story's first season (and deservedly so). She is currently tearing up the scenery on Season Two (subtitled Asylum) as a nun with a scandalous past. She's great, even if the show is uneven.