Lukewarm Off Presses: Colin, Emma, Birdman and Thor
Wednesday, July 16, 2014 at 8:00PM You might have thought you were done discussing these but I'm just getting around to posting about them, so don't shut your trap just yet. Here's five stories that we didn't get to in anything like a timely fashion but so what? Time is a flat circle.
Story 1 COLIN IN TALKS
I was going to wait to post about this until it was official and not just "in talks" but since the internet moves with the speed of everything casually mentioned as fact that everyone is aware of and will be old tomorrow, it should be noted that it looks like Colin Farrell will be the leading man of True Detective Season 2 (possibly Taylor Kitsch beside him). Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey will be tough shoes to fill but as I relayed on twitter, he's a smart idea because people will be surprised when he's great because they haven't noticed that he often is. It's very Matthew McConaughey if you think about it. An actor who was always talented and then only through a unique set of career moves did people admit it and suddenly acted like he was a brand new actor. And then they overpraised but that's another topic.
Colin has been utterly amazing a couple of times (Tigerland and In Bruges) but even in his less heralded successful or more divisive pieces where the performance arguably feels more strained (A Home at the End of the World, Alexander, Saving Mr Banks) he often feels like he's reaching for greatness. He doesn't phone it in... which is more than can be said for many actors who get paychecks that big.
Story 2 FESTIVALITIS
The Fall Film Festivals are approaching which means before too long I will be having weekly nervous breakdowns trying to keep up with all the news and discuss all the Oscar buzz. I'm waiting on my TIFF credentials now but it's exciting to hear that Venice will open with Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance starring Michael Keaton and Emma Stone. (I had never quite processed that it had a longer title than just "Birdman" though we've already discussed the brilliant trailer) Websites are already speculating on which films will show up at which festivals but I prefer not to try and guess. Half the excitement of festivals is all the "another present? for me!? ABUNDANCE!" elation that comes with discovering the goods. And since I can't afford to go to them all I don't want to worry about the films I'm missing at the other ones.
Story 3 A FEMALE THOR
It's probably worth mentioning that Marvel has announced that we'll have a female Thor for awhile (in the comics. Don't worry for Chris Hemsworth's career just yet) and she'll be wielding Mjölnir. Superheroes are replaced more often than the layman thinks within comics (and actors are replaced in movies too -Bruce Banner holla!) but it almost always reverts back to the original guy.
Besides messing up all of our favorite Thor/Dr Horrible jokes...
...this news bugs me for two reasons.
- A female hero (Yay!) but she'll just be a glorified substitute (Boo!) for the real thing (a man, natch). What kind of message is that sending?
- This is in the comics where there have been several female superheroes given their own books over time. What we need is a female superhero at the movies. That would still be revolutionary which is a pretty pathetic thing to type in 2014. Female characters have been carrying stories in virtually ever medium for as long as any of those mediums existed. And yet the studios are still assuming that female superheroes can't carry movies... don't they realize that two of our top ten grossers this year thus far are essentially female superhero movies (Divergent & Maleficent) but not by name and in entirely different genres.
soon every movie will be a bit expensive one episode season of a tv seriesStory 4 FRANCHISES WILL BE THE DEATH OF US ALL
There's some speculation happening in the superhero-crazed internet (when isn't there?) that Sony is rethinking that whole Amazing Spider-Man reboot thing now that the movies are underperforming and just as they were announcing a whole set of spinoff movies around them. Release Emma* & Andrew into the wild again, I BEG YOU!
"Underperforming" is a sad word when these movies should have bombed spectacularly. Shouldn't you at least have to wait for another generation to arrive before you yell "do over!"? All the movie studios want to essentially make movies into multiple TV series that release one big expensive 2 hour long episode each season so there are 22 superhero films on the way in the next 4 years and Universal is now going to try an interconnected Classic Monsters Universe. Um, none of those monsters except for the Invisible Man ever went away? Talk about long running franchises. I guess, in keeping with tradition, we should start complaining now that the Bride of Frankenstein is never going to get her own solo movie so it's another universe that will utterly fail the Bechdel Test.
Tell me something that will give me hope for the future in the comments!
* Story 5: EMMA & WOODY
Since Emma Stone was already name-checked twice in this post ... let's note that she is also filming her second Woody Allen movie in a row (Untitled 2015) before Magic in the Moonlight has even landed so expect media stories about Emma as Woody's new muse in 3...2...1...
Do you think she'll pull a Scarlett and make a third? Her romantic interest isn't Colin Firth this time.
Progress! The leads are only 14 years apart this time RT @ThePlaylist: Emma & Joaquin on the set of Woody Allen... pic.twitter.com/MHiTvBF7t0
— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) July 12, 2014
Reader Comments (10)
Sony moved its presentation from Hall H (6,000+ seats of screaming fans) to the Indigo Ballroom (a couple hundred I think?) at Comic Con. It's a small change, but considering how monumentally the studios build up the hype around their SDCC appearances, it says a lot that Sony is downgrading.
The new Woody Allen film is currently being shot in my hometown of Providence, RI. Filming will also take place in Newport sometime soon. Newport in the summer is NOT the place to be (megatourists).
I'll never understand why Colin Farrell hasn't connected with the public more. He extremely good looking, exudes a lot of charisma and as you said never phones it in. As good as he is it's strange he's never been one to receive nominations either even for his most heralded work. I've loved him in many things but A Home at the End of the World is my favorite of his performances. Hope this career move works a similar magic that it did for McConaughey.
McConaughey is an American frat boy. His now popularity is not too surprising when you think about patriarchal white supremacy.
The only thing I can think about the new Woody Allen movie (I mean, the next after the new one) is that Parker Posey is in it!
Emma Stone (as a redhead), Felicia Day, Ruth Wilson, and Carrie Preston need to do something together, as a quad of sisters. They are all so quirky and charming.
Thanks for the gif of Dr. Horribles. I love that gem!
Colin Farrell for True Detective: Agreed. I've pretty much been on his side since Daredevil, in spite of how bad the movie was.
Venice opening Birdman: Oooh. Indicates it's maybe not as awards oriented as it's currently thought. Adjustments?
A Female Thor: Yeah, it's going to revert, and probably fairly quickly. 2-3 years, tops. (Even Wally West had to step down as The Flash, and he held onto that mantle a stunningly long "is this ever going to revert" amount of time.)
22 Super_ Movies: Does The Sandman really count? Yeah, it's a DC comics adaptation, but I'd still call it a HUGE stretch to identify it as a "superhero" movie. So that's 21. Plus: The Fantastic Four 2? NOT HAPPENING. 20. Sinister Six and Amazing Spider-Man 4? Nope. 18. Venom? The 2016 date is super generous (just watch, he's an Amazing Spider-Man 3 villain) and any expansion from that will stall. 17. All the other DC superhero movies? Warner Bros isn't exactly in a strong position making people want more, especially not that much more. Batman v Superman is heading toward a bomb and they're STUPID if they approve Zack Snyder's idea of back to back filming for Justice League. (Hey, Zack: The public almost unanimously LIKED Pirates of the Caribbean 1, the movie that kicked off the idea of back to back filming.) 12. Adding back in: Marvel Studios 2nd 2017 and 2018 efforts. 14. 5th Main X-Men movie. So, the minimum is probably closer to 15 than 22. And that fifteen has: 9 Marvel Studios, 1 WB, 1 Sony, 4 Fox. The original schedule summary had: 7 Marvel Studios, 7 WB (really? The studio that's firebombed their public perception of understanding this genre with a maelstrom of increasingly aesthetically dreary garbage is going to release SEVEN FILMS in 4 years? Also: Is Zack Snyder going to film almost all of them? (Of course he wouldn't touch Sandman. Because Sandman.) (And note: That that's a serious bleeping question is just depressing.), 4 Fox (right number, wrong suppositions), 4 Sony (really think Sony is in a position of that much power?).
volvagia -- it was actually Lord of the Rings that began the back-to-back craze in 2001. all three films were shot together. a huge gamble for the producers since it was hardly a surefire hit.
remy -- what took woody so long to work with her?
Nat: I was talking more the idea of "oh, NOW you can shoot back to back." Still, okay, that was a one two punch that secured it as an option.
Joaquin Phoenix in a Woody Allen movie! YES!!!