Cast This! "Witches of Eastwick" Redux

So my Witches of Eastwick 25th anniversary celebration was not at all as comprehensive as I hoped for it to be but we need to wrap up. We barely talked about the three divas at all! (Sigh). As exit music, let's chatter about casting a sequel. If you'll recall Alexandra (Cher), Jane (Susan Sarandon) and Sukie (La Pfeiffer) each had a bouncing baby (half-demon?) boy at the end of the movie, sired by that devil Jack Nicholson himself. He was still trying to share custody (through the television screen) but the witches were wise to him.

I thought about asking you to cast a reboot but why replace that irreplaceable actress trinity?

Let's cast a sequel and bring all three of the goddesses back. Who should play the three sons all grown up in a sequel? You'll need three 25-34ish guys who would look great as a ginger, blonde, brunette trio and also have a little of their moms in them, whether that's visually or personality wise.

YOUR CHALLENGE: Cast the three sons and three young demonic succubi temptresses that try to lure them back to their Daddy. Since movies are always making gorgeous women of a certain age into the devil (hi Snow White and the Huntsman) in order to glorify youth, for bonus points tell us how Cher, Sarandon and Pfeiffer defeat the young (evil) beauties. 

I may even give prizes to the best answer this time. You've got six character spells to cast. GO! 

Pfeiffer Premieres, Then & Now

It's Pfeiffer Pfriday... on Saturday! (I can't be constrained by calendars and sunsets.) Joe reminded me in the comments earlier today that 20 years ago on this very day the stars were walking the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Batman Returns (1992) -- I'd casually mentioned it a month ago but pforgot on the day of! -- and just yesterday Pfeiffer was walking the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of People Like Us (2012) so things are set right again in Pfandom-Land. She's right where she's supposed to be.

Look how happy she is hugging Chris Pine!

And just as a reminder here she is exactly 20 years earlier at the Batman Returns premiere and at the Globes and Oscars that year, too ...

Click to read more ...

and I can't fight this linking anymore... I've forgotten what I started fighting for ♪ ♫

Vulture the best grimaces and grins from Mad Men season 5. Good stuff
Tim Robey interviews the great Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen on his very busy career (Thor 2, Hannibal TV series, A Royal Affair and more...)
Liz Smith on the Friar's Club roast of Tom Cruise (opening quote via Alec Baldwin) 
EW Jeremy Jordan (Broadway's Newsies and Bonnie & Clyde) joins the cast of Smash. They're really shuffling players for Season 2. Which still won't solve the problem of treating Megan Hilty like she's not the Starriest of Stars on the show. (sigh)
Hollywood and Fine "why I love/hate Rock of Ages" point of view from former rock critic. 

Stale Popcorn on Yentl "Barbra I can hear you". I also like this movie, haters begone.
Movies.com Here's the actor who's playing Osama Bin Laden in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty 
Pop Watch Prometheus deleted scene still. Who is "the engineer" talking with? 
The Mary Sue on the trials and tribulations of superhero costumes
My New Plaid Pants does the only sensible thing and screencaps the red band Magic Mike trailer. Even with all the goodness inherent in such an effort my favorite thing is this comment from a reader named "Paco":

I am starting a petition to have this movie remade every year, with a rotating cast of actors.

Pass that petition right over. Reboot With Depantsing!

Appropos of nothing, it's Sam Hargraves, Chris Evans stunt double!Finally, the Thought Catalog has "The Life of Someone Who Didn't Like The Avengers"  Funny read.

You didn’t hate it, but you wanted to like it more, and you knew that thinking it “wasn’t terrible” wouldn’t be good enough. Like that time that you saw The Dark Knight and pointed out the badly-choreographed fight scenes to your friend who proceeded to have a hissy fit in the theater lobby...

It does get lonely out there if you don't like a universally beloved thing (like me with Forrest Gump/Braveheart. OMG I hate those movies). I never shared this tidbit from my family time away from the blog a few weeks back but my sister didn't like The Avengers at all. Sadly she didn't say why. It's so hard talking movies in depth with my family. They never explain themselves. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I talk out into the void via The Film Experience? 

The Diary of Peggy Siegal

High Powered Publicist Peggy Siegal's has just released her Cannes Diary at the Huffington Post. Better three weeks late than never. Peggy throws great Oscar shindigs here in NYC where much handshaking and FYC vote counting happened right before my very eyes last season (remember that party for The Help I wrote about? - that was one of my favorite pieces last year).

Can't wait for the festivities to begin again! For Peggy of course they already have.

Peggy @ Cannes with Michel Hazanavicius & James Woods

My favorite days of the name-dropping diary (Frank Langella would be proud) both happen to be Thursdays.

May 17th. Jacques Audiard's screening of Rust and Bone at the Palais is packed. Marion Cotillard portrays a marine-park trainer who loses her legs to a killer whale. Stop. It's a love story. A street fighter, played by Belgian Matthias Schoenaerts, literally sweeps her off her digitally-erased feet and I promise you, she is walking into the Oscars this year in a Dior Haute Couture.

Peggy promises! Translation: Take note.

Hey, it's not a bad bet. Even if Rust & Bone proves to outré for the bulk of AMPAS voters there's always Cotillard's other juicy lead role in the tentatively titled Low Life in which she plays a reluctant immigrant prostitute. If The Weinstein Company opts to give that one an Oscar qualifying 2012 release. (Oscar voters do love the world's oldest profession.) 

Kidman and Cotillard, both Oscar winners, won fresh buzz at Cannes last month. Will they snag their fourth and second nominations respectively?

Thursday May 24th is my favorite entry. It begins like so.

Lee Daniels shows the The Paperboy. Nicole Kidman is a trailer park Brigitte Bardot. Zac Efron, all grown up, lusts after Nicole wearing underpants. Matthew McConaughey is a hunky gay journalist and John Cusack is the crazy inmate on death-row in this erotic thriller set in1960s Florida.

Lee unabashedly announces at the press conference that his deep understanding of the nutty and violent characters are taken from his personal experience. As he says, "I know these people. My brother is in jail for 18 years for murder." He had Nicole interview seven real women who have long-term relationships with men in jail, adding insight to her stunning performance.

Arriving on Lady Joy, Denise Rich's 170-foot yacht, appropriately disheveled but always chic, Denise whisks me off to her stateroom and instructs her professional hair and make-up staff to fluff me up.

Famous love birds Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are staying on the boat and have just come up from their bedroom for lunch. Kim and I stare at each other's makeup as I sit as close as possible without invading her space. Her skin is like butter. She is quite beautiful.

I rant about every film I have seen. It's a tad too early for Kanye and Kim to digest all this information. Soft-spoken Kanye tells me about his short art film Cruel Summer. Filmed in Qatar, the short is inspired by theRomeo and Juliet-esque classic Middle Eastern tale Antar and Abla.

David Geffen sends the "Rising Sun's" tender, which is larger than my New York Park Avenue apartment to pick me up for lunch. At 453-feet, I board the sixth largest yacht in the world built by Larry Ellison for over $200 million and redesigned by Geffen. From sea level, I climb four flights to greet David. I have three words for him, "Not big enough."

Lunch is with Keith Urban and Wendi Murdoch on an outdoor deck. Again I rant about every film but to a more astute reception. David tells me he never leaves the boat. Would you, if you had a basketball court on board?

On the tender back to shore Keith tells me Nicole and he are moving to the South of France in September for three months while she films Grace of Monaco, a drama about thesp-turned-princess Grace Kelly.

My head is spinning from trying to imagine Kim Kardashian conversing about art movies though I have no trouble imagining the follow up with Keith Urban - he is married to our Nicole after all. But that's Cannes for you - an improbable mix of Household Name Celebrities Famous Just Because They're Famous who might never have set foot in an arthouse in their lives and films made by Household Names if your household happens to be composed entirely of cinephiles. (In which case, can I come over for dinner?)

Believe it or not, this is but a tiny sample. It's a must read. Poor Clive Owen even gets stuck in an elevator with fans for 20 minutes! 

P.S. Yes, I'll update the Oscar charts soon.

Complete the Sentence. Everyone Should Watch...

Everyone should watch ______________ immediately because ________________ . If you haven't seen it _______________.