A Drowning Woman Takes Down Those Nearest

JA from MNPP here. Well it's official! As rumored slash threatened, Lindsay Lohsan will be playing Elizabeth Taylor in a Lifetime channel bio-pic centering on Liz's back-and-forth paparazzi-bait romance with Sir Richard Burton. I thought maybe this would go the way of Linds playing Lovelace and end up no more than hot air, but it appears it's for real, and she's maybe cleaned her act up enough...?

I'm forced by the sheer weight of the past several years sordid history to end that sentence with a question mark. Nevermind if this is even a good idea or not - skepticism regarding any project involving LL has become too deeply ingrained in me. Until this thing's actually on my TV screen, I will doubt.

What say y'all? Is it too soon after losing the legend to even contemplate this? Does Lindsay have what she needs to nail this... or to even walk away unscathed? Is it a gutsy move on her part or just a symptom of derangement? And who would you cast as Dick? So many question marks.

Alfred Hitchcock, Alfred Hitchcock, and Alfred Hitchcock

Look! It's Anthony Hopkins and Toby Jones as the great Alfred Hitchcock and the great Alfred Hitchcock in the upcoming movies Alfred Hitchcock and The Making of Psycho (2013) about, you guessed it, the making of Psycho, and The Girl (2012... post production but I'm guessing also 2013) about the making of The Birds. We keep forgetting that the second one exists (Cinema Blend recently reminded us while talking to Tippi Hedren at the Tribeca Film Festival) which is the second time that's happened to a Toby Jones biopic. First Capote, now Hitch? Poor guy.

All of which begs for us to make it a trinity...

 Who else should play Hitchcock and which movie other than Psycho & The Birds deserves this "making of" dramatization. For some reason I'm tempted to say Frenzy (1972) to get a late career trying to keep up with the times mixed reception drama but I could go for Torn Curtain (1966) just to see who they'd cast as Julie Andrews and Paul Newman. Or maybe my ol' favorite Rope (1948) for the one shot technical challenge and lots of queerness courtesy of Farley Granger. 

You?

Take Three: Anne Heche

Craig here with this week's edition of the character actor column "Take Three". Today: Anne Heche

Take One: Birth (2004)
Whilst watching Birth I’m sure you, like me, were thinking: just what the heck is Anne Heche doing in Central Park? Near the start of Jonathan Glazer’s reincarnation baffler Heche acts in mysterious ways. She suspiciously sneaks out of a hotel lobby and onto the snowy streets of Manhattan. She’s rustling around in the bushes, digging a hole. Is she burying the gift intended for Anna (Nicole Kidman)? Is it even a gift? It looks like some sort of proof, evidence. Her character, Clara, holds the film’s secrets from the get-go. In accordance with the way Glazer structures the script in these early scenes, fragmented by Sam Sneade and Claus Wehlisch’s editing, Clara becomes an enigma we know we'll worryingly come back to later.

Heche’s scenes with Sean (Cameron Bright) after the friction of the plot has been replaced by psychic damage throw a puzzling curveball (the buried package!) to the remainder of the film. These moments provide us with Heche’s best, and most tense, work to date. Insidious, slightly witchy and perverse, Heche reveals a reverse deus ex machina that shows Clara to be the queasily spiteful and questionable presence of the story. Her face, shot in extreme close-up, displays a deliciously evil sheen as she devastates the young boy. On evidence here, I’m baffled as to why filmmakers aren’t snapping Heche up to play the kinds of complicated icy queens usually reserved for Tilda Swinton. Birth features an all-round stellar ensemble but if you haven't seen it recently watch it again to see Heche wrench entire scenes away from the lot of them.

Two more Heche triumphs after the jump including Psycho (1998). Yes, that Psycho...

Click to read more ...

Linkers Assemble!

The Guardian Loki himself Tom Hiddleston wrote a piece defending the superhero movie genre which he thinks ought to be taken more seriously. Well written and impassioned but let's play devil's advocate for a moment. Isn't the money enough? Wouldn't it be nice if people could respond to dramas about the human condition without the comforting distance of genre?
Slant 15 famous movie monkeys in honor of the just released Chimpanzee
Ultra Culture makes a funny re: "exclusive image" of Katy Perry. Honestly I rarely open emails with the word "exclusive" in the header. They'll have to drop it from Websters soon since it lost its meaning somewhere at the tail end of the 20th century.

Pajiba screw context. Just appreciate the Jennifer Lawrenceness of it all
IndieWire somehow in the midst of my manic schedule, I missed the news that Eytan Fox had made a sequel to the wonderful Yossi & Jagger (2003) called simply Yossi with Ohad Knoller reprising his role as the closeted gay soldier (this time back in civilian life) 
Insanely Gaming popular websites as dresses. This is quite awesome. I vote Facebook 'best dressed'
IndieWire the controversies surrounding HBO's Girls. I liked the debut episode but it really did feel like Tiny Furniture Redux (without the fun visuals that came with the title territory) 
Low Resolution did you ever read Joe's awards for the film year? Yes, I know I still have to finish mine. Ugh.
Monkey See terrific piece on Zac Efron's transition (possibly) to full grown adult movie actor  

Finally... Odin's Boys Loki (Tom Hiddleson) & Thor (Chris Hemsworth) are having some serious giggles at one of many premieres for The Avengers. 

poll by twiigs.com

 

Or maybe they're laughing about Joss Whedon's evil robot from the future sketch for Equality Now?

Overheard @ Box Office: "for my brother, I think...Three Stooges"

Exiting the laughter-filled theater after Whit Stilman's comic whatsit Damsels in Distress last night, I noticed a surprising amount of grumbling about the movie. Say, weren't you all laughing heartily just minutes ago? I know I heard you laughing. It's impossible to please those Upper West Siders!

Two men in front of me weren't impressed and one was clearly planning another movie outing soon with his brother. 

Guy Who Picks The Movie: For my brother, I think... Three Stooges.
Other Guy: And it might be better movie." 

The WTF comment haunted me the whole way home.  What kind of a crossover audience might Damsels in Distress and The Three Stooges have. Which is to say who would be torn between them if they only had money for one ticket? LOL. It has to be a previously undiscovered demographic. To quote Suzanne in Postcards from the Edge when momma Doris suggests she could have had Joan Crawford for a mother... "These are my choices?"

Here is my best, my only, guess at the overlap...

That's all I got!

TOP TEN (Estimates)
01 THINK LIKE A MAN  $33 new 
02 THE LUCKY ONE  $22.8 new
03 THE HUNGER GAMES  $14.5 (cum $356.9) Reviewed
04 CHIMPANZEE  $10.2 new
05 THE THREE STOOGES  $9.2 (cum. $29.3)
06 CABIN IN THE WOODS $7.7 (cum. $26.9)
07 AMERICAN REUNION $5.2  (cum. $48.3)
08 TITANIC (3D) $5 (cum. $52.8) Centennial
09 21 JUMP STREET  $4.6 (cum. $127)  Reviewed
10 MIRROR MIRROR $4.1 (cum. $55.2) Reviewed

Below the Top Ten...
Damsels in Distress doubled its screen count but is still a long way from indie hit status. Darling Companion, opened on only 4 screens despite a name cast. (Yes, they're all senior citizens but couldn't they market this more widely to older viewers? I mean it's only been 9 years since Diane Keaton carried a $100 million multi-quadrant hit.) Further down the list the Weinstein Co's Oscar horses of 2011 are all about to return to the stable ending their theatrical runs as they hit DVD. The Iron Lady is dragging herself to a $30 million finish, The Artist is ending with $44, and Coriolanus and W.E. are... well, better luck on DVD. 

What did you see this weekend? Do you love stunt casting? Which reality TV star would you gladly follow into the movie theater for some legit camera acting?