Birthday Man George Clooney

We probably shoulda done some celebrating but today was the big "5-0" day for one of the world's most justly beloved stars, George Clooney.

Today offered up 50 Reasons to Love Him and if we had time we'd list 50 more. But we've always enjoyed his betting with Nicole Kidman & Michelle Pfeiffer about his private life and the fact that he starred with both of those goddesses early in his film career (Lucky man). They each owe him $20,000 because they keep losing, the last winning bet that he'd still be childless at 50.

Our ten favorite George Clooney performances presented without comment.

1. George Clooney
2. "Ryan Bingham" Up in the Air
3. "Michael Clayton" Michael Clayton
4. "Everett" O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. "Danny Ocean"
   
6. "Mr. Fox" Fantastic Mr. Fox
7. "Archie Gates" Three Kings
   
8. "Dr. Ross" E.R.
9. "Seth Gecko" From Dusk Till Dawn
10. "Sparky" South Park

Which are yours?

Links: Arthur Laurents, Joel Edgerton, Parker Posey, Will Smith

TV Guide A brilliant suggestion: put Parker Posey in the boss's chair in The Office. Did you see her on Parks & Recreation last night? She's dependable with hilarity, that one.
The Art of Manliness how to jump from rooftop to rooftop, like a frenzied movie hero.
Boobs Radley Imagined conversations between Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn. Teehee.
My New Plaid Pants a big week for Joel Edgerton. A leading role in the new Kathryn Bigelow flick? Yes please.
Variety Quentin Tarantino wants Will Smith for his Django Unchained movie. In our opinion any actor would be crazy to turn Tarantino down. He nearly always finds something new or untapped in their talent. He's pure magic that way.
The Beats Within new blog on Madonna as a musician (still underappreciated). This is a really interesting interview with Guy Sigsworth who cowrote "What It Feels Like For a Girl"
Movie Morlocksk spends an evening with Terence Stamp. We love him.

Hey U Guys shows the delightful first image from a pirate movie from Aardman Animations. Hugh Grant will be voicing it matey.
THR It might be Keanu Reeves for Akira. Hollywood is just determined not to cast Japanese actors even though the property is the selling point.
Movie|Line is every Kate Hudson movie the same? Chart!
Salon looks at the best devil portrayals on film.

Finally...I meant to write about Arthur Laurents passing yesterday but this one made me sick with loss. The theater great had a hand in so many properties that are just magic (Rope, West Side Story, The Way We Were, Gypsy ... the list goes on) and he lived to be 92 years old; a long and accomplished life it was. He won Tony Awards and was twice Oscar nominated (both nominations were for the ballet drama The Turning Point) but somehow they snubbed his brilliant screenplay for The Way We Were which is only among the pinnacle achievements of its entire genre. Seriously name ten romantic weepies that are better; you can't!

His life was inspiring, too. Imagine having the guts to live as an out gay man as early as the 1950s. I didn't know where to begin -- I'd need a whole blog week. MUBI is terrific with the obituaries, always rounding up good articles to read, like this recent lengthy dishy profile from New York Magazine when the revival of West Side Story opened on Broadway.

Thor and His Mighty Hammer

I once lived in Tønsberg Norway so imagine my shock at seeing it name-checked on screen for the first time in my life. According to Thor the movie that's where Odin (Anthony Hopkins in the role usually played by Liam Neeson or, well, Anthony Hopkins) and the Gods of Asgards battled the Frost Giants way back in... I've forgotten the date but it's ages and ages ago. That's the ancient war that prefaces the entire epic hooey of Marvel's new superhero flick THOR. Who knew? I saw no traces of this epic magical battle in Tønsberg soil but I am neither a geologist nor a wormhole chasing astrophysicist like Natalie Portman so maybe I didn't know where to look?

My Thor review for Towleroad.
Return and comment if thou wouldst. Snap back to me like Mjöllnir, mortals.

Norma Shearer is Hungry

may flowers bloom each afternoon

I don't understand this photo at all. Is The First Lady of MGM about to eat a big plate full of Magnolia?

.... bon appetit?

Be careful of that froggy aftertaste.

My film brain works funny. Do you ever watch old movie stars and wonder which kind of pictures they would have thrived in today? Or whether they would have thrived at all if they were working in the now? Which old timey Hollywood giants would work inside a P.T. Anderson picture for example: Barbara Stanwyck and Fredric March maybe?

Unsung Heroes: The Casting of 'Zodiac'

Hey there, film experiencers. Michael C here from Serious Film. After nearly two dozen episodes of this series I think it’s about time I touched on what is probably the most important under-the-radar job there is: the casting director.

Think about the challenges casting director Laray Mayfield was up against filling out the cast of David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007). 

The sprawling, decade-spanning narrative covers dozens of important speaking roles, various cops, reporters, and victims, which the viewer is expected to keep straight as they appear and reappear over the course of the story. Actors have to be cast who can embody the personality of the character in a way the script doesn’t have time to explain. Yet within those types, she has to find performers who can deliver a unique flavor that stands out from the pack. Dermot Mulroney, Donal Logue, and Elias Koteas all make believable cops, but no one is going to confuse one with the other.

John Carrol Lynch, loveable "Norm" no more.When it came to casting Zodiac himself, Fincher went with the bold choice of having different actors appear as the killer in order to fit the conflicting descriptions the surviving victims gave in each incident. Mayfield and Fincher somehow manage to pull it off without distracting or confusing the viewer. Each of the various Zodiac incarnations has a distinct feel – the Zodiac at the lake is more thuggish than the sinister Zodiac who threatens the woman and her baby on the highway – but the technique never calls attention to itself.

Mayfield outdid herself with the casting of the more substantial roles of the Zodiac suspects. With a story this maddeningly ambiguous the suspects need to project everything and nothing. We need to believe we may be in the presence of evil, but not tip the scales so far that we can’t buy it when the leads don't pan out as hoped. The casting of John Carroll Lynch – loveable Norm from Fargo – as lead suspect Arthur Leigh Allen is a particular masterstroke. In that riveting interrogation scene the viewer studies Lynch’s face along with the cops trying to decipher if they are witnessing the sneering arrogance of the Zodiac or just dumb belligerence. 

Along with her intuitive casting choices, Mayfield distinguishes herself with the depth of her talent search. Names like Anthony Edwards, Ione Skye and Charles Fleischer aren’t exactly at the top of every casting director's  A-List, but they’re perfectly deployed in Zodiac. They slide into their roles with utter believability and their underused star power in small roles adds immeasurably to the film.

It’s outside the box thinking like this that led Mayfield to provide The Social Network with one of the most memorable ensembles of recent years.

There is little fame and glory to spare for the casting director, yet one hears over and over that it is in the casting that most films are made or doomed. As a viewer, all I can judge is the finished project, and going by those results I think it’s safe to say Laray Mayfield is doing her job as well as anyone working today.