Howling at MTV's "Teen Wolf"

Tyler Posey as "Eddie Munster"... I MEAN, "TEEN WOLF"! Have any of you been watching MTV's new series Teen Wolf? I thought I might give it a go as it premiered right after the MTV Movie Awards which we wrote up here (live blog) and here (fashion). I think with Mad Men missing from my summer schedule, I'm searching for a TV show worth writing about - not that an MTV high school show based on a cheesy 80s movie is equivocal but I was curious. I mean how long can the current vampire/werewolf craze last? Zombies reigned for nearly an entire decade of pop culture so perhaps this trend has got a few more years in it.

As with Game of Thrones I decided three episodes was enough before sounding off...

episode 1 (pilot) "Wolf Moon"
It begins, as many monster movies, do with an investigation: cops, flashlights, woods, dead body ...or half of one at least (ewww). We are then introduced to the lead character Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), who is shown shirtless fixing his LaCrosse gear. So he's already coded as "hot jock". His best friend Stiles (Dylan O'Brien), a cop's son, calls to urge him to sneak out and see what all this dead body business is about. Weirdly, Stiles has Scott who is a severe asthmatic, hold the flashlight while they run up and down forest hills in the pitch black. Pant pant. Cough cough. BITE BITE. wolf attack! Well, you saw that coming. The next morning at school there is this amusing but entirely implausible* conversation, as Stiles berates Scott for being such a nerd.

the writers of that 80s Michael J Fox movie, get a shout out but this is closer to borrowing a "title" than adaptation.

"Dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been Scarlet Nerded by you."

The creator of the show cited Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an influence in a recent interview -- another reason I tuned in -- and in dialogue exchanges like this you can feel it reaching for the smart geeky pop culture fun of that classic.

But in no way shape or universe is a guy on a high school's #1 sports team who looks like this a nerd.

No that is not a key party invitation from a cougar. That is a sex talk with his mom! (Cuz, you know, people generally have those talks with their mom while dripping wet and wearing only a towel.) Of course the mom uses this opportunity to make an MTV in joke -synergy!

I'm not going to end up on some reality show with a pregnant 16 year old."

ANYWAY... I was talking to Joe after the show about all this sexiness and I said 'Remember in 80s and 90s movies how the people playing nerds were sometimes not regulation hotties who have personal trainers on speed dial.' And he says...

Oh, you mean the bad old days?"

So... uh, well, Joe won that argument.

Trust: I'm not complaining about looking at Tyler Posey. But when your casting director fills an entire high school with beauties, it's hard not to giggle at the conversations about who's hot and who's not.  There is one moment in particular in episode one that had me totally LOL'ing where I was supposed to be sympathizing: A super hot black girl (unnamed... this school is lily-white but for her) stares at the new girl chatting up the most popular couple in school. She asks Scott and Stiles why the new girl gets to hang with them on her first day and they tell her 'Duh, she's hot!' So basically three hot 20somethings pretending to be highschoolers are staring at three other hot 20somethings pretending to be highschoolers, whilst bemoaning their fate as the Unhot?

The things you're hearing are hilariously irreconciliable with what you're seeing. Hey, maybe the show is a sly satire on body dysmorphia?

But if there's one thing this show is not, that's subtle. [Lots more after the jump, including more Buffy comparisons.]

Click to read more ...

"Move Your Bloomin' Arse!" To Debbie Reynold's Auction

I didn't intend for this weekend to become such a costume freakout session but sometimes the universe shouts that something must be and you say "okay. okay. stop shouting." You see, Debbie Reynold's movie memorabilia is going on auction today. How much do you wanna bet THIS dress fetches?

I guess when you're "America's Sweetheart" with hundreds of other famous friends from multiple decades of stardom, you wind up with a few collectibles. But Audrey Hepburn's Ascot dress from My Fair Lady in pristine condition?

"move your bloomin' arse!"♫ What a gripping, absolutely ripping
Moment at the Ascot op'ning day.
Pulses rushing! Faces flushing!
Heartbeats speed up! I have never been so keyed up ♪

Reynolds also has a number of Barbra Streisand costumes from Hello Dolly as well as this "Roller Skate Rag" outfit from one of Funny Girl's best bits.

You can see other stunning pieces of the collection over at Tom and Lorenzo, who correctly note...

If you're any kind of film buff you'll gasp at some point.

My gasps were nearly all actressexual until Stephen Boyd's Ben-Hur scabbard whacked me in the face. I can't tell you how hard I ♥ed "Messala" as a young boy. Like Charlton Heston, I was hilariously unaware of the homo suggestiveness but even when you haven't yet learned to decode...

Debbie Reynolds CatalogueThe Auction is happening today at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills starting at 12 PM PST.

I'm not much of a memorabilia collector -- I prefer staring at it in uncluttered museum / travelling exhibit environs -- but if I were and had gazillions of dollars I'd be snatching up Marilyn's red Gentlemen Prefer Blondes number, Liz Taylor's iconic Cleopatra's headdress, and anything Judy Garland or The Sound of Music. And maybe Rudolph Valentino's matador look from Blood and Sand.

Have you ever collected memorabilia for anything?
Which pieces are you gagging over?

Welcome to the Academy

The Academy has released the annual list of new invitations to their hallowed ranks. Now you can blame THESE people next time you don't like a nomination or win! I hope none of these people are reading because I'm going to be divvying them up into the following categories:  

"duh!" an obvious choice that makes sense based on current career or recent nomination.
"starfucking" the public or the industry is hot for them now.... even if they're not exactly "oscar worthy"
"now?" isn't this too early OR too late?
"curious" Perplexing choices. Some of them are wonderful but we still can't figure out why they've been given this great honor... especially if their fame is largely TV based (There's another Academy for that. You may have heard of them since they also give out coveted statues.)
"wtf" we do not approve.

New Actors
Duh!: Vincent Cassel, Jesse Eisenberg, John Hawkes, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Lawrence, Anthony Mackie, Lesley Manville, Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska, Jacki Weaver
Starfucking: Russell Brand, Gerard Butler, Bradley Cooper, Beyonce Knowles
Now?: Rooney Mara, Jennifer Garner, Nastassja Kinski, Tea Leoni, Connie Nielsen, Wes Studi
Curious: Robbie Coltrane, Rosemarie DeWitt, Peter Dinklage, Dominic Monaghan
WTF: John Corbett, David Duchovny...

....John Corbett is obviously qualified to judge the artistry of Tilda Swinton and Daniel Day-Lewis, don't you agree?

New Directors
Duh!: Susanne Bier (In a Better World) and Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) both won Oscars last year and Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) and Debra Granik (Winter's Bone) both directed Best Picture nominees. Cholodenko and Granik were also invited to the writer's branch so they'll be able to nominate in three categories: Picture, Director and Screenplays.

Surprising but welcome choices: Gregg Araki and John Cameron Mitchell

Curious: Yojiro Takita (do they always invite the foreign directors whose films win? He directed Departures) Now?: Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless).
♥: Gregg Araki (Kaboom) and John Cameron Mitchell (Rabbit Hole)

But that's not all...

Click to read more ...

Tom Cruise Has Magic Hair

Today Tom Cruise released the first picture of himself in character as "Stacee Jaxx" for the musical comedy ROCK OF AGES (2012) which is based on this Broadway hit. I'm sure some blogs will say this looks ridiculous but it's supposed to. The show is a broad comedy! The weird part is that his storyline revolves around a journalist trying to expose him. Wasn't that a subplot in Magnolia... or was that just Frank TJ Mackey's paranoia talking? I haven't seen that movie in forever.

In addition to Tom's magic sperm, which seems to unlock greatness in actresses as soon as they reject it, he has always had magic hair. No matter what style it's in for a film, no matter if its buzzcut military or yuppie floppy, or long and lanky, or rock-star wispy it always looks crazy perfect. It always ends up looking like that's the way his hair was always meant to be. Barring Interview With a Vampire but that was a wig. (Oh god please tell me that was a wig. Otherwise even magic has its limits)

Rock of Ages opens in June 2012. And what that boils down to is this: One more year until we get to see Catherine Zeta Jones singing and dancing again. Yes! The cast list also includes Alec Baldwin, Mary J Blige, Julianne Hough, Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand, Bryan Cranston and Malin Akerman.

P.S. this tattoo is made of LOL.  I sincerely hope that the costume designer -- not yet named on IMDb -- is on point for this movie. It could be a joyously funny movie if the details are great.

From the Set to the Runway: Hepburn, Dunaway... Malick?

This week I had the pleasure of attending a lecture at the Morgan Library and Museum. I can't recall the last time I went to a lecture so I felt very Schlegel Sisters from Howard's End (1992). The things people used to do for entertainment!

The lecture was actually more of a threeway discussion. The museum paired influential fashion historian Valerie Steele with famed designer Anna Sui (who turns out to be a movie buff) and Oscar nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman (Coming to America) whose credits include 80s hits like Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Three Amigos! (remember that one?) and even the "Thriller" music video! So herewith the tidbits I felt you'd enjoy most from the event.

Some actresses are not just movie stars, but fashion icons.

Faye Dunaway & Audrey Hepburn
The general gist of the event was in delineating what separates fashion from costume design and how costume design can but doesn't necessarily become fashion. Nadoolman suggests that it's a matter of "transference" and what's required is usually both a popular film and a character within the film that people want to be like in some way. That combination creates icons and icons influence fashion. Whether or not that happens, she argued, has little to do with good costuming which is about creating characters. For instance, Nadoolman said that one could argue that Audrey Hepburn's wardrobe in Breakfast at Tiffany's is actually bad costume design even though they're sensational dresses. What kind of a down and out call girl can afford those looks? Audrey Hepburn's before and after Paris looks in Sabrina were also discussed and it was interesting to hear Nadoolman tsk-tsking over Edith Head's oft misleading but admittedly savvy way with self-promotion. She designed Audrey's poor girl looks but the post Parisian fashions were not hers though of course Head was glad to accept another Oscar on behalf of them.

And yes that recent Black Swan controversy (Rodarte vs. Amy Westcott) was cited when they were discussing this.

Terrence Malick Inspires Fasion. Come again?
Anna Sui told the audience that behind every one of her collections, there is a movie. Sometimes it's not the principle influence but there are always movie images that inspire her. She referenced many films that have directly inspired whole lines including, recently, Goya's Ghost and one that I wasn't familiar with at all called Beau Brummell (1954) -- has anyone seen that?

Days of Heaven inspired an Anna Sui collection

She also talked about Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (1978). Sui is a huge fan of the film but she finds it so tragic that when she was designing a particular collection and using the film as her chief inspiration, she watched it countless times but only with the sound off! She used material like rubberized wheat (?) and overdyed all the textiles to get that ethereal twilight Days of Heaven feel.

The Body. The Torso. The Face.
When asked to address the differences between designing for stage, film and television, Nadoolman explained that it's all a question of scale and volume. In theater you're designing for the body "you're painting with a large brush". In film you're concentrating on the waist up. For television it's all about the close-up.

Interestingly two women in the crowd who designed for theater took umbrage at the notion that they didn't have to worry about the fine detailing since their clothes are seen only from a distance.

Marie Antoinette
The three fashionistas on stage really got into the discussion of Sofia Coppola's misunderstood 2006 film. Nadoolman told a great story about three-time Oscar winning costume designer Milena Canonero calling her in a panic from France...

We're doing Marie Antoinette and Kirsten Dunst has refused to wear wigs. How do you do Marie Antoinette without wigs?!?

Most costume design, Nadoolman stated, is not truly period accurate even if it appears to be. There are usually conscious choices made to change up period fashions, usually to make the characters more beautiful to modern audiences or to please a specific star or because the director is going for a specific mood or palette. Real gowns from Marie Antoinette's day, for example, were made of heavier upholstery-like material but Sofia's instructions to Canonero were that she wanted the actresses to "float" so light tissue tafetta was used. As for the color and the floating effect, her instructions were as follows:

I would like them to be like a plate of meringues."

It worked. Yum yum.