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The headline may be provocative but it's unfortunately (and literally) true. To my great distress veteran director Garry Marshall has decided to throw Michelle Pfeiffer in the garbage in a scene from the all star "comedy" New Year's Eve (2011). Here she is filming in NYC.
Sigh.
Honestly Mr. Marshall, this just seems like asking for trouble. If you make jokes involving movie stars and garbage, aren't you daring the reviews to write themselves? It's not like the star-studded lead-in Valentine's Day (2010) was a critical darling!
And if you're going to cast Michelle Pfeiffer why do you want her drabbed down? I hate it when they make her mousy. She looks better than this just walking around with her husband without a team of makeup artists handy. Mousy Michelle is not what audiences come to see. There better be a makeover moment later in the film.
New Year's Eve, which like its predecessors charts the intertwining lives of several couples and singles throughout a holiday, has a couple dozen stars in it including other big names like Hilary Swank, Julie Andrews, Halle Berry, Sarah Jessica Parker, some TV biggies (Sofia Vergara, Lea Michele) and many more but apparently La Pfeiff is paired with a bike riding Zac Efron somehow (mother/son? fateful strangers?)
I can't decide whether I should be happy to see her onscreen again on December 9th or dread the very likely probability that she is adding another terrible movie to her weirdly haphazard filmography.
Christian Bale and Oscar nominees in superhero films
Statistics about 2nd nominations
When does Amy Adams become "overdue"?
Join in the conversations in the comments. Which young directors will one day be occupying the Aronofsky/Fincher spots of "finally breaking through" with Oscar? Which of this year's newbies will come back for second nominations?
In his ongoing hipster efforts to become the gayest straight man of all time, or maybe just the most storied and/or most interesting celebrity of the new millenium, James Franco recently joined forces with his Milk (2008) auteur Gus Van Sant for another look at the gay hustler drama My Own Private Idaho (1991) starring Keanu Reeves and the late great River Phoenix. They've collaborated on a two film exhibit for the Gagosian called "Unfinished". It opens this saturday so that Franco may completely own the weekend. He's hosting the Oscars on Sunday.
The films are called Endless Idaho, which is 12 hours long featuring unused footage from the film shoot as well as footage shot years before that Van Sant showed Franco during the Milk period, and My Own Private River, which is described like so.
My Own Private River consists largely of shots of Phoenix 's character, Mike, woven into a compelling portrait. Franco describes being mesmerized by Phoenix 's "uninhibited acting" in this unreleased footage, and his edit captures the gifted actor at his most emotionally expressive and physically dynamic. The score is by Michael Stipe, who is an art school drop-out.
If I were in Beverly Hills, I'd gladly take this in. River Phoenix's "Mike" is one of the best performances of the Nineties if you ask me, and he was criminally denied an Oscar nomination (the film was completely snubbed though River did win the Independent Spirit Award). I still vividly remember receiving the news of his death, a shock so sudden and dispiriting for the cinema that I have (gratefully) only ever experienced it's like one other time (Heath Ledger).
Too funny not to share, though I was suspicious at first. Hilarious, really, all told. The video pokes good fun at Black Swan, The Social Network and Christopher Nolan's Inception in particular and has the smarts to end before the 3½ minute mark. [Thanks to Jorge for the tip]
My New Plaid Pants reminds us that Michael Fassbender and Steve McQueen are reuniting (YES) post Hunger for a movie called Shame, which is not a remake of the Ingmar Bergman flick but a contemporary drama about sex addiction. Carey Mulligan, who looks nothing like Fassy, is playing his sister. Filming now!
It just occurred to me that I've been calling The King's Speech"Royalty Porn" for months now. It has a whole new meaning now.
In Contention does some investigative journalism about that gay porn / King's Speech controversy we were just discussing last night. As for Guy's note that the porn was shot before production on The King's Speech began I have no idea what to think. I can only assume that the wall treatments discussed in the film experience interview were done to emphasize preexisting conditions -- Stewart didn't claim she made up the look, only that she was recreating it and layering it (perhaps to make it read better on film?). Not to get all serious about a very funny news story, but I do hope this doesn't overshadow Stewart's accomplishments. I mean, Christ, Topsy-Turvy. You know?
Less smutty links! The Movies Were Wrong About Everything TRILOGY METER. In Contention Kris Tapley's annual good (cinematography) read: top ten shots of the year. Love the inclusion of a sweet moment from Cairo Time as it's quite unexpected. The House Next Door on writer/director/actor/wunderkind Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats, I Killed My Mother) i09 interesting interview with Andrew Chambliss, a sci-fi television writer on what that particular grind is like. The Wrap Costume Design Guild winners: The King's Speech (period), Black Swan (contemporary) and Alice in Wonderland (fantasy) The AV Club ponders the age-old question: Can Natalie Portman act? I wish Nick's piece on Portman were done to be in conversation with this one. OMGBLOG Natalie Portman cries a lot, a supercut.
Here's the latest Oscar Host in Training Videos. These are SO fun. This one features Anne Hathaway vs. the teleprompter.
Finally, EW releases a "25 Greatest Working Directors" list. To save you all the trouble of viewing 25 pages. The list goes like so:
David Fincher
Christopher Nolan
Steven Spielberg
Martin Scorsese
Darren Aronofsky
Joel & Ethan Coen
Quentin Tarantino
Terrence Malick
Clint Eastwood
Pedro Almodóvar
Paul Thomas Anderson
Guillermo Del Toro
Roman Polanski
Danny Boyle
Kathryn Bigelow
David O. Russell
David Lynch
James Cameron
Peter Jackson
Edgar Wright
Spike Lee
J.J. Abrams
Brad Bird
Mike Leigh
Wes Anderson
It's a curious lineup for sure. And it's absolutely bizarre to see Almodóvar below 9 other people but whatevs. He makes films that require US list-makers to read (GASP). Most of the obvious casualties (Weerathesakul, Haneke, Assayas, Audiard, Desplechin, Denis, etcetera) are wildly acclaimed filmmakers working outside the English language so it's kind of a miracle to see Pedro up so high even though he should be higher. Despite its curious choices, it's also just as expected since you can always tell when a list was made based on what's on it. And you can tell that this list was made within the past 5 or so months since 4 of the 5 current Best Director nominees and heat from the Oscars last year is also accounted for. I'm still chuckling about everyone suddenly claiming they've been a fan all along of Kathryn Bigelow last year. (I have been which is why I know people are lying through their teeth about their devotion! It was a lonely fandom.)
P.S. [UPDATED] Speaking of Almodovar though... People are getting excited for this new reportedly horrific film The Skin That I Inhabit which released this curiousity-inducing original teaser poster to the left and now this fan art has popped up which I'm sure it well intentioned (as fan art always is) but it makes the movie look a bit like a Saw knockoff.
And if there's one thing one could never say about Almodóvar, it's that he's not imitative. People steal from him. Not the other way around ;) [Thanks to Iggy for sharing the link]
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 11:30AM 
