Miles Teller?

I don't know quite what to make of the controversy over Miles Teller's Esquire interview other than to say "congratulations, Esquire for getting people talking."

Love the snarky tagline on the cover...

Newman? Brando? Mitchum? Nah, It's Miles Teller

Mr Teller thinks the profile is misrepresenting and his famous friends are mad about it. And yet it feels accurate based on past public douchiness. Defensive fans think the author Anne Peele is the dickish one. And, well, it does feel accurate that she went into this an angle. On the other hand maybe she came up with that angle after being presented with the evidence? Celebrity profiles aren't easy to write. I've had to rescue two interview / profiles in the past where the celebrity was not making it easy to make them look good (no I'm not sharing the names) and I'm proud of the way both pieces turned out but it might have been easier to go with a " ____ is kind of a jerk" angle.

Still, I don't think this is as damning as others do and it's a good juicy read (especially the part about getting dumped from Damien Chazelle's Whiplash follow up La La Land). And I don't think it's helping Miles to be upset about it. Stars rarely come off well when bitching about how the press presents them (think Russell Crowe / Christian Bale). A lot of male stars are, in fact, rewarded for cocky arrogance and bro personas. He's hardly an original in this regard so this won't turn people off of his talent.

So... POP QUIZ POLL

Miles Teller is...

a dick...

dickish... but gimme

a "great guy". this is misrepresenting!

great in Rabbit Hole / Whiplash. Who cares what he's like off screen

... WHO?

Poll Maker

Tim's Toons: The wonderful world of Aardman Animations

Tim here. This week sees the release in the US of Shaun the Sheep Movie, a film whose nightmarishly anti-grammatical title hides the sweetest soul of any family movie of 2015. And this is no less than we'd expect, given that it is the newest film from the ever-reliable Aardman Animations of Bristol, England.

We're going to be taking a look at Aardman's first feature, 2000's Chicken Run, as next week's subject in Hit Me with Your Best Shot, but that's just a tiny slice of the studio's generally terrific output. If you'll permit me to go full fanboy - for y'see, people who love Aardman really love Aardman at an almost primal level - I'd like to sing the praises of the studio's other full-length films. Most of them, at least. Even fanboyism has its limits.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Undoubtedly the most familiar title on this list, having won the 2005 Best Animated Feature Oscar, among other accolades. And because Wallace and Gromit themselves have become such iconic characters, arguably the most successful stars of a short cartoon series since the 1950s. [More...]

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Ingrid Bergman Centennial: The Film That Brought Her to Hollywood

August 29th marks the Centennial of Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), one of the greatest of all movie stars with a career that stretched from the early 30s through the late 70s, encompassing multiple classics, multiple countries, and multiple Oscars. We'll be proceeding mostly in chronological order. Here's Abstew to kick things off with "Intermezzo" - Editor

Had it not been for a Swedish elevator operator working in the building that housed the New York offices of Selznick International Pictures, the world might never have discovered the young actress that would become the Hollywood legend Ingrid Bergman. It was 1936, and the soon-to-be star had just appeared in a Swedish film named Intermezzo about a famous concert violinist (played by Sweden's first stage star Gösta Ekman) that leaves his wife and family and has an affair with his much younger accompanist. There was clearly something special about the actress playing the love interest. The elevator operator wasn't the only one to see it, but he happened to have the ear of Hollywood producer David O. Selznick's talent scout Kay Brown (since she rode in his elevator everyday), telling her to seek out the film and to pay special attention to the girl in the picture. And in the early part of 1939, Brown flew to Stockholm and persuaded the young actress from Intermezzo to come to America and star in the Hollywood remake. Thus launched the international career of Ingrid Bergman and, as they say in the pictures, a star was born.

But her path to stardom in Hollywood wasn't without its hurdles...

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Say What? By The Sea

Amuse us. Add caption or dialogue to this image from the set of Angelina Jolie's By The Sea...

P.S. The film is due November 13th. People magazine reveals that it's actually about three couples, not just Brad & Angie. Now we're totally curious about the other two couples! French hotties Mélanie Laurent and Melvil Poupaud are also in the movie so that bodes well.

P.P.S. Here's the teaser... I hate it so much when actresses change their last names after a marriage! Argh

Linkovers

must read
"Want to work in Hollywood? Only straight, white men need apply?" this new study from USC is getting a lot of attention and it is pretty damning evidence all told. (How did diversity issues get so much worse instead of better? - It boggles the mind.) That study is just for films but TV is doing a lot better. On that note it looks like we lost Lee Daniels to TV for good  (*sniffle... no more Paperboy or Precious). In addition to "Empire" Season 2 he's developing a girl-band series called "Star". NYT also looked at the diversity gap on the bigscreen from that study and Dana Delany tweeted in response underlining why she doesn't do film anymore.

The migration of actors (particularly female) and creatives to television has been well documented. I can only blame moviegoers at this point. They just only seem willing to look at "adult" and female stuff on television and save their ticket dollars for fx films 

links
Variety Todd Haynes to get a tribute at this year's Gotham Awards
Empire remember when Lasse Hallström was a big deal? His breakthrough was My Life as a Dog (not a literal title) and now he'll be directing a movie called A Dog's Purpose which is actually about a dog, a reincarnated dog who helps various owners in his lives
imgur a native of Florida photographs Edward Scissorhands locations 25 years later. The foilage sure grew and the colors sure are drabber now
Interview republishes an archival interview with Warren Beatty from 1972 as we await anything on his long-gestating Howard Hughes biopic
MSZ "Unloved" series looks at Peyton Reed's Down With Love and The Break-Up
Filmmaker Magazine talks to Randal Kleiser about Summer Lovers, an 80s guilty pleasure starring Daryl Hannah and Peter Gallagher.
Indie Outlook compares American Sniper and Selma to find the structure of "Oscar Bait". It's interesting but I wholly disagree on the notion that Selma's focus on the mechanicas of civil disobedience makes it dry and unsatisfying. I think that's exactly what makes it so good and so much more worthwhile than a simple "great man" biopic would have been. Love that movie.
This Is Not Porn Jessica Lange on the set of King Kong (1976). Hee 

spandex city
CW Seed This is actually cool. CW, which had a major hit with their fun and well-crafted Flash series is now streaming the original Flash television series from 1990 -  I had forgotten that existed even!
Comic Alliance "why I'm boycotting Marvel Comics" more on Marvel's very real diversity problem 
Htxt.Africa talks Star Wars and The Jungle Book from a Disney Africa presentation. Also says Doctor Strange looks "horror-movie-dark" 

for London readers
Facebook  Desperately Seeking Susan is getting a 30th anniversary screening at the Prince Charles Cinema 

the Leftovers

Oooh, here's the Season 2 trailer to HBO's "The Leftovers" which had so many good parts for ladies last season. This new season shakes things up a lot so we don't know quite what to expect. 

free the bacon
Kevin Bacon demands more male nudity in Hollywood

The Woman from U.N.C.L.E.

Murtada here to praise the images released so far from next weekend's wide release The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer are lookers and judging from the trailer seem to be having fun. It’s Alicia Vikander’s big year and of course she’ll be entertaining. However the most exciting proposition the marketing has offered so far is Elizabeth Debicki as the villain. And her gorgeous costumes.

Debicki is the big baddie of the movie. Her name is Victoria Vinciguerra, the mastermind behind the criminal organization that our spies must stop before she throws the world into calamity. [More...]

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