Looking & Linking

IndieWire wonders if VOD is the future of independent film
The Atlantic Wire Joe Reid looks back on the career of Holly Hunter
Twitter yes, it's true. Stevie Nicks, the white witch herself, to guest star on American Horror Story: Coven -- and yes, I'm aware I'm like forever behind in writing about that show which I'm loving. We'll try and catch up this week
Film Comment looks back on its 50 year history
Total Film Michael Fassbender believes that Prometheus 2 is still going to happen. I'd totally go. Loved his David8
The Playlist the first image from Dark Places starring Charlize Theron 
Express Jennifer Lawrence may have lost her Oscar. (Opportunity! Let's retcon that shit and give it to Riva)
Towleroad lesbians reacting to the sex scenes in Blue is the Warmest Color 

randomness
Gizmodo Photos of malls of the '80s. The memories! 
Time Out interviews peerless stage star Mark Rylance 

Today's Watch(es)
The extremely brief/insubstantial teaser for HBO's Looking starring Jonathan Groff. 

I'm terrified of this show as someone who was deeply embarassed by Queer as Folk which is basically it's only precedent, right? But the director of Weekend has to count for something so I'm also hopeful. In addition to Groff the cast includes other (lesser-known) lookers like Rául Castillo, Tanner Cohen (Were the World Mine), O.T. Fagbenie, Justin Chao, and in at least one episode that adorably worried werewolf from Being Human.

And here's a Young Hollywood panel featuring Michael B Jordan, Miles Teller, Dane DeHaan, Greta Gerwig and Brie Larson (aka the ones who'll be dominating our movies for years to come)  at the AFI Fest talking about celebrity and social media...

Teller making fun of Jordan's selfies is priceless and Greta Gerwig's fan crush on Jessica Chastain? Adorbs. 

Faulty "Wedding Bells" Gossip

Are you enjoying Natalie Wood Week here at the blog?

Celebrity gossip magazines are not as psychic as they'd like to be...

They were wayyyy off on their suggestive headline here. It would take Warren Beatty another 31 years and at least 300 more women to settle down. And despite the rude headline, Beatty had nothing that Robert Wagner didn't have when it came to Natalie's heart... at least not permanently.

Though it's true he did take over in the year of Natalie's superstar ascendance. RJ and Natalie had separated in 1961 (the year Splendor & The Grass and West Side Story both hit) but they didn't divorce till the same month as the Oscars in 1962 when this was going on...

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Link Breakers

Port Magazine's film issue is guest curated by Daniel Day-Lewis and features Brendan Gleeson & Paul Thomas Anderson
AV Club every stammer in every Woody Allen movie. A 44 minute (!) supercut. Good lord. 
Anderson Live even though I think it's kind of dangerous to let Anderson Cooper get any yummier, he has. Look, it's Anderson Coopcakes! 

Blackbook what do you make of the new tv spots for The Great Gatsby. (I'm trying not to react as it's my favorite book of all time and I can't see it working as a film. Unless it's just completely it's own thing and borrowing the glory of the title.) 
Paul Reese thinks Spring Breakers might be the best American film since Mulholland Dr

just for lolz
BuzzFeed 12 unanswered crazy-making questions about Disney's Beauty & The Beast
Spiral 16 scientific data confirms that "We Built This City" is the worstest song ever recorded.

Curio: Frank Langella at 75

Alexa here. I just couldn't let the day pass without paying tribute to Frank Langella on his 75th birthday. He has always been one of my favorite actors; something about his unctuous classicism makes him appear to be a larger-than-life Caravaggio, and my gothic sensibilities have only truly been satisfied with his turn as Dracula. His work continues to intrigue; 2007's Starting Out in the Evening was a recent high point in a career that has spanned more than 50 years. Plus, he revealed himself to be quite the debauched dandy in his memoir Dropped Names, making him all the more endearing (read what Nathaniel had to say about it here; it really is a fun read). 

I'm enough of a fan that I invested in an Edward Gorey-illustrated poster from his Broadway turn in Dracula, and I still hold on to my VHS copies of two of his early films... [more]

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Nicole as Grace on Paris Match

I haven't mentioned Nicole Kidman in forever! (heh) The goddess has been busy. In addition to awards press for The Paperboy, she's been been filming Grace of Monaco and now she's covering Paris Match.

I tend to like Nicole's riskier messy projects more than her prestige polished ones. Give me a Dogville or a The Paperboy any day over a Cold Mountain or a Human Stain (anyone remember that one?). So I'm not looking forward to Grace of Monaco or The Railway Man, her 2013 films, in quite the way I usually look forward to her projects but I'll definitely see them for her. Stoker on the other hand...

I'm not sure that cover does Nicole any favors but I've been steeling myself for the inevitable "she's too old to play Grace Kelly" criticisms to come, which will conveniently forget that Grace Kelly lived to be 52 and that we only think of her as a startling young beauty because she was frozen in the public imagination for work she did in her early 20s (High Noon, Dial M For Murder, The Country Girl and Rear Window). 

Grace Kelly in 1961 when she was 32

The film takes place in the early 60s when Grace was in her 30s. I'm not sure where I was going with this so I'll quit now.