On the Set with Nicole and Naomi

Murtada with a bit of news about BFFs Nic and Naomi.

Remember when Nicole Kidman worked with John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) in Rabbit Hole (2010)? Of course you do. It was the last time she put her considerable talent in a movie that completely worked. Yes Oscar noticed but more importantly she won the Film Bitch best actress award.

They're working together again right now. The movie is called How to Talk to Girls at Parties and is about an alien who visits Earth, landing in the London suburb of Croydon during 1970s punk era. And what has excited us most about this picture of Kidman is the costume, of course. Nicole looks like a character from Velvet Goldmine! It's not a coincidence. The costumes are by Haynes favorite Sandy Powell and this marks the first time ever she’s designed for Kidman. Can you believe it?

Also starring are Elle Fanning - obviously an actressexual since she’s just finished working with The Bening - Ruth Wilson, the wonderful Joanna Scanlan and last year Tony’s winner for best actor Alex Sharp in the lead role.

Meanwhile Nicole’s best friend is working with her baby daddy (her term not ours, we assume jokingly) Liev Schreiber on his passion project The Bleeder. This is a biopic of boxer Chuck Wepner who is the real life  inspiration behind Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. Apparently Schreiber has been trying to get this story to the screen for years, so naturally he enlisted his Oscar nominated partner. 

Watts is playing Wepner’s wife, Linda. Let’s hope it is more than the usual stock female part in sports movies. The director is Philippe Falaradeau (Monsieur Lazhar, The Big Lie) and the cast includes Elisabeth Moss and Ron Perlman. Schreiber has been hiding his hair in recent public appearances --- we suspect an altered hairline. Just google Chuck Wepner and you’ll know why.

Don't you wish Watts & Kidman were working together?  Let's fantasy cast them in the comments!

TIFF: Jake Gyllenhaal in "Demolition"

This review originally appeared in abridged version in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad

All throughout Demolition, which opened the 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival which closes this coming Sunday, new widower Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal) is putting the title into action. His wife has just died, he is convinced he feels nothing about it, and he begins to tear things down and scatter their parts about. The general idea is ‘take something apart to see how it all fits together’ but he doesn’t bother with the fitting back together part.

He’s also demolitioning his own life, of course, in the process. This peculiar destructive streak starts out small with his morning routine. At first, in montage, this includes lots of preening and shaving (including his chest. *sniffle*) to turn him into a smooth starched and well dressed executive but it’s quickly abandoned. Cue: sexy scruff and increasingly erratic behavior. (Unfortunately we are not shown the return of the chest hair. Stingy move, movie!)

Everything has become a metaphor…”

…Davis intones in the middle of the picture to his confused and impatient boss and father-in-law (Chris Cooper), as an attempt to explain his new and frankly worrisome headspace. But he’s right. Everything is a metaphor in Demolition and thus, apart from Gyllenhaal’s work, the movie sparked polarized reactions. More...

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TIFF's Red Carpet, Much Improved

Jose here, with a new life mission: make someone as happy as Kate Winslet looked at the premiere of The Dressmaker.

 The Oscar winner was the epitome of radiance as she walked the red carpet in a stunning Badgley Mischka design. Official reports say she was blowing kisses to the crowd, signing autographs and putting on her best face for her fans, however I choose to believe she was smiling because she saw how improved the looks were at the festival by the time she arrived. See the looks after the jump. 

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Remember When... (via Australia)

...Heath Ledger (sniffle) and Naomi Watts were a thing? 

at the premiere of The Ring (2002)

Aussie movie stars really have been ubiquitous for a long time. Though there were important actors before our contemporary time that hailed from the land down under (Erroll Flynn, Judith Anderson, Coral Browne to name a few), the Australian takeover really began in the mid-80s when, in the space of just a few years (1983-1986), Mel Gibson ascended, Bryan Brown had a mega TV hit, Judy Davis snagged a surprise Oscar nomination and Paul Hogan wrote and starred in his own blockbuster. Australian actors have only become more ubiquitous since with more of them coming to prominence each decade.

*Oscar nominated (or winner)

1980s: Mel Gibson*, Paul Hogan*, Judy Davis*, Bryan Brown
1990s: Nicole Kidman*, Toni Collette*, Russell Crowe*, Rachel Griffiths*, Geoffrey Rush*, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Anthony LaPaglia
2000s: Cate Blanchett*, Hugh Jackman*, Naomi Watts*, Heath Ledger*, Eric Bana, Abbie Cornish, Ryan Kwanten, Isla Fisher, Simon Baker
2010s: Jacki Weaver*, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Rose Byrne, Jason Clarke, Chris Hemsworth, Joel Edgerton, Sam Worthington, Ben Mendelsohn, Mia Wasikowska, Liam Hemsworth. If you include New Zealanders in the mix (Lynskey, Neill, Paquin, Lawless, Urban) it's even more crowded! 

Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson on the set of The Year of Living Dangerously -released in 1983, the year the Aussie invasion truly began

Who is next? Besides Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby) and Sarah Snook (The Dressmaker)... anyone have any suspicions about the next wave?

Red Carpet: Cannes Begins!

A New Season of "Red Carpet Lineup" Begins...

NATHANIEL: Bonjour Jose. You're back on red carpet duty by popular request. I dared to post about the Met Gala without a conversation to go with it and I heard it from the readers.

JOSE: I'm moved but if they saw what I'm wearing now they wouldn't ask for me.

NATHANIEL: Always blame it on Laundry Day.

Before we begin proper can I just say that one thing I find exceptionally annoying about Cannes is when stars don't pose alone but only with groups. This seems to happen most with the Jury who are joined at the hip like they will be judged as a team in this maxi-challenge. And tonight Deneuve, the great lady of French cinema, stuck with her director Emmanuelle Bercot (whose opening night film Standing Tall has received warm notices) and the cast despite a rather becoming two-looks-in-one dress.

JOSE: She wants others to bask in her light, maybe? I do love her double gown. Two Face in a couture Batman

NATHANIEL: Opening Night always brings out the A listers so we have some of Oscar's favorite gown-wearers to discuss after the jump Natalie, Naomi, Lupita, and Our Juli...

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