Critics Choice Awards Live Blog

8:01 Auspicious Beginnings - the sound is already out of sync on the intro!
8:02 Fixed. But Ooh the reaction shots are already rough. Anne Hathaway and Sally Field don't look so happy to be there. Jessica Chastain isn't even faking it well and she usually looks so cheerful. Or maybe I'm projecting since I'm bone tired from the Oscar Nom run up and early morning.
8:04 Sam Rubin, critic, is drooling on the IMPORTANT. FAMOUS. PEOPLE. 

8:05 For some reason Henry Cavill are presenting the first award. Because when you think of Superman you always think... Best Ensemble? 

Ensemble: Silver Linings Playbook
Young Actor/Actress: Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild (who reads her speech from an iPhone which is adorable)

8:18 Some awkward banter for Famke Jannsen where she's not supposed to know what famous action movie quotes are like "I'll be back". Um.... banter isn't supposed to make the star look bad. Do you think she's annoyed that she was a Bond girl before the currrent Bond hoopla? 

Jennifer, Jessica, Rebel and more after the jump

Click to read more ...

The Edge of Linky

Geekologie What if Disney villains had won? Fun illustrations of our favorites including Ursula & Maleficent 
Pajiba reads my mind on the Olivia Newton-John / John Travolta Christmas Album !!! Well they read my mind except the part where the article is all obsessed about John Travolta's fake hair instead of Sandy & Danny reunited again! 
Film Dr 10 Notes on Looper and the reciprocal nature of violence
Fleshbot *NSFW* Daniel Radcliffe gets naked for The F Word and Kill Your Darlings. After this and Equus... maybe he's telling us he's a naturist? 

Gawker Liam Neeson does his naked part for charity on "Ellen"
Badass Digest interesting piece on the splintering of pop culture. Film may no longer rule, but neither does anything else.
Playbill Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day, the musically inclined feature that starred Frances McDormand, Amy Adams and Lee Pace may be headed for the Broadway musical stage 
In Contention Beasts of the Southern Wild won't be honored at the SAG Awards who have ruled it ineligible. This could put a dent in Quvenzhané Wallis Best Actress hopes if you ask me since SAG has historically liked little girl performances even more than Oscar.

Team Experience
Pop Elegantarium Alexa loves Looper and Looper paintings by the director's brother
Stale Popcorn Glenn kicks off a miniseries 31 Horrors with Cat People (1982)
MNPP JA loves Barry Levinson's The Bay 
Serious Film Michael survives ocean storms with The Life of Pi 

Exit Music
The hilarious Rebel Wilson sang from her "breast voice" for her Pitch Perfect audition

At the Linkies

Devine Wrath fills out our summer report card with love for Brave and Cosmopolis among others
The Many Rantings of John also shares his summer movie crushes: Charlize's eyes, Jeremy's arms, Channing's everything...
Boy Culture Madonna endorses Obama, wears her politics on her sleeve back
PopWatch a Sex & The City for gays* called Hunting Season. *As if the original wasn't?
Cinema Blend Katey's Operation Kino podcast takes on Bachelorette. They all hated it but the discussion is interesting... the way they're forced to really grapple with their negative feelings.

Movie|Line thinks Rebel Wilson (Bachelorette, Pitch Perfect) is the most interesting person in Hollywood right now
Pajiba "the first five people I'd audition for a film about Amy Poehler & Will Arnett's marriage"
Hollywood Elsewhere Joe Wright calls Anna Karenina "a ballet with words" and claims influence from the great filmmaking team of Powell & Pressburger (The Red Shoes / Black Narcissus)
Playbill interviews Sutton Foster post Bunheads (the show has been renewed. yay!)
Awards Daily a documentary on the life of Roger Ebert by the director of his beloved Hoop Dreams. It could happen!
The Hairpin remembers Montgomery Clift's long suicide and major stardom

And finally here's the poster for David O. Russell's latest comedy (?) Silver Linings Playbook about two crazies in love.

The film is in black and white but Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence's antidepressants have been cut with melange*.

*not really

My Perfect Trio at the "Bachelorette" Premiere

[Editor's note: Please welcome our special guest star writer/director Leslye Headland, exclusive from her press tour for Bachelorette! -Nathaniel]

Hello blogosphere!

I've been in Los Angeles the past few days for press and the premiere of my film, Bachelorette. However, I have to say the highlight of this week is a guest spot on The Film Experience. I used to be an assistant and every day I would read this blog. And every day it would make me feel like life was worth living and that film was the primary reason to keep going. So thank you to Nathaniel for asking me to contribute but ultimately thank you for running this site and bringing joy to little cinephiles everywhere.

Me kissing Rebel's ring. As I should.

In the comments, someone asked if the three leading actresses in my film Bachelorette (Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, and Isla Fisher) were my first choice for those roles.

I don't write with specific actors in mind. I also LOATHE auditions. Whether it be for a play or a film, a lead role or a small one-line character. I just don't like them. When I work with my theater company in Los Angeles, I usually just meet with someone whose work I love, who I think might work in the role, then we have dinner or coffee and discuss the character and the script. Then I usually go back and tailor the roles for their specific strengths and incorporate any changes that came out of our discussions.  

I cast the film the same way. All three of them contacted me either because they saw the play or because they'd read the script. We talked. We fell in love. We moved forward. All three of those girls are actresses I admire. Women I've watched from afar (as a rabid fan) over the last ten years. So yes. They were my first and only choices because I was lucky enough to get in a room with them and talk them into doing it. 

Lizzy, Kirsten and Isla at the LA premiere

All three of them contacted me either because they saw the play or because they'd read the script. We talked. We fell in love. We moved forward.

I can't imagine a more perfect trio. They are not only hard workers and hysterically funny but they are also, in my humble opinion, three of the most brilliant (and occasionally grossly underrated) actresses of our generation. I am eternally grateful to have met and worked with them.

-Leslye Headland

More from Leslye
Formative Movies from Childhood On...   
Working with Lizzy and Adam on a Pivotal Scene