Chloe Moretz For "Suspiria"

Chris here with some casting news for one we're keeping an eye on: Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake.

Chlöe Grace Moretz has signed on to Guadagnino's passion project retelling, one that has been long in the making with directors (Darren Aronofsky and David Gordon Green) and stars (Isabelle Huppert) dropping off. The casting is curious considering that Moretz had quite recently dropped out of all upcoming projects to refocus her career. I guess that's a quick turnaround!

Horror redos haven't been the actress's sweet spot, with Carrie and Let Me In both being big misses (though consider me a fan of the latter) that didn't use her particularly well. This remake will also come with a higher pedigree than those previous efforts and she might welcome the challenge that will likely come with the ballet-focused film. But maybe the Guadagnino pairing foretells Moretz repositioning her career through the hands of autuers - don't forget that Olivier Assayas was maybe the first to "get" her in Clouds of Sils Maria.

Moretz joins a cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, and Mia Goth. What do you think of the casting?

Luca Guadagnino's 'Splash'-y Return

After debuting at last fall's Venice Film Festival, Luca Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash finally arrived stateside. It's another entry in the growing mass of festival titles taking their time to make their way to the US, with last year's Cannes Palme d'Or winner Dheepan oh so quietly opening next week as well.

A few extra months' wait for Splash is an acceptable compromise consider the six years wait fans of Guadagnino's 2009 slice of divinity I Am Love have had to endure. This time, Guadagnino looks to trade in Love's breathless romanticism for a feverish chic, but upping the ante of the former film's sexual intrigue. It would be some kind of crime against the audience to have a cast like Tilda Swinton (Guadagnino's returning muse), Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Dakota Johnson and not get a little randy.

But wouldn't you be willing to wait for summer to get a dancing (and birthday-suited) Ralph Fiennes by the pool?

Luckily, the wait won't be so long for the director's next lush piece of cinema: he announced this week that his long-gestating remake of Dario Argento's Suspiria will shoot this fall. The remake has had a long haul in its own right, with rumored directors like Darren Aronofsky and David Gordon Green. Luca Guadagnino is an exciting fit for the project, the visual opera he crafted with Love a perfect fit for the giallo nightmare of Argento's original. The director has already lined up his Splash cast to return, so we can expect something special without becoming impatient.

What are your thoughts on Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria?

Crazy/Possessed Ballerinas. Are There Any Other Kinds?

In preparation for our two part Horror Best Listing (pre-Exorcist and post-Exorcist which arrives tonight) I caught up with a few classic titles. One of them, briefly discussed on the latest podcast, was Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977). I can't say I took to it exactly, despite being partial to films which boozily strip naked and beg their Production Designer & Cinematographer to f*** them.

slumber parties in horror movies? never a good idea

Suspiria (have you seen it?) starts sort of well, flying right into an unnatural rainstorm with a weirdly off kilter urgency as ballerina Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) arrives in Germany to attend an prestigious ballet academy. But those first two kills are so yuck making the intro a mixed bag for me. For its middle section, which I assume is where the film's classic status derives, the movie does little cul-de-sacs in creepy/garish atmospherics punctuated by two perversely inventive murders. But then, oops, time is up. For its last trick, Suspiria speeds through a dud finale with mood-killing exposition (how was Udo Kier ever this young!?) and badly dated visual effects. By the time the credits appear, it's lost pretty much all of its intermittent unnerving power. For me at least; I understand others really do dig it.

After Suspiria ended, my mind wandered to a more general cinematic question: Are there any silver screen ballerinas that are happy?

See, it seems like screen ballerinas are always batshit crazy whether they're...

Suspiria

...possessed by the occult

The Red Shoes

...dancing feverishly as if possessed by toe shoes

Black Swan

...having psychotic feathered breaks

The Turning Point

...or engaging in neurotic Oscarbait-offs. 

Can you think of any well adjusted ballerinas in fiction?
And if you can't whose your favorite nutjob ballerina?

Link to the Rescue

First Showing Django Unchained banner on the Croisette in Cannes
Inlander Don Draper isn't Mad Men's main character any more
Filmofilia a full slate for Amy Adams through 2014 at least. Add thriller Dark Places (based on the novel of the same name) to the long list
Cinema Blend Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel gets the Contagion screenwriter Scott Z Burns 

 MZ Yikes. Actor Nick Stahl of Bully, Terminator 3 and Carnivàle fame has been reporting missing since May 9th
Heat Vision Robert Downey Jr's The Avengers payday could reach $50 million. The other actors aren't so lucky
Gold Derby Downton Abbey will be competing in Best Series (where it belongs) for Emmy nods... finally giving up on considering itself a miniseries, bless.
Pajiba "Identifying the Moment in Natalie Portman's Career Timeline In Which It Was OK To Admit a Crush"
Screen Daily Keira Knightley replacing ScarJo in Can a Song Save Your Life 

Indiewire Awesome news for fans of the gay romantic drama Weekend (2011). Criterion will handle the DVD.
Michael Musto interviews Andy Dick, now sober but just as candid.
Coming Soon Orphan star and now Hunger Games victim Isabelle Fuhrman will star in the remake of Suspiria
The Film Stage Terrence Malick's latest, a romantic drama starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, and Rachel McAdams (at least according to which characters feature in the synopsis) finally gets a title... To the Wonder.  

Not Your Usual Superhero Articles
Filmwell "thou shalt have no other god but Captain America's" on references to the divine in The Avengers
GeekWatch adorable story of a five year old boy meeting Captain America and Loki on the set of The Avengers