Gawker "Magneto to Marry Professor X" the headline is actually true! Sir Ian McKellen is the best. Slate an excellent piece on American cinema's love affair with serial killers and violence with Terrence Malick's Badlands as centerpiece Playbill I bet you thought you were done hearing about "Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark"'s production trouble. Ha! The trial which pits director Julie Taymor against the producers starts this May.
i09 on why condensing those sprawling Game of Thrones books is a very good move for HBO. The show won't be running forever. Salon interviews Lily Tomlin, a lifelong feminist who sends up feminism in Admission as Tina Fey's mom Awards Daily breathless online reactions to an August: Osage County screening. ScriptNotes Screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin discuss the Veronica Mars kickstarter on this podcast - two different opposing takes. My New Plaid Pants on Xavier Dolan and his influences including Julianne Moore and Michelle Pfeiffer scenes. No wonder I love Xavier Dolan! The Film Doctor 8 notes on Oz: The Great and Powerful
enter Playbill Hugh Jackman attached to the adaptation of the novel Six Years. I can't wait to see how he follows up Les Miz and whether he's hungry for future Oscar play. Guardian Keira Knightley to play Coco Chanel in a short film
Laura Dern's schedule just freed up. Where are you David Lynch?!?
exit Deadline Lynne Ramsay a no show for Jane Got a Gun on the first day of shooting. What's going on there? I feel like we're only get 1/100th of the story in these reports. Cinema Blend Christina Ricci leaves Girlfriend in a Coma pilot. She was to be the girlfriend, the one in the coma. TVLineEnlightened has been cancelled. Sad day for Laura Dern fans
Incredible Suit is on the Goswatch to detail four upcoming chances for Ryan Gosling to continue his awesomeness into 2013. Collider Great news for Viola Davis fans - a second lead role cometh. (Of course she had to make it happen herself.) She'll produce and star in a biopic about the first African American elected to the Texas senate. It's based on the Mary Beth Rogers book Barbara Jordan: An American Hero.
Vanity Fair has a gallery of backstage photos of film/theaters stars in their dressing rooms by Simon Annand including beautiful shots of Rachel Weisz, Tom Hardy, Daniel Craig and Cate Blanchett. Flavorwire 40 of the best lines from Mad Men's Don Draper (Jon Hamm) or his writing team, rather. Someone make this into a super cut please. One my my all time favorites is:
You don’t cover for me. You manage people’s expectations."
In Contention on the ongoing success and controverseries surrounding Asghar Farhadi's amazing Oscar winner A Separation. Kenneth in the (212) thinks Rosie's interview show on Oprah's new network is great. Apparently she and Sandra Bernhard talked King of Comedy quite a bit. Ugh, love that movie. (Damnit does this mean I have to DVR another show?) Boston Review a former president of the American Psychiatric Association reviews A Dangerous Method. Interesting review and it takes time to detour into the theatrical production of "The Talking Cure" (the play that preceded the movie) wherein Ralph Fiennes starred in what became the Michael Fassbender role. ioncinema oooh, the first photos I've seen from Laurence Anyways the new Xavier Dolan picture. This one stars the wonderful Melvil Poupaud as a man who decides he wants to be a woman.
Today's Must Read Moviefone's Mike Ryan calls a "John Carter" in 50 states to see if they're seeing John Carter this weekend. Insane, funny, awesome.
My apologies straightaway that this week's Q & A is so late. A particularly nasty bout of insomnia derailed me for over a day. I was without rail. Back on track now and the time has come to answer your questions, 10 of them at any rate.
BBats: What young director (3 or less films) are you most excited about seeing over the next decade? Nathaniel: This is a great question but difficult because then you have to really stop and think about who made which pictures when and you have to set aside people you've been rooting for forever that will seemingly be 70 before they birth a third feature (I'm talking to you Jonathan Glazer and Kimberly Peirce). It'd be weird to say John Cameron Mitchell since he's been making great movies for a decade now but in fact he's only made three. Still it's hard to argue with that diverse, unique and cathartically vivid trio: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Shortbus (2006),and Rabbit Hole (2010). I would follow him anywhere though I might be shoving him from behind while doing so because he's too freaking slow.
My list would have to include 34 year-old Cary Fukunaga who has made two features but already has a great sense of the camera's place in storytelling as well as a place's place in storytelling (Sin Nombre) if you get me. On top of that he's got a steady hand with strong actors (Jane Eyre).
Cary Fukanaga, Xavier Dolan, and Steve McQueen
I'd also go with 22 year-old Xavier Dolan who sure can make pretty pictures (I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats) and can also act inside of them. His influences are super apparent but he's very young and it should be thrilling to watch that already glorious image-making while on the soundtrack a filmmaking voice find itself. I'm very curious as to how Andrea Arnold's career will develop. She already has an Oscar from that gritty compelling short film Wasp (2003) and Fish Tank was so special. Finally, there are two filmmakers who are about to unveil their sophomore feature after a startling debut: 37 year old Joachim Trier (will Oslo August 31st equal Reprise or prove too similar?) and 42 year-old Steve McQueen (will Shame top Hunger... but then how could it?) which means that my list is already up to five and your question was singular so I'll stop there. But the three names in bold are the ones I can't stop thinking about this year.
Roark: What's your favorite movie in your least favorite genre? Nathaniel: I'm not crazy about westerns but I love Howard Hawks's Red River (1948). I was going to say "horror" but then when I stop to recall how many I do love (Psycho, Carrie, Rosemary's Baby being the holy trinity) it becomes clear that I far prefer horror to westerns.
Luke and Adrian: Best Post Oscar move for Natalie Portman? Nathaniel: Laying low now that she's had her money-guzzling year. Wait it out until something challenging but different than Black Swan comes around. I'm guessing it would be a lot easier for her to find her next Closer than her next Black Swan so if I were her management team I'd be looking for a high profile prestige ensemble drama... or even a highly stylized but lighter something... She was terrific in Wes Anderson's Hotel Chevalier and the short treated her like a star. Directors who know how to frame her spectacular face and amp up her sexuality in deeper than surface ways tend to get the best rewards; too many Your Highnesses and Friends With Benefits and that Oscar win won't age well.
Evan: What three movies are you most looking forward to from the remainder of 2011? Nathaniel: Shame for the McQueen/Fassbender reunion, The Skin I Live In for the Almodóvar/Banderas reunion, and I Don't Know How She Doe.... KIDDING! and A Dangerous Method for the Cronenberg/Mortensen reunion. Look at me all Director/ACTOR things instead of actresses. Where am I? WHO AM I?
Mr W: And are you going to revive you reader spotlights any time soon? Nathaniel: Yes. The new fall season of The Film Experience kicks off on September 13th and we'll also go back to honoring you... the collective you, I mean. Not that Mr. W isn't worth honoring :)
Tom M: Which Male Actors (past and/or present) come closest to having careers/images/appeals like the actresses you love? (Not necessarily asking about your favorite actors but if there are any actors that trip your actressexual wire...if that makes any sense.)
The Film Experience likes the ladies best -- actresses forevah -- but today's links are curious phallocentric, hence the title.
Observations on Film Art one more piece on Sidney Lumet, something to fill out the "constrained" picture of the general mass of obituaries. Tom Shone, in a wonderful concise piece, knows we're all more Brad Pitt than Terrence Malick in this Tree of Life. Cinema Blend Katey worries that Hollywood is going to make us sick of Jeremy Renner. He's doing as many franchises as Samuel L Jackson adding The Bourne Legacy (lead role - taking over for Matt Damon) to the line-up. Ruh-roh. The Wrap organized-crime-drama alert. There's always a few in production. Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, so memorably at odds in Milk, may be enemies again in Gangster Squad Jezebel has a hilarious reel of men faking orgasm onscreen (in non-pornographic films). It's even a little bit interesting in a non-pervy way. Movie|Line Joseph Gordon-Levitt trashes the Conan set for a Hesher promo. Movie Morlocks RIP on the 1970s star Michael Sarrazin (They Shoot Horses Don't They, For Pete's Sake) who passed away last week. So many major goodbyes in showbiz lately. Sigh. TVLine Strange Emmy development, ladies division: January Jones is still campaigning as a lead for Mad Men despite her screen time being at least halved this past season. Bad move? This puts her up against Elisabeth Moss, who is back to lead.
GayGayGay Stale Popcorn Yay. Another convert to writer/director/actor/producer Xavier Dolan. I'll have more on Heartbeats once it hits DVD... whenever that is. Towleroad this weeks column by moi. I would have reviewed Water For Elephants but I was in Nashville. Is it wrong that I'm super excited to see it? Out Magazine Thomas Dekker (Kaboom, Cinema Verite) is sending out all sorts of mixed signals about his sexuality. I guess we're still a couple years away from (male) movie actors coming out.
Bereft of inspiration today, Nathaniel turns to box office, the thing everyone else talks about elsewhere on the interwebs. Endure it! I have questions.
Top Ten 01 new RANGO $38 02 new THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU $21.1 03 new BEASTLY $9.8 04 HALL PASS $8.8 (cumulative: $26.8) 05 GNOMEO & JULIET $7.2 (cumulative: $84) 06 UNKNOWN $6.5 (cumulative: $53) 07 JUST GO WITH IT $6.4 (cumulative: $88.1) 08 THE KING'S SPEECH $6.2 (cumulative: $123.5) 09 I AM NUMBER FOUR $5.7 (cumulative: $46.4) 10 JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER $4.2 (cumulative: $68.8)
Because I am finally free of Oscar season time constraints, I'll let you choose which new release from this week and next I should watch next to remount the "right now" movie horse. Obviously I need no push to get to JANE EYRE (Fassy! Mia!) so I left it off the list. Which other one should I write about?
Also how sad is it that a movie no one seems to like at all (Just Go With It) will now be one of Nicole Kidman's highest grossers in many years? The world -- and by world I mean movie theaters. Duh! -- would be an infinitely better place if this and Rabbit Hole ($2 million) switched cumulative grosses. Imagine the ripples in Hollywood moviemaking if female-led dramas with tremendous performances won default ticket purchases and sexist lazy comedies had to earn Oscar nominations to win any attention at all! Heh.
Other new releases: Take Me Home Tonight ($3 million), Happythankyoumoreplease ($35,000) and Uncle Boonmeereviewed ($27,800) which had a great first weekend take for a difficult movie that waited 10 months to capitalize on its Cannes hoopla. It should easily outgross Apichatpong Weerathesakul's biggest US market hit which was Tropical Malady (2005) which didn't earn that much until its fifth week in theaters.
Top 10 Foreign Films This Year (Thus Far) 01 BIUTIFUL w/ Javier Bardem $4,200,000+ 02 YAMLA PAGLA DEEWANA $993,000+ 03 OF GODS AND MEN $818,000+ 04 DHOBI GHAT (MUMBAI DIAIRIES) $576,000+ 05 7 KHOOM MAAF $268,000+ 06 EVEN THE RAIN w/ Gael García Bernal $230,000+ 07 IP MAN 2 $182,000+ 08 WHAT WOMEN WANT w/ Gong Li and Andy Lau $123,000+ 09 THE HOUSEMAID $117,000 + 10 POETRY $114,000+ don't miss it!
Asian hits of 2011
So happy that people are noticing South Korean's actressy cinema (#9 & #10) post Mother (2009).
At the subtitled speciatly box office we continue to see that if you want to make any money at all it helps to be a Bollywood feature (even with zero media attention you can earn money. See: #2,4,5). The second easiest way to sell tickets is to have a beloved star in the lead role.
Of Gods and Men's terrific opening and Even the Rain's pretty solid one suggests -- at least to this foreign film Oscar enthusiast -- that they should not have waited for a nomination for release. If there was this much interest despite snubs, imagine how much extra sympathy press they would have gotten had they already had "hit" status and then got snubbed. Of Gods and Men obviously didn't need the Oscar buzz to sell tickets and Even the Rain always had Gael García Bernal and instant recognition factor (Christopher Columbus related) going for it... Meanwhile, below this top ten lay the remains of other Oscar snubbees who waited to see how the Academy would treat them before sticking a toe in the US market: Argentina's Carancho ($39,000) German's When We Leave ($19,000) and Romania's If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle ($12,000). The biggest foreign flop this year has to be Ong Bak 3 right? The first film in this Tony Jaa muay thai trilogy was a major art house hit earning nearly $5 million stateside and $20 million worldwide but the novelty wore out fast and/or they waited way too long to capitalize on interest and/or the sequels weren't very good? For the record I suspect it was a lethal combo of all of the above. I enjoyed the first one a lot and couldn't stomach the second which flopped in the US but it surprised me how long it took for them to make a sequel. For a year there in the mid Aughts I totally thought Tony Jaa was going to be the next international action star but then... crickets.
Heartbeats cast: Dolan, Schneider and ChokriIn other news, just because I like the film quite a lot, Xavier Dolan's Heartbeats has earned $18,000 to date but is still in theaters and available on demand. I feel like this would have done much better had his debut film I Killed My Mother had a real release in the States to build awareness of the new auteur. (I still read conflicting reports about whether or not it actually ever opened in the US and if it's that hard to know...).
On the subject of teeny tiny grosses, Germany's crime drama The Robber, which I didn't particularly "like" but which was unquestionably exciting and well-made on a technical level, has earned $5,000. It's already lined up for an English language remake (possibly with Andrew Garfield) and while I can see them trumping the film on an emotional engagement level, I think they'll be hardpressed to duplicate this one's technical virtuosity and cumulative white knuckle effect. It is scary intense.
Here's the trailer for The Robber which actually does a good job of not giving the movie's best moments / surprises away.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 7:00AM 
Laura Dern's schedule just freed up. Where are you David Lynch?!?
