Musicians have long had a place in films, whether rock stars, jazz sidemen, or tormented composers. What follows is a selection of memorable ones taken from ten films. They range from drug-addicted cult favorites to ambitious hip-hop stars, from showtune composers to sidemen now living in small-town obscurity. What they share is a certain quality: a lingering sense that, if these characters were real, we’d want to seek out more of their music. Sometimes that’s accomplished through a deft performance, and sometimes via a writer or director who brings an insider’s knowledge of a particular style of music. In all cases, there’s something utterly compelling, and something that endures past the last frames of film.
Today at Flavorpill, we decided that it might be worth schlepping all the way to the Iowa State Fair to sample a plate of red velvet funnel cake, but we’d never go all the way to the moon for the cheese. We watched a supercut of 25 of the greatest unscripted movie scenes. We learned about Times New Roman’s complicated history. We crossed our fingers that Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes are serious about bringing a new TV show about “a recovering heroin addict who becomes a private eye in the fifties” to HBO. We read an excerpt from Colson Whitehead’s forthcoming “zombie novel,” Zone One, which is due out on October 18. We listened Mavis Staples and Win Butler cover “The Weight” at this past weekend’s Outside Lands festival in San Francisco. We witnessed the evolution of Apple ads over time. And finally, we were happy to see Dave Chappelle doing his first interview in nearly five years. We hope that this is an indication that he’ll be flying less under the radar in the future.
Exciting news: American Express just announced that Todd Haynes and My Morning Jacket will be the next filmmaker/band pairing in its Unstaged series, which has previously featured collaborations by Terry Gilliam/Arcade Fire, John Legend/Spike Lee, and Duran Duran/David Lynch. If the match seems a bit random, it’s worth noting that My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James appeared in Hayne’s 2007 Bob Dylan film, I’m Not There; he sang “Goin’ to Acapulco” with Calexico backing him up, and according to the director, they immediately hit it off.
As Haynes told ArtsBeat, this is will be his first time shooting a live concert, but his past experience, specifically his work on 1998′s Velvet Goldmine, should come in handy: “When you’re shooting concert scenes in films, we try to bring in, where appropriate, as much of a sense of live performance as possible. Once you set up those elements, you really let the live performance dictate it. Hopefully you’re working with great operators who are spontaneous and dexterous and versatile, and they can catch those moments that you can’t really ever completely plan.” Look for the online broadcast on May 31st.
1. Gucci Mane — who is currently out on bail and awaiting a competency hearing tied to some reckless driving charges — has tattooed an ice cream cone on his face. And if you look closely, it says “Brrr.” [via The Hairpin]
2. In case you care about such things, the first image from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn has landed online, and it features Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart engaging in some PG-13 level petting. [via Collider]
3. Swedish author Fredrik Colting’s “sequel” to JD Salinger’s 1951 classic, The Catcher in the Rye, has been banned from release in the US and Canada. He must also stop calling his work 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye. [via BBC News]
4. Richard Greenberg is reportedly collaborating with Scott Frankel and Michael Korie on a Broadway musical adaptation of Todd Haynes’ 2002 flick Far From Heaven. [via Perez Hilton]
5. Today in people with way too much money buying super silly things: Kanye West reportedly paid Tiret $180,000 to make a custom watch encrusted with 8 karats of yellow, black, brown and white diamonds in the shape of his own face. [via PopEater]
Todd Haynes is one of our favorite filmmakers, and his first feature, Poison, just celebrated its 20-year anniversary. Although she isn’t in the film, as we read the Village Voice piece on it and reflected on Haynes’ career, we found our mind wandering to the wonderful work he’s done with Julianne Moore. And that got us thinking about how many gay male directors who we love have (or had) close relationships with an actress who starred in their films. After the jump, we look at eight such creative partnerships, from Haynes and Moore to Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick.
Ten prominent directors, from David Lynch to Catherine Breillat, step in front of the camera to talk about the overlap between their films and lives in Angela Ismailos’ penetrating documentary.
This 90-minute gem delves into indie icon John Sayles’ secret life as a Hollywood screenwriter for Jurassic Park and other blockbusters, Bernardo Bertolucci’s unique take on the infamous sex scene in his groundbreaking Last Tango in Paris, and Lynch’s chance encounter with Mel Brooks. These revelations are joined by others from French badass Breillat, Agnes Varda, Richard Linklater, Todd Haynes, Ken Loach, Liliana Cavani, and Stephen Frears.
UPDATE [5.7.09]: The contest is now closed. Thanks for playing!
UPDATE: We’ve got a few copies of the just-released DVD to give away! Just jump down to the comments and let know: who or what would ride shotgun on your own cross-country road trip? Make sure you enter a valid email address (it will not be posted) so we can notify the winners.
The head-West road movie is as American as apple pie and its continued relevance the result of astute tweaks for the here and now. Director Kelly Reichardt’s (Old Joy) latest low-budget award contender, Wendy and Lucy, morphs the typically man-made adventure into a day-in-the-life with Wendy (Michelle Williams), a young Indiana gal heading to the far-west reaches of pre-Palin Alaska for potential employment. Without much save a few hundred bucks and her dog Lucy (Reichardt’s real-life canine), she’s today’s Great Recession-worthy incarnation of Rosie the Riveter.
