This week, we read about one of Rooney Mara’s first acting gigs, as a guest on Law & Order: SVU. She’s not proud of the moment, calling the role “ridiculous,” which, let’s be honest, it probably was. But there’s not necessarily any shame in that. After all, many great (or at least famous) actors started out doing bit parts in cheesy movies and TV shows, especially in horror flicks, crime procedurals and soap operas. Inspired by Mara, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the most notorious (and unknown) early roles of actors and actresses who have stood the test of time. Obviously, every actor has to start somewhere, so there are an unlimited number of these, but these are our personal favorites — be sure to chime in with your own in the comments! Read More »
1. Two films that focus on father and son relationships — Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life and Mike Mills’ Beginners — shared the award for Best Feature at last night’s Gotham Independent Film Awards. View the full list of winners here.
2. Tom Hanks is set to produce (and possibly play the lead in) a new film based on Erik Larson’s nonfiction bestseller In the Garden of Beasts. The book tells the story of US ambassador William Dodd’s experiences in Berlin at the beginning of Hitler’s rise to power. [via Vulture]
3. Alan Cumming will star in a one-man version of Macbeth that makes its US debut at the 2012 Lincoln Center Festival this summer; the project began with the idea “to swap the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, because there are so many things about gender, I thought it would be a really exciting idea to flip that.” [via ArtsBeat]
4. “It kind of remains to be seen at this point what happens to the future. I think they are certainly the last shows for a while and I guess I’d just leave it at that.” — Lee Ranaldo talks to Rolling Stone about what’s next for Sonic Youth
5. Sad but true: According to TMZ, hordes of Twihards have been faking engagements in order to try on the $799 replica of Bella’s wedding dress from Breaking Dawn that is being sold in Alfred Angelo bridal boutiques. [via Videogum]
Bonus Buzz: Just A Cat Sitting On The Stairs
1. Tower Heist surprised many by landing in second place at the box office in its debut weekend behind Puss in Boots; as ArtsBeat notes, this “does not bode well for the next Academy Awards,” which will reteam Eddie Murphy as the evening’s host and Brett Ratner as its producer.
2. Photographer Amy Harris has decided to bring assault charges against Left Brain from Odd Future, alleging that he slapped her during a performance by the group in New Orleans last month. [via Rolling Stone]
3. Nearly 20,000 people have helped raise $790,000 in donations to help Ai Weiwei pay off the $2.4 million in fines and taxes that the Chinese government says that he owes them. [via BBC]
4. John Lennon’s rotten molar went for £19,000 — almost double the reserve price — at an auction in the UK over the weekend; the rumored buyer is a dentist from Canada. [via NME]
5. A poster for the Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts movie Larry Crowne that shows the duo riding a scooter without helmets has resulted in a €30,000 fine for the film’s distributor in Spain. Says an insider: “When the fine showed up in the post we thought it was a joke. We didn’t even expect something like this when we distributed the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” [via Guardian]
Bonus Buzz: Drugs Of The ’90s
The fine folks at Warner Brothers are taking the opportunity today to release their umpteenth home video version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — this time in an elaborately packaged “40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition” deluxe Blu-ray set. Included in the $65 box, according to Blu-ray.com, are “a 144-page book featuring color photos and notes, a Wonka Bar pencil tin with scented pencils and eraser and a Wonka Bar box with archival production letters.” What, no chicken and butcher knife?
Yes, Willy Wonka may be going on 40 years as a beloved family classic, but it also contains tiny indentured servants, a kid transmogrifying into a giant blueberry, and an out-of-left-field sequence of sheer terror that has haunted the nightmares of generations of kids. We’ll take a look at that scene, and nine more family classics that are similarly creepy, after the jump.
Read More »
1. Do Silicon Valley tech geeks have as much reality TV potential as the gorilla juice heads who inhabit the Jersey Shore? A casting call for a new show — which is rumored to be for MTV as well — suggests that someone out there thinks so. [via AolTV]
2. The Emily Haines-led Canadian band Metric is teaming up with Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore to score David Cronenberg’s film adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel Cosmopolis, which tells the story of a 28-year-old multi-billionaire asset manager who will be played by Robert Pattinson. [via The Playlist]
3. Here’s a closer look at iPhone 4S’ new voice interface, Siri — including the really important stuff, like what happens when you tell her that you love her. [via Gizmodo]
4. We regret to inform you that Tom Hanks’ younger son Chet Hanks (a.k.a. Chet Haze) is back with another rap video. If you’re feeling brave, you can watch it here.
5. Beyoncé’s publicist says that the rumors that the pop star is faking her pregnancy — most recently sparked when her stomach “appeared to fold when she sat down” during an appearance on an Australian talk show — are “stupid, ridiculous and false.” [via Rolling Stone]
Bonus Buzz: Heterosexual Guys Who Like Glee
Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. We’ve got seven new trailers this week, ranging from the joy of Elmo and Dolly to the horrors of Katherine Heigl; check ‘em out after the jump.
Read More »
There are an abundance of reasons to put “see Moneyball” on your weekend to-do list: First film since Capote from director Bennett Miller; Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillan adapting a Michael Lewis book; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, and Chris Pratt (aka Andy Dwyer) in supporting roles; the baby blues of one William Bradley Pitt. And then there is our old friend Jonah Hill, who has taken the opportunity here to make the leap we’ve come to expect from any comedic performer of note: the transition to “serious acting.”
Now from the looks of the trailer, it doesn’t appear that Hill is exactly doing Hamlet — Moneyball is a fast, witty, seriocomic drama, allowing Hill some comedic opportunities within a larger and more serious context. That is one way to go; there are others. After the jump, join us for a look at the strategies that Hill’s predecessors adopted in making their move towards drama, and how they fared.
Read More »
Today at Flavorpill, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of Labyrinth by listening to “Magic Dance” on repeat and watching a behind-the-scenes documentary on the beloved Jim Henson film. We were happy to see that some of our favorite spots (Greenlight Books! Politics and Prose!) made this interactive list of the best independent bookstores in the world. We got a preview of this year’s Serpentine Pavilion by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, which opens to the public later this week. We fell in love with the latest minimalist pop culture print from Fabian Gonzalez — our favorite super heroes as flags. We wondered if Tom Hanks is in trouble with Pixar for blabbing that Toy Story 4 is already in the works. (In related news, we watched the trailer for Brave, the studio’s first fairytale.) We felt bad for eating so many tomatoes this past winter. We thought that Tina Fey’s hilarious memoir Bossypants deserved a higher ranking on Amazon’s roundup of the best books of 2011 so far. We couldn’t help but dance along to this catchy violin rendition of Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night.” And finally we wondered what Lady Gaga was trying to say with this crazy eye makeup. Boo?
The 1988 Broadway adaptation of Carrie — based on Stephen King’s book and Brian DePalma’s subsequent film — was such a notorious turkey that it became shorthand for ill-advised stage productions; a compendium book of them even bears the title Not Since “Carrie”. But somehow, the show still has its supporters, and it seems that a few of them have convinced investors that it deserves a second shot. Thus, Carrie will return to the New York stage early next year, albeit this time in an off-Broadway setting.
Carrie’s return may have as much to do with the current cautious atmosphere in the New York theatrical world as it does with the quality of the much-maligned production — with costs (and ticket prices) ballooning, Broadway producers seem only interested in sure things: revivals, big stars, so-called “jukebox musicals.” The theory is that the tourists who keep the New York stage solvent will only part with Broadway dollars if they’re spending them on a brand they’re familiar with; hence the Spider-Man musical, say, or The Million Dollar Quartet. And then, of course, there is the movie-to-stage adaptation — why not come see a live production of something you’ve already seen on film? Movie-to-musical shows have popped up sporadically for decades, but after the smash success of The Producers a decade ago, we’ve seen an onslaught; this season saw the debuts of Catch Me If You Can, Sister Act, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, in addition to long-running hits like The Lion King and Billy Elliot. But successfully staging a beloved movie is harder than it looks; it’s important to remember that for every Hairspray or Little Shop of Horrors, there’s an Urban Cowboy or High Fidelity. After the jump, we’ll take a look at ten popular movies that tanked on the boards.
Read More »
1. Green Day’s American Idiot musical has been optioned as a film. Dustin Lance Black (Milk) is in talks to write the screenplay, Tom Hanks is one of the producers, and Michael Mayer — who helmed the stage version — has already signed on to direct. [via Digital Spy]
2. $1 million for 30 seconds. That’s what running a commercial during the final week of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May will cost you, which is about $700,000 less than what you’d pay to run a spot during Academy Awards. [via Vulture]
3. Phil Spector’s lawyers have launched a new appeal against his 2009 murder conviction and are requesting a third trial, claiming that his original sentencing was “prejudiced by testimony from five women who claimed to be victims of gun-related incidents with the producer in the past.” He is currently serving out a 19-years-to-life-sentence. [via NME]
4. Interesting news: Joaquin Phoenix may be coming out of “retirement” to nab the role of an alcoholic disciple in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, an untitled religious drama about the founder of a Scientology-like religion (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Jeremy Renner had previously been attached to the part. [via Slashfilm]
5. Yet another track from the Beastie Boys’ long-awaited new album Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2 has leaked. Listen to “Tadlock’s Glasses” here.
Bonus link: We were nominated for a Webby! Cast your vote for Flavorpill’s Weekly Dose in the Online Film & Video – Variety category.
