Moviefone News Moviefone Copyright 2011, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Moviefone Good old fashioned elbow grease. <![CDATA['Dazed And Confused' Sequel Could Shoot In The Fall According To Richard Linklater]]> has been discussing a sequel to "Dazed and Confused" for quite some time. Word about a possible "spiritual sequel" to that beloved 1993 film has circulated in one form or another since 2009.

"I carefully called it a spiritual sequel to 'Dazed' cause it's not the same characters," Linklater revealed during a 2009 interview with Collider. "If 'Dazed' was my high school, this is my college. It's about a weekend in college in that time period. It's funny ... I think it's the funniest thing I ever wrote." That script, which was called "That's What I'm Talking About," was set in 1980.

Just as soon as Linklater announced the project, though, it fell apart. By the end of 2009, Linklater revealed "That's What I'm Talking About" was off the table because of business reasons.

"It's just sitting there," Linklater told The Playlist in 2010. "I even have it financed, I just have to get a distributor that would do it or would give me enough to make it."

Perhaps Linklater has found a business model that works for "Dazed 2." During a Reddit AMA chat on Wednesday, the director revealed that plans for a sequel to "Dazed and Confused" were back on. "Hoping to make it this fall, actually," he replied when asked about the project. "A college comedy. I feel like mixing it up with a big ensemble."

Whether that actually happens remains to be seen, but don't put it past Linklater -- especially now that he's talking about "Dazed 2" once again.

"I do Q&As about other films I'm doing, and maybe the last question is, 'If you don't mind me asking, I was just wondering if Jesse and Celine are ever going to ...' And I'll have to go, 'Well, I don't know,'" Linklater told HuffPost Entertainment when asked about fan interest in what would become the new film "Before Midnight," his sequel to "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset." "As we got closer, however -- when I was doing Q&As for 'Bernie' just a little more than a year ago -- I was getting that question and we did have an outline. My answer changed to 'I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up again.'"

[via Slashfilm]

]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 10:01:01 EDT 3325779 <![CDATA[Vin Diesel's Quotes Range From Awesome To More Awesome: A Brief History Of His 'Fast Six' Press Tour]]> His random cover of Rihanna's "Stay" went viral, he stars in the certain blockbuster "Fast and Furious 6," and even found time to resurrect Riddick for the aptly named sci-fi film "Riddick." To say nothing of plans for "Fast and Furious 7," which is set for release next summer.

To celebrate "Fast Six" (out on May 24), HuffPost Entertainment has compiled the best Diesel quotes from the "Furious" press tour for Justin Lin's new film. Ride or die and enjoy the wisdom of Big Vin below.

On his hobbies: "Maybe because I'm a Dungeons & Dragons head, my approach to everything is a little more thought-out." (via EW.com)
vin diesel quotes

On his 40 million Facebook fans: "Facebook really owes me billions of dollars. But whatever. [Laughs]" (via EW.com)
vin diesel quotes

On social media's influence: "If there was social media in the '50s, there probably would've been a sequel to 'On the Waterfront.' There would've been a sequel to 'Rebel Without a Cause.' We would've finally gotten the 'Gone With the Wind' answer. So many of these films would've continued if the audience was able to speak directly to the braintrust, to the core, to say: 'We have to have another one.' I think Hollywood, and the choices Hollywood has made, would've been radically different if Clark Gable had 40 million people on his Facebook page." (via EW.com)
vin diesel quotes

On awards possibilities for "Fast Six": "When this film comes out, quite frankly, there's gonna be some real Oscar watch." (via EW.com)
vin diesel quotes

On his physique: "Being a physical presence will rule you out of a lot of roles. I couldn't have done 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' with that physical presence." (Men's Fitness via Vulture)
vin diesel quotes

Remembering the first "Fast and Furious" film: "When we first did this we were thinking we had the opportunity to do 'Rebel Without A Cause.'" (via Moviefone)
vin diesel quotes

The best contact in his phone: "Bill Clinton." (via Moviefone)
vin diesel quotes

The future of the "Fast & Furious" franchise: "I think the debate is whether it's 7, 8, 9 or 7, 8, 9, 10. I know, it doesn't even make sense." (via Moviefone)
vin diesel quotes

His review of "Fast & Furious 6": "It's the best movie in the world and it's a love story and it's baller status." (via Moviefone)
vin diesel quotes

]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 17:02:55 EDT 3321946 <![CDATA['Don Jon' Trailer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Has Good Vibrations In Trailer For His Directorial Debut]]> "Don Jon" has its first trailer. The film -- previously titled "Don Jon's Addiction" after it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January -- is Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut. (He also wrote the script.)

"There's only a few things I really care about in life," says Don Jon (Gordon-Levitt) in the trailer for "Don Jon," before rattling off a checklist of what he holds nearest and dearest to his heart. "My body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my boys, my girls, my porn." That's right: Don Jon is addicted to pornography, a crutch Gordon-Levitt uses to explore male and female relationships and the pressure of media-enhanced expectations.

"It's just that idea of how we objectify each other and how the media contributes to that," Gordon-Levitt told HuffPost Entertainment about the film. "That's an idea that's really interesting and funny to me. That's where it all stems from. I thought the idea of a guy, who watches too much pornography, and a young woman, who watches too many romantic Hollywood movies, was a hilarious way to ask the question: How do the different kinds of media we consume impact our lives and our love lives?"

The trailer for "Don Jon" gives away a lot of the film's charms -- including cameo appearances from Anne Hathaway and Channing Tatum in a fake romcom within the movie -- but there are still some surprises in store for audiences to savor when the movie arrives in October. For now, enjoy Scarlett Johansson as Barbara Sugarman, Don Jon's love interest and the potential lost daughter of Marisa Tomei's Mona Lisa Vito from "My Cousin Vinny."

Julianne Moore, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson and Tony Danza, in a comeback performance, all co-star with Gordon-Levitt and Johansson. Watch the "Don Jon" trailer over at Apple.

]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 15:38:33 EDT 3321616 <![CDATA[Richard Linklater, 'Before Midnight' Director, On Studio Origins & The Most Intense Scene Of 2013]]> Richard Linklater burst on the indie film scene with "Slacker," but the director is still happy to work outside of mainstream Hollywood. In fact, he prefers it stay that way.

"If you make a film with someone, maybe they don't like it or they're looking for reasons not to like it. They're like, 'Oh, it didn't turn out the way we thought,'" Linklater told HuffPost Entertainment. "That's kind of my history: You do a film with someone and they kind of glass-half-empty it. 'Here's what it's not. Forget what it is; we're going to focus on that.'"

Linklater had no such concerns on his latest film, "Before Midnight." Set nine years after "Before Sunset" -- which itself was set nine years after "Before Sunrise" -- "Before Midnight" reunites Linklater with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy for another talky romance about love and life in the world of Jesse (Hawke) and Celine (Delpy). Linklater co-wrote the film with the two stars, and was able to finance the feature independently. The gambit paid off: "Before Midnight" has won raves on the festival circuit this year and has a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ahead of the film's May 24 limited release, Linklater, 52, spoke to HuffPost Entertainment about the indie franchise's studio origins, how he was able to shoot one of the most intense sequences of 2013 and why "Before Midnight" is even larger in scope than its two predecessors.

(WARNING: Some slight spoilers about the plot of "Before Midnight" are discussed below.)

It's hard to believe that when "Before Sunrise" came out in 1995, it was a studio production.
It is a statement of how the industry has changed. Nineteen years ago when we were headed off to Vienna to do that, we were financed from Columbia Pictures through Castlerock with a $2.7 million budget. The fact that a studio would even bother with something like that now is just laughable. Nine years later, we were at Warner Independent, which is the indie division of a studio. Same $2.7 million budget, by the way, nine years later, but it was kind of an industry indie. Now, we were completely equity financed. We didn't have any industry connection in the financing of this movie whatsoever. Ultimately, Sony picked it up to distribute.

Are you shocked how much the industry has changed?
Not really. In its current form, of course, it has changed so much. What happened somewhere along the way -- and I lived through this, because I got films like this made; "Dazed and Confused" was done at Universal -- studios figured out what they weren't doing, what they were doing, what they did best and what made sense for their shareholders and bottom lines. They've figured out these bigger films are the smartest investment of their time and energies. That's freed things up. You used to spend a lot of time trying to get studios to say yes or no. Now, you don't even take certain kinds of films to the industry. I don't waste anyone's time saying, "I have this small film about this." You don't even bother them with it because you know they're not going to be interested. It's not their business. There are a couple of different businesses here within the realm of film.

When you decided to make "Before Midnight," who did you call first: Ethan or Julie?
We're all in conversation. We talk about it. Two years ago, we got together in New York and started talking about what this could be. We've done this twice now, where we don't have any ideas for six or seven years and then it's sort of like, "You know, what about? ..." Then the ideas get more substantial. What's going on is that everyone has lived another six or seven years of life and we can imagine Jesse and Celine at some new station in life. So, we spend a year or so talking about it and go down these paths of what it could be. Maybe we'll go down one path for six months and then change it. We learn a lot every step of the way.

Was there more pressure this time since "Before Sunset" was so well received?
Not so much pressure from the way "Before Midnight" would be received, but from the expectations. The fact that we had done a second one, it was sort of like, "Oh, are you going to do another one?" Especially the way that one ended. "Oh, what happens next?" It was kind of a cliffhanger. The first film didn't have that at all; no one was clamoring for a sequel. The second one, however, we've all had to answer for it over the years since. Like, "Are Jesse and Celine ever going to be together?" I do Q&As about other films I'm doing, and maybe the last question is, "If you don't mind me asking, I was just wondering if Jesse and Celine are ever going to ..." And I'll have to go, "Well, I don't know." As we got closer, however -- when I was doing Q&As for "Bernie" just a little more than a year ago -- I was getting that question and we did have an outline. My answer changed to "I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up again."

Shortly after the film opens, there's this long, uninterrupted take with Jesse and Celine driving in a car with their two children in the back. It ends up being one of the most tension-filled sequences of the year because of those kids. I kept waiting for them to wake up and blow the moment.
They're the unsung heroes. There are four actors in that scene, and two of them are these little girls in the back pretending to be asleep. [Actresses Charlotte and Jennifer Prior play the twins.] They're not really asleep; they're keeping their eyes shut and they're even kind of fake waking up. It's kind of a great performance. Then, boom, 13-plus minutes in, they nail their two lines. It's kind of amazing.

It's incredible. How much rehearsal did that take?
Lots of rehearsal. Not so much with the kids. Ethan and Julie were working on that for months. The kids we incorporated as we got closer to shooting. Maybe a week or two before was when we started working with them. They were very calm, well-mannered little girls. I have girls roughly their age and they could never have done that! They would look at the camera. Three minutes in and they would have been completely bored and unable to keep their eyes shut. It's really a stunning child performance. I've directed a lot of kids and I'm most impressed with what they did there.

When you were writing the script, did you always know that sequence would occur in one take?
That was always my intention. Ethan and Julie know me well enough at this point to go, "OK, he's going to want to do this in one take." Early in the movie, this is the illusion we're creating: The ideal would be to drop a viewer in on Jesse and Celine's reality. If you can have a take play out like that -- long -- viewers have to accept this as real on some unconscious level. These are real people and we're in their real world and this is their reality. That scene provided a lot of backstory. Those nine years disappear in that scene. If you know the movies, it's like you're hanging out with old friends; if you don't -- and this film stands alone -- you learn a lot about these two people in some very realistic way.

In my mind, Ethan is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood ...
He can do anything. He can be a big comedic actor; I would put him in the next Vince Vaughn-Owen Wilson movie. He could do that. I think because he does so much theater -- he's in Chekhov, he's in Shakespeare -- people think he's one of those serious New York actors. He could do anything. He's so versatile and so smart. But, you know, a good-looking guy who's popular -- no one is going to say, "You're a really good actor, bud!"

That's what they say about an actor like Brad Pitt; he won't win awards because he's too handsome.
You look how long it took Paul Newman to win an award. He had to be an old man. Even Brad Pitt, as good as he is -- you might get a nomination now and then, but you're not going to get [an award]. People don't want to reward that. "It looks effortless, you're too smooth." They figure you're wealthy, you're getting laid, screw you. It's just the dynamic of our culture.

I feel like both Ethan and Julie have gotten better as actors as they've gotten older. Is that fun for you as the director, to know you can do things with them that maybe you weren't able to on "Before Sunrise"?
Yeah! There's been an evolution. Our high-wire act has gotten bigger because I know what they can do. I can push them a little further than I did the second time, which was a little further than I did the first time. I just know we can get there. It's going to be hard work, but they can do it. I know their abilities. Not every actor can do what's required in this film. In fact, very few probably could. Every actor has strengths and weaknesses, but this just really plays to their strengths and what they can do.

Have you ever given thought of writing something that wasn't related to Jesse and Celine with Ethan and Julie?
That would be an interesting exercise for us. To write together and not be Jesse and Celine and just be something else. I don't know what that would be to pull us together; we're all so busy with other things. That would be kind of fun. We're going to write an action-thriller together! We could do it.

]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 12:11:33 EDT 3320213 <![CDATA['The World's End' Trailer: Edgar Wright's Latest Collaboration With Simon Pegg & Nick Frost Is About ... (VIDEO)]]> "The World's End." Speculation was that the film dealt with the apocalypse, but Pegg himself shot that down in a recent interview.

"Ours isn't really an apocalypse comedy," he told NextMovie. "It's got that because it's named after a pub, which is 'The World's End.' It's locked in with Seth Rogen's movie [the apocalypse comedy 'This Is the End'], but it's not really anything like that. It has more in common with 'The Big Chill" than it does with an end of the world comedy."

Well, sure. Provided there's an alternate cut of "The Big Chill" that includes robots.

Wright introduced a new "The World's End" trailer for Yahoo on Wednesday, and the clip gives a lot more clarity to the film's plot. Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine play five old friends who reunite for a pub crawl. The problem, as it turns out, isn't necessarily their advanced ages and lower tolerance, but a town full of killer robots. Rosamund Pike co-stars as a love interest for Pegg and a seeming human.

Watch the admittedly funny trailer for "The World's End" above, but don't complain about knowing all of the film's surprises when it arrives in U.S. theaters on Aug. 23.

]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 10:39:30 EDT 3319794 <![CDATA['Only God Forgives' Reviews: Ryan Gosling's Latest With Nicolas Winding Refn Gets Heat From Critics; Screening Booed]]> rave reviews at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and won Refn the Best Director trophy from the festival's jury. Judging from the early response to "Only God Forgives," the pair's latest collaboration, don't expect a repeat.

"The wallpaper emotes more than Ryan Gosling does in 'Only God Forgives,' an exercise in supreme style and minimal substance from 'Drive' director Nicolas Winding Refn," wrote Peter Debruge for Variety, a slam that seems almost quaint in comparison to the vitriol posted by Hollywood Elsewhere proprietor Jeff Wells:

Movies really don't get much worse than Nicholas Winding Refn‘s Only God Forgives. It’s a shit macho fantasy — hyperviolent, ethically repulsive, sad, nonsensical, deathly dull, snail-paced, idiotic, possibly woman-hating, visually suffocating, pretentious. I realize I sound like Rex Reed on one of his rants, but trust me, please — this is a defecation by an over-praised, over-indulged director who thinks anything he craps out is worthy of your time. I felt violated, shat upon, sedated, narcotized, appalled and bored stiff.


Set in Thailand, "Only God Forgives" focuses on Julian (Gosling), a small-time criminal who runs an boxing club in Bangkok. After his brother Billy (Tom Burke) is brutally murdered by a police captain named Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), Julian seeks revenge at the behest of his Lady Macbethian mother (Kristin Scott Thomas).

"Refn has made a name for himself with spartan narratives, but there's maybe even less story on offer here than before, and what there is feels kind of crammed into the last third of the film," wrote Jessica Kiang in her review for The Playlist. "[W]ith no truly relatable characters to compel us along between the occasional (glorious) fight or maiming scene, layers of style are lavished on in a threadbare plot a way that feels like they're compensating for a lack."

To that end, Refn explained what he was going for with "Only God Forgives" during a press conference after the screening:

The idea of Julian's character was a man who was on some sort of journey but he did not know what he is going towards. We spoke about the character of the sleep walker, destined to move, who does not know where he going. He is bound and chained to his mother's womb. To release that he has to go through several levels of violence. Why doesn't he speak? Maybe because the language of silence is far more potent.


At least one critic, however, seems to have got what Refn was trying to accomplish.

"'Only God Forgives' will, understandably, have people running for the exits, and running for the hills. It is very violent, but Winding Refn's bizarre infernal creation, an entire created world of fear, really is gripping," wrote Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw in his five-star review. "Every scene, every frame, is executed with pure formal brilliance. I'm afraid it's going to be even nastier the next time I watch it."

For more on why Gosling wasn't able to attend the Cannes Film Festival to support "Only God Forgives," click here. "Only God Forgives" reviews and reactions can be found in the tweets below.

"Only God Forgives" is out in U.S. theaters on July 19.




















































]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 08:41:12 EDT 3318705 <![CDATA['Behind The Candelabra' Reviews: Steven Soderbergh's Liberace Movie Wows Cannes Critics]]> movie movie: Steven Soderbergh's final film -- which focuses on the relationship between Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his young lover, Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) -- debuted to raves from attendees at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, just a few days before "Behind the Candelabra" airs on HBO.

"Nobody would make it," Soderbergh told The New York Post earlier this year. "We went to everybody in town. They all said it was too gay. And this is after 'Brokeback Mountain,' by the way, which is not as funny as this movie. I was stunned. It made no sense to any of us."

Indeed. What's more perplexing is that Soderbergh's last hurrah could have been an Oscar film. That was the thinking, at least, when it was first announced. "A lot of people think I'm nuts making a movie about Liberace. I don't! I've got a great script, it's a great story, and they're great characters," producer Jerry Weintraub told Movieline back in 2011. "That's what I make movies about. It's going to win an Academy Award [for Michael Douglas]."

"It's an uncanny impersonation and, quite astonishingly, the first nonfictional character the actor has portrayed onscreen," Variety critic Peter Debruge wrote of Douglas' work after the Cannes debut. "But this is no mere caricature: Douglas brings real dimension to the role, exploring the difference between the pianist’s on- and offstage personas, grappling with the effects of age on an entertainer and trying to reconcile Liberace’s pattern of attraction to young men with what the pic paints as genuinely paternal feelings."

Oscar blogger Sasha Stone wrote that "Behind the Candelabra" is Soderbergh's "best film in years," and that "were this movie released in theaters there would be Oscar nominations all around. Douglas might have even won his second."

For more about "Behind the Candelabra," check out Indiewire's CriticWire blog. Soderbergh's film airs on HBO on May 26 at 9 p.m. EST.

]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 12:41:00 EDT 3313362 <![CDATA['Star Trek Into Darkness' Villain Kept Secret From Media During Set Visit]]>
During a visit to the Bad Robot production studios last year, Abrams showed a group of journalists the "Star Trek Into Darkness" scene where Cumberbatch and Chris Pine's Captain Kirk fly through space in super suits. The sequence happens more than an hour into the film, after the true origin of Cumberbatch's villainous John Harrison is unveiled. (No spoilers here, but check IMDb or this HuffPost piece from Monday.)

"[Producer] Bryan Burk was the one who first proposed that we use the space jump sequence as a way of getting folks excited for the movie," co-writer Damon Lindelof told Slashfilm. "The challenge was obvious [because] this is AFTER the reveal. Therefore, J.J. and post production supervisor Ben Rosenblatt executed a 'Harrison Cut' to preserve the secret. I'd rather not get into the details of how this was accomplished, suffice to say it wasn't easy. It was, however, worth it."

Or was it? By keeping the "Star Trek Into Darkness" villain on the down low, Abrams and his team may have hurt the film's bottom line. (Imagine if Warner Bros. decided to market "The Dark Knight" without Heath Ledger's Joker front and center.) It's possible that audiences didn't connect with "Star Trek Into Darkness" in a way more in line with the film's expectations because they weren't actually excited about someone named John Harrison fighting with Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise crew.

"We just wanted to make sure that when the audience went to see the movie, that they were having the same subjective experience that Kirk and Spock and the crew were, so that when Kirk and Spock and the crew hear [Harrison's real] name for the first time, that's when the audience is -- you know, the savvy audience, the fanboys and -girls -- getting confirmation of something that they really intensely suspect, but weren't sure of until it happens," Lindelof told Grantland about the logic behind keeping the villain a secret.

That's fair, but it's also somewhat misguided: For instance, 2009's "Star Trek" didn't put Kirk in official charge of the U.S.S. Enterprise until the end, but the audience knew that was going to happen long before Kirk did. (It was "Star Trek," after all.) All of which is to say, keeping surprises from the audience is often great (hello, "Iron Man 3"), except when the surprise isn't that surprising.

For more on Abrams' mystery box, head to Slashfilm.

[via Slashfilm]

]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 11:15:52 EDT 3312782 <![CDATA[Halley Feiffer, 'He's Way More Famous Than You' Star, Wants You To Follow Her On Twitter]]>
"I really don't have that many Twitter followers, which I'm really sad about," Feiffer, 28, joked during a recent interview with HuffPost Entertainment. "I really want people to think I'm more famous, and that happens when you have more Twitter followers."

That could happen soon enough. Feiffer co-wrote and stars in the indie comedy "He's Way More Famous Than You," a caustic film about Feiffer's alcoholic alter ego, an actress also named Halley Feiffer. Directed by former "Ugly Betty" star Michael Urie (who also appears as "himself" in the film) and featuring cameo appearances from Jesse Eisenberg and Ben Stiller, "He's Way More Famous Than You" has received strong reviews from both The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. Slamdance Festival programmer Josh Mandel, meanwhile, compared Feiffer's style to Larry David. It's a connection the actress has gladly embraced.

"I always wanted to be a young, female, blonde Larry David or Louis C.K. That's sort of my goal," Feiffer said. "Both of them, also, play horrible versions of themselves with their own names, which I really like."

Feiffer is off to a good start in that department. The Halley Feiffer in "He's Way More Famous Than You" is selfish, uncouth and obsessed with fame. She treats "The Squid and the Whale" -- the real-life Feiffer's breakout film -- as if it's the most important indie released in the last 50 years.

"That's something I did almost 10 years ago now, when I was a completely different person, and yet that's the thing people recognize me the most from," Feiffer said about Baumbach's film, which came out when she was a junior in college. "I guess that's what I was trying to make fun of a little bit. I don't think I was as entitled as my character, I hope, but I guess I thought it would be funny to explore a world in which I was."

For Feiffer, whose parents are Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer and author Jenny Allen, exploring that world began in a way similar to how the film's fictional script starts for the fictional Feiffer: after a breakup.

"This guy I was dating, we were writing a screenplay together and then he broke up with me and I had a terrible thought: 'Maybe I could just make this movie by myself,'" she recalled. "I was like, 'No, that's a horrible idea. You can't do that, Halley.' But then I thought it would be funny to write a movie where my doppelgänger -- my evil twin, this horrible version of myself -- doesn't realize that writing a movie is a horrible idea."

Feiffer wrote a treatment for what would become "He's Way More Famous Than You," but then tabled it after showing it to a few people who didn't really get what she was going for. It was only after a year, when her friend and fellow actor Ryan Spahn suggested that the duo write something together, that Feiffer pulled the script out of a drawer.

"Ryan was in the treatment," she said. "He was my gay best friend who I asked to be in the movie, and the joke was that he was gay and we had no chemistry but we were always making out in the movie and it was terrible." The final script, which Spahn co-wrote with Feiffer, turned the actor's role into something even more awkward: He plays Halley's brother, and the pair decide to act as love interests in the movie within the movie.

"I had never written a screenplay before so I had no faith that we could actually do it," Feiffer said of the process. "That we actually shot it and it became a movie now in theaters is hilarious to me because I never thought we'd get to page 23."

"He's Way More Famous Than You" puts Feiffer through the ringer -- even if her character doesn't know that. It's an unflattering portrayal of ego run amok, but Feiffer said it wasn't difficult to separate herself from the terrible person staring back at her on the page.

"It didn't feel like I was really digging into my deeper truth because I don't behave this way," she said. "There was one day where I did come home and felt pretty depressed and I didn't know why. We had just written that scene where my agent breaks up with me and I was having sadness about that. No scene like that had happened in real life, but the movie is loosely based on feelings and insecurities I had. Mostly, though, it was just a total blast -- especially because I got to write it with my friend. If I had been doing it by myself it might have been painful; doing it with my friend, we would just laugh and eat french fries and it was so fun."

Not everything, of course, has been as much fun. Feiffer recalled how she recently made the mistake of searching Twitter for comments on "He's Way More Famous Than You" -- "Mostly it has been positive, but we do get some mean things" -- and she has learned to shy away from reading reviews. Well, most reviews.

"I feel vulnerable, because people could watch it and think I am a horrible person. Which I am, I just don't want them to know that," Feiffer deadpanned. "So, I don't read reviews. But Ryan told me there were a couple that were totally positive, and that was OK. Then someone else told me to read one that was positive, and I was like, 'It's sort of positive?'"

Despite that, one of Feiffer's favorite "He's Way More Famous Than You" reviews lives in that nether region between good and bad.

"Someone wrote something on Twitter that I thought was really mean, but now I think it was nice: 'He's Way More Famous Than You' is the dumbest movie I've ever seen. I loved it.' Which I really love, because I totally know what he's talking about. It is, I hope, some combination of low brow and high brow. There are many jokes about blow jobs and then many jokes about Austin Pendleton. How many movies are like that?"

"He's Way More Famous Than You" is out in limited release now and available on VOD and iTunes. Feiffer will next be seen in the play "How To Make Friends and Kill Them," which she also wrote. "How To Make Friends and Kill Them" will debut at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York this fall.

]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:12 EDT 3304385 <![CDATA['Star Trek Into Darkness' Box Office: Why J.J. Abrams' 'Star Trek' Sequel Didn't Vault Into Warp Drive]]> Warning: Spoilers about "Star Trek Into Darkness" lie ahead.

Looks like the phasers were set to stun after all: despite the added benefit of 3-D surcharges, "Star Trek Into Darkness" opened with $84 million over its first four days of release, just $9 million more than its 2009 predecessor managed in just three days. (Over three days, "Star Trek Into Darkness" made $5 million less than "Star Trek.") That's a far cry from the $100 million opening Paramount had targeted for "Into Darkness" following its $13.5 million opening day on Thursday. While it's doubtful there are too many tears being shed on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise -- "Star Trek Into Darkness" added $80 million overseas, already putting it on track to top the $127 million "Star Trek" earned internationally in 2009 -- the "Into Darkness" opening was a domestic disappointment. Why did J.J. Abrams' highly anticipated film trip out of the starting gate? Ahead, five possible explanations.

The Failure Of Mystery
The worst kept secret of 2013? That Benedict Cumberbatch plays Khan in "Star Trek Into Darkness." (It's even listed on the "Star Trek Into Darkness" IMDb page.) In fact, speculation had Khan as the main "Star Trek Into Darkness" villain before Cumberbatch even signed on for the film: As early as December of 2011, when Benicio Del Toro was briefly attached to the "Star Trek" sequel, both Vulture and Latino Review reported that Khan was the film's bad guy. Not that Abrams seemed to care: he plowed forward with the idea of keeping Khan's identity a secret all the way through release this past week. (He famously told HitFix reporter Drew McWeeny that the report of Del Toro playing Khan was "not true," which was technically correct, but didn't necessarily tell the whole story.)

That play may have backfired. Khan is basically the only recognizable "Star Trek" villain to a majority of the viewing public, and the specter of having him face off with Kirk and Spock could have enticed non-"Star Trek" fans to show up at theaters this weekend. That, apparently, was Paramount's thinking: According to Devin Faraci at Badass Digest, the studio reportedly conceived "a move to reveal" Khan during March Madness, but that marketing campaign never materialized. Alas, maybe next time.

The Passage Of Time
"Star Trek" came out on May 8, 2009, just one month after "Fast & Furious" and three weeks before "The Hangover." Two years later, "Fast Five" and "The Hangover Part II," the sequels to those films, combined to gross over $1.2 billion around the world. For blockbusters, time is always of the essence: it's why "Fast Six" and "The Hangover Part III" are both coming out on May 24, and why "Fast Seven" will arrive in theaters next summer. Abrams and his team received credit for not rushing "Star Trek Into Darkness" into production, but they might have taken too long. It's almost surprising Paramount didn't simply reboot "Star Trek" again, a la what Sony did with the Spider-Man franchise last year.

The Competition
Speaking of four years ago: "Star Trek" was released one week after "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and one week before "Angels & Demons," two films that didn't really excite audiences in any meaningful way. "Star Trek Into Darkness," meanwhile, went up against leggy hits "Iron Man 3" and "The Great Gatsby," and comes just one week before the aforementioned duo of "Fast Six" and "The Hangover Part III." That's a minefield of popular franchises with massive movies stars at the helm. Compared to those movies, "Star Trek Into Darkness" almost feels like an under-the-radar indie film -- albeit one with a budget near $190 million.

The Stars Aren't Necessarily Stars
Star power is another problem: In the two years between "The Hangover" and "The Hangover Part II," Bradley Cooper appeared in "Valentine's Day" ($216 million worldwide), "The A-Team" ($177 million worldwide) and "Limitless" ($161 million worldwide), Zach Galifianakis made "Due Date" ($211 million worldwide) and Ed Helms continued his successful run on "The Office." Things weren't as flush for the "Star Trek" cast: Chris Pine's only significant live-action success was the 2010 film "Unstoppable" ($167 million worldwide), and he appeared in the high profile flop "This Means War." The good news for Zoe Saldana was that she played the female lead in "Avatar," the highest grossing movie ever; the bad news for "Star Trek" was that her entire role was animated by James Cameron's visual effects wizards. In the end, no one other than Zachary Quinto -- who, it could be argued, is more famous for being Zachary Quinto than being a movie star -- made any significant impact in the pop culture landscape during the last four years. Maybe "Star Trek Into Darkness" should have found room for The Rock or Channing Tatum.

The Other "Star"
The fastest way to diminish audience interest in "Star Trek"? Change the conversation to "Star Wars." That's what Abrams did when he accepted the director's gig for "Episode VII" on Jan. 24 of this year. Not only did it take the wind out of the "Into Darkness" sails, it turned Abrams' press obligations -- important extensions of the film's marketing campaign -- into "Star Wars" plugs. (It's not like the "Star Trek" part of Jimmy Kimmel's recent interview with Abrams went viral.) Without a major A-list star in front of the film, Abrams became the face of "Star Trek Into Darkness." His Force, however, is now in a galaxy far, far away. It's enough to make a "Star Trek" fan -- or Paramount executive -- do this.

]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 08:08:10 EDT 3302983 <![CDATA['Inside Llewyn Davis' Debuts At Cannes Film Festival: Coen Brothers Latest Hailed In Early Reviews]]> Joel and Ethan Coen's 1960s folk drama "Inside Llewyn Davis."

"The Coens have again taken a real time and place and freely made it their own, drawing on actual persons and events for inspiration, but binding themselves only to their own bountiful imaginations," wrote Scott Foundas of Variety in one of the film's first reviews posted online. "The result is a movie that neatly avoids the problems endemic to most period movies --and biopics in particular -- in favor of a playful, evocatively subjective reality."

Starring Oscar Isaac as the title folk singer and a cast of recognizable stars (ranging from Carey Mulligan to Justin Timberlake to John Goodman to "Girls" favorite Adam Driver), "Inside Llewyn Davis" follows a down-on-his-luck musician and his attempts to break through to stardom.

"The one question some might be left with is, why are we watching the story of a loser instead of a winner?" Todd McCarthy wrote in his review of the film for THR. "But part of the point is that often there’s but a hair’s-breadth difference between the two."

"Inside Llewyn Davis" is set for release on Dec. 6 via CBS Films; "Davis" will expand wider on Dec. 20 and seems right on track to be one of the year's most-discussed Oscar contenders. Below, an assortment of tweets and retweets about the film from those critics and writers who attended the film's first screening at Cannes.














]]> Sat, 18 May 2013 15:53:37 EDT 3299618 <![CDATA[Michael Giacchino, 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Composer, On J.J. Abrams & John Williams' 'Episode VII' Gig]]> The opening scene in "Up"; Tom Cruise's heart-stopping climb up the Burj Khalifa in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol"; "Not Penny's boat." Some of the most memorable pop culture moments from the last decade have one thing in common: musical accompaniment written by Michael Giacchino.

"The stuff I work on tends to be big things like Pixar movies or franchises," Giacchino, 45, told HuffPost Entertainment. "It's kind of fun to be a part of this world, working on movies that I would have loved when I was a kid."

One of those movies is this week's "Star Trek Into Darkness." It's the second time Giacchino has boldly gone into space with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and the fourth film collaboration between himself and director J.J. Abrams.

"When we first met we became very fast friends because we had a very similar background with regard to our love of filmmaking," Giacchino, who went to school to be a filmmaker before focusing music, said of his relationship with Abrams. "It was nice because there was never a need to feel like you couldn't say you didn't like something. He could always tell me if I did something that he thought could be better, and vice versa." In addition to the films, Abrams and Giacchino have also worked together on television series like "Felicity," "Alias" and "Lost," which Giacchino cited as one of his most popular scores. (Indeed, "Lost" spawned seven CD releases.)

For "Star Trek Into Darkness," however, Giacchino not only had to replicate the success of his first score for 2009's "Star Trek," but also add a new wrinkle: a theme for the film's villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

"J.J. just wanted it to feel like we weren't in a 'Star Trek' movie," Giacchino said of the track, called "London Calling." "It was a very conscious decision to make that base sound different; then, from there, we were able to evolve to our theme for the character. I remember when J.J. heard it, he said, 'Oh, it sounds English. That's perfect!' I'm not exactly sure what that meant, but in his mind it fit perfectly. I was just going for something that felt emotional and questioning as opposed to being so direct that it tells you what's going on."

If that sounds like the description of a typical Abrams character -- Abrams' mystery box technique is in full effect on "Star Trek Into Darkness" -- it shouldn't come as a total surprise: Giacchino said he views his scores as a character itself, something he picked up from John Williams' classic soundtracks from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Star Wars" among others.

"You could listen to those scores away from the movie and re-experience the movie," Giacchino, who won an Oscar for his "Up" score and was also nominated for "Ratatouille," said. "A lot of action scores nowadays, you could almost relive any movie by listening to them. For me, it was important to relive that specific film. I love that there are themes attached to characters, places and things. So you can listen back and go, 'Oh, that means the Enterprise is here,' and tell that story again in your head by just using your imagination. That was huge for me as a kid and that's just the way I went when I started writing music."

For many, Giacchino is the heir apparent to Williams, but that doesn't mean he'll get to take a swing at the new "Star Wars" sequel. Abrams, who's directing "Episode VII," has already said that Williams will return to the franchise to compose the music for the film. That said: How would Giacchino have handled the job if he had gotten the chance?

"I would say, 'I don't want to do it. John, you do it,'" Giacchino said with a laugh. "From day one, I have said I hope John does it. Selfishly, I want to hear more 'Star Wars' music and I want to hear what he would do with it. He's been an incredible teacher over the years to me, he's a friend and he's one of the best composers on Earth. I want him to do it. That's the way it should go."

The "Star Trek Into Darkness" score is available now on iTunes.

]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 12:01:17 EDT 3293326 <![CDATA[Emily Blunt For 'Into The Woods': 'Devil Wears Prada' Star Will Play Baker's Wife In Musical]]>
Should her negotiations go smoothly, Blunt would join Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Tony winner James Corden and, perhaps, Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine in the film. On Tuesday, it was revealed that Gyllenhaal and Pine were circling roles in the film. (Funny how development news and movie releases go together: Pine was attached to both "Into the Woods" and "Z for Zachariah" during the same week "Star Trek Into Darkness" hit theaters. It's almost like they planned this!)

Back to Blunt, however, who has no such film releases to worry about this week: Per Variety, which broke the news of her involvement, Blunt would play the Baker's Wife in the film. It's a lead role, as "Into The Woods" focuses on the Baker and the Baker's Wife, a couple that heads into the woods in search of the witch (called Witch and to be played by Streep) who put a curse on them. Those wondering if Blunt has the pipes for the role should consider this video of the 30-year-old singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at karaoke with "Mad Men" star Alison Brie. The video was shot during production of "The Five-Year Engagement," where Blunt and Brie played sisters.

For more on Blunt's "Into The Woods" role, head over to Variety. Watch the karaoke video below and fall in love.

[via Variety]



]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 09:33:57 EDT 3292497 <![CDATA[Christopher Nolan For Bond? Report Has 'Dark Knight' Director Talking With 007 Producers]]> Christopher Nolan's fascination with the James Bond franchise is well documented, but might the acclaimed director finally get his own crack at 007? According to Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G .Wilson have spoken to Nolan about taking over the franchise for the next James Bond film, the 24th in the series.

The vacancy at the helm of Bond 24 stems from the fact that "Skyfall" director Sam Mendes decided against coming back for that film's follow-up. "Was I willing to go straight back into a room with a writer and start work on the same set of characters and the same scenarios as I've been working on for the last three years? No. The idea made me feel physically ill." Mendes told The Guardian in an interview earlier this year. Despite that, Broccoli and Wilson said they would happily work with Mendes again in the future and it's easy to see why: "Skyfall" was the most successful Bond film ever, earning over $1 billion at the global box office.

As mentioned, Nolan is a Bond fan. He previously cited "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" as an influence for "Inception" and just last year expressed interest in making his own Bond film. "It would have to be the right situation and the right time in their cycle of things," he said to Empire.

Time, of course, might be the problem: Mendes alluded to the fact that Bond production would have to start soon, and Nolan is busy making "Interstellar" with Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. That film is set for release in November of 2014, meaning Nolan could find himself booked through the end of next year when press obligations are taken into account. Bond producers, meanwhile, are tentatively eyeing a 2015 release date for the next film.

For more on Nolan, head over to The Daily Mail.

[The Daily Mail via Indiewire/The Playlist]

]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 09:03:59 EDT 3291969 <![CDATA['Friday Night Lights' Movie: Brian Grazer & Ron Howard Hint At Crowdfunding For Football Film]]> Imagine Entertainment producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are planning to use crowdfunding to help bring "Friday Night Lights" back to the big screen. Imagine is the studio that produced five seasons of the acclaimed television series, which itself started as a book by Buzz Bissinger and a movie from director Peter Berg.

"We made a terrific feature with Pete Berg, turned it into a terrific TV series and will now make a movie from that series," Grazer told Deadline.com. "I'm not sure such a thing has been done before."

For fans, the idea that the future of "Friday Night Lights" rests in the interiors of their wallets should be of little surprise. After Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell used Kickstarter to fund a big-screen version of cult series "Veronica Mars," "Friday Night Lights" co-star Adrianne Palicki mentioned that crowdfunding was a possibility for "FNL" as well.

"I think they're starting the Kickstarter, which is insane," Palicki said during press rounds for "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" earlier this year. "It's crazy. I have multiple feelings on it. I love it so much and I'm afraid that a movie might ruin it and I don't want that to happen. We went out on top. At the same time, to get to be on that show again, I would die for it. I would love to do it. I'm right there in the middle."

Palicki's conflicted feelings seem to match those of series star Kyle Chandler. Chandler, who played Coach Taylor on "Friday Night Lights" and won Best Actor at the 2011 Emmy Awards for his efforts, has stated in the past that another movie version of "Friday Night Lights" would be unnecessary.

"My general attitude about 'Friday Night Lights' is that it was a great movie with Billy Bob Thornton. And it was a great TV show," Chandler said to MTV last year. "I never had more fun doing anything. [...] They ended it at exactly the right time and in exactly the right way."

Should Grazer and Howard start a Kickstarter campaign or something similar for another "Friday Night Lights," the pair would have to be careful. While the media mostly embraced the "Veronica Mars" campaign, the reaction has been decidedly different for Zach Braff, who is using Kickstarter to help fund his new indie film, "Wish I Was Here."

For more on Imagine, including the latest on Howard's planned adaptation of "Dark Tower," hit Deadline.com.

[via Deadline.com]

]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 13:45:15 EDT 3287200