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Set Visit: 10 Reasons 'Bridesmaids' Is the Female 'Hangover'

By Jen Yamato (Subscribe to Jen Yamato's posts), Posted Mar 2nd 2011 1:00PM
Filed under: Features, Movie News, Cinematical

Emmy-nominated Kristen Wiig emerged as the female face of comedy after bursting onto the scene on 'Saturday Night Live,' the sketch show that's played host to her iconoclastic brand of comedy for six seasons. But after stealing scenes in films like Judd Apatow's 'Knocked Up,' 'Whip It,' 'Adventureland' and 'MacGruber,' Wiig's finally stepping into her own cinematic spotlight with the raunchy, girl-powered comedy 'Bridesmaids' -- and she's bringing her funny friends with her.
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Julie Taymor on 'The Tempest,' Prospero's Sex Change, and Spider-Man

By Jen Yamato (Subscribe to Jen Yamato's posts), Posted Dec 11th 2010 12:32PM
Filed under: Celebrity Interviews, Cinematical


When visionary stage and film veteran Julie Taymor decided to tackle William Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest' (now in theaters) she stayed true to form, re-imagining the classic tale of an island-bound sorcerer's plot for revenge with a key transformative twist: She gave the protagonist a sex change. The result is a take on 'The Tempest' that resonates in completely new ways, carried by the force of Helen Mirren's performance as the exiled and usurped Prospera, a noblewoman and practitioner of magic who struggles with vengeance and forgiveness after conjuring a storm that brings her enemies close.

Taymor, currently fine-tuning her biggest project to date – the $65 million Broadway production of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,' starring 'Tempest' supporting actor Reeve Carney as Peter Parker – took a break from prepping for the show's January debut to discuss the film, which she made two years ago in Hawaii. She shared her reasons for adapting Shakespeare's play (his last solo work and the first Shakespeare that Taymor ever directed for the stage), her preference of old photographic techniques over CG for the film, the significance of Caliban's race and Prospera's gender and how each magnified themes already present in the work, and explained why the 'Spider-Man' mythos – as well as the story of 'The Lion King' – is Shakespearean at its core.
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Exclusive: Julie Taymor Calls 'Spider-Man' Shakespearean, Russell Brand Calls Musical 'Phenomenal'

By Jen Yamato (Subscribe to Jen Yamato's posts), Posted Dec 7th 2010 9:05AM
Filed under: Features, Cinematical


Amidst reports of production snafus, cast injuries, and swirling rumors about the most expensive budget Broadway has ever seen, stage and film director Julie Taymor has been understandably tight-lipped about her upcoming 'Spider-Man' stage adaptation. Lucky for her, she found herself facing press Monday alongside the musical's first, highly enthusiastic, celebrity critic: Russell Brand.

"I went to see it and it looked f***ing amazing," exclaimed Brand of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' during a press conference for Taymor's film adaptation of 'The Tempest,' in which he plays the buffoon Trinculo. "It's mental. It's like a new experience of theater -- it's going to change theater."
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Helen Mirren on 'Red,' Guns, and Harvey Pekar

By Jen Yamato (Subscribe to Jen Yamato's posts), Posted Oct 15th 2010 5:15PM
Filed under: Celebrity Interviews, Cinematical

She's won every acting award there is, reigned onscreen as three different queens and since 2003 has served as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Needless to say, Dame Helen Mirren is a living treasure of stage and screen, and had been long before becoming a household name on this side of the Atlantic with her Academy Award-winning turn in 2006's 'The Queen.'

Still, it's been particularly gratifying to see Mirren shrug off that Oscar-anointed monarchic image in the last few years, in which we've seen her gallivant around Mt. Rushmore ('National Treasure: Book of Secrets'), dazzle as the wife of Tolstoy ('The Last Station'), embark on an affair with a younger man while running a brothel ('Love Ranch') and voice an icy, evil animated owl ('Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'). (Of course, she's no stranger to making daring artistic choices or embracing her seductive side; look no further than Tinto Brass's 'Caligula' for proof.)

Cinematical was honored to sit briefly with Dame Helen Mirren to discuss gun control, Harvey Pekar, and her role in this week's action comedy 'Red,' in which she continues to surprise and delight as an ex-sniper pulled out of cozy retirement alongside Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich.
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Actors We Miss: Mako

By Jen Yamato (Subscribe to Jen Yamato's posts), Posted Sep 25th 2010 2:03PM
Filed under: Columns, Cinematical

As a child I wasn't consciously aware of the Asian faces I saw on TV and in the movies, though my awareness grew as I grew into my teenage years and beyond. Eventually, I took notice of the Asian and Asian American actors who seemed to get screen work most often -- most prominently, folks like Pat Morita, James Hong and Tamlyn Tomita, who seemed to be increasingly hard to find after her promising debut in the late '80s and early '90s.

Of course I loved iconic characters like Morita's famous Mr. Miyagi, as much for the ethnocentric pride that 'The Karate Kid' and 'The Karate Kid Part II' stirred in me as for the more general appreciation stemming from the fact that I was a child of the '80s and loved just about all of the decade's glorious coming-of-age films. Morita himself surely deserves a dedicated column, but I'd like to highlight another of the great Japanese American character actors who put a face to the underrepresented minority on stage, film and television: Makoto "Mako" Iwamatsu.
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'Easy A' Director Will Gluck on Teen Sex and '80s Fantasy Boyfriends

By Jen Yamato (Subscribe to Jen Yamato's posts), Posted Sep 18th 2010 8:02PM
Filed under: Celebrity Interviews, Cinematical
Emma Stone appears poised for stardom in this week's 'Easy A,' a comedy about a high school student who doesn't give a damn about her (made-up) bad reputation until her small town classmates completely turn on her. Cinematical caught up with director Will Gluck ('Fired Up!'), the man responsible for giving Stone her much-deserved break-out role, to share our mutual love for Emma Stone, talk teen sexuality, and find out more about his next film, the Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis romantic comedy 'Friends with Benefits.'

Along the way we managed to take a few detours into 'Sixteen Candles' fandom, because, let's face it; no fan of '80s cinema should ever pass up the opportunity to compare notes on the real life Jake Ryan (real name: Michael Schoeffling). Read on for all this and more, including how Gluck sees Kunis and Timberlake as the new Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn and how he really feels about Twitter, Facebook, and texting.

First of all, I love Emma Stone. Thank you for giving her a starring vehicle.

Isn't she great?

How did you cast her and how did you know she was the one for the part?

All the adjectives that Emma Stone has ... I was looking for Emma Stone. She's such a big, huge part of this movie. When she auditioned for me, I told every actress to go home and do any scene in the movie on a webcam and email it to me. Four hours later Emma emails me the confessional scene -- that's actually going to be on the DVD -- and I walked over to the studio with it, pushed play, and said "Here she is." And they said, "You're right!"' It was that easy.
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Stars in Rewind: Emma Stone, VH1 Reality Star

By Jen Yamato (Subscribe to Jen Yamato's posts), Posted Sep 17th 2010 5:15PM
Filed under: Cinematical


She may squeeze laughs out of compulsively crooning Natasha Bedingfield's irritatingly catchy "Pocketful of Sunshine" in this week's 'Easy A,' but once upon a time Emma Stone sang those kinds of easy listening ditties in earnest.

On national television.

Competing for the chance to play ... Laurie Partridge?

The year was 2004, and Stone (then going by her given name, Emily) was a competitor on the VH1 reality show 'In Search of the New Partridge Family.' The 'American Idol'-esque competition had audiences call in to vote on who they wanted cast in VH1's planned 'Partridge Family' reboot, but of course that was a terrible idea -- except for the fact that Stone won, beating out seven other wannabe Laurie Partridges for the role on the quickly-cancelled 'The New Partridge Family' series, and in doing so earned her first credited screen role.

Reviews of the reality competition were only slightly better than the reaction to the pilot episode that resulted. One reality TV recapper for Reality News Online described Stone's rendition of Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" thusly: "[Stone's] performance can be summed up in one word -- karaoke." OUCH. Later in the review, the writer criticizes Stone's dramatic acting challenge, in which she "totally misses the essence of Laurie." Luckily for Stone, 'Superbad' was only a few years away.

Unfortunately, video evidence of Stone's reality TV days are difficult to find (shocking!) but thankfully, we found one. Below the jump, behold Emma Stone and co-finalist Alexis Mero performing a duet of Pat Benatar's "We Belong" as images of the O.G. Laurie Partridge, Susan Dey, play on a screen behind them.

("Pocketful of Sunshine" isn't sounding so terrible anymore, is it?)
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