Sundance Portraits Make Me Smile and/or Quiver

At the start of this years Sundance Film Festival founder Robert Redford pronounced that this year would see a return to it's roots and that it would again enable unknown filmmakers to find an audience. That declaration remains to be seen and will be debated by much cleverer people than me in the weeks and months to come. I am pretty much here to post pictures of people I like and ridicule posted images of those I don't like. This specific post is more on the love side....

Let's begin with 2 of my absolute fave indie queens. On the left we have the amazing Catherine Keener - a staple at film festivals. One of the most respected working actors around, she never seems allows herself to be sucked in by the Hollyweird bullsh*t. She is with Oliver Platt - her costar in the upcoming film Cyrus. On the right is one hi-larious lady - Parker Posey. She has been in a ton of films, I especially loved her the Christopher Guest movies - Best In Show, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind. She was also too funny in Scream 3....do not judge my love of the Scream Trilogy. I will fight you on this. Parker was not promoting anything at Sundance this year - she was one of the judges.

Next up is my girl crush Kristen Stewart who is the indisputable Princess of the festival with 2 films showing. The top right picture is with her director Jake Scott and co-star Melissa Leo from Welcome to the Riley's. The other pictures, of course, are with her costar Dakota Fanning as well the totally bad ass Joan Jet and Cherie Currie who Kristen and Dakota are playing in The Runaways. I have already written a ton of stuff about both these films, so won't say anthing further.

I have already posted candid pictures of my new favourite imaginary couple Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. I love these pictures, although they do make me rather distracted. And I have already had to wipe the drool off of my keyboard once this week... I don;t want to do it again. Their film Blue Valentine is getting good reviews and looks like it will get picked up. Yay!

Cute boys in flannel, dirty jeans and boots are always a good thing in my mind..... Oh James Franco, another many who makes me quiver in my nether regions. Howl was one of the first films screened at the Festival this year and seems to have gotten decent (but not fantastic) reviews. It has a great cast (including the dreamy Jon Hamm, Bob Balaban, Mary Louise Parker & David Strathairn) and a very interesting premise. On the right is the Orlando Bloom - who still makes me quiver - and Juliette Lewis who are costarring in Mark Rufallo's film Sympathy for Delicious about a newly paralysed DJ who seeks out a world of faith healing. Hmmm. Interesting!!

Sarah Polley is the Queen of Canada's indy film scene and an Oscar nominee. She is pictures here with her director for the thriller Splice. No specific reason why she is included in this set of pics. I just admire her a lot. Such a young and talented young lady! I adore Naomi Watts. Ever since Brides of Christ and Hey Dad! - which unless you are an Aussie you will have no idea what I am talking about. She is very very very talented. Her movie Mother and Child looks very interesting. Watts plays the daughter of Anette Benning who was given up for adoption by Benning when she was born. It also costars Kerry Washington, Samuel L Jackson, David Morse and Jimmy Smitts. The few reviews I have read are all positive, which is a good! I also just saw on IMDb that Watts is signed on for a remake of The Birds - inspired casting if you ask me!

Last up is a group of Aussie actors who were in town for their crime drama film Animal Kingdom. Guy Pearce is probably the best known of the cast, but was not in Sundance sadly. But Ben Mendelsohn was. I heart him. Very well known and respected in my home and native Australia. Not so much elsewhere. He has had a number of smallish roles in some films, but nothing substantial. He did costar in one of my favourite movies from Australia - The Year My Voice Broke - such a good movie!!! The chick - Jackie Weaver - at the front is best known to me for being married to a very well known personality in Australia (Bert Newton). But she has also done a ton of TV and Film work in Oz. She was actually the one I initially recognised in this picture for some bizarre reason!

All of these shots are from the EW Photo Studio - an annual tradition at Sundance. I am such a fan of these shots and the photographer - Ture Lillegraven. Sundance wraps up over the weekend and then the focus will be on Tuesday's Oscar nominations. I am finally going to see Crazy Heart over the weekend. I may actually write a quick review - it has been a while!

XO

Channing Tatum Has an Owie on his Package.

Sadly, Channing Tatum does not have fond memories of his time filming his latest soldiering movie The Eagle of the Ninth in Scotland recently. It was cold, wet, physically demanding, he was away from his wife.....oh and a crew member poured boiling water on his penis. Yes you read that correctly. Scalding hot water was poured on his penis, and Channing not only filled Details magazine in on the particulars of what happened, he also showed the lucky reporter photos of said burnt penis.

According to the magazine, "Tatum was pretend-soldiering one raw, wet October day in the Scottish Highlands. The action required him to wade in ice-cold water, which, despite a high-tech wetsuit, could be withstood for only a few minutes. "The only way to keep warm was by pouring a mix of boiling water and river water down your suit. We were finally done shooting for the day, and one of the crew guys asks if I want to warm up before I go. I'm like, Nah, I'm good. And then I thought, Why not? Thing is, he'd forgotten to dilute the kettle water. So he poured scalding water down my suit. And I was trying to pull the suit away from my body to somehow get away from the boiling water, and the more I pulled the suit away, the lower the water went. It just went straight down and pretty much burned the skin off the head of my dick."

Tatum was rushed to the nearest hospital—an hour away. Before long, the ice pack he was applying to the burn lost its chill. "I said to the driver, who was ex-special-forces Marines, 'You might have to knock me out, because I don't know if I can take the pain. Just grab something and hit me on the back of my head.'" Morphine finally KO'd the agony, and a team of doctors salved and bandaged his wound. "I had five guys looking at my shriveled, burned penis," he says proudly."

I am trying not to laugh about this one. I can imagine that having scalding hot water poured onto a penis would hurt like a son of a bitch. But come. Can you imagine that crew member, going home to his/her wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend and when being asked "How was work dear?" having to confess to that. "It was great, until I poured a kettle of boiling water down the star of the movie's wetsuit, burning the skin off his penis". Come on. It is a little funny. Really really really funny.

Many many people in the world find this man very very attractive. I personally do not. He just doesn't do it for me. And now he has a burnt penis. And he drinks Coors Lite. Case closed.

XO

PS: Penis penis penis. I think I hadn't said the word penis enough in this wee post. PENIS.

Until We Meet Again...

In all my many years of watching the TV, I do not recall hearing the phrase "fall finale" as often as I have this year. Apparently it is the fault of the 2010 Olympics. Pfft. But so many of my shows do not have new episodes until "next year"...with some, such as the awesome Glee... not coming back until April.

April. That is 4 fricking months. And the Olympics don't even start until February and will be over by Mid March (assuming you include the Paralympics - which most people probably don't). Until that time I will have to be content rewatching the fall finale over and over again (yay for my PVR) and scouring the interwebs for clips from the shows.

Speaking of, did you watch the finale on Wednesday? A-mazing right? Lea Michelle doing Rain on My Parade was effing genius. Audio above. Phenomenal. Fantastic. Pick a superlative and throw it in there. And for some inspired casting, do you not think that Barbra Streisand, who immortalised the song in "Funny Girl" would be perfect as Rachel Barry's birth grandmother (or possibly her birth mother if they had really really good make up and/or lighting). Video below from the movie - leaves me speechless every time.

I had actually wanted the amazing Idina Menzel to be Rachel's birth mother (if you were not aware, Rachel has two adoptive daddies). But she is *this* close to signing on as the coach of New Direction's rival for Regionals (along with Lea's costar from Spring Awakenings - Jonathon Groff as the male Rachel in the rival glee club). Perhaps they could consider a shocking end of season twist where it is discovered that Rachel and the yet to be named coach of the rival club are actually mother and daughter? Oh happiness. Oh Glee. Here is Idina singing the same song - live - in 2008 at the Kennedy Centre Honors.

I am not making any comparsions. I will leave that to others. It is 3 amazingly, phenomenally talented singers. I wish I had one iota of their talent.


Until April, I will just have to console myself with these pictures of the boys of Glee, which will be featured in an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair. These are not the actual pictures, obviously. Just pap shots of the shoot. I wonder if they are getting the Cover? That would be pretty cool. They would be like the Twilight cast of the small screen.

Is it April yet?


XO

Meet Charlotte Grace Prinze

Just under 2 months ago we learned that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr had welcomed their first child - daughter Charlotte Grace - into the world. At that time, I wondered when we would get our first glimpse of this new family. Well, we had to wait just under 2 months. 2 months is not bad. And they seem to have quite the relationship with People magazine who not only broke the story of Charlotte's birth, but also have the exclusive photos and interview with the happy family.

And all I can say is OMG!!! Cuteness. She is so completely and utterly adorable. And Sarah and Freddie seemed to have settled into their new roles quite nicely. Apparently Sarah went into labour at the gym, but dismissed it as the repercussions of a spicy meal the night before. Wowsers!

In the article Sarah speaks of her "mom brain" - how she forgets everything unless it is written down, how "peaceful" Charlotte's birth was - aided in large part by the epidural she had, and how becoming a mother has helped her lose some of her Type A tendencies. Centred, grounded and peaceful are words that come up a lot in this article.

This press shy couple have been married for 7 years - and state that they chose to wait what many would consider a long time before having a family because they were too selfish in their twenties to bring a child into the world. I love this response - that they waited - not only to get the crazy selfish twenties out of the way, but to also ensure that they had a strong foundation in which to raise a family. Such old souls!

Charlotte Grace is a lucky little girl. This beautiful child has what seems like two very grounded parents who would do anything for her. I am looking forward to seeing Charlotte grow up! I am also very excited to see her daddy on the new season of 24 in January. Also can't wait for Sarah's return to TV on The Wonderful Maladys..... although their are rumours that it no longer has a home. To which I say to HBO - Boo f*cking hiss to you!

Strangely, People has chosen to not post the interview or photos online. Not sure why. It also took me an age to find these photos and a scan of the article. Huge thanks to smg-italia.com for the scans. Good job guys!

XO

Kristen Stewart would like to go for a walk

Interview magazine has a great habit of having celebrities interview other celebrities. Jack Nicholson interviewed January Jones. Jake Gyllenhaal interviewed Natalie Portman. And to celebrate Interview's 40th anniversary, Dennis Hopper interviewed one Kristen Stewart. This not only a great interview, but these photos are a-mazing. I believe this is the first and so far only shoot that Kristen has done with her Joan Jett inspired black mullet that many in the media and many more twi-hards have mocked. Try ridiculing her now! She looks stunning. And the accompanying article is further evidence of how together this girl is.

K-Stew seems shocked that someone of the calibre of Dennis Hopper would want to interview her. Hopper's response is yet again a testament to how the heavy weight's in Hollyweird feel about her talent as an actress.

"HOPPER: Well, you’re a really good actress. And my daughter is your biggest fan, so I thought, What the hell? [laughs] I usually don’t do this, either. But you must be going through a lot right now, the way Twilight is hitting. You must have no peace at all.
STEWART: The sad thing is that I feel so boring because Twilight is literally how every conversation I have these days begins—whether it’s someone I’m meeting for the first time or someone I just haven’t seen in a while. The first thing I want to say to them is, “It’s insane! And, as a person, I can’t do anything!” But then I think to myself, God damn it, shut the f*ck up."

HOPPER: [both laugh] You know, you’re giving really wonderful performances. Since you didn’t know you’d be making sequels when you were making the first Twilight, has it been difficult for you to get back into character for these new ones?
STEWART: I’ve actually always been interested in following a character more long term, but the only place to really do that as an actor is on a TV series. But the Twilight series is cool because you know what’s ahead of you—all of the books have been written. And I get breaks in between. It’s sort of a depressing thing to lose a character just when you’ve been able to get to know her. Usually, at the end of a film it’s like I’ve finally gotten to know this person completely, and then we’re done. That actually happened on the set of Twilight, and then it happened again on New Moon. Each time my character Bella became a different person, and I got to know that person and take her to the next level.
HOPPER: Have you been able to enjoy it? Or do you feel more pressure doing these sequels?
STEWART: I do feel more of a pressurized strain than what is typical for me. Usually, what drives you is your own personal responsibility to the script and the character and the people you are working with. But in this case, I have a responsibility not only to that but to everyone who has personal involvement in the books—and now that spans the world. It’s an insane concept. There are certain things in Twilight . . . As much as I’m proud of that movie and I do like it, I feel like maybe I brought too much of myself to the character. I feel like I really know Bella now. But most readers feel like they know Bella because it’s a first-person narrative. She’s like a little vessel and everyone experiences the story through her. All of these girls who are fans personally feel like they encapsulate that character. So it’s like, “How the hell am I going to do that for all of them? It’s impossible!” But I’ve decided, if you’re just unabashedly honest all of the time, you have nothing to be ashamed of.
HOPPER: These Twilight books have some dark material.
STEWART: But the movies aren’t that dark, as much as we’d all have loved to have made those films. But as pretty as it is to watch and as nice as it is to have watched these two characters find solace in each other, everything around them is absolute chaos. I mean, you have to question their motivations—to watch two people so unhealthily devoted to each other . . . I stand behind everything that they do. I have to justify it in my mind, or else I couldn’t play the character. But they are definitely not the most pragmatic characters. The weirdest f*cking themes run through this story—like dominance and masochism. I mean, you always have to realize that the story needs to make sense to the 11-year-olds who read the book and aren’t necessarily going to be viewing a scene as foreplay. But then there is the other segment of the audience—a large percentage—who does see the scene as foreplay. And it’s pretty deep, heady foreplay. [laughs] So it’s fun to play it both ways. I mean, I don’t know what it feels like to make out with my vampire boyfriend because it isn’t something that anybody has ever felt. But it’s funny to think that a lot of the audience is 10 years old and will maybe one day grow up to realize there are a lot of involved thoughts in Twilight that they didn’t see before.
HOPPER: Well, you’re getting a lot of attention.
STEWART: Yeah, it’s weird. There’s an idea about who I am that’s eternally projected onto me, and then I almost feel like I have to fulfill that role. Even when things come out of my mouth, I want to be sure I’m saying exactly what I mean. All I’m thinking of is the fact that everything that I say is going to be criticized—not criticized, just evaluated and analyzed. And it’s always something that matters so much to me that doesn’t come out right. But in terms of how my life has changed, I never really went out a whole lot before. I’m sort of an in-my-head kind of person. I wish I could take more walks . . .
HOPPER: You can’t take walks?
STEWART: I’d like to take more walks after work, instead of having to come back to my hotel room and not leave. So it can be boring. I’ve been working as an actress since I was very young, and I know a lot of people who are actors who don’t have to deal with having a persona . . . You know, if you look up the word persona, it isn’t even real. The whole meaning of the word is that it’s made up, and it’s like I didn’t even get to make up my own. It can be annoying. But I have a really strong feeling that this is going to go away, that this is the most intense it’s going to get—and could get—and that it’s fleeting. So in a few years, I will hopefully become more like the people I want to become like.
HOPPER: Does it bother you to see yourself in the tabloids?
STEWART: There’s nothing you can do about it, to be honest. I don’t leave my hotel room—literally, I don’t. I don’t talk to anybody about my personal life, and maybe that perpetuates it, too. But it’s really important to own what you want to own and keep it to yourself. That said, the only way for me not to have somebody know where I went the night before is if I didn’t go out at all. So that’s what I’m trading. It depends what mood I’m in. Some nights, I think, “You know what? I don’t care. I’m just going to do what I want to do.” Then the next day I think, “Ugh.Now everyone thinks I’m going out to get the attention.” But it’s like, no, I actually, for a second, thought that maybe I could be like a normal person.

HOPPER: Did you go to school while you were working as a kid?
STEWART: I went to public school up until junior high. I know it’s a little late and I’m a little old, but I just finished high school—with honors. The other day I was doing a graduation scene on Eclipse, and I had just finished high school myself the week before, so I told the crew, “Hey, just so you know, I’m actually graduating right now, and I’m not going to have another ceremony.” So I took a mock picture with an extra. I literally asked the actor to come back and shake my hand and hand me the diploma while I was dressed in a cap and gown."

This is a great interview. Kristen comes across as very self assured, but not arrogant. She understand the pitfalls of the position she is in but does not come across as a whiny brat. Again she demonstrates to me why she is the perfect person to play Bella Swan. She has a ton of respect for the character and I honestly think she has a greater understanding of the character than anyone short of the author herself. She seems to take every role extremely seriously (which is a good thing), but she also seems to put a ton of pressure on herself in every role. She completely understands how invested in the character of Bella Swan the die-hard fans are and acknowledges that she will likely disappoint a few with her portrayal.

I can't stress enough how much I am I girl-crush mode over this girl I hope that, as she hopes, the hype dies down a little soon and she is able to go for a walk....

See the full interview in October's Issue of Interview on stands soon (if not now)

XO

LA Times visits New Moon Set

The Twilight Saga New Moon comes out in less than 2 months. Squee! Still incredibly hopeful that I will be able to take the day off work and go to a matinee with my girls, bottle of wine in hand. There is sadly a slight chance I may have a work event that I can't get out of and have no actual control over. Ugh. We shall see.

The LA Times has released a ton of photos taken on the Vancouver set of New Moon this Spring.

These pics are so f*cking promising. Rob and Kristen look phenomenal with the exception of that ugly ass jacket that Kris is wearing. I know it is a left-over from Twilight, maybe there will be a ritual burning of anything that reminds her of Edward, cause that is one hideous frumpy piece of outerwear! I love the one in the top in the middle, where there is a ton of light on Rob & Kristen. Beautiful right? And the one of Rob getting his lips touched up. Sigh......I threw in one photo of young Mr Lautner for those on Team Jacob. Yes, the kid looks good half nekkid....but still... meh.

One of my good friends lives in Port Moody, where they were filming something at a police station today. Rob was on set. Apparently there were thousands (which I will take to mean close to 100 as there is a tendency to exaggerate) of girls screaming and holding their camera phones ready to get a shot of Rob. In April, I may have been a teeny tiny bit into something like that. Now, not so much. Not even at all.

I think I have made a major breakthrough. I am still a pathetic loser. But at least I am not a pathetic loser who stalks sets right?

XO