CliftonCollinsJr Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Following a packed advance screening of Extract, the new comedy by Mike Judge, in Dallas, Texas last night, the writer / filmmaker / animator was asked about his previous effort, Idiocracy. He admitted his disappointment that the film was so little publicized for its limited theatrical release three years ago: "When it opened in, like eight cities, someone told me that you couldn't look it up on Moviefone under its title," he related. "[The studio] didn't even want to pay the eight bucks or whatever to get a listing, so you had to search for 'Untitled Mike Judge Film' to find out where it was playing." Our own Jette Kernion wrote about the lack of publicity at the time.

Fortunately, Judge noted that Idiocracy has sold well on DVD, and Extract should be much easier to find when it opens on Friday, September 4. If I describe it as Judge's best work so far, it's not because he's "grown up" or "become more mature"; the film features some of his darkest comedy yet. Extract is very much a part of the Mike Judge Universe, where decent men enjoy working for a living but dream of escaping some day (Jason Bateman), where good women sometimes go bad (Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis), and where most everyone is good-hearted but dumber than a pet rock (Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons, Clifton Collins, Jr.). In other words, Extract is another funny, unpredictable comedy featuring recognizable, everyday people, like the guy who's sleeping on your couch right now, drinking two-liter bottles of Pepsi and watching TV all day.

More tidbits from the Q&A after the jump.

In the absence of anything official from the land of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, we must report on the tiniest tidbit we can. The latest "scoop" comes from E! Online and the mouth of Clifton Collins Jr., who plays Ayel the Romulan.

"Me and Eric [Bana] are the new Romulans," Collins said. "They had a linguist come in and invent Romulan!" Does that mean that Bana's Nero is a Romulan? There was much Trekkie buzz over Nero's funky ears on the first character posters, as well as writer Alex Kurtzman's explanation of them to UGO: "Nero isn't necessarily a Romulan ... It's all part of the plot." Perhaps "new" Romulans fall into that "not necessarily" category?

You will ponder more than that, thanks to Collins' description of what these new Romulans look like -- they may actually be inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean. "We're space pirates," Collins explained. "Think of Johnny Depp as a Romulan." That means eyeliner, doesn't it? Gobs and gobs of black eyeliner, the key accessory of all swashbucklers. No, in all fairness, E! is probably just stretching the quote a bit -- but it does explain the wicked tattoo Nero is sporting.

There will also be some surprise cameos in Trek, Collins wouldn't say who, but he dropped a hint. "There are certain things that as kids growing up, whether it's Star Trek or other shows at the time, all you got to do is really just hear their voice and your heart warms." Will the heart-warming voices belong to characters or actors from the original series? "Maybe." And that's all the news from the land of Trek, readers. Now it's time to amuse yourselves by trying to guess who the thrilling cameos could be! By the time we narrow it down, we may have an actual still or (gasp!) a trailer to discuss. Hey, a girl can hope.

Star Trek opens May 8th, 2009. Many, many, tiny stories from now.

The long-in-the-works Edgar Allan Poe biopic may be a step closer to getting produced. Cinemablend is reporting this as an "unconfirmed rumor," but it sounds like Viggo Mortensen may take on the juicy role of one of the most famous (and famously drug-addled) horror authors of all time. Who is writing and directing this biopic? Why, Sylvester Stallone, of course! The site's source says "Stallone has recently met with Viggo Mortensen and has offered him the role of Edgar Allan Poe in the film. Mortensen is considering the role although he wants some slight revisions in the script."

Since Stallone announced this project years ago, various actors have been mentioned as possible Poes. That list includes Robert Downey, Jr. and Johnny Depp, who certainly seem like fitting choices. The Cinemablend source also mentions that Clifton Collins, Jr. (Capote) and John Hawkes (American Gangster), two solid actors who look a lot like the author, are being considered should Viggo bail. Back in 1994, Stallone spoke about his Poe biopic with Interview. saying "I could probably produce it or direct it. I couldn't play Poe, because there's no way the baggage that I would bring to the role could ever be assimilated by the public. But I should do it, because it's the best thing that I've ever written, including Rocky or Paradise Alley." Stallone may consider the Poe screenplay his best, but what is his deepest and most profound script? Quoth The Raven, "Rocky Four."

Additionally, for more Stallone, USA Today has published a photo along with a lengthy article on the new Rambo film, due out early next year.

What do you do when a role gets you your first Oscar nod in 38 years? If you're the scene-stealing Alan Arkin, you follow it up with another similarly-titled movie. After the success of Little Miss Sunshine, he has just signed on to co-star in another sun-filled indie film -- the upcoming Sunshine Cleaning. In October, Kevin Kelly brought us word of Amy Adams' involvement in the film, which tells the story of Rose Lorkowski, a woman sick of cleaning other people's homes for little cash. Wanting to send her son, Oscar, to a private school and make more money, she starts a biohazard/crime scene clean-up business with her unreliable sister, Norah.

Since that post, Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) has officially signed on to co-star, along with Clifton Collins Jr. (the crazy drug dealer from Rules of Attraction). There is no word yet on who Arkin will play in the Christine Jeffs feature, but hopefully it won't be a repetitive role where Grandpa Arkin sits down with Oscar and counsels his grandson about the joys of having lots of young sex -- the kid is supposed to be an 8-year-old. Maybe Arkin will be a Gil Grissom-type crime scene investigator that the cleaning sisters always run into. We shouldn't have too long to find out. The flick will start shooting in Albuquerque next week.