In Bigger, Stronger, Faster, a big hit at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, documentarian Christopher Bell takes a hard look at steroid culture and the bad rap it gets from mainstream America, tackling the Western obsession with body image. Clocking in just under two hours, Bell's sprawling overview deals with the impact of 1980's pop culture icons like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, then dives into the gritty details of steroid usage in sports and the recent congressional hearings where baseball players were reprimanded on national television.

Bell doesn't view the issue in black-and-white terms: His own brothers, featured in the film, continually use steroids to enhance their bodybuilding careers. Contrasting the personal with the political, Bigger, Stronger, Faster diagnoses a distinctly American malady. Cinematical spoke with Bell last week in New York, where Bigger, Stronger, Faster has been screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. The movie opens May 30.

Cinematical: The movie tackles a major issue that many Americans have strong opinions about, but it also has a personal component because of your family's story. What's it been like facing the growing public awareness of the film?

Christopher Bell: It's so rewarding to hear, "Hey, you made a good movie. Thanks for telling the truth." We haven't really been criticized or attacked by anybody. There was one woman at Sundance who really upset about 'roid rage, saying that we glossed over it. I think we actually explained it pretty well.

If you happen to be in the Washington D.C. area next February and are tired of seeing the usual tourist sites like The Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument or The White House, I've got an event you may want to take in -- especially if you're a fan of Hollywood executives pushing their agendas and complaining about how technological innovation, among other things, is destroying their bottom line. What not-to-be-missed event am I talking about? Glad you asked. Please, read on.

On February 9th, 2007 the motion picture industry will begin its assault on the new congress by staging a daylong series of conferences called "The Business of Show Business" designed to "educate" law and policy makers about how great and important the entertainment industry is. Dan Glickman, MPAA CEO had this to say about the event: "Policymakers need to understand more clearly the economic power of the movies, the incredible risk and investment involved in making a movie and challenges we face as an industry. An important event such as this is long overdue in Washington."

Some of the items on the agenda for the event include panel discussions on such topics as entertainment in the digital age, the impact of piracy and the economics of show business. Speakers at the event representing Hollywood and its interests include Peter Chernin, chairman and CEO of Fox, Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. and Ron Meyer, president and COO of Universal. So, powerful people with really long titles who basically run Hollywood -- and who have the most to lose if the industry continues to go South (economically speaking). In truth, I have a hard time feeling sorry for the studios because, in many ways, they are the cause of their own problems. But no matter what your feelings about the current state of Hollywood, this event really sounds like a good time, doesn't it? Sign me up.

[Via The Hollywood Reporter]

Once again, the ever-vigilant House of Representatives has passed a bill (the Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act) containing a provision that will bring any movie "that contains a simulated sex scene...under the same government-filing requirements that adult films have to meet." Were the bill to pass the Senate, it would require movie studios to file an affidavit with the government for each simulated sex scene, listing the names and ages of the actors who appear. When the films appeared on DVD, each one would feature a sticker, certifying that the movie complied with the filing laws, and giving information about where the affidavits could be found. While the reason for such a system regulating pornography is abundantly clear, applying it to the simulated sex scenes found in mainstream film and television seems like an outrageous overreach, not to mention a massive waste of time (someone, after all, is going have to fill out all those forms). In addition, the measure has drawn protests from the MPAA (!) and SAG, among others, who feel that the proposed regulation "is a bad idea for legitimate business and could actually undo the current adult-film industry reporting requirements as it is likely to face a court challenge if it becomes law."

When the House passed a similar bill last year, the presence of a hate crimes element made it difficult to deal with, and the measure never came up in the Senate; there is no such element in this bill.