Defamer Tagged Articles at Cinematical
The Rocchi Review -- Live from LAFF with Stu VanAirsdale of Defamer
Filed under: Podcasts », The Rocchi Review: Online Film Community Podcast », Los Angeles Film Festival »
How do you jump from one of New York's best-loved insightful film blogs to a L.A.-based weblog better known for bite than brain? What's it like to blog the Oscars for Vanity Fair? What will it take to have big-studio publicity recognize the online world? And what are some of the standout films and special selections at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival? Joining us this week live from one of L.A's most hallowed cultural institutions -- The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf -- to talk about all these topics and more is Stu VanAirsdale, Senior Editor at Defamer and the founder of The Reeler. Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:
As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.
Herzog Responds to 'Bad Lieutenant' Backlash
Filed under: Action », Drama », Independent », Thrillers », Casting », Deals », Cannes », Noir », Celebrities and Controversy », Movie Marketing »
Things weren't so peaceful in the movie buff land when word got out a few weeks ago that Werner Herzog plans to remake Bad Lieutenant with Nicolas Cage in the lead role. Even noted trash auteur Abel Ferrara publicly complained about having his work redone. Bad Lieutenant isn't anybody's idea of a good time: Harvey Keitel puts on a freakishly raunchy performance. Still, it definitely sounds like Herzog's pumped about the gig. Defamer cornered the director in New York today for a few questions about the project, and the responses are kind of amazing. Herzog tends to do a great job of explaining himself, no matter what crazy scheme he has cooked up, but the best part of this interview arrives when the guy claims utter cluelessness about Ferrara's work. Way to stick it to the source material. To hear Herzog tell it, his version of Bad Lieutenant isn't a remake, although he wouldn't know, since it sounds like hasn't actually seen the original. However, he says that Cage's character's name and the plot are entirely new. Herzog apparently liked the "very, very dark story," written by William M. Finkelstein, and he can't wait to work with Cage (given Herzog's notorious appreciation of Anna Nicole Smith, this last bit actually makes sense). Hearing about Ferrara's discontent, Herzog just eggs him on: "Let him fight the windmills, like Don Quixote." It's a feud made in heaven, almost too good to be true. You might just call it ecstatic truth.
Top: Early poster art for the new 'Bad Lieutenant,' snapped at the Cannes Film Festival last month.
Another 'Valkyrie' Film to Challenge Cruise Film Prospects
Filed under: Action », Casting », Deals », New Releases », Cannes », Celebrities and Controversy », Box Office », Distribution », The Weinstein Co. », Tom Cruise », Movie Marketing »
When two movies with similar plots hit theaters around the same time, it usually just reveals the vapidity of Hollywood formula (as was the case when Deep Impact and Armageddon came out a few months apart). The situation changes, however, when the subject matter has far more thematic weight. Defamer's S.T. VanAirsdale points out the potential conflict brewing now that The Weinstein Company has picked up U.S. theatrical, DVD and television rights to the 2004 German film Operation Valykrie, a dramatization of the failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hilter during World War II. Sound familiar? That's because Bryan Singer's upcoming 2009 release, Valkyrie, tells precisely the same story, with Tom Cruise in the role of would-be assassin Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg. In the German movie, the character is played by Sebastian Koch, the debonair star of The Lives of Others and Paul Verhoeven's Black Book. In addition to the overlapping content, VanAirsdale points out another potential conflict: Koch's female co-star in Black Book, the alluring Carice van Houten, stars opposite Cruise in Valkyrie, creating the sort of meaty overlap that money can buy. Harvey Weinstein's no slouch when it comes to instigating controversy, but his company hasn't exactly had the best of luck with its recent daring titles (few turned out for Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?). Personal drama has impacted Cruise's films before, but this might be the rare case where he would have nothing to do with it.
Picturehouse on the Way Out?
Filed under: New Releases », Executive shifts », New Line », Warner Brothers », Warner Independent Pictures », RumorMonger », Distribution », Other Festivals »
Near the end of last week, Defamer spread the rumor that Picturehouse, once the indie arm of New Line Cinema and currently dangling from the edge of the hulking entity known as Warner Bros., has its days numbered. Now that New Line is history and Warners, like many studios, has faced increasing cutbacks, it may give short shrift to the shingles responsible for handling artier fare. Along with Picturehouse, this also includes Warner Independent Pictures, whose recent release slate includes David Gordon Green's magnificent Snow Angels. Defamer suggested that Picturehouse president Bob Berney might wind up at WIP or head up a new, currently anonymous company. On Friday, Variety's Anne Thompson put it in more coherent terms: It appears quite likely that WIP and Picturehouse will merge together as a single company, with current WIP president Polly Cohen working alongside Berney. Whatever happens, let's just hope that the final result still leaves room for the sharp selection of independent and foreign titles that Picturehouse has handled since its birth three years ago. Defamer points out that Marion Cotillard's unexpected Oscar win for La Vie en Rose matters less than the flop of Run, Fatboy, Run, while the John Simpson-directed horror film Amusement might get dumped on DVD. It was just last year, however, that the company helped edgy fare like The Orphanage and Rocket Science get the sort of release most studios would never try. Let's hope that bravery lives on, somewhere.
Rewinding Click?
Filed under: Comedy », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Sony », Scripts », New in Theaters », Remakes and Sequels »
They say there are no new ideas in Hollywood -- and that, it seems, goes double for Adam Sandler films. While you won't find the words 'magic remote control' in Aristotle's Poetics, it seems that the central pitch of Click is hardly fresh. In a link located at Defamer, the Ironic Sans blog is listing a detailed enumeration of all the prior iterations of the 'magical remote' storyline from Click -- from the Jetsons to The Twilight Zone to The Simpsons, but not the Tom Poston film Zotz, which Pat mentioned in the comments here. And has anyone brought up Cashback yet? Cinematical readers, can you think of any mystical remote films they missed? Are there any other recent films you've seen with too-familiar plotlines? And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then why do people get fired for plagiarism?
Sundance Blog Roundup: First Paris Hilton sighting, Bai Ling gyrating, and (gasp!) a movie review!
Filed under: Sundance », Festival Reports »
Some Sundance posts from around the blogosphere. - Bai Ling gyrating in public with Lizzie Grubman--nuf said.
- Spin and Stir reviews Black Gold
- A photo essay of furry boots at Sundance--cute.
- I don't know what iMeem actually is, but they may have the first Paris Hilton sighting.
- Mark is a great blogger, but he needs to get Nick to shoot the lock off his wallet and spring for a decent camera!
- PSA, You're going to read this blog post 100x this week: "We waited for two hours inside of a cold tent. They didn't let us in.."
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The International 'Iron Man 2' Poster Subtracts a Suit
Robert Duvall as Don Quixote?
Sundance Announces the 2010 US and World Competition Lineups!
3D Sequels for 'Zombieland' and 'Jackass' Confirmed
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