Hollywoodland Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In an interview with Details Magazine, Ben Affleck comes off as a guy who's on his last set of legs. His last starring role was in the little-seen Hollywoodland, and before that he suffered through back-to-back bombs: Man About Town and Surviving Christmas. Now he's laying it all on the line with his first film behind the camera; his directorial debut, Gone, Baby, Gone. And if that movie doesn't do well, Ben says, "It's pretty simple. If people don't go see it -- I'm f**ked." Oh wait, he continues: "I feel like (Gone Baby Gone) is the linchpin for my life. My career. I have a lot riding on it. I want [the film] to work. Badly. I mean, a shitty movie comes out on 2,800 screens? I've been there and it's embarrassing."

So where does Ben think he went wrong? Well, part of it is due to his previous relationship with Jennifer Lopez. Ben admits, "It was probably bad for my career. What happens is this sort of bleed-over from the tabloids across your movie work. You go to a movie, you only go once. But the tabloids and Internet are everywhere." You're right Ben -- we are everywhere. But things are still looking pretty good for The Affleck; as of right now, his new movie is getting lots of buzz -- some are saying his brother Casey gives a terrific lead performance, and with help from The Assassination of Jesse James, we could be watching a new Affleck rise up to A-list status real soon. As far as Ben goes, we don't know what will happen to the guy after this film. Personally, I think he needs to re-team with Matt Damon on something, anything, but we'll see. Ben does admit that he might have to say goodbye to one thing he loves: his home in Los Angeles. "I'd be surprised if I'm still living here in a couple of years. Professionally it would be difficult. But that's not as important as that other thing."

Ben shot one of Moviefone's Unscripted pieces over the weekend alongside his brother Casey, and so I'm curious to see how he looks, and how he sounds. I'm worried about the guy. How about you?

[via SlashFilm]

Kind of a light week, but there seems to be just a little something for everyone this Tuesday: A classic piece of stand-up comedy, the first of two war films from Clint Eastwood, a family-friendly remake of an equine classic, yet another sequel to yet another J-horror remake, a Tara Reid horror movie that went straight-to-download, a noir-esque period piece mystery and an indie comedy about the dangers of wandering eyes.

Eddie Murphy: Delirious -- OK, so it debuted on HBO and not in theaters, but it's still one of the most drop-dead hilarious comedy concerts I've ever seen. Folks of my approximate generation still use phrases from this concert in everyday conversation! Most definitely NOT the Eddie Murphy you know from Dr. Dolittle, The Nutty Professor and Daddy Day Care, but a really, really funny Eddie Murphy. Remember that guy? I sure do. Extras include a pair of deleted scenes and a 40-minute interview between Byron Allen and the normally reclusive Mr. Murphy.

Flags of Our Fathers -- The first of Clint Eastwood's two WWII stories (the second one being Letters from Iwo Jima) is told from the American perspective. Critical consensus indicates that the second film is actually quite a bit more successful -- but it'd take a lot to keep me away from a new Clint Eastwood film, let alone two. Far as I can tell there are no extras whatsoever included on this DVD, which makes me think there'll be a big, swanky 2-disc edition somewhere down the line.

Flicka -- Alison Lohman, Maria Bello and Tim McGraw star in this cuddly sweet adaptation of the old-school "girl and a horse" story. Haven't seen it, have no real plans to, sorry. Extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, three deleted scenes, a gag reel and one of Mr. McGraw''s music videos.

If there is such a thing as a "Hollywood martyr" then Marilyn Monroe is probably the patron saint. She was the ultimate in cautionary tales about the destructive side of fame, but it doesn't always have to end so tragically. Ben Affleck's engagement to Jennifer Lopez and the gossip whirlwind that was "Bennifer" was an example of what happens when the gossip machine looks for fresh meat, and the results weren't pretty -- although, they might have been asking for it after that video. Now, that was brutal.

Affleck has begun to pull himself from the wreckage and is building credibility as an actor again for his work in Hollywoodland and Smokin' Aces. He'll also be making his directing debut with Gone, Baby, Gone. Affleck is steering clear of the high profile celebrity life and seems happier because of it. A profile from The New York Times Syndicate has Affleck musing on his brush with A-list fame: "Nothing is inside doing those things. It doesn't matter. I had to learn that by having my family that's what really matters. I'm lucky I was able to see the hollowness of fame, but I got pretty dinged up over the years." It looks like Affleck might have learned his lesson about keeping his private life out of his professional life, but Lopez certainly hasn't; since she stars opposite husband Marc Anthony in the upcoming biopic of singer Hector Lavoe (El Cantante) -- some people never learn.

Ok, show of hands please. How many of you were anxiously counting the days until Ben Affleck would again don the red tights and play "the man without fear" in a Daredevil sequel? Mmmm, nobody? Yeah, that's what I thought. Well, you're in luck because the chances of him ever being in a sequel to Daredevil (or a sequel ever being made at all) are pretty much zero.

According to remarks made by Affleck at the London premiere of his film Hollywoodland (in which he plays TV Superman George Reeves who, ironically, wore tights for a living) he has no intention of returning for a sequel to Daredevil and in fact, would not even consider playing another superhero again at all. "By playing a superhero in Daredevil, I have inoculated myself from ever playing another superhero," said Affleck. "Wearing a costume was a source of humiliation for me and something I wouldn't want to do again soon."

Interesting. So it was the costume that was humiliating to him? Not the fact that the movie was one of the worst comic book-to-film adaptations ever made? Or, that it was very poorly directed and had an excruciatingly amateurish script? Or, that Affleck's own performance, putting it delicately, sucked? No, I'm sure its none of those things that he needs to be embarrassed about. Must be the costume. Yeah, whatever.

Even though we don't have to worry about Affleck appearing in a Daredevil sequel and probably don't have to worry about a sequel to the film at all, we do have to worry about another film from the guy who directed Daredevil -- the upcoming Ghost Rider. Sorry to say, but from what I've seen so far, Ghost Rider looks like it may just knock Daredevil down a peg on the scoreboard of worst comic book-to-film adaptations -- no matter what Mark Steven Johnson might have to say on the subject. Gee, I wonder what (or who) Nicholas Cage will blame when Ghost Rider ends up being as bad (or worse) than Daredevil? The craft service guy?

[Via comic book movie]

Just because the Venice Film Festival has awarded Ben Affleck with a Best Actor prize (for Hollywoodland), don't expect the Oscars to follow suit. He likely won't even be in the running for the equivalent Academy Award since Focus Features and Affleck himself are pushing for his nomination in the Supporting Actor category instead. The festivals rarely distinguish between lead and supporting roles; they simply honor the best actor in a contending film. Sometimes they may choose to honor whole ensembles when they can't decide on one specific performer. But with the Oscars, there's a line to be drawn, even if that line isn't always easy to make out.

Oscar campaigning is all about politics. Focus will push for Affleck in the less important race because they think he may have a better shot there. Anyone who says it's because he has less screen-time than co-star Adrian Brody is lying. If candidacy for one category or the other was based on a strict length or percentage of time on screen, some nominations, and wins, just wouldn't happen. This is why non-leads like Meryl Streep and Forest Whitaker are being campaigned for in the lead category, even though they aren't the most prominent characters in their respective films. The Academy might as well just call the awards "Best Star" and "Best Slummer or Rising Star" since this is what the studios apparently consider them to be.

Affleck could still be nominated for, maybe even win, the Oscar for Best Actor, because in the end, it's up to the voters which category a person is put into. There isn't much chance of the voters going against the For Your Consideration ads, but there may be a small one. Anyway, in my opinion, Affleck should never get an acting Oscar unless it's for this NSFW performance. Since I just can't believe he could actually be so sleazy, he must have been doing some tremendous acting (of course, it is obviously too old to qualify for this year, but maybe they could play it in the clip reel when he gets his lifetime achievement statue).

With only $9 million, The Covenant took top spot at the box office this weekend, marking the lowest opening for a number one film in three years. Seriously, $9 million? Man, did anyone go to the movies this weekend? With its PG-13 rating, pic chased after a younger, boy band-ish demographic, however, three-quarters of the audience was 18 or older.

Ben Affleck and the name 'Superman' was enough to boost Hollywoodland ($6 million) into the weekend's number two spot, even though it opened about $1 million shy of what studio execs were expecting. After finishing first two weeks in a row, Disney's Invincible failed to stay ahead of the pack, falling to third place with $5.8 million. Tony Jaa's martial arts extravaganza, The Protector ($5 million), and Jason Statham's Crank ($4.8 million) rounded out the top five.

Full numbers after the jump.

After it was introduced late into competition, leaving many critics unable to screen the film, Jia Zhang-Ke's Still Life was awarded Venice's top prize, the Golden Lion. The film, which tells the story of two people searching for loved ones during the controversial Three Gorges Dam project, took a lot of folks by surprise when it won, even after the pic was shown to a packed house following the awards ceremony. Thus, many began to question the jury's decisions, who were originally split four to three over the top prize and had to hold an extra meeting on Saturday in order to make a final decision.

Oh, but the surprises did not stop there: In the Best Actor category, Ben Affleck won for his portrayal of George Reeves in Hollywoodland. Yes, Ben Affleck. With very little buzz surrounding his performance, I think it's safe to say this one came from way out in left field. In fact, the only award folks seemed to be in agreement with was the prize for Best Actress, which went to Helen Mirren for The Queen.

The tragedy of George Reeves' life, according to the badly-titled new film Hollywoodland, is not that he failed to parlay his small role in Gone with the Wind into a bankable film career. It's that, following rejection, he demeaned himself by turning to television. "Take the job. Cash the check," his sweaty agent tells him, and with head hung low, Reeves heads off to a shades-drawn casting office from which we expect to see a woman come running, holding her top on. He is offered the lead role in a silly kids' show about an alien with a bulletproof torso who pranks everyone into thinking he's a human named Clark Kent. Smelling disaster, Reeves, played by a bulky and subdued Ben Affleck, puts up a small fight. "I see myself as more of a villain," he mutters. But it's too late. They have their mark. He's quickly fitted into Superman's traditional gay matador-looking outfit -- stone-gray, instead of blue and red, since there's no need to waste on color -- and pushed in front of a nation of cowboy-hatted children. To his horror, they fall in love with him.

Hollywoodland seems giddy over the fact that it's beaten James Ellroy to the punch on a story that would fit snugly into his peek-under-the-skirt-of-post-war-L.A. milieu. That special gin of seediness and sadness that abounds in Ellroy's L.A. Quartet has been mixed with care here, and it fills every nook and cranny of the movie's L.A., from the dysfunctional suburban outliers to the simmering streets of inner Hollywood. It's a town where everyone you meet has "contents under pressure" stamped on their forehead. The pool in the center of a cheap, wrap-around motel seems built for drowning someone in. The only person standing near it is a man with a tangerine-colored tan, grimacing as he lifts weights alone in the hot sun. Inside one of the motel's rooms is Louis Simo, who's having an impenetrable three-way conversation with a man in a suit and a young lady. Simo, it turns out, is exactly the kind of private dick who meets strangers in low-rent motels like this one, to pour out and pick through their dirty laundry.

Before Hollywoodland's release, it may be time to study up a little on the mysterious death of George Reeves. Reeves, played by the one and only Ben Affleck, played Superman on television in the 1950s. In 1959, he was found dead of a gunshot wound -- which may have been self-inflicted, or otherwise. Personally, I think it's obvious: Orson Welles did it. All we have to do is establish motive and opportunity, and the proof will be right there.

As Kate Winslet says in Heavenly Creatures, Orson Welles is the most evil man who ever lived. We've seen him kill inumerable people on screen, and he was also skilled at faking deaths and planting evidence. One beyond-the-grave act of malice Welles carried out recently was pinning the Thomas Ince hit on William Randolph Hearst: The Cat's Meow's director Peter Bogdanovich claims he heard the story from Orson himself. (Well, that makes it unimpeachable. Remember when he told us the Martians were coming?) My guess: Ince is another body we can chalk up to Welles. Swimming out to the yacht Oneida in a frogman suit would be a prodigious feat for a nine year-old, but this is the Blofeld-like Orson Welles we're talking about.

Okay, so wayyy back in March, we reported on a rumor that Chuck Palahniuk's (Fight Club) novel Choke was being adapted for the big screen and, supposedly, heading into production with names like Susan Sarandon, Heath Ledger and Ryan Gosling in the picture. (Seeing as this is my favorite Palahniuk novel, this news made me happier than a sex addict at a porn convention.)

Well, guess what -- that never happened. However, I'm happy to say that, today, Dark Horizons tells us Universal Pictures has now acquired the film rights to Choke, tapping Paul Bernbaum (Hollywoodland) to write the script. Though there's no mention of the original rumor or the actors that surrounded it, I'm pumped to see more movement on the thing.

Choke revolves around a man who scams folks out of their money by pretending to choke in restaurants; he uses the money to keep his overbearing mother in a nursing home. At the same time, he visits sexaholic meetings to meet women. If the book sounds warped, well, it totally is. But, damn, it's so much fun too.