Penelope Ann Miller Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Big Top Pee-Wee': The Original Benicio Del Toro Wolfman
Filed under: Comedy », Horror », Casting », Stars in Rewind »
Is Joe Johnston's The Wolfman a new spin on the 1941 Universal classic or is it a shocking, gorier reboot of Big Top Pee-Wee? Benicio Del Toro seems to be working hard to compete with Marmaduke, Marley, and the Beverly Hills Chihuahua for the title of Hollywood's hottest canine actor. He first appeared in a full fur face in the 1988 Pee-Wee Herman vehicle in a small part as circus freak Duke the Dog-Faced Boy.His role as Lawrence Talbot in The Wolfman represents the curse of type-casting at its worst. It's clear now that Del Toro will only be considered for roles that call for a half-puppy/half-man hybrid. I'm expecting him to tackle the role of Snoopy in a live-action version of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown very soon. (I'm also kidding.)
You don't think The Wolfman is even remotely similar to Big Top Pee-Wee because one is a gothic horror and one is a silly comedy? Consider this -- Pee-Wee Herman makes out with both Valeria Golino (whatever happened to her?) and Penelope Ann Miller in the film. Pee-Wee's tongue in your mouth? That's scarier than anything that happens in The Wolfman.
Penelope Ann Miller Goes 'Free Style'
Filed under: Action », Drama », Sports », Casting », Cinematical Indie »
Thanks to Biloxi Blues and Big Top Pee-Wee, Penelope Ann Miller was one of my childhood crushes. I think the attraction continued for a few years until I found her completely annoying in Kindergarten Cop. Since then, I haven't really watched her in anything except Carlito's Way, and that wasn't until fairly recently. Still, I always felt kinda bad for her, mostly due to those rumors that ex-boyfriend Al Pacino had purposefully ruined her career. Of course, Pacino neither ruined her career nor ruined her love life (who knew she was shortly married to Will Arnett?). Now, Miller is married and she's adding another movie to her resume. According to the Hollywood Reporter, she's been cast in Free Style, a coming-of-age action-drama set in the world of motocross. Unfortunately, she doesn't appear to be gearing up to ride. Instead, she'll be playing a single mom to one of the riders. Her part doesn't sound too small, though, as her character is given even more description than that: she's a single mom who "strives to provide for her family while studying full-time to become a nurse."Free Style, which was previously titled Metal Birding, began filming last month and stars Corbin Bleu (High School Musical) as a motocross racer attempting to win the Amateur National Championships while also helping to provide for his own family (no connection between Bleu and Miller's characters are given, but it would seem they'd be son and mother). Also in the cast are Sandra Echeverria (Crazy), as Bleu's girlfriend, Matt Bellefleur (Christmas in Wonderland), who plays Bleu's rival, nine-year-old Madison Pettis (Barney & Friends) and motocross star Grant Langston, who cameos as Bleu's idol. The movie is now being helmed by William Dear (Harry and the Hendersons), who is replacing original director Jeff Woolnough, whose reason for leaving is unknown.
Connie Stevens Jumps Behind the Camera
Filed under: Drama », Casting », Scripts »
We always hear about big actors and actresses jumping behind the camera to whet their other cinematic appetites, but how often does it happen with a highly-recognizable television guest-stinter, movie actress, and singer who is one year away from 70? The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Connie Stevens is currently directing and producing a film called Saving Grace, which she also wrote; the story is influenced by a personal experience Stevens had years ago in Boonville, Mo., during severe floods. This is her first fictional feature, although ten years ago, she did write and direct a documentary about women in Vietnam called A Healing. And, to make things sweeter -- she's got a pretty solid cast.Penelope Ann Miller (Blonde Ambition) and Michael Biehn (The Terminator) play a couple named Bea and Landy Bretthorse, who live in a Missouri town during the 1950s. Their lives are "thrown into chaos when Landy's sister Grace (Tatum O'Neal) is released from the local asylum and comes to live with the family." Joel Gretsch (The Emperor's Club) will play Grace's ex-husband, who was married to her for one whopping day, and Piper Laurie (Hounddog) is the administrator who runs the asylum. Apparently, the floods play a pivotal role in the story, but I imagine the insanity is where the fiction comes in. The film is currently on location in Missouri.
Review: The Messengers
Filed under: Horror », Thrillers », New Releases », Sony », Theatrical Reviews »
Today we read from the Horror Movie Bible, chapter 13, verse 666: "When there are no Asian horror movies left to remake, Asian filmmakers will alight to Hollywood and create Americanized versions of The Ring, The Grudge and Dark Water and lo the PG-13 rating will be applied -- and it will be not good." But since The Messengers was written by a really cool horror geek named Mark Wheaton, I walked into an opening day matinee screening of the flick with some high hopes. Despite everything the TV spots, the trailers and the pre-release buzz had been telling me, I was actively intent on trying to enjoy The Messengers. Sorry to say that my pilot light of enthusiasm was snuffed out after less than twelve minutes of on-screen activity. This is a stunningly inert, painfully derivative, shamelessly cheap and aggressively dull ghost story that delivers nothing you haven't seen before. About 43 times.
Clocking in at a scant 84 minutes (and that's including a tiresome prologue and a lengthy opening credits sequence), The Messengers is The Grudge on a farm (The Grarm!) -- and it's about as thrilling as that description implies. It's about a family of four (Mom, Dad, Teenage Daughter, Mute Boy Toddler) who bail on Chicago in favor of Nowheresville, North Dakota. (Dad's got a bee in his bonnet about becoming a sunflower farmer, darnit, and nothing's gonna get in the way of that dream!) While Mom, Dad and Mute Toddler go about settling into their new home, teenage daughter has a problem; basically, she sees shadows, visions, apparitions, etc. -- and of course nobody believes her. (There's a ridiculously prolonged backstory about why Mom and Dad don't completely trust Teenage Daughter, but it's much too silly to get into at this point.)
I Just Can't Get Enough of These PG-13 Haunted House Movies!
Filed under: Horror », Thrillers », Sony », Trailer Trash »
What do you do when there are no more Asian horror flicks left to Written by Mark Wheaton (Firestorm: Last Stand at Yellowstone) from a story by Todd Farmer (Jason X), The Messengers seems to be about a teenage girl who sees spooky spirits after her family moves into a dusty old house. Imagine that.
If there's a saving grace here (aside from it being a horror movie and therefore something I must see eventually) it could be the cast: Kristen Stewart, Penelope Ann Miller, Dylan McDermott and John Corbett can usually contribute enough for a half-decent 90-some minutes. Either way, you can expect a PG-13 all the way from The Messengers, as it hails from Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures, the diet-horror production shingle that gave you Boogeyman and The Grudge 2. Let's just hope the movie's a lot better than the trailer. The Messengers opens on February 9.
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