Peter Stormare Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Oh, the irony of ironies when the Dennis Quaid serial killer mystery The Horsemen had a tagline that said "Come and see," only to receive an unceremonious dump on something like 75 screens in early March and its first formal review just this week in Variety (and they had to catch it in Paris, apparently!). Box Office Mojo can't even claim any exact figures for what the thing grossed in its very limited run.

In similar straits was the Diane Lane/Mickey Rourke thriller, Killshot, which was formally dumped in Arizona and Arizona alone at the end of January. $18,000 on five screens -- way to capitalize on that Wrestler buzz, Weinsteins. But soon, scarcity will matter not for either film, as Fangoria says that the former film will get its DVD release on July 14th, while Amazon claims a May 26th bow for the latter.

There's no word on special features for Killshot yet, which makes me wonder if we'll see any sign of Johnny Knoxville's reportedly excised character... but maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

If you think back to the warmer days of summer, you might remember that Jessica posted about an upcoming Internet porn flick called Middle Men. Set to be a comedy, the film was said to follow some normal dude who ends up in the center of that biz we call adult entertainment during the early days of Internet porn (mid-90s, I guess?).

And now we have our men of porn. Variety reports that James Caan, Gabriel Macht, Peter Stormare, and Rachael Taylor have signed on for the film, which will star Luke Wilson and Giovanni Ribisi -- all in yet-to-be-disclosed parts. The film is also sounding a wee bit different these days. Yes, it's still about some regular guy -- a "straight-and-narrow businessman who builds the first online billing company dealing exclusively with adult entertainment." But then there's a bit of an insane twist. He finds "himseld in the middle of a whirlwind filled with starlets, conmen, Russian mobsters, federal agents, and international terrorists."

Well, this is nothing like I expected -- dudes spending late nights on Stile Project's old cam pages while girls contort themselves while basking in the glow of their monitors. Maybe writers George Gallo (who will direct) and Andy Weiss were hanging out with Guy Ritchie. How terrorists, conmen, and Russian mobsters all get involved is anyone's guess, but it's kind of hard not to be intrigued with that cast.

Ah, serial killer movies -- always becoming more and more convoluted by the second. It seems like every film has to have the worst killer ever known to man, or the most bizarre motivation, to keep the audiences interested. The Hollywood Reporter announced that IFC has picked up the rights to the crime thriller Anamorph. The film stars Scott Speedman (Underworld or Felicity, depending on your age group) and Willem Dafoe, and centers on a bizarre and vicious killer who re-creates anamorphic paintings in his crime scenes. After a quick Wikipedia search, I discovered that anamorphic painting is a style that uses a "distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image." So, if our killer is using this technique in his crime scenes, I can only imagine how freaky some of it might get.

The film was written and directed by Henry Miller, who has only worked on a few comedy shorts up until now; Anamorph will be his first full-length feature film. Joining Speedman and Defoe in the cast are Peter Stormare as an art gallery owner and Clea DuVall (Heroes) as a troubled girl put in danger by the killer -- what were you expecting? She might as well be listed as bait/love interest in the credits. It looks like the film was originally set for release in 2007, but they didn't quite make it. Speedman has wrapped up two films since finishing Anamorph, just to give you an idea. But, I guess the old adage of better late than never is still in full effect, and the film is scheduled for release this November.

The nameless lead, simply called "Him" (Trond Fausa Aurvaag) of Gone with the Woman is just your average guy. He's the quintessential bachelor, enjoying his space and delighting in the quirks of solitary male life. The harmony of his routine however, which is ironically displayed on his t-shirt, is quickly thrown out the window by the arrival of Marianne (Marian Saastad Ottesen). She just shows up, praising the wonder of silence, yet not understanding that in order to get it, she'd have to be quiet. But he doesn't tell her that, or anything for that matter. He just lets her visit more and more, slowly morphing his life into what she wants it to be.

Instead of communicating with Marianne, he joins the local pool and finds himself closely followed by a man named Glenn (Peter Stormare). Following the advice of Glenn, a number of other sweaty, sauna men, and the addled thoughts in his head, he decides to have sex with her, be there for her, and fall in love with her -- as if it is something you arbitrarily choose to do. But as you can imagine from a woman who chatters on endlessly about the wonders of silence, life with Marianne is anything but normal.

I ended my subscription to Tiger Beat years ago, I haven't seen John Tucker Must Die and I don't watch Desperate Housewives, so every time I see the name Jesse Metcalfe, I can't place him. First, I confuse him with Jesse Bradford, another young actor. Then, I imagine he looks like a young, male version of Roseanne's Laurie Metcalf (they're not even related, as you can guess by the name spelling). But apparently the guy is quite a heartthrob -- not a teen heartthrob, though, as he's about to turn 29. That should certainly help the appeal of Insanitarium, which he's just been cast in, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The rest of the fairly obscure cast includes Peter Stormare (Fargo), Kiele Sanchez (that attempted new cast-member of Lost from last season), Kevin Sussman (Ugly Betty's "Walter") and Olivia Munn (co-host of G4's Attack of the Show).

The indie horror thriller has been written by Jeff Buhler (the upcoming Midnight Meat Train adaptation), who will also make his directorial debut. The plot involves a mental hospital (aka, umm, insanitarium) where a crazy doctor (Stormare, possibly channeling his character from Minority Report) experiments with his patients, giving them a drug that turns them into flesh-eating psychopaths. Metcalfe plays a guy who fakes crazy in order to join his sister (Sanchez) in the hospital, and save her. That leaves Sussman and Munn, both of whom hopefully get to eat a lot of flesh. The movie is being produced by Mason Novick (film fest sensation Juno), J.C. Spink (The Butterfly Effect), his partner, Chris Bender (Red Eye) and Andrew Golov and Larry Shapiro, who also produced an upcoming movie titled Zombie Strippers.

Norway has become (at least) the fourth country to announce its submission for the Best Foreign-Language Film category of the Academy Awards, after The Netherlands, Thailand and Austria. Variety reports that Gone With the Woman has been selected. It's a very timely announcement, since the film will have its international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Directed by Petter Næss, Gone With the Woman is described by the Norwegian Film Institute as "the story of He, a male who hasn't even got a name. And, without him fully grasping how it comes about, his life is invaded by a woman. From this point on, he struggles to tackle the situation; He could try to throw out the invader, or try to adjust to the circumstances. He opts for the second alternative, and decides to fall deeply in love."

Næss has made several comedies, including Elling, which was nominated as one of the five Best Foreign Language Films (the Oscar went to No Man's Land that year). Gone With the Woman is based on the debut novel by Erlend Loe. Trond Fausa Aurvaag stars as He; Marin Saastad Ottesen plays the woman who invades his home and takes over his life. The cast includes the great Peter Stormare (Fargo). The official site has a gallery of stills and a very slow-loading trailer. Once it loads, the trailer has a great twangy guitar on the soundtrack, though it's a bit hard to get a sense of the comedy without English subtitles. Judging by the poster, though, it looks like it may be a bit silly, but grounded in relationship hell. In other words: an ideal date movie! Public screenings for the film in Toronto start on Saturday, September 8.

"Donny, you're out of your element." "That rug really tied the room together." "Careful man, there's a beverage here!" "Eight year olds, dude." "Nice marmot." "Obviously you're not a golfer." I could go on. I saw The Big Lebowski in a mostly empty theater when it was released. If any moviegoers other than me were laughing, I couldn't hear them. Now, almost ten years later, the film is hailed as a modern classic, it is endlessly quoted, and it even has its own festival: Lebowski Fest. According to the press release, this year's sixth annual event will entail:

•Unlimited Bowling •Costume, Trivia, Farthest Traveled, and Bowling Contests •Celebrity Appearances

•White Russians, Sarsaparillas, and Oat Sodas •Screening of the film •What-Have-You

Lebowski Fest takes place next weekend, on July 20th and 21st, in Louisville, Kentucky. And believe it or not, the fest has gone global. On August 24th, there will be a festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, and on August 30th, one will be held in London, England. Pretty reasonably priced tickets for all events are on sale now, at the festival's home page. Be sure to check out the site, you can also get some great merchandise like T-shirts, posters, and famous quote bumper stickers. There's even a link to Lebowski action figures! As for the celebrity appearances, don't go expecting John Goodman and Jeff Bridges (although Bridges has attended in the past!). It looks like so far it's just James G. Hoosier, who portrayed "The Jesus' bowling buddy Liam." The event sounds like a blast to me, and I guarantee there'll be some memorable characters there. I might have to hit the Los Angeles event this October. Has anyone been to one of these fests before? Is anyone thinking about heading to one this year?

I was watching Fargo again the other night and it made me rediscover my love for Peter Stormare. What exactly is his accent in that movie? "I need unguent!" Stormare is a textbook example of a great character actor. It's always exciting to see him pop up in a movie, because you know you're going to get something unusual. He appears to be just a little bit out of his mind, and thus he is always entertaining to watch. And come on, the guy was "rogue electrician" Slippery Pete! Usually, Stormare strolls into a movie, steals a few scenes and leaves, but he has just been cast in a rare leading role in Varg, which translates to Wolf.

Wolf is the first original feature script from Swedish novelist Kerstin Ekman. Ekman is a highly respected Swedish author -- Anthony Minghella unsuccessfully tried to adapt her best-known novel Darkwater for the big screen years ago. The film will be directed by Daniel Alfredson. You know, Daniel Alfredson! He directed Dodsklockan? Syndare i sommarsol? No? Not ringing any bells? Wolf is being shot in northern Sweden, and the story "looks at how the traditions of the Sami people collide with the demands of modern day society." Stormare was born in northern Sweden, where the Sami live, so Wolf will see him returning to his roots. Stormare plays a "reindeer handler" in the film, but will presumably not rock the white beard and red suit.

How many J-horror remakes have we weathered in the past three years? Five? Seven? Boy is that a trend I'll be happy to see die ... but not just yet, apparently. Seems there's still a remake of The Eye due to hit theaters late next year, but before that we get Sandra Bullock starring in Premonition -- a flick that definitely seems to be a semi-kinda-remake of Norio Tsuruta's Yogen (aka Premonition) from 2004. That film, which clearly borrowed a few cups from the original Ringu, is about a phantom newspaper that informs people of tomorrow's bad news. Not a bad little entry into the J-horror canon, but a slight one nonetheless.

...actually, come to think of it, I'm beginning to suspect that these films have no connection. Based on this new trailer and the few plot synopses I've seen lying around, it looks like the only thing the two movies have in common is the title. My bad.

Anyway, Sandra plays a woman whose husband is killed in a car accident, only when she wakes up the next morning, he's (dun dun dun) still alive! Scary! The movie comes from German director Mennan Yapo and second-time screenwriter Bill Kelly. Co-starring alongside Ms. Bullock will be Julian McMahon, Amber Valletta, Nia Long, Peter Stormare and Kate Nelligan. Release date is March 16.

For its first feature, Kamala Films has selected Anamorph, a thriller with a plot that sounds pretty much like one of any 12 episodes of SVU, except with a killer instead of a rapist (which, I hasten to add, is not necessarily a bad thing). The movie is about a detective who, after five years away from the job, returns with the requisite rookie partner only to find that a serial killer with whom he was once obsessed may be back in action. Willem Dafoe will be on hand to make the detective the creepiest man in the movie, and Scott Speedman - Felicity's favorite vampire-werewolf hybrid - has just signed on to play his partner. Also recently added to the cast were Peter Stormare (as an art gallery owner) and Clea DuVall, who will play the (also requisite) troubled woman befriended by DeFoe's character.

The movie, which has a fairly small budget of less than $15 million, is currently filming in New York and hopes to finish principle photography by the end of March.