amc Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What is the proper etiquette one must employ when interviewing Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody? Are you allowed to ask her about her time as a stripper and a phone-sex operator? Is that crude or off-topic? There's no question how she (and Fox Searchlight) feel about the issue -- sitting down with Cody for a one-on-one interview last month (for another outlet) was one of the oddest experiences of my life, since Fox insisted on having a senior publicist actually be in the room and stand near me during the interview and occasionally even interrupt my questioning -- a first. I later found out the same treatment was given to others, and this thinly-disguised attempt to intimidate the journalist out of asking any potentially non-PG questions was really out of line and unnecessary. However, Cody can't control television interviews as successfully, as evidenced by her upcoming appearance on Peter Bart's AMC show, which apparently turned into a cringe-fest.

On Cody's MySpace page, she says Bart "was full of condescending questions. Wait until Sunday -- you'll see him asking when I plan to be a normal woman and have children!" I can't wait to see that, since it would seem to be a new contender for the stupidest thing he's ever said, and that's saying a lot. In the meantime, AMC is hosting some teaser clips from the interview, and you can see Cody's face drop into a pained grimace when Bart asks "Were you ever a stripper?" and moves on to other questions like "Were you writing at the time that you were stripping?" and "Where did you strip?" Some bloggers have taken the position that it's invariably creepy and unnecessary to ask Cody these kinds of questions, but I still say when someone writes a whole book about something, it's sort of fair game.

• This week's AFS@Dobie film, which will play all week at Dobie Theatre, is Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy. The 2005 documentary explores Buddhist monasteries in India and Nepal.
• The Paramount kicks off its Summer Movie Classics series this weekend with the traditional screening of Casablanca, this time in a double-feature with The Maltese Falcon tonight, Saturday, and Sunday. Other screenings this week: West Side Story on Saturday and Sunday, a double-feature of To Catch a Thief and The Trouble with Harry on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Shadow of a Doubt with The Lady Vanishes on Thursday.
• Alamo Lake Creek is showing Dr. Strangelove at midnight tonight (Friday) and Saturday. No, they are not offering grain-alcohol-and-rainwater drinks.
  

• In today's Most Meta Item Involving Convicted Felons: Folsom State Prison has "invited" (there seems to be something weird about that, no?) 20th Century Fox to screen their Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, at the prison for inmates. The film features a scene depicting Cash's legendary 1968 concert at the penitentiary, but because the $30 million production couldn't afford to travel, they recreated Folsom on a soundstage in Memphis. The Variety piece is full of blushing praise from both the filmmakers and prison representatives, in regards to Johnny Cash's "redemptive" potential; still, if I was in prison and I was "invited" to watch a bunch of actors play-acting my predicament from the safety of a soundstage, I think the last thing I would feel would be "redeemed".
  
• What is AMPAS's problem? The Academy is disqualifying candidates for Best Foreign Language Film left and right; they've just felled their eighth victim this year, Singapore's Be With Me, on grounds that the picture incorporates too many languages. Though much of the dialogue is in Chinese, Mandarin and even sign language, after a dispute, the picture was timed, proving that the dominant language in the film is actually English.
• AMC and Loews will sell 10 theaters in six cities in order to satisfy anti-trust concerns arising around their merger-in-progress. Included on the for-sale list: Loews' E-Walk, a huge complex right across the street from AMC's equally oversized Empire on 42nd street in Manhattan.
• We're not the only ones who love Pride and Prejudice – the latest Austen adaptation picked up a whopping eight nominations from the London Critics Circle yesterday, including nods for Keira Knightley and four other actors.