mary-louise parker Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When Warren Ellis' Red was first optioned, I wasn't particularly excited. As readers have pointed out, Ellis has many books that would be more exciting to see on the big screen. The initial casting of Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman didn't inspire a lot of excitement, either. (I love both, but Willis as an ex-assassin? Hardly inspired.) But as Robert Schwentke has filled out his cast, things have gotten a lot more interesting. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mary-Louise Parker and John C. Reilly are in talks to join Red alongside Freeman, Willis, and Helen Mirren.

Reilly would play a retired CIA agent who is paranoid that everyone is out to kill him. Willis' predicament will naturally prove him right, and it's the frantic, nervous role that Reilly specializes in. Again, it's not the most inspired casting, but it's exciting to see Reilly finally land a comic book role. I like to see actors drawn into this world, even if it is in a more "standard" storyline.

Parker will play Willis' love interest, an ordinary employee of the federal pension office who becomes embroiled in his struggle to stay alive. As if relationships aren't hard enough, it's "Honey! My former employers are trying to kill me! Get your passport, we have to hide in Bruges." She is a talented actress, so I sincerely hope she gets a little more to do than run around and be frightened. Perhaps she can be trained in the arts of action by Mirren's character.

It's a really good cast so far, and there's undoubtedly more to come as Willis' opponents are lined up. This could be something a little more in the mold of A History of Violence, which would be a refreshing change from the flashy adaptation attempts like Wanted. Red is officially on my radar.

I began to focus more attention on Mary-Louise Parker back in 2005, when she wrote a feature for Bust on Justin Theroux. In one opening paragraph, she slid from cross-pollinating blueberry bushes and pet pit bulls to a description of the actor himself: "His hair is ice-pond black, he could wash my windows with his eyelashes, and he has that rangy skateboarder's body that girls never grow out of going hormonal after." I was reading a lot of magazine intros that year, and hers was the first that didn't reek superfluous scene-drawing.

Now she's getting literary again, this time with Esquire. The site is doing a new weekly series of bedtime stories and seeing that they say "straight from the bedroom of a Woman We Love," I'm assuming every installment will feature the lovely Ms. Parker. She kicks off with Alice in Wonderland, and you can watch it for yourselves after the jump.

Oh, how I wish that all mens' magazines' treatment of sexy women had them natural, lounging, and reading classic literature. And really, I think Parker is in her element when words are involved. Which, one can hope, will mean wonderful things for Howl. (Although she's playing Gail Potter, a woman brought in to speak against the famous work.)

Will you be tuning in for Parker's bedtime stories?

Let's just get the important part out first -- Variety reports that Jon Hamm, the man who looks like a cartoon pilot, has joined the cast of Howl. Commence girly shrieking, gaze at the photo to your left, sink into your chair with a grin on your face. It's cool. I did it too.

All right, now that's over with. Howl is already generating a lot of buzz, all of which should keep it from disappearing into indie obscurity. Not only does it center on a notorious moment of literary history, but its collected a heck of an ensemble cast -- James Franco (who is playing Allen Ginsberg), Paul Rudd, Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Bob Balaban, Treat Williams and Alessandro Nivola are all on board. (Check out Peter Martin's piece to see who plays whom.)

Hamm has landed a very meaty part in the Ginsberg story -- he'll play the famous defense attorney Jake Ehrlich. Ehrlich was actually the attorney for Lawrence Ferlinghetti who had published Howl stateside as the owner of City Lights Bookstore. He faced a $500 fine and a 6 month sentence for daring to publishing Ginsberg's poem, and gained the services of Ehrlich thanks to the ACLU. Ehrlich took the case pro-bono, and later wrote an account of the trial titled Howl of the Censor, and was the inspiration for the television series "Perry Mason."

All joking and gushing aside, it's wonderful to see Hamm get to use his acting chops outside of Mad Men and Keanu Reeves. Now if some studio executive would watch that Lex Luthor video and make the obvious DC choice ...

Obscenity! The '50s! Legal drama! Book-length poems! OK, that last one is part of what distinguishes the upcoming Howl, in which James Franco will star as legendary beatnik writer Allen Ginsberg. The film revolves around the court trial that took place after Howl was published in 1956 -- and promptly banned for obscenity. Mary-Louise Parker, Paul Rudd, Jeff Daniels, David Straithairn, and Alan Alda have just been added to the cast, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

All will play fictional versions of real-life characters. On the side of the prosecution (boo! hiss!), indie darling / TV star Parker will play radio personality Gail Potter, the reliably venal Daniels will embody Professor David Kirk, and the firm and steady Staithairn will be prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh. In behalf of the defense (yay! cheer!), Paul Rudd will play literary critic (?!) Luther Nichols. Calm and fair as always, I'm sure, Alda will play Judge Clayton Horn.

Documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will make their narrative debut and the film is all theirs: they are writing, producing, and directing. Epstein made the terrific doc The Times of Harvey Milk and the pair made Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt. Gus van Sant is serving as executive producer, and Coen crony Carter Burwell is set to provide an original score. I hope that Epstein and Friedman can pull off the transition to narrative film and give us an incendiary picture; the elements are all in place, and the time is right.

While the past week may have been a little slow for celebrity news and gossip, it was a fabulous week for bizarre photos. This should be good news for those who follow the world of crazy celebrity fashion and expected a lull between the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. Admittedly, the SAG awards definitely helped. Jeffrey Sebelia provided us with a rundown of the SAG fashion trends, but mere words cannot do justice to some of these outfits.

The following roundup of last week's movie-celebrity gossip items includes some truly hair-raising photos ... and at least one that you don't want to view from the office, so be careful.

More news about the casting of the upcoming fantasy film The Spiderwick Chronicles from Paramount and Nickelodeon. According to the Hollywood Reporter, a number of big names are in negotiations to round things out, and its shaping up to be quite an eclectic mix. If all goes well Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Martin Short Joan Plowright, Izabella Miko and Andrew McCarthy will be joining the cast. (It was the notion of Martin Short and Nick Nolte appearing together that spurred my use of the word "eclectic.")

Currently shooting in Montreal, pic is based on the series of books by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi which revolves around twin brothers Jared and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore who gave a heart-breaking performance in Finding Neverland) who, along with their sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger), uncover a world of fairies and other creatures. As I mentioned not long ago when I posted that David Strathairn had joined the cast, the story sounds reminiscent of the Narnia books, but I haven't read The Spiderwick Chronicles, so I won't judge just yet. If everyone signs on the dotted line, Parker and McCarthy will play the children's separated parents and Plowright will be the children's' aunt. Nolte and Short voice two otherworldly (presumably CGI) characters: Mulgrath, a shape-shifting evil lord trying to get his hands on the kids, and Thimbletack/Bogart, a small being that can either protect a household or mischievously throw it in disarray. Miko, whose pixie-like countenance can be seen above, will play the leader of the elves. The movie will be directed by Mark Waters.

[via Sci Fi Wire]