If you follow any sort of celeb gossip or couply shenanigans, you might have heard that Natalie Portman is dating Venezuelan folk rocker Devendra Banhart. Trying to assist her hunny, she recently helped him whip up a wacky Bollywood style music video called "Carmensita." You can check out the video over on Spinner, and down below we've included a few screenshots of Portman dressed to the nines.

It's a pretty funky song, full of goofiness, vibrant colors, dancing, and very, very strange subtitles. Portman plays a princess who must be saved by a prince (Banhart) who can shoot snakes out of his eyes. But she also has her own slimy, slithering tricks up her sleeve. The moral of this Bollywood story, however, is the best. You never want to forget the alphabet of desire.

Now we just need to get her into more goofy roles. I'm liking the light-hearted Natalie.

Came across a blog post over at the New York Post today that talked about a sequel for The Other Boleyn Girl, based on another novel from Philippa Gregory called The Boleyn Inheritance. They claim producers have approved the sequel and are moving ahead on it, despite the fact that the first one hasn't even made a profit yet. Strange, for sure, though keep in mind there's nothing official yet and, um, it's the New York Post we're talking about here.

Boleyn sequel aside, they did remind me of this fabulous SNL Digital Short featuring Natalie Portman as a hard-edged, gangsta version of herself. This is an older clip from one of their earlier digital shorts, but it's so awesome, so funny and so adorable that we just had to throw it up as the video of the day.

Question: Which Natalie do you prefer? The Boleyn girl or the rapper chick? (I should probably also ask if you'd like to see a sequel to The Other Boleyn Girl, too?)

Before we Bronte devotees could really whine and cry about the casting (there's still Ellen Page in Jane Eyre for that), it ceases to be. According to Variety, Natalie Portman has dropped out of the upcoming Wuthering Heights, leaving the film rather lost without a Cathy Earnshaw. According to Portman's publicist, the actress had a scheduling conflict with another project, which has not yet been announced.

So now, Ecross executives and director John Maybury are on the hunt for a new Cathy. As of yet, there are no contenders to the role, so now is our chance! Speak up, Cinematical readers, and let us flood the Internet with suggestions. Personally, I want to go back in time and import teenage Kate Winslet, Helena Bonham Carter, Kate Beckinsale or Lena Headey. As I cannot, I'm at a bit of a loss. Keira Knightley merits exclusion because of having played Elizabeth Bennett, and I think there's a rule that you can only play one standard of English Literature. I'm being rather stuffy in looking only to the UK, but nothing could ruin this movie faster than a wonky accent.

Interestingly, we finally have a name for Heathcliff. According to the Variety article, Michael Fassbender is in advanced talks to play the famous heinous, yet oh-so-sexy hero. I have only seen him as Stelios in 300, but he's getting good buzz for Hunger. Count me in the "intrigued, and not opposed" category, I guess, until further notice. His casting will mean my sister will be first in line for a ticket, that's for sure.

We can still whine and cry about the casting, though. It is our right as Internet film geeks, and ones with Gothic tastes. Oh heck, let's just gush about the book! We'll have our own Bronte Day here.

In these supposedly progressive times, gender equality is one of those touchy issues relegated to the last paragraph of a trend piece nobody reads. When Katherine Heigl suggested to Vanity Fair that Judd Apatow's movies were sexist, the assertion came across like an after-the-fact shrug of acceptance. Ever the galvanizing provocateur, New York Times critic Manohla Dargis confronts the issue head-on with a thorough analysis of the gender bias in this year's summer blockbusters.

With "Iron Man, Batman, Big Angry Green Man" and other massive expressions of virility invading the box office, female roles appear to be relegated to the back of the multiplex. Dargis touches on the rumors that Warner Bros head Jeff Robinov believes no woman has been able to sell a movie since Julia Roberts (a point that Natalie Portman might contest, but not Paris Hilton) before sizing up numerous upcoming studio releases, with particular attention paid to Anna Faris, "who could be the next Judy Holliday but without the right material will, alas, probably end up the next Brittany Murphy." It's the kind of pronouncement that hits you in gut.

(ed. note: This post was accidentally published at 1AM, instead of 1PM, so we're re-publishing it at the correct time.)

I've been thinking about the largely negative response to Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights (6 screens), a film I quite liked. As of today it's at 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, though it opens wider this weekend (including here in the Bay Area) and more reviews are surely coming in. Most critics I've spoken with around here likewise didn't think much of it. What are the reasons for all this disappointment? The main reason has to do with its weight. It's a lightweight movie, a trifle, flimsy, vapid, thin, etc. Wong is considered one of the world's greatest filmmakers, a maker of "weighty" works of art, and so this "lighter" film is beneath him. It's a letdown, a step backward.

Well, I say that's nonsense. Many great filmmakers dallied in lightweight, lesser trifles during their careers, and it didn't make them any less great. Martin Scorsese has made lots of them. After Hours (1985) and The Color of Money (1986) may not pack the punch of Raging Bull, but they are quite enjoyable, and pure Scorsese. (His current Shine a Light, 277 screens, feels like a trifle.) Fritz Lang came to the United States from a position of great power and unlimited resources in Germany and found himself assigned cheap crime pictures. Yet few critics today would complain about the "lightness" of The Big Heat or Scarlet Street. Max Ophuls also made crime films in Hollywood (Caught and The Reckless Moment), and his reputation remains intact. Some consider John Ford the greatest American director of all time, and even though his goofball Donovan's Reef (1963) isn't counted among his classics, I love it just as much. It has moments of great beauty that reflect its maker's personality. My Blueberry Nights may not stand up to In the Mood for Love, but it's unquestionably a Wong Kar-wai film.

The timing of some stories is just creepy. I was just selling the virtues of Wuthering Heights to my cousin, and what do I find on The Hollywood Reporter the same day? A new version is underway -- and Natalie Portman is set to tackle the famous character of Catherine Earnshaw.

Despite my medieval specialty, Wuthering Heights is my favorite book. I love it more than anything. It has everything -- ghosts, a Byronic hero (who you aren't supposed to love -- but I do anyway), a twisted love affair, sadistic revenge, even a dose of necrophilia. (Not that I roll with that sort of thing, but it's noteworthy in a Victorian novel.) I have never seen a film version, not even Lawrence Olivier's, because I never wanted my vision spoiled.

So, I confess I am immediately biased. But I cannot see Portman as Cathy. Look, I like her -- and I think she is very talented. Her youth works in her favor. But Cathy is psychotic and deeply unlikeable, something I have never seen in Portman. (Not even in Closer or The Other Boleyn Girl.) Ideal casting would have been Angelina Jolie in her Girl, Interrupted days, or Kate Winslet fresh off Heavenly Creatures. That's Cathy Earnshaw.

"I don't know how to begin, because the story's been told before," croons Nora Jones on the soundtrack during the opening of My Blueberry Nights, and it seems a similar problem afflicts Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai, who makes his English language debut with this gorgeous if slight saga about aimless Elizabeth's (Jones) search for herself via a cross-country journey. It's not so much that Wong doesn't know how to commence this specific tale but, instead, that he doesn't know how to start anew, as his latest proves a minor stateside revisitation (or, perhaps more accurately, a rehash) of his favorite thematic and aesthetic preoccupations.

Despite being shot by Darius Khondji and not the director's longtime collaborator Christopher Doyle, the film offers up a handy compendium of his favorite visual signatures - the smeary slow-motion, the hyper-vibrant, sharp-and-soft color palette, framing and tracking shots that dreamily highlight the distance between individuals - while his narrative continues a career-long obsession with the intricacies of romance and the imperative role of memory (regarding both love and loss). It's as light, fluffy and attractive as the blueberry pies that Manhattan café owner Jeremy (Jude Law) serves Elizabeth late at night, but ultimately, also, far less satisfying.

Over on Spoutblog, Cinematicalite and Spoutster Christopher Campbell has a couple of entertaining posts up detailing the five best and worst directorial sellouts of all time. From Francis Ford Coppolla's The Godfather and The Godfather 2 (Best) to Alien Resurrection (Worst), Campbell breaks down the whys and wherefores of his thoughts on these directorial missteps. Go take a look at what he has to say about the worst of the best and the best of the worst, and then let us know what you agree with -- or don't.

As a coda to these best and worst directorial sellouts lists, it would be interesting to see Christopher do the obvious follow-up -- the best and worst sellouts by otherwise respectable actors and actresses.

Cinematical has just received this lovely exclusive poster (click on above image to enlarge) for the new film My Blueberry Nights, starring Norah Jones (in her feature debut), Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and David Strathairn. The film, which is just exploding with beautiful colors (see above poster for a small taste), marks famed director Wong Kar Wai's English-language debut -- and it centers on a young woman (Jones) who embarks on a soul-searching trip across America, running into an assortment of offbeat characters along the way. Definitely one of my favorite posters of the year so far -- once you move away from the dazzling color scheme, you're then left with the gorgeous faces of Weisz, Portman and Jones. Mmm, I can stare at this one all day long.

For more on My Blueberry Nights, feel free to check out James' review from last year's Cannes Film Festival, as well as the movie trailer over on Moviefone. My Blueberry Nights hits theaters (in limited release) on April 4.

It's almost like the beginning of a joke: "A Hasidic Jew and Natalie Portman are walking down the street in New York ..." Only problem is it's far from a joke ... it's all kinda real and kinda not good. The other day we shared photos from the set of the upcoming anthology New York, I Love You, featuring Portman walking alongside a Hasidic Jew on the Brooklyn Bridge. Apparently, Portman is playing a Jewish bride in the film -- problem is, the real Jews aren't so happy about who's starring opposite her.

Turns out the Hasidic Jew filming the scene with Portman was, in fact, a real Hasidic Jew, and his community was not happy after the photos leaked online. Abe Karpen, a kitchen cabinet salesman from Brooklyn and married father of three, told the New York Daily News that he's backing out of the movie because of the pressure he's feeling. "They [the rabbis] didn't like the ideas of a Hasidic guy playing in Hollywood. I have my kids in religious schools and the rabbi called me over yesterday and said in order for me to keep my kids in the school I have to do what they tell me and back out."

Well that sucks. But the good news for you Jewish guys out there -- Portman speaks Hebrew! Oh yes, according to Karpen, "I was shocked that she's a big Hollywood big shot. We talked in Hebrew ... She wants to become more religious." (Keep in mind, some Hasidic Jews do not believe in are not allowed to watching television or film, so that's probably why he doesn't know who she is.) No word yet on Karpen's replacement, though I imagine the filmmakers will tone down the authenticity with their next casting choice.