simon baker Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Hold up. No one told me about the adaptation of Jim Thompson's classic The Killer Inside Me. A true '50s noir, Thompson's book is a bite-your-nails tale about a Texas sheriff's deputy who is also the town murderer. He's calm and cool on the outside and a brutal killer on the inside. And yes, it's also a song by MC 900 FT Jesus.

I'm down with that, since the younger and less chinny Affleck proved his chops in Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse Ford by the Coward Robert Ford, although IMDb pro also lists him as the director of "Untitled Joaquin Phoenix Documentary," so we've got him to thank for that sh*tshow. Bill Pullman and awesomely creepy Elias Koteas (Crash) also star.

On the other hand, the rest of the cast is a uneven, and this particular adaptation has quite the long back story. Kate Hudson plays Lou's good-girl girlfriend Amy Stanton, while Jessica Alba is Joyce Lakeland, a prostitute who digs Lou's ugly side. And then there's Simon Baker, star of TV's "The Mentalist" and films like Sex and Death 101 and The Devil Wears Prada, Something New, Land of the Dead, and The Ring Two, as the small-town lawyer out to get Lou.

"This fall, film director Martin Scorsese embarked on a secret experiment in filmmaking. A project which could have bold repercussions on future film preservation. Or maybe not." So begins a fascinating and unusual mocumentary/short film hybrid that is also part Freixenet wine commercial. Confused? Alright, well in the mockumentary portion -- which initially fooled several media outlets (and me) into thinking it was the real deal -- Scorsese has discovered 3 1/2 undated pages from an unmade Alfred Hitchcock project called The Key to Reserva. Scorsese has the nifty idea to make those pages into a Hitchcock-by-way-of-Scorsese short film, done in the style of Hitch. "It's one thing to preserve a film that has been made," says Scorsese. "It's another to preserve a film that has not been made."

This portion of the short is highly entertaining, with Scorsese glowing like a pregnant woman over the prospect of tackling one of his idols. He is such a high-strung dude, and the funniest moment is when the interviewer attempts to put his grubby hands on the script pages and Scorsese flips out. As for The Key to Reserva, boy did Scorsese nail the Hitchcock style. It's the ultimate homage. Scorsese cast classically handsome Simon Baker in the lead, and he uses the North by Northwest score and some super sweet old school effects (dig that balcony fall!) to complete the illusion you're watching an old Hitch classic. It's a bummer we'll never see a feature-length version of The Key to Reserva, but it's cool to have this little taste of Scorcock. (Hitchsese?) If you've got nine minutes, be sure to head here to check out the short (or watch it above). And if you could pick any modern-day filmmaker to do a film in another director's style, whom would you choose? Michael Bay doing Ingmar Bergman?

I wish turkey day was turkey month, but since we all have to work and don't want to end up looking like Mr. Creosote, it's time to get back to work. Elizabeth Berkley is soon going to play David Caruso's ex on CSI: Miami, but that's not the only casting news coming out of the weekend:

• His name might not be on the tip of every tongue, but you've definitely seen John Michael Higgins around. He's been in a ton of stuff, the best of which rests on the plate of Christopher Guest. He was Michael McKean's lover and dog-show helper in Best in Show, a New Main Street singer in A Mighty Wind, and finally, For Your Consideration's Corey Taft, who said: "In every actor there lives a tiger, a pig, an ass, and a nightingale." Now Variety reports that he's got a role in Jim Carrey's Yes Man. Unfortunately, there's no word on who he'll play, but hopefully it'll be a decent gig and not just a brief blip.
  
• Ah, Simon Baker. The Aussie actor has made People's "Most Beautiful" list, and most recently, he's tried to whisk Anne Hathaway away from Adrian Grenier in The Devil Wears Prada, and starred with Winona Ryder in Daniel Waters' Sex and Death 101. According to Variety, he's now joining Alfred Molina and Hope Davis in The Lodger -- a Hitchcock remake that first geared up back in 2006. While they're not saying who he'll play, I imagine he'll be the lodger, since the only other younger man on the cast list thus far is Donal Logue, who is already playing Bunting.
• He usually pops up on television a lot, and in movies you've probably never heard of, but now Vince Colosimo has nabbed himself a role in a bigger-buzz feature. Variety reports that he has a part in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, which already stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Carice van Houten. The movie, which is currently filming, is about a former journalist who was injured in Iraq, who then somehow gets hired to hunt down an Al Qaeda leader. Colosimo is playing some dude named Skip.

I'm not sure if this is true, but I've heard some movie geeks out there grew up crushing on Winona Ryder. I know I wasn't the only one. Actually, I know there were thousands of us, if not millions. Now, as a sensitive teen, one of the things I liked about the actress was that she was firm on her decision to keep her clothes on. Of course, as a hormonal teen, this was also one of the things that frustrated me about her. Well, now that it's been about twelve years since I met Ryder while selling her Shine tickets and came to the realization that she was a real person and not someone to obsess over, she is baring some skin. It's still not a lot of skin, and it's only noticeable if a certain gossip blog freeze frames it for us, but Winona Ryder is a bit naked in Sex and Death 101. Now, you might want to chime in and point out that, as MrSkin.com does, Ryder showed a dab of flesh in Autumn and New York (there were rumors of a full nude scene that was cut out), and this isn't that much better. But this is a little different; I would at least consider it more of a nude scene. And if you want to watch it, you better do it quick. The video and the NSFW photo are sure to be taken down soon.

For those who don't know, Sex and Death 101 is the film that reunites Winona Ryder with Heathers screenwriter Daniel Waters, who also directs this time around. It stars Ryder, of course, as a serial killer named Death Nell, who targets sex criminals. Ryder's co-star in the film is Simon Baker (The Devil Wears Prada), who can be seen in the video, as a guy who one day receives a mysterious email detailing all the women he has and will have sex with in his life. Our own Scott Weinberg saw the film at Fantastic Fest and called it Waters' "best work in a very long time," and Ryder's, "best stuff in years." That may not say much to you, knowing their lack of success in recent years, but Scott continued to give the film praise. He wrote, "the movie juggles romantic comedy, dark humor, sex farce and slight slapstick with seldom a misstep, resulting in a surprisingly unpredictable flick that works on a small variety of levels." Sounds interesting. Oh, and don't forget that sex scene; that might interest you, too.

There seems to be a lot of thrillers coming from the world of independent film lately, and The Hollywood Reporter has brought word of the latest production. Simon Baker, who you might remember from The Devil Wears Prada, will leads a new psychological thriller from Dror Soref called Not Forgotten. Baker will star in the film as "a bank manager in a U.S.-Mexico border town haunted by the death of his daughter. He and his wife approach a Latina soothsayer to find out what happened to the girl, but the old woman's visions threaten to dredge up secrets from their tortured pasts." I guess they didn't think about the fact that a seer could see those sorts of things.

If this sounds like the typical creepy movie fare, producer Donald Zuckerman says otherwise: "The key points in this film -- the love of a family, Latino culture, spirituality -- are interpreted in a way we rarely ever see in the movies." Soref wrote the script with Tomas Romero (THR didn't specify which), and will produce with Zuckerman and Myriad Pictures as the feature sets up to shoot this January in New Mexico. This will be Soref's second directorial feature -- the first was an indie flick called The Seventh Coin in the '90s. While it's not too well known, it did boast a cast that included Peter O'Toole and John Rhys-Davies. Beyond that, he's been the head of a short film called Platinum Blonde in the '80s, and Weird Al's video, I Love Rocky Road. Coins, epic actors, Weird Al, and a short with Elizabeth Berkley? This guy knows how to traverse the seas of cinematic themes!

To say that screenwriter Daniel Waters has had an "up and down" career would be a very accurate observation. After penning the cult classic comedy that is Heathers he moved on to The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (ugh) and Hudson Hawk (whoa) before earning a credit on the excellent Batman Returns. Then he co-wrote Demolition Man, vanished for eight years, and made a small comeback with an indie comedy called Happy Campers, the movie that marked his directorial debut. So which Waters would show up in Sex and Death 101? Well, let's just say we're not nearly in Heathers territory, but Waters' latest represents his very best work in a very long time.

The plot is a cleverly simple one: A likable ladies' man receives a list of names -- all the women he's ever slept with! At first it seems like a prank played by one of Roderick's wise-ass buddies, but get this: The list also includes the names of every woman that Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) WILL sleep with! Like, for the rest of his life! Now, imagine if you received an email telling you the name of every sex partner you'll ever have ... precisely what would that DO to your approach to romance? If you meet a nice sweetie -- but she's not on the list -- what would you do?

In a vaguely innovative promotional push for Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Warner Bros. will be providing all the advertising -- amounting to only four minutes, total -- for the premiere of CBS's new crime show, Smith. (Which, by the way, is produced by WBTV. Image that.) Rather than running the show with a normal advertising load -- which would stretch it into a 90-minute special -- or accepting sponsorship to run it ad-free, CBS instead took some cash from WB (amounting, on assumes, to what they would have taken for a full advertising load, plus a premium for the prestige), and will run four minutes of promotional footage for The Departed during breaks from the show. What sort of footage WB is providing is unclear, but it's currently thought there will be two two-minute add segments, "offering an extended look at the pic."

That sounds cool and all, but if you needed more reason to watch Smith, where have you been? Goodfella Ray Liotta? Jonny Lee Miller? Simon Baker?! What's not to love?

Why is everyone calling Sex and Death 101 "the return of the guy who wrote Heathers," rather than "the return of the guy who wrote Hudson Hawk?"* Come on, people -- let's give Daniel Waters his due! Anyway, back in March we told you about the movie, which revolves around a man receiving "a mysterious e-mail containing the names of every woman he has had sex with and, eerily, every woman he will have sex with in the future." So there, you see, we have the "sex" part of the title -- no idea where the "death" comes in, though. (Personally, since the man is being played by Simon Baker, I'm fervently hoping someone else bites it.)

Since the movie went into production without a female lead, it's a good thing that Waters finally worked his Heathers connections to bring Winona Ryder on-board. Supposedly, she was his one and only target for the role -- Waters says he wrote it her in mind. (Do you think he really did, though? I mean, how often do people pull that line out in an effort to flatter stars into appearing in their movies? "Denzel -- I wrote the part for you! Really! You can totally play fat, old, and white.") Also in the film are Dash Mihok and Boston Legal's Julie Bowen; release is planned for some time next year.

*There is no sarcasm whatsoever in this statement. I'm going to be buried with a Hudson Hawk DVD.

• Doogal - A saccharine, cheap-looking CGI import from Britain about a lazy, cowardly, sugar-addicted pooch (with a mullet cut) who must find a way to save the world from an icy death is not the follow-up to Hoodwinked that Disney escapees Bob and Harvey Weinstein hoped for...or we asked for. At least they've got the swell Over The Hedge in theaters this week. Formerly titled The Magic Roundabout and re-dubbed (Doogal, that is. Not Over The Hedge.)

• Duma - With most arthouse films rated "R", it is always a pleasure when one comes along that culture mavens can take their kids to, and The Black Stallion director Carroll Ballard's latest nature trek -- a visually lovely adventure -- certainly does fit that bill. It is about a 12-year-old South African boy (Alexander Michaletos) who must return his pet cheetah to the wild, encountering and overcoming a number of obstacles along the way, the biggest one being our initial reluctance to accept its premise.
 

The pickings are slim this week, with only two movies opening wide. And, since one of them is a remake of a teen horror movie, it's not exactly surprising that critics were only allowed to see the charming romantic comedy in advance of its open. By now, you know the drill: if a movie isn't screened for critics, it's not worth seeing. So, to sum up, Something New is pretty damn wonderful, while When a Stranger Calls is very likely to suck.

• Something New: Most of the reviews for this one are shockingly good. By most accounts, the film addresses a fairly common topic - interracial relationships - with unusual complexity, and from an uncommon perspective. Also, Simon Baker is dreamy. Just for balance, though, a few critics do take the film's title as an opportunity to say something cleverly negative - you know, "it's nothing new," that sort of thing. (Oddly, not a single review connects the film to either All That Heaven Allows or any of its various remakes - apparently the whole gardener/class issue thing is just a coincidence.)

If you're not committed to seeing a new release, however, several of the big Oscar nominees are expanding this weekend, including Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck, and the ubiquitous Brokeback Mountain - now might be a good time to catch up with the ones you've missed.