tim curry Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Everything is coming up parties and games this week. I've been busy making a kickass birthday cake for a friend, planning for the party, and finally picking up a belated gift of Scrabble for another friend. Top that off with news stories about Kevin Kline and chess, and getting sent pictures of really cool Blue Velvet cakes, and, well, I've got games and parties on the brain.

Picking this week's films was a bit of a challenge, but it all depended on the angle. Did I just want movies with games in them? Did they have to be performed at parties? Would I consider the likes of Bobby Fischer or Jumanji? Nah. Instead, we've got two films that boast insanely great ensemble casts, have some pretty fierce competition, and yet are wonderful for completely different reasons: The Anniversary Party and Clue.

I feel the need to channel Juice Newton: Just call me angel of the morning, Angel! (Sidenote: The song was written by the brother of Jon Voight.) I just can't get this song out of my head with this latest news bit, and luckily it's a satire, so it's not completely inappropriate. Variety has reported that there's a new indie on the way called Son of Mourning, and it's pulling together a pretty tasty cast thus far. Joseph Cross, the kid who ran with scissors as Augusten Burroughs, Felicity Shagwell -aka- Heather Graham, Oscar nominee Barbara Hershey, and the Transsexual King Arthur Tim Curry are set to star.

This will be the feature directorial debut for Yaniv Raz, who has two short films under his belt -- Portishead - Cowboys and Things Fall Apart, plus some brief acting stints in shows like The District. Written by Raz as well, the film is set "amid an international climate crisis, [and] centers on a dissatisfied ad copywriter (Cross) who returns home to a resort town in Florida to meditate on his parents' divorce. While there, he is mistaken for the Messiah and must decide whether to use his newfound celebrity to indulge his own selfish desires, or to do some good in the world." I imagine Curry and Hershey will play the parents, but I'm not sure what Graham's character will be. Maybe she'll get back to her early roots and play a woman who lives/lived at a convent (like her Twin Peaks character, Annie Blackburn). Production will gear up in early 2008 in the Sunshine State.

Her first film, The Golden Compass, hasn't come out yet, but young star Dakota Blue Richards has grabbed her next fantastical starring role. Variety reports that the young, 13-year-old actress will head The Secret of Moonacre, Gabor Csupo's (of Rugrats fame) next film. Our Christopher Campbell hoped it would be AnnaSophia Robb, but Richards is getting the part. See, this is the adaptation of Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse... which was then renamed The Moon Princess when Colin Firth was cast... and now it's The Secret of Moonacre. I'm not quite sure why they keep changing the name.

I wonder if Firth is still in this film, since he's not mentioned on Variety's cast list. They say that the young actress will be joined by Ioan Gruffudd, Tim Curry, Natascha McElhone, and Juliet Stevenson. From an adaptation penned by Lucy Shuttleworth and Graham Alborough, Moonacre is about a young orphan named Maria (Richards) who is sent to Moonacre Manor to live with her uncle. "There she enters a world of magical creatures, and discovers that she is the only person who can undo an ancient curse and save Moonacre Valley." Basically, the regular family fare. The production starts today in Budapest, and meanwhile, you can catch Richards in The Golden Compass on December 7.

One thing we can always be sure of are new Christmas movies -- not just ones released during the season of lights, egg nog and presents under pine trees, but ones that focus on the holiday itself. The next in the long line of jolly flicks is a feature-length animated musical called Snowyville, which is based on director Michael Attardi's animated short, Once Upon a Christmas Village. Could this be instigated by the increasing deluge of musicals lately? Sweeney Todd. Hairspray. Footloose. Repo. I think so!

The premise for the flick is a bit...strange: "Santa Claus drops his magical watch under a Christmas tree, bringing to life a miniature village at the base of the tree." Magical watch!? That must be one hell of a time piece, because I can't see any normal watch being useful for the man who travels across the world, delivering millions of presents, in one short night. Voices have already been lined up -- headlined with Tim Curry and Jim Belushi. (Am I the only one who misses Curry's risque, transvestite days?)

Dream Balloon Productions is developing the feature and celeb artist Nicolosi is going to collaborate with the film's art director, Paul "Kit" Stolen, and Attardi (who is writing and producing the feature) on both the art design for the feature and marketing. Considering the fact that Nicolosi has a whole Warhol aesthetic going, I wonder if this means the animation will be done in black and white and then be colorized with bright, unrealistic color? If so, that could make for a funky film that's different than your everyday holiday fare.

Holy sweet transvestite, Janet. Rumors are swirling around the internet about the possibility that Fox may finally be making some progress on that Rocky Horror Picture Show remake and/or possible sequel we've been hearing about since 2002 (c'mon, guys, this can't be that hard -- it's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right ... right?) The remake was supposed to have happened to coincide with the show's 30th anniversary, but that came and went a year ago (not that anyone's counting). The more interesting rumor du jour is that shock-rocker/artistic genius Marilyn Manson supposedly let slip in an interview with E! that Fox has approached him about the possibility of taking on the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, originated by Tim Curry.

Before we go any further here, folks, I want to make it abundantly clear: All these stories out there -- every single one I've found thus far -- references a single piece on bloodydisgusting.com that's based on a single report from a reader that he or she heard Manson say on an interview with E! that Fox had approached him about the role. I haven't seen the interview myself, I can't find a copy of it online, and even the E! Online website, fount of truth and knowledge, makes nary a mention of this news. Manson's official website, while visually very cool, is either not navigable at the moment, or I'm not artsy enough to figure out where to click to get anywhere.

The Guardian is one of my daily must reads, because they often have really interesting articles. Monday brought us a thought-provoking piece on well-known actors who turned down roles other actors became well-known for. The article reveals such tidbits as: Madonna turned down Whitney Houston's role in The Bodyguard opposite Kevin Costner (can you even picture Madonna and Costner getting it on? I don't think he could handle it.) Costner, the article says, was considered for Keanu Reeves' sexiest role, Neo in the Matrix films (Costner in those skintight black suits, leaping around like that? Uh, no.) And my personal fave, Emma Thompson in the role Sharon Stone made famous in Basic Instinct. (As if Emma Thompson would ever want to be most remembered for flashing her hoo-hah on the big screen.)

That got me thinking about other iconic roles and how I associate the star with that role -- the kind of roles I couldn't imagine another actor in. Like Tom Cruise in Top Gun -- would that film have been the same if it had starred, say, Andrew McCarthy or Emilio Estevez? Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable as Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator. Signourney Weaver as Ripley. Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko. Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining. William Shatner as Captain Kirk. Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter (OK, that last doesn't really count as high cinema, but who else could have played that role as well?).

What other roles can you think of that are so defined by the actor who played them, you can't imagine someone else in that role?

   • Big Momma's House 2 - In Martin Lawrence's desperate minstrel show, the comedian reprises his role as undercover FBI agent Malcolm Turner, again donning a fat suit to become the sassy, black Southern matron Big Momma. He has to stop a potentially destructive computer hacker, and the movie is broad, shameless and pandering in most every respect. Lawrence appears to assume that we automatically like him and Big Momma, and does little to endear them to us any further. Incessant mugging, weak slapstick and Teflon catchphrases fill in the many cracks of its already shaky foundation, leaving a hammy house of horrors that should have been condemned when it was still a half-baked pitch.
    • Grandma's Boy - Adam Sandler's longtime second-banana, Allen Covert, gets his shot at a lead in this stoner comedy, but despite his appealing, aw-shucks demeanor, the movie, about a 36-year-old video game tester who moves in with his grandmother and her two roommates, is just irredeemably stupid. It is sad to see three lovely ladies like Doris Roberts, Shirley Jones and Shirley Knight stooping for laughs like this, though based on the fact that practically no one saw it in theaters (or will go out of their way to rent the DVD), it is a very minor tragedy.