usher Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Odds and ends from Friday:

• The James Brown rumor mill is definitely heating up (and, personally, I'm on fire with anticipation) -- first came word that Usher was interested in the role, and now we're hearing Samuel L. Jackson's name passed around. Sam Jackson as James Brown? What's next, Spike Lee steps from behind the camera for a little diddy action? Hey, I love Jackson just as much as the next Star Wars prequel mega-fan, but you really expect me to believe the man has that many moves? Seriously now, how about we start throwing some real talent in this already rocky wave pool.
• Brad Pitt? His career in trouble? Say it ain't so, David Thompson. Oh, he says plenty: "But Pitt is utterly exposed. He hasn't had a release since Mr & Mrs Smith, and Babel in 10 weeks has earned about $20m (£10.2m) and is playing at 250 theatres across the nation. The way he's fading away at the age of 43, he could be an actress." Ouch. While Thompson does make some good points (Damon and DiCaprio are hitting their strides, while Pitt is too lost saving the world alongside his wife), I am of the opinion the man still has some juice left ... and if we have to wait another year (and for another David Fincher film) to witness the re-birth of Pitt 2.0, so be it.
• The LA Times recently asked a number of online film folks to give us the 411 on 2007 and -- whaddya know -- Cinematical's Kim Voynar and Erik Davis (wait, that's me!) managed to throw in our four cents on the new year and the Hollywood dreck that lies ahead. Nah, not all of it looks bad (we think, and hope) -- Kim said Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has tremendous "flop potential," while I went ahead and gave Evan Almighty the award for "The Biggest Disappointment We Saw Coming From a Mile Away." Hey, but there's always another Pixar film to look forward to ...

[First two stories came via Hollywood Wiretapp]

It's only been two days since Spike Lee was announced as the director of an upcoming James Brown biopic for Paramount Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, but already the internet is buzzing with rumors as to who will play the legendary performer. Unfortunately, Starpulse News reports via Page Six (extremely reliable source, I know) that Usher is very much interested in the role. For those who don't know Usher, he's the cocky 28-year-old R&B singer/performer who's kind of like a young Michael Jackson rip-off rolled up into that annoying "cool" kid from high school -- ya know, the one you just wanted to snap in two as he sashayed down the hall, but were too afraid of being sued. Yeah, him.

Another name being tossed into the rumor pile is Fergie (aka Stacy Ferguson) from the Black Eyed Peas -- she'd like to land a part as one of Brown's wives. Unlike Usher (who has yet to make a real name for himself on the big screen, save for, ahem, In the Mix), Ferguson has appeared in Be Cool, Poseidon and has a part in the upcoming Grindhouse. Now, I don't mean to enrage you Usher fanatics out there, but c'mon -- do you really think he's cool enough to play James Brown? Seriously. Maybe -- just maybe -- I'd accept him in the role of a young Brown if, say, they got Eddie Murphy (for example) to step in after the first half hour to play an older version.

What do you think of Usher as James Brown? Do you dig that choice, or do you throw up a little bit in your mouth just thinking about the possibility of Usher in the main role?

[via Filmstalker]

• Bukowski: Born in to This - There is a morbidly fascinating fly-on-the-wall vibe that pervades John Dullaghan's profile of the late Beat writer Charles Bukowski, a base familiarity that parallels the Ham On Rye author's own inimitable hard-lived life and style. Epic in scope (and length), first-time director Dullaghan compiles dozens of meticulously screened hours of archival footage, coupling the best of it with new interviews with Bukowski survivors to present a terrifically real character study of a little-studied real character. The watchable Chuck-alike Happy Hour, starring Anthony LaPaglia as a booze-addled writer, is also just out.

Lionsgate continued its virtually misstep-free existence last night, by guiding Crash to its best picture trophy. Apart from that whole Usher thing, the little company that could has been magic from day one, mixing low-budget cash cows like the Saw franchise with indie flicks and clever marketing campaigns to catapult itself to the forefront of an industry that usually favors the monster studios with massive budgets.

Though Crash was released well before the other best picture nominees, Lionsgate was able to keep it in the forefront of voters' minds via a $4 million advertising budget, the bulk of which was spent sending a DVD of the film to each of the 120,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild. (Because of Crash's early release and availability on DVD, the studio didn't face the pirating issues that would normally scuttle such a marketing campaign.) And, like most everything Lionsgate does, it worked - as Crash writer/director Paul Haggis himself put it, "We had a tiny picture, we opened at the wrong time, thank God for Lionsgate."