25 Days Until Australia Opens...

Long wait.

But how long will Baz Luhrmann's epic feels once the projector is running? Hollywood Elsewhere suggests that the final running time is nearly 3 hours. More alarming is the news that there's apparently still no final print. I'm no great fan of the marathon movie and I always worry about rushed post-production but I still can't wait. About that three hour running time: With Baz working his mojo, Hugh all heroic and Nicole in period finery I suspect it will fly by. Especially because that killjoy voice in the back of my head keeps reminding me that we're not going to get Bazmark's next film until at least 2013, you know? I suppose good things come to those who wait.

The Curious Case of Maria Bello

"HEEEYYYYYY!"

Maria Bello @ the Hollywood Film Festival on Monday

Maria just wanted to say hi.

Maria Bello needs a job. No seriously. How you do what she did in A History of Violence (my review --she won my gold medal, too) and not be deluged with major offers. How do you do what she did and end up playing second fiddle to Alison Lohman in a horse movie? Sigh. Her most recent ignoble defeat at the hands of Hollywood? Replacing Rachel Weisz in the Mummy pictures past their prime this past summer. That vaguely reminded me of that horrific moment when they threw a brunette wig on Elisabeth Shue for what was amounted to a throwaway part in Back to the Futures II & III ...perhaps hoping that nobody would notice the replacement of the original actress whatshername. That was so weird. Anyone old enough to remember that? As a young boy I was desperately in love with Elisabeth Shue via The Karate Kid -- 'tis true. This McFly move emotionally signified the end of Shue's stardom for me (yes, even as a kid I went all white-knuckled, fearing unemployment for my actresses ...no wonder I'm getting worry lines). But then 5 years later Leaving Las Vegas premiered and the blessed Oscar nomination happened for Ms. Shue.

What does all this mean? Maria Bello in 2013, people... Maria Bello in 2013!