"I Heard of It" The Pull of The Familiar

Year after year I continue to be stunned by the near omnipotence of familiarity when it comes to ticket purchasing. With so much media noise about "what's good" in the form of blogs, reviews, articles, and whatnot, it's still nearly always marketing dollars and pre-established "names" that determine what people spend their money on. Even when people didn't like one movie in a franchise, they'll go again. I've previously referred to this as The Blockbuster Loop.

Actual conversation overheard in an elevator last weekend:

Movieless Woman: What's that?
Bootleg Loving Woman: [Holding a bootleg DVD of Prince of Persia] It's good.
Movieless: [Pointing at Jake Gyllenhaal] Who's that?
Bootleg: The Prince! It's good.
Movieless: You watched it already?
Bootleg: No, we watching it tonight. It's good.
Movieless: How do you know?
Bootleg: [exasperated] I heard of it.
Movieless: [pause] I wanna see that Robin Hood.

The conversation continued briefly after this. "Movieless" had not heard of Prince of Persia (or Jakey apparently). So "Bootleg" turned to me (!), the complete stranger eavesdropping, for backup. "It's good, right???"

Reader, I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders, feigning ignorance. That's what's called a leading question and I don't think she was looking for critical discourse.

What struck me most about the conversation was the equation of "heard of" = "good." Even Movieless, deprived all of these years of Jake Gyllenhaal, confirmed this. Hadn't heard of equalled skeptical. She wanted to see Robin Hood; "Heard of" = "Good". Everyone has heard of Robin Hood. Therefore Good. That's how it works. Honestly, have you ever met anyone who loves that movie? How did it do so well? It wasn't word of mouth. It was the 'I heard of it' [sic] factor.

Top Ten of 2010 Thus Far

1. Alice in Wonderland [heard of it x all living things + Johnny Depp]
2. Iron Man 2 [heard of it x everyone who was conscious during Summer 2008]
3. How to Train Your Dragon
   
4. Shrek Forever After [heard of it x past nine years]
5. Clash of the Titans [remake + 3D fad + hey, it's jakesully]
6. Shutter Island [heard of x Leonardo DiCaprio + hit book]
   
7. Valentine's Day [heard of x at least a few of the cast members]
   
8. Date Night [heard of x two mega small screen stars]
   
9. The Book of Eli [heard of x Denzel Washington]
10. Robin Hood [heard of it x all living things + Russell Crowe]

Just about the only arguable exception here is How To Train Your Dragon but even that is based on a hit children's book. Incidentally, of the top ten of the year so far it's the film that has had the slowest profit decline from week to week. It's now just 2 million away from becoming Dreamworks biggest animated feature outside of the Shrek franchise. So the "heard of it" factor is really about what it's about in a better world which is your classic garden variety Word of Mouth.

Some established brands, sequels, adaptations. B.O. rank for 2010 thus far

Once you fall a little further in the box office race, the familiarity begins to fade... a little, with more titles that aren't completely reliant on instant familiarity. But it's still an important factor. Consider the success of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. (While it's only earned $7 million here in the States, that's a huge fortune in the current climate for subtitled features where films are lucky to hit the million dollar mark. That's three times what Let The Right One In earned in its US run and that film seemed like a Word of Mouth sensation. It would have easily hit 8 figures a decade ago when audiences were so much more willing to see foreign films). The Girl... is of course based on an international best seller. It's hard to go a day on the subway without seeing someone reading it. Heard of it!

If I were a young filmmaker with a truly original voice, I'd be sorely tempted to "reinterpret" some famous story or adapt a minor success book. Perhaps pre-established familiarity with an original spin is the best way to maintain your creativity and get noticed?

20,000 Links Under the Sea

Daily Transom Ebert to pen memoir in high six figure deal.
In Contention looks at how Robin Hood (2010) got all mucked up in development.
Guardian an explicit erotic drama starring Emmanuelle Béart and her husband shunned by Cannes. Ugh. How will we ever see it now? They are so so pretty.
Movie|Line suggests that executives pounce on the Cannes hot ticket 101 year-old Manoel de Oliveira.


The Atlantic a tale of two comebacks: Mickey Rourke and Robert Downey Jr.
Cinema Blend Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski (of The Matrix fame) may be making a hard R gay military romance drama? Interesting.
Just Jared Tarsem Singh on Henry Cavill (in his new picture The Immortals) "Hey, I'd f*** him."
A Socialite's Life Tom Munro's celebrity portrait book. If I had a gajillion dollars I'd always have these big glossy photo books lying around.
Quiet Earth nsfw clips from the new Gregg Araki flick Kaboom.
i09 Every time i even see a new clip from a Twilight movie I want to see them even less. How is this possible? Here's Dakota Fanning all red eyed and quietly evil if you're into that.

Finally, The Hollywood Reporter shares yet another project for David Fincher. This time he'll be remaking the adventure film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. 20,000... brings Fincher's future features in development to a grand total of 12 (according to IMDb). I guess that $125 domestic gross for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button got Hollywood all horny. The first of the dozen we'll actually see is the Facebook story The Social Network which should be completed anytime soon. Remember when David was still making music videos. Or when people thought his feature career was doomed before it began due to Alien³'s reception (so underrated) or when he couldn't get arrested at the Oscars despite making films as good as Zodiac and Fight Club. Ancient history!


Wonder how much money the studio will give Fincher for the octopus alone? Water movies are notoriously expensive to make (Waterwold... Titanic... The Abyss...) so I bet this gets an even crazier budget than Button to begin with and then we'll hear endless internet reportage about it's ballooning disastrous budget during production.

Can you Cannes-Cannes?

Julien here, your special correspondent at the Cannes Film Festival.

Where shall I start? First of all, you should know is that this is my first trip to the Festival. A few minutes in, I had already bumped into Her Higness Helen Mirren and her hubby Taylor Hackford, watched Agnès Varda give an interview in the middle of the street, and turned down an invitation to yesterday night's screening of Robin Hood. No need to tell you I feel like a little boy left alone in a candy store.

From here, it seems as if the whole world revolves around cinema: the only thing everyone talks about right now is movies. On TV, on the radio, and in every newspaper in France, movies, movies and more movies. And for a split second, Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a household name, Abbas Kiarostami a semi-god, and Javier Bardem the most famous man in the world. No doubt that in a few days, all this will be forgotten, and people will return to obssessing about Lady Gaga's clothes and Jennifer Aniston's hair, but for now, the hottest ticket in town is Xavier Dolan, as it should be.

So whatever the Festival may bring, let's enjoy every minute of it, for it's one of the only places in the world where movie stars are still the center of the universe.

French Tweets #1: Cate, Robin Hood, Market Titles

Robert begins his daily Cannes roundup tomorrow afternoon and Julien you'll hear from soon directly from France. I'll pop in occassionally with snippets for those of you who aren't tweeting or are just plain desperate to see what Cate Blanchett is wearing.

Here are my nine favorite recent tweets from Cannes

You know @guylodge of In Contention (made breathless by the Blanchett) and Sasha from AwardsDaily well. I believe both of them are at Cannes for the first time this year. Maybe next year or the year after or the year after (when will my ship come in?) I'll be able to pop my Cannes cherry. @jamesrocchi is totally worth following if you aren't already.

Tweets from @anupamachopra on market titles (always a curious bunch of films), slashfilm (everyone seems to think this Robin Hood is problematic) and @akstanwyck from Thompson on Hollywood who asks if Russell Crowe's arrogance surprises.

Um... Is this a trick question?


@scott_tobias from the AV Club and @gemko from The Man Who Viewed Too Much share Robin Hood concerns.

But yes... yes... Blanchett. You're here for the pictures of the red carpet queen.

Cate at the photo call | Cate at at the premiere

She is beautiful in 3 dimensions, though only 2 are represented her... and in Robin Hood for that matter. (Ridley Scott could not attend the festivities due to recent surgeries so we wish him well.)

Till the Links Roll By

Antagony & Ecstasy - churns up a summer appropriate top ten list: best performances in comic-based films. Impeccable choices really (especially the top tier) and fine write ups (especially the two on Superman).
MNPP wants this Fright Night remake (another vampire movie?) immediately thanks to the wonderful-on-paper cast
Erik Lundegaard - is making a thorough, interesting trek through past Robin Hood films. Something I wanted to do but never found time for. Argh.
Sunset Gun "How Little We Know" a fine piece on the cinema of Wong Kar Wai, Days of Being Wild specifically


/Film has a lengthy word for word interview with Justin Theroux. Sadly it's only about Iron Man 2. I hope he acts again. David Lynch where are you???
By Ken Levine "The Truth about Lady Gaga". This article makes me want to watch Man in the Moon again. Remember that one? The one that was supposed to net Jim Carrey an Oscar nomination?
Deviant Art has a pretty amazing Pulp Fiction graphic, displaying the film chronologically. Something the film never displays don'cha know
popbytes Cynthia Nixon covers The Advocate
Just Jared Winona Ryder and Channing Tatum to play lovers in Ron Howard's Cheaters. Hmmm, strangely I like the idea, well, except for the Ron Howard part
A Socialite's Life John Barrowman as Alladin? Fun pics but why no more Torchwood? *sniffle*
Boing Boing Here's an interesting one for you small screen enthusiasts. This is a list from a tv executive explaining 12 reasons why certain shows get picked up by networks.

my favorite goodbyes to Lena Horne
Guardian David Thomson refuses to talk about Lena for 671 words
The Sheila Variations wonderful personalized tribute to Lena here
Time Magazine Richard Corliss kicks off their tribute with a 'shoulda been' obituary
Variety Ted Johnson has the Obama family's statement
The Auteurs Daily collects the online tributes and obits

i said your link your link your link is my drug

Variety finds the new Robin Hood too self serious. [gladiator voice] Are you not entertained unsurprised?
Movie|Line "The Summer of Discontent" why is this summer so empty and 2011 so packed?
USA Today the latest info on Julie Taymor's The Tempest starring Helen Mirren
Boing Boing Star Wars in 2 minutes with Legos
Dear Old Hollywood a Goonies 25th anniversary celebration coming up in June


Marie Claire Fatal Attraction going on stage by Christmas. Happy uh Christmas bunny haters
Just Jared Awwww, the Supermen together. Makes one miss Christopher Reeve though (sigh)
In Contention poster and images from Biutiful starring Javier Bardem
After Elton Neil Patrick Harris ranks Hollywood men. I can't believe he went there
Queerty why can't Cam & Mitch kiss on Modern Family? This is a weird topic since same sex kissing happens literally every week on Brothers & Sisters. That particular TV taboo has long since been broken

Finally, have you seen the Betty White SNL yet?



This compilation is helpful for those of us who get around to these things later. I tried to watch yesterday on Hulu -- I can't be bound by air times! -- and then reading opinion pieces from around the web I realized that I'd somehow missed some of the skits. So I'm hoping this video has them all. Which was your favorite? I lol'ed about the census taker (the 'kitten' in Betty's lap... priceless) and "just let her stay home and lez". Teehee

The Cannes Lineup (Thus Far)

Updated 04/19 They've added two titles but none to the actual competition list just yet. Updates are included below

04/15 Yes, they will add a few titles. Looking round the web people expect something like 4 to 5 more films to show up. Speculation that Malick's Tree of Life or Nolans Inception or Schnabel's Miral probably won't die until after they add said missing titles. But if you're heading over to the South of France next month or merely reading along on various Twitter feeds or film blogs, these are some of the titles you'll be hearing about.

Blanchett. Crowe. Scott

Opening Night Film
Because you have to kick off with a starry entry for that maximum red carpet kick. It gets the international and mainstream press excited and you need their eyeballs... even if your festival is for the global cinephiles.

• Robin Hood (Ridley Scott)
  I'm amused that the tagline is marketing this as an "untold story". Hee. If you look up 'Robin Hood' at ye olde IMDb you get 22 "exact matches" and many more options as well. But it gives us a chance to see Cate Blanchett work the red carpet again and after that one year break (thanks Cate!) the carpet will welcome her back with... uh... open fibers.
  

Competition Titles
The Cannes selection committee is really stingy about this field, nearly always erring on the side of the establishment. You rarely see first time auteurs and they're even stingy about second time auteurs who made a big splash the previous year (See: Xavier Dolan in Un Certain Regard instead).

• Another Year (Mike Leigh)
  Only one more month until we know something (anything!) about Leigh's latest. Such as vague plot. Who has the lead role. Etcetera.
  
• Biutiful (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
  
  


• Burnt by the Sun 2 (Nikita Mikhalkov)
  Russia's sole competition entry is the longest competition film at 2 hours and 21 minutes. It's also one we have to watch for the Best Foreign Language Film at next year's Oscars since the original won the top prize.
• Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
• Fair Game (Doug Liman)
  This is the Valerie Plame story again, only with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in the top roles. As Guy Lodge said on Twitter

  Doug Liman goes from "Jumper" to a Cannes competition slot. He's been reading Lee Daniels's self-improvement manual.

  
  
• The Housemaid (Im Sang-soo)
  This is where we're reminded that IMDb is sometimes months behind on movies. Must be a bear to keep that site fresh with a never-ending stream of thousands of movies in various stages of development. It's listed as in pre-production but next month it shows at Cannes! I'm looking forward to this one -- not that I'll ever get a chance to see it -- because it stars the lead actress of Secret Sunshine Do-Yeon Jeon.
  
• La Nostra Vita (Daniele Luchetti)
• Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois)
• Outrage (Takeshi Kitano)
• Outside the Law (Rachid Bouchareb)
• Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
• The Princess of Montpensier (Bertrand Tavernier)
• A Screaming Man (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

The great Mathieu Amalric (and cast) for Tournée

• Tournée (Mathieu Amalric)
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
  The sometimes confounding Thai director's latest has the longest title (love it) but is actually the shortest film in competition (90 minutes)
  
• You, My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa)

Un Certain Regard
This popular sidebar of films, a competition which runs parallel to the main field, is generally where they put younger still maturing talent and "original and different" films. Though a certain 101 year old Portuguese master is here, so...

• Adrienn Pál (Ágnes Kocsis)
• Angelica (Manoel de Oliveira)
  This 101 year-old's 49th project -- god he has more stamina than Clint Eastwood! -- also goes by the titles The Strange Case of Angelica or O Estranho Caso de Angélica
  
• Aurora (Cristi Puiu)
  From the director of the acclaimed Romanian film (is there any other kind?) The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. Like that film, this one is lengthy... the lengthiest from either lineup with a 179 minute running time.
  
• Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance -first feature!)
  I'm already eager to see his second (third?) feature I liked this one so much. Cannes lists this as a first feature -- meaning he's eligible for their directorial debut award (a very big deal) but according to the IMDb his feature debut came some 10 years back when he made Brother Tied. Maybe that one doesn't count for some reason. The IMDb can be a confusing place.
  
• Chatroom (Hideo Nakata)
• Chongqing Blues (Xiaoshuai Wang)
• The City Below (Christoph Hochhäusler)
• Hahaha (Hong Sang-soo)

Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother) returns to Cannes, the scene of his debut triumph

• Heartbeats (Xavier Dolan)
  This film from the writer/director/actor/gay wunderkind is also referred to as Les Amours Imaginaires which is a much more evocative title, don't you think? Click here for more info on the film
  
• Life Above All (Oliver Schmitz)
• The Lips (Iván Fund & Santiago Loza)
• Octubre (Daniel Vega -first feature!)
• R U There (David Verbeek)
• Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs) (Lodge Kerrigan)
• Simon Werner Disappeared… (Fabrice Gobert -first feature!)
• Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
• Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean)
• Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane -first feature!)

Out of Competition
Who knows the politics behind the Out of Competition field each year. But this is where you'll find big name directors who can benefit from a Cannes premiere without the nerve wracking 'will it win anything?' drama.

Brolin. Stone. Douglas. LaBeouf. Mulligan

• Carlos (Olivier Assayas)
  One of France's most fascinating directors returns with this true story of the infamous criminal "Carlos the Jackal"
  
• Tamara Drewe (Stephen Frears)
  I liked Chéri more than most but I still think it was something like a textbook definition of Missed Opportunity in a few substantial ways. Will Frears regain his artistic footing? Can we get something on the level of his late 80s / early 90s work again any time soon? Please. Pretty please. This is based on a graphic novel and stars Gemma Arterton
  
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Oliver Stone)
  I can't decide whether this movie needed a sequel or not. One can make an argument either way. But the movie will answer the question as to whether or not it did. It's 136 minutes long which... well, I hope Stone has enough to say to keep that going.
  
• You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen)
  Just discussed here.
  

Special Screenings
"Special" Interpret that however you will.

• 5XFavela (Carlos Diegues)
• Abel (Diego Luna -first feature!)
  Both of the Y Tu Mama Tambien boys have moved into direction. I remember two teenagers talking about this one on the bus in Park City this past January (it played at Sundance). I can't for the life of me recall their conversation other than that they thought it was "weird"
  
• Chantrapas (Otar Iosseliani)
• Draquila: L'Italia Che Trema (Sabina Guzzanti)
  trailer here
  
• Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
• Nostalgia For The Light (Patricio Guzmán)
• Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (Sophie Fiennes)
  a documentary about an installation artist
  

Midnight Screenings

They'll have to add more of these. The festival lasts a fortnight!

Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) does
leading manboy duties for indie favorite Gregg Araki

• Blackhole (Gilles Marchand)
  This is also known as L'Autre Monde and stars Gallic hotties Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (from the sticky Love Songs) and Melvill Poupaud (from the brilliant A Christmas Tale)
  
  the trailer for Blackhole. Me want
  
  
• Kaboom (Gregg Araki)
  Quiet Earth calls this an oversexed sci-fi romp. I can still remember vividly seeing The Living End (his debut) in the movie theater. I hadn't ever seen anything like it.
  

Don't you wish you were in France?

Other Blog Reactions to Check Out:
Thompson on Hollywood some chatter about the films that didn't make the cut or weren't finished in time
Women and Hollywood No female directors in competition
Independent Eye Light on American films
Indie Wire the lineup and poll. which film are you most excited for?
Guardian Cannes '09 will definitely be a tough act to follow
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Halfway House: Robin Coming Back to the Hood

halfway through the day, stop a movie halfway through. What do you see?

Getting way ahead of it all but my thoughts drifted off to 2010 this morning and what movies await. I'm mildly curious about what Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett will bring to the millionth version of Robin Hood (2010). What is there to add? What angle can feel fresh? So out of curiousity a quick peek back at Kevin Reynold's 1991 blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves which I've always disliked, primarily for its lack of tonal cohesion and for its absurd length (155 minutes to tell a story everyone knows by heart already?) But I understand some people love it.

Speaking of quick peeks, 77 and ½ minutes in Maid Marian (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) gets one.

Offscreen Voice: "I told you you can't go down there!"

What's causing her astonishment down there? Why it's Kevin Costner's infamous butt double!!! Why any star would need a butt double for a scene filmed in long shot through a waterfall is a head scratcher. Eighteen years later it's still a prudish mystery.

Will Cate's mouth go similarly agape for Russell's arse in the next version? We'll find out in 159 days.
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Red Carpet: Yo, Adrien. It's Marion and Maid Marian

Time for our weekly stream of consciousness trip to the red carpet to visit with random celebrities who've been walking it.

First up are two Hogwarts franchise girls. Sartorial madwoman Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix LeStrange) and the delightfully batty Miriam Margoyles (Professor Pomona Sprout) came out for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premiere. Helena gets a few wickedly cackling scenes in the new picture but Miriam goes entirely missing. Oh well. Next time, Miriam. What is it with out lesbian actresses that they are all so endlessly adorable? I mean Jane Lynch + Miriam Margoyles + Lily Tomlin + Fiona Shaw... it doesn't get much better than them. They're always an audience treat. But back to Helena. Sometimes I try to time travel back to the late 80s and imagine this current fate for Lucy Honeychurch (sharing a home and hairdresser with Tim Burton) and I'll tell you... it's hard to fathom. Who saw this onscreen/offscreen persona coming for Merchant/Ivory's favorite dress up doll?


Adrien Brody chose to wear a blue cardigan without a shirt to some fashion event which upset the Fug girls quite a lot. Adrien is clearly proud of the sculpted body he's been sporting ever since he played a stripper in Summer of Sam (1999) -- good Spike Lee joint, that. My theory is that Brody shows it off as much as he does because he achieved his greatest fame without the bod, all emaciated for his Oscar winning role in The Pianist (2002). It's just a kindly reminder. He doesn't want us to forget.

Cate Blanchett attended an Armani show looking diva fine. Don't all freak out at once but I saw this photo and experienced a brief moment of temporary amnesia in which I actually thought "I miss you Cate!" forgetting that I was so glad to be having a one year break from The Ubiquitous One. Perhaps this short hiatus will bode well for her return as Maid Marian next year in Robin Hood. Maybe I'll fall back in love? Here's a photo of her in costume [via].

Speaking of Maid Marian... this past month's celebrity death parade was really upsetting to me and I've been thinking about 93 year-old Olivia deHavilland nearly every day. I wish her the best of health. No, that's not enough. I wish her Gandalf-like longevity. I want the Golden Age Maid Marian to hit the red carpet premiere of Robin Hood and have a photo op with the latest in the long line of actresses who've followed her in the role.

Sophie Okonedo came out for the UK premiere of Skin in which she plays the black daughter of white parents in Apartheid-era South Africa. It's been on the festival circuit for a year but there's still no word yet on whether or not it's ever coming to the States.

Look, it's Marion Cotillard and her mama! (up top far right) How cute are they? You'd think Cotillard would be exhausted by the endless premieres of Public Enemies around the globe but she's also showing up at fashion shows and doing commercials and short films and she's got three more movies on the way including Nine (see many previous posts). I fear we're talking about Blanchett level stamina here. J'en ai peur.

Marion Cotillard est très occupée. Photos from May 4th ~ July 6th

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The Biggest Linker

MTV Movies Will Cronenberg ever return to horror?
Guardian Michelle Pfeiffer talks about her career, her lack of a game plan and Chéri
Movie Marketing on the different challenges for Wolverine and Star Trek as they gear up to open
[title] of show has a helpful eligibility chart for the TONYs. If your awards addiction extends to the stage, you'll love studying this. [thx]
The Big Picture on why there's no iTunes for movies. Hollywood needs to figure this out pronto methinks. At one of the panels I attended at NaFF they were really concerned about piracy and pointed to the decline of the recording industry. Didn't the recording industry decline precisely because they waited so long to catch up with demand and refused to supply (online that is)?

NYT did you read this piece last weekend on the expanding waistlines of male stars? They got dinged for it in several places online this week but I think it's kind of interesting... if only for the reaction it provoked. I love this astute comment from annanikita on Vulture's piece.

Vincent D'Onofrio, on L&O: Criminal Intent. How much weight has this guy put on in recent years -- 50, 60? Not a peep about it. (Think co-star Kathryn Erbe would still be employed if she put on that kind of tonnage?

So true. But the other thing I love is all the excuse-making the media does for male stars like Russell Crowe, implying he got heavier specifically for those "portly" characters. Er, no. He just got heavier. It isn't like Crowe has been making Raging Bulls lately, you know? His current characters don't need to be heavy, narratively speaking.


But then there's this photo going around of Crowe all slimmed down for Robin Hood (2010). The NY Post thinks it's photoshopped. If it's not faked, I must ask: why the exact same hairdo / facial hair as he had in Gladiator? Perhaps they're hoping the look is a good luck charm? If it is faked, will anyone call them on it when real photos emerge. We have memories like goldfish.

I'm obsessed with this topic right now because I'm gaining weight by the day at this festival. The food is yummy and I'm either watching movies or writing. These things don't burn calories. At least not the way I do them.

Time to work it off by dancing! And Your Little Blog, Too has crafted this dancers a go-go video for you musical lovers. Yay.


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Freshwater Link

/Film more on Ridley Scott's Robin Hood's basic angle and the casting. A fourth Oscar winner has been added... is he actually going for Oscars, 2010 rather than a mere adventure romp?
Getty Images La Lohan is back to her natural red. Okay an approximation of it but still... good sign? NO. I shan't get my hopes up. Don't do that to yourself, Nathaniel!
Twitch Elisabeth Shue to star in Piranhas 3D. Sigh. I love my Shue but does NO studio or casting director or director or producer or anyone anywhere besides her fans (and it's weird how many she still seems to have) remember what she was able to do in Leaving Las Vegas? We can't get any real roles for her
Crazy Days Robyn Gibson finally dumping Mad Mel -- entitled to half a billion?
MNPP congratulates SMG on the bun in her oven and offers her sound advice, too?
Empire a Venom movie in development? Marvel has gone mad. Maybe they should slow down a wee bit or focus on, I don't know, 2 or 3 of them?
Topless Robot takes (humorous) issue with the new Star Trek "not your father's Star Trek" commercial

Robin & Marian Redux

As you may have heard the 39th film version of Robin Hood is in progress. I might be exaggerating on the number but not by much, the point being that there's another one coming about that man who robs from the rich to give to the poor [I can hear the wingnut editorials now "ack! redistribution of wealth! ack!!!" still unable to see that rich people are also into the redistribution of wealth -- no bid contracts, unfair wages, outsourcing -- so long as it's redistributed to them]. Ridley Scott is directing this version, formerly called Nottingham, which means that Russell Crowe is the star. This will mark their 5th movie together. Maybe they're trying to catch up to Tim Burton & Johnny Depp who are hitting lucky #7 with Alice in Wonderland which will be out in 2010, same year as this Robin Hood.

Every generation gets at least one version of the story of
the honorable thief and his fair maiden

It's also no surprise that Cate Blanchett has signed to co-star as Maid Marian -- offers hit her inbox at the rate spam hits yours. That said she seems like a decent choice. But Russell Crowe? Here's how Brian Grazer explains the casting decisions

They are both highly accomplished dramatic actors who are taken seriously playing rich characters in period pieces, but each has the ability to show you fun.

I'll give you the first part but "both" on the second? Blanchett can definitely have fun onscreen (see The Talented Mr Ripley, Indiana Jones, The Aviator, Bandits) even if it's it's usually only a means at getting at the drama but Crowe !? "Fun" is not the word that comes to mind. Ah well, it's a winning ticket at any rate. It's not like they'll even have to try to be able to wipe the floor with Hollywood's last big Robin Hood movie. Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and their 1938 movie's 4 Oscar nominations won't be quite so easy to take down.

I guess this means that Ridley Scott is no longer making Monopoly the Movie which means we don't get to see who Crowe would have played in that. I had my money on The Banker with a nervous glance sideways at the Battleship.

Linkwood Forest

Coming Soon casting rumors abound for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood
Fin de Cinema is it a lie when they say there aren't any good roles for women?
Modern Tonic has a cruise contest (win a cabin for two) from Barcelona to London for Mamma Mia!
Arbogast on Fu Manchu
NY Post Jane Fonda on her love life
Deadline Hollywood Nailed, David O. Russell's first feature since I Y Huckabees, is shut down... AGAIN. If you need me I'll be over here crying. Love his movies I do.
StinkyLulu profiles a performance I dearly love: Olivia DeHavilland in Gone With the Wind
Bright Lights After Dark on M Night Shyamalan @ 'the troph of ego'
Hollywood Elsewhere revives an old argument about Eyes Wide Shut. I very much agree.

Question: Entries to the Batman (1966) Blu Ray giveaway (entries due tomorrow) have been uncharacteristically sparse. No blu-ray player? If so I sympathize. Can't give up my DVDs just yet.

One Last First Thing: Not that I care. I had a miserable time participating last year but be very afraid: Bizarro Days (blog-a-thon) are upon us again.


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