Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Jesse Eisenberg has tapped Vanessa Redgrave for an Off-Broadway play. A judge has ruled on a request to close Innocence of Muslims video. And a look at the Specialty offerings coming out this weekend.
Clint Eastwood Owns The Chair Thing at Premiere
The 82 year-old Oscar winner has taken some heat for his empty chair speech at the Republican National Convention, but at his premier for Trouble With the Curve he chatted with a press contingent that – somehow – noticed there were 16 empty chairs nearby – “Oh my god yes,” he said with a laugh. He added that he worked with people on the film that fall across the political spectrum, but his latest is not a political film. And he will continue to stomp for Romney, A.P. reports.
John Travolta Eyes Vince Lombardi Biopic
At the Zurich Film Festival, Travolta said he’s considering a remake of the John Woo film, The Killer as well as starring in a biopic of legendary football star Vince Lombardi. The Killer remake will shoot in 3-D, Screen Daily reports.
Jesse Eisenberg, Vanessa Redgrave Set for Off-Broadway in The Revisionist
Redgrave will star along with Eisenberg in The Social Network’s Off-Broadway play that will be directed by Kip Fagan. The plot centers around Eisenberg’s character is a blocked sci-fi writer attempting to escape his problems in Poland. “A 75-year-old cousin played by Redgrave latches onto him as a means of connecting with her distant American family, gradually revealing details of their complex post-war past.” THR reports.
Riots Continue as Judge Denies Actress’ Move to Shut Down Innocence of Muslims
Western embassies closed in anticipation of Friday prayers as protesters fought…
Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Jesse Eisenberg has tapped Vanessa Redgrave for an Off-Broadway play. A judge has ruled on a request to close Innocence of Muslims video. And a look at the Specialty offerings coming out this weekend.
Clint Eastwood Owns The Chair Thing at Premiere
The 82 year-old Oscar winner has taken some heat for his empty chair speech at the Republican National Convention, but at his premier for Trouble With the Curve he chatted with a press contingent that – somehow – noticed there were 16 empty chairs nearby – “Oh my god yes,” he said with a laugh. He added that he worked with people on the film that fall across the political spectrum, but his latest is not a political film. And he will continue to stomp for Romney, A.P. reports.
John Travolta Eyes Vince Lombardi Biopic
At the Zurich Film Festival, Travolta said he’s considering a remake of the John Woo film, The Killer as well as starring in a biopic of legendary football star Vince Lombardi. The Killer remake will shoot in 3-D, Screen Daily reports.
Jesse Eisenberg, Vanessa Redgrave Set for Off-Broadway in The Revisionist
Redgrave will star along with Eisenberg in The Social Network’s Off-Broadway play that will be directed by Kip Fagan. The plot centers around Eisenberg’s character is a blocked sci-fi writer attempting to escape his problems in Poland. “A 75-year-old cousin played by Redgrave latches onto him as a means of connecting with her distant American family, gradually revealing details of their complex post-war past.” THR reports.
Riots Continue as Judge Denies Actress’ Move to Shut Down Innocence of Muslims
Western embassies closed in anticipation of Friday prayers as protesters fought…
Also in Monday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Red Hook Summer and 2 Days In New York lead an unspectacular weekend in the specialty box office. The Dark Knight Rises leads the way for another weekend overseas. And remembering Al Freeman Jr.
Jesse Eisenberg Eyes Night Moves for Old Joy
Eisenberg is in talks to play the leader of a group of eco-terrorists who plot to blow up a dam in the thriller, directed by Kelly Reichardt. Dakota Fanning is also in talks to play the wealthy girl who funds the destructive scheme, The Guardian reports.
Mary Steenburgen Joins Las Vegas
Steenburgen joins the comedy from CBS Films and Good Universe in which she’ll be the object of affection in a love triangle. In the film, a group of friends throw a Las Vegas bachelor party for the one remaining single member of their group, Deadline reports.
Red Hook Summer, 2 Days In New York Debuts So-So: Specialty Box Office
A pair of New York-centric limited releases debuted in exclusive runs in NYC over the weekend and the numerical results were decent at best. Red Hook Summer and
2 Days In New York lead specialty openers with limited runs. Spike Lee’s latest Brooklyn tale Red Hook Summer bowed in four locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, averaging $10,525. The film doesn’t have major stars and its distributor touted its opening on four screens instead of the “safer route” of two locations as many specialty openings do, Deadline reports.
Foreign Box Office: Dark Knight Rises Still Tops
The box office was down overall with summer heat and the Olympics blamed for a suppression of the numbers. The Dark Knight Rises took the top spot overseas, taking in $34.2 million,…
Jesse Eisenberg landed an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network and most recently, he is a love-sick architect opposite Alec Baldwin in Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love. Next up, the young star plays a piano prodigy who tries to check his mother (played by Oscar-winner Melissa Leo) into rehab. Things, however, go awry when he is taken hostage by her drug dealer (hate when that happens) and he is suddenly off on a wild adventure.
The film was formerly titled Predisposed when it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Despite the obvious that’s revealed in the trailer – namely the aforementioned mother who is hooked on drugs and a kidnapping by a drug dealer, the film appears to have some laughs. Phil Dorling and Ron Nyswanner co-direct the film and wrote the screenplay. IFC Films will release the film August 17th.
It’s a big day for reputable news outlets to make a fool of themselves. First CNN announces that SCOTUS spiked Obamacare, now CBS Los Angeles is announcing a greenlight on a film — The Big Lebowski 2 — that anyone with an ounce of common sense knows is not real.
Picking up on a story from SuperOfficialNews.com (which sources “The Ass Press”) CBS Los Angeles invites fans of The Big Lebowski to “lift up your white russian!” According to the post, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, John Turturro, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore are allegedly on board for a Lebowski sequel called The Big Lebowski 2: The Dude Goes To Washington.
The premise has it that the local bowling alley is being turned into a parking garage and only The Dude’s son (Jesse Eisenberg), as the world’s youngest Congressman, can help.
No diss to SuperOfficialNews.com, whose other joke pieces include Pat Robertson announcing he is gay and Facebook announcing a for-pay “gold account”, but this one is so… not-really-all-that-funny that I guess one could be forgiven for thinking it is real.
Nevermind that the Coen Brothers have basically disowned The Big Lebowski, repeatedly shrugging off its cultural importance at press events and refusing to involve themselves in the ever popular Lebowski Fests. If you recall, when the only news source more trusted than SuperOfficialNews — Tara Reid — mentioned she was doing a Lebowski sequel, the Coen Brothers publicly scoffed at her.
The CBS Los Angeles piece has no byline, but I imagine the author might deflect with “new shit has come to light” or “lotta ins lotta outs, lotta what have yous.” If they raised their voice in defiance, a quieting “calmer than you are” might be the only retort.
[CBS Los Angeles, SuperOfficialNews]
Woody Allen has cemented an historic onscreen legacy by managing to play a grand total of one single character for the last 47 years. (What versatility!) Needless to say, it’s been one hell of a character: Allen’s extreme version of himself, trading on some of the most base cultural stereotypes out there about New Yorkers, Jews and intellectuals, has, logically or not, repeatedly held mainstream America’s interest. Yet, in a halfhearted nod to the idea of variety, Allen hasn’t always played the character himself – due to the constraints of age, style, and physical type, he’s occasionally enlisted actors to come in and do their best Woody Allen imitation over the years. With a new addition to the coterie coming in To Rome With Love – Jesse Eisenberg is a neo-Woody if ever there was one – it’s worthwhile to take a look back at Allen’s nine most entertaining surrogates.
Kenneth Branagh, Celebrity
Could the staid, withdrawn nature of British mores and culture – or those of the Irish, for that matter – be any further from the traits needed to play the Woody character effectively? It seems like a counterintuitive choice, but going with Branagh for the Woody surrogate in Celebrity (one of Allen’s more underappreciated films) was a smart choice; Branagh’s natural composure collides in an interesting way with the foregone conclusion of the character’s neuroses and tics. The result is a performance where Branagh is restrained on the surface while seemingly jittery and anxious underneath – a more subtle and surprisingly effective way of making Allen’s comedy work.
Jason Biggs, Anything Else
One of Allen’s most maligned pictures, it’s this writer’s contention that Anything Else has received an undeservedly bad rap. Sure, the chemistry between Biggs and Christina Ricci is closer to producing…
Some were skeptical that Woody Allen would make an appearance at the opening night of the LA Film Festival, even with his latest Euro-whimsy To Rome With Love premiering in the kick-off slot Thursday night. But show up Woody did, with five of his starlets in tow — including Alison Pill, Greta Gerwig, and a dazzling Penelope Cruz — to debut his 43rd feature film with a few charmingly self-deprecating zingers.
“I had a wonderful time making the picture in Rome,” Allen said, introducing his film to a packed theater at LA Live with a quip. “That doesn’t mean that you’ll enjoy it.”
Allen continued, quietly demurring the palpable adoration of the opening night crowd, joined by Cruz, Pill, Gerwig, and Italian co-stars Alessandra Mastronardi and Simona Caparrini. “I had fun. I was there for three months eating pasta, working with beautiful actresses and scintillating leading men. It was great for me. But whether it came out or not, you have to be the judge. If you like it, I want you to tell your friends and pressure Sony, so they don’t put it in the Witness Protection Program.” [Sony Pictures Classics releases the film in select cities next week.]
Allen’s Roman outing follows in the vein of his Oscar-nominated hit Midnight in Paris, exploring the spirit of the Eternal City through four light-hearted, if exhausting and scattered vignettes. In one, renowned architect Alec Baldwin visits his old Rome stomping grounds, running into Jesse Eisenberg’s 30 years-younger counterpart as he falls into an ill-advised affair. In another, a fiery hooker (Cruz) upends the life of a timid Italian newlywed. Roberto Benigni (“delightful, brilliant, sensational,” lauded Allen) shines in his own Fellini-esque tale of…
Full Story »The easiest way to start an interview is to ask someone, “Was there a cock sock or not?” Take Jason Ritter, who plays Wally, the sub-par musician friend of Jillian (Jess Weixler), in Free Samples — which premiered last weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival in the Spotlight program. “It was cock sock,” Ritter said, marking the second time Ritter appeared pantsless in a Tribeca film costarring Jesse Eisenberg. “[Before] was The Education of Charlie Banks, but this one was the first time I’ve been bare-assed for an entire scene.”
Meanwhile, the new film’s plot is simple enough: Jillian gets roped into handing out free ice cream samples from a truck as a variety of characters weave in and out of the scene. Samples acts as a counter-point to the classic indie slacker story, as the characters deal with having plans that fall apart — Jillian was in law school and had a fiancé before deciding to “become an artist” — as Ritter plays “Jason Ritter” in Mark Webber’s Sundance film The End of Love, portraying an established, mature version of his actor persona.
“I feel like there are a lot of movies about late 20s, early 30s being directionless and you wonder, ‘How are any of these people surviving?’” Ritter said. “What do they do? I really like that there does seem to be more thought put into this character Jillian. It’s been fun to jump in and do a day here and a day there on each of their films.”
Just when it seemed like we were getting to the heart of the film’s subject, alas, Ritter complicated things by revealing how he’d blacked out the memory of Weixler slapping his ass.
“Did you?” he asked.
“I did smack you on…
Full Story »Woody Allen continues his cinematic Eurotrip with To Rome With Love, which aims to repeat the formula of pitting navel-gazing privileged Americans against Old World locales with charming results. While it doesn’t go for the transformative magic of Midnight in Paris, will Woody’s Rome outing capture something special in Italy? Watch the first trailer below.
To Rome With Love is comprised of four vignettes; one features Allen (in his first onscreen turn since 2006’s Scoop) and Judy Davis as a married couple; another stars Greta Gerwig, Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin and Ellen Page as Americans in Rome; a third features Penelope Cruz; and the fourth follows Roberto Benigni. While the trailer gives little away in terms of plot, it does provide a peek at how Allen’s brand of neurosis-comedy will play set against the streets and countryside of Italy. (Answer: Pretty much the same as it does in France, Spain, and New York.)
Via Yahoo!:
To Rome With Love debuts on June 22.
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To be fair, nothing in Jesse Eisenberg’s recently filed lawsuit claims that he wishes he could take back his five-minute cameo in the low budget horror pic Camp Hell, about evil unleashing a bloodbath at a Christian youth retreat. (That’s just a guess.) The actor is simply a stickler for truth in advertising and wants his fans to know he’s “not the star of and does not appear in a prominent role in Camp Hell.” As for co-stars Bruce Davison, Dana Delaney, and Andrew McCarthy… well, you’re kinda stuck. Watch the unintentional horrors unfold in the trailer after the jump!
It would appear that Eisenberg appears in the film (released on home video in August) via flashback as a troubled, demon-haunted youth whom Davison’s child-slapping minister attempts to save. He sketches. He’s in dire need of a tan. “There is no hope. There is only God’s will,” he croaks.
According to reports, Eisenberg is seeking “$3 million in general damages for alleged misappropriation of right of publicity and unfair business practices.” (The film’s budget, per IMDB, is $3 million, while Academy Award nominee Eisenberg’s fee was reportedly $3,000.)
Did Lionsgate’s marketing team really misuse his good name in promotional materials for Camp Hell? There’s this prominent bit from the trailer:
And, well, the DVD cover:
Yeeeeah. Who can blame Lionsgate for wanting to capitalize on Eisenberg’s Oscar sheen? Or Eisenberg, for wanting distance from this would-be Razzie contender?
Camp Hell is currently available on DVD.
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