We all know producers can be a bunch of real, ah, prickly people. They kind of have to be, since their job, so long as it’s their actual job and not just a title given to them because they invested a couple of mil into the production, is to make sure everything goes smoothly, the film stays within budget, and the money isn’t wasted on limos when it could be wasted instead on expensive CG effects that look completely dated within 3 years*. As a result, these guys tend to be blunt as hell and not afraid to hurt some mothaf*ckin’ feelings when they rolling deep through the movie hood, as it were.
Take Joel Silver, the famously take-no-prisoners producer of the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard films.** Screenwriter Doug Richardson, the guy who Wrote Die Hard 2: Die Harder, and Bad Boys, has shared a story from the making of Die Hard over on his official site, and it’s a most triumphant example of producer due diligence at the expense of expensive furniture you’ll ever hear.
Remember the scene in Die Hard when the roof of Nakatomi Plaza explodes, and the penthouse lobby and fountain area is completely trashed? You might have noticed there’s an expensive looking couch in that scene; You might have also noticed that it appears to survive the initial explosion, only to show up seconds later completely aflame. There’s a reason for that — the couch wasn’t just expensive looking, it actually cost $5,000 back in 1988 which in today’s money is about 5 trillion dollars.*** Apparently, the scene drew cheers and high fives from everyone on the crew after they pulled it off during the shoot; except for Silver that is, whose eagle-eyed penny-pinching…
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According to TMZ, a diver working on a water tank on the set of The Lone Ranger drowned this morning in Los Angeles: “Law enforcement sources tell TMZ the movie wasn’t being shot today, and the person who died in the tank was prepping it — possibly cleaning it — when someone noticed no bubbles from the gear were surfacing. That’s when they pulled the man out of the water.” The Johnny Depp blockbuster is filming for a July 3, 2013 release. More info to come. [TMZ]
This is why you should leave the zombie play to professionals in the movies, kids. And whatever you do, don’t go around pretending to be a member of the face-eating living dead IN MIAMI, where folks are on high alert for crazed strangers and bath salts with good reason.
Unfortunately, this jerkwad internet pranker is reveling in the attention and boasts that his most irate victims only got in a few hits before he begged off as a jokester in undead clothing. He also has a prank video in which he pretends to fart on people, so by comparison this is some real highbrow stuff.
That said, face-eatin’ is so hot these days, it can’t be long until we see a movie based on the recent rash of real life cannibals. Here’s my pitch: Found footage horror follows internet prankster who terrorizes unsuspecting citizens of Miami in zombie guise, only to find that the actual zombiepocalypse has begun; he is then eaten by zombies. Any takers?
[Vitalyztv via @MelAddington]
In the late 00′s, his face was starting to sag and lose its elasticity. His face pretty much fluttered in the breeze as he ran. He had lines around his eyes and bags under them.
Now, frankly, this is not a big deal. All faces age. Really! But this ego maniacal liar wants you to believe that he is no mere mortal, and that his looks are all natural because he lives such an extraordinary life. That’s right, People! He’s not like you! He works hard to stay young! He has never had plastic surgery and never will! Or so he claims.
Here’s the truth: He had a nose job when he was in his teens (he had the bridge thinned out). He had his teeth completely redone (although we wouldn’t include teeth in the plastic surgery category). He had his eyeballs replaced. He had a mid-section face lift and lower blepharoplasty (eye job) around 2009. He is currently holding off on upper eye work (because that would drastically change his look). Now he just has regular injections of Botox and Restylane to freeze things up and plump them out. Hey, it’s good work, he doesn’t look “done”, and his face settled in nicely six months after the plastic surgery. But it’s still plastic surgery. And he is still a liar. (Blind Gossip)
Tommy Girl? Exhibit: EVERYTHING.
But I resent
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Susan Sarandon’s friends now know why every time there’s a leak in her ceiling, she truly believes it’s from a wire tapper in her attic dropping his glass of water after a rat jumped in front of him. During a Q&A about politics at the Tribeca Film Festival with fellow liberal activist Michael Moore, an audience member asked both of them if they’ve ever felt like they were under surveillance. Susan says something in the government milk definitely ain’t clean, because her phone has been tapped and the White House isn’t about to let her in. From HuffPo:
After an audience member asked the pair if they believed they were “under surveillance,” Sarandon said she didn’t just believe it, she knew it. “I’ve had my phone tapped … I’ve gotten my file twice under the Freedom of Information Act,” she said, before mentioning the security clearance snafu. She said she had no idea why the clearance was denied, and jokingly asked the questioner if he knew the reason. (The Huffington Post has reached out to the White House for comment.)
Moore, responding to a separate question, said he had been the target of a “disinformation campaign,” possibly engineered by the federal government. “I was told this by some people in the Bush administration. They went bonkers when ‘Fahrenheit’ came out and thought it would throw the election to Kerry,” he said, referring to his 2004
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Full Story »Mark your calendars for May 20! Or not: “Chronicling the lives of Dina Eastwood, the wife of Oscar-winning film legend Clint Eastwood, and their daughters Francesca (18) and Morgan (15), and the all-male six member vocal group from South Africa managed by Dina, ‘Overtone,’ Mrs. Eastwood & Company is an unprecedented look at the surprisingly normal extended and blended family behind one of Hollywood’s most iconic superstars. This series invites viewers to witness their lives and proves that familial bonds are shaped by more than DNA.” [E!]
[Photo of (L-R) Dina Eastwood and daughters Francesca and Morgan via Getty Images]
Tragic news from the New Orleans set of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, where a crew member suffered fatal injuries after an accident while breaking down the set. Filming closed earlier this week under director Jon M. Chu, who had already Tweeted his departure from the set days before the incident occurred. The tragedy marks the latest in a string of on-set accidents on big budget studio productions including The Expendables 2 and The Hobbit.
From TMZ:
Sources connected to the production tell us … the man was working on a “condor” — a high-powered lift — when the machine tipped over and the man sustained fatal injuries.
Paramount released a statement saying, “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the [crew member’s] family at this time.”
The statement continues, “The safety of our cast and crew is our top priority and the studio is fully cooperating with all investigating agencies as they examine the circumstances surrounding this unusual accident.”
In October, Nu Image/Millenium Films confirmed that one stunt man died and another was injured while filming an explosion scene for The Expendables 2. Earlier this summer an Avengers stunt performer was injured during a 30 ft. fall, suffering injury to his head. And in May, two crew members on The Hobbit were caught in a workshop explosion with minor injuries.
• ‘G.I. JOE’ SEQUEL Crew Member Dies After Accident On Set [TMZ]
Full Story »Imagine Rachel Getting Married, but instead of one emotionally unpredictable family member silently threatening to upset a family wedding, there are multiple. Enter Another Happy Day, the directorial debut of Sam Levinson (son of Barry) which features Ellen Barkin in a juicy comeback role as the volatile mother of the groom, Ellen Burstyn as her mother, Thomas Haden Church as her ex, Demi Moore as her ex’s new wife, recent Verge designee Ezra Miller as her drug addict son and Kate Bosworth as her cutter daughter. If your head’s not yet spinning, click ahead to see the family member-on-family member emotional crimes on display in the trailer for the messy matrimonial movie event of the year.
To be more specific, Barkin plays a troubled matriarch, who, following years of mothering missteps, attends the wedding of an estranged son (Michael Nardelli) after springing her other son (Ezra Miller) from rehab. During the course of the wedding weekend, Barkin’s character clashes with her own resentful mother (Burstyn), strangles her ex’s former stripper wife (Moore), hits her son (Miller) and unleashes her own complicated, pent-up emotions on anyone within crying or screaming range.
After the film ignited a Sundance bidding war earlier this year, Mandalay Vision snapped up the angsty indie, written and directed by Levinson. Look for Another Happy Day in theaters November 4.
VERDICT: Bring on the crazy.
[via ComingSoon.net]
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During the rush to get awards season hopefuls in front of various guilds, the studios have turned to increasingly digital means of distributing screeners to voters. Theatrical screenings and snail-mailed DVD screeners have given way to iTunes codes that allow recipients to download films directly for viewing on laptops, iPads, and other devices. It’s a bold move dependent on a trust that none of the nearly 100,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild, for example, will turn around and pirate said films to the internet. But that’s exactly what one SAG member did last winter.
SAG member Wes DeSoto, recently seen as “Werewolf Enthusiast” on a 2010 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, was the subject of a criminal investigation himself this spring when the FBI raided his home suspecting that he had illegally uploaded SAG award season screener copies of Black Swan and four other films, including The King’s Speech and 127 Hours. DeSoto has now pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal copyright infringement for uploading his screener copy of Black Swan to BitTorrent.
Wired reports that DeSoto agreed to plead guilty to “one count of breaching the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005,” which could bring a sentence of up to three years in prison.
Previously, DeSoto denied ties to ThePirateBay.org pirating group TiMPE with the claim, “I’m nobody in the online file sharing world. This investigation is excessive and a waste of tax dollars.” The FBI investigation of DeSoto began when an MPAA officer flagged the illegal upload of the pirated films and he was suspected of being connected to the Pirate Bay handle mf34inc, from which the alleged pirate had bragged online of being a SAG member. …
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