Halfway Mark: Screen Hotties of 2010

I blame the heat and nothing good in theaters but for the holdovers from previous weeks (go see Winter's Bone, I Am Love, Toy Story 3 and I Am Love if you haven't. Uh... I Am Love you're required to see twice, apparently -- Freudian typo!) for this week's Towleroad article. After assessing the Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man announcement I obsess over the Year in Screen Hotties (thus far).

Click over!

Since Towleroad is all about the Gay the list is men but since I'm an actressexual and since all the best people are at least bi-curious when it comes to the movies, you know I can't ignore the silver screen sirens. I haven't seen all of these movie but here's an incomplete overview of the year thus far.

The Girlie Show

Jan: Portia Doubleday torments Michael Cera (both of him) in Youth in Revolt. Kristen Bell can't pick a man in When in Rome. Can't pick screenplays either. Niche hotness, GMILF Edition: Helen Mirren wants her man crowing like a cock in The Last Station.

Feb: Amanda Seyfried, Our Lady of Annually Increasing Beauty, stars in Dear John. The Wolfman follows Emily Blunt's scent no matter the consequence; Who wouldn't? Uma Thurman turns men, not just man parts, to stone as Medusa in Percy Jackson.

Mar: Double Team Alert! Amanda Seyfried rocks Julianne Moore's world in more ways than one in Chloe. Plus, Dakota Fanning unleashes her scandalous Cherry Bomb whilst Kristen Stewart works a Bad Reputation in The Runaways. Niche hotness, Macrophile/Microphile division: Mia Wasikowska can't pick a dress size in Alice in Wonderland.

April: Erika Alexander is a boho honey in La Mission. Zoë Saldana holds a hot piece in The Losers. Niche hotness, Gothic division: Christina Ricci gets yet paler (c'est possible?!?) as a perpetually nude corpse in After.Life.

May: Ari Graynor's tongue brings ecstasy, albeit in pill form, to Holy Rollers. Scarlett Johansson wears ringlets and leather for Iron Man 2 and may or may not have speaking lines though no one can recall. Naomie Harris handles the first part of sex & drugs & rock and roll with her usual style. Love the 'fro in that first scene. Niche hotness, The Alex Forrest "I'm Not Going to Be Ignored" New Generations Award to Naomi "seduce & destroy" Watts in Mother and Child.


June: Colin Farrell's little mermaid is full grown Polish beauty Alicja Bachleda in Ondine. Please note how many reviews of Winter's Bone describe Jennifer Lawrence's long tresses and full lips in as much loving detail as her performance, even though the movie is about as far from "sexy" as a movie can be. Marisa Tomei is still working the 'dream girl for losers' track in Cyrus. Can you blame the losers? Tilda Swinton is a prized pale gold Russian collectible in I Am Love. Cameron Diaz in primary colors, yellow bridesmaid, red bikini for Knight and Day. Gina Gershon is a whore! (not a dancer) in Love Ranch... the less said about the rest of the movie, the better.

Which actors and actresses grabbed your eyeballs this year?
It doesn't have to be for, uh, performance reasons.

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Top Ten: Actresses For the New Decade

Tuesday Top Ten: for the list maker in me and the list lover in you

We spend a lot of time with the older ladies here at TFE -- the working legends as the case may be. So for a change of pace, some quality time with the young and still-rising. What follows is a list of the ten whose next decade on screen we're most intrigued to watch develop. The cut off for this list was 33 years of age because starting right about there... well, that's a HUGE time for actresses (many win Oscars or give career defining performances at 33/34). Let's look at the actresses who haven't reached that important time yet.

10 Actresses (Under 33) Whose Next Decade We Eagerly Await

disclaimer: This list includes English language actresses only since American distribution of foreign films is so problematic. It can be hard to follow full careers but we could definitely use more Ludivine Sagnier (30), Tang Wei (30) and Ok-bin Kim (23) in our lives.

runners up: Abbie Cornish (27) must prove that Bright Star wasn't a fluke; Anna Kendrick (24) needs to do a musical comedy; Saoirse Ronan (15) we actually expect she'll be more crucial to the decade after this; Zooey Deschanel (30) needs to branch out from or subvert that Whimsical Love Interest rut; Kerry Washington (32) it's not too late Hollywood -- CAST HER NOW!; Zoe Saldana (31) will that double blockbuster year lead to anything substantial?; Maggie Gyllenhaal (32) if and only if she recaptures that Happy Endings/Secretary edge; Keira Knightley (25) but only if she wows in a modern piece soon; Mia Wasikowska (20) a flavor of the year or in the for the long haul?; Romola Garai (27) did we see the depth we thought we saw in Atonement? It's hard to tell; Perversely, we're excluding An Education's Carey Mulligan (24) from the following list because we laid it on a little thick about her future the other day. *backing away slowly*


10 AMANDA SEYFRIED (24)
Gets more beautiful every year. How is this possible? And she's still a few years away from the age of "canonical beauty" and still a decade away from the peak years of Actressing.
Trouble spot: Coasting on beauty. With her beauty that'll be tempting. (See: Mamma Mia!)
What we'd love to see: The return of her Mean Girls comedic timing. But until then, an erotic thriller Chloe sounds like a smart diversion.

9 ARI GRAYNOR (27)
After stealing Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist out from under its adorable leads with the power of pure hilarity, she wowed from the sidelines of Whip It and then stole entire chunks of Holy Rollers, too. With all this Grand Theft Movie, someone really ought to hand her a lead role and let her fight off hungry supporting players instead of the other way around.
Trouble spot: They haven't really made movies about funny girls in quite a long while. Hollywood wants its Romantic Comedy leads more Cute than Gut-Busting and the girls in male driven comedy are just window dressing rather than comediennes in their own right. She needs her own What's Up, Doc? But they don't make those!
What we'd love to see: A lead role, period. Or a killer "funny" supporting role in a serious movie, like the one Anna Kendrick landed for Up in the Air.

8 ELLEN PAGE (23)
People are fond of hating on Juno so if you're one of those types, direct your hate her way. See, if she hadn't been so damn good in it, nobody but nobody would've cared. Whip It proved again that she's more than capable of carrying and elevating a film. We worry about Inception ...by which we mean her part in it (Chris Nolan is great at many things... but hasn't shown any particular skill with actresses) and we worry that Page won't have the fortitude to be herself (if you don't like dresses don't girlie it up for the red carpet... pants never hurt the stardom of Hepburn or Dietrich) and being yourself is really the only way to make a concrete and lasting mark.
Trouble spot: Ubiquitous endorsement deal. Those are great for bank but bad for acting careers (see: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Scarlett Johansson)
What we'd love to see: An auteur using her as muse.



7 NATALIE PORTMAN (28)
I almost left Queen Amidala off of this list on the grounds that we might have seen it all already. She's already been in our lives for 15 years. But then, taking a look at her upcoming filmography which includes Darren Aronofsky's cool-sounding ballet thriller Black Swan and the potentially awesome / potentially disastrous Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2011) Natalie looks to be taking her share of risks. She may be ruling the screen far better than she ever ruled her tiny corner of the Empire.
Trouble spot: Tends to bore in f/x epics. Keeps doing them. Thor is also on the way.
What we'd love to see: Black Swan. Right. Now.

6 DAKOTA FANNING (16)
In truth there aren't a lot of good roles out there for teenagers. Plus, Dakota doesn't seem all that likely as a candidate for high school comedies. But even at 6 she seemed preternaturally wise so was there ever any danger that she couldn't transition from child to adult star? That said, is she trying to transition too soon with her work in The Runaways (sex scenes, drug use, etcetera)? Whatever, she's completely watchable in it. And you have to be completely watchable for long-term stardom.
Trouble spot: Natural ability isn't everything and if she coasts on it rather than pushes herself to mature as an actor...
What we'd love to see: A mother/daughter drama with a formidable actress as co-star.


5 ROSAMUND PIKE (31)
"Books?" Pike was doing so much for An Education's decadent trajectory as the dim adoptive sister type "Helen" and she was doing it so very differently than she did the lovely sister act in Pride & Prejudice that we want to see how far her versatility goes.
Trouble spot: People who do great work in thankless roles, don't always get thanked (hence the adjective).
What we'd love to see: Joe Wright dump Keira Knightley as muse and focus on Rosamund. (Are they ever getting married or are they kaput? I can't keep up with these things)

4 MICHELLE WILLIAMS (29)
She's made such a potent dramatic mark in cinema that people barely mention Dawson's Creek anymore. Which is quite a feat if you think about it. She's terrific in the upcoming marital disintegration drama Blue Valentine (2010) she but that probably doesn't surprise you to hear after the tears she wrung as an emotionally paralyzed wife in Brokeback Mountain (2005) and a lost drifter in Wendy & Lucy (2008).
Trouble spot: Being seen as relentlessly dour and one-note given the heavy filmography.
What we'd love to see: A spiky comedy as palate cleanser. We know she can do it (see Dick, 1999)

3 EMILY BLUNT (27)
Is she a great work-in-progress or a limited beauty? She can play earnest period (The Young Victoria), brutal comedy (The Devil Wears Prada) and dangerous sexuality (Summer of Love) with nearly equal aplomb. But can she do more than one thing at once? All the greats can and that's exactly what's missing in her filmography: the signature role that brings all her parts together with a big starry ka-boom!
Trouble spot: Potential overexposure. She survived The Wolfman just fine (no really, she did) but did she need to do it in the first place? Not every role is right for the hot actress of the moment and you don't want to end up like Scarlett Johansson (renowned for beauty and suddenly not respected much as an actress despite some early displays of skill)
What we'd love to see: Her turn as The Black Widow in Iron... oh, damn!

2 REBECCA HALL (27)
A lot of the actresses on this list have been hot for some time. At least of few of them will have peaked by now, dashing our hopes at a richer decade to come. Not so with Rebecca who was so sympathetic in The Prestige, so humorously put-out in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, so arm candy in Frost/Nixon and so self-effacing in Please Give. In short, we literally can't imagine that she's already peaked.
Trouble spot: No defined persona. That can be an asset but sometimes casting directors want you to stay in your box.
What we'd love to see: Anything.


1 ANNE HATHAWAY (27)
We love. Simple as that. And more every year, too.
Trouble spots: As if.
What we'd love to see: Everything she'd like to show us. And definitely another performance as masterful as that Rachel Getting Married turn.
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What's your list look like? Loving actresses is for everyone so share it and comment on this one. You know what to do.
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Woof! The Wolfman Reviewed

Zombies ruled the movie monster jungles for a good long while in the Aughts until Twilight and True Blood boosted the vampire back up top as the king of all supernatural beasts. When will it be the lycanthropes turn? If The Wolfman is indication, they'll have to keep waiting.

The Wolfman, a reworking of the 1941 monster classic, begins with the recitation of a gloomy gypsy proverb. It amounts to this: prayers won't save you from curses. Something unholy and accursed is definitely roaming the forests near the Talbot estate. Bodies are discovered dead and mangled. Sir John Talbot's (Anthony Hopkins) son goes missing and his fiance Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt) writes to the Talbot prodigal son Lawrence (Benicio Del Toro) to return home and help has father in the search. By the time he does, he's been traveling the world as a famous stage actor, his brother's mutilated body has already been discovered. Local gypsies are blamed and Lawrence seeks them out only to run into the growling monster itself.

You can guess what happens next.

Read the Rest @ Towleroad...
Wherein I ponder the movies multiple mysteries, Blunt's misfortune and (briefly) the best actress race.

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Golden Globe Nominees

Just start discussing. I know you lack the, what's it called... "patience"? I'm also unfamiliar with that word or concept. What could it possibly mean? The word I mean. We know what the Globes mean: buzz buzz buzz.

MOTION PICTURE DRAMA
Avatar The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire Up in the Air

• I nearly called this category in my predictions which is very hard to do. That's not bragging but bewilderment. There are so many ways the Globe might go each year so getting 4/5 is a sweet surprise. Especially since I really like all of these movies. Yay.

ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side Helen Mirren, The Last Station Carey Mulligan, An Education Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

• The sudden rush of support for Blunt (by both the BFCA and the HFPA) who, as far as I can recall, never received strong consensus reviews for a movie that has very slowly made its way to release is an oddity. I scored 4/5 predictions here... missing Blunt obviously. Usually that type of picture would require critical support, unless the star is as Oscar / red carpet regular as a Blanchett. But awards season is like that. It's full of inexplicable sudden memes. Like deciding it's Bullock's time. Why everyone is ignoring Abbie Cornish is the oddest considering how much she's doing for Bright Star and how well received the movie was critically speaking.

ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart George Clooney Up in the Air Colin Firth A Single Man Morgan Freeman Invictus Tobey Maguire Brothers

• I didn't actually expect to be correct when I called Tobey for a nomination but there it is. Whaddya know? 5/5 predictions

MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
(500) Days of Summer The Hangover It's Complicated Julie & Julia Nine

• Missed only The Hangover thinking they'd go for A Serious Man instead.
  

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Sandra Bullock, The Proposal Marion Cotillard Nine Julia Roberts Duplicity Meryl Streep It's Complicated Meryl Streep Julie & Julia

• Julia is as surprised as you are. A touch more delighted than you are probably. She loves her life. I messed up here going for Deschanel and Pfeiffer which was both sort of possible if not for both at once and far fetched. Aren't you super curious as to who came in sixth though? Especially given Julia's spot. Coulda been anyone I guess.

ACTOR IN A COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Matt Damon, The Informant Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

• Only 4/5 predicted here. I'm still surprised that Stuhlbarg made it... particularly because A Serious Man did not score in Screenplay or Motion Picture. Very happy about Gordon-Levitt! And super excited that I have no idea who will win. (I don't think Day-Lewis is an obvious slam dunk in case you're wondering)

ANIMATED FILM
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Columbia) Coraline (Focus) Fantastic Mr Fox (20th Century Fox) The Princess and the Frog (Disney) Up (Pixar)

FOREIGN FILM
Baaria (Italy) Broken Embraces (Spain) The Maid (Chile) A Prophet (France) The White Ribbon (Germany)

• Scored only 4/5 with animation (thought Ponyo might show up) but i completely forgot to make my call in foreign film. I'm happy for The Maid and still confused that Chile didn't use it as their Oscar submission. Not that it'd be an Oscar darling.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Nine Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air Anna Kendrick Up in the Air Mo'Nique Precious Julianne Moore, A Single Man

• Is this your Oscar lineup? Or will the BFCA's refusal to put Marion Cotillard in lead foresee AMPAS's feelings about her? If so one of these ladies is out. But which? I missed only Farmiga doubting she was a big enough star for the HFPA and thinking they might want to be populist and throw Mariah Carey in.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, Invictus Woody Harrelson, The Messenger Christopher Plummer, The Last Station Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

• 3/5 predicted here. I thought they had ruled that Harrelson was a lead actor. I guess the publicists talked them out of that decision. I'm glad to see that Alec Baldwin's buzz is fading for It's Complicated because I think it would be tacky to have the host of the Oscars as a nominee.

DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker James Cameron, Avatar Clint Eastwood, Invictus Jason Reitman, Up in the Air Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

• A month or two ago we were looking at quite possibly the most diverse lineup of directors ever to compete for the golden boy. But the BFCA and the Globes have both decided they'd like to keep Oscar thinking about the older white men that they always think of. So no Scherfig, no Campion and no Daniels on either list. Thank god Bigelow is still in play. Otherwise it'd be the same old, same old. I scored 4/5 on predictions missing Cameron for Rob Marshall.

SCREENPLAY
District 9 The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds It's Complicated Up in the Air

• Whoa. Terrible predictive power here, correctly forseeing only the Tarantino and the Up in the Air movie. This category is pretty surprising actually. No Precious? The HFPA voters really didn't go for An Education did they?

ORIGINAL SCORE MOTION PICTURE
Michael Giacchino, Up Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant! James Horner Avatar Abel Korzeniowski, A Single Man Karen O, Carter Burwell, Where the Wild Things Are

• 3/5 predicted here... but quite a good category don't you think?

ORIGINAL SONG MOTION PICTURE
“CINEMA ITALIANO” Nine “I WANT TO COME HOME” Everybody's Fine “I WILL SEE YOU” — Avatar “THE WEARY KIND" -Crazy Heart “WINTER” Brothers

• I am so grossed out that people like that "Cinema Italiano" song. Maybe I'm too much of a purist for Nine. But it has such good songs and they chucked two of the best and added... this? Ewwww. 2/5 predicted only. Oops. Don't you think it's weird that the Globes try so hard to nominated stars even in the song category (like Paul McCartney and U2 here). It's not like they have musical performances on the show to sell the broadcast with.

complete list including television nominations is here (so happy for GLEE)

BIFA Nominees: Abbie Cornish, Michael Fassbender and More

Oh, agony! The British Independent Film Award nominations have arrived (in October? Damn that’s early) to serve up the dread reminder that there is no such thing as ‘day and date” releases outside of rare mega blockbusters. I suppose I should thank the celluloid cosmos. In a way the erratic nature of film distribution helps me to continue living my blissfully delusional life wherein I pretend that people would actually flock to more challenging higher quality international cinema if they only had access to it and could see it and talk about it at the same time. Isn’t this one reason that television is so popular? It’s communal. Movies are supposed to be communal but it doesn’t work out that way so much.

Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank

I have no idea when I’ll ever have a chance to see Fish Tank for example, which did very well with BIFA though I’d love to. Until it gets an itty bitty American release at two theaters and makes $270,000 instead of $27 million sometime in 2011 I can pretend that the whole world is looking forward to this gritty exceptionally well-reviewed drama. I can pretend that they’re in fact awaiting each new Michael Fassbender performance with an anticipation that borders on the sweaty and the feverish.

THE NOMINEES

Best British Independent Film: An Education (Lone Scherfig), Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold), In The Loop (Armando Iannucci), Moon (Duncan Jones) and Nowhere Boy (Sam Taylor-Wood)

Three of these films have received release in the states though In the Loop and Moon (video review) will have to wait for their DVD releases to catch on with the right audiences. An Education on the other hand is doing very well for itself as it slowly widens. The twinkly coming-of-age drama hasn’t lost any of its abundant Oscar buzz.

Best Director is the same lineup as this, minus Nowhere Boy’s Sam Taylor-Wood who is nominated for “Debut Director” instead. If you haven’t seen her short film Love You More about two teenagers, a new vinyl record, and their randy escalating sex romp and you get a chance, do! It was my vote for best short at the Nashville Film Festival this spring (Nick also loved it). Jane Campion nabbed the lone director spot from Wood with her exquisitely observed Bright Star. At times while watching Bright Star I worried that it was too insubstantial, not “too light” as in inconsequential but too delicate. But that very delicacy helps it to linger. I'm corrected. I keep feeling the film fluttering in the air beside me, like those butterflies Fanny collects. I already want to see it again.

And, underlining a 2009 theme you'll keep hearing about, 60% of their best picture nominees are directed by women. Oscar will find it very difficult to ignore female directors this year with Bright Star, An Education and The Hurt Locker in the awards mix.

Best Screenplay is the exact same lineup of film as Best Feature.

Best Actress Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria, Abbie Cornish in Bright Star, Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank, Carey Mulligan in An Education and Sophie Okonedo in Skin

Not content to let Keira Knightley and Michelle Pfeiffer have all the fun,
Emily Blunt beds Rupert Friend in The Young Victoria. He's got a lot
of action this year, huh?

The first of many for Mulligan? The first of several for Cornish? The first and last for Blunt? I’m just guessing except for that first bit. That's a given.

Best Actor: Aaron Johnson in Nowhere Boy, Andy Serkis in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Peter Capaldi in In The Loop, Sam Rockwell in Moon and Tom Hardy in Bronson

Despite their love for Bright Star, none for Ben Whishaw? Tis a pity but it’s the kind of role that men aren’t rewarded for… no matter how good they are. Romantic films tend to secure nominations for only the female half of the equation. It's a blindspot with most awards groups. On a far more traditionally awardable scale is Tom Hardy's physical transformation for Bronson. It’ll be interesting to see if the once slim actor can pick up any more steam for suddenly looking like the hulk. Will any American awards bodies watch the picture? I suppose I should get on that myself.

Best Supporting Actress: Anne-Marie Duff and Kristin Scott Thomas in Nowhere Boy, Kerry Fox in Bright Star, Rosamund Pike in An Education and Kierston Wareing in Fish Tank
Best Supporting Actor: Alfred Molina in An Education, Jim Broadbent in The Damned United John Henshaw in Looking For Eric, Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank and Tom Hollander in In The Loop

Both lists look solid but did BIFA voters only see about 8 films this year? Two surprises here for me were Rosamund Pike in An Education and Kerry Fox in Bright Star both of whom I thought were subtly elevating or at least amply filling out what could have been thankless roles (thankless in terms of awards magnetizing I mean) so I'm quite happy to be wrong. I thought Pike was spiking almost every scene in An Education with unexpected sidebar notes (by the end of the movie I wanted a sequel starring her and Dominic Cooper!) and I loved watching Fox’s near-silent gradations of growing respect / understanding of her daughter’s love affair in Bright Star.

Best Technical Achievement: Bright Star's cinematography by Greig Fraser, Bunny & The Bull's production design by Gary Williamson, Fish Tank's cinematography by Robbie Ryan, Moon's original score by Clint Mansell and production design by Tony Noble

It’s interesting to see technical achievements grouped together, thus revealing which elements voters think are making or breaking particular films, but it’s also dismissively coarse, since actors get 5 categories. It's not like acting or technical elements alone ever perform in a vacuum.

Best Foreign Film: Il Divo (Italy), The Hurt Locker (USA) Let The Right One In (Sweden), Sin Nombre and The Wrestler (USA)

I’ve included this category to come full circle to the point that no matter where you live, it’s a different year of cinema. I so wish we could all experience the cinema in unison. I haven’t yet seen Sin Nombre (I know I must) and I’m continually hearing good things about Il Divo so this looks like quite a strong category. You already know how good the other three films are.

Complete List of Nominees

Thoughts? Or don't you care about the "BIFA" (It's fun to say it out loud. Try it)
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Welcome to the Academy Emily Blunt, Emily Blunt

It's that time of year again when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka AMPAS aka The Oscars) invites more Hollywood peeps to join them. In Contention shares the list and rather than repeat the whole thing for you or reiterate last year's first time nominees who are mostly invited (you remember them), I'd just like to pinpoint a few random names I'm especially happy / surprised to see so recognized. They are...

• Emily Blunt who should've been nominated for The Devil Wears Prada.
• James Franco ... was it the Milk snub?
• Hugh Jackman did such a fine job as host. Now that he's a member so there's one more vote for the next time Nicole Kidman gives a brilliant performance. Woot!
• Jane Lynch is always a comic highlight. Her inclusion delights me
  
• Jeffrey Wright still needs a movie role as good as his part in Angels in America
• Howard A Rodman the screenwriter of Savage Grace. I liked that movie a lot but invitations such as this always remind me that one can't truly know the inner workings of the Academy unless you're working its inners. Who knew that anyone in Hollywood would watch that movie? Ah, he's currently a nominee for the WGA's Board of Directors.
  
• Mandy Walker who lensed Australia and got the snub
• Brendan Gleeson who is always solid. Go In Bruges
  
• Clint Mansell is one of the best composers working with two classic film scores already under his belt and his latest Moon currently in theaters (review). But they'll have to invite a lot more composers like him to get the music branch to open up their minds a bit. They're so averse to new composers, so strange in their rulings, and so "default nominee" oriented.

Clint Mansell makes beautiful music
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Emily/Victoria and John/Johnny

Biography movies will never die! Run for cover.

The NY Post blog PopWrap gave me a little chortle titling this premiere photo to your left "Emily Blunt: Boob Watch". If you were Emily Blunt wouldn't you stare at it, too? She's delicious and knows it.

It seems like years ago when we first started talking about her star vehicle bio The Young Victoria -- oh, it was -- and now the film is opening in the UK tomorrow and has an official site and everything but still no news about a US release. Surely there's an audience here of some limited release size. Why no distributor? Julian Fellowes, the Gosford Park screenwriter, is certainly excited about it. He quipped to a crowd on the promotional circuit that he told his agent

“If I don’t write it, you die.”

Here's the trailer. It does look a little, hmmm, lightweight... even lighter than The Duchess so maybe it only has a costume design nomination in it (Hi, Sandy Powell!) but you never know. "Don't judge a movie by its trailer," Nathaniel shouts to no one in particular. Nathaniel even ignores him.



There's also a new trailer to Public Enemies which is also not entirely enticing though Michael Mann films are so reliant on sustained mood and machismotic* grit that trailers are tricky. It occurs to me watching this and writing that Oscar post yesterday that Johnny Depp, who gained enormous fame and fortune creating indelibly weird originals, has actually done more than his share of real life impersonations. John Dillinger, the famous gangster he plays in this film, is his sixth biographical portrayal. Seventh if you count Hunter S Thompson's fictional alter ego in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.



It seems odd that this film's stacked supporting cast o' names isn't featured more prominently in the trailer. For example: If you have Channing Tatum in your movie, why the hell aren't you bragging about it?

* I made that word up. Sorry, but it seemed appropriate.
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Linking at Windmills

Deep Focus I love this review of Benjamin Button
Burbanked Comparative Celebrities: Paul Walker & Chris Evans
The Bad and Ugly Emily Blunt as The Black Widow in Iron Man 2? I love this idea
Reverse Shot 11 movie offenses of 2008. Your favorites will be skewered. Super bitchy but there are some really choice one liners.
Welcome to LA on Wyeth's passing --what, no opening scene from In the Bedroom :(
MNPP 'do dump or marry?' the Defiance kin edition


The Big Picture shameless. Hollywood, swimming in money, is shutting down the Motion Picture Home
Cinematical on the Coco Chanel biopic with Audrey Tatou
Just Jared new Grey Gardens still
Underwire the women of Galactica
/Film Terry Gilliam back to work on Don Quixote (the disastrous production chronicled in that Lost in La Mancha documentary)? My gods but that project will be the death of him

Amy Adams is a Tease

This new delicious photo in Vanity Fair has the actress all sexed-up & Hayworthized. Yet the article is all about her innocent screen persona.


But we'll forgive the dichotomy. Who among us can resist her?

I love this quote from Emily Blunt on Amy landing the young näive nun role in the Oscar hopeful Doubt.

Amy was by far the best person for that part. She has a glow of innocence that isn’t naïve, just positive and determined. That, and I wanted to see those eyes peeping out from underneath a nun’s headgear.

Heh. Maybe Emily herself should have had a cameo as ...a flibbertijibbet, a will-o'-the wisp, a clown! You know there's one in every convent.
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Emily Blunt in NYT Style Magazine

Ahhh, I love my subscription to the Sunday NY Times


I've written about Emily Blunt's (presumed) ascendance before --four movies debuting in the next year or two. The New York Times Style Magazine did a big feature. Here's my two favorite bits.

Emily on her corsets in Oscar hopeful The Young Victoria

It is painful to wear a corset for 15 hours a day. They only loosen you up for lunch, and you would think you would lose weight, but somehow you don't. Movie sets are like 30 people grazing all day, eating sandwiches.

She's one stomach flu away from her ideal weight!

Emily explains why Americans hold Brits in high esteem

Because they think we're all related to Shakespeare.

Hee.
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Ubiquitous in 2008 (Pt 1)

Last year we investigated actors who might dominate 2007, hard working SAG card holders with 3 or more movies arriving. Oddly many didn't have a "big" year. Will the casting director pets of 2008 fare better? You might want to buy stock in the following careers...

Ubiquitous Actors
Part 1 ~ A-K scroll down
for Part 2 ~ L-Z (click here)

If you're the type of moviegoer who regularly asks "who's in it?" than you're going to love the new year of movies or hate it depending on how you feel about these thesps, who might be all over your screens. This year is tougher to guess about since the ripples of the now ended writer's strike might be felt and actors themselves could go on strike soon. You'll be surprised to note that Cate Blanchett is not on this list. But be warned: she will be just as ubiquitous as ever on magazine covers, red carpets and screens this year since her two '08 projects will both be inescapable: it doesn't get much more high profile than Indiana Jones and the Place of the Thing or the reunion of Se7en's director and star David Fincher & Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Both films are already in post-production so there's plenty of time for her to squeeze in something else. She doesn't sleep.

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Amy Adams has just woken up from her nap in a nearby meadow and hollow tree. Everyone's favorite new princess is ready for more close-ups. None of her upcoming films are as blockbuster-friendly as Enchanted but it's a safe assumption that she'll continue to sparkle in them. First up is Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, a period comedy in which she hires Frances McDormand as her personal assistant. Later she'll be cleaning crime scenes with another rapidly rising beauty (Emily Blunt) in Sunshine Cleaning, before putting on the nun's habit for the adaptation of the Pulitzer winning stage play Doubt (with Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman). A lot of people will be predicting Doubt for a swath of Oscar nominations. It's an exciting water-cooler type experience as a stage play but as a film? We'll see.

Jennifer Aniston. Proclaiming that the ex Mrs. Pitt will be "ubiquitous" in a calendar year is a little like claiming that Michelle Pfeiffer will be beautiful, Tom Cruise crazy and Britney Spears tragic. But, let's say so anyway. Could be a bigger year that usual. She's part of the all star ensemble in the dramatization of the best-seller He's Just Not That Into You, she has the lead role in the romantic comedy Management and she's filming Traveling , a drama with Aaron Eckhart. Three more films are lined up beyond that to so she'll stay spotlit well into 2009.

Eric Bana The former Incredible Hulk won't go green this year (that gamma curse has now fallen on Ed Norton) but he's definitely earning some. Things get hot and heavy quickly. This month bring us the Australian drama Romulus, My Father with German wonder Franka Potente (Run Lola Run, The Bourne Identity) as his co-star as well as the already-in-theaters The Other Boleyn Girl (pictured right) in which he muscles Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson into his bed, poor things. He'll follow that by freaking Rachel McAdams out in The Time Traveler's Wife and he was supposed to cap the year off with some sort of glorified cameo in Star Trek as "Nero" but the movie is now pushed back to summer 2009. When tent-poles are delayed its often a bad sign.

Elizabeth Banks is F***ing Seth Rogen (offkey!) on YouTube

Elizabeth Banks, that naughty nozzle-loving comic delight from The 40 Year Old Virgin, is gracing the Vanity Fair fold-out for a reason. She's got a passel of movies coming out. The romantic Definitely, Maybe (Ryan Reynolds is a lonely dad and Abigail Breslin his matchmaking daughter) is already out. Later in the year she'll appear in the horror thriller A Tale of Two Sisters but it's a trio of comedies that could bestow A list status by year's end. She has the lead female role in the odd summer film Starship Dave in which a human-looking spaceship (Eddie Murphy) falls for her, displeasing the aliens who live inside him. Later in the year she returns with her Wet Hot American Summer co-horts Paul Rudd and writer/director David Wain for Little Big Men and she's also one of the two title characters in the upcoming comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Zack is Seth Rogen). At Christmas time we might see her in Lovely, Still an elderly romance starring Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn.

Emily Blunt is a tease. She glided down the stairs in just a man's dress shirt and her skivvies in Charlie Wilson's War (yowza) and then *poof* disappeared from the movie, leaving you wanting much more. As the top hat top girl on the new Vanity Fair Hollywood cover the year looks promising. First up is a co-starring gig with another cover girl Amy Adams in Sunshine Cleaning. She also has a supporting role in The Great Buck Howard an indie with John Malkovich as an over the hill entertainer. Most importantly, if Oscar history is any indication, she'll be enjoying an awards run next winter for the biopic The Young Victoria (previously discussed here) in which she plays... well, you've already figured that out. Oscar does love a royal. But... they don't always love younger queens. We'll see.

Jim Broadbent. Fans of this delightful and often inspired character actor have been hankering for another 2001. Remember that? He was right there providing dramatic, moving or hilarious support to 60% of the Best Actress nominees (in Moulin Rouge!, Iris, and Bridget Jones Diary) and he won the Oscar, too. This year could be as big. We hope that the father/son drama And When Did You Last See Your Father? (already completed) makes it to America. Then there are supporting roles in the aforementioned The Young Victoria and and some fantastical probable blockbusters like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Inkheart and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In the latter he has the plum role of potions instructor Horace Slughorn who has crucial information about Lord Voldemort's youth.

Daniel Brühl. Who loves this German actor (most recently seen in The Bourne Ultimatum and Two Days in Paris)? Raise your hands. Oh, so many of you! I keep wishing he'd have more of an international breakthrough... or at least something as big as Goodbye Lenin again to remind people about him. With European stars it's nearly impossible to know whether or not we'll get to see any of their films but he's got several going on so if the distributors are kind we'll see some of the following: In Tranzit (a WW II drama with Vera Farmiga) A Tram in SP (plot unknown) Krabat (a German fantasy about sorcerers), John Rabe (a German biopic about a businessman who saved hundreds of thousands of lives during the Nanjing Massacre in the late 30s). And he's already signed for a few more. Chief among them is Julie Delpy's period epic The Countess about the infamous 16th century noblewoman Erzebet Bathory who bathed in blood and inspired all those vampire stories. The cast is in place so we hope Delpy speeds it through production. Hurry up you crazy multi-talented French wonder!

Bradley Cooper. Was I just imagining it or was he not well liked in those first couple of seasons of Alias? It's years later and he's in demand and delighting audiences. He was laugh out loud funny on Nip/Tuck this year as a narcissistic actor with no boundaries and now he has four motion pictures due. He's part of a strong cast in Peyton Reed's (Bring It On, The Break Up) next comedy Yes Man (Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Terence Stamp also star) which is due this Christmas.


He's part of the huge star-studded ensemble of He's Just Not That Into You but the key to a future A list movie career might be found in what he does with the title role in All About Steve. Sandra Bullock is his stalker in that Fox comedy. As if that comedy triple feature weren't enough he's also got the lead in the summer horror film Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train.

Daniel Craig I saw him first. No seriously. At this point I'm totally annoyed with all his new crazed fans and the entire blogosphere posting any picture of him they can find. Where were you when I was shouting his praises before Bond. Huh? You were complaining when I did saying 'he's weird looking'. Now, will you learn to trust me when I fawn over an actor you haven't heard of? Anyway Bond is back in Quantum of Solace but that's in November. Before then, cross your fingers, we could see him in the memoir-of-a-star drama Flashbacks of a Fool. After Bond, he'll close the year with Defiance which is directed by Edward Zwick. Zwick never gives up chasing that Oscar dragon. So many baity projects on paper (Glory, The Last Samurai, Legends of the Fall, Courage Under Fire, Blood Diamond) but the Academy never completely bites down once they're on screen. The bait this time? Jewish brothers leading a resistance movement in the Belarussian forest against the Nazis during World War II. Will Zwick finally capture gold?

Melonie Diaz. I don't usually do Sundance but I hear that if you bought tickets to anything she was in it. The new indie queen? We'll see. I hold a special place in my heart for anyone who was in Raising Victor Vargas (seriously, put it on your rental queue) and this year she's in the comedy Be Kind Rewind (out right now with Jack Black and Mos Def) I'll Come Running (a romantic drama), American Son (an indie about a Marine on leave) and the comedy/mystery Assassination of a High School President which I can't really recommend but in which she is her usual adorable self... and I'll give her this --she does a fine drunken dance in a hot red dress.

Robert Downey Jr is in one--OK, let me rephrase: the rumor is that Downey Jr will appear in not one but two superhero films this year. Which means he's going to have a very big year. Basically if you're in even one you're as high profile as it gets. Iron Man we're well aware of. But it's rumored that that tin man will have a cameo in The Incredible Hulk too. I think that's a smart move on Marvel Entertainment's part, even if it's not true. He's also got two comedies: he plays the principal to a therapist teen in the high school comedy Charlie Bartlett and he's part of the comedic crowd in Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder about a group of actors becoming soldiers. Finally and with the most trepidation I approach The Soloist . It's directed by the talented rising star Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) but the subject matter sounds terrible on paper: a schizophrenic homeless musician (Jamie Foxx) with big dreams. Doesn't that sound so 90s and Desperately Seeking Oscar? Yikes.

Ralph Fiennes needs to get his calendar in order. It seems like we never see him. And then we see him constantly. And then we never see him. 2008 is Fiennes-full. In Bruges a gangster comedy is the first attack. Bernard and Doris a long delayed never released biopic with Susan Sarandon should be on DVD soon, and a war drama The Hurt Locker which finally brings director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Strange Days) back to the action genre where she made her name. He's also Duke to Keira Knightley's The Duchess and for his last act of 2008, he could be in the Oscar race again (it's been a long time) co-starring with Kate Winslet in Stephen Daldry's (The Hours) adaptation of the novel The Reader. But since the new Harry Potter picture focuses on Voldemort's youth, word is that you won't see him in that one. Still... I wouldn't be surprised if they worked in a cameo somehow.

Colin Firth is a star I don't really get. I'm agnostic about his charms....you might even say atheistic. Yet the abundant love others feel for this everyman Brit is impossible to deny. If you're a Firth lover you'll be happy to hear he's got a whole bunch of celluloid coming your way. Mamma Mia! (he'll play an old paramour of Meryl Streep's), Genova (a new drama with a strong role for him opposite Catherine Keener and Hope Davis), And When Did You Last See Your Father? (if it ever opens in America), The Accidental Husband (an Uma Thurman romantic comedy), St. Trinian's (a girl's school drama with Rupert Everett), Then She Found Me (directed by Helen Hunt) and even more films are on their way --at least three already marked for 2009. Colin Firth = busy.

Gael García Bernal. Unlike Daniel Brühl listed above, Gael is a foreign star who has broken out in America. He turns 30 this year and he's already one of the best actors on the planet. It still feels like the sky is the limit. So why aren't we getting all of his Spanish language films? Grrrrr. And, more to the typical Hollywood point: why isn't he being cast in more English language films when his English is fine? If we're lucky we'll see him this year in Déficit (which Gael directs and stars in), The Past (a romantic breakup drama from Hector Babenco -still best known for helming the Oscar nominated Kiss of the SpiderWoman, 1985), Rudo y Cursi (inside the world of competitive soccer, directed by Carlos Cuarón), Mammoth (the new international film from the controversial Swedish director Lukas Moodyson). But if we don't see any of those we will at least be seeing the diminutive star with giant talent in Oscar hopeful Blindness in which he plays 'King of Ward 3'. A lot more on that film in previous posts.

Anne Hathaway makes me go goo-goo eyed. I just. Well... I just. I'm sorry but I do. I'm happy to report that she has the high profile role of Agent 99 (who I had a huge crush on as a wee boy) in Get Smart . Later she's part of the dramatic ensemble in Passengers and last but definitely not least she headlines Dancing with Shiva about a recovering junkie and ex-model (Hathaway) returning home for her sister's wedding. The reason I'm excited for it --apart from the Hathaway love is that it's a Jonathan Demme original. He's had a rough go of filmmaking this past decade doing a lot of poorly received remakes of superior films. But I'm hoping that we see a burst of his 80s spirit and invention this time out. Demme was once an important director for actresses who were looking to step it up. He directed Melanie Griffith's best work in Something Wild (1986). He gave Michelle Pfeiffer (who he claimed was his favorite actress) one of her best roles in Married to the Mob (1988), and she was never looser or funnier in another comedy. And before he started fumbling his career he won the Oscar directing Jodie Foster to her second statuette for The Silence of the Lambs. Will he work magic with Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger (who plays her mother)?

Angelina Jolie reminded people about her Mighty Talent in 2007 so this year she goes back to just being a diva. You'll hear her as the voice of Master Tigress in Kung Fu Panda and you'll see her in the flesh tossing around a lot of heavy artillery in the politically suspect action movie Wanted in which she and Morgan Freeman convince James McAvoy to be a wolf rather than a sheep. Shoot first, second, third and fourth. Ask questions much later. Most importantly, she'll play the lead in the 20s drama The Changeling for Clint Eastwood. Eastwood pictures lately have a habit of being major Oscar players but who knows. He made a lot of movies that weren't Oscary before he was suddenly the Academy's favorite septugenarian. We'll see.

Catherine Keener, an actor's actor and audience fav', will have five to seven pictures out this year (!) In no particular order there's An American Crime (delayed from last year) in which she abuses Ellen Page in her basement. Strangely it's going to cable instead of the theater. You'd think distributors would want to catch little "Juno" while she's hot. Catch her and tie her up in the basement! Keener will also be featured in Michael Winterbottom's next, Genova which is about a father raising three young girls. I've already written a big post on Synecdoche, New York which is screenwriter Charlie Kauffman's directorial debut. Keener is currently filming the next Joe Wright picture The Soloist where she'll appear with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. Plus: we might get her fourth collaboration with writer/director Nicole Holofcener. That's a director/actor pair worth getting excited about. But that's not all. Catherine was featured in two Sundance ensembles in January. Sometimes Sundance movies take more than 12 months to make it to a theater near you but at some point you'll be able to see the high school theater comedy Hamlet 2 and the inside Hollywood satire What Just Happened? with Robert DeNiro.

Will these 17 actors lead you into the movie theater?

Continue to Part Two

related posts: 2008 Preview "We Can't Wait"

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