14 Links (I Started and Couldn't Stop)

Gawker Harry Potter pr strategy: well behaved role model stars
TransGriot excerpts from Kerry Washington interviews. She's on the circuit for her transsexual role in Life is Hot in Cracktown.
SLatIFR 'The Kings of Cinematic Schlong' ...and yes Ewan McGregor is accounted for
Cinematical a certain heiress is being sued for not promoting a movie that paid her a cool million. Serves the filmmakers right, really. Roles in movies are meant to be played by actresses.
Old Hollywood a classic quippy moment with Shelley Winters, also known as Shirley
JoBlo first still for Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Playlist is tired of Henry Cavill missing out on every A-List role he's been considered for (The Green Lantern being the latest). They have a point. He does look like this...


I Need My Fix yet another product endorsement for Scarlett Johansson. You know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she retires at 30 to raise children with her gazillions of dollars
In Contention yet another Oscar contender from within An Education? I'm feeling good about predicting it in several places since April I am. But this is the first I'm hearing about supporting actress. Probably should add Rosamund Pike to the list.
Risky Business doesn't get where Entourage is going with their latest fake movie, The Great Gatsby directed by Martin Scorsese.


off cinema
Getty Images Cat Island! Somebody book me a ticket
Towleroad has a great lengthy interview with military hero Daniel Choi (he's one of the guys being kicked out because Obama is so fond of inaction on "Don't Ask Don't Tell")
Movie|Line looks at the new contestants on Project Runway. This show has been gone so long that I almost don't care. Which is really weird for me.

Finally...
Fin de Cinema shares a list of the 'Best films of the 90s' from the Criterion Forum. It's somewhat bizarre. On first glance it skews difficult, hipster, art film, cinephile with Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man and Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express up top.


But if this is the type of films they're going for why the hell is [safe] not in the top ten? It's better than either of those. Beau Travail's low ranking #63 -- on an art film list no less -- is also completely unacceptable (though I count that as a 2000 film since that's when it arrived in both France and America after 1999 festival showings)
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Red Carpet Lineup & 1980 Pflashback

Another random sampling of ladies hitting the red carpet or being caught by the paparazzi these past few days...


Kathy Bates was not at the press day for Chéri. But that's good. I was experiencing sensory overload anyway. Imagine if I had been made to feel even crazier than I already did about being in the same room with Michelle Pfeiffer. I didn't need Bates there as a freaky "I'm your no. 1 fan" reminder of the obsessive vibe I was probably giving off (uhhhh) NEW TOPIC!

Remember how fun Bates was on Six Feet Under a few years back? I kind of want her to do another TV series which is uncommon for me, given that I like my film actresses to stay put.

Sacha Baron Cohen, excuse me, Brüno at a photocall in Spain. That outfit... he really can't help himself. I'm drawn to the "too much" factor, I think. I'm not someone who likes comedy shows or standup but the comedians who are willing to push things so far that they ended up feeling dangerous rather than 'funny' or punchline oriented... like Andy Kaufman or early Sandra Bernhard. Those people I tend to love.

♫ I don't give a damn about my bad reputation ♫ It's not every day you see an actor with the famous person they're about to recreate onscreen. This isn't from a red carpet event but the annoying Kristen Stewart and the great Joan Jett are actually communicating about Stewart's Jett performance in The Runaways. Do you think Dakota Fanning, not to be outdone, asked to meet with Cherie Currie?

Actress Dakota Fanning @ 15. Chainsaw Chick Cherie Currie @ 49

If they did meet I really hope Currie made her carve something with a chainsaw. I really do. I want The Runaways to be good. If Stewart and Fanning don't fully rock this, it won't be.

update: Dakota did meet with Cherie. Here's proof [thx bartzina]

Catherine Deneuve is 65 years old and still giving sensational performances. Her matriarch in Un conte de Noël has really stayed with me. My favorite thing about her (aside from her onscreen magnificence) is the cinephile vibe she gives off. That could be wishful thinking but you can also feel that possibility emanating from Kidman, Huppert and Julianne Moore on her good days. Deneuve's been playing muse to auteurs for decades. Can any actress match her collection: Buñuel, Von Trier, Demy, Polanski, Carax, Tony Scott (er...), Truffaut, Téchiné, Desplechin?

Oh, Christina Ricci. I really thought you were going to experience a bonafide resurgence post Black Snake Moan. Why is nothing major happening? Please to explain.

Michelle Pfeiffer was working the talk show circuit right after her press day in New York and I missed it. I am exceedingly forgetful. Plus I tend to be more big screen oriented than general media oriented all told. I frequently forget that my favorites are going to be interviewed somewhen and somewhere. I just want to see them act. The rest is icing. Unfortunately I skipped dessert. How was she on Letterman? Who watched? I love that she's working her 1992 Catwoman 'do again, don't you? The only thing I can find online is this anecdote about her screen test with Al Pacino for Scarface (1983) and I've paired it with her 2001 Letterman appearance for a comparison (the video clears up after a bit)



And, finally, just because it's so freaky to watch now, here's her first major talk show: Johnny Carson in 1980. Can you believe it? At this point she's 21 or 22 and because she's got virtually nothing on her resume, her intro is basically... 'um, this girl is ridiculously beautiful.' I love that Shelley Winters, ole blowsy Shelley Winters, who famously carried her Oscars to auditions with her to terrorize young casting directors, is on hand to welcome her to Hollywood.



My mind is blown.
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