Carol Beadle, Runaways Style

Revised Post

More and more photos of Kristen Stewart and lil' Dakota Fanning in their Joan Jett / Cherie Currie garb will now be surfacing since The Runaways filming is underway. Just Jared has lots of new snaps of these two costumes pictured left. Most film sites won't tell you this when they get costume shots -- because they don't care? I care. Oh how I care. I have love for you Behind the Scenes People o' Hollywood! -- but the costumes here are by Carol Beadle. She has a very short film resume (most recently, stylist work on Max Payne) but these costumes look great, don't they? Yay.

Obviously trendsetting will occur. Late 70s girl rocker chic coming at'cha on city streets soon. Or at least by the film's release date in 2010, TBA.

Here's a photo of the band below [via]. The cast also features Scout Taylor-Compton as Lita "Kiss Me Deadly" Ford (she has five movies nearly ready for release. Eeep. I guess she's counting on a big year), Stella Maeve as Sandy West, Alessandra Torresani as Jackie Fox (Maybe. There seems to be some confusion. She's not listed on IMDb and was originally rumored to be playing Lita Ford) and Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development!) as Micki Steele who went on to become one of The Bangles. I haven't heard any confirmation on whether less major members of the band like Peggy Foster, Vickie Blue or Laura McAllister are in the movie.

If I were a somebody in Hollywood I'd be thinking about this movie very carefully and I'd be pitching an epic GO-GOs biopic as a chaser for 2012. They were HUGE and their story has a surplus of drama and all the stuff that Hollywood requires for a musical biopic (aka hit songs and cocaine).

Ginnifer Goodwin for Belinda Carlisle? Get up and go Hollywood. She's nearly too old and svelte for it now.

Ginnifer might've made a perfect Belinda in her more cherubic days

Oops. Off topic. Where were we?

You can read more about Carol Beadle at her site. She's worked with Runaways director Floria Sigismondi several times on music videos as well as Sophie Muller, Annie Lennox's bestie, who has made some of the best videos ever. I'll leave you with a famous Sigismondi/Beadle collaboration, Xtina's "Fighter", and a reel of Beadle's work from 2007. Enjoy.

F&L

First and Last: first image after the opening titles. Last image before the credit roll


Can you name the movie?

I thought this one would be hard but apparently everyone has memorized [highlight for the film title] Friday the 13th (1980) so people were quick to guess it.

Were 1967-1979 Oscar's Most Fascinating Years?

Anne Thompson has a detailed piece up on the Oscars that I meant to link to yesterday (I was at the movies instead of blogging. Yay, me!). It's detailing what a film historian acquaintance of hers thinks might have happened had there been 10 Best Picture nominees during the Academy's most provocative decade (roughly speaking, the 1970s). And speaking of those years... If you haven't yet heeded my advice and bought your copy of the instant classic "Pictures at a Revolution" which is ostensibly about a single Oscar race (1967) but feels nearly genius in the expansive history of Hollywood if actually offers up... well, what the hell are you waiting for? It's such a page turner. Even non Oscar obsesses would love it, I think, provided they were interested in movies or cultural history.

Oscar's 1967 BP nominees (top tier) and the films that might have
joined them were it ten wide (bottom tier)

P.S. Guy Lodge also has a good piece up in response. And of course my buddy Nick has his own take on many Oscar years and what might have been. If you're wondering why I haven't jumped on this speculative bandwagon, it's that I'm already such a loudmouth and I'm trying to pull back a little on this one particular issue aside from that which I've already said. I'm adopting the "wait and see" approach at the moment. We'll see how long that lasts.
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Julianne Moore + Annette Bening. Rejoice!

Lisa Cholodenko is flirting with me*. How else to explain the multi-orgasmic news that the writer/director of High Art, one of my all time favorite lesbian movies, is making another and she's making it with two actresses whom I practically can't worship more than I already do? Yesterday, production supposedly began on The Kids Are All Right which will star Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as lovers who've raised two kids together. Their two teenagers (played by Josh Hutcherson and Alice in Wonderland herself Mia Wasikowska) decide to meet the original sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo).

Psycho, The Hours, Running With Scissors

Both actresses have played lesbians before. Moore re-interpreted Psycho's Lila Crane as a record shop dyke and she definitely didn't want to sleep with her husband in The Hours

Come to bed, Laura Brown

For Bening's part she ditched her screen husband for some self-actualizing labia time in Running With Scissors. Her paramours included both Kristin Chenoweth and Gabrielle Union (well done, Annette!)

There's a rumor that the new film will have a bit of steam and I hope that's true. It sounds more like a family dramedy than a romance but I'm hoping Cholodenko finds a way to bring out or at least hint at the passion of the two moms. The Bening is 51 and Julianne is 49. That's way too old for standard Hollywood romances but Bening and Moore are not just any actresses. Neither has ever shied away from forcefully wielding her sexuality onscreen. And Cholodenko is not just any filmmaker. One of her unique gifts as a writer/director is her understanding that women don't stop being sexual at 35. Her previous films have featured unashamed portrayals of sexually vibrant mature women: Patricia Clarkson and Ally Sheedy were nearing 40 when they sizzled together in High Art and Frances McDormand gave her sexiest performance ever in Laurel Canyon when she was 46. McDormand was so confident in that movie that it was easy to believe that the younger, ridiculously sexy musician played by Alessandro Nivola would be into her.

*If Lisa is flirting with me I would like her to know that I am TOTALLY into the idea of a threesome and have always loved her girlfriend Wendy. She's my favorite part of Prince's Kiss video** and I even know all the words to "Fruit at the Bottom" and "This is The Life"! Squeeeee**

**Someone rescue Nathaniel from this 80s binge he's been stuck in all month. It's starting to get scary.

F&L

First and Last: first image after the opening credits and the last image before the closing credits.



Can you name the movie?
Clue: The cinematography is by Dante Spinotti who also lensed the remake of this particular movie (after it became a franchise)

Highlight for the answer: It's MANHUNTER (1986) the film which first introduced moviegoers to Hannibal Lecter. It was remade later as RED DRAGON (2002)

for all first and last puzzles, hit the label below.
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Karl Malden (RIP)

<--- Marlon Brando, Nick Dennis, Rudy Bond and Karl Malden in Broadway's original production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947 [via]

This past week has been very rough on the entertainment industry and our cultural history. Today, with Karl Malden's death, we've lost the last remaining principal cast member of Tennessee William's legendary play turned movie A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Now, Malden's career was much larger than mama's boy Harold "Mitch" Mitchel but that classic role, which he originated and owned, is a vital part of his legacy.

Strangely, Jessica Tandy's TONY honor (the original "Blanche DuBois") was the show's only attention from 'Broadway's Oscars' if you will. All the principles transferred to the movie except Tandy who was replaced by the cinema's most legendary southern belle (even though she was British) Vivien Leigh. When it came to the Oscars, three of the four actors (including Malden) collected statues. In typical Oscar fashion the performance most often regarded as game changing for the entire art of acting (Brando's) was the one snubbed on Oscar night. That's not a knock on the other indelible performances, don't misunderstand. It's a knock on Oscar. I'm getting off track but it's a sore spot for me as I'll never understand the instant or enduring love for The African Queen.

Malden was very prolific in the 50s and 60s and his second most treasured performance is probably his man of the cloth role in another Elia Kazan / Marlon Brando film, On the Waterfront (1954). Other enduring features include Baby Doll (1956, pictured right), Pollyanna (1960) The Birdman of Alcatraz and Gypsy (1962), Patton (1970) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

Goodbye Mitch.
Rest in peace.

Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)
Marlon Brando (1924-2004)
Kim Hunter (1922-2002)
Karl Malden (1912-2009)

Red Carpet: Radioactive Lohan & Gangster Depp

It's that time again, Red Carpet Lineup. Here's a (truly) random sampling of actors at events this past week. Let's check in with...

Ever classy Lindsay Lohan who celebrated her 23rd birthday (it's actually tomorrow) at a Vegas pool wearing that, flashing a peace sign, and sporting bright blue contacts. Unless she's been spending too much time on Nevada's nuclear testing grounds, those are contacts. I should never ever look at Lohan as she's become the avatar of Lost Potential. She found the empty calories of fame more enticing than the rich nutrients of good actressing.


Public Enemies opens today and it should be an interesting test of Johnny Depp's box office pull. The public is generally averse to period dramas but they do like gangster crime films so it's a bit of a toss up, really. It's already on IMDb's Top 250 but that's typical for masculine "cool" movies when they first open. It's early still and the mixed reviews so far are fascinatingly contradictory. You know that old saw "you must have seen a different movie than I did" Who to believe?

Patricia Clarkson is all smiles and why not? Knowing that you're the best thing in your movies must be heartwarming. That's definitely true of Whatever Works. The only thing that makes bad Woody Allen scripts bearable is his ability to get fine actors to vividly color his caricatures. In Whatever Works Patty is forced at penpoint to delineate the conversion from empty-headed bible thumping Southerner to bohemian polyamorous New Yorker. The movie has little flashes of against-all-odds charm but it's mostly annoying in its broad and stale misanthropy. Yes, I'm a Woody apologist to some degree but I'm not going to apologize for this one.

<-- Josh Duhamel's got something in his eye. Dreams of movie stardom outside of Transformers, perhaps?

Kristen Bell sent geek hearts fluttering when she attended the Saturn Awards. She lost but she's a previous winner (this nomination was for her bad girl on Heroes -- people still watch that?!? -- but the previous three and one win were for good girl Veronica Mars). After years of television it looks like Forgetting Sarah Marshall prompted a committed big screen leap. She's got five movies on the way. First up: Romantic comedy When in Rome with Josh Duhamel, Danny DeVito, Anjelica Huston, Will Arnett and my friend Luca Calvani whom I've already congratulated for the gig. Go Luca! It's about time Hollywood bit.

I've placed Mike Doyle in the lineup to keep you and myself guessing about who might be included each week. He's here only because he was a) at the opening of Twelfth Night and b) he's got a role opposite Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole. The play it's based on had only five roles and his character "Craig", unless they've changed the names, was not one of them so there's been some expansion for the screen. I hope he dies in the movie! He's previously worked Off Broadway and played "Leprechaun" in the Hilary Swank vehicle P.S. I Love You (I don't want to know) but he's best known from regular work on both Oz and Law & Order: SVU.

Hey, it's Rosie Perez. "Fight the Power!" She's been on my mind because of the Do The Right Thing anniversary. I miss her absolutely rambunctious screen presence. Good to see her, however briefly, in Pineapple Express. Get it Rosie!

Pina Bausch and Talk to Her

I was remiss yesterday when I didn't acknowledge the passing of German dancer / choreographer Pina Bausch. May she rest in peace. I'll admit to some cultural ignorance about her career -- strange since I went through a whole modern dance obsession in college -- but I certainly enjoyed her contribution to my favorite director's Oscar winning film Talk To Her / Hable Con Ella.

Pedro Almodóvar does many things well as a filmmaker and one of those things is pulling you into the film's mood and temperament in the opening sequence. Here's Bausch's famous "Cafe Muller" dance and then the opening of Talk to Her. I'd say to compare and contrast but sometimes beauty like this has a way of defeating instant analysis.

Based on a Link Story

the trailer
"Matt Damon in The Informant"


Oh and... Low Resolution is hosting a Trailer Tournament 'Best of the 00s'. Go and vote

the movies
AV Club 12 Things Woody Allen Just Doesn't Get (fun article, mostly spot on)
The Washington Post's Dan Zak gets a lengthy chat with Michelle Pfeiffer for Chéri. I should note that I have met and lunched with Dan so I knew this next bit of info was coming. "Pfans" are discussed though Michelle, ever the reluctant superstar, doesn't seem to know what they are. You mean she never checked out my "Pfandom" website in 1999? ;)
HitFix beautiful new teaser poster for Precious. How many is this film gonna get?
Movie|Line Stereotypes fears swirling round The Princess and the Frog
Let Me Entertain You names Ann-Margret (Tommy) the Best Actress of 1975

broadway baby
Avenue Q is closing in September (sniffle)
The Little Mermaid is closing in August (yay!)

intermission, bathroom break
Ephemerist Justin Bond 'the positive nihilist'. I love Ms. Bond so much. With great muches. Muchly
OMG Pina Bausch (Talk to Her) has passed away
Jane Fonda a thoughtful piece on her brief friendship with Michael Jackson and rehearsing for one's own death
BBC hilarious article about a teenager giving up his iPod for a Walkman. Undoubtedly funnier if you remember Walkmans
I Need My Fix on Patrick Dempsey's second fragrance. I didn't know there was a first
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Web Site Story

You know, I thought this spoof would be lame and I don't always have a sense of humor about West Side Story, which regularly makes me cry from its genius. But this skit is actually kind of clever. Fun rhymes for tweeting times.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

I was worried while I waited
your picture was outdated
and you looked like a dog
now I can't wait
to read about me later
on your blog

F&L

First and Last: first image after the opening titles and last image before the closing credits


Can you name the movie?

This film wasn't really a hit but boy has it proved influential. See GLEE fanaticism everywhere.

That's right. This is CAMP (2003) and it's all about those awkwardly high schoolers who dream of Broadway stardom and worship show tunes. For more first and last puzzles, click on the label below.