"Unlike the hoopla over Focus Features' previous gay-themed awards magnet, "Brokeback Mountain," which was drawing calls of agenda-pushing from right-wingers months before it opened in 2005, there's been hardly a peep in editorial pages or on talk radio.
Admittedly, the election is a major distraction. But Focus also is doing something deliberate: It's eschewing publicity for the Sean Penn vehicle, keeping it out of the high-profile fall film festivals and heavily restricting media screenings.
"The best way to help this film win over a mainstream audience is to avoid partisanship, and the best way to avoid partisanship is to let people find out about the film from the film itself," said one person involved with the film. Focus plans on selling "Milk" in part as a story of hope and change (Harvey Milk, a member of San Francisco's Board of Superviors until his assassination in 1978, won equal-rights battles against great odds), just as it sold "Brokeback" as a love story.
The ploy was logical with "Brokeback." It's less so here.
Like "Brokeback," "Milk" features a gay romance. But unlike "Brokeback," "Milk" is made by gay filmmakers, features the polarizing Penn and puts itself squarely in a political context. Milk's fight against California's anti-gay-rights Proposition 6 -- a drama the movie deals with in great detail -- spookily parallels the current California fight over Proposition 8, a measure that would ban gay marriage". Source: movies.yahoo.com
"As supporters of California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative picketed last night's San Francisco premiere of Milk, producers of the film fired back at allegations that Focus Features is hiding their spiritual follow-up to Brokeback Mountain because it's too gay to promote during an election season. In a letter to The Hollywood Reporter, Focus chief James Schamus slams the report, citing the film's "most explosively received and appreciated trailer in the history of our company" along with a litany of gay tie-ins.
[...] But when it comes to courting the audience that propelled its last gay-themed film to unprecedented financial and critical heights? Yes, Focus is more than willing to take their money". Source: gawker.com
Jake in his younger years in "October Sky" and "Moonlight Mile", completely doe-eyed and soft features boyish looking. Talk about lovable teenage crush!
Here let me introduce you my new movie crush: Emile Hirsch, a young brilliant actor, maybe not as famous as Jake but with a very interesting, versatile career, whose first roles were also naïve and smooth, as in the romantic comedy "The girl next door", in which he made a giddy transition from demure student to wild ex-pornstar's boyfriend: I had a huge crush with Emile after watching him as Matthew Kidman in "The girl next door" (2004) and his memorable limousine sex scene with Elisha Cuthbert: Before, Emile and Jena Malone starred as a young couple in the coming of age indie drama flick "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" (2002).
Other powerful teenage roles by Emile were Sedgewick Bell in "The Empreror's Club" (2002), Duncan Mudge in "The Mudge Boy" (2003) and Tim Travis in "Imaginary Heroes" (2004).
Emile also started with a trend performing characters based on real life guys with "Lords of Dogtown" (2005) playing Jay Adams, skateboarding in The Z-Boys. Emile Hirsch and Heath Ledger as Jay and Skip in "Lords of Dogtown". And then the more adult roles as a drug dealer gangster wannabe Johnny Truelove (inspired by Jesse James Hollywood) in "Alpha Dog" (2006), directed by Nick Cassavetes: Emile's most important role to date was under Sean Penn's inspired directorial wings in "Into the wild" (2007), offering us an overall incredible performance as the tortured Chris McCandless who runs away from an alienating society travelling to Alaska. I can't recommend "Into the wild" enough. I watched it recently and is heartbreaking, written beautifully as a road-movie poem. It has become one of my favourite all-time films.Emile played Speed Racer in the family movie "Speed Racer" (2008) by Larry and Andy Wachowski. I also have watched it and it's visually stunning and very funny -Emile's love interest is Christina Ricci as Trixie-. Emile has recently finished his role as Cleve Jones in "Milk" (2008) directed by Gus Van Sant, based on real life Harvey Milk who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in America, and who would be assassinated later. Here is an interview clip from the Focus Features World Premiere of "Milk" at the Castro Theatre at 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA on October 28th, including Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Diego Luna, Dustin Lance Black, Alison Pill, James Schamus, Gus Van Sant and Gavin Newsom. "Milk" will be released on November 26th.
Emile's last role is an unhinged Vietnam vet in "Taking Woodstock" (2009), about the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969, currently in post-production, directed by Ang Lee.
"Joe Johnston, a director with an incredibly forgettable name but a solid resume, will sit in the Captain’s seat of the upcoming Marvel film.
Captain America (a/k/a The First Avenger: Captain America) is skedded to be released in 2011 and rumors have been flying around for quite some time. Is it set during the second World War? Will Will Smith don the red white and blue suit as was floated a few weeks back? (We have our own pics for the role of course.) Will the Iron Man scribes Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby be writing the script as they’ve hinted in recent interviews?.
Finally: some hard news.
Joe Johnston is the man. And, yes, he is also The Man. Dude’s made nothing but fun movies. Jumanji was him. The Rocketeer and Jurassic Park III was him. Jake Gyllenhaal’s break out hit October Sky was him (and anyone who doesn’t like that movie can take a Betsy Ross-themed shield to the face.) He also directed Hidalgo, which blew, but at least looked really nice. What this probably means is that the advance buzz on The Wolfman is no B.S. Source: movieblog.ugo.com
"Warner Bros. is attempting to destroy a couple of potentially great films as they are rushing to get a pair of sword-and-sandal features into production. The films in question are Lous Leterrier's remake of Clash of the Titans and Tarsem Singh's War of the Gods. Both films are very close to casting their leads with Henry Cavill (Stardust) lining up for Gods and Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation, Avatar) in talks for Titans. The idea of two similar flicks racing to get into production at Warner Bros. is not a new idea. Remember Troy and Alexander? Yeah, similar deals there in 2004, and as it turns out Oliver Stone's Alexander killed Baz Luhrmann's Alexander the Great at Universal. However, the fact we have two films of similar substance competing at the same studio is silly, and the fact they are hurrying to get the films started is even worse, and here's why...
First off, we are talking about two completely different directors. Louis Leterrier vs. Tasem Singh. The Cell vs. Transporter 2. The Fall vs. The Incredible Hulk. On top of that, it typically takes Tarsem Singh eight years to make a movie, so the idea he could get War of the Gods finished before Clash of the Titans is surprising. However, Gods is scheduled to go into production in February, two months before Titans. That, however, is where the differences really end. How either film will compare to Mike Newell's Prince of Persia starring Jake Gyllenhaal set for release on May 28, 2010 is unknown, but it looks like 2010 may end up having three epic sword and sandle features". Source: www.ropeofsilicon.com
"This year's Oscars Best Picture race is still fluid enough to account for the presence of two films that would normally seem like longshots: the Pixar masterpiece Wall-E and the box office blockbuster The Dark Knight. One is the tale of a lonely hero who talks in a funny voice, and the other is Wall-E, but both films have one thing in common: they're huge, mainstream blockbusters, which Oscar voters don't typically reward. However, the New York Times reports that the studio behind each film is readying a big Academy Awards push, and they've got their eyes set on Best Picture. Which has the better shot, and should we expect either film to wrangle a nomination for Oscar's biggest prize? The Dark Knight has one big thing going for it: Heath Ledger's performance is a mortal lock for a Supporting Actor slot, which may help grease the wheels for the film to grab a Best Pic nom. Also, its box office total, second only to Oscar favorite Titanic, is so massive that The Dark Knight has remained the biggest story in the industry all year. Yes, it's still just a comic book movie (and one that had a minor Bat-lash), but what isn't in Hollywood these days?
Thus, in the race for Best Picture, we're going to give the edge to The Dark Knight". Source: defamer.com
A musical video featuring images of the talented and gorgeous actor Emile Hirsch. Songs "Vicious circle" by Lou Reed, "Stranger in blue suede shoes" and "Shine a light" by Kevin Ayers.
Was Jake Gyllenhaal more respected by his peers back in his college days? Is the geeky Josh Groban looking for an image overhaul? And what's Nicole Kidman's latest potential ad campaign? It's def a step down from Chanel—find out all this, plus why Joaquin Phoenix is dyslexically annoying us, in Truth, Lies & Ted! Source: www.eonline.com
Donnie Darko: Hollywood Premiere new additions to the IHJ gallery.
"S. Darko takes place in 1995, 7 years after the original film. It follows Donnie Darko's younger sister, Samantha, who, in the wake of his death, has found herself at age 17 with a broken family, mired in feelings of insignificance. When she and her best friend Corey are plagued by bizarre visions, they set off on a road trip to Los Angeles, following Frank's ghost. They arrive at a small town in the midst of a meteorite crash and begin to see the future.
Fisher said in a statement: "I am a great admirer of Richard Kelly's film and hope to create a similar world of blurred fantasy and reality."
Producers have spoken to Richard Kelly about the project but he is not involved in any official capacity at this stage". Source: www.sdarkothemovie.com
"Silver Nitrate Films' producer Ash R. Shah has confirmed to Upcoming Film Scores that Ed Harcourt, the British multi-instrumentalist/rock star whose albums include "Strangers" and "Beautiful Lie," has been hired to write the original score for S. Darko, the follow-up to the 2001 independent hit Donnie Darko (which featured a memorable score by Michael Andrews). Harcourt made his film scoring debut with last year's New York City Serenade (starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Chris Klein). S. Darko is helmed by Chris Fisher, whose previous credits include Dirty and Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders. The sequel is set seven years after Donnie Darko and tells the story about Donnie's sister, who are plagued by bizarre visions. Daveigh Chase reprises her role as Samantha Darko, other cast members include Jackson Rathbone, Ed Westwick, Justin Chatwin, Briana Evigan, James Lafferty and Elizabeth Berkley. Film will come out next year". Source: upcomingfilmscores.blogspot.com
"Unlike the hoopla over Focus Features' previous gay-themed awards magnet, "Brokeback Mountain," which was drawing calls of agenda-pushing from right-wingers months before it opened in 2005, there's been hardly a peep in editorial pages or on talk radio.
Focus plans on selling "Milk" in part as a story of hope and change (Harvey Milk, a member of San Francisco's Board of Superviors until his assassination in 1978, won equal-rights battles against great odds), just as it sold "Brokeback" as a love story.
"As supporters of California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative picketed last night's San Francisco premiere of Milk, producers of the film fired back at allegations that Focus Features is hiding their spiritual follow-up to Brokeback Mountain because it's too gay to promote during an election season. In a letter to The Hollywood Reporter, Focus chief James Schamus slams the report, citing the film's "most explosively received and appreciated trailer in the history of our company" along with a litany of gay tie-ins.
