"IT IS the moment Reese Witherspoon has studiously avoided, the slip of the tongue that sends the Academy Award-winning actor almost diving under a table to hide her embarrassment.
"I usually take movies based on scripts and who I'll be working with," she says earnestly of her latest comedy, Four Holidays.
"And the main reason I did this movie was to work with Jake."
Problem No.1: Four Holidays co-stars Vince Vaughn.
Problem No.2: Jake Gyllenhaal is the boyfriend Witherspoon has so carefully steered clear of mentioning for the past half hour. She cringes visibly.
"Oh my God, I am so embarrassed," she says, emerging from beneath the tablecloth.
"The main reason I wanted to make this movie was to work with Vince because he's so funny and so great."
Then she is quick to regain some composure.
"Jake is funny, too," she adds.
"Am I not talking about Jake? Jake, Jake, Jake."
And, having opened what she refers to as "this can of worms", 32-year-old Witherspoon then has little choice, but to allow a few tidbits to escape. After keeping their romance under wraps as long as possible, Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal were photographed holidaying in cities such as Rome, but neither has spoken at length publicly about the relationship.
Witherspoon doesn't plan to start now, but does reveal she and Gyllenhaal have "no other plans than just to be happy".
"We're very happy; all is well," she says, and by now she is the confident, in-control movie star again. Does Gyllenhaal get on well with her children?
"What Hollywood power?" she laughs today in Beverly Hills, poised and unassuming as always in support of her new comedy Four Christmases. "What are you talking about?" It's a rhetorical question, of course. Witherspoon knows as well as anyone the value of her business portfolio. "People talk about Hollywood power or say you're on a list and that feels wonderful. Obviously it really creates opportunities I didn't have before."
But Witherspoon is packing a different kind of power now, a personal one emanating from a difficult time in her life which saw her separating from husband Ryan Phillippe in 2006. Now divorced, she has two children with Phillippe (Ava, nine, and Deacon, five) and a boyfriend who's a power player himself (Jake Gyllenhaal, with whom she starred in last year's Rendition).
"I'd never seen anyone do the idea of the blended family and how they have to go to a million different places at Christmas. But I hear people complain about it constantly and it's a situation my own children will have to deal with."
Four Christmases is a perfect example of Witherspoon wielding her power too for personal gain, in making a film for her children – albeit one they won't be able to appreciate or fully digest for a few years. "No," she mock-admonishes, "This is not for your children. It's a PG-13 [admission for children under 13 strongly cautioned]. But my family always went to movies on Christmas Day – The Godfather, The Elephant Man. Your typical cheerful holiday fare. It's fun to go to the movies at Christmas and nice to be part of a movie that at least grown-ups and teenagers can see. Plus it means a lot when I get to have experiences where I meet young people and they say, 'You know, this is the movie that got me through a hard time' or, 'This is the movie I watch with my family'."The Vaughn-Witherspoon pairing appears on paper to be a must-succeed no-brainer. He, like her, is a proven dramatic actor with a natural inclination for comedy, though there were practical considerations like the filming-unfriendly height gap (he's 6ft 5in and had to carry her in some dancing scenes so their heads would fit in to the same frame). It has been reported that the pair did not get on – Vaughn is more conservative than Witherspoon politically – though she laughs off such reports, consummate pro that she is. Of course she is here for the purposes of film promotion but even out and about these days, on the arm of Gyllenhaal, she has been beaming broadly for paparazzi photographers. It is quite a change for a woman, who only a year ago was furiously denying what most of Hollywood knew to be true; that she and Gyllenhaal were indeed an item.Witherspoon's circumspect stage-managing of her life was certainly to protect her children but she has now apparently become more open. "Oh, it's not that formal," she says, relaxed and non-defensive on the question of how she and Phillippe will handle custody over Christmas. "There's a lot of communication and just being very open about things. It's nothing contentious, all very go with the flow." I ask how would she describe her own personal power these days – emotional and spiritual rather than career-oriented. She is initially stuck for words. Finally, she sits bolt upright with her verdict. "I'm not wishy-washy. I'm just very clear. I tell people what I feel about things. If I'm mad at you, you know within a minute. There's no ambiguity. It's nice to be in this place. I'm getting older and I'm not as fearful of other people's ideas of who I am. I'm becoming clearer about that myself and am able to express myself better." She lives with the children and, quite often, Gyllenhaal on that farm not far north of Los Angeles. There has been talk of marriage at Christmas but Witherspoon insists otherwise. "I don't think about it much." There will certainly be church on Christmas Eve. "I love to hear the music and be quiet and thoughtful about what the holiday really means for me." Which is? "Cooking, playing games and kids. It's all about them."
What about New Year's Resolutions? "Not yet. Gosh. I just try not to look too far into the future. It gets terrifying and daunting if you look at the big picture. Can't we just get through Thanksgiving?"
The 'Brokeback Mountain' actor, who plays a 6th century prince in the flick, has lost great amount of weight in order to build up 5lbs of muscles for the film.
And Gyllenhaal admits that he can't wait to finish the shooting in London and go back to his normal routine and gorge on anything and everything, reports the China Daily.
"I guess I've gotten buff. There's a lot of acrobatics in the movie - a lot of running up walls, and jumping on things, so it requires muscularity, but it requires a lot of aerobic ability too," Gyllenhaal said.
"But when filming wraps it's going to turn into fat and I'm going to be happy," he added. Source: www.newkerala.com
"And on the eve of election day, Ellen Page gave a pep talk to leafleteers ready to protest Prop. 8 at the polls.
"I'm sorry that I can't vote with you. Where I'm from, marriage is legal for everyone," the Canadian "Juno" actress told the Equality California volunteers gathered at the Gay & Lesbian Center in Hollywood. Thursday evening, Focus Features preemed the Gus Van Sant-directed "Milk" at the AMPAS Theater in Beverly Hills, where the consensus seemed to be that the film, based on the life of gay activist Harvey Milk, preached to the choir but would galvanize the entertainment community to repeal Prop. 8. Source: www.variety.com
-GK: One could suggest Cleve is jealous of Milk's boyfriends. Did you consider that in your portrayal?
-EH: I think that's an interesting interpretation. I think there's a little bit of that, but I didn't make that my subtext. I tried to make it more that Milk is who Cleve wanted to be. Harvey is his mentor.
-GK: Back when you made the great gay film "The Mudge Boy" you expressed some concerns about playing queer. How do you go from dipping your toe in the water to playing Cleve Jones in "Milk?"
-EH: I was only 17 when I worked on "The Mudge Boy." I probably still had a little homophobia at that age, and didn't know a lot of gay people. There are probably traces of that, but not enough to get me to not want to do the film. It was an extraordinary film and I loved Michael Burke the filmmaker. It's a powerful portrait of this young guy. But in terms of this, after I saw "Brokeback Mountain," and I was just so caught up in that movie, and I think it paved the way for mainstream younger actors to play gay characters. -GK: Cleve is an outsider. How do you identify with his character?
-EH: Cleve is such an adventurer. I kind of relate to that. I like the adventure of making films and acting. I get a high off that. I think Cleve got similar highs off similar adventures in his life. We'd drive down a street, and he'd say, "Twenty-five years ago, I led 10,000 screaming drag queens at midnight down this street with a bullhorn!"
-GK: You seem to have made a career recently playing real life characters in "Alpha Dog," "Into the Wild," and now "Milk." Do you have an affinity to bringing real people to life?
-EH: Some of the characters I play, their flames burned so brightly you stand near them, you're going to get some of that light. In Cleve's case, his flame burns very brightly. He's flaming! Source: www.gaycitynews.com
"Not like you needed another reason to buy THE DARK KNIGHT when it hits hi-def disc on December 9th, but...
Director Christopher Nolan will get into the whole media meta with his movie's Blu-Ray release, utilizing the DVD's BD-Live feature for real-time Q&A with the fans.
Guillermo del Toro is doing the same on November 23rd for owners of HELLBOY II, but Warner Bros. is capping eligible participants for THE DARK KNIGHT chat to the first 100,000 registered Blu buyers.
My prediction for the first five questions: "When are you starting the sequel?" "What will the sequel be about?" "Why haven't you announced the sequel yet?" "Why hasn't TDK made more than TITANIC cuz it's like soooo much better OMFG!!!!?" Source: www.joblo.com
"I have placed my picks in bold and you will see I only differed with the pack on The Dark Knight for Best Picture (but not by much) and Richard Jenkins for Best Actor. Other than that I think as long as the films mentioned manage to perform up to expectation I don’t think there will be many surprises. I am not sure if Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) is completely out of the race for Best Actress at this point, but based on the way Jenkins has managed to keep his name around while Hawkins’ has faded it is looking like that may be the case.
I personally believe two films will really decide the fate of this race and how interesting it gets and those two are The Reader (12/10) and Revolutionary Road (12/26). Kate Winslet stars in both and depending on the quality of the two films it could throw a big tidal wave on the predictions. Is The Reader worth the Weinstein rush? Is Revolutionary Road going to be as good as so many assume it will be? Will Kate Winslet compete with herself therefore knocking herself out of the race? There’s a lot to consider there. I did just learn I am seeing Revolutionary Road on December 3, which means I may be seeing both films around the exact same time.
And if you were wondering if Kate Winslet wants an Oscar for her mantle you better believe it as she is quoted in the December edition of Vanity Fair saying:
“Do I want it? You bet your [expletive] [expletive] I do! I think that people assume that I don’t care or don’t want it or don’t need it or something. It’s hard to be there five times, and I’m only human, you know?” Source: www.ropeofsilicon.com
"But arguably the film’s best scene is between Harvey and Dan in an otherwise empty foyer; an inarticulate plea for understanding in the form of a drunken rant by Dan, the exchange oozes a complicit vibe between the two men, all but confirming Harvey’s earlier suspicions. Brolin’s work is superlatively expressive of the inchoate impulses roiling inside his sorry character.
But good as most of the cast is, the show belongs squarely to Penn. Made to more closely resemble Milk via an elongated nose, which also makes his face look narrower, the actor socks over his characterization of a man he’s made to seem, above all, a really sweet guy, but who crucially possessed the fearlessness and toughness to be a highly successful political motivator, agitator and, ultimately, figurehead of a movement. Penn’s Harvey is a man with a ready laugh, alive to the moment, open to life regardless of neuroses and past tragedies, and acutely aware of one’s limited time on Earth. The explosive anger and fury often summoned by Penn in his work is nowhere to be seen, replaced by a geniality that is as welcome as it is unexpected.If anything, Van Sant and his team, including cinematographer Harris Savides, who so strikingly helped David Fincher evoke the same city and general era in “Zodiac,” have downplayed ostentatious period manifestations in costuming, production design and music in a bid to make a naturalistic film with a lived-in look".Source: www.variety.com
"The Zodiac informed the public that he was going to attack a school bus and kill the kids as they came out. This alerted Graysmith to the fact that his kid could be a victim. His interest in the case heightened and even though he was only a cartoonist, he decided to take on the task of investigator. He initially undertook this project to write a book about the Zodiac, and that book is what this film is based on. However not only did he write a detailed book of the accounts of the killings and the investigation, Graysmith managed to find the killer, or at least find the man who probably was the killer. This man died before it could be proven conclusively, however to this day it is widely believed that he was the murderer known as the Zodiac killer.
The filmmakers were meticulous about recreating the details of the attacks as well as the look of the time. The movie instantly transports audiences back to the 60s and 70s: cars, clothes, architecture, social behaviour, media, and of course, police techniques, all is neatly accurate to its period. The soundtrack is also perfectly adjusted.
Running 2 hours 36 minutes, it is a long movie, however it will hold your attention for the duration, and you will not be disappointed with an open ending. It’s a bit of a thriller, a bit of a drama, and a bit of a study of obsession". Source: www.filmofilia.com
"We have seven new clips in from "Milk" starring Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella and Lucas Grabeel.
The biographical drama which is directed by Gus Van Sant ("Paranoid Park," "Elephant," "Paris je t'aime") from the writing by Dustin Lance Black opens in theatres this December 5th". Watch the scenes clips of "Milk" in moviejungle.com
"IT IS the moment Reese Witherspoon has studiously avoided, the slip of the tongue that sends the Academy Award-winning actor almost diving under a table to hide her embarrassment.
After keeping their romance under wraps as long as possible, Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal were photographed holidaying in cities such as Rome, but neither has spoken at length publicly about the relationship.
