WEIRDLAND

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Youth in Revolt: Innocence & Filth

"For Doubleday, it was about balancing the Francois within Sheeni.
"She's really complex. In the book, she's way more manipulative, and to be frank, bitchy," she says. "When I read the book, I felt for Nick: 'Whew. She's a mean one!' If my guy friend was dating her, I'd say, 'Dump her!'"But I think what made me fall in love with her was that her aloofness is sort of her vulnerability -- she's a really smart person stuck in an environment that she cannot relate to. All she thinks about is moving to Paris. I loved that she's in love with Jean-Paul Belmondo. It's hard being 16 and not being so young anymore but not being old enough to do anything. It was fun to figure out how to play a person who wasn't just one thing."
Source: articles.latimes.com

James Dean and Natalie Wood as Jim Stark & Judy in "Rebel without a cause" (1955).

"When you think back on the best movies about teenage rebellion which ones come most immediately to mind? Rebel Without A Cause? Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? Pump Up the Volume? Freeway?
Ellen Page as Bliss Cavendar in "Whip it" (2009).

The common denominator among them isn’t the degree of trouble the teens cause or the level of drama and danger they find themselves in… instead what makes these movies stand apart from the Whip It’s of the world is the charisma and quality of both the lead character and actor.



Cera fills that gap like a Na’vi warrior fills Smurfette. (I know that’s both nonsensical and obscene, but Avatar is all the rage now so I felt compelled to include it somehow…) He begins the movie in basically the same role he played in Superbad, but when Francois appears Cera manages to steal the movie not only from the other actors but from himself. His demeanor, expressions, voice, and even the way he carries himself all change visibly and dramatically from Nick to Francois. It’s truly the first new and different character Cera has played, and it hints at untapped abilities within the young actor.Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday at the premiere of ''Youth In Revolt'' on January 6, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

The movie exists in it’s own little universe of style and hipness slightly reminiscent of last year’s (500) Days of Summer. The opening credits convey a trip in claymation, a later car ride is presented via photo cutouts, illustrations leave the page and float into air… director Miguel Arteta does a fine job of limiting the use of such scenes so they never outgrow their welcome. Another important facet of the film is the fine line it walks between innocence and filth". Source: www.filmschoolrejects.com

Leonardo DiCaprio: This is Our Moment video


"Join Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, Emmy Rossum, Forest Whitaker and others who are standing up and speaking out for the change we need. Tell your senators we must have a strong, comprehensive energy bill that will put Americans back to work, reduce our reliance on foreign oil and curb the carbon pollution that threatens our future. Then share this video with a friend and help us spread the word".
Source: rushprnews.com

"Leonardo DiCaprio grabbed lunch with friends in LA yesterday before he picked up a toothpick on his way out and headed off to make a purchase at the jewelry and home decor store OK. It could have been a treat for Leo's on-again girlfriend Bar Refaeli, who's back in his life in a big way with a vacation in Cabo, courtside seats to see his beloved Lakers, and even a super domestic trip to Target". Source: www.popsugar.com

Jesse Eisenberg: variations on real people

Emile Hirsch, Jesse Eisenberg and Paul Dano as Fred Masoudi, Sedgewick Bell and Martin Blythe in "The Emperor's Club" (2002).


"Two 2010 films will have Eisenberg once again taking on approximations of real people, though the two new roles will offer new takes on that recurring career theme. In the Sundance flick "Holy Rollers", he plays a Hasidic youth pulled into a world of international ecstasy dealing, a story based on actual New Yorkers. Later in the year, he'll appear on screen as Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network," which follows the creation and early years of the now ubiquitous site.
As Eisenberg explained to MTV News at Sundance, he sees a connection between the two new film roles in terms of being faithful both to the truth and to the scripts. "You can never really do something exactly," he said. "This 'Holy Rollers' movie is almost similar because it's inspired by true things and our characters are based on an amalgamation of a few things. To do this one, there was no resource we could go to. You just use your imagination in a different way". And you rely heavily on the script, as the 26-year-old explained in an earlier interview with MTV about "Social Network." "It's hard to look at interviews now with Zuckerberg, who has become the head of a big company and probably has people guiding him along the interview process, and then extrapolate what he might have been like in a dorm room at 19 with his buddies," he said. "You're always going to the script for guidance more than anything if you're playing a real person." Source: moviesblog.mtv.com

"Scripted by critical darling Aaron Sorkin, director extraordinaire Fincher’s second foray away from the darkness of his earlier work recounts the rise of online powerhouse Facebook, with Jesse Eisenberg starring as the site’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and Justin Timberlake as Napster mastermind Sean Parker, along with Rashida Jones (NBC’s Parks & Recreation) and Andrew Garfield (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus). Sorkin’s screenplay is an adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal.
James Franco, Danny McBride and Zooey Deschanel in "Your Highness" (2010).

This new October 1 opening places The Social Network against two other notable flicks: Matt Reeves’s horror remake Let Me In, and David Gordon Green’s medieval comedy Your Highness, starring James Franco, Danny McBride, Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel".
Source: blog.reelloop.com

Robert Pattinson EW Outtakes

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner: Entertainment Weekly Outtakes.


Robert Pattinson speaks about his character in New Moon movie no copyright infringement intended, all right belong to Summit@

Kristen Stewart talks about her Nude Scene in 'The Runaways'


Kristen Stewart has been everywhere at this year's Sundance Film Festival: on red carpets, in extensive sit-down interviews and on the screen in two movies, "Welcome to the Rileys" and "The Runaways." Both films showcase the actress in her most mature roles to date, and in each one she shows more than a bit of skin (beware of spoilers below). In the last shot of "Runaways," in which she plays real-life rocker Joan Jett, Stewart is seen floating underwater without any clothes on.

Scan of Kristen Stewart in Nylon photoshoot, March 2009.

"America’s favorite virginal vampire lover is on a quest to drive a stake into the heart of her image with two new bad-girl roles at the Sundance Film Festival.It was less than 15 months ago that “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart awoke one morning to find herself famous. At 19, she’s still too young to drink, yet she has evidently decided she wanted to wake up at Sundance and find herself infamous.“I’m going to cinematically deflower Dakota Fanning,” she bragged to Film.com while shooting the drugged-out, punked-up rock flick for girls who love girls, “The Runaways,” in which Stewart plays rocker Joan Jett in the 1970s".
Source: www.nypost.com

Donnie Darko: One of Biggest Sundance Breakouts

"The Glee cast is getting freakier every day — Mark Salling — who plays tough guy Puck on the hit show — and Dianna Agron — who’s the pregnant cheerleader, Quinn — threw on masks and channeled their inner Donnie Darko.

“Just when I thought I couldn’t love Mark more, he put on a bunny mask,” Dianna, 23, wrote on her blog Jan. 25 about the photo. “I’m sure it is clear why I picked this one. Fun day today!”
Jake Gyllenhaal as the troubled teenager Donnie Darko.

Sure, we understand the reasoning behind the animal choices (clever, very clever), but why are these two Golden Globe and SAG-award-winning actors dressing up like characters from Jake Gyllenhaal’s 2001 sci-fi cult-classic? That’s still a mystery".
Source: www.hollywoodlife.com


13. 'Donnie Darko' (2001). Richard Kelly's twisted enigma of a movie, about a haunted teen and his surreal visions, was the kind of bizarre, independent, personal dream project that Sundance has long made it a mission to nurture. It wasn't a hit out of the box, but its success on DVD helped make Jake Gyllenhaal a star, confirm Drew Barrymore's discerning taste as a producer, provide an image-altering late-career role for Patrick Swayze, and launch a million late-night college bull sessions about What Does It All Mean?
1. 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992). "In the middle of its Sundance premiere, the projector broke. In fact, indie-film history broke in half pretty much at that moment - B.Q. and A.Q. (Before Quentin and After Quentin). Tarantino's explosive heist-gone-wrong tale rewrote the rules for everyone -- for screenwriters (with its formal daring, poetic profanity, baroque violence and encyclopedic grasp of pop culture history), for aspiring directors (if a video store clerk with a dream could raise $1.5 million, put a script into Harvey Keitel's hand and make this movie, then anyone could), for distributors (the Sundance feeding frenzy that began with 'sex, lies, and videotape' suddenly kicked into high gear after 'Reservoir Dogs'), for studios (once-disreputable genre films became A-list projects, and everyone was greenlighting films about chatty gangsters) and for moviegoers (either you were hip to Tarantino or you were square). Tarantino remade Sundance and Hollywood in his own image, for better or worse, and it would be a long time before the film business (and Tarantino himself) would begin to climb out from under his shadow". Source: insidemovies.moviefone.com

Kristen Stewart talks about The Runaways, not herself

"In the clip (below), Kristen started off talking about playing the character of Joan Jett. She said, “You always have to feel like the character you’re playing is real to a certain extent,but when they’re standing next to you everyday you felt like such a, I don’t know,it’s a special relationship.” She answered a few more questions about “The Runaways” movie. Then Jessica moved over to the “Twilight Saga: Eclipse” topic.

Kristen said, “I don’t really know what to say about it. I mean like, I’m really excited about it. I haven’t seen it yet,so like I still have only the memories that I had of it when I was making it,and that’s always really hard to decipher because it’s always very like, I hadn’t really thought about it yet.” Then Jessica asked the question that’s been asked a million times. She asked, “Are you team Edward off the screen?” Which implies, are you dating him. Kristen responded just like the title of this movie,and just ran away".
Source: ontheflix.com



Kristen Stewart is at Sundance to debut her new film THE RUNAWAYS. She plays Joan Jett in the biopic about the seminal all-girl punk band from the '70s. She's excited about the movie but still shy when talking about herself.

Emile Hirsch's "Zimbabwe Diary"

DAY 3

"In the middle of the night my eyes open, disoriented. There is not a single photon of light in the room, its utterly pitch black. Only problem is, I can't remember where I am, which rarely happens to me upon awaking, even when I'm doing lots of traveling. After flailing about panicked in my waterbed from the eighties for a few moments, I realize it's so dark because there's no electricity at night at the Pumpkin Hotel when you're in Kotwa in the Mudzi district of Zimbabwe. Duh".
DAY 6

"I stare into The Devils Cataract with sheer awe--it is no doubt one of the most incredible sights I have seen in my 24 years. Victoria Falls in eastern Zimbabwe, sporting the largest single curtain of falling water on Earth, blows Niagara Falls, well, out of the water. Unending columns of water crash over 100 meters down into deafening explosions below, shooting billowing spray so high into the air that it looks like clouds are above. This bonus trip to the Falls today, our group's chance to see one of the Seven Natural Wonders Of The World, is a treat we're grateful for. My drenched sneakers struggle to keep control as I walk to the edge of the aptly named Danger Point, an unfenced edge of rocks over the falls, the cliffs below holding the violent, frequently whirl pooling torrent of the "Mighty Zambezi" river in place, unmoving and unconcerned with mankind".


DAY 8

"Zimbabwe's people, despite being dimly perceived by the world, are a buoyant, friendly people, living under a weight of oppression. Despite all the political insanity, hardships, a collapsed infrastructure, rampant outbreaks and a severe lack of resources, I've honestly never met a friendlier group of people. Change is coming to Zimbabwe, I think, because the infrastructure is already there--the paved roads, sanitation systems, and farms--they just need to be given a leg up again. Hopefully soon the political situation will calm and foreign investors, other foreign countries such as the United States, and a large tourism industry can boom once again. In the meantime, Oxfam is an invaluable, life saving resource for the Zimbabwe people".
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope". -Martin Luther King, Jr. quote.