The current issue of Entertainment Weekly features a cover story on "The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood." Last week, Monika commented on that list, stating that it's not as fun reading about smarties as it is reading about the dummies. Well, in response to EW, New York's Daily News ran its own list of the "Top 50 Dumbest People in Hollywood." Not surprisingly, sitting in the number one spot is Lindsay Lohan. An obvious choice since she's been the subject of more bad decisions -- at least that the media has concentrated on -- than any other celeb out there. Well, maybe Britney Spears (shockingly far down at #14) has made more. But Lohan has also made bad career decisions in addition to her bad personal-life decisions. Go ahead and sift through Cinematical's coverage of Lohan throughout the past year or two; I challenge you to find one smart idea she's had (entering rehab doesn't count).
Since this is a tabloid, though, the Daily News' list is hardly about career smarts. Most of the people on the list are there because of their scandals, controversies and apparently unforgivable, ongoing problems. That is how Shia LaBeouf -- who should be on EW's list more than Ben Affleck should -- can be considered dumb, despite the fact that his public drunkenness arrest has hardly dented his career. Same goes for Russell Crowe, whose phone-throwing incident was more than two years ago. Other celebs are easily agreed with: former Oscar hopeful Courtney Love; almost-threw-it-all-away-at-the-beginning actress Vanessa Hudgens; K-Fed (only #38?). Check out the rest here.
In a recent article for Cinematical, I wrote: "Too often, Asian-American actors are relegated to bit parts (the food delivery guy, gangster #3, mysterious prostitute) simply because of their race." Historically, there's another reason why Asian-American actors have not been cast in leading roles, even when the role is that of an Asian or Asian-American character: the "yellow face" factor, in which a non-Asian actor is cast as an Asian.
Playwright/actor David Henry Hwang has written a play with that title, which was inspired by the controversy that arose in the early 1990s when non-Asian actor Jonathan Pryce was cast as a Eurasian character in the original stage production of Miss Saigon. (Hwang's play opens shortly off-Broadway in New York.) Robert B. Ito wrote a biting article on the subject in Bright Lights Film Journalthat gave historical context.
Philip W. Chung commented on the phenomenon last week in AsianWeek: "Often, these 'yellow face' performances [by non-Asian actors] both reinforced and embodied all the negative stereotypes -- funny accent, slanted eyes, buck teeth, and enough 'Orientalism' to send the yellow fever meter through the roof." Chung compiled a list of 25 "yellow face" film performances "that have arguably had the most impact on our cultural landscape." Last week's article counted down from #25 to #11.
Chung starts off his list with a recent example -- Christopher Walken in Balls of Fury-- and then stretches back to Richard Barthelmess in D. W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms (1919), which he says formed a "template for Hollywood's take on Asian men ... unrealistically noble, feminine and utterly asexual." Chung takes a fascinating skip through the decades and points out "yellow face" performances by Fisher Stevens (#20), Eddie Murphy (#18) and Peter Lorre (#13).
AsianWeek's Top 10 will be counted down this week. Who do you think should be included on the list?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Though she co-starred in one of the biggest (and most enjoyable) films of the year -- in a role that catapulted her from that chick on Grey's Anatomy to mega movie star -- Katherine Heigl has decided to turn around and take a giant dump on the film that "made" her. In a new interview with Vanity Fair (via Us Magazine), the actress called Knocked Up "a little sexist" and adds: "It paints women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as goofy, fun-loving guys. It was hard for me to love the movie." And your point is? First up, has Heigl ever watched a romantic comedy before? Doesn't she know that not all the characters can play freaks and geeks -- that some have to play it straight in order to up the conflict, the tension and the comedy? And what's wrong with being goofy and fun-loving? Isn't that the whole point of the film -- that Heigl plays a career gal on her way to a great promotion when she gets "knocked up" by a moron?
Seriously now, if she wants to go that route, then Rogen and Rudd could easily comment and say the film portrays all men as morons; as guys who don't want to commit, who hate their lives and who have no clear goals at all. If anything, Heigl and Leslie Mann are the most level-headed out of the whole lot. I don't see that as being "uptight," I see that as being stressed out that you just received a promotion only to find out that your idiotic one-night-stand knocked you up. I mean, what was her character supposed to do in that situation? Smoke a joint and play Nintendo? Reality check for Heigl: Guys obsess over sex. The website they wanted to create is a real website that exists in the real world. These characters were based, in some ways, on real people. I hate it when these actors and actresses trash a film they were in without saying what they would've done to correct the situation. Katherine Heigl thinks Knocked Up was sexist? Well I think 27 Dresses looks like absolute sh*t. Prove me wrong.
Woody Allen has always been the man of New York -- and not just because he made a little flick called Manhattan. It's been infused in much of his work, that is, until he headed across the Atlantic. After some UK forays, he headed to Spain to show it love. As he previously said: "I hope I can present Barcelona to the world as I see it, the same way I presented Manhattan to the world as I saw it with my eyes. I want to write a love letter to Barcelona, and from Barcelona to the world." Well, the course of true love never did run smooth.
In July, Woody ticked off some Catalonians, who were upset that Barcelona was giving so much money to an American filmmaker, rather than than local talent. According to some, Catalan films are faced with much difficulty getting made, so Woody's ease has rifled more than a few feathers. But now, a few months later, the ill will continues and Spain might not want to be Allen's object of affection. The Guardian reports that Mediapro, the production company behind Vicky Cristina Barcelona, says Woody's next two will be filmed "neither in Catalonia nor in Spain."
The reason they're giving -- the "small-minded attitude" of the local press and politicians -- those who complained about Allen's special treatment over the summer. It's not too hard to see both sides -- how this movie could be a good investment for Barcelona, and also how it's a huge slap in the face for the local filmmakers trying to make films there. Stopping this love affair short seems flighty, but then again, Hollywood isn't known for it's lasting love affairs.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
... If people stopped bitching about The Golden Compass and, instead, waited to go see the actual movie? Sure, according to a recent Hollywood Reporter article, they've "removed all references to the church, the Bible and sin ..." -- but does it really matter? It's a kids film. And I don't blame New Line or director Chris Weitz for wanting to tone down the "heavy" material so that the more fantastical elements of the books could remain front and center. Film is a visual medium after all. The Christian groups are pissed the flick will make kids want to go buy the books and -- God forbid -- learn more about the world. Like the film is some sort of ridiculous gateway drug that could potentially corrupt the minds of millions of children everywhere. The Golden Compass -- it's the new heroin! Here's how I imagine a conversation between child and parent will go immediately after watching The Golden Compass:
Parent: [sweating, shaking] So ... did you, gulp, like the film?
Kid: I liked the talking bear. He was cool. Can we get ice cream?
Parent: So, um [wipes sweat] -- you don't want to become an Atheist now?
Kid: No. I simply want a parent that isn't a complete f**king moron. I want a parent that lets me make my own decisions in life. I want a parent that exposes me to all religions, to all beliefs, and allows me to learn about the world I live in. As a person who represents the future of this country, and this world, I believe I deserve that. So, can we get ice cream now?
Fans of the books are pissed because all the "meat" has been left on the cutting room floor. Oh well. Welcome to Hollywood ... book readers. The Golden Compass will sneak preview this Saturday night in 800 theaters across America. If, come Monday morning, 800 theaters worth of people suddenly decide to swear off the whole God thing, we'll know we have a problem. In the meantime, where are the guys from South Park when you need a good rant on religion. Oh wait, there they are ...
Hot because: Between his slow-boil disaster flick Cloverfield and his upcoming directorial work on a long-rumored re-boot of the Star Trek franchise, the man behind Lost, Alias, M:I III, Joy Ride and even Regarding Henry is getting set for a block-rocking 2008. The Cloverfield build-up has been masterfully slow and insidious. (A note to the marketing team behind The Mist's spoil-tastic trailer -- which should have had a music bed of the Red Hot Chili Peppers singing "Give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now!" as one of the best moments in the film played out in full and completely: Cloverfield is how you do a monster movie trailer.) And for every head-scratching moment in Star Trek's casting (Karl Urban as McCoy? What, Dakota Fanning wasn't available?), the vast majority of the announcements coming out of the project make it sound like Abrams wants to keep Trek on track -- and, with extras only allowed to walk outside in long, costume-hiding robes, under wraps.
How to stay hot: Well, the dream that a plum pitch, smart marketing and geek-tastic ideas automatically means great movie making can be punctured by three painfully sharp words: The Matrix Revolutions. Hype -- even well-handled and hand-crafted hype -- is pretty much irrelevant if the movies are no good, and the fact that the writing team -- excuse me while I ironicize that properly: the "writing" team behind Transformers are also scripting Star Trek doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Abrams needs to spend as much time reading and re-writing Trek as possible -- because re-starting a stalled franchise means you need a strong motor and a place to go far more than just a flashy fresh paint job.
Lame because: Spending 2007 on piracy-sniffing dogs, party-décor enforcement, cosmetic reforms that fixed almost nothing and other idiotic decisions (like the PG-13 rating for Beowulf, which hides the details of genitals yet shows the details of decapitation and impalement), the MPAA's had another great year of demonstrating what it's all about: Being useless. Anyone who's been to a movie theater in the past 12 years knows that the 'R' rating is a joke, and anyone with any critical capacity knows that the MPAA is tougher on sex than violence. And, to paraphrase Dean Wormer in Animal House, useless, hypocritical and stupid is no way for a lobbying group and ratings board to go through life. In the MPAA's vision of how things should be, a parent could, hypothetically take their teenager to see the R-rated Hostel II -- but not the NC-17 Lust, Caution. Because the MPAA thinks teens should be able to see (to quote the MPAA's own rating) "torture and bloody violence, terror, nudity, sexual content, language and some drug content," but kept from seeing "explicit sexuality." Ahhhh, the values of the MPAA: A woman being butchered alive is more suitable for teens than a woman having an orgasm. Oh, this year also saw the head of the National Association of Theater Owners ask that the major studios -- which fund the MPAA -- quit releasing unrated DVDs, or at least market them less fiercely. It seems releasing unrated DVDs makes a mockery of the ratings system (which the major studios fund), harms the finances of theaters (which don't bother enforcing MPAA ratings any more than they bother with encouraging quiet, properly maintaining their projection equipment or making sure the film's shown in the correct aspect ratio) and encourages people to wait for the DVD, which is bad for NATO's bottom line. Because, hey, you don't want to see the movie the director made at home -- you'd much rather go to the theater and see the version of the movie that was altered and cut based on the approval and standards of an unelected, anonymous and unaccountable group of randomly-chosen Judeo-Christian parents, right? Right?
How to turn it around: I don't think you can, so let's just do the right thing: Get rid of it. There's no reason for having the MPAA as a ratings board, and if the major studios want to lobby Washington, they can do that through well-greased mechanisms of the multi-national conglomerates that own them. If parents want to know if their children should see a movie, they can see it themselves. Or read about it themselves. Or check in with privately-run websites like Common Sense Media. Or go with their kids. Or wait until it comes to DVD and watch it with their kids then. Or some other form of responsibility and self-awareness. The secret and subjective MPAA forces filmmakers through hoops in the name of protecting a 'values'-driven vision of American society that dates back to before the '60s, and a theater-driven vision of the entertainment business that dates back before the VCR. Considering all of the MPAA's evils -- toxic nostalgia for a long-lost (or never-was) era, hypocrisy and phony morality -- the only thing I can think of that's worse than all of the above is playing along with the people behind them them.
Lame because: With DUIs, divorces, scandals and private travails for many stars and starlets this year, I can easily tell you the worst thing about bad celebrity behavior in 2007: The fact that people care about it. Lindsay Lohan may have appeared in more mug shots than films this year, but whether you feel bad for the suffering of a troubled young lady or laugh at the comeuppance of a spoiled young starlet, it's not your business either way. Acronym-heavy, content-light sites like TMZ and Perez Hilton and Yahoo's LOL (no links, because they don't deserve them) are turning the web into the mental equivalent of a supermarket tabloid -- but without the quality writing and comforting smell of newsprint. Our culture treats famous people almost like zoo pandas -- but while we watch pandas to see if they screw, it seems that we watch celebrities only to see if they screw up. Sure, famous people can do stupid things. So can you or I, but without the joy of camera people watching us waiting for when it happens. Everything a performer should be expected to show to the public takes place in their work, and showing any interest in what an actor or actress does outside of the credits of a film is -- and I mean no offense here -- a sure and certain proof that you have an I.Q. lower than your belt size unexplored interior life.
How to turn it around: Like booze or smokes or pills, the first step to quashing celebrity culture (which, really, is an oxymoron) is to walk away. And never go back. And if you see a friend surfing TMZ or OMG or Perez Hilton, be supportive and sympathetic and tell them why they should stop. And if that doesn't work, secretly screw up their router software and disable their web access: Not only are you cutting off their supply, but learning how to fix it will at the very least give them something to think about other than the private lives of people they're never going to meet.
Listen up ladies (and gay men everywhere) -- Brad Pitt wants you to know that he will not be performing any more nude scenes for the remainder of his career. Get that? His reason: "I don't want to be embarrassed when my kids get old enough to see my films. I can't see any more nude scenes [in my career]." Should we go the whole moment of silence route? Is it worth it? During his interview with the BBC (via People), Pitt's eyes were clearly on the future. "I figure I've got very few films left. Who knows how many I'll get to do now, so I want something I'm interested in. Otherwise, I don't want to bother. I think it's a younger person's game." Is it just me, or does the guy sound like an over-the-hill actor approaching his 90th birthday. Dude! Lumet is 83-years-old and he's opening up his films with Marisa Tomei doing it doggy-style! Get a grip Pitt!
Oh, but we're not done. When asked whether the gang would reunite for another Ocean's flick, Pitt replied: "There's no more. I think we need to put away childish things." Childish things? Is this the same Brad Pitt we all grew to love and adore? The Ocean's films were simple, funny and enjoyable -- is Pitt trying to say that comedy is childish? Fortunately, his old lady Angelina Jolie isn't done rolling around with younger men, while playing with big toys. Her next film, Wanted, finds the gal blowing up all kinds of nonsense. Oh, and she also voices a character in the animated (and childish) flick Kung Fu Panda. Note to Pitt: For the sake of your children, loosen the hell up.
We always hear about the dumb Hollywood types -- whether they make a shockingly inane statement, air their personal laundry for all to witness, or wreak havoc on the world with their bad boy/girl ways. But we don't always hear something about the smarties in Hollywood. I guess it's just not as much fun. But have no fear -- Entertainment Weekly has just released their list of The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. Take a second to imagine who you'd include, and then continue below.
It's a list of varied rationale -- some smarts come into what they studied in college, or the politics they champion, while others seem to be there just for their success. But shock of all shocks -- if you head over there to check it out, the first face you'll see is Ben Affleck. I bet in the times of JLo and Gigli, no one ever thought he'd make it onto a smartest-of-Hollywood list -- especially over so many others. As for the others, it should come as no surprise that there are many more behind-the-scenes names than actors and actresses. You'll spot people like Diablo Cody, Gustavo Santaolalla, and Thelma Schoonmaker as well as big-names like Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, and Ben Stiller.
It's interesting. I'm not sure I agree with the spin, but these are definitely a collection of successful people. We'll just have to wait and see if they can hold onto these smarts in the years to come. And shouldn't the true test come in the form of an appearance on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? But what do you think of the list? Do you agree with the placement? Who should be taken off? Who should be added? Permalink | Email this | Comments
The current issue of Entertainment Weekly features a cover story on "The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood." Last week, Monika commented on that list, stating that it's not as fun reading about smarties as it is reading about the dummies. Well, in response to EW, New York's Daily News ran its own list of the "Top 50 Dumbest People in Hollywood." Not surprisingly, sitting in the number one spot is Lindsay Lohan. An obvious choice since she's been the subject of more bad decisions -- at least that the media has concentrated on -- than any other celeb out there. Well, maybe Britney Spears (shockingly far down at #14) has made more. But Lohan has also made bad career decisions in addition to her bad personal-life decisions. Go ahead and sift through Cinematical's coverage of Lohan throughout the past year or two; I challenge you to find one smart idea she's had (entering rehab doesn't count).
In a 
Though she co-starred in one of the biggest (and most enjoyable) films of the year -- in a role that catapulted her from that chick on Grey's Anatomy to mega movie star -- 
... If people stopped bitching about 
Hot because: Between his slow-boil disaster flick 
Lame because: Spending 2007 on 
Lame because: With 
Listen up ladies (and gay men everywhere) -- 
We always hear about the dumb Hollywood types -- whether they make a shockingly inane statement, air their personal laundry for all to witness, or wreak havoc on the world with their bad boy/girl ways. But we don't always hear something about the smarties in Hollywood. I guess it's just not as much fun. But have no fear -- Entertainment Weekly has just released their list of 
