The New York Post's Joe Neumaier claims that Jack Nicholson told London reporters that he "warned" Heath Ledger: but about what, exactly? Burning the candle at both ends? Playing a gay cowboy in a homophobic country? "Well, I warned him," is the full and exact quote. Still, under the caption of Nicholson in full purple regalia in the Post, it claims Nicholson "warned Ledger about the part [of The Joker]." Neumaier notes other reports that Ledger had slept two hours a night during the filming of The Dark Knight, and that Ledger had told the press "prescription drugs didn't help."
This might just be a ghoulish attempt to capitalize on Ledger's death by linking him to a celebrated screen and comic book villain, so I thought I'd check Burton on Burton (edited by Mark Salisbury) to see if Tim Burton recalled Nicholson going through similar angst when making the 1989 Batman, giving him grounds for worrying about the stress on another actor playing the role. Not quite. On Nicholson, Burton commented, "He was very cool...he was very calming and helpful and would just say, `Get what you need, get what you want, and just keep going.'" (Thanks to Moviefone for this tipoff.)Permalink | Email this | Comments
Rumor has it that Ryan Gosling is set to take over the role of Jack Ryan in a round of new movies. Weird. Weren't the "Bourne" movies supposed to obviate the need for more Clancy-ishness? Did Hollywood learn nothing from Ben Affleck's try? And while I've enjoyed Gosling as a neo-Nazi, a crackhead teacher, and Bianca's boyfriend, the idea of him in a suit with a gun does not turn me. But I do support his obligation as a young actor to blow up a lot of stuff in the name of making the world a better place.
So my very tech-trend-savvy buddy, Ike, has this device that's still in its beta called Chumby. It's like a clock-radio/computer screen/pet rock. The night of Heath Ledger's death. I was on a bed in a Salt Lake City hotel staring at Chumby little screen, which at the time was displaying the top 13 Google searches. The number-two search after Heath Ledger was for someone named "Keith Ledger." A little research and a few news reports reveal that a lot of us thought Ledger's name was Keith. The Internet Movie Database has a page for him. There are no movies on it, but his "Star Meter" is "up 8% since last week." Gawker seems to have noticed this, too. It's surreal enough that Heath Ledger is standing on the Brokeback Mountain in the sky. But the idea - however stupid - that he might have been Keith all along or that he'd left behind some revenant doppelgänger is too Japanese-horror-movie to process right now.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 24, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Retro Television Network (RTN), which is nationally owned and distributed by Equity Media Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq:EMDA), announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Quincy Newspapers, Inc. (QNI) to launch RTN programming on 11 stations. The new affiliates will air on the digital streams of KWWL (Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Iowa City/Dubuque, IA), WKOW (Madison, WI), WSJV (South Bend/Elkhart, IN), WVVA (Bluefield/Beckley/Oak Hill, WV), KXLT (Rochester, MN/Mason City, IA/Austin, MN), KTIV (Sioux City, IA), WREX (Rockford, IL), WXOW/WQOW (La Crosse/Eau Claire, WI) and WAOW/WYOW (Wausau/Rhinelander, WI).
BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 24, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Silverstar Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq:SSTR), a leading international publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software, reported today the company has been invited to present at the 20th Annual Roth Capital Partners Growth Stock Conference. The conference will be held February 18-21, 2008 at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, California.
When the Oscar nominations came out Tuesday, the world's hipsters let out a massive, "WTF?" upon learning that Jonny Greenwood's music for "There Will Be Blood" was not one of the five original score nominees. Those geezers, people cried (maybe even people such as me-self). Anyway, now comes word from Charles Bernstein, the head of the Academy's music branch, that Greenwood's score wasn't ever eligible in the first place. According to the Associated Press' Christy Lemire, "some of the score came from a performance Greenwood had done for the BBC, titled 'Popcorn Superhet Receiver.' Some of it came from Estonian composer Arvo Pärt; still other parts came from a Brahms violin concerto."
Apparently, Jonny was too busy changing the music-biz sales paradigm to tell us.
HONG KONG, Jan. 24, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Hong Kong based Artificial Life, Inc. (OTCBB:ALIF) (www.artificial-life.com), a leading provider of award-winning mobile 3G technology and applications, today announced signing a development agreement with the Cartoon Network, Inc. As the leading animated program broadcasting cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, Cartoon Network (CartoonNetwork.com) is currently seen in nearly 91 million U.S. homes and in 160 countries around the world. Cartoon Network is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.'s ad-supported cable service that offers animated entertainment for kids and families.
The opening night of the IFFR started with the premiere of the Argentinean Cordero de Dios (Lamb of God), the second Argentinean opening film in a row in two years. The screening followed the speech of the new director of the festival Rutger Wolfson who emphasized the new media around us that allow us to watch films wherever we want and when we want. It made him wonder if a festival such as the IFFR will have reason to exist in the future. This speech, that lacked true vision and zest, very much coincided with the last speech of the previous director Sandra den Hamer, who was honored by the mayor of Rotterdam with a medal stating ‘Tigers are a girl’s best friend’ (the tiger being the official mascot of the IFFR). (more…)
Morgan Spurlock's new documentary Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? sees the abominable showman, who lived on fast food for a month in Super Size Me, tackle an even more indigestible subject -- the complex and challenged relationship between America and the Middle East. Spurlock spoke with Cinematical about his globe-spanning adventure, the possible personal payback from living his life on-camera, how his life's changed since he first came to Park City, and how it felt to be in real danger on his surreal journey: "When we were embedded with the military ... they target the military. Being with people who are automatic targets is really hard; those (soldiers) are heroes for what they do."
This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:
I'm trying something new here; a little video podcasting from Sundance after my 8:30 a.m. screening of "American Teen," a documentary about a year in the life of four kids at an Indiana high school and easily the best movie I've seen here yet. Bear with me while I work the kinks out of the presentation; next time I won't point the camera into the sun and I'll try to avoid close-ups of the chin that ate Pittsburgh.
Speaking of that city, I subsequently caught "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," an adaptation of Michael Chabon's first novel by adapter/director Rawson Marshall Thurber ("Dodgeball"). Since Chabon's literary voice -- wordy, scintillating, outrageously entertaining -- is the chief asset of his writing, I'm hard-pressed to understand what filming his work, and thereby stripping out that literary voice, can bring to the table. And it's true that this "Mysteries" is in many ways a too-familiar coming-of-age saga, redolent of everything from "The Graduate" to "Garden State." In fact, Peter Sarsgaard shows up in this one too, as a charismatic, ambisexual rebel-boy who lures hero Jon Foster into an emotional three-way with Sienna Miller. If this were "Jules & Jim," Sarsgaard would have the Jeanne Moreau role.
Still, it's quite watchable, and a mobster supplot involving Nick Nolte as Foster's kingpin dad is a hoot -- Nolte's doing Tony Soprano without any of the neuroses. This makes two Chabon adaptations to have made it to the big screen, and "Wonder Boys" is still the better one by a good fraction. I eagerly await "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," due (supposedly) in 2009.
The New York Post's Joe Neumaier claims that Jack Nicholson told London reporters that he "warned" Heath Ledger: but about what, exactly? Burning the candle at both ends? Playing a gay cowboy in a homophobic country? "Well, I warned him," is the full and exact quote. Still, under the caption of Nicholson in full purple regalia in the Post, it claims Nicholson "warned Ledger about the part [of The Joker]." Neumaier notes other reports that Ledger had slept two hours a night during the filming of The Dark Knight, and that Ledger had told the press "prescription drugs didn't help." 
The opening night of the IFFR started with the premiere of the Argentinean Cordero de Dios (Lamb of God), the second Argentinean opening film in a row in two years. The screening followed the speech of the new director of the festival Rutger Wolfson who emphasized the new media around us that allow us to watch films wherever we want and when we want. It made him wonder if a festival such as the IFFR will have reason to exist in the future. This speech, that lacked true vision and zest, very much coincided with the last speech of the previous director Sandra den Hamer, who was honored by the mayor of Rotterdam with a medal stating ‘Tigers are a girl’s best friend’ (the tiger being the official mascot of the IFFR). 
