Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

HBO is featuring Documentaries every Monday night throughout this summer at 9 pm. I was fortunate to meet director Marina Zenovich of tonight's documentary feature, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired at Sundance. Her film was the first film picked up at the festival. Interestingly, HBO is premiering it on cable TV, and then it will have a theater run later this summer. Marina Zenovich made a wonderful documentary film about Sundance called Independent's Day. I wasn't able to see her film on Roman Polanski at the festival, but had a delightful conversation with Marina and her husband. I wish her every success on this film, which looks fascinating. Roman Polaski is certainly a complex figure, winning the best director Oscar for The Pianist, but unable to come to America to accept his award.

LA Times:

Roman Polanski. You can start a heated conversation just uttering his name. He has led a life so large that it's often chopped down to a few phrases: Oscar-winning director of such film classics as "Chinatown," "Tess" and "The Pianist." Survivor of the Nazi occupation of Poland. Married to actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant when she was stabbed to death by members of the Manson Family. Had sex with a 13-year-old and, after being convicted of unlawful intercourse with a minor, fled the United States for Paris, where he has been for the last three decades.

This last bit is both the catalyst and subject of Marina Zenovich's compelling documentary “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," which premieres tonight on HBO. A surprisingly haunting examination of the politics, personalities and legal complexities of the 1977 case, the film dispels the conventional wisdom that Polanski ran away to France simply to avoid serving time.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Atari

Variety: Paramount Pictures has snapped up a pitch titled "Atari," with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star.

Written by Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman, project is a biopic about entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell, the creator of Atari and one of the founding fathers of the vidgame industry.

Steve Carell says The Rock has soft lips

MSN Movies: Steve Carell, who plays Maxwell Smart in the upcoming spy comedy "Get Smart," says he had a scent-sational time kissing co-star Dwayne Johnson, who most might recognize as "The Rock."

"The Rock has softer lips. I guess I could say that," the 44-year-old actor told AP Television. "He smells like strawberry shortcake. For me, that's why they call him The Rock. He rocks people's worlds."

Johnson countered that he doesn't smell or taste like strawberry shortcake — "strawberry shortcake with liver I think."

The 36-year-old wrestler-turned-actor said he was gung-ho about planting a kiss on Carell.

"It was just one of those things where I thought well, you know, `What could be the most entertaining and funniest moment that we could think of that would still make sense and still kind of root in reality?'"

"We came up with a great kiss," said Johnson, who plays Agent 23. "I thought if Jake Gyllenhaal can do it, Will Smith can do it, then I can do it, too. I'm going to own it. I was like, `Give me those lips right now. Right now.'"

Said Carell: "He is such a good guy. We just laughed that whole day. That was a total no-brainer in terms of that scene. There was never one moment of hesitation or awkwardness. He's game for anything, let me put it that way."

Steven Segal Emotional Chart

From List of the Day blog

You Don't Mess with the Zohan - mini-review

Ahhh, summer! My youngest son has been visiting some cousins, so my older two boys and I took advantage and saw two PG-13 films over the last two nights. Counting Sex and the City on Wed., that's three movies at the theater in three nights for me!

I am not Adam Sandler's biggest fan. Wedding Singer will always have a place in my heart for all the 80's nostalgia, and 50 First Dates is equally sweet, but I have never really sought out his more guy-centric movies like Happy Gilmore. I had seen the previews for Zohan, and my kids wanted to see it. I agree with Roger Ebert's review -- you know you shouldn't be laughing because it's so coarse and un-P.C., but you do anyway even if you feel guilty.

I didn't just laugh at this film -- I HOWLED with laughter. OMG, it was so funny. They played hacky sack with a CAT for God's sake, and I still laughed! This was not a film to bring my almost 12 year old to, however. There are TONS of sex jokes, and Zohan not only cuts the hair of all those nice older Jewish women, but he services them in the back room! As we were walking out of the theater, my son deadpanned, "Well, I won't be recommending this one to my friends." LOL

Yes, this film is coarse, full of foul gags, and jokes about big penises. If that's going to offend your sensibilites, stay away. But if you want to laugh, really have a belly laugh, then check this latest Sandler film out. Three stars. Sandler wrote the Zohan script with Judd Apatow, and will be appearing next in Apatow's upcoming film about stand-up comedy.

Prince Caspian - mini-review

I took my two oldest boys to see the latest Narnia installment: Prince Caspian the other night. I don't remember the book much, but my older son who had read it the most recently said they had key moments from the book like the duel, but he certainly didn't remember any ROMANCE. Well, my dear son, that kiss they put in for all the young girls, and their Moms! The movie is decent with great special effects, but what I loved by far was the prince himself, Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian. Hubba, hubba. The four kids who play the main characters of the Narnia books really don't have much personality to me. Nothing like the kids of the Harry Potter films. But Ben Barnes was worth the price of admission.

The film is chock full of battle scenes, that in the book get a brief mention. You have to have action in a film so they've fleshed them out nicely. There isn't a lot of anything else really there, aside from Prince Caspian's journey to overcome his feelings of revenge towards his uncle. I did thoroughly enjoy Peter Dinklage as Lucy's sour "dear little friend" and the voice of Eddie Izzard as a sword-fighting mouse.

I give this film three stars. Worth seeing on the big screen to beat the summer heat. Best thing about the next film in the Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader? More Prince, now KING Caspian played by Ben Barnes! It will be directed by Michael Apted and is due out in May of 2010. Hopefully with a director like Apted, this series can get better in the same way the Potter films have.

Will Hollywood embrace femme pics after Sex and the City's success?

Great article in Variety:

Hollywood has displayed selective amnesia about femme hits in the past, tending to remember that those that don't work better than those that do.

Every time a chick pic has turned into a hit, studios have appeared stunned. There are signs this attitude may be changing -- "Sex and the City" producer-star Sarah Jessica Parker has credited the success of "The Devil Wears Prada" for paving the way for the bigscreen version of the HBO skein after years of struggles -- but filmmakers still avoid the term "chick flick" for fear it will marginalize a project.

It's hard to argue with the numbers for "Sex."

By the time its opening weekend was over, it had raked in $57 million at the domestic B.O., more than double the amount "The Devil Wears Prada" opened at two summers ago. Strong weekday B.O. followed, suggesting "Sex" has legs. New Line is already exploring a sequel.

"Sex and the City" isn't the only femme fare to perform well at the B.O. lately: Last weekend, five of the top 10 films had strong estro-appeal. Besides "Sex and the City," which trumped "Indiana Jones" in its second frame, there was romantic comedy "What Happens in Vegas" in the No. 6 spot, invitro laffer "Baby Mama" at No. 8, followed by two more romantic comedies, "Made of Honor" at No. 9 and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" in the 10th spot.

The knock on chick flicks is that they might not cross over to men, who have been known to avoid female-centered titles. Projects targeting older women (read: above 25) are considered especially problematic; even as anticipation for "Sex and the City" grew, certain analysts downplayed its potential success and dubbed it a one-quadrant movie. But its opening showed that a movie that really speaks strongly to its base will deliver boffo coin.

"When 'X-Men' does well and a studio decides to do 'Iron Man,' that's a reasonable business decision," says Wendy Finerman, who has produced "Prada," "Stepmom" and "P.S. I Love You" and recently set up "I Didn't Fancy Him Anyway" at CBS Films. "It doesn't happen that way with films that serve the female audience."

Writer-director Diane English spent 13 years trying to get her redo of "The Women" into production, getting turned down by one female studio topper after another along the way before Bob Berney at Picturehouse finally said yes.

"I would come in with my list," she says, citing "The Hours" and "Steel Magnolia" as examples of similar fare that worked, only to hear studio execs dismiss each example as a fluke.

"We have to start over every time," English says.

Read the rest here.

Knightley in My Fair Lady remake?

Variety reports: Eliza Doolittle is set for another bigscreen makeover.

Columbia Pictures is tuning up a "My Fair Lady" redo, with Keira Knightley in talks to star as the simple Cockney flower girl who is transformed into a lady.

The studio declined comment on casting of the project, being produced by Duncan Kenworthy ("Love Actually," "Notting Hill") and London legit maven Cameron Mackintosh.

While it's being called an update, the film will use the tuner's score and retain its 1912 setting. Where possible, Kenworthy and Mackintosh intend to shoot the film on location in the original London settings of Covent Garden, Drury Lane, Tottenham Court Road, Wimpole Street and the Ascot racecourse. (The 1964 Warner Bros. film was lensed entirely on Hollywood soundstages.)

The filmmakers plan to adapt Alan Jay Lerner's book more fully for the screen by drawing additional material from George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion," which served as the source material for the musical. The goal is to dramatize the emotional highs and lows of Doolittle as she undergoes the ultimate metamorphosis under the tutelage of Professor Henry Higgins.

"This update will preserve the magic of the musical while fleshing out the characters and bringing 1912 London to life in an authentic and exciting way," said Col co-president Doug Belgrad.

Kenworthy, who worked with Knightley on "Love Actually," said, "With 40 years of hindsight, we're confident that by setting these wonderful characters and brilliant songs in a more realistic context, and by exploring Eliza's emotional journey more fully, we will honor both Shaw and Lerner at the same time as engaging and entertaining contemporary audiences the world over."

Mackintosh, who has produced many of the West End's and Broadway's most successful musicals, including "Cats," "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera," said the story of Doolittle's transformation "couldn't be more timely in a contemporary world obsessed with overnight celebrity."

Gerard Butler in Phantom II on London Stage??!!

Thanks friends for this forwarded link from Just Jared!
According to UK’s Daily Express, Gerard, 38, is to star in a stage version of the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.

Andrew Lloyd Webber wants to bring Gerry to the London stage as the Phantom, a role he played in the 2004 film. He said, “I have got my own new show coming on next year, which is my sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, which I think is going to be called Phantom: Once Upon Another Time. But that will come on in November next year, if everything goes well.”

A source reveals,“Because it’s a sequel to a film which helped the career rise of Gerard, Lord Andrew believes he will do it. There could be another film down the line. There’s a massive audience out there who love the original, another is that he could run the casting for the West End show as a film, too.”

Kristen Davis on Craig Ferguson

Thanks Janene for passing this on. I had taped it, but not watched it yet. Kristen Davis and Craig are flirting like nobody's business. I thought she was going to end up on his lap by the end! They also trade alcohol stories.