Lauren Bacall

I was in the mood to watch some old time flicks today and started with a few of my Lauren Bacall favorites. I think she'll always be one of my favorite actresses.

Here's a clip of her singing from a great film called To Have and to Have Not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFfuUu5xmMA&feature=related

This movie made me laugh...

FROZEN trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5xNthNKdD0

Another Remake!?!?!

Jennifer Lopez (JLo) is rumored to play Goldie Hawn's character in the rumored up and comming remake of the classic 1987 romantic comedy Overboard.

Full article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/19/jennifer-lopez-doing-over_n_505647.html?show_comment_id=42666154#comment_42666154,sb=896834,b=facebook

How and Why to Become a Director

An interesting article I found while surfing the web. Ever wonder just how to become a director? How do people get their foot in the door? What do directors do? What's the best advice for an aspiring filmmaker?

I found this article with some really good information and fun facts about the job featuring writer/ director John Dowdle.

Some interesting excerpts:

If a man wants to become a movie director, how should he best prepare? Do you recommend going to film school?

Film school is a great way to jump start a sense of film language. Making shorts and then showing them to people is invaluable in that sense. But I don’t think film school is necessary. I know a lot of very talented directors who learned by just doing it.

I do think it’s important to learn to write, though. Having a good sense of story is invaluable. I believe nothing is more important than that.

How did you personally get your foot in the door of the movie-making business?

I made a movie. And nothing happened. And then I made another movie (“The Dry Spell”). And it got into some festivals and got our names out there a little bit (I say “our” because I work in tandem with my brother Drew). And then we made a third movie (“The Poughkeepsie Tapes”) and it got into the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007, and it caused a bit of a stir. MGM bought it, and a producer named Roy Lee heard of us and offered to let us pitch ideas to him for a remake of the Spanish film REC the same week. We were up against much bigger filmmakers, but we gave it everything we had and got the job. That film became “Quarantine.”

It took me 13 years of destitute poverty to start making a living making films. Before that, it was pretty brutal at times. I was almost evicted a dozen times. I once had to pawn my entire collection of jazz cds so I could take someone out for a business lunch. I once sold my car to make a short. Stuff like that.

HERE'S THE LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE:

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/05/20/so-you-want-my-job-film-director/

Enough of Duff: Hilary Slated to Play Role Out of Her League

Does anyone remember Hilary Duff? Yes, she was that bubbly little preteen media queen that was the mold for the latest Disney icon: Hannah Montana. Anyways… she has just signed on to play Bonnie Parker in the remake of Bonnie and Clyde. Now, as much as I appreciate her efforts in inspiring a group of baby gap wearing, bubble gum snapping, preteen girls I can’t honestly see her playing BONNIE PARKER! I simply don’t feel that she has the sex appeal, the courage, nor the talent for the role.

It’s a shame to see such a great movie tainted by studios desperately trying to real in audiences with B rated film stars.

Inspiration?

Doesn't this picture of Empress Elisabeth of Austria look like the inspiration for Christine's costume in Phantom of the Opera?

Sandy Powell Interviewed after the Oscars...

I thought this was a very cool "after" acceptance speech. Congrats Sandy!

http://www.deccanherald.com/CONTENT/Jun112008/state2008061172831.asp

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...

BEST PICTURE: The Hurt Locker

BEST DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow

BEST ACTRESS: Sandra Bullock

BEST ACTOR: Jeff Bridges

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: El Secreto de Sus Ojos

BEST FILM EDITING: The Hurt Locker

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: The Cove

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Up

BEST CINEMATOGRAHY: Avatar

BEST SOUND MIXING: The Hurt Locker

BEST SOUND EDITING: The Hurt Locker

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Young Victoria

BEST ART DIRECTION: Avatar

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'nique

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Precious

BEST MAKEUP: Star Trek

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION): The New Tenants

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT): Music by Prudence

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED): Logorama

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The Hurt Locker

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: The Weary Kind (Crazy Heart)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Up

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz

Granger recruits?

I guess I can count this as relating to both films and costumes!

I just though this image was funny.

New Costume Images from Alice and Wonderland and The Young Victoria

Designed by Colleen Atwood

Designed by Sandy Powell

New Gatsby Project Announced!

If you don’t know that I like Baz Luhrman… then you don’t know me at all. I’m a huge fan of his red curtain’s series and a big follower of his artistic directing style. He’s a rather lavish director who is drawn to dramatically doomed dramas so it’s no wonder that he’s chosen The Great Gatsby as his next big project!

(I’m also a HUGE F. Scott Fitzgerald fan so as you can imagine I’m running around my house calling everyone I know).

Now, while I am looking forward to this endeavor, I am somewhat apprehensive about a studio trying to once again translate Fitzgerald’s heartbreaking tale of love and loss into a film media. The book, while well written and entertaining, has never really translated well into a film, no matter how skilled the director. My main theory behind this phenomenon is that it’s due to the way information is revealed about Gatsby in the novel.

Fitzgerald tells the tragic story of Gatsby and Daisy through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a young Yale graduate and new neighbor to Gatsby. While this is an affective method of story telling through a text media I don’t think it will translate (or has translated) well on screen. The story is told through Nick’s eyes and what he sees, hears, and experiences, but he doesn’t really participate in any of the story’s actual action which could render him, in the eyes of the audience, as a useless, eerie, voyeuristic neighbor who meddles in other people’s business.

The ultimate successes of the story’s interpretation will rely both on the talents of the director and writing staff as well as the audience’s ability to participate in Nick’s “voyeurism” without questioning it.

Until the opening date… I’ll just have to try and contain my excitement.

Here’s a link to a video interview with Baz discussing Gatsby:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI


Here’s a link to the 1974 movie starring Robert Redford:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

There was also a movie made in 2000 staring Mira Sorvino as Daisy and Toby Stevens as Gatsby that I think is worth mentioning but I couldn’t find a trailer of the film online.

This Is Why I Love Natalie Portman

I love Natalie Portman for not only her talent as an actress, her intelligence, her cunning wit and charm, but also for her habit of selecting “unique” movie roles.

It has just been confirmed that Natalie Portman will now star as Lizzy Bennet in the newest Pride and Prejudice film. Her co-stars have yet to be confirmed but it is certain that most of them will be undead and in various stages of decay. Oh yea, this film will not be a remake of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice but will be an interpretation of the ever so popular book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

The novel actually follows the tale of Ms. Lizzy Bennet and her sisters pretty closely to Jane’s original story with the exception of the whole Mr. Darcy eating brains for dinner. I haven’t read the book… but will get on it ASAP!

An Interview

Here's an interview I found featuring Sandy Powell and Colleen Atwood.

ENJOY!

http://www.latimes.com/features/image/la-ig-fidm7-2010feb07,0,915327,full.story