Set to premiere next month as SxSW in Austin, Texas and based on Jonathan Lisecki’s 2010 Slamdance award-winning short, Gayby is about Jenn and Matt, best friends from college who are now in their thirties. Single by choice, Jenn spends her days teaching hot yoga and running errands for her boss. Matt suffers from comic-book writer’s block and can’t get over his ex-boyfriend. They decide to fulfill a youthful promise to have a child together… the old fashioned way. Can they navigate the serious and unexpected snags they hit as they attempt to get their careers and dating lives back on track in preparation for parenthood? Gayby is an irreverent comedy about friendship growing older, sex, loneliness, and the family you choose. There’s no release set as yet.
John Carter White Ape Fight Sneak Peek
One of the centrepieces of the John Carter marketing push has been a big battle between the title character and what are being referred to as ‘white apes’ (that’s what they were called in Edgar Rice Burroughs original stories), which are impressively ugly, six-limbed behemoths that want to tear Carter to bits. Now an extended sneak peak at the effects filled battle has popped up online, which is well worth a look, and not just for the fight-scene itself, as it also includes a lot of very cool footage from a film that’s starting to get some really strong buzz (not least because it seems to be an entire movie dedicated to keeping Taylor Kitsch as scantily clad as possible). The film hits cinemas on March 9th.
Razzie Nominations Revealed – Adam Sandler sets a new record
Until this year, the Razzies Awards, which are given to the worst of Hollwood, have been handed out the day before the Oscars, but a new setup means that now the Razzie Nominations are released at Oscar time, with the ceremony taking place on April Fools Day.
It certainly isn’t Adam Sandler’s year, as with three critically-panned movies released by his Happy Madison Productions, he now totally dominates the list of contenders for The 32nd Annual Razzie Awards. He’s amassed an incredibly impressive 11 nominations as an actor, writer and/or producer on Jack and Jill, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star and Just Go with It, more than doubling Eddie Murphy’s old record for the most nominations accrued by an individual in a single year.
Leading the pack for Worst Picture is Sandler’s cross-dressing comedy Jack and Jill, which received 12 nods in all (becoming only the 4th film in the Tacky Trophy’s history ever to get more dings than the awards have categories). Also selected as Worst Picture nominees for 2011 are Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, New Year’s Eve, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. For the first time in Razzie history, all five nominated Worst Pictures are also vying for Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Ensemble.
Take a look below for the full list of nominees for the best of the worst:
WORST PICTURE
Bucky Larson
Jack & Jill
New Year’s Eve
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I
WORST ACTOR
Russell Brand – Arthur
Nicholas Cage – Drive Angry, Season Of The Witch, Trespass
Taylor Lautner – The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I, Abduction
Adam Sandler – Jack & Jill, Just go With It
Nick Swardson – Bucky Larson
WORST ACTRESS
Martin Lawrence (As Momma) – Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
Sarah Palin – Undefeated
Sarah Jessica Parker – I Don’t Know How She Does It, New Year’s Eve
Adam Sandler (As Jill) – Jack & Jill
Kristen Stewart – The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I
WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Patrick Dempsey – Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
James Franco – Your Highness
Ken Jeong – Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, The Hangover 2, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
Al Pacino – Jack & Jill
Nick Swardson – Jack & Jill, Just Go With It
WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Katie Holmes – Jack & Jill
Brandon T Jackson (as Charmaine) – Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
Nicole Kidman – Just Go With It
David Spade (As Monica) – Jack & Jill
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley – Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
WORST SCREEN ENSEMBLE
Bucky Larson
Jack & Jill
New Year’s Eve
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I
WORST DIRECTOR
Michael Bay – Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
Tom Brady – Bucky Larson
Bill Condon – The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I
Dennis Dugan – Jack & Jill, Just Go With It
Garry Marshall – New Year’s Eve
WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF OR SEQUEL
Arthur
Bucky Larson
The Hangover 2
Jack & Jill
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I
WORST SCREEN COUPLE
Nic Cage & anyone
Shia LaBeouf & Rosie Huntington Whiteley – Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
Adam Sandler & Brooklyn Decker/Jennifer Aniston – Just Go With It
Adam Sandler & Katie Holmes, Al Pacino or Himself – Jack & Jill
Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner – The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I
WORST SCREENPLAY
Bucky Larson
Jack & Jill
New Year’s Eve
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I
The Killing Star Joel Kinnaman Offered Robocop Lead
A remake of Robocop has been in the works for years and was one of the first projects MGM resurrected when it came out of bankruptcy. Now things are moving forward with Elite Squad director Jose Padilha at the helm, and now Deadline reports the lead role has been offered to The Killing and Snabba Cash star, Joel Kinnaman.
Kinnaman would play Murphy, a police officer left for dead while on duty, who is revived via a robotic body and sent back out into the dangerous streets of Detroit, sometime in the very near future. Jose Padilha is directing from a script by Joshua Zetumer.
MGM hopes to shoot the film before the end of the year for a 2013 summer release date. Kinnaman would have been busy playing one of the leads in Warner’s Arthur & Lancelot, but that film was pretty much canned over budget issues (there’s still a chance it’ll get going again, but it’s looking unlikely), leaving Joel’s schedule empty. He’s hot stuff in Hollywood at the moment, and it’s looking likely that Robocop will be the movie that attempts to break him onto the major movie scene.
Christian Bale to Star in Out of the Furnace
While many actors like to have loads of films in development, Christian Bale tends not to start lining too many new films up until he’s finished the previous one. With The Dark Knight Rises now in the can, THR reports he’s now in talks to join the Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) directed drama Out of the Furnace.
Brad Ingelsby penned this thriller (which was originally known as The Low Dweller) about a man who hopes to find peace after being released from a four year jail stint. His plans for a quite life come to a halt when his brother is murdered and he decides he must set out for revenge.
Christian Bale almost joined the project last year, but didn’t come aboard at that point due to scheduling issues. Robert Duvall is also eyeing the film, but has yet to officially sign on. Others being eyed but who are less certain include Viggo Mortensen as the villain, while Casey Affleck, Garrett Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch and Channing Tatum are among the actors said to be circling the part of Bale’s brother.
The current plan is for Bale to shoot Out of the Furnace this spring, before he sets off on a promotional press tour for The Dark Knight Rises, and then goes to work for Terrence Malick on a couple of movies.
Act Of Valor Tops The US Box Office
It’s a bit of a seesaw at the US box office at the moment. Some weekends all the big releases massively underperform, while other weeks new movies make loads more than anyone expected. Both were true this week, as while the Top 12 film made 20% than they did on the comparative weekend last year, there were a couple of huge flops.
The chart was topped by an overperforming Act of Valor, which was sold on the fact it starred real Navy SEALS and while the reviews were pretty bad, it’s believed some clever marketing pulled in guys looking for a bit of patriotic action.
In second place was Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds, which took $16 million. It’s the second worst opening ever for Perry, however the film leaned more dramatic than his usual comedy, and was less female skewing than normal, which may account for its lower box office. As Perry’s film cost little to make, it’s still a major win for him.
The other new entries bombed badly though. Despite the presence of Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston and producer Judd Apatow, Wanderlust could only manage eight place on the chart wtih $6.6 million. It’s a major failure for all of them, with many blaming Universal’s failure to market the movie properly.
Doing even worse was the Amanda Seyfried thriller Gone, which took just $5 million for ninth place on the chart. Marketing – or the almost total lack thereof – is also being blamed for this one, with some wondering if the distributor knew they had a dud, but were contracted to open nationwide rather than going straight-to-DVD and so pushed it out with absolutely no fanfare.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of February 24th-26th.
Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
1 | Act Of Valor | $24.7 | $24.7 |
2 | Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds | $16.0 | $16.0 |
3 | Journey 2: The Mysterious Island | $13.4 | $76.7 |
4 | Safe House | $11.4 | $98.1 |
5 | The Vow | $10.0 | $103.0 |
6 | Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance | $8.8 | $37.8 |
7 | This Means War | $8.5 | $33.5 |
8 | Wanderlust | $6.6 | $6.6 |
9 | Gone | $5.0 | $5.0 |
10 | The Secret World Of Arrietty | $4.5 | $14.6 |
The Artist Cleans Up At The Oscars
As expected, The Artist was the big winner at the Oscars, picking up Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor among its five awards. As it’s a love letter to Hollywood, it’s not surprising the Academy loved the movie.
Hugo also picked up five awards, although they were all in technical categories such as Visual Effects and Sound Mixing. It’s been suggested that this reflects how if it weren’t for The Artist, Hugo would have swept the board.
Other major awards included Meryl Streep picking up her third Oscar for The Iron Lady, while in the Supporting Actor and Actress Category, Christopher Plummer did the LGBT representation at the Oscars proud, winning for playing an elderly gay man in Beginners, while an emotional Octavia Spencer scored a much deserved award for The Help. Plummer becomes the oldest ever acting Oscar winner at 82, outdoing Jessica Tandy, who picked up her Best Actress Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy when she was 80.
Woody Allen won another Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Midnight In Paris, while The Descendants picked up the best Adapted Screenplay award.
Take a look below for all the winners in all categories.
84th Annual Academy Awards Winners:
Best Picture
Winner: ‘The Artist’ Thomas Langmann, Producer
‘The Descendants’ Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’ Scott Rudin, Producer
‘The Help’ Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
‘Hugo’ Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
‘Midnight in Paris’ Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
‘Moneyball’ Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
‘The Tree of Life’ Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill
‘War Horse’ Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Directing
Winner: ‘The Artist’ Michel Hazanavicius
‘The Descendants’ Alexander Payne
‘Hugo’ Martin Scorsese
‘Midnight in Paris’ Woody Allen
‘The Tree of Life’ Terrence Malick
Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in ‘A Better Life’
George Clooney in ‘The Descendants’
Winner: Jean Dujardin in ‘The Artist’
Gary Oldman in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’
Brad Pitt in ‘Moneyball’
Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in ‘My Week with Marilyn’
Jonah Hill in ‘Moneyball’
Nick Nolte in ‘Warrior’
Winner: Christopher Plummer in ‘Beginners’
Max von Sydow in ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’
Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in ‘Albert Nobbs’
Viola Davis in ‘The Help’
Rooney Mara in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
Winner: Meryl Streep in ‘The Iron Lady’
Michelle Williams in ‘My Week with Marilyn’
Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in ‘The Artist’
Jessica Chastain in ‘The Help’
Melissa McCarthy in ‘Bridesmaids’
Janet McTeer in ‘Albert Nobbs’
Winner: Octavia Spencer in ‘The Help’
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Winner: ‘The Descendants’ Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
‘Hugo’ Screenplay by John Logan
‘The Ides of March’ Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
‘Moneyball’ Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay)
‘The Artist’ Written by Michel Hazanavicius
‘Bridesmaids’ Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
‘Margin Call’ Written by J.C. Chandor
Winner: ‘Midnight in Paris’ Written by Woody Allen
‘A Separation’ Written by Asghar Farhadi
Animated Feature Film
‘A Cat in Paris’ Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
‘Chico & Rita’ Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
‘Puss in Boots’ Chris Miller
Winner: ‘Rango’ Gore Verbinski
Art Direction
‘The Artist’ Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Winner: ‘Hugo’ Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
‘Midnight in Paris’ Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
‘War Horse’ Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Cinematography
‘The Artist’ Guillaume Schiffman
‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Jeff Cronenweth
Winner: ‘Hugo’ Robert Richardson
‘The Tree of Life’ Emmanuel Lubezki
‘War Horse’ Janusz Kaminski
Costume Design
‘Anonymous’ Lisy Christl
Winner: ‘The Artist’ Mark Bridges
‘Hugo’ Sandy Powell
‘Jane Eyre’ Michael O’Connor
‘W.E.’ Arianne Phillips
Documentary (Feature)
‘Hell and Back Again’ Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
‘If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front’ Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
‘Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory’ Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
‘Pina’ Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Winner: ‘Undefeated’ TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
Documentary (Short Subject)
‘The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement’ Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
‘God Is the Bigger Elvis’ Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
‘Incident in New Baghdad’ James Spione
Winner: ‘Saving Face’ Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Film Editing
‘The Artist’ Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
‘The Descendants’ Kevin Tent
Winner: ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
‘Hugo’ Thelma Schoonmaker
‘Moneyball’ Christopher Tellefsen
Foreign Language Film
‘Bullhead’ Belgium
‘Footnote’ Israel
‘In Darkness’ Poland
‘Monsieur Lazhar’ Canada
Winner: ‘A Separation’ Iran
Makeup
‘Albert Nobbs’ Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
Winner: ‘The Iron Lady’ Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Music (Original Score)
‘The Adventures of Tintin’ John Williams
Winner: ‘The Artist’ Ludovic Bource
‘Hugo’ Howard Shore
‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ Alberto Iglesias
‘War Horse’ John Williams
Music (Original Song)
Winner: ‘Man or Muppet’ from ‘The Muppets’ Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
‘Real in Rio’ from ‘Rio’ Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Short Film (Animated)
‘Dimanche/Sunday’ Patrick Doyon
Winner: ‘The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore’ William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
‘La Luna’ Enrico Casarosa
‘A Morning Stroll’ Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
‘Wild Life’ Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action)
‘Pentecost’ Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
‘Raju’ Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
Winner: ‘The Shore’ Terry George and Oorlagh George
‘Time Freak’ Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
‘Tuba Atlantic’ Hallvar Witzø
Sound Editing
‘Drive’ Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Ren Klyce
Winner: ‘Hugo’ Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
‘War Horse’ Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Sound Mixing
‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
Winner: ‘Hugo’ Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
‘Moneyball’ Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
‘War Horse’ Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
Winner: ‘Hugo’ Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
‘Real Steel’ Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
2012 London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Programme Announced
After revealing a couple of weeks ago that the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival would open with Cloudburst, starring Oscar-winners Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker, the British Film Institute has now revealed the full festival line-up.
The festival runs from from 23rd March-1st April and will offer a varied programme of feature films, special events, shorts, archive classics, experimental and erotic works. While it will open with Cloudburst, it’s now been revealed that the Festival will close with Bavo Defurne’s North Sea Texas, a compelling tale of teenage longing set in a Belgian coastal town.
There are also two centrepiece screenings of powerful, award-winning dramas. Circumstance is an affecting account of a lesbian coming-of-age in contemporary Tehran, which won the Audience Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, while Absent is the unpredictable tale of a 16-year-old’s attempt to get close to his teacher, which won the Teddy Award at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival.
Other highlights on the programme include The Perfect Family, starring Kathleen Turner as a Catholic woman coming to terms with her daughter’s sexuality, while Gun Hill Road tells the story of an ex-con struggling to accept that his teenage son is transitioning to female, and features a strong performance by young trans actor Harmony Santana.
There’ll also be an eclectic programme of special events, such as Brian Lobel and Aaron Wright’s Cruising for Art, which is a film-themed participatory theatre project. Transgender Representation – Are We Nearly There Yet? will look at the last five years of trans film and television, while Families Like Ours features films that discuss LGBT parenting from the point of view of parents, pupils and teachers.
After budget cuts last year, a wave of popular and industry support has ensured a renewed commitment to the festival’s future, with the 2012 programme 30% larger than the 2011 event, consisting of 53 features and 67 shorts.
You can find the full programme here (click for PDF), which also includes screening of the much praised lesbian drama Pariah, as well as classics with gay themes such as Spartacus and Suddenly Last Summer.
Daniel Radcliffe Debuts A PSA For The Trevor Project
Having known a lot of gay people all his life, Harry Potter (who for some reason now insists on being called Daniel Radcliffe) has always been pro-gay, and in the last few year has become one of the most vocal straight allies of the gay community, being active with various LGBT organisations that try to make an difference in the lives of lesbian & gay people.
He’s now made a Public Service Announcement for The Trevor Project, a crisis intervention and suicide prevention service for LGBT and questioning youth, which Radcliffe has supported for the last three years. The PSA debuted after an episode of Glee in the US, which focused on the attempted suicide of one of the characters who is dealing with their sexuality.
Radcliffe has said that working with The Trevor Project has taught him the importance of being a straight ally. “‘When we let someone know that we accept them for who they are and that we are safe to talk to, we can help save lives. It’s as simple as that,” he says.
Take a look at the 30 second PSA above.
Justin Timberlake Closer To Playing Elton John In Biopic
A few weeks ago reports started circulating that Elton John wanted Justin Timberlake to play him in a Moulin Rouge-style biopic of his life that the singer is busy planning. Timberlake seemed interested, and now Elton’s hubby (and co-producer on the movie), David Furnish, has confirmed Justin is likely to take the role, as long as they can find a director everyone’s happy with.
Furnish told E! News: ‘We’re searching for a director. It’s important we all share the same vision. Elton and Justin have had conversations about it. Justin also says he has to feel comfortable with the director and the director has to be comfortable with Justin. The chemistry is really important. There’s no race to make this. We’re just going to take the time to make it right.’
Elton has previously said the movie will be a “surreal look at my life, and not just a factual look at my life, more in the manner of a Moulin Rouge”. The singer, who’s never been averse to a bit of flamboyance, added that a “normal biopic” would be inappropriate “because my life hasn’t been like that”.
Brandon Routh Playing Gay In TV Pilot, Partners
Superman is going gay! Well, an actor who once played Superman is playing gay at lease. Brandon Routh has landed a role in an upcoming TV pilot, playing as the boyfriend of Ugly Betty star and real-life homo Michael Urie.
The show, called Partners, is from Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan and centres on lifelong friends and business partners, Charlie (Sophia Bush), who is straight, and Louis (Urie), who is gay. According to Deadline, Routh will play Louis’ longterm boyfriend, a reformed alcoholic, club-hopping model, who’s now a sober, vegan nurse.
Just because they’re making a pilot doesn’t mean it’ll become a series, but with Mutchnick and Kohan behind the camera, it’s certainly got pedigree.
Superman Returns may not have given Routh a massive movie career, but perhaps his career will get new life on TV. He’s certainly pretty, so the more we see of him the better!
Did Zac Efron Drop A Condom On The Red Carpet?
We’re all for playing safe at BGPS, but if you’re gonna carry a condom around with you, it’s probably best not to have it loose in you pocket. A lot of people are saying Zac Efron has learned the perils of unsecured condoms at the premiere on his latest movie, The Lorax.
While the evidence in the video above is ambiguous, his giggly, embarrassed reaction suggests he did indeed drop a condom on the red carpet. Some have been asking why he was taking a condom to the premiere of a kid’s flick, but this is Zac Efron we’re talking about, a man who could pull at the top of Everest, so it’s probably a good idea for him to keep a ‘just in case’ rubber on him at all times!
Efron voices the main human character in the animated movie The Lorax, which is released in the US on March 2nd, but doesn’t come to the UK until July.
Take a look at the video above and see if you think it was a condom he dropped.