Thompson on Hollywood

Stewart Does Letterman, Likely Can't Do Girl with Dragon Tattoo

It looks like Twilight star Kristen Stewart is too busy to even chase after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She'd love to do the role, but hasn't talked to David Fincher about it and may not be able to squeeze it into her crazy schedule anyway. (Meanwhile, in The New Yorker, Nora Ephron channels Lisbeth Salander.)

By Anne Thompson
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June 29, 2010 5:52 AM
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Swinton Talks I Am Love, Orlando Reissue, and a Film with Uncle Boonmee Director

Tilda Swinton is a brainy actress who swings easily from passion indie projects (The Deep End, Julia and the upcoming I Am Love) to studio fare, from arch-villains to objects of desire, and from mother in the Scottish highlands to glamourous globe-trotting movie star. She won an Oscar as George Clooney's nemesis in Michael Clayton, made love to Clooney in Burn After Reading and Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and keeps turning up in Narnia as ice queen Jadis. (After her cameo in The Limits of Control, she's committed to star in Jim Jarmusch's next, whatever that turns out to be.) She's as beautiful without makeup as she is with it. The next passion project she is developing is in collaboration with this year's Cannes Palme d'Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul. They've known each other for years. (UPDATE: He talks about her at Cannes.)

By Anne Thompson
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June 15, 2010 11:30 AM
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Ridley Scott Talks Blade Runner, Alien and Its Prequels, and a McMurtry Western

Sir Ridley Scott blew off the Cannes opening of Robin Hood and the recent Produced By Conference, blaming recent knee surgery, but the filmmaker turned up in a L.A. for a fan-friendly--safe--chat about his two classics Alien and Blade Runner at the LAT's inaugural Hero Complex Film Festival. TOH contributor David Lewis was there.

By Anne Thompson
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June 15, 2010 7:54 AM
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Live New York Interviews Promo Love Ranch and Winter's Bone

The NYT is getting into the live pre-movie opening interview racket, something Apple iTunes has been doing for some time. This week, The NYT online will live-stream a webcast of NYT critic Janet Maslin's interview with Love Ranch star Helen Mirren (who won an Oscar for The Queen) and the film's director Taylor Hackford (Ray, The Devil's Advocate), her husband, on June 14th (6:30-8pm EST). Based on a true story about a couple who opened Las Vegas's first legal brothel, the film stars Mirren and Joe Pesci as Grace and Charlie Botempo. Although the New York City event is sold out, you can catch it on either LiveStream.com or Facebook. The trailer is on the jump, but be aware that it shows you the whole movie (a pet peeve).

By Anne Thompson
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June 10, 2010 6:14 AM
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Bullock Reunites with Reynolds on Action Comedy Most Wanted

Sandra Bullock knows what she's doing. Tired of all the crazy tabloid crap, she's moving the conversation on to kissing Scarlett Johansson on MTV and possibly co-starring with her husband Ryan Reynolds on a new comedy, Most Wanted. Looks like she's following my career advice and getting back to work. This is not only good news for Bullock and Reynolds, but for Universal Pictures' beleaguered current management team.

By Anne Thompson
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June 7, 2010 8:03 AM
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Produced By Conference: Ted Turner Talks TV, Energy, Bisons and Saving the World

Ever-quotable media mogul Ted Turner did not disappoint when he turned up to speak at this weekend's Produced By Conference (sponsored by the Producers Guild of America) at the Twentieth Century Fox studios. In a wide-ranging conversation, he talked about getting his billions and millions "mixed up," the role of television, operating on gut instinct, raising 55,000 bison, and the paramount importance of saving our endangered planet. "I don't watch much TV," he said. "I'm too busy trying to save the world." His secret of success: "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise." Amy Dawes reports:

By Amy Dawes
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June 6, 2010 3:59 AM
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Cameron Talks to Hardball About the Oil Spill

James Cameron talked to Hardball about the oil spill--and cleared up the "morons" out-of-context issue. He started out thinking that BP didn't know what it was doing, and came to the conclusion that what they were dealing with was "an amazingly complex problem" down in the formation inside the well, 13,000 feet beneath the ocean floor. Doing the wrong thing could make things a lot worse.

By Anne Thompson
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June 4, 2010 12:29 PM
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Must-See Winter's Bone: Granik Digs Deep with Breakout Lawrence

Indie filmmaker Debra Granik did it once with the 2004 low-budget drama Down to the Bone, which showed what Vera Farmiga could do (she won best actress from the LA Film Critics). This January at Sundance, the director did it again, showcasing Jennifer Lawrence in a star-making role as a smart young teen fighting to save her family from falling off the edge in hard-bitten Ozark country. (The film won both the screenwriting and dramatic grand jury prize.)

By Anne Thompson
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June 3, 2010 6:48 AM
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Tamara Drewe Breakout Isn't Arterton: It's Luke Evans

Stephen Frears' bucolic romantic romp Tamara Drewe stars fetching Clash of the Titans star Emma Arterton in short-shorts, but with Frears' leading lady stuck in America promoting Prince of Persia, the breakout star from the film at Cannes was hunky Welsh newcomer Luke Evans. He's made eight movies in the last year, including Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Clash of the Titans, Robin Hood and the upcoming Jason Statham actioner Blitz. Now he's set to play Aramis in Summit's The Three Musketeers as well as the title role of Vivaldi.

By Anne Thompson
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May 24, 2010 11:46 AM
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Jagger Hits Cannes with Stones in Exile Doc

Mick Jagger gave a Q & A for the new Rolling Stones doc, Stones in Exile, about the recording of the 1972 double LP Exile on Main Street. In exile from Britain for tax evasion, the Stones holed up in a Riviera villa not far from Cannes, where they reveled, noodled, created and recorded one of the great all-time albums. "We were young, handsome and stupid," Jagger, 67, told the Palais Stephanie crowd in both French and English. "Now we're just stupid."