Thompson on Hollywood

From Dusk Till Dawn Clip: Tarantino Kisses Salma Hayek's Toes

You may have heard about Quentin Tarantino's reputation as a foot fetishist. What film clues exist of this orientation? Well, you can start with his memorable cameo in Robert Rodriguez's 1996 From Dusk Till Dawn, a steamy scene with Salma Hayek, below. (Tarantino co-wrote the flick with director Rodriguez.)

By Anne Thompson
|
July 25, 2011 7:25 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

Franco Nero Talks Meeting Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Franco Nero was in London recently for the three-day cult film festival Cine-Excess. Matt Mueller reports:While in town, Franco Nero headed over to the Italian Cultural Institute to be bestowed along with wife Vanessa Redgrave with honorary degrees from Brunel University. Decked out in graduation gowns and caps, Nero answered a few questions about his career and, in particular, the enduring popularity of Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti western Django and his title role as the coffin-dragging gunslinger. “It never dies,” said Nero. “I just got back from shooting a movie in Brazil and everybody was, ‘Django! Django!’ the whole time.”

By Matt Mueller
|
June 29, 2011 3:56 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Elba's Star Rises with Pacific Rim; Del Toro Wants To Direct Jolie in Maleficent

Idris Elba may not be playing Django in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (he did, however, win our casting poll), but after TV hits The Wire, The Office and Luther and numerous co-star and supporting film roles (including 28 Weeks Later, American Gangster, RocknRolla, Obsessed, The Losers, Taken, Thor) and the upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Prometheus (alongside Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron), the actor is anything but desperate for work.

By Sophia Savage
|
June 22, 2011 7:14 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Quentin Tarantino: If Smith and Elba Are Out, Foxx is Right for Django Unchained

It's not just the great performances Jamie Foxx has given, from Any Given Sunday to his Oscar-winning role in Ray, or his sweet crooning to Oprah at her farewell blast, or his duet at Cannes this year with Kanye West, that make him the right guy to star in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained.

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
|
June 22, 2011 5:33 AM
|
9 Comments

More:

News Wrap: Abrams Opens Up on Super 8 Secrets, Apple Threatens Cable, Boondock Saints Web Sequel

During production on Super 8, director J. J. Abrams was notably secretive--as producer Steven Spielberg likes to be as well, preserving the mystery, hiding the alien. Now that the film has delivered a strong $35.5 million opening weekend, he is being less tight-lipped. [SPOILER ALERT] In an interview with MTV, Abrams was open about the many-limbed, mysterious monster in the film. He noted that Neville Page, the same man who created the monster in his 2008 film, Cloverfield, designed the creature for Super 8, but there was no “same-universe” connection. “They actually look very different,” he said, “but they both have two eyes, a nose and a mouth. So, in that regard, it also looks a lot like Laurence Olivier!" He said creating the creature was a balance; the alien needed to be scary, but also relatable, something that could be “full of rage and also could be emotional and nuanced.” (The bar for scary/relatable alien design was really set by District 9.)

By Maggie Lange
|
June 15, 2011 3:58 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained: Casting is Key; DiCaprio In, Smith Out? Who Will Play Django?

Quentin Tarantino is known for his unorthodox, out-of-the-box casting choices, from John Travolta, Robert Forster and Pam Grier to Brad Pitt, Kurt Russell, and David Carradine. Now Leonardo DiCaprio (who Tarantino chased for the role of Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds) is in talks to play the villain in spaghetti western Django Unchained. He would play evil Mississippi Candyland plantation owner Calvin Candie, who also runs the Cleopatra Club that features sexually abused female slaves and mandingos forced to fight in death matches.

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
|
June 8, 2011 4:55 AM
|
23 Comments

More:

Rome Film Festival Announces Dates, Ennio Morricone Heads Jury, Clips

The sixth International Rome Film Festival will take place October 27 through November 4, 2011. Oscar®-winning composer Ennio Morricone will head the jury, which also includes Italian ballet dancer Roberto Bolle, said Rome Fest president Gian Luigi Rondi and artistic director Piera Detassis.

By Anne Thompson
|
May 31, 2011 1:21 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Sony Wins International Rights to Tarantino's Django Unchained; Is Will Smith Locked In?

Sony has landed international rights to Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, for which the writer-director is eyeing Will Smith. The Weinsteins have domestic rights. Smith is affiliated with Sony, which explains why Sony landed the prize despite Universal's success with Inglourious Basterds. With Smith, Django would have huge mainstream appeal.

By Anne Thompson
|
May 9, 2011 9:12 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Tarantino Wants Will Smith to Star in Django Unchained

If Quentin Tarantino lands Will Smith for his Django Unchained, it will have a huge impact on the movie. I'm not sure how I feel about it, truth to tell. Imagine that the film is The Good the Bad and the Ugly meets Mandingo or Manderlay. It's what Tarantino said he wanted to do: an entertaining spaghetti western--or southern in this case--but it's set in a very ugly place in our history, the racist south in all its abusive plantation glory.

By Anne Thompson
|
May 7, 2011 3:27 AM
|
10 Comments

More:

Tarantino Speaks on Django Unchained

New York Vulture questioned Quentin Tarantino at the Film Society of Lincoln Center tribute to Sidney Poitier. Tarantino refused to confirm any casting for Django Unchained, including Christoph Waltz, and admitted that the script he finished last Tuesday and handed in to the Weinstein Co. was 366 pages long (that's wrong, I've got a 168-page script). A slight trim may be in order before Tarantino gets the green light. It's unlikely that the Weinstein Co., as well as they did with Inglourious Basterds (worldwide gross: $320 million) at 153 minutes, will want the movie to be quite that long.