First "Hotel Chevalier" Image Appears

The first image of Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited"s prequel - the 13 minute short, "Hotel Chevalier" has appeared online from the folks at Natalieportman.com.

The pic features Jason Schwartman (as Jack Whitman) and Natalie Portman (credited simply as "Jack's X-Girlfriend" according to the leaked press notes) staring off into the distance on the balcony of said Hotel.

As was written on the CastleRock Italian site (in broken English), 'Chevalier' is "Acclimatized in one room of hotel in France, ['Hotel Chevalier' is] the short epilogue of one heartbreaking history of love and the prologue of the travel told in 'The Darjeeling Limited.' "

Which translated means: The entire short takes place in one hotel room and is essentially the break-up that leads Jack to meet his brothers Francis (Owen Wilson) and Peter (Adrien Brody) in India for the "Darjeeling' spiritual journey and adventure. Apparently Portman briefly appears in 'Darjeeling.'

An interview with the filmmakers at film critic Emmanuel Levy's site confirms these plot speculations as much. "Jack, the baby of the family and a writer who bases his "fictional" characters on everything that happens to him, comes to India still so obsessed with the ex-girlfriend he left behind in Paris, he can't stop eavesdropping on her answering machine, for which he still has the code."

The short will be played before the main course Indian-set feature at the Venice Film Festival (which is happening right now and means it will screen on September 3rd) and the New York Film Festival in mid-September. It looks like the short will also play independently in L.A. on September 14-16 at the Laemmle's Sunset 5 theater in West Hollywood.

The Coiffed Clues
There was speculation about when "Hotel Chevalier" was actually shot; given that Natalie Portman's hair is still short (it's grown in since) and given that the location is Paris, this proves to many that "Hotel Chevalier" was shot almost a year prior to when 'Darjeeling' was shot last year (follow? NataliePortman.com fans can apparently DNA date every existing photo of hers in accordance to her current or dated coifs). Also: the yellow bathrobe that Portman wears in the 'Chevalier' photo appears to be the same one Schwartzman wears in 'Darjeeling.'

Sigur Rós "Heima" Trailer Gets Deep

Yeah, it's not a film. It's a DVD film release of them being on tour or something and missing their lives while dramatic slo-mo shots of Iceland lend the film some deep grativas. I dunno, whateves.

Lyle Lovett Talks Walk Hard; Money Mark Scores 'Losers'

Right again. There was a bit of confusion with the whole title track of "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (though we really answered our own question last time and it's very possible we were the only ones confused - or who noticed for that matter). And someone paid attention to our nitpicking reporting question. Rolling Stone had originally reported that Marshall Crenshaw had written the title track to "Walk Hard," and then Billboard said that Lyle Lovett recorded the track which suggested to some that he had actually written.

But it's simple, Crenshaw wrote the track and Lovett recorded the song he wrote with the help of Jewel, Ghosftace Killah and Jackson Browne (which we wrote all about before, blah, blah).

Lovett told RS, “I had met Jackson [Browne] years ago and he’s always been really kind to me over the years. And I had met Jewel but I had never sung with her. She was great to work with. And it was the first time to meet Ghostface Killah. It was very cool, he’s very cool. There’s a breakdown in our version, in the middle of it, where Jewel yodels and he raps over that.”

In the film, the song "Walk Hard" is supposed to be Cox's most popular and well-known track. What about that Cox boxset?

Beastie Boys co-hort and keyboardist Money Mark has composed the score to "Beautiful Losers," a film about a loose-knit group of like minded underground outsiders who found a common ground at a little NYC storefront gallery. "Rooted in the DIY subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led," the synopsis says.

Directed by Aaron Rose, the film features appearances by agit-prop designer Shepard Fairey, professional skater Ed Templeton, San Fransican folk artist Margaret Kilgallen, graffiti artist Barry McGee, Jo Jackson, childlike painter Chris Johanson, filmmaker and graphic designer Geoff McFetridge, director Mike Mills ("Thumbsucker"), Stephen Powers, director Harmony Korine ("Kids"), painter Thomas Campbell & more...

The film is aiming for a 2008 theatrical release. The Washington Post has a good article on the film called, "The Allure of Loser Culture," that's worth the read.
"Beautiful Losers" trailer

Diddy's "Find An Assistant" Search Gets Desperate

Sean Combs' continuing search to find an assistant stupid enough to work under his tyrannical ways is getting desperate.

This morning before 8 a.m. in Times Square, an underpaid intern was shilling on the streets of New York trying to entice tourists who have no clue what he's talking about to become Diddy's next poor sap, sorry, assistant.

The sign read, "Vote 4 Diddy's assistant. Disturb the Industry. I invented the 'Remix.' " So wait, oh, he's actually trying you to get to vote on his many assistant applications, right?

Well, that's if you count 2 video applications as a lot of candidates to vote from.

Clearly, Diddy wants more suckers to choose from and this is why he has unpaid interns canvasing the street (We asked him, "you getting paid for this?" and dude responded, "not yet!"

Help a brotha out, would you?

Sondre Lerche Reveals "Dan In Real Life" Tracklist

As we first reported last week, Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche has composed the score to the Steve Carrell film, "Dan In Real Life."

As we noted then, ginger-haired indie pianist Regina Spektor guests on the newly written track, "Hell No." While the trailer for the film does feature the Pete Townshend hit "Let My Love Open The Door," Lerche covers the song himself on the soundtrack. A total of 13 new track were recorded for the album.

According to Canada's Chart Attack magazine, the disc is due Oct 2 and also features contributions by Lillian Samdal (the Faces Down track "Modern Nature"), and the Faces Down Quartet ("Airport Taxi Reception", "The Tape"). " Also included on the disc is the A Fine Frenzy track "Fever." Elvis Costello's "Human Hands" (from 1982's Imperial Bedroom) is in the film, but not on the soundtrack.

Of the jazzy "Modern Nature" track from Lerche's 2002 debut, Faces Down, he said, "I wanted to write something romantic, humorous, and sweet. At that time, I was really inspired by Cole Porter. I wanted something that would sound nice on Broadway."

As we mentioned last time, "Dan In Real Life" director Peter Hedges is fond pop music in film. His last movie, "Pieces of April," was scored to the music of Magnetic Fields' frontman Stephin Merritt's various projects. Hedges listened to over 500 artists when searching for music for the film, but got stuck on Lerche. [His] music feels timeless to me,” Hedges said. “There’s a depth to it and you feel that this is a man who believes in love. The music is just infused with that feeling without being sappy or sentimental – which made it a complete dream for this story.”

Sounds like like someone was paying attention to these cinematic-sounding tracks. "Dan In Real Life" is due in theaters October 26.

Update: Chart Attack's tracklist is wrong, we've updated it with the correct version.

"Dan In Real Life" Soundtrack tracklist
1. Family Theme Waltz – Sondre Lerche
2. To Be Surprised – Sondre Lerche
3. I’ll Be OK – Sondre Lerche
4. Dan and Marie Picking Hum – Sondre Lerche
5. My Hands Are Shaking – Sondre Lerche
6. Dan In Real Life – Sondre Lerche
7. Hell No – Sondre Lerche and Regina Spektor
8. Family Theme – Sondre Lerche
9. Fever – A Fine Frenzy
10. Airport Taxi Reception – Sondre Lerche and The Faces Down
11. Dan and Marie Melody – Sondre Lerche
12. Human Hands – Sondre Lerche and The Faces Down Quartet
13. I’ll Be OK (Instrumental Reprise) – Sondre Lerche
14. Let My Love Open The Door – Sondre Lerche
15. Dan and Marie Finale Theme – Sondre Lerche
16. Modern Nature – Sondre Lerche and Lillian Samdal

Don't Get Sick Of Mumblecore Yet: 'Quiet City's Urban 20-Somethings Are Alright

After pretty much slamming one of the flagship "Mumblecore" films, "Hannah Takes The Stairs," we'd be remiss to not mention we saw the, more diffident, yet better mumblecore effort, "Quiet City" at its IFC debut this week.

A modest, ostensibly relationship story set in Park Slope, Brooklyn, 'City,' wasn't nearly as funny as we think the filmmakers thought it was, but that wasn't really the point. The characters were highly likeable, the actors were charming and the humble story didn't try and overreach its grasp. It's unassuming ambitions were about a duo that spent a random weekend (or few days together) and a tentative, yet subtle mutual attraction emerged. "Quiet City," didn't try and drop any grand statements and the ending was wisely ambiguous and all-of-a-sudden. And now we realize we're sort sound like we're celebrating this film for staying within some parameters of humility and non-ambition or something, but it really was well-executed and had some incredibly genuinely akward and natural performances. Time Out New York called it, "low-ordinance" and that sort of sums it up well.

Apparently the film wasn't shot with any permits (go diy) and the actors "sort of" learned their lines to get a unaffected feel of the dialogue and gist of what they were supposed to say which really worked. The two leads also only met each other when they first started filming which added to the natural feel. "Quiet City" is already being readied for DVD (in what we believe we heard was) January of 2008 (and to be bundled with another muttercore film - feel free to correct us here).

So apologies to 'Hannah.' but "Quiet City" was a winner.

Postscript: Oh, and we were told that the film contained a bunch of Bob Dylan covers and we stupidly (and hilariously) didn't realize that this was basically a dig at our obsessive Dylan coverage and or a belittiling enticement to come see the film. It really wasn't the reason we came, but we laughed at ourselves right before the film started when we finally realized this was a blatant lie. Well played.

Quiet City Trailer

Schwartzman Talks 'Darjeeling'; Soundtrack Due September 25

Jason Schwarztman talked to the New York Post (of all people) about Wes Anderson's upcoming, "The Darjeeling Limited." Somehow New York's finest ultra-conservative sensationalist rag resisted asking questions about Owen Wilson (either that or the interview was likely conducted before Wilson's 911 sucide-attempt imbroglio happened).

As Schwartman noted to EW, his involvement with co-writing 'Darjeeling,' with Anderson and Sofia Coppola's older brother Roman, came as an off-the-cuff inquiry from Wes asking, "How about a movie with three brothers on a train?,' and evolved from there. According to Schwartzman, Wes and he ended up living together in Paris while Wes was promoting 'The Life Aquatic' and he was shooting, "Marie Antoinette." From there the story started to develop. "We'd walk around and tell each other stories about our lives, and we'd ask each other what these brothers were doing on the train and where they were going. It felt like a murder mystery that we were trying to figure out," he said.

Then when the co-writing began, Wes was in Paris and Schwartzman and Coppola were in L.A. and they would via three-to five-hour conference calls every morning where they would "brainstorm ideas and concepts." From there the California-bound duo would fly to wherever Wes was and write together in person.

Schwartzman said the chaos and unpredictability of India made the shooting experience one to remember. "One of the great things about India is the feeling that anything can happen. I think it's foolish to go into a foreign country with your cameras and expect to control it. I remember Wes saying that if we ask for a red car and tomorrow they show up with a blue truck, we're going to shoot the blue truck. It was unpredictable, and that's the beauty of the place."

He also noted that religion, people and nosies were ubiquitous and pervasive, saying it was difficult to go to India and not feel significantly, "moved or changed." Of the constant barrage of honking, music playing, people yelling and general hectic hustle and bustle he said, the country was a constant "audio extravaganza." (Unfortunately, the NYPost weren't bright enough to ask about "The Hotel Chevalier"; the 12-minute prequel to 'Darjeeling' that screens at the Venice and New York festival which starts Natalie Portman and Schwartzman as what many assume is the girlfriend that dumps Jack and sets him on his voyage to India (Many assume that 'Chevalier' was originally part of the film and then later broken out due to length and superfluous issues).

A Familial Observation
Something to note: Schwartzman and Coppola are members of the larger Coppola film family dynasty which includes patriarch Francis Ford, Rocky's Adrienne (Talia Shire) and the surname-changing Nicholas Cage (born Nicholas Coppola). It appears that the three brothers in the 'Darjeeling' film are named after Coppola family members. Owen Wilson's character is named Francis; Jason Schwartman's character is named Jack (his actual father's name) and Adrien Brody plays Peter (and that's where our connection ends, at least til we dig up a Peter in the family). Some people have suggested the trio is supposed to be named after a triumvirate of '70s film royalty, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson and Peter Bogdanovich, and as much as we're sure Anderson and co. love Boganovich (which self respecting film snob doesn't?) we like our theory better (and it hits closer to both the home and heart for an "emotional comedy."

Press Notes - The Reinvention
Press notes from the film have leaked online and a few interesting bits of information are revealed. Kumar Pallana does make an appearance in the film (Pallana being the short old Indian man that has appeared in almost every Anderson film save 'Aquatic.' His biggest role was of Pagoda, Royal Tenenbaums' friend and assistant in the titular film), Bill Murray plays "The Businessman," and Anderson wanted to reinvent the way he made movies with this one according to producer Lydia Dean. "[Wes] wanted to abandon the traditional entrapments of making a movie and really pare down the process. So, he wanted the actors to do their own makeup, to dress themselves in the morning and to really try to create an environment where the characters are functioning in this fictional world as if they were real people taking this trip." Apparently the brothers' suitcases were designed by Marc Jacobs on behalf of Louis Vuitton.

A Positive Review: A lot of the online reviews out there have called the film a mess, in the vein of 'Aquatic,' but we get a gleam of hope from Rolling Stone's amiable and respectable Peter Travers who confessed that he "loved" the film. For those of us (us) really looking forward to the "emotional" part of emo-comedy and hoping he gets back to the heart of "Rushmore," Travers calls it his "most assured and mature work" (sure that's stock hack crit speak, but still). He writes that on the surface, "the film is a lark," but adds that you "laugh, sometimes to keep from crying," and later on in the story, "the film moves deeper into melancholy and pain." Frankly, this is what we want to hear. We're a little sick of the wacky minutia and overly mean-spirited protagonists (the perennially scowling Bill Murray got a bit much to take in "Aquatic')

The Soundtrack
Meanwhile, the entire list of music used in "The Darjeeling Limited" has been revealed (or at least in the case of the Satyajit Ray/Indian Music songs - the movies in which they come from; the songs titles haven't been listed and there's a ton of songs in those films), and now the released date for the soundtrack disc itself has been set for September 25.

What's actually on the soundtrack has not been unveiled yet, but since Abkco is releasing it and they own the Rolling Stones licensing and the Kinks licensing (boy, don't we know now, please buy all their stuff), we can expect for a Wes Anderson soundtrack CD to finally have a Rolling Stones track on it. Hopefully the songs by French pop singer Joe Dassin and 60s British folky Peter Sarsted will be included as well (and those great Satyajit Ray and Ravi Shankar tracks).

"Control" Writer Working On Young John Lennon Film

Matt Greenhalgh, the first-time feature-length screenwriter who penned the Ian Curtis/Joy Division biopic, "Control," has been tapped to write "Lennon," a film about the inimitable Beatle, John (maybe you heard of him). However, the film will follow the life of the young Liverpudlian before his Beatles days according to the Manchester Evening
News.

Greenhalgh was brought on board by 'Lennon' producers impressed with his "Control" script. The Mancunian told the paper, "The film is called Lennon and details John's adolescent years, pre-Beatlemania. It came to me off the back of 'Control' - the producers of Lennon saw 'Control' and then asked me if I'd consider doing their script for them."

"It wasn't a particularly hard decision for me to say yes," the still relatively green screenwriter said.

"Control" was celebrated at Cannes and and scooped two awards at the Edinburgh Film Festival this year. Greenhalgh is hoping to have the first draft of the film ready for Christmas, but the paper notes it would likely be another year until the film was ready for the big screen (geez, at least).

Let's just say it, "Control" was very unremarkable.

I'm Looking Through You: The Missing Music Of Wes Anderson - The Life Aquatic

Our features on the music of Wes Anderson - and the music that doesn't appear on the soundtrack CD's - end with 2004's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (Earlier this week we looked at "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums")

Liner Notes: One of the many interesting stories for this film is the use of Sven Libaek's instrumental music. Anderson became aware of Libaek because Australian actor Noah Taylor (who played the troupe's physicist/music composer Vladimir Walodorsky) gave the director the soundtrack CD for the 1974 Australian oceanography film, "Inner Space," which the Norwegian Libaek composed (and William Shatner narrated) with a note that said he should use the music in the film. Anderson not only did that, he and music supervisor Randall Poster acquired the entire body of Libaek's work and used them as half the voice of Taylor's characters music compositions (the other half were the Casio-esque temp pieces that Mark Mothersbaugh composed).

According to the DVD commentary track when Anderson first thought of the Casio-esque music in the film, he though of the '70s proto-electro duo Suicide. Anderson actually wrote some of the script while on the couch of Mothersbaugh L.A. studio while the composer and he would work on the film's tone and tenor.

Who the shit is Kingsley Zissou - Extra Credit Trivia: The score cue "Let Me Tell You About My Boat" by Mothersbaugh contains the melody of "Scrapping & Yelling" (from the "Royal Tenenbaums" soundtrack) played backwards (a "musical palindrome" Mbaugh calls is).

Sven Libaek - "Music For Eels"
Sven Libaek - "Shark Attack Theme"
Sven Libaek - "Main Title Theme"

Esteban Was Eaten! - The Brazilian Connection: The other notable thing about the 'Life Aquatic' score are the 11 David Bowie compositions that were interpreted by Brazilian singer Seu Jorge. who acts like a Greek chorus lead who comments on the movie's action. Many of Jorge's Bowie renditions were used on the soundtrack CD, but not all of them made the cut. Interestingly, Anderson never knew if the covers Jorge was recording were entirely faithful interpretations of Bowie's lyrics and it turns out they weren't.

"I looked to the [characters] in the film and to my life, and I created the songs," Jorge told MTV of his tweaked-lyrical Portuguese-language versions. In fact, when Anderson first asked Jorge to reinterpret the songs, the singer said it wasn't a problem, but then quickly bought the CD's as he had never heard those particular Bowie songs before. "It's a different culture in Brazil," he said. "We only know 'Let's Dance.' "


"I thought it would be funny for someone to sing to the crew. And why not David Bowie songs? Then I made it an international ''Benetton'' crew, and it turned out one actor was also a pop star in Brazil. So it snowballed," Anderson told EW in May 2005. In the aforementioned MTV interview, Anderson said he had tried to use some Bowie tracks in "Rushmore" but he couldn't make them fit.

Can you hear the Jack Whales singing? A year later an entire album of Jorge's 'Aquatic' Bowie covers were released including the lesser-known "When I Live My Dream" from the David Bowie/Deram Anthology years (pre-Space Oddity; an era that Bowie would mostly have his fans forget - some Bowie covers entirely cut from the film were also included on said CD including the ITunes only "Space Oddity" bonus track).
David Bowie - "When I Live My Dream"
Seu - Jorge - "When I Live My Dream"
Seu Jorge - "Team Zissou"

Hey Intern, Get Me A Campari - Movie Music: Most of the notable songs from the film were used on the soundtrack minus Sigur Rós' "Starálfur" which was played at the film's climax when the crew encounters the Jaguar Shark that ate their beloved Esteban (Seymour Cassell). Personally, the Joan Baez/Ennio Morricone track "Here's To You" (originally from the 1971 film "Sacco e Vanzetti") and the use of Scott Walker's "30th Century Man" are our favorite musical moments in the film.
Scott Walker - "30th Century Man"
Joan Baez & Ennio Morricone - "Here's To You"
Seu Jorge - "Space Oddity"
Sigur Rós - "Starálfur"
Watch: Original Trailer
Mark Mothersbaugh- "Let Me Tell You About My Boat"
Mark Mothersbaugh - "Scrapping and Yelling"

Floatsam & Jetsam Miscellaneousness Classical Influences: For "Rushmore" Anderson and Mothersbaugh looked to Vivaldi, For 'Royal T's' it was French Impressionism and Ravel and for 'Aquatic' it was Bach.

The Rushmore connection: Noah Taylor's character in "Flirting," an early '90s Australian film with him and Nicole Kidman, was originally the type of character that Wes Anderson wanted "Rushmore's" Max Fischer to be like - lithe and pasty white. They rethought the character when they met the shorter and slightly bulkier Jason Schwartzman. The wrestling referee in "Rushmore's name is Wally Wolodorksy, Taylor's character's last name in 'Aquatic' is also Wolodorsky.

Val and Ron Taylor, the married duo behind the "Inner Space" series, were the world's leading shark observers and were used extensively by Steven Spielberg for "Jaws."

Trailers: Aside from "Bottle Rocket" - where Wes was still finding his cinematic voice - all Anderson trailers thus far used music from the film whence it came, but the 'Life Aquatic' trailer jumped this tradition using New Order's "Ceremony" (also used in "Marie Antoinette," watch scene here) and Bowie's "Starman" (which is only in the film via Seu Jorge's acoustic version). The film also didn't use any Rolling Stones songs, so maybe breaking (some of) the Anderson rules and conventions was part of the idea (though let's face it, not many were broken here).
New Order - "Ceremony"

Steely Dan: Though Steely Dan had ironically not produced any recent work of discernible quality, it did not stop them from writing their "open letter to Wes Anderson," admonishing him for what they perceived to be his successive dip in quality since "Bottle Rocket." (The complaint was written around the time "The Darjeeling Limited" was first announced) The letter was generally observed as nothing more then a desperate attempt at attention.

Fat Lies: Entertainment Weekly reported that a boxset of Anderson's soundtracks were to be released around the same time the 'Life Aquatic' DVD was released, but this obviously never happened.

The Final Word: "[Wes] is the mastermind behind the song choice of his films. He takes such care that, I think that's why he soundtracks get such a critical response," Mothersbaugh said.

*Further pieces of trivia and references that we researched are here.

Deerhunter Cries, Rob Zombie Thinks His Audience Sucks, Chris Martin Kills Kanye West, Thurston Moore Keeps It Real; Lou Reed Tai Chi-s It Up

"I was just wondering if maybe youcould give us some quick EMERGENCY lessons on our instruments before our set sunday. we are kind of nervous... you know L.A. = big city = could be our big break." - Skelatal Deerhunter singer Bradford Cox responds to one blogger who randomly disses one of their shows. Full email exchange is posted on said blogger's site, making Cox look like a total choady whiner. Waaaambulance is called. [Passion of the Weiss]

"That’s just Internet nonsense from people who don’t have any idea of how things work." - Rob Zombie denies that Dimension Films made him reshoot scenes for his "Halloween" remake and that he reshot on his own accord. Also, we kind of love it that Zombie (nee Robert Cummings) has as much contempt for his audience as we do. [TONY]

Does Chris Martin ruin everything he touches? First it was Gwyneth Paltrow, then it was Jay-Z and now it's Kanye West. 'Ye's record has leaked and the C. Martin track suuuuucks. [NYMag]

Worst Lyrics of the Month: “I told Jay I did a song with coldplay/next thing I know he got a song with Coldplay, back of mind I’m like, damn, no way." - Kanye West's blows minds with this amazing rhyming couplet on the song, "Big Brother," where he reminds the world that he got there first with the amazing Coldplay-meets-rappers idea.

"I don't care if it's Dunkin' Donuts, those guys are selling CDs." Sonic Youth's doesn't have a problem selling CDs through Starbucks. Frankly, it's your problem. [SPIN]

"Everybody does something, some people race cars, others collect stamps, I find tai chi to be philosophically, aesthetically, physically and spiritually fascinating. I was told in my fast form there are four emotions you express. I found that a fascinating concept to have."- Lou Reed, the same guy that started the Velvet Underground and released the unlistenable Metal Machine Music (and falls asleep during every movie or NY event he attends) extols the virtues of Tai Chi. [Kung-Fu Magazine]

Apparently Owen Wilson was on anti-depressants and wasn't on drugs when he tried to kill himself. You all noted that Eli Cash was a meth addict, right? AMIRITE? [Fox]

Dave Navarro Does Porn, Silverchair Dude Does Van Dyke Parks Soundtrack; More

Ne plus ultra L.A. douchebag Dave Navarro is getting into the world of filmmaking, err porn-making. No huge suprise here as Navarro's basically dates porn stars exclusively. "Broken" will be his porn directorial debut, mom and dad must be proud. "I've have always had an interest in film making and the visual arts, so when Teravision approached me about directing a film, it felt like a natural partnership, Navarro said. "I have missed the sense of danger and edge in the music business for many years and working on this project reminded me a lot of the old days when we were just a bunch of kids in Hollywood playing the clubs, getting our hands dirty and raising some eyebrows along the way."

Maybe now that he's broken up with Carmen Electra and back to his sleazy ways, maybe his tawdry, mid-late '90s I hung out with Marilyn Manson, blew him and did lots of heroin tell-all book, Don't Try This At Home, will finally come out in it's full unedited-glory (it apparently became grossly censored after Navarro got all romantic with Electra). [Gigwise]

Silverchair post-grunge casualty and hasbeen Daniel Johns is writing a second Dissociatives album (who? nobody cares) but he's also working on other projects. Apparently there's a potential movie soundtrack he's working on with legendary producer Van Dyke Parks on the table. What film? The Aussie chazzwobbler news doesn't say, but it may prove that Dyke Parks is now officially senile. [Aussie Herald Sun]

The Bob Dylan documentary, "The Other Side of the Mirror -- Dylan at Newport," - which is premiering at the upcoming New York Film Festival, will be shown on the BBC on October 14 and then get a proper DVD release by Sony who is making October-November a veritable "Bob Dylan Months" - "I'm Not There" is released, a 3 disc cash-grab superfluous Dylan boxset is being released and the aforementioned DVD will likely impact consumers around this targeted market schedule (tentatively Nov 2). [Variety]

The Morgan Spurlock produced teaching mockumentary "Chalk" comes out on DVD September 25. It's soundtrack is filled with indie-pop including bands like Sufjan Stevens and Aberfeldy. [Washington City Paper]

The "Resident Evil: Extinction" soundtrack is coming out September 18 and features equally moronic and extreme tracks by Shadowsfall, Rammstein offshoot Emigrate, and Flyleaf among other ghoulishly metal offerings. Have at it. [Myspace]

Steve Coogan Blamed For Owen Wilson's Problems; Media Speculates Wildly

You gotta love the blame game. Courtney Love (of all people) is claiming that British comedian Steven Coogan (of 'Alan Partridge,' "24 Hour Party People" fame) is at fault for Owen Wilson's alledged drug problems and suicide attempt.

According to the Daily Mail, Love (who had an affair with Coogan 3 years ago) said, Under normal circumstances I would not comment but I care too much about Owen. I went through it with Steve. I was just out of rehab and he was right there with the drugs."

"I tried to warn Owen. I tried to warn his friends. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Owen stays the hell away from that guy," Love said. The Mail also reported that Wilson's ex gf, Kate Hudson had banned Coogan and him from hanging out (all the reports claim Wilson had a heroin and coke problemo).

Coogan for his part is now threatening Love with legal action. “These accusations are unfounded, unhelpful and hurtful to all concerned," Coogan told Extra. "We are taking legal advice.”

Meanwhile, the media kept asking questions. Was this alleged suicide attempt the end of Wilson's career? Experts debated this question for less than 24 hours and then decide, hey, guess what? His career will be, ok! (Gee, thanks for that media) USA Today asked, was he a class clown or gasp!, a lost soul? Then all his future projects came into grave, pensive doubt.

Then Wilson dropped out of "Tropic Thunder" a Ben Stiller directed film that was to co-star Steven Coogan.

The worst, most crass and base part of it all is shlocksters like USA Today, US and Extra that are looking at past and future films to find "clues" in Wilson's "cries for help" (and generally looking at Wes Anderson films) They note that there was a suicide scene in "The Royal Tenebaums" (and he co-wrote this movie! the horror!) and that his character in the upcoming "The Darjeeling Limited" suffers a motorcycle accident head wound that may or may not have been a suicide attempt.

It's all just really exasperatingly stupid. This is probably not the right time to put a link up for "Needle In The Hay," right? (oh wait, some other idjit did that).

I'm Looking Through You: The Missing Music Of Wes Anderson - The Royal Tenenbaums

Our features on the music of Wes Anderson - and the music that doesn't appear on the soundtrack CD's - continues with 2001's "The Royal Tenenbaums" (Earlier this week we looked at "Bottle Rocket" and "Rushmore")

"I Always Wanted To Be A Tenenbaum" -Liner Notes: The music supervisor Randall Poster calls Mark Mothersbaugh's [French Impressionism-inspired] score, "charmed, magical and sort of innocent." Of Mothersbaugh's Mutato Muzika L.A. operation, Wes Anderson said, "Mutato Muzika - which I think is Esperanto - provides a very stimulating creative atmosphere. Mark works in a large, round fluorescent green building on Sunset Blvd which strongly resembles a flying saucer."

111 Archer Avenue - The Movie Music: "The movie was always meant to be a New York movie," Anderson said in the DVDs commentary track. "But somewhere along the way, like many of my films, it became a fable." Which might be the reason the classic rock in the movie skews towards NY bands like the Velvet Underground and Nico, the Ramones and Paul Simon. There's a lot of classic movie music moments that have discussed at length - Margot's (Gwyneth Paltrow) entrance to Ritchie (Luke Wilson) to Nico's "These Days" (which was planned out years before it was shot); the file on Margot's past romantic dalliances to the Ramones; Ritchie's now-prescient (and now ironic) suicide attempt to Elliott Smith and Royal's (Gene Hackman) rabble-rousing with his grandsons to Paul Simon - so there's no real point in recounting them here. "Often, as music inspires ideas in the script, the music can also suggest the tenor of the movie in a way," Anderson said of Nico's "These Days."

You Heard Me, Coltrane - Early Days: There's a lot of interesting things to note about the music of 'The Royal T's.' For one there was earlier versions of the film that used different music. We were personally lucky enough to be there for a very early screening of the film in L.A. in 2000 to witness it ourselves. The opening of the film originally used the real version of the Beatles' "Hey Jude" (not the Mark Mothersbaugh Mutato version seen in the film and re-released on the Collector's Edition soundtrack released in 2002) and the end was originally scored to their Rubber Soul track, "I'm Looking Through You" (instead of Van Morrison's "Everyone" which is what was eventually used).'
The Mutato Muzika Orchestra - "Hey Jude"
The Beatles "I'm Looking Through You"
The Beatles "Hey Jude"
Van Morrison - "Everyone"

Even Anderson, who convinced the Rolling Stones to loosen their soundtrack licensing grip couldn't convince Yoko Ono to loosen hers (and he put out a personal plea to her himself - the specific article we're thinking about seems to have disappeared, but many references to his Beatles plight and dream to bookend the film with two of their songs lies here). George Harrison's illness at the time before his death also apparently didn't help either. Elliott Smith was approached by Anderson at one point, presumably last minute, to fill in and record a "Hey Jude" cover, but allegedly Smith's drugs and depression got in the way of a quick turnaround. "He was in a bad state and just wasn't able to,'' Anderson told EW in 2004. Nevertheless he managed to put some Elliott in the film (the aforementioned prescient "Needle In the Hay").

Oh Yoko - The Missing Music: Yoko wasn't completely unkind though, she had let Wes use John Lennon's "Oh Yoko" in "Rushmore" (a now iconic movie music moment) and his Plastic Ono track "Look At Me," which was briefly used in the movie when Chas Tenenbaum (Ben Stiller) was putting his children Uzi and Ari to bed on their first night staying at the 111 Archer Avenue home of his mother. Anderson seems to favor lesser-known versions of songs we all know - both "I'm Looking Through You" and "Look At Me," are not the album versions, instead the former comes from the Beatles Anthology 2 album and the latter is a demo version from the John Lennon Anthology collection.

"That's 72 Unforced Errors For Richie Tenebaum" - More Music Trivia: Another version of the film's finale used the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B." The previously mentioned "Everyone," the two Rolling Stones tracks, "She Smiled Sweetly," "Ruby Tuesday," the Mark Mothersbaugh "Hey Jude" instrumental cover and Bob Dylan's "Billy - Main Title Theme" from his "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid" score were also not licensed for the original soundtrack CD.
Beach Boys - "Sloop John B"
Rolling Stones - "She Smiled Sweetly"
Rolling Stones - "Ruby Tuesday"

Get Him To Stick Them In A Fucking Cage - Extra Trivia Credit: Chas's Dalmatian mice in the film were made with a black sharpie. "I don't know if we should say; I'm not sure that's legal," Anderson said in the commentary track.

I Know You Asshole! - More Extra Credit: Jason Schwartzman was intended to be in the film. In the original script there was a quiet, child prodigy that sipped on chocolate milk and wore a white suit named Mordecai that was supposed to live next door to the Tenebaums (not unlike Eli Cash). Anderson eventually realized he had too many characters in the plot and had to drop one. He gave a nod to the character by naming Luke Wilson's hawk, "Mordecai." "He got cut... [Schwartzman] was going to play Mordecai. He was the son of a diplomat and had escaped from his school, "Anderson revealed during the "Darjeeling Limited" press tour.

He Has The Cancer - The Music And Where It's Used (Commentary):
- Dylan's "Billy - Main Theme" is played when Royal is disgraced in front of his whole family by Henry Sherman (Danny Glover) who reveals that the patriarch's stomach cancer is a total fabrication. The song was originally supposed to be used at the end of "Bottle Rocket." "We couldn't get the studios to spring for it, but we finally got it in this one," Anderson said in the commentary.
- "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi. "I always try and use a little bit of Charlie Brown music," Anderson said
- The ubiquitous drum solos for comedy: "We often have drum solos in these movies, [in "Bottle Rocket"] it was an Art Blakey solo that we had to reproduce with Mark Mothersbaugh" (So far there's been a drum solo in every movie outside of 'Life Aquatic').
- The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" plays during Eli Cash's (Owen Wilson) drug intervention and "Police & Thieves" plays during an ealier drug pickup: "The Clash seems to play often when Eli appears," Anderson noted.
- Erik Satie plays when Ritchie first comes to visit Eli and he's high on a mescaline binge.
- Jason Schwartzman introduced Wes to Emmit Rhodes. He felt he sounded like Paul McCartney (which he does) and thought it might fit the film (Wes used Rhodes' "Lullaby" from the self-titled 1970 album).
- Nick Drake's "Fly" wasn't originally intended for use in the film, but when Wes heard it while reviewing dailies (they would play music on set to inspire them) he incorporated it in the same post-suicide attempt scene he was watching.

A promo CD for Oscar consideration that contained all 18 tracks of Mothersbaugh's original score was released in 2001, but isn't widely available even on file-sharing networks (though it's not completely unattainable either - we scored a copy.)

John Lennon - "Look At Me"
Bob Dylan - "Main Title Theme (Billy)"
Erik Satie - "Gymnopedia #1"
Watch: Original Trailer

Flashback: "The Neverending Story" Video By Limahl

In this disposable, hustle n' bustle world of the interweb, sometimes you just need to slow down, watch a Limahl (ex-Kajagoogoo singer, Christopher Hamill) video, put your feet up and enjoy the sheer genius. If this doesn't make you cry, you have no heart.

Rob Zombie's "Halloween" Leaks Online; Director Shrugs

A early an unfinished workprint of Robert Zombie's "Halloween" remake (sorry, reimagination) has leaked online and webizens are already downloading, reviewing it and moving on to the next free ride, but Zombie - a man of dubious taste, but consistenly excellent outlook - is taking it all in stride.

"I mean, it’s just the way things are," Zombie told Vulture without a trace of peevery. "It’s a world of thievery," he shugged.

Zombie told Time Out New York, that his film was basically a brand new deal. "Mine is essentially a retelling with so much new backstory that it becomes a whole other movie," he said.

While Zombie's gore, metal and freakzine aesthetics are usually in question, his soundtracks are usually pretty decent ("The Devil's Rejects" soundtrack featured a bunch of excellent Terry Reid tracks plus Three Dog Night and Kitty Wells songs). A little late to the party, we forgot to mention the "Halloween" soundtrack which came out last Tuesday.

It's tasteful mix of classic '70s rock tracks includes cuts by Rush, Kiss, Iggy Pop, Blue Oyster Cult, Nazareth, Bachman-Turner Overdrive (not to mention a typically ghoulish Misfits track, and two original Halloween cues from lauded horror composter Tyler Bates). Wait. What, no Black Sabbath, no Uriah Heep?

Halloween Tracklist
1. 'These Are the Eyes'
2. Halloween 2007 - Tyler Bates
3. 'Is the Boogieman Real?'
4. (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
5. 'Are You Saying Michael Did This?'
6. Love Hurts - Nazareth
7. 'I Hope She Likes Cripples'
8. Baby, I Love Your Way (Live) - Peter Frampton
9. 'A Taco Deluxe Supreme'
10. Tom Sawyer - Rush
11. 'Driven By Pure Animal Instinct'
12. Let It Ride - Bachman-Turner Overdrive
13. 'Trick Or Treat, Baby'
14. God Of Thunder - Kiss
15. 'Satan's Mother'
16. 1969 - Iggy Pop
17. 'Talking About the Anti-Christ'
18. Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper
19. 'Needs To Get Laid'
20. Halloween II - The Misfits
21. 'Was That the Boogieman?'
22. The Shape That Stalks Laurie - Tyler Bates
23. 'The Scream'
24. Mr. Sandman - Nan Vernon

Watch: Rush - "Tom Sawyer"
Download: Kiss - "Strutter"
Download: Blue Oyster Cult - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"

Update: Maybe the reason Rob Zombie is shrugging all this off is that he's already signed a two-picture deal with Dimension films. Zombie's next directorial effort is the upcoming animated pic "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto," that features Paul Giamatti as the lead voice.

Christian Bale Talks "I'm Not There"

Promoting his upcoming film, "3:10 To Yuma," Christian Bale talked to New York magazine about his role as Bob Dylan (twice) in the Todd Haynes directed impressionistic-biopic, "I'm Not There."

'Yuma' doesn't look that interesting so expect a lot of journalists to try and get away with as many "I"m Not There" questions as possible without pissing off Russell Crowe.

As we noted before, Bale plays Dylan twice in the movie, or as he puts it, "two incarnations of Bob Dylan," embodying him as the sixties political messiaht and eighties born-again evangelist. Todd Haynes called Bale’s two roles as “two halves of that essentially morally determined Bob Dylan.” Bale told NY mag that they were, “two men on a real quest for truth.”

The abstract portrayal of six people playing Bob Dylan will surely polarize some fans, but it's the riskiness of the role and Dylan's own artistic defiance's that drew Bale in. “There’s definitely an attraction to seeing somebody putting themselves on a target range—and targeting their audience at the same time,” he said of Dylan. “He was creating a battlefront.”

Bale says he’s filmed a scene in which Dylan is “given an award for being the mouthpiece of his generation—and he stands up there and says a big fuck-you, very poetically.” He admires that kind of stance. “Since I was a kid, I’ve always had this image of Jimi Hendrix playing his guitar so much that his fingers are bleeding—and there’s probably no truth to it, but it doesn’t matter. I just remember thinking what a great image, somebody loving something so much they don’t even feel the pain.”

I'm Looking Through You: The Missing Music Of Wes Anderson - Rushmore

Our features on the music of Wes Anderson - and the music that doesn't appear on the soundtrack CD - continues with 1998's "Rushmore" (Yesterday we looked at "Bottle Rocket").

Rushmore
Liner Notes: As you've likely read a trillion times by now Wes Anderson originally wanted to score Rushmore entirely to songs by the Kinks, but instead scored the film to a variety of British Invasion tunes including Unit 4+2, Chad & Jeremy, Creation, the Faces, plus early Rolling Stones and the Who. "I thought this made sense because the Kinks played loud, angry teenage rock and they wore blazers and ties; and our movie is about a teenager who is loud and angry and is almost never seen without a blazer and tie" Anderson wrote in the soundtrack CD liner notes.

Owen Wilson (the co-writer) and Anderson made mixtapes called "School Movie Music" which they wrote to and also played on set during the scenes they would be used in. Lots of these wonderful songs and their unique and almost magical use, have cemented Anderson's position as the master of the musical montage (think Creation's "Making Time" to Max Fischer's (Jason Schwartman) extra-curricular activities showcase; Unit 4+2's bouncy "Concrete & Clay" accompanying the petition to make Latin a required course for grades seven through twelve; Chad & Jeremy's wistful "A Summer Song,"to Max's aquarium research and Lennon's celebratory "Oh Yoko" as the theme to Fisherand Mr. Blume (Bill Murray) reconciling their differences and exercising in hopes of winning back Ms. Cross (Olivia Williams).

“When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself." ~Jacques-Yves Cousteau (foreshadowing his love for the oceanographer in 'Life Aquatic,' Anderson has this Cousteau quote scribbled in his book, "Diving for Sunken Treasure," which first leads Max to Ms. Cross in "Rushmore")

"I'll Take Punctuality" - The Meticulous Planning:
Before filming even began Wes Anderson had the entire soundtrack mapped out. According to Jason Schwartzman's DVD commentary track, he handed the actor a tape with every song that would be used in the film. "He had every scene that [the song] was used for. It just put it together in such a clear way for me, I just really relate to the music and it really hit me, and i just knew how I was gonna [play] it." For the Who song, "A Quick One While He's Away," the scene where Blume and Max enact their revenge on one another was designed around the song. "We actually figured out the way we would edit the song before we shot the scene so we could time it out," Anderson said.

Sic Tranist Gloria - Extra Credit: The versions of The Who's "A Quick One" in Rushmore: the version used in the film is the live version from The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus TV show/soundtrack, whereas the version licensed to London Records for the Rushmore CD is from The Who's Live At Leeds album.

Extra Extra I Saved Latin Credit: Owen Wilson co-wrote the film, but doesn't appear in it, right? Wrong. Wilson is credited as Ms. Cross' deceased husband Edward Appleby and in the scene where Max is faking a headwound in her bedroom, you can see Wilson as Appleby in a black and white photo standing on a horse (the hard to see photos around the room are shots of Wilson in his youth).

"What Do You Call Getting A Handjob In The Back of A Jaguar? - Miscellaneous: Soundtrack supervisor Randy Poster played the Faces' "Ooh Lah Lah" to Anderson over the phone and Wes immediately knew that the song would end the film. It had the "the right sadnes, the right wistfulness," Anderson said. Wes Anderson and Mark Mothersbaugh looked to Vivaldi compositions to inspire the uptempo and spritely score they were attempting to create. By the way, there are eight explicit references to "handjobs" in the film. Well done Wes and Owen.

"Best Play Ever, Man" - The Missing Music: There's many a great, blink and you'll miss them song in the film that weren't included on the soundtrack. Paul Desmond's "Take Ten" (a nod to Dave Brubeck's similar-sounding "Take Five") plays when Max first visits his barbershop dad (Seymour Cassell) and has him sign his failed geometry test; Django Reinhardt's "Manoir de Mes Reves" is heard during the wrap-party for the Max Fisher players Vietnam-spectacle "Heaven and Hell," and Donovan's "Jersey Thursday" is the song heard after Max discovers Blume and Ms. Cross' 2 a.m. affairs and then in frustrated anger lashes out and burns leaves outside Dr. Guggenheim's office. All these tracks were absent on the CD and only briefly used in the film. The Rolling Stones' "I Am Waiting" is played after Mr. Blume tells Max that Ms. Cross is "his Rushmore," and thus begins Max's autumnal brown and depressing dark period when he drops out of school and gives up hope (this track was also absent on the CD).

Watch: Original Rushmore Trailer
Paul Desmond - "Take Ten"
Donovan - "Jersey Thursday"
The Rolling Stones - "I Am Waiting" (Abcko are a little scary, sorry)
Django Reinhardt - "Manoir de Mes Reves"
The Who - "A Quick One While He's Away" (Rock and Roll Circus version)