Darren Aronofsky's 'The Wrestler' To Open Up TIFF '08

Goddamn it, Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" is opening up the Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, but we don't get there until Sept 8. Man, it better play again. We've already seen "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" (more on that in another post; or see our Twitter review), so we've checked off one of the major TIFF films off our list, but we're extremely curious how this film is going to turn out cause it really seems like a bit of a left turn for him.

As we reported last week, Clint Mansell is doing the score to the film again. Apparently Slash from GNR/Velvet Revolver had something to do with it too. We're tired. The film stars Mickey Rourke as a washed-up, Rocky-like professional wrestler, Evan Rachel Wood and Marisa Tomei as a stripper.

Yes, The Original 'Inglorious Bastards' Does Suck

God, we worked like 14 thousand hours today. We're too fried for much, but Jeffrey Wells' pretty scathing review of the original "Inglorious Bastards" by Enzo G. Castellari in 1978 makes our similarly dismissive review feel all the more validated.

We really couldn't stand it; it was a cheap, bad B-movie without almost any redeeming value. We called it a typical unwanted step child of forgotten cinema that only someone like Quentin Tarantino - a patron saint of unforgettable trash cinema could love, but most reviews out there are pretty favorable. Wells, broke it down like he always does and reminded us we shoulda pulled off the kid gloves all the more.

"In less than 90 seconds I was faced with the inescapable fact that Quentin Tarantino's affection for '60s and '70s exploitation fare is essentially a con as far as people with actual taste in movies is concerned, and that 'The Inglorious Bastards' was and is a waste of time, celluloid and general expenditure."

We couldn't have said it better (though we did basically say as much).

George Lucas's Next Project, 'Mutt Williams And The Search For Elvis'?

While at the Cannes Film Festival in May, George Lucas had answered questions on the fate of the Indy series by assuring MTV news that he was going to work towards another installment that didn't necessarily center around Indiana Jones. But just this week, he recanted this statement while admitting to MTV news that idea was pretty retarded, and in his words it kind of "Nuked the Fridge."

"Indiana Jones is Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones," Lucas said, conceding that he can only take his franchises so far before people stop watching. While dismissing rumors about the Shia LaBeouf/ Mutt Williams spin off, he may have let on to his newest project. "If it was Mutt Williams it would be 'Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis' or something."

George, been thinking about that one much?

He also went on to state that despite the "Crystal Skulls" backlash he is planning an "Indiana Jones V." "We are looking for something for him to go after," Lucas said. "They are very hard to find. It's like archeology. It takes a huge amount of research to come up with something that will fit." Hmm, sounds to us like LaBeouf better clear his schedule and get ready for searching for a fat Elvis in Vegas jumper.

'Battle In Seattle' Trailer Released

The trailer for "Battle in Seattle" has been released online; the feature played at the SXSW Film Festival back in March to a good reception. It chronicles the riots that occurred during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle when Northwest Pacific hippies already miserable from the constant rain used the event as an excuse to go ape shit and turned the city asunder. It was written and directed by Stuart Townsend in his directorial debut.

The film has a fair amount of stars for an indie flick, including Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta, Charlize Theron, Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000 who dresses like a turtle cause he's an animal rights activist; they all came out of the wordwork on that day), Michelle Rodriguez and a host of other characters. The flick comes out on September 19th in a limited release.

Search For 'Quantum Of Solace' Theme Finally Done

After Amy Winehouse missed her chance to record the theme to the newest James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," the producers went knocking on the doors of some of the biggest names in music. But finally, after the long search, it looks like they have finally found it. Check it out below.

Martin Scorsese In Talks To Direct Terrence Winter Penned Pilot

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin Scorsese is in talks to direct the pilot to an original drama, "Boardwalk Empire" on HBO. The script was written by ex-"Sopranos" producer/writer Terrance Winter, and is based off Nelson Johnson's novel of the same name.

It does seem odd that a distinguished film director such as Scorsese would choose now to make a foray into TV direction, but then again, it is HBO, and many of their dramas have a certain cinematic quality to them, and it could serve as a nice break from the increasing commercial driven environment he has been making movies in lately. The drama is also right up Scorsese's alley, it is set in the 1920's and deals with the origins of the gambling mecca Atlantic City (and presumably the organized crime that went along with it).

Scorsese's latest film project, "Shutter Island," which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, is currently in post-production.

'Pineapple Express' Burnin' Up The Box-Office Already

Maybe the studios will really want a "Pineapple Express" sequel and unlike "Superbad" which they also wanted. Maybe Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will decide to write another one.

We honestly hope not, but regardless, David Gordon Green's directorial effort for the Judd Apatow crew is burning up the box-office already and it's not even Friday yet. It set the record for the best August Wednesday opening ever taking in 12.1 million from 3,072 theaters (honestly we didn't even know it was opening up two days early; this seems like a trend, see "Tropic Thunder" which is following that Wednesday model).

Meanwhile, CHUD, who we actually like, went out on an unfortunate limb, gave the movie a 9.2 rating and said James Franco should get an Oscar nomination. Umm, yeah, bloggers. It's fine, but god, it's not that good trust us.

Tarantino Gets More Bastards; Looks To Simon Pegg, Nastassja Kinksi & David Krumholtz To Fill Out Cast

Another day, another round of casting news for Quentin Tarantino's WWII epic "Inglorious Bastards." He wasn't kidding when he said he was casting this thing quick.

Here's what we have so far. Brad Pitt is now officially in as Lt. Aldo Raine which should at least salvage any scenes that has the American Basterd soldiers in it if the rest of the casting gets too out of hand (we really hope Pitt held out to say, "ok, sounds great, but who else is gonna be in this thing with me?"). As we said in our 'Bastards' casting suggestion piece, he's perfect for the role. B.J. Novak is probably to play one of the younger solider, Private First Class Utivitch. It also looks like Eli Roth will eventually play Sgt. Donny Donowitz, the fearsome "Bear Jew" who beats Nazi's to a pulp with a baseball bat. This seems likely. How do we know this? Cause QT like casting his friends: case in point, the newest names just announced according to Variety (none are locked in so far, but all are "in talks').

Simon Pegg, Eli Roth and Tarantino are all good buddies. And now Simon Pegg is being looked at for a role. Pegg is being eyed for the role of the buttoned-up and no-nonsense British lieutenant Lt. Archie Hicks (what's next giving Edgar Wright a role too? That would be like a Saturday night for those guys).

Also being looked at is German born actress Nastassja Kinski. Variety doesn't say which character they'd have her play, but the Hollywood Reporter says she'd play a German actress, which mean she'd be playing the part of Bridget Von Hammersmark. You'll recall we did sort of suggest her too (" There's always Nastassja Kinski too, but what the hell has she been up to in recent years?"), but then again, we took a wild stab at many women we thought could be right for the role ("There's many ways you can cast the role of Von Hammersmark"). Kinski is frankly an excellent choice.

Adding to his Bastards is the appropriately very-Jewish David Krumholtz who will play one of the Bastard soldiers in the script, but neither report say which one (at this point he'll likely play Pvt. Hirschberg, one of the last few memorable Bastards; the main soldiers in the script after Raine are Utivitch, Hirschberg and Donowitz).

Quentin may be a numbnut half the time, but he didn't want to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as a evil German Colonel and he doesn't want to have anything to do with Britney Spears, so at least he has some sense. And most of these casting choices we can live with and or they're just plain good. We later did say we thought the Bastards would be younger 25-30 after initially overshooting their ages (with some retrospect, we figured Michael Madsen wouldn't play a soldier and it looks like he won't; at least not a Bastard), so these younger guys make sense and fit.

Now we just hope our inside tip of Michael Bacall pans out. We also heard that Adam Goldberg auditioned, but we're not sure what happened with that. That would be a nice choice, but at this point, the leftover Bastards are a bit too small for him we think.

"It's The Fucking Catalina Wine Mixer!" Deleted Step Brothers Scene

Yet another deleted scene from "Step Brothers," and this one is very R-Rated. Rob Riggle's character gets a tad too excited while talking about the Catalina Wine Mixer and has a bit of a heart attack. But it's all part of the gig and aggressive marketing tactics. "You need big balls for this."

Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Top Secret' Largo Play Could Evidently Use Some Work

The Playlist had a man on the scene at last night's Largo show of Paul Thomas Anderson's new play. Here's the report:

Last night my friend and I went to go see the newest creative outing from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson: an untitled short collection of vignettes all starring SNL’s Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph as various couples or couples-to-be or couples-has-been. In the NY Mag review of sorts they went way too softball and described it something like going through PTA’s "Punch-Drunk Love" notebook of weirdos. 'PDL' being one of my all time favorite movies I grew more and more excited. Plus with Jon Brion doing the music this was sure to be a night of creative greatness.

I was very disappointed.

Let me help you get a very clear picture of what can happen with just actors reading dialogue and music in the background. About three years ago, I had the best theatre-going experience in my life with the Carter Burwell scored pair of sound plays Theatre for the New Ear. The first sound play written and directed by Francis Fregoli (a pseudonym for either the Coen brothers, Todd Haynes, David O. Russell, or most likely Charlie Kaufman) and was entitled “Anomalsia”. It was a wonderful Barton Fink-esque brainfuck about a self help writer (David Thewlis) who while on tour fell in love to the voice of a disfigured woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh). He then goes insane imagining everyone else to be in love with him/ conspiring against him all played with the same voice by Tom Noonan (who's in the upcoming, abstract Kaufman mindfuckery "Synecdoche, New York.". That’s a brief summary of course, its been three years but it was complicated, layered, haunting, and better then most recent films. Following that was the Charlie Kaufman written and directed “Hope Leaves the Theatre” which was a hysterically funny self-parody about a woman (Hope Davis) whose life is falling apart and has everything come out when her (very Jewish) mother (Meryl Streep) calls her while she’s in the middle of a play starring Streep and Peter Dinklage about being stuck in an elevator for all of eternity. The play-within-the-play was “Charlie Kaufman’s” last written work before he killed himself and Meryl Streep visously attacks Hope for interrupting their great ode and final homage to him. It had the entire theatre laughing on the floor.

I honestly expected something along the lines of that last night. Paul Thomas Anderson is just as talented of a writer and director as Charlie Kaufman and any of the supposed Fregolis. Why should I expect something less? I should of smelled trouble when buying the tickets and the enthusiastic manager of the Largo told me that he just got off the phone with who was finishing writing it. That was just two weeks ago or so. I really wish he spent more time on it because that’s all that these things needed. They all felt like under-developed jokes with an either lazy setup and a great punch line that was taking forever to get to or a clever idea that doesn’t ever go anywhere. Highlights included a married couple who had been arguing all night settling it with a good old-fashioned duel, one actor saying something and the other making a ridiculously annoyed face, a Brazilian guitarist hitting on a vacationing writer, and a “ghetto” guy used to going out with fat-bottomed girls falling in love with a skinny girl constantly telling her how ugly she is. The best one of the bunch was the only one that wasn’t a joke. Maya Rudolph read a short and sweet monologue as an old lady whose husband used to sell other people’s recordings of piano music as her own not because he wanted money but to make her happy and convince her that she was a better piano player than she was. It was incredibly sweet and heart felt. Unfourtunatly it was completely out of place, the audience expecting a joke just about laughed at every line (it seemed like they would laugh at about anything).

The low-points was just about every other sketch. The two performers made the most of the material and gave it all they could. In fact, I hope he uses them one day to the best of their abilities and ranges shown tonight with strong developed material. Jon Brion’s music was a lot like PTA’s writing. Full of some good ideas here and there (especially the part where he sang) but ultimately nothing to write home (or to the playlist) about.

If it takes another five years for Paul to write a great movie then I will gladly wait those five years. I loved that he felt inspired to do something different but he needs time to make his ideas into something of real substance. - Hayden Maxwell
(Jon Brion photo credit: David Greenwald for Rawking Refuses To Stop)

"There Might Be A Teen Choice Award In It For You": 3 Clips From 'Tropic Thunder'

Check out our p/review of "Tropic Thunder," we saw it early this week and while not perfect, we didn't really have high hopes, so we were pleasantly suprised (mostly). It wasn't fantastic, but it was fun and certainly not worth hating on.

The Guiless And Innocent 'Beautiful Losers' Is Genuinely Inspiring

Another movie coming out this weekend that we sadly didn't have the time to write much in advance about: the documentary, "Beautiful Losers," which was lovingly scored by sometimes Beastie Boy collaborator/keyboardist Money Mark, utilizing many songs from his very sweet, and childlike 1998 pop album, Push the Button, that fit the mood and tone rather winningly (Cat Power has a few songs in the doc as well).

Directed by Aaron Rose, the film features a loose-knit group of like minded underground outsiders artists and 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 and many more.

Rooted in the DIY (do-it-yourself) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from the "establishment" art world, this group, and the subcultures they sprang from, have now become a movement that has been transforming pop culture.

If you're feeling cynical, you're probably thinking they're all trustfund babies that refuse to grow up, but the documentary shows anything but, and depicts an idiosyncratic, but concurringly sensitive and thoughtful group of aesthete with a genuine desire to communicate and express themselves deeply and personally through their art. And all of them have charted their own paths in the face of most commercial concerns, but strangely enough the mainstream has always reached out to them.

Many of them almost sound wildly naive initially, but they're so committed; their creativity so unbridled they win over even the largest prick pessimist; particularly director Mike Mills who is so damn guileless and positive that he's completely inspiring, and well represents all the artists overall charm. It's great to see a group of people that would father fail spectacularly than not try at all. It's a genuinely solid documentary that you should make the effort to track down as its in limited release only so far. Big thumbs up. [A]

Trailer: Beautiful Losers"

'Pineapple Express 2' Could Mesh Apatow Worlds, Include 'Superbad' Gang?

If they made a "Pineapple Express 2" or a "Superbad 2" for that matter would we see a Judd Apatow world crossover? Probably not, but actors like to talk wacky ideas when they're bored on press junkets and James Franco did exactly that.

"Even before ‘Superbad’ came out, I think the studio was trying to get [Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg] to write a sequel, but they really didn’t want to write a sequel. I guess the kids would go to college or something like that [that was the studio's idea],” Franco told MTV News. “And so, an answer to that was to do a ‘Superbad’/'Pineapple Express’ crossover, an unprecedented crossover movie with two directors, Greg Motolla and David Gordon Green, each directing half of the movie and somehow these characters get together, which doesn’t make sense at all, but could work.”

How would this silly meta-ness work if it were to ever happen? “I could sell them [the characters from 'Superbad'] something, but I think we’d want some action, so you know, somehow the kids get in trouble somehow and we have to get them out of it,” Franco said. “And Seth plays characters in both movies, so somehow we’d have to kill one of them off.”

Yeah, it's fun to talk and it's a fun "idea", but remember guys, sequels are gateway drugs to totally shit careers.

Retarded Britney Spears/Tarantino 'Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!' Rumors Debunked.

Thank fucking god and, we told you so.

Those retarded reports in the British press that said Britney Spears would play a lesbian killer in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming remake of "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" have proven to be false (gee, really?? You wonder why we're always down on the U.K. press).

A representative for Spears denied the report telling Access Hollywood, ''Though she definitely intends to explore acting roles down the road, right now she’s concentrating on recording her next album.''

And a source close to Tarantino is quoted as saying, ''There is no truth to this.'' All's well that ends well. Those who don't normally pay attention can go back to the cheap seats.

More Casting News From 'Inglorious Basterds': 'The Office's BJ Novak Offered A Gig

Fresh off a terrible casting decision yesterday, Quentin Tarantino has decided to offer "The Office's" B.J. Novak an acting slot as PFC Utivich, in his upcoming film "Inglorious Basterds," according to the Hollywood Reporter. We assume Quentin is in the fuck-it stage of his career and just throwing out parts in his movie to people who he enjoys being around or made him laugh in the last few weeks.

Not that we have anything against Novak; he actually seems pretty decent for the part actually, but you'd think for one of the most anticipated movies of next year and for one of the most significant American roles in the movie, QT would want a razor sharp talent, not someone whose biggest acting credit to date is from "The Office." We can just hold out hope that he rights his wrongs by correctly casting the European parts. Seriously Quentin, don't fuck this up anymore than you already have.

Sexman Sporting Braces, Helena Bonham Carter Talks Role 'Terminator Salvation'; More...

Barry Levinson will direct "Train," an "L.A. Confidential"-like noir based on the novel by Pete Dexter. [Hollywood Reporter]

Everyone's inner-pre-pubescent film critic, Sexman has an announcement for all those haters out there, he's finally got Braces, fuckers! Great, now all he has to do is dig through the yellow pages for a voice coach and tanning salon and he will be on his way to filing in the vacant slot on Ebert and Roeper.[Filmdrunk.com]

Surprise, goth-Queen Helena Bonham Carter discussed her role in next years "Terminator Salvation," and guess what she isn't playing someone good. "I kind of play a baddie, definitely a baddie." [Cinematical.com]

As if the Captain America's sexuality wasn't ambiguous enough, producers on the up-coming film adaptation have reportedly pegged one of the oil laden men from American Gladiators to fill the role. [Slashfilm.com]

Brett Easton Ellis's ("American Psycho" "Less Than Zero") meta-filled universe continues to grow, the adaptation of his novel,"The Informers" about, you guessed it, excess and emptiness in 1980's LA, has released its first trailer. [Cinemablend.com]

Drunk off the success of "Mad Men," AMC is in talks to develop Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 classic "The Conversation" as a television series. That movie is fucking brilliant and one of our faves. Don't do it, you'll fuck it up. [Variety.com]

It is possible that due to injuries sustained in a car accident last week, actor Shia Lebeouf could be facing the possible amputation of one of his pinky fingers? That'll fuck up "Transformers 2" a little bit, no? Maybe the accident will force this kid from being such a jagoff already. [starmagazine.com]

The Toronto International Film Festival added 10 high-profile Spanish-language titles and 13 Asian pics recently including Jose Luis Cuerda's Spanish Civil War-era "Blind Sunflowers," starring Javier Camara ("Talk to Her") and Maribel Verdu ("Pan's Labyrinth"). [Variety] TIFF also has Phawat Panangkasiri's "In the Shadow of the Naga," and the Thai film is described as thus: "It's a commercial film, but it has monks that commit violence and use guns that they point at the heads of people." Ok! [Hollywood Reporter]

The Brief Cameo That Begat An Entire Film: Our Take 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'

By now we all should know: Brad Pitt's stoner in "True Romance" begat the idea for producer Judd Apatow who say the cameo performance and basically compelled him to say, "Now, I wanna see a movie about THAT guy!"

For The Playlist, watching the detours of minor characters has never resounded louder for us than the scene in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" where the two car garage attendants take off in Cameron's (Alan Ruck) father's Ferrari. A piece de resistance sequence of comedy if there ever was one, the joyous slow motion look of these two roustabouts as they take dad's wheels out for a joyride, is a constant sequence of amusement for us.

Ferris: Hi. Do you speak English?
Garage Attendant: Uh, what country do you think this is?
Even better is the casting of these two, the amazing Richard Edston from Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise" - no joke, he was Sonic Youth's original drummer - and Larry Flash Jenkins (he also had a bit, but memorable role in the inimitable "Fletch").

Baseball games take up an entire afternoon. Not only that, in 'Day Off' Ferris, Cameron and Sloane tool around Chicago, go out for lunch, watch an entire ballgame, watch and sing in a parade and then go pick up the dad's red hot wheels.

Could you imagine the kinds of shenannigans these could have got up to in that time? They could have done a whole movie about that eight-or-so hours and we've thought that ever since we were kids (which begat this whole post when we first heard why Apatow wanted to make "Pineapple Express"). Driving to see Jenkin's baby mama for a quickie? Picking up weed at a drug deal turned sour? Picking up little Leroy or Raoul from your ex's to take to your Ma's house for a strange, stoned, sitdown come to Jesus about the boys' adolescent antics? The possibilities of this script are endless. Both these two are a little old now, but man, in their prime? They were just Apatow-esque side character that were sorely undervalued and underused.

John Hughes where are you when we need you? BTW, we liked "Pineapple Express" (we saw it about two weeks ago), but we didn't love it, like we had hoped.

Isabel Coixet's 'Elegy' Illustrates Emancipated Manhood In Graceful, Emotional Disarray

It's kind of a shame we dinn't really have time to blog about "Elegy," starring Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz as May December lovers in much advance notice.

It's a beautiful film, gracefully handled, elegantly shot with tons of observant compassion. It's also noteworthy cause it's a male-centric Phillip Roth adaptation (which Roth ones aren't though), but it's directed by a woman; Spanish director Isabel Coixet (she did a vignette in "Paris Je T'aime"). As we said in our Twitter mini review, the films examination of fear, aging and loss was thoughtfully crafted and left us completely unraveled in moments. Patricia Clarkson, Deborah Harry and Dennis Hopper who's amazing as Kingsley tomcatting best friend. It's one of the best performances we've seen from him in a long time. Kingsley is amazing and riveting as usual and Penelope Cruz wasn't annoying for one second in the film (and JoBlo types should note, she's very naked in the film too). Someone told us afterwards, they thought the film was slow, but that's missing the point of its measured pace; perfectly apropos to the subject matter. We really loved this film and it made a lasting, personal impression. Go see it. It comes out this weekend (August 8) in presumably smaller, indie, art-house release. It has a very lovely and refined soundtrack too that includes tracks by Erik Satie, Chet Baker and French experimental electro-acoustic artist Colleen.

Get Some Booty Sweat; One 'Tropic Thunder' Viral Site Goes Down? One Pops Up

You can't keep a good and relentless meta-viral marketing campaign down apparently. The "Simple Jack" website might have been pulled because it offended the retarded and the disabled, but that won't stop "Tropic Thunder" promotions people to put up a site for Alpa Chino, the fake r&Bb rapper/actor, multi-financial stream conglomerate played by Brandon T. Jackson in the film (listen to Alpa Chino's "I Love The Pussy" song here).

Man, they are going all out for this shit, you can even buy the "Booty Sweaty" drank that Chino is constantly shilling in the film on Amazon.

We're not going to get into his whole bio, but suffice to say it's as involved as the bios for Jack Black/Jeff Portnoy, Robert Downey Jr./Kirk Lazurus, Ben Stiller/ Tugg "Tuggernaut" Speedman and Danny McBride/Cody Effects. Meanwhile, there's more viral clips over at "Rain of Madness," It's interesting to note, 'Thunder' co-writer Justin Theroux might play Jan Jürgen, the fake documentarian on that site, but aside from a very, very fast cameo onscreen as a soldier, you don't see Theroux in the film at all (our p/review is here).

This newest viral clips centers around a bootcamp session that features the eager actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), Steven Coogan (the director in the film) and a psychotic instructor and is pretty funny, and R-Rated; and "the shamless, self-promoting" Alpa Chino in an commercial for his energy drink which is also featured in the movie (the fake trailers in the movie are great). Sandusky also has a Myspace page.

Who Divorces Morgan Freeman After He Gets Busted Up In A Car Wreck?

Who divorces Morgan Freeman, period? Hell, we'd marry the guy, he rules. Freeman and his wife of 24 years, Myrna Colley-Lee are divorcing according to the Daily News. Were these proceedings happening before the accident? Is this why he crashed? Or was he up to no good and she was like, "out on the street!" All we know is the man with endless charm, wit and grace has had a tough fucking week.

Ang Lee's 'Gay Woodstock' Film Starts to Take Shape

Remember Ang Lee's "gay Woodstock" movie ("Taking Woodstock" that was reported a few months ago?

Well, it's starting to coalesce. Young (and very droll and excellent) comedian Demetri Martin ("The Daily Show With Jon Stewart") has already signed on to play an aspiring interior designer and Variety reports that the cast has been rounded out by Emile Hirsch, Liev Schrieber and Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter" movies among many British kitchen-sink dramas)

"In summer 1969, [Martin] finds himself at the center of a generation-defining experience when he volunteered the motel to be the home base for Woodstock concert organizers after his neighbor, Max Yasgur, made his farm available for the event."

Staunton and Henry Goodman will play Martin's parents, Hirsch play a Vietnam vet, Schreiber will likely tackle the role of a transvetite (!) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan from "Watchmen" (The Comedian) will play a closeted man who has an affair with the young Martin. Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan will play a hippie couple. Dan Fogler

Focus Features begins production next month.

Natalie Portman For David Gordon Green's 'Suspiria' Remake?

Yesterday we reported that David Gordon Green's John Grisham non-fiction adaptation had been put on indefinite hold. We made reference to his reported remake of horrormeister Dario Argento's "Suspiria" and today comes a rumor from Bloody Disgusting, that flaky horror site that's hit and miss with their reporting, that Natalie Portman's company is going to produce it and she is hoping to star. Considering all the other shitty casting ideas we've heard today, this one's not so bad.

The once lyrical and poetic Green is now becoming the master of all genres. He does cite the electic careers of Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater and Gus Van Sant as the model he'd like to follow. “I’m trying to channel as diverse a career as possible," he told the New York Times, this past weekend. " It’s good for me to switch gears. I don’t like the idea of someone looking at me funny when I say I want to do something. I like the idea of them saying, ‘That’s interesting.’ ”

Update: AICN is hearing this is not happening, or at least, not with Portman and hey, it surely wouldn't be the first time BloodyDisgusting was dead wrong (lol).
Scene: "Suspiria"

Diddy Says "Burger King Is Open Late"

Hey Prezbo, don't worry, Diddy said so. Genius. Dids really loves his BK apparently.

Jon Brion Scores Paul Thomas Anderson's Top Secret Play

Vulture had a reporter out last night at the Largo theater debut of Paul Thomas Anderson's "top secret" play starring his wife Maya Rudolph and SNL c0-star Fred Armisen.

PTA's longtime musical budy Jon Brion did the score for the 70 minute play and the packed house included Jack Black, Paul Dano, and Josh Radnor.

But what the hell was the play about? Well, according to Vulture, Rudolph and Armisen performed "a series of light and effortless vignettes" centered on different couples, all played by the duo that were co-written and directed by PTA (who else wrote them they didn't say). One centers on a guy and a girl whose only real connection is alcohol, another on a couple "getting to know each other over a complicated personality test" and a third pair on a first date.

"The vignettes, in fact, feel like sneaking a peek at P.T. Anderson's 'Punch-Drunk Love' notepad, exploring that movie's notion that there's someone for everyone, even though everyone is a little bit weird and fucked up."

And no title either. Is this a warm-up for something new or is PTA just finding a new way to be creative on the quick? Either way, we like to hear that Brion is working with Anderson again, not that we didn't adore his left-turn detour with Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead.

Britney Spears To Play Lesbian Killer In Tarantino's 'Faster Pussycat' Remake?

File under: the stupidest thing we've read today. Reports come from the U.K. (of course), that Britney Spears is going to play a lesbian killer in Quentin Tarantino's "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill" remake. First off that idea is nothing more than a twinkle in QT's eye and casting? Fat chance, he's waist deep in "Inglorious Bastards." He hasn't even cast the thing yet.

This sounds like specious bullshit report, and we can't even believe we're giving this even the time of day, but what sucks about being a blogger or a reporter even is that you want to stay on top of stuff in the off chance it actually happens. We'll eat our shoe Werner Herzog if this happens anytime in the next three years; that project, even if it happens, is so far off the radar right now. Ugh, stupid, stupid. Then again, we could see QT giggling to himself that this would be a fun, ironic idea, but he does love casting terrible people in good roles (see Eli Roth for 'Bastards').

As Spoutblog wisely notes, Tarantino has never even confirmed Liz Smith's original gossip report whence all the 'Pussycats' remake noise came from and does point out another gossipy Page 6 report about the film that includes porn actresses.

David Wain's 'Role Models' Gets A Trailer

Pictures released yesterday, trailer today. Looks like this movie is moving full steam ahead, good good. David Wain’s upcoming film for Universal Pictures, "Role Models" (formerly known as “Little Big Men”) stars "Wet Hot American Summer" alumni Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks, plus Seann William Scott and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka McLovin). The comedy centers on two energy drink reps (Rudd and Scott) forced to enroll in a community service program where they mentor two young boys, is due later this year on November 14. Peter Salet ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") is composing the score.

Eli Roth To Play The 'Bear Jew' In Tarantino's 'Inglorious Bastards'

Oh no, terrible news. It happened or looks like it's happening. Eli Roth is in talks to play the part of Sgt. Donny Donowitz, aka "The Bear Jew" in Quentin Taratino's WWII epic "Inglorious Bastards."

It's terrible news two-fold. One we knew about this, or at least the fact that QT was hoping to cast Roth and eluded to it in an earlier post and of course we held our tongues. Secondly, Roth can't act and has only ever had a few small roles (a small part in Taratino's half of "Grinhouse") and the Donowitz character does need some acting skills, not a lot, but why would you entrust someone who's not a regular actor?

Cause Tarantino likes casting his friends ugh. Fuck it, might as well spill what else we have. Apparently QT wants to cast actor Michael Bacall as one of the Basterd soliders as well. Bacall also had a small part acting alongside Roth in Tarantino's "Death Proof," and is also a writer who's penning "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World."

The BEST line of the Variety story:

"Tarantino had planned to meet with Leonardo DiCaprio for the role of SS Col. Hans Landa, only to decide that the role should be played by a German actor."

Yes, we love it! Tarantino is expected to formalize the rest of the cast shortly. Look for announcements soon, including Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine.

'Tropic Thunder's Hollywood, War-Epic Send-Up Is Actually (Mostly) Pretty Funny

Expectations are a bitch, but they work in reverse when you have none. We saw "Tropic Thunder" last night and anyone who's read the Playlist in the last few months knows we weren't exactly keen on the comedy delivered in the various trailers, but Ben Stiller's Vietnam comedy and ambitious War epic/ Hollywood send-up was rather clever in spots and contained many more surprising delights than we expected. We didn't quite laugh as much as we'd hoped, but then again, overall, the film was much better than we expected.

We don't have time for a real review at the moments, so a quick preview and highlights. Minor spoilers ahead, so beware, but we never give too much away we don't think.
- Stiller didn't annoy us nearly as much as we thought he would.
- Robert Downey Jr.'s blackface minstrel act is neither brilliant or annoying. In a few spots its rather funny, but it's nowhere as outrageous as we'd hope. There's a palpable sense that this whole routine is dialed back a little and the movie suffers for it. There's even a vague apology scene for it with the other real black actor Brandon T. Jackson.
- We mostly detest Jack Black, but he's pretty great in this. His character is going through drug withdrawal throughout, so his performance is rather serious. The laugh out loud funniest moment in the film comes from his Jeff Portnoy character begging to be untied so he can get some drugs and the sexual favors he offers are gross and hysterical.
- Tom Cruise and Matthew Mcconaughey's roles in the film are much bigger than we expected. Both of them are brilliant (yes, even Mac) and Cruise is particularly sublime as a hairy, belligerent studio exec. People will be talking about this performance/send-up for months. It's his best role since T.J Mackey in "Magnolia" and just as memorable. Mac's self-aware jackass routine is rather awesome and there's no way Owen Wilson playing Owen Wilson (he was originally supposed to star in the role of Stiller's L.A. douche agent) could have been more entertaining.
- It's all the side actors in the film that are the real treat. Jay Baruchel does a winning job as well, but that sort of shows the deficiencies in Stiller and RDJ.
- Danny McBride is once again hilarious. His improv lines are a delight.
- 'Thunder' did cost a shitload. Lucky for the producers most of it is on the screen. The big action sequence that opens the film is rather impressive; the flick is a lot more bloody and action oriented than one would think.
- The trailers in the film that set up the backstory for Tugg Speedman (Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) and Kirk Lazurus (Robert Downey Jr.) are pretty clever and at times hilarious. Portnoy's "Fatties 2" is a riot of stupidity and Lazurus' gay-religious monk tale, "Satan's Alley," cameoing "MTV Best Kiss Winner" Tobey Maguire is deliciously humorous. Each one of their trailers has some ridiculous song attached. "Fatties 2" employs MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This," and "Satan's Alley," uses Enigma's stupid Gregorian trip-hop song, "Sadeness, Pt. 1."
- There's a scene in the end at the Academy Awards that has a shit-load of funny-ass super-brief cameos. Look for Sean Penn, Tom Hanks, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Jon Voight, Lance Bass, Alicia Silverstone and more, but they're blink-and-you'll-miss them appearances.

Overall, 'Thunder' is not the wacky and broad slapsticky kind of comedy we were fearing. That's a lot of positives for the film above, but it's not funny throughout the entire film and some parts are just kind of flat-out stupid or just unfazingly unfunny (read David Poland's review; he says some salient arguments against it, though maybe takes it too seriously at times as it's mostly harmless fun), but like we said, better than we expected. [B]

Somebody Get A Hold Of Adrian Greiner, Bardem Reportedly Off 'Killing Pablo'

Variety reported last year that the Spanish Academy Award winning actor, Javier Bardem would be starring in Joe Carnahan's "Killing Pablo." But when asked by ComingSoon.net how he was preparing for the role as the malicious Colombian druglord, the actor responded saying that his rumored involvement was "a mistake."

This news is a bit depressing for those of us who were looking forward to watching the talented actor take on the role of one of the most controversial men in recent memory. Bardem is still listed on movies IMDB webpage, but god knows that means jackshit. Even though we are all sad that Javier won't be tackling the role, at least it opens it up for Adrian Grenier, who looked ever convincing as Pablo Escobar, with his faux jowls and South American accent that was about as authentic as a Chili's in the fake movie, "Medellin" featured on the HBO show Entourage. God, we smell an Oscar.

Kevin Smith Wins Appeal With MPAA

Remember that film we talked about yesterday, by that guy Kevin Smith? Well, his most recent movie "Zach and Miri make a Porno" had recently received an NC-17 rating, much to the dismay of its star Seth Rogen. But Smith took up an appeal on the ruling, he came out victorious, and the movie will now be released as is with an R rating.

This is significant for Smith because with an NC-17 rating exhibition can be a problem and the film will never make any money, placing a giant stain on the directors bankability. Now all his fans, well if there are any left in the post-Apatow comedic world, will be free to rush out and catch this thing at the nearest multiplex on October 31st. We guess the score now stands MPPAA 499, directors 1.

David Gordon Green's John Grisham Adaptation Project 'The Innocent Man' Goes Into Limbo

Finally reading this weekend's NYTimes article about "Pineapple Express" director David Gordon Green. It follows the same old line everyone's towing basically: Why did an indie director go pop, into the mainstream, take on a comedy? etc. etc.

Green's pretty adamant and unrepentant about some of his bad taste in movies (he does love "Tango & Cash," and once told me he adored Michael Bay's "Bad Boys II" about 3-4 years ago much to my shock). “I was into some trash. It wasn’t even prestigious trash, like the taste that Tarantino has. I mean trash.”

However, one instance of hard news in the piece: Green's planned adaptation of John Grisham’s nonfiction book “The Innocent Man” has gone into limbo. After Warner Independent Pictures was shut down earlier this year in May the project seemed to get lost in the shuffle. If it's happening at all anymore remains to be seen, but maybe that's for the best considering all the number of projects on his plate in the last few years (not to mention all the Danny R. McBride projects that have popped up since). Hey, there's always the "Suspriria" remake, right?

Plus David Gordon Green doing John Grisham? Wouldn't that mean two-threee weeks before the film's release of: why??? questions posited about forty thousand times? It would be far too much. Three cheers for shut-down projects that save us from press regurgitation!