Wow: R-Rated 'Observe & Report' Trailer Is Pretty Filthy And Good!

Man, just when we thought we were getting tired of Seth Rogen and the whole related crew of funnypeople (Danny McBride, Jody Hill) involved in nu-raunch comedy comes along the pretty hilarious trailer for "Observe & Report." We must admit, we were taken aback from this thing, how filthy and Un-PC it was. It's for the best of course. The opening song is "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals and man Anna Faris is so damn fucking funny in it. The film hits April 10th and premieres about two weeks before at the SXSW Film Festival. Update: The other two songs are, in the beginning, "Over Under Sideways Down” by The Yardbirds (from the album Birdland) and later on, '70s British progressive jazz-rock band formed Patto's “The Man.”

90210 Star For 'New Moon'?

We (I) have no clue who AnnaLynne McCord, but apparently she's going to have a part in with the "Twilight" sequel, "New Moon."

Apparently if it happens the role will be small though. "It's not a big part," one of the sources tells E! "[The part] would be more like a cameo."

Evidently there's another "90210" cast member, Kellan Lutz, who's already part of the franchise. One day we'll watch the "Twilight" series and get informed with the whole thing.*

*Not a guarantee or a promise.

Scott Walker's '30 Century Man' Coming Back To Theaters Via Oscilloscope

What's up with Plexifilm ? We hear some weird rumblings, but we don't want to throw anyone under the bus, nor do we wish ill will.

Regardless, a film and DVD that was supposed to be coming out on Plexi in the spring, the excellent music documentary, "Scott Walker: 30 Century Man," is now apparently coming out on Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's Oscilloscope Films.

According to ScreenDaily, the company will "take over" the theatrical self-release that was orchestrated by the film's director Stephen Kijak and its producers and expand the run.

That's fantastic news. '30 Century Man' only played for one-week in December in New York and scattered dates in L.A. and SF, but it deserves much better than that as its one of the best music documentaries we've seen in recent years.

Once the doc gets back into theaters, Oscilloscope will work it on DVD, VOD and TV roll-outs for the summer or autumn. Does that mean the theatrical re-run will happen in the spring? Sounds likely.

Walker is an under appreciated musical genius (we don't use that term often) and total recluse. Glowing testimonials in the film come from David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, Radiohead and Damon Albarn among many others. We've written many times about the documentary, so follow this link trail if you want to know more and see trailers.

Fincher's 'Torso' Still Has Legs And A Pulse Says Producer

Paramount may have let the rights to the David Fincher project, "Torso," lapse recently, but that doesn't necessarily mean the film based on a graphic novel about famous "Untouchables," Chicago cop Eliot Ness is in jeopardy.

Producer Bill Mechanic (who was an integral force in getting "Fight Club" to the screen) told MTV News that the adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis' comic is still moving forward, with or without Paramount’s involvement.

Fincher is still evidently attached and Mechanic believes Paramount will eventually shepherd the film to the big screen. “We want them to make the movie and I think they want to make it. Cool heads will prevail and hopefully it’ll get started pretty quickly. If they don’t make it, somebody will. I’m focused on making the picture.”

"Cool heads will prevail?" Does that mean, Fincher is still beefing with Paramount? Perhaps it's a money issue? 'Benjamin Button' is reportedly barely going to break even. Mechanic hints that rights are evidently “more complicated” than just lapsed ownership rights. Whatever that means. But with a project like this in at least semi-limbo (which seems fair to say), it's probably likely that potential stars like Matt Damon and Casey Affleck will only be on board if their schedules link up with the if and when.

Cate Blanchett To Step Into Maid Marian Role For Ridley Scott's 'Nottingham?

Sienna Miller might have left, Ridely Scott's slowly-evolving, "Nottingham" project which centers around Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham tale (Russell Crowe to play both parts? We still don't get that), but it sounds like they've got an even better replacement.

Will Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett play the part? It's looking that way according to British actor Mark Strong who has already been signed up to play Sir Guy of Gisbourne.

"I think Cate Blanchett is set to take the Maid Marian part," Strong said at the London Film Critics' Circle Awards. "She is a wonderful actress and it would make it a much classier film if she was in it."

Oooh, do we detect a sly dig at Miller's expense. Strong, you dirty bastard, we didn't know you had it in you.

'Cadillac Records'-Gate Already Quashed

Bale-gate might have lasted an entire week, but the beef between R&B legend Etta James and Beyoncé Knowles, who played the rough-hewn singer in "Cadillac Records," barely lasted 48 hours.

Can't you take a joke says James? "I didn't really mean anything," she told the New York Daily News. "Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude. ... That's probably what went into it."

She did however, admit to being slightly "miffed," for not being invited to sing. She was "feeling left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around."

Ok, so it's a semi-apology, semantics. Maybe she realized black on black crime just ain't cool. File this beef under: done. It wasn't that exciting anyhow. Hopefully Beyonce keeps her mouth closed so we don't feel obliged to follow up.

Jean-Claude Van Damme Grows Artistic Cred Balls? Turns Down Role In 'The Expendables'

Sylvester Stallone's latest career tainting movie, "The Expendables" has somehow snagged big, often-respected names such as Mickey Rourke, Ben Kingsley and Forest Whitaker. But the film took a big hit when it was recently called out as the quick-buck shitpit it is by someone who should know a thing or two about those, Jean-Claude Van Damme.

The Belgian actor, in an interview with Total Film Magazine, let it be known that he was offered and turned down a role in the film despite the prospect of large amounts of money because he felt it lacked some little things like, you know, a legible script and plot.

"Stallone gave me a part in his next movie. But I asked him about the subject, about the story. He said, 'You're gonna make lots of money.' I don't want to hear that, I want to hear what was my character. He was unable to tell what it's going to be. Stallone said: 'You know, uh, well, the fighting will be good.' [So I said:] 'Sly, what is my character?' So I didn't do the movie."

Ouch, when the star of "Bloodsport" turns down a role in your movie because he thinks the character development is weak, problems in the script are most likely rampant. Man, "JCVD," must have really done something to Van Damme's head. Dude all of a sudden thinks he's an Ac-tor.

Kevin Smith Teabags Weinsteins For Failing His 'Porno'

Let the blame game begin, as is usually the case when a film doesn't live up to expectations. For filmmaker Kevin Smith, that film would be "Zack and Miri Make a Porno." The highly discussed film, at least in movie blogs, made $31 million dollars domestically, which some critics see as a poor outing compared to the film's $24 million dollar budget. So who's to blame for the film's performance? If you listen to Smith, the answer comes in the lack of support shown by The Weinstein Company in the promotion of the film.

The Toronto Sun asked Smith why audiences didn't get a hard-on for the film, and he didn't shy away with a reply. "I think they would have if they had ever known the movie was out," said Smith. "The big problem with 'Zack and Miri' was that their awareness was always screwed up."

The Sun continued in the piece by saying Smith was peeved at the film being burdened by ratings fights and title controversies. The Weinsteins succeeded instead by being champions of costume dramas and serious efforts like "The Reader", which is nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. "Unfortunately, this was a studio comedy and needed to be sold like that," said Smith.

To that we say, you do know your film was called 'Zack and Miri Make a Porno', right? There is no way that anyone can argue that the title wasn't chosen strictly for shock value. Of course there was going to be backlash against it. Shock factor has always been part of Smith's schtick. We submit "Clerks" and "Dogma" as evidence, your honor. The Weinsteins don't really seem to be at fault here. The fact is that when you play with fire, sometimes you get burned. It's not the end of the world, and it certainly won't be the end of Smith's career. His relatively low film budgets ensure that.

The good news for Smith and The Weinstein Company is that all is not lost for "Zack and Miri." In reality, the box-office number for 'Porno' are right on par with the rest of his film efforts. Smith's films have never been box-office blockbusters, as Smith has explained before in his ... wait for it ... DVDs such as "An Evening with Kevin Smith." We're guessing that art, or sales, will end up imitating life, and while you may not catch your friends going to watch a porno in theaters, they will have the DVD at home. That's where Smith's films really get the most bang for their buck. Yeah, we made a sex pun. Deal with it.

Trade News: 'Sex And The City 2' Confirmed, Dreamworks Moving To Disney?

One of The Playlist's biggest mistakes of 2008 was trying to understand the other half and not just throw facile, ad hominem attacks at the "Sex & The City," movie, especially given that around the time of the movie's release, the criticism was full of wanton and ugly sexism (do you really talk to your mom, sister, girlfriend, spouse with that mouth?). It made us ill, so we decided to go pay and see 'Sex,' to put our money where our mouths was and not just talk out our ass -- we wanted to be informed. *Shudder* Just thinking about the experience makes our blood curdle. Such much for pre-judgements being off base. Anyhow, "Sex & The City 2" looks close to happening. All the cast members have signed on apparently. Why would they make a sequel? Didn't 'Sex' the feature end where everyone was relatively happy? Well, the film did great box-office business in spite of the terrible reviews, so where there's dollars-smoke, there's always in-production fire. This time we'll either get a screening or just pass. Summer 2010 is the planned release date despite a script or basic idea. [Variety]

Jennifer Aniston wants Jason Bateman's sperm. They'll star in the fertility-themed comedy "The Baster." Of course it's one of the classic, sperm mix-up stories we all love and know. It's being helmed by the people that gave us the fairly mediocre "Blades Of Glory" (though Will Ferrell admittedly salvaged some moments here and there). [Variety]

Is Dreamworks going to move to Disney? Spielberg and co. are apparently they're in "advanced talks." Walt Disney would probably be a good home for "Tin Tin." Guess that Universal deal walked out the door. [TheBagger]

Timothy Hutton has joined Roman Polanski's new political thriller called, "Ghost," that already stars Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Jim Belushi and Olivia Williams . [THR]

The Sundance film "Arlen Faber" has been picked up by Magnolia. [THR]

Tom Tykwer's "The International" with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts has stumbled right out of the gate at the Berlin Film Festival. Both Variety and Hollywood Reporter reviews are poor and make this one sound totally forgettable/ skippable. Guys, Times Square already warned us earlier this week.

Nobody seems to care for the new "Land of The Lost" trailer, even the geeks, who normally love CGI-looking, "Jurrasic Park"-esque, "fun" summer romps. Check any sci-fi type site and almost none of them have good things to say. We can't argue, but then again, we thought the idea of this project was baaaad from minute one. [Trailer]

The Method Fest film festival will honor Peter Bogdanovich with its Auteur Director Award on February 26. That should be the official, wear an ascot or handkerchief around your neck day in honor of good ol' Bogdanovich. Even after he fell off cinematically, how can you not love his cinema obsessiveness? While you're at it rent, 1981's "They All Laughed" which just became available on DVD for the first time late last year. Ben Gazzara rules. [THR]

Is John Madden's (tne "Shakespeare in Love" director, not the Football lug) new project, Oscar-bait, thriller or both? Jessica Chastain (Terrence Malick's upcoming, "The Tree of Life"), Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds and Tom Wilkinson have all signed on for the Mossad-Nazi thriller, "Debt." [THR]

Chloe Sevigny Joins Werner Herzog's Murderous Horror Drama, 'My Son'

In December, we reported that Michael Shannon, Udo Kier and Willem Dafoe had joined the cast of Werner Herzog's muderous horror drama, "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done." Now ScreenDaily is reporting that Chloe Sevigny has joined the cast too as has Grace Zabriskie, a mainstay of David Lynch films (he's executive producing).

As previously reported, 'My Son' is loosely based on the true story of a disturbed man who acts out a Sophocles-like play in his mind and kills his mother. The project was said to be low-budget and shot in a digital video guerrilla-style.

Herzog makes us excited with this new quote. "I always wanted to make a horror film, but not with bloody axes and chain-saws," Herzog said, adding: "An anonymous fear should rather creep up at you."

This could be amazing. We're greatly looking forward to it. It's weird to think that it kind of took until 2006's "Rescue Dawn," for Hollywood to finally catch up with the genius of Herzog. PS, while we're at it, does anyone know the status of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans"? Isn't it supposed to come out this summer? We haven't heard a peep in months, aside from Abel Ferrara continuing to shoot off his mouth on deaf ears.

New Arty 'Sherlock Holmes' Photos
Every year near Oscar seasons completetion, the New York Times delivers an excellent photo gallery of Oscar related performances. This year is no different and their "Great Performers" slideshow includes some new images of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law from "Sherlock Holmes," among many other gorgeous and stunning photos. [NYT]

Christian Bale Apologizes For "Embarrassing Meltdown" Tirade (The End)

14:59 of Bale-Gate -- the once amusing, now slightly tiresome fiasco centering around a leaked on-set tirade Christian Bale let loose on alleged-asshole cinematographer Shane Hurlbut?

Bale apparently just called in a few minutes ago to L.A.'s KROQ. JustJared has the transcript.

"It’s been a miserable week for me. I know I have a pottymouth, everybody knows that now. I have no confusion whatsoever. I was out of order beyond belief, I was way out of order. I acted like a punk, I regret that and there is nobody that has heard that tape that has been hit harder by it [than me]. I make no excuses for it, it is inexcusable and I hope that is absolutely clear.”

Christian continues, “One thing that has really disturbed me throughout this is I’m not familiar or comfortable with this notion of being a movie star. I’m an actor and I’m don’t quite know how to handle [the movie star thing]. The thing that disturbs me so much is that I’ve heard a lot of people saying that I seem to think I’m better than anybody else. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I’m a lucky SOB. I never forget that and that is why I put so much into what I do and I care so much about it . Sometimes that enthusiasm just goes awry.”

Mr. Bale ended, “I am embarrassed by it and I regret it. And I ask everybody to sit down and ask themselves, ‘Have they ever had a bad day and have they ever lost their temper and really regretted it immensely?’”

Yup, we have. PS, you can hear the entire apology here.

"There are so many people who have given opinions of this, but none of them were there," Bale said trying to provide context, but not seeking excuses. "The scene we were doing... I was trying to show in-the-blood craziness of [Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor character]and it went very wrong. [The crew, including Shane Hurlbut] they know the reasons [behind what I was going for], I got annoyed, and then what happened, i made it ugly and that was awful of me. I took it way too far."

Bale Thinks He's John Connor?
"I completely mixed up fact from fiction, I'm half Christian Bale, I'm half John Connor... and we all heard exactly what [happened]"

Bale and Hurlbut Are Cool
"We have resolved this completely, that very day. [Hurlbut's] done a wonderful job on that movie. We worked together for at least a month after that.We saw each other [two weeks ago] and everything is resolved between us. He has done a wonderful professional job."

Bale urges any fans who thought of skipping the film because of his outburst to reconsider. "Please, do not allow my... incredibly embarrassing meltdown to overshadow this movie. Too many people worked too hard and it's too great of a mythology."

How method. Best week ever? Ok, now we can get back to the real world of film appreciation with some snide remarks. McG, please don't add your two cents and drag this on. As you were.

Etta James Wants To Kick Beyonce's Ass

In March of last year, when it was announced that Beyoncé Knowles was going the part of Etta James in the R&B film "Cadillac Records" the 70-year-old singer sounded skeptical, but didn't sound completely opposed to the casting news.

“I don’t think she looks like me, but that’s all right. They can fix that up," she said.

Well a rant and raving James changed her tune very recently during a show at Seattle's Paramount Theatre on January 28, pissed that President Barack Obama didn't ask her to sing "At Last," at the inauguration ball and instead chose the former Destiny's Child star. The audio of the rant -- of course -- leaked.

“You guys know your president, right? You know the one with the big ears?” began her rant. “Wait a minute, he ain’t my president. He might be yours; he ain’t my president. But I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song — she’s going to get her ass whipped. The great Beyoncé. Like I said, she ain’t mine. ... I can’t stand Beyoncé. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol’ president day, gonna be singing my song that I’ve been singing forever,” James said via quotes transcribed by MTV.

You're right Etta. A new black president gets inaugurated and you have to go use the opportunity to not only hate on your fellow sister, but your fellow black sister. Yeah, progress...

The rant is below. We didn't care much for the paint-by-number boring biopic slog of "Cadillac Records," but truthfully, Beyoncé was one of the best parts of the film. Oh well...

New Photos Will Tide Us Over For 'The Road' - Fall '09 At This Point?

We haven't been able to figure out what's going on with John Hillcoat's "The Road" yet and its not for lack of trying. We've pestered The Weinstein PR people a few times now and we can't get them to even hint at a release date or get anything out of them other than a stonewalled, "there's no update." But, some new images have found their way onto the web today so that's at least something (some larger versions on a click).

The last reports in the trades suggested "The Road" -- which stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as father in son traversing the perils of a Cormac McCarthy-inspired post-apocalyptic world -- would come out in the first quarter of 2009, and the month of February was even thrown around. Well, February is here and there's no way in hell, they're releasing it later this month or even March at this point.

TWC is going to at least give two months of marketing heads up -- at least! -- so given the tone of the film (some have said, "prepared to have your heart torn open") it's looking more and more like this film is going to be saved for the fall, Oscar-bait season where it belongs, which pleases us to no end (they wouldn't release this in the summer would they??). Hillcoat's "The Proposition," in 2005 was a fantastic film with a similar bleak and ravaged look, so we're greatly looking forward to it. Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Michael Kenneth Williams and Robert Duvall all make small appearances in the picture as well. The delayed-movie is one of the key films in our 60 Most Anticipated Films of 2009 list.

James Taylor Cameos In Judd Apatow's 'Funny People'

Director/writer funnyman Judd Apatow has apparently had such a hard time directing the sex scenes between his wife Leslie Mann and Adam Sandler in his upcoming dramedy, "Funny People," that the filmmaker reportedly asked musician James Taylor to come to the set and play his brand of safe, warm-milk folk.

The report comes from Contactmusic who we refuse to give a link to because a) they consistently jack quotes from the web without an ounce of attribution -- good ol' British press and b) half of their stories turn out to be gossipy bullshit. Now there's nothing unbelievable in the story, but it's the principle of the matter.

Apatow apparently invited Taylor to the set and then eventually convinced him to take a small cameo role. "I got what I needed and then I made him perform 30 more songs... I just thought, 'Oh my God, I can manipulate James Taylor into singing more songs for my amusement. It's the greatest day ever.' "

He had to, shooting the aforementioned sex scenes were apparently killing him. [Adam and Leslie] weren't that uncomfortable having sex with each other onscreen. I've never seen two people look so happy. My wife was like, 'I'm glad it's not Judd.' " (these quotes probably come from five other sources knowing Cmusic).

"Funny People" has a few musical moments in it. Bruce Springsteen is supposed to appear in a dream sequence cameo and other musical references include: Wilco (a concert), Warren Zevon (we knew he would eventually use him), Otis Redding, Paul McCartney's "With A Little Luck," the introspective Ted Hawkins song, "Strange Conversation"and Fergie's song, "London Bridge" are all specifically written into the script.

Diablo Cody Knows Her Cinematic Badasses

Our friends at MTV are putting together a little list of the "Greatest Movie Badasses of All Time" and they've been asking a few of our favorite movie making impresarios to send their picks in. I mean, we really do love our pals at MTV but their list so far is fairly predictable and painfully male with all the requisite dark anti-heroes and cooool tough guys, nerds love. So we highly endorse these picks by Diablo Cody and Richard Kelly.

Cody turned in a list that started with unlikely badass "Carrie" and ended with Sarah Connor of "Terminator 2" (Linda Hamilton). She throws in The Bride from the "Kill Bill" (Uma Thurman) movies and the fairly obvious Ripley from the "Alien" movies. In addition there are some off the wall choices, which is to be expected, like the mall cop from "Mannequin" (is this some bizarre reference to 'Paul Blart'?) and the Bandit from "Smokey and the Bandit." Honestly, kind of ingenious answers overall though.

We also give major props to Kelly for making Erin Brockovich his #1 badass -- a tired, overworked and pissed off mom is not to be fucked and much more realistically scary then the Predator. She would eat Arnold for breakfast. The "Donnie Darko" director gives shout outs to Patton Oswalt's character in "Ratatouille," and preggers cop Marge (Frances McDormand) in "Fargo." That's just a few among many bizarro choices that make his list absolutely fascinating.

We're so over adoration for typical anti-heroes who often come with a homoerotic bent ("300" spartans we're looking in your direction). Just remember when Lucas unveiled the prequels, Bobba Fett's lineage was revealed to come from stumblebumb retards who barely knew how to work their jetpack and got offed in their first fight scene. Wolverine has a laughable haircut and The Dark Knight freaks out on his poor mom - how tough is that? The whole genre is an obvious ploy to play to geeks who are socially disenfranchised geeks in real life with a romcom style message that every geek has a superhero inside and maybe you're really special too! You aren't.

Friday Bale-Gate Fatigue Sets In: Now It's "Widely Dispised" DP Hurlbut's Fault?

Leave it to those muckrakers at Radar magazine (how do they still exist?) to add one more twist in the Christian Bale/ "Terminator Salvation" Bale-gate fiasco. Harry Knowles first blamed the event on the unprofessional attitude of Director of Photography Shane Hurlbut, because he had heard from his mom, interweb sources that the DP had received what was coming to him (evidently he was one of those dreaded "unrepentant light tweakers")

However, Radar says, this is not the first time the DP's allegedly jackass-ish ways had rubbed people wrong and that the 'Salvation' crew were not fans.

"[Hurlbut] was widely despised," sources tell RadarOnline.com exclusively. "Hurlbut was a condescending (bleep) to everyone," a source told us. His favorite line was "Why don't you go stab yourself in the head, you idiot."

A Defamer source even corroborated the allegation.

"I was on the crew of another film Shane was recently DP on and he was despised. Crew hated him - actors had hard time. He would tell his crew, if he was displeased with them, to "Stab themselves in the heart and die." or "Blow yourself up." On this film he would constantly re-light when actors got to set and tweak during takes - it was bad."

So, Shane Hurlbut bad, Christian Bale deservedly tiraded on the photographer? You decide. We're starting to finally get bored with it all. For now...

Inside Baseball: Making Sense Of Brad Pitt As A Oakland A's Coach

Yesterday we told you about how Steven Soderbergh is in talks to direct an adaptation of Michael Lewis' "Moneyball," with Brad Pitt set to play the lead, Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane. As a die-hard baseball fan with the book sitting rather prominently on my shelf, I thought I'd take a second to explain how this all makes sense.

A former major leaguer with an undistinguished career, Beane is the General Manager of the A's. For those who don't know much about baseball, the GMs are the ones who make decisions pertaining to baseball operations. They are the ones who engineer trades, decide which free agents to get, that sort of thing (though the owner technically has some sort of final say, since he controls the pursestrings). The book throws a lot of credit Beane's way for implementing a minor revolution, of sorts, and guiding the A's to much more success than a system of its limited means should expect.

To give a brief background of "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game," the book details the Oakland A's approach to building a winning ballclub. Their approach, considered novel by some, was to use advanced statistics and an understanding of basic economic theory (i.e. grasping the concept of scarcity and how it affected the baseball market). That was particularly important because they weren't able to spend nearly as much as some other teams. The tome soon ignited a firestorm in the baseball community in a manner sort of recalling Martin Luther's "95 Theses," as people rush to defend Beane's success (five postseason trips in eleven years) or attack his failures (zero World Championships).

The numbers were just a foundation for Beane's rise. His success is based on his ability to both understand and manipulate people in the ruthless corporate world of baseball, reconciling any number of factions within his team and sweet talking other GMs into giving him bargains. After all, millions of dollars are at stake with his every move. Beane's fortunes are sometimes seen as stemming from his unique backstory. A big bust as a baseball player, he's a newcomer to the old boys' club of baseball executives, decades younger than most of his peers and with considerably more of a wild streak. Beane's famous response to his postseason failures? "My shit doesn't work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the playoffs."

So is Brad Pitt as a baseball GM so outlandish? Billy Beane (at least as depicted by the excellent Michael Lewis) has become both a pariah and a savior. As an undeniable underdog, his teams struggled at first, but Beane's unorthodox methods soon provided undeniable results, even as the ultimate goal was left just out of his reach. But Pitt can play Beane as a bit of a cocky hero who uses his undeniable charisma to enact a revolution. And that's a character who clearly transcends baseball. Soderbergh is so prolific he could be attracted for any number of reasons, but if you squint a little bit the story does have echoes of "Erin Brockovich" and "Che," though of course to a much more limited degree, and in a fun setting.

Fincher's 'Spider-Man' Pitch: "They Hated It"

David Fincher talked to the Guardian Splashpage points out something we missed and we love: did you know?/ what if? scenarios. That shit always fascinates us.

Apparently at length recently, but Sony asked the congenial director to pitch his take on what a "Spider-Man" would be like.

“The thing I liked about Spider-Man was I liked the idea of a teenager, the notion of this moment in time when you’re so vulnerable yet completely invulnerable,” the director said, clearly thinking about the psychology behind Peter Parker far deeper than Sony, Marvel or ever Stan Lee ever had.

Spidey's origin story however was the one the always-agreeable Fincher couldn't swallow. “I wasn’t interested in the genesis, I just couldn’t shoot somebody being bitten by a radioactive spider – just couldn’t sleep knowing I’d done that,” he said with typical charm and sparkle [ed. but you know, a man who ages backwards is totally believable].

So what did he pitch exactly? An origin-free "Spider-Man" beginning? He doesn't say, but note that Sony politely passed. "I went in and told them what I might be interested in doing, and they hated it."

Don't expect him to direct "Justice League," "Avenger 3," or "X-Men Babies" anytime in the future either. "No, I'm not interested in doing 'A Superhero'. "

Christian Bale's Mom Is Going To Wash Out His Mouth With T-1000 Soap

Christian Bale's mom is apparently "upset" over hearing his "Terminator Salvation" temper tantrum/ meltdown. Not only are the streets watching, so is your moms -- a word to the wise for outburst-prone public figures of the world.

His mother Jenny Bale, 61, is well aware of Bale's temper, having been screamed at so fiercely and loudly, the 'Dark Knight' star was arrested last summer. But she still has sympathy for her son and hoped that he was still brushing his teeth every day.

"People might now realize that that is his temper, they might understand a bit more [ed. does she mean, 'don't fuck with my son?'] I wish he hadn't carried this on so long or so fiercely, it was upsetting to hear him."

She's clearly somewhat disappointed with her baby boy, but she also understands how the incident might have happened. Oh, and she also says, why haven't you called lately Christian, I made you a nice sweater, and I'm happy that you're not angry all the time like you were last July.

"I haven't spoken to Christian about it, but I have listened to most of it and he was clearly very angry. He is a perfectionist and if you are doing an intense scene and someone is spoiling a shot, it takes time to get it back. It sounds as if a lighting engineer got in the shot so I can understand his anger but not the length of the tirade. It happened in July when he was filming the Terminator and was before the incident with him and myself at the Batman premiere with all the publicity."

Look if mom can understand, but not endorse the behavior. Can't we do the same and all just get along and leave him alone already? REEEEEEEEEEMIX! (PS, for those hoping this will all soon blow over -- and let me tell you there are many out there wishing it so -- Bale still has to come out with his response/ mea culpa. Once that finally hits, we assume it'll all be over. But until then...)

Soderbergh And Pitt Push 'Cleo' Rock Musical Aside For Baseball Flick, 'Moneyball'

Back in November, Steve Zaillian ("Gangs Of New York") had signed on to adapt the baseball novel, "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game," as a vehicle for Brad Pitt to star in.

Today news comes from Variety that Pitt's old "Oceans 11, 12 n' 13" pal Steven Soderbergh is in talks to direct. Soderbergh is apparently only in early discussions because he evidently doesn't have enough projects on his plate between the two movies coming out this year -- the lo-fi, "The Girlfriend Experience," the Matt Damon black comedy, "The Infomant" for WB -- the Cleopatra rock musical, "Cleo," the "Liberace" biopic and probably four other projects we're forgetting.

But according to the trade, Soderbergh will shoot this first before "Cleo" - which now has been pushed until next year. "Though he set his financing, Soderbergh decided to push back ['Cleo'] m until next year, after [Hugh] Jackman dropped out because of scheduling problems," Variety writes. That is if Soderbergh does indeed sign on and it looks like he probably will now that his sched is free'd up. Let's hope those funding dollars don't all of sudden evaporate in 2010, what would poor Guided By Voices do?

'Moneyballs' story is about a Major Leagues baseball manager who assembles a contending baseball club on a shoestring budget by employing a sophisticated computer-based analysis to draft players. According to Wikipedia, its central premise is how "the collected wisdom of baseball insiders over the past century is subjective and often flawed."

We're ok with this, but it feels a little, "one for them and one for me" strategy before he shoots the more ambitious musical. Either that or he just needs more time to find a new lead or schedule when Hugh Jackman is free again.

Strand Takes 'Berlin'
Max Färberböck's penetrating and sometimes harrowing, "A Woman In Berlin" is a compelling WWII film we saw at the Toronto International Film Festival. We gave it high, high marks, and even found it more engaging than Färberböck's critically lauded, "Aimée & Jaguar" in 1999 which earned itself a Best Foreign Golden Globe nomination that year and won key, Berlin International Film Festival awards.

It's likely not Oscar eligible until this year, but we wouldn't be surprised if Germany nominates it as its top pick when the time comes. Indiewire is reporting that Strand Pictures have picked up the film for release later this summer. Based on a banned, anonymous and shocking account of women who were mass-raped by the Russians who overtook Berlin in the spring of 1945, the controversial German film humanizes these female Nazi supporters (and their Russian perpetrators). We called it a "bleak and harrowing conclusion to TIFF, but a super-powerful and piercing one." Also of note is the music of Polish maestro Zbigniew Preisner, the composer behind many of the haunting scores of Krzysztof Kieślowski films. The lead, Nina Hoss is terrific.

Exclusive: Marc Webb Takes Us Through The Music Of '500 Days of Summer'

Editor's Note: We were all set to start this post with a sheepish, self-deprecating dig at ourselves for all the shit we've given Marc Webb on this movie, "500 Days of Summer" but he totally beat us to it and with much more sage and cutting grace than we could ever muster. We've been humbled. He's a real sport and was even kind enough to agree to give us an exclusive track-by track break down of all the songs in the movie and how they got there. We were amazed when we saw what he wrote! We'd specifically asked him to address The Smiths since they're not the most affordable band to license and hopefully you'll glean some insight below, along with a deep inside look at the rest of the music from this film.

Our gracious thanks to him for this expository look into the music for "500 Days of Summer."

TO THE PLAYLIST:
I was a little hesitant to answer your request given the tone of some of your editor's posts. Then again I think skepticism can be a virtue – so here I am. Incidentally, I do think there are things more dangerous than “twee.” Cynicism for example. It’s fair to say we engage in pop culture to be enlightened, moved or to share some common experience. And when culture makers like musicians, filmmakers, artists, or bloggers become loyal to a form rather than a feeling –that is to say when they don’t actually believe what they’re creating – it becomes cynical. That can throw the experience off. Maybe that’s what your invectives are hinting at. The work stops being culture and starts being something else – propaganda maybe? I’m not sure. But it’s a worthy topic for discussion and I hope it continues in a manner that invites engagement.

In any case, here’s the line up for the soundtrack of "500 Days of Summer." I can’t go too deep into explanations of how we got which songs partly because that wasn’t my department and partly because most of it has to remain private for obvious reasons. I worked closely with our music supervisor Andrea Von Foerster, the music exec at Searchlight, Amy Driscoll, and most importantly writer Scott Neustadter whose Smiths-love is unparalleled.

For what its worth, my first job in L.A. was doing music clearances for Doug Pray’s Seattle-music doc “Hype!” I learned a few things that helped us with the licensing for a movie with as small a music budget as '500.' Most important: never underestimate the power of a personal appeal in the form of a well-written letter. I know there’s been some interest in The Smiths tracks and all I can really say is you have to prioritize your resources and get creative.

Regina Spektor “Us”
Regina. If [French composer Erik] Satie wrote pop songs they would sound something like Regina Spektor. We first worked together on her video for "Fidelity" and subsequently on "Better." I love Regina – she doesn’t listen to A&R guys or critics or managers (and sometimes directors) – she just creates. And if you can get on her wavelength it’s just plain fun to go along for the ride.

When I first made my case to the producers of "500 Days of Summer" I pitched a split screen opening credit sequence supported by Regina’s “Us” off of Soviet Kitsch. It features the two protagonists growing up separately but somehow connected. Lives emerging in parallel. The piano part even inspired some elements of the score – not to mention establishing the playful pop sensibility of our movie. The lyrics do some heavy lifting here as well.

The Smiths “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”
It’s an extremely brief but important use. Story point. Originally we were just cleared for the publishing – just so [Zooey Deschanel's character] Summer could sing a line from the song. We ended up playing the song louder on [Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character] Tom’s headphones so the audience could here what she’s singing along to – which, of course, required a master use license.

Belle and Sebastian “The Boy With The Arab Strap”
We never hear this song but a high school Summer quotes it. Do you know what an Arab Strap is?

Black Lips “Bad Kids”
Either Andrea or Dorian Cheah one of our music editors brought this in. Dug it.

The Smiths “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want.”
Let the lyrics do the talking. This song always reminds me of late afternoon. Tom uses this as a mating call. Unsubstantiated Trivia: Dream Academy* does an instrumental cover of this for the museum sequence in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Maybe this is common knowledge - but I think it's cool. [*ed. one of our total all-time faves]

Patrick Swayze “She’s Like The Wind.”
It’s a surprise and no it’s not a musical number.

Jack Penate “Have I Been a Fool? “
I ask myself this question all the time. Andrea brought this in. It’s playing on Tom’s stereo when his friend comes over. Great song.

The Doves “There Goes the Fear”
For some reason lyrics can illustrate the subtext of a scene explicitly in a way dialogue never can.

Hall & Oates “You Make My Dreams”
Probably overused in movies – which is exactly why Scott and Michael scripted this one in. If you see the movie this will make more sense. H&O easily one of the great pop song writers of all time.

Knight Rider Theme
Originally scripted as the A-Team. They said no and then put the feelers out to see if I was interested in directing the film! Shameless! AVF came up with KR or Magnum P.I. I chose Kit.

Temper Trap "Sweet Disposition"
Originally wanted to reprise The Smith’s “Please, Please, Please…” but couldn’t afford multiple uses. Amy Driscoll from Searchlight brought this in one day. What can I say? It fit.

Carla Bruni "Quelqu’un M’a Dit"
First of all, the greatest love song ever written is Silvio Rodriguez’s “Ojala.” Objectively. It can’t be denied. I tried to conceive of this scene around that song – but Silvio’s magic was too powerful. The song would have overwhelmed this relatively small exchange between Tom and Summer. [ed. Rodriguez does rule]

All the same, I wanted something simple, mellow with a hint of melancholy and most importantly in a foreign language – this because there’s a communication barrier between Tom and Summer.

Three or four years ago, long before CB was the first lady of France, my friend and producer Hagai Shaham had played me this song in an airport as we were going to do some video shoot overseas. He said it put him in a good mood in the morning. You probably don’t know Hagai – but trust me this is very important. For this I am forever indebted to Carla Bruni.

What I’ve always loved most about this song more than anything is its origin story. It goes like this: Carla Bruni and Leos Carax were lovers. After Bruni left the forlorn romantic filmmaker, Carax heard a rumor at a party that his former lover still held a flame for him. He went home at once and wrote her a letter that began with “Quelqu’un m’a dit,” (i.e. somebody told me.) Somebody told me there might be some small possibility that you still love me – some sliver of a hope. While the epistle didn’t move Ms. Bruni enough to return to LC – it compelled her to put a melody to the words and “Quelqu’un M’a Dit” was born. Leos Carax is still credited with the lyrics. I don’t know how your readers feel about Lovers on the Bridge or Boy Meets Girl but any chance I have to funnel Carax some royalties – count me in. Dude has been on hiatus for a long time and it’s not like "Tokyo!" is going to put a whole lot of pate on the table [ed. Marc, watch for Carax's "Merde," his segment, it's awesome!]

As for its use – it’s playing in the background during Tom and Summer’s convo. We pushed the music mix and sucked the ambiance out on the upswing into that bittersweet hook just as Tom and Summer’s car drives into the darkness of a tunnel. The melody and image combine to deliver just a faint hint of foreboding to a scene that otherwise would have simply played sweet. We ran the song to them through earwigs so she could hum along without it interfering with their dialogue recording. It was all a big pain in the ass but I think this moment sings – I dig it. Call me twee but that’s how I feel.

Black Lips "Veni, Vidi, Vici" Another AVF suggestion. Next time you go to a Black Lips show – you can tell them they are twee and see what happens. [Ed.: We've seen their movie from Mexico. They'd probably pee on us or defeather a chicken regardless, we don't wanna know the rest!]

Paper Route "The Music"
Again, Andrea Von Forester brought this one in. Mychael Danna jokes that people are going to think this instrumental is score –and they’ll all falsely compliment him for it. BTW, Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen make my heart beat faster. They are the best kind of perfectionists you could ask for. Insanely talented and super cool guys. If you’re a fan of film scores go back and check out Mychael’s work on "The Ice Storm" or "Girl, Interrupted" – it’s marvelous and we were lucky to have him. The descending cellos match Tom’s descent perfectly. Jen Monnar, Mychael’s music editor matched the pizzicato work to the exterior rain so perfectly it feels like score. This also plays under cinematographer Eric Steelberg and my favorite shot from the movie.

Feist "Mushaboom"
First exposed to Feist by way of Patrick Daughters’ video for this song. His clip is downright cool. Check it out. This plays as background during a wedding sequence. Notice the lyrics are about domestic bliss, which plays into Tom’s hopeful state of mind at this moment. Obviously I don’t buy into the notion that once an artist has been in an Apple ad –they are somehow off-limits (see Wolfmother below). I could care less. If the song itself is overexposed – that’s another story. But even then it can be used to great effect (see Patrick Swayze’s “She’s Like the Wind.")

Regina Spektor "Hero"
This split-screen sequence was the most difficult to plan from a technical standpoint. While I was boarding this out in pre-pro, I had Alan (my editor) cut the animatic to this song. It felt right and we never changed it. While we massaged the music edit slightly in post, it’s a testament to the technical abilities of Joe and Zooey that they could adhere to the strict timing of this sequence and have it come off as naturally as it does. Once again, I’m a sucker for narrating through lyrics and it almost feels like Regina wrote this song FOR the film.

Spoon "Infinite Pet"
Dorian, music editor, put this in and we ended up adjusting picture to sound once again (this happened a lot). I’m often shocked at the notion of cutting sound TO picture. Particularly source cues. Coming from vids – I’m used to the opposite. I think there are moments where you have to let the music drive the image. Wong Kar Wai does this better than anyone.

Simon & Garfunkel "Bookends"
Lyrically, metaphorically, narratively perfect. Surprisingly overlooked S+G song. When you see the movie you’ll know why we couldn’t use any other artist during this moment. Again, wise resource allotment is important. That and we screened the film for Mr. Simon’s manager. I guess he dug it. Thank God. Anything else here would have been painfully wrong.

Wolfmother "Vagabond"
I’ve always liked these guys – they remind me of the best parts of my early 14 year-old Zeppelin phase. This is a good example of why you should select your music before you shoot. There’s a simple tennis ball-thump gag that we never could have achieved had we not played Vagabond on set. Alan, my editor, was out having a baby this week and so Jen Vechariello, the AE, and I cut this one together. I used to cut my old vids so and this was a lot of fun and I thought Jen did a great job here, too.

Mumm-Rah "She’s Got You High"
My friend and sometime co-director Rich Lee did the incredible video for SGYH. Check it out. The end credits were really tough. I originally had the Guillemots "Made Up Love Song" in here but making the proper sound edits never really worked. Also tried Regina’s “On The Radio” which had superb lyrical support and captured a lot of the themes we were dealing with – but ultimately I wanted a male voice. This is, after all, a story about a guy. Told strictly from the male point of view. Plus Scott Neustadter is gay for this song.

Getting this last moment right was a real challenge. Eventually I had to get Rob and Mychael to compose a little grace-note intro for the top of the song to accentuate the last beat of the movie. Once again, this will make more sense if you’ve seen the film.

Karaoke Selections:

Poison "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"
Some drunk guy is always doing this when you karaoke.

Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazlewood as performed by Zooey Deschanel "Sugar Town"
I made this selection with the consultation of Ms. Deschanel. I don’t believe in violence but anyone who doesn’t like Lee Hazlewood should be punched in the face. [ed. ha, we endorse this sentiment!]

The Pixies "Here Comes Your Man"
Chose this with Joe – he’s a huge Pixies fan. And he can sing, bitch. We may have someone cover this as a bonus for the official soundtrack.

- Marc Webb [ed. who now officially rules, our tail between legs] "500 Days of Summer" hits theaters July 24 via Fox Searchlight.