Mickey Rourke's Full Independent Spirit Awards Speech For Best Actor

F'bombs and everything, this speech was easily the highlight of the night. Heartfelt, funny, trainwreck-y, everything you love about Mickey Rourke. We, so some of us, were on the fence about who would win the Oscar tomorrow [ed. I follow the guilds too closely sometimes], but it really seems that the community has totally embraced him. We're changing out pick for Best Actor to Mickey. "The Wrestler" wasn't our favorite film of the year, but we did like it a lot and it's nice to see it win the major love of the night with three awards and two of the biggest.

Notice though that he didn't thank Evan Rachel Wood?

'The Wrestler' Is The Big Winner Of The 2008 Independent Spirit Awards

The Independent Spirit Awards are live on IFC. We decided to sora "live-blog" at the last minute:

- "Milk" screenwriter Dustin Lance Black has taken the award for Best Original Screenplay as expected.
- The winner for Best First Feature went to Charlie Kaufman for "Synecdoche, New York," again as expected.
- Best supporting actress goes to Penelope Cruz for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."
- Wow, Aretha Franlin's "Respect" transposed for the film "Ballast" with new lyrics and sung by Taraj P.Henson. Ouch...
- The John Cassavetes award, given out for a film made for less than $500,000 dollars, went to "In Search Of A Midnight Kiss." This was pre-ordained. You knew that film was going to take it. We thought that film was rather obnoxious. The director is swearing a lot during his speech. Ooh. I've counted about 5 7 f-bombs.
- Hey, our buddy Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger singing with Robyn Hitchcock for the "Rachel Getting Married" song, "Up To Our Nex." I could always get behind the music in the film; the movie not so much. The performance was a bit shaky near the end though.
- Best Documentary went to James Marsh's "Man On Wire," gee, you woulda never guessed that. Very deserving though, one of the year's best, without question. Most of the music was pre-existing music by Michael Nyman, but he also thanked J. Ralph who wrote some key music for the doc, which was great.
- The Best Actress award went to Melissa Leo, for "Frozen River," and this was a crowded field. She beat out Anne Hathaway, for "Rachel Getting Married," and Michelle Williams for "Wendy & Lucy." Man, that one woulda been hard to call. I wouldn't have put money on her, but she's very, very deserving. We didn't totally love it, but her performance was heartbreaking. At least Michelle Williams got some nomination love. Man, Leo's speech was a little bit much (read: annoying). Thank god, she's not winning an Oscar.
- My god. Wow, Terri Hatcher just raped "Wendy & Lucy" in a super tacky song called, "The Bitch Is Gone." Painful.
The Acura Someone to Watch award went to Lynne Shelton for "My Effortless Brilliance." Does she get an Acura for this? Shit, Sean Nelson, wrote this film. Man, we knew this and totally forgot! Congrats, Sean. Don't want to be a total hater, but glad "Medicine For Melancholy" and its director didn't win. Nothing against it personally, but thought it was grossly overrated.
- The Producer award went to Heather Rae for "Frozen River."
- The Truer Than Fiction award goes to Margaret Brown, for the "The Order of Myths."
- Best Screenplay is taken by Woody Allen for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Woody was not present to accept award, business as usual for him. Wow, woulda though Charlie Kaufman woulda won. Not a huge fan of the movie, but the screenplay was fantastic; far funnier.
- A "Frozen River" song done by Christina Applegate. No comment.
- Best Foreign Film goes to "The Class" Yes, finally love some. We just wrote a piece about how it was being sadly overlooked, so this is great. We honestly would have probably chosen, "Silent Light" ourselves if we were going to choose our favorite film, but all the nominees here, "Hunger," "Secret of the Grain," and "Gommorah" are all fantastic films and deserving.
- Best Cinematography has gone to Maryse Alberti for "The Wrestler." We can definitely get behind that, her work is some of the best stuff in the film. It's nice to see a female DP get love too, there's not a ton of them out there. Darren Aronofsky accepted for her, she sounds kinda incredible in all the documentaries she working on.
- The Robert Altman award honors the ensemble cast of "Synechdoche, New York." This award was announced when the nominations were first given out, so it's no surprise.
- Oh dear god, Rainn Wilson. No, please stop. He did the story of "The Wrestler," to James Brown's "I Feel Good," it was even more cringe-worthy than Terri Hatcher.
- Best Actor goes to Mickey Rourke for "The Wrestler," you basically figured that too, but the competition was fierce. So much great talent, Sean Penn, Javier Bardem. Mickey Rourke, instead of accepting his award, gave major props and love to his "Pope Of Greenwich Village" co-star Eric Roberts. "He's the fuckin man." Man, what a great, great, rambling speech. He sort of just forgot Marissa Tomei's name. Man, he's an amazing trainwreck!
- Best Director goes to Tom McCarthy for "The Visitor," wow! He bests Jonathan Demme, Courtney Hunt and Lance Hammer. Wow, unexpected, but so great for him.
- Best Film goes to The Wrestler." Awesome. No arguments there. The other nominees were "Ballast," "Wendy & Lucy," "Rachel Getting Married," and "Frozen River." "Each film here is a passion piece, we all bled to get here," Aronofsky said in his acceptance speech.

And that's a wrap. We didn't expect to "live blog" this thing, but it just kinda happened. If you were playing along -- and by the empty sounds of our message board you weren't, heh - we hope you had fun.

Spike Lee Says Boycott New York Post Over Racist Obama Cartoon

If you're not a New Yorker you're totally forgiven for not hearing about this backstory.

The lovely, right-wing centric New York Post published a cartoon on Wednesday which, by many, many interpretations, compared President Obama and his stimulus bill with a crazed chimp The Huffington Post explains:

"The drawing, from famed cartoonist Sean Delonas, is rife with violent imagery and racial undertones. In it, two befuddled-looking police officers holding guns look over the dead and bleeding chimpanzee that attacked a woman in Stamford, Connecticut. 'They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill,' reads the caption."

It's blatantly racist and as of yesterday, the Post wrote a conditional, half-hearted apology (as they took the forum to call their critics "opportunists" in the same mea culpa space - bad form) But a protest led by the Reverend Al Sharpton which director Spike Lee attended said the "apology" wasn't enough and he's calling for a boycott of the paper.

"This is not the end. It's not just black folks. It's an insult to everybody." Lee told around 300 demonstrators on Friday, who marched in front of the Post's offices shouting, "Shut it down." The director was also joined by his 11-year-old son.

While we have linked to NYPost gossip in the past, as their entertainment writers generally have a decent track record for real news amidst the BS (Sienna Miller is gone from "Notthingham" "Robin Hood," but yes, as we said, her gossip surrounding the exit was garbage), we don't endorse that shitty rag and if you're a New Yorker like us, you should probably be reading anything but, regardless of this imbroglio (we recommend the NYTimes instead).

Jason Schwartzman Writing The Music For Judd Apatow's 'Funny People'

Thanks to The Playlist reader, Mckenzie for the tip. Like the rest of the blogosphere, we were in such a rush to put up the trailer to Judd Apatow's dramedy "Funny People" yesterday, we failed to notice one rather interesting and kind of awesome tidbit of information.

Jason Schwartzman, who also co-stars, is writing the music for the film. How can we confirm this beyond a shadow of a doubt? See above in our graphic. "Music by Jason Schwartzman" is right there clear as day in the credits.

This is actually pretty cool. Schwartzman already moonlights with music in his one-man indie-pop side project, Coconut Records. His 2007 debut album, Nighttiming, featured singing guest vocal appearances by Zooey Deschanel and Kirsten Stewart. The melancholy, yet hopeful score to "Knocked Up" by Loudon Wainwright III (also a frequent Apatow cameo-maker, or supporting cast member) was one of our absolute favorites from the last few years, so we hope Schwartzman uses that as a jumping off point. It would fit the material here as well and Coconut Records spry pop does have a winsome and bittersweet underbelly as well.

Despite his busy acting schedule, Schwartzman/ Coconut Records actually had time to release a sophomore record called, Davy, in January of this year. We're a little bit behind on our record buying and need to pick this one up soon, Nighttiming was rather winning.

You've probably read enough about "Funny People" this week, but for more, check out the trailer and our story about it. The film, which is poised to be the most mature sad/funny work of Apatow's career, will be in theaters on July 31.
Coconut Records - "West Coast"

Coconut Records - "This Old Machine" f/Kirsten Dunst on vocals

'The Dark Knight' Cracks The $1 Billon Mark

Cue "The Dark Knight" boys. And hey, right on the eve of the Academy Awards. Not a bad consolation prize for all you geeks that thought 8 Oscar nominations just wasn't good enough, right? Congratulation, nerds! [THR]

Third 'Twilight' Film, 'Eclipse,' Greenlit For June 30, 2010 - Chris Weitz Won't Direct

Let's hope for the sake of the series and the fans, reports that James Mangold ("3:10 To Yuma") and Juan Antonio Bayona ("The Orphanage") are involved in the third "Twilight" film, "Eclipse," turn out to be true. Why's that?

Because rush-happy Summit Entertainment have already greenlit the third installment in the series and it's being set for less than 8 months after, "New Moon," on June, 30 2010 according to Variety.

EW already confirms because of the super tight turnaround, Chris Weitz will not direct.

Bummer for him, he maybe thought he might be on board for the full ride? Seems like they're taking the 'Harry Potter' franchise approach to their rotating cast of filmmakers at the helm.

Fox Searchlight In Talks For Zom-Rom-Com 'Breathers: A Zombie's Lament

Earlier this week the web reported that Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody was producing S. G. Browne's upcoming novel "Breathers: A Zombie's Lament," and the script was being adapted by Geoff LaTulippe (2008 Black List favorite "Going the Distance").

Well, according to Production Weekly, and probably no surprise to anyone when you think about it, Fox Searchlight is in talks to pick up the upcoming film that's being billed as a "zombie romantic comedy." This makes sense and youthful, teen romantic comedy (or 20-something zom com) with Cody's namebrand on it screams being justly in the Fox Searchlight wheelhouse. It doesn't sound like our thing, personally, but Searchlight could easily make it profitable we're sure.

Michael Giacchino Getting The Axe As Oscar Conductor?

Trouble a brewin' in the orchestra pit of the Oscars? That's what we're hearing. And now a blogspot has popped up and is airing the internal grievance publicly.

The gist is composer Michael Giacchino ("Ratatouille," "Star Trek," "Up") was offered the gig as conductor/composer for the Academy Award ceremony by Oscar show producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, (formerly a position held by Bill Conti who did the job successfully for 21 years) but Giachhino is apparently what they call in the score industry a "hummer" - he can't actually read or write music and this is causing some major issues. And Conti apparently didn't know this before he hired the composer. In fact, he just found out according to this report.

"Yesterday's rehearsal with the orchestra was not good. The orchestra was polite (they all have a lot of money riding on the continuing charade of Mr. Giacchino's orchestral output), but afterwards were discussing the possibility that Mr. Giacchino's conductor Tim Simonec would be needed to come in to add some 'professional help."

Our source is telling us this is a real actual problem happening in the here and now. The report continues.

"When Mr. Giacchino took the job the hope had been that most of the music would be pre-recorded and Mr. Giacchino would get a nod from the host like Mr. Conti had gotten and no one in the audience would be the wiser.

However, when there are five nominees and the conductor has to know the tempos and time signatures for all five themes and do it live, then a degree of competence is required. Especially in front of a billion or whatever people."

So the rumor/word is now that Giacchino just might be replaced at the last minute. Seat of the pants Oscars? Will Simonec take over, period? Word is they're doing their best to have everything fixed and pre-recorded, but some of the professional musicians are out and out amazed (and potentially outraged) that this is happening.

Judd Apatow's 'Funny People' Trailer

It's here for now in HD, but the embed is below. Be slightly forewarned, the trailer for Judd Apatow's next directorial effort, "Funny People" gives a lot of the plot away. It's a dramedy starring Adam Sandler as a famous stand-up comedian who believes he's dying. Seth Rogen plays his buddy, a struggling comic who becomes a quasi gopher/assistant and Leslie Mann plays Sandler's long-lost girlfriend who he's trying to reconnect with after his "near death" experience. Problem is she's married to Eric Bana? Does he fuck up their family and relationship?

Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza and Jonah Hill play some of Rogen's stand-up buddies who are in more than a bit of disbelief that Rogen has befriended the well-known celebrity that is Sandler's character. The Postal Service scores this thing? Hmm, odd. We've read the script to "Funny People," and its possibly the best, the most melancholy and the most realistic thing Judd Apatow has ever penned. There's a lot of existential, dealing-with-one's-mortality issues in the script too. It's well written and strikes a good balance of what we've seen so far from his funny/sad work. Will it be as sad and dramatic on the page or look as goofy and fun as it does in the trailer or will it be a classic mix of the comedy and heart template he's built over the last few years? It's hard to say just by judging the trailer, but all the ingredients are there on the page for it to be Apatow's most mature work.

Here's the official synopsis too:

Over the past few years, writer/director Judd Apatow ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up") has shown that nothing—not even losing your virginity or the miracle of childbirth—is sacred. About his third film behind the camera, he says, “I’m trying to make a very serious movie that is twice as funny as my other movies. Wish me luck!” Apatow directs Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann in Funny People, the story of a famous comedian who has a near-death experience. Jonah Hill, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman, RZA and newcomer Aubrey Plaza join a cast that reunites Judd Apatow with Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Jonah Hill in their third comedy together.

The film is in theaters this summer, July 31.

'Demon In A Bottle' Story Pops Up Early In 'Iron Man 2' Says Production Designer

Tony Stark Upchucks While Suited Up In 'Iron Man 2'
NPR has an interesting bit about some "Iron Man 2" plot points. Apparently Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark character does some good ol' alcohol inspired barfing at the top of the screenplay. Sounds like that "Demon In A Bottle" story line is indeed going to rear its head.

"Eight weeks before shooting began on Iron Man 2, [production designer,] J. Michael Riva had just gotten the first real script.

But he did have a list of sets and plot points. The first item on the list read: 'Tony, in the Iron Man armor, pukes in a toilet.'

'I design a toilet,' says Riva. 'My big job for the day. After that I can go home. My kids ask me, 'What'd you do today, Dad?' I designed a toilet!"

What's the big deal. If Tony Stark writes a hit play saves the world shouldn't he be able to have a drink to unwind himself? BTW, we saw "I Love You, Man," last night and Favreau is rather awesome in it. Nice to see he's kept his comedic charms and timing.

The Playlist's Half-Hearted 2008 Oscar Predictions

Do you really need Oscar predictions from The Playlist or anyone for that matter? Yes and no, and yes. The Oscar season has been rather boring because most of the winners seemed pre-ordained. In our sporting-obsessed culture, the Academy Awards are generally more exciting when you don't know what's going to happen and there's a thrill and anticipation going on. "Slumdog Millionaire" does look poised to sweep, but as they say (ugh), anything can happen!

Will Oscar voters have felt 'Slumdog' backlash at this point in the game? Will they just want to see some other films get some love and collectively that'll add up to wins for other movies? Who knows. Honestly, after the nominees were announced, we started tuning out the minutia of Oscar pundit-ing and temperature taking. We feel [ed. and me especially] less confident this year in our predictions that we have in many years simply because of that: we've basically tuned out and haven't been following. So these are "our" predictions [ed. I consulted two Playlist members with an Oscar-centric bent and either agreed, disagreed or veto'd]. And yes, we [I] won a $50 dollar bet recently when we said Michael Shannon would get a nomination (despite the fact he was shut out of the SAG nominations) we wouldn't necessarily recommend you follow us note for note.

PS, We may do some actual research this weekend, so we reserve the right to change this list at any time before the show. Hopefully we won't second guess ourselves too much though.

Best Pic - "Slumdog Millionaire"
Director - Danny Boyle
Actor- Sean Penn (but the rest of the Playlist teams is for Mickey Rourke, you may see this change between now and Sunday evening)
Actress - Kate Winslet (yeah, "The Reader" thing is weird and confusing cause it was supporting at the Globes, but she's due. "Doubt" and Streep did not receive the same kind of support)
Sup Actor - Heath Ledger (duh)
Sup Actress - Penelope Cruz (this is the spoiler/dark horse category. We'll play it safe, but look for Amy Adams or Viola Davis to upset)
Original Screenplay - "Milk"
Adapted Screenplay - "Slumdog Millionaire" ("The Reader" could be the upsetter here)
Editing - "Slumdog Millionaire"
Cinematography - "Slumdog Millionaire" ("Button" is prettier, and so is "The Reader," but 'Slumdog' won the Guild award)
Art Direction - 'Benjamin Button'
Costume - "The Duchess"
Make-up - 'Benjamin Button'
Vis FX - 'Benjamin Button'
Score - "Slumdog Millionaire"(really want to go with Alexandre Desplat's Benjamin Button which was beautiful, but...)
Song - "Slumdog Millionaire"- "Jai ho" (really want to change this to Peter Gabriel's "Wall-E" cause it's leaps and bounds better, but we're going with the conventional wisdom for now)
Sound Edit - "The Dark Knight"
Sound Mix - "The Dark Knight"
Animation - "Wall E" (probably a lock, but let's not forget that "Kung Fu Panda" swept the Annies and "Wall-E" was shut-out)
Foreign Film - "Waltz with Bashir" (sometimes a wild card category)
Documentary - "Man on Wire" (this is a very wild card category, but if you want to play it safe, go with 'Wire')

Don't ask us about the short doc or animated or live-action shorts right now, we might do some research over the weekend, but we'd be lying if we said we had a clue at the moment. We paid zero attention there, alas. Look for a potential update on Sunday afternoon.

Alexandre Desplat Scoring Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'?

Is 'Benjamin Button' composer Alexandre Desplat writing the music to Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox"? According to the film's IMDB page, yes, and the info must be relatively new because we periodically check to see if there are any updates (for a while the music credits were blank). However, there's no mention of 'Fox' listed on Desplat's official website yet.

Our understanding of the IMDB process is that adds like these have to be requested by the author or someone working for them, but IMDB is still very fallible and does have incorrect info up there from time to time. There's probably no reason not to believe it though.

Some might ask, no Mark Mothersbaugh, the longtime Anderson-composer who worked on every film save for "The Darjeeling Limited"? (it used pre-existing score music from the great Indian director/composer Satyajit Ray). There's no 'Fox' mention on Mothersbaugh's site either. In an undated UGO interview that sounds like it was a few years after 'Life Aquatic,' Mothersbaugh told the website, " Wes actually put out the idea of scoring the film first like an old Looney Tunes cartoon. I think the way that would work is that you would do it like a radio show, where you record all the voices, then I would score that."

But it appears that's not happening.

We do know that ex-Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker is writing some songs for the film and apparently some of it has a "hillbilly" banjo-centric motif. "There's only one [song] I've finished up to now," Cocker said in August. It's a slightly hillbilly-sounding song actually, but yeah, [Wes Anderson]'s doing this thing for 'Fantastic Mr Fox', it's like a model animation, you know, so kind of old-fashioned."

The 'Fox' director, Cocker, some friends and what looks like longtime-Anderson music supervisor Randall Poster on the right, were spotted in March of last year hanging out in Paris, Wes with a ukulele in hand.

Desplat is also scoring Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life," which will hopefully come out sometime in 2009 (rumored to be at Cannes too, but since there's been zero talk of it lately, it seems dubious).

Score news of less interest because he hasn't done anything of note in years (though he's still been Academy nominated up the wazoo, shrug), John Williams is writing the music for Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn," [ed. still the gayest title ever].

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" is scheduled to hit theaters on November 6. It would be nice if some photos of the stop-motion animation would be released already.

Oliver Stone's 'Pinkville' Not Dead Yet; Working On Another Documentary About The History Of Empires?

Before the Bush examination in"W.," Oliver Stone was all set to go on "Pinkville," another Vietnam film, this time specifically one about the 1968 My Lai massacre. It was going to star Bruce Willis, Woody Harrelson, Channing Tatum, Michael Peña and Cam Gigandet, but the 2007 writer's strike, put a huge snag into updates and touch-ups so United Artists, shut down the production at almost the last minute.

However, Stone recently told MTV he can resurrect the project any time he really wants. Though the time may not be right now.

“‘Pinkville’ is not dead. I own it. I could activate it again. I don’t know if the time is right now with the Iraq War still going on, but I love that project and it’s an important one. My Lai is a forgotten piece of history that’s crucial to remember. You never know, these things come alive.”

Stone also says he bailed on the proposed "Wall Street" sequel, and hinted about another documentary -- that was not about his upcoming documentary on Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez -- that he will only discuss in vague terms. “It’s on the concept of history. I don’t want to talk about it too much. This is not Ken Burns style. This is not America first, ethno-centric stuff. This is about the serious, objective view of the place of empire.”

Cast Of Terry Gilliam's 'Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus' Teased In Photo

There's been little in the way of info on Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," though a meh, international poster was recently released and it looks like the film has a U.S. release date of September 24. But our pal at CHUD, Russ Fischer, points us to 'Imaginarium' cinematographer Nicola Pecorini's web site, which hosts this above large photo which give us our first small glimpse at the entire cast which includes, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, Tom Waits, Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and of course Heath Ledger in what will be his final onscreen appearance. It's not a lot, but it's something. By all accounts, Pecorini seemed to be very good friends with Ledger.

The Dreaded Entertainment Weekly List Returns
We don't want to give to much credence to EW's 25 Greatest Active Film Directors list. The more people get outraged..., well that's exactly what EW wants, "healthy debate" is what Anne Thompson calls it, but over at the EW website it's basically just an excuse to get people to click thru 25 times, which we think is total transparent BS.

Most of the gripes of the list is pure bitching and moaning that brings absolutely nothing good to the conversation, but Film Drunk's drunken rant, "I f-cking hate lists. Everyone on the internet constantly spews inane monkey shit and puts numbers next to it and call it a “Top (blank) List.” And people click on that shit because we’re all simple f-cking shitheads when it comes right down to it," is pretty amusing. Or as Glen Kenny says, "Why do magazines and websites do them almost all the frickin' time? Because lists are putatively "fun." People notice them, argue about them. They take them [too] seriously, pretty much regardless of what their sources are...oddly enough. For a magazine in particular, a list is a potential goldmine of publicity. It gets your product noticed. TV news, radio outlets, they LOVE lists."

Defamer ridicules EW's list with their says-it-all headline that we also find rather funny, "Entertainment Weekly' Hates Directors Who Are Good, Foreign, Or Female."

But it's Anne Thompson's take and mild scolding of the list we love the best. She does a play by play on each director they've chosen and tells them where they're right and where they're wrong. Its much more substantive than most people's hysterical , "OMG! OMG! How did you omit XYZ director!?!" Here's our choice selects on her pithy commentary. Most of it centers on the truth behind making these lists and the suckers and easy lays they're aimed at.

15. Sam Raimi
This list is very EW, geared at younger males. Raimi is a great director and deserves all credit for his movies including the "Spiderman" films. But again, he's ahead of some great Hollywood filmmakers here.

16. Zack Snyder
"300" was great and I can't wait to see "Watchmen." Again, ahead of Boyle, Eastwood, Alomodovar and Howard? Please.

19. Clint Eastwood
Why so shockingly low? He's the model for how to be a director, for chrissakes. Is he, maybe, too old for these juvenile-oriented EW fanboys?

21. Ang Lee
An astonishingly versatile, sensitive filmmaker who can handle an American western, a British Jane Austen movie, or Asian epics. He can do anything.

24. Pedro Almodovar
Easily one of the greatest directors in the world.

Ain't that the truth. Go, Anne.

Composer Max Richter Talks The "Haunted" Music Of 'Waltz With Bashir'

Composer Max Richter wrote one of our favorite film scores in 2008 for the deeply haunting Israeli film, "Waltz With Bashir." The Ari Folman-directed documentary, which uses animation to discuss its dream-like subjects is about the 1983 Beirut massacre. Why animation to depict a well-known atrocity? The film is told and "remembered" through the hazy and submerged recollections of Folman's first hand memories as a member of the Israeli army. The film is the frontrunner in the Best Foreign Film race and is poised to win the Oscar this weekend. We caught up with Richter to see how he provided the powerful soundtrack to one man's remembered nightmare.

How did you get involved in this project?

In the usual way for me - an email out of the blue. Ari had been listening to my record The Blue Notebooks while writing the film - apparently he wrote it in a week while the CD was on repeat - so he thought since i'd already in a way scored the script, he might as well ask me to do the film. In the case of 'Bashir,' the minute I saw the short trailer Ari sent me I knew I had to do it - it was a bit like being struck by lightning.

Did you consciously use themes from known-classical music piece? There's a few parts of the score that sounded really familiar, Were you writing nods/homages to existing works?
Although the bulk of the score is all original work there are two "found objects" that inhabit a couple of cues. They are both piano pieces: the slow movement of Schubert D.959 and the well known "funeral march" from the Chopin Op.35. I used these fragments in the film after discussing with Ari his reasons for including the Schubert in the original trailer - turns out his mother was a pianist and that these pieces meant something to him personally. So it made perfect sense to refer to this material in a couple of scenes.

What was your goal for the emotional through line of the film?
I felt like the entire film should have this "haunted" quality, so the music is like a hallucination - actually this is pretty natural territory for me. The main "haunted ocean" music is all about that - a sort of unresolved, weightless, lost melancholia is the general tone I was looking for.

What was the musical direction like?

Ari had temp-tracked some scene with some very good music - bits and pieces of Sigur Ros, Brian Eno etc. So I had a good sense of one possible way through the material, but I decided to put the temps aside and just write a first set of sketches off the script instead. I started to chase down that feeling I got from the material and wrote "The Haunted Ocean" straight onto the paper. It was a one cup of coffee moment. Once I had that down, everything else just fell into place. Ari is very into music himself so he was really an ideal director to collaborate with. It was just a great experience batting material back and forth every few weeks between us, so the images and score could evolve in parallel.

You worked with Future Sounds Of London in the past, any prospects of doing electronic music again?

I try not to think of categories in music and I shuffle between both "classical" music and more "experimental" and "post rock" traditions...so I feel like i'm dipping into all these different cultures all the time. It's a question of finding the right mix of elements for each situation - like a kid in the chemistry lab I just keep pouring stuff into the test tube until it goes BOOM.

Who would you like to work with in the future?

There are so many interesting film makers out there. Again in no particular order, some of the ones who are using music in really creative ways. Alexander Sokhurov, Gus Van Sant, Sally Potter, Andrei Zvyagintsev, Bill Viola, Tran Anh Hung, Godard (!), Ang Lee, Wes Anderson....so many others.

BTW, "Waltz With Bashir" is now coming out in graphic novel form. Very cool.

The Curious Case Of 'The Class': An International Hit, An American Failure
So what exactly happened to "The Class," Laurent Cantet's extraordinary class drama about social, racial and economic tensions in modern day French school rooms? The vibrant picture won the coveted Palme d'Or at Cannes last year, was equally lauded around the film festival circuit -- TIFF, NYFF -- and then kind of disappeared.

For one it was supposed to open in the United States on December 12 in limited release, but something happened. Apparently it was moved to a December 19 release date, but we didn't start seeing review in local New York media -- The Village Voice, Time Out New York -- until early January.

There seemed to be an awareness problem and the picture lost all North American momentum, juice and steam. Did Sony Pictures Classics fuck this one up? Does someone know the story here? "The Class" has a stellar 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, but most people are hard-pressed to even know about its existence. Internationally, the film has taken in a very respectable $22 million. And stateside? A pitiful $911,648. Yes, it's a bit of a niche foreign film with what some might argue has limited mainstream appeal, but c'mon. The film is excellent and is deserving of so much more. It is nominated in the Best Foreign Film Oscar category this weekend, but it's chances of seeing Academy gold seem slim.

Either way, that's fine. All the nominees in this category are worthy, but with a film that had all the aforementioned going for it, "The Class," feels like a missed opportunity that never got its due.

'Traffic's' Oscar-Winning Screenwriter Stephen Gaghan Adapting 'Dead Spy'

Screenwriter Stephen Gaghan won an Oscar for "Traffic" and picked up a nomination for "Syriana," both times receiving the sole writing credit. In between, he worked on the scripts for "The Alamo" and "Havoc" as a collaborator. So it is perhaps best for all concerned if he flies solo on the adaptation of Jon Stock's soon-to-be-published spy thriller, "Dead Spy Running." Of course, THR also reports McG is attached to direct the film, so perhaps the script won't end up mattering quite so much. THR says the film is supposed to start a new trilogy for Warner Bros. and references both Bourne and John Le Carre. Which sounds suspiciously like the tone Daniel Craig-era Bond is going for. Or every other espionage movie.

Plot details are scarce, the novel appears to being with a "Speed"-like scenario where a marathoner is strapped with explosives and must maintain a certain pace to prevent them exploding. The hero, a suspended employee of MI6 (who somehow doesn't have the initials "J.B.") is also running the race, and fallout from the event leads to a globetrotting tour as he tries to clear his father's name, for some reason.

'Spider-Man' The Musical Hits Some Snags
Is embarrassment priceless? Launching a rather ridiculous and $31 million-dollar expensive "Spider Man" musical in a recession? The Julie Taymor-directed production has been pushed back again for a third time and is apparently suffering from "still-unresolved creative decisions."

Rehearsals have been pushed from the spring to the fall. U2 is still composing the score. Whether they're going to regret that more than "Rattle & Hum," remains to be seen. We won't see this thing until 2010 at the earliest. Maybe by then cooler heads will have prevailed and that money can instead be used for starving children in Africa.[Vulture]

My Chemical Romance Won't Be Doing 'New Moon' Music Anytime Soon

My Chemical Romance have apparently turned down the, *cough*, "Twilight saga" and won't be contributing music to the second installment, "New Moon," which is due in theaters November 20.

Ok, they haven't been asked to participate yet, but they seem like a natural fit, right?

"I don't think so," My Chem frontman Gerard Way told MTV. "We're very choosy. ... There were a few films that we didn't do the song for because it didn't fit. I guess a lot of people would say that a vampire movie would fit, but I would disagree with that these days. Even since Black Parade, I would kind of disagree with that. I don't know if we'd be interested in that."

Oooh, burn. Somewhere in Middle America, Stephenie Meyer is crying and consoling herself with ho-hos.

Anonymous Oscar Presenters Back Out; Head Writer Bruce Villanch Reveals More Show Secrets: Expect A Vaudevillian Cabaret Feel

"It's time to shake it up a little bit, isn't it?" Academy show co-producer Laurence Mark told USA Today.

Rating were at an all time low last year and obviously the show is attempting to go out on a limb boldly, but it could all backfire. So far almost no stars have been announced as presenters and the cloak of secrecy is the way they hope to draw in people, but will people respond?

"When [the producers] told me what they were going to do, I said, 'Look, if it works, you're geniuses, and if it doesn't, you're the putzes who sank the show,' " veteran head Oscar writer Bruce Vilanch told the AP.

According to the Hollywood Reporter some stars who were scheduled to present, but weren't yet announced have already dropped out. Are stars having cold feet about the potentially wacky things they may want them to do or are obligations getting in the way?

Show producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon told USA Today that "the plan is to craft [the show] as a combination vaudeville show and nightclub — where 24 awards just happen to be dispensed."

So like dancing and musical numbers? Yes. Villanch adds to this by saying, "[Host] Hugh Jackman is going to come out and say a few things, but he's not going to do a 10-minute monologue... He's going to be doing a lot of musical stuff, so that will have a different feel to it. The show's got a narrative line this year, so all the awards are grouped around that. The sequence in which they're given is dictated by this narrative."

Narrative, narrative, narrative. That's all people keep saying. So there's some story through-line that connects all the awards? According to USA Today, the goal is to honor all the films of 2008 and not just those up for awards. So they suggest "pop hits" like "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" will get their due too [ed. but with eight nominations, we definitely think 'TDK' has not been ignored as some have suggested]. People think Jackman is a weird choice for host, but he has hosted the Tonys like three-four times and even won an Emmy for doing so.

Update: Vulture reports that Anne Hathaway may open the show with Jackman who's also reached out to Ricky Gervais for jokes. Meanwhile, a story on a blog has "leaked" the supposed winners, but like Awards Daily says, linking to it is giving that bullshit creedence and its just someone fishing around for extra traffic.

First Look: New 'Inglourious Basterds' Teaser Posters

"Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France..." We can't say by any stretch of the imagination we're loving these Lionsgate-y looking "Inglourious Basterds" posters for Quentin Tarantino's new WII film.

They look like a cross between a Drowning Pool album cover, a torture-porn or lame horror poster, but we get the marketing teaser angle so we'll forgive it. Blood, loves? The easy-lay geeks are surely all a flutter over them. The one thing we do like is the 3rd poster at the top right, which has the Tarantino 'Inglourious' scrawl from the script transposed onto the the butt of a rifle. That's a nice little touch, but we're hoping the film doesn't turn out to be a "Let The Bodies Hit The Floor," WWE dude-core fest. Hopefully that's just how they'll market it, so suck in the 20-somethings that love a little blood, gore and badass action. [Empire]

Update: We knew we were onto something, but couldn't articulate it. Lionsgate? Torture-Porn? A Hollywood Elsewhere reader nails it (god, we're dumb sometimes). This looks like a fucking poster for an Eli Roth movie! not a Quentin Tarantino movie and that's a big, big problem.

Weekend Box Office Options for Feb. 20-22nd

Proof that stupidity is recession-proof: the "Friday the 13th" reboot ran away with last weekend's box office, bringing down over 40 million clams in its first weekend. There's nothing this weekend that looks aggressive enough to knock this turgid load off its perch, though perhaps the total media blitzkrieg that is the "Fired Up" ad campaign will pay some dividends and one should never underestimate the core Tyler Perry audience that always come out opening weekend in the fullest of force. Anyway, to the films!

This weekend's highest profile release is, of course, the aforementioned teen comedy "Fired Up." Directed by first timer Will Gluck, the film stars Eric Christian Olsen ("Not Another Teen Movie," "Dumb and Dumberer") and Nicholas D'Agosto as two jocks who ditch their pads to attend cheer camp in hopes of getting more girls. Reviews have been unkind as the picture sits at a 29% at Rotten Tomatoes right now. Probably best to avoid...

The weekend's other wide release is another installment in Tyler Perry's seemingly endless Madea series, this time entitled "Madea Goes to Jail." Right now there's no info to be had at RT, but the increasing Ernest-ification of these movies cannot possibly be a good sign.

Moving to limited releases, this weekend offers "Chain Link" from first time writer/director Dylan Reynolds. Though there are only scant reviews thus far, the film looks like a fairly by-the-numbers cautionary tale about a recently released ex-con who finds himself back in a life of crime in order to live the life he longs for, et cetera. Hardly revolutionary.

There's also Dehli-6, an Indian film about a young man's journey from America back to India with his grandmother. The trip becomes an exploration of the boy's heritage and past. Details are pretty slim, but the film may cash in on some of the 'Slumdog' goodwill that is bound to be swelling up this Oscar weekend.

Fans of "Project Runway" should check out "Eleven Minutes," the new documentary that follows the fortunes of Jay McCarroll, first-season winner of the Bravo reality show as he tries to put together a fashion show. The film has a just-better-than-average 57% right now which means it might be worth a look. Fans of documentaries looking for something headier will enjoy "Must Read After My Death," a doc put together by filmmaker Morgan Dews about the dissolution of his grandparents' marriage and the time that the family spent in counseling. Assembled from the exhaustive films, tapes and notes kept by his grandmother, the film has gone over quite well so far. Looks like a keeper!

Finally, there's "In the Electric Mist," a long-delayed, low-profile detective story with a monster of a cast. Tommy Lee Jones stars as a detective investigating a murder in the seedy underworld of New Orleans. Also starring John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard and Kelly McDonald ("No Country for Old Men") the film looks mildly promising. At least better than most of this weekend's offerings.

In closing, New Yorkers should check out "Katyn" at Film Forum this weekend. Directed by the semi-legendary eighty-two year old Andrzej Wajda, the film is a powerful story about the Soviets' brutal killing of over fifteen thousand Poles in one weekend in 1940. Guaranteed to be better than anything else opening this weekend.

Good luck and or rent if you're not in New York. Your choices suck, frankly. Or dial-up "Che" on-demand already.

Pedro Almodovar's 'Broken Embraces' Teaser Trailer Looks Perfectly Elusive And Enigmatic

What "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" proved to a lot of non-foreign film watching audiences was that Penelope Cruz could actually act and act something fierce. People who have watched spectacular turns in Pedro Almodovar films like "Live Flesh," "Volver" and Spanish-language films like "Abros Los Ojos" already knew this, but you're forgiven if you thought she couldn't cut it, because -- much like great actors who often are terrible when not speaking their native tongue, hello Antonio Banderas -- in English language films, she's generally a fish out of water.

Once again back in the bosom of symbiotic muse Pedro Almodovar, we're expecting big things from "Broken Embraces," one of our most anticipated films of 2009. The film noir has been kept under tight wraps for some time now and this trailer and its little synopsis elucidate more than anything has so far. "Los Abrazos Rotos": A man writes, lives and loves in the darkness. He was the victim of a brutal car accident fourteen years ago. Not only did he lose his sight, but also the woman of his life, Lena (Penelope Cruz).

The 59-year-old Almodovar should have peaked probably sometime in the '90s, but he's been in full swing in the last few years, with "Talk To Her" and "Volver" as some of the best foreign language films of this decade (we don't even want to qualify them as that, but for now...).We don't put a lot of stock in list-happy EW's lists (lists sell, this is why they do them, it's proven easy content), but it is interesting to note that he's the one of the few foreign directors on their 25 Greatest Active Directors lists and the only real Foreign-language filmmaker (Guillermo has moved on from that world). The wonderful score here is done once again by Alberto Iglesias, who some of the greatest composers in the world all agree was robbed when he did not receive an Oscar nomination at the 2006 Academy Awards for "Volver" (if it's not obvious by now, that movie is amazing).

"Broken Embraces" comes out in France in May (and March for Spain) which leaves many educated guessers to speculate that the film will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. In North America, the film November 6 via Sony Pictures Classics.

Update: ComingSoon have an even better synopsis: "Broken Embraces is a four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of '50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled, and will mix references to works like Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place and Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful, with signature Almodovar themes such as fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers."

Linda Hamilton Confirms, If She Shows Up For 'Termintor Salvation' It's Only Her Voice

Linda Hamilton is in negotiations to appear in McG's "Terminator Salvation," but she confirms if she does agree to the "role," it will only be her voice.

"We are talking," Hamilton told MTV. "I haven't read it yet. I don't know what direction they will go in. My contribution would be voiceover," she said. "I would probably be very happy to loan my voice depending on what the material is. Wait and see. They're already writing it. We've been negotiating it."

Sounds like she's not entirely convinced this is a project she should put her name on, even if it is just her voice and has a James Cameron-like "prove it to me" attitude, smart. And makes sense considering they were married and something musta rubbed off.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Not In 'The Expendables'?

In the same EW piece below, about Mickey Rourke possibly still being in "Iron Man 2," the magazine says "the rumor that Arnold Schwarzenegger is joining ["The Expendables"] seems to be false -- though one source says, 'You never know.'

Isn't he too busy fucking up the state of California to appear in action bro-down with Sly Stallone? They also note that Eric Roberts has replaced Ben Kingsley, but that's already been reported. Again, trying to shoe-horn in the action?

Oh and in more unrelated rumor killer news: The Wachowski brothers apparently have nothing to do with any "Superman" reboots. Good.

Mickey Rourke Maybe Still In 'Iron Man 2'? Rourke Alludes To Salary Issues, "They Need To Do Some Road Work"

The reporting in this EW piece isn't stellar, but it's sort of their response to the Vulture piece where Mickey Rourke himself said he wasn't in the film, "right now," which was basically loaded with tons of implication. It's basically their attempt to horn in on the piece of the news action.

"The Oscar-nominated star of The Wrestler, who starts his gig on Sylvester Stallone's testosterone-fueled The Expendables in two weeks, could still play a Russian baddie in the Iron Man sequel, as sources tell EW that the offer still stands, though nothing's yet being negotiated."

"Could still"? We would trust what comes out of Rourke's mouth before we would trust what a damage-controlling Marvel studio person told EW frankly. And if he starts "The Expendables" in two weeks does that leave room for "Iron Man 2"? Frankly, yes. 'IM2' was supposed to start in April, but apparently it has no fixed start date yet, so this is where EW's reporting could turn out to be true. Update: ReelTalkTV has an interview with Rourke.

"I would love to be in 'Iron Man 2.' I met with Jon Favreau and I really liked him, I met with one of the guys from Marvel and he was real interesting and I talked to the writer and we talked about what I would like to do and bring. If it happens... I'm a Robert Downey Jr. fan. Robert's a great actor, I think we would have fun, the chemistry would be great. It's a possibility... they need to do some road work that needs and then... we'll see," Rourke said alluding to the negotiations problems.

"They"? Well, there's nothing vague about that. Marvel, the ball is in your court. Pony up or loose your villain.