Festivals
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Comic-Con: Jameson Wants Johansson to Star in Biopic
[Posted by Erin Maxwell]Not many folks in the adult industry can claim A-list status. Despite the fact that the adult film market is a billion-dollar one, its only recently that H'wood moguls and the beautiful people have begun to acknowledge its presence. Most of this is due to the diligent efforts...
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LAFF: Bloggers Poolside Chat
I had fun moderating the blogging panel poolside at the W. From right, Sasha Stone of Awards Daily, Kate Coe of Fishbowl LA, Jeff Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere and I all agreed that we are obsessed; speed is of the essence, although, Stone said, one can always throw something up fast and tweak it la...
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Transformers: LAFF Premiere
Transformers took over Westwood last night, playing on multiple screens with crowds jamming Broxton Avenue will-call tables and an after-party on the street.
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Oceans Gang and Hollywood Salute Pacino at AFI
At the Oceans Thirteen premiere in Cannes, the movie's arch-villain, Al Pacino, was noticeably absent. The actor was back in L.A., producer Jerry Weintraub told the Cannes press corps, because he was prepping for his AFI Life Achievement Award. On the beach in Cannes, the Oceans gang taped a video t...
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Oceans Gang Hits Croisette
Raucous laughter hit the Palais during the morning screening of Oceans Thirteen, which was followed by an equally entertaining press conference as Steven Soderbergh and his Oceans Thirteen gang goofed on themselves and the assembled press corps.
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Cannes Moments, Diving Bell and Butterfly, Parties
I was sure I wasn't going to make the 7:30 PM Palais screening of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I had about an hour to walk all the way from the Sofitel on the point to the Variety office behind the Grand to get my ticket and rush to my apartment behind the Carlton, put on my black tie duds and makeup and hustle down the crowded Croisette on high heels to the Lumiere. But I really wanted to see this film and wasn't going to give up. Luckily I had an orchestra ticket, which gives you more breathing room and lets you walk up the red steps. I scooted behind Sharon Stone as she posed for photogs and found my place and tried to cool off as we...
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DiCaprio Talks, Cannes Party Hopping
It was fun taking a breather at the Hotel du Cap Saturday to interview Leo DiCaprio. Warner Independent shuttled various journos from the Palais along the Mediterranean coast to the Cap d'Antibes. We walked through the sun-dappled woods to a series of cabanas by the water, where we hung out until Le...
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Coens Movie and Sicko Debut; Waiting for Jessica Simpson
Last night's unveiling of No Country for Old Men lived up to all my expectations and more. It's one of the Coen brothers' most assured films, on a par with their Oscar-winning Fargo or Miller's Crossing, with a touch of the southwestern twang of Raising Arizona. The movie, which stars veterans Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem at their best and break-out hunk Josh Brolin, belongs with the Coens' bleaker films, but adds their trademark comic tone to Cormac McCarthy's tragic book. It's a faithful adaptation, a lean and spare cinematic rendering of McCarthy's western of inexorably doomed characters. The movie also touches the zeitgeist as it exp...
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Twisted Cannes Triangle; Jones and Law Talk My Blueberry Nights; Miller's Spirit
In Cannes you often get the sense that everyone else is doing something that you're not. God forbid you should choose badly. So this morning I skipped the Jerry Seinfeld Bee Movie stunt at the Carlton (Dade Hayes got to see him fly on a cable from the top of the hotel to the Carlton Beach in a bee s...
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Greetings from Lucasland
I went up to SF last week with some Variety folks for a meeting at Lucasfilm's Presidio digs, complete with tour. We pulled up at the Letterman Digital Art Center on a gorgeous sunny spring day. The new white buildings fit into the rolling landscape as if they belonged there; George Lucas brought over the same Mission vibe that he had at the Mill Valley Skywalker Ranch. The big new 35 mm/Christie 2K screening room, which holds 296 removeable seats and a computer hook-up, was stunning too. (There are two smaller ones and seven "view stations" as well.) We watched a cool history timeline of ILM FX, from 1977's Star Wars through Willow, The Aby...
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