"Hey Wes! So I watched My Soul to Take last night... well, I tried. I had to turn it off after 50 minutes because I couldn't believe what I was watching. It was so bad! And not bad in any entertaining way, just really, really boring and bad. I knew it wasn't going well when I started to wish you'd just return to the halcyon days of Cursed! Yes, I sat through all of Cursed, so I know bad Wes Craven when I see it.
Seriously, what was up with My Soul to Take? It was 50 minutes in and only two characters had died! And really poorly, too. Thrown off of a bridge? Bitch, I could come up with a better death scene with the writers of Cougar Town! Such a yawner. And what the fuck was with all the freakin' birds?
WHAT WAS WITH THE FREAKIN' BIRDS?!?
That's all I've got to say on the matter, Wes. I hope you've brought your A-game to this Scream 4 set! PS I look hot in this dress."
While I'm generally twitchy about making y'all watch a video with Angela Biship, I found this video about the making of A Few Best Men and it does feature Xavier Samuel looking dapper in a suit and there is a mention of Olivia Newton John "swinging off the chandelier", and doesn't that sound like an enticing prospect?
Stephan Elliot's A Few Best Men will probably reach our screens in 2012. Here's a behind the scenes image I found that finally brings together the stars of The Twilight Saga, The Ghost Rider and A Mom For Christmas! Isn't this what we all really want?
I love a juicy bit of celebrity nostalgia. I love an interesting "behind the scenes" look. I love a great poster. I love Madonna. Add all these together and you can just guess how much I loved reading this article at My Life as a Blog (link via The Film Experience) about the making of the poster for Desperately Seeking Susan in the the mid-80s.
It's written by a man who worked on PR for the somewhat iconic 1985 film and the creation of the actually very iconic poster. It's an ode to the world of celebrity in the 1980s (Madonna catching taxis!) as well as the lost art of poster design that Susan a perfect example of. You know, when actors had to be in the same room rather than Photoshopped from opposite sides of the globe. The piece explains the story behind costume designer Santo Loquasto's duel jackets of the film, has multiple amazing Madonna quotes (even if, naturally, she comes of as a bit of a bitch) and features a cameo by Andre Leon Talley so delicious that I'm positively salivating.
At one point, Ritts was shooting some sultry glamour shots of Rosanna posing against a cloth backdrop, when Madonna came over. After gaping at Rosanna for a minute she said, “You look so good I’d like to fuck you myself.” It was funny, but you could almost hear the air—sssssss!—slipping out of Rosanna’s confidence, as her moment was stolen, and it became all about Madonna. And come on! This was Rosanna Arquette, after all—a true fantasy figure for a good portion of the men in America! Moments later, Madonna grabbed the backdrop, commandeered the same pose… and Herb shot an image that became a famous poster.
I suggest y'all check the piece out, it's fascinating from so many different points of view.
Want more beautiful things?
How about this list of the 50 best title sequences from IFC Film. It's an exhausting list - get prepared to lose at least an hour of your day with it - that includes video of all the films with some great discussion going on, too. I think this moment from the article's introduction is quite truthful, although even serious films seem to have jettisoned the art of opening title sequences, haven't they?
Of course, the current fashion in big blockbusters is to skip the opening credits entirely: a studio name, the film's title, and that's it. That decision says a lot about these big blockbusters' priorities: screw mood and tone! Who cares about characters and themes? Let's get to the action!
I've included some of my favourites below.
The Naked Gun | Do the Right Thing
Charade | Taxi Driver
Seconds | Goldfinger
Warriors | Vertigo
If you asked me to pick a favourite, I would have to go with Taxi Driver, and it's a shame they didn't include any David Lynch intro's since his are always so good with their creation of mood through imagery and music. I actually think Gasper Noe's Enter the Void managed to trump every single one on the list - although I may be jumping the gun - just this past year. I didn't care for the movie, but those opening (and closing, which feature at the beginning?) is a "tour de force"
If, for a moment there, this entry was becoming a piece of "the lost art of something-something" then let me change that by noting that giant floating heads are still alive and thriving. The Book of Siberia has assembled a whole bunch of them together and, I'm sad to say, there are quite a few Australian films featured. I don't think any of these posters are anything, although I'd say my favourite was Breaking the Waves, since the way the images are illustrated has some lovely texture to it. Make sure to click on over for the entire compilation of giant floating heads!
The music branch at the Academy lost any chance they may have mad to make audiences care about the musical numbers when they failed to nominated the Diane Warren penned, Cher performed, "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" for Best Original Song. The music branch hasn't had "taste" in a very long time, so why choose now to get some. I say that, of course, even though I think the film and the song are both legitimately very excellent, but even I can't deny that the general aura around the film is "omgsocamp!itmustbebad!!", which is a shame. Still, the film was one of only a few to actually insert its original songs into the film in the form of musical numbers and they still don't nominate it? And for "If I Rise"? A song that is, I think quite literally, air. There is nothing there to even be considered a song, right?
Oh well, how's this for... well, whatever it is? James Franco rehearsing a "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" number for the Academy Awards that will, unfortunately, never see the light of day. Yet another reason to think the Academy's music branch deserves a punch in the face for their incompetence.
It's still better than either of the four songs actually nominated thought (give or take "Coming Home" from Country Strong).
Let's end this with some more "beautiful things" that this entry originally started out as. I went to see "Hairspray" last night at the Princess Theatre. I had originally decided not to see it because, well, the movie is so good that I didn't feel like spending over $100 on seeing it performed on stage, and especially since I'd heard the production used LED screen sets rather than actually, ya know, sets. However, I purchased a couple of tickets at OnyaAid and, ya know, it was for charity!
I really liked it, of course, as one does with "Hairspray". It's hard to dislike, truly. I was a bit disappointed we had the understudy for Seaweed since "Can We Talk" hitmaker Tevin Campbell would've been a trip to see! Remember "Can We Talk"?
Amazing.
Still, my favourite part of the show was getting to watch Jack Chambers on stage for a couple of hours. Is this guy not just one of the most adorkable guys you've ever laid eyes on? Okay, well, for me he is. He was most definitely my favourite from the one season of So You Think You Can Dance that I watched. Why doesn't he realise we're meant to be together? Gosh, how rude! Naturally, I took a few cute screencaps from an interview he did with Undercover. It's what I do.
Okay, so more than a few. We're made for each other, can't you tell?
I watched Music of the Heart yesterday; Wes Craven's first and only venture outside of the realms of "genre" filmmaking (not including his inclusion in Paris je t'aime). He apparently agreed to only make Scream 3 if he could direct it. The story in the video below is a bit different (the Weinstein's "offered" him the chance to direct a Miramax movie), but I'm not sure I believe that. As I was scooting around YouTube I did indeed find the following video and it's an interesting one for a few reasons.
One of which is that Craven admits to being on the Academy's documentary committee. Or, at least, he was in 1995 when Allen Miller's Small Wonders, a documentary that became Music of the Heart, was nominated for the Oscar. Am I the only one surprised by this? I wonder if he's still involved or not.
"Wes sees reality in a different way than other people do. He has a very clear understanding of the darkness in life and I think that he waited 20 years to explore the flip side of the darker side.
The other bit I love is during the parts of Meryl Streep's interview where she lavishes praise on Craven. I like it when actors I like are so open about the affection for a director I like, especially when they're someone such as Wes Craven who, by his own admission, quite easily have been called a fraud as he made this wholesome "nice white lady" movie. My favourite bit is how she admit to "not knowing anything about him" ("I'd never seen any of those scary movies because I don't go to them. I'm a total wimp.") and that she relied on her son to tell her that "he's a really good storyteller". I hope she went home after the shoot ended and watched some. Can you imagine Meryl Streep sitting at home on her couch watching Scream or A Nightmare on Elm Street? "Poor Drew!" she'd wail, I'm sure of it!
Is it time to start worrying about the fate of everyone's favourite cheesy tabloid journalist in the upcoming Scream 4? This newly released production still - the first official one, I believe - seems to suggest that yes, Gale may finally reach the end of the line, but she's been in similar perilous situations and made it out alive so let's not get too carried away.
I don't believe that Gale will be dying in Scream 4. If any of the major three does then I think it will be Dewey. My early hunch is that the killer, or one of them at least, will be a policeman and since I think it's safe to rule out Anthony Anderson (sorry, but Ghostface ain't got a gut) then that leaves either Adam Brody or, the one I've been leaning towards ever since she was cast, Marley Shelton. She doesn't like Sheriff Dewey so he gets the knife, but Brody survives and he becomes the new Sheriff so it sort of is like a true "passing of the flame" situation as Wes has been claiming.
We shall see.
Nevertheless, Gale up there needs to look out. We've seen the barnhouse setting before in an on-set tweet pic from Wes Craven himself of a Casey Becker lookalike so I think it's safe to say that Gale will be reliving the events of Woodsboro 15 years ago very up close and personal. Still, I hope she makes it out alive. Maybe that's not even the actual Ghostface though? We've heard that the town of Woodsboro celebrates Stab-a-thon where, much like the opening sequence of Scream 2, Ghostface masks are adorned by locals and the real killer can weave his or her way through the pack without notice, which sounds juicy.
The third returning cast member, as we all know, is Neve Campbell as reigning Final Girl Sidney Prescott. This below footage from Entertainment Tonight shows Sidney and her cousin Jill, played by Emma Roberts (sidebar: I love the thought of Julia Roberts going to see Scream 4 just to watch her niece on screen!), being chased up some stairs and Sidney being thrown about on the roof. I've never thought they'd kill of Sidney, but if Wes and his "new decade, new rules" mantra really want to make an impact then, yes, killing off Sidney would be a good way of doing it. If they go that way I just hope she gets a more respectful send off than Jamie Lee Curtis did in Halloween: Resurrection.
Look at what Wes Cravenjust posted on Twitter with the charming caption of "Actors frequently spill their guts to me." This is, quite definitely, made of win.
Er, this is gory folks, so click to enlarge!
We'll be getting to Scream 3 a long way down the line of my Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene series here at Stale Popcorn, but my friends and I have always said that the big missed opportunity of Scream 3 was the big final climax to be held in the Hollywood studio replica of Casey Becker's house. This photo gives me the impression that, while not in Casey's house, there's definite parallel's between the original and the fourth installment. This photo appears to have been taken in a barn so that's different, but the hair is definitely a Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker bob.
Unless this is just some Halloween set or something to that effect, in which case... okay then, moving on.
The idea of Adam Brody appearing in a Scream movie feels so 2003, and yet here we are in 2010 and Brody is about to star in the fourth film in the Scream franchise. There you go. We've all heard the rumours that a behind the scenes brouhaha is going on - Kevin Williamson walking off set, actors dropping out - but I still hold out hope. How can I not?
Nevertheless, JustJared has new on set photos of Brody in his Deputy get up. I guess he's this trilogy's Dewey or will they surprise us and kill him off like they originally intended to do with Dewey in the first Scream. Of course, the main reason I'm posting this is because it is Adam Brody in a police uniform and, y'all know me and police uniforms, I can't resist.
I don't even care that my crush on Mr Brody ceased to exist several years ago. The Daily Mail in the UK got their hands on another photo from the set of Brody, but this time flanked by returning cast member David Arquette as the aforementioned Deputy Dewey and newcomers Anthony Anderson (he is so dying, by the way) and Marley Shelton (who I predict will have some sort of saving-the-day moment during the conclusion).
And because "why not!" here is an absolutely useless 30 second video filmed on the set of Neve Campbell walking through the set of Woodsboro. The plot involves her returning to the town from Los Angeles to promote her new book, which we can see here is titled Out of Darkness. It's not quite Stab, but it'll do.
And lastly, also from Shock Til You Drop is this photo of Courteney Cox on set! Ms Gale Weathers(-Riley?) herself. She's in the shot with Neve Campbell, but Neve's face can't be seen (So can we really believe it's her? Maybe it's her SERIAL KILLER STANDIN?!? Only time will tell!) I wonder if she gets punched in the face in this movie? I sure hope so!
As far as I am aware we have yet to see on set photos of other new castmembers like Hayden Panatierre, Rory Culkin or Emma Roberts who plays Sidney's cousin and is said to be this trilogy's new heroine. I can't wait to see the likes of President Roslin herself on set! That'll be a trip!
