News and Notes
Commentary From the Editors
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Weird New Images From Heath Ledger's Last Film
Heath Ledger was filming a movie when he died: not Batman but The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, the latest hallucinatory (and typically cursed) project from Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam.How hallucinatory? New photos below.
The flick was described this way at Cannes:
Dr. Parnassus with his extraordinary travelling show "The Imaginarium" offers to members of the audience an irresistible opportunity to enter their universe of imaginations and wonders, by passing through a magical mirror. But Dr. Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. An inveterate gambler, thousands of years ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, in which he won immortality. Centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr. Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his daughter reached her 16th birthday, she would become the property of Mr. Nick. Now it is time to pay the price.Tom Waits, incidentally, plays the Devil.
Ledger had the lead (but not the title role -- that's Christopher "Captain Von Trapp" Plummer) and his death threw the devil's monkey wrench into production.
Gilliam solved things by casting three actors to replace Ledger: Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law. They share the role with Ledger, his character now a shape-shifter in the mode of Dr. Who and his many incarnations. The film's due out this fall.
An un-cursed aside: Depp, Farrell and Law donated their pay to Ledger's daughter Matilda.
See still more photos of Parnassus/Ledger.
(Images supplied by WENN.)
Labels: Christopher Plummer, Colin Farrell, Dr. Parnassus, Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Posthumidity, Terry Gilliam
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 7:39 AM1 comments 
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Mary Ellen Mark Photos
This slide show from Vanity Fair is fun -- photos by Mary Ellen Mark from behind the scenes of famous movie people. The photos include shots of stars like Jack Nicholson, Katharine Hepburn and (young) Sean Penn.Our favorite is Dustin Hoffman with Laurence Olivier, on the set of 1976's Marathon Man.
Labels: Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, Sean Penn
Posted by Mr. Hehn at 4:15 PM0 comments
Monday, June 29, 2009
Johnny Depp as Dillinger: Photos
Johnny Depp puts down the mascara and picks up a tommy gun for Public Enemies, the new action flick coming out this week.
Depp plays John Dillinger, the real-life Public Enemy Number One who robbed bank after bank, had gunfight after gunfight with G-men, twice escaped from jail, picked up a hot French-Canadian girlfriend, and (spoiler!) was finally gunned down outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago -- all in one wild year in 1933-34.
We've got the photos.
Marion Cotillard puts down the Edith Piaf mascara and picks up a Canadian accent to play Billie Frechette, Dillinger's moll. (Love that word "moll.")
Christian Bale plays the soon-to-be-famous-for-bagging-Dillinger federal agent Melvin Purvis. Billy Crudup plays G-for-gay G-man J. Edgar Hoover. Direction is by Michael "I Like Anti-Heroes" Mann.
The trailer makes me want to see the movie.
Labels: Billy Crudup, Christian Bale, J. Edgar Hoover, John Dillinger, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Michael Mann
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 12:35 PM0 comments
