there will be blood
8:40AM Defamer Hollywood | Paul Thomas Anderson enthusiasts, take note: Word from the Largo mailing list (via /Film) has a PTA-scripted performance by Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen going off Aug. 5-6 at the club’s new space at the Coronet Theater. Organizers are keeping mum about everything but the price — $25 — and that tickets are available now. As the second home of Anderson’s frequent composer Jon Brion (who maintains a regular Friday gig) and other collaborators including Michael Penn and Aimee Mann, Largo seems a reasonable stopover for the filmmaker, though it hardly seems right that Fred Fucking Armisen unofficially inherits Daniel Day-Lewis’s leading-man mantle in the “mad, beautiful” continuum that is the PTA canon. Rudolph though? OK, sure, we can see it. [Largo via /Film] More »
New Paramount Theme Park in Korea to Offer ‘The Norbit Adventure’ and Other Fine Attractions
6:45AM Defamer Hollywood | There has been no shortage of potential cross-pollenation opportunities for Paramount Pictures over its 90 years in business, but for sheer monolithic stature and creative promise, nothing tweaks our loins quite like the just-announced Paramount Movie Park Korea. While we’re mildly disappointed to hear that the park is slated for Seoul and not Pyongyang (tell us you wouldn’t have been first in line for “Kim Jong Il’s Marathon Man Experience”), we’re glad to see the studio back in the theme-park business and eager to have a go at the 30-plus attractions planned for a 2011 opening. More »Unleash Your Inner Oil Baron
7:47AM Defamer Hollywood | While we wait for Paul Thomas Anderson to reissue a There Will Be Blood DVD edition that his masterpiece and its fans deserve, we can take comfort in the imagination of said fans around the Internet. We’ve learned that today, for example, is the first-ever International Talk Like Daniel Plainview Day, honouring Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis’s eminently quotable anti-hero for the ages. “If you’ve ever heard about ‘Talk Like A Pirate Day,’ this is essentially in the same vein,” write organisers Harrison Simon and Donald Polaski. “Also, do your best to drink a milkshake, preferably someone else’s.” Some sample quotes follow, but we will probably default to taking our dates to the Peach Tree Dance. I said, get liquored up and take ‘em to the Peach Tree Dance! Bastard in a basket! I’m finished. [Facebook] More »
An Open Letter to P.T. Anderson on the Occasion of ‘There Will Be Blood’’s Miserable DVD Release
8:10AM Defamer Hollywood | Dear Paul Thomas Anderson, More »
Behold! ‘The Moment Of Truth!’ Destroyer Of Lives!
6:21AM Seth | After billing The Moment of Truth as a brilliant Frankenshow combining the most intriguing aspects of F. Lee Bailey’s Lie Detector, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and Cheaters, the culmination of a life’s work for Fox’s President of Apocalypse-Expediting Alternative Entertainments Mike Darnell failed to really deliver on its life-destroying promise. Not even a desperate casting stunt that replaced the show’s evil robot voice with a string of celebrity she-bots (Small Wonder, Rosie from The Jetsons, Richie Rich’s Irona) managed to really hook viewers. More »
Overthinking ‘Blood’: What Did Daniel Plainview Tell Eli?
6:55AM Mark Graham | Remember a few years back when a not-quite-audible stolen whisper between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Lost In Translation got the entire cinematic world buzzing? Well, while taking in our third viewing of There Will Be Blood the other evening, we noticed a scene in which something very similar occurs. Just moments after Daniel Plainview’s now legendary “I have abandoned my boy!” outburst at the Church Of The Third Revelation (the scene that will likely go down as having locked up Daniel Day-Lewis’ second Oscar for Best Actor), there is a brief exchange that takes place between him and Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) just after Plainview has been violently baptized. In the clip (see above), not only can no dialogue between the actors be heard, but Paul Thomas Anderson’s shooting script does not specifically indicate what the characters are saying to each other at this moment. Yet, as the clip clearly demonstrates, there is a relatively heated (if one-sided) conversation between the two. We have a few theories on what went down but, at this point, we would rather open it up for you to discuss. Leave your comments after the jump! More »
Uncompromising Superproducer Scott Rudin Would Gladly Sacrifice 1000 Assistants For One ‘No Country’
4:31AM Seth | As a shepherd of great literary works from page to screen, assistant-gobbling producer/Kraken Scott Rudin is arguably without equal: He produced both of the dark, uncompromising visions currently vying for Oscar greatness, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. In an LAT profile, Rudin is credited with scooping up rich source material before it even hits bookstore shelves, pairing it with the right director, making casting suggestion, and even tweaking crucial moments in the script. (Recent legend has it that he quietly pulled P.T. Anderson aside between Blood takes to question if “maybe some other beverage besides Ovaltine might work better in that one line,” before staring down at a half-finished Wendy’s Frostee for the creative epiphany of a lifetime.) Still, no Rudin profile is complete without the requisite paragraph on his notoriously mercurial temper: More »
Puke Up A Blue Slushee In Honor Of ‘Juno’ At The Polo Lounge
9:46AM Seth | One of our favorite Oscar traditions is the menu of original cocktails inspired by the five Best Picture nominees, as devised by the clever bartending staff of The Polo Lounge. We gave them a call to see what they came up with this year (yes, these are all real): To honor No Country for Old Men, they have Blood and Sand: Johnny Walker Red, cherry brandy, sweet vermout, and a splash of OJ served strained in martini glass. Enough of those should give you a hangover that feels like a bolt-stunner to the melon. The Juno drink is a Blue Slushee, named for the frozen treat our hero upchucks into her stepmother’s urn: Stoli raspberry, blue curacao, and lemonade, blended with ice. More »
Paramount Taking Full Marketing Advantage Of ‘I Drink Your Milkshake’ Mania
8:16AM Seth | In a crowded awards season, studios have never been above resorting to clever marketing gimmicks to get their movies noticed, plying critics and journalists with everything from fanciful Juno hamburger phones to desktop pneumatic-bolt-stunners accompanied by notes reading, “How many times do we need to drill this into your skull: No Country for Old Men is this year’s most acclaimed film!” Hopping upon that bandwagon is Paramount Vantage, who, reports slashfilm.com, have caught wind of the “I drink your milkshake. I drink it up!”-mania currently gripping the nation: More »
