By Jason Apuzzo. • Twilight: Eclipse is breaking more box office records. Biggest 3rd Screening on a Summer Wednesday after 2pm with the Temperature over 70, etc. There’s also an interesting story over at The Wrap about how the Twilight films cost relatively little to make ($50 mil production budget, $50 mil marketing), although the price of these films is going up as the kids morph into expensive stars.
I’ve said it before here and will say it again: whatever you think of these films (and yes, we’ll be reviewing the new one shortly), they’re going to be paradigm shifters as Hollywood slowly weans itself off expensive fanboy fare. It’s just becoming too expensive for the industry to keep Harry Knowles and his army of Rugrats happy.
• There’s a rumor going around about Johnny Depp starring as Dr. Who. I’m not a fan of Depp’s, and never have been – but this might actually be perfect casting. Or will they pick Adrien Brody?
• Here’s Restropo‘s Sebastian Junger commenting on the General McChrystal situation. I think Junger’s take on it is pretty sensible. Takeaway: military guys should steer clear from Rolling Stone reporters.
•There’s a lot of debate going around about who’s to blame for Knight and Day. The industry seems to be treating the film as a kind of human rights atrocity, roughly on a par with Darfur. Patrick Goldstein’s readers are saying it’s Cruise’s fault. Blogger Vadim Rizov, whom I’m reading a lot lately, is also asking a question I ask all the time: why is everyone so eager to crucify Cruise? It’s a sensible question. Here’s the answer: it’s dangerous to be too successful in Hollywood over a long period of time.
• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … Happy Birthday Olivia de Havilland! Turner Classic Movies is showing her films all day long. Besides being one of the cinema’s greatest stars, Olivia was half of what is in my opinion the most charming and romantic screen couple ever when she was paired with Errol Flynn. [Footnote: it’s still amazing to me that the similarly talented and ravishing Joan Fontaine is Olivia’s sister. They were raised together in the Bay Area, near San Jose. Both of them, I’m happy to report, are still lovely and active today.] We wish Olivia the very best on her big day!
And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.
Posted on July 1st, 2010 at 1:31pm.
of course it’s cruise’s fault / but if that’s his fault, then u need 2 give him cred it 4 tropic thunder.
That’s kind of a weird point, there, Derbyshire. But feel free to keep commenting here at LFM.
Happy Birthday Miss de Havilland! Olivia de Havilland is lovely both inside and out and the true epitome of class, dignity, and intelligence. I’ve loved watching Olivia de Havilland in everything from “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and “Gone With the Wind” to “Dodge City” (which was airing on TCM today, btw) and “The Heiress,” and she’s wonderful in everything.
I can’t think of any actress today who has de Havilland’s combination of beauty, gentleness, intelligence, and sensitivity … and yet with an iron core of strength and integrity underneath. God Bless her always. Many happy returns, Miss de Havilland, and best wishes for many more!
I would also like to wish Olivia de Havilland a happy birthday! Another of my favorite actresses. I absolutely loved her in “Robin Hood”, “Gone With the Wind” and “The Heiress” (who will ever forget the grim determination on her face as she closes the doors and windows at the end of the movie as Montgomery Clift bangs on the front door wanting to be let in. She was also magnificent in “The Snake Pit”, although that was a difficult movie to sit through because of the subject matter. Ms. De Havilland had a wonderful career and yes, she and Errol Flynn were great romantic stars in many terrific films for the better part of two decades. She continued to work well into the eighties. I particularly enjoyed two royal roles she played on television, as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother in “The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana” (1982), and as the Dowager Empress Maria in a televised version of “Anastasia” in 1986. She was terrific as the Queen Mother – I can still remember a wonderful scene in which she and Prince Charles are fishing together in a stream near Balmoral Castle, dressed in waders and having a great time together. She still looked wonderful. I notice you don’t mention her age, Jason, but surely she wouldn’t mind having someone mention that she turned 94 today. How wonderful that she has had such a long and productive life.
It’s entirely appropriate that the lovely Olivia de Havilland be at the top of this post. She has had a greater cinematic legacy than all the various stars and starlets of today combined. I should mention she was friends with Ronald Reagan in the ’40s and ’50s and was one of those principled liberals who was a strong anti-Communist because she saw through what that ideology stood for. De Havilland was also instrumental in fighting the studios to free actors from the extremely unfair terms of long-term contracts. Her victory for actors’ individual rights is known today as “The “De Havilland Decision.” Altogether, Olivia de Havilland is a smart, principled, and feisty lady.
Happy Birthday Miss de Havilland, and thank you for the many fine movies you have given us.
Being a relatively new Whovian (I just started watching this season with the new Doctor, Matt Smith, whom I LOVE) and also being a pretty big Johnny Depp fan, my reaction to this Doctor Who movie rumor is actually resoundingly NEGATIVE. It sounds atrocious — not just Depp as the Doctor, but the lame-o plot with the Doctor going around curing a bunch of diseases. WTF?! This has to be a false rumor. It’s too stupid to be otherwise.
In more pleasant news, happy birthday, Olivia DeHaviland! That is one genetically blessed family. Two gorgeous movie star sisters, both alive and well and in their 90s!
I will admit, JB, that I haven’t watched Dr. Who in … longer than I care to admit.
Kicking it old school with Dr. Who? Excellent. I want to catch up with Old Who, especially the Tom Baker years.