Does The Writers Strike Mean No Golden Globes Broadcast?

The future of a Golden Globes broadcast is in doubt thanks to the writer's strike. The prospect of actors not showing up to face picket lines of 3,000 + writers could easily dissuade A-list talent from showing up according to, well, everybody.

With the writer's labor strike, now in its eighth week, stars, organizers, talent agencies and Hollywood exces are looking over their shoulders checking the temperature and seeing if showing up to the event could be a career-killer (or at least gain them negative scab-like press for a few weeks).

Jorge Camara, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, assured folks recently that the show will go on. However, Jeff Hermanson, strike coordinator for the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East, was still promising a showdown in full-force next to the red carpet if celebrities dare show up.
According to the New York Times:

Panicked at the prospect of having to confront strikers as they walk up the red carpet, celebrities have sent what Hollywood publicity executives describe as a near-unanimous signal: If striking writers show up, the stars will not.

So far, NBC still plans to go ahead and broadcast the show, but so far, no one wants to comment on the record. The same plight could befall the Oscars if the strike isn't resolved by then, although organizers have already boldly claimed the show will go on (yet who will write their jokes?). However, the Independent Spirit awards are safe. The Writers Guild of America is allowing its members to work for the show honoring independent films because the producers of the Spirit Awards asked for permission before the strike began.

Will our annual Golden Globes party actually happen? Stay tuned. Oh, and if the Globes aren't telecast, that doesn't mean the awards won't go out. We'll just all hear of the winners via the wires the next day.

Madonna's Directorial Debut, 'Filth And Wisdom' To Premiere At Berlin Fest; Gogol Bordello Singer Featured

Madonna is anything but a quitter. Despite savaging reviews her entire life for her failed acting career, the 85-year-old pop star (pictured left) is still trying to find her big break in movies.

Not even the still-shit rotten taste of "Swept Away," has deterred her, though this time she's wisely changing her position and moving behind the camera.

Madge's directorial debut, "Filth And Wisdom," is set for its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Described as a "low-budget music comedy," the film stars Richard E. Grant ("How To Get Ahead In Advertising"), Stephen Graham (Guy Ritchie's "Snatch") and her new bff, the gypsy punk Gogol Bordello frontman Eugene Hutz.

Hutz got his acting start in the in Liev Schreiber's tediousadaptation of the book, "Everything Is Illuminated" and shared the stage with Madonna at "Live Earth" (Hutz was also the inspiration for one of the characters in the suicide after-life comedy "Wristcutters").

50 other films will screen in competition at Berlin. Good luck Madge!

PTA and Daniel Day-Lewis Talk 'Blood' With Charlie Rose; Script Back Online; Deleted Scene On YouTube

Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis were recently on "The Charlie Rose Show" for an in-depth hour chat about "There Will Be Blood."

There weren't any major revelations dropped in the interview, but it is worth watching in its entirety. Day-Lewis has an fascinating way of answers - not in a way that's totally evasive, but a manner that's... fumbling around for the answers himself and a bit of self-preservation. He also talked about being sad to leave the character he played, Daniel Plainview - a character he sees having a great sense of humor (for a tyrant).

PTA wisely didn't really want to pull back the curtain and fully discover DDL's legendary acting process and immersion - he liked the mystery to it. Due to the process of discovery and tracking down funds, DDL was free to work on the Daniel Plainview character for two years. In an interview we read somewhere, PTA says DDL's "simmers" for years on a part than "explodes" it all on set.

The notoriously picky Daniel Day-Lewis said he read the 'Blood' script went it was sent to him immediately because it was "from him," he nodded to PTA, silently showing off his great respect. Watch the show, it's great.

A great quote about what compelled DDL to take the part from ComingSoon.net.

Day-Lewis: The challenge, I dare say, is the same as it always is, which is to try and discover a life that isn't your own. Plainview, as he came to me in Paul's beautiful script, was a man whose life I didn't understand at all. It was a life that was completely mysterious to me and that unleashed a fatal curiosity, which I had no choice but to pursue.

An amusing anectode from the L.A. Times.

Q: So how did you two get together to make this movie?
Anderson: I knew through the grapevine that Daniel had liked “Punch-Drunk Love” a lot, so I felt confident enough to ask him to read the script I was writing. It worked out really nicely just because our lives were at a good spot. He was ready to work and I was in New York at the same time he was in New York. So, long afternoon walks and really good breakfasts.
Day-Lewis: We really tucked away some ham and eggs

Meanwhile, remember when the "There Will Be Blood" script surfaced online earlier this year (way before the film had been released)? Well, it's back on Paramount Vantage’s For Your Consideration page. We loved 'Blood,' and think it's certainly one of the year's best films. You can read our glowing review here.

Also of note, longtime PTA friend and collaborator John C. Reilly talked his way out of being in 'Blood.'

“Paul and I talked a lot about it,” said John C. Reilly, who calls Anderson a close friend. “He wrote me a part for the movie, and I said, ‘Don’t put me in there just because you think you have to, because we’re friends. Put me in there if I’m the right guy to be in there.’ And he thought about it, and he was like, ‘You know what? You’re right. You just talked yourself out of a part.’"

Last but not least, there's going to be 14 midnight screenings of 'Blood' in a few major North American cities on December 29. To promote these screenings Paramount Vantage has uploaded a deleted scene from the film onto YouTube

'Be Kind Rewind' Soundtrack Features Mos Def, Jack Black, Fats Waller, Billy Preston, Booker T, & Jean-Michel Bernard Score; Due January 22

We reported some of the details surrounding the upcoming Michel Gondry movie, "Be Kind Rewind" soundtrack earlier this year, but now all the deets are in.

As previously reported, the score was composed by Jean-Michel Bernard (he also did Gondry's "Science Of Sleep" and contributed music to "Human Nature") and also features Mos Def and Fats Waller.

The soundtrack also includes songs by Jack Black, Billy Preston (the same song was used in the trailer), Booker T, and musical contributions from Michel Gondry (who plays drums, most notably in recent years on the Jon Brion, Kanye West produced track "Diamonds From Sierra Leone").

The film's synopsis from the official site:

A junkyard worker (Jack Black) who attempts to sabotage a power plant that he believes is melting his brain. But when his plan goes awry, the magnetic field that he creates accidentally erases all of the videotapes in a local video store where his best friend Mike works ("Mos Def"). Fearing that the mishap will cost Mike his job, the two friends team up to keep the store's only loyal customer - a little old lady with a tenuous grasp on reality (Mia Farrow) - from realizing what has happened by recreating and re-filming every movie that she decides to rent. From "Back to the Future," to "Robocop," to "Rush Hour," to "The Lion King," Jerry and Mike become the biggest stars in their neighborhood by starring in the biggest movies ever made

You'll recall the process of re-making movies is called to "swede" in 'Rewind.' We've got a bunch of the sweded trailers, including "Robocop" and "Rush Hour" at this previous post. Due digitally on January 22, 2008 and physically January 29, 2008 on Lakeshore Records (though we're told Amazon might currently be wrong and the release may go 1/22 as well), you can hear four songs from the 28-song soundtrack including Mos Def and Bernard's take on the Fats Waller song, "Your Feets Too Big" over at the soundtrack's official myspace page. The film itself is due in theaters January 25.

"Be Kind Rewind" Soundtrack tracklist
01. "Your Feets Too Big" - Mos Def and Jean-Michel Bernard
02. "Nothing From Nothing" - Billy Preston
03. "I Ain't Got Nobody" - Jean-Michel Bernard
04. "Jerry's Sweded Ghost Song" - Jack Black
05. "Microwaves - Jean-Michel Bernard
06. "Train Station" - Jean-Michel Bernard
07. "I Ain't Got Nobody" - Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn & Michel Gondry
08. "Keep Jerry Our"*
09. "Little Mikey"*
10. "I'm Bill"*
11. "Lulu's Back In Town" - Jean Michel Bernard & the Passaic High School Marching Band
12. "Chinese Bamboo"*
13. "Magnetic"*
14. "The Animated Lion"*
15. "I Ain't Got Nobody" - Mos Def, Jean-Michel Bernard & Michel Gondry
16. "Robot Karate"*
17. "Daisy's Drive"*
18. "Plan"*
19. "Blind Test"*
20. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" - Fats Waller
21. "Mike Has An Idea"*
22. "DVD Break In"*
23. "Sunny Monday" - Booker T & the MGs
24. "Ain't Misbehavin'" - Mos Def and Jean-Michel Bernard
25. "Solitude" - Jean-Michel Bernard
26. "Lulu's Back In Town" - Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn & Michel Gondry
27. "Your Feets Too Big" - Fats Waller
28. "Mr. Fletcher's Song" - Jean-Michel Bernard and Moe Holmes
(*all uncredited tracks, JM Bernard tracks)
Watch/Listen: Fats Waller - "Your Feets Too Big"
Trailer: "Be Kind Rewind" trailer

'Snow Angels' Trailer Features The National - David Gordon Green Film Due March 7; Film Features Explosions In The Sky, Mono & A Silver Mt. Zion

Ok, first things first. The National's "Slow Show" is a great song and all and it fits rather perfectly in this trailer, but the song is not featured in the film. More on that in a sec.

"Snow Angels" is kind of a Christmas-y title, right? But yeah, the film is nothing like that, in fact it's rather dark and bleak (but also surprisingly funny). Directed by lyrical, indie-director David Gordon Green, "Snow Angels" is due March 7 in limited release and stars Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell as one estranged couple at the center of many interweaving relationships, both collapsing and ascending.

Early followers of The Playlist, will recall we caught a sneak preview of the film at BAM's Sundance festival back in May of this year. We weren't huge fans of the experimental misfire that was Green's "Undertow" (though we suppose we appreciated the attempt at a stylistic makeover), but we can say first-hand that 'Angels' was a nice return to form that branched out enough to not just be an ambient, lyrical indie rehash.

The film also stars Michael Angarano ("Lords Of Dogtown") and the very excellent and upcoming actress Olivia Thirlby (Ellen Page's sidekick in "Juno")

Longtime collaborator David Wingo (of Ola Podrida) and his new music partner, IDM artist Lusine (aka Jeff McIlwain), and their understated score continues Green's penchant for plaintive and simple beautiful acoustics only now augmented by subtle electronic twinkling and ambient washes (a Wingo/McIlwain track is on the latter's myspace page - it's unclear if this is a song from the film or an unreleased collab, we can't remember the music that far back).

"Snow Angels" features tracks by Bread, Japanese post-rockers Mono, the Godspeed You! Black Emperor offshoot, A Silver Mt. Zion and Explosions in the Sky whose song, "What Happens After," was the only track written originally for the film. North Carolina trip-hop/dub artist Uno Dose has three songs featured in the film and his track, “New Orleans Slaughterhouse” can be also be heard on his myspace page. What's gonna be on the actual soundtrack? Probably too early to tell, but for a potential guide of what will be on it, here's all the music used in the film.

Entire List of songs used in "Snow Angels"
“Sledgehammer” - Atlantic Region Cadet Tri Service Band
“Chinese Character 1"- John Leach
“The Now Penguin”- Mt. Egypt
“Higher” - Harem Scarem
“In The Heart Of The West" - Gene Autry
“4 Robots Fucking In A Wool Sock” -Uno Dose
“You, Me, And A Glass Of Chablis” -Alan Zahn and Dan Lindau
“Will I Ever Get Back Home Again” -Little Axe
“Chinese Character 2” - John Leach
“Lovely Dub” - Uno Dose
“New Orleans Slaughterhouse” - Uno Dose
“Jasmine Night” - Josh Crocker
“I Think I Left A Note” - Benji Hughes
“A Thousand Paper Cranes” - Mono
“Baby, I’m A Want You” - Bread
“This Gentle Hearts Like Shot Bird's Fallen” - The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-la-la Band
“What Happens After” - Explosions in the Sky
Watch: "Snow Angels" trailer

Watch/Listen: The National - "Slow Show" (to a fan-made video of Jean-Luc Godard's "Masculine-Feminine")

Download: Mono - "Thousand Paper Cranes"
Download: Explosion In the Sky - "First Breath After Coma"
Download: A Silver Mt. Zion - "This Gentle Hearts Like Shot Birds Fallen"
We would be remiss if we did not mention our "If I Were David Gordon Green" soundtrack playlist.

Merry Frageelay Christmas From The Playlist: Don't Shoot Your Eye Out

Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master. But, I chickened out and said the first name that came to mind.

We've literally seen "A Christmas Story" over 100 times (at the very least). And we've practically seen it three times a Christmas for the last 5 Christmas' (it's ALWAYS on, especially in Canada; no joke it's on about 5 different channels as we speak). We should get a major award for that.

Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window.

We wanted to ask, when did this film become a hip cultural reference though, 7-8 years ago? 10? Less? It strikes me as slightly odd only because it was a huge childhood staple for me and my little brother. So many specific references from my childhood. We suppose this this is not a unique experience hence the cultural phenomenon that's happened to many of our generation. Anywoo, we digress. Deck the Halls with Ovaltine, ok? Fa-Ra-Ra-Ra, Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra.

Ralphie as Adult: [narrating about diving with his brother into the gifts under the Christmas tree] We plunged into the cornucopia quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice.

Did you know Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) grew up to be film producer and is fast and tight friends with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau? Billingsley produced the very-excellent, but short-lived IFC show "Dinner For Five" that Favreau hosted in different L.A. restaurants with other indie-minded Hollywood actors. He also co-produced the Vaughn/Favreau vehicle "Made," Fav's "Zathura: A Space Adventure" and is executive-producing "Iron Man." As an actor he appeared in "Elf" (also directed by Favreau) and most recently in Vince Vaughn's "The Break-Up" (which nobody realizes was sort-of-scored by Jon Brion - although he was apparently hired at the last minute and only really contributes some small repetitive incidental music, the film's theme).

There were rumors that Ralphie's pal Flick (Scott Schwartz) went on to become a porn actor in his adult life, but he mostly acted as a non-sex porn actor (yeah, his career had gone so low) in adult films.He also apparently did managerial work for actual porn actors. He left the porn industry in 2000 to get back into mainstream acting, but hasn't really made anything of note yet. He also famously played an excellent brat in the 1982 Richard Pryor film, "The Toy."

Sadly, "A Christmas Story" director Bob Clark tragically died earlier this year; the victim of drinking and driving accident. Darren McGavin, the genius actor who played Ralphie's dad sadly passed away in February of 2006. Next year, the film will celebrate its 25 Anniversary. We're all getting old.

Watch: Bunny Suit Scene

Watch: The Unveiling of the Fra-gee-lay Leg Lamp

Woody Allen Wraps Up London Trilogy, Revisits Greek Tragedy With 'Cassandra's Dreams'; Phillip Glass Composed Score

Yes, it's been much healthier for Woody Allen's career when he revisits his love for dark Greek tragedies (see the only decent Allen film in a decade "Match Point"). But has this been done to death and more importantly didn't Sidney Lumet's just-released "Before The Devil Knows Your Dead," make the same kind of Faustian pact the emphasis of its story?

The third (and final?) installment in his unofficial London trilogy ("Scoop," and "Match Point" were the first two), "Cassandra's Dreams" stars Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell as cash-strapped brothers who find themselves in financial troubles after a gambling incident puts Farrell's character desperately in the hole and imminently in danger. Meanwhile, McGregor has just found the love of his life which complicates his involvement in his siblings woes. Along comes their devil-like, cash-flush Uncle (Tom Wilkinson)with a proposition: dispose of a man who is accusing him of his own business trespasses and their debt will be repaid, no questions asked. After all this is family, right?

Just like Lumet's 'Devil,' things get dark, twisted and complicated and the film then tracks the siblings and how the deal and unravel with their respective immoralties; it's a morality tale obviously and not unlike the one that 'Match Point' represented.

But is it good? Early reviews aren't exactly kind. The Hollywood Reporter calls it a "humorless misfire," and the U.K. paper The Independent calls it a "nightmare," (though it barely acknowledges 'Match Point' and the the seemingly tremendously obvious thematic connections). We'll find out soon enough. "Dreams' comes out January 18 in limited release and presumably opens wider if it does well enough.

The score to the film was written by legendary composer Phillip Glass and is due January 8 on Orange Mountain Music.

Watch: "Cassandra's Dreams" trailer

R-Rated 'Semi-Pro' Makes Will Ferrell Movie Look Actually Funny

You might have seen the original "Semi-Pro" trailer - the Will Ferrell basketball movie - and thought, "eh, this doesn't look funny," but the recently released red-band trailer is pretty good. With the stupid humor amped up, it's looking better and better.

Hopefully it's similar to 'Walk Hard' which had pretty mediocre trailers, but the film turned out to be pretty funny. "Semi-Pro," a b-ball film set in the '70s (of course), also stars Outkast's Andre 3000, Will Arnett from "Arrested Development," SNL alum Tim Meadows and Woody Harrelson. You need Flash 9 to see this thing. We had to download it first. The film hits theaters February 29 (yes, it is a leap year). Fouled for travelling? "Suck my cock, I'll murder your family!" Ferrell screams. Ah, the gotta love the idiotic laughs.
Watch: Semi-Pro R-Rated trailer