Kevin Maher at the London Times tries to interview John Hurt, who's been forbidden by the studios to discuss his role in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Maher attempts to come up with a workaround:

I suggest a game. I'll run plot points (gleaned from the internet and beyond) by him, and will judge their validity, or not, by his reactions. There's more than one Crystal Skull? "Hmmm, interesting," he says. Your character comes back from the dead? "He'd be called Lazarus, wouldn't he?!" There's a cameo from the Elephant Man? "Depends on how you look at it." And, finally, with [Quentin] Crisp in mind, you have a homosexual relationship with Indiana Jones. "I wish!" he says, before sneering: "Oh yes, Lucas would really dare to put something like that in!"

Samantha Geimer, the girl behind Roman Polanski's 1977 Waterloo, showed up for Tuesday's premiere of now-HBO doc "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired." From New York: "Coming to the premiere, likewise, was a way to try to get the press off her back. 'I figure if I keep talking to people, maybe they'll get tired of me,' she says. 'That's one of my theories, that no one will want to talk to me anymore! Hasn't worked yet.' "

Sean O'Neal talks with Troma's Lloyd Kaufman at the Onion AV Club. On "Poultrygeist":

[W]e're living in an age of remakes, so we decided we'd do a shot-by-shot remake of that hilarious, slapstick-gore movie Schindler's List. But instead of the Jews, we put in several hundred chicken Indian zombies, and instead of the concentration camps, we've got concentration coops. Liam Neeson wasn't quite up to the task, so we hired the very famous Shakespearean actor Ron Jeremy. I predict Poultrygeist is going to be very favorably looked upon by the Schindler's List crowd.

There's a Bollywood remake of "Spider-Man" in the works, according to io9. Shah Rukh Khan will star.

Michael J. Jordan at the Christian Science Monitor looks at the Kazakhstan film industry, sans "Borat."

[Photo: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," Paramount Pictures, 2008]

+ Me and Mr Jones: is John Hurt the latest Indiana Jones villain? (London Times)
+ The Surprise Guest at the Roman Polanski Documentary Premiere: The Woman in Question (New York)
+ Lloyd Kaufman (Onion AV Club)
+ The Bollywood Version Of Spider-Man Is Better, Because He Can Fly (io9)
+ Kazakhstan seeks identity on the big screen (CS Monitor)

By Alison Willmore in Odds | Link | Recommended (0)

Tags: John Hurt, Kazakhstan, Lloyd Kaufman, Roman Polanski, Samantha Geimer, Shah Rukh Khan, Troma

Martin Amis' novel "London Fields" looks to be back on track to become a film after all, according to the Guardian: "Amis himself is collaborating on the adaptation of his controversial 1989 novel, and may even take a small part in the resulting film, which will be directed by David Mackenzie, best known for the films Hallam Foe and 2003's Young Adam." The novel, about a woman who, having foreseen her own death, manipulates the circumstances leading up to it, was for a while one of several projects attached to director David Cronenberg.

"Next month, Ira Isaacs, a 57-year-old Los Angeles-based video director, will sit center stage at what may be the most extreme obscenity trial in U.S. history," writes Susannah Breslin at Radar. She interviews Isaacs, who's responsible for such works as "Laurie's Toilet Show," "Mako's First Time Scat" and "Gang Bang Horse (Pony Sex Game)," and who calls his films "shock art."

Until I saw "2 Girls 1 Cup," I wouldn't have thought so many regular people would want to watch this stuff. There are millions of people watching it. For now, it's probably most people like the shock value of it. This is art that asks questions about what's ugly, acceptable, taboo. It takes something mundane, like going to the bathroom, and puts it in a new light. It inspires people.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that James Brolin is stepping into the role vacated by James Caan in David O. Russell's "Nailed" followed last month's Cookiegate incident.

Bryan Hartzheim at Asian Pacific Arts has a formidable breakdown of the range of reactions to Shinji Higuchi's "Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess," a remake of Akira Kurosawa's nigh untouchable "Hidden Fortress," following a screening at USC. [Via Kaiju Shakedown]

And at Dissent Magazine, Charles Taylor dwells on John Wayne," who "remains in some ways the most undefined of iconic movie stars."

[Photo: UK cover of "London Fields," Vintage, 1999]

+ Amis ventures back to London Fields after 19 years for film adaptation (Guardian)
+ But Is It Obscene? (Radar)
+ James Brolin gets 'Nailed' (Hollywood Reporter)
+ Finding Fortress (Asian Pacific Arts)
+ The "Duke" and Democracy: On John Wayne (Dissent)

By Alison Willmore in Odds | Link | Recommended (0)

Tags: Hidden Fortress, Josh Brolin, London Fields, Martin Amis, Nailed, Shinji Higuchi

Ellen Page, everyone's favorite sassypants MySpace generation heroine, will be playing Jane Eyre in an upcoming BBC Films adaptation, reports Variety, honest to Brontë. Elsewhere, the Guardian claims "MacGyver" creator Lee David Zlotoff has threatened to be in the planning stages of adapting the series for the big screen.

Jon Favreau salutes his "Iron Man" lead while not forgetting his own roots when talking to Entertainment Weekly: "It's inspiring when somebody who sort of has his work cut out for him actually accomplishes that and comes back bigger and better than he was before. I mean, that's the American dream -- and it oddly somehow relates to Tony Stark. And when art imitates life, you're onto something. I learned that off Swingers." Meanwhile, Emma Pearse at New York presents one counter example to Manohla Dargis' Sunday New York Times "Where have the girls gone?" summer preview piece: "Iron Man"'s "impeccably suited, no-frills Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow."

Troma's Lloyd Kaufman shows the kids how it's done: To promote "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead" and protest Tribeca's takeover of the Village East Cinema, he dressed up as a chicken and picketed outside, making Page Six and selling out Friday's show.

David Haglund at Slate places Albert Lamorisse's "The Red Balloon" against Hou Hsiao-hsien's "The Flight of the Red Balloon."

Jason Solomons at the Observer offers Keira Knightley a terrifying vision of her future, which she takes rather well:

Suddenly, thrillingly, I get a vision of Knightley, 10 years from now. She's a bit Charlotte Rampling, a bit Kristin Scott Thomas, even a bit Monica Vitti but with a sense of humour. Of course, I could be horribly wrong and she could do that depressingly British actress thing of turning into a batty old eccentric. Or she could just be the new Joanna Lumley. But I tell her I see her shacked up in the south of France with some horny old European director who casts her as his muse in a series of vaguely erotic, slightly experimental art movies, using her mysterious androgyny to blur sexual taboos and push boundaries. She gets visibly excited and I remember that she really does have a beautiful smile. 'Ooh, wonderful,' she says. 'That sounds idyllic. Do we own a vineyard?'

[Photo: The bonnets have it — recent Eyres include Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996), Samantha Morton (1997), Ruth Wilson (2006), Zelah Clarke (1983)]

+ Ellen Page takes on 'Jane Eyre' (Variety)
+ In brief: MacGyver creator talks up film (Guardian)
+ Jon Favreau Talks 'Iron Man' (Entertainment Weekly) + Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts: Surprisingly Super (New York)
+ CLUCKING PICKET (NY Post)
+ An actress is born (Observer)

By Alison Willmore in Odds | Link | Recommended (2)

Tags: Iron Man, Keira Knightley, Lloyd Kaufman, MacGyver, Poultrygeist, The Flight of the Red Balloon, The Red Balloon

Salman Rushdie turns up in a somewhat jarring cameo as an obstetrician in Helen Hunt's directorial debut "Then She Found Me" — he's not bad, but his presence does throw you, as would, I suppose, Tom Stoppard playing a firefighter, or Joan Didion delivering a few lines of advice as a sage aunt. New York investigates the curious casting.

At indieWIRE, publicist Jeremy Walker, on the eve of a move to California, reflects on the indie publicity game:

Publicity is an optimist's game, but only to a point. You can't really be a publicist for "risky" movies without liberally trafficking in benefit of doubt. It makes sense that a person who promotes movies will probably also be a person who loves movies, but what journalist should trust a publicist who loves every movie? I've found over the years that to love a movie is not enough reason to take it on; instead I have learned to only take on movies that I love and that I can actually do something with.

Paul Verhoeven has a book about Jesus, says the Hollywood Reporter. And, hey! It's controversial!

Army Archerd calls Shirley Temple today, on her 80th birthday, finds out she has a broken arm.

E! Online streams six tracks from Scarlett Johansson's upcoming album of Tom Waits covers.

Takashi Murakami tells io9 that he sees himself at the George Lucas of, you know, art stuff: "I felt sympathetic to the revolution that George Lucas started, and my work has become a re-enactment of that sort of revolution in the art scene."

[Photo: "Then She Found Me," ThinkFilm, 2007]

+ How Helen Hunt Got Salman Rushdie to Give Her a Sonogram (New York)
+ Jeremy Walker on Independent Film PR: "What I think publicity really is and also what it should not be" (indieWIRE)
+ Paul Verhoeven takes on Jesus (Hollywood Reporter)
+ Not Such A Happy Birthday (ArmyArcherd.com)
+ The Sounds of Scarlett (E! Online)
+ Murakami Tells io9 About His Secret Love For J.J. Abrams (io9)

By Alison Willmore in Odds | Link | Recommended (2)

Tags: George Lucas, Helen Hunt, Jeremy Walker, Paul Verhoeven, Salman Rushdie, Scarlett Johansson, Shirley Temple, Takashi Murakami, Then She Found Me

Mike White (not that Mike White) is, after 14 years of running definitive film zine Cashiers du Cinemart, calling it quits for financial reasons. He adds that all is not necessarily lost:

The idea may continue in some form or another in the future. I'm still not fully committed to web publishing for longer articles, holding on to the idea that print remains the best medium for reading. I'm looking into options of various "print on demand" services that will eliminate some of the heartache and headaches of publishing and distribution while passing on the cost to my faithful readers. For that, my bank account will thank you. In other words, there may be a Cashiers du Cinemart #16, but it sure won't look or show up like the last fifteen issues. The zine may be down, but not completely out.

Take a trip back to the glory days of 1994 with this article from issue #1, a torrid tale of Chris Gore, Blockbuster Video, "City on Fire," Quentin Tarantino and the creation of the video "Who do you think you're fooling?"

At Esquire, A.J. Jacobs gets George Clooney to Google himself, read his own Wikipedia entry and watch "2 Girls 1 Cup." It is, I must admit, a bizarrely brilliant interview technique.

David Givens (not that David Givens) at The Believer dwells on memory, faces on film and snow — I wouldn't want to give it more of a description than that. It is, like many of The Believer's essays, a little too blurry, verging on twee, but ultimately lovely.

And in the New Yorker, Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris preempt Morris' upcoming doc "Standard Operating Procedure" with an article on Sabrina Harman and the Abu Ghraib rules.

[Photo: Cashiers du Cinemart, Issue #15]

+ Down But Not Out (Cashiers du Cinemart)
+ The 9:10 to Crazyland (Esquire)
+ NO SHELL, JUST A GHOST (The Believer)
+ Exposure (New Yorker)

By Alison Willmore in Odds | Link | Recommended (2)

Tags: Cashiers du Cinemart, Errol Morris, George Clooney, Standard Operating Procedure, The Believer