“You do an eclectic celebration of the dance! You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse! You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham! Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla! Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd! Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna!… but you keep it all inside.” This is the scene among many that made me laugh out loud during The Birdcage starring the wonderful Robin Williams. I can still see him doing every single one of those dance steps as he paraded hilariously across the stage. The other great scene had to do with a pot full of shrimp and a dinner not going to plan, and Williams, whom you could tell, ad libbing the entire thing. And that’s what he did. Robin Williams was a genius at improv — one of the best there ever was — but when it was time to get serious, he knew just how to break your heart as he did in Good Will Hunting, earning him the Oscar, and earlier in The World According to Garp among other stand out roles. And that’s just his dramatic work; he was a king at the animated voice, and had the timing of the Gods.
Whether he was an irreplaceable nanny, an inspirational teacher, a charismatic GI, a magical granter of wishes, a spinach eating sailor, or a grown up Peter Pan, he embodied them all expertly. For many of us, our first time witnessing all that was Robin was in a quirky little television show called Mork & Mindy, where we got just a glimpse of the kind of no-holds barred, sensitive, outrageous person and comedian that he was. A tour de force actor, an activist and driving force behind Comic Relief to benefit the homeless, and a veritable whirlwind of funny, racing along, high octane, all to make everyone laugh. And he did. Always. He will be missed. His genius. His presence. His contribution to the world of comedy and drama. His is the kind of acting career any actor would be proud to have. There was sorrow, joy, triumph, and magic. There will never be another Robin Williams. Rest in Peace. [THR]
The Caller
We mourn the passing of comedy great, Robin Williams, a true legend.
Here’s this week’s Caller.
Oy. The long languishing Ghostbusters 3 treatment. Once upon a time we were excited for this, even though Bill Murray was never on board. Back when Harold Ramis was alive and Dan Aykroyd was really excited about it and Sigourney Weaver was happy to have a cameo. We even thought we could get behind a Judd Appatowian take on it that would see a new generation of Ghostbusters in Jonah Hill and Mike Cera doing their thing…you know, ghostbusting. But since all that’s essentially been shot to hell, we’re a little skeptical of some new, enterprising treatment of this story. The latest talk now involves bringing on director Paul Feig of Bridesmaids and The Heat to not only reboot the original movie but with truly a Bridesmaids take, by giving key roles to Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph. We want to love this idea, really, we do. But all we feel now is trepidation, mostly because each new idea feels a bit forced, eh? Also, it’s been years and years since the original movie, so could you really do it justice today? Could you really have a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in New York City or something akin to it that seems fresh and new? Part of what made all of this work was the absurdity that was SNL in the early 1980’s. Could Feig and his protégé’, McCarthy, pull off Venkman style wry wit and sarcasm and not make the whole thing into another slapstick, gross out, modern-day jumble of farts and fracas that litters today’s comedies? We just don’t know, man. We just don’t know. [EW]
There may be an Interview with a Vampire reboot. Well, okay. We pretty much love the original just as it is, though. Brad Pitt was beguiling and Tom Cruise was pitch perfect — we’d dare say in some of the most inspired work of his career — totally out of his hero bailiwick and just having fun playing someone as delightedly dastardly and deviant as Lestat. Writer Anne Rice has sold her entire body of existing and future novels in “The Vampire Chronicles” series to Universal Pictures. We imagine a revamping will be in order, especially since the franchise went into the dumpster after that first film. The question remains, though, how relevant are vampires of the sort Rice writes about today? Now that we’ve got series like The Strain which is turning vampirism on its gory head, is there room for the romantic vampires of yore, before Twilight made them sparkle-rubes and the CW made them skinny-jeaned heartthrobs. Can the modern audience enjoy a flat-out Victorian vampire that’s just about death and destruction and not octopus mouth tentacles or smoldering guyliner? How quaint and a bit boring if they can’t, you know, make a legion of squid people or break a bed down to its foundation with all their millennial angst. Phooey. [The Wrap]
Did you ever think to yourself that your life just isn’t complete without seeing Kim Kardashian staring up at you blankly, unblinkingly, like a huge void made of air and Botox essence, from the topside of your coffee table? How is it that we’ve gone along as a civilization without needing the siren song of wasted space that is a Kardashian tome which chronicles just the face and maybe clavicles of the premier poet of our time? To that end, Kim Kardashian has decided that she will end our collective suffering, as only she can. She will be releasing a 352 page (of all the self-centered monstrosities, 352 pages!!) book of “selfies” to put on your coffee table so that other people, and not just you in your bathroom at night while you cry and smear each photo with cake and longing, can see it, and remark on its beauty and needfulness right now in our chaotic world. There will be pictures “from her favorite throwback images to current ultra-sexy glam shots – which will provide readers with a behind-the-scenes look into this larger-than-life star,” according to a description by the publisher. This means that we’ve just embarked on the highway to hell riding a donkey with Kim Kardashian’s face on it, that’s what the publisher won’t tell you. So there’s that, America. This is what you deserve. [Pret-a-Reporter] On another note, Husband-Kardashian, Kanyeashian, is afraid of drones. Camera drones that the paparazzi can deploy to take pictures of his family. This is why he just put a deposit down on a $20 million estate in the Hidden Hills of Calabasas so that there will be little drone interference to get in the way of all the selfies and magical, music genius that will take place there. [Vulture]
Look fanboys, we’re dumping all of your comic book movie info into one group, because the amount of comic book movie news nowadays is teetering on infestation-like levels. It’s not that we don’t enjoy the occasional blockbuster superhero movie, but c’mon now, will every comic book character someday get their own movie? For instance, this blogger was a big fan back-in-the-day of Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld comics. Will she see a movie made about her? (We just can’t see it. But could it happen with Hollywood? Sure!) Yawr, anyhoo, here’s what’s happening in the world of Warner Bros.’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice or as we like to call it, Chin vs. Abs: The Fight for Full-Frontal Superiority. It’s been moved up six weeks to March 25, 2016 in what looks like some sort of game of chicken for summer supremacy. Things changed when Marvel studios announced that they were releasing, Captain America 3: Chris Evans Hates the World on May 6, 2016. In effect, Warner Bros. blinked first and moved their date. So Marvel wins! We guess. What do you win? We dunno. Apparently not a lunch box with Chris Evans as the Fantastic 4‘s Johnny Storm on it. Haha! No, never that. That’s like having your lunch wrapped in dog poo. That’s what that is.
In other comics news, Sony Pictures wants to do a Spider-Man spinoff for 2017 that will feature a female character. The most believable characters could be: Black Cat, Silver Sable, and “Spider-Woman.” There’s a whole lot of speculation with that last one based on her loose connection to Peter Parker and some other things that only fanboys will know (and/or care about), so basically, read this here. Lastly, (Dear God, there’s more) Warner Bros. has released more dates that will clog up your summers for the next half millennia, but no one knows for what movies! This is so very frustrating for people who eat, live, and breathe these things! WE JUST MUST KNOW WHEN Justice League, Shazam!, The Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Sandman, and a third Man of Steel WILL BE IN OUR MOVIE HOUSES! Or not. [Coming Soon, Deadline, Collider]
Thought-provoking genius, and modern day television marvel, Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective‘s writer and Rust Cohle interpreter, came under fire last week after being accused of plagiarizing the works of Thomas Ligotti. What’s with all the plagiarism these days, guys? Has no one ever heard of putting things in quotes in Google and seeing everything you’ve plagiarized come up? Is that no longer a thing? We’re just taking things off the internet all willy-nilly now, eh? Just slamming down words written by other wordy people and saying, “Yup, I wrote that. What? Well, sure, he wrote it first, but I changed this comma and that semi-colon right there, so that means it’s mine, all mine.” Well, no. Apparently, when asked about it, Pizzolatto, in true Rust Cohle’s rambling, butt-farce of regurgitated philosophy said some weird shit about Rust’s thoughts being a literary marmalade of philosophical layers of grape jam and mango chutney that he took from various people. Uh, okay. But, well, you can’t do that and not credit them, Nic. That’s what they mean by plagiarism. We get it; Rust was a great character, mostly for the pessimistic shark tank that was his brain, but that doesn’t mean that people who wrote stuff will forget that they did, because Rust was so cool. Some believe it’s Pizzolatto’s newly enlarged ego that’s leading him not to just admit the mea culpa and move on. He’s digging his heels in to utter laughability and that’s probably going to be a problem if he keeps on stealing stuff from other writers. (AND MAKING THE ENDING OF HIS SHOW NOTHING BUT BIG BOSS FIGHTS) But that’s another issue. [THR]
Urgh, if you like Ricky Gervais’ little, bitey teeth, and his sinister smile that makes you think he’d sell your couch with your ass still attached, then you’ll be happy to hear that his BBC comedy, The Office, is getting a movie, we guess. His character David Brent will be taking some sort of road trip as a traveling salesman which sounds extra, super, duper interesting…and then he’ll try to be a rock star. Didn’t see that coming did you? That was totally a left turn, right? Ricky Gervais as a rock star. Maybe his band will be called, Squirrel Teeth. That’s what it should be called. or Annoyance: Thy Has a Name. So this will be fun. [BBC News]
More Hollywood News In Short
Speaking of True Detective, it looks like Elisabeth Moss, Michelle Forbes, Colin Farrell and Taylor Kitsch, are all in talks to play lead roles, with Vince Vaughn along for the ride playing a shady character that will absolutely not have Owen Wilson stuffed in his pocket like a leftover chorizo from lunch. [Vulture]
Good God! Pete Campbell Married Rory Gilmore and that’s just so weird and twisted. [Vulture]
James Van Der Beek has just been cast in the wayward, octogenarian future-scape from 1998, CSI: Cyber, CBS’s upcoming CSI spinoff focusing on internet crimes and pudding theft. [Vulture]
The people over at HBO GO would like to be Netflix, because Netflix is the cool ass Camaro, and HBO is just a Dodge, and that kind of sucks, but so does HBO GO. [Vulture]
Remember that photo of Peter Dinklage from last week wherein he wore a mullet and some sort of space jammies? Yeah, that’s for an Adam Sandler film called Pixels, and we think this will probably be the worst decision Dinklage ever made. [Vulture]
Lifetime, network avalanche of biopics no one asked for, will be doing a Marilyn Monroe miniseries, because that’s just un-tread waters. No one has thought about doing a movie about Monroe in whole minutes. [THR]
Andy Samberg’s sometimes funny comedy trio responsible for dick boxes and boat sailing, The Lonely Island, will be getting a movie probably about hot dogs floating in water or jumping into the diseased ball pit at Ikea, or something else equally obvious and transient. [Vulture]
Did anyone ask for a little time jump with their next season of Downton Abbey? No? Well, you get one whether you wanted one or not! Bollocks! How do we know? Well, first look photos of the kids, baby Sybil and baby George, are like thirty-nine years old now. No, not really. They’re more like three and fourish so that means we’re several years in and who knows what terrible things have befallen Edith in all this time! [Vanity Fair]
You know a show is a hit when you’ve got legendary soul icons sharpening their acting chops just to take part. Patti LaBelle will be joining American Horror Story: Freak Show, not as a singer, but as Gabourey Sidibe’s character’s mother. Yep. We’ll probably see La LaBelle mixing it up with resident diva on the show, Jessica Lange, and that folks is what will make some brilliant television. [Vulture]
