I Did It All For You, Austin Butler

I don't think I've made much of a secret of Austin Butler doing very little for me personally, so consider this post a sacrifice -- basically I am Jesus hanging on the cross right now posting these images of Austin in Esquire magazine for you (here is the interview, which you'd have to hold a gun to my head to make me read). I did it all for you! I guess I'm also sort of the nanny in The Omen? Those two have so much in common, I hope they got together in hell for scones or something, had a little nosh. Anyway Austin Butler. I thought he was okay in Elvis, but his whole "I was liuterally possessed by that dead singer and I literally couldn't stop talking like him" thing really turned me off that awards season. (I preferred Jacob Elordi's low-key performance in Priscilla, although obviously you're not going to get that performance in a Baz Luhrman movie - I get that. It's why I also prefer Sofia to Baz in general.) And I tried watching a couple episodes of Masters of Air but that show's really not for me (i.e. there weren't any scenes like George Clooney included in Catch-22 of Chris Abbott walking around naked). And Austin's performance on that show is very posturey too. 

That said I have seen Jeff Nichols' delayed movie The Bikeriders and his whole posing schtick worked really well for the movie, since that's the character he's playing, and it's the most I've liked him (well except for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood -- he was fun in his itty bitty role in that). It's perfect casting, if nothing else. That said I'm not terribly happy or excited that he got cast in the role of Feyd-Rautha in the Dune sequel -- I would love to be proven wrong but every image I'm seeing is making me feel right. We'll see. Anybody have any strong feelings on the young man either way? Hit the jump for the photos, aka my exorbitant sacrfiice...

AKA Riley Keough's Grandmother

I was fairly indifferent to Baz Luhrmann's Elvis movie but I am far far far more interested in Sofia Coppola's Priscilla -- that's the first poster above and apparently we're getting a trailer tomorrow. For one Baz's film didn't have squat to say about the fact that Priscilla was fifteen when she and Elvis met, and a film in 2023 that has no opinion on that matter might as well not exist, no matter how many sequins there are on Austin Butler's swinging dick and no matter how many double-chins they put on Tom Hanks. Sofia Coppola's movie though, obviously she's gonna have things to say. Also... she's Sofia Coppola, and that beats Baz any day of the week. (I mean I love Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge too, but come on.) And third -- even though we can barely see anything in it this poster is reminding me really hard of my great-grandparents house, a 60s time-capsule of baby-blues and lemon-yellows; it smelled like powder and everything was satin-lined. That this single image feels so textured is giving me great hope here. Can't wait for the trailer. 

She Was Always On His Mind

While the Jacob Elordi part of this news is the least interesting part of this news for me I am still going to visualize this post with a Jacob Elordi photo because I work with what sells, baby. The news being that directress Sofia Coppola has announced her next movie and it is called Priscilla and it is about Priscilla Presley. Cailee Spaeny, from Devs and Mare of Easttown, is going to play the titular woman herself, based on Elvis and Me, Priscilla's 1985 autobiographical retelling of her relationship with that singer man -- and that singer man is where Jacob Elordi comes in. Have Jacob Elordi and Austin Butler ever been in the same room together? A question for the ages. 

Anyway by all accounts -- meaning this is what Sofia is saying -- she's been meaning to tell this story for several years, well before Baz Luhrmann's film came out and became a sizable hit this year; one imagines that it's hit-stature got the engines revving on this project though, financially-speaking. Still everything having to do with Priscilla was woefully handled by Baz's movie if you ask me -- save a throwaway line about her age it seemed less than interested in exploring the fact that she was 14 when they met. Less than interested, it seemed to actively avoid that fact. And I feel like Sofia will talk about that fact! Anyway I am picturing lots of mint-green curtains swaying in Graceland windows while canister upon canister of Aqua Net is unleashed and I love it, I love every second of it already.  

Every single hair on my body is standing on end at the thought of Sofia Coppola making a movie about Priscilla Presley (this is a good thing) (a very good thing)

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 12, 2022

Good Morning, World

Before you ask no, nope, I have not yet found time to see Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. And I feel kinda bad about it, surprisingly! I'm not Baz's number one or anything but I don't think his movies are uninteresting, and they're always best seen on a big screen so they can envelope you. Whether you get paper-cuts from said envelope tends to change film to film but you'll never hear me say a single solitary bad word about Romeo + Juliet anyway. (I have a couple of issues with Moulin Rouge! but let's not go there today.) 

Add on the fact that I love Elvis Presley and add on the fact that my boyfriend actually went and saw this by himself and you've got no excuses for me for not having seen this. None. Oh well, it's available to pre-order for digital right now and then the blu-ray comes out... well sometime soon I guess. It's weird, there's no date attached. I guess they just do it that way now. Anyway let's make my tomfoolery up to y'all with this new photo-shoot of Elvis star Austin Butler for VMan Magazine, how about that? Hit the jump for the dang thing...

Mamoudou Athie Three Times

My review of the new Jurassic World movie will be up at Pajiba in a little bit and I will link to it then, but before that hits do take a moment to appreciate these photos (via) of one of the cast's new additions, actor Mamoudou Athie, who I hope people will be walking out of the film with a crush on -- dude is so frigging adorable. I'm not sure when he first registered for me -- maybe in his role opposite Kristen Stewart in the criminally underrated horror flick Underwater? I never watched The Get Down, the Netflix show he was on, but he had definitely registered by the time of his other Netflix series Archive 81 -- RIP Archive 81! -- because I posted photos of him during the time I was bingeing that series. Anyway he looks super cute in the new Jurassic movie and I hope we continue seeing much more of Mr. Athie!

Good Morning, World

I reserve my right to change my opinion on this after I see Baz Luhrmann's Elvis movie -- because he does look hella charismatic, not to mention far more Elvis-y than I would have imagined beforehand, in the trailer for the film -- but for right now I have to admit that I don't really "get" Austin Butler. Not that I have had all that many opportunities -- the only things I've seen him in are Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which he was fun enough in but his role as Tex was hardly enormous, and apparently in Jim Jarmusch's zom-com The Dead Don't Die, which I have no recollection of him in at all. (I did like that movie way more than most people did though.) Anyway that's not really my point -- what I am saying is I am not as of this moment attracted to him. So this new cover photoshoot for GQ here showing up this morning? Ehh. I will share these two photos but y'all can click over for the entire thing and there's lots more photos. But we'll see what happens with Elvis. It wouldn't be the first time that the allure of pure talent got the best of me where my pure loins had let me down. And I hope it does, given that Dune news...

Good Morning, World

It's only been two years since Waves and Luce came out but am I crazy and actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. has really grown up a lot in those two years? I don't just mean the muscles -- he had some muscles two years ago in those movies -- I more mean facially; there are times when he's practically unrecognizable to me these days. Including in a few of these pictures he posted on his Insta last night from when he was getting dressed for the Gotham Awards earlier this week. Growing up is weird y'all. (Then again the past two years have been A Lot.) Not that he doesn't look mighty fine! Oh no not that. Clearly. And I'm excited for all the projects he's got lined up -- he's playing BB King in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis movie, and I haven't seen Cyrano yet (I had to skip my screening) but I've heard only excellent things. Hit the jump for more...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Mercutio: If love be rough with you, be rough with love. 

Prick love for pricking and you beat love down.

Happy 25 to what remains Baz Luhrmann's best movie. I love Moulin Rogue but having rewatched R+J last year it holds up and then some (oh my god that soundtrack) and it has none of the third act problems that I still think dog MR -- that William Shakespeare sure knew how to structure a story, huh? Also Claire Danes is the definitive Juliet, I will brook no substitutes.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ...you can learn from:

Animal Kingdom (2010)

Barry: Did you wash your hands? 

Joshua : No.

Barry: You had your hands on your cock. 

Your hands go anywhere near your ass or 

your cock, you wash 'em after. Jesus, c'mon.

Bit of soap, get a lather going. Rinse.

Alright that's enough, now stick 'em under there.

A happy 47 to Joel Edgerton today! If you haven't watched Barry Jenkins' limited series The Underground Railroad on Amazon yet you're missing not just one of the premiere television offerings of the decade at least -- I'll no doubt be willing to extend it to "of ever" once I let a little time pass; hopefully watch it a second time -- but you're also missing also one of Edgerton's finest and quietly terrifying turns as the slave-hunter Ridgeway, who's unrelenting in his chase of Cora (an astonishing Thuso Mbedu).  

It's funny, as I was trying to decide which role of Joel's to quote from for this post -- and of course the one that involves him using the word "cock" twice won out; what do you expect from me? -- I was reading some of his lines Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby where he played Tom Buchanan, and I hadn't recalled his Tom being quite so racist, but half the quoted lines were Tom being racist. That in itself isn't the "funny" part -- the funny part was how that made me realize how much of Edgerton's work has been concerned with the subject of race (also consider Loving) or sexuality (his movie version of Boy Erased and fingers crossed the gay stuff in The Green Knight). We should talk more about his cinematic activism, I think. ETA and we should also talk about how he went to the beach for his birthday thereby giving all of us fans the gift today, which is three pictures of him at the beach (thx Mac), after the jump...

5 Off My Head: 50 Off Ewan

Last night I was watching the screener of a movie that's out this upcoming weekend which co-stars Jonny Lee Miller, and it only took about five seconds upon seeing him for my brain to trail off to Trainspotting and his friendship with Ewan McGregor -- speaking of yelling "Make out!" at the screen! I might have strained my larynx the first time I saw those two sitting side by side on a couch. But then that's the sort of energy that Ewan's brought to film-screens opposite every single person, place, and thing, for nearly 30 straight years, isn't it? Well today's his 50th birthday (I know, how even) and so we're gonna celebrate some of those performances now...

My 5 Favorite Ewan Performances

Renton, Trainspotting (1996)

"You see if you ask me we're heterosexual by default, not by decision. It's just a question of who you fancy. It's all about aesthetics and it's fuck all to do with morality."

Curt Wild, Velvet Goldmine (1998)

"The world is changed because you are made of 

ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history."

Christian, Moulin Rouge! (2001)

"... What I really mean

Yours are the sweetest eyes

I've ever seen"

Phillip Morris, I Love You, Phillip Morris (2009)

"Enough romance. Let's fuck!"

Oliver, Beginners (2010)

"Rabbit. What is real? Does it hurt? Horse. Sometimes Rabbit. Does it happen all at once Horse. It takes a long time. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes dropped out and you get a loose in the joints. But these things don't matter at all, because you are Real and you can't be ugly except to people who don't understand."

Runners-up: The Ghost Writer, The Impossible, 

Fargo, Shallow Grave, Down With Love

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What are your favorite Ewan performances?

Which is Hotter?

If I had once known that Stranger Things actor (and frequent MNPP presence!) Dacre Montgomery had been cast in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming Elvis movie -- don't get your hips out of swivel, he's not playing Elvis (that role went to Austin Butler, most recently seen taking a can of dog food to the head for Quentin Tarantino) he's playing Elvis frequent producer sidekick Steve Binder...

... I didn't recall that I once knew it today, when I looked at the film's IMDb page here on the occasion of big bad Baz's 58th birthday. Dacre's not the only PYT on the Presley premises -- there's also the dueling Aussie banjos of Xavier Samuel and Luke Bracey to be had (and I sure hope somebody's hadding 'em). But for Baz's sake today we'll focus right in on the top two-some, as I suspect Baz himself calls them come suppertime...

survey services

Baby Daddy James

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After watching (and semi live tweeting) Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet last night I was switching around the channels on the TV and caught the last act of X-Men: First Class, which I surely hadn't seen since it came out in 2011 (I'm not really prone to revisiting superhero movies unless they have Michelle Pfeiffer wearing leather in them) -- what struck me is how young everybody looked! 

This has been a hard decade on all of us, specifically our faces. From there it was only a hop and a skip to thinking about how truly young James McAvoy looked in Atonement (hey whaddya know I also tweeted about that) and suddenly, I had to ask...

bike trails

Who Ain't Nuthin But a Hound Dog

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While I don't think any of the five names being bandied about are right on I think you can guess my preference of the five, given the above image and my well-documented predilections, for which one I'd choose to play Elvis in Baz Luhrmann's forthcoming biopic. The five actors are Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Miles Teller, Harry Styles (I hesitate to call him an actor -- and don't yell "Dunkirk" at me, nobody had to act in that movie), Ansel Elgort, and Austin Butler. 

The only one of them I don't know is the latter, although I've seen his name around; the other three are either a firm no thank you (Teller and Elgort) or an "I suppose, if you must" (Styles). But I'm not nuts about any of them to be honest, even Aaron who feels a little old at this point? (Which is probably crazy cuz dude is only 29.) Anyway...

web survey

Thom Talks Suspiria Stuff

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For Thom Yorke's 48th birthday back in October of 2016 I did a list of "My Five Favorite Uses of Radiohead Music in Movies" where I hit up stuff like Clueless and Romeo + Juliet but wanna know what's even better than me rambling about such things? Thom Yorke himself rambling about such things. (An eternal truth if ever there were one.) And that's just what happens in Thom's chat with Variety about his first score for Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria - they ask him what uses of Radiohead music he's liked in other people's movies and here's what he says:

"There’s been a few that make me go, “I wish I wish we’d done that.” There was an old sequence in “Vanilla Sky,” where they used “Everything In Its Right Place” that we really liked. There was a use of “You and Whose Army?” in some independent movie — I can’t remember the name now — which had me in tears, it was so good. [Editor’s note: He may mean Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies.”] Generally, when it works, it’s the coolest feeling. I think my all-time favorite film now is “Children of Men.” They use a little tiny bit of “Life in a Glass House” during the Michael Caine sequence. I love the film so much, and then the fact that our music is in it is like “Wow, f—ing hell!”"

I mentioned two of those myself, but I've still never seen Incendies somehow - really gotta get on that. Anyway the Variety chat is full of fascinating stuff - he says that David Fincher was trying to get him to score Fight Club! (The Dust Brothers eventually did it.) Thom also dives deep on the process of working with Luca, and of getting advice from his band-mate Johnny Greenwood, who's pretty well-versed in the process now what with several Paul Thomas Anderson scores under his skinny belt. Go read the whole thing! And then go tell everybody you know that the song "Suspirium" should be nominated for a goddamned Oscar, please and thanks. And yes I am otherwise ignoring today's news that a limited-edition vinyl record of previously unreleased Suspiria music is being released next month because I just now read about it a whole three hours late and that shit is already sold right the fuck out. Dammit...

Nicole Kidman's Greatest Hits

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As we told you yesterday when we sent you over to this week's Moulin-Rouge-themed "Beauty vs Beast" - or as you have maybe seen on Twitter, if you follow the same nuts I do anyway - today is the 50th birthday of one Nicole Kidman. I wasn't planning on doing anything today after commemorating it yesterday, but then I was fairly astonished to discover that we've never listed our favorite Nicole Kidman performances here at the blog before. But tis true - a scan through the archives shows it's true. Perhaps I always trembled in fear at the prospect of narrowing her thick-with-great-turns filmography down to a manageable number? There are about seven runners-up to this list that are angrily glowering at me (don't hurt me, Charlotte Bless!) but whatcha gonna do...

My 5 Favorite Nicole Kidman Performances

Anna, Birth (2004)

"You certainly had me fooled. I thought you were my 

dead husband... but you're just a little boy in my bathtub."

Grace, The Others (2001)

"If you see a ghost, you say 'Hello.'"

Satine, Moulin Rouge! (2001)

"One day I'll fly away... 

leave all this to... yesterday."

Alice, Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

"Fuck."

Suzanne, To Die For (1995)

"You know Mr. Gorbachev, the guy that ran Russia for so long? 

I am a firm believer that he would still be in power today 

if he had had that ugly purple thing taken off his head"

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So what are your faves?

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How Wonderful Nic Is....

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And speaking of goddesses celebrating their birthday (although are goddesses actually born, or do they just rise up out of clam-shells in the surf?) tomorrow is the 50th of one Miss Nicole Kidman, and so we're devoting this week's "Beauty vs Beast" at The Film Experience to her with one of our cruelest competitions of ever. So make like consumption and click on over to tear these gorgeous lovers apart!

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Gatsby Is Great, Gatsby Is Good

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While we'll always be Team Joel Egderton's Riding Pants in Baz Luhrman's Great Gatsby movie, today on the occasion of the 92nd anniversary of the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald's book we're asking you to choose something less roundly beloved -- between two of the actresses who've had the difficult  task of portraying Daisy Buchanan on film. Head over to The Film Experience to vote! I actually don't think either of them give perfect turns in the role but I don't really know how you turn that impossible symbol of a person into something believable on a movie screen.

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10 Off My Head: Siri Says 2001

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Hey guys, remember 2001? What a boring year, am I right? Nothing happened in 2001 that we're still shuddering through the after-pains of at all. Nothing that shook the very foundation of our democracy and planted fear and horror in the American heart, undermining our faith in our institutions and our leaders so deeply that a decade and a half later we've very nearly turned against all the values we once held dear, or anything. Nope, nothing like that. But some movies came out! And that's why we're here today. I asked my telephone to give me a number between 1 and 100 and the minx said "ONE!" this morning! Made me think of this, quite frankly...

... and that seems about right. Today's Mood, y'all! Anyway let's just go with it. At first glance The Movies of 2001 seemed kind of barren (it wasn't the best year for studio movies) but then I started looking at the low-budget and foreign films and shocker, it started getting good. So good in fact that I can't contain it to just five films like usual, I just can't. So instead here are...

My 10 Favorite Movies of 2001

Mulholland Drive

(dir. David Lynch)

-- released on October 19th, 2001 --

Donnie Darko

(dir. Richard Kelly)

-- released on October 26th, 2001 -- 

The Royal Tenenbaums

(dir. Wes Anderson)

-- released on December 14th, 2001 --

The Piano Teacher

(dir. Michael Haneke)

-- released on September 5th, 2001 -- 

Ghost World

(dir. Terry Zwigoff)

-- released on September 21st, 2001 -- 

The Devil's Backbone

(dir. Guillermo Del Toro)

-- released on April 20th, 2001 -- 

 Moulin Rouge!

(dir. Baz Luhrmann)

-- released on June 1st, 2001 -- 

The Others

(dir. Alejandro Amenábar)

-- released on August 10th, 2001 --
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Spirited Away

(dir. Hayao Miyazaki)

-- released on July 20th, 2001 -- 

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

(dir. John Cameron Mitchell)

-- released on 2001 -- 

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Runners-up:  Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (dir. Peter Jackson), Gosford Park (dir. Robert Altman), Memento (dir. Nolan), Amelie (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet), A.I: Artificial Intelligence (dir. Spielberg), Bubble Boy (dir. Blair Hayes), Jeepers Creepers (dir. Salva), Monsters Inc. (dir. Pete Docter)...

... Das Experiment (dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel), The Happiness of the Katakuris (dir. Takashi Miike), Kairo (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa), Lovely & Amazing (dir. Holofcener), Wet Hot American Summer (dir. Wain), Storytelling (dir. Solondz), Session 9 (dir. Brad Anderson)

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 What are your favorite movies of 2001?

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