A bunch of blogs recently picked up on some pictures from tarantino.info taken on the set of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards in Saxony, Germany. They showed the outside of a farm house (be still my f-cking heart), and the above sign.
As you may note, the sign features the original, misspelled, handwritten title of Tarantino’s script, Inglourious Basterds. Based on this, everyone’s concluding that the final title will retain the original misspelling, but as far as I know, there’s no official word on that and it’s not the only possibility. It’s possible that Quentin hates spelling and wants the title to remain Inglourious Basterds. It’s also possible that it’s just a sign and they were being cute. And it’s further possible that the title really is Inglourious Basterds, but only because it was written by Axziago, an alter ego of Quentin’s who escaped one night after a three-week coke bender and who speaks and types in a futuristic vernacular that only appears to be misspelled to people in our dimension.
FilmDrunk was recently able to obtain an exclusive of Axziago’s only known photograph.
Spike Lee, who knows a thing or two about bashing movies for historical inaccuracy, is facing a backlash of his own from Italian partisans over Miracle at St. Anna. It seems the film incorrectly implies that an antifascist Italian partisan gave information to the Nazis which led to the 1944 massacre of 560 Italians. The writer was apologetic:
“This is a fictional story,” [James] McBride said. “The real question for me was how to make ‘St. Anna’ a reveal, because that is the craft of fiction. I am very sorry if I have offended the partisans. I have enormous respect for them. As a black American, we understand what it’s like for someone to tell your history, and they are not you. But unfortunately, the history of World War II here in Italy is ours as well, and this was the best I could do,” McBride added.
Yeah so settle down, people who risked death to fight fascism. As a black guy, James McBride knows your struggle. But wait, I’m sure Spike will clarify things!
“I am not apologizing for anything. I think these questions are evidence that there is still a lot about your history during the war that you (Italians) have got to come to grips with.
“This film is no clear picture of what happened. It is our interpretation, and I stand behind it.” [Variety]
You know, sometimes I feel bad for bashing Spike Lee as much as I do when his movies are important to so many people. And it’s true, he tries to tell the stories that need to be told when not a lot of people are telling them. The problem is, he’s such an arrogant little douchebag that the only side of the story he ever sees is his own. Complain about racism all you want, Spike, and every once in a while you’re even right. But be honest with yourself, under different circumstances you would’ve made a great nazi.
Weinstein and Rudin tied for first in the Les Grossman Lookalike Contest
So despite the fact that studio head Harvey Weinstein (left) and producer Scott Rudin (right) are basically the same person, they’re in the middle of a big fight. At issue is The Reader, a movie Billy Elliot director Steven Daldry did for The Weinstein Company. The film was first delayed 8 weeks by Nicole Kidman’s pregnancy, then faced another, even sexier delay when they had to wait for one of the actors to turn 18 so she could shoot a sex scene. Even though it started shooting four months behind schedule, Harvey still wanted it finished in time for awards season (deadline is in November), despite that the director, who officially had creative control, said that was basically impossible. Rudin, who backed the director, claims Weinstein explored a number of sleazy options for forcing him to finish earlier, including claiming recently deceased producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella “would have wanted” the movie finished in 2008 (I use that strategy with chicks all the time). But this is all backstory. You can get the full rundown here.
Today’s news is that Weinstein offered to give $1 million to charity if someone could produce the supposed email in which Rudin accused him of mistreating Anthony Minghella’s and Sydney Pollack’s families. It seems a charity is in luck, because Nikki Finke just published it:
The new Confessions of a Shopaholic trailer premieres this weekend attached to Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist. An adaptation of the best-selling book series, producer Jerry Bruckheimer promises to bring the same brainless cheeseball approach to chick flicks as he does to movies about pirates, or treasure, or pirate treasure.
After losing her job, Becky applies to be a writer at a Condé Nast fashion glossy. Instead, she is hired for a financial magazine, a position that is way beyond her qualifications. In the big-screen version, her boss is also her love interest (Hugh Dancy of The Jane Austen Book Club).
So let me get this straight, she’s a young professional woman living in Manhattan who’s obsessed with designer clothes, doing a job that’s way over her head for a famous magazine, and she’s in love with her handsome boss? This is all so new, it’s a lot to process. If only she had some girlfriends with whom to share the good times and the bad…
Quantum of Solace looks pretty badass, but that doesnt change the fact that the name sounds more like an emo band than a Bond movie. Recently, Daniel Craig revealed that it was all his idea.
The British actor rejected several potential names during a brainstorming session with producers - before insisting they go with the title of a short story by Bond creator Ian Fleming.
And he is adamant it was the right move.
Craig tells Britain’s GQ magazine, “I was involved in making the decision. Names were coming out, some ludicrous stuff was going back and forth - I can’t remember exactly, but you know the sort of thing: ‘The Blood On Your Face’.
“I knew I didn’t want ‘death’, ‘die’, ‘bleed’ or any of those things in the title.”
But the actor admits that in the great tradition of Bond movies, the film’s title is often meaningless.
He adds, “As soon as it came out, people were saying, ‘Ooh, it sounds like Harry Potter’. No, it’s Quantum of Solace. I was saying, ‘It’s a Bond title!’
“The name of a Bond film is not about anything. Live And Let Die? Octopussy? What does it mean? It means very little.” [ShowbizSpy]
Hard to say which is better. Seems to me like they just took the stupid in another direction. “Octopussy” is meaninglessly juvenile like a Poison album while “Quantum of Solace” is pretentiously meaningless like an At the Drive In side project. If they’re married to the meaningless aspect, I say go with meaninglessly awesome, like The Chainsaws of St. Tiger, or Sharktown Sexxxplosion.
[Thanks to Robo for the tip]
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