In Kristen Wiig’s latest comedy, Girl Most Likely, she once again channels her amazing ability to create a character that not only inspires us to laugh but also to cringe and say, “Oh God, this girl is a loser.” But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because, again, Wiig is hilarious and manages to make us laugh while we silently wish for someone to drop a piano on her character’s head and put her out of her misery. Come on, admit it, that would have been a much better ending to Bridesmaids.

Girl Most Likely has a new trailer, and Wiig plays a woman whose life is spiraling out of control while the people around her seem to inspire more chaos than actual salvation.

Kristen Wiig stars as Imogene, once a promising young New York playwright whose promise has fizzled, thanks to a crisis of confidence. Heavily in denial about being dumped by her society boyfriend, Imogene uses her skill for drama to stage an elaborate fake suicide as an appeal for his sympathy. But her attempt backfires when she’s put into the custody of Zelda, her estranged gambling addict mother (Annette Bening), and must return home with her to the Jersey shore. Desperate to get back to her Manhattan circle of so- called friends, Imogene must finally deal with her family, including her unique brother (Christopher Fitzgerald), Zelda’s new boyfriend The Bousche (Matt Dillon), plus a cute young lodger (Darren Criss),who together help Imogene sort out her place in the world.

Anybody want to start a pool for how many times “The Bousche” is misconstrued as The Douche? My money is on six.

Read the rest of this entry »

“HW, did you ever hear the philosophy that once a man admits that he’s wrong that he is immediately forgiven for all wrongdoings?”

Oral history articles are like my crack, and I’ve seen Pulp Fiction about a billion times, so Vanity Fair’s new oral history of Pulp Fiction was of obvious interest. Casting is a particularly tricky part of development, and it’s always fun to play the “what if” game (Nick Nolte as Han Solo?!? Nic Cage as Superman?!?). Some Pulp Fiction what-ifs and almost-weres include Daniel Day-Lewis as Vincent Vega, Paul Calderon as Jules Winfield, and Matt Dillon as Butch.

Harvey Weinstein was dead-set against giving the role of Vincent Vega to John Travolta. “John Travolta was at that time as cold as they get,” says Mike Simpson, Tarantino’s agent at William Morris Endeavor. “He was less than zero.” Simpson had given Weinstein a “term sheet” of Taran­tino’s demands, which included final cut, a two-and-a-half-hour running time, and final choice of actors. “One of the actors I had on the list was John Travolta,” says Tarantino. “And it came back: ‘The entire list is approved . . . except for John Travolta.’ So I got together with Harvey, and he’s like, ‘I can get Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Penn, William Hurt.’” By then, according to Simpson, “Daniel Day-Lewis and Bruce Willis, who was the biggest star in Hollywood, had both gotten their hands on the script and wanted to play Vincent Vega.”

John Travolta was washed up before Pulp Fiction, he was amazing in Pulp Fiction, and he hasn’t really done anything great since. Casting Travolta wasn’t like Christoph Waltz, where Tarantino discovered this amazing actor that no one had seen before. Travolta was around, but no one else thought he had it in him. I don’t know how many times Tarantino had to watch Look Who’s Talking coked out of his face to see that role in Travolta, but it’s one of the all-time serendipitous castings, where persona and role lined up just perfectly. It’s also fun to imagine Daniel Day-Lewis doing Pulp Fiction lines all perfectly enunciated in his Daniel Plainview voice. “Now HW, eating a bitch out and giving a bitch a foot massage ain’t even the same thing!” (I know that’s a Jules line, but I don’t care).

Bruce Willis’s interest in the project relieved Weinstein’s concerns that the movie lacked bankable stars. With the main role of Vincent Vega already cast, the only option for Willis was Butch, the boxer—which Tarantino had promised to Matt Dillon.

Read the rest of this entry »

In Armored, director Nimrod Antal takes us into the fast stakes, high paced world of the armored car guard, which apparently operates like a fraternity for grown-ups, much like the fire department or the cast of Stomp.  But hold on to your girdle, grandma, because before you know it, there’s a heist plot.  In a movie about armored cars?  No effing way!  Of course, things don’t quite go according to plan, because if they did it’d be an instructional video not a movie.  Instead, the sh’t hits the fan Very Bad Things-style, and that sucks because no one likes a sh’t-covered fan, least of all MATT DILLON.  Trust me on this one, bros.

Read the rest of this entry »

Armored stars Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno, and Step Brother Stomp the Yard actor Columbus Short as a team of armored car guards.  It comes from awesomely named director Nimrod Antal, the man behind the kooky Hungarian subway guard movie Kontroll.  The trailer isn’t exactly interesting, but it has more reversals than I think I’ve ever seen.  OMG, they’re getting robbed!  …Psych! No they’re not, they’re good guys. …Psyche! No they’re not, they’re gonna rob their own armored car!  But no one will get hurt.  …Psyche!  Yes they will!  But Columbus and Matt are on the same side. …Psyche! No they’re not!  Psyche!  But maybe they are!  Or not!  Psyche!  Haha, this movie got you good, you f*ckers.

Francis Ford Coppola’s personal laptop was stolen in a robbery at his production office in Buenos Aires.  The laptop contained drafts of his upcoming film Tetro, which will star Matt Dillon.  Reps for Coppola say the screenplay was saved in other places.

Reps for the thieves say they were only trying to help.  They call themselves freedom fighters, and say that if Coppola releases another film like Jack, it may ruin the Godfather movies and Apocalypse Now for them forever.  They say they did it because they’re sick and tired of having to see movies with Nic Cage in them, just because he’s related to Francis.  They say they wished Sofia was present so they could shoot her in the face kidnap her and keep her from making movies.  They say her movies are tedious exercises in nothing and that she needs to learn something about life before she wastes everyone’s time again.  Yes, they said all of this.