The minute I told friends I loved Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, they asked, “You mean because it’s good or because it’s a train wreck?”
The truth is, I don’t really know. Imagine The Wire as written by Shane Black. It rides the line between 
brilliant and brilliantly terrible so well, all I know is that I loved every minute of it and I couldn’t turn away*. Like rock n’ roll, there’s something about a movie being almost bad that makes it infinitely better.
Now, before I get to my wholehearted recommendation, (and a wholehearted recommendation is what this is, in case you wanted to save yourself the trouble of reading the rest), I feel I should first clarify that if the crowd at the screening I attended is at all representative, a lot of people will not like this movie. But I believe I can provide a handy guide to the type of person who will or won’t. I illustrate by way of a story: Last week for Halloween, I dressed in a giant penguin suit with a fake mustache, an outfit I thought was pretty self-explanatory. And yet, a significant number of people came up to me throughout the night to ask, “What are you supposed to be?”
I combined a couple of these stories into one post because they weren’t that interesting:
Billy Bob Thornton and the Rock
…are joining the cast of Faster. “The Rock plays Driver, an ex-con out to avenge his brother’s murder. Thornton plays Cop, a veteran policeman who trails Driver. Also in the mix is Killer, an egocentric hitman who’s after Driver. That role hasn’t been cast yet.” I really hope those aren’t the character’s actual names, said Producer. ...Would you ask Tom Petty if he was gonna be in a movie with The Rock? [Variety]
Emmanuelle Chriqui and Val Kilmer
…are set to star in Georgia, about the Russia-Georgia conflict last year. I’m sure it will be historically accurate, because it’s being directed by Renny Harlin (12 Rounds, Driven, Deep Blue Sea, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane), whose movies are occasionally good by accident. [THR]
Ricky Gervais is hosting the Golden Globes
…which makes it a shame that the Golden Globes are such a sham. It’s hard not to look corrupt when you honor a bunch of movies that hadn’t even been released when the nominations were announced. But I like Ricky Gervais. He’s one of the good ones. [HitFix]
And finally, this guy got a boner while looking at an Iron Man DVD:
I always thought MacGruber was kind of a stupid sketch and I can’t believe they’re making a movie out of it. But with a hard-R rating, a guy from The Lonely Island directing, and Val Kilmer playing a villain named “Cunth,” who knows, maybe the good can out weigh the Lorne Michaels. Here’s the synopsis the studio just released:
MACGRUBER April 16, 2010
Genre: Action comedy
Cast: Will Forte, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe and Maya Rudolph
Screenplay by: Will Forte, John Solomon, Jorma Taccone
Directed by: Jorma TacconeOnly one American hero has earned the rank of Green Beret, Navy SEAL and Army Ranger. Just one operative has been awarded 16 purple hearts, 3 Congressional Medals of Honor and 7 presidential medals of bravery. And only one guy is man enough to still sport a mullet. In 2010, Will Forte brings Saturday Night Live’s clueless soldier of fortune to the big screen in the action comedy MacGruber.
In the 10 years since his fiancée was killed, special op MacGruber has sworn off a life of fighting crime with his bare hands. But when he learns that his country needs him to find a nuclear warhead that’s been stolen by his sworn enemy, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), MacGruber figures he’s the only one tough enough for the job.
Assembling an elite team of experts-Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig)-MacGruber will navigate an army of assassins to hunt down Cunth and bring him to justice. His methods may be unorthodox. His crime scenes may get messy. But if you want the world saved right, you call in MacGruber. [Collider]
Haha, “Cunth.” Gets me every time.
“TWO John Leguizamos? “
The recent electronic press kit for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (trailer here) is out. In it, Werner Herzog says:
“When you look at America at this time, in a way it felt right: do the darkest film imaginable,” [...]
“I’m someone who has no idea what drugs do to you [Ed. - make your films more funny, for one thing],” he said regarding the film’s excessive drug use. “So I had to ask the writer [Ed.- who is, Werner added, "a huuuge basehead"] and more competent people, ‘what does it do to you?’ So I had to be advised. In a way I don’t really care that much.” [...] ”I’ve never seen a film with excessive use of drugs, I do not see that many films” [theplaylist]
You’re missing out, Herzog. I see films with an excessive use of drugs all the time. I mean, I have to. Ever tried watching The Spirit while sober? Can’t be done. There’s another quote I’ll place below because it might be a spoiler. Also below are the first photos from the set (most of them courtesy of Collider). I especially liked this one of Werner with the director of photography. I dare you to trash his lights.
Actual Size
Via MTV:
DJ Nu-Mark confirmed that he’ll be joining the cast of the “MacGruber” movie. On Twitter. [...] In his own words:
“@djnumark: Ahh, gonna be in my first movie! Playin a DJ in the new Mac Gruber movie (from SNL)..lol. Val Kilmer is gonna take my mic from me..lol”
So there you have it. Val Kilmer: actor, outdoorsman . . . mic thief.
In fairness to Val, he may have thought the mic was an ice cream cone. (Another fat joke? Really? Hell yes you cheeky scofflaws.) And just to clear the air here: I’d still do him. And tweet about it.
By the way, there’s a MacGyver video inside that you should check out. Did MacGyver own any airbrushed vans perchance?
