Movie gossip! O.M.G.!
October 13, 2008
Message to Russell Crowe: please don’t gossip. As a frequent victim of gossip, you should know this.
“You know, I worked with Leonardo when he was 17 on ‘The Quick and the Dead [1995],’ ” says Crowe. “He was a virgin, and he’d talk about that constantly. So I’m hoping we have some time so he can fill in what’s happened in between, maybe show some photos, because I’m sure life’s different now.”
Although this interview first surfaced a year ago, it clearly blindsided Leo at this recent Access Hollywood appearance.
Sure, it’s meant as a joke. NBD. Call me old fashioned, but I believe Secret Guy Stuff should remain between Guys. (But Girls can let us in on Secret Girrl Stuff anytime)
So why tell? Surely, Russell, you are not trying to imply that you have a bigger dick than Leo.
Incidentally, audiences, sparse though they were in 1992 for HAMMERS OVER THE ANVIL, had a brief opportunity to see more of Russell Crowe than any other of his movies revealed. (DVD Sales will now increase)
Here’s Leo’s comment!
I loathe and abominate celebrity gossip media. At their core, those rumor rags, blogs, and trash TV shows cater to that base instinct - Envy, the inevitable counterpart to celebrity worship: You’ve got so much more than I have, I want to see you suffer.
Celebrity gossip is the twinkling tip of a toxic iceberg, that soils social discourse, promotes unkindness, and diverts attention from the serious issues of life.
50 years ago, Hollywood scandal sheets served only dedicated movie fans; now they are a cancer that can poison the value system of any elementary student with an iPhone. To end the scourge of gossip, we have to start with ourselves, every day. Even the exalted.
This week you can see alpha dog Russell Crowe deliver another riveting and nuanced performance, as does the former virgin (BTW, it was 18 for me too) Leonardo DiCaprio in BODY OF LIES, opening this week.
Of all the recent studio movies dealing with US foreign policy, this one should take the most money at the box office. Smart script, big stars, taut direction, satisfying conclusion. The political rhetoric is organic, understated but effective. A thinking person’s thriller. Let’s hope it has a big opening weekend.
Intelligence surveillance also figures in the latest dark comedy of human ineptitude from the Coen Brothers, BURN AFTER READING. In fact, it makes an interesting companion piece to BODY OF LIES.
Both depict an intelligence community out of touch and out of control. Both portray human communication as the dialogue of the deaf. Brad Pitt’s hilarious airhead demonstrates once again his flair for quirky character - he and Johnny Depp should do a buddy movie - and did Frances McDormand, with eerie prescience, somehow channel Sarah Palin when devising the perky narcissism her character required? I guess I’m having a Twilight Zone moment.
Both movies are worth seeing on the big screen.
More Fantastic Fest Foreign genre films next time.
Too bad that Body of Lies did not have the kind of opening weekend most people (including me) wanted for it. Beaten by Beverly Hills Chihuahua? Not many people would be getting laid over that performance.
It is sometimes horrifying to see what tabloid magazines dedicate their column inches to. What is more disappointing is the attitude that this is somehow alright, that photographers and ‘writers’ have the right to smear and slander celebrities…and that celebrities want and need the publicity to serve their own egos. Brad Pitt taking photos of his kids and putting them on a magazine cover? How are these kids going to grow up functional when their most private times with their parents are splashed inside a trashy magazine?
Agreed Scott, but unfortunately it’s the appetite of people like my mother-in-law who desire and talk about nothing else as if they own these people that in turn, feeds the coffers of the magazines that satisfy their cheap lust.
There is indeed no end to it so if you are destined for stardom I would personally prefer to be a nobody than have my life spread open like some sort of weird, freakish 18th century circus act for all to dribble over and judge.
Brian, your take on envy hits the nail on the head. I feel that the fascination with other peoples lives only festers in the minds of those who don’t actually have a life of their own.
Sadly, not all popular culture is good for you. Some of it slips down like cotton candy but is really diabetes in disguise.
Speaking of dribbling over:
http://www.bazuraproject.com/season-three/302-interview
Please forgive my fawning Brian.
And thanks again.
Saw the Man From Hong Kong at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) last night
http://ozfilms.timchuma.com/manfromhongkong.htm
Was the Screensound DVD at a late screening. Was only six people there luckily as we had to yell which scene for the projectionist to chapter-skip to after the DVD started skipping half way through. Was screened in 4:3.
I will still probably go to see John D. Lamond’s “Felicity” at the same venue tonight as I want to see it before I buy the DVD and not Stumpy’s dodgy burnt copy.
Thanks for that.
The newly re-mastered full anamorphic ratio DVD of MFHK that Madman will release for Christmas is the one to wait for. Deathcheaters, Dangerfreaks, Stunt Rock, Kung Fu Killers, The Stuntmen, Hospitals Don’t burn Down will also release in various cominations around that time too.