Showtime’s moving forward on the comedy series Trending Down, signing Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathryn Hahn to starring roles. Hahn will play Hoffman’s wife in the pilot episode set to film this fall with John Cameron Mitchell directing (Hedwig and The Angry Inch). Shalom Auslander created the series and will executive produce alongside Hoffman, Emily Ziff, Ken Kwapis and Alexandra Beattie.
“We are taking a markedly unconventional approach to process and content – a cross between the BBC series model and a theater workshop. And a meth lab,” said Auslander. “I wasn’t particularly interested in doing TV, and fortunately, neither was Phil. When Showtime said they weren’t either, we knew we had something. We don’t know what that is, but at least we know what it isn’t.”
The Plot:
On his birthday, Thom Payne (Hoffman) gets the gift of insignificance and also a new boss. He suspects his ED pills are interfering with his anti-depressants, leaving him with neither happiness nor… happiness. In a culture that reveres youth – a culture he helped create – Thom needs to figure out what his purpose is now that he’s halfway to death and nobody cares what he thinks. Because in a world where any Kardashian is trending up, perhaps the wise among us would heartily embrace trending down.
Charles Michael Davis has a killer smile and is just as charming as his character Marcel in The Originals in person. Davis’ Marcel may be new to the world of The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off but something tells me the female viewers are going to fall fairly quickly for this new player in the vampire universe.
At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Davis talked about what viewers can expect from this first season of The Originals and where he gets all that charm he can turn on so effortlessly.
Charles Michael Davis The Originals Interview:
Are you as naturally charming as the character?
Charles Michael Davis: “I would say yes. [Laughing] Yeah, I get it a lot from my dad. I always have to credit him. He’s a very, very charming fellow. Very charming man. Any charm that I get, me, myself, personally that bleeds over into the character, I get it from my father.”
Do you think it helped you get the role?
Charles Michael Davis: “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That was one of the things. You get a lot of breakdowns for characters and they say, charming, intelligent, maybe edgy or sexy, which this role said. It’s nice to go, ‘Check, check, check,’ and be confident about it and know that it comes from a rooted source. So, yeah.”
You mentioned sexy. Is there a romance coming up for your character?
Charles Michael Davis: “I hope so, yeah. That’s why I got into the business. Have a dalliance. Yeah, I guarantee there will be some romance going on.”
How far into season one have you seen the scripts?
Charles Michael Davis: “We’re in pre-production right now. I’ve read episodes one and two. That’s how far we are at the moment.”
You’re joining with characters who were established in The Vampire Diaries, but your character we don’t really know yet. How is it to be joining the ‘family’?
Charles Michael Davis: “Just as people, they’re great. They’re very loving. They’re very open. I’ve known Joseph [Morgan] for a few years through mutual friends. We used to play poker together. I remember when I met him, we geeked out about cameras. He’s like, ‘Hey, I want to show you my new Rebel.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, bring out. I just bought a 70.’ I knew we’d have that chemistry. Yeah, I felt very grateful. When I came up with my wish list, it was to be on a show that has a built-in audience, that has a great cast and crew from executive producer on down. Me and my manager were talking. We had lunch after I had booked the role. She said, ‘It’s crazy. Everything you asked for, that if you could wish it be, came true.’ So, to answer your question, it’s a dream. A dream come true. They’re great. They’re great.”
Who in The Vampire Diaries who has not already made an appearance would you like to see end up in New Orleans?
Charles Michael Davis: “Oh, god. That’s a good question. I would honestly like to see all of them make a little bit of an appearance, but I know already there’s some Bonnie buzz. That’s cool. The answer is Caroline. The fan favorite answer is Caroline, so I’m going to say Caroline. [Laughing I’m going to go Caroline” for 100.
See, that’s the thing. It’s just that chemistry. When different people come in the mix, it livens everybody up. I would love to have new people come so Marcel can show them around town and see what happens. I think there’s going to be a lot of buzz going on. I hope there’s a lot of buzz going on in New Orleans that it attracts the other characters for one reason or another. I think the fans would really get a kick out of that, you know? If Damon just walks in, in the background, and sits at the bar and then he takes off. It’s like, oh, cool.”
How much will we learn about your past?
Charles Michael Davis: “I can’t really say, fully, because I don’t even know. But I can say that you’re going to find out very soon a lot about Marcel. Given the fact that I said I’ve only read the first two episodes, it’s going to come up very soon. You’re going to learn about him.”
What are the saucy scenes like?
Charles Michael Davis: “I like that word. ‘Saucy’. Yeah, again, it depends on chemistry, and there’s a lot of good chemistry in our cast. Everyone’s very confident. Everyone’s got their sexy badge on their sleeve. I can’t say whether I will or will not enjoy it.”
So far we’ve only really seen the charismatic side. Will we see a darker side to Marcel?
Charles Michael Davis: “Oh, yeah. You’re going to see many different sides and very soon. You’re going to see softer sides. That’s one of the things. Both characters have an ego, Klaus and Marcel, so that’s part of that competitiveness. It’s your Jordan and…oh, who is Jordan really competitive with? [Laughing] Oh, nobody, because he was the best.”
How is it to square off against Joseph Morgan as Klaus?
Charles Michael Davis: “The first time we ever played poker, one of the things you do is you want to see who’s got some balls. You’re going all in. He’s one of the ones that wouldn’t back down. That was one thing. I was like, ‘Aww, this guy.’ He can hold his own.”
James Franco and Seth Rogen (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage)Seth Rogen has been tapped by Comedy Central to serve as Roast Master for his buddy James Franco’s upcoming skewering airing on September 2, 2013 at 10pm ET/PT. The network’s also confirmed Roast veteran Joel Gallen will be executive producing Comedy Central Roast of James Franco.
Rogen and Franco first worked together professionally in 1999’s Freaks and Geeks. They’ve also appeared together in Pineapple Express and This Is The End, and Franco even did uncredited cameos in Rogen’s Knocked Up and The Green Hornet.
“The bank was a set-up, we got to figure out whose money that was,” says DEA Agent Bobby Trench (Denzel Washington). “You mean, like we’re working together?” replies Naval Intelligence Operative Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) after they’ve discovered only part of the truth about a bank heist that’s become very complicated in the action film 2 Guns.
Bobby has been in deep cover trying to get close to and bust drug lord Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos) for months when what looks like a sure set-up and arrest goes south. Desperate not to be pulled from the operation by his superior, Bobby decides to take his partner Stigman up on his idea to rob a bank that holds Greco’s money, believing he can use the event as an advantage to get close to Greco. It’s right after the robbery when Trench’s back-up doesn’t arrive in time that things go horribly wrong and he learns that Stigman is really a Naval Intelligence officer.
When Stigman turns the money over to his superior officer (played by James Marsden), he learns he’s been set-up and is part of a double-cross from which he barely escapes alive. After a few close calls and while being hunted by a mysterious gunman, Bobby and Stigman decide to partner up – knowing the truth this time about each other – and work together to find out whose money it really was they stole from the bank, who wants them dead, and just who they can trust.
With countless shoot-outs, explosions and car/truck chases, 2 Guns is a loud, convoluted, and off-beat action/buddy film that comes up short. The film’s tone is incredibly uneven, with funny banter between Washington and Wahlberg countered by scenes of bloody and brutal shootings and torture.
Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg deliver solid performances and have good chemistry as two unlikely partners who eventually begin to trust each other only because they have no one else they can turn to. Wahlberg, however, seems too old to be portraying Stigman who’s a bit naïve and simple when it comes to crime and double-crosses in what seems to be a highly corrupt world.
Bill Paxton delivers a memorable performance as the ruthless leader of the mystery men who are hunting Bobby and Stigman to retrieve the stolen bank money for its original owner. He not only holds his own with a dark and menacing scene with Washington, but steals it from him – and that is quite a feat. Edward James Olmos is perfectly cast as Greco, the drug lord who always seems to be one step ahead of everyone else and who takes full advantage of his position.
Still, with 2 Guns‘ constant awkward switching between funny one-liners and witty banter from its two stars to the violent shootings, beatings and torture. the film never finds its rhythm and finally becomes a predictable and forgettable action movie.
GRADE: C
2 Guns is rated R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity.
“There are decisions that change your life. There are brothers that never leave your side.”
Peter Berg reunites with Taylor Kitsch (Battleship, Friday Night Lights) for the gritty action thriller Lone Survivor based on a true story and arriving in theaters in limited release on December 27, 2013 followed by an expansion everywhere on January 10, 2014. The film tracks the story of four Navy SEALS on “an ill-fated covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative who are ambushed by enemy forces in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan.”
The cast also includes Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Eric Bana and Alexander Ludwig. Universal Pictures’ Lone Survivor is based on the bestselling book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell and was adapted for the screen by Berg.
In this new behind-the-scenes video, Closed Circuit star Eric Bana says this movie reminds him of “some of the great thrillers from the ’70s” and that it doesn’t hold back. Directed by John Crowley (Boy A) from a screenplay by Steve Knight, Closed Circuit features Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Riz Ahmed, Anne-Marie Duff, Kenneth Cranham, Denis Moschitto, Julia Stiles, and Jim Broadbent in an international thriller arriving in theaters on August 28, 2013.
The Plot:
One morning, a busy London market is decimated by an explosion. In the manhunt that follows, only one member of the suspected terrorist cell survives: Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto), who is arrested and jailed. Preparations begin for what promises to be the trial of the century.
But there’s a hitch: the government will use classified evidence to prosecute Erdogan, evidence so secret that neither he nor his lawyers can be allowed to see it. Hence the need for the Attorney General (Jim Broadbent) to appoint a Special Advocate, an additional government-approved defense lawyer (Claudia Simmons-Howe, played by Golden Globe Award nominee Rebecca Hall), one who has clearance to see classified evidence and who can argue for its full disclosure when the trial moves to “closed” session. The rules for the Special Advocate are clear: once the secret evidence is shared with her, Claudia will not be allowed to communicate even with the defendant or with other members of the defense team.
But just as the case is on the eve of going to trial, Erdogan’s lawyer dies suddenly, and a new defense attorney, Martin Rose (Eric Bana), quickly steps in. Martin is tenacious, driven, brilliant – and an ex-lover of Claudia’s. The two lawyers make an uncomfortable pact to keep their former affair hidden. But as Martin begins to piece the case together, the outlines of a sinister conspiracy emerge, one that will draw him and Claudia dangerously close again.
“The enemy may have a missile, but we have Machete.”
Charlie Sheen (going by Carlos Estevez), Mel Gibson, Amber Heard, Jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara, Michelle Rodriguez, Demain Bichir, and Lady Gaga either team up with or try to take down Danny Trejo in this new trailer for Robert Rodriguez’ Machete Kills. Arriving in theaters on October 11, 2013, the cast also includes Antonio Banderas, Alexa Vega, Vanessa Hudgens, Cuba Gooding, Jr., William Sadler, and Marko Zaror.
The Plot:
In Machete Kills, Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale agent MACHETE, who is recruited by the President of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man – he must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet.
The premiere episode of season six of Sons of Anarchy marks, unfortunately, the beginning of the next-to-last season of FX’s critically acclaimed series. Creator Kurt Sutter is only planning a seven season run, and at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con we asked him if anyone is safe from getting killed off before the show airs its final episode. Laughing, Sutter replied, “I’m safe. I think that’s all that matters. You know, it’s a dangerous life. People die.”
Sutter was also asked if he knows – or has always known – the ultimate outcome for each of the Sons of Anarchy characters. “I don’t necessarily for each of the characters. I think I kind of know in terms of my trilogy, in terms of Jax, Clay, and Gemma – and Tara as well,” offered Sutter. “I have a sense of how the other characters evolve. But what I’ve learned each season is that I come to each season with a little bit looser grip of what I want it be. It ends up being a better season if I let it have a life of its own. So I do know where I want to end, I just don’t know how we’re going to get there or really what that path is like.”
Sons of Anarchy‘s creator also revealed the addition of some interesting new players to the mix this season. “We have CCH Pounder coming on playing a character who plays a much more… We had Ray McKinnon play the Federal DA a couple of seasons ago, and she’s just local DA so the energy’s a little bit different. It’s a little more ‘small town’. She sort of plays, I don’t know if I’d say…she’s not a direct antagonist, but she complicates the big picture for them,” said Kutter. “We have Kim Dickens on this season playing a madam and that will be part of Jax and Nero continuing trying to expand their legitimate business. So, that’s sort of a fun storyline we get to play out.”
Sutter also discussed returning guest stars and what fans can expect from this next season debuting on September 10, 2013:
“I’ve got two guns. One for each of you.” I’d hope many of you spot that quote from Tombstone. It’s one of Val Kilmer’s most fun lines, in a career of fun lines (the best being a description of a reoccurring dream in Real Genius). Why am I reminiscing about Val Kilmer when he has nothing to do with the new Denzel Washington / Marky Mark buddy picture? It’s as simple as the title being 2 Guns and my love of being glib.
The movie sees Washington and Wahlberg playing undercover agents for the DEA and US Navy Intelligence (respectively), thinking they’re partnered up with just another criminal and hoping to take down a Mexican drug kingpin. But when they unknowingly tap into a C.I.A. money stash, the end result is the pair being on the run from all three agencies. Sounds simple enough, right? It would be if it wasn’t painfully obvious the source material needs to be adapted better.
Steven Grant’s 2 Guns graphic novel, from what I can tell, seems to be brought over into the cinematic world more or less as it was (aside from changing the race of Denzel’s character). That may work for a comic book, but when I’m watching a movie, I like to have the twists and double crosses make a modicum of sense. I’m all for being surprised because a plot element was cleverly written, but here, items come out of left field simply by happening; there’s no logical way any of it could be foreseen, and it’s like there are whole scenes missing that would bridge points A and B.
For their part, Washington and Wahlberg share a playful chemistry. The best scenes in the movie see the two verbally sparring and trying to establish dominance over one another. To that end, some fun actors are thrown into the mix: Edward James Olmos, Bill Paxton, and James Marsden. Sadly, they’re underutilized and fall into the same trap the plot does, being used haphazardly and without any logical sense.
Then there’s the female lead, Paula Patton. Yes, she’s beautiful. Yes, she’s capable of doing action films (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol). But as much as I don’t want to complain about this, why is she topless here? While my eyes (and elsewhere) are happy enough, it’s completely gratuitous and simply further degraded the reason for her to be in the film. Her character, like everyone not played by the two male leads, has extremely little character development; and the attempts to do so tend to do little more than slow down the pacing.
Getting down to it, there are some fun moments in 2 Guns but director Baltasar Kormákur (whose last movie with Wahlberg, Contraband, was appropriately released in the cinematic wasteland of January) doesn’t seem to be the person who could best translate the material from page to screen and either the screenwriter needed to adapt the graphic novel more significantly or the producers needed to find a different director. This is a stock movie that doesn’t seem to understand that fact and the resultant leaps in plot progression and logic turn what could be a fun buddy picture into a ho-hum head-scratcher.
GRADE: C-
2 Guns opens in theaters on August 2, 2013 and is rated R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity.
Robin Thicke teams up with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots to deliver “Blurred Lines” backed by classroom instruments (including a banana-rattle thing). Better than the actual “Blurred Lines” music video, this new installment of Jimmy Fallon’s Music Room is worth watching once…twice…maybe even three times.
Showtime’s moving forward on the comedy series Trending Down, signing Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathryn Hahn to starring roles. Hahn will play Hoffman’s wife in the pilot episode set to film this fall with John Cameron Mitchell directing (Hedwig and The Angry Inch). Shalom Auslander created the series and will executive produce alongside Hoffman, Emily Ziff, Ken Kwapis and Alexandra Beattie.
“There are decisions that change your life. There are brothers that never leave your side.”
