New Year, new movie: This one doesn’t have a title but it’s written and being produced and directed by James Gray and stars Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix in one of his first starring roles since he got the train back from Crazy Town.  This is Phoenix’s fourth collaboration with Gray after The Yards, We Own the Night and Two Lovers. (That last might have been what bought him the ticket to Crazy Town in the first place.) In any case, what is currently known only as Untitled James Gray Project is currently filming on location in Brooklyn.

The basic plot of the film involves an innocent immigrant woman (Cotillard) who is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician (Jeremy Renner) tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island.

Since Renner is playing the romantic hero (Orlando the Magician), we can assume that Phoenix’s character (Bruno Weiss) will be the one who seduces Cotillard’s Sonya Cybulski. Is it too soon to say “I’m in”? I love the idea of Renner playing this type of character. He’s got a look about him that is both youthful and lived in, and Phoenix can do melodramatic villain very well. Remember his Commodus in Gladiator? If he’d have had a mustache he’d have twirled it. I think the same will probably be said of Bruno Weiss. (This is, of course, all conjecture based on the brief synopsis and the pics we’ve gotten from the set.)

Speaking of pics, I’m loving Phoenix’s bowler and Cotillard’s vaudeville costume, especially the velvet wrapper she’s bundled up in. It must have been very cold in Brooklyn the past few days. Even with the velvet, Cotillard is alternately swaddled in a blanket or someone’s down coat between takes. There’s no information currently available on Untitled James Gray Project’s release date, but hopefully we’ll have a title when there is.

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Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master is one the the most anticipated (by me) films of 2012. It’ll be his first since There Will Be Blood. It’s a 1950s-set drama centered on the relationship between a charismatic intellectual known as "the Master" whose faith-based organization (“The Cause”) begins to catch on in America, and a young drifter who becomes his right-hand man. The drifter is played by Joaquin Phoenix, the Master is Philip Seymour Hoffman. The drifter finds himself equally drawn to the Master's daughter (Amy Adams).  (In reality, there is only seven years difference between Hoffman and Adams.)

Several observers have noticed parallels between the story of the Master and his Cause, and the founding of Scientology by L. Ron Hubbard. Anderson and his people deny that this is some sort of Scientology allegory. It’s also not the first time Anderson has delved into the subject of charismatic pseudo religious leaders and the effects on their followers, after Magnolia, which ironically, reignited the career of one of the most famous Scientologists, Tom Cruise. So we’ll see.  

Photographer Jack Erling took these pics of extras during filming. The period detail is amazing. Coupled with the black and white photography, they not only capture the vintage feel of the film but look like they were found in an old hat box in your Aunt Esther’s attic.

Also starring Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons and Kevin J. O’Connor, The Master is set to be released by The Weinstein Company but no exact dates are known. My guess is, Harvey’s going to hold it back until at least fall, for awards contention and that we can expect to see it on the festival circuit. (Perhaps even in Cannes in May.)

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When Joaquin Phoenix dawned the bushman look and claimed to be giving up acting for a rap career people thought he lost his mind. The jury is still out on that one, but apparently during that time he was filming a documentary of this metamorphosis and the film, I’m Still Here will premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival and hit theatres September 10.

The official synopsis of the film:

The directorial debut of Oscar-nominated actor Casey Affleck, I’M STILL HERE is a striking portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of internationally acclaimed actor Joaquin Phoenix. With remarkable access, I’M STILL HERE follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip hop musician. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, and always riveting, the film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads. Defying expectations, it deftly explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.

Do you think Joaquin is serious about a rap career or that this is all a prank of some sort?

Joaquin Phoenix attended the Los Angeles premiere of  Exit Through The Gift Shop where celebrities got their graffiti on and spray-painted a car which is appropriate given the movie is billed as:

‘the world’s first street art disaster movie’ the film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work

Attending the Bansky film premiere:

• Ashlee Simpson
• Pete Wentz
• Minnie Driver
• Adrien Brody
• Alanis Morissette
• Juliette Lewis
• Danny Masterson
• Tony Hawk
• Rebecca DeMornay
• Darryl Hannah
• Scott Caan
• Tim Daly
• Johnny Lee Miller

Pictures after the break

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Joaquin Phoenix is seen arriving at LIV Nightclub where he was performing his hip hop gig and was heckled by someone in the audience that he got into a fight with.  Apparently during exchanging insults with the heckler Phoenix told him:  , “I’ve got millions of dollars in my f**king bank account. What do you got?”

You know, when I saw him on David Letterman I thought that this is all a publicity stunt, a ploy.  And seeing this,  I can’t help but think the same thing:  According to TMZ Casey Affleck was filming the entire thing.  What do you think, publicity stunt or Joaquin is for real?

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This was SO funny.  When he started wondering around the stage I thought that was just brilliant.  In case you missed it or you want to see it again:  Ben Stiller channels Joaquin Phoenix at the 2009 Academy Awards!!