I don't know how I missed this, but back in December, the New York Times published its Hollywood Issue of the New York Times Magazine and its centerpiece was titled “Touch of Evil”, featuring some of the year’s best actors as classic Hollywood villains. The actors all had their choice of roles and designed the scenarios with photographer/videographer Alex Prager and Kathy Ryan, the NYT director of photography. Sometimes a role or a ‘type’ was suggested to them, and they accepted or sometimes they had something or someone specific in mind. I thought it a fitting companion to yesterdays post, Time Rounds Up the Great Performances of the Year.

Take a look at the photo above.

1.Jack Nance as Henry Spencer in David Lynch’s Eraserhead (1977). 2. Images of invisible men, including The Invisible Man (1933) and a photo of the Chinese artist Liu Bolin (in front of the taxi van). 3. The ventriloquist’s dummy Fats from Magic (1978). 4. Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). 5. Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987). 6. Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). 7. Dominique Sanda as Anna Quadri in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Conformist (1970). 8. The silent film star Pina Menichelli. 9.Catherine Deneuve as Carole in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965). 10. Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). 11. Malcolm McDowell as Alex in A Clockwork Orange  (1971). 12. A still from Green Street Hooligans (2005). 13. Lana Turner as Cora Smith in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946).

These are the characters channeled by George Clooney as The Tyrant, Mia Wasikowska as the Home Wrecker, Brad Pitt as the Madman, Rooney Mara as the Sociopath, Gary Oldman as the Menacing Dummy, Kirsten Dunst as the Siren, Jean Dujardin as the Hothead, Glenn Close as the Vamp, Viola Davis as the Vengeful Caretaker, Jessica Chastain as the Fire Starter, Ryan Gosling as the Invisible Man and Michael Shannon as the Tycoon. 

Gary Oldman as the Dummy is perfection. (Anyone see Magic with Anthony Hopkins? Spot. Freaking. On.), Brad Pitt surprised the hell out of me. Another spot on performance and genuinely f*cking creepy! Clooney was having a larf even as a villain, as was Gosling. Shannon was doing a take on Agent Van Alden (Boardwalk Empire) if you ask me. (And don’t get me started on the fact that his “Best Performances” only listed Take Shelter – and he was brilliant, don’t misunderstand- but whatever anyone thinks of the movie, he was by all accounts fantastic as Donnie in Machine Gun Preacher. Mia Wasikowska has Restless listed in her credits and while she may have been exceptional, the movie was, by general consensus, not. Sorry. I guess I got started anyway). Glenn Close is a little long in the tooth for “The Vamp”, although she did look fantastic in the stills. By far the best performance though, was Viola Davis'. The bugs! How the hell did she do that?? And that was one hell of a good Nurse Ratched.

Watch the slideshow for the stills, but you MUST watch the video for the performances.

Here are a few of the pics including a couple from behind the scenes. Enjoy!

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No, not that Adam and Eve! To my knowledge, they won't be wearing any fig leaves. They’re the main characters in the new film by Argentinian director Juan Diego Solanas (making his English language debut), Upside Down. It’s the story of two star-crossed lovers separated by opposite worlds, one up and one down, but both just out of reach of the other.  Sturgess’ Adam falls in love with a woman when he sees her on his tv screen when he’s a kid. His love grows, but she lives in an inverted universe with its own gravity, separate from his. Thanks to Jim Sturgess Online, we have some great first images to share. They give us a first look at the characters and a few hints at what the special effects might be like.

I've never heard of a single other member of the cast, although one, Neil Napier, played "Spartan with a Stick" in 300. I like Kirsten Dunst. She was clearly the best thing about the unrelentingly depressing Melancholia. Jim Sturgess is just plain adorable. but if he didn’t cut through his penchant for wacky, trippy (Across the Universe) or just plain sappy (One Day) with something meaty and dramatic once in a while, like his role as Janusz  in Peter Weir’s The Way Back, I’d probably go right off him.

Upside Down just has a vague 2012 as a release date right now. I’m thinking this may be headed for TIFF in the fall.

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Lars von Trier's end of the world drama, Melancholia, has been whispered and buzzed about long before the director's controversial remarks at the Cannes Film Festival, but even getting himself kicked off the Croissette couldn't overshadow his leading lady's performance. Kirsten Dunst won the award for Best Actress for this film and it has been eagerly awaited ever since.

I've been a fan of Dunst since 1994's Interview with a Vampire and it is high time she had something to showcase her considerable talents again. (I don't care about her personal life. For someone who grew up in front of the cameras, she's doing pretty well.) In Melancholia, she has it. It's the story of two sisters (Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg) with an already strained relationship who find it further challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

The hand-held camera work may be off putting to some, but I think it makes the whole thing feel more immediate as if we're watching the events unfold and taking home movies. von Trier has assembled a scary good cast. Besides Dunst and Gainsbourg, it includes Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Alexander Skarsgard, Stellan Skarsgard, Jesper Christiansen and Udo Kier. The film played TIFF last week and opens in the UK on 30 September, October 7 in the US on VOD and November 11 in theaters (huh?)

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Kirsten Dunst, and Mary Kate Olsen Raid Grandma’s Closet ForThe MET Ball

I will be the first to admit I know very little about couture or high-end fashion. And I’m really okay with that. What I also know is I would never go out looking like Kirsten Dunst or Mary Kate Olsen did attending last night’s ‘Savage Beauty’ Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

I sense Kirsten’s discomfort as she stands close to Gisele Bundchen which must suck because it’s bad enough going out looking like that (her stylist must hate her guts), but to stand beside Glamazon Gisele who looks beyond stunning would make the most confident of people head back home. Do I see a look of distaste on Glamazon’s face?

As for Mary Kate Olsen, I’ve just completely given up hope of her ever looking like she didn’t just roll out of bed or finish smoking from a bong for the last 5 hours while listening to Jimi Hendrix. I detect a hint of a smirk creeping up on her face so perhaps we are making some progress I’m just too disillusioned to care.

Photos: Lia Toby/WENN

Kirsten Dunst is starring (sometimes naked) in the upcoming film, Melancholia.  This is a strange new movie that seems to be pointing to the end of days… this time through an alien attack.  Will the world end that way?

“Melancholia” is described as a beautiful movie about the end of the world, and the story hinges on a large object from outer space approaching Earth that affects the planet’s inhabitants.

You can check out the NSFW trailer below.  You must enter your age to view it: (more…)