Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy got it’s in-competition premiere at the Cannes Film Festival tonight. Earlier today, the cast and director gathered for a photocall in the morning sun, probably all thankful it stopped raining in the South of France. To say the reviews have been mixed is being kind. More on that later. For now let's just look at the pics of the pretty people.

The cast of the film, which we’ve been telling you about for a couple of months now, includes Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey as Jack and Ward James, John Cusack as death row inmate Hilary van Wetter, Nicole Kidman as sex-kitten Charlotte Bless and David Oyelowo as newspaper man Yardley Acheman. Also, while she is not credited on imdb’s cast list, singer turned actress Macy Gray was also present. From reviews coming out of the festival, it is apparently her voiceover  that tells much of the story.

I’m still not sold on Zac Efron as an actor, but he looks every inch the movie star. With his perfectly coiffed hair and impeccably tailored Glen plaid suit in the morning and basic black at night, he could easily fit in with the likes of a Rock Hudson or a young Paul Newman. He may have aspirations to the contrary, but he’s probably going to have to grow a scruffy beard, not comb his hair and adopt a rainbow coalition before anyone takes him seriously. He’s too pretty.

Speaking of pretty. Will someone please tell Nicole Kidman to stop messing with her face?  She was looking normal there for awhile but she’s been hitting the fillers and lip plumpers again. 

I don’ t mean to sound superficial but, while Macy Gray is a helluva singer, that hair and the man’s Salvation Army leisure suit she wore to the photocall are doing nothing for her. She looks like one of those troll dolls my aunt collected when I was a kid.

Cusack always looks the same. Always. There’s something to be said for reliable.

Then there’s Matty. I’ve been a Matthew McConaughey admirer even through the ‘naked bongos’ phase and I’m very pleased he’s making a comeback to talented actor as opposed to freaky half-naked all-natural oddity. While many swoon when he has his shirt off, he looks good in a suit too.

Speaking of looking good in a suit…guess who’s still in town!?!  *demented poodle dance*. I’ll be back later with pics from the big amfAR bash. (I should have known better! Silly me!)

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photo credit: WENN

This? This right here? This is what you need to get your Friday rockin’.  Lionsgate UK (for which I am gaining more respect for every day) has just dropped the UK version of the trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike. It is different from the domestic version and yes, it is better. (Less Cody Horn for one thing. Where did Soderbergh find her?)

“Set in the world of male strippers, “Magic Mike” is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars Channing Tatum (“Dear John,” “Step Up”) in a story inspired by his real life. The film follows Mike (Tatum) as he takes a young dancer called The Kid (Pettyfer) under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money.”

Magic Mike stars Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Riley Keough, and Olivia Munn.  Magic Mike will put you under his spell starting  June 29 in the US and 13^th July in the UK.

Check out that fantastic gif below courtesy of IndieWire.

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Here’s a new clip from Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy with Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron. Part of this clip was included in the montage shown during the opening ceremonies of the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.  The clips stars out with Jack James (Zac Efron) daydreaming about Nicole Kidman’s Charlotte as he, his brother Ward  (McConaughey) and Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) wait for her in the car.

The Paperboy, which also stars John Cusack as death row inmate Hilary van Wetter, is based on a novel  by Pete Dexter.  You can see the first clip from the film here.

An idealistic reporter for the Miami Times returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving the murder of a local sheriff. He’s eventually helped by his younger brother, Jack (Zac Efron) as they investigate the possible wrongful conviction of a death row inmate (John Cusack). Matthew McConaughey plays Ward James, who teams with another reporter ( David Oyelowo as Yardley). During the course of the investigation, Jack falls for the woman (Kidman) whom the convict has been romancing through prison correspondence.

The Paperboy doesn’t have domestic or UK release dates yet. I’m betting that will change after Cannes.You can see more of the pics we have for The Paperboy here.

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Mud is another film I’ve been looking forward to since we brought you first word and the above pic back in November. Matthew McConaughey is the title character, a fugitive on the run following a crime of passion. Hiding out on a deserted island in the Mississippi River, he encounters two young boys who are exploring his island.  Mud, is McConaughey’s second film making its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. As an avowed Matty fan, I’ve often had to sheepishly admit to that fact. I’m very pleased to see that he seems to be finally living up to his potential (and doing it with his shirt on. We’ll discuss Magic Mike later.)

MUD is a coming-of-age drama centered around two fourteen-year-old boys who encounter a mysterious fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi.  Intrigued by this man, they enter into a pact to help him evade capture and reconnect with the love of his life.  Though it is hard for the boys to discern truth from fiction when it comes to Mud, it isn’t long until their small Arkansas town is besieged by a beautiful girl with a line of hunters in tow.

Thanks to RopeofSilicon, we have two clips to share. The first is the boys’ initial contact and in the second, there appears to be some familiarity between the trio, but the boys are still understandably wary.

Mud is director Jeff Nichols’ follow-up to last year’s brilliant Take Shelter (for which he won the Critics Sidebar Award at Cannes) and among the talented players here, is Michael Shannon, star of that film. The love of Mud’s life, Juniper, is played by Reese Witherspoon. You might recognize one of the boys, Ellis, played by Tye Sheridan from Tree of Life. The cast also includes Sam Shepard, Sarah Paulson, Ray McKinnon and Joe Don Baker. No known release dates after Cannes, but no doubt that will change soon.

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There are a lot of films set to bow at the Cannes Film Festival in the next couple of weeks that I am truly looking forward to. One is certainly Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy. Based Pete Dexter’s acclaimed novel, it’s got an eclectic cast that is capable of great things. The question remains whether or not Matthew McConaughey, John Cusack and Nicole Kidman have brought their A games.  Both McConaughey and Kidman have turned in great performances of late (enough so that Kidman gets a pass for Trespass and I can’t wait to see Matty in Killer Joe and Mud – more on that one later) shedding their “movie star” personas and Cusack is always good,  enough to make you wish he got better material to work with (ie: The Raven).

We’ve got your first clip from The Paperboy (thanks to our friends at indieWire) and I think it reaffirms what I just said. The scene is a prison visitors’ room and the clip shows us Matthew McConaughey as Ward James, a journalist out to clear John Cusack’s Hilary van Wetter of the crime for which he’s sitting on death row.  Both actors appear to be in top form.

The clip is brief but since it’s marked #4, I hope that means we’ll be getting more of them in the coming weeks. I’m anxious to hear what those who will see it in Cannes have to say about it. 

An idealistic reporter for the Miami Times returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving the murder of a local sheriff. He’s eventually helped by his younger brother, Jack (Zac Efron) as they investigate the possible wrongful conviction of a death row inmate (John Cusack). Matthew McConaughey plays Ward James, who teams with another reporter ( David Oyelowo as Yardley). During the course of the investigation, Jack falls for the woman (Kidman) whom the convict has been romancing through prison correspondence.

The Paperboy doesn’t have domestic or UK release dates yet. I’m betting that will change after Cannes.You can see more of the pics we have for The Paperboy here.

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We’ve seen teasers and even some clips for William Friedkin’s blackly comic thriller Killer Joe, but we have not seen a full-fledged trailer…until now.  Watch this:

Okay, now how cool does that look?? Supposedly this has earned an NC-17. I cannot imagine how dark this thing is gonna get to require the dreaded Scarlet Letter of the MPAA, but I can't wait to find out!

When a debt puts a young man’s life in danger, he turns to putting a hit out on his evil mother in order to collect the insurance. 

Matthew McConaughey plays the hitman with what appears to be the same icy cool that I saw in McConaughey’s Buddy Deeds from John Sayles’ Lone Star, with a touch more malice. That’s what that East Texas twang was made for. Emile Hirsch (The Darkest Hour, Into the Wild, Alpha Dog) plays the young man, Chris Smith. Written by Tracy Letts (Bug), based on his off-Broadway play of the same name, cinematography is by the great Caleb Deschanel (Dreamhouse, The Passion of the Christ, The Patriot), the cast also includes Juno Temple, Gina Gershon and Thomas Haden Church.

I’ve been looking forward to Killer Joe since we told you about it during  Venice and TIFF last Fall. The film has been traveling the festival circuit ever since, including SXSW in March and I’ve been chomping at the bit for some US release dates. William Friedkin, arguably one of the the best directors of his generation and Killer Joe is his first feature since 2006′s Bug, an underrated thriller with Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon. Given the man’s amazing resume (To Live and Die in LA, The Exorcist, French Connection, Sorcerer, The Brink’s Job), anything with his name on it is worth at least a look.

Killer Joe has been chosen to open the Edinburgh Film Festival in June and will open in the UK the following week, 29^th June. It finally comes back to the US on July 27. There are some new images below as well.

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It was literally just yesterday that we the first new word in months on Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy. Hot on the heels of the confirmation that it had made the cut for Cannes, we got three new images from the film, including that one of Nicole Kidman letting out her inner trailer-park vixen (a description pretty well borne out by the pics below). Well, today cats and kittens, thanks to TheFilmstage, we have twenty one more new images, including first looks at John Cusack as Hilary van Wetter, David Oyelowo as Yardley Acheman and Scott Glenn as patriarch of the James clan, W.W.

An idealistic reporter for the Miami Times returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving the murder of a local sheriff. He’s eventually helped by his younger brother, Jack (Zac Efron) as they investigate the possible wrongful conviction of a death row inmate (John Cusack). Matthew McConaughey plays Ward James, who teams with another reporter ( David Oyelowo as Yardley). During the course of the investigation, Jack falls for the woman (Kidman) whom the convict has been romancing through prison correspondence.

Now, John Cusack looks plenty  menacing and a tad nuts, but I have to wonder if anything is being asked of Zac Efron other than he stand around and look cute enough to be Kidman’s toy-boy (which would really be a shame. I hope he was cast because he showed something to Daniels’ that the rest of us have as yet not seen. Sorry not a fan.) Some of the pics below might contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read the book, but hopefully your curiosity will have just been piqued and it won’t matter.

Enjoy the pics. More as we get it!

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Whoa…now I know it’s not just me. Nicole Kidman looks like Ann Margaret circa Kitten with a Whip or Viva Las Vegas. If the poster gave off a retro 60’s-70’s vibe (befitting the story) these first images from The Paperboy, of Kidman, Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey, certainly bear that out.

The Paperboy, another film traveling to the south of France for Cannes next month,  is based on a 1995 sexual thriller by Pete Dexter (“Paris Trout”). Dexter developed the film over the course of ten years with Pedro Almodovar, who is one of the producers. The film is directed by Lee Daniels in his follow-up to 2009’s Precious.

An idealistic reporter for the Miami Times returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving the murder of a local sheriff. He’s eventually helped by his younger brother, Jack (Zac Efron) as they investigate the possible wrongful conviction of a death row inmate (John Cusack). Matthew McConaughey plays Ward James, who teams with another reporter ( David Oyelowo as Yardley). During the course of the investigation, Jack falls for the woman (Kidman) whom the convict has been romancing through prison correspondence.

The Paperboy stars Oyelowo, McConaughey, Cusack, Kidman (who is already being mentioned in the same breath as awards contention), Efron and Scott Glenn. Millennium/Nu Image picked it up for distribution before it was even completed during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Still no release dates other than Sweden on November 23, but that will undoubtedly change soon. 

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photos via Allocine