the link i live in
Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 4:00PM 
Animation Magazine Have you heard that Steve Jobs wanted Aaron Sorkin to write a Pixar movie? It's be more interesting if he wrote a movie about Pixar. How would his sharp sometimes cynical wit mesh with Pixar's self-promoted internal cheer as the happiest workplace on earth?
Towleroad I say a few words about Pedro Almodóvar's latest
IndieWire interviews Elena Anaya on her role in The Skin I Live In. *mild spoiler alert*
New York Times "The Formula of Melodrama" brought on by Almodóvar's gripping The Skin I Live In.
My New Plaid Pants more pics from the set of Steven Soderbergh's flesh fest Magic Mike plus JA's hilarious commentary.
Gold Derby finds fun elected trivia about Meryl Streep's upcoming nomination for The Iron Lady (what do you mean "if")
Awards Daily pontificates about Olivia Colman's Oscar chances for Tyrannosaur. I saw the movie much earlier this year and she is brilliant in it.
Culture Map Austin Kristen O'Brien shares memories of George Harrison, whose back in the cultural ether (not that the Beatles ever leave it) given Martin Scorsese's documentary. Love this bit about Madonna and Shanghai Surprise (which Harrison provided music for) of all things.
On this last visit to Friar Park we met first to view footage from the film Shanghai Surprise. I joined Dad to watch the dailies with Harrison and the principal actors in the film, Madonna and Sean Penn. After the screening, we went back to Friar Park for dinner. However, before dinner was served, we gathered in the TV room so that Madonna could get Harrison’s feedback on her latest as-yet-unreleased video. It was "Live to Tell," and she shyly played it for all of us, looking earnestly to George for his approval. After the video we watched The Muppet Show, and I remember thinking it was funny, but yet perfectly natural, to be sitting here with Madonna laughing over Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog.
CBR has a list of unproduced superhero movie screenplays that might make good comic books. Though I knew that Tim Burton and Michelle Pfeiffer wanted to do a Catwoman movie after Batman Returns... I didn't realize that an actual screenplay was turned in (and rejected). Either that or I've just forgotten to block out the pain.
Keyframe Nick, Timothy and Kevin (three of my four favorite Chicagoans) are arguing over the Chicago Festival fare in this ongoing conversation including The Kid With a Bike, Miss Bala, My Week With Marilyn, and The Artist, and Melancholia. I'm happy to see Nick appreciated Melancholia as much as I did. Where is my review? Funny you should ask. Why am I procrastinating it so?
Finally, if you're young musical theater performer type -- I know TFE has readers of that persuasion -- you might want to consider auditioning for The Glee Project Season Two. In the past I've always been violently opposed to reality shows which cast productions of anything. Casting should not be a democracy. It should be left to the experts or the people who have to work with the people that are auditioning. I had NO intention of watching this show but I stumbled on it one day and was surprised at how interesting it was. The audience couldn't vote (yay!) and it became this behind the scenes expose (albeit heavily edited and undoubtedly self-censoring) of how show creators react to talent who would love to work with them, and what does or doesn't factor into their hiring decisions. It reminds you of how true it is that talent will only get you so far (i.e. a foot in the door) but there are so many intangibles in showbiz.
Reader Comments (5)
Nathaniel, ewww- you were a fan of the Glee Project? Ryan Murphy was just so... impulsive. If he decided one day he didn't like you, he'd make up some excuse for how "he doesn't know how to write for you" and boot you. Gross.
Plus, aside from maybe Damian, the show's editing made me hate each of its contestants at one time or another.
Nooo! I don't want anyone spoiling the "Pixar dream"!
And i thought you didn't like Melancholia. Maybe you should think about it for one more month :p
Evan -- i wouldn't say "FAN". i just thought it was interesting. and aren't "whims" of the creators part of the whole intangibility of drawing lucky numbers as actors?
James T --- no i always liked it. but i keep arguing with myself about how much ;)
I liked "The Skin I Live In" a lot (much much more than "Broken Embraces"), but the ending was a bit of a letdown... I also wish Elena Anaya (who is very decent) could do a better job of conveying her character's inner conflicts, especially at the end she just seems to be a bit too sure of herself...
Unproduced superhero screenplays that might make good comics:
Wonder Woman: Possible, but rebooting every time is lazy.
Untitled Batman Project: Good for an Elseworld. (Self contained alternate reality using DC character names.)
Roundtable: Well, if Marvel wants to compete with DC's Demon Knights, I could see it.
Flyby: A resurrection twist hasn't been pulled yet in a big superhero movie (not even in animated genre parody Megamind). As a comic, it could be interesting.
Mark Millar's Superman: Committing to a trilogy is a big deal, and I can't see the studio accepting the end of the trilogy being his death. Better as a comic.
Bruce Wayne: Maybe they'll revive the concept once Nolan's Batman is finished.
Batman vs. Superman: You'd need independent series on both of them succeeding concurrently to even try this.
Daredevil Condensed: Wouldn't be accepted as a comic, and the movie would be accused of not even letting the audience BREATHE.
Nick Cassavetes Iron Man: Sounds like kind of like the midway point between the two Hulk movies, satisfying none of the people who liked either film.
Captain Marvel: Start with the A List. With DC, that's Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Everything else slides in after. William Goldman's project will rise in some form eventually.
Alex Cox's Doctor Strange: Impossible to produce and mostly just a villain battle with no character arc.
Bob Gale's Doctor Strange: Sounds more interesting, balancing action and character moments.
Green Lantern Comedy: If they really wanted to go the comedic route, why a light Jack Black comedy? One idea I read that sounded awesome was a dark psycho comedy starring Bruce Campbell as an aging Hal Jordan based on the "Hal is possessed by Parralax" storyline from the comics. I knew it wouldn't be funded, but it would likely be more interesting than what we got.
Sgt. Rock: A military comic is never going to make it to screen. There's more respectable sources to crib from.
Sleepless Knights: The best stuff of The Trinity (Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis), probably isn't going to make it to screen for a while. Hopefully this'll make it to comics to drum up support to finally get to screen.
Plastic Man: He should be so far down DC's priorities list as to never make it to screen.
Spidey 4: Who cares?
The Crow 2037: A sci-fi Crow? Huh? Sounds awesomely brutal.
Burton Catwoman: Founding a whole movie on a sex hero, as I've mentioned before, is a mistake for a movie. And in other news, this plot became Garth Ennis' The Pro a decade later.
Fantastic Four: Just another bland comic, though an interesting approach to a movie.
Black Widow: Aw...a hero that might have a point beyond just sex appeal gets canned because of shameless fan service movies with women.