Bradley Cooper entering PT Anderson's world

by Nathaniel R

We were wondering when we'd get casting news for Paul Thomas Anderson's next film and it's finally starting to trickle in. Though the untitled movie revoles around a famous teenage actor attending high school in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s (yes, we're thrilled that PTA is returning to Boogie Nights time and locale) the buzz is that it's actually an ensemble piece. And there are supposedly at least three prominent adult roles. Bradley Cooper is in talks for one of them but we don't know which. The juiciest adult roles are rumored to be a film director, an agressive agent, and a closeted politician.

Cooper is one of the best actors of his generation so we can't wait to see what Anderson can pull from him since the auteur is just amazing with  actors...

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Who deserves a shot at romantic lead stardom?

This question is brought to you by a recent rescreening of North Country (2005). The movie is too didactic to dimensionalize its characters but there are lots of little things worth thinking about and discussing therein... especially the kind of topics that can only come when a movie is now an older if not an 'old' movie. Like... why didn't Michelle Monaghan (who really pops in a small role) become a bigger deal? And why hasn't Hollywood given Corey Stoll a shot as a romantic lead? There he was, 15 whole year ago, being bald and sexy and crushworthy six years before his breakthrough (Midnight in Paris). He plays one of the only redeemable guys in the mine where Charlize works (and is continually harassed, both violently and sexually). There's a lovely but sad moment when he asks her to dance at a local bar and as she relaxes into his arms, drunk, she asks him twice... "you're a nice guy, right?" 

Are they any other character actors that you think deserve a shot at a romantic leading role? 

Born in '91 Fun. Who will get an Oscar nomination first?

by Nathaniel R

It occurred to us this morning, since we're celebrating 1991 this month, that no one born in 1991 has yet been nominated for an acting Oscar! Which begs the question: who will be first among them? The following actors are all turning 30 next year and the early 30s is a GREAT time for movie star ascendancy if you have the skill and magnetism and also happen to get the opportunities and have some good luck (three of the four are required!). We narrowed it down to a dozen options for you (in random order) though of course the first to get there could be someone we haven't even heard of yet getting a late start. Make your case for which of these actors it'll be in the comments...

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Familiar Faces: The P.T. Anderson Players

We're celebrating PTA this week for his 50th birthday!

by Nathaniel R

Famed auteur Paul Thomas Anderson is not, perhaps, the creature of habit we expected him to be after his first three films made him a legend-to-be and suggested a steady stable of actors shifting guises with each film like a Scorsese or an Altman or an Allen. Since that magnum ensemble opus Magnolia (1999) his films have shifted closer to the traditional one or two man focal point employed by most auteurs even as they've gotten more experimental in other ways. It's as if he was purposefully shaking off the Altman-progeny tag.

That's a wee bit disappointing since auteurs who are particularly genius at assembling a whole mess of actors and watching the idiosyncratic group dymanic spark are few and far between. With PTA's next project set to be a drama about a famous child actor in high school, it's unlikely we'll see many repeats from his troupe, though there's always a possibility one or two of them show up as a teacher or parent or co-star on set.  Let's look at the actors he's used the most in his filmography thus far...

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Cast This: Disney's Live-Action Hercules

by Nathaniel R

Disney still has lots of animated features to get through before they've made animated or live-action remakes or spinoffs of each of 'em. Word is they're now developing Hercules (1997) but then they're developing lots of these things to follow Mulan (2020) and Cruella (2021) into movie theaters.

Hopefully Hercules Redux gets some new songs because there aren't a lot as we recall and there's only so much of a score you can build from "Go the Distance". This will live or die based on how funny it is so we hope they lean heavily into its more camp aspects: bodybuilder lead, five muses, flamboyant villain. 

How would you cast this thing? More after the jump...

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