Beauty Break: The Cast of "Magic Mike"

Channing Tatum: The Early YearsSteven Soderbergh's Magic Mike, must be nearing cameras, since casting news is dropping regularly now. No one can ever claim that Soderbergh dawdles... though wasn't he supposed to be retiring? He seems awfully busy for someone winding down. The film is a pet project of Channing Tatum's and loosely based on his experience as a stripper at 19. He had never hidden his body as cash machine past (see also: much modelling) so the surfacing of that video a couple years back was more novelty than scandal. 2012 is going to be a huge year for Tatum as he has not one not two but five movies that'll be hitting theaters.

Channing plays the title character of Magic Mike and will school rising star Alex Pettyfer (of I Am Number Four)  on the fine art of hustling. Earlier this week we heard that Matthew McConaughey had joined the film as their pimp boss and just last night news came that White Collar's Matt Bomer has also signed on. I've never watched an episode of White Collar but I've watched several episodes of Bomer photographs (His fans be feverish with the posting of them, you know). TWO MORE ANNOUNCED: True Blood's Joseph Mangianello also added to the cast as "Big Dick Richie" and now Cuban model/actor William Levy update again (08/29) Levy has turned down the role. Bad move. He's not famous and this is a major director we're talking about with a starry cast.

Other rumored members of the cast include Shiloh Fernandez and Demi Moore (!!!) who, well, ⇒⇒⇒

I'm not sure I believe either rumor -- especially the Demi one. But if it's true, I guess Soderbergh isn't superstitious about invoking the ghost of infamous bad-movie Striptease (1996)!

Care to help Soderbergh out with the rest of the casting? Who should join Pettyfer, Bomer, Levy, Manganiello, McConaughey and Tatum in bum-shaking and tip-taking?

Poor Johnathon Schaech. Anyone remember him from the 90s? Wasn't he supposed to star in (or wanted to star in) a Chippendales movie? It never happened but he's still working and still beautiful at 42. So come on Soderbergh, isn't there room for a middle manager or a McConaughey rival?

Tatum, Pettyfer, McConaughey, Bomer, Fernandez

Striptastic photos of the cast after the jump... (if you're into that. if you aren't don't go clicking)

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Sick Character Posters for "Contagion"

 

Paolo here, apologizing for the pun. If you'd like, you can leave yours in the comments section unless you think it's too early for that kind of fun.

Because the 'city' poster for Steven Soderbergh's new film Contagion wasn't enough, MovieLine via Yahoo! has uploaded the new character posters for the film, bearing the images of its six major stars. This is much better than the boring poster designs wherein actors faces are separated by boxes. The sepia tone also works well here. But the unfortunate thing about character posters in this case is that it doesn't convey the interpersonal and global reach that should come with films about diseases or plagues. But if we're looking to see how these characters are connected to another, the trailer (previously discussed) conveys that pretty well.

Gwyneth Paltrow (the first victim) has the strongest poster. The other ones aren't as exciting, with Beth's husband (Matt Damon) being scared, Marion Cotillard running or driving away from something within the big city, Jude Law in plastic and Laurence Fishburne and our girl crush Kate Winslet's character Dr. Erin Mears frantically talking on their phones. Someone tweeted to me that only Larry and Kate look good in these posters, the rest of the actors rightfully mangled within the drama of their scenes. [For larger images, click the actor names.]  

A little factoid that you all probably know is that Gwynnie and Kate to the left were both in the running for the Oscar winning role of Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love. Both women frequently show up in Miramax/Weinstein films but they're lending their talents to the Warner Brothers this year.

Why aren't we getting Bryan Cranston and John Hawkes character posters? You want to see them right?

Toronto & Venice Lineups: Full of Contenders & Sleepers

Robert here (of Distant Relatives) with some thoughts on the lineups for the Toronto and Venice International Film Festivals which were announced Wednesday morning. And Oh Canada (and Viva Italia!) are they impressive.

Let's begin with Venice since it's up first.

VENICE
First up, the many films that will be vying for awards and spots on prestigious top 10 lists at the end of the year. I mention them first because while there's much to anticipate about them all, there's not too much left to say. They've staked their claim and now we must wait for word to start rolling in. So we can see if Roman Polanski's late career semi-resurgence can continue with the impressive cast of Carnage, or whether Steven Soderberg's Contagion can live up to that buzzy trailer. Meanwhile David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method sets out to prove that just because he doesn't make movies with gynelogical tools that look like alien lifeforms anymore, he's still a master of psychosexual pathos. George Clooney's The Ides of March will try to be more than Primary Colors redux and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (from Let the Right One In's Tomas Alfredson) may finally get Gary Oldman some recognition in the form of little statues. And of course Madonna reinvents herself yet again, this time as feature film director with W.E.

Meanwhile I feel like the lineup has reminded me of how many films have fallen under the radar so far this year. Did you know Jonathan Demme has made a post-Katrina documentary entitled I'm Carolyn Parker? Underachiever James Franco has found time to direct a film about Sal Mineo called Sal. Todd Solondz is back at it with the romance Dark Horse, which I'm sure will be more fun for the whole family. Further representing the ladies are Marry Harron who jumps into the vampire fray with The Moth Diaries, Andrea Arnold who gives us a new version of Wuthering Heights, and Marjane Satrapi of Persepolis fame who, with co-director Vincent Paronnaud presents her sophomore effort Chicken With Plums.

If that weren't enough there's Shame, Steve McQueen's follow up to 2008's Hunger which pairs Michael Fassbender with Cary Mulligan. If you liked 2007's sweetly sad The Band's Visit, director Eran Kolirin presents The Exchange. And if you liked last years not-so-sweetly sad Dogtooth, Giorgios Lanthimos is back with Alps. Plus new films from Philippe Garrel, Abel Ferrera, William Friedkin and more. Exhausting. The full list is available for your perusal at The Guardian.

TORONTO
Now on to TIFF, the official unofficial start of award season. Along with some films from Venice that will be here too (The Ides of March, The Dangerous Method, W.E.), we'll get our first look at "Sad Clooney" in Alexander Payne's The Descendants, "Angry Woody" in Oren Moverman's Rampart, and "Mathy Brad" in Bennett Miller's Moneyball. Rodrigo Garcia's Albert Nobbs rings the bell on the Glenn Close/Meryl Streep steel cage Oscar match we're all looking forward to and/or feeling conflicted about. Meanwhile Francis Ford Coppola continues the "we hope this one will be his big comeback" era of his career with Twixt.

Of course, Toronto could be comeback central. Fernando Meirelles is premeiring 360 in an attempt to put Blindness out of sight. Lasse Hallstrom is back (actually I can't remember if he went anywhere or if we all stopped paying attention). Anyway if he has his way the title Salmon Fishing in the Yemen will be on all of our lips. Also did you know that Roland Emmerich has apparently grown tired of destroying the world and made a film about Shakespeare called Anonymous... seriously. And his subtler and more stylish French counterpart Luc Besson has maybe put thrillers on hold for The Lady.

The list seemingly never ends, but I must. So I'll finish off with two films you might be anticipating if you enjoyed 2004's My Summer of Love and 2007's Away From Her. Pawel Pawlikoski is back with The Woman in the Fifth and Sarah Polley returns to the director's chair for Take This Waltz. As usual there's still plenty more and The Guardian has that list too.

Once your head has stopped spinning with the promise of a busy end of the year sound off. Which of these are you looking most forward to? Which are you having trouble getting worked up for?

Yes, No, Maybe So: Haywire

Jose here with a new edition of Yes, No, Maybe So. Just a few days ago we brought you the trailer for Steven Soderbergh's Contagion and now here's the trailer for Haywire, a movie he will release a mere four months later. Apparently the whole retirement thing just helped to crank the creative juices inside him...

YES. Once again, that cast!

How did he handle two casts with these people? Can you imagine working with Fassy, Ewan, Gwynnie, Kate, Marion and Channing in the same year? Maybe they are the ones who are more like "can you imagine working with Soderbergh?".

Keep on reading for more awesome Soderbergh-ness...

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Yes, No, Maybe So: Contagion

In this edition of Let's Count the Oscar Winners, err, Yes, No, Maybe So, we take a look at Steven Soderbergh's Contagion. Details of this film had been kept quite secret until this trailer was released a few days ago. I'd seen snippets from the film at a distributors event a few months ago but they highlighted star wattage over plot. So now the trailer has arrived and in a move that has some condemning Soderbergh for spoiling his own film, he pulls off a Game of Thrones seconds into the trailer (at the bottom of the post)

YES - That cast!

All of them either have Oscars or have been nominated on multiple occasions but the best part is that they're not just "movie stars", they're all incredible actors. Is this like the "serious version" of Ocean's 11? Soderbergh gets bonus points for that The Talented Mr. Ripley reunion, but where is Cate when you need her?

NO - How can Steven Soderbergh deliver such a superb trailer and threaten us with early retirement? Also, considering he has developed a tradition of delivering one artsy film followed by a fun one, which one is this? His last movie was a documentary, so does it count or should we use The Informant as reference? The director has a tendency to work with genre and this looks like it could be his take on the psychological film or the disaster movie (I smell a fun double bill with Melancholia!)

Soderbergh is also one of the most ambitious directors in contemporary history. Most of the time he gets away with whatever he wants, but given the political references spotted in this trailer this could either be brilliant or end up turning into a bland piece of meh like Blindness.

MAYBE SO - With the revelation that Gwyneth Paltrow's character dies, we have to ask ourselves, how much will this affect the rest of the film? Some people have already called this a monstrous spoiler and are pissed at the director for letting this piece of information come out.

 PSA: Gwyneth Paltrow in The Perils of Gambling!

Killing one of your main stars isn't something completely new but it still sends waves of how-dare-they and where-are-we-going-now terror among audiences who want it the easy way. This revelation tells us that either her character was meaningless and there are bigger shocks to come or that Soderbergh is the kind of director you want to work with so badly that you don't care if he kills you before the movie is even released. 

I for one am beyond excited to see what he has up his sleeve this time. How about you? Are you as impressed by the cast? Should Soderbergh retire yet?