Earth's Linkiest Heroes

Whedonesque okay so supposedly Joss Whedon started shooting The Avengers today. I've long said this movie will never happen so if cameras are actually rolling (do people still say that anymore with digital cameras?) and they don't stop production at some point unexpectaly I'll be totes wrong. And I'll be happy to be wrong (so long as the movie is good.)
Pajiba the ten movies people most lie about having seen when they haven't.
Movie|Line Stephanie Zacharek reveals the summer movies she's most looking forward to... even though she hates writing about trailers.
Acidemic remembered Jesus, via Franco Zefferilli, for Easter. I did such a bad job with Easter at the blog. I didn't even post a bunny picture. What's wrong with me? I'm normally such a holiday-friendly guy. Do you have a favorite Jesus portrayal from film or television?
Gold Derby looks at the possible Best Comedy Actress lineup at the Emmys. Did you know that The Lovely Laura Linney has never been defeated when nominated?
Coming Soon Johnny Depp to cameo in the 21 Jump Street movie.
FourFour writes about Lance Loud, now famous again post-humously due to HBO's Cinema Verite.
Us Magazine congratulations to TFE darling Toni Collette! She had a baby boy.

Just For Fun
My High School Boyfriend Was Gay have you seen this new humor site? Prom photos are the best for unintentional comedy. You woudn't believe mine but, no, I won't ever be sharing it.
The Awl on friendships with the unemployed.
Omaha I'm sharing this link about a tattoo artist just because of his following quote from the tattoo artist to your right on the rise of intricate realistic tattoos.

“You can put beautiful art on the body just as you can put beautiful art on the wall. I spent nine hours putting a tattoo of Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman on one guy.

Nobody loves La Pfeiffer more than me but I couldn't wear her face on my body for the rest of my days. Do any of you have tattoos? I'm squeamish about them but I'm always curious as to what motivates others to get them.

The Man With the Italian Tattoo

Williams and MagnaniJose here, to continue celebrating the centennial of American playwright and icon Tennessee Williams.

Williams grew up watching movies. He was one of the major playwrights who learned his craft, not through Shakespeare and Moliere but through the works of De Mille and Chaplin. This can easily be seen in the way his works lack the naturalism of "the theater" and their reality is more grounded on high drama, film noir and even slapstick. You can almost picture the young Williams sitting inside a dark movie theater, enthralled by the images projected on the screen (makes a case for why some of his characters are usually described as "larger than life" huh?).

During one of his many movie adventures, Tennessee spotted Anna Magnani. I like to assume it was Rome, Open City, but of course am probably wrong.

He became so obsessed with the Italian diva that he ended up writing an entire play just for her: The Rose Tattoo. When he approached her to play the leading role of Italian widow, Serafina Delle Rose, Magnani declined because she was unsure her limited English skills would do justice to the play. (Maureen Stapleton did the role on Broadway instead, winning the Tony in 1951.)

This didn't stop Tennessee and Anna from starting a friendship that would endure until their deaths. Williams described Magnani, 

 I never saw a more beautiful woman, with such big eyes and skin like Devonshire soap.  

The temperamental Magnani felt at home with Tennessee and when the time came to take The Rose Tattoo to the movies, she obliged. 

She took on the role of Serafina with such intensity and passion that she ended up taking home the Oscar for Best Actress. She didn't attend the ceremony because she thought she would lose, even after she'd won the critics' awards, the Golden Globe and BAFTA for the role.

The film might not be counted as one of the strongest Williams' adaptations (and the play itself is often regarded as a minor work) and in the years that followed, the movie earned a reputation for being full of stereotypes and even for discriminating against Italian immigrants.

Sure, the film is filled with symbols, bare chested lovers (Burt Lancaster mostly), weeping, screaming, gossiping neighbors, Virgin Marys (and nods to virginity), wine, loud laughing fits and thick accents but few back then realized that the film wasn't being touted as a portal into reality. It was an interpretation of the immigrant experience by someone whose knowledge consisted mostly of neorealist films.

More than this, the movie was a tribute to Anna Magnani. Not the Magnani Williams came to know later, but the Magnani who embodied a nation in the aftermath of WWII. The one Williams had met at the movies.

The Rose Tattoo therefore, is less about the characters than about what inspired their creation. The play is filled with nods to Williams' own life and the motifs that would define his work (sex, passion, humid settings, dead men...) The very tattoo in the title can mean much more than the ideas associated with the flower (love for example) since Rose was the name of Tennessee Williams' favorite sister. I'm sure she accompanied him to see Magnani's films on many occassions... 

Therefore, we understand that the role of Williams in the play is that of the tattoo artist, imprinting precious memories on the skin of his characters and his audience. But above all, imprinting them onto his own creative skin. Some works of art are misunderstood because the are too personal and deciphering their meaning only leads to migraines and shouts of "pretentious".

The Rose Tattoo would be one of these works; so private, so intimate; that we carry them around with us all the time, waiting only for a casual slip of the sleeve, a careless morning after, an accidental movement, to share them with others who might be fascinated, disgusted or even indifferent to their nature. 

Right Track? "Born This Way"

Lady Gaga's latest short "Born This Way" has arrived. It's se7en minutes of gooey births, nonsensical mythology ("Mother Monster"!  She must have been watching the Oscars. They do so love a Monster Mom), and simple dances that look complicated via editing that everyone can learn for the clubs. Not quite sure what to make of the Madonna gap teeth at the end, though.

Perhaps she should give the Madonna homages/taunts(?)/riffs a rest? Although speaking of homages. I love that the head in the jar, assembly line thing reminds me so much of Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! or cheesy sci-fi movies in general  ack ack

For what it's worth the Evil that is birthed (the skeleton faced guy, Canadian Rick Genest) also starred in the Thierry Mugler fashion short that Gaga did the German-language music for. That's actually his face. It's not makeup but tattoos.

♪ He was inked this way-hey ♫!

If you missed the Muglier short, that's here.