• The dream has ended for Shrek: The Musical. The stage adaptation of the cartoon which attempted to change the Great White Way forever with this revolutionary classy dramatic rendition of a farting contest (we're not kidding, watch the clip), finally accepted the call of gravity just under a year after its debut. [Variety]

• The immediate fate of Roman Polanski is unclear today. After reports earlier this week that he would not fight extradition to the US, today the picture is muddier, with his legal team apparently hotly debating the question. [Hollywood Reporter]

• This Is It, the documentary based on what would have been Michael Jackson's concert series, is headed for a big opening, with 1600 of its showings already sold out. [NY Times]

• David Fincher has signed on to produce a TV series based on the British political thriller House of Cards. The novels which were adopted into a classic trilogy of mini-series by the BBC a decade ago portray the rise and fall of a ruthless British Prime Minister. [Hollywood Reporter]

• Signaling to the world's geek community that it is time to hurry up and say their last goodbyes, Fox has announced it is pulling Joss Whedon's Dollhouse from its November sweeps schedule. [Hitfix]

• Technicolor has finally taken its place on the bandwagon to shove 3D - and its accompanying higher ticket prices - down the world's throat, announcing it has found a solution that will allow non-digital equipped movie houses a conventional means of projecting 3D. [Variety]

There was a ton big budget slop but there was also a hefty amount of grit.
Movies like Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, Memento, L.A. Confidential, aw hell, even Fight Club were a great mix of pulp and substance.

With dynamos like Quentin Tarantino leading the charge, it looked as though Hollywood had a new surge of quality filmmakers. If you remember all that then you certainly remember the sense of betrayal you felt when you heard something, like, say Robert Rodriguez was directing Spy Kids 2? What happened to these guys?! Was it the pressure? The art? The women? According to a new GQ interview with Tarantino, it was the swimming pools!

"When you gotta go out and make a movie to pay for the kids' private school and for the three ex-wives, don't talk to me about your artistry. It's their job. I don't want to have to watch the movie I made to pay for my pool." Taraneninto went to say he didn't want to be making movies into his 60's."

It's true! On a long enough time line everyone's success rate reaches zero. And judging from the mixed reviews of Tarantino's newest flick, it looks like that timeline is really short! So we looked at some of the best directors of the 90's and tried to mark the precise moment they decided to re-tile their pools.

And sure, some will nab a prestige comeback flicks but there will always be that bottomless chlorinated beast to feed.

David Fincher: Se7en, The Game, Fight Club
Pool Movie: Panic Room

Fincher was a decorative filmmaker with a pretty morbid vision. Then he made Panic Room with Jodie Foster, who some time in late 90's also decided that she would stop picking plum roles and just you know, show up. Now grasping at commercial success with movies like Benjamin Button, it's safe to assume that Fincher will continue to splash around in the shallow waters of mediocrity.

Jonathan Demme: Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia.
Pool Movie: The Truth About Charlie
Silence of the Lambs was a game changer for all psychological thrillers about wang-tucking serial killers. Then he encouraged us to reach out and touch a gay, which was fine. But then Demme dropped the Whalberg bomb with The Truth About Charlie. That is an awful movie! And Demme has not made anything not-awful since!

Curtis Hanson previous films: L.A. Confidential, Wonderboys, 8 Mile
Pool Picture: Lucky You

Three years too late, Lucky You tried to capitalize of the poker craze of '02 with a jerky rom-com staring Eric Bana (whose appeal is still a mystery to me) . Lucky You was an undredeemableIe flop. Rex Reed put it best: "I don't know a grand slam from a royal flush and couldn't care less, so I might just as well have been watching a two-hour translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics."

Steve Soderbergh: Sex, Lies, Videotape, Traffic, Che
Pool Movie: The Good German
When Soderbergh made Ocean's 11 in 2001 you could fill an Olympic sized pool with the art house tears. But Ocean's was crowd-pleasing pop at it's best. Soderbergh's real paycheck flick was The Good German . An updated noir vehicle for George Clooney that mucked the line between homage and mockery.

Ang Lee: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain
Pool Movie: The Hulk
Way to go, Ang! Just when we were starting to believe that you were as good as everyone said you were, you go and make The Hulk.

Columbia wants to start production by the end of the year, according to Variety, even though the book on which the film is based won't be released until July 14. So even assuming screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is working on advance manuscripts, he and his colleagues will need to move quickly.

The book is being done by admitted fabricator Ben Mezrich, so they should probably start with the fact-checking.

After all, it takes a special kind of man to chest-punch studio executives and boldly remake Forrest Gump at twice the length and budget without any attribution whatsoever. (And that's not even counting the ButtonGate scandal brewing in Rome.) Where does it come from? A lucky audience in London found out first-hand after a special BFI screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — and naturally, as with so many of Hollywood's most influential assholes, we owe it all to Fox:

I'd always had this naive idea that everybody wants to make movies as good as they can be, which is stupid. [audience laughs] So I learned on [Alien 3] movie that nobody really knows, so therefore no one has to care, so it's always going to be your fault. I'd always thought, "Well, surely you don't want to have the Twentieth Century Fox logo over a shitty movie." And they were like, "Well, as long as it opens."

So I learned then just to be a belligerent asshole, which was really: "You have to get what you need to get out of it." You have to fight for things you believe in, and you have to be smart about how you position it so that you don't just become white noise. On that movie, I was the guy who was constantly the voice of "we need to do this better, we need to do this, this doesn't make sense". And pretty soon, it was like in "Peanuts": WOP WOP WOP WOP WOP! They'd go, "He's doing that again, he's frothing at the mouth, he seems so passionate." They didn't care.

Fine. Still, get over it. There's never any excuse for making Jake Gyllenhaal cry.

• David Fincher [The Guardian]

The DGA selected Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) and Gus Van Sant (Milk) as this year's nominees, with the winner to be announced Jan. 31; Nolan symbolized the closest thing to a wild card among this year's crop, with Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky) widely presumed to have slid off the bubble since his recent critics'-award run. The odds favor most of of them to continue on to the Oscars, where four of last year's five DGA nominees preceded them. Sean Penn is still pissed.

• 'Dark Knight' swoops into DGA nom [LAT]

One might think that Fincher would owe Ciallela a note of thanks—after all, the director knows from angry outbursts, and he confessed at a New York discussion last night that he was half-masochist, half-sociopath. However, Fincher turned dovish when bringing up the Button gunman, says the NY Times:

When a cell phone went off in the audience at Frederick P. Rose Hall in the Time Warner Center, Kent Jones, the evening’s ringleader and the associate director film programming of the film center, issued a stern reprimand about turning off the darn devices. “Thank God it isn’t Philadelphia,” Mr. Fincher said. “Some dude got shot for talking on his cell phone. I don’t advocate that.”

However, the director added, if a moviegoer with a pistol in the waistband of their sweatpants just happened to encounter Fincher enemy John Goldwyn (say, at a Paramount screening room, maybe tomorrow at 4?), he or she may find a special gift in the mail: an immaculately preserved Jared Leto dreadlock from the set of Panic Room, with a mysterious note inscribed, "XOXO, DF."

• Of Virtual Replicants and Sociopathic Tendencies [NY Times]

James Joseph Cialella Jr., 29, allegedly fired one round at an unidentified yakker at a Christmas Day showing of Button. According to reports, Cialella had asked the man and his son to keep quiet; when that failed, Cialella began tossing popcorn at the son. Tempers flared and a confrontation occurred, culminating in the dream of every chat-aggrieved filmgoer alive: Cialella drew a .380 caliber handgun and shot the dad in the arm, soundly ending the family's conversation, scattering other patrons in the crowd, and — perhaps best of all — prompting the gunman back to his seat, where he resumed watching the film in complete, unmolested quiet. For a little while, anyway; police soon hauled Cialella from the Riverview Theatre in handcuffs, later charging him with attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons violations.

We're no lawyers, but surely we've arrived at a point at which the forcible silencing of chatty theater patrons is as self-defensive as shooting a burglar — particularly when it comes to the exquisite craft of David Fincher, whose reaction to this news no doubt supplanted Button's debut as his "first rimjob" moment. As such, consider this the launch of the Free Cialella campaign. We know tolerating a single act of gun violence can create a slippery slope (shooting your upstairs neighbor who spent the last week rewatching Mamma Mia! at high volume is still not justifiable, alas), but surely some genius defense attorney out there can convince a jury that Cialella was acting on all filmgoers' behalves, and in the interest of cinema in general.

Or, in the instance that he really is just a lunatic, at least get some cultural mileage out of the attack. We could use a hero, batshit South Philly gun-fiend or not.

• Phila. man shot because family talked during movie [Philadelphia Enquirer]

We think this rejected key art featuring Taraji P. Henson and a nude, wrinkly baby Pitt more effectively sells the reverse aging tale—particularly had they paired it with a catchy tagline. Say, "One man's journey from Depends to Huggies."

• The Curious Case of the Better Benjamin Button Poster That Never Was [/film]

[Photo credit: Getty Images]

Examples are vague, however, and we are at a loss ourselves to suggest potential conflicts between Paramount's efforts and Fincher's vision: Perhaps the poster's lettering isn't backwards enough? The reviews aren't unanimously euphoric with praise? It could be anything, really, but we hear at least one 'Mount alum has a new welt to remind him of an ancient-past studio misstep:

After an LA screening, Fincher was rude to John Goldwyn, who was running Paramount in the early '90s when the movie, based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first in development. After Goldwyn congratulated Fincher, "he hit Goldwyn in the chest with his hand and hurt him and said, 'That's for you, for not greenlighting the movie when you had a chance.' " The picture, which shows Brad Pitt aging backward, relies on computerized effects that didn't exist 15 years ago.

Not to mention on a director whose film career at the time consisted solely of Alien 3, and nobody thumped him in the chest for wrecking that. Appreciate your breaks where you can catch them, Fincher, and consider keeping these guys closer for the next three months— they aren't Jake Gyllenhaal.

• Director Acts Like a Dope [NYP]

· "David Fincher and screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) have delivered an historic achievement, a masterful piece of cinema, and a moving treatise on death, loss, loneliness and love. As the movie proceeds, and Brad Pitt as Button ages backwards, we know where he is headed: it's where we are all going. But he feels he has to go there by himself, without his loved ones. And nobody wants to die alone." — Anne Thompson, Variety

· "Perhaps it’s my youthful cynicism, who knows, but I thought Fincher brought an arm’s length approach to the emotions in the film and I wanted Roth’s reaction to that. Of course, Roth doesn’t particularly agree with my take. Indeed, he was right in the middle of telling me how the bathroom was filled with sobbers after the screening when a beautiful young lady walked up to us and told him how much the movie had affected her. But he took my comment in stride. 'Fincher is the kind of director that brings you right up to the point of sentiment and then brings it back,' he said. 'There’s something to be said for that I think.' " — Kris Tapley, InContention

· "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button represents a richly satisfying serving of deep-dish Hollywood storytelling. [...] Much of the film's romantic and philosophical posture hinges on Benjamin and Daisy getting together at the right time, and they do so in an entirely satisfying way; by the time of consummation, with Brad Pitt now in full physical glory and Blanchett at her womanly peak, they — and the audience — are more than ready for it. [...] In all his physical manifestations, Benjamin is a reactor, not a perpetrator, and Pitt inhabits the role genially, gently and sympathetically. [Cate] Blanchett's Daisy is the more volatile and moody one and, after bluntly revealing the selfish impetuousness of Daisy's youthful self, the thesp fully registers both the passion and insecurity of the mature woman." — Todd McCarthy, Variety

· "[T]his is a film that works on every level. [...] I didn’t think that Fincher could pull off something overly sentimental. I thought it would be a few steps removed and all about the effects and the gimmick. It turns out, though, that this film is about the human experience. It’s about, as Roth and Fincher said, the people who make dents in you, who impact your life. Most of those who teach Benjamin about life are women, older women who have the benefit of wisdom. His life is shaped by them, which is probably the reason I fell so hard for the film. Too often women get the short shrift in films. They aren’t given the credit they’re due as whole human beings. I was touched by the female presence in this film, quite moved by it, I must say." — Sasha Stone, Awards Daily

· "Watching Benjamin Button, occasionally I actively loathed it, but mostly I just felt genuinely disappointed that it seemed so lacking in genuine feeling. [...] Button is the opposite of Pitt’s last Oscar hopeful in that respect: The Assassination of Jesse James was a film in which every frame seemed to invite contemplation. Benjamin Button is a film in which every cut seems designed to block thought. Maybe the earlier film’s failure says it all about the philosophy behind Button’s construction: for audiences and Oscar voters, thinking is bad. Spoon-fed artifice is good." — Karina Longworth, Spout

Publicists put the call into director David Fincher, who was on his way to the theater for a post-screening Q&A, and he made the decision: pull the plug.

The audience was understandably agitated. “Come on, it looks beautiful,” one chimed in. But they all knew Miranda would have felt terrible showing his film in that fashion (and talking to some who’d see the film already, there was a considerable difference, as well as a sound quality issue afoot). “Don’t do it,” another guy said, siding with Miranda and clearly a below-the-line guy that gets it.

As unfortunate as the timing was for this technical snafu, a passion project "18 years in the making," as producers Kathy Kennedy and Gary Marshall introduced it, deserves nothing less. All the more so when it comes from the hands of an obsessive perfectionist like Fincher, who famously went with a bullhorn from theater to theater screening a slightly-too-blue print of Zodiac, and announced to audiences, "*BEEEP* GO HOME NOW. THIS NOT HOW THE KILLINGS HAPPENED. I REPEAT, YOUR ZODIAC EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED."

• ‘Button’ didn’t happen [In Contention]
• Things get curious at "Button" screening [Retuers]

What worked for Paul Thomas Anderson the year before seemed to backfire this time. ... Fincher couldn't show one long sequence—the usual practice— because he needed to show the passage of time and the different faces of Button (Brad Pitt), so the concept of the movie would be clear. (Telluride wanted fewer, longer clips, but didn't get them until the eve of the showing.)

The other difference between Button and There Will Be Blood is the difference between a Paramount Vantage indie directed by PTA and a big studio director who has commandeered a major movie star and $150-million in big-Paramount resources. Insiders can't help but speculate on the eventual outcome of the movie. Will it get good reviews and be an Oscar contender? Will it lose a fortune? (Is it Memoirs of a Geisha all over again?) The real folks in Telluride will spread good word in their communities, which was Paramount's intention here. But the fanboys are interested in this movie too, and it may not be for them.

To wit, one Fincher obsessive took a stick to Button's tender skin ("I’m still excited to see the finished product, I’m just a little disappointed. Could it be that the film wasn’t what I expected, or maybe not what I wanted?"), while Fincher himself insisted the preview wasn't about marketing or "positioning" — i.e. situating Brad Pitt's name alongside Viggo Mortensen's in the early Oscar brackets. Which, of course, is where it landed almost instantly upon screening. Hats off.

Meanwhile, in Paul Schrader's Adam Resurrected, Jeff Goldblum drew accolades for portraying, and we quote, "a Berlin cabaret performer who survived a concentration camp by playing a dog for a commandant." And if there is a Juno-esque revelation to emerge literally out of thin air, handicappers had an eye on Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle's chronicle of an Indian slum kid who wins on his country's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. And why not: Fox Searchlight has a horse in the race every year, and even without a stripper-screenwriter subplot or some ensemble, yellow-bus witchcraft, critics love Boyle, and the studio has spun gold from less-likely sources like Once.

Look for more after the Toronto Film Festival, which begins Thursday and will define the film's trajectory — if Hollywood ever makes it to Canada, that is. Good luck with that!

boomp3.com

While running through LAX yesterday, temperamental star Jake Gyllenhaal made a call to both his manager and agent to complain about the size of the airport. Gyllenhaal felt that the airport was too big and that more airports should have a downhome feel like John Wayne does. Gyllenhaal then complained that the security officer who helped the actor through the airport spent too much time asking him how his flight was and not enough fending off the paparazzi. Gyllenhaal then demanded that his agents set up a meeting with Diablo Cody, mainly because he wanted to see how long it would take for him to get her naked. Gyllenhaal then paused for a moment to catch his breath and, when he did, he finally came to his senses and fell directly to the floor. Once on the floor, Gyllenhaal rested in a fetal position and whispered into his phone: "I can't do work with David O. Russell anymore. I can't. I want Fincher back. I want to do take after take for ten hours straight."

[Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin]

· Hollywood NepotismWatch: Smith Edition. Willow and Jaden Smith attached to star in Warners' adaptation of Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet, a graphic novel about siblings who move into a dead relative's house and find a magical object and secret porthole, etc etc. You know the drill. [Variety]
· NBC is reportedly close to a series pickup for an untitled drama starring Christian Slater, and pitched as The Bourne Identity meets Jekyll & Hyde. This really should have starred David Hasselhoff. They broke the Jekyll & Hyde mold with that guy. [THR]
· Carla Gugino joins The Rock in Disney's Escape to Witch Mountain reimagining! Is that good? Is it bad? We don't know! Just don't fuck this one up for us! (Granted we haven't seen the original in about 30 years, and we plan on keeping it that way. Some levitating-over-a-chain-link-fence moments are best preserved in your wide-eyed youth.) [THR]

· A coup for actors with gigantic eyes: Anime classic Akira gets the big-screen treatment, co-produced by Lionard DiCaprio's production company for Warner Bros. [Variety]
· David Fincher has chosen his next subject to preen over obsessively until just right, then probably get shut out of the Oscars with: Black Hole, the brilliant Charles Burns's graphic novel about a mutating STD spread among teens. This is going to be great. [Variety]
· CBS greenlights two reality show pilots: Splitsville is a "game show for divorcing couples who battle it out for their belongings in a series of competitive challenges," and another, as-yet-untitled project from the makers of Kid Nation, in which cops "help people who have been victims of a crime." [THR]

A question about how he navigated the transition from music videos to films brought him to actors, who, he says, "give you an enormous gift and an enormous responsibility." He paused, and his voice went up a notch.

"Do you know the best way to get an actor to stop fucking around? Stop giving them direction. Say 'Just do another one.' Three takes of that, they're done. 'What do you want me to do?' 'I want you to come through the elevator and turn and say the line like this." Suddenly you could see the perfectionist's killer instinct that led many smart-ass critics to say Zodiac feels like a movie not just about a serial killer, but that feels like it was made by one as well.

Back in Los Angeles, Fincher's mere utterance of that accursed phrase—even an entire continent away—immediately reduced a still-scarred Jake Gyllenhaal to the fetal position, a scene particularly disturbing to a concerned Starbucks barista who, no matter how many times she stroked his hair, looked into his now-distant-but-still-dreamy eyes, and told him that everything was going to be OK, couldn't snap the actor out of the trancelike state in which murmured ominously, Just do another one...just do another one.

• Fincher Kills at Special Zodiac Screening [The Reeler]
• Previously: Jake Gyllenhaal Still Working Through His David Fincher Issues [Defamer]