Aaron Johnson Gallery: November 2010

Kristen Stewart with Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning

"I mean, Kristen Stewart gets to glower and act sullen and play a real person, rocker Joan Jett, in “The Runaways” (right), but the film itself isn’t likely to be on any Oscar voters’ radar screens by year end.

Rhys Ifans, Ben Stiller, director Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig attending the Berlin Film Festival 2010

Noah Baumbach’s “Greenberg”, is modest, low-key and charming, an understated and dry comedy-with-a-bite that might have had a better shot with a later release date – although Oscar voters might also prefer Baumbach’s more lacerating side (i.e., “The Squid and the Whale”) to the light, sweet touch he shows on the new film.

That said, Greta Gerwig is marvelously casual and winning in the film, and could be slotted in either the Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress category depending on how the races line up.

(Leading man Ben Stiller might need to make a few more appearances on the Oscar show not wearing a silly costume or makeup before the Academy takes him seriously.)"
Source: www.thewrap.com

Happy 45th Birthday, Ben Stiller, please keep making us laugh!

"Kirsten definitely had OD’d on Hollywood and needed to get away,” says Ryan Gosling, who, that spring, met with the actress for weeks of rehearsal in New York, where Dunst had relocated. She had accepted just one role in two years, opposite Gosling in the small, independent film All Good Things, opening December 3

“Whatever dragons she’d been chasing, she chased them and trapped and slew ’em between action and cut,” says Gosling. “You weren’t watching somebody who was unlocking something in themselves, and then because they’d finally exposed it maybe they could retire. You felt like you were watching somebody unlock something, and now that it had been exposed they could get started.”

Things began to unravel after the critical pasting received by Marie Antoinette, Coppola’s air-kiss to the notorious French queen, reimagined as a sweet-souled shopaholic, self-medicating on macarons. “I loved doing it, but it came with weird, hurtful criticism as well,” says Dunst, “and I took it to heart.”

Dunst seems happy to take her reemergence into the limelight slowly, with roles in the new Lars von Trier film, Melancholia, Juan Diego Solanas’s Upside Down, and a small part in the forthcoming adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s "On the Road".

“Doing All Good Things really felt like I was acting for myself rather than anyone else,” she says. “It gave me a freedom I’d never had before, or knew I had, to do whatever I want to, and to argue my opinions and not just feel like the cute girl on set or the girl in a boy’s club. I figured out how I could be both. And it’s been different ever since". Source: nymag.com

"Actress Kirsten Dunst is attached to star opposite Chloe Moretz (”Kick-Ass,” “Let Me In”) in the Taylor Lane Productions/Lighthouse Entertainment adaptation of Andrea Portes’ coming of age novel “Hick” according to Taylor Lane owner and founder Christian Taylor who spoke to the Playlist by phone this weekend from his home in California.

Recent rumors suggested that Colin Farrell would be taking the lead male role in the picture and while Taylor confirmed that the Irish star was in discussions for the part, he ultimately had to pass due to a 2011 scheduling conflict with what appears to be Columbia‘s “Total Recall” remake which will apparently start lensing in the spring of 2011.

Derick Martini at the Sundance Filmmaker's Lab

”Lymelife” filmmaker and Martin Scorsese protege Derick Martini is already scheduled to direct (Scorsese also executive produced “Lymelife” which was Martini’s feature-length debut and lent his name to 1999’s micro-budgeted “Smiling Fish & Goat on Fire” feature which Martini starred in and co-wrote). Martini received a Breakthrough Director nomination from the 2009 Gotham Awards for his work on “Lymelife” (and coincidentally enough, the 2010 Gotham Awards take place tonight in New York City).

Portes’ debut book—she also wrote the screenplay—- tracks Luli (Moretz), a 13-year-old Nebraskan girl and her hard-going life on the road after she runs away from her neglectful parents and home. Taylor described the film as having a mix of various elements; from the sassy sardonic teenage wit of Diablo Cody to fantasy elements described “as if Danny Boyle directed ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ ”—a picture that seems to have various thematic ties to “Hick.”

Chloe Moretz on the set of Martin Scorsese's film, "Hugo Cabret" in Paris (August 18, 2010)

Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst in "All Good things" (2010)

In the drama with its shades of dark humor, Dunst will play Glenda, the hard-living grifter who takes the young Luli in off the road.

The role of Eddie—a menacing and volatile James Dean-like grifter—has not yet been cast, but was the one Farrell was in discussions over. Here’s the Amazon synopsis: Young Luli knows losers — her “aging Brigitte Bardot” mother, Tammy, and her father, Nick, go at each other every night at the Alibi, the watering hole in hometown Palmyra, Neb. Tammy runs away one morning, and Nick soon follows, leaving Luli alone at home with the Smith and Wesson .45 her Uncle Nipper gave her. Pistol in tow, she hitches rides heading west to Vegas. A crooked man named Eddie picks her up briefly before throwing her out of the car. Next comes cocaine-snorting grifter Glenda, who enlists Luli as an accessory to a robbery that goes awry. Glenda takes Luli under her wing. The two cross paths again with Eddie, who rapes Luli and ties her up in a secluded motel. Glenda comes to her rescue, but the confrontation with Eddie ends badly. Luli’s flippant narration makes for a love-it or hate-it read.

Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen as Holly and Kit in "Badlands" (1973)

Taylor said other touchstone influences for the picture are Terrence Malick‘s “Badlands” and Peter Bogdanovich‘s “Paper Moon.” The producer believes the picture could be an awards vehicle for Moretz if all goes well. “Hick” is eyeing a February 2011 shoot in New Mexico and a male lead is actively being sought". Source: blogs.indiewire.com

Aaron Johnson Gallery

Blog Archive

Happy 28th Birthday to Elisha Cuthbert!

Another coffee date with Jake Gyllenhaal & Taylor Swift

Happy 45th Birthday Ben Stiller!

Black Swan, Natalie Portman Interview

Kirsten Dunst attached to star in 'Hick' with Chloe Moretz