With "The Hangover 2" now officially in front of cameras, there is one cast member who won't be returning. Warner Bros. has confirmed that Heather Graham, the very funny "escort" in the first film won't be back.
So wait, we get Justin Bartha but not Heather Graham? For shame. A rep tells E! Online, "Unfortunately Heather won't be in the sequel—they way the story unfolds doesn't allow any room for her character to show up. I don't want to reveal to much of the film, but once you see it you'll understand." We're not sure what kind of intricate puzzle piece the script is that allows Ken Jeong to come back but not Heather Graham, but whatever. Throwing fans a bone, the rep also says that the film will feature an "unbelievable" cameo with the only clue given being that it will be "a guy." Any guesses?
While there's plenty of viral internet comedy shows out there competing for your procrastination time, none of them have managed to be as consistently funny and generally excellent as Funny or Die's "Between Two Ferns." The world's second most awkward talk show (behind "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno"), features "The Hangover" star Zach Galifianakis (and occasionally his more clean-shaven, fictional brother Seth) interviewing a host of celebrities that have included Jon Hamm, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell and, most recently, Sean Penn, while sitting between the titular plants.
The latest episode went up today (via Vulture), and features Galifianakis talking to Bruce Willis (whose latest film "Red" hits on Friday). As ever, Galifianakis isn't afraid to ask the difficult questions -- like "When you made "The Whole Ten Yards," were you ever worried that it might be too good?" -- and Willis proves himself to be as game as anyone else out there with an enjoyably demented performance. Watch it below.
With filming now underway, Todd Phillips and the cast for the highly anticipated and most likely, very raunchy "The Hangover 2" has now begun the race to reach its release date of May 26, 2011 which is only a mere seven months away.
Some first set photos have arrived and they are unsurprising.Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms are back and as we've all known for months now, they are headed to Thailand. And as Phillips told Empire recently, "It takes place in Bangkok and LA. There's gonna be some fucked-up surprises."
Galifianakis recently said he read the script and found it to be better than the original (what else is he gonna say?) though we're more surprised there is an actual script for this since we would imagine half the one liners that make it into the film will be stuff the actors make up on the spot. And in case you really care, there's a mildly diverting spoiler that has hit the web.
Ken Jeong is also confirmed to return and, hey look, Justin Bartha is in the new photos too. Hooray. We also expect Heather Graham to return as well, though it has yet to be confirmed. [Popsugar]
Like a horse race, this weekend had three photo finishers, with a Sunday winner possibly being a bit too premature to call - expect some Monday morning jostling, especially with the holiday. As in many equestrian events, there was a former first place finisher, a starry upstart, and a stoic newcomer with success painted all over its face. And like a few horse races in the past, “Secretariat” was involved.
The Randall Wallace drama, however, was a definite underperformer, and with numbers still in debate, it does look like Disney’s proud thoroughbred is going to bow before last week’s top picture, “The Social Network.” The critically-lauded internet drama has definitely won over a few fair-weather fans with a muscular second weekend hold. Those dubious about a movie garnering success by dealing with a website grown adults should be ashamed of using have reason to reassess their thoughts. Critics don’t really matter anymore unless, in the very rare case of films like “The Social Network” and “Toy Story 3,” the deafening consensus of go-alongs and reverent homers (in this case, a large number of uncritical writers and commentators blindly banging the drum for David Fincher and Pixar as if they were on studios' payrolls) pushes a film’s Q-rating into Joe PBR declaring, “This movie sounds like something Jesus would pay to see!” Not to say “The Social Network” isn’t an interesting picture, mind you, but the talk has transformed the film from “great picture” to “event movie” status. A second weekend pull isn’t a major factor against weaker competition like this, but if this picture is still doing double-digit weekends by the late October horror boom, it’s time to upgrade from a Strong Success to a People’s Choice, and the year’s first genuine Oscar lock. At this juncture, nothing can be forecast until the film reaches $100 mil., and after two weekends, it still lies on the other side of $50.
There’s a smaller margin of error for actresses than there is for actors, so while some leading men can survive a number of bombs, it only takes a small failure to sink the brand name of a leading lady. And this is two in a row for Katherine Heigl, as “Life As We Know It” landed at #2. It drew enough business to lead the pack on Friday night, but Saturday wasn’t as date-worthy, and the picture looks to land behind Heigl’s “Killers” in the realm of frail openers. While she was starring alongside human wallpaper Josh Duhamel, and the title and premise suggested a vague bummer aura, Warner Bros. used a serious marketing push to get this out to the public. The core audience for a movie where Christina Hendricks dies so Katherine Heigl gets to raise a baby in her empty house liked the film enough to give a strong Cinemascore rating, but others likely realized that it sounded like a premise from Hell and stayed far away.
Expected winner “Secretariat” was a non-starter, possibly shutting the door on a potential awards push. Nobody thought the movie was genuinely good (Ebert did, but he’s very good friends with the author of the book), but with a strong box office showing, “Secretariat” was poised to take the Movie White People Like slot filled by “The Blind Side” last year. A better comparison, obviously, is “Seabiscuit,” which benefited from having Gary Ross (as opposed to Randall Wallace, Oscar-winning writer but oblivious behind the camera), as well as a strong cast that included "Spider-Man" and The Dude. “Secretariat” could only muster chick flick star Diane Lane (playing old, therefore nixing males) and John Malkovich (playing himself, scaring children).
The smallest audience loss in the top ten belongs to “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole.” That opening was considered disastrous, but in its third weekend, the film is inching towards final numbers that at least hint at profitability, though this looks like a money-loser in the long run. Again, 3D helps, as it makes an average hold look muscular, but there isn’t exactly a huge kid market to compete with right now. 3D couldn’t save “My Soul To Take,” which debuted in “Piranha 3D” territory. Studios need to consider that the lure of taking a generic thriller and adding the extra visual dimension doesn’t outweigh the audience’s realization that they have to pay a premium price. Ideally, this development should lead to lowering, or maybe getting rid of, the surcharge altogether, as it’s a cynical process that potentially alienates viewers, but when the format is attached to a hit, it artificially raises grosses so a $50 million weekend becomes a $60 million weekend. Studios will never ditch a tool that helps inflate grosses, mostly because of vanity. But they might stop tagging it on tepid-looking Wes Craven thrillers that have sat on the shelf for a couple of years.
The WB's “The Town” was close behind, itself losing a small audience from last weekend, and after four weekends, it's threatening to hit $90 million provided weekday grosses remain robust. The possibility of “The Town” entering the Oscar race remains small, but the box office will likely keep Ben Affleck’s heist drama in the race. No such hope for "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” which is quickly making its way out of the top ten. Even during its first weekend, it was looking less like a bonafide hit/event, and more like a smash-and-grab based on brand name recognition. In other words, a typical Fox picture. But getting this over $50 million isn’t bad at all, and there should be a DVD profit if international receipts remain strong. “Easy A” is staving off small audience losses as well, close to hitting $50 million: another Screen Gems winner. It again outpaced “You Again,” which has hung around in the top ten only to be backslapped weekly by the Emma Stone comedy. Did anyone know "It's Kind of a Funny Story" had a semi-wide release this weekend? In a seeming last-minute decision, Focus Features pushed the indie into 742 engagements for a feeble per-screen, and a $2 million total to place outside of the top ten. The premise is a definite turn-off, and the title is more than a little vague, so a hard sell was needed, and Focus' strategy was more than questionable. Zack Galifianakis has been racking up the credits, but like "Hangover" co-star Bradley Cooper, he hasn't exactly broken through yet, despite a colorful mix of roles. Galifianakis, to his credit, is at least extending his range and doing some occasional quality work, while Cooper is not exactly working as leading man superhero. Both of them need "The Hangover 2."
In indie cinemas, "Waiting For Superman" is starting to break through, with a $1.4 million gross after three weeks of aggressive platforming. The per-screen returned to a solid level after spectacular showings in previous sessions, but the film is poised to be one of the year's biggest docs, if not on a par with Davis Guggenheim's previous work. "Catfish" is swimming downstream, however, and while screens are still being added, the approach by Rogue Pictures remains tentative, as the film continues to bleed viewers. The highly-buzzed doc might close under $5 million.
There were a couple of larger debuts on the indie stage. "Stone" and "Nowhere Boy" hit on six and four screens, respectively, and both had steady per-screen averages, landing at $73k and $56k. Success could come if the expansion is played right, but Overture and the Weinsteins aren't exactly in the best shape. The best per-screen average came from Charles Ferguson's "Inside Job," which exploded on only two screens with a strong $21k per. The news wasn't so good for the noxious "I Spit On Your Grave" remake, which sneaked onto twelve screens and stole $33k, while Stephen Frears' "Tamara Drewe" was lost in the shuffle, with $19k at four engagements. Meanwhile, it might be bad news for "Buried" - the Ryan Reynolds drama did $200k in weekend three, but has registered terrible per-screen numbers in each week, likely threatening the planned expansion Lionsgate was eying. Support your local indie theater, boys and girls.
1. The Social Network (Sony) - $15.5 million ($46 mil.) 2. Life As We Know It, Judging From Terrible TV Shows (WB) - $14.6 million 3. Horsey Movie (Disney) - $12.6 million 4. Legend Of The Owls: The Hooting Of Ga'Hoole (WB) - $7 million ($39 mil.) 5. My Soul To Take (Universal) - $6.9 million 6. The Town (WB) - $6.4 million ($74 mil.) 7. Wall Street: Money Presses Snooze (Fox) - $4.6 million ($44 mil.) 8. Easy A (Sony) - $4.2 million ($48 mil.) 9. Case 39 (Paramount) - $2.6 million ($10 mil.) 10. You Again (Disney) - $2.5 million ($21 mil.)
Directing duo Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden made a name for themselves with the Sundance hit and Ryan Gosling tour-de-force "Half Nelson," about a history teacher/drug addict who attempts to help a troubled student, but ends up receiving the help instead.
The film was powerful and affecting, and expectations were high for whatever would end up being their sophomore effort. The team decided to throw everyone a curveball, literally, as their next film "Sugar" followed the rise and fall of a Dominican baseball player chosen to play in the American minor leagues. Employing non-actors and beginning with a superficial tone that fizzles into realism towards the end, they proved to be the some of the smartest filmmakers in the country.
While the two films were very different from one another, it was assumed that they would continue to tackle these dark subjects, each with distinct sensibilities. Color us surprised when it turned out their next film would be a teen comedy in the vein of John Hughes, starring Keir Gilchrist from "The United States of Tara" and featuring the likes of Zach Galifianakis, Lauren Graham and comedian Jim Gaffigan. "It's Kind Of A Funny Story," based on the novel by Ned Vizzini, chronicles a brief stint at a mental hospital by 16-year-old Craig, who attempts suicide after crumbling under the pressures of life. We caught it at TIFF and thought it was decent, albeit a little disappointing considering how much we normally love their work, but chances are audiences in its age demographic will thoroughly enjoy it. The movie manages to be funny while also refraining from the hipness that often plagues recent teen efforts. We sat down with both directors and actor Galifianakis to talk what drew them to the project, how they work together, and their take on modern medicine and depression.
There certainly are more directing duos than there ever were (Duplasses, Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris, Coens, Dardennes, etc.), but it's understandably a very delicate relationship which requires maturity and patience. "We started out just making movies on video, just the two of us. We're not gonna pretend it's always rosy, but we try to work those things out early in the process, in the writing and the pre-production so we don't have people watching us bicker. It's behind closed doors," said Fleck. It seems like the partnership is working out for them, now with three feature films under their belt and numerous documentaries and shorts also out there. Boden elaborated, speaking of the intense work that comes before shooting commences: "By the time we get to set, we've written the whole script together for years, we've gone through shot listing together, we've had all the meetings with key collaborators, we've had rehearsals, it's like if we're not on the same page by then, we'll never be on the same page." As for what drove them to the project, it may have been the fact that their next project, "Special Topics in Calamity Physics," was caught in Miramax hell, and they were eager to do something new. Why the book specifically? Boden says the idea of telling a story through the eyes of a teen, one that dealt with serious issues but in a light way, got them excited. "It just felt like it had the spirit of the John Hughes movies that we loved when we were growing up and that were really meaningful to us," she said. And that influence is apparent in its ensemble nature and its realistic and non-juvenile teen performances. Fleck spoke a bit more on why the drastically different direction and audience, with 'Funny Story' being almost a gateway drug into their earlier work. "I read a book somewhere when Coppola made 'Rumble Fish,' not that this is 'Rumble Fish,' but that he wanted to make a Fellini movie for teenagers. That sentence alone is like, mind boggling, how is that possible? This isn't an art film, but we wanted to make a movie that had serious dramatic moments and was also playful and fun and people will hopefully remember as they grow older and hopefully go back and look at some of our earlier work and get excited about that too." Aside from being more commercial and aiming at a different audience, there were also new areas for the team to explore, such as working with visual effects. There are often animations that take place in the protagonist's head; drawings that take a life of their own and become centerpieces in the film. "There's a big learning curve, I learned a lot on this movie, there's a lot that's out of your hands. You have people that are running the visual effects and you're just sitting back and thinking... 'I hope they know what they're doing!'" Boden said, laughing. Most likely a liberating and trust-building exercise, the effects turned out perfect and added another layer to a picture which could have felt overly-claustrophobic given the singular setting. Galifianakis spoke about his decision to join the film as the more grounded character of Bobby, as opposed to what he often plays, one that is more exaggerated for comedic purposes. "This character to me was the most similar in nature to how I am in real life which doesn't speak very high for him," he smirked, "... but it just is. I think that this reality we live in is a joke, and funny, and I think Bobby probably felt that too. That this world that he's in, his world outside of those walls, is hard for people to adapt. For example, you're sitting in a cafe, I can take a picture of you and download it on my computer, and because of your facemap, I can find out whatever I need to about you. Given all that, if you think about it too much, it can fuck with you. And I do that." While Zach hasn't had a breakdown as serious as Bobby's, there's a level of truth he brings to the performance (towards the end of the film, his subtle performance is nothing short of impressive) which should open new doors for the comedic actor. He wasn't the only one to find something personal to relate to, either. Boden nudged Fleck to speak of a certain scene which he pulled from his own experience. "There's a scene with the Sanders music playing under the flashback of Craig and Aaron riding their bikes around the city. There was a day where I was just riding around in the city and ended up at a record shop and was just in the jazz section, and said screw it, I'm going to buy a jazz album I know nothing about, and I bought it based on the album cover work. 'Journey to the one' I think is what it's called by Sanders, and that song is what plays during that sequence, one of the songs from the album, it's one of my favorite albums, just the spirit of those carefree days." The carefree spirit, regardless of the setting of a mental hospital, rings true for the rest of the score, done by indie-rock Canadians Broken Social Scene. The band had previously worked on "Half Nelson," and Boden spoke of their desire to use a non-traditional score and thought the band would be a good fit for the movie. "They're our favorite band, and it felt like a good opportunity to work with them again, we called them up and felt them out and they were interested." Though the film is relatively lighthearted, it does tackle weighty topics and issues, such as a society hopped up on drugs and depression. "I know people close to me that are on things, they need it to get through the day, make them focus. I think it can have a tranquilizing effect, it might put you in focus but it can zone you out. Obviously there are people with major problems that benefit from these things. But I think sometimes we're over-medicated. You're supposed to be fucked up," noted Galifianakis. Maybe there is a tendency to request medication for problems that could be overcome otherwise, but Boden again stresses the fact that some people need these things to overcome. "I do think there sometimes is over prescription of medication, but that said, I do not think across the board that psych medicine should never be used." More so, the filmmakers seem to be tackling the issue of secrecy while on depression medicine, where people seem to be ashamed for being on them. "An important part of the book says that the use of it is not something that children or adults should be embarrassed by, depression is not something people should be embarrassed by, medication and therapy is something that a lot of people go through and getting help for it isn't a bad thing."
Most importantly, is the author happy with their adaptation? "Yeah, assuming he's not lying to us, he loves the movie," joked Fleck, "which can be a little nerve-wracking at first because he was not involved with the script, and when we presented him with the film, we made a lot of changes and he was really supportive, and got that he made his book and now it's inspiring this movie." With the author's seal of approval, a strong cast and a big push by Focus Features, the movie might be the indie hit everyone involved is hoping for. Dealing with issues that most teen films tend to ignore or over-dramatize, "It's Kind Of A Funny Story" is a welcome addition to the genre and a new, fresh step for Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. The film opens this Friday, October 8th in limited release only (ed. note, the film was set to go wide then suddenly shrunk to limited, late this week. Unfortunately, the middling reviews, probably didn't help).
We did our best to ignore 2010's biggest, duh, "no shit?" story of the year when Christopher Nolan was quadruple-confirmed confirmed to direct "Batman 3" (a 2012 date had been set and his writers were working on it all this time apparently just for the fun of it). Similarly, the worst-kept secret of 2010 is the location of "The Hangover 2," and well, it's a slow day.
Almost as soon as the sequel was announced, rumors sprouted that the Todd Phillips-directed comedy would take place in Thailand. Then it was "confirmed" by sources that said, "yes, that's true" and now it's finally come from the horse's mouth, the director himself.
"It takes place in Bangkok and LA," Phillips told Empire. "There's gonna be some fucked-up surprises." Returning for the sequel are the three best friends that anyone could have Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms (the former two, now huge stars). Phillips also confirmed the return of comedian Ken Jeongwho played the naked Mr. Chow in the original.
No official word on the return of Justin Bartha or Heather Graham (at least not in this brief interview), but one presumes they'll be there. "I'm not delusional," Phillips said noting the expectations with sly sarcasm. "I know what I'm up against. I saw 'Meet The Fockers.' But we're aiming high. It's called The Hangover Part Two, you know."
The film is scheduled to shoot later this month and Galifianakis recently said he read the script and found it to be better than the original (what else is he gonna say?) And Latino Review's spies allegedly got their hands on a script and there's a mildly diverting spoiler here if you want to read it for yourself.
Alright, to keep it brief. You've already seen the soundtrack tracklist, you've heard some of the music and you know that Broken Social Scene wrote the score, plus some original songs for Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden's upcoming coming-of-age dramedy, "It's Kind Of A Funny Story" which stars Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis and on-the-rise starlet Emma Stone.
The soundtrack does feature contemporary indie bands like The Wowz, Pink Mountaintops, The Middle East, '80s punk from The Damned, A Pixies' cover on piano (Maxence Cyrin's "Where Is My Mind"), soul R&B funk from Little Denise (the awesome "Check Me Out") and Egyptian funk (RachidTaha's "Habina") to name a few.
But music is an integral part of the film and there's much much more. Indie-rockers will be happy to hear the name-check mention of Vampire Weekend, plus use of The xx, The Drums and Dead Oceans, classicists will enjoy the mentions of Dylan, the standout use of Queen/Bowie, Black Sabbath, hip-hop heads will dig the Common and Method Man trainspotting and deep cut soul enthusiast will surely love the appearances of Kenny Smith, the aforementioned Little Denise, Lil` Lavair and The Fabulous Jades ("Cold Heat"). There's plenty of music in the film and it's all well utilized. Anywhoo, if you're curious. All the music is listed below. The soundtrack dropped on Tuesday (September 28 via Rhino Records) and the film hits theaters October 8. All The Music Featured In "It's Kind Of A Funny Story" “Chameleon” - Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning “No Smiling Darkness/Snake Charmers Association” - Broken Social Scene “Weddings” - Broken Social Scene “Ambulance For The Ambience”- Broken Social Scene “Millionaire” - Izza Kizza “Busy Shoppers” - Len Stevens “Let’s Go Surfing” -The Drums “Smash It Up” - The Damned “Happy Today” -- The WoWz “Tourist In Your Town” - Pink Mountaintops “Icarus” - Dead Oceans “Intro” - The xx “The Breaks” -Kurtis Blow “2-4-6-8 Motorway” - The Tom Robinson Band “Murderous Assault” -Harry Lubin “Don’t Forget Your Torch” --Jon Durnie Brooks “Soledad” - Pharoah Sanders “Where You Go” - Elden Calder “Beym Rebin’s Sude” --Robin Jeffrey and Roddy Skeaping “Under Pressure” --Queen & David Bowie “The Ills” --Mayer Hawthorne “Da Rockwilder” --Method Man and Redman “Lost In The Galaxy” --Harry Lubin “Where Is My Mind?” -- Maxence Cyrin (Pixies cover) “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” --Bob Dylan (only referenced in dialogue) “Blood” - Middle East “It’s Alright” - Black Sabbath “Cold Heat” - Lil’ Lavair and The Fabulous Jades “We Have Each Other”- Kenny Smith “Check Me Out”- Little Denise “Habina” - Rachid Taha “Be (Intro)” - Common “Major Label Debut (Fast)” - Broken Social Scene “Not At My Best” - Broken Social Scene
With director Todd Phillipsdeveloping a biopic on the late, great actor-comedian John Belushi, the lead role was inevitably going to be linked to Phillips' 'Hangover' star and 2009's breakout success story, Zach Galifianakis.
Speaking with MTV, however, the actor has revealed that while talks did take place in some shape or form regarding him potentially taking up the role, it does looks like he has passed.
"We spoke about it a while back, but not recently," Galifianakis recalled. "No I don’t think [it'll be happening]. That's a little bit... I could play maybe the guy from 'Grizzly Adams.' You know that story?" the actor joked before hilariously breaking into a character; check out the clip below.
Galifianakis has always been a critic of celebrity culture so it's no surprise really that he's averse to putting himself in the skin of a fellow actor-comedian whose rise to fame was matched only by his tragic downfall. It remains to be seen where Phillips will head now with several actors already name-dropped as potential contenders including Jack Black, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Ethan Suplee and Tyler Labine; pretty much anyone from the "overweight comedy actor" brigade. That said, it'll probably be a while yet before this project even sees the light of day — Steve Conrad ("The Weather Man," "The Pursuit of Happyness") was recruited to scribe the biopic but won't begin until he finishes up with "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," which has Gore Verbinskiat the helm.
With "The Hangover 2" now officially in front of cameras, there is one cast member who won't be returning. Warner Bros. has confirmed that Heather Graham, the very funny "escort" in the first film won't be back.
