Nicolas Cage walks us through his typical day; the mighty Dumbledore cowers before China; join us in New York City tomorrow for an up-close look at the punk-rock coming of age film Coast. Also, R.I.P. to the great Gilbert Gottfried.
A Day in the Life of Nicolas Cage: In our new cover story about Nicolas Cage, the iconic actor insisted that he’s nothing like the wild version of himself he plays in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. So Margeaux Sippell asked him to walk her through his typical day. Friends, we are happy to report that Nicolas Cage puts his pants on one leg at a time and feeds his African Pied Crow just like us.
See You in New York? Tomorrow night, I get to moderate a Q&A at the Angelika with Coast filmmakers Jessica Hester and Derek Schweickart, as well as Melissa Leo, one of the stars of the film, and many more. You can buy tickets here and we’ll give away 50 free copies of the brand-new issue of MovieMaker featuring, yep, Nicolas Cage. Coast is about 16-year-old Abby (Fatima Ptacek), who falls for an older musician passing through her small California town. Our talk Thursday will have lots of insights about how to make an indie film — and get an Oscar winner to be in it. Here’s the trailer:
Erasure: In the latest example of Hollywood giving in to Chinese censors, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will remove language about gay relationships. “In the case of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, a six-second cut was requested and Warner Bros. accepted those changes to comply with local requirements but the spirit of the film remains intact,” a Warner Bros. spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter. “We want audiences everywhere in the world to see and enjoy this film, and it’s important to us that Chinese audiences have the opportunity to experience it as well, even with these minor edits.”
Spoiler Alert, Except for Chinese Audiences Who Will Never See This Part of the Film: THR reports that the censored dialogue confirms that Dumbledore (Jude Law) is gay and was once in love with Gellert Grindelwald (formerly played by Johnny Depp and now played by Mads Mikkelsen).
Spirit Halloween: If you’ve ever walked through a Spirit Halloween store and thought, “this should be a movie,” Variety has wonderful news for you.
More Wonderful News: Here’s a mysterious tweet from publicist extraordinaire Kaila Hier.
Something very fun and cool happening right now with @TimAMolloy and some pretty cool baby filmmakers for @moviemakermag 👀👀 pic.twitter.com/ZKXvLPYf9f
— Kaila Sarah Hier 🍉 (@cleverrgirrl) April 12, 2022
Too Soon: R.I.P. to Gilbert Gottfried, the comedian’s comedian whose calculatedly screechy delivery belied a surgical skill with setups and punchlines. He has died at 67, his family announced Tuesday. Gottfried starred in films including Problem Child, Aladdin and Beverly Hills Cop II, but his comic mastery may have been best displayed in the 2005 documentary The Aristrocrats. The film recounts how Gottfried and many other comedians struggled with the question of how to bring laughter back to New York City in the weeks after 9/11. Gottfried received cries of “too soon” for an airplane joke, but won the crowd back by telling the filthiest joke known to humankind.
Comment of the Day: Commenter KES offers another great response to our question about movies that changed your life. “Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls,” she writes. “I’d watched realist films before – Satjajit Ray, Rossellini, DeSica, Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson, early Sayles–but this film was unabashedly feminist and offering, if not a female gaze, a real interrogation of the male gaze. So glad that Borden has finally gotten the Criterion treatment.”
Working Girls: Here’s the trailer for Janus Films’ recent re-release of the 1986 film.
Other Good Answers: Jack West points to the The 7th Voyage of Sinbad as a film that changed his life, and Vince cites One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
‘What Weird Power Restrains That Monster?’: Here’s a glorious clip from 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Does anyone who grew up in Los Angeles remember Tom Hatten’s great show where he would intro old movies and draw Popeye squiggles on KTLA? I loved that show as a little kid, and I’m pretty sure it’s where I saw 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPRZ91K95dE
Fun Fact: Both Working Girls and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad feature hideous one-eyed monsters.
Main image: Jude Law as Dumbledore, whose sexuality will remain a secret in China.
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