By now I’m sure you’ve all seen the crazy Tom Cruise video that Tom and all of Scientology does not want you to see! They’ve done a really poor job of keeping it out of America’s hands though, since the clip’s made its way to every In box in the country. Evidently, it was a Scientology indoctrination video that the higher ups in Scientology are very angry was released. In fact, they have threatened copyright infringement lawsuits to all those hosting the video. For those of you that haven’t seen it yet, take a trip to Gawker and you can watch the video in all its kooky glory. (link) Thankfully Gawker is taking the stand that the video is newsworthy and will not be taking it down to spur discussion on the video and Scientology.
I also think the fact that the show named one of its characters Marmaduke is brilliant in a totally off-kilter type of way. There’s never been any explanation of the name or anything. Everyone just accepts that one of the main characters named his son after a giant, crazy Great Dane.
For some reason the two episodes aren’t being run back to back though. That means set your DVRs so we’re not all subjected to watching an episode of Celebrity Apprentice. The first new episode of Chuck airs at 8/7 Central, then a one hour Apprentice: Celebrity Edition, and then the second episode of Chuck comes on at 10/9 Central. I know the second episode has a pretty substantial secondary story centering around Chuck’s sister’s boyfriend Devon (a.k.a. Captain Awesome), so I’m especially excited for that episode. After that it’s anybody’s guess whether or not new episodes will be produced for any scripted shows this year or if we’ll all have to wait until the start of next season to see what’s in store for Chuck, Casey, Sarah and the Buy More crew.
Heath Ledger, the Oscar nominated Australian actor, was found dead today at 3:35 PM ET in his downtown Manhattan residence. The NYPD is stating that the death is possibly drug related. Ledger, best known for his work in A Knight’s Tale, Monster’s Ball, and Brokeback Mountain, was 28 and is survived by his 2 year old daughter Matilda with fellow actress Michelle Williams (Dawson’s Creek, Brokeback Mountain). (link, link)Curiosity about Ledger's final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan said this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's. "It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."
Ledger told The New York Times in a November interview that he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."
"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the newspaper. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which worked for only an hour, the paper said. (link)
What a sad, sad loss. I’m at a loss for words considering I’ve blogged so much about Ledger and his upcoming role as The Joker in The Dark Knight the past few months. He was a very talented actor and still had a long, distinguished career ahead of him. I have always enjoyed his work and was really looking forward to his latest performance. I really hope his death is not drug related, but as we’ve seen too many times before, for some reason drugs and young performers seem to go hand in hand. It's such a shame too, because we’ve already lost so many talented young artists to drugs and it doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon. As details leak out, I’ll update this post with more information.
Coachella, the three-day annual music and arts festival held in Indio, California typically held the last weekend in April or the first weekend in May, has announced the lineup for 2008. This year the music and arts festival takes place April 25-27 and Soundboard, the Los Angeles Times music blog, has the official scoop. Unfortunately, Coachella has decided to follow in the footsteps of fellow music festivals Bonnaroo and the Baltimore Virgin Festival, which both had 70’s/80’s rock band The Police headline last year, by announcing that former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters would be the closing act. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pink Floyd as much as the next guy, but I just don’t think getting Roger Waters to perform Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety is getting the blood pumping of 18-25 year olds around the country like it once did.
As an aging music fan who has gone to his fair share of music festivals the past two years, I can attest that Waters performing a show that he’s already taken across America over the last year is not getting me out of my house and is definitely not getting my money. I already passed on seeing him the first time around when his latest tour brought him to Houston, so its definitely not getting me to buy a flight out to California. While the rest of the 2008 Coachella lineup is ok, it really just resembles most of the music lineups I’ve seen from other music festivals across the continent.
In fact, the real focus of the story is Aaron Eckhart’s (Thank You For Smoking, No Reservations) character Harvey Dent. Dent is a very tragic figure in the Batman mythology. As a former District Attorney and ally to Batman, Dent is horribly disfigured when a vile of acid is dumped on half of his face while conducting a trial. The incident leaves Dent with a dual personality and he subsequently adopts the alter-ego of Two-Face, becoming one of Batman’s biggest adversaries. The character’s trademark is choosing to do good or evil based upon the flipping of a coin.
The character of Harvey Dent has showed up in the modern day Batman movies twice previously, once portrayed by Billy Dee Williams in 1989’s Batman and once by Tommy Lee Jones in 1995’s horrible Batman Forever. According to Nolan, "Harvey Dent is a tragic figure, and his story is the backbone of this film.” (link) While it’s been known for many months now that Eckhart would be playing Dent in The Dark Knight, there had been rumors that his role, similarly to Billy Dee Williams, would only be that of Harvey Dent. According to this report though, it can be confirmed that at some point in the movie Eckhart will make the transformation into feared villain Two-Face. This is pretty exciting news for me as the only other live incarnation of this great villain was in Batman Forever and Jones’ portrayal of this twisted psycho was played pretty much just for laughs. Then again all of Batman Forever was played for humor so Jones can’t really be faulted for his performance. But with Nolan’s realistic vision, I am expecting a much more faithful adaptation of this long time Batman villain.
Another rumor that has been circulating for months is that Cillian Murphy, who played Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in Batman Begins, was seen on The Dark Knight set. The LA Times article finally confirms that Murphy will be reprising his role as the Scarecrow. Cillian was really great in his portrayal of the unhinged psychiatrist and I’m glad to hear he’ll be returning to the role he originated on the big screen, even if it’s just in a limited cameo.
