Access has your first look at ?Hamlet 2?. An out-of-work actor turns to teaching high school, and it?s up to he and the students to save their school?s drama program.
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Independent, Romance, Thrillers, Mystery lope Cruz, expanded from six to 92 theaters and grossed $5,546 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. The adaptation of a novel by Philip Roth has not been universally praised, but maintains a strong 74% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I can't help but conclude that Pen lope Cruz is the art house crowd's answer to Megan Fox, because . . . . . . Cruz also stars in Vicky Christina Barcelona (pictured), which made $4,339 per screen in its fairly wide (692 theaters) second week. Woody Allen's latest features other pretty people such as Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson, of course, and has very good reviews behind it, yet it's silly to ignore the current Cruz heat factor. As Eugene has already noted, Andrew Fleming's Hamlet 2 got a jump start on its wide release by opening on 103 screens, but its average of $4,223 "doesn't inspire confidence for the expansion." Will this slow down star Steve Coogan? Suspense drama Transsiberian ($4,157 per screen, 38 theaters, 6th week), tense drama Frozen River ($4,048 per screen, 41 theaters, 4th week), and mystery thriller Tell No One ($3,643 per screen, 101 theaters, 8th week, $3.8 million total) continued to draw well, while debuting debt doc I.O.U.S.A. made $3,461 per screen at 18 locations. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Comedy, Interviews, Cinematical Indie Steve Coogan, 42, is perhaps best known for his TV persona, the part-arrogant, part-clueless sports announcer Alan Partridge. And though Coogan could go on playing him forever, he has instead used his budding American film career to branch out, try different things. His collaborations with "serious" director Michael Winterbottom were a good start; 24 Hour Party People (2002) and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2006) earned rave reviews here in the States. He appeared opposite big stars such as Jackie Chan (Around the World in 80 Days) and Ben Stiller (Night at the Museum, Tropic Thunder) and answered the call of a handful of cult directors, making small appearances in films by Jim Jarmusch (Coffee and Cigarettes), Sofia Coppola (Marie Antoinette) and Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz). His name appears alone above the title of his new film, Hamlet 2, in which he plays Dana Marschz, a washed-up American actor now teaching drama at a Tucson high school. To save his class and his career, he writes a sequel to "Hamlet" that causes a huge ruckus. (Hint: it has something to do with "Sexy Jesus.") The one connecting factor with all these movies is that Coogan's characters are more or less awful, but compulsively watchable, people. Coogan -- who is conversely very nice in person -- recently chatted with Cinematical about his new movie. Cinematical: How did your gallery of humorously annoying characters come about? Steve Coogan: I don't know. It just sort of happened. I'm just attracted to playing people who are ostensible unlikable. That's not to say that there's something in there that makes you care. It might be that you just find them so awful that you just can't stop watching, like a car crash. And they're not self-aware. I think somehow, whenever I see a character on screen who I feel is trying to get me to like them too much, it has the reverse effect. It kind of puts you off. It's: "Quit looking at me with those doe eyes. I want to kill you." It's not like I've thought this through. It's just, you do stuff often enough and you see patterns. You see them, and I see them too. Sometimes they're not self-conscious. I guess that's why I'm probably doing it. Continue reading Interview: Steve Coogan on 'Hamlet 2' Permalink | Email this | Comments
August 22: "Bueller? Bueller?" Class is in session this week as Matty and Adam offer up a dialectic deconstruction of "Hamlet 2," director Andrew Fleming's 2008 Sundance sensation spoofing our collectively beloved "inspirational teacher" genre. As an added bonus, Adam sits down for a conversation with "Hamlet 2" star Steve Coogan to ask him exactly how sexy Jesus really is and why he feels the need to rock us. Plus, the boys also find themselves inspired enough to list their Top 5 Screen Teachers. How high will Tom Berenger's turn as Jon Shale in "The Substitute" rank? Attendance is mandatory to find out... Also on the show: Listener Feedback, Massacre Theatre, and new music by Conor Oberst. ** Filmspotting is presented by SpoutBlog and the FilmCouch podcast. Find out why The New York Times says, "SpoutBlog's got it all," at blog.spout.com. ** CONTEST PBS does Star Wars... Play now at filmgaming.spout.com for a shot at great prizes! Filmspotting #224 :24-14:10 - Review: "Hamlet 2" Music: Conor Oberst, "Get-Well-Cards" 15:19-18:19 - Massacre Theatre (Winner: Mike Johnson) 18:20-38:14 - Interview: Steve Coogan Music: Conor Oberst, "Cape Canaveral" 39:07-43:46 - Voicemail, Polls 43:47-57:08 - Feedback (Pineapple, On The Run) Music: Conor Oberst, "Sausalito" 57:34-1:02:26 - New DVDs, Donations, Contest 1:02:27-1:14:06 - Top 5: Screen Teachers 1:14:07-1:17:36 - Close/Next Show/Outtakes NOTES/CORRECTIONS - "The Recruiter" is also currently playing on HBO. - Yes, Matty got the titles of his inspirational, inner-city teach dramas mixed up when announcing his #1 pick. - Yes, Matty also called actor Robert Donat "Richard" Donat. Thanks to Josh Spiegel in Glendale, AZ for catching the mistake.
Filed under: Fandom, Contests, Insert CaptionWelcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game where we definitely rock it with sexy Jesus all night long. Last week we asked you to strap in Statham-style and race to be the first one to knock us over with a caption for an image from the flick Death Race. Congrats to all three of our winners -- your thirst for speed, prison humor and bald men is quite inspiring to us all. 1. "You sank my battleship!!" -- Jason F. 2. "Unfortunately, the Death Staring Contest proved unpopular." -- Dan N. 3. "In the prisons of the future, its all about survival of the baldest." -- Ben K. See full image and all captions This week we're trading in our set of death wheels for a little fun with the theater kids as they rock it out in the new comedy Hamlet 2. In the flick (which has been getting great buzz for a long time now), the hilarious Steve Coogan stars as a failed actor-turned-drama teacher who rallies his students around an absurd, politically incorrect staging of, well, Hamlet 2. The aspirings behind our three favorite captions will prance away with one Hamlet 2 t-shirt, one Hamlet 2 wristband, one sexy Jesus action figure, and one Hamlet 2 car air freshener. I personally have the action figure dancing on my desk as we speak and -- um, yeah -- this Jesus is pretty sexy. (Do I go to hell for saying that?) Sound off below! Read the official rules for this contest Permalink | Email this | Comments
Author: condensedmov Added: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 05:54:35 -0800 Duration: 151A failed actor, and failing drama teacher decides to go out with a bang by staging an unbelievely raunchy and daring Monty Python-type musical sequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet. This trailer has some naughty bits in it.
Download: MOV | MP3 | M4V Watch: Blip | Break | Viddler | Yahoo Subscribe: YouTube | iTunes Subscribe to Mahalo Daily Tropic Thunder had its Red Carpet Premiere at the Westwood Village Theater this week, and we spoke to several attendees from producers, to actors, to stars tagging along for the ride. Tropic Thunder Tropic Thunder Reviews Tropic Thunder Trailer Ben Stiller Robert Downey Jr. Jack Black Tom Cruise Danny McBride Stuart Cornfeld
Filed under: Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, 20th Century Fox, Family Films, Remakes and Sequels If the sequel to Night at the Museum wanted to retain the level of accuracy seen with the original, it would have a Chinese actor playing Russian Czar Ivan IV (aka Ivan the Terrible). But while I'm sure there will still be historical errors abound in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, the honor of playing Ivan has gone instead to pale-enough actor/filmmaker Christopher Guest (Best in Show), according to the Hollywood Reporter. And since Guest is actually a far more serious man than you'd expect, despite all those silly mockumentaries he writes and directs, here's hoping he studies his Eisenstein for inspiration. A bunch of other actors have also joined Ben Stiller in the fantasy film, including Jon Bernthal (World Trade Center) as Al Capone, Bill Hader (Superbad) as General Custer, Alain Chabat (The Science of Sleep) as Napoleon and the franchise's screenwriters, Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, as the Wright brothers. This makes for a very packed cast, considering most of the first movie's co-stars are apparently returning, including Robin Williams, Steve Coogan, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Dick Van Dyke, Jake Cherry and Patrick Gallagher, the guy who looked all wrong for the part of Atilla the Hun. Other newbies to the series include Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart and Hank Azaria as Egyptian pharaoh Kah Mun Rah. The sequel is currently filming in Vancouver, which seems a bit far away from the actual Smithsonian Institute, but reportedly the production will have access to shoot a few scenes in the actual museum, which is located in Washington, D.C. Maybe it will actually look like it takes place there, too. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.Author: FocusFeatures Tags: steve coogan elisabeth shue amy pohler catherine keener hamlet 2 funny film comedy Posted: 30 June 2008 Rating: 0.0 Votes: 0
Author: FocusFeatures Added: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:52:55 -0800 Duration: 91A world premiere at and the comedy smash of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeares Hamlet.
Author: FocusFeatures Added: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:52:52 -0800 Duration: 33A world premiere at and the comedy smash of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeares Hamlet.
Author: FocusFeatures Added: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:33:41 -0800 Duration: 65A world premiere at and the comedy smash of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeares Hamlet.
Author: FocusFeatures Added: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:33:41 -0800 Duration: 65A world premiere at and the comedy smash of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeares Hamlet.
Author: FocusFeatures Added: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:46:29 -0800 Duration: 57A world premiere at and the comedy smash of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeares Hamlet.
Author: FocusFeatures Added: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:46:29 -0800 Duration: 57A world premiere at and the comedy smash of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeares Hamlet.
Filed under: Comedy, Trailers and Clips To be, or not to be Hamlet 2? I was a really bummed when James Rocchi gave Hamlet 2 an iffy review from Sundance this year. I love Shakespeare, and I love Steve Coogan, so the project seemed like a wacky* dream come true. I'm still holding out hope that I'll respectfully disagree with him when the film hits theaters on August 22, but either way, I will always have Steve Coogan's sexy Jesus. You might remember Erik mentioning "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus" in April. Yes, this is a musical number in the film, which is part of the crappy drama teacher's (Coogan) politically incorrect sequel to Hamlet. And now Yahoo has got most of the song available to check out -- from Be Kind Rewind's Melonie Diaz and her co-actresses singing on a bed, to Jesus coming down from the ceiling and getting his groove on. Seeing Coogan dance around in a white tank and tight jeans is just plain wonderful. What do you think of Coogan's rockin' sexy Jesus? *Edited Permalink | Email this | Comments
Author: FocusFeatures Added: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:16:41 -0800 Duration: 69A world premiere at and the comedy smash of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeares Hamlet.
Author: FocusFeatures Added: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:16:41 -0800 Duration: 69A world premiere at and the comedy smash of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeares Hamlet.
