I swear… watching anything from “Hot Tub Time Machine” makes me feel like I’ve stepped back into a 1980s John Cusack comedy. That’s probably because it’s essentially what this movie is. Four friends are thrown back to a simpler time thanks to the titular relaxation tool, and hilarity ensues. Just watch this exclusive new TV spot. The rest will take care of itself.
It can’t really be said that “Role Models,” the David Wain-written (with Ken Marino and Paul Rudd) and -directed 2008 comedy didn’t get enough love. It more than doubled its budget at the box office, which is perfectly great. Still, as much as people enjoyed it, “Role Models” hasn’t really been on the path to a sequel like other popular comedies have. Wain told MTV last year that he’d like to do a sequel or a spin-off, but that’s as far as things have gone.
Well at least one person is interested in coming back for more “Role Models”: King Argotron himself, Ken Jeong. Speaking to MTV’s Josh Horowitz on the Independent Spirit Awards red carpet last week, Jeong excitedly talked about his desire to reprise his role.
“You’re talking about sequels. Someone on Twitter– yeah, I tweet, so what?” he said, looking directly at the camera, as if waiting to be challenged, before continuing. “Someone on Twitter actually said ‘you should do Role Models 2.’ David Wain, the director, and I follow each other, so I immediately re-tweeted that to David Wain.”
“I would looooooove to do a sequel to ‘Role Models.’ There’s a lot of ground [left to cover] with the King Argotron and I’ve had some ideas,” Jeong said.
“I’ve e-mailed– I’ve bugged the crap out of David Wain and Ken Marino, the co-writers along with Paul Rudd, [saying] ‘Oh we’ve gotta do the sequel, gotta do the sequel. Guys, gotta do the sequel. Go to Europe. Do it like Bad News Bears, go to Japan or something. C’mon, I don’t care… there doesn’t need to be a plot I just want to be that guy again. I don’t care.’”
Now whether or not this all amounts to anything remains to be seen. Jeong was clearly having some fun on camera in the above video, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. It leaves one to wonder exactly what Wain and Marino thought of his ideas….
Do you think a “Role Models” sequel is a good idea? Does the world need more King Argotron? Perhaps an Argotron-centric spin-off?
We learned a few weeks ago that Ben Affleck was interested in directing “The Trade,” from a script from “Curb Your Enthusiasm” producer David Mandel. The story follows former real-life New York Yankees Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, who notoriously traded wives back in the ’70s. In the original report it was said that Matt Damon would reunite with Affleck as one of the ball players and that Affleck might take on the other lead role in addition to directing.
Given Damon’s Boston background and natural hatred for all things Yankees-related, MTV’s Josh Horowitz had to ask him what’s what at the recent press junket for “Green Zone.”
“I haven’t seen that script yet,” Damon said. “I know Ben’s interested in it and I’m dying to work with Ben again. He’s a great director and obviously you know what I think of him as a writer.” Damon and Affleck of course won an Oscar for co-writing “Good Will Hunting.”
Josh, always the showman, brought along a little treat to tease the actor with. As it became clear that Damon had said everything he knows, just reached down and pulled out… a Yankees cap! The look of horror evident on Damon’s face is amazing. Who would have ever thought Jason Bourne could be rendered speechless?
He comes around quickly enough, saying “No” several times in rapid succession. “It would be on fire within–” he began, and Josh added “I feel like it would be engulfed in flames if I touch you with it.”
Damon exclaimed: “–It might! It would go into flames if I held onto it for a minute.” In that spirit, I share this wonderful image with you all once again…
It’s been a long road for the “Tron” sequel, with announcements and teases and casting news galore. Today, in the wee hours of the morning, we finally have actual motion picture proof that “Tron Legacy” exists. Sure you might have seen this trailer already playing in front of “Alice in Wonderland,” but now you can re-watch at your leisure.
Let’s face it: that’s what you really want to do. There’s so much fan service seeping through in these images. The disc battle, the Light Cycles, the Recognizer… is it December yet?
He wasn’t up for an Oscar, but “Precious” actor and noted musician Lenny Kravitz was out last night to show his support. MTV’s Josh Horowitz got a few minutes with him on the red carpet last night, time which he used to ask the rock star what led him to acting and if he hopes to keep it going now that “Precious” — and his work in it — has been so well-received.
“I’ve always wanted to [act],” Kravitz said. “And the plan was to do it — I did theater when I was younger and that was part of my life — but once I started making music I kind of put blinders on and that was it.”
Now that this first, admittedly somewhat small, experience is behind him, Kravitz is ready for more. In fact, his plan was to start small and go from there. And now that he’s got a friend like “Precious” director Lee Daniels, he’s already lined up for something else.
“The next role is Andrew Young in a film called ‘Selma,’ directed by Lee Daniels,” Kravitz said. Young was a significant figure in the Civil Rights movement, someone who worked very closely Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And while the story details for “Selma” aren’t really out there yet, Young did aid King Jr. in planning a Civil Rights Campaign in Selma, Alabama. Young was also jailed in that same city for participating in a demonstration there.
Kravitz acknowledges that this is going to be a significant step up, moving from his “Precious” nurse to Young, a King Jr. collaborator who was at times the Mayor of Atlanta, a Congressman and the United States ambassador to the United Nations. Kravitz is aware of all of this. As he said, “I gotta bring it.”
Is Kravitz right for the part of Andrew Young? What did you think of his performance in “Precious”?
“Up in the Air” star Vera Farmiga was nominated for an Oscar last night in the Best Supporting Actress category. Mo’Nique had that one pretty much locked up of course, but Farmiga was still out on the red carpet last night to celebrate both her own work and that of her peers.
One of her upcoming projects is “Source Code,” a sci-fi flick from “Moon” director Duncan Jones (the most criminally underrated film of 2009). And given how excellent “Moon” was, MTV’s Josh Horowitz had to ask Farmiga if we can expect more of the same in his sophomore effort.
“I can’t tell you much,” she said after confirming that she starts shooting in April.
“I’ll tell you why,” she continued. “Because I haven’t wrapped my head around it myself and I’m going to sound like an utter idiot trying to explain it to you. It’s a pretty complicated plot. With all due respect to Duncan Jones. I’m sure Duncan is not proud of me in this moment.”
Farmiga remained tight-lipped, though she did indicate that there’s some action in the movie. “Not my part,” she said. “There’s a portion of the film that is [action-oriented], but mine is actually very static.”
That’s not much to speculate on, but the way Farmiga says “static”… it’s very deliberate. What it means is anyone’s guess. The little we know of the story is that Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who is forced to relive a train bombing over and over again in an effort to learn who the culprit is and prevent another attack from occurring. It’s all a part of some experimental government program.
What do you think Farmiga might be doing in the movie?
One of the unlikely — but nonetheless welcome — Best Picture nominees which benefited from the expanded category size was director Neill Blomkamp’s inventive sci-fi feature debut, “District 9.” It’s an odd film, a melting pot of genres set within a science fiction framework. The “aliens arrive on Earth” idea isn’t exactly new, but Blomkamp’s take on it is fresh nonetheless. And while “District 9″ was one of the bigger longshots to win last night, it definitely deserved its Best Picture nom.
Blomkamp probably agrees, though he admitted to MTV’s Josh Horowitz on the Oscars red carpet last night that it all came as quite a surprise.
“It was pretty insane,” he said. “I never expected it to be there. There is definitely a level of insanity to [being at the Oscars as a Best Picture nominee] that I wasn’t prepared for.” Blomkamp went on to describe how he was asleep when the nominations were announced, and had to be woken up for the good news.
As for the much-discussed “District 9″ sequel, the director isn’t quite there yet. To Josh’s question of how far into the sequel process he is, Blomkamp replied, “Not that far. I’m working on another sci-fi film, but I want to make the sequel. I’m just doing something else now.”
Blomkamp hasn’t had much to say about his mysterious next project. He told Josh — and has said frequently — that his next film will be bigger in scope. He’s also previously said that it’s science fiction wrapped around “sociopolitical ideas” that interest him, and that it will be “something like a Hollywood action film.”
Where would you like to see the story started in “District 9″ taken next?
One of the few unscripted moments last night came when Elinor Burkett, producer of the Best Documentary Short winner “Music by Prudence,” stormed the stage and hijacked the microphone as director Roger Ross Williams delivered his acceptance speech.
It was a moment reminiscent of MTV’s 2009 Video Music Awards when Kanye West took the mic from Best Female Video winner Taylor Swift. Last night’s moment perhaps wasn’t as high-profile, but there was at least more to the story than Kanye’s questionable decision to drink excessively before the VMAs. So why did Burkett feel the need to get her own comments out to the world?
As she told Salon in an interview at the tail end of the ceremony, “[Williams] and I had a bad difference over the direction of the film that resulted in a lawsuit that has settled amicably out of court.” Despite the settlement, Burkett claims that she was left with no choice but to storm the stage as the director would not talk to her in the days leading up to the show.
“This whole week, there have been events thrown by the International Documentary Association, and he hasn’t passed any of the invitations on to me,” said Burkett, who takes credit for the short’s inspiration. The problem between the two related to the direction: Burkett wanted to focus on the entire band, Liyana, while Williams and HBO stuck pretty tightly to Prudence Mabhena, the Zimbabwean singer/songwriter named in the title.
In his defense, Williams claims that Burkett had no place being on the stage. “Only one person is allowed to accept the award,” he explained. “I was the director, and she was removed from the project nearly a year ago, but she was able to still qualify as a producer on the project, and be an official nominee.” In fact, such was her dissatisfaction with the direction taken that Burkett “removed herself from the project,” Williams said.
From Burkett’s point of view, she had a right to be on the stage and wasn’t simply because the director refused to talk to her. The other side of that argument, is that Williams owns the film. “She has no claim whatsoever,” he said. “She has nothing to do with the movie. She just ambushed me. I was sort of in shock.”
The upside of this fracas — proving the old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity — is that the Oscar-winning short is getting even more attention now as a result of the sensational angle that’s unfolded. “Music by Prudence” presents a picture of the privately funded King George VI School & Centre for Children with Physical Disabilities — a Zimbabwe-based institution designed to provide aid for local children with disabilities — through the lens of Prudence Mabhena, a 21-year-old singer/songwriter from Zimbabwe.
You can find out more at the film’s website, which I strongly recommend. Putting aside the right/wrong in this situation, “Music by Prudence” has a clear message to deliver, so let’s help turn this not-so-happy Oscar moment into something worthwhile.
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards red carpet was a madhouse this evening, as it always is. MTV’s Josh Horowitz was there to deliver a live streaming account of the festivities, with interviews and category previews to take you into the big show. One of the familiar faces he chatted with was Keanu Reeves, who was on-hand to present Best Picture nominee “The Hurt Locker” for his “Point Break” director Kathryn Bigelow. Since he had Reeves’ ear, Josh asked if we might be seeing a new “Bill & Ted’s” follow-up at some point in the future. And it seems we might be!
It’s hard to tell if he’s serious or simply placating when he says this, but Reeves responded to Josh’s question with, “I’m trying, I’m trying.” This gave Josh pause. Could the “Point Break” star be serious? “Sure,” he said.
Really? Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, together again?! He’s got to be joking. Right?
“I’m not,” Reeves said. “We’ll see.”
It’s still somewhat hard to read. So I put the question to you readers. Is Reeves shooting straight here or is he just trying to get into the theater? Do you want more from Bill and Ted? Sequel or reboot?
Leave it to Ben Stiller to breath some legitimate humor into the normally dry award presentations. Trotting out to dole out honors for the Best Makeup category, the erstwhile sketch comedian took a page from James Cameron’s “Avatar” and trotted out in full Na’vi regalia. Clad in blue make-up, yellow contact lenses and a very long tail, Stiller rattled off a string of incomprehensible alien sounds, and then admitted to the audience that the idea sounded better in rehearsal.
So without further ado…
