There’s No Way ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is Going to Be NC-17
By Scott Beggs
Let’s be real for a second. Even if screenwriter Kelly Marcel claims that Fifty Shades of Grey is going to be NC-17, there’s no chance that it will be. For that to happen, Universal — one of the biggest studios in Hollywood — would have to convert the best-selling, phenomenon level property they spent $3m to acquire into an aggressive message aimed directly at the MPAA (which is partially funded by Universal) and risk money on the film not screening in a lot of theaters. Had The Weinstein Company gotten the rights, this might be believable, but it’s beyond the realm of possibility as it is, and there are two situations playing out that I can see here:
- This is a screenwriter — who from what I can tell has some serious game — pointing to the bleachers or having a laugh by going over the top.
- This is part of a cultivated marketing plan to make the property even more titillating and dangerous which will culminate in them either achieving an NC-17 (maybe they’ll have Ryan Gosling go down on Michelle Williams in it) before pulling it back for an R or aiming for an R regardless of the NC-17 publicity.
If Universal is honestly strapping in to release the first modern adults-only blockbuster, kudos to them. But until they get a willing cast and director, shoot, cut, and come back from the MPAA with the scarlet letter stamped to their reels, all of this seems just a bit far-fetched.
Although, when it inevitably gets its R-rating, maybe theaters will be nice enough to hand out themed blindfolds for the children of terrible parents who bring them regardless of the MPAA’s judgement.
Hi Roger,
I am very interested in your take on this 50 Shades rating. I agree with you that it will likely be released as an R and not an NC-17. However, I think it is very likely that they will shoot material that would garner an NC-17 but only release it on the DVD (boosting sales). Do you have any insight into the specific differences between an R and an NC-17? My assumption is that any kind of erection is too much - even for an NC-17. But I do believe there is a chance of a male full frontal. I also believe that we are likely to see extensive female full frontal at least on the unrated DVD (would that cross the line to NC17?). If they write an explicit script and use it to cast brave actors, I am optimistic about the DVD release regardless of the theatrical version. Shia LeBouf and others are making the idea of mainstream actors engaging in explicit scenes more "aesthetic". If there was ever a role where nudity and explicit interaction is not gratuitous but essential to the role, this is it.
Please answer this question - in the wildest best case scenario (even if it is very unlikely), what is the most risque activities that could take place during the filming?
-A faithful reader
[1] DVD sales are very much important to studios as it's one of their top money makers (the real cash machine for them) despite rampant piracy. However - and I'm pretty sure about it and will get a confirmation in few days - there won't be any unrated edition of FSOG. In fact unrated has gone the way of the dodo when it comes to sex scenes or nudity. It's too much hassle for the producers. I'm just not talking about FSOG. Practically every R-rated theatrical releases with sexual content or theme will never receive unrated/restored/extended edition until something changes in near future. So many issues are involved including extra compensations for the actors who sees it as a new material. In recent years actors sign on dotted line with an understanding of what-you-see-is-what-you-will-ever-get when it's a sex scene with nudity. The fear of being inadvertently exploited is very much real for actresses. So much so it's written in the contract that any post-production editing requires the presence of either the actress or her rep if it's a (racy) scene involving her. It's the norm practice now for every flicks and cable series with nudity.
[2] Erect penis is some sort of last frontier in American mainstream cinema. MPAA will refuse to issue any sort of certificate (even NC-17) if erect penis is clearly seen within a vicinity of a female in a possible sexual scenario. Even if it's a fake cock often seen in foreign productions. It's safe to say cable will soon (maybe in second half of this decade?) have an actor with real boner on late night slot before motion picture follows suit (optimistic MPAA will be more open-minded towards on-screen sexuality and nudity down the road when generation X become majority members).
[3] Now that Marcel have written the 'main' script, it will go through the usual process of scrutiny, discussion and finally trimming it to satisfaction of the producers. There will be round-the-table meetings with studio execs, hired (uncredited) script supervisors, MPAA consultant, demography analyzer/expert, Marcel with possible inclusion of the author. All the relevant group involved in pre-productions.
This is just an initial meet-up. Nothing is decided until the director and DP comes into the picture. My preferred choice is Paul Verhoeven but that is unlikely to materialize. More negotiations after the principal actors are hired. The initial porn-like script now transform into something of a R-rated mishmash with added contributions from the director, the DP suggesting which scene could be shot and which one could be problematic and actors (and their rep) requiring certain scenes to be excised or altered (body double is a must for more vigorous scenes). It will be a long arduous process including the casting the FSOG two leads. Auditions will proceed in usual two-pronged approach. Auditioning bunch of upcoming/unknown actors as back-up in case if the original plan to cast few chosen and well-known performers on the wanted list falls
through.
[4] To your question of risque activities during shooting - probably nothing that's out of ordinary. I'm not sure if you referring to the simulated sex scenes or off the cam sexual bloopers. You can read more about FSOG here. My take is they are going for a relatively experienced actor to play Christian and a first-timer (in nudity department) to play Anastasia. My choice is clear. The one and only Alexandra Daddario. She has the vulnerability and at same time the steely resolve to surprise you when you least expect it. And I want to see her world-class boobies.
[5] Shia LeBouf flick will be filmed with body doubles for close-up explicit scenes. Shia will be having real sex but editing means viewers unlikely to see him sticking his cock into the actress pussy or her mouth.
The Top NC-17 Rated Films Of All Time
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‘Banshee’: Latest edition of cable pulp is just more of the same
“Banshee,” premiering Friday night on Cinemax, is part of the movie channel’s goal to plaster itself with flinty new action series that are really just re-pulped pulp made as stylishly as possible. You need it like you need another hole in your head.
Produced by Alan Ball (“True Blood,” “Six Feet Under”) and created by two literary novelists (Jonathan Tropper and David Shickler) who ought to know better, it’s the story of a master thief who, upon completing a 15-year prison sentence, winds up in rural Pennsylvania. He’s in search of — in no particular order — his ex-girlfriend, revenge against Russian mobsters, closure and, while he’s at it, a full-on Amish drug war.
And because all cable dramas are apparently made in a vacuum, “Banshee” has the audacity to behave as though its bloody violence, implausible set-up and studied ugliness are somehow vanguard television. In fact, it’s just more of the same.Produced by Alan Ball (“True Blood,” “Six Feet Under”) and created by two literary novelists (Jonathan Tropper and David Shickler) who ought to know better, it’s the story of a master thief who, upon completing a 15-year prison sentence, winds up in rural Pennsylvania. He’s in search of — in no particular order — his ex-girlfriend, revenge against Russian mobsters, closure and, while he’s at it, a full-on Amish drug war.
As the unnamed antihero, New Zealand actor Antony Starr is a taut, ill-tempered, wee fireplug of a man in the Jason Statham mold, exactly suited to bullet-ridden pap like this. When he learns that his ex-girlfriend and former partner in crime, Carrie (Ivana Milicevic), is living under a new identity in the little town of Banshee, he motorcycles out there to find her. (But first, a shootout on the streets of Manhattan with said Russian thugs. Wait, sorry — first the humpy sex scene with a random bartendress. God love ya, Skinemax.)
Banshee, of course, is a town filled with characters that one can only imagine as color-coded notecards tacked up on the writers’ bulletin board. Soon there’s a plot twist that sets up the entire series: A newly hired sheriff is shot dead in a nearly empty barroom, and before anyone — you and me included — figures out what’s what, the mystery man buries the body and passes himself off as the lawman.
At least Starr’s character now has an (assumed) identity: Sheriff Lucas Hood. Once sworn in by the naive mayor, Lucas learns that Carrie is now a real estate agent married to Banshee’s chief prosecutor (Rus Blackwell), whose singular obsession is to convict Banshee’s ubiquitous crime boss, Kai Proctor.
As played by Ulrich Thomsen, Proctor is immediately too much of a bad thing, just another one of cable’s overwritten evildoers. He’s a deranged owner of a meatpacking plant and a drug lord who controls just about everything in Banshee. Outcast from his Amish upbringing, Proctor sexually brutalizes his 24-7 slave harem, and when an employee displeases him, he feeds his fingers to his attack dog.
It’s disturbing to watch, but also, as far as this genre is concerned, disturbingly banal.
Amish meet violence, sex in ‘Banshee’
“Banshee” Series premiere tonight at 10 on Cinemax. Grade: C+
A slow-pokey drama punctuated by shocking violence and sex, executive producer Alan Ball’s “Banshee” plays like a hoarse whisper at the moon.
New Zealand native Antony Starr unconvincingly plays Lucas Hood, a thief who served 15 years in prison and assumes the identity of a sheriff in the small town of Banshee, Pa.
Here he is able to reconnect, sort of, with his onetime partner and lover, Carrie (Ivana Milicevic, “Vegas”), who has a new identity as well, and a family. She also secretly trains with the ferocity of a UFC fighter.
Ukrainian gangster Rabbit (Ben Cross, “Star Trek”) is tracking both, determined to get the diamonds they stole from him years earlier.
Lucas is aided by — shades of “True Blood’s” Lafayette — transvestite computer hacker Job (Hoon Lee) and Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison, “The Wire”), an ex-boxer who now runs Banshee’s favorite bar.
“Banshee” is the first ongoing scripted series to take advantage of viewers’ apparent fascination with the Amish.
Local businessman Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) went “English,” runs the town like a feudal kingdom and metes out his own brand of sadistic justice, turning those who offend him into puppy kibble — literally.
Other Amish characters play into the drama, including Rebecca Bowman (Lili Simmons), who is chaste by day and likes to be chased at night.
Perhaps the most recognizable face is Matt Servitto, best known for playing an FBI agent on “The Sopranos” and here co-starring as bitter Deputy Brock Lotus, who questions his new boss’ methods.
The opening chase sequence is well staged, even it does seem to defy physics. The sex scenes are so graphic, you might feel the need to check your own ID.
Lucas has a habit of going all Steven Seagal on anyone who ticks him off. There are enough of those to ride out the hour, if you have it to spare.
“I usually get by with my charm,” Lucas says at one point. Judging from the first two episodes, “Banshee” will soon be quieted.
* Don't want to sound like a creepy perv but Lili Simmons was only 18 when she stripped off for pretty raunchy sex scenes. There is some discrepancies about the year she was born. The official release is 1993 but some had it at 1994. I'm going with latter. It's also a rarity on an American cable series (or in movies) to see an 18-year old play a twenty-something character and actually getting naked as well.
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Sneak Peek of Maggie Grace, Sebastian Stan and More in PICNIC- Performance Highlights! (TV Content)
William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Picnicreturns to Broadway in a striking new production helmed by acclaimed director Sam Gold (Roundabout's Look Back in Anger, Seminar). Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn stars alongside theatre veterans Reed Birney (The Dream of the Burning Boy) and Elizabeth Marvel (Other Desert Cities), rising stars Maggie Grace ('Lost') and Sebastian Stan ('Gossip Girl'), Emmy Award winner Mare Winningham (recently seen in Tribes), Madeleine Martin (August: Osage County) and Ben Rappaport (Hope Springs). BroadwayWorld brings you just-released performance highlights below!
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1takemediaTrue love lies in understanding the unsaid words. Spread over months of massage sessions a bond of sisterhood develops between a rich woman and her masseuse. She tells her stories of her happy married life and her lovely husband. Through her, masseuse sees perfect love that every girl longs for. But very often in life, people use words to run away and hide from the reality; the masseuse stumbles upon the truth. And then she deals with it the next day.
Short Film "Unkahi" was selected for screening at International Film Festival of Cinematic Arts (IFFCA). Los Angeles and has also won an award for Excellence in Screenplay there. IFFCA.org
A BOLD thriller about a sexy 30 year old woman and the date of her dreams
Nina, a South-Asian woman, pushing 30, who meets all these losers online , has pressure from her traditional parents about marriage, finally meets a great guy on her 25th experience from this dating website. So does it go as planned?
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Famke Jansen Welcomes You To 'Hemlock Grove'
By JARETT WIESELMAN
Like most, I first fell for Famke Jansen as the bone and ball busting Xenia Onatopp in 1995's GoldenEye. Since then, it's been endlessly exciting watching the leggy brunette cut a swath through Hollywood in a wide variety of films. But her genre work (from The Faculty to the X-Men series) has been the most exhilarating, which is why I'm doubly excited for her turn in the Netflix original, Hemlock Grove.Eli Roth's gothic thriller (developed by Brian McGreevy and Lee Shipman) revolves around the eccentric residents of a dilapidated former Pennsylvania steel town and the murder of 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell.
Jansen can also be seen in this month's Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters as one of the tracked titular monsters; a film that provided her with the biggest test of her professional career. ETonline sat down with Jansen at The Television Critics Association Tour in Pasadena, CA earlier this week to talk about both roles, and whether or not X-Men fans can expect her to board Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past.
ETonline: What appealed to you about Hemlock Grove?
Famke Jansen: [The producers] wanted to give it a Twin Peaks feel, which is how they got me. They had me at Twin Peaks, because it's the only time I've ever watched television. What I liked about that show, and what I think is comparable to Hemlock, is that it's non-linear. Nothing wraps up neatly. Nothing is ever fully explained. There are so many unsolved cases and mysteries throughout; that drew me towards wanting to be a part of this.
Jansen: I like the mystery of her, and she remains mysterious throughout. I don't like repetition. I was very aware of not wanting to go into territory I've already explored [which is] hard with 20 years of acting, particularly because everyone kind of gets typecast anyway. But I didn't want to re-do anything. Especially Nip/Tuck, because I felt like that is the most similar to this. Don't get me wrong, I loved [Ava Moore, her Nip/Tuck character], but there were specific things I wanted to do to get away from comparisons. Like speak in a very intentional dialect.
ETonline: Were you looking to do television, or did this experience feel more like a 13-hour movie anyway?
Jansen: For me, it's perfect. I don't come from television, I don't want to go to television, every time people talk about me ding a TV show I want to run the other way. This feels like new territory [and] there's no looming corporation over our heads giving us notes. That felt great.
ETonline: You took three years off to make Bringing Up Bobby and then went into Hansel and Gretel, Taken 2 and Hemlock Grove. Was it nice to turn off the producer side of your brain after getting Bobby made?
Jansen: Yeah, although, ironically, Hansel has me in full-on prosthetic makeup, which took 3 hours every day. It's like going from having full control and being the queen of a film to being strapped down with makeup and toxins being applied to you. It was a rude awakening.
ETonline: I always imagined that the prosthetic process has to be painfully arduous for actors.
Jansen: I really had trouble with it. They were working on my hands and nails and face at the same time, so I tried everything [to pass the time]. My boyfriend got me an iPad so I could play The New York Times crossword puzzle, but I couldn't because my hands were stuck. And then I couldn't have my dog around me because I didn't want him around the toxins ... and no one wanted to be around me because I was so ugly [laughs]. I'm glad I got to do it because it was a really fascinating process.
ETonline: How so?
Jansen: Other than seeing yourself transform into something, [you] have to rely on an entire new set of skills. I couldn't really rely on my face because of the prosthetics, or my eyes because I had contacts in -- I was full-on glued together. I didn't even have my teeth. And so much of the makeup was doing the work for me because it's so scary, so I didn't know how much acting I needed to do. How much is too much? It was an interesting way of re-approaching acting.
ETonline: Given what you said about not liking to repeat yourself, I'm curious, does that mean you don't want to reprise the role of Jean Grey in Bryan Singer's new X-Men movie, which is bringing back Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan?
Jansen: Oh, I've just become a full on whore at this point because I need money [laughs]. Right now, everything I've ever said goes out the window. I would love to come back in every X-Men movie anyone ever wanted to make, I'll play every character I've ever played again and again. Rounders 2? Bring it on. Whatever we can think of...
ETonline: At the end of the day, what is it that you want people to take away from Hemlock Grove?
Jansen: That it's its own thing. I'm never very keen on boxing things in. That's why my entire 20 years as an actor, I've tried to come out of my box -- but I'm giving that up. I'm crawling right back in there and becoming a whore [laughs]. Boxed in whore. Prostitute. Whatever you want to call it. I think Hansel and Gretel is a very good example of [redefining genres]. It's a fairytale that everyone has grown up with, but they've reinvented it. We constantly have to reinvent every genre because audiences have become so sophisticated, so you constantly have to find ways of reaching people. I'm hoping Hemlock Grove can do that. Can be its own thing and redefine what people expect from this genre.
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The Endless Night: A Valentine to Film Noir
from Serena Bramble
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27-years old German-Polish fashion model Hana Nitsche is proud to be a sugarbaby. She was discovered on Germany’s Next Top Model and has been in all of the big fashion mags.
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Netflix Should Have Acquired Starz, Says CEO
by
A lot of people, including myself, have been expecting Netflix to make a play for the Starz cable network, and their excellent access to new and premium films that Netflix subscribers used to enjoy until last year. So we were all surprised that instead of grabbing the cable network, they decided to snatch away the Disney first-run contract from the network instead. Home Media Magazine has Liberty Media CEO Gregory Maffei’s take on the matter:Indeed, the CEO said there could be a credible argument that Netflix should acquire Starz Entertainment, which is a principle source of content distribution to multichannel video distributors via 17 premium channels, including the flagship Starz and Encore brands with approximately 20.8 million and 34.3 million subscribers, respectively.I would agree with him wholeheartedly, but I don’t think that a Starz/Netflix merger or partnership is out of the question in the slightest. In fact, if anything, it seems like the hand is being very publicly outstretched. Starz’s new subscription partner, Blockbuster Online, is going under, and Netflix has new guns like Redbox starting to horn in on their territory, tied to popular cable services that can directly undermine them by saving people money when bundled with their cable subscriptions. Netflix needs content, and they need security, and those Starz subscriptions could go a long way to making sure the bucks keep rolling, and people stay around for the long haul.
“You could make a case Netflix needs Starz’ cash flow,” Maffai said. “And Netflix would benefit from being able to distribute Starz Originals programming more broadly.”
He added that Netflix could have fared better economically during the next four years had it acquired Starz, which included rights to Disney and Sony Pictures movies, in addition to Starz Originals programming such as “Camelot,” “Magic City” and “Spartacus,” among others.
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SuperTruth77
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High Maintenance // Olivia
from Ben SinclairA nameless cannabis delivery guy delivers his much needed medication to stressed-out New Yorkers in this character-driven web series. High Maintenance was created by husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. They produce the series with their BFF Russell Gregory as Janky Clown Productions.
Starring:
* HELÉNE YORKE of course will be very naked in Showtime' skin-fest Masters of Sex. One of the best nude scenes of 2013. She is currently back in L.A shooting the pilot season.
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Lindsay Lohan 'Canyons' Article Was Pretty Accurate
Lindsay Lohan admits ... she was a bit of a pain in the ass on the set of "The Canyons" ... but she's adamant she did NOT drink and drive.
Sources close to the actress tell TMZ ... Lohan is well aware of the article published in the New York Times chronicling the madness that went down during the production of the movie.
Lohan is telling friends ... most of the stories in the article are TRUE -- she was late a few times, she was nervous about getting naked and she argued with producers ... but LiLo says stuff like that happens all the time on movie sets, so it's no big deal.
But we're told Lindsay says the allegations that she boozed on set and got behind the wheel of a car afterward are totally bogus. She claims she's not that stupid and irresponsible.
When there WAS booze on the set, sources close to Lohan say it was provided by the director Paul Schrader -- who would often pour vodka shots for the crew at the end of a shooting day. Lindsay swears she didn't partake in the alcoholic festivities.
In the end, Lindsay says she's not mad about the article -- and still has a good relationship with everyone she worked with, including producers, co-stars and even the director -- who she claims has already approached her about a new project.
The feeling's mutual for 'Canyons' producer Braxton Pope -- who called TMZ Live yesterday, and did verbal backflips to say how "excellent" Lindsay was ... and claimed the benefits of having her in the film "far outweighed" the challenges.
Sundance 2013: Kristen Bell on 'The Lifeguard' and working while pregnant
In The Lifeguard, premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category, Bell takes a darker turn, playing a woman who quits her reporter job in New York and returns to where she grew up in Connecticut, taking a job as a lifeguard and falling into a dangerous relationship with a teenager. Check out this exclusive image of Bell, above, from the film. If her sullen expression is any indication, she’s settled into the doldrums, a purgatory stage of life with hints of The Graduate.
The star of TV’s Veronica Mars and now Showtime’s House of Lies chatted with EW about her great chemistry with The Lifeguard‘s first-time feature film director Liz W. Garcia, what it’s like filming House of Lies while pregnant (she’s due in the spring), and her reign as Gossip Girl‘s saucy narrator coming to an end with the conclusion of the six-season series. R.I.P!
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Describe your role in The Lifeguard and working with Liz Garcia. The premise seems to have certain similarities to The Graduate, in terms of someone trying to find themselves, albeit with darker consequences.
KRISTEN BELL: I had been looking for something that I felt spoke to me of someone going through a metamorphosis. I find change so interesting. I love Liz’s writing. She wrote this phenomenal script, One Percent More Human, that was set up numerous times, and she had plans for that to be her directorial debut with Kristen Stewart and Evan Rachel Wood, and then she got pregnant. She ended up pushing it, so The Lifeguard was her first movie. She doesn’t steer away from sexuality, which most female writers do. There’s a tenderness, which makes it clear she’s a female writer. The idea of what do you do when you get stuck somewhere in your life is what appealed to me.
You’re known for your comedies, but even Veronica Mars had a great mix of wit and some drama. Is The Lifeguard mostly dramatic?
It’s primarily a drama. There are funny moments. Much like life, there’s more drama than comedy. Liz is surprisingly witty and funny, despite the darkness of her writing. When she reached out, she said, “I want someone who has a voice that is similar to mine that is sharp and funny.” This is a girl that should have it together. Everyone has that time in their life where they look back and say, “That was when everything was perfect.” But there’s no such thing. Transitions are happening in everyone’s life in the movie. I go back and I’m living with my mother, and she’s a 55, 60 year old woman who’s retiring.
Your character also seems to make questionable decisions, becoming involved with a teenager. By the way, it’s great Martin Starr — who is always hilarious — co-stars with you.
The movie centers around a girl who is at a tipping point when it comes to decisions, and you see her make quite a few bad ones before she comes to a good one. People around her are on a little less dangerous level. Martin plays her gay best friend from growing up and is yet to fully acknowledge it. Like, “Here are these cupcakes I like, but I’m not going to eat them.” There’s a certain point in your life where the people in your life around you say, “Come on and have a f–king cupcake, bro?” These characters are all jumping off this cliff and hope they don’t break too many bones.
On a separate personal note, you’re pregnant, and that’s a huge shift in life. When are you due?
I’m due end of spring. I’m not not pregnant. When you see me [at Sundance], it will be obvious. This is without question the biggest transition I’ll make in my life to date.
So how is going to Sundance for you? You must be a festival vet by now.
I have been quite a few times. It’s a bit feeling like Universal Studios these past few years and less like a film festival. … I’m not there for longer than 48 hours because I’m working on House of Lies. It’s going to be cold as balls! I think I’m going to a dinner on the night of the 20th called I Am That Girl [a community-building organization to inspire girls and women]. By the way, you kind of go brain dead when you’re pregnant. You’re kind of in a Dopamine phase. I’m kind of happy all the time, and dumb.
You regularly play interesting, smart female characters. Aligning yourself with organizations such as I Am That Girl, you also come across as someone just invested in women having a better future.
Our culture is headed in a direction that’s balanced and appropriate. Let’s start looking at the things that make us empowered as women. Women are less likely to push the red button and go to war. I also love the idea that we’re concerned with balancing out our careers as females.
What else is on your plate work-wise?
I’ve just been doing House of Lies. The season has been so much fun. They are always trying to hide my pregnancy. I’m always hiding behind a box, or a purse. I love working on that show more than I can possibly explain. Don Cheadle is a better human being than he is an actor. He’s the captain of the ship, with these two funny jesters. They love the fact that I’m pregnant. That’s the show I wish would go on for 10 years. This year the scripts are phenomenal and funny. We’ll stop filming around Feb. 12, around Valentine’s Day, so I’ll have a little bit of pregnancy time after. Also, Gossip Girl ended a couple of months ago. I loved that job, was sad to see it go.
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Go Behind-The-Scenes with Ashley Benson, the New Face of Faviana!
There’s no denying that Ashley Benson is a fierce and talented young starlet. She not only stars as Hanna Marin on the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars but she also has been busy creating buzz on the movie circuit as well, starting with a daring role in Spring Breakers, which also features Selena Gomez, James Franco, and Vanessa Hudgens. Well, it seems that many fashion houses and companies are taking note of how amazing and captivating the blonde bombshell is because, aside from her sweet campaigns with HP and Bongo Jeans, she can now add ‘Faviana model‘ to her growing list of accolades!In her first photo shoot for the renowned formal wear designer, Ashley pretty much mirrored a scene from 27 Dresses in which Katherine Heigl models a series of unique dresses for James Marsden. The 23-year-old PLL actress similarly slipped into not one not two but SEVENTEEN spectacular dresses from Faviana’s spring collection — and each one, although different in color, style, and texture — looked stunning on her. (Psst. One of the gowns was actually inspired by the Prabal Gurung gown that Jennifer Lawrence wore to the premiere of The Hunger Games in 2012!)
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33-years old Vietnamese actress Thi Kieu Trinh Nguyen in Bi, dung so! (2010)+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Alfred Hitchcock provided audiences with entertainment over a fifty year career in the film industry: his debut film was the 1925 silent film ‘The Pleasure Garden’ and his final feature length production was the dark thriller ‘Family Plot’ in 1976. Hitchcock was a master of craft behind the production of his films, constantly challanging audiences expectations, incorporating his ‘typical’ macguffin to lead his spectators astray and double crossing them in terms of narrative themes and situations. We all remember wondering what happened to the stolen money in ‘Psycho’ after it played such a significant part of the films first act.
Recently, I wrote a feature defining the James Bond films as a genre; this article lead me to write my own list of top ten and worst ten Bond Girls over the past fifty years. As I sat back, after writing both features, I couldn’t help think how interesting the female characters were in the Hitchcock films. Hitchcock himself was obsessed with women, mainly blondes, leading him to coin his own identifying phrase of the ‘Icy Blonde’ for his female protagonists. These weren’t women of the time: sure they were beautiful and eye-catching (just like the Bond Girls are) but at the same time they were independent, strong, determined and most of all, mysterious.
I often find it’s hard to sum up the ‘correct’ definintion of an ‘Icy Blonde’: Hitchcock stated that he felt blondes made better victims and that audience members would always see them as whiter-than-white. Does this mean that ‘Icy Blondes’ are protagonists or antagonists? Still, the answer is a complicated one. Although Hitchcock said blondes make better victims, more than likely meaning they’re innocent and helpless, he has the likes of Janet Leigh’s Marion Crane in ‘Psycho’ running around with half-a-million dollars in her back pocket after robbing her employers, similar to Tippi Hendren’s Marnie.
When analysing the ‘Icy Blondes’ I find myself defining them as the femme-fatales of the Hitchcock generation: whether good or bad, each and every ‘Icy Blonde’ has a dark side, not many male protagonists should ought too cross. Hitchcock created this; women who don’t conform to contemorary society. They isolate themselves from the realities of life and become something more unique and interesting, and as I’ve stated before, mysterious. The ‘Icy Blonde’ is often the biggest mystery of the film: her loyalties lie with herself and nobody else and depending on what stance she takes, controls the rest of th film.
Hitchcock didn’t include his infamous ‘Icy Blonde’ in every film but when he did he made sure they made an impact, not only on the film, but the world surrounding the film: over the years they have become the talking point when analysing Hitchcock as an auteur. They are the Bond Girls of the Hitchcock films: each as unique and different as the last. Each, with their own motive and own agenda. These aren’t your typical women.
On that note, it’s hard to compile a top ten list when it comes to Hitchcock’s ‘Icy Blondes’ as the analytical scale between each character varys too greatly to define why one is better than another. Each ‘Icy Blonde’ is an interesting and puzzling creature, with so many layers creating and developing their own personal character. Looking over Hitchcock’s film as a voyeur (a position Hitchcock loved to put his audience in), there are a few ‘Icy Blonde’s that stand out as iconic characters in movie history, who rightfully deserve there place there.
Lisa Fremont portrayed by Grace Kelly in ‘Rear Window’
Kelly still remains one of the princesses of the big screen: she was a movie gem in her day and Hitchcock knew this for sure. After working with the master auteur in his film ‘Dial M for Murder’, Hitchcock wanted the blonde beauty back to work on his latest project, ‘Rear Window’. The film is one of Hitchcock’s most famous, respectively, and has earnt it’s place in cinematic history. In the film, Grace Kelly portrays our disabled protagonists socialite girlfriend, Lisa Fremont. Grace brought grace (pun) and elegance to the role: her entrance to the film is on a par with Audrey Hepburn’s entrance in ‘Breakfast at Tiffanies’: iconic.
However, Fremont’s character actually embodies the dominant male characteristics of the time. As our protagonist, Jeff, is wheelchair-bound, he is unable to investigate the suspicious activities that are goin on in the apartment across from him. This leads the seemingly innocent and niave Fremont to investigate herself, actually breaking into the suspected murderer’s apartment across the way.
During the 50′s, the men dominated the action in the films leaving the women to play the helpless victims in need of saving. ‘Rear Window’ switched the gendered stereotypes; although Fremont is introduced as a wealthy socialite who only seems to enjoy the luxuries of life, she soon illustrates a more sophisticated core to her personality, more than the male. An edgier side shines from Grace Kelly’s Fremont making her one of the most well remembered ‘Icy Blondes’ of all time.
Madeleine Elster portrayed by Kim Novak in ‘Vertigo’
To this day, ‘Vertigo’ remains a bit of a mystery, much like it’s leading ‘Icy Blonde’ Madeleine Elster. The film, which has generated cultural recognition over the many years, is said to be a reflection of Hitchcock’s relationships with his women, in particular his actresses. The leading protagonist, Scottie, is fixated with controlling the ‘look’ and ‘appearance’ of a woman he has recently met who bears a resemblance to a woman who recently knew and fell in love with.
Madeleine is on the other end of the spectrum to Lisa Fremont: she is much darker and much more of a troubled soul. I always slightly find myself lost for words when analysing Elster’s character, as much is left to your own interpretation. Elster is believed to be haunted by a deceased woman who she is fascinated with, according to her worried husband, Gavin. The film is about fascination and fixation: Madeleine is both fascinated and fixated, possibly even haunted by the soul of a woman known as Carlotta Valdes while Scottie is facinated and fixated with creating his ideal woman in a stranger: his ideal woman, is Madeleine.
Madeleine is represented as a dragon in human form: she is often seen calm and brooding, waiting for that moment to strike when she can’t control her inner-emotions and feelings causing her to break away from the chains and illustrate her anxest and anger, leaving others, especially men, in a vulnerable state. This is what is interesting about Madeleine; her deep character. Her personality can change with the snap of her fingers.
Over time, ‘Vertigo’ has become one of Hitchcock’s most celebrated films and Madeleine Elster is surely one of his most memorable characters, thanks to Kim Novak who brings her to life on screen with such dark beauty and a haunting presence.
Eve Kendall portrayed by Eva Marie Saint in ‘North by Northwest’
Some see ‘North by Northwest’ as the first James Bond film as it incorporates all the elements that a James Bond film of the early days had. Although I don’t fully agree, I can completely understand why. Part of this comparison boils down to the character of Eve Kendall, who, on screen, is represented as Hitchcock’s version of a Bond Girl, in an ‘Icy Blonde’ form.
What strikes me with Kendall is how close she is too Ian Fleming’s own Bond Girls in his written novels. It’s as if Hitchcock wanted to get there first on showing the world what a real Bond Girl would look like on screen along with how they should be illustrated in terms of character loyalty: as we know, not all our Bond Girls are so loyal. Kendall isn’t always a loyal ‘Icy Blonde’: her loyalties often switch between our protagonist and our antagonist, until we understand the real plot twist.
Eve Kendall was a sophisticated woman of her time: like Grace Kelly in ‘Rear Window’, she doesn’t always need a man for protection. She is just as smart as she is beautiful, but a word to describe Kendall is ‘devious’. Until the end of the film we don’t know the real Eve; this is something common in Hitchcock films. Hitchcock positions us as voyeurs: we’re not supposed to know too much.
Marion Crane portrayed by Janet Leigh in ‘Psycho’
Probably the most iconic of all ‘Icy Blondes’, Marion Crane is a dangerous woman. Unusual for any film, not just Hitchcock’s, Crane meets her demise halfway through the movie: something that left many film-fans baffled at the time and still has the same effect on us today. From first seeing Marion, audiences knew something wasn’t right, but we were still stunned when she robbed her work and intended to start a new life of luxury with forty-thousand dollars.
Leigh captured that ‘woman-on-the-edge’ persona: a woman who seemed to have it all, but all wasn’t enough. She had a good job, was surrounded by friendly people and was most of all liked and trusted. ‘Icy Blondes’ can never be trusted: they are too devious and manipulating, hence their over-shadowing mystery. Marion was agenda driven: she knew what she wanted and she intended to see her plan through only before realising what she’d done would gloom her life forever.
In comparison to the Fleming Bond Girl characterisation, Marion embodied the doomed-Bond Girl role: a woman who would meet her maker after putting herself and the protagonist in danger. Stealing the money from her employer put her in danger, Marion just didn’t realise how close danger was when she pulled up at Bates’ Motel to stay the night. Marion is not only a complex character, but an icon on screen: her death infamous death scene is one of the most remembered and one of the most haunting of it’s generation.
These four ‘Icy Blondes’ were iconic of there time and represented a new woman: the Hitchcock woman, one that we will not fully understand even to this day. Many theorists may come and go and try and make solid interpretations of the characters but I don’t think even Hitchcock could tell you the facts about these women. They’re too secretive for even the auteur to understand fully.
If this list was to carry on, other famous names would appear: Tippi Hedren started her career by working as Hitchcock’s leading ‘Icy Blonde’in the sinister-thriller ‘The Birds’ and collaborated with him once again playing the title character of ‘Marnie’ alongside Sean Connery. Hedren’s career came with thanks to Hitchcock who put her in the spotlight but after Hitchcock illustrated ways of his former controlling protagonist Scottie in ‘Vertigo’, Hedren realised the famous auteur was fixated with her in an uncomfortable and uneasy sense.
Grace Kelly also starred in ‘To Catch a Thief’ where she played ‘Icy Blonde’ Frances Stevens: yet another independent and smart woman of her time. Carole Lombard starred as Ann Smith in ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’: a woman who was determined to show her resilience to a man illustrating the fact that she can stand on her own two feet. The list is endless and it makes us question, could Hitchcock himself be seen as a genre?
The question is there and the facts are on screen: one thing for sure is, the Hitchcock ‘Icy Blondes’ were femme fatales of their generation, and it was as interesting watching them on screen over the years as it is analysing their complex characteristics now.
Vogue exclusive video: Phoebe Tonkin for Ellery
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Greg Yaitanes On Banshee’s Startup-inspired Production Strategy
By: Susan Karlin
Emmy-winning director/producer Greg Yaitanes used repurposed strategies from tech startups on the Cinemax show, Banshee, a testing ground for a new kind of production efficiency that enhances creativity.
An early investor in Twitter, Foursquare, Square, and Pinterest, Yaitanes utilized technology, managerial ideas from Silicon Valley, and his own out-of-the-box thinking to cut costs while enhancing staff creativity. The strategy brought his adrenaline-fueled pilot--which airs Jan. 11--under budget by a reported 7% and picked up an additional episode’s worth of savings throughout the season, which he put back into the stunt and art departments for more powerful visuals.
“The biggest challenge, as a manager, was planning the product, the show, and infrastructure to achieve the product--the stages, sets, location, and cast--at the same time,” he says. “When I did House, I came into an existing ship that was fiscally struggling. I could manage and get the show on track. With Banshee, the set of challenges were completely different. Banshee required my being managerial and creative at the same time from the ground up. Those sides were always fighting each other. I had to learn to achieve creativity within certain limitations.”
Chomping at the bit
Yaitanes, who’d spent House’s final two seasons as an executive producer, had tired of network TV’s tight production schedule (“I felt like I was making stuff to fit between commercials”) and actively pursued Banshee as his first showrunning gig. The action drama chronicles an ex-con named Lucas Hood, played by Anthony Starr, who assumes the identity of a deceased sheriff of corrupt Banshee, PA to engage his own brand of justice.“I wouldn’t say lobbying so much as stalking,” laughs Yaitanes. “I’d heard a year earlier that Alan Ball was cooking up a new show. I was tracking the project, periodically sniffing around, until it finally came time to meet.”
Taking his cue from the Silicon Valley design prototype, Yaitanes put together a pitch video, a montage of movie scenes that effected the tone he envisioned for the series, which was created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler. “For the first time, it gave people a look at what the show could feel like,” he says.
“Alan gives people great room to do their best work,” he adds. “We had an immediate understanding of each other’s creativity. I felt I could create something that furthered his own brand of heightened dramas, but in a new style.”
The pitch video was the first of many ideas from the technology sector he would borrow in overseeing Banshee, which shot over seven months in North Carolina last year.
Lean and mean
In terms of cost, Yaitanes treated the production like a startup. He cut down on paper, DVD, travel, and shipping costs using such technology as Google Maps Street View to location scout, Cast It Talent to view actor demo reels, (which Yaitanes helped develop) to replace script binders, Scenechronize to create scenes and distribute scripts, Pix System for production collaboration, iChat and Skype for meetings, and prosumer Canon cameras to shoot. He found new editors and camera operators through YouTube, Vimeo, and Twitter. For the title sequence, Yaitanes returned to his roots--tapping Tin Punch Media, a new production studio cofounded by his brother, Jason, and Twitter cofounder Biz Stone.He found a no-frills studio in Charlotte, NC, which offered tax credits and lower union rates. “The least technological thing I took from the tech world was to find a creative space quickly,” he says. “In startups, you set up in your parents’ house, garage, or apartment, and keep an openness to that office space. I didn’t look for a traditional soundstage--more like a warehouse we converted into sets and offices. The open floor plan enabled me to walk through the different departments on the way to the stage. It kept me in touch with the different facets of the product that way.”
He scheduled shooting days smarter--cutting overtime by wrapping actors and crew as they finished, instead of keeping them around for the entire day. And he asked each department to shave small non-essentials from their budgets. “Back in the '80s, American Airlines took one olive out of their inflight meals, and saved $40,000. I charged everyone with finding their "olive"--the one thing in their department that could reduce savings.” The result bought the production seven additional shooting days.
Non-linear thinking
In order to have more time to prepare for the season, Yaitanes pushed for a 10-episode order up front, and began shooting once the 10 scripts were finished.Episodic TV traditionally shoots in sequence, with as little as a week between episodes. “Because I had all the scripts, I thought, 'Why should I go in order?'" says Yaitanes. “You want the first thing people see--the pilot--to be as good an experience as you could possibly get. So I shot episode four first--which I chose because it had a lot of the same elements as the pilot. That enabled me to work out the growing pains, the chemistry, defining character, in the fourth episode. The first episode was the fifth episode filmed. By then, everyone knew their character, so there was no preciousness about it. They were so relaxed by time they shot it. There’s a slight difference in episodes three to five, but by then the audience is in and more willing to forgive them.”
Storytelling beyond the show
“The story of Banshee is a 20-year story,” says Yaitanes. “We pick up after Lucas’ release from jail, but he had a whole life in prison and before. I was interested in the story behind the show.”
The online stories were resourcefully figured into the production budget and schedule. “I can’t stand to see waste,” says Yaintanes. “No matter how well we schedule a season, there are unused pockets of time. Why should the cast and crew be idle when we can use them in that time to create something that could go towards a richer experience? We used that time without taxing the budget to create the short online films about character backstories that tied into the comic books. We want it to feel like a treasure hunt.”
Even the title sequence drops clues about characters. The 75-second opening reveals a table top of photos with images that reflect their character’s inner psychology. The photos change every week. A component of the WelcometoBanshee.com site, called The Vault, will launch during the season and update episodically. The Vault is "unlocked" with the code combination seen in the show’s opening titles. Utilizing interactive video technology, The Vault will host all 10 versions of the evolving narrative title sequences, with creator commentary, to enable viewers to uncover their hidden symbolic meaning.
Share the power
One of the more unusual aspects was the salon-like setting Yaitanes created on-set, which he began cultivating at the hiring stage. He used the pitch video to communicate his vision and attract like-minded crew members. It paid off in unexpected ways. Costume designer Patia Prouty came up with an idea for a fashion-forward photo shoot with the female cast members. Professional photographer friends would use set visits as muses for cast portraits and time-lapsed videos that Cinemax then embraced as marketing vehicles.
He made sure his directors could shepherd their episodes through the entire production process. Yaitanes, who directed three of the 10 episodes, found three other directors from the U.S. and Europe with indie filmmaking sensibilities, and ensured their input through post-production. “The more of themselves they brought, the more ownership they felt they had in the episodes,” he says. “I wanted to create an environment where they did not feel like they were punching the clock. I wanted filmmakers to share ideas, take the ball further down field and, in turn, influence me.”
In terms of storytelling platforms and streamlined production, “I’m hoping that Banshee is a game changer--taking TV further down the field,” says Yaitanes. “That would be an accomplishment I’d be very proud of.”
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You have read this article Ashley Benson /
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