BuzzSugar

Movie Preview: Veronika Decides to Die

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:30:11 -0800

Based on the bestselling novel by Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as a young woman who tries to commit suicide, only to end up in a mental institution with a weakened heart and five days left to live.

The trailer is actually quite artful and lovely. There's little dialogue, mostly it's just beautifully sad, evocative images and music to go along with them.

The only release date information I can find is "March 2009." To check out the trailer and let me know what you think, read more.

HBO Lures Sarah Michelle Gellar Back to TV

BuzzSugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:30:56 -0700

How do you get Sarah Michelle Gellar back on TV? Apparently, you write an intriguing script for HBO - with her in mind from the start.

That's how writer Charles Randolph wooed Gellar to HBO for a pilot called The Wonderful Maladys. The half-hour show centers on three siblings living in New York who lost their parents at a young age. Gellar's character is described as having "a kind of zealous immaturity - like a drug addict with a to-do list."

Randolph also wrote The Interpreter and The Life of David Gale, and Gellar called the chance to work with him and HBO "a terrific next chapter for me." HBO is looking to shoot the pilot early next year, and if the show goes forward, Gellar would also be an executive producer.

Are you ready to see Gellar back on TV? Is this the kind of role you pictured for her?

Source

PaleyFest: More Goodies from the Buffy Reunion

BuzzSugar — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:30:08 -0700

Earlier today, I told you about some of the greatest moments from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion at the Paley Festival in Los Angeles. There were so many good moments (and a few awkward ones) that they couldn't fit in one post, so here are a few more of the highlights:

Please, everyone, do me a favor. If ever you get a chance to ask a question at a panel like this, don't make it "Could you all tell me your favorite movies and what's on your iPod?" That's how the Q&A started, and it definitely sucked some energy out of the room. The panel played along gamely (Sarah Michelle Gellar's favorite: South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut), but at some point, moderator Matt Roush interrupted to ask if we could please have a question that was actually about Buffy.
One of the most awkward moments came when a fan asked Amber Benson to explain why she'd decided to leave the show. She initially tried getting out of it with a joke ("I was having sex with Marlon Brando . . . "), then fumbled around and blamed it on scheduling and availability, and finally turned it around to say that the important thing was the Tara and Willow relationship.
Speaking of which, the only time Joss Whedon ever threatened to quit was when his bosses asked him if he could maybe not show the Tara/Willow kiss.
Also, Whedon apparently liked to take people for walks and tell them they were fired, and then say "ha, just kidding!"

Some more - including the chances of a Buffy movie or Broadway show - plus a video clip from the panel if you read more.

Emma Caulfield hd one of the night's funniest moments when she told the story of a fan asking her what she was thinking about during Anya's monologue from "The Body." She said she'd told the fan the truth - that she was really hungry and had to pee - and then realized she'd pulled an Anya, talking without thinking.
Whedon said he's spent time daydreaming about taking a Buffy musical - not "Once More, With Feeling" but a different Buffy musical story - to Broadway, but at the moment those are just dreams. When asked for a show of hands for who would join him, almost everyone on stage volunteered - except Gellar, who emphatically shook her head no.
Gellar admitted that season six, which made Buffy less kick-ass and more mopey, was hard for her because she'd always looked up to her character and wanted her to be strong. Whedon said he once said to Marti Noxon, "Buffy's been gone for too long," and they started to pull her out of the rabbit hole.
In terms of a movie someday, Whedon didn't dismiss the possibility but said the stars would all have to align for the right people to be available for the right project. That said, he said working with the cast again would be "really cool."
Random fun fact: Noxon's brother is the music supervisor of Weeds and is married to that show's creator, Jenji Kohan. Fun family!
Whedon was actually a little late to the panel because he was filming his Web musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Gellar is getting ready to start filming the indie film Veronika Decides to Die, James Marsters is filming Dragonball and is still appearing on Smallville and Torchwood, and Benson is writing a series of young-adult fantasy novels.

Here are some of the goodies in video form:

PaleyFest: The Buffy Cast Reunites!

BuzzSugar — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 06:30:14 -0700

Buffy, Tara, Spike, and Xander, together again! A large part of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer took the stage Thursday night at the PaleyFest in Los Angeles, revealing some secrets from their eight years of working on the series and taking questions from appreciative fans who often credited Buffy with shaping their whole lives.

And when I say appreciative, there really should be a capital A. This crowd of more than 800 cheered at everything - from the opening clip of one of Sarah Michelle Gellar's 1994 scenes on All My Children to the introduction of the panel's moderator. (In terms of cast members, James Marsters seemed to get the most applause, but show creator Joss Whedon was the only person to get a standing ovation.)

In attendance: Whedon, writer/producers Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt, and cast members Gellar, Marsters, Amber Benson (Tara), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Seth Green (Oz), and Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn). Both Eliza Dushku and Alyson Hannigan were listed in the program, but neither showed - bummer. But the others kept the conversation lively - especially Green, who had a one-liner for everything, for better or worse.

The night really got going with a screening of the musical episode "Once More with Feeling" (not a sing-along, sadly). The episode proved to be a perfect starting point for talking about what's made Buffy so enduring, so for the scoop (update: here's part two of my report), just read more.

Noxon introduced the episode screening by saying that, frankly, the writers had some doubts about whether Whedon could actually pull off a musical: "We were - not nervous, we just hadn't ever seen him write a song before," she explained. For his part, Whedon said he was actually more terrified to put together "Hush," the mostly silent episode.
One theme that kept coming up was the way Buffy consistently pushed the envelope, whether by shifting the formats of its episodes, killing off beloved characters, or even taking Buffy herself into a deep, dark hole during the sixth season. Gellar cited the opening shot of "The Body," which was done in one long take, as another example. "We were constantly doing things that had never been done," she said. "We were constantly doing things that challenged both the audience and ourselves.
This is probably not news to anyone who's ever been to a Buffy event, but Nicholas Brendan talks so much like Xander, it's creepy.
Gellar on the initial reaction to getting the role of Buffy: "All of my friends felt sorry for me because I'm on a midseason replacement on a network nobody had heard of, based on a movie that wasn't all that."
Marsters had a great description of what went into the writing of Buffy, saying the writers took the worst things that happened to them in high school and "put fangs on it." Whedon said he and Greenwalt used to call Gellar "Jimmy Stewart" because she picked up his baton of having to deal with tremendous pain on film.
One of the biggest bursts of applause in the entire evening was when the moderator (TV Guide's Matt Roush) mentioned that the Spike/Buffy sex scene had recently been named the steamiest TV scene of all time by his magazine. Gellar noted that the way Buffy shows up on those lists, and the way the fan community has reacted to the show over the years, means way more to her than any Emmys the show could have won.
Gellar said she had no idea until five minutes before the panel took the stage that Buffy had gotten it on with slayer Satsu in the latest comic book. Trachtenberg also had no idea what had happened to Dawn in the comic series. "If these guys were real nerds," Whedon said, "we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Click here for more, including video highlights.

Source

Buzz News Roundup, 3/14

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:30:40 -0700

Will Smith's kids Willow and Jaden will star in Amulet, a fantasy feature film their father is producing, Zap2it reports.
The creators of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are working on a comedy series for Fox set aboard a spaceship, Variety reports.
Rob Thomas isn't just penning a remake of 90210 - he's also gotten the OK to remake his own series, Cupid, for ABC, writes the Hollywood Reporter.
Sheryl Crow has told the Associated Press that she has plans to collaborate with Fleetwood Mac.
TV Guide reports that the CW has picked up a horror-themed reality show from director Sam Raimi.
Yes, it's true: Paris Hilton will use her MTV reality show to find a new BFF; details are at The Futon Critic.
ComingSoon reports that Sarah Michelle Gellar is in talks for the lead role in the indie drama Veronika Decides to Die, replacing Kate Bosworth.

Source

Two Straight-to-DVD Romances, One Long Night

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:30:43 -0800

Sometimes movies go straight to DVD and you can kind of guess why (sidenote: thank you, Molly, for watching Blonde Ambition so I don't have to!). But then there are those sweet-looking films with some big names - Alec Baldwin, Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd, Sarah Michelle Prinze - that pique my curiosity. What could be so bad about movies like Suburban Girl and I Could Never Be Your Woman that they went straight to DVD? Well, in honor of Valentine's Day, I popped in these straight-to-DVD romances to find out just that.

The Description:
"Neophyte editor Brett Eisenberg (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is paying her dues in New York's publishing world when she attracts Archie Knox (Alec Baldwin), an aging industry luminary. Soon, their romance is complicated by real-life pressures, including Archie's alcoholism and Brett's dying father."
The Good:
Some of you may recall The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, a collection of short stories by Melissa Bank that became a huge hit in 1999, and Suburban Girl is based on two of the stories in that book. They did well to maintain most of the protagonist's character (now named Brett): her wise-beyond-her-years maturity, her immense (and proud) knowledge of literature. If nothing else, it's refreshing to see a main female character in a romantic comedy (I guess this is a comedy?) who is not a bumbling fool. She's like a heroine for any bookish girl who loves Dante and leather pants all at the same time. She's not altogether humorless, either - my writer's heart melted upon hearing Brett gush, "Don't you just love alliteration?"

To find out "The Bad" and my take on the other romantic DVD, read more
The Bad:
With the exception of endearing quips like those, the dialogue is shockingly bad. For this alone, I can see why Suburban Girl was not theatrically released. Some people have also criticized the relationship between Brett and Archie, claiming Sarah Michele Gellar and Alec Baldwin have zero chemistry, though I don't share this opinion. Their relationship is supposed to feel awkward at times, seeing as Archie is nearly the same age as Brett's dad. Sure, there are moments when their interactions feel forced, and they beat the whole "stop treating me like your daughter!" thing over our heads ad nauseum. But I was more or less okay with it.
Bottom line:
I completely understand why this film went straight to DVD but it's not without its charms, and I fervently hope to see characters like Brett on the big screen someday. Also, the movie's soundtrack could make those of similarly billed "chick flicks" weep with shame. It's cute enough if you're a huge fan of these actors.

I Could Never Be Your Woman
The Description:
"Just as Rosie (Pfeiffer) strikes up a romance with a handsome younger man (Paul Rudd), her daughter Izzie (Saorise Ronan) falls in love for the first time - and Mother Nature (Tracey Ullman) can't resist the temptation to meddle."
The Good:
Pfeiffer and Rudd are surprisingly cute together - to the point where I deeply wished the movie were solely about their relationship. Instead, there are a dozen different things smushed into this one film, and it all gets muddled and (especially in the scenes featuring an ethereal-looking Tracey Ullman as "Mother Nature") super weird. There are vague strains of female empowerment and some commentary on the culture of plastic surgery and degradation of women's bodies in Hollywood, but it all gets diluted amidst the rest of the storylines. Still, on some level, I appreciate the attempt to shed light on a culture in which little girls make their Barbies ridicule each others' bodies.
The Bad:
There's a romantic story involving Pfeiffer's character as The Hot Older Woman (at 40) and Rudd's character as The Funny Younger Man (at 29). But then there's the daughter's coming-of-age stuff and her own shrieky problems with boys at school. And there's Rosie's career troubles and her struggles with self-image within Hollywood. Finally, topping off this messy pile is the smart-mouthed Mother Nature who comes around to criticize Rosie's every move. It's just perplexing, and while there are some funny lines - and Rudd is as adorable as you've ever seen him - it's not actually a fun movie.
Bottom line:
The actors are great, but they can't save this overloaded, bizarre and not especially pleasurable story.

Movie Preview: The Air I Breathe

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:30:32 -0800

This movie is intriguing for the incredible ensemble cast, although when that's the only good thing its own stars have to say about it, that's not a good sign. The Air I Breathe opens in New York and Los Angeles tonight and I wanted to get your thoughts on the preview, as I'm a little torn. There's a lot of talent piled into this flick (Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, Julie Delpy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emile Hirsch), but I'm a little confused by the trailer . . . which is maybe the point.

Apparently the plot follows several intersecting stories based on "four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love." IMDB continues, "A businessman (Whitaker) bets his life on a horse race; a gangster (Brendan Fraser) sees the future; a pop star (Gellar) falls prey to a crime boss (Garcia); a doctor (Kevin Bacon) must save the love of his life."

The New York Times reports that debut feature director Jieho Lee describes his movie this way:

"[It's] a film noir variation of The Wizard of Oz and an exploration of the theme of character as destiny."

Huh. Okay. To check out the trailer and tell me what you think, head on over to iVillage.

Photo courtesy of ThinkFilm

Recast Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Win a Prize!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:29:58 -0800

Every other Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

Sarah Michelle Gellar - er, Prinze - may be a grown-up glamorous lady in big-screen movies now, but once upon a time she was the teenage vampire ass-kicker Buffy on beloved series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you could recast that show with new actors, who could fill SMP's shoes?

What about other characters, like Xander, Willow, Giles and Spike? If you so desire, you could also recast other players who came and went, like Cordelia, Angel, Dawn and Anya, though these characters are not necessary for the recast.

Leave your entry in the comment section below, and I'll pick one winner to feature Tuesday, Jan. 22, complete with a "new" cast photo. To see a list of characters to recast and a photo of the BuzzSugar t-shirt, read more

Characters to recast:
Buffy (Sarah Michelle Prinze)
Xander (Nicholas Brendon)
Willow (Alyson Hannigan)
Giles (Anthony Head)
Spike (James Marsters)

The BuzzSugar t-shirt

Tribeca Film Festival Kicks Off

BuzzSugar — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 06:03:50 -0700

Film-lovers are freaking out today as the Tribeca Film Festival kicks off in New York. This year promises plenty to talk about, from little-known international titles to intriguing documentary fare to mainstream crowd-pleasers. There are way too many interesting-looking films screening at the festival to touch on here, but I will highlight a few that make me feel the saddest about not being there this year.

2 Days in Paris
The elegant Julie Delpy does it all for this film, as the writer, director, editor, producer and star. The "snappy, comic" story follows Marion (Delpy) who brings her American boyfriend (Adam Goldberg) on his first visit to Paris. Culture clashy mishaps ensue.

Suburban Girl
Forget Alec Baldwin's indelicate dealings with his daughter for a moment and focus on how awesome he can be to watch on screen sometimes. Adapted from The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, Suburban Girl follows Brett (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a young book editor who falls for an older man (Baldwin) with a history of being a playboy.

Several more if you read more

Hard As Nails
Unordained youth minister Justin Fatica preaches religion hard core to the MTV crowd by getting in their faces, doing physical challenges and yelling a lot in this unflinching documentary. If you'll pardon the pun, the trailer seriously scares the bejesus out of me.

Playing the Victim
The description for this Russian film is just plain intriguing: "In this black-humored Russian Hamlet by one of Moscow's top theater directors, a young slacker receives nocturnal visits from his father's ghost and literally 'plays the victim' in crime reconstruction videos."

The Third Monday in October
This documentary definitely takes the "awww..." award previously handed to films like Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom. Filmmaker Vanessa Roth follows four student council races in various middle schools across the country. Family issues, school pressures and hormones abound. To warm your heart a little, watch the trailer.

Autism: The Musical
Thankfully, this isn't a musical about autism, but rather a documentary that "follows five autistic children in Los Angeles as they write and rehearse their own full-length musical, tossing aside all stereotypes in the process."

Blue State
This lighthearted story centers around John (Breckin Meyer) who puts out an ad through "Marry-a-Canadian," an organization that pairs up Canadians with frustrated liberals looking to break free from America's political rut following the 2004 election. Chloe (Anna Paquin) answers his ad and the two embark on an adventurous road trip.

The Man From the Embassy
This film's description brings to mind the kind of tender relationship that springs up between Leon and Mathilda in The Professional: "The empty existence of a German official living in Tbilisi, Georgia, brightens when he forms a tenuous friendship with a 12-year-old girl living in one of the city's refugee camps. But corruption, violence and accusations of pedophilia taint their growing bond, echoing post-Soviet Georgia's uneasy relationship with the West."

Live!
Hopefully nobody from Fox will watch this movie and get any bright ideas: A television network takes riskily airs a reality show in which everyday people play Russian Roulette with a loaded gun on live TV.

Source