Category: Actors (Page 162 of 343)

A chat with Dileep Rao of “Avatar” and “Drag Me to Hell”

June 4, 2009 /

Boss got you down? Think your career’s going nowhere? Keep your chin up, bub, and comfort yourself with the inspirational tale of actor Dileep Rao, who has gone from struggling actor/former “Jeopardy!” contestant to the Cannes red carpet. He may not be a household name, but with appearances in two of 2009’s most anticipated movies (“Drag Me to Hell” and James Cameron’s “Avatar,” to be specific), his face will be far more familiar to filmgoers by the time the year is out. And who should have a personal acquaintance with Rao but Bullz-Eye’s own Will Harris?

In his latest Bullz-Eye interview, Will sat down with Dileep Rao for a chat about his past, including that stint on “Jeopardy!” (“Damn you, Will!”) to more topical stuff, like the odds of him revealing anything — anything at all — about “Avatar”:

“(James Cameron) would send solid gold robots to kill me. I don’t think I can divulge much more than that, yes, that’s the name of the movie, he directed it, and I’m in it. That’s about all I can say. there’s an embargo like it’s the nuclear draft for what we do at Def-Con 4.”

On the subject of his work in Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me to Hell,” which landed in theaters last Friday, Rao was understandably more forthcoming, opening up about the ways he prepared for his role as Rham Jas (“He has some core belief that the world is larger than the world we know, and that character started for me there…”) and his feelings about horror films in general:

“You shouldn’t come out of a horror movie feeling bad about yourself. You should come out feeling physiologically exhilarating by the hijinks and thrilled by it. If the story is strong and it kind of catches you, you go for the ride and you come out feeling that sense of, ‘They really goosed me, and I feel the adrenaline, and I’m excited to go talk about this movie over a burger,’ then it’s done its job.”

To read the rest of Will’s interview with Dileep Rao, click here!

Actors, Interviews, Movies

A Time for Quick Hits….

June 3, 2009 /

Things have been a bit crazy at Casa Westal, what with this new regular blog gig and attendant mishegas and other projects, plus this afternoon the kind folks at AT&T let my household Internet go bye-bye. (I’m writing this at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf nearest me, because the other guys’ “free” Internet deal sucks beyond all words, even if they’re egg sandwiches are good and I actually like very darkly roasted coffee.)

Nevertheless, there is stuff to tell you.

* I’ve been remiss in failing to mention that Sunday’s Bruno/Slim Shady rectal contretemps has been confirmed as a staged event, via the wondrous and personally very cool Anne Thompson. However, Sacha Baron Cohen has at least on potential serious problem — a lawsuit that is a lot more serious than the “Borat made me look stupid and racist, possibly because I really am stupid and racist” actions that were brought against him before. This time a woman alleges that Baron Cohen’s crew attacked her to get a reaction for the film and that she is disabled as a result. If true, I have to wonder why criminal charges weren’t filed, and as Matthew Belloni comments, the timing (just prior to the release of the “Bruno” movie) is worth noting.

* THR and Variety both have reviews of “Land of the Lost.” Neither cares for it. As for the original series, Variety‘s Brian Lowry refers to it as “campy” and Kirk Honeycutt refers to the show as being “fondly remembered (in some quarters).” Those quarters would belong to our own Ross Ruediger. Read on….

* And one more item from Anne Thompson. Something calling itself the Ultimate Movie Site is in beta. At first blush, I’m not feeling it. It’s definitely ambitious, but also strikes me as a little confusing and unfocused in its lay-out and in precisely what it’s trying to do. And, if something calling itself that doesn’t work for this mega-movie geek, will it work for others? Besides, I thought this was the ultimate movie site….

Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Gossip Girl, Humor, Movie Comedies, Movies, News

Gekko’s Pals, Pooh, and Cozzalio, Too

June 2, 2009 /

* Nikki Finke has some big casting news, and perhaps bit of minor spoilage, on Oliver Stone’s real-world news inspired sequel to his long ago hit, “Wall Street.” It seems that Shia LaBeouf and Javier Bardem will be helping Michael Douglas — as an ex-con Gordan Gekko — illustrate the updated fiscal morality play. No mention if Charlie and Martin Sheen are going to scream at each other in an elevator again. (The great Sheen family act-off of ’87, I calls it.) As usual with Finke’s posts, avoid the comments if you don’t feeling like saying “meow” under your breath every two seconds.

* Good news for fans of 2-D animation, and parents and kids, over at Disney. Per the Hollywood Reporter, a traditional style animated edition to the “Winnie the Pooh” franchise is in the works. Aside from the fact that a CGI Pooh would be an atrocity, this is good news because 2-D animation is simply more appropriate for some projects than others – especially considering that only Pixar seems to have the knack for computer animating humans at this point.

* Around the cinephile blogs…Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule’s Dennis Cozzalio, who likes his horror at least as much as he likes his spaghetti western baseball, talks about “Drag Me to Hell” at length — and not only about his swell drive-in movie soiree last week — including some intriguing thoughts about that PG-13 rating (and an ensuing colloquy in comments, featuring…me).

Actors, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News

SAG & Swift & Stuff

June 1, 2009 /

Steve Benen, who is the main guy at the terrific political blog of the liberal Washington Monthly, frequently posts what he calls “mini-reports,” and as someone who desperately needs an efficient verbal containment device that will discourage me from running off at the keyboard, I’m borrowing his format. You can’t copyright asterisks, can you?
Tom Hanks
* Fortunately for readers, my eyes glaze over just as quickly as yours do when you the subject is proposed union contracts. Nevertheless, the ongoing Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) vote is important stuff and I can’t completely ignore it, even if I’m utterly unsure how I’d vote if I were in the union. Furthermore, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what happened to the current president of the union, Alan Rosenberg, who I gather has been stripped of his authority by the “new majority” who favor a proposed new contract. I could go on, but I’m already experiencing a minor case of mind melt, so here are the dueling videos: For “Yes” — Tom Hanks. For “No”: a bunch of talented but far less famous folks, including Tom’s good friend Ron’s dad. And a very long, but kind of interesting comment by Justine Bateman. More of this to come, I suspect.

* Ever heard of Tom Swift? I barely have myself, but I gather he was the hero of a series of pre-“Hardy Boys” type adventures with a touch of Jules Verne about a boy inventor. With bigwigs rummaging through such relics of a more polite time in popular culture as “Tintin,” it makes sense that Hollywood (director Barry Sonnenfeld, of “Men in Black” fame, included) is taking an interest.

* Box Office Mojo has some revisions. “Terminator Salvation” beat “Drag Me to Hell” after all.

* THR likes “The Hangover”, and I could go for a Bloody Mary right about now, myself.

Actors, Actresses, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

The MTV Movie Awards…Bringing People Together

June 1, 2009 /

So, just to explain myself real briefly, for the time being you’re going to see the tiny little letters of my name a lot more often ’round these parts, as I’ll be blogging a couple of times a day, every day (or close to it), on movies and such. I’m going to try and keep things short and sweet but my record on those matters is a bit, er, mixed. It’s just very important to me that you know the whole story.

Anyhow, one interesting aspect of this gig is that I’ll be paying attention to things that before might have only gotten a cursory glance from me. Like the MTV Movie Awards.

Not surprisingly, as per Variety, “Twilight” won the most awards and “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” won stuff as well in the teeny-bopper friendly proceedings, while Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell performed a routine noting the ever increasing filmic phenomenon of movie tough guys who are so cool they refuse to look at explosions. (I haven’t seen the clip, which has already been pulled off YouTube, but that action film cliche goes back at least 13 years to “From Dusk ‘Till Dawn” and continues on into 2007’s “No Country for Old Men” and beyond I’m sure. Personally, I really would like to see Daniel Craig or Russell Crowe as a movie bomber pause to look at an explosion and go, “Wow…that’s so cool; I probably just incinerated a bunch of people, too. Sweet.”)

But none of that is the big news. That would be Sacha Baron Cohen, promoting his upcoming film starring his very, very gay character, Brüno, by doing what he always does — and his target was the rapper most frequently associated with the word “homophobia.” A video is worth a thousand words. (Via Nikki Finke.)

So, the big question is: Was the event staged and, if so, to what degree? Eminem looked genuinely surprised and angry to me and Nikki Finke’s commenters (those elusive “industry insiders” perhaps?) have theories on how some, but not all of it, might have been spontaneous. He might be an okay actor, but I don’t think his reaction, though somewhat understandable if all is as it appears, does anything for the extremely talented but seriously messed up Shady’s image, so why would he fake that? Also, if a hand-puppet could get him angry, a real Anglo-Israeli’s buttocks and barely covered private parts should really do the trick. Via MTV, Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, has already weighed in. (“I sat on Eminem’s face long before Brüno ever did.”) Any other thoughts?

Somewhat more “real” movie news coming later today.

Action Movies, Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Humor, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, TV, Video

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑