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Tom Cruise Controls Books and Bottles With His
Mind

post from Gawker: Defamer on 04 November 2009 12:26:39 PM. © Gawker: Defamer

Tom Cruise! He is so crazy, what with the Scientology madness. It's been so long since we heard examples of his craziness. Thank god there is a new tell-all book! In which Tom Cruise controls inanimate objects, with brainwaves.

Scientology refugee Marc Headley has written a book called Blown For Good—featuring a dramatic, action-scene-type cover—detailing his 15 years of work inside Scientology. The Village Voice interviewed him about his 1990 "auditing" session performed by Days of Thunder-era Tom Cruise himself.

"You do a lot of things with a book and a bottle," Headley says. "It's known as the book-and-bottle routine." Cruise, he says, would instruct Headley to speak to a book, telling it to stand up, or to sit down, or otherwise to move somewhere.
"You do the same with the bottle. You talk to it. You do it with an ashtray too," he says. "You tell the ashtray, 'Sit in that chair.' Then you actually go over and put the ashtray on the chair. Then you tell the ashtray, 'Thank you.' Then you do the same thing with the bottle, and the book. And you do this for hours and hours."

This was supposed " to get your intention over to the bottle...to rehabilitate your ability to control things." Well then. Tom Cruise can control books and bottles with his mind and don't ever let anyone tell you different.

Headley also says that there are only about 10,000 Scientologists in the whole world. They could be whupped by the Unitarians!
[Village Voice. Pic by Richard Blakeley]

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Tom Cruise Controls Books and Bottles with His
Mind

post from Gawker: Defamer on 04 November 2009 12:26:39 PM. © Gawker: Defamer

"You do a lot of things with a book and a bottle," Headley says. "It's known as the book-and-bottle routine." Cruise, he says, would instruct Headley to speak to a book, telling it to stand up, or to sit down, or otherwise to move somewhere.
"You do the same with the bottle. You talk to it. You do it with an ashtray too," he says. "You tell the ashtray, 'Sit in that chair.' Then you actually go over and put the ashtray on the chair. Then you tell the ashtray, 'Thank you.' Then you do the same thing with the bottle, and the book. And you do this for hours and hours."

Headley also says that there are only about 10,000 Scientologists in the whole world. They could be whupped by the Unitarians!
[Village Voice. Pic by Richard Blakeley]

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mind

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DreamWorks Studios and Doubleday Acquire Rights
to Robopocalypse

post from FilmoFilia on 04 November 2009 12:16:36 PM. © FilmoFilia

DreamWorks Studios and Doubleday have acquired, in a pre-emptive deal, the rights to Daniel H. Wilson’s unpublished manuscript, “Robopocalypse,” it was announced today by Mark Sourian and Holly Bario, Co-Presidents of Production at the studio, and Jason Kaufman, Executive Editor and Vice President, at Doubleday.DreamWorks acquired the film rights from literary manager Justin Manask and [...]

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DreamWorks Studios and Doubleday Acquire Rights
to “Robopocalypse”

post from FilmoFilia on 04 November 2009 12:16:00 PM. © FilmoFilia

DreamWorks Studios and Doubleday have acquired, in a pre-emptive deal, the rights to Daniel H. Wilson’s unpublished manuscript, “Robopocalypse,” it was announced today by Mark Sourian and Holly Bario, Co-Presidents of Production at the studio, and Jason Kaufman, Executive Editor and Vice President, at Doubleday.

DreamWorks acquired the film rights from literary manager Justin Manask and is putting the project into accelerated development. Kaufman acquired world publishing rights to “Robopocalypse” from Laurie Fox at the Linda Chester Literary Agency and a tentative 2011 publication date has been set for the book.

“Robopocalypse” explores the fate of the human race following a robot uprising.

Mark Sourian said:

“Daniel H. Wilson’s cautionary tale of man versus machine grabbed us from the very beginning”

“Wilson’s background in robotics and artificial intelligence grounds his story with a frightening level of realism and he has created an exhilarating story that we think audiences will really respond to.”

“As a book editor, you’re always looking for something unique and riveting to come across the transom,” said Jason Kaufman. “‘Robopocalypse’ is one of the most exciting and original novels I’ve read in a very long time. Daniel H. Wilson is not only a brilliant robotics engineer but also an extraordinary writing talent.”

“Writing this novel is an incredible thrill, after spending years studying and thinking about robotics,” said Daniel H. Wilson. “It’s an honor to work with DreamWorks Studios to bring this vision to life, and I couldn’t have hoped for a better editor than Jason Kaufman at Doubleday. My hope is that the story we tell will make the robots of the future proud of us humans.”

Daniel H. Wilson’s previous works include the 2005 book “How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion,” which was optioned by Paramount Pictures with Michael DeLuca attached to produce. His other books include “Where’s My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived,” “How To Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Aliens, Ninjas, and Zombies,” and “The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame: Muwahahaha!“

His next book, titled “Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Smackdown,” is scheduled for release next year. “Bro-Jitsu” was optioned by Nickelodeon Movies and Wilson hired to pen the screenplay adaptation. He has a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh, PA, is a contributing editor to “Popular Mechanics,” and hosted a show on the History Channel called “The Works.”

Daniel H. Wilson’s blog: http://danielhwilson.blogspot.com

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hts-to-robopocalypse/

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The Bronx Warriors Trilogy Three-disc Collection

post from Late Mag - film on 04 November 2009 12:12:07 PM. © Late Mag - film

In December 2009, Italian director Enzo G.Castellari (director of the original "The Inglorious Bastards") and Shameless Screen Entertainment present, together for the first time ever, Castellari's complete post-apocalyptic vision on DVD in The Bronx Warriors Trilogy, an exclusive...

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-trilogy-three-disc-collection

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R.I.P, Carl Ballantine

post from Thrilling Days of Yesteryear on 04 November 2009 12:00:00 PM. © Thrilling Days of Yesteryear

From Mark Evanier comes the sobering news that actor/comedian Carl Ballantine has shuffled off this mortal coil at the age of 92. Born Meyer Kessler in Chicago on September 17, 1917, he would achieve prominence in show business circles as the inept ?The Amazing Ballantine? (also known as ?Ballantine the Great?); a magician who played it strictly for laughs. (Ballantine actually had serious intentions when he first got into the business of legerdemain, but decided to pursue a career in comedy when he realized he didn?t have what it took to compete with his peers.)

When not practicing feats of magic, Ballantine made a name for himself as an actor on some of television?s best-remembered comedy programs; among his appearances: Car 54, Where are You?, That Girl, The Monkees, Laredo, Mayberry R.F.D., I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, Alice, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo and Night Court. He also popped up in bit parts in films like Speedway (1968), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), The World's Greatest Lover (1977), The North Avenue Irregulars (1979) and Just You and Me, Kid (1979). In addition to all this, he provided voices on cartoon series like Garfield and Friends and Freakazoid!

But his television immortality has probably been cemented thanks to his role as torpedo man Lester Gruber, one of the many hucksters and swindlers who served under the command of Lt. Commander Quinton McHale (Ernest Borgnine) on the classic WW2 sitcom McHale?s Navy. The series remains popular today thanks to its rerun exposure on RTV (the Atlanta affiliate runs it at 11:30am weekdays) and Hulu, and all four seasons of the show are available on DVD from Shout! Factory. Ballantine reprised his role of Gruber in the 1964 movie version of the TV series but did not appear in the 1965 follow-up, McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force.

R.I.P, Carl. Thanks for making me laugh.

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Zemeckis Wants to Use Performance Capture in
Roger Rabbit Sequel, But Not For Roger

post from /Film on 04 November 2009 11:50:06 AM. © /Film

With the original writers of Who Framed Roger Rabbit now at work on a potential sequel, Robert Zemeckis is starting to talk, in very guarded terms, about ideas for the film. Given that he's become a massive proponent of performance capture technology, there have been questions (such as those raised by Brendon) about whether the original film's blend of drawn animation and live action actors would be augmented by new tech. That seems likely to be the case, as evidenced by current statements from Zemeckis. MTV got the director to talk very briefly about his approach to the film and the core characters. When asked if performance capture tech was part of the reason the movie was finally moving forward, he said,That's true, yeah, although I wouldn't use if for the cartoon characters, because I think they should stay two-dimensional. That's their charm. I wouldn't dimensionalize Roger. And I couldn't ...

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UPDATED: Angelina Jolie Goes Bourne in Domestic
‘Salt’ Trailer

angeline-jolie-salt

Remember back when we reported that Angelina Jolie was coming on to the project known as Salt, taking over for Tom Cruise and forcing a re-write of the script to change the title character’s name from Edwin A. Salt to Evelyn A. Salt? This is that film, and it doesn’t look half bad. Essentially, this trailer shows the film to be Jason Bourne, but with a way better body.

Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is a CIA officer who swore an oath to duty, honor, and country. When she is accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy, Salt goes on the run to clear her name and ultimately prove she is a patriot. Using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative, she must elude capture and protect her husband or the world’s most powerful forces will erase any trace of her existence.

It’s clear that this would’ve been a cool role for Tom Cruise, it would have been very much in the vein of Mission: Impossible and thus potentially run-of-the-mill. The switch to Salt being a woman, and being played by Jolie, does add a new dimension. A dimension that makes this film worth looking forward to.

Salt also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Liev Schreiber, and is directed by Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games). It hits theaters on July 23, 2010. Note: We’ve removed the Russian trailer at the request of the studio, and replaced it with the new, official domestic trailer courtesy of Yahoo Movies.

De Niro to the 7th (Oscar's Male Hierarchy)

Have you been buying the minor huzz (hype+buzz) 'Robert De Niro's 7th Oscar nomination' for the holiday film Everybody's Fine? My friend txt critic saw it last night and sent the following note by phone...

it's, well, fine. most definitely a drama (despite the trailer) and conceptually a cross between About Schmidt and Four Christmases. nice, sweet and somewhat forgettable.

might, MIGHT be a nomination for DeNiro, but i wouldn't bet on it.

I dunno. I wasn't betting on it either but Best Actor sure seems vacant this year with only Colin Firth (A Single Man) and George Clooney (Up in the Air) catching any sort of real fire. As I've been saying for months, Fox Searchlight shouldn't have even hesitated to position Crazy Heart for a 2009 release. Jeff Bridges would have a clear shot at the career trophy given the field (if -- and it's always a big if since distributors routinely call upcoming performances "the performance of a lifetime" -- the star turn is as good as they say). I'm glad to hear that release is still a possibility... though the hour is getting late. Why must everyone wait until December? Good smaller movies routinely get crushed when they're released at the same time, the heavyweight big budget contenders sucking the air out of the room as they do.

Aside from Firth and Clooney, the rest of the men are all still assumed rather than proven contenders. Anything might happen in that category.

Incidentally, if De Niro miraculously manages a seventh nod this year, it doesn't disrupt Oscar's actor hierarchy so much, it just switches who De Niro is tied with. The 22 Most-Favored list currently goes like so [please note: this is for competitive acting statistics only... some actors moonlight as producers, writers, directors, what have you]

Jack Nicholson (12 noms, 3 wins)
Laurence Olivier (10 noms, 1 win)
Spencer Tracy (9 noms, 2 wins)
Paul Newman (9 noms, 1 win)
(tie) Marlon Brando and Jack Lemmon (8 noms, 2 wins)
Al Pacino (8 noms, 1 win)
Peter O'Toole (8 noms, zero wins)
Dustin Hoffman (7 noms, 2 wins)
Richard Burton (7 noms, zero wins)
(tie) Robert De Niro and Michael Caine (6 noms, 2 wins)
(tie) Robert Duvall and Paul Muni* (6 noms, 1 win)
(6 way tie) Tom Hanks, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington and Sean Penn (all of them with 5 noms, 2 wins)
(tie) James Stewart and Gregory Peck (5 noms, 1 win)

There are three obvious living threats to this list that come to mind: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio (3 noms, massive stardom, gainfully employed well into the next decade) and Morgan Freeman (4 noms, 1 win and still working regularly at 72 years of age). But cross your fingers that Jeff Bridges and Albert Finney (with 4 and 5 noms respectively) get another shot at the competitive gold soon.

*depending on how you count those "unofficial" deals in the early years. If I made any mistakes in the chart -- i'm only human -- I assume you'll let me know in the comments.

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Cinecast Episode 142 Aging Oddly

Episode 142:With the strange release dates in different cities this time of year it’s[...]

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http://www.rowthree.com/2009/11/04/cinecast-episode-142-aging-oddly/

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