Julian Schnabel on the Controversial Miral and His Empathy for Steven Soderbergh (New York Magazine) / TONIGHT - Julian Schnabel on Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose)

Julian Schnabel is no stranger to being the subject of intense debate and discussion in his primary career as a painter, but now he's feeling that heat in his side gig as a filmmaker. With two rapturously reviewed movies included in his sparse filmography (2000's Javier Bardem drama Before Night Falls and 2007's Oscar-nominated The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Schnabel decided to mount a big-screen adaptation of Rula Jebreal's novel MIRAL, but the response to it has been divisive: Festival audiences gave the movie mixed reviews in the fall (it's now being released in a shorter, leaner cut), and some Jewish organizations are protesting the film for its sympathetic take on conflict in Israel through the eyes of a Palestinian woman. Vulture sat down with Schnabel this week to discuss how he feels about the controversy and his reluctance to making movies.

An interesting and quick interview with Julian Schnabel that certainly makes me want to see his new film Miral.

On a related note, Schnabel will be on Charlie Rose tonight. If you can't watch it tonight, you can watch it online here tomorrow.

Read the full article here.

Is It Too Late for Matthew McConaughey to Be Taken Seriously? (New York Magazine)

Hailed as the second coming of Paul Newman with his breakout role as an earnest lawyer in A Time to Kill, it didn't take long for McConaughey to undermine that totally by presenting himself as an unserious, frequently shirtless ladies' man (both onscreen and off). This weekend, he'll try to recapture that initial promise as a shady attorney in The Lincoln Lawyer, but is it too late for McConaughey to reestablish himself as a real actor? To find out, we spoke to industry insiders to answer the question: If Matthew McConaughey were a stock, would you buy, sell, or hold? ...

When McConaughey was arrested in 1999 for playing bongos in the nude while stoned, it was jarring, since he'd just come off of serious films like Amistad and Contact. If he was busted for the same today, however, no one would bat an eye. It's a sign of just how much McConaughey has transformed himself in the public eye over the last decade — and maybe even an encouraging sign that it's always possible to change back, if he wants to.

I agree, though I would have advised him to take baby steps. Instead, he's playing a "an AIDS-afflicted medicine smuggler" in his next film, "The Dallas Buyer's Club." Not sure I'm ready to line up for that one, but I do know I haven't seen my last McConaughey film. "The Lincoln Lawyer" anyone?

Read the full article here.

And in a related post:
A Movieline Investigation: Is Matthew McConaughey Really Shirtless in Every Movie? Get the answer to that age-old question here.

Ron Meyer May Be Sunk at Universal: Was a Roster of Board-Game Movies His Final Mistake? (NY Mag)

"Except for Transformers and G.I. Joe, there is no mythology [in a Hasbro product]," sneers one producer who has worked with the toy company, adding, "What's the point of a Ouija board film or fucking Candy Land, except creative bankruptcy?"

I'm not sure anyone has ever used the F-bomb and "Candy Land" in the same sentence, but somehow it makes this quote that much more eloquent, no?

Read the full article here.

UPDATED | Piranha 3D Director Alexandre Aja on Putting 80,000 Gallons of Blood to Good Use (New York Magazine)

It may be the most blood ever used, and it is violent and graphic somehow, but it’s never, I hope, disgusting or over-the-top. I didn’t make this movie to use that much blood. Because 20,000 kids getting attacked at spring break is a lot of blood in the water. I just respect the medical rules: one gallon equals one person.

I love that last sentence - one gallon for each person. It just cracks me up. And as an unabashed fan of the ridiculous SyFy movies, this one is definitely on my list to see. I think some good, campy fun is the perfect way to end the summer. I'm not sure how it happened, but somewhere along the way, we started to take our tentpoles a little too seriously, don't you think?
Read the full New York Magazine article here.

UPDATE: The LA Times has a similar article about PIRANHA 3D that I'd thought I'd throw up here as well. Read the full article here.

What Is the Ultrafamous Gossip-Mag Staple Angelina Jolie’s Valuation in Hollywood? (New York Magazine)

"She's a real woman, almost from the golden age of Hollywood," says one top producer. "It's like the difference between Tobey Maguire and Daniel Craig; one's a boy, the other's a man. She's a woman; most of the other actresses who do action movies these days are girls."?

I'm an Angelina fan. I know there are lots of folks out there who aren't, but I am. I think the article hits the nail on the head when it says her small arty movies aren't as well received as her big action flicks, but I'm fairly sure that could be said about almost every actor alive.
Read the full article here.

Don’t Give Up on M. Night Shyamalan (New York Magazine)

All that is tepid compared to the hate expressed in comment threads and message boards. Some never liked the guy in the first place, while others feel betrayed. Either way, no filmmaker nowadays — not Michael Bay, not Brett Ratner, not Joel Schumacher, not even Uwe-freaking-Boll — seems to prompt this kind of visceral, personal loathing. Which is a shame, because Shyamalan was once a rare talent — a director who could make serious, somber, and suspenseful dramas about grief that spoke to mass audiences.

An interesting counterview to the current negative feelings about M. Night. I don't have a particularly strong opinion of him, I agree with the writer that it would be nice for the director to get his mojo back and make a good film. Setting aside all the "I see dead people" jokes, you have to admit "The Sixth Sense" was a kick-ass flick. (On a personal note, I do disagree with the author on one point - Ratner makes me want to puke infinitely more than Shyamalan does.)
Read the full article here.

TV’s New Summer Dramas Are Struggling, But They Still May Be the Networks’ Best Option (New York Magazine)

However, as awful as these [network] numbers might seem, they're in line with the ratings of most mid-level scripted cable summer shows, like Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva and TNT's Leverage. More important, most are actually doing better than the ratings Fox and ABC generated last summer with repeats. "Even at a 1.1 [in the key demo of 18-49], The Gates is doing better than the 0.6 we did last year in the time slot with a repeat," notes ABC scheduling chief Jeff Bader.

The summer TV season includes many of my favorite shows, but what networks don't seem to understand is that the reason they're successful on the cable networks is because they're actually good shows, not just cast-offs made on the cheap. Will anyone in this town ever get that it's about quality content?!
Read the full article here.

What Is Professional Provocateur Megan Fox’s Valuation in Hollywood? (New York Magazine)

While Fox’s visibility is far above the average young female actress, it is very low ranked when it comes to castability. One need only look at her replacement for TRANSFORMERS 3 to get a sense of how she’s viewed: Before getting the role, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's most notable acting role was as "Woman in Underpants" in Michael Bay's own Victoria's Secret commercial.

An interesting dissection of Megan Fox's B.O. worth. I'm fairly ambivalent regarding Megan Fox, but I do wonder if she's really the one who made the bed she's sleeping in these days.
Read the full article here.