Kevin Smith won’t stop thanking god for Judd Apatow, i.e., “Damn, someone actually go successful with my formula. Maybe that helps me out.” He’s correct to an extent, but we mostly loathe Kevin Smith films and mostly adore Apatow comedies, which basically shows you how entirely different these two types of “similar” branded comedy actually are. [NYTimes/Cinematical]
Meanwhile, Smith’s doctors say he’s morbidly obese and the director says he may take a break to get himself back into shape. We hate to be a weightist, but this might be a good idea. We saw Smith talk at the Woodstock Film Festival and dude looked like he was pushing 350lbs on the scale and he was practically rocking a muumuu. Dude was immense. [L.A. Times] Lastly, Smith picks his five favorite films. And it’s a surprisingly good list that includes, “JFK,” “Do The Right Thing” and Fred Zinnemann’s “A Man For All Seasons.” Wait, where’s the films that inspired all the fart and dick jokes? Apparently, Spike Lee’s joint did that, what? [Rotten Tomatoes]
Remember that recently announced Hughes Brothers film, “The Book Of Eli,” starring Denzel Washington? The film has a villian now and it’s Gary Oldman. We hope he’s nice and psychotic, we havent’ seen Oldman play a looney in some time now and we miss it dearly. [Variety]
New pics of Robert Downey Jr. from the “Sherlock Holmes” set. Is Guy Ritchie positioning the detective to be a Dandy? [BandandUgly]
The documentary, “Meditate & Destroy” apparently merges buddishm and punk rock. Aren’t those two ideologies totally antithetical to one another? [MTV]
David Wain tell us that there’s probably not going to be a soundtrack to “Role Models.” Too bad. 🙁
“Ballast” director Lance Hammer and others talk distributing their own films and the learning curve inherent of assuming your own marketing, distribution role. [L.A. Times]
Paul Schrader’s “Adam Resurrected” is throwing its hat into the Oscar ring. Best of luck there. [THR]
We just wrote about him yesterday, music video director Marc Webb (“500 Days of Summer” with Zooey Deschanel) will write and direct “Age of Rage” for Fox Searchlight. It’s supposed to be apocalyptic and like “Children Of Men,” evidently the new bench mark for all post-apocalyptic films. [THR]