Director Tony Scott Commits Suicide By Jumping From Bridge

Very sad news. Prolific film director Tony Scott ( brother of Ridley) committed suicide yesterday by jumping from a bridge over the Los Angles Harbour. 

Witnesses are said to have seen Scott parking his car and then jumping from the bridge at around 12.30 pm local time. 

A suicide note was left by Scott but police have not released any details about it's contents as yet.

Tony Scott was responsible for a slew of high energy, action filled classics including Top Gun, Domino, Man On Fire and True Romance. Like his brother Ridley he first caught the attention of Hollywood directing eye catching commercials. The two have shared production duties on each other's films and are responsible for the highly popular TV drama The Good Wife. 

He is survived by his wife Donna Scott and their two children. 

Quirky New Missoni Ads With Pedro And Co !

Missoni has just released a new set of adverts for their Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Usually these campaigns are predictable high gloss nonsense, however, not on this occasion. Instead of stoic faced models Missoni has roped in Pedro Almodovar and his actresses Rossy de Palma and Blanca Suarez (who recently starred in the excellent Pedro film The Skin I Live In) for the campaign.

The results are actually quite good, it's a slight shock to the system to see a bit of humour/quirkiness in fashion campaigns but these pictures prove Missoni has hit the mark well. They appear similar to Dolce and Gabanna's recent campaigns featuring models in Italian domestic settings but without the Stepford Wifeish Photoshopped aesthetic.

Here are more pics from the campaign @Huffington Post.

Tilda Swinton's New Movie- We Need To Talk About Kevin- Scoops Award

Tilda Swinton's new film We Need To Talk About Kevin has scooped the coveted Best Film Award at the recent London Film Festival.

I've been looking forward to seeing this ever since the trailer hit the web a few months back and it's based upon the best selling novel of the same name.

I expect nothing less than brilliance from Ms Swinton. Her consistency in acting is unparalleled(well besides Cate Blanchett possibly) and she always picks films with dark/interesting themes.

She's dark haired for this one so you know it's serious. I hope to check it out over the weekend and will post a review as soon as I have seen it.

Family Guy Creators Feature Debut- Ted

Seth Macfarlane, the creator of Family Guy, part time singer and full time multi millionaire is to make his directorial debut in the movie feature world with Ted.

The project is described as a dark comedy about a man whose teddy bear comes to life and in typical Macfarlane style the bear is a marijuana smoking, rude, misogynistic, video game playing menace. So basically your average American college kid.

The big news is that the production has managed to get Mark Whalberg to play the lead role a character described as  “an average Boston guy, normal except for the childhood wish he made that his teddy bear could come to life — and it did. Years later, the boy is an adult, and the bear is still his best friend. But the bear, a carousing, irresponsible slacker, is getting in the way of his buddy committing to adulthood and the girl he loves.”


I have every confidence that Macfarlane will be able to pull this off, anyone who wants to doubt his directorial chops needs to check out the season 9 premiere episode of Family Guy 'And Then There Were Fewer' which is based around a murder mystery and is very competently done, with heavy references to Hitchcock pulled off well. 


The budget is set at a whopping $65 Million so Universal must also think it's a sure bet !

Natalie Portman Black Swan Controversy

The Daily Mail is reporting today that Natalie Portman's father has issues with her latest film Black Swan. The films 'graphic' lesbian sex scene with actress Mila Kunis has apparently caused the problem and he feels that by engaging in such things she is degrading herself.

Since the source is the Daily Mail I'll treat the news with the usual level of cynicism reserved for that paper however I think any parent would be uncomfortable watching their child naked on screen simulating sex.

There is a big difference between porn and art. Without having seen the film I don't yet have an informed opinion however judging from the trailers and press reviews it hardly seems like an exploitative movie but rather a probing and intelligent thriller.

At least she's willing to engage in difficult material and isn't starring in a series of forgettable romantic comedies like her peers ( hello Jennifer Anistion !).

Trailer- Nicole Kidman- Rabbit Hole

The film has been getting a lot of buzz over the net from recent reviews that have started cropping up. For a while now Nicole Kidman has had a problem being taken seriously as an actress due to her inability to properly move her face. Also audiences don't find her likeable like they used to, she comes off cold and robotic.

This looks set to change with her new film Rabbit Hole, Nicole Kidman looks to be displaying facial movement and as a result seems to actually be acting.

It looks like a real tear jerker due to the subject matter and as a Nicole Kidman fan I will be first in line to watch this, since the last film of her's I actually remember enjoying was Moulin Rouge back in 2001.

Welcome back Nicole ! Your likely Oscar Nom awaits you !

Top Gun 2 Is Actually Happening...........

I know Hollywood is really short on ideas at the minute, with all the remakes and reinventions of older franchises from the 80's that keep popping up, however, I have to ask myself, who out there is really crying out for a Top Gun sequel. Totally a product of it's time (its popular as a guilty pleasure for macho guys and ironically gay men for all the homo eroticism) but do we really need to see what Maverick and co are up to these days.

Slash Film have a full report on it along with quotes from original director Tony Scott.

God save us all.