As we may have mentioned a few hundred times in the past few weeks, we loved Todd Haynes’s HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce. But we have to admit that something was missing from the last two episodes, which aired Sunday: Morgan Turner. You may not know her by name, but the 11-year-old actress dominated every scene she appeared in as Mildred’s haughty, spoiled daughter Veda — a character so vile she earned a place in our roundup of literature’s most evil children. Although Evan Rachel Wood’s portrayal of a grown-up Veda was fine, as far as we’re concerned the character belongs to Turner. That got us thinking of other instances of relatively unknown child actors stealing the show from their big-name co-stars. Ten of our favorites are after the jump.
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So, this is an odd pairing: Kirsten Dunst — the sunny, faintly bratty, baby-faced star we’ll always remember as Marie Antoinette, Torrance from Bring It On, and Claudia from Interview with the Vampire – and Lars von Trier, the director most recently known for that scene in Antichrist where Charlotte Gainsbourg… well, if you don’t know yet, we’ll spare you the Friday morning spit take. Von Trier’s latest is called Melancholia, and it bears the tag line “a beautiful movie about the end of the world.” The trailer kicks off at Dunst’s character’s elaborate wedding and foreshadows some kind of space apocalypse (our best guess from the last shot is that Earth gets butt-bumped to oblivion by a much larger planet). Melancholia looks gorgeous, thrilling, and over-the-top in equal measure, which seems about right for the follow-up to Antichrist. The all-star cast also includes Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, and Alexander Skarsgård. Tell us whether the film, which premieres next month at Cannes, is on your must-see list after the jump.
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This McG-directed Takashi Murakami collaboration (note the rainbow flowers and masked social commentary) has Kirsten Dunst donning a Harajaku schoolgirl outfit, walking the streets of the “anime Mecca” of Japan, Akihabara. It screened as part of the Tate Modern’s “Pop Life: Art In A Material World” exhibit, and features the actress singing “Turning Japanese” by ’80s band, The Vapors, a song that’s arguably about masturbation. Talk about risqué business.
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Just like in the fashion industry, we start hearing about new films about two seasons before we get to spend our hard-earned money on them. Here’s a sneak peek at the movies we’ll be talking about next year — will we be mercilessly mocking them or lining up outside the theater for our fourth viewing? Take a look at photos of Mark Wahlberg, Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Gosling, Jerry O’Connell, Vanessa from Gossip Girl, John Cusack, Ben Stiller, and George Clooney from various sets and make your predictions now.
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After attending a screening of the pleasant, but unremarkable, Cheri (which stars Michelle Pfeiffer and opens in theaters Friday), we got to thinking about why period pieces have a bad rap. Is it the language? The unfamiliar customs and landscapes? It’s definitely not the lack of nudity. (We’re looking at you, Jonathan Rhys Meyers.) So we decided to put together our own list of the best and worst period films — based on box office success and our personal preferences — to see if we can find a common thread. Join us, will ye? Read More »
