Surfings on New Year's Eve ... Ewan McGregor, Robert Downey Jr. and the sexiest folks on the planet

An hour to spare on New Year's Eve is a good thing, so what do I do? Surf. Well, put the feet up, have a cup of coffee, and surf. And you'd be surprised what's sizzling...

Ewan McGregor: death threats on the set of his latest movie (!) and at last -- at long last -- I Love You, Philip Morris is getting an airing, starting at Christmas.

What's this about death threats against Ewan --? Seems a looney toon -- an American actor living in Thailand, playing extra parts -- would dearly like to put a knife into Ewan. But at least up till Christmas Eve he just wrote the desire into poems ... and was caught in Ewan's trailer, writing said iffy literature! Here's the rest of the story -- and it's bizarre, in a subtle kind of way. So off-key and under-played, you gotta remember the dialog given to Johnny Depp in his new one, when he's trying to convince the police of the importance of an attempted murder as opposed to, say, room service. Indulge yourself in a shiver.

Meanwhile, looks like the forgotten Phillip Morris gay romance is on the big screen at last and, surprise, surprise, it's getting good reviews. It opened right before Christmas, at last in some parts of the US, and here's the review from the Idaho Statesman. Better late than never ... and remember the old adage, "Success is the sweetest revenge."

Here's a really neat interview with Ewan ... you have to love the line, "You want coffee with that, Obiwan?"

Well, actually ... yes, ta.

So ... who's the sexiest human alive on the planet? I guess you'd have to allow for a he and a she in that category -- certainly Fandango.com did, and they came up with some very, very interesting results. Get this:

Guys voted Natalie Portman (currently pregnant) the sexiest lass on Earth this year ...

Gals voted Penelope Cruz the sexiest woman in the World. Which is a chalk mark for older women, because Cruz is 37. Oh yes, and also pregnant.

And meanwhile...

Guys voted Johnny Depp the sexiest man alive -- in praise of older fellas, yes? He's 47, and I was just saying the other day, he's delicious. But who did women vote for?

Gals also voted for Johnny Depp, with Robert Downey Jr., who's a debonair 45, behind him --




No Brad and Ange? No Orlie and, uh, so on? Nope. And no young-young folks. The youngest of the lot, here, is Natalie, who'll be 30 in six months.

Interesting that the consensus point, where both genders agreed, was Johnny. And the girls' choice of Robert Downey Jr. should be quite encouraging to guys who've actually learned to shave recently. Interestingly, Downey says he feels his age, and the limitations of it. Don't we all!


Now, that's worth writing home about. Or at least worth writing a blog post about, while I watch the countdown to the fireworks.

And you have to admit, this is nice:







Jack Sparrow at his tipsy best. The movie is going to be loads of fun. And for now --

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ewan McGregor talks about playing gay

With the indie I LOVE YOU PHILIP MORRIS languishing -- tough to find a distributor for such an out-n-out gay movie -- it's good to hear Ewan McGregor talk openly about playing gay characters. Which he does quite often, and enjoys doing...


This feature appeared online in OUT a few months ago ... and as you probably know, I've been working so hard, so long, I haven't had the chance to post much. So ... belatedly ... here's Ewan: Filthy and Gorgeous -- Ewan McGregor comes clean.

Makes interesting reading, well worth the click other there, trust me! Ewan McGregor has become quite the gay icon in the last decade and a half or so. Which is pretty good going for a straight guy --! Here's a very small quote which, for me, says it all:

“I’m always interested in playing different people, in different situations,” he says, sitting bolt upright, suddenly serious and eyeing the Pacific Ocean stretching below us. “It doesn’t matter to me whether someone is in love with a man or a woman. I find the idea of love and romance interesting. I’m a sucker for it. I like playing someone who’s falling in love because I like the sensation of it.” He pauses to give Syd [his dog] an affectionate pat. “People do extraordinary things when they’re falling in love.” http://out.com/detail.asp?id=26508

Ewan McGregor ... headed for another indie!

This, just in from The Hollywood Reporter:
BERLIN -- Ewan McGregor and Carey Mulligan are in talks to headline "The Electric Slide," based on the true story of Los Angeles-based furniture salesman turned bank robber named Eddie Dodson. McGregor is in talks to play Dodson, while Mulligan, a Shooting Star at the Berlinale and also the talk of Sundance after her turn in "An Education," is being touted as his girlfriend.Tristan Patterson, who wrote the script based on Timothy Ford's Gear magazine article "The Yankee Bandit: The Life and Times of Eddie Dodson, World's Great Bank Robber," will make his directing debut.L.A. indie production and finance banner Myriad Pictures is putting the financing together for the project and is preselling to buyers and backers in Berlin.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/world/news/e3i265790c0e524ea2b69d994a126ecbffd

Indie movies look like dancing rings around Hollywood right now, don't they? For a start, you can make movies that Hollywood's big studios wouldn't have a bar of; and you can get them done a whole lot faster. If not for indie films, movies like Brokeback Mountain and I Love You, Philip Morris, would probably never have happened.

(Incidentally, re: Philip Morris, the DVD cut is planned to be a good deal, uh, more sizzling than the cinematic version. Okay. Right. Did they say when?!)

Anyway, here's Ewan without the lightsaber ... or the kilt ... but if you have a fancy for the leather jacket and the long hair, you'll just have to put up with the motorbike!

Ewan and Jim: an aesthetic dither?!

The trick is to blog a bit before it gets too hot. We're still in the middle of the Record Breaking Adelaide Heatwave as I write this, and I confess, my brain is melted down (past tense) so I'm going to have mercy on myself and make it easy today. Like this:

-- which, being totally evil and beyond redemption, I'm going to partner up with these movie reviews of I Love You, Philip Morris:

The Hollywood Reporter: "Like Carrey's character, the story and style are all over the place, rendering it somewhat inaccessible. Admittedly, the whole film is in a bit of an aesthetic dither that will confound many viewers. Still, filmmakers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have concocted a frothy and misty amusement."

Defamer: "Let's get this out of the way: Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor make just about the cutest, most gaga-in-love couple we'll likely see in any movie at Sundance. No, the camera does not cut away from their passionate kisses or acts of fellative love; dare we say Morris contains some of the most sensitive images of bitch-on-inmate affection that have ever been captured on film."

Variety: "The 100 minutes is one of the most unusual mixtures of the fest -- moments of Carrey's branded hilarity opposite brutal prison culture and graphic gay sex. Requa said they'll put some even hotter cut scenes on the DVD extras."

Said Jim Carrey, on the subject of Kissing Ewan McGregor: "Ewan was a bit prickly. I think we have some great sexual chemistry on screen. I think there is definitely a lot of smouldering,'yum, yum, eat-him-up' vibe." And elsewhere, "A dream come true. I mean, look at the guy."

We looked, Jim, we looked. Oh, yeah.


(Special note to Mel Keegan: on your blog, you were wondering where I find all this stuff. Well, this one -- above -- I found on YOUR BLOG. Honest, I don't make any of this up! Although at times you could be forgiven for wondering ... and drooling while you wonder...)

We love you, too, Phillip Morris

Let's be topical ... since the movie just premiered in Sundance! Yes: I love You, Phillip Morris, with Ewan McGregor and Jim Carrey. Here's the trailer, and some assorted goodies:



The trailer doesn't show too much of Ewan, so let's run the clip too:



Woah. Cool. I wonder if this movie will play at the theaters in Australia?!