By Drew Grant 3/04 10:01am

Vanity Unfair

The implied error page on Vanity Fair's website. (VF.COM)

Here’s the (Semi-)Biting Jessica Chastain Article that Vanity Fair Didn’t Want You to Read During Oscar Week

Zero Dark Thirty actress Jessica Chastain must have some friends over at the Graydon Carter offices. Last night, Nikki Finke was able to reproduce, word-for-word, a pulled essay from VF.com that slightly criticized the actress as an “empty vessel” (honestly, it sounds much worse out of context) and using one of her own quotes–”I’m the unknown everyone’s already sick of”–to explain why she didn’t quite work in the film Mama.

Deputy editor Bruce Handy, the article’s author, has a lot of good things to say about Ms. Chastain as well! But you would have never had known that, because VF.com pulled the article–which ran January 25, during a crucial build-up week for Oscar-baiting, with ballots going out to Academy members that day–from the site within 24 hours. Read More

By Drew Grant 2/24 6:56pm

The 85th Academy Awards

The Best Picture category isn't the only thing that bulked up.

The 85th Annual Academy Awards Live Chat, Hosted by the Dog From Family Guy

Update: Well, now we have an extra hour and a half of the red carpet! Talk amongst yourselves!

What is it about the Academy Awards? Intellectually, it’s hard to muster up that much enthusiasm about who “wore it best” (Ang Lee) or how modest Katniss will be in her acceptance speech, hopefully avoiding a First Wives’ Club reference that sounded like she was hating on Meryl Streep this time. And yet … we still feel compelled to watch. Maybe it’s because secretly, deep down, we still find it fascinating that the guy who does the voice of Stewie looks like the host of a reality game show about finding true love by having a dance-off on a stripper pole.

Or maybe it’s because we’re just suckers, who deep down believe that Beasts of the Southern Wild might still possibly have a chance against Argo or Lincoln.

Come join us, will you, on this the most magical of evenings for producers, people who are married to movie stars, and dress designers? We’ll be hosting a live chat below. Just click the big countdown button and you’re all set. Got it?

Great. Read More

By Drew Grant 2/24 10:59am

Academy Awards

9 Photos

oscar predictions

Leo and Tigers and Ben Affleck, (Arg)O My!: Who Will Be the Sorest Loser at Tonight’s Academy Awards?

Tonight is the 85th Academy Awards, and for all intents and purposes it should be a good one. Look at all those serious films, and the one movie by Quentin Tarantino! And with big snubs for Best Director for both Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, does that mean one of them will be be sweeping up the Best Picture Award as a consolation prize? And most importantly, is it too late to write in a ballot for Javier Bardem in Skyfall? Because he was great. Read More

By Drew Grant 2/12 2:26pm

Academy Awards

Video

Zach Galifianakis and not-Daniel Day-Lewis (Funny or Die)

Zach Galifianakis Continues Oscar-Baiting in Between Two Ferns Sequel (Video)

Yesterday Zach Galifianakis and Scott Aukerman began their campaign to make the comedian next year’s Academy Awards host — at least, that’s what we hoped they were doing– with a celebrity-studded edition of the Funny or Die series, Between Two Ferns. Today, they released a follow-up with Bradley Cooper (who co-stars with Galifianakis in The Hangover franchise), Jessica Chastain, Sally Field, and Emmanuel Lewis. From Lincoln, remember? Read More

By Rex Reed 11/06/12 5:29pm

theater

Tasha Lawrence and Hensley in The Whale.

Beauty and the Beast: The Heiress is a Bore, but Hensley is Monstrously Titillating in The Whale

A great play deserves more than the mediocre revival The Heiress is getting at the Walter Kerr—and it’s too bad Walter Kerr is not around with a few well-chosen words to say so. It’s a great favorite of mine, adapted by Ruth and Augustus Goetz from the novella Washington Square by Henry James, and it’s nice to see how well the story holds up, even in a dull and dismally miscast production like the one currently on view. If you want to see perfection, drop in at the Paley Center and check out the “live” 1961 CBS-TV production with Julie Harris. You won’t see anything of that quality in the lackluster and utterly predictable version here.  Read More

By Kim Velsey 7/30/12 7:41pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

Chastain is so(ho) moving to the Mews.

Jessica Chastain Moving Into Soho Mews

Soho Mews may not feature the Tree of Life, but the apartment building has a certain charm for the Hollywood set.

Actress Jessica Chastain has rented a pad at 311 West Broadway, reports the New York Post. Ms. Chastain has settled on a two-bedroom, two-bathroom spot on the third floor, according to the Post. We assume she may have had some “help” from a broker, whom the Post claims may have also helped her seal the deal on an apartment purchase. Read More