September 20th, 2012 | 1:10 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Beautiful Creatures Trailer: 10 Reasons To Get Excited For The Southern Gothic Teen Flick

Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan in Beautiful Creatures

Since, oh, about January 2010, some of us have been waiting not-so-patiently to see Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s Beautiful Creatures translated to the big screen. The story of the teen girl with magical powers, who fears that the forces of darkness will claim her when she turns 16, and the boy who’s telepathically connected to her for some mysterious reason piqued our imaginations instantly. And the Caster Chronicles’ small-town Southern setting was certainly ripe for a Hollywood adaptation. Last night, we finally got a good hard look at how this is all coming together in the movie, set to hit theaters February 2013 with a teaser trailer. If you haven’t yet been sucked into the books, the trailer alone gives us 10 good reasons to get excited for this movie:

1. Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan Wate
Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan
Broody, handsome — but not too conventionally so — and managing that Southern drawl with grace, Ehrenreich seems to be handling the male lead quite nicely here. Ethan has his world turned upside down by Lena’s arrival, and that’ll be a lot for this up-and-comer to handle over the course of the franchise.

2. Alice Englert as Lena Duchannes
Alice Englert
Lena’s got a lot more on her shoulders than the hardship of being the new girl at school. She’s a powerful Caster (a sort of witch, for the sake of simplicity), and when she turns 16, she’ll be claimed by forces of light or the forces for dark.

3. All sorts of spooky magic


Between Lena’s freaky telekinetic skills, the telepathy linking her and Ethan and the overarching mythology surrounding the Casters and the town of Gatlin, this movie has plenty to please you Harry Potter/Matilda/Possession fans.
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August 17th, 2011 | 4:00 pm by Halle Kiefer (@hallekiefer)

Kate Winslet, Other Gorgeous Women Form Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League

Whenever A-list actresses rail against plastic surgery, our first instinct is to immediately point out that they are already the most genetically-gifted human beings on the planet, with skin that looks like it could actually be made out of flower petals. That being said, we’re all about Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz and Emma Thompson forming the “British Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League.” Winslet told British paper The Telegraph the ladies made an anti-scalpel pact, vowing “I will never give in. It [cosmetic surgery] goes against my morals, the way that my parents brought me up and what I consider to be natural beauty … I am an actress, I don’t want to freeze the expressions of my face.” At least Winslet is in good company, seeing as how the League could also be called, “The 99% of the world’s population that couldn’t afford a face-life if they wanted one.”

Men In Black III actress Thompson agreed with the Contagion star’s passion, adding, “I’m not fiddling about with myself. We’re in this awful youth-driven thing now where everybody needs to look 30 at 60.” That’s not even counting the handful of 30-year-olds that are starting to look like 3,000-year-old space goblins.

August 17th, 2011 | 10:09 am by Kate Spencer (@katespencer)

Dakota Fanning And Tom Sturridge To Play Lovers In Effie

Dakota Fanning and Tom Sturridge will play lovers in the Emma Thompson-penned film Effie. The movie tells the tale of Euphemia Gray‘s (Fanning) torrid marriage to famous critic John Ruskin, to be played by Greg Wise. Ruskin refused to consummate their relationship, claiming he was grossed out by Effie’s body (er, weirdo) and she eventually falls in love and marries Ruskin’s protege, painter John Everett Millais (Sturridge). According to Deadline Hollywood, production begins October 17th, which means we’ve only got two months left until Tom shaves that dead wolf off his face! *cheers*

Extensive research (Wikipedia) reveals that this true story was massive scandal in Victorian England. Effie’s decision to annul her marriage even resulted in the Queen banning her from attending official Royal events. Harsh! But she clearly made the right decision: she and Millais went on to have eight children and she was an enormous influence on his artwork.

Knowing all this, we can’t wait to see this love triangle play out onscreen. With The King’s Speech becoming last year’s little movie that could, we have high hopes for every low budget film that comes from across the Atlantic. Effie is costing just $10 million to make, which is next to nothing in Hollywood. Sounds like a future festival darling to us — what do you think?

[Photo: GettyImages]

March 25th, 2010 | 4:15 pm by Liz Black

“Nanny McPhee” Premiere: Glam And Ham

59995729It’s not often that farm animals attend film premieres, but there was one in attendance at the Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang opening in London yesterday. Star Emma Thompson had to wrangle the animal, luckily handing it over to its trainer before it made on the carpet.

Thompson and co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal looked glamorous regardless of the fact that they were competing for attention with Porky. During filming, Gyllenhaal said of Thompson “Early on, Emma gave me a couple of notes. And she’s not directing me, she’s acting with me! If some other actor started giving me notes I would tell them to f**k off – there is not one actor I would allow that from.But they were fantastic notes – clear and totally helpful.At the premiere, Gyllenhall added “I’m her biggest fan and I know I’m not alone in thinking she is a brilliant genius. I would like to work with her on everything.” For more pictures of the stars in attendance, check out our gallery. [Photos: Getty Images]