Drag Me In The Dirt, Garrett Hedlund

.

I don't know what is going on with the release of the Aussie romance Dirt Music, starring Kelly Macdonald and Garrett Hedlund (notably neither Aussies!) -- I posted a hot picture from it last June when I first heard about it and it premiered at Toronto in September and then I haven't heard jack since... well until the trailer got dropped yesterday, anyway...

... and I don't know about you but I wanna see those two people kiss! Dirt Music is based on an apparently well-loved novel by writer Tim Winton from 2001 -- Macdonald's character is in a loveless marriage with David Wenham (hey at least he's an Aussie!) when hey oh but who should come a'strolling into her life but this strapping six-foot-one-inches of dirty-blond godliness called Garrett.

Sorry David Wenham but even your Spartan Ass never stood a chance. Anyway the film -- which was directed by Gregor Jordon who made that Ned Kelly movie with Heath Ledger in 2002 -- is coming out in Australia "soon" so they say, but who the hell knows for the rest of us. Here's the trailer, at least:

We'll keep our noses firmly planted in Garrett's sweaty business for any new news on this movie but until then after the jump there are several more sweaty gifs to satisfy...

I Am Link

.

--- Magic Man - I contemplated doing my own full post for the first Doctor Strange trailer, which dropped last night, but here all of twelve hours later it's already been thoroughly vetted and anyway it's more of a teaser than a proper trailer, so we'll just wait for the longer one. For now head over to The Film Experience for the minute-fifty-six of footage as well as the very first poster. As I tweeted last night I am surprised they didn't cram in any known entities to ground this wacky new world in Marvel-land - something like "Oh hey look Bruce Banner just walked by in a laboratory!" or "Oh hey look Agent Coulson is reading a newspaper on the corner!" - but again the time will presumably come for that. Mostly what matters is TILDA.

--- Burn Baby - Ramin Bahrani, the wonderful director of Man Push Cart and last year's fantastic 99 Homes, is maybe going to make an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's seminal book Fahrenheit 451 his next project, for HBO. Does that mean it will only air on HBO or it will be produced by them for theatrical release? I don't know. Anyway I'm not convinced that there's a good movie to be made from that book - Truffaut certainly tried but man his movie is lifeless. 

--- Stoll On Bottom - This interview with Corey Stoll over at Queerty about his role on Girls dates back to that first (eyeball bugging) sex scene he had with Andrew Rannells several weeks back, but I totally missed it somehow. And that is no good, because it's Corey Stoll talking about tops and bottoms and being naked and stuff, and that is important. Important!

--- Demon If You Do - The Playlist looks at the just-released soundtrack details for Nicolas Winding Refn's next flick, the modeling massacre centric Neon Demon, for hints about the movie's release - the soundtrack comes out on June 24th so they think that means the film will come out in the weeks preceding that date. They also think it will play Cannes, which will reveal its line-up tomorrow. 

--- Fist In Reverse - Prime Ginger David Wenham (mmm David Wenham) is joining the Marvel Universe! He's going to play "ruthless corporate titan Harold Meachum" on the latest Netflix series Iron Fist. Apparently his character has something to do with the death of Finn Jones' father (Finn plays the titular Fister.) And speaking of Mr. Finn Jones, EW talked to him about his training for the show and I think it's a pretty safe bet that that boy is gonna be shredded when the time comes for shirtlessness.

--- Calls & Listen - I had to search through several different websites to find a link that worked so you might want to hurry and watch the second trailer for JA Bayona's A Monster Calls, if you haven't already, because they seem to be snatching it off the web for some reason. Anyway we've been enthusiastic about this movie since way before it was just a movie, back to when it was just a book. Remember books? It is a very good book, you should read it. Anyway this movie is hitting all the pitch-perfect notes, looks like.

--- Anti Claws - This news dropped over the weekend, whoops, forgot to mention -- the bad guy in Wolverine 3 will be played by pretty pretty boy Boyd Holbrook. If you missed our big gratuitous post on Boyd click here, tis a doozy. He pretty! Boyd is a former model but he's been making a name for himself all over the place, acting-wise, but I still choose to believe that Hugh Jackman saw him first here on MNPP and that lit his, ahem, fuse. Anyway I just realized that half of this "I Am Link" post has been about bad guys in superhero movies? How strange.

--- And Finally here below is a clip from Preacher, AMC's upcoming comic adaptation starring my butt boy Dominic Cooper as the man with the white collar. (via, thanks Mac) I haven't watched it myself (I'm trying to go in to this show as mind-clean as possible) but it is apparently bonkers. The show begins on May 22nd!

.

Tulip makes quite the first impression. #PREACHER is coming Sunday, May 22.https://t.co/O5KpPRfk3l

— PREACHER (@PreacherAMC) April 11, 2016

.

When In Wenham

.

Today is the 50th birthday of the hottest Aussie Ginger working, actor David Wenham, who you've probably seen in something one time or another, I'd wager. Maybe you saw Moulin Rouge, or maybe you saw the second and third Lord of the Rings movies? Or maybe you saw 300?

300 is where we fell for Mr. Wenham, and even if we don't see him nearly often enough to sate of Ginger Aussie needs (he more than held his own with Elisabeth Moss on Top of the Lake recently though) he's still a fave. (See more of him in our archives.) So let's wish him a happy birthday by looking back at trio of his Oz roles where they knew just the right way to properly exploit him...
.

.

I Am Link

.

--- Mad To Love - According to Rosie Huntington-Whitely (the fashion model that gets to molest Jason Statham in public places) Mad Max Fury Road director George Miller invited Vagina Monologues creator Eve Ensler to the set of that film to talk to all the pretty girls playing pretty girls in danger about making their characters come off as more than one-note victims. That sounds positive! Oh and here are a bunch of new clips from Max, which i won't be watching because I'm seriously just ready to be sitting in the theater already.

.

--- See A Penny - Did you guys watch the first episode of Pretty Dreadful? Over at The Film Experience Nathaniel took a look at it along with a further assorted list of recent NSFW-ness in pop culture, some of which we'd already discussed here at this blog but all of which delighted me all the same. Back to Penny Dreadful though - Out magazine talked to Reeve Carney about being sexually adventurous and naked on the show, which is all of interest.

 .

--- Real Gold - The great Jacki Weaver will be romancing the great David Wenham in Goldstone, and as if that wasn't enough the movie will also co-star Ryan Kwanten. (thanks Glenn) That's a lotta Aussie hotness in one spot. I even like Jacki enough that it took me a whole minute or two to consider taking her out of the movie so it's a romance between Wenham and Kwanten, while usually that's the first thing I'd think.

.

--- 44 Flop - I was really sad seeing this article at Deadline on what a massive flop Child 44 turned out to be - Child 44 is that movie starring Tom Hardy, Joel Kinnaman, Jason Clarke, and a bunch of uniforms and haircuts, amongst others. Sad because I wanted to see it and I like all those actors and don't want them to get blamed for it, and also - I literally had no idea it had come out? Am I part of the problem? (Don't answer that.)

 .

--- Love Interest - Once Upon a Time's lusty pirate Colin O'Donoghue and Outlander's buff (and oft butt naked) warrior Sam Heughan have taken to publicly romancing each other on Twitter - there was some sort of competition going on involving the two of them being up for TV's top leading man and the two of them seem pretty intent on, ahem, topping the other. Apparently whoever loses will dress up like the other one's character. The contest ended yesterday but I can't find who won. Colin in a kilt or Sam in leather pants? What say you?

.

--- Putting The D In - Like the Mad Max clips posted above I'm not going to bother watching these clips from the upcoming comedy The D Train because I'm already sold on the movie - even if it is Jack Black that I'm going to have to deal with in such circumstances, "James Marsden having gay sex" is always a "yes" around these parts. Have you guys seen the TV commercials for this film though? I swear that they're ending them with the sound effect of James Marsden getting penetrated. I am not hallucinating. I would know that sound anywhere. Anyway moving on, in this interview Jack says that Jimmy smells like "ocean breeze" which seems about right.

.

Slave Boys To Super Men

.

Two weeks til the 300 sequel comes out and we're finally getting some stills that matter - there's up-n-comer and atypical (for this series) twink Jack O'Connell, who's been getting recent raves for his performance in the prison flick Starred Up, getting some mano-a-mano from Sullivan Stapleton, the new movie's Gerard Butler replacement. And here's a look at our favorite ginger boyfriend David Wenham returning to the series...

... I didn't know he was coming back! And he's got both eyes so this must be a flashback? I don't really get what the timeline is for this movie, but... well who cares, really. I skimmed a few reviews (the film screened recently) and it sounds like it could be a fun time and not a total disaster like I worried (Eva Green was singled out as being totally crazy, in a good way), so I am totally there.

Seeing Red

.

So when are David Wenham and Domhnall Gleeson going to play father and son anyway? Are they waiting for the right incest dream project to come along? Tell me they're waiting for the right incest dream project to come along. Then again I don't know if the silver screen could contain that much ginger heat. Oh my god, the movie would have to be called Ginger Heat.

Good Morning, World

.

A happy 47 to David Wenham.

.

Aussie Joel, King of the Greeks

.

I momentarily considered photo-shopping some kind of armor onto these pictures of Joel Edgerton at the beach in honor of his being in talks for the lead in the second 300 movie, technically being called 300: Battle of Artemisia but being called by me from here on out 301. Or should it be 299 since it's technically a prequel? Hmm. I'll figure it out. Anyway I decided against needlessly covering him up, and hopefully the movie will follow suit.

If he does the film he'll play the Greek general Themosticles who invaded the Persians in 480 BC. They did still wear the leather diapers in 480 BC too, right? That sort of historical accuracy is imperative to this project's success, after all.

There's talk that there could be cameos by Gerard Butler and Lena Headey for the film, but what about Michael Fassbender's character Stelios? Why leave him flapping in the breeze? We want Stelios! We want Stelios! David Wenham's Delios wouldn't hurt either.

Who Wore It Best?

.

When New Years came and went over the weekend a thought crossed my mind, and that thought was of Baby New Year... specifically how I always wonder when I see someone dressed as Baby New Year if they're not just taking the one opportunity they have per year where it's acceptable for them to reveal their diaper fetish to the world. So just know if you're wearing a diaper in my presence I am thinking that about you, is my point. But then I thought hey, live and let live yo, especially if I could think of any hot guys I'd ever seen doing the celebratory infant spiel. You take what you can get, sometimes! But I couldn't - the closest I could come up with was the dudes of 300 in their leather diapers.

And then I realized I'd never asked y'all who wore the leather diaper the best in that movie (I did ask once whether Gerry was hotter in 300 or Tomb Raider though, and I agree with the winning assessment there). Anyway that was my thought process, aintcha glad to know that led to this query. I narrowed it to Gerard Butler and David Wenham and Michael Fassbender since duh, they're obviously my faves. Now we choose. Excuse me, ahem, NOW WE CHOOSE!!! Gotta do that the Spartan way.

.

poll by twiigs.com

.

.

When Wenham Got Wet

.

Hey David Wenham! Haven't seen you in a bit. (pics via) Missed ya. It's my bad, having skipped Public Enemies, I guess. That movie's been sitting at the top of my Netflix queue ever since it came out but it's been impossible to get. I guess I'll just have to be patient, keep myself warm with these pictures. Speaking of, I hate you stinking Australians, with your Summertime shenanigans while I freeze to death. Humbug!
.

Why Can't I Seem To Care About Public Enemies?

.

This always happens with Michael Mann's movies. I can't ever seem to stir up much personal interest beforehand. Then I see them and usually end up liking them and wonder afterward why I couldn't seem to care beforehand. Rinse and repeat.


But here... Bale! Depp! Cotillard! Tatum! Crudup! Wenham! That's a cast I ought to find very agreeable, no? But yeah. No. Enthusiasm at zero.

Can somebody make me care?
Or do we not care?

.

poll by twiigs.com

.

.

David Wenham Is Gonna Get Ya

.
.

I'm Not Entirely Prepared...

.

... to justify that equation. Meaning I don't feel up to writing any proper reviews right now. But for the moment, not long after watching these two movies, it's feeling right.

It might be a case of my expectations - high for Milk, low for Australia - messing with my reaction proper. But I had a lot of fun with Australia - it is indeed too long, and sloppy, but highly entertaining all the same, and I need to be in a Hugh Jackman and David Wenham sandwich NOW - while I found Milk (despite some fine performances and a story I want every person in America to be forced to see) to be rather ho-hum.

Right now I have them both sitting at B grades, but that might change. Especially with Milk, which with every passing day sits a little less substantially in my mind. It didn't help that I watched a bit of the amazing doc The Times of Harvey Milk yesterday - that is not a comparison that puts Milk in the brightest of lights.

And to continue with this post's theme of contrariness, I thought that Josh Brolin and Diego Luna gave the best performances in Van Sant's film.


I liked Sean Penn as Harvey just fine, for the record. I just was never wholly bowled over. Ooh, he smiles a bunch! That's so unlike him! Blah. James Franco has never looked hotter, but I didn't think he had a lot to do, and I thought he was actually kind of lousy in his final scene. Emile Hirsch just danced funny whenever the camera was on him. Alison Pill was great but again, not a lot to do.

Luna is going to be this year's version of me defending Christina Ricci in Monster I can already tell. But he did "the unlikeable and pathetic lover" like nobody's business! And Josh Brolin was fucking incredible in (AGAIN) a part that was terrifically underwritten. I'm preemptively annoyed at screen-writer Dustin Lance Black's probable slew of awards attention already.

So there! Here's the proof - I's crazy!

.

Wenham Three Times

.

Apparently I've been so distracted by the Jackman spectacle surrounding Australia that I've not even taken note of the fact that my ever-developing-crush David Wenham is also in the film, supposedly playing a real mustache-twirler of a villain. I hope this doesn't do to his career what Titanic did for Billy Zane! Eeks.
.

Quote of the Day

.
When asked about the possibility of a sequel to Watchmen - a rumor that's been floating around ever since Patrick Wilson admitted they had to sign on for one when they signed their contracts - director Zach Snyder said:

"I don't know that. That would be interesting. But there can't be a sequel. There can't be a prequel. Not with me involved. They might be able to find someone that would do it, but it wouldn't be me. That's crazy talk."

(via DH) Vivid, the way his brain snaps into place with that question about midway through talking, isn't it? It's like you can see the gears turning. Interesting... no wait, YOU CRAZY! Heh. Anyway, he came around to the right way of thinking, obviously, just took him a sec.

What I find especially funny about this is that the bit of news that I'd literally read immediately before reading the above quote, also via DH, was this:

"Director Zack Snyder has talked with IESB.Net a little more about his prequel/sequel to "300" and revealed a little of the storyline...

Frank Miller is writing and drawing the graphic novel that the second film will be based on. Upon completion of the book they will start writing a script for the movie based on it.

Snyder adds he won't have any input into the work as he wants it to be a creation entirely of Miller's."

DH has a lil' more info at that link if you're curious; I just find it funny that he's aghast at a sequel to Watchmen on the one hand while he's probably got a gun pointed to Frank Miller's head in the other to deliver a sequel to a movie where everybody died.

On a side-note, it kinda looks as if I'm really in a David Wenham kinda mood today, huh? Not that anybody's complaining!*

*Because if anybody complains, I cry.

.

Good Morning, World!

.
. ..

The Many Faces Of...

Any idea who's playing this Stranger in Dark City?

How about this lovely lady in Moulin Rouge?

It's David Wenham!

I had no clue I'd seen so much of him before he played Faramir in the Lord of the Rings movies. He was a Stranger! All the more reason to appreciate him. One more reason:

.