Good Morning, World

Good morning from this gif of Hugh Dancy showering in an episode of Hannibal, aka the only thing I could find to post this morning before giving up. I have been saying this for literal years at this pooint but I really gotta rewatch Hannibal at some point! It's been ages.

Good Morning, I Quit Smoking 15 Years Ago Today

Well it's that time again -- every May 5th I celebrate two personal things (and no neither of them are Cinco de Mayo, but if you celebrate that a happy one to you). One -- it's my anniversary with my boyfriend. And two -- I quit smoking cigarettes on this day in the year 2008, and I have been doing this post here on this website for fifteen straight years ever since. All year long I set aside a folder of images I stumble upon of our favorite sexy actors smoking...

... be it in film, photoshoot, or personal life. I might be happy I quit, and I don't encourage any of you to pick up the habit... but gosh if it can't be sexy to look at all the same. I don't make the rules! Some things are just the way they are. So this morning let's hit the jump and roll around like animals in filth in the hot bad habit of it all...

Happy 10 to Hannibal

I think about Bryan Fuller's Hannibal every night before I go to bed and every morning when I wake up because I have Kevin Tong's Mondo poster (RIP Mondo) for the show seen above (signed by the whole cast!) hanging above my bed. I was thinking about the show on my way to work this morning! And yet it didn't strike me until I just saw it on Twitter this afternoon that today is the 10th anniversary of the premiere of the show??? That's literally insane. Certifiably insane. Impossible cannibal-levels of insane! I can't believe it's been an entire decade. If you weren't here reading the site ten years ago then you probably don't know that the only set visit I've ever done was visiting the set of the pilot of Hannibal -- one of my most cherished memories, that.

I've been dying to do a re-watch of the series but time to "watch things" that aren't work has become so scarce these days -- that said the whole damn thing is on Hulu if you're so inclined, or if I am so inclined once I have the time. There are so many images burned deep into the tasty, tasty meat of my brains that I want to re-visit. I remember being in awe of what Bryan was getting away with on network television every single week. Soon enough we'll get to see what he'll get away with for his Friday the 13th series, which should be something indeed, but until then I'll just wish this brilliant perfect series a happy birthday and then ask the eternal question...

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Mads Mikkelsen Thirty-Two Times

I didn't pay a lot of attention to that first photo from the fifth Indiana Jones movie that dropped this week because 1) it's a fucking silhouette, let's not cream our jeans over a silhouette. But also as stated when the news broke I'm not a fan of director James Mangold and if somebody's going to take the reins from Steven f'ing Spielberg I'd rather it be somebody I'm a fan of, ya know? Anyway I only just remembered now with this new photoshoot in Esquire (via) of Mads Mikkelsen that Mads is in the movie, probably as the villain because come on he's Mads. And that makes me more excited. Not that Cate Blanchett could save the fourth movie. Anyway there was other Mads news this week to share -- he's making a sequel to his Netflix movie Polar (and I still haven't seen that first one) and he's reuniting with his Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel to make a Danish Western set in the 18th century (thx Mac). Sure why not. As long as all of this work doesn't interfere with my plans to fund a fourth season of Hannibal by whoring myself out to anybody willing to pay. And I'm cheap, fellas! Hit the jump for this whole shoot...

Technically This Post is About Downton Abbey...

I wasn't sure which Downton Abbey actor I would use a photo of to grab your eyeballs with to direct you over to my review of the new Downton Abbey movie which just went up at Pajiba, read it here. Whenever Downton comes up I usually always vacillate between Allen Leech and his bulging trousers and the porcelain-pretty homosexual-footman Rob James-Collier, who once stuck his tongue in Charlie Cox's mouth to my everlasting pleasure. But then I saw the above photo of Hugh Dancy in plaid pants (okay it's houndstooth, whatever, close enough) and it was game set match even though Hugh's only just now become a Downton boy with the new movie, which has him playing a Silent Film Director who comes to Downton and bats his pretty eyelashes at Lady Mary. Doesn't it seem though like Hugh Dancy should have been on Downton Abbey ages and ages ago? How is this just now happening? Anyway the important thing is it happened. Now go read my review. But wait, I have more...

 

... I don't know where the hell my head has been but I had no idea that Hugh was in a TV series with former-Piz Chris Lowell! Did you? There is too much damned TV. The show is called Roar and it is on Apple+ and it's actually an anthology series, so Hugh & Chris are only in one episode (it's the sixth episode). They star in that episode alongside Alison Brie, which is of note because the series is from the creators of GLOW, which of course starred Brie & Lowell previously. (Oh man I miss GLOW so fucking much, you guys.) 

Lowell, a terrific photographer whose work I've posted before here on the site, posted these snaps of Hugh on his own Instagram -- I love the thought of him putting his hand to Hugh's face and turning it into the light just right, don't you? Like that scene in Clueless with Brittany Murphy holding the rose. Well these are the places my brain automatically goes anyway. 

And since we are here and I'm looking at Chris's Instagram and I'm seeing all of the sexy self-portraits that he's posted over the past few months that I have missed, well, that obviously cannot stand. So I'm gonna post those too, right on after the jump... 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Hannibal (2013)

Dr. Lecter: I've always found the idea of death comforting. The thought that my life could end at any moment frees me to fully appreciate the beauty and art and horror of everything this world has to offer.

A gratuitously happy birthday to the mad genius (and friend of MNPP) Bryan Fuller today! Knowing Bryan somewhat in the real world as I do I think I can say that the above quote from his stellar serial killer series feels beamed straight out from his gooey squishy delicious heart-meat -- he is a man that enjoys living, in the best of sense(s), and does probably a better job at it than anybody else I know. While we count down the days until we get to see his directorial debut -- a new movie version of Stephen King's killer-car book book Christine which I told you about last month -- let's take this one, this day here, to wish Mr. Fuller the best of birthdays and the best of luck for all the awesomeness ahead! MNPP hearts Bryan!

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A post shared by Bryan Fuller (@bryanfullergram)

Quote of the Day

"We actually did a couple of takes of the very last scene where we were looking at each other, and it was a little too obvious — it was almost a kiss. Me and Hugh were like, ‘Why not? We have a couple of takes. Let’s do one. It might be cool... We never went for the kiss. Bryan loved it, but he was like, ‘Too much, guys. It’s too obvious.’ And he was absolutely right. 

... I think we were just stuck on that. And a lot of the Fannibals wanted it as well. It’s been a subject of homoerotic fan art. And for good reason, because they are so united as twins in many ways. But we never wanted it to be a physical thing. It was something much bigger than that.”

There's a big interview with Mads Mikkelsen out on Vulture this morning and he shares the above with regards to the final scene of the third season of Hannibal and... listen, I have Bryan Fuller's phone number. We're gonna have words the next time we talk. Mads said they had "takes," Bryan!!! Full takes! You couldn't just shoot a kiss? For the extras on the blu-ray? Picture it: a half an hour special features video of kiss takes. Them thing's woulda sold like hot cakes. Hot cakes!!! Anyway in the new interview Mads also re-commits to wanting to do more Hannibal, so perhaps they can just make a fourth season of boinking. Nothing but boinking! I am available to write screenplays, Bryan! I got ideas!

Lick Them Lips For Mads

Here is a photo of the actor Mads Mikkelsen -- who should get an Oscar nomination for Another Round if you ask me, which you didn't -- telling you to come, take his hand, and head over to Amazon where you can buy the complete three seasons of the masterpiece known as Bryan Fuller's Hannibal for under 21 bucks right now. It's a nice way to say "Fuck you!" to that godawful looking Clarice series that the people who own the Lecter rights decided to make instead of a fourth season of this stellar series, and who knows, maybe somebody will be paying attention, see the blu-rays selling like hotcakes, and actually get Mads & Co back in the serial killer business. Never say never, not when something's this delicious!

Hugh's Homeland Is Your Homeland

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When I write the words "Hugh Dancy reunites..." I really would prefer to follow them with "Mads Mikkelsen and Bryan Fuller for more Hannibal" or even with "Patrick Wilson for more kissing" but alas, those sentences are not for today. Rather Hugh is reuniting with his other Evening co-star and oh yeah right his wife and babymama Claire Danes, for the final season of Homeland. I guess it'll be an easier commute to the set this year. He's going to play "a savvy Washington consultant" which reads to me as "Hugh in nice suits" and I like it. Don't ask me what last happened on Homeland though -- last season's a blur. I just miss watching Miranda Otto shop online for purses, honestly. (thx Mac)

Thursday's Ways Not To Die

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What a wonderful coincidence that the wonderful Jonathan Tucker's 36th birthday just happens to today be falling on a Thursday and so we can wish him a happy one with one of our "Ways Not To Die" series of posts, in which we celebrate a death scene from the movies or, in this case, television. 
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Also coincidentally we've had Hannibal on our minds this week anyway thanks to having just binged the current psychopath show du jour Killing Eve - it's all coming together! Including every gay man on Earth who has seen this scene from the fifth episode of Hannibal's second season, titled "Mukozuke." Let's hit the jump for the rest of this since, needless to say, I really went to town on this one...

Hugh Dancy One Time

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Hugh Dancy Made Out With Patrick Wilson Again

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Hey remember that time that Hugh Dancy and Patrick Wilson kissed in the movie Evening? If you remember that there was a movie called Evening then my guess is that's what you remember about it. So anyway apparently the two of them have been building and building up some sexual tension for the past six years since Evening came out and it was finally released all over the theater stage just a couple of weeks ago for those "24 Hour Plays" they do every year and yes I am heart-sick I wasn't there to see it happen, absolutely heart-sick. Thankfully somebody, an angel sent directly from heaven, recorded it - it's not the greatest quality but did I mention...

... Hugh and Patrick were shirtless this time?

Good grief how did I miss this...

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My prediction came true. You're welcome, internet. #HughDancy pic.twitter.com/SB4tRMstop

— Nic (@solamentenic) November 15, 2016

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Hugh Dancy Two Times

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If I had my shit together I'd offer you guys a what's-what run-down of cool deals here on this Cyber Monday but per usual I'm lagging behind - that said hey look the third season of Hannibal on blu-ray is only $6.99 - YES THAT'S SIX DOLLARS AND NINETY-NINE CENTS - over on Amazon today! That's a hell of a lot of deal, people.

Mads Mikkelsen Three Times

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I know we've got lots and lots of Mads coming up in both the Marvel universe (he's one of the bad guys in Doctor Strange) and the Star Wars universe (is he a bad guy in Rogue One?) but I still want more of him - not having that weekly Hannibal fix is leaving a mark. But very soon you can bring a piece of Hannibal home with you, several chunks really, because that show-themed cook-book I told you about way back is finally out on October 18th! It's called Feeding Hannibal and you can buy your copy right here. Looking at these pictures is making me rather hungry for some prime beef, I gotta say.

Ben Whishaw Four Times

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Guess who's seeing The Crucible tonight? If you guessed someone other than me, I am judging you, for dumbness. Because tis I, and I alone, along with however many other hundreds of people fit in the theater. Anyway I'm clearly there for Ben but I am also pretty psyched for the witchy stage antics of Sophie Okonedo and Ciaran Hinds and Saoirse Ronan (this is a vowel-heavy cast) too.

This will be my second time seeing Mr. Whishaw on stage -- I also saw him do a play called The Pride in 2010 with Hugh Dancy (yes they kissed, and it was awesome) and Andrea Riseborough. So, you know, me and Ben, we got way back. He'll probably spot me in the audience and then after the show he'll come find me as I am leaving and then he'll divorce his husband and whisk me away to the set of the next Bond movie where we'll have threesomes with Daniel Craig for months on end. So that's my plan tonight, anyway.

Quote of the Day

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"It all depends on Bryan. He is the key, the base, the heart. We will wait and see what happens next in his career. But we all know that we can easily pick this up in two or three years, there are breaks in the stories. We could pick it up, say, four years later. If Bryan is up for it, we will all go for it. He loved it. It was his baby. Let's wait and see."

-- That's Mads Mikkelsen talking about the possibility of a future of Hannibal - keep that hope alive, Mads! Lord knows that American Gods and Star Trek will be keeping Bryan Fuller busy for the next couple of years (and well beyond, knock on wood) but a boy's gotta have many hobbies and interests. 

And speaking of Bryan if you don't follow him on Twitter you're missing out on reports from the set of American Gods, which is filming in Toronto right now -- they celebrated Cloris Leachman's 90th birthday over the weekend (in case you missed that she was cast on the show recently, to everyone's delight) and this happened:

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLORIS LEACHMAN - OUR ZORYA VECHERNYAYA TURNS 90 ON THE @AmericanGodsSTZ SET #90FUCKINGYEARSOLD pic.twitter.com/DAKg1KkaGp

— Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) May 1, 2016

Life Is So Not Fair

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Hugh Dancy was pap-snapped jogging along the Hudson River here in NYC over the weekend, which is lovely, good stuff, loved far and wide by many, so why am I bothered? Because on Friday I happened to see his (lovely, talented, charming) wife jogging along near the same exact spot with my own eyes (as captured below) and now that I know seeing Hugh Dancy was an option, I can't help but feel cheated. No offense to Claire but seeing Hugh would've been more up my alley, obviously. Oh well, at least this way I didn't have to go to jail for tackling anybody.

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That is Claire Danes

A photo posted by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams) on Apr 22, 2016 at 8:00am PDT

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Good Morning (And Hot Damn), Hugh Dancy

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Well somebody's been doing some push-ups. This is Hugh on his new show for Hulu called The Path, about which I have only heard good things but have yet to watch any because oh my god who has the time to do anything??? Ahem. Sorry that's my "barrelling towards the end of a film festival desperation" talking. Anyway have any of you found time for The Path? What are your thoughts? Besides the requisite "Hot Damn, Hugh Dancy" of course.

I Am Link

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--- Finer Angels - I'd just heard the other day that Andrew Garfield was going to star as Prior Walter in a staging of Tony Kushner's masterpiece Angels in America (or at least the first half of it?) at the National Theater in May of next year, and now comes word that the role of Joe Pitt (aka the role played in the HBO version by Patrick Wilson and his magical Mormon underpants) will be played by Russell Tovey. Goddamn somebody get me to London next year!

--- Giant Trailers - Can't believe I haven't posted this yet but I actually haven't even watched it yet - over at The Film Experience you can see the full trailer for Steven Spielberg's adaptation of The BFG,  along with some great commentary on all of the Roald Dahl movie adaptations that have happened so far. My favorites are Wonka (the original, not Tim Burton's monstrosity), The Witches, and James and the Giant Peach, and those are probably the only correct answers you can give on that question. Oh and as long as I'm at it with trailer I haven't watched here's TFE's take on the Star Wars Rogue One trailer too. I asked on Twitter last night if I should bother watching it - it's not that I am not enthusiastic about the movie, I am, I'm just not sure if I should bother spoiling myself.

--- Service Me - It had already been announced that Edward Holcroft was going to be back for the next Kingsman: The Secret Service movie so I was already sold on it, but now comes word via EW that Game of Thrones' Pedro Pascal is joining the cast for the sequel, and about this I am enthusiastic. By the way have I mentioned how I believe in my heart of hearts that the sequel will end on the same note as the original film, with a close-up of an ass, but it will be Taron Egerton's this time? I am mentally willing it to be. Will it with me!

--- I Am Beguiled - It's been a weird busy couple of weeks so some stuff has fallen through the cracks - nothing's been as horrific an oversight as me not mentioning THIS though: Sofia Coppola is remaking the wacko 1971 Clint Eastwood flick The Beguiled (which we talked about briefly right here) with a cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, and Kirsten Dunst. FUCK YES. The original is about a Civil War soldier who runs from battle injured and ends up at a female boarding school where the ladies go BONKERS with lust over him, and it's a CRAZY movie. Imagining Sofia's girlishly feminist spin on this is making my toes curl. But who should play the dude part???

--- The Victoria Age - I feel bad every time I think about the astonishing and electric single-take movie Victoria that I never properly reviewed it because I love love loved it, and it deserved to be said.  So this is me saying it! Its director Sebastian Schipper (also an actor that I've had a crush on ever since he discovered his bisexuality in Tom Tykwer's film 3) is lining up his next movie and it's sounding exciting - it's called Undeniable and it's an adaptation of a woman's memoir about trying to solve her own cold case rape. Darren Aronofsky is producing and the script was written by the woman who wrote Shame. 

--- Note To Self - Adam Wingard, the director of the killer two-fer The Guest and You're Next, is adapting the well-loved horror manga series Death Note (it's already been made into a series of Japanese films) next - I guess Warner Brothers decided not to make the movie so Netflix stepped in and will make it. (Warner Brothers is too busy blowing money on awful and expensive superhero movies, apparently.)

--- Shrinky Dink - I hate to ask this of you people, to admit such a thing in public, but have any of you read the Fifty Shades books? Feel free to answer anonymously. I ask because Hugh Dancy has just joined the cast of the sequel Fifty Shades Darker to play the psychiatrist for Jamie Dornan's sex fetishist and I need to know if there's kink happening on that couch, stat. Anyway those fantasies aside I love the though of Hugh taking on the Hannibal role here.

--- One Fast Woman - I suppose it's good for Charlize Theron's career and pocketbook that she sign on to play a bad guy - excuse me, bad gal - in the next Fast Furious flick, but man, she's better than this. She knows, she's better than this. We all know she's better than this! But that franchise is inexplicably popular and will make money so I guess you take the job and you cash the check. Maybe she can use that cash to finance Jason Reitman's movie starring her. And she should probably fuck The Rock or Jason Statham while she's there. Or maybe the great ginger-bearded Nowegian sex-ball Kristofer Hivju, known here for Game of Thrones and Force Majeure, who also just signed on for the movie.

--- And Finally, here's the first full trailer for the next season of Penny Dreadful, which begins airing on May 1st. Looking swank as usual!
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I Am Link

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--- God's Chosen Ones - JJ Abrams continues to put his money (his so so so much money) where his mouth is and give leading man and leading lady roles to diverse, deserving actors - he's just announced that the beautiful and talented duo of David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw will star in The God Particle, a sci-fi thriller he's been attached to produce for awhile. The story "follows an American space station crew who, believing they have destroyed Earth via a Hadron accelerator, allow the crew of hostile nations to board their ship, with disastrous results." Well with that cast it's more, in the wise words of Marge Simpson, "sexy results" if you ask me.
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--- Golden Beasts - Cary Fukunaga  talked to Alec Baldwin on his radio show this morning and I guess he sounded kind of, you know, irritable about how Netflix messed up their awards run for his flick Beasts of No Nation. I loved Beasts and I think it shoulda been, as the saying goes, a contendah, and I also do think if more people had been forced to sit in a theater and watch it rather than be relied upon to click "play" when something less depressing like Orange is the New Black was right there next to it, it would've helped. Idris was robbed though.
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--- President Patty - This morning as we communally ogled Henry Cavill's furry super bosom I stated that I was done, professionally done, with Batman v Superman, but I do feel the need to share this lil' nugget that I didn't know -- apparently Patrick Wilson's voice makes a cameo as the President of the United States at one point. Corner me right now and ask me when we heard the President speaking on a phone and all you'll draw from me is a glass 100 yard stare so dulled was my brain by that "movie" but I guess he's there!
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--- Master Wayne - As long as the subject of DC superheroes has been broached though, you should definitely read this piece over at MTV from friend-of-the-blog Teo making the one hundred percent correct case for Tim Burton's Batman Returns as the best of all the Batman movies, bar none. As we've argued here ourselves Michelle Pfeiffer's turn as Catwoman blows even Heath Ledger outta the water.
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--- Master Of Fish - I keep forgetting that Insidious director James Wan is signed on to make the stand-alone Aquaman film - DH has a couple of quotes from him about what we can expect from his take on the finger-webbed wonder, including  an unsurprising enthusiasm for sea monsters. I just hope that Wan shows more interest in exploiting his star Jason Momoa, who lives for exploitation, than Wan's shown with frequent collaborator Patrick Wilson. He never exploits Patrick Wilson enough! In related news there's a new trailer for the second Conjuring movie out; I haven't watched it yet though. (Here's our take on the first one, in case you missed it.)
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--- Gotham Punk - Okay okay we'll do another Batman link, you forced us - have you been following "The Furniture," our pal Dan Walber's series on production design over at The Film Experience? It is fan-furniture-tastic stuff, I highly recommend you read them all. This week's entry was on Tim Burton's first Batman film, specifically the scene set in the art museum. Choice bit:

"It’s a compelling, if unholy, concoction of influences that range from the Art Nouveau chairs of Rennie Mackintosh to the futuristic buildings of Shin Takamatsu. This refusal to draw from a single period is part of why it still looks so unique."

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--- Underground Filmmaking -  Gremlins director Joe Dante is making another horror movie (his recent flick The Hole 3D is terribly underrated) - it's called Labirintus and it's about a paranormal investigator and a couple other science-types who get stuck in some Russian catacombs when the demons come. The film will star Mark Webber, who you oughta know from Todd Solondz' Storytelling or from Scott Pilgrim.

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--- Good Eats - Hugh Dancy has that new show about cults called The Path premiering on Hulu tomorrow (I have heard good things) and so here's an interview he did with Flavorwire about it, but mainly we're just there for the bit where he says he recently saw Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller and Bryan told him his idea for a fourth season and that it might make sense for a few year's break in between, so, you know, let's keep hope alive like a cannibal serial killer playing with his food for awhile. Let's! (thanks Mac)
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--- And Finally I guess shooting's already kicked off on the second season of Ash vs Evil Dead, hooray, and io9 has got the very first look at it, seen below. I hope and trust that you've all watched the first season by now - it injected such a much-needed sense of fun into Horror TV, which has gotten a little poseury (cough The Walking Dead cough) as of late. Party party party!
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