Ask acclaimed novelist Bret Easton Ellis what “The Informers” is about, and you get nearly a minute of silences, false starts, and heavy exhaling.
“Um…A week in the lives of a group of people in Los Angeles in 1983, focusing mainly on…I guess, a trio of guys…” he eventually attempts, before scampering for a copy of the 1994 novel that serves as the basis for the new film. “Um…I’ve got a paperback of the book here. What does this say? No, that’s not a good synopsis either.”
“You’ve seen it. What do you think it’s about?” the writer of “Less Than Zero” and “American Psycho” finally asks. Read more...
FROM SPLASH PAGE: When it comes to casting movies based on the comics world, it's always interesting to play the "What If?" game when we hear about actors who were almost chosen to play certain roles. For example, what if Harrison Ford had indeed become Superman? What if Sam Rockwell had landed the Tony Stark gig in the first "Iron Man" (instead of playing the villainous Justin Hammer in "Iron Man 2")? What if Mark Ruffalo was offered the part of Harvey Dent in "The Dark Knight"?
Now you can add this one to the list of almost-casting points to ponder, folks: What if Billy Bob Thornton played Tony Stark?
Read more about Billy Bob Thornton almost becoming Tony Stark in "Iron Man" over at SplashPage.MTV.com.
Billy Bob Thornton -- here at Sundance to promote both "Manure" and "The Informers" -- is a lot of things, but we never really pegged him as having a clinical aversion to going outdoors. That kind of made for a slightly off Sundance experience, with Thornton describing how most of his festival time is spent. Check it out below, and then click here to watch all of our Sundance celebrity interviews.
Since winning an Oscar for writing “Sling Blade” in 1996, Billy Bob Thornton has appeared in some 40 films and TV shows, an average of roughly 3 and a third a year. Look at his upcoming slate of films, then, and what’s immediately noticeable isn’t this or that particular project, but the lack of them.
That’s because at age 53, the award winning thesp is ready to throw in the towel – for a little while, anyway, Thornton confessed to MTV News.
“I’ve been in fifty some odd movies and directed three or four, and written a few, and I figure I’m tired of fighting it. I’ve had a good career as an actor, and mostly I just care about music now,” Thornton said. “There’s no passion or desperation in me anymore about movies and I think there is for music, and for my family, and for a lot of other things. [But] in terms of movies, yeah, I’ll go do it - if they call and I need the money.
“[Otherwise] it’s not exactly retirement,” he said, pausing, “but in a sense you can say that.” Read more...
