Fall movie-goers are used to Halloween horror flicks, including torture porn and zombies. This fall, however, the scariest flick may not have a monster of any sort.
Gravity is set to release the first weekend in October, and promises to play on the existential human fears of isolation, hopelessness, and looming death. The movie stars Oscar-winners George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as Astronauts stranded in space suits after debris destroys much of their space shuttle. Bullock is the rookie and Clooney is the veteran who is on his last mission to space. Cut off from Earth and with oxygen reserves running out, the astronauts will have to figure out a way to stay together and survive. The movie was written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the director of Y Tu Mamá También and Children of Men.
Warner Bros. this week released a new trailer for Gravity. It shows off some impressive special effects in an early sequence where a disaster sets the movie’s events in motion.
In today’s modern social media-saturated culture, many people’s first instinct when something happens to them – good or bad – is to tell the internet. Find out your pregnant? Post it to Facebook! Find a great new restaurant? Check in on Foursquare! Think of a clever one-liner? Tweet it! Cut off your finger in a shop accident? Instagram, here we come, baby!
That, at least, was the approach of Jesse James. When the famed custom motorcycle builder lost the tip of his pinky finger in an accident yesterday, almost the first thing he did was post pictures – very graphic pictures – to his Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Impressively, James was able to take a joking tone about the loss of his littlest digit. The first picture he posted came with the caption “OOOpps. Bad day at the office. Headed 2 Surgery in a few. #PayUpSucker.”
In the caption on his second picture expressed doubt that his fingertip could be reattached: “Doesn’t look like this little dude’s gonna make it. Nice know’n you little buddy.”
Now, you might think that a man who’s just had part of his body lopped off might take a day off work, right? Well, in this case, you’d be wrong. James was back at the shop today, welding with his bandaged hand.
As noted above, James was not optimistic as to the fate of his forlorn finger. That said, there has not been any conformation yet as to wether the piece of his pinky could be put back on.
Highest-paid actress honor goes to someone you may not expect. Unless, of course, you’re a diehard “Twilight” fan who follows every single step that its female lead takes. Kristen Stewart, otherwise known as Bella Swan/Cullen, has risen to the top of Forbes highest paid actresses list. The “Zathura” co-star may only be 22 years-old, but she’s managed to cash a heftier paycheck than industry types who are twice her age.
Thanks to the resounding success of the “Twilight” franchise, Stewart was able to bank a cool $34.5 million in just under 12 months. After the franchise exploded into cineplexes across the globe four years ago, the actress has been cashing all sorts of crazy paychecks. In fact, since replacing Stewart at this point would be suicide for the series, she was able to demand $12.5 million per film, and that’s not including the hefty slice of cinematic cash she gets off the back end. Sparking vampires in love, apparently, is insanely big business.
Coming in at a close second is “There’s Something About Mary” alumni Cameron Diaz, who managed to bank nearly $34 million thanks to the surprise success of her $20 million comedy “Bad Teacher”. After the film’s theatrical jaunt had concluded, the raunchy comedy ultimately made $216 million, some of which ended up in Diaz’s bank account. Toss in her paychecks from both “The Green Hornet” and “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and you’ll understand why Diaz is currently sitting pretty in more ways than one.
Rounding out the top three is Sandra Bullock, who, apparently, is still making quite a bit of scratch from her 2009 hit “The Blind Side”. And while she hasn’t really done much since then — “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” came nearly two years later — her paycheck from Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming science fiction effort “Gravity” helped the “Demolition Man” co-star rise above her peers in the earnings department. Not too shabby considering the gap between pictures.
Forbes, in case you were wondering, put together this list using a number of different factors, including upfront pay, profit participation, residuals, endorsements, and advertising work.
