Turns out Marge Gunderson isn’t the woman we admired so much in “Fargo.”
Actress Frances McDormand dished the dirt on Marge - and Gov. Sarah Palin - this weekend at a film event in Sag Harbor, NY, according to a Newsday blog.
It wasn’t pretty.
McDormand, talking to film critic Elvis Mitchell, said of her Oscar-winning character:
“We always found her scary,” McDormand said. “Her world is so, so small. There’s wonderful things about Marge, but they don’t stand apart from her insular idea of the world.”
Scary? Insular? Maybe Marge never traveled abroad or learned a second language, but from every bit of evidence in “Fargo” she’s a good, kind woman with a backbone of steel.
The actress even sniffs that the Coens trimmed a scene in which Marge attends an anti-abortion rally. Imagine, someone actually thinking a baby in the womb shouldn’t be killed. For shame!
Suffice to say McDormand included Palin in her rant.
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Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock throws a nasty knuckle-curve in the opening minutes of his latest film.
The “Super Size Me” creator vows to track down the most wanted man on the planet in “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” now out on DVD.
We’re told Spurlock is about to become a father, and his baby will be much safer if Public Enemy no. 1 is behind bars.
Riggggght. It’s a scam, obviously, an obtuse setup made in questionable taste. But what’s the punchline? What’s he driving at?
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If you’re gonna go political, try making it funny. Or smart. Or anything beyond crude and ignorant.
British bad boy Russell Brand of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” fame did none of the above, apparently, while hosting the MTV Video Music Awards tonight.
Here’s a few choice samplings of his shtick - taken directly from an AP report:
- Brand referred to President Bush as “that retarded cowboy fellow.”
- Early in his opening monologue, Brand pleaded: “Please, America, elect Barack Obama. On behalf of the world.”
- Speaking of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter’s boyfriend and would-be father, Levi Johnston, Brand sympathized with him: “That is the safe sex message of all time. Use a condom or become a Republican!
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It’s easy for right leaners to mock celebrities for their inane political comments. Fish. Barrel. Shotgun. But I tried to defend actors the other day, saying many were probably cornered by journalists sniffing out an easy headline.
I spoke too soon.
Whoopi Goldberg, Alec Baldwin and Jamie Lee Curtis all rose up in recent days to swat VP nominee Gov. Sarah Palin without anyone pointing a gun, or a notepad, in their direction. Suffice to say none did it well. In fact, it got pretty ugly.
Let’s start with the worst offender, “The View’s” Goldberg. She compared the affection pouring out to Palin at the RNC to … wait for it … a Nazi love fest! (hat tip: Dirty Harry)
I just found the whole thing sad and very musty and very much like a Bund rally, but maybe that was just me.
I wish I could say it was just you, Whoopster, but I suspect a few of your idealogical colleagues can’t wait to make some more Hitler/Bush/Palin swipes in the coming weeks.
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With age comes wisdom — except if you’re Shirley MacLaine:
(hat tip: Dirty Harry)
“The whole question of terrorism, and it’s not just me saying this, is that terrorism is evil to us, not to them,” she said. “There was a time when American revolutionaries were called terrorists, and look what we got out of it.”
MacLaine said she did not believe in death, but the “recycling of souls.”
“That’s why we have to question war,” she said. “Who is being killed here? You just incur the energy of karma. And that’s why we have to get into these different cultures and understand what they’re talking about.
“The ancient cultures went into these questions,” she said. “Our culture is so new we don’t go into, especially new Christianity … It’s a subject that a lot of Western Christians don’t like to discuss, because that robs them of this passionate idea of evil.”
Moral equivalence? Check. Misunderstanding of American history? Check. Blaming Christianity while letting Islam off scott free? Check.
Writer/director Rod Lurie (”The Contender”) loves the idea of having a female commander in chief. He even made a poorly viewed TV show about it.
But he’s less keen on having the real deal in the White House. (hat tip: Newsbusters)
Here’s his take on Gov. Sarah Palin:
“People who understand politics know anything is possible,” he said. “Picking a woman is an absolute strategic idea from McCain’s point of view. He’s not talking about governing right now. The idea of this woman actually facing down [Vladimir] Putin and negotiating with [Dmitry] Medvedev is idiotic.”
And why is that, Rod? Cuz she’s too pretty? Or too … Republican (cue the threatening organ music)?
Robert Downey, Jr. might be one of Hollywood’s best spoken celebrities. It’s not a tough contest, true, but he seems to be saying all the right things lately.
Case in point: his response to protesters picketing his new film, “Tropic Thunder,” for insulting people with disabilities. (source: imdb.com)
“That’s the great thing, you know, if I want to protest something because it offends me that’s my right as an American and it’s also any artist’s right to say and do whatever they want to do.”
Please stay sober … and keep on making movies.
(Photo: Robert Downey, Jr. of “Iron Man” fame co-stars in the new comedy “Tropic Thunder”)
