Britney Spears to play lesbian killer in Quentin Tarantino film!!!!!!
The exclamation points are mine, but they’re implied in this Telegraph headline, which is quickly making the rounds of the “publish first, conveniently forget to retract later” gossip blogs. The rumor is that Britney has been hand-picked by Quentin to “play dancer Varla in a remake of the 1965 cult film Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!”
The reality check: as far as I can tell––Tarantino has never even confirmed a Liz Smith report from way back in January claiming that he’s making a remake of the Russ Meyer schlock classic. And, since that story mentioned that Britney was in the running, even if there is something to it it’s kind of old news. It might be a strategic PR drop (I don’t know by who––does Britney even have a publicist anymore?) to counteract the Page Six item from last week, which suggested (without comment from the Tarantino camp) that porn star Tera Patrick was getting the role. But I have a hard time believing that this is anything other than a publicity game at this point, considering that Tarantino hasn’t even finished casting the epic that he plans to screen in seven months at Cannes.
That said: if it’s between Spears and Patrick, we definitely vote for the former. She needs it more.
UPDATE: Access Hollywood has denials from both Tarantino and Spears. And Media Morgue says Quentin’s agent told them way back in March that the remake was just a rumor.
The Brave One’s U.S. poster was a gimme for the Jodie Foster’s massive lesbian fan base: it featured a full body shot of the star in a tight, midriff-skimming tee, holding a big, phallic gun down by her tight-jeaned nether-regions. It blatantly sexualized Foster’s quest for vengeance, and it didn’t go unnoticed: AfterEllen.com summed it up with the headline, “Best. Jodie. Movie. Poster. Ever.” But what works for the queer blogosphere does not necessarily an international blockbuster make, and thus Warner Brothers has gone with a very different brand identity for the international rollout. The Risky Biz Blog pegs the change as ratings-board motivated:
In the U.S. — where the MPAA frowns on ads where guns strike too threatening a pose — the main image featured Foster, looking distraught, her head bowed and her gun hanging limply by her side. But in its foreign make-over, The Brave One’s poster…features a full head shot of Foster with her gun raised, aiming to kill. Nothing shy about it.
In other words: the idea that Foster is conflicted about killing has been wiped clean from this ad campaign. It’s gone from “what have I done?” to “look what I’m doing.” It makes sense: when complexity fails to sell, it’s time to go binary.
[Via Movie Marketing Madness]
The New Line Fallout 
