Transporter 3 | SpoutBlog

Transporter Gay?

By Lauren Wissot posted 11 months ago

Since I’m not a fan of Luc Besson any more than I am of Guy Ritchie, I’ve avoided the Transporter franchise from the start. Sure its star Jason Statham has a to-kill-for bod, but then that’s part of the action hero job description. And compared to hot he-men with a wicked, up-for-anything gleam in their eye like the Governator or The Rock or Daniel Craig, well, Statham’s just a little too bland for my taste. He’s someone you’d take home to mom for the holidays, not blow in an airplane bathroom along the way, having to dodge dirty looks at baggage claim upon landing. Never mind.

But after reading Chris Lee’s L.A. Times piece, in which director Louis Leterrier claims to have added a gay subtext to Statham’s character in Transporter 2, I knew I just had to take a peek. And surprisingly, for someone who can spot a gay subtext from as far away as David Beckham can score a goal, I couldn’t quite see what all the fuss was about. Statham’s gun-for-hire Frank Martin is too asexual to be homosexual; if he is gay he’s so far in the closet that even Alessandro Gassman’s sleazy, sexy villain Gianni Chellini (now that’s a name to scream in the heat of passion) couldn’t coax him out. Indeed, if there is anything queer about Transporter 2, it’s the character played by Italian stallion Gassman (a dirtier, XXX version of Antonio Banderas) who should be exposed.

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Hollywood, Top Story

Milk Breaks Limited Release Record. Trade Roughage 12/01/08

By Christopher Campbell posted 11 months ago

Before getting to that supposed “disappointing” debut of Australia, let me first congratulate Milk for cracking the top 10 while opening on only 34 screens. The film’s five-day Thanksgiving Weekend total gross is $1.9 million, meaning its per-screen average was an unbelievable (and apparently record-breaking) $51,833. Meanwhile, fellow limited-release powerhouse Slumdog Millionaire was kept at bay at 11th place, though its per-screen average continues to amaze at more than $36,000.
Now for Australia: the film placed fifth for the holiday stretch, taking in less than half as much as box office winner Four Christmases ($46.7 mill.). However, its $14.8 million three-day take is a million more than that of the wide opening for Baz Luhrman’s previous film, Moulin Rouge. Also, its older audience, which had other, more familial commitments last week, will likely show greater interest as the film is out longer, especially if there’s good word of mouth. Most importantly, though, Australia at least didn’t perform as badly as Transporter 3.
Cheers couple Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth will be reunited for MGM’s Fame remake. They’ll play employees of the performing arts high school alongside fellow TV vets Charles S. Dutton and Megan Mullaly, as well as original Fame student Debbie Allen.
Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald are to star in Martin Scorsese’s new HBO project, Boardwalk Empire, which will depict the origins of Atlantic City.
And speaking of HBO series, Rome may conclude on the big screen.

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Hollywood

Paul Schrader Books for Bollywood. Trade Roughage 11/25/08

By Christopher Campbell posted 11 months ago

Paul Schrader is reportedly done with Hollywood. His next film will be a Bollywood production titled Extreme City. The action pic will be a cross-cultural story, though probably more Bollywood-style than Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire; it won’t be a masala film but is likely to have a few more musical numbers.
Universal is producing a French-language biopic of Serge Gainsbourg, which will neither be animated in claymation nor with Thunderbird-like puppets, despite what you might suspect after seeing Variety’s choice of photo. It will instead star real people, including Laetitia Casta, who is to portray Brigitte Bardot.
Lionsgate has acquired the LeBron James doc More Than a Game, which will be released next fall accompanied by marketing tie-ins from Nike, Coca-Cola, State Farm and the NBA.
In a much more respectable marketing tie-in, The Soloist has been connected to a food drive called Feed the Need, which will collect 1 million pounds of food by December 15 — four months before the film opens.
The moviegoing demographics for this week’s “stuffed” Thanksgiving schedule are to be as follows: older woman to Australia; younger women to Four Christmases; youngest women/girls to Twilight; all men to Transporter 3; kids to Bolt. And some lucky people in 19 cities who don’t mind sold out shows will go see Milk.