famous people talking

I've been flipping through old magazines recently. Here are some memorable quotes and anecdotes that I found:

1. "I spent about a week at Joshua Tree. You go to the desert, and it's dead. It's just a severe landscape. It's like, okay, this is going to be here a lot longer than I am, and I'm a blink. Am I thrilled about X-Men? Absolutely. Can I take it too seriously? No, 'cause I’m outta here.”

—actor Ben Foster on how he spent his vacation after he finished filming 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, in which he had only a few scenes as Angel, and 2007's long-delayed Alpha Dog, which had a brief theatrical run, thereby increasing Foster's status as "a blink" (but unlike one-hit wonder Charlene, that trip to the desert does make it sound like Foster's "been to me")

2. "John wasn't really a dater at that time [1976]. I'd gone over to his house three times to study for the screen test with him, and I was there until one in the morning, and he never made any moves. I thought, 'This is the first guy I've met who's so cute and so nonsexual.' He was just very childlike. He liked to skip around the back of the set holding hands."

—actress P.J. Soles (Halloween, Stripes), on the 25th anniversary of Brian De Palma’s Carrie, not insinuating at all that her costar, John Travolta, has been in the closet for a quarter-century, so stop reading between the lines, gossip mongers

3. "Schwartzman ... tells me ... about a spill he took that morning, falling butt-first down a staircase at a Ramada Inn. (He jokes that maybe he was being punished—he took the tumble just after gleefully displaying to the members of his band, Phantom Planet, a laminated sign from their room. It warned of the strict penalties for stealing linens and was illustrated by a cartoon robber making off with a basket of whites. Schwartzman, amused, stole the sign intead.)”

—from a 2002 Premiere article about actor-musician Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, I Heart Huckabees), the son of Rocky's Talia Shire and the nephew of Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola and, in general, a guy who's most likely never had to struggle to make ends meet, unlike the hotel maid or maintenance person who had to replace that sign after Schwartzman stole it

4. "If someone came in with a great chord change for a song or a great rhythm or a great groove, by the time it was finished, everybody had jizzed all over it, and it had become a real community piece of property."

—Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis describing the recording of their most recent album, 2006's Stadium Arcadium

And here's a picture I recently found that amuses me since it looks like Beverly Hills, 90210's Brian Austin Green is going to be doing some unloading—or, as Anthony Kiedis might say, "creating community property"—if his lunch companion continues stroking his crotch in broad daylight:

Speaking of Schwartzman and I Heart Huckabees (an awful segue, but let's keep moving), I don't know why those clips of director David O. Russell calling Lily Tomlin the C word and Tomlin proving herself worthy of lots of other expletives surfaced two and a half years after Huckabees came out, but I'll take any behind-the-scenes Hollywood screaming matches I can get. Tomlin telling everyone in the world to fuck off and Russell acting like a baby while telling Tomlin to stop acting like a baby are more entertaining than Huckabees itself, according to some people. I still haven't seen it.

George Clooney said in 1999 that he'd never again work with Russell, who directed Clooney in Three Kings, after watching him scream at crew members, kick and shove extras, and even grab Clooney by the throat during an argument. Those clips from Huckabees seem to back up Clooney's accusations that Russell's temper is out of control. When Huckabees came out in 2004, I read part of an article about Russell in which Clooney's stories were mentioned to him; his response was a very diplomatic "Fuck that guy!" What I love is that both Russell and Clooney are still friends with Mark Wahlberg, Clooney's costar in Three Kings and The Perfect Storm and part of the ensemble cast of Huckabees. I like imagining this recent Oscar nominee as the frustrated go-between ...

(Split screen: GEORGE CLOONEY calls MARK WAHLBERG. Wahlberg picks up the phone.)

WAHLBERG: Hello?

CLOONEY: Hey, Mark, it's George.

WAHLBERG: Hey, man. What's up?

CLOONEY: Not much. Just calling to see if you wanna come over and watch the game tonight.

WAHLBERG: Yeah, that sounds— ... Actually, I can't.

CLOONEY: Why not?

WAHLBERG: I'm doing something with a friend.

CLOONEY: Well, bring him along. (smirking) Or is it a her?

WAHLBERG: No. It's a him.

(There's an awkward pause.)

CLOONEY: Oh.

WAHLBERG: Yeah.

CLOONEY: I see.

WAHLBERG: You know, he's not all that bad.

CLOONEY: (raising his voice) Yeah, right!

WAHLBERG: It's true.

CLOONEY: Whatever. I'll talk to you later.

(Clooney hangs up. Full screen on Wahlberg as he puts down his phone. The camera dollies back to reveal DAVID O. RUSSELL sitting on Wahlberg's couch, reading the latest issue of People.)

RUSSELL: Was that him?

WAHLBERG: Yeah.

RUSSELL: Fuck that guy!

(Wahlberg sighs. Fade to black.)