Twilight Lover James Franco Incites Mass Hysteria At Actor's Studio

It appears that in between curating art shows, attending classes, finishing up work on his Three’s Company reboot and a very busy self-pleasure schedule, James Franco was able to sneak away for a taping of Inside the Actor’s Studio — and the audience was out of control. Screaming women, hundreds of rejected fans and one overworked guest who would have likely just slept through the entire presentation were he in the audience.

Franco, the Robert Pattinson for twentysomethings, was by all accounts one of the best guests to ever appear on the show. In addition to no doubt being his charming and affable self, the writer / actor / professional graduate student stayed an extra hour-and-a-half to speak with every student and fan in the joint, something that had not been done since first guest Paul Newman in 1994. Among the Franco-philes were a large number of women whose screams were so loud the regal James Lipton remarked, “17 years filming this show and I’ve never heard a sound like that before.”

It is unknown when the episode will air but don’t worry if you miss it, Franco likely has an avant-garde recreation of the experience in the works as we speak.

[ TMZ ]

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Kristen Stewart, Emma Watson And Three Other Actors Who Could Replace Emma Stone In 21 Jump Street

Emma Stone recently announced that due to her involvement as a web-slinger’s love interest in the forthcoming Spiderman she would be unable to join the cast of Jonah Hill’s 21 Jump Street remake. Now, it’s hard to be sure if the red-headed upstart is really jumping ship to play Peter Parker’s non-red-headed gal or if she just happened to catch The A-Team OnDemand, but here are five other actors that would make the perfect Officer Judy Hoffs. It’s time to go back to school kids.

Kristen Stewart: This is a girl who would make a great undercover high school student any day of the week. She fidgets, she has ticks, her facial expressions are at times baffling and she never stops playing with her hair. Added bonus, this little lady proved she could handle a motorcycle in that independent vampire series.

Emma Watson: Unlike every other actor her age this girl actually went to school, in fact she is still in school. That Brown University education will have her acing every exam while still managing to pull down the bad guys Hermione Granger style.

Kristin Chenoweth: If anything, this singing siren may have to stretch to look old enough to play a high school student. She did prove in Glee however that she can hang with the bad boys and handle her liquor so who better to help clean up some out of control teens?

Holly Robinson Peete: This woman has yet to age so why not have her reprise the role. Since her Jump Street days she hasn’t done much other than hang with Mr. Cooper and Mr. Trump, so a comeback is definitely in the cards. Unless…

Johnny Depp: Remake role reversal. Show us what you got Johnny.

[ MTV Movies Blog ]

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On DVD: What 9 Awful-Accented Actors Could Learn From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

There’s lots to love about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, out this week on Blu-ray from MGM Home Entertainment. The “Child Catcher” character continues to scar generation after generation generation of kids (including Marilyn Manson, who named his Smells Like Children album after the creepy guy’s catchphrase), a handful of catchy ditties by the legendary Sherman Brothers will lodge themselves into your brain, and of course, there’s that really cool flying car. (OK, yes, the 1968 special effects probably haven’t aged all that well, but they looked good on crappy 1970s TV sets.)

Perhaps the film’s wisest move was to have American star Dick Van Dyke speak in his own voice, despite the fact that he’s playing a Brit. After all, Van Dyke’s insanely thick and ludicrous cockney accent in Mary Poppins just a few years previous instantly became a pop-culture punchline. (As recently as 2003, Empire magazine readers crowned it the second-worst movie accent of all time, behind Sean Connery’s Irish brogue in The Untouchables.)

So in salute to the talented Van Dyke knowing when to say when, let’s take a look at other performers who weren’t so wise:

· The cast of Bram Stoker’s Dracula
In a lesser movie, Gary Oldman’s slithery Eastern European accent might have raised an eyebrow or two, but even his efforts can’t hold a candle to Winona Ryder and especially Keanu Reeves playing two of the big screen’s least-convincing British people.

· Julia Roberts in Charlie Wilson’s War
Like Reeves and Ryder, Roberts embarrassed herself with her attempt to pass herself off as an Irish maid in the bleak Mary Reilly, but the Georgia native had no excuse for her supposedly Texan twang in this overbearing comedy-drama. As a Southerner herself, she should have an ear for the region’s many different accent; the fact that the woman she was playing was still alive — to be listened to and recorded — should have helped, as well.

· Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Whereas Van Dyke’s non-accent in Chitty Chitty can be forgiven since, among other things, he’s playing the lead in a kiddie musical, Costner was portraying a British folk hero, so speaking in a flat Yank voice in the middle of Sherwood Forest made for a particularly oddball choice.

· Ewan McGregor as an American in anything
Bad accents travel both ways across the Atlantic — Scotsman McGregor is a fine actor, but in films like Amelia and The Men Who Stare at Goats, he proves himself singularly incapable of sounding remotely North American.

· Sam Worthington in Terminator: Salvation
Same thing, only he’s Australian. And not half the actor McGregor is.

· Olympia Dukakis in Steel Magnolias and Guy Pearce in Traitor
Getting back to awful Southern accents, these two turns by otherwise capable performers made me want to stuff my ear canals with corn pone.

· Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond
The Academy loves acting it can quantify — gain or lose 100 pounds, bury your attractive features in unflattering makeup, and they’ll sit up and take notice. While DiCaprio gave a much more nuanced performance in that year’s The Departed, the Oscar people instead nominated him for his overblown attempt at Afrikaans-inflected English. He gets the pronunciation of “blecks” right, but that’s about it.

· Kevin Kline in Paris Match
Is this fine actor’s Pepe Le Pew accent a parody of exaggerated French-y talk or merely an example of it? Joo weel heff too dee-side four joseff.

Tagged: blood diamond, bram stoker's dracula, charlie wilson's war, chitty chitty bang bang, dick van dyke, ewan mcgregor, gary oldman, guy pearce, julia roberts, keanu reeves, kevin costner, kevin kline, leonardo dicaprio, olympia dukakis, paris match, robin hood prince of thieves, sam worthington, steel magnolias, terminator salvation, traitor, winona ryder

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