Dancing Queen

This weekend at the cinema is all about Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight is receiving rave reviews from the top critics (EW.com).

(Heath Ledger, Dark Knight)

Our editorial department screened it earlier this week and our one tip is to see it in IMAX for the jaw dropping scenes of the city. You actually feel like you’re flying with Batman. That being said, apart from the amazing Heath Ledger performance, there’s a whole lot of action without the strong story of the first Christopher Nolan installment. So….for more summer fun, and until you can get into the IMAX theater, spend your time with a singing dancing Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia.

(Amanda Seyfried, Mamma Mia)

(Meryl Streep)

I think the film isn’t getting the raves of Batman, but I had a lot more fun watching Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper in Greece. And nothing tops Christine Baranski!
-Greg

2 Insiders

Fashion’s biggest behind the scenes players have the cameras turned on them for 2 very interesting in depth profiles.

(Agyness Deyn for POP: muse to both Katie Grand and Mario Testino)

The stars of the photography and styling worlds are usually kept behind the scenes, but it was so interesting to read about 2 of most important players in their respective worlds. Both are involved in 2 of the magazines we contribute to here at Starworks.

(1) Katie Grand is a stylist tour de force for brands like Louis Vuitton but she is the creative everything force behind one of the industry’s most respected fashion superglossy bibles, POP. Read Guardian.co.uk.

(2) Mario Testino shoots the top celebrities for the Visionaire stable of magazines, V & VMan. Though it’s never our policy to “Gossip” about our publications on this site, Mario already let it out of the bag who is gracing the cover of the Winter VMAN sending millions of teenage girls and boys hearts a flutter. Read TheIndependent.com.

-Greg

Ben Kingsley is a Badass

(Ben. The alpha-male this season)

Sir Ben Kingsley has been playing quite the lady-killer in his recent films. I must say I saw both The Wackness (released early July so watch out for Netflix now) and the upcoming Elegy this August. He manages to bond with young hot ladies in both. In The Wackness, Kingsley’s character is a “Dead-head” acid-dropping therapist that makes a cosmic connection with Mary Kate Olsen’s Phish loving hippie.. and yes, they end up dry humping in a phone booth. Quite the funny scene. Perhaps he’s got his mojo on from the fact he just wed a Brazilian woman 30 years his junior. Go Ben!

(The Wackness Cast. Hanging with his crew: Method Man, Olsen, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby)

His upcoming film, Elegy, is based on a much much more cerebral story between college professor and curious student. I know, I know, it sounds cliche. But the script is smart. Based off a Philip Roth Novel. And what you think is the beginning of a shallow fling evolves into something that transforms both people emotionally. Life’s little curveballs!

(Elegy. Kingsley & Penelope Cruz)

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Ben play this role very much. He expressed layers of vulnerability, joy, depth, and even panic while addressing his mortality issues. Penelope did a great job at “bringing it”. Keep an eye open for Elegy in theaters August 8th.

Jenny Lewis Solo Again

(Jenny Lewis just banged out her new record in 3 weeks)

Locked up in Van Nuys California, Jenny Lewis recently got back from her world tour with Rilo Kiley and holed up in a studio to make her next solo record. The mantra was pure and simple. The recordings were all analog, no Pro-tools. No embellishments.

She invited members of her own family — i.e. sister Ana on strings, father Eddie Gordon on bass harp. Then she invited music friends like Elvis Costello for a duet (”Carpetbaggers”), M. Ward, Benji Hughes, Zooey Deschanel (of She & Him), and a TON of other musicians for some new flavor.

(Rabbit Fur Coat — Jenny’s last solo record. A Starworks favorite)

Acid Tongue is her follow-up to Rabbit Fur Coat, her last solo record, a collection of beautiful songs and narratives. The title track, “Rabbit Fur Coat” is a beautiful hummable short story in itself. The new album will be released September 2008 and we hear it has a whole new body of good tales, with songs like “The Next Messiah” and “Jack Killed Mom”.

Here’s some dates were she’ll be performing this September:

9/16 – Fox Theatre- Boulder, CO
9/17 – Ogden Theatre- Denver, CO
9/19 - Epiphany Church, Chicago IL
9/20 – Anchor Inn- Omaha, NE*
9/21 – Ryman Auditorium- Nashville, TN*
9/22 – Bijou Theatre - Knoxville, TN*
9/23 – George’s Majestic Fayetteville, AK*
9/24 – The Lyric Theatre - Oxford, MS*
9/25 – Cain’s Ballroom - Tulsa, OK*
9/26 – Austin City Limits - Austin, TX
10/2 - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue- Washington, DC
10/4 – Apollo Theatre- New York, NY

(*with Conor Oberst )

Miu Miu Fall/Winter 08-09

New Campaign is out!

Miu Miu’s website has freshly posted their images of Fall/Winter 08-09 collection on MiuMiu.com. We love casting for Miu Miu because of their intent to find tough women that have a fragile edge to them. Last season, we showed you Kirsten Dunst for Miu Miu in her Moulin Rouge theater-esque glory.

This season, the vision by Miuccia Prada hints at an undisclosed world. The surreal place in time is a modern day metropolis of LA, but still an alternate reality. Miuccia’s campaigns tend to put women in scenarios that overlap intellect, imagination, and divergence.

The heroine of this series is a woman we don’t get to see much here in the States, Vanessa Paradis. I sorta fell in love with her when I first saw Girl on a Bridge, a cute little french film that shows us, well, a girl on a bridge ready to say goodbye to the cruel world — before her soulmate strolls into her life. The relationship is as dysfunctional as Maggie Gyllenhall’s character in Secretary but just as complimentary, thrilling, and complete. You’re going to have to watch the trailer Girl on a Bridge to see what I mean.

In essence, Miu Miu’s new protagonist is highly stylized and powerfully independent. In real life, Vanessa has been entertaining since she was 7 years old (appearing on French TV show L’Ecole des Fans). In 1989, she won the César for Most Promising Actress in the film Noces Blanches, and has put out several records (one which spawned a #1 single in 15 different countries). Keep in mind she collaborated with Serge Gainsbourg on the album Variations sur le Même t’aime in the 90’s. She is still traveling the world with her new set of songs released late last year.

Photography by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.