Thursday, March 8, 2012

And Now, Darren Aronofsky Directs J. Lo In A Commercial For Kohl's

When Darren Aronofsky directed a sumptuous Revlon commercial for mascara last year I called it his "least-daring work to date," but now comes a new project to trump that dubious accomplishment. Behold, the Oscar-nominated Black Swan director's gripping ad for Kohl's department store featuring J. Lo singing and dancing to a Kiki Dee cover song, a video that makes Jessica Biel plumping her lashes look like Requiem for a Dream. Kohl's "Classic. Remixed" from H.K. McCANN on Vimeo. Oh, Darren. Can we go back to those meth PSAs and pretend this never happened? [MediaBistro via Vulture]

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Hollywood date with '8'

Bruce Cohen and Dustin Lance Black Matt Bomer, left, has Jeff Zarillo, Paul Katemi and Matthew Morrison roaring with laughter. David Boies and his stage avatar George Clooney at Saturday's event. AFER's Chad Griffin and Bryan Singer Ty Burrell and Christine Lahti Martin Sheen reads Ted Olson's lines onstage. Paris Barclay and Rich Ross George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Jane Lynch and Kevin Bacon were among those who staged a reenactment of some of the highlights of California's case to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage via a reading of "8," Dustin Lance Black's play that incorporates actual testimony from the trial with personal recollections from the two couples seeking to wed. The Saturday benefit, which raised about $2 mil at the Wilshire Ebell for the American Foundation for Equal Rights -- the org of political and entertainment industry activists backing the case -- was also streamed on YouTube, generating more than 210,000 views. "The American people are going to see this, and they are going to have the same feelings in their hearts as we all do, and it is going to make a huge difference," said Ted Olson, the lead attorney who is pursuing the case along with David Boies. The crescendo of the play is in the trial's closing arguments, when Sheen, as Olson, cannily uses the words of David Blankenhorn, one of the witnesses for Prop. 8 proponents who inadvertently ended up helping the plaintiffs. He admitted having said that the day that same-sex marriage is permitted, "we will be more American." "I wish I was that good," Olson quipped after watching Sheen. "He can do it in a way that you can't do it in court, but the fact is that it is the words that made the difference." Contact Ted Johnson at ted.johnson@variety.com

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Who Won Top Chef?

Top Chef [SPOILER ALERT: The following story reveals the winner of Top Chef Season 9. Read at your own risk.]After trekking through Texas and enduring more all-nighters and meat challenges than you can imagine, Paul Qui and Sarah Grueneberg faced off for the last time for the Top Chef Season 9 title.Top Chef's Lindsay: I didn't take enough risksNo sooner had Lindsay gotten the boot, Tom and Padma reveal the final challenge: create a four-course tasting menu in the restaurant of your dreams. Some of the eliminated chefs from the whole season - including He Who Could Not Butcher, Tyler - along with master chefs Barbara Lynch and Marco Canora, arrive to cook a dish in hopes of being Paul's and Sarah's sous chefs. Each pick four after a blind tasting. Paul chooses Barbara, Ty-lor, "Malibu" Chris and Keith. Sarah chooses Nyesha, Tyler ("I'm not letting you butcher," she tells him), Heather and Grayson.Sarah, obviously, has her hands full with Tyler (who's wearing his trademarked Chef Tyler Stone chef jacket, natch), but Paul is concerned that none of his sous chefs are familiar with his Asian style. He has to nix crab after discovering the meat is funky, but fortunately he has prawns as a backup. The judges and the chefs' families split into groups for dining.Top Chef's Beverly: I definitely felt the fan supportHere's what they served:Paul, Qi RestaurantFirst course: chawanmushi, edamame, pea shoots and spot prawnsSecond course: grilled sea bass with clam dashi, picked radishes and mushroomsThird course: congee with scrambled eggs, uni, kale and smoked albacoreFourth course: coconut ice cream, puffed rice, kumquats, mangosteen, Thai chili foam and jasmin geleeSarah, Monte Verde RestaurantFirst course: squid ink tagliatelle, spot prawns and cocunutSecond course: rye-crusted steelhead trout with fennel sauce, pickled beets and gras pistaThird course: braised veal cheeks with crispy sweetbread and polentaFourth course: hazelnut cake with kumquat and white chocolate ganacheTop Chef's Beverly: I definitely felt the fan supportAfter the first service, Sarah tries to fix her polenta for the second one and averts disaster when her fiancé tells her to check her fish because his had a bone in it. Paul, on the other hand, told Keith to fire off a bunch of chawanmushi and they end up overcooked, but he's forced to serve them.Overall, they both earn high praise - Padma calls Sarah's dessert the best she's ever had on the show - but most of the judges took issue with her sweetbread dish. Paul, expectedly, gets dinged for his second chawanmushi service.Following a long deliberation, Padma crowns... Paul Top Chef! (This is his ninth challenge win of the season, by the way.)Paul, cool as ever, takes it all in stride, while his parents and girlfriend cry and celebrate. Sarah tearfully says she thinks she deserves to be Top Chef, but it wasn't her day. What did you think of the finale? Did the right chef win?