Evening

Todays update is stacked like Pam Anderson so lets get to it.

The new Interview pics now have their own home on np.com so you can visit them (bring a fruitbasket) here. We’re still waiting for scans of the interview and the name of the photographer so please, someone, hook us up!

The 2nd round Nat Pic Battle voting is now closed. We started with 128 pics and now we’re down to 32. We’re now switching to 4 matchups instead of 8 as you can see by heading over here and voting for the first 3rd round matchups.

The Garden State release is fast approaching and here is Mike with some news:

Anyway, on the Garden State website (http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/gardenstate/) they now have the teaser trailer up on the site, and after you sit through the autoplay, three shaded squares appear to the left, and clicking on them brings up two movie scenes and one bit of interview with Nat about the movie. They’re each about 30 seconds long.

And our handyman Mart was kind enough to upload that short interview for download here.

Speaking of Garden State, that Anatomy of a Scene segment was encoded by Jeff and brought to our attention by Pasha. We’ve got the 51mb clip up on the site for you leechers to enjoy. Download from here or here.

Stacy sent this casting info from the Hollywood Reporter:

Owen Wilson is in negotiations to star opposite Natalie Portman in “The Smoker,” a romantic drama to be directed by Richard Linklater.

The Paramount Pictures project follows a teacher at a private girls’ school where one of his students develops a crush on him, invites him home to dinner and asks to marry him, with the encouragement of her eccentric parents.

The film is based on a David Schickler short story that originally appeared in the Summer 2000 Debut Fiction issue of the New Yorker, and quickly was snapped up by Paramount-based producer Scott Rudin.

Still not sold on Wilson in the part but I think it’ll be a great role for Natalie.

Natalie seems to be back narrating again and Brian sends word:

On HBO, there is going to be a documentary on a Jewish woman and her journey to the 1936 Olympics. It is going to be done by the documentary production company called Black Canyon Productions. It is called Hitlers Pawn and i hear tell that it is going to be narrated by Natalie Portman. I can’t seem to find air dates, but at least i gave you the heads up. More info to come.

Stacy also sent word that Natalie was named one of the hottest bachelorettes by People. I think you have to be an AOL member to view this link though.

And finally, some more info from Closer, found on the IMDB boards by the temptress, Amidoll.

1. Very stagebound. It’s like a play on film. Four characters, and four characters ONLY, talking and talking and talking.
2. Unlikeable characters. All four characters are needy, manipulative and vengeful. There’s not a single one to root for in the bunch.
3. Although Clive’s bare butt and a brief side flash of Natalie’s breast as she flashes Clive are the only bits of nudity, this movie is VERY sexually graphic. Given the explicit Internet sex chat, they’ll be lucky to get an R rating. Then again, it’s Julia and Mike Nichols. If politics come into sway, the MPAA may overlook the aggressive and very adult sexuality here. But still, it’ll be a hard R.
4. Julia’s not in the movie very much compared to Jude and Natalie.

As for Oscar noms.

1. Natalie is worthy of a nom. Based on screen time and story space devoted to her, she’s the female lead. But actors and their reps are allowed to decide which categories they want to be in. She’d have a better shot at Supporting, in my opinion. And her performance is so good, she’d definitely deserve it.
2. Julia is definitely supporting in the movie, but based on the fact that she’s Julia, she’ll be in the running for lead. But I don’t think she’d deserve a nomination.
3. Jude would definitely be in the lead category, and even though his character is very unlikeable, I think his performance was very good. He’s got a chance at Best Actor.
4. Clive absolutely, 100% deserves a Supporting nod, and that’s the category he belongs in anyway.

Just in case there was any doubt, that should clear it up. Closer is a film for adults and will easily be Natalie’s most mature film to date.

Clive Owen’s butt, Natalie’s breast…what more could you want in a film?

Ok, I think that about covers it.

Tomorrow I’ll have a new poll up, hopefully we’ll have the Interview interview (malkovich? malkovich!) and Kris will be updating you all about the future (or lack thereof?) of np.com.

Until then…