BlackBook Magazine

Just a gentle reminder to register for BlackBook (it's free & brief) to enter our Tilda Swinton 'Burn After Reading' contest. You can win a bag o' Tilda DVDs and swag from the movie. Deadline is September 18. Sign up now, then go have a pleasant weekend.

After much talk and preproduction hell, the Coco Chanel biopic, Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel), is finally slated to begin filming. Unlike the Lifetime biopic on Coco, the Warner Bros. film painstakingly recreates Chanel's life. French gamine Audrey Tautou was cast last year to play the young designer, and she'll be clothed in costumes from the Chanel archive. Even Kaiser Karl Lagerfeld is set to supervise the recreation of key Coco pieces worn by the designer herself. The film will start a 12-week shoot on September 15 in Paris, aiming for a 2009 release. Possibly a lock on the best costume Oscar.

In a shocking coincidence, our September cover queen Tilda Swinton stars in the new Coen Brothers movie Burn After Reading. She plays a fiery lust-foil to George Clooney. The movie opens September 12; as an homage, we're offering a pile of Burn After Reading merchandise and a trio of Tilda movies to a randomly selected fortunate soul, chosen from all those who register for BlackBook (it's free!) between now and September 18. More details after the jump.

It used to be easy to think Woody Allen’s best years were behind him. Match Point changed that; not an altogether great film, but a good one, and enough to induce speculation about a possible late-career renaissance. After an interval of two abject stinkers (Scoop, Cassandra’s Dream), that expectation is belatedly, but joyously fulfilled with Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It’s easily Allen’s best film in a decade.

Ultra-creative Tilda Swinton’s brilliance extends not only to daring film choices, political stances and an unconventional home life, but also to her singular fashion sense. Ray Rogers charts the influence of the indie queen who infiltrated Hollywood.

“Amazing!” With a gasp of approval, Tilda Swinton places her delicate hands on the Chanel gold feather neckpiece that will eventually adorn her perfectly proportioned, alabaster frame at the BlackBookcover shoot. “It’s very regal,” she proclaims. “I just love it.” Avant-garde goddess. An icon of indie cinema. To some, the most beautiful woman on the planet. And, on this morning in Paris, fashion model. Just in from Milan, where she’s currently shooting the romantic drama Io sono l’amore, Swinton is exhausted from a late night of filming, but quickly becomes energized by the array of colors, cuts and styles of the fashion choices before her.

Can't wait to see the short film anthology New York, I Love You. In the follow-up to Paris, Je T'aime, a real grab-bag of directors give us their take on Gotham in 12 winsome shorts. Seasoned filmmakers Allen Hughes and Mira Nair join newcomers like Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson; even professional Tom Cruise voice-dubber Yvan Attal gets in on it. The film premieres in Toronto next month, and it should be in theaters by February.

Be afraid, be very afraid ... of the opera? Yes, when that most highbrow of musical experiences swan dives into the macabre with The Fly, a classical reimagining of cult film auteur David Cronenberg’s 1986 sci-fi terror masterpiece. The Fly buzzes into the Los Angeles Opera this month after a controversial Paris debut, directed by Cronenberg himself. That this Canadian iconoclast outraged with his first opera attempt is no surprise: he’s famed, to his chagrin, as the premier eminence of “body horror.” Everyone from cyberpunks to Chuck Palahniuk owes their nipple rings to Cronenberg’s transgression, so to see him collaborating with mainstream opera avatar Plácido Domingo (The Fly’s conductor) is, well, shocking.

Los Angeles has the best movie theaters in the entire country. Perhaps it’s because Hell A is the artery through which all of “The Industry” must pass; perhaps it’s the overabundance of set designers and over-the-top-producers in the area. Whatever the reason, it makes for a superfine moviegoing experience. Check out our top list of places to catch a flick, then rehash scene by scene over dinner.

1. Arclight + El Compadre
Arclight brings the hammer down on the rest of the wanna-be theaters in the Los Angeles arena. The train-station lobby tickertapes film selections -- though you won’t have to bother waiting in line, or even showing up early, because seats are individually reserved and purchased online.

Has anyone seen Ewan McGregor lately? No? Exactly. He's been riding motorcycles around the world and occasionally adopting a baby along the way. He's also making movies again and has nine flicks in the can for next year. But there's always time to shill for scents, right? Flip through any September glossy and you'll see the Scot -- scarfed, unshaven, gazed and hairy -- pitching his new fragrance for men by Davidoff called Adventure (available at Dillards!).

Todd Komarnicki may be known primarily around Hollywood as a producer (Elf, Meet Dave), but the man is without question a writer first and foremost. I spoke to him about his latest novel -- War, a searing, gut-wrenching tale about an unknown soldier fighting an unknown war. It's sometimes nauseating, sometimes, touching, always captivating. Here the author dishes on his inspirations, his intentions, and succeeding and failing in Hollywood.