Celebrity Sightings

Austinist has the scoop on the Movies in the Park screenings at Republic Square Park this fall. The movies all start around sundown and admission is free. The series opened last night with Grease, a movie I saw for the first time at a drive-in (on Metairie Road ... it's a strip mall now).

But this year, Movies in the Park isn't limiting itself merely to movies. If you saw Grease last night, you were treated to live music beforehand from an oldies band. Live music, Austin, pretty standard stuff ... but look at these upcoming listings:

Saturday 9/9: The Muppet Movie ... with an appearance from the film's composer, Paul Williams

Saturday 10/7: Rock 'n' Roll High School ... with an appearance by actress P.J. Soles (as well as live music, but no actual Ramones are involved)

Did I mention this is all free?

Unfortunately, the Austin Parks Foundation hasn't updated their Web site with the fall series, and I can't find much information on the Rolling Roadshow page, so the Austinist article has the most complete info at this time. If anyone tracks down a full listing of the films, let me know.

See, I told y'all that you should go see the Howard Hawks double-feature at The Paramount ... apparently Ball of Fire and His Girl Friday draw all kinds of film geeks. My friend Dipu spotted Quentin Tarantino at the double-feature last night. Too bad he didn't get proof, but I believe him, as Tarantino is probably doing Grind House stuff right now. I suspect Dipu's photo would have looked a lot like the blurry shots of Tarantino I took at QT Fest this spring, because the man never stands still for a minute.

I was deciding last night whether to see TNT Jackson and remembered suddenly that the movie had been discussed at QT Fest (probably because of its star Jeannie Bell), and that Tarantino did a very funny rendition of the movie's tag line: "TNT Jackson ... she'll put you in traction!"

So my guess is that if you're a Tarantino fan and want to spot him in Austin, tonight's midnight showing of TNT Jackson at Alamo Downtown might be a good bet. Besides, the Weird Wednesday movies have free admission. If I weren't such a wimp (and didn't have to get up early), I'd be there. As it is, I am going to see Ball of Fire tonight sans celebrity sightings.

Updated: Chris Garcia at Austin Movie Blog was there last night and reports Tarantino as saying, "There couldn't be a better double feature!" (And of course, Kevin Smith loves Hawks too. What's next, Mike Judge remaking Only Angels Have Wings?)

I've been covering film news for Cinematical for about a year now, and before that I wrote about film on Celluloid Eyes. And in my deep dark past (aka college days), I used to cover local and entertainment news for various publications.

One thing I hadn't ever done was to cover a red carpet event. I didn't know much about the red carpet world, apart from what I occasionally saw if I turned on the Oscars too early. We don't have cable and I rarely watch entertainment news on TV. "Red carpet" didn't seem like something a print reporter would benefit from attending, which is why I turned down a chance to cover a red-carpet event at Fantastic Fest last year for Zathura. (Also, I found out about it 10 minutes beforehand, and had no idea what I'd say to Jon Favreau.)

But Kevin Smith came to town for the Clerks II premiere a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to cover the event. Natalie Schuessler, the media contact at Austin Film Society (which sponsored the premiere), told me that space was tight for the actual premiere screening, but I could attend a press screening earlier in the week and then participate in the red carpet session with Smith before the premiere. I thought this would be an excellent way to get a taste of the world of red carpet interviews.

If you want a chance to see and hear a first-rate film actress in person, and maybe even ask questions, BookPeople can help you out. Diane Ladd will be reading from and signing her book Spiraling Through the School of Life this Saturday, June 3, at 5 pm.

Diane Ladd is the type of character actress whom you've surely seen in something -- she started acting for TV in 1959 and still takes TV and film roles today. She's been in The Wild Angels, Chinatown, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (above, with the beehive), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and Rambling Rose ... and in Wild at Heart and Citizen Ruth she played Laura Dern's character's mother. She is in fact Dern's real-life mom. I don't know much about her book, but I believe I'd enjoy hearing her talk about her film career.

If you're not up for an in-person appearance, Diane Ladd's Web site contains a lot of fun photos, including one of her from The Wild Angels with her then-husband Bruce Dern.