When Jason Schwartzman isn't busy sneaking around Brooklyn for Bored To Death, he's nuts on Sesame Street, donning a silk kimono suit, satin gloves, and some seriously gravity-defying hair to play the Chairman "Superchef" of the Cast Iron Cook competition. He even gratuitously bites into a bell pepper! It's a thousand times better than the American remake of the Japanese original.
Watch Jason Schwartzman's Zany Iron Chef Sendup On Sesame Street
Video: Jason Schwartzman Thinks You Should Give Up Meat For A Bit, David Chang Does Not
Jason Schwartzman would like you to consider not eating meat for a day, a month or even the rest of your life. In a new short for Plate to Planet the Bored To Death actor narrates the day in the life of a suburban office drone who, thanks to helpful talking heads on his TV, radio and computer comes to realization that vegetarian tacos can taste good, too. And they can, but is cutting back on meat really the way to stop factory farms?
Gothamist On Location With... Bored To Death
Yesterday, we stopped by the most Brooklyn place in all of Brooklyn: the Bored to Death set, which is actually the least Brooklyn place in all of the show. It's set up at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and inside you'll find—amongst other things—the West Village apartment of George Christopher (played by Ted Danson). In the upcoming third season, which Jonathan Ames & Co. are filming now, you'll find that George has opened a restaurant on Jane Street called George on Jane, and has moved to an apartment above his new venture. (You can see photos of the envy-inducing, albeit fake, piece of real estate in the gallery above.) We sat down to talk with the real Jonathan Ames, and the show's "Jonathan Ames," played by the incredibly kind and charming Jason Schwartzman—who started things off with this linguistic time stamp: "Let's note that this interview is being shot and recorded on a vintage Flip cam. It's kind of a collector's item." Here's what we learned:
45th New York Film Festival Begins
Tonight marks the beginning of the Film Society at Lincoln Center's 45th annual New York Film Festival and oh what a jam-packed fest it is. A panel of film critics chose 30 of the best new international movies to show to New York's discerning audiences and they picked hometown director Wes Anderson's newest, (which also comes out in theaters this weekend) to open the festival.
Pencil This In
THEATER: The National Asian American Theatre Company is known for creating adventurous theater with an all-Asian American performing plays that often have little to do with Asian Americans. Their newest production is Blind Mouth Singing by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas; it uses a watery set and live music to tell a story of an “overly strict matriarch; her young son Reiderico who sneaks out of the house to visit his best friend who lives at the bottom of a well; her sister who treats syphilis patients in the open-air market; and her older son who bullies everything within his reach.” Martin Denton writes: “Authentic magic happens only rarely in the theatre… I'm talking about those rare wonderful moments when we see one thing on stage with our eyes, but our hearts tell us we're seeing something entirely different. Blind Mouth Singing is filled with such moments of magic.” John Del Signore
Ed Burns at The Delancey
Of all the actors with bands (Jared Leto, Adrian Grenier, Jason Schwartzman) we had our money on Ed Burns to be in a pretty rockin' one. He recently played The Delancey with his band The Blue Jackets, and you can watch one of their songs from that night right here:
Weekend Movie Guide
The MOMA presents Miramax: 25 Years, showcasing such favorites as City of God, an intriguing and fast-paced look at Brazil’s slum gang wars, Friday @8:30 PM; Kieslowski’s classic Blue, White, and Red, starting Saturday @4:30 PM; Kill Bill, Vol. I on Sunday @ 2:00 PM and Kill Bill, Vol. 2 on Sunday at 5:00 PM.
Oscars Commentary 2004
The show opens with Sean Connery introducing a montage of films, "Blah blah blah film blah humanity blah blah." Luckily, he is not wearing a puffy shirt, the way he did last year. Gothamist happens to like the Chuck Workman film montages. Unfortunately, it's not a Chuck Workman film montage but a film with Billy Crystal inserted into various Oscar nominated films from 2003. There's too much naked Billy, from the T3 spoof to Something There's Gotta Give. Lesson to anyone: Naked Billy Crystal can maybe be funny once. But more than that, people will demand their money back. He does mention A-Rod going to the Yankees and Michael Moore makes an appearance in the film, but still, it's going to be a long goddamn night.
Casting Corner: Catwoman & Shopgirl
Steve Martin's novella, Shopgirl, will start filming in mid-October, with Martin playing Ray, Claire Danes as glove salesgirl Mirabelle, and Jason Schwartzman as her feckless but like-aged suitor, Jeremy. Originally Jimmy Fallon was mentioned as a possible candidate for the role of Jeremy, but may have had to drop out, due to his Saturday Night Live commitments as well as filming Taxi with Queen Latifah and Gisele Bundchen here in NY. In this case, Gothamist is pleased with the casting Schwartzman, because it means that Max Fischer meets Angela Chase. [Via Variety]
Dating Dish
- L.A. Times reports: "Designer Tara Subkoff's Hollywood connections must rival Kevin Bacon's. Reese Witherspoon came out to support the designer who was once her roommate. And Wes Anderson, Subkoff's current beau, was able to reel in pals Anjelica Huston, Jason Schwartzman, Sheryl Crow and Owen Wilson."


