Pop Culture Roundup 19 / The Superslice

It’s Pop Culture Roundup 19. What you want, Baby, I got. What you need, you know I got it.

Almost two years on the dot of the last episode of LOST, screenwriter and producer Damon Lindelof sits down with Josh Topolsky from The Verge and has a refreshingly frank and engrossing conversation about Prometheus, LOST, the misnomer of “prequels”, the joy of sci-fi and its central themes, the double-edged sword of narrative ambiguity, and the efficacy and benefits of viral content.

Lindelof reveals the central motivation of LOST:

I always just felt like the ending that we were shooting for was gonna be one that dealt with sort of the emotional reality of the characters and gave some fundamental explanation for, “What did these people get out of this plane crash?” And the answer, as corny as it sounds, was the one that appealed to me the most which was…each other. That’s what they got. They were all fucked up, sad individuals who were lost in their own lives and hated themselves and somehow they found some fundamental community amongst each other. If they hadn’t met each other and spent all that time on the island then they would have never been able to forgive themselves for their past sins and break through to some sort of level of self-awakening and forgiveness. It is new-age-y, it is hokey, but it’s the story I wanted to tell.

A featurette with gorgeous Charlize Theron talking about her Prometheus character Meredith Vickers.

The Hollywood Reporter with Return of the ‘Alien’ Mind. A nice piece on one of Hollywood’s greatest (and most elusive) directors, Ridley Scott breaks his silence on his complex 3D space odyssey Prometheus, revealing never-seen footage — and a rarely seen candor. Check out their galleries for new content from the film.

New posters and TV spots for The Dark Knight Rises. Empire also has some new images.

One of the big ones of the week; an exciting teaser trailer for the next James Bond installment, Skyfall.

A TV spot for The Amazing Spider-Man.

Comedic King and eternal wise-ass Bill Murray hosts a tour of Moonrise Kingdom. Some nice graphic design for the film; alternative posters.

Camp Ivanhoe Cadence Medley (Mothersbaugh)- Peter Jarvis and His Drum Corps via Pitchfork

The Dwarves of Snow White and the Huntsman, a featurette for Snow White and the Huntsman.

A TV spot for Total Recall.

Another buzz magnet of the week, the first official trailer for the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby. We see the return of Baz Luhrmann who hasn’t really had a hit since 2001’s Moulin Rouge!. Tonally, I think it looks awful, from the trailer; it seems utterly overproduced like testosterone-filled anime, a Zack Snyder vehicle. It’s just not what I imagine when I think of the quiet classic by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I mean, how is the disturbing conclusion going to play out with all of the indulgent eye candy and fanfare (special effects). We will see…

Speaking of returns to filmmaking, here is the cryptic trailer for The Master by this generation’s Terrence Malick, the just as achingly slow and methodical, Paul Thomas Anderson. It will almost be six years since There Will Be Blood, when this latest film is released. BlackBook has some nice images from the set.

This French film, Polisse, looks intense. The daily grind for the police officers of the Child Protection Unit – taking in child molesters, busting underage pickpockets and chewing over relationship issues at lunch; interrogating abusive parents, taking statements from children, confronting the excesses of teen sexuality, enjoying solidarity with colleagues and laughing uncontrollably at the most unthinkable moments. Knowing the worst exists and living with it. How do these police officers balance their private lives and the reality they confront every working day? Fred, the group’s hypersensitive wild card, is going to have a hard time facing the scrutiny of Melissa, a photographer on a Ministry of the Interior assignment to document the unit.