Sebastian Stan = Paul Newman?

In case you haven't noticed, I've been a bit obsessed with Sebastian Stan lately. I've been trying to spread the love out in case you're getting sick and tired of me talking about him (and his amazing girlfriend Leighton Meester), but I keep finding more and more pictures and info about him that I simply must share that it's hard not to get excited and post it all right in a row. Anyways, I found these pics of Sebastian from a GQ spread earlier this year that had me intrigued. Sebastian, of course, looks gorgeous in the photos, but if you click on the first one and read the intro for the photo spread, you'll see that Paul Newman was an inspiration for the look and such. That's all fine and dandy (you can't do much better than emulating Paul Newman as a style icon) but I found it odd that the writer refers to Sebastian as a "dead ringer" for Newman. Really? At first, I had no clue where they were coming from. How could this odd looking, Romanian-born fellow be a "dead ringer" for the classically handsome, all-American Paul Newman? I then thought about their acting styles and abilities and came to the conclusion that they are actually quite similar in that regard. Newman was never exactly what you call a "comedian." Even in films as light and "carefree" as The Sting or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, he was still much better with the drama than anything else. And the same thing goes for Stan: the more episodes of Kings I see, the less I believe that he could ever headline a light, fluffy romantic comedy successfully. It's not exactly an insult, just an observation about the types of roles that suit them. Hell, even Meryl Streep can't do it all. Then I looked at these photos repeatedly and I slowly realized they must be on to something because I'm starting to buy this Newman lookalike thing. Granted, I don't think they're long lost twins born in different times or anything, but I can see where they are coming from. How about you? Do you see any similarities between the two or do you think they are worlds apart?

Random Top 10: Sexiest Movies Ever

Entertainment Weekly recently picked "The 50 Sexiest Movies Ever" in their November 28th issue and, predictably, the list sucks. Major balls. Not only does it skew newer (as their "...Greatest Ever" lists always do) but some of their entries don't make any sense at all. His Girl Friday at #2? Really? I know it's been awhile (and I'm really not it's biggest fan), but I seriously don't remember anything that screamed "sex!" at me. Once at #11?! You mean that movie in which the main guy tries to woo the girl in the first scene, finds out she's married, gives up and spends the rest of the time making his average indie music? Yeah, I couldn't keep my erection down during that one. Since EW's choices sucked so much, I have decided to offer my picks for the 10 sexiest movies ever.

10. It Happened One Night (1934)
Coming at the beginning of the Hays Production Code, which limited the amount of "morally objectionable" content on screen to absolutely zero, It Happened One Night managed to sneak in almost undetected by the censors. Not only is the witty repartee brimming with sexual tension, but the individual moments (The Walls of Jericho, Clark Gable taking off his shirt, the dreamy moment in the hay, Claudette Colbert trying to catch a ride) make it even steamier.

9. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
Sure, Brick (Paul Newman) is a sexually confused, alcoholic who wants nothing to do with his wife-in-heat, Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor), but Cat on a Hot Tin Roof captures the sweaty, lusty atmosphere of a hot summer day in the Deep South unlike any film I've ever seen. Through Maggie's constant pleading, every slight touch and gaze between her and her unresponsive husband radiates more lustiness than you could possibly imagine.

8. The Lady Eve (1941)
Barbara Stanwyck practically glows with sexual prowess everytime she appears on-screen, no matter the genre, but she was never more lust-worthy than when she seduces a nerdy Henry Fonda (who was just returning from a year long expedition studying snakes in the Amazon) in her cabin, purring into his ear and slowly running her fingers through his hair. This is one sexy scene that would straighten any anaconda.

7. Romeo and Juliet (1968)
I've already talked about this one at length, but let me just reiterate: forbidden love + tight 16th century pants + Leonard Whiting's naked butt = Hot, Hot, Hot.

6. Black Book (2007)
Carice van Houten is a sex goddess. Whether she's being rescued by a hunky sailor or saving her ass from the concentration camp by sleeping with a high-ranking Nazi, van Houten always knows how to turn on the audience in Black Book. I should know: that first sex scene between her and Sebastian Koch turned me on in ways I never thought a straight sex scene could.

5. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Normally, guns and violence completely turn me off, but with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway behind the guns and perpetrating the crimes, murder and bank robbery has never looked more stylish and glamorous.

4. Flesh and the Devil (1927)
When people complain about old movies, especially silent pictures, being completely irrelevant and sexless, they should be pointed towards Flesh and the Devil as a counter example to this stereotype. Real-life lovers Greta Garbo and John Gilbert are so intimate in their first alone moment that I swear that they were only moments away from penetration. And no one but Garbo could make drinking from a communion glass so erotic.

3. Breathless (1960)
The relationship between Jean Seberg's papergirl and car thief Jean-Paul Belmondo is charming throughout the entire film, but it is during the 20+ minute interlude in Seberg's apartment that the sexiness really emerges. Belmondo, clad only in his boxers, and Seberg sit around and talk about nothing in particular, but it's all charming and sexy in it's own French way.

2. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Okay, so although I've scene rape scenes in other films that were less uncomfortable than the first sexual encounter between Ennis and Jack in Brokeback, the facts are the rest of the little time they spend together over the next 20 years include some very hot moments. Case in point, their first "real" love making scene in the tent or their first embrace after meeting for the first time in four years.

1. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
I know that the celebrated three-way, which turns into a full-on Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal makeout session part way through, is the piece de resistance of this film (Lord knows I've rewound that scene a good 10 or 15 times); however, many of the other sex scenes between either Gael, Diego and Maribel Verdu are just as hot, dirty and erotic as that scene. I've never seen a film before that has celebrated sex in such an open way and actually made it look sexy without depicting it unrealistically (Diego finishes way too early for Maribel's liking during their scene together). Y Tu Mamá También is the rare film that will turn you on but also make you think and feel for these characters beyond the sexpots they are.

RIP Paul Newman

Add one more name to the list that makes 2008 the saddest years for Hollywood deaths in recent memory. Paul Newman, film legend since the mid-50's, has passed away after a battle with cancer. Not only was he a 10 time Academy Award nominee (8 for Best Actor, 1 for Best Supporting Actor and 1 for Best Picture) and a sex symbol long into his 60's, but he was also a huge humanitarian, donating all of the proceeds from his line of salad dressings and other foods to charity, among other things. He was a very great man and will be sorely missed.

Paul Newman was a very important figure in my appreciation of classic films. One of my first memories of him was watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof when I was getting started with my film obsession. I was about 15 and happened to catch it on PBS late one night and I instantly fell in love. His chemistry with Elizabeth Taylor was electric and they drew things out of each other that I had never seen before. If this was acting back then, I wanted to see more of it. I think his best performance was as the desperate pool shark in The Hustler three years later and his Oscar loss that year is one of the biggest travesties in their long, sordid history.

RIP Paul.

Tuesday's Film Quote: Two in a Cage

Brick: I don't have to do anything I don't want to! Now, you keep forgetting the conditions on which I agreed to stay on living with you.
Maggie: I'm not living with you! We occupy the same cage, that's all.

Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor as Brick and Maggie Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

The Victory of a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

There's nothing I love more than watching beautiful people dealing with major problems. It is so much more interesting than watching ugly people. So, lucky for me, Richard Brooks' 1958 adaptation of the Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof stars two of the most insanely beautiful actors of the era- Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor- and deals with alcoholism, (presumed) infidelity, sexual frustration and (possibly) homosexuality.

It's not surprising, then, to know that this was one of the first "classic" films I ever fell in love with when I started getting into them about six years ago. When I re-watched it again after a couple of years last night, I thought I might be disappointed (which happens so often you re-watch films you once loved when you were younger) but that's not the case. Flaws and all, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is still an exciting, provocative drama with enough great acting to fill three films.

Maggie "The Cat" (Elizabeth Taylor) shoves ice cream into the face of one of the "no-neck monsters"...a true diva moment I had completely forgotten about.

Sure, it's overly theatrical at times and the dialogue is hardly what you would call "natural" but it's adapted from a Tennessee Williams play for Christ's sake; I wouldn't exactly call him Mr. Naturalistic. And I think that's what makes Cat on a Hot Tin Roof work so well. These aren't subtle people who keep their problems to themselves. They let everything out and hold nothing back. Consequently, their verbal sparring matches practically explode on the screen.

Maggie to Brick: "We're not living together! We're merely occupying the same cage, that's all!"

There's really not way I can describe in words just how sexy of an on-screen couple Taylor and Newman are together; it's best seen with your own eyes. And from my description in the beginning it's probably hard to understand, but just imagine these actors at the peak of their beauty lying around in pajamas and a slip for a good portion of the film with a bunch of sexual tension hanging over the room and you'll begin to understand. It's a lot like Brangelina in Mr. & Mrs. Smith without all of the guns and explosions- it's that intense. I just wish we got chemistry like this more often.