I have some surprises for you. First of all, these photos are of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, formerly Aaron Johnson (the star of Kick-Ass, Savages and Anna Karenina). Remember how he changed his name when he married his older baby-mama Sam Taylor Wood? Now both Sam and Aaron are “Taylor-Johnsons”. For perspective, this is what Sam and Aaron looked like last September:

So Aaron has had a major makeover. He’s currently filming Godzilla (!!!) in Vancouver. I can’t believe they’re making another version of Godzilla, but there you go. Aaron is the star, along with Bryan Cranston (God, he’s working SO much lately), Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Sally Hawkins (I love her), Juliette Binoche and way more. I don’t know what kind of character Aaron plays, but judging from his new look, I would say he’s the meathead-protagonist/everyman.

So are you surprised by how completely different Aaron looks? I am. I always thought he was more delicate looking – although he’s always had a great body – but I’m surprised to see his features look SO different with some extra weight/bulk/muscle. He looks like… an action star. Is that the point?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

I’m sorry it’s so dead today, it’s kind of beyond our control. We just got hit with the perfect storm of boringness – no good gossip, no access to interesting photos, and CB and I keep gossiping to each other. So these are some additional photos from last night’s UK premiere of Skyfall. I missed these pics for no real reason, so I’m sorry. First up: Aaron Johnson (now Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Sam Taylor Wood (now Sam Taylor Johnson). He’s 22 years old, and I think his best years are ahead of him as far as looks go. Sam is 45 years old, and she’s starting to look very much like a mother of 4 in her 40s. I do wonder about them. But maybe the rules don’t apply when Sam is the one with all of the connections (she and Daniel Craig are tight) and when you can still get all dressed up in feathers for the premiere of the new James Bond movie. As for the feathers… I think it’s an ostrich-feather bolero jacket. Hand to God. And it’s terrible.

And guess who else was at the Skyfall premiere? Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall! Yes, Camilla wore an epic purple velvet sack dress that is just awful, and Charles just pointed at everything and everyone at the red carpet. I did see the actors greeting Charles and Camilla during the royal reception line, and everybody looked honored to be in Charles’ presence. Weird. Is Camilla wearing a heart-shaped ruby necklace?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

These are some photos from a London event last night. The event was “Chanel: The Little Black Jacket”. There were some decent celebrities at the event, but I just want to talk about Keira Knightley and Sam Taylor Wood (Sam Taylor Johnson?!). First, Keira. She’s wearing Chanel. She looks pretty. Her fiancé was not by her side. There are rumors that Keira will get Karl Lagerfeld to design her wedding gown. Does that make sense to you? I can see Keira being into the Chanel drama and detail for a potential wedding gown, but I feel like Keira becomes less fussy and more hippie about everything as she gets older. Still… a Chanel wedding gown is nothing to sniff at, and if anyone could pull it off, I’m sure it’s Keira. As for her little Chanel outfit here… I really do like it. I like her hair these days too.

And here are photos of Sam Taylor Johnson and Aaron Taylor Johnson at the same event. Sam looks GREAT. Her body really rebounds after having babies, doesn’t it? And I like her Chanel ensemble even more than Keira’s. As for Aaron… I used to be attracted to him. I used to think Sam had scored the Cougar Grand Prize with Aaron – a talented actor, with a great body and a beautiful face. But I have to wonder… was a Aaron kind of a goober this whole time? And by that I mean… is Aaron pretty dorky? I’m getting the feeling that he is pretty dorky.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Yesterday, I covered the photos of Aaron Taylor Johnson, 22, and his wife Sam Taylor Johnson, 45, at the London premiere of Anna Karenina. I also excerpted from a recent interview with Aaron, in which he discussed his marriage to a woman more than twice his age, and their blended family of two older daughters from Sam’s previous marriage and two young daughters which Sam gave birth to in the past three years. I was surprised by the continuing interest in this family, and how there’s still so much discussion about Aaron age-contemporaries (Emma Watson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Swift are all 22 years old as well) and the differences between them.

Anyway, these are new pics of Aaron and Sam and their two girls arriving in Toronto for TIFF. They look… like a nice family. I think it’s interesting that Aaron seems so physically protective of his wife and daughters – I mean, many men are like that, but it’s just a reminder to me of how much responsibility Aaron has taken on in the past five years. Also, Aaron continues to give interviews to promote Anna Karenina, and here are some assorted quotes and such:

On taking his wife’s name: “I just don’t see why women need to take the man’s name. I wanted to be a part of her just as much as she wanted to be part of me.”

The way the press treats the age difference: “When me and Sam got together, there was a whole f**king uproar. From that moment on, I never read anything about us. There’s loads of f**king horrible s**t out there on the internet. It never filtered into our lives, into our relationship. I’m not going to allow it.”

He wants to be a good husband and father: “I strive to be the best father and husband I can be. I gain a lot more out of my kids and Sam than anything else in my work world. I take my family very seriously.”

His feelings on the age difference: “Sam might be older than me, but she’s such a young, spirited soul that I sometimes feel I’m older than her. I don’t wake up and go, ‘F**k, I’m 22!’”

On Anna Karenina: “It’s a beautiful, a magical love story, it taps into everyone’s fears and ambitions. It’s that moment you fall in love someone or you see that someone across the room, you know instantly you take a leap of faith or move on and regret it for the rest of your life, and I think people can relate to that or feel moved by that.”

Fearlessness: “I think I just have a ballsy approach to everything. I’m f–king fearless when it comes to how I feel. I go to the deep end, and I’m not afraid to because I know when something’s right.”

On being a heartthrob: “Playing the love interest is not really my comfort zone. It shouldn’t just be about the way you look. I prefer not to be all groomed up and looking suave; I find that cheesy as f–k.”

On his former life as a bachelor: “Before having a family, I just grabbed everything. I was an opportunist. I had to be. Selfish, ambitious, that’s what actors are, man, what they have to be. I got fed up; I wasn’t really happy. It’s a lonely business and you can get burnt out.”

[Via Various Sources]

I love the part about the name change. I love the part about taking his family seriously. I do not like Aaron’s reflections on his “bachelor days” because he got with Sam when he was 18 YEARS OLD. He barely had any bachelor days, for the love of God.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

These are some photos of newlyweds Aaron Johnson and Sam Taylor Wood… only now they are Aaron Taylor Johnson and Sam Taylor Johnson. I love it when dudes change their name when they get married! So feminist. Sam and Aaron wlked the red carpet together in London last night for the big premiere of Anna Karenina. Aaron plays Vronsky, Anna’s wanton lover. He’s blonde in the film. As we’ve discussed before, Aaron is a mere 22 years old, and Sam is 45 years old. She has two older daughters from her first marriage and then she and Aaron have two girls together, Wylda Rae (3 years old) and Romy Hero (about eight months old). We’ve discussed the weirdness/fascination of this couple, this family before, but rarely have we really heard from Aaron about what he thinks about the drastic changes his life has gone through over the past five years (because they got together when he was only 18 years old). Aaron had a long interview with The Guardian a few days ago, and he surprised me by being very open and matter-of-fact about… well, everything. You can read the whole piece here, and here are some highlights:

Aaron was filming Anna Karenina and Oliver Stone’s Savages at the same time: “I was filming Savages while I was doing AK, so it was tough at times to adjust,” says Aaron, still sounding a bit shellshocked. AK stands for Anna Karenina, Joe Wright’s highly stylised adaptation of Tolstoy’s classic novel. “I rehearsed AK, then went off to LA to shoot Savages for two and a half months, then came back to London. It was all a bit crazy,” he elaborates.

Dance lessons for AK: “I only had a day or two of dance lessons,” says Aaron, sounding a little peeved. “The rest of them had f–king six weeks.”

Playing Vronsky: “I’m kind of like the typical blond in the movie,” he says endearingly. “It’s a golden age, and I’m this dashing blond young officer in a white uniform. It’s a study in privilege, really. That was all Joe’s vision, and I played around with it a bit, but there wasn’t much of a character arc. It’s her journey. You don’t really need anyone else’s. I’m really there as an actor to serve the director and the script.”

Working with Joe Wright (director of AK) & Oliver Stone: “They are both obsessives in their own way,” he says, having given the question some considerable thought, shifting incessantly in his seat. “Savages, though, was probably the toughest shoot I’ve been on so far. Oliver is smart and he’s edgy. He doesn’t give you a moment to take a breath. I felt I was being challenged every day, and not just me, but Benicio and John (Travolta). He treated everyone the same, but it comes out of passion. In one of the press conferences John said that he was on us like a hawk every day, and that about nails it. He certainly made me think differently about acting.”

The changes in his personal life: “God, yeah,” he says, brushing his hands though his straggly mane of hair. “I was just thinking this morning about all that. I made Kick-Ass just before I started working on Nowhere Boy, and now here I am on Kick-Ass 2 and I’m married and a father. It’s such a major change, but to tell the truth I never think about it much. It just feels natural to me.”

Did he fall in love with Sam on the set of Nowhere Boy? “Well, you know, kind of. Maybe. I mean, it must have helped that we already had a brilliant connection as actor and director.” (Simon Hattenstone of the Guardian visited the set and wrote: “Whenever the rain comes, she runs inside the house, arm in arm with 19-year-old Aaron Johnson, who plays Lennon. They dance and laugh like teenagers in love. I’ve never been on a film set with such a strange atmosphere. While the rest of the cast and crew are welcoming, Taylor-Wood and Johnson seem oblivious to the world.”)

Having a public romance: “It shaped and changed our world quite quickly, because we were both strong and stayed by each other’s side,” he says. “We didn’t listen to publicists who said things like: ‘If you go out to events, make sure you take separate cars. Don’t be seen together.’ All that crap. I won’t mention any names, but further up the line you see bigger actors playing those sorts of games. We never wanted to. We did what we felt was right.”

Working with his wife again: “Right now it’s more about what Sam’s doing next,” he says, refusing to be drawn on specifics. “There is a feature being developed with a lot of more of her imprint on it. You get to a point and you want to try something new. That’s what life is all about: trying new things and having fun.” When I ask if it might not be difficult working with one’s wife: “No. It’s all I want to do, really.”

Being a child actor, never going home: ” At school I’d never talk about my other life. If anyone asked me, I’d just say I was away somewhere. I never felt comfortable talking about that acting, and the kids I was around didn’t give a f–k about that world. All the stuff I was learning on set didn’t apply at school. I haven’t been back there [home] in about six years. I still see it as a place I wanted to escape from. I get on fine with my mum and dad, but if they want to see the grandchildren, they come to me.” Has he stayed in touch with any friends from there? “No, I haven’t got any friends from where I grew up, but that’s not to do with fame. I moved on from there years ago. I have good friends now, both from Sam’s world and my world. We’re a close-knit family with a close-knit circle of friends. That’s the way it is and it’s just fine.”

On his wife calling him an “old soul”: “I guess so. And she’s a young spirit. We complement each other, for sure, both in our work and on an everyday level. She pushes and inspires me, and I hope I do the same for her.”

Her friends have become his friends: “Well, all her good friends have become my friends, but I don’t come from a world where art was a big thing. I never really knew that world until I met her.”

[From The Guardian]

He’s the same age as Kristen Stewart. And Emma Watson. And Taylor Swift. I’m not sure what my point of those comparisons would be… but it’s interesting. Swifty infantilizes herself, Kristen is begging us to infantilize her, and Emma will probably hindered by the public’s collective inability to see her as anything but the young Hermione. And there’s Aaron Johnson, the same age, already a father of two (and stepfather of two), a husband and an in-demand actor with an assortment of artsy friends and colleagues. Can’t there be a happy medium between “too mature for 22” and “22 going on 13”?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I knew something was up when Focus Features sent us some promotional stuff for Anna Karenina and they listed Aaron Johnson’s name as “Aaron Taylor-Johnson”. Focus Features had the name change in a hurry, because at the same time the Anna Karenina trailer was getting a big PR push, Aaron and his baby-mama announced that they had gotten married. It happened last Thursday. And both changed their named – he is now Aaron Taylor-Johnson (I wonder if he’s officially changing his SAG name too?) and she became Sam Taylor-Johnson. They are the Taylor-Johnsons. I don’t know… I think that’s kind of wonderful and feminist. I like when the rare dude changes HIS name too.

But I guess I should say something about the age difference and all of that. Aaron and Sam got together when she was 40 years old and he was 18 years old. By the time he was 19, she was pregnant and they were engaged. She had two baby girls in a row – first Wylda Rae (she turns 2 next month) and then Romy, who is just 5 months old. Aaron is now 22. Sam is 44. And now they are legally wed.

Sam Taylor-Wood and Aaron Johnson have taken their romance to the next level.

The couple, who have been together since meeting on the set of Taylor-Wood’s directorial debut Nowhere Boy and got engaged in October 2009, were married on Thursday in Somerset, England, they confirm to the Associated Press.

Taylor-Wood wore a dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, while Johnson wore a suit by Tom Ford. Both husband and wife will now use the surname Taylor-Johnson.

Johnson, 22, who starred in Kick-Ass and will next appear in Anna Karenina, and Taylor-Wood, 45, are parents to two daughters together – Romy, 5 months, and Wylda, 2 next month.

Of their age difference, Johnson has said, “I’m an old soul and she’s a young soul. We don’t see an age gap, we just see each other.”

This is the second marriage for the director, who also has two daughters with ex-husband Jay Jopling.

[From People]

Yeah. I mean, I’m happy for them. I’m glad they’re still together, because usually when an 18 year old and a 40 year old get together, it doesn’t last – regardless of which gender is 40. Sam’s oldest children are closer in age to Aaron than she is. But… whatever. Hopefully, they’ll be the exception to the rule. And maybe Sam just thinks, “Hey, even if this only lasts for five years, it will be an amazing five years.”

What bugs me is that she seems to be putting an enormous amount of psychological pressure on this kid. Last year, she said in an interview, “Aaron, almost before anything started between us, said he wanted kids. He was very clear about wanting a family. We hardly go out now – it’s just us. Aaron has brought a set of values I didn’t even know I was looking for – family values. He is more grounded. He has been getting work offers which he has turned down because he wants to be here for the crucial first months of Wylda’s life.” THAT is pressure. Yes, it’s cool that he’s taking responsibility and maybe he was the one to talk Sam into having those babies… but he was 18 years old, for God’s sake!!! What you do and say when you’re 18 years old should not define who are for the rest of your life. But good luck. Mazel tov!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I read Anna Karenina years and years ago. I probably read it before I could actually understand the denseness of Leo Tolstoy’s prose, and as such, I really only remember small fragments of the book. I should go back and re-read it, shouldn’t I? I should. Anyway, after I read it, I somehow managed to avoid all of film and television adaptations, so when I go into to see this new version – directed by Joe Wright, adapted for the screen by Tom Stoppard – the story will be fresh and new to me.

I actually think Joe Wright is a very talented director, one of the rare modern directors who can make a period costume drama feel contemporary and fresh. I loved his film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which also starred Keira Knightley (and earned her an Oscar nomination). Wright and Knightley worked together again in Atonement, a film that I ended up hating. It’s not really Keira’s fault or Joe Wright’s fault – I can’t stand Ian McEwan’s writing. The plots of his books are always asinine.

Anyway, back to Anna Karenina. Keira and Joe Wright reunite for their third film together, and this time it’s a doozy. Keira is Anna. Jude Law plays her husband. Aaron Johnson plays Vronsky, Anna’s lover. The cast also includes Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice!!), Kelly MacDonald, Emily Watson, Ruth Wilson, Olivia Williams and Michelle Dockery (from Downton Abbey!). Here’s the trailer:

Have I mentioned how much I love a good costume drama? I love a good costume drama. I wish Jane Austen had written more books so there could be more film adaptations of her books. I love watching a corseted Englishwoman, staring longingly at someone with unfortunate sideburns, all by candlelight. So… yes, I will be seeing this movie. I think everybody looks good and interesting. From what little I remember of the book, it was my belief that Anna’s husband is much older than Jude Law’s version…? I thought Alexei was supposed to be, like, 50-something? As for Aaron Johnson… well, I have high hopes for that one. He seems passionate and unhinged. Good boy.

Photos courtesy of IMDB.

British photographer and director Sam Taylor-Wood fell in love when she was 43 years old. Heartwarming – except that she fell in love with an 18-year-old kid. The kid in question is Aaron Johnson, and they are still together, three years later. Shortly after they met and worked together, Sam got knocked up, and she and Aaron got engaged – they still haven’t gotten married, but in 2010, they welcomed a baby girl named Wylda Rae to their family. It’s a family which includes a teenage daughter and a 5-year-old daughter from Sam’s previous relationship. Anyway, last May, Sam announced that she and Aaron were expecting their second child together – and she’s apparently just given birth. It’s another girl!

Artist/director Sam Taylor-Wood and fiancé Aaron Johnson have become parents again to a baby girl. The new arrival – whose name has not been revealed – was born this month, joining big sister Wylda Rae, 18 months.

The birth means Nowhere Boy star Johnson is now outnumbered in a house full of females, along with Taylor-Wood’s two older daughters Anjelica, 14, and Jessie, five, from her previous marriage to art dealer Jay Jopling.

Acclaimed artist Taylor-Wood’s fourth pregnancy was confirmed by her representative last July. The arrival of her fourth child comes just a month after the heavily pregnant star accepted her OBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.

Taylor-Wood, 44, and Johnson, 21, fell in love on the set of Nowhere Boy in 2009 and announced their engagement in October that year after just a few months of dating. The artist made her directorial debut with the John Lennon biopic, which starred Johnson as the young Beatle.

Their relationship raised eyebrows due to their 23 year age gap and the fact that Johnson was just 19 at the time. They started dating less than a year after Taylor-Wood and ex-husband Jopling, 48, separated after 11 years of marriage.

In an interview last year, Taylor-Wood admitted she had been persuaded to start a second family with Johnson by the actor himself. She said: ‘Aaron, almost before anything started between us, said he wanted kids. He was very clear about wanting a family. We hardly go out now – it’s just us. Aaron has brought a set of values I didn’t even know I was looking for – family values. He is more grounded. He has been getting work offers which he has turned down because he wants to be here for the crucial first months of Wylda’s life.’

Taylor-Wood also attacked the media for concentrating on relationships between younger men and older women, who have been labelled ‘cougars’.

She said: ‘In the old days, “controversial” in a relationship meant same-sex or mixed races. Now, it is a woman with a younger man. That would not happen with a man.’

And Johnson has also defended their relationship: ‘I’m an old soul and she’s a young soul. We don’t see an age gap, we just see each other.’

[From The Mail]

Well… congratulations. I’m glad that Sam’s pregnancy was happy and healthy, and that their second baby was born without complications. I’m also happy to see that Aaron is sticking with Sam for going on 3 years now. Go ahead and call me sexist, but I still wonder if this is going to last in the long run. I mean – he’s only 21! And he’s now a father of two girls, and stepfather of two girls. AND HE’S ONLY 21. And his fiancée is 44. I still think that if the genders were reversed, people would still have huge problems with this – it’s specific to a 40-something person attaching themselves to a teenager. It’s like Courtney Stodden and her father/husband. It’s creepy.

UPDATE: And we have a name! Aaron and Sam named their daughter Romy Hero. I don’t get it.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some new photos of Sam Taylor-Wood (44) and Aaron Johnson (21) at last night’s BFI London Film Festival Awards. As you might remember, she’s pregnant with her fourth child – her second with Aaron. She gave birth to their daughter last year, and quickly got knocked up with Aaron’s second kid in the Spring of this year. He’s blonde and mustached because he’s currently filming Anna Karenina. Just last month, I think he finished filming Savages (or “The Savages” – whatever) with Blake Lively and Olivier Stone. His career continues to grow by leaps and bounds – he’s probably one of the most in-demand young British actors out there. This awards season, he’ll be seen in Albert Nobbs with Glenn Close.

The question I always have about the possible longevity of Sam and Aaron’s relationship has less to do with their ages and more to do with the differences in their respective careers. Sam is an established photographer, director and artist, and has been for many years. Aaron is basically just starting out. Even though Sam claims that Aaron is the one who “brought family values” to their relationship, and he’s the one prioritizing their family, what happens when the pull of his career is too much? When he gets a job that has him in some far-flung country for five months? I do worry about these two.

But for now, they look happy and loved-up. Good for them?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

There’s a new trailer for Albert Nobbs, in which Glenn Close plays the titular character, who grew up as the illegitimate daughter of a maid in 19th century Ireland. As an adult, she disguises herself in male attire to get work as a hotel butler. For her performance, Glenn is already getting some (and possibly overdue) Oscar buzz; of course, she’ll likely face stiff competition from the likes of Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene). The movie also stars Aaron Johnson and Mia Wasikowska, who replaced Orlando Bloom and Amanda Seyfried. It girl out, it girl in? Well, Mia’s a much better actress than Amanda, so the movie was undoubtedly served well by the cast shuffling.

As mentioned above, Glenn is receiving much praise for her take on the role. As for the movie itself? Not so much:

[I]t doesn’t hurt that Close (a five time nominee in the ’80s) spent nearly 30 years trying to line up a chance to repeat her gender-bending off-Broadway role in a film for which she is credited as co-writer and co-producer. She may be (sadly) a bit too old for the role and there will be considerable debate about whether she actually passes as a man — she looks alarmingly like Conan O’Brien from some angles.

But she sure gives a powerhouse performance as an emotionally repressed woman who is forced to work as a hotel butler to survive in 19th century Ireland — and is undone when she falls in love with another woman.

I was even more impressed, though, by Janet McTeer as another faux man whose path Albert passes — a much more flamboyant and swaggering character who doesn’t suffer from Albert’s inner torment and is comfortable enough in her role to have married another woman.

“Albert Nobbs” has a rather claustrophic feel that, to a point, suits the story. The director, Rodrigo Garcia, is far better with actors (he’s done his best work for TV shows like “Six Feet Under” and “In Treatment”) than as a big-screen visual stylist.

Though sure to be embraced by the GLBT community and some feminists, it’s hardly a crowd pleaser.

[From NY Post]

Since this movie was literally decades in the making for Glenn Close, it truly sounds like a labor of love for her. Does she pull off playing a man in the trailer? Well, there’s truly something “off” from the moment one spots Drag Glenn in motion, but that’s sort of the point. While this movie won’t be a blockbuster by any stretch, it will certainly receive a lot of love from critics and on the indie circult, and I definitely plan on watching it too.

Photos courtesy of AllMoviePhoto and WENN