Agent Bedhead emailed me this morning with the news that our joint lover Michael Fassbender was no longer in discussions to play “The Huntsman” in the live-action Snow White reboot, Snow White and the Huntsman. Apparently, Fassbender is now in talks to do a Ridley Scott sci-fi… with my girl Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish Millennium Trilogy films). Bedhead was depressed, because it means that we won’t get to see Fassbender wander around in tights. But I’m happy – because Snow White and the Huntsman is starting to sound like a hot mess. Guess who is in talks to play Snow White now? Kristen Stewart!!! Because Snow White was an angsty, lip-biting, eye-rolling, mouth-breathing, bad-postured, monotone little bitch. No wonder Fassbender pulled out, eh?

Is Kristen Stewart the fairest of them all? The Twilight star is on the list for the role of Snow White in Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman.

The movie, being directed by Rupert Sanders, is in deep casting mode, with Viggo Mortensen entering negotiations to play the Huntsman earlier Wednesday. Charlize Theron is in negotiations to play the evil queen.

Stewart is a name that Universal has kept coming back to since acquiring the project even as it went through a series of screen tests with actresses such as Riley Keough, Felicity Jones and Alicia Vikander. Emily Browning tested this past weekend (Stewart has reached a point in her career where testing isn’t required).

Stewart, arguably one of the biggest stars in the world thanks to the Twilight movies, has focused on indie projects in between the vampire romancers, and this could become her first studio project since becoming a name. It also would put her in the shoes of an iconic character.

The Gersh-repped actress is currently shooting the Breaking Dawn movies, but the Snow White team has been making repeated overtures even as late as last week.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Ugh, Viggo is in talks too? Maybe when Viggo hears about K-Stew, he’ll pull out as well, because Viggo and K-Stew on screen together would be a million kinds of wrong.

I kind of hate that Kristen is one of the go-to young actresses now. I like her a bit more than Blake Lively, but basically Blake and Kristen are the same kind of actress: bad. Like, they have some tricks, but little method.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

50-year-old Viggo Mortensen, whose acting credits include everything from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and G.I. Jane to Lord of the Rings and Eastern Promises, might be quitting the acting game. Although he has two movies coming out this year and is rumored to be attached to one for 2010, he says that the actor’s life of traveling to promote movies (and, presumably, do the interview cited below), is “not healthy.”

“In the past week I’ve been from LA to Japan to Korea to Poland to here,” he hisses, describing in near disbelief the travel itinerary for his current promotional tour. “It’s ridiculous! It’s not a healthy way to be. But, as it happens, I’m taking measures to change that.” Which are? “No more movies. I haven’t said yes to one in over a year. I’ve been in all these well-received movies and it seems like I should be doing some more, but there’s other things I want to do. It’s not the right time.”

But when will you come back to film-making? When will you know it’s the right time? Long, long, pause. A sigh. “I really don’t know.”

Mortensen has spoken about leaving movies before. “If it all dries up now, I’ve had a good run” is a favourite refrain. But here, in the quiet ground-floor antechamber of a London hotel, he seems more convinced, and convincing, than ever.

[from Times London]

After making it big in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which he filmed at his now-20-year-old son’s behest), he has been offered many large starring roles, some of which, like Hidalgo, he has accepted. But generally, he has remained a dark character actor. His upcoming movie, Good, is a Nazi drama based on a play and features a scene in which he receives fellatio in full Nazi regalia, and another in which he is naked during a fight scene – neither scenes that leading men would generally agree to do. But this is Viggo we’re talking about. He says that he only needs enough money to send his son Henry to college and to travel.

Viggo has given the “no more movies” spiel before, but he keeps coming back. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long after Good for Viggo’s chiseled face on the big screen.

Viggo Mortensen is shown at the Empire Awards in London on 3/29/09. Credit: PRPhotos

There was a lot of interest in Sammie’s story about hot Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen turning 50. The actor was in Rome this weekend promoting his film Good, in which he plays a literary professor in Germany during the Nazi’s rise to power. Mortensen’s character is a “good” man who is suspicious of the Nazi party and their motives. He reluctantly ends up being lauded by the government when a book he wrote is used for propaganda. The film is out in the US in limited release on December 31. That’s just in time for Oscar season. Advance reviews are tepid, though, and say that the film is predictable and not as moving as it should be. Variety says it’s “merely competent, uninspired and a bit old-hat,” while BoxOffice.com says people may be “disappointed by the film’s lack of gripping emotion.”

That’s a shame because Mortensen definitely has leading man ability. He won Best Actor from the British Independent Film Awards for his role in 2007′s crime thriller Eastern Promises and was also nominated for a Golden Globe. Next year he stars in the probably depressing film The Road, based on a book with the same title about a father and son struggling to survive in post apocalyptic America. I tried to give that book a chance, but it was so bleak I ended up skipping a third of it and just reading the end. It still haunted my afterwards though. He also will start work on the film A Wing and a Prayer, which IMDB describes as “A hard-luck pilot and a mysterious spiritualist join forces to collect a quartet of relics vital for the preservation of the planet.”

Are there no leading man hunk roles left for Mortensen? I know the guy is 50 but there are plenty of women who still find him incredibly swoon-worthy.

Here’s the trailer for Good:

Thanks to Bauergriffin for these photos of Mortensen, taken on 10/25 and 10/26 at the Rome Film Festival.

Several big stars turned 50 this year — Madonna, Prince, Sharon Stone, Alec Baldwin and Ted McGinley, for instance.

But the fairest of them all marked the half-century mark on Monday. Happy birthday, Viggo Mortensen!

After decades in the business, Viggo is at the pinnacle of his career.

He started out as a supporting actor with Demi Moore in G.I. Jane, Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide, and Gwyneth Paltrow in A Perfect Murder. (Tabloid sidebar: It was rumored an affair with Viggo caused Gwyneth’s break-up with Brad Pitt.)

But the past few years have vaulted him to leading man status in gritty, hard-hitting roles. Since playing Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, he has earned accolades in A History of Violence and even an Oscar nod for Eastern Promises.

He recently starred opposite Ed Harris in Appaloosa, and has two films coming out soon. He’ll play a reluctant Nazi in Good, and the nameless central character in the movie I’m most looking forward to, The Road.

Also, he’s still sex on legs.

And still controversial. He’s always been down-to-earth yet outspoken about his political beliefs. He actively supported Dennis Kucinich, and recently wrote an analysis of the current Presidential race on his publishing site, Perceval Press.

Steal from the poor and give to the rich: this is the policy that we have in recent days seen the U.S. Government unhesitatingly and irresponsibly sanction by bailing out the big gamblers and law-breakers with tax-payer money. At least now this short-sighted and destructive approach to governance is undeniably out in the open. We saw this happen in the 1980s with the savings and loan scandal and bail-outs, and we are seeing now, as we saw then, people like John McCain, Phil Gramm and the usual assortment of corporate pirates get off scot-free and continue on their paths of self-advancement and cronyism. The mismanagement and plundering of our nation’s wealth and the cavalier drive to burden future generations of its citizens with crushing debt have been hallmarks of U.S. government practice for quite some time, but never to the unprecedented degree that we have experienced during the eight years that the Bush Administration has plundered the treasury for the benefit of a tiny, very wealthy minority. Hopefully voters will keep this in mind when deciding whether they wish to continue in the same vein with McCain, or give change a chance to happen with an Obama administration. Perhaps, too, the mainstream media outlets, in response to the now undeniable financial and moral crises we face, will get back to allowing issues more pressing and significant than the personal and ethical foibles of Ms Palin to take precedence in their daily election “coverage”. I have my doubts about their willingness to do so, but there is always hope.

[From Perceval Press]

In these tabloid-as-PR times, Viggo is the antithesis of a Hollywood star. He rarely makes the tabloids, which he claims is because he’s too boring. He was married to musician Exene Cervenka, and the two have a 20-year-old son together. I can’t find any recent information on who he’s currently dating. He did make the gossip pages a few years back at the height of The Lord of the Rings mania when he was rumored to be dating Before Night Falls director Julian Schnabel’s 20-something daughter Lola.

There have also been a few ripples that he is seeing his two-time co-star, Spanish actress Ariadna Gil.

Throughout his career, he’s worked with big-name actors and big-name directors, yet brings his own research to every role. He reportedly traveled Russia to learn the nuances of the language and culture for his role in Eastern Promises. He claims to have learned this independence over the years of working with directors whose priority isn’t directing.

Most directors are jerks. They may be talented. But they may also not be very good at or interested in talking to people. Too often, when making films, energy is expended on quibbling and miscommunication rather than productively telling the story….Of course, some of us actors can sometimes be jerks too.

[From Another Man, print edition, Autumn/Winter 2008 issue]

Viggo compliments directors David Cronenberg and Peter Weir. He doesn’t name names, but some other directors he’s worked with include Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson, Tony Goldwyn, Gus Van Sant and Tony Scott.

Now that Kucinich is out of the race, Viggo is supporting Barack Obama.

I hope the movement that Obama created, as happened with Robert Kennedy, will prod him to go a little further in some areas than he would have, particularly in Iraq….Robert Kennedy wasn’t particularly opposed to the Vietnam War, but he changed his position as a result of the pressure from the ranks of his supporters. I’m hoping that’s what will happen.

[From Another Man, print edition, Autumn/Winter 2008 issue]

Viggo was getting Oscar buzz for The Road, but the release date has been pushed back, so he probably won’t qualify for the awards this year.

I do love me some Viggo and hope he continues to make great movies for years to come, but if he only makes one more movie ever in his career, please let it be to reprise Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings prequel.

Viggo Mortensen is shown in scans from An Other Man Magazine and on 10/15/08 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is “wearing San Lorenzo de Almagro football club colours whilst promoting his new movie appaloosa.” He is also shown at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival on 10/8/08 and at the Apaloosa premiere on 9/17/08. Credit: WENN