With his director newly flush after offloading Che during the Toronto Film Festival, did Benicio Del Toro defer to Steven Soderbergh's tipping largesse during a shared men's room visit? Is that the single stupidest question we've ever posed? Either way, there's more, reports the National Post:

With most of the industry having seen what it came for and Jeremy Piven having released his date(s) back into the Canadian wild, the 2008 Toronto Film Festival is all but over. But, as befits the event's stature, the whirlwind since our last Toronto Hell round-up deserves a closer look — from the Paris Hilton doc you'll never see again to Kevin Smith literally keeping Zack and Miri's shit together, enjoy the news others traveled thousands of miles for from the comfort of your own industrial slave galley: · Paris, Not France premiered Tuesday night, with its subject in attendance as promised and with a letter from its beleaguered sales agent reportedly making the rounds beforehand:

They're one of Hollywood's most glorious odd couples: pixie dream girl Natalie Portman and Manson-resembling folk singer Devendra Banhart. Still, despite the fact that Portman was game enough to appear as an octopus in one of Banhart's videos, she still can't seem to shake those naysayers clucking, "Is she really going out with him?" She is — and she's hardly the first fresh-scrubbed starlet to fall for a charming, soap-eschewing bohemian. With the help of Molly McAleer, we've put together a Top Ten list of the world's most loved-up hippie womanizers. Is it their devil-may-care facial hair, their free love attitudes, or their penchant for sharing necklaces that draws in Hollywood's most beautiful ingenues? Burn some incense and meditate on the subject — we'll be out back crafting a swingset made of hemp and spit.

With the hazy, nut-hugging memory of Comic-Con thankfully behind it, the world has begun to take stock of the actual news that came out of San Diego last weekend. But perhaps the biggest story broke today as an erstwhile fanboy overcame his quivering long enough to capture this preview of The Wolfman, Benicio Del Toro's riff on the hairy horror classic. The (mildly spoiling) touchstones are all there for a hit in the making: tortured brooder Del Toro slashing top-hatted limeys; Anthony Hopkins's furrowed, torch-lit brow; Hugo Weaving getting out of a carriage; Emily Blunt in soft-focus peril; and surprisingly grisly flashes of the title character's prey. Seriously, this looks pretty good (the movie, not the video) but don't get us wrong — it's no Red Sonja. Really, though, what is? Judge for yourself after the jump. [TrailerAddict via /Film]

As noted here yesterday, we missed the Fox PR Caravan to San Diego Comic-Con, but that shouldn't suggest we don't (or you shouldn't) care about the geek gangbang unfolding as we speak. To the contrary, we've actually managed to find a handful of highlights worth passing along, from Rose McGowan's overactive tongue to Benicio Del Toro's narcolepsy to an all-Lego Batman — and more! It's the next best thing to not being there, we promise! ·You'll never believe it, but Nikki Finke also stayed home, instead publishing dispatches by the New Times chain's resident nerd-hack Luke Y. Thompson. And what a run he's had, with his marathon Thursday bringing us hints at a Keanu Reeves love-in (we'll get to that) and the indelible image of Rose McGowan's Red Sonja knife-licking. She and Robert Rodriguez apparently remain a couple despite all kinds of fun rumors otherwise and, obviously, despite the worst movie poster to ever debut at Comic-Con. That said, hemogravy is hot with the ladies these days, so maybe we're the ones out of touch.·LYT draws praise, meanwhile, from David Poland, who also decided to crunch some numbers from the comfort of his own couch:

The Cannes Film Festival wound down Sunday pretty much where we left it Friday: Lindsay Lohan still digs girls, distributors mostly kept their checkbooks closed with one or two exceptions, and Sean Penn and his competition jury putatively fulfilled their social mandate by awarding the French schoolroom drama Entre les Murs (The Class) this year's Palme d'Or. The remaining winners reflect both a who's who of perennial Cannes rock stars (screenplay winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, directing winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan) and sure-fire up-and-comers (Best First Film winner Steve McQueen).

One tiny, loaded word pretty much summed up Wednesday at Cannes: Che. Steven Soderbergh's two-part, four-hour-plus biopic premiered last night to a sprawling range of reactions, most of which seem to embrace the challenging film (and particularly Benicio Del Toro's performance as the title revolutionary) even while doubting the film would ever again screen again in its current version. Soderbergh and star Benicio Del Toro were only slightly defensive when it came time to face the press:

The Cannes Film Festival announced this morning it will get four hours of Che Guevara after all — not to mention additional Oscar bait from Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie and Charlie Kaufman in this year's competition program. As recently as last Friday, the Steven Soderbergh/Benicio Del Toro all-or-nothing two-fer of Guerrilla and The Argentine was looking doubtful for the Cannes deadline, but the festival announced this morning that it is indeed in. Out of competition, meanwhile, world premieres Indiana Jones 4 and Kung-Fu Panda will do battle for the honorary Jerry Seinfeld Award For Shameless Publicity Hijacking.

In other Cannes program news from Todd McCarthy's Variety survey this morning, Steven Soderbergh and Benicio Del Toro's Che Guevara biopic two-fer The Argentine and Guerilla will apparently join Sex and the City among the year's notable omissions. It's a bit of a surprise considering Soderbergh's lightning-fast methodology and Focus Features' high expectations for early awards momentum (the Universal subsidiary is holding the Coens' Burn After Reading until September as well); also, as we hear from McCarthy after the jump, at least one of the films is ready to go:

Entertainment Weekly today published first-look photos of Benicio Del Toro in The Wolf Man, production of which recently got underway after a bit of a director problem that resulted from creative werewolf differences and budget issues. Regarding the latter, no less than 90 percent of Universal's reported $85 million appears to be dedicated to the area in and around Del Toro's head, down the classy metal fillings and hair that, according to make-up legend Rick Baker, must be glued on individually each day and requires an hour to remove after shooting. And while the replacement of helmer Mark Romanek for the far more benign Disney alum Joe Johnston continues to frighten us more than any cosmetic fangs, Baker's bounce back from the more singular horror of Eddie Murphy's Norbit make-up is a recovery anyone can get behind. [Oh No They Didn't]

Director Mark Romanek—the MTV Dali who spun twirling pig heads and simian crucifixion imagery into an unlikely Valentine to unhinged monkey sex in the "Closer" video—was long attached to the Universal remake of The Wolf Man, his first feature length film since 2002's glossy-finish stalker movie, One Hour Photo. Variety now reports the Fincherian visual perfectionist has pulled out of the project just weeks before shooting was to begin, crediting the tidy, two-word standby so often invoked following acrimonious partings of the Hollywood ways:

• Britney Spears' new album Blackout will finish out the week at the top of the charts. Related: guess astrology isn't b.s.! [TMZ]
  

· A bright red "breaking story" tag lets us know that we're supposed to care about this more than other news right now: The Beatles (Apple Corps) have lost their trademark case against Apple Computers, but plan to appeal. You can continue to indulge your iTunes addiction without interruption. [Variety]
· Benicio Del Toro is onboard and Halle Berry is in "negotiations" to join him in the highly buzzed about DreamWorks project Things We Lost in the Fire, about a recent widow who invites her dead husband's "troubled best friend" to live with her. We suspect that sweaty, troubled-best-friend-sex will be crucial to the grieving process. [THR]
· All is not lost for M:i:III, which takes in $70.3 million abroad. South Koreans seem especially excited for Tom Cruise's return to blockbusterdom. [Variety]
· TiVo is launching a service which will allow its users to search for and watch "extended commercials" from one minute to one hour in length. Meanwhile, they're perfecting technology that will summon a representative from one of their featured advertisers to a viewer's home with a single button press, where the rep will kick the targeted consumer in the genitals while shouting their product's jingle through a megaphone. [THR]
· News to us: M:i:III wasn't the only movie screening at last week's Tribeca Film Festival. [Variety]

· Following up on the earlier trade round-up post including Benicio Del Toro's plans to star in the The Wolf Man remake, a couple of readers reminded us of Del Toro's touching turn as Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in Big Top Pee Wee. He's definitely ready to take it up a notch to full-on wolf.
· Where's Andrae? Why, he's at the Red Lobster with Tim Gunn, sillypants! [via realityblurred]
"The Red Ranger" and Austin St. John are both perfectly acceptable gay porno names.
Jesus! It's Eva Longoria's 31st (coughcough) birthday! Be nice! Fuck!
Is it too soon to be pining for Brokeback parodies? Probably. But at least this one tries to redeem those sinning cowpokes.