Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Jim Spellman/WireImage; Paul Fenton/ZUMAPress.comWatch out, Texas—here I come!
I'm off to Austin today for the South by Southwest film festival. The event kicks off tonight with the world premiere of The Cabin in the Woods, followed by a program that includes a whopping 132 films.
With that, I'm giving you a cheat sheet to the movies (and some music, too) that should have the Lone Star State's capitol buzzing...
1. Joss Whedon: Mr. Buffy the Vampire Slayer cowrote The Cabin in the Woods, a horror thriller directed and cowritten by Lost producer and writer Drew Goddard (Cabin is his feature-film directing debut!). The cast includes hunky man Chris Hemsworth, who also happens to play Thor in the Whedon-directed Avengers movie.
2. Matthew McConaughey: Austin's golden boy has two flicks in the fest. First up is Killer Joe, a crime drama that was recently slapped with an NC-17 rating, which producers are currently trying to have appealed. McConaughey then plays a sheriff in Bernie, a crime comedy from director Richard Linklater about a mortician (Jack Black) who kills a wealthy widow (Shirley MacLaine).
3. 21 Jump Street: Sure, SXSW is all about the indies, but there's at least one big studio pic premiering here—Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum's reboot of Johnny Depp's iconic high school crime show.
4. Mumford & Sons: The English folk rockers toured the U.S. last year by vintage railroad train with The Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show. Big Easy Express, director Emmett Malloy's documentary about the groups' journey, is the closing night film.
5. Jay-Z: OK, Blue Ivy's dad isn't in the film fest. He's actually part of the Interactive arm of SXSW. He's headlining a one-night only concert, Amex Sync Show Presenting Jay-Z, at Austin City Limits. But guess what? You can see it, too—the March 12 show will be livestreamed on YouTube. Fingers crossed they got a baby sitter for the night so Beyoncé can make an appearance.