KINGS LEON

This scrappy Southern band is now on top of the world. Can they handle it?  Players To Watch This Weekend

radio-ready disc whose throb­bing first single, “Sex on Fire,” beat out the likes of Coldplay for a Grammy. Chart success, magazine covers, an SNL gig, 959,ooo CDs sold—suddenly, the Kings had seemingly accomplished everything imaginable. “This year feels like 10,” says ]ared. “We’re try­ing to set new goals. I’m kind of embarrassed to say them. They probably involve yachts.” The band may joke about big-ticket items, but it’s the success itself that’s come at something of a price. “From the beginning, people have been saying, ‘Why hasn’t this band broken through?’” says Caleb. “Now {our fans} feel like they’re having to share us, and I don’t know if they appreciate that.” Explains ]ared, “Before we were big, we had credibility, and nothing to show for it. Now we feel like, in a lot of circles, we’ve lost credibility. We’re really insecure people. And more than anything, we want to

BY WHITNEY PASTOREK

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

of the story—that’s what works.’” One of the most consis­tent tropes of the genre is the character whom filmmakers call “the final girl”—the survivor. “Horror films tap into the most primal fears,” says Orphan producer Susan Downey. “And when we put a woman through this mythological jour­ney and have her come out at the end kicking ass, the guys get the eye candy they want and the girls get the sense of ‘I can face my demon.’” You are here

MAYBE WOMEN ARE SO DRAWN TO HORROR

of movies in which masked and/or disfigured men hunted down lusty young damsels was to give guys a 90-minute out­let for their own aggression and hormones. Today, however, the genre’s biggest constituency of die-hard fans is women. Name any recent horror hit and odds are that female movie­goers bought more tickets than men. And we’re not just talk­ing about psychological spookfests like 2002′s The Ring (60 percent female), 2004′s The Grudge (65 percent female), and 2005′s The Exorcism of Emily Rose (51 percent female). We’re also talking about all the slice-and-dice remakes and sequels that Hollywood churns out. Filed under

CHRISTINE SPINES

THE TRAILER FOR Jennifer’s Body has everything a teen­age boy could reasonably expect, as well as some things he probably wouldn’t dare to dream of. Megan Fox play­ing a cheerleader, for instance. Cell Phones Megan Fox having a sleep-over with Amanda Seyfried. Megan Fox swimming nude, lighting her tongue on fire for kicks, and—talk about a transformer—turning into a snarling beast with fangs. But the strangest twist to the movie may be that it’s a supernatural bloodbath made by women (Girlfight director Karyn Kusama and Juno scribe/EW columnist Diablo Cody) and, in large part, for women.

Out from under Carmela Soprano’s big hair, the down-to-earth NURSE JACKIE star tells EW about the joys of embracing her controversial new character

WHEN YOU STAR in one of the most celebrated televi­sion series of all time, you have to get used to people confusing you with your mp3 music store  character. Long after The Sopranos ended in 2007, fans still addressed Edie Falco as Carmela. ‘You get in that groove of people going ‘Hey, how you doin’?'” she says in a pitch-perfect New Joisey accent. “It’s easier to join in than to tell them, ‘I’m not actually that lady’” Now, on her dark Showtime dramedy Nurse Jackie, Falco’s playing a very different kind of lady: a hardwork­ing, morally complicated ER nurse who is devoted to her family but indulges in an ongoing fling with the hospital pharmacist—who, in turn, helps feed her addiction to painkillers. In the weeks since Jackie’s June 8 premiere, viewers have started to embrace the three-time Emmy winner’s new identity.