I’m not quite sure I get this. Maybe it could be considered savvy by the marketing standards like those overly praised for another film further down in this week’s round-up, but the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is protesting “Anonymous” by striking through the actor’s name on signs all over Warwickshire. Here’s hoping it has the effect they’re aiming for, and not the opposite. But boy is it getting nasty out there for this film. People have their claws out. There’s something so sacred about Shakespeare that the gall of a project like this is irking a great many. Just take a look at the op-ed sections this week. “Dogs and cats, living together. Mass hysteria!” [BBC]

The film’s star, Rhys Ifans, meanwhile, discusses his work therein and naturally gets hit up for some tid-bits on “The Amazing Spider-Man.” [Movieline]

Among other things, Brett Ratner talks the Oscars and his emcee for the show, Eddie Murphy. [Collider]

Andrew Niccol discusses his new film, a distant cousin to “Gattaca,” “In Time.” [Film School Rejects]

Once upon a time Steve Jobs tried to get Aaron Sorkin to write a Pixar film. Now Sorkin is front and center on a list of possible writers for the Apple honcho’s biopic. [24 Frames]

Sasha Stone unsurprisingly goes head-first into the tank for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” marketing. [Awards Daily]

Hobbits assemble! Ten years on, the stars of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” hold a reunion. [Empire]

The audience award at the Chicago Film Festival went to, yep, you guessed it, “The Artist.” [The Race]

One guy told Steve Pond that “The Help” could win Best Picture. So that got him thinking (on that and the possibility of “Midnight in Paris” winning). [The Odds]

George Clooney: Movie multi-tasker. [Speakeasy]

And one final note. Congrats to Guy for landing a stringer critic position at Variety. His first offering: a review of Salim Ahamed’s “Abu, Son of Adam.” [Variety]