The Playlist is all grown up, packing its bags and moving. Starting today, you can get all your movie news and updates at our new home at IndieWIRE.
What to expect? Pretty much the same coverage you know, just on a different channel. We're excited to joining the IndieWIRE team and blogging alongside the venerable likes of Anne Thompson, Peter Bogdanovich, Leonard Maltin and the rest of IW's talented crew. The move will allow The Playlist to reach a wider audience than ever before, get better access and maybe even try a new thing or two. It's the grand experiment of 2010 and a new adventure if you will.
The Playlist has always evolved. We were a music e-zine in 2000, a film soundtracks blog in the mid aughts and we've basically grown into the site you know and semi-love today (and/or gripe about on occasion, that's OK too, we'd be boring if it were simply a love fest now wouldn't we?). Maybe we'll finally turn into a food snob blog one day.
It's an exciting (and nervewracking) time for us, but we couldn't have done it without our faithful readers and we thank you for your support over the years. Onwards and upwards, and don't forget to update your bookmarks, etc. (and tell your friends and grandma). Facebook and Twitter feeds will redirect you in the right way if you get lost and sign up for our new RSS feed. So yeah, don't come to this blogspot URL anymore, we'll only be publishing stories now at our new IndieWIRE home.
A distribution deal now freshly inked with Roadside Attractions, Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Biuitful" is ready to enter the Oscar fray with a brand new trailer, putting an emphasis on Cannes Best Actor winner Javier Bardem.
The film follows Uxbal (Bardem) -- who can communicate with the dead, has an uneasy relationship with his bi-polar ex-wife and is juggling a handful of slowly spiraling black market deals -- in his last days as he tries to set things right before he passes away from terminal cancer. Yeah, this is grim, depressing stuff despite the misleading sort of thriller motif the first half of the trailer suggests. While we didn't particularly care for the film at Cannes, other members of the Playlist have seen it and liked it a bit more and everyone can agree that Bardem is solid in the lead, turning in a great performance.
The film will open in limited release on December 29th and expand from there. Official synopsis and trailer after the jump (or watch it in HD at Apple):
Biutiful is a love story between a father and his children. This is the journey of Uxbal, a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona. His livelihood is earned out of bounds, his sacrifices for his children know no bounds. Like life itself, this is a circular tale that ends where it begins. As fate encircles him and thresholds are crossed, a dim, redemptive road brightens, illuminating the inheritances bestowed from father to child, and the paternal guiding hand that navigates life's corridors, whether bright, bad - or biutiful.
Some brand new stills have landed for David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method," a film that is quite easily shaping up to be one of our must-sees for 2011.
Based on Christopher Hampton's acclaimed 2002 play "The Talking Cure," the film will center on the relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Russian-Jewish patient Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), who ultimately causes a rift between Jung and mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) but also catalyses strong findings in regards to Jungian psychoanalysis. Vincent Cassel and Sarah Gadon also co-star.
What else can we say about these pics except that they look great, and that Knightley looks particularly fierce here. In case you missed them, you can check out some of other smaller snaps from the film here.No word yet on release dates but with the film now in post-production, it's a fine candidate for the early 2011 festival season and no doubt Sundance, Berlin and Cannes will be wooing the filmmakers to premiere the film.More pics after the jump.
With his legal troubles more or less behind him (though he will forever be plagued by them) Roman Polanski is getting back in the business of making movies and has added one more actor the solid lineup he has assembled for his next film.
John C. Reilly is joiningKate Winslet, Jodie Foster and Christoph Waltz in "God Of Carnage." The film will be an adaptation of the hit play by French writer Yasmina Reza ("Art"), and the New York set story (a location the helmer can't film in, for obvious reasons, and will instead shoot in Paris), follows two sets of middle-class parents who meet for dinner after their children get into a fight at school. Reilly replaces Matt Dillon who was scrubbed from early casting news surrounding the film. Perhaps it's because he needs to make "Armored 2."
No word yet on the couple pairings but it's a formidable set of actors who will be tackling some strong material. Filming will begin in January in Paris and is it too much to expect a late 2011 release? Will Polanski go from legal woe to Oscar glory? [Deadline]
PG-13-ifying adult-centric horror classics doesn't necessarily mean debasing what made the original so great. Given the MPAA's weird post-millennial bloodlust, releasing John Carpenter's original "Halloween" today could probably earn the film a PG-13, provided those damaging bare breasts were concealed. And it's more exciting to consider scares without an explicit focus on blood and gore, so a hypothetical PG-13 remake of something like "Friday the 13th" would sound both incredibly dumb and slightly interesting, given that the restrictive rating might promise a new emphasis on ideas, concepts, and scares that last beyond opening night.
"Hellraiser" is not one of those concepts. Adapted by Clive Barker from his own series of short stories "The Hellbound Heart," the original film saw release in 1987. It dealt with a lead character, unfulfilled by his ritualistic S&M practices, who then finds an ancient puzzle box that tears his soul apart. When a former lover moves into his abandoned house with his brother, he returns to the flesh, desperate for victims to feed upon to regain his humanity. However, a council of leather-clad elders for all things debauched and disturbed, the Cenobites, are aware of this disturbance in the natural order. His suffering, they promise, will become legendary. So yeah, freaky sex, bloodletting, supernatural monsters. Everything about the blood-soaked original (and the underrated second film) screams R-rated. Not to The Weinstein Company though, who now view this long-in-development property as appropriate for a teen audience. They have hired director Christian E. Christiansen to helm a PG-13 take, despite previously flirting with Pascal Laugier and the team of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, the French filmmakers behind grisly Gallic bloodbaths "Martyrs" and "Inside," respectively. Christiansen is about to make his American debut with "The Roommate," the Minka Kelly/Leighton Meester thriller that looks like eight hundred other PG-13 teen-horror permutations starring pretty people with hateable faces. We actually saw the trailer basically get booed off the screen at New York Comic Con.
The "Hellraiser" series is an unusual case, in that it's receiving the big screen treatment as it continues to have a strong shelf life on the, well, shelf. The Weinsteins purchased the property, which has spawned eight sequels (the last four direct-to-DVD), but their remake hopes were dashed by a poor development period, resulting in the need to make a new film, or to lose the property. The Weinsteins being stingy as always, have commissioned "Hellraiser: Revelations" to hit disc sometime in 2011, keeping their remake hopes alive, though it wouldn't be a surprise if that were more watchable than seeing Baby Pinhead bludgeon his victims with pool noodles.
Even with his post-"Hangover" buzz leading to the critical disasters "All About Steve" and "Case 39" being unceremoniously dumped into theaters, Bradley Cooper is still riding high.
The "A-Team" star was recently rumored to be the frontrunner for the role ofD.C. Comics' adaptation of "The Flash," but Cooper himself seems to be in the denial phase of accepting the role. "I've never heard anything about it ever in my life. It's funny," he was quoted as saying to SuperHeroHype. Like all casting ideas rumors, it's possible Cooper is simply on the top of some early studio wishlist and he and his agents haven't been contacted yet because the script is not yet complete (apparently the script, written by the same trio that wrote "Green Lantern," will be turned in around December).
It's also possible Cooper is playing the same card he turned over when confronted about starring as Face in this past summer's "A-Team." At first Cooper denied that he would appear in the TV remake, but of course later on he actually starred in the Joe Carnahan film (maybe he should have denied it in real life too). With "Harry Potter" about to end, Warner Bros. cash-cow genre franchise is about to expire so the studio will be looking to get deep into the D.C. archives. "Green Lantern" will be the first shot, D.C.'s "Iron Man" if you will, and if all goes well "The Flash" will follow. With or without Bradley Cooper, who of course was a "Green Lantern" casting finalist. Clearly studios think the actor has a superheroic look.
Even though last we heard it was still at least a few years away, Disney is making sure their $4 billion buyout of Marvel starts paying back some of that investment sooner rather than later.
To that end, the studio has purchased the distribution rights for "The Avengers" and "Iron Man 3" from Paramount for a relatively bargain price of $115 million. The money will be owed on the release dates for the films, May 4, 2012 for the former and well, no release date yet for the latter. In fact, this is the first time there has been any release news on an "Iron Man 3" since last we heard it was still a few years away from happening, but now its been scheduled with a May 3, 2013 release date. But when it does happen, don't expect Jon Favreau to return to the director's chair as relations between the director and the comic company have soured considerably.
As for Paramount, they are still on board to release "Thor" and "Captain America" as planned next year and they will also be releasing Favreau's next film, "Cowboys Vs. Aliens." [Deadline]
The first bonafide awards season controversy (of sorts) has arrived thanks to the MPAA slapping a boneheaded NC-17 rating on the indie drama "Blue Valentine" last week. For many, this once again underscored the inconsistency of the ratings board and its bizarre preference for bloody violence over anything resembling nudity (and strangely enough, "Blue Valentine" doesn't have any violence or nudity). For pretty much everyone who has seen the film (including us) the rating makes absolutely no sense.
Following The Weinstein Company's announcement that they plan to appeal the ruling, director Derek Cianfrance has spoken out about the box office-killing rating his film has received, saying, “we were shocked by it, in all honesty. I think we made a very respectful film. It’s not exploitative. It’s honest, it’s intimate… it leaves a lot to people’s imaginations. And we’re going to fight it. We all respect the MPAA and the work that they do but we think that this decision is wrong.” However, he does take heart in the support he's received from those who have seen the film and disagree with the MPAA, saying, “I have been surprised and honored that so many people have come to the defense of the film. There’s nobody in the press or the public that have seen the film that seem to agree with the decision.”
The film, which has been tweaked and edited by Cianfrance since it debuted at Sundance earlier in the year (it was ten minutes shorter at Cannes and a few more minutes were shaved for TIFF), is the version he feels "everyone should see." But whether or not that happens is up to the MPAA.
While there are numerous theories as to what scene or sequence the MPAA were offended by, the bottom line is no one gets naked or blown up in the film; yes, it's an emotionally intense and raw-nerved film but we don't recall that being a reason to tag the film with a rating that will effectively kill it on the vine. An R rating is certainly more appropriate and realistic, but whether the "family values" led MPAA will realize the error of their ways we'll have to wait and find out. And in case you missed it, here's the trailer.
Following the public and somewhat salacious news that Angelina Jolie had her filming permits revoked by Bosnian officials it looks like cooler heads have prevailed, and the actress, making her directorial debut, will now be allowed to film in the region.
News broke last week that Jolie would not be allowed to shoot following a controversy that arose around her script which was rumored to feature a romance between a Muslim woman and Serbian man who raped her. Turns out there wasn't even a screenplay attached to the permit as required, and once it was resubmitted, everything was fine. It turns out the rape in the script is actually untrue and Jolie asks that we hold judgment until the film is finished, saying in a statement, "there are many twists in the plot that address the sensitive nature of the relationship between the main characters, and that will be revealed once the film is released...My hope is that people will hold judgment until they have seen the film."
The currently untitled film starsZana Marjanovic, Rade Šerbedžija and a host of unknowns from the region. We would wager the film will make the festival circuit next year, perhaps unspooling at Cannes?
Last fall, a remake of Iceland's Oscar entry for last year,the thriller "Reykjavik-Rotterdam" by director Baltasar Kormakur, was announced with Mark Wahlberg producing and potentially starring and then....well, nothing. Then, last month Latino Review revealed that Kate Beckinsale had joined the project to take a starring role opposite Wahlberg.
Today, it looks like things are now going full steam forward as Universal has snapped up the film, approved its $30 million budget and turned on the the greenlight. Now titled "Contraband," the film follows a security guard and former smuggler who, facing financial troubles, is roped back into his old life. The logline seems pretty dry, and we haven't seen the original film, but Wahlberg is no slouch when it comes to picking projects so perhaps it's a lot meatier than the one-liner suggests. Aaron Guzikowski, who penned the very hot Black List script "Prisoners," is writing the screenplay.
No word yet on a production start date, but presumably sometime in 2011 once Beckinsale has wrapped up her duties on "Underworld 4." But there will be plenty of Wahlberg in the upcoming months as the most recently released trailer for "The Fighter" indicates that he is a very strong contender for a Best Actor nomination at this year's Oscars.
The first salvo in the 2010 awards season has rung out via the 2010 Gotham Independent Film Awards and so far, Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone" has come out on top leading the pack with three nominations, including, Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance and Breakthrough Actor for the film's star Jennifer Lawrence.
The Gotham Awards haven't really been a major augur in the Academy Awards, but last year's big winner "The Hurt Locker" (which won Best Picture and Best Ensemble Cast), obviously went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
This bodes well for the very deserving indie picture. Internally some Playlist members have speculated to one another that the film is too small to make much of a mark during the Oscars, but this writer is pretty adamant that it has a shot at a Best Picture nomination. Lawrence, who has since scored a coveted gig in "X-Men: First Class" as the shape-shifter Mystique should hopefully have a shot at Best Actress as well. Call her slot the indie, "Precious" one if you will and let's hope there's room for both it and Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are Alright."
Speaking of, tailing "Winter's Bone" with two nominations is Cholodenko's family drama (nominated for Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance) and "Tiny Furniture" which scored nods for Best Ensemble Performance and Best Breakthrough Director for filmmaker Lena Dunham. Also nominated for Best Picture is Darren Aronofksy's "Black Swan," Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine," and Matt Reeves' recent horror remake, "Let Me In." Full list of nominations below the jump. The nominees for the 20th Anniversary Gotham Independent Film Awards are:
Best Feature "Black Swan" Darren Aronofsky, director; Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures) "Blue Valentine" Derek Cianfrance, director; Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky, producers (The Weinstein Company) "The Kids Are All Right" Lisa Cholodenko, director; Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, Jordan Horowitz, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Philippe Hellmann, producers (Focus Features) "Let Me In" Matt Reeves, director; Simon Oakes, Alex Brunner, Guy East, Tobin Armbrust, Donna Gigliotti, John Nording, Carl Molinder, producers (Overture Films) "Winter’s Bone" Debra Granik, director; Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan-Yorkin, producers (Roadside Attractions)
Best Documentary "12th & Delaware" Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, directors/producers (HBO Documentary Films) "Inside Job" Charles Ferguson, director; Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs, producers (Sony Pictures Classics) "The Oath" Laura Poitras, director/producer (Zeitgeist Films and American Documentary/POV) "Public Speaking" Martin Scorsese, director; Martin Scorsese, Graydon Carter, Margaret Bodde, Fran Lebowitz, producers (HBO Documentary Films) "Sweetgrass" Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash, directors; Ilisa Barbash, producer (Cinema Guild)
Best Ensemble Performance "The Kids Are All Right" Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson (Focus Features) "Life During Wartime" Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Riley Snyder, Renée Taylor, Michael Kenneth Williams (IFC Films) "Please Give" Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Ann Guilbert, Lois Smith, Sarah Steele, Thomas Ian Nicholas (Sony Pictures Classics) "Tiny Furniture" Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham, Rachel Howe, Merritt Wever, Amy Seimetz, Alex Karpovsky, David Call, Jemima Kirke, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Garland Hunter, Isen Hunter (IFC Films) "Winter’s Bone" Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Lauren Sweetser, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Breznahan (Roadside Attractions)
Breakthrough Director John Wells for "The Company Men" (The Weinstein Company) Kevin Asch for "Holy Rollers" (First Independent Pictures) Glenn Ficarra and John Requa for "I Love You Phillip Morris" (Roadside Attractions) Tanya Hamilton for "Night Catches Us" (Magnolia Pictures) Lena Dunham for "Tiny Furniture" (IFC Films)
Breakthrough Actor Prince Adu in "Prince of Broadway" (Elephant Eye Films) Ronald Bronstein in "Daddy Longlegs" (IFC Films) Greta Gerwig in" Greenberg" (Focus Features) Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter’s Bone" (Roadside Attractions) John Ortiz in "Jack Goes Boating" (Overture Films)
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You "Kati with an i" Robert Greene, director; Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa, producers "Littlerock" Mike Ott, director; Frederick Thornton, Laura Ragsdale, Sierra Leoni, producers "On Coal River" Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood, directors; Jillian Elizabeth, Adams Wood, Francine Cavanaugh, producers "Summer Pasture" Lynn True and Nelson Walker, directors/producers; Tsering Perlo, co-director/co-producer "The Wolf Knife" Laurel Nakadate, director/producer
"Safe House" has got all kinds of heat around it. Firstly, the script by David Guggenheim (no, not Davis, the director of "Waiting For Superman") caused a Hollywood bidding war earlier this year, and after Denzel Washington took the lead role, another minor frenzy was caused as every young actor vied for the co-starring gig, with Ryan Reynolds landing the part. And if that wasn't enough, Daniel Espinosa is set to make his Hollywood debut directing the film getting the gig after his sleek drug drama "Snabba Cash" became a sensation at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year (and is set for a remake starring Zac Efron).
Well, some more top shelf talent is working on the project as Terry George, screenwriter of "Hotel Rwanda" and "In The Name Of The Father" has been tapped to rewrite the script that tells the story of "a young CIA agent (Reynolds) who must transport a dangerous criminal (Denzel Washington) to safety after they are attacked at a safe house."
Production on the Universal film is set to begin in early 2011 once Reynolds wraps the comedy "The Change Up" and presumably before he begins the long press tour of duty for "Green Lantern."
It must drive studios insane when faraway/blurry photos from highly anticipated films hit the web in advance of official marketing material, but it's hard to keep a lid on set photos these days.
With that in mind here are some, well, faraway/blurry photos of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law on the set of "Sherlock Holmes 2," now filming in England. As you might expect, the duo are attired befitting the era of the film and, well, that's about it. Oh yeah, there is also a horse carriage, a popular mode of conveyance at the time. Plot details on the film are nil at this time except that Moriarty is the villain this time around.
The film starringRobert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Stephen Fry and Jared Harris is being directed by Guy Ritchie and will hit theaters on December 16, 2011. For more photos you can head over to Just Jared.
Let's be incredibly brief here since this project seems to be a done deal.
As you know, Darren Aronofskyall but officially has the "Wolverine 2" directing gig. We would've never guessed in a million years that this would happen (and we even tried to talk the filmmaker out of it). In a weekend Deadline article that also mentioned updates on "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies," it was reported that Aronofsky is so close to taking on the gig that talks have already turned to where the production will shoot. To accommodate Aronofksy (who lives in New York) and Hugh Jackman's families, the sound stage portions of the film will be shot in the Big Apple. A March 2011 start date is being eyed which will allow the filmmaker plenty of time to be available for awards season press for his critically acclaimed psychodrama, "Black Swan" (The 83rd Academy Awards will take place on February 27). And to make any script tweaks if necessary. After the New York sequences are completed, the production will move to Japan to shoot the bulk of the film. The Christopher McQuarrie-penned script is based off the classic 1982 "Wolverine" mini-series created by Chris Claremont and artist Frank Miller that sets Logan in Japan, on a mission of the heart, if he can survive the ninja-clan the Hand first.
"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" was easily one of the worst films of 2009, so while it would be impossible to be much worse, Aronofsky will have his work cut out for him if he wants to completely overhaul the tone of the previous film. And we hope a "complete overhaul" is exactly what he has in mind.
Now that we know "The Tree Of Life" will finally hit theaters in 2011, we can start obsessing on the director's next project, the untitled feature that currently is shooting in Oklahoma.
StarringRachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz and Olga Kurylenko, plot details are as usual completely under wraps, but during the film's production, numerous pics and video of Malick and his crew shooting the film have made their way online. Now, more pics emerged thanks to local Osage County newspaper The Bigheart Times, along with a couple intriguing bits of info. First up, the solid and continually underrated Barry Pepper has joined the cast of the film and along with Javier Bardem, plays a priest in the pic. So what does this indicate about the plot? We have no idea except that perhaps there will be some thematic crossover from "The Tree Of Life." The article goes on to indicate that shooting wrapped in Osage County last week, but no word yet on how many work weeks are slotted for filming. And of course after that comes Malick's painstaking editing process, so this is one is still a long time from being seen (hell, we're still waiting on something official from "The Tree Of Life"; a release date even, not to mention an official still or trailer).
But, we're mostly just thrilled not to have to wait a decade for another Malick film. That said, we don't expect this one to be ready until 2012 at the earliest so we will have to be patient. Two Malick films within such proximity is something to be excited for.
The oft-quoted Fitzgerald sentiment, "no second acts in American lives" obviously doesn't apply in modern times and certainly not for American-born, Australian-bred Mel Gibson, who looks like he might be entering his third comeback chapter.
According to the New York Post, Gibson's career rehabilitation will begin with a cameo role in Todd Phillips' currently-underway sequel, "The Hangover 2" starring Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, and Bradley Cooper. Gibson will allegedly play a tattoo artist and one we presume the 'Hangover' gang meets in Thailand where most of the picture takes place. We also assume Gibson's cameo role will be somewhat akin to Mike Tyson's in the original film. A source tells the NYP's Page Six, "It's a done deal. Mel will make a cameo as a tattoo artist. Filming is taking place on the Warner Bros. lot, where a Bangkok set has been built, and Mel is expected to film his role in two weeks. Then the production moves to Thailand at the end of October."
In case you've been living under a rock, Gibson became persona non grata for a second time in less than five years when a ugly phone conversation between him and his ex-girlfriend OksanaGrigorieva leaked earlier this year after the couple had split. The virulent, misogynistic and epithet-laden conversation led to a massive public outcry and a second career meltdown when his agents, William Morris Endeavor, dropped him. Every Gibson project in the works then immediately collapsed (including a proposed Viking film with Leonardo DiCaprio). Gibson still faces allegations that he assaulted and made threats against Grigorieva and has a restraining order preventing him from seeing her.
In 2006, Gibson was infamously arrested for a DUI charge and a leaked report revealed that during Gibson's arrest he made anti-semitic and sexist remarks to the arresting female officer. Gibson basically disappeared from Hollywood for four years before he returned with "Edge of Darkness" which appeared in theaters earlier this year (and he continued to tussle with journalists about his anti-semitic remarks and drinking issues). His project, "The Beaver" directed by Jodie Foster remains in limbo, in part because Gibson plays a lunatic in the film and it might land too close to home (though the film is rated PG-13). Even before then, Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was met with anti-semitic allegations in when it arrived in theaters in 2004. His father, Hutton Gibson is a well-known Holocaust denier and has never really helped the younger Gibson's case in the media.
Will howling laughter make audiences forget all this? Is Todd Phillips tempting a little fate, by reintroducing Gibson back into the wild so soon? Is this New York Post report even true? Stay tuned, though our guess is that it might be fact. In our accelerated culture, redemption and forgiveness may be available for serious transgressions much sooner than they have in the past. We'll see. This rumor arrives on the heels of the news that Heather Grahamwon't be reprising her escort role in "The Hangover 2." Updated: MTV says this news is now confirmed.
We hate propagating what will surely be debunked as b.s. later in the day, but since it's caught on like wildfire, perhaps you'll appreciate another take on it. Talk of a Bee Gees biopic has been batted around for a few years now. Hell, what musical group worth its salt hasn't had a film biopic proposed about them?
But according to a Daily Mail report, not written by the trustworthy Baz Bamigboye, a biopic is moving forward. "The movie is going to be done by some very important people. It will be our life story. Barry and I will be involved in the technical side," said 60-year-old Bee Gees member Robin Gibb (Maurice Gibb died in 2003 at the age of 58).
The Daily Mail asserts with no uncertainty that Steven Spielberg is going to be that important person, and will be in the director's chair, but we don't buy that for a second. We'll assume the publication did talk to the Bee Gees and were told some things about the potential talent involved, but Spielberg has a myriad of projects on the go and it's doubtful he'd spend his valuable time helming a movie about a British, Beatles wanna-be pop band that became the biggest group in the world by converting to disco.
Maybe he's involved as an executive producer? That's possible. But director? We'll believe it when we see it. At ease.
So this writer has seen maybe four episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” and finds it dumber than a bucket of hair, however, I’m sure they’re all nice people, so we guess we’re happy for Johnny Galecki (he plays the most socially adept of the show's chief nerdlingers) who, according to Deadline, has landed a big screen role in the New Regency sci-fi film that used to be called “Im.Mortal” but isn’t any more.
Galecki, aside from small roles in the likes of “Vanilla Sky” and “Hancock,” is better known for TV work, especially his recurring role as Darlene’s boyfriend on “Roseanne,” and here joins an interesting, previously-reported-on cast including Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried, Justin Timberlake (Galecki will play Timberlake’s best friend), and "Mad Men" star Vincent Kartheiser - The film concerns a future where time has become currency so if you’re rich you can live forever (more story details here), a plot that, in its dystopian futurism evokes "Gattaca," a rather underrated sci-fi film which was also written and directed by this film’s writer/director, Andrew Niccol. If he’s on that kind of form, with this cast, and shorn of its gimmicky title, we’re cautiously optimistic, though Niccol did make the blandly dystopian gimmicky-titled sci-fi hybrid mess that was "S1m0ne," so maybe make that ‘optimistically cautious.’ Shooting starts imminently.
With decidedly lukewarm responses to the trailer, and bad buzz building about the project, Sony have been playing things pretty quietly on "The Green Hornet" front. But with the film's release now only three months away, it looks like the marketing campaign is gearing up again, with the debut of a teaser poster for the film.
It's trying to use the iconic Black Beauty car and an updated version of the symbol, sidelining stars Seth Rogen and Jay Chou, but we're just not sure that either mean anything to anyone these days. But at least Rogen looks like a more convincing action hero from above, we suppose. And is Cameron Diaz actually in this film? We're not sure we've seen more than a couple of frames with her present.
Our man at the New York Comic Con was a little underwhelmed by the footage shown there, but despite that, and the generally lackluster trailers, we're still holding out some hope: any project with a script by Rogen and Evan Goldberg ("Superbad"), and directed by Michel Gondry can't be counted out just yet. The film hits, in glorious Kato-vision (or as you might know it, 3D), on January 14th, 2011. [Empire]
Factoids straight in from the “things we’ll try and care about at some point” section of the internet: “Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides 3D” will boast, in addition to a horribly cumbersome title, a whole load of CG and Johnny Depp in glorious 3D SwaggerVision, a reprise by Keith Richards in his role as Jack Sparrow’s dad.
This nugget was buried in a Reuters article in Yahoo’s entertainment section, which was actually about Richards’ new autobiography that, from the sounds of it, you’d be advised to spend your time at home reading rather than suffering through “POTC4: OST3D”; in it he apparently details his long and sometimes troubled history with Jagger (aka Your Majesty, Brenda), includes anecdotes about famous types like John Lennon, and generally bars no holds in telling of his, by any standards, pretty exciting life. Sex! Drugs! Possibly even some rock ‘n’ roll! It sounds like a salacious good time, which brings us right back to ‘Pirates 4,’ which doesn’t. Anyway, according to Collider, your first chance to see whether Rob Marshall has managed to steer this unwieldy vessel out of the turgid cinematic doldrums previous helmer Gore Verbinski abandoned it in (and the award for extended metaphor goes to...), will be this December before Disney’s other Great White Hope, “Tron: Legacy" (colons: so hot right now), which makes sense because they’re both in 3D so audiences will have their glasses at the ready.
After the completely underwhelming teaser shot for Comic Con, we’re sure they’ll go all out to whelm with this one, so expect flying fish, pieces of eight and Penelope Cruz’s bodiced boobies comin’ atcha. And for that sliver of our readership who may be more interested in ‘Pirates’ than in ‘Tron,’ it appears the trailer will also be released that day (Dec 17th) on the ol’ internet, so you can watch it online if you haven’t got school the next day and have done all your chores.
Look, we realize the last thing in the world this Monday morning needs is another "Ghostbusters 3" story — no one likes beating a dead horse — but things might be slightly looking up.
At the 2010 Scream Awards which took place this weekend and air tomorrow, Tuesday, October 19 at 9p.m. EST, the seemingly implacable Bill Murray relented to his fun side a little and donned his "Ghostbusters" outfit (via Cinemablend) much to the surprise and loud enthusiasm of the audience (Murray accepted the award for the best horror movie “Zombieland” which he had a cameo in). Does this mean Murray's had a change in heart? Mmm, maybe. He did happily reference and spoof "Ghostbusters" in the aforementioned "Zombieland" and that evinced a sense of humor about the franchise, but that didn't preclude him from spitting venom all over the idea of the proposed threequel several times (and he basically did that "Zombieland" cameo as a favor to friend Woody Harrelson). Time will tell and regardless, his part in "Ghostbusters: The New Generation," is said to be extremely small. Meanwhile, in other potentially optimistic news (though perhaps not the greatest source in the world), Ghostbusters Italia, via Bloody Disgusting, is reporting that Sony has allegedly green-lit the new "Ghostbusters 3" script that Dan Aykroyd was writing with Harold Ramis, now that "The Office" scribes Gene Stupnisky and Lee Eisenberg were apparently kicked to the curb. Considering Aykroyd only recently said he and Ramis were re-writing the script it feels dubious and odd that not only would the new screenplay be complete, but green-lit, but stranger things have happened.
With no start date yet, the earliest we'd likely see this film is 2012, and Sony already has "Spider-Man," "Men In Black 3D" and "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" set for the spring and summer seasons of that year, so our bet is it's likely going to land in 2013.
Oh, McG. Our favorite pteromechanophobic vowel-free director hasn't had the easiest time of things since "Terminator: Salvation" landed with a firm thud last summer -- his version of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea," with Sam Worthington, fell apart, and despite circling a number of projects, including "R.I.P.D,""The Girl Who Conned The Ivy League", "Spring Awakening" and the teen comedy "The D.U.F.F," nothing's quite made it before cameras.
After courting nearly every male actor in town (and to be fair, finally landing two strong leads in the shape ofTom Hardy and Chris Pine) for the action-rom-com "This Means War," which will also star Reese Witherspoon and Chelsea Handler, filming's finally underway on that project in Vancouver, so those of you who've been missing your fix of hollow, idea-free action movies are in luck. And the helmer's not stopping there, as he's in negotations to direct another project, this time with relative newcomers Virgin Produced.
The label, set up by self-publicizing British billionaire Richard Branson as a joint venture with Relativity Media, is making its debut next year with the still-untitled R-rated comedy anthology that stars, among others, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Julianne Moore, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber and Emma Stone. The McG project, however, is a little more ambitious, it seems; titled "Columbus," it's a new version of the story of Christopher Columbus and the so-called discovery of America. The script, by newcomer T.S. Nowlin, has McG attached to direct and produce what's described as a "'300'-style" version of the tale. Words fail us sometimes, they really do. A deal's said to be close for Virgin to pick up the project, which presumably the helmer would move on to when he's done with "This Means War." The 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage, in 1992, saw a pair of films released on the subject: Ridley Scott's "1492: Conquest of Paradise," and "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery," neither of which did particularly well. But with 3D, green screen and slo-mo? That's a whole different story...
Tucked away in the story is news of another Virgin Produced project -- "Truth or Dare," which apparently Peter Farrelly has signed on to direct, and will star Halle Berry and Stephen Merchant (the latter, co-creator and co-star of Ricky Gervais' "Extras," has a supporting role in Farrelly's "Hall Pass" next year). It's a fairly odd combination, although we can see the comic potential there. There's no further mention of the project on Deadline, or anywhere else, as yet, but we're sure details will be forthcoming soon enough. We hope it's a shot-for-shot remake of the Madonna film. [Deadline]
Will John Hillcoat ever catch a break? Despite previously talking with enthusiasm about "The Revenant," Hillcoat has now reportedly exited the project with French helmer Jean-François Richet in line as a replacement.
Scribe Mark L. Smith originally unveiled Hillcoat as being attached to helm the adaptation of Michael Punke's novel of the same name, which centers on the 1820s story of a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling. A feature adaptation had also been developed as a vehicle for Samuel L. Jackson and later had Park Chan-wook attached to helm though neither iterations came to fruition.
Pajiba are now reporting, though, that the project has lost Hillcoat as director for unexplained reasons but has Richet, the director of recent two-part crime epic 'Mesrine' starring Vincent Cassel, as a potential replacement. Richet's last Hollywood venture wasn't exactly a success ("Assault On Precinct 13") but his French crime epic garnered multiple César nominations and wins, along with strong notices from critics on this side of the ocean, no doubt part of the reason why he's being offered a return stateside. The site also adds that Hillcoat is still attached to helm a remake of classic neo-noir "Le Cercle Rouge" possibly modernized by an Asian setting. On top of that, the director has more projects gestating than he can possibly chew on, including a potential teaming with Shia Labeouf and Chris Pinefor cop-drama "Triple Nine," an adaptation of musical collaborator Nick Cave's novel "The Death Of Bunny Munro" being developed for television with Ray Winstone in the lead, and a Joe Penhall-scripted remake of "La Bonne Annee" with Daniel Craig.
We're still ruing the major cinephile loss that was the breakdown of Hillcoat's depression-era crime-drama "The Wettest Country In The World," which we now imagine would be like a working class version of Martin Scorsese's "Boardwalk Empire" on HBO. Someone, just please let Hillcoat go behind the camera for a feature film again...
Megan Fox has secured her first major post-'Transformers' role joining Jennifer Westfeldt's directorial debut, the ensemble comedy, "Friends With Kids."
StarringAdam Scott and Kristen Wiig as well as real-life couple Westfeldt and Jon Hamm, the story reportedly centers on "a pair of thirty-something best friends who observe the toll that having kids has taken on the couples they know and resolve to bypass that stress by having a child and then dating other people."
Scott and Westfeldt will play the lead couple with Hamm and Wiig play another, and Fox will play a girl Scott begins to date -- not exactly the most challenging, typecast-breaking role, though apparently "when [Westfeldt] met with her, she thought Megan was spot on." A third couple is currently being cast, which we guess may involve talent from an early script reading which featured the likes of Rebecca Creskoff, Rosemarie Dewitt, Noah Emmerich and Scott (who ended up being cast).
Shooting was set to begin sometime this month with a theatrical release for April apparently already lined up. Mike Nichols and Jake Kasdan are exec producing and assisting Westfeldt with her first time behind the camera. [THR]
Considering it went before cameras over a year ago, we've been disappointed not to have seen more of Greg Mottola's "Paul;" not because we think they're hiding anything -- it's a terrific script, director and cast -- more because we're so keen to see the film. It did make a brief appearance at Comic Con (and we caught up with some of the cast there), where a trailer was shown, but since then, all's been quiet.
This weekend however, an international teaser trailer debuted in front of "The Social Network" in the UK, and this morning Simon Pegg announced the trailer was going live on the internet at MSN, via his twitter account. And it's shaping up pretty well, we reckon. It's a brief (65 second) clip that plays up the action elements of the road trip movie, with helicopters, guns, explosions and car crashes galore. More importantly, we get our first look at the titular extraterrestrial (who escapes from government custody and goes on the lam with British comic book geeks, played by Pegg and Nick Frost), as voiced, and performed in motion capture by Seth Rogen, and we're pretty impressed. He's simple and iconic, but expressive and doesn't seem too obviously CGI.
We're surprised that there aren't more gags in the trailer, but it might make sense to sell the action and CGI up front (particularly for the British audience the clips's cut for -- Pegg and Frost are much bigger stars there than in the States), but the sting has a pretty big laugh, and we know from the script that the filmmakers aren't hiding anything away. If the domestic trailer delivers in the same way, this could shape up to be a fairly major mainstream hit -- it certainly looks more appealing than, say, "Due Date."
"Paul" opens in the UK on February 18th, and a month later in the US.
Update: Here's the new poster for the film via Yahoo.
After the first somewhat fluffy trailer for David O. Russell's boxing drama "The Fighter," the long-gestating project was looking like a shadow of its former self which, in the past, had attracted a prestige of talent including Darren Aronofsky, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.
A new sneak peak that debuted last night on AMC during "Mad Men," however, has finally exhibited some of the potential which has seen the film touted as an award season contender. Adding equal parts of thespians Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, the trailer hints at a plot involving a tug of war for Micky Ward's (Wahlberg) attention between his half brother/trainer (Bale), his girlfriend (Amy Adams) and his mother (Leo) which looks every bit a tense, hearty relationship/family drama lying underneath a rag-to-riches sporting tale. A passion project for Wahlberg, the actor has been attached to star as Ward for the best part of the last decade and linked up with familiar talent to help get the project on screen: O. Russell directed him in "I Heart Huckabees," while Bale was briefly attached to star alongside him in everyman-goes-vigilante project, "Prisoners." "The Fighter" hits theaters December 10th; color us excited.
Deadline is reporting that Bradley Cooper and Scarlett Johansson are names that O. Russell had in mind for the lead roles of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet before he left and still should be considered the frontrunners. Meanwhile Lionsgate is claiming no cast has been named yet, but "other actors" are in the mix. And Pajiba, who seem to shying away from reporting news stories on their blog, instead noting news on their Twitter feed, may have solved who those people are reporting that, Mia Wasikowska, Tilda Swinton and Catherine O'Hara are also possible actresses for the lead, Bennet, Lady Catherin and Mrs. Bennett respectively. Wasikowska would be a good fit, but won't Cary Fukunagas "Jane Eyre" be slightly too similar of period pieces even though Bronte and Austen's style and tone are vastly different? Swinton and O'Hara though, do sound like deliciously good choices and we hope they stick. Evidently, now that O. Russell is off the project, directors are lining up for the gig and Deadline says one of them is likely going to be David Slade who was on the short list to direct "Wolverine 2" which now looks like it's all but Darren Aronofsky's gig (we still feel odd about this).
Update: Deadline have added another couple of tidbits to their story, suggesting that Mike Newell ("Prince Of Persia," "Donnie Brasco") is the current front-runner to take over from Russell in the director's chair, and that Neil Marshall ("Centurion") is also in consideration. If it's going to be one of the two, please say it'll be Newell, even if he is coming off the worst film of his career...
The Criterion Collectionrevealed its January slate on Friday and as per usual, it's another solid line-up. While there've been mild complaints that only two new discs were announced, the two reissues are just as exciting if not more so.
Starting off with the new, on January 25th, the speciality DVD company will release James L. Brooks 1987 dramedy classic, "Broadcast News" starring Albert Brooks, William Hurt and Holly Hunter, his second feature-length effort at the time — which he wrote, directed and produced — and still perhaps his most well-regarded film. This writer honestly hasn't seen the film since around the time it was released, so we'll let the synopsis do the talking for us.
In the 1970s, the name James L. Brooks was synonymous with intelligent television comedy — his shows were insightful about work and love and always tapped into the zeitgeist. With his transition to film in the 1980s, he became a master Hollywood storyteller, and none of his films was more quintessentially Brooks than Broadcast News. This caustic inside look at the Washington news media stars Holly Hunter, in her breakout role, as a feisty television producer torn between an ambitious yet dim anchorman (William Hurt) and her closest confidant, a cynical veteran reporter (Albert Brooks). Brooks’s witty, gently prophetic entertainment is a captivating transmission from an era in which ideas on love and media were rapidly changing.
Notable extras include a commentary from Brooks himself, a documentary about the filmmaker's career in television — he created seminal TV shows like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," its spin-off, "Rhoda," was also the creator of "Taxi," and has been nominated for a whopping 47 Emmys and won 20 statuettes in total. Brooks famously got "The Simpsons" started when, as a producer for "The Tracey Ullman Show," he hired cartoonist Matt Groening to create a series of shorts for the show, which eventually led the full-blown animated series in 1989. Tantalizing for hardcore "Broadcast News" fans out there and yes, they do exist, is the inclusion of deleted scenes and an alternate ending, with commentary by Brooks.
Another new entry for the new year is a -4-disc Eclipse set by the English director Basil Dearden, known for his comedy work at London's heralded Ealing Studios. However, this set, called, "Basil Dearden's London Underground," focuses on his darker, socio-political and controversial films that came after those breezy 1940s pictures, from the years 1959-1962 including 1959's police procedural "Sapphire," which dealt with bigotry across cultural lines, 1960's considerably less-controversial, yet influential heist picture, "The League of Gentleman" starring Richard Attenborough, 1961's "Victim" which focused on the taboo's of British homophobia and 1962's psychodrama, "All Night Long"; a translation of Othello set in the smoky, London jazz clubs of the 1960s (jazz greats like Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, and Tubby Hayes appear).
Lastly, two long-overdue reissues have finally arrived. On January 18, Criterion will ring in the new year with two par-excellence pictures from the venerable Sam Fuller; the twisted pulpy noirs, "Naked Kiss" and "Shock Corridor." Both films are two of the earliest films Criterion released, bearing the spine numbers #18 and #19. Indie comic book enthusiasts will also immediately recognize the artwork of "Ghost World" illustrator Daniel Clowes, perhaps a contemporary, more comedic analogue to Fuller's caustic world of seedy misfits, outcasts and woe-begotten deviants.
The earlier film, "Shock Corridor" (1963), is seemingly B-movie outrageous -- a reporter gets himself committed to a mental hospital in order to track an unsolved murder -- but it's an ever-watchable and engaging slice of trashy melodrama and social commentary. In a modern context, it appears to be the film that inspired Dave Chappelle's Clayton Bigsby blind white supremacist skit on "Chapelle's Show." In 1996, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Released the following year in 1964, "Naked Kiss" is perhaps even more sordid and controversial, and centers on the exploits of a prostitute trying to find redemption by giving up her illicit lifestyle and adapting into mainstream society. Constance Towers is a firecracker in this bold, stylish and bizarre psychodrama. Both are must-own discs and if you trust the Criterion tastemakers at all you'll realize that seven of his pictures (including four from the Eclipse set) are part of their collection (Our vote goes to the underrated "40 Guns" with Barbara Stanwyck if they ever try and add an eighth film). Both films will be available on Blu-Ray as well.
Finally, coming to Blu-Ray are Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 masterpiece, "Army Of Shadows," starring the great Lino Ventura, and Byron Haskin's "Robinson Crusoe On Mars."
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