Well, this is for certain. Based on the official video for the upcoming boozy-country-singer-redemption-story-drama "Country Strong," the filmmakers are aiming squarely at the new country crowd.
Featuring the film's star and chanteuse Gwyneth Paltrow singing in a warehouse (sidenote: is this not the most boring music video cliché ever?) with random clips from the movie stuck in there as well. It also looks like it could be a commercial for jeans or pick-up trucks. At any rate, the film will followa rising singer-songwriter (Garrett Hedlund) who starts touring with a fading country singer (Paltrow) in a story that will probably be familiar if you saw "Crazy Heart." Tim McGraw ("The Blind Side") and Leighton Meester ("Gossip Girl") also star. Pictured is the new poster for the film. The film will begin a limited release on December 22nd, before going wide on January 7, 2011.[AceShowbiz/HeyUGuys]
The very familiar sounding plot followsa rising singer-songwriter (Garrett Hedlund) who starts touring with a fading country singer (Gwyneth Paltrow). Tim McGraw and Leighton Meester will also feature. So it's no surprise that the soundtrack will boast the cast showing off their vocal chops with Paltrow, Hedlund and Meester all singing songs on the disc. They are joined by decent roster of actual country talent including McGraw, Faith Hill, Lee Ann Womack, Patty Loveless, Hank Williams Jr. and more. But judging from the snippets we hear in the trailer, these will be more in the new country vein rather than in the rootsier territory of the T. Bone Burnett penned tunes of "Crazy Heart."But, for what it's worth, Paltrow's husband Chris Martin of a little band called Coldplay, wrote the song "Me and Tennessee." It looks they want the buzz on this to start early. The soundtrack will arrive in stores on October 26th almost two months in advance of the film's limited bow on December 22nd, before going wide on January 7, 2011. Full tracklist after the jump. [AceShowbiz] "Country Strong" Soundtrack Tracklisting
1. "Country Strong" - Gwyneth Paltrow 2. "Love Don't Let Me Down" - Chris Young and Patty Loveless 3. "A Little Bit Stronger" - Sara Evans 4. "Chances Are" - Garrett Hedlund 5. "Liars Lie" - Lee Ann Womack 6. "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Double)" - Ronnie Dunn 7. "Shake That Thing" - Gwyneth Paltrow 8. "Thirsty" - Hank Williams Jr. 9. "Give in to Me" - Faith Hill 10. "Timing Is Everything" - Trace Adkins 11. "Words I Couldn't Say" - Leighton Meester 12. "Coming Home" - Gwyneth Paltrow 13. "Me and Tennessee" - Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow
We've always liked that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) seemed to be even more damaged than your average damaged superhero, but it's easy to see why this alternate opening, that will be found on the upcoming "Iron Man 2" DVD/BluRay was initially scrapped.
This revised opening introduces the hero of the film post-puke, hovering over a toilet bowl. Yeah, we get it, Tony Stark is a bit of miss but director Jon Favreau wisely realized that this was a bit much. The scene continues with our nauseous hero badgering Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) for something, anything to cure his uneasy stomach. Yeah, it's a not a very good scene as a whole, and again, no surprise they went in a different direction.
Anyhow, you can see this scene and lots more when "Iron Man 2" hits home video on September 28th. [JoBlo]
Coveting a LasseHallström film in the year 2010 is a risky proposition, as the director's finest days seem to be long behind him; 2000's "Chocolat" or 1999's "The Cider House Rules" are arguably his last good films, but it's more like "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" in 1993. His nostalgically sentimental tone curdled into full blown mawkishness during the beginning of the last decade and it was pretty much a very uneven slide since then. Ok, "The Hoax" and "Casanova" have their moments, but neither are great pictures by any stretch. Somewhere along the way the man lost whatever edge he had.
Perhaps because we're gluttons for punishment — coupled with our love of a good cast — we're still interested in his gestating transgendered drama "The Danish Girl," with Nicole Kidman which fell apart earlier this year. Perhaps that anticipation is a holdover from the initial state. Originally, Tomas Alfredson, the director of the Swedish vampire drama, "Let The Right One In," was to be helming the picture and Kidman and Charlize Theron starring. Slowly, but surely, and for mostly unknown reasons, talent kept dropping out of the picture. First it was Theron who was then replaced with Gwyneth Paltrowand then it was Alfredson who is going on to make "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (he left after evidently being refused more time to develop the script written by Lucinda Coxon, which is never a good sign). Hallstromtook over earlier this year and then, delaying things even further, Paltrowdropped out in April. Is there new blood entering the sure-to-be risky project? Bleeding Cool has noticed a report from Access Hollywood that casually mentions Marion Cotillard as being the (new) co-star of the project and of course it's buried in the middle of the piece as if it isn't big news. Frankly, the French star would be perfect for the role, and she seems like an actress of caliber to perform alongside the always underrated Kidman, but we're cautious since this hasn't been officially reported by anyone yet. Fingers crossed. In June of this year, THRreported that the film had received €1.2 million ($1.5 million) in subsidy financing from Germany's NRW Film Board on the condition that its planned 19-day shoot would take place in Germany. That's a good sign, however some reports claim the film won't start shooting til 2012 (which makes sense considering what the director has on his plate right now, see below).
The film is based on a novel by David Ebershoff and focuses on the 1930s-set story of the first ever sex-change patient, EinarWegener, a male Danish artist whose love affair with his wife — fellow Danish artist Gerda Wegener— and art set him on the path to an eventual male-to-female operation. Kidman will play the transgendered protagonist and Cotillard would play the wife — if this report turns out to be true (and we hope it is). According to reports, we should see the pair as male and female initially.
Shooting was scheduled to begin this May in Budapest, Prague and Denmark, but funding never came through and Hallström instead moved on to "Salmon Fishing In Yemen" with Kristin Scott Thomas, Ewan McGregorand Emily Blunt which shot earlier this year. If schedules and money don't align, "The Danish Girl" could wait even longer. Hallströmhas several projects in the works including directing the coming of age drama "Tom's Dad," with Patrick Dempsey and he's alsoattached to helm "My American Lover" with real life lovers Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis starring.
Well, this is for certain. Based on the official video for the upcoming boozy-country-singer-redemption-story-drama "Country Strong," the filmmakers are aiming squarely at the new country crowd.
