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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 joining Kate 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]
Ron Howard has signed on direct an adaptation of the true story memoir "My Stroke Of Insight" by brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor.
The Sony Pictures and Imagine Entertainment co-production is set in 1996 when "the 37-year old Taylor suffered a massive stroke caused by a blood vessel that exploded in the left side of her brain. A Harvard-trained neuro-anatomist, Taylor's brain function deteriorated in a matter or hours to where she couldn't walk, read or write, or even recall past memories. It took 8 years for her to mend. Her knowledge of how the brain works gave her the opportunity to experience and write about brain recovery that became at times a mystical experience, as the right half compensated for the damaged left half and infused her with feelings of peace and well-being that she has tried to retain, even after struggling to reclaim her life and standing in the scientific community." Sounds like some rich material, and certainly something that Howard is eyeing toward awards season (like Steven Spielberg, he tends to alternate between blockbusters and prestige material).
Howard wants Jodie Foster to take on the lead role, but she's not yet attached. No word yet on where this will fall in Howard's schedule. He also recently signed on to direct the first of three films of the mega-"The Dark Tower" franchise being launched by Universal. But we would imagine Howard will try and get this one in the can before beginning extensive work on the Stephen King project. [Deadline]
Would there be a potential comeback role more appropriate for Mel Gibson than some sort of tongue-in-cheek involvement with Matthew Weiner's critically-adored, '60's-set drama "Mad Men"?
Rumors have it that the fantasy teaming may actually be in the works. Women On The Web report that Weiner is a fan of Gibson and has recently met up with him to plot a collaboration for the show's next season, its fifth, which begins lensing next summer. Weiner is said to have "told a pal recently that he sees a lot of dramatic potential pitting Gibson against Don Draper."
Too good to be true? It looks like it. According to a source close to the show, the rumor is bunk and more importantly Weiner and Gibson "have never met." Ah well. We figured it was too soon for Gibson to be talking about acting roles. He's yet to do the talk-show-interview/crying-in-public routine that these sort of situations usually demand before all is forgiven. Surely this all spawned from wishful thinking but we guess stranger things have happened.
Gibson, of course, still has Jodie Foster's man-and-his-puppet tale "The Beaver" waiting in the wings even if its prospects seem up in the air at this stage. We're also still wondering if his planned William Monahan-scripted Viking epic with Leonardo DiCaprio is officially dead and gone just yet. It might be bias, blind optimism but something tells us audiences haven't been put off Gibson by his recent tape-gate scandal — in fact a recent CBS/Vanity Fair poll said that 76% of respondents replied that they would not be less likely to see a Mel Gibson film following his latest controversy. Whether Hollywood feels the same way is another question.
Update: Deadline have pulled one of their famous about-turns, and removed any mention of Dillon from the original story, now saying that the second male lead "isn't cast yet..." Did they jump the gun on Dillon? Or will it end up being someone else entirely? Paging Ralph Fiennes...
Even with his legal problems behind him, temporarily at least, we figured it would be a little while before Roman Polanski got moving on another feature. So we're slightly stunned that not only does the legendary director have his next film financed and ready to shoot in February, but it's also fully cast. And what a cast it is.
Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and Matt Dillon will all star in "God of Carnage," the adaptation of the hit play by French writer Yasmina Reza ("Art"), which has long been thought to be Polanski's next project. The story, set in New York (which 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.
What's perhaps most surprising, considering the wealth of stars who've appeared in the show on the West End or on Broadway, including Ralph Fiennes, Janet McTeer, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, James Gandolfini, Lucy Liu and Hope Davis, is that Polanski's gone with an entirely new cast, but with one this high-calibre, we don't mind too much. We're particularly glad to see that the director's attempting to salvage Dillon from the Screen Gems hell that his career seems to have entered recently. Our guess is that he and Winslet will play Alan and Annette, while Waltz and Foster will play Michael and Veronica, but there's a number of possible permutations here. The only cast member who could improve on one of these four, considering the prevalent themes of racism, homophobia and misogyny? Foster's friend Mel Gibson...
Despite the likelihood of "The Ghost Writer" figuring high in our end-of-year worst list, we're excited about this — the source material is very smart and funny, and Polanski's rarely better than when he's dealing with explosive situations in contained spaces. The biggest question is whether Polanski will be able to open the play up to feel a little more cinematic. With a twelve week shoot planned for February, it's possible that it'll be ready for the awards season next year, but our guess is that, following the footsteps of "The Ghost Writer," it'll premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in early 2012. [Deadline]
As Mel Gibson has discovered first-hand on several occasions, the media loves nothing more than a celebrity meltdown story. Not far behind that, though, is the heartwarming comeback story which typically sees the resurrection of a star, who was ironically slammed in the same media outlets not long before that.
Now, looking to pave that very pathway for Gibson is her long-time friend and recent collaborator, Jodie Foster — in response to questions about the actor's recent, infamous Tape-Gate scandal, she describes the actor to More magazine as the "easiest, nicest person I've ever worked with [and] the second I met him [working on 1994's 'Maverick'], I said, 'I will love this man for the rest of my life.' "
"When you love a friend, you don't abandon them when they are struggling. Of course, Mel is an undeniably gifted actor and director, and 'The Beaver' is one of his most powerful and moving performances. But more importantly, he is and has been a true and loyal friend. I hope I can help him get through this dark moment."
Of course, the question remains, when will Summit decide to release the Jodie Foster-directed film? Deadline seems to be making a case for the film getting a release with Nikki Finke leading the charge. So, can we potentially see a late-season, awards-contending release? The film, which follows a depressed man who finds solace in wearing a beaver hand-puppet, is based on 2008 Black List topper from Kyle Killeen and was rumored to be gunning for a fall release this year before Gibson's ugly, much-publicized and still on-going debacle with former girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva put everything on the backburner.
It seems highly unlikely that things have changed since then considering the film's non-appearance at all the recent fall film festivals, though one source of Deadline's Pete Hammond hints that cashed up ('Twilight') and award hungry ("The Hurt Locker") distributors Summit Entertainment "likes to surprise people, so we’ll see." Hammond also adds that he's heard murmurs that Foster "wants to do what’s best for the picture, which was a real labor of love." Hammond adds that he has also heard great things about Gibson's performance with sources to close to the film calling it "extraordinary," "incredible" and "amazing." On top of that, the film also features the promising duo of fellow 2010 award season player Jennifer Lawrence and Anton Yelchin (who will be reuniting for Drake Doremus' upcoming indie-drama "Like Crazy").
Suffice to say, "The Beaver" will be highly anticipated in many circles for many different reasons, including the fact that it will potentially be Gibson's on-screen comeback. The sooner this pic comes out, the better but 2010? Probably too early; we'll believe it when we see it.
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.
