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With the rom-com "Life As We Know It" hitting theaters next weekend, and the high concept private investigator flick "One For The Money" arriving in 2011, Katherine Heigl is considering a shift into some straight fantasy/dramatic fare for her next film.
In an interview with the NY Times, the actress reveals she's circling the lead role of the film version of Diane Gabaldon's "Outlander" saying, “Scotland? 2012? What do you think?” The book, the first in a six novel series, starts in 1945 and follows Claire Beauchamp Randall, an English nurse, who while on honeymoon in the Scottish highlands is transported back in time to 1743, where she finds a series of adventures and romance.
The books were optioned by Essential Pictures back in 2008 with an eye to creating a franchise. Randall Wallace ("Braveheart," "Pearl Harbor") was hired to pen the script, with a director being sought for a 2009 start. Obviously that didn't happen, but if Heigl were to join, we would imagine the pieces would come together quickly. However, judging by her comments, it doesn't seem likely to shoot until 2012.
Back in August, Timur Bekmambetov revealed that "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" would be his next directing gig and the project, produced by Tim Burton, is now headed out to studios to see who will bite.Based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith ("Pride And Prejudice And Zombies"), the story spins the familiar history of Abraham Lincoln, but casts him as a ruthless vampire killer. Last month, Bekmambetov said the film would shoot in the United States and he was eyeing a winter start date. As for what we can expect stylistically, Bekmambetov said, " If you remember 'Nightwatch,' it is maybe in the vein of that kind of movie." He also hopes to explore the world Grahame-Smith has created in potential sequels.
As for who will pick up the project, it remains to be seen. DreamWorks and Disney are said to be "out of the running" but the other big boys, Universal, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros. are still in play. It's definitely in the vein of revisionist history/fables that seems to be du jour in Hollywood and with Burton involved it should attract interest. [Vulture]
We're paraphrasing here -- it's something we read on another site recently but can't seem to find now -- but it more or less goes like this: Darren Aronofsky just made a movie about lesbian ballerinas but people still want him to make a comic movie. The sentiment is one we share; coming off "Black Swan," one of the most ambitious and original films of the year, we're not sure why Hollywood or geeks keep throwing boring comic book material at the guy or why people want him to do it.
Following talk of "Wolverine 2" and "Superman: The Man Of Steel," Newsarama (via MTV) is claiming that a source has informed them that Aronofsky is one of Columbia Pictures' top choices to direct the long-developing comic "Preacher." Please note, this is a "choice" which means his name is most likely on a list with a bunch of other people as is the usual case for this kind of thing. The series, published between 1995 and 2000, follows a priest who comes into contact with a supernatural being called Genesis and goes on a mission to find an absentee God, and has seen a number of directors circle the project. "Tank Girl" director Rachel Talalay was attached for some time, and "Daredevil" writer-director Mark Steven Johnson was working on a version for HBO. More recently, John August was hired last year to script it for Sam Mendes and Joe Carnahan most recently expressed interest in the material.
At any rate, just add it to the list of projects being sent Aronofsky's way and don't expect it to be the last linked to him. He's an acclaimed director with geek cred so we're sure his name is on many studio lists as their choices for franchise projects, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen. For us, we'd rather see him continue to pursue projects that are closer to his heart.
Adam Scott has joined Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig and Jennifer Westfeldt in the latter's directorial debut, "Friends With Kids."
Earlier this month, the project began taking shape with Hamm joining the film and Wiig and Anne Hathaway as "hopefuls" to come aboard. While Wiig has joined, it looks like Hathaway has moved on with Westfeldt taking a role in front of the camera as well. The film project, which Westfeldt also wrote, was previewed earlier this year at a theatre festival reading with Scott being one of the participants. Other actors who took part in the reading were the stellar likes of Rebecca Creskoff, Rosemarie Dewitt, Noah Emmerich though it isn't known if any of them will follow Scott.
Plot details are hard to come by but earlier this summer Hamm, whose longtime girlfriend is Westfeldt, talked about the tough decision to have kids, the poor examples of marriage they both had from their youth and losing his parents at a young age and we would wager that these experiences have helped shape the material. "I like kids but I also like the option to close the door," Hamm said. "Becoming a parent is a whole other life, and it doesn't stop."
Production on the film is set to begin next month in New York City.
With the Evan Goldberg and Jay Baruchel written, Michael Dowse ("Fubar," "It's All Gone Pete Tong") directed hockey comedy "Goon" set to begin filming in a few weeks, the cast is beginning to solidify.
Alison Pill ("Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World") and Marc-André Grondin ("C.R.A.Z.Y.") have joined the previously announced Seann William Scott and Jay Baruchel in the film, with
roles yet to be specified. Talking about the project earlier this year, Baruchel said,"We like to think of ["Goon"] as a funnier 'Raging Bull.' It's real mean, and it's truthful, and it's everything hockey is without any of the bullshit sports movie clichés, and it is dead funny. Lot of swears, that's a hard R. It's a very crass movie, there are something like 20 fights in it, but it's the badass movie that hockey fans have been waiting to see their whole lives. It will be by far the best hockey movie since 'Slapshot.' Hockey fans have needed one for a long time, it's a sport that movies never do well. Ours will be a fucking movement."
Sounds pretty awesome.
If you're wondering about Seann William Scott and that other hockey movie he was linked to, Kevin Smith's "Hit Somebody," it looks like that movie is a bit of a way off with the director revealing he won't get to it until mid-2011 at the earliest, once he's done with "Red State."
Filming gets underway on Ocotber 18th in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Warner Bros. are reportedly so impressed with Ben Affleck's directorial work (and box office results) on the Boston-set crime-drama "The Town" that they've offered him the director's chair of the 1940s cop-drama, "Tales From The Gangster Squad."
The adaptation is based on a series of articles in the L.A. Times by Paul Lieberman and was picked up soon after it's publication in 2008 by Warner Bros. who, in turn, hired former L.A. cop turned novelist Will Beall to adapt. The major focus of Lieberman's article were a specialized L.A.P.D. unit set up in the '40s to fight the growing influence of the East Coast Mafia, namely that from infamous gangster Mickey Cohen, a mogul who started as muscle for Al Capone in Chicago.
Whether or not Affleck will consider the offer seriously remains to be seen. Several projects are, however, already on his radar: he's reportedly considering directing a Showtime pilot from the mind of "24" producer Howard Gordon about a sleeper cell and a ex-CIA operative and has eye on an unknown "two-hander" also at Warner Bros. which may star his BFF Matt Damon.
Could that be the New York Yankees wife-swapping pic, "The Trade," which Affleck was attached to write, direct and star in along side Damon? The script by Dave Mandel ("Seinfeld," "Curb Your Enthusiasm") was highly spoken of and was based on Yankee players Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich who, in reality, did in fact swap wives and ended up falling for each other's partner.
It might be a while yet anyway before Affleck goes behind the camera again. When recently asked about his next directorial effort, Affleck noted "I don't know yet. Maybe [I'll write again], we'll see. I'm not sure. I just want to find something good. I waited a while before doing ["The Town"] and I'm glad because I really like this. And I think one of the dangers is if you pick something too soon and it can go sideways. You work on something for two years, you have to really love it as much on day 700 as day 1."
All the while, "The Town" has now earned just under $52 million at the box office and has even been touted as a potential dark horse to sneak into the Oscar Best Picture race. [Vulture]
After his semi-autobiographical acting debut in "8 Mile" proved to feature both a pretty solid performance, and a pretty decent movie, many expected hip-hop star Eminem to carve out a profitable side-career in acting. But outside of a pretty good cameo as himself in Judd Apatow's "Funny People," it never materialized, partly due to the rapper's struggle with addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs.
But with his latest record, Recovery proving to be something of a return to form, commercially at least, it looks like Marshall Mathers is set to return to acting, as Production Weekly have reported that the actor is in negotiations to join the cast of Fernando Meirelles' sex drama "360," which Rachel Weisz signed on to a few weeks back. Furthermore, Frances McDormand is also said to be in talks, while Anthony Hopkins appears to have signed on to the project officially.
All in all, it's lining up to a very exciting, eclectic cast for the Peter Morgan-penned reworking of Arthur Schnitzler's "La Ronde." The original is made up of several short scenes between couples, who span class and social divides, who are shown before or after a sexual liaison. After each scene, one character from the pairing is then shown with another partner, who is then shown with another partner, and so on, until the promiscuity comes full circle. With this in mind, we can expect quite a few other casting announcements before filming kicks off later in the year. But frankly, even the faint prospect of a sex scene between Slim Shady and Marge Gunderson kind of blows our minds.
With Meirelles coming off the misfire "Blindness," he's got a little more to prove this time at bat, but he certainly seems to be assembling the right kind of cast here. Eminem, meanwhile, may be seen at some stage in a 3D horror anthology "Shady Talez," although there's been no word on this for almost a year, so don't hold your breath.
With the rom-com "Life As We Know It" hitting theaters next weekend, and the high concept private investigator flick "One For The Money" arriving in 2011, Katherine Heigl is considering a shift into some straight fantasy/dramatic fare for her next film.
