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Head on over to Apple to check out the first trailer for the football players-turned cheerleaders comedy. I can't tell if I enjoyed this trailer or not. On the one hand, it made me laugh a couple times and it stars Disturbia cutie Sarah Roemer. On the other hand, it's about FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DECIDE TO BECOME CHEERLEADERS! How ridiculous is that? Sure, it's for the sake of getting girls, but as if they couldn't do that being football players? And not just any football player, STAR football players! Don't they have college scouts to consider, too? Then again, I may be reading far too much into the premise of a teen comedy. Anyone else notice that Eric Christian Olsen has been playing a high school kid for, like, 10 years? And anyone else think that Nicholas D'Agosto is looking considerably less douche-y than he did on Heroes? These are the things I think about...
Apple has released the trailer for The Great Buck Howard, the comedy starring John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt, and Steve Zahn. Malkovich plays a former star "mentalist" who gets an unlikely second shot at fame, while Hanks plays his newly hired personal assistant and Blunt his fiery publicist. You'll also notice from the trailer that Colin Hanks' real-life dad, Tom Hanks, makes an appearance as his, well, dad. This role looks like it was written for John Malkovich. Lots of sneering and smiling and over-the-top goodness. Follow the link to take a look for yourself.
Fresh on the heels of the Sherlock Holmes pictures that surfaced earlier today, Collider now has a release from Warner Bros. with a look at several more of their 2009 releases. Included are stills we've seen before from WB tentpoles such as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Watchmen, and Terminator: Salvation, but they've also got new pictures up for some other notable films. Click on through to see images from Seth Rogen's Observe and Report, Nick Cassavetes' My Sister's Keeper, Zac Efron's 17 Again, Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga's The Orphan, Robert Rodriguez's Shorts, Kate Beckinsale's Whiteout, Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon's The Informant, Richard Kelly's The Box, and my personal favorite, Spike Jonze's much-delayed Where The Wild Things Are. Expect more stills from the other studios in the next few days.
In true Guy Ritchie-fashion, we're getting plenty of abs in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes film. Robert Downey, Jr. shows off his in one of two exclusive pics that IESB has posted. No telling how this fits into the story, though fans of the books will remember that Holmes was, among other things, a boxer. Looks like he might have gotten himself into a bit of a scrap in this picture. Head on over to IESB to see the full image and another of Downey, Jr. whispering to Jude Law's Watson.
UPDATE: Variety reports that Chris Weitz has officially signed on.
It was rumored earlier, but now it looks like Summit Entertainment has all but signed Chris Weitz on as the director for New Moon, the second film in the lucrative Twilight series. Entertainment Weekly breaks the news that though nothing official has happened yet, Summit has broken off talks with other potential directors and is finalizing the deal with Weitz. Word is that Weitz has a good relationship with Summit president of production, Eric Feig, and could be in Vancouver as early as Monday to begin preproduction on the film if everything goes smoothly. Weitz and his brother Paul launched the American Pie series with the first film in that franchise back in 1999, then did the very good About A Boy together before Chris went on to do last year's The Golden Compass on his own. Despite its box office troubles, I actually enjoyed the film and it seems Summit liked what he did, too. I think Weitz is a talented guy and though he may be male, he definitely does have some of the pedigree to assuage any people who cry foul. Let's see if he can improve on what Catherine Hardwicke started.
Forest Whitaker and UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture have signed on to join the cast of Sylvester Stallone's upcoming action flick The Expendables. The film centers around a group of mercenaries who go on an undercover mission to South America to overthrow a dictator. Written and directed by Stallone, the film will also star Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and Sly himself. AICN also reports that, among other sure-to-be-badass-scenes in this movie, one will find Li and Lundgren facing off in a fight. I love the rejuvenation of Sylvester Stallone's career. He's put out two very enjoyable films in the Rocky and Rambo revivals, and this is sounding like it could be another fun ride.
Tom Cruise earned his most positive praises in a long time this past summer with his hilarious turn as studio exec Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. After yesterday's announcement that Cruise had been nominated for a Golden Globe for the role, today we find that we may get more of the foul-mouthed booty shaker. Tom Cruise spoke to E! Online and says that he's been talking it over with Ben Stiller.
"I’ve talked about doing different videos with the character," Cruise said. "I’ve started working with Ben [Stiller] on it, and we’ve kind of talked about different things to do. We were gonna do some in our free time, but we haven’t found the free time…yet."
I, for one, would love to see more of Grossman. For all of Tropic Thunder's hilarity, nothing surprised me more or gave me more pleasure than watching it the first time and saying, "Wait, is that..? Oh my God, could it be..? HOLY SHIT IT IS!" and hearing the rest of the audience react with me. C'mon, you gotta agree it was a great performance. Play-ya! Plaaaaaay-ya!
The one sheet for David S. Goyer's upcoming The Unborn has been released. The trailer for this film certainly made it look like it could be good, but how's this for an attention grabber? Odette Yustman shows off her tushy with a creepy demon kid staring back at her. Ten bucks says he's looking at the same thing we are. What're your thoughts? Too much? Or good marketing? Click through to see a bigger version.
Hugh Jackman has been tapped to host this year's Oscar ceremony, taking over for Jon Stewart, who has hosted the event for the past two years. Jackman hosted the Tony Awards from 2003 to 2005, and won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in The Boy From Oz (hence, the title of this post. Witty, I know). He also won an Emmy in 2005 for his hosting performance. You can see the opening act he performed in 2004 here. I like Hugh Jackman. He's charismatic, he can sing, dance, and even direct, it seems. Plus, he seems to have a pretty good sense of humor. I'd still love to see a Conan O'Brien or Stephen Colbert hosted Oscars, but I'll take what I can get for now.
Televisionary has the first look at the pilot script for the buzzed-about David S. Goyer-Brannon Braga series Flash Forward. The two last collaborated on the short-lived CBS alien-invasion series Threshold. ABC has already put together a solid cast (Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Courtney B. Vance, etc.) for the series, which is loosely based on Robert J. Sawyer's 1999 book of the same name
Overall, Flash Forward is an extremely formidable offering for series contention. And while many networks have strayed from overly complex serialized dramas with large casts of characters of late, Flash Forward could be the one to buck this trend. ABC knows that it has to find a replacement for Lost sooner rather than later and, if handled properly, this could be a suitable contender to the throne.
So it looks like this show has a good chance of getting picked up for the 2009/10 season. We'll keep you updated on how it rounds into shape.
Variety brings us news that Paul Giamatti and Anthony Mackie have signed on to star in an upcoming indie thriller from writer Ian Stone and director Andrés Baiz (Satanás). The film, entitled Babylon, is set in Jamaica and finds Mackie playing a Rasta and Giamatti a British minister. The two of them accompany a 12-year-old Jamaican boy from the Kingston ghetto as they try to outrun gangsters. I haven't seen Satanás but I've heard good things about it, and both Giamatti and Mackie are actors I like, so hopefully this turns out to be a cool little movie.
Collider has some news for us about Reese Witherspoon's current slate of projects. While pursuing more information about Witherspoon's involvement in Cameron Crowe's latest project, Collider learned that it had in fact been postponed and Witherspoon will now appear next in James L. Brooks' new film. She was mum on plot details for the movie, but it's James L. Brooks so it's probably about relationships and it'll probably make you feel warm and fuzzy inside (though not in a cheap way). They're shooting in the spring, so look for more details some time next year.
These stories couldn't make up one full post so they've been gathered here. First up, Jay and Mark Duplass, the brothers behind indie fare like The Puffy Chair and Baghead, have found their first studio project. Currently untitled (though formerly called Safety Man), the movie will star John C. Reilly, Marissa Tomei, and Jonah Hill. Jonah Hill will play a son trying to foil his single mother's (Tomei) budding romance with a new man (Reilly).
Next up, Ben Stiller is signing on to replace Mark Ruffalo in the Noah Baumbach written-and-directed dramedy Greenburg. Amy Adams was also previously attached, but has since dropped out. As for why Ruffalo dropped out? The press hasn't really picked up on this story as much as you'd think they would, but Ruffalo's brother died earlier this week after what appears to have been a drug-influenced game of Russian Roulette gone horribly wrong (can it go any other way?). Mark Ruffalo's a fantastic actor; I sincerely hope he and his family are able to get through this tragedy.
Lastly, more bad news for Mark Ruffalo fans. It looks like we're going to have to wait even longer to see Rian Johnson's latest film, the offbeat crime caper The Brothers Bloom. Johnson made a big splash with his stellar 2005 indie hit Brick, but his second feature has yet to come out despite the positive word of mouth its been getting. Johnson confirmed on his site's message board that Summit Entertainment has pushed back the release date to May 15th for the limited run, and May 29th for the wide. It'll have to battle Angels and Demons and Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno on May 15th, as well as Star Trek's second weekend of release. Then on May 29th, it faces off against Pixar's Up and Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell. While The Brothers Bloom certainly has some broad appeal, will it be able to find an audience amid such a crowded summer season? Here's hoping Summit's plan of "counter-programming" works.
RopeOfSilicon got a chance to talk with Darren Aronofsky about his new film as well as some of the other projects he's got looming in the future. Aronofsky has some interesting things to say about getting notorious bad-boy Mickey Rourke to commit to the project and how it was working with him. He also talks briefly about his upcoming Noah project, which is still very early in its development. It'll be made into a graphic novel first (Aronofsky, you'll remember, also put out a graphic novel version
And to revisit talk about the recut version of The Fountain, Aronofsky spoke to FirstShowing and offered some clarity. Sort of. He's now labeling it as more of a "redux," though even he admits that he's not sure what that words means. He expands:
It's something more for fans. I worked on the film for 6 years and it went through a lot of versions. And there was one version that was much closer to one of the scripts that we had. And we kind of chose between which way we would go with it and they both are kind of interesting. So I was always curious for myself to see what that alternative version would be. And we cut it actually recently, it's done. I would have to get Warner Brothers to support it and get it out there.
The film didn't do too well at the box office, but maybe the fan following its developed on DVD can eventually spur Warners to move forward with the redo/redux/recut. Added Aronofsky, "It's very similar but it's looking at a few things in a few different ways and answers a few questions for people and raises some new questions in other ways." For those who were puzzled by The Fountain, this new version could hold the answers you were seeking. Or not. But for a film as stunning as The Fountain, does it really matter?
We haven't heard or seen much from the set of Inglorious Basterds since it started filming a couple months ago. But the folks over at the QT Archives have unearthed two production stills. The first shows Brad Pitt in costume as head-basterd Lt. Aldo Raine. Particularly of note is that his infamous scar is visible (click on through for a bigger version). The second gives us Diane Kruger getting her drink on with a bunch of Nazi's. Tarantino's trying to get his film ready in time for Cannes in 2009, so expect more buzz in the coming months as it nears completion.
Poor Bryan Fuller can't seem to keep one of his amazingly imaginative shows on the air. But he can, it seems, breathe new life into existing shows. EW's Michael Ausiello had a chance to sit down with Bryan Fuller to talk about his return to Heroes. The lone bright spot to come out of the demise of Pushing Daisies has been the news that Bryan Fuller would return to the NBC show as a consultant. Fuller wrote Season 1's best episode, "Company Man," and will return to season 3 with episode 19, about halfway through the "Fugitives" chapter that will launch in January. The show has struggled immensely since its freshman season, and many have cited the show's overly-sprawling and directionless storyline as a big factor in that. Fuller stresses that he wants to bring the show back to focus on the characters rather than all of the season 3 mumbo-jumbo about formulas and catalysts. NBC, which has been struggling recently, hopes to turn one of its biggest series around with Fuller's return, and so far, he seems to be saying all of the right things. The final episode of the "Villains" storyline will air this coming Monday at 9:00 PM.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has released its list of Golden Globe nominations! Benjamin Button, Doubt, and Frost/Nixon lead all films with 5 nominations each. Slumdog Millionaire, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Reader, and Revolutionary Road are next in line with 4 nominations apiece. Nothing exceptionally surprising about the nominees, except perhaps In Bruges scoring three noms despite coming out back in February (though it was a very good movie, so I'm happy it's getting some renewed buzz). Also of note, Tom Cruise joining Robert Downey, Jr. in the Best Supporting Actor category for their roles in Tropic Thunder. For those who consider the Globes a good gauge for Oscar nominations, be warned that The Dark Knight was roundly snubbed. Except for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Heath Ledger, the film is absent from the list. And while Aronofsky's The Wrestler scored acting noms for Mickey Rourke and Marissa Tomei, it's notably absent from the Best Motion Picture/Best Director/Best Screenplay categories after garnering a lot of early awards-season buzz.
And in the land of Television, HBO dominates all other networks with a whopping 22 nominations. In a distant second is Showtime with 8 nominations. NBC leads all major networks with 6. Head on over to The Hollywood Reporter to read up on the nominees' reactions, or click on through after the jump to see the full list of nominations. The Golden Globes seeks to rebound from last year's dismal strike-afflicted newscast with a return to the full glamour and star power of previous years. The Globes will air on NBC on January 11th.
Best Motion Picture - Drama
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"The Reader"
"Revolutionary Road"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
"Burn After Reading"
"Happy-Go-Lucky"
"In Bruges"
"Mamma Mia!"
"Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Best Actor - Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Revolutionary Road"
Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn, "Milk"
Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"
Best Actress - Drama
Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"
Meryl Streep, "Doubt"
Kristin Scott Thomas, "I've Loved You So Long"
Kate Winslet, "Revolutionary Road"
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Javier Bardem, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Colin Farrell, "In Bruges"
James Franco, "Pineapple Express"
Brendan Gleeson, "In Bruges"
Dustin Hoffman, "Last Chance Harvey"
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy
Kristen Bell, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"
Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Frances McDormand, "Burn After Reading"
Meryl Streep, "Mamma Mia!"
Emma Thompson, "Last Chance Harvey"
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Tom Cruise, "Tropic Thunder"
Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"
Ralph Fiennes, "The Duchess"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"
Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams, "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis, "Doubt"
Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler"
Kate Winslet, "The Reader"
Best Director
Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"
Stephen Daldry, "The Reader"
David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"
Sam Mendes, "Revolutionary Road
Best Screenplay
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
"Doubt," John Patrick Shanley
"Frost/Nixon," Peter Morgan
"The Reader," David Hare
"Slumdog Millionaire," Simon Beaufoy
Best Original Song
"Bolt" ("I Thought I Lost You")
"Cadillac Records" ("Once in a Lifetime")
"Gran Torino" ("Gran Torino")
"WALL-E" ("Down to Earth")
"The Wrestler" ("The Wrestler")
Best Original Score
"Changeling," Clint Eastwood
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Alexandre Desplat
"Defiance," James Newton Howard
"Frost/Nixon," Hans Zimmer
"Slumdog Millionaire," A.R. Rahman
Best Animated Film
"Bolt"
"Kung Fu Panda"
"WALL-E"
Best Foreign-Language Film
"The Baader Meinhof Complex"
"Maria Larssons eviga ogonblick"
"Gomorra"
"I've Loved You So Long"
"Waltz With Bashir"
Best Television Series - Drama
"Dexter"
"House M.D."
"In Treatment"
"Mad Men"
"True Blood"
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
"Californication"
"Entourage"
"The Office"
"30 Rock"
"Weeds"
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
"Bernard and Doris"
"Cranford"
"John Adams"
"A Raisin in the Sun"
"Recount"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Ralph Fiennes for "Bernard and Doris"
Paul Giamatti for "John Adams"
Kevin Spacey for "Recount"
Kiefer Sutherland for "24: Redemption"
Tom Wilkinson for "Recount"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Judi Dench for "Cranford"
Catherine Keener for "An American Crime"
Laura Linney for "John Adams"
Shirley MacLaine for "Coco Chanel"
Susan Sarandon for "Bernard and Doris"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock"
Steve Carell for "The Office"
Kevin Connolly for "Entourage"
David Duchovny for "Californication"
Tony Shalhoub for "Monk"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Christina Applegate for "Samantha Who?"
America Ferrera for "Ugly Betty"
Tina Fey for "30 Rock"
Debra Messing for "The Starter Wife"
Mary-Louise Parker for "Weeds"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Gabriel Byrne for "In Treatment"
Michael C. Hall for "Dexter"
Jon Hamm for "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie for "House M.D."
Jonathan Rhys Meyers for "The Tudors"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Sally Field for "Brothers & Sisters"
Mariska Hargitay for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"
January Jones for "Mad Men"
Anna Paquin for "True Blood"
Kyra Sedgwick for "The Closer"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Neil Patrick Harris for "How I Met Your Mother"
Denis Leary for "Recount"
Jeremy Piven for "Entourage"
Blair Underwood for "In Treatment"
Tom Wilkinson for "John Adams"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Eileen Atkins for "Cranford"
Laura Dern for "Recount"
Melissa George for "In Treatment"
Rachel Griffiths for "Brothers & Sisters"
Dianne Wiest for "In Treatment"
Joby Harold, the writer of last year's Awake, is in negotiations to write an adaptation of the comic book series "Atlantis Rising." The project currently has Len Wiseman attached to direct, with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (the writing team behind Mission: Impossible III, Transformers, and the forthcoming Star Trek) set to produce. The original series was created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, who will also serve as a producer. The story centers around an underwater civilization (presumably from the titular lost city) that surfaces and wages an all-out war against humanity. Dreamworks is looking to turn this into a big budget sci-fi epic along the lines of James Cameron's Aliens, and hopes to set it up as a tentpole film in the summer of 2011. Harold also wrote Army of the Dead, the Las Vegas zombie war movie being produced by Zack Snyder, and an adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel Ronin
Ain't It Cool News' Moriarty, aka Drew McWeeny, has posted the first part of a write-up about his visit to the London set of Kick-Ass. The Matthew Vaughn-directed movie based on the Mark Millar-penned comic stars Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong, Chloe Moretz, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka McLovin). I never fell completely in love with the comic, though it was definitely an interesting take on the superhero genre. I am a fan of Matthew Vaughn, though, and everything I've been hearing about this movie has me excited to see how it turns out. Click on through to AICN to also see an exclusive image from the film.
We mentioned the Black List a few days ago, and now the 2008 version of it has been revealed. The Black List is commonly referred to as the list of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, but it's a bit of a misnomer. It's actually a list of the best screenplays (as selected by 250 top studio executives) that were written or are somehow uniquely associated with the past year, but will not be released in that calendar year. While most are from unknown writers and aren't yet in development, a portion of the screenplays have notable authors or are already in production (Inglorious Basterds and Sherlock Holmes, to draw two examples from this year's list). Taking the first spot in 2008 is Kyle Killen's The Beaver, about a depressed man who finds hope in a beaver puppet that he wears on his hand. The project has attracted attention from Steve Carell. Latino Review has posted the full list, and The Hollywood Reporter's piece includes some background about how the list came to be.
Collider talked recently with Seth Rogen about some of his upcoming projects. The biggest news comes about Observe And Report. The film, written and directed by Foot Fist Way's Jody Hill, centers around a mall security cop who "wages war on the cops." Apparently, the comedy is so outlandish and potentially offensive that there were concerns that the studio would completely neuter the movie. Warner Bros. has kept a pretty tight seal on this one, but it looks like the test screenings of the uncut version are actually performing better than the edited version, so it's looking like we'll be getting the completely un-neutered version of the movie. He also talks a bit about the upcoming Judd Apatow-directed Funny People, in which he stars with Adam Sandler and Leslie Mann, and how it was working with acclaimed cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Spielberg's DP). He also says to expect a few cameos from notable stand-up comedians. Lastly, he mentions a bit about The Green Hornet, and how the collaboration with Stephen Chow has been going well despite some understandable language barriers. If things go Rogen's way, he'll have some footage to show at next year's Comic-Con.
IESB reports that Evan Rachel Wood has been cast as Mary Jane in the Broadway musical version of Spider-Man (in an interesting related note, Evan Rachel Wood actually lost the part of Claudia in Interview With The Vampire to Kirsten Dunst). The stage version will be helmed by Julie Taymor, who directed Wood in last year's Beatles-inspired musical Across The Universe. Word is they're currently courting Jim Sturgess, who also starred in Across The Universe, to take on the role of Peter Parker. And to further develop the Across The Universe connections, U2's Bono (who appeared and performed songs in the movie) and The Edge will be writing the music and lyrics for the show. This is a strange and fascinating project. Evan Rachel Wood's been on my list of young guns to watch for some time now, and Julie Taymor's always had a very interesting visual palette. She's done theater work before, so this shouldn't be too big of a change of pace for her.
First off, just for the sake of clarity, this is not the sci-fi epic that James Cameron has been working on for the past few years. Rather, this is the live-action adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon anime-inspired cartoon
Those who saw The Happening this past summer will remember it as one of the most bizarrely terrible films in some time. The much-maligned Lady In The Water was a masterwork by comparison. Shyamalan's really puzzled me in the last few years. He's turned in some amazing work in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, some very good work in Signs and The Village, and then suddenly put out two complete stinkers. Who knows now if he's really fallen off for good, or if he's just trying to shoot his way out of a slump. I'm also surprised Paramount kept him on Avatar, given that it's launching a potential franchise and can be considered a somewhat buzz-worthy project. For those who aren't familiar with the cartoon, it's actually a shockingly good series that made the interesting choice to end after its third season, despite a very successful first two (the third one had its scheduling disrupted in all sorts of ways due to the Writer's Strike). Probably the best cartoon I've seen since Batman: The Animated Series
James Gray, who directed the deeply flawed We Own The Night and the upcoming Joaquin Phoenix-Gwyneth Paltrow picture Two Lovers, has found his next project. He'll be teaming with Brad Pitt to bring an adaptation of "The Lost City of Z"
For those who aren't familiar with the project, "Torso" is a graphic novel
Some new projects have been announced. First up, Keanu Reeves will star in 47 Ronin, a period piece based on the true story of a band of samurai who avenged their slain master in 18th century Japan. Chris Morgan, who wrote Wanted and the upcoming Fast And Furious, will pen the script, which aims to be a stylized production mixing fantasy elements and visceral battle scenes. Sounds like an interesting project, but casting Keanu as the lead in an Asian story (though he is half-Asian) could rub people the wrong way, a la Tom Cruise's starring turn in The Last Samurai (though personally, I had no beef with it).
Ben Affleck may have found his next directing gig. After making his impressive directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone, the actor is looking to follow up that effort with a story about slain Arizona journalist Dan Bolles. Bolles was investigating political corruption and an increasing mob presence in Phoenix in 1976 when he was lured to a hotel by a source who never showed up. Bolles returned to his car which was then bombed, though he didn't die until after an eleven-day stay at the hospital that saw both legs and one arm amputated. A group of elite investigative journalists Bolles was trying to organize at the time responded by flocking to Phoenix and writing numerous articles exposing corruption in the state. Sounds like a story with a lot of potential, and I'm curious to see how Affleck responds to his initial succcess as a director. Can he turn in another strong showing, or will he be a one-hit wonder? Time will tell. That aside, this whole development with Affleck being a (former?) A-list heartthrob who started to lose his stature only to re-emerge as a reputable director is a fascinating subplot.
Finally, on a lighter note, Fox has bought the rights to "How to Talk to Girls,"
Lots of news on the next installments of some film franchises today. First up, more Dark Knight news (and be ready for more as David S. Goyer does press for his The Unborn next week)! Christopher Nolan talked to USA Today about the challenges of putting together a third film. Nothing we haven't heard from him before, but it does seem like Nolan has begun to outline some ideas for a third film, albeit none he deemed good enough to commit to celluloid. The Dark Knight comes out on standard-def DVD
Next up is news regarding where star Daniel Craig would like to see the next Bond movie take the franchise. In an interview with Collider, Craig expressed his desire to reintroduce some familiar faces, namely Q and Moneypenny. He talked about how he considers the story in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace finished, with the character now ready to move forward toward a more familiar Bond. I'm all for the return of beloved characters, but hopefully they decide to keep to the more realistic approach to Bond that Casino Royale birthed and find a logical way to explain the techno-genius of Q.
And lastly, it looks like Fast and Furious will see the return of another cast member. Tyrese Gibson talked to Hollyscoop and confirmed that his character of Roman Pearce will be making an appearance in the fourth installment of the franchise. There's a pretty funny video of Tyrese talking about how it all came together (and also a little bit on Transformers 2), which you can find after the jump.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that ABC is putting together a pilot for a show based on the DC Comics series, "Fables."
I'm excited about this. Fables is a series that is close to my heart, and the premise alone could make for an exciting and enduring television series. But Wilingham's story is a remarkable one, following in the tradition of limited-run series like Alan Moore's "Watchmen"
The winter season in Hollywood means awards movies. Every year around this time, we see movies start to come out that will eventually collect a myriad of accolades on the way to competing for the big prize, the Academy Award for Best Picture. But up to this point, I hadn't seen any films that I thought could be serious favorites to win that category. Sure there were fan favorites like The Dark Knight or Wall-E, or indie sleepers like Slumdog Millionaire, but none of them seemed like movies that we'd traditionally consider Oscar bait. Well, Oscar voters just got thrown a serious piece of bait.
David Fincher, keeping himself uncharacteristically busy, makes his second movie in as many years, following up last year's Zodiac with an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short-story of the same name (though the film's story is a considerable departure from the original). Brad Pitt stars as the titular Button, a man who is born old and ages backwards. Cate Blanchett co-stars as the appropriately-named Daisy, his childhood sweetheart. Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond, and Jared Harris turn in notable supporting performances as well.
Where to begin? This is a movie that is both groundbreaking and traditional. The make-up and effects used to cast Pitt as an elderly child and a disarmingly youthful old man are stunning, to say the least. Fincher, as usual, gives us a visually arresting movie that is unafraid to use creative means to deliver the story. But the film is also traditional in the vein of Hollywood epics of old. It takes a very classical approach to telling its sweeping narrative that spans the entire life of a man. It travels through various localities and several time periods, but like the best of old Hollywood, it is a love story at its heart. And whether he did so intentionally or not, Fincher suffuses the film with a haunting sense of romance, crafting a genuinely moving tale that remains nonetheless just slightly emotionally distant and hard to touch. Fincher does do a tremendous job navigating the time that flies by, pacing the eighty-odd years covered in the film with surprising fluidity. It being a massive story, though, the film still runs 2 hours and 47 minutes. But it's a quick 2 hour and 47 minutes, and earlier concerns over a laggy third act seem to have been cleared up, as you never really notice the running time because what's happening on screen is so captivating.
Eric Roth's screenplay is his most ambitious in some time, and it mirrors the scope of another one of his movies, Forrest Gump. Like that film, Benjamin Button gives us a peculiar character that is something of an outcast who, like Forrest, finds the love of his life at an early age and then spends a good deal of his formative years pursuing her. Despite the odds, he also goes on to lead a colorful and meaningful life. The story can be dark at times, but Roth peppers it with strokes of humor and romance that humanize it. We invest in his characters on a basic level, and this allows us to join them on their fantastic journey. In fact, this film is very much about the journey we’re all on. Time and age are considered in interesting ways throughout the movie, adding up to a meditation on how no matter if we’re going forward or backward, we’re still headed to the same place. There's also an interesting frame story involving Hurricane Katrina that adds an element of foreboding to the film, but the innocuous way it plays out is moving and organic without feeling overdone or heavy-handed.
Brad Pitt turns in one of his most memorable performances yet, bringing a casual amiability and subtle tones of heartache to a truly intriguing character. He breathes a tangible vivacity into Benjamin Button at every point of his life, but does his best work in the early years, when Button has the most to learn and the fearlessness to pursue that knowledge. It's hard for someone as recognizable as Brad Pitt to disappear into a role, but he does it in spectacular fashion in this movie. Cate Blanchett is equally stellar, giving us a complicated look at the girl who gets entangled in the life of the mystifying Benjamin Button. In an interesting twist, Daisy grows to be more obsessed about age than Button, who is comfortable in his skin after having dealt with age as a constant and palpable presence in his life for so long. Blanchett imbues Daisy with mixes of grace, moxie, and vulnerability, a fully-realized character from beginning to end.
There should be at least a brief mention here of the amazing work other contributors to the film have put in. Usually Fincher's gaffer, Claudio Miranda has stepped in as the Director of Photography and given audiences a gorgeously-shot film, particularly ripe with shadows and hard edges. Alexander Desplat is again wonderful, turning in a hauntingly beautiful score. The production design and art direction give us a lush vision of America throughout the 1900s, adding a vivid sense of life to the environments we pass through.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of those rare films that combines all the right storytelling elements with a great cast, culminating in an intensely satisfying cinematic experience. I expect it to receive at least a nomination in every major category this February, and they'd all be justly earned. I hesitate to come off sounding hyperbolic, but this is one of those films that doesn't just make best-of-the-year lists; it could very well enter the discussion of best-of-all-time lists. When it opens this Christmas, make sure you get out to see it. It's not a journey you'll want to miss being a part of.
Four Christmases was #1 for the second week in a row at the box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $18.1 million and bringing its domestic total to $70.8 million. Last weekend's #2 and #3 swapped places, with Twilight's $13.2 million finishing ahead of Bolt's $9.7 million.
The story of the historically slow weekend however was Punisher: Warzone coming in almost dead in the water with a paltry take of $4 million, way below industry projections. Even Transporter 3 finished ahead of Marvel's latest, with a $4.5 million bow.
Good news, however, remains with smaller specialty films. Frost/Nixon opened with $180,000 across 3 screens, for a second-highest-of-the-year per-screen average of $60,000. Milk and Slumdog Millionaire also continue to perform well, finishing with $1.7 million ($17,000 per-screen average) and $1.4 million ($18,000 per-screen average), respectively. Australia's $7 million take this weekend and Quantum of Solace's $6.6 million round out the top 5.
Despite the weak opening and poor reviews from critics, Punisher will look to bounce back next weekend as fan buzz of the film has been generally positive and its only new competition will be Fox's remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still.
Check out Box Office Mojo for the full weekend chart.
Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily broke the news, and now the trades are reporting it, too. Director Catherine Hardwicke is officially off of New Moon, the sequel to her box office hit Twilight. Official reasoning is that timing is to blame for the split--Summit Entertainment wants to rush the sequel into production for a late 2009 or early 2010 release, while Hardwicke is still burnt from shooting the first movie and promoting it. Writer Melissa Rosenberg turned in a draft for the second film in the franchise the week the first one opened, but Hardwicke was reportedly unsatisfied with the script and felt it needed months of development to perfect. However, insiders are saying that Summit didn't like Hardwicke and found her "difficult" and "irrational" during filming for Twilight. They're also saying that Summit feels like Elliot Davis, the director of photography, and Nancy Richardson, the editor, are the ones who saved the movie from the mess that Hardwicke had made.
Either way, this will surely create some delicate situations down the line. Hardwicke is still currently on a promotional tour for the film in Europe, and the press will likely pummel her with troubling questions about the split, all in front of her cast no less. And Hollywood feminists will have their own bit to say if Summit replaces Hardwicke with a male director. Twilight easily broke the record for the highest opening-weekend gross for a movie directed by a woman, and with the percentage of working directors that are females being as low as it is, losing someone like Hardwicke on a franchise as high-profile as Twilight is sure to open the door for critiques. Personally, though, I think you're forcing the issue a bit if you hinge onto the gender issue. If word leaked that a studio thought a director did a shit job (or was just an asshole to work with) on a franchise film despite its box office success, dumping the director would seem like an acceptable response. That seems to be what's happening here, and despite my appreciation for Hardwicke's other work, if the movie's reviews are any indication, she may have indeed dropped the ball here. That said, I do hope they get another female director. This franchise, despite its flaws, has been something women in the movie industry can be proud of, and I would like to see that spirit continue through to the end of the franchise. Still, the bottom line is that Summit needs to find a director capable of bringing the best interpretation of the material to the screen. As long as the person they hire can bring that kind of talent to the project, I don't think it matters if it's a woman or a man.
But what do you guys think? Is the gender issue as big as people are warning it to be? Or are they just being over-sensitive? Comment with your thoughts below.
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