Posted May 16th 2008 7:02PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Thrillers, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Newsstand
According to
Screen Daily,
Law Abiding Citizen now has a director in
Frank Darabont.
Citizen is the first movie to be produced under Gerard Butler's production shingle; you can read all about Evil Twins and its upcoming slate
here (I am gently encouraging you to be interested in this fledgling company).
Production is set to begin on August 18th in Detroit, which I hear is becoming the new Shreveport. It's being filmed on a shoestring budget of $40 million, and the screenplay has been penned by Kurt Wimmer.
The plot has been changed quite drastically since it was first tossed around. Originally, Butler was an assistant D.A. who finds himself at the center of a traumatized victim's vigilante plot. Now, it has been revamped into the story of a criminal mastermind who controls a city from the confines of his prison cell. (Which explains why Darabont was drawn to it, and why he's a good pick. Prison dramas are a good specialty for him.) Butler is the assistant D.A. who stands in the mastermind's way.
Continue reading Frank Darabont Directing 'Law Abiding Citizen'
Posted May 16th 2008 12:32PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Casting, Universal, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
According to
The Hollywood Reporter, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is in talks to play opposite Michael Cera in the much-anticipated
Scott Pilgrim vs the World.
Winstead will play Ramona Victoria Flowers, Pilgrim's dream girl. She's the one with those seven evil boyfriends, all of whom Pilgrim must defeat if he is to win her heart. Her past is shrouded in mystery, as might be expected when you have seven evil boyfriends.
Now, being a girl, I'm no expert on dream girlfriends. The guys I know said it was impossible to cast Ramona, as no actress could possibly match the perfection they had all imagined her as. So, what do you think? Is Winstead the right choice? Does she embody the sexiness that is Ramona? Or is this one of those things you will tell me is all about personality and acting chops rather than looks? Which I will believe, don't worry -- I know you guys aren't
that shallow.
There hasn't been much buzz on this flick after Cera's and Edgar Wright jumped onboard, and so hopefully it will pick up with the two leads out of the way. As Wright is clearly casting lesser known actors (at least with on the female end), it's difficult to offer up a choice for the secondary roles -- but hey, do it anyway. I am ashamed to admit that I'm still way too behind on
Scott Pilgrim to offer up my own.
Posted May 16th 2008 11:40AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Casting, Deals, Newsstand, George Clooney, War
This is officially the greatest movie title ever.
Variety has announced that George Clooney will star in
Men Who Stare At Goats, a big screen adaptation of Jon Ronson's scary-because-its-true book. Clooney's Smoke House partner Grant Heslov will direct, while Peter Straughan has penned the script.
Ronson's book is an investigation into the secret wing of the U.S. First Earth Battalion. It was a paranormal research unit created in 1979 with the purpose of creating "Warrior Monks," soldiers who could walk through walls, become invisible, read minds, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it long enough. One ex-Army employee Ronson interviewed claims that he actually did kill his pet hamster and a goat by staring at them for a very long time. While the book is full of kookiness, it does branch out to discuss how the paranormal project has come to play in the current Iraq war. Not only have some of First Earth's research projects been employed as torture, a few of those claiming to have developed superpowers have reportedly been deployed to Iraq. Our tax dollars at work, people.
It all sounds like one of the funnier episodes of
The X-Files -- a perfect project for Clooney; the right mix of political activism and screwball humor. Frankly, I'm sold by the title alone. Here's hoping they won't change it to appeal to a wider America.
Posted May 15th 2008 1:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand
I'm not sure what they're putting in the water over in Cannes, but some pretty wild deals are beginning to emerge from that fest in France. Only a day after
Werner Herzog signed to
direct Nicolas Cage in a remake of Bad Lieutenant comes word from
The Hollywood Reporter that Herzog and
David Lynch have teamed up on a film called
My Son; a murder drama to be tentatively shot next March. Based on a true story,
My Son will tell of a "San Diego man who acts out a Sophocles play in his mind and kills his mother with a sword."
HR says the film will jump between the murder scene and this disturbed man's story. Nice family film from two completely sane directors.
Additionally, and this shouldn't come as a surprise (considering the two guys we're talking about),
My Son will be shot guerrilla-style with digital video. Herzog, who co-wrote
My Son with Herbert Golder, will first shoot
Bad Lieutenant in July before directing the Victorian-era drama
The Piano Tuner for Focus Features. One can only imagine what the finished product will look like when you've got Herzog and Lynch working together on the same movie -- especially one with a nutty storyline like this one. Not for nothing, but I think I'd rather watch the documentary of them making this film rather than the film itself. You?
Posted May 14th 2008 9:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Deals, Executive shifts, ThinkFilm, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand
If you had a slow Mother's Day weekend and were lurking around the net, you might have heard that David O. Russell's upcoming comedy
Nailed hit another snag; this one much bigger than just an actor walking off set (a snag that was NOT because of Russell!). They were shut down by the Screen Actors Guild because they didn't have enough money to pay their actors.
You can check out the story, as it unfolded, at
Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily. Luckily, any of you who are itching to see
Nailed needn't worry.
Variety reports that ThinkFilm (part of Capitol Films) has resumed shooting (and will hopefully have enough cash to finish it).
But this is part of a bigger problem:
Nailed wasn't the only film hit with funding issues.
A number of Capitol projects have been stopped or delayed due to lack of funds. ThinkFilm failed to pay Alex Gibney his owed fees for
Taxi to the Dark Side. Flicks like
Bad Meat were shut down.
Then She Found Me's paper ad campaign hit a snag when there was no money for ads. You know you have serious money issues when you can't even get enough for your ad campaigns.
And now they're heading to Cannes with films from
The Edge of Love to
The Oxford Murders. There's a lot of interesting films attached to this company, but my head has got "Another One Bites the Dust" playing for ThinkFilm and Capitol.
Thoughts?
Posted May 14th 2008 4:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Comedy, Newsstand, Movie Marketing
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I don't remember the last book that had a viral campaign behind it. I'm not talking about a graphic novel or a comic book; I'm talking a straight-up novel -- one that showcases a flashy website with viral videos, tour dates and erotic images. Furthermore, I'm talking about Chuck Palahniuk's new book,
Snuff (which streets on May 20). Palahniuk, as most of us already know, wrote the books
Fight Club and
Choke -- the latter of which just pushed back its August release date to September 26 after
premiering to some pretty positive buzz earlier this year at Sundance.
Snuff, in case you're wondering, tells the story of Cassie Wright; a porn actress who wants to set a record by having sex with 600 guys at the same time ... or something like that. The book itself is told from the perspective of the guys trying to fulfill her wishes.
What I find interesting about this viral campaign is that they've gone ahead and shot mock trailers for Cassie's films, like
The Wizard of Ass (posted after the jump for certain
NSFW reasons). Not only that, but Chuck himself sat down to interview "Cassie" as well (check out that three-parter
over here, toward the bottom of the page). My question is this: Do strange viral videos like the ones being offered here take anything away from the book? Normally, we'll see this sort of stuff when the book is being turned into a movie, but not before the book itself even hits shelves. Could this also be a way to showcase the visual aspects of said book to potential Hollywood buyers, or do you feel snuff, er, stuff like this is simply for the fans and no one else?
[via
JoBlo]
Continue reading Discuss: Chuck Palahniuk's Viral Gang Bang(ers)
Posted May 14th 2008 12:35PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Fandom, Newsstand, Images
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Yup, she's at it again. Not long ago, Jessica Alba
recreated several memorable scenes from classic horror movies for
Latina Magazine. Now she's back, and in honor of her upcoming comedy
The Love Guru, the actress posed for a photo as comedy legend Charlie Chaplin for the June issue of
Allure magazine. It's actually a pretty funny photo, considering Alba's pretty pregnant under all those clothes. Definitely not as bad as those horror shots; in those pics, the gal barely looked like she was trying. Here, at least, she widens her eyes and does a little something with her mouth. Eh? Can you tell I'm reaching here? Let's not even touch the fact that she's posing as Chaplin to promote
The Love Guru. I think we should make a rule right now: No one is allowed to pose as a comedy icon unless, ya know, that person also happens to be kinda funny on the big screen.
Check out Alba's last "recreation stint" in the gallery below.
[via
People]
Posted May 13th 2008 10:02PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Deals, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
Life sure has a sick sense of humor , doesn't it?
From Cannes comes the news that
Jan de Bont, last seen behind the camera of
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (and currently filming
Stopping Power), is going to be filming a sequel to Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 film.
According to
The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel will be given the poetic title
Point Break: Indo, and will be based somewhere in Asia. It will take place 20 years after the original, which you will remember ended with the disappearance of Bodhi, Patrick Swayze's character.
No word on the plot, or if any of the original characters will appear, though the script is being penned by the same scribe, W. Peter Iliff. (
We reported this last year, actually.) I think it's safe to assume it will be the same characters; what sense would a sequel make if it was about
another gang of criminal surfers? (Actually,
IESB says there is another band of criminal surfers, and they're called -- gulp -- The Bush Administration. Um, yay?) And what of the actors? Will someone manage get Keanu Reeves to reprise his lead role? So many questions, none of them good.
Just when you think there is no film they can resurrect for a sequel. I'm at a loss. Why can't they make more Russian mafia movies instead of resurrecting surfing criminals? Oddly, the lingering question in my mind is how
Danny Butterman will react to the news, and how this movie really should have come out before all that nastiness in Sandford. Then I would know if he preferred it to the original and could rest easy.
Posted May 13th 2008 6:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, Casting, Deals, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand
As soon as this story hit, I had to check to make sure a) it wasn't April 1st, and b) we all still lived on the planet Earth. Yes, I'm not kidding about this one --
The Hollywood Reporter tells us that
Werner Herzog is remaking Abel Ferrara's gritty, NC-17-rated cult classic,
Bad Lieutenant, and none other than
Nicolas Cage is going to star. Nic Cage! Werner Herzog! Am I the only one who's completely blown away by this bizarre news? (Though, to be fair, we
did kinda see this coming ...)
Cage will take on the role originally played by
Harvey Keitel; he'll slip into the part of a drug and sex-addicted corrupt cop, though there's no word on how far they'll take this version of the film. However, exec producer Avi Lerner did promise this new take will "deliver as much filth as the original." Wonderful! We'll look forward to it Avi! Nu Image/Millennium Films will finance, with Pressman Film Corp. producing. When asked about his opinion on this new project,
Cinematical snark expert Scott Weinberg said "Awesome, let's hope it's as funny as his last remake.
The Wicker Man as a comedy ... brilliant!" (Oh man, this is such a nasty, nasty film.)
Okay, now it's your turn: I know you folks are dying to sound off on this one below ...
Posted May 13th 2008 1:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fandom, Distribution, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand
Finally! I know there's a ton of you waiting patiently for release dates on
Street Fighter and
Alvin and the Chipmunks II -- and after spending all night making phone calls, while watching the wire,
Cinematical can confirm that the new live-action
Street Fighter flick will debut on February 27, 2009. But that's not all! (I know, it was a busy night at headquarters; the boss had us all working double shifts.) 20th Century Fox has also scheduled
Alvin and the Chipmunks II for release on March 19, 2010. There's no script yet, and Jason Lee is not signed on to star, but
the first one took in a ridiculous $358.4 million worldwide -- so, I mean, they could have these little guys talking Yiddish for a couple hours in part two and the thing would still make over $100 million.
Other announcements in Release Date Land include
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa going day-and-date on November 7, and Universal has taken
Wild Child off its calendar. That film, starring Emma Roberts as a rebellious Malibu teenager who gets shipped off to a British boarding school and learns that afternoon tea is the answer to all of life's problems, was originally scheduled for August 22. No word on why it was yanked, but I'm sure you folks could come up with several positive reasons. To make up for the removal, however, Universal has moved Paul W.S. Anderson's
Death Race up from September 26 to August 22. Good thing, too, because I like my death races at the end of summer and not at the beginning of fall.
[via
Variety and
Box Office Mojo]
Posted May 12th 2008 7:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand
The always-enjoyable
Dennis Farina was arrested when a
loaded gun was found in his carry-on luggage at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday. Farina, who's best known for being awesome in everything, was caught with a .22-caliber handgun in his briefcase. The actor claimed he forgot he had it on him when bail was set at $25,000, but then raised to $35,000 when cops learned the gun wasn't registered. 1) How do you accidentally forget that you have a loaded gun in your briefcase? 2) Why are you carrying around a loaded gun that's not registered? 3) Are there a lot of people out to get Dennis Farina -- so much so that he has to bring an unregistered loaded gun to the airport?
And when the airport security asked Mr. Farina if he was traveling with a gun in his briefcase, did the actor turn and deliver one of his trademark replies? "You kiddin' me? What? I can't carry a f**kin' gun in this country anymore. Look, Idiot #1, tell Idiot #2 that I'm Dennis F**kin' Farina and I can do what I want. You gots?"
Speaking of ... we need to get
Midnight Run on Blu-ray. Can somebody make that happen? They were smart enough to stick that sucker on HD-DVD, but I want to watch one of my favorite comedies ever on Blu-ray, like, now. And then I want them to include a commentary track from Farina, and I want him to talk about getting arrested in an airport with a loaded gun. I'd love to hear what that sounds like.
Sound off ... your favorite Dennis Farina role? (For me, it's a toss up between
Midnight Run and
Get Shorty.)
Posted May 12th 2008 1:02PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Classics, Independent, Romance, Casting, RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand
Before we Bronte devotees could really whine and cry about the casting (there's still
Ellen Page in Jane Eyre for that), it ceases to be. According to
Variety, Natalie Portman has dropped out of the upcoming
Wuthering Heights, leaving the film rather lost without a Cathy Earnshaw. According to Portman's publicist, the actress had a scheduling conflict with another project, which has not yet been announced.
So now, Ecross executives and director John Maybury are on the hunt for a new Cathy. As of yet, there are no contenders to the role, so now is our chance! Speak up,
Cinematical readers, and let us flood the Internet with suggestions. Personally, I want to go back in time and import teenage Kate Winslet, Helena Bonham Carter, Kate Beckinsale or Lena Headey. As I cannot, I'm at a bit of a loss. Keira Knightley merits exclusion because of having played Elizabeth Bennett, and I think there's a rule that you can only play one standard of English Literature. I'm being rather stuffy in looking only to the UK, but nothing could ruin this movie faster than a wonky accent.
Interestingly, we finally have a name for Heathcliff. According to the
Variety article,
Michael Fassbender is in advanced talks to play the famous heinous, yet oh-so-sexy hero. I have only seen him as Stelios in
300, but he's getting good buzz for
Hunger. Count me in the "intrigued, and not opposed" category, I guess, until further notice. His casting will mean my sister will be first in line for a ticket, that's for sure.
We can still whine and cry about the casting, though. It is our right as Internet film geeks, and ones with Gothic tastes. Oh heck, let's just gush about the book! We'll have our own Bronte Day here.
Posted May 12th 2008 10:02AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
It's always the comic book chicks you don't expect.
Variety has announced that Platinum Studios, Top Cow Production and Arclight Films are teaming up to bring Top Cow's
Witchblade to the big screen. No word on who will direct, or star, but production is expected to take place in Australia, starting in September. So expect a bunch of announcements on that front soon.
Witchblade has had a surprisingly long lifespan -- it has been a best-selling comic book series with Top Cow since 1995, but most people remember the TNT television show which ran for two seasons. The story centers on a mystical, jewel-encrusted gauntlet that gives extraordinary powers to the chosen wearer -- and that is always a specially chosen female in each generation. It also has the power to, apparently, magically remove all your clothes as seen to the right. (Something missing from the television show.)
I know I should be all "Yeah, this is
exactly what I was talking about -- comic heroines!" but it really isn't. If done right, maybe, but she's hardly what I was hoping for. While the
Witchblade concept isn't any goofier than admantium claws or eating the sun, I saw it as silly, and never warmed to it. Maybe it's because I have never really understood Top Cow's line of comics. All of my guy friends always say "You're awesome because you don't read those!" I never understood that either, because while they do specialize in kickass women like
Witchblade and
Tomb Raider, I never thought they were really written
for chicks because of all the T&A. I always feel kind of funny reading them. (Yes, I've read them. What my guy friends don't know when they praise me is that I have many issues of
Tomb Raider hidden away. Well, I guess they know now. Oh well!)
Continue reading 'Witchblade' Coming to the Big Screen
Posted May 12th 2008 9:32AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Newsstand, Dreamworks, Steven Spielberg, War
While doing publicity rounds for a certain fedora-wearing adventurer, Steven Spielberg told German magazine
FOCUS that he intends to return his focus to his long delayed biopic of Abraham Lincoln.
According to
Variety, Spielberg is shelving the Aaron Sorkin-scripted
Trial of the Chicago Seven because he is dissatisfied with the script, and could not get the rewrites he wanted due to the WGA strike. Though that is over, it apparently needs some development time not even
Tintin will provide.
And yes --
Tintin is still scheduled to begin shooting in early fall, though we still are lacking any casting confirmations. Spielberg says the actor's strike will not delay it, because the film is motion capture.
But back to the Lincoln biopic! It has been kicked around so long that Spielberg's decision is almost a nonevent, but it is still all kinds of exciting because it could begin shooting early next year. Liam Neeson is still attached and has been for the past three years, reportedly amassing research all this time. It will still have that Tony Kushner script, and it is still based on T
he Uniter: The Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the brilliant biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
I really want this to finally come together. Neeson is due for another meaty role like Abraham Lincoln, and there has never been a proper movie made about such an iconic figure. Actually, I don't really think there has been a movie that truly dug into the Civil War, not in the way that can really attract and educate an audience. If anyone is up to the challenge, it's Spielberg.
Posted May 11th 2008 1:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Box Office, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
.jpg)
According to early estimates from
Box Office Mojo, this summer's second big-budgeted extravaganza failed to pick up more than $20 million at the box office this weekend, with the poorly-reviewed comedy
What Happens in Vegas finishing right behind in third. Of course,
Iron Man took the top spot for a second week in a row with roughly $50 million, while
Speed Racer -- which some projected to take home at least $30-40 million -- came in second with $20.2 million, as
What Happens in Vegas slid into third with $20 million. Rounding out the top five were
Made of Honor ($7.6 million) and
Baby Mama ($5.7 million).
So what happened to
Speed Racer? Part of the reason had to do with its targeted audience, which, supposedly, was kids, though kids weren't very familiar with the cartoon the film was based on. That, and the flick clocked in at over two hours -- a running time that's been mentioned a lot this weekend, as well as one that's way too long for a PG-rated kiddie adventure. That said, its PG-rating scared away those adults who grew up with the cartoon; people who, most likely, were looking for something a bit more skewed toward adults (especially when
Iron Man came out the weekend before and kicked a whole lot of ass). Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure we can rule out that
Speed Racer franchise at this point.
Coupla questions for ya: Why do you think
Speed Racer failed to power across the finish line in spectacular fashion? Also, what happens to the Wachowski Brothers now? Will folks think twice before giving them $150 million and free reign?
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