Film News (07/02/09)

An unbelievable busy week for film news. So crowded in fact we'll just dive straight into it.



King Lear

You wait years before a decent King Lear adaptation and then two come at once. Last year Anthony Hopkins signed on to play the aging monach who splits his kingdom, under the watchful gaze of Joshua Michael Stern; this week it's Al Pacino railing at the storm and reuniting with his Merchant of Venice director Michael Radford. Now I love King Lear, it's the play that got me into acting, but I doubt both of these will be released - so which will it be? My moneys on Al, but I'd appreciate your thoughts.



Miral

Julian Schnabel is set to begin principle photography on his Israeli-Palestinian epic Miral in April. Starring Hiam Abbas (The Visitor) as a Palestinian to runs a orphanage in Jersulam the film will show how the relationship between the 2 nations has developed over the last 50 years. It's all going to be filmed on location and I persanally cannot wait to see a film that puts this extraordinary conflict into some perpective.

Moneyball

It's extemely difficult to keep tracks of Steven Soderbergh, but with the delays on Cleo it looks like he's bumped Moneyball up to the top of his things to do list. The film concerns the development of a computer algorithm to selct the best baseball team with a limited budget, fantasy baseball if you will, only done by a real team manager. If that doesn't make your inner geek glow I don't know what will.

Silence

Daniel Day-Lewis and Benicio Del Toro as signed on to play Jesuit priests bringing christianity to Japan in Martin Scorcese's next film. This pairing seems like an excellent one, but I think I'm going to need more to stop me from classifying this as The Mission in a kimono.

Start

Brandon Koener's "Now the Hell Will Start" has been optioned by 40 Acres and a Mule. The non-fiction novel relates how an African-American soldier murdered his Lieutenant and then escaped into the Burmese jungle eventually being accepted by the natives.

Valentine's Day

Would anyone like to see 10 strangers in Los Angeles briefly connect their lives over Valentine's Day in a variety of forced coincidences and bizarre cupid led entanglements? No? Just me then.

The Ward

I'm not really a horror fan, but Amber Heard (the titular All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) is preparing to enter the Ward. Cue scary noises and tales of long dead mental patients with grudges. And lots of running around semi-naked, probably.