My mind is not on the news today. I'm pretty much too nervous for tomorrows race to think straight. Looking at what I've written so far pretty much confirms that. Sentence structure is all over the place, I wander aimlessly through paragraphs and don't have anything insightful to say about any of these unusual upcoming projects (although some would say, quite rightly, that's typical of my news posts). I suppose it doesn't help that none of this weeks stories really inspire me, the project either sounds daft, or extremely vague or I've mentioned it before. Take a look at whats coming up and tell me whether you think the same.
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Isn't everyone fed up of superheroes now? This summer proved that too many saturate the market with The Green Lantern in particular crashing and burning, and non-marquee superheroes or the stories of normal people who want amazing powers seems to fare even worse, just look at the box office figures for Scott Pilgrim or Kick Ass. Yet Hollywood still thinks there's cash in the old cow leading to Universal acquiring this dismal sounding action comedy spec from David Guggenheim.
The title refers to the majority of days in the year where our hero imagines, plans and contemplates the heroic deeds he will do on the one day of the year he has superpowers. Which to me sounds like it could be an awfully long boozy chat about what powers we'd choose to have - let's face it we've all been there proudly admitting invisibility would be cool even if it led to Hollow Man levels of perversity.
Plus I wonder what happens if your one day turns out to be a slow news day. You may want to stop a evil scientist from destroying New York or go beserk on an invading SWAT team, but aren't you more likely to be required to put out a chip pan fire or find a stolen car? Worthy no doubt but hardly worth having super powers for.
Guggenheim is currently riding high so it's no surprise to see all his ideas jumped on. Last year he quit as editor of US Weekly when his Safe House script was picked up (look out for Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in that next year) and has just seen success with it's follow ups Santiago (sold to Fox) and Puzzle Palace (Summit Entertainment) so there must be something good about what he writes - or something immensely easy to sell.
Read on for twisted oaters, an intriguing clue, two strong female leads and the latest in casting titbits.
Untitled Gothic Western
I think John Carpenter must be a little confused. He seems to believe it's still the early 80's. At the Fright night festival 2011 he talked about the possibility of making a gothic Western, something he's currently working on. Admittedly in the clip online he does confess that making Westerns is tough at this time and commercially difficult to justify to the studios, however the ambition to make a genre straddling Western still seems a little brave. I also read in follow comments that he is hoping to get Amy Adams on board, which considering she's about to star in Man of Steel seems unlikely. Although it is reminiscent of casting Karen Allen in Starman only a couple of years after Raiders of the Lost Ark so he has form, but like I said before that was at his peak. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, only time will tell.
David Lynch
For far too long we appeared to have lost the surrealist master (right) to animated shorts, dance music and subversive clubs but after the five year feature hiatus since INLAND EMPIRE the man who puts Lynch in Lynchian could soon be back to cinemas near you. That's essentially a lot of preamble to nothing because all I have as a story is David saying in a recent interview with Rolling Stone " I’m working on another new film, but it’s not there yet." No details; no plot, title or cast, no real sign that's he's serious. But I really do hope he is. I need more backward speaking dwarfs in my cinemagoing experiences.
Juliet/The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
I've had the strangest feeling of deja vu this week (I knew you'd say that) as two projects we first reported on here years ago have resurfaced. First up it's the adaptation of Anne Fortier's 2010 novel which is sort of sequel to Shakespeare's doomed romance - a direct descendent of Juliet (um, how did that happen?) finds out that's Mercutio's "plague on both your houses" was a real and long-lasting curse - which we first heard about on 10 January 2009. Or going back even further to 28 July 2008 there's the young adult novel about Miss Doyle, the scion of British aristocracy, who finds herself a lone passenger on a trans-atlantic liner with a tale of intrigue to unfold. Back then Saoirse Ronan was attached as the title character but delays have meant she's too old and the task of casting has just begun. Oh, and if you don't believe me about the age of these stories, feel free to click on the labels below.
Casting News
We've heard the first couple of names bandied around with Lars von Trier explicit sex movie Nymphomaniac and frankly they couldn't be more disturbing. Among the sexual conquests of our heroine will be previous von Trier collaborators Stellan Skarsgaard and Willem Dafoe. Shouldn't he be concentrating on finding the girl before surrounding her by middle aged men? Les Miserables continues to build it's cast with the news that Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter are circling thes role of greedy innkeeper Thenardier and his wife, erm Madame Thenardier, not much of a surprise given their previous in musicals (in Bran Nue Dae and Sweeney Todd respectively) and the recent work with director Tom Hooper on The King's Speech.
Saturday, 10 September 2011
What about leap years? (Film News - 10/09/11)
Saturday, 3 September 2011
You've got to Know when to Hold 'em (Film News - 03/09/11)
It's not been much of a week for film news, even trawling through IMDb looking at new movies going into production hasn't done much to whet my appetite for upcoming cinematic events. Of course there are a couple of reasons for that. Firstly it's the last week of the summer, ending with the US Labor Day weekend and what a perfect excuse to go away and relax for a bit. We've also seen the Venice and Telluride festivals kick off with Toronto coming on their heels next week, marking the final stage of 2011, the awards baity film releases. So with publicists and creatives mixing it with the Press at a variety of exotic locations, it looks like an inopportune moment to talk about what's going to happen in a couple of years time. Of the few stories I have spotted there has been a music related theme, even if utterly tenuous, so please enjoy the inserted youtube clips, and with the choices there should be something for everyone.
The Gambler
When I first heard that Martin Scorsese, William Monahan and Leonardo DiCaprio - the director, writer and star of 2006 Oscar winning The Departed - were getting back together to remake The Gambler I immediately felt my heart leap. At last legitimacy for Kenny Rogers' most famous ballad and unnecessary TV adaptation. Alas they were talking about a different better, the 1974 Karel Reisz drama which starred James Caan as a respectable middle class professor who is controlled by his addiction to gambling.
Like all good addiction movies it traces the compulsion from a harmless hobby to when it begins to cost Caan his family, home and even his professional integrity. Indeed the famous tagline, on the poster below, says it all.
The film is loosely based on a short story by Dostoyevsky and it's unclear right now how much Monahan will stick to the original film or return to the book for inspiration, or indeed when this will slot into the three hectic slates. One questions I really want to know though is why they didn't ask Tobey Maguire, Leo's poker buddy who's currently being sued for winning illegally gained funds - essentially money laundering even though he wasn't aware of it.
By the way if you wondering if they ever will remake Kenny's story, you'd better hope not as that Gambler should be left alone with his personal miseries. Let Kenny tell you all about it:
Read on for bountiful bouquets, rejected child actors and a belted dream as well as the latest list of films heading into production.
L'Ecume des Jours
It's a bit of a non-story but due to the scarcity of exciting stuff I'm running with it anyway. Do you remember several months ago we heard about a forthcoming collaboration between bonkers French director Michel Gondry and gamine Gallic Goddess Audrey Tatou? Well, it now has a title, which I would translate but I can't find a definition of Ecume anywhere. Anyone able to help? Anyway joining Tatou will be Romaine Duris (they have a long history of starring together) in the fantastical love story with philosophical subplots and beds of flowers (it's adapted from the 1947 novel by Boris Vian, so that hasn't come from nowhere). With those elements now known suddenly this seems like a perfect vehicle for all involved.
Cameron Crowe's Kids movie/My Name is Marvin
Crowe has scotched the rumours of a Say Anything sequel this week, although if you remember I had my personal doubts from the very beginning. So of course that's led to an avalanche of alternative theories of what he might he be working on next, in spite of the six year wait we've had for We Bought a Zoo. One popular thought is he will return to the Marvin Gaye biopic (My Name is Marvin) first planned several years ago, an artist to which he is still utterly in awe of (and who can blame his). Crowe's a former music journalist, which I guess everyone who's seen Almost Famous knows and this will be a fascinating bridge between his documentary work and narrative cinema.
The most recent alternative, which he's even admitted to writing, is a kids movie based on the child actors he didn't cast in We Bought a Zoo. Read about it in this excerpt from an IFC interview.
“This woman that I work with, Gail Levin, is a great casting director. She’s always finding new faces,” he said. “The kids she found for ‘We Bought a Zoo’ are so exciting. We met with all these actors, and they would leave the room and it was a situation where I would turn to Gail and say ‘They’re not right for this one, but I want to write something where we can work with that person.’ That was the genesis for writing a whole new script which I’ve been working on while we were doing ‘We Bought a Zoo’ and finishing this Pearl Jam movie.”
Which to me does not seem like a good enough excuse to make a movie, but maybe it will showcase great talent so I shouldn't be so sniffy.
Casting News
Only one casting bit that caught my eye this week but it's such a doozy I can't imagine that any film fans weren't on the cusp cheering the news that Anne Hathaway may be joining Tom Hooper's production of Les Miserables as Fantine. The phenomenally successful musical scored by Claude-Michel Schönberg has taken an painfully slow route to the screen, surprising given it's inbuilt audience, but with the casting of Hathaway alongside Hugh Jackman who last got together at the Oscars proving they both have the lungs to knock their respective roles out of the park. Fantine is a relatively short role in the story (no spoilers here though) but she does get the most famous song "I dreamed a dream", which no doubt all of you have heard a variety of takes on it, including this version from Glee.
Production News
Very few new films moving into pre-production this month, one can only assume that August with all the school holidays and festival planning it evokes has left Hollywood short on pencil pushers ticking boxes. That said the following productions all look worth seeing. There's Robert Redford's press ethics drama The Company you Keep, which will hopefully not be spoiled by Shia LaBeouf. Thematic sci-fi Adaline has come and gone before so it may just disappear again, naval adventure Here there be Dragons which almost certainly not be Robert Zemeckis' next film and the Bret Easton Ellis scripted Bait. Yet another film that casts sharks as the bad guys as a revenge seeking nerd feeds the yuppies to them.
Sharks just want top be loved, stop hating on them Hollywood.
Saturday, 23 July 2011
What price Faith (Film News - 23/07/11)
For the third week in a row we're struggling to fill the news post (in spite of comic con rumbling on), and it is almost unbearably disappointing. I suppose I should be grateful for the weeks overburdened with stories, however that feels so natural that these slower weeks really come as a shock, especially given this long semi-drought. At least the projects we're mentioning here have a good chance of getting made, and sound like they could be fascinating.
Under the Banner of Heaven
When Dustin Lance Black won his Oscar for writing Milk a couple of years ago there was much talk of a bright new talent and expectation was rife about what direction his work would take him, luckily he's been tapping away furiously at the typewriter with J. Edgar on it's way, and now the big screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer's non-fiction novel (Pictured below) about two brothers who murdered the wife and infant child of their younger brother claiming they were acting on the will of God. More synopsis can be found on the book cover...
This sounds like a fascinating project that may probe into issues of mental health diagnoses and how religious fundamentalism has the capacity to commit heinous crimes in the name of it's message.
On the other hand it could become a mishmash of whiny liberal prejudice (the brothers followed a splinter group of Mormonism and I worry about balanced views on religious beliefs in films - now I can't wait for the comments to come in) and shuffling horror tropes, furthermore this is probably coming after Christian fundamentalism has been a hot topic with Red State and Martha Marcy May Marlene both impressing at Sundance this year.
Of course I will be supporting Black either way as he seems like a personable and responsible fellow, and the script for Milk does make me think the boy can write. Keep an eye on this one.
Read on for journalistic integrity and... well that's about it really as well as some casting news.
The Company you Keep
Here in the UK the headlines have been dominated over the last three weeks by the implosion of News International, Rupert Murdoch's print conglomerate that publishes "The Sun" and "The Times". As more and more revelations of phone hacking, including those of the families of murder victims and dead soldiers, and the extent of cosying up done by the political classes and police with NI executives has been made public we've seen resignations from the highest seats in NI as well as senior Police officer, frankly it's unlikely to be long before a minister or high-profile civil servant also falls as a result of the story. With that in mind it's good to see Robert Redford's next movie will star Shia LaBeouf as an unscrupulous investigative reporter anxious to get the scoop on a former Weather Underground member (for those of you not in the know the Weathermen were a clandestine revolutionary party advocating terrorism as a means to violently overthrow the US Government).
Of course whether you'll buy LaBeouf as a journalist facing the choice between getting a great story or letting an old man live his final days in peace is yet to be decided.
Casting News
Quentin Tarantino is as known as much for his knack of reinvigorating careers as for the plots and techniques of his movies, and so when a fading star picks up a role in his films it always raises eyebrows. So three cheers to Kevin Costner who's taken the role of the sadistic slave trainer in Django Unchained with that and the Superman remake he's certainly on the way back to the A list. This week we've also seen a whole slew of names added to The Lone Ranger including Helena Bonham Carter and Dwight Yoakam making it altogether more interesting. You can also take the latest rumour about casting Les Miserables with a huge chunk of salt, but apparently Russell Crowe is lobbying for the role of Javert the obsessed policeman after Hugh Jackman's Jean Valjean. 
Crowe has experience of singing, fronting the bands 30 Odd foot of Grunts and The Ordinary Fear of God but I somehow doubt that puts him up there with Jackman's Tony award winning experiences.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Sorting out the rubbish - (Movie News - 09/04/11)
I'm in London this week - it's Baby Jesus Freak don't ya know? - so I'm doing one of those tricks where I attempt to complete the news report in an internet cafe - writing up the stories as I hit them. It's so exciting as I want to keep the costs down and writing becomes much more intense!
Trash
The biggest title grabbing my attention is the children's adventure novel by Andy Mulligan which is about to get the multiplex treatment under the watchful eyes of Richard Curtis (writing) and Stephen Daldry (directing). That's a fascinating combo and frankly I'd probably see anything those two would plan to work on together, but this story seems especially intriguing.
Three boys (Raphael, Gardo, and Rat) in an unnamed third world country struggle to survive by recycling rubbish from the vast refuse mountains outside the major city where they live - I'm not trying to offend anyone but I imagine the Jardim Gramacho outside of Rio at this point. When the boys find something special, and then refuse a large bribe from a local policeman to hand it over it sparks a chain of events that will require all their cunning and courage to survive.
Sounds like it could meld a searing attack on modern poverty with the ind of adventure games children like exceptionally well. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
Read on for controversial mayors, a weird virus, lies-a-plenty, Conrad's muse, a lost architect, a stupid murderer, the Godfather of Soul and our regular review of casting news.
Politics and Pasta
The autobiography of Buddy Cianci, the former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island is stirring up quite a controversy with it's claims of rebuilding the city and constant battle with mobsters as well as a stint inside for racketeering. Expect the big screen version to be along soon.
Prisoners of the Sun
We knew there'd be another one - although the when question is still there, but Spielberg and Peter Jackson will be swapping director/producer roles for the Tintin sequel. The Secret of the Unicorn is not too far off and will be followed by Prisoners of the Sun. The plot involves a mysterious illness affecting explorers and an Incan treasure that may be connected - sounds typical Herge and will likely be a great choice.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
I'm not sure I believe this myself, but the proposed remake of Danny Kaye's serial fantacist 1949 movie may just be back on track. Ben Stiller has seen the script and is very keen to get it made with him in the leading role. I'm ambivalent about Stiller's talents, but hopefully this will be a vehicle that can point him in an interesting direction.
Stanley
Joe Wright is making big plans for the next few years, with Hanna out in cinemas over the next few weeks he'll be turning his attention to Russian epic Anna Karenina. After that he's seriously considering a biopic of Sir Henry Morton Stanley, the explorer and journalist who "found" Dr. Livingston and who's journey into Africa inspired Conrad's "Hearts of Darkness".
The Tomb
Do you remember way back in early 2010 we mentioned a Bruce Willis project where he was a master architect locked in his own prison? Well, Bruce is out and former Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger is in, leading the 63-year-old's bid to return to the Hollywood elite. Apparently Antione Fuqua is still attached to helm, but given he has a Tupac biopic and a Chinese venture to complete first (see last week's news) expect a change of director soon.
True Crime
With Carnage having just wrapped Roman Polanski is already searching for his next challenge and seems to have stumbled on a Polish crime thriller. Based on a 2008 New Yorker article the film will follow the murder investigation after a body was found in the Oder river. The detectives eventually found clues in the published crime thrillers of the victims friend and colleague. Which just seems daft if he had done it..
Untitled James Brown Biopic
In completely regurgitated news is the largely unsubstantiated rumour that's Spike Lee's biopic of the great soul singer is still in the works (some five years since we last heard anything about it). Apparently Eddie Murphy and Usher are being considered to play Brown in various stages of his life.
Casting News
The names are starting to circulate for big screen Musical Les Miserables including Robert Downey Jnr, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard and legendary British tenor Alfie Boe - expect plenty of rumours about this castlist right until the camera starts turning. Will Smith and little Jaden Smith have teamed up on M. Night Shyamalan's next sci-fi bustblocker One Thousnd A.E.. I realise Will wants his son to have all the advantages that he never had as a young actor, but surely he's seen M. Night's work and knows this will be a disaster. Catherine Zeta-Jones is the latest MILF to be wooed by Gerard Butler in Playing the Field. Penelope Cruz is planning to reunite with Woody Allen for his Rome set movie later this year, I can't work out whether that's a good thing for her.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Film Musical event of a lifetime (Film News - 26/02/11)
Wow, Oscar night already. I'd love to pretend I'll be staying up all night to watch it but it is on exceptionally late and isn't on free view here either, so I guess I'll catch up with the winners in the morning. In the meantime here are some articles that have caught my eye, as well as the monthly update on cinema release dates for films we've covered here in the past.
Les Miserables
It's one of the most successful and popular musicals of all time, last year it past it's 26th anniversary on Broadway and it's 10,000's performance in London, and yet there hasn't been a film adaptation for Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's work. Not that they haven't tried both Alan Parker and Bruce Beresford have had high-profile attempts to put it together but it's all come to nothing, until now. With the world at his feet, and the prospect of a surprise best Director oscar this evening, Tom Hooper is seriously considering taking it on as his next project. You know damn well that it will be massively popular, but will it be any good?
I confess I've never seen the musical, in spite of the exhortations of a number of my friends, for me it seems to be a monumental folly, an extraordinarily overlong retelling of an already padded out novel (Victor Hugo, not known for his brevity). However it has won numerous Olivier and Tony awards, a few of the tunes are catchy and I don't know anyone who's really hated it. It's also pretty clear that a movie with this sort of heritage will produce a much better box office return than, say Nine even if recreating the French revolution will cost significantly more and may thereby resurrect the moribund musical genre.
Another factor going for the adaptation is the central relationship between petty criminal Valjean and obsessive policeman Javert which should create an interesting dynamic for the two actors who takes these roles, and as we've all seen recently Hooper is a master at dissecting male relationships. Keep our fingers crossed for this I think.
Read on for timeless romance, Miami vice, more dream levels, an old mans love, unsolved murders, soccer and a fast and loose biopic. As well as the usual round-up of castings and release schedules.
Adaline
Gabriele Muccino is obviously gutted at losing Passengers from his schedule as he's now considering another sci-fi inflected romance, this time about a woman who stops aging at the turn of the 20th century until she meets the right man. The project previously has Andy (Hitch) Tennant and Katherine Heigl attached but with them dropping out it seems the film may be leaning more to the weepie audience. It's a difficult combo to get right, but I wish them the very best. 
Cocaine Cowboys
The dramatic retelling of 2006's documentary (left) hit might still be in the works, according to David O. Russell and Mark Wahlberg. It focuses on 70's crime icon Jon Roberts and his aspirations and experiences with drug cartels in Miami. Right now it looks like we'll have Russell and Wahlberg collaborating for the fourth time soon whatever film he decides to make.
Inception 2
Tom Hardy has waxed lyrically this week about his forthcoming role in The Dark Knight Rises for which he plans to bulk up (what, even more you say) but he also let slip that his contract for Inception included a lock-in clause for a sequel. I very much hope that's a legal machination to prevent the rights falling into the wrong hands and not an indication that the story will continue. I quite like the open-ended ending it currently has.
Old Mans War
I always see to be writing about sci-fi movies here, yet exceptionally few of them ever get made. Really at the moment there's only Prometheus and the Avatar sequels on the horizon. So please read on with a healthy dose of scepticism as Paramount have picked up the rights to John Scalzi's highly praised novel (left). The memories and personality of a septuagenarian are transplanted into a genetically enhanced body of a young soldier. The plot then gets weird when he meets a woman who reminds him of his dead wife. On board to direct is Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, Poseiden) which seems like an odd choice so expect some changes before it goes before the cameras.
Paperboy
It looks like Precious director Lee Daniels has finally settled on his next project, and the bad news it's a thriller (I'm still trying to forget Shadowboxer). Based on the Pete Dexter's Florida set novel it meanders through a complex plot involving investigative journalism and unsolved murders whilst touching upon the seedy underside of the popular holiday destination. He's been talking to Bradley Cooper, Sofia Vergara and Alex Pettyfer about heading up the cast.
Seigneurs
Football doesn't often make it to the big screen, the latest attempt Goal was seen as a horrendous failure, but that hasn't stopped this latest French comedy from getting the go ahead. It will focus on a former star player who coaches his local amateur team in an isolated fishing community in Northern France. Combined with Zebras and Playing the Field it looks like soccer is beginning to ascend in cinema.
Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft
A couple of years ago we heard about a fictional biopic of sci-fi author H.P. Lovecraft (there he is on the right, and you can kind of see why he wrote sci-fi novels) but then the trail ran cold. The latest update is that Big Fish/The Nines scribe John August has been brought on to revise the script. August has a solid genre background so he should be a nice addition to this dreams unleashed project.
Casting News
There's been the usual round of casting speculations including a (very)longlist of actors vying to replace Matt Damon as the central character in Bourne Legacy including Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Garret Hedlund, Kellen Lutz and on and on for 10 more possible actors! Robert Downey Jnr is all but confirmed as Paul Thomas Anderson's private eye in Inherent Vice, Uma Thurman and Jessica Biel will be among the ladies Gerard Butler will woo in Playing the Field, and Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts and Rebecca Hall have all been linked to roles in the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck wife swap drama The Trade - that is providing the wives and players in the New York Yankees who inspired the story don't manage to prevent it from even happening in the courts.
Release Schedules
Not much going on with the latest release changes. I guess we're still consolidating after the winter. Mind you summer's beginning to look less empty - I now have two movies I want to see between 20 May and 02 September - shame they're both out on the same date.
Hanna - Who'd've thought that Joe Wright would be making a summer tent pole movie - well the latest release shift for his hit girl thriller has shifted straight into the mid May onslaught. Seek revenge through your children on 06 May 2011.
Conspirator - Robert Redford's historic-political drama about the trial of Mary Surratt shuffled out of Toronto last year with little support but it should still pick up an audience in a dull looking summer. Join mob mentality on 01 July 2011.
War Horse - Spielberg's still settling on a final release pattern for his patented serious and silly combo with this latest tiny shift. Follow your pet across Europe on 25 March 2011.
Bourne Legacy - It's yet to really enter into the pre-production phase, in fact as you can see above they're still 14 stars to disappoint before they can even begin, however the latest Bourne movie has a release. Forget your past on 17 August 2012.
No, Damon won't be appearing in this.
