Happy Birthday to
Viggo Mortensen
53 today
Viggo's been getting the lion's share of praise from the festival circuit tour of A Dangerous Method, with his performance as Sigmund Freud, the third consecutive collaboration with director David Cronenberg, being called fantastic and inspirational casting. I'm also looking forward to see him in the supporting ensemble of Jack Kerouac adaptation On the Road but with the buzz of that disappearing and the film being quietly delayed into 2012 I am beginning to doubt it's quality.
Showing posts with label On the Road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label On the Road. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Viggo Mortensen
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Viggo Mortensen
Happy Birthday to
Viggo Mortensen
52 today
As I was choosing a picture for Viggo I was struck by how little he looks like himslef, or how little he looks like we think he looks like when he's not in the iconic Aragon role from Lord of the Rings. The talented and multi-ligual Viggo has a uniquely serene screen presence which has served him well over the years and should be a great fit for his Sigmund Freud in next years A Dangerous Method (his third collaboration with Canadian director David Cronenburg). He will also be seen in the upcoming On the Road adaptation.
Friday, 20 August 2010
Amy Adams
Happy Birthday to
Amy Adams
36 today
Last time we said Happy Birthday to Amy she was still relatively obscure wit a couple of indie hits and one breakout Disney picture to her name. Two years later with another Oscar nod and some high profile rom coms under her bet shes more of a known entity. Among her projects coming up are the Kerouac adaptation On the Road and Janis Joplin: Get it while you Can both of which are bound to capitalise on her current stature.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
You give me fever (Film News - 14/08/10)
Not much of a week for breaking news, in fact half of the stories I'm running are additional casings to already announced projects. That said if this first item doesn't a) get to the top of the box office the week it opens and b) doesn't garner serious award consideration for the lead then I will be very surprised.
Untitled Peggy Lee Project
Pleased with the critical and commercial success from the real life of Kitchen queen Julia Child, Nora Ephron has decided to mine the biography of another 50's icon with her next film about singer and actress Peggy Lee. Best known for her interpretation of the Jazz standard Fever, Lee recorded over 50 albums and received 12 Grammy nominations. As well as an Oscar nod for her alcoholic singer in Pete Kelly's Blues.
It's still to be confirmed what aspect of Peggy's life will be the centrepoint of the biopic, there's certainly plenty to choose from either artistically or emotionally - Peggy married and divorced 4 times in 25 years. Saying that there's no great battle against addictions or family tragedy that often forms the backdrop for musical biopics so there are legitimate concerns that there will be a lack of conflict in the tale.
Reese Witherspoon is currently tipped to take the lead and there's a certain physical similarity to Peggy (above) that might just work.
Read on for an unlikely sci-fi, more roadside castings and the object of Charlize Theron's affections.
Isopod
The latest highly unlikely rumour - as picked up from a rogue tweet - is that Barry "Rain Man" Levinson is set to direct a indie sci-fi thriller Isopod in the Carolinas. It'll hardly be Levinson's usually oeuvre, but he has done sci-fi before (Sphere) and there's certainly been plenty of genre hopping in his career. In animal clasification the Isopoda are crustaceans with seven pairs of similar legs (from the latin iso ~ same and pod ~ foot) and are typically flattened. I am rather hoping the film will focus on a genetic abnormally which creates gigantic woodlice (left), essentially docile but capable of destroying entire forests in their rampant search for decomposing plant matter.
On the Road
Walter Salles has extended his cast once again, and there are even more interesting faces amongst the supporting characters including Alice Braga, Steve Buscemi and Terrence Howard.
Young Adult
I know it's only been a week since we first mentioned this Reitman/Cody collaboration with Charlize Theron setting off to reunite with her childhood sweetheart, and perhaps I should let the story lie low for a bit before updating but the news on the street is that Josh Brolin is set to play the jock that turns her down for a second time. Now I find Josh as sexy as the next guy but I'm still not convinced he'd be able to walk away from Charlize. Just saying.
Josh ponders his options.
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Worst Honeymoon Ever (Film News 08/08/2010)
Naturally with me not being here it's been an incredibly busy week with loads of new productions appearing on the periphery demanding my attention. I'm hoping that's a good sign that we're going to gets an increase on interesting movies - personally I've been generally disappointed by the overall quality of projects getting the green light.
Honeymoon with Harry
I won't pretend this piece of news is recent, or that I am desperate to see the adaptation of Bart Baker's unpublished novel, but the genesis of the production is quite unique. First optioned in 2004 Paul Haggis (Crash, Quantum of Solace) was due to write and direct this tale of a combative father and son-in-law as they recover from the sudden death of the woman they both love. The writers strike and other projects got in the way so this was shelved and has since gained the reputation of being one of the best unfilmed scripts in Hollywood.
Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper, having worked together on Neil Burger's Dark Fields (left - note Bobby's decidedly unsharp shoes), are anxious to reunite on the screen and have chosen this juicy concept as the vehicle for that. Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married) has allegedly been approached to direct the piece.
Overall that's a fine team that few would argue with wanting to see on screen even if the first half of the spec comes close to the relationship in Meet the Parents.
Read on for sex education, American classics, superheroes, communing with the dead and literary dilemmas. As well as the latest production news.
The Abstinence Teacher
You wait a year for a Sandra Bullock story then two come along at once as she has is now in talks to Star in Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton's Little Miss Sunshine follow-up with Steve Carell. In it Bullock will play a free-spirited sex education teacher with liberal views facing backlash in a generally conservative small town. Sounds like it will do wonders for her image.
On the Road
I had been fairly ambivalent about the big screen adaptation of Jack Karouac's (right) ground breaking beat novel, it seem to me not that it's unfilmable but it does raise the question of why you would want to film it. That said Viggo Mortensen and Amy Adams have now been added to the supporting cast so I am beginning to waver.
The Shadow
Earlier in the year there were the stirrings of rumours that The Shadow is due a remake now the stench of the Alec Baldwin original has cleared away and the comic book receipts keep coming in. Latest twist is that Quentin Tarantino may end up directing, and whilst I'm not the greatest fan of Inglorious Basterds this would be the perfect opportunity for Quentin to indulge in all his ultra-violent fantasies and for it to fit in the universe. 
Skippy Dies
It is deeply disappointing that this will not be a final chapter to the long running Aussie children's drama about a bush Kangaroo that rescues idiots in National Parks (left). Instead it's from Paul Murray's boarding school set novel about a student who tries to commune with his dead roomie. Whether it's a celebration of innocence, an paean to hope or just downright depressing this could be a project to look out for and might just be a major career starter for two teenage boys out there.
Young Adult
This might take a bit of suspension of disbelief but in this Diablo Cody scripted Jason Reitman directed piece Charlize Theron will play a writer of "young adult" fiction who seeks out an old high school love interest who then scorns her having no wish to revisit his time as a teenager. Whether this leads to bunny boiler type actions from Charlize or a long hard look at how her life has turned out is unclear but there is sure to be ultra-hip dialogue and a nicely ironic look at society. I look forward to finding out why anyone would say no to getting back with Charlize though (I'm gay and I'd totally be up for making a go of a relationship...)
Production News
Every month I trawl though old news stories to identify which rumours have become reality and whether anything I missed is suddenly underway, and every month I am pleasantly surprised by some of the revelations. Over the last 5 weeks the you tube documentary project Life in a Day has filmed so we await to see if there is anything decent to come out of that, work has begun on the Disney fantasy The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Sam Mendes has decided for On Chesil Beach to be his next film in the absence of Bond and the above Young Adult has already begun the pre-production process, becoming only the second 2013 film that I'm interested in - look out for it in a 20 for 2013 countdown.
The films have also appeared with no fanfare:
Me.
Adaptation of a 1971 darkly comic play ("Untold Damage") which looks at the changing dynamics within a family following a tragic little league baseball injury. Was filmed for television with Richard Dreyfuss and Geraldine Fitzgerald which makes it an interesting cast to beat in this remake.
Detachment
The inspirational teacher sub genre of movies is a perennial favourite so it's no surprise to see another version roll into production, even if this seems more Half Nelson than Dead Poets Society as the substitute teacher is inspired by his students into becoming a better person. Adrien Brody will be taking the central role with a supporting cast including Marcia Gay Harden as the head and James Caan, Lucy Liu and Blythe Danner as other teachers. The big surprise is they've entrusted this to the directorial hands of barking mad Tony Kaye (American History X) - stand by for rows in the editorial suite and long protracted legal battles before it ever gets released.
I'm not sure when this pic was taken but I think Mr. Brody is enjoying his post-Predators buffness.
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