**First Good Look at Brad Pitt in Andrew Dominik’s COGAN’S TRADE **Teaser Trailer for Pedro Almodovar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN **New Poster, Images, and Full Synopsis for DRIVE Starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan **First Look at Rhys Ifans (Minus a Bag on His Head) from THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

First Good Look at Brad Pitt in Andrew Dominik’s COGAN’S TRADE

by Matt Goldberg   Posted: May 7th, 2011

At the beginning of March, some blurry set photos from Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of Cogan’s Trade leaked online.  Today, an official-looking image from the film has been released and it shows star Brad Pitt in all his slicked-hair, shotgun-wielding majesty.  Pitt plays Jackie Cogan, a mob enforcer who is tasked with investigating the heist of a high-stakes card game.  The movie has an impressive cast that includes Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom), Scott McNairy (Monsters), rising star Bella Heathcote (Now), and Sam Shepard.

Judging by the image, the film looks to have the grittier feel of Dominik’s debut film Chopper rather than the lyrical, haunting pace of his previous work, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The Weinstein Company picked up the rights to the film and will likely release the movie in 2012.  Hit the jump to check out the image.

...... http://collider.com/cogans-trade-movie-image/89517/

Teaser Trailer for Pedro Almodovar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: May 8th, 2011

The Skin I Live In, the latest from writer/director Pedro Almodovar, is going to be weeeeeird.  I suppose we knew this from the logline: while plotting his revenge against the man who raped his daughter, a plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) imprisons and torments his partner (Elena Anaya) in an operating theater in his basement.  The new teaser trailer drives the point home, packing plenty of disturb into thirty seconds.  The Skin I Live In will premiere later this month at the Cannes Film Festival — where prior Almodovar movies All About My Mother and Volver have won awards — before a theatrical release in November.

Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, Roberto Alamo, Blanca Suárez, Eduard Fernández, José Luis Gómez, Bárbara Lennie, Susi Sánchez, Fernando Cayo, and Teresa Manresa also star in the film, based on the novel Tarantula by Thierry Jonquet.  Watch the trailer after the jump.

..... http://collider.com/the-skin-i-live-in-trailer/89571/

New Poster, Images, and Full Synopsis for DRIVE Starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: May 8th, 2011

Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson) has earned the status as an exciting filmmaker to look out for, and he rounded up a terrific cast for his Hollywood debut in Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks.  (I am encouraged that the script by Hossein Amini (Killshot) convinced Brooks to shoot his live-action feature since 2003.)  The logline is promising, too — a novel yet natural entry point into the action genre: a Hollywood stunt driver (Gosling) moonlights as a getaway driver.

Drive will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month in advance of a September 16 release.  The Cannes promotional material gave us our first look at the film with a two-minute clip.  The new Drive press kit assembled for the festival provides a new poster, a longer synopsis, and a bunch of new images.  Look for the poster, synopsis, and images after the break.

Here’s the full synopsis:

Driver (RYAN GOSLING) is a stunt driver by day and a getaway driver by night. Doesn’t matter what job he does, Driver is most comfortable behind the wheel of a car. Shannon (BRYAN CRANSTON) is part mentor, part manager for Driver. Since he knows what a great talent Driver is behind the wheel, he either peddles him to film and television directors in the entertainment business or thieves who need an accomplished getaway driver, taking a cut for his own pockets. Always looking to make a buck, Shannon’s current plan is funding a stock car that Driver can race on the professional circuit. Since Bernie Rose (ALBERT BROOKS) is the wealthiest guy he knows, even if the sources of his money are questionable, Shannon proposes he be their investor. After seeing Driver in action at the speedway, Bernie Rose insists Nino (RON PERLMAN) partners with them as well. Primarily a loner and ambivalent about the deals Shannon makes for him, Driver’s world changes the day he shares an elevator ride at his apartment building with Irene (CAREY MULLIGAN). When he sees her again at the grocery store with her young son, Benicio (KADEN LEOS), he is transfixed, and willingly offers help when they are stranded in the parking lot because Irene’s car won’t start. Soon Driver settles into a routine of driving Irene to her waitress job and watching Benicio, entangled in their lives while her car is fixed. This interlude in Driver’s life abruptly stops when Standard (OSCAR ISAAC), Irene’s husband, is let out early from prison for good behavior. Even though nothing has happened between Driver and Irene, Standard is threatened by another man’s presence in his family’s life. Driver backs off, respectful of Irene’s desire to keep her family together, but when he finds Standard bloodied and lying in the garage with a scared Benicio standing next to his father, Driver is embroiled even further in Irene’s life. Then trouble begins…

You can download the full press kit at the official Cannes site — it provides a detailed timeline of how Refn and each of the actors came on board.

Because of the layout of the press kit, some of the images below are obscured by graphic design.  The slight inconvenience is more than made up for in image quality and quantity.

Click on any image for the larger version.

... http://collider.com/drive-movie-images-poster/89593/

First Look at Rhys Ifans (Minus a Bag on His Head) from THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

by Matt Goldberg   Posted: May 8th, 2011

Last week, we got our first look at Rhys Ifans in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man.  Kind of.  Ifans plays Dr. Curt Conners, a scientist who accidentally becomes The Lizard when he tries to regrow his lost arm.  Moral of the story: if you’ve lost an arm, take comfort in the fact that you’re not a man-reptile.  Anyway, while I imagine that the character will be mostly (if not entirely) CGI, the set photo from last week showed Ifans with a bag over his head presumably to hide some level of transformation.  Today, we now see Ifans in human-form and without the bag, but with a long green glove on one arm.  That’s so the animators can CGI out the actor’s arm, although if he were method, he would just chop it off.  Computer graphics ruin everything.

Hit the jump to check out the image.  The Amazing Spider-Man also stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.  The film opens in 3D on July 3, 2012.

......

http://collider.com/amazing-spider-man-set-photo-rhys-ifans/89622/

Antonio Banderas' "The Skin I Live In" Teaser

Posted: May 8th, 2011 by WorstPreviews.com Staff


In preparation for the Cannes Film Festival, we now have the teaser trailer for "The Skin I Live In, starring Antonio Banderas and directed by Pedro Almodovar (Volver). Check it out below.

Plot: Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard (Banderas), an eminent plastic surgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her. After twelve years, he manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield against every assault. In addition to years of study and experimentation, Robert needed three things: no scruples, an accomplice and a human guinea pig. Scruples were never a problem. Marilia, the woman who looked after him from the day he was born, is his most faithful accomplice. And as for the human guinea pig...

Sony Pictures Classics already owns the domestic rights to the film and has scheduled it for November 18th.



Read more: http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=21583&count=0

 

 

 

 

First Look: Brad Pitt in "Cogan's Trade" Crime Film

Posted: May 8th, 2011 by WorstPreviews.com Staff


Director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James) completed shooting his crime film "Cogan's Trade," which stars Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, Sam Shepard and James Gandolfini.

And today we have the first official photos of Pitt as Jackie Cogan, a professional enforcer hired to investigate the robbery of a mob-protected poker game. Check out the photo below.

The film is inspired by a George V Higgins novel and is set to hit theaters on March 3rd, 2012.

Photo: (click to enlarge)

Source: ScreenDaily



Read more: http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=21580&count=0

 

***Joe Carnahan’s THE GREY Gets the Green Light; James Badge Dale, Dermot Mulroney, and More Join Cast ***First Images and Synopses for 30 MINUTES OR LESS and ANONYMOUS; New Image from BAD TEACHER ***Sam Rockwell Joins Andrew Dominik’s COGAN’S TRADE Starring Brad Pitt

Joe Carnahan’s THE GREY Gets the Green Light; James Badge Dale, Dermot Mulroney, and More Join Cast

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 5th, 2011

After the big-budget, dumb-fun fare of The A-Team, director Joe Carnahan is going back to gritty indie fare with The Grey.  The film centers on a group of oil-rig roughnecks who survive a plane crash.  Normally, that makes you one of the luckiest people on the planet.  Unfortunately for this group, their plane happens to crash right in the middle of a hunting zone of a rogue pack of wolves in the Alaskan tundra.  As we previously reported, Liam Neeson will lead the film, and according to Deadline, he’ll be joined by Dallas Roberts (Rubicon), James Badge Dale (Rubicon), Dermot Mulroney (Inhale),  Frank Grillo (My Soul to Take), Nonso Anozie (RocknRolla), and Joe Anderson (The Crazies).

The film now has a green light and production will begin next week.  Hit the jump for what Carnahan had to say about the film.

Carnahan said of filming in the bitter cold of Vancouver and the Northern British Columbia region:

“It gets to be 30 below, and when we went out the other day, I took off my hat to see how long I could last, and my skin was burning with frostbite in a little over a minute.  In a way, it’s great, because it beats the shit out of the cast and that suits the storyline.”

Carnahan also says that he enjoys the freedom of shooting an indie and not having to worry about making a set release date.  He added that The Grey is about one-fifth the budget of A-Team.

And as for the kind of film The Grey is looking to be, Carnahan says it’s in the vein of great man vs. nature movies like Deliverance and Touching the Void.  As a fan of not only The A-Team, but Carnahan’s previous films Narc and Smokin’ Aces, I can’t wait to see what he’ll deliver with The Grey.

http://collider.com/the-grey-joe-carnahan/68285/

First Images and Synopses for 30 MINUTES OR LESS and ANONYMOUS; New Image from BAD TEACHER

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 5th, 2011

Sony has released the first images and synopses for 30 Minutes or Less and Anonymous.  30 Minutes or Less is an action-comedy directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) and stars Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, and Aziz Ansari.  Anonymous is the new film from 2012 director Roland Emmerich and is noteworthy in that the plot won’t feature the destruction of famous landmarks.  The film is based on speculation that William Shakespeare did not write his own plays.

Sony has also released the synopsis plus a new image for the Cameron Diaz comedy Bad Teacher which also stars Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, and Jason Segel.  Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses for all three films.

BAD TEACHER (Opens June 17th)

Some teachers just don’t give an F. For example, there’s Elizabeth (Cameron Diaz).  She’s foul-mouthed, ruthless, and inappropriate.  She drinks, she gets high, and she can’t wait to marry her meal ticket and get out of her bogus day job.  When she’s dumped by her fiancé, she sets her plan in motion to win over a rich, handsome substitute (Justin Timberlake) – competing for his affections with an overly energetic colleague, Amy (Lucy Punch).  When Elizabeth also finds herself fighting off the advances of a sarcastic, irreverent gym teacher (Jason Segel), the consequences of her wild and outrageous schemes give her students, her coworkers, and even herself an education like no other.

30 MINUTES OR LESS (Opens August 12th)

In the action-comedy 30 Minutes or Less, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a small town pizza delivery guy whose mundane life collides with the big plans of two wanna-be criminal masterminds (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson).  The volatile duo kidnaps Nick and forces him to rob a bank.  With mere hours to pull off the impossible task, Nick enlists the help of his ex-best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari).  As the clock ticks, the two must deal with the police, hired assassins, flamethrowers, and their own tumultuous relationship.

ANONYMOUS (Opens September 30th)

Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds ranging from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens to Henry James and Sigmund Freud, namely:  who was the author of the plays credited to William Shakespeare?  Experts have debated, books have been written, and scholars have devoted their lives to protecting or debunking theories surrounding the authorship of the most renowned works in English literature.  Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when cloak-and-dagger political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles hungry for the power of the throne were exposed in the most unlikely of places: the London stage.

http://collider.com/30-minutes-or-less-movie-image-anonymous-movie-image-bad-teacher-movie-image/68270/

Sam Rockwell Joins Andrew Dominik’s COGAN’S TRADE Starring Brad Pitt

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 5th, 2011

We previously reported that Sam Rockwell may be joining Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of the crime novel Cogan’s Trade.  Deadline is now confirming that Rockwell is on board and will join Brad Pitt in the film.  With Casey Affleck also rumored to be joining the project, it looks like Dominik is getting his Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Ford gang back together.  Someone should call up Jeremy Renner, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Schneider, and the rest of that film’s stellar cast to see if they want to get in on this action.

Hopefully, the other names rumored along with Rockwell will also come on board.  A movie directed by Dominik that starred Pitt, Rockwell, Affleck, as well as Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo, Bill Murray, Josh Brolin, and Zoe Saldana and has the plot of Cogan’s Trade would be at the top of my must-see list.  Then again, it’s already near the top with Pitt and Rockwell.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the book.

Here’s the synopsis for George V. Higgins’ Cogan’s Trade:

[Cogan's Trade] tracks Jackie Cogan’s career in a gangland version of law and order. For Cogan is an enforcer; and when the Mob’s rules get broken, he gets hired to ply his trade — murder. In the gritty, tough-talking pages of Higgins’s 1974 national best-seller, Cogan is called in when a high-stake card game under the protection of the Mob is heisted. Expertly, with a ruthless businessman’s efficiency, a shrewd sense of other people’s weaknesses, and a style as cold as his stare, Cogan moves with reliable precision to restore the status quo as ill-conceived capers and double-dealing shenanigans erupt into high-voltage violence. [Amazon]

http://collider.com/sam-rockwell-cogans-trade/68258/

***Universal Considers Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen for Roland Deschain in THE DARK TOWER ***Brad Pitt Confirmed for Andrew Dominik’s COGAN’S TRADE

Universal Considers Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen for Roland Deschain in THE DARK TOWER

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: December 30th, 2010

By virtue of ambition, Universal’s undertaking to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower novels ought to be fun to track through the development process.  Ron Howard is signed to direct the first film of a planned trilogy.  The intent is to fill the gap between each film with the season of  Dark Tower on television.

The Hollywood agencies are understandably doing everything they can to get their clients in a room with the producers of such a hot property.  The studio has reportedly narrowed down the list of actors to play Roland Deschain, the main character from the books.  At the moment Javier Bardem is the leading candidate; Viggo Mortensen is a “close second.”  More after the jump:

The New York Post suggests that the same cast will be used for all three films and the television series, which should be viable for at least the secondary players.  But there may be some wiggle room with the lead.  The Post repeats what they’ve been hearing about the narrative structure of the project:

According to reports, they plan to start with an epic movie, then continue the story with the TV series, followed by a second film, and then a second TV season showing gunslinger Deschain as a young man. Then, the third movie will end the saga with Deschain as an older man.

So the A-lister who eventually signs on to play Roland probably wouldn’t be involved with the second season.  I’m still eager to hear how many episodes they’re thinking about for each season, to get a better sense of just how grueling the Dark Tower schedule will be.

In the novels, King compares Roland to the ponchoed Clint Eastwood from the Man with No Name series, which is evident from the illustrations on the various book covers.  Bardem and (to a very slightly lesser extent) Mortensen both seem like a great fit for a very masculine character.  I sign off on either choice.

The first Dark Tower film is scheduled to hit theaters on May 17, 2013.  Here’s a brief character description for Roland Deschain:

At the start of the story, Roland is in his 40s, but is physically in his 50s at the end of The Gunslinger, when his age is arrested as he slumbers for centuries. Most of his hair is gray or white, but some remains black. His facial features are described as rough (although Susannah once compared them to that of a tired poet), and he has light blue eyes, often referred to by characters and Stephen King as “bombardier’s eyes.” Roland lost his right big toe and his right index and middle fingers, which is problematic as he is right-handed in everything other than shooting. He is a strong and disciplined man, capable of working through injuries and illnesses that would have killed or incapacitated another man. Roland is also unusually tall; at 14, he stood taller than the 16-year-old Susan, and, as an adult, his height exceeds that of his father…

Emotionally, Roland at times appears detached or unsympathetic, often reacting uncaring or angry at signs of cowardice or self-pity, yet he possess a strong sense of heroism, often attempting to help those in need. He is shown to be mentally scarred from the deaths of all his friends and family, often thinking about their words and actions, and he is said (on more than one occasion by himself) that he greatly lacks imagination. He also describes himself as “not very good in thinking around corners”, meaning he has a very practical character, never really seeking other meanings or intentions behind what he sees, although he is very perceptive and intelligent. Cuthbert, Roland’s best friend in his childhood, once said the gears in Roland’s head turn slow, but grind extremely well. Roland is not very patient, especially when he is under stress, and often makes a rotating gesture with his hand, which means ‘go on, hurry, move on’ in conversations. Similarly, he prefers not to over-plan his actions, trusting greatly in his instinct and skill at improvising according to the situation. He is also shown not to have a great sense of humor: though he knows a lot of riddles he rarely jokes and is visibly irritated at times when Eddie (and in the past, Cuthbert) joke around. Roland is not one for small talk. [Wikipedia]

And here is the synopsis for the series:

In the story, Roland Deschain is the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers and the last of the line of “Arthur Eld”, his world’s analogue of King Arthur. The world he lives in is quite different from our own, yet it bears striking similarities to it. Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West but is also magical. While the magical aspects are largely gone from Mid-World, some vestiges of them remain, along with the relics of a highly advanced, but long vanished, society. Roland’s quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be the nexus of all universes. Roland’s world is said to have “moved on”, and indeed it appears to be coming apart at the seams as mighty nations have been torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish without a trace and time does not flow in an orderly fashion. Even the Sun sometimes rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland’s motives, goals and age are unclear, though later installments shed light on these mysteries. [Wikipedia]

http://collider.com/dark-tower-javier-bardem-viggo-mortensen/67410/

Brad Pitt Confirmed for Andrew Dominik’s COGAN’S TRADE

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 30th, 2010

Last month, we told you that The Assassination of Jesse James director Andrew Dominik was looking to reteam with a few of the actors from that film for his next feature, Cogan’s Trade. Well, it looks like at least one of the James gang will for sure be reuniting with Dominik: Brad Pitt. Pitt is set to star in the titular role of Jackie Cogan in the adaptation of the George V. Higgins novel.

Cogan’s Trade tells the story of an enforcer, Cogan, who is hired by the mob to investigate a high stakes poker heist. Other names mentioned to possibly join Pitt in the film include Jesse James co-stars Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell, as well as Bill Murray, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana. Hit the jump to read a synopsis of the novel.

The Assassination of Jesse James is criminally underrated, and was absolutely one of my favorite films of 2007. The thought of Dominik teaming up with Pitt again, especially if even half of the rumored cast signs on, is very good news. Scene [via /Film] reports that filming is expected to start on the flick in the New Orleans area in March.

Here’s the synopsis of Cogan’s Trade by George V. Higgins

[Cogan's Trade] tracks Jackie Cogan’s career in a gangland version of law and order. For Cogan is an enforcer; and when the Mob’s rules get broken, he gets hired to ply his trade — murder. In the gritty, tough-talking pages of Higgins’s 1974 national best-seller, Cogan is called in when a high-stake card game under the protection of the Mob is heisted. Expertly, with a ruthless businessman’s efficiency, a shrewd sense of other people’s weaknesses, and a style as cold as his stare, Cogan moves with reliable precision to restore the status quo as ill-conceived capers and double-dealing shenanigans erupt into high-voltage violence. [Amazon]

http://collider.com/brad-pitt-cogans-trade/67386/