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.
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.
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.
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.
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March 8, 2011
