Mel Gibson in Talks for SLEIGHT OF HAND
by Brendan Bettinger Posted: May 17th, 2011 at 10:32 pm
Mel Gibson is in talks to star opposite Kiefer Sutherland, Gerard Depardieu, and Thomas Jane in the heist comedy Sleight of Hand. According to Variety, the story centers on “a bunch of bungling burglars in Paris who inadvertently steal a rare gold coin belonging to a gangster.” Til Schweiger, Johnny Hallyday, Jon Lovitz, and Eric Cantona also star. The initial announcement at the Cannes Film Festival indicates Sleight of Hand will be shot entirely in Paris from July to September. Brad Mirman (The Confession) will direct from his own script.
It’s hard not to think of every news item involving Gibson as a step in his public image rehabilitation, but I have nothing insightful to say about this possibility. Everyone loves a good heist film, especially if you let the crew loose in Paris. I like that the cast skews a bit older, and Gibson seems like a fine fit in however big a role he plays. (See, banal.)
Gibson has How I Spent My Summer Vacation in the can, but the action movie is still in search of distributor for a domestic release. (The rights to most international territories sold quickly.) Read the official synopsis for Sleight of Hand after the jump.
http://collider.com/mel-gibson-sleight-of-hand/91497/
Peter Berg’s Adaptation of LONE SURVIVOR Is a Go at Universal; Taylor Kitsch in Talks to Play Navy Seal
by Brendan Bettinger Posted: May 17th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Peter Berg has been attached to direct an adaptation of Lone Survivor, the autobiography of Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell, since 2007. Berg bonded with Luttrell during the making of The Kingdom, and penned the adaptation after spending a month with a Navy Seal unit. The idea was to make Lone Survivor his next film, but desert war films (including The Kingdom) were tough sells to moviegoers, and thus to studios. Universal made a deal with Berg: “You direct Battleship, we’ll fund Lone Survivor.” Flash forward a few years — Berg is in post-production on Battleship, and the Navy elite are en vogue following the triumphant and cinematic assassination of Osama Bin Laden by “Seal Team 6.” Disney and Kathryn Bigelow appear to have first dibs on that particular story, but Luttrell’s tale covers the same subject matter with comparable heroism. Luttrell was one of four Seals on a Bin Laden-related reconnaissance mission to a Taliban stronghold — only Luttrell made it back alive.
Lone Survivor is up and running again at Universal; with a script ready, Berg and the studio are targeting a January start date for production. Berg reached out to Battleship star Taylor Kitsch to play one of the Seals; he will continue to meet with other actors to fill out the foursome in the coming weeks.
Hit the jump for quotes from Berg on his approach to Luttrell’s story and a tongue-in-cheek response to the Battleship backlash.
http://collider.com/peter-berg-taylor-kitsch-lone-survivor/91457/
Oscar Isaac Joins Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis in STILL I RISE
by Brendan Bettinger Posted: May 17th, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Oscar Isaac (Sucker Punch) has signed on to play the male lead in Still I Rise. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis star as “two frustrated mothers who team up to transform an inner-city public school.” Variety says Isaac will play a “sexy, ukulele-playing teacher” (is there any other kind of ukulele-playing teacher?) who romances and inspires Gyllenhaal’s character. Director Daniel Barnz (Beastly) is now polishing a rewrite of the original Brin Hill screenplay. Production on the Walden Media/Fox collaboration begins next week in Pittsburgh.
Isaac will next be seen among the impressive likes of Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Bryan Cranston in Drive when the movie opens September 16. Later in the year, Isaac will appear as one of the high school reunionites in the ensemble drama Ten Year; the role features a performance of a song Isaac wrote exclusively for the film. (Prior to his acting career, Isaac was the lead singer and guitarist for The Blinking Underdogs.) Finally, Isaac has a role in W.E., the romantic drama co-written and directed by Madonna.
http://collider.com/oscar-isaac-still-i-rise/91449/
Showing posts with label Viola Davis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Viola Davis. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
***Oscar Isaac Joins Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis in STILL I RISE ***Mel Gibson in Talks for SLEIGHT OF HAND ***Peter Berg’s Adaptation of LONE SURVIVOR Is a Go at Universal; Taylor Kitsch in Talks to Play Navy Seal
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
**New Trailer for REAL STEEL Starring Hugh Jackman **Nicole Kidman in Talks to Star in SPECTRE for Director James Wan **Al Pacino Joins Barry Levinson’s GOTTI: THREE GENERATIONS **Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis to Star in Education Drama STILL I RISE
Al Pacino Joins Barry Levinson’s GOTTI: THREE GENERATIONS
by Matt Goldberg Posted: May 10th, 2011
Every time Al Pacino tries to escape the mob genre, they pull him back in. THR reports that the loud actor will reunite with his You Don’t Know Jack director Barry Levinson for Gotti: Three Generations. Pacino will play Gambino crime family underboss Neil Dellacroce, an associate and mentor to Gotti Sr. (John Travolta). The cast also includes Kelly Preston as Gotti Sr.’s wife Victoria, Ella Bleu Travolta as Gotti Sr. and Victoria’s daughter Angel, Joe Pesci as Gotti Sr.’s associate Angelo Ruggiero, and Lindsay Lohan as John Gotti Jr.’s wife Kim. Despite the cast and the director, I can’t shake the feeling that this movie is going straight to DVD, or, at best, will straight to HBO.
The remaining key roles to be cast are John Gotti Jr. and his sister Victoria. James Toback (Bugsy) has been hired to revise Leo Rossi’s original script.
Nicole Kidman in Talks to Star in SPECTRE for Director James Wan
by Matt Goldberg Posted: May 10th, 2011
As the Cannes Film Festival ramps up, expect plenty of deal-making news regarding casting, director hires, and distribution as producers find the cash to hire actors and directors, and get studios on board to finance and distribute their movies. For example, IM Global has announced it will shop nine movies to buyers at the festival including the supernatural thriller Spectre from director James Wan (Insidious). Variety reports that Nicole Kidman is in talks to star in the film.
Kidman is also circling the drama Our Wild Life and earlier this year she signed on to star opposite Colin Firth in Chan-wook Park’s Stoker. Kidman will next be seen alongside Nicolas Cage in Joel Schumacher’s Trespass.
New Trailer for REAL STEEL Starring Hugh Jackman
by Matt Goldberg Posted: May 10th, 2011
DreamWorks has released a new trailer for Shawn Levy’s Real Steel. The film stars Hugh Jackman as a washed-up boxer who reconnects with his estranged son (Dakota Goyo, who played Lil’ Thor in Thor) as they build and train a fighting robot to fight in the World Robot Boxing championship. I’m trying to cast aside cynicism on this project, but I can’t get past Levy. His films tend to be lowest common denominator family fare and judging by this trailer, it doesn’t look like Real Steel is going to break that trend. It looks too saccharine to be fun and too silly to be taken seriously. Hopefully I’m wrong and I’ll finally like one of the guy’s films because he’s certainly not going away anytime soon. It’s worth mentioning that Steven Spielberg was heavily involved in the project and fought to keep the project at DreamWorks when the studio broke away from Paramount.
Hit the jump to check out the trailer. Click here to check out Steve’s visit to the editing bay. He thinks the film is going to be good. Based on what I’ve seen (and granted, he’s seen more of the movie than I have), I beg to differ. Real Steel also stars Anthony Mackie, Hope Davis, Kevin Durand, and Evangeline Lilly. The film opens October 7th.
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis to Star in Education Drama STILL I RISE
by Matt Goldberg Posted: May 10th, 2011
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis will star in the topical drama Still I Rise. Directed by Daniel Barnz (Beastly), the actresses will play a pair of mothers who join forces to reform an inner-city public school. According to Deadline, “the film takes aim at the crisis of public education in America.” So is it going to attack the evils of standardized testing? That there aren’t enough teachers and class sizes are swelling to where no student can get the attention they deserve? Or will it be an attack on the abysmal pay for teachers? I’m guessing “None of the Above”. I’m betting that it will be an attempt to root out the “bad” teachers and a nice update to the school’s facilities.
Gyllenhaal and Davis are both great actresses and I hope they’ve signed onto a project that examines the complexity of our education problem rather than trying to uphold some quick, ineffective fixes. And if not, perhaps they can do a film where the military’s budget accidentally goes to education.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
***Casting Call: Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright Join EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE; Mark Ruffalo Considers THANKS FOR SHARING
Casting Call: Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright Join EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE; Mark Ruffalo Considers THANKS FOR SHARING
by Adam Chitwood Posted: January 21st, 2011
A couple of casting stories for you this morning. Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright have joined the ever-growing cast of director Stephen Daldry’s (The Reader) adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. We recently announced the addition of John Goodman to a cast that is toplined by Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks, with Jeopardy wiz-kid Thomas Horn set to star as nine-year-old Oskar Schnell. Daldry directs from a script by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump). The story follows Schnell on his quest to find the lock that belongs to a mysterious key that his father left behind when he perished in the 9/11 attacks. Featuring multiple narrators and heartbreak at every turn, the novel was a bestseller and the film adaptation is sure to be Oscar bait come February 2012.
Baz Bamigboye’s report (via The Playlist) doesn’t specify what roles Davis and Wright will take on, though it’s feasible to think that they could be portraying two of the many tenants of Manhattan that Schnell runs into on his year-long quest. Hit the jump to hear about Mark Ruffalo re-teaming with The Kids are All Right-scribe Stuart Blumberg for Thanks for Sharing.
While Mark Ruffalo is gearing up to begin shooting Joss Whedon’s The Avengers as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, he’s also looking ahead to other projects. The actor is currently in talks to take on one of three lead roles in The Kids Are All Right co-writer Stuart Blumberg’s Thanks for Sharing. Baz Bamigboy reports (via The Playlist) that the story focuses on three sex-addicts who attend a recovery clinic together. No other news is given other than the fact that Blumberg is writing the script, but a “dramedy”-like take (a la The Kids are All Right) on sex-addicts seems like a role that Ruffalo would knock out of the park.
