Al Pacino confirmed for The Irishman

Al Pacino and Joe Pesci will join Robert De Niro in crime drama The Irishman.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, Irishman will be De Niro’s ninth time working with the legendary auteur, and finds the actor playing renowned Mafia hitman Frank ‘The Irishman’ Sheeran.

Both Pacino and Pesci were rumoured to be involved, but De Niro confirmed it once and for all during an interview with MTV.

“We do have the one that we’re definitely doing,” he told them. “Me, Joe Pesci, Pacino and Marty Scorsese directing.”

We wonder if Scorsese will be looking to enlist Sharon Stone as well, considering she also worked with Pesci and De Niro on their last film together, 1995’ Casino…

Source: MTV

 

Limitless trailer debuts

The first trailer for Bradley Cooper’s trippy, druggy drama Limitless, previously titled The Dark Fields, has debuted online.

Following the life and times of a down-and-out writer with a serious case of the block, Cooper’s latest sees the bumming wannabe author offered a life-changing drug that could, well, change his life.

When a new pill is popped, it opens the brain up, allowing the taker to use his or her entire brain - and not just the usual 20%.

Soon, Cooper’s writer is having the time of his life, both working and playing hard. But is it all as good as it seems?

Check out the trailer below…

Wait, a glossy Hollywood film that advocates drug-taking as an acceptable – nay, beneficial – way of living your life?

Naturally, there are consequences, which should give Cooper the opportunity to prove he’s more than just a comedy joker or an action beefcake. The ratty wig certainly convinces.

Most exciting, he’ll be sharing scenes with one Robert De Niro – which should ensure that even if the premise is a little bit déjà vu, there should be some powerhouse acting on display.

Limitless opens on 18 March, 2011.

Robert Pattinson's Water for Elephants get a trailer

The trailer for Robert Pattinson's latest movie, Water for Elephants, has arrived online.

The film sees the Twilight star playing Jacob Jankowski, a veterinary student who packs it all in and runs away to the circus when his parents are killed in a car accident.

There he meets and falls for performer Marlena (Reese Witherspoon, who wears the leotard, and the period look, well). Her husband August (a flamboyant Christoph Waltz) could be a problem though.

The whole story is told from the perspective of an elderly Jankowski (Hal Holbrook), and the circus scenes appear to be very visually impressive.

Pattinson doesn't have much dialogue in the trailer, and we don't really get much of a feel for his performance. Could this be the one that helps him to get some recognition as a talented thespian rather that Twihards' man meat?

Water for Elephants is directed by I Am Legend helmer Francis Lawrence, and is set to be released in the UK on 22 April 2011.

Source: /Film

Sacha Baron Cohen interested in Torrente remake

Borat and Bruno star Sacha Baron Cohen is in talks to head up a remake of Spanish film Torrente.

An action-comedy series, the Torrente film franchise already consists of three films, with a fourth in the offing, and is the creation of writer-actor Santiago Segura.

Segura plays Jose Luis Torrente, who font-of-all-knowledge Wikipedia describe as an “ugly, bald, overweight, dirty, corrupt, lying, fascist, racist, chauvinistic and anticommunist retired cop”.

We wonder which one of those adjectives got Cohen interested. The Brit actor has reportedly met with New Line numerous times and is very interested in the role – notably, he wants to keep the remake set in Spain, ala David Fincher’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

The Torrente reboot script is being handled by Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel, who are also writing Cohen’s next film, The Dictator. Cohen is currently filming Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret and is in talks to star in a Freddie Mercury biopic. There is life after Bruno, it seems.

Source: 24 Frames

’20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’

Turns out Jon Favreau is bringing us news this entire week. After announcing yesterday that he’s leaving Iron Man behind and moving on to Magic Kingdom, he also told the LA Times (via /Film) that David Fincher is indeed directing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Disney.

He was rumored for the past few years to be doing another adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel of the same name, and this will likely be his follow-up to the currently-shooting Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; while other projects are lined up, they’ve been “in development” for quite some time, as long as a few years. All that apparently needs to happen next is for Scott Z. Burns’ script to be finished and deemed ready to shoot, and then production will begin.

Not much else to say except that like most people, I’m a huge fan of most of the man’s work, and right now I consider his latest movie The Social Network to be the best I’ve seen so far this year. So if he wants to do an adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, why not? He’s produced enough work where he should be able to do whatever he wants, and where we give him a chance to do something great with it. And, really, there’s no reason to assume he won’t do so here.

‘Beaver’ Opens Wide On April 8th 2011

One of our most highly anticipated films of next year is Jodie Foster‘s The Beaver, starring the Mel Gibson. Coming from the #1 Black List script, the film had a vague spring 2011 release, and now we have an exact date.

Summit Entertainment has just announced a March 23rd limited run and a April 8th wide expansion for the film. The drama also stars Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, and Cherry Jones. It’s kind of surprising it won’t make a Sundance premiere with that date.

Synopsis: Two-time Academy Award(R) winner Jodie Foster directs and co-stars with two-time Academy Award(R) winner Mel Gibson in THE BEAVER – an emotional story about a man on a journey to re-discover his family and re-start his life. Plagued by his own demons, Walter Black was once a successful toy executive and family man who now suffers from depression. No matter what he tries, Walter can’t seem to get himself back on track…until a beaver hand puppet enters his life.

Firestarter remake being prepped

A new version of Stephen King horror Firestarter is in the works over at Universal Pictures.

The studio are pairing up with Dino De Laurentiis Co. in order to reinvigorate the concept into a “franchise property”, with advances in visual effects and the plot’s timelessness apparently key in getting the reboot into production.

King’s 1980 novel was first adapted into a film starring a mini Drew Barrymore in 1984. Barrymore played Charlie McGee, who a government agency are after thanks to her special pyrokinetic powers.

Vacancy scribe Mark L. Smith is polishing the script as we speak, and should be meeting potential directors at some point next year.

Smith’s reboot is apparently going to update McGee, affording her “more edge”. Edgier than a girl with the ability to start fires using just the power of her mind?

Source: Variety

Eminem new boxing drama Southpaw

Eminem has signed on to star as a welterweight boxer in drama Southpaw.

Being set up by Sons Of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, the film will be Eminem’s (aka Marshall Mathers) first since 2002’s more than decent 8 Mile.

In Southpaw, the rapper-turned-actor’s character works his way to the welterweight boxing title, only for tragedy to tear his world apart.

The film is the result of seven years’ worth of searching on both Eminem and Sutter's part; the pair spent much of the Noughties looking for the right project to take on together. Sutter tells Deadline:

“I know he’s very selective and doesn’t do a lot. But he shared so much of his personal struggle in this raw and very honest album, one that I connected with on a lot of levels.

“He is very interested in the boxing genre, and it seemed like an apt metaphor, because his own life has been a brawl.”

After Eminem’s stellar turn in 8 Mile, we’re definitely interested to see what he will do with Southpaw.

Source: Deadline

 

The 68th Golden Globe Awards

The nominations for the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards have been announced.


The awards are voted for by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which has only 90 members (compared to the Academy's 6000+ members), so some strange decisions often end up slipping through.


Best Picture: Drama


Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network


Best Picture: Comedy or Musical


Alice in Wonderland

Burlesque

The Kids Are Alright
Red

The Tourist


Best Director


Darren Aronosfsky (Black Swan)
David Fincher (The Social Network
)
Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
Christopher Nolan (Inception
)
David O. Russell (The Fighter)


Best Actor: Drama


Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network
)
Colin Firth (The King’s Speech
)
James Franco (127 Hours
)
Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine)
Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter)


Best Actress: Drama


Halle Berry (Frankie and Alice)
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole
)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan
)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)


Best Actress: Comedy or Musical


Anette Benning (The Kids Are Alright
)
Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs)

Angelina Jolie (The Tourist
)
Julianne Moore (The Kids Are Alright
)
Emma Stone (Easy A)


Best Actor: Comedy or Musical


Johnny Depp (Alice in Wonderland)
Johnny Depp (The Tourist
)
Paul Giamatti (Barney’s Version)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs)
Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack)


Best Supporting Actress


Amy Adams (The Fighter
)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech
)
Mila Kunis (Black Swan
)
Melissa Leo (The Fighter
)
Jackie Weaver (Animal Kingdom)


Best Supporting Actor


Christian Bale (The Fighter
)
Michael Douglas (Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
)
Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
Jeremy Renner (The Town
)
Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)


Best Foreign Language Film


Biutiful

The Concert
The Edge
I Am Love
In a Better World


Best Screenplay


Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (127 Hours
)
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg (The Kids Are All Right
)
Christopher Nolan (Inception
)
David Seidler (The King’s Speech)
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)


Best Original Score


Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech)
Danny Elfman (Alice in Wonderland
)
A.R. Rahman (127 Hours
)
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network
)
Hans Zimmer (Inception)


Best Animated Film


Despicable Me

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Tangled

Toy Story 3


Best Original Song


“Bound To You” (Burlesque)
“Coming Home” (Country Strong)
“I See The Light” (Tangled)
“There’s a Place For Us” (The Chronicles of Narnia)
“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me”  (Burlesque)


Source: /Film

Angelina Jolie shoots down Catwoman rumours

Angelina Jolie has broken the hearts of a thousand comic book fans by confirming that she’s not been approached to play Catwoman in Chris Nolan’s trilogy-capper The Dark Knight Rises.

While out and about promoting new film The Tourist, Jolie told MTV: “I haven't heard anything about it, but I thought they did it.”

By ‘it’ she’s either referring to Michelle Pfeiffer’s stellar turn in Batman Returns, or Halle Berry’s, uh, less celebrated solo outing, Catwoman.

When told she would be perfect for the role, Jolie played coy: “I see. Thank you. Flattering.”

Is she just keeping schtum at the behest of Chris Nolan? Or is Jolie really not interested in starring in another comic book adap? Let the Dark Knight Rises rumours roll on…

Source: MTV

If Catwoman appears in Dark Knight Rises, who do you think should play her? Debate below...

First Fast Five image arrives

The first image from Fast & Furious sequel Fast Five has cropped up online.
Featuring Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson in what looks like a very terse exchange, it’s about as beefy as an army of McDonalds quarter pounders. And then some.

The fourth sequel in the high-powered franchise is set to reunite the stars of every Furious film thus far for a cross-country action movie.

The basics: Paul Walker’s ex-cop Brian has busted Vin Diesel’s Dom out of jail. Johnson’s federal agent isn’t happy, and goes after them. Stuff blows up.

 

Witherspoon rules out superhero movies

Films like 'Iron Man', 'Spider-Man' and the 'Batman' series have become box office smashes in Hollywood - and several other superhero properties are being turned into movies.

However, the Oscar winning actress has insisted that she has no plans to appear in a superhero movie.
She said, "The movies that are being made feel different. There are a lot of really, really, really big movies about robots and things - and there's not a part for a 34-year-old woman in a robot movie.
"I've never done the superhero movie. That doesn't interest me too much."

While the popularity of big epic blockbusters has meant finding the films she wants to be in hard to come by, she isn't complaining.

She added, "I also have kids, so when I'm not working, it's not like I'm sitting around doing nothing. I'm taking care of two kids who are rapidly growing up in some bizarre time warp. I mean, somehow I now have an 11 year old!"

Is Anne Hathaway The New Barbarella?

Word is circling that actress Anne Hathaway may be onboard to star in the remake of the 1968 cult film ‘Barbarella’, which starred Jane Fonda as an interstellar bombshell.

Anne Hathaway, like Natalie Portman, seems to be connected to virtually every other upcoming Hollywood production that features a prominent female protagonist. Now this year’s Oscar co-host is rumored to be onboard for the long-gestating remake of the cult campfest, Barbarella.

Assuming there is even an inkling of truth to this rumor, Hathaway would undoubtedly tackle the role of the exquisite 41st century space agent Barbarella – a role made famous by former anti-war activist-turned aerobics instructor/writer/actress Jane Fonda back in 1968.

News of Hathaway’s involvement with the Barbarella remake should definitely be taken with a healthy dose of salt, since even the source of the rumor,  Pajiba, describes her as being “attached” to the project, which is currently without a director. Robert Rodriguez and actress

 Rose McGowan were fresh off their on and off-set Grindhouse collaboration (sorry, bad pun not intended) back in 2007 when reports had them pegged as tackling the Barbarella remake. However, that never amounted to anything more than talk.

Robert Luketic (Killers) was at one point up for helming the Barbarella remake, but it seems he is out of the picture as well. There’s not really any single director currently working who immediately jumps to mind as an excellent fit for handling this material – unless it turns out that Uwe Boll has an evil doppelgänger (i.e. someone who’s actually a classy and a talented filmmaker), in which case we say, let him have it.

The original Barbarella is a pretty silly but fun flick full of sci-fi action involving ray guns, “psychedelic” spaceships, goofy aliens armed with whip-like appendages, and a herione that likes to wear outfits that make her look like a James Bond girl of the future. It’s an undeniably hokey film, but it’s that very quality that has earned the 1968 pic a cult following for over four decades.

Hathaway can easily bring the right mix of charming personality, voluptuous looks, and that slight air of self-aware humor to the lead role of Barbarella, if she does indeed sign on for the project. Is there another actress you’d like to see take on the part instead?

Source:  Pajiba

Michael Lang Named Miramax CEO

Miramax today announced that Michael Lang has been appointed chief executive officer, effective immediately.  Lang will be based at the new Miramax headquarters in Santa Monica and will oversee the renowned Miramax film , which was acquired by Filmyard Holdings on December 3, 2010.

“I have known and worked closely with Mike for almost 20 years and have always respected his talents,” said Richard Nanula, chairman of Miramax and a principal at Colony Capital.  “We are confident that he is the right person to lead Miramax in its next phase of growth.”

“I have always admired the Miramax library, which includes many respected titles and award-winning films,” said Lang.  “Based on the quality of these assets, I believe bringing new life to this library — by working with traditional and new partners – will be an exciting and unprecedented story of growth and innovation.  I am honored by this , and I look forward to working with my partners as we build a new kind of media company.”

Lang, 45, most recently served as a consultant to Filmyard in its acquisition of Miramax.  Prior to that, he was EVP, Business Development and Strategy at Fox Entertainment, responsible for strategic initiatives across News Corp’s entertainment assets, including Fox’s film, broadcast network, sports and cable channels.  Lang played key roles in the acquisition of MySpace and the formation of the MySpace Music joint venture, and he led the creation of Hulu, with major broadcast partners.  In addition, Lang was involved in Fox’s mobile, digital and video game initiatives.  He joined Fox in 2004.

Prior to Fox, Lang served as a consultant on media-related investments.  In the late ’90s, he was a founding executive of Z.com.  Lang began his career at The Walt Disney Company in Strategic Planning.  Lang earned his MBA with high distinction at Harvard Busines and he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Claremont McKenna .

About Miramax

The Miramax library is a collection of 700 motion  which were produced, financed or distributed by Miramax Films since 1979.  The Miramax library holds some of the world’s most sophisticated, thought-provoking and critically-acclaimed independent films including , lies, and videotape, The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, Reservoir Dogs, Chicago, Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, My Left Foot, Cinema Paradiso, Life is Beautiful, Amélie, Kill Bill, Volume I and II, No  for Old Men, as well as scores of commercially successful films such as Bridget Jones’s Diary, the Scream, Hellraiser and Scary Movie franchises and Spy Kids. Collectively the Miramax archives have received 284 Academy Award nominations and 68 Oscars, including 4 Best Picture Awards.

The man seems enthusiastic about Miramax and it's library of great films including those listed above along with films like Sling Blade, Halloween H20 and many others. I love Miramax films and am particularly excited about them being out from under Disney's control and under the control of someone who seems to be as much of a fan of the films as I am.

James McAvoy up for for Pride and Prejudice

The screen adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has seen a fair few names come and go throughout its short gestation period.

Collider have picked up on some casting news from Pajiba, stating that Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy are being considered for the lead roles of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy.

Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper's names, among others, had previously been linked to the roles, and it's unclear whether Hathaway and McAvoy have actually ousted them or simply been added to the list.

They'd make for an interesting choice. Considering the novel's irreverent, ironic take on the material, it'd add a bit of extra-textual fun if it featured the stars of Becoming Jane.

Both convinced in that movie, which drew on the similarities between Austen's own love life and the romances she scribed. They've proven their screen chemistry, and shown they could play it straight if that's what is required for Zombies.

Mike White is directing the adaptation (he replaced David O. Russell) and Natalie Portman is still producing (though she's no longer starring, as was originally the case).