Catherine Keener

Catherine Keener to Star in HBO Comedy Series Written and Directed by Charlie Kaufman

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: May 21st, 2012 at 7:52 pm

HBO’s current comedy roster is stacked with some of the best writers in the business: Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Lena Dunham/Judd Apatow (Girls), Armando Iannucci (Veep), Mike White (Enlightened).  If you count the hourlong The Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin seemed like the apex in terms of pure writers.  Yet HBO has outdone themselves, entering into development on a half-hour comedy series with Charlie Kaufman.  Even better, frequent collaborator Catherine Keener is set to star and produce alongside Kaufman.  The untitled series is described as “an exploration of one day in a woman’s life and how the events leading up to it can affect, or not, the reality in which she lives.”  What?  More after the jump.

Casting Call: Catherine Keener Joins Tom Hanks in CAPTAIN PHILLIPS; Sharon Stone Set for Tony Kaye’s ATTACHMENT

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 2nd, 2012 at 2:03 pm

We’ve got a couple of casting stories for you this afternoon. First up, Catherine Keener is set to join Tom Hanks in the Somali pirate pic Captain Phillips. Hanks stars as real-life ship captain Richard Phillips who allowed himself to be taken hostage by Somali pirates in exchange for the safety of his crew. Variety reports that Keener will play Phillips’ wife Andrea. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, Phillips’ story could easily turn into a Movie of the Week cheese-fest, but The Bourne Ultimatum and United 93 director Paul Greengrass is at the helm which makes me very, very happy. Furthermore, the team from The Social Network (Scott Rudin, Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti, and Kevin Spacey) is onboard to produce. Greengrass will direct from a script by Billy Ray (Shattered Glass), based on Phillips’ memoir.

Hit the jump for casting news regarding Sharon Stone in Tony Kaye’s (American History X) thriller Attachment. Captain Phillips opens March 22nd, 2013.

Kate Winslet and Catherine Keener Join Charlie Kaufman’s FRANK OR FRANCIS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 26th, 2012 at 10:08 am

Charlie Kaufman’s new film Frank or Francis is shaping up to be one of the most incredibly strange/amazing moviegoing experiences of recent years, and the Adaptation. scribe has tapped two Academy Award nominees to join the cast. The plot concerns a director (Steve Carell) who becomes obsessed with a message board commenter (Jack Black) trashing his movies on a Hollywood website. Nicolas Cage stars as a washed-up actor and Kevin Kline plays dual roles as the director of the highest grossing film of all time and an animatronic head that helps create a machine that develops a completely inoffensive product with the broadest possible appeal. Oh, and it’s a musical.

Now Vulture reports that Kate Winslet and Catherine Keener are poised to join the impressive cast. Winslet and Keener are no stranger to Kaufman scripts, as they starred in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich, respectively. Kaufman is directing his own script with Frank or Francis, and I absolutely cannot wait to see the finished product.

TRUST Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 1st, 2011 at 9:05 am

Cautionary tales make for poor stories.  They prey on our fears rather than explore them and we can’t do much afterwards other than say, “Yep.  I probably shouldn’t sleep with danger.”  Instead, the richer drama comes from the characters who find their way into such a tale and discover the real emotions rather than just hold up warning signs.  Trust is at its best when director David Schwimmer gives his film over to his wonderful lead actors and lets them play out the genuine heartbreak and anger that occurs when tragedy strikes.  Unfortunately, Schwimmer never seems to believe in his story enough to let the performances carry the day and instead resorts to cheap tricks and unnecessary hand holding which turns the film from a powerful family drama into an episode of To Catch a Predator.

Trailer for TRUST Starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 8th, 2011 at 2:21 pm

The domestic trailer for Trust has gone online.  It’s better than the promo trailer for the film since it moves away from the revenge-thriller angle and sets up the movie more as an emotional family drama.  Unfortunately, it still feels a bit too much like a Dateline piece and at any moment Chris Hansen might come in and ask someone to take a seat.  I’m holding out hope for the flick even though it received a lukewarm response when it played at the Toronto Film Festival.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Trust stars Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Liana Liberato, Jason Clarke, and Viola Davis.  It opens April 1st.

John Malkovich and Catherine Keener Ask WHAT’S THIS S%^@ CALLED LOVE?

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 31st, 2011 at 9:08 pm

Director Jesse Peretz  met the high expectations that awaited his My Idiot Brother at Sundance, and is already hard at work on his next film, What’s This S%^@ Called Love?.  The cast of S%^@ may even rival the impressive My Idiot Brother ensemble, as John Malkovich and Catherine Keener are in talks to star.  Fans of the truly bizarre may recall that Keener and Malkovich last appeared together on screen in 1999′s Being John Malkovich.

Peretz’s script is set in the era and town in which he was raised: 1980s Cambridge, Massachusetts.  According to 24 Frames, the plot centers on a teenage boy who is on the verge of coming out: “His ultra-progressive family actually wants to celebrate the boy’s newfound sexuality, while all the boy wants is to be left alone.”  Sounds a bit precious, but Keener specializes in selling me on this kind of emotional comedy.

Tim Perell (Last Chance Harvey) will produce What’s This S%^@ Called Love?, which I can only hope is a tentative title.  The Weinstein Company picked up My Idiot Brother for a November 25 release.

New Release Dates for BEASTLY and TRUST

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 13th, 2011 at 7:27 pm

Beastly was originally slotted for release last July, but CBS Films pushed it to 2011 so High School Musical fans would not be forced to choose between Beastly‘s Vanessa Hudgens and Charlie St. Cloud‘s Zac Efron.  The studio is moving Beastly once again — this time in the opposite direction.  Led by Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer, Beastly will open two weeks early on March 4th where it faces The Adjustment Bureau, Apollo 18, Rango, and Take Me Home Tonight.

Box Office Mojo reports Millennium Entertainment has scheduled their first release, Trust, for April 1st.  Trust stars Clive Owen and Catherine Keener, and is one of three limited releases to open on the date alongside Super and Rubber.  Hit the jump for synopses of both films.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Jeremy Northam, and Christopher Walken to Star in A LATE QUARTET

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 10th, 2011 at 8:59 am

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Jeremy Northam, and Christopher Walken will star in the indie drama A Late Quartet.  Last August, we reported that Ethan Hawke had joined the project, but it now appears that he has dropped out.  The Playlist previously reported that Hoffman and Keener were on board.  According to the press release, the four actors will play “a world-renowned string quartet struggling to stay together as they mark their 25th anniversary in the face of illness, competing egos and insuppressible lust.”  Imogen Poots (Centurion) and Liraz Charhi (Fair Game) will also star.  Filming is set to begin later this month in New York City.  Yaron Zilberman will make his feature film directing debut from his own script.

Hit the jump to check out the press release.

CYRUS Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: January 4th, 2011 at 5:17 pm

2010 was the year the mumblecore filmmakers and stars began to descend on Hollywood. Or at least it seems that way with the success of filmmakers like the Duplass brothers and Greta Gerwig. Both Gerwig and writer/director/actor Mark Duplass appeared in Greenberg, while Jay and Mark Duplass wrote and directed Cyrus for 20^th Century Fox and Scott Free productions. Perhaps Ridley and Tony Scott appreciated the brothers Duplass working together as a fellow set of brothers. Dunno. In Cyrus, John C. Reilly stars as a single man who at the bottom of his life when he meets Marisa Tomei’s character, an attractive woman who doesn’t seem to have anything wrong with her. At least it seems that way until Reilly meets Cyrus (Jonah Hill), her man-child son who lives at home and seems to be plotting for Tomei and Reilly’s relationship to end. My review of Cyrus on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Alan Cumming Joins James Franco, Claire Danes, and Catherine Keener in MALADIES

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: December 7th, 2010 at 10:27 pm

Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) has signed on to star opposite James Franco, Claire Danes, and Catherine Keener in Maladies.  According to THR, Maladies is the story of “a successful actor who retires at a young age due to what is believed to be a mental illness.” Earlier reports refer to Franco’s character as “a former soap star”;  this role is what initially inspired Franco to guest on General Hospital late last year.

The project is currently filming under the direction of Carter, whom Cumming describes as “the artist that James [Franco] has been collaborating with.” Cumming will next be seen as Sebastian in the Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest, which opens December 10th.

Promo Trailers for TRUST Starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener, and BARNEY’S VERSION Starring Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 2nd, 2010 at 12:38 pm

Promo trailers for David Schwimmer’s Trust and Richard J. Lewis’ Barney’s Version have popped up online.  Both films will be playing at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 9 – 19th.  Trust is an intense-looking drama about parents (Clive Owen and Catherine Keener) dealing with the rape of their 14-year-old daughter.  The trailer is strong stuff (although it seems to verge away from real emotions at times and pushes a revenge-thriller angle that seems phony), but I think people are going to write it off because Schwimmer’s name is attached.  I wonder if he walks down the street and people shout at him, “Hey, Ross!  What’s going on with you and Rachel!” and he’s forced to answer, “We got together at the end of the show when I forced her to choose between me and her career!  And no, Matt Goldberg did not own all ten seasons of Friends at one point in his life!”  (Schwimmer speaks in half-truths.)

I also dig the trailer for the significantly more lighthearted Barney’s Version starring Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Drive, Rachelle Lefevre, and Dustin Hoffman.  It’s got some good jokes, a fun premise, and it looks like Giamatti and Hoffman have great chemistry.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer and synopsis for each film.

The Duplass Brothers Video Interview CYRUS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 10th, 2010 at 10:28 am

Currently playing in limited release is Cyrus.  Written and directed by Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead), the movie centers on John (John C. Reilly), a film editor who’s down on his luck and still emotionally attached to his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener).  John’s prospects take a turn when he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) at a party. However, when her 21 year-old son/housemate Cyrus (Jonah Hill) enters the picture, he becomes an unexpected saboteur of John’s attempts at Molly’s heart.

While you might think making a studio movie with Fox Searchlight might change who The Duplass Brothers are, they stayed indie by filming the movie in order and using a ton of improv.  What they ended up with was a touching, original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  Definitely recommended.

Anyway, I recently got to speak with the brothers and we talked about filming in order, the improv, using the RED camera, what might be on the DVD/Blu-ray, their next film Jeff Who Lives At Home, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Jonah Hill Video Interview CYRUS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 8th, 2010 at 11:09 am

Over the last few days I’ve posted video interviews with the cast of Cyrus (John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei) and in each one I’ve mentioned how well The Duplass Brothers moved into studio filmmaking.  Rather than try to make their movies in a new way, their kept their indie roots by filming Cyrus in order and having the cast do a ton of improvising.  What they ended up with was an original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  It’s definitely recommended.

Anyway, at the press junket I was also able to speak with Jonah Hill and we talked about making Cyrus, Steven Spielberg, how have the last few weeks been as I just spoke to him for Get Him to the Greek, and Hill reminisces about being in The 40-Year Old Virgin with Catherine Keener and how that one scene changed his life.  It’s a great interview.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Marisa Tomei Video Interview CYRUS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 7th, 2010 at 9:44 pm

Currently playing in limited release and expanding into more theaters this week is Cyrus.  Written and directed by Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead), the movie centers on John (John C. Reilly), a film editor who’s down on his luck and still emotionally attached to his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener).  John’s prospects take a turn when he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) at a party. However, when her 21 year-old son/housemate Cyrus (Jonah Hill) enters the picture, he becomes an unexpected saboteur of John’s attempts at Molly’s heart.  While you might think making a studio movie might somehow change who The Duplass Brothers are, they stuck to their indie roots and delivered a touching, original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  Definitely recommended.

Yesterday I posted my video interview with John C. Reilly, and tonight I’ve got Marisa Tomei. During the interview we talked about making Cyrus, what it was like to film the movie in order, and what it was like to do so much improv.  We also talked about working with Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly and a lot more.  Hit the jump to check it out:

John C. Reilly Video Interview CYRUS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 6th, 2010 at 7:35 pm

Currently playing in limited release and expanding into more theaters this week is Cyrus.  Written and directed by Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead), the movie centers on John (John C. Reilly), a film editor who’s down on his luck and still emotionally attached to his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener).  John’s prospects take a turn when he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) at a party. However, when her 21 year-old son/housemate Cyrus (Jonah Hill) enters the picture, he becomes an unexpected saboteur of John’s attempts at Molly’s heart.

While you might think going down the studio road might somehow change who The Duplass Brothers are, they stuck to their indie tricks.  The way they did that was to film the movie in order and to improvise much of the dialogue. What they ended up with was a touching, original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  Definitely recommended.

Anyway, I recently got to talk with John C. Reilly about how he got involved in the project and what it was like to work for the Duplass Brothers.  I also asked him about his future projects like Cedar Rapids and We Need to Talk About Kevin, as well as what will it take to get him paired up again with Will Ferrell.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say:

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