Eric Roth

EXTREMLY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 24th, 2011 at 5:21 pm

September 11^th, like any tragedy, can be easily exploited.  It can be exploited for profit, for political gain, and for an easy strike at your emotional soft spots.  But it can also be handled in a mature, thoughtful manner like Paul Greengrass‘ United 93.  It’s been over ten years since 9/11 and we must start accepting that the event can be used in a story that’s not directly about 9/11.  That’s an incredibly tricky proposition because of the easy route to exploiting our national tragedy, and that’s where Stephen Daldry‘s adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close seems to be going at its outset.  Daldry has to scale a mountain of negative expectations as we struggle to see how 9/11 could be absolutely essential to the story.  We must also contend with a painfully affected character played by a child actor gives a off-putting, robotic performance.  But Daldry’s brilliant direction ultimately brings the 9/11 plot point and the bizarre lead performance together to create an emotional finale.

BENJAMIN BUTTON Scribe Eric Roth in Talks to Write CLEOPATRA Starring Angelina Jolie; David Fincher Circling to Direct

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 15th, 2011 at 1:55 pm

Screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) is currently in talks to pen the epic Cleopatra, which focuses on the Egyptian queen. Angelina Jolie is attached to star, David Fincher is circling the pic as a directing vehicle, and uber-producer Scott Rudin (The Social Network, No Country for Old Men) is producing. Needless to say, this is shaping up to be one hell of a prestigious production. Variety reports that while no formal deal is in place, Roth has been approached and is likely to begin writing in the next several weeks. The scribe has a relationship with Fincher, as he penned 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and recently adapted this December’s awards contender Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for Stephen Daldry. Hit the jump for more, including the likelihood of Fincher actually signing onto the project.

Eric Roth Will Rewrite RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT

by Max Lichtig    Posted: January 12th, 2011 at 9:49 pm

It seems Oscar winning scribe Eric Roth, who has penned such greats as Forest Gump, Munich, and — if you’re into disturbing stories of age reversal — The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is now attached to the troubled Jim Carrey vehicle Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. According to Deadline, Roth will completely rewrite the script that has previously been attempted by Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewskie and John Collee.

We first heard of the film’s development back in 2007, but for various reasons the project was stalled. Fans of Jim Carrey (as well as fans of two headed people, crazy stories of survival, mutated goats, etc.) may exalt because now we have more reason to look forward to the film… as well as reason to believe it will actually be completed. But keep aware, Jim Carrey will not be replacing Dean Cain on TBS (although that would be outlandish fun). Instead, this will be a film following the life of Robert Ripley (played by Carrey) as he explores exotic places searching for unusual people.  Check out why this project has long been in development purgatory after the jump:

Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks Get EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE With Stephen Daldry

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 22nd, 2010 at 2:48 pm

Last we discussed Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, it was a highly speculative report that linked Sandra Bullock to the project after she was seen leaving a meeting with Daldry clutching an unidentifiable script.  Turns out the heresay was spot on: Thompson on Hollywood reports that Paramount has officially greenlighted the project, with Bullock and Tom Hanks(!) on board.  A team of Bullock (a newly minted Oscar winner) and Daldry (nominated thrice) is already plenty impressive, but Hanks’ presence takes things to a whole different level.  Targeting a January start, Incredibly Close appears to be next in line for Hanks following production on Larry Crowne, a film he’s also directing.

Eric Roth’s script — said to feature multiple narrators and time frames — revolves around Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old “inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist… [whose] mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.”  The casting department is currently on the lookout for a young lead who can hold his own opposite Bullock and Hanks, who play the boy’s parents.  Hit the jump for a full synopsis.

Brad Pitt and CRAZY HEART Director Scott Cooper Want to Tell the Tale of THE HATFIELDS AND THE MCCOYS

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: April 27th, 2010 at 8:20 pm

Robert Duvall dropped some very interesting knowledge at a recent Get Low press junket–namely, that Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper has been chatting with Brad Pitt about bring the infamous Hatfield/McCoy family feud to the cinemas.  According to Hollywood Elsewhere, Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has assembled a script–appropriately titled The Hatfields and the Mccoys–with roles set aside for Duvall and Pitt.  Newly-minted Oscar-winner T-Bone Burnett would re-team with his Crazy Heart boss to provide the soundtrack.

If you’d like to learn a little more about the heated interactions between the Hatfields and the McCoys (I know I would!), I invite you to hit the jump.

Stephen Daldry to Direct Jonathan Safran Foer’s EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 1st, 2010 at 3:06 pm

Director Stephen Daldry is attached to helm an adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close from a script by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump)  Here’s how THR describes the story:

The 2005 book centers on Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old amateur inventor, jewelry designer, astrophysicist, tambourine player and pacifist, as he searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks.

THR notes that the casting of Schell will be a challenge, but Daldry has already shown his acumen in plucking young actors from obscurity.  Daldry’s first film, 2000′s Billy Elliot, cast the then-unknown Jamie Bell in the role of the title character.  It was not only an excellent casting choice for that film, but we’re fortunate that Bell has continued to do excellent work over the past decade.  Hopefully, Daldry will introduce us to a new great actor.  Also, if he made a movie I liked other than Billy Elliot, that would be nice too.

David Fincher and Eric Roth to Remake British Miniseries HOUSE OF CARDS for as a Weekly One-Hour Drama

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 21st, 2009 at 10:39 pm

Director David Fincher is getting into the television game and making his debut with an adaptation of the BBC political-thriller miniseries, “House of Cards”.  Based on Michael Dobbs’ book of the same name, “Cards” will be re-adapted for U.S. audiences as a weekly one-hour drama. Fincher with executive producer along side his “Curious Case of Benjamin Button” screenwriter Eric Roth.  Hit the jump for more details on how Fincher and Roth plan to transform the series because U.S. audiences don’t know what a Prime Minister does.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: May 12th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

David Fincher raises expectations. If nothing else, he’s one of the best technical filmmakers working today, and he’s also a man who commits to a number of projects but tends to put a film out every once in a while. So the fact that he followed up 2007′s Zodiac a couple of months later with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was… curious to say the least.

The film follows the narrative of an elderly New Orleans woman, Daisy (Cate Blanchett) as she is about to die, and just as hurricane Katrina is about to hit. She’s attended by her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond), and Daisy gives her daughter the journals of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) to read to her as she passes on. Button was born in 1918, and was born an old man. Thought to die shortly after birth, his real father Thomas Button (Jason Flemying) leaves him on the porch of a retirement home, run by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), who then takes Button in.. But the further along Benjamin goes in life, the more it becomes apparent he’s aging backwards. He spends some time fighting in World War II, and falling in love with a Brittish spy’s wife (Tilda Swinton), but it appears the love of his life was always Daisy. The two just have troubles intersecting. And even when they finally do, Button’s got a clock.

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