Universal picked up a sci-fi action script that The Adjustment Bureau director George Nolfi will co-wrote with Andrew Knauer.  Nolfi and Knauer met while working on The Last Stand, Knauer’s spec script that lured Arnold Schwarzenegger back to movies.  Nolfi was hired to rewrite The Last Stand, and was impressed enough to recruit Knauer to collaborate on the “high concept” sci-fi actioner.  Details beyond that description are unfortunately scarce, but THR confirms Nolfi is looking to direct and produce alongside Michael Hackett (Paycheck).

I was really impressed with The Adjustment Bureau, especially since it was Nolfi’s directorial debut after a decade as a writer on the likes of Ocean’s Twelve and The Bourne Ultimatum.  I am excited to see what Nolfi has to offer going forward.  He has several chances to impress me lined up, including the Facebook thriller XOXO (produced by Darren Aronofsky) and the Cuban missile crisis drama One Minute to Midnight.

After picking up the project nearly a year ago, Lionsgate has now attached The Adjustment Bureau director George Nolfi to helm and oversee a rewrite of the social media thriller XOXO.  The project was initially written by Black Swan scribe Mark Heyman on spec, and was pitched as a modern day Fatal Attraction that explores the dark side of virtual relationships as it follows an up-and-coming executive who blurs the line between his real-life fiancé and his online affair.  The pic will utilize “stylized visual sequences” to portray the online interactions, bringing a whole new meaning to the term “poke.”

Hit the jump for more on this “Facebook thriller” that has Darren Aronofsky and Michael London (Sideways) onboard as producers.

The Adjustment Bureau director George Nolfi is looking to tackle the Cuban Missile Crisis.  THR reports that Nolfi is attached to rewrite and direct an adaptation of Michael Dobbs’ 2008 book One Minute to Midnight for Fox 2000.  The story is an hour-by-hour account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and should make for quite the tension-filled drama.  The initial draft of the script was written by Robert S. Edwards. Nolfi made his directorial debut on The Adjustment Bureau after penning the scripts for films like The Bourne Ultimatum and Ocean’s Twelve.

He was recently in the running to direct the superhero sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier before Marvel ultimately went with Anthony and Joseph Russo for the gig.  I admired the strengths of The Adjustment Bureau, so I’m definitely interested to see more from Nolfi as a director.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for One Minute to Midnight.

We’re nearing the date on which we finally get to see The Avengers on the big screen, but Marvel is already busy making plans for their post-Avengers slate. Iron Man 3 begins production in the next few months, followed shortly by Thor 2, and now the studio has whittled down their director shortlist for Captain America 2 to just three names: F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job), George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau), and television directors Anthony and Joseph Russo. Hit the jump for more on these lovely contestants in “Who Wants to Direct a Superhero Movie?”

Writer/director George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau is neither fish nor fowl, but is engaging enough that it may find a second life on home video. Matt Damon stars as David Norris, a promising political figure who loses his shot at being in congress, but meets Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt), who he immediately falls in love with and leads him to the best speech of his life. Nolfi adapted the Phillip K. Dick story into a fantasy love story, where Norris comes to see that there are things/people (including Anthony Mackie, John Slattery and Terrence Stamp) that control his fate. Our review of the Blu-ray of The Adjustment Bureau follows after the jump.

Hollywood has not had much success adapting the work of sci-fi author Philip K. Dick.  For every Blade Runner, you get a Paycheck, a Next, and the last twenty minutes of Minority Report.  The latest Philip K. Dick story to get the feature film treatment is The Adjustment Bureau, based off Dick’s short story “Adjustment Team”.  While most Dick adaptations wink at the cleverness of their source material before ignoring it in favor of massive set pieces, writer-director George Nolfi imbues The Adjustment Bureau with a cool confidence, and with the help of his charming lead actors, he carries the film through its sillier moments and unambiguous ending.

Opening next weekend is writer-director George Nolfi’s romance/thriller The Adjustment Bureau. Based on the short story Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick, the film centers on the apparently forbidden relationship between politician David Norris (Matt Damon) and Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt).  As the story goes, the two are kept apart by a mysterious team of adjusters who claim it’s in everyone’s best interest if they go their separate ways.  Playing members of the Adjustment Bureau are Terence Stamp, John Slattery and Anthony Mackie.  For more on the film, here are 7 clips.

Anyhow, I recently got to do a phone interview with Nolfi and we talked about what it was like to make his first feature, getting his cast, working with the studio, the test screening process, balancing the love story in a sci-fi setting, working with cinematographer John Toll, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview:

Several months ago, we learned Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans) was circling a disaster film (then called Gravity) with this cool premise: “a father who has to search for his lost child as the world stops spinning and Earth begins to lose its gravity.”  Leterrier has officially signed on to produce and direct the movie, now called G, for Universal Pictures.  The project is based on an original idea by producer Guymon Casady (The Expendables) that has drawn comparisons to The Day After Tomorrow and Taken. Leterrier, Casady, and fellow producers Mark Gordon (2012), George Nolfi and Michael Hackett (The Adjustment Bureau) are currently looking for writers to turn the visually rich logline into a script.

Heat Version confirms that Leterrier will first direct Now You See Me, a heist thriller that pits FBI agents against “a super team of the world’s greatest illusionists.”  Leterrier previously demonstrated a penchant for single-letter titles with his interest in the acclaimed comic book Y: The Last Man.  I believe Y: The Last Man will reach the screen before I die (hopefully after I read it), but it seems increasingly unlikely that Leterrier will own the “Directed by” credit.  Leterrier has two “go” projects on his plate, while last we checked he was struggling to find financing for Y.  No matter — Now You See Me has potential, and G sounds positively cool.

Universal has provided us with seven clips from Matt Damon’s upcoming romance/thriller The Adjustment Bureau.  Written and directed by George Nolfi (writer of The Bourne Ultimatum), the film is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick entitled Adjustment Team and centers on the apparently forbidden relationship between politician David Norris (Damon) and Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt).  As the story goes, the two are kept apart by a mysterious team of adjusters who claim it’s in everyone’s best interest if they go their separate ways.  Hit the jump to watch the clips.

The Adjustment Bureau opens on March 4th.  In addition to Damon and Blunt, the film also stars Terence Stamp, John Slattery (Mad Men), and Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker).

Universal has released a US and a UK poster for their upcoming thriller The Adjustment Bureau.  Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, the plot centers on an ambitious politician (played by Matt Damon) who falls in love with a ballet dancer (Emily Blunt) but discovers that mysterious forces and a team of shadowy figures are trying to keep them apart.  The film also stars Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Michael Kelly, and Terence Stamp.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  While the film was originally slated to open this past September, it is now set to open on March 4, 2011.

Louis Leterrier spawned a franchise with Clash of the Titans, but since he passed the sequel gig on to other hopeful directors, the Frenchman is searching for his next project.  Leterrier may have found it in the high-concept disaster film Gravity (not to be confused with the Alfonso Cuarón/Robert Downey Jr collaboration).  The pitch for Universal’s Gravity is “The Day After Tomorrow meets Taken“— hit the jump for details.

Universal has released the first trailer for director George Nolfi’s thriller The Adjustment Bureau.  While this might be Nolfi’s first time in the director’s chair, he’s written Oceans Twelve, Timeline, and The Bourne Ultimatum, so he clearly knows his way around a movie set and how to tell a story.

Starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Michael Kelly and Terence Stamp, The Adjustment Bureau is based on the Short Story “The Adjustment Team” by Philip K. Dick (Total Recall, Minority Report, Blade Runner).  The film is about whether or not we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us.

If you’re a fan of sci-fi, Matt Damon, or Philip K. Dick, you’re going to like the look of this trailer.  Hit the jump to take a look:

Universal has released the first images from writer/director George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau.  The movie is based on the short story The Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick and it stars Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Michael Kelly and Terence Stamp.  Here’s the short synopsis:

Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Matt Damon stars in the thriller The Adjustment Bureau as a man who glimpses the future Fate has planned for him and realizes he wants something else. To get it, he must pursue the only woman he’s ever loved across, under and through the streets of modern-day New York.

So what do you get when you mix Matt Damon and Philip K. Dick?  A lot of excited sci-fi fans…like me!  Hit the jump for a more detailed synopsis and two images in high resolution.  The Adjustment Bureau gets released July 30, 2010.

George Nolfi’s upcoming “The Adjustment Bureau” has added another cast member with “The Hurt Locker” star Anthony Mackie joining Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in the sci-fi thriller.  Adapted from a Philip K. Dick short-story, “Bureau” centers on a smooth-talking congressman whose political future is thrown in doubt by the arrival of a mysterious ballerina in his life.  It is common sense to avoid mysterious ballerinas.

Mackie is a great addition to this cast and when you consider that Nolfi is writing and directing (Nolfi wrote “The Bourne Ultimatum”, one of the best action films of the last decade), things are really coming together for a chance at the first good Philip K. Dick adaptation since “Minority Report” (or “Total Recall” if you’re being less charitable). [Variety]

While promoting his History Channel special “The People Speak”, Matt Damon was asked about the 4th installment of the Bourne franchise and it’s not good news for fans of Damon’s alter ego. He said, “none us have kind of seen a script yet and Paul’s still cutting a movie that we worked on.”

This is disheartening news as back in October of 2008, Universal reported George Nolfi had been hired to write a script for the 4th film. But with Damon saying none of them had seen a script, one can surmise that George hasn’t finished writing it yet or no one was happy with the draft. Either way, we’re a long way from a 4^th installment. As a big fan of the franchise, I’m hoping this one comes together.