All Is Lost is a very intriguing project.  It first caught our eye because Robert Redford stars in “a solo performance of one man lost at sea and his battle against the elements to stay alive.”  The twist: Redford says he has no dialogue.  That is a brave choice for writer/director J.C. Chandor in his second feature film, especially after a Best Original Screenplay nomination for his debut, Margin Call.

Despite the intrigue, we know little about All Is Lost other than the logline, the dialogue-free tease, and this image.  Steve is at CinemaCon right now and found a little more info.  First, we will be able to see what All Is Lost has to offer sooner than expected, as we’ve learned Roadside Attractions has set an October 25 release date.  Second, Steve snapped a picture of a new image of Redford weary at sea that Roadside has on display.  Check out the full image after the jump.

Writer-director J.C. Chandor landed a breakthrough flick with 2011′s Margin Call.  Chandor picked up an Oscar nomination for his screenplay, and his follow-up feature, All Is Lost, nabbed Robert Redford for the lead.  According to the press release from August, “Redford stars in a solo performance of one man lost at sea and his battle against the elements to stay alive.”  As we saw from Life of Pi, it’s not easy to make a movie where a single actor is stranded in the middle of the ocean.  But at least Pi Patel had a tiger for conversation.  Redford’s character will be silent.

Hit the jump for more.

Director J.C. Chandor (Margin Call) has just wrapped principal photography on his next feature, All Is Lost.  To celebrate, Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions have released the first image of Robert Redford, who stars in “a solo performance of one man lost at sea and his battle against the elements to stay alive.”  Actually, I’ll have to take their word for it.  Redford’s beautiful face is obscured in a severe battle with those elements.

Redford is the only credited actor, which automatically qualifies All Is Lost as one to watch—at the very least as an intriguing formal exercise anchored by one of the greats.  Hit the jump for the full image and a press release with all the details on the production.

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

How’s this for a success story: after making his feature directorial debut with the low-budget financial crisis drama Margin Call, director J.C. Chandor is set to helm a man vs. nature drama as his follow-up and legendary actor-director Robert Redford is in talks to star. Deadline reports that Chandor will next direct All Is Lost, a drama that mainly focuses on a single character and takes place on the water. The film is described as a “one man show” in which the lead braves the elements in order to survive. Chandor premiered Margin Call this past January at the Sundance Film Festival, and the writer-director was apparently so taken with the festival’s founder Redford that he wrote All Is Lost just for him.

I’ve yet to see Margin Call but I’m intrigued by this success story. It’ll be interesting to see how Chandor sets the film apart from the similarly plotted Cast Away. They’ve apparently scouted Baja Film Studios in Mexico as a possible filming location. James Cameron and Michael Bay have both previously used the studio for Titanic and Pearl Harbor, respectively, obviously (though one wonders what James Cameron’s Pearl Harbor and Michael Bay’s Titanic would have looked like), and it’s a prime location for extended water shoots. Zachary Quinto’s Before the Door will produce and they hope to start filming by next May.

The nominations for the 27th Annual Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning with The Artist and Take Shelter each nabbing five nominations. In addition to The Artist and Take Shelter, Drive, 50/50, The Descendants, and Beginners will duke it out for the top prize. Absent from the Best Feature list is Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, though the film was recognized in Best Supporting Male (Corey Stoll) and Best Cinematography. Also of note, Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes landed nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Male for Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Ryan Gosling and Woody Harrelson were both singled out in Best Actor for Drive and Rampart respectively.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominations. Recognizing the best in independent film, the awards will be handed out on February 25th, the day before the Oscars.

The 2008 economic collapse is one of the major events of our lifetimes and some filmmakers have rushed to turn the events into A Very Serious and Important Movie.  J.C. Chandor’s Margin Call would like to be that movie.  It dresses up its respected cast in fine suits, puts them in the financial world, and then has them look at computer monitors and say “Fuck me…” in astonishment about 80-90 times throughout the course of the film.  Chandor wants to bury the audience in the world of financial intrigue and corruption without doing the hard work of explaining the machinations of that world in any kind of detail.  He gets away with it for the first half-hour as the audience becomes wrapped in a propulsive, plot-driven drama, but by the end the only saving grace is Kevin Spacey playing against type.

The first trailer for the financial thriller Margin Call has been released. The film debuted at Sundance, and judging from the trailer it looks to be a fairly intense morality piece. The cast is great, and Steve caught the film at the festival and said it was really good. I like the tone here, and the idea of the film’s events playing out over a single day and night is definitely intriguing.

The story centers on the key people at an investment bank during the 24-hour period before the recent financial crisis. The cast includes Demi Moore, Simon Baker, Penn Badgley, Zachary Quinto, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci and Kevin Spacey. You can check out Steve’s interview with all of the above here and here. Margin Call opens October 21^st. Hit the jump to watch the trailer.

We’ve got some release date news for you this afternoon. First up, a couple of movies that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival have been slated. The financial crisis-centered drama Margin Call is now set for an October 21^st, 2011 release (via Box Office Mojo). The film stars Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore and Stanley Tucci. Additionally, Jeff Nichols’ intense psychological drama Take Shelter is set for a limited release on September 30^th (via The Playlist) before going wide on October 7^th. Starring Michael Shannon, the film generated a good amount of buzz at Sundance.

The release date for Pedro Alomodovar’s next film The Skin I Live In has been shifted from October 7^th to October 14^th. Based on Thierry Jonquet’s novel Tarantula, the film stars Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeron out for revenge on the man who raped his daughter. Finally, IFC Films will release Julia Leigh’s dark psychosexual drama Sleeping Beauty on October 28^th (via The Playlist). The film stars Emily Browning and was an official selection for the Cannes Film Festival.

While at Sundance, I was able to sit down with Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey and writer/director J.C. Chandor for a quick interview about Margin Call.  Premiering at this year’s Festival, Margin Call is a really well done economic thriller that revolves around the key people at an investment bank during the 24-hour period before the recent financial crisis. As the film unfolds, we learn who knew what and when, and what lines are you willing to cross to stay ahead.  While it often takes Hollywood years to tell a story about something that just happened, Margin Call has already done it and the results are fantastic.

During the interview, the cast talked about what drew them to the project and what does it mean for each of them to be at Sundance.  As usual, you can either read or listen to the interview after the jump.

Earlier this week, we brought you the poster for the upcoming drama Margin Call.  Today, we’re bringing you four clips from the film, which will premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  The film takes place at an investment firm and looks at a 24-hour period during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.

Hit the jump to check out the clips and click here to see images from the film.  Written and directed by J.C. Chandor, Margin Call stars Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci.  The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20 – 30th.

We’re pleased to bring you an exclusive look at the poster for the upcoming drama Margin Call.  The film takes place at an investment firm during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.  Written and directed by J.C. Chandor,  Margin Call has an impressive cast that includes Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci.  The film will be playing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Hit the jump to check out the poster and click here to see images from the film.  The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20 – 30th.

The 2010 Black List has been announced.  For those who don’t know, the Black List is a list of the best “unproduced” screenplays in Hollywood.  I put “unproduced” in quotations because some of these screenplays are in various stages of production.  For instance, College Republicans (formerly Young Republicans) has Shia LaBeouf and Paul Dano circling the project while Safe House has Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds on board.  J.C. Chandor’s script (which he also directed) Margin Call is the furthest along of the Top 10 as it’s already set to premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Hit the jump to check out the 2010 Black List Top Ten.

Continuing our coverage of the slew of new images and synopses from the American Film Market (AFM), we’ve got some great images and an official synopsis from the upcoming financial thriller Margin Call. The film marks the feature debut of writer/director J.C. Chandor and features an impressive cast that includes Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Mary McDonnell, Zachary Quinto, Simon Baker, and Penn Badgley.  The film strikes a familiar note, as it centers on the key people at an investment bank during the 24-hour period during the financial crisis.  We recently sat down with Badgley and he told us a bit about the project, so I recommend you check that out. To get a look at the first official images from the film, a promo poster, as well as the official synopsis, hit the jump.

Update: We’ve been asked by the studio to take down the images….sorry if you missed them

Penn Badgley, one of television’s hottest young actors, dons blue paint and a woodchuck costume in his latest role as Woodchuck Todd, the school mascot, in Will Gluck’s hilarious new comedy, Easy A. Badgley’s irreverent character provides the emotional grounding for Emma Stone’s Olive, a self-assured senior whose life begins to parallel Hester Prynne’s in The Scarlet Letter when she’s thrust into the rumor mill after a little white lie elevates her to the status of high school slut.

For Badgley, best known for his role of Dan Humphrey in The CW’s hit series Gossip Girl, playing the part of Woodchuck Todd was so tempting, he arranged to fly between the west and east coasts to accommodate the shooting schedules for both the film and his series. The 23-year-old actor recently completed production on Margin Call, a thriller based on the events surrounding the country’s financial collapse, directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Stanley Tucci, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto and Simon Baker.  More after the jump: