Maggie Gyllenhaal

First Trailer for WON’T BACK DOWN Starring Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: May 16th, 2012 at 10:49 am

The first trailer for the family drama Won’t Back Down (formerly Still I Rise) has gone online.  Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis star as two mothers from different backgrounds who join forces to take on the failing public school system.  It’s a nice idea for a film (apparently based on true events), and the trailer has its moments, but I fear the full feature will be trite examination of a complex issue with a “nice” ending that wraps things up with a smile.  The education system is in dire need of reform and taking a Blind Side approach to the issue is unworthy of the attention it deserves.  That said, Gyllenhaal and Davis are fantastic actresses and Gyllenhaal has certainly been outspoken about social issues in the past, so hopefully Won’t Back Down tackles the issue with intellect and candidness and provides/stirs some thoughtful discussion on the topic.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  Directed by Daniel Barnz (Beastly), the film also stars Holly Hunter and Oscar Isaac.  Won’t Back Down opens on September 28th.

HBO Passes on THE CORRECTIONS Adaptation Starring Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhaal

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: May 1st, 2012 at 7:50 pm

I have a tendency to write a little too breathlessly about projects in development at HBO.  So it is important for me to learn that like every other network, HBO passes on some series, no matter how great the talent attached.  Variety reports the network passed on The Corrections, the adaptation of the bestselling Jonathan Franzen book about “the troubles of a Midwestern couple and their three adult children as they trace their lives from the mid-20th century to ‘one last Christmas’ together near the turn of the millennium.”  Writer/director Noah Baumbach (Greenberg) had assembled a stellar cast in Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans, Dianne Wiest, Chris Cooper, and Greta Gerwig.  McGregor, a man of taste and distinction, praised the scripts by Baumbach and Franzen, saying the “lovely writing” convinced him to spend four months of each of the next four years exploring this character.  They shot the pilot in February, but alas, the pieces apparently did not come together in a way that met the HBO standard.  For more on what we’re missing out on, hit the jump for the full book synopsis.

Poster Roundup: WRECK-IT RALPH, THE HOST, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, HYSTERIA, and COSMOPOLIS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 16th, 2012 at 11:38 am

We’ve got a few new posters to share with you today.  Briefly:

• Wreck-It Ralph – The teaser poster for Disney’s new animated film which takes place in the world of video games and centers on an 8-bit arcade villain voiced by John C. Reilly.
• The Host – The first poster for director Andrew Niccol’s adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi novel The Host.  Saoirse Ronan stars as a young girl whose body has become host to an alien invader.
• Safety Not Guaranteed – A new poster for this indie based on a real-life classified ad calling for a time-travel companion.  Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, and Jake Johnson star.
• Hysteria – The US poster for this romantic comedy based on the invention of the vibrator.  The film stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, and Felicity Jones.
• Cosmopolis – The French poster for director David Cronenberg’s financial crisis-centered thriller starring Robert Pattinson.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and full synopses.

HBO News: Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rhys Ifans in Talks for 40-Hour Series THE CORRECTIONS; Season Three of TREME Delayed Until Fall

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 20th, 2012 at 8:10 am

If you’re dismayed by the lack of “wow” in movies as of late, may I remind you that some of the best storytelling on any medium is currently happening on television. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones—from sprawling epics to intimate character dramas, we’ve got some insanely great entertainment at the command of our fingertips. One of the most anticipated new television series is the HBO adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Corrections. The story centers on an elderly Midwestern couple with three adult children who decide to trace their lives from the mid-20th century to “one last Christmas” together near the turn of the millennium.

Noah Baumbach is directing the pilot, and we’ve already got Dianne Wiest, Chris Cooper, and Ewan McGregor attached to star. Now comes word that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rhys Ifans may join the increasingly impressive cast. Hit the jump for more, including news concerning a delayed premiere for the HBO series Treme.

Sony Pictures Classics Comes Down with HYSTERIA Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: November 10th, 2011 at 5:01 pm

This one’s for the ladies: Hysteria, the Tanya Wexler-directed picture starring Oscar-nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal, has sold its US and South African rights to Sony Pictures Classics. The romantic comedy is based on the historically (and hysterically) accurate tale of Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville’s invention of the first vibrator, all in the name of medical science. The heart of the film is about the realization that everyone is in control of their own happiness.

Written by Stephen Dyer and Jonah Lisa Dyer, and produced by the all-female trio of Sarah Curtis, Judy Cairo and Tracey Becker, Hysteria also stars Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Rupert Everett and Felicity Jones. Hit the jump for more on Hysteria.

TIFF 2011: HYSTERIA Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 14th, 2011 at 7:00 pm

Tanya Wexler’s Hysteria is a silly little historical comedy and there’s nothing wrong with that.  The film is about the creation of the vibrator or as the opening title card tells us “The following is based on true events.  Really.”  Going into Hysteria, I was initially worried that there might be an unsettling subtext implying the only way women can get over their problems is through sexual relief and they owe it all to ingenious men.  Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case, although there’s not much case at all other than to make the audience chuckle at citizens in Victorian England having orgasms and misunderstanding sex.  Hysteria goes a little overboard at times with its self-aware pronouncements and unrealistic characters, but it is inarguably the best movie you’ll see all year featuring Jonathan Pryce fingerblasting an old lady.

TIFF 2011: First Images from THE AWAKENING, HYSTERIA, WINNIE, and WUTHERING HEIGHTS [Updated]

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 16th, 2011 at 9:00 am

With the announcement of new additions to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, new images have gone online.  After the jump you’ll find the first images from The Awakening (starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, and Imelda Staunton), Hysteria (starring Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal), Winnie (starring Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard), and Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

Hit the jump to check out the new images and a synopsis for each film.  The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8 – 18th. [We've updated the story with the trailer for Hysteria]

Maggie Gyllenhaal to Star in VOICE FROM THE STONE; 50 Cent Joins ODD THOMAS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 18th, 2011 at 11:05 am

As Cannes roles on, more deals are being made, and that means there’s new casting new announce.  First up, Variety reports that Maggie Gyllenhaal will star in the supernatural thriller Voice from the Stone.  Directed by Eric Howell and based off the Italian novel, Le Voce Della Pietra, the story has Gyllenhaal playing “a nurse drawn to the aid of a young boy who is haunted by malevolent forces within the walls of an old house in the Italian countryside. As she develops a relationship with the father of the boy, she also becomes haunted by the same evil presence and must fight to save herself and the boy.”  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Don’t help haunted children.  Gyllenhaal is currently filming the drama Still I Rise with Viola Davis and she’s attached to star in Hysteria opposite Hugh Dancy, and a biopic of musician Bill Monroe.

Hit the jump for awful casting news regarding Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis to Star in Education Drama STILL I RISE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 10th, 2011 at 10:07 am

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis will star in the topical drama Still I Rise.  Directed by Daniel Barnz (Beastly), the actresses will play a pair of mothers who join forces to reform an inner-city public school.  According to Deadline, “the film takes aim at the crisis of public education in America.”  So is it going to attack the evils of standardized testing?  That there aren’t enough teachers and class sizes are swelling to where no student can get the attention they deserve?  Or will it be an attack on the abysmal pay for teachers?  I’m guessing “None of the Above”.  I’m betting that it will be an attempt to root out the “bad” teachers and a nice update to the school’s facilities.

Gyllenhaal and Davis are both great actresses and I hope they’ve signed onto a project that examines the complexity of our education problem rather than trying to uphold some quick, ineffective fixes.  And if not, perhaps they can do a film where the military’s budget accidentally goes to education.

Hugh Dancy Joins Maggie Gyllenhaal for HYSTERIA

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 20th, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Amid the same round of press where Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed she would star alongside Peter Sarsgaard in a Bill Monroe biopic, the actress spoke a bit about her upcoming role in Hysteria:

I play a firecracker whose father is a doctor who is in the business of curing hysterical women. He cures them basically by getting them off and that actually happened. I end up having a sort of unexpected love affair with this guy who works for him, and who by mistake invents the vibrator. [ScreenCrave]

Variety confirms Gyllenhaal’s involvement in the period rom-com, which most headlines have taken to calling a “vibrator comedy.”  Hugh Dancy has been cast opposite Gyllenhaal as the doctor (and romantic interest) who works for her father, played by Jonathan Pryce.  Rupert Everett also stars, with Tanya Wexler directing from a script by Stephen Dyer and Jonah Lisa Dyer.  Hysteria is slated for an October shoot.

Maggie Gyllenhaal to Star in Bill Monroe Biopic with Peter Sarsgaard

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 18th, 2010 at 8:19 pm

While working the press rounds for Nanny McPhee Returns, Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that she would star alongside husband Peter Sarsgaard in a biopic of musician Bill Monroe.  She described her role in the film,

“Bill Monroe, who invented bluegrass music had a kind of Sid and Nancy style affair with this woman Bessie Lee Mauldin throughout his life and T-Bone Burnett’s going to do the music and Callie Khouri — who wrote Thelma & Louise — wrote the script so we’re going to do that together.” [Screen Crave]

Sounds like an interesting project, and it’s worth noting that both names Ms. Gyllenhaal mentioned are Oscar winners; Finn Taylor (The Darwin Awards) is on board as director.  Following her appearance in the Nanny McPhee sequel, Gyllenhaal will next be seen Hysteria, in which she has an “unexpected love affair” with the man who accidentally invents the vibrator.  Hmm.

CRAZY HEART Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: May 6th, 2010 at 9:25 am

Jeff Bridges has been the best thing about a lot of movies for years, so it’s only fitting that he finally got his Oscar. From Fearless to The Fisher King, from King Kong to Cutter’s Way, his list of great performances is legion, and rarely does he phone it in. For Crazy Heart, Bridges plays a washed-up drunk of a country music singer named Bad Blake, and the film charts his relationship with Jane Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) as he finds himself at a dead end creatively and physically. It’s a lived-in and vivid performance, and it elevates a familiar tale with the gravitas of a great performer. My review of Crazy Heart is after the jump.

Robert Duvall Video Interview CRAZY HEART

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: December 25th, 2009 at 1:07 pm

As I wrote when I posted my video interviews with Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal, currently playing in limited release is Fox Searchlight’s Crazy Heart.  Originally scheduled for release next year, Fox Searchlight has mounted an impressive last minute campaign to get the film into theaters as they’re trying to get Jeff Bridges his long deserved Oscar.

In Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges stars as the anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut feature film from writer-director Scott Cooper.  Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician.

While the story of a musician overcoming his demons has been told many times, the buzz surrounding Jeff Bridges performance is well deserved.  He’s great as Bad Blake and I think it’s a sure bet he’ll be nominated for an Oscar.  So to help promote the film, I recently got to speak with Robert Duvall.  We talked about his amazing career and what movies he always gets recognize for, why he wanted to make Crazy Heart, the struggle to find money for indie films, and a lot more:

5 Movie Clips from CRAZY HEART Starring Jeff Bridges

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: December 5th, 2009 at 11:34 am

Opening December 16th is Fox Searchlight’s Crazy Heart.  If you haven’t heard about the film…it’s understandable.  Originally scheduled for release next year, Fox Searchlight has mounted an impressive last minute campaign to get the film into theaters this year as they’re trying to get Jeff Bridges his long deserved Oscar.

But let me back up a second.  First, you might want to read the synopsis:

Jeff Bridges stars as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut feature film Crazy Heart from writer-director Scott Cooper.  Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician.  As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart.

I saw the film last week and the buzz surrounding Jeff Bridges performance is well deserved.  He’s great as Bad Blake, unfortunately, the rest of the film isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.  If you want to read a great review, Kirk Honeycutt of THR pretty much nails it.  But while I might not be blown away by the film, as a longtime fan of Jeff Bridges, I would love to see him win the big awards.

To help promote the film, we’ve been provided with five clip from Crazy Heart and you can check them out after the jump.  Also, look for interviews with Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Robert Duvall later this week:

AWAY WE GO Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: November 9th, 2009 at 11:01 am

The journey of Sam Mendes is an awkward one. A talented stage director, his first film came to win best picture, and fueled a (not undeserved) backlash against him. His second film was coolly received, while his next two pictured showed a lessening presence. Revolutionary Road was delayed for a year and was not the academy bait that was hoped for. For the summer of 2009 his most personal, and most satisfying film was released, Away We Go, and it shows a mellowed director dealing with personal issue is a way more satisfying way. My review after the jump.

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