Mamma Mia 2

Kenny Ortega to Direct IN THE HEIGHTS

by Ramses Flores    Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 1:04 am

Variety is reporting that director/choreographer Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, This is It) will now helm the big screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, In the Heights, after leaving the planned Footloose remake earlier this year.  The musical covers three days in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, “where a bodega owner who inherited his grandfather’s lottery windfall plots his retirement to a Dominican Republic beach. As he bids farewell to his customers on the block, he becomes conflicted about leaving behind a group that has become family.”  Lin-Manuel Miranda will reprise his starring role (he also wrote the lyrics and music) and Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the show, will be adapting the script to the screen.

Universal will be producing the film and I have to give them some credit for not deciding to replace Miranda with a big name star.  The film is part of Universal’s plan to make more musicals after the success that they have had recently at the box office with such films as Mamma Mia! and Hairspray.  The studio is currently moving ahead with their big screen adaptation of Wicked, their plans to make a sequel to Mama Mia!, and have also recently hired composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray) to create a musical based on a soon to be launched Mattel toyline that “aspires to add a new twist to monster lore.”

Dominic Cooper Exclusive Video Interview AN EDUCATION

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 5th, 2009 at 7:15 pm

Opening this Friday is a fantastic film called “An Education”. The movie was written by Nick Hornby and it’s based on a memoir by Lynn Barber. Anyway, it’s a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Carey Mulligan) in 1960s suburban London and how her life changes after meeting a man nearly twice her age (Peter Sarsgaard). While the entire cast was great, Carey Mulligan’s performance was another level. Her work is exceptional and I believe she’s a lock for getting nominated come awards season. Anyway, I recently say down with Dominic Cooper (he plays Peter Sarsgaard’s best friend) and we talked about how his career has taken off, how does he decide to take a project, what has he been working on, and I even got in a “Mamma Mia 2″ question. It’s a great interview so take a look:

MAMMA MIA 2 Update: Colin Firth Says They May Use Another Band’s Music. Plus News on THE KINGS SPEECH

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: September 15th, 2009 at 3:17 pm

Colin Firth is really having a great week. As the star of Tom Ford’s first film ” A Single Man”, Colin just won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival and the film was the subject of an intense bidding war last night here in Toronto. While many studios tried to acquire the story of a British college professor struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner (played by Matthew Goode), the Weinstein Company ended up winning the battle.

Anyway, to help promote the film, I was able to speak with Colin earlier today and he gave me an update on “Mamma Mia 2″ and what he’s doing next (“The King’s Speech”). The big news is he’s heard if a sequel is made to the incredibly popular “Mamma Mia!” movie, it’s going possibly use a new band’s music to tell the story. More after the jump:

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