Now playing at theaters everywhere is director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven.  If you’re not familiar with the film, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

Recently, I got to sit down with producers Aaron Ryder and Marc Evans for an extended interview.  We talked about how they got involved in The Raven, the rating, deleted scenes, how the script changed when the actors got cast, Poe’s dark and extraordinary life, and more.  In addition, they also talked about their upcoming projects like House at the End of the Street with Jennifer Lawrence, Jeff Nichols‘ Mud, The Cold Light of Day and The Strangers 2.  Hit the jump for what they had to say.

Straight out of the American Film Market (AFM), we’ve got some new images from a few upcoming films. First up is Hunky Dory, which is a musical from the producer of 2000’s Billy Elliott and starring Minnie Driver. The film is directed by Marc Evans (Snow Cake) and centers on a drama teacher who mounts a rock ‘n roll version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in a 1970’s high school.  The flick will feature an impressive soundtrack that includes the music of David Bowie, The Beach Boys, and Pink Floyd.  Skills is a Swedish parkour movie, starring Marcus Gustafsson who is one of the world’s leading parkour-artists. It features fight choreography by Ong Bak 2’s Tim Man and is directed by Johannes Pinter (Sleepwalker).  Finally, Wu Xia is a martial arts film from Peter Ho-Sun Chan (The Warlords) starring Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Tang Wei. Hit the jump to check out the images/promo posters.

Today, David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo finally got its Lisbeth Salander by casting Rooney Mara in the role of the troubled-but-brilliant hacker.  Tonight, Heat Vision reports that actress Noomi Rapace, who played Salander in the original Swedish adaptation, is looking to make her stateside debut.  According to THR, Rapace arrived in Hollywood this past weekend and met or will be meeting with “filmmakers McG, Joe Roth (Freedomland), Brett Ratner and Ridley Scott, as well as producers Avi Arad and Di Bonaventura Pictures, production execs Marc Evans at Parmamount and Greg Silverman at Warner Bros.”

Rapace earned herself a Best Actress Guldbagge (the Swedish equivalent of the Oscar) for her performance in Dragon Tattoo.  She speaks fluent English and wisely decided not to include herself in the running to reprise her role as Salander in Fincher’s remake (no one wants to be typecast as a troubled-but-brilliant hacker).  She did return to play Salander in both the Swedish versions of the sequels The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.