Director Nicolas Winding Refn’s follow-up to his fantastic 2011 film Drive is set to make its debut at the Cannes Film Festival next month, but three whole clips from Only God Forgives have graciously made their way online a tad early.  The film’s red-band trailer promised another intense and gorgeous collaboration between Refn and star Ryan Gosling, and these three clips don’t disappoint.  While I’m eager to see what the always-reliable Gosling has in store for us this time around, it’s Kristin Scott Thomas who is the highlight of these clips as she plays the mother of Gosling’s character, a woman who urges her son to seek violent revenge for the death of his brother in Thailand.

Hit the jump to bask in the moodiness of Refn’s latest.  Only God Forgives also stars Vithaya Pansringarm and will open in theaters on July 19th.

Two new international trailers for Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn’s new film Only God Forgives have made their way online.  These trailers delve deeper into the pic’s plot than the fantastic domestic trailer that was a released a couple of weeks ago, but they still highlight what looks to be one hell of a ride.  Ryan Gosling stars a man who’s been living in exile in Bangkok for the past ten years after killing a cop. He manages a Thai boxing club as a front for a drugs operation and finds himself in hot water after his brother is killed for murdering a prostitute. The boys’ mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) arrives in Bangkok to collect her son’s body and instructs Gosling to take revenge and “raise hell.”

I really love what we see of Thomas’ character in these new trailers, and Gosling appears to turn in yet another subdued, affecting performance.  Stylish, brutal, weird, Only God Forgives promises to be everything we could possibly want from the second collaboration between Refn and Gosling.  Hit the jump to watch the trailers.  The film will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month and opens in theaters on July 19th.

The first red-band trailer for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives is now available.  Star Ryan Gosling is positively seeing red in this color-saturated and atmospheric look at Refn’s new revenge thriller.  A little bit of Thai karaoke plays the overture for a few brutal scenes which force you to infer what this particular tale is about.  Gosling sums it up nicely with a simple question at the end of the trailer.  I cannot wait to see more.

Also Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm, Only God Forgives opens July 19th.  Hit the jump to watch the trailer.

New images have been released for Nicolas Winding Refn‘s upcoming drama, Only God Forgives.  Ryan Gosling stars a man who’s been living in exile in Bangkok for the past ten years after killing a cop. He manages a Thai boxing club as a front for a drugs operation and finds himself in hot water after his brother is killed for murdering a prostitute. The boys’ mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) arrives in Bangkok to collect her son’s body and instructs Gosling to take revenge and “raise hell.”  These new images give us good look not only at Gosling, but Thomas and co-star Vithaya Pansringarm, who plays the film’s antagonist, Chang (a.k.a. “The Angel of Vengeance”)

Hit the jump to check out the images.  Allocine is reporting that a trailer should arrive in a couple weeks, so we’ll definitely be on the lookout for it.  Only God Forgives is reportedly set to open on May 23rd, and expected to play at the Cannes Film Festival.

It was about a year ago that Mondo first confirmed that Tyler Stout would be working on a new poster for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive.  This sent collectors into a frenzy of anticipation, a frenzy that only increased when it was also announced that Stout’s poster would serve as the cover at on a Mondo Vinyl release of the Drive soundtrack.  We were told to expect both in June, and then…the waiting began.  It seems that–between one thing and another—both projects hit a few snags on their way to that June, 2012 drop date, but the wait appears to be over:  we know now what the poster looks like and when the soundtrack will drop (we’ve also got a pretty good idea when the poster will arrive).  Wanna know what we know?  Meet me after the jump, folks.

Director Nicolas Winding Refn’s TV series adaptation of Barbarella just scored a couple of talented scribes to bring the project to fruition.  Deadline reports that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who penned five James Bond movies including Skyfall and Casino Royale, have been tapped to write the script for the TV series iteration of the famous character.  The show is an adaptation of the 1968 sci-fi movie of the same name starring Jane Fonda, and Refn is currently working with producer Martha De Laurentis on the project.  The Drive director will take the helm once the script and casting is completed, but no firm timetable is given for when we should expect Barbarella on the small screen.  Hit the jump to watch the trailer for the original in the meantime.

In December, we reported the exciting news that Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn was in talks to direct Denzel Washington in an adaptation of the 1980s crime series, The Equalizer.  The show centered on Robert McCall (originally played by Edward Woodward), a former covert operations officer who dedicated his life to helping people in trouble.  Washington will play McCall in the adaptation, although the movie will only share the conceit of the show.  Unfortunately, we’ve learned that while Sony was close to closing a deal with Refn, the deal fell apart at the last minute due to unknown reasons.

We’ve also learned that Sony remains hot on adapting The Equalizer, and is continuing to search for a new director to start shooting in May with Washington still attached to star.  If you want to get a better sense of the TV series, hit the jump to see the intro for The Equalizer.  Refn’s new film, Only God Forgives, opens on May 23rd.  The director is still attached to the remake of Logan’s Run and an adaptation of the graphic novel, Button Man.

One of the films that many are looking forward to in the coming year is director Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive follow-up Only God Forgives.  The filmmaker blew quite a few minds with the genre-bending Drive, and the Thailand-set Only God Forgives reunites him with his Drive star Ryan Gosling. Though the film’s release is a ways away, we now have a slightly better idea of what to expect from the pic by way of a very short teaser trailer.  Gosling stars a man who’s been living in exile in Bangkok for the past ten years after killing a cop. He manages a Thai boxing club as a front for a drugs operation and finds himself in hot water after his brother is killed for murdering a prostitute. The boys’ mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) arrives in Bangkok to collect her son’s body and instructs Gosling to take revenge and “raise hell.”  This footage is incredibly brief, but it’s clear that Bangkok itself is a heavy influence on the film’s visual style.

Hit the jump to check out the teaser.  Only God Forgives reportedly opens on May 23rd, and is expected to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Quite the interesting director/star pairing looks to be in the works.  A remake of the 1980s crime series The Equalizer has been in development for the past few years, with Denzel Washington most recently signing on to star.  Last we heard, Sony was compiling a shortlist of directors for the project, and on that list was Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn.  The studio has finally made a decision on who will take the helm of the project, and it is indeed Mr. Refn.  Hit the jump for more details, including a release date for Refn’s next film Only God Forgives.

[This is a re-post of my review from Fantastic Fest 2012.  Pusher opens today in limited release.]

This review is a steal, because it’s one review for two movies. Luis Prieto‘s remake of Pusher is in no way significantly different than Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Pusher other than Prieto’s film takes place in London instead of Copenhagen, and the characters speak the primary language of their respective cities. Both films share the same strengths, and Refn’s Pusher is a solid crime flick that takes a lean, gritty premise that runs its protagonist ragged. Prieto doesn’t add anything to the formula, but his mixture still works thanks to the aggressive direction, a strong central performance, and tense pacing.

After Drive, it looked like director Nicolas Winding Refn and actor Ryan Gosling would be constant partners since they were both doing Only God Forgives and then the remake of Logan’s Run.  It looks like that partnership will be taking a break after Only God Forgives.  Variety’s Justin Kroll has tweeted that Gosling has left the remake of Logan’s Run.  Before everyone starts speculating on a falling out between Refn and Gosling, there are numerous reasons why Gosling might have dropped off Logan’s Run.

Hit the jump for more.

Even though bookshelves currently feature the sequel to James Sallis’ novel Drive, on which Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 cult film was based, the director has no plans to adapt it.  We previously brought you the author’s thoughts on an adaptation of Driven; that film may still go ahead, just not with Refn and star Ryan Gosling attached.  However, Refn commented on the fact that even though a Drive sequel is out of the question, the character of The Driver may yet appear again on screen.  Hit the jump to get this sorted out.

This review is a steal, because it’s one review for two movies.  Luis Prieto‘s remake of Pusher is in no way significantly different than Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Pusher other than Prieto’s film takes place in London instead of Copenhagen, and the characters speak the primary language of their respective cities.  Both films share the same strengths, and Refn’s Pusher is a solid crime flick that takes a lean, gritty premise that runs its protagonist ragged.  Prieto doesn’t add anything to the formula, but his mixture still works thanks to the aggressive direction, a strong central performance, and tense pacing.

A new trailer and poster for the British remake of Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher have been released.  The film centers on Frank, a drug dealer (Richard Coyle) who gets busted by the cops and has to throw away his product.  When he returns to the mob boss (Zlatko Buric reprising his role from Refn’s trilogy) without the unsold drugs or the money to pay for them, Frank frantically tries to find a way to repay the mobster.  I still haven’t seen Refn’s original films so I don’t have much to compare it to, but the trailer for director Luis Prieto’s English-language take on the material looks interesting enough.  Refn is involved in the remake as an executive producer, so I doubt the pic strays too far from the original.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and check out the poster.  The pic also stars Agyness Deyn, Bronson Webb, and Paul Kaye.  Pusher will be available VOD and on iTunes on September 28th before hitting theaters on October 26th.

Sony Pictures is getting a move-on with the feature film adaptation of the 1980s CBS crime series The Equalizer.  Denzel Washington has been set to star as far back as last December, and Sony is hoping to make the film the first in a franchise.  The TV series centered on a former covert operations officer who dedicated his life to helping people in trouble.  The film will retain that main conceit, but is only loosely based on the show.  Deadline reports that an April 8th start date has been set for the feature, most likely in Boston, but the next order of business is finding a director.  Hit the jump to see who’s landed on Sony’s shortlist.