Philip Seymour Hoffman

Director Paul Thomas Anderson Updates Progress on THE MASTER; Also Provides the First Image of Philip Seymour Hoffman in Character

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: May 15th, 2012 at 5:05 pm

Director Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) has kindly provided an update on the status of his recently rescued project, The Master.  As the picture is being shot in 65mm film, Anderson provided a first image (of sorts) of star Philip Seymour Hoffman (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead) in character. Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons and David Warshovsky also star in the drama about a man (Hoffman) so shaken by the horrors of World War II that he creates a new religion.  Anderson’s There Will Be Blood composer, Johnny Greenwood, is scoring the film.  The Master is aiming for an October 12th release.  Hit the jump to read the message from Anderson and to take a look at the first images.

Philip Seymour Hoffman to Star in Anton Corbijn’s A MOST WANTED MAN

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 7th, 2012 at 12:10 pm

In June, we reported that Anton Corbijn (The American) was set to adapt John le Carré‘s novel, A Most Wanted Man.  Today, Variety reports that Philip Seymour Hoffman is set to play the lead, “a near-dead half-Chechen, half Russian man on the run [who] in the city’s Islamic community desperate for help and looking to recover his late Russian father’s ill-gotten fortune.  A young female lawyer and private British banker become entwined in his fate and all the while, they are being watched by a covert German spy unit.”

I was impressed at how Corbijn turned the thriller-premise of The American into a quiet, meditative drama, and I’m curious to see if he’ll take the same approach with A Most Wanted Man.  Shooting is expected to begin this September in Hamburg.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of le Carré’s novel.

THE IDES OF MARCH Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: January 31st, 2012 at 6:00 am

George Clooney’s The Ides of March is exactly what you’d expect from Clooney (as a filmmaker) at this point. It’s smart, smooth, well cast and put together. If there’s a modest hesitation, it’s that it’s a very small movie, and perhaps one that has delusions of profundity. Ryan Gosling stars as a campaign manager for one of the leading presidential contenders (Clooney). But to get the nomination, Gosling finds that he’s embroiled in double crossing by friends and foes alike. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffery Wright co-star in the film, and our review of The Ides of March on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

MONEYBALL Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: January 16th, 2012 at 5:30 am

What if you made a scrappy underdog sports film that wasn’t funny? In some ways that’s what Moneyball is, it’s the story of Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and how he works with Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to build a team to win using statistics over star players. Bennett Miller’s film is engaging enough even for those who don’t follow the game (and those that do may dismiss what they accomplished – as many have) but as a narrative it’s the rare serious attempt to tell an underdog sports story without focusing on jokes or the players. Our review of Moneyball on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Synopsis and Promo Poster for Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 2nd, 2011 at 4:34 pm

All eyes were on writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson as to what project he would be taking on after his 2007 tour-de-force There Will Be Blood. It took a few years, but he finally settled on a new untitled project that centers on the leader/creator of a faith-based organization and his followers. The stellar cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman as the organization’s leader and Joaquin Phoenix as a young drifter who Hoffman sets as his right-hand-man, as well as Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, and David Warshovsky. Steve was able to grab a synopsis for the film at AFM earlier today, as well as a simple promo poster. Hit the jump to check them out.

THE IDES OF MARCH Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 7th, 2011 at 6:10 am

[This is a re-print of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival]

We’re not inherently jaded about politics. You can’t have your idealism torn down if nothing was built in the first place. The 2008 election of Barack Obama promoted that idealism and gave people hope (the giant posters emblazoned with the word “Hope” may have had something to do with it). But we were all deceived when reality came crashing in and The Ides of March lays the blame not on our political system or even our politicians but on us. And when we realize that we can’t do anything larger than ourselves, we begin to think only of ourselves. Director George Clooney (who also co-wrote the screenplay and co-stars in the film) avoids being preachy or heavy-handed, but his light-touch fails to leave a lasting impact.

MONEYBALL Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 23rd, 2011 at 6:29 am

[This review is a re-print of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival]

The joy one gets from going to a baseball game is an intangible. You can keep the foul ball you caught in the stands or the souvenir cap you got at the gate, but there’s no quantifying the thrill of seeing a walk-off home-run or watching a player make a diving catch or seeing a pitcher strike out the batter with bases loaded. Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) presented an anathema to the intangible by trying to quantify every play and every player. The uproar against his plan was tremendous and oblivious. The game had already been quantified in dollars, and the A’s didn’t have much of those. What they did have was a willingness to rethink an unfair business to so they could have a shot at the championship. Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ Moneyball takes the interesting ideas presented in the book and transforms them into a funny, dramatic, and captivating tale that can hold competing ideas simultaneously.

4 Clips from THE IDES OF MARCH

by Jason Barr    Posted: September 16th, 2011 at 7:56 am

With the political drama The Ides of March getting released in a few weeks, Sony has sent over four clips. Starring director George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright, the pic takes place during the tension-filled moments leading up to an all-important Ohio presidential primary where a press secretary (Gosling) finds himself in the middle of a scandal that could upend his candidates’ (Clooney) shot at winning.

Watch the clips after the jump.  One of Adam’s “Most Anticipated Fall Films,”The Ides of March hits theaters on October 7th.

TIFF 2011: MONEYBALL Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 13th, 2011 at 10:01 pm

The joy one gets from going to a baseball game is an intangible.  You can keep the foul ball you caught in the stands or the souvenir cap you got at the gate, but there’s no quantifying the thrill of seeing a walk-off home-run or watching a player make a diving catch or seeing a pitcher strike out the batter with bases loaded.  Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) presented an anathema to the intangible by trying to quantify every play and every player.  The uproar against his plan was tremendous and oblivious.  The game had already been quantified in dollars, and the A’s didn’t have much of those.  What they did have was a willingness to rethink an unfair business to so they could have a shot at the championship.  Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ Moneyball takes the interesting ideas presented in the book and transforms them into a funny, dramatic, and captivating tale that can hold competing ideas simultaneously.

TIFF 2011: THE IDES OF MARCH Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 9th, 2011 at 3:35 pm

We’re not inherently jaded about politics.  You can’t have your idealism torn down if nothing was built in the first place.  The 2008 election of Barack Obama promoted that idealism and gave people hope (the giant posters emblazoned with the word “Hope” may have had something to do with it).  But we were all deceived when reality came crashing in and The Ides of March lays the blame not on our political system or even our politicians but on us.  And when we realize that we can’t do anything larger than ourselves, we begin to think only of ourselves.  Director George Clooney (who also co-wrote the screenplay and co-stars in the film) avoids being preachy or heavy-handed, but his light-touch fails to leave a lasting impact.

UK Trailer for MONEYBALL

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 31st, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Another trailer has landed online for Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ Moneyball.  While the book reads like a long, engrossing essay on the changing nature of baseball and the influence of sabremetrics, the movie looks like it will seize on the familiar tropes of the sports drama with a worst-to-first team, believing in stuff, and shocking the world with victory.  There’s nothing wrong with a well-executed sports movie and hopefully Moneyball can deliver.  The UK trailer throws in some new footage but like the previous trailers, it’s all about how Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) took a big chance using statistics to build the Oakland A’s rather than giant salaries.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Moneyball will play at the Toronto International Film Festival and open nationwide on September 23rd.

Second Trailer for MONEYBALL Starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 3rd, 2011 at 2:01 pm

Have you had your fill of trailers today with The Darkest Hour, Killer Elite, and In Time?  Well open up that belt buckle one more notch because we’ve got yet another new piece of advertising for you.  Sony Pictures has released a second trailer for Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.  It plays like the first trailer:  financially-poor baseball team the Oakland As keep losing, angry general manager Billy Beane (Pitt), reinvents the game by using statistics instead of the tired conventional wisdom, Beane becomes a controversial figure who may lose his job, Oakland As triumph, everybody hugs.  This new trailer is basically the same thing with some new footage.  Despite the simple trajectory of the trailer’s arc, I’m looking forward to the movie because I dug the book, Aaron Sorkin worked on the screenplay, and I’m a fan of Pitt and Hill.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Moneyball opens September 23rd but will first play at the Toronto International Film Festival.

First Trailer and Poster for THE IDES OF MARCH Starring Ryan Gosling and George Clooney

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: July 27th, 2011 at 7:56 pm

George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright: that sounds like a very realistic hypothetical list of Best Actor Oscar nominees some year, but no, these are the male stars of The Ides of March.  Femme things up with Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood, and Clooney has himself helluva cast for his latest directorial feature.

Sony has released the first trailer, which highlight’s Gosling’s moral struggle as an up-and-coming press secretary.  It’s clear this is going to be an acting clinic, and likely a major Oscar contender.  Can’t wait.  The Ides of March opens on October 7.  Hit the jump for the trailer and a new poster.

Amy Adams and Lena Endre Join Paul Thomas Anderson’s Untitled Religious Drama

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 1st, 2011 at 12:33 pm

Last month, we reported that in addition to Joaquin Phoenix signing on to star opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled religious drama, actresses Madisen Beaty (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Amy Adams, Lena Endre (2009′s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Laura Dern were also circling the project.  Earlier this week, we reported that Dern was on board (along with Jesse Plemons and David Warshofsky) and now we’ve learned that Endre and Adams have also joined the flick.  The Playlist reports that Endre’s role is currently unknown while Deadline is reporting that Adams will play the wife of Hoffman’s character, Lancaster Dodd.

The story is set in the 1950s and centers on Dodd, a World War II veteran, who starts a new religion after being haunted by the horrors of battle.  He then takes in an alcoholic drifter (Phoenix) as his right-hand man.  Earlier drafts of the script heavily implied that the movie was based on L. Ron Hubbard and the founding of the Church of Scientology, but that aspect may have been reduced in later drafts.  I’m not familiar with Endre’s work, but I’m a huge fan of Adams and this cast continues to impress.

Promo Poster for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Untitled Drama

by Max Lichtig    Posted: May 18th, 2011 at 7:43 am

Way back last year, we reported some casting news as well as gave a brief synopsis of the upcoming highly-anticipated Paul Thomas Anderson project. Following his dark character study of rich-man greed in There Will Be Blood, Anderson’s next film, which is technically untitled but had been unofficially given the name The Master, and that script followed “charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952,” but there have now reportedly been some changes to tone down the story’s parallels to Scientology.  The story now concerns “a man who returns after witnessing the horrors of WWII and tries to rediscover who he is in post-war America. He creates a belief system, something that catches on with other lost souls.” We’ll see how much the final product calls out Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but for now, we’ll make due with this bland promo poster shown at Cannes which, though it provides nothing more than a silhouette of a man, at least confirms that the movie is being developed.

Hit the jump to check out the poster and more details on the film.

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