A new promo image for director Lars von Trier’s very curious new film Nymphomaniac has been released.  The drama picked up considerable attention last year when we learned that the film’s actors will be performing unsimulated sex acts in the pic, which stars Charlotte Gainsbourgh as a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who recounts her life story to Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), an old, charming bachelor who finds Gainsbourhough’s character beaten up in an alley.  This promo image highlights the film’s cast—which includes Willem Dafoe, Shia LaBeouf, Uma Thurman, and Christian Slater—as they’re shown in various suggestive positions.

Von Trier is currently editing Part Two of the film, but Nymphomaniac is slated to debut on December 25th in Denmark, with a rollout in other territories (including the U.S.) to follow via Magnolia Pictures.  Hit the jump to check out the image.

We’ve got a few casting stories for you this afternoon.  Briefly:

• Sam Elliott has joined Ivan Reitman‘s dramedy Draft Day starring Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Ellen Burstyn, and Terry Crews.

• Michael Pena will co-star in David Ayer‘s WWII thriller Fury starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, and Logan Lerman.

• Speaking of LaBeouf, he’s set to lead Villain, a psychological thriller from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later).

Hit the jump for more on all these films.

Once you have Brad Pitt set as your star, it becomes quite a bit easier to fill out the rest of your cast.  Earlier this month, Pitt committed to the lead role in End of Watch director David Ayer’s World War II film Fury.  The story takes place in 1945 as the Nazi regime collapses and the five-man crew of an American tank called Fury battles a desperate German army.  Pitt is onboard to star as an army sergeant named “Wardaddy,” and now Variety reports that Shia LaBeouf is in talks to co-star.  Further details are unknown, but LaBeouf would play a member of the Fury crew should his deal make.

Ayer wrote the script for Fury himself on spec, and with LaBeouf now onboard I’m really interested to see how the rest of the cast fills out.  LaBeouf was most recently seen in Robert Redford’s thriller The Company You Keep and the Sundance film The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman.  Just yesterday, we learned that he’s attached to reunite with his Disturbia director D.J. Caruso on the espionage film Spy’s Kid alongside Robert De Niro, but with production on Fury set to begin this fall, the WWII film will likely be his next project.  Fury hits theaters on November 14, 2014.

Robert De Niro and Shia LaBeouf are looking to team up for a good old fashioned spy movie.  Heat Vision reports that De Niro and LaBeouf are attached to play a father-son spy team in Spy’s Kid for Paramount, which is described as a Catch Me If You Can-esque story set in the world of espionage.  LaBeouf’s Disturbia director D.J. Caruso is in talks to take the helm, and the project is based on a series of articles published in The Oregonian by Bryan Denson that tell the true story of a CIA veteran convicted of spying who enlisted his son to continue his work from behind bars.

A writer has yet to be attached to the project, and De Niro and LaBeouf’s involvement is contingent upon the final script.  Caruso has yet to get anything off the ground since he helmed the disappointing 2011 sci-fi pic I Am Number Four.  He previously worked with LaBeouf on Disturbia and Eagle Eye, and the two also circled an adaptation of Y: The Last Man.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  The Company You Keep opens tomorrow in limited release.]

Chase films probably shouldn’t feature septuagenarians. Robert Redford‘s The Company You Keep is two movies: one is a surprisingly entertaining investigative thriller, and the other is the most casual, least threatening chase flick I’ve ever seen. Redford has lined-up a tremendous cast, yet spreads them around in weak bit parts, leaving the majority of the picture to himself and Shia LaBeouf. Mixed between their characters’ two stories are confused messages about the value of the truth and rallying for your beliefs (provided it’s not too much of an inconvenience).

A new trailer for director Robert Redford’s thriller The Company You Keep has been released online.  In addition to directing, Redford also stars in the film as a civil rights lawyer who must go on the run when he’s outed by a young reporter (Shia LaBeouf) as being a former 1970s Weather Underground militant.  The trailer teases an engrossing thriller with a stellar ensemble cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Anna Kendrick, Chris Cooper, Terrence Howard, and Brit Marling.  LaBeouf looks to be in fine form as well as the film’s lead, and I’m eager to see how Redford expands on the plot’s themes in the full feature.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here to read Matt’s review of the film from last year’s Toronto Film Festival.  The pic also stars Julie Christie, Sam Elliott, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Jenkins, Stanley Tucci, and Nick Nolte.  The Company You Keep opens on April 5th.

The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman is director Fredrik Bond’s first feature film.  Premiering at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, it stars Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood as a couple who meet under strange circumstances and have an impossibly strong mutual attraction.  As LaBeouf’s character Charlie falls for the beautiful and grieving Gabi, he gets caught in the sights of her dangerous husband (Mads Mikkelsen) and his life comes into immediate and grave danger.  The film feels like a modern fairy tale story of love and pain colliding set in the gritty world of Bucharest, Romania. It also stars Til Schweiger, Rupert Grint, James Buckley, Vincent D’Onofrio and Melissa Leo.

At the press conference at Sundance the morning after the premiere, Collider was present as Bond, LaBeouf, Wood and James Buckley (The Inbetweeners) spoke about the film.  They discussed the making of the film, the chemistry on set and what they learned from previous works and relationships.  Hit the jump to read some highlights from the press conference.

With Sundance 2013 in full swing, more promotional material continues to leak out, like these new images from:

• Before Midnight – The third movie in the Richard Linklater trilogy that includes 1995′s Before Sunrise and 2004′s Before Sunset, centering on the timely relationship between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s aging lovers.  Be sure to read Matt’s review here.
• The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman – Director Fredrik Bond’s crime romance centering on the title character (Shia LaBeouf) who falls for a woman (Evan Rachel Wood) claimed by a violent crime boss.

Hit the jump to check out the new images from each movie.

Yesterday, Sundance announced their stellar Premieres line-up and we have the first images from a few of the movies playing in the category:

• A.C.O.D. – Directed and co-written by Stuart Zicherman, co-written by Ben Karlin, starring Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins, Catherine O’Hara, Amy Poehler, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

• Don Jon’s Addiction – Written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, and Julianne Moore.

• The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete – Directed by George Tillman Jr., written by Michael Starrburry, starring Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Anthony Mackie, and Jeffrey Wright.

• The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman – Directed by Fredrik Bond, written by Matt Drake, starring Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, and Mads Mikkelsen.

Hit the jump for the images and synopses.  The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17 – 27.

We’re happy to bring you an exclusive first look image from The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, starring Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) and Evan Rachel Wood (The Ides of March).  Helmed by debut feature director Fredrik Bond and written by Matt Drake (Project X), the noir romance picture is currently in post-production.  Also starring Mads Mikkelsen, Rupert Grint, Melissa Leo and Til Schweiger, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman opens some time next year.  Hit the jump to check out our exclusive image from the picture. 

When it comes to period pieces, I am a shallow man.  Put beautiful women (Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska), strapping men (Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman), and Shia LaBeouf in Prohibition-era costumes, and I am 80% sold on your movie.  Thankfully, director John Hillcoat took care of the other 20% with Lawless and delivered a taut, beautifully bloody crime drama.

To promote the November 27 Blu-ray/DVD release, Anchor Bay and The Weinstein Company sent us a set of stylish publicity photos.  I would call them effortlessly cool, but I respect the attention to detail too much.  Check out the images after the jump.

Some major casting announcements to make today.  Here they are in brief:

• Ewan McGregor (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) will join the stellar cast of John Wells’ August: Osage County, which already touts Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper among others, with George Clooney producing.
• Christian Slater (Broken Arrow) has been cast in Lars Von Trier’s pornographic duet, Nymphomaniac, two full-length features which will both be released in softcore and hardcore versions.  The pictures star Charlotte Gainsbourg in the title role along with Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgard, Jamie Bell and Connie Nielsen.

Hit the jump for more info.

Chase films probably shouldn’t feature septuagenarians.  Robert Redford‘s The Company You Keep is two movies: one is a surprisingly entertaining investigative thriller, and the other is the most casual, least threatening chase flick I’ve ever seen.  Redford has lined-up a tremendous cast, yet spreads them around in weak bit parts, leaving the majority of the picture to himself and Shia LaBeouf.  Mixed between their characters’ two stories are confused messages about the value of the truth and rallying for your beliefs provided it’s not too much of an inconvenience.

I have a confession to make: I’ve dropped too much cash on sweet, sweet movie poster prints and frames the last month or so. In addition to my Mondo/Jock The Dark Knight Rises print (which was secured for me by my friend and fellow Collider teammate, Bill Graham), I’ve also picked up Mondo/Phantom City Creative’s The Cabin in the Woods and this little Drive gem by artist Louis Fernando Cruz all in a matter of a few weeks. While I couldn’t be any happier with my purchases (well, I could have stood to pay a little less for The Cabin in the Woods), the truth remains that I’m quickly running out of wall space and disposable income. With all of this in mind, I do have to give a big “thank you” to my wife for tolerating my plans to adorn our house with movie posters. I’ve promised her that my buying flurry will now subside. Unless, of course, someone out there has a Gallery 1988/Rhys Cooper Robocop print they want to part with on the cheap, in which case, I think I have just enough wall space and unaccounted for monies to make one last purchase.

Poster hunting aside, in this week’s edition of the Top 5, I’ve compiled for your reading pleasure our Lawless interviews with Shia LaBeouf, screenwriter/composer Nick Cave, and more, a week filled with rumors surrounding Warner Bros.’ Justice League pic, For a Good Time, Call… video interviews with Ari Graynor, Lauren Miller, and more, a well deserved red-band trailer for The To Do List, and some encouraging, some not so encouraging, news from the set of director Jose Padilha‘s Robocop reboot. A brief recap and link to each awaits after the jump.

The first trailer for Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep has gone online.  In addition to directing, Redford also stars in the film as a civil rights lawyer who must go on the run when he’s outed by a young reporter (Shia LaBeouf) as being a former 1970s Weather Underground militant.  Redford looks to be in full-on thriller mode here, as this appears to be more of an “on the run” story than a straight drama.  We actually don’t get much of Redford’s character in this trailer, as we instead focus more on LaBeouf’s investigation and pursuit of the truth.  The footage isn’t mind-blowing, but the unsurprisingly top-notch cast promises some great performances from the likes of Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Anna Kendrick and Chris Cooper.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Julie Christie, Sam Elliott, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard, Richard Jenkins, Brit Marling, and Nick Nolte.  The Company You Keep will premiere at the Venice Film Festival and will also screen at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.