The Bitter Pill

Steven Soderbergh’s BITTER PILL Set for Release on February 8, 2013

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 16th, 2012 at 12:22 pm

Open Road has staked out a release date for director Steven Soderbergh’s now-filming “psychopharmacological thriller” Bitter Pill.  Per Deadline, the film will open on February 8th, 2013.  Currently, the only other pic slated for that pre-Valentine’s Day date is the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven.  Bitter Pill stars Rooney Mara as a troubled young woman who develops a dangerous love triangle with her doctor (Jude Law) and her recently-paroled husband (Channing Tatum).

We recently got a look at Mara’s very un-Dragon Tattoo-like look for the film by way of some set photos, and Soderbergh currently has Bitter Pill tee’d up to be his penultimate film before he takes a hiatus from filmmaking.  He plans on filming the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon this summer, though that film is being made for HBO so Bitter Pill could very well be Soderbergh’s final theatrical release.  His next film, Magic Mike, opens this summer.

Set Photo Roundup: Rooney Mara in BITTER PILL, Paul Rudd in LUCKY DOG, and Woody Harrelson in NOW YOU SEE ME

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 11th, 2012 at 11:11 am

We’ve got a few set photos to share with you today.  Briefly:

• Bitter Pill – Rooney Mara sports a vastly different look for Stephen Soderbergh’s psychopharmacology thriller Bitter Pill.  Mara stars as a troubled young woman who develops a dangerous love triangle between her doctor and her recently paroled husband.  Jude Law and Channing Tatum also star.
• Lucky Dog – Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti, and Sally Hawkins are seen filming scenes as two con men who hatch a get-rich-quick scheme to sell Christmas trees in NY.
• Now You See Me – Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Isla Fisher were spotted on the set of Louis Letterier’s (Clash of the Titans) magician-centered heist thriller.  The film opens on January 18th, 2013.

Hit the jump to check out all the images.

Rooney Mara Replaces Blake Lively in Steven Soderbergh’s SIDE EFFECTS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 30th, 2012 at 7:39 am

Last week, we reported that Steven Sodebergh‘s psychopharmacology thriller Side Effects might lose lead actress Blake Lively because financier Annapurna Pictures didn’t like her in the role.  Actresses rumored to replace Lively included Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, Emily Blunt, and Imogen Poots.  Today, Deadline reports that Mara will play the role of “a troubled young woman who develops a dangerous love triangle between her doctor (Law) and her newly paroled husband (Tatum).”  The film also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Filming on Side Effects is set to begin in April.  The only other role she’s taken since her breakthrough (and now Oscar-nominated) performance in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is in Terrence Malick’s Lawless co-starring Ryan Gosling.  The Girl Who Played with Fire is slowly moving through the pipeline, but it won’t start shooting until the end of 2012/beginning of 2013 at the earliest.

Steven Soderbergh’s SIDE EFFECTS Gains Catherine Zeta-Jones But Loses Financing; Stars Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Channing Tatum May Move On

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 24th, 2012 at 8:27 pm

Before tonight, we knew a few things about the “psychopharmacology thriller” that Steven Soderbergh and his Contagion writer Scott Z. Burns are developing:

• The title is either The Side Effects or The Bitter Pill.
• Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Channing Tatum form the three corners of the love triangle at the center of the tense plot.
• Annapurna is financing.  Open Road is distributing.

A lot has changed.  First the addition: Catherine Zeta-Jones joined the cast.  Now the subtraction: the latest reports omit the article, referring to the project as just Side Effects.  More notably, Annapurna has pulled out of the project, which puts the involvement of the aforementioned cast in jeopardy.  More after the jump:

Channing Tatum Talks HAYWIRE, Soderbergh, MAGIC MIKE, MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE BITTER PILL, FOXCATCHER, and More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: January 19th, 2012 at 9:38 pm

With director Steven Soderbergh’s spy-action pic Haywire opening tomorrow, I recently got to speak with most of the cast about making the movie.  Starring MMA fighter Gina Carano as a burned spy who takes revenge against her handlers, Haywire also stars Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Angarano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, and Bill Paxton.  I’ve seen Haywire twice now and it’s fantastic.  On top of Carano’s star-making performance, the action scenes are some of the best I’ve seen in years.   It’s absolutely something you should see in a theater.

During the press junket I got to speak to Channing Tatum twice.  The first time we just talked about Haywire. However, the second time we covered a ton of other topics like what the last year has been like for him, his relationship with Soderbergh, how Magic Mike came together and it’s rating, what it was like working with Matthew McConaughey, and what happened to The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. In addition, Tatum revealed he has a small part in Soderbergh’s next picture, The Bitter Pill (which might now be called The Side Effects), and we ended talking about Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher - which he might star in with Steve Carell. It’s a crazy sounding movie.  Hit the jump to watch.

Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Channing Tatum to Star in Steven Soderbergh’s THE SIDE EFFECTS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 9th, 2012 at 9:34 am

In Novemeber, we reported that Steven Soderbergh had left the adaptation of the 1960s spy TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and turned his attention to The Bitter Pill with Scott Z. Burns (The Informant) writing the screenplay.  The Playlist now reports that the film—now titled The Side Effects—has locked down financing and cast Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Channing Tatum in the lead roles.  Lively will play, “Emily Hawkins, a woman who turns to prescription meds to cope with the anxiety of the upcoming release from prison of her husband.”  Tatum will play the husband and Jude Law will play Hawkins’ new psychiatrist.  This will be Lively’s first film with Soderbergh, but it will be Tatum’s third collaboration with the director (Haywire and Magic Mike) and Law’s second (Contagion).

Hit the jump for more.

Summit in Talks to Produce Steven Soderbergh’s THE BITTER PILL

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 6th, 2011 at 6:35 pm

While it seemed as though Steven Soderbergh would have a pretty big hole in his schedule after dropping out of directing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. over casting disputes with Warner Bros., the director quickly moved on to a brand new project called The Bitter Pill. Soderbergh has slotted the film as his next project, and now it looks as though he’s found a studio. Deadline reports that Summit Entertainment is in final negotiations to make a green light commitment to the film. Described as a “psychopharmacology thriller” in the vein of Basic Instinct or Jagged Edge, the film centers on “a troubled and depressed woman who is taking serious amounts of prescription drugs to deal with the anxiety surrounding the pending release of her husband from prison.”

Frequent Soderbergh collaborator Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!, Contagion) wrote the script, and he described it as dealing with people and their moods, saying “It’s about how we as a society can’t tolerate sadness and what that makes us vulnerable to.” The Soderbergh-Burns collaborations thus far as proven fruitful, and I’m onboard for pretty much anything the versatile filmmaker decides to tackle. After Pill he’ll move on to his final film before retirement/sabbatical, the Liberace biopic The Man Behind the Candelabra.

Steven Sodebergh Swallows THE BITTER PILL

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 29th, 2011 at 1:08 pm

Less than two weeks ago we reported that Steven Soderbergh had left the adaptation of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and now (as expected) he’s already picked up a new project.  Heat Vision reports that Soderbergh has signed on to direct The Bitter Pill, and is pitching the project to multiple studios.  U.N.C.L.E. screenwriter Scott Z. Burns penned the script, but not much is known about the story other than it’s “a thriller set in the world of psychopharmacology.”  That may sound bizarre, but keep in mind that Soderbergh turned the story about a price-fixing investigation into a comedy with The Informant! [Update: Burns tells The Playlist that the movie "deals with people and their moods. It’s about how we as a society can’t tolerate sadness and what that makes us vulnerable to."  I thought "psychopharmacology thriller" was good, but Burns makes the movie sound even better.]

Presumably, Soderbergh will want to shoot Bitter Pill in the spring since he’s shooting his Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, in the summer and that will be his last movie before retiring/going on sabbatical.  Soderbergh’s next film, Haywire, is due out January 20th, and his male-stripper movie, Magic Mike, will likely be released in summer 2012.

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