Paul Giamatti, Paul Rudd, and Sally Hawkins to Star in Comedy LUCKY DOG

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 12:07 pm

Paul Giamatti, Paul Rudd, and Sally Hawkins are set to lead Phil Morrison‘s comedy Lucky Dog.  Per Deadline, “the story centers on a pair of French-Canadian conmen pals who, despite being on the outs with each other, hatch a get-rich-quick scheme to sell Christmas trees in NY.”  I’m not sure what’s quick about selling Christmas trees, but I’ll go along with it even though I thought Morrison’s previous film, Junebug, was an absolute chore with the exception of Amy Adams‘ performance.  Filming on Lucky Dog begins next month in New York City.

As we reported last month, Giamatti is set to play Friar Lawrence (the guy who cooks up the idiotic fake-death potion) in the period adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.  Rudd is leading Errol Morris‘ non-documentary feature Freezing People Is Easy, and he’ll be seen later this year in the comedies Wanderlust and the Knocked Up spinoff, This Is Forty.  As for Hawkins, she’s co-starring in Mike Newell‘s adaptation of Great Expectations.

Legendary Pictures Scraps Alex Proyas’ PARADISE LOST Starring Bradley Cooper

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 12:02 pm

In the climate of budget conscious studios hesitant to gamble money on anything that doesn’t have a “2” in the title, more and more ambitious projects are having trouble crossing the finish line. Universal passed on Guillermo del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are struggling to get their blended, multi-part film/TV adaptation of The Dark Tower off the ground, and most recently we saw Warner Bros. put their fantasy pic Arthur & Lancelot on hold in order to work out budget issues.

Now you can add Paradise Lost to the list of blue balled titles, as Legendary has pulled the plug. The ambitious adaptation of John Milton’s classic epic poem was to begin shooting in January, but Legendary decided in December to push production back in order to reduce the budget. Now the studio has scrapped the project all together. Hit the jump for more, including why Legendary backed out.

THE ARTIST Star Jean Dujardin Auditions for Every Villain Role Ever

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 11:34 am

A staple of foreign actors making it big in America is signing on for the obligatory villain role. Christoph Waltz followed up Inglourious Basterds with The Green Hornet, Javier Bardem did No Country for Old Men shortly after The Sea Inside, and now The Artist’s Jean Dujardin is poised to follow suit. He’s a Best Actor nominee (and possible winner) for the likely Best Picture champion, and the charismatic Frenchman has teamed up with Funny or Die to poke fun at the whole “foreign star as the next big villain” thing. It’s an amusing video, and we see Dujardin tackle everything from Bond villain to the baddie in Jack and Jill 2. One thing’s for certain: Dujarin could charm the pants off of just about anyone.

Hit the jump to check out the video.

MAN OF STEEL Star Henry Cavill in Talks to Star in Edward Zwick’s THE GREAT WALL

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 11:27 am

While it feels like Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel has been filming forever, star Henry Cavill is finally looking to book his first post-Superman role. Variety reports that Cavill is now in negotiations to star in director Edward Zwick’s (The Last Samurai) period epic The Great Wall. The film “looks at the mystery behind how China’s Great Wall was constructed.” Zwick wrote the screenplay with Marshall Herskovitz, based on a story by World War Z author Max Brooks and Thomas Tull.

No other plot details are given, but historically speaking the Great Wall was constructed in the 5th century BC in order to keep nomadic groups out of the Chinese Empire. It’s unknown what kind of approach Zwick will take, or what kind of character Cavill will play. The actor was recently seen in Immortals, but we’ve got quite a while to wait before we see him don the tights. Man of Steel opens June 14th, 2013.

Morgan Freeman Joins Tom Cruise in OBLIVION

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 10:55 am

Morgan Freeman has joined Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, and Olga Kurylenko in Joseph Kosinski’s sci-fi action flick Oblivion (formerly titled Horizons).  Cruise plays a veteran soldier who’s banished to the surface of a post-apocalyptic Earth and tasked with repairing ships that hunt down the aliens who destroyed our planet. When a mysterious woman (Riseborough) crash-lands nearby, their encounter sets off an eye-opening chain of events.  Deadline reports that Freeman’s role is currently unknown, but it’s a “critical part.”  I don’t have those details either, but I’m willing to wager it will be a dignified, intelligent character who is either a mentor and/or a nemesis.  Call it a hunch. [Update: Variety's Jeff Sneider tweets, "Morgan Freeman will play Malcolm Beech, the leader of the human resistance on Earth."]

Freeman will be seen in theaters later this summer reprising his role as Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight Rises.  He’s also co-starring in Louis Leterrier‘s magician heist flick Now You See Me.

SAFE HOUSE Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 10:25 am

There’s no problem with delivering a solid action thriller that doesn’t reinvent the genre, but Safe House goes through the motions without an ounce of creativity or flavor.  It’s the bare minimum of what an action movie should be and marches through gunfights and car chases because that’s what the genre requires, not what makes the film exciting.  Denzel Washington doesn’t add much by doing a tamer retread of his Training Day performance, and Ryan Reynolds is the film’s redeeming aspect as he tries to bring a little nuance and shading to his character.  But the main fault lays with director Daniel Espinosa, who knows how to make Safe House loud, but not much else.

Casting Call: Sands Joins Coens’ INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS; Osment to Star in I’LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN; O’Dowd and Gillen in CALVARY

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 9:23 am

We’ve got a few quick casting stories to report this morning.  First up, Stark Sands (Generation Kill) has joined the Coen Brothers‘ upcoming film Inside Llewyn Davis.  The movie takes place in 1961 Greenwich Village and centers on a young musician (Oscar Isaac) trying to make it in the folk scene.  The film co-stars Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, and John Goodman.  According to Deadline, Sands will play “Troy Nelson, a young soldier on leave who’s a forlorn and talented musician.”  Sands’ recently appeared in the Broadway adaptation of Green Day‘s Americna Idiot.

Hit the jump for casting news on I’ll Follow You Down and John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary.

Collider Visits the Set of JOHN CARTER

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 9:07 am

“Barsoom” reads a sign on the outskirts of the movie set we’re about to visit.  “Barsoom” is what Martians call their planet in Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ A Princess of Mars.  A group of my fellow online movie journalists and I are headed to the set of Andrew Stanton‘s adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel, John Carter.  Mars may technically be in Big Water, Utah, but today we’ll be walking the ruins of an ancient Martian city, meeting a princess who bleeds blue, and a nine-foot-tall nomad tribe of warriors.  Hit the jump to take a trip to the red planet and find out about my visit to the set of John Carter.

Taylor Kitsch JOHN CARTER Set Visit Interview

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 9:06 am

If you ever watched TV’s Friday Night Lights, then you’re probably already a Taylor Kitsch fan.  You know he’s got the charm and acting chops to carry a film, and he’s carrying two blockbusters this year.  First up is Andrew Stanton‘s John Carter, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ novel A Princess of Mars.  Kitsch plays John Carter, a Civil War veteran who finds him transported to the surface of Mars and thrown into a new civil war, but this it’s between nine-foot-tall green aliens and princesses who literally bleed blue.  While on the film’s set, we talked to Kitsch about finding the balance between everyman and action hero, being the audience surrogate, working with director and co-writer Stanton, acting in physical environment as opposed to a green-screen soundstage, and more.

Hit the jump to check out the interview.  John Carter opens March 9th.

Director and Co-Writer Andrew Stanton JOHN CARTER Set Visit Interview

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 9:06 am

Making the move from directing animation to live-action was the big question facing Andrew Stanton when I visited the set of John Carter in April 2010.  Stanton had already delivered two amazing Pixar movies with Finding Nemo and WALL-E, but he headed to Mars with John Carter and Mars was a mix of live-action and CG.  Stanton was refreshingly honest about the transition and how the two mediums compare.  He also talked about his frustrations with the live-action process, how the film isn’t in post-production but “Principal Digital Photography”, the process of adapting the book, trying to flesh out the main characters, where they’re at with the planned sequels, and more.

Hit the jump to check out the interview.  John Carter opens in 3D on March 9th.

Willem Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church JOHN CARTER Set Visit Intervew

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 9:06 am

Tharks, the green-skinned, six-limbed creatures living on Mars in John Carter are about nine feet tall.  Great actors though they are, Willem Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church, are not nine feet tall.  Even though they’re wearing the standard motion-capture grey leotards and tracking dots, there’s no accounting for height…unless you add stilts.  Watching Dafoe and Church march around on stilts is one of the high-lights of any set visit I’ve gone to.

With a sandstorm whipping into our faces and into our microphones, my fellow movie journalists and I spoke to Dafoe and Church on the set of John Carter.  In addition to talking about the stilts, we spoke about the scene they were currently filming, their characters, how doing motion-capture on set helped their performances, and more.  Hit the jump to check out the interview.  John Carter opens in 3D on March 9th.

Lynn Collins JOHN CARTER Set Visit Interview

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 9:05 am

Andrew Stanton‘s John Carter is based off the novel A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  Lynn Collins plays the novel’s eponymous princess, Dejah Thoris.  But rather than a damsel in distress waiting for the Earthman John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) to come to her rescue, she can hold her own and kick some ass. When I went to the set of John Carter with some of my fellow movie bloggers, Collins spoke to us about her martial arts training, Dejah’s fighting style training, the three hours it takes to cover her body in intricate tattoos, what the tattoos mean, and more.  “John Carter” may be the title of the movie, but don’t be surprised if we’re paying just as much attention to the Princess of Mars.

Hit the jump to check out the interview.  John Carter opens in 3D on March 9th.

Samantha Morton JOHN CARTER Set Visit Interview

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 9:05 am

Like most of her John Carter co-stars, Oscar-nominee Samantha Morton (In America) has been in blockbuster films, but she’s never had to do motion capture up until this movie.  Also, since she plays a Thark, she also never had to walk on stilts until John Carter.  Morton plays Sola, a pariah of the war-loving Thark society due to her caring and nurturing attitude, and she’s given the task of helping John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) acclimate to life among the Tharks.

Morton was a bit reluctant to talk about her character since she’s used to talking more about the film after it’s finished rather than during production.  It’s a position I absolutely respect, and I’m glad she was at least willing to comment on how working with director Andrew Stanton compared to working with Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) and Steven Spielberg (Minority Report), adapting a classic piece of literature (John Carter is based off Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ A Princess of Mars), and a bit more.  Hit the jump for the interview.  John Carter opens in 3D on March 9th.

Promo Poster for Robert Rodriguez’ MACHETE KILLS Starring Danny Trejo

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 8:44 am

A promo poster for Robert Rodriguez‘ Machete sequel, Machete Kills, has popped up online.  Unfortunately, Machete was a massive disappointment and I’m wary of a sequel, which is part two in a planned trilogy; the finale will be Machete Kills Again.  Machete misunderstood what a gritty B-movie was supposed to be, gussied it up with movie stars, used a bloated storyline to accommodate all of them, and its biggest crime was making Machete (Danny Trejo) a supporting character in his own movie.  Hopefully, Machete Kills will be leaner and trust Trejo to carry the flick.  The plot has Machete tasked to “take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space.”  So…space weapons and global war…that’s leaner, right?

Hit the jump to check out the promo poster.  Filming on Machete Kills is set to begin filming in April.

Naomi Watts Replaces Jessica Chastain in Princess Diana Biopic CAUGHT IN FLIGHT

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 9th, 2012 at 8:27 am

Naomi Watts has replaced Jessica Chastain in Oliver Hirschbiegel‘s Princess Diana biopic, Caught in Flight.  We reported in November that the film focused on Diana’s real-life secret affair with heart surgeon, Dr. Hasnat Khan, “who was said to be the love of her life.”  However, THR broadens the synopsis by saying the movies takes place “during the last two years of her life,” and “the script charts her search for personal happiness as she turned into a major international campaigner and humanitarian.”  However, since her relationship with Khan reportedly began in 1995 and Diana died in 1997, the timeline still holds.  Presumably, the search for “personal happiness” involved Khan.

Filming on Caught in Flight is set to take place in the UK later this year.  Watts will next be seen in the drama The Impossible, and she’s co-starring opposite Robin Wright in The Grandmothers.

Copyright ©2005 - 2012. All Rights Reserved. California web design