Earlier this summer, Gore Verbinksi‘s adaptation of The Lone Ranger was rounding up its cast.  Johnny Depp was signed on to play Tonto, Armie Hammer was playing the Ranger, and the movie was lining up Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson (Luther), Dwight Yoakam, Barry Pepper, and Helena Bonham Carter for supporting roles.  But then Disney pumped the brakes and wanted a lower budget, they eventually got it after some protracted negotiations, and now pre-production is back underway.

However, this delay moved back the start of production which meant that scheduling had changed for the actors.  Depp and Hammer never really left, and now it looks like Verbinski is trying to get his other actors back.  Deadline reports that Wilkinson has returned to play the villain Latham Cole while Wilson is still playing the movie’s female lead.  Disney is talking again with Carter, Pepper, and Yoakam as well as James Badge Dale.  Production on the $215 million cowboy movie begins in February 2012 for a May 31, 2013 release.

Earlier this week, we reported that writer-director Terrence Malick had two new films (both starring Christian Bale) in the pipeline, which was surprising considering the huge time gap between Malick’s previous movies.  But neither of the Bale movies are the follow-up to The Tree of Life.  Malick’s next movie is an untitled romantic drama (previously titled The Burial) he shot last year, and 24 Frames has some new details on the plot.  To begin, it’s Malick’s first movie set in the present day, and he’s currently at work editing the picture, which he expects to be finished by next year (although that doesn’t mean a distributor will release it in 2012).  So what’s this mystery flick about?  Philandering!  Europeans!  Oklahoma!

Hit the jump for more details.  The film stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz, Barry Pepper, and Jessica Chastain.

Tonight was the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards and the winner’s list included some great names.  Perhaps the best win of the night was Peter Dinklage picking up Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Game of Thrones.  Not far behind was Kyle Chandler finally picking up an Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series for the final season of Friday Night Lights (the show also picked up an Emmy for Best Writing in a Drama Series).  Martin Scorsese picked up an award for his direction of Boardwalk Empire‘s pilot episode, and ubiquitous character actor Margo Martindale won Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Mags Bennett on FX’s Justified.

The top awards for Best Drama, Best Comedy, and Best Variety, Music or Comedy Series went to last year’s winners Mad Men, Modern Family, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, respectively.  Best Miniseries or TV Movie was awarded to  PBS’ Downtown Abbey while CBS’ The Amazing Race picked up another Emmy for Best Reality-Competition Program.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

It looks as if director Gore Verbinski’s (Rango) take on The Lone Ranger may soon be upping its cast by three. Already starring Armie Hammer in the title role, Johnny Depp as his trusty sidekick Tonto, and Tom Wilkinson as a railroad tycoon, the pic is now close to landing Helena Bonham Carter, Barry Pepper, and country star turned actor Dwight Yoakam. Per Heat Vision, the trio is currently in talks to join the pic as a brothel madam, military officer, and gang leader respectively. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Disney’s adaptation of the classic character is set to begin shooting in mid-October of this year in Texas and New Mexico.

The Lone Ranger is penned by Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio, and Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road) and will center on the plight of a Texas Ranger (Hammer) who is left for dead by Yoakam’s gang, only to return as the masked title character. As for the film’s potential new additions, Carter can currently be seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Pepper has a role in Terrence Malick’s untitled romantic drama with Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem, and Yoakam is currently lensing director Billy Bob Thornton’s drama Jayne Manfield’s Car alongside Kevin Bacon, Dennis Quaid, John Hurt, and Robert Duvall.

Writer/director Terrence Malick’s latest film, The Tree of Life, just opened in limited release this weekend, marking only the fifth film released by the auteur in an almost 40-year career. To say Malick takes his time in choosing and editing projects is an understatement. But the director’s trademark lag between productions may now be a thing of the past. Last year, Malick shot his follow-up to Tree of Life, a romantic drama starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz, Barry Pepper and Olga Kurylenko. While details on the plot are extremely hard to come by (typical of a Malick film), a bit more information has been unveiled about the drama.

Previously referred to as Burial, the untitled drama is a love story described as being even more experimental than Tree of Life, a film that has drawn some polarizing responses given its lack of narrative and expansive reach for greatness, despite winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Someone who has seen footage from Malick’s follow-up stated that the director’s trademark meditativeness “is there in spades.” Even more interesting, though, is the fact that Malick has alerted his production crew to keep the summer and fall open to possibly shoot another film this year. Hit the jump for more.

What do you know about Jack Abramoff?  Better yet, as a film geek, do you care about Jack Abramoff?  Let’s say you don’t know who the hell Jack Abramoff is and don’t care to find out:  is there anything about Casino Jack I can recommend that’ll get you interested in the movie?  How about the inclusion of Kevin Spacey, turning in one of his funnier performances?  What about…well, what about Kevin Spacey being funny?  Not convinced?  Then you might not care about seeing Casino Jack.  Read on for the full-blown review after the jump, folks….

In January, we found out that The History Channel had decided not to air The Kennedys, an 8-part miniseries focusing on the life and times of the Kennedy family with an all-star cast including cast that includes Greg Kinnear (John F. Kennedy), Katie Holmes (Jackie Kennedy), Barry Pepper (Robert F. Kennedy) and Tom Wilkinson (Joe Kennedy). There was hope the controversial miniseries, which has been criticized for its negative portrayal of the iconic political family, to air on Showtime but the cable network passed. Now THR reports The Kennedys has landed a premiere at ReelzChannel, a cable channel mostly dedicated to talking about and going behind the scenes of various movies.  Hit the jump for more.

Today, straight out of left field, comes news from THR that the miniseries The Kennedys, will no longer air this spring on The History Channel. The network’s representative says, “Upon completion of the production of The Kennedys, History has decided not to air the 8-part miniseries on the network. While the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand.” So despite a name cast that includes Greg Kinnear (John F. Kennedy), Katie Holmes (Jackie Kennedy), Barry Pepper (Robert F. Kennedy) and Tom Wilkinson (Joe Kennedy), the series isn’t going to air on The History Channel.  More details and the trailer after the jump:

If you’ve seen the Coen Brothers awesome movie True Grit, then you saw Barry Pepper’s great work as Lucky Ned Pepper towards the end of the film.  However, if you haven’t seen the movie, I won’t spoil anything in this intro other than saying True Grit is a fantastic movie and Pepper literally disappears in the role.  Of course, as a fan of this very talented actor, this didn’t surprise me as he’s been doing great work for years.  Check out his full resume.

Anyway, before True Grit got released, I sat down with Pepper for an exclusive interview.  While I usually like to post interviews before a movie gets released, I decided to save this one till after it had been playing for a little while.  During the interview he talked about how he got involved in the movie, what it was like to work with the amazing cast, and the Coen Brothers.  In addition, Pepper recently wrapped on Terrence Malick’s next movie (which stars Ben Affleck) and he told me how he got cast and how he never read a script.  He also said that he still doesn’t know what the movie is about and described the unusual way Malick worked.  If you’re a fan of either the Coen Brothers or Terrence Malick, hit the jump to either read or listen to some great stories:

America’s political system has been a favorite subject of filmmakers for decades.  The reasons are clear.  There’s enough grandstanding, scandal, backstabbing and intrigue in a week on Capitol Hill to fill a season of any network soap opera.  Take the latest entry into the genre.  Casino Jack, in the early stages of a nationwide rollout, follows the real-life story of so-called super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff who served time in prison for defrauding four Native American tribes out of tens of millions of dollars and trading money and gifts for political favors from some of DC’s biggest power brokers.  While the scandal landed public officials in prison, the film has landed Kevin Spacey a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) and very positive reviews for Barry Pepper as Abramoff’s protégé Michael Scanlon.

Pepper recently sat down with Collider for a wide-ranging conversation.  Hit the jump for the interview’s full audio and transcript, including his view of Washington, whether he’d run for office, his wild experience on a new Terrence Malick film and his very thorough research to play Robert F. Kennedy.

Paramount has released 4 movie clips and about 4 minutes of behind the scenes footage from the Coen Brothers True Grit.  Based on Charles Portis’ novel, the film stars Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld.  As I said a few weeks ago in my mini-review and video blog, I absolutely loved this movie and think it’s one of the best of the year.  I also think this is one of those films that will stand the test of time.  Of course, being directed by the Coen Brothers, does that really surprise anyone?

Anyway, if you can’t wait till Christmas Day, hit the jump for some clips and the behind the scenes footage:

In the late 90′s, I used to watch Pedro Martinez pitch for the Boston Red Sox.  While he’d always been a decent pitcher, starting in ’97, he was in the zone, striking out batters with such ease that everyone knew they were watching something special.  It got to be that his dates on the mound were circled on calendars and people cleared their schedules to make sure they could watch.

Which brings me to the latest Coen Brothers movie, True Grit.

For the past few years, moviegoers have been witness to an incredible streak of brilliant movies from the Coens, starting with No Country For Old Men in 2007, and continuing with Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, and now their latest work of genius, True Grit.  Like Pedro Martinez in the 90′s, the brothers are throwing fastball after fastball and they’re making it look far too easy.  And they’re doing it every year.  If you’re a movie nerd, you know how difficult it is to make one great movie, let alone four in four years.  Much more after the jump:

It’s a good day to be a Terrence Malick fan.  Earlier, we caught the poster and synopsis for the writer/director’s upcoming film The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.  Now, we have some great photos from the set of his next film, a currently untitled “romantic drama.”  The project boasts an impressive cast, including Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, and the recently announced Barry Pepper.  For more on the film, and to view the set photos, hit the jump.

One of the season’s most anticipated films will hit theaters sooner than expected! Okay, so it’s only 3 days, but this is a Coen Brothers movie we’re talkin about.  Originally scheduled to open on Christmas Day (a Saturday), Exhibitor Relations reports that Paramount will now release True Grit on Wednesday the 22^nd.  Also opening in wide release on the 22^nd is the Jack Black adventure comedy Gulliver’s Travels and the third movie in the Meet the Parents trilogy, Little Fockers.  True Grit was previously the only film opening on Christmas weekend, with the other films opening the Wednesday before to enjoy the 5-day holiday, so this is a much welcomed change for people wanting to enjoy a family outing at the Coen brothers Western a little earlier.  For more on True Grit, including some words from 13-year-old newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, hit the jump.

Critically-acclaimed director Terrence Malick has yet to unveil his new film Tree of Life, but The Playlist is reporting that Malick is already into deep production on his next feature. The not-yet-titled feature, which stars Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel Wiesz, and Olga Kurylenko has just brought on actor Barry Pepper, of Saving Private Ryan and The Green Mile fame, who will reportedly play a priest along with Bardem. A local newspaper caught the cast and crew filming in Pawhuska, Oklahoma this week, though no interviews or details about the production were given.

Malick, who directed 1998’s Best Picture nominee The Thin Red Line and 2005’s The New World, has already completed production on Tree of Life, though no word on an official release date beyond 2011 has appeared online. Tree of Life stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn and is said to follow a family through multiple generations, time and space. Recent news suggests the film has been granted a PG-13 rating.  More after the jump.