As we move closer towards awards season, studios are busy finalizing which of their films to push in which categories in order to give them the best shot at winning.  Given that the Best Picture snub for The Dark Knight in 2008 is widely considered a large reason why the Academy subsequently expanded the category to a larger number of nominees, we knew Warner Bros. would be launching a campaign for The Dark Knight Rises.  Alas, the “For Your Consideration” campaign for Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy closer is off and running, and we’ve got a look at which categories WB is pulling for.  Hit the jump for more.

When last we reported on the Fox Searchlight adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s short story, Animal Rescue, it was to tell you that Neil Burger (Limitless) was in line to direct.  With Burger stepping aside to helm Divergent, writer/director Michael Roskam (Bullhead) is now seated in the director’s chair.  Lehane adapted his own story and penned the script for Animal Rescue, a “crime drama [that] follows a lonely Boston bartender who rescues a puppy from a garbage can and becomes the target of the dog’s abusive and mentally unstable former owner, while simultaneously getting caught in the middle of a criminal conspiracy playing out in his mob-controlled bar.”  Noted animal-lover Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) is being eyed for the protagonist.  Hit the jump for more.

Director David Yates has understandably taken his time in choosing his next project after helming four Harry Potter films back-to-back, but it appears that he’s finally made a decision.  We learned this past June that Yates was interested in Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, but at the time a few other directors were eyeing the project and no official discussions had taken place.  Now Yates has officially committed to Tarzan as his next project, and he’s already meeting with actors to fill the iconic titular role.  Hit the jump for more.

A new overseer has been assigned to the Namibia-based filming location of director George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road.  Concerns about the film falling behind schedule and beginning to go over budget (not to mention the cost of flying executives to and from Africa) have necessitated the placement of Warner Bros. producer, Denise Di Novi on location.  While she won’t have producer credits on the film, Di Novi will be responsible for supervising the production as a “studio representative.”  The film, which started shooting in July, is reportedly still expected to wrap by the end of November.

Mad Max: Fury Road starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Nicholas Hoult and Zoe Kravitz, is due out next year. Hit the jump for more.

Warner Bros. is taking the lead on anti-poaching films with some big names attached.  Two projects focusing on the illegal poaching of endangered animals in Africa will be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, Tom Hardy’s Executive Options and Tobey Maguire’s Material Pictures.  We previously reported on this back in August, but it looks as if the premise might have evolved. The first of these pictures, written by Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air) based off an idea by Hardy, will be set up as a star vehicle for The Dark Knight Rises actor.  The untitled picture will be set in Africa with Hardy as a special forces soldier who signs on with his friend to train anti-poaching personnel in the Zimbabwe bush.  Hardy’s character falls in love with the land and the animals he is trying to protect, which spells doom for the poachers.  For news on the second picture, hit the jump.

Tom Hardy is one of the most intense actors in the game today; he’ll need that fire in his attempt to summit Mt. Everest in director Doug Liman’s (The Bourne Identity) new picture about the indomitable peak. Everest, adapted from Jeffrey Archer’s book, Paths Of Glory, Everest, by Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air), centers on George Mallory and his three attempts in the early 1920s to become the first man to climb the world’s highest mountain.  Two guesses on who Hardy is in talks to play.  Hit the jump for more.

Bad news, Batfans.  Last week we reported on a rumor that Christopher Nolan was planning on including a director’s cut of The Dark Knight Rises on the film’s Blu-ray with 30 extra minutes including an extended origin story for Bane.  We cautioned readers to take the news with a grain of salt at the time; Nolan just doesn’t do director’s cuts and rarely even releases deleted scenes.  Now it’s been confirmed that no such director’s cut exists or is planned for the home video release of the film, so the 165-minute cut of The Dark Knight Rises is the only version of the film we’re likely to ever see.

Hit the jump for more on the matter.

Given the economic way he shoots and scripts his projects, Christopher Nolan doesn’t bother with deleted scenes.  The Dark Knight Rises was a whopping 2 hours and 45 minutes, so it is hard to believe that anything was left on the cutting room floor.  However, Nuke the Fridge hears different.  Their sources say that there will be a director’s cut on the Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray that includes Bane’s origin and more screentime for Ra’s Al Ghul.  This would reportedly add about 30 minutes to the film, pushing it well over three hours.

Treat this as a rumor for now, but it would coincide with previous talk about possible deleted scenes.  Hit the jump for more.

“It is not the violence that sets men apart,” Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) tells his younger brother Jack (Shia LaBeouf) in John Hillcoat‘s Lawless.  “It is the distance he is prepared to go.”  The film presents two approaches to the gangster world: the imagined and the practical.  Jack dreams of being a gangster without the violence.  Forrest doesn’t need the gangster flash, but he is willing to take a pair of brass knuckles and punch out someone’s throat.  Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave take a curious look at how two men approach the violence that must be done in order to ensure their survival, and ask themselves what they’re surviving for.  Is it for family?  Is it for personal pride?  Between Jack and Forrest, there’s a serious, meditative story.  But beyond them lies distractions of half-developed romances and a cartoonish villain.

A trio of handsomeness is forming to combat animal trafficking.  THR reports that Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, and Tom Hardy are teaming up to produce an untitled anti-poaching drama for Warner Bros.  The idea came from Hardy, “inspired by friends who are former Special Forces operatives and went on to become anti-poacher fighters in South Africa and other nations.” Apparently the goal is to craft a film in the vein of Traffic, tackling the issue with multiple characters and storylines that show the various impacts of poaching, from the ground war in Africa to animal material being used in fashion houses in Paris.

Warner Bros. is now searching for a writer to put on the project, but it’s unclear at this stage if DiCaprio, Maguire, or Hardy would also act in the film.  Animal trafficking and poaching is rather tough material for the general public to face head-on, and it’s a testament to the starpower of the three producers that a large studio like WB is backing the project.  DiCaprio and Maguire are longtime close friends, and Hardy worked with DiCaprio on Inception.

What happens when two top-notch CIA operatives set their sights on the same woman? Nothing terribly unexpected, so it seems. This Means War, a playful rom-com by Director McG, takes on the task of trying to appease action and romance audiences, and fails to do strike a chord with either.  Hit the jump for our review of the Blu-ray.

If you enjoyed the five clips from director John Hillcoat’s Lawless we posted earlier today, you’re going to love this new red-band trailer.  It features good old-fashioned tar and feathering, blood-letting, shoot ‘em ups and even an imposing dust storm. That all fits right at home in the Depression-era drama that follows the bootlegging Bondurant family in their backlash against the law enforcement officials who are trying to taking a cut of the profits.

Lawless, starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman, opens August 31st.  Hit the jump to check out the red-band trailer.

Five clips from the period drama Lawless have been released.  Directed by John Hillcoat, the film stars Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Jason Clarke as three brothers who became bootleggers in the South during Prohibition.  I was able to see the pic at Comic-Con and it’s great.  The violence is incredibly raw and brutal, but it’s grounded with real, engaging characters brought to life by stellar performances.  Though there’s not a bad actor in the bunch, the standout is definitely Guy Pearce as a corrupt FBI agent who’s obsessed with bringing the Bondurant boys down.  His character is as slimy as he is disturbing, and Pearce chews the scenery like no other.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, and Gary Oldman.  Lawless opens on August 31st.

Paramount has been trying to reboot the Jack Ryan franchise for years now.  The studio is finally beginning to make real progress—not only on the Jack Ryan movie starring Chris Pine, but also on the spinoff Without Remorse.  The key was locking up Kenneth Branagh to direct and play the villain in the former.  Kevin Costner has now accepted the offer to star in both films as the CIA liason for Jack Ryan and Without Remorse lead character John Clark.  Christopher McQuarrie (Valkyrie) is in talks to write and direct Without Remorse, but it’s this next bit of news that will excite the legions of This Means War fans out there: Deadline reports that Paramount is courting Tom Hardy to play John Clark.  More after the jump.

Filming on the fourth Mad Max film, Mad Max: Fury Road, has been underway for a couple months now, but Kennedy Miller Mitchell Productions have now released an announcement that principal photography has begun.  These production start announcements usually don’t mean much except they usually contain the first synopsis for the movie, and this press release is no different.  We’ll also give the release a pass since Mad Max: Fury Road looked like it might never happen since it was constantly delayed, and the production hit a serious snag when their original location was hit with flooding and turned into an oasis, which doesn’t really lend itself to a post-apocalyptic wasteland.  Shooting is now taking place in Africa.

Hit the jump for the press release, which contains the synopsis along with the names of all the major roles (and there are some great character names).  Mad Max: Fury Road stars Tom Hardy as the new Mad Max, and also stars Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and Nathan Jones.