We’re not inherently jaded about politics.  You can’t have your idealism torn down if nothing was built in the first place.  The 2008 election of Barack Obama promoted that idealism and gave people hope (the giant posters emblazoned with the word “Hope” may have had something to do with it).  But we were all deceived when reality came crashing in and The Ides of March lays the blame not on our political system or even our politicians but on us.  And when we realize that we can’t do anything larger than ourselves, we begin to think only of ourselves.  Director George Clooney (who also co-wrote the screenplay and co-stars in the film) avoids being preachy or heavy-handed, but his light-touch fails to leave a lasting impact.

George Clooney’s The Ides of March is one of my must-see films of the fall.  For those unfamiliar with the flick, here’s the brief synopsis:

During the frantic last days before a heavily contested Ohio presidential primary, an up-and-coming campaign press secretary (Ryan Gosling) finds himself involved in a political scandal that threatens to upend his candidate’s shot at the presidency.

The first clip from the film has gone online and it shows some banter between Gosling and a young intern played by Evan Rachel Wood.  It’s light and playful but I think the movie itself handles far weightier themes.  Hit the jump to check out the clip.  The film also stars Clooney, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Jeffrey Wright.  The Ides of March will play at the Toronto International Film Festival before opening nationwide on October 7th.

A batch of new images from George Clooney’s next directorial project The Ides of March have hit the web. The political drama focuses on the backdoor politics of a presidential primary campaign and boasts a stellar cast that includes Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti and Evan Rachel Wood. We brought you one new image from the film this morning, but another batch of images has popped up giving us a good look at Clooney as the film’s presidential candidate, with Gosling taking on the role of Clooney’s press secretary.

The pedigree of the cast, combined with Clooney taking on directing and scripting (alongside co-writer Grant Heslov) duties, put this film at the top of my most anticipated releases this year. Audiences will get their first look at The Ides of March when it premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, with a public release set for October 7^th. Hit the jump to check out the images and yearn for October.

We heard on Monday that Warren Beatty made a deal with Paramount to produce, write, direct, and star in a new project after a decade-long hiatus from filmmaking.  At the time, there were whispers this was the opportunity for Beatty to play legendary movie mogul Howard Hughes, a role the actor has long coveted.  Story details are still scarce, but Deadline hears this is indeed a Hughes-centric project that “involves an affair [Hughes] had with a young woman in the later years of his life.”  Beatty’s script is not a biopic, per se.  That is understandable, since Beatty is older now (74) than Hughes when he died (70).  Deadline’s initial report suggested it may be a comedy.

Beatty is going all out to assemble a supporting cast, meeting with Andrew Garfield, Alec Baldwin, Shia La Beouf, Jack Nicholson, Evan Rachel Wood, Rooney Mara, and wife Annette Bening (duh).  Hughes had a lot of famous friends, and I encourage you to match this list of actors to their Old Hollywood counterparts in the comments.  Given Beatty’s age, though, the film presumably takes place during Hughes’ recluse years — I do not know who kept him company at this stage in life.  More after the jump:

Focus Features recently moved One Day up to July 8, which I quickly marked on my calendar.  As directed by Lone Scherfig (An Education), Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess are sure to charm in this high-concept romance: two friends who meet on the night of their college graduation and proceed to meet exactly once each year on July 15 for the next two decades.  It sounds very Blue Valentine, and this washed-out One Day poster does not seem concerned with such comparison.

The Conspirator perhaps boasts an even greater pedigree: Robert Redford directs Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Evan Rachel Wood, Tom Wilkinson, and Kevin Kline in the tale of Mary Surratt, the woman who was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  View the first posters for both One Day and The Conspirator after the jump.

Back in September, we got our first look at the anticipated HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce in the form of an impressive first trailer. Now HBO has released another trailer as we inch closer to the March 27th premiere. The miniseries (directed by Far from Heaven helmer Todd Haynes and based on James M. Cain’s novel) follows a proud, single mother (Winslet) struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the depression in middle-class Los Angeles. You’ll probably recognize the song from the first half of the trailer as the very same one that graced the first half of the trailer for The Fighter, but don’t take my word for it. Check out the new trailer after the jump.  Mildred Pierce premieres March 27th.

In the five-part HBO mini-series event Mildred Pierce, debuting on March 27^th, Kate Winslet stars in the title role, playing a proud single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the Great Depression in middle-class Los Angeles. Based on James M. Cain’s 1941 novel of the same name, the drama offers an intimate portrait of a uniquely independent woman who finds herself newly divorced and struggling to carve out a new life for herself and her family. The story explores Mildred’s unreasonable devotion to her insatiable daughter, Veda (Evan Rachel Wood), as well as the complex relationships she shares with the less than desirable men in her life.

While at the HBO portion of the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, actress Evan Rachel Wood talked about working with Kate Winslet and director Todd Haynes, the intense music training she had to go through for the role, and doing her first nude scene. She also talked about her return to HBO’s hit television series True Blood for Season 4 and her upcoming film project The Ides of March. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Sony has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to George Clooney’s next directorial feature, The Ides of March.  Based on the Broadway play Farragut North, the political drama–which is loosely based on the 2004 Democratic Primary run of Howard Dean–is set to star Ryan Gosling as “a young press spokesman who falls prey to backroom politics.”  The film will also star Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, and Clooney.  According to Variety, Sony wanted to keep the title as “Farragut North”, but Clooney insisted that it be changed to The Ides of March (which is a reference to the seer’s unheeded warning of Caesar’s death in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar).

The studio is planning to release the film in platform release next December before expanding wide in January 2012, which probably means they think that the film has awards potential.

Though George Clooney rose to fame sporting the Caesar cut, he clearly takes no stock in the Shakespearean warning to the emperor: “Beware the Ides of March.”  Upon recruiting partners — Exclusive Media Group and Cross Creek Pictures — to finance his adaptation of the Broadway play Farrugut North, Clooney tempted the fates by renaming the project The Ides of March.

But Clooney has plenty of talent on board to counteract the hex.  Namely, himself — Clooney will write, direct, and star as a Democratic presidential candidate.  Variety confirms that Ryan Gosling will assume the lead, “a young press spokesman who falls prey to backroom politics;” Philip Seymour Hoffman has been cast as his veteran boss.  Paul Giamatti co-stars as a rival campaign manager, Marisa Tomei plays a New York Times reporter, and Evan Rachel Wood is on board as an intern for the campaign.  More, including the official synopsis for the play, after the jump.

HBO has released the first trailer for their upcoming five-part miniseries, Mildred Pierce.  Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) is director, with Kate Winslet starring as “a proud, single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the depression in middle-class Los Angeles.”  As expected, the miniseries looks like it will be just as cinematic as Haynes’ previous works, and Winslet looks like she will deliver another great performance.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with a plot synopsis for the source material.

George Clooney has set his sights on Farragut North as his next directorial feature.  Based on off-Broadway play of the same name, the political drama is about Stephen Meyers, an idealistic communications director who works for an inspiring though unorthodox, presidential candidate. The campaign is undone by ruthless, political masterminds who employ every dirty trick to win.  Vulture reports that Clooney is planning to shoot the film in February and has cast Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, and has offered the role of Meyers to Chris Pine.  Leonardo DiCaprio was attached to play the role way back in 2007, but he has apparently backed out.  Pine received critical acclaim when he played the role in L.A.’s stage production.

Hit the jump for more details on the project.

Frank Miller has directed a TV commercial for the new Gucci fragrance, “Gucci Guilty”.  The commercial stars Evan Rachel Wood and Chris Evans and features music by Friendly Fires.  The ad looks, unsurprisingly, like Miller’s The Spirit.  Personally, I prefer a Gucci ad from a couple years back that starred James Franco.  You can check out both ads after the jump.

Director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) and producer Edward R. Pressman (American Psycho) will be teaming up to produce Adam Bhala Lough’s (Bomb the System) retro slasher film, Splatter Sisters, which will star real-life couple Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood.  According to Variety, the film will be the first in a proposed franchise and is currently being described as “a sexploitation-serial-killer-slasher-road-movie circa 1989.”

There is no info on who Manson and Wood will be playing in the film but Green says that “This is a role Marilyn Manson was born to play, and with Evan Rachel Wood bringing dramatic gravity to the ensemble, I have no doubt this will take the horror genre to a new level.”  This will be the latest film to try and capture the look and feel of 80s horror movies after last year’s pretty great The House of the Devil.

New images from Robert Redford’s The Conspirator have hit the net thanks to USA Today. The film centers on a reluctant attorney (played by James McAvoy) forced to defend Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), an accomplice in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, as her son was the only conspirator to escape the manhunt.  It also “follows the race to hunt down the small band of Confederate sympathizers who helped plot the attack.”

While the film was independently financed and doesn’t yet have a distributor, with the great cast (Evan Rachel Wood, Justin Long, Toby Kebbell) and Redford’s name, I’m sure this will get released.  Hit the jump to check out the new images:

There are two things it’s hard to get away from when discussing Woody Allen: the first is that his output is so constant, there’s going to be winners mixed with losers. Over the last couple years, Allen’s talent has been scattershot to say the least, but then he might surprise you with a film like Match Point, or Vicki Christina Barcelona. Even his early funny period had some misfires, but that leads into the second point, which is that Allen has not been strong for a long time. You can never count him out, but the 21^st century is easily his weakest period of cinema. Whatever Works, however, was written a very long time ago, and it shows, so it combines early funny with later Woody. My review after the jump.