Three new images have been released from Woody Allen‘s upcoming film, Blue Jasmine.  The romantic comedy is described as “the story of the final stages of an acute crisis and a life of a fashionable New York housewife.”  Details on the plot remain scarce, but Allen, as always, has amassed an incredible cast.  For Blue Jasmine, he’s got Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stuhlbarg.  Wow.  Clay really sticks out like a sore, misogynistic thumb in that line-up.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  Blue Jasmine is due out July 26th.

Sony Pictures Classics has released the first image from writer/director Woody Allen’s latest film Blue Jasmine.  The romantic comedy is described as “the story of the final stages of an acute crisis and a life of a fashionable New York housewife.”  This debut image gives us a look at Cate Blanchett’s lead character, as well as Sally Hawkins lurking in the background.  As is customary, we still don’t really know much about the film, but it’s a new Woody Allen movie so that kind of sells itself.

Hit the jump to take a look at the image.  The film also stars Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stuhlbarg.  Blue Jasmine will open in limited release on July 26th before expanding into more theaters in the following weeks.

The romantic drama Beautiful Creatures tells the story of 17-year-old Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), whose world is shaken up with the arrival of Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), the niece of Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons), the reclusive owner of gothic Ravenwood Manor.  Immediately drawn to each other, it becomes apparent that Lena is a Caster with powers beyond her control, and the two are faced with a curse that will claim her for either the Light or the Dark on her 16^th birthday.

At the film’s press day, actor Alden Ehrenreich spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about why it was important to make sure these characters were not stereotypical and that the relationship between Ethan and Lena was real, that he doesn’t want to read any more of the books until he reads any possible sequel scripts first, shooting the crazy family dinner scene, which effects scenes he had the most fun doing, and working with Viola Davis.  He also talked about what he looks for when trying to find his next project, and the experience of working on the Woody Allen movie Blue Jasmine with Cate Blanchett.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

A few release date changes and announcements are being made.

• Sony Pictures Classics has announced that director Richard Linklater’s fantastic sequel Before Midnight will open in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on May 24th.  The film reunites Linklater with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as we again pick up with the characters from Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.  Read Matt’s positive review from Sundance here.
• Director Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, I’m So Excited, is also getting the limited treatment, as the pic will open in New York and Los Angeles on June 28th.  Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Paz Vega star.
• The comedy Last Vegas is being moved up from December 20th to November 1st.  The film stars Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas, and Morgan Freeman, and will face off against the sci-fi adaptation Ender’s Game in wide release.
• Finally, Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine will open in NY and LA on July 26th.  The film stars Cate Blanchette, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, and Louis C.K.

One of the many films to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Linda Lovelace biopic Lovelace.  The film stars Amanda Seyfried as the titular porn star who rose to prominence following 1972’s Deep Throat (the first pornographic feature film to be a mainstream success).  Lovelace would eventually go on to claim that her husband Chuck Traynor (played by Peter Sarsgaard) physically and verbally abused her, and coerced her into the pornography business.   The film also stars Juno Temple, Wes Bently, Sharon Stone, Hank Azaria, Adam Brody, and James Franco as Hugh Hefner.

The day after the premiere, I sat down with Sarsgaard for an exclusive interview.  We talked about how he got cast in Lovelace, his initial hesitation to play Chuck Traynor, Sundance, how he prepares for a role, working with Woody Allen on Blue Jasmine, director Kelly Reichardt’s Night Moves, director S. Craig Zoller’s western Bone Tomahawk, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Today, we’ve learned that Woody Allen‘s upcoming film will be entitled Blue Jasmine.  As we previously reported, the romantic comedy apparently centers on a woman whose “posh New York City lifestyle” comes crashing down so she makes a move to San Francisco.  The press release adds, “It is the story of the final stages of an acute crisis and a life of a fashionable New York housewife.”  As per usual, Allen has lined up a superb cast for his latest feature, which includes Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Sally Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Hit the jump for the press release.  Sony Pictures Classics will distribute Blue Jasmine, which is the sixth Allen picture for the studio.  No word yet on the release date, but I’m willing to bet we’ll see it later this year since Allen manages to get out one new movie per year.