The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for director John Wells’ (The Company Men) adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play August: Osage County.  The story follows the women of a family whose lives have splintered in many directions until a crisis bring them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.  While a bit lighter in tone than the actual story, this trailer does a swell job of teasing the film’s absolutely terrific ensemble cast, led by a characteristically great Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in what could potentially be her best role in years.  Given the talent involved both onscreen and behind the scenes (Argo‘s George Clooney and Grant Heslov produce), this thing is a surefire Oscar contender that also promises delectable interplay amongst the film’s incredible ensemble.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margot Martindale, Chris Cooper, Dermot Mulroney, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, and Sam Shepard.  August: Osage County opens on November 8th.

The networks are gearing up to announce their fall schedules next week at the upfronts, but this week we’re starting to learn which pilots have been picked up to series.  We saw Fox’s orders last night, and here’s a look at some of the series moving ahead at NBC:

• Believe – Kyle MacLachlan, Johnny Sequoyah, and Delroy Lindo star in this supernatural drama series that follows the unlikely friendship between a gifted young girl and a man recently released from prison.  Alfonso Cuaron, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, and Mark Friedman will executive produce, and Cuaron directed the pilot.
• Crisis – Gillian Anderson, Dermot Mulroney, and Rachel Taylor star in this drama series about Washington’s government being pulled into an international conspiracy.  Rand Ravich and Far Shariat (Life) will executive produce.  Phillip Noyce directed the pilot.
• About a Boy – David Walton, Minnie Driver, and Al Madrigal star in this comedy series adaptation of the Nick Hornby book and subsequent 2002 film.  Jason Katims (Parenthood, Friday Night Lights) will executive produce, and Jon Favreau directed the pilot.
• Sean Saves the World – Sean Hayes, Linda Lavin, and Thomas Lennon star in this multi-camera sitcom about a man trying to parent his teenage daughter and appease his boss.  Victor Fresco (Better Off Ted) and Todd Milliner (Hot in Cleveland) will executive produce.

Hit the jump for news regarding the other two comedy pilots order to series, as well as full synopses for all six shows.

Today’s casting updates include:

• Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding) joins Nick Jonas, of Jonas Brothers fame, and Isabel Lucas (Immortals) in Careful What You Wish For.  Elizabeth Allen (Aquamarine) will be directing from a script by Chris Frisina and Gregg Hurwitz.

• Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) has been added to the already stellar cast of David O. Russell’s untitled Abscam movie.  The rest of the cast includes Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, and Louis CK.

• Katherine Heigl and Patrick Wilson are set to headline the dark comedy North of Hell. Anthony Burns (Skateland) will be writing and directing.

Hit the jump for more on each casting.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.  Stoker opens today in limited release.  Click here to find out when the film will be playing near you.]

In Chan-wook Park‘s Stoker, the hunt is more rewarding than the kill. Park has beautifully crafted an unnerving, slow-burn mystery-thriller that delves into a bloodline destined to shed blood. In his English-language debut, Park takes his immaculate yet eerie style, and uses it to enhance a relatively simple tale of a disturbed girl who begins a bizarre and disturbing relationship with her recently-discovered uncle. Through Park’s lens and the tremendous performances of stars Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, Stoker may not cut deep, but it slashes hard.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival is in the midst of unveiling its lineups, and today we’ve got the first images from some films that will be playing as part of the Park City at Midnight program.  Briefly:

• The Rambler – Written and directed by Calvin Lee Reeder and starring Dermot Mulroney, Lindsay Pulsipher, Natasha Lyonne, James Cady and Scott Sharot.
• S-VHS – A horror anthology follow-up with segments directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Edúardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans and Jason Eisener; written by Simon Barrett, Jamie Nash, Timo Tjahjanto & Gareth Huw Evans and John Davies; and starring Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine and L.C Holt, Kelsy Abbott and Hannah Hughes.
• Virtually Heroes – Directed by GJ Echternkamp and written by Matt Yamashita, starring Robert Baker, Brent Chase, Katie Savoy, Mark Hamill and Ben Messmer.
• We Are What We Are – Written by Nick Damici and writer/director Jim Mickle, starring Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner, Michael Parks, Wyatt Russell and Kelly McGillis.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.  The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 17 – 27.

At a time when the East Coast is being savaged by what could be one of the most devastating storms on record in Hurricane Sandy, Yahoo has decided to release a trailer for Struck by Lightning.  Whether this is an innocent oversight or a callous PR move, don’t blame the filmmakers.  Among them are writer/star Chris Colfer, who is best known for his role on Fox’s Glee but channels his high school angst into this new teen dramedy feature.  Directed by Brian Dannelly (Saved!), Struck by Lightning follows Carson Phillips (Colfer), a misunderstood teen who uses blackmail as a last resort to catapult him towards his dream of becoming editor of The New Yorker.  The film also stars Rebel Wilson, Sarah Hyland, Allison Janney, Dermot Mulroney, Christina Hendricks, Allie Grant, and Angela Kinsey.  Hit the jump to check out the new trailer.

The indie drama Trade of Innocents shines a spotlight on the horrific and brutal realities of child exploitation, all over the world. Alex (Dermot Mulroney) has recently moved to Southeast Asia with his wife, Claire (Mira Sorvino), so that he can investigate human trafficking while his wife volunteers in an aftercare shelter for rescued girls. Still struggling with their own grief after losing a child years earlier, they both become very passionate about restoring freedom and dignity to those who are directly affected by such atrocities.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Dermot Mulroney talked about how he came to the role, why the subject matter became so important to everyone involved, the research he did to bring his character to life, working with co-star Mira Sorvino, and how he hopes he film will raise awareness of such a critical issue, around the world. He also talked about his current role in August: Osage County, adapted from the Broadway play, his roles in the upcoming films Stoker (from director Chan-wook Park) and Jobs (about the life of Steve Jobs), whether he’d consider doing work on television, and how he’s more focused on acting right now than trying his hand at directing again. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

The first trailer for Oldboy director Park Chan-wook‘s English-language debut Stoker has been released.  The film centers on a young girl (Mia Wasikowska) who encounters her mysterious uncle (Matthew Goode) while mourning the death of her father (Dermot Mulroney).  Chan-wook’s signature lush visual palette is on full display in this trailer, along with a wonderful air of creepiness and foreboding.  There’s promise of some strong performances from the whole cast, especially Nicole Kidman as Wasikowska’s wary mother, and the tone is downright chilling.  I can’t tell if the trailer gives too much away or if it’s a great tease of the film’s atmosphere, but this looks like a great way for Chan-wook to make his American debut.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Jackie Weaver, Lucas Till, and Alden Ehrenreich.  Stoker opens on March 1st, 2013.

Oldboy director Chan-wook Park has been in the news quite a bit lately, attaching himself to helm a violent Western called The Brigands of Rattleborge and a 1930s crime drama Corsica 72, but his English-language debut is already in the can and set for a March 2013 release.  Stoker centers a young girl (Mia Wasikowska) who encounters her mysterious uncle (Matthew Goode) while mourning the death of her father (Dermot Mulroney).  The cast is led by Nicole Kidman as the girl’s mother, and the chilling first footage from the pic has landed online by way of an ET preview.  I expected a blend of horror and drama, and that’s exactly what Park has delivered based on this snippet of footage.  We look to be in for strong performances from Kidman and Wasikowska, and I can’t wait to see more from the film when a full trailer lands online.

Hit the jump to watch the footage.  The film also stars Jackie Weaver, Lucas Till, and Alden Ehrenreich.  Stoker opens on March 1st, 2013.

Here’s today’s casting news in brief with details to follow:

• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has added Stephanie Leigh Schlund (The Last Song) to their list of tributes.  Schlund will star opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the Francis Lawrence-directed sequel.
• August: Osage County brings in Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding) to join the family that already features Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Juliette Lewis.
• Robin Wright (The Princess Bride) is being courted to star in A Most Wanted Man, an adaptation of the John le Carre novel scripted by Andrew Bovell and directed by Anton Corbijn.

Hit the jump for more details on each project.

What would you say to a few casting notices?:

• Catherine Keener will star opposite Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in the music drama Can a Song Save Your Life?
• Dermot Mulroney and Josh Henderson will star in the indie thriller Swelter
• Kevin Durand joined the ever-growing cast of Devil’s Knot, a true crime drama about the West Memphis 3.

Hit the jump for details on each project.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this afternoon.  First up, Judy Greer and Portia Doubleday (Youth in Revolt) have been added to the cast of director Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie remake. Chloe Moretz is set as the lead in the adaptation, which will apparently adhere closer to Stephen King’s novel than Brian De Palma’s 1976 adaptation.  We first heard about Greer being considered for a role a few weeks ago, but the studio denied that any casting decisions had been made at the time.  Now MGM/Screen Gems has confirmed that Greer will play gym teacher Miss Desjardin while Doubleday will take on the role of bad girl Chris Hargensen.  Julianne Moore is set to play Moretz’s troubled mother in the pic, which begins production in a few short weeks.

Hit the jump for casting news concerning the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs.

Even those who quickly grew weary with Glee maintain their love for Chris Colfer.  So we are all watching closely with Struck by Lightning, which is not only Colfer’s feature debut, but also his first produced script.  The first trailer has dropped, and there is definite promise.  Colfer’s writing is clearly influe nced by his day job, given the story’s focus on what it means to be an outcast in high school.  But Colfer smartly crafted a different kind of high school outcast for himself, one who wants to be the editor of The New Yorker rather than a Broadway star.  This ambition leads the character to, as he puts it, “blackmail the entire school to better my chances of getting into the school of my dreams.  And it’s exhilarating.”  Rebel Wilson, Sarah Hyland, Allison Janney,  Dermot Mulroney, Christina Hendricks, Allie Grant, and Angela Kinsey also star in Struck by Lightning, directed by Brian Dannelly (Pushing Daisies).  Watch the trailer after the jump.

Big Miracle (opening in theaters on February 3^rd) is inspired by the incredible true story of a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle, and how an entire Alaskan community fought to save them, with the help of rival world superpowers. For the film, Ted Danson, who is a real-life advocate for cleans oceans and safe water practices worldwide, took on the role of stanch anti-environment businessman J.W. McGraw, while Dermot Mulroney took the honor of portraying Alaska National Guard commander Col. Scott Boyer, based on real-life hero Tom Carroll.

At the film’s press day, the co-stars talked about how playing characters based on real people inspired their performances, that whale meat doesn’t actually taste like chicken, how they dealt with spending so much time in such cold temperatures, and how impressed they both were with the challenges that director Ken Kwapis took on with this film. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

So, after two weeks of talking about it, I finally caught Steven Soderbergh‘s Haywire. My thoughts? I was satisfied. Not blown away. Not shaking my head in disappointment. Satisfied. Soderbergh’s fight scenes were as beautifully executed as can be reasonably expected. In my opinion, though, there just weren’t enough of them. David Holmes’ score was fantastic when set behind said fight/chase/action sequences so, by default, there just wasn’t enough of it. The same could be said for much of the ensemble cast. In large part, their screen time was time well served. There just wasn’t enough of it to go around. So, do I recommend Haywire? Sure. As long as you go in with the expectation of seeing a slick action/thriller that is somewhat light on action and thrills. Now, onto business…

…After the jump, you’ll find that this week’s “Top 5″ is comprised of the 2012 Oscar nominations, interviews from our Chuck series finale set visit, a number of interviews for both The Grey and Man on a Ledge, and an ode to all of our 2012 Sundance coverage. A quick recap and link to each follows.