I have a tendency to write a little too breathlessly about projects in development at HBO.  So it is important for me to learn that like every other network, HBO passes on some series, no matter how great the talent attached.  Variety reports the network passed on The Corrections, the adaptation of the bestselling Jonathan Franzen book about “the troubles of a Midwestern couple and their three adult children as they trace their lives from the mid-20th century to ‘one last Christmas’ together near the turn of the millennium.”  Writer/director Noah Baumbach (Greenberg) had assembled a stellar cast in Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans, Dianne Wiest, Chris Cooper, and Greta Gerwig.  McGregor, a man of taste and distinction, praised the scripts by Baumbach and Franzen, saying the “lovely writing” convinced him to spend four months of each of the next four years exploring this character.  They shot the pilot in February, but alas, the pieces apparently did not come together in a way that met the HBO standard.  For more on what we’re missing out on, hit the jump for the full book synopsis.

We’re happy to debut the first poster for the drama Darling Companion.  The film stars Diane Keaton as woman who saves a lost dog and quickly forms a bond with the debraggled animal.  When her self-involved husband, played by Kevin Kline, loses the dog, they form a search party with a few remaining guests at their house and set out to find the animal.  The crux of the plot comes from how the members of the search party are affected by the rescue adventure, and the impressive cast includes Mark Duplass, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Moss, Dianne Wiest, and Sam Shepard.  Given that The Big Chill director Lawrence Kasdan is behind the pic, I think we can safely assume we’re in for an ensemble film that’s equal parts drama and comedy.

Hit the jump to check out the poster debut.  Darling Companion opens in limited release on April 20th.

The first trailer for director Lawrence Kasdan’s (The Big Chill) latest feature Darling Companion has gone online. The story centers on a woman (Diane Keaton) who saves an abandoned dog on the side of the highway. She brings the dog back to her home, where her husband (Kevin Kline) proceeds to lose it. The two round up a few remaining guests staying at their home and set out on a search. This is one of the strangest and most perplexing trailers I’ve come across in quite some time. The tone is all over the place, and I can’t pin down what the story is really about. Is it more in the vein of Marley and Me, Something’s Gotta Give, or Homeward Bound? I genuinely don’t know. The cast is fantastic, which gives me hope, but I’m a bit baffled by this trailer.

Hit the jump to check it out for yourself. The film also stars Mark Duplass, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Moss, Dianne Wiest, and Sam Shepard. Darling Companion opens in limited release April 20th.

Each year, a number of films are presented and sold at the American Film Market in Santa Monica. The 2011 AFM takes place this week, and in preparation for the AFM, Lionsgate has compiled production information and synopses for the properties that they plan to sell at the convention to both domestic and international buyers (for the territories that they have the rights). Lucky for us, that info is now public, and we’ve pulled together cast, director, and writer information as well as official synopses for some high profile 2012 Lionsgate films. We’ve got info on the Evil Dead remake, Spike Lee’s English-language adaptation of the now classic Park Chan-wook film Old Boy, Diablo Cody’s directorial debut, the comedy Murder of a Cat starring Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill, and Rob Lowe, and much more. Hit the jump for all the details.

Being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is just one of many good ways to get your writing noticed. Luckily for Jonathan Franzen, his National Book Award-winning novel The Corrections has been picked up by the capable folks at HBO. Now, screenwriter Noah Baumbach (Greenberg) and producer Scott Rudin (The Social Network) have some equally capable actors to work with. Dianne Wiest (In Treatment) has landed the female lead of Enid Lambert and may star opposite Chris Cooper (Adaptation) who is in negotiations to play her husband, Albert.

The Corrections is a sprawling satire of a conservative Midwestern couple suffering from “empty nest syndrome,” among other things. The novel wanders through time, highlighting each of the family members’ successes and mistakes until finally converging at a point where they all begin to correct the individual courses of their lives. Hit the jump for more on The Corrections.

Rabbit Hole is simplistic on the outside. But once opened, the honest portrayal of grief can leave one with a myriad of emotions that strengthen the further you get from the film. Recovering from the loss of a child is a process that people deal with in different ways, and that strain can pull the fibers out of a marriage and fray the family around them. Yet, riding performances that examine the depth of real human emotion and dimension, this isn’t the one-trick pony that it could have been. Instead of treating the theme with nothing but morose sadness, director John Cameron Mitchell utilizes levity and threads it throughout with an earnestness that is at once unfamiliar yet comforting. So hit the jump to follow me further down Rabbit Hole.

One article.  Two posters.  Three miles of blue sky.  Four pounds of preemptive critical acclaim.

John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole came out of the Toronto Film Festival with some buzz, particularly for Nicole Kidman’s performance opposite co-star Aaron Eckhart as the married couple returns “their everyday existence in the wake of a shocking, sudden loss.”  Dianne Wiest, Sandra Oh, and Miles Teller also star.

The Way Back is the latest from Peter Weir (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), hence the anticipation from film buffs everywhere.  Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Mark Strong, and Saoirse Ronan star in the true story of a group of prisoners who walked over a thousand miles to escape a Siberian labor camp.

Hit the jump to check out new posters for both films.

The trailer for the drama Rabbit Hole has gone online.  Directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), the film is about a mother and father (played by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) dealing with the loss of their child.  The movie played to positive notices at the Toronto Film Festival and Nicole Kidman is picking up serious awards buzz for her performance.  I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around that since the last Kidman film I enjoyed was 2001′s The Others.  It would be nice to break that losing streak.  However, Eckhart is always reliable and I’m eager to see if Mitchell has made an honest film that doesn’t veer into the maudlin (which is pretty difficult considering the subject matter).

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Rabbit Hole opens in select theaters on December 17th.

Nicole Kidman has been racking up the awards buzz at TIFF for her performance in Rabbit Hole, and you can finally (maybe) see what all the fuss is about in two new clips from the film.  Lionsgate recently picked up the drama, which centers on Kidman and co-star Aaron Eckhart as “a husband and wife who fight to save their marriage in the life that begins again after tragedy.”  Sandra Oh and Dianne Wiest also star in the latest from John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).  Check out the clips after the jump.

Continuing on the journey of first look images, after the jump you can check out the first images from writer-director Mitch Glazer’s Passion Play and director John Cameron Mitchell’s (Shortbus, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) Rabbit Hole.  Passion Play stars Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox, Bill Murray, Kelly Lynch, and Rhys Ifans, while Rabbit Hole stars  Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Miles Teller, Tammy Blanchard, and Sandra Oh.

While Mitch Glazer wrote Scrooged, Great Expectations, and The Recruit, this is his first time behind the camera, so fingers crossed he’s made a solid transition.  On the other hand, John Cameron Mitchell has only made two films in the last ten years, so I’m very curious to check out what got him behind the camera again.  I just wish he hadn’t cast Nicole Kidman, as her frozen face has distracted me from enjoying her performances of late.  If this had been the Kidman of ten years ago, maybe I’d have a different opinion.  Anyway, hit the jump for the first images and the synopses:

The Wire alum Amy Ryan will return to HBO this year in the psychotherapy drama In Treatment.  Based on a popular Israeli series, In Treatment centers around Gabriel Byrne’s Dr. Paul Weston and his weekly sessions with patients.  Deadline reports that Ryan will play Weston’s new therapist since Dianne Wiest, who played Weston’s old therapist, is departing the show.  Ryan joins Debra Winger as a new addition to the season three cast.

The series has a flexible shooting schedule, and so will hopefully not preclude a return to The Office for Ryan that was teased at the end of season six.  Plus, In Treatment excels at providing actors with award-worthy material, so Ryan has a good shot at a Emmy nomination to go with her Oscar kudos for Gone Baby Gone.

Jon Hamm, Dianne Wiest, and Matt Lucas are in negotiations to join the cast of Universal’s untitled bridesmaid comedy starring Kristen Wiig.  Production Weekly’s tweet doesn’t offer much more than that, but let us update you on what we already know.  First up, the project (which Wiig also co-wrote with Annie Mumolo) is being produced by Judd Apatow and Paul Feig (always a good sign) and Maya Rudolph is already on board to co-star.  The film is about two women battling to plan their friend’s wedding party.

Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation), and Anjelica Huston have signed on to co-star in David Frankel’s The Big Year.  The film centers on three men (played by Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson) who try to outdo each other during a year-long competition to spot the rarest birds in North America.  I will now pray for a dearth of “cock” and “pecker” puns.  The cast also includes Rosamund Pike, JoBeth Williams, Brian Dennehy, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Anderson and Tim Blake Nelson.  Oh, and Variety also reports that Kevin Pollak and Joel McHale are in talks to join the film.  There are a lot of people in this movie.

Hit the jump for details on the roles Parsons, Jones, and Huston will play.