Hillary Clinton is currently gearing up for her 2016 Presidential run (I don’t care if it’s not official at this point; we all know it’s coming), but we may be getting a biopic about her before her campaign even begins.  Last year, we reported that Young Il Kim‘s script Rodham hit #4 on The Black List (a list of the best unproduced screenplays).  Per the synopsis, “During the height of the Watergate scandal, rising star Hillary Rodham is the youngest lawyer chosen for the House Judiciary Committee to Impeach Nixon, but she soon finds herself forced to choose between a destined path to the White House and her unresolved feelings for Bill Clinton, her former boyfriend who now teaches law in Arkansas.”  Today, James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) has come on board to direct the sure-to-be-controversial film.

Hit the jump for more.

After a successful Oscar campaign for The Weinstein Company’s Silver Linings Playbook, TWC is already lining up author Matthew Quick’s upcoming novel, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock.  Writer/director James Ponsoldt (Smashed, The Spectacular Now) has been tapped to both pen and direct the adaptation.  It tells the tale of a boy who, on his birthday, plans to take a gun to school and kill his former best friend and himself.

Keeping it all in the family, TWC has also signed Ponsoldt to draft a screenplay of the 1970s Broadway musical Pippin, from Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz.  The play features a mysterious performance troupe who narrate the story of a young prince on his quest for meaning in his life.  Hit the jump for more on both projects.

In films, alcoholism is rarely treated as the crippling, devastating disease that it is.  It’s oftentimes romanticized or portrayed as some quirk for comedic aspects.  A lot of diseases and mental illnesses are treated this way on screen.  There are some great films about alcoholism that take it seriously, like Lost Weekend and Under the Volcano.  But for the most part films tend to leave out the lies, shame, and heaps of ruin laid on the alcoholic and their family.  James Ponsoldt‘s Smashed manages to find the perfect balance between a romantic comedy and a compelling study of a relationship fueled by booze.  More on Sony Pictures Classics’ Smashed Blu-ray after the jump.

Release dates have been announced for a couple of anticipated 2013 features from A24 Films.

• The Bling Ring – Writer/director Sofia Coppola’s film about the group of teenagers who robbed the homes of the rich and famous between 2008 and 2009 will hit theaters in limited release on June 14th. The film stars Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, and Leslie Mann.
• The Spectacular Now – Director James Ponsoldt’s (Smashed) excellent teen drama made a big splash at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and A24 has set the film for an August 2nd release.  The pic stars Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley and centers on the relationship between two teenagers who are struggling with some serious issues.  Read Matt’s highly positive review here.

One of my favorite movies at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was director James Ponsoldt (Smashed) and writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s (500 Days of Summer) coming of age drama The Spectacular Now.   Led by fantastic lead performances from Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, the film is about two High School seniors that are going in opposite directions.  Sutter Keely (Teller) is the life of the party and loves to drink, while Aimee Finicky (Woodley) is pretty, but shy and removed from the popular crowd.  When Sutter wakes up on Aimee’s lawn after being dumped by his girlfriend, what starts off as a rebound quickly turn into something more.  The film also stars Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Kyle Chandler.

The day after the world premiere I sat down with Ponsoldt and Larson for an exclusive video interview.  We talked about being at Sundance, why they wanted to make the film, how things changed during production, how the characters looked and felt real, deleted scenes and more.  In addition, I asked Larson if she’s going to be in the 21 Jump Street sequel and Ponsoldt talked about why he wanted to write and direct the young adult adaptation of Pure.  He compared it to The Wizard of Oz and Pan’s Labyrinth and says he’s already started writing it.  Hit the jump for more.

“Live in the moment” is a nice platitude and a crappy life philosophy.  Vivacity is all well and good.  We should appreciate the present, but we can’t live only for the present.  We have to think about tomorrow because we’re probably going to be there.    In his wonderful new film The Spectacular Now, director James Ponsoldt explore the live-for-the-moment mentality with an authentic and earnest look at high school emotions, anxiety about the future, and first love.   Led by extraordinary performances from stars Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now is a thoroughly charming and surprisingly powerful coming-of-age story about the fear of looking ahead and the seductive safety of living in the present.

Director James Ponsoldt, who helmed last year’s Sundance hit Smashed with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, has landed a pretty high profile property on the eve of the Sundance debut of his next film.  Ponsoldt’s Smashed follow-up, The Spectacular Now, is one of the more highly anticipated films set to debut at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend, and now Heat Vision reports that he’s been tapped by Fox 2000 to write and direct an adaptation of the YA novel Pure.  Written by author Julianna Baggot, Pure is the first book in a proposed trilogy that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world divided into two societies: the Pures who live healthily under a dome, and the Wretches who are forced to live amongst the ruins.

Pure centers on a young Wretch who runs away and teams up with the son of one of the Pure leaders.  Obviously the success of The Hunger Games and Twilight has made studios more eager to adapt Young Adult novels, but the involvement of Ponsoldt with this project gives me hope that character development won’t be shafted in favor of action sequences or forced romances.  Hit the jump to read a full synopsis of the book.

The first trailer and poster for the indie drama Smashed have been released.  The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) as a married couple who are brought together by booze.  Things get complicated when Winstead’s character decides she wants to be sober.  The trailer plays things pretty light, and its effective in making this drama about a struggle with alcoholism seem appealing.  That said, Smashed isn’t exactly a comedy.  The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to positive reviews, with Matt noting that Winstead gives the best performance of her career thus far.  Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Megan Mullaly (Will & Grace), Mary Kay Place, and Octavia Spencer round out a promising supporting cast for what looks to be a solid character drama.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster.  Directed by James Ponsoldt, Smashed opens on October 12th.

Two casting bits for you today.  Here they are in brief:

• Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) is set to join Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception).
• Miles Teller (Project X) will star alongside Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) in director James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now.

Hit the jump for more on both roles and more information on each film.

Alcoholism is a serious problem.  We know that.  Addiction can, and usually does, ruins lives.  We know that.  A lot of people find Alcoholics Anonymous a life-saver (although its effectiveness is debatable).  We know that.  On the page, Smashed doesn’t bring anything new to the table.  A young woman struggles to deal with her alcoholism and how her new-found sobriety creates its own problems.  But what transforms Smashed from a good-yet-predictable clean-and-sober tale is Mary Elizabeth Winstead giving the best performance of her career thus far.

After battling alien life forms in this fall’s The Thing prequel, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs The World) could sure use a drink. So it’s fitting that Winstead’s in negotiations to join the indie drama Smashed, which focuses on a married couple who are brought together by booze. Completing the partnership is Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) who is no stranger to portraying a man with an addiction. I’d imagine that Paul’s character in Smashed will be slightly less tweaked out than the meth-cooking Jesse, as he will be romancing Winstead and seducing her with his passion for alcohol. Loosely based off of the 1962 film, Days of Wine and Roses, Smashed explores what happens to their relationship when Winstead’s character makes a move towards sobriety and attends AA. James Ponsoldt (Off the Black) will direct from a script co-written with Susan Burke. Hit the jump for more of the stellar cast of Smashed.