When it was first announced that an American remake of director Park Chan-wook’s South Korean revenge film Oldboy was in the works, fans were understandably wary of the prospect.  Then Spike Lee signed on to direct.  If anything can be assumed of a Spike Lee film, it’s that it’s definitely not going to be a commercial cash-in.  Lee cares deeply about artistic integrity, so it’s with cautious optimism that his remake of Oldboy is being anticipated.

Steve sat down with star Josh Brolin last weekend to talk about his upcoming crime drama Gangster Squad, and the actor also took some time to discuss Oldboy.  During the interview, Brolin talked extensively about how Lee’s Oldboy differs from the original, reaching out to Park Chan-wook for his blessing, the action scenes, and he revealed that Lee shot some extended, improvised takes for Brolin’s scenes in the motel room.  The actor also talked a bit about writer/director Jason Reitman’s upcoming adaptation of Labor Day, in which he stars alongside Kate Winslet.  Hit the jump for the full comments.

When last we reported on the comedy Pierre Pierre, it had Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) attached to star and Larry Charles (Borat) on board to direct.  Now it looks as if Russell Brand (Get Him to the Greek) is in early talks to displace Carrey.  Pierre Pierre centers on an obnoxious Frenchman who steals the Mona Lisa and attempts to transport it to from Paris to London.  Along the way, he runs afoul of “French police inspector, a serial killer named Pigeonshit and his own brothel-owning mother.”  Hit the jump for more on Brand and Pierre Pierre.

Director Jason Reitman has commenced production on his next feature, the drama Labor Day.  The film is based on the Joyce Maynard novel of the same name and centers on a 13-year-old boy who convinces his reclusive mother to take in a drifter over Labor Day weekend.  It’s later revealed that the man is an escaped convict and the three spend a weekend together that will “shape them for the rest of their lives.”  Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin star as the two leads, and Reitman felt so strongly about his cast that he pushed the production schedule back a year until both Winslet and Brolin were free.

Reitman wrote the screenplay himself and is directing Labor Day as his follow-up to last year’s Young Adult.  As a big fan of Reitman’s past work (Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air), I’m eager to see him tackle this weighty dramatic material. Clark Gregg and James Van Der Beek also star in the film.  Hit the jump to read the full press release, which includes the updated synopsis.

Some end-of-the-week casting notes for your enjoyment.  Here they are in brief:

• Kristopher Higgins (In Time) is in talks to join The Sweet Hereafter-director Atom Egoyan’s Devil’s Knot, a drama about the West Memphis Three.
• Brooke Smith (The Silence of the Lambs), Alexie Gilmore (Surfer, Dude) and Lucas Hedges (Moonrise Kingdom) are set to join Up in the Air-director Jason Reitman’s Labor Day adaptation.
• Sonya Walger (Lost) has been added to the cast of the academic comedy, Admission, starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd.

Hit the jump for more on each film.

Coming off of last year’s excellent (and sadly underseen) Young Adult, director Jason Reitman is gearing up to begin production on his next project, Labor Day, this summer.  Reitman scripted the adaptation of Joyce Manard’s novel himself, and Kate Winselt stars as a lonely mother whose 13-year-old son convinces her to take in a drifter (Josh Brolin) who turns out to be an escaped convict.  The three spend Labor Day Weekend together and, obviously, bond.  THR now reports that James Van Der Beek has joined the cast as a police officer investigating a missing person’s case ($10 says he shows up on Winslet’s doorstep at some point in the film).

Additionally, a separate report from THR reveals that, following an extensive search, Reitman has settled on Gattlin Griffith (Changeling) to play Winslet’s son in the film.  The deal isn’t closed, but the actor has entered negotiations.  The role is crucial as the story is told from the boy’s point of view.  I’m a big fan of Reitman so I’m eager to check this one out. The director will have waited nearly a year to start production so that Winslet and Brolin’s schedules could free up, so clearly he’s passionate about what he’s put together. [Update: Feeling left out by the Labor Day casting party, Variety now adds that Brighid Fleming has landed the young female lead in the film, a character who acts as the object of Griffith's affection.]

We’ve got two bits of casting news to update you on today.  Here they are at a glance:

• Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) has signed on to topline Haunter, a supernatural mystery that features Breslin as teenage ghost, Lisa, who attempts to prevent a girl living in her former home from falling victim to the same mysterious death.
• Tom Lipinski (Suits) will join Jason Reitman’s Labor Day, in which an escaped con (Josh Brolin) hides out with a single mom (Kate Winslet) and her teenage son over Labor Day weekend.

Hit the jump for more on both projects.

Even though Jason Reitman is the director of Young Adult, and Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt are the leads, writer Diablo Cody comes across as the star and auteur of the film. She wrote Juno – which won her an Oscar and was a huge success – helped create The United States of Tara, and wrote Jennifer’s Body. As to be expected with any success from a larger than life female artist, the backlash was severe and cruel. In many ways Cody is commenting on her haters in Young Adult, a pitch black comedy about a ghost writer (Theron) who goes back to her hometown in the hopes of wrecking a marriage. Our review of the film on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

The Alamo Drafthouse has a strict no-texting policy.  They have this weird theory that losing one shitty customer is alright because you’re getting so many more sensible, polite customers in return.  It makes the theater experience better, makes people want to come to the theater, and then profits happen.  Everbody’s happy.  They also make warnings/PSAs that actually work.  When you go to a multiplex, you get a cellphone company like Sprint or AT&T doing a cutesy PSA telling people they shouldn’t talk and text during the movie.  No one pays attention, and they act like ass-holes anyway because the theater isn’t going to enforce anything.

By comparison, the Drafthouse does really catchy PSAs.  Their best was using an angry voicemail from a patron who was kicked out for texting.  Young Adult director Jason Reitman and star Patton Oswalt built off this hilarious voicemail for a new PSA and you can check it out after the jump.

“Magical” may be an odd word to describe a dark comedy as intentionally depressing, uncomfortable, and mean as Young Adult.  But there is a magic in watching a writer, a director, and an actor craft a captivating character who keeps the audience guessing to what’s in her head.  In creating Mavis Gary, screenwriter Diablo Cody, director Jason Reitman, and actress Charlize Theron do far more than simply put a mean girl from high school under the magnifying glass.  There’s inarguably a state of arrested development for Mavis, but what keeps her interesting is if she knows how pathetic she really is.  Throughout the movie, I kept wondering, “Does she know she’s deluding herself?  Does she know how much she’s embarrassing herself and is she just trying to ignore it?”  Mavis could have easily turned into a David Brent-type where the obliviousness is both hilarious and cringe-inducing.  Cody, Reitman, and Theron provide a dramatic weight to that obliviousness.  Young Adult only stumbles when the film tries to take a shortcut at the end to force her in a particular direction.  But everything that comes before is a nasty, delightful piece of work

Opening in limited release this weekend is director Jason Reitman’s (Up in the Air) great new movie, Young Adult.  Written by Diablo Cody (Juno), the film centers on an alcoholic young adult novelist (Charlize Theron) who ventures back to her hometown in order to pursue her now-married high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson).  Patton Oswalt co-stars as Theron’s former classmate.  While Young Adult could have easily taken the familiar steps of “bad person goes home and turns everything around”, I’m happy to report Reitman and Cody have crafted a unique movie that should not be missed.  It’s definitely one of my favorites of the year and I’m pretty sure Theron is going to get a nomination for her portrayal of Mavis Gary.  Watch the trailer here and some clips here.

Anyway, I recently got to speak with Reitman in New York City.  During the interview he talked about why he wanted to make Young Adult, how tough it was to get financing, the ’90s music, the way he directs, and deleted scenes.  In addition, with Reitman currently doing a very cool “Live Reading” series at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), he talked about how he got started with the series and what’s coming up.  Hit the jump for the interview.

A new R-rated spot for director Jason Reitman’s Young Adult has gone online. The film stars Charlize Theron as an alcoholic young adult fiction novelist who returns to her hometown in order to pursue her now-married high school boyfriend. This clips proves that Theron’s character is a terrible, terrible human being. It also proves that it’s incredibly fun to watch Theron marvel in the nastiness. I’m a huge fan of Reitman’s work and I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. The film’s been turning heads in the awards communities (especially Theron and co-star Patton Oswalt’s performances), and I can’t wait to check out this decidedly dark character piece. The fact that Reitman’s Juno scribe Diablo Cody wrote the script doesn’t hurt either.

Hit the jump to check out the spot. The film also stars Patrick Wilson and Elizabeth Reaser. Young Adult opens in limited release on December 9th and expands nationwide a week later.

Director Jason Reitman returns to the big screen this year with Young Adult, and 15 new images from the pic have been released. Written by Juno scribe Diablo Cody, the film stars Charlize Theron as an alcoholic writer of young adult fiction who returns to her hometown in order to pursue her high-school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson) who is now happily married with a child. This film has been picking up high praise lately from advanced screenings, and is sure to be an awards contender when Oscar-time comes. I love the cast (Patton Oswalt stars in a supporting role), and Reitman’s Up in the Air was my favorite pic of 2009, so I’m very much looking forward to seeing the film once it opens.

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film also stars Elizabeth Reaser. Young Adult opens in limited release on December 2nd, with a nationwide expansion set for the following weekend.

The first trailer for Jason Reitman’s Young Adult has gone online.  Written by Diablo Cody, the story centers on an alcoholic writer of young adult fiction (Charlize Theron) who decides to return to her small hometown and pursue her high-school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson) even though he’s now happily married and has a young child.  What I dig about this trailer is that it is almost entirely devoid of sentiment.   Charlize Theron’s character is apparently just a sad, selfish person and Theron looks like she’s having some fun with the role when she’s not giving a dead-eyed stare. The film also stars Patton Oswalt, J.K. Simmons, and Elizabeth Reaser.  Young Adult opens in limited release on December 2nd and expands nationwide the following weekend. [Update: Hit the jump to check out an alternate, slightly raunchy trailer]

Paramount Pictures has teamed up with Indian Paintbrush to co-produce Jason Reitman’s upcoming film Labor Day. Paramount will distribute the flick, which is set to star Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. Reitman wrote the screenplay based on Joyce Maynard’s novel which tells the story of an escaped convict (Brolin) who befriends a young boy and seeks shelter with the boy and his mother (Winslet) over a long Labor Day weekend.

Labor Day is set to start production next year, but before that Reitman’s next film Young Adult is set to open on December 9. That film marks the reunion of Reitman and his Juno scribe Diablo Cody, and tells the story of an alcoholic writer who returns to her hometown to pursue her now-married high school boyfriend. Charlize Theron stars. Hit the jump to read a synopsis of Maynard’s novel Labor Day.

The first poster for Jason Reitman’s Young Adult has gone online and it’s pretty great.  The film centers on an alcoholic writer (Charlize Theron) who writes young adult novels (hence the design of the poster) and decides to return to her small town to pursue her high-school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson) who is now happily married with a young child.  This leads Theron’s character to another high-school classmate played by Patton Oswalt.  It’s a good cast, Reitman makes pretty good movies, and the script is from Diablo Cody.  Young Adult is being billed as a darker movie than Reitman’s previous work and it’s skipping the festival circuit in favor of a limited release on December 2nd and a wide release the following weekend.  However, because of the re-teaming of Reitman and Cody, the Juno comparison will be inevitable despite the drastically different story and tone.

Hit the jump to check out the poster. [Update: We have updated the poster with a hi-res version]