You know what Johnny Depp needs?  More work.  The constantly-busy actor, who is currently attached to four upcoming projects is now partnering with director Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) to adapt author Nick Tosche’s novel In the Hand of Dante into a film.  But in an interview with The Playlist, Schnabel points out that there’s no time table for the project right now.

“It belongs to Johnny, but I’m not going to make it for a couple of years. We’re gonna work on writing it, developing it. We didn’t sign anything. It’s just something Johnny asked me to read and I think it’s a great book…”

Depp’s interest in adapting the novel is no surprise as his production company Infinitum Nihil, bought the rights to the book in 2008.  So what is the book about?  Well Schnabel sums the story up thusly, “It’s about everything.”  To read more, including what the book is actually about, hit the jump.

Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies was made for a very specific audience, composed primarily of those in academia. This documentary looks at the influences of early cinema on Cubism, specifically focusing on artists Picasso and Braque. Appropriate for cinéphiles, art lovers, and historians, the film is unlikely to appeal to those outside of this scope.  My review after the jump:

From Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Miral, based on the semi-autobiographical book by Rula Jebreal, is a first-person account of a young girl growing up in East Jerusalem while being surrounded by occupation and war. Showing the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict in her life, in how she was formed and who influences her most, the personal and emotional story of Miral (Freida Pinto) gives audiences an understanding of the bigger history unfolding around her. The young woman who grew up sheltered inside the walls of a school for Palestinian children must choose between a path of violence or following her teachings that education is the only way to pursue lasting peace, in her desire to truly be free.

At the film’s press day, director Julian Schnabel talked about why he wanted to make Miral, what made Freida Pinto the perfect actress to take on this role, his surprise at the reaction of various Jewish groups who are protesting the film without even seeing it, his experience filming in Jerusalem, and his desire for this film to provoke conversation. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

The Weinstein Company have release a new trailer for Miral, the new film from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly director Julian Schnabel.  A French trailer for the film went online last summer, but I had trouble gathering what the story was about.  This new trailer does a better job of explaining that Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) plays a student who gets caught up in the events of the Intifada resistance.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Miral opens March 25th.

Dr. Julian Bashir logged some serious travel as the chief medical officer of space station Deep Space Nine and the USS Defiant.  The man who played the good doctor for seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Alexander Siddig, has collected a huge stash of frequent flier miles on his own, lately.

Collider caught up with Siddig during his worldwide tour to promote Cairo Time which opened this past weekend in limited release to the highest per theater average ($62,250 at five frequently sold-out locations for a $12,450 per screen) of any film in release over the frame.  Hit the jump for the audio and transcript of the interview and for all things Deep Space Nine, his controversial new film Miral with Freida Pinto and director Julian Schnabel and whether he’s been approached about taking part in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek sequel.

The French trailer for Miral has just gone online.  Directed by Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), the film revolves around a real orphanage in Jerusalem set up by a Palestinian woman (Hiam Abbass).  Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) plays Miral, a young woman who grew up in the orphanage and who becomes an activist when she is assigned to teach at a refugee camp and sees that Israelis and Palestinians actually don’t get along too well.

I had to look up that synopsis because even though the dialogue is English (with French subtitles), this trailer doesn’t do a good job of conveying what the film is about.  However, Diving Bell blew my mind and so I’m on board for this movie.  In addition to Pinto and Abbass, the cast also includes Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave. Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Miral is slated to open on December 3rd.

Director Julian Schnabel chose to follow up his Oscar-nominated Diving Bell and the Butterfly gig with Miral, which “chronicles Hind Husseinis efforts to establish an orphanage in Jerusalem after the 1948 partition of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel.”  Miral is an adaptation of the novel by Rula Jebreal, who also penned the script.  The film stars Hiam Abbass, Freida Pinto, Willem Defoe, and Vanessa Redgrave.

Luckily for me, Miral just landed a North American release courtesy of The Weinstein Company, who promise the film will hit theaters by the end of the year.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

Quentin Tarantino will head the competition jury for this year’s Venice Film Festival, which will run from September 1st to the 11th.  Variety tells us that Tarantino will be in charge of handing out the coveted Golden Lion award at the festival after previously being a presence at the fest when he “godfathered” retrospective looks at Italian Kings of the B’s in 2004 and Spaghetti Westerns in 2007

After the jump you can find out which films will be making their debuts at the festival.