Filming has commenced on Disney’s star-studded real life drama Saving Mr. Banks.  The film chronicles Walt Disney’s twenty-year pursuit of the film rights to author P.L. Travers’ novel Mary Poppins, and the rocky relationship that formed between the two.  Tom Hanks will take on the daunting task of portraying Disney (the first time he’s ever been portrayed in a dramatic film), while Emma Thompson is set as Travers.  Director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) has assembled a killer cast that includes Colin Farrell and Ruth Wilson (Anna Karenina) as Travers’ parents, Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) as Travers’ aunt who was the inspiration for the character of Mary Poppins, Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) as screenwriter Don Dagradi, and Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak as the songwriting Sherman Brothers.  Moreover, Paul Giamatti and Kathy Baker also appear in supporting roles.

Hit the jump for more on the project, including the film’s full synopsis.

Relativity Media has picked up Marc Forster’s drama Machine Gun Preacher and will give the film a limited release on September 23rd.  The movie is based on the real-life story of Sam Childers (played by Gerard Butler), a former drug-dealer who eventually became a crusader for hundreds of refugee children in East Africa.  The film also stars Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker, and Michael Shannon.

Since it’s opening in limited release (most likely to build buzz for a possible awards run), it won’t really be competing against the movies opening in wide release, but here’s the list anyway: Abduction starring Taylor Lautner, the family film Dolphin Tale 3D, the action flick Killer Elite, and the sports drama Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.  Hit the jump for the press release from Relativity.

The trailer for Jeff Nichols’ intense psychological drama Take Shelter has gone online.  I caught the film at Sundance and while I thought it could stand to lose a good twenty minutes to keep up the pacing and maintain the dread it creates in the first act, but the core of the story is fantastic and the performances are solid.  The trailer tries to play up the psychological aspect of the story and that’s kind of necessary because after the recent spate of devastating tornados, most folks aren’t going to think that building a storm shelter is a crazy idea.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, and Kathy Baker.  Take Shelter opens October 7th.

Before the screening of Take Shelter, writer-director Jeff Nichols explained to the audience that he was attempting to tap into an emotion of dread and anxiety.  For the first act of his movie, he’s wildly successful at capturing that feeling.  Vivid, nightmarish dream sequences set the film up as a paranoid thriller.  But then Nichols hits the breaks, stops the dreams, and the tension slowly leaves the picture as it moves at a glacial pace.  While he’s able to eventually pick it back up at the end and come to an interesting conclusion, he is never able to reconnect with his audience.

As part of our ongoing coverage for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, we have the first images from Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter.  Here’s the one-line synopsis: A working-class husband and father questions whether his terrifying dreams of an apocalyptic storm signal something real to come or the onset of an inherited mental illness he’s feared his whole life. The film stars Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life), Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire), Katy Mixon (Eastbound & Down), and Kathy Baker (Edward Scissorhands).

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20 – 30^th.

With some major casting additions, HBO’s telepic Too Big to Fail now lives up to its name.  William Hurt has already signed on to star in the behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 financial crisis, directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential).  James Woods, Paul Giamatti, Billy Crudup, Ed Asner, Kathy Baker, Cynthia Nixon, Ayad Akhtar, Topher Grace, Dan Hedaya, Michael O’Keefe, Tony Shalhoub, and Joey Slotnick have now joined the cast.  Hit the jump to see the real-life personas they’ll assume.