Though director David O. Russell is currently busy helming his follow-up to last year’s Silver Linings Playbook, it appears that he’s lining up another high-profile project for the near future.  A report has surfaced claiming that Russell is attached to both write and direct the long-in-the-works JFK conspiracy film Legacy of Secrecy.  The film is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann, which asserts that Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello confessed to FBI informant Jack Van Laningham to having ordered JFK’s assassination.  As part of a dangerous and long-secret undercover operation, the FBI positioned Van Laningham to become confidant to Marcello, who ruled organized crime in Louisiana and most of Texas for decades.

Leonardo DiCaprio came onboard to produce and star in the pic back in 2010, and is expected to play Van Laningham.  Hit the jump for more, including the prospect of Robert De Niro joining the cast.

Filmmakers who adapt a novel are not beholden to the major themes of that novel.  They’re free to take away what they want to see and leave the richer aspects of the material behind.  Such is the case with Baz Luhrmann‘s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s The Great Gatsby.  Where Fitzgerald saw the relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan as a laughable excuse to escape into the past, Luhrmann sees a doomed romance because Baz Luhrmann likes stories about doomed romances*.  And like his previous movies—Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, and Australia—Luhrmann is too afraid of actual intimacy, and covers it up in glitter and other shiny objects while laboring under the delusion that it makes the story operatic.  With The Great Gatsby, Luhrmann isn’t adapting Fitzgerald as much as he’s remaking Baz Luhrmann.

One of the most anticipated films of the summer is Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki.  The film is an adaptation of the classic American novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald that has become English 101 in high schools the country wide.  The story of the enigmatic Gatsby and his quest to win over his one true love Daisy Buchanan comes to life in 3D this May with grandiose party scenes even Fitzgerald would have enjoyed.

At the recent press day for the film in New York, Collider was present as the director and stars DiCaprio, Maguire, Mulligan and Fisher, along with producers Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick and Catherine Mann (also the production designer and Luhrmann’s wife) held a press conference to speak about the film.  They revealed the literary influences behind many of the lines of dialogue, the surprising choice of a Jay-Z heavy soundtrack (he’s also an EP of the film) and the chemistry between the actors and director that led to the performances in the film.  Hit the jump to read our coverage of the press conference.

We’ve been reporting on the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby since fall of 2010; the film will finally open in just a couple of weeks.  While you’ve probably seen a fair portion of the movie due to all the images, clips and trailers that have been released over the last year or so, we have a gallery of over 60 hi-res images for you to peruse at your leisure!

Baz Lurhmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke and Adelaide Clemens, and opens in 3D on May 10th.  Hit the jump to view the images.

Warner Bros. has released 7 clips (almost 5 minutes of footage) from director Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. For those unfamiliar with F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s source material, the story centers on a would-be writer (Tobey Maguire) chasing the American dream who moves to New York City in the spring of 1922 and encounters a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke and Adelaide Clemens.

If you weren’t aware, Luhrmann shot Gatsby in 3D, so I’d advise paying the extra money to see it in that format.  Also, I saw some of the film in 3D and it looked like Luhrmann used the format to help tell the story.  Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The Great Gatsby opens May 10th.

Warner Bros. has released a new extended TV spot for director Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming adaptation of The Great Gatsby.  This TV spot appears to be geared towards the younger crowd, as it plays up the “Jazz Age” aspects of the film while highlighting Gatsby’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) lively parties and the flashier moments from the film.  While I’ve mostly been onboard with the new music Luhrmann has showcased in the previous trailers, Fergie’s “jazz-pop” track that accompanies this new TV spot is just plain awful.  Here’s hoping it doesn’t have a major showcase within the narrative of the film.

Hit the jump to watch the new extended TV spot, which also includes quite a bit of new footage.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Adelaide Clemens, and Jason Clarke.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th.

Warner Bros. has released three more posters for The Great Gatsby because they’re Warner Bros. and they always release about 394 posters for every movie they do.  Every character deserves at least 4 different posters featuring the actor in various poses or in combination with their co-stars.  Eventually, extras will get their own posters if they’re in a Warner Bros. movie.  I look forward to seeing the Great Gatsby poster for Flapper #4.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher, and Joel Edgerton.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th.

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for director Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.  For those unfamiliar with F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s source material, the story centers on a would-be writer (Tobey Maguire) chasing the American dream who moves to New York City in the spring of 1922 and encounters a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).  This new trailer has a heavy focus on the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy (Carey Mulligan), while also giving us a strong dose of Joel Edgerton‘s Tom Buchanan.  Again Luhrmann’s vibrant visuals look fantastic, but the trailer also showcases a bounty of original music that the director has commissioned for the film from artists like Beyonce, Andre 3000, Lana Del Rey, and Florence + The Machine.  There’s a strong Romeo + Juliet vibe in this trailer, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing this thing on the biggest screen possible.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and to take a look at the full soundtrack listing.  The film also stars Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Adelaide Clemens.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th.

Warner Bros. has released the first TV spot for director Baz Luhrmann’s (Moulin Rouge) adaptation of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby.  For those unfamiliar with the source material, the story centers on a would-be writer (Tobey Maguire) chasing the American dream who moves to New York City in the spring of 1922 and encounters a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).  This TV spot features quite a bit of new footage, and I’m incredibly eager to see Fitzgerald’s novel adapted for the screen by way of Luhrmann’s bombastic, colorful, and vibrant vision.

Hit the jump to watch the new TV spot.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Adelaide Clemens.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th.

Warner Bros. has released a batch of new high-resolution images from some upcoming summer films.  Briefly:

• The Hangover Part III – A new image from Todd Phillips’ trilogy-closer teases a familiar scene as Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, and Ed Helms ride an elevator.  The film opens on May 24th.
• The Great Gatsby – A couple of new images from director Baz Luhrmann’s colorful adaptation highlight Leonardo DiCaprio’s titular character flanked by his new friends.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, and Joel Edgerton and opens in 3D on May 10th.
• The Conjuring – Director James Wan’s new horror film debuted a ridiculously creepy teaser trailer earlier last month, and these new images feature Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s psychic investigator characters.  The film also stars Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston and opens on July 19th.
• Getaway – A new image from this car-set thriller gives us a canted look at Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez’s lead characters.  The film opens on August 30th.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.

Leonardo DiCaprio recently said that he was planning to take a “long, long break” from acting to pursue environmental activism, but a break isn’t retirement, and studios are going to keep trying to get him in their movies.  According to Deadline, Warner Bros. recently acquired Michael Armour‘s upcoming novel The Road Home as a potential starring vehicle for DiCaprio.  Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) has come on board to write, direct, and produce with DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran‘s Appian Way production company.  The company and Cooper recently teamed up for the writer-director’s upcoming revenge thriller, Out of the Furnace.  When the spec script was first acquired, DiCaprio intended to lead the flick with Ridley Scott attached to direct.  The screenplay was later rewritten by Cooper, and now Christian Bale will star alongside Woody Harrelson and Zoe Saldana.

Hit the jump for a synopsis of Armour’s The Road Home.  DiCaprio will next be seen in Baz Luhrmann‘s The Great Gatsby and Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street.  Out of the Furnace opens later this year.

We’re only a short week away from the 85th Academy Awards, and with the close of Oscar season approaching, we’d thought this would be a nice opportunity to take a look back at how some of the races have played out, chronicling the ebbs and flows of the past 12 months or so that got us to where we are today.  We’re kicking things off with one of the more open categories: Best Supporting Actor.

One important thing to keep in mind when looking at the Oscars is that the race is incredibly fluid.  A film could be the clear frontrunner in a category one week, then might stumble to second or even third place in the ensuing weeks.  With this series of articles, we’ll be looking at exactly how much each race has changed, starting with Best Supporting Actor.  Hit the jump to read on.

At last, Oscar is upon us.  Back in November I shared a look at the early awards season race by way of our 2013 Oscar Preview articles, and now nearly two months later there’s still quite a bit up in the air.  This truly is one of the more exciting awards races in recent years, as 2012 is so stacked with quality that there are a surprising number of uncertainties this close to the Academy Awards ceremony.  Nevertheless, I am once again foolishly going to attempt to predict how the Oscar nominations will shake out when they’re announced tomorrow morning, January 10th.  Hit the jump to check out my predictions.

While Jamie Foxx plays the title character in Django Unchained, Leonardo DiCaprio steals the show as the villainous plantation runner and slave owner, Calvin Candie.  This new featurette shows director Quentin Tarantino and cast members Foxx, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson commenting on the amazing performance by DiCaprio.  It interesting to see how the veteran actor approached the difficult subject matter and to hear the actors talk about his transformation.  The featurette also highlights some footage from the movie, so if you haven’t seen Django Unchained yet, this may have a few spoilers for you.  Otherwise, hit the jump to watch the video.

When people speak of America’s great history, there should be an asterisk involved.  This is a great country with a rich history, but it’s a history that also involves genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans.  But we considered it civilized, and no country wants to recognize its barbaric behavior (even Barbarians probably thought they weren’t so bad).  In the classic western, we see American West mythologized with heroes and villains.  In the spaghetti western, we see how a foreign country (Italy) reexamined the values of our westerns.  In his new film, Django Unchained, writer-director Quentin Tarantino takes the western to the American South of 1858, and reconsiders the civility of our “great history.”  At turns painfully hilarious and explosively violent, Django Unchained doesn’t have the narrative tightness of Tarantino’s previous features, but it retains all of the thoughtfulness and style the filmmaker has become known for.