The theatrical trailer for Luc Besson’s biopic The Lady has been released. The film tells the story of Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband’s quest for democracy in Burma. Michelle Yeoh plays Suu Kyi, while David Thewlis plays her husband. The drama marks a change of pace for Besson, who’s generally known for more action-oriented fare like The Fifth Element. The trailer doesn’t look too bad, with Yeoh giving a pretty strong performance. Following our previous report that the film is being positioned for awards season, this trailer plays very much like a “For Your Consideration” reel.  Hit the jump to see the trailer for yourself. The Lady will open wide sometime next year.

Cohen Media Group has finalized a deal with EuraCorp to obtain the U.S. distribution rights to The Lady.  Cohen will release the Suu Kyi biopic before the end of the year to qualify for the Oscars, with a wider release planned for early 2012.  The move is sensible.  Stars Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis are two respected actors, and The Lady checks at least two boxes on the Oscar bait qualifications: “biopic” and “important story.”  This excerpt from the official synopsis says it all:

“The Lady is the extraordinary story of Aung San Suu Kyi (Yeoh) and her husband, Michael Aris (Thewlis). It is also the story of the peaceful quest of the woman who is at the core of Burma’s democracy movement.”

Luc Besson directed The Lady, a departure from the action fare he is known for.  Hit the jump for quotes from Besson on his passion for the project.  A tease: “I actually hope the film will be pirated in Burma.”

A teaser trailer for Luc Besson’s The Lady has gone online and all it tells you is “This lady (played by Michelle Yeoh) is important to another country.”  Americans have a tough time caring about any country other than our own (unless they foreign country is hit by a natural disaster and then we care for about a week or so) so this movie needs more than a teaser to get people interested.  You’re not going to know from this teaser trailer that the movie is about Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband, Michael Aris (David Thewlis), and how the two of them forwarded the country’s democratic movement.  Since the film opens in less than a month, it might be a good idea for Europa to get a full trailer out ASAP.

Hit the jump to check out the teaser trailer.  The Lady will play at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.  It opens September 12th.

DreamWorks Animation has released a few new posters for their upcoming Kung Fu Panda 2 which reveal a couple new characters. This time around, Po, now a Dragon Warrior, must team up with the Furious Five against a formidable opponent who wields a secret weapon that’s impervious to kung fu. A couple days ago, a new trailer and poster for the flick hit the web and now these new posters reveal the lead villain Lord Shen (voiced by Gary Oldman), The Soothsayer (voiced by Michelle Yeoh), Shen’s right hand man Wolf Boss, and Shen’s army of gorillas.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  Kung Fu Panda 2 features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Victor Garber.  It opens in 3D on May 26th.

Along with the teaser trailer and poster for Puss in Boots, DreamWorks Animation has released a new trailer and poster for their summer tentpole, Kung Fu Panda 2.  The new trailer for Kung Fu Panda kind of explains the plot, but also shows there really isn’t much of it: Po and the Furious Five go on a road trip to defeat a new villain.  Granted, Po is now a Kung Fu master, but that only seems to improve the movie in terms of the visuals.  As far as the humor and the characters, expect more slapstick and fat jokes.

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer and poster.  Kung Fu Panda 2 features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Victor Garber.  It opens in 3D on May 26th.

Luc Besson’s biopic about Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi now has a new, official title. The Lady has replaced Into The Light and having read the synopsis, it actually makes more sense.

Starring Michelle Yeoh as Aung San Suu Kyi and David Thewlis as her late husband Michael Aris, The Lady details their love story as well as her political work. Find out more after the jump.

Director Luc Besson has nearly finished filming on the biopic The Lady (née Into the Light) — today brings the first stills from the production.  Michelle Yeoh portrays Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and pro-democracy icon; David Thewlis plays her academic husband, Dr. Michael Aris.  Suu Kyi led the opposition against the Burmese military junta that arrested her in 1989, and spent 15 years of the last 21 years under house arrest.  The film’s title is how the population referred to Suu Kyi (“The Lady”) once Burmese officials banned the utterance of her name.

Suu Kyi was finally freed this November, which gave Yeoh the chance to meet the woman she will play on screen.  Hit the jump to hear Yeoh’s thoughts on the encounter and see the images.

Luc Besson just loves announcing that he’s quitting directing for good but every other year or two, he comes back and makes another one. And even though his next movie appears to be shrouded in mystery, it was revealed this week that the French director is making a biopic about pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Rumors intensified after Crouching Tiger star and ex-Bond girl Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) traveled to Rangoon to meet with the pro-democracy leader. “I understand she is planning to play her in a film in the near future,” says Nyan Win, Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, adding that Yeoh spent the day at his client’s home on Monday looking at photos. We shed more light on the movie’s title and more details after the jump.

Yesterday, it looked as if we were getting a huge amount of info on Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel.  Vulture reported that the film was called “Paradise”, and that Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) and Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) were being offered roles.  But last night, Chris Petrikin, 20th Century Fox’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, took to the Twitter machine to make some clarifications.  He first stated that the title is not “Paradise”.  Presumably, “Paradise” could just be an alias for the production.  It did seem odd that Fox would make an Alien movie and not put the word “Alien” in the title.

In other clarification news, The Playlist reports that according to a source who’s close to the production, the casting rumors regarding Fassbender and Yeoh are “just plain wrong.”  Hit the jump for more rumor control on the Alien prequel.

While we reported on one of those pesky internet rumors the other day about how the release date on Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien prequel had been pushed back an entire year, it turns out the validity of said rumor was less than solid. Vulture reports that the release date, in fact, has not been pushed back. But that’s not all! The title of said Alien prequel is reportedly Paradise. In addition, Scott has been looking to cast actors Michael Fassbender and Michelle Yeoh in a couple of the supporting parts. Hit the jump to find out what roles Fassbender and Yeoh would play, some details on the plot, why Fassbender’s deal may not work out, and how that crazy internet rumor started in the first place.

Yuen Woo-Ping knows how to choreograph a fight, but the challenges of directing a compelling movie aren’t quite as easy to overcome. While he has a long history of telling the Drunken Fist story, this is the first dramatic telling of the narrative and the results are sadly mixed. True Legend is a wild romp through the long and winding road of Beggar So that feels oddly pieced together despite the rousing final act. The film has its ups and downs, but the end result is a bit of a mess that leaves one feeling that it could have been so much more. Hit the jump for the full review.

DreamWorks Animation has announced that Jean Claude Van Damme (JCVD), Michelle Yeoh (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), and Victor Garber (Alias) are joining the voice cast of Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom.  Last week we reported that Gary Oldman has also joined the cast.  Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, and Dustin Hoffman are set to reprise their roles from the original film.  Oldman is playing Lord Shen, a villainous peacock (that should be a band name but remove the “pea”) while Yeoh is playing a mystical goat named The Soothsayer.  Van Damme will play Master Croc and Garber will play Master Thundering Rhino.

Oldman voices the character of Lord Shen (a peacock), the film’s formidable new villain while Yeoh brings to life the mystical character of The Soothsayer (a goat). Van Damme and Garber round out the cast as Master Croc and Master Thundering Rhino, respectively.  The story will center on Po (Black) trying to find other pandas and his adventures along the way.

Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom is slated to hit theaters on May 27, 2011 and will be in 3D (per DreamWorks Animation’s mandate).