Working Title has released the first trailer for director Richard Curtis’ (Love Actually) new film About Time.  The pic puts a time travel spin on the classic romantic comedy conceit, as Domnhall Gleeson (Bill Weasley from Harry Potter) plays a man who has inherited the ability to travel through time from his father (Bill Nighy).  Naturally, Gleeson’s character uses his time travel prowess to woo the girl of his dreams (Rachel McAdams), but as with all time travel stories, the powers come with grave consequences.  Curtis has a knack for making familiar stories interesting and endearing, and About Time looks to be no different.  I like the earnestness with which the film is approached, and Gleeson seems poised to break out in a big way.

Hit the jump to watch the debut UK trailer.  The film also stars Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Lydia Wilson, and Vanessa Kirby.  About Time opens on September 6th in the UK and November 1st in the US.

We’ve got a host of new images from the following Universal Pictures films opening in 2013:

• About Time – A new image featuring Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson, who star in this time-traveling sci-fi dramedy from writer/director Richard Curtis.  About Time opens May 10th.
• Fast and Furious 6 – One new image of Paul Walker and Vin Diesel who return for the sixth installment of the streetcar franchise directed by Justin Lin.  Fast and Furious 6 opens May 24th.
• Identity Thief - 16 images from director Seth Gordon’s crime comedy starring Jason Bateman as a victim of Melissa McCarthy’s thieving.  Identity Thief opens February 8th.
• Jurassic Park 3D – A new image from the 3D re-release of the 1993 Steven Spielberg movie, roaring into theaters on April 5th.

Hit the jump to see the images.

Joe Wright’s adaptation of Leo Tolstoy‘s classic novel Anna Karenina is now playing in theaters.  The film takes place in late 19th century Russian society, and stars Keira Knightley as an adulterer who questions her happiness.  In true Wright fashion, this isn’t exactly a straightforward adaptation; the director has set much of the film in a lush theater that uses over 100 interconnected sets to allow the action to move fluidly through various settings.  The film also stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Olivia Williams.  For more on Anna Karenina, here’s Matt’s review, five clips, and all our previous coverage.

At the press day, I spoke to Domhnall Gleeson.  We talked about how he prepared for the role, when he found out Joe Wright was changing the way he wanted to tell the story and his thoughts on the change, collaborating with Wright and his unique camera angles, and more.  In addition, we also talked about Richard Curtis‘ About Time, which also stars Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy.  Hit the jump to watch.

We’ve quite a bit of release date news to share this fine morning, as Universal has announced a slew of schedule changes.  Briefly:

• With production set to begin in a matter of weeks, Kick-Ass 2 has been slated for a June 28th, 2013 release.
• The Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg thriller 2 Guns has been given an August 16th, 2013 release date.
• Director Richard Curtis’ (Love Actually) romantic time travel pic About Time, starring Rachel McAdams, has been dated May 10th, 2013.
• The Keanu Reeves samurai pic 47 Ronin, originally set for a November 2012 release, has now been pushed back even further to Christmas 2013.
• The re-release Jurassic Park 3D has been moved to April 5th, 2013.
• The supernatural actioner R.I.P.D. starring Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds has been shifted to July 19th, 2013.
• The Jason Bateman/Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief has been moved up to February 8th, 2013.

Hit the jump for all the details, folks.

Zooey Deschanel is going time traveling. Variety reports that Deschanel and Harry Potter star Domhnall Gleeson are in talks to lead Love Actually director Richard Curtis’ time travel dramedy About Time. Gleeson will star as a young man who comes from a family of time travelers who uses his ability in order to change situations for the better when he learns of his gift. Should Deschanel sign on, she’ll be playing Gleeson’s love interest. The actress is currently mulling over which project to shoot during her hiatus from the swell Fox series New Girl (seriously, it’s good. Give it a whirl). Apparently she’s deciding between the comedy He’s Fuckin’ Perfect and About Time, but Variety notes that she’s leaning toward the latter.

Sci-fi is a strange choice of genre for Curtis given his background, but I was a big fan of Pirate Radio so I’m open to what About Time has in store. I like Gleeson quite a bit (he had turns in True Grit and Never Let Me Go in addition to Potter) and Deschanel is beyond charming, so if the two sign on I think Curtis will have a fine cast here.

Fresh off his work as screenwriter on Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, Richard Curtis is ready to get back into the director’s chair. Curtis will next direct a time-travel story called About Time. No plot details are known other than the fact that it involves time-travel and will be made on a fairly low budget, but Curtis wrote the script himself and is poised to make the picture his third directorial effort. His debut in the director’s chair came with the incredibly charming Love Actually in 2003, which was followed up by the criminally underseen 2009 pic Pirate Radio. Hit the jump for more.

Opening on Christmas Day is director Steven Spielberg‘s fantastic new movie, War Horse.  Based on the Award winning play (which is based on Michael Morpurgo’s book) and set during World War I, War Horse tells the story of “the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert (Jeremy Irvine), who tames and trains him.”  And don’t just take my word for it, early screenings have been very positive and the drama is heading into Oscar season with very positive buzz, especially after the National Board of review named War Horse one of the best 10 films of the year.  The film also stars Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Toby Kebbell.  You can watch the trailer here and here’s seven clips.

Anyway, I was recently able to participate in a press conference in New York City with Steven Spielberg, producer Kathleen Kennedy, and screenwriter Richard Curtis.  During the extended interview they talked about how the film came together, the differences between the book and the film, the creative decisions to get a PG-13 rating, the distinct visual palettes for each story, and so much more.  Hit the jump for the interview.

Working Title Films and Peapie Films have acquired Andy Mulligan’s novel Trash as a directing vehicle for Stephen Daldry (The Reader).  Richard Curtis (Love Actually) will adapt the novel, which is “a contemporary thriller set in the third world, about three boys who scrape a living picking through rubbish mounds. One day they discover a leather bag, whose contents plunge them into a terrifying adventure, pitting their wits against corruption and authority to put right a terrible wrong.”  Variety reports that the project is being developed with an eye towards shooting in 2012.

Daldry is currently at work adapting Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock.  Curtis recently worked on the screenplay for Stephen Spielberg’s upcoming drama War Horse.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of Andy Mulligan’s Trash.

It was an unusually warm day in November when I got word that there would be an advanced screening of Focus Features’ newest picture, Pirate Radio. In addition to the screening, I would get the chance to talk with Tom Sturridge, a bit of an acting newcomer who would serve as the film’s lynchpin, and the writer/director of the film, Richard Curtis.  Well, I grabbed The Who’s Greatest Hits album, aptly titled after one of their greatest singles, My Generation, jumped in my Chevy and sped away towards midtown Manhattan.

Being a bit of a Richard Curtis fan for his work as a writer on one of Britain’s most celebrated sitcoms ever, Black Adder, and for his directorial debut with Love, Actually, to say I was amped up would probably be an understatement. I had also wanted to desperately see this movie since I had heard of it because I usually enjoy time-period pieces about one of my favorite subjects, the history of TV and radio.  What I thought of the film and more after the jump:

I am an anglophile.  I will own up to that straight out of the gate.  I grew up watching every BBC program offered by my local PBS station.  That’s how I came to start my lifelong relationship with Monty Python.  That’s where my fascination with Red Dwarf began.  That’s how I came across Rowan Atkinson’s gem of a series Black Adder.  Brit humor fans click to find more after the jump.