Six clips from director/star Ben Affleck’s thriller Argo have been released.  The film, based on a true story, centers on a CIA agent (Affleck) who attempts to rescue six Americans trapped in the home of the Canadian ambassador during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.  The rescue mission was to go in under the auspices of filming a science fiction movie entitled “Argo”.  The pic screened to a wildly positive response at the Toronto Film Festival (read Matt’s review right here), and earned a spot on our “Most Anticipated” list for the fourth quarter of 2012.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  The film also stars John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, Kyle Chandler, Kerry Bishe, Tate Donovan, Victor Garber, Chris Messina, Titus Welliver, Zeljko Ivanek, and Taylor Schilling.  Argo opens on October 12th.

A large batch of new images from director/star Ben Affleck’s Argo has been released.  The film, based on a true story, centers on a CIA agent (Affleck) who attempts to rescue six Americans trapped in the home of the Canadian ambassador during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.  The rescue mission was to go in under the auspices of filming a science fiction movie entitled “Argo”.  The film’s trailer and TV spots look fantastic and it screened to a highly positive response (read Matt’s review right here) at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, so I’m really looking forward to this one.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film stars Affleck, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, Kyle Chandler, Kerry Bishe, Tate Donovan, Victor Garber, Chris Messina, Titus Welliver, Zeljko Ivanek, and Taylor Schilling.  Argo opens on October 12th.

Here are a few recent casting notes at a glance:

• Max Minghella (The Social Network) is in talks to join Shawn Levy’s The Internship alongside Wedding Crashers alumni, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.
• Taylor Schilling (The Lucky One) has boarded the indie drama, Stay.
• Brie Larson (21 Jump Street) is the latest addition to The Spectacular Now, with Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) and Miles Teller (Project X).
• Tom Papa (The Marriage Ref) has joined Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra.

Hit the jump for more on each film.

Zac Efron takes on his most mature role yet in the adaptation of  Nicholas Sparks‘ The Lucky One playing U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault who has defied the odds during three tours of duty in Iraq.  When Thibault discovers a photograph of an unknown woman (Taylor Schilling) half-buried in the sand and pulls it out, it becomes his lucky charm that he credits with keeping him alive.  After he returns stateside, the picture becomes the catalyst for an unusual and moving journey of discovery and healing.

At the press day for The Lucky One, we sat down at a roundtable interview with Efron and Schilling to talk about what drew them to the Nicholas Sparks universe and the story’s interconnecting ideas of luck, love and destiny.  They told us how the friendship they developed on set helped when it came time to film some of the movie’s more romantic scenes, how it was working with Academy Award-nominated writer/director Scott Hicks, and what they have coming up next including Efron’s The Paperboy and Schilling’s Argo. Zac also talked about his progression toward more serious roles, how he transformed himself physically for the role, and why it was important to him to give the most accurate portrayal possible after getting to know the Marines at Camp Pendleton.

We’ve got seven clips from the Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Lucky One to share today.  The film stars Zac Efron as a marine in the Iraq war who finds a photograph of a woman that brings him good luck while in combat.  He proceeds to seek her out once stateside and strikes up a romance with the woman.  It’s a fairly stalkerish story, but for fans of Sparks’ other adaptations I’m assuming this one’s right up their alley.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Taylor Schilling, Jay R. Ferguson, Riley Thomas Stewart, Adam Lefevre and Blythe Danner.  The Lucky One opens on April 20th.

The first trailer and poster have debuted for the drama The Lucky One. It’s a Nicholas Sparks adaptation starring Zac Efron with a song by The Fray blasting over the trailer, so you’re either squealing in excitement or reaching for a razor blade depending on your affinity for predictable romantic dramas. The film tells the story of a marine in the Iraq war who finds a photograph of a woman that brings him good luck while in combat. He then proceeds to stalk find her once he returns home. The movie looks pretty terrible, complete with every single character beat you’re expecting. The only mystery now, given that it’s a Sparks adaptation, is which one of them dies.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster. Directed by Scott Hicks, the film also stars Taylor Schilling and Blythe Danner. The Lucky One opens April 20th, 2012.

A featurette for the drama The Lucky One has gone online. It’s a bit odd, considering a trailer has yet to be unveiled, but the featurette itself plays like an extended trailer complete with talking head narration. The film is an adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name and stars Zac Efron as a Marine in the Iraq war who finds a photograph of a smiling woman buried in the sand in Iraq that brings him good luck. Once he returns stateside, he sets out to find the woman. Sparks and Efron appear in the featurette talking about the story and Sparks’ popularity among teenage girls readers nationwide.

As for the movie, it looks exactly like you’d expect. It’s sure become a staple of the “Favorite Movies” portion of Facebook pages for girls age 7-17, and that’s okay; these kinds of movies obviously have their audiences. Directed by Scott Hicks, the film also stars Taylor Schilling and Blythe Danner. Hit the jump to watch the featurette. The Lucky One opens April 20th, 2012.

Ben Affleck’s Argo began shooting today.  The film has a killer cast that includes Affleck, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, and John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Rory Cochrane, Victor Garber, Richard Kind, and Michael Parks.  I don’t really care about press releases announcing that filming has commenced (what’s newsworthy is when it looks like filming will commence and then it doesn’t), but this press release includes the first official synopsis for the movie.  Check it out:

Based on true events, “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis—the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades.  On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

Okay, so that doesn’t point out that his plan is to use a fake movie as cover for the operation, but that’s the hook.  Affleck co-wrote the script with Good Night and Good Luck. screenwriter Grant Heslov.  Hit the jump for the full press release which includes a rundown of the behind-the-camera talent.

The cast for director/star Ben Affleck’s drama Argo continues to take shape as Taylor Schilling (NBC’s Mercy), Tate Donovan (I’ll always remember him as Jimmy Cooper on The O.C.), and Nelson Franklin (The Office) have all signed on to the pic. The trio joins a cast that already includes Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin and Kyle Chandler. For those currently unaware, Argo is based upon a 2007 article from Wired magazine entitled “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran.” Chris Terrio adapted the Joshuah Bearman piece which documents the rescue of six U.S. diplomats in 1979.

According to Variety, Schilling will take on the role of Affleck’s wife. The actress also has a role alongside Zac Efron in the drama The Lucky One opening August 24th, 2012. As for Donovan and Franklin, the report states that they will play a U.S. embassy consular and a reported respectively. George Clooney and Grant Heslov are co-producing the project under their Smokehouse banner. Argo is currently aiming for a 2012 release.

The film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged has been a massive undertaking.  It’s difficult to condense Rand’s 1200 treatise on the value of being a selfish prick, so the folks behind the movie have decided to break the book up into parts.  The trailer for Part 1 of the adaptation has been released and I half-expected a title card that read “From executive producer Glenn Beck”.  It doesn’t feel like it’s a trailer for a real movie because characters are just espousing Rand’s beliefs in casual dialogue.  There are other bits of comic goodness scattered throughout and I have to admit I want to see this train wreck (pun intended) out of morbid curiosity.  I also like that they basically took the marketing campaign for Salt and simply changed the “S” to a “G”.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film is due out on April 15th, as a “suck it” to Tax Day even though Tax Day was moved back to April 18th because of Emancipation Day.  But it’s good that a film is pointing out this tyrannical holiday because I hate paying for roads and fire departments.  Give me traveling on dirt and burning buildings or give me death!

The first images have surfaced of Zac Efron on the set of The Lucky One, the latest film adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks book. Directed by Scott Hicks (No Reservations), the film tells the story of a Marine who carries a photograph of an anonymous woman in his pocket during his three tours in Iraq as a good luck charm.  Upon returning home, the soldier seeks out his picturesque dream girl.

Efron stars opposite Taylor Schilling (Mercy), with Blythe Danner, Riley Thomas Stewart (90210), and Adam Lefevre (Fair Game) rounding out the supporting cast.  The flick was shot in New Orleans, where the story takes place. Hit the jump for more, and to check out the images.

Taylor Schilling (Mercy) will play the female lead in Scott Hicks’ (No Reservations) adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel, The Lucky One.  According to THR, the young actress beat out a group of her peers including Abbie Cornish and Katie Cassidy to land the highly coveted role of Zac Efron’s love interest.  The film revolves around Efron, who plays a Marine (naturally) that survives three tours of duty in Iraq and attributes this brand of luck to his carrying the photograph of a woman (Schilling) he has never met.  Of course, when he returns home from duty, he sets out on a seemingly impossible/irrevocably romantic journey to find the woman.

The Lucky One is the latest in a long line of Sparks adaptations which most recently includes: The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John, and The Last Song.  As such, we should have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the film’s narrative (at least it doesn’t star Miley Cyrus… yet).  The Lucky One is scheduled to begin filming in the fall with a 2012 release in mind.