A.J. Bowen, Amy Seimetz, and Joe Swanberg have been cast in Adam Wingard’s thriller A Horrible Way to Die. Written by Simon Barrett (Dead Birds), the story follows an escaped murderer (Bowen) in pursuit of his ex-girlfriend (Seimetz), who has fled to start a new life in a small town. Swanberg plays the ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. The photo above is from the movie, which is currently shooting in Columbia, Missouri.
Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, 25th Hour) joins Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin and Hailee Steinfeld in the Coen brothers’ adaptation of True Grit. Pepper will play “Lucky” Ned Pepper, the notorious outlaw played by Robert Duvall in the 1969 film adaptation. [Variety]
Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman will star in Wedding Crashers helmer David Dobkin’s body-switching comedy The Change-Up, written by The Hangover scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Bateman plays a responsible family man who switches bodies with his lazy man-child best friend (Reynolds). [variety]
Focus Features has released a new three and a half minute featurette for Noah Baumbach’s new comedy / drama Greenberg. Titled “Behind the Scenes: Brave At Our Age”, the featurette has sit down interviews with the stars, Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Greta Gerwig, talking about the story, movie, and director. It also touches on the original score created by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. Watch the featurette now, embedded after the jump.
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UPDATE: Just after I published this, The Weinstein Company was announced as the distributor for Blue Valentine, the drama starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The film has been one of the critical hits of the fest, but I’ve got to wonder what TWC will be able to do with it. The company is struggling, and I don’t have much faith in its ability to give the movie a proper release. Check Peter’s video review of Blue Valentine here. Original article follows.
Right at the beginning of this year’s Sundance there were a couple of big deals made. The doc Waiting for Superman was bought by Paramount and Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds, was picked up by Lionsgate. (Read Peter’s review.)As the festival winds down there have been a couple other big buys. Hesher is the most notable, with the Joseph Gordon-Levitt starring film going to Newmarket. The very well-received The Kids Are Alright has also found a home, and while Joel Schumacher’s Twelve isn’t the best-reviewed film at the fest, it’s got a deal now, too. Read More »
We’ll soon see dueling films about the Roman Ninth Legion, a semi-legendary force that disappeared or, more likely, was wiped out in or around the year AD 117. Neil Marshall (Decent, Doomsday) has one film, called Centurion, which focuses on the force as it attempts to destroy the Picts. The other picture is The Eagle of the Ninth, based on the Rosemary Sutcliff novel of the same name. That one reunites The Last King of Scotland writer Jeremy Brock and director Kevin Macdonald. It stars Channing Tatum as Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young officer trying to discover the truth about his father’s disappearance. The first pics are out now. Read More »
Joe Penhall has been hired by Focus Features to adapt the John Williams‘ 1960 Western novel Butcher’s Crossing, which Sam Mendes might direct. The New York Times called the book “the first and best revisionist western” and “harsh and relentless yet muted in tone,” noting that “Butcher’s Crossing paved the way for Cormac McCarthy.” Penhall is notable for writing the screenplay adaptation for Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, as well as Some Voices and Enduring Love.
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When Focus Features announced in January the intent to make a biopic based on the life of Nigerian band leader and activist Fela Kuti, I was immediately intrigued. Would the film look more at his music, or his status as sort of an emergent voice of the people? A mix of both is likely (and necessary) but now that we know the film’s director, I expect the political overtones will take priority. Steve McQueen, director of the film Hunger, will take the reigns, according to Variety. This is great and interesting news; now I can’t wait to see who he casts, and to what extent he’s known in North America.
When this was first announced, Fela Kuti was primarily a name known to music geeks and lovers of afrobeat, the dance-inducing form he invented. But now there’s a Broadway musical that portrays his life and work in a massively upbeat manner. That’s not the basis for this film, which will instead draw from the book Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon, by Michael Veal. Fela’s history is too detailed and incredible to recount here; suffice to say that if cast properly he’ll be a wildly captivating subject for the screen. Doing his music justice will take some real magic, though. Driven in part by drummer Tony Allen, Fela’s primordial afrobeat tunes were equal parts jazz, funk and circular rhythm, overlaid with spoken/sung tales of injustice. Check out Fela in action here.
After the break, some Fela tunes, and news on An Education director Lone Scherfig’s next film. Read More »
Half Nelson writer/directors Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck’s new film It’s Kind of a Funny Story begins production in New York City this week.
Keir Gilchrist, who stars as the title character’s son on the hit television series United States of Tara, has the film’s lead role. Costarring are Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), Emma Roberts (of the upcoming Valentine’s Day), Academy Award nominee Viola Davis (Doubt), Zoe Kravitz (The Brave One), Aasif Mandvi (The Proposal), Lauren Graham (of this winter’s NBC series Parenthood), and Jim Gaffigan (of Focus’ Away We Go).
Focus Features sent out a press release to announce the start of production, which can be read after the jump.
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Focus Features has released the trailer for Thomas Balmes‘ documentary Babies online. Based on an original idea by Alain Chabat, Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world - from birth to first steps.
The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in the United States, in San Francisco. Re-defining the nonfiction art form, Babies joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all.
So basically its cute overload the movie. But seriously, I really like the concept, but I wonder if the movie can deliver on the premise. Will it be more about the experience of the parents? I wonder what stories can be told in that early stage in a baby’s life. Watch the trailer embedded after the jump.
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A song can make all the difference to a trailer. This first footage from Noah Baumbach’s new comedy / drama Greenberg could be seriously depressing, were it not for the bouncy ‘All My Friends’ by LCD Soundsystem. Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Greta Gerwig star in the film that was called Greenberg, then was untitled, and is now apparently called Greenberg once more. Check it out after the break. Read More »
Focus Features today announced their 2010 release slate. Highlights include:
- March 12th 2010: The Squid and the Whale writer/director Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg which stars Ben Stiller
- April 16th 2010: Thomas Balmès‘ Babies, a documentary film which simultaneously follows four babies around the world - from birth to first steps.
- Wednesday, September 1st 2010: Anton Corbijn’s The American starring George Clooney as a retiring assassin
- Third Quarter 2010: Kevin Macdonald’s Roman epic adventure The Eagle of the Ninth
- November 2010: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck’s (Half Nelson, Sugar) dramedy adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s 2006 novel It’s Kind of a Funny Story
- TBA 2010 (we assume in December for Award Season): Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere starring Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning
After the jump you can read the full press release, which includes detailed plot synopsis for all of these films.
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