The hook for the film Lovelace is pretty simple: Amanda Seyfried plays the first crossover porn superstar, Linda Lovelace. Shouldn’t be difficult to sell a movie based on that idea, alone, but there is something fairly uncomfortable about the prospect. Linda Lovelace later said that much of her porn work was coerced by her abusive husband Chuck Traynor, played in this film incarnation by Peter Sarsgaard. It’s not the sort of tale that can be represented on sex appeal alone, lurid and easy as that would be.
And, yes, the movie that Howl directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman are putting together sounds like it will be a fairly dark affair. It takes primary inspiration from Eric Danville‘s biography The Complete Linda Lovelace, which traces her progression from unknown to unlikely mainstream icon, to anti-porn activist. The film is still shooting and so we won’t likely see any footage for a couple months yet, but in the meantime we’ve got a couple new stills from the film, and a recreation of the poster for Deep Throat, featuring Seyfried in character. Read More »
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Posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 by Angie Han
When it first came out in 1964, Mary Poppins was a smash hit both commercially and critically: it out-earned The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady at the box office, received thirteen Academy Award nominations and won five. Now, nearly fifty years later, Disney is looking toward returning to the Mary Poppins well — but don’t worry, it’s not a sequel. The studio is close to picking up Saving Mr. Banks, Kelly Marcel’s 2011 Black List script about Walt Disney‘s 14-year effort to persuade author P.L. Travers to sell the movie rights to her tale.
While that may not sound like the sexiest premise in the world, the prickly relationship between Travers and Disney should provide more than enough drama to power a film. Especially if the story falls into hands as capable as those of Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, both of whom are rumored to be eyeing the leads. More details after the jump.
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There are four documentaries about the West Memphis Three (three Paradise Lost films and the new West of Memphis) and The Devil’s Knot, a dramatic re-telling of the trio’s story in development with Atom Egoyan set to direct. Now there is one more film about to go into development.
Damien Echols, the young man convicted of taking part in the murders of three boys and the one of the West Memphis Three sentenced to death, was released from prison last year along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. This September Echols will publish a memoir detailing his life on death row, and the book has now been optioned by Johnny Depp‘s company Infinitum Nihil. Read More »
It’s a big weekend for Max Landis. Sure, the son of legendary director John Landis has a few screenplays in various stages of production but this weekend marks his first to finally make it to the big screen, Chronicle (read a review here). He’s also picked this weekend to release his much ballyhooed short film The Death and Return of Superman.
The Death and Return of Superman, described as “an educational parody,” tells the hilarious, literal, insider version what happened in 1992 when DC Comics decided to kill, then resurrect, Superman. It’s a story many of us remember, but have long since forgotten.
Starring Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, Ron Howard, Chris Hardwick, Simon Pegg and more, you can check it out after the break. Read More »
David Yates, the man who directed the last four Harry Potter movies, has been courted to make some big movies for Warner Bros in the wake of Potter’s finale, most notably the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, and also the Alan Turing biopic Imitation Game.
While Yates was briefly attached to make The Stand, he pulled away from that film and instead has settled on something smaller: an adaptation of Emma Forrest‘s memoir Your Voice in My Head. And now it looks like Yates will have Harry Potter‘s Emma Watson along for the ride in the lead role. Read More »
The star power that came out in defense of the West Memphis Three was remarkable and now there’s added juice behind an eventual dramatic film version. Oscar-winner Colin Firth has just joined previously cast Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon in Devil’s Knot, the first narrative feature (after several documentaries) concerning the complicated yet fascinating subject of the West Memphis Three. It’ll be directed by Atom Egoyan and is based on the non-fiction book by Mara Leveritt.
Firth will play Ron Lax, a private investigator who was instrumental in finding key evidence that raised considerable doubt as to the guilt of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. Witherspoon will play Pam Hobbs, the mother of victim Steven Branch and the wife of the man believed to have committed the crimes. There’s more after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 by Angie Han
Sarah Palin has become such a ubiquitous cultural figure at this point, it’s hard to believe it was just four years ago that John McCain pulled the then-relatively unknown pol into the spotlight by announcing her as his running mate for his 2008 presidential campaign. But as the 2012 race slowly heats up, now seems as good a time as any to think back to what happened the last time we as a nation chose a leader.
Directed by Emmy winner Jay Roach (Recount), HBO Films’ Game Change follows McCain (played by Ed Harris), Palin (Julianne Moore), and their unsuccessful bid for the White House. Whereas the first trailer focused more on McCain and his decision to name Palin as his potential VP, the new one centers around Palin and what happens to her after she agrees to board the campaign. Watch the trailer after the jump.
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If you’d like to see Ben Affleck with a stunning Seventies beard, Chris Hemsworth and Martin Freeman each surrounded by a bunch of dwarves or the first image from Ben Wheatley‘s follow-up to Kill List, this post is for you. After the jump, see new images from Ben Affleck’s Argo, Rupert Sanders‘ Snow White and the Huntsman, Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers. Read More »
