Briefly: In the US Antonio Banderas is thought of as an actor rather than a director. But he’s already made two features (Crazy in Alabama and Summer Rain) and is about to embark upon his third. Solo will be produced by and likely star Mr. Banderas as well, and it is a thriller with some sort of sci-fi element.
Variety says Solo will be “a psychological thriller with sci-fi touches turning on a Spanish colonel suffering post-conflict trauma.” Antonio Banderas will play the colonel, but we don’t have much more info other than that he says the film is ultimately about solitude. The script is by Erik Jendresen, who wrote a few episodes of Band of Brothers, but whose later feature credits (Otis and Crazy as Hell) aren’t all that appealing.
Solo will shoot next year, and despite being a Spanish production with Spanish actors, it will be shot in English. “Unfortunately, to reach large international markets, you have to shoot in English,” Mr. Banderas said.
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It’s difficult to say whether Black Gold, which seeks to tell a tale of rival Arabic rulers during the Arab oil boom of the 1930s, will be any good. But the film, which will be directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (Seven Years in Tibet) has an interesting cast: Antonio Banderas toplines, with Mark Strong, Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) all lined up to appear. Read More »
Update: I’ve spoken with a rep at Overture, who denies that there is any story here.
Not a huge piece of info here, but there’s a report from The Playlist that Steven Soderbergh‘s film Haywire (formerly Knockout) is leaving LionsGate for Overture. Ryan Kavanaugh produced the film and now owns Overture, which he picked up not long ago when the distributor was close to failing. So there’s a connection there; while we don’t know all the reasons the switch would be made, the Kavanaugh link isn’t insignificant. Read More »
There’s a new trailer for Woody Allen‘s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, to complement the international one released not too long ago. This version is shorter and focused a bit more on throwing out bon mots and a few bits of character. There’s more plot in the international version, but this one still gets the important stuff across. (Important stuff being details like “Freida Pinto sure is pretty.”) Read More »
Steven Soderbergh‘s action thriller Knockout, starring MMA fighter Gina Carano and a hell of a supporting cast, has evidently been given a new title. The picture is now called Haywire, and looks to be set for release in January 2011 by LionsGate. Read More »
Pedro Almodovar has been casting his next film La piel que habito (The Skin I Live In) and got things off to a big start by including Antonio Banderas, with whom the director has not worked since 1990. Now Almodovar has hired actresses Elena Anaya (Sex and Lucia) and Marisa Paredes. Both actresses have worked with Almodovar before; this will be the sixth film under the director for Paredes.
The film is about “a plastic surgeon’s revenge on the man who raped his daughter,” leading to the supposition that Banderas plays the surgeon and Anaya his daughter. Refer back to our last piece on the film for a long synopsis of the novel on which the movie is based, as it hints at how weird and uncomfortable this project might be. Can’t wait. [Variety]
After the break, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has a new Mary Jane, and Dexter gets a (slightly) unusual, possibly spoilerish cast member. Read More »
It’s been a couple days since my last long Cannes update. Once the first weekend hit, things got really crazy at the festival. It is becoming clearer to me that this year’s theme at Cannes is about death, dying, mortality and legacy. In my last Cannes blog, I wrote about Mike Leigh’s new film Another Year, which is essentially a character piece which tackles all of the above issues. I have since seen a couple moe films which tackle these issues head on.
But before I get to my reviews, you’re probably wondering why Batman is on the big screen at Cannes..
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Antonio Banderas and director Pedro Almodovar have made several movies together, but none since Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down in 1990. Now the pair are finally set to reunite in a film called La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In), which Almodovar calls “a terror film without screams or scares.” Read More »
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