Matt Damon has been planning his directorial debut for months now — the film would be one he wrote with John Krasinski, based on a timely story that Krasinski cooked up with Dave Eggers. But just this week Damon backed out of directing the film, because scheduling issues, personal and professional, made the project impossible for him.
But the currently untitled film will still get made, and with Damon in the starring role. Krasinski will co-star, with he and Damon playing “rival corporate executives” in what is being called a Capraesque story. And now, Gus Van Sant will direct. Read More »
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For the past few months Matt Damon has been planning to direct his first feature film, a currently untitled movie with a story concocted by John Krasinski and Dave Eggers, and with a script by Krasinski and Damon. The story is that Damon would play a salesman who shows up in a small town, and the upheaval that results.
Now it looks like Damon won’t direct the film after all, though in a slightly strange set of conditions, he could still star in the film. Read More »
Posted on Saturday, December 24th, 2011 by Angie Han
Cameron Crowe‘s We Bought a Zoo unfolds in the kind of universe where characters say things like “If you do something for the right reasons, nothing can stop you,” and indeed, it turns out that if your heart is in the right place, Mother Nature herself will stop and part the clouds to make your dreams come true. It’s a place where “Why not?” is a perfectly valid response to the question “What on earth possessed you to buy a zoo?” and where “insane courage” guarantees a desirable outcome. If all of that sounds cringingly sappy, well, it kind of is. But Crowe tells the tale with such genuine feeling that it’s tough not to fall for the movie’s charms all the same.
Based on the memoir by Benjamin Mee, the film follows a freshly widowed father (Matt Damon) who, in an unconventional attempt at self-therapy, moves himself and his two children Dylan and Rosie (Colin Ford and Maggie Elizabeth Jones) into a decrepit zoo. With the help of a small but devoted staff (Patrick Fugit, Elle Fanning, Angus Macfadyen) led by zookeeper Kelly (Scarlett Johansson), the family sets about renovating the park for a grand reopening.
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Posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 by David Chen
This week, Dave Chen, Devindra, and Adam discuss The Dark Knight Rises prologue, praise the rarely seen Enlightened, and reflect on shows that have come back from the dead, creatively. Special guest Tasha Robinson from AV Club joins us for this episode.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Live broadcasts will resume in 2012.
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Briefly: Evidently the Thanksgiving weekend sneak preview screenings of Cameron Crowe‘s new film We Bought a Zoo went down pretty well, because Fox is doing it again this weekend. The studio has announced that the film, which opens for real on December 23, will show “additional sneak previews of the film in hundreds of theaters across the country.”
The film will be showing at 800 theaters across the US tomorrow, so we don’t have a list of showtimes — that’s just too many to list. But you should easily be able to check local listings to get the relevant data.
Germain recorded some of his thoughts about the movie after the Thanksgiving sneak weekend, and we’ll have a proper review up the week of the film’s actual opening. You can also check out some of the score here.
Posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 by Angie Han
We’ve already expressed our eagerness to check out Cameron Crowe‘s We Bought a Zoo, and it seems Fox is equally excited to show it to us. The studio has teamed up with social media service TOUT to offer sneak preview screenings of the drama on Saturday, November 26, four weeks before its official release date of December 23. And as if the mere fact of getting to see Crowe’s latest in advance weren’t motivation enough, attendees will also have the opportunity to enter a contest for a trip to San Diego by posting reviews of the film.
Based on a memoir by Benjamin Mee, We Bought a Zoo stars Matt Damon as a single dad who moves his family to a dilapidated zoo. Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Elle Fanning, and Patrick Fugit also appear. More details after the jump.
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Earlier today, I posted a story with hundreds of studio released movie posters that all looked the same. The lead sentence was “News flash: today’s movie posters generally suck.” Almost as if it was a response to that, Cameron Crowe‘s official website The Uncool debuted the theatrical poster for his upcoming film, We Bought a Zoo. Designed by Arsonal if features no stars and no dumb tagline, just a striking image that begs the question: what is this movie about? It does what a movie poster is supposed to do. It catches your eye and makes you think.
Check out the full image after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 by Angie Han
One of the things I (and I think many other people) love about Cameron Crowe‘s films is how warm and optimistic they tend to be. And his latest directorial effort, We Bought a Zoo, clearly won’t be any different in that regard. Based on a memoir by Benjamin Mee, the drama stars Matt Damon as a single dad who moves his family to a run-down zoo. As they work to restore the park, they encounter all sorts of lovably offbeat characters and heartwarming life lessons along the way.
But when the first trailer hit earlier this fall, I worried that perhaps Crowe had gone too far into “sweet” this time, crossing right over into “saccharine.” Happily, the new international trailer strikes a much better balance, managing to be uplifting without being groanworthy about it. Watch it after the jump.
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