Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Peter Segal In Talks to Direct Little Fockers
Posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Little Fockers, the third film in the Meet The Parents trilogy is finally entering the casting stages — Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson are in talks with Universal to return. Meet the Parents and Meet The Fockers director Jay Roach will not helm the third film as he’s too busy prepping Dinner For Schmucks,which leaves an opening for a new director. Last month it was reported that the directing candidates were down to three names:
Paul Weitz (In Good Company, About a Boy)
David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models)
Peyton Reed (Bring it On, Yes Man).
Who does Universal want to hire for the threequel? As it turns out, None of the above.
Little Fockers, the third film in the Meet The Parents trilogy is finally entering the casting stages — Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson are in talks with Universal to return.
Meet the Parents and Meet The Fockers director Jay Roach will not helm the third film as he’s too busy prepping Dinner For Schmucks, but is expected to produce. According to THR, the new directing candidates include Paul Weitz (In Good Company, About a Boy) David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models); and Peyton Reed (Bring it On, Yes Man). Reed seems like the best choice out of the bunch for this type of material.
In January, Nakatomiinc released an awesome print by Tim Doyle, which was an homage to Bill Murray’s many great roles. The print sold out fast, and doyle began work on the second in the series: Robert De Niro Times Six which takes a look at the many characters that Robert has played over his career: Godfather 2, Taxi Driver, Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, The Untouchables, and Jackie Brown. The print is extremely widescreen (as seen after the jump), 6 inches high by 36 wide, 4 colors, printed by D and L. Signed and Numbered. Nakatomiinc is selling two different editions, a regular edition (shown after the jump) for $30 (only 150 prints) and a Glow in the dark Blue Variant (shown above) for $50 (only 25 prints).
Cool Stuff: Print Mafia’s Taxi Driver Art Prints
Posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Last week we featured Print Mafia’s Cinema Series of Art Prints which included classic shots from 1970’s movies - Robert De Niro from Raging Bull, Sylvester Stallone from Rocky, Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde, and Steve McQueen in Bullitt. The new additions are a two print “We Are The People” set from Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver: Jodie Foster as Iris and Robert De Niro as Travis. Printed on 13 x 20 100lb. Cougar Heavy Stock, limited to 80 prints, and available for $30 each.
Cool Stuff is a daily feature of slashfilm.com. Know of any geekarific creations or cool products which should be featured on Cool Stuff? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.
Cool Stuff: Print Mafia’s Cinema Series of Art Prints
Posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Print Mafia has released four art prints in their epic Cinema Series. Prints include Robert De Niro from Raging Bull, Sylvester Stallone from Rocky, Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde, and Steve McQueen in Bullitt. Bigger photos after the jump.
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Eric Roth Want to Make a Film Within a Film
Posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
In October, it was reported that Martin Scorsese had signed on to direct Robert De Niro in an adaptation of Charles Brandt’s 2005 novel I Heard You Paint Houses. Adapted by Schindler’s List scribe Steve Zaillian, the movie will tell the story of Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran, a mob assassin who is believed to have carried out more than 25 mob murders, and claimed to have killed Jimmy Hoffa. Last month, Robert De Niro mentioned that he would also be reteaming with Marty on a second project.
“We have an even more ambitious plan of doing another movie connected to it, in some way, with Eric Roth hopefully writing that script,” De Niro said.
When I talked with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Forrest Gump) earlier in the week, I tried to find out more about the project. Roth wasn’t talking, but I was able to get a few details out of him. Ready?
Roth calls the second movie is “an odd ball thing” and revealed that it is “a film within a film [I Head You Paint Houses]“.
No word on when this project would go into production, but one would assume that both movies would be filmed simultaneously. When the project was announced in October, Paramount was aiming for a 2011 release. Find out more about I Heard You Paint Houses in our previous article.
Scorsese to Direct De Niro in I Heard You Paint Houses
Posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Martin Scorsese has added yet another movie project to his ever growing plate. The latest is an adaptation of Charles Brandt’s 2005 novel I heard You Paint Houses. Schindler’s List scribe Steve Zaillian has been hired to pen the adaptation and Robert De Niro is signed on to play Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran, a mob assassin who is believed to have carried out more than 25 mob murders, and claimed to have killed Jimmy Hoffa. Bandt befriended Sheeran shortly before his death in 2003. The film’s title refers to the clever mob slang for contract killings. As you can imagine, when someone is murdered, the blood splatters on walls and floors aka Painting the house. Sounds like a potential return to his gangster roots for the Goodfellas/Casino director.
Zallian’s writing credits also include Gangs of New York, American Gangster, Cape Fear, Hannibal, A Civil Action, Mission: Impossible, Clear and Present Danger, and Searching for Boby Fischer.
You can buy the book on Amazon.com for $10.85.
Official Book Description: HEARD YOU PAINT HOUSES is a fascinating account of a dark side of American history. The book’s title comes from the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. Frank Sheeran lived a long, violent, passionate life. As a boy he took on older kids in bar fights so his dad could win free beer. During World War II he was a highly decorated infantryman with 411 days of active combat duty and a willingness to follow orders. “When an officer would tell you to take a couple of German prisoners back behind the line and for you to ‘hurry back,’ you did what you had to do.” He became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino and eventually becoming one of only two non-Italians on the FBI’s famous La Cosa Nostra list. He was also a truck driver who was made head of the Teamsters local in Wilmington, Delaware, by his good friend Jimmy Hoffa. When Hoffa disappeared on July 30, 1975, Sheeran became a leading suspect, and every serious study of the Hoffa disappearance alleges that Sheeran was there.
For the first time the Irishman tells all — a lifetime of payoffs (including hand-delivering bags of cash to Nixon’s attorney general John Mitchell) and manipulation (supporting Joe Biden’s election to the Senate with a Teamster action) — for the book that would become his deathbed confession. He died on December 14, 2003. Sheeran also provides shocking new information on notorious mob hits: Joseph “Crazy Joey” Gallo — blown away as he celebrated his forty-third birthday in New York’s Little Italy; Salvatore “Sally Bugs” Briguglio — long suspected of being a player in the plot to kill Hoffa. And offers new insights to the crusading of Robert Kennedy and the death of John F. Kennedy. This historic account is based on interviews of Frank Sheeran by Charles Brandt, who researched, cross-checked, and illuminated what Sheeran told him and turned it all into a gripping narrative that is sure to become an instant true crime classic. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Sometimes I wonder if he will even complete a tenth of the announced projects. I’m not sure when or if Scorsese will ever be able to fit this into his schedule. Up next the director will choose between the three top projects on his list: Silence, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Long Play.
“Sheeran’s confession that he killed Hoffa in the manner described in the book is supported by the forensic evidence, is entirely credible, and solves the Hoffa mystery.” – Michael Baden, M.D., former Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York
“Told with such economy and chilling force as to make The Sopranos suddenly seem overwrought and theatrical.” - New York Daily News
“A page-turning account of one man’s descent into the mob.” - Delaware News Journal
source: Variety
Leaked: Weinstein and Tarantino Regroup After De Niro Flip-Out
Posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
An eleven year old phone conversation between Harvey Weinstein and Quentin Tarantino has leaked out to the press. Apparently Robert De Niro believed he should be getting more money for starring in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. In the phone call, Weinstein warns Tarantino that Robert De Niro might give him a late midnight phone call. Tarantino responds: “Tell Bob not to call me yelling and screaming because I don’t know if I’m going to be nice [if] the guy calls up yelling and screaming at me like a maniac, calling me a [beep]er!”
Weinstein explains “He thinks he’s going to make John Travolta look like that was an amateur night in Dixie.” Also coming to the actor’s defence: “This is a great actor and actually a great guy, who’s going through a difficult time. I think he’s really having like a scratching-his-head session, you know, with his own life and his own career.
I’m not sure what this whole phone call is supposed to prove. What? That De Niro got angry when he didn’t get offered the money that he believed he deserved? Regardless, it is fascinating to listen in on a conversation between an A-list director and a top Hollywood mogul, where you hear things like “are you prepared to go up a million on that?”
22% of Vanity Fair’s Top 100 are Filmmakers
Posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Vanity Fair has released the VF 100 - an annual listing of the top 100 leaders of the information age. Below you can find a listing of movie related entries on the list. Check out the full list on VanityFair.com.
4. Steve Jobs - Former Pixar CEO, Member of Disney’s Board of Directors
9. Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt - Actors
14. Steven Spielberg - Director, Producer, Dreamworks co-founder
22. David Geffen - Dremworks Co-founder
23. George Lucas - Writer, Director, Producer, Chairman of LucasFilm
24. Jerry Bruckheimer - Producer
28. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird - Pixar’s creative team
32. Sumner Redstone - Majority Owner of Paramount Pictures
33. Arnold Schwarzenegger - Actor
34. Tom Hanks - Actor, Producer
35. Robert Iger - Head of the Walt Disney Company
43. Oprah Winfrey - Actress (kinda), Producer
44. Jon Stewart - Comedian, Actor
45. Stephen Colbert - Comedian, Actor
53. Jeffrey Katzenberg - Dreamworks co-founder, CEO of Dreamworks Animation
55. George Clooney - Actor, Producer
58. Judd Apatow - Producer, Writer, Director
59. Robert De Niro - Actor, Producer, Director
66. Brian Grazer/Ron Howard - Producer/Director
85. The Coen Brothers - Writers, Directors, Producers
87. The Weinstein Brothers - The Weinstien Co
93. Jerry Weintraub - Producer
De Niro Fever: What Just Happened and Righteous Kill Movie Posters
Posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Somebody up there really likes us, because this glorious day brings not one, not eight, but two new posters for upcoming Robert De Niro flicks. First is Righteous Kill, the serial killer thriller starring Al Pacino and De Niro as no-nonsense cops who squat over crime scenes and directed by the guy who forever lives with directing Pacino’s worst film ever, 88 Minutes (and probably the worst De Niro/Pacino movie ever). Wow, this hot cake doesn’t open until September? Oy vey.
More promising is director Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened, which currently has an 8.0 on IMDB from 200+ votes, albeit probably from industry people who quote industry movies like The Player and Hurlyburly. Judging from the poster, you might think the film is about a suit’s wild getaway in Daytona Beach, but De Niro stars as a past-his-prime Hollywood producer struggling to get a new film in the can (bucket?). Nice cast: Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Robin Wright Penn and veteran Michael Wincott. If you like the sound of knowing guffaws, go see it in L.A. on October 3rd.
Discuss: Stay calm.
Overture Films has released the second movie trailer for Righteous Kill. Obviously the main selling point for this film is the fact that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro team-up for the first time in cinematic history (sure, they shared a scene together in Heat, but we don’t count that). I’m a big advocate of story. It’s almost impossible to make a great film with a lackluster story. But having these two guys in the lead would normally turn even a lackluster story into a must watch film. But one must remember that the same guy who made Righteous Kill, also made 88 Minutes, one of the worst films of the year (17% on metacritic), and which also starred Al Pacino. Check out the new trailer below and tell me what you think in the comments!
Official Plot Synopsis: Academy Award® winners Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) and Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) star as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer in the adrenaline fueled psychological thriller Righteous Kill, directed by Jon Avnet (Red Corner, Fried Green Tomatoes) and written by Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man). After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement, but aren’t. Before they can hang up their badges, they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before.
Like the original murder, the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place, it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer, one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can’t do on their own-take the culprits off the streets for good. The similarities between the recent killings and their earlier case raise a nagging question: Did they put the wrong man behind bars? The cast also features hip-hop superstar Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Get Rich or Die Tryin’).
Righteous Kill hits theaters on September 12th 2008.
“Thought you said this place had Pac Man.”
Robert De Niro saying the word “respect” in a voice-over. Check. The Rolling Stones doing a retake of their “Sympathy for the Devil.” Check. Al Pacino squatting over a crime scene in sunglasses. Check. Rapper 50 Cent closing his cell phone. Check. Wait, what? The director behind Al Pacino’s first direct-to-DVD movie. Check. Wait, c’mon. Carla Gugino showing a little skin. Check. Wait, okay, free to go. Lots of guns being fired. Check. Shot of Al Pacino in the club. Check. The trailer for Righteous Kill. [Hunter is indifferent and went to get a Pabst Blue Ribbon.]
Righteous Kill, starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, hits theaters on September 12th, 2008.
Discuss: What do you think of the new Righteous Kill Movie Trailer?
