Posted on Friday, September 30th, 2011 by Angie Han
We’ve already got a fairly good idea of what David Fincher‘s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will look like, thanks to all those previously released photos, trailers, and whatnot, but since everything has looked pretty damn stunning so far, we’re more than happy to flip through a few more pictures. Empire Magazine has unveiled some gorgeous new promo pics of Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in character in their latest issue. See Blomkvist (Craig) keeping his cool while handcuffed to a chair, Lisbeth (Mara) hanging out with her space heater, and the two of them sharing a smoky moment after the jump.
Posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
It didn’t take long at all for Robert Redford‘s The Conspirator to get off the ground. The film, which hinges on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, was announced only months ago and is already shooting in Savannah, GA. We knew some of the cast prior to the shoot’s start, but now we’ve got a host of good names to throw your way, in addition to some pics and video. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Universal Pictures has released the trailer for State of Play, the new dramatic crime thriller starring Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe. Based on the BBC mini-series of the same title, the film tells the story of ” a team of investigative reporters work alongside a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman’s mistress.” Ben Affleck, who replaced Edward Norton in the final hour leading up to the production, plays the fast-rising politician who is caught up in a murder conspiracy. Crowe of course plays a journalist who is investigating the killing. Brad Pitt was attached to play the reporter role but also dropped out at the last minute. Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman co-star.
State of Play is directed by Kevin Macdonald, the Academy Award winning documentary turned feature filmmaker behind Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void and One Day in September. The screenplay adaptation was penned by Michael Clayton and Bourne scribe Tony Gilroy and Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom). The movie looks like a decent crime thriller, but not much more. May-be I was just expecting a lot more considering all the talent (currently and formerly) involved with the project. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
From the producers of Paris, je t’aime, comes New York, I Love You, another anthology of 12-short films, this time focusing on the stories of love in New York’s five boroughs. Directed by Allen Hughes, Shekhar Kapur, Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Brett Ratner,
Fatih Akin, Scarlett Johansson, Ivan Attal, Natalie Portman, Shunji Iwai, Jiang Wen, and Andrei Zvyagintsev. The film’s ensemble cast includes: Kevin Bacon, Maggie Q, Orlando Bloom, James Caan, Hayden Christensen, Blake Lively, Julie Christie, Chris Cooper, Drea de Matteo, Carla Gugino, Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Rachel Bilson, Christina Ricci, Olivia Thirlby, Robin Wright Penn, Anton Yelchin, Burt Young and more.
I never got a chance to see Paris, je t’aime, but the idea always seemed appealing to me. While I live in probably the greatest city in the States – San Francisco, Manhattan has always been my favorite big screen city setting. New York, I Love You will screen as a work in progress at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, and is expected to hit theaters in mid-february 2009.
Robert Zemeckis has signed a bunch of new stars for his upcoming performance capture digital 3-D adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Robert Zemeckis revealed in the official Beowulf podcast that Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth and Gary Oldman have officially joined the cast. Robin Wright Penn also announced that she will also be involved in the project.
Hoskins, who will play Mr. Fezziwig, inadvertently and prematurely announced his involvement in the project before Zemeckis had made an official announcement, which I think pissed off some higher ups. And when the project was announced the studio denied that any deal had yet been made with him. But this is the first official confirmation of his involvement.
What we already know: Zemeckis wrote the script specifically for Jim Carrey, who stars as four different characters: Ebenezer Scrooge (at various different ages), the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Future. Tom Hanks (Bob Cratchit), Christopher Lloyd (Marley’s Ghost) and Michael J. Fox (Tiny Tim) are also rumored to be involved in the film, but have yet to be officially confirmed.
And before you ask, I’m not sure if the teaser movie poster to the upper right is legit or fan made. The art makes me believe it’s legit, the lettering makes me think it might be a fan creation.
While I see the potential of performance capture technology, and admire Zemeckis for pioneering the new form of filmmaking, I’m still not sold on the result thus far. The animation feels stiff, the people look like zombies, and the action looks like a highly rendered video game cut scene. And while I loved Beowulf for the 3D, I totally don’t understand why someone would create a character (Angelina Jolie for instance) who looks exactly like the real actor. Doesn’t that negate most of the benefits of the technology?
In Beowulf, I found Ray Winstone and Chrispin Glover’s (who played Grendal) performances to be the most interesting. Maybe because the animators didn’t have to concern themselves with making the animated characters look and move exactly like the performance captured actors. After all, animation is all about exaggeration of movements, and that’s why it works.
Anyway, my point is that the performance capture technology has yet to deliver a product that couldn’t have been made faster, cheaper and better looking using traditional film methods. I think something like James Cameron’s Avatar might accomplish this feat. And while I like the gimmick of Jim Carrey playing four characters, one of the characters at different ages (taking full advantage of the technology), the rest of the book is mostly talking and walking. And while I’ll anxiously await anything Zemeckis will ever create, I just wish he would pick some more visual and cinematic stories for this new format.
A Christmas Carol will hit theaters on November 6th, 2009.
Robert Zemeckis has signed a bunch of new stars for his upcoming performance capture digital 3-D adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
