Posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 by Angie Han
Stephen King‘s fantasy Western series The Dark Tower has suffered numerous stops and starts in its slow road to the screen, but the adaptation seems to be inching ever closer to becoming a reality. Though Universal ultimately passed on Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Akiva Goldsman‘s ambitious plan to create a three-part film series and two connected TV seasons based on the books, Grazer sounded optimistic earlier this week when he revealed that he had trimmed $45-$50 million from the budget in an effort to get more companies interested. And today, he announced that while the film portion of the project has yet to find a home, the television part has just found one in HBO. More details after the jump.
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Posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 by Angie Han
Leonardo DiCaprio‘s J. Edgar has yet to hit theaters, but the star may already be looking at his next biopic. Warner Bros. has picked up first-time screenwriter Graham Moore‘s spec script The Imitation Game, about the life and times of math genius Alan Turing, for a seven-figure sum today, outbidding several other indie companies.
Although no stars or directors are actually attached at this time, the company is said to have picked up the script because DiCaprio is eyeing the lead role. (WB also recently bought rights to the novel Satori as a possible DiCaprio film.) Ron Howard, whose last foray into truth-based dramas about brilliant but tortured mathematicians won him Best Picture and Best Director, is reportedly interested in directing. More details after the jump.
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Posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 by Angie Han
Olivia Wilde has landed the coveted role of ’70s supermodel Suzy Miller in Rush, Ron Howard‘s Peter Morgan-scripted drama about the real-life rivalry between British Formula One driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian racer Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). Miller married the womanizing Hunt, but then fell in love with Hunt’s friend Richard Burton. Burton agreed to pay the $1 million divorce settlement that Hunt owned Miller, and then married Miller.
Howard is reportedly eyeing Russell Crowe to play the supporting role of Burton, but it doesn’t sound like negotiations are too far along at this time. Rush began preliminary shooting last month, but real principal photography is starting soon. [Deadline]
After the jump, Billy Crudup gets to show off his comedic chops while Helen Hunt, Maggie Grace, and Aaron Paul get to fight breast cancer.
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Posted on Sunday, October 2nd, 2011 by Angie Han
Update: EW has confirmed that Showtime and Netflix are in talks with producers about airing the miniseries.
Keep holding out hope, Arrested Development fans. Five years after the series finale, creator Mitchell Hurwitz is still insisting that, yes, a movie based on the brilliant-but-cancelled sitcom is definitely in the works. And what’s more, he’s now hoping to do a nine- or ten-episode lead-in miniseries as well. Intriguing news indeed, but I don’t think I’ll be holding my breath. More details after the jump.
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David Guggenheim wrote Safe House for Universal — the film with Ryan Reynolds as an CIA agent transporting dangerous criminal Denzel Washington to a new safe house. Evidently that project, directed by Daniel Espinosa, went well, as Universal has bought into a Guggenheim pitch called 364. The writer brought it to Imagine Entertainment, and it already has Ron Howard attached to direct. This makes the fourth directorial attachment for Howard — that we know about — beyond The Dark Tower and Rush, which shoots in earnest soon. And this one is a superhero movie. Kind of. Read More »
Gentleman, start your engines. Director Ron Howard can’t officially start filming his historical Formula One film Rush until star Chris Hemsworth finishes The Avengers, but the director will be at the Nurburgring Race Track in Germany this weekend getting some early footage to use in the film. Both Hemsworth and co-star Daniel Brühl will be on hand as cars from the film’s 1970s time period blaze around the track helping to tell the story of legendary racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. We’ll explain the story and what’s being filmed early after the jump. Read More »
I’d like to make this the ‘leading lady’ edition of Casting Bits, but I don’t think Caleb Landry Jones would like that very much. (Jason Segel would probably be OK with it.) Still, after the break you’ll find that two films have chosen their lead actresses, while Jones joins Jordan. Ahem. To wit:
- Alexandra Maria Lara (above) takes the (female) lead in Ron Howard’s racing movie Rush,
- Cody Horn will be the leading lady in Soderbergh’s Magic Mike,
- Caleb Landry Jones, aka the First Class version of Banshee, joins Neil Jordan’s Byzantium,
- and, as a final note, Jason Segel appears to be confirmed for Judd Apatow’s This is Forty.
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Posted on Friday, August 19th, 2011 by Angie Han
NBC has won the bidding war for a new comedy series by Sarah Silverman, beating out competing networks ABC and Fox. Loosely based on Silverman’s own life, the untitled single-camera show will star the comedian as a woman getting back into single life after getting out of a ten-year relationship. Silverman is set to co-write the pilot with Dan Sterling and Jon Schroeder, both of whom worked on her previous series The Sarah Silverman Program.
Also on board with the project is Ron Howard, who has been “deeply involved” with the show’s development, and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer. Worth noting: The last time Grazer and Howard collaborated on a single-camera network comedy series, the result was Arrested Development. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one. [The Hollywood Reporter]
After the jump, a Daily Show writer plays with Henson puppets, a Sopranos actor returns to organized crime, and Clone Wars‘ fourth season gets a trailer. I told you August was a busy time for TV news!
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