Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Disney has finally announced the lead star for their upcoming Tron sequel. Garrett Hedlund, star of such films Friday Night Lights, Eragon, Georgia Rule, and Death Sentence, beat out Ryan Gosling, Chris Pine and Michael Stahl-David (Cloverfield) for the role.
Disney is keeping a tight grasp on the film’s story details and won’t even reveal the name of Garrett’s character. All that is known is that Hedlund plays a man who is sucked into the computer program and finds himself “retracing the steps of a character from the original movie named Kevin Flynn”, who was played by Jeff Bridges. Bridges has signed on to return for the sequel, as has Bruce Boxleitner. Beau Garrett and Olivia Wilde are also attached. You can read what Wilde had to say about the project in a story posted earlier today.
Discuss: What do you think of the casting of Tron 2.0 so far?
source: THR
Casting Rumor: Ryan Gosling as The Green Lantern?
Posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Our friends at Latino Review are reporting a rumor that Warner Bros wants Ryan Gosling to play Hal Jordan aka The Green Lantern in the upcoming DC comic book adaptation. The comic book book series never grabbed me, so I don’t know much about the Lantern. But one thing I am sure of is that Gosling is a great talent. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2007 for his performance in Half Nelson, Gosling also received numerous critic association awards for his performance in Lars and The Real Girl. The actor is in the same age range as Jordan is in the latest screenplay draft. Last week it was reported that Lantern is being fast tracked for a Spring 2009 start date.
The Green Lantern character was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16, published in July 1940. The Green Lantern possesses a power ring that gives him control over the physical world as long as the wielder has sufficient willpower and strength to wield it. Hal Jordan is the second and probably most famous character to bear the title.
Discuss: What do you think of Ryan Gosling as The Green Lantern?
Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones Stops Filming Due to Creative Rift?
Posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Pardon the Christopher Guestish humor in this situation, but Flicks.Co.NZ is reporting that Peter Jackson and one of his art directors are in a big tiff on the set of The Lovely Bones. Why? Because they can’t agree on the film adaptation’s notion of Heaven. Filming has temporarily stopped until The Pearly Gates, a major aspect/set in the film, meets Jackson’s satisfaction. “More clouds I say!” Crew is said to be on an extended break for cigarettes and GTA4.
You may recall that Jackson had a prior creative difference when he replaced Ryan Gosling, who had gone pudgy for a major role, with Mark Wahlberg. And recently, Susan Sarandon offered a little creative dissonance while on the Speed Racer red carpet to Empire…
“Peter Jackson is really a nice guy and very interesting. It was really a very different way of working. We had a good time, I’m really curious to see what it’s like because he kept pushing me to be more and more extreme and sometimes that’s when you make your big mistakes so I’m not sure how it will come off - it will be interesting to see it from the point of view of the audience.”
Sarandon went on to say that her character, Grandma Lynn, didn’t seem like a “real grandmother,” and seemed more like an alcoholic, tacky caricature there to serve comic relief. So, does this all equal another case of the trendy “complicated birthing process” or is it a troubling sign of things to come for the actual film? As long as Heaven doesn’t resemble a wet hallucination straight out of What Dreams May Come, I’d say Jackson is undeserving of the nickname “Cloudy Killjoy.”
Discuss: What cinematic heaven met your personal VIP standards? I’d have to default and go with Bernie’s MO in A Weekend at Bernie’s.
The News Vacuum: Miscellanious Deals, Rumors, Casting News, Film Flotsam…and Rambo V
Posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Eric Bana says his villainy role as Nero in J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek is nothing more than a “cameo.” News to me. You? Here’s another quote from the Aussie actor about his role: “It’s just a great character, it’s J.J. Abrams. It’s a really well-written script, great part. Couldn’t say no. I don’t actually look at the size of parts ever.” [The Herald Sun]
In what marks our second weird-beard item of the day (my quota is filled, yipps!), /Film staple Sam Rockwell is growing out his face’s wilderness for a role in which he’ll play…[water bubbles]…a man who is stranded on the moon for three years. Wow, I’ve had people do the start-stop-start-stop to me in the parking lot of a Sonic Burger, but leaving a guy shoe-gazing for a thousand nights on the giant, white rock? Bust. The indie film is entitled Moon (obviously), and will be directed by Duncan Jones, aka Zowie Bowie, spawn of hollow-cheeked rocka David Bowie. I can fight off images of the moon from “Tonight, Tonight” but imagining the couch sesh and brain cloud that procreated this idea makes me want Pringles. [MTV]
Perma-glowing actress Kate Hudson (Fool’s Gold) will star as painter Margaret Keane [click name for art works] in the film Big Eyes for first time directing duo Larry Karaszweski and Scott Alexander. A big-eyed Oscar bid for Hudson, the biopic focuses on Keane’s significant popularity as an artist in the ’50s and ’60s, even while her works were quizzically produced under her husband’s name. After a messy divorce, the couple ended up in federal court, where she painted before a judge and won the case. After the court battle, she moved to Hawaii, became quite religious and her work experienced an eerily happy mood swing. Girls Girls Girls. [Variety]
The Weinstein Co. has acquired movie rights to the intriguing novel Wolf Boy written by Evan Kuhlman and published in 2006 by Crown. When a boy’s older brother, Francis Wolf, is killed in a car accident, he creates comic-style stories illustrated by his eccentric girlfriend entitled The Adventures of Wolf Boy, about a superhero who himself battles the grief of a dead, un-tased bro as well as spectacular villains while attempting to save the world. The film will mix live action and animation, and the book is being adapted by Chris Parker (Mulan II). No director is attached at this time. Sounds kind of Juno-y to me, if the opening credits attacked Diablo Cody’s retro-toy potty mouth and Michael Cera died like Mac Culkin in My Girl. [Variety]
The Web’s Sly Stallone aficionado, AB King, says that MGM has hip-ish actors like Ryan Gosling, Cillian Murphy, Ben Foster and not-so-hip Elijah Wood pegged for one young sidekick role in Stallone’s Charles Bronson remake The Mechanic. The Rambo auteur recently signed a two-pic deal at Nu Image/Millennium Films to direct and star in two action films, so The Mechanic is probably one of them, and after he recently ruled out Rambo V, might the other by Death Wish? Stallone is back in a major way, it’s insane.
But wait! Like a coin-op catfight between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell…Rambo V might still have a shot! It seems Stallone is giving mixed signals from across the bar to his second most famous character. Kissy Kissy. Most recently, he said a third sequel will “depend on the success of this one, but right now I think I’m gearing one up. It will be quite different.” What!?! That would totally negate the response he gave here saying no more Rambo flicks ever, not even in…space. And yet at this rather recent link, he combines this “yes, no” weirdness, and I’d say it’s the best response to where Rambo V stands. When asked if he’ll return for another Rambo sequel he says straight-up, “No.” But when asked if he’d consider another Rambo sequel (what balls this interviewer has, eh?), Stallone says…
“I have a very, very bizarre idea. It’s probably so absurd, but it’s got to formulate a little bit. If I told you I was going to do one about a sixty one year old boxer, you’d go, ‘Yup!’ But if you find the right formula almost anything is feasible. It’s just coming in there and making the audience go, ‘Okay, that’s possible. That is feasible.’ It’s weird. I mean, Space Cowboys. Hello? But it worked.”
Hello? Did Stallone really just friggin’ imply that Rambo is going to space? I mean, there are lots of movies with old dudes kicking younger dudes’ asses. Why name drop Space Cowboys? Lastly, the creator of the Rambo character, David Morrell, has commented at length on his liking the new film, and it’s worth a read. (Oh yeah, and I gave it a 10/10.) [Dark Horizons]
Kirsten Dunst in Talks to Star in All Good Things With Ryan Gosling
Posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Ready for some Dunst? Rocker-doting actress Kirsten Dunst is in serious talks to star alongside Ryan Gosling in All Good Things, the feature film debut from Capturing the Friedmans director Andrew Jarecki. Variety reports that Dunst would play a waif from the fable-staple “wrong side of the tracks,” with Gosling as a “scion of a New York real estate dynasty.” They fall for each other, but then Dunst goes missing. Conspiracies! A loner detective (yet to be cast)! Rising political stakes. It starts raining dead people! Oh, and it takes place during the ’80s. [air horn]
Raise your hand if you think this is a comedy. You must not have caught Capturing the Friedmans, which is the only aspect of this movie that glimmers around my short attention span like Bo Derek’s water particles in 10, only more macabrely. Maybe if Dunst was the Big Apple scion and Gosling reverted back to his non-Communist habits in Half Nelson…that might work. She could still go missing. Would he look for her, or call a prolonged T.O. and enjoy multiple condotels? All Good Things starts shooting in April.
Ryan Gosling to Star in New Jack Ryan Film?
Posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Is CIA agent and future President Jack Ryan up for competing with the likes of cooler action heroes like Jason Bourne? Moviehole says that Philip Noyce, the director of ’90s Jack Ryan vehicles Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, has personally confirmed that he is not attached to a fifth film in the series but that one is being prepped to star actor Ryan Gosling. Gosling would be the fourth actor to take on the role, following Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October), Harrison Ford (the Noyce films), and your favorite, Ben Affleck (2002’s The Sum of All Fears).
Moreover, Noyce previously confirmed that a Jack Ryan movie was in the works but would not involve input from the character’s creator, author Tom Clancy. It seems that Paramount Pictures owns the movie rights to Jack Ryan and can make him bark or hop on one leg at will. How about some more Noyce? Noyce was attached to direct a film entitled By Any Means Necessary about “a cop who turns to a mobster for inside information to prevent a terrorist attack,” but director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) is now on board. The consensus seems to be that this film will be massaged into a young Jack Ryan picture starring Gosling a la Affleck’s outing.
Gosling’s performance in The Notebook earned the females’ attention, Half Nelson earned him an Oscar nom, Fracture opposite Anthony Hopkins upped his exposure, and his last film, Lars and the Real Girl, was thought to be a quirky indie sleeper like Juno but proved a non-starter and split critics. A big budget action film sounds about right, unless he wants to keep to the Johnny Depp route. Any Tom Clancy fans not stoked about this news?
Why Did Ryan Gosling Leave Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones?
Posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
Yesterday we reported that Mark Wahlberg had replaced Ryan Gosling in Peter Jackson’s big screen adaptation of The Lovely Bones, just hours before the movie began production. The full details of why the last minute change was made, had not been revealed, until now. According to the Los Angeles Times, Gosling’s weight gain was too much for the Lord of the Rings director.
Gosling showed up to start work “looking like he’d donned a fat suit.” The actor had told Jackson that he was going to “gain some weight to age himself up to play the part,” but the result was far from expected.
“Jackson was still expecting some movie star allure - not paunch and a beard.”
New York Post’s Page Six has a different take, claiming that Gosling’s demanding and controlling attitude led to the actor’s replacement. According to the gossip column:
“‘Peter couldn’t stand Ryan,’ said one source. Though Variety reported that Gosling had “stepped down” and was replaced by Mark Wahlberg, our source said, ‘Ryan cut his own hair, and was fighting with wardrobe. He was so demanding . . . Peter booted him two days before filming started.’”
Gosling is a great actor, with a lot of potential, but it seems like he’s letting the critical acclaim get to his head. A director directs, and an actor acts.
BREAKING: Mark Wahlberg IN, Ryan Gosling OUT of Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones
Posted on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
Just one day before shooting is set to begin, Mark Wahlberg has stepped in to replace Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl) in the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones.
Wahlberg has taken the role of Jack Salmon, the grieving father of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body. Rachel Weisz plays the girl’s mother.
According to Variety, Ryan Gosling left on Friday after gaining 20 pounds and growing a beard for the job. Sources have attributed the exit to “creative differences.” The movie begins shooting today in Pennsylvania, where Wahlberg most recently finished on M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening for Fox. I’m sure there is a very interesting story behind this last minute move, that will leak out sooner or later.
Wahlberg is also committed to star opposite Brad Pitt in the Darren Aronofsky’s The Fighter, which will begin production late 2008.
Were you a fan of the HBO series Six Feet Under? I was one of those people who discovered the movie on DVD, and watched almost every single episode in the span of a few weeks. I have yet to see another show with the same sensibilities. Six Feet Under screenwriter Nancy Oliver’s new movie Lars and the Real Girl has some of the same dark weird dramatic comedy. The film is described as:
A heartfelt comedy starring Academy-Award nominated Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his Brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife Karen (Emily Mortimer) and they are stunned. They don’t know what to say to Lars or Bianca – because she is a life-size doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) who explains this is a delusion he’s created – for what reason she doesn’t yet know but they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him.
Check out the trailer after the jump.
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Ryan Gosling cast in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones
Posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
 
Academy Award nominated actor Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) has signed on to star opposite Rachel Weisz in Peter Jackson’s big screen adaptation of Alice Sebold’s bestselling book The Lovely Bones. Jeeez, so far the cast and crew is stacked with a talented group who has either won or been nominated for an Oscar.
The film will tell the story of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body. Gosling will play the girl’s father and Weisz will play the girl’s mother. The Lovely Bones will start principal photography in October in Pennsylvania and New Zealand.
Little Miss Sunshine won the top prize at the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards, a day before the underdog indie comedy competes for Best Picture at the 2007 Academy Awards. Could the little indie that could win an Oscar? Check out the full list of winners after the jump.
Best Feature: Little Miss Sunshine
Best Female Lead: Shareeka Epps for Half Nelson
Best Male Lead: Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson
Best Supporting Female: Frances McDormand for Friends with Money
Best Supporting Male: Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine
Best Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris for Little Miss Sunshine
Best Screenplay: Jason Reitman for Thank You for Smoking
Best First Screenplay: Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine
Best Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro for Pan’s Labyrinth
Best First Feature: Sweet Land
Best Foreign Film: Leben der Anderen, Das
Best Documentary: The Road to Guantanamo
John Cassavetes Award: Quincea�era
Truer Than Fiction Award: P.O.V.: The Tailenders (#19.5)
I’m glad to see Quincea�era get an award, but I’m surprised that Pan’s Labyrinth didn’t win best feature.
Academy Awards Vegas Odds: Little Miss Sunshine to win Best Picture
Posted on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
Yesterday we reported that movie critic Roger Ebert was spreading a rumor that Little Miss Sunshine would cause a major upset at the 2007 Academy Awards. Well it looks like Vegas visited the same rumor mill.
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