Gus Van Sant's Promised Land became a surprise awards contender when Focus Features decided relatively late in the game to give it an Oscar-qualifying limited run, but this first trailer suggests it's more than worthy of the competition. Matt Damon stars as Steve, a likeable corporate salesman who arrives in a small rural town to pick…
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Johnny Depp and Rob Marshall are working to make a new version of The Thin Man, the Dashiell Hammett novel about drunk detective socialite Nick Charles, his charming young wife Nora and the unusual family mystery in which they become embroiled. The question is: who plays Nora? Deadline says there is a shortlist that will…
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Michael Winterbottom sure does love author Thomas Hardy. He has made two adaptations of the author's work -- Jude and The Claim, neither sadly among the director's best work -- and now is at it again. He's doing a version of Tess of the d'Urbervilles with the action transplanted to Rajasthan and Mumbai, and has…
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Well, this is a lousy way to start the year. Over the last few months we've been watching as The Road director John Hillcoat attempted to kickstart a film adaptation of Matt Bondurant's novel The Wettest County in the World, which evidently was to be called The Promised Land on screen. Hillcoat had a script…
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I've been keenly eyeing news on John Hillcoat's potential adaptation of The Wettest County in the World, scripted by Nick Cave based on the novel by Matt Bondurant. There's been significant maybe/hopefully casting news for the film so far, but not much more. Hillcoat seems to have Shia LaBeouf and Ryan Gosling interested and/or attached,…
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