Pity the poor woman competing with Monica Bellucci for a man’s heart. That’s Giulia’s (Laura Morante) predicament in this Italian drama from Pursuit Of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino. Hubby Carlo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) is a frustrated novelist having it away with old flame Bellucci while his wife, anarcho-crusty son and jailbait daughter deal with their own romantic crises. Remember Me entertains with its screaming rows and OTT dialogue (“We have castrated each other!”); if only marriage breakdown was as fun in non-Latin countries… Extras include deleted scenes.
It’s Halloween, so the moon is clouding over, and Clip joint has assumed a sickly-green pallor as we round up our chosen excerpts of the undead.
Despite their reputation for causing mayhem all year round, the denizens of the night are actually a rigidly organised bunch, with a fully fledged hierachical class system, probably some kind of pension payment scheme and their own lawn-green bowling association too. There are aristocratic vampires on top, with the chattering classes - mostly ghosts - propping them up, then the loveable decomposing footsoldiers - zombies - at the bottom. So which are your favourites?
I’m not sure how many actors need to turn down roles in the upcoming Justice League of America movie before they just to tuck their movie production tail between their legs and run away. Man, they’ve got to be close. Jessica Biel’s turned down Wonder Woman, and they’re really having a heck of a time finding interested actors. MTV now reports that Stomp the Yard’s Columbus Short, who has got This Christmas and Whiteout on the way, is among those who have turned down the chance.
The actor told the site he was up for the movie, having been approached to take on John Stewart/The Green Lantern. But he didn’t refuse out of comic disgust. Short says: “Justice League is going to be dope; it’s going to be huge. But it’s not the movie for me.” While he used to be set on becoming the first really big African-American feature film superhero, now he says: “I think there comes a point in an actor’s career when he decides what type of actor you want to be. [Each actor] decides: I want to do commercial movies, but do I want to go this way? Or do I want to go that way?” Apparently, he didn’t want to don tights and take that route.
Jessica Barnes Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Universal, Movie Marketing, Posters
ComingSoon now has the exclusive first look at the teaser poster for Charlie Wilson’s War(click on the image to the right for a larger version). War stars Tom Hanks as the ‘unconventional’ congressman Charlie Wilson, who with the help of a Texas socialite and a rogue CIA agent managed to organize a “covert war” in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. Hanks is joined by Julia Roberts as the socialite Joanne Herring and Philip Seymour Hoffman as CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos.
Wilson’s good-time-guy image was only one aspect of his personality and more importantly he considered himself a staunch patriot with a clear sense of right and wrong. Wilson was once quoted as saying ‘”The US had nothing whatsoever to do with these people’s decision to fight…But we’ll be damned by history if we let them fight with stones.” Charlie Wilson’s War is based on the book, Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History by George Crill III — I guess for the sake of billboard space they decided to shorten the title just a little.
The man who made one lone bandaid look like the most badass thing around is going to take on an infamous heavyweight role. The Hollywood Reporter has Phantom Punch. Writer/actor/director Ryan Combs wrote the screenplay, and the film is being directed by Robert Townsend (writer, director, and star of The Meteor Man). The film will cover Liston’s success as a boxer, and include that “phantom punch” that brought him down.
Townsend says: “The thing is that certain people are born to play certain roles and Ving has always gravitated toward Sonny Liston’s story. This is his baby, and he’s giving birth to it. He’s already playing the character at so many levels.” Liston’s the guy who went up against Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali and was brought down by the infamous “phantom punch,” which was then immortalized on a Sports Illustrated cover. That’s really got to suck for a man who won by knock out 39 of his 54 fights, and only lost 4. Instead of being most remembered for that, he’s the guy who snoozed in the ring. But boxing isn’t all that Rhames will have to take on. Before getting in the ring, Liston’s predilection towards fighting got him sent to prison twice, and there’s also ties to the mob to deal with. Production began this week in Toronto, and is scheduled to wrap in the beginning of December. Read the rest of this entry »
Surprise, surprise! We will be getting to choose what sort of semi-true Philip K. Dick production we want to check out. As I told you earlier this month, Taryn Manning and Bill Pullman have already shot Your Name Here, a part biography/part creative embellishment about the author. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, we’ve got another one gearing up — the adaptation of Dick’s semi-autobiographical novel, Radio Free Albernuth, which began filming this month. The pic will be the feature directorial debut for The Getaway producer John Alan Simon, who also wrote the screenplay.
The Ironic lady herself, Alanis Morissette has signed on to co-star with Jonathan Scarfe (The Poet), Shea Whigham (All the Real Girls), Katheryn Winnick (Failure to Launch), and Hanna Hall (Halloween). Alanis is playing Sylvia, “a woman who shows up in the vision of a record label executive named Nick (Scarfe) as a glamorous singer.” But there’s a twist — she’s actually “an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma who, after appearing in Nick’s visions, gets a job as his secretary.” Through shared visions and spirituality, they become soul mates. Basically, the typical, funky Alanis fare. I mean, she has been the top holy dog, after all. Morissette says: “I am a big fan of Philip K. Dick’s poetic and expansively imaginative books. I feel blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film.”
Erik Davis Filed under: Action & Adventure, Casting, RumorMonger, Fandom, George Clooney, War
And now I present you with the giganto rumor of the day; one I’m not so sure I believe, but why not let you readers decide how legit this may or may not be. IESB is reporting that they’ve heard through one of their top secret sources that George Clooney has been offered the role of Duke in the upcoming live-action G.I. Joe movie. You might recall that folks were originally targeting Mark Wahlberg for this role, but that casting fell through. Now, it appears, Clooney’s name has popped up for whatever reason. For those of you up to date on all things Clooney, you might be wondering why he would take on this role if he just opted out of Joe Carnahan’s White Jazz because of hectic scheduling concerns. And considering Jazz was tapped to begin its production around the same time G.I. Joe was set to go, wouldn’t Clooney still be too busy to film it?
Well, and here’s where you’ll need to take a giant leap, IESB claims Clooney turned down Jazz because he’s itching to star in a big blockbuster. But is he? Really? IESB is still waiting to hear back from Clooney’s reps, who will most certainly deny this whole thing (because that’s what reps do), but even if he was offered the role (which might be true –why wouldn’t you go after the big guns first?), I really can’t see Clooney taking it. Personally, his schedule is packed. Not only is he finishing up the Coen Bros. new movie, but his latest directorial effort, Leatherheads, was pushed back to the spring because Clooney still had more work to do on it. I can’t see him taking on a role that films this winter when he needs that time to complete and promote Leatherheads. Regardless of this whole thing, it will be interesting to see how casting unfolds for G.I. Joe, as they’ll most likely target some top A-list actors for their main roles. Clooney, Wahlberg, who’s next … Ice Cube? (Shouldn’t take you long to pick up that reference ….)
There was a comment posted at the end of my blog last week from Danny K, who talked about the plain, face-in-the-crowd ordinariness of actor Paul Giamatti. I think in a town where everyone looks like someone, that’s a huge compliment.
In light of that, I was relieved to find an unpretentious club in downtown LA last Friday where the partygoers looked, well, ordinary. I know that sounds a bit like schadenfreude, but it can be exhausting when the general population is foetal, miniscule, blond, buff or square-jawed. How I sometimes long for a Ginsters pasty or a trip to Corby.
