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Martin Freeman Will Go Saving Santa

2012-01-27T10:49:00.000Z

Martin Freeman Will Go Saving Santa
In a new 'toon

Source: Variety

An elf helps to save Santa’s reputation when something goes badly wrong at the North Pole... No, we haven’t been watching ace Aardman comedy Arthur Christmas in a desperate attempt to recreate the festive season. That’s the plot for Saving Santa, a new ‘toon set to feature the voices of Martin Freeman, Noel Clarke, Joan Collins and Tim Curry.

While you might wonder why someone else wants to tackle a Christmas cartoon so soon after Aardman’s effort, that doesn’t seem to be bothering the team from Adulthood / Shank producers Gateway Films, which is using the new movie to launch its animated output.

Freeman will be playing a clumsy elf who has to rescue Santa’s HQ when its location is discovered by a nasty villain. Ricky Roxburgh has written the script and Leon Joosen is directing.

The voice cast also boasts the likes of Pam Ferris, Craig Fairbass and Chris Barrie, and Gateway is now looking for a studio partner to take on the world distribution rights. There’s no word on when it’ll be ready for release.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Mirror Mirror Trailer Online

2012-01-27T10:48:00.000Z

New Mirror Mirror Trailer Online
Tarsem Singh's take has a new promo

Source: YouTube

When the first trailer for Snow White tale Mirror Mirror arrived, it’s fair to say that we weren’t exactly knocked off our feet. And though some of the comic tone still comes across as a little too wacky here, this second promo is a definite improvement. Take a look below.

Directed by Immortals’ Tarsem Singh, Mirror Mirror is aiming to be the light, bubbly, family-friendly alternative to the doom-laden action of Snow White And The Huntsman. The plot here follows more along the familiar lines of the Grimm brothers’ fairy tale, with Snow (Lily Collins) as the young princess whose claim to the throne is usurped by the evil enchantress Queen (Julia Roberts).

Things definitely take a turn for the worse when Snow catches the eye of the handsome Prince Andrew Alcott (Armie Hammer), and the Queen banishes her to the forest, where a nasty beast awaits. But our heroine discovers that all is not quite what it seems, and she’s befriended by seven resourceful, pint-sized rebels (led by Danny Woodburn and Martin Klebba) who agree to help her retake her kingdom.

With Singh giving everything his typically stylistic sheen, there are moments that still feel a little bit too much like a panto (but then it is Snow White) and we could do without the comedy sound effects / Three Stooges slapstick. We're still not convinced by the “puppy love” scene, though full marks to Roberts and Hammer for commitment to the idea. Overall, though, we’re much more confident about the movie’s chances after this. Mirror Mirror was set to arrive on March 16, though the US release date was recently pushed back to March 30…

Source: EmpireOnline

Disney Buys Max Landis' Latest

2012-01-27T10:47:00.002Z

Disney Buys Max Landis' Latest
Chronicle writer sells adventure pic

Source: Variety

It must feel pretty good to be Max Landis right about now. Not only does he have buzzed-about script Chronicle set to hit cinemas next month, but he’s been winning one high profile writing job after another and selling pitches like they come with coupons for world domination attached. Now Disney is the latest studio to snap up one of his ideas, nabbing a new adventure pic.

While the title remains a mystery (or has yet to be decided, at least), what we know of the basic plot finds a brother and sister setting out on an epic adventure.

Landis has script pitches sitting at several studios, including a Frankenstein tale and a new take on the Pied Piper at Fox (which is releasing Chronicle) and adventure thriller Amnesty at Universal, which Ron Howard is attached to direct once he’s finished working on Rush. Then there’s action comedy Good Time Gang, which has Mark Wahlberg and Jonah Hill on board to play mercenaries.

As we mentioned above, he’s been drawing plenty of acclaim for super-powered teen drama Chronicle, which will touch down here on February 1.

Source: EmpireOnline

Another Lock-Out Trailer Escapes

2012-01-27T10:47:00.001Z

Another Lock-Out Trailer Escapes
A simple thank you is enough

Source: IGN

Just before Christmas we saw the international trailer, in which the film was going by the moniker of MS One: Maximum Security. And now here's the "domestic" trailer, where the title is Lock-Out. Back when we first reported on its development in February 2010, it was called Section Eight. But whatever the name, it stars Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace, and looks like a blast.

Grace is the daughter of president Peter Stormare, who's on some sort of diplomatic visit to a maximum security space prison for dangerous lunatics, orbiting miles above the Earth. Unluckily for her, she's the catalyst for a mass break-out, despite the fortress' whole suposed "impregnable" thing. And the only man who can get her to safety? Pearce's wise-ass badass ~~Snake Plissken~~ Snow, that's who.

"Don't get me wrong," he says. "It's a dream vacation. I go into space, I get inside the maximum security nuthouse, get past all the psychos, save the president's daughter if she's not dead already... I'm thrilled that you would think of me."

The last clip was big on the action inside the prison, but this one gives more of a glimpse of the carnage outside, with space battles and a destructive-looking bike / car freeway chase.

Lock-Out, as it shall henceforth be known here, is co-written by Luc Besson, and reaches us through his Europacorp (Taken, the Transporter films, last year's Colombiana). The directors are James Mather and Stephen St Leger. If you've not yet seen their fantastic short film Prey Alone, now would be the time, ahead of Lock-Out's UK release (a week earlier than the States) on April 13.

Source: EmpireOnline

Trailer For The Blind Man Online

2012-01-27T10:46:00.000Z

Trailer For The Blind Man Online
A Besson mystery starring Lambert Wilson

Source: Dread Central

While we're bringing you Luc Besson / Europacorp trailers, here's another one, although it might be slightly further below your radar than Lock-Out. This one's for the French-language À l'aveugle (The Blind Man), starring Lambert Wilson and Jacques Gamblin, and directed by Xavier Palud.

Need a translation? We think we can just about cope. Gamblin is detective Lassalle, who's investigating a cold case that doesn't seem quite so cold anymore. There's been a new murder, and the killer always uses the same method, which is to cut his victim into small pieces. The police bring in everyone who appeared on surveillance cameras in the time preceding the murder, among whom is Wilson's blind Narvik. He's asked if he saw anything when he was with the murdered woman. He says he saw nothing. Well duh.

Lassalle has unshakeable faith that Narvik is the killer, but can't prove it. Narvik says he's flattered that most people consider him an invalid but Lassalle thinks he's a criminal: "It's a promotion!". In the courtroom at the end of the trailer, Lassalle asks "Why are you doing this?", and Narvik says he and the detective have more in common than Lassalle would like to admit. There's the sense of a bigger conspiracy afoot, and the tag-line is "Sometimes appearances can be deceptive."

There's a definite flavour of giallo about all this, by which we mean the slasher-whodunnit genre, not the hapless Dario Argento farrago from a couple of years ago. Palud directed the excellent Ils (Them) in 2006, and then decamped to Hollywood to remake The Eye. On this evidence, it's good to see him back on home turf. And it's also always a pleasure to see The Merovingian.

Besson, natch, wrote the screenplay, and the French release date is March 7. There are no dates so far for the UK or elsewhere. We're liking that tagline too: "In the kingdom of the killers, the blind man is king."

Source: EmpireOnline

Spielberg Close To Gods And Kings

2012-01-26T11:31:00.002Z

Spielberg Close To Gods And Kings
Saving Private Moses?

Source: Deadline

You just know that the second they hear that Steven Spielberg has so much as looked at their script, all the studio executives involved in a project find their hearts beating faster and their wallets getting itchy. But he’s always so busy and has the absolute power to choose whatever he works on. So you can imagine the scene at Warner Bros. now as the studio creeps closer to locking the director in to make Gods And Kings, a new take on the story of Moses.

Aside from that slightly popular book starting with the letter B, many people know Moses’ story from Cecile B DeMille’s epic The Ten Commandments, which saw Charlton Heston as the main man. Sent off as baby in a basket down the Nile, adopted, leads the Jews out of slavery in Egypt, forms an army, receives the Ten Commandments and parts the Red Sea on his journey towards the Promised Land. Yeah, that old yarn.

According to Deadline’s sources, the plan is for Spielberg to apply his Saving Private Ryan aesthetic to the story: ”There have been glossy versions of the Moses story but this would be a real warrior story,” an “insider” tells Deadline.

The original idea for the current version of the film was born in a treatment, and since then Exam writer/director Stuart Hazeldine (who has also worked on Paradise Lost) and Green Lantern co-writer Michael Green have worked it up into a script. Warners showed it to The Beard in September and now talks have reached the point where he’s about ready to agree. Of course, he still has to get through post-production on Lincoln and make Robopocalypse, but if he does grab Gods, it will likely start filming in early 2013.

And it wouldn’t be the only Moses tale in development – Chernin Entertainment also has a Braveheart-style take on the story bubbling on the burners. You’ve got to think, though, that if they have to compete with Spielberg, the competition might just quietly slink away…

Source: EmpireOnline

Russell Brand Will Be The Hauntrepreneur

2012-01-26T11:30:00.002Z

Russell Brand Will Be The Hauntrepreneur
Rent a ghost house...

Source: Variety

Russell Brand has a thing for spirits. And no, not the kind he used to have a thing for… We mean ghosts. After his unsuccessful attempt to resurrect Rentaghost (which since moved on to waft around Ben Stiller), he’s now switched to a new spooky project, jumping aboard The Hauntrepreneur for Paramount.

If this one makes it to the screen with Brand still attached, he’ll play the titular weirdo, who helps a family adjust to a new town (and settle their differences) by creating a haunted house filled with unusual characters. Sounds a little like Beetlejuice crossed with Willy Wonka.

Con Air / High Fidelity scribe Scott Rosenberg, who last dabbled in out-and-out comedy with (shudder) Kangaroo Jack, sold the idea to the studio as a spec script in October. Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes team, which usually specialises in pure horror, is on board to help shepherd it.

Hauntrepreneur is now scouring the streets of Hollywood and beyond, looking for a director.

Brand, meanwhile, will next crop up in Rock Of Ages and has been setting up a new series on US cable channel FX. He’ll also co-star in Diablo Cody’s as-yet-untitled directorial debut, which will see him appear alongside Octavia Spencer and Julianne Hough.

Source: EmpireOnline

Animated Goon No Longer Happening?

2012-01-26T11:30:00.001Z

Animated Goon No Longer Happening?
Giamatti says the money ran out

Source: IFC

Sad news for all those looking forward to David Fincher's CG slapstick supernatural noir: it looks very much as if The Goon is no longer happening. Fincher always said "adult animation" was a hard sell...

Not to be confused with Seann William Scott's hockey movie (which is still just about playing in cinemas), this Goon, based on the comics by Eric Powell, has been in development for some time, and has been a regular fixture at the last few Comic Cons. It was to be the story of the titular mob enforcer, his short-arse sidekick Frankie (short for Francesca), and the villainous Priest with his army of the undead. Blur Studios were animating, Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti were on board for the voices, and the test footage was looking awesome.

Last we heard about this time last year, Fincher was hopeful that a studio would shortly step in and stump up the necessary $50m. "Hopefully this is the year that people go 'Wait a minute! We don't all have to be trying to imitate Pixar!'" he said.

Optimistic. Speaking yesterday at Sundance (where he's promoting John Dies At The End, which Clancy Brown is also in), Paul Giamatti opined "I have no idea what the hell happened. I asked and no one knows. I guess they just ran out of money."

Eric Powell though, has taken to Twitter to insist that, as far as he's aware, there's still hope. "Last I spoke with Fincher and Blur, they were gearing up for more meetings to try and find financing for the film," he said (although he didn't say how recent those meetings were). "It's not dead until Fincher and Blur come to me and say they are done."

Reports of The Goon's death, etc? Watch this space...

Source: EmpireOnline

Spanish Trailer For Red Lights Online

2012-01-26T11:26:00.000Z

Spanish Trailer For Red Lights Online
Weaver! De Niro! Murphy! Excelente!

Source: Twitch

We're big fans of Buried around here, so there's a certain amount of anticipation for Rodrigo Cortes' next film. It's had a mixed reception from those who've seen it so far, but for the rest of us, there's now this international trailer for the dark thriller Red Lights to clue us in on what to expect.

At the very least, it's amusing to see Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro and Cillian Murphy dubbed into Spanish.

What's going on? Well, De Niro is a world-renowned celebrity medium who's mysteriously come out of retirement, thirty years after apparently abandoning the seances. Weaver and Murphy are psychologists investigating the paranormal, whose enquiries lead them to De Niro, whose supernatural credentials they call into question. And Elizabeth Olsen is also on-hand as Weaver's assistant.

Shades of previous spooky thrillers make this seem a bit familiar - we're sure we've seen that car-abruptly-stopping-for-creepy-woman-with-trolly shot loads of times before - but oddly, it seems to have the distinct look of Buried about its colour palette, even though Buried took place entirely inside a coffin.

Millennium have just picked this up for distribution at Sundance, so expect English-language trailers and some release dates before too long.

Source: EmpireOnline

Arcadia House Plans

2012-01-26T11:07:00.002Z

Arcadia House Plans

Hello.
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In 3 bedroom house plans you can view 1838 plans, and if click in Plan 3127 you view the picture of the plan, picture in 3d, and prices.

Plan "3127"
3 bedrooms 1¾ bathrooms.
3164 sq ft
* Standard Frame Construction
* Mechanical/Storage Room
* Large Recreation Room
* Concrete Patio
* Bonus Room
* Full Master Bathroom Includes Walk-In Closet And Double Sinks
* Laundry Room
* Walk-In Kitchen Pantry
* Large Great Room With Fireplace
Study Kit $100.00
PDF Disc $1000.00
5 Set Kit $775.00
8 Set Kit $850.00
Reproducible Vellum $850.00
CAD Files

In 4 plex house plans you can found 15 plans, you can advanced house plan search or ordering plans.
The telephone is : 888-901-3348

And the last item is contemporary house plans , in the website has 204 plans in 21 pages (10plans for page).
The Plan RM-3012B is a contemporary style, as a 3 bedrooms, 2½ bathrooms, Square feet: 2105 and have 1 floor and the price is:
exterior brick/ Stucco
Study Kit $300.00
PDF Disc $950.00
5 Set Kit $675.00
8 Set Kit $750.00
Reproducible Vellum $750.00
CAD Files $950.00

Please visit Arcadia House Plans.

Catherine Zeta-Jones Gets Side Effects

2012-01-25T11:03:00.002Z

Catherine Zeta-Jones Gets Side Effects
She's on for Soderbergh's latest

Source: Deadline

As he turns his attention to getting pharmaceutical psycho-thriller Side Effects made, Steven Soderbergh has obviously been raiding his Rolodex. He’s added another former collaborator to the cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones is now on board to play a character called Dr Eric Siebert. Hmm. We wonder if that first name will change following her casting.

She’s joining fellow repeat Soderbergh performers Jude Law and Channing Tatum in a story that will see Blake Lively playing a very troubled young woman.

Desperately struggling with depression and anxiety over the pending release of her husband (Tatum) from prison, Lively’s character begins swallowing lots of prescription drugs in order to help her cope. But things begin to go badly wrong, and the situation is not helped when she starts a relationship with her doctor (Law).

Effects is described as a potboiler throwback script (think Basic Instinct) written by Informant and Contagion writer Scott Z Burns. He had been set to direct project himself, but has had to stand aside because he’s too busy at the keyboard.

Zeta-Jones, of course, worked with Soderbergh on Traffic, while Law co-starred in Contagion and Tatum has become a real regular, featuring in Haywire and Soderbergh’s next planned release, stripper drama Magic Mike.

The actress will next be seen in Stephen Frears' Lay The Favourite (which, like so many other movies at the moment, just debuted at Sundance) and musical adaptation Rock Of Ages. She’s currently busy shooting Broken City.

Side Effects itself has suffered somewhat of a road bump as Variety reports that financial backers Annapurna have apparently dropped out, leaving Soderbergh looking for new cash. Given the casting, we’re sure he’ll lock some soon enough.

Source: EmpireOnline

AZ DUI Lawyer

2012-01-25T10:47:00.002Z

AZ DUI Lawyer

Today, i write about arizona dui lawyer
Arizona dui lawer is:

Your License Is In the Process of being Suspended.
Arizona DUI law involves Driving Under the Influence of alcohol or drugs, including prescription drugs. Arizona is a NO TOLERANCE state.
Arizona DUI law penalizes impaired driving, not drunk driving. Hiring a qualified DUI Lawyer can minimize your problems. Fines and possible jail time may be only a few of the penalties that confront you without our help.

Jacob Goodman is an associate with Whitney & Whitney PLLC, seasoned criminal defense attorneys serving Phoenix-Metro and Mohave County areas. Mr. Goodman studied English Literature at Arizona State University and graduated summa cum laude receiving recognition and awards for academic achievement. Mr. Goodman then studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington where he excelled in legal research and writing while working as an intern for the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington. Mr. Goodman then worked as an intern for Ada County Prosecuting Attorney's Office in Boise, Idaho where he prosecuted crimes in state superior court from arraignment to jury trial.

Mr. Goodman is committed to offer personal and dedicated representation to help you navigate the legal waters to come to a fair resolution of your case.

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Producers Guild Awards The Artist

2012-01-23T23:16:00.000Z

Producers Guild Awards The Artist
Looking strong but silent for Oscars
Source: PGA

The temperature on the awards season kettle went up another few degrees last night as the Producers Guild of America announced their awards, and The Artist reigned triumphant. The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn took the Animated category, and Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest took the Documentary prize.

The PGA awards (not to be confused with golf) are probably the single best predictor of the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards - although a record of picking 15 of the last 22 winners is by no means a perfect score. Still, it will have given the Oscar hopes of both Michael Hazanavicius and Steven Spielberg a boost ahead of tomorrow's Academy Award nominations and February 26' ceremony.

The full list of Producers Guild winners is below:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:
THE ARTIST
BRIDESMAIDS
THE DESCENDANTS
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
THE HELP
HUGO
THE IDES OF MARCH
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MONEYBALL
WAR HORSE

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
CARS 2
KUNG FU PANDA 2
PUSS IN BOOTS
RANGO

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures

BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST
BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK
PROJECT NIM
SENNA
THE UNION

The television nominees and winners are:

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television

Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Kennedys
Mildred Pierce
Too Big To Fail

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy

30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama

Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television

The Colbert Report
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Real Time with Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live
The 64th Annual Tony Awards

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television

The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing with the Stars
Project Runway
Top Chef

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television

30 for 30
American Masters
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
Deadliest Catch
Undercover Boss

News Programs
Anderson Cooper 360
BBC World News America
NBC News with Brian Williams
The Rachel Maddow Show
60 Minutes

Sports Programs (*There was a tie, which is why there are six nominees.)
Monday Night Football
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
Sports Center
30 for 30
2010 FIFA World Cup
U.S. Open Tennis Championship

Children’s Programs

Dora the Explorer
iCarly
Phineas and Ferb
Sesame Street
SpongeBob Squarepants

Web Series
Ask a Ninja
The Guild
Parks and Recreation Presents: ‘April & Andy’s Road Trip’
30 Rock Presents Jack Donaghy, Executive Superhero
Web Therapy

Source: EmpireOnline

Krank Golf

2012-01-22T09:53:00.002Z

Krank Golf

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Available right handed and left handed

All shafts available in Lady, Senior, Regular, Firm, Stiff and X Stiff flexes

Driver Head Size: 460cc

Available shaft lengths are 43", 43.5", 44", 44.5", 45"-Standard, 45.5", 46", 46.5", 47"

Krank Golf is proud to announce the release of the New Rage Black Driver. A limited edition Rage Black driver is also available in White. We will keep this simple and straight forward. The New Rage Black Driver is engineered for pure speed and stability. The evolution of Krank Golf Drivers is based on exceeding what others think is possible and setting completely new standards in pure driver performance. With 5 RE/Max World Long Drive Championships and more official Long Drive event wins than any golf driver company in history, Krank Golf has learned a few things about Driver Performance along the way. Improving on the 3 time RE/MAX World Long Drive Champion original Rage Driver is no easy feat. We refuse to just release another driver for sake of having a new driver on the market. There must be an improvement. The New Rage Black Driver with the new Tri Forged Hyper Ti Beta Face is lighter, faster and stronger than the Original Rage Driver and completely sets a new standard for Ball Speed, Spin Control, Accuracy and Durability.

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Atlantis Rising Again

2012-01-20T12:05:00.002Z

Atlantis Rising Again
Immortals producer takes on the project

Source: Variety

Much like the legends that surround the place itself, the cinematic adaptation of Platinum Studios’ comic series Atlantis Rising will not stay sunk. Now Immortals co-producer Mark Canton has jumped aboard for the latest effort to get it on screen.

Crafted by Scott Michell Rosenberg, Atlantis Rising originally saw the light as a five-issue miniseries, which chronicled what happens when the world’s militaries investigate a series of deep-sea earthquakes. Given the title of the thing, you won’t be surprised to learn that they find the lost kingdom of Atlantis, whose inhabitants are none too pleased about the sudden intrusion from above. Events escalate from there and soon it’s all-out war.

It’s a tempting title for anyone planning a franchise, though given the scope and the likely effects costs, it’s also not the easiest sell to budget-conscious studios. One attempt has already floundered, with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman looking to line up a version at DreamWorks that had Len Wiseman directing back in 2008.

Now though, Rosenberg and his Platinum team have the rights back, and they’re trying again with a completely new take on the story. And Canton seems to think there’s plenty of opportunity here: "Atlantis Rising has the franchise potential of Men In Black, which I greenlit for Scott while at Sony's Columbia TriStar," Canton tells Variety. "I'm looking forward to bringing it to the screen with Platinum as a dynamic, state-of-the-art action thriller." Given his experience with Immortals and 300, he does at least know something about making big films work…

Source: EmpireOnline

Ben Younger Punches In For Paz

2012-01-20T12:05:00.001Z

Ben Younger Punches In For Paz
Directing the boxing biopic

Source: Variety

Boxing biopics usually fall into one of two categories – the young upstart pup who shows the old dogs how it’s done (but struggles along the way) and the guy everyone has counted out (even the ref a few times) who somehow makes his way back. Boiler Room director Ben Younger has just signed on to make one from the second list – Paz.

The film will follow the true-life tale of Vinny Pazienza, a pugilist in his prime who broke his neck in a car accident and was told he’d never walk again. But he refused to give into that prognosis, and ended up winning three more world titles despite his injury. Now that’s guts.

Producer Chad A Verdi – who, according to Variety has known Paz since childhood – has been trying to shove the film through development for several years now. He locked in sports biopic veteran and Hoosiers/Rudy writer Angelo Pizzo to craft the script in 2010 but has been looking for a director. With Younger in place and taking another pass on the screenplay, the plan is to start shooting in September.

Younger last made Meryl Streep/Uma Thurman comedy Prime in 2005 and since then has mostly worked on TV shows. This will hopefully mark something of a comeback for him…

Source: EmpireOnline

Resident Evil: Retribution Trailer

2012-01-20T12:04:00.002Z

Resident Evil: Retribution Trailer
Alice is back...

Source: Sony Pictures

Given the success (at the box office, at least) he had taking back the rudder of the Resident Evil series with Afterlife in 2010, it’s no surprise to see Paul WS Anderson keeping the undead horde thriving for the next instalment, Retribution. And now the first trailer can be watched below.

Retribution continues the theme of the last few films – Alice (Milla Jovovich) wakes up in the heart of an Umbrella Corporation facility and starts once more hunting those evil bastards responsible for unleashing the T-virus upon the world. Travelling between ravaged cities such as Tokyo, New York and Moscow, she digs deeper into her mysterious past and discovers a shocking revelation that might just challenge everything she believes in… And no, it’s not the thing about toast always falling butter-side down.

We’re promised a few old faces in this one (with the likes of Michelle Rodriguez and Sienna Guillory cropping up) plus a few new arrivals to the franchise. From the looks of the footage, most of what fans enjoy about the films - Jovovich in leather gear running, shooting guns and using a variety of other weapons - is present and correct. Plus more of the infected than you can shake a stick at (including what looks like some flying beasties).

Resident Evil: Retribution is out on September 14.

Source: EmpireOnline

Richard Curtis Says It's About Time

2012-01-20T12:04:00.001Z

Richard Curtis Says It's About Time
...That he directed another film

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

For the first time since he made The Boat That Rocked (AKA Pirate Radio for you American readers), Richard Curtis is planning to step behind the camera, setting up to direct a low-budget time travel dramedy called About Time.

The Hollywood Reporter wasn’t able to dig up any real details about the film beyond its title and that basic tone, but we do know that Curtis has written the script and is already looking for a cast. As of right now, the plan is to shoot the film this summer.

From the sounds of it, Curtis has been influenced by his stint writing an episode of Doctor Who (2010’s Vincent And The Doctor), though we’ll have to see just how much wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff ends up on screen.

Curtis hasn’t been sitting around since he made Boat – he’s co-written the War Horse script with Lee Hall for Steven Spielberg and has several irons in the fire, including Trash for Stephen Daldry and rom com Lost For Words, which has Tom Harper attached to direct but is still slogging its way through development yet. He’s also apparently working on something with Blackadder co-conspirator Ben Elton, though it now looks like About Time will leapfrog everything else to grab his focus for a while.

Source: EmpireOnline

Keanu Reeves Talks Filmmaking

2012-01-20T12:03:00.000Z

Keanu Reeves Talks Filmmaking
In the new trailer for doc Side By Side

Source: James On Screens (Via The Playlist)

If you’re a documentary filmmaker, you usually have to struggle and strain to find famous folk who will agree to be interviewed. But what if your name is Keanu Reeves and you’re looking to talk to creative types on the subject of film’s development, its history and its digital future? The result is Side By Side, which will get its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival next month and has put out a trailer that you can see below.

Reeves has rounded up a truly impressive roll call of cinematic creators to spark some debate about the use of 35mm, digital, 3D and beyond. Among the people popping up to talk? James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Robert Rodriguez, David Lynch, George Lucas and a young newcomer named Martin Scorsese. Sheesh. Couldn't Keanu have landed any big names?

With the campaign to save 35mm still raging and endless debates about the creative benefits of 3D versus the cash-grabbing side of the format, this is one that should interest anyone fascinated by the technical soul of cinema. There’s no word on a release date here yet, but we’re hoping it’ll at least hit a few festivals and find an outlet on VOD or disc.

Source: EmpireOnline

PJ Hogan Directing Bone

2012-01-20T12:02:00.001Z

PJ Hogan Directing Bone
And it has a new writer...
Source: Heat Vision Blog

It’s been a while since we’ve heard much about progress on the animated adaptation of popular graphic series Bone. But now there appears to be fresh movement on the project, with Muriel’s Wedding director PJ Hogan signing on to direct and TV writer Patrick Sean Smith locked in to crank out the next draft of the script.

Published by Jeff Smith between 1991 and 2004, Bone is an odd and absorbing tale that tracks Fone Bone, Smiley Bone and Phoney Bone, who are kicked out of Boneville after Phoney screws up a run for mayor. Chased across medieval fantasy land The Valley by locusts and rats, they eventually find shelter with a girl named Thorn. And they’re then sucked into a battle against an evil Dark Lord. What begins as a fairly slapsticky tale soon evolves into something more serious, which is part of the reason why lots of people love it.

Sherlock Holmes producer Dan Lin has been overseeing the project since he convinced Warner Bros. to snap up the rights a few years ago. Australian writer Justin Monjo wrote the first few drafts of the script and Happy Feet 'toon company Animal Logic put together some test footage so everyone involved can get a sense of what it will look like.

Now, however, it appears it’ll sit in development a little longer as Smith – Patrick Sean, not Jeff – retools the screenplay. He’s been responsible for TV comedy drama Greek and has written on shows including Supernatural and Everwood. According to the Heat Vision blog, Hogan will re-write it again before he starts directing in Australia with the Animal Logic team handling the animation. Until then, he’s still busy putting the final touches to Mental, the film that sees him reunite with Muriel star Toni Collette.

Source: EmpireOnline

Katheryn Winnick Joins The Black Marks

2012-01-20T12:01:00.001Z

Katheryn Winnick Joins The Black Marks
Starring with Kurt Russell...

Source: Variety

Brothers and schemes involving money: has no one learned the lessons of A Simple Plan or Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead? These things never end well. Clearly Matt Dillon and Kurt Russell were unaware, as they're playing siblings hatching a scam in The Black Marks. And now actress Katheryn Winnick has decided to join the fun.

Jonathan Sobol is directing the indie crime comedy based on his script. The plot follows Crunch Calhoun (Russell), a low-rent motorcycle daredevil and partly reformed art thief who agrees to go back into the criminal life for, you guessed it, one last big score. His brother Nicky (Dillon) convinces him that it will solve all their problems and they rope in another schmuck (Jay Baruchel) to help out. But when it all goes surprisingly well, the heist leads to another, riskier plan that Nicky has dreamt up and the brothers find that they’re each working to their own agendas.

Winnick has signed on to play a Ukrainian showgirl who happens to be Crunch’s girlfriend and the majority of his support system. No doubt she’ll also get dragged into the crime… She was last seen in Love And Other Drugs and has recently shot A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III alongside Charlie Sheen.

Source: EmpireOnline

Expendables 2 Will Be PG-13

2012-01-20T12:00:00.000Z

Expendables 2 Will Be PG-13
Chuck Norris commands it!

Source: Ain't It Cool

Chuck Norris is a man credited with many special abilities. Now it appears he also has the power to convince producers that all-action sequels to R-Rated movies boasting lots of ‘80s action stars should be PG-13 and avoid naughty language. Because that’s what he’s managed with The Expendables 2.

It all started more as a rumour flung around the 'net at the speed of gossip thanks to fan website Expendables Premiere picking up comments Norris made in a Polish magazine interview. “In Expendables 2, there was a lot of vulgar dialogue in the screenplay,” he explains. “For this reason, many young people wouldn't be able to watch this. But I don't play in movies like this. Due to that I said I won't be a part of that if the hardcore language is not erased. Producers accepted my conditions and the movie will be classified in the category of PG-13." We're pretty sure he meant to say "I don't play in movies like this now." What about The Delta Force? Hellbound? The Cutter? The Missing In Action trilogy? We could go on...

Now, however, Sylvester Stallone has reached out to Ain’t It Cool news to confirm the rating. Still, he seems convinced it’ll be great even if everyone walks about calling each other melon farmers. “The film is fantastic with Van Damme turning in an inspired performance... Our final battle is one for the ages. The PG-13 rumour is true, but before your readers pass judgement, trust me when I say this film is LARGE in every way and delivers on every level. This movie touches on many emotions that we want to share with the broadest audience possible, BUT, fear not, this Barbeque of Grand scale Ass Bashing will not leave anyone hungry...”

The proof, of course, will be in the overly muscled pudding, which will arrive later this year. And if you think this means it’ll be a sanitised explode-o-thon, chances are we’ll get an unexpurgated version on DVD, full of all the muddy funsters you can handle. Check out the teaser below.

Source: EmpireOnline

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2012-01-20T11:42:00.002Z

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2012-01-20T11:08:00.002Z

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New Writer For Affleck's The Stand

2012-01-20T11:06:00.000Z

New Writer For Affleck's The Stand
David Kajganich takes a crack at King

Source: Vulture

It's a job that's passed through the hands of George Romero and Steve Kloves, but now another writer has undertaken the mammoth task of adapting The Stand for the screen. David Kajganich is wrestling Stephen King's blockbuster novel into movie shape as we speak, under the watchful eye of director Ben Affleck.

Set after an American super-flu virus has wiped out most of the world's population, The Stand sees a King-typical band of mismatched survivors trying to establish a peacenik new society under the aegis of earth-mother Abigail Freemantle. The existence of another group however, led by King's recurring antichrist Randal Flagg, means conflict - the stand of the title - is brewing.

First published in 1978, The Stand was always epic in size and scope, but was re-issued in 1990 in an "author's cut" that was even longer. Mick Garris directed a six-hour TV miniseries in 1994, starring Gary Sinise and Rob Lowe.

Kajganich has previous experience writing pandemics, since he was responsible for the beleaguered Bodysnatchers remake The Invasion in 2007. Unsurprisingly, it's not that gig that's scored him The Stand, but an as-yet unproduced screenplay for Stephen King's similarly whopping It, which impressed Affleck so much that he had to sleep with the lights on so Pennywise couldn't get him.*

The Stand and It are both being developed by producers Roy Lee and Doug Davison.

*Okay, we made that last detail up.

Source: EmpireOnline

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2012-01-19T23:50:00.002Z

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2012-01-19T23:34:00.002Z

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Exclusive New Haywire Clip

2012-01-18T11:10:00.000Z

Exclusive New Haywire Clip
McGregor & Carano set up a job

Source: Exclusive

Steven Soderbergh's Haywire hits cinemas today, but ahead of your evening visit we have an exclusive clip of the film for you to get a taster. Admittedly, this is one of the few moments in the film where Carano's talking to someone rather than kicking someone's ass, but hey! We're all about variety here.

Carano plays black ops agent Mallory, who works for Ewan McGregor's Kenneth (also her ex boyfriend). Here, having finished one mission and returned home, she's greeted by her boss with a new assignment, which they discuss here.

Not pictured: Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Michael Angarano and Bill Paxton. Haywire's out today, and features the only Dublin-set action scene you're likely to see this year.

Source: EmpireOnline

George Lucas To Retire?

2012-01-18T11:09:00.000Z

George Lucas To Retire?
Says Red Tails is his final blockbuster

Source: New York Times

Take this with a pinch of salt, since we can't imagine we'll really be saying goodbye to the great man anytime in the near future. But a lengthy and fascinating profile in the New York Times sees George Lucas claiming he's planning his retirement, now that Red Tails is almost done and dusted.

"I'm moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff," he says.

"All this kind of stuff" refers to the battle he's had to get his long-cherished WWII epic before the cameras. Turned down by every major studio, he's been forced to finance and publicise the film himself. Now he says, barring possible future Indiana Jones films, that he's withdrawing from blockbusters, and that any future projects will be small, experimental, "esoteric and screened mostly in art-houses."

Lucas also says he's weary of constant criticisms of his tinkering with the Star Wars saga, making the point that he chose a path of independence, but has ended up trading studio interference for fanboy hectoring. "On the internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made changes are completely changing the movie,” he says. “Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it. Why would I make any more [Star Wars movies] when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”

Recent comments by Rick McCallum however, do suggest that Star Wars has a future in some form, and we can't imagine that Lucas wouldn't be pulling some of those strings...

"Now that he’s demonstrated his commercial moviemaking abilities, it's time to show his other side," says Francis Ford Coppola of his friend's retreat from the limelight. Do you agree? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.

Red Tails, actually directed by Anthony Hemingway, is out in the States on January 20. Lucas' equivalent of Institute Benjamenta is, we guess, in development...

Source: EmpireOnline

Tilda Swinton Takes Aim At Snow Piercer

2012-01-18T11:07:00.002Z

Tilda Swinton Takes Aim At Snow Piercer
Jamie Bell also in talks

Source: Variety

Blimey, Bong Joon-ho isn’t lazing around when it comes to casting his new indie drama Snow Piercer. Just this last weekend it was revealed that he’s tempted Chris Evans away from shield-slinging for a while to star, and now comes word that Tilda Swinton and Jamie Bell are in talks to join him.

Korean director Bong is making his US directorial debut with the film (though it’ll shoot in Prague this coming March), and what we know about the plot so far has a train full of passengers trying to co-exist as they make their way through a frigid world of snow and ice. Bong wrote the script with fellow Korean filmmaking favourite Park Chan-Wook, and Park is producing.

The cold weather should suit Swinton, who embodied the White Witch for the Narnia films. She’s currently enjoying a BAFTA nomination for her role in tough drama We Need To Talk About Kevin and will next be seen in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.

Bell can be heard rather than seen (though he did do the performance capture work for the movie) in Tintin and co-stars with Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks in Man On A Ledge, which will arrive here on February 3.

Source: EmpireOnline

Joel Edgerton Has A One Night Stand

2012-01-18T11:07:00.001Z

Joel Edgerton Has A One Night Stand
He's written a spec script

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

With his career skyrocketing following Warrior, Joel Edgerton must be feeling pretty happy right about now. But he’s also been feeling creative, cranking out a spec script called One Night Stand that he’s just sold to New Regency.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stand is a comedy drama described as “an honest look at a man and a woman in the aftermath of a one night stand.” And here we were thinking that given the title, it was an interstellar tale of espionage and planetary destruction.

But – at least for now – it’s also not Edgerton creating work for himself. He’s planning to take an executive producer’s credit, but won’t star in the film if it gets made.

He’s busy enough as it is anyway. With Warrior and The Thing under his belt from last year, he’s got several films on the way in 2012, including indie Wish You Were Here, Disney’s The Odd Life Of Timothy Green and the small matter of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. Plus he’s also won one of the lead roles in Kathryn Bigelow’s action thriller about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

Source: EmpireOnline

Cormac McCarthy Delivers The Counsellor

2012-01-18T11:06:00.000Z

Cormac McCarthy Delivers The Counsellor
His first crack at scripting

Source: Deadline

Usually when the words and worlds of Cormac McCarthy have hit our cinema screens, they’ve been filtered through the filmmakers who adapted his novels – the Coens on No Country For Old Men or Joe Penhall on The Road. But after seeing his books go successfully through the cinematic process, the author has decided to have a crack at getting his vision up directly, turning screenwriter for The Counsellor.

Deadline reports that McCarthy surprised his book editors by sending them the script when they were waiting for his next novel (crafting a screenplay as a break from penning a book? The man needs to learn the meaning of the word procrastination! Daytime TV, Mr McCarthy!) The plot finds a respected lawyer who believes he’s smart enough to try his hand at the drug business without being dragged down into the world, but in true McCarthy style, discovers that he’s very wrong.

Producers Nick Wechsler, Steve Schwartz and Paula Mae Schwartz acted quickly when they saw that McCarthy had the spec script available for sale, snapping up the rights before a bidding war could ensue. It doesn’t hurt that they have a relationship with him, having helped director John Hillcoat get The Road into cinemas.

“Since McCarthy himself wrote the script, we get his own muscular prose directly, with its sexual obsessions,” Steven Schwartz tells the site. “It’s a masculine world into which, unusually, two women intrude to play leading roles. McCarthy’s wit and humour in the dialogue make the nightmare even scarier. This may be one of McCarthy’s most disturbing and powerful works.”

It’s early days for the script, but we figure directors are going to come running to take this one on.

Source: EmpireOnline

Lillard May Have Trouble With The Curve

2012-01-18T11:01:00.001Z

Lillard May Have Trouble With The Curve
In talks for the Clint Eastwood drama

Source: The Wrap

Trouble With The Curve, the directorial debut of Clint Eastwood’s producer partner Robert Lorenz, has been slowly building its cast since it was announced late last year. It already has Eastwood in the lead and Amy Adams in place to play his daughter. Now Warner Bros. is close to locking in Matthew Lillard and a newcomer, Joe Massingill, to join them.

Curve finds Eastwood as an aging, ailing baseball scout whose vision is failing him. Intent on making one last recruiting trip to Atlanta, he uses the opportunity to take his daughter along in the hopes that they’ll reconnect.

Lillard, who won plaudits for his performance in The Descendants, is now in talks to play a rival scout in the film, but The Wrap was unable to dig up details of what Massingill will be playing, assuming he 's picked. His credits include small parts in shows such as Zeke And Luther, Courage, New Hampshire and Glee. He’s also got a couple of short films on his CV. But this year could see him sharing the screen with Eastwood… No pressure, then.

Source: EmpireOnline

Tommy Lee Jones Joins Emperor

2012-01-18T11:00:00.001Z

Tommy Lee Jones Joins Emperor
He'll be General Douglas McCarthur

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Earlier this month, it was announced that Matthew Fox had nabbed the lead in Emperor. Now he’s being joined by some hefty co-star power, with Tommy Lee Jones cast as General Douglas MacArthur.

The historical epic finds Fox playing General Bonner Fellers, a member of MacArthur’s staff and a leading expert on Japan at the end of World War II. He’s given a tough assignment: deciding whether Japanese Emperor Hirohito should be tried (and then hanged) as a war criminal.

Fellers has a more personal mission occupying his time, too, as he’s also looking for Aya, a Japanese exchange student he met in the US and fell in love with before the War. There’s no word on who’ll play her just yet, though Peter Webber is gearing up to start shooting the film in New Zealand and Japan shortly.

Jones seems like the right call to play MacArthur, something of a US Army legend and essentially the ruler of Japan immediately following the conflict, as he also happened to be the Supreme Commander of the occupying forces. We doubt he’ll smile much, but then, that’s not really TLJ’s speciality. He'll show up this year in Men In Black 3 (sci-fi scowl) and Lincoln (historical frown).

Source: EmpireOnline

Seth Gordon On For Identity Theft

2012-01-18T10:59:00.000Z

Seth Gordon On For Identity Theft
He'll direct the comedy

Source: Deadline

Looks like Jason Bateman and director Seth Gordon had a good time working on Horrible Bosses, because they’ve decided to team up for another comedy. Gordon is now on to make Identity Theft, which will star Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.

Theft has been bubbling away for a few months now, and while it was originally conceived by The Pursuit Of Happyness’ Steve Conrad as a tale of Bateman’s character getting his identity hijacked by another guy, it’s since been refashioned to feature McCarthy. Bateman was apparently so impressed with her scene-stealing work on Bridesmaids that he pushed to have the script retooled. The Hangover Part II’s Craig Mazin got the job done and now Universal is putting the pieces together.

Gordon got his start with ace video game documentary The King Of Kong (which he’s said will get remade as a comedy drama, but there’s been no sign of it leaving development hell yet). He graduated to slightly shonky Vince Vaughn comedy Four Christmases in 2008 but scored the Bosses job, which did decent business at the box office last year. He’s also currently attached to remake War Games for MGM, though it now looks as though Identity Theft will come first.

Source: EmpireOnline

Abigail Spencer Is In Your Eyes

2012-01-18T10:58:00.000Z

Abigail Spencer Is In Your Eyes
For Joss Whedon's supernatural romance

Source: Vulture

While she’s had more exposure on TV to date (including a run as one of Don Draper’s more memorable mistresses on Mad Men), Abigail Spencer has seen her film career hit a new gear recently. And according to the actress, she’s landed a lead role on In Your Eyes, produced by legendary workhorse Joss Whedon.

Talking with Vulture, she revealed that she’s scored a role in the film. "It’s my first time doing a project with him, but I’ve always wanted to work with him. I’m so excited to do it." When prompted to spill a few more nuggets, Spencer demurred, probably because she knows Whedon projects come with a thick layer of secrecy and he can spend his Avengers money on assassins to murderlise anyone who lets slip details. All she would say is this: "It’s the most romantic film in the history of time. It’s a supernatural romance." We’re promised more info soon.

Eyes was announced back in October, with Whedon talking it up as the first production from his new company Bellwether Pictures that he won’t personally direct. That job has gone to Brin Hill, who will nonetheless work from a script written by Joss himself. Shooting is set to start next month in LA, and, if the way his Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing was stealthily filmed was any indication, it might all happen in Joss’s garage.

But Spencer herself is also about generating projects: she’s written a romantic comedy called Wrong Number that finds two strangers brought together by a random missed call. And she’s now secured producer backing from James Franco, who Spencer just worked with on Sam Raimi’s Oz, The Great And Powerful.

She'll next be seen in This Means War and surfing drama Of Men And Mavericks.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: New Carnage Poster

2012-01-18T10:57:00.000Z

Exclusive: New Carnage Poster
Who's afraid of Hans Landa?

Roman Polanski's new drama Carnage defies easy categorisation. It's funny, yes, but it also offers a Stepford Wives-y dissection of middle-class mores that strips away the artifices of politeness one layer at a time. What's left is a stinky mess that's reminiscent of Bill Paxton's fate at the end of Weird Science.

Polanski's film boasts a cast of Oscar winners boozing, bickering and projectile vomiting through his adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s play God Of Carnage to four-star effect. The film has a new quad poster which gives a freeze-framed 'before' and 'after' look at the four cast members: Jodie Foster (the smart, self-righteous Penelope), John C. Reilly (her blue-collar husband, Michael), Kate Winslet (the passive-aggressive Nancy) and Christoph Waltz (wry, arrogant Alan).

"It all happens in real-time, so it’s about an hour and 45 minutes of negotiation between two sets of parents and how it all falls apart," says Foster of the film. "Kind of like Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, but a little funnier. There’s a lot of wit.” Actually, it's closer to 90 minutes, but otherwise the description is pretty much spot-on.

Want more proof? Watch Carnage's trailer below, or catch the film when it's out in UK cinemas on February 3.

Source: EmpireOnline

The BAFTA Nominations Are Here!

2012-01-17T11:51:00.001Z

The BAFTA Nominations Are Here!
The Artist leads the pack

Source: BAFTA

The British Academy Film Award nominations have been announced, and it's a good day to be strong, silent and French. Yup, The Artist leads the way with 12 nominations, hotly pursued by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with 11 and Hugo with 9.

Rather further out are My Week With Marilyn, with six, and War Horse and The Help, each with five nods. Drive, The Iron Lady and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 each have four nods.

Perhaps the big news here is that War Horse misses out on a Best Film nomination, while Drive nips in instead - not that that's necessarily a bad thing, since the more not-traditionally-awardsy films nominated for awards like these, the more interesting. That also goes for the Screenplay nods for Bridesmaids and The Guard. But no Olivia Colman nod for her revelatory turn in Tyrannosaur? For shame!

For any real drama and excitement, we advise looking down to the technical categories. It's Joe Letteri vs Joe Letteri in the Visual Effects round! Will he split his own vote?! Isn't it illegal for there to be a BAFTA ceremony without at least a nomination for Colleen Atwood in Best Costume? And is it just us or does the clash of the legendary Dante Ferreti for Hugo and the wonderful Stuart Craig for Harry Potter in Production Design feel like a clash of the titans?

The British Academy Film Awards will be held in London on February 12, at the Royal Opera House. We'll be there as usual, bringing you all the news that's fit to print.

The full list of nominations:

BEST FILM
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Help
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
My Week With Marilyn
Senna
Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
We Need To Talk About Kevin

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Attack The Block - Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
Black Pond - Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
Coriolanus - Ralph Fiennes (Director)
Submarine - Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
Tyrannosaur - Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Incendies
Pina
Potiche
A Separation
The Skin I Live In

DOCUMENTARY
George Harrison: Living In The Material World
Project Nim
Senna

ANIMATED FILM
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn
Arthur Christmas
Rango

DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Tomas Alfredson - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Lynne Ramsay - We Need To Talk About Kevin

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids
John Michael McDonagh - The Guard
Abi Morgan - The Iron Lady
Woody Allen - Midnight In Paris

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash - The Descendants
Tate Taylor - The Help
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon - The Ides Of March
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin - Moneyball
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

LEADING ACTOR
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Michael Fassbender - Shame

LEADING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis - The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Jim Broadbent - The Iron Lady
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan - Drive
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Judi Dench - My Week with Marilyn
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer - The Help

ORIGINAL MUSIC
The Artist - Ludovic Bource
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo - Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Alberto Iglesias
War Horse - John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo - Robert Richardson
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Hoyte van Hoytema
War Horse - Janusz Kaminski

EDITING
The Artist - Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
Drive - Mat Newman
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker
Senna - Gregers Sall, Chris King
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Dino Jonsater

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Artist - Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Hugo - Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
War Horse - Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN
The Artist - Mark Bridges
Hugo - Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre - Michael O'Connor
My Week With Marilyn - Jill Taylor
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Jacqueline Durran

MAKE UP & HAIR
The Artist - Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
Hugo - Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
The Iron Lady - Marese Langan
My Week With Marilyn - Jenny Shircore

SOUND
The Artist - Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 - James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
Hugo - Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
War Horse - Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn - Joe Letteri
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
Hugo - Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
War Horse - Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

SHORT ANIMATION
Abuelas
Bobby Yeah
A Morning Stroll

SHORT FILM
Chalk
Mwansa The Great
Only Sound Remains
Pitch Black Heist
Two And Two

THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Adam Deacon
Chris Hemsworth
Chris O'Dowd
Eddie Redmayne
Tom Hiddleston

Source: EmpireOnline

Beaufoy Locked For Hunger Games Sequel

2012-01-17T11:50:00.001Z

Beaufoy Locked For Hunger Games Sequel
And Gary Ross is directing again

Source: The Wrap

As it has been rumoured, so it has come to pass: Simon Beaufoy, who was reportedly Lionsgate’s top choice to write the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, has indeed won the gig and is already hard at work.

Gary Ross, who co-wrote (along with novelist Suzanne Collins and in-demand script doctor Billy Ray) and directed the first film, is back on megaphone duty, but is apparently supervising Beaufoy’s adaptation of the second novel in the trilogy.

Catching Fire follows the further adventures of heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who (*spoiler alert* if you’ve never cracked the books open) survives her first encounter with the deadly gladiatorial games and, along with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) finds that things are still not easy. They’re punished for their defiance by being forced to compete in a special 75th staging of the games, which sees them put up against past winners.

With the likes of Woody Harrelson and Liam Hemsworth also likely to return, Catching Fire is currently scheduled for November 22, 2013. But you don’t have long to wait to see The Hunger Games itself: the first movie arrives on March 23 this year.

Oh, and a new picture (which is either from the film or the world's oddest Golden Globes viewing party) has arrived, courtesy of the LA Times.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Poster

2012-01-17T11:49:00.000Z

New Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Poster
And some fresh pics...

Source: IMP Awards

We’re still a few months away from the release of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and there’s no sign of a trailer just yet, though MTV has gone behind the scenes. But the team behind the film are looking to keep it in our minds with a new poster and a couple of fresh images, all of which you can see below.

The poster, which arrives courtesy of the IMP Awards site, is a familiar riff to anyone who saw the two promotional pieces that arrived a month ago. Using the Lincoln memorial, this one continues to push the basic idea: that Lincoln, before and during his tenure as the 16th President of America, learned of the existence of vampires and fought to defeat their evil fanged plots at any cost.

Benjamin Walker is the man in the muttonchops and stovepipe hat, who swears revenge after his mother is killed by a vampire. Lincoln gets a little help from friendly fanged fellow Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper) and must face down the evil Adam (Rufus Sewell), who is working with slave owners to supply human fodder for his fellow nightwalkers.

Along the way, we get to see Lincoln develop into the presidential figure remembered through history and get a peek at his personal life, including his marriage to Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

Wanted’s Timur Bekmambetov is behind the camera for this one, with Seth Grahame-Smith adapting his own genre-mashing book. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will be out on August 2, when the big question will be whether it can prove to be more entertaining than its title. The new pictures come via Germany's Movie-Infos.

Source: EmpireOnline

Chris Smith's UK Film Report Published

2012-01-17T11:48:00.002Z

Chris Smith's UK Film Report Published
ITV and Sky told to step up

Source: DCMS

A week on from David Cameron's controversial comments apparently advocating the mainstreamification of the British film industry, Lord Smith's review has now been published, proving less inflammatory than we might have feared. The report champions "as wide a range of films as possible," Smith promised, "from the overtly commercial to the overtly arty and much in between."

The Prime Minister "understands, just as we do, that there is a whole range of movies and types of movie that we are supporting. He is very clear on that," he added. "We are not trying to dictate an artistic vision. We are trying to set in place a range of financial and legislative arrangements which will enable a broad range of movies to be made. We are not making a distinction in the review between something called mainstream and something called... something else."

The report's 56 recommendations include increased film education in schools; a scheme to get projection equipment into communities that don't have a local cinema; stronger investment in training and skills development, with a beady eye on new technologies; increased measures to combat piracy; and the inauguration of an annual celebration, such as a "British Film Week" to "provide audiences across the UK with access to the full spectrum of British film, giving them a greater insight into its breadth, depth and originality."

Outside that British Film Week however, the report doesn't have much to say about the distribution systems which can make independent British films difficult to catch in UK cinemas. So if you're outside London and you're not lucky enough to have a Watershed or a Cornerhouse or your own regional equivalent, you may still struggle to see a fraction of what's produced.

Call-Me-Dave's comments about the industry becoming more "dynamic and entrpreneurial", do have some roots in the report's recommendations for moving away from an "overall dependence on public funding" and rewarding commercial success. The report advocates the use of test screenings to gauge potential audience response before a film is finished, so that it can be adjusted accordingly (as is common Hollywood practice). And it suggests that a film's profits go to its producers, director and writers (rather than their having to return their lottery funding) for reinvestment in future projects.

"The principle of rewarding success is important because if [film-makers] have done it once, they're likely to do it again," said Smith. The government will not dictate to the BFI which films should receive its support, but the BFI "should bear the audience in mind."

Lord Smith's independent review panel also singled out broadcasters Sky and ITV for not doing enough in their support of British film. "They are doing very little, and we believe they should be doing more," Smith said. "We have suggested the government sits down with each of the broadcasters to see if an agreement can be reached to ensure greater investment in and acquisition of British films. We have also suggested that if agreement turns out to be impossible it is something the government might turn its attention to in the Communications Act which is proposed for some time in the next year or two. We hope that won't be necessary and broadcasters would want to step up to the plate voluntarily."

Both Sky and ITV protested this via statements, with Sky saying it plans to increase investment in "homegrown content" to £600m by 2014, and ITV trumpeting that it makes Downton Abbey.

Labour welcomed the report, with shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Harriet Harman saying it "offers an important opportunity for the Government to give the film industry the support it needs and deserves, and to welcome a new era for British film."

Shadow Culture Minister Dan Jarvis said, "The Government now needs to listen to Lord Smith’s review and create a climate in which our film industry can continue to flourish."

Ed Vaizy, the Conservative Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, who commissioned the report, says the government will make a formal response in a few months time.

Source: EmpireOnline

Adam Brody Finds Some Girls

2012-01-17T11:48:00.001Z

Adam Brody Finds Some Girls
And gets a Welcome To The Jungle

Source: Variety

Adam Brody has been a busy man of late. He’s been working steadily for ages, but his film career has really kicked off in over the last couple of years. And now he’s snagged a lead role in both indie drama Some Girls and new comedy Welcome To The Jungle.

Neil LaBute has adapted Some Girls from his play, which was staged off-Broadway and here in the West End a few years ago. Brody will star as a successful writer who is feeling nostalgic as his wedding approaches. He decides to travel across the country and meet his five ex-girlfriends in a series of hotel rooms. LaBute isn’t directing this time: he’s handed the reins over to regular Mad Men helmer Jennifer Getzinger, who aims to start shooting in April. Perhaps he hopes that a female director will help his story avoid the accusations of misogyny his work sometimes attracts.

But before he works on Girls, Brody will work alongside an eclectic cast that includes Rob Heubel, Dennis Haysbert, Kristen Schaal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Jungle - not to be confused with the Dwayne Johnson-starring action movie - sees a group of design firm employees head off on a corporate retreat to a tropical island. But chaos ensues when they become stranded and things get a little Lord Of The Flies. Rob Meltzer’s directing that one, and the cast is headed to Puerto Rico to kick off shooting next month.

Brody will be seen in a few films across the coming months. He’s in family drama The Oranges, comedy drama Revenge For Jolly! and will be seen alongside Keira Knightley and Steve Carell in Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World. Oh, and he just joined the cast of Lovelace as Harry Reems, one of Linda Lovelace (Amanda Seyfried)’s Deep Throat co-stars.

Source: EmpireOnline

Detachment Trailer Online

2012-01-17T11:47:00.003Z

Detachment Trailer Online
Adrien Brody gets schooled

Source: Apple

Director Tony Kaye’s luck seems to shift with every passing year. He looked like he was on to a winner with American History X, but had the film taken away in editing and made few friends afterwards. Then he crafted abortion documentary Lake Of Fire, which roused acclaim and controversy but not much in the way of wider notice. Then came action thriller Black Water Transit, which is sitting waiting to be released despite shooting in 2009. Now, however, he’s scored an impressive cast for his latest drama, Detachment, and is set to release the movie this year. after a run at last year's Tribeca Festival You can watch the trailer over at Apple.

Detachment features Adrien Brody, Christina Hendricks, Marcia Gay Garden, Bryan "in everything" Cranston, William Petersen, James Caan, Lucy Liu and Tim Blake Nelson. It's the tale of Henry (Brody), a troubled substitute teacher. Arriving at a crumbling, low-morale inner-city school, he finds a demoralised faculty and kids getting lost in an educational black spot.

But if you’re enthused at the idea of Kaye finally getting back behind the camera and one of his films enjoying a decent release, you might want to stick the champagne back on ice. For the moment, the movie will arrive on iTunes on February 24 and then see cinema screens in a limited capacity across the pond on March 16. There’s no word when we might get it in the UK.

Source: EmpireOnline

Ti West Feels The Side Effects

2012-01-17T11:47:00.001Z

Ti West Feels The Side Effects
House Of The Devil director gets spaced

Source: The Playlist

Director Ti West has had a patchy time of it since his breakout critical hit The House Of The Devil in 2009. He butted heads with Lionsgate over Cabin Fever 2, and pulled out of The Haunting In Georgia when he foresaw similar problems. His The Innkeepers premiered at the South By Southwest festival last spring, but has only just limped to VOD. But thankfully West has still managed to claw together the funding for his next film, The Side Effects: a sci-fi tale about "pharmaceutical testing and paranoia."

"I’ve cast the lead and I’ve got most of it together," West tells The Playlist, "but it’s a science fiction movie, so we need to build spaceships, so it’s one of those things I can’t really rush into and I can’t do it for less than we need for it, because we have to build things."

Used to working independently and on the cheap, West says that the budget for The Side Effects is more than he generally needs, but less than his profligate studio funds for Cabin Fever 2. "The smallest amount of money to do what I do is what I want," he enthuses. "I don’t want a dime more, but I don’t want a dime less either. Like I don’t want to go, 'We’ve run out of money to put that extra thing on the spaceship,' but I don’t want to have money for no reason. So I think it’s going to happen. It’s a great producer, I think it’s a good script, and it’s a great cast.”

In the meantime, West also has a hand in two anthology movies. He's directing one of the 26 segments of The ABCs Of Horror, and he's got a "couple-on-a-road-trip" chapter in V/H/S: his concession to the found-footage genre. "That’s all anyone wants to do anymore,” he laments. “When I say, 'We need three and a half, four million dollars to make this movie,' people are like, 'How about you just make a found-footage movie for fifty grand? We can give you that.' It’s a weird time for indie movies."

V/H/S premieres at Sundance next week, and West hopes to start preparing for The Side Effects in February.

Source: EmpireOnline

Contraband Steals The US Box Office

2012-01-17T11:46:00.000Z

Contraband Steals The US Box Office
Beauty & The Beast Is Back For Second

Source: Box Office Mojo

This weekend featured the Martin Luther King Day holiday, which meant one additional day for films to nab audiences. Contraband won the weekend handily, beating out competition from one new release (choir comedy drama Joyful Noise) and one returning classic boasting a fresh coat of 3D paint (Disney’s Beauty And The Beast).

The Mark Wahlberg smuggling thriller took in $24.5 million, while Beauty had to make do with $18.75 million. Still, that wasn’t bad for a film that originally arrived back in 1991. The torrent of Disney movies getting the 3D makeover will continue!

In third, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol managed to hang on well (not a Tom Cruise joke), earning $11.7 million for $187 million in the domestic bank after five weeks in the charts. It pipped Joyful Noise, which made $11.2 million for fourth. Another long in the tooth release, Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, rounded out the top five with $8.6 million.

At sixth, we find The Devil Inside, with last week’s surprise box office champ now on a fast tumble down the charts thanks to poor audience word of mouth. Still, it managed to nab $8 million. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo slipped to seventh, making $6.7 million and War Horse was eighth with $5.93 million. Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked continued to prove puzzlingly popular, with $5.9 million and $118 in the bank so far in ninth. And finally, at 10th, We Bought A Zoo prepared to leave the top 10, earning $5.5 million this weekend and $64 million in total from the US to date.

To hide chart information on container ships, point your browser at Box Office Mojo.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Picture From The Hobbit

2012-01-17T11:45:00.000Z

New Picture From The Hobbit
Bilbo, Sting and some spidery action

Source: Hero Complex

Now that Sherlock's finished, you may be wondering where your next hit of Martin Freeman will be coming from. But fear not, Freeman addicts! The Hero Complex has a new picture from The Hobbit online, giving you something to keep those withdrawal symptoms at bay.

This one shows Bilbo with his sword, Sting. Technically, it's really a long knife, made by elves in Gondolin along with Gandalf's sword, Glamdring, and Thorin's sword, Orcrist.

There follow, we suppose, minor spoilers for those who haven't read the book and weren't paying attention during the previous trilogy. Bilbo acquired this blade from the troll hoard that he, Gandalf and company liberate in this story, although you may have encountered the relevant trolls in the extended edition of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring.

This looks to be a picture from the scene in which Bilbo names his sword, deep in Mirkwood following an encounter with some arachnid beasties that bear a distant family connection to Rings's Shelob. You can see traces of spider-web all over, and the sword isn't glowing, which suggests there aren't any orcs around. Possible spoilers end.

Yes, it's the same blade that Frodo used throughout The Lord Of The Rings, fact fans. The other cool thing about this image is that it shows a more adventuresome side of Bilbo, who often appears a bit more bumbling than his world-saving young cousin.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits on December 14 this year, with There And Back Again following on December 13, 2013. Ha! And they say December 13 is unlucky!

Source: EmpireOnline

George Clooney Snags A Golden Globe

2012-01-16T10:29:00.001Z

George Clooney Snags A Golden Globe
And we have all the winners listed...

The Golden Globes were handed out last night. Our full blog report is here, but suffice to say, Ricky Gervais was largely on his best behaviour, there were few shockers and just one or two snubs and pleasant surprises.

While the film side of the evening offered up one or two more unexpected moments: The Descendants taking Best Drama over the likes of The Help and Moneyball, for example – a lot of the rest felt like a dress rehearsal for the Oscars. Meryl took home another gong, A Separation was recognised and Christopher Plummer got a trophy for Beginners.

TV-wise, there were some shockers – while Kelsey Grammer is the best thing about Boss, he was facing the likes of Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston and Homeland’s Damian Lewis. And the idea that Episodes' Matt LeBlanc could win out over Alec Baldwin and some of the others in the Best acting award for Musical/Comedy on TV was a head-scratcher. Sure, LeBlanc seems like a nice guy, but playing a version of himself? Really?

Now, for those who simply need a list, here are the winners:

Best Drama
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides Of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Comedy/Musical
The Artist
50/50
Bridesmaids
Midnight In Paris
My Week With Marilyn

Best Animated Film
The Adventures Of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation
The Flowers of War
In The Land of Blood and Honey
The Kid WIth The Bike
The Skin I Live In

Best Actor – Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris

Best Supporting Actor In A Motion Picture
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

Best Actress In A Drama
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Actress In A Comedy/Musical
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet, Carnage
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids

Best Supporting Actress In A Motion Picture
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Best Director
Hugo, Martin Scorsese

Best Screenplay For A Motion Picture
Midnight In Paris, Woody Allen
The Ides of March, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
Moneyball, Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin

Best Original Score In A Motion Picture
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
W.E., Abel Korzeniowski
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Hugo, Howard Shore
War Horse, John Williams

Best Original Song In A Motion Picture
W.E., ‘Masterpiece’ by Madonna
"Lay Your Head Down," Albert Nobbs
"Hello Hello," Gnomeo and Juliet
"The Living Proof," The Help
"The Keeper," Machine Gun Preacher

And on the TV front…

Best TV Drama
Homeland

Best TV Comedy/Musical
Modern Family

Best TV Miniseries Or Motion Picture
Downton Abbey

Best Actor In A TV Drama
Kelsey Grammer, Boss

Best Actor In A TV Comedy/Musical
Matt Le Blanc, Episodes

Best Actor in A Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie
Idris Elba

Best Supporting Actor In A TV Series, Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie
Peter Dinklage, Game Of Thrones

Best Actress In A TV Drama
Clare Danes, Homeland.

Best Actress In A TV Comedy/Musical
Laura Dern, Enlightened

Best Actress In A Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Best Supporting Actress In A TV Series, Miniseries Or Made-For-TV Movie
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story

Source: EmpireOnline

Another New Prometheus Still Online

2012-01-16T10:27:00.001Z

Another New Prometheus Still Online
Behold the Space Jockeys!

Source: LA Times

"Behold" is perhaps not quite the right word; maybe "squint at" would be more appropriate. This new teaser image of Ridley Scott's Prometheus, revealed in the LA Times, is dark enough that you'll need to crank up your screen's brightness if you want to pore over it in any detail (or see below). But behind Noomi Rapace in that Giger-ish corridor... Yup, those are definitely Space Jockeys!

We're still using Alien terminology here, of course. In about six months time we'll learn to call them something else, and we'll never refer to them as Space Jockeys again. In the meantime though, we still don't know much about them. But we did learn before Christmas that the trunk-faced visage is probably not their actual form.

"Who is that, inside that suit?," asked Ridley Scott, referring to Alien's giant calcified corpse. "That wasn’t a skeleton, that was a suit. And if you open up the suit, what do you get inside it?"

What indeed? Come to think of it, is there anything inside these particular examples, or are they empty? Why are they mounted on a plinth? The LA Times has no answers, but it does have some new words from screenwriter Damon Lindelof.

“The movie is definitely epic in its scope," he says. "One of the filmmakers that we ended up talking about to a fair degree of redundancy was David Lean. We wanted to make the movie feel big by having the characters be small in big spaces. That connected to the larger themes we were talking about: that we’re all just these little gnats crawling around on our little planet.”

Prometheus, starring Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba and Charlize Theron, is out in the UK on June 1.

Source: EmpireOnline

Is Sweet Valley High A Musical?

2012-01-16T10:25:00.001Z

Is Sweet Valley High A Musical?
Diablo Cody teases the possibility

Source: MTV

When Diablo Cody promised back in November that her in-the-works new Sweet Valley High movie would be "a feast for the senses", we didn't quite expect this. Speaking to MTV, Cody has teased that we might possibly expect her Francine Pascal-inspired opus to arrive as a musical.

"There’s original songs being written for it right now," she revealed, "which is the most exciting development. They’re amazing. They’re being written by these Tony and Pulitzer winning songwriters from Broadway who are the best!"

Asked if that actually meant SVH is going to be a musical, she grinned "Perhaps it is..."

Cody previously talked about her film being "to the '80s what American Graffiti was to the early '60s", which might in itself indicate the need for an extensive soundtrack. But George Lucas' nostalgia trip used wall-to-wall classic choons, whereas Cody's hints at all-new Broadway showstoppers now suggests something slightly different...

Whatever, we can certainly expect "glamorous and bubblegum". And perky twins, since the books were about Elizabeth (the goody two-shoes one) and Jessica (the reckless one) Wakefield, blonde twins with blue-green eyes and perfect size 6 figures (as we were reminded in every single book) and their trials and tribulations at high school.

Sweet Valley High is still officially "in development", so it's a while away yet. In the meantime, Cody's ~~death metal~~ crisis-of-faith drama Lamb Of God is in pre-production, and Young Adult, which she wrote for Jason Reitman, is out on February 10.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Screenwriter Gets Goosebumps

2012-01-16T10:24:00.000Z

New Screenwriter Gets Goosebumps
Darren Lemke in talks for kiddie horror

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

It's geting on for four years since Columbia picked up the rights to RL Stine's hoard of Goosebumps novels. A film has been slowly oozing through development ever since, and has now potentially scored a new screenwriter in Jack The Giant Killer's Darren Lemke.

A 1990s publishing phenomenon that's still going strong, Goosebumps is an enormous series of kids' horror novels by the prolific Stine (who, unusually for these things, is a real author and not a pseudonym for a franchise collective). Stine was America's best-selling author for three consecutive years, and was named best-selling kids author of all time in 2003 by the Guinness Book Of Records. He's since been surpassed by JK Rowling, even though she wrote only a piffling seven Harry Potters to Stine's hundred-plus junior spookfests.

Previous script drafts have been attempted by 1408's writers Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, and Carl Ellsworth, who wrote Disturbia, and the Last House On The Left remake. Ellsworth was working on an original story, rather than an adaptation of any of the books, so presumably the same applies to Lemke, who, if he comes aboard the project, will be starting from scratch. His credits aside from Jack include Shrek Forever After and the upcoming Dreamworks animation Turbo. Therefore, he's perhaps an indication that Columbia are going for someone with more kids' screenwriting experience than horror chops this time. Maybe the previous versions were too scary.

Neil Moritz, almost as prolific in film as Stine is in children's books, is producing what he hopes will be the start of a family franchise.

Source: EmpireOnline

How To Get 6 Packs Abs

2012-01-15T11:39:00.002Z

How To Get 6 Packs Abs

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New Coriolanus Clip

2012-01-12T12:02:00.001Z

New Coriolanus Clip
Ralph Fiennes vs. Gerard Butler: fight!

Source: Exclusive

What's better than a bit of cultural enrichment and Shakespearean adaptation in the morning? Why, a bit of cultural enrichment that also features violence between two large, scary men! And that's precisely what we have for you in this exclusive clip from Coriolanus, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes in the title role, and featuring Gerard Butler as his nemesis Aufidius.

As all you historians and literary types will know, Caius Martius, known as Coriolanus, was the great Roman general of the 5th century BC whose campaigns against the aforementioned Aufidius, leader of the Volscians who threaten Rome, have won him fame and power back home. But Coriolanus' pride and disdain for the people of Rome lead him into trouble, despite the best efforts of his influential mother (Vanessa Redgrave), devoted wife (Jessica Chastain) and Senator friend ( Brian Cox).

This scene takes place early in the film, with Caius Martius meeting Aufidius in the heat of battle in the city of Coriolanus. It's a clash of the titans!

Coriolanus hits cinemas on January 20. As you can see here, there will be blood.

Source: EmpireOnline

Friends With Kids Trailer Online

2012-01-12T12:01:00.000Z

Friends With Kids Trailer Online
Hamm, Wiig & co get comical

Source: Yahoo

Easygoing. Good-natured. Charming. It sounds like damning with faint praise, but we really are quite excited to see Friends With Kids, which features a heavy comic roster including John Hamm, Jennifer Westfeldt, Adam Scott, Kristen Wiig, Edward Burns, Maya Rudolph and some bloke called Chris O’Dowd. You can see the trailer below.

Written and directed by Westfeldt (still probably best known for writing and starring in ace rom-com Kissing Jessica Stein), Friends follows a group of pals who regularly meet up. Two of the group – Scott’s Jason and Westfeldt’s Julie – decide to have a child with one other, but without actually starting a relationship, since they figure that little ‘uns mess everything up when it comes to staying together. Everyone else, including couples Alex (The wonderful Chris O’Dowd, for it is he!) and Leslie (Rudolph) and Missy (Wiig) and Ben (Hamm) is convinced it can only end in tears.

They’re pleasantly surprised, then, when the arrangement seems to work for the new parents… At least until they start dating other people post-baby. Now, with Julie attracted to Kurt (Ed Burns) and Jason seeing Mary (Megan Fox), the tensions rise as the duo realise they might just have deeper feelings for each other than they originally suspected… At which point, we’re sort of hoping someone arrives with a megaphone and screams, “OF COURSE, YOU FOOLS!” But we doubt that will happen.

There’s no word on a release date for this one yet, but we’re sure with that talent list it’ll find a spot soon enough.

Source: EmpireOnline

Crudup Knows Life At These Speeds

2012-01-12T12:00:00.000Z

Crudup Knows Life At These Speeds
As does Douglas Booth

Source: Variety

It’s not every first-time feature film director who scores established thesp Billy Crudup and rising star Douglas Booth for their project, but then, not every debutant director is Leif Tilden, who has the benefit of Sam Rockwell executive producing his debut, Life At These Speeds.

Life, which writer Marc Novak has adapted from Jeremy Jackson’s novel, is the story of a teenager (Booth) whose life falls apart when his best friend dies in an accident. He becomes addicted to running (well, it’s better than crack) and channels his survivor’s guilt into the determination to become a world-class distance runner.

Crudup, who knows a thing or two about going like the clappers on screen after playing Steve Prefontaine in Without Limits, is on to play the young running fanatic’s coach and confidant.

While Crudup is well known from his appearances in the likes of Almost Famous, Public Enemies and Watchmen, Booth is more of a newcomer, with just a few roles, including miniseries The Pillars Of The Earth, under his belt. But he made more of an impact over Christmas this last year when he starred in the Beeb’s Great Expectations.

"Sometimes a script comes along that really makes you sit up and pay attention," Booth says in a statement picked up by Variety. "Life at These Speeds has an emotional intensity that really kicked me in the guts. I love the challenge of playing characters forced on life-changing emotional journeys. To work on a project with Billy Crudup and Sam Rockwell is just a dream come true." Not like he was going to complain, though, is it?

Oh, and obscure film fact alert! Tilden, who has been a location manager on sets for the likes of Eagle Eye and Never Die Alone, has one intriguing claim to fame: he was in one of the suits as Donatello in the first two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies in the early 1990s. All together now: T-U-R-T-L-E POWER!

Source: EmpireOnline

James Badge Dale Back On Lone Ranger?

2012-01-12T11:59:00.002Z

James Badge Dale Back On Lone Ranger?
Now the budget is sorted...

Source: Deadline

This is not exactly the biggest surprise, since he was linked to the role back before the film got shut down over budget worries, but James Badge Dale is now back in the frame to play Armie Hammer’s brother in The Lone Ranger.

If he signs on, Dale will be Dan Reid, a former Texas Ranger himself and something of a hero in the old West.

Ranger, adapted from the classic TV series, is set to gear up properly next month with Gore Verbinski in the director’s saddle, and sees Hammer as the titular hero and Johnny Depp as sidekick Tonto. The current cast includes Luther’s Ruth Wilson (playing Dale’s wife), Tom Wilkinson, Barry Pepper, Helena Bonham Carter and Dwight Yoakum.

Dale has made a name for himself on the small screen rather than the big one, with meaty roles in series such as The Pacific and Rubicon. But this year is shaping up to be the one that may see him break out in cinemas, between appearing in this month’s Shame alongside Michael Fassbender, having a key role in World War Z and completing work on Robert Zemeckis’ recently-wrapped return to live action, Flight.

Source: EmpireOnline

Isabelle Fuhrman On For After Earth

2012-01-12T11:59:00.001Z

Isabelle Fuhrman On For After Earth
She's joining the Will Smith pic

Source: Heat Vision Blog

She’s about to be seen in a relatively small role by a huge worldwide audience in The Hunger Games, but young actress Isabelle Fuhrman is now in negotiations for a bigger part in another hefty sci-fi film: she’s on track to feature in After Earth.

The film, which used to be called 1000 AE, sees Will Smith as a heroic sort in a future where our planet has become uninhabitable. He’s travelling with his son (played by real-life sprog Jaden in a blatant piece of typecasting) when the two crash-land on Earth. With his father injured, it’s up to the boy to prove his mettle and rescue them both.

Fuhrman is up for the role of Rayna, the younger Smith’s character’s best pal. If she locks in a deal, she’ll start shooting along with the rest of the cast (which already includes Sophie Okonedo and Zoe Kravitz) in Pennsylvania and Utah this coming March. M. Night Shyamalan is the man bringing it all to life. Perhaps this will be a comeback of sorts following The Last Airbender…

After Earth is currently targeting a June 7, 2013 release slot. But long before that, Fuhrman will be Clove in The Hunger Games, arriving March 23 this year. She also cropped up as the spooky girl adopted by Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard in Orphan.

Source: EmpireOnline

Disney Gearing Up Hovercar Again

2012-01-12T11:58:00.002Z

Disney Gearing Up Hovercar Again
Superman Returns' Dan Harris scripting

Source: Heat Vision Blog

The trend for turning to young adult novels as likely source material for the hungry development machine shows no sign of abating with Disney thrusting a version of Matthew Riley’s Hover Car Racer back into active development and hiring X2 / Superman Returns writer Dan Harris to craft the script.

Simply titled Hovercar, the film version will follow young hero Jason Chaser as he enters an international school that trains up drivers for futuristic hover car races. Good thing his surname wasn't Slowcoach, then…

It’s not the first time that the Mouse House has attempted to shove Riley’s book through the development process: it snapped up the rights back in 2004 and several writers, including David DiGilio, John Sayles and Blaise Hemingway have taken a whack at the script. Now the Disney team will be hoping Harris is the man to make it work with I Am Number Four co-writers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough on hand to oversee things as producers.

There’s no word on a director or any cast yet, but those will slot into place assuming the script is up to snuff…

Source: EmpireOnline

Rob Marshall Headed Into The Woods

2012-01-12T11:58:00.001Z

Rob Marshall Headed Into The Woods
Sondheim musical getting movie treatment

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

After a brief, critically mauled but financially successful side trip into blockbuster franchise territory with the last Pirates Of The Caribbean outing, Rob Marshall is looking to get back into more familiar waters with a possible new project. He's setting up a film version of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s classic musical Into The Woods.

Woods finds Sondheim being typically playful with form, character and storytelling, blending together several fairytale icons including Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood into the story of a baker desperate to have a family with his wife. And a little boy lost in the woods. And a giant. And a whole mess of happy endings undone and redone by the finale.

Marshall apparently hit upon the idea when slaving away in the post-production mines of Pirates, and decided to approach Lapine and then Jerry Bruckheimer and the Disney team about working on it.

“We talked about the meaning of it and how timely it is still, and about family – that’s always at the core of our lives,” he tells the Hollywood Reporter. “James said: ‘But I don’t want to put it in development for another 10 years.’” Marshall and Sondheim have a history: the former choreographer worked on A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and Company in the 1990s.

“He’s a genius when it comes to his score,” Marshall says. “But what’s so extraordinary is, he really understands all the elements of theatre – the choreography, the book and the production design – and has an amazing sense of the whole.”

Right now, Woods is at an early stage and it’ll jockey for position in Marshall’s professional affection with the remake of The Thin Man he’s been developing with Johnny Depp and Billy Ray.Still, with songs as funny as this one (one prince has been chasing Cinderella; the other romancing Rapunzel) surely it has a strong case to go next.

Source: EmpireOnline

Bekmambetov Adopts Lunar Boy

2012-01-12T11:57:00.000Z

Bekmambetov Adopts Lunar Boy
Adapting Stephen Tunney's novel

Source: Variety

On the lookout for his next project following Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Timur Bekmambetov has picked up the rights to One Hundred Percent Lunar Boy, the 2010 novel by Stephen Tunney.

The book is set two thousand years in the future, when Mankind has abandoned its terraforming project on the Moon, leaving it and its colonists to an uncertain fate. Hieronymous Rexaphin lives there, and has developed a condition that allows him to see the fourth primary colour, which somehow means he can also see the future of all time and matter. He has to wear goggles, because looking into his eyes kills people, which causes problems when he falls in love with Earth-girl Windows Falling On Sparrows. Cue an exciting adventure in which the pair must go on the run to avoid incarceration on the Dark Side Of The Moon...

So that's unusual.

If it helps, you might find some context in the knoweldge that Stephen Tunney also goes by the name of Dogbowl. He was a founder-member of art-rockers King Missile (he's on Take Stuff From Work, but sadly he'd left by the time of the infamous Detachable Penis), and his sole previous novel, 1993's Flan, is about the epnoymous hero on an odyssey across a blasted Bosch-like America, accompanied by his talking goldfish Ginger Kang Kang.

Quite what Bekmambetov plans to do with One Hundred Percent Lunar Boy is unclear. Variety describe the book as "a visually inventive world with a powerful coming-of-age story about a boy finding his place in the universe", which is horribly reductive, but might be a useful angle for Bekmambetov to take in trying to make the project palatable for a studio. Then we'd just have to hope that he took a suitably crazy line once shooting started. We're thinking Scott Pilgrim might be a kind of template. But then, Scott Pilgrim didn't do very well, box office-wise...

The man currently tasked with hammering the novel into screenplay shape is Edward Ricourt, who hasn't yet got a completed film under his belt, but whose Now You See Me is currently in production, directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Jesse Eisenberg and Morgan Freeman. He's also written the optioned screenplays Year 12 and How To Defeat Your Own Clone.

That last title, along with the fact that Now You See Me is about magicians who moonlight as bank robbers, suggests that he might be just the man for this job.

Source: EmpireOnline

Another New Film For Devil Inside Duo

2012-01-12T11:56:00.000Z

Another New Film For Devil Inside Duo
Untitled project joins The Vatican

Source: Shock Till You Drop

It's only three days since the announcement that William Brent Bell and Matthew Peterman, the team behind The Devil Inside, will shortly be heading to The Vatican for Warner Bros. But in addition to that, we're learning that Bell and Peterman have also set up another low budget horror with Sierra/Affinity. The words "hot", "striking" and "iron" spring to mind.

Currently untitled, and being referred to in-house as The Untitled Bell/Peterman Project, not much is known about it yet, other than that it's another micro-budget affair along the stylistic lines of The Devil Inside.

This time the handheld shaky-cams will be pointing at "another classic horror mythology" according to Shock. So with exorcists dispatched, and slashers dealt with previously (in Bell's awful 2006 Elizabeth-Bathory-videogame quickie Stay Alive), what does that leave? Vampires? Zombies? Wolf-men? Abba musical?

Shooting starts in Romania in April, so expect to see this before The Vatican. More details are expected to come to light through the European Film Market in Berlin in a few weeks time. The Devil Inside reaches the UK on March 2.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Woman In Black Poster Debuts

2012-01-11T11:52:00.002Z

New Woman In Black Poster Debuts
UK theatrical quad unveiled

Source: Exclusive

You might want to turn all the lights on and repaint your house a cheery shade of yellow, because The Woman In Black is approaching and it's going to be really creepy. Perhaps a spare teddy bear or comfy blanket might be a good idea too, judging by this poster.

As you'll all know by now, Daniel Radcliffe stars in this period piece as the young lawyer sent to sort out the estate of a recently deceased recluse. But once at Eel Marsh House, all sorts of unsettling things occur, and Radcliffe's Arthur Kripps becomes seriously wigged out.

The film also features Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer and Roger Allam, and it's all directed by James Watkins and screenwritten by Jane Goldman. Screw your courage to the sticking place and go see it when it opens on February 10.

Source: EmpireOnline

PM Demands More Mainstream Filmmaking

2012-01-11T11:52:00.001Z

PM Demands More Mainstream Filmmaking
David Cameron visits 007 studio

Source: BBC News

Now, we usually steer clear of politics on Empire's newsfeed. It's not because we don't care or carry opinions; more because we're planning our own Equilibrium style dictatorship and don't want to play our hand too early. David Cameron, by contrast, has made no bones about opinionating on British film industry prior to Lord Smith's review on the government's film policy.

Ahead of a visit to Pinewood Studios, the prime minister praised the British film industry for its "incalculable contribution to our culture", but tempered his words by claiming that British filmmakers need to be more ambitious and "aim higher".

"Our role, and that of the BFI, should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures that rival the quality and impact of the best international productions," said the man with Armageddon on his DVD shelf.

Cameron continued: "Just as the British Film Commission has played a crucial role in attracting the biggest and best international studios to produce their films here, so we must incentivise UK producers to chase new markets both here and overseas."

How this will translate into the BFI's distribution of lottery funds remains to be seen, but it's surely not good news for anyone hoping to make films like Tyrannosaur (£200k of lottery funding) or Hunger (£250k) in the years ahead.

Cameron has forgotten that nobody could have predicted big box-office hits like The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire, Ken Loach told BBC Breakfast. "This is a travesty. If everybody knew what would be successful before it was made, there would be no problem," said the veteran filmmaker.

"What you have to do is fund a lot of different, varied projects and then some will be successful, some will be original, some will be creative, and you will get a very vibrant industry."

Loach expressed a concern "that this review signally will fail to challenge" was "the ongoing monopoly of multiplexes where you get a very narrow range of films". Ken, we've got five words for you: The King's Speech 2: Speech Harder.

Source: EmpireOnline

Robert Rodat Re-Writing Thor 2

2012-01-11T11:51:00.002Z

Robert Rodat Re-Writing Thor 2
Saving Private Ryan scribe off to Asgard

Source: Deadline

Now that Thor 2 has finally found a director in Game Of Thrones workhorse Alan Taylor (who is busy stapling his trousers to the folding chair so he can’t be dumped off the project), it would appear that Marvel is bringing in a big gun to re-write the script, with Robert Rodat as the man for the job.

Rodat, of course, is probably still best known for scripting Saving Private Ryan and scoring an Oscar nomination for his work. But he also has credits on films such as Fly Away Home and The Patriot. More recently, he created and oversaw alien invasion TV drama Falling Skies.

While Don Payne, one of the original Thor writers, has already cranked out at least one draft, Marvel always ends up bringing in new writers to take a look, whether credited (as with Rodat) or just for some quiet polishing.

The sequel has a release date already set for over here, with the studio targeting November 15, 2013. It’ll kick off shooting later this year with Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman and, since he talked about it in this week’s web chat, Tom Hiddleston returning.

Source: EmpireOnline

Goodfellas TV Show Finds A Home

2012-01-11T11:51:00.001Z

Goodfellas TV Show Finds A Home
Mad Men network AMC developing it

Source: Deadline

Things have been awfully quiet since the first announcement, back in September 2010, of a Goodfellas TV adaptation in development. We began to suspect that it might have been fitted with a concrete overcoat and left to sink to the bottom of a convenient river. But good(fellas) news! The show has now been put into development by Mad Men/Breaking Bad cable network AMC.

Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the film based on his book Wiseguy, is officially confirmed aboard the show, planning to write the pilot with Homicide: Life On The Street veteran Jorge Zamacona.

There’s no word on exactly which part of Henry Hill’s saga the series would cover, but if it makes it to the air, there’s plenty of scope to tell the story of the Lucchese crime family from its early days in the 1960s to its fall.

And it’s not the only period drama that Pileggi has been working on: he’s also got Ralph Lamb cooking away, which tells the true story of a cowboy-turned-Las Vegas sheriff in the same era. That show has James Mangold attached to direct the pilot, so it remains to be seen whether Pileggi will end up splitting his time between two shows…

Source: EmpireOnline

Djinn Trailer Online

2012-01-11T11:49:00.001Z

Djinn Trailer Online
Tobe Hooper finds a genie

Source: YouTube (Via Film School Rejects)

Last March, it was announced that Poltergeist director Tobe Hooper would be returning to the haunted house genre, albeit with a distinctly different tone for Djinn. Now the trailer is online and can be watched below.

Djinn follows a young couple (Khalid Laith and Razane Jammal) who return home to the United Arab Emirates after a long trip to the US. They’ve arrived to live in their spiffy as it seems. You see, the structure was built on the site of an ~~old Indian burial ground~~ abandoned fishing village and the original inhabitants didn’t scarper because the fish supply dried up. Nope, the place is haunted by nasty genies known as the Djinn, who have decided to keep on causing trouble for the new tenants.

Rumours recently surfaced that the film could be in some trouble, specifically because of concerns from Abu Dhabi’s royal family. But production company Imagenation released a response assuring horror fans that all was well. There’s no release date set yet, but if it gets distribution, expect the movie some time this year.

Source: EmpireOnline

Ready For Jersey Boys: The Movie?

2012-01-11T11:48:00.000Z

Ready For Jersey Boys: The Movie?
John Logan's writing the script

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

With Mamma Mia already a bit hit on the big screen and fellow “jukebox” musical Rock Of Ages on the way this year, producer Graham King is looking to another successful stage brand for possible movie-fication, with John Logan hired to write a Jersey Boys script.

Boys follows the rise of The Four Seasons who, along with Fankie Valli, pumped out such hits as Walk Like A Man and Big Girls Don’t Cry. The show nabbed four Tony awards back in 2006 and has generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales, so you can forgive King for suspecting it might have some life in it.

Logan's been a busy man this year, writing Hugo for Martin Scorsese, working on the scripts for Coriolanus and Rango, and the latest James Bond outing Skyfall, which Sam Mendes is busy shooting right now. And he’s no stranger to the boards – his play Red snapped up six Tony awards in 2010.

Question is, are we all ready for yet another batch of old tunes whacked together into a story? We bet King and co will be watching carefully to see how Ages performs.

Source: EmpireOnline

Warners Set For The All-Nighter

2012-01-11T11:46:00.000Z

Warners Set For The All-Nighter
Mob hitman goes against his bosses

Source: Deadline

What is it with aging mob hit men suddenly having to turn against their employers and go on the run? It’s almost as if it’s built into their contracts. But that’s what happens in Brad Ingelsby’s new script The All-Nighter, which Warner Bros. has just bought for a hefty sum.

The All-Nighter focuses on a long-in-the-tooth mob assassin who, in one night (hence the title) is suddenly pitted against his boss. Needing to protect his family, he heads out on the lam and must save his son from both his organized crime colleagues and the authorities.

Ingelsby’s name is a familiar one as he became famous in 2008 for nabbing a deal for his first script, revenge thriller The Low Dweller. That has been through the hands of Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio and was last seen getting close to the screen as Out Of The Furnace with Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper giving it a script polish. There’s no word on casting just yet, though…

Source: EmpireOnline

Ethan Hawke Looks Sinister

2012-01-11T11:45:00.000Z

Ethan Hawke Looks Sinister
In two new stills from Derrickson horror

Source: Summit Entertainment

Back in July when we first reported on Scott Derrickson's new horror, details were sketchy. We knew Ethan Hawke was starring, but there were no plot details and no title forthcoming. Now though, Summit Entertainment are starting to fill in those gaps. The film is called Sinister, and with the first two stills comes some information about the storyline.

It's the old cynical-writer-meets-supernatural-mystery angle (think 1408, and plenty of others) with Hawke as a true-crime hack who moves into a house that was the site of an entire family's gruesome murder. He then finds a box of films of other murders stowed in his charming new crib, and finds his ongoing investigation leading into paranormal territory, and his own family in some serious danger.

Both pictures show Hawke frowning at evidence while sporting a very good cardigan. In the first, he peers at a crime sheet, and in the second, he's broken out the 8mm projector and is looking concerned about what he's watching. Well, that, or his 3D glasses are giving him a headache.

So maybe Sinister doesn't sound like anything particularly new, but it's always great to see Hawke, and there's further good news: the film also features Vincent D'Onofrio.

Director Derrickson cut his teeth on franchise sequels like Hellraiser: Inferno and Urban Legends: Final Cut, before branching out into The Exorcism Of Emily Rose andthe remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still. He's attached to possible future new versions of Poltergeist and The Birds, but he's also written a draft of Atom Egoyan's upcoming The Devil's Knot, based on the infamous case of the West Memphis Three.

Sinister is released in the UK on August 24.

Source: EmpireOnline

Saw Photographer Directing Crawl To Me

2012-01-11T11:44:00.000Z

Saw Photographer Directing Crawl To Me
Adapting Alan Robert's comic series

Source: Fangoria

Rock musicians infiltrating the horror industry is nothing new. Only recently, Guns'n'Roses' Slash announced himself as a film producer, and now Life Of Agony's Alan Robert is getting in on the action, via his other sideline as a comics writer. His Crawl To Me mini-series has been picked up for a movie adaptation, to be directed by Saw cinematographer David A. Armstrong.

The story involves a young family moving into their first home, an isolated country pile, during a frozen winter. They quickly discover that the house goes bump in the night. And sings. And talks. And makes their pets disappear. And they have to confront their own relationships and beliefs in order to take on the entity they've awoken.

Armstrong has a long history as a camera operator and cinematographer, and isn't new to horror, since he shot six of the seven Saws (and, er, Hellraiser: Revelations). Recently though, he's ascended to directing proper: he's at work on the hostage drama Pawn, with Forest Whittaker and Michael Chiklis, as we speak.

Robert is producing Crawl To Me with his cohorts Jeff Mazzola and MTV's Christopher White, who's involved with The ABCs Of Death. The trio are also planning a film of Robert's other comic, Wire Hangers, about bad lieutenants and corrupt officials on the streets of New York. Both series are published by IDW, who also do 30 Days Of Night and Locke And Key. Crawl To Me sold out its first print run in record time.

"Creating comics has been a life-long passion of mine and I’m extremely grateful to be given the chance to tell my crazy stories," Robert says. "To see them come to life on film is a whole other level of awesomeness!"

Source: EmpireOnline

Prepare For Star Wars: Underworld

2012-01-10T10:51:00.002Z

Prepare For Star Wars: Underworld
Live-action TV series gets a title

Source: IGN

It's been rumoured and developed and teased for years, and it's not any nearer actually going into production. But producer Rick McCallum has just confirmed to IGN that the live-action Star Wars TV series is still a going concern, and he even revealed the title. It's Star Wars: Underworld.

Now, that doesn't mean a crossover with the goth-vampire franchise, in which Kate Beckinsale squeezes into her PVC catsuit to join the Rebellion (as awesome as that might be). What it means is crime syndicates and gangsters... and maybe bounty hunters.

"The scripts take place between episodes III and IV," says McCallum. "It's that twenty-year period when Luke is growing up. It's not about Luke, but it's about that period when the Empire is really trying to take things forward. It's called Underworld - that's the working title - and it's underneath what's going on: the criminals and the gangs that are running everything. It's like Wall Street, and the criminals that are running the United States!"

Don't hold your breath though, since the budgetary concerns that have been holding things up for years, are still the main hymn on the song sheet.

"The prequels only cost $100m each, which in Hollywood is nothing," McCallum claims, "but this is really tough, because we're trying to put the same effects and technology from those two-hour films, into one-hour episodes, and do it every week for $5m an episode.

"We have fifty unbelievable scripts. Each episode is bigger than any of the prequels were, and they're complex and dark and adult. But right now, technologically, there's no way we can do them for that $5m: there's so much digital animation, because we have so many digital characters. So I think the idea is just that we hold off, wait and see if there are any major breakthroughs in the next year or two, and once we can come up with some virtual set software that allows us to travel anywhere, we'll revisit. We'll get there. I just hope I live long enough!"

Source: EmpireOnline

Garrett Hedlund Joins Llewyn Davis

2012-01-10T10:51:00.001Z

Garrett Hedlund Joins Llewyn Davis
In talks to turn out for the Coens

Source: Variety

He's not long completed his turn as Dean Moriarty in Walter Salles' On The Road, but it seems Garrett Hedlund can't get enough of that crazy beat culture. He's now in talks to join the Coen Brothers' enigmatic Inside Llewyn Davis.

The specific role under discussion is unclear, as is much about this project. But given that the film is something to do with the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s, we might surmise that Hedlund's musical chops, proven in Country Strong, make him a good fit. And he's got a reasonable-sized gap in his schedule now, what with Akira's tactical retreat.

Inside Llewyn Davis is apparently in some way loosely based around "mayor of McDougal Street" Dave Van Ronk, who was a coffee-shop mentor to musicians like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell. Joel Coen has said there will be plenty of music in the film, "pretty much all performed live, on a single instrument."

If Hedlund signs up, he'll be joining Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman and Jeanine Serralles. Shooting starts shortly.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: Tom Hiddleston Talks Thor 2

2012-01-10T01:15:00.001Z

Exclusive: Tom Hiddleston Talks Thor 2
Loki reveals details about the sequel

Source: Exclusive

The utterly charming Tom Hiddleston came into the office this afternoon for a War Horse webchat, but as well as talking matters equestrian, he also dropped a few details about the upcoming Thor sequel, provisionally called, um, Thor 2.

Notably, it must be said, when and where it will be shooting. Whether it'll feature a battered and bruised (but still unbowed) Loki or a peace-making-brother-to-Thor Loki remains to be seen, but here is the question and answer as it stands...

i-ship-that says: "Hi Tom. What can you tell us about Thor 2? Also, as much as I love The Avengers, I'm team Loki just for you. So where can I sign to join your army?"

"Last question first: I have no idea. And without revealing too much, there's a specific skill set you need to be in Loki's army - let me know if you have the qualifications. And all I know about Thor 2 is that we're supposed to film it in London in the summer and that it is being directed by Alan Taylor."

For those not in the know, Alan Taylor is the man only recently announced as a the sequel's director, is a somewhat controversial choice for the director's chair for some camps.

Having only previously worked on TV shows like The Sopranos, Lost, Deadwood, Game Of Thrones and The West Wing, he's relatively unknown amongst film fans... but with a CV like that, you can't help but be intrigued.

When he was asked about what kind of Loki we'll see in Thor 2, Mr. Hiddleston refused to spill too many beans:

"I don't want to spoil anything here. Loki's eternal predilection is to dance on the fault lines of villainy and redemption. I think whatever happens to him, he'll always keep people guessing."

Hmm. Just like yourself there, Tom, eh? Still, it's good to know Thor 2 is still going strong, and that it'll be shot over here in Blighty. Dead ringer for Asgard, England is.

For the full transcript of the webchat, full of plenty more Thor / Avengers / Thor 2 / Loki tidbits, check out the full transcript tomorrow morning.

And don't forget, dear Hiddlestonians, you can get your Tom Hiddleston fix by watching War Horse, which is out this Friday, January 13.

As for his other projects, well... Thor 2 is pencilled in for a 15 November 2013 release, The Avengers a far more concrete 27 April of this year.

Source: EmpireOnline

Cumberbatch Joins Star Trek Sequel

2012-01-05T11:13:00.002Z

Cumberbatch Joins Star Trek Sequel
Noel Clarke also aboard!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

The sneaky British infiltration of JJ Abrams’ revival of Star Trek’s cinematic fortunes continues apace! With Simon Pegg already entrenched as Scotty in the first film (Pegg just jetted to LA to begin work on the sequel), the next addition was Alice Eve, who signed on late last year. Now two of the UK’s brightest filmmaking talents are heading into space, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Noel Clarke announced as leaping aboard.

This being the Abrams/Damon Lindelof/Roberto Orci/Alex Kurtzman Trek universe, both actors' exact roles are being kept a secret for now. Variety was able to dig up, however, that Clarke is playing a family man with a wife and young daughter and The Hollywood Reporter has it that Cumberbatch will slip into the role of the villain that Benicio Del Toro was being courted for.

Cumberbatch has been pinging Hollywood's radar something rotten recently, between his superb work on the BBC's Sherlock and supporting roles in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and War Horse. He's already been snapped up for one evil role, agreeing to voice greedy dragon Smaug for Peter Jackson's Hobbit films.

Meanwhile, along with his directing/writing/acting duties in the likes of Adulthood and 4.3.2.1, Noel Clarke already has space (and time) travel experience thanks to his time spent as Mickey Smith in Doctor Who’s TARDIS. This time, we doubt he’ll be worried about being seen as the tin dog.

They are the newest additions to the cast, which already boasts Peter Weller as a villain and the returning regular crew complement, including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana and Pegg.

Currently known only as Star Trek 2, the film starts shooting shortly and will be out in the US on May 17, 2013.

Source: EmpireOnline

Thomas Newman Scoring Skyfall?

2012-01-05T11:13:00.001Z

Thomas Newman Scoring Skyfall?
No David Arnold this time...

Source: MI-6

While there has been no official word from the Bond camp just yet, it would seem that Sam Mendes is truly looking to put his own stamp on the 007 franchise and Skyfall, with news site MI-6 reporting (via The Playlist) that he's hiring regular collaborator Thomas Newman to take over scoring duties from current composer David Arnold.

Arnold has been in charge of the Bond musical sound since he was recommended to Tomorrow Never Dies director Roger Spottiswoode by 007 legend John Barry. Since then, he’s worked for every director up to Quantum Of Solace’s Marc Forster. He’s been credited with helping to modernise the franchise, bringing a trademark blend of orchestration and propulsive synthesised work.

While it’s surprising that Mendes would have brought someone new in given the producers’ control of most Bond elements, it’s not tough to see why Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli would have given him the okay to hire Newman. The composer has worked on all of Mendes’ movies bar Away We Go and he’s a veteran of everything from Pixar (Finding Nemo and Wall-E) to Soderbergh, and a wide variety of others, including The Shawshank Redemption and last year’s The Help.

If this pans out, colour us intrigued to see what he can bring to Bond and co. With Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw all in the cast, Skyfall is shooting right now and will be out on October 26.

Source: EmpireOnline

Natalie Portman May Ascend To Jupiter

2012-01-05T11:11:00.003Z

Natalie Portman May Ascend To Jupiter
For the Wachowskis

Source: LA Times

Natalie Portman’s been enjoying some well-earned respite of late, taking the time to cradle and coo at her baby. Yes, that Oscar’s getting plenty of attention. Oh, and the son she had in June probably crosses her mind occasionally too. But now it appears she might be getting ready to leap back into work, with the Wachowskis tempting her to star in Jupiter Ascending.

You may recall that, back in October, word began to spread that Lana and Andy Wachowski were starting to set up the secretive sci-fi project at Warner Bros. There’s still very little real info about the project, but now the LA Times reports that the writing/directing duo is trying to get their old V For Vendetta collaborator to briefly leave the world of nappies and teething behind and step aboard the film.

Portman is said to be interested, but of course it’s all at an early stage, so we’ll treat this one as a rumour until we have reason to do otherwise.

The Wachowskis are currently busy alongside co-director Tom Tykwer putting ambitious, multi-story novel adaptation Cloud Atlas through pre-production, so there likely won’t be lots of forward motion on Jupiter until the Atlas beast has been slain.

As for the actress, she also her sights on another project – putting together a documentary about Veganism based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals. Plus, there’s the small matter of Thor 2, which recently seemed to have locked in a director…

Source: EmpireOnline

Mark Pavia Directing New King Anthology

2012-01-05T11:11:00.001Z

Mark Pavia Directing New King Anthology
Night Flier director returns to Maine
Source: Icons of Fright

It's 25 years since Creepshow 2 drew a line under a brief run of Stephen King portmanteau movies (which also included Creepshow and Cat's Eye; there was a Creepshow 3 in 2006, but King wasn't involved). A new anthology of movie-ised King short stories is now on the way though, courtesy of writer/director Mark Pavia.

Pavia has King previous, having directed The Night Flier, starring Miguel Ferrer, back in 1995. Since then he's been battling through development hell on any number of projects: for a time he was attached to the remakes both of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn Of The Dead, and he wrote an early treatment of Clive Barker's The Midnight Meat Train.

He also collaborated with King on a Night Flier sequel in 2005, but while the film never happened, the experience was clearly a happy one, leading to this new project, which has King's involvement.

"Steve agreed to the film right away," Pavia told Icons Of Fright. "He chose two stories and I chose two, and the selection is a perfect mixture of classic and contemporary King: a little bit of something for his oldest and newest fans alike. It will be a true representation of his different personas, from the horror showman at his pulpiest, to his most introverted and introspective character pieces. From the outset I had just one criteria: all the stories chosen had to be incredibly frightening and also have a supernatural bent, and he agreed with me. This is a go-for-the-gut horror show, make no mistake about that. I'm going to give all Stephen King fans the film they want and deserve." Reports that he ever told King he was his number one fan and then broke his ankles with a hammer are unsubstantiated.

There are no official studio or distribution deals set up yet, and no title for the film. Nor have the four stories yet been revealed, but Pavia did update his Facepage over New Year to say that he was "writing about churning storm clouds, Derry, Maine and the Grim Reaper." That might indicate a version of the 1969 haunted-mirror story The Reaper's Image, which is in King's Skeleton Crew collection.

"My New Year's resolution: to scare the living crap out of each and every one of you," Pavia says. "You've been warned..."

Source: EmpireOnline

Collins In Talks For Evil Dead Remake

2012-01-05T11:10:00.000Z

Collins In Talks For Evil Dead Remake
She's the new Ash. Sort of...

Source: Bloody Disgusting

Like a demon tearing through a forest, the remake of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead has suddenly picked up pace in the last few months and is now racing to our screens. And according to the gang at Bloody Disgusting, one of the main elements could soon be in place, with Lily Collins in final talks to play Mia, the leading lady.

While we doubt Collins will be channelling Bruce Campbell’s style, it sounds like Mia is the new Ash in the story, one of a group of friends who head to a remote cabin where they unleash evil forces from the Book of the Dead. One by one, they’re possessed...

This time around, there’s also a subplot that finds Mia on the trip to detox after a battle with drugs - which factors into people not believing her when she tries to get some outside help.

With Raimi’s Ghost House team overseeing things, Fede Alvarez is directing the new movie, working from a script he wrote with Rodo Sayagues, which has also been through the polishing hands of Diablo Cody.

The film is looking to start shooting this March in New Zealand. Collins, meanwhile, we be seen this year in Tarsem Singh’s take on the Snow White story Mirror Mirror. That one will arrive on March 16.

Source: EmpireOnline

Kimberley Peirce To Direct Carrie Redo?

2012-01-05T11:09:00.002Z

Kimberley Peirce To Direct Carrie Redo?
Bloody high-school hell again...

Source: Deadline

Though few are convinced that the world needs another film take on Stephen King’s telekinetic horror Carrie, word that Screen Gems and MGM are planning to go in a slightly different, more grounded direction at least gives us confidence that the companies have a solid idea. Now comes word that Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Peirce is in talks to take the helm.

Peirce’s presence would certainly give credence to the idea that this is a more realistic, book-centric version eschewing some of the more OTT elements of Brian De Palma’s 1976 film (which, admittedly, is still a great chunk of pulpy horror movie making).

Peirce (who also made the little-seen Iraq war drama Stop-Loss) has a handle on troubled characters, so the tale of a mercilessly bullied high schooler who exacts some fiery revenge on taunting classmates and her psychotically religious mother should be well in her wheelhouse. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who is credited with the re-writes currently helping stage musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark switch from laughing stock to nice little earner, is behind the script.

If Peirce signs, her biggest challenge will be finding someone who can tackle the lead with the sensitivity of Sissy Spacek, who became an icon in the blood-splattered role.

Source: EmpireOnline

Rudd Finds Freezing People Is Easy

2012-01-05T11:09:00.001Z

Rudd Finds Freezing People Is Easy
Kristen Wiig's in talks

Source: Deadline

Are you fascinated by the idea of freezing yourself after death so you can be awoken in years to come to see what the world is like? Do you hanker for some bored cryogenics facility worker to spout “Welcome to the WORLD OF TOMORROW!” as you pick the icicles off your nose and gulp mugs of hot chocolate made from cocoa beans harvested in orbit? Then you might be intrigued by comedy drama Freezing People Is Easy, which has Paul Rudd iced into its lead role, with Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson and Christopher Walken all in talks.

The movie’s based-on-truth plot was inspired jointly by memoir We Froze The First Man and an episode of ace US radio series This American Life, which both look at Bob Nelson, a 1960s television repairman who decided to push the boundaries of cryogenics by roping in those who wanted to be frozen post mortem. He soon learned it’s not as easy as he thought it would be…

Rudd’s pretty much locked in, as he’s been attached to the film for ages now. But director Errol Morris (switching tracks from his usual documentary filmmaking work) is looking to get the rest of the cast in place to work from Zach Helm’s script.

Wiig has a host of offers to consider post-Bridesmaids, so she might not end up joining the cast, but Wilson and Walken should be set before long. Morris wants to shoot later this year.

Source: EmpireOnline

Ready For Horrible Bosses 2?

2012-01-05T11:08:00.000Z

Ready For Horrible Bosses 2?
New Line has hired the writers

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Horrible Bosses might not have been a critical favourite last year, but it certainly caught on with audiences, earning a surprising $209 million worldwide. So what are the probably not-so-horrible bosses at New Line doing now? Looking to make a sequel, of course!

The first step down that road has been taken, with the executives locking in Bosses writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to start kicking around ideas for a follow-up to the story of three workers planning to kill their awful supervisors. And the studio types will also be digging into the coffers for enough cash to tempt stars Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day back to the lead roles.

Also likely to return is director Seth Gordon, who brought the original in for around $35 million and is seen as a key part of the film’s success.

Daley (who is a regular on US forensic TV show Bones) and Goldstein, a telly writing stalwart, have been in demand recently. In addition to Bosses, they’ve also worked on Steve Carell comedy Burt Wonderstone and have been cranking out a sequel to ‘toon hit Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

The big question for any Bosses sequel is where the plot will go this time, especially since the stories of antagonistic monsters Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey and, particularly Colin Farrell wrapped up pretty neatly in the original. Perhaps they could switch the focus and have Sudeikis, Bateman and Day as the dreadful employers this time, trying to stop new workers offing them?

Source: EmpireOnline

Universal Eager For Bridesmaids Sequel

2012-01-05T11:07:00.000Z

Universal Eager For Bridesmaids Sequel
But Kristen Wiig's not so sure...

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

With Bridesmaids sitting comfortably on the throne as the most successful comedy of 2011, talk of a sequel began almost as soon as the cash started rolling in. But things have not been quite as swift as you’d expect, which is leading to speculation that any follow-up might have to do without the original film’s co-writers Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, who also co-starred.

Why the hitch? The writers are, understandably, ready to break new ground and don’t want to simply churn out another outing for the main characters played by Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper. “We aren't working on that," Wiig, who co-wrote the film with Annie Mumolo, tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Annie and I aren't planning a sequel. We are writing something else."

The Reporter has also sourced word that some of the cast were less than pleased with the bonuses they received once the movie got into heavy money territory.

Now, despite Universal boss Ron Meyer trying to woo Wiig back to work on a sequel, it looks like the studio may have to go ahead without her. “We are over the moon with the success of Bridesmaids, and if we do a sequel we want to get it right," a Universal rep says. "We are talking to filmmakers now about concepts, and if the right one emerges, we'll move forward." There’s no word yet on whether that list of filmmakers includes director Paul Feig.

Theoretically, there’s always the chance any new film could spin off one of the characters – after all, McCarthy’s Megan was one of the breakout elements.

Whatever happens, you can be fairly sure something sequel-wise will eventually toddle along. Even Judd Apatow seems to think it’ll happen: "The key is we have to come up with an idea that is as good or better than the first one," he says in a statement. "We don't want to do it unless it can be great. I don't think anyone has had the brain space to think about it yet. Hopefully that can begin this  year." Doubt he’d go forward without at least getting Wiig and Mumolo’s blessing, though…

Source: EmpireOnline

Amanda Seyfried Offered Les Mis' Cosette

2012-01-04T19:54:00.001Z

Amanda Seyfried Offered Les Mis' Cosette
And Taylor Swift could be Eponine

Source: Twitch

With the clock ticking down ever faster to the planned release date of his ambitious movie musical version of Les Miserables, director Tom Hooper is looking to finish up filling the remaining key parts for the film. And now comes word from Twitch that Amanda Seyfried and singer Taylor Swift have been offered the roles of Cosette and Eponine.

Cosette, of course, is one of the major roles in the plot. The grown daughter of Fantine (Anne Hathaway), she’s the girl that Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) rescues and adopts. She also ends up in a love triangle with driven student Marius (Eddie Redmayne) and Eponine (Swift, assuming she signs).

Neither performer is in, never mind completing, formal negotiations yet, but they’re certainly interesting choices. Swift is well established in the music business but has rarely acted; her only true film credit is small role among the ensemble of Valentine’s Day. Seyfried, meanwhile, has a well established acting CV but Hooper might also be looking to tap another of her skills: her opera training.

Yes, rumours have been flying that the director is aiming to have his cast sing their musical numbers live instead of mouthing along to pre-recorded material. We’ll see if that pans out.

With Russell Crowe also in the cast as determined lawman Javert (who hunts Valjean through the years chronicled in the film), Hooper is looking to kick off shooting in February.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Hunger Games Pics Online

2012-01-04T19:53:00.000Z

New Hunger Games Pics Online
Harrelson and more in fresh imagery

Source: Movieweb

One of the biggest films looking to prove it can spawn a Potter/Twilight-style franchise this year is novel trilogy adaptation The Hunger Games. And though the initial film’s profile couldn’t be much higher if it rented a helicopter and dangled from the cockpit holding a banner, Lionsgate is intent that we not forget it’s on the way. To that end, the studio has rounded up a collection of new and previously seen imagery from the movie and shoved it out on to the web. Check out the set below.

There can’t be many people left by now who don’t know Gary Ross has been busy adapting the film from Suzanne Collins’ first book. The story finds a shattered future America (or Panem, as it’s known) split into districts run by a cruel central government. In order to keep any rebellious types from causing trouble, two young “tributes” from each district are dispatched each year to rich city Capitol to compete to the death in gladiatorial games. Our heroine is Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who steps in to take her younger sister’s place and finds herself fighting for her life.

One or two of the newly released pics have been out in the likes of Entertainment Weekly, but there are some unseen goodies here, including a good look at Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch Abernathy, a former winner of the games who helps train Katniss. He’s hanging out with dresser Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) and Katniss' fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).

The Hunger Games will finally hit our screens on March 23.

Source: EmpireOnline

Brad Anderson Opens The Hive

2012-01-04T19:52:00.000Z

Brad Anderson Opens The Hive
He's taking over the thriller

Source: Variety

Joel Schumacher doesn’t seem to be having an easy time of it right now. His latest thriller, Nic Cage/Nicole Kidman thriller Trespass arrived with a wet splat at before shuffling off to VOD, and previous drama Twelve was critically savaged. So while he’d been looking to get back into the swing of things with psychological drama The Hive, he’s now jumped ship, leaving the way clear for The Machinist’s Brad Anderson.

Despite the title, The Hive features no insects. It’s the tale of a 911 emergency call centre worker who fields a desperate plea from a young girl. She’s under threat from a killer... And the phone jockey suddenly realises that the danger echoes an incident from her own past. So she risks her life to try to stop the serial killer from striking again. Oh noes!

Halle Berry had been in talks to star, but dropped out due to scheduling issues. But with Anderson aboard, the film should attract one of the other (as yet unnamed) actresses who have been flirting with the role.

"I'm extremely excited about working with Troika Pictures on The Hive,” Anderson says in a statement picked up by Variety. "This script has two elements I always look for in a thriller: strong, believable female characters and a smart, very dark and very creepy story that will definitely resonate with large audiences."

He’s aiming to kick off shooting in the spring.

Source: EmpireOnline

Adam Goldberg Joins Inferno

2012-01-04T19:51:00.000Z

Adam Goldberg Joins Inferno
Alongside Sasha Grey & Harold Perrineau

Source: Variety

The ongoing battle of the Lovelace biopics has obviously entered its next phase: co-star casting. Yesterday, we brought word of the Amanda Seyfried-starring Lovelace grabbing a few actors and now competing project Inferno (featuring Malin Akerman as Linda) is firing back, roping in Adam Goldberg, Harold Perrineau and Sasha Grey.

Goldman will play Harry Reems, the porn star who worked with Lovelace (then Linda Boreman) on the infamous Deep Throat film that rocketed her to skin flick superstardom, which she briefly embraced before renouncing her former career and writing memoir Ordeal about her tribulations.

Perrineau, meanwhile, is on as Sammy Davis Jr, who was Lovelace’s lover for a while. Grey’s role is not specified, but after switching from her own porn world to mainstream acting with Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, Grey will no doubt serve as a key consultant on any raunchier material.

Matthew Wilder is at the helm of this one, which will focus more on Lovelace’s troubles, with her book Ordeal as its source material. Matt Dillon is already also aboard as Chuck Traynor, who originally spotted Boreman and cast her in Deep Throat. The pair also married, though their relationship was tumultuous at best.

Wilder aims to kick off shooting next month, and then the race will be on to see who can bring their Lovelace story out first.

Source: EmpireOnline

Arquette Will Be Jeff Buckley's Mother

2012-01-04T19:50:00.000Z

Arquette Will Be Jeff Buckley's Mother
Patricia's in Jake Scott's biopic

Source: Variety

Director Jake Scott has already found the man he wants to play Jeff Buckley in a new biopic of the tragic cult folk star: The Tempest’s Reeve Carney. And now he’s slowly building the ensemble around that actor-shaped focal point, with Patricia Arquette in the small yet pivotal role of Mary Guibert, Buckley’s mother.

The film, which according to whatever source you believe is either untitled or called Mystery White Boy, will follow Buckley’s life and cruelly short career from his early musical days and his mother’s encouragement to his tragic death at 30 in 1997.

Scott has the advantage over fellow Buckley biopic-makers (competing project Greetings From Tim Buckley has Penn Badgley up as Jeff), as he’s not only got the blessing of the real Mary Guibert, but also access to Buckley Jr’s music and personal archives, including key permission to use the now legendary version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Arquette’s presence will mark her second time working with a Scott after appearing in 1993 True Romance for Jake’s Uncle Tony.

Working from a script by Ryan Jaffe, Scott is looking to start filming this spring in New York.

Source: EmpireOnline