Steven Spielberg will screen his Oscar contender in the U.S. Senate. Also in Thursday’s round-up of news, Casey Affleck is eyeing a crime thriller; Tron is making another return; records were released surrounding TDKR Colorado shooter James Holmes; and Glenn Beck & Vince Vaughn are developing a documentary filmmaker competition.
Lincoln Invited to Screen U.S. Senate
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has invited Steven Spielberg to screen Lincoln in the Senate chamber later this month. The film screened by invitation of President Obama at the White House on November 15th, Deadline reports.
Casey Affleck Eyes Boston Strangler Pic
Affleck hopes to star in the thriller about the desperate search to find the mass murderer who gripped Boston in fear in the early ’60s. Warner Bros. picked up the thriller, Deadline reports.
New Tron Back in Development
A Tron 3 sequel to 2010 reboot Tron: Legacy is back on track. Plot details are being kept secret, but Joseph Kosiniski, who directed Legacy is attached to direct the new pic, THR reports.
TDKR Shooter’s Records Released as Theater Is Set to Re-open
The documents reveal a romantic relationship accused killer James Holmes had and one of his professors feared for her students’ safety. The theater where the shooting occurred is set to reopen January 17th during a ceremony that will be attended by Colorado’s governor, THR reports.
Glenn Beck and Vince Vaughn Teaming for Documentary Filmmaker Competition Show
The conservative personality is working to start a reality show called Pursuit of the Truth with Vince Vaughn in which 20 documentarians will compete for financing and distribution of their films and is accepting “filmmakers of all walks of life,” Indiewire reports.
The odds of Matt Damon returning to the big screen as Jason Bourne are looking longer than ever judging from a conversation I had with the actor on Tuesday night. Damon, who’s still sporting a shaved head for his work on the sci-fi thriller Elysium, was part of the starry crowd that turned out for a special private screening of Argo, which was beautifully directed by his bud and Good Will Hunting co-writer Ben Affleck. During a dinner at the Porter House steakhouse in the Time Warner Center, I asked Damon if there had been any movement on reports that he could reprise his role after Jeremy Renner’s portrayal of Aaron Cross in The Bourne Legacy, another agent in the Robert Ludlum-created universe, this past summer.
“There has not been any movement,” Damon told me, explaining that though “I’ve always been open to it as long as Paul Greengrass directs, I don’t think he’s going to do it.” Damon laughed when he said this, as if, perhaps, he was downplaying how Greengrass really felt about The Bourne Legacy, or perhaps because he had his own falling-out with Gilroy — who has been a writer on every Bourne film and directed Legacy — over the script to the third movie, The Bourne Ultimatum.
Asked why Greengrass was loathe to return to the franchise, Damon said that although he hadn’t seen Legacy yet, ”from what I understand, it kind of relives [The Bourne Ultimatum] from a different perspective.” (Legacy is meant to take place concurrently with the events of the third movie, and Jason Bourne is referenced.)
“What that means, because they use our actors and characters, is that whatever they…
Full Story »Tony Gilroy’s tumultuous history with the Jason Bourne franchise is, as he calls it, “well-documented.” But after penning or co-scripting the first three Matt Damon-starring spy pics in the series — navigating a maelstrom of widely reported behind the scenes beefs, including Damon’s snipe last year at Gilroy’s Bourne Ultimatum script — the writer-director was lured back to this weekend’s The Bourne Legacy by the opportunity to create a new secret agent (Jeremy Renner) to build insidious political conspiracies and impossible action sequences and existential questions around. “In a strange way,” he tells Movieline, “I felt more of a personal connection with this character than I ever felt with Jason Bourne.”
Prior to Gilroy coming aboard The Bourne Legacy, which introduces Renner’s highly-skilled agent Aaron Cross as Jason Bourne’s gentler, funnier, and more genetically-modified contemporary (Chems! He needs chems!), Universal and author Robert Ludlum’s estate were in a bind to find a new, fresh way to continue the lucrative spy franchise. Gilroy, who had left the series behind to helm his own Michael Clayton and Duplicity — and up to that point, he admits, had never even seen the Paul Greengrass-directed The Bourne Ultimatum — took a polite coffee meeting, which turned into a few weeks’ worth of scripting help, which in turn rekindled his interest in the property so much so he signed on to direct.
The result is a Bourne “sidequel” that runs parallel to the events of Ultimatum but follows new hero Renner as he and Rachel Weisz’s comely, brainy scientist Dr. Marta Shearing evade a government burn-down of their top secret Outcome program. The action takes the pair from the labs to the woods of Maryland to the streets of Manila, through an assortment of set pieces…
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Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, filmmaker Michael Cimino is set to receive Venice Film Festival honors. Heather Graham will return to The Hangover, while Yancy Butler heads back to one of her former characters. And an Ohio man faces charges for brining a cache of weapons into a theater during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises.
Michael Cimino to Receive Venice Honors
The American writer/director/producer will be feted with the Venice Film Festival’s Persol 2012 Award, which recognizes a “legend of international filmmaking.” He will be presented with the award at a ceremony August 30th, followed by a screening of Cimino’s 1980 film, Heaven’s Gate.
Around the ‘net…
Willy Wonka Director Mel Stuart Dies at 83
His family said Mr. Stuart died at his Beverly Hills home after battling cancer. He began his career mainly directing documentaries. the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was Stuart’s second feature film. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1965 for his documentary, Four Days in November, about the assassination of John F Kennedy, BBC reports.
Bourne Legacy Poised to Seize U.S. Box Office
The Jeremy Renner starter is trending toward a $35 million weekend opening, enough to eclipse The Dark Knight Rises and outpace two other wide-release openers, Hope Springs and The Campaign, Reuters and The Wrap report.
Heather Graham Heads Back to The Hangover
Graham will return to her role as the stripper named Jade in The Hangover III from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. The pic will shoot this fall and brings back Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms – plus brings back Ken Jeong. Graham was absent from the franchise’s second installment, THR reports.…
Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, filmmaker Michael Cimino is set to receive Venice Film Festival honors. Heather Graham will return to The Hangover, while Yancy Butler heads back to one of her former characters. And an Ohio man faces charges for brining a cache of weapons into a theater during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises.
Michael Cimino to Receive Venice Honors
The American writer/director/producer will be feted with the Venice Film Festival’s Persol 2012 Award, which recognizes a “legend of international filmmaking.” He will be presented with the award at a ceremony August 30th, followed by a screening of Cimino’s 1980 film, Heaven’s Gate.
Around the ‘net…
Willy Wonka Director Mel Stuart Dies at 83
His family said Mr. Stuart died at his Beverly Hills home after battling cancer. He began his career mainly directing documentaries. the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was Stuart’s second feature film. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1965 for his documentary, Four Days in November, about the assassination of John F Kennedy, BBC reports.
Bourne Legacy Poised to Seize U.S. Box Office
The Jeremy Renner starter is trending toward a $35 million weekend opening, enough to eclipse The Dark Knight Rises and outpace two other wide-release openers, Hope Springs and The Campaign, Reuters and The Wrap report.
Heather Graham Heads Back to The Hangover
Graham will return to her role as the stripper named Jade in The Hangover III from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. The pic will shoot this fall and brings back Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms – plus brings back Ken Jeong. Graham was absent from the franchise’s second installment, THR reports.…
The first trailer for the Tony Gilroy-helmed spy sequel The Bourne Legacy has arrived, and it’s got everything you want: Bone-crunching action, fire extinguisher guns, Rachel Weisz as a hot lady doctor, and Jeremy Renner banging around doing his sensitive-strong mooney-eyed thing (and leaping out of rivers half-naked) as secret agent Aaron Cross. Okay, those are all the things I want from The Bourne Legacy, but the trailer gives us one more essential bit: Explanation as to how and why Renner’s been retconned into Bourne lore at all.
Renner’s turn at the Bourne wheel isn’t a conventional sequel or reboot but a universe-expanding parallel storyline that seems to take place simultaneous to the events of the previous Bournes, with Matt Damon’s face popping up here and there — via photograph, a la Natalie Portman in The Avengers, or Robin Harris in House Party 2 — as the fugitive spy who upturned the Treadstone apple cart and set the spy world a’scramblin way back in 2002’s The Bourne Identity.
So Renner’s Aaron Cross — and the comely agency doctor (Weisz) who patches him up between missions, then goes on the run with him — are freed from the singular mission that Jason Bourne was on. They can flee for their own lives, together. He can use his medically-enhanced super soldier skills to leap from buildings into tight alleyways when she calls his name. So romantic!
And, also importantly, Renner’s Cross already seems like a much different man-spy than Bourne was. Damon played the tortured amnesiac thing well, but Cross doesn’t seem to be flailing about in some existential crisis; he knows what he is. That confident self-possession is magnetic. HE JUST WANTS TO LIVE, DAMMIT!
At least, that’s…
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The long-gestating live-action adaptation of the popular manga and anime tale Akira has been resuscitated at Warner Bros. months after Albert Hughes dropped out of the director’s chair. Is this good news for diehard fans of Katsuhiro Otomo’s cyberpunk saga? What if the front runner to play Kaneda is Tron: Legacy’s Garrett Hedlund?
Variety has the scoop on how Akira bounced back to life; it will reportedly begin filming in the spring under Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra:
…it came down to a meeting between creative and studio execs last week to discuss the new budget — and by the looks of things, they were happy with what they saw (the project had originally been over $100 million, but at one point was brought down to something closer to $90 large). Another piece of news to come out of those meetings: one of the first actors expected to receive an offer for one of the male leads is Tron: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund.
Hedlund was one of a number of young actors rumored to be on the shortlist for the Akira lead months ago, and the production is expected to make a formal offer now that they’ve got the green light.
Does Hedlund look anything like the famous anime/manga character? Well no, for obvious reasons. WB’s going with “colorblind” casting here (more on that potential storm of controversy when the cast is confirmed), but you know what? If it’s Hedlund — who’s sedately action hero-ish in Tron: Legacy but downright irresistible in Country Strong, and if you’ve seen it, you know what I mean — I’m totally okay with it.
Full Story »Thelma and Louise. Seven. Fight Club. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The Tree of Life. To say nothing of this week’s superb Moneyball. With a few arguable exceptions, these are among the Brad Pitt films you’ll find generally accepted as canonical. So which, if he had to choose one, do you think he would hand down as his legacy? Hint: None of them.
It’s actually kind of obvious once you hear it. Anyway, think hard, take a guess and check out his video conversation with Moneyball co-star Jonah Hill for the answer. Weigh in below with your score and/or your own favorite Pitt effort. (ADVISORY: Bonus points for anyone who can defend Meet Joe Black.)
[via Moviefone]
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