The Playlist

Diane Lane "Tremendously Excited" To Be Working With Michael Shannon In 'Man Of Steel'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 13, 2011 2:33 AM
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5 Comments

EXCLUSIVE: Film nerds and comic geeks came together for a brief shining moment earlier this week when it was announced that celebrated character actor Michael Shannon ("Boardwalk Empire," "Revolutionary Road," "Shotgun Stories") had landed the juicy role of General Zod in Zack Snyder's Superman film "Man Of Steel." It's a nervy bit of casting, one that Shannon himself revealed the studio wasn't hot on initially, insisting that he at least do a cursory screen test opposite Henry Cavill. But Shannon impressed and Snyder got his way, and one of the actor's fellow castmates is certainly glad to have him along for the ride as well.

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'Battlestar Galactica' Veteran Mark Verheiden To Co-Write & Exec Produce 'Dark Tower' TV Series

By Oliver Lyttelton
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April 13, 2011 1:48 AM
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1 Comment

Considering the lack of adventurous spirit shown across his entire directing career to date, it's still kind of staggering to think about the ambition of Ron Howard's next project. An adaptation of the seven books in Stephen King's dense, meta-textual, sometimes-just-plain-weird "The Dark Tower" series, planned to stretch across three films and two separate TV series, mostly using the same cast, it's truly something of a scope that's never really been attempted before. And somehow, despite our gut telling us that Howard would find it tricky to land an A-lister considering the scope of the project, he looks to have signed up the much-in-demand Oscar-winner Javier Bardem as the gunslinging hero of the series. Not too shabby so far, then.

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Michael Mann Hopes To Spin 'Gold' With 'Treasure Of The Sierra Madre'-Esque Tale By Paul Haggis

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 13, 2011 1:32 AM
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7 Comments

It has been a couple of years since Michael Mann's period gangster pic "Public Enemies" which, depending on who you ask, was either an underrated gem or (in this writer's opinion) a moody misfire. That's not to say Mann hasn't been busy. He's got the HBO horse racing drama led by Dustin Hoffman coming around the track and he's got more than a couple options for his next feature including the medieval tale "Agincourt" and another gangster pic in "Big Tuna" which "Up In The Air" writer Sheldon Turner was brought on to write last fall. In addition he's got the war photog biopic on Robert Capa in the works, and now, Mann has added another pic to his growing plate.

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Oscar Winning 'Milk' Scribe Dustin Lance Black To Adapt Green Day Musical 'American Idiot'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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April 13, 2011 1:20 AM
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1 Comment

The Broadway hit is no longer the dead cert for a transfer to a big-screen that it once was, but as ever, if studio executives see the queues forming on the Great White Way, they smell the kind of built-in audience that makes their lives easier, even if the path to the big-screen proves trickier than it used to be. The new management at Universal, in particular, having made a pretty penny with "Mamma Mia" a few years back, seem convinced that the stage musical is as fruitful a subject for adaptation as it was in its 1960s heyday: the company has hired recently-minted Oscar winner Tom Hooper for the long-running musical "Les Miserables," and has been developing a version of "The Wizard Of Oz"-themed megahit "Wicked" for some time.

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Gus Van Sant's 'Restless' To Open Un Certain Regard; 'Kung Fu Panda 2' Headed For Cannes

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 13, 2011 1:01 AM
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1 Comment

Just one day to go until Thierry Fremaux reveals the full lineup of films set to unspool at this year's Cannes Film Festival and a couple more titles have been announced in advance of the fest. Joining "The Tree Of Life" and "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" -- both of which are set to screen out of competition -- are two more titles, one arthouse fave and one blockbuster movie for everyone else.

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Bradley Cooper To Play 'The Crow'?

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 12, 2011 10:39 AM
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3 Comments

You sure know how to fuck with us Hollywood. Just a few days after “28 Weeks Later” helmer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo came aboard to direct the long in the works reboot or whatever of "The Crow" -- that looks like it will be dropping the Nick Cave script (what the hell) -- an actor is now ready to get his dark eyeliner going as Eric Draven. And it's kind of baffling.

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Universal Looking To Pick Up Joseph Kosinski's PG-13 'Oblivion' & Want Tom Cruise To Star

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 12, 2011 10:06 AM
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3 Comments

Oh irony of ironies. Just over a month after Universal officially killed Guillermo Del Toro's $150 million, R-rated "At The Mountains Of Madness," it looks like the studio has not only found a cheaper, PG-13 replacement tentpole, they want Tom Cruise to star in it too.

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Joaquin Phoenix In Talks To Join Paul Thomas Anderson's Scientology Film

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 12, 2011 9:39 AM
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8 Comments

With newbie arthouse loving and totally loaded financier Megan Ellison giving fresh legs to Paul Thomas Anderson's long gestating Scientology flick back in February, and after Universal balked and dropped the $35 million drama, it looks like it's now sputtering back to life, hoping to get a cast assembled for the film.

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Sean Penn Eyeing 'The Last Photograph' With Christian Bale, Niels Arden Oplev To Direct

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 12, 2011 9:18 AM
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2 Comments

Penn Turned Down Roles In Both 'Tales From The Gangster Squad' & 'Man Of Steel'Here's a film we haven't heard about in a little. "The Last Photograph" cropped up last summer with Christian Bale attached to star and now there is new movement on the project.

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Daniel Sunjata, Diego Klattenhoff & Burn Gorman Join 'The Dark Knight Rises'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 12, 2011 8:53 AM
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11 Comments

Who, who and who? Yeah, ordinarily we probably wouldn't give this kind of minor casting much notice but when it comes to "The Dark Knight Rises" we'll take whatever we can get since Christopher Nolan and co. will be keeping details on a short leash.

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