The Playlist

Gus Van Sant's 'Promised Land' With Matt Damon & John Krasinski Gets December 28th Release Date

By Kevin Jagernauth
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August 23, 2012 4:14 PM
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1 Comment

News

Just when you thought the Venice and TIFF lineups had solidified what we could expect in theaters through the end of year (and into 2013), and what the Oscar race would look like, here comes Gus Van Sant's "Promised Land" to shake things up.

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Gus Van Sant's 'Promised Land' Could Hit Theaters By The End Of The Year; Not An Anti-Fracking Movie Says John Krasinski

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 18, 2012 12:08 PM
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3 Comments

News

Could Gus Van Sant and Matt Damon be headed back to the Oscars? That could be the case if word on their latest collaboration, "Promised Land," bears out.

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'Promised Land' Officially Starts Production, Oil Drilling Plotline Detailed

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 24, 2012 3:22 PM
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4 Comments

News

As "Promised Land" has been moving along, gathering up financing, a director and a cast, the actual plot details have been kept mostly under wraps, with only vague allusions to a Capra-esque tale about two rivals in a small town. In the last few weeks, the filmmakers behind the Kickstarter-funded documentary "FrackNation" posited that the film written by Matt Damon and John Krasinski was going to be an anti-fracking movie (fracking is essentially the process by which water and chemicals are blasted to separate rock layers to extract gas and oil). But of course, the documentarians are making a movie that purports to tell the "truth" about the controversial nature of fracking, so they had an agenda of their own to push, and besides their word, there was no indication that "Promised Land" was going to tackle that topic.

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Matt Damon Drops Out Of Directorial Debut, But May Still Star In It

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 5, 2012 10:19 AM
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3 Comments

News

Matt Damon has been a busy, busy man. He spent most of the fall juggling a very full calendar, stumping for two films ("Contagion" and "We Bought A Zoo") while also filming Neill Blomkamp's massive and mysterious sci-fi project "Elysium." The plan was that heading into the New Year, he would transition behind the camera to take on his directorial debut, but it appears there has been a change.

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Frances McDormand Joins John Krasinski In Matt Damon's Directorial Debut

By Oliver Lyttelton
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December 20, 2011 12:00 PM
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0 Comments

News

They are still, as far as we're aware, the best of pals, but it's hard not to see a vague sense of rivalry between Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. After all, they arrived together, the disgustingly young stars and writers of "Good Will Hunting," winning an Oscar for their trouble with the script, and swiftly became Hollywood's hottest properties. Initially it was Affleck who looked to be the bigger star, with "Armageddon" and "Shakespeare in Love" arriving in quick succession, but he soon became stuck in the likes of "Paycheck" and "Gigli," while Damon became a megastar thanks to "The Bourne Identity" and has barely put a foot wrong since.

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Matt Damon's Directorial Debut With John Krasinksi Moves Ahead, But It's Not 'Father Daughter Time'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 20, 2011 2:36 AM
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2 Comments

Building up for much of the first half of 2011, Matt Damon is gearing up to step behind the camera for his directorial debut. During the summer, the actor let slip that "The Office" star John Krasinski would be taking a role in the upcoming film that many assumed was “Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses.” Warner Bros. had picked up that spec script -- about a man who goes on the lam with his daughter, who is an accomplice in a three-state crime spree -- as a vehicle for Damon to direct. But as it turns out, it's not that project at all, and in fact, Krasinski is a much bigger collaborator on the forthcoming movie that we had thought.

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Aaron Sorkin Penning HBO Miniseries About L.A. Hotel Chateau Marmont For John Krasinski

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 24, 2011 1:44 AM
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1 Comment

We've long suspected that John Krasinski is a much smarter, more talented guy that he's been able to demonstrate so far outside "The Office." His film work has been in pretty awful pictures, on the whole, but he's generally been the best thing in films like "Something Borrowed," "Leatherheads," and "Licence To Wed," and in working with people like Sam Mendes, and directing his own film, the decent David Foster Wallace adaptation "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men," has shown him to be someone who's prepared to take control of his own destiny.

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Matt Damon Says John Krasinski Is In His Directorial Debut That Will Shoot In 2012

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 8, 2011 5:40 AM
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1 Comment

For anyone who has been paying attention, Matt Damon has made no secret of his desire to step behind the camera and direct like his pal Ben Affleck, and it looks like the gears are in motion for just that to happen. Last month it was revealed that Warner Bros. picked up the spec script “Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses” as a possible starring and directing vehicle and Damon reveals he's found his first actor for the movie.

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Review: 'Something Borrowed' Is Something Truly Awful

By Kimber Myers
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May 6, 2011 1:57 AM
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2 Comments

From its empty soul to its poorly framed shots ready for pan-and-scan conversion, “Something Borrowed” seems primed to play on Saturday afternoons on E!, sandwiched between reruns of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and “Bridalplasty.” Based on the chick-lit hit of the same name by Emily Giffin, this story is a hollow one, filled with unlikable characters and dialogue from someone who likely quotes wisdom from Cosmo. If you thought that “Sex and the City 2” had too much substance, this is the movie for you.

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