The Playlist

Vincent Gallo To Star In Alexandre Nahon's 'Don't Shoot The Piano Player,' Michael Rapaport In Talks To Join

By Simon Dang
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January 25, 2012 11:15 AM
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4 Comments

News

At least in our eyes, any news on the enigma that is Vincent Gallo is good news. His performance as the titular, tortured artist in Francis Ford Coppola's "Tetro" was a welcome reminder just how much the talened writer/director/actor/musician has to offer and, while he's unfortunately already noted that his last effort behind the camera "Promises Written In The Water" isn't going to see a theatrical release anytime soon, he's recently been taking on interesting acting roles with Jerzy Skolimowski's "Essential Killing," a sure-to-be wacky part in "The Legend Of Kaspar Hauser" as well as an appearance in 'Twilight' actor Peter Facinelli's "Loosies."

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Sundance: Spike Lee Talks Returning To Brooklyn For 'Red Hook Summer' & Making Films Inside & Outside Hollywood

By Todd Gilchrist
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January 25, 2012 11:04 AM
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1 Comment

News

More than 25 years after releasing his debut film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” Spike Lee remains one of the most important and influential directors in Hollywood. His portraits of black life in his early works, including “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Jungle Fever” and “Crooklyn,” set an important precedent that countless filmmakers of color have followed, while his forays into more broadly commercial work, such as “Clockers,” “25th Hour,” “Inside Man” and even “Malcolm X,” are significant achievements of both entertainment and bona fide art. In his latest film, “Red Hook Summer,” which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Lee returns to his old stomping grounds of Brooklyn, NY, where he examines life in the Red Hook housing project as seen through the eyes of a teenager who comes from Atlanta, GA to visit his grandfather.

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First Look At 'Kill List' Director Ben Wheatley's 'Sightseers'

By Benjamin Wright
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January 25, 2012 10:22 AM
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1 Comment

News

While Ben Wheatley’s grim and disturbing “Kill List” isn't exactly an awards season kind of movie (though it did earn some nods from the British Independent Film Awards) this low-key British thriller has propelled the director onto many cinephile lists of rising directors to watch. One of those cinephiles, in fact, and a director in his own right, is “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” maestro Edgar Wright who’s executive-producing Wheatley’s next directorial effort “Sightseers,” which we first heard about during the summer. At the beginning of January, Wheatley told us he had a cut ready to show Wright at his Big Talk production house, and now we have a first official look of the film for ourselves.

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Joe Carnahan Says 'The Grey' Will Head Back To Theaters For An Oscar Qualifying Run In October

By Jeff Otto
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January 25, 2012 10:00 AM
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3 Comments

News

Writer/director Joe Carnahan has no regrets. The twists and turns many up-and-coming directors face during their first brush with a big budget studio project could leave anyone bitter and jaded. Instead, Carnahan took his ill-fated experiences on “Mission: Impossible III” (which was ultimately directed by J.J. Abrams) and began looking to the future. After proving he could blow stuff up with the best of ‘em on 2010’s “The A-Team,” Carnahan finished an adaptation of the short story “Ghost Walker” by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers and began casting.

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Emma Roberts & 'Submarine' Star Craig Roberts To Star In 'I Am My Family Secret'

By Joe Cunningham
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January 25, 2012 9:41 AM
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3 Comments

News

She’s from New York City, the niece of one of the world’s most recognizable actresses, and has been on the big screen since she was ten years old. He’s from (the considerably less glamorous) Maesycwmmer, Wales, and made his feature film debut as recently as 2010. So, on the surface, Emma Roberts and Craig Roberts appear to have little more in common than merely sharing a surname...and before you ask, no, they’re definitely not related.

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Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dominic Cooper & Thandie Newton To Star In Adaptation Of Bestseller 'Half Of A Yellow Sun'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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January 25, 2012 9:22 AM
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25 Comments

News

It's not been documented much abroad, but Nigeria has one of the most vibrant, active film scenes in the world; over the last couple of decades, it's overtaken the United States to become the nation that produces the second largest quantities of film per year, behind only India. And while the films and stars of "Nollywood," as it's nicknamed, haven't yet crossed over to the Western mainstream, it's surely only a matter of time before their influence becomes felt. And now, it's been announced that Nigerian backers are teaming with British producers for a star-laden adaptation of a novel that tells a key part of the nation's history.

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'The Crow' Remake Flies Again With Director F. Javier Gutierrez & Writer Jesse Wigutow

By Joe Cunningham
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January 25, 2012 9:05 AM
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0 Comments

News

Until very recently, the long-gestated remake of the 1994 cult hit "The Crow" looked to all intents and purposes like it was dead and buried, with Relativity Media and The Weinstein Company locked in a legal battle over the distribution rights to any potential reboot. But like it’s titular hero "The Crow" seems unable to stay dead for very long, with the two companies settling amicably out of court a few days ago and agreeing to work together on the picture.

Annapurna Pictures Drops Out Of 'Side Effects' Over Casting; Potential Options Emerge, While Catherine Zeta-Jones Joins Cast

By Drew Taylor
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January 24, 2012 9:50 PM
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40 Comments

News

Well, that was quick. Just one week after announcing it had signed on with Open Road, the distributors of the film, to co-finance Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller, “Side Effects,” Megan Ellison’s Annapurna pictures has backed out of the project (however, Open Road is staying put to distribute the film). But it's not all gloom and doom for "Side Effects," though, as Soderbergh's "Traffic" co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones has just signed onto the project (via Deadline).

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R.I.P. Theo Angelopoulos (1935-2012)

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 24, 2012 5:38 PM
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13 Comments

News

Sad news is arriving this afternoon from Greece, as legendary filmmaker Theo Angelopolous was struck by a motorcycle on the set of his latest film and has died of his injuries at the age of 77.

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Watch: Megan Fox & Mike Tyson Team For Brazilian Language School Ad

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 24, 2012 4:34 PM
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6 Comments

News

Well, this is all kinds of WTF. But anyway, while Megan Fox will spend 2012 trying to broaden her acting wings thanks to appearances in "Friends With Kids" (where she's actually quite good) and Judd Apatow's "This Is 40," she's wise enough to realize she's still the fantasy of many young men, and thus she's putting that reputation to some use.

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