The Playlist

Gus Van Sant Shoots Test Sex Scene With Alex Pettyfer In Bid To Direct 'Fifty Shades Of Grey'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 23, 2013 3:38 PM
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5 Comments

News

Listen, we didn't like typing out that headline anymore than you liked reading it, but it seems the erotic drama train that is "Fifty Shades Of Grey" is going to keep right on rolling. As you know, Universal paid a staggering $3 million for the rights to the book last year, but so far, development has been quiet. Kelly Marcel ("Saving Mr. Banks") is writing the script, while "The Social Network" producers Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti are shepherding the project. So this bit of news is an interesting turn of events.

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Review: Earnest & Well-Intentioned ‘Promised Land’ Doesn’t Quite Convince

By Rodrigo Perez
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January 4, 2013 12:50 PM
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4 Comments

Reviews

If the narrative of the modern-day salesman in fiction is that of a man who believes in his business but finds his faith shaken once the white lies of his trade begin to grow, a man who loses his moral compass and finds himself along the way, then “Promised Land" doesn’t stray far from that mold. And at the crossroads of America, if big business represents greed, well then small-town communities must clearly represent strength and resolve.

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Gus Van Sant Talks Taking Over 'Promised Land' From Matt Damon, The Film's "Spy Scene" & Much More

By Drew Taylor
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January 4, 2013 10:48 AM
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3 Comments

Interviews

Gus Van Sant has always been a director who is hard to pin down, veering from insanely small-scale, personal works like "Elephant" and "Paranoid Park" to larger scale entertainments like "Finding Forrester" and his admirable-if-unsuccessful "Psycho" remake. This week, his charming eco-drama "Promised Land" opens, which casts his "Good Will Hunting" co-writer Matt Damon as an operative from a natural gas company who travels to a small, financially struggling Pennsylvania town to woo them to sell the drilling rights to their land. But his efforts run up against an environmentalist, played by John Krasinski (who co-wrote "Promised Land" with Damon), who tries to alert the citizens to the dangers they might face with the "fracking" process. It's not as showy as most of the movies grabbing for Oscar gold, but it's a solid, well-intentioned drama, beautifully, almost impressionistically directed by Van Sant.

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The Weinstein Company Pick Up Former Gus Vant Sant/Tom Hanks Project ' How Starbucks Saved My Life'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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November 15, 2012 6:50 PM
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3 Comments

News

Are you ready for the story of how a coffee conglomerate helped save the life of an executive? Man, we can already visualize the synergized tie-in lattes and soundtrack CDs.

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Watch: The American Dream Is In Peril In Trailer For Gus Van Sant's 'Promised Land' Starring Matt Damon

By Kevin Jagernauth
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September 21, 2012 3:46 PM
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10 Comments

News

With all the talk about what "Promised Land" is and isn't about, we'll leave it to co-star Titus Welliver to break it down. "It has great story because it’s really about the issue we face right now with this hydro-fracking. Within that framework is a story about people and how they navigate the idea of making a lot of money when things aren’t exactly how they seem on the surface," he told Hollywood News. "It’s about people going through changes and how they perceive things or what the truths the ideals are that they have, how they change as things unfold. That was an incredible experience." Yep, that's it in a nutshell, and once again the awards season race has shifted with the arrival of the trailer for the film.

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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 Joins Paul Schrader's 'The Canyons'; Behind The Scenes Photos Of James Deen, Lindsay Lohan & More

By Simon Dang
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August 6, 2012 10:20 AM
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1 Comment

News

Who knows what to expect with Bret Easton Ellis and Paul Schrader's "The Canyons" starring porn star James Deen and Lindsay Lohan. With the film now in the midst of production, they've pulled out another surprise with writer-director Gus Van Sant now evidently joining as an actor in a supporting role. Announced by Ellis on Twitter and on the "The Canyons" Facebook page, Van Sant will play the psychiatrist of the protagonist played by Deen.

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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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Character Actor Titus Welliver Heads To Gus Van Sant's 'The Promised Land'

By Simon Dang
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April 20, 2012 2:45 PM
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3 Comments

News

Recognize that face, but don't know his name? Don't worry, this actor is definitely one of those "hey, it's that guy" dudes. A television regular having featured on shows such as "Deadwood," "Sons Of Anarchy" and "Lost," character actor Titus Welliver is someone you would have come across on the small screen, but he's also teamed with the Afflecks on all three of Ben's directorial efforts including the upcoming "Argo." The actor is now set to complete the Boston trifecta, joining Matt Damon in Gus Van Sant's upcoming "Promised Land."

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