The Playlist

Philip Seymour Hoffman To Star In John Slattery's Directorial Debut, Cate Blanchett Teams With David Mamet For 'Blackbird'

By Ben Brock
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May 16, 2013 10:19 AM
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6 Comments

News

Incoming casting news, fresh from the French Riviera: first off, Philip Seymour Hoffman has signed on for a new film, so we can all get our regular dose of rumpled magnificence. “God's Pocket” will be directed by John Slattery, who you know as “Mad Men”'s silver fox Roger Sterling but who is making the move to directing (having helmed several excellent episodes of the series in which he stars), adapting a Pete Dexter novel about Mickey (Hoffman), whose attempts to move on after the suspicious, and not unwelcome, death of his unstable stepson are frustrated by a local reporter with a hunch.

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Chloë Moretz & Keanu Reeves Recreate 'Taxi Driver' In Harper's Bazaar Photo Spread

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 12, 2011 8:48 AM
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10 Comments

What's the next best thing to being in a Martin Scorsese movie? Pretending to be in a Martin Scorsese movie.

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Nicolas Winding Refn Says He Didn't Know About 'Die Hard 5' Shortlist, But Likely Would Have Said No

By Gabe Toro
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September 16, 2011 4:48 AM
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3 Comments

'Drive' Filmmaker Talks 'Wonder Woman,' 'Logan's Run' And Turning Down BlockbustersYes, it's practically "Drive" week at The Playlist this week, sue us. The film opens in wide release this weekend (2,886 screens) and we sat down with most of the cast including star Ryan Gosling (he wants to direct), comedian-turned-villain Albert Brooks (he wants to be in "Logan's Run") and the director, Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn (he might make a horror film with Carey Mulligan) -- what are we supposed to do, bury our content? Sorry, guys.

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Review: 'I Don't Know How She Does It' Is A Pained, Unfunny, Politically Questionable Bore

By Drew Taylor
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September 13, 2011 10:58 AM
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3 Comments

One of the "charmingly neurotic" tics of the main character of "I Don't Know How She Does It," played brittlely and with affected strain by Sarah Jessica Parker, is making to-do lists. Since the year is 2011 and editing software has come a long way, we see her visualize the list as the prepares for sleep – everything from arranging her daughter's play date to doing some Kegel exercises (yes, seriously) – with words and small images appearing tattooed on the ceiling of her bohemian chic Boston apartment (accompanied by a never-ending stream of voice-over narration). While watching "I Don't Know How She Does It," which at a swift 89 minutes still feels longer than the "Three Colors" trilogy combined, you'll be tempted to make a similar mental inventory of things that you could (and should),instead of watching this wretched claptrap, which we're fairly certain has single-handedly set the feminist cause back a good 35-40 years.

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Tribeca Film Plans Theatrical/VOD Release for Tony Kaye's 'Detachment'

By Drew Taylor
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September 8, 2011 7:40 AM
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1 Comment

'Black Water Transit' Still Never Coming Out

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'I Don’t Know How She Does It' Soundtrack Features Bill Withers & Sarah Jessica Parker Singing

By Edward Davis
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August 31, 2011 6:15 AM
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1 Comment

If the upcoming female-centric comedy. "I Don't Know How She Does It," isn't on your radar at all, don't worry, you're not alone out there. The picture is currently battling "Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star," for the coveted 2011: Audiences Have Zero Awareness About This Film Award, so you shouldn't feel bad if you've barely heard of it.

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Empire Big Screen '11 Review: Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Drive' Reminds Us Why We Love The Movies

By Oliver Lyttelton
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August 16, 2011 4:02 AM
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7 Comments

Good god, it's been a bad year at the cinema. It's not so much that there've been a lot of awful films, although of course there have. It's more that there have been a lot of deeply average ones, and very little greatness to share around. Even the better end of the scale, it's not quite scratched the right itch for us: as good as, say, "Beginners" or "Win Win" or "Midnight in Paris" are, they don't quite get the synapses firing in the way that truly great cinema does. It's the kind of thing that the crime flick has always done well -- there's a reason that the Cahiers du Cinema crowd worshiped early American genre pictures, for example, but there's been little to be excited about even in that department. So it's lucky that Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive" has come along: it's a shot of pure cinema straight to the eyeball, and one that's stopped us from losing the faith just as we were about to start looking for gigs at What Yacht Magazine.

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Christina Hendricks Joins Indie Flick 'Struck By Lightning' Penned By Chris Colfer

By Kevin Jagernauth
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July 16, 2011 4:25 AM
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0 Comments

Dermot Mulroney & Sarah Hyland Also Come AboardRed-haired bombshell Christina Hendricks is best known for her twice Emmy-nominated portrayal of voluptuous secretary Joan Harris on AMC’s critically acclaimed series “Mad Men.” Her curves and talent are definitely popular as she is set to star in quite a few upcoming films, including The Weinstein Company’s comedy, “I Don’t Know How She Does It” starring opposite Sarah Jessica Parker and Pierce Brosnan, and “Drive,” directed by Cannes Film Festival 2011 Best Director winner Nicolas Winding Refn and featuring Ryan Gosling in the driver's seat. Now she will pair up with fellow Emmy nominee Chris Colfer of “Glee” fame in his screenwriting debut, “Struck by Lightning.”

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Nicolas Winding Refn Wants To Cast Christina Hendricks As His 'Wonder Woman'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 20, 2011 1:20 AM
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11 Comments

Plus News From Director On The Red Carpet About 'Only God Forgives' and 'Logan's Run'Warner Bros. has been hoping that the void left by the imminent end of the "Harry Potter" franchise would be filled by the stable of DC Comics characters they own: "The Dark Knight" is already a billion-dollar hit, and any number of similar characters are in various stages of development, including a new take on Superman, "Man Of Steel." But things didn't get off to a good start this weekend, with the filmmaking-by-committee of "Green Lantern" severely underperforming, and looking unlikely to make its money back theatrically.

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Watch: Sarah Jessica Parker In 'I Don't Know How She Does It' Trailer. We Don't Know How We Did It.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 27, 2011 1:42 AM
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7 Comments

A few weeks back, "Bridesmaids" struck something of a blow for the female-fronted comedy, by doing what so few have in recent years, and remembering to be funny and touching while failing to be patronizing, unpleasant, one-dimensional and misogynistic in its depiction of its characters. Did it mark an opening of the floodgates? After all, the film's breakout star Melissa McCarthy, not exactly your traditional female lead, has already landed a starring role in a new project, while the more imminent films in the same genre, projects like "Bad Teacher" and "What's Your Number," seem to give some reason for optimism. Were the days of the mind-meltingly awful rom-com about an unappealing lead juggling career, family and love, trying to have it all and discovering that she can't, she has to be a wife and a mother, finally over?

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