The Playlist

The Weinstein Company Close To Picking Up 'The Wettest County,' Film Will Land Before End of Year

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 16, 2011 12:42 PM
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1 Comment

Cannes is one of the biggest markets, if not the biggest, for acquisitions in the film calendar, with hundreds of deals made, ranging from pre-sales for star-laden properties to distribution rights to terrible B-movies. This year, as with the unusually busy Sundance, has already been packed with deals, happily suggesting something of a renaissance in the independent film world. On top of the news that landed over the weekend that Rian Johnson's "Looper" heads up a pack of high-profile buys also including "Playing the Field," "Arabian Nights" and "The Iron Lady," another of our most anticipated films of the moment looks to have landed an American distributor.

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Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton & Mia Wasikowska To Star In Vampire Film From Jim Jarmusch

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 16, 2011 11:38 AM
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3 Comments

John Hurt Also In CastThe idea of the vampire, that of the undead creature that survives by feeding off the blood of living people -- is an enormously resilient, resonant one, so it makes sense that there continue to be dozens of stories about them -- barely a year has gone by in the history of cinema without at least one example. But the last few years, it's gotten ridiculous: from blockbusters like "Twilight" and the upcoming "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," to indies like "Let The Right One In" and its American remake, to TV series like "True Blood" and "The Vampire Diaries," the damn things are everywhere, and we can't be the only people who are sick of them. At this stage, it would take a really, really interesting line-up of talent to make us interested in a vampire flick again.

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Cannes Review: Gus Van Sant's 'Restless' Is An Endless Number Of Quirks Searching For A Movie

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 13, 2011 11:00 AM
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6 Comments

Easily the first hard flop of the Cannes Film Festival, the warning signs were there but perhaps we didn't pay them much mind. If everything had gone according to the original plan, "Restless" would have already come and gone in theaters and never hit the Croisette. And that probably would have been the better for everyone involved. Instead, a rightfully nervous Sony scuttled a planned January release and shuffled the film over to their indie division Sony Pictures Classics to handle. Kudos for them for getting the film into the opening slot of the Un Certain Regard section of the festival, because after seeing it, that must have been nothing short of a coup.

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11 New Images From Gus Van Sant's 'Restless'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 11, 2011 11:01 AM
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1 Comment

So Cannes is underway, with Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris" kicking things off, to surprisingly excellent notices -- if you haven't read our review yet, our man thought it was one of Allen's best efforts in quite some time. But does it mean that the images and clips from the films unspooling in the South of France are done? Of course it doesn't.

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Sony Pictures Classics To Release Gus Van Sant's 'Restless'; Fall Bow Being Eyed

By Edward Davis
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March 31, 2011 10:31 AM
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0 Comments

Now this is more like it, frankly. When Sony Pictures had control of Gus Van Sant's romantic drama "Restless" under its purview, the film curiously was slotted in the throwaway January season (January 25 to be exact), which seemed fairly odd for a picture from a two-time Oscar nominee, considering his last film "Milk" earned eight Academy Award nominations in 2008.

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Review: 'Jane Eyre' A Hauntingly Effective Gothic Drama

By Drew Taylor
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March 10, 2011 5:13 AM
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5 Comments

When tasked with reimagining Charlotte Brontë's immortal "Jane Eyre," which seems to be adapted somewhere, by someone, every couple of years, some key decisions must be made. The impulse that seems to have seized director Cary Fukunaga was to emphasize the gothic horror elements of the story, while making the narrative more structurally complex, allowing for more of Jane's back story to slip into the movie (it's the stuff most commonly left out of the multitude of adaptations).

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Cary Fukunaga Talks His Horror/Romance Take On 'Jane Eyre' With Michael Fassbender & Mia Wasikoska

By Kimber Myers
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March 8, 2011 7:39 AM
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0 Comments

Indie Filmmaker Also Discusses His Gestating Musical With Owen Pallett, His African Civil War Drama 'Beasts Of No Nation,' & His Good Filmmaking Fortune So FarExclusive: Delighting fans of period romance everywhere -- and kids who can't be bothered with even the Cliffs Notes of the classic Charlotte Brontë novel --"Jane Eyre" is making another appearance on screen. But rather than coming from a predictably English pedigree, the 2011 Focus Features version arrives from the seemingly unlikely source of Cary Fukunaga, a young American director with a single feature to his name, 2009's gritty immigration thriller "Sin Nombre." Fukunaga went young with his casting, opting for Mia Wasikoska ("The Kids Are All Right") to play to the title role, while Michael Fassbender ("Hunger," the dreams of many a female Playlister) takes on the brooding part of Edward Rochester.

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Nicole Kidman & Colin Firth To Join Park Chan-Wook's English Language Debut 'Stoker'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 12, 2011 2:38 AM
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10 Comments

Mia Wasikowska Also ConfirmedEarlier this year, a screenplay by Ted Foulke (Wentworth Miller’s sobriquet) called "Stoker" made the rounds and started gaining buzz. It became a hot property and Scott Free Productions quickly snatched up the film that’s now set up at Fox Searchlight. "Oldboy" helmer Park Chan-Wook became attached to direct and early casting rumors had Carey Mulligan, Mia Wasikowska and Jodie Foster in talks for roles, but it looks like the film is getting two massive heavyweights on board as well.

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New Images & Clips From Cary Fukunaga's 'Jane Eyre' Starring Mia Wasikowska

By Simon Dang
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February 10, 2011 2:34 AM
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1 Comment

Focus Features is starting the last big push for Cary Fukunaga's upcoming film as new photos and two first look video clips have been unveiled of his revisioning of Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" starring break out stars Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.

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Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce & Mia Wasikowska Join John Hillcoat's 'The Wettest County'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 9, 2011 8:54 AM
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12 Comments

While we may weep for what could have been of John Hillcoat's original incarnation of "The Wettest County" that fell apart last year and featured Michael Shannon, Ryan Gosling, Paul Dano, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson, the cast that has come together for the revamped film is equally first rate.

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