Entourage Movie in Works, Fassbender on the Rise, Weinsteins Grab Miral, Del Toro Posts on Hobbit

by Sophia Savage
June 8, 2010 4:54 AM
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- Entourage producer Mark Wahlberg is turning the hit HBO series into a feature length film, MTV reports. The seventh season arrives in a few weeks, followed by six additional episodes in 2011. Wahlberg told Josh Horowitz: the show needs to end strong before making the movie, and he believes this is the best season yet. "I am more focused on making that movie than my own films."

- Inglourious Basterds star Michael Fassbender is reportedly being courted by two different comic franchises, X-Men: First Class (as young Magneto against James McAvoy's Xavier) and Spider-Man 4 (as--you guessed it--the villain). He's in two upcoming actioners, Centurion and Jonah Hex, and scored raves in last year's indie drama Fish Tank. He is currently shooting David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method and has wrapped as Mr. Rochester in Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre. Whatever happens, his star is on the rise. Here's TOH's flipcam interview.

- Julian Schnabel's Miral, starring Slumdog Millionaire beauty Frido Pinto, is now in the hands of The Weinsteins for North American distribution (its first acquisition since the deal to acquire Miramax fell through). Miral is expected to debut at September's Venice Film Festival. Based on a novel written by Palestinian Rula Jebreal based on a real orphanage, the story is set in Jerusalem in 1948; a young woman raised in an orphanage becomes a teacher at a refugee camp and falls in love with an activist. Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave co-star. "As a staunch supporter of Israel," Harvey Weinstein told Variety, "I thought this would be a movie I would have a hard time wrapping my head around. However, meeting Rula moved me to open my heart and mind and I hope we can do that same with audiences worldwide."

- Guillermo del Toro has posted more about leaving The Hobbit on TheOneRing's message boards: "Trust me on this…leaving NZ and the Hobbit crew is extremely painful." But it's unclear how his involvement with several other films would have ever worked with him committed to The Hobbit for five years. He was keeping other projects such as Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (both slated for 2012 release) on hold. He writes, "You will simply have to believe that [delays, contractual complexities or obstacles] were of sufficient complexity and severity to lead to the current situation." He compares his tearful viewing of the completed Hobbit films, years from now, to looking at "photos of my children from far away."

More: Directors, festivals, Franchises, Genres, Independents, Daily Read, TV, Guillermo Del Toro, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, Comics, Weinsteins, Entourage

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Marvel | June 8, 2010 12:36 PMReply

I haven't sought out script spoilers for the new Spider-Man, since I'd rather see it unspoiled. However, I was under the impression that the reboot was doing a Smallville-esque back-to-high-school turn. For the youth appeal and all. Much as I love Fassbender, nobody will mistake him for a high schooler, so I'm now wondering what the deal is here.

Regardless, taking the Magneto role is a better choice. Spider-Man movies tend to kill off the villains. X-Men could be a hit franchise that Fassbender could keep returning to.

Entourage Movie in Works, Fassbender on the Rise, Weinsteins Grab Miral, Del Toro Posts on Hobbit

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Entourage Movie in Works, Fassbender on the Rise, Weinsteins Grab Miral, Del Toro Posts on Hobbit

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