Thompson on Hollywood

AFM News EXCLUSIVE: Keira Knightley To Star In Effie Gray Biopic Untouched

News

Keira Knightley is in talks to play the role of artists’ muse Effie Gray in period drama Untouched for Brazilian director Andrucha Waddington (House of Sand), reports Liza Foreman.

By Liza Foreman
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November 7, 2011 10:38 AM
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AFM News EXCLUSIVE: Jessica Chastain To Star In Princess Di Biopic

News

Many of the deals announced at the American Film Market will never get made. One hot ticket item that could go forward is current it-girl Jessica Chastain starring as Princess Diana in Caught in Flight, reports Liza Foreman.

By Liza Foreman
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November 6, 2011 7:53 PM
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AFM News: Worst Idea Ever, Charlie Chaplin in 3-D

News

Count on German schlockmeister Uwe Boll to endorse the worst idea ever for a movie. Check out the pitch to a major studio (the name is omitted) from his Kinostar colleague Michael Roesch below:

By Anne Thompson
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November 6, 2011 1:04 PM
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AFM News: Howard Pumps Rush, Weinsteins Chase Song for Marion, Europa Shoots in New York

Ron Howard

One of the signs of changing times is seeing an A-list director like Ron Howard pushing a project at the American Film Market. The co-head of Imagine Entertainment went to Santa Monica to push Rush, his Formula 1 racing film, with foreign buyers.

Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s Exclusive Media Group (The Way Back) is co-producing and co-financing the picture with Brian Oliver’s Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine, Revolution Films and Working Title, which produced Formula 1 fan Eric Fellner’s racing doc Senna, which shows how cinematic this kind of movie can be. The film’s screenwriter Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon) is also a producer on Rush, along with Andrew Eaton. Universal Pictures will release the film, which is currently filming with stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Daniel Bruhl (Inglourious Basterds), stateside in 2012.

By Anne Thompson
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November 4, 2011 11:30 AM
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AFM News: Drafthouse Films Expands, Acquires Foreign Titles Bullhead and Clown, Pacts with Image

News

Indie player Drafthouse Films, led by Austin-based exhibitor Tim League, is in expansion mode. The company has announced a number of international acquisitions, an exclusive U.S. distribution deal with the licensing and distribution company, Image Entertainment, Inc., and appointed a new COO.

By Liza Foreman
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November 4, 2011 9:00 AM
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AFM News: Sony Takes 1890s Paris Tale Bel Ami, with Pattinson, Thurman, Scott Thomas & Ricci

News

At AFM, Sony has acquired North American rights to Bel Ami, which stars Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci. The film, now completed, was co-directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod (the pair worked together on 1992 short The Big Fish, which must have been good if they attracted this cast), and is based on Guy de Maupassant's 1885 novel of the same name, adapted by Rachel Bennette. The story explores themes of ambition, power and seduction, with Pattinson starring as a broke ex-soldier who ascends 1890s Parisian society by manipulating its women.

By Sophia Savage
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November 3, 2011 8:29 AM
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AFM News: Endgame Launches P & A Venture to Fill Service Deal Gap

L.A.-based indie producer and financier Endgame Entertainment is launching new marketing venture Endgame Releasing, which is backed by a $150-million revolving fund for P & A (prints and ads) financing for films distributed through an established studio or independent. Endgame Releasing will partner with equity investors, producers and studios to provide distribution funds for wide-release films. Endgame Releasing will provide P&A of $20–plus million for four to six films a year opening on a minimum of 1800 screens. That means Endgame would put up from $400 to $500 million over the next four years.

By Anne Thompson
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November 3, 2011 7:12 AM
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AFM IN THE WORKS: Edgerton, Kidman, Dujardin, Del Toro, Cotillard, Watts, Wright, Wahlberg, Ibsen

News

Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, James Frecheville (Animal Kingdom) and Xavier Samuel are on board to star in Anne Fontaine's (Coco Before Chanel) The Grandmothers, adapted from the 2003 novella by Nobel Prize-winner Doris Lessing by-- it's getting better--Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Liaisons). In the story, two childhood friends/neighbors (Watts, Wright) each fall in love with the other's son, to the disgust of their wives. Sounds bizarre (and a bit like Toronto title The Oranges). Amazon sheds more light on it:

By Sophia Savage
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November 3, 2011 1:04 AM
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AFM News Briefs: Seyfried as Lovelace, Farrell & Rapace's Violent Spree, Lautner Gets Van Sant

- Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard are now in talks to star as porn star Linda Lovelace and her pornographer husband, Chuck Traynor, in Lovelace, an adaptation of Eric Danville’s book The Complete Linda Lovelace, from Howl directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. W. Merritt Johnson (TV's In Treatment, Temple Grandin) and Andy Bellin (Trust) wrote the adaptation. After Lovelace and Traynor’s notorious Deep Throat became a porn classic, she left her husband and accused him of forcing her into pornography and prostitution.

By Sophia Savage
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November 2, 2011 5:47 AM
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Malick Fans, Eat Your Heart Out: Two More Films on the Way, Starring Bale, Blanchett, Gosling, Mara

News

FilmNation has two hot tickets to bring to the AFM: Topliners Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett are each set to star in two upcoming Terence Malick films. Bale will appear alongside Blanchett, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara and Haley Bennett in Lawless, while Knight of Cups will star Bale, Blanchett and Isael Lucas. Both films are in pre-production and news of this is no doubt causing Malick fans to have heart palpitations.