Thompson on Hollywood

Friday Box Office: '42' Bright Spot on Weak Weekend

Box Office

"42," which was not a guaranteed success as a sports movie with mixed reviews about an African-American hero played by an unknown. For the first time this year, a Warner Bros. release exceeded expectations by opening at over $9 million.

By Tom Brueggemann
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April 13, 2013 3:45 PM
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Relativity Producing Pablo Escobar Story 'Silver or Lead' with Spanish Director Enrique Urbizu

News

Relativity Media has taken rights to a script about the manhunt for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, called "Silver or Lead." The original draft is from Michael Kane, while Piers Ashworth's screenplay will serve as the basis for director Enrique Urbizu.

By Sophia Savage
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March 6, 2013 2:34 PM
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Coen Brothers Rewriting 'Unbroken' for Angelina Jolie to Direct at Universal, Based on True Story of Olympian POW Louis Zamperini

News

UPDATE: Universal, Walden Media and Angelina Jolie have tapped Joel and Ethan Coen to rewrite "Unbroken." Jolie will direct the project, which is an adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's book about Louis Zamperini, a 1936 Olympian runner who became a prisoner of war during WWII...

By Sophia Savage
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February 26, 2013 12:45 PM
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Julia Stiles Joins Jennifer DeLia's Mary Pickford Biopic 'The First' to Play Oscar Winner Frances Marion

News

Julia Stiles, who re-emerged with a great supporting turn in "Silver Linings Playbook," has signed on to play screenwriter Frances Marion--the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay--in Jennifer DeLia's "The First," based on Eileen Whitfield's biography on Mary Pickford...

By Sophia Savage
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February 1, 2013 1:36 PM
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Sorkin Reveals Structure of Steve Jobs Biopic

News

Walter Isaacson's bestselling Steve Jobs biography was nothing if not a door-stopper. So writer Aaron Sorkin's challenge was to figure out a way in: cradle to grave biopic? One slice? He went with something closer to "Slumdog Millionaire"'s ingenious way of using the questions as entries to parts of a life.

By Anne Thompson
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November 15, 2012 4:48 PM
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Now and Then: 'Lincoln,' the Movies, and Historical Accuracy

Reviews

"Lincoln" is no dour disquisition, no romance of an imagined past, but a heroic, even thrilling drama of compromise and chicanery in the midst of the Civil War. Indeed, it resolves one of the medium's oldest conundrums: "Lincoln" is that rare thing, good history and great cinema at once.

By Matt Brennan
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November 13, 2012 1:28 PM
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Ashton Kutcher's Currently Filming 'jOBS' Biopic Adds More Cast

News

The Steve Jobs biopic "jOBS" being directed by Joshua Michael Stern (not to be confused with Sony's "Steve Jobs" being scripted by Aaron Sorkin) has made further additions to its cast...

By Sophia Savage
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July 10, 2012 3:55 PM
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Broadway Star Nina Arianda Joins Director Sean Durkin for Janis Joplin Biopic

News

Janis Joplin is getting the big screen treatment and will be brought to life through Tony Award winning actress Nina Arianda (she won for "Venus in Fur"). "Martha Marcy May Marlene" director Sean Durkin will helm the project, which is scheduled to begin in early 2013. Producer Peter Newman & co. have spent over a decade...

By Sophia Savage
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July 10, 2012 1:32 PM
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Lily Rabe to Play Mary Pickford in Untitled Biopic; Producers In Cannes to Cast Chaplin, Fairbanks, Griffith

News

While producers Julie Pacino, Jennifer DeLia, and Said Zahraoui are at Cannes to cement the rest of the casting for their untitled Mary Pickford film, they've found their leading lady in Lily Rabe (“All Good Things,” “American Horror Story” ). The film is based on Eileen Whifield's biography, "Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood."

By Sophia Savage
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May 17, 2012 4:01 PM
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Sony Lands Sorkin for Steve Jobs Biopic

News

Following up on their successful collaboration on David Fincher's "The Social Network," Sony and producer Scott Rudin are bringing on Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to adapt Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs' bestselling biography. The project is being produced by Rudin, Mark Gordon and Guymon Casady.