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Development Watch: Actresses Vying for Dark Knight Rises, Movies We Want, Ten Screenwriters to Watch

- "Sometimes reading news about Hollywood’s development slate is almost as depressing as the front-page stories about the economy," says Movieline, so they have a list of upcoming films they "actually want to see." Their selection includes Alfonso Cuaron's still starless Gravity, Raymond Chandler's detective novel Trouble is my Business (Clive Owen has the rights), noir puppet film-for-adults The Happytime Murders (think Team America meets Se7en), Paul Verhoeven's erotic ghost story The Eternal, and Natalie Portman's raunchy comedy for women, BYO.

By Sophia Savage
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November 17, 2010 6:29 AM
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Oscar Talk: The Fighter, AFI Fest, Black Swan, Britannia and Academy Governor's Awards

Oscar season is in full swing and this last week brought BAFTA's Britannia Awards and the AFI Fest, which unspooled the first L.A. showings of both David O. Russell's The Fighter and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. Kris Tapley and I assess the current state of the race--is Natalie Portman the actress to beat? Will Amy Adams get in over Melissa Leo? Is Christian Bale a lock for a supporting win? Where is James L. Brooks?

By Anne Thompson
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November 12, 2010 7:24 AM
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The buzz on the street about David O. Russell's The Fighter--the boxing movie is a rousing crowd-pleaser, stolen by Christian Bale--was correct. "I had to do a lot of cheating, stealing and lying to get the movie made," said star and producer Mark Wahlberg at the start of the "secret" screening at AFI Fest (revealed via Paramount press release Tuesday morning). "I'm happy it got to the big screen. It took me such a long time to get the movie made that if you don't like the movie, I'll do two hours of hard labor. I did it to get the movie made and I will do it for anyone who doesn't like it."

By Anne Thompson
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November 10, 2010 9:39 AM
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Roles That Could Have Been, Women vs. Horror, Hereafter's Cecile de France

- A look back at the roles that got away might soothe Mel Gibson's nerves now that his Hangover 2 role has gone to Liam Neeson. (The LAT's Patrick Goldstein looks at how loose lips lose jobs.) Here's a sampling, courtesy of TheDailyBeast: Demi Moore lost the lead in 1983's Flashdance to Jennifer Beals; Matthew McConaughey lost Jack Dawson in 1997's Titanic to Leonardo DiCaprio; Sandra Bullock lost Runaway Bride to Julia Roberts in 1999, the same year Michael Cera competed with Haley Joel Osment for The Sixth Sense; Meryl Streep was at one point lined up to play Evita before Madonna took over in 1996; Charlize Theron was in the running for Elizabeth Berkley's stripper in Showgirls in 1995; Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned for Ewan McGregor's role in Baz Luhrmann's 2001 musical Moulin Rouge!; and Robert Redford chased Dustin Hoffman's part in 1967's The Graduate.