Thompson on Hollywood

Garner/Renner Get Addicted, Boardwalk Empire's Williams, Jacki Weaver, The Fighter Trailer

- Jennifer Garner will play the trophy wife addicted to prescription drugs and Jeremy Renner will play the lifeless pharmacist catering to (and falling for) the woman and the addiction via their disastrous extra-marital affair in Better Living Through Chemistry. (This seems to be a trend: another upcoming title is Love and Other Drugs.) THR is calling it a dramatic thriller, not a romantic comedy. Garner was at her post-Alias best in 2007's action/drama The Kingdom. This picture seems the most promising of her handful of projects in development (mostly comedies). And Renner's role sounds like a treat for The Town star to crack and crumble with. Writers Geoff Moore and David Posamentier will make their directorial debuts with this project.

By Sophia Savage
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September 17, 2010 12:10 PM
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TIFF Diary: Remembering Chabrol, Potiche, I Saw The Devil, Monsters, Brighton Rock

In her ongoing Toronto journal, day five, Meredith Brody starts off remembering Claude Chabrol:So I realized trudging home from the subway last night that the reason I hadn’t remembered that the Toronto subway doesn’t begin running until 9 a.m. on Sunday was that I never had been obliged to use the subway on the way to an early-morning screening before.

By Meredith Brody
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September 16, 2010 5:53 AM
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Almodovar and SPC Collaborate Again for The Skin That I Inhabit

Sony Pictures Classic has acquired North American rights to director Pedro Almodovar's The Skin That I Inhabit, which began production last month in Spain. Inspired by Thierry Jonquet's novel Mygale, the film is a gothic story of a father out for revenge following the death of his daughter. Antonio Banderas will star with Talk To Her's Elena Anaya and Marisa Paredes.

By Sophia Savage
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September 16, 2010 5:18 AM
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Bruno Ganz To Be Honored by European Film Academy

Younger folks probably know Bruno Ganz best from those endless YouTube Hitler parodies taken from Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall (2004); but he is one of the world's great actors and thus I am delighted to report that the European Film Academy will honor the legendary Swiss actor at their European Film Awards.

By Anne Thompson
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September 15, 2010 5:15 AM
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Toronto Announces 102 Additional Titles

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced 102 new titles (total lineup is now 246) for its Contemporary World Cinema, Masters, Visions, Vanguard and Discovery programs. Among the newbies are German Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer's Three (pictured), Norwegian director Bent Hamer with the world premiere of Home For Christmas, and American Kelly Reichardt with her latest, Meek's Cutoff, screening as part of the Contemporary World Cinema Programme.

By Anne Thompson
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August 24, 2010 8:52 AM
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White Wedding Director Turner Talks Real South African Cinema

The South Africa in rookie director Jann Turner's White Wedding (select cinemas September 3) is not that of 2009's sci-fi District 9 (a USA/New Zealand/Canada/ South Africa co-production with a $30 million budget), Leonardo DiCaprio's Blood Diamond (a $100 million Hollywood release), or even that of the exquisite low-budget Tsotsi (a UK/South Africa production) which won the 2006 Oscar for best foreign film. (South Africa submitted White Wedding for the foreign film Oscar in 2009.)

By Sophia Savage
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August 24, 2010 7:34 AM
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Worthington Heads Home, Hurt Locker Reality Show, Brolin Talks

- Sam Worthington is heading home to Perth, Australia to shoot surfing drama Drift, in which he plays a photographic journalist who helped to turn surfing into a worldwide industry. After several big-budget Hollywood films, the actor is excited to be involved in this $11-million project, he says, to "put something back into my home town...There's something pure and true about surfing, and there is something pure and true about this script." (There was also something pure about his performance to in 2004's Somersault opposite Abbie Cornish). This may be the perfect project for him to rediscover the satisfaction of low-budget acting away from the blue-screen razzle-dazzle of Avatar, Clash of the Titans and Terminator: Salvation.

By Sophia Savage
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August 24, 2010 5:30 AM
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Trailer Watch: Biutiful, A Film of Inarritu

Will Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's long-awaited follow-up to Babel (which scored seven Oscar nominations in 2007 including best picture) find a stateside home? Word is, CAA is on the verge of making a deal for the Spanish-language Biutiful, which earned divided reaction in Cannes, although Javier Bardem shared the best actor prize. (The actor just wed lady love Penelope Cruz in the Bahamas.)

By Anne Thompson
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July 15, 2010 1:29 AM
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TIFF List: Essential 100 Films

The Toronto International Film Festival posts "The Essential 100," a list of must-see films that merges two lists (one determined by TIFF curators, another by TIFF stakeholders). There are many obvious choices, from The Godfather, Casablanca and Gone With The Wind to Chinatown, as well as such arcane entries as the controversial Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom from director Pier Paolo Pasolini.

By Anne Thompson
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July 13, 2010 6:48 AM
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As Girl Who Played With Fire Opens, New Doc Reveals Larsson Secrets

Millennium fever continues unabated in the U.S., reports Kinsey Lowe, as the second Swedish movie based on Stieg Larsson's trilogy hits theaters today in Los Angeles and New York City and the translation of the third novel remains near the top of the New York Times bestseller list.