Thompson on Hollywood

Official Prometheus Synopsis Still Vague: Foster Joins Rapace, Theron, Elba, Pearce, Fassbender

Arriving in theaters in less than a year, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus has been shrouded in mystery, plot details and the big-picture concept behind the grand-scale epic have been non-existent. The film was first reported in 2009, and named as an untitled prequel to Scott’s 1979 Alien.

By Maggie Lange
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July 1, 2011 7:03 AM
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Noomi Rapace & Husband Ola Rapace to Star in Hardwicke's Lindblom/Högberg Love Story

Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Twilight, Red Riding Hood) will direct Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) in a biopic of Swedish singer Anita Lindblom and her romance with boxer Bosse Högberg, to be played by Ola Rapace, the actress' husband, whose been training as a boxer for this role four years (during the project's long development stage). Their love affair often found its way to the tabloids. Of the project, Hardwicke told Screen: "”I immediately fell in love with the script [from Peter Birro] – it throws us back into Swedish celebrity culture of the 1960s, where the name is more important than the person." Hardwicke calls Lindblom "glamourous" and Högberg "charismatic." The project echos the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton love-affair-biopic we're following.

By Sophia Savage
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June 29, 2011 7:58 AM
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Valerie Plame Wilson Writes Female Centered Suspense Novels with Female Action Star Potential

Seeking a female action hero? A new one may come from an unlikely source: memoirist and ex-spy Valerie Plame Wilson, whose CIA debacle was brought to the screen by Doug Liman in last year's Fair Game, which starred Naomi Watts as the glamorous, fierce yet tender operative (opposite Sean Penn as husband Joe Wilson).

By Sophia Savage
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March 21, 2011 8:28 AM
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Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy: Brother Says There Won't Be A Fourth Book

Word and Film's Christine Spines interviews Stieg Larsson's brother Joakim on whether a fourth Millennium series book will see the light of day. The answer? No.

By Sophia Savage
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March 3, 2011 6:50 AM
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In Development: Hoult's Giant Killer and Warm Bodies; Bardem in Dark Tower; Yet Another Fairy Tale

- A Single Man star Nicholas Hoult (pictured in a campaign for director/fashion designer Tom Ford) is on the rise with X-Men First Class, Jack and the Giant Killer, and now, Warm Bodies and the stalled Mad Max: Fury Road are in the works. X-Men opens June 3, Bryan Singer's Jack and the Giant Killer, a modern fairytale retelling (sounds familiar), is in pre-production at Warner Bros. (set to shoot mid-March with Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy, Stanley Tucci and the just-cast Brit actress Eleanor Tomlinson, set to play Princess Isabella). Summit's Warm Bodies, to be directed by Jonathan Levine off an Isaac Marion book, is set for a summer production. Described as a hybrid of Twilight and Shaun of the Dead, the story follows an existentially-tormented zombie who befriends the girlfriend of one of his victims. Hoult first got our attention in 2002's About A Boy, when he was just 12 years old.

By Sophia Savage
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March 2, 2011 6:30 AM
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Development Watch: Kiarostami's The End, Assayas's Carlos Follow-Up, Gatsby & Gretel in 3-D

- Abbas Kiarostami, whose Certified Copy (starring Cannes Best Actress winner Juliette Binoche and William Shimell, above left) opens March 11, is developing The End, a Japanese-language relationship drama through MK2 Productions. MK2's Nathanael Karmitz says the film, to star Aoi Miyazaki, is a "continuation of Certified Copy" that will look at modern love in Japan. The film will shoot on location this April.

By Sophia Savage
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February 21, 2011 6:35 AM
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BAFTAs Go to King's Speech, Social Network, Inception, Black Swan, Alice, Dragon Tattoo UPDATED

The BAFTA Awards are under way at the Royal Opera House in London. Safe to say The King's Speech is winning many awards but is not sweeping; Inception and Alice in Wonderland are grabbing many of the technical categories. I predict that the Oscars will follow this trend.

By Anne Thompson
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February 13, 2011 7:48 AM
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Production Watch, Part I: Rapace & Fassbender for Prometheus, Stewart & Mortensen for Snow White

- The Alien prequel now known as Ridley Scott's Prometheus is getting an early summer 2012 release: June 8. Scott is working with Damon Lindelof (Cowboys & Aliens, Lost) on revising the original script by Jon Spaihts from Scott's original concept. Much of the plot in unknown, but Scott has confirmed "Alien DNA" will be in the genome of Prometheus. Noomi Rapace will star with Michael Fassbender (sorry, Snow White and the Huntsman, you lost him).

By Sophia Savage
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January 27, 2011 9:30 AM
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BAFTA Nominations Analysis: The King's Speech Reigns

The BAFTA Awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, have announced their nominations, dominated, natch, by Tom Hooper's The King's Speech with fourteen. The film presumably has already made a strong showing on Oscar ballots which were due last Friday.

By Anne Thompson
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January 18, 2011 5:30 AM
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Casting Watch: Theron vs. Rapace For Alien, Hobbit Reunites Cast, Hawkes and Parker for Indie Drama

- Charlize Theron won't be joining Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer and new cast member Ed Westwick in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar. Naomi Watts and Amy Adams are being eyed by Eastwood to fill the role of Helen Gandy (Hoover's personal secretary). Who can blame Theron for turning down a secretary when she's set to play the Evil Queen in Unviersal's Snow White and the Huntsman. Twentieth Century Fox reportedly is rewriting their Alien franchise prequel for Theron, but director Ridley Scott seems to be favoring Dragon Tattoo's Noomi Rapace. Theron is the only female movie star beyond Angelina Jolie who can carry an action movie--while less-known Scandinavian import Rapace is a gamble. She and Rapace would certainly bring different things to the character of Elizabeth Shaw.