Thompson on Hollywood

Brits Weigh In: King's Speech, Another Year Lead London Critics

Don't underestimate the Brit factor when it comes to Oscar influence. There are many Brit voters in the Academy. The London Critics Circle just gave boosts to two Brit films, The King's Speech (seven nominations, including Film of the Year, Brit film of Year and Actor of the Year, Colin Firth) and Another Year (six, including British Director, Mike Leigh, British Actress, Lesley Manville and British Actor, Jim Broadbent). The Social Network nabbed five noms, while Brit debut featureThe Arbor got four, along with Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit. Full list below.

By Anne Thompson
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December 21, 2010 5:08 AM
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Legacy Watch: Dragon Tattoo vs. Dragon Tattoo, John Cazale's Five Perfect Career Choices

- Sweden's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo director Niels Arden Oplev protests against David Fincher's remake and another actress playing the Lisbeth Salander role--"highly unfair because Noomi [Rapace] has captured this part and it should always be all her," he told Random House's Word & Film site. He goes on to compare the below-par American remake of Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita to Fincher's remake (Heat Vision attacks this argument). But Besson wrote and directed the original La Femme Nikita - it was his. Oplev was directing a screenplay adaptation of Stieg Larsson's book. If Columbia and Fincher have rights to the same story, it's fair game. Not to mention the countless Americans who have the original book on their nightstands, many of whom are yet to see the Swedish trilogy on screen. They're waiting for most worthwhile and accessible version, and that could well be Fincher's. Here's The Playlist's take on the Oplev's comments: the original Dragon Tattoo film was fairly shite anyway.

By Sophia Savage
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November 10, 2010 5:20 AM
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Gender Watch: Theron for Snow, Cholodenko Talks, Lisbeth Salander and Hollywood's Woman Problem

-Charlize Theron could be in, and Angelina Jolie out for director Rupert Sanders' Snow White and The Huntsman, according to ThePlaylist. It was always a hopeful stretch to think that Jolie would sign up (get in line) but Theron's schedule has opened up thanks to the Mad Max postponement. That makes her an attractive candidate for evil queen Ravenna, who hires a bounty hunter (Inception Brit Tom Hardy, also starring in Mad Max) to chase down Snow White after her escape. Theron is currently shooting Jason Reitman's Young Adult with Patrick Wilson. While not as established as an action star as Jolie, Theron is one of the few actresses who can legitimately be considered alongside Jolie in the action sphere (as much for Monster and In The Valley of Elah as "actioners" Æon Flux and Hancock). Plot details are murky, but we like the thought of watching Theron boss around Hardy.

By Sophia Savage
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October 29, 2010 5:55 AM
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Casting Watch: Portman vs. Rapace for Scott's Alien Prequel, The Raven Replaces Renner with Evans

Twentieth Century Fox is happy with Damon Lindelof's (Lost co-creator) screenplay for Ridley Scott's Alien prequel, and Vulture has a few tidbits to share.

By Sophia Savage
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October 13, 2010 8:02 AM
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Trailer Watch: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Rapace Interview

Music Box Films is opening the third installment of the Swedish global hit Millennium trilogy (based on the Stieg Larssen novels), The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, stateside on October 29.

By Anne Thompson
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October 4, 2010 10:11 AM
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Casting News: Hendricks in Drive, Renner and Rapace Witch Hunters, Seydoux vs. Bruni in Paris

- Drive just got juicier with Mad Men fixture Christina Hendricks set to join Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaacs and Albert Brooks in the Nicolas Winding Refn film, which shifts into gear at the end of this month. Hendrick's role is unidentified, though The Playlist suggests, following a perusal of the "terrific, noirish script," that she must be the female associate of bank-robber-Mulligan's-boyfriend (presumably played by Isaacs).

By Sophia Savage
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September 9, 2010 12:31 PM
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Video: Noomi Rapace Moves Beyond Salander and the Millennium Trilogy

One of the trickiest moves to make as a young star is coping with sudden fame--especially when it is attached to a beloved character. Swedish actress Noomi Rapace created the role of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish films based on Stieg Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy"; the films made her a star all over the world (the trilogy has grossed $220 million so far worldwide – and $110 million for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." But like the "Twilight" stars, whether she can make a career outside Sweden in other roles, in other languages, is another question. As you can see from the interview below shot in Venice 2010, Rapace speaks fluent English. UPDATE: She has been getting offers from Hollywood, from the "Sherlock Holmes" series to "Prometheus." The question was what she would do with them. Now we know. She's a global star.

By Anne Thompson
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September 7, 2010 12:20 PM
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Somewhere Flies Over the Rainbow to Venice

This weekend you will not be getting any Emmy coverage from me, as I'm off to Italy, first for a Roman holiday, then to Venice via speed train to cover the festival. There I expect to see Somewhere--as well as talk to director Sofia Coppola. Focus has released a new clip, below.

By Anne Thompson
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August 26, 2010 8:23 AM
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No Oscar Future for Dragon Tattoo or Rapace

It's all very well for folks to love the books and/or movies of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels, but the notion that these films will somehow have an Oscar future is silly. Throwing Rapace into the Oscar race while she's in town for meetings reeks of media manipulation. UTA is fanning the flames while they've got the chance to score some major deals for her. And so far, contrary to Deadline's report, nobody has made an offer to BK-PR's Melody Korenbrot, who usually promotes Sony Pictures Classics fare, about running a Rapace Oscar campaign.

By Anne Thompson
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August 18, 2010 12:54 PM
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Dragon Tattoo's Rapace Goes Hollywood as Remake Goes English, Jolie as Go-To Action Star

- Noomi Rapace took herself out of the running for David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - the Swedish adaptation won her the country's Oscar equivalent for best actress. Rapace wants to expand her career in new directions, and is spending the week in LA meeting with directors, according to THR (including McG and Ridley Scott), producers (Avi Arad and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura) and studio executives at Paramount and Warner Bros. to plan her attack. Repped by UTA and fluent in English, Rapace could burst into Hollywood off the momentum of Dragon Tattoo's success. But it's Rooney Mara who will grab the career hype as she channels Stieg Larsson's counter-cultural anti-heroine for Millennium Trilogy fans, who are already salivating for a better screen version of the story. While Mara's performance will be compared to Rapace's when The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens in December 2011, it will be seen by far more people. Both actresses' lives have changed because of Lisbeth Salander.