Posts with tag BenAffleck
Posted Sep 24th 2008 5:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Casting
UPDATE: THR has just confirmed that
Johnny Depp will indeed play the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's
Alice in Wonderland, which is currently in pre-production. Disney announced the news earlier today. Depp was
rumored to be playing the role for a couple months now, and it definitely suits the actor. The film itself will combine live action and motion-capture animation, and it will be released in digital 3-D. Newcomer
Mia Wasikowska has been cast as Alice. Additionally, it's now bring reported that Depp will also take on a role in
The Lone Ranger (
IESB says he'll be playing Tonto).
Good ol'
Ben Affleck must have gone stir crazy. We haven't seen him on the big screen since 2006, and now he's got a bunch of projects on the way.
Last week there was
The Town, and now
The Hollywood Reporter posts that he's in talks to star in
The Company Men, with John Wells directing. This is not to be confused with the Ron Livingston-starring
The Company Men, which is
also in the works. Both are a bit similar in plot -- Livingston gets to try and save a sinking company in a crappy economy while Affleck will get laid off and struggle with the fallout. Hopefully one of them will change their name soon.
Anne Hathaway has landed another gig, this time as a "young, commitment-phobic attorney" in
The Opposite of Love, so says
The Hollywood Reporter. Essentially, this gal's life falls apart when she rejects her current boyfriend who was ready for marriage, like, yesterday. What's the opposite of interesting?
Bruce Willis is picking up a helming hat.
Variety reports that he will make his directorial debut with an indie psychological thriller called
Three Stories About Joan. Starring
Camilla Belle,
Kieran Culkin, and Willis in a supporting role, the film focuses on three tragedies in a young woman's life "that cause her to lose her grip on reality." Hmmm ...
Demi directs and now Willis? Could one be trying to top the other? Thoughts?
Continue reading News Bites: Ben Affleck Acts and Bruce Willis Directs
Posted Sep 16th 2008 2:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Casting, Deals
It looks like once
Ben Affleck cleans up the not-so-sexy
straggly, shaggy-man look for
Extract, he's going to town.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that he's in negotiations to write, direct, and star in
The Town -- a romance/heist flick. It's about a gal bank manager who has her heart broken by a thief "who stole more than her heart" and an FBI agent trying to bust him. Yes, more bad guy allure versus good guy aggravation, I'm sure. Ben has already got all sorts of Best Feature and Most Promising Director accolades, so do you think he's got another gem in him, or will he hit the sophomore slump?
Universal Studios Hollywood will offer an extended first look at
The Wolfman on its "Terror Tram" as part of the park's Halloween Horror Nights, beginning October 3rd. (Footage to arrive online -- what -- October 4th, ya think?) Said tram takes you to places like the Bates Motel,
Psycho House and the "tortured landscape" of
War of the Worlds. (Trip to the set of
Ace Ventura Jr. not included on Terror Tram for some odd reason.)
Amazon.com has just announced that its subsidiary, IMDB (aka Internet Movie Database), has begun showcasing both feature films and TV shows on its website for users to watch for free. While at first it looks to be more suitable for the casual TV viewer who wants to watch an episode of
30 Rock before its first air date (one pretty cool feature), the announcement indicates that "over 6,000 titles will be available." Films
available now include
Some Like It Hot, Liar, Liar, Bring It On, Fiddler on the Roof and more (in addition to a whole bunch of shorts). Anyone else losing track of all the different places online where one can download a film or TV program and watch for free? [
The Hollywood Reporter]
Continue reading News Bites: Ben Affleck Strikes Back!
Posted Aug 21st 2008 11:03AM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Comedy, Casting
Here's a movie that's getting stranger and stranger the more details we get -- and I'm loving it.
First, Mike Judge's
Extract was simply a movie that "explores what it's like to be the boss when everything seems to be shifting around you."
Then it became about a guy who owns an industrial flower-extract plant and has to deal with workplace issues and a cheating wife.
Now, it turns out that one of the "workplace issues" is an employee who loses a body part in a freak accident, and that the wife is cheating on the protagonist with a gigolo. Awesome.
Jason Bateman plays the factory owner -- that, we already knew. We also knew that the amazing
Kristen Wiig is playing the wife, and
Mila Kunis another employee. The new info is that
Clifton Collins, Jr. has joined the cast as the maiming victim, and
Ben Affleck as an ambulance-chasing lawyer who, I'd imagine, wants to milk Bateman's character for all he's worth. No word on who's playing the gigolo.
I got pelted with poop for praising
Mike Judge's last movie, the largely direct-to-DVD
Idiocracy, the
first time I wrote about this project, but I stand by comments. It would have been easy for Judge to do
Office Space 2, but it's been gratifying to watch him go in some even more offbeat directions instead.
Posted Jun 5th 2008 1:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Deals, 20th Century Fox
There have always been those great Hollywood stories about how people got their big break. We all know the one about
Lana Turner being discovered in a drugstore, and
Steven Spielberg sneaking onto the lot in his Dad's suit (even though it
never happened). But, how about the guy who's famous for writing a song about 'F**king Matt Damon'?
Variety reports that
Wayne McClammy has been hired to direct the comedy
Cool School for 20th Century Fox.
Up until now, McClammy was best known as one of the writers behind the original
comedy song with
Sarah Silverman and
Matt Damon. But, he was also responsible for the slightly less funny
response from
Jimmy Kimmel and
Ben Affleck. McClammy was a *
writer for
Jimmy Kimmel Live and worked as a director for
The Sarah Silverman Show. Other than a few comedy shorts, McClammy has mainly worked in TV, and
School will be his feature film debut.
Cool School centers on a group of ad-men in their 30's who feel like they have become out of touch in their middle age. The group is shuttled off to high school in hopes of learning how to be 'cool'. The story was written by
Derek Guiley and
David Schneiderman and casting will begin as soon as a final polish on the script has been completed.
*Correction: McClammy was a field director for Jimmy Kimmel LivePosted May 28th 2008 10:32AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, New Line, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
Moviefone has debuted the trailer for
He's Just Not That Into You, due in theatres October 24th (watch it above or over on
Moviefone in HD). While it's a charming trailer, I cannot help but feel that every man in the world is actually really into one or more of these actresses (especially Scarlett Johansson) so it automatically loses credibility. Plus, it's a movie based on
a dating guide. How will that work out? Happily ever after, I suspect.
The star power in this movie is pretty impressive, though! It was indelibly associated in my mind with Drew Barrymore (who I like; she is impossible not to). I had no idea it boasted the likes of Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, and Justin Long. That speaks well for it, actually, as Connelly especially tends to do the more serious scripts. And I really want to see Affleck make a major comeback, so I hope his mere presence in a romantic comedy doesn't condemn him to
Gigli level again. What do you think -- perfect date movie or too reminiscent of real life to be amusing? I think I am in the latter category, myself. The scene with Barrymore at the end of the trailer is like every interaction I have ever had with the opposite sex. Sad, but true.
Posted Apr 3rd 2008 10:02AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Casting, Deals, RumorMonger, Fandom
But now the big question still remains: Will he get to take his shirt off? According to
Entertainment Weekly,
Matthew McConaughey was offered the leading role of Thomas Magnum in Universal Pictures' adaptation of
Magnum P.I. In fact, right this very second (and possibly shirtless) McConaughey is said to be reading over the script from writer-director Rawson Thurber (
Dodgeball); trying to decide whether or not he'd be a good fit. For those youngsters in the crowd,
Magnum P.I. was a boss '80s TV show about a Navy Seal-turned-detective who liked Hawaiian shirts and big, porn mustaches.
This isn't the first we've heard of McConaughey and
Magnum P.I. All the way
back in January of 2007, he was rumored to be up for the part -- a role that, at one point, was going to Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Vince Vaughn. And ... what about Tom Selleck? Will he get to play a part? Probably not. Back in 2006 (oh yes, this project has been lingering in the halls of Hollywood detention for quite some time), Selleck called the movie idea "stupid" and said
he'd take no part in it. Heck yeah, Tom! Tell it like it is. But if they were to move ahead on this, I like McConaughey out of everyone. Keep in mind, they'll update it to a point where the only traces from the old TV show come in character names and cheesy Hawaiian shirts.
What do you think about a
Magnum P.I. movie? Keep it or kill it?
Posted Mar 29th 2008 1:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Comedy, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking
So it appears as if
Sacha Baron Cohen is still causing quite the mess here in the United States as his alter-ego Brüno; getting kicked out of airports, showing up to an Easter play at a church in Kansas wearing chains, and the list goes on. First off, for those not familiar with Brüno, he's a gay Austrian fashion reporter who's wildly flamboyant in every way. The film, which marks Cohen's follow-up to
Borat, will be called (deep breath) ...
Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt. Needless to say, I cannot wait to hear my local news coughing up that title when it comes time for the weekend box office figures.
But back to
Ben Affleck. Seems Mike Walker from the National Enquirer called into Howard Stern last week saying that Affleck called friend Sarah Silverman following an interview with Brüno. Affleck was told Brüno was a "very famous openly gay fashion journalist," but that didn't stop Ben from admitting it was "the weirdest sit-down he has ever had with a reporter." Eventually, Silverman coughed up his name and only then did Ben realize he'd been had. Part of me doesn't believe this at all, because I can only imagine the hoops one would need to jump through in order to get an actual sit-down interview with Ben Affleck. Then again, perhaps Cohen's crew have perfected their little joke by now. Either way, I'm sure Affleck will be making an appearance in the film.
For more, as well as a brief video of Brüno's crew dancing in an airport, head over to
Slashfilm.
Posted Mar 11th 2008 11:32AM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Drama, Thrillers, Deals, Disney, Scripts, Miramax
After the success of the crime drama,
Gone Baby Gone, I guess
Ben Affleck and everyone else involved figured why mess with a good thing, and jumped right into another project based on a gritty crime novel. The Hollywood Reporter
announced that Affleck is reuniting with his producing (and writing) partner Sean Bailey for T
he Blade Itself. The two will be producing the flick along with Miramax for Bailey's Ideology Films.
Miramax owns the film rights to Marcus Sakey's crime novel about two childhood friends.
The Blade Itself centers on Evan and Danny, two kids from the 'mean streets' of Chicago. After a botched pawn shop robbery, Evan serves hard time and Danny turns to the straight and narrow. Seven years later, Evan is out and comes looking for Danny for payback. Using their past ties as a bargaining chip, Evan tries to drag Danny back into their partnership.
Back in October, Sakey himself had
announced that it was Affleck and Matt Damon who would be producing. But it looks like there have been a few changes, since it is now Bailey and Affleck in charge. Bailey recently scored a first look deal with Disney for Ideology Films, and in the tradition of keeping it in the family, they will also produce the
Jennifer Garner film,
Sabbatical.
Aaron Stockard, who also co-wrote
Gone with Affleck, has been hired to adapt the script. I can't see them making many changes, but something tells me that with these two in charge, The Windy City will most likely be transformed into Bean Town. Just call it a hunch.
Posted Feb 26th 2008 10:02AM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Fandom, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
I guess hearing musical numbers about different celebrities f**king each other is going to be all the rage for the next little while. On the heels of the highly successful
Sarah Silverman/Matt Damon gag, and the only slightly less funny revenge song courtesy of Silverman's boyfriend
Jimmy Kimmel and Ben Affleck, comes a
contribution from Seth Rogen and
Elizabeth Banks from the set of
Zack and Miri make a Porno (courtesy of Quick Stop Entertainment)
It's pretty much the same jokes as the other two videos but with one notable difference; this time there is not a 'bleep' to be heard. Honestly, maybe that's what's missing; sometimes a well-placed bleep can almost be funnier than the naughty word itself. But, this is marketing for a
Kevin Smith movie after all, so get ready for some truly crude lyrics; funny, but kind of gross. As for the cameos? Don't go looking for any A-listers in this video, but
Jason Mewes,
Traci Lords and
Craig Robinson all make a brief appearance (but I guess they kind of had too since they are in the movie after all).
Smith and company are still shooting the romantic comedy about two childhood friends who get into the porn business. Rehearsal finished back in January and now Smith has begun shooting on location in *
Chicago.
Zack and Miri make a Porno is scheduled for release later this year. As for this 'I'm F**cking ____", craze, I can only image who might come up with one next? Hilary Clinton is f**king Obama? Not to mention, it is getting just a little less funny each time -- where is the next '
D**k in a Box' when you really need it?
*Correction: Smith is shooting in PittsburghPosted Feb 12th 2008 9:02AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Independent, Music & Musicals, Romance, ThinkFilm, Warner Independent Pictures, New on DVD, Home Entertainment, Miramax, Cinematical Indie
My pick of the week is
Ben Affleck's directorial debut,
Gone Baby Gone, which far exceeded my expectations. Casting his younger brother
Casey Affleck as a savvy private eye investigating a child kidnapping might have been a disaster, but Casey turned in an exceptional performance, as did
Amy Ryan as the missing girl's severely damaged mother. The film has a handsome, autumnal look, and the surfeit of close-ups should make it ideal on the small screen.
Miramax's DVD includes an audio commentary by Ben Affleck and his co-scenarist Aaron Stoddard, behind the scenes footage, a casting featurette, deleted scenes, and an extended ending. (See
Erik's DVD review here)
Our own
James Rocchi said that
In the Shadow of the Moon is "one of the best science documentaries in recent memory, and also much more." Directed by
David Sington, the film features new interviews with the surviving Apollo astronauts and archival footage of the moon missions. I'm a space nut from way back and I'm sorry I missed this in theaters, but I plan to sit very close to the television when I watch this. ThinkFilm's DVD appears to be a bare-bones edition.
In the mood for a coming-of-age tale from Australia?
Introducing the Dwights might tickle your fancy. Revolving around a "somewhat eccentric family" of entertainers,
Erik Davis called it "sweet, quirky, sincere." (You'll have to read his review again to be reminded why he was left blushing at one point.) Warner Independent's DVD doesn't appear to have any additional features of note, so a rental might do the trick.
Other indie releases include
John Turturro's musical drama
Romance & Cigarettes, with an audio commentary and deleted scenes, and comedy / drama / romance
Blue State, featuring
Anna Paquin and
Breckin Meyer.
Posted Feb 5th 2008 12:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Casting, Deals, New Line, Movie Marketing
If you ask me, it's about time that
Michael Douglas got the chance to play with his reputation as a
lady killer and, frankly, a bit of a hound. ComingSoon recently got the chance to speak with
The Spiderwick Chronicles director Mark Waters and managed to score
a little casting scoop for his next project,
The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. According to their sources, Douglas is in talks to appear in the comedy alongside
Matthew McConaughey.
The story centers on "a womanizer (McConaughey) who attends the wedding of his younger brother and bride. There, he's haunted by several old flames, including the bride's best friend. Douglas will play "Uncle Wayne, a '70s playboy, who was his mentor and he wears Bob Evans shades and guides him (McConaughey) around the ghost world". The cast also includes
Jennifer Garner as one of McConaughey's exes,
Lacy Chabert (
Black Christmas) as the bride, as well as
Anne Archer and
Emma Stone (
Superbad).
Originally, the film was set to star
Ben Affleck with
Betty Thomas directing. The production hit a snag when Disney shut the film down and Affleck walked away from the film. Maybe Affleck just wasn't looking forward to all the conversations at home on the subject of
previous girlfriends. McConaughey then rode in to save the day and now the film is back on. Plus, I have to agree with Waters when he says that, "There's something great about Matthew. He has an aspect of him that he can get away with murder with women. He's the kind of guy where women are apologizing to him when he breaks up with them, because he's so charming".
Girlfriends Past will start shooting February 19th in Boston and will hit theaters sometime in 2009.
Posted Dec 23rd 2007 6:32PM by Ryan Stewart
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Thrillers, Fandom, Home Entertainment, 12 Days of Cinematicalmas, Retro Cinema
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Who is Charlize Theron to know which of her movies are good or not? During a recent interview in Esquire magazine, the actress had the following to say about Reindeer Games, one of her early films: "That was a bad, bad, bad movie. But even though the movie might suck, I got to work with John Frankenheimer. I wasn't lying to myself -- that's why I did it. I mean, he directed The Manchurian Candidate, which is like the movie of all movies." Okay, let me stop you right there, Charlize. Have you actually seen The Manchurian Candidate? It's a movie where Janet Leigh plays a Chinese workman. Frankenheimer was an artist of the absurd, and sure, Reindeer Games doesn't work on traditional dramatic levels -- you don't care a lick about what happens to any of the characters -- but you can't watch that movie and not know that the director is completely, deliberately trying to screw with your head. Frankenheimer knew exactly what genre conventions he was working with in this film, and he decided to explode them.
In his negative review, Roger Ebert noted that "just a nudge and the movie would fall over into self-parody and maybe work better. But I fear it is essentially serious." Fear not, Roger. This is not a serious movie, but yes, it does require the characters to act serious, because they think they're in a Christmas-themed gangster plot -- how else should they act? For those who haven't had the pleasure, Reindeer Games opens in prison as Rudy (Ben Affleck) is about to be released from prison. His cell mate, Nick, has an ultra-hot girlfriend on the outside -- yeah, right -- and after Nick is stabbed to death, Rudy upon his release decides to tell the girl he is Nick. She won't know the difference. Turns out the girl, played by Charlize, has a crazy criminal brother played by Gary Sinise who has designs on Nick-Rudy. And that's only the beginning. The movie ultimately pulls rug after rug out from under us, becoming more ludicrous in the last thirty minutes than any serious-minded movie in crime picture history.
Continue reading Retro Cinema: Reindeer Games
Posted Dec 18th 2007 3:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Drama, Casting
With this latest bit of news, one things for certain:
Kevin Macdonald is hurting when he should be playing.
State of Play already lost Brad Pitt
in November. He was having a slew of issues with the director, and decided to back out of his deal, which instigated Universal to make some threats of legal action. It was particularly crappy timing for the project, since it was set to begin filming when the actor bailed. Word
later came that Pitt wasn't happy with the script, and thought it needed work. Presumably not interested in waiting the strike out, Universal disagreed, so they turned to wooing
Russell Crowe to replace Brad.
The production will now begin in January, and
Variety reports that star #2 is backing out --
Ed Norton. This departure, however, is because of a clash in start times --
State of Play now interferes with Norton's other project,
Tim Blake Nelson's Leaves of Grass. So Eddie is out, and Universal already has its replacement --
Ben Affleck. So, as it stands now, Ben will be the "fast-rising politician who is caught up in a murder conspiracy. Crowe will play a journalist who leads a newspaper's investigation into the killing. He's conflicted in that he once ran the politician's campaigns, and he is now romancing his estranged wife." Still on the cast list, at least for now --
Helen Mirren,
Rachel McAdams,
Robin Wright Penn, and
Jason Bateman. There is the possibility that Mirren will be the next to go -- she has a potential conflict with the upcoming
Love Ranch, but they're trying to work things out.
So I ask you: Should
State of Play frolic away, or is it time to shelve the project?
Posted Dec 4th 2007 12:02PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Lists
The current issue of
Entertainment Weekly features a cover story on "The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood." Last week,
Monika commented on that list, stating that it's not as fun reading about smarties as it is reading about the dummies. Well, in response to
EW, New York's
Daily News ran its own list of the "Top 50 Dumbest People in Hollywood." Not surprisingly, sitting in the number one spot is
Lindsay Lohan. An obvious choice since she's been the subject of more bad decisions -- at least that the media has concentrated on -- than any other celeb out there. Well, maybe
Britney Spears (shockingly far down at #14) has made more. But Lohan has also made bad career decisions in addition to her bad personal-life decisions. Go ahead and sift through
Cinematical's
coverage of Lohan throughout the past year or two; I challenge you to find one smart idea she's had (entering rehab doesn't count).
Since this is a tabloid, though, the
Daily News' list is hardly about career smarts. Most of the people on the list are there because of their scandals, controversies and apparently unforgivable, ongoing problems. That is how
Shia LaBeouf -- who should be on
EW's list more than
Ben Affleck should -- can be considered dumb, despite the fact that his public drunkenness arrest has hardly dented his career. Same goes for
Russell Crowe, whose
phone-throwing incident was more than two years ago. Other celebs are easily agreed with: former Oscar hopeful
Courtney Love; almost-threw-it-all-away-at-the-beginning actress
Vanessa Hudgens;
K-Fed (only #38?). Check out the rest
here.
[
via Fark.com]
Posted Nov 29th 2007 2:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Lists
We always hear about the dumb Hollywood types -- whether they make a shockingly inane statement, air their personal laundry for all to witness, or wreak havoc on the world with their bad boy/girl ways. But we don't always hear something about the smarties in Hollywood. I guess it's just not as much fun. But have no fear --
Entertainment Weekly has just released their list of
The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. Take a second to imagine who you'd include, and then continue below.
It's a list of varied rationale -- some smarts come into what they studied in college, or the politics they champion, while others seem to be there just for their success. But shock of all shocks -- if you head over there to check it out, the first face you'll see is
Ben Affleck. I bet in the times of JLo and
Gigli, no one ever thought he'd make it onto a smartest-of-Hollywood list -- especially over so many others. As for the others, it should come as no surprise that there are many more behind-the-scenes names than actors and actresses. You'll spot people like
Diablo Cody,
Gustavo Santaolalla, and
Thelma Schoonmaker as well as big-names like
Cate Blanchett,
Angelina Jolie, and
Ben Stiller.
It's interesting. I'm not sure I agree with the spin, but these are definitely a collection of successful people. We'll just have to wait and see if they can hold onto these smarts in the years to come. And shouldn't the true test come in the form of an appearance on
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? But what do you think of the list? Do you agree with the placement? Who should be taken off? Who should be added?
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