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After.Life
By RONNIE SCHEIB

An Anchor Bay Films release of an Anchor Bay Films and Lleju Prods. presentation of a Plum Pictures production in association with Constellation Entertainment. Produced by Brad Michael Gilbert, William O. Perkins III, Celine Rattray. Executive producers, Cooper Richey, Catherine Kellner, Edwin L. Marshall, James Swisher. Co-producers, Joy Goodwin, Riva Marker. Directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo. Screenplay, Wojtowicz-Vosloo, Paul Vosloo, Jakub Korolczuk.

Anna Taylor - Christina Ricci
Eliot Deacon - Liam Neeson
Paul Coleman - Justin Long
Jack - Chandler Canterbury
Beatrice Taylor - Celia Weston
Tom Peterson - Josh Charles

An elegant exercise in horror, "After.Life" spins a strong visual web around its thesps -- Liam Neeson, magisterially creepy as a self-appointed angel of death, and a pallid Christina Ricci, suitably otherworldly as a woman who awakens after an auto accident, only to be told by Neeson's mortician that she has died. But the potent imagery never meshes with narrative logic in Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's first feature, promising more than it can deliver. Opening April 9, this uneasy fusion of art-film aesthetics, metaphysical musings and timeworn genre conventions will prove less compelling a draw than Ricci's un-self-conscious nudity.

Eliot Deacon (Neeson), a very special undertaker ensconced in a posh manor/funeral parlor, not only speaks to the dead as he prepares them for burial, but apparently hears them as well. Deacon's meticulous movements and calm demeanor stand in sharp relief to the frantic behavior of his latest "corpse," Anna (Ricci), whom he is ostensibly keeping prisoner for her own good (echoes of Ricci's legendary chained-to-a-radiator role in "Black Snake Moan"), until she can accept the notion she has passed over.

The action then seesaws between Anna's slasher-film-style escape attempts and moments of utter resignation as she submits to Deacon's funeral preparations. Throughout, Wojtowicz-Vosloo deftly contrasts Deacon's precise, ritualized gestures and royal composure with Anna's skittering uncertainty. Meanwhile, Anna's b.f., Paul (Justin Long), races around like a headless chicken, his reactions swinging wildly from paranoia to grief.

Even before she lands on Deacon's slab, there is something strangely frenetic about Anna, oddly mute one minute, hysterical the next. The escalating misunderstanding that leads to her car wreck plays like an overcranked soap opera, complete with thunder-and-lightning accompaniment.

But on a plot level, few of the psychodrama elements make much sense. The psychological profile proffered by the script (co-written by the helmer and her husband, Paul Vosloo) presents a fearful, withdrawn woman terrified of commitment -- or, in Deacon's moral summation, someone more afraid of life than of death. But Anna's survivalist responses suggest the opposite: She stands with knife upraised, waiting for Deacon to turn the corner, or desperately phones for help as he menacingly mounts the stairs.

Pic's relentless pileup of standard-issue red herrings, "gotcha!" reversals and suspenseful cross-cutting seldom prove either titillating or satisfyingly campy; indeed, they seem to weary Anna as much as they do the viewer.

With its inexplicable apparitions and vibrantly hued weirdness, Wojtowicz-Vosloo's style adapts more cozily to the realm of dreams. As rendered by lenser Anastas N. Michos with admirable clarity, vivid portents swirl around Anna well before her car crash -- from the blood-red water spiraling down a drain to the overhead lights inexplicably shutting down as she walks a deserted corridor. Against Ford Wheeler's stark production design, Anna's cherry-red slip speaks more eloquently than any line of dialogue.

Rounding out the cast are Celia Weston as Anna's coldly selfish mom, scooting about in her electric wheelchair like a malevolent spider, and Chandler Canterbury as the solemn little boy who serves as Deacon's necrophiliac disciple.

Camera (color, widescreen), Anastas N. Michos; editor, Niven Howe; music, Paul Haslinger; production designer, Ford Wheeler; costume designer, Luca Mosca; sound (Dolby Digital), Jerry Stein; supervising sound editor, Coll Anderson; re-recording mixers, Dominick Tavella, Anderson; casting, Matthew Lessall. (In 2009 AFI Film Festival, Los Angeles.) Reviewed at Magno Review 2, New York, April 1, 2010. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 103 MIN.

Taylor Kitsch ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "The Covenant") will star in the Hasbro game turned action adventure film "Battleship" for Universal Pictures says Heat Vision.

The story follows a massive Naval adventure across the seas, in the skies and over land as the armed forces of our planet fight for survival against an alien water-bound armada.

Kitsch will play a "wildly spirited" Naval commander named Alex Hopper who is much more a sailor than a politician. Jeremy Renner was previously linked to the role.

Jon and Erich Hoeber penned the script. Peter Berg, who serves as executive producer on the series "Friday Night Lights" in which Kitsch stars, is directing.

Carl Erik Rinsch's latest online short has sparked a bidding war for the feature film rights reports Heat Vision.

Rinsch is a commercials director who became something of an overnight online celebrity not long ago when it was revealed that Ridley Scott was lining him up to make his feature directorial debut on an "Alien" prequel, a film project Scott has since taken over.

Rinsch continued his non-film work and participated in the high-profile Phillips' 21:9 short-film experiment in which five filmmakers created their own short films using the same piece of dialogue.

Rinsch created "The Gift", a Moscow-set sci-fi piece involving a box, a robotic manservant, and a Bourne-esque bike/cop car chase. On the day it came out, Warner Bros. and Fox became amongst the studios in competition for the film rights.

Or are they? /Film has added to the news, saying that the short will actually serve as a prequel to "Small" - a full-on feature film that Rinsch has already written and designed.

The original short in its entirety can be watched below:

Parallel Lines - The Gift, by Carl Erik Rinsch

"Gattaca" and "Lord of War" filmmaker Andrew Niccol will pen and direct the sci-fi thriller "I'm.Mortal" which New Regency is in negotiations with Strike Entertainment to pick up reports Heat Vision.

The story is set in the near future where medical science has managed to halt the ageing process. As a result time has become the new currency with the rich essentially able to become immortal.

The action follows a poor young man who inherits a fortune of time, but too late to stop his mother from dying. He soon ends up on the run from a corrupt police force called the 'time keepers'.

Marc Abraham and Eric Newman will produce. Filming kicks off this Summer in Los Angeles.

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"District 9" star Sharlto Copley is in talks to join the sci-fi novel adaptation "I Am Number Four" for DreamWorks Pictures says Heat Vision.

Based on the novel series by James Frey and Jobie Hughes, the story follows nine aliens who flee to Earth disguised as teenagers. The main character (Alex Pettyfer) soon learns the enemy alien race that caused them to abandon their home planet are still hunting them.

Copley plays a former member of the alien world's serving class who has become the adult guardian and mentor to the titular No. 4.

D.J. Caruso directs from a script by Al Gough and Miles Millar. Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg are producing.

Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson will re-team on "Lunatic at Large", a film based on a story by novelist Jim Thompson ("The Killer Inside Me") says Production Weekly.

Set in mid 50's New York City, the story follows an aggressive ex-carnival worker and the shy but attractive woman he picks up in a bar. Their night soon has some strange elements to it including a spooky mountain lodge, a car chase, and various portents of doom. A nighttime carnival sequence becomes a big set piece.

Thompson penned a treatment of the film for filmmaker Stanley Kubrick back in the 50's with whom he had worked twice before on "The Killing" and "Paths of Glory". That treatment wasn't discovered until after Kubrick's death in 1999.

Scribe Stephen Clarke has penned the script which expands on that treatment while Chris Palmer will direct. Rockwell and Johansson both star in the upcoming "Iron Man" sequel.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118017840.html?categoryid=1237&cs=1

Ken F. Levin has fingers 'Crossed'
Producer independently financing horror comicbook adaptation
By MARC GRASER

"Kick-Ass" is turning into a model for producers to get comicbook pics on the bigscreen.

Ken F. Levin has enlisted Michael De Luca, Jason Netter and Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street Prods to help independently finance and produce an adaptation of Garth Ennis' apocalyptic horror comicbook series "Crossed" before shopping it to distributors.

"Crossed," published by Avatar Press and drawn by Jacen Burrows, revolves around a group of survivors in a world where most people have been possessed by evil incarnate and those who haven't hide in order to avoid being murdered.

Ennis has already penned a version of the script that is being shown to directors.

"It turns out Garth writes as well for film as he does for comics, which is saying a great deal indeed," Netter said in a statement. "Garth's screenplay has just knocked all of us out."

Ennis is a high-profile scribe in the comicbook biz who breathed new life into the "Punisher" series for Marvel and created "The Boys," an edgy take on a group of vigilantes who punish superheroes when they misbehave. That property is set up at Sony. He also created "Preacher," for DC Comics label Vertigo, which also is being adapted by Sony.

De Luca will produce through his Sony-based shingle, while Netter will shepherd through Kickstart Comic Art Studios, and Dana Brunetti will oversee for Trigger Street, which will be instrumental in locking down financing.

Levin and Kickstart are also producing "The Boys," "Preacher" and "The Red Star," also based on a graphic novel.

"Kick-Ass" was produced independently by director Matthew Vaughn when studios rejected the $28 million project. It generated heat and quickly landed distribution by Lionsgate when footage was shown off at Comic-Con last summer. It bows this weekend.

"Crossed" has been one of Avatar Press' biggest sellers, according to William Christensen, founder and publisher of the indie label. The series was recently compiled in a trade paperback.

John McNaughton, who made a splash on the horror scene with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer in the '80s, is in various stages of development on two projects.

He's circling Sweet for Peter Newman Productions. Nicholas Hoult (Clash of the Titans) appears to be the front runner for the role of Steve, an average teenager who happens to get kidnapped and raped by two delusional housewives. Wowzer. Considered more drama than horror (but with a plot like that...), the film was scripted by John Wohlbruck.

Then there's The Harvest for Elephant Eye Films. Said to straddle the line between a horror film and a psychological thriller, this one concerns a young doctor and nurse try to adjust to a new life when their child is born with a debilitating disease. How far are they willing to go in order to save their only son's life? McNaughton's at work on this one with writer Stephen Lancellotti.

No telling which film he'll do next, but we'll let you know when he's locked into something!

Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential," "Wonder Boys") is in talks to direct the story of Bill Anthony Jakob for Fox Searchlight says Deadline New York.

Jakob was a 36-year-old bank security guard who turned up in a small Missouri town posing as a law enforcement officer and led a crackdown that cleaned up a scourge of meth labs.

His duplicity was undone when a reporter did a quick Google search and discovered his true identity. Clark Gregg ("Choke," "What Lies Beneath") will pen the script for the currently untitled project.

Disney has greenlit a second Monsters, Inc film and will release it in North America on November 16, 2012.

Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross made the announcement to an invited audience of reporters on the lot in Burbank last night [22].

Ross presented the upcoming slate in his first appearance in front of the press, adding that the studio expected to greenlight Prom, a high school film reminiscent of the films of John Hughes and Cameron Crowe, and a Muppets film based on a screenplay by Jason Segel and Nick Stoller that would introduce a new character, Walter.

Ross, personable throughout, emphasised the need for focusing on global customer demand and the importance of exploiting properties across multiple platforms.

He referred several times to Disney's high command "dream team" and mentioned Scottish media hotshot MT Carney, who was confirmed this week as Disney's president of marketing, and recently appointed president of production Sean Bailey. Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, DreamWorks' Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider, and the animation gurus Ed Catmull and John Lasseter also earned praise.

Ross showed a reel of the 2010 tentpoles, led by summer releases The Prince Of Persia out on May 28, Toy Story 3 out June 18 and The Sorcerer's Apprentice out on July 16, as well as the December 17 release of Tron: Legacy, which Bailey is producing.

Pirates Of The Caribbean 4, scheduled to open in summer 2011, will commence shooting in London and Hawaii in about six weeks, and Disney has set a June 15, 2012, release date for Pixar's Brave.

Ross also made time to show an incomplete trailer for the racehorse sports drama Secretariat starring Diane Lane and John Malkovich, which opens in September. "The tentpoles in our business are a very important part," he said, "but they cannot be the only part."

On that note while Ross declined to comment on the Miramax sale, he did say that until it was finalised a small team was working on marketing materials as if in preparation for a release through Disney. These include The Switch starring Jennifer Anniston and Jason Bateman, and the animated fantasy Gnomeo & Juliet, which will go out through the Touchstone label on 2011. Talks are ongoing over who will release Julie Taymor's The Tempest.

Touchstone will handle most of the DreamWorks films and further details on that company's 2011 slate will be forthcoming shortly. The overall plan is to focus on eight to ten live-action releases a year, four tentpoles, and one or two animations. Ross also referred to "targeted tentpoles" like Prom, which did not necessarily have four-quadrant appeal but would engage a specific demographic in a significant way.

He concluded with some broad strokes in response to questions, reaffirming Disney's commitment to internal financing and a lack of interest in collaborating with outside sources. He said Disney was "aggressively" ramping up local productions, and also hinted that the studio would continue to collapse release windows – the cause of near revolt among UK exhibitors over Alice In Wonderland earlier in the year – "when it makes sense for the market."

Philco Films is set to make three films based on scripts by the late legendary film-maker Stanley Kubrick: Civil War drama Downslope; Scarlett Johansson-starrer Lunatic At Large, and a TV series called God Fearing Man about a renowned bank robber.

Downslope will be a massive $100m project set during the American Civil War following the activities of Mosby's Rangers involving spies and hanging on both sides of the war. Kubrick wrote the script based on a short story by renowned historian Shelby Foote.

"We are approaching A-list directors for the project because it is an A-list script," says Steve Lanning, co-founder of Philco Films alongside longtime Kubrick collaborator Philip Hobbs (Kubrick's son-in-law who also was a producer on Full Metal Jacket). "There are a couple of leading roles which we hope will be taken by A-list actors, but we need the director first."

The plan is to shoot the film next year in Europe because Philco has already had a lot of interested from European financiers in the project and because the original US settings for the drama have changed dramatically, so shooting in Europe could work as a replacement.

With Steven Spielberg and Robert Redford's Lincoln projects currently in development, Lanning was convinced now is a good time to work on a period film.

The second project on their slate is Lunatic At Large, based on a treatment written by pulp writer Jim Thompson, which Kubrick commissioned back in the 1950s, but never made after he was sidetracked by the success of Spartacus.

Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson are already attached to star in the project, which will tell the story of an ex-carnival worker and a barfly who strike up a relationship — although there are suspicions that one of them is an escapee from a mental asylum.

"We are debating whether to make it out of the US or Europe at the moment as there is interest from both sides," Lanning tells Screen. British producer Charles Finch (Ghosts, Mutant Chronicles) and US producer Edward R Pressman (Wall Street) were originally attached to produce the project a few years back, but have since dropped out.

Meanwhile, Philco is due to go into production later this year with God Fearing Man, which will be a $12m TV series about the famous safebreaker Herbert Emerson Wilson who stole $16m from banks in the early 20th century.

Philco are looking for a leading director and cast for the project, which they hope to shoot in Europe, most likely Germany due to the tax breaks. They will also look to work with co-producers from Europe and either Canada or Australia.

British writer Stephen R Clarke, son of renowned sitcom writer Roy Clarke, is adapting the scripts for all three projects.

THE LAST AIRBENDER 3rd Official FINAL Movie Trailer in HD 04/23/10

Dobar će biti taj Airbender, ali ne vjerujem da će dostići kvalitet najboljih Shyamalanovih ostvarenja.

For The First Time, Douglas Trumbull Publicly Discusses His Work On Terrence Malick's TREE OF LIFE!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44812

Dwayne Johnson has signed on to star in and Simon West to direct the $35m action thriller Protection for IM Global.

Production is set to begin in New Mexico in autumn. Brandon Noonan's screenplay is about a mercenary Mexico City security operative who must smuggle a high-ranking judge's daughter and top advisor across the border.

Newly arrived IM Global president of sales and distribution Jonathan Deckter and the team will be talking to buyers about the project in Cannes. IM Global and CAA are co-representing North American rights.

IM Global CEO Stuart Ford will produce alongside Robert Lawrence, and Gordon Gray and Marc Ciardi of Mayhem Pictures. Brian Kavanaugh Jones is serving as executive producer.

"Dwayne is poised to consolidate his position as one of the planet's top action stars over the next few years," Ford said. "Meanwhile Simon is a proven commodity when it comes to studio level action pics. Add to that a pulsating storyline, which is very much grounded in current events, and I think we have a potential smash hit movie".

Rose Byrne (TV's "Damages") and Chris O'Dowd ("Pirate Radio," "Dinner for Schmucks") have joined the cast of the Judd Apatow-produced untitled Kristen Wiig project at Universal Pictures reports Variety.

Wiig stars as a maid of honor begrudgingly competing with a bridesmaid (Byrne) for the attention of the bride (Maya Rudolph). O'Dowd will play the male lead.

Paul Feig (TV' s "Arrested Development," "Nurse Jackie") directs from a script by Wiig and Annie Mumolo. The project is scheduled to hit theatres on May 12th 2011.

Summit Entertainment has acquired most worldwide rights to The Impossible, a film that will star Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, with Juan Antonio Bayona directing a script by Sergio G. Sanchez.  The film is based on a true story that took place during the tsunami that hit the coast of Thailand in 2004.  Summit acquired all rights but Spain, and those were dealt to Warner Bros.

The Impossible is being co-produced by Spanish production companies Apaches Entertainment and Telecinco Cinema. Production begins in August. It's Summit's second straight acquisition of a film that stars Watts, after the company acquired domestic rights to Fair Game, the Doug Liman film that premieres in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Watts plays outed CIA agent Valerie Plame and Sean Penn plays her husband, Joseph Wilson. Summit will sell  foreign on both films at Cannes.

Alice Braga, Ciaran Hinds and Toby Jones have joined the cast of the exorcism drama "The Rite" for New Line reports Screen Daily.

Based on the novel by Matt Baglio, the film follows a young American seminary student (Colin O'Donoghue) who has a crisis of faith but ultimately re-finds it after attending a Vatican exorcism school and encountering demonic forces.

Anthony Hopkins will play a mentor style character, an unorthodox priest and expert in exorcisms.

Mikael Hafstrom ("1408") directs from a script by Michael Petroni. Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson will produce.

Swedish director Niels Arden Oplev ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo") is set to direct an adaptation of Jennifer Egan's third novel "The Keep" for Rogue Pictures says Empire Online.

Ehren Kruger ("The Ring," "The Brothers Grimm") penned the script back in 2006, a gothic tale about two estranged cousins who reunite after twenty years to renovate a dilapidated old castle in Germany. Their efforts unleash creepy and dangerous consequences for all.

The project is not to be confused with F. Paul Wilson's novel of the same name and Michael Mann's 1983 film adaptation of that property.

Over two decades after their last film together, actor Antonio Banderas and filmmaker Pedro Almodovar will re-team on the "Volver" and "Broken Embraces" director's next project "The Skin I Live In" (La Piel Que Habito) reports The Press Association.

Almodovar told Spanish newspaper El Pais that the film is the "harshest" he's ever done and while it "comes close to the terror genre, something that appeals to me that I've never done, I won't respect any of its rules".

Banderas will play a plastic surgeon bent on revenge. The pair worked together on several of Pedro's earlier efforts including "Matador" and "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown". Their last collaboration was 1990's "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down".

Samuel Le Bihan will star in and Eric Stoltz has signed on to direct the French/American/Indian co-production "Racing Patriots" for Oakdale Pictures, Durendal Media Pictures and Cartel Productions says Variety.

Frederic Helmer's script follows three Grand Prix champs who escaped from France in 1940 and were trained by Winston Churchill's Special Operations Unit as spies and saboteurs. They soon help lead the French resistance during the occupation under the noses of the Gestapo and Nazi terrorism experts.

Le Bihan will topline as Robert Benoist, a WWI flying ace and 1927 World Champion. The other two roles - First Monaco Grand Prix winner William Grover-Williams, and 1937 and 1939 Le Mans winner Jean Pierre Wimille - have yet to be announced.

Dana MacDuff, Brandon MacDuff, Patrice Bonneyrat, Laurent Tolleron, Pierre Morel and Jarratt Carson will produce. Shooting kicks off this winter in France, England and the Czech Republic.

Robert De Niro and several Australian actors look to have joined the cast of the action-thriller "The Killer Elite" for Omnilab Media and Inferno Entertainment reports The Herald Sun and Moviehole.

Based on the Ranulph Fiennes novel 'The Feather Man', Clive Owen will play the senior field operative of a secret group of former British special forces members fighting to protect the families of fellow SAS agents.

Jason Statham plays a former Navy SEAL who comes out of retirement in order to lead a team of assassins in pursuit of them. De Niro has been approached but has not yet been confirmed to play Statham's mentor who has been kidnapped and is being used as leverage against him.

Along with De Niro, the cast will include Dominic Purcell ("Prison Break"), Yvonne Strahovski ("Chuck"), Aden Young ("The Starter Wife"), Ben Mendelsohn ("Vertical Limit"), Lachy Hulme ("The Matrix Revolutions") and Firass Dirani ("Underbelly: The Golden Mile").

Irish director Gary McKendry makes his feature film debut on the project which kicked off filming today in Melbourne.

Anthony Hopkins is in final negotiations to play the villain in the 3D action feature "Arabian Nights" for Inferno Entertainment and ROAR says Heat Vision.

The period epic is set in a kingdom which has just been overtaken in a coup which killed the King. Aussie hunk Liam Hemsworth ("The Last Song," "Knowing") plays a young commander who enlists the help of Sinbad, Ali Baba and Aladdin to rescue Queen Scheherazade.

Hopkins plays the evil sorcerer Pharotu who killed Sinbad's mermaid lover and is seeking to increase his magical powers.

Chuck Russell will direct from a script he co-wrote with Barry P. Ambrose. Bill Johnson, Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray will produce. Filming is aiming to kick off late Summer.

Michelle Monaghan and Michael Shannon are joining the cast of the Africa-set true story-inspired "Machine Gun Preacher" for Lionsgate reports Deadline Hollywood.

Marc Forster ("Quantum of Solace," "Monster's Ball") will direct the story of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), a former drug-dealing biker tough guy who found God and became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese children who've been kidnapped and pressed into duty as soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army.

Childers established an orphanage to house 200 children, then formed a militia to protect them, recover other kidnapped kids, and dispense outlaw justice on their captors.

Monaghan will play Childers' wife who struggled to keep their family together in Detroit. Shannon is in talks to play his close friend who stayed with his wife while he was away.

Forster co-wrote the script with Jason Keller based on the memoir "Another Man's War". Robbie Brenner, Brad Simpson, Deborah Giarratana, Gary Safady and Craig Chapman are producing. Filming kicks off this Summer.

Hayden Christensen has joined the cast of the David R. Ellis-directed thriller "The Genesis Code" for Myriad Pictures.

Based on John Case's novel, Christensen plays former national security expert Joe Lassiter who is investigating the murder of his only sister and her young son and learns that a religious sect may be involved.

With the help of his sister's friend, the trail leads to an Italian mountain clinic where a terrifying secret experiment has revealed something so threatening to the foundation of the Church - one they'll do anything to keep secret.

Kevin Bernhardt adapted the script. Tove Christensen, Kirk D'Amico, Michael Mailer and Alvaro Longoria will produce.

0th Century Fox has announced a June 24th 2011 release date for "Rise of the Apes", their planned prequel to the "Planet of the Apes" franchise says the trades.

The cautionary tale is set in San Francisco in which "man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy."

Unlike past installments, the apes this time will be CG-animated with WETA Digital handling the effects.

Rupert Wyatt ("The Escapist") directs from a screenplay by Amanda Silver & Rick Jaffa. Both scribes along with Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark will produce.

Having recently been linked to play the main antagonist in DreamWorks' "I Am Number Four", actor Kevin Durand (TV's "Lost," "Robin Hood") is now in negotiations to join "Real Steel" for the same studio reports Variety.

Set in the near future when boxers have been replaced by human-controlled two-ton robots, Hugh Jackman portrays a former boxer-turned-manager who reunites with his estranged son to take his fighter to the championships.

Durand would play the Texan promoter of robot boxing. He and Jackman previously worked together on "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".

The roles would essentially be shot back to back with 'Four' kicking off filming this month and 'Steel' next month. Durand would shoot 'Four' first and then immediately segue into shooting 'Steel'.

Shawn Levy directs the $80 million film which is based on a story by Richard Matheson ("I Am Legend"). Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider will produce.

With a pair of dueling "Three Musketeers" projects headed for fall starts, Paul W.S. Anderson's version has tapped Christoph Waltz, Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans and Madds Mikkelsen for key roles.

Anderson is producing and directing a 3D version of the classic tale, with shooting slated to begin in September. Anderson co-wrote the script with Andrew Davies.

Impact Pictures' Jeremy Bolt and Constantin Film's Robert Kulzer are producing with Constantin financing. Summit's distributing domestically and handling foreign sales.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. signed Doug Liman last week to direct its version of Alexandre Dumas' adventure tale, which is being fast-tracked for a fall production start. "The Three Musketeers" centers on the impetuous D'Artagnan as he joins forces with three veteran musketeers -- Athos, Porthos and Aramis -- to battle the evil Cardinal Richelieu.

Waltz will portray Richelieu and is expected to be shooting on a compressed schedule, as he's also signed for "Water for Elephants." He's also in "The Green Hornet."

Lerman ("Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief") is in talks to portray D'Artagnan. Stevenson ("Rome") has been cast as Porthos and Evans ("Clash of the Titans," "Immortals") as Aramis.

Mikkelsen ("Clash of the Titans") will portray the villainous Comte de Rochefort, and Jovovich will play the spy Milady de Winter.

Mila stupa na prilično opasan teren uzimajući ulogu koju je već igrala Rebeka de Mornej

Colin Farrell and Marion Cotillard are attached to topline David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis," an adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel.

Gregoire Melin's Paris-based Kinology has picked up international sales rights and is presenting the project to buyers for the first time at the Cannes market.

The $20.5 million film is penned by Cronenberg and produced by Portuguese producer Paulo Branco's Alfama Films and Cronenberg's Toronto-based Antenna, in association with Kinology.

The thriller follows a multimillionaire on a 24-hour odyssey across Manhattan. Farrell will play the asset manager who loses all his wealth over the course of one day. Cotillard will play his wife.

Lensing will take place from March to May in Toronto and New York.

"Cosmopolis" will be Cronenberg's follow-up to "A Dangerous Method," which starts shooting this month in Germany with Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen.

DeLillo's acclaimed works include "White Noise" and "Underworld."

Branco last produced "Ashes and Blood," directed by Gallic thesp Fanny Ardant.

At Cannes, Kinology is also launching sales on Finnish fantasy "Rare Exports,"directed by first-timer Jalmari Helander. Melin's sales slate includes Kirsten Dunst-starrer "Upside Down," a $50-million sci-fi romance that is currently shooting in Montreal.

DreamWorks Pictures is pursuing Tim Burton to take a crack at directing a film adaptation of the miniatures game "Monsterpocalypse" says Deadline.

The board game involves battles against a variety of enemy monsters that take place in a metropolis filled with buildings. Game creator Matt Wilson is attached as co-producer.

The project is still in very preliminary stages and is one of several similar projects Dreamworks has on the boil, including the Drew Goddard-penned "Robopocalypse".

Burton meanwhile is committed to other projects with both his long gestating "Dark Shadows" film adaptation and Disney's "Maleficent" on his 'to do' list.

'Universal Soldier IV,' 'Recoil' forge ahead
Shoots on Foresight Unlimited films set for the fall

By Jay A. Fernandez

May 12, 2010, 08:23 AM ET

Updated: May 13, 2010, 05:21 AM ET
CANNES -- Foresight Unlimited is pushing forward with fall shoots for two action thrillers: "Universal Soldier IV" and "Recoil."

"Soldier IV" may reunite Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, who co-starred in the third installment, "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" in 2009. Only this time they would be unleashing their barrages of fists and lead in 3D. Van Damme's deal is still being negotiated.

John Hyams is also returning to direct the project, which is set to begin filming in October.

"Ghost Rider" and "Daredevil" helmer Mark Steven Johnson will direct "Recoil," a $35 million project about a former FBI sniper dragged back into action when his ex-wife is targeted by a deranged sniper. "Recoil" is set to begin filming in November.

Foresight will be selling "Soldier" and "Recoil" at Cannes along with two other new projects, "Flypaper" and "The Ledge," which just wrapped production.

More Cannes coverage    
The suspense drama "The Ledge," written and directed by Matthew Chapman, stars Terrence Howard, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson and Charlie Hunnam in the story of a suicidal man and the traumatized detective who tries to talk him down. Foresight will show footage in its Cannes office.

"Flypaper," which stars Patrick Dempsey, is scheduled to begin filming next month in Louisiana. "The Hangover" scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore wrote the film, which is about a man caught in the middle of two simultaneous robberies as he tries to protect the teller with whom he's secretly in love.
'Universal Soldier IV,' 'Recoil' forge ahead
Shoots on Foresight Unlimited films set for the fall

By Jay A. Fernandez

May 12, 2010, 08:23 AM ET

Updated: May 13, 2010, 05:21 AM ET
CANNES -- Foresight Unlimited is pushing forward with fall shoots for two action thrillers: "Universal Soldier IV" and "Recoil."

"Soldier IV" may reunite Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, who co-starred in the third installment, "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" in 2009. Only this time they would be unleashing their barrages of fists and lead in 3D. Van Damme's deal is still being negotiated.

John Hyams is also returning to direct the project, which is set to begin filming in October.

"Ghost Rider" and "Daredevil" helmer Mark Steven Johnson will direct "Recoil," a $35 million project about a former FBI sniper dragged back into action when his ex-wife is targeted by a deranged sniper. "Recoil" is set to begin filming in November.

Foresight will be selling "Soldier" and "Recoil" at Cannes along with two other new projects, "Flypaper" and "The Ledge," which just wrapped production.

More Cannes coverage    
The suspense drama "The Ledge," written and directed by Matthew Chapman, stars Terrence Howard, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson and Charlie Hunnam in the story of a suicidal man and the traumatized detective who tries to talk him down. Foresight will show footage in its Cannes office.

"Flypaper," which stars Patrick Dempsey, is scheduled to begin filming next month in Louisiana. "The Hangover" scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore wrote the film, which is about a man caught in the middle of two simultaneous robberies as he tries to protect the teller with whom he's secretly in love.

CANNES -- Media 8 Entertainment has recruited Kurt Russell to star in its supernatural thriller "Undying."

The neo-noir creeper, penned by "Book of Eli" scribe Gary Whitta and originally titled "Reaper," tells the story of private investigator Virgil Lone, who gets pulled into a surreal underworld when he is hired by the mysterious Delia. Production is scheduled to begin in the fall.

Circle of Confusion ("Saint John of Las Vegas") is producing with Media 8 ("Monster"), which is financing the film along with E-Motion and Queen Nefertari Prods. ("The Inheritance").

Media 8 president Stewart Hall is producing along with Circle of Confusion's David Alpert and Lawrence Mattis and Queen Nefertari's Cynthia Stafford, Lanre Idewu and Jeff Kalligheri. E-Motion principals Karl Richards and Peter Bevan are executive producers.

"Kurt Russell is perfect for this role," Hall said. "He is truly one of the few actors who audiences continually embrace as a real hero."

More Cannes coverage    
Media 8 is handling worldwide sales in Cannes, while Gersh's Jay Cohen and CAA are handling sales for North America.

The CAA-repped Russell most recently starred in "Death Proof," "Poseidon" and "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story."

Whitta, who is repped by UTA and Circle of Confusion, is also writing "The Defenders" for producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman at DreamWorks Studios.

Media 8 produced "The Upside of Anger" and "Running Scared" and will be premiering its animated film "Jackboots on Whitehall," featuring Ewan McGregor, Tom Wilkinson and Alan Cumming, at Cannes.

Marc Platt will produce alongside Gigi Pritzker of OddLot Entertainment and Michel Litvak of Bold Films, marking the first time the two companies will co-produce and co-finance a project since they launched sales entity Affinity International in late 2009.

Affinity International president of worldwide distribution Brian O'Shea arrives on the Croisette with the marquee commercial title Drive, an action thriller starring Ryan Gosling that Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson) will direct.

Marc Platt will produce alongside Gigi Pritzker of OddLot Entertainment and Michel Litvak of Bold Films, marking the first time the two companies will co-produce and co-finance a project since they launched sales entity Affinity International in late 2009.

President of Marc Platt Productions Adam Siegel is also producing and David Lancaster, Gary Michael Walters, Bill Lischak and Linda McDonough will serve as executive producers.

Gosling, also starring in Blue Valentine in Cannes Official Selection, will play a loner Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver and lands in hot water when he helps the ex-con boyfriend of his beautiful neighbour.

Hossein Amini, who earned an Academy Award nomination for The Wings Of The Dove, wrote the screenplay based on the James Sallis crime novel of the same name.

Executive vice-president of business affairs Aaron Michiel represented OddLot, attorney Miles Mogulescu negotiated on behalf of Bold Films, and attorney Karl Austen on behalf of Marc Platt.

WME Global chief Graham Taylor and Alexis Garcia brokered the deal and will handle North American sales.

"We are excited to bring such a high calibre project to our buyers in Cannes," O'Shea said. "With the explosive mixture of a highly commercial script, Marc Platt's producing expertise, the powerful direction of Nicolas Refn and Hollywood's best young actor Ryan Gosling, Drive is one of the hottest new titles at this year's market."

"Drive is a muscular movie that hearkens back to the days of Bullitt and The French Connection, movies where the characters were as real as the action," Platt added. "With Nicolas Winding Refn, the world's most visceral director at the helm, and Ryan Gosling in the leading role, we will achieve what many movies try for, but few manage: an authentic, thrilling action film with a real character at the centre."

Film of bestselling novel by David Nicholls is being produced by Nina Jacobson.

Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess have been confirmed as the lead actors in One Day, Lone Scherfig's first film after An Education, which is being backed by Focus Features and sold here by Focus Features International.

The romance is based on the best-selling novel by David Nicholls and has been scripted by Nicholls himself. Former Disney studio chief Nina Jacobson is producing through her Color Force banner. The film was initially optioned and developed by Focus and Random House Films in association with Film4.

Hathaway, who most recently was seen as The White Queen in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, and Sturgess, who was recently in Peter Weir's The Way Back, will play play two students who meet on July 15, 1988, on the night of their graduation. She is a working class girl of principle and ambition, he is a wealthy charmer. The two become fast friends and the story follows them every July 15 over the following 20 years as their lives encompass love and loss, heartbreak and success, hopes fulfilled and dreams shattered.

Nicholls' first novel Starter For Ten was previously made into a film in 2006 directed by Tom Vaughan and starring James McAvoy and Rebecca Hall.

Wild Bunch will handle international sales on Blonde, an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' imaginary Marilyn Monroe memoir that Andrew Dominik is set to direct.

Wild Bunch will handle international sales on Blonde, an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' imaginary Marilyn Monroe memoir that Andrew Dominik is set to direct. Naomi Watts will star as the legendary icon.

Produced by Anthony Bregman, the $20 million film will shoot in January 2011.

Dominik, who last directed The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, explains his desire to make Blonde: "Why is Marilyn Monroe the great female icon of the 20th Century? For men she is an object of sexual desire that is desperately in need of rescue. For women, she embodies all the injustices visited upon the feminine, a sister, a Cinderella, consigned to live among the ashes."

He added, "I want to tell the story of Norma Jean as a central figure in a fairytale; an orphan child lost in the woods of Hollywood, being consumed by that great icon of the twentieth century."

Wild Bunch's Vincent Maraval told Screen, "We are delighted to finally be working with Andrew Dominik who is one of the most talented young directors in world cinema today. We trust his vision to deliver us a Marilyn biopic which will not be a classic one but a modern Raging Bull which will explore one of the most iconic figures of this century. Whilst the tabloid press has grown in popularity by taking advantage of such tragedies, we at Wild Bunch are seduced by the humanity, the emotion and the tragic destiny of such a powerful character."

The revenge saga is being produced by Open Window Productions.

Paul Schrader will direct revenge saga The Jesuit for Open Window Productions, who are in final talks to sign Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac, Michelle Rodriguez and Paz Vega.

Schrader's screenplay centres on a wrongly imprisoned man who gets out of jail and devises a plan to avenge his wife's murder and rescue his kidnapped sonfrom Mexico.

Jay Cohen of The Gersh Agency packaged the project and will oversee the financing, while Ellen Wander of Film Bridge International is handling worldwide sales.

Open Window Productions' John Morrissey and Santiago Garcia are producing The Jesuit and their next project will be the Spanish language feature Tequila.

Wander's Cannes slate includes the sci-fi thriller UFO to be produced by Hollywood veteran Robert Evans based on the cult ITV series, and the Pierce Brosnan action adventure Ace.

Jonathan Jakubowicz will direct the project about a law enforcement officer who crosses the line.

Inferno Entertainment has boarded international sales on the $20m crime thriller Line Of Fire, which will star Matthew McConaughey and Eva Mendes.

Tommy Lee Jones is in talks to join the story of a law enforcement officer who crosses the line for what he believes to be a noble cause.

His actions lead to his family's abduction, forcing the officer to take on the mafia and his colleagues in order to save his family.

Jonathan Jakubowicz (Secuestro Express) will direct the project, which Inferno and Mandalay Vision are co-financing and is set to begin shooting in New Mexico this autumn.

Rick Schwartz and Mandalay Vision's Celine Rattray are producing and Inferno's Bill Johnson and Jim Siebel serve as executive producers. WME Global is handling North American sales and CAA represents the talent.

Inferno is ramping up for a start of production tomorrow [14] on The Killer Elite starring Jason Statham and Clive Owen, while Anthony Hopkins has joined the cast of the action adventure Arabian Nights.

Inferno International president Kimberly Fox will be looking to complete remaining sales on Joe Carnahan's thriller The Grey and Sundance premiere The Kids Are All Right from Lisa Cholodenko.

Stuart Ford's sales and financing powerhouse is introducing buyers to two hot titles on the Croisette.

Stuart Ford's sales and financing powerhouse IM Global arrives on the Croisette with high-octane duo Safe and The Factory.

The company's new president of sales and distribution Jonathan Deckter will introduce the projects to buyers here. Jason Statham headlines Safe, which is currently in pre-production and centres on a former elite agent who rescues a young Chinese girl and falls foul of the Triads, Russian mafia and corrupt New York authorities when they find a safe-cracking combination.

Boaz Yakin (Remember The Titans) will direct and Lawrence Bender, in town with special screening Countdown To Zero, is producing with Trigger Street Productions.

Completed crime thriller The Factory stars John Cusack as a police officer who abandons all professional restraint after a serial killer hunting streetwalkers mistakenly abducts his teenage daughter.

Warner Bros holds North American rights on the project, which also stars Jennifer Carpenter (Quarantine) and Sonya Walger. Morgan O'Neill directed from a screenplay she co-wrote with Paul A Leyden. Joel Silver produced alongside Susan Downey and David Gambino.

IM Global's Cannes slate of English-language titles includes the $35m Dwayne Johnson action thriller Protection and the $45m Judge Dredd adaptation that is being produced with Reliance BIG.

Walter Hill, the director of the 1979 street classic The Warriors, will begin shooting his new film St. Vincent  in Detroit, starting July 12, 2010. Variety is reporting on the impressive cast that Hill has assembled for this new project: Giovani Ribisi (The Gift), Billy Bob Thornton  (Sling Blade), Mario Bello (A History of Violence) and Pierce Brosnan (The Ghost Writer) are all on board. Here's the rundown on Hill's new film:

"St. Vincent follows a hitman (Brosnan) who goes undercover as a priest to get close to his target, a gangland traitor (Thornton). The hitman soon discovers that playing the good guy is more dangerous than being a mob killer."

Media 8 is producing alongside LA-based Circle Of Confusion, and financing with Cynthia Stafford's Queen Nefertari Productions, new partner Northern Lights Films, and London/LA-based E-Motion.

Jon Amiel is returning to modern day storytelling following Creation and several stints on The Tudors and will direct the supernatural thriller Undying starring Kurt Russell.

Media 8 has been introducing the project to buyers here and is producing alongside LA-based Circle Of Confusion, and financing with Cynthia Stafford's Queen Nefertari Productions, new partner Northern Lights Films, and London/LA-based E-Motion.

Jay Cohen at Gersh is handling North American rights with CAA. UTA represents both Amiel and screenwriter Gary Whitta.

Production is set to begin in autumn on Undying, a neo-noir in the vein of Blade Runner and Seven about a private investigator drawn into a surreal underworld by a mysterious client.

"The type of magic that occurs when you combine a legendary actor like Kurt Russell with a visionary director like Jon Amiel is what attracted us to the business in the first place," Queen Nefertari Productions COO Lanre Idewu said. "We are in for a real treat."

"When I sat in a room with the two of them, they were instantly in synch in their vision for the material and it was clear they would make a great film together," Media 8 Entertainment president Stewart Hall said. Media 8 holds worldwide rights.

Do we like time travel in these parts?  Oh yes we do.  This has been why we have been following the development of Rian Johnson's third film, Looper,  (after the wonderful Brick and handsome yet spotty The Brothers Bloom.)

Todays update involves the casting of Bruce Willis (hopefully it will be the Pulp Fiction, Fast Food Nation, 12 Monkeys Willis and not the Cop Out, Fifth Element, Mercury Rising Willis) and confirms Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who proved a winning combination with Johnson's sensibility in chic-noir Brick). Either way, according to /Film they are playing the same character at two different ages.

    Looper is a time travel movie, set in a near future where time travel doesn't exist but will be invented in a few decades. It's pretty dark in tone, much different from Bloom, and involves a group of killers (called Loopers) who work for a crime syndicate in the future. Their bosses send their targets hogtied and blindfolded back in time to the Loopers, and their job is to simply shoot them in the head and dispose of the body. So the target vanishes from the future and the Loopers dispose of a corpse that doesn't technically exist, a very clean system. Complications set in from there.

Veteran producer Edward R. Pressman and filmmaker David Gordon Green are teaming to produce Adam Bhala Lough's retro slasher film "Splatter Sisters," with Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood attached to star.

Film, penned by Lough, is the first in a planned franchise and is a sexploitation-serial-killer-slasher-road-movie circa 1989.

Lough ("Bomb the System") reckons "Splatter Sisters" could create a subgenre, which he calls "Skinemax Cinema," based on the direct-to-cable movies of his childhood.

Green ("Pineapple Express," "Your Highness") said while Lough's film is inspired by the horror classics of the 1980s, it has a fresh spin that raises the bar.

"This is a role Marilyn Manson was born to play, and with Evan Rachel Wood bringing dramatic gravity to the ensemble, I have no doubt this will take the horror genre to a new level," Green said.

"Splatter Sisters" was announced in Cannes. Pressman is at the fest for the world preem of 20th Century Fox's "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." He is one of the producers of helmer Oliver Stone's sequel.

"Lough's unique talent and energy will make 'Splatter Sisters' a very special and markedly commercial film," Pressman said. "I've always been attracted to smart movies about killers made by directors with a real vision,"

Wood last starred on the bigscreen in Woody Allen's "Whatever Works," which was released in 2009.

Mike Fleming at Deadline just broke the news that the Wachowski siblings are currently trying to find a home for a "hard R drama about a homosexual relationship between a United States soldier and an Iraqi." According to Fleming, the duo have completed the script, which is a "cinema verite-style treatment that begins in the near future and then spans back over years that include the current war in Iraq," and have already sent it out to financiers in the hope of making it their next directorial project (their first since Speed Racer, a film I still love despite overwhelming popular opinion to the contrary).

What Fleming doesn't touch upon, however, is that this sounds awfully similar to a mystery project the pair were reportedly working on months ago. Both Arianna Huffington and Jesse Ventura mentioned that they have gone in front of the camera for the Wachowskis to film segments for an unannounced project; a project that Ventura later revealed was a futuristic retrospective on the Iraq war. How that fits into this newly unveiled project is unclear, but I'd find it hard to believe that they have two separate, near-future Iraq war projects going on that are unrelated to each other. Perhaps the Huffington/Ventura footage is part of a proof-of-concept package for investors?

Only those with deep, film-financing pockets know at this point. All I know is that the Wachowskis have built up enough cinematic credit with me that I'll get excited any time they announce a new project. I'm not so sure most people feel the same way, and I'm particularly doubtful that most people will get excited about a gay love story set in the Iraqi war. What do you think?

Uh bre... Imaju li oni zbilja intelekta za tako nešto?

Ko zna... Možda i imaju. Svakako da znaju sve o fegetaciji a pomalo i o transgender akcijama. Što se intelekta tiče, BOUND je bio izvaredan film smešten u milje manjinskih seksualnih opredeljenja...

Director:    Adrian Grunberg
Producers:    Bruce Davey, Stacy Perskie
Writers:    Mel Gibson, Adrian Grunberg, Stacy Perskie
Cast:    Mel Gibson
Genre:    Action Thriller
Status:    In Production
Year of Production    2010
Language:    English
Country of Origin:    US

The story of Driver, a career criminal who is picked up by the Mexican police as he desperately tries to cross the border in a car stuffed full of stolen cash. The police take the cash and dump him in the infamous El Pueblito prison - a hell on earth where the prison gangs run the show. Driver has no ID or fingerprints but he still gets a visit from a corrupt American Embassy official who has heard about the money. If Driver doesn't find a way of paying him off while he's inside, then he's going to let the authorities know where Driver is. And it won't be long before the guys he stole the money from find him too. Driver knows it is sink or swim. He hooks up with a young boy who shows him how to survive in the prison, but the kid has a terrible secret. He shares a rare blood type with Javi - the criminal who ruthlessly controls the prison and everyone in it. The kid is Javi's life insurance policy and he has doctors on standby to transplant his liver whenever the time comes. But Driver has other ideas and pretty soon he devises an audacious plan to escape with the kid, the kid's mother and the money.

Quote from: crippled_avenger on 16-05-2010, 21:58:10
Ko zna... Možda i imaju. Svakako da znaju sve o fegetaciji a pomalo i o transgender akcijama. Što se intelekta tiče, BOUND je bio izvaredan film smešten u milje manjinskih seksualnih opredeljenja...

Da, ali Bound je bio sjajan žanrovski film. Mogu li oni da se iščupaju iz žanra i ostanu jaki pred sažižućim okom vaskolikog američkog srpstva?