Kaya Scodelario Is Cathy In Andrea Arnold's 'Wuthering Heights'

Finally! Ecosse Film's new version of "Wuthering Heights" has been in the works for years now, and the likes of John Maybury ("Love is the Devil") and Peter Webber ("Girl With A Pearl Earring") were attached to direct, until Andrea Arnold ("Fish Tank") was appointed in January. Actors like Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Abbie Cornish, Gemma Arterton, Ed Westwick and Carey Mulligan have all been close to landing the lead roles over the years, but Arnold announced that she was looking for unknowns, and wouldn't be a casting a star.

Well, sort of. It appears that the director has made a decision on her leading lady (the role of Cathy, for those whose reading habits are Bronte-free) and it's someone who may be familiar to some audiences. A kindly reader pointed us towards the Twitter account of actress Kaya Scodelario, where she announces "i'm gonna be in the new Wuthering Heights film! as Cathy! should probs read the book... start filming next month, can't wait!."

Scodelario isn't exactly a household name, but British viewers may know her as the character of Effie in the TV show "Skins," which, as we reported a few weeks ago, is heading to the big screen. She started in a supporting role, as the sister of Tony (played by Nicholas Hoult ("A Single Man")), before becoming the lead in the third and fourth seasons of the show. She also played Sam Rockwell's teenage daughter in "Moon," and plays Peshet in this weekend's "Clash of the Titans" (this writer hasn't seen it as yet, but we believe she's a handmaiden of some kind...).

It's important to note here that the actress is barely eighteen, making her ten years younger than Merle Oberon and Juliette Binoche were in the 1939 and 1992 film adaptations, so it suggests that Arnold is casting very young -- the Zefferelli "Romeo & Juliet" version, as it were. We haven't been hugely impressed by what we have seen of Scodelario's work, but Arnold more than proved herself as an actor's director with "Red Road" and "Fish Tank." If she believes that Scodelario is right for the part, we're inclined to believe her. Deadline reported a few days ago that the search was still on for an actor to play Heathcliff, but with shooting only a month away, we'd expect an announcement any day now.

Maya Rudolph Joins Kristen Wiig in Judd Apatow Produced 'Bridesmaids'

We just learned that the upcoming Kristen Wiig starrer, "Bridesmaids," will premiere internationally on May 12th, 2011. Now Production Weekly has Tweeted that Maya Rudolph will be joining the Judd Apatow-produced comedy, as the bride to Wiig's titular bridesmaid.

Rudolph's addition is even more great news for this project, which on paper, sounds like an even more torturous experience than "Bride Wars," or anything of that ilk. Yup, the official synopsis reads, "a comedy centered on two women battling to plan their friend's wedding party." Ick. However, with Wiig's unique brand of wackiness, and the consistently solid Rudolph, not to mention Apatow's comedy credentials, and director Paul Feig's impressive TV work ("Freaks and Geeks," "The Office"), color us excited for what could possibly be an incredibly smart lady comedy-- a rare thing in Hollywood these days.

Who knows if it's actually correct, but IMDB also lists a few more supporting cast members, all established TV comediennes: Ellie Kemper (Erin on "The Office"), Melissa McCarthy (b&b owner Sookie on "Gilmore Girls") and Wendy McLendon-Covey (the inimitable Clementine on "Reno:911"). Also on the cast list is Annie Mumolo, who co-wrote the script with Wiig, and is a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe in LA (and to be fair, IMDB can really be on this, they had Barry Pepper in the Coens' "True Grit" before it was officially announced).

It's nice to see Apatow changing up his boys' club m.o. and embracing a female-driven comedy. He's even gotten flack for the rather unrealistic treatment of the female characters in "Knocked Up" (and "Funny People" could also be said to be lacking in the well-rounded characterization of women department). Let's remember though, this is a script by Wiig and Mumolo, and Feig will be behind the camera, with Apatow just sprinkling his comedy producer fairy dust from above. Trying on a women's picture is a good move on his part, though. Hopefully it will lead to more like this from his stable, and just might set a standard for women's comedies to step up to; saving us from the "Sex and the Cities," the "Ugly Truths," and various other crimes against female-centric film we have ALL suffered too long.

It's also a big move for Wiig, as her first starring role carrying a picture. Her batshit wacky brand of humor is the strongest thing on SNL right now, and she's walked away with scenes in "Knocked Up," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," and "Walk Hard" (those are just the Apatow projects), and done fine work in "Whip It" and "Adventureland." It's exciting to see her moving up to the big leagues, and she's got a great team surrounding her, but it's always a risk with an untested supporting/TV player stepping into movie star/box office bank shoes.

'Precious' Scribe Geoffrey Fletcher To Helm Black Comedy 'Violet And Daisy,' Saoirse Ronan And Carey Mulligan Attached To Star

Oscar-winning "Precious" scribe Geoffrey Fletcher is set to make his directorial debut this summer with the black-comedy "Violet And Daisy" which has the exciting pair of Saoirse Ronan and Carey Mulligan already attached to lead.

The script by Fletcher is being described as "Thelma and Louise” meets “Superbad” and “Pulp Fiction” with "plenty of action and lots of girl power."

While neither lead actress seemingly embody the action or comedy genre having carved a niche in more dramatic roles, their talent is unquestionable and should make for a seamless transition. After all, Mulligan's exploits in Lone Scherfig's "An Education" provided many a laugh while Ronan is currently top-lining Joe Wright's teenage assassin tale, "Hanna," alongside Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett. Both European thesps have already earned Oscar nominations in their short careers — for "Atonement" and "An Education" respectively — and this team-up with Fletcher makes for an exciting collaboration.

Though "Precious" was Fletcher's single foray into cinema and we're admittedly slightly worried by the heavy-handedness of that particular film seeping over; however, the blame probably lies with hamfisted director Lee Daniels than anything Fletcher put down on the page. The soon-to-be feature film director is also collaborating with Doug Liman on prison riot story, "Attica" but it looks like "Violet And Daisy" may go before the cameras first.

8th Independent Film Festival of Boston Brings 'Cyrus,' 'The Killer Inside Me,' 'Life During Wartime,' And More April 21-28

Last year we attended the Independent Film Festival of Boston for the first time and had a blast. This year's eighth annual incarnation also promises to be a great festival with the recently announced lineup. The festival, now expanding to a full seven days featuring over 120 film screenings, runs April 21st through 28th.

"American Splendor" directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman's new film "The Extra Man," starring Kevin Kline (who will be present for a Q&A), Paul Dano, John C. Reilly, and Katie Holmes, will kick off the festival. Bookending the other side of the Boston fest will be James Franco's first documentary feature "Saturday Night," a look at the creation of a single episode of Saturday Night Live. Other highlights include Michael Winterbottom's controversial "The Killer Inside Me" (which caused quite a stir at this year's Sundance), Todd Solondz' quasi-"Happiness" sequel "Life During Wartime" (which we reviewed at last year's TIFF), Mark and Jay Duplass' thoroughly enjoyable dysfunctional family/love triangle dramedy "Cyrus," and Ken Loach's soccer film "Looking for Eric" (which we saw at Cannes 2009).
The festival also boasts a handful of intriguing documentary features such as Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg's acclaimed "Joan Rivers – A Piece of Work," Adrian Grenier's ("Entourage") celebrity doc "Teenage Paparazzo," and a sneak preview screening of Henry Corra's "The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan," a documentary chronicling the mysterious fate of a Vietnam soldier. Music buffs will also have much to drool over, with a Robert Patton Spruill and Geoff Edgers documentary chronicling Edgers' quest to reunite the Kinks, "Do It Again," Magnetic Fields and Stephin Merritt documentary "Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields" (which we weren't too thrilled with at SXSW), Wes Orshoki and Greg Olliver's Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmeister film"Lemmy," and Gil Reyes' "Searching For Elliott Smith," featuring Gus Van Sant and Smith's ex-girlfriend Jennifer Chiba.

The festival's special guests will include Kevin Kline, Amber Benson ("Buffy The Vampire Slayer"), John Hawkes ("Deadwood," "Winter's Bone" the Sundance hit which is being shown at the fest), Todd Solondz, and others to be announced in the coming weeks. More highlights in bold below.

Read more »

Exclusive: Michel Gondry's 'Thorn In The Heart' Scene; The "Invisible Monsters" Set To Charlotte Gainsbourg

One of our favorite scenes (ok, our favorite scene outside of some of the truly heartbreaking moments) in Michel Gondry's "The Thorn In The Heart" is a tremendously sweet and playful scene where Gondry and his aunt Suzette visit a new modern school and the pupils in the classroom ask the former school teacher questions about what her students were like many, many years ago.

A fairly staid film overall, Gondry throws one of his few artistic flourishes in this movie when he makes the children wear green screen (it's actually blue in this case) patches of clothing that makes parts of their bodies invisible. The whole scene is set to Charlotte Gainsbourg's wistful "Little Monsters" from her last album 5:55 and we've scored it here exclusively from the good folks at Oscilloscope Laboratories because we feel a) it's a wonderful little sequence and b) it's incredibly emblematic to some of the film's tone.

As noted in our Q&A with Gondry earlier today, "The Thorn In The Heart" hits theaters in limited release, starting this weekend, April 2nd in New York and on May 14th in Los Angeles (once we hear about further expansion, we'll let you know). If you're in New York tonight, Gondry will doing Q&A's after the 7:30pm shows today and tomorrow at the Village East (181 -189 Second Avenue). New York magazine's David Edelstein will moderate tonight's Q&A, and our IndieWire pal Eugene Hernandez will moderate tomorrow's.

In Theaters: 'Clash of The Titans,' 'The Last Song' & 'Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too'

It is temping to say that the summer blockbuster season starts now (a full week and a half into Spring) with the 3D action epic "Clash of the Titans." But with last week's big returns for "How to Train Your Dragon" and the gargantuan force of Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland" that line is forever blurred. There are many wannabe blockbusters hitting screens even before Memorial Day, and it's a wonder some enterprising studio doesn't move a major tent-pole picture to the normally dead months of January or September. "Titans" should rule the box office this weekend, as the competition is very slim across the board, but it probably won't break any major records. Tyler Perry's fans will show up for his latest, making the film another success for the urban auteur, who shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. We normally advocate a trip to the theater every week if you can, but this Easter weekend might be better spent outdoors.

In Wide Release: Sam Worthington continues his streak of being totally forgettable in mega-budget films with "Clash of the Titans." The actor plays Perseus, the demigod son of Zeus who must follow his destiny and battle the evil forces of Hades. This remake of the 1981 film was retrofitted in 3D after the massive success of "Avatar," irking James Cameron, even if he is doing the same thing with his own aging blockbuster "Titanic." We posted our review yesterday, finding the flick to be a huge mess, with clearly expensive but very cheesy special effects. We were all hoping for a fun guilty pleasure with this one, but it doesn't even have the panache to succeed on that level. Rotten Tomatoes tracks the film with a 35% rating, while Metacritic is close with a 38 score.

Amazingly the two other films releasing wide today, both going after the estrogen crowd that may be turned off by "Titans," look even worse. "The Last Song" is somehow the second adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel this year (after "Dear John") and it's only April. The tearjerker stars Miley Cyrus as a girl forced to spend the summer with her estranged father (the under-appreciated Greg Kinnear) in a small southern beach town. The film is interesting more as a test of Cyrus' star power, given it is her first purely dramatic role aimed at an older crowd. Reviews don't really matter with a film like this, but RT has it at 14%, with a 33 score from Metacritic.

Finally in wide release is "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too." Let's just say that we probably won't get around to seeing this one, as they haven't screened it for critics (not that we would have subjected ourselves to it anyway). Perry's built-in audience should make a profit for the modestly budgeted picture though, paving the way for more sequels from his hit factory.

In Limited Release: Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan play grieving parents who receive a visit from a young woman pregnant with their dead son's baby in "The Greatest." The cast is solid enough with recent Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan playing the pregnant woman, but the film, from first-time writer/director Shana Feste looks heavy on the grief-cliches and unearned sentimentality. Also, does it seem like Brosnan is in every other film coming out these days? Did he get burned by Madoff or something? Rotten Tomatoes has it at 50%, while Metacritic calculates a 44 score.

Thomas Haden Church stars in rookie director Jake Goldberger's "Don McKay." The actor plays a man who returns to his hometown 25 years after a horrible tragedy forced him to leave. He tries to rekindle a romance with his high school flame, played by Elizabeth Shue, but finds that dark forces are still at work in the town he vowed never to return to. The dark noir might be worth checking out for lack of better options this weekend and we're always happy to see Church get meatier roles. Critics are very mixed on the picture with RT at 47% and Metacritic clocking in at 51.

Also in limited release this weekend, the Chinese Qing Dynasty epic "The Warlords." Jet Li plays a good solider who survives a massacre, befriending two bandits in the process. Their relationship is quickly put to the test by various deceptions and intrigue. The film was a huge hit in Asia, but western audiences don't usually turn out for this kind of film in large numbers. Expect some great battle sequences, a hackneyed love story and a long running time. RT: 56%, Metacritic: 79.

Finally, the low-budget relationship drama "Breaking Upwards" hits a few screens today. The film stars real-life couple Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones in a fictional narrative based on their actual open relationship. Expect a lot of hyper-articulate dialogue about love and sex and navel-gazing, but the film's interesting premise may make the preciousness of the whole thing somewhat tolerable. We look forward to checking it out sometime soon. RT: 67%, Metacritic: 61.

Emily Blunt Turns Down Role In 'Captain America'

Interesting, we were just asking yesterday — when "Gossip Girl" actor Sebastian Stan was cast as the sidekick Bucky in "The First Avenger: Captain America" — what had happened to the women reported to have been circling the female lead role in the Marvel film.

Keira Knightley, Emily Blunt and Alice Eve ("She's Out of My League") were all said to be auditioning/testing out for the role of Peggy Carter, Captain America's wartime love interest, but there hadn't been any news or movement in several weeks.

We also said we thought the role was beneath actresses like Blunt and Knightley (maybe not so much Eve, who is pretty damn fresh-faced and new), and it seems at least one of the actresses concurs. The LATimes says that Emily Blunt has been offered the role, but will be likely turning it down. According to their sources, "Blunt is close to signing on to other projects and will turn down Marvel's offer."

That's too bad for Marvel. Blunt was almost cast as the Black Widow in "Iron Man 2" -- and she actually wanted the role -- but had to unfortunately bow out because of her obligations to "Gulliver's Travels" with Jason Segel and Jack Black.

That obviously leaves Knightley and Eve, but we'd be rather surprised if the "Atonement" star takes the role. We could be wrong, Knightley has taken some bad work in the past ("Domino," "King Arthur"), but we're hoping she passes. We also can't imagine it's a very dimensionalized role either, but again, that's just our hunch.

Marvel announced today that Chris Evans was "officially" cast as Captain America, but uhh, yeah. We all knew that, thanks and no we're not going to write a story about that. So what role is Blunt taking instead? The LATimes doesn't say. Either way, we're honestly a bit relieved. Update: Yup, it happened, Blunt passed on the role.

Michel Gondry Talks The Documentary About His Aunt; 'The Thorn In The Heart'

After 2008's conceptualist comedy, "Be Kind Rewind," which actually turned out to be a paean to community (it's second half evincing, a bright, wonderful tone different from all his films), fabulist French filmmaker Michel Gondry pulled a move no one expected.

He delivered — pretty much in secret until it was announced — a quiet and intimate documentary about his septuagenarian school teacher aunt, Suzette Gondry at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival titled, "A Thorn In The Heart." It couldn't have been anymore of a left turn, especially for fanboys and the twee 20-somethings still crushed out on the lovelorn, yet whimsical mood of films like, "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" and "The Science of Sleep."

And indeed, "The Thorn In The Heart" is quite different. It starts out as a documentary about his aunt, her village, her school teaching years and her seen-it-all perspective on French history, but then the portrait takes a sharp turn midway through, when Gondry interviews her 50-something year old son Jean- Yves, who has seemingly been irrevocably mentally scarred by his mother (see our review for more details). The biggest transgression, and perhaps an unforgivable one in the mind of Jean-Yves who went on to have a mental breakdown, is when Suzette hides the death of her husband from her children for reasons you'll see below. So what begins as Gondry's innocent, tribute to a woman he admires, turns into something with much more resonance and depth: a wistful yet painful and raw look at dysfunctional family dynamics, wounds and scars. It's also steeped with loving nostalgia and while difficult at first (it's a little slow initially) there are some tremendous emotional rewards in the second half and some of them near heartrending. The Playlist sat down to talk to Gondry about the documentary during the South By Southwest Film Festival in mid-March and he spoke at length about the necessary difficulties with prying into family matters.

Let's start with the simple question for those that haven't seen the film. Why a documentary, of all people, about your aunt?
I think she's... everyone is interesting, it's the way you look at people. The fact of living is just amazing in itself. So I don't even think I should justify why I'm making a documentary about her because I think if you investigate on someone there's always something interesting to pull, but my Auntie has been a teacher in a very specific place and she shares a part of French history because she worked from 1952 to 1986 and she participated, she witnessed her village dying because everyone was going to the cities in the '60s and '70s and she witnessed the ending, the death of many schools and I wanted to pay tribute to that and share her experience and then her son came into the picture and a bigger drama unfolded and it was interesting, maybe necessary direction to dig into.

You don't seem to be afraid to explore in this picture.
Well I remember Jean-Yves calling me six or seven years ago and he said, 'Mom, didn't tell me that Dad was dead, she hid it from me." And it was like [shocked look], "Why did you not tell Jean-Yves?" and then the answer was because her daughter Sonya was passing the bar at the time. And so that to me that totally doesn't justify it, but what's fascinating is the way she thinks. To her the passing of her husband wasn't as important — I mean it was dramatic as you can feel her pain — but hiding that to me seems inconceivable, but for her it's not something she's ashamed of. She did it for a reason and she explained it and some people understand it and some people don't, but its interesting, because by explaining herself it reveals her upbringing and how she was educated to cope with situations; it was a different generation, different geography, different mentality, different everything, so it was pretty interesting. And I think our family, and esp her family, it shows a contrast between those two mentalities when you have to face the facts of life and talks about things like death and sickness and on the side of my dad's family where we don't like to talk about things like that, we're scared, but much more relaxed.

Read more »

Ryan Reynolds' Will Star In 'R.I.P.D.'; More Details On 'The Change-Up' With Jason Bateman

Collider spoke with producer Neal Moritz ("The Green Hornet," "Fast and the Furious" franchise) recently, and he had some details on two of Ryan Reynolds' upcoming projects: a graphic novel adaptation called "R.I.P.D." and the comedy "The Change-Up" with Jason Bateman.

Yes, Reynolds is tackling yet another comic book character, this time from Dark Horse Comics ("Green Lantern" is a D.C. Comics character, "Deadpool" is Marvel, and lest we not forget his ab-tastic turn in "Blade Trinity," also Marvel). Moritz describes "R.I.P.D." as, "about two cops, one recently dead and a gunslinger who’s been dead for hundreds of years who work on the Rest in Peace department - which is the police department of the dead. And they basically…it takes place on a normal day and it’s about trying to keep the dead quiet." The official Dark Horse synopsis for R.I.P.D. is:

Welcome to the Rest In Peace Department -- the devoted, yet dead, officers of divine law enforcement "patrolling the deadbeat...reporting to one boss." Yep -- THAT boss. Nick Cruz was murdered by an unknown assailent [sic], at the height of his personal and professional life. Now he's traded a hundred years of service to the R.I.P.D. in exchange for a shot at finding who killed him. Unfortunately his search will take him to Hell and back -- literally!

Ok, so Zombie Cops! Ghost Cops? This sounds interesting, however, Moritz goes on to say that it's going to be a "Buddy/Action Comedy" and that it will be a PG-13. Huh? Moritz says it's, "a terrific script by Manfredi & Hay at Universal," (writers on "Clash of Titans," hmm, hopefully this is better) and he emphasized that it's about the relationship between the two afterlife cops, saying, "it’s a fantastic relationship between a cop who’s recently died who would do anything to get back to his wife. And a gunslinger who died hundreds of years ago who has seen it all and is jaded by it all and it’s the two of these guys together." We'd bet Reynolds will most likely play the cop who's been recently killed, and while we have yet to see who might play his counterpart, if the film is really about the relationship between these two guys, and it's a buddy action comedy, the second half of this equation will be crucial in whether or not they can pull off this high-concept project. Definitely intriguing. Moritz is hoping cameras will roll on this in January 2011, saying that it's Reynolds' favorite project right now, and will make it happen around his jam-packed schedule.

Shooting in October, before "R.I.P.D.," is the previously reported buddy comedy also produced by Moritz, called "The Change-Up" starring Reynolds and Jason Bateman who, "basically end up switching bodies," apparently a "really funny high concept comedy." Let's nickname this one "Freaky Friday Face/Off," though we can't poke too much fun at it because the project is due to be directed by David Dobkin, who helmed the genius "Wedding Crashers," and was written by Lucas Moore, of "The Hangover."

That's some heavy hitting proven comedy muscle right there. And with the addition of Bateman and Reynolds, that's a fearsome comedy foursome. It's nice to see Reynolds returning to comedy where we (okay, I) think he is the strongest. Remember the sitcom Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place? He's been hilarious in weak material since the beginning (cough cough "Van Wilder") and it's really the genre in which his natural talent shines.

Wow: Cameron Crowe Once Had Tom Cruise Tapped To Play Phil Spector In Unproduced Biopic

Ok, so you just read about Cameron Crowe's rather secret Marvin Gaye biopic set up at Sony under the aegis of super producer Scott Rudin. You also know that's been in the works for three and a half years and well, hasn't really gone anywhere (yet, but here's to hoping). But there is something new and of note in the Variety article about the difficulties of mounting rock biopics (we feel like the trade writes this article once a year — though honestly with good reason as the winds shift and these films take forever), and it's amazing.

The tantalizing curio — one that practically makes us drool with wtf possibilities — is the fact the Crowe once attempted to mount a biopic of the now-incarcerated music producer Phil Spector after "Jerry Maguire" with Tom Cruise (!!!) playing the infamous gun-toting Wall of Sound music genius/madman.

Apparently at the time, Crowe felt "the third act had not been written" and he decided to pass on the script and move onto "Almost Famous" instead. Umm, holy shit. Someone entice him to get back onto this project asap, especially considering that Spector's life became infinitely more interesting in April, 2009 when the producer was found guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a crime (he shot and killed former actress Lana Clarkson) and has been in prison ever since.

Spector is also obviously known for being one of the greatest producers alive, using stellar, touchstone artists like The Wrecking Crew and Jack Nitzsche to created the Wagner-ian, aforementioned orchestral Wall of Sound reverberation, that helped elevate bands like the Righteous Brothers, the Ronettes, The Crystals, Ike & Tina Turner, Darlene Love and many, many others into spectacular, for-the-ages pop grandeur (Spector produced two of the incontestably greatest songs of all time, The Crystals' "And Then He Kissed Me" and The Ronettes, "Be My Baby" which are sonnets of contemporary music)

Spector is also famous for screwing up -- or at least in Paul McCartney's estimation -- The Beatles Let It Be album, by layering it with schmaltzy and overwrought instrumentation that infuriated Macca (and was part of the reason he left the band), plus producing John Lennon's Imagine (clearly he was ok with the retooling), George Harrison's All Things Must Pass (him too), Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies' Man (which Cohen hates because he felt Spector also fucked it up) and the Ramones' End of the Century. The producer was also notorious for pulling out handguns and waving them in the face of musicians who didn't like what he was doing on their albums (the audacity!). Lastly, he's also recognized for having an amazing array of wigs that he showcased in court from 2003 to 2009 (ahh memories).

Anyhow, umm, could you imagine? Tom Cruise as Phil Spector? Dear Movie Gods, please resurrect this project. Please, please, please? Cameron Crowe if you are listening (you are not, surely), please dig up that script and figure out that third act. Hell, we'll help you out for free.

Nigel Godrich Also Scoring Edgar Wright's 'Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World'

So, we already know Nigel Godrich is shepherding the rich talent of music on board Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World," and we know that he's curating the soundtrack with Wright as well as producing all the new written music for the film.

But his role evidently doesn't end there, as the famed Radiohead producer is now set to also score the film with a bevy of undisclosed musicians, according to Beck's official website and later confirmed to us by sources close to the film.

As an acclaimed producer who works regularly with Radiohead, Beck and Air among many others, the notion of a score from Godrich working with a team of recruited musicians is an exciting prospect. The picture below is likely an early clue — Godrich is photographed here with Broken Social Scene members Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning and bare in mind Wright has previously expressed a strong desire to capture the sound of the story's Toronto setting (and the Broken Social Scene members have been scoring a multitude of films in recent years, including most recently, Bruce McDonald's "The Tracey Fragements.")

The film already boasts a mouth-watering array of musical contributions and cameos, including:

- Regular Godrich collaborator Beck, who has written new music for Pilgrim's band alt-country Sex Bob-omb -- two of his songs were featured in the film's teaser trailer
- Synth-rockers Metric will be subbing in for fictional band The Clash At Demonhead and have provided a previously unreleased demo "Black Sheep."
- Indie-rockers Broken Social Scene will sub in for Crash & The Boys.
- Future-pop artist Cornelius has written music for Japanese twins, Kyle and Ken Katayanagi.
- Hip-hop producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura contributed to the film's soundtrack.
- Indie-rocker Chris Murphy from Sloan acted as a live performance coach for some of the actors.

Update: Someone likes our work. A source close to the project tells us that Dan Nakamura wrote an original song for the character of Matthew Patel (one of the seven evil ex-boyfriends in the story) and also composed another piece of music exclusively for the film.

God, all that music and the film's deliciously frantic, video-game-inspired aesthetic: could you imagine editing this thing? And that's not all either. We've been told that several other notable musicians will be announced for the soundtrack and film as well, so there will be more names to come. We'd remind you who stars in this film but if you don't already know, you probably didn't read this far anyway. The film hit theaters August 13th in the U.S.

Cameron Crowe (Still) Working On Marvin Gaye Biopic

Three and a half years ago Cameron Crowe began quietly working on a biopic of the late soul R&B singer Marvin Gaye.

We say quietly because to find any such references from 2007 are nearly impossible and if you look at most movie or music sites or blogs you won't find nary a mention (yes, including the good ol' Playlist). Essentially, this has never been widely reported. Interestingly enough, it was mentioned briefly in a August 2009, LATimes article, but no one seemed to pick up on it.

Variety delivers more details today, in a lengthy feature about the difficulties and obstacles of bringing rock n' roll biopics to the screen (always seemingly a sisyphean task with several rights issues involved).

It's kind of amazing what Crowe has done in secret so far. The project is already set up at Sony, Scott Rudin is already attached as the producer and he's even secured extensive music rights and the full cooperation of Motown founder Berry Gordy. However, the project is now apparently being re-conceived, so that Crowe and Sony can come to terms on the budget. We presume that means the budget needs to come down and Crowe likely has to rework the script and potentially take out some scenes or rewrite them (lord, we'd love to get our hands on that script).

Evidently Will Smith was once in the running for the role, but eventually passed.

Gaye has meant a lot to Crowe — in a 2000 Guardian article about his career, the filmmaker wrote on his transition from rock journalist into a screenwriter and then eventually, a feature-film director noting Gaye was one of the last key artists he wanted to interview before moving on in this new direction.

By the end of the 70s I started to burn out on journalism. I was taking on too much and taking too long with stories. I didn't know how much further I could go. I wanted to interview Marvin Gaye, but he wasn't doing any more interviews. That was when I started on "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

Meanwhile, competing Marvin Gaye biopics have been in the works for some time now and we've got to wonder if that made Crowe and Rudin nervous? "Law & Order" star Jesse L. Martin was supposed to begin shooting a Gaye biopic titled, "Sexual Healing" in April of 2008, but for whatever reason it never got before the cameras, even though it was all set to go in February of that year. "Sopranos" actor James Gandolfini was in fact a producer on the film and was supposed to play Belgian promoter Freddy Cousaert, who guided the singer through his comeback, recording his last and biggest-selling studio album, 1982's Midnight Love.

Then later in September of 2008, another biopic was announced with director F. Gary Gray ("The Italian Job," the stoner comedy, "Friday") at the helm. Titled, "Marvin," that film obviously hasn't hit the screen either, but was said to be a big passion project of Gray's.

Either way, a Cameron Crowe directed Marvin Gaye biopic feels a ways off. His next film looks like it will be "We Bought A Zoo" which is based on Benjamin Mee's autobiography, and may star Ben Stiller. Stiller and Crowe (and Reese Witherspoon) had already been set to team on the long-gestating Hawaii-set dramedy "Deep Tiki" which was ankled last year and now seems to have gone dormant.

Gaye's life is a fascinating and tragic one. In 1983, exhausted after his Love tour, the singer moved in with his parents in Los Angeles. Gaye's father Marvin Sr. shot his son to death after a business argument on April 1, 1984, one day before his forty-fifth birthday.

Weinstein Sued by Kanbar Entertainment Over 'Hoodwinked 2' Delay

As we noted last week, the upcoming slate of films from The Weinstein Company was notably missing two projects that have been on the radar for sometime: "Shanghai," the period piece set in 1940s China, from "1408" director Mikael Hafstrom starring John Cusack, and "Hoodwinked Too!" the sequel to the animated hit "Hoodwinked, the True Story of Little Red Riding Hood," which came out in 2005. The Weinsteins have lately been playing hide-and-seek with release dates, to the detriment of some projects that end up sitting around for much longer than they need to, and the producers of "Hoodwinked" at Kanbar Entertainment have taken umbrage with their project being tossed around-- filing suit against TWC for breach of contact in pushing back the planned January 15th release date, as reported by Variety.

The petition filed with San Francisco County Superior Court seeks to force the TWC into resolving this dispute, and also claims TWC stopped contributing to the production in February 2009, despite an agreement to co-finance the sequel with Kanbar, at the behest of Weinstein-- Kanbar financed the entirety of the first "Hoodwinked," and were prepared to do the same with the sequel. The petition also claimed that Weinstein didn't consult with them on a release strategy, or respond to proposed changes, even though Kanbar retains "final authority on production decisions." The Weinstein Co. has "no comment" on the suit.

It's not like we're dying to see "Hoodwinked Too!" but it's an important lawsuit on the principle of filmmakers standing up for their projects. Studios (especially Weinstein) can juggle projects and release dates and marketing strategies to the point where eventually something's going to fall splat on the ground, regardless of quality of film. It's a helpless and frustrating situation for filmmakers to see their projects treated in such a manner, and Weinstein has been guilty of bungling releases-- anyone remember "The Road" Distribution Debacle of 2009? "A Single Man" also didn't get the treatment it deserved, and went largely unnoticed during the awards season.

Seems like Kanbar's not putting up with this shelf-sitting anymore, and it's important for the little guys to stand up to the big(ger) guys, in pursuit of the proper treatment of their film, regardless of whether or not it sets a precedent for future films, or even keeps Harvey and Bob from playing hide-the-release-date in the future. It's at least another slap on the wrist for their bad behavior, and we'll see how this plays out.

Kathryn Bigelow To Shoot 'Triple Frontier' Next Year; Sean Penn, Javier Bardem & Denzel Washington Linked To Roles?

Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow is now scheduled to shoot her drug-parable "Triple Frontier" next year in the titular troubled border region between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, according to Argentinean paper La Nación.

The film will reunite Bigelow with "The Hurt Locker" scribe Mark Boal for the drug saga that is described as being in the vein of Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic" but set in the notorious "la triple frontera." The rivered border region is a crime haven on account of it's geographical location and is also home to a strong Middle Eastern community, who have long been linked to Islamic extremists and their money laundering activities. It's not known what aspects of the region's notoriety the film will explore, but we'll assume all of them.

The Argentinean press also add that Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Denzel Washington are being rumored for roles in the film. These names, however, are likely being brought up only because of a mention in a NY Times piece which revealed that Boal had met said actors about possible future collaborations. While such discussions could very well be for 'Frontier,' it's probably far too early to speculate as the project is still only in very early stages of development.

The Bigelow and Boal reunion was previously revealed to be utilizing the "same raw and visceral visual style" and will likely be a multi-lingual effort, possibly why the script will take time to develop. In the mean time, Bigelow will direct the pilot for HBO's "The Miraculous Year" from a John Logan script.

Luke Evans Talks Tarsem's 'Dawn Of War,' Rounds Out Cast Along With Isabel Lucas and John Hurt

Whilst doing press for Louis Letterier's "Clash Of The Titans," British actor Luke Evans has revealed his own casting and that of two others in rival swords-and-sandals pic, Tarsem's "Dawn Of War" also known as "War Of Gods."

"We have the very beautiful Isabel Lucas who is playing Athena, my daughter," unveiled Evans, who will play Zeus in the film. "She is stunning. And John Hurt plays me as an old man. I mean, does it get any better than that? That's uber-cool! In addition, we have Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto."

Evans further discusses the film's differences to Letterier's latest effort explaining that "'Dawn of War' really plays on the human side of the battle, whereas there are so many monsters in 'Clash of the Titans.' This film really is very strongly based on Earth, I would say, and it is about the human battle. The gods have a very strong presence in 'Dawn of War,' and it's a much bigger action film; this is way more action. We've been training for nearly two months for these huge battle scenes, huge fights. Whereas the gods in 'Clash of the Titans' do very little but stay in Mount Olympus, in 'God of War' they are hands-on — especially Zeus. I've had training in every weapon you could imagine a god using."

Funny Evans should mistakenly call it "God Of War," after all, the film's title has been subject to much conjecture with some sources calling by its original name, "War Of Gods," others by its supposed retitling in "Dawn Of War." It remains to be seen what title the film will ultimately land on.

Evans also adds that Corey Sevier will play his son, Apollo, with both taking a more physical turn than Leterrier's portrayal of the gods. The actor explains that Zeus "gets some gory weapons and gets to do some superhuman things — godlike things — with them. As only Zeus, king of the gods, could do."

"What's great about Tarsem is you only have to spend 10 minutes in his company to know the man is a visionary and a genius," Evans continues. "If you know his work, you know how beautiful and visually stunning it can be. Tarsem sets an amazing scene and allows the actors to feel completely immersed in the world — we've walked on to the sets and they're superb. The details of these sets are spectacular, and you know Tarsem has had a hand in every decision. We can't wait to start."

After the roasting Leterrier's 'Titans' has been getting, it's probably a good sign that Evans is describing Tarsem's vision as something very different, though the helmer faces an uphill battle covering the same mythological material. Tarsem's past works haven't exactly appealed to wide audiences either but this, his self described 3D "Caravaggio meets 'Fight Club'" sounds like it'll deliver visually if nothing else.

Lensing on "Dawn Of War" begins this month in Montreal and has a 11/11/11 release date.

'xXx 3D' On The Way With Vin Diesel & Samuel L. Jackson

Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson and director Rob Cohen are all back on board for "xXx 3D" (we just felt dumber typing that out).

The project, which still has a chance of falling apart if Paramount decides not to fund the thing, would be shot in 3D and get started once Diesel completes work on his other terrible franchise film, "Fast & Furious." The plot this time around finds xXxander Cage "left for dead, but return[ing] to execute a very difficult assignment that only he can pull off. Samuel L. Jackson will reprise his role as Agent Augustus Gibbons, Xander’s handler." Uh ohs!

The film was originally set up at Columbia, who were burned when Cohen's last big budget feature for the studio, "Stealth," tanked horribly. That said, Cohen did direct "The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor" which earned over $400 million worldwide and who seems to be comfortable in the kinds of films that evoke the "Hey, I recognize that movie title.....let's go see that" response from moviegoers. And if you're wondering why anyone is even considering another "xXx" film after part two, "State Of The Union," died on arrival, its because somehow, Diesel's shining bald head and monotonous line deliveries really resonate with audiences. We wish we knew why.

In the meantime, Cohen is shooting the first 3D commercial for Coca Cola. That's right, even soda ads are gonna come out with 3D. After that he'll begin work overseeing the conversion of ten Merchant Ivory films to 3D as well, in hopes to bring the format to the arthouse crowd. Just kidding on that one, but at the rate this 3D trend is going it doesn't sound that crazy.

'My Own Love Song' Soundtrack Features 16 New Bob Dylan Songs

We recently brought you the trailer and a couple of clips from Olivier Dahan's English language feature debut "My Own Love Song." The film, starring Oscar winners Renée Zellweger and Forest Whitaker is another music based tale by the "La vie en rose" director and tells the familiar story of a washed out singer on the path to redemption. So what makes this one different?

Well, it's a female centered story -- think of it as "Crazy Heart" with a girl -- and it's also been soundtracked by none other than the legendary Bob Dylan. Dylan put together so much material for the film that a chunk of it ended up forming the bulk of his 2009 album "Together Through Life" (which earned him a Grammy Award). Well, there's no shortage of material left from those sessions as songs from the album along with sixteen previously unreleased cuts will all make their way into "My Own Love Song." Consequence Of Sound have tracked down the complete soundtrack details which you can read below; we're sure Dylan fans are positively freaking out.

There's no details yet on what the officially sanctioned soundtrack release will contain, but we think it's a good bet that most, if not all, the unreleased Dylan tunes get pressed. We're also wagering Zellweger and Whitaker's tunes make the cut on an official release as well.

"My Own Love Song" opens in France on April 7th and will make its international premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in late April.

"My Own Love Song" Soundtrack Tracklisting

Read more »

Review: 'Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque)' Is An Ambitious Biopic That's Disappointingly Incomplete

Serge Gainsbourg's career spanned an astonishing 25 albums, a falling in and then falling out with the French public, a rotating cast of gorgeous beauties that found their way both into his bed and into his music and ultimately, he left an indelible mark on the pop culture landscape that continues to resonate to this day. A figure as big as any American cultural icon, attempting to fit his life into the standard running time of a feature length film is certainly difficult and unenviable task, particularly for as a debut feature film. But for all the ambition that comic artist turned film writer and director Joann Sfar puts into "Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque)," the film does everything but get to the core of what made Gainsbourg such an iconic figure.

The most talked about narrative device Sfar puts to use in the film is also, unfortunately, one of the most distracting and ineffective parts of the film as well. Going back to his comic roots, Sfar populates the film with two giant, odd looking puppets that only Gainsbourg can see that act as his conscience/inner voice. These puppets pop up during sort of random moments in the film and help advise or encourage the singer to do various things. It's a little weird the first time you see it but instead of growing into an organic part of the storytelling process, every time these papier mache looking creations waddle on screen, we were taken right out of the picture. It's an interesting approach that might've worked had Sfar actually offered any insight into Gainsbourg as a singer, father, icon or regular person. But the film is such a disjointed mess that these puppets only add to the sloppy, thrown together the feel the picture never quite shakes off.

The film starts with Gainsbourg as a young child living in Paris' Jewish ghetto during WWII. This opening bit is easily the film's worst and Sfar's take on Gainsbourg as a smart-alecky, precocious child is nearly nauseating. When Gainsbourg isn't being forced by his father -- who hates popular music -- to play classical piano, he's at art school where he smooth talks one of the nude models posing in the adult classes into having coffee with him. This sort of patterning of Gainsbourg's adult behavior as a small child is simply not believable. Sfar also spends considerable time her establishing the importance and pride Gainsbourg feels being a Jew, but as we'll see, its just one of the many facets of Gainsbourg that are addressed and then left alone never to be revisited, almost like Sfar is ticking off a checklist of thematic elements that need to be visited.

Read more »

Sebastian Stan To Play The 'Captain America' Sidekick Bucky

During the final rounds of casting for "The First Avenger: Captain America," three names were mentioned Channing Tatum, Chris Evans (who ultimately scored the role) and then one actor who's name had not been previously mentioned in the deluge of actors trying out for the role that included, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Cassidy, Patrick Flueger, Scott Porter, Wilson Blethel, Mike Vogel, John Krasinski and Chace Crawford.

That actor, "Gossip Girl" thesp Sebastian Stan came into the running at the last minute and everyone thought, "who?" Well, we now know why. According to HeatVision, the actor has been cast as Bucky, the comic book character who played Captain America's faithful sidekick in the early 1940s WWII-era comics. But maybe there's something to this kid. He was after all cast in Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" (plus he was the cockblocking '80s asshole antagonist in "Hot Tub Time Machine," yeah, that was him).

While director "Captain America" director Joe Johnston had been threatening to use The Invaders — the WWII-era superhero team that helped America beat the Nazis — we're a little bit disappointed to hear they're including the Bucky character here, because as much as its faithful to the original comics, the sidekick character has become so antiquated and redundant in the world of contemporary superheroes, especially in the post-"The Dark Knight" world (don't expect Christopher Nolan to ever introduce Robin, we would bet you all the money in the world, seriously).

Read more »

Hear The Entire 'Iron Man 2' Score; New Site Launch Reveals More Photos

In our collective race (the blog race) to track the minutia of projects like "Iron Man 2," we feel more and more like what the studios would have us be — an unpaid marketing wing/street team for every silly little whiff or metallic "Iron Man" newness (the blogs that live in a world where this dilemma never even occurs to them is surely a blissfully ignorant land we secretly wish we lived in).
Still, while the launch of a new "Iron Man 2" website isn't much of any kind of story, it does provide some new semi-interesting ephemera surrounding the film. One, the entire score written by John Debney (featuring guitar playing by Ex-Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello) can be heard on the website, so that's something for those that want to hear the original music early. It's... very "Iron Man"-y, not radically different from the score composed by Ramin Djawadi for the first installment. That's not to say it's bad, it's just that scores like these work much better within the context of the actual movie with pounding sound effects, thrilling editing, etc.
Secondly, and we suppose less interesting since everyone's already seen photos of the entire cast are... more new photos of the entire cast. Tah dah! We're obviously fond of any Mickey Rourke shots with cockatoos (his character will either be a trainwreck or genius we're sure) and there is one important interesting revelation in all these photos. Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff character straightens during her civilian mornings, but curls at night during her super heroine evening jaunts. Who knew?
We've obviously written enough about "Iron Man 2" that we must have "Paramount suckers hook line and sinker" written on our foreheads in attempt to stay relevant with what's out there, so if the film isn't excellent, we're going to be pissed (for our U.K. readers that means angry).