GENERAL MOVIE NEWS

General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser (www.moviemuser.co.uk)

Casey Affleck Set To Take On The Boston Strangler With Mark Romanek Directing

January 10, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Just over a year ago, Casey Affleck was rumoured to be considering a movie about the Boston Strangler. Now it’s been revealed that he’s still attached to star and the project has found a director, with Mark Romanek in talks to take the job.

Affleck is set to play a Boston detective who tries to capture the elusive killer for over a year and a half in the early 1960s. Chuck MacLean wrote the script, which is said to be in the same vein as Seven and Zodiac, which fits the One Hour Photo and Never Let Me Go director’s penchant for darker material.

The film is based on the true story of Albert De Salvo, who was arrested and eventually confessed to the serial killings. However, there are some who still believe there was more than one killer and that Albert De Salvo was just a part of a larger operation.

It’s now clear when it might shoot.

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ACTORS: Casey Affleck DIRECTORS: Mark Romanek

Gerard Butler Up For Patrick Swayze’s Role In Point Break Remake

January 10, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Gerard Butler

For a while now, there’s been talk of a remake of Point Break. The last we heard Ericson Core signed up to direct, and now it’s moved forward once more, with THR reporting that Gerard Butler is in talks to star in the film.

Butler would play Bodhi, the role taken by Patrick Swayze in the original. Kathryn Bigelow directed the original film, which starred Keanu Reeves as a FBI agent who has to go undercover to get to the bottom of a string of bank robberies by a gang known as the Ex-Presidents. However he finds himself being tested when he realises he likes these people.

This new version will be set in the world of extreme sports, but will maintain the same tone as the original. This time the FBI agent will be infiltrating a criminal syndicate. It’s not clear when it might shoot.

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ACTORS: Gerard Butler DIRECTORS: Ericson Core FILMS: Point Break (2014)

Bruce Willis Set To Take On Captive, Replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger

January 10, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Back in 2011 Arnold Schwarzenegger signed up to star in Captive. However he’s now left the film behind and Variety reports that Bruce Willis is in talks to take over the lead role in the action-thriller.

The film is about an American real estate mogul who is living in Brazil. He gets abducted and held for ransom in a Sao Paolo landfill, while a detective specializing in this sort of case tries to locate him.

Simon Brand (Unknown) is set to direct from a screenplay by Benjamin A. van der Veen and Kario Salem. Assuming Willis does sign on the bottom line, filming is scheduled to begin in March.

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ACTORS: Bruce Willis

First Look At Evan Peters As Quicksilver In X-Men: Days of Future Past

January 10, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

There’s an interesting situation with Marvel character Quicksilver, as while normally movie deals mean only one studio can make use of that person, he is set to appear in both Fox’s X-Men: Days Of Future Past and Marvel’s The Avengers 2. However he’ll be played by different actors, and due to the terms of the deals, Avengers can’t mention his X-Men heritage, while X-Men can’t say he’ll one days join up with a superhero team.

Days Of Future Past will be our first taste of Quicksilver, with American Horror Story’s Evan Peters taking the role. Now we get our first look at him in the part, although he is sadly slightly in the background, alongside Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Hugh Jackman. There’s also another new photo below from Entertainment Weekly, featuring Wolverine and Beast (Nicholas Hoult).

Quicksilver has superhuman speed, so expect plenty of slow-motion shots (filmed at 3,600 frames a second!) when Days Of Future past hits this summer. The character will be played by Aaron Johnson in The Avengers 2.

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ACTORS: Evan Peters, Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy DIRECTORS: Bryan Singer FILMS: X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Films Find Replacements For The Late Paul Walker In The Form Of James Marsden & Rupert Friend

January 10, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

While Paul Walker was best known for the Fast & Furious, he also had a few other films lined up, two of which have now decided it is time to find a replacement, with Deadline reporting James Marsden is likely to take Walker place in The Best Of Me, while Rupert Friend is in talks for Agent 47, according to TheWrap.

The Best of Me is adapted from Nicholas Sparks’ novel, which follows two high school sweethearts, Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier, who reunite 25 years later at the funeral of their friend. James Marsden has been offered the role of Dawson, with Michelle Monaghan portraying Amanda. Michael Hoffman will direct. The film was due for an October 2014 release, but that may shift due to Walker’s death.

Agent 47 is the planned reboot based of the Hitman videogame series, which previously became a movie starring Timothy Olyphant in 2007. In the game, Agent 47 is an assassin with a barcode tattoo on the back of his head. Friend has previously appeared in Pride & Prejudice, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Young Victoria, and more recently has been starring in Homeland. Aleksander Bach is making his feature directorial debut with the movie. It isn’t known when it might shoot.

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ACTORS: James Marsden, Rupert Friend, Paul Walker FILMS: The Best Of Me, Agent 47

Rebel Wilson Up For Night At The Museum 3

January 10, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Awesome Aussie Rebel Wilson has lined up her next gig, as Pitch Perfect and Pain & Pain’s Rebel Wilson has taken a supporting role in Night at the Museum 3, according to Deadline.

It’s not known at the moment exactly who Wilson will play, although she is apparently more likely to play a fellow museum security guard alongside Ben Stiller than a historical figure. She may have a role similar to Jonah Hill in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian – although probably playing a Brit, as the latest film brings the magical museum exhibits to London.

She joins returning cast members Stiller, Robin Williams, Ricky Gervais, Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan. At the moment, the only other newcomer besides Rebel is former Downton star, Dan Stevens, who will play the villainous Sir Lancelot. Shawn Levy will once more direct, working from a screenplay by franchise creators Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant.

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ACTORS: Rebel Wilson, Ben Stiller DIRECTORS: Shawn Levy FILMS: Night At The Museum 3

Snowpiercer Japanese Trailer – Take a fresh look at Bong Joon-ho’s Chris Evans starring sci-fi

January 8, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Snowpiercer is having a few problems. Despite great reviews from film festivals, it’s currently stuck in a battle between Bong Joon-ho and The Weinstein Company, over whether a recut version should be released in the US and potentially other countries as well. The Weinsteins want to recut it, but Bong wants his version released.

As a result it’s slightly stuck in limbo, so while it originally looked like it would be out next summer, there’s still no official US or UK release date set.

However now a new Japanese trailer has arrived to give us a fresh feel for the movie.

Snowpiercer is set on a ravaged Earth where the few human survivors are a train (which gives the film its name) that travels around the globe. However a revolution is brewing amongst the passengers inside. The film has a great cast, following Curtis (Chris Evans), Mason (Tilda Swinton), Gilliam (John Hurt), Wilford (Ed Harris), Namgoong Minsu (Kang-ho Song), Edgar (Jamie Bell), Tanya (Octavia Spencer), Andrew (Ewen Bremner) and Yona (Ah-sung Ko) as they ride the train.

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ACTORS: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell DIRECTORS: Joon-ho Bong FILMS: Snowpiercer

Ben Affleck Goes For A Gone Girl Post-Mortem In A David Fincher Ahot EW Cover

January 8, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

gone-girl-ew-cover
Those who know Gillian Flynn’s book, Gone Girl, will be wondering exactly what’s going on in this new EW cover image, featuring Ben Affleck cradling Rosamund Pike who’s on the slab. The image was taken by director David Fincher especially for the magazine.

The film is about Nick and Amy Dunne (Affleck and Pike), two former magazine writers who leave their New York City life behind and move to the Midwest on America. Things go badly wrong when Amy disappears on the couple’s fifth anniversary. As new details emerge, Nick is considered the prime suspect in her murder, even though no body has been found.

When asked about why he seems to go for unconventional characters, David Fincher commented, “I don’t know what ‘likable’ is. I know people who are doting parents, who give to charity, drive Priuses, all those things, who are insufferable a- -holes. I like people who get s - - - done.”

However as the cover image suggests, Fincher hints that those who know the novel may be surprised by the movie’s twists, saying that the biggest lesson he learned from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was, “We may have been too beholden to the source material.”

Novelist/screenwriter Gillian Flynn was happy to chance a few things, saying, “There was something thrilling about taking this piece of work that I’d spent about two years painstakingly putting together with all its eight million LEGO pieces and take a hammer to it and bash it apart and reassemble it into a movie.”

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ACTORS: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike DIRECTORS: David Fincher FILMS: Gone Girl

Captain America Director Joe Johnston To Deal With An Alien Invasion In Extinction

January 8, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Joe-Johnston Joe Johnston made his name on the special effects of movies like Star Wars, but he’s had a rather varied career as a director, with the like of The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park II and The Wolfman having more naysayers than fans. However he’s also made the likes of Jumanji and Captain America.

He may not have returned for Captain America 2, but now THR reports he’s lining up a movie called Extinction. The is about ‘a man trying to save his family with an alien invasion figuring into the proceedings’, although there aren’t many more details than that.

The ‘contained sci-fi thriller’ was written by Spenser Cohen, and has previously been compared to The Sixth Sense and Cloverfield. There’s no news on when it might shoot.

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DIRECTORS: Joe Johnston

Matt Reeves Returning For Planet of the Apes 3

January 8, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Matt-Reeves 20th Century Fox must be pretty impressed with what they’ve seen of Matt Reeves’ work on this coming summer’s Dawn Of The Planet of The Apes, as Deadline reports the director is already attached to helm a third Apes movie.

It makes sense, as Fox wanted to make the second film as quickly as they could, but when Rupert Wyatt, who helmed the first movie, dropped out of directing a seuqle saying he didn’t have time to do the movie justice, it resulted in a delay that has ended up with Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes coming out a year later than the studio originally wanted. By signing Reeves now, the studio will be hoping to prevent another gap between movies.

The director will work on the script with Mark Bomback, who co-wrote Dawn of the Planet of the Apes screenplay with Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Scott Z. Burns. Reeves’ is firmly attached to direct, but is still negotiating over his scripting duties.

However the movie does depend on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes becoming a success. The film is set 15 years after 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and follows a group of survivors of the simian plague that decimated mankind. They engage in conflict with Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his growing army of apes, although the super-intelligent chimp finds it increasingly difficult to control increasingly violent factions. Jason Clarke, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell and Judy Greer star.

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DIRECTORS: Matt Reeves FILMS: Planet Of The Apes 3