Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize back in 1981, but it’s only now that a movie version has been made, which debuted at TIFF earlier this month. Oscar nominated director Deepa Mehta, is behind the film, which takes on Rushdie’s magical realist novel about the destinies of a pair of children born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment that India claimed its independence from Great Britain. Switched at birth by a nurse in a Bombay hospital, Saleem Sinai (Satya Bhabha), the son of a poor single mother, and Shiva (Siddharth), scion of a wealthy family, are condemned to live out the fate intended for the other. Imbued with mysterious telepathic powers, their lives become strangely intertwined and inextricably linked to their country’s careening journey through the tumultuous twentieth century. The film play the London Film Festival next month, but no full UK release is currently set.
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David Thewlis Takes On Terry Gilliam’s Zero Theorem
Terry Gilliam never has an easy time setting up a movie, but it looks like it’s all steam ahead on The Zero Theorem, which is set to start shooting in Bucharest next month. We already knew Christoph Waltz is set to take the lead role, and now The Playlist has discovered David Thewlis has signed up too.
Unfortunately we don’t know what part he’ll be playing, but the film is set in an Orwellian corporate world where “mancams” serve as the eyes of a shadowy figure known only as Management. Waltz will play Qohen Leth, an eccentric and reclusive computer genius plagued with existential angst who works on a mysterious project aimed at discovering the purpose of existence – or the lack thereof – once and for all.
His work is interrupted now and then by surprise visits from Bainsley, a flamboyantly lusty love interest, and Bob, the rebellious whiz-kid teenage son of Management. But these visits turn out to be intentional diversions orchestrated by Management to keep control on Qohen’s progress.
It all sounds perfectly Gilliam-esque and could make for a very interesting movie.
George C. Wolfe Teams With Hilary Swank For You’re Not You
Hilary Swank has had an odd career. She’s one of the few actresses to have won two Best Actress Oscars, but in between Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby, she’s pretty much just made underwhelming movies, which to be honest she hasn’t been that good in. However she’ll be hoping You’re Not You doesn’t turn into another The Resident, New Year’s Eve, The Core Amelia or Conviction.
Now a director has come onboard this new drama, with George C. Wolfe signing up to helm You’re Not You, according to Variety. The film will be based on Michelle Wildgen’s debut novel, which on the friendship that forms between a thirty-something woman afflicted with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and her 23-year-old caretaker who is struggling to make sense of her own life, balancing a disinterest in her course load and an affair with her married professor. Swank is lined up to play the part of the immobilized invalid, and will be hoping she has as much success playing a disabled person as Francois Cluzet has in the similarly themed Untouchable.
Wolfe is best-known for his theatrical work directing the likes of Tony Kushner’s Angels In America: Millennium Approaches and the musical Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, however he’s more recently moved into the movies with the Richard Gere flick Nights in Rodanthe.
The tearjerker will start shooting early November in LA.
Donnie Darko’s Richard Kelly Takes On Amicus With Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage, who seems to sign up for at least five films a week, has now got another one. He’s set to team up with Donnie Darko and The Box director Richard Kelly for the true crime drama Amicus, according to Variety.
The film will be about the case of Lawrence Horn, a former music producer who was sentenced to death after he hired a hitman to murder his wife, quadriplegic son, and their night nurse in their Silver Springs, Maryland mansion. Horn apparently used the Paladin Press book, Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors, to plan the triple-murder, which led to the victims’ families filing a class-action lawsuit against the publisher.
Nicolas Cage will play attorney Rodney Smolla, who at first turned down the case due to his stringent belief in the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech. However, after reading the detailed how-to book, he changed his tune and took on the historic case, which took nearly five years to complete. Amicus is set to begin this coming January in Atlanta.
Justin Timberlake Turns Alcoholic Foodie For The Last Drop
Although he always seems to have the hairdo of a 12-year-old boy, Justin Timberlake’s movie career has really taken off in the last few weeks, and recently he seems to have been trying to prove himself in more meaty, dramatic roles. His turn opposite Clint Eastwood in Trouble with the Curve was recently released in the US, and he’s got the Coen Brothers Inside Llewyn Davis and Brad Furman’s gambling drama Runner, Runner coming up.
Now he’s heading for another dramatic role, as Timberlake is in talks to star in The Last Drop for director Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist). Assuming he signs on the dotted line, Timberlake will portray an alcoholic restaurant critic for New York Magazine. The foodie realises he has to change his addictive behaviour when he falls for a young woman.
Brandon Murphy and Phil Murphy wrote the screenplay, which landed on the Black List of the best unproduced scripts in 2011. It isn’t known when the movie might shoot. (Source: Variety)
Hangover Helmer Todd Phillips Says Trust Your Eyes
Todd Phillips has built up quite a comedy resume with the likes of The Hangover movies and Due Date, but now he’s hoping to movie out of the comedy world once he’s finished Hangover III. Warner Bros. has acquired Linwood Barclay’s thriller novel Trust Your Eyes for the filmmaker to direct, according to Variety.
The book is about a schizophrenic savant who witnesses a murder in Manhattan. The man manages to convince his brother to investigate the crime, leading the duo to square off with an ex-cop and his brutal henchwoman, who are determined to tie up their loose ends. The story is being described as a cross between Rear Window and Rain Man.
No screenwriter has been attached to adapt the novel yet. This project is the second non-comedy Todd Phillips has become attached to as of late, so he really seems to want to stretch his wings. Last month he signed on to direct a remake of The Gambler for Paramount Pictures.
Hugh Grant Comes @Out4Marriage (But not out as gay, despite some confusion)
The Twitter-verse went slightly nuts yesterday with the news that Hugh Grant was gay. However like many Twitter facts, it wasn’t true. It spread due to confusion over a video Hugh has released as part of the @Out4Marriage campaign, expressing his support for equal marriage.
Many thought he’d announced he was gay due to a tweet from Stephen Fry, which read ”Hugh Grant has come out! He says love is the same straight or gay: hurrah for him @Out4Marriage! http://youtu.be/JdsoJKRYEYg“. As so often on Twitter, people looked at the 140 characters and not the actual content, leading to many tweeting about Hugh supposed homosexuality.
Unfortunately for those who got their hopes up, Hugh’s still not gay (at least not as far as we know), but he does support gay marriage, although as he himself notes, he’s not the biggest believer in marriage itself.
In the video he says, “Hello I’m Hugh Grant. I’m not a massive believer in marriage; I think my own biography is testament to that but I do think that love is the same for everyone. And I do think that everyone should have the same rights. If you want to get married, whether you’re gay, straight, transgender [or] whatever, you should definitely be allowed to do that.” You can watch Hugh’s video above.
Noah Image Gives Us Our First Look Inside The Ark
Darren Aronofsky has been busy shooting his long-gestating biblical epic Noah for the past few weeks, and he’s even built much of the exterior of an ark to help to the story. However we haven’t had any idea what things might look like inside the giant boat. Now Director of Photography Matthew Libatique has tweeted a concept image giving us a glimpse into the ark, and shows that with limited space and a whole world of animals to save, things like snakes are just going to have to go into piles.
Noah stars Russell Crowe as the title character, with Jennifer Connelly, Saoirse Ronan, Douglas Booth, Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Durand and Mark Margolis also set to star. The film is currently set for release on March 28th, 2014
Carey Mulligan May Go Far From The Madding Crowd
Carey Mulligan has certainly proved herself as one of the best actresses to emerge in the last few years. But as she’s a British actress it’s compulsory for her to do a full-on period drama every so often (well, it’s not compulsory, but it sure seems like it), and as a result she’s thinking about playing Bathsheba Everdene in a new version of Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd.
The Wrap reports Dogme 95 co-founder Thomas Vinterberg, who helmed the groundbreaking Danish drama The Celebration, is in talks to helm the film, although there no news on whether he’s planning a traditional type of movie, or something more avant garde. One Day author and screenwriter David Nicholls is writing the screenplay which is about headstrong farmer’s daughter Bathsheba Everdene, and her tumultuous love life, who must choose between three very different suitors, which involves a shepherd she initially, a dashing but duplicitous soldier, and a farm owner.
It appears the movie is currently fairly early in its development, so it may be some time before it goes in front of the cameras.
Seven Great Cloud Atlas Character Banners Emerge
Cloud Atlas is certainly one of the most interesting movies coming in the next few months, and with good (if not ecstatic) buzz coming from festival screenings, it should be certainly worth a look. Now seven character banners have been released, which are certainly very eye-catching.
The movie, based on David Mitchell’s novel spans hundreds of years, showing how individual lives affect others in the past, present, and future through a series of stories. The actors, including Hugh Grant, Halle Berry, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent and Tom Hanks play different people in each story, jumping between different races and genders. It’s currently set for UK release of February 22nd, 2013.
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