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Category: Hollywood

  • Robert ‘Iron Man’ Downey, Jr joins Twitter

    Robert ‘Iron Man’ Downey, Jr joins Twitter

    MUMBAI: The Iron Man himself has finally joined Twitter. With only six tweets as of now, he’s taken a dip into the social media universe. Within a couple of days, Downey has tallied 1.2 million followers. Wow, word travels fast.

    Iron Man is a billion dollar franchise for Marvel since it first introduced Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark in 2008. Worldwide the first film grossed $585 million, the second one, $623.9 million and the third, $1.2 billion. The next Marvel title for the actor is Avengers: Age of Ultron which will bow 1 May, 2015 from Disney.

    The actor has long been a strong presence on social media due to his many fans who call him #RDJ. His fans post video bits from the actor from media, on-stage award shows, red carpet appearances, and other media events showcasing the witty side.

    His opening Tweet read: Loving all the love, folks. It’s been a blast. Though can somebody please explain how anyone can keep their thoughts to 140 characters or le

    Below is the first pic that #RDJ shared with the twitterati, boy does he know how to start a party…
  • Final book in Divergent trilogy to be split into two films

    Final book in Divergent trilogy to be split into two films

    MUMBAI: Lionsgate, one of the leading global entertainment company, will produce and release Allegiant, starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James and based on the third book in Veronica Roth’s best-selling Divergent trilogy, as two separate films.

     

    It was announced on 11 April by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger.  The Company will release a total of four Divergent films on its Summit Entertainment label, with the next film, Insurgent, which begins production next month, slated for an American release on 20 March, 2015 and Allegiant – Parts 1 & 2 scheduled for release on 18 March, 2016, and 24 March, 2017, respectively.

     

    The three books ranked one-two-three on the USA Today best-seller list for 2013.

     

    “Veronica Roth brings her captivating story to a masterful conclusion in Allegiant, a rich, action-packed book with material that is ideally suited to two strong and fulfilling movies,” said Friedman and Wachsberger in a statement. “The storytelling arc and world of the characters lend themselves perfectly to two films, a storytelling strategy that has worked very well for us on the two Twilight: Breaking Dawn films and about which we’re tremendously enthusiastic for the two upcoming Mockingjay films of The Hunger Games franchise.”

     

    The first film in the series, Divergent, revolves around the story which takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic version of Chicago, where people are divided into distinct factions based on human virtues. Beatrice Prior is warned that she is Divergent and thus will never fit into any one of the factions and soon learns that a sinister plot is brewing in her seemingly perfect society.

     

    After the cataclysmic events in Insurgent, Tris and Four enter a dangerous new world in Allegiant: Parts 1 & 2 that they no longer recognise. As new truths are revealed about the past and future, Tris must face impossible choices about courage, allegiance and love to protect the people closest to her.

     

    Divergent stars Academy Award nominee Shailene Woodley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager), Theo James (Downton Abbey), Academy Award winner Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road), Ashley Judd (Missing), Jai Courtney (Spartacus), Ray Stevenson (Dexter), Zoe Kravitz (X-Men: First Class), Miles Teller (The Fantastic Four), Maggie Q (Nikita), Tony Goldwyn (Scandal), Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars) and Mekhi Phifer (Lie to Me).

     

    Divergent hit Indian theatres on 11 April.

  • ‘Vampire Diaries’ prod house to adapt new novel by ‘Sisterhood of Travelling Pants’ scribe

    ‘Vampire Diaries’ prod house to adapt new novel by ‘Sisterhood of Travelling Pants’ scribe

    MUMBAI: Alcon Entertainment and Alloy Entertainment along with Kira Davis’ 8:38 Productions have acquired film rights for Young Adult (YA) novel The Here and Now by Ann Brashares.

     

    The Here and Now follows the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country, she came from a different time – a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

     

    Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. She does as told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves. 

     

    This upcoming film project marks a reunion for Alloy, Alcon and 8:38, as the three companies collaborated on their two movies based on Brashares’ The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants novels. Starring Blake Lively (Gossip Girl), Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) and Amber Tamblyn (Two and a Half Men), the first film, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants was released in 2005 and earned $42 million worldwide, and the sequel, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 followed in 2008, earning $44.4 million worldwide.

     

    “I’m excited to be working with Alloy and Alcon again as they take my latest novel and the main character of Prenna James to the big screen,” said Brashares in a statement. “We had an incredibly productive collaboration on The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, and I’m looking forward to building on that great foundation we established for The Here and Now.”

  • Writers of ‘Game of Thrones’ decide on next film project

    Writers of ‘Game of Thrones’ decide on next film project

    MUMBAI: Writers of the HBO Original series Game of Thrones, which yet again surpassed its viewership and garnered record ratings, have taken on their first feature project since becoming the architects of the HBO series adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s bestselling fantasy series, which will open its fourth season this Sunday on HBO Defined.

     

    According to Deadline, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have made a deal with Fox to write, direct and produce Dirty White Boys, the 1995 novel, written by Stephen Hunter, who also wrote Point Of Impact, the novel that was turned into the Mark Wahlberg film Shooter.

     

    Benioff and Weiss have had to dedicate their entire attention to the series because of the creative demands that came with writing and producing the ambitious signature HBO series Game of Thrones (GoT). This is the first project that they will helm together and the first since they began the GoT journey. They said it all started while they were shooting the breeze with a bunch of writer pals.

     

    Dirty White Boys follows Lamar Pye, who has escaped from Oklahoma State Penitentiary, accompanied by his idiot cousin and a vicious but cowardly artist. To have stayed in prison was certain death, but his chances on the outside are not much greater: his excesses know no bounds – one killing follows another.

     

    Benioff and Weiss are currently in postproduction on the remainder of Season 4 of GoT.

  • Scrubs actor crowed funded film trailer released

    Scrubs actor crowed funded film trailer released

    MUMBAI: On Wednesday, 9 April, Focus Features released the first official trailer for the new Zach Braff’s crowd-funded independent film, Wish I Was Here.

     

    It was in April, last year, that director Braff launched the campaign for his upcoming comedy film to make $2 million to boost his project. The movie is based on his own script co-written with his brother Adam J. Braff. By 24 May, the campaign generated a total of $3,105,473 funded by 46,520 people.

     

    Wish I Was Here is Braff’s follow-up to his indie breakout hit Garden State. Wish I Was Here stars Zach Braff (Scrubs) along with Kate Hudson (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), Mandy Patinkin (Homeland), Josh Gad (Frozen), Ashley Greene (Twilight films), Joey King (The Conjuring) and Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory). The movie is produced by Stacey Sher, Michael Shamberg, and Zach and Adam Braff.

     

    The movie is a story of a thirty-something man who finds himself at a major crossroads, which forces him to examine his life, his career, and his family. Aidan Bloom (Braff), a struggling actor, father, and husband is trying to find the purpose of his life at the age of 35.

  • Amy Poehler to join Tina Fey for new comedy The Nest

    Amy Poehler to join Tina Fey for new comedy The Nest

    MUMBAI: According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Amy Poehler is in final negotiations to team up once again with Tina Fey, again for a comedy called The Nest. Director Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) will helm the film.

     

    The plot revolves around two adult sisters (Fey and Poehler) who decide to throw one last massive party in their parents’ house before it’s sold, and in the process they start to mature. Fey will produce the film alongside Jay Roach, which is based on an original idea by Paula Pell, who wrote the screenplay.

     

    Emmy award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors’ Guild Award winner Tina Fey is best known for her work on the Lindsay Lohan starrer Mean Girls and the Emmy award winning television comedy, 30 Rock.

     

    Likewise, Golden Globe Award and Critics’ Choice Award winner Amy Poehler is best known for writing, producing and starring in her workplace comedy, Parks & Recreation.

     

    Fey and Poehler are long-time friends and colleagues. They worked together on Saturday Night Live, where they were co-anchors of Weekend Update. They also hosted the 71st annual Golden Globe Awards.

     

    The Nest will be the pair’s second movie together after the 2008 comedy Baby Mama.

  • ‘World War Z’ director to helm ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ spin-off ‘Sinister Six’

    ‘World War Z’ director to helm ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ spin-off ‘Sinister Six’

    MUMBAI: Back In December, Sony hired Drew Goddard to pen the script for the spin-off of the blockbuster film franchise, which will focus on the villains in Spider-Man’s world. Also hired in December were Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Ed Solomon to work on another spinoff, titled Venom, centred on the black-costumed villain that already made his big-screen debut in the third Spider-Man movie of the Sam Raimi trilogy.

     

    When Goddard was tapped to write the script for Sinister Six, there was the possibility that he also could direct. Those plans seem to be falling into place, according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR).

     

    The Sinister Six has had several permutations in the comics but originally featured Doctor Octopus, Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, Vulture and Kraven the Hunter. Octopus already appeared in Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, while Sandman was the villain (along with Venom) in Spider-Man 3. Electro (Jamie Foxx), the Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) are the villains in Amazing Spider-Man 2.

     

    The Amazing Spider-Man 2, starring Andrew Garfield will hit Indian theatres 1 May, before its US release a day later. Kurtzman and Orci, who did rewrites for Spider-Man 2, are already working on a third instalment of Amazing Spider-Man.

     

    Goddard, wrote and made his directorial debut with the 2012 horror film The Cabin in the Woods, and will write and executive producer Netflix’s Daredevil.

  • Tarantino to premiere leaked script with an exclusive stage reading

    Tarantino to premiere leaked script with an exclusive stage reading

    MUMBAI: Many of the Film Independent, The New York Times Film Club and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) members are geeking out over the news that Film Independent is presenting what’s sure to be one of the most exciting happenings in the film world this year: Quentin Tarantino is going to direct a staged reading of The Hateful Eight for Film Independent at the LACMA!

     

    On Thursday, 24 April at 8:00 pm, the iconic director will show up with a hand-picked cast to LACMA’s Bing Theater for a world premiere reading of the unmade script that’s been causing a ruckus since January, when Tarantino pulled the plug on the picture immediately upon learning that the script had been leaked by someone connected to the small circle of actors he’d circulated it to.

     

    “I like the fact that people like my shit, and that they go out of their way to find it and read it,” an outraged Tarantino told Deadline. This staged reading could be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see something that has never been seen before and probably won’t be seen again. It will not be recorded or live-streamed. Also, the cast is likely to remain secret until they appear on stage that night at the Bing.

     

    The Hateful Eight follows the steadily ratcheting tension that develops after a blizzard diverts a stagecoach from its route, trapping a pitiless and mistrustful group, which includes a competing pair of bounty hunters, a renegade Confederate soldier and a female prisoner in a saloon in the middle of nowhere.

  • Game of Thrones actress cast in Hunger Games final films

    Game of Thrones actress cast in Hunger Games final films

    MUMBAI: Gwendoline Christie, best known for her role as the tough warrior Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones, has been roped in to play another military leader role.

     

    The actress, best known for her towering height, will play Commander Lyme in the final two installments of The Hunger Games film series; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Parts 1 & 2. She’s replacing Lily Rabe, who was originally cast in the role.

     

    Rabe had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict with a previous commitment to Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare in the Park. The fourth film in the hit teen franchise is currently filming back-to-back with Mockingjay – Part 1.

     

    Lyme is one of the leaders of District 13, the district in the futuristic Panem that is rebelling against the government. She hails from District 2 and is a past victor of an unknown Hunger Games.

     

    Mockingjay – Part 1, the third of four films based on Suzanne Collins’ popular teen novels, will hit US theaters in November this year. Mockingjay – Part 2 will follow one year later again in November.

     

    Along with starring on the fantasy hit series Game of Thrones, Christie’s was last seen in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

  • Helen Mirren to play art heist hero with Ryan Reynolds

    Helen Mirren to play art heist hero with Ryan Reynolds

    MUMBAI: According to Deadline, the Weinstein Company has set Ryan Reynolds (Two Guys and a Girl, The Proposal) and is negotiating with Golden Globe Award nominee Daniel Bruhl (Inglorious Basterds, Rush) to join Academy award winner Helen Mirren (The Queen, Hitchcock) in Woman In Gold.

     

    In the film, Mirren will play real-life heroine Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Austria, noted for her ultimately successful legal campaign to reclaim five family-owned paintings by the artist Gustav Klimt, stolen by the Nazis during World War II, from the Government of Austria. Reynolds will play the attorney who took his case despite knowing little about art, and Bruhl will play his adversary.

     

    David Thompson and Kris Thykier are producing, while the executive producers are Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Christine Langan and Ed Rubin. Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn) will direct in May.

     

    The script was written by Alexi Kay Campbell (The Golden Lady). Reynolds just finished Mississippi Grind, and he is the lead of Atom Egoyan’s The Captive and in Selfless. Bruhl is coming off Rush and most recently wrapped A Most Wanted Man.