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Category: Hollywood

  • Disney delays voyage of ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean 5’; eyeing 2016 to set sail

    Disney delays voyage of ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean 5’; eyeing 2016 to set sail

    MUMBAI: Disney has moved forward its summer 2015 release date with Pirates Of The Caribbean 5, and the studio is now looking to slot it for summer 2016. This will create some jockeying from other studios next summer, Pirates had been slated for a 10 July release and other studios steered clear of that date.

    The studio and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have an advanced outline from scribe Jeff Nathanson, who is writing. They have directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, who are new to the big scale of a film like Pirates. The studio would have to get into production by February, which would mean prepping off the outline.

    The decision was made that it wasn’t worth rushing until they are sure the script is in place. The first four films grossed $3.7 billion, and the last installment, On Stranger Tides, crossed the $1 billion mark. There is a sequel to The Avengers and the first of the next three installments of the Star Wars franchise, directed by JJ Abrams lined up for Disney. There is also the Marvel pic Ant-Man, and Inside Out from Pixar.

    Johnny Depp is firmly committed to return to his Jack Sparrow role, but has his hands full with Into The Woods and Alice In Wonderland 2.

  • Isaiah Washington to be seen in Blackbird

    Isaiah Washington to be seen in Blackbird

    MUMBAI: The actor, who is known for his role in Grey’s Anatomy has just finished shooting for the movie Blackbird which is a film written and directed by Patrick-Ian Polk. He plays the role of a father to a talented singing son who is gay. Washington is sympathetic to his son as he struggles to cope in a conservative society.

    Washington’s stint at Grey’s Anatomy ended when he was caught in a homophobic incident against a cast-mate who is gay.

    He has also produced the movie along with Carol Ann Shine and Keith Brown. He has been getting rave reviews for Blue Caprice which is directed by Alexander Moors. He was also seen in They Die by Dawn.

    Repped by Inqlusion Entertainment and Anderson & Smith, he is developing a reality-based sports and outdoor adventure show with Wayne Hubbard and Candice Price’s Urban American Adventures brand.

  • Napster documentary Downloaded to be streamed free

    Napster documentary Downloaded to be streamed free

    MUMBAI: The movie has been directed by Alex Winter and AOL On has acquired the film for marketing and distributing along with producer VH1 Roc Docs. The movie will be available for live streaming on Thursday on AOL On.

     

    This is the first feature got by AOL for free streaming. It will be available on downloadeddocs.com as well as its mobile app. The Thursday online premiere will have Winter as well. VH1 Roc Docs is producing the movie too.

     

    Viewers can watch it at a go or watch it in seven parts. AOL On is looking to grow its base of premium video content.

  • Naomi Watts to star in Errol Morris-helmed Holland, Michigan

    Naomi Watts to star in Errol Morris-helmed Holland, Michigan

    MUMBAI: Naomi Watts is in talks to star in Holland, Michigan, a thriller that will be directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris from a script by first time screenwriter Andrew Sodroski. The script is described as a suburban thriller with pitch black humor. Le Grisbi Productions’ John Lesher and Adam Kassan are producing and Sean Murphy will be co-producer. Production will start in April.

     

    Watts will be seen next as Princess Diana in the Oliver Hirschbiegel-directed biopic Diana. She just wrapped the Ted Melfi-directed St. Vincent De Van Nuys with Bill Murray and the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-directed Birdman, the latter of which Lesher produced.

     

    Morris is at Toronto to unveil his latest documentary, The Unknown Known and his past work includes The Thin Blue Line, Tabloid and the Oscar-winning The Fog Of War: Eleven Lessons From The Life Of Robert S. McNamara. Morris served as executive producer on Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary The Act Of Killing.

     

    Lesher is currently in pre-production on the David Ayer-helmed WWII film Fury with Brad Pitt. He produced Blood Ties, Guillaume Canet’s English language debut which premiered at Cannes, and was acquired by Lionsgate. Watts is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.

  • Fast & Furious 7 adds more star power

    Fast & Furious 7 adds more star power

    MUMBAI: Nathalie Emmanuel has been cast in Fast & Furious 7, out from Universal next July. The studio is keeping character descriptions under wraps, but a source close to the James Wan-directed project has revealed Emmanuel will be part of the pedal to the metal team led by Dom Toretto, reprised by Vin Diesel.

    The British actress is currently seen on HBO’s Game Of Thrones in the recurring role of Missandei, personal aide to exiled princess Daenerys Targaryen. Emmanuel is represented by ICM Partners, A&J Artists in the UK, and Untitled Entertainment.

    There have been rumors afloat that Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone has also been signed on to play a small pivotal role in the seventh installment to the high adrenaline, high octane franchise. The franchise is only going bigger and badder.

  • Instructions Not Included becomes highest grossing Spanish Language film in the US

    Instructions Not Included becomes highest grossing Spanish Language film in the US

    MUMBAI: Pantelion Films’ Instructions Not Included has become the highest grossing Spanish Language film ever released in the US, according to distributor Lionsgate. With this weekend’s estimate of $3.38 million, the breakout family comedy/drama has a cumulative of $38.567 million in its fifth weekend at the American box office.

     

    Starring and directed by Eugenio Derbez, the movie has passed Pan’s Labyrinth‘s $37.6 million as the new record holder. It’s also the fourth biggest grossing foreign language film ever in the US, behind only Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Taiwan), Life is Beautiful (Italy), and Hero (China).

     

    Meanwhile, Instructions Not Included is yet to release in Canada. Word of mouth spread is also helping the pic garner eyeballs, and Instructions Not Included expanded its US run to target crossover audiences.

     

    Made for a $5 million budget and acquired by Pantelion, it was the big story coming out of Labor Day Weekend for the best-ever domestic debut for a Spanish language film. Pantelion Films is a joint venture between Lionsgate and Mexico’s media powerhouse Televisa with plans for eight to10 films per year.

  • Warner Bros revives ‘Shantaram’, Johnny Depp taps Joel Edgerton

    Warner Bros revives ‘Shantaram’, Johnny Depp taps Joel Edgerton

    MUMBAI: Warner Bros is in talks with Joel Edgerton to star in Shantaram, an adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel that is being produced by Inifinitum Nihil partners Johnny Depp and Christi Dembrowski, and GK Films’ Graham King. Following a couple of stalled attempts to get this feature adaptation up and running after the studio paid $2 million for the rights in 2004, Depp himself jump started the process by personally courting Edgerton to play a role Depp once intended to play before the film was derailed by the writer’s strike.

     

    Edgerton is being courted for the lead role of a remarkable protagonist who, at the time the book became a sensation in Hollywood, was said to have been modeled after the author in a thinly veiled memoir. He starts as an Australian heroin addict who escapes a maximum-security prison, reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of India and eventually uses gun-running and counterfeiting skills to fight against the invading Russian troops in Afghanistan.

     

    Edgerton, who most recently starred in The Great Gatsby and Zero Dark Thirty, is Australian-born and fits the model of the protagonist very well. The script is by Eric Roth. Back when Depp was going to star.

  • Tommy Lee Jones to write and direct ‘The Cowboys’ remake

    Tommy Lee Jones to write and direct ‘The Cowboys’ remake

    MUMBAI: The Oscar winner is updating the 1972 western that starred John Wayne, Bruce Dern and a pack of young’uns who are tasked with handling a long cattle drive.

    Tommy Lee Jones will write and direct The Cowboys, with Donald De Line producing and Lynn Harris overseeing for Warner Bros. The remake will be Jones’ next project after The Homesman, a frontier drama he co-wrote, directed, produced and stars in.

    No word on whether he’ll appear in the Cowboys redo.

  • Jason Reitmans next: Men, Women and Children

    Jason Reitmans next: Men, Women and Children

    MUMBAI: The director of Labour Day is putting up a cast for the film which comprises of Rosemarie DeWitt, Jennifer Garner and Adam Sandler. Talks are on and nothing has been made formal.

     

    The movie is based on a book by Chad Kultgen and it explores the sexual frustrations of students in junior high school and their parents in the age of the Internet.

     

    Sources say Reitman has already written the screenplay for the movie. He is known to have a talent to adapt quirky novels into acclaimed movies. Shooting may start this November.

     

    He would also be producing through Right of Way films, his own house.

  • Bill Condon and Ian McKellen reunite for a new Sherlock flick

    Bill Condon and Ian McKellen reunite for a new Sherlock flick

    MUMBAI: The acclaimed director is all set to recreate a new Sherlock Holmes movie in which McKellen will play a retired Holmes. The movie titled A Slight Trick of the Mind is based on a novel by Mitch Cullin and the screenplay is adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher.

     

    Condon and McKellen were previously seen together in Gods and Monsters. The finance is done by Icon UK’s production department called AI and BBC is co-financing. AI is also co-producing. The shooting is set to begin sometime next April in UK.

     

    Anne Carey is producing via Archer Gray Productions. King’s Speech producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films, Icon/AI Film’s Aviv Giladi, and Len Blavatnik, whose Access Industries owns the Icon UK group, are exec producing as is BBC Films’ Christine Langan.

     

    International sales are being handled by FilmNation. Condon is repped by WME, Anonymous Content, Wayne Alexander and Robert Nau. McKellen is repped by Chris Andrews at CAA and Paul Lyon-Maris at Independent Talent Group.