ITV

Category: International

  • Tom Hanks brings real life sea adventure to reel with ‘Captain Phillips’

    MUMBAI: Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks will soon be seen playing the titular role in Sony Pictures’ upcoming adventure drama Captain Phillips. The movie is not just making news for its riveting storyline but is also being pegged as Hanks’ third shot at the Oscars for his portrayal of the real life Captain Richard Phillips. Based on the true incident of the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates in 2009, this is yet another drama based on a true story featuring the actor who is self-admittedly fascinated by adaptations of real life happenings to the silver screen.






    Talking about the appeal non-fictional stories hold for him, the actor said, “I’m fascinated constantly by nonfiction entertainment. I’m the type of guy that reads the newspaper and sees a story that really happened and says, ‘Well, this is better than most movies.’” Commenting on his reasons to take up this movie, Hanks further added, “We’ve seen quite a few fictionalised versions of what can happen when bad guys try to take over a ship or a plane, but because this is a real event, it presents one of the biggest challenges a filmmaker can face, which is: what really happened and how do we make that so gripping that it warrants holding a place in commercial entertainment?”


    Directed by  Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips recounts the true-life ordeal of Richard Phillips, the captain of a US-flagged cargo ship, the MV Maersk Alabama, sailing with a 20-man crew and 17,000 metric tons of cargo that was bound for Kenya in April 2009 when it was abducted by four Somali pirates. The biopic is based on the memoirs of Captain Richard Phillips who was at the helm of the ship and was taken hostage by the pirates who fled the Maersk aboard one of the ship’s lifeboats. 

    Captain Phillips releases in India on 18 October.

  • 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.

  • Taylor Swift joins cast of ‘The Giver’

    Taylor Swift joins cast of ‘The Giver’

    MUMBAI: The Lois Lowry novel adapted by The Weinstein Company and Walden Media has got Taylor Swift as part of its cast. The latest addition to the cast was Katie Holmes.

    Swift will be playing Rosemary, the last teen mentored by ‘The Giver’ before he meets Jonas. The film is written by Michael Mitnick and is scheduled to start filming in South Africa this October.

    Jeff Briedges is playing the title character while Meryl Streep is the clan leader. Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgard, Odeya Rush and Cameron Monaghan are also part of the cast.

    The release date set for the movie is 15 August 2014.

  • ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ sets Thanksgiving release date

    Mumbai: With a recurring cast the New Line movie is slated to release on 26 November 2014. With a new director- Sean Anders – the cast is Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Dey.


    It’s produced by Brett Ratner and Jay Stern while John Cheng and John Rickard are exec producers. Only one other movie is releasing on the same day, Fox animated ‘Home’. Another movie releasing near the date is Lionsgate’s ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay’ on 21 November.






    A lot is expected from the second installment since the first one got more than $200 million worldwide. It was directed by Seth Gordon. Filming will begin in November this year. John Daley and Jonathan Goldstein will be scripting the sequel as well.

  • Katie Holmes to be part of ‘The Giver’

    Katie Holmes to be part of ‘The Giver’

    Mumbai: Katie Holmes has finalised a deal to be a part of ‘The Giver’, a drama from the Weinstein Company and Walden Media. The movie is directed by Phillip Noyce.

    Brenton Thwaites plays the lead role in the movie that talks about a world where there is no sickness, racism or conflict.

    Thwaites plays the role of a young boy who is selected for his life service as Receiver of Memories with ‘The giver’ (Jeff Bridges) who is an old man teaching the boy to use his unique gifts of the senses.

    Meryl Streep plays the society’s chief elder, an authoritarian woman who assigns young kids tasks to do.  Holmes will be playing the mother of Thwaites. Her role is that of a strict obeyer of the rules of the society that can be named as an antiseptic society.

    Michael Mitnick has scripted the adaptation and will be shot in South Africa.

    The movie is eying a budget of around $25 million.

  • Gregory Plotkin to direct ‘Paranormal Activity 5’

    Gregory Plotkin to direct ‘Paranormal Activity 5’

    Mumbai: Gregory Plotkin, who served as the editor and co-producer of the last three paranormal activity movies, is all set to have his directorial debut with the fifth installment of the popular horror series.

    He has also worked on another movie called ‘Paranormal Activity: The Marked ones’, due to release in January next year.

    With a long list of credits as an editor or assistant editor on films such as ‘The Insider’ and ‘The Break-up’, he now gets to be a lead behind the camera.

    The story is being written by Jason Pagan and Andrew Deutschman. Plotkin is repped by WME and Circle of Confusion. Jason Blum and Oren Peli are producers.

  • Jennifer Lawrence and Gary Ross team up for ‘East of Eden’

    MUMBAI: A deal has been finalised between Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer with the John Steinbeck estate to recreate the novel ‘East of Eden’ written by John Steinbeck.


    It will also see ‘Hunger Games’ team of Jennifer Lawrence and Gary Ross together again.






    Apparently, two movies will be made on the book. The pair is also going to be seen together in ‘Burial Rites’. The picture will go on floor for production after Ross directs his movie ‘Peter and the Starcatchers’. Lawrence also has two movies lined up- ‘The Hunger Games: Catching fire’ and ‘American Hustle’.

    The film’s executive producer is Anna Culp. The book deal was made by RWSG’s Agency’s Geoff Sanford, Jill Gillett and Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein.

  • Codeblack acquires ‘Frankie and Alice’ starring Halle Berry

    MUMBAI: The label under Lionsgate-Codeblack Films has got the rights for the movie ‘Frankie and Alice’ for North America. The movie is set to release in April next year.






    The movie stars Halle Berry and is about a woman with a multiple personality disorder and how she copes with it. Although the film debuted at Cannes 2010, it was halted after that. Directed by Geoffrey Sax it also stars Stellan Skarsgard, Phylicia Rashad and Chandra Wilson.


    Codeblack focuses on movies for the African-American market. The movie is produced by Vincent Cirrincione and Berry. Berry also got a Golden Globe nomination for the psychological drama, which released for a limited audience in December 2010.


    Halle Berry is known for her roles in ‘Catwoman’, James Bond and the ‘X men’ series. Superhero sequel ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and crime drama ‘Dom Hemingway’ are also slated to open in theaters in April 2014.

  • Image Entertainment acquires thriller ‘Odd Thomas’

    Image Entertainment acquires thriller ‘Odd Thomas’

    MUMBAI: Stephen Sommers wrote and directed Odd Thomas, the adaptation of the Dean Koontz New York Times bestseller that is has sparked a seven-novel series and perhaps a film franchise. The film stars Anton Yelchin as a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities who encounters a mysterious man surrounded by dark, threatening forces. The cook’s unique abilities, which include an ability to speak with the dead, help him, protect his town and family. Sommers wrote the script before he had the rights from Koonz, who is wary of movie adaptations of his works, and kicked off production in May 2011 without a studio deal. Image Entertainment plans an early 2014 release.

    Image Entertainment chief acquisitions officer Bill Bromiley, for made the announcement on Tuesday.

    “Director Stephen Sommers’s spectacular style and extraordinary vision translates so well to the big screen for this material,” said Bromiley. “We are proud to distribute the film and introduce the magical world of Odd Thomas to a wider audience.”

    The deal was negotiated by Bromiley, Mark Ward and Jess De Leo on behalf of Image Entertainment and Paul Hudson on behalf of the filmmakers.

    Dean Koontz is an American author, known for his bestselling suspense thrillers. Fourteen of his novels reached the number one position on the New York Times hardcover and paperback bestsellers lists, including Odd Hours, Midnight, The Bad Place, Cold Fire, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, From the Corner of His Eye, One Door Away From Heaven, The Husband, Relentless, What the Night Knows and 77 Shadow Street. Koontz is one of only a dozen writers that have achieved this milestone. His books have been published in 38 languages and he has sold over 450 million copies to date.

    Recent Image Entertainment releases include The Colony with Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton and Kevin Zegers, Paradise with Julianne Hough, Russell Brand, Octavia Spencer and Holly Hunter, written, directed and produced by Diablo Cody and the upcoming The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box starring Michael Sheen, Lena Headey, Sam Neill and Aneurin Barnard and Rage starring Nicolas Cage and Danny Glover.

  • Catherine Deneuve to receive European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award

    MUMBAI: Catherine Deneuve, whose decades-long career has made her a prominent name in French cinema, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Film Academy.


    Her roles in Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 1964 and Repulsion by Roman Polanski in 1965 catapulted her to stardom, and since then she has gone on to work with industry heavyweights such as the late Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel in Belle de Jour and Tristana, French director and screenwriter Jean-Pierre Melville in Un Flic and Andre Techine in Ma Saison Preferee and Les Voleurs.






    Deneuve earned her first Cesar in 1981 for her role in The Last Metro by Francois Truffaut, and received another Cesar and an Oscar nomination for her role in Regis Wargnier’s Indochine. Her other accolades include a Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival and a Berlin Silver Bear.


    Deneuve has also delved into Hollywood, having guest starred in TV series Nip/Tuck and appearing in a sex scene with Susan Sarandon as a bisexual vampire in Tony Scott’s 1983 film The Hunger.


    Recently, she starred in Berlin competition title On My Way and will appear in Andrew Techine’s L’homme que l’on aimait trop and Benoit Jacquot’s Trois Coeurs. She will be an honorary guest at the 26th European Film Awards Ceremony on 7 December in Berlin.