MUMBAI: Ashton Kutcher has been cast in a biopic of Apple founder Steve Jobs. He will play the technology pioneer in an indie movie which will simply be titled ‘Jobs’.
The film will feature the visionary businessman’s rise from a California hippie to co-founder of Apple. Jobs died in October last year after he fell to a battle with pancreatic cancer when he was 56.
Though the actor has earlier featured in drama projects in the past such as 2004 science fiction thriller The Butterfly Effect and the coastguard action film The Guardian, tackling the role of the iconic CEO will surely be the biggest test yet of the 34-year-old’s acting ability.
One thing the actor will not have to worry about is hours of make-up work, as the pair look uncannily alike.
Director Joshua Michael Stern will start shooting the film to be produced and financed by Mark Hulme in May.
Kutcher will not be the first actor to play Steve Jobs. Noah Wyle played him in the critically acclaimed 1999 television movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, which followed the respective rises of rivals Apple and Microsof..
Category: International
-
Ashton Kutcher to play Steve Jobs
-
Russian studio mulls pact with Hollywood studio
MUMBAI: Glavkino, a newly-built studio located outside of Moscow, is looking at inking a strategic partnership with a Hollywood studio.
“We have been talking with Fox and Universal about possible cooperation,” said Studio boss Ilya Bachurin in a statement. “Even though Russia does not have any tax incentives, we are willing to adapt our prices to make this an interesting proposal for a studio.”
The studio has announced that a second phase of development worth $120 million would surpass $89 million invested last year.
The studio,the first newly built filmmaking complex on a greenfield site in Russia in more than 60 years, was launched in March with 12 stages that includes a 10,000-foot sound-stage that is Eastern Europe‘s biggest.
The second phase, in which offices, a hotel and post-production facilities will be built, is scheduled to be complete by late 2013.
Owned by a group of shareholders that includes Konstantin Ernst, head of Russia‘s main state television station Channel One, and film director and producer Fedor Bondarchuk, the studio is currently doing 70 per cent business with television companies. -
Oscar-nominated Hollywood screenwriter Nora Ephron no more
MUMBAI: Oscar-nominated Hollywood screenwriter and director Nora Ephron expired on Tuesday in New York at the age of 71.
Ephron died in Manhattan of complications from the blood disorder myelodysplasia, with which she was diagnosed six years ago. She is survived by her husband and two sons.
Her 15 film credits include films like You‘ve Got Mail, Silkwood and Julie and Julia that was her last film in 2009. Though she was nominated for an Oscar three times, she never won the award.
Ephron was born on 19 May 1941 in New York to a Broadway playwright and a Hollywood screenwriter. She took her mother‘s advice – “take notes, everything is copy” – very seriously and turned wry personal observations on relationships into hugely successful romantic comedies.
From an early age, Ephron wrote essays for major US magazines from the late 1960s as well as several non-fiction books, including two recent memoirs.
She was married three times, once to Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporter who helped uncover the ‘Watergate‘ scandal. Their marriage ended publicly when he began an affair with the wife of the then-British ambassador, Margaret Jay, who was also the daughter of former British Prime Minister James Callaghan.
Ephron‘s divorce from Bernstein resulted in the novel Heartburn that she converted into a film starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.
Her first marriage to writer Dan Greenburg ended in 1976. Ephron‘s third marriage to Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the screenplays for the Martin Scorsese films Goodfellas and Casino, lasted for more than 20 years.
Rumours of her death started circulating on Tuesday evening after her friend, celebrity columnist Liz Smith, published an online memorial. -
Disney’s Brave nets $80 mn over the weekend
MUMBAI: Brave, Disney‘s new animated film about a rebellious, red-headed princess, battled to the top of the box office charts over the weekend scoring $80 million in ticket sales around the world.
The fairy tale from Disney‘s Pixar studio pulled in $66.7 million at domestic theatres in the US from Friday through Sunday in addition to $13.5 million from international markets. The film easily topped new historical/horror mashup Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter that finished the weekend in third place.
The 3D formatted Brave is set in the ancient Scottish highlands and centres around horseback-riding teen princess Merida, who defies her mother and her kingdom‘s traditions. Merida, voiced by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald, must then use her courage and archery skills to undo a curse.
The film brings the 13th consecutive No. 1 opening to Pixar that has become Hollywood‘s most reliable studio during its 17-year history of making films. Starting with ‘Toy Story‘ in 1995, its 12 films before Brave have generated more than $7.2 billion in worldwide ticket sales, according to a trade analyst. -
SAG-AFTRA in truce with the Cimarron Group
MUMBAI: SAG-AFTRA has issued a notice permitting its members to once again work for Cimarron Productions Inc. (the Cimarron Group) after it formlised an agreement last Friday.
The union had issued a ‘Do Not Work‘ order last Thursday against the entertainment marketing company. The order had stated that the company had “failed to make payments of compensation due to many performers as well as pension and health contributions.”
The next day, the parties came to an understanding and announced that an agreement had been reached. Soon after, the company said that a cheque had been delivered to the Union.
Cimarron that was founded in 1979 produces a wide array of audiovisual, print and digital content, including brand advertising and behind-the-scenes videos for major studio films. It has more than 150 employees with offices in Los Angeles, Beijing.
-
Production house secures ?200m funding for 9 films
MUMBAI: Production house Liquid Noise Films North has secured funding of nine Hollywood-backed movies with a total budget of more than ?200 million across the North-East and North Yorkshire.
Locations including York, Newcastle, Durham City, the Tees Valley and North York Moors will form sets for films ranging from a ?26 million fantasy adventure to a ?35 million biopic of Captain James Cook‘s early life.
The films, to roll from September, are expected to feature lot of A-list actors and generate millions of pounds for the region‘s economy from film related tourism.
The Independent filmmakers, whose team includes Newcastle actor Craig Conway, bestselling novelist GP Taylor and North Yorkshire-raised producer and director duo Julian and Lionel Hicks, hope their North-East initiative will spark a long-term renaissance in the British film industry.
Both Julian and Hicks said that most of the productions were more than two-thirds financed by a mix of overseas and British investors including Los Angeles-based collective Finish Line Productions. Liquid Noise‘s long-term goal was to set up a self-sufficient studio in the region, they revealed.
A spokesman of Northern Film and Media said that this would transform the region‘s film industry if they all came to fruition as well as attracting crowds of tourists.
The films to be shot in the North-East and North Yorkshire include: X-Breed, Tersias, Fort Venus, Vardo, The Vampyre Quartet, Lenin Athletic and Jack D‘arc.
-
Madagascar 3 still reigns overseas box office
MUMBAI: Madagascar 3: Europe‘s Most Wanted stood at its No. 1 position for the third consecutive week after it drew $30.1 million from 11,250 locations in 44 territories in the foreign box-office circuit.
The DreamWorks Animation film has surpassed the $200-million total gross mark ($208.4 million) since opening overseas on 6 June.
Complementing its No. 1 domestic opening, Pixar‘s Brave made its debut overseas after generating $13.5 million in its launch in 10 markets. As per its distributor Disney, the collection comes from 17 per cent of the international market.
The top-ranking territory of the film was Russia where the gross was $5.6 million representing a 42 per cent market share. Australia came in with a No. 2 ranking with $3.6 million while the film‘s China debut took 17 per cent of the market with $2.2 million. Overall, the film ranked as the weekend‘s No.3 title.Finishing outside the top five was 20th Century Fox‘s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter that opened offshore to $8.1 million at 2,656 venues in 17 markets for a per-site average of a little more than $3,000. This Civil War-set action fantasy, starring Benjamin Walker, drew $3.9 million in Russia from 1,482 situations.
The weekend No. 2 title was Universal‘s Snow White and the Huntsman, which took the top spots in France, Japan, Australia and New Zealand and collected $22.6 million overall at 6,780 sites in 60 territories.
Dropping to the fourth place was Fox‘s Prometheus drawing $12.7 million from 6,911 situations in 61 territories. With the film yet to open in key places as Japan, Germany, Italy and Spain, the sci-fi/action film has grossed more than $150-million ($152.9 million) to date on the foreign circuit.
Standing at fifth spot was Men In Black III that drew $10.5 million from 7,660 sites in 75 markets with Japan leading the cumulative pack with $35.4 million. -
Barbara Streisand to helm 1st film in 16 years
MUMBAI: Veteran Barbra Streisand is ready to get back to direction with a film called Skinny and Cat. This will be her first film in 16 years.
The 70-year-old actress has tapped Colin Firth and Cate Blanchett as the lead couple in the upcoming film that is about the love story between late author Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke White.
Skinny and Cat, which is expected to roll in January 2013, will mark Streisand‘s first directing stint since 1996‘s The Mirror Has Two Faces.
Besides preparing for Skinny and Cat, Streisand is keeping herself busy with some other projects. She has been attached to the big screen take on Broadway musical Gypsy to be written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. She will also appear in The Guilt Trip alongside Seth Rogen. -
SAG-AFRA issues ‘No Work’ order on Cimarron Group
MUMBAI: The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has issued a ‘Do Not Work’ order against Cimarron Productions, also known as The Cimarron Group, it is learnt.
The order comes in response to what the union says is the entertainment marketing agency’s “failure to make payments of compensation due to many performers as well as pension and health contributions.”
Though the union declined comment but a source close to SAG-AFTRA confirmed that the order had gone out by e-mail blast to all members. A source also said that the company is in discussions with the union to rectify the situation with a resolution hoped for by early next week.
Cimarron produces a wide range of audiovisual, print and digital content including brand advertising and behind-the-scenes videos for major studio films. It has more than 150 employees, with offices in Los Angeles, Beijing and Singapore. -
Universal delays release of Bourne Legacy
MUMBAI: Universal Pictures has postponed the release date ofThe Bourne Legacy from 3 to 10 August citing fears of the invasion of The Dark Knight Rises at the box-office. Another reason could also be the simultaneous release of Sony‘s Total Recall also scheduled to open on 3 August.
Dark Knight, the third instalment of the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman franchise, is set to hit US theaters on 20 July, two weeks prior to that of Bourne Legacy. Now the film has been delayed three weeks hence.
The studio‘s statement regarding the move focused on Dark Knight, as well as the opportunity to use the Summer Olympics to promote Bourne.
“Just as The Avengers demonstrated marketplace sustainability that well outpaced traditional patterns earlier this summer, the industry expects a similar trajectory for The Dark Knight Rises. Moving one week further from its release will give The Bourne Legacy an even greater opportunity to maximize its opening box-office potential,” the statement said.
The move also allows Universal to avoid a direct clash with Sony‘s Total Recall reboot. Both films are targeting males and many exhibitors had questioned why they were going out on the same date.
“Moving to Aug. 10 will also allow us to extend valuable promotion for the film across all NBC-Universal platforms during the Olympics, which will dominate television and digital audiences beginning July 27. We are excited about this new chapter in our Bourne franchise and confident that Aug. 10 is the right date for our film and for our industry as a whole,” the statement added.