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Tag: Naomi Watts

  • 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.

  • Brad Pitt to produce Marilyn Monroe biopic

    Brad Pitt to produce Marilyn Monroe biopic

    MUMBAI: Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik has signed Brad Pitt to produce his long-delayed biopic on Marilyn Monroe.

    Discussions about the project had been going on since 2010 but recently Pitt announced that his production company, Plan B, would finance the film with Dominik at the helm. We‘re going to get this one done,” quoted the 48 year old Dominik.

    Titled Blonde, the film started rolling in January 2011, with Australian actress Naomi Watts in the lead. Later it was stalled.

    Earlier, Pitt had worked with Dominik in The Assassination of Jesse James directed by the Coward Robert Ford and the gangster thriller Killing Them Softly that was pitted in the Competition Section for the Palme d‘Or at this year‘s Cannes Film Festival.

  • BBC Films announces new structure

    MUMBAI: BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter has announced the new structure for BBC Films. The day-to-day management of BBC Films and decision-making will now be the responsibility of a newly-established BBC Films Board, comprising BBC Films commissioning editor Christine Langan, executive producer Jamie Laurenson; executive producer Joe Oppenheimer, commercial affairs and GM.Jane Wright.

    Tranter is already responsible for BBC Films. While the day-to-day management of BBC Films will be handled collectively by the board, the board members will have specific areas of responsibility.

    Jane Wright will chair the board and be responsible for day-to-day operations, raising finance, distribution and executive producing feature films. Langan will executive produce feature films as well as taking on the responsibility for management of the development slate and the development team at BBC Films.

    Laurenson will executive produce feature films, as well as working with BBC Four and Ben Stephenson, Head of Drama Commissioning, on the channel’s slate of single films.

    Oppenheimer will also executive produce feature films, in addition to managing the close creative relationship with HBO Films. The philosophy behind the creation of the board is to allow for a plurality of voice and vision and a collaborative approach to decision-making, while giving the individuals on the board real independence in their executive producer roles.

    Jane Tranter and Claire Evans will work closely with the board on editorial and business affairs matters, offering their support and advice when necessary.

    The new BBC Films Board, with Jane Tranter and Claire Evans, will now put together a detailed editorial and business strategy for the BBC’s feature film output, which will be announced in due course. Physically, BBC Films will move from its existing offices to BBC Television Centre next year.

    Tranter says, “The talent, energy and ambition within the BBC Films Board is very impressive. This move will bring BBC Films back into the heart of the BBC, and in particular BBC Fiction, enabling much greater creative collaboration across BBC Fiction – Drama, Comedy and Acquisition – with films very much at the centre of the department.

    “BBC Films will also benefit from closer access to other key genres at the BBC, allowing for a more fluid traffic of talent and a more effective cross-fertilisation of ideas. We aim to build on the fantastic success BBC Films has had under David Thompson, and build on the enviable reputation it has both here and internationally.”

    Claire Evans said, “The firm intention is that ideas and projects can now flow between the departments much more easily. We aim to encourage the work of many more unique and original voices to work on an ambitious range of projects on a variety of platforms from the big screen to the laptop.

    “We also want to be even more ambitious with our external partnerships across fiction, and become better partners ourselves. We are open for business across the board.”

    BBC Vision director Jana Bennett said, “With these plans, the BBC is set to back an even stronger set of projects from BBC Films. Nowhere in the world can such a diverse range of talent be found working together under one roof, and I am confident that, by bringing the fiction team under Jane Tranter’s leadership, we will be able to better serve the creative and production communities and offer our audiences even more outstanding storytelling.”

    One of BBC Films’ recent releases is the critically acclaimed Eastern Promises from director David Cronenberg. It stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel – will open the Times BFI London Film Festival, and will open in the UK through Pathe on 26 October 2007. In post production are John Maybury’s The Edge Of Love, starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Matthew Rhys; Justin Chadwick’s The Other Boleyn Girl starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Eric Bana and David Morrissey; Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet.

    Shooting currently is Saul Dibbs’ The Duchess starring Ralph Fiennes and Keira Knightley.

  • BBC Films head David Thompson calls it quits

        
    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that BBC Films head David Thompson will be leaving to set up a new independent production company.

    His new company will focus on film and television drama and will launch in 2008 with a first look deal with BBC Fiction. Thompson will also continue to executive produce for BBC Films, a slate of existing projects from development through to completion over the coming years.

    Thompson leaves his current role in four weeks. BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter says, “After an amazing 32 years at the BBC, ten years of those as head of films, David Thompson leaves BBC Films with an impressive slate of international and domestic successes and a truly awesome contribution to the film and drama creative community in the UK.

    “However, despite leaving the corporation to set up his new venture I am delighted the BBC will continue to benefit not only from his unrivalled years of expertise and experience, but from his infamous tenacity, impeccable taste and sharp wit,” she said.

    BBC creative director Alan Yentob says, “Under David Thompson, BBC Films has been responsible for some remarkable British movies and television drama and has consolidated his position at the forefront of British independent filmmaking working in partnership with all the major studios – with BBC Films gathering acclaim internationally.”

    Thompson said, “I feel really privileged to have had the chance to work for BBC Films for many years and the opportunity to work with such an amazing array of talent both new and established. I am delighted that my new arrangement with the BBC will enable me to build on these relationships in the years to come. I have also been lucky enough to work with a brilliant team at BBC Films to whom I am greatly indebted. I am particularly proud of the current slate of films in development and production which is our strongest to date. The experience of running BBC Films for a long time – both the creative and the commercial side – gives me confidence in this new venture!”

    Thompson has executive produced films like Iris, Billy Elliot, Dirty Pretty Things and Notes On A Scandal. The current film slate – the majority developed by BBC films – includes Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet; The Other Boleyn Girl starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana; and The Edge Of Love starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys.

    The slate also includes the recently released Eastern Promises starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts directed by David Cronenberg. It looks at the Russian mafia.

  • Catch Naomi Watts in a rendezvous with James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio this Sunday at 7:00 pm

    MUMBAI: Watch out for Naomi Watts this Sunday on Inside the Actors Studio on PIX at 7:00pm. She had already been a working actress for over a decade when she earned notice as a promising newcomer in Mulholland Drive. Her career has blossomed into one of the busiest and most exciting careers in contemporary films.

     

    She has appeared in 37 motion pictures like The Ring, 21 Grams for which she has won the Venice Film Festival’s Audience Award as Best Actress.

     

    Read below to catch some interesting Trivia about this Australian actress…

     

     

    She is the daughter of Peter Watts, who was a sound engineer for Pink Floyd

     

    Moved to Australia when she was 14

     

    Naomi met her best friend, Nicole Kidman, when they both auditioned for a bikini commercial and they shared a taxi ride home. She also moved in with Nicole Kidman after Kidman spilt up from husband Tom Cruise

     

    She once appeared in an Australian television commercial turning down a date with Tom Cruise for her mum’s lamb roast

     

    When her cell phone rings, it plays Pink Floyd’s “Money”

     

    Accepted the role for 21 Grams without reading the script first

     

    Had a horrific fall on the New Zealand set of King Kong (2005). She fell from a height into a ditch, to the shock of the cast and crew. She thanked her rigorous practice of yoga for saving her from any permanent damage

     

    When shooting a movie, She uses a specific song to get ready for each scene

     

    Naomi Watts on Nicole Kidman: “She’s a very good and supportive friend who kept saying one thing will make the difference. All it needs is one thing and, uh, it didn’t make any sense to me. But she was right. Mulholland Drive changed everything. It was that one film that got me to where I am now.”

     

    Get your popcorn ready and snuggle up on your favorite couch to enjoy another exciting episode of Inside the Actors Studio this Sunday at 7:00 pm on PIX.

  • HBO lines up Republic Day special

    MUMBAI: HBO’s blockbuster of the month airs on Friday 26 January at 9 pm.The “Eighth Wonder of the World” returns for the third time in this lavish film directed by Academy Award winner Peter Jackson. Thanks to unrivalled, state-of-the-art computer effects wizardry and animatronics, Jackson finally brings justice to the 1933 classic starring Fay Wray.

    Scheming and bankrupt filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black, The Holiday, Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny) embarks on a desperate plan to get the studio and the creditors off his back. He relies on playwright Jack Driscoll (Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody, Hollywoodland, The Jacket) to finish the pages of a half-baked screenplay.

    Denham talks starving vaudeville performer Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts, The Painted Veil, Stay) into joining them on a film shoot to a far-flung island. The adventure begins when they board a steamer, setting sail for the South Seas at Denham’s behest in their search for the mythical and eerie Skull Island, where rumors of a gargantuan monster abound. Denham believes this monster could clinch the blockbuster he so badly needs.

    Upon reaching the island, Ann is abducted by a fierce tribe who make her their next offering to Kong. Kong takes the terrified Ann, but Ann’s courage and empathy soon let her see through Kong, and a bond between them begins to grow. From Manhattan to the South Seas and back, expect loads of drama, fun, and scream-inducing scenes in what movie critic Roger Ebert calls “magnificent entertainment…one of [2005’s] best films.”