MUMBAI:Sony Pictures is readying for the 18 December release of The Monuments Men – the Oscar-season sweet spot – with the latest trailer to drop.
George Clooney directs and heads the cast of the thriller about a World War II platoon of art historians and museum directors tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue priceless art from the Nazis.
Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett also star.
Mumbai: Renowned actress Jane Fonda will be the 42 recipient of the AFI life achievement award. The ceremony is to be held on 5 July2014 in Los Angeles.
Henry Fonda was the sixth recipient of the award and this makes the two the first father-daughter duo to get the prize. Fonda is a two time Oscar winner and a seven time nominee. The last nomination was Sidney Lumet’s ‘The Morning After’. She was most recently seen in ‘Mother-in-law’ with Jennifer Lopez in 2005.
The ceremony will be aired on TNT and a repeat will be shown on TCM.
NEW DELHI: Oscar-and Grammy-winning composer Hans Zimmer will work with Pharrell Williams, Johnny Marr, Michael Einziger, and Dave Stewart to create music for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Making this announcement in Culver City, Sony Pictures Worldwide Music president Lia Vollack said the film, directed by Marc Webb from a screen story and screenplay by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, is produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be released in theaters in the United States on 2 May 2014, and international release dates commence 16 April 2014.
Commenting on the announcement, Zimmer said, “Marc and I were talking about Spider-Man, and as the word got out, so many of our friends and musicians started calling us up, wanting to be a part of it because they love Spider-Man. That was the thing that united all of us – the great love for Spider-Man. With all of these hugely talented people wanting to join us, it was Marc who said, ‘Why not start a band?’ Marc and I have had a great start jamming with everybody, and we still have a few surprises up our sleeve.”
Vollack added, “This kind of collaboration is only possible because of who Marc Webb is – not only a director but also a musician – combined with who Hans is and what Spider-Man means to so many people. Nobody has ever approached film music in this way before and this likely can never be replicated. We are huge fans of Hans, Pharrell, Johnny, Mike, and Dave, and when combined, we know the result will be truly unique… and amazing!”
Zimmer, a nine-time Oscar nominee and winner for his work on The Lion King, previously collaborated with Williams on the film Despicable Me, as Williams produced four original solo songs and several other character-sung pieces. They later collaborated on the music for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. Marr played on Zimmer’s score for the hit film Inception, Einziger played on his score for The Lone Ranger, and Stewart played with Zimmer on the score for Madagascar 3.
Hans Zimmer has composed the scores for more than 100 films taking in more than 17 billion dollars. His many credits include scoring the Pirates of the Caribbean blockbusters, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, 12 Years a Slave, Rush, Man of Steel, Sherlock Holmes, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Gladiator, The Thin Red Line, Rain Man, and many more. He has been honoured with an Academy Award, two Golden Globes and four Grammys. In 2003, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers presented him the prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement for his impressive and influential body of work.
Pharrell Williams, a three-time Grammy winner, is one of the world’s most in-demand and influential music producers and recording artists. This summer, Williams became the 12th artiste to hold the #1 and #2 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously as he was featured on two songs – Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, also featuring T.I., which Williams also produced, and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, which Williams co-wrote – both of which have been called the Song of Summer. He has previously composed songs and the score for the hit animated films Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2.
Johnny Marr rose to fame as co-songwriter and founder member of The Smiths. Since then, Marr has continued to push boundaries and work with some of the world’s most exciting musical artistes, including Modest Mouse, The The, Pet Shop Boys, Talking Heads, and Beck. This year NME awarded Marr the Godlike Genius award. He recently released the critically acclaimed solo album, The Messenger.
Michael Einziger is the founder/guitarist/songwriter for the groundbreaking band Incubus. Wake Me Up, the worldwide smash he co-wrote with Avicii, has been #1 in 70 countries. As an acclaimed record producer, he produced /co-wrote/executive produced three projects set for release in the coming months: Chuck Inglish, Yuna and the Internet (Odd Future). In addition to scoring the Josh Duhamel film Scenic Route he has scored Supremacy and is working on three additional film projects. Einziger previously collaborated with Zimmer on The Lone Ranger, for which he composed additional music.
Dave Stewart is recognized as one of the most respected and accomplished talents in the music industry. “He’s the musician’s musician.”- Rolling Stone. Stewart’s music career spans three decades and more than 100 million album sales, highlighted by his collaboration with Annie Lennox in the groundbreaking pop-rock duo Eurythmics. Behind the scenes, he has produced albums and co-written songs for Bono, Bryan Ferry, Gwen Stefani, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Katy Perry, and Mick Jagger. Beyond his creative work as a musician, he is a renowned producer, author, director, photographer, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Stewart recently released a solo album, Lucky Numbers.
MUMBAI: James Franco directs the pic about 1950s teen idol and Oscar-nominated actor Sal Mineo, who rocketed to fame with his turns in Rebel Without A Cause and Otto Preminger’s Exodus before he was stabbed to death at age 37.
Sal, scripted by Stacey Miller with a story by Miller, Franco, Vince Jolivette, and Val Lauren from Michael Gregg Michaud’s book on the actor, follows Mineo in his final hours as he struggles to regain career momentum. Lauren stars as Mineo alongside Franco, Jolivette, Miller, Jim Parrack, Trevor Neuhoff, and Raymond T. Williams.
Tribeca Films will release the pic on VOD and iTunes on 22 October followed by a limited theatrical run 1 November.
MUMBAI: Academy Award-winning producer Bruce Cohen (American Beauty, Milk, Silver Linings Playbook) is set to produce The Fifth Beatle, about the life of Beatles manager Brian Epstein.
The English entrepreneur Paul McCartney dubbed “the fifth Beatle” helped launch the career of the Fab Five and managed them until his death by accidental overdose in 1967. He was also a closeted gay man whose close relationship with John Lennon was the subject of the 1991 Sundance entry The Hours and Times.
The Fifth Beatle will be the first feature film about the Beatles to obtain the rights to use their original songs. Pic is scripted by Tony-winning producer Vivek J. Tiwary (Green Day’s American Idiot, Mel Brooks’ The Producers) from his own forthcoming graphic novel with art by Andrew C.
Robinson and cartoonist Kyle Baker, which Dark Horse releases 19 November. Tiwary will produce alongside Cohen, who won the Oscar in 2000 for American Beauty. Production is set to begin in 2014.
UMBAI: 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.
MUMBAI: The prequel to the Oscar winning ‘Lord of the Rings’ series, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield.
So calling out all the ‘Lord of the Rings’ fans to come and be a part of this epic journey and see where it all began from.
Come be a part of an adventure; ‘THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY’ on 22nd September 1pm and 8pm only on Sony PIX and simultaneous telecast on AXN
MUMBAI: Wadjda is the first film that is shot entirely in Saudi Arabia as well as by a female director Hanifaa Al Mansour, has earned the name of being the first ever Oscar entry from the kingdom. Produced by Rotana Studios, the film debuted in Venice last year.
Mansour said that at times she had to give instructions through the phone to direct because as per Saudi law she cannot be interacting with men outside. The film talks about a young girl in the country who is out to challenge deep rooted traditions to buy a bicycle.
The picture was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. The movie has won several awards since release. Oscar 2014 will be held on 2 March with Ellen DeGeneres as host.
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.
MUMBAI: Oscar-winning director Hayao Miyazaki’s animation studio says The Wind Rises, in competition at the Venice Film Festival, will be his last feature.
Koju Hoshino announced Miyazaki’s intention to retire Sunday, but declined to take questions, deferring to a news conference next week in Tokyo.
Miyazaki was not in Venice for the international premiere. His Italian distributor said he stayed in Japan for the domestic release.
Miyazaki, 72, is one of animation’s most admired and successful directors. He won an Oscar for Spirited Away in 2003 and a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement in 2005.
The Wind Rises, Miyazaki’s 11th feature film, is a fantasy-filled look at the man who designed Japan’s World War II fighter planes.