We’ll kick things off today with a couple of items on soon-to-be Oscar winner Christian Bale. He appears set to reunite with his The Machinist director Brad Anderson on an adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s novel Concrete Island. Here’s how Anderson describes the project to Edward Douglas of Shock Till You Drop:
“The best way to describe it is it’s like an urban Robinson Crusoe story – a guy crashes a car into a highway interchange and is marooned in this weedy lot, injured, and can’t escape and he’s basically trying to survive in the middle of the big urban Metropolis. It’s sort of a crazy, cool Ballard-esque type story, but Christian’s on board to do that when we can fit it into his schedule, of course.”
Anderson is also working on a movie called Jack with Samuel L. Jackson and Liev Schreiber on board, which Anderson describes as the following:
“It’s about a serial killer who is in a car accident in the beginning of the movie and has retrograde amnesia. His physical therapist tries to get him back on his feet, and they fall in love, and then of course, midway through the movie he has flashes of who he really is, and he’s a killer. So it’s actually very cool, it’s got a real nice Hitchcock suspense aspect to it. It takes all the conventions of the genre, but it’s a very well-written script and we’re trying to get that one going.”
It sounds like this one could get the green light as soon as Anderson secures “an actress that’s going to satisfy all the financing types.” His latest film, Vanishing on 7th Street is currently available On Demand.
Now, back to Bale. Here’s an interesting rant (via Mail Online) from the outspoken star, lashing out at a critic who commented on his “trademark weight loss” acting:
To be honest, I find it laughable that it’s considered to be some f****** gimmick — it’s so patronizing. For God’s sake, do people not understand what a pain it is to do? It’s as though it’s some comment about, ‘Oh it’s easy for him, because he’s done it a bunch of times.’ It’s not easy, it’s not fun — it’s horrible. I would never pick to do that, but it’s a part that I like and he’s a welterweight and he’s a crackhead. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a welterweight with any fat on him — or a crackhead. So it’s just what you end up having to do. Somebody told me that somebody wrote something about my ‘trademark weight loss’. I’d just like to p*** on that guy’s shoes.
Moving on, Richard Jenkins has joined Brad Pitt in the cast of Cogan’s Trade for director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). Pitt stars as a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that takes place during a high-stakes poker game held under the protection of the mob. Sam Rockwell and James Gandolfini are also confirmed for roles.
IMDb lists Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem as cast members as well, but the Variety source article doesn’t mention them so it appears they’ve backed out. The film starts shooting later this month, so we’ll find out soon enough. It’s still one hell of a cast, with or without them. Jenkins has been getting a ton of work lately, having appeared in 6 movies in 2010 alone. But that’s fine with me because he’s the type of actor who makes even the most mediocre movies watchable.
Deadline reports Rosamund Pike (An Education, Barney’s Version) will take over the role of Andromeda from Alexa Davalos in the upcoming Clash of the Titans sequel. Wrath of the Titans will be directed by Battle: Los Angeles helmer Jonathan Liebesman and is set for a March 23, 2012, which is likely how long it will take me to figure out how these uninspired movies have managed to gather such awesome casts.
Tom McCarthy (The Visitor, Win Win) has been summoned by Disney to pen Million Dollar Arm, based on the inspirational story of how sports agent J.B. Bernstein discovered professional pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel through his Indian reality show. The film falls into line with Secretariat and The Rookie, fulfilling Disney’s initiative to round out their slate with smaller films. There’s no word on a director yet, or whether Disney might let McCarthy direct the film himself.
Ed Harris and Diane Keaton will star in The Look of Love, the story of a widow (Keaton) who mysteriously meets a man (Harris) who looks exactly like her deceased husband and suddenly finds a flood of old feelings coming back. The film will be directed and co-written by Arie Posin (The Chumscrubber) and is said to be filled with “humor, surprise, and a mood that reflects the mystery of love that surrounds us.”
Vulture reports Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) is in talks to jump into the director’s chair for Lionsgate’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was recently abandoned by Mike White. Gillespie recently wrapped a remake of Fright Night that’s due out in August.
Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges), Sam Shepard (Brothers), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and Liam Cunningham (Clash of the Titans) have joined Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in Universal’s Safe House. The film centers on a young house sitter (Reynolds) of a CIA-run safe house who must help a criminal (Washington), who’s being hidden there, avoid being killed as they flee to another secure facility when the first house is destroyed by villains who want the witness dead. It’s set for a February 10, 2012, so at least next February will offer something with promise. Brad reviewed the original Swedish film in Toronto last year, you can click here to read that.
ChuckPalahniuk.net has the scoop on the upcoming adaptation of the Fight Club novelist’s 2008 offering Snuff from co-writer/director Fabien Martorell. Darryl Hannah will star as an aging pornstar intent on breaking a world record by having sex with 600 men in one day. Thora Birch (Ghost World, American Beauty) will play her personal assistant and Tom Sizemore will be Mr. 600. Now that’s some awesomely inspired casting! The novel is told from the perspective of three men waiting for their turn in a crowded basement, one being Mr. 600 and the others being Mr. 72 and Mr. 137, the two major roles left to be cast. Here’s how Fabien plans to shoot Snuff:
SNUFF is a Suspense/Thriller sets in the gritty world of adult entertainment. Fabien Martorell would like to shoot SNUFF as a single “closed door” set. The use of flashbacks will aide in the communication of character history, and help sustain a dramatic rhythm.
Oscar-nominated director Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules) will begin shooting his his first Swedish film in 24 years this winter, adapting the Lars Kepler crime novel The Hypnotist. The novel follows Detective Joona Linna, who convinces famous psychologist to hypnotize the traumatized sole survivor of a grisly triple homicide in hopes to get him to testify. According to THR, the plan is to make a Dragon Tattoo-esque franchise from the Detective Joona Linna novels, which make up Sweden’s most successful series outside Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. Will this series receive a similar reception stateside?
