Movie Of The Week: Recoil
vor 3 Stunden
Oscar is opening up his playing field in a big way next year.
The Motion Picture Academy announced Wednesday that for the first time in more than 65 years, the field of best picture nominees will be expanded to 10 contenders for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
“Having 10 best picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” said Acad prexy Sid Ganis in announcing the shift. “I can’t wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February.”
The last time the Oscar race featured 10 best pic contenders was the 16th annual contest in 1943, when "Casablanca" emerged with the top prize. There were 10 best pic noms for most of the Academy Awards' first decade. In 1935 there was a bumper crop of 12 nominees.
Acad's decision will undoubtedly add heat to next year's Oscar campaigning, especially in a year when no obvious front-runners have emerged in the first half. The move also comes on the heels of biz complaints that the Acad's rule of limiting the pic nominees to the top five vote-getters elbows out some of the more popular titles, such as last year's B.O. champ "The Dark Knight."
Oscar noms will be announced Feb. 2 with the awards handed out March 7 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.
Columbia Pictures is in advanced talks with David Fincher to direct "The Social Network," the Aaron Sorkin-scripted film for Columbia Pictures about the formation of Facebook.
The film will focus on the evolution of Facebook from its 2004 creation on the Harvard campus by sophomore Mark Zuckerberg to a juggernaut with more than 200 million members.
Scott Rudin and Michael De Luca are producing with Trigger Street's Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti.
The aim is to begin production later this year.
Fincher last directed "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
"Mission: Impossible IV," which once seemed truly impossible, is taking shape at Paramount.
Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams have agreed to co-produce the sequel, which is aimed at a 2011 release.
The return of Cruise to Par itself is surprising in view of the circumstances surrounding his departure in August 2006. Apparently irked by the heft of Cruise’s deal, among other issues, Viacom chief Sumner Redstone abruptly terminated the 14-year relationship between the star and the studio. Cruise’s then-CAA agent, Rick Nicita, termed Redstone’s decision “shockingly offensive and graceless.”
The rift led to Cruise becoming the chief of United Artists and taking a more active role in production decisions. Redstone, meanwhile, has sought to heal the relationship. At a recent appearance, he described the star as “a great actor and a good friend.”
The “Mission” installment would augment Paramount’s formidable array of sequels, which will include “Star Trek 2” and a third “Transformers.”
Work on “Mission: Impossible IV” would inevitably be delayed by the busy schedules of the participants.
Abrams will be responsible for guiding the “Star Trek” sequel, while Cruise recently committed to an untitled pic (formerly called “Wichita”) for 20th Century Fox that will be directed by James Mangold and co-star Cameron Diaz.
Cruise and Denzel Washington are also awaiting a rewrite on the David Cronenberg-directed “The Matarese Circle,” the MGM thriller based on the Robert Ludlum novel.
Sean Penn's busy shooting schedule has suddenly gone dark.
In an announcement that has caught two studios by surprise, Penn has pulled out of two films, citing personal reasons.
Penn has informed Universal and Imagine that he will be unable to star in the Asger Leth-directed drama "Cartel," which was to be his next movie. His role will be recast. Studio is putting together a list of actors now and hopes to stick with an early fall start date.
Scripted by Peter Craig, the movie follows a man who journeys to protect his son after his wife is murdered by Mexican cartels.
Penn will also be unable to make the start date of MGM comedy "The Three Stooges." He was to star as Larry in the pic, directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly. "Stooges" also stars Jim Carrey as Curly and Benicio Del Toro as Moe. It's unclear if the studio will recast or wait for Penn to return to work.
Penn has completed two films for River Road, both earmarked for release next year. "Fair Game," the Doug Liman-directed drama about outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, co-stars Naomi Watts. The Terrence Malick-directed "The Tree of Life" also stars Brad Pitt.
During the Cannes Film Festival, Penn was revealed to be in talks to star in "This Must Be the Place," which will mark the English-language feature debut of Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, with a script co-written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello (Daily Variety, May 17). Pic was to be produced by Nicola Giuliano of Indigo Film and Andrea Occhipinti of Lucky Red. Financing and scheduling were not yet complete on that film, but Penn still intends to make the film at some point.
Penn is taking an undetermined sabbatical -- possibly as much as a year -- to focus on his family.
Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" could soon be taking flight.
After being set up in early 2007 at Universal, the project -- a supernatural thriller set in the world of New York City ballet -- has been reconstituted after being put into turnaround by the studio. It has been making the rounds to studios and specialty divisions, several of which are keenly interested.
Among the elements giving it a boost: Natalie Portman is attached to play the lead.
Several other changes have occurred since the Aronofsky-helmed project was first developed by Universal.
Mark Heyman, a development exec at Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures, has done a rewrite of John McLaughlin's original script for the pic, which Mike Medavoy's Phoenix Pictures and Protozoa are producing.
Aronofsky, meanwhile, has gone on to helm the critical and commercial favorite "The Wrestler," putting him in high demand.
CAA packaged and is selling "Swan"; it also reps Portman and Aronofsky.
"Swan" centers on a veteran ballerina (Portman) who finds herself locked in a competitive situation with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance. But it's unclear whether the rival is a supernatural apparition or if the protagonist is simply having delusions.
Those who've read the script say it's a spine-tingler with elements of "The Others," the Nicole Kidman breakout in which viewers are left to discern what's real and what's imagined.
If a sale happens imminently, "Swan" could begin shooting as early as this year. Aronofsky has not committed to a movie that's ready to go, though he has been developing the "Robocop" reboot at MGM.
Paramount has put its chips down on an untitled pitch about the world of online casinos based in Costa Rica. Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star and produce through his Appian Way shingle.
The untitled project hails from scribes Brian Koppelman and David Levien ("Rounders," "The Girlfriend Experience," "Ocean's Thirteen"). Appian Way's Jennifer Davisson Killoran will produce.
Koppelman and Levien are working with DiCaprio and Appian on the thriller "Beat the Reaper." It's based on the novel by Josh Bazell and is in development at New Regency.
DiCaprio will be onscreen next in the fall in Martin Scorsese-helmed "Shutter Island."
Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions and MGM are moving forward on the next 007 installment, hiring "Frost/Nixon" scribe Peter Morgan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to write the script for the 23rd James Bond film.
Purvis and Wade most recently worked on "Quantum of Solace" and "Casino Royale."
Daniel Craig is already set to reprise his role as 007, and Wilson and Broccoli are producing. No start date has yet been set, but sources said EON and MGM are eyeing a 2011 release.
"Peter, Neal and Robert are extraordinarily talented and we're looking forward to working with the three of them," Wilson and Broccoli said in a statement.
Both "Quantum of Solace" and "Casino Royale" were co-productions between MGM and Sony, with the latter distributing. The new film will be the first to return as a full MGM release. The first 20 pictures in the franchise were distributed by MGM.
Morgan, who wrote both the play and film "Frost/Nixon" and "The Last King of Scotland" and "The Queen," has most recently been working on "The Special Relationship" for HBO, and "Hereafter" for DreamWorks. He'll begin writing on the Bond film after completing those projects.
Aside from the Bond films, Purvis and Wade have been working on "The Brazilian Job," the sequel to "The Italian Job," on which they were also writers.
Morgan's repped by UTA and ITG, Purvis and Wade by WME and Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.
In another case of an animated primetime series resurrected from the dead, 20th Century Fox TV plans to produce 26 new episodes of "Futurama."
Comedy Central will begin airing the new episodes in mid-2010. Voice actors Billy West (who played Philip Fry), Katey Sagal (Leela) and John DiMaggio (Bender) have all signed on to return.
Created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, "Futurama" originally aired on Fox from 1999 to 2003.
Twentieth Century Fox TV later produced four new "Futurama" segs for DVD, which first spurred talk of a series revival. But it took Comedy Central to seal the deal. The cabler acquired the rights to all 72 off-net episodes of "Futurama," as well as the DVD episodes, in January 2008.
Since then, both 20th and Comedy Central have been kicking around ways to make a "Futurama" order make financial sense for both the studio and cable net.
As part of the deal, 20th still has an option to license the new episodes' original runs to a broadcast network (such as Fox). If the show does go to broadcast, Comedy Central's license fee will be reduced.
"It's a deal we're all happy with," said Comedy Central programming senior VP David Bernath. "It's a bigger win for us promotionally if we wind up going first ... but if we wind up in second position, then the economics work out for us as well."
Comedy Central's "Futurama" rights run well into the next decade, which is why the net was so invested in the production of new episodes, Bernath said.
"One of the things that excited us even at the time when we bought the initial 72 episodes was the possibility of new production and new episodes," he said.
Twentieth Century Fox TV has called shows back from the grave before: "Family Guy" returned thanks to that show's strong DVD sales. And although not nearly as dead and buried as "Family Guy" and "Futurama," the studio's "King of the Hill" was also canceled and then uncanceled by Fox at least twice in its lifespan.
"Futurama" follows the tale of Fry, a pizza delivery boy who winds up accidentally frozen -- before waking up 1,000 years later. He befriends one-eyed alien Leela, as well as cranky robot Bender.
Liam Neeson is in negotiations with 20th Century Fox to star in its long-gestating bigscreen adaptation of "The A-Team" as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith. Bradley Cooper is in early talks to play Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck in the Joe Carnahan-directed pic based on the 1980s TV series.
Production begins in late August for a June 11, 2010, release.
Ridley Scott is producing with Jules Daly and series creator Stephen J. Cannell, with Tony Scott exec producing through Scott Free. Carnahan and Brian Bloom polished a script by Skip Woods, whose recent script credits include "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra" and "Wolverine."
Neeson is in talks to play Hannibal, the role originated by George Peppard, while Cooper would play "Faceman," the role played by Dirk Benedict.
Neeson and Fox are working out money issues. He is coming off the global hit "Taken" and most recently completed "Chloe" and "Clash of the Titans," playing Zeus in the latter.
Cooper has established himself as a commodity after his starring role in Todd Phillips-directed hit "The Hangover." He just completed playing the title role opposite Sandra Bullock in "All About Steve."
Carnahan, Fox and Scott Free have kept the series premise -- four war vets wrongly convicted of armed robbery escape from a military prison to become do-gooder mercenaries -- but they've replaced the campy nature of the series with a tone closer to those of "Mission: Impossible" and "Ocean's Eleven."
Still to be cast are the roles of Capt. "Howling Mad" Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz in the original, and Sgt. "B.A." Baracus, the role that made Mr. T an '80s icon.
Warner Bros. will open Clint Eastwood's "Invictus," the Nelson Mandela pic toplining Morgan Freeman, on Dec. 11.
Matt Damon also stars.
Film's working title had been "The Human Factor," adapted from John Carlin's tome "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation."
"Invictus" follows Mandela's attempt to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup to heal his nation following his release from prison, the fall of apartheid and his election as president of South Africa.
Damon portrays Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team.
Eastwood drew the title of the film from a short poem often recited by Mandela. "Invictus," penned by William Ernest Henley, speaks to the will to survive in the face of adversity.
"Invictus" isn't the first picture to claim Dec. 11. Also opening that weekend is Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones," from Paramount and DreamWorks.
The Dec. 11 release puts "Invictus" and "Lovely Bones" in the heart of awards season.
Eastwood, Hollywood's most prolific director in the past several years, opened two films in fall 2007 and another two in 2008, "Changeling" and "Gran Torino."
"Gran Torino," in which Eastwood also starred, is the filmmaker's most successful box office title to date, earning $148 million domestically and $112.5 million overseas, where he also enjoys iconic status.
Warners, which has long been in business with Eastwood, released "Gran Torino."
As of now, "Invictus" is set to open wide, although that could change.