Ryan Gosling will star in and direct the MGM remake of 80s film Idolmaker. Gosling has already accrued plenty of critical acclaim for his performances in a myriad of indies, most recently for his emotionally uninhibited performance in Derek Cianfrance‘s Blue Valentine. According to a Deadline report, Idolmaker will be his directorial debut, as well another step toward commercializing his career as he takes on bigger budget and studio projects.
The original Idolmaker, also an MGM pic, was a guido-centric biopic of Bob Marcucci. In case you haven’t heard of Marcucci, he was the producer/promoter behind the discovery of Frankie Avalon and Fabian. Marcucci actually acted as a technical advisor on the original film, which was the directorial debut for Taylor Hackford (Dolores Claiborne).
Kiefer Sutherland is set to star in the action/comedy film Sleight of Hand, which follows a band of thieves in Paris as they evade a French gangster hunting for a rare gold coin. With an ensemble cast that includes French acting heavyweight (no pun intended) Gerard Depardieu, Thomas Jane (Hung), Saturday Night Live throwback Jon Lovitz, and Til Schwieger, this film could be intriguing.
Katie Holmes and Chace Crawford will co-star in the indie romantic comedy Responsible Adults. John Poll (Charlie Bartlett) is set to direct the film for Knight and Day Pictures, with Michael Roiff and Julie Yorn (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) producing.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Holmes will play a 30-year-old medical student who falls for a younger man (Crawford). The sparks fly until she realizes she met him before fifteen years earlier, as his babysitter.
Hesher screened at Austin’s SXSW film fest a few months ago and writer/director Spencer Susser took the time to sit down with me to discuss his film. We also spoke about his upcoming feature-length zombie apocalypse/romance film based on a short of his called I Love Sarah Jane. In Hesher, we follow an unstable drifter who violently inserts himself into a grieving boy’s life and home. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman star in this indie drama heavy on character studies, light on plot.
Yuen Woo-Ping, a master of martial arts choreography, makes his directorial come-back in the fantastical tale of revenge True Legend, which Indomina Releasing acquired after it screened at Fantastic Fest last year. True Legend will have a limited theatrical release on May 13th, and packs some faster-than-possible punches. The martial arts choreography is as sleek and stylized as any fan of the genre could wish, and though the sometimes silly story went on far too long, the film was still a great showcase for Woo-Ping’s action artistry.
Indie darling Michael Cera has been cast in Magic, Magic, a thriller helmed by Sebastion Silva (The Maid) and set in Chile. According to a Variety report, Cera will play a co-starring role in this thriller about a girl who goes mental while on vacation.
Not much is known about Magic, Magic yet, except that the story surrounds “a girl vacationing with her friends in a remote area of Chile who slowly starts losing her mental faculties. She tries to get her friends’ attention, but they ignore her until it’s too late.” As the female lead hasn’t been cast, there is no news of when filming will begin.
Are you, perhaps, tearfully disappointed that you weren’t the one to blow Osama Bin Laden away? Quit your crying, here‘s your chance. The free-to-play online video game KumaWar launched a new mission on May 7th that enables gamers to play in the re-created world of the final assault on Bin Laden’s compound.
Blue Valentine is an unflinching, realistic take on love and relationships. It turns out to be a film heavy on artistic merit and emotional upheaval, but light on actual romance. With the release of Blue Valentine on Blu-Ray this week, audiences have a chance to take a closer look at this bleak love story and the avant-garde filming genius of helmer Derek Cianfrance.
Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, the award-winning team behind The Hurt Locker, have kicked their film project about the search for Osama Bin Laden into high gear. The black ops indie film, thanks to very recent events, may now have the perfect ending. Not only a Hollywood ending, but the first big star attached. 24 Frames reports that rising star Joel Edgerton will be playing an operative in the upcoming film, which has the fitting working title of Kill Bin Laden.
Edgerton will play a special operative in a team of male commandos in Kill Bin Laden. No other names have been attached yet, but the Australian actor’s participation is a good sign. Apparently, Edgerton passed on the chance to star opposite Twilight darling Kristen Stewart in the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman to take on a role in Bigelow’s project. And who wouldn’t? Edgerton’s name has been popping up more and more of late, as he’s co-starring in upcoming Warrior with Tom Hardy (talk about sudden, meteoric rises), and starring in The Thing reboot.
Writer Kyle Killen's new drama The Beaver premiered last month at the Austin film festival SXSW. Mel Gibson stars as a depressed family man who uses a beaver hand puppet to improve his life. Killen sat down with us and spoke about writing The Beaver, and how it‘s affected him.
