Week of « Prev | Next »
1-20 of 164 items « Prev | Next »
‘Girl on the Train’ Author Paula Hawkins’ New Novel to Be Adapted Into Movie at DreamWorks
52 minutes ago
DreamWorks Pictures is adapting the upcoming murder mystery novel “Into the Water,” from “The Girl on the Train” author Paula Hawkins.
DreamWorks parent Amblin Partners bought the movie rights in a preemptive deal. “Into the Water” is set in a town where a single mother and a teenage girl were found dead in a river within a few months of each other. The story centers on a 15-year-old girl, who has been left parentless while caring for her mother’s sister — a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from.
Riverhead Books is publishing “Into the Water” on May 2.
“This story has been brewing for a good while,” Hawkins said in a statement. “For me there is something irresistible about the stories we tell ourselves, the way voices and truths can be hidden consciously or unconsciously, memories can be washed away and whole histories submerged. »
- Dave McNary
‘The House’ Trailer: Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler Run an Underground Casino (Watch)
1 hour ago
Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler are bringing badassery to suburbia in the first trailer for the New Line comedy “The House,” which has a prime summer release date of June 2, 2017.
Ferrell and Poehler portray parents who lose the money intended to pay for their daughter’s college tuition and open an underground casino out of desperation. Poehler totes a flame-thrower, proclaiming “I feel like such a badass!”
They also wind up telling their alarmed daughter — played by Ryan Simpkins — to keep her nose out of their business. “We love you so much but you need to shut up,” Ferrell tells her.
The trailer concludes with the implication of a cheater getting axed on some undisclosed part of his body after he taunts Ferrell and Poehler by saying, “What are you going to do about it?”
“Neighbors” writer Andrew J. Cohen is directing from a script he co-wrote with Brendan O’Brien. »
- Dave McNary
‘Lion,’ ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ and ‘Hidden Figures’ Look Beyond Oscar Gold
1 hour ago
At this time of year, industry workers talk about a film in terms of Oscars and/or box office. But there are plenty of nominees that have a life apart from those considerations: These are films that actually help people.
Lionsgate’s “Hacksaw Ridge” has been working with military veterans, Fox’s “Hidden Figures” has been doing outreach to students, and the Weinstein Co.’s “Lion” is raising funds to benefit impoverished children in India.
After each movie wrapped production, filmmakers began to realize their work might help people. Donna Gigliotti, a producer of “Figures,” says, “These things happened organically. There was no great plan. But I’m so glad it happened.”
Related
Harvey Weinstein Taps Trump’s Travel Ban for New ‘Lion’ Oscar Messaging
“Lion” producer Iain Canning said that in early screenings, people asked how they could help Calcutta’s homeless children, who are depicted in the film. »
- Tim Gray
Berlin Film Review: ‘Joaquim’
1 hour ago
Some historical films are true to facts but get the period all wrong, while others admit to being inspired by an individual but are more committed to capturing the flavor of a moment in time. The latter describes Marcelo Gomes’ frequently stirring if episodic treatment of 18th-century Brazilian independence fighter Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, commonly known as Tiradentes. Informed by history books yet never straightjacketed by bland reverence, Gomes finds truth in concepts and details, envisioning an antihero’s transformation from unthinking colonialist henchman to revolutionary. Lively camerawork and strong characters come together for several memorable scenes, while the empowering message is likely to attract further festival dates for “Joaquim” following its Berlin premiere.
The driving force behind all of Gomes’ films is complex personalities realizing their destiny, whether simply in personal terms or on a grander scale. His is a passionate yet nonjudgmental eye, and he knows that »
- Jay Weissberg
Sam Raimi in Talks to Develop Bermuda Triangle Movie at Skydance
1 hour ago
Sam Raimi is in talks to develop and possibly direct Skydance’s untitled mystery thriller revolving around the infamous Bermuda Triangle, sources confirmed to Variety.
The subject of the Bermuda Triangle is a popular one among the studios currently, with Universal and Warner Bros. developing their own pics based on the location.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, except for the fact that it will be set in the mysterious patch of the Caribbean where planes and ships have gone missing over the years.
Skydance had no comment on the project.
Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard penned the most recent version with Damian Shannon and Mark Swift also penning a draft of the script. No studio is currently attached to the project, though Skydance has been developing the movie since 2013.
Raimi is best known for launching the Tobey Maguire “Spider-Man” franchise, but cut his teeth in the horror world, »
- Justin Kroll
Roman Polanski Seeks Sealed Transcript in Renewed Bid for U.S. Return
1 hour ago
An attorney for Roman Polanski has asked a judge to unseal transcripts related to the director’s 1977 rape prosecution, in hopes of allowing him to return to the U.S.
In a letter dated Feb. 6, attorney Harland Braun asked Judge Scott Gordon to unseal the 2010 testimony of Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson, who was the prosecutor on the rape case. Braun asserts that doing so will support his contention that Polanski has already served sufficient time, and the case should be concluded.
The director pleaded no contest to raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, and served 42 days at Chino prison for an evaluation. Ahead of his sentencing hearing in 1978, Polanski fled the country. He now lives in Paris.
Los Angeles prosecutors have sought to extradite Polanski several times in recent years without success. In 2009, he was arrested in Switzerland and later put under house arrest at his chalet. Switzerland ultimately refused the request for extradition. »
- Gene Maddaus
Universal Lands Michael Pena’s Sci-Fi Film ‘Extinction’
2 hours ago
Universal Pictures has acquired the sci-fi thriller “Extinction” in a competitive bidding war.
Michael Pena stars in the movie, from Good Universe and Mandeville Films, as a man trying to save his family from an alien invasion. Ben Young will direct. Young’s debut feature, “Hounds of Love,” premiered at last year’s Venice Days and took home the best actress prize for Ashleigh Cummings.
Academy Award nominee Eric Heisserer (“Arrival,” “Lights Out”), Spenser Cohen (“Moonfall”), and Bradley Caleb Kane wrote the screenplay.
Related
Afm: Michael Pena Joins Chris Hemsworth in ‘Horse Soldiers’
Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville will produce. Mandeville’s Alexander Young will executive produce, alongside Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake of Good Universe. Anna Halberg will serve as co-producer.
Exec VP of production Erik Baiers and creative executive Mika Pryce will oversee production for Universal. Erin Westerman will work on behalf of Good Universe.
Pena »
- Justin Kroll
Watch Tonight: Facebook Live Q&A With Justin Timberlake on Making the Oscar-Nominated Original Song From ‘Trolls’
2 hours ago
Variety will host a live chat on Facebook on Thursday with Justin Timberlake, who’s up for an Oscar this year for “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”
Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster, his co-writers and producers for the “Trolls” theme song, will join him.
Timberlake had worked with Martin back in his Nsync days. Schuster, also known as Shellback, has collaborated with Martin working with Adele, Maroon 5, and other artists.
The Q&A will be streamed right here as well as on Variety’s Facebook page beginning at approximately 9 p.m. Pt/12 a.m. Et.
Related stories'Lion,' 'Hacksaw Ridge' and 'Hidden Figures' Look Beyond Oscar Gold'Lion' Mother Sue Brierley on Seeing Her Life Played by Nicole KidmanOscars: With 38 Combined Noms, Former Partners Square Off for the First Time »
- Variety Staff
Berlin Film Review: ‘A Prominent Patient’
2 hours ago
Set aside righteous indignation at the way Great Britain and France sold Czechoslovakia down the river with the 1938 Munich Agreement. Ignore startling historical license, a production designer seemingly unaware of the concept “period-appropriate,” and accents in English that defy geographic boundaries let alone comprehension. Even if you overlook all that, “A Prominent Patient” would still be a train wreck for its godawful script and muddled structure. Based on moments in the life of Jan Masaryk, the Czechoslovak ambassador to the Court of St. James just before World War II, Julius Ševčík’s film will appeal to Czech patriotism but hasn’t a chance outside home territories.
Jan Masaryk (Karel Roden) was the son of the founder of Czechoslovakia and a man dutifully aware of the legacy his name conveyed. He had a hellish time as ambassador in the U.K. when his nation was used as a bargaining chip in European appeasement, »
- Jay Weissberg
‘Straight Outta Compton’ Writer to Direct Mob Story ‘The Kitchen’ for New Line
2 hours ago
“Straight Outta Compton” co-writer Andrea Berloff has been hired to direct mob story “The Kitchen” for New Line.
Berloff will direct from her own script, based on the comic book series by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle from DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint. It will be Berloff’s feature directorial debut.
Berloff was hired for the writing job on “The Kitchen” last year after she and Jonathan Herman were nominated for an Academy Award and Writer’s Guild Award for their “Straight Outta Compton” screenplay.
Related
‘Straight Outta Compton’ Writer Andrea Berloff Heads to ‘The Kitchen’
“The Kitchen” is a classic gangster story with a group of Irish mobsters sent to prison. Their wives take over their jailed spouses’ organized crime operations to become the most ruthless and powerful gangsters in 1970’s Hell’s Kitchen.
No producers are yet attached to “The Kitchen.” Plot details are being kept under wraps. »
- Dave McNary
‘Lion’ Drives Story With Minimum Dialogue, Maximum Emotion
3 hours ago
Garth Davis’ Oscar-nominated “Lion” is essentially two films in one, the first half driven by visuals and backdrops, the second half by language and dialogue and the pervasive power of memory to help form our sense of cultural identity. Emotion is what holds these distinct, real-life stories together — one, the story of a boy who becomes separated from his family and everything he knows in the world; the other a story about that same boy, now a grown man, struggling to find his way home.
When “Lion” starts out Saroo is 5 years old and living in dirt-floor squalor in central India with his family. All the dialogue is in Hindi. India, through sweeping shots of its burnt-sienna landscape and people dressed in traditional jewel-toned garb, becomes a central character.
We experience the world through Saroo’s wide-eyed stare, the way his chocolate brown eyes light up at the smell of »
- Malina Saval
‘Deepwater Horizon’s’ Production Crew Built Scale Model Oil Rig and Gulf
3 hours ago
Although nominated for visual effects, “Deepwater Horizon” production designers built an 85%-scale model oil rig as a set large enough to sustain what would become the star of the film. Directed by Peter Berg and starring Mark Wahlberg, the film, which narrates the 2010 explosion and spill that killed 11 people in the Gulf of Mexico, took up a parking lot at an abandoned Six Flags park in New Orleans.
But immersing audiences into this daunting world meant maintaining authenticity by all means necessary — even through Louisiana’s tumultuous weather conditions. Chris Seagers, the film’s production designer, has said that working on Louisiana’s coast posed challenges to the construction, as working with tons of metal forced them to shut down daily due to lightning. But the weather was only a slice of the crew’s setbacks. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana coast in 2005, floods took over the land occupied by the Six Flags park, »
- Sarah Ahern
‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ Takes Leap Into Cinematography Technology
3 hours ago
When Ang Lee first approached Oscar-winning cinematographer John Toll (“Braveheart,” “Legends of the Fall,” “Cloud Atlas,” “Sense8”) with his ideas for “Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk,” Toll was somewhat skeptical. Lee felt the time was ripe for a quantum leap in filmmaking technology that would combine 4K resolution, 3D capture, and high frame rates. The undertaking would require innovation at every step, and stretch technology to the breaking point. Toll had little or no experience with 3D, but he respected Lee as a filmmaker, and the early tests piqued his interest.
“Movies haven’t changed for a long time, and I think we’re all dying for a change,” said Lee at Nab in 2016. “When I was a kid at the movies, I got excited and my blood pressure shot up. I want to be that person when I go to the theater now. With more information, it feels more human. »
- David Heuring
Appreciating the Grungy Beauty of ‘Deadpool’
3 hours ago
“Deadpool,” starring Ryan Reynolds as a debauched comic-book superhero/assassin who’s like Spider-Man crossed with the Phantom of the Opera crossed with Jim Carrey, is a movie the whole world was waiting for without knowing it: a Marvel franchise caper that runs on drop-dead attitude. In the opening credits, the camera glides through a freeze-framed car crash (the men in the vehicle are at each other’s throats, and maybe a few other body parts), the whole suspended orgy of destruction set to the mocking romantic strains of “Angel of the Morning.”
The credits then proceed to thumb their nose at 1) Reynolds’ Sexiest Man Alive cover for People magazine; 2) the filmmaker, Tim Miller, whose credit reads “Directed by an Overpaid Tool”; and the entire superhero genre. The movie hasn’t even started yet, and already it’s deconstructing itself like Mad magazine crossed with a Geico commercial.
The air »
- Owen Gleiberman
2016’s Top 10 Films With Box Office, Awards and Critical Acclaim
3 hours ago
Between studio offerings and independent efforts, 2016 was a feast of cinema. Filmgoers found a lot to love and to honor: Movies reaped critical praise, prizes at film festivals, honors from Hollywood guilds (including the PGA and WGA), Golden Globes and, of course, Oscar nominations. And moviegoers also paid homage with an all-important criterion: They made these works major hits at the box office.
What follows is a list of 10 films that distinguished themselves in the combination of box office, awards and critical praise.
There are still a few skeptics in the world who are not sure that sci-fi can be both artful and commercial. They need to see “Arrival,” which was both a critical and box office success, and scored a DGA nomination for Denis Villeneuve, and PGA nomination for best picture. Eric Heisserer’s multi-layered adaptation of Ted Chiang’s short story resulted in people returning for multiple viewings, »
- Nick Clement
Film Review: ‘Fist Fight’
3 hours ago
It’s the last day of school at Roosevelt High, and two disgruntled teachers decide to duke it out after the final bell rings in “Fist Fight,” a risible excuse for comedy that treats compulsory education as a joke and violence as a reasonable way to solve problems. In other words, it’s a film perfectly calibrated for the times in which we live, and by far the most disheartening studio-produced movie in recent memory, setting an abysmal example for anyone who goes to school (or the movies, for that matter) still hoping to learn.
Listen carefully, and you can practically hear your brain cells dying during the course of “Fist Fight,” whose principal agenda seems to be how outrageously out-of-control things get at Roosevelt. Anarchy already has the upper hand when idealistic English teacher Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) arrives on campus to discover what the students have perpetrated on »
- Peter Debruge
‘Lion’ Mother Sue Brierley on Seeing Her Life Played by Nicole Kidman
3 hours ago
When Sue and John Brierley adopted their first son Saroo from an orphanage in Calcutta, India, they couldn’t wait for him to grow up and tell them his story. Thirty years on, Saroo’s adoptive parents aren’t the only ones who know about his incredible tale of losing his family, moving to a foreign land, and his miraculous Google Earth search for his past life. The 2017 Oscar contender “Lion,” based on the book “A Long Way Home,” recounts Saroo’s story in painstaking detail, “warts and all.” In the wake of its six nominations, including in the two best supporting categories for Nicole Kidman who plays Sue and Dev Patel who plays Saroo, Sue Brierley spoke with Variety about seeing her family’s story on the big screen and reliving events from her life through the prism of an Oscar-winning actress’ performance.
What did you think when Saroo »
- Will Thorne
Standout Work That Wasn’t Eligible for Oscars
3 hours ago
It takes a village to make a movie, but not every member of those unique cinematic villages is eligible for Oscar consideration.
Related stories'Lion,' 'Hacksaw Ridge' and 'Hidden Figures' Look Beyond Oscar GoldWatch Tonight: Facebook Live Q&A With Justin Timberlake on Making the Oscar-Nominated Original Song From 'Trolls''Lion' Mother Sue Brierley on Seeing Her Life Played by Nicole Kidman »
- Variety Staff
Alamo Drafthouse, Kodak Partner on 35Mm Film Celebration (Exclusive)
3 hours ago
We live in a pixelated world. Much of our day is spent staring at watches, laptops, desktops, iPods, and iPads that offer up digitized video, newsfeeds, and Facebook posts. These pixels are even dominating the biggest screens of all, as more and more movie theaters abandon film for the convenience and cost savings of digital projection. But there remain purists, for whom the flicker and luster of film remains a vital component of the movie-going experience. Quentin Tarantino, for instance, once blasted digital projection, dismissing it as “just television in cinema” and predicting it would lead to the death of movies.
Well the “Pulp Fiction” director and his partisans should mark their calendars. Alamo Drafthouse is partnering with Kodak on the first-ever “Reel Film Day,” a celebration of 35mm film. Both companies say they see the advantages of digitization, but they also want to celebrate the look, flavor, and art of celluloid. »
- Brent Lang
Stunts Went Old School in Oscar-Nominated Films
4 hours ago
Filmmakers used every digital tool available to amp up the action in “Deadpool.” In the film’s hyper-violent freeway chase scene, stunt performers were shot against green screens in vehicle interiors or otherwise bare soundstages, then virtually placed into (or hanging off of) careening CG autos alongside wholly-digital characters and a backdrop created with multi-camera plates of freeways in Detroit, Chicago, and Vancouver.
But sometimes the most innovative and effective approach is to dial back the digital technology and go old school as stunt coordinator and second unit director Mic Rodgers did on “Hacksaw Ridge,” the true story of a pacifist’s battlefield experiences in World War II.
“For me, old is new,” says Rodgers. “We kept it as real and as in-the-camera as we could.”
Rodgers’ favorite tool was a 10-inch by 10-inch black cardboard box containing ground-up peat moss packed around a tennis ball filled with black gunpowder »
- Todd Longwell
1-20 of 164 items « Prev | Next »