 For the first time in nearly a decade (and honestly one of the rather rare times for his career on the whole) Steven Spielberg will be directing a film that’s not predominantly a period piece. Yes, for his next outing in the director’s chair, the Beard has opted to make the biopic of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, known as the most lethal sniper in United States military history. Scribe Jason Hall is adapting Kyle’s autobiography American Sniper, and as if Spielberg directing isn’t enough, he’s got Bradley Cooper in the lead role as well! Cooper actually picked up the rights to this book at one point, so it’s clearly a passion project for him, and now could be a future awards contender as well. After the jump you can see a little more about the book, but I’m very eager to see Cooper work with Spielberg and how the filmmaker chooses to bring this particular story to the big screen. They were competitors of sorts last season, but a team up could lead to even more awards glory for both. If it’s as good as I think it might be, then it could really turn out to be a winner. Read on below for more…
Read more on Steven Spielberg’s next movie will be ‘American Sniper’ with Bradley Cooper!…
 There are more things wrong with 42 than most films that I find myself recommending, but most films don’t manage to work in spite of themselves like this one. A biopic of Hall of Fame baseball player Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier, could be done in a number of different ways, including the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story (that starred the man himself in the title role), but this particular movie here, named after his uniform number and now retired throughout Major League Baseball, the only one with that distinction, opts for the least subtle approach possible. That shouldn’t work, but writer/director Brian Helgeland manages to get you caught up in the tale, bringing you to emotional points at times even. Read more on 42 (***)…
 Perhaps no film this year has been easier to make fun of in advance of its release than ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’. I know I had a few silly names for it earlier in 2012 when comparing it to something like ‘My Week with Marilyn’, but go figure…I prefer this film to that one. When I sat down to watch it during the New York Film Festival I already was aware that it had fallen from the status of being an Oscar contender, but somehow I emerged rather amused by the flick. It’s hardly great art, and is iffy as a biopic of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but it’s got some strong acting and works as a comedy of manners. Bill Murray is rather good as FDR, though the film focuses far less on him than you’d expect. More time is given to Laura Linney’s character, who’s our entry point into the story. Linney and Murray are very solid, but neither is quite nomination worthy for me. This is an easy movie to pick on, but I was charmed by what director Roger Michell and scribe Richard Nelson came up with and find myself recommending it now that it’s opening this weekend. Don’t expect it to be on the level of the awards hopefuls surrounding it, but taken on its own, ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’ is an entertaining little film.
Read more on Hyde Park on Hudson (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Bill Murray, Biopic, Elizabeth Marvel, Elizabeth Wilson, Hyde Park on Hudson, Laura Linney, olivia colman, Olivia Williams, Oscar hopeful, Richard Nelson, Roger Michell, Samuel West
 Press junkets are a strange animal, to say the least. Sometimes they’re a lot of fun, but sometimes they can frankly be a mess. Luckily, late last week I was privy to one of the good ones, a morning in New York City spent in an upscale hotel interview just about everyone involved with the new film ‘Hitchcock’. I gave the film my thumbs up in a recent review (found here), but I freely admit that it’s not perfect, so I was interested in seeing why some of the talent made the choices that they did. The day consisted of several 1 on 1 interviews as well as a live press conference with a number of people, plus a video press conference with Anthony Hopkins. The interviews I conducted were with director Sacha Gervasi, stars James D’Arcy, Michael Stuhlbarg, Toni Collette, and Danny Huston, along with writer John McLaughlin, costume designer Julie Weiss, and production designer Judy Becker. Gervasi, D’Arcy, Stuhlbarg, Collette, and Huston were joined for the press conference by Helen Mirren and Jessica Biel, with Hopkins coming last. I didn’t get the chance to talk personally with Biel or Mirren, but I did wind up having Hopkins talk with me. That’s a funny story, and I’ll get to it momentarily, but for now sit back and enjoy the highlights of my ‘Hitchcock’ press junket coverage! I may wind up posting the entire interviews at a later date, but at the moment I’ve got a collection of the choice remarks from each individual. The time was very short with each one, but I’ll try and give a sense of what we talked about in those brief periods. Here we go.
Read more on Morning spent with the cast and crew of ‘Hitchcock’…
Categories: Article, Interview Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Hopkins, Biopic, book adaptation, Danny Huston, Helen Mirren, hitchcock, James D'Arcy, Jessica Biel, John McLaughlin, Judy Becker, Julie Weiss, Junket, late press, Michael Stuhlbarg, Oscar hopefuls, Sacha Gervasi, Toni Collette
 I’m still not completely sold on Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’. That first Trailer gave me some major pause, but I was hardly ready to write the film off. Today we have a much better Trailer to show you though, one that Disney put out late last night to piggyback off of the 1st Presidential debate that aired. This look at the biopic is much more promising and has me a little bit more excited for the flick, though issues certainly remain. You can take a look after the jump, but at the very least it looks like Daniel Day-Lewis is going to have plenty to do here. Take a gander below and see for yourself…
Read more on ‘Lincoln’ looks for your vote in a passionate new Trailer!…
Last year I wrote an article on the issues that baseball films have with Oscar, though the success of ‘Moneyball’ certainly has opened doors a bit. ‘Trouble with the Curve’ of course is a misfire, but next year we may just have a contender in ’42′, a biopic of Jackie Robinson. Starring Chadwick Boseman as the legendary Brooklyn Dodger, Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, the man who signed him, and written/directed by Brian Helgeland, the film has recently dropped a pretty solid trailer. You can see it after the jump, and stay tuned for more on this flick when it opens April 12th of next year and seeks to hit a homer not just with audiences, but with critics as well. Take a gander below…
Read more on The Jackie Robinson biopic ’42′ gets a Trailer!…
 If that sneaky on set glance at Daniel Day-Lewis walking with Steven Spielberg that’s been going around for a while isn’t enough for you, well today is your lucky day my friend. Entertainment Weekly has debuted the first true image of DDL playing the title role in ‘Lincoln’, and it’s a nice big picture that really hits home how transformative the man can be. You can see the full image after the jump, and I’m pretty sure you’ll be impressed. Stay tuned for a potential Trailer in the coming weeks, but for now this first look will have to do. You can check it out in all of its glory below…
Read more on First official look at Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln!…
 I always take a hearty interest in actors who decide to make their directorial debuts. I’m intrigued for many reasons, but one is that they usually tend to pick projects that tickle my fancy. That continues to be the case today, as The Playlist is reporting here that Russell Crowe is planning to make a biopic of the comedian Bill Hicks his first shot behind the camera. The late Bill Hicks is an interesting subject for a film (there’s already been a documentary), and I’m down to see if Crowe has any directing chops. After the jump you can see a bit of Hicks’ material, but count me in for this one!
Read more on Russell Crowe will make his directorial debut with a biopic of Bill Hicks?…
 Channing Tatum has done his part to change my opinion of him this year. He hit a new low for me with ‘The Vow’ back in February, but a month later he surprised me with his comic aptitude in ’21 Jump Street’. Finally, last month Tatum had what I might call his career high point with ‘Magic Mike’. Of course, he now has even more options in terms of the next step in his acting, and according to The Hollywood Reporter here, 2 of the projects are going to be a sequel to ‘Magic Mike’ and also a biopic of the stunt man Evel Knievel. After the jump you can see the details of these ventures, but I certainly think both (especially if the sequel isn’t just a quick cash grab, which Tatum’s involvement suggests it won’t be) have potential…
Read more on Sequel to ‘Magic Mike’ in the works…
 A biopic of Janis Joplin has been one of those projects that never seemed to be able to get off the ground. It came close at one point with Zooey Deschanel in the title role (I would have loved to have seen that), and other actresses have come and gone, but it’s just never worked. It seems now though that ‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’ filmmaker Sean Durkin has cracked the code, according to Deadline here. He’s got Tony Award Winner Nina Arianda as his star, and it’s looking like a possible 2013 Oscar contender. After the jump you can see a little more information on the project (which is simply titled ‘Joplin’), but count me in!
Read more on Sean Durkin will direct a biopic of Janis Joplin!…
 Aside from New York Mets knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey (who’s written a book I expect will be made into a film before too long), the athlete I’ve always thought had a life story tailor made for the movies is Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton. His story is amazing, and Deadline is reporting here that Casey Affleck wants to make his directorial debut a biopic of the player. After the jump you can see just why this is such a great project, but I’m really excited by what this can possibly turn into. Until we get Dickey’s movie, this is the sports project to be most excited about. See below for more details on the man and the movie he’s inspired…
Read more on Casey Affleck to direct a biopic of Josh Hamilton…
 Before Andrew Dominik committed to make ‘Killing Them Softly’ (then called ‘Coogan’s Trade’) his next film, he was eyeing a Marilyn Monroe biopic called ‘Blonde’. According to The Playlist here, Dominik is planning on making that adaptation of the Joyce Carroll Oates novel now if all comes together properly. Originally supposed to star Naomi Watts, there’s no word on who would potentially star now, but it’s a film that I’d be very interested in seeing come to fruition. After the jump you can see what the book is about, but when it comes to Dominik, you know it’s going to be visually interesting and not at all what you expect it to be.
Read more on Andrew Dominik to make his long Marilyn Monroe biopic…
 The story of the West Memphis Three is a truly fascinating one, inspiring no less than 3 documentaries from Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (the ‘Paradise Lost’ trilogy), plus the Peter Jackson produced one ‘West of Memphis’. Now, the biopic route is being taken for the tale, with Atom Egoyan getting an official greenlight for his film ‘Devil’s Knot’, according to The Hollywood Reporter here. The film will star Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon, and should be one to watch. For those unfamiliar with the story, I’ll give a quick crash course after the jump, but this film could be a real Oscar player if done right…
Read more on Atom Egoyan gets the go-ahead for his West Memphis Three biopic!…
 It was news right around the time that Steve Jobs had passed away that Sony wanted Aaron Sorkin to write the screenplay for their in development biopic of the man, but news comes now that Sorkin is officially on board. After the jump you can read the full press release announcing this, but now this project is officially much more interesting. Sorkin is, for my money, the best screenwriter in the business right now (with Charlie Kaufman a close second), so anything he attaches himself to has my full attention. By the way, don’t confuse this high profile biopic with the Ashton Kutcher starring flick in the works right now…they’re two very different animals, though who knows, that one could turn out to be a surprisingly good film. Anyway, check out the press release below and get ready to start speculating about the cast…
Read more on Aaron Sorkin will write the Steve Jobs biopic!…
 Logan Marshall-Green has been generating some nice career momentum with parts in The Devil and starring in the highly anticipated blockbuster Prometheus. He poised to take on his biggest role yet, tackling the great American playwright Tennessee Williams in a new biopic Lonely Hunter. Indiewire is reporting that the movie will be about Carson McCullers, writer of The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, as she hangs around Paris with her writer friends Williams and Truman Capote, as well as her tumultuous life. Jena Malone, who appeared in Sucker Punch, has been cast to play McCullers and Deborah Kampmeier (Hounddog) will direct.
Read more on ‘Prometheus’ actor Logan Marshall-Green to play Tennessee Williams in ‘Lonely Hunter’…
 Darren Aronofsky is turning into a director with about 3 times as many projects in the hopper as he can realistically make (Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott are currently two of the very worst offenders, but honestly I’m just happy when they pick a project). I have no real issue here with his cinematic greediness (since I love his work), but I wish he wound up making more of them instead of just talking about them. I’m still waiting for his adaptation of ‘Flicker’ that’s never going to happen, as well as his aborted remake of ‘Robocop’, and he’s currently got 7 projects he’s involved with right now (including ‘Noah’). Well, you can make it 8 now (including a television project), as Variety reports that he’s potentially going to be directing a film about George Washington possibly called ‘The General’, one that’s in the vein of ‘Unforgiven’, to boot. After the jump, I’ll talk about his current projects and where this fits in, but I must say…Washington as a badass could be a lot of fun, and Aronofsky is one of my 5 favorite filmmakers working today, so in Darren I trust.
Read more on Aronofsky to direct a George Washington Biopic!…
 Via The Hollywood Reporter. Did Naomi Watts just get herself in the future Oscar race? Bait all the way
BERLIN — Naomi Watts has signed to play British icon Princess Diana inOliver Hirschbiegel‘s big-screen portrait Caught in Flight.
Read more on Naomi Watts Cast to Play Princess Diana in Biopic…
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