FROM
REAL LIFE TO REEL LIFE: THE NEW BIOPICS COME MARCHING IN
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU'D SEEN THE LAST OF GEORGE W. BUSH...
W.:
Josh Brolin, Elizabeth
Banks, Ioan Gruffudd, Thandie Newton, Richard Dreyfuss, Scott Glenn,
Jeffrey Wright, Ellen Burstyn, James Cromwell, Rob Corddry, Toby
Jones, Michael Gaston (Directed by Oliver Stone; Written by Stanley
Weiser; Lionsgate) In case you’re having trouble sorting through
the merits and flaws of the Junior Bush administration, Oliver Stone
will lend you a hand with “W.,” which is scheduled to
open just before the 2008 presidential election. This inevitably
absurdist extravaganza stars Josh Brolin, shown above, as George
II--from hell-raising, booze-guzzling rogue to chatting-with-Jesus
commander in chief. Richard Dreyfuss plays gun-toting, bunker-hugging
VP Dick Cheney and Thandie Newton has been cast as the scholarly,
vigorously inattentive Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Scott
Glenn is the you-fight-with-the-army-you’ve-got Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Elizabeth Banks is stand-by-your-cowboy
Laura; and the senior Bushes are played by James Cromwell and Ellen
Burstyn. Can we count on Stone, the man who zeroed in on “JFK,”
“Nixon” and “Natural Born Killers,” to capture
these history-making characters, warts and all? For
a clue, click here and read Slate’s
preview of “W.,” based on Juliet Lapidos’ perusal
of the screenplay. Opens
10/17/08
BIOPICS
NOT YET SET FOR RELEASE
AMELIA:
Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Virginia Madsen, Christopher
Eccleston, Cherry Jones, Joe Anderson, Aaron Abrams, Mia Wasikowska
(Directed by Mira Nair; Written by Ronald Bass; Fox Searchlight)
Did you know that AMELIA
EARHART, who was the first woman to fly solo across
the Atlantic and eventually went missing over the Pacific in 1937,
had a torrid affair with GENE
VIDAL, the father of writer Gore Vidal? And that was
while the ace aviatrix was said to be blissfully married to publisher
GEORGE PUTNAM!
But as director Mira Nair (“Monsoon Wedding”) will undoubtedly
make clear to us, this pioneer feminist was never one to let stuffy
rules get in her way. In a bit of inspired casting, Hilary Swank
is Amelia; Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor are her husband and her
lover, respectively; and Virginia Madsen is her husband’s
first wife.
THE ARGENTINE:
Benicio Del Toro; Franka Potente, Julia Ormond, Catalina Sandino
Moreno, Demian Bichir (Directed by Steven Soderbergh; Written by
Peter Buchman; Focus Features) In “The Motorcycle Diaries,”
director Walter Salles focused on the youthful ERNESTO
"CHE" GUEVARA (played
by Gael Garcia Bernal) as the budding revolutionary biked his way
through South America and witnessed acts of injustice he would never
forget. If you loved Salles’ 2004 hit movie, the odds are
that you will be similarly moved by this follow-up film from director
Steven Soderbergh. In place of the beautiful, magnetic Bernal, we
now have the less beautiful but equally magnetic and talented Benicio
Del Toro as the mature Argentine doctor who leaves his country and
his profession and becomes known as Che, the idealistic but tough
disciple of Cuban crusader FIDEL
CASTRO. The first of two new Soderbergh
takes on Che, "The Argentine" will be followed by "Guerrilla."
A COLD CASE:
(Directed by Mark Romanek; Written by Eric Roth; Universal) A tenacious
New York district attorney is bent on solving a 27-year-old murder
case before his retirement rolls around. Why is he so determined?
Because the murder victim was his friend. Tom Hanks was at
one point set to play the driven D.A., but he apparently
turned cold on the case.
This true story of investigator ANDY
ROSENZWEIG is directed by Mark Romanek, who recently
put Robin Williams through some pretty creepy crawls in "One
Hour Photo."
DIRTY TRICKS:
Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow, Annette Bening, Jill Clayburgh (Written
and directed by Ryan Murphy; Paramount) They called her Martha the
Mouth, Mouth of the South or simply Moutha. Her real name was MARTHA
MITCHELL, and she was the full-throttle wife of John
Mitchell, Attorney General to President Richard M. Nixon. Never
one to hold back, Martha, who died in 1976, had this to say about
her hubby’s boss: “Nixon bleeds people. He draws every
drop of blood and then drops them from a cliff. He’ll blame
any person he can put his foot on.” Nor did Martha go all
that easy on Mitchell himself, referring to him at one point as
“that gutless, despicable crook.” Is it any wonder that
in an effort to shut her up, her enemies eventually drugged her
and held her captive in a California hotel room? Ryan Murphy, director
of “Running With Scissors,” is bringing this adaptation
of John Jeter’s play about the woman who spilled the beans
that bumped Tricky Dick from the White House to the screen. And,
best news of all, Murphy had the good sense to cast Meryl Streep
as the biggest Moutha ever. Also on prominent display: Jill Clayburgh
as PAT NIXON,
Gwyneth Paltrow as MAUREEN
DEAN and Annette Bening as HELEN
THOMAS, the veteran White
House correspondent who received many a late-night phone call from
the whistle-blowing Martha.
EAT, PRAY, LOVE:
Julia Roberts (Written and directed by Ryan Murphy; Paramount) Depressed,
nearly suicidal, ELIZABETH
GILBERT (author of the memoir upon which this film
is based) decides to take a year off from her successful literary
career in an attempt to get over her divorce from a seemingly ideal
husband and her stressful love affair with a man who was definitely
not ideal. Her plan is to flee Manhattan and spend one third of
the year seeking pleasure in Italy, another third searching for
spiritual serenity in India, and the final third striking a balance
between the two extremes in Indonesia. And, yes, Elizabeth, played
by Julia Roberts, will not say no if a suitable bachelor pops up
somewhere along the way and pops the right question. If director
Ryan Murphy can get the kind of performance out of Roberts that
he got out of Annette Bening in “Running With Scissors,”
Julia could be adding another Oscar to her collection.
EMPEROR ZEHNDER:
Richard Gere, Timilee Romolini (Directed by Gregory Hoblit; Disney)
In one of his top performances, Richard Gere played a cool but unscrupulous
lawyer who defended an altar boy accused of murdering a predatory
bishop. The psychological thriller was called "Primal Fear"
and it was released in 1996. Now Gere is reteaming with that film's
director, Gregory Hoblit, on what sounds like a less chilling but
possibly more inspiring project. For once, the actor will play a
pure, real-life hero--BRUNO
P. ZEHNDER. The "P" stands for penguin,
as well it should, for Zehnder, an uncompromising photographer,
spent a great deal of his life photographing the surprisingly complex
creatures in Antarctica--which is precisely what he was doing just
before his death in a blizzard.
ESCAPE FROM TEHRAN:
George Clooney (Directed by George Clooney; Written by George Clooney
and Grant Heslov; Warner Bros.) In the wake of the WMD blunder that
started the Iraqi War ball rolling, the CIA is in desperate need
of an image makeover. Perhaps it will get the p.r. boost it needs
with this real-life comedy-drama set not in Iraq, but in Iran. Co-producers
George Clooney and Grant Heslov are basing their screenplay on Joshua
Bearman’s investigative report in Wired magazine about the
astonishing 1980 rescue of six Americans in Tehran by CIA operative
TONY MENDEZ.
Wacky as it seems, Mendez convinced Iranian officials that he and
his U.S. colleagues were actually Canadian filmmakers with plans
to shoot a major epic in Tehran. Not only did they manage to fool
the Iranians, but they also put one over on Variety and The Hollywood
Reporter, both of which did dead-earnest reports on the making of
the movie. As was the case with “Good Night, and Good Luck,”
the previous Clooney-Heslov collaboration, Clooney is expected to
direct and act in “Escape From Tehran.” He sounds like
the perfect Mendez to us.
FAIR GAME:
Nicole Kidman (Directed by Doug Liman; Warner Bros.) There was no
way Hollywood could ignore the VALERIE
PLAME WILSON story for long. The true-life tale was
dramatic, scary, enraging, tender and surprisingly romantic. As
we know, the keen, classy-looking blonde CIA agent’s cover
was blown by conservative columnist Robert Novak in 2002--with the
aid of strategically-placed Bushies--as an apparent act of punishment
to her husband, former U.S. Ambassador JOSEPH
C. WILSON, who had written a New York Times article
poking holes in the Bush administration’s claims about weapons
of mass destruction. Life became instant hell for the Wilsons and
their 2-year-old twins, and Valerie came to doubt her own sanity.
But this story, like so many Hollywood strories, has a happy ending.
Valerie wrote “Fair Game,” a tell-all tome that did
not send Robert Novak, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove rushing to the
Barnes & Noble book-signing party. And before long, Plame's
“Game” will be playing at a cineplex near you. In a
brilliant stroke of casting, Nicole Kidman will be the glamorous,
no-longer-secret agent. The director is Doug
Liman, the man responsible for “Swingers,” “Go,”
“The Bourne Identity” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”
THE FIGHTER:
Brad Pitt, Mark Wahlberg (Directed by Darren Aronofsky; Written
by Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colick, Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy; Paramount)
Here come Micky and Dickie. And we do mean MICKY
WARD and DICKIE
EKLUND. As an avid sports fan, you undoubtedly know
that hard-punching “Irish” Micky Ward from Lowell, Massachusetts,
played here by Mark Wahlberg, was a wow in the ring during the 1990s,
thanks largely to the wise coaching of his half-brother Dickie,
a former boxer who lost a battle with drugs, did time in the pen,
and became an exemplary inmate before his release. Brad Pitt signed
up for the role of Dickie when it became clear to Matt Damon that
he himself had signed up for so many flicks that he had to drop
out of this one.
GRACE:
Sandra Bullock, Patrick Jordan, David Morse, Joanna Lowe, Ben Blazer,
Marty Giles (Directed by Andrew Paul; Written by Naomi Foner, Alie
Kolb, Mathew Kopel and Ben Penhan;
Fortis Films) For some people, it was a shocking peep into the living
rooms and, especially, the bedrooms of small-town fifties America;
for others, it was plain old trash. Whatever it was or was not,
“Peyton Place” was certainly the vehicle that propelled
previously unsung novelist GRACE
METALIOUS to international
notoriety. It also led to the break-up of her marriage and, eventually,
to her death by suicide. Spunky Sandra Bullock may not seem like
the ideal choice to play Metalious, nor did she seem ideal to play
Harper Lee in "Infamous"--but she gave a performance in
the latter film that's a strong possibility for a Best Supporting
Actress Oscar nomination. Although screenwriter Naomi Foner is the
mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, she neglected to write roles
for her talented kids on this occasion.
GREY GARDENS:
Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange, Olivia Waldriff (Directed by Michael
Sucsy; Written by Patricia Rozema and Michael Sucsy; HBO Films)
LITTLE EDITH BOUVIER
BEALE was JACQUELINE
KENNEDY'S cousin, and her mother, BIG
EDITH BOUVIER BEALE, was the First Lady’s aunt.
At one time, the two Edies lived sumptuously on Manhattan’s
Park Avenue, but they ended up in a squalid, raccoon-infested estate
on Long Island. Thanks to the intervention of Jackie, the East Hampton
health department did not carry through with its plan to raid the
dump. But that didn’t keep the messy eccentrics out of the
headlines, and eventually they became the subjects of “Grey
Gardens,” a memorable 1976 documentary made by David and Albert
Maysles. Now an expanded version of their story that includes material
on the young Jackie Bouvier (portrayed by 8-year-old Olivia Waldriff)
and covers Little Edie’s late-blooming career as a nightclub
chanteuse is headed your way. Let us hope that Jessica Lange has
more luck playing Drew Barrymore’s mom than she did playing
Christina Ricci’s in the wretched “Prozac Nation.”
Opening date to be announced
GUERRILLA:
Benicio Del Toro, Lou Diamond Phillips, Franka
Potente, Julia Ormond, Oscar Iaac, Meg Gibson, Alex Manette, Paul
Vasquez, Rob Macie (Directed by Steven Soderbergh; Written by Peter
Buchman; Focus Features) This sequel to Soderbergh's "The Argentine"
deals with the post-Cuban Revolution adventures of CHE
GUEVERA,
once again played by Benicio Del Toro. Demian Bichir is
also back as Fidel Castro. Opening
date to be announced
IN SEARCH OF CAPTAIN
ZERO: Sean Penn (Directed by Stacy Peralta; Written
by Michael Bacall; Radar) There may not be a real Captain Zero,
but there is a real ALLAN
WEISBECKER. A former surfer and drug-smuggler, Weisbecker
packed up his memories of rowdy adventures and misdeeds and put
them into a book, and this quirky-sounding movie
is based upon that memoir. The biopic,
starring Sean Penn as the restless, reckless Weisbecker, deals with
more than just dope and waterplay. Much of it is devoted to the
author’s determination to hook up again with a close surfing
pal who vanished a while back, probably somewhere in the wilds of
Central America. But was their relationship really as joyful as
it seemed, and can it possibly be resurrected?
JULIE & JULIA:
Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci (Written and directed by
Nora Ephron; Columbia) A world-famous chef, who was also the star
of her own popular live-TV show, once blithely flipped a potato
pancake into the air, only to see it land not in the intended pan
but on a decidedly un-photogenic work table. Not a bit flustered,
she simply scooped up the smashed potato and molded it back into
shape. Then, looking firmly into the eye of the camera, she told
her audience, “Remember, you are alone in the kitchen, and
no one can see you.” This unflappable flipper, of course,
was JULIA CHILD,
the lovably eccentric American who somehow managed to become an
idolized French chef. And playing Child in this movie is Meryl Streep,
who, as you know, can glide from American to French or any other
nationality on a minute’s notice. The question is, what sort
of scenario has writer-director Nora Ephron concocted that will
give Streep a chance to don her apron and flip her potato pancake,
as well as engage in some out-of-the-kitchen antics? After all,
this film is supposedly an adaptation of “Julie and Julia:
365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen,” Julia Powell’s
2005 book dishing out the comedy-drama of her decision to cook,
over the course of one year, every single recipe in Julia Child’s
“Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and to serve the
presumably tasty results to her husband and other guinea pigs. Her
experiment took a toll in both the digestive and domestic realms.
Amy Adams ("Catch Me If You Can," "Junebug,"
"Charlie Wilson's War") plays the central role of Julie.
But you can bet that Ephron will cook up something tres
delicious for Streep, who played the author to perfection in "Heartburn,"
based on Ephron's account of her disastrous marriage to philandering
journalist Carl Bernstein. Child's own husband, Paul, a foreign
diplomat suspected of being a commie by Senator Joseph McCarthy,
will be played by Stanley Tucci.
To read about more
new movies based on books, click here.
THE LAST STATION:
Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy,
Anne-Marie Duff (Directed by Michael Hoffman; Written by Jay Parini;
Notro Films) Anthony Hopkins was set to play COUNT
LEO TOLSTOY, the author of "War and Peace"
who was strugglig to live out his final days with dignity and grace.
But somewhere along the line Hopkins dropped out and Christopher
Plummer dropped in. Getting back to Leo--who on earth was making
it difficult for him to travel a peaceful path into the hereafter?
It was none other than Sofya Andreyevna, his luxury-loving, more
warring than peaceful, wife. And--like Anthony Hopkins--Meryl Streep,
cast as Sofya, made an exit, leaving her role to Helen Mirren. Paul
Giamatti plays a loyal friend of Tolstoy's who does his best to
rein in Sofya, James McAvoy plays Tolstoy's secretary, and Anne-Marie
Duff--McAvoy's real-life wife--plays the tormented literary lion's
daughter. Jay Parini's screenplay for "The Last Station"
is based on his 1990 novel, which in turn was based on the actual
diaries of the contentious Tolstoys and their piles of relatives
and friends. The director here is Michael Hoffman, whose eclectic
oeuvre includes “Soapdish” (Robert Downey Jr.
& Sally Field), “Restoration” (Hugh Grant &
Meg Ryan), and “One Fine Day" (George Clooney & Michelle
Pfeiffer).
LOVE RANCH:
Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci, Gina Gershon, Rio Hackford (Directed by
Taylor Hackford; Written by Mark Jacobson; Capitol Films) Not so
long ago we were calling Helen Mirren queen; soon we’ll be
calling her madam. That’s because the Oscar winner is playing
an earthy, enterprising woman based on the character of SALLY
CONFORTE, who--along with hubby Joe--made her wildest
dream come true by opening the Mustang Ranch, Nevada’s first
legal brothel. Life became one big love-in for Sally and JOE
CONFORTE--until that memorable moment in 1976 when
OSCAR BONANEVA,
an Argentinian prizefighter rumored to have gotten raunchy with
the Mustang boss-lady, was shot dead by a ranch bodyguard. Director
Taylor Hackford, Mirren’s real-life husband, will be putting
his wife through her “Love Ranch” paces.
MANOLETE:
Adrien Brody, Penelope Cruz (Written and directed by Menno Meyjes;
Lolafilms) Adrien Brody, faced with monstrous competition for the
attention of Naomi Watts in “King Kong,” will presumably
have an easier time of it when he woos Penelope Cruz in this true-life
romance. Brody plays magnetic bullfighter MANUEL
RODRIGUEZ SANCHEZ, better known as Manolete, and Cruz
takes on the role of sultry actress LUPE
SINO.
NAPOLEON AND BETSY:
Scarlett Johansson (Written and directed by Benjamin Ross) Busy,
busy Scarlett Johansson will have a chance to try on a new accent
when she plays the Brit who won the heart of elderly NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE during his final days on St. Helena. The
rumor that Danny DeVito will play the amorous Frenchman has yet
to be confirmed.
PUBLIC ENEMIES:
Johnny Depp (Directed by Michael Mann; Universal) JOHN
DILLINGER was not as scary as Sweeney Todd, but don't
be surprised if Johnny Depp makes the gun-toting terror of thirties
Chicago almost as chilling as he makes the demon barber of Fleet
Street in Tim Burton's current musical. “Public Enemies”
is based on the book by Bryan Burrough about FBI biggie J.
EDGAR HOOVER'S crusade to bring Dillinger and other
dirty rotten scoundrels to justice. At one point, Leonardo DiCaprio
was reportedly in discussion with director Michael Mann about participating
in this project. If he's still available, somebody should tell him
that the plum role of BABY
FACE NELSON has yet to be cast.
THE RISE OF THEODORE
ROOSEVELT: Leonardo DiCaprio (Directed by Martin Scorsese;
Written by Nicholas Meyer; Paramount) Leo for president? Why not?
Martin Scorsese, who directed him in “Gangs of New York,”
“The Aviator” and the upcoming “The Departed,”
thinks Leo is just the man for the job of portraying the remarkably
complex 26th president of the U.S. in the adaptation of Edmund Morris’s
Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.”
As in the book, Teddy will go from a frail, asthmatic Harvard grad
to the bear of a man who commanded the Rough Riders, governed the
state of New York, and eventually called the White House home. Hail
to the chief! For Guy Flatley's 1973 interview
with Martin Scorsese, click here.
SASHA'S STORY: THE
LIFE AND DEATH OF A RUSSIAN SPY: Johnny Depp (Warner
Bros.) Will moviegoers glut themselves on a double serving of the
true-life tragedy of ALEXANDER
"SASHA" LITVINENKO, the KGB agent-turned-superspy
who suffered a hideous death last November after dining on sushi
containing polonium-210? Possibly so, if both Warner Bros. and Columbia
follow through with plans to fast-track competing versions of the
same raw-deal tale. The Warner Bros. project, "Sasha's Story:
The Life and Death of a Russian Spy," is based on a Doubleday
book being written by Alan Cowell, the New York Times bureau chief
who has covered the story extensively for The Times. It’s
extremely likely that Johnny Depp, whose Infinitum Nihil production
company is partnered with Warner Bros., will play the bigger-than-life
character who, on his deathbed, accused Vladimir Putin of plotting
his murder. While the people at Columbia will not have the pleasure
of Johnny Depp’s company on their Litvinenko take, they will
surely be working with solid pros, starting at the top with director
Michael Mann, and including Marina Litvinenko, the former spy’s
widow, and Alex Goldfarb, her collaborator on “Death of a
Dissident,” a book scheduled to be published by Free Press,
a Simon & Schuster subsidiary, in May. No word on who’ll
play Litvinenko in “Death of a Dissident.” But the names
of Tom Cruise and Sacha Baron Cohen do flutter to mind.
SHAME ON YOU:
Dennis Quaid (Written and directed by Dennis Quaid) Good old boy
SPADE COOLEY
was sometimes a bad old boy, most notably on the day in 1961 when
he stomped, strangled and burned his
wife Ella Mae to death in the presence of their daughter Melody.
What madness drove the famed Western Swing fiddler to murder? You’ll
find out a while after Quaid starts
his cameras rolling on what he hopes will be a New Orleans location.
Katie Holmes was set to play Ella Mae, but she
bowed out due to a dizzying schedule.
THE STANFORD PRISON
EXPERIMENT: Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Paul Dano,
Charlie Hunnam, Kieran Culkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ben McKenzie (Directed
by Christopher McQuarrie; Written by Christopher McQuarrie and Tim
Talbott; Icon Entertainmet Intl.) Is it conceivable that a highly
respected doctor/sociologist could set up a faux prison at a prestigious
college--using some student volunteers as prisoners and others as
guards--for the purpose of conducting a serious exploration of human
behavior? Well, you’d better believe it, because it’s
true. Doctor PHILIP
ZIMBARDO conducted his controversial study at Stanford
University in 1971, and the student role-players slipped so deeply
into character--some of them becoming outrageously abusive--that
the good doctor had to call a halt to his campus charade at the
halfway mark. Christopher McQuarrie, the screenwriter who won an
Oscar for “The Usual Suspects” (1995) and reaped positive
reviews for his writing and direction of “The Way of the Gun”
(2000), is directing the “The Stanford Prison Experiment”
screenplay that he co-authored with Tim Talbott.
STOMPANATO:
Antonio Banderas, Sharon Stone (Directed by Francois Girard; Written
by David Webb Peoples and Janet Peoples; Stonelock Pictures) LANA
TURNER and JOHNNY
STOMPANATO were sweethearts--until the day in 1958
when the screen queen's daughter, CHERYL
CRANE, stabbed the hot-tempered gangland figure before
he could make an exit from her mom's Beverly Hills bedroom. (For
those with short memories, the verdict was justifiable homicide).
Stone seems a smart choice for Turner, but Bandera had better get
to work on his American accent--starting yesterday. No word yet
on who will tackle the challenging role of 14-year-old Cheryl, but
if Dakota Fanning is on the list, let us hope she is toward the
bottom.
SUGARLAND:
Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro (Directed by Jodie Foster; Written
by Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman; Universal) When last seen together
on screen, she was a post-adolescent prostitute and he was a psychotic
cabbie treating her to free rides on the wild side of Manhattan.
That was in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 “Taxi Driver.”
After that memorable bloodbath, Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro
went their separate, Oscar-winning ways. But at long last they are
teamed again, this time in an adaptation of Marie Brenner’s
“In the Kingdom of Big Sugar,” a true story about two
brothers, ALFY and
PEPE FANJUL, who were accused of seriously abusing
migrant workers in Florida. Brenner’s gripping account was
published in the February 2001 issue of Vanity Fair. Foster, gutsy
enough to both direct and star in the film, plays a crusading attorney,
and De Niro plays a powerful sugar baron with strong political connections.
To read Guy Flatley's 1973 interview with
Robert De Niro, click here.
BIOPICS THAT HAVE RELEASE DATES OR HAVE ALREADY OPENED
THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND:
Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson,
Simon McBurney, David Oyelowo, Stephen Rwangyezi, Abby Mukiibi,
Adam Kotz (Directed by Kevin Macdonald; Written by Peter Morgan
and Jeremy Brock; Fox Searchlight) The occasionally charming but
essentially monstrous GENERAL
IDI AMIN DADA was responsible for the massacre of
hundreds of thousands of innocent people before his brutal eight-year
reign of terror in Uganda came to an end in 1979. Based on Giles
Foden’s 1998 novel, “The Last King of Scotland,”
starring Forest Whitaker in what has been described as an Oscar-worthy
performance,” focuses on Amin’s bizarre relationship
with an opportunistic Scotsman (James McAvoy) who becomes his personal
physician and then makes a very serious, drunken wrong move on one
of the dictator’s wives (Kerry Washington). To
read the Variety review of "The Last King of Scotland,"
click here. Now
Playing
THE QUEEN:
Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms (Directed
by Stephen Frears; Written by Peter Morgan; Miramax Films) According
to preview audiences, Helen Mirren, who just won
a Best Actress Emmy for her performance in HBO's "Elizabeth
I," is sure to be a contender for a Best Actress Oscar for
her turn as ELIZABETH
II in "The Queen," a depiction of the emotional
aftermath of Princess Diana's death.
The film zeroes in on what appears to have been a major conflict
between Her Majesty and Prime Minister TONY
BLAIR over just how public the royal family’s
mourning need be. "The Queen," which was selected by the
Film Society of Lincoln Center to open the 44th New York Film Festival,
has a screenplay by Peter Morgan and was directed by Stephen Frears,
the British master responsible for “The Hit,” “My
Beautiful Laundrette,” “Prick Up Your Ears,” “Dangerous
Liaisons,” “The Grifters” and “High Fidelity.”
How could it possibly be less than a royal treat?
For the Variety review of "The Queen," click
here. Now Playing
INFAMOUS:
Toby Jones, Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sigourney
Weaver, Hope Davis, Jeff Daniels, Isabella Rossellini, Peter Bogdanovich,
Juliet Stevenson (Written and directed
by Douglas McGrath; Warner Independent Pictures) “In Cold
Blood,” a masterpiece of true storytelling about the horrific
murder of a mid-western family by a pair of intruders from hell,
is perhaps the late TRUMAN
CAPOTE'S finest achievement.
Maybe that’s why two new films--this one and "Capote"--deal
with the strange psychological connection between the author, acted
by Toby Jones, and convicted killer Perry Smith (Daniel Craig),
a bond forged during Smith’s time on death row. Sandra Bullock
plays Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”
and a close friend of Capote, and Gwyneth Paltrow is cast as--are
you ready for this?--a sultry blonde songbird who's a dead ringer
for Peggy Lee. The mere thought of that gives me fever.
Now Playing
MARIE ANTOINETTE:
Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Danny
Huston, Steve Coogan, Asia Argento, Marianne Faithfull, Aurore
Clement, Molly Shannon, Shirley Henderson, Rose Byrne (Written and
directed by Sofia Coppola; Columbia) Kirsten Dunst, who made director
Sofia Coppola proud in “The Virgin Suicides,” will try
to do the same thing in this fresh take on the royal who lost her
head during the French Revolution. In a move that some might brand
as nepotism, Coppola cast cousin Jason Schwartzman as KING
LOUIS XVI. Anyone who saw “Rushmore,”
however, knows that Schwartzman--nephew of Francis Ford Coppola,
son of Talia Shire--is as talented as he is well-connected, so obviously
the kid should have stayed in the picture. Now
Playing
RUNNING WITH SCISSORS:
Joseph Cross, Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brian Cox, Joseph
Fiennes, Alec Baldwin, Vanessa Redgrave, Evan Rachel Wood, Jill
Clayburgh, Kristin Chenoweth, Colleen Camp, Gabrielle Union, Patrick
Wilson (Written and directed by Ryan Murphy; Sony Pictures) What
kind of mother would dump her 14-year-old son in the filthy, falling-down
house of her lunatic shrink and his dysfunctional family and then
encourage the kid to have a sexual relationship with a vile, long-in-the-tooth
pedophile? The answer is DEIRDRE
BURROUGHS, the egomaniacal, chain-smoking, wannabe-poet
mom of AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS,
who wrote so brilliantly about her, his runaway dad and various
other oddballs in his harrowing and hilarious 2002 memoir, “Running
With Scissors.” Deirdre is played by Annette Bening, Joseph
Cross (off screen, he's a pint-sized rocker who couldn't convince
his high school principal that his band should be called COCK) plays
Augusten, Joseph Fiennes is his dirty-old-man lover, and Gwyneth
Paltrow plays the lad's flaky gal pal. Except in the case of the
Burroughs clan, the names of the real-life characters in the book
were carefully changed by the author. Later Burroughs allegedly
got a bit careless and revealed their true names in public. These
days, he’s mum on the subject and perhaps a bit nervous about
having his day in court. To read a New York
Times article about a pending lawsuit, click
here. Now Playing
CATCH A FIRE:
Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Henna, Robert Hobbs (Directed by
Phillip Noyce; Written by Shawn Slovo; Focus Features) PATRICK
CHAMUSSO, who worked in a South African oil refinery
during the 1980s, spent most of his off-time playing soccer, a sport
he loved with a passion. Politics was a subject that seldom entered
his mind, until the day he and his wife were severely assaulted
by government-trained terror squads. This harrowing true story,
concentrating on Chamusso’s bold battle against the apartheid
regime, extends to the present day in South Africa. Derek Luke (“Antwone
Fisher,” “Pieces of April”) portrays the politicized
Chamusso, and Tim Robbins plays a government agent who may or may
not be in his corner. Now Playing
COPYING BEETHOVEN:
Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Jones, Joe Anderson,
Phyllida Law (Directed by Agnieszka Holland; Written by Stephen
J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson; Contemporary World Cinema)
It seems like only yesterday that we saw Ed Harris playing a temperamental
genius who passionately throws paint on canvas. The genius, of course,
was Jackson Pollock. Now Harris is at it again, this time playing
a temperamental genius who passionately throws tantrums, and he
answers to the name of LUDWIG
VAN BEETHOVEN. Diane Kruger plays an aspiring composer
who helps Ludwig make it through his twilight years. Now
Playing
FUR:
Nicole Kidman, Robert Downey Jr., Ty Burrell, Harris Yulin, Jane
Alexander, Emmy Clark, Genevieve McCarth, Boris McGiver (Directed
by Steven Shainberg; Written by Erin Cressida Wilson; Picturehouse
Films) Having grown up privileged and at least a little absurd in
Manhattan, strikingly original photographer DIANE
ARBUS became famous for illuminating the unique qualities
of various dwarves, transvestites and other uncommon folk and for
reportedly capturing her own suicide--in 1971, at the age of 42--on
film. As we all know, Nicole Kidman won an Oscar for killing herself
on screen as Virginia Woolf in “The Hours,” and it’s
quite possible that she will pull off that particular trick again.
Based on Patricia Bosworth’s “Diane Arbus: A Biography,”
Erin Cressida Wilson’s screenplay will be directed by Steven
Shainberg (they last teamed on the splendidly bizarre “Secretary”).
Ty Burrell plays Allan Arbus, the fashion photographer to whom Diane
was passionately, if not always happily, married, and Robert Downey
Jr. has been cast as the couple's exceptionally mysterious neighbor.
Now Playing
BOBBY:
Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Anton Kutcher, Martin Sheen, Anthony
Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Harry Belafonte, William H. Macy, Sharon Stone,
Lindsay Lohan, Elijah Wood, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Graham,
Christian Slater, David Krumholtz, Shia LaBeouf, Dave Fraunces,
Jeridan Frye, David Kobzantsev (Written and directed by Emilio Estevez;
The Weinstein Company) At first glance, it looks as if Emilio Estevez
got a bunch of his friends together and said, “Hey, let’s
put on a show!” Well, okay, long-ago sweetheart Demi Moore
surely still qualifies as something more than a friend, and Martin
Sheen is, after all, Emilio’s
dad. And, looking closer, you do suspect that “Bobby”--the
colorful cast notwithstanding--is not just another show. For the
Bobby in question here is New York senator ROBERT
F. KENNEDY, younger brother of President John F. Kennedy,
who was assassinated in 1963. Five years later, 42-year-old Bobby,
a strong contender for the presidency, was fatally shot by a man
named SIRHAN SIRHAN
during a Democratic Party celebration at Los Angeles’
Ambassador Hotel. The fact-based story writer/director/actor Estevez
tells is set during the hours leading up to and immediately following
the assassination, and it focuses on a complex mix of people who
were present on that tragic evening at the Ambassador. Relative
unknowns Dave Fraunces and Jeridan Frye play Bobby and ETHEL
KENNEDY, and David Kobzantsev is cast as fanatical
Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. To
read the Variety review of "Bobby," click
here. Now Playing
PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS:
Will Smith, Thandie Newton, Jaden Smith, Alan Frakesh, Branden
Weslee Kong, David Pearl (Directed by Gabriele Muccino; Written
by Steve Conrad; Columbia Pictures) No budding actor will ever be
more engagingly playful and subtly subversive than the youthful
Will Smith of TV’s “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”
and the big screen’s “Six Degrees of Separation,”
“Independence Day” and “Men in Black.” Unless,
that is, 7-year-old Jaden Smith proves to be a chip off the old
block in this comedy-drama about a down-and-out Chicago salesman
who’s given custody of his son but still clings to his American
Dream of becoming an ace stock broker. But first he’s got
to move out of that homeless shelter the pair are holed up in. Sounds
fabricated and silly? Tell that to billionaire investment banker
CHRIS GARDNER,
whose real-life rags-to-riches story was the inspiration
for this biopic. Thandie Newton plays Smith’s embittered ex,
and she may or may not be around at the film’s fade-out. Now
Playing
MISS POTTER:
Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, Bill Paterson, Jane
How, Anton Lesser, Lloyd Owen, Barbara Flynn (Directed by Chris
Noonan; Written by Richard Maltby Jr.; Summit Entertainment) If
you’re spending your days writing about the adventures of
Peter Rabbit, can you spend your nights having a hot sex life with
the man who says he’s going to publish your rabbit tales and
make you a world-acclaimed author? We’ll learn the answer
to that question when Renee Zellweger hits the screen as perky Victorian
author BEATRIX POTTER.
Ewan McGregor, who teamed with Zellweger in the ever-forgotten “Down
With Love,” will play Potter’s up-with-love publisher.
Now Playing
ALPHA DOG:
Emile Hirsch, Anton Yelchin, Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone, Bruce
Willis, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Dominique
Swain, Lukas Haas, Olivia Wilde, Shera Danese, David Thornton, Harry
Dean Stanton, Vincent Kartheiser, Xan Cassavetes (Written and directed
by Nick Cassavetes; Universal) A desperate
young dope pusher (Emile Hirsch) kidnaps a teenager (Anton Yelchin)
whose big brother owes him a substantial sum of money. It turns
out that the kid enjoys being held hostage since it gives him an
opportunity to learn new tricks from his captor and his companions.
This quirky crime story is based on
the adventures of JESSE
JAMES HOLLLYWOOD, one of the youngest people ever
to land on the FBI's Most Wanted List (he was dropped from the list
when he was captured in the summer of 2005). Now
Playing
ZODIAC:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Anthony
Edwards (Directed by David Fincher; Written by Jamie Vanderbilt;
Warner Bros. and Paramount) David Fincher, who proved he knows all
there is to know about coaxing audiences to pay the price of admission
for nerve-shattering punishment in “Seven,” “Fight
Club” and “Panic Room,” is at it again. This time
he’s zeroing in on a true crime--make that crimes--story,
the still unsolved mystery of the Zodiac, the fiendishly playful
serial killer who deliberately left “clues” behind after
murdering at least 37 San Franciscans during the 1960s and ‘70s.
Based on ROBERT GRAYSMITH’s
"Zodiac" and "Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's
Most Elusive Serial Killer Revealed," the thriller stars Jake
Gyllenhaal as Graysmith, the young San Francisco Chronicle journalist
who cut his reportorial teeth covering the grisly stages of the
case. Gary Oldman plays MARVIN
BELLI, the ace attorney who, in 1969, received a lengthy,
revealing--but not revealing enough--Christmas greeting
from the Zodiac. For Diane Baroni's 2001 interview
with Jake Gyllenhaal, click
here. Now Playing
HOAX:
Richard Gere, Marcia Gay Harden, Julie Delpy, Alfred Molina, Hope
Davis (Directed by Lasse Hallstrom; Written by Bill Wheeler; Disney)
Way back in the seventies, long before Jason Blair’s journey
to reportorial paradise was cut short by the discovery that his
stunning on-the-scene stories for The New York Times were fiction
dreamed up in the privacy of his apartment, another major journalistic
scam rocked the world of media mavens and just plain readers. Aggressively
imaginative author CLIFFORD
IRVING became a mega-celebrity when the juicy “autobiography”
of maniacally reclusive Howard Hughes--allegedly penned in collaboration
with Irving--was published and voraciously consumed in Great Britain.
Only later, when the book seemed destined to repeat its overseas
best-sellerdom, did it became clear that Irving and Hughes had never,
ever met face-to-face, word to note-pad. In the end, the wannabe
Pulitzer Prize winner paid dearly--in the pen--for his audacious
penning. Under the sometimes hot, sometimes cold, direction of Lasse
Hallstrom (“My Life As a Dog,” “An Unfinished
Life”), Richard Gere plays Irving, Marcia Gay Harden plays
his wife, Julie Delpy plays his mistress (sultry, syllable-slurring
NINA VAN PALLANDT, whose untapped
thespian skills were mined by Robert Altman in the terrific
1973 noir thriller, “The Long Goodbye"), and presumably
nobody plays the where-the-hell-did-he-go? Hughes. To
read the Variety review, click here.
Now Playing
LONELY HEARTS:
John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto, Laura
Dern, Scott Caan, Alice Krige, Marc Macaulay, Dagmara Dmincyzk,
Michael Gaston, Jay Amor (Written and directed by Todd Robinson;
Lonely Hearts Productions) This tale sounds repulsive enough to
be true. And it is true. Based on actual grotesque characters and
events (and “The Honeymoon Killers,” Leonard Kastle’s
1970 cult movie starring Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco), it
tracks sickos MARTHA
BECK and RAYMOND
MARTINEZ FERNANDEZ on a serial-killing journey through
the U.S. during the late forties. The film also follows the two
crazed cops who are hot--but not always hot enough--on the crackpots’
trail. Fernandez--who began his shameful scam by writing to war
widows, boasting of the steamy sex he can supply them, and then
visiting and murdering them for their money--will be played by Jared
Leto. Martha Beck was targeted as his victim but instead became
his sexually voracious partner in slaughter and was making goo-goo
eyes at him right up to the day in 1951 when they were executed,
side by side, at Sing Sing. John Travolta and James Gandolfini,
who have done their most striking film work as remorseless hit men
in “Pulp Fiction” and “The Mexican,” respectively,
play the tunnel-visioned lawmen. To read Variety's
rave review of "Lonely Hearts," click
here; for more upcoming murderpix,
click here. Now Playing
LA VIE EN ROSE:
Marion Cotillard, Gerard Depardieu, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory,
Emmanuelle Seigner, Marc Barbé, Caroline Sihol, Catherine
Allegret (Directed by Olivier Dahan; Written by Olivier Dahan and
Isabelle Sobelman; Picturehouse Entertainment) Everybody loved EDITH
PIAF, except Piaf herself. An insecure, impoverished
Parisian who suffered a brutal childhood dominated by her brothel-managing
grandmother, Piaf blossomed into the most idolized, heartbreaking
chanteuse in the history of France. Yet she died young, the victim
of booze, drugs and her own emotional fragility. Playing Piaf, Marion
Cotillard is already being talked about as a contender for an Oscar
as Best Actress of 2007. To read Diane Baroni's
1991 interview with Gerard Depardieu, click
here. Now Playing
A MIGHTY HEART:
Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Sajid Hasan, Will Patton (Directed
by Michael Winterbottom; Written by Michael Winterbottom and Laurence
Coriat; Paramount Vantage) In “A Mighty Heart,” MARIANE
PEARL wrote movingly about the kidnapping and murder
of her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter DANIEL
PEARL, by Muslim terrorists in Pakistan. Now, in the
adaptation of her book, Mrs. Pearl will be played by activist-actress
Angelina Jolie. A strong indication that the film will be both tough
and compassionate is the fact that it will be directed by Michael
Winterbottom, currently represented on screen by “The Road
to Guantanamo.” Winterbottom collaborated on the screenplay
with Laurence Coriat, author of the screenplay of his wonderful
“Wonderland.” To read about other
new movies based on books, click here.
Now Playing
EL CANTANTE:
Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, John Ortiz, Ralph Mercado, Deirdre
Lorenz, Tony Devon, Federico Castelluccio (Directed by Leon Ichaso;
Written by Leon Ichaso and David Darmsteder; Picturehouse) HECTOR
LAVOE, who was born in Puerto Rico and became an enormously
popular singer after moving to New York City at the age of 17, was
sometimes called the Bad Boy of Salsa. And for good reason. The
Latin icon had a tough time dealing with success and was soon seeking
relief in booze and hard drugs, a habit that caused him to arrive
late--or not at all--for sold-out performances. But his fans always
forgave him, because they identified so strongly with the music
and the spirit of the man they called “La Voz” (“The
Voice”). Neither the adoration of his fans nor the loving
support of his wife Puchi, however, was enough to pull him through
tragic times--his mother-in-law was murdered, his son was shot to
death, his house burned down, and he himself toyed with suicide.
Physically and emotionally drained, the 46-year-old Lavoe died in
1993, a victim of cardiac arrest and, possibly, AIDS-related complications.
Pop performer Marc Anthony plays Lavoe, and his real-life wife,
Jennifer Lopez, plays his beloved Puchi. But don’t call them
Antlope. Now Playing
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH:
Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, Charlize
Theron, Jason Patric, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Frances Fisher,
Barry Corbin, Jonathan Tucker (Written and directed by Paul Haggis;
Warner Independent Pictures) Readers of Playboy magazine were shocked
by “Death and Dishonor,” Mark Boal’s investigative
article published in the summer of 2004. Boal interviewed
LANNY DAVIS,
a former U.S. Army M.P., about the death of his son, who had been
reported AWOL following a tour of duty in Baghdad. Davis, refusing
to accept the army’s version of his son’s disappearance,
eventually discovered that the young man had in fact been brutally
murdered by his army buddies after a night of partying in Georgia.
Paul Haggis, the writer-director of “Crash,” purchased
rights to the story, added a few fictional elements, and cast Tommy
Lee Jones as the driven ex-soldier and Susan Sarandon as his grief-ravaged
wife. Now Playing
THE ASSASSINATION
OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD: Brad Pitt,
Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Mary Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Zooey
Deschanel, Michael Parks, Barbara Kozicki, Garret Dillahunt (Directed
by Andrew Dominik; Written by Ron Hansen; Warner Bros.) JESSE
JAMES, a good old Missouri boy, had little tolerance
for the feds and railroad tycoons who relieved farm folk of their
homes in the late 19th century. That’s presumably why he formed
a gang and got into the profitable but risky business of robbing
banks and terrorizing train riders. In the end, Jesse was undone
by ROBERT FORD,
a young gang member who went from revering his outlaw boss to deeply
resenting him. Or so the story by novelist/screenwriter Ron Hansen--which
is the basis for this film--goes. Brad Pitt, who’s at his
best when playing on the wrong side of the law, is Jesse and Casey
Affleck is Robert Ford. As for Sam Shepard, he plays Jesse’s
brother FRANK JAMES,
a role which gave Henry Fonda the opportunity to steal the 1939
“Jesse James” from Tyrone Power. Now
Playing
INTO THE WILD:
Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, William Hurt, Marcia
Gay Harden, Hal Holbrook, Jena Malone (Written and directed by Sean
Penn; Paramount) CHRISTOPHER
McCANDLESS, a restless, searching idealist, graduated
from college in 1992 but did not even consider competing with his
peers for a prestigious, lucrative job. Instead, as readers of Jon
Krakauer’s best seller know, McCandless left behind his worldly
goods, hitchhiked to Alaska, and strived to become one with nature.
Four months later, his corpse was discovered in a wilderness campsite.
Under the direction of Sean Penn, “Alpha Dog’s”
Emile Hirsch plays McCandless; Keener and Vaughn play a motherly
stranger and a sensitive tough guy he
meets on his journey. For Guy Flatley’s
1998 interview with Vince Vaughn, click
here. Now Playing
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN
AGE: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Samantha
Morton, Hugh Dancy, Tom Hollander, Abbie Cornish (Directed by Shekhar
Kapur; Written by Michael Hirst) Could it be that ELIZABETH
I, England’s icy Virgin Queen, had something
hot going with occasional adversary SIR
WALTER RALEIGH? Advance word suggests that director
Shekhar Kapur, helmer of 1998’s fiery “Elizabeth,”
will bring the intriguing subject out into the open in this sequel.
Best news of all: Cate Blanchett returns, making a royal effort
to nab the Best Actress Oscar she almost got in 1998 (she lost to
Gwyneth Paltrow for “Shakespeare in Love”). More good
news: Raleigh will be played by the unfailingly masterful Clive
Owen. Now Playing
I’M NOT THERE:
Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere,
Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Julianne Moore, Charlotte Gainsbourg,
Michelle Williams, (Directed by Todd Haynes; The Weinstein Company)
Did you ever have the feeling that there’s something baffling,
if not downright bizarre, about legendary music man BOB
DYLAN? Bob Dylan? Well, the mystery may soon be cleared
up in this brazen biopic. Who's been handed the task of acting (and
singing) like Dylan in all of his shifting complexity? As it turns
out, it took at least five men and one woman to rise to the challenge:
Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus
Carl Franklin and, yes, a notably curly-haired Cate Blanchett. The
women in Dylan’s life are played by Julianne Moore, Charlotte
Gainsbourg and Michelle Williams.
Director Todd Haynes, who worked wonders with Julianne Moore in
“Safe” and “Far From Heaven,” will undoubtedly
keep all of these heavyweight performers blowin’ eloquently
in the wind. Now Playing
THE DIVING BELL
AND THE BUTTERFLY: Mathieu Almaric, Jean-Pierre Cassel,
Emmanuelle Seigner (Directed by Julian Schnabel; Written by Ronald
Harwood; Focus Features) It makes perfect sense that JEAN-DOMINIQUE
BAUBY'S stunning book, “The Diving Bell and
the Butterfly," should carry the subtitle of "A Memoir
of Life in Death.” Bauby, a dynamic, articulate, happily married
father of two, was the widely admired editor-in chief of France’s
Elle Magazine in 1995 when, at the age of 44, he suffered a stroke
that left him in a coma for 20 days. It was assumed that he would
never again share thoughts and impressions with his loved ones and
former colleagues. And when he did finally awake, the only part
of his body that appeared to be functioning was his left eye. Soon,
however, with the blink of that eye, he was able to make it understood
that his brain had not been impaired. Amazingly, a system was devised
by his family and friends whereby he would blink when a particular
letter of the alphabet was read aloud to him. From there, it was
a matter of his forming words, structuring sentences and conveying
the complex, passionate ideas and images that filled his mind and
then shape them into a unique manuscript. Bauby died in 1998, just
two days after the publication of “The Diving Bell and the
Butterfly.” It was thought that Johnny Depp, who worked with
director Julian Schnabel in "Before Night Falls," would
tackle the challenging role of Bauby, but that plan fell through.
So Depp's loss is Mathieu Almaric's gain. Now
Playing
CHARLIE WILSON’S
WAR: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Rachel Nichols, John Slattery, Om Puri (Directed
by Mike Nichols; Written by Aaron Sorkin; Universal) Sometimes Texas
politicians misbehave on a lavish scale--no, we’re not talking
about Tom DeLay or Alberto Gonzales. The congressman in question
here is Representative CHARLES
WILSON, a boozer who was caught not only in his cups,
but also in a Las Vegas hot tub with a couple of coke-sniffing party
girls. That was early in the eighties, and for a while it looked
like a long goodbye for the man once known as Good Time Charlie.
But eventually Wilson staged a comeback as a crackerjack CIA agent,
a major player in the expulsion of the Russians from Afghanistan.
And now the guy’s a D.C. lobbyist! Tom Hanks hasn’t
had this much fun since playing with all those wonderful toys in
“Big.” And Julia Roberts, who had fun of a darker kind
under Mike Nichols' direction in "Closer," plays Joanne
Herring, the powerhouse Texas socialite who persuades Charlie Wilson
to turn over a new leaf. To read Guy Flatley's
1976 interview with Mike Nichols, click
here. Now Playing
THE GREAT DEBATERS:
Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, Columbus Short, Collins Pennie,
Emil Pinnock (Directed by Denzel Washington; Written by Robert Eisele
and Suzan-Lori Parks; The Weinstein Company/MGM) For decades, the
movie industry did pitifully little to create opportunities for
black actors. Gradually, the situation improved, most conspicuously
when Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win an
Oscar as Best Actor (for his performance in 1963’s “Lilies
of the Field”). Then, following in Poitier’s Oscar path,
came Denzel Washington, Best Actor for “Training Day”
(2001); Halle Berry, Best Actress for “Monster’s Ball”
(2001); and Forest Whitaker, Best Actor for “The Last King
of Scotland” (2006). The latest good news is that Whitaker
and Washington will share screen time in “The Great Debaters,”
a true-life drama about a debating team from Wiley College in Texas
that went up against Harvard’s prestigious crew of debaters
in the 1930s. Washington plays MELVIN
B. TOLSON, the tunnel-visioned coach of the Texan
team, and Whitaker plays the emotionally conflicted father of one
of Tolson’s students. Another sign of progress: Washington,
who made an impressive helming debut with “Antwone Fisher”
in 2002, will be sitting in the director’s chair. Now
Playing
BERNARD AND DORIS:
Ralph Fiennes, Susan Sarandon (Directed by Bob Balaban; Written
by Hugh Costello; HBO Films) DORIS
DUKE had beaucoup servants, but so far as
we know, she had only one butler who was Irish, gay and crazy as
they come. His name was BERNARD
LAFFERTY, and it was to him that the poorest little
rich girl in all the world left the bulk of her fortune (approximately
$1.2 billion). Bernard was 51 at the time of Doris’s death,
but wealthy as he became, he did not live happily ever after. He
died, crankily, three years later. It’s so hard to please
the help, isn’t it? To see what else
Susan Sarandon is up to, click here;
for Guy Flatley's 1978 interview with Sarandon, click
here. This HBO production was greeted
enthusiastically by the critics when it premiered on cable in February
2008.
THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL:
Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Kristin Scott-Thomas,
Mark Rylance, Rue McClanahan (Directed by Justin Chadwick; Written
by Peter Morgan; Sony) Quick! Who was MARY
BOLEYN? You know, of course. She was the kid
sister of ANNE BOLEYN,
the regal mate of England’s KING
HENRY VIII who literally lost her head in 1536 as
a result of trumped-up charges that she was guilty of adultery,
incest and witchcraft. Mary, who was married to William Carey at
the ripe old age of 12, was by no means a stranger to the lascivious
king herself, having served as his infamous mistress--and possibly
the mother of his son--before Anne popped onto the scene. Why should
you care about all this ancient history? Because Anne and Mary are
being played by Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, respectively,
in this adaptation of Phillipa Gregory’s fact-based novel.
Eric Bana will undoubtedly have a romp as horny Henry. To
read about many more new upcoming Scarlett Johansson movies, click
here and browse the J
page of STAR TURNS;
for more upcoming movies based on books, click
here. Now Playing
DARK MATTER:
Meryl Streep, Val Kilmer, Liu Ye (Directed by Chen Shi-Zheng; Myriad
Films) Based on a tragedy that took place on the University of Iowa
in 1991, this film centers on LIU
XING, a brilliant Chinese physics student who fell
victim to campus politics, suffered an emotional breakdown, and
went on a bloody rampage, killing six people. Chen Shi-Zheng, famed
for his work on the operatic stage, is making his movie directorial
debut here. Now Playing
TRUMBO:
Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Nathan
Lane, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, David Strathairn, Donald Sutherland
(Directed by Peter Askin; Written by Christopher Trumbo; Samuel
Goldwyn Films) DALTON
TRUMBO remembered it all, and pity those who tried
to prevent him from speaking--and writing--the truth. Among the
legendary screenwriter's most vivid memories: the war to end all
wars, the witch-hunt that landed him behind bars, and the spectacle
of Ginger Rogers' mom tearfully addressing a Congressional committe
and denouncing him as a commie. This documentary, alternating rare
footage of Trumbo, his friends, family and foes with excerpts from
his letters and published works read by distinguished actors, was
enthusiastically received at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival. To
read Guy Flatley’s review of “Trumbo,” click
here; for Guy's 1970 New York Times interview with Dalton Trumbo,
click here. Opens
6/27/08
MILK:
Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Diego Luna,
Lucas Grabeel, Howard Rosenman, Stephen Spinella, Victor Garber
(Directed by Gus Van Sant; Written by Dustin Lance Black; Focus
Features) On November 27, 1978, HARVEY
MILK, a militant gay activist and enormously charismatic
San Francisco supervisor, was shot dead, along with his boss, Mayor
GEORGE MOSCONE,
by DAN WHITE,
Dan White, a disgruntled ex-supervisor. The light sentence given
to the assassin led to San Francisco’s historic White Night
Riots. Under the masterful direction of openly gay Gus Van Sant,
Sean Penn plays Harvey Milk and Josh Brolin is Dan White. Opens
11/26/08
FROST/NIXON:
Frank Langella, Michael Sheen (Directed by Ron Howard; Written by
Peter Morgan; Universal) RICHARD
NIXON may be the second worst president the American
public ever had to put up with. In 1977--three years after bidding
a mortifying adieu to the White House, thereby avoiding impeachment
because of the Watergate scandal--he agreed to appear in a series
of televised conversations with British media giant DAVID
FROST. Nixon learned too late that he should have
played harder to get; as it turned out, Frost stripped him bare,
exposing his soul for anyone who owned a television set to see.
Fortunately, Peter Morgan, author of the screenplay for “The
Queen,” decided to explore the confrontation between these
two strong-willed men in dramatic terms. The resulting play was
a triumph last season in England and is now a huge hit on Broadway.
Best of all, director Ron Howard had the smarts to sign up Frank
Langella and Michael Sheen--the duo who brought Nixon and Frost
to riveting life in London and New York--to repeat their roles in
the film version of “Frost-Nixon.” Opens
12/5/08
VALKYRIE:
Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Patrick Wilson, Tom Wilkinson,
Stephen Fry, Carice Van Houten, Eddie Izzard (Directed by Bryan
Singer; Written by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander; MGM/United
Artists) COLONEL CLAUS
von STAUFFENBERG was the passionately Catholic, marginally
crazed Nazi who huddled, somewhat tardily, with his fellow officers
and hatched a plan to bump off Adolf Hitler toward the wind-down
of World War II. Not only was he motivated by his deepening hatred
of Hitler, but he was totally turned off by the war itself, having
lost his left eye in a 1943 aerial strafing, plus his right hand
and 2 fingers of his left hand on the same occasion. But that was
nothing compared to what happened in July, 1944, when he planted
a bomb under Hitler’s conference room table. Some people were
killed in the ensuing explosion, but nowhere among them was Adolf
Hitler. And that’s how poor Von Stauffenberg came to face
a Berlin firing squad later that month. The question now is, who
could possibly play the role of this unpredictable, tricky, high-energy
wannabe hero? And the answer, of course, is that incomparably unpredictable,
tricky, high-energy superstar Tom Cruise. Adding to the promise
of unpredictability and trickery is the fact that the director and
the screenwriter of the film, former New Jersey high school classmates
Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, are the guys who fooled
us so masterfully in 1995’s “The Usual Suspects.”
Opens 2/13/09
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