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Originally posted on www.thefancarpet.com

Kline Joins Frank or Francis

Actor Kevin Kline has signed on to star in Frank or Francis, in not one but two roles.

Kline will be staring alongside Nicholas Cage, Jack Black and Steve Carell in Charlie Kaufman’s musical satire of Hollywood.

The film itself will see Black star as a blogger who continually undermines Frank, played by Carell, a film making cheat. Hmmm does Black sound a little like a certain well-known Internet blogger?

Kline will be playing the character Richard Weller, who is a screenwriter and the brother to Jonathan Waller, who is yet to cast, but has been described as the most successful filmmaker of all time. However for his second character he will be playing Richard’s head, a disembodied animatronic head that helps Jonathan make films. Sounds a little bizarre if you ask me.

Nicholas Cage will be playing the role of Emcee, described as a famous actor.

Shooting for the film will begin in January.

Foundation Gets a New Writer

Roland Emmerich’s adaptation of Issac Asimov’s Foundation has got itself a new writer, in the shape of Dante Harper.

Harper will be taking over from Robert Rodat, who recently passed up the opportunity to write the film.

The books that the film will based on focuses on mathematician Hari Seldon as he works out the future through the use of some extremely complex mathematical formulas, and finds that the outcome doesn’t look too great. Basically he predicts the fall of the Galactic Empire and begins to set up a plan for prevention.

The sci-fi series itself is made up of seven volumes, and contains quite a few themes so Harper definitely has his work cut out for him. Harper is already quite well known after writing Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and All You Need is Kill.

So we just have to sit back and wait and hope that he turns this into something special.

Dolphin Tale Dethrones Lion King

True life story Dolphin Tale has topped the US box office, knocking Disney’s The Lion King off the top spot.

The film that stars Harry Connick Jr and Morgan Freeman and Winter the Dolphin, in a tale about a Dolphin who is rescued and looses her tail, soared into the number one spot taking $14.2 million over the weekend, after coming in third place last weekend.

Moneyball, staring Brad Pitt, stayed in the number two spot this week, it seems Mr Pitt just can’t catch a break against adorable animals, real and animated. The film took $12.5 million.

Last week’s number one The Lion King fell into third place with $11 million, still not bad for a film that was originally released 17 years ago.

Coming in fourth place was new cancer comedy 50/50 which took $8.9 million this weekend and rolling in at fifth place was the Christian drama Courageous taking $8.9 million. Quite a poor showing from the new release this week it seems.

They don't make films like they used to!

So recently I’ve been thinking about films, and I’ve come to the conclusion that films today just aren’t as good as they used to be.

Sure films today are amazing, we have the ability to produce loads of special effects and we can even watch films in 3D now, allowing the films to almost come to life right in front of us, but they are just lacking that certain something.

Sure films made 50 years ago don’t have the amazing technical special effects that we have and the majority of them are made in black and white but they just had that something special, they had a certain magic about them if you will.

Maybe films today just don’t seem as magical because Hollywood and all the other picture houses around the world churn out about a million films a week these days (a slight exaggeration but you get what I mean), or maybe its because of the high rate of illegal downloading that stops people from going and experiencing the magic of the cinema, as you can now watch any film at anytime from the comfort of your own front room.

But does it really compare to the excitement of seeing something on the big screen? The answer to that I believe is no. It doesn’t because; you have other distractions at home to prevent you from getting totally engrossed in the amazement of the film.

I also think the magic of film has been lost due to us expecting more from films. Just think about it 70 years ago when the Wizard of Oz went from black and white to colour, that would have been absolutely amazing but now we expect bigger productions, more special effects and high action chase scenes. Our thirst for technology and advancement has taken away the brilliance of cinema.

The celebrity culture we now have has also taken away the cinematic magic that once was. Before you had these huge Hollywood stars like Marlon Brando, Bette Davis, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe who you could only access through the cinema system and they remained what they were because of this, elusive and unattainable film stars.

Now we have the likes Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt who my have hugely successful film careers, but are now more famous for being famous, we seem to care more about their relationship and how many children they have adopted rather than their film roles. I mean I have never actually seen Colin Farrell in a film, yet I seem to know everything about his personal life through magazines and TV shows.

The point I’m getting to is, I think the public have so much access to the media and those who are at the centre of it that we seem to view their lives as the movie narrative and not the film anymore. We have also become more dependent on big explosions and animated monsters that the movies actual message and plot.

It looks as though that Hollywood magic that once was has been replaced by a media saturated public that don’t really care much for the film anymore but more about the hustle and bustle surrounding the production of it.

No wonder they called it the Golden Age of Hollywood.

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Originally posted on www.thefancarpet.com

Pitt, The Gray Man?

It looks as though Brad Pitt may be slipping into the role of an assassin once again, in the shape of The Gray Man.

Pitt is currently in talks right now to take on the lead role in the movie which would see him play the world’s greatest assassin who once worked for the CIA, but finds his name cropping up on the “burned” list after his latest job goes wrong. Due to this he must now go on the run to avoid the forces that are hunting him. With no help from his former employers he must get pretty creative when trying to save himself, and it doesn’t get any easier as he must also protect and save two girls who have no idea he’s their dad.

The film, which has been adapted from the thriller novel by Mark Greaney, will see James Gray directing while Adam Cozard will be writing the film’s script.

If Pitt does sign on, which it looks like he might, it is believed he would start filming after he has finished zombie invasion flick World War Z.

Smith's Memoir to get Film Treatment

The memoir Just Kids by American rock icon Patti Smith is to be turned into a movie.

The book won the National Book Award for non-fiction last year, and now Smith is working on a script along with the John Logan, who wrote the screen plays for Aviator and Hugo.

Just Kids centres on the relationship between the rock star and legendary photographer Robert Mapplethorpe after they met in 1967. It goes on to document the subsequent five years as their careers took off, whilst they lived together.

Smith and Mapplethorpe remained good friends after their relationship ended and his work was the inspiration behind many of her album covers.

With Logan on board it looks as though this film has great potential, considering he has particular experience in the re-writing of true-life stories for the big screen, with films such as The Last Samurai.

There is currently no news on who will be playing the legendary couple, but you can guarantee given their influence and reputation there will be plenty of people queuing up for the roles.

Film Preview: The Tree of Life

Originally posted on www.differentscene.com

The long awaited The Tree of Life, staring Brad Pitt is hitting cinema screens in the UK today.

The film, which also stars Academy Award winner Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain was written and directed by Terrence Malick and looks at the origins of the meaning of life through a family living in 1950s Texas, and also contains themes involving space imagery and the birth of life on earth, which is evident to any one who has seen the trailer for the film.

After spending decades in development (that place where most films go and die) and missing two release dates in 2009 and 2010, the film finally debuted this year at the Cannes Film festival where it won the prestigious Palme d’Or award.

Now reviews of this film have been circling around for a while now (ever since its premier and the news stories that preceded it), and all in all the film has gained some amazing reviews with Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian calling it an “unashamedly epic reflection on love and loss.” Film critic and Pulitzer prize winner Roger Ebert said of the director and the film “There were once several directors who yearned to make no less than a masterpiece, but now there are only a few. Malick has stayed true to that hope ever since his first feature in 1973.”

Having read these reviews and being currently unable to watch the film I turned to the trailer to see what I could gather, and if the trailer is anything to go by then this film looks amazing. The scenes from the movie shown are beautifully shot and clearly show its status as a more independent art film than you would have thought (considering Hollywood star Brad Pitt is in it). Although there are no words spoken in the trailer the fast paced imagery keeps you enticed and wanting to know more, like who are these people, what are they doing, what’s going to happen. Which to me is a sign of a good movie if an almost silent trailer can make you do that.

The film has hit UK cinemas today, so if you haven’t watched the trailer go and watch it now (above) and pop along to the local cinema and watch the full film at the first opportunity!

It looks like a film that many people are going to be talking about.