Oscar on the horizon.

I get a little bored posting about movies getting made. Since my viewership is a little down and the comments dwindle I thought I would do a massive movie wrap up.

Lets have a look at some the of the films getting put into production and what it means for the awards races of the future.

Hannibal Lector himself, the endlessly working Anthony Hopkins has signed on to playt the Master of Suspense , Alfred Hitchcock, in an upcoming biopic, to be directed by Ryan Murphy . Murphy is best known for directing “Running With Scissors” , “Nip/Tuck” and “Popular”, so he does have a way with quirk, although these are hardly stellar programs/movies on which to base pedigree. He has three upcoming films in production which all sound very interesting, and could up his caliber. (“Pretty Handsome about a transsexual father, “Dirty Tricks” about the aftermath of Watergate, and the Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts film “Need”. The casts he has collected for these projects are of a very high standard, and he could even direct one or more to Oscar glory before the Hitchcok biopic.…check out the cast lists for these movies here.

The film will open with the making of Psycho, which is a very interesting place to start and will hopefully get the attention of all film geeks. There are rumours circulating that Helen Mirren might play Hitchcock's wife, so this could be a major awards magnet, especially for the actors. Maybe Hitchcock will FINALLY get his Oscar.


Only two years since his last film, but it seems Terence Malick's getting ready for another film, and it's a script he's been working on for nearly thirty years. “Tree Of Life” is finally set to go into production, with Heath Ledger and Sean Penn in talks to join the cast.
Filming's due to start in March - which means that Malick will be under some pressure to finish before the actors' strike at the end of June. Any Malick film will already get awards buzz just from hearing his name.


“The Proposition” has its major fans, and got wonderful critical notices. Director John Hillcoat is gearing up to direct Guy Pearce in “The Road” based on a book by Cormac McCarthy about a man and his son walking through a post-apocalyptic landscape in search of water, food and some place of safety.
Guy Pearce is a very talented actor (he nailed Felicia in “Priscilla”!) so with any luck he could show up in awards races…it sounds like he has the entire screentime.
Hopefully shirtless and sweaty.


This news kind of makes me a little queasy, but my friends there will be a “Dances With Wolves” sequal. “The Holy Road” picks up eleven years after Wolves, with Dunbar now married to Stands With Fist and the white man encroaching further on the lives of the Sioux as they build a railway – the titular Holy Road – across the country.
This premise does sound very very good, and I am glad they have decided to so this route. I have always wondered what happened to characters in the future. Did Christian ever get over the death of Satine?
Any way, anything that can get President Laura Roslin aka Mary McDonnell back on the big screen is alright by me.


Director of the moment, Tony Gilroy, is going to direct Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in “Duplicity”.
The couple will be playing corporate spies who work on opposite sides, but unite to stage an elaborate con and rip off corporations by stealing something of great value.
Owen would seen to be a good hand at working with Gilroy, and the material should be right up his alley (where I would like to be). Roberts has not really stretched herself as an actress since “Closer”, so it will be interesting to see what the director can get out of her. He seems to be able to get wonderful performances out of his actors, so we shall see.
Cold be possible Oscar material. Actresses are hardly allowed to play outside the box of grieving mother/wife, whore or icon so it would be nice to have a different role nominated than the usual in Best Actress, and corporate spy would be wonderful…very Faye Dunaway in “Network” – ish.