'Mother and Child' trailer

This looks wonderful

How many King Lears does it take to screw in a light bulb?

2 apparently.

Director Joshua Michael Stern was going to release his version of the bard tale in 2010 with Anthony Hopkins as King Lear and a who's who of Oscar nominated actresses as his daughters.
Naomi Watts would play Goneril and Gwyneth Paltrow would play Regan with Keira Knightly playing the kind Cordelia.
And that for me was pretty damn exciting.
The Variety announces that Mr Shouty himself, Al Pachino, is playing King Lear in an adaptation of the play by director Michael Radford.
Is this the same project, just being re-cast with a new director on board?

Why do we need two?
Will there be any sets left after filming with these two actors chewing the scenery?

I, myself am more of a Hopkins fan, I find Pachino a little too, well, loud for me. I have disliked him ever since 'Scent of a Woman' which....well....stunk, mainly due to his performance. And his over the top turn in 'Dick Tracey' gave me a headache.
Sure Tony can be totally over the top, but he is also incredibly nuanced. I mean 'The Remains of the Day' was brilliant work was it not?
However the main reason to be excited about Tony's version of the film is the women playing his daughters. How exciting is that line up?

'Mother and Child' gets new cast.

Exciting casting news this is indeed. And I am not just talking about the fact that Annette Bening and Naomi Watts will headline "Mother and Child," a multilayered drama from scripter and helmer Rodrigo Garcia who wrote 'Nine Lives' and a film that I really enjoyed called 'Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her'.

What I am excited about is the fact that in addition to this cast we also have Kerry Washington (pictured), who is one of the most beautiful and underrated of the actresses working today, and 'Half Nelson' break out star Shareeka Epps.

Through overlapping stories, the script follows a 50 year old woman who gave up her daughter 35 years ago and an African-American woman who is looking to adopt.

If you are thinking "Oh bloody heavens to Betsy! This sounds like another interweaving plot strand feel bad movie" you will be pleased/disheartened to know it is being executive produced by "Babel" and "21 Grams" helmer Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu.
Apprently the story is a highly emotional one. I am wondering who is playing who though. Obviously Bening will play the older woman, and Washington will play the African-American woman, but is Epps the long lost daughter? I do not think Watts can pass as 15.

Note: Bening and Watts replaced Robin Wright Penn and Brittany Robertson

Mini Review - "Eastern Promises"

I have never been a Cronenberg fan. I have never really been a fan of grotesque and violent movies like these. Human suffering is never pleasurable for me to watch, and I usually look away. Right now my loving partner is engrossed in “This is England” and I cannot really bring myself to watch it. I just know something bad is coming, and I do not want to see it. I know it exists, I read it everyday, but to watch people being humiliated or tortured/beaten does not entertain me in the slightest.

However “Eastern Promises” I did like, not love, but like. This was mainly for the three central performances of Armand Mueller-Stahl, Vincent Cassel and Viggo Mortensen and also for the overwhelming homoeroticism.

Many have said that Naomi Watts did little in the film, but this is simply not true. She did amazing amounts with what little she was given, but in the end this is a mans movie.

At Christmas Anna (Watts) meets a heavily pregnant and dying young Russian teenager who dies while giving birth. Anna resolves to try and trace the baby’s lineage by having her uncle translate the diary she finds in the girls purse.
This brings her into contact with the mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Mortensen) is a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon (Stahl), whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold and brutal core.
Semyon’s son Kirill (Cassel) is a disappointment. Constantly drunk and playing about, but never having sex with, young Russian prostitutes. Krill is the likely father of this child. The deeper Anna investigates the deeper she puts herself in danger.

While the story in rather basic and the violence is indeed bloody and brutal (I really hated the fact I had to look away during the bath house scene. When else will I get to see the luscious Viggo naked and steamy?) what makes this rise above other films in this genre is the performances.

Mortensen is amazing. Such a subtle and gifted actor, he can make simple gestures and facial movements convey volumes of his character, and he does all this with a perfect Russian accent. This is a performance that could have come off as two dimensional in a lesser actors hands, fortunately we got a great one. It may not win awards, but the best ones never do.
Armand Mueller-Stahl is all warm and cuddly as the proprietor of the family restaurant, but in an instant his eyes grow dark and face tightens into a stony scowl. His Seymon is terrifying. You know at any moment he can give the order to have someone killed, or simply do it himself. So wonderful to see older actors getting a chance with such juicy roles this year.

This lastly brings me to Cassel. All paranoia and panic, Cassel invests so much depth into Krill that at the end of the film, when you learn of why he s a disappointment to his father, you feel sorry for him. Yes he is a coward, but one by his fathers making, constantly trying to be what he thinks a real man should be, but drinking himself crazy because he just does not have it in him.
Cronenberg has made a film about how hard it is to not be accepted by your own family, and how you have to look to others for the love and acceptance you crave. B

Bye Bye Birdie

All over the blog-o-sphere there is the debate on whether they should remake the classic (and my favourite) Hitchcock movie “The Birds”.
There is no really clear answer. I for one would love to see the film, as it is not, but cleaned up with more realistic effects. I do not mean evil beaked creatures from hell flying around, but a version that makes the attacks that more real.

This film is going ahead whether we cry and stamp our feet about it or not. If it is going to be tweaked for a modern audience then get a really good and respectful team behind you.

Daphne Du Maurier wrote the original story about birds terrorizing a town for no obvious reason. The story was very well written. There was no explanation for the attacks, it just was.

Naomi Watts has already been cast in the Tippi Hendren role, and this is a fine choice, in fact a little hope springs within me.
Martin Campbell is set to direct (he breathed new life into Bond) which could be a good thing. Or if like me you look at his filmography and see nothing but action films, your heart sinks. “The Birds” is not an action film.

However the script in not finished, they have hired Paul Harris Boardman and Scott Derrickson(“The Exorcism of Emily Rose” and, um, erm “Urban Ledgends: Final Cut”) to scribe the film.

Hear that?

That is the sound of my heart breaking.

This film is not a priority for Universal and may have to wait until the impending writers/actors strike is finished. Hopefully someone will save the day. However, if it is crap(all probability points that way), it will just once again serve as a spotlight to the genius of Hitchcock.

Trailer Park

A second and better look at “Eastern Promises” by David Cronenberg, with Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, and Armin Mueller-Stahl. This looks like is could be an Actors showcase, especially for Mueller-Stahl and Mortensen (women usually do not fare as well in this genre – sorry Naomi). The thing that gets me excited is seeing a naked and tattooed Viggo in a fight. That will be worth sitting through any gruesome killings for.
Movie Box has also added loads of film clips to wet your appetite

The “Atonement” sight has loads of film clips for you to watch. The best are ‘Briony’s Play’ to get a taste of the wonderful Saoirse in action. Kiera and James prove themselves captivating in ‘Letter Writing’. Watch the site as there are more to come!!!

Another horror remake comes with “One Missed Call”. The trailers always look to be effective, but you know the end result will not be impressive.

“Lions for Lambs” is desperately trying to make this look good. But the trailer does nothing for my interest……most likely because the gay scientologist midget is in it. Also Redford looks a little bit plastic.

And finally the new Cate Blanchette gimmick gets a brand new film clip.

Holy Poo...The "Eastern Promises" Trailer!!

Not 100% sold on the film as a whole, but get the feeling thet they have held back on showing the performances in the trailer on purpose. I am expecting to be dazzled.