You are viewing the archive: “Angelina Jolie”

Disney Sets Robert Stromberg To Helm ‘Maleficent’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday January 6, 2012 @ 2:05pm PSTTags: Angelina Jolie, Maleficent
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Disney has tapped Robert Stromberg to make his feature directorial debut on Maleficent, the Linda Woolverton-scripted revisionist take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale that is being constructed as a star vehicle for Angelina Jolie to play the villainess. While Stromberg is new to the director’s chair, he is no stranger to dealing with big-ticket spectacle films. He has been production designer on Avatar and Alice In Wonderland, and Disney’s upcoming Oz The Great And Powerful. He also worked on visual effects for such films as 2012, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End and Master And Commander. Joe Roth is producing.

This gives Disney feature heads Sean Bailey and Rich Ross another tentpole feature to complement the Marvel product, with A-list talent. Maleficent stacks up alongside Oz The Great And Powerful, and the Johnny Depp-starrer The Lone Ranger. Stromberg’s repped by UTA.

Comments 23

‘In The Land Of Blood And Honey’ To Receive PGA’s Stanley Kramer Award

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday December 13, 2011 @ 4:34pm PSTTags: Angelina Jolie, In The Land Of Blood And Honey, Producers Guild of America

LOS ANGELES, CA (December 13, 2011) – The Producers Guild of America (PGA), announced today that IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY will be honored with the 2012 Stanley Kramer Award. The film’s producers will be honored with the award at the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Saturday, January 21st at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

The Stanley Kramer Award was established in 2002 to honor a motion picture, producer or other individual, whose achievement or contribution illuminates provocative social issues in an accessible and elevating fashion. Kramer created some of the most respected and successful works in the annals of American motion pictures, with such classics as THE CAINE MUTINY, HIGH NOON, THE DEFIANT ONES, and GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER.

Read More »

Comments (6)

Universal Makes Deal On Luc Besson-Angelina Jolie Sci-Fi Film

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday December 12, 2011 @ 1:11pm PSTTags: Angelina Jolie, Luc Besson, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

Angelina Jolie To Star In Luc Besson-Directed Dramatic Thriller Film

Universal Pictures has acquired 80% of distribution rights — including in the U.S. — to the large-scale dramatic thriller that Luc Besson will direct with Angelina Jolie in the starring … Read More »

Comments (6)

Hammond: From ‘Tinker Tailor’ To Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt, Oscar Talk Is Everywhere

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday December 9, 2011 @ 5:09pm PSTTags: Albert Brooks, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Gary Oldman, Michael Moore, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Pete Hammond

‘Tis the season. Studios and distributors are pulling out all the stops to bring attention to their big awards contenders. The drumbeat has been so loud since Thanksgiving that it’s not uncommon to be invited to 4 or 5 sceenings, parties, events, and Q&As … Read More »

Comments (16)

Angelina Jolie To Star In Luc Besson-Directed Dramatic Thriller Film

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday December 6, 2011 @ 1:22pm PSTTags: Angelina Jolie, Europacorp, Gertrude Bell, Luc Besson, Ridley Scott
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Angelina Jolie is in talks to star in an untitled big-scale movie written and directed by Luc Besson. Besson currently has The Lady in the Oscar mix, but this film sounds like a closer cousin to early Besson efforts like The Professional, La Femme Nikita and The Fifth Element.

I’m told that there are serious talks going on for Jolie to star next spring in a dramatic thriller that is rooted in true scientific elements. Besson’s EuropaCorp developed it and will co-finance, and negotiations are already underway with a studio for domestic distribution. The Besson film would be Jolie’s next as an actress, and it would come before she teams with director Ridley Scott on a historical epic about Gertrude Bell that The Constant Gardener scribe Jeffrey Caine is currently rewriting. I’m told there’s a high likelihood that both films will land at the same studio. Read More »

Comments 31

HAMMOND: Oscar Race For Best Director In The Year Of The Master

By PETE HAMMOND | Tuesday December 6, 2011 @ 1:21pm PSTTags: Alexander Payne, Angelina Jolie, Clint Eastwood, Hugo, Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, Steven Spielberg, Tate Taylor, The Artist, War Horse, Woody Allen
Pete Hammond

The Oscar race for best director is chock-full of major names and past winners who are back with some of their most acclaimed and anticipated films in years. Consider this: Woody Allen, a past winner in the category for Annie Hall (1977), is back this year with Midnight In Paris, not only his most acclaimed film in years but his most successful at the box office ($131 million worldwide). Martin Scorsese, a winner in 2006 for The Departed, has in Hugo a film that many are calling a masterpiece and one that is perhaps his most personal. Steven Spielberg, a two-time winner in the category for 1993’s Schindler’s List and 1998’s Saving Private Ryan, is having a banner year not only with a possible nomination for best animated feature for his first-ever ’toon The Adventures of Tintin, but he is also expected to be a major player as director of the film adaptation of this year’s big Tony-winning play War Horse. Roman Polanski, 2002 winner for The Pianist, also has a pony in the race with Carnage, the film version of the Broadway smash and Tony winner God Of Carnage. Two-time winner Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby) is competing with J. Edgar, his biopic of controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Past nominees Alexander Payne, Terrence Malick, Stephen Daldry, Bennett Miller, David Fincher, Jason Reitman and George Clooney are also in the hunt in what promises to be one of the most competitive races in years. But could the big prize actually go to a first-time nominee who made a black-and-white silent film?
Here’s the rundown on who are the hot helmers in the race for Oscar this year:
FRONTRUNNERS

STEVEN SPIELBERG, WAR HORSE
Hollywood’s most famous and powerful director is going for his seventh nomination in the category and first since Munich in 2005 . Previously nominated for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and a winner for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, this is his best chance to make it a three-peat with his screen adaptation of the beloved book and play War Horse. The epic look at the adventures of a brave horse in World War I has all the elements of a winner: strong emotion, big action scenes and a major pedigree. With his well-reviewed first animated foray Tintin also being released at the same time, Spielberg is a force to be reckoned with this year. Read More »

Comments 24

HAMMOND: Red Hot Best Actress Oscar Race Heats Up Even More As Meryl Streep’s ‘Iron Lady’ Screened

By PETE HAMMOND | Thursday November 17, 2011 @ 6:19pm PSTTags: Albert Nobbs, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn, Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Help, The Iron Lady, Viola Davis, Young Adult
Pete Hammond

One of the last pieces of this year’s increasingly hot Best Actress race puzzle fell into place this week as The Weinstein Company unveiled Meryl Streep’s The Iron Lady at an exclusive media screening Tuesday night at the Warner Bros … Read More »

Comments 51

Ridley Scott And Gerard Butler Plot Film About Simon Mann, Who Tried African Coup

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday November 17, 2011 @ 4:07pm PSTTags: Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler, Gertrude Bell, Giannina Facio, Natalie Portman, Ridley Scott
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: While the material marketplace has cooled as the holiday approaches, studios have been tempted by a pitch for a fact-based thriller that has Ridley Scott attached to direct and produce through his Scott Free banner, Gerard Butler to star, … Read More »

Comments 20

Angelina Jolie’s ‘In The Land Of Blood And Honey’ Gets U.S. Release In Bosnian Language

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday November 15, 2011 @ 2:19pm PSTTags: Angelina Jolie, FilmDistrict, In The Land Of Blood And Honey
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: FilmDistrict will issue the domestic release of Angelina Jolie’s feature directorial debut In The Land Of Blood And Honey in the native BHS language of Bosnia. The language, which was called Serbian-Croatian during the Bosnian War depicted in the … Read More »

Comments 27

Scott Frank To Write And Direct GK Films Adaptation Of British Miniseries ‘Unforgiven’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday November 8, 2011 @ 11:20am PSTTags: Angelina Jolie, DJ Caruso, Francis Lawrence, Graham King, Scott Frank, Tim Headington, Tom Cruise, Tony Scott
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Frank will rewrite and direct a feature adaptation of the 2009 British miniseries Unforgiven for GK Films partners Graham King and Tim Headington. When the project was set at GK last year, Christopher McQuarrie was signed to … Read More »

Comments (2)

Hot Trailer: Angelina Jolie’s ‘In The Land Of Blood And Honey’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 21, 2011 @ 8:01am PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, FilmDistrict, In The Land Of Blood And Honey, Movie Trailers
Mike Fleming

A new trailer is up for In The Land Of Blood And Honey, the film written and directed by Angelina Jolie. A love story framed in the backdrop of the Bosnian War, the film is Jolie’s narrative feature directorial debut. It will be released December 23 by FilmDistrict.

Comments 49

Joe Roth Taking Producer Role In Angelina Jolie-Starrer ‘Maleficent’ For Disney

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday September 26, 2011 @ 4:35pm PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, James Franco, Joe Roth, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Rupert Sanders, Sam Raimi, Tim Burton
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: If Joe Roth were any more closely associated with fairy tales, he’d be one of the Grimm Brothers. Roth, who help start Hollywood’s feverish devotion to fairy tale films by producing the $1 billion-grossing Alice in Wonderland, is negotiating … Read More »

Comments (10)

Does 8 Years Of $100 Million WW Grossing Films Put Jennifer Aniston In Elite Company?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday August 24, 2011 @ 8:56am PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Global Box Office, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Katherine Heigl, Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock
Mike Fleming

When Horrible Bosses passed the $100 million worldwide gross mark recently, it became the eighth film in the last eight years to hit that milestone with Jennifer Aniston in a starring role. Right now, only a few actresses mean much at the box office, a list that includes Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon and Katherine Heigl. Has Aniston quietly joined that group?

While Aniston hasn’t had to carry all of those films, her worldwide gross track record compares favorably to the other actresses over the same eight-year period. Aside from Horrible Bosses, Just Go With It, The Bounty Hunter, He’s Just Not That Into You, Marley & Me, The Break-Up, Along Came Polly and Bruce Almighty all passed the $100 million mark worldwide. Over the same corresponding period, only Jolie had that many cross the $100 million WW mark. I didn’t count animated films, but for Jolie I did include Beowulf, because she gave a performance that was converted to performance capture format. Jolie’s other films that passed $100 million worldwide in the last eight years: The Tourist, Salt, Wanted, Changeling, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Alexander, and the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider sequel.

Roberts had six films cross $100 million worldwide in the last eight years: Eat Pray Love, Valentine’s Day, Charlie Wilson’s War, Ocean’s 12, Closer and Mona Lisa Smile. Earlier in her career, her films routinely became blockbusters, when she was clearly Hollywood’s top actress.

Streep, who’s in her 60s, has become as bankable as any female star this side of Jolie. She has had five films cross $100 million in worldwide grosses in the last eight years: It’s Complicated, Julie & Julia, Mamma Mia!, The Devil Wears Prada and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Bullock has had four films cross $100 million WW in the last eight years: The Blind Side, The Proposal, The Lake House, and Miss Congeniality 2.

Witherspoon had five films cross that mark in the last eight years: Water for Elephants, Four Christmases, Just Like Heaven, Walk the Line and Legally Blonde 2.

Heigl had four of her films cross $100 million worldwide, all since her movie career was launched by 2007′s Knocked Up. Since that movie crossed $100 million WW, 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth and Life As We Know It also passed the mark, and Killers barely missed. Read More »

Comments 115

FilmDistrict Near U.S. Distribution Deal For Ryan Gosling-Nic Refn ‘Only God Forgives’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 29, 2011 @ 8:31pm PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Anthony Mackie, Bob Berney, Bruce Willis, Chuck Russell, Derek Cianfrance, FilmDistrict, Gerard Butler, Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Brolin, Julianne Moore, Liam Hemsworth, Logan's Run, Nicolas Winding Refn, Peter Schlessel, Ruben Fleischer, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Steve Carell, Taylor Hackford
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In a low-seven-figure minimum guarantee deal, FilmDistrict has acquired U.S. rights to Only God Forgives, a drama that will reteam Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn with Ryan Gosling. Several distributors were in the mix, but FilmDistrict’s Peter Schlessel had … Read More »

Comments (9)

Kario Salem To Write Crime Thriller For DreamWorks

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday June 28, 2011 @ 10:21am PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Curtis Hanson, DreamWorks, Gary Foster, Gerard Butler, Kario Salem, Russ Krasnoff
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Kario Salem has been set by DreamWorks to write an untitled crime thriller. He has already been working for the studio writing the Martin Luther King Jr movie that DreamWorks is doing with Warner Bros. Gary Foster, Russ Krasnoff … Read More »

Comments (7)

HBO, BBC2 Make Deal To Turn Robert Graves Novel ‘I, Claudius’ Into Epic Miniseries

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday June 10, 2011 @ 11:36am PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Cleopatra, HBO, I, Jane Tranter, Jim Sheridan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Rome, Scott Rudin, Stacy Schiff, William Monahan
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: HBO has teamed with BBC2 to acquire the rights to turn the Robert Graves historical novel I, Claudius into a miniseries. The mini will be exec produced by BBC Worldwide Productions’ Jane Tranter and Anne Thomopoulos, who were executives producers of HBO’s Rome. The deal ends a long series of twists and turns for the rights to a book that was previously turned into an Emmy-winning 13-part miniseries in 1976 by BBC. In that mini, Derek Jacobi turned in the role of a career as Claudius. The book and mini gave a glimpse into the power, madness, murder, backstabbing and debauchery that was part and parcel of ruling-class Rome. It is seen through the eyes of Claudius, who was content to be the butt of jokes and hide his brilliance behind a stutter and a limp. Because he was never perceived as a threat, Claudius was never poisoned as many others in his circle were. Claudius outlasted them all, and became emperor in 41 A.D.

The feature rights were long controlled by In The Name of the Father helmer Jim Sheridan, but suddenly those rights were shopped in 2007. It looked like producer Scott Rudin beat out a competitive field of suitors to pay $2 million for the rights. He had Oscar-nominated The Departed scribe William Monahan ready to write it and Leonardo DiCaprio ready to attach himself to star. But the deal collapsed when Sheridan successfully challenged the claim in Ireland. By the time Sheridan finally bowed out, Rudin was no longer interested because he had moved on to another Roman Era epic, the movie adaptation of Stacy Schiff’s book Cleopatra: A Life, which has Angelina Jolie ready to play the Egyptian queen and David Fincher keen to direct her. Others flirted with the property, but the story is so big that it became clear that a miniseries was a way to get everything in. That opened the door for Tranter, who pursued the property for a decade. HBO has feasted on episodic period dramas, from Rome to its current run of Game of Thrones. Read More »

Comments 50

Sony Pictures Commences ‘Salt’ Sequel For Angelina Jolie

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday June 6, 2011 @ 2:55pm PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Kurt Wimmer, Philip Noyce, Salt, Sony Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures is moving forward on its much speculated Salt sequel. Kurt Wimmer has begun writing it for Angelina Jolie to reprise her role as Evelyn Salt, the CIA agent who spent the first movie running for her life … Read More »

Comments 83

CANNES: FilmDistrict To Release Angelina Jolie’s ‘In The Land Of Blood And Honey’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Sunday May 15, 2011 @ 8:49am PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Cannes, FilmDistrict, Graham King, Peter Schlessel, Tim Headington
Mike Fleming

Angelina Jolie’s much-discussed feature directing debut now has a title and a distributor. Graham King and his GK Films partner Tim Headington, who financed it, have placed it with their FilmDistrict shingle. FilmDistrict CEO Peter Schlessel will slot  In The Land Of Blood And Honey, the Bosnia-set drama that Jolie scripted, for a Dec. 23 release in the US. The film is set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War in the 1990s and, according to a statement, “illustrates the consequences of the lack of political will to intervene in a society stricken with conflict. “The film is specific to the Bosnian War, but it’s also universal,” Jolie said in a statement. “I wanted to tell a story of how human relationships and behavior are deeply affected by living inside a war.” Said King: “Working with Angelina on this film and story has been a great collaboration and I am extremely proud of this film. The filmmaking is impeccable, and signals the arrival of a visceral and compelling storyteller.” Read More »

Comments 20

Tomb Raider Heroine Lara Croft Gets Movie Makeover From Top Action Writers

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday May 5, 2011 @ 4:00am PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Hawk Ostby, Jon Favreau, Kate Beckinsale, Lara Croft, Mark Fergus, Tomb Raider
Mike Fleming

The Iron Man and Cowboys & Aliens writing team of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby have been hired by GK Films to script the rebooted Tomb Raider film franchise. They will create a new adventure storyline for archaeologist/adventuress Lara Croft, … Read More »

Comments 111
More Deadline | Hollywood »
« Previous Deadline | Hollywood