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Cannes: Joel Edgerton Moves From ‘Gatsby’ To Whitey Bulger Tale ‘Black Mass’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 4:38pm PDTTags: Black Mass, Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Joel Edgerton, Johnny Depp
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Big day on the Croisette for Joel Edgerton. The Australian actor just took the bows for the Cannes opening night film The Great Gatsby, and I’ve learned that he’s just closed a deal to star alongside Johnny Depp in the Cross Creek crime thriller Black Mass, which Barry Levinson is directing. The picture is a co-production between Cross Creek and Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s Exclusive Media, with the two entities co-financing and Universal Pictures releasing in the U.S. through Cross Creek’s distribution deal with the studio.

Whitey Bulger rose to the top of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List when he disappeared for a decade before he could be put behind bars. Many felt he could never have gotten that far without the help of John Connolly, an FBI agent and childhood pal of Bulger and his brother. Connolly was tasked with bringing down the Italian mob, and he was aided by Bulger, who burnished his own position as Boston crime kingpin by getting rid of the competition for his Winter Hill gang. Edgerton will play Connolly, who was lauded for his work before things went south for him. He was eventually convicted of racketeering and obstruction of justice for aiding Bulger, who is currently in a Massachusetts state prison for second-degree murder. Edgerton gets a meaty role in a story about a law enforcement officer with conflicted loyalties.

The film’s title comes from the 2001 Dick Lehr/Gerald O’Neill New York Times bestseller Black Mass: The True Story Of An Unholy Alliance Between The FBI And The Irish Mob. The script was written by Mark Mallouk, and the long-gestating movie got the third act it needed when Bulger was captured in California in summer 2011, after he spent a decade on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

Bulger was a notoriously ruthless Boston mob kingpin who was the basis for characters like the one that Jack Nicholson played in the Martin Scorsese-directed The Departed and Pete Postlethwaite played in the Ben Affleck-directed The Town (Affleck has his own Whitey Bulger project scripted by Boardwalk Empire creator Terrence Winter with Matt Damon expected to play the mobster, but he’ll next direct Dennis Lehane’s Live By Night so there’s no way that film will beat this one into production). Even as he was masterminding a violent gang–the federal case against him alleges 19 murders–Bulger was an FBI informant, a role he took on discreetly to take down a rival gang, but the tables were turned on him. After the Feds closed in on their targets, they double crossed Bulger and ultimately prosecuted him, along with his partner in crime and the original FBI agent working with him.

The film will be produced by Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson, John Lesher, and Christi Dembrowski, Depp’s partner in Infinitum Nihil. Exclusive Media’s Tobin Armbrust, President Worldwide Production and Acquisitions and Cross Creek Pictures Sr. VP of Production Adam Kassan, will oversee production. Alex Walton, Exclusive Media’s President of International Sales and Distribution, will introduce Black Mass to overseas buyers at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin.

 

After Deadline broke the story that Depp would team with Levinson, Cross Creek’s Oliver said the project paints “turns of this highly complex story, paints a vivid portrait of Boston’s underbelly and its corrupt political machine, as well as exposing the worst scandal in FBI history. It’s also an examination of loyalty to family, Irish heritage, and South Boston.” Edgerton is repped by CAA, Shanahan Management and Markham, Froggat and Irwin.

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Dick Zanuck Documentary Premieres At TCM Fest Closing

By PETE HAMMOND | Monday April 29, 2013 @ 3:42pm PDTTags: Johnny Depp, Lili Fini Zanuck, Richard Zanuck, Steven Spielberg, TCM, TCM Classic Film Festival
Pete Hammond

After four days of pristine presentations of certified vintage (mostly) classic movies, the TCM Classic Film Festival saved its only new film for the last day Sunday with the official world premiere of the documentary Don’t Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story Of Richard D. Zanuck. The 90-minute doc begins airing on TCM next month, and it’s not only a must for anyone interested in the extraordinary career of Zanuck, but as a primer on survival in the dog-eat-dog movie industry.

Even though the  Egyptian Theatre screening was a “world premiere”, the film actually was first seen in early October at Zanuck’s memorial service at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (Zanuck died July 13 of a sudden heart attack at age 77). As his widow and co-Oscar-winning producer Lili Fini Zanuck (Driving Miss Daisy, Cocoon) told me before Sunday’s screening, “When it was time to do the memorial I was so grateful to have this footage. There’s just nothing that could come close. There’s no montage I could have come up with or people speaking — you never would have wanted people speaking for some 90-odd minutes. And I felt so fortunate that night at the Academy to have this incredible documentary. It is not that it just follows Dick’s life, it’s that it is incredibly inspiring to people… After the memorial some people came up to me and said ‘Oh I wish I knew Dick this way’, and I said ‘You would never know Dick this way’. He wasn’t that kind of person. He didn’t see himself as a role model of any kind I think. He was just doing his best , and in his youth he was sort of rough and tumble. He would have gotten a big kick out of people finding him inspiring.” Read More »

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Johnny Depp And Meryl Streep “Deals Almost Wrapped” For ‘Into The Woods’ Movie

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday April 26, 2013 @ 5:08pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Into The Woods, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Stephen Sondheim

Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep filming together and singing. Who can resist? Not Disney any longer. It’s taken 16 months to get off the ground — ever since January 2012, when the studio sent … Read More »

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CinemaCon: Who’s Bankable In 2013? Exhibitors Spill

By JEN YAMATO | Friday April 19, 2013 @ 1:55pm PDTTags: CinemaCon, HFR, Johnny Depp, Will Smith

Exhibitors I polled this week at CinemaCon had more faith in franchises than star-driven blockbusters on the 2013 slate. Like Tom Cruise in Oblivion, Will Smith is still a big deal to theater owners. He’s just not a sure thing in a slow-moving sci-fi vehicle like Sony’s After Earth, which now opens May 31.Oblivion IMAX Johnny Depp scored biggest with a surprise appearance in front of elated NATO members and the promise of another eccentric blockbuster role, but the specters of Universal’s Cowboys & Aliens and Disney’s own John Carter loom over the Western. Paramount even trotted out an uncomfortable-looking Brad Pitt to boost World War Z, but exhibitors worry the zombie pic won’t be a must-see for moviegoers. Jennifer Lawrence and Lionsgate’s Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, on the other hand, had CinemaCon attendees seeing dollar signs. Meanwhile the problem with Aubrey Plaza winning CinemaCon’s Breakthrough Performer Of The Year award (on the heels of her MTV Movie Awards stunt) is that exhibitors still have no idea who she is. The Parks And Recreation star is better known to younger TV viewers than the corporate-leaning CinemaCon crowd. And many theater owners still see television as the enemy, including Regal CEO Amy Miles, who said as much at a CinemaCon luncheon Thursday.

Related: Theater Owners Forecast Summer 2013 Hits And Bombs

But mid-sized theater owners are realizing they have to cater to their audiences, and those may not always be blockbuster crowds. “My biggest movie of last year was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel“, a 40-year owner of a Michigan resort-town cinema said. “At my theater, the biggest star is Kevin James”, another operator of a California second-run multiplex told me. One thing that was not bankable at CinemaCon 2013: High-frame-rate technology. The Hobbit stumbled at last year’s confab by pushing its 48 FPS HFR 3D to exhibitors. Despite the first pic’s $1 billion global box office, nobody this year was pinning hopes on HFR specifically in The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug this Christmas — even Peter Jackson, who conspicuously made no mention of it in his taped message to the CinemaCon audience. Read More »

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CinemaCon: Disney’s Vegas Act Includes Johnny Depp And ‘Lone Ranger’ Footage

By PETE HAMMOND | Wednesday April 17, 2013 @ 3:40pm PDTTags: Alan Horn, CinemaCon, Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, Monsters University, Star Wars, The Lone Ranger, Walt Disney Studios
Pete Hammond

Alan Horn today made his CinemaCon debut in his new capacity as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios hosting a long three hour presentation that was a slide show highlighting the studio’s entire slate for the next two years. It … Read More »

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Hot International Trailer: ‘The Lone Ranger’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday March 13, 2013 @ 2:54pm PDTTags: Armie Hammer, Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, The Lone Ranger

It’s clear even from this Japanese-subtitled, English-language version that producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski have endeavored to deliver a rousing popcorn movie with Armie Hammer as the title character and Johnny Depp as his spirit warrior partner Tonto. Whether they succeeded or not, we’ll find out … Read More »

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Rebecca Hall Joins Johnny Depp & Paul Bettany In ‘Transcendence’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday March 4, 2013 @ 1:09pm PSTTags: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Transcendence

LOS ANGELES, CA, MARCH 5, 2013 – Rebecca Hall is set to star alongside Johnny Depp and Paul Bettany in Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister’s directorial debut, TRANSCENDENCE, it was announced by Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, co-founders and co-CEOs of Alcon Entertainment, which is financing and producing the project.

Principal photography is set to begin in April in Los Angeles. Warner Bros. will release the film on April 25, 2014 via its output deal with Alcon.

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Warner Bros Dates Johnny Depp Pic ‘Transcendence’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday March 1, 2013 @ 10:08am PSTTags: Johnny Depp, Trancendence, Warner Bros

Transcendence is the next film Johnny Depp shoots and is the directorial debut of Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer Wally Pfister. Warner Bros has just given it an April 25, 2014 wide release date. Plot details are being kept … Read More »

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Paul Bettany Joins Johnny Depp in Wally Pfister’s ‘Transcendence’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday February 28, 2013 @ 3:11pm PSTTags: Alcon Entertainment, Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Transcendence, Wally Pfister
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Bettany is in negotiations to star opposite Johnny Depp in Transcendence, the Alcon Entertainment film that marks the directing debut of Wally Pfister, Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer on Inception and many other films. Alcon … Read More »

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Johnny Depp Lays Out His Dance Card, With ‘Transcendence’ And ‘Black Mass’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday February 27, 2013 @ 4:03pm PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Black Mass, Johnny Depp, Transcendence, Whitey Bulger
Mike Fleming

When Deadline broke the story that Johnny Depp would star as Whitey Bulger in the Barry Levinson-directed Black Mass, it raised a lot of questions about his intentions to star in Transcendence, the film directed by Chris Nolan’s visionary cinematographer Wally Pfister. His reps have now clarified the dance card of Depp, who’ll next be seen reuniting with Gore Verbinski in The Lone Ranger this summer. Here’s the deal:

LOS ANGELES (February 27, 2013) — Johnny Depp is set to star in Transcendence, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister. The film will begin principal photography in April.

The film is being financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove and will be released by Warner Bros. The film will also be produced by Straight Up Films’ Annie Marter, Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen along with David Valdes. Pfister will direct from newcomer Jack Paglen’s screenplay, which was developed with Annie Marter, with the most recent draft by Noah Oppenheim. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers. Straight Up’s Regency Boies will co-produce.

Producers are not revealing the film’s plot.

Following Transcendence, Depp will segue into the crime thriller Black Mass, about notorious Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, to be directed by Barry Levinson, with Jez Butterworth writing a new draft of the screenplay by Mark Mallouk, based on the New York Times best-seller Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerald O’Neill.

Filming is beginning in early summer of 2013.

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Super Bowl Spot: ‘The Lone Ranger’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday February 3, 2013 @ 3:31pm PSTTags: Johnny Depp, Super Bowl, The Lone Ranger

Here’s Disney’s game spot for The Lone Ranger. At 90 seconds, this one reveals quite a bit more than we’ve seen previously:

Related: Super Bowl XLVII To Air 6 Studio Film Ads

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Sony Pictures Classics Acquires ‘For No Good Reason’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday January 30, 2013 @ 7:47am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Johnny Depp, Sony Pictures Classics
Mike Fleming

NEW YORK (January 30, 2013) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all North American rights to Charlie Paul’s directorial debut, FOR NO GOOD REASON from Itch Film. Foreign sales are being handled by Independent Film Sales. Charlie Paul, who has been a director in advertising for years and is a former artist himself, spent 10 years making FOR NO GOOD REASON. Produced by Itch Film’s co-founder Lucy Paul, the intimate documentary portrait focuses on Ralph Steadman and features Johnny Depp observing Steadman’s fascinating working process at his home studio.

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Female Lead For Wally Pfister’s ‘Transcendence’ Down To Rooney Mara, Emily Blunt, Rebecca Hall

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday December 12, 2012 @ 3:09pm PSTTags: All You Need Is Kill, Big Deals Film, Johnny Depp, Transcendence

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that the lead actress to star opposite Johnny Depp in Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister’s first directing effort Transcendence will be decided on Friday. Emily Blunt’s dates for All You Need Is Kill are still being worked … Read More »

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Disney Springs For Johnny Depp-Produced Don Quixote Pitch

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday December 5, 2012 @ 10:46am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Disney, Jeff Morris, Johnny Depp, Steve Pink
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Disney has closed a deal for an untitled pitch to be written by Steve Pink and Jeff Morris, and produced by Infinitum Nihil’s Johnny Depp and Christi Dembrowski. The project is best described as a modern re-imagining of Don Quixote. Depp has long been intrigued with that character, and at one time was attached to the Quixote film that Terry Gilliam has tried to make.

Pink and Morris met working on True Memoirs Of An International Assassin, a script that Morris wrote and which made the Black List, and to which Pink remains attached as director. For Screen Gems, Pink just wrapped directing Sexual Perversity In Chicago, an adaptation of the David Mamet play that was previously turned into the film About Last Night. Pink and Morris will start writing immediately even as Pink, best known for directing Accepted and Hot Tub Time Machine, eyes as his possible next film Contractors. Read More »

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Johnny Depp In Talks For Wally Pfister-Helmed ‘Transcendence’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday October 24, 2012 @ 9:07am PDTTags: Alcon Entertainment, Big Deals Film, Johnny Depp, Wally Pfister
Mike Fleming

Johnny Depp Transcendence MovieBREAKING: Johnny Depp is negotiating to star in Transcendence, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister. The project is being put together for an early 2013 shoot by Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. Alcon will release through its output deal with Warner Bros.

The screenplay, written by newcomer Jack Paglen, was developed by Annie Marter and Straight Up Films, whose company principals include Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Regency Boies. Polvino, Marter and Cohen will produce along with David Valdes (The Book Of Eli), Johnson and Kosove. Boies will co-produce. The plot of Transcendence is being kept under wraps.

Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers and Alcon is financing. Pfister won an Oscar for his cinematography on the Nolan-directed Inception. He has done seven films with Nolan and Thomas, including The Dark Knight Rises and Memento. He was also cinematographer on Moneyball and The Italian Job. Read More »

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Johnny Depp’s Production Co. Teams With Yellow Bird Prods. & Tom Fontana For Series Based On Shakespeare’s Plays

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday October 10, 2012 @ 2:49pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Johnny Depp, Tom Fontana
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Johnny Depp‘s Infinitum Nihil has partnered with leading Scandinavian producer Yellow Bird Productions, which is behind the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo films, and Emmy-winning writer-producer Tom Fontana for a scripted series based on the plays of William Shakespeare.

Young writer Randall Fontana (no relation to Tom Fontana) will write the project, described as a modern take on the plays of The Bard, building on the existing characters and plots from several of his most notable plays. Infinitum Nihil, which is run by Depp’s sister Christi Dembrowski, Yellow Bird Prods, and Tom Fontana will executive produce. Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘The Lone Ranger’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday October 3, 2012 @ 7:05am PDTTags: Disney, Johnny Depp, The Lone Ranger

Here’s the first official trailer for Disney’s $215M-budget The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski began production February 13 after months of off-again on-again drama over the project’s cost; the studio had pulled the plug altogether in August … Read More »

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Tragedy On ‘The Lone Ranger’ As Crew Member Dies

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday September 21, 2012 @ 1:02pm PDTTags: Disney, Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp, The Lone Ranger
Mike Fleming

Disney Lone Ranger DeathBREAKING…: A member of the crew on Disney‘s The Lone Ranger died early this morning in Los Angeles, where he was involved in setting up for an underwater scene. It’s unclear … Read More »

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Toronto: ‘West Of Memphis’ Gets Fest Preem; Johnny Depp And Natalie Maines To Join Filmmakers

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday August 21, 2012 @ 7:37am PDTTags: Johnny Depp, Peter Jackson, Toronto Film Festival, West Memphis 3, West Of Memphis
Mike Fleming

RELATED: 2012 Sundance: Q&A With ‘West Of Memphis’ Producers Peter Jackson And Fran Walsh

BREAKING: West of Memphis, the Amy Berg-directed documentary that was one of the … Read More »

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