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Myriad Pictures has tapped Richard Loncraine to direct Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton in Life Itself, a comedy based on the Jill Ciment novel Heroic Measures. Charlie Peters wrote the screenplay, about a long-married NY couple who find themselves swept into an emotional and comical real estate bidding war when they put their beloved downtown apartment on the market — and must come to terms with the possibility of moving from the home where they have spent most of their adult lives. Freeman and Lori McCreary’s 
Revelations Entertainment will produce with Latitude Productions. McCreary, Curtis Burch, Peters and Tracy Mercer are producing, and Freeman will executive produce. Myriad’s Kirk D’Amico and David Ducar negotiated international sales rights to the film and the company is introducing the project at Cannes. Its slate here includes Emanuel And The Truth About Fishes starring Kaya Scodelario and Jessica Biel; The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: Him And Her with Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy; Life Partners with Leighton Meester, Adam Brody, and Gillian Jacobs; and the Derek Martini-directed The Curse Of Downers Grove with Bella Heathcote, Lucas Till and Kevin Zegers. CAA and WME Global co-rep North American rights to Life Itself. READ MORE »
Cannes: Morgan Freeman And Diane Keaton To Star In Comedy ‘Life Itself’
First Photo: CBS Films’ ‘Last Vegas’
The whole gang is in Sin City. The first photo from CBS Films and Good Universe‘s Last Vegas shows Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline in some fine threads for a good … Read More »
Warner Bros Builds Morgan Freeman And Elizabeth Banks Into ‘Lego’ Feature
EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Banks and Morgan Freeman will lend their voices to lead roles in Lego, Warner Bros tent pole animated 3D film that will be released … Read More »
Morgan Freeman Gives $1 Million To Obama Super PAC
The Dark Knight Rises star and Oscar winner has donated $1 million toward President Obama’s re-election campaign. Morgan Freeman’s donation wasn’t directly to the campaign’s Obama Victory Fund but to Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC formed by two former White House aides that targets contributions from wealthy donors. Freeman’s contribution matchs the $1 million that Bill Maher gave Priorities in February.
Freeman made his contribution in June as Priorities’ Federal Election Commission filing will show tomorrow. He joins a list of Hollywood elite giving money to Priorities, joining Maher, J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg and Chelsea Handler among donors. Jeffery Katzenberg, one of the biggest contributors to the president’s re-election campaign, has given Priorities $2 million. “President Obama has done a remarkable job in historically difficult circumstances”, Freeman said in a statement released via Priorities USA Action. “I am proud to lend my voice — and support — to those who defend him. Priorities USA Action is doing a great job of protecting the values I believe in. I am happy to help them and I hope others will join me”. In 2008, the actor donated $2,300 to Obama. Read More »
It’s Official: Morgan Freeman Joins ‘Last Vegas’
Related: Morgan Freeman In Talks For ‘Last Vegas’
LOS ANGELES – May 17, 2012 – CBS Films and Good Universe announced today that Oscar®-winner Morgan Freeman will join fellow Oscar®-winners Michael Douglas and Robert De Niro in the comedy LAST VEGAS.
Directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure, While You Were Sleeping) from a screenplay by Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Tangled), LAST VEGAS is a comedy about four old friends who decide to throw a Las Vegas bachelor party for the only one of them who has remained single.
Freeman is set to play Archie Clay, an army veteran, who looks to escape the watchful eyes of his son and daughter-in-law and accompany his best friends on a trip to Vegas.
Morgan Freeman In Talks For ‘Last Vegas’
EXCLUSIVE: Morgan Freeman is in negotiations to join the cast of Last Vegas. The film, which already has Michael Douglas and Robert De Niro on board, is about four … Read More »
Morgan Freeman Joins Tom Cruise In Post-Apocalyptic ‘Oblivion’ For Universal
EXCLUSIVE: Morgan Freeman will bring his regal presence to Oblivion, the Joseph Kosinski-directed film for Universal Pictures that stars Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough and Olga Kurylenko. Cruise plays the last man on a post-apocalyptic and nearly uninhabitable Earth, who stays … Read More »
Magnolia Takes Rights To Rob Reiner’s ‘Magic Of Belle Isle’
U.S. rights to Rob Reiner’s The Magic Of Belle Isle have been picked up by Magnolia Pictures. Magnolia plans a theatrical and VOD release in its Ultra VOD program in the summer. Starring Morgan Freeman, Virginia Madsen, Madeline … Read More »
Morgan Freeman To Receive Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award
Morgan Freeman has been tapped to receive the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award, which will be bestowed during the Golden Globes ceremony January 15. The honor is given for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment and … Read More »
Dave Franco Joins ‘Now You See Me’ At Summit
EXCLUSIVE: Dave Franco has joined the cast of Now You See Me, which is his second straight movie for Summit Entertainment. Franco joins Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman and Isla Fisher in the Louis Leterrier-directed drama about … Read More »
‘Dolphin Tale’ Producer Says About Morgan Freeman’s Anti-Tea Party Remarks: “I Do Not Believe It Affected Even One Dollar!”
Between now and the 2012 presidential election, Hollywood filmmakers will be put under even more scrutiny for every political statement they make. The latest twist is whether the movie moguls think politically outspoken actors shouldn’t be cast because 50% of the country who … Read More »
Survey: Old Is Gold For Endorsements
If you want to sell a product, don’t kid around. That’s the clear message if you buy the results of a survey just released by global market research firm Ipsos. The hottest huckster: 89-year-old Betty White. She is America’s … Read More »
Hot Teaser Trailer: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures have released a teaser for The Dark Knight Rises, Chris Nolan’s third and possibly final installment of the Batman franchise. Pic stars Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway and Marion Cotillard, with Nolan bringing back a lot … Read More »
Hammond: Morgan Freeman Honored With AFI Life Achievement Award
He may have only received his first major big-screen break at the age of 50 in 1987′s Street Smart, but Morgan Freeman has created such a distinguished body of work in the quarter of a century since then that Thursday night he was named the 39th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for a career in film. Just after the honor was announced by the American Film Institute on October 11th, I ran into Freeman at an awards-season event and he was ebullient, telling me, “Now I am one of the big boys.” During Thursday’s warm ceremony on Sony’s Stage 15 and at the after-party nearby on the lot, Freeman still seemed just as happy about the honor.
In fact, after he accepted the award from his Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby co-star and director Clint Eastwood and made his speech, he became the first of the AFI’s 39 honorees to actually remain on stage and sing along to one of his theme songs, “Lean On Me,” from the 1989 film in which he starred as real-life school principal Joe Clark. Earlier in the evening, Garth Brooks and a large chorus sang the song — actually twice, as a snafu forced them to perform it again. The black-tie industry crowd didn’t seem to mind at all.
Among those in attendance who offered toasts or onstage tributes with personal anecdotes about Freeman were Sidney Poitier, AFI Board of Trustees chair Howard Stringer, AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale, Betty White, Samuel L. Jackson, Rita Moreno, Don Cheadle, Matthew Broderick, Helen Mirren, Cuba Gooding Jr, Matthew McConaughey, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker and Tim Robbins. Filmed tributes were also shown from Chris Rock, Dan Ackroyd, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher and Ashley Judd.
Warner Bros, Legendary Start Shooting ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ Final Chapter Of Christopher Nolan’s Trilogy
BURBANK, CA, May 19, 2011 – Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises,” the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar® winner Christian Bale (“The Fighter”) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake. Returning to the main cast, Oscar® winner Michael Caine (“The Cider House Rules”) plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”) reprises the role of Lucius Fox.
Voltage Behind Rob Reiner’s ‘The Third Act’
Voltage Pictures will finance and sell the international rights for director Rob Reiner’s (The Bucket List, A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me…) next project, The Third Act. The picture is scheduled to start principal photography in May and stars Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman
Older Thesps Show Staying Power: ‘Red’ Sequel, Schwarzenegger Planning Pics
In a move that’s not exactly surprising, Summit Entertainment brought back Jon and Erich Hoeber to write another installment of Red, the overachieving Robert Schwentke-directed action film that had been widely spurned around town because studios were nervous building such … Read More »
Pete Segal To Direct ‘Grudge Match’
Pete Segal has made a deal to direct Grudge Match, a Tim Kelleher-scripted comedy about two bitter rivals who are coaxed back into the ring for a grudge match — 50 years after they fought for the title. Billy Gerber … Read More »
BOX OFFICE GROSS: ‘Jackass 3D’ No Joke With $50M Weekend, ‘Red’ Strong #2
SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM UPDATE: Two movies roundly rejected by Hollywood, one for being too moronic and the other too moldy, led the North American box office weekend with a big $125M weekend overall:
1. Jackass 3D (Paramount) NEW [3,081 Theaters]
Friday $21.8M, Saturday $17M, Weekend $50M
As a studio exec joked to me Friday, “The Oscar race has been turned on its head”. That’s because Paramount’s Jackass 3D aimed at the youth market not only earned twice the gross of Sony’s Academy Awards-touted Facebook origins film starting its 3rd week Friday, but knocked it out of #1. Producers Johnny Knoxville’s and Spike Jonze’s stupid stunt pic directed by Jeff Tremaine earned a “B+” CinemaScore. Still the headline is that, despite the restriction of an “R” rating, it opened to a whopping Friday for the biggest single day ever in October because of the higher 3D ticket prices. That included $2.5M from midnight shows, also the most ever for October. Plus a healthy Saturday after the “first to see” subsided. Its $50M weekend take was the record for the biggest opening in the month of October (besting Scary Movie 3 which did $48.1M in October 2003 but was only 2D). Guess this shows Hollywood that movies don’t need a script and a plot, right? With a budget of only $20M, the studio would have been more than happy with the $30M weekend it expected from the higher ticket prices from the 2,452 3D-equipped locations. (The first 2D Jackass opened with a $22.8M weekend and the 2D sequel to $29M.) Believe it or not, I’m told the filmmakers debated whether or not shooting a film in 3D would mess up their comedic timing.
Exit polling showed the audience was 60% male, and 67% under age 25. Two of the biggest components of the Jackass 3D marketing campaign were premiering 10 minutes of 3D footage at Comic-Con via a mobile 3D screening room and the public spectacle of letting MTV’s Jersey Shore cast been seen watching and talking about the new film. There’s been relentless promotion by the Viacom sister company which first gave birth to the Jackass TV and movie franchise and even product licensing program (now featuring apparel, sunglasses, skateboards, even a Converse shoe, and hardbound book. As if Jackass fans read.) Last weekend, MTV marked the 10th anniversary of Jackass with 2 TV specials leading up to the film’s release: Jackass: The Beginning and The Making Of Jackass 3D featuring never-before-seen content from the gang: Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dynn, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, Preston Lacy, Dave England, and Ehren McGhehey. MTV also showed the franchise’s humble TV origins back in 2000 before it became a pop culture phenom. (P.S. The Making of Jackass 3D contains a visual of Deadline Hollywood. I couldn’t be more proud)
2. Red (Summit) NEW [3,255 Theaters]
Friday $7.3M, Saturday $9.2M, Weekend $22.5M
Every studio passed on making the stylish PG-13 comedy Red aimed at the adult audience except for Summit Entertainment: now the Robert Schwentke-directed pic features Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Bruce Willis — some of them as past-their-expiration-date assassins. That’s surprisingly strong considering the over-the-hill stars and subject matter. But the pic received an “A-” Cinemascore and 73% definite recommend. Exit polling showed the audience was 53% male, and 58% over age 35. In pre-release screenings, I’m told the film played as a crowd pleaser by mixing the right amount of action with humor based on witty lines and deft timing. It was tracking across all quadrants with the strongest being male moviegoers over age 30. But that cast was the #1 reason people went to see the film based on the cult DC Comics graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. Read More »
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