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Nick Nolte Joins ‘Gangster Squad’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 29, 2011 @ 8:52am PDTTags: Anthony Mackie, David Milch, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Stone, Gangster Squad, Gavin O'Connor, Jason Statham, Josh Brolin, Michael Chiklis, Michael Mann, Mireille Enos, Nick Nolte, Ruben Fleischer, Ryan Gosling, Shia LaBeouf, Taylor Hackford
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Nolte continues his recent career resurgence. He’s been set to join the cast of the Ruben Fleischer-directed Warner Bros drama Gangster Squad. Nolte will play Bill Parker, the new chief of police in Los Angeles, and the first in a awhile who hasn’t been corrupted by Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). The chief, a Purple Heart recipient at Normandy, is the one who starts the Gangster Squad, a crack team designed to bring down organized crime. Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Mireille Enos and Anthony Mackie star.

Nolte stars in the Gavin O’Connor-directed Warrior, and he just wrapped the Taylor Hackford-directed action film Parker for FilmDistrict opposite Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez and Michael Chiklis. Nolte is about to begin work on the Robert Redford-directed The Company You Keep opposite Redford and Shia LaBeouf, and he also stars with Dustin Hoffman in the David Milch/Michael Mann HBO series Luck.

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HAMMOND: Can Indies Steal Oscars Again?

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday August 26, 2011 @ 5:14pm PDTTags: Gary Oldman, George Clooney, Glenn Close, Jodie Foster, Madonna, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Roman Polanski, Ryan Gosling
Pete Hammond

Previously in Pete Hammond’s 3-part series:
Woody Allen, Brad Pitt, ‘The Help’ Among Early 2011 Oscar Contenders
Clooney, Clint, And Spielberg Put Major Studios Back Into Oscar Race

After looking last week at the potential awards landscape for the first eight months of 2011, and then at what Oscar-pedigreed films the major studios have in store for fall and holiday slots, it’s time to turn to the independent world, which has become such a key force in the season. For the majors, Oscars are nice but not vital. For the indies, award strategies are key and could mean the difference between a hit film or a miss. With little-pictures-that-could Best Picture triumphs in recent years like Crash, The Hurt Locker and last year’s The King’s Speech, indies have proven that with less money to spend, a savvy campaign and a little luck, the right film at the right time can grab the gold. Ever since the advent of screeners evened the playing field to some extent, it’s been a different ballgame. And the indies use the fall festival circuit (starting next week at Venice, followed by Telluride and Toronto) to start up the awards buzz. Already this year, indies like Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Terrence Malick’s Cannes Film Festival winner The Tree of Life are seriously in the hunt for those prized Best Picture slots and, as detailed by the soon-to-be-released contenders from the companies below, they might not be alone among upstart pictures this year.

Here’s a look at what possible award contenders from the indie sector will be coming our way in the last four — and most crucial — months of the year.

The Weinstein Company

With The King’s Speech last year, the Weinsteins scored their first Best Picture triumph since the heady days of Miramax. Can they do it two years in a row with another British bio, The Iron Lady? Just about everyone agrees Meryl Streep’s still-unseen portrait of Margaret Thatcher in this Dec. 16 release will put her in strong contention to finally win that third Oscar, but can the movie score, too? Time will tell, although it would seem to be a better shot in the Actress category.

Harvey Weinstein had a big Cannes triumph with the crowd-pleasing black-and-white French-produced silent picture The Artist (Nov. 23), and it could have the same effect on the Academy audience that it did with the French, thereby leading to one of those Best Picture slots, even though the movie might not have enough “gravitas” to sneak in. The Weinsteins will get a good idea when the film launches in the English-speaking world next week on the fest circuit. Certainly Cannes Best Actor Jean Dujardin is a great bet for a nomination no matter what.

With a busy fall, the company is hoping Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh — who play Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn (Nov. 4) — will land acting kudos along with Ralph Fiennes (who also directed) in the title role of the contemporary Shakespeare adaptation Coriolanus (Dec. 2). As his mother, Vanessa Redgrave is extraordinary in a beefy supporting turn. She should start getting the gowns for the awards circuit ready now.

Awards prospects are anybody’s guess for Madonna’s latest directorial stab, W.E. (Dec. 9), which with its storyline involving Wallis Simpson is certainly different for the pop star. And I hear there is the possibility of a late-season qualifying run for the Jennifer Garner film Butter that has been described as a Capra-esque comedy/drama set in the cutthroat world of competitive butter carving. Fest auds will see this first, and their reaction will probably weigh heavily in Weinstein’s decision to enter that other cutthroat competition. Read More »

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Bradley Cooper Back In ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ Talks, Robert De Niro Too

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 1, 2011 @ 7:58pm PDTTags: Allen Hughes, Anne Hathaway, Bradley Cooper, David O. Russell, Derek Cianfrance, Eva Mendes, Mark Wahlberg, Robert De Niro, Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Bradley Cooper is back in talks to star in The Silver Linings Playbook, as it looks like Mark Wahlberg will be leaving the film over what some were saying is a scheduling conflict. And Cooper’s Limitless costar Robert De Niro is also now in the conversation to join the cast. This is The Weinstein Company adaptation of the Matthew Quick novel that David O Russell will direct this fall. Cooper had reportedly been attached to the film last year, but more recently it looked like the star would be Russell’s The Fighter cohort Wahlberg. I’m told that talks are getting underway for Cooper to star with Jennifer Lawrence, who’ll play the female lead role. 

Wahlberg will exit the movie because the production start was pushed and it now bumps up against another obligation. I’m still digging, but I think the other Wahlberg movie is Broken City, the noir drama that Wahlberg is poised to star in for director Allen Hughes. In that film, Wahlberg is in talks to play a cop-turned-private eye who gets caught up in a corruption scandal involving the city mayor. Russell Crowe has been offered the role of the mayor, so it sounds like that project is crystallizing with funding from Emmett/Furla Films. The scheduling complexity arose when Lawrence won the female lead over a crop of young actresses. Because she’s shooting The Hunger Games, she needed the picture to start later than expected, and that created the conflict for Wahlberg. Read More »

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Hot Trailer: George Clooney’s ‘The Ides Of March’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday July 28, 2011 @ 8:21am PDTTags: George Clooney, Movie Trailer, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling, Sony Pictures, The Ides of March
Mike Fleming

Sony Pictures has released a new and pretty intense trailer for The Ides of March, the George Clooney-directed thriller about cutthroat presidential politics that originated in Beau Willimon’s play. Clooney stars with Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. The film was just named to open the 2011 … Read More »

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HAMMOND: Oscar Contenders Jockey For Prime Film Fest Exposure – Or Not

By PETE HAMMOND | Tuesday July 26, 2011 @ 6:33pm PDTTags: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Madonna, Meryl Streep, Ryan Gosling, Toronto Film Festival, Venice Film Festival
Pete Hammond

Toronto: Pitt’s ‘Moneyball’, Madonna’s ‘W.E.’, Clooney’s ‘The Ides Of March’ Make Cut
Stillman’s ‘Damsels In Distress’ To Close Venice
With today’s announcement of the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival lineup (or at least the first phase of titles) and the imminent announcement Thursday of the Venice International Film Festival lineup, the buzzing about Oscar possibilities — at least as far as the all-important Fall Festival circuit is concerned — is off and running, even with five weeks to go before Venice and Telluride’s increasingly important Labor Day weekend festival get the six-month season off to its official launch. As for that latter fest, we will have to wait until Sept. 1, the day before it opens, to find out what potential Oscar goodies it might have in store.

There is indeed a pecking order in the way these announcements are made, and the reason Telluride does not go the splashy weeks-in-advance press conference route like Toronto (this year’s dates: Sept. 8-18) and Venice (Aug. 31-Sept. 10) do — as well as October’s New York Film Festival — is because it doesn’t mind keeping its lineup secret and not labeled as “World” or “North American” premieres in return for actually getting the movies and their filmmakers to attend the oh-so-cool movie geek fest (my fave) high in the Colorado mountains. Studios and distributors who participate in Telluride are sworn to secrecy as to their plans as usual (one publicist was even afraid to admit to me they weren’t going for fear of retribution), but that can’t keep us from some informed speculation which Oscar hopefuls will be making the trip there as well as to the other fests. Last year, you may recall Telluride was the first North American stop for The King’s Speech, 127 Hours and Black Swan among other big Oscar titles.

Strategies abound as to which festival is right for your film, and jockeying will continue long after these announcements and right up to festival time. A wrong decision can be deadly for a film’s potential marketing and awards campaign, which is why studios and distributors are so cautious about jumping into the early fall festival waters, particularly, as in many cases this year, where the film isn’t even scheduled until the holiday season. Read More »

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Hot Red Band Trailer: ‘Drive’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday July 22, 2011 @ 11:11am PDTTags: Albert Brooks, Carey Mulligan, Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ron Perlman, Ryan Gosling
Mike Fleming

Just in time for Comic-Con, FilmDistrict has unveiled a red band trailer for Drive, the Nicolas Winding Refn-directed drama that stars Ryan Gosling, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman and Carey Mulligan. Is it me, or does Gosling seem very much like Steve McQueen-esque in one of those 70s movies and Brooks … Read More »

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Oscar Isaac Is ‘Bourne’ Again In Robert Ludlum Thriller Spinoff

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday July 21, 2011 @ 7:48pm PDTTags: Anthony Mackie, Carey Mulligan, Channing Tatum, Edward Norton, Jeremy Renner, Justin Long, Madonna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Oscar Isaac, Rachel Weisz, Rosario Dawson, Ryan Gosling, The Bourne Legacy, Tony Gilroy, Viola Davis
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Not long ago, newcomer Oscar Isaac tested for Tony Gilroy and the lead role in Universal’s The Bourne Legacy and made such a strong impression that the director seriously considered giving the actor the lead role that went to … Read More »

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Giovanni Ribisi Joins Warner Bros’ ‘The Gangster Squad’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday July 6, 2011 @ 6:16pm PDTTags: Film Casting, Giovanni Ribisi, Josh Brolin, Ruben Fleischer, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Will Beall

EXCLUSIVE: Giovanni Ribisi has landed a co-starring role in Warner Bros’ The Gangster Squad, the period crime drama Ruben Fleischer is directing that stars Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen, and Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin as members of the elite … Read More »

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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 »

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Sony Pictures Acquires Action Pitch Vehicle For ‘Thor’s Chris Hemsworth

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 29, 2011 @ 3:00pm PDTTags: Beau Flynn, Carl Rinsch, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Hossein Amini, Keanu Reeves, Kenneth Branagh, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Sony Pictures, Tripp Vinson
Mike Fleming

Sony Pictures has acquired Shadow Runner, a pitch for an action thriller that will star Thor’s Chris Hemsworth. Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson will produce through the Contrafilm banner with ROAR’s Will Ward. Studio’s keeping the fictional project under wraps, but this deal has taken awhile to come together, and its original genesis was an idea by Drive scribe Hossein Amini. The inspiration was an incident in which an Israeli assassination team targeted a Hamas leader whom the Israelis believe murdered several soldiers and helped stockpile Iranian-made missiles. He was tracked to Dubai, and the Israelis managed to smuggle in an entire 17-person hit team to take him out in the corridor of a five-star hotel. The operatives were captured on a hotel security camera trailing after the victim, reemerging and getting on the elevator after he was killed. I’m told that the film won’t replicate those events, but Hemsworth will lead an elite team of operatives who take on impossible tasks. Amini will be exec producer. Read More »

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CAA Signs Christina Hendricks

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Sunday June 26, 2011 @ 6:37pm PDTTags: Agency Signing, CAA, Christina Hendricks, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ryan Gosling
Mike Fleming

CAA has signed Emmy-nominated Mad Men star Christina Hendricks. Hendricks, who plays Joan Holloway on AMC’s drama series, co-stars with Ryan Gosling in the Nicolas Winding Refn-directed Drive and the Weinstein Company’s I Don’t Know How She Does It. She … Read More »

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George Clooney’s ‘Ides Of March’ To Open Venice Film Festival

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday June 20, 2011 @ 7:09pm PDTTags: Evan Rachel Wood, Farragut North, George Clooney, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti, Ryan Gosling, Steven Soderbergh, The Ides of March, Venice Film Festival
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: The George Clooney-directed The Ides of March will open the Venice Film Festival on Aug. 31, I’m told. The film, adapted from Beau Willimon’s play Farragut North, stars Clooney as a presidential candidate, Ryan Gosling as a head … Read More »

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HAMMOND On L.A. Film Festival Opening: Can It Ever Challenge Toronto Or Telluride?

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday June 17, 2011 @ 3:05am PDTTags: Bernie, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Drive, Jack Black, James Franco, Los Angeles Film Festival, Ryan Gosling, Shirley MacLaine
Pete Hammond

Although the Cannes Film Festival just ended three weeks ago, there’s always another film fest around the corner trying to steal its thunder and become part of the cinematic conversation. On Thursday night, the Los Angeles Film Festival, now in its 17th year, opened with the world premiere of the Richard Linklater (School of Rock, Dazed and Confused) comedy Bernie, with stars Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey joining its writer-director in introducing the film at downtown L.A.’s LA Live Regal Cinemas, where the fest moved last year. Not that it’s easy navigating the Los Angeles freeways at rush hour to get downtown, an off-the-beaten track place to premiere your movie, but the unapologetic black comedy and true-life tale of a small-town undertaker who caters to the much-hated Texas town’s matron until he reaches for a gun was worth the herculean effort navigating the annoying traffic jams and $25 parking fee (I didn’t read the signs carefully) just to see this splendid trio of actors deliver terrific performances backed by a great supporting group of locals who won big laughs throughout.

Bernie is an acquistion title and likely will be snapped up immediately by some enterprising distributor even though it’s not an obvious commercial hit. It is Black’s best work in some time. It could develop a following on the indie circuit though, and it certainly had the crowd (which included well-wishers like Linklater friend Steven Soderbergh and wife Jules Asner) buzzing at the crowded after-party on the L.A. Live parking garage rooftop.

Film Independent (which runs the fest as well as the Spirit Awards) board members I spoke to at the premiere are hopeful Bernie could become the fest’s first big breakout acquisition title, and reps from many indie distribs were in attendance. In fact, the fest delayed announcement of its opening film until after the Cannes festival was over because producers did not want to be inundated with calls about acquiring the film during that market and wanted to wait until it could premiere cold in L.A., a big tribute to the growing clout of LAFF. Read More »

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Eva Mendes, Greta Gerwig In Talks For ‘The Place Beyond The Pines’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday June 14, 2011 @ 9:50am PDTTags: Bradley Cooper, Derek Cianfrance, Eva Mendes, Greta Gerwig, Ryan Gosling, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Eva Mendes is set and Greta Gerwig is in talks to star alongside Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper in The Place Beyond The Pines, a multi-generational crime drama … Read More »

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No ‘Idolmaker’ For Ryan Gosling

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday June 2, 2011 @ 4:52pm PDTTags: Derek Cianfrance, Josh Brolin, MGM, Ruben Fleischer, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Taylor Hackford, The Idolmaker, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

Here’s how fast things move in Hollywood. At Cannes, I got my confirmations and revealed that Ryan Gosling would direct and star in MGM’s remake of The Idolmaker. Now, a couple weeks later, I get to report that he’s had to back out of the picture, at least for now. He just informed the studio he would be too busy. He’s in pre-production on A Place Beyond the Pines, which reteams him with Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance, and then Gosling moves immediately into the Ruben Fleischer-directed Gangster Squad, starring with Sean Penn and Josh Brolin in the period crime drama for Warner Bros. MGM is convinced that Idolmaker is a plum project and the studio and will continue developing the picture. If Gosling is available, they will revisit it down the line. It is fun to watch Gosling’s transformation from darling of the independent film set to arguably the most coveted young leading man for studio films. After turning down lead roles in recent years I’ve heard included Superman, Jack Ryan, Akira and The Lone Ranger, Gosling is suddenly giving the studios a chance. He impressed the Cannes set with the Nicolas Refn-directed Drive, and Warner Bros is offering him everything after testing Crazy, Stupid, Love, with the studio getting Gosling to reteam with Refn in a remake of Logan’s Run. Read More »

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CANNES: Hammond Analysis, Jury Explains Their Vote, Winners Talk

By PETE HAMMOND | Sunday May 22, 2011 @ 3:03pm PDTTags: Awards, Cannes, Cannes Film Festival, Jude Law, Kirsten Dunst, Palme d'Or, Robert De Niro, Ryan Gosling, The Tree of Life
Pete Hammond

CANNES AWARD SHOCKER: Terrence Malick’s ‘The Tree Of Life’ Wins Palme d’Or

In the end, it was the movie that has been the most talked about over the past two Cannes Film Festivals, so it was probably preordained, even in … Read More »

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CANNES: Sean Goes Glam Rock, Uma Leaves Town, Sarkozy Film Sold To U.S.

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday May 20, 2011 @ 6:14pm PDTTags: Awards, Cannes, Ryan Gosling, Sarkozy, Sean Penn, Uma Thurman
Pete Hammond

Sean Penn looked like he just rolled out of bed at the 11 AM press conference following the media screening of his second competition film of the week, This Must Be The Place, the first English-language film from Italian director Paolo Sorrentino ( Il Divo). He probably did, considering I spotted him having a great time in the wee hours at the Eden Roc afterparty following the big Cinema Against AIDS event at Hotel Du Cap Thursday night. These Cannes hours can be rough. He did well enough, though, trying to explain what drew him to Sorrentino’s entertaining if quirky but oddly touching story of a washed-up-at-age-50 rock star from the 1980s named Cheyenne who suffers from depression and malaise until he gets a chance at renewal upholding his late father’s honor. Early reviews I’ve read on the film range from “transformative” to “embarrassing” — in other words, mixed — with general consensus that David Byrne’s songs are keepers. Also, Penn’s go-for-broke performance, a risky and engaging and right-on-the-nose turn, is one for the ages even if you don’t personally think this movie must be the place to be. Read More »

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Cannes: Ryan Gosling To Star In & Direct Remake Of ‘The Idolmaker’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday May 13, 2011 @ 3:24pm PDTTags: Cannes, MGM, Ryan Gosling, The Idolmaker
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Gosling is set to star and direct a remake of the 1980 movie The Idolmaker for MGM. It would be the Oscar-nominated actor’s directorial debut. Idolmaker, directed by Taylor Hackford, starred Ray Sharkey in a story about the … Read More »

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Mob Movie Mania: Relativity Buys ‘Ness/Capone’ As Other Pics Percolate

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday April 27, 2011 @ 4:27pm PDTTags: Al Capone, David Yates, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Gianni Nunnari, Jason Felts, Joe Pesci, John Gotti Jr, John Travolta, Josh Brolin, Kevin Costner, Lindsay Lohan, Martin Scorsese, Mickey Cohen, Nick Cassavetes, Rene Rigal, Ruben Fleischer, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Kavanaugh, Sean Penn
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: At a time when organized crime films are back in vogue, Relativity Media’s Ryan Kavanaugh is wetting his beak. He’s acquired Ness/Capone, a Grant Pierce Myers script that made the 2010 Black Script and puts a new spin on the epic battle between Eliot Ness and Al Capone during the Prohibition Era 1920s. That battle was famously chronicled in the Brian DePalma-directed movie based on the TV series The Untouchables. Myers went back to the history books and came away with a much different version of Ness. While Kevin Costner played him as an incorruptible married choirboy who had to be taught to meet the mob on its own crooked terms, Ness/Capone’s Ness is a skirt-chasing 26-year old publicity hound who seemed to get an adrenaline charge out of courting danger, kicking in doors, smashing moonshine stores and rubbing it in the noses of Capone and other mobsters. He paraded confiscated bootleg trucks past Capone’s hotel, calling Capone in advance to suggest he look out the window. Deals are still being worked out, but the film will be produced by Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Jeremy Bell along with Hollywood Gang’s Gianni Nunnari and Virgin Produced’s Jason Felts and Rene Rigal.

This puts Relativity Media in another potential pic race (it has already gone to the mattresses against Universal over rival Snow White films). Warner Bros has its own Capone project, the Walon Green-scripted Cicero, an origin story. I’ve reported that the project has interest from David Yates when he resurfaces from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, his fourth and final Potter pic. Warner Bros also is going gangbusters on Gangster Squad, the Ruben Fleischer-directed pic that has Sean Penn negotiating to play L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen, and Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin as the cops who try to bring him down. Read More »

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