Lots of little news bits today, prompting a second serving of Movie Morsels as Ben Affleck has found a lead for his next film, Sony Classics dates a couple of Oscar contenders, Stephenie Meyer’s non-“Twilight” tome finds a home, a little ‘Dark Knight Rises’ rumor for you and then some. Have at it…
A pair of Sony Classics features have been dated as Pedro Almodovar‘s The Skin I Live In (my review here) will arrive on October 7 and Roman Polanski’s Carnage starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly will hit theaters on November 18. Both films will bow in New York and Los Angeles before expanding nationwide. Carnage is set to debut at the Venice Film Festival in September and I wouldn’t be surprised if it also screened in Toronto that same month. [Variety via The Playlist]
Open Road Films has acquired distribution rights to The Host, the filmed adaptation of “Twilight” author, Stephenie Meyer‘s novel of the same name. The story centers on an alien race called Souls which take over Earth, and inhabit the bodies of humans. But when one “wild” human refuses to succumb, she and the alien spirit become unwilling allies and set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love. The human is named Melanie Stryder and the alien is referred to as The Wanderer, both will be played by Saoirse Ronan (Hanna). Andrew Niccol (Now) directs and the film will be released on March 29, 2013 with principal photography scheduled to begin in February 2012 in Louisiana and New Mexico. For more on the story you can click here. [THR]
Chalk this up to rumor, but since Christopher Nolan is filming sequences of The Dark Knight Rises in Scotland I figured I’d give this story a moment in the sun as it’s being reported wants to shut down a major highway in Scotland, the A9, for an “epic” stunt that will take three days to film. Here’s how it was described:
The movie crew desperately want to film this. It’s a key section of the film. Batman is on board a plane that is hurtling to the ground. The script says he takes control of it and lands it on the road while it’s on fire. People are going to love it. It’s a tremendous challenge.
The source of the news is a bit sketchy as I have a hard time imagining someone with access to the script would have been so willing to give out the information, but the stunt itself doesn’t sound too unbelievable to be true. [Metro]
Nicole Kidman is in talks to replace Sofia Vergara (“Modern Family”) in Lee Daniels‘ The Paperboy, which centers on a reporter and his brother who investigate the events surrounding a murder in order to exonerate a man on death row. Kidman, if her deal can be made, will play a woman with a dark side who writes letters to men on death row. She brings the case to the attention of the reporter, developing a relationship with him. Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron are also aboard. Vergara had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with “Modern Family” which arose after Tobey Maguire bailed on the production, delaying it. There is still no word on a replacement for Maguire. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Clint Eastwood is reportedly attempting to use his time with his J. Edgar title star, Leonardo DiCaprio, to try and woo him to star opposite Beyonce in the helmer’s next project, the latest adaptation of A Star is Born with a script by Will Fetters (Remember Me). Previous candidates mentioned as possible male leads included Will Smith, P Diddy, Eddie Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Hamm. [Deadline]
Ben Affleck has decided to cast himself as the lead in his upcoming film Argo. He will play Tony Mendez, the CIA exfiltration expert who created a fake Hollywood production to get six Americans who were hiding out at the Canadian ambassador’s out of Iran. Alan Arkin and John Goodman will co-star as Hollywood producer Lester Siegel and Oscar-winning makeup artist John Chambers, respectively. [Variety]
