This morning we learn Bryan Cranston has one of the best agents in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese’s latest film continues to shorten its title, Diablo Cody is ready to direct and Disney is ready to adapt another one of their rides to the big screen. Find out more below…
Diablo Cody (Juno) has written and will make her directorial debut on Lamb of God for Mandate Pictures. The comedy follows a young conservative religious woman who loses her faith after a plane crash, decides to go to Las Vegas to live the life of a sinner, and on her journey finds her way back to her faith. The film is apparently being fast-tracked so I suspect we’ll hear some casting news soon. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Bryan Cranston is quite the hot commodity as he has lined up several projects recently, not to mention has a small role in this weekend’s Larry Crowne. His most recent role acquisition has him playing Max Kennard, a laconic LAPD officer from Texas who enforces the law ambitiously, in Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad where he’ll join Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Michael Pena and Anthony Mackie. The film is based on the L.A. Times’ seven-part series “Tales From the Gangster Squad” penned by Paul Lieberman, which chronicled efforts by the LAPD to deal with a chaotic and corrupt Los Angeles by forming what was dubbed the Gangster Squad to keep the East Coast Mafia out of the city.
As far as other roles Cranston has lined up, he’ll be seen in Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, Andrew Stanton’s John Carter, Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages, Len Wiseman’s Total Recall and Ben Affleck’s Argo. Not bad eh? [Variety]
FilmDistrict has acquired U.S. rights to Only God Forgives, Nicolas Winding Refn‘s latest film starring Ryan Gosling and Kristen Scott Thomas. The film is set to shoot in late summer in Thailand and centers on Julian (Gosling) who runs a Thai Boxing club in Bangkok, which is a front for a drugs smuggling operation. He is well respected within the criminal underworld, but deep in his heart he feels that his life is lacking something. He meets a retired cop, The Angel of Vengeance, and finds out that he has to confront his mother. Next in theaters for Winding Refn is Drive, which also stars Gosling and is a film I loved at Cannes. You can read my review here. [Deadline]
It worked for Pirates of the Caribbean so Disney is taking a stab at adapting another one of their rides for the big screen and they’ve set their sights on the Matterhorn ride with Jason Dean Hall set to pen the script with The Hill serving as a working title. The idea behind the film is to do a thrilling, fast-paced movie centering on five young adventure seekers who, for mysterious reasons, are called to the top of the mountain and encounter a Yetis on the journey down. [Heat Vision]
It was revealed yesterday that Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Brian Selznick’s “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” has once again undergone a title change. Originally the film took the entire title of the book, but then chopped it down to Hugo Cabret and now word is it will simply be titled Hugo. Set to be released in 3D on November 23, the film follows an orphaned boy (Asa Butterfield) who secretly lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station and looks after the clocks. He gets caught up in a mystery adventure when he attempts to repair a mechanical man. The first trailer is expected to be released in front of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in mid-July. [Jeff Sneider]
