1.) Lenny Kravitz will star as singer Marvin Gaye in a biopic directed by Julien Temple. The film will focus on Gaye’s battles with addiction during the early ’80s before being shot to death by his own father in 1984. The film has reportedly acquired the rights to all the essential songs, which was a hurdle during previous attempts to film Gaye’s story. F. Gary Gray (The Negotiator) was also attached to direct a Gaye biopic for the past few years before ultimately focusing his attention on his NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton.
The film will mark Kravitz’s first time headlining a picture after playing supporting roles in Precious and The Hunger Games. As for Temple (the father of actress Juno Temple), he’s mostly known as a music video director and documentary filmmaker, but he has directed a few features including the 1988 comedy Earth Girls Are Easy and the 1996 Mickey Rourke/Tupac Shakur gangster film Bullet. London Evening Standard broke the story and didn’t give the film a title, though other outlets are calling it Midnight Love (the title of Gaye’s final album).
2.) With Andrew Dominik‘s Killing Them Softly hitting theaters this weekend, the filmmaker is back to talking about the dream project he originally set out to make before Killing Them Softly. I’m talking, of course, about the Marilyn Monroe film Blonde, which he now hopes to shoot in 2013 and calls a “sort of Polanski descent-into-madness-type movie.” Based on Joyce Carol Oates’ novel, it covers Monroe’s life from the age of seven until her death at the age of 36. “The lines between fantasy and reality become very blurred in the story,” Dominik adds, noting that the long-attached Naomi Watts is still set for the role. Brad Pitt is also attached to produce the film. [The Playlist]
3.) Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom, Killing Them Softly) will star alongside the previously cast Christina Hendricks in Ryan Gosling‘s directorial debut How to Catch a Monster. The film is a dark fairytale of sorts, with Hendricks playing a single mother who works in a fetish club. When her son discovers a secret underwater town, she must help him figure out various mysteries if they hope to make it out alive. Mendelsohn apparently impressed Gosling while they were working together on The Place Beyond the Pines, Derek Cianfrance‘s follow-up to Blue Valentine (due in March). And with Gosling looking to film Monster in May, it’s hard not to wonder how many more of his previous co-stars will join the cast in the coming months. [Moviehole]
4) According to Josh Hutcherson, part of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is being shot in IMAX. “They’re shooting, I think, all the stuff in the arena is going to be IMAX,” he told MTV News. “So when you go see it in IMAX, you’ll see the regular movie when we’re in the Districts and in the Capital. When you see us go up in the pod in the games, it will open up into IMAX.” It sounds like a cool effect that could be worth a few extra bucks, no?
5.) I know any Batman news typically leads off these types of posts, but I figured I’d leave this rumor at the bottom since it pertains to The Dark Knight Rises SPOILERS, just in cast there’s somebody somewhere who hasn’t seen it yet. With the way that film ended, many wondered if Joseph Gordon-Levitt would take over the Batman mantle in future Batman films. Well, according to reports, yes and no. Drew McWeeny at HitFix has sources that say Joseph Gordon-Levitt will “absolutely be appearing in Justice League as the new Batman.”
Furthermore, with the Justice League film still a few years off, he hears JGL could pop up in the Batsuit even earlier than that. He goes as far as speculating an Avengers-style drop-in for Batman and at least one other actor from the Nolan films during the Man of Steel closing credits. Brad already touched on Snyder’s hints at such a connection yesterday. It makes sense given how successful that blueprint was for Marvel, but let’s try not to get too excited right now.
