The Year That Was: 2014 in Film

Check out ALL of the PDC end of year lists!

Review: Ava DuVernay's 'Selma'

Starring David Oyelowo

Review: Rob Marshall's 'Into The Woods'

Starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Anna Kendrick

Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes'

Starring Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams

Showing posts with label The Great Wall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Great Wall. Show all posts

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Jim Carrey goes 'Deep Cover'; Pedro Pascal Climbs 'The Great Wall'



Now that Dumb and Dumber To has bucked the expected poor reviews and earned more than $120M worldwide, producers are eager to work with Jim Carrey on another project. Carrey will star in Deep Cover, a comedy based on a pitch from writer Johnny Rosenthal. Plot details are under wraps but it's probably not a remake of the 1992 Laurence Fishburne/Jeff Goldblum cop thriller with the Dr. Dre soundtrack.  [Deadline]

He's battled The Mountain and lost...badly, now Game of Thrones' Pedro Pascal could face The Great Wall. The Red Viper himself is circling a role in the Chinese action movie from Zhang Yimou (The Flowers of War), expected to be the biggest movie ever filmed in China. Matt Damon is in talks to lead the film but isn't confirmed yet, and given all of the names that have passed through this project who knows what the final cast will look like. Ed Zwick was once on board to direct Henry Cavill and Benjamin Walker, but all dropped out. Bryan Cranston was in talks for it, as well, but he too appears to have fallen off. The story, most recently penned by Tony Gilroy, follows elite British soldiers who discover the construction of the landmark is a means of warding off dangerous creatures. The supernatural flick is set to open November 23rd 2016.  [TheWrap]

Monday, September 22, 2014

Bryan Cranston Eyes 'The Great Wall'; Anthony Hopkins will 'Go with Me'; John Travolta Puts 'Life on the Line'



 Now that Matt Damon is said to be considering a role in Zhang Yimou's Chinese epic, The Great Wall, the latest to give it a look is Bryan Cranston. The Breaking Bad star and multiple Emmy-winner may join the film which examines the mysterious origins of China's wondrous landmark. Cranson was last seen (for a few minutes, anyway) in Godzilla, and will soon star in a Dalton Trumbo biopic opposite Helen Mirren. [Deadline]

Anthony Hopkins is reteaming with his Kidnapping Freddy Heineken director Daniel Alfredson for another thriller, Go with Me. Greg Jacobs (Magic Mike XXL director) and Joe Gangemi adapted the script from Castle Freeman Jr.'s book about "a young woman who returns to her hometown in the Pacific Northwest only to be harassed by an ex-cop turned crimelord named Blackway. Forsaken by the locals and advised to leave town by the local sheriff, she instead turns to an ex-logger (Hopkins) and his sidekick to help her fight back against her sociopathic stalker."

John Travolta, Kate Bosworth, and Devon Sawa (where's he been?) will star in Life on the Line, an action thriller directed by Saw V's David Hackl.  The disaster drama follows a crew of eccentric electrical grid linemen who do the dangerous high-wire job while trying to hold on to the women they love and survive a massive storm that threatens to rip their lives apart.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Matt Damon may Scale 'The Great Wall' with Zhang Yimou



Matt Damon has been in the news a lot this week as it's looking more likely he'll return with Paul Greengrass for a fifth Jason Bourne movie. But that's hardly settled, and in the meantime Damon is considering another major film in The Great Wall, which recently added Chinese helmer Zhang Yimou.

Legendary Pictures has been trying to get The Great Wall constructed for awhile, initially hiring Ed Zwick to write and direct the film that explores the mysterious origins of the world wonder. Benjamin Walker and Henry Cavill came on to star but the project couldn't get off the ground. Yimou came aboard to get things moving again and Damon is said to be a fan of the House of Flying Daggers director's work. He almost starred in his film, The Flowers of War, but the role went to Christian Bale. Another possible attraction for Damon is the most recent script rewrite by Tony Gilroy, his screenwriter on all of the Bourne films. Then again Damon didn't have such nice things to say about Gilroy once. Legendary is going to want this film to play huge in China, obviously, and pairing Yimou with a big Hollywood star is the path their taking to ensure it happens.

How Damon plans to fit this into his schedule is another story. With Bourne somewhere in the future he also has Ridley Scott's The Martian to wrap up. [Deadline]

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Joe Cornish to Direct 'Section 6'; Zhang Yimou Scales 'The Great Wall', and More


* Attack the Block director Joe Cornish has flirted with a number of follow-up projects, including Star Trek 3 and Masters of the Universe, but he's finally made a decision on what he'll tackle next. Cornish will direct Section 6, eyed as a potential franchise with rising star Jack O'Connell in the lead role. The story, penned by Aaron Berg, chronicles the formation of Britain's secret intelligence agency, known as MI6. [TheWrap]

* The Great Wall is being rebuilt, only now it's with House of Flying Daggers director, Zhang Yimou. Yimou is taking over for Ed Zwick on the big budget action film, which had Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), Zhang Ziyi, and Henry Cavill starring before production ground to a halt. Max Brooks (World War Z) and Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull developed the story which explores the mystery of the Great Wall of China's construction. British soldiers happen upon the wall and learn of a supernatural threat that must be defended against. Yimou has been making headway here in America, recently signing on to direct an adaptation of Robert Ludlum's The Parsifal Mosaic.

* Ready for more overwrought Nicholas Sparks adaptations, guys? George Tillman Jr. (Faster) has made the regrettable decision to bring Sparks' novel, The Longest Ride, to the big screen. Craig Bolotin will pen the script which tells two stories that will probably cross paths in a really ridiculous manner. The first story "focuses on an elderly man who lies trapped in a car accident, and, while fighting to remain conscious, sees visions of his deceased wife and their life together. The second centers on a high school senior who meets a young bull rider with a secret." [THR]