Check Out a Grizzled Leonardo DiCaprio in First Images from 'The Revenant'

Weighing the risks and rewards, that's pretty much what Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu had to do before his acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film Birdman, but it was a gamble that paid off. From a stylistic standpoint the work he and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki did was highwire-type stuff that could have been a disaster if done wrong in any way. Now the duo are looking to take an even bigger chance with the 19th-century revenge thriller, The Revenant, and now we have a first look at star Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role.
Speaking with EW, Inarritu talks about the exhilaration he feels about taking on projects that challenge him, saying...

Inarritu: “It’s a fun ride. It’s a very experimental thing that we’re doing here…I’m now addicted to doing things that can fail horribly or maybe that can give us a surprise. We are all into it."

The Revenant promises to be a severe departure from Birdman as it centers on a fur trapper who is mauled by a bear, robbed, and left for dead by his companions. DiCaprio stars alongside Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, and Will Poulter. It will be interesting to see what kind of approach Inarritu and Lubezki have settled upon this time.

Read More

Domhnall Gleeson Joins 'The Revenant'; Elle Fanning Leads Haifa al-Mansour's 'A Storm in the Stars'

 Domhnall Gleeson is lining up a damn good list of recent co-stars. He'll be seen later this year opposite Michael Fassbender, Scoot McNairy, and Maggie Gyllenhaal in the awesome music comedy, Frank. He's currently shooting Star Wars: Episode VII which stars everybody you loved as a kid plus Oscar Isaac and Lupita Nyong'o. And now he'll be teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy for The Revenant, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's upcoming revenge thriller. Co-starring Will Poulter, the film takes place in the 19th century and follows a frontiersman who seeks revenge on the men who left him for dead after being mauled by a bear. [Variety]

Wadjda director Haifa al-Mansour has cast Elle Fanning as author Mary Shelley in A Storm in the Stars. The film follows  "the tumultuous love affair between dangerously charismatic poet Percy Shelley and the brilliant and beautiful 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft." Filming is set for next year, but before then you can hear Fanning in Laika's The Boxtrolls this fall. [THR]

Read More

Martin Scorsese's 'Silence', Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 'The Revenant' Get 2015 Dates

It's too early to start really digging in to the 2014 Oscar race so it's definitely way too soon to be looking ahead to 2015's field. But if one were to hazard a guess at two potential contenders for next year they would be Martin Scorsese's Silence, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's The Revenant. And apparently the studios agree because both films are set to get release dates that put them right in the thick of the race.

Paramount is on the verge of inking a deal to distribute Scorsese's long-developing adaptation of Silence for release in November 2015. Based on the Shusaku Endo novel about two Jesuit priests in 17th century Japan as they attempt to spread Christianity and find their mentor, the film will star Andrew Garfield, Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe, and Adam Driver. Filming is due to begin later this year. [Deadline]

And then there's Inarritu's film, The Revenant, a revenge thriller that will be considerably more than that with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy starring. Now that some financial hang-ups have been resolved (thanks to Megan Ellison and Annapurna Pictures), the film is set to shoot this October and hit theaters on Christmas Day 2015. That puts it up against some heavyweight competition in Mission: Impossible 5 and Joy, the Miracle Mop film reuniting David O. Russell and Jennifer Lawrence. Wow. Lots of amazing options next year. [BoxOfficeMojo]

Read More

Jason Sudeikis Joins 'Loomis Fargo'; Tom Hanks Goes to 'Ithaca'; Will Poulter Boards 'The Revenant'

* Jason Sudeikis, who is already set to lead a Fletch reboot, has joined the comedy formerly known as Loomis Fargo. Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, and Kristen Wiig star in the Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) film about armored truck driver who teams up with a gorgeous co-worker and a group of inexperienced criminals to steal $20M from a bank. The spending sprees they on leave an obvious trail of evidence for the cops to follow, and the driver ends up getting double-crossed by his accomplices. Sudeikis will play a hit man in the story which is inspired by actual events. [TheWrap]

* Tom Hanks will make a cameo appearance in Meg Ryan's directorial debut, Ithaca, an adaptation of William Saroyan's 1943 novel, The Human Comedy. This will be the fourth collaboration between the two after they were America's favorite couple in some of the most memorable rom-coms ever made. The coming-of-age drama is set during WWII and tells the story of teenaged Homer Macauley, a telegraph bike messenger whose older brother Ulysses has been shipped off to war. Left to take care of his widowed mother, older sister, and younger brother, Homer delivers message of love, pain, death, and friendship revealing the true effects of war on the homefront. Hanks would play Homer's father. [THR]

* Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu already has Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy on board for his revenge thriller, The Revenant, and now he's made one more addition in Will Poulter. Last seen in We're the Millers, Poulter joins the film set in the 1820s and follows a "frontiersman on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling." [Variety]

Read More

*UPDATE* Tom Hardy May Reteam with Leonardo DiCaprio for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 'The Revenant'

 *UPDATE* The Wrap now confirms Tom Hardy has entered talks for The Revenant.

Once acclaimed Spanish helmer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu finishes up his comedic diversion Birdman, he's finally going to get moving on The Revenant, a film that he's been developing for years with Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn attached. And while that's an impressive trio to build any project on, it could get even better if the latest rumor involving Tom Hardy is true.

A story has emerged from the guys at Schmoes Know (grain of salt, please) that says Hardy and DiCaprio may be reunited for the first time since Christopher Nolan's Inception. It's unclear if Hardy is coming on to replace Penn, who may be too busy directing The Last Face, or if all three men would be starring in the film together. There seems to be room for them all as the story, which is based on Michael Punke's novel, centers on a fur trapper in 1823 who is mauled by a bear, then robbed and left for dead by his two companions. The man eventually recovers and treks through hundreds of miles of dangerous wilderness to get revenge.

Hardy has a few projects lined up that could get in the way. He's got the Elton John biopic, Rocketman, which was to begin production next fall, and there's also Brian Helgeland's crime epic, Legend, in which he'll take on dual roles.

Read More