Matilda Lutz Grabs 'Rings'; Juliette Binoche is 'Polina'; Hugh Jackman Joins "Eddie the Eagle" Biopic

 The third chapter in The Ring franchise was confirmed last year when F. Javier Gutierrez came aboard as director, and now finally the film has a star and title. Italian actress Matilda Lutz will lead Rings, which will continue the horror centered on a mysterious video tape that causes those who watch it to die a week later. Other than the return of the demonic child Samara, the film will feature all new characters. This will be the biggest role of Lutz's career after starring in a couple of little-seen features. [TheWrap]

The always-great Juliette Binoche has landed the starring role in Polina, the directorial debut of choreographer Angelin Preljocaj. Based on the French graphic novel, the film is set in "Moscow in the early 90’s and follows the journey of Polina, a gifted ballerina from a modest background who joins the prestigious school of Professor Bojinsky and becomes a Bolshoi dancer at 18. Pic turns on Polina’s love story with a French dancer who initiates her to contemporary dance and leads her to travel to different parts of the world." Preljocaj will co-write and direct alongside Valerie Muller. [Variety]

First rumored more than a week ago, The Wrap is now confirming that Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service) will lead a biopic on British Olympic skier Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards. Egerton's 'Kingsman' director Matthew Vaughn will produce while his pal Dexter Fletcher (Wild Bill) will direct. Egerton would play Edwards, who in 1988 became the first to ever represent Great Britain in Olympics for ski jumping. He became something of a national hero for his perseverance and underdog spirit, although he finished last in the events he competed in. Jackman would take on the role of Edwards' mentor, Chuck Berghorn, while Timothy Spall is being sought to play Edwards' father.

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Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' Named Best Film by New York Film Critics Circle

Just because the New York Film Critics Circle feels the need to be the first awards out of the gate each year doesn't mean they hold sway over the Oscar race. In fact, they absolutely don't if last year's three honors for American Hustle are anything to go by. This year they are again first in line to reveal their winners, and it's Richard Linklater's coming-of-age drama Boyhood leading the pack with three wins.

Boyhood won for Best Director, Best Film, plus a victory for Patricia Arquette in the Best Supporting Actress category. Best Actress went to Marion Cotillard for the divisive (and mostly forgotten) period drama, The Immigrant, while Timothy Spall won Best Actor for Mr. Turner. Unsurprisingly, The Lego Movie won for Best Animated Feature, while Best First Feature Award went to Jennifer Kent for her inventive horror, The Babadook. If there's one category where a win might actually be a prelude to further victories, it's the Best Supporting Actor award which went to J.K. Simmons for Whiplash. Full list of winners is below:

Best Film
Boyhood

Best Actor
Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant; Two Days, One Night

Best Director
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Best Foreign Language Film
Ida (Poland, dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)

Best Animated Film
The Lego Movie (dirs. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller)

Best Screenplay 
The Grand Budapest Hotel (dir. Wes Anderson)

Special Award
Adrienne Mencia

Best Cinematography
Darius Khondji, The Immigrant 

Best First Film 
Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook

Best Non-fiction Film (Documentary)
Citizenfour (dir. Laura Poitras)

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New Trailer for Mike Leigh's 'Mr. Turner' Starring Timothy Spall

Mike Leigh's last film was four years ago with the wonderful, seasonal drama Another Year, but he made his return to Cannes with the period biopic, Mr. Turner. Starring Timothy Spall in a rare leading turn, his performance as controversial landscape artist J.M.W. Turner earned him Cannes' Best Actor award, and elevated him to Oscar hopeful for later this year. As the film makes its way stateside, a new U.S. trailer has been released. Here's the official synopsis:

MR. TURNER explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies.

Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.

Sony Pictures Classics will roll out Mr. Turner on December 19th. 

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'Winter Sleep' Wins Palme d'Or at Cannes; Bennett Miller Wins Best Director for 'Foxcatcher'

The curtain has drawn on the glamorous 64th Cannes Film Festival, and the event came to a close with polarizing Turkish film Winter Sleep taking home the prestigious Palme d'Or. Clocking in at over 3 hours, the second year in a row a film of that length has won, Winter's Sleep was directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan who accepted the award from Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman. Some had surmised that Jane Campion's majority-female jury would be more open to selecting Naomi Kawase's acclaimed film, Still the Water, but we saw that gender ultimately played no part.

Taking home the Grand Prix was Alice Rohrwacher's The Wonders, while Bennett Miller won the top directing award for Foxcatcher, which is expected to be an Oscar contender later this year. Timothy Spall won best actor for Mike Leigh's highly-praised Mr. Turner, and Julianne Moore took home best actress for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars.

The full list of winners is below.

Palme d’Or: “Winter Sleep” (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey-Germany-France)
Grand Prix: “The Wonders” (Alice Rohrwacher, Italy-Switzerland-Germany)
Director: Bennett Miller, “Foxcatcher” (U.S.)
Actor: Timothy Spall, “Mr. Turner” (Mike Leigh, U.K.-France-Germany)
Actress: Julianne Moore, “Maps to the Stars” (David Cronenberg, Canada-Germany)
Jury Prize (tie): “Mommy” (Xavier Dolan, Canada) and “Goodbye to Language” (Jean-Luc Godard, France)
Screenplay: Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin, “Leviathan” (Russia)
Camera d’Or: “Party Girl” (Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis)
Short Films Palme d’Or: “Leidi” (Simon Mesa Soto)
Short Films Special Mention: “Aissa” (Clement Trehin-Lalanne)
Ecumenical Jury Prize: “Timbuktu” (Abderrahmane Sissako, Mauritania-France)

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Un Certain Regard Prize: “White God” (Kornel Mundruczo, Hungary-Germany-Sweden)
Jury prize: “Force Majeure” (Ruben Ostlund, Sweden-France-Denmark-Norway)
Special Prize: “The Salt of the Earth” (Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, France-Italy)
Ensemble: “Party Girl” (Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis, France)
Actor: David Gulpilil, “Charlie’s Country” (Rolf de Heer, Australia)

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

Art Cinema Award: “Les Combattants” (Thomas Cailley, France)
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “Les Combattants”
Europa Cinemas Label: “Les Combattants”

CRITICS’ WEEK

Grand Prize: “The Tribe” (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine)
Visionary Prize: “The Tribe”
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “Hope” (Boris Lojkine, France)

FIPRESCI

Competition: “Winter Sleep”
Un Certain Regard: “Jauja” (Lisandro Alonso, Denmark-U.S.-Argentina)
Directors’ Fortnight: “Les Combattants”

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Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson Plan a Heist in 'The Love Punch' Trailer

If you need an actor to play an art or jewel thief, Pierce Brosnan is probably your guy. While he hasn't played James Bond in quite awhile, the days of the excellent Thomas Crown Affair are also long behind him, the guy just has the suave style to play an international man of mystery, even when that's not exactly what he's being called upon to do. Such is the case with his upcoming rom-com/heist movie, The Love Punch, where he plays an ordinary guy looking to make a big score.

Brosnan stars alongside Emma Thompson as an older, divorced couple who plan to steal a $10M diamond after their retirement savings are wiped out in a financial scam. They're joined in this bumbling scheme by their equally-clueless neighbors (Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie) in the plot that takes them to London, Paris, and the French Riviera.

Brosnan, Thompson, and the romantic charms of Paris are a tough combo to beat, even for a film that looks pretty awful. Directed by Joel Hopkins (Jump Tomorrow, Last Chance Harvey), The Love Punch opens on May 23rd.

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