New Trailer for Barry Levinson's 'The Humbling' starring Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig

If there's an actor due for a major comeback it's Al Pacino. After falling off with some, let's admit it, pretty awful roles in movies well beneath his legendary status, Pacino has been earning great reviews for his performance in David Gordon Green's Manglehorn, and for his starring turn opposite Greta Gerwig in The Humbling.

A new trailer for the adaptation of Philip Roth's novel has been released, and it shows Pacino looking in top form. Reteaming with Barry Levinson, his director on HBO's You Don't Know Jack, Pacino plays a declining Broadway actor who falls in love with a mercurial young lesbian played by Gerwig.  Dianne Wiest, Charles Grodin, Mandy Patinkin, and Kyra Sedgewick co-star in The Humbling, which Millennium Films will release on January 23rd 2015 theatrically and On Demand.


The Humbling TRAILER 1 (2014) - Al Pacino, Greta Gerwig Movie HD by MovieTampan

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Al Pacino Romances Greta Gerwig in Trailer for 'The Humbling'

Even the greatest actors can fall into a creative rut, and Al Pacino has been in desperate need of a meaty role to bounce back into for awhile. Fortunately, he was met with more than one opportunity to do just that, and he arrived at the Venice Film Festival with two dramatic projects. One was David Gordon Green's Manglehorn, which Pacino is already earning raves for, and the other was the romantic comedy The Humbling, a passion project he's been developing based on the Philip Roth novel.

Directed by Barry Levinson (Rain Man) and co-starring Greta Gerwig, the slightly-meta film has Pacino as an aging Broadway star in the midst of a professional and personal crisis. After an accident puts him on the sidelines, he strikes up a romantic relationship with a much younger woman who turns out to be the daughter of a friend, and also a lesbian.

Roth received some of the harshest criticism of his career for The Humbling and early reviews of the film have been pretty unkind. The trailer does look a little uneven and talky, although it's good to see Pacino getting energized for a role again.  The Humbling also features a cast of stage and screen veterans including Dianne Wiest, Charles Grodin, Mandy Patinkin, Kyra Sedgewick, Nina Arianda, and Dan Hedaya. While it doesn't have a firm release date yet 2015 is likely when it will open.


The Humbling - Official Trailer (2014) Al Pacino by MovieSpawn

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Greta Gerwig Cast in 'The Humbling'; Alexandra Daddario goes to 'San Andreas'; Kit Harington Leads 'Testament of Youth'

* Here's one that you may have forgotten. A few years ago, back before Al Pacino and director Barry Levinson were going to team for that Gotti film (Levinson dropped out of it), they were set to unite for The Humbling, an adaptation of Philip Roth's book about "an aging actor who has an affair with a lesbian woman half his age at a secluded country house in Connecticut". Not much was heard about it, but the movie is now in post-production and has been picked up by Millennium Films with Greta Gerwig and Dianne Wiest joining the cast.  Charles Grodin, Kyra Sedgewick, Dan Hedaya, Nina Arianda, and Billy Porter co-star, and presumably we'll see this by the end of the year. [Variety]

* If you've been keeping up with True Detective (I'm still an episode behind, so sue me), then you've seen Alexandra Daddario having her way with one Mr. Woody Harrelson. Now she'll get to hang out with Dwayne Johnson in 3D disaster flick San Andreas, directed by Brad Peyton. Johnson plays a chopper pilot attempting to rescue his estranged daughter after California is devastated by a massive Earthquake. Daddario, who also starred in two Percy Jackson films, is apparently being sought for a role in the Entourage movie.  [Deadline]

* Pompeii and Game of Thrones star Kit Harington will join Alicia Vikander in Testament of Youth, an adaptation of Vera Brittain's WWI memoir. Published in 1933, the book recounted how Britain's world was thrown upside down when the war took the lives of her fiance and brother, forcing her to become a nurse on the sidelines. After the fighting stopped, she attempted to regain her life and became a prominent feminist and writer. Vikander will play Brittain, having replaced the previously-cast Saoirse Ronan, with Harington as her fiance. David Heyman (Harry Potter franchise) is producing with James Kent directing. [THR]

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Shia LaBeouf, Danny McBride, and Zooey Deschanel will 'Rock the Kasbah'

 It's probably too much to hope that all of the plagiarism controversies swirling around Shia LaBeouf are totally in the rear view, but at least he seems to be backtracking on all of that talk of retirement. The Wrap reports LaBeouf will join the already-cast Bill Murray and Bruce Willis in Rock the Kasbah, the latest film from Rain Man director, Barry Levinson.

LaBeouf isn't alone in coming aboard, either, as he'll be joined by Zooey Deschanel, Danny McBride, and Kate Hudson in the story of a hard-luck rock manager (Murray) who goes on a USO tour to Afghanistan with his final client, only to get stuck in Kabul. There he discovers a remarkable talent and guides her through the competition program, Afghan Star, in hopes of rebuilding his career.

Mitch Glazer wrote the script, and hopefully it allows plenty of room for such a great comedic ensemble to do their thing.[TheWrap]

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Johnny Depp to play mobster Whitey Bulger in 'Black Mass'

While Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, and Matt Damon are still developing their own film on infamous Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, it looks like another one is going to beat them to the punch. What's more, considering who will be taking on the Bulger role, it's guaranteed to be high-profile and may put the kibosh on any other flicks looking to tackle the same subject. Cross Creek Pictures has announced that Johnny Depp will be playing Bulger in Black Mass, a new biopic from Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson.

This looks to be Depp's first film post-The Lone Ranger, as the only thing he's seriously committed to right now is Pirates of the Caribbean 5. Black Mass is based on Dick Lehr's 2001 book, Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob. The story will follow Bulger's lengthy criminal career stretching back to the 1950s, also depicting the corrupt Boston underbelly involving the FBI and its ties to his illegal activities. Bulger was finally captured in 2011 at the age of 81, and screenwriter Mark Mallouk totally reworked the script to reflect it.

Depp has shown a certain propensity for mobster flicks like this, starring in Donnie Brasco and Public Enemies, so it's good to see him getting back into it and away from the cartoonish characters he's become famous for. Filming on Black Mass begins in May.

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