Patty Jenkins Scores a 'Jackpot'; Brad Anderson Lines Up Spy Flick 'Shadow Run'

Remember Patty Jenkins? It's okay if you don't since she hasn't directed a feature film since 2003's Monster with Charlize Theron. She had been in line for Marvel's Thor: The Dark World but was replaced by Alan Taylor over creative differences. She's been busy on TV ever since, but now she's turning to the big screen once again for a remake of Norwegian crime film Jackpot, based on the book by Jo Nesbo (Headhunters). The film is described as an action-comedy about four men who win big in a sports betting pool, only to have things turn violent when it comes time to split the winnings. Will Gluck (Easy A) is producing this one, with a script by The Expendables' David Callaham. [THR]

Brad Anderson (Transsiberian, a personal favorite) is set to direct Shadow Run, a spy film penned by Joe Gazzam (Cliffhanger). No plot details are available yet but Deadline refers to it as "Bourne-esque", which is what every studio is aiming for with their espionage movies now. Anderson scored an unexpected hit last year with the Halle Berry thriller, The Call, and recently directed Stonehearst Asylum starring Kate Beckinsale.

Read More

First Trailer for 'Stonehearst Asylum' Starring Kate Beckinsale, Michael Caine, and Ben Kingsley

Any time there's an opportunity to see two legends like Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley in the same movie it's a good thing, but should we be concerned about the utter lack of buzz for psychological thriller, Stonehearst Asylum? Formerly titled Eliza Graves, the film stars Kate Beckinsale and Jim Sturgess, and is based on an Edgar Allen Poe short. So what's the problem? Maybe the answers can be found in the first trailer, which has just come online.

Directed by Brad Anderson, who led one of the great modern mystery films in Transsiberian, this one looks like a poor man's Shutter Island. Sturgess plays a young med school grad who takes a job at a psychiatric hospital where "the inmates are running the asylum" has never been a more appropriate turn of phrase. The mood is murky (why are asylums always placed under such dense fog?) and it looks pretty campy, so maybe there's some fun to be had?

Stonehearst Asylum hits VOD and theaters the same day on October 24th.

Read More

Kate Beckinsale to star in Brad Anderson's 'Eliza Graves'

Brad Anderson's The Call surprised many with a better-than-expected debut this weekend, beating out the star-powered cast of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. It's already Anderson's most financially successful film, and he's not wasting any time in finding a new leading lady for his next project.

Kate Beckinsale is in talks to star in Eliza Graves, a psychological thriller which Anderson will direct from a script by Joe Grangeni. Loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe's 1845 short The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether, the film has Beckinsale as the title character, a patient at a mental institution in which the inmates have taken over and are posing as doctors. She becomes the object of affection of a newly arrived Harvard Medical School grad who has no idea of the topsy-turvy world he just entered.

After a busy 2012 in which she starred in Contraband, Underworld: Awakening, and the Total Recall remake, Beckinsale has been pretty quiet up until now. Assuming all goes according to plan, a June 21st start date is being targeted.  [THR]

Read More

Trailer Time: Vanishing on 7th Street, starring Hayden Christensen and Thandie Newton

Brad Anderson directed one of my favorite films of the last few years, the murder mystery on a train flick, Transsiberian. But before that he also provided a couple of decent flicks that caught my eye, even if they didn't exactly bowl me over, specifically The Machinist(best known for Christian Bale's drastic weight loss for the role) and 1998's Next Stop Wonderland.  His latest film Vanishing on 7th Street stars Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, and John Lequizamo as survivors of a global blackout that seems to have caused nearly the entire world's population to vanish into thin air.  Not sure how that works but the trailer looks like the opening to every failed ABC tv series that's come out since Lost. Empty streets, run down buildings, lots of people standing around looking astonished. Here's hoping it's better than it appears to be.

Vanishing on 7th Street should open in theaters on February 18th, 2011, but you can get it On Demand starting in January. Check out the trailer and let us know what you think!

Read More