Nicolas Cage will 'Pay the Ghost'; Halle Berry Joins 'Kidnap'; Olivia Thirlby Rises for 'Phoenix'

* Nicolas Cage will star in the forever-developing adaptation of Pay the Ghost, a supernatural thriller based on Tim Lebbon's short story. Dennis Illiadis (Plus One) had been attached to direct but he has since dropped out and the search for a new helmer is on. Dan Kay's screenplay follows "a hard-working NYU English professor bucking for tenure when his 8-year-old son mysteriously vanishes from a Halloween day parade." The boy's presence begins to make itself known in frightening ways a year later, leading to a search through New York City and the discovery of a vengeful spirit. [Variety]

* As far as generic movie titles go does it get any worse than Kidnap? That's the film Halle Berry has just become a part of, which is directed by Luis Prieto (that Pusher remake nobody saw) and is about a mother who will stop at nothing to rescue her kidnapped son. Well, The Call sounded super lame too and Berry took it to $70M so maybe the joke will be on us again.

* Olivia Thirlby, last seen fighting crime in Dredd, has come aboard Phoenix, directed by Robert Redford's daughter, Amy. Justin Bartha and Constance Zimmer also star in the romance about "a one-night stand between love-averse strangers that sends them on a 4,000-mile trip from Brooklyn to the Grand Canyon and back." [ScreenDaily]

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"Final" Trailer for 'X-men: Days of Future Past'

Give 20th Century Fox credit; unlike their competition at Sony who have given away their Spider-Man sequel for free, they kept a good portion of X-men: Days of Future Past locked away. That was until about a week ago with tons of posters, clips, the entire opening battle, and one campy burger commercial featuring Evan Peters' Quicksilver. So with weeks to go until the film opens in theaters, the third and final trailer is here, but that doesn't mean we won't get more promos down the line.

Bryan Singer returns to the fold, and along with him come practically every actor who was part of the original trilogy. They'll combine with the X-men: First Class crew for a time-hopping story that has Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) going back to the 1970s to prevent a terrible future when mutants are hunted and killed by giant robot Sentinels. The seeds planted here will bear fruit in 2016's X-men: Apocalypse, an upcoming sequel to The Wolverine, and a potential X-force film. So basically, Fox has a lot riding on the film's success. So if you really want to see Channing Tatum as Gambit, this is the movie to pay for now.

X-men: Days of Future Past opens May 23rd.

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*UPDATE* Mutants Make a Last Stand in New 'X-men: Days of Future Past' Trailer

 *Updated with an awesome new poster!*

Before Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox can dive fully into The Wolverine 2, X-men: Apocalypse, X-force, and the further adventures of Marvel's merry mutants, they first have to get through this summer's X-men: Days of Future Past.  The time travel film, based on the classic X-men storyline, combines the X-men: First Class squad and the original team from Singer's earlier trilogy, combining forces to prevent a future when mutants are hunted down and slaughtered by robotic Sentinels.

A new trailer has been released and this is the bleakest one yet, showing what looks to be the last stand for many of the most popular X-men. Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine, and as usual he is the centerpiece of the story with the feral mutant sent back in time to the 1970s to confront younger versions of Charles Xavier and Magneto.

Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Omar Sy, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Halle Berry, Daniel Cudmore, Peter Dinklage, Boo Boo Stewart, Evan Peters, and Lucas Till, X-men: Days of Future Past opens May 23rd.


X-Men: Days of Future Past - Official Trailer / Bande-Annonce #2 [VO|HD] by Team Lyricis

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New Footage in 'X-men: Days of Future Past' Teaser; Trailer Debuts Next Week

With about 200 mutants zipping in and out of Bryan Singer's X-men: Days of Future Past, it's surprising we haven't seen more trailers to give them all a little time. Fortunately that's going to change in a week when a new trailer hits, and to further sell the overstuffed superhero sequel an Instagram teaser has been released. There are bits of new footage in the cleverly-designed promo, which surprisingly does not feature Michael Fassbender's Magneto. It does give us a brief look at new characters Bishop (Omar Sy) and Blink (Fan Bingbing). There's also Halle Berry as Storm, who may or may not have had her scenes drastically reduced.

X-men: Days of Future Past opens May 23rd, followed by X-men: Apocalypse and then The Wolverine 2.

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*UPDATE* Rumor: Halle Berry Almost Completely Cut from 'X-men: Days of Future Past'

 *UPDATE* Told you to take the NY Daily News' gossipy crew with a grain of salt. According to Superhero Hype, Berry's role has not been cut and she does "some cool stuff" in the film. All this coming from what they call a "trusty source" on the inside. I tend to believe SH when it comes to stuff like this, but we'll see for ourselves soon enough.*

The NY Daily News [via Bleeding Cool] must have an ax to grind with Halle Berry, because they wrote an unnecessarily snarky piece about her recently. First of all, the gist of the article is on her apparent separation from husband, actor Olivier Martinez, after they were married just last year and had a son in October. But then they throw in this little morsel in regards to X-men: Days of Future Past, in which she reprises her role as Storm....

Berry, who plays Storm, was cut out of every scene but one in post-production…“She only has one line in the whole movie,” our source says. “They’re not telling her until the movie comes out.”

 (They can thank us later.)

Was that really necessary? Perhaps they'd like to move in next door and pump up the stereo just as her newborn kid falls asleep? They add that her scenes were already reduced due to her pregnancy, which makes some sense considering how action intensive the film must be.  I think this, along with the total editing out of Anna Paquin's Rogue, indicates the story is only going to focus on a few core characters despite the super-sized cast. And it looks like the old crew of X-men are the ones who will be left in the background.

Of course, this is also the NY Daily News' gossip column so take this with a measure of salt. X-men: Days of Future Past opens May 23rd.

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Trailer for Long-Delayed 'Frankie & Alice' Starring Halle Berry

There are any number of reasons why a film may fail to get a proper release. Nearly all of them are business related, but some have to do with the movie never really generating a lot of good buzz. We had the first trailer for Frankie & Alice way back in 2010, when it looked like it would be another Best Actress run for Halle Berry. But the film never caught on after a brief Oscar-qualifying release, and so it fell into Hollywood limbo until now.

Four years later and a new trailer for the drama has been released in time for a small theatrical run in a couple of months. The 1970s-era story stars Berry as Frankie, a woman struggling with dissociative personality disorder. While she tries to get her life in order she's constantly fighting off her other personalities, including a Southern white racist named Alice.

Honestly, this looks pretty terrible and way too over-the-top, so it's no wonder Berry didn't get any Oscar love. Her performance did earn her a Golden Globe nomination, though, so maybe there's more subtlety than is present in this trailer. Directed by Geoffrey Sax with Stellan Skarsgard, Chandra Wilson, and Phylicia Rashad co-starring, Frankie & Alice opens April 4th.

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Halle Berry shows off her new 'X-men: Days of Future Past' costume

There was some concern that Halle Berry may not be able to return for X-men: Days of Future Past due to her recently announced pregnancy. This was after months of speculation as to whether Bryan Singer even planned to ask her back. After joking that Singer would have to shoot around her baby bump, Berry is feeling confident enough to show off Storm's new costume and hairstyle.

Singer released the image on Twitter, keeping up with the regular updates he's been providing fans of the superhero film. It's a darker, more tactical suit for Storm, and one that suggests a possible shift in personality for the African weather-goddess. Oh, and the belt should do a pretty good job of hiding her gut if need be.

Starring *deep breath* Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Michael Fassbender, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, Adan Canto, Fan Bingbing and Boo Boo Stewart, X-men: Days of Future Past opens on July 18th 2014.

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Halle Berry will unleash lightning as Storm in 'X-men: Days of Future Past'

At this point, it looks like Bryan Singer is going to bring back every crucial mutant he can for X-men: Days of Future Past. With so many of the original already asked to return, some were wondering what the hold up was over Halle Berry.  Was Storm not a necessary element of the story? Or was there a chance of someone else taking over the role? I don't recall anyone being especially in love with her performance.

It was only a few days ago that Berry was 90% sure she'd be back, and now Bryan Singer has taken to Twitter to confirm her return....

“Couldn’t be more excited that #HalleBerry has joined the cast of #XMen#DaysofFuturePast. Hopefully she can improve the weather in Montreal.”

It remains to be seen what role the weather-controlling mutant will play in the film, which is based on the classic Chris Claremont storyline involving the present day X-men attempting to stop a dystopic future where their kind are hunted by the government. Berry joins an incredible cast with Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Anna Paquin, Peter Dinklage, and Omar Sy. X-men: Days of Future Past opens on July 18th 2014.

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Halle Berry confident she'll return as Storm in 'X-men: Days of Future Past'

Bryan Singer has been trying to get the band back together for X-men: Days of Future Past, and so far he's been pretty successful. Joining the X-men: First Class crew is many of the older crew with Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, and Anna Paquin confirmed to reprise their mutant roles from the original trilogy. One name noticeably absent has been Halle Berry, with many suspecting she would never get another shot to spout some truly awful dialogue as Storm again.

But speaking with Shadow and Act, Berry was reportedly "90% sure" she'd be back, noting that contract negotiations are far enough long that they won't be falling apart now. Filming begins in April, and Singer would obviously want to have everyone locked in long before that. I still expect him to somehow work in Famke Janssen and James Marsden as centerpiece mutant couple Jean Grey and Cyclops. Singer recently talked about fixing many things badly broken by X-men: The Last Stand, and what happened to them would have to be considered a top priority. The time travel nature of the plot gives him every opportunity to do just that.

X-men: Days of Future Past opens on July 18th 2014. 

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Will Storm and Nightcrawler be back for 'X-men: Days of Future Past'?

Bryan Singer's been busy getting the preparations in place for X-men: Days of Future Past, even occasionally tweeting updates from the set, but it doesn't sound like they're totally ready for action. While he's been teasing the possibility of a fully CGI mutant, he sounds unsure about the return of two popular live-action characters from the original trilogy: Nightcrawler and Storm. In fact, it sounds like the current script is unfinished to the point where the team roster isn't completely confirmed.

He's already got a lot of characters to deal with. The bulk of the cast from X-men: First Class will be returning, along with a large number from the original X-men trilogy. But we've heard next to nothing about Halle Berry returning as Storm. While talking to MTV, Singer didn't sound too confident....

Singer: "I can’t say. I don’t know yet. And it’s not necessarily a deal making aspect at all. I want to make sure it’ll make sense. But I love working with her."

And then while speaking to HuffPo, he said much the same thing in regards to Alan Cumming coming back as the teleporting "elf", Nightcrawler...


Singer: "I don't want to ... sometimes you don't want to say "yes" or "no" to something that may not be a "yes" or a "no," or anything. I haven't decided yet, a few things. I'm still, you know -- there are certain aspects of the script that I'm still toying with."

Plenty of waffling going on there. What it sounds like is that Singer is trying to figure out if either character NEEDS to be a part of his story, which is complicated enough dealing with the past, present, and far-flung future.  Indeed, making sure he can manage the large cast by giving them a purpose is Singer's top priority.....

Singer:  "I don't want to say [who the protagonists are] yet, or talk about that yet, but I will say that every character has a very important function in the story. The story is designed and catered to the combined cast. It's not just throwing in people to occupy the screen, occupy the billboards. The story 'Days of Future Past,' and our version of 'Days of Future Past' is geared very much toward the mass cast and all their relationships and all their foibles and their achievements."

My suspicion is that maybe Nightcrawler is the CGI character, and he just doesn't want to spoil it. Does that sound too far-fetched? Storm is far more important to the team as a whole, but Berry was terrible in the role and I'm not sure it'd be worth it to bring her back.

 X-men: Days of Future Past opens on July 18th 2014.

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Batman admires Supergirl's crotch in new 'Movie 43' red band trailer

"My friend is bleeding out of her vagina!" If that line just disgusted or offended you then Movie 43 probably isn't going to be the film for you. The ensemble comedy features practically every actor you've ever heard of, far too many to list here, in a collection of the filthiest, nastiest, disturbing, and politically incorrect sketches on a range of topics, but mostly involving sex and body fluids.

While we just saw a full red band trailer for the film a few weeks ago, a brief new one has been released which is basically just a snapshot at some of the funniest bits, including Jason Sudeikis as Batman admiring Supergirl's(Kristen Bell) hairy crotch. Yep, that's the level of humor you can expect to find. Definitely not for the kiddies, but it looks absolutely perfect for me. 

Movie 43 opens on January 25th. Check out the trailer and synopsis below....

Warning: This movie is not for the weak-stomached, faint of heart, or easily offended.
In Movie 43, comedy is served steaming hot by director Peter Farrelly of The Farrelly Brothers (Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber) in one of the most original comedies ever made. Starring Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Leslie Bibb, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler, Bobby Cannavale, Kieran Culkin, Josh Duhamel, Anna Faris, Richard Gere, John Hodgman, Terrence Howard,  Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Justin Long, Stephen Merchant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Chris Pratt, Liev Schreiber, Seann William Scott, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet, Movie 43 is jaw-dropping, uproarious, outrageous fun.

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Every actor ever stars in the screwed up red band trailer for 'Movie 43'

Ensemble sketch comedies have a fairly poor track record as feature films, but there have been some pretty good ones. A particular favorite of mine was David Zucker's The Kentucky Fried Movie, which has the classic A Fistful of Yen sketch that remains hilarious to this day. "Take him to Detroit" has been a part of my personal lexicon ever since. But for every good one there are a dozen terrible ones that think merely being raunchy and disgusting is enough(like The Underground Comedy Movie). Movie 43 is the latest sketch comedy on the way, and whether it's good or not probably matters less than the jam packed roster of celebrity actors and directors basking in all their R-rated glory.

Brett Ratner, Peter Farrelly, Elizabeth Banks, James Gunn, and many more direct the various risque segments that star top tier talent like (*deep breath*) Emma Stone, Halle Berry, Terrence Howard, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Chloe Moretz, Josh Duhamel, Johnny Knoxville, Elizabeth Banks, Naomi Watts, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Richard Gere, Justin Long, Liev Schreiber, Uma Thurman, Seann William Scott, Kieran Culkin, Leslie Bibb, Jimmy Bennett, Kate Bosworth, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Pratt, Jason Sudeikis, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi and Bobby Cannavale.

There's a reason why Movie 43 was originally titled Red Band, and every moment of this trailer is an explanation for it. Anna Faris and her real life husband star in a skit where she reveals her fetish for being pooped on; Halle Berry picks on a blind kid during his birthday; and in what I think is the funniest and unquestionably racist bit of all, Terrence Howard convinces his all-black basketball team of their inherent superiority over their white opponents.  Little people, the mentally challenged, and many other touchy subjects get skewered mercilessly. If you ever wanted to hear Emma Stone talk about how she sucked off a hobo, this movie is for you.

Movie 43 opens on January 25th 2013. Will you be seeing it?

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Sure Shots: Danny Trejo; Halle Berry; Brad Pitt

* We can never get enough Danny Trejo, so fortunately he never seems to sit still very long without adding another film to look bad ass in. He'll next star in Dead in Tombstone, an action flick(of course!) from Death Race 2 director, Roel Reine. Trejo will play an outlaw who is killed while attempting to free his half brother(Anthony Michael Hall!?) from prison. Striking a deal with the Devil(Mickey Rourke), he is allowed to come back and seek revenge. Trejo is set to reprise his role as Machete in Robert Rodriguez's upcoming sequel, which should begin filming shortly.  [Deadline]

* Halle Berry had been attached since last as the lead character in The Hive, a thriller involving an emergency line worker who faces an enemy from her past while trying to help a young girl. Originally set to be directed by Joel Schumacher, he left the film only to have Brad Anderson(Transsiberian) step in back in January. Berry's involvement was in doubt by that time, but now Variety confirms she is on board. Berry has a lot coming up this year. She can be seen next in Dark Tide, a deep sea thriller co-starring her fiance, Olivier Martinez. October should see her as part of Cloud Atlas, from The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer.

* Contrary to previous reports, Brad Pitt is still circling one of the highly sought after roles in The Couneslor. When Jeremy Renner and Javier Bardem were named as the favorites for the role of Reiner, the primary "villain" in the story developed by Cormac McCarthy, it looked as if Pitt was out of the picture. Now Twitch says Pitt is in talks for the role of Westray, a smaller part as an adviser to the main character played by Michael Fassbender, an attorney who gets into the drug trade and has a hard time getting back out. Pitt and Fassbender will work together later this year in Twelve Years A Slave, so this would be a good way to get acquainted, don't you think?

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Trailer Time: 'Dark Tide', starring Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez

It's been a rough decade for Halle Berry ever since she won the Best Actress award for Monster's Ball. That time has seen her floundering in well meaning but underachieving dramas like Things We Lost in the Fire, or appearing in bad genre flicks like Perfect Stranger and New Year's Eve. She's an amazing actress when given the proper material(like Introducing Dorothy Dandridge), and it's hard to tell whether Hollywood has lost faith in her ability or if she just needs to be more picky in the roles she chooses. Unfortunately, things don't appear to be changing  for the better with Berry's next flick, the underwater thriller, Dark Tide.

Berry will play Kate Mathieson, a renowned "shark whisperer" known for swimming in the dangerous waters populated by Great White sharks. After a fellow diver dies while under her command, Kate is unable to get back into the water for years, until the bank starts calling with plans on reposessing her boat. Unwilling to lose everything she's worked for, Kate agrees to take a thrill seeking millionaire on a dangerous shark dive outside the protection of a cage.

Water loving director John Stockwell(Blue Crush, Into the Blue) is at the helm, and the film will be released for a limited run on March 30th. Stockwell doesn't have the most inspired resume, but few can shoot the ocean as well as he can. Berry seems to be phoning it in, though, so we may have to wait until The Wachowski's Cloud Atlas to see her really stretch herself again. Check out the trailer for Dark Tide below....

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Trailer Time: Frankie and Alice

Freestyle Releasing has tried to slip Frankie and Alice into the Oscar race at the last possible moment. Directed by Geoffrey Sax(White Noise), the film stars Halle Berry as a woman with disassociative personality disorder, struggling to keep her racist alter ego in check. Berry has received glowing reviews for her performance based on its appearance at Cannes earlier this year.  Whether or not it ends up a true contender is yet to be seen because there is some seriously stiff competition in the Best Actress field this year. Check out the trailer below, followed by a brief synopsis.

Frankie and Alice will release on a limited basis on December 10th. Look for it in wide release in February of next year.


FRANKIE & ALICE is a moving psychological drama based on the harrowing true story of Frankie Murdoch (Halle Berry), a woman suffering with multiple personality disorder in early 1970s Los Angeles. Directed by Geoffrey Sax, and shot by by Newton Thomas Sigel (Valkyrie, X-Men, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, The Usual Suspects), the film also stars Stellan Skarsgård (upcoming The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Phylicia Rashad (upcoming For Colored Girls) and Chandra Wilson (“Grey’s Anatomy”).

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This is a Joke, right? Beyonce in the Invisible Jet? Naahhh!

DC must not like their heroes all that much. Atleast not when it comes to casting. I mean, we were a hair's breadth away from Nicolas Cage sporting the red and blue tights. And let's not forget Halle Berry, looking sickly and malnourished at that, posing as the world's worst Catwoman. Now this? Surely they don't have a death wish, do they?

At a supposed press conference attended by Comicbookmovie, Beyonce spilled her guts on the prospect of playing Wonder Woman. According to her it's all but a done deal. She says she will be meeting up with the writers and directors soon, but things should start happening around mid-2010. The movie will be written by the same guys who wrote GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and directed by John Moore. John Moore took a hatchet to the Max Payne film earlier this year.

Say wha? Not to say that the fine fellows at comicbookmovie are untrustworthy, but I can't find any corroborating details anywhere, which is unusual. Especially for a story of this magnitude. So take this with a grain of salt. Or better yet, a whole salt shaker.

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