Spike Lee, Sean Durkin, and Joseph Koskinski Line Up New Directing Gigs

There doesn't seem to be a lot of clamor out there for Spike Lee's latest, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, which to the best of my knowledge doesn't have any kind of distribution. The film was crushed by critics and coming off the terrible response to Oldboy it looks like Lee is heading back to documentaries where he's found much greater recent success. He'll direct a doc on Mo'Ne Davis, the first girl to get a win and pitch a shut out in the Little League World Series. The film will follow her team "the Taney Dragons and their journey to the Little League World Series." [Wooder Ice]

 A couple of years ago David Gordon Green made the surprising decision to direct a feature adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie. Well, nothing has been heard about it since and with Green much busier these days he's dropped out. But another unlikely choice has come aboard in Sean Durkin, who made a splash with his debut feature, Martha Marcy May Marlene. He will direct the film based on a script by Abi Morgan (Shame), which like the iconic TV version will follow a pioneer family settling in the 1880s American Midwest. [THR]

After establishing himself in the sci-fi realm with Tron: Legacy and Oblivion, Joseph Kosinski is getting into dramatic territory with The Trials of White Boy Rick. The provocatively-titled film is based on the true story of 17-year-old Rick Wershe, a Detroit drug dealer who began working as a police informant.

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Tom Cruise and Joseph Kosinski May Reunite for 'Go Like Hell'

The last time Tom Cruise and Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski teamed up, the results weren't what either of them were expecting. The big budget sci-fi film Oblivion was met with middle-of-the-road reviews and a box office to match, but that hasn't stopped them from wanting to work together one more time. A couple of years ago Michael Mann was slow-developing an adaptation of A.J. Baime's book, Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and their Battle For Speed and Glory at Le Mans, but it never seemed to go anywhere. Now Deadline reports Cruise and Kosinski are looking to take it on themselves.

Described by many as being in the vein of The Right Stuff, Go Like Hell centers on the 1960s battle between Ford and Ferrari for control of the sports car industry. Henry Ford II and a young Lee Iacocca set out to revolutionize Ford with the help of racing champion Carroll Shelby, who designed a sleek and fast car that could challenge on the European racing circuit. Jason Keller had a hand in writing the screenplay but this project is early enough that there will probably be more work done.

Cruise knows his way around a racing film but this is new ground for Kosinski. It's unclear where this would fit into the director's schedule since he recently became attached to an untitled action thriller. He also has a potential Tron sequel and a remake of The Twilight Zone on his plate.

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'Game of Thrones' star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau joins Tom Cruise in 'Oblivion'

Game of Thrones continues to be the sweetest gig in town. Not just because the hit HBO series is such a critical and popular favorite, but the show's cast seem to be getting first dibs at a number of highly anticipated films. The latest to take advantage of the added exposure is Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, as he's now set to star alongside Tom Cruise in Oblivion, the sci-fi film from Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski.

Already featuring Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, and the recently added Morgan Freeman, the film takes place in a future where the earth has been rendered uninhabitable, with the bulk of humanity living in cities above the clouds. Cruise plays Jak, a drone repairman on the earth's surface who discovers a mysterious woman in a crashed pod. Her presence forces him to question everything he's ever known. Coster-Waldau will play Sykes, a physically imposing military expert.


With the second season of Game of Thrones due to start on April 1st, Coster-Waldau will be back in his role as Jamie Lannister. Oblivion is currently receiving another script draft from Michael Arndt, but is expected to be released on July 19th 2013. [Deadline]

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Morgan Freeman enters 'Oblivion' with Tom Cruise

Well, if you're going to be the last man on a desolate future version of Earth, it might pay off to have God on your side.  Morgan Freeman has joined Tom Cruise in Oblivion, the sci-fi thriller and Joseph Kosinski's follow-up to Tron: Legacy.

The story takes place in a future earth that has been devastated by invading alien forces, with humanity having left the planet to live in colonies up in the clouds. Cruise is the last man remaining on the ground, fixing the defensive systems set to blast the virulent alien species. The arrival of a mysterious woman in a crashed pod forces him to begin questioning everything he once knew.  Andrea Riseborough and Olga Kurylenko co-star, with Morgan Freeman set to play the leader of the human resistance.

Originally based on a script by William Monahan(The Departed), Toy Story 3 scribe Michael Arndt is now working on a new draft. Oblivion is due to open on July 19th 2013. [Deadline]

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Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough join Tom Cruise's sci-fi flick; Jessica Chastain out

There are some pretty big things going on with Tom Cruise's upcoming sci-fi flick, formerly known as Oblivion. Yep, formerly. After being switched to Horizons for like an hour, then reverted back to Oblivion, it's now untitled again. The name isn't the only thing that's getting a switcheroo, though.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski(Tron: Legacy) with a script by William Monahan(The Departed), the story takes place in a future where the earth's surface has been devastated by alien Scavengers, and humanity has escaped to live above in the clouds. Cruise plays a surface drone repairman who returns only to find a mysterious woman in a crashed pod. Jessica Chastain joined the film back in September, but with her already jam packed schedule continuing to fill up, she's had to back out, and has now been replaced by Olga Kurylenko. She had been one of the final contenders for the role back when it was still open, and she must've impressed somebody in the process. 

That left only one role, that of the mysterious woman. Hayley Atwell, Kate Beckinsale, and Diane Kruger had been the names closest to snagging it at last report, but it appears they've been beaten out. Andrea Riseborough, whose name seems to be everywhere lately, has beaten them out. This adds to what is a star making run for the British actress. She'll be featured as Wallis Simpson in W.E., Madonna's historical drama that recently took home a Golden Globe.

Losing somebody like Chastain is pretty tough, but Kurylenko has proven to be a solid actress in the past and should do the job well enough. They are two totally different types of actresses with a very different look to them, so I'll be curious if any changes to the script are made to accommodate. I'm only happy because it gives Chastain time to do Kathryn Bigelow's Osama Bin Laden film. 

Monahan's script was rewritten by Karl Gajdusek, but is currently going through another polish by Michael Arndt(Toy Story 3).  Once that's done we should see production kicking off very soon. [Variety]

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Oblivion gets a new title; female lead shortlist includes Olivia Wilde, Noomi Rapace, Brit Marling

Even though Joseph Kosinski floored me with his directorial debut, the streaky sci-fi sequel Tron: Legacy, I've found it hard to get into his follow-up. Perhaps it was the boring title, Oblivion. Or it's boring star, Tom Cruise, who I generally enjoy but am rarely blown away by. More likely it's the generic sounding premise, taking place on an Earth destroyed by alien attack, with Cruise playing Jack, a guy who returns to the surface to repair drones that protect the planet from further destruction. >yawn<  It's gonna take me a lot to warm up to this flick.

There have been a couple of steps in the right direction, though.  The first is that the title of the film has been changed to Horizons, which while still vague and a little dull, I like better than Oblivion for whatever reason. Maybe because it reminds me of Event Horizon. Who knows? 

The other is in the shortlist of contenders for the two major female roles, one as Jack's lover and right hand gal. The other as Jack's fiancee probably seen in flashback before the invasion.  The highly sought after Brit Marling(Another Earth), the omnipresent Olivia Wilde, Jessica Chastain(Tree of Life), Noomi Rapace(Prometheus), and Olga Kurylenko(Quantum of Solace) are said to be leading the pack. Cruise seems to have a thing for Marling, as he tried to get her to star in One-Shot also. All of these women are busy as hell, and fitting the film into their schedule could prove problematic. Kurylenko may be the easiest to get, although she has a couple of projects, including one of Terrence Malick's mystery flicks, upcoming. [Variety]

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