Michael C. Hall joins 'Pete's Dragon'; Aubrey Plaza meets 'Dirty Grandpa'; Bruce Willis plots 'Bandits'

A non-musical remake of Disney's live-action/animated film Pete's Dragon may not seem like one that would demand a ton of talent around it but that's exactly what it's got. David Lowery's film already stars Robert Redford, Bryce Dallas Howard, Wes Bentley, Oakes Fegley, and Oona Lawrence, and now you can add Dexter's Michael C. Hall. The film centers on an orphan boy who befriends a giant imaginary dragon. [Variety]

Last year Aubrey Plaza starred in the extremely raunchy comedy The To Do List, so she should be a perfect fit for a film titled Dirty Grandpa. She joins Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, and Zoey Deutch in the Dan Mazer-directed comedy about "an uptight twenty-something (Efron) who embarks on a road trip before his wedding to bond with his recently widowed grandfather (De Niro) only to find that his grandpa is a foul-mouthed lunatic on a mission to get laid during Spring Break." That sounds kind of great, actually. [Deadline]

Bruce Willis is finally bringing Elmore Leonard's book Bandits to the big screen. Years ago he had optioned the rights only to have it lapse and get picked up by Quentin Tarantino along with a bunch of other Leonardo novels. He, of course, ended up adapting Rum Punch into Jackie Brown while the other books again lapsed. Now Bandits is back in Willis' control and he's hired Mitch Glazer (Passion Play) to write the script. The dark comedy's complicated plot follows "Jack Delaney, an ex-con who is struggling to stay on the straight path as he dresses up corpses as a mortician in his brother’s funeral home. Things get much more exciting for him when he meets a gorgeous lapsed nun who is just back from Nicaragua where she took care of lepers and tried to keep the contras from hacking them up with machetes. She wants to smuggle a beautiful young Nicaraguan woman – who contracted leprosy–because the woman’s ex-lover, a Somoza-type colonel, wants to kill her for possibly infecting him. That same guy is raising millions from rich Americans to take back to the contras and the bored mortician finds his own cause, stiffing the colonel and getting away with a fortune with the help of the nun and an ex-cop." [Deadline]

Read More

Review: 'Cold in July' Starring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, and Don Johnson

One never knows exactly where Jim Mickle is going to turn up next. What we do know is that whatever film he takes on it will be gritty, pulpy, and very bloody. After scoring an indie hit the vampire flick, Stake Land, followed by the chilling horror remake We Are What We Are, Mickle has channeled the likes of Walter Hill and John Carpenter for Cold in July, a dingy and muscular throwback that's like something you might pluck from the shelf of your favorite video store and watch late one night.

It takes some getting used to Dexter's murderous star Michael C. Hall as the meek, mullet-haired Richard Dane, a Texas family man with a wife (Vinessa Shaw), son, and modest business in the heart of town. Mickle puts the squeeze on early, during an ominous night in which Richard's home is busted into by an intruder, and in the blink of an eye his world is irrevocably changed. Accidentally shooting the intruder, sending his brains all over his neatly-arranged living room, Richard is suddenly a changed a man. The violence has changed him, but with it come a seemingly unending string of consequences.

This being Texas, Richard's ego is pumped up by some of the gun-toting locals, and it's clearly having an effect. No longer so shy and reserved, he's now walking with his chest out and a swagger in his step. But that all starts to change when he learns the man he killed had a father, Ben (Sam Shepard), a career criminal just let out on parole. It isn't long before Ben is lurking around every corner making none-too-subtle threats of revenge, which are mostly ignored by the seemingly hapless cops. When Ben finally strikes, literally waltzing right past the police and into Richard's home, the formerly quiet and reserved family man is again forced into the uncomfortable position of hero. Or at least what passes for a "hero" in a place where "shoot first, ask questions later" seems to be the policy.

But lest you think Mickle is making some sort of anti-gun political statement, setting the film in the 1980s and in "Stand Your Ground" Texas of all places, just wait because something to change your mind is right around the corner. What starts off as a standard-issue home invasion thriller, where the innocent family is hunted by a maniacal loon, flips on a dime into an all-encompassing small town conspiracy flick. And with that twist also comes a comic edge in the form of Houston private eye Jim Bob Luke (Don Johnson), Ben's old war buddy who shows up to drag him out of trouble. Johnson and Shepard, two grizzled old vets if there ever were, pump up the testosterone factor while Hall settles in as the straight-man in the oddest comic trio ever.

Ruminations about manliness intertwine with an investigation into the Texas Mafia (really) and a pornography ring fittingly run out of the back of a video store. It doesn't always make for the tightest mix, and the pace sways a little unevenly as Mickle blends in multiple genres. Echoes of Cronenberg's A History of Violence can be felt, along with the works of John Carpenter, Walter Hill, and others.  Visually stunning with oppressive blues and blacks hinting at the shadows on each character’s souls, the ominous mood Mickle creates will grind into dust those who aren't committed for the long haul. While separately some of Cold in July's facets don't completely work, as a whole it's a down 'n dirty guy flick with surprising ambition. It's another feather in the cap for Mickle, whose unpredictability is what will continue to carry him far.

Read More

First Trailer for Jim Mickle's 'Cold in July' Starring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, and Don Johnson

After chilling us with his superior (at least in my book) remake of horror We Are What We Are, Jim Mickle turns his attention to crime noir with Cold in July, one of the most buzzed-about films at Sundance earlier this year. Based on Joe R. Lansdale's cult favorite novel, Mickle has enlisted Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Sam Shepard, and Don Johnson for what the first trailer promises is a gritty, dusty old throwback.

Hall plays a Texas man who kills an intruder in his home, only to get in way over his head when the victim's murderous, ex-con father comes looking for revenge. Between his flashy role in this and Django Unchained, Don Johnson is clearly having one heck of a career resurgence.

Cold in July hits theaters and VOD on May 23rd.

Read More

Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgewick, Ben Foster, and Jennifer Jason Leigh join 'Kill Your Darlings'

Ben Foster has proven himself to be a true chameleon of an actor, able to blend seamlessly into any role and genre, whether it's as the prickly toothed cowboy in 3:10 to Yuma, a hitman in The Mechanic, or a veteran military officer in The Messenger. Whatever film he shows up in, good things tend to happen, such as his co-starring role in the surprisingly good Mark Wahlberg actioner, Contraband. For his next role, he'll be tackling one of the most important figures in literary history, as he's set to play William S. Burroughs in the Beat Generation thriller, Kill Your Darlings.

Already packing a top notch, young cast including Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg, Dane DeHaan(Chronicle) as Lucien Carr, Jack Huston as Jack Kerouac, and Elizabeth Olsen as Edie Parker, the film follows the legendary group of writers and poets detailing the 1944 murder of David Kammerer, a reported lover of Carr's. Joining Foster are a number of veterans who should make this a film to keep a close eye on during Oscar season: Michael C. Hall(Dexter) will play Kammerer, the victim and childhood friend to Burroughs. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kyra Sedgewick have also come aboard in two undisclosed roles.

Anything involving Kerouac and the Beat Generation continues to be a popular Hollywood subject. Their story will be told later this year in On the Road, directed by Walter Salles and starring Viggo Mortensen, Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Kirsten Dunst. Filming on Kill Your Darlings begins on March 19th.

Read More