Review: 'Dracula Untold' starring Luke Evans and Dominic Cooper

There's only a droplet of historical truth in Dracula Untold, a film that dares to take the king bloodsucker and give him a full-blown superhero origin. That's right, Dracula, once the scourge of Universal's classic array of movie monsters, is now on the side of the angels...which is weird considering his lack of soul and all. This version is a fearsome warrior, a defender of the innocent, a caring father and husband who gave up literally everything to protect his people. It's the Marvel-ization of Dracula in a PG-13, multiplex-ready package, but in exploring the myth of Vlad the Impaler the film offers plenty to sink your fangs into.

So how in the world do you make a guy named Vlad the Impaler a good guy? It seems like the kind of task any writer would balk at, but you do it by coming up with an enemy that's far worse or giving him a just cause to fight for. Luke Evans, whose chiseled features have been seen recently in Fast & Furious 6 and The Hobbit, plays Vlad before he becomes the Dracula we're all familiar with. Voiceover gives us his origin before the origin, recounting his time as the brutal slayer nicknamed "The Impaler", for reasons that are pretty obvious. But he's given up fighting and has retired home to Transylvania with his lovely wife Mirena (Sarah Gadon) and young son Ingeras (Art Parkinson). However when Turkish ruler Mehmet II (Dominic Cooper, looking none too Turkish) demands 1000 boys to fill his army's rank, Vlad does what any self-respecting leader would do. He climbs a mountain where he encounters he knows a vicious creature (Game of Thrones' Charles Dance) lurks, and enters into a Faustian bargain he may soon regret.

While we all know how Vlad's story will eventually turn out, Dracula Untold keeps us intrigued by the sheer desperation of his scheme. Granted incredible vampiric powers for three days, Vlad must also refuse to give in to the blood thirst that plagues every vampire. If he can deny it, he'll return to normal; but if not he'll be damned for eternity. The creature, credited simply as Master Vampire, is a trickster of sorts, gambling his own freedom on Vlad giving in to the lust for human blood.

It's the constant struggle for Vlad's soul that drives much of the story, as his family begins to fear him and so too the people he's sworn to protect. Glimpses of his evil future arise in brief flares of anger directed at his own soldiers, but Vlad's wrath is mostly reserved for Mehmet's army. Impressively scaled battles, murky and violent CGI showcases ala 300, nonetheless are pretty bloodless which may disappoint those looking for something more gruesome. They're in the wrong place if looking for horror thrills as debuting director Gary Shore has mapped out this story as an action flick, first and foremost. The visual effects are incredibly well done, from Vlad's "radar vision" to his ability to use transformation as a deadly battlefield weapon. Ever seen an entire battalion wiped out by a swarm of bats? You will in Dracula Untold and it looks spectacular.

There's very little connection to the Dracula we're familiar with, and the film works best when you forget everything that came before. If you can't, it may be tough to swallow that Dracula is really just a nice guy who made a noble, if tragic mistake. Evans is probably the most handsome Dracula to ever hit the screen and there's real passion in his performance. Other than Charles Dance who strikes a fine balance between mischievous and menacing, the rest of the cast barely register.

Designed as the beginning of Universal's newly-minted "cinematic universe" of classic monsters, Dracula Untold makes for a curious yet successful franchise-starter. Mostly it deserves credit for putting the teeth back into Dracula's well-worn story.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Read More

'Miss Peregrine' Enrolls Asa Butterfield, Ann Dowd Joins 'Our Brand is Crisis', Sarah Gadon meets 'Louis Drax'

 Tim Burton may find himself in the Oscar with his art world drama, Big Eyes, but his next film is already beginning to take shape. Eva Green has long been attached to star in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an adaptation of Ransom Riggs' best-selling book. Now The Wrap reports she may be joined by Asa Butterfield, who was last seen in Ender's Game. If he does come aboard he would play Jacob, a young boy investigating the murder of his grandfather at the hands of a creature known as a "hollow". Jacob eventually meets a group of kids with special abilities and their guardian, Miss Peregrine.

The cast of David Gordon Green's Our Brand is Crisis keeps getting better. Ann Dowd (Compliance, The Leftovers) has joined Sandra Bullock, Anthony Mackie, and Scoot McNairy in the George Clooney-produced political film about American political strategists and their influence on the 2002 Bolivian presidential election.

Sarah Gadon (Cosmopolis) is the latest to join The 9th Life of Louis Drax, which already has Jamie Dornan and Aaron Paul set to star. Alexandre Aja will direct the film about "a young boy who suffers a near-fatal fall on his ninth birthday. A psychologist probing into the accident is drawn into a mystery that tests the boundaries of fantasy and reality." Max Minghella is making his screenwriting debut on the adaptation of Liz Jensen's novel.

Read More

New Trailer for David Cronenberg's 'Maps to the Stars' Goes a Little Crazy

Julianne Moore won Best Actress at Cannes for her performance in David Cronenberg's Hollywood drama Maps to the Stars, and the film has received strong reviews elsewhere, as well. So does that mean we'll be seeing it in time for the Oscars? Uh, no. The distributor eOne gave the U.S. rights over to Focus World who are considering a digital-only release some time in 2015, putting it effectively out of the awards race. Oh well. The film still looks like a terrific slicing up of celebrity culture, with Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Sarah Gadon, and Olivia Williams joining Moore in giving top notch performances. And considering what Cusack has been doing lately that's a pretty big deal.  Here's the synopsis followed by a brand new trailer ahead of its release in Canada on October 31st.

With this tale of a secret-filled Hollywood family on the verge of implosion, award-winning director David Cronenberg forges both a wicked social satire and a very human ghost story from our celebrity-obsessed culture. From a screenplay by acclaimed author, screenwriter and West Coast chronicler Bruce Wagner, and featuring an ensemble cast that includes Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams and Sarah Gadon, MAPS TO THE STARS tours the seductive allure and the tender, darkly comic underbelly of contemporary success.

Read More

New Trailer for 'Dracula Untold' Starring Luke Evans and Dominic Cooper

Universal is in the midst of a campaign to revive their stable of classic movie monsters, once the crown jewel of Hollywood's horror realm. That plan includes reboots of The Mummy, Van Helsing, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, and more. The centerpiece is a Batman Begins-style origin story for the king of all vampires, Dracula, in the action flick Dracula Untold and with the film arriving in theaters next month a new international trailer has surfaced.

While not markedly different than prior trailers, there are bits of new footage here offering a better look at red-hot star, Luke Evans. He plays Vlad Tepes, the real life inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula and the man who gave up his soul for the power to fight back against Mehmet II (Dominic Cooper) who demanded a sacrifice of 1000 Transylvanian boys. Historical truth blended with mythology is the approach taken by director Gary Shore, which should separate it from the countless other Dracula movies. The trailer was cut for Japanese audiences and it still retains the Dracula Zero title it had back when Sam Worthington and Alex Proyas were involved.

Also starring Sarah Gadon and Samantha Barks, Dracula Untold opens October 17th. 


DRACULA UNTOLD International Trailer by itsartmag

Read More

New Trailer for David Cronenberg's 'Maps to the Stars' with Robert Pattinson

Considering how far away the Twilight cast have tried to get from the spotlight one could be led to believe they didn't enjoy the experience. In the case of Robert Pattinson he has been taking on roles in movies that seem specifically designed to keep his fanbase away, and he's done a pretty good job because few turned out to see stuff like Bel Ami, The Rover, and Cosmopolis. But that hasn't stopped auteurs from reaching out to him, and his latest film Maps to the Stars is a reunion with his Cosmopolis director, David Cronenberg.

A new trailer for Maps to the Stars has been released and it's easy to see why this was such a favorite at Cannes earlier this year. Pattinson stars alongside Julianne Moore (honored at Cannes with Best Actress), Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, and Sarah Gadon, in a send-up of Hollywood and celebrity culture in general. Here's the official synopsis:

The Weiss family is the archetypical Hollywood dynasty: father Sanford is an analyst and coach, who has made a fortune with his self-help manuals; mother Christina mostly looks after the career of their son Benjie, 13, a child star.
  
One of Sanford’s clients, Havana, is an actress who dreams of shooting a remake of the movie that made her mother, Clarice, a star in the ’60s. Clarice is dead now and visions of her come to haunt Havana at night. Adding to the toxic mix, Benjie has just come off a rehab program he joined when he was 9 and his sister, Agatha, has recently been released from a sanatorium where she was treated for criminal pyromania… 

Maps to the Stars has yet to gain a domestic date but opens in the UK on September 26th. 


Maps To The Stars UK TRAILER 1 (2014) - Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson Movie HD. by Buzz Films

Read More

The World Needs a Monster in First Trailer for 'Dracula Untold' Starring Luke Evans

*UPDATE* The first trailer released a few days ago was a leak, but here's the official one from Universal. Hey, they're exactly the same!

The story of Dracula has been told just about every way imaginable since Bram Stoker introduced us to the king of vampires back in the 19th century. There have been countless movies, a recent TV series, he's a Marvel supervillain, not to mention Dracula's face has been plastered on cereal boxes and in animated movies for kids. Basically, being Dracula, and by extension vampires as a whole, are no longer much of a big deal. But one thing we haven't seen much of is the story behind the real-life man who inspired Dracula's story, and that's about to change with the help of some big budget special effects in Dracula Untold.

Starring the red-hot Luke Evans and marking Gary Shore's directorial debut, the first trailer for Dracula Untold comes with a great deal of spectacle in the Game of Thrones mold. Evans plays Vlad Tepes, later known as Vlad the Impaler), who fights to save his family from the threat of Mehmed the Conqueror (Dominic Cooper), and in an effort to protect them makes a deal with an ancient creature that turns him into Dracula. "Sometimes the world doesn't need another hero. Sometimes what it needs is a monster". Sarah Gadon plays Vlad's understandably concerned wife as her husband begins to transform, while Les Miserables' star Samantha Barks also has a role.

Obviously this is playing fast and loose with Vlad's story but some moments, like when he attacks Mehmed's men for trying to recruit his son for war, are based on a actual events.  Dracula Untold hits theaters on October 17th when it should appeal to the Halloween crowd.


Dracula Untold Official Trailer (2014) Luke Evans, Horror HD by NewTrailers BOS

Read More

Review: 'Belle' Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Tom Wilkinson

The painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle and her cousin Elizabeth currently hanging in Scotland's Scone Palace is fascinating for a number of reasons. The first is the striking beauty of the two women, and the obvious closeness of the two women. Both are clearly aristocratic to some degree, judging by their clothing and the very regal nature of the portrait itself. And it's that last aspect which makes the image all the more interesting, because Dido is black, a fact which would normally have her removed from the ways and means of aristocrats in 18th century England, where slavery was still very much a part of life.

There are faint echoes of 12 Years a Slave in Belle, Amma Asante's first directorial effort since 2004's accomplished debut, A Way of Life. What's missing is the emotional backbone to support Dido's uncommon story that saw her stuck between a world of privilege and one of subservience. Breaking free of the formulaic, saggy screenplay is the title performance by Gugu Mbatha Raw, who shows Dido to be a woman of exceptional inner strength. The illegitimate daughter of Admiral John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) and a slave, Dido was sent to live on the palatial estate of his uncle, William Murray (Tom Wilkinson), the 1st Earl of Mansfield. There she was treated as one of the family, becoming good friends with her cousin Lady Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon), and enduring the initial discontent of Murray's wife (Emily Watson).

"I am too high to eat with the servants, too low to join you at dinner", Dido says at one point, and it's true that being a part of high society has as many restraints as privileges. While loved and cared for by her family when alone, Belle is spirited off to other corners of the home when guests arrive, lest her presence offend their delicate sensibilities. The convergence of race and gender issues are skillfully dealt with when Dido suddenly becomes wealthy, granted an annual inheritance by her father. Now Dido finds she is suddenly very desirable to men who would otherwise turn up their nose at her, while her less financially secure cousin struggles to find a man who will accept her unconditionally. For women, upward mobility is all about money and power, nothing more. Mention love and you're likely to get scoffed at. But Dido is fortunate as she is granted the wealth to make decisions for herself, something most women do not have the luxury of.

"I have been blessed with freedom twice over."

Less effectively portrayed is growing debate over slavery taking place in England at the time, with Murray presiding over the real-life case of the Zong massacre, in which over 140 slaves were dumped off a ship in order to collect the insurance money on them. Dido is seen as forceful voice of reason in William's ear, and she finds support in the fiery rhetoric of upstart lawyer, John Davinier (Sam Reid), a suitor unlike any she has met before. Fitting with the film's generally shallow approach, little is seen of the harsh realities of slavery, preferring to tackle it through mechanical speeches on justice and equality. The lack of passion detracts from a handsomely photographed film and Mbatha-Raw's stirring attempt to do Dido's story proper justice.

Read More

*UPDATE* Two Trailers for David Cronenberg's 'Maps to the Stars'

*UPDATE* A second, NSFW trailer has been added that I think is far more coherent than the one from last night. It's also much sexier and more chatty, resembling Cosmopolis in that way.*

David Cronenberg may be the master of the body horror, but of late he's been slicing up the psychology of people in A Dangerous Method and Cosmopolis. For his next film, Maps to the Stars, Cronenberg takes on perhaps his nastiest subject yet, exploring the corrupt and twisted psyche of Hollywood royalty.

Starring his newfound muse, Robert Pattinson, along with Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Olivia Williams, and Sarah Gadon, the film follows the Weiss family, who all come with their share of unique personal demons. The father is a writer of self-help manuals, the mother steers the career of their 13-year-old son, while the other kids are getting out of rehab programs. And then there's Havana, who hopes to be an actress and star in a remake of the film that made her deceased mother famous.

It's hard to tell what's going on here but this is Cronenberg and no trailer is going to fully encapsulate what he's trying to get across.



«Maps to the stars» - второй трейлер by Only_Robert

Read More

Review: Denis Villeneuve's 'Enemy' Starring Jake Gyllenhaal

If interminably dark and unsettling Prisoners weren’t enough of a convincer that Jake Gyllenhaal and Denis Villeneuve is the next big actor/director tandem, then perhaps Enemy will do the trick. Actually shot prior to Prisoners, the sinister and devious Enemy is an epic mind-screw that crawls around in the dark corners of the psyche like a spider in a dusty attic. Subdued, deliberate in execution yet infuriatingly incoherent, Villeneuve's film is as confusing as it is transfixing.

“Chaos is merely order yet deciphered,” the ominous title sequence flashes and muddies the psychological waters in a way that never quite recedes. Somewhat loosely based on Jose Saramago's Portuguese novel, Javier Gullon's sparse script is pregnant with disturbing pscho-sexual context that the source material largely understates. In what is becoming a string of impressively dark lead performances, Gyllenhaal tackles the dual role of dull college professor Adam Bell and his marginally more charismatic doppelganger, Anthony. Adam's boring existence consists of little more than teaching his class, grading papers in his anonymous Toronto apartment, and having regular sex with his girlfriend (Melanie Laurent), who he doesn't seem to share much in common with. Captured in coffee-stain yellows by cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc, Adam's world is one of sickening loneliness and isolation. One night after a chatty colleague randomly recommends a movie, to which the Adam initially responds with an unexpected snark, he goes and rents the film anyway and makes a startling discovery. There in the background, in a minor role few would notice, appears to be his exact duplicate.

Fraught with terrifying dreams of a decidedly alien nature, Adam's buried paranoia bursts forth with this new revelation. Unable to resist, he begins to investigate the nature of Anthony's existence, eventually calling the man's house and connecting with his very pregnant wife (Sarah Gadon, a Cronenberg favorite of late) who thinks he's the husband of one of Anthony's mistresses. An excited but cautious meeting between the two men in a rundown hotel confirms that they aren't siblings but perfect replicas, distinct only in their wildly differing personalities. Where Adam is introverted and almost pathologically nervous, Anthony is a schemer, a devilish rogue and risk-taker. It's Anthony who figures that he can have his cake and eat it too with both women, expecting that Adam would be too meek to do anything about it. As the layers are peeled back on both men, we learn that they share more than just a physical bond, but perhaps a similarly demented sexual thirst.

At only about 90 minutes, Villeneuve's slow burn approach to this clash of male egos can prove an exhaustive exercise, but he still manages to captivate with an unsettling Fincher-esque tone and Gyllenhaal's mesmerizing performance. More an art-house thriller than the big studio Prisoners, Enemy presents an abstract, off-the-wall dreamscape that doesn't always jibe with the seriousness of the situation. Chillingly embraced by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans' disquieting soundtrack, the occasional splashes of B-movie humor seem deliberately placed to leave you unprepared for the impressively terrifying and shocking finale, one of such instant horror it snaps everything into focus.

Enemy will be seen as an off anomaly to some, but it explores human (particularly male) frailty with Villeneuve's meticulous eye for oppressive mood. If anything, it proves he's one of the most interesting and forward-thinking directors working today, and hopefully he has the foresight to keep Gyllenhaal close at hand.

Read More

Trailer for Denis Villeneuve's 'Enemy' Starring Jake Gyllenhaal

While Denis Villeneuve's brooding thriller Prisoners was largely ignored by the Oscars despite praise-worthy performances, it wasn't the first time the director and star Jake Gyllenhaal worked together. They actually teamed up on Enemy first, shooting it before Prisoners and debuting it at TIFF where it played to some acclaim. Now before it hits DirecTV next week the first trailer has been released and it promises another haunting, riveting experience.

Gyllenhaal stars alongside Sarah Gadon, Melanie Laurent, and Isabella Rossellini in the adaptation of Jose Saramago's novel about a lonely, paranoid college professor who thinks he has a doppelganger out there. As he tries to discover its true identity, his mental state begins to break down even further. While it's hard to tell everything that's going on here, it's obvious this one is going to go in some weird directions, and the pairing of Villeneuve and Gyllenhaal is quickly becoming a personal favorite on the level of Scorsese and DiCaprio.

Enemy debuts on DirecTV February 6th before hitting theaters March 14th.

Read More

First Trailer for Historical Drama 'Belle' Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Steve McQueen's unrelenting 12 Years A Slave (review here) is in theaters now, and while the film has been greatly buzzed about and is all but a lock for the Oscars, it's going to be too tough for many to sit through. But for those who, for whatever reason, are looking for a film that follows similar thematic territory, there has been a great deal of positive talk surrounding Belle, a period drama directed by Amma Asante. The film premiered at Toronto last month and while it's still a ways off from hitting theaters, Fox Searchlight is riding 12 Years A Slave's coattails to start getting the word out.

Starring the extremely talented Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Larry Crowne) in her first feature film lead, the true story centers on Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate biracial daughter of Royal Navy Admiral Sir John Lindsay, who is raised as an aristocrat by her great uncle (Tom Wilkinson) and aunt (Emily Watson). Despite her priviledged status, Belle's mixed race heritage continues to be an issue in an England where slavery is still a way of life.

Co-starring Tom Felton, Sarah Gadon, Miranda Richardson, and Matthew Goode, Belle opens on May 2nd 2014.


BELLE Movie Trailer by GaMeFORGaMeRz

Read More

First Trailer and Poster for 'Enemy' from 'Prisoners' Duo Jake Gyllenhaal and Denis Villeneuve

Once the public gets a taste of the riveting and unforgettable crime thriller Prisoners this weekend, everyone is going to be talking about the performance given by Jake Gyllnehaal and the direction by Denis Villeneuve. Villeneuve seems poised to become a household name as Oscar buzz begins to grow, and the film has gone a long way in refashioning Gyllenhaal's career. What many don't know is that before Prisoners, the two paired up the mind-bending identity thriller Enemy, and now we're getting our first footage from it.

The first teaser trailer and poster have arrived for Enemy, which debuted to some glowing reviews in Toronto a few weeks ago. Based on the acclaimed novel by José Saramago, Gyllenhaal takes on a dual role as a college professor who discovers what appears to be his doppelganger, growing more paranoid as he attempts to discover its identity.  It looks like another dark and moody character piece from Villeneuve, and if it's anything like the book we can expect a ton of surprises too good to spoil.

Co-starring Isabella Rossellini, Melanie Laurent, and Sarah Gadon, look for Enemy to arrive in 2014.

Read More

Sarah Gadon Reveals Her Role in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'

Most of the recent mystery surrounding The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has centered on the Sinister Six, and just how Marc Webb plans to introduce the band of supervillains into the mix, or if he plans to at all. It seems pretty obvious that he will, but there are other questions swirling around the film that have remained open, and one of those is the identity of the character played by Sarah Gadon.

The actress joined the cast in the thick of the Shailene Woodley "scandal", leading many to speculate that Gadon would be taking over the Mary Jane role. But Gadon took to Twitter and said that wasn't the case, and now in a conversation with Toronto Life, she's revealed details on who her character will actually be...

Gadon: “My character is an artificial intelligence officer… She represents the convergence of humanity and technology -- it's very Cronenberg.”

Gadon starred in David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis and his son Brandon's body horror Antiviral, so she has a pretty good idea what "very Cronenberg" entails. Webb himself added even more information a week ago when he compared her role to that of Hal 9000, the robotic protagonist from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

So that's one mystery mostly solved, but we still don't know for certain what's going on with Felicity Jones' character, other than that she has a special relationship with the Osborns. Nor do we really know what Woodley's status for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 truly is. It's probably not a done deal that she's gone for good, although her Divergent schedule will be a definite hurdle.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens on May 2nd 2014.

Read More

Sarah Gadon Not Playing Mary Jane Watson In 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'

Face it tiger, this whole Mary Jane Watson issue has gotten out of control. It all started when Shailene Woodley's role as MJ was cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, to be moved to the third film due out in 2016. But that was followed-up literally minutes later by speculation that the role would be completely recast, and the situation only got messier when Sarah Gadon revealed she had joined the franchise. Some quickly took to claiming she would play MJ, while others vigourously denied it, and now we know the truth straight from the horse's mouth.

Gadon took to Twitter tonight and tweeted this about the whole situation...

To all those a twitter, I will not be playing MJ in Spider-Man. I have a role in the film, but it is not that one :)
— Sarah Gadon (@SarahGadon) June 21, 2013

The Wrap's Jeff Sneider, who has been saying all along she wouldn't be playing MJ, was even more forceful...

 "100% CONFIRMED: Sarah Gadon IS in Amazing Spider-Man 2 briefly," he writes. "She is NOT playing Mary Jane Watson, who will NOT appear until Part THREE. A FALSE rumor started that Sarah replaced Shailene as MJ. She confirmed to ET Canada she's in the movie. Fans made a connection. It's wrong. Nothing else to report, so calm down everyone. No drama here to see. Marc Webb cut MJ appearance to streamline the story."

So it looks like we can add yet another character to what is already an overloaded cast. So much for that whole streamlining idea, eh Marc Webb? Now the question turns to who Gadon will be portraying. It's possible she could be a new character, but that seems unlikely. And also, one has to wonder if Woodley really is done. That's yet to be officially confirmed by anybody, and it's possible Sony and Webb are biding their time to see how things go. They have until 2016 to figure it all out. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on the other hand, arrives on May 2nd 2014.

Read More

Sarah Gadon Joins 'The Amazing Spider-Man', But Is She Mary Jane Watson?

It's been a week of major changes to The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, and frankly it seems as if Sony and Marc Webb are flying by the seat of their pants. It was all sparked by the confirmation of not only a third film but a fourth, which left the door open to an expansion of the overall story. That led to the decision to remove Shailene Woodley's Mary Jane Watson character from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with plans for the character to instead surface in the next one, but then we began hearing of the likelihood that Woodley wouldn't return at all. It was all extremely sudden, and now we may have discovered another reason why they were so willing to part ways with Woodley.

Movieweb began spreading the word that Sarah Gadon (Cosmopolis) could be a part of the franchise, replacing Woodley as MJ, but it was Entertainment Tonight Canada who were more definitive, saying  Gadon "confirmed to us that she is joining The Amazing Spider-Man franchise."

The Wrap's Jeff Sneider, who tends to have very good instincts and sources on these things, came out and shot it down in rapid fashion...

"Being told that reports of Sarah Gadon being cast as Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider-Man 2 are NOT TRUE!"

So who's right on this one? There's no reason to believe Gadon is pulling a fast one, so we can take her at her word that she will be in the series in some capacity. But at the same time, why would Sony be so quick to cast MJ for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which doesn't open until 2016?  Hopefully this doesn't mean Gadon is playing yet another new character in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  My gut tells me Gadon is playing MJ, because the timing is just a little too perfect to be a coincidence. She's certainly got the glamorous, cover girl look that defines the character. But assuming she's not MJ, who else could she possibly be?

Read More

Sure Shots: Sarah Gadon; Annette Bening; David Slade

* Having appeared in three movies by David Cronenberg (A Dangerous Method, Cosmopolis) and his son Brandon (Antiviral), Sarah Gadon has not only proven herself a favorite of theirs, but she's also becoming a staple of really creepy films. Which makes her the perfect choice to join Dracula with Luke Evans. Directed by Gary Shore, the origin story will combine mythology and history to tell how Prince Vlad made the ultimate sacrifice to become the world's first vampire, and the inspiration for Bram Stoker's novel. [Variety]

* There are some changes afoot for Imagine, the directorial debut by Crazy Stupid Love scribe, Dan Fogelman. Last October it was reported that Julianne Moore and Jeremy Renner would be joining Al Pacino in the story of an aging rocker who discovers he has an adult son after reading an unopened letter from John Lennon. But those two are now out, and it looks as if they'll be replaced by Annette Bening and Bobby Cannavale. Cannavale will play Pacino's son, taking on a role that had also been circled by Steve Carell, who is still on board as a producer. It's a big move for Cannavale, who made his breakthrough in The Station Agent opposite Peter Dinklage and Michelle Williams.  Even so, this is a severe drop in star-wattage that hopefully won't derail the film from getting made.

* David Slade (30 Days of Night) had been slated to helm a Daredevil reboot, but he gave it up to direct NBC's Hannibal. Wise move, sir. But he's heading back to the big screen now to direct The Widow, which centers on "a young woman who befriends a lonely widow only to discover that their encounter was not a coincidence." [THR]

Read More

Julianne Moore, John Cusack, and Sarah Gadon join David Cronenberg's 'Maps to the Stars'

David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars has been developing for quite some time, and despite landing Robert Pattinson as the lead it was beginning to look like the film might get pushed back or not happen at all. Rachel Weisz came aboard last fall, but dropped out last month. At the same time, Cronenberg seems to have failed in his attempts to lure in frequent collaborator Viggo Mortensen. The director recently took an acting role in Luca Guadagnino's Body Art, further muddying up the waters.

But the film is indeed happening, and looks to be progressing at a rapid clip with the addition of Julianne Moore, John Cusack, and Cosmopolis co-star Sarah Gadon. Bruce Wagner wrote the script, which is a ghost story dealing in some way with Hollywood's celebrity culture. Further plot details are being kept under wraps, and along with it any info on the characters.

Production is set to begin in July. [THR]

Read More