New U.S. Trailer for 'Serena' starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper

Poor reviews and a couple of years gathering dust aside, there's still a few reasons to be excited for the Depression-era melodrama, Serena: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Susanne Bier. Chances are when the film actually arrives, that's all people will need to know when deciding to plunk down their money to see it. Set in North Carolina, the story centers on George and Serena Pemberton, powerful timber magnates fighting to protect their empire from competitors. As their business grows, problems arise in their marriage due to his infidelity and her inability to get pregnant, leading to a breakdown that threatens to destroy everything.

Serena is playing now in the U.K., but will land stateside on VOD February 26th 2015 before hitting theaters a month later. Check out the new U.S. trailer below.

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'Serena' with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper "Makes No Sense"; Gets Early 2015 Release

When tracking movies every day you start to get a sense for when a project is shaping up to be a dud. Sometimes there are production headaches, a veritable army of screenwriters trying to get the script right, or a game of musical chairs when it comes to casting. But the greatest indicator of a flop in the making is when a studio seems to be averse to releasing the completed film at all, and that's what happened with Serena, Susanna Bier's buzzworthy drama starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, which is now set for a release early next year after being a no-show on any schedule for quite some time.

So when you see the words "early next year" you know that means the first two or three months of 2015, generally regarded as a cinematic dumping ground. Magnolia Pictures picked up the rights to the film some time ago and have done nothing with it in the two years since shooting wrapped. Serena was shot after Lawrence and Cooper's Silver Linings Playbook and before American Hustle, to get a sense for how long it's been sitting idle. A U.K. release was planned for next month after a premiere at BFI London Film Festival, which is when the first reviews should start rolling out and chances are they will be harsh. THR cites sources that say the film was passed over by multiple distributors before Magnolia took over, with one saying "The film was so edited, it made no sense." Another ripped the performances, calling them "uneven, particularly Lawrence's [descent into madness]." Ouch.

And yet, I still firmly believe the movie will do well if only because of the stars involved. Let's not forget the turmoil World War Z encountered but largely due to the presence of Brad Pitt it became one of last year's biggest hits. Plus, Serena shouldn't have a lot of competition to deal with at that time of year.

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First Trailer and Posters for 'Serena' Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper

In the couple of years since Danish director Susanne Bier completed Serena she's made a romantic comedy in Love is All You Need, and just debuted A Second Chance at TIFF. And yet still we haven't seen Serena in theaters, this despite starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. While it's never a good sign when a film with big names is put on the shelf for so long, Lawrence and Cooper are so bankable that the quality of the movie shouldn't matter. But recently it's looked like things are changing as the U.K. has a release date set for next month, and now today comes the first trailer along with a couple of new posters.

The Depression-era drama stars Lawrence and Cooper as a North Carolina couple struggling to hold on to their timber empire in the face of  trying personal circumstances. The situation becomes worse when they learn she can't get pregnant. So it's a little bit There will be Blood and a little bit Revolutionary Road, but the trailer looks promising even if it gives away too much of the plot.

The only question is when or if we'll ever see it in the U.S. Magnolia has the rights but don't seem to be in any hurry to provide a release date when now would be the perfect time to do it. Perhaps a date can be nailed down after Serena debuts at the London Film Festival.


Serena - Trailer (V.O.) (HD) by Trailers y Estrenos

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First Trailer for Susanne Bier's 'A Second Chance' Starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

With this morning's TIFF announcements one film you didn't see as part of the line-up was Susanne Bier's Depression era drama, Serena, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. At this point we may never see that movie it's been sitting around so long, but Bier does have another high-profile effort debuting at the festival. A Second Chance stars Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and the first trailer looks like the best thing he's done outside of the series yet.  Certainly it can't be as bad as The Other Woman.

After taking an unexpected jaunt into cheery rom-com land with Love is All You Need, Bier is back with a tough, uncompromising moral drama. Frequent collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen wrote the script and here's the official synopsis:

Detectives and best friends Andreas and Simon lead vastly different lives; Andreas has settled down with his beautiful wife and son; while Simon, recently divorced, spends most of his waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But all that changes when the two of them are called out to a domestic dispute between a junkie couple, caught in a vicious cycle of violence and drugs. It all looks very routine – until Andreas finds the couple's infant son, crying in a closet. The usually collected policeman finds himself confronted with his own powerlessness and is shaken to his core. As Andreas slowly loses his grip on justice, it suddenly becomes up to the unruly Simon to restore the balance between right and wrong. “A Second Chance” is a shocking, moving and thrilling drama about real people forced into incredible circumstances.

 A Second Chance has yet to gain distribution but we'll update you when it does because this looks great.

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Cate Blanchett to Star in Susanne Bier's 'The Dig'

Susanne Bier isn't letting the grass grow beneath her feet between projects. While we still wait on a release date for Serena, the Depression-era drama she long ago completed with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, she's already wrapped up on A Second Chance with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Now she's already moving on to her next project, and she's landed an Oscar winner in Cate Blanchett to star.

Blanchett will headline The Dig, an adaptation of John Preston's novel about archaeologist Edith Pretty. The true story, penned by Moira Buffini (Tamara Drewe), centers on Pretty and her team's excavation of Sutton Hoo, a burial site from the 6th and 7th century located on her land. The significant finds unearthed included a 7th century Saxon ship, and was determined to be the final resting place of King Raedwald of East Anglia. The emphasis will be on the big personalities involved in the dig, with the tone said to be in the tradition of Remains of the Day. Blanchett is just coming out of George Clooney's Monuments Men, another ensemble dealing with historical artifacts.

Filming is aimed for later this year.  [ScreenDaily]

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Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in New Images from 'Serena'

Periodically on this site, usually during a story about American Hustle or Silver Linings Playbook, I've stopped to lament the seeming disappearance of Susanne Bier's Depression-era drama, Serena. One would think that a film reuniting Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper would have studios falling all over themselves to acquire it, and yet we've heard nothing on when it may be released. This despite talk that it had been screening to potential distributors sine last year. So what's the deal? There may be some light on the horizon as new photos have emerged, along with possible news on a release date.

Shot a short time after Silver Linings Playbook, the film is an adaptation of Ron Rash's novel about North Carolina industrialist George Pemberton (Cooper) and his new wife, Serena (Lawrence), as they ruthlessly build their timber empire. But when Serena learns she is unable to bear children, it sets her on a vengeful downward spiral in which she targets George's illegitimate son.

Mockingjay.net claims Serena will finally open on September 27th, but there's no confirmation from any official sources.[via ThePlaylist]

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First Look at Nicolaj Coster-Waldau in Susanne Bier's 'A Second Chance'

Really though, the wait for Susanne Bier's Depression-era drama Serena has been ridiculous. Even with the star power of Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper leading it, there's been no word on when or if the film will ever come out. And in the mean time Bier has been moving on to other projects like A Second Chance, starring Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Production has begun on the film, which reunites Bier with Anders Thomas Jensen, the writer of some of her most harrowing dramas such as After the Wedding and In a Better World. To coincide with the start of shooting, the first image from A Second Chance has been released along with a full plot synopsis which you can check out below. Obviously there's no release date info yet but hopefully it won't be shrouded in mystery like Serena has been.

Detectives and best friends Andreas and Simon lead vastly different lives; Andreas has settled down with his beautiful wife and son; while Simon, recently divorced, spends most of his waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But all that changes when the two of them are called out to a domestic dispute between a junkie couple, caught in a vicious cycle of violence and drugs. It all looks very routine – until Andreas finds the couple's infant son, crying in a closet. The usually collected policeman finds himself confronted with his own powerlessness and is shaken to his core. As Andreas slowly loses his grip on justice, it suddenly becomes up to the unruly Simon to restore the balance between right and wrong. “A Second Chance” is a shocking, moving and thrilling drama about real people forced into incredible circumstances.

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Susanne Bier Takes 'A Second Chance' with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

While we continue to wait for some news, really ANY news, on Susanne Bier's Depression-era drama Serena starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, the director has been lining up one project after another. Most recently she agreed to team with Lawrence again on The Rules of Inheritance, and Bier also plans to helm Mary Queen of Scots at some point. But now she's got one more film cooking, and it sees her teaming up with Game of Thrones star, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Bier will direct her Danish countryman in A Second Chance, a drama that will be shopped at the American Film Market next month. Penned by her frequent collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen (After the Wedding), the film explores the lengths people are willing to go when tragedy blurs the line between the just and unjust. Sounds like a Prisoners-style morality tale, and with Bier at the helm it could be just as powerful.

No word on when this will fit into Bier and Coster-Waldau's schedules, but between her many commitments and his filming on Game of Thrones, it could be awhile. [Deadline]

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New international trailer for Susanne Bier's 'Love is All You Need', starring Pierce Brosnan

Susanne Bier is probably the last director you'd think of for light romantic comedies, having helmed such emotionally raw dramas as After the Wedding, In A Better World, and Things We Lost in the Fire. But apparently she's taking a stab at something a little more cheerful and silly with her new film, Love is All You Need.

Originally titled The Bold Hairdresser, the Danish film is about the myriad wackiness and romantic entanglements that crop up when two families get together in Southern Italy to celebrate the wedding of young couple, Astrid and Patrick. Astrid's mother, Ida(Trine Dyrholm), is suffering from cancer and has just caught her husband in a compromising position with his mistress. Pierce Brosnan plays Patrick's father, Philip, who is still struggling to get over his wife's recent death. I think what he needs is a nice new woman on the rebound to crash into.

The newly released trailer shows off the gorgeous Italian setting, which will remind many of Woody Allen's To Rome With Love. Hopefully it's a more consistent charmer than that film was. The trailer is almost completely in Dutch with the exception of Brosnan's dialogue, but even without subtitles it's pretty obvious what's going on. The film opens in Denmark on September 6th, and Sony Pictures Classics will hopefully nail down an American release date soon....

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1st look at Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in Susanne Bier's 'Serena'

Wow, they aren't wasting any time, are they? The first photo of Jennifer Lawrence Bradley Cooper in Serena, the Depression era film from Susanne Bier(Things We Lost in the Fire) has been released just as production has started in Prague. Capitalizing on Lawrence's incredible fame post-The Hunger Games? Of course, and I don't blame the marketing dudes one bit for doing it.

Based on Ron Rash's novel, the story follows George Pemberton(Cooper) and his headstrong wife, Serena(Lawrence), who go from Boston to North Carolina to establish a timber industry. They rule with an iron fist, literally killing off their competition to help secure their empire. However, when Serena discovers she can't bear children, she sets out get vengeance on the woman who bore George an illegitimate son years earlier.

We probably won't see this one until some time next year, and by then Lawrence will probably be all wrapped up on Catching Fire, and Cooper with The Hangover 3.

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Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence to star in 'Serena'; Susanne Bier to direct

A lot can change in a couple of years, especially in the fluid world of Hollywood filmmaking. A couple of years ago we learned about Serena, an adaptation of Ron Rash's great Depression era novel that's sorta like There Will Be Blood meets Lady MacBeth. At the time, Darren Aronofsky and Angelina Jolie were attached to direct and star, but 2012 is a totally different ball of wax, and now both have moved. This might sound crazy, but I think they've managed to trade up somehow, as Vulture reports that Academy Award winning director Susanne Bier will tackle the project, joined by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.

Bier is one of my favorite directors, winning the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for In A Better World. She also was behind the original version of Brothers(remade here with Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman), and the soulful After the Wedding starring Mads Mikkelsen. Cooper and Lawrence, who just finished up David O. Russell's The Silver Linings Playbook together, will star as George and Serena Pemberton, an ambitious young couple who move to North Carolina to start a timber business. Their ruthlessness towards competitors eventually turns inward when Serena discovers she can't get pregnant, setting her off on a vengeful crusade against George's illegitimate son. 

Filming is set to begin soon, as they'll probably want to get it done before Cooper gets busy with The Hangover 3 and Lawrence gets started on Catching Fire.

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