Well, it looks like Lionsgate has picked their pony in the Catching Fire directing race; I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence has reportedly been offered the job to helm the Hunger Games sequel, which is set to start filming on a tight schedule this August. Lawrence has three features under his belt, in addition to music videos for the likes of J. Lo and Britney Spears; he most recently directed Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon in Water for Elephants (but also made 2005's Constantine).
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Wednesday night in Austin, Texas the embattled (but cheery) Mel Gibson popped down to the Alamo Drafthouse to premiere his latest film/star vehicle, the darkly comic Mexico-set action pic Get the Gringo. Though his most recent and public feud with Maccabee screenwriter Joe Eszterhas took a notoriously ugly turn of late, Gibson was jovial and in a joking mood – even when moderator Harry Knowles dared to make reference to Gibson’s documented anti-Semitic remarks.
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John Cusack dives into the twisted psyche of 19th century author Edgar Allan Poe in this week's The Raven, a fictional adventure-mystery that blends the writer's real life with the kind of dark, macabre tales he wove -- and Movieline has your chance to catch it before it opens on April 27! Enter Movieline's 10-word review contest (critiquing any film from Cusack's nearly three-decade career) and you could win a pair of tickets to the Los Angeles premiere and after party for the film. So turn on the hot tub time machine and crank up the high fidelity, tapeheads and grifters and America's sweethearts, because, um, the cradle will rock over Broadway. Or something. It's a sure thing! Oh, just say anything... [UPDATE: Contest is now closed. Thanks for playing! Winner will be announced shortly.]
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Radio and TV host/personality/entrepreneur Dick Clark has died at the age of 82, reports the AP. The "American Bandstand"/"New Year's Rockin' Eve" fixture had suffered a heart attack following an outpatient procedure in Santa Monica. Over the course of his six-decade career Clark also produced awards shows including the American Music Awards (which he founded), the Emmy Awards, and the Golden Globes; he even dabbled in film, writing and starring in the 1968 crime drama Killers Three.
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The late Claude Miller's Thérèse D will close the 65th Festival de Cannes, the festival announced today. The adaptation of François Mauriac's 1927 novel (adapted previously in 1962 by Georges Franju) stars French favorite Audrey Tautou (Amelie) in the title role as a free-spirited woman trapped in an unhappy marriage in 1920s France who poisons her husband out of desperation, then must suffer the consequences. more »
Shia LaBeouf popped up on a whim last weekend at Chicago's C2E2 to peddle three original comic books he created, and thanks to the lucky and enterprising comics fans on the ground the internet now has a look at the imagery and philosophical musings whirling around in Shia's brain. Like: Random thoughts on poets (they bore him), someone who looks an awful lot like the boogeyman (okay, LaBeouf pal Marilyn Manson), and the adventures of a canyon-jumping biker and his sombrero-wearing pal.
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Director Lee Daniels made Oscar magic tapping Mo'Nique for Precious; the comic and talk-show host took the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress that year in addition to a slew of festival awards (including an acting prize at Sundance, where the film premiered in 2009). Now, Daniels has asked John Cusack to join his anticipated The Butler, playing the role of Richard Nixon. What does Cusack have in mind, and does his own masterpiece await?
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When Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained hits theaters in December, it'll bring audiences face to face with a flurry of new grindhouse/genre references and influences, as any Tarantino flick is wont to do. Among those citations is the Italian exploitation pic Goodbye Uncle Tom (AKA Addio Zio Tom/Farewell Uncle Tom), the notorious 1971 pseudo-doc about a film crew documenting the horrors of slavery in the American south, which Django Unchained cast member Samuel L. Jackson discussed recently during an interview for his superhero flick The Avengers (a movie that does not, by the way, pay homage to questionably exploitative slavery explorations.)
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Nick Stoller took a moment while promoting his Five-Year Engagement to fuel speculation about the forthcoming (and Jason Segel-less) Muppets sequel, which he says Disney rather unrealistically wanted to release next summer. "It is a comedy caper," he spilled to Collider. This sounds familiar -- next stop Manhattan, Treasure Island and then, perhaps... space?
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Of all the random shenanigans actor/filmmaker/online purveyor of fine goods Vincent Gallo has pulled, suing the city of Los Angeles kind of makes the most sense of them all. Consider: According to TMZ, Gallo filed a lawsuit to shut down the Arts District Business Improvement District plan, which uses taxpayer money to patrol, safeguard, and improve the downtown L.A. arts district. Gallo reportedly wants the program shut down and $1.3 million returned because it's purportedly wasteful and provides "no benefit." In other news: The Brown Bunny star's personal services are still available for purchase! Now that's money well spent, I'm sure. [TMZ]
Thanks to all who played along in our epic Cabin in the Woods poetry contest! After careful deliberation over your many incisive and witty horror-themed submissions, Movieline's editors have selected the five best haikus of the bunch; read the winning selections -- all of which, yes, will receive that coveted Cabin in the Woods expanding bong -- after the jump. Cabin in the Woods spoilers follow, so beware!
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After allllllll that, the PG-13 cut of Harvey Weinstein's shameless cause célèbre Bully grossed $534,000 over the weekend in expanded release to 158 theaters. That would amount to an aromatic $3,380 per screen — dramatically less than foreseen following the R-rated cut's $23,000-per-screen opening two weeks ago. Who would have ever guessed? Oh. [Box Office Mojo]
In honor of today's horror extravaganza Cabin in the Woods, pen a masterful horror-themed haiku and you could win a bounty of Cabin swag! Included in the grand prize: A Cabin t-shirt, a signed poster, the visualization "movie tie-in" book, the novelization (so you can understand the twists and turns and surprises at hand), and your very own Cabin in the Woods expanding bong (to, um, help you expand your mind and grasp what writer-producer Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard are doing in this ultra meta-horror send-up). [UPDATE 4/16, 9:30 a.m. ET: The deadline has moved up! Read on for details...]
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ActionFest, the annual all-action-movie film festival in Asheville, N.C., honored stunt coordinator Jack Gill this weekend with its Man of Action Award. Gill used the platform to discuss his ongoing campaign to add an Oscar category for stunt coordinators, explaining to a panel audience why it’s taken 21 years — and how he’s talking to the voting Academy members of a special committee, one by one — to convince them that stunt professionals are artists just like other film technicians honored on Hollywood's biggest night.
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They'll soon go from Mr. and Mrs. Smith to Mr. and Mrs. Pitt -- that's right, celebrity supercouple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are finally making it official. A rep for the pair confirmed their news today to THR, calling it "a promise for the future." Really, isn't the long-awaited Brangelina engagement a promise for us all?
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