Following the failure to launch of her recent film I Don't Know How She Does It, Sarah Jessica Parker has signed on as executive producer for her newest project, in which she may star: A Fair Marriage, a film that follows a woman in a six-year marriage who "rediscovers who she is, what she is capable of and how deep her love for her family runs -- by becoming someone else." Uh-oh. This sounds like the kind of inoffensive tripe that Sarah Jessica Parker has done to death in the past five years, the quirky, but down-to-Earth romance. Since it's pretty clear that SJP could use a push in a new direction, let's suggest three genres for which she's better suited -- even if it means she's zapped in the alien apocalypse.
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"Despite [Dark Blood director] George Sluizer's claim that he has been communicating with River Phoenix's family in regard to releasing River's last film, Joaquin Phoenix and his family have not been in communication with the director nor will they participate in any way." Bummer. That said, the Lying Dutchman is a pretty good nickname if Sluizer wants it. [Deadline]
Happy Friday! Also in today's edition of The Broadsheet: Catherine Zeta-Jones is getting Broken... The Bible is hot in Hollywood!... The only Akira takedown you'll ever need... and more.
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After their Matrix trilogy grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide, Lana (formerly Larry) and Andy Wachowski took some time to explore avenues off the sci-fi blockbuster grid -- by writing a dystopian thriller (V for Vendetta), unsuccessfully adapting Japanese anime for the screen (Speed Racer) and directing A-listers like Tom Hanks, Hugh Grant and Halle Berry in the ambitious, generations-spanning adaptation of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. At long last though, it seems that the sibling filmmakers are returning to their wheelhouse for a mysterious new project called Jupiter Ascending.
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Kathryn Bigelow's upcoming movie about the team of Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden was originally set to debut right before election day 2012, prompting U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) to call for an investigation of the extent of the Obama administration's assistance to the project. Now, that point seems moot; Sony has rejiggered its release schedule so that the Mark Boal-penned picture will debut after the Presidential election, and possibly not until 2013. Then again, with today's news of Muammar Gaddafi's death, Obama might not need as much help raising the victory flag, pre-election. [NYT]
According to The Daily Mail, last Friday while in West Sussex, England for an annual Scientology event, John Travolta asked one of his reps to reserve a table at the local KFC for him and his guests. The KFC employee who answered the phone kindly explained to the actor's rep that fast food chains operate on a first come-first serve basis, even if the customer was John Travolta. Sadly, the actor never got his table or his fried chicken, instead going directly to a charity dinner. A spokesman for KFC has since released a statement about the Travolta debacle: "In hindsight, of course, we would have reserved a table for him. It's not every day you get a Hollywood star eating in your restaurant." [Daily Mail]
We've been vocal about our obsession with Ellen Barkin, who is currently taking Twitter by storm with her vulgar 140-character rants, observations, and loving shout-outs. Now, Movieline premieres the new poster from her upcoming film Another Happy Day, in which she plays the exasperated matriarch in a truly dysfunctional family with ex-husband Thomas Haden Church, kids Ezra Miller and Daniel Yelsky, daughter Kate Bosworth, and a step family that includes Demi Moore, Ellen Burstyn, and George Kennedy. Damn!
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The long-gestating live-action adaptation of the popular manga and anime tale Akira has been resuscitated at Warner Bros. months after Albert Hughes dropped out of the director's chair. Is this good news for diehard fans of Katsuhiro Otomo's cyberpunk saga? What if the front runner to play Kaneda is Tron: Legacy's Garrett Hedlund?
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Happy Thursday! Also in today's edition of The Broadsheet: Behold the Matt Damon/John Krasinski braintrust... Mark Romanek may be a surprising heir to Ron Howard... More sad news about Transformers 4... and more.
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Thanks again to all of the guest critics who turned out yesterday to review Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. We had some great 10-word write-ups that were sharp, insightful and humorous. Alas, we could only choose two winners. Click ahead to see who is getting a combo pack of the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment!
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This just in: Lindsay Lohan was handcuffed in court this morning and escorted back to jail after a judge revoked the actress's probation for failing to meet her community service requirements.
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This weekend, Carla Gugino and Ellen Burstyn storm the multiplex with The Mighty Macs, an inspiring action drama about how women's basketball coach Cathy Rush (Gugino) trained a small Catholic college team to unlikely victory in the '70s. In celebration of this upcoming show of cinematic she-sportsmanship, Movieline has compiled (what we consider to be) the nine best women's sports movies.
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I wouldn't take anything Catfish and Paranormal Activity 3 co-director Ariel Schulman says at face value, but for the record: "When we first interviewed with the president of Paramount, he actually said, 'If you tell me right now that Catfish is fake, you've got the job.' And we just went real silent. And then I said, 'I'm sorry, I can't tell you that.' Because it was real. [...] I think he figured that if we could create that authenticity dramatically, then we could do it again for this. Ultimately, we convinced them of exactly that. Catfish is completely real, but I think we have a knack for identifying the authentic moments in home video, and it plays like a narrative." [Huffington Post]
You've never seen an Olsen Twins movie, have you? Have you? You've never twisted your hair into braids like Hailee Steinfeld and discovered How the West was Fun or booked a trip to the UK for Winning London. You've never personally discovered that, indeed, It Takes Two. God. Now that you've admitted you have nothing in common with true cinéastes, allow me to educate you: Today we're visiting the quaint Manhattan of New York Minute, the Olsens' 2004 big-screen bomb costarring more than a few people you respect. Since their sister Elizabeth is defying cult order in Martha Marcy May Marlene this week, the least we can do is honor the original Olsens for their enslaved followers. These zealots prefer their Kool-Aid straight-up.
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"Nobody makes a Scooby-Doo 2 and goes, 'Oh, we're going to make a...' And I don't think Scooby-Doo 2 is a bad movie; I think Scooby-Doo 2 is exactly what it's supposed to be for exactly the audience. It's just that people who are tastemakers are like, 'Oh, I don't want to deal with the kid who was in that movie.' Now, I'm the same guy who was in SLC Punk and I'm the same guy who was in Dead Man's Curve and every other independent movie in the world. [...] But, you know, it's just that thing where it's like somehow, someway, you get kind of labeled this guy who was in a Freddie Prinze Jr. movie too many. And Freddie Prinze Jr. -- it's not his fault, either -- it's just these are the things that happen." [Moviefone]
