Most first-time filmmakers don't have a posse of A-listers filling roles in their films. But then again, most first-time directors aren't Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The charming actor is taking his turn behind the camera (though he's also in front) with Don Jon's Addiction, which will have its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in the event's Premieres section in January.
Sundance didn't readily have an image from Don Jon's Addiction available when they rolled out their 2013 lineup late last week and earlier this week, but this one turned up with a demure looking Scarlett Johansson appearing to size-up Josheph Gordon-Levitt (or maybe the other way around) in what appears to be a club? video bar? new age art installation?
Also starring Julianne Moore, Sundance did not give too much detail about the film but it will likely be a hot title to watch... One thing is for sure, Gordon-Levitt is having a good run after a year of The Dark Knight Rises (and all the ensuing Batman/Robin Hood rumors), Looper and Lincoln.
The minimal Sundance Film Festival description follows:
In Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s charming directorial debut, a selfish modern-day Don Juan attempts to change his ways. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Rob Brown.
Back in January, MGM/Screen Gems tapped director Kimberly Peirce to helm their remake of Stephen King's Carrie, updating the supernatural tale after Brian de Palma's iconic 1976 film adaptation. The current frontrunners to play Carrie White, the sexually repressed telekinetic teen who wreaks bloody revenge on her classmates at the high school prom? Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz and actress Haley Bennett (The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Marley & Me), according to Vulture. Can either fill Sissy Spacek's shoes?
more »
Though it’s always a bad idea to review a director’s intentions at the expense of the actual results, there’s something about Paul Weitz’s movies that makes you want to cut him a little extra slack. Weitz, with his brother Chris, was one-half of the directing team that brought us About a Boy (an affecting and well-crafted adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel), as well as American Pie (which, despite its reputation as a teen raunchfest, was surprisingly in tune with the complexities of sexual relationships as they’re experienced by young women). The pictures Weitz has directed on his own have been either unjustly overlooked (as in the case of the freewheeling satire American Dreamz) or justifiably lambasted (there’s not much to say about the icky gun-for-hire vehicle Little Fockers). But when Weitz is at his best, his films show an easygoing open-heartedness that more technically gifted directors – we’re looking at you, Alexander Payne – can’t even begin to muster. There may not be a single misanthropic bone in his body.
more »
Poet/playwright Nick Flynn's memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City is right for a movie adaptation: Its two main characters, Flynn and his father, are deep, articulate characters with a lot of angst to go around. In the first trailer for Focus's adaptation Being Flynn, the younger Flynn (Paul Dano) analyzes the value of reuniting with his estranged father (Robert De Niro). Clip after the jump.
more »
