Disney's 'Maleficent' to Undergo Reshoots, No Angelina Jolie Required
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- Published on Friday, 11 October 2013 03:51
- Written by Moviefone
There's trouble brewing on the set of Disney's "Maleficent," the Angelina Jolie-starring live action movie delving into the back story of the villain at the heart of "Sleeping Beauty." The Hollywood Reporter writes that the movie will undergo reshoots to fix problems with its opening, with several new scenes written by director John Lee Hancock."Maleficent" producer Joe Roth tells THR that Hancock will be brought on in a supervisory role, but that he would not be taking over directing duties from Robert Stromberg, who's making his feature directorial debut."We asked him to be on set," Roth said of Hancock. "He's not directing. He wrote pages and I hired a first-time director and it's good to have him on set."Stromberg won production design Oscars for his work on "Alice in Wonderland" and "Avatar," and Roth noted that it was Stromberg's reputation for such attention to beautiful detail that secured him the job. Hancock would merely be helping iron out the opening, Roth said, which anonymous sources told THR was completely rewritten by Hancock."The movie is gorgeous to look at and the last 75 minutes are really entertaining," Roth said.The reshoots, to take place over eight days, will not involve Jolie. "Maleficent," which has a budget in excess of $200 million, is still expected to keep its planned opening date of May 30, 2014.
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John Magaro Joins Angelina Jolie’s Louis Zamperini Pic ‘Unbroken’
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- Published on Wednesday, 09 October 2013 06:25
- Written by Deadline
John Magaro (Not Fade Away) has been cast in Unbroken, the true story of U.S. Olympian-turned-WWII prisoner of war Louis Zamperini which Angelina Jolie is helming for Universal. Magaro will play Frank A. Tinker, an Air Force dive bomb pilot and opera singer who befriends Zamperini en route to a Japanese POW camp. Jack O’Connell won the role of Zamperini and leads a cast that includes Garrett Hedlund and Domhnall Gleeson. The script, adapted from Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand’s nonfiction bestseller, is by William Nicholson and Richard LaGravenese with a rewrite by Joel and Ethan Coen. Filming begins mid-October under DP Roger Deakins ahead of an already-set Christmas 2014 release. Magaro is repped by Abrams Artists and Authentic Talent and Literary Management.
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‘Gravity’ Almost Starred Angelina Jolie and Robert Downey Jr.
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- Published on Wednesday, 09 October 2013 06:26
- Written by Variety
With Warner Bros. space thriller “Gravity” earning a stellar $55.6 million at the box office, it may come as a surprise to many how differently this film could have looked had things swayed a different way when it was originally conceived; and how close it came to not happening at all.In 2006, following the critical success of “Children of Men,” Universal Pictures and director Alfonso Cuaron paired up for the expensive space epic, co-written by Cuaron’s son, but after worries began to trickle down the studio ranks as to how exactly you market a film like “Gravity,” Universal parted ways with the project.Warner Bros., which worked with Cuaron on “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” then came on board as the distributor and took a chance on a film that others were avoiding.The next positive sign that the film would was getting closer to a greenlight was Robert Downey Jr. attaching himself as the male lead in early 2010, but the pic still needed the female lead that carries most of the film. Angelina Jolie had always been eyed for the role, but a deal couldn’t be worked out and finally in summer 2010, Jolie passed, leaving the studio and Cuaron at square one.Warners tested several leading ladies and at one point was very high on Blake Lively. After working with her on “The Town,” the studio was looking at her for almost every female-driven project it had in 2010, including “Gravity,” which to several insiders at the time seemed like an odd choice given how young Lively was and the fact that the main character was suppose to have a daughter in the film too.WB eventually moved off the idea and set its sights on Natalie Portman following her Oscar win for “Black Swan,” but the actress was looking to take a much needed break (and was pregnant), leaving “Gravity” in the same state as its main character: gasping for life.
Enter Sandra Bullock.Coming off an acting hiatus herself, Bullock, who won an Oscar for 2009′s “The Blind Side,” also from WB, was looking for something that would challenge her, and top WB execs along with Cuaron and producer David Heyman saw the opportunity and moved fast to land her.Finally, “Gravity” was ready for liftoff, but there was still one more hurdle: Iron Man. Since production was forced to move because the search for the main character took so long, Downey was forced to exit the long-gestating project because of “The Avengers” and “Iron Man 3″ scheduling conflict.What would seem like a blow to most films ended up working out with George Clooney’s schedule opening up just as the film was expected to commence production. The short shoot for his character ended up working out for Clooney’s schedule and Warners signed him just in time for the first quarter shoot in 2011.In an age where films are constantly being bad-mouthed if there is any delay in development or production, “Gravity” is a case where a studio’s confidence and patience with not only the project but also the filmmaker paid off in a big way.
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Angelina Jolie Confirmed to Direct 'Unbroken' in Australia
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- Published on Tuesday, 01 October 2013 10:37
- Written by Hollywood Reporter
Angelina Jolie will direct Unbroken in the Australian states of NSW and Queensland, it was confirmed Tuesday, with the shoot based at Sydney’s Fox Studios Australia and Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast and is set to start filming Oct. 21.Jolie visited both states in early September, finalizing locations for the World War II-set biopic of U.S. Olympian and war hero Louis Zamperini. It will shoot in Sydney, regional locations in NSW and Village Roadshow Studios and its water tank on the Gold Coast, while it's also expected that some of the visual effects work will be done by NSW companies.NSW deputy premier Andrew Stoner and Queensland arts minister Ian Walker confirmed the details, including that the film qualifies for Screen Queensland's Production Incentive program, among others.Unbroken is the sophomore feature for Jolie as a director, after 2010’s In The Land of Blood and Honey. It follows the life story of Zamperini, who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, only to be caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.Confirmed in the cast are Jack O'Connell as Zamperini, Garrett Hedlund, Domhnall Gleeson, Finn Wittrock and Alex Russell. Jolie is producing with Matthew Baer and Erwin Stoff.“Securing production of Unbroken in NSW will inject millions of dollars into the State’s economy and is expected to create more than 300 jobs for NSW-based crew alone and more for cast and extras,” Stoner said.Stoner said that Screen NSW had worked hard to bring the production to the state against strong competition from other possible locations around the world. "'Securing this production for NSW demonstrates the competitiveness of doing business here,” he said. “It puts a global spotlight on NSW and on the strength of our digital economy -- from smart networks and intelligent technologies to digital animation, visual effects, live action filming and interactive content. This will be a great boost for our digital economy and creative industries, as well as our international reputation." "We are thrilled to be welcoming Angelina Jolie's film Unbroken to Queensland,'' added Screen Queensland COO Jennie Hughes. "It will create a substantial amount of jobs for the film and television industry in Queensland putting the business back in show business.'' Universal Pictures has scheduled the film for release in the U.S. on Christmas Day 2014.
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Alex Russell cast in Angelina Jolie movie
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- Published on Thursday, 26 September 2013 17:47
- Written by IF
Alex Russell will join Jack O’Connell and Domhnall Gleeson in Unbroken, the Angelina-Jolie directed movie which starts shooting in Sydney on October 21.Russell will play Pete, the older brother of Louis Zamperini (O’Connell), who was a member of the US athletics team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.Serving with the US Air Force in WWII, Louis survived a plane crash in the Pacific Ocean and after 47 days on a life raft was interned in a Japanese prison camp. Louis was a troubled kid at school but found his niche as a track star with Pete’s encouragement.Gleeson, who played Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1&2, will play a fellow survivor of the plane crash in the Universal-financed film.Unbroken is Jolie’s second directing effort following The Land Of Blood And Honey, a romantic drama set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War.The screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen and Richard LaGravenese is based on the Laura Hillenbrand novel Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption.Russell will segue to Unbroken after shooting Cut Snake, Matchbox Pictures’ crime thriller directed by Tony Ayres, which shoots in Melbourne next month, co-starring Sullivan Stapleton.Russell is cast as Sparra Farrell, a young guy who, after serving a prison term, moves to a new city intending to start a new life and hooks up with the beautiful Paula (Jessica De Gouw). Stapleton is brutal ex-crim Pommie who tracks down Sparra and tries to lure him back into a life of crime.United Management’s Natasha Harrison represents Russell in Australia; he's repped by UTA in the US. He stars in the upcoming Carrie remake after roles in The Host, Bait and Chronicle.
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