Justin Timberlake plays the Facebook Guy

The Facebook movie entitled ‘The Social Network’ has got it’s first sneak peaks of popstar and actor Justin Timberlake, who has grown his hair back to days reminiscent of the N-Sync era.

The ‘Rock Your Body’ star, who has not had a single or album out for a lengthy duration of time, has been snapped on the set of David Fincher’s The Social Network, where Justin plays Napster founder Sean Parker, who had a major role in the launch of the Facebook craze.

Sean Parker got involved when Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin were on the precipice of something with a big site, when Parker met up with Zuckerberg, he secretly told him to drop Saverin from the company and was hired with a 5% stake in the new company. He then helped launch Facebook, and expanded it’s usage to the global status it has reached today.

It is not yet known if this ‘Facebook’ movie will be an interesting storyline, but to make a movie about it, it must have something special other than Justin’s curls.

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Hancock Where Art Thou?

After tons of buzz, it looks like Hancock 2 isn’t happening after all. Just two months ago director Peter Berg expressed his excitement to reunite with the cast of Hancock to make a sequel. Well, that was before we got word that Berg was hired to direct Battleship. HitFix had a chat with director Berg who seems to have lost interest in making a second film, for the time being.

Apparently Will Smith is keeping out of the spotlight, hanging out with his family and watching his kids’ film careers grow. On top of that, producers James Lassiter, Akiva Goldsmith and Michael Mann are busy with projects of their own. “To get us all in the same room where we can talk and then agree on anything? You'll never meet a group of people who will have a harder time agreeing on anything. It's like the Israeli peace process times a thousand in how tough it is for us all. But I think it will happen, we just all have to get in the same room with some consistency.”

Yes, Berg, expresses a glimmer of hope, but when HitFix asks him if Hancock 2 could be next in line after Battleship, he says he plans to work on the adaptation of Marcus Luttrell’s fiction novel Lone Survivor next, which Berg explains is about “17 seals that were killed in one gunfight in Afghanistan. One survived.” Then there’s Berg’s everlasting hope to reunite with Dwayne Johnson to make The Rundown 2. “I love The Rundown. I don't know if the audience was quite ready to accept Dwayne [at the time]. We had a certain amount of resistance.” As for Johnson, Berg says "He'd love it” and that "We always joke 'When are we gonna do it?' But sometimes it's just a question of timing and getting all the stars to line up. There is no reason why we wouldn’t.”

It looks as though we could see The Rundown 2 before Hancock 2. I’d have no objection to that agenda. Does anyone really want a second Hancock anyway?

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Peter-Berg-Says-No-Hancock-2-For-Now-15939.html

Avatar Expectations

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The highly anticipated 3-D movie "Avatar" could make more than $250 million in the U.S. and Canada, and draw new audiences to 3-D films, Regal Entertainment Group's chief executive said on Tuesday.
Amy Miles, who runs the world's largest theater operator, said "Avatar" appeals to older viewers who have not seen 3-D films because many recent 3-D releases have been animated movies appealing to children, such as "Monsters vs. Aliens" and "Up."
"I think what that would do is introduce a section of the audience that has not seen 3-D," told Reuters.
"Avatar" is from director James Cameron, whose 1997 blockbuster film "Titanic" was the highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide, with $1.7 billion.
Using new 3-D technology, "Avatar" tells the story of a U.S. Marine soldier who visits an extraterrestrial globe with exotic inhabitants.
The film's release, by Twentieth Century Fox on December 18, comes as Regal is making a big push into digital technology, converting 1,500 of its more than 6,700 screens to 3-D technology.
But while Miles said the movie is likely to be a hit, and draw in new audiences, she played down the potential importance of "Avatar" to the broader push for 3-D in theaters.
"I'm a little less of the opinion that 'Avatar' is a game-changer," Miles said. "I think from a film technology perspective, there's a lot of enhancements that are going to benefit the industry, but 3-D is going to be successful whether 'Avatar' is successful or not," Miles said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdxXPV9GNQ


(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Sue Zeidler)

Streetcar finally arrives with Blanchett

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – Actress Liv Ullmann's numerous film collaborations with Ingmar Bergman serve her well in her staging of "A Streetcar Named Desire," which has just landed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a limited engagement after sold-out runs in Sydney and Washington. The veteran actress has delivered a knockabout production that beautifully captures the shifting emotional states of Tennessee Williams' classic play, and her expert guidance has elicited sterling performances not only from Cate Blanchett as Blanche DuBois but also by the entire little-known ensemble.
A Sydney Theater Company production, this "Streetcar" returns Blanchett to the venue where she gave an acclaimed performance as Hedda Gabler a few seasons back. The Oscar winner delivers a haunting turn as Blanche, who we first see huddling at the corner of the stage bathed in a soothing white light. But that opening image belies the eventual fierceness of her interpretation, which concentrates less on the character's Southern belle affectations than on the fractured steeliness underneath.
This Blanche seems a worthy foil to the animalistic Stanley, at least until the final shattering moments, staged with more visceral power than any production in recent memory.
As Stanley, Joel Edgerton faces the usual daunting task of trying to erase memories of Marlon Brando's iconic performance, but he's more than up to it. Strappingly fit and handsome, he well conveys the sensual qualities that hold Stanley's wife, Stella, in such thrall as well as the air of physical menace that is periodically unleashed in shocking outbursts. But he also has a fine feel for Stanley's playful, comic side as well as the underlying vulnerability in his passionate love for his wife.
Equally fine is Robin McLeavy's down-to-earth Stella, who in this version seems more than ever the voice of reason, and Tim Richards' touching Mitch, whose final expressions of wounded outrage toward the deceitful Blanche are all the more powerful for the boyish enthusiasm and courtliness that has preceded it.
Although Ullmann could have sped up the pace a little -- the show runs more than three hours -- her staging is physically impeccable. The sets, costumes and lighting evocatively bring to mind her stated influence of the paintings of Edward Hopper, with vintage New Orleans-style blues employed to superbly atmospheric effect.

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Hurt Locker Takes it All

NEW YORK – "The Hurt Locker" has won for best feature at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards.
The award for Kathryn Bigelow's film about a bomb squad in Iraq was presented Monday evening at a ceremony in New York. The film also won for best ensemble performance.
The Gothams named "Food, Inc." the best documentary. Robert Siegel, the writer-director of "Big Fan," won for breakthrough director.
Catalina Saavedra won the breakthrough actor award for her performance in "The Maid." And "You Won't Miss Me" was chosen as the "best film not playing at a theater near you."

Baldwin Martin GO!

When the comedy gods close a door, they open a window. Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. said no to co-hosting next year's Academy Awards, and we barely had time to grieve for what might have been before we received this news: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have said yes. It's official, as detailed in a press release from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Martin has hosted the Oscars twice before, in 2000 and 2002, and he happens to be my personal favorite host. In fact, he's one of my personal favorite entertainers, period. The man is a straight-up genius, the terrible movies he's made in the last decade notwithstanding. Baldwin was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Cooler, so he at least knows his way to the theater, and he's currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity thanks to his top-notch work on TV's 30 Rock.

Martin and Baldwin have worked together several times thanks to their longstanding affiliation with Saturday Night Live. Martin has hosted 15 times -- more than anyone else -- and Baldwin is right behind him at 14. In 2006, Baldwin showed up on a Martin episode, followed a few months later by Martin crashing a Baldwin show, both times with Martin trying to kill Baldwin to prevent him from overtaking his hosting record. (In the Oscar press release, Martin says, "I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin.") Martin guested on an episode of 30 Rock, and both actors will appear in It's Complicated this Christmas.

I think both of these men, separately and together, are hilarious, so I'm excited about the Oscars (to be held March 7, 2010). What do you think?

OSCAR predictions

Predictions For The 2010 Oscar Race
Based on premature Hollywood buzz, the prestige effect, and release dates, we're making some early calls.

Erin Nolan, Jan 07, 2009
I'm so over talking about the 2009 Oscars. I'm done debating Penn v. Rourke v. Langella. I don't care anymore which four actors are going to be given the honor of losing to Heath Ledger. I've stopped losing sleep over how they'll come up with enough worthy Best Actress nominees in such a male-dominated year. And I've made my pitch for The Dark Knight so many times by now my friends and family can probably recite it from memory.

But just because I'm sick of talking about this year's awards contenders doesn't mean I've lost my joy for making Oscar predictions. I'm just ready to move on to next year's race. Based on a mixture of extremely premature buzz, and your usual Oscar predictors (prestige names, source material, release dates, etc.), here are my guesses for a few of the films we'll all be sick of hearing about by this time next year:

Public Enemies
Potential Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor for Johnny Depp and/or Christian Bale, Best Director for Michael Mann
How it could score: "One of the best actors of his generation" is a phrase that you hear thrown around a lot whenever Johnny Depp or Christian Bale come up in conversation. They'll be sure to give each other all they've got in this true-life, 1930s-era, cops and robbers thriller.
How it could disappoint: There are internet rumors floating around about a poor test screening. Has Mann lost his touch? It's easy to be skeptical when you remember his last directorial effort was the unfortunate Miami Vice.

The Lovely Bones
Potential Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor for Mark Wahlberg, Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan, Best Supporting Actress for Susan Sarandon and/or Rachel Weisz, Best Supporting Actor for Stanley Tucci, Best Director for Peter Jackson, Best Adapted Screenplay for Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
How it could score: It's a big-time literary adaptation from a guy who knows a thing or two (or three) about big-time literary adaptations. It has a tearjerker plot centered around a murdered teenager girl watching her family grieve from heaven, and it's chock-full of showy parts that will be played by a dream cast of past Oscar winners and nominees. If things go according to plan, The Lovely Bones could clean up in next year's awards season. But if I had to guess right now on which categories it has its best chances in, I'd go with Sarandon as the dead girl's boozy, brazen grandma, and Tucci as the creepy killer.
How it could disappoint: if Jackson focuses too much on the story's minor magical elements and fails to challenge the talented cast. And I'm still not convinced that Wahlberg was a suitable choice to replace Ryan Gosling as the grieving father.

Inglourious Basterds
Potential Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Quentin Tarantino
How it could score: Never underestimate Tarantino's ability to blow people's minds. Inglourious Basterds is a long-gesticulating labor of love, and there's no doubt he'll put his usual obsessive passion into completing his vision.
How it could fail: Will it be too over the top for the Academy? With Tarantino at the helm, this isn't going to be your grandpa's World War II film.

The Road
Potential Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor for Viggo Mortensen, Best Adapted Screenplay
How it could score: The Cormac McCarthy novel it's based on is one of the best books of the decade. And Aragorn seems like a strong choice to lead us through the film's post-apocalyptic world.
How it could disappoint: McCarthy is a tricky writer whose work doesn't always translate well to the screen. The Coens succeeded with No Country for Old Men, but All the Pretty Horses was a big embarrassment for Billy Bob Thornton and Matt Damon.

The Soloist
Potential Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor for Robert Downey, Jr. and/or Jamie Foxx, Best Director for Joe Wright, Best Original Score
How it could score: When it was originally scheduled for release last November, The Soloist was expected to land an Oscar nomination for Downey Jr., as a reward for his amazing 2008 comeback. And every Oscar season needs one feel-good film. This true story of a journalist who befriends a schizophrenic, homeless virtuoso could nicely fill that slot.
How it could disappoint: The delay of the release will inevitably be viewed by some as a sign that Paramount lacks faith in the film, whether it's true or not.

OSCARS will be bigger

Oscars expand the best-picture race to 10 films
June 24, 2009 | 10:38 am
The next Oscars derby will be more heated – and crowded. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences just announced that the best-picture race will now include 10 contenders instead of five.

Between 1932 and 1943, that Oscars category usually spanned 10 films, but then switched to just five for the year covering movies released in 1944. The most famous top 10 back then was the impressive list for 1939 when "Gone With the Wind" claimed the prize. The other nine notable nominees: "Dark Victory," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "Love Affair," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Ninotchka," "Of Mice and Men," "Stagecoach," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wuthering Heights."


In 1931-32, there were eight nominees and in 1934 and 1935 there were 12 contenders. The last time there were 10 nominees "Casablanca" won best picture of 1943.

"After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year," said academy President Sid Ganis. "The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.

"Having 10 best picture nominees is going [to] allow academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize, Ganis added. "I can't wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February." Nominations will be announced Feb. 2.

Other film-award organizations announce top 10 lists these days, including the National Board of Review, Critics Choice Awards and the American Film Institute. The Golden Globes have traditionally nominated 10 best pictures, five in the drama race, five in the comedy/musical classification.

The Oscars are also following the lead of the Emmys, which announced earlier this year that the number of nominess for many categories will expand to six from the usual five: best comedy and drama series plus the races for lead and supporting series actors.

New Moon Bleeding Through Box Office

LOS ANGELES – Vampires and werewolves continue to howl at the box office with a $42.5 million weekend for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."
The "Twilight" sequel remains No. 1 for a second straight weekend, though it was nearly blind-sided for the top spot by a real-life football drama.
"The Blind Side" had a great second weekend with $40.1 million, coming in at No. 2 just behind "New Moon." The inspirational story of Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher stars Sandra Bullock as a woman whose wealthy family takes in the homeless teen and enrolls him in private school.
While the weekend haul for "New Moon" dropped steeply from the movie's $142.8 million opening, "The Blind Side" actually went up from its $34.1 million first weekend.

Bourne Loose!

In the latest setback for the future of the Bourne films, Paul Greengrass has decided to pass on directing the fourth installment.The Playlist blog was the first to report the news, breaking word on Monday that Greengrass had decided to ditch the job amid rumours of creative differences and dissatisfaction with Universal’s decision to develop dual scripts.Now comes a statement from Greengrass, in which he outlines his reasons for walking away in a much more diplomatic tone.“My decision to not return a third time as director is simply about feeling the call for a different challenge. There's been no disagreement with Universal Pictures. The opportunity to work with the Bourne family again is a difficult thing to pass up, but we have discussed this together and they have been incredibly understanding and supportive.“I've been lucky enough to have made four films for Universal, and our relationship continues. »

Superman on HOLD

Superman Franchise on Hold


Needed: A good Superman idea.

For those of you wondering what’s happening with the next iteration of Superman, which has been stalled for years now since the Bryan Singer 2006 revamp Superman Returns was deemed not entirely worthy, I have the answer.

Nothing. The project is on hold as the studio waits to emerge from legal limbo over the fate of the Superman heirs. It’s about who controls what divided rights going forward and who owes what to whom when. Warners may be trying to settle with the Siegel and Shuster families, who in 2013 will retrieve the copyright of the Superman material published in Detective Comics’ Action Comics Vol. 1, in order to merge all the Superman rights.

As the studio is waiting to resolve the legal dispute, there’s no movement on the project. Production execs at Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. have been culling the various pitches that have come in, and are eager to start development on a sequel. Who knew, when Brandon Routh played the Man of Steel in Superman Returns, that fans would split so divisively? The 2006 movie, which paid homage to the Richard Donner Superman movies without completely updating the franchise the way Christopher Nolan did with Batman Begins, grossed $391 million worldwide off strong reviews for a genre sequel. But it cost more than $232 million. Warners felt it could have performed better with more action and a powerful villain—and no Superman kid. So Singer was taken off the franchise.

The debate continues to rage about what Warner Bros. should do with the DC Comics super-hero. Fans have been clamoring all over the web for a complete reboot. Warner Bros. execs believe that the last movie didn’t break the mold and wound up in some kind of middle limbo. They want to start over from scratch. While Kick-Ass writer Mark Millar did pitch himself (to scant interest), WB in-house faves the Wachowski brothers and their protege James McTeigue were never approached. (It’s hard to imagine such hard-R types taking on what one blogger described as the “Big Blue Boy Scout.”)

The studio is still seeking the right direction. No writers are working on a Superman script. “We’re working on a strategy for DC,” says one Warners exec. “Superman is the trickiest one to figure out.” In fact WB consumer products guru Diane Nelson, who liased with JK Rowling on the Harry Potter series, has been charged with putting the integrated DC/WB house in order.

Superman doesn’t have to be squeaky clean. The origins of the character are darker and more complex. He can add more dimension. And in the new tech universe, just about anything is possible.

The good news: go to any fan site debating what Superman should be, and the commenters go on for miles. They still care.

Polanski Bailed Out

As expected, filmmaker Roman Polanski will get out of jail on $4.5 million bail. Swiss justice officials announced Wednesday that the director can move to his Gstaad chalet at 1 PM on Friday. Here’s the LAT:

A court will eventually rule whether Polanski should be extradited to Los Angeles to face sentencing for having illegal sex with a 13-year-old more than three decades ago. Swiss justice officials repeatedly had denied his bail requests, saying he was a flight risk. Under the terms of the bail, Polanski, 76, will have his phone calls monitored as well. Gstaad, a village of 2,500 with mountain views, has long been known as a celebrity hangout, having been home to Elizabeth Taylor, Roger Moore and David Niven, among others.

Hobbit Hiding

It was just Monday when we learned here that The Hobbit won’t start shooting as soon we’d thought. Peter Jackson announced that they won’t start work on it till the summer of 2010. That’s bad enough, but now things may be even worse. Get ready to wait. And wait. And wait.

According to The Wrap that later shooting date may mean that the first of Jackson and Del Toro’s two Hobbit movies won’t be released until the end of 2012. There’s some hope that they might get it out in 2011, but odds are we have a three year wait on our hands before seeing more from the world of Middle Earth.

It may seem like just yesterday that we all piled into a theater for our first look at Fellowship of the Ring, but if The Hobbit isn’t released until 2012 it will have been more than eleven years since the release of the first Lord of the Rings movie and nearly a decade since the last time LOTR was in theaters. Fans aren’t normally known for their patience but waiting becoming a part-time hobby for anyone interested in more Middle Earth.

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