UPDATED: David Fincher may make a film about Facebook

David Fincher is in early talks to direct Columbia's untitled movie about the founders of the popular social networking site Facebook according to THR.

Aaron Sorkin is writing the project while Scott Rudin, Kevin Spacey, Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti are producing.

If a deal makes, Fincher could be behind the camera by the end of the year.

Fincher last directed one of last year's awards darling, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." He came close to directing the period Eliot Ness serial killer movie "Torso" but Paramount allowed that project's option to lapse. He still has the adaptation of the graphic novel "Black Hole" set up at that studio.

This just seems like a pointless kind of film that is just surfing the zeitgeist sea. However, Fincher does make some interesting films - Benjamin Button was a bit of a non-event for me though. How do you feel about a Facebook film?

UPDATE: Suddenly this sounds a bit more interesting. /Film have the news that the film will be based on a new book by Ben Mezrich called The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal.

Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends–outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and long-time legacies. They shared both academic brilliance in math and a geeky awkwardness with women. Eduardo figured their ticket to social acceptance–and sexual success–was getting invited to join one of the university’s Final Clubs, a constellation of elite societies that had groomed generations of the most powerful men in the world and ranked on top of the inflexible hierarchy at Harvard. Mark, with less of an interest in what the campus alpha males thought of him, happened to be a computer genius of the first order. Which he used to find a more direct route to social stardom: one lonely night, Mark hacked into the university’s computer system, creating a ratable database of all the female students on campus–and subsequently crashing the university’s servers and nearly getting himself kicked out of school. In that moment, in his Harvard dorm room, the framework for Facebook was born.

What followed–a real-life adventure filled with slick venture capitalists, stunning women, and six-foot-five-inch identical-twin Olympic rowers–makes for one of the most entertaining and compelling books of the year. Before long, Eduardo’s and Mark’s different ideas about Facebook created in their relationship faint cracks, which soon spiraled into out-and-out warfare. The collegiate exuberance that marked their collaboration fell prey to the adult world of lawyers and money. The great irony is that while Facebook succeeded by bringing people together, its very success tore two best friends apart. The Accidental Billionaires is a compulsively readable story of innocence lost–and of the unusual creation of a company that has revolutionized the way hundreds of millions of people relate to one another.

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Johnny Depp talks Dark Shadows and The Mad Hatter

While talking at a recent press conference in LA for Public Enemies, Johnny Depp spoke about some of his other projects. Frosty of the excellent Collider got the details. Here is what Depp had to say about Dark Shadows, the remake of the old American TV show.

“‘Dark Shadows’ is happening. Tim is working on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ which is obviously quite a large piece of work there. So when Tim is done with ‘Alice’ and we get the script, which is very, very close, in order we’ll probably attack it next year. It’s exciting, very exciting. It’s like a lifelong dream for me. I loved the show when I was a kid. I was obsessed with Barnabas Collins. I have photographs of me holding Barnabas Collins posters when I was five or six. I’m very excited to do it.”

This also seems to confirm that Tim Burton is attached to direct as previous news cast doubt on that.

Then Depp was asked about what research he had done for his role of the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Well, certainly the book. The book is the basis for everything. There are little mysteries, little clues in the book that I found fascinating that were keys to at least my understanding of the Mad Hatter, like him saying, “I’m investigating that begin with the letter M.” That was huge for me because when you do a little digging you realize you’re talking about a hatter, a man who made hats and if you go back and look at some of the historical hatters there’s that term that this guy or that guy is as mad as a hatter. There was a reason for that and the reason for that was mercury poisoning. So I found out what the M was and why they went nuts. So that became a huge thing. Then it was just kind of what I saw and what I thought the guy should look like. I made my little weird drawings and water colors and brought them to Tim [Burton] and he brought me his weird little drawings and water colors and they were not dissimilar [laughs]. You could’ve put them right together and they were pretty darn close. There’s a lot of color and brightness and then de-saturation in The Hatter. He’s like a mood ring I suppose.

Thanks to Pam for sending me the link and the photo. Are you excited about Alice in Wonderland? How about Dark Shadows? I've never seen it but it does intrigue me.

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Blood Simple to be remade by Zhang Yimou

Zhang Yimou (Red Sorghum,To Live, Ju Dou, Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Curse of the Golden Flower) has started shooting a remake of the Coen brothers' debut, Blood Simple, the director's first film since designing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics last year according to THR.

Filming began on 9th June for San Qiang Pai An Jing Qi or The Stunning Case of the Three Gun Shots.

The thriller-comedy, which will be released late this year, stars Chinese actor Sun Honglei, comedian Xiao Shenyang and actress Yan Ni, Ping said.

No official details of the plot for the new film have been released. However, Blood Simple is about a Texas bar owner who hires a private detective to kill his wife and her lover. The 1984 movie starring Frances McDormand won the Grand Jury Prize for best film at the United States Film Festival, the predecessor to the Sundance Film Festival, helping establish Joel and Ethan Coen's reputations.

Blood Simple is a great film and Yimou's films always look stunning so it should hopefully be a good film. However, while I enjoy Yimou's vision as a filmmaker the films themselves often leave me cold. There always seems an emptiness to the story and characters, but that's just me.

How do you feel about a Yimou helmed remake of a Coen Brothers classic?

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Yoo Hoo, Mrs Goldberg - The Most Famous Woman in America You've Never Heard Of - Documentary Trailer

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg is a humorous and eye-opening documentary about television pioneer Gertrude Berg, who played the loving Molly Goldberg. Directed by Aviva Kempner, Peabody Award Winner for “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg”.

Gertrude Berg had a popular radio show and became the first lady of television. She combined social commentary, family values and lots of humor to win the hearts of America. Berg was the creator, principal writer and star of “The Goldbergs” a popular 1930’s radio show and a 1950’s weekly situation TV comedy, about a Jewish family living in New York City.

Berg received the first Best Actress Emmy in history, paving the way for women in the entertainment industry. Berg was polled as the second most respected woman in America after Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Oprah, Martha, and Rachael Ray of her day, Berg was a media trailblazer with popular audio and television shows, a cookbook, jigsaw puzzles, advice column, and a clothing line for modern women of her time.

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg Trailer from Aviva Kempner on Vimeo.

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UPDATED: George Lucas: Maker of Films - Rare interview from 1971

Love him or hate him, at one point many of us thought George Lucas was the best thing in the world. Then came Jar Jar and things would never be the same.

Before a galaxy far, far away Lucas was just a young filmmaker making films any way he could. Quiet Earth found this excellent interview that Binary Bonsai dug up. Check out the Binary Bonsai site as they have lots of info on Lucas and the interview, however to introduce you to it here is a some of the background to it.

It is 1971, THX 1138 was released on March 11, American Zoetrope is spiraling towards certain doom, Lucas has become even more disillusioned with Hollywood than he was during his stint on McKenna’s Gold, and where exactly things go from here for the upstart and its members is all up in the air. And while American Zoetrope and Coppola had slowly started to cause waves — mostly due to THX’s failure as it were, though also because Coppola wasn’t afraid of touting American Zoetrope a state-of-the-art facility which could outmatch Hollywood, and that the company (and thus himself) was the future of filmmaking — Lucas was little more than a promising student who had made an obscure sci-fi film which opened small and died fast.

During the summer of ’71, as all of this is happening, Gene Youngblood interviewed the then 27-year-old Lucas for a Los Angeles-based educational TV station, KCET in an hour-long program called George Lucas: Maker of Films.

It is almost an hour long, but well worth a watch.

UPDATE: The original video on Vimeo was pulled but hopefully this new one should work.

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Wonder Woman - Could she be one of the Seekers

Wonder Woman is a film that has been in development hell for a long time now. Various writers and directors, including fan favourite Joss Whedon have been attached to guide DC Comics Amazon Princess to the big screen. However no one is currently at the helm.

More interest is on who will actually play Diana and fill her rather small costume. Many names have been rumoured from Beyonce to Jessica Biel. Megan Fox was recently asked about it and she said she had no interest in the role.

Now a new name has entered the internet debate and that is of Bridget Regan. She is one of the stars in Legend of the Seeker and her fans have put together an online petition to let the people in charge know she is right for the part.

“We feel that [Bridget Regan] has all the right qualities to give justice to the character of Wonder Woman,” reads the online petition located at PetitionSpot. “All we are asking is to at least give Bridget Regan a screen test to see if she fits the necessary requirements to fulfill the role of Wonder Woman.”

The statement, addressed to Warner Brothers, DC Comics, and Disney ABC currently has just over a hundred signatures from Regan’s supporters, urging anyone in charge of the project to give her a screen test.

I've not seen Bridget in action, but she certainly looks the part. As there is no director casting is still a long way away so this is one of those early rumours that usually end up as dead as a doornail.

How do you feel about Bridget playing Princess Diana? If not her then who? What director would you like to see make the film?

Source: MTV

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Public Enemies - Footage from the Chicago premiere

Johnny Depp came to town to celebrate the Public Enemies Premiere in Chicago. Here is some footage of the premiere. Thanks to Pam for sending me the link.

Source: Webcastr

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The Last Airbender - Trailer

This is the official teaser trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, the live action movie based on Avatar the Last Airbender.

It certainly looks a lot better than Dragonball Evolution and has a similar tone to the original cartoon. If anything the long shot of all the ships reminds me of John Woo's Red Cliff. It definitely has the potential to look epic. All depends upon how good the main kid is at acting I suppose.

You can have a better look at Aang and Dev Patel as Zuko in this photo.

What do you reckon? Good or bad?
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Paul - Photos from Simon Pegg's and Nick Frost's alien film

Peggster.net have lots and lots of photos from behind the scenes of the Greg Mottola directed film, Paul.
Paul is the story of two British slackers (Pegg and Frost) who after visiting Comic-Con go on a road trip to Area 51 where they encounter a small alien named Paul (Seth Rogen), who enlists them to help him find his way home. Jason Batemen and Bill Hader play Government agents who are chasing Paul. Sigourney Weaver is also starring in it.
A recent look at the script suggest it is going to be very funny with lots of cool pop culture references. However, Pegg and Frost do look a little different from the character descriptions in the script (although they may not have been in costume for the photos).
I really like these photos. They give a good feel for the shoot and always good to see the cast and crew behind the camera. The photo at the bottom shows Rogen doing an Andy Serkis with the motion capture suit.


Check out the rest of the photos over at Peggster.net. How do you feel about the film after looking at the photos?

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The Random - Frank, The Zookeeper, Go Mutants!, The Testament, Scrubs, Burlesque, Lake Mungo

- Fox 2000 has set Enchanted director Kevin Lima to direct the romantic comedy Frank from Radar Pictures. The story centers on a teenage prodigy who's on the cutting edge of cell research in medical school and is encouraged by her guidance counselor to take a break from the lab and make some friends. After several unsuccessful attempts at socializing with her peers, she decides to use her scientific prowess and piece together a friend out of the med school's instructional cadavers.

- Adam Sandler, Cher, Jon Favreau, Sylvester Stallone and Judd Apatow are set to voice the animals in MGM's live-action comedy The Zookeeper, that stars Kevin James and Rosario Dawson. According to Variety, Sandler's Happy Madison shingle is also a producer on the film. Sandler will voice a capuchin monkey, Cher a giraffe, Favreau a bear, Stallone a lion and Apatow an elephant. Jim Breuer, Faizon Love and Bas Rutten round out the voice cast. The film centers on zoo animals trying to teach the keeper their methods of dating and mating to help him win back the woman of his dreams. Frank Coraci is directing from a screenplay by Jay Scherick and David Ronn, James, Rock Reuben and Nick Bakay.

- Universal Pictures has picked up screen rights to Larry Doyle's novel Go Mutants!, with Imagine Entertainment head Brian Grazer to produce. According to MovieWeb, Doyle will write the script. Go Mutants! is a teen comedy/adventure set in a high school where all of the tropes from classic 1950s alien invasion movies came true. Years later, the children of those mutant creatures have assimilated among the other kids. Doyle said the book and movie invites cameos from '50s fright fixtures like Gort -- the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still -- and the creature from the black lagoon.

- John Grisham's 1999 novel The Testament is finally set to become a film over at 821 Entertainment Group says Variety. In the novel, a billionaire defies his greedy relatives and leaves his $11 billion fortune to a mysterious illegitimate daughter doing charity work in the Brazilian wetlands. A down-and-out lawyer helps her battle her relatives over the fortune. Mark Johnson and Hunt Lowry ("A Time to Kill") will produce.

- The resurrected Scrubs will shift from the hospital to the classroom next season with John C. McGinley's Dr. Cox and Donald Faison's Turk becoming med-school professors. The characters will visit the Sacred Heart hospital and regulars like Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes and Ken Jenkins will put in guest appearances.

- Cher is poised to star opposite Christina Aguilera in Burlesque, a contemporary musical for Screen Gems that Steven Antin will direct from a script he wrote. Aguilera will play an ambitious small-town Iowa girl with a big voice who comes of age in a neo-burlesque club on Sunset Boulevard that's run by Tess (Cher), a former dancer who struggles to keep the club open and gives the young girl a chance to shine. Cher will sing onscreen. While her voice has been heard in many films, Burlesque will mark the first time she'll be seen singing in a film she stars in.

- Screenwriter David Leslie Johnson has been set to write the remake of the Australian horror suspense film Lake Mungo for Paramount Vantage. Vantage picked up rights to Lake Mungo in November, when it premiered at the American Film Market. The story revolves around the paranormal events that envelop a grieving family when their teenage daughter apparently dies. The original, written and directed by Joel Anderson, used a faux-documentary style to lay out the film's mystery, but the updated version will take a more traditional narrative approach.

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Is Nimród going to direct Predators? - No not the Mutant hunting robot from the X-Men comics.

There have been lots of rumours floating around regarding Robert Rodriguez's Predators reboot / sequel. First Arnie was going to cameo in it, then he wasn't. Derek Mears (Jason in the Friday the 13th reboot) was also rumoured to be in it, but he hadn't heard anything.

The most recent news was that Rodriguez, who is producing the film, had seven directors in mind. Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, Descent, Doomsday and Centurion) was one of the seven. Michael Bassett (Solomon Kane) was possibly one of the others.

LatinoReview has exclusively learned that director Nimród Antal is one of the other directors and is also the one most likely to get the job.

If you are not too sure as to who Antal is, well he's the director behind Vacancy and Armored.

I've not seen Vacancy so I don't know how good a choice he will be. Although Armored looks like it could be good in an old school heist gone wrong way.

LatinoReview are usually spot on with their news, as they say "keep in mind when I said the same thing about Jackie Earle Haley being Freddy, the producer denied my story until it ultimately ended up true."

Still early days and I'm sure we will hear confirmation or denial from Rodriguez over the next day or two.

Public Enemies - Interviews with Depp, Mann, Cotillard and Bale

Public Enemies is out on 1st July. I have been lucky enough to be invited to a screening next week followed by a press conference with Johnny Depp, Michael Mann and the lovely Marion Cotillard. All very exciting. In the meantime, here are a few interviews with them along with Christian Bale.

I can't wait to see the film. If you have any suggestions for questions I should ask them at the press conference then put them in the comments.

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Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo - Trailer

An animated adventure centered on a 5-year-old boy and his relationship with a goldfish princess who longs to become human.

Ponyo on the Cliff is both written and directed by animator Hayao Miyazaki (Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle). The film was animated at the legendary Studio Ghibli. Disney is bringing Ponyo on the Cliff, now known as just Ponyo, to theaters on 14th August.

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White Lightnin' - Trailer for the Dancing Outlaw

Deep in the heart of the appalachian mountains in west virginia, where every man owns a gun and a moonshine still, in a battered trailer, abides living legend Jesco White (Edward Hogg), "the dancing outlaw".

As a boy Jesco was in and out of reform school and the insane asylum for taking drugs, stealing lighter fluid and for his wild behavior. Yo keep him out of trouble, his daddy d-ray taught him the art of mountain dancing - a frenzied version of tap dancing to wild country banjo music. after his daddy's murder at the hands of a pair of drunken rednecks, the crazy but charismatic jesco put on his daddy's shoes and danced his way round the bars of the county where he met the love of his life, cilla, who happened to be twice his age and half his height. The odd couple tried to settle down but tortured by the thought of his daddy's killers still at large, jesco's demons resurfaced. this is his story.

White Lightnin' trailer
by blankytwo

Yes that is Carrie Fisher.

Source: Quiet Earth

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Halloween 2 - Another trailer

Rob Zombie's Halloween II picks up at the exact moment the first movie stopped and follows Michael Myers' (Tyler Mane) murderous rampage through the eyes of Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton).

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