In this reverential and smart distillation, filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber has captured the essence of the coming-of-age novel. Undoubtedly, literal-minded readers of the novel will be disturbed by the film's shrewd condensation of characters, but select audiences will warm to the craftsmanship and storytelling.
Unfortunately, the film's glossy sheen and artful compositions are often distracting. Bracketed by calendar shots for a Pennsylvania tourism office, the romantic framings seem contrived at times, and upset the story's many layers.
The story revolves around '80s college graduate Art Beckstein (Jon Foster), who faces a graduation dilemma similar to the one Benjamin Braddock faced in the '60s in "The Graduate." But Art is funneled toward brokerage houses rather than plastics. A cum laude graduate, Art is the prized only child of a gangster father (Nick Nolte) who demands that Art follow a straight-and-narrow path.
Naturally passive, Art is nonetheless determined to find his own way. He rationalizes that he has one summer to prolong the inevitable, when he is expected to take a cushy job orchestrated by his father. In quiet desperation, he embarks on a last summer of sloth, subverting his father by intentionally taking a low-level job and half-heartedly studying for his brokerage exam. He lets himself get drawn in by dangerous dalliances, sexual and social. In short, Art consorts with all the wrong sorts, subconsciously hoping that others will force him to do what he can't do: defy his father.
It's the players who invigorate "Pittsburgh" and keenly flesh out its emotional dimensions. Foster is superb as the conflicted Art, evincing mettle as a young man overcome with a sense of doom. In the film's most flamboyant role, Peter Sarsgaard's devilish charisma and cold bluster is frightening. He truly hypnotizes those around him, including his upper-class girlfriend (Sienna Miller) who is destructively entranced by his bad-boy wiles.
Other performances are consistently on-target: Mena Suvari is sympathetic as a book store manager with low self-esteem, while Nolte is aptly intimidating as Art's carnivorous father.
The technical contributions are well realized, albeit overly romanticized. Save for the distracting pictorials, the film's luminous, Norman Rockwell look is a strong credit for director of photography Michael Barrett and production designer Maher Ahmad.
Cast:
Art Bechstein: Jon Foster
Cleveland Arning: Peter Sarsgaard
Jane Bellweather: Sienna Miller
Phlox: Mena Suvari
Joe Beckstein: Nick Nolte
Director-screenwriter: Rawson Marshall Thurber; Based on the novel by Michael Chabon; Producers: Michael London, Jason Mercer, Thor Benander; Executive producers: Bruna Papandrea, Peter Chiarelli; Director of photography: Michael Barrett; Production designer: Maher Ahmad; Editor: Babara Tulliver.
The film, which showcases a group of likable young actors, along with veteran Alec Baldwin, has been sitting on the shelf for more than a year and doesn't seem likely to set the boxoffice on fire when it finally opens in theaters.
The story begins with a prologue in 1974 that introduces three young boys who will become lifelong friends. They grow up to be Michael (Freddie Prinze Jr.), a Columbia student; Carmine (Scott Caan), who aspires to join the local mob; and Bobby (Jerry Ferrara), their loyal, slightly goofy crony. The episodic tale meanders through romances, including Michael's flirtation with an upper-class coed (Mena Suvari), dangerous Mafia adventures and comic escapades. No sense of urgency drives the narrative, which eventually resolves itself during a gang war that shakes the neighborhood.
Too many other movies have traveled similar turf. The film particularly recalls a similar coming-of-age tale released just last year, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints." (That one was set in Queens instead of Brooklyn.) "Saints," a Sundance prize winner, boasted sharp, pungent writing, but it didn't have enough novelty to capture an audience. The writing in "Brooklyn" seems even more generic. An excessive use of voice-over narration is a sure sign of a failure of dramatization. There are sharp touches but not enough to revitalize the overly familiar rituals among tough kids growing up in a working-class community.
Fortunately, some of the performances compensate for insights missing from the script. As usual, Baldwin has the right sleazy charisma as the Mafia captain who dominates the boys' world. Caan brings just the right mixture of bravado and sweetness to his portrayal of the aspiring wiseguy Carmine, whose cockiness is sometimes undermined by the effete outfits he imagines are hip. "Entourage's" Ferrara is enormously winning as Bobby, a movie buff and cheapskate with a big heart. Although Prinze cuts a handsome figure, he doesn't seem to inhabit the role as comfortably as his co-stars; you're too conscious of his acting. And Suvari is completely wasted in the thankless role of a pretty appendage.
A couple of effective violent moments near the end supply a burst of energy that the rest of the film badly needs. "Brooklyn" is well shot and benefits from a shrewd selection of period songs, including a clever use of "New York, New York" that is abruptly shut off when the guys realize they have been conned into buying counterfeit tickets to a Sinatra concert. In the end the film is innocuous enough, but it evaporates more quickly than that truncated Sinatra track.Cast:
Michael Turner: Freddie Prinze Jr.
Carmine Mancuso: Scott Caan
Bobby Canzoneri: Jerry Ferrara
Caesar Manganaro: Alec Baldwin
Ellen: Mena Suvari
Philly: Chris Caldovino
Amy: Monica Keena
Mr. Canzoneri: Robert Turano
Mrs. Canzoneri: Phyllis Kay
Director: Michael Corrente; Screenwriter: Terence Winter; Producers: Michael Corrente, Marisa Polvino, Richard B. Lewis; Executive producers: Rachel Rothman, Billy Heinzerling, Steven Bowman, Stewart F. Lane, Bonnie Comley, Terence Winter, Darren Manelski, Akiva Goldsman; Director of photography: Richard P. Crudo; Production designer: Bob Shaw; Music: Benny Rietveld; Co-producer: Richard Perello; Costume designer: Juliet Polsca; Editor: Kate Sanford.
Foster will play Art Bechstein, a recent college graduate trying to escape the clutches of his mobster father (Nolte). Suvari will play Art's eccentric part-time girlfriend.
The story follows the last summer of Art's youth as he falls into an exhilarating love triangle with a charismatic couple played by the previously cast Sienna Miller and Peter Sarsgaard.
Rawson Marshall Thurber ("Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story") is writing and directing "Mysteries," which is expected to begin filming September 5 in Pittsburgh.
"Mysteries" marks the first film from independent financier Groundswell Prods., formed by "Sideways" producer Michael London. Thurber approached Chabon about adapting his novel after he wrapped 2004's "Dodgeball." He brought his completed screenplay to London in 2005.
Nolte next appears in "Off the Black"; Suvari, of "American Beauty" fame, next appears in "Factory Girl" with Miller; Foster recently completed "Tenderness"; Sarsgaard next appears in "Year of the Dog."
According to media reports, Steve Miner ("Dawson's Creek") will direct the remake/sequel, working from a script by Jeffrey Reddick.
In George Romero's delightfully simple 1985 zombie pic, a surviving group of scientists and military personnel have taken refuge in an elaborate bunker. As tensions within the bunker rise, the zombie menace outside begins to encroach, as carnage ensues.
This is familiar territory for Rhames, who also starred in 2004's "Dawn of the Dead" remake. Last seen in "Mission: Impossible III," Rhames already has "Idlewild" in the can.
Suvari, still best known for "American Beauty" and "American Pie" has been a busy woman, appearing in "Domino," "Standing Still" and "Rumor Has It" in recent months.
Cannon will next appear in animated form in "Monster House." The "Underclassman" star has also completed turns in "Bobby" and in the next two parts of the "Goal!" trilogy.
Johansson on playing Mary. "She was acting within the confines of the time, given that she was a woman. She's competitive and slightly plodding and kind of wants what Anne wants and is slightly jealous. Maybe she was excited about this affair! She's happy to be in the king's favor all of a sudden. She gets swept away with the grandeur of it all. I tried to bring that out — that she was also ambitious at the beginning."
On their on-screen relationship as sisters: "Looking at it on the page, it's easy to say she's a bitch and ambitious, but you brought a real humanity to her, a vulnerability," Johansson says of Portman's portrayal.
"That was one of the challenges for both of us. It was easy, on the page, to be like, good sister, bad sister," says Portman. "Both of us made an effort to find the jealousy and the fear and the anger and ego of Mary, and the sympathetic and loving and gentle side of Anne."
On being mean to each other on screen: "Because we got along so well, we had such a respect for one another as actors, it was exciting to get to the depth of that. There's so much behind the tension," says Johansson.
"It comes out of so much love," Portman says. "The person you love and admire the most is the person who intimidates you the most, is your biggest rival. As close as we were when we were involved in the shooting, it made the nastiness come out of the place."
Adds Johansson: "Even when my character betrays your character and sells you out — to do that to your own sister after building a trust for so many years — I would never do that to you. You're rightfully angry."
Johansson on her upcoming album: "It's a collection of Tom Waits songs. It's very different. It was a real gift to have that experience. It was magical. It's a whole other interesting collaborative process."
On not discussing her love life: "I don't feel like I have to talk about my private life or where I'm going or where I'm living. I don't need to talk about that. I don't feel that I owe that to anybody."
You'd be wrong.
"I'm a scheming bitch," Portman announces with a straight face while drinking decaf peppermint tea. The statement causes her co-star Scarlett Johansson to break into throaty laughter before correcting Portman's self-assessment.
"You're not that kind of a person," declares Johansson, 23. "You're healthily ambitious."
Johansson would know. She and Portman, 26, play sparring sisters in The Other Boleyn Girl, jousting for the affections of a mercurial king and all the riches that lofty position brings with it. Portman is Anne Boleyn, the conniving, clever enchantress who convinces Henry VIII (Eric Bana) to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and marry her. And Johansson is Anne's sister Mary, a pliable charmer who has an affair with Henry and bears him two children before Anne whisks him away for herself.
The film, opening Feb. 29, is based on Philippa Gregory's best-selling fictionalization of the sordid saga of Henry VIII's second wife, who ultimately was beheaded for her inability to produce a male heir to the crown. Expectations for the film are high because the book essentially kick-started the current passion for royal-centric historical fiction.
For Johansson, it's a departure from the Woody Allen oeuvre she has been focusing on the past few years and a chance to rebound from the flop that was last year's Nanny Diaries. And for Portman, it's her first big-ticket release since the action and violence of 2005's V For Vendetta.
Portman and Johansson had known each other casually before shooting Boleyn, their first on-screen collaboration. Portman had signed on first and expressed her desire to engage in a little sibling rivalry with Johansson.
"We had some mutual friends," Johansson says. "I've always been a fan. Her choices, the work that she has done — it's true. I've always been a huge fan, but I never assumed there would be an opportunity where we could work together in such an intimate way. And then I heard she wanted me to do it."
Playing Portman's sidekick is an experience Johansson calls "unique" and "inspiring."
"I've learned a lot about generosity," she says. "And how you can manipulate one another's performance with a give and a take."
Accentuating the positive
The two young women served as each other's anchors.
"There's a lot going on. We're working with a first-time film director (Justin Chadwick)," Portman says. "There was a lot of whirlwind, a lot of stuff rushing past you. It was important to have this partner, where you're a team, working together, trying to pull the best out of each other."
And trying to do it in corsets, while speaking in British accents. The movie is heavy on dialogue, so Portman worked with a dialect coach for a month before shooting to nail her British lilt. Plus, the coach was on set for the whole shoot to help out.
"That was a big challenges. One of the biggest challenges, personally," Portman says. "It totally takes me out of a movie when I hear British actors doing a bad American accent. It's a scary thing. I can't improvise with an accent at all."
For Johansson, speaking the Queen's English was "something you want to nail down early so it's not something you think about when you're working. I've spent a lot of time in London and having family there, that was helpful for me. It's definitely a hurdle."
That was just one reason, Johansson says, that the two women "clung to one another."
"I feel like I got so much of my energy from Scarlett," Portman says. "When I was like, 'What am I doing? Where am I?' I'd look at her and be like, 'OK. She's my sister.' "
The two seem to have a genuine rapport off screen. During a photo shoot, the actresses bond over hair and clothes. Portman, clad in a fuzzy sweater dress and "very comfy" black flats from her vegan collection for Té Casan, worries about shedding fuzzies on Johansson's black skirt and tan top. "Don't worry about it. You're like a kitten," Johansson says.
The two compare notes about Portman's streaky, lighter hair color, which she's not crazy about because she feels more like herself when she's darker. "I like it," Johansson tells her. They discuss the outfits they plan to wear to subsequent events. "You can wear gold and I'll wear pewter," Johansson tells Portman, who breaks into an impromptu British accent to respond with a giggly, "Perfect!"
Although Portman is older, Johansson seems more assertive. The two laugh when asked whether they really do get along that well in real life.
"I'm going to give her the muscle after this. We have a physically abusive relationship," Johansson says. "I'm twisting her arm."
Retorts Portman: "I'm holding a gun to her."
In the film, deceit and manipulation are their weapons of choice. The women fight for the king's affections. They bicker and back-stab. And when the cameras stopped rolling, the actresses tried to compensate for all that viciousness they inflicted on each other on screen.
"We're so good to each other," Portman says. "In between takes, I felt like I had to counteract the nastiness in the movie."
Chortles Johansson of their shoot: " 'I brought you something! There's veggie sandwiches out there, if you're interested. I put one in the corner for you.' It was literally like that."
What of Mary did Johansson see in herself? "Her will to survive."
Could Portman relate to wanting something as badly as Anne desired that elusive British throne, which, in the end, proved to be her very ugly undoing?
"Ummm, uh, yeah. Probably. I've never been in that situation where I'd step on whoever it took to get what I want," Portman says. "I've been ambitious. But not in an aggressive way."
Causes, campaigns off screen
Both actresses strive to live quiet lives, but Johansson recently made headlines when she spoke out about an Us Weekly cover insinuating that she'd had plastic surgery.
"It was awful. I was willing to be — examine me! I will go in front of any person," Johansson says. "I really haven't (had surgery)."
Portman, a Harvard graduate, calls New York home, and here, she's mostly left alone. "I'm not tabloid fodder," she says. "In New York, there's a lot of (paparazzi). I bump into them and then they're like, 'Oh, I'll take your picture.' "
She'll happily pose for the cameras to promote her cause, the Foundation for International Community Assistance, which provides micro-loans to people in developing countries; Portman is its ambassador of hope and co-chairs its Village Banking program. The actress doesn't take her role lightly, reeling off statistics and anecdotes with impressive fluency.
"I think my next trip will be to Kurdistan. I was last in Uganda with them. It was my second time there. This last trip was hard because it's an amazing thing, but there's so much left to be done."
Johansson, meanwhile, is dating actor Ryan Reynolds but has been busy cheerleading for the other man in her life, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. She has been campaigning for him in Minnesota and plans to continue stumping for him.
"It has been really inspiring, not only to talk about someone I feel very passionate about but just seeing all these young people going out and rallying," she says. "To make cold calls and after a whole day of being rejected, rejected, rejected, to finally get one caller who didn't know the primary was today. And have them go at the end, 'Where's my precinct location?' It's a real sense of accomplishment."
Books, shoes and tunes
For fun, Johansson is plowing through Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. "It should be mandatory reading. It's very interesting — and scary," she says. "Natalie, I have to give you this book."
Portman, in turn, promises to deliver a pair of shoes that are part of the non-leather collection she designed for Té Casan.
"I gotta get you some," Portman says. A vegan who doesn't wear leather, she previously stuck mostly to sneakers, Target's shoes or Stella McCartney's non-leather creations and now is especially fond of her suddenly vast selection of footwear. "I'll bring some tomorrow."
"I saw them in Vogue. I didn't know you made flats, too," Johansson says. "It's nice to have creative friends."
Johansson, meanwhile, has an album of Tom Waits covers out in May. With her distinctive husky voice, Johansson relished getting into the studio and isn't worried whether the album tops the charts.
"How it does is ineffective for me. You can't reverse the process," Johansson says. "The people I care about are very excited about it. Who knows? I don't have any kind of expectation. I love to sing."
Says Portman: "I want your album. I have to get an advance copy."
The actresses muse about an odd question thrown at them during the earlier press junket.
"Someone asked us who'd win a dance-off," Johansson says.
So who would? "We're partners. We'll take anybody on," Johansson says, jutting out her neck for extra emphasis.
"Oh totally!" Portman says, giggling.
Spoken like true sisters.
That, of course, was always the problem. The Tudor line's grip on the throne invariably was threatened by the lack of a son, even though it would be daughter Elizabeth who reigned in the nation's golden age.
In Justin Chadwick's handsome but glum film, "The Other Boleyn Girl," based on the novel by Philippa Gregory, the focus is on Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary (Scarlett Johansson) as their father, Thomas Boleyn (Mark Rylance), and uncle, the Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey), conspire for one of them to win the king's fancy while their mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) looks on in disgust.
Shot in high definition and filmed at many historical locations, the film somehow still lacks the splendor of an epic, and its urgency to get on with the next plot point leaves much unexplained while context goes out the window. Good performances by the female leads and all the appurtenances and costumes of the time might attract fans of period movies, but there's not enough flash and fire to grab the attention of a wider audience.
Already given screen treatment in a 2003 BBC TV film, "Boleyn Girl" here gets a bigger budget, big-name stars and a script by Peter Morgan ("The Queen").
Morgan already had a go at this particular monarch for Granada Television in 2003 with "Henry VIII," starring Ray Winstone, and he's back presumably attracted by the opportunity to write for two dynamic actresses playing competing sisters.
His script lacks punch, however. Portman and Johansson are more than equal to the demands, but with a tougher-minded script they might have soared. Portman comes to grips with the sharpest lines, but she could have done so much more. Johansson's character grows the most in the film, and once again the star dazzles with her versatility.
Eric Bana as the king offers little help. Such is his lack of screen presence that the Australian film star virtually disappears whenever Portman, Johansson or Scott Thomas makes an appearance.
History is smoothed out for the story -- Mary actually was 12 when she married her first husband, who was 24 -- and some key figures are omitted, including Cardinal Wolsey and Sir Thomas More.
The Duke of Norfolk becomes the main villain of the piece, ruthlessly determined to place one or the other of his brother-in-law's pretty daughters into the king's bed in order to enrich the family. Scott Thomas' mother registers her disdain for the proceedings more with her powerful gaze than any pungency in the lines of dialogue. Ana Torrent makes a strong impression too as the dismayed and discarded Queen Katharine of Aragon.
Although the various homes and castles are lovely to see, the story feels rushed, a feeling made worse by the director cutting every couple of scenes to somebody on horseback riding furiously through woods or water. Like the film, it's not always clear why.
Cast:
Anne Boleyn: Natalie Portman
Mary Boleyn: Scarlett Johansson
King Henry VIII: Eric Bana
Duke of Norfolk: David Morrissey
Lady Elizabeth Boleyn: Kristin Scott Thomas
Sir Thomas Boleyn: Mark Rylance
George Boyleyn: Jim Sturgess
Katharine of Aragon: Ana Torrent
William Stafford: Eddie Redmayne
William Carey: Benedict Cumberbatch
Henry Percy: Oliver Coleman
Jane Parker: Juno Temple
Director Justin Chadwick; Screenwriter: Peter Morgan; Producer: Alison Owen; Executive producers: Scott Rudin, David M. Thompson; Director of photography: Kieran McGuigan; Production designer: John-Paul Kelly; Music: Paul Cantelon; Costume designer: Sandy Powell; Co-producer: Mark Cooper; Editors: Paul Knight, Carol Littleton.
The movie, based on Philippa Gregory's book of the same name and directed by Justin Chadwick, debuted Friday at the Berlin film festival, where it screened out of competition.
Portman stars as the ambitious Anne Boleyn, who became Henry's second wife and eventually was executed. Johansson plays her little-known older sister, Mary, who was Henry VIII's mistress before her sister married the king (played by Eric Bana).
The stars said they were helped by the costumes from designer Sandy Powell, who won Oscars for her work on "Shakespeare in Love" and "The Aviator."
"It wasn't like I went to set every morning ... and was like, I can't wait to be corseted," Johansson told reporters. "But the costumes really aided in a way — they were kind of characters in themselves."
The outfits provided "a constant reminder of the restrictions placed on women at the time," she said. "You can't even move your arms, and everything is very statuesque and you have this giant skirt around you, and it's interesting how that changes the way you interact."
Portman said the costumes were "definitely helpful in creating the characters" and argued that the figures' story and emotions remain relevant to the modern world.
"Human emotion doesn't change," she said. "I think that's one of the hard things for us to imagine — how history might have been sexy, gossipy, glamorous."
The Australian who plays England's King Henry VIII in the film that made its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday went out of his way to quash any notion there was any clash of egos or friction between high-powered young Americans.
"Why is it that people in the media hate the idea that actors working together is possibly true?," Bana said at a good spirited news conference after Johansson and Portman had been heaping praise on each other's acting talents.
"I hate to break it to you but actors really do love each other. It's a crazy job and we put ourselves in vulnerable positions. I don't care if it sounds corny but it's true: you're part of a brotherhood, and protect each other.
"And they indeed do get along really well."
Yet there are sparks between the two in "The Other Boleyn Girl," adopted from a best-selling novel by Philippa Gregory about the 16th century king and his second wife Anne Boleyn -- the mother of Queen Elizabeth I who was beheaded in 1536.
Portman, who plays a scheming Anne Boleyn, and Johansson, her sister Mary, vie against each other for the affections of King Henry -- Mary is his mistress and Anne becomes his wife.
"People keep asking if the rivalry was real but it was the opposite because we just liked each other so much," said Portman, 26. "It was such a rare opportunity to work with an actress my age who I much admire."
Johansson, who corrected Bana by calling it a "sisterhood" of actors, chimed in that Portman, who excels as a sinister character in the film, kept apologizing for being so mean.
"Natalie was apologizing all the time. She'd say 'I'm sorry for stealing your baby' or 'I'm sorry for that'," said Johansson, 23. "I said 'Don't worry. Let's get dinner later'."
Bana, 39, and Johansson said they all thrived on the competition during filming, which director Justin Chadwick took to many historic locations to give his cast an extra bit of inspiration. Chadwick said he was lucky to get the trio for his first film.
"It really was challenging," Johansson said. "It was a very healthy competition among all of us to raise the scene to the next level and keep the energy up. It was impressive every day.
"You can't be selfish as an actor and say 'I'm going to do this all for me and I don't care about the rest of you because my performance is going to be great'," Johansson said.
"That won't work. You see how your performance makes their performance better and it means so much to be able to have this kind of a sisterhood with other actors."
Bana, who gave the German media a treat by speaking a few lines in polished German, said there was nothing unusual about Australians and Americans playing historic English characters.
"Casting should be open to people from different nationalities," he said, before joking: "I think that as Australia is part of the commonwealth I felt it was my right to play this character."
It's not easy to find a man whose celebrity crush list includes both Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Both actresses are gorgeous, sure, but in such different ways that they seem almost of separate species. The 23-year-old Johansson is a modern Marilyn Monroe, complete with platinum mane, fleshy curves and a sexy-throaty voice. The 26-year-old Portman, in contrast, is the very embodiment of delicacy and refinement: small, perfectly shaped features, boyish body and careful Ivy League diction.
Early on a Sunday morning, as they bide their time on the set of their W photo shoot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the actresses’ odd-couple demeanors are on full display. Johansson, still in her terrycloth robe, is a blur of movement: kidding around with the makeup artist, roughhousing with Maggie, her Chihuahua, and periodically breaking into a rave-style dance to the beat of the techno music playing in the background. Meanwhile, Portman, having finished her breakfast of granola and fruit, her hair and makeup already done, is silently perched in a corner, her Hepburn-slim legs crossed demurely, filling out a Sunday New York Times crossword at a pace that would make Will Shortz wonder whether he’s slipping.
The two actresses seem to live on opposite ends of the asceticism-hedonism spectrum. Over dinner, Johansson’s eyes widen at the arrival of her chicken quesadillas, still sizzling on the plate. “Don’t you miss quesadillas?” she asks Portman, who’s ordered an eggplant dish that suits her newly vegan diet. (A vegetarian for animal rights reasons since she was eight, Portman recently decided to nix animal by-products too.) “I mean, I could not eat meat,” continues Johansson, as if her question had been purely rhetorical, “but the cheese, the cheese! I would miss tuna too. And yogurt….”
Portman, as succinct as Johansson is loquacious, answers gamely: “Yeah, I don’t know how long it will last.”
Given their differences, Johansson and Portman make for unlikely sisters. But that’s precisely what they play in the movie The Other Boleyn Girl, out February 29 and based on Philippa Gregory’s best-selling novel of the same name. The book blends highbrow historical drama with soapy intrigue—“history through porn,” Portman calls it—and was the ubiquitous book club pick of 2002. The fictionalized plot details how the quiet and innocent Mary Boleyn was actually the mistress of King Henry VIII before her sister, the scheming and sassy Anne, made a play for his affections and eventually became queen. And even more unexpected than their having been cast as sisters is the fact that Portman plays Anne and Johansson is Mary.
“It’s funny, quite a lot of people said, ‘Shouldn’t it be the other way around?’” says Alison Owen, the film’s producer, who notes that Johansson and Portman were the hands-down first choices to play the rivalrous siblings. “Scarlett is the street-smart one, the initiator. And Natalie has a wisdom and a cleverness about her; she’s more of a quiet authority. But I knew it would be intriguing for them to play something removed from a lot of the roles they’ve done.”
Suvari plays the girlfriend, and Nick D'Agosto the boyfriend.
Suvari, the "American Beauty" starlet who had a recurring role on HBO's "Six Feet Under," will next be seen in the features "Brooklyn Rules," "Edmond" and "Factory Girl."
The game franchise blends well-known characters from classic Walt Disney Co. films with original characters from Japanese game maker Square Enix. In this sequel, for example, Braff again will star as Chicken Little, Woods brings Hades to life, and Ming Na will play a virtual Mulan, The original "Kingdom Hearts" game, which shipped in 2002, has sold more than 5 million units worldwide. Osment will reprise his role as Sora, the lead character in the role-playing game, who journeys through Disney film worlds accompanied by Goofy and Donald Duck. He will be joined by David Gallagher as Riku and Hayden Panettiere as Kairi. Christopher Lee, Brittany Snow and singer Jesse McCartney also play featured characters.
Suvari will portray Aerith, a popular character from Square Enix's best-selling "Final Fantasy VII" game. Other big-screen talent joining her include Steve Burton and Rachael Leigh Cook.
In a first for the franchise, the new game will add characters from such live-action movies as "Tron" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." A trailer at last year's E3 video game convention showed the likeness of Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow within the "Kingdom Hearts II" game world, for instance.
"Kingdom Hearts II" also features the worlds of "Hercules," "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King," "Aladdin" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
In addition to the original game, a Game Boy Advance spinoff called "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" sold 2.5 million copies worldwide to date. "Kingdom Hearts II" shipped December 22 in Japan (minus the Hollywood voice talent) and has sold more than 1.1 million units. Square Enix expects the worldwide total of this game to sell 10 million units by the end of its run.
The film stars Sienna Miller as the ill-fated "superstar," and is set in 1965, the year Sedgwick met Warhol. She died of a drug overdose in the early '70s. The project also stars Hayden Christensen, Guy Pearce, Mena Suvari and Jimmy Fallon.
Director George Hickenlooper ("Mayor of the Sunset Strip") is shooting the project in Shreveport, La. Weinstein Co.'s deal covers North America, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Rob Reiner's "Rumor Has It" virtually is that sequel. But it's not quite a comedy, nor can one call it a drama. And the only social satire consists of easy potshots at "old money" Pasadena society. A number of fine actors giving solid performances get caught in this morass of neither-here-nor-there, but they do trigger laughs. Nevertheless, the movie never gets enough comic traction to take off into what it apparently wants to be: a personal odyssey of self-discovery mixed in with an examination of a genuine American movie classic.
The cast of Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Mark Ruffalo ensures a high-profile Christmas Day opening for Warner Bros. Pictures. But a film with such a peculiar premise might not generate the word-of-mouth necessary to turn "Rumor" into a hit.
Aniston plays Sarah Huttinger, a young journalist whose career has hit a dead end in New York. She returns to her hometown of Pasadena, along with her devoted fiance, Jeff (Ruffalo), to attend the wedding of her sister Annie (Mena Suvari). Almost immediately, she learns that the movie (and novel) "The Graduate" might be based on her family and that her acid-tongued grandmother Katharine (MacLaine) could be the inspiration for Mrs. Robinson. Why this hasn't come up before in her 30-plus years is a puzzle, but the secret certainly becomes her obsession now.
Prewedding activities and introductions to a family seemingly at odds with Sarah's own personal makeup form a serio-comic backdrop to Sarah's journalistic inquiry into this secret. Much is at stake here, for Sarah has become convinced that she might be the offspring of a romantic rendezvous between her late mother and the " Dustin Hoffman character," which took place the week before her parents' wedding.
She tracks down an old classmate of her parents, one Beau Burroughs (Costner), now an Internet billionaire living in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Incidentally, the movie is set in 1997 to keep "The Graduate" and the characters' ages in sync.) Even as she is posing the question to him, she falls under the spell that apparently affected both her mother and grandmother.
The key problem is the underdeveloped nature of the film's heroine. The character seems built for comedy but invariably gets thrust into highly emotional situations. Yet Sarah's distress is never made credible, any more than is her ignorance of this family secret. She comes off neurotic and highly strung -- even before she learns the deep, dark secret. Plus her engagement jitters are far too exaggerated, given the absence of any real issues between her and Jeff.
Initially, the film, written by T.M. Griffin, gets comic mileage out of caricaturing Sarah's overly comfortable family -- the staid, oblivious dad (played by the underrated Richard Jenkins), her bouncy blonde sister, the sister's tennis-playing fiance and, of course, the grandmother who might be Anne Bancroft but who is really Shirley MacLaine. When the story does an about-face and tries to give these characters more depth, this serves to make the opening bits seem overly manipulative if not downright false.
Aniston gets marooned here: Her comic instincts are muted by all the identity angst, yet there isn't sufficient dramatic material into which she can sink her teeth. Costner strolls through this role with disarming ease, but the character is more of a plot gimmick than a flesh-and-blood person. MacLaine gets all the best lines and certainly delivers them with panache. The story marginalizes Ruffalo's character until the last act, and by then it's too late.
Where Reiner's direction of comedy ("When Harry Met Sally . . .") and satire ("This Is Spinal Tap") once had real snap, here he is edging uncomfortably into sitcom, only with a paucity of laugh lines. Technical credits are pro, with a collection of oldies and a whimsical score by Marc Shaiman being the strongest element.
Cast:
Sarah Huttinger: Jennifer Aniston
Beau Burroughs: Kevin Costner
Katharine: Shirley MacLaine
Jeff: Mark Ruffalo
Earl: Richard Jenkins
Roger: Christopher McDonald
Scott: Steve Sandvoss
Annie: Mena Suvari
Director: Rob Reiner; Screenwriter: T.M. Griffin; Producers: Paula Weinstein, Ben Cosgrove; Executive producers: George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh, Jennifer Fox, Michael Rachmil, Leo Amato, Robert Kirby, Bruce Bermann; Director of photography: Peter Deming; Production designer: Thomas Sanders; Music: Marc Shaiman; Costumes: Kym Barrett; Editor: Robert Leighton.
Thanks to dynamic performances by Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramirez and a strong cast -- sometimes all but buried beneath irksome stylistic flourishes -- this dark and absurd melodrama certainly has raw energy. As is the case here, a bad movie is sometimes more watchable than a mediocre or just-OK movie. So one can anticipate strong business for this nonstop actioner from New Line, especially among young males.
The movie is inspired by the turbulent life of Domino Harvey, who died June 27 in West Hollywood at the age of 35, the victim of a suspected drowning after a drug overdose. The beautiful daughter of the late film star Laurence Harvey, Domino made her living as a gun-toting L.A. bounty hunter. Richard Kelly's screenplay, in Scott's words, "manufactured the story but left the characters as real, breathing people."
Not quite true. Before her death, Harvey was reportedly unhappy with a story that wrote out any mention of her drug use or bisexuality. More crucially, the movie resolutely avoids examining the sadness of a life, begun in privilege, that found its only excitement in the adrenaline rush of banging down doors with a shotgun in hand. Scott's movie merely wants to exploit that life, putting the movie on a par with "The Jerry Springer Show" and a reality TV program, both comically portrayed in the movie.
"Domino" begins at the end of a big case gone horribly wrong. Knightley's tattooed and bloodied Domino tells her life story in prison to a criminal psychologist (Lucy Liu, in a successful against-type casting). Her narrative rushes through her father's death -- when she was 4 -- her failures at boarding schools, a sorority, in modeling and as a socialite. By the time her mother, ex-model Pauline Stone, marries Hard Rock Cafe founder Peter Morton -- everyone's name other than Domino's is fictionalized -- Domino is bored and restless in Los Angeles.
An ad for a seminar recruiting bounty hunters catches her eye. Her future boss, the tough ex-con Ed (Rourke), immediately sees the advantages of having an English-accented blonde in his band of brothers that includes sullen Choco (Ramirez), who adores her, and Alf (Rizwan Abbasi), an Afghan driver obsessed with demolition.
Implausible adventures follow, including one in which Domino extricates her fellow hunters from a tense situation by performing a lap dance for a gang leader. Corny motifs run throughout the movie, too: Domino sees the deaths of goldfish as signs from above. And she likes to flip coins in the air while murmuring, "Heads, you live. Tails, you die."
Then a producer (Christopher Walken) of a reality TV show and his harried assistant (Mena Suvari) approach the bounty hunters about starring in a show called "The Bounty Squad." The movie's funniest gimmick has "Beverly Hills, 90210" stars Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green play themselves as the show's hosts.
A plot contrivance finds the squad's longtime bail bondsman (Delroy Lindo) and his girlfriend (Mo'Nique) desperate for a quick $300,000 needed for a life-saving operation for a granddaughter. This sends the Bounty Squad into a fateful, blood-soaked caper that involves a stolen armored car, Mafia money, a Las Vegas billionaire and an FBI investigation.
At one point, the Squad unwittingly winds up on hallucinogenic drugs in the desert. When Tom Waits abruptly materializes as a Wanderer from above, the whole movie goes on one bummer of an acid trip.
Under Scott's direction, his crew finds so many ways to annoy, from the manipulated color scheme and jarring cinematography to TV commercial-style editing. A soundtrack of hip-hop, rap and a few oldies is the only truly hip, edgy thing about this movie.
Cast:
Domino Harvey: Keira Knightley
Ed: Mickey Rourke
Choco: Edgar Ramirez
Alf: Rizwan Abbasi
Claremont Williams: Delroy Lindo
Lateesha: Mo'Nique
Taryn Mills: Lucy Liu
Kimmie: Mena Suvari
Mark Heiss: Christopher Walken
Pauline Stone: Jacqueline Bisset
New Line Cinema and Samuel Hadida present a Scott Free Prods./Davis Films production in association with Metropolitan Filmexport.
Director: Tony Scott; Screenwriters: Richard Kelly; Story by: Richard Kelly, Steve Barancik; Producers: Samuel Hadida, Ridley Scott; Executive producers: Lisa Ellzrey, Toby Emmerich, Victor Hadida, Barry Waldman, Zach Shiff-Abrams, Skip Chaisson; Director of photography: Dan Mindel; Production designer: Chris Seagers; Music: Harry Gregson-Williams; Costumes: B.; Editors: William Goldenberg, Christian Wagner.
The actress has filed for divorce from her husband of five years, cinematographer Robert Brinkmann, E! has confirmed.
The court documents, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior, cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason behind the split. Us Weekly was the first to report the divorce proceedings.
The couple separated Apr. 24, per court documents. Suvari is asking the court not to award spousal support to Brinkmann. They have no children.
Suvari, 25, and Brinkmann, 43, wed in March 2000, shortly after Suvari's back-to-back breakthrough performances as a choir girl in American Pie and the eye-popping object of Kevin Spacey's infatuation in American Beauty.
The twosome collaborated on 2001's Sugar & Spice, in which Suvari played a bank-robbing cheerleader, while Brinkmann provided his camera-guy expertise.
Suvari also worked with Brinkmann on the indie film Standing Still, which premieres next month at the Cinevegas Film Festival and on Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party, which premiered at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen in February.
Outside of her work with her soon-to-be ex, Suvari reteamed with her Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball last year for a recurring role on his HBO series, Six Feet Under.
She also appeared in this year's Beauty Shop with Queen Latifah and will be seen in the upcoming comedy Rumor Has It with Jennifer Aniston.
Kooba Sienna bag
Inspired by Sienna Miller's bohemian-chic look; there's already a waiting list for the bag in a light brown hue (called luggage). The bag also comes in white and cream.
Star power: Carried by Miller (naturally), Katie Holmes, Jennifer Garner, Teri Hatcher
Costs: $560
Get it: Saks Fifth Avenue New York
Louis Vuitton's Monogram Denim bag
Hollywood's venerable high-end handbag gets fun and funky for the spring.
Star power: Identities of the A-list celebs already wait-listed for next month's debut of the Denim bag are top-secret, according to LV. Vuitton's Cerise (cherry) Speedy 25 bag is popular with Carmen Electra and Jessica Simpson.
Costs: Denim bags, with natural leather trim, $1,000-$2,000; with red alligator trim, $4,000-$5,000; Cerise bag, $995
Get it: Vuitton stores, or call 866-Vuitton
Christian Dior's John Galliano Detective bag
Inspired by mystery movies, it comes in three sizes (the largest can hold a change of clothes) and colors (red, black, cream) with lots of pockets.
Star power: Carried by Uma Thurman, Julianne Moore, Christina Aguilera, Penelope Cruz, Elizabeth Hurley
Costs: $1,450-$2,790
Get it: Dior boutiques nationwide
Balenciaga classic bag
Celebs are drooling over the designer's new spring colors, including bright pink and turquoise and "granny green" (think Granny Smith apple). The new leather-trimmed canvas bag is just as hot.
Star power: Carried by Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicky Hilton, Anna Kournikova. Nicole Richie was out March 23 toting the granny-green bag; Ashley Olsen was spotted with the canvas bag on March 22.
Costs: $465-$1,385
Get it: Barneys New York, Maxfields (Los Angeles), Blake (Chicago)
Gucci's Small Studded Flap bag
It comes in several hues (including pink and green), in ostrich, velvet or crocodile, with lots of hardware, a bamboo handle and a zip pocket inside.
Star power: Carried by Jessica Alba and Sarah Jessica Parker
Costs: $4,900
Get it: Select Gucci stores, 800-234-8224
Bulga tassle hobo bag
It's big enough to hold a water bottle, a Sidekick and several movie scripts. And it comes in the hot color for arm candy this spring: yellow.
Star power: Carried by Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Mena Suvari
Costs: $390 for medium; $440 for large
Get it: Barneys; bulgausa.com
This spinoff from the popular "Barbershop" movies will appeal primarily to black audiences, but the triumvirate of Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell and Mena Suvari should help attract a sizable white female crowd for MGM as well.
One can sum up the story fairly succinctly: Outraged over her boss's criticism and demands, Queen Latifah's Gina Norris -- a character introduced in "Barbershop 2" -- quits a hairstyling job at an ultraposh Atlanta salon, secures a tiny loan to buy a run-down beauty shop of her own, rehabs the place and suffers a few mildly amusing ups and downs as she gets into business for herself. And that's about it.
As with the "Barbershop" series, the setting provides a nifty location for characters to come and go while exchanging opinions on everything from their sex lives to their lifestyles. Kate Lanier and Norman Vance Jr.'s screenplay hits all the obvious marks: It does the is-he-gay-or-straight thing and the black-vs.-white attitude thing. What it doesn't do is the story thing.
A nominal conflict comes in attempts to sabotage Gina's business by her former boss, Jorge (Kevin Bacon in a flamboyant, open shirt, long, droopy hair with blond highlights and vague Mitteleuropean accent). The rest of the movie is given over to a cast of eccentric characters firing verbal missiles at one another.
Gina's crew includes a spirited Alfre Woodard as Miss Josephine, so deep into black culture that she frequently bursts into quotes from Maya Angelou. Golden Brooks plays sassy-mouthed Chanel, who weighs in with an opinion whether anyone wants to hear it or not. Silverstone's Lynn is white and country, which makes it doubly difficult to fit into the otherwise all-black beauty shop. Lord knows she tries, but her every word and gesture screams "white."
Sherri Sheperd's Ida is seven months pregnant, but that puts no damper on her libido or imagination. Keshia Knight Pulliam is Darnelle, Gina's wild and rebellious sister-in-law, who lets her hormones overrule her sense. Gina's daughter Vanessa, played by Paige Hurd, loves piano playing, so she takes a shine to the upstairs electrician, Joe (Djimon Hounsou), who plays a pretty mean piano himself. She is not, however, the only female in the beauty parlor who takes a shine to Joe.
Among Jorge's clients who switch to Gina's shop is Suvari's Joanne, a perky, shallow socialite with what turns out to be a very mean streak. MacDowell's Terri is another socialite, whose change in salons triggers such major changes in her life as a newly discovered fondness for soul food and the ability to see the truth about her tattered marriage.
Director Bille Woodruff ("Honey") keeps things moving at a steady pace, but he does hit empty air pockets where even a sharp pace can't disguise the lack of dramatic momentum. All tech credits are pro, though production values do reflect the film's modest budget.
Cast: Gina Norris: Queen Latifah; Lynn: Alicia Silverstone; Terri Green: Andie MacDowell; Miss Josephine: Alfre Woodard; Joanne: Mena Suvari; Jorge: Kevin Bacon; Joe: Djimon Hounsou; Mrs. Towner: Della Reese.
Director: Bille Woodruff; Screenwriters: Kate Lanier, Norman Vance Jr.; Story: Elizabeth Hunter; Producers: David Hoberman, Robert Teitel, George Tillman Jr., Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere; Executive producers: Todd Lieberman, Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez; Director of photography: Theo van de Sande; Production designer: Jon Gary Steele; Music: Christopher Young; Co-producer: Louise Rosner; Costumes: Sharen Davis; Editor: Michael Jablow.
The event is one of the final scenes of "Nailed Right In," an ensemble 1980s coming-of-age drama the trio have been filming in New York for over a month.
"In my mind, it's more a story about friendship tested to the extremes," Prinze tells the Associated Press about the film's plot in-between takes.
In real life, co-stars Prinze or Suvari, who play lovers in the film, have firsthand experience in getting hitched. She eloped to cinematographer Robert Brinkmann in 2000. Prinze wed "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star Sarah Michelle Gellar (news) in a 2002 event much different from the film's on-camera Catholic ritual.
"I don't really ever talk about it," Prinze says about his super secret Mexican wedding. "It was a very sort of scared, special thing. I will say this: The ceremonies are extremely different."
In "Nailed Right In," the 28-year-old plays Michael, the smart guy in a trio of Brooklyn best buds, which include Caan and Jerry Ferrara from HBO's "Entourage," who get mixed up with John Gotti's mob. Alec Baldwin plays a rival boss. The script was penned by frequent "The Sopranos" writer Terence Winter.
The role is a departure for Prinze, a Latino actor who portrayed the real-life version of Wonderbread sleuth Fred in both "Scooby Doo" movies.
"When I first moved to L.A., there were no roles for me unless I was dealing drugs or gangbanging," Prinze tells the AP. "I would never go on those parts. When I grew up, that's what I had to put up with as a stereotype."
Prinze also had to deal with the stigma attached to his father, "Chico and the Man" star actor-comedian Freddie Prinze, who battled drug abuse and committed suicide in 1977.
"Growing up, parents wouldn't let me date their daughter simply because of my name," he reveals.
Prinze also says the folks in Hollywood only saw "who my father was and the mistakes he made, naturally thinking I would go down that same road. I wouldn't take roles unless they were named Zach or Biff or whatever simply to over compensate. Right or wrong, I thought it was my responsibility to clean up my family's name."
The cleaning was certainly squeaky. Although he's not credited as Biff in any of his films, Prinze did catch the public's eye as smirky soccer player Zach in "She's All That" and later appeared in a string of teenybopper romantic comedies like "Summer Catch" and "Down to You." His next big project is his own ABC sitcom.
"Freddie is a gentleman," "Nailed Right In" director Michael Corrente gushes away from the actor. "He's a professional. He's a very bright kid. If he really wanted to, he could be the next Cary Grant. And I don't say that lightly. But I don't know that it's important enough to him yet. He has all the tools to get him there."
Bad boy co-star Caan's toolbox is much different than his clean-cut counterpart.
"Do you have a lighter?" the fiery Caan probes the AP, forgoing any sort of a formal introduction, after three takes of kissing his phony bride.
The thespian, son of actor James Caan, exudes a sarcastic swagger that's drawn comparisons to the likes of James Dean and, well, his father. Caan has amassed a laundry list of film credits, mostly brooding buddy sidekick roles in films like "Varsity Blues" and "Boiler Room." His role as Carmine in "Nailed Right In" doesn't seem much different.
"I guess it's sort of out of character for me," Caan tells the AP about the wedding scene in-between puffs of his cigarette. "My character's the last person that you think would get married. In the script, he's very much a playboy."
On set, there's little seriousness from the frisky tux-clad Caan. He interrupts Corrente, draws a mischievous smile out of Prinze and sings a Chaka Kahn ditty to anyone who'll listen. But the actor, who wrote and directed the indie film "Dallas 362," has serious aspirations.
"I would love to write and direct my father in a film so he can get his Academy Award," Caan says. "I wrote a movie about basically his life and I made him a boxer instead of an actor because he's a great, great, great man and an interesting guy. So I wrote that, but unfortunately it's when he was 20. Makeup is good these days, but it's not that good."
To Prinze, the Caan injection in the film has paid off.
"I love him to death. We have an open door. That's his trailer right there," Prinze says from inside his on-set abode, pointing to an adjoining room that would be identical if not for the clothes strewn about. "He works so damn hard. He's doing such a good job with this role. All my favorite scenes are with Scott. We have really solid chemistry. You either work well with someone or you don't."
The night before the wedding scene, Prinze and Suvari's characters consummated their relationship though the pair had just met in real life. The "American Beauty" actress was shooting "Rumor Has It" with Jennifer Anniston, Kevin Costner and director Rob Reiner while Prinze and others were in rehearsals for "Nailed Right In."
"We're in bed together," Prinze recalls of the previous night. "We sort of just made love for the first time. It was so comfortable. Right away, we just got each other and got what the scene was about. I sort of stepped back and it was magic."
In the film, Suvari plays Ellen, a blue blood pearl necklace-wearing society gal who falls for Prinze's wrong-side-of-the-tracks Michael. The dainty Survari says the testerone-ladden atmosphere of "Nailed Right In" is a "new frontier" for her, especially considering her character is "such a yuppie."
"But it's very easy to get into this character once you're costume," Suvari tells the AP inside of the church's chilly dressing room. Although she's wearing a slinky dress underneath, Suvari is covered in an oversized insulated all-weather jacket and thermal boots when the camera isn't pointed in her direction from her perch in the pews.
Back at the alter, Corrente is shooting a close-up of best man Prinze giving groom Caan a subtle wink while handing him the wedding ring. Even out of context, it's a charming sight.
"Something happened to them that shall remain nameless for the rest of their lives," Corrente explains from behind the monitor. "In the midst of the jubilant celebration, there's the tinniest glimpse of what happened 20 years ago, what they share. It's both touching and sort of grounding in a familiar sort of way."
Rousing applause fills the church following the wink and a "now you may kiss the bride" smooch. The clapping isn't for Prinze or Caan; it's part of the scene. When the cameras cut, Caan immediately begins joking with Prinze. Although the wedding is fake, the camaraderie between the cast and crew seems real.
"I haven't had this much fun on a movie ever," Prinze declares. "Ever."
Big names such as Lucy Liu, Christopher Walken, Mickey Rourke and Jacqueline Bisset have joined the cast of the Keira Knightley-starring project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The story centers on the daughter (Knightley) of actor Laurence Harvey, named Domino Harvey, who left her lucrative career as a Ford model to become a bounty hunter.
Liu will play a psychologist, while Walken will portray a reality TV producer. Rourke will be Domino's bounty hunter boss and mentor, and Bisset will play her mother.
Also in talks to star are Dabney Coleman, Delroy Lindo, Edgar Ramirez, singer Macy Gray and Shondrella Avery to play twins Lashindra and Lashandra, and Mo'Nique to play Lateesha.
Mena Suvari recently signed on to play a producer's assistant.
"Man on Fire" director Tony Scott will shoot the film, based on the script by "Donnie Darko" filmmaker Richard Kelly. The New Line Cinema film is shooting in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Liu last starred in "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" and is prepping to begin shooting "Lucky Number Slevin" opposite Josh Hartnett. Walken next stars alongside Michael Caine and Josh Lucas in "Around the Bend," which opens in limited release on Friday, Oct. 8. Rourke stars in the upcoming ensemble drama "Sin City," based on the popular graphic novels. Bisset's more recent credits include "Dangerous Beauty," "Latter Days" and "Swing."
The 25-year-old actress will play a producer's assistant opposite Keira Knightley for the project, which is based on the real-life story of a model-turned-bounty hunter, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The story centers on the daughter (Knightley) of actor Laurence Harvey, named Domino Harvey, who left her lucrative career as a Ford model to become a bounty hunter.
"Man on Fire" director Tony Scott will shoot the film, based on the script by "Donnie Darko" filmmaker Richard Kelly.
The New Line Cinema film will shoot in Los Angeles and Las Vegas beginning Monday, Oct. 4.
Suvari's film credits include two of the "American Pie" films, "American Beauty," "Sugar & Spice" and "Spun." She next stars alongside Queen Latifah in the comedy "Beauty Shop," which will open in spring 2005.
Rob Reiner will replace freshman director Ted Griffin on the comedy, which has shut down after only one week of shooting. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Griffin was spending too much time working with his cinematographer, Ed Lachman, instead of with the cast. There is no confirmation on who will replace Lachman.
Based on the a script by Griffin, the project centers on a young woman (Aniston) who learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and the film "The Graduate." Even worse, she may be the offspring of the scandalous event.
Shirley MacLaine, Kevin Costner, Mena Suvari, Mark Ruffalo and Charlie Hunnam round out the cast.
Reiner's directing credits include "This Is Spinal Tap," "The Princess Bride," "A Few Good Men," "Ghosts of Mississippi" and "Alex & Emma."
The 25-year-old "American Beauty" star will join the cast of an upcoming comedy-drama, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The project centers on a young woman (Aniston) who learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and the film "The Graduate." Even worse, she may be the offspring of the scandalous event. Suvari plays the sister whose wedding gathers the characters together in the film.
Shirley MacLaine, Kevin Costner, Mark Ruffalo and Charlie Hunnam round out the cast.
"Ocean's Eleven" scribe Ted Griffin will make his directorial debut on the project, which he also wrote. The Warner Bros. film is set to begin shooting this summer.
Suvari can currently be seen in an eight-episode arc on HBO's "Six Feet Under" and next stars opposite Queen Latifah in "Beauty Shop," which is scheduled for release in November.
The MGM project revolves around a beauty shop run by Gina (Queen Latifah) where there's more interest in the talk than the haircuts. Alicia Silverstone plays the sole white staffer, while Djimon Hounsou plays the leading man. Suvari will play Joanne, an upper-crust opinionated socialite.
Bille Woodruff ("Honey") will direct.
Suvari was most recently in theaters with the 2002 movie "Spun." Upcoming releases include "Trauma," "Closing the Ring," "Living and Breathing" and "Standing Still."
Starring Colin Firth as Ben, the driver who wakes up in a hospital ward to find that his beloved wife is dead, "Trauma" is a mega-reality brain tease. Memory, delusion, obsession and, of course, the trauma from the accident itself all are part of this very disturbing story. What is real and what is in the mind's eye of Ben are always in doubt. And the question eventually arises: Did he kill his wife before the accident?
Although "Trauma" is a dazzler, it's also a snoozer. Once the quick cuts and flashy cinematic flourishes subside, the story dissolves into a protracted muddle. Although we're mesmerized by director Marc Evans' visual pyrotechnics and hard-noir stylistics, it's difficult to keep up interest when we're indifferent to Ben, who emerges as an obsessive lout.
Screenwriter Richard Smith shows ample gifts, combining intrigue with the horror-of-personality genre. Yet, his character construction is overtly clinical: Ben's mental turmoil and how it connects to the death of his wife never satisfyingly congeals. Admittedly, the story is well-wired, but it nonetheless short-circuits because of the essential crudity of the characters, including dogged investigators, weird neighbors and other generic types. Not to mention bugs, which are all over the place.
Fortunately, "Trauma" recovers from its character deficiencies on the technical front. Cinematographer John Mathieson's dazzling noir scopings revive our eye even when our brain has turned off to the story. Editor Mags Arnold flexes a surgeon's precision in connecting the cinematic synapses of this hypervisual drama, while production designer Crispian Sallis shows us the character's conflicted mind-sets much more succinctly than the story does.
Compounding "Trauma's" narrative fractures, it's also hard to understand the Queen's English, especially when snarled by Firth. Supporting players are similarly bludgeoned by the writing, namely Mena Suvari (news) as Ben's spacey neighbor and Brenda Fricker as a clairvoyant. Both come across as character pawns rather than flesh and blood -- the lack of which is fatal with this "Trauma."
Cast: Ben: Colin Firth; Charlotte: Mena Suvari; Elisa: Naomie Harris; Tommy: Tommy Flanagan; Roland: Sean Harris; Petra: Brenda Fricker.
Director: Marc Evans; Screenwriter: Richard Smith; Producers: Jonathan Cavendish, Nicky Kentish Barnes; Director of photography: John Mathieson; Production designer: Crispian Sallis; Editor: Mags Arnold; Costume designer: Ffion Elinor; Makeup/hair designer: Pamela Haddock.