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The Independent Spirit Awards nominations are out and guess who isn't pleased?
With silent movie The Artist and apocalyptic drama Take Shelter receiving the bulk of the nominations, including Best Feature (along with cancer comedy 50/50, father-son drama Beginners, noir thriller Drive, and family dramedy The Descendants), director Kevin Smith questioned why his horror movie Red State got completely snubbed. Smith took his complaint to his Twitter, where he called out the Spirit Awards for ignoring his cast.
what choice words did smith offer? >> Posted 11.30.11 by Ryan -
The upcoming R-rated dramedy 50/50 opens at the end of the month, but recently screened in advance at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The movie follows 27-year-old Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), who helps him beat it. From that description alone, the jokes just write themselves.
The script was written by Rogen's screenwriter friend Will Reiser, who is himself a cancer survivor. While attending the TIFF press conference for 50/50 (via the National Post), Reiser explained how he decided to turn his story of survival into a script.
The way we dealt with it was we didn’t sit around and talk about our feelings. We just made jokes and we sort of tried to make fun of the absurdity of the entire situation. One night we were at a party and someone asked me if I had made a bucket list of all I wanted to do...I was like, "I’m actually really sick. I just want to sleep. I don’t really want to go to Africa." We started talking about how there’s never been a comedy about cancer. We started talking about it, well, why don’t we do a buddy comedy.
watch the clips and read more from the cast >> Posted 09.15.11 by Ryan -
Director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) knew he would have it tough convincing audiences there was humor to find in cancer with the upcoming dramedy 50/50, which stars Joseph Gordon Levitt as 27-year-old Adam who is suddenly diagnosed with cancer and Seth Rogen as his best friend. At first, Levine turned down the movie, but then one of his family members was diagnosed as well. Levine told The Playlist that the experience "made the script resonate that much more for me — I went through those experiences where you know things are just so ridiculous and so intense that you have to laugh and I went through those experience where things are so ridiculous sometimes that you have to cry." Levine soon accepted the movie.
More hurdles were to follow. First was in casting, with James McAvoy, initially cast in Gordon-Levitt's role, but, after his wife went into early labor, McAvoy dropped out just as the movie was about to start. Gordon-Levitt accepted with "about a week to ten days to prep."
We were definitely freaking out, but, honestly, there was something in the chemistry that we all had, we had too good of a thing going here for it to fall apart, and we just kind of put our heads down and did our jobs. And thank god they sent [Gordon-Levitt] the material... I know we would have been heartbroken if Joe had not been able to make it.
head shaving, name changing and more >> Posted 09.12.11 by Ryan -
When we first heard about 50/50, the R-rated dramedy about cancer starring Seth Rogen, we were a little confused. Would that work? Can Rogen make cancer funny? Is hard-R material appropriate in a movie about cancer?
Written by Rogen's screenwriter friend Will Reiser, himself a cancer survivor, the first and second trailers released for the movie look like they've pulled it off. Part of the comedy comes from the amount of honesty included in the movie, as seen when Kyle (Rogen) convinces Adam (Joseph Gordon Levitt) to use his situation to pick up women and ends with humiliating results. More of the comedy's brutal (and hilarious) candor can be found in three recently released preview clips.
watch the clips >> Posted 08.26.11 by reelz -
The first trailer for Summit Entertainment's 50/50 debuted in May, long before the movie's September release date, and offered the first look at the cancer comedy that stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen as two friends whose lives are changed when Gordon-Levitt is diagnosed with cancer.
Based on Rogen's friend and 50/50 screenwriter Will Reiser's real life, the movie is arguably a tough sell, getting people to laugh at a subject of cancer. The newly-released second trailer continues the trend of keeping the subject matter light, including the angle that having cancer could be a good way to pick up women. To that end, the second trailer adds more footage of co-star Anna Kendrick (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World).
watch the trailer >> Posted 08.12.11 by Ryan -
Summit Entertainment has debuted the first trailer for 50/50, a comedy that tries to show the lighter side of cancer.
One of 50/50's stars, Seth Rogen, also produced the movie, which was written by Rogen's friend Will Reiser, himself a cancer survivor. In the movie's official synopsis, Rogen explained the genesis of 50/50.
We worked with Will on Da Ali G show, and it was shortly after that we learned he was sick. As shocking, sad, confusing and generally screwed up as it was; we couldn't ignore that because we were so ill-equipped to deal with the situation, funny things kept happening. Will got better, and when he did, we thought the best way to pull something good out of the situation was to get him to write a screenplay. Ideally we wanted to make a film that would be as funny, sad, and hopefully as honest as the experience we went through. As soon as the script was completed, it quickly became a passion project for all of us. It helped us come to terms with Will's struggle as well as our own experiences.
watch the trailer >> Posted 05.27.11 by Ryan -
Looks like James McAvoy has been cured of cancer. MTV reports that the Scottish actor has dropped out of an upcoming comedy about cancer produced by and co-starring Seth Rogen after shooting began in Vancouver last month. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has stepped in to replace McAvoy. Rogen tried to explain the situation in a statement.
It's incredibly unfortunate that circumstances outside of everyone's control have taken James away from the project, but, with James's blessing, we were able to have Joseph step in to take on the [lead] role of Adam. We all look forward to working with James in the future.
Formerly titled I'm With Cancer, the movie is based on screenwriter Will Reiser's own battle with the disease. Reiser is a friend of Rogen's and in a separate interview with MTV last year, Rogen talked about the personal nature of the movie, and the fact that it won't be the first time that Rogen has tackled a comedy about a deadly disease.
It's funny, actually. I'm with Cancer existed as a script before Funny People, but they were written around the same time. I'm with Cancer is a very personal story, about what happened to our friend for the most part, so we didn't really need much added insight into that. I was there with [Reiser] as he experienced a lot of it.
Production on the movie has stalled for the moment but will resume March 8. Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) is directing the movie, which also stars Anna Kendrick and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Posted 03.05.10 by Ryan -
Variety reports that James McAvoy has signed on to star opposite Seth Rogen in a yet-to-be-titled comedy based on the book I'm With Cancer by Will Reiser. We'll hazard a guess, though, and say that there's a 50+% chance it'll be named I'm With Cancer — you'll never guess how we came up with it.
McAvoy will play a 25-year-old who discovers he has cancer and must work to overcome it over a period of several years. The story is based on Reiser's own struggle with cancer in his mid-20s, and he has already written a screenplay adaptation of the novel.
This will be McAvoy's first role since Wanted last summer. He also starred with Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland and with Keira Knightley in Atonement.
Posted 08.18.09 by reelz