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There was a time when director Darren Aronofsky was going to helm the sequel/spin-off The Wolverine as his follow-up to his award-winning Black Swan. Instead, Aronofsky will take the director's chair for his passion project, the Biblical epic Noah, with the lead actor he has sought since February. Aronofsky announced the casting news in a fawning (even for Hollywood) press release.
I'd like to thank Paramount and Regency for backing my team's work to breathe new life into the biblical epic. I rejoice that Russell Crowe will be by my side on this adventure. It's his immense talent that helps me to sleep at night. I look forward to being wowed by him every day.
more about Noah >> Posted 04.23.12 by Ryan -
For every movie that makes it to the big screen, countless more fall into "Development Hell," never to see the light of day. What would the Batman franchise look like today if Warner Bros. had decided to hand the keys to the Bat-mobile to Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) instead of Christopher Nolan?
Sit back, grab a handful of popcorn, and prepare to have your mind blown as we journey to Development Hell in the latest installment of our look at David Hughes’ Tales from Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made?
Read Part 2: Fall and Rise of The Dark Knight >>
Posted 03.09.12 by BrentJS -
Russell Crowe seems to be up for every role available lately. Already set to play Inspector Javert in The King's Speech director Tom Hooper's musical version of Les Miserables starting this month, Crowe was recently cast in Winter's Tale, which will serve as the directorial debut for Academy Award–winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind). Crowe could add yet another project that would team the actor with Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky.
According to Deadline, Aronofsky wants Crowe for the title role in Noah, the director's take on the Biblical story that he has described as a "big event film." Crowe is not officially in the role, though Aronofsky is reportedly interested in the Australian actor for the lead. Aronofsky initially courted The Dark Knight actor Christian Bale for the role, but apparently scheduling issues have kept Bale from accepting the part. The director is also interested in Liam Neeson for an unspecified role as well.
what about Death Wish and RoboCop? >> Posted 02.04.12 by Ryan -
It's been a bumpy road for The Wolverine. It first lost its Academy Award–nominated director, got a new director but then was delayed by weather, and finally received a rewrite in the past year and is now on hold until Hugh Jackman to finishes work on a musical version of Les Miserables.
Had everything gone to plan, The Wolverine would have started shooting in April but, a month before, director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) dropped out. In a recent interview with The Playlist, Jackman revealed that he had been trying to work with Aronofsky again (the last time was 2006's The Fountain) for a while.
His personal life precluded him from making the movie. I asked him to do X-Men 3, I asked him to do Wolverine one and he said, "It’s not so much for me." And then he read this and said, "Man, I’m in. This is the best comic movie script I’ve ever read" and he’s been dying to do one for a long time.
jackman talks rewrites and mangold's "clear vision" for Wolverine >> Posted 09.27.11 by Ryan -
Christian Bale is currently working on his third outing as Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, in The Dark Knight Rises, and has a hefty decision to make once he's finished shooting.
Variety reports that Bale has five upcoming projects to chose from once The Dark Knight Rises wraps in November, including Warner Bros.' remake of A Star Is Born, which has Clint Eastwood at the helm, and Beyonce Knowles as the female lead. The story, about an alcoholic star on his way down who falls for a younger, female artist on the way up, has been made three times already, the first as a drama in 1937, and later as a musical in 1954 and, most recently (and infamously), in 1976. It would seem that Eastwood would be trying again for a musical version, hence Beyonce's involvement, and it would be Bale's first musical since 1993's Newsies, which reportedly Bale is not a fan of. "Time healed those wounds," Bale told EW in 2007. "But it took a while." We'll count A Star Is Born as a maybe then.
what are the other roles? >> Posted 08.25.11 by Ryan -
When director Darren Aronofsky decided to drop out of Twentieth Century Fox's stand-alone, non-sequel The Wolverine in March, he didn't mention a follow-up project. Then, three months later, Aronofsky was pitching Fox a "big fantasy epic" movie called Noah, based on the Noah's Ark story from the Bible. A week later, Aronofsky was reportedly courting actor Christian Bale for the lead role, a move that should secure financing for the project.
While Aronofsky awaits for funding to be approved, the director of last year's Black Swan told IFC that he thinks the story for Noah — which reportedly will command a budget of $130 million — could be a big blockbuster disaster movie. "I want to make a big event film, and I think it can be that," said Aronofsky.
What role would religion play in Noah? >> Posted 06.20.11 by Ryan -
With productions ramping up to start or already in the midst of shooting, casting announcements are pouring in for several upcoming movies.
With Brad Pitt headlining Paramount's adaptation of World War Z as a U.N. researcher, the Marc Forster-directed production has been adding cast members at a slow trickle, with Mireille Enos (AMC's The Killing) cast in April as Pitt's wife and James Badge Dale (HBO's The Pacific) recently added as a soldier looking to warn humanity about the zombie uprising. Finally, they're getting some company.
Deadline reports that Matthew Fox and Ed Harris are in talks to join the cast in unspecified roles. According to Bloody-Disgusting, Fox will play a part called "Parajumper," which, considering his lack of an actual name, doesn't sound like he makes it for long, but we could be wrong. No details on Harris' role have been revealed yet.
French actress Julia Levy-Boeken (Road Trip: Beer Pong) is also set to join the cast, and again, no details on her role have been given.
World War Z was based on on Max Brooks' best-selling novel and adapted by screenwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom) and J. Michael Straczynski (Changeling). Production begins this month in London before moving to Glasgow, Scotland.
Bale to sail on an ark, Kemper to teach chemistry >> Posted 06.14.11 by Ryan -
It looks like Darren Aronofsky is set to get all Biblical on us. Fresh off the Oscar-winning success of Black Swan, which reaped huge rewards at the world-wide box office, it appears the 42-year-old writer/director finally has the clout to start getting more of his dream projects off the ground. According to Deadline, he is currently trying to get funding for his Noah's Ark project.
Noah is described as "a big fantasy epic, and an opportunity for Aronofsky to create a world." He is turning the story into a four-part graphic novel, and he now has a script, which will get revisions from John Logan (Rango, The Aviator). Reportedly, Aronofsky is courting the studios for a $130 million budget. This news comes three months after Aronofsky decided to abandon The Wolverine, due to the time he'd spend away from family while shooting in Japan.
Noah will be controversial? >> Posted 06.08.11 by reelz -
Since director Darren Aronofsky decided last month that he wasn't ready to commit to the lengthy shooting schedule involved in 20th Century Fox's The Wolverine, the stand-alone, non-sequel sequel to 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, rumors of a replacement have begun.
The week after Aronofsky's departure, director David Slade (Twilight Saga: Eclipse) denied rumors that he was up for the job, silencing the rumor mill for the moment. Duncan Jones, director of the recently released Source Code, is the latest director to have his name associated with the project.
what did Jones say about The Wolverine >> Posted 04.12.11 by Ryan -
Like a scene straight out of, well, Black Swan, ballerina and Black Swan dance double Sarah Lane recently claimed that she was a victim of a "cover-up" since she performed "85 percent" of the dancing scenes in Natalie Portman's Oscar-winning performance.
Entertainment Weekly, the outlet that first revealed Lane's conspiracy theory, reports that Portman's Black Swan director, Darren Aronofsky, defended Portman's dancing work in his movie through a statement from Black Swan's studio, Fox Searchlight.
what did aronofsky say? >> Posted 03.29.11 by Ryan