Film School Rejects » Robin Ruinsky

Mia Wasikowski is the New Jane Eyre?

Robin Ruinsky — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:08:57 +0000

I was looking forward to seeing Ellen Page as Jane Eyre, wondering how she would handle the role of the poor governess from the wrong side of the moors. The star of Juno might have been able to bring a new twist to a character that has been filmed at least nineteen times. Or could be a thousand. IMDb isn’t always accurate. My favorite Jane is Andrea Martin in the Second City TV “Jane Airhead”. Her work in the role stands alone.

As for serious Jane’s the role has been played by Charlotte Gainsborough, Joan Fontaine, Samantha Morton. Anna Paquin played the young version of Jane to Morton’s grown up Jane. My apologies to the multitude of Janes unnamed but that would go on for too many paragraphs. So many Jane Eyres, so little time.

Now according to Variety, Mia Wasikowski, Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is in talks to step into the role of the plain Jane governess who finds true love with Mr. Rochester, that guy with the crazy first wife residing in the attic of his foreboding mansion Thornfield. Michael Fassbender (300, Inglourious Basterds), is reported to be in talks to play the miserable brooding, yet of course handsome Mr. Rochester.

The word from is the original casting of the Canadian Page as the very British Jane didn’t sit well among the British. I say that’s why it’s called acting. Actors play people unlike themselves, remember? But, I can understand their pain. Too many British favorites were being poached by actors in North America. Losing the colonies was a tough blow, but losing Bridget Jones and Beatrix Potter to Renee Zellweger, Jane Austin to Anne Hathaway was too too much.

Either way it didn’t matter since Page dropped out and the casting call has Mia Wasikowski on the Jane Eyre radar.

Sin nombre” director Cary Fukunaga will helm the newest incarnation of Charlotte Bronte’s tale of brooding love among depressed miserable people with seriously messed up secrets. Alright, I’m being harsh, but do we need yet another Jane Eyre?

What do you think? Do we need yet another visit to Jane Eyre, Edward Rochester and his ward Adele?

Why Do Vampires Always Go Back to High School?

Robin Ruinsky — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:56:21 +0000

Just imagine. You’re immortal. You have forever lain out in front of you. The road of your life is endless. You can do anything you want. Go where you please. What do you choose to do? Go to high school. Yes, you read this correctly. You go to high school.

I’ll state this right out, right up front. I’m not a fan of Twilight. And I’m not talking about the time of day when the sun is setting and the vampires are itching to rise and find a good meal among the innocent citizens of London or Paris, Berlin or Boca Raton. In my view Vampires fit very nicely in London or Paris, particularly in the days of yore. We have much scarier creatures than vampires these days. I also believe many have likely retired to Florida to bask in the evening humidity. But I digress.

Where Vampires don’t fit is the place they’re showing up more than ever. High School. So many have returned to the classroom I’m surprised not one incarnation of High School Musical has included a dancing vampire. Alright, I can’t be certain. I’ve never seen the HS Musical films.

It seems that over the years vampires have suppressed their predatory instincts and developed more than a thirst for blood. They have a new found thirst for knowledge, but not knowledge attained in an exciting way. No world tours for them. There are no visits to Versailles, no visits to NYC to take in some theater, heck not even Disney World’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Nope, they enroll in high school. I have to say this again. They enroll in high school. Voluntarily. They subject themselves repeatedly to that brutal right of passage that humans look back upon with horror like victims of the Spanish Inquisition looked at the rack. Flashbacks can persist for years.

Our current crop of teen vampires is content to sit though period after period of high school math, science, history and English as if it’s all new again. The smell of a school lunch doesn’t even faze them. I realize they don’t have to eat it, but you’d think they’re so sensitive the smell of over cooked mystery foodwould drive them insane.

Why are these vampires still trying to get their diplomas? Why are they going to sex education and health class? Do they feel the need to learn the dangers of exchanging bodily fluids? Wouldn’t they get this after a hundred, two hundred years of experience?

The fangs down most popular high school vampire is that sparkly fellow from Twilight, Edward Cullen. As you might have noticed Cullen is not a chippy chappy happy fellow. I suspect that comes from centuries of enduring high school and a diet of squirrel blood. You see the Cullen clan can’t even get the hang of being bad. They live on animal blood because these days not only do vampires have to be depressed and dreamy with soulful eyes and sparkly white skin, they have to deny their very vampireness.

Has anyone wondered how these teen vampires get into school after school? Where did Edward get his transcripts? How old was the paper work and was it on parchment with illustrations by fourteenth century monks? Was it from his gig at Prague High in 1877 or his years spent at the Paris Lycee in 1960? No one notices him in the back row of the graduating class of 1912 smiling happily because his class is booked on the Titanic for their senior trip. They just think he’s the pale, pasty mystery guy.

Doesn’t anyone notice him in all the class pictures in all the high schools in all the countries in the entire world in every decade since he was a mere vampire sprout? I know, I know. There are so many questions and so few answers.

But, hey, it’s a love story about a girl meeting a Romeo who has fangs. Except isn’t Edward two hundred years old? And yet he’s fooling around with a sixteen year old high school girl? Don’t they arrest people for that? Why does the vampire get a break? Because he looks all sparkly?

Edward really needs to skip the prom and drink Bella Swan’s blood, not make goo goo eyes at her. Drink her blood, have a real good take out meal, perhaps the entire cheerleading team. Follow it up with a vacation to Minsk.

This isn’t just about Edward and all those other dreamy teen vampires. It’s about the dignity of Vampires as a mythical creature who sees humans as prey. At the end of the day it’s all so unfair to this once noble race of killers. Vampires were meant to be scary creatures you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, a graveyard or even a Home Depot. It’s so wrong to see their fangs reduced to nothing more than accessories. The monster that was the vampire, the scary creature who slurped the blood of the innocent so he may live forever has been turned into a lapdog, a pussy cat, a High School student.

What would Dracula and Nosferatu think? They’d roll over in their coffins and write an op-ed for the Transylvania Gazette lamenting the downfall of the younger generation.

Edward Woodward dies at 79

Robin Ruinsky — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:51:26 +0000

The actor Edward Woodward has died November 16 at age 79. The British actor was probably best known in the US for his role in the eighties television series “The Equalizer.” He won a Golden Globe award in 1987 for the role.

Horror film fans will remember him from 1973’s The Wicker Man where his character experienced one of the more grisly cinematic deaths, and modern audiences will remember him when he created a similar role for Hot Fuzz.

I first saw Woodward on cable in the 1980 Breaker Morant, a film I highly recommend. He played Lieutenant Breaker Morant, tried for murder in the deaths of Boer prisoners during the second Boer War.

Woodward’s career began in 1955 and spanned theater, television and film. The actor was also a singer and had the distinction of being personally chosen by Noel Coward to star in the Broadway show “High Spirits,” a musical adaptation of Coward’s “Blithe Spirit”. Woodward also recorded 12 solo albums.

Woodward’s an actor that I think many people recognize but don’t know by name. Look for his work and you’ll find yourself watching a talented seasoned actor and one who will be missed.

Cormac McCarthy: A Blood Meridian Movie is Possible

Robin Ruinsky — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:15:11 +0000

Novelist Cormac McCarthy is no stranger to seeing his literary vision adapted to film. All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men were both made into films. The adaptation by the Coen Brothers of No Country for Old Men was a box office and critical success garnering multiple Oscar nominations.

McCarthy’s latest novel to be filmed is the Pulitzer Prize winning The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen. It opens November 25 the day before Thanksgiving Day. Not bad timing when you consider how much you’ll be thankful for after seeing this dark post apocalyptic tale about survival and hope.

McCarthy gave an in depth interview to the Wall Street Journal where he discussed The Road, his life, work and what it’s like seeing his books made into films. McCarthy was asked about the feasibility of a film version of his dark, bloody Western Blood Meridian.

WSJ: People have said Blood Meridian is unfilmable because of the sheer darkness and violence of the story.

CM: That’s all crap. The fact that’s it’s a bleak and bloody story has nothing to do with whether or not you can put it on the screen. That’s not the issue. The issue is it would be very difficult to do and would require someone with a bountiful imagination and a lot of balls. But the payoff could be extraordinary.

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West is an intense, violent book about the Glanton Gang who hunted down and murdered members of the Yuma tribe 1849-1850. The book’s narrator is a teen who falls in with the gang. It was McCarthy’s fifth novel and his first set in the American West.

For more on Cormac McCarthy read the excellent interview at The Wall Street Journal.

Who do you think has the balls to adapt McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West?

First Photos from the Set of Redford’s The Conspirator

Robin Ruinsky — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:02:51 +0000

The Playlist (via Collider) has the first photos from the set of Robert Redford’s The Conspirator, his film about Mary Surratt’s role in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. The film stars Robin Wright Penn as Surratt and James McAvoy as her defense attorney, Frederick Aiken. The photos show McAvoy and Evan Rachel Wood. Wood has joined the cast as Anna Surratt, Mary’s daughter.

Justin Long will be trying his hand at a dramatic role as McAvoy’s close friend. And also joining the cast is Tony Kebbell who was a stand out as musician/junkie Johnny Quid in RocknRolla. He’ll play John Wilkes Booth. The word is that Booth is a minor role in The Conspirator. I’m hoping they expand it now that they’ve cast Kebell who I think is a great choice for Booth.

Spotlight On: The Killing of Mary Surratt

Robin Ruinsky — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:30:24 +0000

A while ago I wrote about Robert Redford’s upcoming film about Mary Surratt, one of the more controversial players in the Lincoln assassination. Robin Wright Penn is cast as Surratt and James McAvoy will play her attorney. Film director Chris King contacted me after reading my short piece about Redford’s planned film. King had just finished his own film about Mrs. Surratt. When he told me about his film I was intrigued, even more so after seeing a clip on his Watermark films website.

Chris King is an award winning, Emmy nominated writer/producer/director. His independent feature, Touching Down, did very well on the festival circuit winning awards and receiving a great deal of praise. He’s also directed four short films. The Killing of Mary Surratt is his latest, written with his wife Heather and directed for his own Watermark Films.

After King contacted me about his film, I was curious how he became interested in making a film about Surratt. The Lincoln assassination is obviously a fascinating and dramatic subject, but the focus is always on John Wilkes Booth. Surratt is always a minor player and to my knowledge neither her role in the assassination or her life has been explored in depth on film.

King told me how the idea for the film came about:

“I came across the idea for “Mary” two years ago when at a bookstore. Saw a display of Lincoln assassination books and perused one specifically about the conspirators. Everyone knows about J.W. Booth, but I got completely drawn into the Surratt aspect of it. I didn’t know – or I didn’t remember -learning about these four other conspirators with Booth when in school. Especially the whole boardinghouse “nest that hatched the egg” accusation, and Mary being the first woman put to death by the government aspects of the saga. The hoods on the prisoners (with the open mouths so they can breathe) visual got into my head though, and I immediately envisioned a short from this hanging. Something short and intense that an actress could go to town with, emotionally.”

An actress can certainly go to town emotionally portraying Surratt. Surratt found herself at the epicenter of the fury of a Nation struggling with the tragedy of the Civil War and the murder of its president.

We all know Robert Redford has a budget of millions to make his film. He’s got access to anything a director could want. Independent film makers dream of having even a tenth of the kind of budget Redford has. Not surprisingly money was the issue for King when he contemplated making the film:

“The biggest hurdle in film making is the bottom line. Money. As an indie filmmaker who had to work on a very modest budget. But, being a very low budget indie filmmaker, I did what anyone would do: I gave up on the idea. Costumes, reenactors, gallows…forget it. Too ambitious (read: expensive). So we made two more short films over the next year and half, played the fests marketed them, etc. But I couldn’t get the speedy trial and the visual of Mary on the gallows. So wife Heather and I said, what the heck, let’s do it.

So we raised five grand and did it. Thank goodness for lots of volunteer Civil War reenactment groups and state parks employees who donated their time for “Mary”, or we couldn’t have done it, budget-wise. Lots of donations. And so it came to pass. “

It’s clear that the subject of Mrs. Surratt got under the director’s skin and that he feels an injustice was done. He opens the film with this Lincoln quote: “There is no grievance that is a fit object for redress by mob law.”

Says King:

“Talk about wham-bam. Within 24 hours of official final sentencing, President Johnson had the prison build a scaffold overnight to hang them. Unbelievable.”

This short film is stylish, well paced, giving us a glimpse into a turbulent moment in history when the line between justice and vengeance became blurred. There’s a lot packed into twenty four minutes, but the film never feels rushed.

If you’d like to see The Killing of Mrs. Surratt the film is being entered in film festivals around the country and is now available for purchase on DVD at www.watermarkfilms.net.

Michael Mann Sets Up to Shoot Capa

Robin Ruinsky — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:18:51 +0000

Variety reports that renowned war photographer Robert Capa, 1913-1954, is going to have his story told on film by director Michael Mann for Columbia Pictures.

In 1935 Capa, born Andre Friedmann, was a refugee from fascist Hungary when he met photographer Gerde Taro, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. they lived together in Paris with Capa teaching Taro about photography. The two came up with the Robert Capa persona for Friedmann and he began to sign his photographs with that name. Taro went on to become a frontline photographer during the Spanish Civil War. The movie will be about their two year romance which ended when Taro was killed in 1937 during the Battle of Brunete.

The film is based on “Waiting for Robert Capa” a novel by Spanish author Susana Fortes. Jez Butterworth has written the adaptation of the Spanish language novel.

Mann has wanted to make a film about Capa for a long time and finally found a way to dramatize the photographer’s life using the novelization of his love affair with Taro. Capa was killed in 1954 when he went on assignment to photograph the war in Indochina. He stepped on a landmine and died in a field hospital.

A new exhibit of photographs taken by Capa and Taro of the Spanish Civil War will be on display at the Manhattan International Center of Photography in fall 2010.

No word on casting yet, and the major question remains on how Mann will deal with Capa’s allegedly faking of a picture that became one of his most famous – his “Falling Soldier” (which is conveniently the header of this very article).

What do you think?

Barbie is Ready for Her Big Screen Close-Up

Robin Ruinsky — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:49:17 +0000

It’s coming. Can you feel the excitement in the air? Finally after what seems like a lifetime of excruciating anticipation, Barbara Millicent Roberts will have her day in the cinematic sun. Better known by her nickname, Barbie, she’s on her way to a theater near you in a live action film. Universal Pictures negotiated with Mattel for the rights to portray the plastic doll on the big screen. Laurence Mark, Julie and Julia, will produce.

I felt that this topic demanded some research to find out who could play the plastic Amazon. What I discovered is that there are some estimates that Barbie as a real woman would be six feet tall and weigh one hundred pounds with measurements that would range to 39-20-33

Who is out there who can play her? Or will Hollywood which is filled with women who have had plastic surgery to look like Barbie, go for someone who looks human?

And now I need to make a confession. As a young child, I once tried to kill Barbie. I put her in the Barbie car and rolled her in front of an ice cream truck. My plan didn’t work. Barbie was a better driver than I could have imagined and she didn’t succumb under the wheels of the truck.

Now that you know I’m not objective about Barbie, I can say that the thought of her on the big screen is even more terrifying that that live action/cgi Smurf movie that’s being made. It’s more terrifying than Ryan Seacrest replacing Sir Ian McKellan in the Hobbit. (I made that up so don’t pass out.)

How will this movie play out? Yes, Barbie has had a remarkable number of occupations for someone who can’t bend her arms or legs. She’s been an astronaut, a teacher, a beauty queen, a pilot, has hot tubs, houses, cars, horses, dogs and still remains faithful to her longtime boyfriend Ken. Of course considering their anatomy that’s no big feat.

Will the movie explore the life of Barbara Millicent Roberts from birth? And who knew Barbie had a name other than Barbie?

Is this going to be a thriller about Barbie being blackmailed about her origins as a sex toy named Lili who was popular in Germany? Or will Lili come to the United States to look up her cousin Barbie, creating all kinds of wild complications with Ken? Or will this be something along the lines of Barbie: A New Beginning?
These questions and many others might be answered. Or not.

It depends on who directs it. David Cronenberg? Are you listening? How does Barbie VS the Fly sound to you?

Patrick Swayze: 5 Roles That We Will Never Forget

Robin Ruinsky — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:25:03 +0000

Patrick Swayze died yesterday after a battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of fifty seven. But we all know that actors live on in their work, frozen forever at different stages of their lives and their careers. Some of them, like Swayze, are imprinted on our minds in roles that make them larger than life. That said, we’ve selected a few of Swayze’s most memorable roles… roles that will live on forever.

Dirty Dancing

First and foremost is Swayze as Johnny Castle in 1987’s Dirty Dancing. The role of the guy from the wrong side of the tracks who finds respect and love as a Catskill resort dance instructor and part time lothario put Swayze on the map. The bad boy with the heart of gold who wins the heart of the doctor’s daughter, Baby, made many people sit up and take notice of an actor who’d been working since 1979. Swayze showed off his dance moves and wrote and performed a song for the film’s soundtrack. And it spawned the line that probably will be mentioned in every article about Swayze: “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

Ghost

Just say Ghost and you might very well elicit nods and sighs from women all overt the world. As the murdered Sam Wheat struggling to find a way to communicate with his lover, Demi Moore, Swayze showed the vulnerable side that audiences embraced in Dirty Dancing. The bad boy side was nowhere to be seen. This was Swayze as sensitive romantic leading man. The film became a hit and won Oscars for its screenplay and Whoopi Goldberg for best supporting actress. It’s likely the sale of pottery wheels went up after people saw the scene of Swayze and Moore using the wheel for a bit of foreplay set to the background music of the Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody.And of course the word Ditto, took on a new romantic meaning.

To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar

Not many actors can don a dress, wig and makeup and somehow manage not to elicit guffaws. But Swayze did just that in To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar in 1995. Swayze seized upon the unique opportunity to go where few actors have successfully gone before. As drag Queen Vida Boheme he didn’t play the role with a wink. He committed himself to it and pulled it off with style. Not a small feat for an actor who was seen as about as thoroughly masculine as one can get. The story is he had to fight for the role and that Spielberg who produced the film didn’t recognize him when he saw Swayze’s screen test.

North and South

Sandwiched between his roles in 1983’s The Outsiders and 1984’s Red Dawn, there was a miniseries called “North and South” and “North and South Book 2”. Broadcast in 1985 and 1986, audiences met Patrick Swayze in the role of Confederate soldier Orry Main. The miniseries, adapted from the John Jakes novel followed Orry Main through the events leading up and through the Civil War.

Point Break

Swayze as Bodhi, surfer/bank robber. A member of the Ex-Presidents gang in the 1991 film Point Break. The film directed by Kathryn Bigalow follows FBI agent Johnny Utah, Keanu Reeves efforts to infiltrate the surfer gang. An action film follow up to the ultra romantic chick flick Ghost. Reeves sense of duty starts to falter the stronger his friendship with Bodhi becomes. A film that lets Swayze as Bodhi go out on that once in a lifetime monster wave. Seeing Bodhi riding out on the wave, the authorities in Australia are livid that Utah has let their man slip away. They tell Utah they’ll get Bodhi on his way back.

“He’s not coming back” is the simple reply.

Neither is Patrick Swayze, but that’s because in the movies, he will never really leave. Patrick Swayze had a remarkable eclectic career, often playing the tough guy with the soft heart. This is a guy who could be appealing as characters as diverse as dance instructor Johnny Castle, bouncer Dalton in Road House, surfer/bank robber Bohdi in Point Break to the sensitive Dr. Max Lowe in City of Joy.

Swayze worked up until the end of his life in the television series “The Beast”. His last film Powder Blue is scheduled for release this month. From his debut in 1979 in Skatetown USA to his last work and his fight against a terminal disease, I think we can all agree that nobody ever put Patrick Swayze in a corner.

The Deeper Meaning of The ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ Poster

Robin Ruinsky — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:56:02 +0000

The new poster for the Gerard Butler/Jamie Foxx thriller Law Abiding Citizen has appeared over at Cinematical. The poster depicts Foxx against a mottled gray to white background and Butler against blood red. Both actors look out from the poster, intense, focused and clearly on opposite sides in this story about murder, justice denied and revenge.

Are these just arresting images or visual metaphors or both? Butler against the blood red backdrop is obvious. His character is a man whose wife and child are brutalized and murdered in front of him. Left with what he sees as no choice he turns to violence to exact his revenge on the system and the people in it.

Foxx is trapped in a no man’s land of black, white and gray. He’s the cool rational cog in a legal system that doesn’t always serve up justice, but often settles for the expedient deal.

This looks like an interesting film filled with explosions not only from special effects, but from the two actors who go head to head. It’s a game of cat and mouse gone ballistic.

Law Abiding Citizen opens on October 16.

What do you think of the poster? Are you looking forward to the film?

Guillermo Del Toro: The Hobbit Will Not Be in 3D

Robin Ruinsky — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:18:17 +0000

3D Hobbit? Not so according to director Guillermo del Toro. Rumors have been flying that del Toro was planning to take Tolkien’s classic and turn it into a 3D Hobbit Experience.

A poll among “Hobbit” fans at TheOneRing.net produced a definite thumbs down to the 3D idea that was circulating. The posts in their forum are overwhelmingly opposed to the idea. 74% voted against the The Hobbit in 3D.

The website then asked the director if there were any truth to the rumors they were hearing about The Hobbit films in 3D. Here’s his reply:

“I can safely say that, as of this moment, there are absolutely NO conversations about doing the HOBBIT films in 3D.”

Now, I would say this should end the speculation except for one little detail about del Toro’s response. He said “as of this moment” which of course could unintentionally keep the speculation open for what could happen at a later moment. The response might turn down the heat on the rumor, but those four words could leave little embers still burning.

The first film is scheduled for release in 2011.

What do you Hobbit fans think? To 3D or not 3D? That is the question!

Karl Urban is the Villain in Priest

Robin Ruinsky — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:39:43 +0000

The on again off again film adaptation of Min-Yoo Hyung’s manga series Priest is on with Paul Bettany as the renegade Priest and Karl Urban newly added to the cast as the villain Black Hat. Urban was last seen as Bones in Star Trek.

The Screen Gems film has a post-apocalyptic setting. It features Bettany as a warrior Priest who is trying to save his kidnapped niece in a world where men and vampires collide. He’s aided in his quest by a vampire slayer Sheriff, Cam Gigandet and a warrior priestess, Maggie Q. Urban’s villainous character Black Hat is a priest turned Vampire who wants to be the god of the vampires.

The development of the film goes back a few years with Gerard Butler originally cast in the role of Priest.

This storyline has been written independently of the original TokyoPop “Priest” manga series which featured undead Priest Ivan Isaacs who started his life on the American frontier as a mortal man. I think Hyung’s storylines and array of villains are more interesting than what’s been described for this film incarnation.

The adaptation is by Cory Goodman. The film is produced by Michael De Luca and Star Road Entertainment’s Josh Donen and Mitchell Peek. Production begins next week in Los Angeles.

Priest will be directed by Scott Stewart who directed Bettany in his upcoming thriller Legion.

Anyone looking forward to Priest? Will Bettany’s Priest have a cross etched into his forehead as portrayed in the graphic novels or will producers shy away from that image?

Robert Redford Conspires to Direct Lincoln Assassination Movie

Robin Ruinsky — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:28:14 +0000

Robert Redford will take on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln when he directs The Conspirator. The film will explore the role of Mary Surratt in the assassination plot. Surratt ran the Washington D.C. boarding house where the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln was hatched. She was a sympathizer with the Confederate cause who would be tried, convicted and hanged for her role in the murder of Lincoln.

Surratt had the distinction of being the first woman executed by the federal government. She always claimed to be an innocent bystander who simply let the group of conspirators rent a room. The conspirators were of course led by actor turned assassin John Wilkes Booth.

The film hasn’t cast the role of Mary Surratt. Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Signorney Weaver, and just about any actress over forty is going to be vying for the role. James McAvoy’s name is coming up for a lead but no indication what role. Would he be Booth? I don’t think he’s a good fit for the dark brooding madman. Redford might want him for the role of Surratt’s Union defense attorney Frederick Aiken.

Aiken is described as believing in the innocence of his client. Does this mean a dramatic scene of Mary Surratt thanking her faithful attorney as she’s led sobbing after the verdict is read by the military tribunal that tried the alleged conspirators?

Greg Shapiro, Rob and Web Stone and Brian Peter Falk are producing the film which is supposed to shoot this fall. Bill Holderman is co-producing. CAA has packaged and is selling North American rights. James Solomon, (The Bronx is Burning) penned the screenplay.

This could be the year of Lincoln if the two other Lincoln related projects get off the ground. There’s another film about the assassination based on James Swanson’s “Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer” in development at HBO. Spielberg’s Lincoln starring Liam Neeson is still on the sidelines. It looks like Redford will get a jump on both these projects.

There’s a great deal of potential in this film. A dramatic moment in history, add in a great cast, script, direction and this could be an intense film about a moment in U.S. history no one should forget.

Do you want to see this film? Who would you cast as Mary Surratt and John Wilkes Booth?

Warner Bros. Assembes LEGO: The Motion Picture

Robin Ruinsky — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:40:32 +0000

Transformers, watch out. LEGO is going Hollywood. The Danish toymaker behind the snap together building blocks has given the go ahead to bring the toys to the big screen. Apparently Hollywood has tried for years to get LEGO to allow a film to be made based on the building set, but the company is very protective of its brand.

I guess this means no drugs, sex and rock and roll for LEGO.

Now the word is out that the company gave in to Warner Bros. who has had a licensing relationship with LEGO for years. Batman, Indiana Jones, Speed Racer, and Harry Potter have all been LEGOized.

A family friendly screenplay is being written by Dan and Kevin Hageman. The plot is top secret.

What kind of plot could there be? Are LEGOs taken over by an evil genius who rebuilds the Berlin Wall with the multi colored plastic blocks? Is the Great Wall of China replaced by LEGO blocks? Or will LEGO characters, using their building blocks save a stalled Space Shuttle by building a LEGO ladder to evacuate the astronauts?

LEGO has a no military policy which means they put their money where their values are turning away potentially huge profits. Of course that means it might be hard for LEGOs to save the world from an alien invader. Except, wait, you can use the blocks to build a weapon! Apparently many hobbyists do just that.

Back to LEGO the Movie. It remains to be seen just how you write for plastic building blocks and the little plastic LEGO people who inhabit the building block world.

I wonder what’s next. The word is Monopoly is slated for the big screen as is the scintillating Candy Land.

My prediction? Weebles are next to be immortalized on film. After all Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.

What toy would you like see make it to a theater near you?

Ridley Scott Takes on Brave New World

Robin Ruinsky — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:17:19 +0000

It is back to the future for director Ridley Scott, who is developing a film based on the 1931 Aldous Huxley classic “Brave New World”. The film will star Leonardo DiCaprio. The project is in the early stages with “Apocalypto” screenwriter Farhad Safinia working to adapt Huxley’s novel. Appian Way owns the rights to the novel and will produce along with DiCaprio and Scott.

The story takes place in the 26^th Century where families no longer exist and children are produced in laboratories designed to fit into a world that is divided into castes. The novel was referred to quite a bit when In vitro fertilization techniques first became viable. The concept of “test tube” babies has often been associated with Brave New World’s sterile baby making environments where human beings have been removed from the process of procreation.

Huxley’s Brave New World is a society patterned on the Ford Motor Company assembly line. The product is a homogenized society restricted to a population of two billion world wide. It’s a peaceful society with no purpose other than to consume goods. A world where the concepts of family, love and romance are considered obscene and a danger to the peaceful social order.

If the film stays true to the book it follows the story of Bernard Marx. Marx is from a lower caste and is considered a social outcast. Marx becomes infatuated with Lenina, a woman from a higher level caste and this infatuation and his desire to rise above his station cause a multitude of complications.

The book will be a challenge to adapt and I would hope they don’t take the easy way out by trying to turn it into a story of a forbidden romance. It’s far more complex than that and the world of “Brave New World” is about as unromantic as a story can get.

But I can see nervous studio executives pushing for a softer take and a happy ending. Can Ridley Scott pull it off? We’ll see if and when the project comes to fruition.

Anyone out there have an opinion about the film potential of “Brave New World”?

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