There are some names that you hire when you’re trying to get an Oscar or two on the shelf. Peter Morgan is one of them. The screenwriter has worked almost entirely in prestige films and almost primarily in real-life figure – from The Queen to The Last King of Scotland to Frost/Nixon. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he’s close to writing about “Playboy” founder Hugh Hefner. The research process will probably be staggering. That means producer Jerry Weintraub and Warners are serious about making this one award-worthy. Without a doubt, the nudity will be tasteful.    

More than anyone else other than probably Nic Cage, later career Anthony Hopkins seems to choose roles based on what would be the most fun to goof around with. Just recently he’s been a growling old werewolf, a demon plagued exorcist, and an all-powerful Asgardian God. For a veteran of the film world like Hopkins, who really has nothing left to prove, why not just have fun and be hammy? I love watching this guy tear into some cheese. And according to The Wrap, it looks like we’re going to be getting some more of Hopkins making goofy faces and silly noises real soon, because he’s just signed on to star in Solace, a film about a doctor who uses psychic powers to help hunt down a murderer. That sounds like fun, and seeing as the script has been written by Peter Morgan, who is best known for writing hard-hitting stuff like The Last King of Scotland and Frost/Nixon, this time we might even get some real drama to go along with our one man Anthony Hopkins circus show. The project has yet to lock down a director, but with a script from a writer with a proven track record and a big name actor attached, that shouldn’t take too long to make happen. Just as long as they choose somebody willing to let Hopkins be Hopkins, I’ll be happy. Someday somebody has to get him and Cage together for some sort of father/son project. I’m dying to see who

The sort of movie for which the critical cliché “tone poem” was invented, Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter evokes an eerie serenity in the face of death. With three interlocking storylines centered on our awareness, perceptions and ultimate acceptance of the afterlife, on what the notion that you start dying the moment you’re born really means, the picture ought to cast a particular, carefully controlled spell. Yet Eastwood, an adept handler of “meat-and-potatoes” narratives and more naked emotions, fails to transform the precise, melancholic sensibility at the heart of Peter Morgan’s screenplay into an affecting cinematic experience. Long-winded, ponderous and without much in the way of compelling drama, Hereafter sputters across three countries, filled with haunting imagery but never offering the visceral, subtle transcendence of a film by a more adept chronicler of spiritual sensations.

HBO has released the first trailer for the upcoming telemovie The Special Relationship, the story of the unique and sometimes turbulent political relationship between newly-installed British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President Bill Clinton as the two dynamic leaders become co-stars on the world stage.”

As we reported some time ago, Dennis Quaid (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) was cast in the upcoming HBO film The Special Relationship as President Bill Clinton. This is what he looks like.

James Bond may be heading to the most dangerous place of all… the suburbs.

After a reboot and a successful sequel, could Daniel Craig’s Bond finally come face to face with one of the most famous villains? And could that villain be played by Tony Blair?

Questioning why we’re still on the air? So are we. We think it has something to do with this letter we got in the mail citing “gross negligence” and telling us to “desist.” We love desisting!

Peter Morgan, the writer behind Frost/Nixon and several other political dramas, will be joining the team of Purvis and Wade to craft the next installment of 007.

I seem to remember signing something that guaranteed that we wouldn’t have to hear about the Clintons after the election. Does anyone else remember that?

I don’t see the point when every aspect of Frost/Nixon is excellent, from Ron Howard’s direction to Salvatore Totino’s cinematography to Peter Morgan’s stirring screenplay.