They say only about 10 percent of working actors become movie stars, and the studio execs coming up with the major movies roles don’t have a creative bone among them. When you combine these two facts, you get my weekly Role Call. Here’s the skinny on who’s doing what–in all its good, bad and very ugly glory.
Bullock may see the future
And from the sounds of it, it isn’t pretty. Sandra Bullock is in negotiations to star in Premonition, playing a housewife whose husband dies in a car crash and is shocked when he appears alive the next day. Yikes. I guess from the title we are to surmise she sees the death in the future but is that all there is to it? I wonder. Bullock‘s got a full plate these days. She earned critical acclaim for her turn as a high-maintenance housewife in Paul Haggis‘ indie hit Crash earlier this year, got married to Monster Garage star Jesse James and will star in upcoming films Il Mare, with Keanu Reeves, and the ensemble Truman Capote drama Have You Heard?, playing famed novelist Harper Lee. Sandy’s living life large.
Carell takes on the Almighty
Bruce Almighty gets a sequel. Why, is anyone’s guess (see my opening paragraph), but apparently Steve Carrell has been corralled into doing it. Called Evan Almighty, Carrell will reprise his role as the snarky TV news anchorman Bruce (Jim Carrey) hilariously tormented in the original. God basically asks Carrell‘s character to build an ark in preparation for a great flood. Carrey and Jennifer Aniston won’t return for the sequel, but Morgan Freeman is expected to reprise his role as God. I guess if Carrell can pull off a 40 Year-Old Virgin, he can play Noah.
Portman is a bit inquisitive
Natalie Portman will join actors Javier Bardem and Stellan Skarsgard and go back in time to one of history’s most gruesome eras–the Spanish Inquisition. Goya’s Ghost focuses on the last years of the Spanish Inquisition, when the Christian Church tortured and executed suspected Jews. Skarsgard is set to play Goya, while Portman is slated to play Goya’s muse Ines, who is falsely accused of heresy. Bardem will play sinister monk Brother Lorenzo. What fun! I’m sorry, this just sort of reminds me of that old Monty Python routine. I mean, wouldn’t it be funny if someone in the movie said, “I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition…?” only to have three cardinals in red robes burst in the room declaring, “NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!” OK, OK, I know, it’s suppose to be serious.
Crowe is having a Good Year
Actually, not really. I’d say Russell Crowe has been having a so-so year. His critically acclaimed movie Cinderella Man unfortunately didn’t do so hot domestically at the box office, and his anger management issues took a turn for the worse when he threw a phone at a hotel employee. But no matter. He’s still a consummate actor and is now set to star opposite French actress Marion Cotillard (A Very Long Engagement) in the French romance A Good Year, directed by Ridley Scott. Based on the novel by Peter Mayle, the film is about a failed London banker (Crowe), who moves to Provence to tend a vineyard he inherited from his uncle (Albert Finney). There he encounters Cotillard‘s character, a beautiful California woman who says she is a long-lost cousin and lays claim to the property. Ah, how very Under the Tuscan Sun meets Manon of the Spring. But what is sort of amazing to me is the talent involved–Scott, Crowe, Finney, a French actress playing an American? Eclectic.
Estevez gets Bobby up and running
Emilio Estevez is set to direct Bobby, a passion project about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, with Demi Moore and Anthony Hopkins in negotiations to join the cast. Yes, I’m talking about the very same Emilio Estevez who was part of the ’80s Brat Pack and lead the Mighty Ducks to several wins–but really hasn’t done a whole lot since. Part fact and part fiction, the ensemble Bobby chronicles the intertwining lives of a grand cast of characters, all of whom are present at Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel in the hours leading up to Kennedy’s assassination. Hopkins will be the hotel’s doorman, and Moore will portray a lounge singer. The movie hopes to touch upon racial stereotypes, class differences and sexual inequality in its story lines. “My intention with ‘Bobby’ is not to make a political picture, although the 1968 California primary figures prominently in the story,” Estevez told the Hollywood Reporter. “The film is about being at critical mass–critical mass in relationships or between race, and the hotel and the characters under its roof serve as a microcosm for what was happening in the country during that time. The entire country was experiencing critical mass. Culturally, we all unraveled after that tragic night on June 5. And now, 37 years later, our country has reached critical mass once again.” With the real Ambassador now closed for demolition, the production hopes to re-create the historic hotel on soundstages and possibly use the Biltmore Hotel as a location, according to the Hollywood Reporter. This sounds entirely intriguing. Good for Emilio.
Cooper, Phillippe head towards the Breach
Academy Award winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation) and Ryan Phillippe will star in Breach, an espionage thriller based on recent true events. The story centers on aspiring FBI agent Eric O’Neill (Phillippe), who is handpicked to work for renowned operative Robert Hanssen (Cooper) in a new division created to protect all classified FBI intelligence. The young trainee develops a growing respect for the arrogant uber-agent, only to find that his mentor might be the nation’s most dangerous security risk. Of course, he’s dangerous. It wouldn’t be a movie if he wasn’t. Cooper should really talk to Al Pacino, though, and get some helpful hints. Sounds like Cooper is playing the same type character Pacino played in The Recruit.
Mitchell, Considine go PU
Radha Mitchell (Melinda and Melinda) and Paddy Considine (In America) have signed up to star in PU-239, a black comedy that will shoot in Romania in the fall. The story follows a nuclear facility technician (Considine) who, after an accident, travels to Moscow with his wife (Mitchell) in search of work and finds his life intersecting with that of a Russian gangster. PU-239 is the atomic number for plutonium, by the way. A black comedy? Are we to take that literally?
Until next week…
