Showing posts with label screen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label screen. Show all posts

Monday, August 1, 2011

Madonna film to screen at Venice

28 July 2011 Last updated at 10:42 GMT Madonna Madonna previously directed the 2008 comedy romance Filth and Wisdom Madonna's film about King Edward VIII's romance with American divorcee Wallis Simpson will have its world premiere at this year's Venice Film Festival.

W.E, which the singer directed, screens out of competition at the event, which runs from 31 August to 10 September.

British actress Andrea Riseborough plays Mrs Simpson in the film, which contrasts her scandalous relationship with a contemporary romance.

In all, 21 titles will compete for the prestigious Golden Lion award.

The new film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - starring Gary Oldman as John le Carre's legendary spy George Smiley - features in the competition line-up.

It is joined by Andrea Arnold's new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Roman Polanski's new film Carnage, and Shame, the latest film from Turner Prize winner-turned-director Steve McQueen.

Other titles in contention include A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg's new film about the conflict between the psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender play Freud and Jung, while Keira Knightley plays a troubled patient who comes between them.

Fassbender also appears in Shame, a family drama about a wayward brother and sister in which he stars opposite Carey Mulligan.

Polanski's and Cronenberg's films are both based on plays, by Yasmina Reza (God of Carnage) and Christopher Hampton (The Talking Cure) respectively.

James Howson in Wuthering Heights Newcomer James Howson plays Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster appear in Carnage, about two sets of parents who come together after their children fight at school.

New works from Abel Ferrara, Exorcist director William Friedkin and 'indie' film-maker Todd Solondz further swell the diverse line-up.

As previously announced, this year's festival will open with The Ides of March, a political drama which Venice regular George Clooney directs, produces, co-writes and appears in - also in contention.

Actor Al Pacino will be honoured at the event, while Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky will chair the competition jury.

Pacino's film Wilde Salome - an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's notorious 1891 play - will receive an out of competition screening, as will Steven Soderbergh's virus-based thriller Contagion.

The festival will close with Damsels in Distress, the latest feature from US film-maker Whit Stillman - his first film as writer-director since 1998's The Last Days of Disco.

The festival in Venice, together with the Toronto Film Festival - which runs concurrently - are often used as launch-pads for films hoping to triumph during the forthcoming awards season.

Last year's festivities saw Sofia Coppola - daughter of US film-maker Francis - receive the Golden Lion for her semi-autobiographical drama Somewhere.


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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Schwarzenegger will be back on the big screen

13 July 2011 Last updated at 08:18 GMT Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Schwarzenegger had a cameo role in last year's The Expendables Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is to make his return as a Hollywood leading man in Western movie The Last Stand.

Studio Lionsgate said the 63-year-old would "bring incredible magnetism" to the role of a border-town sheriff who battles with a drug lord.

The Last Stand will be Schwarzenegger's first major film role since 2003's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

The actor, who left office in January, had a cameo in 2010's The Expendables.

Lionsgate president Joe Drake said Schwarzenegger "electrified the audience" in The Expendables, in which he appeared alongside fellow action veteran Sylvester Stallone.

"In this film, the Sheriff Owens character grapples with some really tough stuff but ultimately triumphs and we knew he'd truly elevate this high-octane ride," he added.

No release date has been announced for the film, which will be directed by South Kora's Kim Jee-woon.

'Personal matters'

Earlier this month, Maria Shriver - Schwarzenegger's wife of 25 years - filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences.

The couple, who have four children together, separated in May after he admitted fathering a child with a member of their household staff.

At the time he said he would delay all his future film projects and would be "focusing on personal matters".

Those projects included the thriller Cry Macho, the Terminator franchise and "other projects under consideration", his office said in a statement.

Production on animated TV series The Governator, which was to have depicted Schwarzenegger as a family man living a double life as a superhero, has also been halted.

The one-time champion bodybuilder enjoyed a string of hits in the 1980s and '90s before his election to political office in 2003.


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