Vanessa Redgrave will star in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood movie as Queen Eleanor of Aquitane

In an official statement, Universal said that Vanessa Redgrave, Oscar Issac, and Lea Seydoux have joined the cast. Vanessa will play the role of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of King John, Oscar Issacs will be King John, and Lea Sedoux will play French princess Isabella.

Lea Seydoux will play Princess Isabella in Ridley Scott's upcoming Robin Hood movie

Then titled Nottingham, the Robin Hood movie was first announced in June 2008. The movie, written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, was said to be a spin-off of the original story, told from the point of view of the Sherrif of Nottingham.

Russell Crowe was to play the Sheriff of Nottingham, Christian Bale was in talks to play Robin Hood, and Sienna Miller was to play Maid Marian.

The Robin Hood movie will now be a conventional retelling of the story. The script has now been rewritten by Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris, and Brian Helgeland (co-writer of LA Confidential).

The full cast of the movie now is:

1) Robin Hood: Russell Crowe
2) Maid Marian: Kate Blanchett
3) Queen Eleanor of Aquitane: Vanessa Redgrave
4) King John: Oscar Issac
5) Little John: Kevin Durand
6) Sir Godfrey: Mark Strong
7) Princess Isabella: Lea Seydoux
Will Scarlet: Scot Grimes
9) Allan Adayle: Alan Doyle

Russell Crowe will now play Robin Hood in Ridley Scott's movie

Robin of Loxley, a brilliant archer, sympathizer of the poor, and supporter of King Richard the Lionheart, is driven out by the malevolent King John, brother of Richard. When Richard dies, Robin moves to the village of Nottingham that is laboring under the burden of high taxation and a tyrannical sheriff.

Robin falls in love with Lady Marian, who does not quite warm up to his outlaw ways. Robin sets up his own band of outlaws to take on the sherrif, save the town, and win the hand of the fair Maid Marian.

The Robin Hood movie will go into production in April 2009 on a budget of $130 million.

The legend of Robin Hood has fascinated filmmakers for a long time. The first Robin Hood movie, titled  The Adventures of Robin Hood, was made in 1938, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland as Robin hood and Maid Marian.

In 1991, came the Kevin Costner -  Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio hit, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner, followed by the satirical Robin Hood: Men in Tights, in 1993.

Russell Crowe has starred in many Ridley Scott movies like Gladiator, American Gangster, A Good Year, and the recent Body of Lies.

Cate Blanchett was last seen in the 2008 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Tarun Mansukhani, writer and director of Dostana, is said to be working on a script for Dostana 2.

Priyanka Chopra in Dostana

If that is the case, then this time around there will be no Priyanka Chopra, considering she faded into the sunset with Bobby Deol.

Apparently, in Dostana 2, the Abhishek Bachchan-John Abraham duo go to Punjab from Miami, and have a hard time convincing people that, guess what, they are not gay.

Unfortunately, they land in situations that make it difficult for anyone to believe they are straight.

To me, its stretching a few laughs into a script that will inevitably be wafer-thin. As it is, Dostana was a stretched version of the Kantabai scenes with Shahrukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan from Kal Ho Na Ho.

John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan in Still from Dostana

Dostana, produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions was one of 2008’s big hits. The movie, definitely, albeit loosely, inspired by I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, is about two men Sameer (Abhishek Bachchan and Kunal (John Abraham) who are desperately looking for a place to rent.

They zero in on an apartment but are turned down because the owner of the house is a young girl Neha (Priyanka Chopra) who does not want young men as tenants.

John Abraham in Dostana

Sameer and Kunal then pretend to be gay, so they can rent the apartment, but soon enough fall in love with Neha.

But, they cannot express their feelings because they are ostensibly in love with each other. Meanwhile, Neha is very attracted to her boss Abhimanyu (Bobby Deol) who is interested as well.

Feeling threatened, Sameer and Kunal set out to break the fledgling relationship between Neha and Abhimanyu.

Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant's Woman

BBC is in talks with a prominent Hollywood studio to adapt the movie into four one-hour episodes. Some reports say that MGM co-president of worldwide television distribution, Gary Marenzi, has said: “We have just got another draft of the script. Now we’ll start to look at casting and where to shoot, it could start later this year.”

If the four-episode miniseries on The French Lieutenant’s Woman is made, it would be the first adaptation of the novel since the 1981 film.

The The French Lieutenant’s Woman miniseries is likely to be shot in America. The French Lieutenant’s Woman movie, starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, was shot in Lyme Regis in Dorset where the story is set, after the Napoleonic Wars. The movie also stars Hilton McRae, David Warner, Penelope Wilton, and Leo McKern.

John Fowles, author of The French Lieutenant's Woman

John Fowles book, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, was published in 1969.

The book is about Sarah Woodruff who lives a solitary life in the seaside town of Lyme Regis, and is called The French Lieutenant Whore, because she had a short  affair with Varguennes, a French sailor. Varguennes goes back to France to a wife, leaving Sarah behind, who is not even aware that Varguennes is married.

While Sarah spends her time near the sea in Lyme Regis, she meets Charles Smithson and his fiance Ernestina Freeman. Sarah tells Charles her story and they  become close. John Fowles explores three different endings in the book, revolving around Sarah and Charles.

Fowles died in 2005. His other works include The Collector and The Magus.

The movie was directed by Karel Reisz and adapted by playwright Harold Pinter. The French Lieutenant’s Woman was nominated for five Oscars in the categories of Best Actress in a Leading Role (Meryl Streep), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Assheton Gorton, Ann Mollo), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Meryl Streep won the Bafta award and the Golden Globe for Best Actress for the movie.

Photo: Shahrukh Khan in Don - The Chase Begins Again

The movie will go into production in January 2010, and will be released in end-2010 or early 2011.

Don 2 – The Chase Continues will be shot entirely in Berlin and Ireland.

Earlier, Excel Entertainment had deferred the making of Don 2 – The Chase Continues when reports surfaced that the Irani brothers, Nadeem and Nasir, sons of the producers of the original Don (1975) starring Amitabh Bachchan, were going to make a sequel of the classic hit.

Also the cast for Don 2 – The Chase Continues had yet to be frozen. While Boman Irani, Shahrukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, and Ishaa Koppikar were all in, Priyanka Chopra was taken on board only recently.

This was compounded by Shahrukh Khan’s shoulder injury. Shahrukh planned to undergo surgery after the release of Billu Barber. Given the delays, Farhan Akhtar focused on shooting for Kartik Calling Kartik and planned to make a mature love story next, instead of Don 2 – The Chase Continue.

But since there has been no development on the sequel to the original Don with Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar has decided to go ahead with the production of Don 2 – The Chase Continues.

Don - The Chase Begins Again poster

Don 2 – The Chase Continues will take off from where Don – The Chase Begins Again, ended. At the end of Don – The Chase Begins Again, it is revealed that Vijay, the police informer, who is planted in Don’s gang to bring it down, is dead, and it is the real gangster Don who is playing the police and Roma (Priyanka Chopra), the woman who wants revenge, alike.

Don – The Chase Begins Again was directed by Farhan Akthar at a budget of Rs 350 crores. The screenplay was written by Farhan Akhtar using the original story, dialogues, and script by Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar.

The music score of Don – The Chase Begins Again was provided by Shankar, Ehsaan, and Loy.

Don 2 – The Chase Continues will be written and directed by Farhan Akhtar, and the music will be provided by Shankar, Ehsaan, and Loy.

DevD movie poster photo

It would be interesting to see what kind of a spin, Deol and writer-director Anurag Kashyap (Black Friday, No Smoking) will give to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya’s Devdas. Anurag Kashay is remaking Devdas, as DevD, set in contemporary India.

Bollywood has seen two adaptions of Devdas so far, Bimal Roy’s Devdas (1955) starring Dilip Kumar, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas, starring Shahrukh Khan. The first was a straightforward adaptation of the novel, the second was a laborious adaption with nothing new to offer, on the whole.

Mahi Gill and Abhay Deol in DevD

Interesting enough, Shahrukh Khan did manage to portray the other facets of Devdas‘ character – his self-indulgence, confusion, and self-flagellation – that went beyond the conventional portrayal of Devdas, which glorifies him as a man who loved too much.

Abhay Deol seems to have a good understanding of the character as well. In his interviews, he has described Devdas as a spoilt, sulky brat, indulging his obsession and addictions. So its not just about love lost. Anurag Kashyap has written in his blog that, “It’s the story of the outcasts. People we give up on, because they are stubborn, because they refuse to conform and they don’t listen. They want to take their time figuring the rights from wrongs and in the process discover themselves. Like I always said, DevD is the story of self realization, self discovery, self destruction being one of the routes to it or the result of it.”

Kalki Koechlin as Chanda in DevD

This I think is a very good interpretation of the book. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya’s characters be it Devdas or Srikanta are people who are essentially bloody-minded and contrary. They are smart enough to know what is wrong with existing societal norms but are too confused about how to deal with it.

In Srikanta, Abhaya, one of the women in Srikant’s life who has a big influence on him says, “You think one thing, say one thing, and do another.” Sarat Chandra’s characters are people dissatisfied with the curent state of affairs but do not know who they are and what they want.

Kalki Koechlin as Leni in DevD

In DevD, Chandramukhi is a young student Leni (Kalki Koechlin) who is thrown out by her family after an MMS scandal in school. Leni stays with a pimp Chunni and is Chanda by night, a professional escort, while during the day she is Leni, a student.

DevD has 18 tracks, an eclectic mix of genres, very engaging.

DevD stars Abhay Deol, Mahi Gill as Paro, and Kalki Koechlin as Chanda. DevD has been written and directed by Anurag Kashyap.

Picture: Scarlett Johansson goes nude in He's Just Not That Into You

In the movie, Scarlett Johansson is spotted skinny-dipping in a pool to seduce Bradley Cooper who plays a married man.

He’s Just Not That Into You is based on a self-help bestseller by the same name, written by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo.

The movie revolves around commitment and relationship messes that young people frequently find themselves in. In the movie there is Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) who is abyssmal at gauging the level of interest men have in her. Neil (Ben Affleck) and Beth (Jennifer Aniston) have lived in for many years, yet Neil gets cold feet when it comes to marriage.

Unhappy marrieds Janine (Jennifer Connelly) and Ben (Bradley Cooper) are trying to work through marriage issues, when Ben meets Anna (Scarlett Johansson) and falls for her. Who can blame him? A nude Scarlett Johansson frolicking in a pool; the poor bugger doesn’t have a hope in hell.

Scarlett Johansson naked in a pool in He's Just Not That Into You

Anna, on the other hand, has a boyfriend Connor (Kevin Connolly), she is not really into, but he is into her, alright.

I don’t if the nude avatar is a wise idea of Scarlett Johansson – most actresses who have appeared in the buff in the movies have been seriously stereotyped. Sharon Stone, Jessica Biel, Bo Derek, Salma Hayek, Natalie Portman, Halle Berry, and Carmen Electra.

But then, since this seems to be a light-hearted role, Scarlett might escape from being tarred by the same brush. We, at any rate, are not complaining.

Jennifer Aniston, on the other hand, is just not into the title of the movie. She is reported to have said that it the title would have been more empowering if it was She’s Just Not That Into You. True Enough.

She has been quoted as saying, “I never liked Sex and the City, the kind of thing where women only feel empowered once they find “The Man.”

He’s Just Not That Into You is being produced by Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films and directed by Ken Kwapis.

The complete star cast includes Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long, Jennifer Connelly, Ginnifer Goodwin, Kevin Connolly, and Bradley Cooper.

He’s Just Not That Into You will be released on February 6, 2009.

Scarlett Johansson will be next seen in The Spirit.

Johnny Depp Alice in Wonderland photo

The Johnny Depp photos show him clad in Victorian clothes, with a pale white face, shadowed eyes, and a hat with some kind of feathers stuck in it. He is seen clutching a rabbit to his chest and has a bandaged left
thumb.

The image is definitely that of Johnny Depp but seems more like an illustration.

Cinematical has said that it is likely that either the Alice in Wonderland photo is a fake or its a concept picture or painting that may be present in the background.

I would go with Cinematical on this. It is very likely that a good illustrator has pulled a fast one on everyone.

The Johnny Depp fansite, johnny-depp.org, though, has taken off the photo from its site.

A message on the site says, “The new Photo of Johnny from the Set of Alice (the new Tim Burton, Disney Film) was released to this site through an insider on the set. After the posting took place with that persons
permission, a call was made asking us to in good faith pull down the photo. Out of respect for Johnny, Mr.
Burton and Disney alike; we have agreed to do this. The image was leaked off the set without permission and we were unaware of this fact. No one is to blame for the leak, but at JDorg we will respect the wishes of the film company individuals.”

Right! Since when do insiders “release” – a respectable word for leak – photos of a movie from the sets with
permission?

Mia Wasikowaska on the sets of Alice in Wonderland

The first photos of Alice came out when, in September 2008, Cinematical posted spy photos, from INF, of Mia Wasikowaska, from the sets of Alice in Wonderland.

Mia Wasikowaska as Alice in Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is in production right now and is set to be released on March 5, 2010.

The movie stars Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee will be played by Matt Lucas who stars in the sketch comedy series Little Britain USA.

Beowolf actor Crispin Glover will play the Knave of Hearts, in Alice in Wonderland.

Previously, Mia Wasikowaska has appeared in HBO’s In Treatment.

Alice in Wonderland is said to be a mix of performance-capture CGI in 3-D and live action.

Alice in Wonderland has been scripted by Linda Woolverton, the writer of The Lion King, Homeward Bound,
and the 1991 Beauty and the Beast.

Tim Burton is the acclaimed director of the recent The Dark Knight, Batman, and Batman Returns. He has
directed Johnny Depp, previously, in Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and
Sweeney Todd: The Demon of Barber Street.

Johnny Depp will be next seen in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Shantaram, and Public Enemies in 2009.

He is also slated to play Tonto in The Lone Stranger, and star in The Pirates of the Caribbean 4. The Lone Ranger will be released in 2012.

Disney's The Beauty and the Beast

The first of the Disney IMAX movies will be A Christmas Carol, that will be released during the holiday season, in 2009. A Christmas Carol will be directed by Robert Zemeckis, director of The Polar Express. The movie will star Jim Carrey as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. Colin Firth will play his nephew and Gary Oldman will play Scrooge’s loyal clerk.

Disney has not said what the other four IMAX movies will be, but the movies are expected to have directors like Tim Burton attached to them.

Meanwhile, Disney has already begun re-rendering Beauty and the Beast in 3D, which will take nine months to complete.

The 3D version will be released in 2010.

The original team of The Beauty and the Beast (1991) – producer Don Hahn, and directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale – will work on the movie, along with Sara Duran-Singer, senior vice president of Worldwide Post Production, who will head the technical expert team.

The Beauty and the Best was a huge hit at the box office and was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It won the Oscar for Best Song and Best Original Score.

The movie won the Golden Globe award in the Best Comedy/Musical category.

Disney plans to release 11 3D films, including Beauty and the Beast, by 2010. One of these is the Jonas Brothers 3D Concert movie that will be released in February 2009. The movie will have Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift as guest stars who perform a song with the band.

Next on its slate is Disney Pixar’s UP that will be released in May 2009. This quirky movie is directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, and written by Bob Peterson.

Disney will also release G-Force in July 2009. The movie will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Holy Yeatman. G-Force revolves around guinea pigs who are trained to take on a billionaire set to take over the world. Actors Nicholas Cage, Bill Nighy, Penelope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, Kelli Garner will lend their voices to the movie.

Disney will also release Disney-Pixar’s 3D version of Toy Story 2, 3D Toy Story 3, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Rapunzel, and Step Up 3D, in 2010.

Disney’s 3D flick Bolt will be released in November-end 2008.

Both Disney and IMAX need the deal to pull in more moviegoers to the theatres. Disney has been in overdrive with its  3D flicks as they are perfect for cinema viewing. IMAX too needs more 3D movies to keep going.

Other studios like Dreamworks and 20th Century Fox are also excited over the medium. Although 3D movies can shown only on 1400 screens in the US, studios are optimistic that 3D is the medium of the future.

Original High and Low poster

The remake will be directed by Mike Nichols and the movie will be scripted by David Mamet. High and Low will be produced by Scot Rudin and co-produced by Scorsese.

Kurosawa’s High and Low was loosely based on a novel by Ed McBain.

High and Low revolves around Kingo Gondo, an executive who mortgages all he owns to raise money for a the takeover of a company that he thinks he can turn around.

When Gondo’s son is kidnapped, he is prepared to pay the ransom, but he faces a moral dilemma when he finds out that his driver’s son has been kidnapped by mistake, instead of his son.

Should he rescue the boy or use the money for the deal on which he has staked everything?

Akiro Kurosawa's High and Low poster

High and Low is also a fascinating thriller, as a cop hunts down the kidnapper.

High and Low has been on Scorsese’s drawing board since 1999.

Should he touch a masterpiece like High and Low, or rather can the movie be adapted to recent times? And even if it can’t, does it matter? If one doesn’t take it all too seriously, this would be an interesting movie to watch, depending on the casting, of course.

So who is it going to be? Leo, because Scorsese loves Leo? For me, it’s Leo, Leo, Leo because the guy can act and I can easily imagine him as someone who is conflicted over the moralities of a situation.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese

Maybe, I am biased but I can’t think of anyone else, except maybe Denzel Washington, Daniel Day-Lewis
or Guy Pierce, for the lead role. As for the cop, I would like to see Don Cheadle as the one who hunts down the kidnapper.

Superman remake as a superhero with dark shades

Considering the last Superman movie, Superman Returns, was as flat and unidimensional as they come, a more flesh-and-blood characterisation would be welcome, provided the potrayal of “darkness” does not degenerate into a sob story a la Spiderman 3 where one is disgusted at the sight of a sniveling Spiderman. As a Spiderman fan, I clearly remember him as a sarcastic, sometimes flippant character operating with wits as much as muscle. Does trying to understand how superheroes are made and what defines their personalities mean martyrish soliloquies?

Do we want to see a picture featuring a weepy Superman? Or an angsty one?

The other point I want to make is why does the plumbing of a character necessarily mean that it would be dark? Do superheroes have to be angsty to turn into beings with great power and responsibility? I would love to see a movie that presents Superman as a person, not a cardboard character. What shapes Superman’s morality? How does Superman reconcile it with the unconscious destruction his immense strength can cause? I don’t think Superman has too much angst about that in the first place. I don’t think he even realises it.

Yes, Superman loses his home in Krypton and his father, and is lonely on earth despite having a wife and family because he is different. How on earth are there going to present this as dark? I can understand that Spiderman has reason to be angsty (Spiderman 3 still sucks) and  Batman has issues to resolves, but Superman? On the main, Superman is a good boy. He is a pretty upbeat dude. Superman does not waste too much time being sorry for himself. If there is work to be to be done, dark or not, he does it. Sorted!

I am not saying that there cannot be a realistic, gritty interpretation of the comic; heaven knows, Superman Returns could have done with some reality and less special effects that go nowhere.

Superman does have many characters that can be explored, some dark, some grey, but to decide it’s going to be a dark, broody take just because The Dark Knight, and before that Batman Begins, works is just formulaic cinema.