BrianDennehy Tagged Articles at Cinematical

At the age of 71, Brian Dennehy is gearing up for his cinematic directorial debut. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the actor, who started off in an episode of Kojak in 1977, is going to helm Redemption -- a fact-based drama being financed by Harbourton Entertainment, from a script he wrote with Joe Seldner.

It's a pretty wild story. Back in 1980, a woman named Joyce Ann Brown hears that the police are looking for her in connection with a murder and robbery. Being innocent and having an alibi, she went to straighten things out, was arrested, found guilty despite a lot of proof to the opposite, and spent nine years in prison before she was finally freed of the charges. (The story will also focus on Jim McCloskey, director of a group that fights for the freedom of innocent prisoners, and how he helped gain her release.)

If you look at the nominations Dennehy has received over the years, he gets a lot of love for his courtroom pieces, so hopefully this will fall into the same vein. But let's also hope he doesn't absorb the theme too much. If you remember, he did play a crazed Vietnam vet in First Blood, and has spent many years telling false stories about a completely concocted stint in Vietnam. I wonder if he tells any crazy court stories...

First we heard that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino would be teaming up (for the first time since Heat) on a crime thriller called Righteous Kill. And we were intrigued. Then came news that Carla Gugino was also on board. And then we got really excited. Now comes word that a few more names have joined the Jon Avnet film ... most of 'em pretty cool, too.

According to a press release over at ComingSoon.net, the Righteous cast will also include Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Dan Futterman, Trilby Glover (yowza), and professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek. Written by Inside Man scribe Russell Gewirtz, Righteous Kill is about two veteran detectives who aim to track down a vigilante killer in New York City.

The press release indicates that Leguizamo and Dennehy will play cops; Futterman and Glover will be lawyers; and Dyrdek will be a punk kid who somehow figures into the story. Production on Righteous Kill gets underway this week in Connecticut and New York. Expect more reports soon.

After months of rumors (the best of which involved Ray Romano and, I believe, Brad Pitt, which appeared briefly on the movie's wikipedia page), Coming Soon has managed to track down the official cast for Pixar's next film, Ratatouille. For those of you who missed the wonderful teaser, the movie is about Remy, a Parisian rat who, quite reasonably, dreams of being a great chef. What with him being a rat and everything, his foodie impulses are not welcomed by his family, particularly when he uproots the lot of them and moves them to Paris, where they take up residence in "a Parisian restaurant made famous by an eccentric French chef."

It has now been confirmed that Remy will be voiced by Patton Oswalt, and the chef by Brad Garrett (look, it's a fiesta of actors from sitcoms built around comedians!). Also appearing in as-yet unrevealed roles will be Brian Dennehy, Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm and Pixar good luck charm, John Ratzenberger.

The film, which is being directed by Brad Bird and will inevitably be perfect, is due out in June of 2007.

[via Upcoming Pixar]