It might just be me, but Viggo Mortensen always struck me as the kind of actor who was just better suited for dark and heavy material. I'm sure he's nowhere near that tortured in his day-to-day life, but for me, the man is built for drama. MTV Movies Blog spoke with the actor about his latest collaboration with Canadian director David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises, (you can catch James' TIFF interview with the director here) and Mortensen clued them in to what his next role might be. He tells MTV that he's close to signing to star in the film version of the Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. According to the actor, "They're going to make a movie of that and the people making [it] have expressed interest [in me]. Visually, it's going to be a very beautiful movie. It's a very good story". News of the adaptation surfaced last November, when Nick Wechsler purchased the rights to the novel and hired The Proposition's John Hillcoat to presumably direct.

The novel centers on a father and son who are survivors of a "doomsday" scenario, traveling towards the coast while battling other survivors who have turned cannibal. Released in 2006, the book was an Oprah book club selection (but try not to hold that against it) and spent some time on the best-seller list. Back in April Joe Penhall was hired to adapt the book, which will the be the latest in a series of adaptations of the authors work with The Coen's No Country for Old Men, followed by Ridley Scott's Blood Meridian in 2009. Having read the book, I can speak from experience that it's a harrowing story that does a spectacular job of showing you the nobility and the depravity we are all capable of in the name of survival. Mortensen is still working on the period drama Good, and will also appear in the Ed Harris Western drama, Appaloosa. So while nothing is official, I would assume that if Mortensen is already spilling the beans to MTV, then it would seem all that's left to do is sign on the dotted line.

A potentially compelling film noir story delivered in an irritatingly bright and overzealous package, Cleaner has two very excellent things going for it -- and their names are Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris. If you're a serious fan of either actor (and if you're not, you should be), then you'll definitely want to rent Cleaner once it (eventually) pops up in your local theater video store. Beyond the contributions from Jackson and Harris, however, there's very little worth talking about where Cleaner is concerned.

We start off with a potentially juicy concept: Sam Jackson plays a 'hazardous waste cleaner' who gets framed for a murder he (probably) didn't commit. And when I say 'hazardous waste cleaner' I mean that this is the guy who'd come to your house to eliminate the gore if someone happened to have their brains blown out in your living room. So things look pretty promising at the outset: We've got a great actor playing a strange role and doing a fine job of it -- and then the plot kicks in.

Seems that our "cleaner" has just cleaned up a murder that the police know nothing about. And even if they DID have a clue, they'd probably be thrilled about it because the victim was a stool pigeon who was about to blow the lid off some serious police corruption charges. So when Cleaner guy realizes that he forgot to return the house key, he's distressed to learn that The Wife (Eva Mendes) knows nothing about any bloodshed in her living room. But, oddly enough, her husband has just gone missing. (dun dun dunnnnn)

Variety is reporting that Ed Harris will make his return to the director's chair with Appaloosa, a western he will star in with Viggo Mortensen and Renee Zellweger. The film starts filming in New Mexico on October 1st. This must be a real passion project for Harris, in addition to acting and directing, he's co-producing the film and co-wrote the script with Robert Knott. The story is an adaptation of Robert B. Parker's novel of the same name, and is "centered on a pair of friends hired to protect a lawless town suffering at the hands of a renegade rancher." But...wait for it..."the arrival of an attractive widow disrupts their plans." Harris will play Virgil Cole, the new marshal of the mining and ranching town of Appaloosa. Mortensen plays his deputy, Everett Hitch. Together they take on the corrupt rancher who ordered the previous marshal and deputy killed. No word on who will play the corrupt rancher, but let me suggest Rip Taylor?

This will be Harris' second time directing a feature. His first was the pretty solid Pollock, in which he directed Marcia Gay Harden to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and himself to a Best Actor nomination. Harris and Mortensen were great together in the excellent A History of Violence, and I do love westerns, but I would be a lot more excited about this project if it weren't for Zellweger. Diane Lane originally had the role of the "attractive widow," and that's a choice I'd be much happier about. It's just a matter of taste, but Zellweger's acting drives me insane. And I particularly can't stand her in period roles -- how she won an Academy Award for her supremely annoying work in Cold Mountain, I'll never know. I still remember that scene, used in the trailer, with her bellowing that ridiculous line, something like -- "They say this war is cloudy, but then they tell us to go and stand in the rain, and then we go and stand in the rain, and then they tell us it's raining!" Her hamtastic performance still haunts my dreams. But hey, maybe this'll be different.

The new film from Wong Kar Wai is bound to disappoint some of the filmmaker's die-hard fans. Aside from the fact that it is Wong's first film in English and employs a number of Hollywood stars, the factors against My Blueberry Nights include the following: it wasn't shot by Wong's longtime collaborator Christopher Doyle; it doesn't feature at least a cameo from Tony Leung; it stars a young singer in her acting debut; and it has received the touch of death by being distributed by The Weinstein Co. Of course, there are multiple reasons to hope that it isn't a disappointment, let alone a failure, and we've just received a new one: the film's poster would look great on a fan's wall.

Never mind the beautiful design of the poster, which miraculously makes orange a color that I don't hate looking at. The main attraction is the prominence of Rachel Weisz, who is being capitalized on for her recent Oscar win. Six years after being left out of the main poster for Enemy at the Gates, the actress has apparently become a bigger attraction than Jude Law, her costar in that film. Though Law has a higher billing in the cast list at the bottom, he is given a much smaller role in visually representing the film. Meanwhile, Norah Jones, who is actually Blueberry's star, is barely seen in the lower left, where her image is also somewhat blurred. Rounding out the featured cast is Natalie Portman, seen driving a car. Actors Ed Harris, Tim Roth and David Strathairn are also represented, but only by name.

This poster may not be the final one-sheet for the film's release, especially since it features the words 'coming soon' rather than a release date (which is so far still unknown). It also seems to be a Canadian poster, because it includes the logo for Christal Films, which is distributing the film up north. We could very well see a totally different design from the Weinsteins. My Blueberry Nights will premiere in France in two weeks when it opens the Cannes Film Festival.

While I understand mixing some meaty, heavy roles with some mainstream, lighter fare, especially to get that big, box office money, I just can't imagine what Helen Mirren is thinking. If there is a woman who has made a strong and firm footprint in the movie world recently, it is her. She's won a whole slew of awards in the past few years, topped with an Oscar cherry for The Queen, and she receives high praise and admiration all over the place. If there is anyone I would consider to be in a position to take any type of role, I would think it would be her. Yet, JoBlo has a source that says she's going to join Nicolas Cage in National Treasure:Book of Secrets as his mother.

It's a sequel based on a film that didn't even get a 50% decent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Is the script that good, or does she really not care whether it's a quality film or not? I hope she's at least getting the big bucks for this! As I said above, Mirren is rumored to be Cage's mother, Emily Gates. It appears that she will help the hero link his family to John Wilkes Booth and the Knights of the Gold Circle. But she's not the only one to be added. It seems that Ed Harris has been grabbed for the role of Jeb Wilkinson, the movie's traitorous bad guy. Maybe this is a good thing. There could be a great, or at least entirely entertaining script, and there's a whole slew of interesting actors (Harvey Keitel, Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha are said to be returning) to keep things interesting. So, maybe this will be a stellar remake to re-fuel the ever rampant habit of sequels. Or, maybe I'm just trying to rationalize some acceptable reason why Mirren is involved.

As I came across the announcement of Ed Harris' new project Appaloosa, I realized just how solid his career has been. With over 55 movies to his name -- and they vary too, try and tell me Swing Shift to Glengarry Glen Ross isn't a leap -- Harris is one of the best working actors today.

Harris directed and starred in Pollock (2000) with great success, so he's decided to do it again. He has chosen to not only direct and star in Appaloosa, but he is also writing the screenplay. The film is based on Robert B. Parker's novel about a marshal in a High Noon scenario with a corrupt rancher. Also attached to the project is Diane Lane and Harris' co-star from History of Violence, Viggo Mortensen (you can check out Karina's review here).

There aren't many production details yet as Harris is still busy promoting the upcoming film Copying Beethoven (directed by Agnieszka Holland), where he plays the famed composer in his later years. Like I said, the man has range.

[via Dark Horizons]

In honor of the latest Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster, it seems appropriate to spotlight one of his productions as a guilty pleasure. I thought of going with Con Air or Pearl Harbor, but both are so ridiculously silly I don't feel guilty in finding enjoyment in them. So, I picked a movie for which my love isn't so innocent: The Rock.

The thing is, The Rock is actually a good movie. It is well-imagined, well-structured, and exceptionally well-cast. Its story is smart, its dialogue is witty and its action is overflowing. When it opened, The Rock received a respectable amount of favorable reviews, mostly from populist critics including Roger Ebert, Janet Maslin and Peter Travers. Five years later, it garnered a prestigious Criterion DVD release.

So why do I feel so guilty for liking it?

Starting April 20th, the 49th annual San Francisco International Film Festival is shaping up to be a terrific fest -- and a lot livelier than in the past under the hand of new Executive Director Graham Leggat. How lively? Well, there's not just the usual screenings at city theaters this time around; there's also going to be a series of 'satellite screenings' at various venues around town -- plus live 'film remixing,' silent films with live orchestral accompaniment and a few other surprises. Sure, some of the extraneous events may seem a little gimmicky -- Do we need Tilda Swinton's face projected three stories high on various municipal buildings? -- but there's a great catalog of films screening, as well as an awards night honoring Werner Herzog, Ed Harris and Jean-Claude Carrière. Not only is the Festival's site jam-packed with info and how to get tickets, but Festival parent The San Francisco Film Society has also  launched, in conjunction with the good folks at Indiewire, SF360.org -- a brand-new, year-round guide to film happenings and news in the Bay Area, including the festival picks of the inestimable B. Ruby Rich. Add in announced guests like Guy Madden and Tilda Swinton, and you've got a very new, very different SFIFF ... Cinematical's on-the-ground coverage starts next week with previews of films and more -- and you might want to get your tickets now.

Monday's bits and pieces:

• Ed Harris has been brought in to add some non-family power to Ben Affleck's directorial debut, an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's Gone, Baby, Gone. It's also rumored that Morgan Freeman, of all people, might be in talks to join the cast. Have these people not heard who's directing, or something?

• Hooray, Ocean's Thirteen has a start date! It's official: more pretty people will soon be running around in pretty locations soundstages, doing pretty things of absolutely no consequence. (In case there's any doubt, by the way, I'm totally serious here. Ocean's Twelve was the most wonderful pile of fluff I've seen in ages.) Happily, all the usual suspects will be back, including director Steven Soderbergh and the kings of pretty, Brad Pitt and George Clooney. The female of the moment will be Ellen Barkin - anyone care to guess to which man she'll be attached in what passes for the plot?
  

• Word on the street is that Shia LaBeouf (apparently new go-to actor for vaguely nerdy teen roles) has been cast as the "ultimately heroic" kid in Transformers. There's also a casting call out for a few others actors not made of metal or pixels on a screen, including a girl to save Shia from his dorkiness, and a couple of military types. You know, just in case you happen to fit the part, or know someone who does.
  

Let's hope that Zooey Deschanel never becomes a big star. She is an actress who fits so much better to the small movies, the kind of independents that few people see or even hear of, than to anything coming out of Hollywood these days. The expressiveness in her face, particularly in her bold blue eyes, is detrimental to the sadness and the whimsy of these films. Of course, she deserves to be seen in them; she makes them far more enjoyable with her presence, and she would have to be paid well to keep her away from supporting roles in romantic comedies and Tim Allen pictures.

I'm thinking of a kind of film I watched growing up: they arrived in the video store seemingly out from nowhere, never playing at the suburban multiplex and therefore never reaching my young, theatre-dwelling heart until they showed up in cassette form. You could pick one out easily, as it displayed on the shelf with only a single rentable copy, sitting between the plethora of copies of whatever popular titles I'd already seen at the cinemas. These simple dramas were filled with regular folks in probable situations, though most ventured into odd territory now and then. And they always, without fail, featured a small town bar with a minimal amount of patrons, into which the greenhorn protagonist would wander. Winter Passing, starring Deschanel, is the latest example.