James McAvoy Tagged Articles at Cinematical
James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn Are Robert Redford's Conspirators
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Casting », Newsstand », War »
At least one Civil War / Abraham Lincoln themed film is racing out of the starting gate. a few weeks after it was announced that Robert Redford would be directing The Conspirator, he has his lead actor and actress. According to Variety, James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn are heading to the courtroom to answer for Mr. Lincoln's assassination.Penn will be playing the role of Mary Surratt, the lone woman to be part of John Wilkes Booth's conspiracy, and the only woman to be arrested. The Surratts were all Confederate sympathizers, and while her son confessed to being actively involved in plotting Lincoln's assassination, he denied his mother had been. Nevertheless, Mary was tried, convincted, and executed. Mary Surratt is the first woman to have been executed by the U.S. government and it's probably worth noting that while she was described as "a handsome woman," she doesn't resemble Ms. Wright-Penn.
The history makes McAvoy's part a little thankless, as he will be playing Frederick Aiken, Surratt's lawyer. Variety calls him "an idealistic young war hero" though his historical record is actually pretty sketchy. Defending Surratt was his first major case (and since he only lived 13 years longer, he can't have enjoyed many of them). Variety notes that he "reluctantly defends" Surratt, and then comes to believe in her innocence. I imagine the movie will use his real defense speech (which you can read here) which is probably one of the few concrete things Mr. Aiken left behind. The Conspirator begins shooting next month, and should be an interesting period piece. I don't know if it's a replacement for Spielberg's Lincoln biopic but as few know this particular story, maybe it'll encourage a rush of interest in the Civil War.
Telluride Review: The Last Station
Filed under: Drama », Telluride », Theatrical Reviews »
Circa 1910, Lev Tolstoy was the most renowned writer and thinker in Russia. The man was so worshipped that he spawned his own political and philosophical movement – Tolstoyanism – that won over scores of fanatically devoted adherents who followed Tolstoy in rejecting notions of private property, condemning sexual intercourse, and embracing what can be described as an idiosyncratic form of communism, with a somewhat creepy religious bent. "I don't believe that Tolstoy is Christ," says one particularly revolting character in The Last Station, a fictionalized chronicle of Tolstoy's last days. "Christ is Christ. But I believe that he is a prophet."
I've read enough Tolstoy to know that the guy was essentially a crackpot. The main problem with The Last Station is that the movie – which wants badly to portray the man as sympathetic – spends most of its running time madly equivocating on this score. Certainly its depiction of his politics does Tolstoy no favors: his worldview appears as illogical and fanatical as it apparently was in real life. At the urging of his advisors, the man robs his wife of 48 years of the rights to his bestsellers, which he is convinced "belong to the people." When asked why his family shouldn't profit from what is, after all, his work, he says that if peasants had money, they wouldn't spend it on footservants – to which his wife, Countess Sofia Andreevna Tolstoya, reasonably replies that they would probably spend it on liquor.
James McAvoy Goes Along 'With Cancer'
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Casting », Newsstand »
Have you stopped to realize James McAvoy hasn't done a movie since Wanted? I know, I can't quite believe it either since he was one of those names attached to everything last year. But he's been taking it easy and why shouldn't he? All that "curve the bullet" stuff made everyone dizzy.Happily though, the young Scottish turk is back, and he's stretching his comedic chops this time around which is a great relief for those of us still reeling from Atonement. According to Variety, McAvoy is teaming up with Seth Rogen for the illness driven comedy I'm With Cancer. Based on screenwriter Will Reiser's semi-autobiographical novel, Cancer centers on a 25 year old who discovers he has cancer. He spends several years battling and overcoming the disease, so thankfully you won't need to bring too much Kleenex with you. You'll just need enough to wipe up the happy tears.
McAvoy will take the lead Reiser-inspired role, and Rogen will take the backseat, though he's also on board as a producer alongside his pal Evan Goldberg. Nicole Holofcener will direct, and Reiser has penned the screenplay. The film is set to begin shooting this winter and is apparently looking to change the title which I think is a shame. What's catchier than I'm With Cancer? Keep that one, guys. It sounds as upbeat as the story.
What? Another Lincoln Pic is in the Works! With Redford Directing?
Filed under: Drama », Casting », Deals », RumorMonger », Scripts », Politics »
I've already ranted about my desire to see Steven Spielberg's Lincoln passion project not die. But while that version of Honest Abe isn't going anywhere, another one is. However, this one is all about the assassination. The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog reports that Robert Redford is gearing up to direct The Conspirator -- penned by James Solomon.But this isn't a Booth tale. The film will detail the story of Mary Surratt -- a boardinghouse owner in DC and Confederate sympathizer said to have conspired to kill President Lincoln by giving John Wilkes Booth and David Herold (his accomplice) weapons after the assassination at Ford's Theater. She was later arrested, sentenced to death, and became the first woman executed by the US federal government. Her son was also zeroed in on for his involvement, but while brought to trial, he was never convicted. (Just to add another familial twist -- she was the first cousin, once removed, of F. Scott Fitzgerald.)
On it's own, this should make for a good feature, and it's nice to see an angle and person not usually brought to the big screen. On the other, it's a shame that we can get an assassination biopic in the works, but not one on the man's life and accomplishments. But maybe things will change with Redford? Right now the cast is being assembled, and James McAvoy is said to be in line for one of the leads.
Peep These Hobbit Holes!
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Peter Jackson », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels », Images », ComicCon »
Hey, LOTR fans! Even though The Hobbit isn't due until 2011, the crew in New Zealand has already started digging some holes for the hobbitses. TheOneRing, your source for all things hairy-toed, has some very cool pictures of the rebuilding of Hobbiton. So far we're only seeing roads, foliage, and the aforementioned hobbit holes, but it's whetting the proverbial whistle for what will hopefully be more Hobbit news out of the San Diego Comic-Con, which starts later this week. Producer Peter Jackson will be there to talk up the deliciously apocalyptic District 9, but rumors abound that there will be Hobbit-y deets leaking out from those insanely packed halls.So far Jackson's denied he will be announcing who will play Bilbo at SDCC. He told Empire, "We're starting to think about casting, but we're knee-deep in the script right now. And when we do go to actors, they're probably going to ask to see a script, so we're powering ahead with getting the first draft done." It's not like both he and Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro aren't already working on enough different projects to make my head spin, but a fanboy or girl can hope, right? Right now, the odds-on favorites are Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, Hot Scot™ James McAvoy, and David "Ten Inch" Tennant from Dr. Who. In turn, there are rumors that a Dr. Who movie will be announced at Comic-Con.
Stay tuned to Cinematical for the latest from Comc-Con! The crew there will be Tweeting it up from the convention floor.
Is Angelina Jolie Back for 'Wanted 2'?
Filed under: Action », Casting », Universal », RumorMonger », Angelina Jolie », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
You know, it's not that I think Angelina Jolie can't handle action, it's just that she's never really been given the chance to do it in a film that was...well, good. The bullet-bending comic book flick, Wanted is a perfect example. Granted, Jolie was livelier than I have seen her in a long time, but I still walked out of the theater wondering why she has never blossomed into the bad-a** heroine I desperately want her to be. Well, maybe she is going to get another chance, because Universal has been making ground with a Wanted sequel. So while most of us were pretty sure that we wouldn't be seeing Ms. Jolie again, Wanted's director Timur Bekmambetov seems to think otherwise. During an interview with the Russian news site, RIA Novosti, Bekmambetov told them that Wanted 2 will start prepping in July, and that Jolie would be returning for the sequel.Warning: Wanted spoilers ahead...
So think back to the half-baked mess that was Wanted, and you'll remember that Jolie's assassin commits 'suicide' -- on-screen, front and center. It was even rumored to be a condition of Jolie's participation in the film that she would die at the end (I guess to avoid committing to a sequel). But maybe Bekmambetov is engaging in some wishful thinking about Jolie's return, or he knows something we don't because he seemed positive that Jolie would be back. Last April, Evan Spiliotopoulos was hired to write the script, and it's a strange choice, but one thing is for sure, he is going to have to get awfully creative if they plan on bringing Jolie back from the great beyond.
After the jump; Who else could return for Wanted 2 and Jolie is still saving the world (without a gun) in her PSA for World Refugee Day...
Elton John, James McAvoy, Emily Blunt & Star-Crossed Gnome Lovers
Filed under: Animation », Classics », Music & Musicals », Casting »
Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? First you become Tromeo, and now -- Gnomeo. Well, people have been trying to rename you to Gnomeo for a while now. Heck, last time Cinematical wrote about the upcoming CGI feature Gnomeo and Juliet, it was 2006 and Kate Winslet and professional voice actor Greg Ellis were attached to voice the film. Almost two years later, the garden gnome romance is still hiking its way to the big screen, and The Hollywood Reporter posts that James McAvoy and Emily Blunt are in negotiations to voice the leads.While I'm bummed to see another voice actor lose his work, there are some quirks to look forward to with this feature -- namely Elton John classics. At first, a whole new set of romantic songs were going to be penned by Tim Rice and John, but that didn't work out so we get the good ol' classics. Will Gnomeo fall off Juliet's balcony and sing: "I'm Still Standing"? Will the two dance, canoodle, and sing: "Tiny Dancer"? Will "Candle in the Wind" be adapted once again for the tragic finale? Oh, the possibilities.
Now, it's also said to be a "loose and edgy" adaptation, so perhaps these gnomes will get their happy ending -- although I'd hope it wouldn't stray too far from the original. Whatever the case, it'll be a long wait. The project is currently in the storyboard stage, with plans to wrap up production by 2010.
Indies on DVD: 'Penelope,' 'Beach Party,' 'Heavy Petting'
Filed under: Comedy », Foreign Language », Independent », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », New on DVD », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Indie »
It's what I call a low fever week on DVD shelves this week, but let's see what we can find. Kim Voynar described Penelope as "a charming but fluffy little fable about a girl born under the shadow of a family curse." Christina Ricci stars as a woman with the face of a pig (!). James (Wanted) McAvoy, Reese Witherspoon, Catherine O'Hara and Peter Dinklage are also featured. The DVD includes a "making of" feature.
Other indie releases of interest this week: The Curiosity of Chance; Meet Bill; Monsieur Vincent; Never Forever; Times and Winds; The Year My Parents Went on Vacation.
Now that's we've covered the official business of this weekly post, let's talk oddities. The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell is a wild post-apocalyptic comedy that other people have enjoyed much more than I did (which is to say not at all), but what I find really odd is that the DVD comes complete with "National Lampoon Presents" plastered at the top. Now, the National Lampoon label has never embraced comedy that I'd call "nervy." Gross out comedy? Yes. Bad attempts at parody? Yes. Endless pale imitations of frat house laughers? Yes. Beach Party may not have succeeded for me, but at least it tries to push the boundaries of what it's OK to laugh about.
Review: Wanted
Filed under: Action », New Releases », Universal », Theatrical Reviews », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
If Timur Bekmambetov is the Russian David Fincher, then Wanted is his Fight Club: bloody, brutal, funny, lightly satirical, and all about a nobody who shakes himself from his reverie and becomes a real man. There aren't many deep themes here (not as many as there are supposed to be, anyway), but who cares? The stylized violence and unapologetically ludicrous action sequences are the selling point, and Wanted delivers those by the blood-soaked truckload.
Wanted is about a Chicago office drone named Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) whose life is so insubstantial that he gets zero hits when he Googles himself. But like Neo before him (only played by an actual actor, rather than a plank of driftwood), Wesley is rescued from his drudgery by a secret organization that wants to tell him who he really is and what his destiny can be. That's right, the Mormons.
No, kidding. The group is known as The Fraternity (but they let girls in, too), and it began a thousand years ago when a group of weavers decided that weaving was boring and they should become assassins. Today the group is run by Sloan (Morgan Freeman), with headquarters hidden in an actual textile factory. Every guy in the place is tough and mean, a real brute of the loom, if you will, and they show Wesley the ropes of shooting people from a distance. That's right: Wesley snipes. (That concludes the pun portion of this review.)
Hollywood's Crappy Kissers
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Newsstand »
Movie stars can get a stylist, remove those errant eyebrow and nose hairs, and even get some high-dose skin cleaner to make themselves smooth, shiny, and sexy; if all else fails, there are legions of makeup artists to make the men and women of Hollywood look as hot as possible. But there's not much they can do about their tongue prowess. Sometimes, the smooch or sex scene is so bad that it's even obvious on-screen, and on occasion, movie kissing is so bad that those who were forced to endure it remember the moment forever and tell tales about their bad kissing moments.
Defamer has a list titled: Top Ten Worst Kissers in Hollywood: From the 'Icky' to the 'Sweaty' to Tongues That Taste Like Kitty Litter. The folks at Defamer weren't just guessing in compiling the list -- they've gathered quotes from those unlucky suckers who had to experience it for themselves.
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Discuss: The Movies That Haunt You
