Cinematical

This just in to Cinematical headquarters: The Weinstein Co. announced that Kate Hudson has joined Rob Marshall's adaptation of the famed musical, Nine. Hudson will co-star alongside Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Penélope Cruz and Marion Cotillard -- and if that beautiful cast doesn't get asses in seats, I don't know what will. Day-Lewis will play director Guido Contini who, while preparing for his latest picture, has trouble balancing the many women in his life.

Personally, I've been waiting for Hudson to take a little departure from starring in cheesy rom-coms for awhile now, though I'm sure some of you would be happy if she disappeared forever at this point. That said, I still remain a Hudson supporter (damn you Almost Famous!), and I know she's got some good stuff holed up in places we just haven't been fortunate to discover yet. What do you think? A step up for Hudson, or a step down?

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Elegy (click image to enlarge), starring Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Peter Sarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson and Dennis Hopper. Sweet cast, huh? Based on the novel The Dying Animal by Philip Roth, and directed by Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me), Elegy follows a cultural critic (Kingsley) who views his life as being in a state of "emancipated manhood" until, one day, a well-mannered student (Cruz) waltzes in and awakens a sense of sexual possessiveness in her teacher, the critic. In other words, her touch is toxic ... to him, at least. Seems rather exotic, and with two dynamos like Kingsley and Cruz in the lead, here's hoping Elegy awakens the sexual possessiveness in all of us. Wait ... that would be a bad thing, right? Okay, keep the sex and remove the possessiveness. There ya go -- I'm seeing it. Check out the trailer over on Moviefone.

Elegy hits theaters in limited release on August 8.

A couple days ago we were fortunate enough to premiere the one-sheet for Woody Allen's new offering Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Now Yahoo! has the second trailer for the movie, and the first one with any dialogue.

I reserve judgment on the film (since, uh, I haven't seen it yet), but I already know that Rebecca Hall deserves an Oscar just for her delivery of "Look, señor, maybe in a different life..." And it's good to see Javier Bardem playing a normal, non-homicidal, fully ambulatory human being.

The most interesting thing for me is that Vicky Cristina Barcelona doesn't fit the mold of anything Woody Allen has churned out in the 21st century: it looks to be neither a goofy screwball comedy nor a slow-burn, class-conscious thriller. Instead, it seems like a perfectly earnest, if idiosyncratic, love triangle. And that's an interesting move at this point in his career.

The plot: A hotshot artist (Javier Bardem) invites two young women (Hall and Scarlett Johansson) on vacation in Barcelona to spend the weekend with him, but his ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) becomes determined to ruin the fun. It must have been a fun shoot for Bardem and Allen, I'll tell you that much.

Cinematical is very happy to bring you this exclusive poster for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (click to enlarge), written and directed by one of my favorite New Yorkers, Woody Allen. Starring the crazy sexy cool trio of Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, VCB follows two American tourists (Johansson, Hall) on holiday in Spain who find themselves drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a charismatic painter who "pursues passions and ardently seeks the meaning of love," according to Kim's very positive review of the film from Cannes. Things become a bit complicated, however, when Juan Antonio's nutty ex-wife (Cruz) enters the picture.

I'm a pretty big fan of this poster as it kinda clues you into the plot of the film without hitting you over the head with it. Obviously the three key players are featured, and Cruz has her arms wrapped around Bardem as if he's her property -- while he and Johansson keep their eyes down as if they're hiding something. I dig it when the poster paints a story ... and I can't be the only one who's interested in seeing this one explored more.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona arrives in theaters on August 15.

Yesterday, I wrote up the press conference for Woody Allen's latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. The pic above is a shot of the crazy crowd outside the red carpet for the film; it gives you an idea of how insane the crowds get here for every red carpet -- they're all a little crazy, but this one as even more packed than usual. People pack in like sardines, hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite star, and there are always people in black tie wandering around hopefully with signs reading something like, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona, S.V.P.," hoping against hope that some person might have on hand one of the coveted silver invitations to the red carpet premiere that they don't intend to use. I don't know what the likelihood of that is, but I'd have to imagine it's pretty darn slim.

Below is a gallery of pictures from the press conference. I had to take them of the video screen in the press suite, as I was unable to get into the actual conference for this one. So you're looking at pictures of pictures, essentially, but given the circumstances under which I was working, I think they came out reasonably well.

%Gallery-23142%

Upcoming: Reviews of Tokyo Sonata, Hunger and Three Monkeys, plus James's adventures at the Indiana Jones roundtable.

The press conference for Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a packed affair. Buzz on the film has been mostly positive, and most of those trying to get in were, unfortunately, shut out. The line of press trying to get shots of Allen and the cast walking in was an utter madhouse; picture something akin to a prison riot, with a mob of press stomping on feet, shoving with elbows, and generally doing their damnedest to jostle into position in the hopes of scoring one or two decent shots in the 15 or so seconds you have to point and click.

I had my foot crushed by a large Belgian woman who muscled her way to the front of the pack on my right, and got smacked quite hard in the head by a Chinese photojournalist's video camera. Working a film fest isn't always quite the glamorous event one might imagine.

I've said before that a new film from Woody Allen is something like getting a Christmas gift from your eccentric aunt; you never know if you'll get a crocheted toilet paper cozy, or a piece of priceless heirloom jewelry. Fortunately, Allen's newest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, turns out to be more like the latter. The story opens with Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), two best friends heading to Barcelona for eight weeks of fun.

Vicky's distant relations Judy (Patricia Clarkson) and Mark (Kevin Dunn) live in Barcelona, and have invited the girls to spend the summer there, where Vicky will do research for her Masters and Cristina will soak up the local culture. Vicky is engaged to be married to Doug (Chris Messina), a stalwart, likable, but rather boring young man, and Cristina is recovering from her latest breakup and looking for an artistic outlet for her pent-up creativity.

I've been hankering for a good crime flick with a women in the lead for a long time (I can't be the only one who thinks that Catherine Zeta Jones' pregnant drug runner deserved way more screen time in Traffic). But, in the grand tradition of most crime movies, women are relegated to the sidelines as either 'the downfall of the anti-hero', or, 'sexy punching bag' -- neither of which is very flattering, but hopefully that will change with Queen of the South. Variety reports that Eva Mendes has signed to star in the big screen adaptation of Arturo Perez Reverte's crime novel, La reina del sur (Queen of the South).

The story is being touted as a "female Scarface," and centers on a woman who flees to Spain when her drug-dealing boyfriend is murdered. Once she arrives, she starts her own narcotics operation to finance revenge against her lover's murderers -- and quickly becomes top dog. Joining Mendes in the cast are Josh Hartnett and Ben Kingsley in as-yet unnamed roles.

News of the flick first surfaced last year, with Mendes, Jennifer Lopez, and Penelope Cruz on the short list for the role, but in the end Mendes won out. Personally I would have liked to see Lopez take on the role (it's been too long since we had the chance to see her be a bad ass), but I guess in a pinch Mendes will do.

Do you think Warners made the right choice with Mendes? Or is there anyone else out there who would have liked to watch Lopez 'tussle' just one more time?

They're still in talks, but everyone is reporting the deal as done, so I will too. Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench are joining Nine, Rob Marshall's film adaptation of the 1982 Broadway musical. The Hollywood Reporter says they'll be joining the already impressive cast of Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Sophia Loren.

Bardem will be playing the lead, a film director juggling the demands of several women in his life. The musical is an adaptation of Federico Fellini's autobiographical 8 1/2. Shooting was supposed to have begun in March, but due to the recent loss of Anthony Minghella, it has now been delayed to September. As Kidman is due to become a mother this summer, it would give her a nice maternity break.

Pictured: Scarlett Johansson in a scene from Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

While it's still too early to say which scenes we'll all be talking about at the end of the year, I'm putting my money on a couple scenes from Woody Allen's upcoming Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Not long ago, word got out that, among other things, the film would feature an all-out threesome between Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Okay. Woody's getting a little nutty in his old age ... but we dig it. Now, according to Page Six, that so-called threesome was just the beginning -- they say the film also includes a "steamy lesbian sex scene" between Johansson and Cruz. Here's my question: Are both these scenes really warranted, or did Woody simply want to see how far he could push his muse sexually?

A source told Page Six, "It is also extremely erotic. People will be blown away and even shocked. Penelope and Scarlett go at it in a red-tinted photography dark room, and it will leave the audience gasping." Personally, I think it will leave the audience feeling a lot of different emotions -- some of which may be explored further in the theater bathroom following the film. (Note to self: Don't sit next to the guy who's placed an empty bucket of popcorn on his ....) The film, which marks Allen's first feature shot in Spain, follows two American tourists who become romantically entangled with a painter. Rebecca Hall, Chris Messina and Patricia Clarkson also star. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is due out later this year, though I imagine it might premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this May if a cut is ready.

A Guide to Lesbian Sex Scenes

Top 25 Sex Scenes of All Time?

Top 50 Sex Scenes of All Time?

%Gallery-15651%

[via Slashfilm]

Most guys probably prefer to look at Penélope Cruz. I think I would rather listen to her. Really, who could resist that cute Spanish-accented voice? I especially like in Vanilla Sky when she says, "I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats." Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, I'll get to listen to her voice without seeing her body in the upcoming live-action/animated combo film G-Force. But instead of her being a cat, Cruz is playing a guinea pig named Juarez.

If you remember back to my post from last November, Juarez isn't the only guinea pig in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie. There's also Blaster, a Cavia porcellus (aka guinea pig) voiced by Tracy Morgan. Other animals and their respective voices include a mole named Speckles (Nicolas Cage), a hamster named Bucky (Steve Buscemi) and some humans (Will Arnett, Bill Nighy, Kelli Garner and others).

The humans are, of course, live-action and played by real-life actors. The animals, on the other hand, are computer-generated toons (like Alvin and the Chipmunks, I guess). And they're super-smart commandos that work for the government. And they're out to stop a evil billionaire from taking over the world (isn't it enough to be a billionaire?). As we've told you before, the script for the family-friendly action pic was written by National Treasure team Cormac and Marianne Wibberley (aka The Wibberleys) and it will be helmed by first-time director Hoyt Yeatman, who has two Academy Awards -- one for his visual effects work on The Abyss and one Technical Achievement Award "for the identification and diagnosis leading to the elimination of the 'red fringe' artifact in traveling matte composite photography." We'll have to see if the guy can score another Oscar someday for directing, though I doubt he'll manage that goal with G-Force.

After all of these years, I never thought I would be reading an MTV interview with legendary director Woody Allen, but I guess that times change. MTV recently spoke to Allen about the rumors regarding another possible project with muse-of-the-moment Scarlett Johansson. Turns out Page Six had it all wrong and there is no New York, I Love You film that will reunite the actress and director for the third time in a row. Allen was hard at work doing promotion for Cassandra's Dream with Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor when the subject of the anthology film came up in conversation. Allen told MTV that the whole Page Six story was "A complete and total fabrication. Made up like a poem by Coleridge. Completely untrue. It wasn't even grounded in any conversations or anything." This might lead me to believe that some of those other Johansson casting announcements were a little premature as well.

Allen has just wrapped up his latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona with Johansson, Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. Just because the NY anthology flick is not going to happen, I seriously doubt that Barcelona is the last we will see of the pairing. When it comes to Johansson, it seems like the guy can't stop gushing: "She's very charming, very bright, very amusing. She livens the set up. The minute she walks on the set, the amperage goes up 200 points. She's a great kid and very talented. She can sing. She can do dramatic things and jokes if you need her to. Whenever there's a part she could play, she would probably always be my first choice." But as any Woody Allen fan can tell you, the man loves the ladies and I'm sure her humor and talent aren't the only 'attributes' that the man admires. Vicky Cristina Barcelona hits theaters this fall.

Where there's one Pedro Almodovar, there's usually Penélope Cruz, and this time around is no exception. I'm not even referring to La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I Live In), which Christopher Campbell posted about in January. This is another new one, that's sending the famed director into the world of noir again after 2004's Bad Education. As Variety describes it, his next film will be Los abrazos rotos, which is as Almodovar himself says, a "four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of '50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled."

Heading into pre-production after the ball drops to the new year, the film will star, of course, Penelope Cruz, along with Blanca Portillo (Volver) and Lluis Homar (Vicky Cristina Barcelona). I will include "characters who belong to the world of film," but in a '90s and current-day setting that mixes references to works like "Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place and Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful," with signature Almodovar themes: 'Fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers,'" as the director told Variety.

As for Cruz, she'll "exchange the era's aprons, cardigans, and the hairdos for an updated look, but one that mixes the transparent turbulence of Gene Tierney and the mistreated, challenging beauty of Linda Darnell in Otto Preminger's Fallen Angel." The director is currently finishing the script, and plans to shoot in the seasonal spring light next year. Personally, I'm hoping some of the aged noir style stays on the characters, as it can work really well even in modern pieces. How about you? Are you ready for Los abrazos rotos?

Variety reports that Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) have joined the cast of Dark Castle's Orphan. In a nod to Bad Seeds everywhere, the film focuses on a young couple (Sarsgaard and Farmiga) that have recently lost a child and decide to adopt a young girl to fill the void. Of course, nothing is ever that easy and the girl "is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be". David Leslie, a relative newcomer, wrote the screenplay based off an idea by Alex Mace. Already signed to direct is House of Wax helmer, Jaume Collet-Serra. Serra started off directing TV commercials and music videos, and Wax was his first big-budget production. Orphan seems like a definite step up for Serra; when your casting pool goes from Paris Hilton to Peter Sarsgaard you must be doing something right.

Sarsgaard has already completed the Philip Roth adaptation Elegy with Penelope Cruz, and is wrapping up work on two more literary adaptations. First up is In the Electric Mist; based on James Lee Burke's novel about "A detective in the deep South is led into a series of surreal encounters with a troop of Confederate soldiers" and Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. Farmiga is currently filming Nothing But The Truth, a political drama with Kate Beckinsale and will next star in a literary adaptation of her own called The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas for Mark Herman (Brassed Off). Orphan is set to start shooting next week on location in Toronto and Montreal, Canada.

According to the New York Daily News, Catherine Zeta-Jones will no longer co-star in Nine, the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, which itself was an adaptation of Fellini's classic film 8 1/2. Zeta-Jones would have played the role of Claudia, "the alluring muse of skirt-chasing director Guido Contini." The reason for the falling out is allegedly -- it's always allegedly with the Daily News -- because director Rob Marshall (the inexplicably Best Picture-winning Chicago) "wouldn't give in to her demand to beef up her role." The script is adapted by Michael Tolkin (The Player), and apparently the creative team wasn't willing to change the story around. A friend of Zeta-Jones told the Daily News "She was never 100% committed to Nine. She had a meeting with Rob. She'd love to work with him again. But she felt she'd done the same sort of role in Chicago. The script wasn't an issue."

Marshall has moved on and is looking for a younger actress to hop in and play Claudia. The list of possibles includes Natalie Portman, Liv Tyler, Keira Knightley, Kate Hudson, and Gwyneth Paltrow. (In what world is Gwyneth Paltrow a reasonable substitute for Zeta-Jones?) The cast of Nine, one of the more attractive bunches of actors in recent memory, features Javier Bardem as Guido, Sophia Loren as Guido's mother, Penelope Cruz as his mistress Carla, and Marion Cotillard as Luisa Contini. Reportedly (another word for "allegedly"), Katie Holmes was "heartbroken" when Marshall turned her down for a role. Who would you guys like to see in the part? We'll keep you posted on how this drama turns out.

Additionally, Variety has announced today that the Weinstein Co. has officially delayed production on Nine due to the script not being ready.