A new poster of The Duchess has appeared online, exclusive to ComingSoon.net.There's a snip of it to the right, and if you click on the lovely Keira Knightley, you'll be taken to the blindingly enormous version.

It's a stunning poster, although I think they could have lightened up on the airbrushing, as Knightley looks appallingly plastic. The dress, however, excuses all sorts of Photoshop sins. You know how I love my lush costumes, and The Duchess promises to have loads of gorgeous, frothy items. (One of my favorite sites, The Costumer's Guide to Movie Costumes, has a whole page devoted to it already. I want that fox hunting outfit for my own, but I'm not sure what to do with it since I don't hunt foxes. Or ride horses.)

But that's the big question about the film, isn't it? Will the movie actually say something relevant about Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire? She was quite the figure in her own time; as the official press release notes, she was a leader of the progressive Whig Party, and an active political campaigner in an era when women couldn't even vote. The comparisons to her descendant, Princess Diana, are apt -- but both women would probably agree that such remarks are a bit glib. The movie marketing, however, is trading on that fact very heavily. I remain excited, but historical dramas can only go one of two ways: wonderful or awful. There's no in-between.

The Duchess opens September 19th, 2008.

This morning I got an email from Snitchseeker.com, a Harry Potter fansite, pointing me to some pics they have up of young Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (nephew of Ralph Fiennes, who plays the evil Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise). Fiennes-Tiffin is playing Young Tom Riddle (aka the Future Dark Lord, Voldemort) in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Nice call on the part of the casting director to have a relative of Fiennes play the younger character.

You can see all the pics over on Snitchseeker; they're apparently from another film the young actor is in, Bigga than Ben. Fiennes-Tiffin looks oh-so-sweet-and-innocent -- he hardly looks like the sort who'd grow up to wreak havoc on the wizarding world, tossing around Imperius curses at his enemies and plotting to rid the world of good guys like Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. But then again, it's always the innocent looking ones who sneak up on you and turn out to be evil dark lords trying to take over the world, isn't it?

It's been a long time since we saw the first trailer for The Duchess, an historical period piece starring Keira Knightley as the real-life 18th century Georgina Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. But the film opens in September, so it's time to start the onslaught of more trailers and clips. First, we have one from the UK (via Empire), which is a little longer than that first U.S. version. One thing that's added in is a nice shot of Knightley's bum.

Another addition is a strange title card connecting Georgina to Princess Diana. It's true that the two ladies were related, though somewhat distantly (Diana was descended from Georgina's brother, George, who doesn't seem to be portrayed in the film), and I guess they were both celebrated as fashion icons. But I have to agree with Empire that pushing the connection "might be considered more than a little crass."

Also, I'm not sure I understand the title card that says "History Repeats Itself." Does it mean that portraying historical events on film is a repeat of those events? Because, to me, it seems more a confirmation of my feeling that we've already seen this movie a million times before.

The Duchess also stars Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling and will open in the States on September 19.

Focus Features has sent Cinematical a fourth and final exclusive clip from In Bruges (check out the first clip, titled Hideout, over here, the second clip, titled Review, over here, and the third clip, titled Uzi, over here), which will enjoy its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next month. Here's a bit from the film's official synopsis: "Bruges (pronounced "broozh"), the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travelers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry (two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks." For more, be sure to check out the film's official website, www.filminfocus.com/inbruges. In Bruges is due out in theaters (in limited release) on February 8, 2008.

Who says that only superhero flicks and fanboy movies should get months of advance hype? Paramount Vantage has taken the unusual move of releasing a trailer for The Duchess, a period costume drama that won't be released until the fall of 2008. You can check out the trailer exclusively at Moviefone, or feel free to watch it above.

Back in September 2006, Danish director Susanne Bier was set to take on the adaptation of Amanda Foreman's novel, Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. Plans changed, though. As Cinematical's Monika Bartyzel told us this past July, Saul Dibb was brought on to direct and Keira Knightley signed on to play Georgina, duchess of Devonshire, a controversial real-life figure from the 18th century. She lived "an extravagant, profligate and promiscuous life of political and romantic intrigue, becoming an important powerbroker amid Blighty's ruling elite, but also running up catastrophic gambling debts." Monika passed on more news in September: Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell were added to the cast. Filming began on September 23.

The trailer is restrained and buttoned up -- a horse-drawn carriage, a palace, a ballroom -- and Keira looks prim and proper until she exclaims: "You can't ask me to battle nature and my own heart!" and kisses a man that's probably not her husband; then we see some carefully shot bare flesh and a roaring fire; cue music swelling to a crescendo in the background. In other words: not much to set it apart from other period pictures or set tongues a-wagging.

Personally, I prefer Ms. Knightley in more contemporary fare, but I'm evidently in the minority on that opinion. Still, The Duchess has pretty pictures and all that, and Keira-fanatics should be happy to see her laced up in a corset again. Maybe the next trailer will be more distinctive.

Focus Features has sent Cinematical a third exclusive clip from In Bruges (check out the first clip, titled Hideout, over here, and the second clip, titled Review, over here), which will enjoy its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next month. Here's a bit from the film's official synopsis: "Bruges (pronounced "broozh"), the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travelers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry (two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks." For more, be sure to check out the film's official website, www.filminfocus.com/inbruges. In Bruges is due out in theaters (in limited release) on February 8, 2008.

I have to be honest, I have always had a soft-spot for Colin Farrell and was convinced he could be great in the right role. After watching the trailer for In Bruges, I think this could be the one. Just last week, Peter gave us the heads up that the black comedy had been chosen as the opening night selection for Sundance 2008. Now, a trailer has surfaced and unless you have some headphones at your desk there's no way you're going to be able to watch this one at work ... sorry. Bruges stars Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two hit-men who are awaiting their contact in a hotel room in Bruges, Belgium. Also starring is Ralph Fiennes, playing very against type as a gangster, and Elizabeth Barrington.

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, the film is a black comedy with a capital B. Original reports had our two hapless hit-men knocking off a kiddie by mistake and then having to go on the run. By the looks of the trailer though, it seems like there might have been some minor changes. Now, there is no mention of a kid and it looks like the target is a man of the cloth -- which I guess is funnier depending on your sense of humor. So even with my aforementioned bias, I still think this looks like a pretty funny flick. I don't even know all that much about Bruges, but there is one joke that had me almost snorting coffee on the keyboard. Not to mention there are some pretty creative uses of the "F-word" -- and that's just for the trailer. In Bruges will premier at Sundance this January and then a limited release will follow in February. Hopefully the movie will get a wide release sometime in '08.

[via The Movie Blog]

*Update: You can now catch the trailer at the Alliance Films website.

The Sundance Film Festival will open on Thursday, January 17, 2008 with Martin McDonagh's comedy In Bruges, according to Jason Guerrasio of Filmmaker Magazine. McDonagh (pictured) is a playwright whose first foray into filmmaking, Six Shooter, won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film; In Bruges marks his feature directorial debut. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who also starred in Six Shooter.

In Bruges is described as a "darkly comic suspense thriller [that] tells the story of hit men Ray and Ken (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson). After a botched job in London, the team is ordered by their boss Harry (two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) to cool their heels in the storybook city of Bruges, Belgium. Very much out of their comfort zones, the men find themselves drawn into increasingly dangerous entanglements with locals, tourists, and a film shoot. As their stay in Bruges gets weirder, they realize Harry may have other plans for them than a simple vacation."

Martha Fischer first wrote about In Bruges in March 2006, which is when Focus Features made a deal to produce and distribute the film. Monika Bartyzel updated us when the cast was assembled earlier this year. Focus plans to release the film on February 8. Festival openers go down easier when they're a bit light-hearted, and the combination of a new director, stars and a dark comedy sounds ideal. The complete lineup for Sundance will be announced on November 28 and 29; the festival runs from January 17-27. Look for complete coverage right here on Cinematical.

What do Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and David Cronenberg have in common? The first two are considered the founding fathers of psychoanalysis; the latter will be making a film about them. According to ScreenDaily.com, Cronenberg's next project "will be an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play The Talking Cure, re-teaming him with Crash producer Jeremy Thomas."

Hampton's play, which premiered in December 2002, is set in the early 20th Century and centers on Jung, portrayed on the London stage by Ralph Fiennes. A review by Lizzie Loveridge at CurtainUp says that Hampton "looks at the issues which initially united these two pioneering psychiatrists and that which eventually divided them and took them off into other areas of investigation." The narrative then plunges into the relationship between Jung and an 18-year-old Russian woman who was his first patient. The CurtainUp reviewer felt that the 2 hour and 25 minute play "tells us more about Jung's affairs than his ideas."

Cronenberg always seems to be shuffling priorities on his projects, dependent on financing and other factors that are probably out of his control, but the combination of Cronenberg and psychoanalysis sounds potent, a great match of filmmaker and subject, and probably a welcome change of pace for the director after A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Producer Jeremy Thomas has an excellent track record; in addition to Crash, he and Cronenberg worked together on Naked Lunch. No word on casting yet, but Fiennes previously gave an excellent performance in Cronenberg's Spider, so I imagine he would be first in line to recreate Jung on the big screen.

Fox411's Roger Friedman is reporting that Julia Roberts could be joining Nicole Kidman in the romantic comedy, Monte Carlo. Fox spoke with Kidman during the NYFF premiere for Margot at the Wedding (read Ryan's review here) when the actress confirmed Roberts involvement. Monte Carlo centers on three schoolteachers that pose as socialites in the glamorous city to snag a rich husband. Kidman signed on for the project back in July with The Family Stone director, Tom Bezucha, who is also co-writing the script with Maria Maggenti. The story is based on the novel Headhunters by Jules Bass and the movie was inspired by the Marilyn Monroe classic, How To Marry a Millionaire.

Roberts has relatively absent from the screens for the last few years, with only the odd role here and there, but she appears to be returning to work full time. The gal will next appear in the political drama Charlie Wilson's War, followed by the dramatic weepy, Fireflies in the Garden. Last but not least, she has just signed for another romantic role in the Friday Night Knitting Club with actor and writer Mike Binder (Reign Over Me). Kidman is busy back at work on Baz Luhrmann's epic, Australia, as well as the period drama, The Reader with Ralph Fiennes. So in spite of some rather low blows in the press, Kidman has no shortage of work, and has already lined up the drama, Need, with long-time friend Naomi Watts. Although, judging from Kidman's past attempts with comedy, she could probably use the help from a veteran like Roberts.