Tobey maguire Tagged Articles at Cinematical

An intriguing remake rumor has popped up on CHUD. Devin Faraci is reporting that longtime friends Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio might star in a remake of Carol Reed's classic thriller The Third Man. Canal Plus is said to be shopping around the project, which includes a screenplay penned by Steven Knight.

The details are scarce (and it may not happen at all), so it's not known whether this would be a straight up-remake or a rewrite, or who Maguire or DiCaprio would be playing. But the idea is enough to undoubtedly cause reactions of anger and panic around film fans, but think about this calmly. It's not as though Maguire, DiCaprio, or Knight are untalented slouches, and it's the kind of story that could be given a modern rewrite and stand on its own feet. I would actually love to see this rewritten, and set in Iraq or Afghanistan. I'd love to see it set it in years immediately preceding the Soviet Union, putting Harry Lime and Holly Martins in the dangerous, free-for-all Yeltsin economy. (Faraci suggests making it sci-fi, which would be very brave and very awesome.)

The Third Man is one of those stories like Dashiell Hammet's Red Harvest that is flexible enough to work in another adaptation and lose nothing of its original power. I'm very curious to see if this comes together, and in what form. DiCaprio would be the perfect actor to play the smirking Lime. I just hope they don't mimic my favorite scene. Some things are better left to Welles.

If you live in New York, you may have caught the Broadway musical Rock of Ages, and left high on hairspray and Whitesnake. But most of us will be encountering this little-hit-that-could in its big screen incarnation. Late last year, Tobey Maguire and New Line bought the rights to the musical with an eye to bringing it to the multiplex (a bidding war that involved three studios). Now Variety reports that it's setting out on the right foot by hiring Adam Shankman as its director. The film will go into production next summer, and is aiming to hit theaters in 2011.

The story of Rock of Ages isn't terribly original. A couple meets at the Sunset Strip club Rock of ages, fall in love, and try to stay together amid the sex, drugs, and excess of 1980s rock. Their turmoils are all set to the tunes of Journey, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Joan Jett, and Jon Bon Jovi. Like Mamma Mia!, it's all an excuse for a great nostalgic soundtrack, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Shankman tells Variety that he was itching to get back into musical territory after Hairspray, and sees Rock of Ages as a distinctly masculine musical: "When I watched Rock of Ages, I was struck by the fact that not only had much of the audience seen it more than once, every guy in the audience knew the words to the songs. I thought, 'This is Mamma Mia! for dudes.' What an extraordinary opportunity to open the genre to an audience that otherwise wouldn't go see a musical." If this could succeed in converting ordinary men to musicals (something Hugh Jackman hasn't even managed), I will love it on principle. Maybe it'll even bring back big hair -- and yes, I wish for that every day because I never got to rock that look.

Pop below the jump for a little Rock of Ages from the Tony Awards. Think it'll convert the menfolk out there?

I can't wait for the day when Spider-Man 4 leaves the world of speculation, and moves before the camera. Until that day, we can enjoy plenty of rumors and hints as to who or what Spidey will be battling in #4.

Sam Raimi recently gave a few more riddles to the MTV Splash Page, revealing that they still don't have a villain for Spider-Man 4. While Raimi "loves" the story of the Lizard, the Spider-Man team isn't exactly looking to tie up those little mentions of Dr. Curt Connors. Instead, look for a baddie who will toy with Peter's internal and external demons a little bit: "What we're trying to do right now is really understand the journey Peter is going to go on this time and have the villain maybe be a counter to that growth, something that he has to overcome. Or maybe he has to grow in a way to overcome the villain, because there always seem to be stories of coming of age, of a young man growing up and learning things about life, so once we are identifying the exact movement that Peter has to grow to, I think the villain-and we're trying this right now; we're trying to choose a villain based on who would be the proper counter to that growth, so we really have dramatic conflict."

With several drafts and screenwriters behind them, and Spider-Man 4 set to go before cameras in March or April, I'm honestly surprised they still don't have a villain in mind. Naturally, Raimi might be exaggerating and they are working with one (there's a coy "I can't say" at the beginning), but I find its sketchiness a bit troubling. What about you, Cinematical readers and Spidey fans?And does Raimi's latest riddle give you any indication of who the villain might be?

We've been pretty hard around here on a certain movie with adamantium claws. Yes, whenever I'm reminded of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which comes out on DVD and Blu-ray today, I wish I had been shot with amnesia bullets. Still, I appreciated Hugh Jackman's determined efforts to stay out of the damn costume. Whenever Wolverine has donned a uniform in the previous X-Men flicks, he looks like he can't wait to rip it off. In his natural state, as the wandering, memory-challenged Logan, he repels latex like Congress repels taxpayers.

Most actors quickly declare that the biggest challenge in superhero movies is the costume: how to avoid looking sheepish or silly while wearing a form-fitting, custom-made suit that may reveal more than most of us are willing to bare at the beach? With advanced, super-realistic, computerized special effects and ripped body / stunt doubles available as needed, though, I think the bigger challenge lies in bringing the secret identities of superheroes to life: all those moments when supposedly normal people are leading supposedly "normal" lives.

Who, then are the most convincing superheroes without costumes? What actors and actresses have made you believe that their very human characters on screen could transform into larger-than-life heroes and/or heroines with a quick dash into a phone booth? Mind you, I'm not just talking Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen ...

1. Famke Janssen as Jean Gray in X-Men
She cuts a fine figure, doesn't she? Famke Janssen is undoubtedly sexier than Wolverine when they both suit up, yet she really shines whenever she's using her brain -- which is all the time. She doesn't need the costume to be one of the smartest, most empathetic, and most lethal people, in the universe.

Given the long and fruitful friendship of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, it should really come as no surprise that Campbell is going to be in Spider-Man 4. What could be surprising is how much screen time he might earn this time around.

Campbell told Access Hollywood that Spider-Man 4 is set to begin shooting January 2010, and that he's been told by Raimi that he has "a major part. The kicker is that the well-chinned actor knows not what that role might be. Access Hollywood immediately began speculating that he'll be stepping into the villain's shoes, and says fans are touting him for Mysterio. But hey, in our own comments we currently have one vote for Campbell as Mysterio and one for him as Lizard, so I'm going to borrow their investigative technique and say that fan consensus is divided.

As Slashfilm notes, "a major part" could simply mean that Campbell's recurring cameo could throw another kink into Peter Parker's life. As Spidey and Campbell fans know, every time he's appeared in the series he's done something to nudge the superhero into his destiny, and it could be that he does something very drastic to Parker's life. Perhaps he's Mephisto and he'll pull a One More Day, reverse the entire franchise series, and that's how we'll get our reboot.

The Spider-Man franchise might just be heading down the road for a divorce from Sam Raimi and all his players, if I'm interpreting Variety and its sources right. Sony has "quietly" hired screenwriter James Vanderbilt to pen the fifth and sixth installments of the web-slinger franchise. Nothing wrong with that at all, of course. Vanderbilt has good work to his name, and a superhero franchise could do a lot worse than hiring the Zodiac screenwriter. However, Raimi didn't care for Vanderbilt's take and replaced him with David Lindsay-Abaire. He's currently having Gary Ross rewrite that script. However, Sony / Columbia and Marvel Studios loved Vanderbilt's ideas, in part because they form a big, interconnected storyline. (I can see Marvel all over that, can't you?) In fact, that was the original plan for Spidey films 4 and 5 which were to be shot back to back, but the idea was scrapped.

But here's where things could get really ugly. Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst are reportedly not signed to installments 5 and 6, and with Raimi boarding World of Warcraft, the studio is even more uncertain that he'll return. So Vanderbilt's scripts are being eyed not as sequels but as a blueprint for a franchise "reboot." Obviously, there's no further details on what that would mean beyond a new cast and crew.

But Sony is that anxious for more Spider-Man, and they feel the franchise is moving too slowly. Now, I'm sure a lot of fans feel the same way, but at what cost do we want more Spider-Man? I'm cool with them bringing another director on board, as it could breathe some fresh life into the series, but new actors? If Spidey was a character that had numerous incarnations, that'd be one thing, but he's only ever been Peter Parker, and Parker and Maguire are one and the same in my mind. This is going to be one web that'll be very interesting (and possibly very disappointing) to see Sony weave ...

View the full poster by clicking gallery below

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Brothers, starring Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal. Directed by Jim Sheridan (In America, In the Name of the Father), Brothers is an English-language remake of Susanne Bier's 2004 film of the same name, and it follows the intricate relationships between a marine, his wife and his fresh-out-of-jail brother.

Maguire plays Sam, a marine who goes missing overseas during his fourth tour of duty. When Sam is assumed dead, his wife Grace (Portman) tries to pull her family back together with help from Sam's black-sheep brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal). One thing leads to another, lines are crossed, and when it's discovered that Sam is actually alive, our marine returns home to a very interesting (and uncomfortable) family dynamic. A very solid trailer for the film just debuted earlier this week and this three-way cast proves they're certainly capable of delivering the goods. I also like how the poster cuts off a quarter of Portman's body, as if that's the part that now belongs to her husband's brother. It's subtle and well done.

Brothers is due out in theaters on December 4. See the full poster by clicking below.

One day he's getting tortured by the Taliban and then heads home to discover that his bad-boy brother is getting saucy with his wife. The next, he's taking part in a modern War of the Roses. Variety reports that Tobey Maguire is taking on more marital dysfunction by starring in Jacob Estes' new indie black comedy called The Details alongside Elizabeth Banks.

The pair (which was once set to be Banks and James McAvoy) will play a troubled married couple struggling with infidelity and other marital issues. But here's where things get strange: "their lives [are] further complicated by ravenous raccoons burrowing under the sod in their back yard. A disagreement over how to dispatch the pests creates a chain reaction of mishaps that include a murder by bow and arrow." There's nothing like a few coonies to ruin a marriage! Just in case that insane plot isn't enough to whet your appetite, the cast also contains Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert, Anna Friel, and Laura Linney, the latter playing an eccentric neighbor. (You can also check out many details of the plot here.)

Maguire reportedly decided to hop onto this project before heading back to Spider-Man land, and I say: "Huzzah!" As much as the webbed wonder is great, it's nice to see us one more reminder that Maguire has talents outside of comic superheroes.

You'll have to dip a bit back into the memory banks for this project. Back in 2007, well before Jake Gyllenhaal got buff for the Prince of Persia, he and Tobey Maguire were circling an English-language remake of Susanne Bier's Brothers. No longer rivals for the web of Spider-Man, the two would play brothers that get torn apart by war, assumed death, and familial drama. The film will finally get released this year, and there's a solid first trailer over at ET Online.

Maguire plays Sam, a marine off on his fourth tour of duty while Gyllenhaal plays Tommy, his charming bad-boy brother, fresh out of jail. When Sam's copter is shot down, he's assumed dead and his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) tries to pull her life back together. Tommy helps, the line blurs, and in true Hollywood fashion, just as she starts to fall for Tommy ... it turns out Sam is alive. He was tortured by the Taliban, but now returns home visibly on edge both from his experiences and Tommy's inclusion in his family's life.

Talk about a welcome change. The film looks good. It's been long enough since the seemingly daily influx of war films that the premise doesn't seem tired, and it's almost jarring to see Maguire getting serious again -- in a gaunt and crazy Machinist sort of way. Since the first Spider-Man came out, the only non-webbed wonder movies to get released were Seabiscuit and The Good German. It's about time Maguire showed off more non-Peter Parker fare. As for Jake, well, he doesn't really look like a bad boy and brings to mind Marc Blucas in Prey for Rock & Roll, but that's not entirely surprising.

The film is slated to hit screens on December 4.