Tom Hooper Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Weinstein Company's financial struggles have been pretty well publicized lately, and if you were Bob and Harvey, you'd probably look to those Shakespeare in Love Oscars, and then hunt down some sold historical stories from Great Britain. So they have gone and aquired themselves The King's Speech, a biopic about King George VI that will be directed by Tom Hooper. It will star that god of British cinema known as Colin Firth as King George VI and always wonderful Geoffrey Rush his speech therapist Lionel Logue.

Actually, the story of George VI is a pretty remarkable one. Known affectionately as Bertie thanks to being born Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George, he was the second son of George V, and not expected to assume the throne. He was plagued by ill-health, a rough Victorian upbringing, and developed a horrible stammer that made him reluctant to speak in public. He seemed destined for a life out of the spotlight, but then his golden brother Edward decided to abdicate, marry Wallis Simpson, and sympathize with Nazis. Poor Bertie was thrust onto the throne, and by his own admission, the news made him break down and sob like a child. Add in that Britain was on the verge of war with Germany, and you have to utterly sympathize with Bertie, and admire him for not just jumping out of a window.

The King's Speech will focus on George's famous speech problems (a big part of why he was sobbing at the news), and how the king sought help from Logue. He overcame his stammer, gained confidence, and became the leader England desperately needed during WWII. It's easy to sneer at as an Oscar-bait picture, but it is a good story, and has a solid cast and crew behind it. Maybe it'll prove inspirational to the Weinsteins too, and pull them out of their rut.

There was just something about James Dean. As a young girl, well before I was able to get my hands on tapes of Giant, East of Eden, and Rebel Without a Cause, I became enamored with him -- not so much in a crushing way, but an intensely curious one. There was just something about him. Obviously, I'm not the only one who thought so -- he's one of Hollywood's biggest icons, even if he did only make three films.

And now one of them is making its way to the screen once again. Variety reports that Universal Pictures has whipped up a crew for a new telling of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Now, to be fair, this is not a remake of the film, but another adaptation of the novel. However, it's still the same source material, and I find it interesting that Variety doesn't even note the adaptation that came to us at the hands of Elia Kazan.

But onto the particulars: John Adams helmer Tom Hooper will direct the feature, filling the space left by a recently departed Ron Howard, and Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement) is penning the adaptation. Hooper says: "There is an opportunity to show the sex, violence, and darkness of Steinbeck's work, along with the optimism and celebration of love." With these guys, it has a good chance of being food, but I'd say that Hampton better do a heck of a job adapting it in a way that it doesn't remind the audience of the James Dean version.

Can you imagine going East of Eden without James Dean?

For those of you who are hard-core soccer fans, this new feature should come as a treat. Variety reports that Sony Pictures Entertainment has picked up the rights to a new biopic on English soccer coach Brian Clough called The Damned United. John Adams director Tom Hooper is helming the feature, from a script by Peter Morgan. You might recognize Morgan's name from films like, oh, The Last King of Scotland, The Queen, The Other Boleyn Girl, and Frost/Nixon.

But there's also a great cast attached to the flick. We've got Michael Sheen, who was excellent in his portrayal of Art Honeyman in Music Within, playing Clough, while Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, and Colm Meaney take on other parts that haven't been divulged. The film is based on the novel from Dave Peace, and will be set in 1974, but flash back to the '60s to tell the story of "Clough's ill-fated 44-day reign as coach of Leeds United, then one of England's most successful soccer teams." From what I can discern, he came in, criticized how the team played, alienated some of the team's star players, led his team to a one and six record, and then got sacked.

I'm far from a big soccer fan, so I have no idea how these things whip up into an interesting feature, but I would be surprised if this wasn't a solid film, considering the talent involved. But what about you fans out there? Is this a story meant for the big screen?