adrian brody Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Appearing in Toronto with The Brothers Bloom, actress Rachel Weisz plays Penelope, a lonely orphaned heiress who, targeted to be taken for a ride by the title con artists (Adrian Brody and Mark Ruffalo) discovers a brand new sense of joy in the world, even as she's being fleeced. "I had wanted to do something funny for a long time, and I think when I read The Brothers Bloom, I thought "This is one of the funniest things I've ever read. ..." Weisz spoke with Cinematical in Toronto about her character's journey, learning how to play the harp for a throwaway comedy bit, co-starring with Brody and Ruffalo and much, much more.

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Long awaited in the wake of his 2005 debut Brick, Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom is a magic trick of a film; the second it's over, you want to see it again so you can try to catch how you were tricked, but you also want to see it again so you can return to the joy and wonder of being wrapped up in the nimble, deck-shuffling hands of a born showman. Watching it at first, some of The Brothers Bloom's creative and thematic elements seem like they're on loan from Paul Thomas Anderson (opening narration by Ricky Jay, pop-whiz-bang camera work, the troubled-but-tender relationship between the two brothers) while others feel as if they've been cribbed from Wes Anderson (deadpan confessions, whimsical set design, a parallel-universe setting where people still travel to Europe by steamship). The truth is, as much as The Brothers Bloom may feel like it's cribbing from other films at first, this is Rian Johnson's movie, and even if my more dreary and discerning critical faculties told me the final act goes on, perhaps, a beat too long, my inner moviegoer was sitting bolt upright, smiling, bright-eyed and carried away.

Brothers Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrian Brody) have grown up on the make, in a world of, as Jay's stage-setting narration puts it, "... grifters, ropers, faro fixers, tales drawn long and tall. ..." Stephen builds cons; Bloom gets close to the marks. Stephen's work on their scams is a weird, lucrative form of self-expression; as Bloom puts it, "My brother writes cons the way Russians write novels. ..." Bloom's work on their schemes is a weird, lucrative form of self-loathing; Bloom learns early on that playing a part means never having to be yourself, that he, when " ... being as he wasn't, could be as he wished to be." Stephen wants more. Bloom wants out.

If I know our Eugene Novikov at all, his face is like mine in that it registers somewhere between the two pictured at the right when it comes to the news that The Brothers Bloom, writer-director Rian Johnson's follow-up to his nifty noir Brick, has been bumped back from October 24th (an admittedly crowded weekend) to a limited bow on December 19th, followed by a wide release on January 16th of 2009.

When the fairly reliable Box Office Mojo first mentioned the change, I balked at the thought, but now Johnson has confirmed it on his own message board, saying "There were a few reasons for the move: October and November are crowded as hell, it's a tough tough market, especially for a smart unique film like ours, and we'd have a week or two at the most to sink or swim. Whereas concentrating on a couple markets for awards consideration in December, then pushing the wide in the more open January slot just seemed like a better use of resources."

Wait -- what's that? Eugene gets to see it in a week's time up at Toronto? Excuse me, but I'm suddenly feeling much more like Bang Bang...

Just last month, Kim had brought us a behind-the-scenes look at Wes Anderson's long-awaited, The Darjeeling Limited. While expectations for the film are running high, there's already bad critical response to the film -- and the review from The Hollywood Reporter isn't exactly helping matters. Unfortunately for fans of Anderson, the bad news doesn't end there. Hollywood Elsewhere reports that Anderson's short film Hotel Chevalier will not accompany screenings of The Darjeeling Limited as it had during its festival run. Audiences first got a look at the short film when Darjeeling premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and according to reports, the short film acts as a prequel of sorts to the feature. Chevalier stars Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, and is," a short epilogue of one heartbreaking history of love and the prologue of the travel told in 'The Darjeeling Limited". It's a clever idea, and other filmmakers have tried it before -- the short prologue at the beginning of P.T. Anderson's Magnolia comes to mind. The Darjeeling Limited stars Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman as three brothers attempting to 'bond' during a spiritual quest in India.

According to trade reports, the short will only be shown during festival screenings and will not accompany Darjeeling when it hits theaters on September 29th. I can't say I understand the logic of not including the short in the theatrical release, it's not like Wes Anderson fans would not be willing to sit in their seats for 17 more minutes -- if anything, the addition of the short could help generate a little extra buzz for the film. Although some are saying that Natalie Portman goes nude -- in the flesh -- for the first time, but the film is already rated R so I'm not sure that's a reason. But, if Searchlight decides to keep Hotel Chevalier off the theatrical cut, then at least there is something to look forward to for the DVD release.

[via Dark Horizons]

Sometimes it pays off to be patient. I recently shared casting news about Rian Johnson's next film, The Brothers Bloom. (Johnson being the man who wrote and directed Brick.) After months without word, the film had finally found one leading man -- Adrian Brody, and one sexy female accomplice, Rinko Kikuchi, but no second brother to share in the wacky theiving hijinx with him. With production set to start next month, Johnson has been really cutting it close to the wire, but now he's got his other leading man, and to me, it seems well worth the wait.

Variety has just reported that Mark Ruffalo has signed on as the elder Bloom brother. This comes on the heels of the Anna Paquin and Matt Damon drama, Margaret, and Reservation Road, the dramatic thriller he just finished with Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino. It seems spot-on to me. If past roles are any indication, I'm going to guess that older Bloom will be the slightly neurotic mastermind, while the younger Bloom will be the congenial ladies man. There's not much more news on the film, although Variety has said the following about Kikuchi's role: "[she] will play the brothers' partner in crime who may be hiding secrets of her own." Between Rachel Weisz's crafty heiress and Kikuchi's secretive sidekick, I'm beginning to wonder if this will have some comedy mixed in with the drama. Regardless, we're almost gauranteed a shot of Ruffalo's posterior, so what else could you want?

At last count, there were roughly 20 billion names swirling around the blogosphere in connection with the role of The Joker in the Batman Begins sequel. Out of the muddle, the three that seem to emerge most often are Paul Bettany, Crispin Glover, and Lachy Hulme, whoever that is. While second-hand reports suggest that Hulme is unlikely to play the role and the Glover rumors have recently quieted, the Bettany talk is still going strong. And now a new name can be added to the mix: King Kong (and, lest we forget, Oscar winner) star Adrien Brody has decided that he should get to play the role, though no one from the movie has actually ever approached him about it. Said Brody, "I would love to play The Joker. I think he would be deformed and creepier." (Creepier than what was never made clear.)

I know we've asked about your Joker casting ideas a dozen times already, but does the Brody rumor do anything for you? Personally, I love Bettany and would be more than happy to see him in the role.

You have to feel somewhat bad for Jack Black's publicist after reading the comments he made in the January issue of GQ. Apparently,during filming for King Kong, the actor had a little time off. While some people would use this time to rest up or check in with family, Black went apeshit, literally. He explains, "There was a lost weekend where I had a little time off and I went on a kind of crazy rampage and I started smoking (again). Me and another member of the cast, who shall remain nameless, just running around, dancing around, drinking and Ecstasizing, smoking like a chimney. And then it was over."

What I find funny is that the article here (not the one from GQ) goes on to explain that Black had quit smoking and is on a strict diet. Oh, that's just dandy - what a guy! But what about the freaking Ecstasy that he devoured with a fellow cast member throughout the torrid weekend? Has he quit that? Or is it just part of his "strict diet?" Regardless, we all know Jack is a little off so we can excuse the bad behavior. However, I really would love to know who he was with. Adrien Brody? Naomi Watts? That guy who fell off the boat in that crazy scene? Oh oh - Peter Jackson!? Feel free to guess away...