camilla belle Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Kevin Spacey never really went away, so I hesitate to say that he's making a comeback, so let's just say "Hey, it's nice to see Kevin Spacey out and about in the trades again." Then we can talk about Spacey's Father of Invention, and talk about the eclectic foursome he's lured in as costars. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Craig Robinson, Johnny Knoxville, Heather Graham, and Camilla Belle have all signed onto Spacey's independently produced, Trent Cooper-directed film.

The story centers on Robert Axle (Spacey), an inventor who has forgotten his humble roots after making billions, and become an egomanical jerk. In a Lex Luthor twist, one of his inventions has gone awry, maimed hundreds, and landed him in prison serving an eight-year sentence. Freed from his sentence, he goes about rebuilding his personal and professional life, but finds remaking his name and fortune easier than repairing his fractured family.
Rounding out the Axle family is Belle, who plays his daughter, employed as a social worker and reluctant to reconnect with her father. Graham plays her lesbian roommate (is there ever any other kind) who sleeps with Spacey, undoubtedly making the situation that much more prickly. Knoxville plays a store manager who gives the ex-con a job. Somewhere in the mix there's an ex-Mrs. Axle as Robinson plays her new husband, who now lives in the billionaire's house, eats his food, and drives his car, but is nice enough to help him get back on his feet.

There's a whiff of Arrested Development to the plotline, and Robinson makes just about everything funny, so let's all watch out for this one. Production begins this week in New Orleans, so it'll be here before you know it.

I'm totally psyched West Side Story is heading back to Broadway this year (the show opened this week!) -- so much so that I scooped up tickets for my mom for Mother's Day because I'm good like that (awww) -- but Vanity Fair took things one step further and, for one of their splash-tastic photo spreads, decided to pull together a whole bunch of actors to recreate famous scenes from one of the most beloved musicals of all time, with help from photographer Mark Seliger.

Participants included Jennifer Lopez (Anita), Camilla Belle (Maria), Ben Barnes (Tony), Rodrigo Santoro (Bernardo, leader of the Sharks), Brandon T. Jackson (Sharks gang member), Jay Hernandez (Sharks gang member), Chris Evans (Riff, leader of the Jets), Cam Gigandet (Jets gang member), Drake Bell (Jets gang member) and Robert Pattinson (Jets gang member). Twilight represent! Other folks who pop up (as various group members) include Ashley Tisdale, Brittany Snow, Sean Faris, Shane Lynch, Melonie Diaz, Minka Kelly, Natalie Martinez ... and I think that's everyone. Sometimes I forget how big this ensemble cast is.

I know it's early, and this is simply a photo shoot celebrating the musical's return to Broadway, but if they were to ever stage a remake one imagines the cast (and the film) would look something like this -- a smorgasbord of some of Hollywood's hottest up-and-coming talent. Whaddya think? Is it only a matter of time? Check out a few of the images below, then head over to Vanity Fair for all the fascinating details.

I scanned this Variety article in vain, looking for some mention that Cecil B. DeMille had arisen from the grave purely to revive bombastic Biblical epics. But no. Nor is it April 1, so this has to be legitimate, as unlikely as it seems.

Apparently, Aloe Films is producing a film called Mary, Mother of Christ with Camilla Belle in the title role. But it's the rest of the cast and characters that sends this into truly "Whoa, really?" land. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is signed to play the duel roles of Gabriel and Lucifer, while Peter O'Toole will be playing Symeon. Currently in talks to join in are Al Pacino and Jessica Lange, who are interested in playing King Herod and Anna the Prophetess.

Start to think that over in your mind -- the crazy eyed Rhys Meyers as archangel and devil, and Al Pacino as King Herod. That's like John Wayne /Greatest Story Ever Told territory, and will either end up cinematic gold or mocked on YouTube.

The film will be helmed not by a resurrected DeMille, but by Alejandro Agresti, and it's currently aiming for a April 2, 2010 release which will coincide with Good Friday, making it one of those event films on par with The Passion of the Christ or The Nativity Story.

I don't mean to sound snarky at all, though I wince at the political and religious frenzy that seems to surround such releases. I'm merely surprised at the level of talent that's attached to this, yet it warranted such a whispery mention in Variety -- it's almost like they can't quite believe it either.

Maybe it's all in the context.

Earlier this week, I saw He's Just Not That Into You, which took place in Baltimore and may as well have taken place in the Mojave Desert or on a blank stage; the filmmakers didn't incorporate that city's personality in the slightest. It's a totally generic cityscape, and it doesn't help the already underwritten characters. The other thing that movie did was to drag on past the two-hour mark, obsessively wrapping up even the tiniest scraps of plot thread, or, in other words, flogging a dead horse. But then, the following night, I saw Paul McGuigan's Push. While not a classic by any stretch, I was endlessly impressed by how thoroughly the filmmakers incorporated its Hong Kong location; it feels like they actually spent real time there, and understood some of the local customs. And, at the end, the film merely stops when it gets to a satisfying stopping point, even though there's a bit more plot left to go. (It's the old showbiz adage: "always leave them wanting more.") It felt great, like someone was alive behind the camera, actually thinking about ways to make the movie.

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday that nears, it seemed only fitting that our minds turned to those films for which we are most unexpectedly grateful, those flops and duds, those bombs and turkeys rife with unintentional humor and renewed entertainment values. Now, we've pretty much stuck with the past decade or so with our picks; anything before that has either been done right by MST3K or is probably titled Showgirls.

With that said, please enjoy this Cinematical Seven responsibly, and do feel free to contribute your own personal favorite howlers of late in the comments below...

1. Twilight (2008)

Oh, dear God, I'm kidding. J/K!

UPDATE: THR has just confirmed that Johnny Depp will indeed play the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which is currently in pre-production. Disney announced the news earlier today. Depp was rumored to be playing the role for a couple months now, and it definitely suits the actor. The film itself will combine live action and motion-capture animation, and it will be released in digital 3-D. Newcomer Mia Wasikowska has been cast as Alice. Additionally, it's now bring reported that Depp will also take on a role in The Lone Ranger (IESB says he'll be playing Tonto).

Good ol' Ben Affleck must have gone stir crazy. We haven't seen him on the big screen since 2006, and now he's got a bunch of projects on the way. Last week there was The Town, and now The Hollywood Reporter posts that he's in talks to star in The Company Men, with John Wells directing. This is not to be confused with the Ron Livingston-starring The Company Men, which is also in the works. Both are a bit similar in plot -- Livingston gets to try and save a sinking company in a crappy economy while Affleck will get laid off and struggle with the fallout. Hopefully one of them will change their name soon.

Anne Hathaway has landed another gig, this time as a "young, commitment-phobic attorney" in The Opposite of Love, so says The Hollywood Reporter. Essentially, this gal's life falls apart when she rejects her current boyfriend who was ready for marriage, like, yesterday. What's the opposite of interesting?

Bruce Willis is picking up a helming hat. Variety reports that he will make his directorial debut with an indie psychological thriller called Three Stories About Joan. Starring Camilla Belle, Kieran Culkin, and Willis in a supporting role, the film focuses on three tragedies in a young woman's life "that cause her to lose her grip on reality." Hmmm ... Demi directs and now Willis? Could one be trying to top the other? Thoughts?

Directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich, who's previously given us Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 B.C. offers audiences the prospect of epic action on a canvas as broad as human history; what it delivers is another matter entirely. In an age where computer-generated effects make spectacle possible, and audiences reward blood-and-thunder films like Gladiator and 300 at the box office, greenlighting 10,000 B.C. must have seemed logical. I can imagine someone pitching the film, to paraphrase Team America: World Police, by saying "It's like 300 .... plus 9,700!"

But as Emmerich's films have always demonstrated, suggesting that spectacle can make up for weak storytelling is like suggesting that having a great haircut can make up for being born without a skeleton. And, so it is in 10,000 B.C., where a variety of off-the-rack plot points and generic heroic journeys are decorated with computer-generated baubles like wooly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers and massed mobs, shiny hollow Christmas ornaments hung on a bare, ruined tree. Emmerich co-wrote 10,000 B.C. with Harald Klosser and put an army of technicians to work on the movie, but the end result simply feels like threads and themes and moments borrowed from other films.

You know, the more I see of Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C, the more confused I get. ComingSoon.net is now hosting six new TV spots for the prehistoric action flick, and if you are anything like me, you are going to spend half your time wondering whether this movie could be as bad as these commercials make it seem. Well, to be fair -- the shots of hunters battling saber tooth tigers and woolly mammoth bits are pretty awesome, but as soon as somebody speaks a line of dialog, it is game over.

The film stars Steven Strait as D'Leh, a mammoth hunter who is on a mission to save his tribe when his girlfriend (played by Camilla Belle) is kidnapped by a warlord. After discovering a group of warriors long thought to be extinct, D'Leh leads them to take on the oppressive warlord. Meanwhile, the new TV spots throw in plenty of Braveheart-esque moments of storming the battlements and lots of shouting and chest beating.

After you watch the first couple of trailers you might be wondering why I'm assuming that 10,000 B.C is going to be so uproariously bad. I know that it might look good, but let's consider the evidence. For starters, it's written and directed by Roland Emmerich, the man behind such gems as Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow -- not to mention that most of the so-called pre-historic extras are just way too 'modelized' to look even remotely authentic. Finally, I've been going to the movies long enough to know that when a film's release date is pushed back not once, but twice, that it is never a good sign. 10,000 BC will finally hit theaters on March 7th, 2008.

OK, so it's not like Roland Emmerich is known for making the best movies. But one thing is for sure, he does know how to make the most of his FX budgets. ComingSoon.net has the new poster for Emmerich's prehistoric adventure flick, 10,000 B.C. If nothing else, at least this latest poster is a step up from the last one . Sure, it might be similar (and borrowing heavily from 300), but at least this one definitely has a little more style to it. As Scott had pointed out last week, there is definitely the potential for some truly cheesy moments, and after that trailer you can't blame him for coming to that particular conclusion. But who knows? Maybe Emmerich is going to surprise us all with this one. But if you're considering the fact that the film's release date has already been pushed back twice, it's not likely this movie is going to be anything other than a guilty pleasure for most audiences.

10,000 B.C stars Steven Strait as D'Leh, a young hunter and favored son of a tribe on the brink of extinction. Our hero is on a mission to save his girlfriend (Camilla Belle) from a warlord, all the while battling Mammoths and other prehistoric beasties. ComingSoon also has a pretty impressive photo you can check out of a face off between our fearless mammoth hunter and a sabre-toothed tiger. Like I said, you can't fault Emmerich when it comes to the spectacle of movie making. But for those of you out there (myself included) who had the misfortune of sitting through The Day after Tomorrow, then you know just how lame an Emmerich film can get. So keep your fingers crossed until March 7th, 2008 when 10,000 B.C. hits theaters.

Those pesky U.S. government agencies -- they always have to make things difficult. No, I'm not talking about getting a passport, although that seems to be hellish these days, but about the groups looking to capture or neutralize the "different" people. After watching E.T. and similar films as a kid, I've had a love/hate relationship with special abilities -- I've wanted to read minds, see the future, etcetera, but I also feared that some scary, government agency would then hunt me down and conduct tests and experiments on me. If the government didn't get me, I was sure some corporation would fool me into working for them and fulfilling their evil plans, like Dark Visions. Not fun.

It looks like my fantastical childhood fear is going to be relived on the big screen soon with a supernatural thriller called Push. The film stars Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond), Dakota Fanning (Hounddog), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) and Camilla Belle (The Chumscrubber) as young American ex-pats who are hiding out in Hong Kong. See, they all have telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities, so they're trying to hide from a government agency. As The Hollywood Reporter describes it: "They must band together and use their different talents to try to escape the control of the division." Where's Magneto and Professor X when you need them?! The film, which was written by David Bourla, will be directed by Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin).