catherine zeta-jones Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Here's the first good news of 2009! Variety reports that Hugh Jackman is now off the official wishlist for Cleo, the Steven Soderbergh musical that will reportedly star Catherine Zeta-Jones as the legendary Egyptian queen, and feature the music penned by Guided by Voices.

Jackman has apparently left talks not because of the concept, but due to a scheduling conflict. (Maybe it's Drive, since everything else has vanished from his IMDB page.) Ray Winstone remains in discussion to play Julius Caesar, and Zeta-Jones is still rumored to be Cleopatra herself.

I may be one of the few celebrating the news. I know Soderbergh is a master of taking preposterous concepts and turning them into cinematic brilliance, but a Cleopatra rock musical just sounds like a spectacularly bad idea. Jackman is a wonderful stage performer, and I've been dying to see him in a movie musical for years. (If you've never seen his pre-Wolverine turn in Oklahoma!, do yourself a favor and rent it now.) But not this one -- Soderbergh or not, it just sounds too campy to be believed.

Since Variety is stumped as to what caused the schedule conflict, I'll make a New Year's wish and hope his production shingle has decided to really get moving on that remake of Carousel. Jackman has had the rights to it for awhile, and to see him singing and dancing in that is ten times better than seeing him as a rocking Mark Antony.

Well, duh. That's what you're thinking after reading that headline. Of course Steven Soderbergh is going to make a live-action 3D rock 'n' roll musical about Cleopatra. He couldn't find a backer for the animated all-female pop opera about Nikola Tesla, and the black-and-white German-language kabuki play about Attila the Hun fell through, so naturally the live-action 3D rock 'n' roll musical about Cleopatra would have to be his next choice. Anybody could have seen that coming.

Soderbergh, who has directed about 20 theatrical features covering about 15 different genres and styles, seems determined to make his most unusual film yet. Variety says it's called Cleo, it's budgeted at $30 million, and Soderbergh is pursuing Catherine Zeta-Jones (whom he worked with in Traffic and Ocean's Twelve) to play Ms. Patra and Hugh Jackman to be her Marc Antony. We know they can both sing. But can they sing in 3D??

Oh, and in case it didn't sound weird enough already, the music is by indie rock band Guided By Voices (founded in 1983; disbanded in 2004) with a script by the band's former bass player (and sometime author), James Greer. Soderbergh is apparently a GBV fan -- one of their songs appeared in his Full Frontal, and the frontman, Robert Pollard, provided some music for Bubble.

Soderbergh is a busy guy. His four-hour Che Guevara biopic is about to be released, he's just finished a whistleblower comedy-drama called The Informant starring Matt Damon, he's preparing to make a Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas, and his next project, The Girlfriend Experience, will be released simultaneously in theaters, on DVD, and on the HDNet movie channel. For an extra fee, Soderbergh will come to your house and act it out for you. Cleo will have to wait at least until after Girlfriend Experience, and maybe after the Liberace thing. And who knows, in the meantime he might decide to make a futuristic outer-space epic about Benjamin Franklin and Charo. You never know with that guy!

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Death Defying Acts, starring Guy Pearce, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Saoirse Ronan and Timothy Spall. The film follows famed magician Harry Houdini (Pearce), who, while on a tour of Britain in 1926, enters into a passionate affair with a Scottish psychic (Zeta-Jones). Ah, but this psychic has plans of her own, and, along with her daughter (Ronan), attempt to con the magician by using the one event that's plagued him for many years: the death of his mother. Back when Death Defying Acts premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, our own Scott Weinberg said it was "lovely to look at and packed with some solid doses of charm and wit ... this is full-bore Hollywood fantasy all the way."

Death Defying Acts arrives in theaters in NY and LA on July 11.

You know that man who is playing Howie 'The Captain' Archibald, Nate's dad, in Gossip Girl? It's Sam Robards, the son of Jason Robards and Lauren Bacall, the godson of Katharine Hepburn. And now The Hollywood Reporter posts that he has nabbed the spot of Catherine Zeta-Jones' ex. Robards will play her ex-husband in the upcoming romcom The Rebound, which is coming to us from Bart Freundlich.

This is the story of a woman who becomes a divorced, single mom in New York City. With the world of men at her fingertips, she turns her gaze next door, to her much younger 25-year-old neighbor (played by Justin Bartha), and begins to rebound. THR says that "Robards' character is shocked to discover that his ex is romantically involved with a younger man." As would anyone ... I wonder if young men hold the key to Catherine's heart, of it if makes her bounce right back to Robards?

In the meantime, if you're a fan of the actor, you can check him out on Broadway this summer. He's replacing Charles Edwards in 39 Steps.

He got the honor of acting in the super-successful, critically acclaimed, award-winning Gigli. (I kid.) Then he got to sink his cinematic teeth into two helpings of National Treasure, and one Failure to Launch. Now Justin Bartha is getting to play the young boyfriend of the one and only Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Variety reports that the actor has signed on to star with Zeta-Jones in The Rebound -- a romantic comedy currently filming in New York City that I first posted about last month when the actress signed on. The film stars Zeta-Jones as a mom in Manhattan who starts to date her neighbor (Bartha), a 25-year-old young man. As I noted then, this seems to be project close to writer/director Bart Freundlich's heart. He just so happens to be Julianne Moore's 9-years-younger husband. Funny enough, that is also the age difference between Bartha and Zeta-Jones, who then, in turn, is 25 years younger than her real-life man, Michael Douglas. It's age gaps all around!

This will mark Freundlich's first written/directed feature without Moore, who has acted in his three other features -- The Myth of Fingerprints, World Traveler, and Trust the Man. How he fares with Zeta-Jones, we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, both Catherine and Justin have other films on the way, like her Death Defying Acts and his Shoe at Your Foot.

A bit of Catherine Zeta-Jones' reality is headed to the big-screen, but flipped. As we all know, she's married to Michael Douglas, who is 25* years her senior (exactly, since they were born on the same day). Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that she will star in a new May-December romantic comedy that Bart Freundlich is directing. Freundlich is a director (Trust the Man), but is probably better known for being the husband of actress Julianne Moore.

The romcom doesn't have a title yet, but it will star Zeta-Jones as "a single New York City mom who captures the eye of her new neighbor, a 25-year-old man." Yes, she's getting a taste of Maude, but with a more respectable age difference. This is also a mirror, of sorts, for Freundlich, who is 9 years younger than Moore. Man, it's May-December all around!

Production is scheduled to begin next month on the 17th, but they haven't finalized a male lead yet. Hmm... What 25-year-old would be well-cast as Catherine's paramour? Maybe Robert Buckley? He's already dealing with this whole theme on Lipstick Jungle.

*Math corrected...

It has been a long, long time since former Cinematical EIC Karina Longworth wrote about Catherine Zeta-Jones being cast as Lana Turner in Stompanato. So long, in fact, that I was only a mere commenter at the time, with hopes and dreams of becoming a Cinematical blogger (yes, that was me commenting on her post). And, more importantly, so long that I was pretty sure the project had either disappeared or at least lost its stars, which included Keanu Reeves as Turner's gangster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato. Well, according to The New Zealand Herald, Zeta-Jones is still on board, though the script is also still in development. Also, I've discovered that Reeves did indeed drop out of the film. And I've decided to assume that Adrian Lyne is no longer directing (though maybe he is).

I'm especially excited about this film because I recently read Turner's autobiography, Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth, and finally learned all I needed to know about the Stompanato scandal. For those unfamiliar, I'll keep it simple: Turner, who was married like a million times, had a gangster boyfriend named Johnny Stompanato. Only she didn't know he was a gangster. She didn't even know his name in the beginning. But he was abusive and obsessive and was badly affecting her career, so one day she stabbed him. Oh, wait, that was her teenage daughter, Cheryl, who done it. Yet many people have alleged that Turner was the actual murderer (still in self-defense, of course).

Anyway, one thing I remember from her autobiography is that she wrote about being asked who would play her in a biopic. She didn't say Catherine Zeta-Jones. Actually, she claimed the woman hadn't been born yet. At the time of the claim, Zeta-Jones had already been born. So much for Turner's ability to see the future.

According to the New York Daily News, Catherine Zeta-Jones will no longer co-star in Nine, the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, which itself was an adaptation of Fellini's classic film 8 1/2. Zeta-Jones would have played the role of Claudia, "the alluring muse of skirt-chasing director Guido Contini." The reason for the falling out is allegedly -- it's always allegedly with the Daily News -- because director Rob Marshall (the inexplicably Best Picture-winning Chicago) "wouldn't give in to her demand to beef up her role." The script is adapted by Michael Tolkin (The Player), and apparently the creative team wasn't willing to change the story around. A friend of Zeta-Jones told the Daily News "She was never 100% committed to Nine. She had a meeting with Rob. She'd love to work with him again. But she felt she'd done the same sort of role in Chicago. The script wasn't an issue."

Marshall has moved on and is looking for a younger actress to hop in and play Claudia. The list of possibles includes Natalie Portman, Liv Tyler, Keira Knightley, Kate Hudson, and Gwyneth Paltrow. (In what world is Gwyneth Paltrow a reasonable substitute for Zeta-Jones?) The cast of Nine, one of the more attractive bunches of actors in recent memory, features Javier Bardem as Guido, Sophia Loren as Guido's mother, Penelope Cruz as his mistress Carla, and Marion Cotillard as Luisa Contini. Reportedly (another word for "allegedly"), Katie Holmes was "heartbroken" when Marshall turned her down for a role. Who would you guys like to see in the part? We'll keep you posted on how this drama turns out.

Additionally, Variety has announced today that the Weinstein Co. has officially delayed production on Nine due to the script not being ready.

Variety is reporting that director/choreographer Rob Marshall and uber-producer Harvey Weinstein have started putting together a cast for Nine, a film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. Javier Bardem was just offered the role of director Guido Contini, who "experiences a creative and personal crisis as he tries to balance all the women in his life." The musical was inspired by Federico Fellini's classic 8 1/2, and the Contini role was originated onstage by the great Raul Julia. In its recent Broadway revival, Contini was played by Antonio Banderas. I love Bardem, but I have to wonder why Banderas isn't reprising his role here. He played the part in 2003 and he still looks like a million bucks, so the reason can't be that he's gotten too old. Curious.

Regardless, the real appeal of this film is going to be its women. If Marshall gets his first choices, this will be one beautiful cast. Marion Cotillard (Russell Crowe's love interest in A Good Year) is set to play Contini's wife. Penelope Cruz, whom I never thought too highly of until her terrific work in Volver, is in talks to play Contini's mistress, Carla. Marshall hopes to sign his Chicago co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones to play "the director's muse." Zeta-Jones isn't signed yet, but judging by what she told MTV's Movie Blog last month, she's a done deal. Said Jones, "I'd read the phone book with Rob Marshall. To put a musical in a director's hands, for me it can only be [him]." Marshall is also trying to get Sophia Loren, one of the sexiest women of all time, on board to play Contini's mother, who comes to Contini as a ghost. Michael Tolkin, best known for adapting his novel The Player for Robert Altman, is adapting the script. I'm no fan of Marshall, I thought Chicago was insanely overrated, and Mem-Snores of a Geisha was agony to sit through. Still, I dig musicals and it'd be great to see all of these gorgeous women on the big screen at once.

I don't like movies in which a strong, confident woman learns (often through humiliation) that her life simply isn't going to be fulfilling until she finds herself a man and maybe a child or two. I don't care if it's Bette Davis in Now, Voyager or Diane Keaton in Baby Boom, it's insulting to single women, and I was a single woman for long enough that I still feel insulted. This was the bias I carried into No Reservations, in which Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a top-notch chef and single woman whose life is obviously missing something, and I don't mean a kitchen blowtorch, either.

Zeta-Jones stars as Kate -- and when a single female character shares the name of the title character in The Taming of the Shrew, alarm bells start ringing in my head. Kate is an untiring perfectionist in the kitchen of the bistro where she works to create lovely and delicious cuisine, and you notice that the men in her domain are relegated to the jobs of servers and line cooks. She has a lovely apartment, she dresses beautifully, but she has to see a therapist for "anger issues" because she insults the diners when they don't like her cooking. Oh, and she's not interested in a relationship with her neighbor or anyone else for that matter.

After a tragic family accident, Kate is faced with the possibility of raising her niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin), who is still suffering from grief and shock. When Kate takes time off from the restaurant, her boss (Patricia Clarkson) hires a man to help out, an Italian cook named Nick (Aaron Eckhart). Kate resents the intrusion, but Nick turns out to be an opera-singing, life-loving guy who also gets along well with kids ... I don't need to draw you a picture.