A brand new trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has just arrived online via Apple (head there to view it in brilliant HD). Directed by David Fincher, Benjamin Button stars Brad Pitt as a man who's born old and slowly begins to age backwards. The film tells his life story -- one that follows him through a war and a love story with Cate Blanchett (the two also starred opposite one another in Babel). And in true extended trailer fashion, this one gives us a lot more meat -- snippets of scenes and dialogue from across the entire film. Visually, it looks stunning, and I wouldn't be surprised if this freakish flick hit the radar hard come Oscar time. Check out a few stills from the trailer up top and below, then head over to Apple to view the whole thing.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button hits theaters Christmas Day.

Whaddya think?

We all know that David Fincher is an uncompromising director (and why shouldn't he be? The guy is one of the best working today). But, even if you don't like the man, you have to admire someone who is truly willing to put his money where his mouth is. In an interview unearthed by The Playlist, Heavy Metal publisher (and Fincher's collaborator on the Metal reboot), Kevin Eastman, confirmed that the reason for the project's move from Paramount to Sony was not because of problems with the sex and violence (as earlier reported), but because of another film altogether. When Metal first jumped studios, there was speculation that Fincher was having trouble getting the green light because of Metal's risqué subject matter. But, it wasn't Metal they were fighting about, it was Fincher's upcoming fantasy tale, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

According to Eastman, "We developed it [Heavy Metal] for Paramount in January... And it was time for them to make a decision [about going forward with the project] and they were at odds with Fincher over another project, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' [because] they wanted him to reduce the running time... and so they said, 'Until you step up to do what we want you to do with Benjamin, we're not going to green light any other of [your] movies.' And David said, 'Fine, f**k you, I'm going to set up [Heavy Metal] somewhere else,' so we jumped over to Sony and set it up there." You can't help but wonder what Paramount was thinking? Maybe the likely answer is that they were not prepared for Fincher to call their bluff.

After the jump ... guess who's directing Heavy Metal???

Every year at Telluride, they do three tributes; this year's honorees are directors David Fincher and Jan Troell and veteran actress Jean Simmons. Last year at Telluride, as you may recall, they showed a 20-minute sneak of the hotly anticipated There Will Be Blood at the end of the Daniel Day-Lewis tribute. This year, with Fincher being honored, buzz abounded that we'd get a sneak peek at his newest film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

There's been a lot of, well, curiousity about this film, which is based on a 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages backwards, and anytime a short story is adapted into a full length film, there's always the question of whether the storyline will stretch to fill the length of a feature film. But having a director like Fincher at the helm and talent like Pitt and Blanchett in the lead roles has been enough to make the project sound interesting.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to catch this extended TV spot for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button during NBC's Olympic coverage, though, luckily, one person did. I imagine this will eventually become the film's second trailer, and it'll hopefully arrive online in a higher quality at some point this week, but for the time being you can scope out a somewhat decent (except for the annoying beeps here and there) video of the spot above (courtesy of The Tube).

Some of what's included here is also in the film's first trailer (catch that in HD on the flick's official website), but we also have a bunch more dialogue, tons of amazing visuals and .... well, watch for yourself. While you never know what the final product will deliver, I can say this film is showing some tremendous, buzz-worthy promise right now -- especially with a director like David Fincher and a cast that includes Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (last time these two shared the screen, Babel was nominated for seven Oscars). Needless to say, I'm preemptively putting this on my top ten list for 2008 and crossing my fingers at the same time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button arrives in theaters on December 19.

The cover for the spiffy new movie edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button reads: "the inspiration for the upcoming major motion picture." Anyone who reads the famous 1922 short story, about a man who is mysteriously born a septuagenarian and begins to age backwards, will immediately realize that it can't be any more than that. My copy is about fifty small, large-print pages, and it takes no more than twenty minutes to read. There are only about four characters of any note, and each of their relationships is bitter and hollow; the whole thing is a quick, moody burst of melancholy, a high concept on which Fitzgerald had no interest in lingering.

The anxiously awaited movie is directed by David Fincher – his follow-up to Zodiac -- and written by Eric Roth (the IMDb doesn't list a credit for Fitzgerald), whose resume includes Forrest Gump, The Insider, and Munich. Compared to the source material, the film has virtually a cast of thousands. Benjamin's love interest is renamed Daisy – the story's "Hildegarde" just doesn't have the same ring to it – and is played by Cate Blanchett. "Daisy age 6" is played by Elle Fanning (a.k.a. Little Dakota), though it's hard to imagine what use the film will have for a Daisy age 6: do she and Benjamin now meet while the latter is an "old man" and she a toddler? President Theodore Roosevelt shows up, for some reason. And, at least according to this Ain't It Cool test screening review, the current incarnation of the movie clocks in at three hours.

Gotta respect a producer who "takes his ball and goes home" when a studio balks at his chosen subject matter. Frankly I think there's way too much compromise in the movie biz, especially when you consider that film is supposed to be a balance between commerce and art. Lately it seems like the commerce has taken over. Like cancer.

Anyway, I just fan-ranted for a minute, but that's what happens when the name David Fincher comes up. For a while now, the director of fine films like Seven, Fight Club, and Zodiac has been planning to produce a new adaptation of the famous Heavy Metal magazine. If you're even slightly familiar with the publication (or this 1981 movie, which is highly uneven but certainly worth seeing -- and hearing!) then you know that any sort of Heavy Metal movie would inevitably be rated R. Sex, violence, profanity, monsters, huge barrels of cleavage ... Heavy Metal trades in all that stuff big-time. (Plus it's the home of several fantastic artists.)

But according to Hollywood Insider, Paramount got a little skitchy about the project's subject matter. "Too risque for mainstream audiences" is how EW's Nicole Sperling describes it. Mr. Fincher and his collaborators (Kevin Eastman, Steve Niles, and several others) are now offering the project around Hollywood, and it shouldn't take too long for the guys to find a buyer: I can't imagine that an animated feature like this would cost all THAT much, plus it's probably good politics to be pals with David Fincher. Plus, and most important, this project would certainly make some sort of a profit. Obviously it's not a 4,000-screen mid-July tentpole release, but dang ... there's plenty of room at the multiplexes for something different.

Even if that something different is actually based on a 35-year-old magazine.

According to TheGoon.com, Eric Powell's endlessly inventive series has just been optioned by David Fincher, who plans to turn it into a CGI movie. (Is this the first movie to be announced via its character's official domain instead of the trades? I'm sure it isn't, but I find it awesome and worth mentioning nonetheless.)

The Goon is a everything-but-the-kitchen-sink (and probably that too) comic that draws comparisons to (and appearances by) Hellboy. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read it, though I don't seem to be alone in that. The series follows the deformed brawler of the title, who claims to be the enforcer for a mobster named Labrazio. The Goon and his sidekick, Franky, are frequently trading punches with all manner of otherworldly creatures, from zombie armies to aliens -- and from what I'm looking at on Dark Horse, it never gets boring. And it's hilarious. Check out the preview of issue #8, and tell me I'm wrong. (There's lots of Goon previews up on Dark Horse's page, spend the holiday weekend checking them out! I'm going to. Fireworks are overrated.)

While CGI would be the best way to capture the top-notch art, I can't help but wish this was in live action. I would love nothing more than to see a real live Goon beat down some lame vampires, or get omens interpreted by a psychic seal. But already, this is gearing up to be one of the best comic adaptations this side of The Dark Knight -- a top notch director in Fincher, and hilarious source material.

[via CHUD]

After enduring a moderate amount of fuss, our devoted readers can now click here for the Apple-exclusive English-language trailer for Brad Pitt and David Fincher's long-in-the-works The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Apparently made available only in the HD format to correspond with Fincher's expectedly demanding standards, the trailer is indeed that much more striking for it. To borrow my own words for it:

"...while the sparse dialogue clues us in on the surreal nature of the events unfolding, the bigger selling point is the scope with which director Fincher and star Brad Pitt find themselves working. It's as if Fincher tapped into his inner Jeunet, and as for Pitt... well, between this and that Burn After Reading trailer, the man's looking to have one hell of a year, and with any luck, so will audiences."

Benjamin Button is scheduled to hit theaters this Christmas, and when the next trailer for it comes around, we'll be sure to make mention of it once we're certain that everyone can actually watch the thing.

UPDATE: Scratch that, folks. According to JoBlo.com, the trailer has been taken down at the request of the studio and "Fincher himself." Paramount has then assured the site that the trailer will be officially posted - in all its HD glory - on Apple's trailer site in the very near future. Sorry about that, guys, but we'll keep you posted once they get it posted.

Previously available in either en Español or attached to prints of Indiana Jones..., we can now (cannot quite) bring you the English-language trailer for David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, courtesy of JoBlo.com.

Naturally, it still stands that, while the sparse dialogue clues us in on the surreal nature of the events unfolding, the bigger selling point is the scope with which director Fincher and star Brad Pitt find themselves working. It's as if Fincher tapped into his inner Jeunet, and as for Pitt... well, between this and that Burn After Reading trailer, the man's looking to have one hell of a year, and with any luck, so will audiences.

It 's also worth noting that adapting this F. Scott Fitzgerald story for the big screen is screenwriter Eric Roth, whose own Forrest Gump similarly chronicled the life of a man whose presence managed to manifest itself across several eras of American culture and history.

In what is perhaps a fitting sense of time, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button doesn't open until this Christmas, and yet it suddenly can't seem to get here soon enough.

Okay, I bought us a little bit of time with that title, but understand the video above won't be around that long. This is the first Spanish-language trailer for David Fincher's new flick The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, though I have a feeling it's just dubbed and not a completely different trailer from the one currently playing in front of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I've been hearing a lot about this trailer in the past 24 hours; so has Peter from Slashfilm, as his readers have been emailing him -- claiming this trailer is the greatest thing in the history of great things.

It certainly looks odd, wild and beautiful -- almost as if David Fincher and Tim Burton had a child; this is what it would look like. The clean, crisp full English-language trailer will probably debut within the next few days online, so feel free to wait for that one or snag a taste from the one above. In case you're wondering, Benjamin Button stars Brad Pitt as a man who was born in his eighties and starts aging backwards. That's all I'll say for now; oh, and it also stars Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Elle Fanning and Julia Ormond.

Let us know what you think -- the film comes out December 19th.