gary winick Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Seyfried, Redgrave, Garcia Bernal, and Nero Write 'Letters to Juliet'
Filed under: Drama », Romance », Casting », Deals », Scripts »
Be still my Shakespearian heart. Yes, I've written about ol' Will a lot lately, and now it's time for more, although with this round, the Bard is providing the inspiration rather than the story. Variety reports that Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Franco Nero will star in Letters to Juliet, an adaptation of Lise and Ceil Friedman's book. (Not to be confused with this Juliet-inspired project.)Riffing on the book, which talks about Verona and the multitude of people who write letters to Juliet in care of the city, the story will follow a couple (Seyfriend and Garcia Bernal) who vacation in Italy and mistakenly get one of these letters. Written by Redgrave's character, the letter recounts her memories of being romanced during a trip to the country long ago. Inspired, Seyfried heads to Tuscany to find the woman's lost love (Nero). Man, she likes playing Cupid. Anyone want to make bets about how long it will take for her to star in a film AS Cupid?
The project was adapted by Jose Rivera (Motorcycle Diaries and the upcoming On the Road) and Tim Sullivan, and will be directed by Gary Winick, the man behind Tadpole, 13 Going on 30, Charlotte's Web, and Bride Wars. I'm not sure what that will mean for this film -- fluffy romance, something more gritty, a little bit of both? -- but I do like the idea. Production begins in Italy on June 25.
Review: Bride Wars
Filed under: Comedy », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », New in Theaters », 20th Century Fox »
Life. It's a word that describes pretty much everything. Certain movies have "life" in them, like Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married. Somehow, some way, that movie managed to capture a feel of what it really feels like to live, what it feels like to attend a wedding, what it feels like to need and hurt and be lonely. Anne Hathaway was a big part of why that movie worked, playing an essentially selfish, needy character but doing so in a completely three-dimensional way; we understood where her flaws came from, rather than simply being presented with them. Now here is Ms. Hathaway again, in a new movie, Bride Wars, and she manages that life once again, but only in one scene, for one fleeting moment. The rest of the time, for 88 out of its 89 minutes, it's a movie totally devoid of life.
In that scene, Emma (Hathaway) runs into with her ex-BFF's brother, Nate (Bryan Greenberg) and reluctantly goes with him to help him try on his tux (and, of course, tie his bow tie). Her relationship with her fiancé is faltering, her plans are falling apart and she misses her feuding friend. Nate asks her how she's doing. She says "fine." He prods, and she breaks down, all of those emotions: excitement, grief, uncertainty, coming out at once. She re-composes herself and leaves the store. It's an example of a skilled actor overcoming weak, lazy material, which is something I've come to see more and more lately.
The 'Bride Wars' Trailer: A Reason For Head to Hit Wall. Repeatedly.
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », Trailers and Clips »
In writing posts for Cinematical over the last few years, I have been pained at the sheer lack of women-centric comedies that really deal with those parts of female nature that are so very real and relevant. You know -- cool clothes, spray tans, and perfect weddings.Yeah, I like me some fashion and beauty from time to time, and I even have quite the Fluevog fetish, but come on, Hollywood -- this is getting old! I mean, I knew what was coming when word of Bride Wars hit, but seeing the trailer (over at /film) just makes me want to bang my head against the wall many, many times. The hope I had in Gary Winick -- that's gone. The trailer is basically just a parade of stereotypes -- the girls hungry for marriage who have it all planned out and obsess about it, who accidentally find their rings before the proposal (or at least one does), and then busy themselves with body insults, clueless guys, and of course, quickly growing to hate each other over trivial things.
Yeah, it's just a movie, but even fluff can be better than that! Someone needs to send Kate back to the Almost Famous years and remind Anne about the better wedding-centric work out there, like Rachel Getting Married.
Kate Hudson Battles Anne Hathaway
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », Casting », Scripts »
These days, it's hard to believe that Kate Hudson is a Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated actress. It's been years since she twirled as a band-aid, grabbing the hearts of William and Russell. Since then, she's surrounded herself with mainly romantic comedies -- some good, some bad -- and let her award-starting past slip away. All the way back in November of 2006, there was news of a new feature called Bride Wars. At the time, there was word that she had troubles getting the pic off the ground (she's one of the film's producers). She must've had more troubles to make it take this long, but all these months later, Variety reports that she finally has a director, Gary Winick, and has someone to star and war with -- Anne Hathaway. Unlike Katherine Heigl's upcoming 27 Dresses, which is more about inner pain, this is about outwardly-warring brides, who are friends no less! Coming together from the pens of June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson, Karen McCullah Lutz, and Kirsten Smith, "Hathaway and Hudson will play best friends who are pitted against each other when their wedding dates clash. They compete for venues, services and guests, once it's clear that neither will step aside." What is it about weddings that makes some women so crazy? I wonder if they'll end up in the hospital like that insane Grey's Anatomy episode where two women prioritized the perfect wedding over their health and safety?
So, will this help Hudson into better fare? Or be a crash and burn scenario for Hathaway? With Winick's involvement, I'm hoping for the former. He's responsible for the cute 13 Going on 30, and the great indie flick Tadpole. But this is all contingent on the project moving smoothly from here.
InDigEnt Shuts Down in January
Filed under: Independent », Distribution », Obits », Cinematical Indie »
When Independent Digital Entertainment (InDigEnt) was founded in 1999, DV filmmaking was still fairly new, although not unknown or unused. The problem was that it wasn't yet recognized and respected enough to be taken seriously in the film market. This was three years before George Lucas delivered the DV-shot Attack of the Clones and changed many minds about the capability of digital cinematography. Today, a great percentage of indie and Hollywood features are made digitally, and InDigEnt may be somewhat obsolete. It comes as no surprise, then, that co-founder Gary Winick has announced the production company will be put to rest come 2007.Winick, who directed the upcoming Charlotte's Web, got the idea for InDigEnt from the Dogma 95 movement and started the company with John Sloss as a way for indie filmmakers to finance small, cheap projects. Many of the movies produced by InDigEnt aren't too appealing to the eye, but a few of them were great showcases for actors, such as Aaron Stanford, who broke out by appearing in Winick's Tadpole, and Patricia Clarkson, who received an Oscar nod for Pieces of April. But while the company started off well, gaining notice for decent pics like Tadpole, Pieces of April, Personal Velocity: Three Portraits and Richard Linklater's Tape, it eventually fell to near-obscurity with forgettable titles, such as Kill the Poor, Puccini for Beginners and Steve Buscemi's Lonesome Jim (which I still say is hilarious, if not substantial).
_thumbnail.jpg)
Everything You Need to Know About Peter Berg's 'Battleship'_thumbnail.jpg)
Celebs Return to Their Most Iconic Roles for Photo Shoot
Check Out Concept Art From Marvel's Futuristic Theme Park
Chris Weitz to Direct Two-Part 'Breaking Dawn' Finale?
Girls on Film: The Academy's Shallow Actress Pool
_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg)
