jamie foxx Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Pianist' Scribe Writing Spielberg's Martin Luther King Biopic
Filed under: Drama », Dreamworks », Steven Spielberg »
Timely news comes on the heels of Martin Luther King Jr. Day: DreamWorks has tapped a screenwriter for its biopic about the civil rights leader. Ronald Harwood, who won an Oscar for penning Roman Polanski's Holocaust drama The Pianist, will handle the task of adapting MLK's life once again for the screen, this time with the authorization of part of the King Estate. While other films and miniseries about or involving the Reverend Doctor have been made in the past, none have been approved by any members of his family or had access to his intellectual property (such as the "I Have a Dream" speech). This as yet untitled biopic will also be a bigger deal than past efforts due to the fact it's being produced by Steven Spielberg.Harwood is also a pretty significant player. In addition to winning an Academy Award, he's been nominated for his scripts for The Dresser and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Other films he's written include Australia, The Browning Version and Polanski's film of Oliver Twist. He also has experience with civil rights subject matter. A native of South Africa, Harwood wrote the adaptation for the apartheid drama Cry, the Beloved Country and the made-for-TV biopic Mandela, starring Danny Glover as the anti-apartheid activist (and South African president-to-be). He's also covered the apartheid subject in novels and plays.
Pitch of the Day: I Have a Dream
Filed under: Casting », Dreamworks », Steven Spielberg »
One of the constants of movie blogging is receiving comments from unknown actors (and non-actors) who think they're perfect for such and such part. This is mostly the case with announcements of high-profile biopics and other similar projects based on a true story. For example, last year when news came out that Steven Spielberg is planning a film about Martin Luther King Jr., I wrote on potential casting ideas at another site and got comments from a few people who would rather see themselves in the role of the civil rights leader rather than some A-list actor.One guy included his phone number in his comment, while another man linked to his website. The latter, a "motivational performer" who recites Dr. King's speeches across the nation, does indeed deserve to star in a film. But not Spielberg's. Instead, I propose that he play himself in a meta movie about his wish. It would obviously be called...
I Have a Dream
This movie could work with any kind of biopic, but the MLK angle obviously fits with the holiday. and the title. It'd be kind of a cross between Harmony Korine's movie about celebrity impersonators, Mister Lonely, and that episode of Growing Pains in which Mike and his girlfriend naively hope to be cast in a Broadway revival of Our Town after starring in their high school production of the play.
Martin Lawrence & Jamie Foxx Get Into Old-School Cross-Dressing
Filed under: Comedy », Casting », Deals »
Get a few chuckles with a skit, and soon it will become a film. If you're a fan of the BET Awards, you should be familiar with Sheneneh and Wanda. The two made up the super-stylishly named bank-robbing team Skank Robbers, a faux trailer parody (after the jump) that aired during the awards, played by Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx respectively. This skit got enough laughs that it wasn't only deemed successful, but also cinematic -- Variety reports that the pair have decided to turn the brief concept into a film, a la Machete.Sheneneh and Wanda, two characters dreamed up during the comedians' stand-up days, will be "modern-day independent women trying to make it on their own, one bank robbery at a time." The pair have been wanting to star in a movie together for a while, so this is their big shot -- one that Foxx is writing and Screen Gems is fast-tracking. ...This is it?
Granted, I'm not some old-school Sheneneh fan, but what exactly is it about this pair that makes them worthy not only of a feature film, but also being fast-tracked? Hasn't Hollywood already gotten enough comedians cross-dressing? Don't these men have something better to do than ... this? And if now is the time to bring In Living Color to the big screen, oh, the other characters I would pick.
MacGruber, Sheneneh, Wanda ... what skit is next?
Celebs Who Deserve 'Movie Star Probation'
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom »
Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, or at least that's what the good folks over at Gawker seem to think when it comes to Gerard Butler. In the wake of a number two movie at the box office and some not-so-great reviews of his hosting gig last weekend for SNL, Gawker has issued the Scottish actor the following decree: Gerard Butler, You Are Officially on Movie Star Probation. According to them, it's time we all intervened to save him from himself. But if he doesn't shape up, Gawker has decided the only option is that the actor will be "banned from all movies, tabloids, red carpet affairs, awards ceremonies, and celebrity relationships. If he can stay out of the press for three years, he may be rewarded with the starring role on a CBS procedural." Tough, but fair.
Sure, it's all in good fun, but I'll admit they have a point. I haven't seen Law Abiding Citizen, but even I've been questioning some of the choices on Butler's resume since his break-out turn as the tighty-whitey wearing Spartan in Snyder's 300 (and yes, I'm talking about P.S. I Love You and The Ugly Truth). So even though his celebrity quotient is rising, the quality of his movies isn't and that's a dangerous combination. Butler has a natural charm (and even a damn fine singing voice) which should make him the perfect specimen for leading man status, but you wouldn't know it from his career choices. He isn't the first (or the last) to fall victim to overexposure and bad decisions, but audiences are a fickle sort who can turn on you at the drop of a dime. So let's just hope we can scare him straight.
After the jump: a few more examples of celebrities who have fallen prey to bad career choices and the PR monster known as 'over-hyping'...
Review: Law Abiding Citizen
Filed under: Thrillers », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », New in Theaters »
As a kid I remember reading in either CRACKED or MAD magazine a parody about movie heroes and villains. The story pointed out how, very often, heroes are much ruder and less well behaved than villains. For example, James Bond will burst into an enemy hideout; the villain will remark, "ah... Mr. Bond. Welcome to my humble abode." And Bond will say, "I'm going to take you down, you snake!" That's a crude example, but you get the drift. The new Law Abiding Citizen is like that, all the way through. The hero is a slick, well-dressed sort who is more concerned with his personal advancement than with the well-being of others. The villain is a highly intelligent, highly trained killer who is trying to rid the world of something broken and corrupt. The villain longs for his dead wife and daughter, while the hero neglects his wife and daughter. Whenever they meet, the villain speaks cordially to the hero, and the hero snaps back with a nasty attitude.
I suspect that, at some point, some clever screenwriter -- perhaps credited writer Kurt Wimmer -- intended all this stuff on purpose, like a subversive, twisted version of the usual Hollywood thriller dynamic. But director F. Gary Gray either did not pick this up or has chosen to ignore it, and presents Law Abiding Citizen as a straight-ahead thriller. Likewise, Jamie Foxx, cast as the good guy lawyer, seems to expect his natural charisma to make up for his character's moral center, and his performance comes across as rigid and unsympathetic. As the bad guy, Gerard Butler fares only slightly better, but only because his character is smarter, with more playful dialogue.
Exclusive: 'Law Abiding Citizen' Poster Premiere
Filed under: Action », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Posters »
Click image below for full poster
Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Law Abiding Citizen, the latest action film from Set It Off and The Italian Job director F. Gary Gray. Starring Jamie Foxx as a jaded public defender who cuts a deal with the murderer of Gerard Butler's wife and child in exchange for a testimony that will fry bigger underworld fish. Not satisfied with the swift indifference of the justice system, Butler then decides to go on a city wide rampage against both the criminals and the complacent bureaucrats that ruined his life.
Only Butler's plan for due justice is more complicated than any of the clueless courtroom regulars can imagine, and it isn't until the titular Law Abiding Citizen intentionally allows himself to be arrested that the full extent of his wrath comes to scale.
If the trailer is any indication, F. Gary Gray's return to action films (after the regretful diversion that was Be Cool) looks to set the bar for revenge films in Hollywood. Not only is the cast great (which includes Leslie Bibb and Josh Stewart in addition to Foxx and Butler), but the sheer breadth of its explosiontastic search for justice - which looks like Die Hard: With a Vengeance swallowed Ransom, Death Sentence, and Se7en - is enough to draw a new line in the vigilante sand.
Law Abiding Citizen hits theaters October 16th from Overture Films.
Gallery: 'Law Abiding Citizen' Poster
'Law Abiding Citizen' Loves Justice, Hates Cars
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Trailers and Clips »
In the same post that saw The Wolf Man bumped back and The Fourth Kind moved forward, we were told that Overture's Law Abiding Citizen would be coming out much sooner than expected -- October 16th of this year, as opposed to March 26th of next year. And if the trailer (embedded after the jump) is any indication, Jigsaw's got good company indeed.Right after Gerard Butler's wife and daughter are murdered, public defender Jamie Foxx cuts one of the criminals a deal at the expense of the other, leaving Butler none too pleased with the outcome of the legal system. So he does what any mild-mannered man would do -- he waits ten years, kills the other criminal, gets himself arrested, and then holds the entire city of Philadelphia hostage with a vague but mounting threat until Foxx cuts him a deal.
I'm all for a good cat-and-mouse game, and if all you wanted from your Fractures and your Primal Fears were a few more explosions, then this might be the movie for you. Just don't wait a decade to make up your mind about how good it was.
Release Date Shuffle: 'Wolf Man' and Matt Damon Banished to 2010
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Drama », Horror », Romance », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Universal », RumorMonger », Distribution », Remakes and Sequels », War »
Poor, poor Benicio Del Toro. A former resident of last February, last April and this coming November, his take on The Wolf Man has been bumped back to next February now. That's right: for all the re-scheduling and re-shoots, Joe Johnston's version of the classic monster movie has all but lapped itself on the release slate, hoping to serve as R-rated counter-programming on February 12th, 2010 to Valentine's Day fare and maybe rake in the kind of opening weekend that Friday the 13th had this year ($40 million -- albeit followed by a steep 80% drop in attendance).Terrific Trailers: Miami Vice
Filed under: Action », Drama », Universal », Fandom », Remakes and Sequels », Trailers and Clips », Scenes We Love »
Michael Mann's latest crime opus has already hit theaters, and like most of his devoted fans, I was there opening day. Granted, my desire to be first in line for Public Enemies mainly had to do with my preoccupation with pretty boys in nice suits, but trust me, there were some loftier ideals at work. One of the reasons I love Mann's films is that he finds new ways to tell relatively traditional stories...which brings me to Miami Vice. Vice definitely wasn't one of Mann's most popular films, but I always defend this flick, and here's why: growing up, I watched Miami Vice, and I might have loved it, but even at the tender age of 10 I knew it was kind of silly. I had always wondered what the series would have looked like if the show had a little less cheap humor about Crockett and his alligator and a little more 'dignity' -- fast forward to 2006, and that's exactly what Mann did.
Gone were the over the top white suits and wise cracks (I mean, thank god I didn't have to watch Colin Farrell yucking it up with 'Elvis'), and instead, Mann replaced them with a darker, meaner, and (dare I say it?) more realistic Miami Vice. But just because Mann brought Vice into the present, didn't mean that those traditional touches were gone, and the teaser was proof. That first trailer had it all -- the music perfectly timed with every shotgun pump, speedboats, helicopters, guns and hot girls...and you can't get more Miami Vice than that.
After the jump; the teaser and a reminder of Vice on the small screen..
Your Friday Fantasy -- Gerard Butler Chained Down in 'Law Abiding Citizen'
Filed under: Action », Drama », Thrillers », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Images »
Photo removed at request of Overture Films
Here's something for the girls to end their week on. Who doesn't want Gerard Butler chained up in your house -- and by the neck, no less. When I look at it, I like to imagine he's snarling "I am a slave! What possible difference can I make?" Considering the plot of Law Abiding Citizen is something akin to that of Gladiator (a vigilante who is holding all of Philadelphia hostage from his jail cell), I'm not entirely far off.
Despite my fondness for Bud White and Harry Callahan, I'm not entirely up on my prison and penal code ... do they actually chain prisoners in old timey neck manacles like that in any American cities? That seems like something you'd see in Pirates of the Caribbean, not a serious, modern legal / vigilante thriller.
Pirate chains aside, it will be enjoyable to see Butler in something manly and gruff again. The film originally called for him to be the assistant D.A. and Jamie Foxx to play the vigilante bent on avenging his family, but they reversed roles just before filming began. I think that was a good choice for both actors ... especially if they homage Escape From Alcatraz at all. And I think you know which scenes I mean, ladies.
[Thanks to the Gerard Butler Gals for sending this!]
Despite my fondness for Bud White and Harry Callahan, I'm not entirely up on my prison and penal code ... do they actually chain prisoners in old timey neck manacles like that in any American cities? That seems like something you'd see in Pirates of the Caribbean, not a serious, modern legal / vigilante thriller.
Pirate chains aside, it will be enjoyable to see Butler in something manly and gruff again. The film originally called for him to be the assistant D.A. and Jamie Foxx to play the vigilante bent on avenging his family, but they reversed roles just before filming began. I think that was a good choice for both actors ... especially if they homage Escape From Alcatraz at all. And I think you know which scenes I mean, ladies.
[Thanks to the Gerard Butler Gals for sending this!]
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