jeff daniels Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Burt and Verona (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) don't quite have things figured out yet. I mean, they pretty much have each other pegged, enjoying a marriage-less relationship, keeping each other warm on those cold Colorado nights, and they know that they want to bring a kid into this world -- well, want to or not, the baby's coming, and so they'll keep it warm as well.

Their parents won't be of much help. After all, his (Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels) are making plans to take off for Europe just before the baby's due, a trip years in the making and selfish as all get out, while hers passed away some time back. So Burt and Verona decide to visit other family and friends, looking for people they can depend on in places they could grow up in, let alone grow old in -- looking for a place that might help them figure out together the whys and hows of keeping it all together.

Let's just get the important part out first -- Variety reports that Jon Hamm, the man who looks like a cartoon pilot, has joined the cast of Howl. Commence girly shrieking, gaze at the photo to your left, sink into your chair with a grin on your face. It's cool. I did it too.

All right, now that's over with. Howl is already generating a lot of buzz, all of which should keep it from disappearing into indie obscurity. Not only does it center on a notorious moment of literary history, but its collected a heck of an ensemble cast -- James Franco (who is playing Allen Ginsberg), Paul Rudd, Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Bob Balaban, Treat Williams and Alessandro Nivola are all on board. (Check out Peter Martin's piece to see who plays whom.)

Hamm has landed a very meaty part in the Ginsberg story -- he'll play the famous defense attorney Jake Ehrlich. Ehrlich was actually the attorney for Lawrence Ferlinghetti who had published Howl stateside as the owner of City Lights Bookstore. He faced a $500 fine and a 6 month sentence for daring to publishing Ginsberg's poem, and gained the services of Ehrlich thanks to the ACLU. Ehrlich took the case pro-bono, and later wrote an account of the trial titled Howl of the Censor, and was the inspiration for the television series "Perry Mason."

All joking and gushing aside, it's wonderful to see Hamm get to use his acting chops outside of Mad Men and Keanu Reeves. Now if some studio executive would watch that Lex Luthor video and make the obvious DC choice ...

While the husband and wife team of Kieran and Michele Mulroney wait for their Justice League script to finally make it to the big screen, the duo won't be sitting around idly. Instead, they will make their feature directing debut with an indie movie titled Paper Man, which they also wrote together. According to Variety, the film is a "coming-of-middle-age comedy" about a friendship between a failed author and a teenager, and the project was developed through the Sundance Institute's screenwriters and directors labs. Jeff Daniels, who did his best work recently as a successful novelist in The Squid and the Whale, has been cast as the author. The teenager part has apparently not been filled, but Daniels will be joined in the film by Ryan Reynolds and Lisa Kudrow in unspecified roles.

With a November 12 start date, we'll probably be seeing this before we see Justice League, even though Paper Man probably won't reach theaters until 2010, following a premiere at Sundance that year. Of course, we can at least hope Variety doesn't have the full plot details, and Paper Man is actually a supehero movie, too. Perhaps either the author or the teen has the power to take on the characteristics of paper (he'd always win in a fight against rock-like individuals such as The Thing, but lose to Scissors Man), hence the superhero-like title. Unfortunately, there's more likelihood that the teen is a gifted writer and Daniels becomes his mentor, Finding Forrester style.

Obscenity! The '50s! Legal drama! Book-length poems! OK, that last one is part of what distinguishes the upcoming Howl, in which James Franco will star as legendary beatnik writer Allen Ginsberg. The film revolves around the court trial that took place after Howl was published in 1956 -- and promptly banned for obscenity. Mary-Louise Parker, Paul Rudd, Jeff Daniels, David Straithairn, and Alan Alda have just been added to the cast, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

All will play fictional versions of real-life characters. On the side of the prosecution (boo! hiss!), indie darling / TV star Parker will play radio personality Gail Potter, the reliably venal Daniels will embody Professor David Kirk, and the firm and steady Staithairn will be prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh. In behalf of the defense (yay! cheer!), Paul Rudd will play literary critic (?!) Luther Nichols. Calm and fair as always, I'm sure, Alda will play Judge Clayton Horn.

Documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will make their narrative debut and the film is all theirs: they are writing, producing, and directing. Epstein made the terrific doc The Times of Harvey Milk and the pair made Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt. Gus van Sant is serving as executive producer, and Coen crony Carter Burwell is set to provide an original score. I hope that Epstein and Friedman can pull off the transition to narrative film and give us an incendiary picture; the elements are all in place, and the time is right.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for the film Space Chimps (click to enlarge), fresh from one of the primates that brought you Shrek. Featuring a voice cast that includes Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Stanley Tucci and Patrick Warburton, Space Chimps follows Ham III (Samberg), the grandson of the first ever chimp in space, who's recruited by a scheming senator (Tucci) for a dangerous mission to help thwart a powerful tyrant (Daniels) from taking over an alien world. Of course, Ham III will have a little help from his friends along the way. You can scope out the first trailer for Space Chimps over on Moviefone, then buckle yourself in and prepare to go bananas for Space Chimps when it touches down in theaters on July 18.

UPDATE: We've been asked to take down the trailer as it hasn't been approved for distribution yet.

Note: You might want to kick up the speakers a bit here; this one comes in a tad low.

Above you will find the first trailer for the film Traitor, starring Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce and Jeff Daniels. The wild thing about this film is that Steve Martin (yes, THE Steve Martin) came up with the idea for Traitor, though he left scripting duties to writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Based on what we see above, Traitor seems like one of those "have fun figuring it out" types. Pearce plays a straight-edge FBI agent who heads an investigation on international conspiracy, where all clues lead back to former U.S. Special Operations office, Samir Horn (Cheadle). Thus begins what appears to be a dangerous cat and mouse game between the two -- with Daniels playing a veteran CIA contractor with his own agenda.

What I'm liking about this one is that Cheadle looks pretty rough, tough and ready to rumble -- and we don't get to see him much in roles where he can beat the living hell out of anyone within shouting distance. Go Don Cheadle! That guy always gives a tremendous performance, so no matter what I believe Traitor will be worth the watch just to see Cheadle in action. But let us know what you think.

Traitor hits theaters on August 29.

Great day in the morning! Two of my favorite actors on the planet are joining the cast of Sam Mendes' increasingly promising 2009 comedy, which has yet to find a title. According to a Focus Features press release that landed in my inbox, Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara will round out an ensemble that already includes John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Toni Colette, Cheryl Hines and Allison Janney. The screenplay was co-written by McSweeney's founder and Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author Dave Eggers and novelist Vendela Vida. The film "follows the journey of an expectant couple as they travel the U.S. in search of a place to put down roots and raise a family."

O'Hara is probably the funniest woman on the planet, and Daniels can bring heart and humanity to any film, so this is good news indeed. With Christopher Guest taking a break from making the movies that have been her bread and butter over the years, O'Hara can use the high-profile work; her only screen appearance this year or last has been in the underrated Penelope.

Mendes also has the DiCaprio-Winslet reunion movie Revolutionary Road in the works -- it will headline the 2008 Oscar season -- but this new project will be his first stab at comedy. Eggers co-wrote the adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are with Spike Jonze, which should finally see the light of day next year as well.

Sometimes when I see a bit of casting news, I imagine a film not with the cast of actors, but with their previous roles. So, imagine what kind of ensemble can be put together with the upcoming romcom The Dream of the Romans. Variety reports that Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, Lou Taylor Pucci, Olivia Thirlby, and Kat Dennings have signed on for roles in the film, which will be the feature debut of writer/director John Hindman.

Romans stars Daniels as some sort of Rhonda Byrne -- a reclusive author who penned a book that "redefined spirituality for a generation." Unfortunately, his writing interferes with his desire to be left alone as many of his fans hunt him down, convinced that "he has all the answers." Two of them are Graham, who plays a struggling single mum, and Pucci, who plays a guy straight out of rehab. This is a romantic comedy, so most likely Ms. Gilmore will get to fall for Mr. Berkman. Or, maybe the backbone-lacking jerk from Chumscrubber will get some romance with Juno's friend or the 40-year-old virgin's stepdaughter.

iDeal's (the film's financer) Jana Edelbaum says: "This is a sparking piece of writing with vivid, wonderful characters." At the very least, it looks like a fresh jump into romcom territory, rather than the usual retread. The project just kicked off production in Philly.

There are two reasons I find this (as yet unconfirmed) story interesting. One is that I'll soon be writing my review of Brett Morgen's new documentary Chicago 10, which comes out next week. The other is that I've been thinking about the 2009 Oscars (I like to jump ahead), which I presumed would include a number of nominations for Steven Spielberg's next film. For a few months now, we've believed that film would be, like Morgen's, about the trial of the "Chicago 7" and would be fittingly titled The Trial of the Chicago 7. First we heard the director was interested in the script, written by Charlie Wilson's War scribe Aaron Sorkin. Then we got that crazy news that Sacha Baron Cohen would play Abbie Hoffman. Finally we heard more people, specifically Colin Hanks, Jeff Daniels and Philip Seymour Hoffman, were joining the cast. However, now we have word from Collider that Spielberg "has decided to move on and will not be making the movie."

Note: It has since come out that the film has been delayed, not completely dumped.

While Steven Spielberg's name gets tossed around with regards to several different projects (most recently Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), it appears the director is moving full steam ahead on The Trial of the Chicago 7. CHUD tells us that, according to their inside scoopers, both Colin Hanks and Jeff Daniels are now being considered for roles. If brought on, Daniels would play "Dave Dellinger, one of the oldest defendants in the case." Hanks "would be Rennie Davis, an SDS activist who was interested in political change rather than wholesale social change." Another interesting tidbit is that Sacha Baron Cohen (who we thought had accepted the role of Abbie Hoffman) has not officially joined this cast yet. CHUD doesn't know why the actor is not on board (they speculate that it might have to do with scheduling or money issues), but they do know that his is not a done deal.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 will be based on the very real trial of seven defendants who were charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Lots of names have been floating around this project as of late; not long ago Vanity Fair interviewed Spielberg and noticed several headshots on his desk of actors they're considering for Chicago 7. Among them were Phillip Seymour Hoffman (for William Kunstler, the attorney who defended the 7), as well as Will Smith, Taye Diggs, Adam Arkin and Kevin Spacey. Aaron Sorkin wrote the script, which may or may not be somewhat based on the recent documentary, Chicago 10, and most expect this to be Spielberg's next film after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.