jessica biel Tagged Articles at Cinematical

As voiced by Dwayne "the artist formerly known as The Rock" Johnson, astronaut Chuck Baker is the paragon of all-American achievement -- that is, until he conquers a far off world with an unexpected population, one inexplicably steeped in our '50s-era culture and terrified by the prospect of an alien invader in human form. More unfortunately for us, Chuck has landed smack-dab in the middle of Planet 51, a short-sighted assembly of sci-fi references and scatalogical humor that should nonetheless placate undemanding tots and, by extension, their undiscerning parents for ninety minutes or so.

What's the best way to make Hollywood see past your sexy looks? Star in a sex comedy! No? Well someone's in for a shock then... The Hollywood Reporter posts that Jessica Biel will star in a new comedy called F***ing Engaged.

The brainchild of new screenwriter Julia Brownell (developed with Dan Halsted and Cameron Bunce), the flick is aiming to be "a raunchy comedy about a couple who make a pact to have sex every day leading to their wedding so they don't turn into their crusty old parents." Correct me if I'm wrong, married folks, but isn't the whole sexless crustiness due to sexless lives after the marriage, rather than before? If anything, I'd imagine that overdoing the sex pre-wedding would kill the hormones quicker. And who will play the lucky bloke?

Should this be in a different vein than her last comedy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, it has promise. But really, this whole thing just makes me wish for Nailed. Remember that comedy? The plagued David O. Russell flick where Biel plays a waitress-turned-sex addict making waves in Washington D.C.? That's the Biel sex comedy that should be hitting our eager eyes. Oh well. At least this would make for an apt double-bill with Young People F**king.

Feelings are mixed about The A-Team movie, and Entertainment Tonight's on-set visit doesn't shed a whole lot of light on the plot. Naturally, one of the team members (Bradley Cooper as the old Faceman) and the one lady in the movie (Jessica Biel as Amy Allen) used to date, and there's some undercurrent of drama between them. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, who is taking over Mr. T's star-making role as Bosco Baracus, does sport the Mr. T hairdo (I pity the fool who calls it a hairdon't) but claims there will be "more muscle, less gold." And Bradley Cooper gives us some diet tips.

"No salt or sugar. That's been greeaaat. I just eat what they put in front of me, but it's a lot of, like, boiled chicken and brown rice and broccoli."

I'm going to go eat a hamburger in his honor.

Two stand-out people they didn't talk to include Liam Neeson and District 9's breakout star Sharlto Copley. I'm very curious to see if Copley can parlay his first role in a big-budget US movie into stardom. I hope so, because I thought he rocked in District 9, as anyone who has ever heard me screech "PRAWNS!!!" in a restaurant can attest.

Did this video make you any more or less excited about the movie? Personally, I'm going with no.

Watch ET's set visit after the jump along with an inspirational YouTube video of Mr. T's song "Treat Your Mother Right." Just because.

Once the talks are done and the ink is dry, Joe Carnahan and Ridley Scott will have their The A-Team assembled. According to Variety*, Sharlto Copley (better known as Wikus Van De Merwe in District 9) and Jessica Biel have been enlisted into the cast, which already includes Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

If you know your A-Team, you can probably guess who Copley is playing: Howling Mad Murdock. He was the team's edgy and unpredictable helicopter pilot, always freshly escaped from the mental asylum just in time for an adventure. It was never clear if he was truly mentally unstable and friends with an invisible dog, or if it was all an act. (Somewhere, there is a student who did a paper comparing Murdock to Hamlet, and somewhere a teacher flunked him unfairly.) If you saw District 9, you know Copley is perfect for the part, so there's no need to say anything more other than "That's so cool! May he become a big star!"

Biel's character is actually quite interesting. While she's the "former love interest" of Cooper's Faceman, she's not just the obligatory girl who is only there to remind you that their love is just brotherly. She's actually a general in the U.S. Army bent on capturing our heart-of-gold mercenaries. Will her love for Cooper's blue eyes and just-so hair win her back, and see her actually join the A-Team for the inevitable sequel? Will she always be the villain of the series, finding them just when they think they're safe? We'll know soon, The A-Team begins shooting later this fall in Vancouver, and will hit theaters June 11, 2010.

[*We have to give a shoutout to Blackfilm, who first landed the Copley scoop. Good work, gang.]

If you love ceramic elephants and famous people, and you'd like to help fight Africa's AIDS epidemic, then get out your checkbook. A number of high-profile celebrities, including George Clooney, Glenn Close, Hugh Jackman and Denzel Washington, have agreed to scribble their names on ceramic elephants to raise funds for Project Zambi, a charity dedicated to raising awareness and funding programs that care for African children orphaned by AIDS.

The organization was started by Hasbro employees, who were inspired by the Chikumbuso Women and Orphans Project in Zambia. They created "Zambi the Elephant," sending a textile artist to Zambia to teach art workshops and get input from the children there on the design of the Zambi stuffed toy, which wiggles its ears, raises its trunk and makes happy sounds when you tickle its chest. The toy retails for $49.99 and Hasbro has committed 50 percent of the toy's net profits, with a minimum of $500,000, to Project Zambi.

In this day and age, why can't someone be both? Jessica Biel's dramatic turn as a stripper in Timothy Linh Bui's Powder Blue, which just hit DVD and Blu-ray, has been competing for attention with the theatrical release of Stephen Elliott's Easy Virtue, which opened in New York and Los Angeles before expanding this weekend. Throw in the tempest in a teacup about her interview with Allure Magazine, in which the actress was quoted as complaining that her beauty was causing her to miss out on more serious roles that instead went to Natalie Portman or Scarlett Johansson, and it may be hard to know what to think of the actress.

I don't know if the Allure quotes are accurate are not, taken out of context or completely made up, but watching her in Easy Virtue made me forget all the career stuff and gossip and get caught up with the characters and the story. That's not something I expected from a period piece based on a play by Noël Coward. Biel plays Larita, an American race car driver from Detroit who marries the young, very British John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) after a whirlwind romance. John takes her home to meet his very proper mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), his remote yet welcoming father (Colin Firth), and his two flighty sisters (Kimberly Nixon and Katherine Parkinson).

It wouldn't be fair to say that Biel steals this very funny film (with a more serious streak that's gradually revealed). For one thing, Firth is exquisitely good; for another, Elliot's direction is quite engaging. Still, Biel is something of a minor marvel in the role.

Deals. Michel Gondry's doc The Thorn in the Heart may not have generated much positive buzz when it premiered at Cannes last week, but it impressed the folks at Oscilloscope Laboratories. They acquired North American rights to the film and are planning a theatrical release, according to indieWIRE. Thorn examines the life of Gondry's aunt, a schoolteacher for more than 30 years in rural France. David Hudson at IFC's The Daily gathered links to the coverage, in which one critic calls Thorn a "glorified home movie" and another predicts that "normal people will simply walk out of it," while others defend it as "a lovely, minor-key ode" and "mildly diverting."

Box Office. Stephen Elliott's Easy Virtue led the way, earning a very tidy $110,443, according to Box Office Mojo, which averages out to $11,044 per screen. Jessica Biel gives her best performance so far as an American race car driver who marries a young British man (Ben Barnes) after a whirlwind romance, and then must deal with his stuffy mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), curiously distanced father (Colin Firth), and flighty sisters. It's a romantic comedy with dramatic depth, light on its feet yet unafraid to stand still and contemplate fate and mortality.

Expanding into 52 theaters in its second week of release, Rian Johnson's con man comedy The Brothers Bloom rode a wave of appreciative reviews to a per-screen average of $7,394, just a little ahead of Olivier Assayas' critically-acclaimed family drama Summer Hours, starring Juliette Binoche. (We've embedded the lively trailer for the latter title below.) The highly-praised doc Burma VJ opened on one theater with a modest take of $5,554 -- not bad on a crowded weekend.

After the jump: The festival beat goes on in Seattle and at Silverdocs.

Big news: another beautiful actress laments that her good looks limit her acting choices. Jessica Biel says that being so attractive "really is a problem ... I just want an opportunity," she told Allure for their June issue, on sale next week. "If you don't like the audition, then don't hire me! But if you don't want to even see me - that's hurtful."

The quick conclusion to draw is that Biel is seriously delusional, that she's another spoiled, overpaid pretty girl. "Wah wah wah! Poor, poor, pitiful me!" However, none of the interview is online, only quotes that are scattered among various online outlets, so it's impossible to evaluate the context of her quote. Biel may, in fact, be delusional about her own abilities; on the other hand, what's wrong with yearning for the opportunity to demonstrate a wider range of her skills, and not to be judged by her looks alone?

Of course, thousands (if not millions) of less attractive people will never get to have the opportunities that she currently enjoys, limited though she may feel they are. Given a choice between a more talented, average-looking actress and a less talented, more traditionally-attractive actress, guess who wins the role? It reminds me of a scene in James L. Brooks' Broadcast News: when the handsome news reporter William Hurt asks, "What do you do when your real life exceeds your dreams?," the less attractive but more talented news reporter Albert Brooks responds: "Keep it to yourself!" Good advice for Jessica Biel. You can watch her strip down for a dramatic role in Powder Blue, now available on DVD, or catch her in Easy Virtue, due out in theaters on Friday.

[ Via E! Online ]

For a business that is notoriously slow to develop groundbreaking creative projects, the film industry can be remarkably quick when it comes to cashing in on proven success. Thus, when the romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You -- timed for release to capitalize on Valentine's Day earlier this year -- grossed an estimated $94 million for New Line Cinema / Warner Brothers, the company decided to prepare something similar for Valentine's Day next year, reports the New York Times.

Since He's Just Not That Into You featured an ensemble cast of notable actresses (Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston), the new project, imaginatively titled Valentine's Day, hopes to pack Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, and Shirley MacLaine into a storyline about "would-be romantics working their way through a tangle of circumstances in Los Angeles." None of the women have signed on yet, nor has the company's director of choice, Garry Marshall, nor has Ashton Kutcher, whose name has also been floated, but potential Green Lantern Bradley Cooper has agreed to play a man in the movie.

Lionsgate has sown up Halloween with the Saw franchise, so, strictly from a business perspective, this makes good sense. Of course, just packing "names" into a movie for the sake of names won't necessarily work. Still, if Valentine's Day is successful with big stars and establishes a new franchise for New Line, they could populate sequels with less-expensive stars and turn a decent profit for years to come.