last night Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I have a few obscure heroes in show business. One of them, as I note here from time to time, is Vincenzo Natali, best known for Cube, but also for an awesome little techno-thriller called Cypher, an offbeat, surreal comedy called Nothing, and the forthcoming Splice (which I would commit atrocities to see right now). He shares my fascination with the unknown and otherworldly, and expresses it on the screen in unfailingly creative and intelligent ways. Another example along the same lines is Don McKellar, whose Last Night is one of the most perfect little movies I've ever seen (though his participation in last year's godawful Blindness shall not go unpunished).

A third hero of mine is Andrew Niccol. I didn't think much of Lord of War, but all of his other projects have been conceptually brilliant in ways that are very much on my wavelength: The Truman Show (which Peter Weir directed from Niccol's screenplay) is probably my favorite film of the 90s (though that changes from week to week); Gattaca is deservingly becoming a sci-fi classic; and Simone is tragically underrated. He's smart, he's careful, and he has a wonderful imagination. Oh, and his just-announced next project, The Cross, is destined to rock my world.

Keira Knightley has to be getting fed up with those cumbersome period costumes. I mean, it helps that she's a waif and doesn't really need to worry about corset issues, but the wardrobe is still not all that pleasant to climb into. After being a Duchess, and heading into Lear-land, Variety reports that Keira Knightley is going to star in a new film called Last Night. (No, this isn't a re-do of Don McKellar's film.) Starring Eva Mendes, Sam Worthington, and Guillaume Canet, the film focuses on a married couple with cheating temptations -- he spends time with a colleague he's attracted to, while she comes across her past love. (Sounds just like a moment out of My So-Called LIfe. You know.. Angela's mom hunting down her ex while her dad lusts for that Lowenthal woman.) The production will begin next month in New York. Can Knightley handle modern fare these days? Weigh in below!

Now, this next news isn't Pirates related, but still Disney-riffic. Variety reports that Dwayne Johnson -- aka The Rock -- is going to help turn another Disney ride into another big film. Forget Mr. Toad's Wild Ride; Johnson is taking on Tomorrowland. Disney is creating a space-centric starring vehicle for the actor, and they swear it's not based on Tomorrowland, but Variety seems to be sure. I say: If they do that, I want my Figment!

Finally, Carrie Fisher is getting herself some interesting work. While Princess Leia is being pretty mellow these days, The Hollywood Reporter posts that she is in negotiations to star in Sorority Row with Jamie Chung and Audrina Patridge. Yes, this is a remake of the ol' '80s flick The House on Sorority Row. Not surprisingly, Fisher would be the house's sorority mother if she signs on the dotted line. Will we ever get a moment to see her in a nice role again, and not a goofy cameo? Han Solo needs to come and save her from mediocre work.

After years of turning down any and all parties who inquired after the film rights for his novel Blindness, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Jose Saramago finally relented to the director-writer team of Fernando Meirelles and Don McKellar after years of cajoling and convincing. McKellar also has a part in the final film, a sprawling story of ruin and redemption that spanned the globe in its production that's been significantly re-cut -- and significiantly improved -- from the version first unveilled in Cannes in May. McKellar spoke with Cinematical in Toronto about the re-cut version of the film, the secret thread between his brilliant directorial debut Last Night and Blindness (" ... my paranoia about the apocalypse hadn't been resolved yet ..."), how Hurricane Katrina influenced the look of Blindness, the need for humor at the end of the world and much more. ...

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We thought this looked awesome last summer, and now we have some confirmation. MSN has posted a teaser trailer for Blindness, Fernando Meirelles' apocalyptic thriller based on the novel by José Saramago, and it creeps me out. The movie is about a blindness epidemic that sweeps through a city, afflicting everyone except one woman (Julianne Moore) who is apparently immune. She's then forced to feign blindness (Why? If no one else can see, what's the difference?) to care for her husband (Mark Ruffalo) as everything around them goes to hell. The tonal shift at the beginning of the teaser is genuinely startling, maybe because the upbeat music doesn't stop playing as you'd expect, or maybe because it deals with something that is one of this cinephile's worst nightmares.

I like Meirelles' City of God as much as the next guy, but the real reason I'm excited for this is that the screenplay is written by Don McKellar, whose previous stab at depicting the end of the world, Last Night, is one of my favorite films (with one of the most perfect endings of all time). Blindness is expected to play the Toronto Film Festival this September, with a US release slated for October. Can anyone who's read the book give us some (non-spoiler) hints of what to expect?

[hat tip: comingsoon.net]