ralph fiennes Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, many of you feel my client Gerard Butler should be placed on movie star probation. In the light of new evidence, I plan to petition for a retrial as it would appear that Mr. Butler has abandoned romantic comedies in order to accept a role from England's greatest playwright. Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Butler is taking a role in William Shakespeare's Coriolanus alongside Ralph Fiennes, William Hurt, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jessica Chastain. Fiennes will be playing the lead and will be helming the adaptation in his directing debut, which was adapted by John Logan.

On a very awkward appearance on Baltimore WJX, Butler revealed that his next role would be in Fiennes' adaptation, and he described it as "a passion project" for them both. He didn't specify which role he would be taking on, but I'm hoping it's Coriolanus' sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius. He always looks so good with blood on him, and it would be glorious to watch him fight Fiennes.

Of course, this is Shakespeare and financing could be difficult even with Fiennes at the helm, though a solid cast should help with that. It was one of the projects at the IFF this September, and I hope they found someone to give them some money. Not only does the world always need more Shakespeare, but Butler needs a meaty role now. Seeing as it was Steven Berkoff's Coriolanus was what ushered Butler into acting, I can think of no better production (save perhaps The Scottish Play) that could wrangle him another plea bargain.

It really seems like Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen's Green Hornet is cursed, doesn't it? We've all followed the ups and downs of the production and just when it seemed like we were out of the woods, now we're short one villain. Earlier reports had Nicolas Cage making an appearance as an unnamed villain in the action comedy, but according to The Hollywood Reporter's Heatvision blog, Cage has officially left the production. I can only assume that Cage left hornet to work on the recently announced Drive Angry and the Hungry Rabbit Jumps.

Not much was known about what Goldberg and Rogen had planned for their Hornet's baddie, and over the years The Green Hornet has fought everyone from bootleggers to the Axis of Evil and communists. But in some of the earlier incarnations of the Hornet, his major villains were Mr. X, a shadowy crime figure, and Oliver Perry, a sleazy P.I. who was constantly threatening to 'unmask' our hero. No one knew for sure who Cage was going to play, and frankly I think he could have pulled off either role, but it's not like he's the only actor who could. Luckily for Columbia, Gondry had yet to shoot any footage with Cage, so when they find his replacement, they can start from scratch.

That said, I thought it would be fun to engage in a little casting wish-fulfillment and I've got five actors who I think can pick up where Cage left off. Now, some of the actors might not be who you would expect to show up in a Seth Rogen movie, but hey, this is my fantasy casting pool, so why not aim for the top?

After the jump: my picks for a brand new bad guy...

Having co-created "The Office" (the original) and "Extras" (which I've had sitting on my shelf to watch for ages now), Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have most recently seen fit to co-write and direct their first film together, the seventies-set Cemetery Junction. With filming just having begun less than a month ago, though, the duo has nonetheless whipped up a brief but funny teaser trailer with the help of star Ralph Fiennes -- an actor not exactly known for his comedic prowess...

(You know what? Scratch that: all his guff served In Bruges and that Wallace & Gromit movie quite well.)

Also starring Emily Watson, Matthew Goode, and (yes) Gervais and Merchant themselves, Cemetery Junction should hit theaters at some point in 2010 (the UK has an April date, so here's hoping the US release is similarly spring-like). With any luck, maybe they'll coax their colleagues into similarly amusing appearances before the film's finished.

Watch the teaser trailer after the jump

It's not like my love of British comedian Ricky Gervais is a secret around these parts. No worries, though I'll be keeping my inner fangirl at bay, and you don't need to worry about this turning into a 'gush-fest'. The first trailer for The Invention of Lying has debuted over at Yahoo! Movies UK and we have our first glimpse at the story of an alternate universe where human beings have never learned the art of deception. Gervais plays a man working in the film industry who becomes the inventor of lying, and quickly uses his newfound skill for romantic and financial gain.

Gervais seems to have no trouble inspiring praise from his peers, and the cast list for Lying is proof of that comedy clout. Just some the names in the Lying cast are; Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., John Hodgman, Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jason Bateman. Gervais has even gotten his first advance review for Lying from J.J. Abrams, who said, "The Invention of Lying' is as funny as it is biting, wholly original, and surprisingly moving. Is there such thing as an important comedy? Turns out there is, and this is it." It's an unlikely source of praise, but after watching the trailer, I guess the big question is: could Abrams be right? The Invention of Lying arrives in theaters on September 25th, 2009.

After the jump: Gervais' working class 'dramedy', Cemetery Junction, goes into preproduction and Gervais stalks the paparazzi...

I never thought the day would arrive that I could blog this news! Coriolanus is hitting the screen in its first big feature film. After countless reimaginings of star-crossed lovers, turmoil in Hamlet town, and double toil and trouble, we're finally getting something new in Shakespeare Land. (And it only took a year after making my wish known as King Lear got another dose of the feature treatment.)

Empire reports that Ralph Fiennes is going to make his directorial debut with his take on the war-filled play, John Logan is penning the adaptation, and he's lined up Vanessa Redgrave, William Hurt, and Jessica Chastain to star. Coriolanus is one of Shakespeare's tragedies that follows Gaius Martius, a determined and formidable Roman general who is not a fan of the lower classes. He wins a great battle for Rome, becomes a hero, and is invited to become a consul in the Senate -- but he must get the support of the plebeians, which leads to his ultimate downfall.

Fiennes will also take on the title role, although there is no word on who the others will play. (It is, however, probably a very safe bet to say that Redgrave will be Gaius' mother, Volumnia. Otherwise, she'd be criminally underused.) Fiennes is probably one of the best bets out there, and one of the only ones who could follow in the shoes set forth on the screen -- Morgan Freeman (in one of the few adaptations in 1979) -- plus stage stints by Laurence Olivier, Colm Feore, Richard Burton, Ian McKellen, and my personal favorite -- Christopher Walken. Oh yeah, and Fiennes has tackled the role before.

I'm so very in. You?

The only thing worse than remaking an adaptation rather than tackling the source material is getting two actors you'd love to see go head-to-head. When this project bubbled up in 2007, I mentioned greats in the original Clash of the Titans cast like Laurence Olivier and Burgess Meredith. While this new concoction has been grabbing fresh names like Arterton, Worthington, Mads Mikkelsen (Le Chiffre in Casino Royale), and Alexa Davalos (the electric Gwen from Angel), it's also getting some critical heavyweights.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Liam Neeson has signed on, and Ralph Fiennes is in final negotiations, to play warring gods in the Louis Leterrier remake. Oh, yes -- Neeson will play the ill-tempered Zeus, king of the gods and father of Perseus (Olivier's part), while Fiennes plays Hades, ruler of the underworld who wants to bring down Zeus and become supreme ruler. Even if the rest is terrible, I'd pay to see them go head to head.

Fans of the original will note that Hades wasn't in the first film, and that's because while this has been touted as a remake, they're going in a different direction with this story -- Perseus is on a mission to save the lady once again, but this time he has to defeat Hades. Yeah, that makes it pretty much a totally different project, but maybe they loved the name too much to not call it a remake...

After a distinguished career as a stage director, Stephen Daldry debuted as a film director with Billy Elliot; after that film's rave reviews and warm reception, his follow-up was The Hours, an ambitious adaptation of Michael Cunningham's novel that earned Daldry an Oscar nomination for Best Director. Daldry's new film The Reader, adapted from the German novel by Bernhard Schlink, tells the story of Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes), a lawyer who looks back at his youth (with David Kross playing the young Berg) and his fierce sexual affair with a much older woman, Hanna (Kate Winslet) in post-war Germany and the secrets and truths that come to light years after their affair ends.

Speaking with Cinematical in Los Angeles, Daldry talked about nudity, morality and the perils of adaptation: "We didn't want to make a film that reminded us of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader; we wanted to make a film based on Bernhard Schlink's The Reader. ..."

Cinematical: What was the prime source of appeal for you in adapting The Reader?

Stephen Daldry: The subject. I spent a lot of time, as a schoolboy, in Germany, learning German; as an adult, I spent a lot of time in Berlin when I was running the Royal Court Theater, working with a theater in Berlin. So it's a country that I know well, that for all its contradictions and shadows, always fascinates me. And Berlin has always seemed to be on the fault line of the 20th Century. And how that country has always, from generation to generation, and continues to -- (had) to struggle with the fact that they invented Auschwitz ...it's not just interesting, it's also important.

Opening in limited release this week with a wider release planned for January, The Reader has "prestigious arthouse drama" written all over it. It's an adaptation of a critically acclaimed German novel by Bernhard Schlink, but translated into English for wider appeal, and features a big dramatic performance from Kate Winslet in which we see her character over the span of decades. It's directed by Stephen Daldry and adapted by David Hare, who collaborated on another prestigious adaptation together, The Hours in 2002. This time, their movie explores German relationships that are affected, even decades later, by the Holocaust.

The movie is told as a flashback from the point of view of a middle-aged lawyer in Berlin, Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes). Back in the late 1950s, 15-year-old Michael (David Kross) falls ill on the way home from school one day, and is comforted and helped by a strange woman (Winslet). When he recuperates and returns to her home to thank her, a sexual spark flares up between them into an inappropriate but sympathetic relationship. They meet every afternoon, not just for sex but for reading -- he starts by reading her the books assigned to him for school, but ends up finding all manner of literature for them to share. However, Hanna is full of secrets -- she is even reluctant to tell Michael her name -- and the effects of her past and her secret-keeping are long-reaching and dramatic.

See larger version in gallery below

Cinematical has just received this exclusive final poster for The Reader, starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. Directed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours) and based on Bernhard Schlink's bestselling novel, The Reader is one of those talked-about flicks currently circling the Oscar pool trying to decide when it should jump in. From the synopsis:

THE READER opens in post-WWII Germany when teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair. Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens. Hanna is enthralled as Michael reads to her from "The Odyssey", "Huck Finn", and "The Lady with the Little Dog." Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears one day and Michael is left confused and heartbroken.

Eight years later, while Michael is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he is stunned to find Hanna back in his life – this time as a defendant in the courtroom. As Hanna's past is revealed, Michael uncovers a deep secret that will impact both of their lives. THE READER is a haunting story about truth and reconciliation, about how one generation comes to terms with the crimes of another.

The Reader opens in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco on December 10, before expanding on December 25 and opening nationwide on January 9. Check out the film's official website here, the trailer here and a larger version of the poster below.

See below gallery for larger images of each

Above you will find the two For Your Consideration ads for The Dark Knight that have been running in Variety this week. One promotes Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor, while the other targets a Best Picture nomination for the film itself. With The Dark Knight approaching $1 billion at the box office, it'd be a stupid move on the Academy's part to not give this flick the credit it deserves. From a ratings standpoint, knowing The Dark Knight is up for a few big awards (including Best Picture) would probably bring in tons more viewers, and, well, from a normal human being standpoint, the movie is freaking awesome! Give it some love!

Of course, it's a comic book movie and we all know the serious adults who vote on Oscars don't take too kindly to them comic book kids stuff. Hopefully, though, they'll see what a terrific job Nolan did with his Batman follow-up and the unbelievable performance Ledger gave as Joker. Should Ledger find his way into a nomination, he'll most likely be up against folks like Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), Josh Brolin (Milk), Ralph Fiennes (The Duchess) and Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder).

Check out larger versions of the above ads in the gallery below.



[via BoF]