Cinematical just received this exclusive poster for What Just Happened? (click to enlarge), which comes to us from director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Wag the Dog). Based on producer Art Linson's memoir What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line, the film stars Robert De Niro as a middle-aged Hollywood producer who tries to juggle an actual life with an outrageous series of crises in his day job.

As you can see from the poster, however, this puppy is packed with talent. You've got De Niro, Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, John Turturro, Stanley Tucci, Catherine Keener and the list goes on. When What Just Happened? premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical's James Rocchi described it as "movie geek heaven," saying De Niro produces "his best 'sly' comedic work since (probably) Wag the Dog." And how can you not love that poster and its tagline? Hilarious. Really looking forward to seeing this one when it arrives in a few months. (Check out the full synopsis after the jump)

What Just Happened? is set to hit theaters on October 3.

Pictures can only say so much. Now, finally, we can see the action behind the icons for the upcoming Righteous Kill. You remember the flick, right? Jon Avnet's new crime drama brings together Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as two old, tough, New York City cops who are hunting down a vigilante killer, and the teaser is now online over at Yahoo.

It's not much of a tease -- the trailer pretty much lays out the whole story, rather than taunting us with just a voiceover, or a few vague scene shots. I have to say... It looks decent. I'm not thrilled, but I'm also not disappointed. The teaser starts out as some big-beat 8-Mile intro, and then dips into the ever-classic Sympathy for the Devil. It's rather apt, but really, this whole flick isn't about the story. It's about the players.

They may be weathered cops, Pacino and De Niro are two men that make age look tough. And while they might be the draws, and the reason this flick is getting so much buzz, there's also a solid cast behind them -- Carla Gugino, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy, 50 Cent, Dan Futterman... And, you might notice in the beginning of the trailer that the freed bad guy is Terry Serpico, that tough guy from Michael Clayton, who is almost a dead ringer for Anthony Michael Hall. Separated at birth? I think so.

Righteous Kill will shoot its way to audiences on September 12.

If you're a ravenous movie nerd like me, than there's very little in Barry Levinson's "inside baseball" Hollywood movie What Just Happened? If, on the other hand, you don't know a whole lot about studio politics, the angst of test-market screenings, and the tricks that movie-makers (or, more specifically, movie-sellers) will pull just to get a festival screening and a huge opening weekend, then you'll most likely get a whole bunch of chuckles out of the flick. To those who know about this stuff all too well, the comedy should still make for an interesting enough diversion -- thanks mainly to a massive, colorful cast and a few solid jabs that hit Hollywood right in the kisser.

Based on producer Art Linson's book What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line, the film version tells the story of one very successful Hollywood producer, and the ways in which he juggles multiple professional crises, as well as some prickly domestic issues at the same time. Robert De Niro is our movie producer, doing his best "sly" comedic work since (probably) Wag the Dog. John Turturro is the archetypal agent: skittish, shifty, and packing a nasty ulcer. Stanley Tucci is the writer who needs our protagonist for professional reasons, but pursues his ex-wife (Robin Wright Penn) for other activities. Michael Wincott is the drug-infested director whose ultra-edgy film is being mangled by horrifying studio boss Catherine Keener.

Toss in some supremely amusing "self-mocking" performances from movie stars Bruce Willis and Sean Penn, and you've got the makings of a flick best described as "movie geek heaven." And while What Just Happened? is by all means a colorful and generally pretty funny expose of modern-day Hollywood, it often feels like Levinson and Linson (he also penned the screenplay adaptation) are content to preach to the choir. It's meant to be outrageous and unbelievable how art turns into pure commerce, but there have been plenty of Hollywood satires that demolish the "test screening" mentality, the "beleaguered producer" conceit, and the oh-so-cynical insinuation that Hollywood has no integrity whatsoever. So while much of the material in What Just Happened? is insightful and accurate ... it's just not all that new or shocking anymore.

Some new images from the film Righteous Kill have popped up over at Collider, and we finally get our first look at Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and the legendary 50 Cent together ... in the same scene! Talk about a cinematic wet dream. And is it just me, or does Fitty look like he's about to drop a smackdown on poor Robbie D? And Pacino is all like, "You ain't no Raging Bull anymore buddy. Step off." And De Niro is like, "Step off? You tell this rapper-turned-wannabee actor to step off. I ain't steppin' off." And then Fitty is like, "I can, and will, tear you in two with my eyes."

Righteous Kill, which arrives in theaters on April 18, stars De Niro and Pacino (in their first on-screen pairing since Heat) as two New York City detectives on the hunt for a killer that may or may not be one of their own. Fitty? Wanna fess up to somethin' here? The flick also stars John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy and the ultra sexy (but not as popular as she should be) Carla Gugino, who you can see snuggling up to a very lucky De Niro in the photo below. I kid, but I actually think this film will turn out pretty good. Even if the plot covers the same old generic serial killer whodunit territory, how can it not be fun to watch this cast interact with one another? I'm definitely "game" (but don't mention that word around Fitty or else you're in for a world of pain).

I thought long and hard on whether we should post this because, frankly, this promotional trailer doesn't excite me too much. I thought, ya know, the actual official trailer will probably be so much better -- with more work put into it, better editing, better sound mixing, etc -- that we should save our time and energy for that. But ... I just couldn't do it. It's Pacino, De Niro ... 50 Cent ... I can't hold stuff like that back on you fine folks. That said, the peeps over at cinemanotize (could be a huge site, never heard of them until now) got their hands on what looks like a promotional trailer for Righteous Kill, the film we shared pictures of yesterday. Don't know where they got it, don't know whether it's supposed to be out there yet -- don't know jack. I do know that it's kind of like that promotional trailer for Valkyrie, only not as good.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching De Niro throw on his "Goodfellas" face at the end (shows the guy's still got a set; know what I mean), but the friggin' thing is so choppy and all over the place, it's hard to get a read on it. We fly from scene to scene (some from the film, some behind the scenes); several shots of Pacino, De Niro -- titles comes flying at us -- De Niro looks mad and it's over. And the titles? "Two Screen Legends ... Starring Together As Never Before." What do they mean by that? "As Never Before?" But they starred in Heat together. That was ... before, I think. And why do they have to keep making such a big friggin' deal about the Pacino/De Niro pairing? Can't they just go? Can't they just get on with it, produce a kickass movie and let us decide whether them starring together was a blessing or a gigantic mistake? I don't know ... what do you think? Maybe I'm just bitter.

[via Slashfilm]

Hmm, does this newly-released photo from the film Righteous Kill remind you of anything? A scene from another film, perhaps? One that starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro? Anyone? Anyone? Kilmer? Empire Online has the first batch of grainy stills (what's up with the quality?) from the flick Righteous Kill, starring "Say hello to my little friend" and "You talkin' to me" opposite one another for the first time since Heat. However, in this film they're on the same side, which means we'll get to look forward to tons of face-to-face "So, how much did they pay you for dis?" action.

In Righteous Kill, Pacino and De Niro star as two NYC police officers investigating a string of murders committed by a serial killer. Directed by John Avnet, and written by Inside Man's Russell Gewirtz, Righteous Kill also stars Carla Gugino (whose character has romantic ties to De Niro -- lucky old bastard!), 50 Cent, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg (both of whom play fellow detectives). The film is currently in post production and no release date is set -- though I imagine we'll be seeing it hit theaters in March (maybe April) of next year ... I hope. Regardless of what people think about this film -- and what they think of the aging Pacino and De Niro -- I'm pretty stoked to watch both men together again on the big screen. How about you?

Ahem ........

It may be a bit early for this, but I wanted to get my two cents in on some of my favorite performances of 2007 so far, especially since most of these will probably get overlooked in the great Oscar crush of December. The awards almost always go to actors who are involved in biopics, message pictures, costume movies or epics, so let's start with the wonderful Alan Rickman, who has yet to earn a single Oscar nomination. This year, he can be seen toiling away once again in the small role of Severus Snape in the fifth "Harry Potter" film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (283 screens). In the third film, he practically stole the entire movie with the way he read the line "turn to page 394," but in this fifth film, he actually has a scene with some meat to it. In training Harry to block his thoughts, Harry takes a peek into Snape's own mind and finds a disastrously sad childhood. When the flashback ends, the camera lingers on Snape's face for a moment, and Rickman renders an astonishing expression of hurt and hatred that broke my heart and sent chills through my spine.

One costume movie, Becoming Jane (32 screens), was unfairly judged, perhaps because it was too much fun and not somber enough (or not based on a literary source of proper merit). The lovely Miss Anne Hathaway usually lends a kind of smart energy to her best performances, as if she were slightly ahead of the game, and she does so perfectly as the budding Jane Austen. She's playful, but tough, beautiful but restrained. And when she falls in love with her man (James McAvoy), she does so breathlessly and with her whole heart; the movie more or less explains through fantasy how Austen was able to write so passionately from such a dull existence. The real Jane was said to be rather plain, but I'd much rather imagine her like this. Add to this Maggie Smith's delightfully wry supporting performance as the wealthy aunt, who can't understand the impudent youth of today and fires off comically nasty barbs at their expense.

Any fan of modern crime fiction has got to be a little jazzed about this news: The long-in-development adaptation of Don Winslow's crime novel The Winter of Frankie Machine now has a star and a director -- and it's the same team who gave us the modern crime classic Heat. Variety reports that Paramount's production, which has been on their development slate since the studio bought the rights to Winslow's novel pre-publication back in 2005, is moving forward with Michael Mann on-board to direct the long-attached Robert De Niro in the lead role. Winslow may be the best crime writer you've never heard of; his California Fire and Life is certainly my pick for one of the best page-turning thrillers of the past 20 years, and his decades-spanning, border-crossing drug epic The Power of the Dog is a knockout as well. The Winter of Frankie Machine will be shooting from a script adaptation by Brian Kopplman and David Levien (Rounders, Oceans 13), following the reluctant re-criminalization of Frank Machianno -- veteran, small businessman, surfer and ex-killer -- as all his old allegiances and alliances draw very close around him.

In a lot of ways, Winslow's book is about how easily civilized, upstanding San Diegan Frank Machianno goes back to being Frankie Machine, descending Dante-style into Hell to try and get out; it's a juicy part for De Niro, one similar to some of his more iconic roles and yet very different; Winslow's book makes no bones about the age of its protagonist, and Frank's sense of honor will make for ripe stuff in the hands of the men who created the principled-yet-predatory jewel thief Neil McCauley in Heat. With Mann on board as the director, this film just moved up several notches on my radar; now, if we can just get Peter Berg to return to that film version of California Fire and Life he was supposedly attached to, it'd be a very good time to be a fan of California crime on the big screen. ...

In the new issue of GQ, erstwhile filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola -- we'll see what Youth Without Youth does for his ailing career -- goes off on an impressively long and specific rant against three of today's geriatric acting legends for not showing passion for their craft anymore. "I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come," Coppola says. "They were young and insecure. Now Pacino is rich, maybe because he never spends any money, he just puts it under the mattress. De Niro ... created an empire and is wealthy and powerful. Nicholson was -- when I met him and worked with him -- he was always kind of a joker. He's got a little bit of a mean streak. He's intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios."

Coppola goes on to say that he doesn't know what they "want" anymore (in their work, presumably) and then he singles Nicholson out as the most unmotivated of the three. "I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don't think Jack would. Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like Brando, except Brando went through some tough times. I guess they don't want to do it anymore." (Come on -- no tough times? Nicholson found out his sister was his mother when he was, like, 40!)

You think Coppola's done? Oh, no ... he's just getting warmed up. "Even in those days, after The Godfather, I didn't feel those actors were ready to say 'Let's do something else really ambitious,'" he continues. "A guy like Javier Bardem is excited to do something good: 'Let me do this' or 'I'll put stuff in my mouth, change my appearance.' I don't feel that kind of passion to do a role and be great coming from those guys..." So there you have it folks. Francis Ford Coppola is back, and he's looking for young, hungry actors who are willing to put stuff in their mouths.

[via NYDailyNews]

Is it bad that part of me doesn't care whether Righteous Kill turns out to be the crummiest, most overly-hyped piece of garbage this side of the equator? Is it wrong for me to say that I'll probably enjoy it for the simple fact that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino will finally -- after all these years -- be able to share some quality screen time? And is it horrific of me to believe that these two guys could play hop-scotch for an hour and a half, and I'd still leave the theater with a smile on my face? Probably not, since I have a feeling a lot of you are in the same boat as I. I think. Yup, thanks to some dude named Sean Henri, we get a first look at De Niro and Pacino together on the set of Righteous Kill. As of now, Henri only has two pics up on his blog (although he does promise more), in which both De Niro and Pacino can be seen walking up to what appears to be an apartment door, as well as one showing them standing in front of a Tow Away Zone sign (which is the pic you see to the right of your screen -- click on it for a larger version, courtesy of Sean Henri).

Directed by Jon Avnet (who helmed the still-unreleased Pacino flick 88 Minutes), and written by Inside Man scribe Russell Gerwitz, Righteous Kill follows two veteran detectives (De Niro, Pacino) who team up to track down a serial killer. The film also stars John Leguizamo, 50 Cent, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy and the very adorable Carla Gugino (who I just happen to have a major crush on). Martin Scorsese is also rumored to have a cameo in the film as Lt. Winnfield, although nothing official was ever announced. But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he showed up for a brief scene just to have the opportunity to square off in a room against his old pal and a guy who, surprisingly, has never starred in one of his films. Go figure there, huh? Anyway, enjoy the pics and look out for Righteous Kill to hit theaters sometime next year.

[via JoBlo]