unknown white male Tagged Articles at Cinematical
The 'Unknown White Male' Nabs Diane Kruger and January Jones
Filed under: Thrillers », Warner Brothers »
If I told you the next Dark Castle horror-thriller flick would star January Jones and Diane Kruger, you'd probably be interested. If I told you that the most recent Dark Castle horror flicks were Whiteout, Orphan, and Return to House on Haunted Hill ... you'd probably be a little less interested. But with the presence of two stunning blondes (and a half-decent concept), Dark Castle's Unknown White Male is starting to sound a little intriguing.According to Variety, Ms. Jones and Ms. Kruger will join the very busy (and very lucky) Liam Neeson in Unknown White Male, which "centers on a man who awakens from a coma to find that someone else has assumed his identity, and no one, including his wife, believes him." The director is Jaume Collet-Serra, whom the horror freaks may remember from (Dark Castle) flicks like Orphan and House of Wax. The stunning Diane Kruger is best-known for her work in Troy, Inglourious Basterds, and both National Treasure movies, while January Jones (even the name is sexy!) has been seen in We Are Marshall, American Wedding, and the upcoming Pirate Radio. She's also a big hit on that Mad Men series.
Variety doesn't make mention one way or another, but I do believe this film is a feature (loosely) based on this documentary of the same name. And that's a damn good documentary.
Liam Neeson Is An 'Unknown White Male'
Filed under: Action », Thrillers », Casting », Mystery & Suspense », Warner Brothers », Newsstand »
I do believe the entire movie-going world is pleased that Liam Neeson has shed his fondness for soft-spoken mentor roles, and gone completely and utterly badass. Taken seems to have propelled him to the top of the man-crush list, and now he's just racking up fierce fights right and left. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest to get a Neeson throwdown is Unknown White Male, a role he was rumored to be circling just a few short weeks ago. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and scripted by Karl Gajdusek, Unknown centers on a a doctor who is enjoying a trip to Berlin with his wife. A car accident leaves him in a coma, and when he wakes up, he discovers he's been replaced in his life by another man. (A lookalike? Or just one of those "I've always been Dr. Smith" switcharoos?) Naturally, this replacement Neeson has sinister intentions, and it's up to the good version to discover just what the hell is going on. Presumably, it will involve much violence on the continent. (I'm beginning to think this Irishman is trying to tell us something about what happens when you travel there.)
Shooting is scheduled to begin this January, fresh on the heels of Clash of the Titans, and The A-Team. I feel compelled to mention that missing from that list is the Lincoln biopic he's done so much research for. I humbly suggest he use it and his new talent for combat to tackle Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
'Unknown White Male' Soon Set To Be Known
Jaume Collet-Serra has directed three films thus far - the slasher film House of Wax, a slasher film that was marketed largely on the prospect of seeing Paris Hilton die; Goal II: Living The Dream, which answered many of the burning questions left over from the original Goal; and Orphan, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga as adoptive parents who invite an unholy terror into their homes. During the press day for Orphan, which opens Friday nationwide, Collet-Serra indicated he already has his fourth film lined up and ready to go.
"It's coming," Collet-Serra said of Unknown White Male, a thriller that reunites him with his House of Wax and Orphan producer Joel Silver. "It's shooting in the winter in Berlin, and that's a great script. It's a search for identity, which is something that everybody is looking for in their lives, like who they are, so that's a great thing. The premise is just fantastic, the first 15 minutes, a guy waking up from a coma and realizing that he's been replaced by somebody else, I think that's one of the greatest first 15 minutes that I've read."
As for its stars? Collet-Serra declined to offer names, but when a journalist indicated that they'd spoken to Liam Neeson, he replied, "yeah," but added, "I don't have the contract on my desk. We don't really have anybody official yet."
Tips for Tuesday: New to DVD on 9/5
Filed under: New on DVD », Home Entertainment »
Recent TheatricalsDead Man's Shoes (Magnolia) -- A fantastic revenge thriller from British director Shane Meadows. (audio commentary, featurette, deleted scene, alternate ending)
District B13 (Magnolia) -- One of the craziest action flicks in years, and a whole lot of fun. (mini-doco, extended fight scene, blooper reel)
Kinky Boots (Miramax) -- Yet another drag queen shoe store musical comedy from the UK. (audio commentary, two deleted scenes, two featurettes)
United 93 (Universal) -- A fine film (with an inevitably harrowing finalé), but not one that screams out for repeat viewings. (director's commentary, featurette, memorial pages)
Unknown White Male (Wellspring) -- The validity of this documentary has been questioned, but either way it's a fascinating look at the horrors of amnesia. (six featurettes)
Catalog Titles
Blade Runner (Warner Bros.) -- Be aware: This is the same DVD as the current BR release, only with a new anamorphic transfer. The mega-swanky Special Editions arrive next year!
Brazil (Criterion) -- A one-disc (and now-anamorphic) version of Criterion's superlative three-disc set. (director's commentary)
Frankenstein Unbound (Fox) -- From director Roger Corman, starring John Hurt, Bridget Fonda, Raul Julia and Jason Patric. Yep, it's a weird one. (no extras)
Gojira (Sony) -- Includes the U.S. version and (for the first time) the original uncut Japanese version of the classic monster movie. (audio commentaries, documentaries, featurettes, etc.)
Seven Samurai (Criterion) -- 'Nuff said. (two audio commentaries, three documentaries, featurettes, etc.)
Direct-to-Video
Broken Trail (Sony) -- Technically this Robert Duvall oater was made for cable, but I think it's one of the best Westerns in years. (featurette)
Dorm Daze 2 (Lionsgate) -- If there's anything better than a National Lampoon "comedy," it's the sequel. (extras tbd)
The Plague (Sony) -- Earth's children fall into a coma, only to awaken years later with unpleasant things on their collective mind. (audio commentary, eight deleted scenes)
Population 436 (Sony) -- How does a town maintain the exact same population for 100 years? (alternate ending)
Weinstein absorbs Wellspring
Filed under: Foreign Language », Independent », Deals », Wellspring », Distribution », The Weinstein Co. », Weinstein Brothers », Cinematical Indie »
The distribution company behind some of the most interesting indie and foreign releases in recent memory, from the
theatrical rollouts of The Brown Bunny and The Beat That My Heart Skipped, to Funny Ha Ha's
DVD release, is turning its theatrical division over to Harvey Weinstein. It's not a deal that could not be foreseen:
Weinstein's Company acquired a 70% stake in Wellspring's parent company, Genius LLC, in December, which gave them
control of a stunning library, including films by Peter Greenaway, Michaelangelo Antonioni, and Francois Truffaut. The
CEO of Genius is calling the Weinstein absorption a "realignment"; whatever it is, Wellspring will cease its
theatrical distribution business after minding the rollout of controversial Oscar Is Unknown White Male another Million Little Pieces?
Filed under: Documentary », Independent », Celebrities and Controversy », Oscar Watch », Cinematical Indie »
Ever since the Oscar-nominated Unknown White Male (review here) premiere at last year's Sundance Film
Festival, there have been rumblings that the story it tells about Doug
Bruce's memory loss and subsequent new life is too strange to be real. Additionally, everyone in the movie is
good-looking and smart, which is a little suspicious in a film that's supposed to be about real life. Some at Sundance
went so far as to suggest that the film was an elaborate joke, much like Peter
Jackson's cheeky Forgotten Silver, which fooled all of
New Zealand before it was revealed to be a mockumentary. In a recent GQ article, Michel Gondry - who semi-seriously wonders if the inspiration for
UWM came from his own Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - admits that he doesn't believe Bruce, but has never been willing to confront
him about his doubts.Needless to say, Bruce, the filmmaker, and everyone else behind the film deny there's anything fictional about it. Interestingly, the distributing team - Court TV and Wellspring - has refused to use the simmering controversy as a tool to promote the film. Given the marketing potential in a "Is it or isn't it?" campaign, it would be a move of incredible stupidity not to use that angle to promote a film that you know is faked and, presumably, plan to eventually come clean about. That, combined with the fact that not a single shred of concrete evidence has surfaced to disprove the reality of the film, seems to suggest that UWM is telling the truth. After all, as JT Leroy and James Frey can tell us, it's almost impossible to keep a secret this big in the modern world - you've got to believe that something would have leaked out by now.
That said, if it's a hoax, it's a fantastic one, and I'm just one of the many suckers.
Review: Unknown White Male
Filed under: Documentary », Independent », New Releases », Wellspring », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie »
On July 3, 2003, Doug Bruce found himself on a New York subway headed for Coney Island. Looking around at the nearly-empty car, he realized not only did he not know where he was going, but he also had no idea where he had been, or who he was. At some point in the previous 36 hours, everything he knew about himself had vanished, and he was now a nothing more than an anonymous man clad in shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops, with no identification and only the few possessions he carried in a backpack. Terrified, Bruce turned himself into the police.
Equally befuddled, the police took Bruce to the emergency room, where it was determined that, apart from some mild bruising on his head, there was nothing physically wrong with him. Untreatable and still unknown, he was eventually placed in the hospital’s psych ward, where, when he was asked to give permission for his belongings to be put in storage, Bruce picked up a pen and signed his name. Talking about that moment a week later, he is moved almost to tears at the memory of discovering that “I am somebody.” Like many signatures, however, his was essentially unintelligible, and Bruce was told he would be kept in the ward until someone identified him.
Trailer Park: Second Chances
Filed under: Trailer Trash »
Right now, I know you want to read this but for some reason you cannot take your eyes off the ones staring back at you from above. They're intense, and kind of freak you out, but it's okay - I'm there for you. Now, I'm giving you one more chance here, so pay attention. Are you reading now? Good.
I've always felt like crap after someone has offered me a second chance to get it done. Sure, it seems great to be able to try it again or do the whole thing over, but doesn't that just mean you failed the first time around? Then again, upon succeeding with your second chance, you're hit with this amazing feeling of accomplishment. Failure did not conquer. You did it. You're a star!
All of the following films feature people searching for their own personal second chance. Whether it be external, internal, dramatic or comedic - it's really about proving life is full of those "try again later" moments. Perhaps you may want to ponder your own second chances after reading this week's Trailer Park...
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Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
Peter Jackson Says Spielberg's 'Tintin' is Done Filming, but...
Interracial Harmony: 'Ninja Assassin' vs. 'Blind Side'
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 11/24
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