Anne Hathaway Joins Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
Anne Hathaway by Jeffrey Mayer/ WireImage.com
Anne Hathaway is about to fall down the rabbit hole, and into the role of the benevolent White Queen in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
Helena Bonham Carter, who has worked with her fiancé Burton on several movies including Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, has also been cast as the "Off with their heads" shouting Red Queen, says The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie, which features In Treatment's breakout star Mia Wasikowska as Alice, and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, will use a combination of live action and performance-capture technology.
Hathaway is appearing now in — and garnering Oscar buzz for — Rachel Getting Married. She also scored points hosting Saturday Night Live where she showed off her lovely singing voice as well as her excellent Mary Poppins impersonation.
As for Alice, since Burton is fond of repurposing famous movies, novels and plays as well as his favorite actors, do you think the movie will be a smashing hit? — Erin Fox
Steve Carell, who plays cringe-worthy boss Michael Scott on The Office, has inked a three-year first-look deal with Warner Bros.
The deal comes after Get Smart grossed $130 million domestically and $230 million worldwide for Warner Bros. Although the studio is ramping up a sequel for Carell, it will not be a part of the overall deal, reports Variety.
"My idea was to partner with friends of mine," said Carell, who has formed Carousel Prods. with friends Vance DeGeneres (The Daily Show) and Charlie Hartsock. "I have some ideas for films, but I've gotten to know so many people who are funny, talented and fertile with ideas that I'm confident this very strong base of friendships will lead to projects."
Carell is currently shooting the fifth season of The Office. He hasn't announced his next starring role, but is attached with Tina Fey to play a married couple in the 20th Century Fox comedy Date Night.
Now there's a comedy match made in heaven. — Erin Fox
Don't be fooled by name — the action-thriller revolves around the lives of elite Navy pilots, namely friends-turned-foes Shane West and Cam Gigandet. Chasez, who's guested on various shows, including Las Vegas and Ghost Whisperer, will play a pilot in the squad.
Rachael Leigh Cook has already been tapped in the requisite love interest role.
No release date has been set.
Are you ready for JC on the big screen? — Joyce Eng
The two have signed on to star in the live-action, CGI-blended film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
Directed by Brad Peyton and produced by Andrew Lazar, the movie is a follow-up to 2001's Cats & Dogs (um, was anyone asking for a sequel?) and continues the plot of the felines and canines' battle for control of Earth.
Script is by Ron Friedman and Steve Bencich, who've mastered the art of animated animals with Chicken Little, Open Season and Brother Bear.
Live-action filming has already commenced in Vancouver, while voice casting is expected to follow shortly. — Joyce Eng
She's fought in the ring, and now Hilary Swank will be fighting for justice in her latest flick.
The two-time Oscar winner will star in the legal drama Betty Anne Waters for director Tony Goldwyn, Variety reports.
Based on a true story, Swank will play the titular character, a single mother/high school dropout who works and waitresses her way through law school to free her incarcerated brother, Kenneth, whom she believes was framed for murder.
The project has been gestating since 2001, when Waters' brother was released, and was originally planned as a starrer for Naomi Watts.
Swank will executive produce the film, written by Pamela Gray. Production begins in January in Michigan. — Joyce Eng
The Bourne Identity is about to be re-bourne with Jack Black.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the funnyman is re-pairing with his Kung Fu Panda writers, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, to star in an action comedy inspired by Matt Damon's amnesiac alter ego for Universal.
The untitled flick will find Black's character, an American, washing up on the shores of Cuba with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. After some thought, he mistakenly comes to the conclusion that he's a superspy. Cue ridiculous shenanigans.
"If he did turn out to be a superspy, this wouldn't be a 'comedic Bourne Identity,'" Berger said, "but just The Bourne Identity, and apparently Universal has already made that movie, several times."
Black will produce the film with Ben Cooley, his Electric Dynamite partner. A release date has not been set.
Are you looking forward to Black's comedic take on Jason Bourne? — Joyce Eng
Johnny Depp has a new business partner: Mickey Mouse.
The Sweeney Todd star revealed Wednesday that he has signed on for three flicks from Walt Disney Studios, including a fourth swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean adventure.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the announcement came at Disney's Wednesday preview of upcoming movies and projects at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Depp capped off the day by surprising the packed house with an appearance in full Jack Sparrow regalia.
But the biggest surprise came in Depp's entrance music: The loudspeakers blared "The William Tell Overture," otherwise known as the theme song to The Lone Ranger. Depp will be playing Tonto, The Lone Ranger's sidekick in the studio's upcoming version of the hero's tale, also produced by Pirates' Jerry Bruckheimer.
Depp will also play the role of the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, scheduled for a release in 2010. The flick will be shot in 3-D using performance capture technology that was most recently seen in Beowulf.
Which of this batch of Depp's Disney adventures are you most excited to see? — Adam Bryant
Nicole Kidman Credits Pregnancy to Fertile Aussie Waters
Nicole Kidman by Kevin Mazur/ WireImage.com
Nicole Kidman thinks that swimming in the Australian Outback waterfalls, while filming Baz Lurhmann's Australia, might have contributed to her unexpected pregnancy during the last year.
The 41-year-old Oscar-winning actress, who gave birth to daughter Sunday Rose in July, spoke candidly about her pregnancy saying, "I never thought that I would get pregnant and give birth to a child, but it happened on this movie,” reports The Associated Press.
Kidman, who is married to country crooner Keith Urban, said that she wasn't the only woman who swam in the waterfalls and got pregnant. "Seven babies were conceived out of this film and only one was a boy. There is something up there in the Kununurra… so we can call it the fertility waters now," Kidman said.
What do you think about Nicole's theory on her pregnancy? — Erin Fox
Duchovny will play the bogus father, who is currently undergoing a "crisis of confidence" due to the phony life he's leading, while Moore will portray the career-driven mother who's struggling with her growing affection for Duchovny's character.
Heard, who most recently appeared in Pineapple Express, will play their fake daughter, who herself is putting the moves on Duchovny's character while looking for a rich sugardaddy.
Cole, who will next be seen on Chuck, will play a neighbor.
Echo Lake's Doug Mankoff and Andy Spaulding will produce the flick with Kirsti Zea (Goodfellas). Filming starts next month in Atlanta. — Joyce Eng
Miley Cyrus has been tapped by Disney to star in a yet-to-be-titled vehicle that will be tailor-made for her by author Nicholas Sparks.
Knowing Sparks' work, including the massive hit and tearjerker, A Walk to Remember (that starred another pop princess, Mandy Moore), Miley may have to work on her crying skills.
Sparks will be working on the novel and the screenplay for the Cyrus flick at the same time, and tells Variety, "This is similar to the way it's gone with movies based on my novels; it's just out of order." He added, "Certain opportunities garner your interest, and this was one of those."
Miley's camp, including her mom, Leticia, who will produce the film, told Sparks they were "very familiar with the work I've done in the past. That played a role in this project coming together."
Are you going to look forward to a three-hanky movie starring Miley? What should her tragic ailment be in this movie? — Erin Fox
Fox 2000 has recruited the writing duo behind Outsourced, Keith Merryman and David A. Newman, to pen the new Katherine Heigl action-comedy Drawn Together, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Heigl is set to star and produce with mom-turned-manager Nancy Heigl under their production company Abishag.
Though the details on the plot are few and far between, the studio has said the movie will center on an electronics designer who meets his Ms. Right, but it turns out she’s not who she seems to be. At least they’re not being vague about it! — Gina DiNunno
Based on a Randy Arrington novel, the film will follow the hard-knock lives of — no, not cowboys — but Navy pilots. Gigandet will play a "hot-shot pilot," while West will play his BFF-turned-enemy, and Cook will be a journalist and Gigandet's love interest.
Soap star Mario van Peebles will direct and Adam Prince will write the screenplay. — Joyce Eng
Relive West's run on ER in our Online Video Guide.
Joel and Ethan Coen's spy comedy Burn After Reading helped the fall box office get back on track after a terrible opening a week ago, outselling three other newcomers to take the weekend's top spot.
According to Variety, Reading, which stars Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand, took in $19.6 million this weekend, marking the Coen Brothers' largest opening ever. While that number pales in comparison to the huge openings brought in by some of the summer's blockbusters, this weekend's top films (Burn, Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys with $18 million and the Robert De Niro and Al Pacino reuniting Righteous Kill with $16.5 million) combined for a 35 percent increase in sales from the same weekend a year ago.
The weekend's other new release, The Women, landed in fourth place with $10 million and The House Bunny rounded out the Top 5 with $4.3 million. Last weekend's top-grossing flick Bangkok Dangerous dropped a staggering 69 percent and fell to eighth place overall. — Adam Bryant
We can't even begin to tell you how good this film looks. In the Clint Eastwood-directed true story, Changeling, Jolie plays Christine Collins whose 9-year-old son is kidnapped — but she claims the boy returned to her by the authorities is not her son. And, of course, that opens a whole can of worms about corruption in the LAPD. The film deserves an Oscar from the trailer alone!
If you thought the first Quantum of Solace trailer was awesome, wait 'til you feast your eyes on this bad boy! This two-minute work of art starts with the voice of Dame Judi Dench, a gunshot, and then the magic happens. What kind of magic? Oh just the usual car chases, fistfights, stunts, explosions and — in true Bond fashion — loads of beautiful women.
