Category: Biopic

Oliver Stone’s ‘W’ Trailer

The footage in this trailer shows how out of control our current President was and asks the question… “how could a guy like that get into the White House?” Stone promised that the movie will not be biased. Clearly that’s not completely true.

Plot: Whether you love him or hate him, there is no question that George W. Bush is one of the most controversial public figures in recent memory. In an unprecedented undertaking, acclaimed director Oliver Stone is bringing the life of our 43rd President to the big screen as only he can. “W” takes viewers through Bush’s eventful life — his struggles and triumphs, how he found both his wife and his faith, and of course the critical days leading up to Bush’s decision to invade Iraq.

“W” stars Josh Brolin as George W. Bush, Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush, James Cromwell as George Herbert Walker Bush, Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush, Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice, Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell, Scott Glenn as Donald Rumsfeld, and Ioan Gruffud as Tony Blair.

WAMG First Look at ‘Death Defying Acts’

From Australian filmmaker, Gillian Armstrong (Charlotte Gray, Mrs. Soffel) … I’d almost forgot the biopic about Harry Houdini, starring Guy Pearce, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Saoirse Ronan (Atonement).  Pearce’s portrayal didn’t cast a spell on some Houdini purists after it premiered at Toronto’s Film Festival last year.  Ã‚  ‘Death Defying Acts‘ opens this week in limited release  in New York and LA – hope it makes its way to St. Louis.

WAMG First Look at ‘The Last Station’

The film, based on the book The Last Station, is about the life of famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer). Mirren plays his wife Sofya. The much in demand James McAvoy plays Valentin Bulgakov, Tolstoy’s secretary. Mirren and Plummer were replacements for Meryl Streep and Anthony Hopkins. Paul Giamatti also co-stars. The film is being directed by Michael Hoffman, whose biggest hit to date was the Pfeiffer/Clooney romantic comedy One Fine Day (1996). But since this is a period bio will we see it in this years Oscar race? Hoffman’s only Oscar film previously was the 17th century drama Restoration (1995) which won  for costume design & art direction.

Helen Mirren has another big year ahead of her with  three films coming our way. The other biggies are an A list ensemble crime thriller (State of Play) and one true story about a brothel in Nevada (Love Ranch) directed by her husband Taylor Hackford (Ray).

Marvin Gaye Biopic in the Works

F Gary Gray (Friday, The Italian Job) will direct “Marvin,” a biopic of Marvin Gaye, the iconic singer who was shot to death by his father in 1984. C Gaby Mitchell (Blood Diamond) is aboard to write the script.

David Foster will produce with Duncan McGillivray, and next week they will shop to studios and financiers a package that includes the complete music rights to Gaye’s catalog, including the hits that made him Motown’s biggest solo male star.

Those tunes include “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “What’s Goin’ On” and “Let’s Get It On.” Plan is to have the star of the film lip synch to Gaye’s recordings.

Gray has long wanted to tell Gaye’s story, but the inability to secure music rights has made it a high mountain to climb. A rival pic, “Sexual Healing,” produced by James Gandolfini, who has a role, and starring Jesse L. Martin, will focus on the singer’s declining years, because the filmmakers have rights to use songs only from his post-Motown career. That film, reportedly scheduled to start last month in Europe, has not begun production.

Gray said his movie will cover Gaye’s entire life, from his emergence at Motown through his defiance of Berry Gordy to record “What’s Goin’ On” and on up to his death.

“This is my passion project, the one that I wake up every day thinking about,” Gray told Variety. “I’m going to tell a truthful story, and there is no shortage of drama and extreme conflict in a relationship with his father that at its core is Shakespearean and tragic. This isn’t the average biopic of a rock star wrestling with drugs and women, but a man whose musical awakening became a call to action that questioned critical issues like a costly foreign war, recession, environment, inequality — issues that are relevant now.“

‘The Germs’ being immortalized in new biopic …

Rodger Grossman has spent 10 years trying to get this movie done, and finally its coming to fruition. Shane West and Bijou Phillips star. Punk is something I hold close to my heart, and it really excites me to see a feature full length about such a legendary punk band …

“Actor Shane West portrays Crash, who died of a heroin overdose at age 22 in 1980. The other actors who play the Germs’ members were taught to play instruments by Pat Smear, the band’s original guitarist and music producer on the film, and their recordings were used in the movie.”

Shane West has actually toured with The Germs doing vocals for them, so this role isn’t much of a stretch for him. We are sitting down to talk to Rodger tonight, and will post the interview tomorrow. For screening dates, and other info go check out their MYSPACE page..

Dicaprio in Ian Fleming Biopic

Wow this is interesting, Leo as Mr.Fleming wouldn’t be too bad. Recently I have loved Leo’s work especially Departed and Blood Diamond. He is really coming in to his own, and I think he can handle this big task. I wasn’t to keen on his portrayal of Howard Hughes in The Aviator but who knows, people love Mr.Dicaprio.

LA Times reports that Leonardo DiCaprio has recently came on as producer of “Fleming,” an original screenplay written by Damian Stevenson about the life of the British author and journalist, Ian Fleming, who created James Bond. As always, DiCaprio may also star in the biopic.

“It’s going to be very different from the Bond films,” says producer Andrew Lazar (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Get Smart), who first championed the project. “There are a lot of different ways to crack biopics, but we’re not trying to emulate a Bond movie. The idea that this guy’s life informed the James Bond character is pretty fascinating.”

In fall 2005, just before the lucrative Bond franchise rebooted with Daniel Craig, Stevenson made his first script sale to Warner Bros. He then spent months mollifying the WB legal department about the historical accuracy of the Fleming story and worked through dozens of drafts with Lazar.

“It’s the real James Bond,” says Stevenson. “In England, Ian Fleming’s exploits are much better well known. Talking to people out here, no one had any idea that M was based on a real person, Miss Moneypenny was based on a real person.”

His latest version of the screenplay begins on the eve of Fleming’s Jamaica wedding in 1952, just before his first Bond novel, “Casino Royale,” was published (a wedding present to his new wife).

It then flashes back to Fleming’s years as a Reuters journalist stationed in Moscow and then a Commander of Naval Intelligence (MI6 code name “17F”) during World War II who devised innovative spying plots.

I guess we will just have to wait and see if He can deliver!

My beef with the ‘W’ Movie …

As most of you already know, Oliver Stone starts shooting ‘W’ next month and they have the cast all ready to go.

First off, they cast Josh Brolin as Mr. W himself, which I guess is alright. However they are making Elizabeth Banks into Laura Bush?!?! What? Are you serious? Yes, I am serious.

Elizabeth Banks is smokin’ hot, and Laura Bush … isn’t. I think a better casting choice would have been Lisa Kudrow, or someone else that we don’t associate with being sexy. Laura Bush isn’t sexy, the twins are, but not the first lady. This is a crime against humanity!