“The Town” to Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) announced today that Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ crime drama “The Town” will premiere at this year’s 35^th annual festival. The Gala Presentation, which marks the North American debut of the film, will take place on Saturday, September 11, 2010.

Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, “The Town” opens in North America on September 17, 2010.

There are over 300 bank robberies in Boston every year. And most of the professionals live in a one-square-mile neighborhood called Charlestown. One of them is Doug MacCray (Ben Affleck), but he is not cut from the same cloth as his fellow thieves. Unlike them, Doug had a chance at success, a chance to escape following in his father’s criminal footsteps. Instead, he became the leader of a crew of ruthless bank robbers, who pride themselves on taking what they want and getting out clean. The only family Doug has are his partners in crime, especially Jem (Jeremy Renner), who, despite his dangerous, hair-trigger temper, is the closest thing Doug ever had to a brother.

However, everything changed on the gang’s last job when Jem briefly took a hostage: bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). When they discover she lives in Charlestown, Jem gets nervous and wants to check out what she might have seen. Knowing what Jem is capable of, Doug takes charge. He seeks out Claire, who has no idea that their encounter is not by chance or that this charming stranger is one of the men who terrorized her only days before. As his relationship with Claire deepens into a passionate romance, Doug wants out of this life and the town. But with the Feds, led by Agent Frawley (Jon Hamm), closing in and Jem questioning his loyalty, Doug realizes that getting out will not be easy and, worse, may put Claire in the line of fire. Any choices he once had have boiled down to one: betray his friends or lose the woman he loves.

Academy Award^® winner Ben Affleck (“Good Will Hunting,” “Gone Baby Gone”) directed and stars in “The Town,” a dramatic thriller about robbers and cops, friendship and betrayal, love and hope, and escaping a past that has no future.

The film also stars Rebecca Hall (“Vicky Christina Barcelona”), Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), Oscar^® nominee Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”), Blake Lively (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” TV’s “Gossip Girl”), Titus Welliver (“Gone Baby Gone”), Oscar^® nominee Pete Postlethwaite (“In the Name of the Father,” “Inception”), and Academy Award^® winner Chris Cooper (“Adaptation”).

“The Town” is produced by Academy Award^® winner Graham King (“The Departed”) and Basil Iwanyk (“Clash of the Titans”) from a screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard, based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. The executive producers are Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, William Fay and David Crockett, and Chay Carter served as co-producer.

The behind-the-scenes creative team was led by Oscar^®-winning director of photography Robert Elswit (“There Will Be Blood”), production designer Sharon Seymour (“Gone Baby Gone”), Oscar^®-nominated editor Dylan Tichenor (“There Will Be Blood”), and costume designer Susan Matheson (“The Kingdom”). The music is composed by Harry Gregson-Williams and David Buckley, who previously collaborated on Affleck’s “Gone Baby Gone.”

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a GK Films Production, a Thunder Road Film Production, “The Town.” The film has been rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use.

"Arthur" goes back to the future

The last we saw from the set of the comedy remake Arthur starring Russell brand was the batmobile from batman forever, and Brand along with Luis Guzman dressed up as Batman and fat Hispanic robin. That was, whatever that was, but now more photos have leaked from the set this time involving the DeLorean from Back To The Future, what the fuck? I could care less that you make fun of Batman Forever, and drive the shitty batmobile, but no one but Marty Mcfly should be driving the DeLorean, especially not ever 88 miles per hour!

Like I said before I'm on the fence about this one. It could be comedic genius or compete trash. I liked Brand in Get Him To The Greek, but not so much in his other roles. Once we see a trailer I'm sure we'll know more, until then I'll remain optimistic but weary.

The new Arthur follows a very rich, happy drunk who is told by his mother that he must marry the wealthy girl of her choosing or else lose his inheritance, just as he meets a poor girl and falls in love.

Tom Welling Finally Dons The Cape

With the hugely successful series Smallville finally coming to a close after its 10th season this year. The question on everyone's mind is will Clark finally become Superman. Well according to Tom Welling , it will finally happen.

In an interview with The Flickcast Welling was asked about finally becoming the man of steel and he revealed "Yeah, that's the plan, I don't know how they're going to do it, but I know that inevitably, that's where we get to."

His thoughts on the superman costume and what it means to be finally be wearing it:

"[The Superman costume] looks good, I wasn't there when they shot it on set. I was actually on another stage shooting something else. But I know what it looks like."

"I think it's a huge responsibility for Clark and for me, And hopefully, we can get to a place where the fans feel as though we did everything that we could. We serviced the character the way that will make them all happy."

Welling also responded to the long standing rumor that he would play Superman on the big screen once the show had concluded:

"I've always been open to the idea. It's not as simple as everyone would like to think. It's not as simple as me wanting to do it or not wanting to do it, I know that a lot of people want to jump on me or jump on Warner Brothers. It's just not that simple. So there's a lot of elements that have to come together."

Which basically translates to he would love to do it sure, but he knows damn well it's not going to happen. I would like to think this puts the rumor to bed, but I know his response will only be taken out of context and dragged out by fan boys for the next year. We won't hear the end of it until we know who will in fact be cast as the new Man of Steel. Current rumours point to the possibility of John Hamm, but only time will tell.

The season premiere of "Smallville" will air on Friday, September 24.

Mel Gibson's Crazy Ass Too Much For DiCaprio

To which the world gives out a collective, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm shocked!"

Radar Online (responsible for leaking those Foot-in-Mouth audio tapes) says Leonardo DiCaprio has washed his hands clean of Gibson. He was supposed to star in an untitled Viking epic, written by William Monahan and helmed by the Mad one himself. Last I recall production was expected to get going near the end of this year.

Stick a fork in those plans. DiCaprio (coming off the successes of Shutter Island and current commercial-smash Inception) is on to green pastures with directors with less dirty laundry being aired out. He'll instead headline Hoover for Clint Eastwood. Granted, I'd have rather seen this Viking project personally and, at least, he's taking a breather away from constant-collaborator Martin Scorsese.

Unless Gibson opts to bankroll this himself, good luck on finding financers.

J.J. Abrams Teaching Us of the World's First Robot

Bitched plenty of times (too much, frankly) about how J.J. Abrams slapping on another project to produce has lost its muster. It’s normal for any filmmaker (producer or director) to have multiple projects under development. Just feels like you throw a rock and there’s something else added to Abrams' growing docket to produce.

Heat Vision pegs the latest to be Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel, based on the graphic novel by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett. It tells the "true story" of the world's first robot, meet-ups with T.E. Lawrence and Theodore Roosevelt, involvement in silent movies and fighting in WWI. Basically, it's Zelig with a robot –a great selling point, if it were being pitched to me.

Check out this trailer for the graphic novel to give you an idea:

Mark Ruffalo Talks The Hulk

 

Just last weekend it was confirmed by Avengers director Joss Whedon that Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner were joining the cast, respectively as the hulk and Hawkeye. The fans lucky enough to be in attendance at comic con in San Diego were witness to the entire avengers cast being assembled on stage.

Entertainment Weekly was lucky enough to talk to Ruffalo after the event and get his thoughts on being cast as the not so jolly green giant the hulk:

"It was very exciting — and I realized I had some pretty big shoes to fill. Those were my heroes up there! I was a comic book fan growing up. I loved The Hulk and The Avengers — it’s just strange to be entering that world as an actor. I never would have imagined that before."

As far as his thoughts on the character it self:

"He’s a guy struggling with two sides of himself — the dark and the light — and everything he does in his life is filtered through issues of control. I grew up on the Bill Bixby TV series, which I thought was a really nuanced and real human way to look at The Hulk. I like that the part has those qualities."

His thoughts on taking over the role from friend Ed Norton, and Norton's beef with Marvel:

 "I’m a friend of Ed’s, and yeah, that wasn’t a great way for all that to go down. But the way I see it is that Ed has bequeathed this part to me. I look at it as my generation’s Hamlet."

As much as I loved Norton in the role I can't say that I don't think Ruffalo won't do a good job. He is after all a great actor. I'm just surprised marvel was able to line up the all star cast that they have.

According to Ruffalo he's not sure, but he assumes they'll start shooting around January or February of next year. The Avengers is set for release on May 4, 2012.

First Tv Spot "The Social Network"

Columbia Pictures have released the first Tv spot for David Finchers The Social Network aka the facebook movie. It's really just a lot more of the same from the other trailers, but it further reassures you Fincher is a director that can do no wrong, and you know you'll end up seeing it. Not very often are real people portrayed in film to be the actual cunts they are in real life, but if anyone were to do it, and do it right it would be David Fincher.

The Social Network is based in part on the book The Accidental Billionaires. It chronicles the formative days of Facebook, from its founding in Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room through its early rise to success. It hits theaters this October.

Fantastic Four Reboot to Feature 100% CG Ben Grimm

Goodbye, silly-looking makeup effects and hello, fancy-pants CG/motion-capture work. Thanks, Avatar!

Screen Rant reports 20^th Century Fox is headed in that direction for Ben Grimm/The Thing in their planned Fantastic Four Reborn reboot. You can expect to hear "It's clobbering time!" in 100% computer-generated goodness. Once they get going on the property that is. Their spies say not to expect to hear diddily dick for awhile as they’re too busy punching the clock on the fast-tracked (and no doubt, effects-heavy) X-Men: First Class.

Normally, this is where we'd bitch and whine asking, "Why can't they do everything practical nowadays?!" But then the defendant (Fox) would showcase the look of Grimm in the Tim Story-directed FF films as Exhibit A (done via makeup, rubber-suits and the works), and the jury would rule in their favor before seeing any other evidence.

The truth is even by comic-book standards, the Fantastic Four is just so Goddamn silly. It feels like a lost cause to reboot this of all franchises.

Vince Vaughn and David O. Russell Heading To "Old St. Louis"

In one of the more odd-pairings of actor and director in recent years, TOLDJA! is reporting Vince Vaughn (The Breakup, Wedding Crashers) and David O. Russell (Three Kings, upcoming The Fighter) are said to coming aboard Universal’s Old St. Louis.  The film, written by Russell, is set around a traveling salesman father (Vaughn) who has been absent from his daughter’s life only to find redemption when he starts to spend time with her.

After weeks of talks, it is looking like Vince Vaughn and director David O. Russell are likely to team on Old St. Louis, a script written by Russell. The discussions have the film landing at Universal, which would co-finance and distribute. The film will be produced by Vaughn and sister Victoria Vaughn through their Universal-based Wild West Picture Show Productions.

Old St. Louis is the story of a traveling salesman who has been an absentee father, and how his life changes when his daughter becomes part of his life. Vaughn would play the salesman, and actresses including Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz have been mentioned as possibles to play the daughter. I'm told Russell would like to make the film his followup to The Fighter, the film that stars Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams, with Paramount distributing the Relativity Media/Mandeville co-production.

CAA, which reps both Vaughn and Russell, continue to work to tie down the rights, but I hear it's going to happen. Vaughn has been starring with Kevin James in What You Don't Know, an Allan Loeb-scripted comedy about infidelity that Ron Howard is directing for Universal. Vaughn is producing with Imagine's Brian Grazer.

I don’t know about you, but I’m actually interested to see this.  Vaughn has been stuck in comedies for years so it’s nice to see him getting back to his dramatic roots.  See A Cool, Dry Place or Return to Paradise,  he’s fantastic.  Russell on the hand…what can be said about this guy?  He’s made some interesting films in his career (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) yet has been known to be a difficult to work with.  With that said though, I’m beyond pumped to see The Fighter.  Let’s see where this goes.

Is "The Amazing Spider-Man" a cheat for "Spider-Man 4"?

Early this year, it was huge news out of Hollywood that Sony would be rebooting its Spider-Man franchise by canceling "Spider-Man 4" and ridding themselves of Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and everyone else involved in the three previous films, collectively.  Along with this, it was announced that Peter Parker would be returning to his high school roots as the new franchise would focus on our young superhero tackling real life, coming of age issues. Getting rising filmmaker Marc Webb certainly endorsed this notion as his film debut, (500) Days of Summer, exemplified his ability to show young adults dealing with the difficult journey we all call life. 

Then, just over a month ago, something strange happened.  After months of speculation over what 18 to 20 something actor would play the adolescent Peter Parker/Spider-Man -- from Anton Yelchin, to Logan Lerman, to Josh Hutcherson -- Sony announced Andrew Garfield had landed the role.  While most fans were quick to ask, who is that?  Their second question most likely was, isn’t he kind of old?

To be correct, Garfield is 26 years of age and will turn 27 in less than a month.  While the talented actor looks extremely young for his age, the internet caught fire wondering why Sony would go with someone, on a psychological level, over a decade out of high school to play someone in high school?  Talk backers were quick to get an answer as multiple reports have been confirming that Sony has decided to change the new Spider-Man’s setting from high school to college due to Garfield’s age.  Now here’s where things get fishy.

First off, the previous Spider-Man franchise, started with Peter Parker in high school and ending with him somewhere in his 3rd, maybe 4th year of college.  So now Sony is basically putting their new Spider-Man back in almost the same position their old one was, give or take a few years?  Does anyone think Sony had a plan all along to scrap the Sam Raimi franchise so they could start over with all the characters, yet at the same time, keep their superhero in the same position he would have been anyway?

Let’s look at the comparison between films here.  "Spider-Man 4" would have had a 2-3 year, out of college Peter Parker/Spider-Man with Mary Jane Watson, played by actors well beyond their character’s ages, along with having no Harry or Norman Osborne, Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Eddie Brock, or any other character that had appeared in the previous three films. 

Then we have the new Spider-Man film, or lets call it "The Amazing Spider-Man".  We’ll have a college bound Peter Parker, again with an actor older than his character’s age, yet have the freedom to reuse any character from the old franchise.  Uncle Ben, MJ, Harry, Norman, Green Goblin, Doc Ock, all of them.  Not to mention, what’s the difference in the Peter Parker character’s age from "Spider-Man 4" to "The Amazing Spider-Man"?  5-6 years tops? 

Sounds like Sony was thinking more with their wallets than treating moviegoers to their “intentions” to deliver a quality Spider-Man film based on creativity, not greed.  Yeah, not in today’s world.