Thursday, June 11

• New Trailer for Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island

  Martin Scorsese's latest, Shutter Island, was originally a project for director David Fincher, who has made a career out of dark, psychological thrillers like Seven. It's an adaptation of the book written by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River).

  Shutter Island stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as U.S. Marshals sent to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a mental hospital where the doctors (Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow) are performing radical treatments.

  
  

  Posted 06/11/2009 by Ryan

  Related: David Fincher | Martin Scorsese | Max von Sydow | Leonardo DiCaprio | Ben Kingsley | Dennis Lehane | Shutter Island | Mystic River | Seven

Wednesday, May 27

• Al Pacino May Star in Barry Levinson's HBO Biopic About Dr. Kevorkian

  After years of mediocre, sometimes dreadful roles, it's nice to see Al Pacino again interested in something that offers some kind of dramatic promise. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pacino is in talks to portray Dr. Jack Kevorkian in You Don't Know Jack, the upcoming HBO biopic from director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam, The Natural).

  Dr. Kevorkian gained notoriety in the '90s for supporting physician-assisted suicide and claiming personal responsibility for more than 150 deaths. He was eventually convicted of second-degree murder and spent eight years in prison before being released on parole in June 2007. The film will reportedly cover events leading to Kevorkian's first assisted suicide and the media blitz that resulted from his legal battles in defense of a patient's right to die.

  Levinson is also executive producing the project, which once had Ben Kingsley in the role of Kevorkian. Screenwriter Adam Mazer (Breach) adapted the script from Neal Nicol's book Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Life and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia.

  
  

  Posted 05/27/2009 by Rich Z

  Related: Al Pacino | Adam Mazer | Barry Levinson | Ben Kingsley | You Don't Know Jack

Wednesday, February 18

• Arnold Schwarzenegger to Join The Expendables

  When Mickey Rourke was added to The Expendables, the action movie written, directed and starring Sylvester Stallone alongside Jet Li, Jason Statham, Randy Couture, and Dolph Lundgren, it seemed the only action stars left out of the cast were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Now it's just Van Damme that's left out. According to AintItCoolNews, Schwarzenegger will be joining to play a small role in the movie, but while Van Damme will not appear, Eric Roberts will, taking over for Ben Kingsley as a CIA operative.

  So, with so many action stars in the movie, why isn't Van Damme in the movie? Apparently, Stallone did offer Van Damme a role, but he turned it down.

  Stallone gave me a part in his next movie," he told us. "But I ask him about the subject, about the story. He said, ‘You’re gonna make lots of money.’ I don’t want to hear that, I want to hear what was my character. He was unable to tell what it’s going to be. [Stallone said:] 'You know, uh, well, the fighting will be good.' [So I said:] 'Sly, what is my character?' So I didn’t do the movie.

  The Expendables starts shooting next month with Stallone currently working on the script and "struggling to nail the right tonal balance of humor, action and emotional reality." Of course he is.

  
  

  Posted 02/18/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger | Jason Statham | Sylvester Stallone | Jean-Claude Van Damme | Ben Kingsley | Randy Couture | The Expendables

Friday, July 4

• Leonard Maltin's Online Hidden Gem

  

  

  Leonard Maltin Says:

  On a recent episode of Secret's Out, I recommended the new theatrical release The Wackness, a highly original movie starring Josh Peck and, in an uncharacteristic role, Ben Kingsley. But then, there's almost no kind of part Kingsley can't and won't do. For example, he's an enforcer with a ferocious presence in the crackling crime drama from 2001, Sexy Beast. In the film, Ray Winstone plays a crook who's made good and now lives an easy life in Spain with his beautiful wife. But Ian McShane wants him to come back to England to pull one last job, and he sends Kingsley to make him say yes. One encounter with this man and you'd say yes to anything. Sexy Beast is a smart, funny, potent, often violent gangster film, and if you haven't seen it, I encourage you to seek it out on DVD.

  
  

  Posted 07/04/2008 by reelz

  Related: Leonard Maltin's Secret's Out | Ian McShane | Josh Peck | Ray Winstone | Ben Kingsley | Sexy Beast

Monday, June 30

• Sir Ben Kingsley on Shutter Island

  We recently had the privilege of chatting with the lovely Sir Ben Kingsley, who is headlining the Sundance sweetheart, The Wackness, opening this Thursday. In it, he plays Dr. Squires, a rather troubled therapist who has an unusual relationship with a patient, with whom he trades is psychiatric services for pot.

  Kingsley is just finishing up shooting another part in which he plays a shrink, in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island. "I play another psychiatrist, but very different from Dr. Squires. Very sober, very against the use of drugs in therapy, and also very against the use of surgical intervention in therapy," says Kingsley.

  He does have a patient to whom he's completely dedicated who is going through an extremely dangerous time -- the great Leonardo DiCaprio," he reveals. "He and I have some very, very strong scenes together."

  
  

  Posted 06/30/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ben Kingsley | The Wackness | Shutter Island

Saturday, September 22

• Movie news: Ben Kingsley & Giovanni Ribisi

  Ben Kingsley's production company has bought the rights to Will, Christopher Rush's fictional novel about a deathbed meeting between Willian Shakespeare and his lawyer over his last will and testament. The movie, which will start shooting next year, will star Ben Kingsley as Shakespeare. No director has yet been named.

  In other news, Giovanni Ribisi has signed on to the cast of Avatar, the 3-D feature James Cameron is mounting as a long-awaited follow up to Titanic. He will be joining Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez in the cast.

  Source: The Hollywood Reporter.

  
  
  

  The Dead Girl trailer

  Giovanni Ribisi can be seen in this movie on DVD.

  Posted 09/22/2007 by reelz

  Related: James Cameron | Ben Kingsley | Will | Avatar

Saturday, August 11

• Bring on the funny: upcoming comedies for Ben Kingsley, Kate Hudson, Will Arnett and more

  If you don't have a comedy coming up these days in Hollywood, you are totally out of the loop.

  Variety is reporting that shooting has already started on The Wackness, a comedy written and directed by Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) about a teenaged drug dealer who trades pot for therapy sessions and then falls for his shrink's daughter. Sir Ben Kingsley (Schindler's List, You Kill Me), Famke Janssen (X-Men, Love & Sex), and Mary-Kate Olsen (Full House, New York Minute) all have roles.

  And The Hollywood Reporter has news on three more comedies.

  The funnyman with the unbelievably deep voice, Will Arnett, (Arrested Development, Blades of Glory) will finally get his moment in the sun with Space Invader, a comedy about the son of a NASA legend who must overcome his fear of flying to win back his astronaut girlfriend--who is, of course, headed into space with an unbelievable hunk. It will be directed by Andrew Currie (Fido, Mile Zero).

  Kate Hudson and Dane Cook (Employee of the Month) are slated to act opposite each other in Bachelor No. 2, a romantic comedy about a man whose job it is to take women on awful dates so they go back to their ex-boyfriends. The dry and hilarious Alec Baldwin will co-star and Howard Deutch (The Whole Ten Yards, Pretty in Pink) will direct. 

  Finally, teen-movie queens Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That) and Sarah Roemer (Disturbia) are signed to star in a romantic comedy called The Golden Door, about a blue-collar nursing student who gets a job as a swanky Manhattan doorman and falls in love with one of the residents. Joseph Cross (Running With Scissors) and Snoop Dogg (Starsky & Hutch) are in negotiations to co-star. 

  
  

  Posted 08/11/2007 by reelz

  Related: Alec Baldwin | Famke Janssen | Joseph Cross | Kate Hudson | Rachael Leigh Cook | Will Arnett | Howard Deutch | Mary-Kate Olsen | Andrew Currie | Ben Kingsley | Dane Cook | Snoop Dogg | Sarah Roemer | Jonathan Levine | Space Invader | Bachelor No. 2 | The Golden Door