Posts with tag Dave Eggers
Posted Jun 12th 2008 1:03PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Exhibition, Family Films, Newsstand, Images
MTV
snagged an exclusive photo from the mysterious
Where the Wild Things Are, which they spotted at the New York Licensing Expo. Click on the tantalizing photo on the right to see the whole thing over on MTV. It isn't very big, but it is one of those evocative images that makes you absolutely crazy to see this movie. It really is perfect -- from the wolf suit down to those mysterious monster paws.
The rumors still abound about it. The fact that it is appearing at the Licensing Expo gives one hope that we will see it, and that they won't actually recast a child they have featured on the advertising. To catch you up,
Kim talked to Tom Noonan at Cannes. He thought the film would be released as Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers had intended it to be.
Yet,
as Monika reported at the beginning of June, Warner Bros is prepping a month of reshoots. It was unclear how much was being changed, but new casting calls went out for various stand-in roles. That suggests that it is more than a few pick-up shots, and that all the whispers of unhappiness and drastic alterations are true. The silence from all involved (with the exception Noonan and
Forrest Whitaker) doesn't help. At least we can enjoy the picture and wonder.
[via
Empire]
Posted May 22nd 2008 7:02PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Focus Features, Movie Marketing
Update: Cinematical was informed that the film still does not have a title, though we imagine one will be announced soon. See full (and accurate) press release after the jump. Since
news first broke about
Sam Mendes making the leap to comedy with
John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, I've become awfully curious to see if the man famous for heavy subject matter can pull off a straight rom-com. Coming Soon has received a
press announcement from the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tuscon, Arizona, and according to them, the spa has been chosen as one of the locations for the road flick.
More importantly, we now know that the film is going by the slightly awkward title of Farlanders.McSweeney's founder
Dave Eggers co-wrote the script with his wife, Vendela Vida, and the story centers on an expectant couple played by Krasinski (sporting some
much-maligned facial hair) and Rudolph as they travel the US looking for the perfect place to start their family. The film has a
big ensemble cast to play the various 'characters' our couple will meet along the way -- including some very funny women like
Catherine O'Hara,
Cheryl Hines, and
Allison Janney.
Production began back in April, and according to the release, the Arizona shoot will begin in June. Some of the other locations include Colorado, Connecticut, and Florida. There is no official release date, so I guess I'll have plenty of time to get used to that title.
Farlanders The Untitled Sam Mendes Comedy is due to arrive in theaters in 2009.
Continue reading Sam Mendes' Comedy Has a Title and John Krasinski Has a Beard!
Posted Apr 21st 2008 9:32PM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Comedy, Casting, Focus Features
Great day in the morning! Two of my favorite actors on the planet are joining the cast of
Sam Mendes' increasingly promising 2009 comedy, which has yet to find a title. According to a Focus Features press release that landed in my inbox,
Jeff Daniels and
Catherine O'Hara will round out an ensemble that already includes John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Toni Colette, Cheryl Hines and Allison Janney. The screenplay was co-written by
McSweeney's founder and
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author Dave Eggers and novelist Vendela Vida. The film "follows the journey of an expectant couple as they travel the U.S. in search of a place to put down roots and raise a family."
O'Hara is probably the funniest woman on the planet, and Daniels can bring heart and humanity to any film, so this is good news indeed. With
Christopher Guest taking a break from making the movies that have been her bread and butter over the years, O'Hara can use the high-profile work; her only screen appearance this year or last has been in the underrated
Penelope.
Mendes also has the DiCaprio-Winslet reunion movie
Revolutionary Road in the works -- it will headline the 2008 Oscar season -- but this new project will be his first stab at comedy. Eggers co-wrote the adaptation of
Where the Wild Things Are with
Spike Jonze, which should finally see the light of day next year as well.
Posted Apr 7th 2008 6:32PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Casting, Focus Features, Newsstand
Toni Collette has joined the cast of the
still-untitled Sam Mendes relationship film -- you know, the one starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, and being penned by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.
According to
The Hollywood Reporter, Collette will be playing a college professor and close friend of the young couple -- two folks who are scouring the country for a place to settle and raise their child, and Collette's character feels that it'll be dysfunctional no matter where they end up. Smart lady!
The movie pairs
Collette up again with Big Beach producers Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf, who produced
Little Miss Sunshine. Focus is hoping to capture a bit of that magic, since they gave up their claim on that enormous indie hit.
Continue reading Toni Collette Joins Sam Mendes Film
Posted Mar 27th 2008 3:32PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Family Films
Things have been quiet in the land of the monsters. Too quiet. But support for the the film came from an unexpected source --
Forest Whitaker. He actually provides a voice for one of the monsters, Ira. "He puts the holes in the trees," the Oscar-winner
told MTV. "I have a wife and kid, and we're the only family unit inside [the land of the Wild Things]."
Whitaker was appalled at the rumors that Warner Bros
was planning to reshoot the entire film, and promised to call director
Spike Jonze to get the story. In the meantime, he wanted to stress his support for the film, and report that at least three children handled a screening of it just fine -- his own. "My children are 9, 11, and 16. It was intense. They liked it, though. They enjoyed it ... It's a good movie. I saw an early cut of it. I brought my kids to see it, and I was really impressed."
Continue reading Forest Whitaker Supports 'Wild Things'
Posted Mar 7th 2008 10:32AM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Casting, Scripts, Focus Features
John Krasinski has had a bit of a rough start transitioning his TV career into a movie career. For starters, have you seen
License to Wed? Luckily for my favorite office drone, his upcoming projects look a lot more promising. Variety
reports that Krasinski, SNL's
Maya Rudolph, and
Cheryl Hines have signed to star in
Sam Mendes' new untitled comedy. News of the film first
appeared back in January, and just over a month later, three top-notch comedians have signed on for the film. That has got to be a good sign, right?
Celebrity novelist
Dave Eggers and
Vendela Vida (author of
Girls of the Verge and Egger's wife) wrote the script for the romantic comedy. Eggers made his name with his memoir,
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, but is still relatively new to the screenwriting trade. In the film, Krasinski and Rudolph will play an expectant couple traveling around the country looking for a place to settle down and start a family.
If you have ever read anything written by Eggers or the
McSweeney's 'brand' then you know that this slight premise is just the kind of story you would expect. Knowing Egger's penchant for personal touches, I'm sure some of the details of his life with his own family found their way into the script. The production is expected to start shooting this April in Connecticut, and the film is set for release in 2009.
Posted Jan 24th 2008 3:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Deals
American Beauty had its comedy, but it was a pretty dark film. After that came
Road to Perdition, which jumped into the crime drama vein. Then there was
Jarhead. It was all sorts of amusing to see Jake Gyllenhaal gyrate while clothed in
nothing more than two Santa hats, but the rest was pretty serious. And we've still got a documentary,
Revolutionary Road, and
Middlemarch on the way. It's no wonder that
Variety is reporting that director
Sam Mendes is now running towards comedy!
He has signed on to direct a still-untitled "contemporary comedy" for Focus Features this spring. The film was written by McSweeney's head honcho, and the brain behind
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,
Dave Eggers and his wife
Vendela Vida (who edits The Believer and wrote
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name). As Variety describes it, the flick "follows a young couple's journey around the U.S. as they search for somewhere to put down roots and raise the baby they are expecting." Ah, there's nothing like getting impregnated and
then trying to find out where you want to live. Unfortunately, there's no word on the cast yet (Mrs. Mendes, perhaps??), but as soon as we hear it, we'll let you know.
Posted Dec 12th 2007 5:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery & Suspense, RumorMonger, Fandom, Scripts, Family Films, DIY/Filmmaking, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Images
.jpg)
Look no further, the wild things are in this post ...
Another photo from Where the Wild Things Are has popped up online (see above), courtesy of CinemaBlend. There's actually two photos, but one of them we've already seen (it features the little kid dancing around a group of unseen beasts). This new photo is actually pretty cool; this time we see the "wild things," except they have their backs toward us and are looking at what appears to be a setting sun. I read this book like a thousand times when I was a kid, and I'm stoked to see Spike Jonze directing because, honestly, aside from Tim Burton he's the only one nutty enough to take the challenge. And Jonze co-wrote the script with Dave Eggers! Insanity, folks -- insanity. Cannot wait for this; it arrives in theaters on October 3rd. A heartbreaking work of staggering genius ... or just plain heartbreaking? I guess we'll see ...
And speaking of images, a new one from Hellboy II: The Golden Army has arrived online -- and for the first time we get to see what Ron Perlman looks like as Hellboy. Well, actually, it's the second time we're seeing Perlman as Hellboy, and if you caught the first flick, then the dude looks pretty much the same. I'm sure something has changed (one more rip in his shirt?), but I'll leave it up to you fanboys to discover the new material. In the Guillermo del Toro-directed film, Hellboy and his team of creatures return to defend the earth against a bunch of other creatures. I guess you could call it a "Creature Feature" ... except not really. Hellboy II: The Golden Army arrives in theaters on July 11.
Finally, Slashfilm got their hands on Darren Aronofsky's script for The Wrestler ... and they're digging it quite a bit. This is the film Aronofsky decided to make after The Fountain tanked. It was something a little more commercial -- something that might actually make money at the box office -- and it was originally supposed to star Nicolas Cage in the lead role. Things have changed, and now Mickey Rourke is in the lead role as Randy 'The Ram' Robinson, a past-his-prime wrestler whose life has gone into the toilet. But there's always that one last shot at redemption, right? Slashfilm says, "Think Rocky, which is a very apt comparison. And the ending is something you would never expect. It's not an obvious choice. I'm sure some people will leave this movie really angry, while others will love it. One thing is for sure, I can't wait to see it on the big screen."
Posted Nov 26th 2007 10:02AM by Patrick Walsh
Filed under: Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Family Films, Newsstand
No, it's not another sequel to the Neve Campbell/Denise Richards classic! The extremely likable
Lauren Ambrose (Claire on
Six Feet Under, Denise Fleming in
Can't Hardly Wait) will voice a character in the upcoming adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved childrens' book --
Where the Wild Things Are. According to
The Hollywood Reporter, Ambrose is playing KW -- "one of the giant characters in the land of the Wild Things. When a young boy named Max visits their strange world, KW and company turn him into their king."
Ambrose is taking over the role from
Michelle Williams. Apparently Williams got along well with the filmmakers, but "her voice didn't match their original vision of how the Wild Things should sound."
Where the Wild Things Are mixes flesh-and-blood actors, computer animation, and live-action puppetry. I can't wait to see it, I adored the book as a kid and I love pretty much everyone involved with the film.
Spike Jonze (
Being John Malkovich, Adaptation -- a couple of my favorite flicks) will direct, and wrote the screenplay with
Dave Eggers (
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, one of my favorite books). You can go into the
Wild in Fall 2008.
Posted Oct 24th 2007 6:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Family Films, Newsstand
It's probably hard enough adapt a book into a screenplay, especially if your source material only runs about 15 pages long.
New York Magazine reports that they have managed to get hold of a copy of the screenplay for
Where the Wild Things Are by
Dave Eggers and
Spike Jonze. Now for the good news: according to them, it is pretty darned good (that's if it's still the same version written back in '05).
NY's Culture Vulture blog posts, "
Where the Wild Things Are is filled with richly imagined psychological detail, and the screenplay for this live-action film simply becomes a longer and more moving version of what Maurice Sendak's book has always been at heart: a book about a lonely boy leaving the emotional terrain of boyhood behind".
If you have never read
Wild Things, my first question would be -- did you even have a childhood? But I realize there are probably at least a few of you out there who, for one reason or another, never picked it up.
Where the Wild Things Are centers on "Max, who one evening plays around his home, 'making mischief' in a wolf costume (chasing the dog with a fork, etc.). As punishment, his mother sends him to bed without supper. In his room, a mysterious, wild forest grows out of his imagination and Max journeys to the land of the Wild Things"
According to
NY Magazine, the flick now makes Max an "8-year-old with an absent father, an older sister who's drifting away from him, a mother whose personal and job concerns leave her little time or energy for the rambunctious boy she dearly loves". Even though Culture Vulture didn't offer up many details, I've read enough Dave Eggers to know that no one can pluck the '
familial heartstrings' like he can, so I would be inclined to get behind their enthusiasm. Combine Eggers writing with Jonze's style and the odds seem pretty good that this could be the family film to beat in 2008.
Posted Sep 18th 2007 2:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Scripts
Dave Eggers created a sensation with his debut --
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius -- a memoir about raising his younger brother, Toph, after the deaths of their parents. It reached the top of the
New York Times bestseller list, and was a Pulitzer finalist. Way back in
2000, New Line picked up the rights, in
2002, Nick Hornby and D.V. DeVincentis were going to write it, which sounds solid, but then it slipped into development hell when they handed over their script. While we won't be getting any cinematic,
Staggering Genius any time soon,
Variety has reported that Process Media, the dudes behind
Shortbus, have grabbed the feature rights to Eggers' first novel --
You Shall Know Our Velocity.
The story is about two childhood friends, Will and Hand, who decide to set off on a whirlwind, global, week-long journey after Will comes into a huge sum of money -- because he is uncomfortable having it. Instead of just blowing the money on fun, the two plan to give chunks of the cash away to people they find to be the most deserving.
Believer (which is part of the Eggers fold) writer
Wells Tower has been picked to adapt the story, in what is looking to be his first screenplay. The real icing on this cake is who they tapped to direct --
Miguel Arteta -- he's the guy who brought two of Mike White's indie faves to life --
Chuck & Buck and
The Good Girl. If this adaptation gets past the first attempt, the next step will be casting. Who would you pick?
