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Bel Ami Brazilian Trailer and Posters 1 comment
Robert Pattinson mention – How British actors are dominating Hollywood like never before 1 comment
The Telegraph on-line posted this article that mentions Robert Pattinson
In the 30 years since Colin Welland collected an Oscar for Chariots of Fire and famously declared: “The British are coming!” there have been plenty of false dawns.
British actors flocked to Hollywood only to find themselves cast repeatedly as villains, fops and toffs. But this year’s Cannes Film Festival proves that US studios have finally fallen for the charms of the British leading man.
The three major US films in competition all have British actors playing American leads.
Tom Hardy is the star of Lawless, a Prohibition-era gangster film in which he plays the toughest of three bootlegging brothers in rural Virginia.
Robert Pattinson, he of the teen Twilight franchise, plays the lead in another literary adaptation, Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis, as a billionaire Manhattanite.
And the long-awaited adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, that most quintessential of American novels, stars Yorkshire’s Sam Riley as Sal Paradise.
It is a state of affairs mirrored in US television, where British actors are slipping seamlessly into US lead roles, from Hugh Laurie in House to Damian Lewis and David Harewood in Homeland.
Industry watchers say we have entered a golden age for Brits in Hollywood.
“It’s what I call ‘Hugh Laurie Syndrome,” said Tim Gray, editor of trade bible Variety.
“When Laurie appeared in House, Americans said, ‘Who is this actor? I love him, he’s great’. Then we found out he’s British, and it’s like a magician has pulled a trick on you. People like to be fooled sometimes.
“In films, it started with Christian Bale in Batman, who showed that British actors can be better at playing Americans than Americans themselves.
“And now it really is a trend. Hollywood people are very imitative, very superstitious. If something is successful, then let’s repeat it.
“Also, there are a lot of good actors in the world. If you go to any gym in LA, you walk in and there’s 10 really great-looking actors working out. Go to an audition and there’s 20 great-looking actors sitting there. So if you’re looking for somebody with something different, British actors stand out. And there is that element of snob appeal: ‘He’s not only talented but he’s a Brit.’”
The new wave of British actors have also mastered flawless American accents.
Gray said: “In the 1970s, the British would push it a little too hard, they over-enunciated and would say, ‘You stoopid person’.
“Now they are really good. It’s partly the training, and partly because British actors I talk to say they grew up watching US films and TV shows.
Cosmopolis ‘Heads Up’ in The Independent – UK 1 comment
What are we talking about? A new film adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 2003 novel Cosmopolis, following a young billionaire asset manager as he tries to make his way across Manhattan in a very swish limo, in order to get a haircut.
Elevator pitch Through limo glass, darkly: Cronenberg takes R-Patz for a spin through sex, wealth, and death.
Prime movers It’s directed and adapted by David Cronenberg.
The stars Taking the lead is Robert Pattinson, and the rest of the cast is top drawer too: Juliette Binoche, Samantha Morton, Paul Giamatti, Jay Baruchel and Kevin Durand all star.
The early buzz Empire, when commenting on a new dark, glitteringly rapid-fire trailer, wrote, “Robert Pattinson is living every wide-eyed Apprentice’s dream in the new trailer for Cosmopolis – seemingly, at any rate. Admittedly, there are more of those Cronenbergian strains of sex, death and paranoia than you’d find around Sir Alan’s [sic] boardroom table.” The Hollywood Reporter says, “it falls upon David Cronenberg’s vehicle Cosmopolis, a nihilistic futuristic drama (is there any other kind?) with a lot of drug-fueled sex and craziness to showcase Pattinson’s acting chops. The film could be another chance for Rob to be just another pretty (if tortured) face … [but Pattinson] claims that Cosmopolis has given him ‘balls’.” Jolly good.
Insider knowledge R-Patz is quite the Cronenberg fan – and openly grateful to the director for giving him a chance in a “serious” flick. So much so, he conducted a 13-hour fashion shoot for French magazine Premiere in order to pay homage to Cronenberg’s work (including hanging out on a sofa with a stomach wound and staging a threesome with himself and a pregnant lady).
It’s great that … Judging by the trailers, it’s going to be a high-octane return to form for Cronenberg – and who knows what interesting impact it could have on the cine tastes of young, impressionable Twi-hards…
It’s a shame that … The most recent trailer proclaims: “Finally the first film about our new millennium” – which seems a little hubristic, to be honest, not to mention uncharitable towards the past 12 years of film.
Hit potential Cosmopolis is at Cannes, where ordinarily its reception might have a big impact – but it’s got R-Patz in it. It’ll do just fine, even if every critic hates it.
The details Cosmopolis is released on 15 June.
French Bel Ami Movie Tie-In Edition 1 comment
New Project for Robert Pattinson? “Hate Mail” 2 comments
In an article about the ‘Lawless’ afterparty in Cannes, they talk about Michael Benaroya of Benaroya Pictures, producer of the movie, and the movie he’s financing. There’s a Rob mention. Is that one of Rob’s “five projects”? We’ll wait for more info
From The Wrap and Yahoo Movies 
Benaroya, who co-produced “Margin Call” last year, is fully financing “Kill Your Darlings,” a $4 million thriller with Daniel Radcliffe and Michael C. Hall about young beat poets Allen Ginsburg and Jack Kerouac and a murder.
And he’s also financing the $11 million “Hate Mail,” with Scarlett Johansson, Robert Pattinson and Philip Seymour Hall. And he executive produced “The Paperboy,” also screening in competition in Cannes.
That’s a lot of money to be throwing down. Benaroya, apart from noting that he’s only lost money on one movie he’s made thus far, said he likes to gamble.
“I’m a serious poker player,” he said. “People like to underestimate me: ‘You look 25. You look like a nice guy. I’m gonna take you for everything you’ve got.’ They’re often surprised when they don’t.”
If the info in the article is correct, I believe they meant Philip Seymour Hoffman, not Hall. Just a typo.
Old article about ‘Hate Mail’ from Variety (Sept, 2011 – some of the names linked to the project may have changed since this article was posted)
Writing-directing team Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, who became darlings of the indie scene following “Half Nelson” and “Sugar,” have set their next picture, a drama titled “Hate Mail.”
Project will be fully financed by Wayfare Entertainment, which previously produced Fleck and Boden’s adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s novel “It’s Kind of a Funny Story.”
“Hate Mail” will feature interweaving stories about several Manhattanites who encounter various iterations of hate mail and grapple with the subsequent fallout of their relationships.
Project reunites the filmmakers with a quartet of past collaborators, as Jamie Patricof will produce through his Hunting Lane Films banner, while Paul Mezey will produce via his Journeyman Pictures shingle. Wayfare’s Ben Browning and Jeremy Kipp Walker will also produce.
Mezey previously produced “Sugar” and exec produced “Half Nelson,” while Patricof produced both of those films.
Fleck and Boden came on Hollywood’s radar with their short film “Gowanus, Brooklyn,” which bowed at Sundance in 2004 before the duo expanded the story to feature-length with “Half Nelson.” The duo have multiple Indie Spirit Award nominations and Fleck was named one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2006.
Fleck and Boden are repped by WME and Management 360.
Thanks @Everandever80 and @lifeloveartfilm for the links
*SCAN* Reactions to Cosmopolis from the French press in ‘Le Monde’ 2 comments
An actor is born – Télérama.
Unsettling – Studio Ciné Live
Pattinson is mind-blowing – Positif
Cronenberg chose Pattinson. A brilliant idea on both counts. – Les Inrockuptibles
Robert Pattinson revels a depth more and more fascinating. – Première
Bel Ami Review by ‘The Reel Bits’ (Australia) 2 comments
Here’s a good Bel Ami review by The Reel bits
Robert Pattinson broods and swoons his way through this beautifully shot costume drama from a duo of theatre veterans.
Guy de Maupassant’s second novel, Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel, is ideal fodder for a cinematic costume outing. The subject of several films, including Germany’s Bel Ami (1939) and the first English-language, The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947), it is surprising that this hasn’t been given the lavish post-Merchant-Ivory production values until now. Yet rather than falling to the familiar roster of BBC graduates, British stage veterans Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod get behind the cameras for the first time for this sumptuous adaptation.
It is the 1880s in Paris, and Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson) has just returned from the French Army after a three year stint in Algeria. All but destitute, a chance encounter with the older Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister), a newspaper editor, literally opens the door to Parisian high society. Invited to dinner at Forestier’s home, he first encounters the three women who will ultimately change his life: Madeleine (Uma Thurman), Forestier’s wife and the real brains behind the throne, helps Georges secure a job at her husband’s powerful newspaper; the flirtatious Clotilde (Christina Ricci), with whom Georges starts an affair, and the older Madame Rousset (Kristin Scott Thomas), who has connections that could make or break anybody in Paris. Georges will not stop until he at the top of their world.
Outside of the Twilight Saga franchise, star Pattinson has had little success in securing any major crossover roles, with Water for Elephants and Remember Me sharing some critical if not box office success. Bel Ami won’t be the film that proves Pattinson to be a box office draw in his own right, but it does solidify his ability to transition between genres, and his upcoming work with David Cronenberg on Cosmopolis will undoubtedly push this over the edge. While his role is largely a mixture of brooding and seducing, Pattinson is the consummate nineteenth century rogue, and perhaps the perfect choice for Georges.
Like the Paris depicted, the women are far more important than the men, and the trio of Ricci, Thurman and Scott Thomas are a force to be reckoned with. Ricci in particular, who has been struggling to find a ‘great role’ since Black Snake Moan (2006), makes a welcome return to our screens, the perfect combination of flirty ingénue and nymphette. The similarly adrift Thurman, until recently lost in a sea of Motherhood’s (2006) and My Super Ex-Girlfriend’s (2009), may occasionally come off as stilted, but this is in keeping with Madeleine’s precarious place in society. Scott Thomas is on home ground in this Franco-costume drama, but it is refreshing to see her play such a desperately clingy character, starved of affection.
A beautifully shot piece by Italian cinematographer Stefano Falivene, Bel Ami ticks all the right boxes in an adaptation of this kind. Supporting cast Glenister and the ubiquitous Colm Meaney bring a richness to this well-crafted world. Donnellan and Ormerod never reveal their stage origins in the execution, and nor does screenwriter Rachel Bennette, who reduces the complexities of Guy de Maupassant to an accessible tale of winners who take all without consequence.
Bel Ami is released in Australia on 24 May 2012 from Hopscotch. It will also received a limited release in US cinemas on 8 June 2012.
Robert Pattinson and Breaking Dawn – Part 1 nominated for Teen Choice Awards 2012 2 comments
Robert Pattinson and Breaking Dawn are nominated for the Teen Choice Awards
Choice Movie: Sci-Fi/Fantasy– “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”
Choice Movie Actor: Sci-Fi/Fantasy– Robert Pattinson, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”
Choice Male Hottie – Robert Pattinson
The Teen Choice Awards airs on Sunday, July 22 8:00 PM ET. Fans between the ages of 13-19 can vote once each day per category HERE
Thierry Frémaux (Director General of the Cannes Film Festival) talks about Rob in M Magazine Leave a comment
There are very positive quotes from the Cannes Director. There are a few mistakes in the article tho like the Tom Sturridge picture that they used isn’t one of Tom’s or them saying that Rob wanted the part of Jeff Buckley in the biopic. But those are mistakes from he writer of the article. The quotes are legit.
They ask Thierry if they “have the first draft of the new generation of young actors” and he replies “it’s hard to say, the competition is tough. You have to make the right choices & meet the right people. Pattinson & Stewart had the chance of rising from Twilight unlike other young actors that are as talented as they are. There are in Hollywood, young actors waiting in the shadow. The market is ruthless. But as for Pattinson& Stewart, they’re showing a remarkable maturity when it comes to their careers. And they’re wonderful in both movies.“
The article talks about Leo Dicaprio then: He managed to (almost) make people forget about Jake from Titanic. going from teenager’s walls to movie-goers shelves. Will the Twilight actors be able to finance movies that are both challenging and expensive due to their names? “It’s going on to depend on the success of their first steps in the ‘grown up’ cinema and on the power they will exerce on the screenwriter producers.” continues Thierry Frémaux. “Cannes 2012 is going to show that there is a movement to go back to the “big” American Auteur cinema. They can take advantage of it, or not. All of this is so fragile.
Thinking of Rob 