American 'Death At A Funeral' Trailer Shows Remake To Be EXACTLY Like The Original

The American trailer for "Death At A Funeral," the remake to the British hit of 2007, has just surfaced. We're very much against the idea of Americans remaking recent foreign films, since the only thing they're changing in most instances is the language. Most recent foreign films that do appeal to American producers looking for remake material seem to be takeoffs of American concepts in the first place. Last year's French hit "Tell No One," which was paced like a very traditional American potboiler, was even inspired by a trashy American airport novel. Is it a surprise to know that American producers own the remake rights?

This practice lends itself to xenophobia, most Americans not wanting to experience ANY slice of a foreign culture no matter how you sell it, but the worst element of this is the prospect of American remakes of foreign films from English-speaking countries. Oh no, an accent! You'd think prize-winning playwright Neil LaBute would be able to inject something new into the proceedings, but this is also the LaBute who previously directed "Lakeview Terrace" and the remake of "The Wicker Man," so he clearly doesn't give a fuck. Case in point — even the TRAILER for the new version opens with the same gag as the original's trailer.

The premise of the film involves a family getting back together for the death of the presumably-influential patriarch, a convergence of opposite forces bound to cause conflict. In the middle of all this, there's a new boyfriend invited who's been given far too many drugs (James Marsden, filling in for Alan Tudyk), an uncle with far too many bowel problems (Danny Glover subbing for Peter Vaughan) and a secret gay lover looking for blackmail cash (Peter Dinklage). Each part was beneath the original actor, and it looks like that's being preserved for the newer go-round, with the trailer spoiling Marsden ending up naked on a rooftop, Glover shitting on his nephew (lucky Tracy Morgan) and Dinklage REPRISING his role as the gay midget, who's scary because he's gay (ew!) and because he's small (haw haw!). We're stunned Dinklage needed the money so bad he would return to the most degrading role he's ever played AGAIN, but hey, that's the recession for you. We've included a peek of the actor trying to maintain his dignity in Hollywood below.

We urge you to not even bother with the original, which has a decent cast, but isn't even in the tradition of Richard Curtis' Brit farces, with gags that seem to have been excised from the worst of mainstream American sitcoms. This version features Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Zoe Saldana, Luke Wilson, Danny Glover, James Marsden, Tracy Morgan, Peter Dinklage, Loretta Devine, Columbus Short, Kevin Hart and Regina Hall and will be released February 2010, at which point all these actors are off doing something to forget they were involved.

Jeff Bridges Says 'Iron Man' Had 'No Script'

We've been going on several times about Jon Favreau and company shooting "Iron Man" and its sequel with no script whatsoever, but it's taken The Dude to confirm this interesting nugget, in spectacular detail. In a pretty engaging interview with In Contention about his Oscar vehicle "Crazy Heart," Jeff Bridges opens up about the studio's lackadaisical filmmaking methods.

Bridges says, “They had no script, man. They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn’t know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, ‘You got any ideas?’ Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on... You’ve got the suits from Marvel in the trailer with us saying, ‘No, you wouldn’t say that. You would think with a $200 million movie you’d have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script, ‘Oh, we’ll have the script before that time,’ and they don’t have their shit together."

Bridges isn't entirely that negative about the experience. Of Favreau, he says, "Jon dealt with it so well. It freaked me out. I was very anxious. I like to be prepared. I like to know my lines, man, that’s my school. Very prepared. That was very irritating, and then I just made this adjustment... So I said, ‘Oh, what we’re doing here, we’re making a $200 million student film. We’re all just fuckin’ around! We’re playin’. Oh, great!’ That took all the pressure off. ‘Oh, just jam, man, just play.’ And it turned out great!”

This confirms what most of us suspected about these movies, that Marvel is indeed flying by the seat of their pants. We know that the credit for the screenplay, shared by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, was tenuous, but we didn't know it was so bad that, according to the interview, they "would literally act out sequences during primitive rehearsals, Downey taking on Bridges’s role and vice versa, to find and essentially improvise their way to full scenes." How do you run a movie set and have no one responsible for what's going to be coming out of Jeff Bridges' mouth? Major movie sets are an embarrassment of excess — you should see some of the craft service set-ups we've seen — but how is there not a single person around who can write comic book dialogue for Iron Man and Iron Monger? Hell, if they scoured the internet, they'd find Marvel superfans who would pay Marvel for that opportunity. And they probably wouldn't be half-bad.

At least Bridges is positive about the experience, but it really sounds like some of the handlers on these sets are imbeciles. He's old enough to know not to badmouth the wrong people, so its hard to say if his praise for Favreau is real or not, but he does end that part of the interview by claiming Marvel execs told him, “It’s just a comic book. Maybe we’ll bring you back.” Just a comic book? We're sorry, but are Marvel Studio executives busy producing Holocaust documentaries in their spare time? If they're not going to view their own movies as substantial, why should we?

To end on a positive note, the interview with Bridges, which details his entire career, is really fucking great, even for an Oscar soft-sell piece. Click here to read about his thoughts on "Starman," the possibility of reuniting with Peter Bogdanovich, and The Dude's own pot habits.

Bennett Miller Plays 'Moneyball'

Variety reports that "Capote" director Bennett Miller has jumped onboard Sony's struggling "Moneyball" project, and it looks like it's full steam ahead for the troubled production. We broke the story of Miller's involvement around a month ago, and Variety also confirms what we heard about Marc Webb ("500 Days of Summer") being in consideration to direct the script that has gone through hundreds of revisions from Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zallian, with more budget-centric edits on the way.

Most projects are interesting because of how they mutate over time, and "Moneyball" is something we're going to guess will be totally different from its inception point as a Steven Soderbergh effort. As we've reported plenty of times before, Soderbergh had completed $10 million worth of pre-production before he departed the project, including one-on-one interview footage with ballplayers to blur the line between actors and athletes. Sony head Amy Pascal pulled the plug when she realized Soderbergh was adapting a nonfiction statistics book with the same sensibilities he brought to "Full Frontal," necessitating a major change in approach right before shooting.

The process hasn't been helped by the looming specter of Major League Baseball approval, which reportedly carped about an earlier draft that depicted protagonist Billy Beane as a swinging bachelor when the real life general manager/minority owner of the Oakland A's is a married man (and like most sports personalities, probably has a pretty conservative, boring home/sex life not conducive to film). Soderbergh's near-improvisational set-up, mixing real athletes with actors, allowing for certain creative flexibility, probably didn't help the idea that this was a worthwhile endeavor for MLB.

Variety's synopsis about the current project also gives us pause, stating "Moneyball" is about how Beane "defied conventional wisdom and even his own scouts by fielding a baseball team of castoffs to create the ultimate underdogs en route to one of the most unlikely winning streaks in the history of professional sports." Does this mean Sony is possibly turning the film into a more conventional sports story? Everyone knows that Oakland didn't really reel off that many winning streaks, and if anything, the theory of Moneyball made them... competitive. A few playoffs appearances at most. It can be argued that last offseason after years of failure with the Moneyball model of success, Beane abandoned the approach and went all in to acquire a major superstar bat, and that backfired too. In other words, this is a story of some mild success followed by economically-feasible failure. Are we running out of sports stories to adapt that we need to tell the inspirational sports tales of the general manager who fielded a so-so group of underdogs, the guy who lived his dream to pitch 21 innings for a last place team, and the inspirational hero who recorded one reception and two fumble recoveries in three years of pro ball?

One of the many surprises about the story is that star Brad Pitt remains on-board. He's previously gained notoriety for exiting projects in a huff, famously leaving "Almost Famous," "The Departed," "The Fountain" and "State of Play" in the lurch. How he's stayed on is a mystery, though we wonder if he'll humor the ongoing rewrites and budgetary changes to accommodate what the studio patronizingly assumes is the limited bankability of Miller's ideas.

Not Over? Matt Damon Still Thinks Paul Greengrass Will Return To 'Bourne 4' One Day

Earlier this week, we broke the news that Paul Greengrass had walked away from the fourth installment of the lucrative Bourne franchise. The key sticking point seemed to be that Universal went out and had gotten a second script written without informing Greengrass (and to the one or two writers who continue not to acknowledge our existence on this story, yes scripts do exist).

Earlier today, we speculated on who might be a good fit to fill in the director's chair but that's just wishful thinking, because in a recent interview with Matt Damon he confirmed he won't do the next Bourne film without Greengrass. Speaking at a press junket for "Invictus" Damon confirmed Greengrass' exit but left the door open saying he might return:

How does the departure of Paul [Greengrass] influence the 4^th Bourne movie?

MATT DAMON: I’ll just wait for him and when he wants to do one, we’ll do it.
Are you saying it’s Greengrass or no Bourne?

DAMON: Yeah, I’ve always said that. But I think it will happen down the road. We just don’t have a [ready] script right now.

So what does this mean? It's possibly less Greengrass quitting and more him showing the studio he's got them by the balls as Damon will wait for him. Echoing what we wrote in our original report saying that this move might simply be temporary, Damon thinks Greeengrass will eventually come back. "Paul’s got to go to work, you know? He’s ready to do another job, and [Bourne] wasn’t the right job now," Damon told EW, hinting at Greengrass' next move because the 'Bourne' scripts are ready. "I get it. I wouldn’t do it without him but I don’t feel like he’s done with it totally. I think he’d change his mind if a good script came along. If there was a great Bourne idea, he would love to do it. It’s a big part of his life, too. We’re still going to keep working together — and hopefully on another Bourne movie too."

Greengrass' exit means that he's going to leverage his ties to Damon in order to get the script that he wants. Damon's comment that "we don't have a script right now" seem to say that he's not even going to bother reading it unless Greengrass is happy with it first. Universal had better start making nice with Greengrass.

As for Universal, they don't want to drag this out too long. Having been sold this week by GE to Comcast, their new owners probably don't want one of the studio's most valuable franchises to fall by the wayside. That said, if the hugely expensive "Green Zone" doesn't perform, Greengrass might have a bunch of crow to eat if he wants back in to the Bourne series. Either way though, it sounds like the director either has found a new project, we've already hinted at one biopic that's a possibility, or he's just dangling that in front of Universal as a warning.

Sundance 2010: In Competition Preview

With the benefit of a year's hindsight, this year's Sundance was a particularly strong one. Many of the premieres there, the likes of "The Cove," "Precious," "Big Fan," "Humpday," "Sin Nombre," "(500) Days of Summer," "An Education," "Bronson," "Moon," "In The Loop," "The Messenger" and "Adventureland," set the tone for the rest of the year, well into the upcoming awards season. Sundance announced their 2010 In Competition line up on Wednesday (with out of competition films announced Thursday - which we will be getting too shortly), and there's plenty that sounds interesting, although as ever, these are mostly unknown quantities. Nevertheless, some of the more interesting movies, on the surface at least, appear to be:

Documentaries

— "Casino Jack & The United States of Money" - from Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney ("Enron," "Taxi to the Dark Side"), this is one of two movies this year examining the life and crimes of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff (Kevin Spacey plays him in the other, a biopic from George Hickenlooper ("Factory Girl").

— "I'm Pat ______ Tillman," from Amir Bar-Lev, director of "My Kid Could Paint That", following the family of football star and war hero Pat Tillman, who died in a friendly fire accident in Afghanistan in 2004.

— Sundance favorite Jeffrey Blitz ("Spellbound," "Rocket Science") returns with "Lucky" a portrait of several lottery winners.

— Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") is there with "Waiting for Superman," which examines crisis in the public school system in the US - a deserving cause, no doubt, and hopefully a Powerpoint free film.

— "Kick in Iran," which tells the story of the first Iranian Taekwondo champion to qualify for the Olympics.

— "Bus 174" director Jose Padilha, also behind the hit fictional thriller "Tropa de Elite," and soon to make his Hollywood debut, brings "Secrets of the Tribe," which looks at scandal and infighting among anthropolgists studying indigenious Indians in the Amazon basin.

Dramatic Features

— One of our most anticipated films of 2010, "Blue Valentine," will make an appearance in competition. A portrait of a marriage starring the exciting pairing of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, it comes from director Derek Cianfrance, whose "Brother Tied" made quite a splash over a decade ago.

— America Ferrera leads a cast including Ethan Suplee, Wilmer Valderrama and Melissa Leo in "The Dry Land," about a soldier returning home from war. Sort of an odd cast, that one...

— "happythankyoumoreplease" is "How I Met Your Mother" star Josh Radnor's attempt to 'do a Zach Braff' and graduate from sitcom lead to indie auteur, with a story of six twentysomethings in New York, also including Malin Akerman, Kate Mara and Pablo Schrieber. Could be another "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men", but we're told the script is pretty good.

— "Hesher" sees Sundance fave Joseph Gordon-Levitt return, alongside Natalie Portman and Rainn Wilson, for a story about a trickster who visits a grieving family.

— Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, directors of classic gay documentaries "The Times of Harvey Milk" and "The Celluloid Closet," make their feature debut with "Howl," following Allen Ginsberg and the obscenity trial that followed the publication of the titular poem. Unfortunately, David Cross doesn't reprise his role from "I'm Not There," with the decidedly different-looking James Franco taking over, leading a cast that also features Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Mary-Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels.

— Jesse Eisenberg returns, following last year's "Adventureland," with "Holy Rollers," which sounds a little like "The Wackness" - a young Hasidic man becomes an international Ecstasy dealer.

— "The Hurt Locker"'s Anthony Mackie gets a well deserved leading role in "Night Catches Us," set in Philadelphia during the Black Power movement. Also starring Bunk from "The Wire"!

— Mark Ruffalo's terribly-titled directorial debut "Sympathy for Delicious," which stars Ruffalo, Orlando Bloom, Juliette Lewis and Laura Linney.

— "Welcome to the Rileys," set in post-Katrina New Orleans, starring James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo and Kristen Stewart.

— "Animal Kingdom," an Australian movie about an orphaned 17 year old caught between a powerful criminal family and a cop, starring Guy Pearce and Joel Edgerton.

— "Four Lions," from British comedy god Chris Morris, about a group of incompetent would-be jihadists. This year's "In The Loop," but almost certainly funnier, and infinitely more offensive.

You can find the full line up over at Sundance's website, or Indiewire have some good breakdowns of some of the other movies. It looks like a pretty good year, although perhaps not up to the standards of last year, but then, who knew last year that the one about the abused, obese black teenager would end up a near-certain Oscar nominee?...

Michelle Williams In Talks To Lead "My Week With Marilyn" Instead Of ScarJo

When it was rumored earlier this summer that the more than adequately rounded Scarlett Johansson was in talks to play Marilyn Monroe, it seemed like a no-brainer. Well, for whatever reason, ScarJo left the project, but Production Weekly have twittered that Michelle Williams is in talks to take the lead role in "My Week With Marilyn," playing the iconic blonde bombshell.

While Mr. Skin fans are probably bummed they won't get see ScarJo in a role that would've required her to put her two greatest assets front and center, we're kind of intrigued by Williams joining the project. Firstly, this isn't the sort of role she usually gravitates towards so it will be interesting to see her change directions. Secondly, she's just a better actress than ScarJo and will undoubtedly find the vulnerable core that made Monroe both so appealing and so tragic. And yes, she's gorgeous too.

The film will be helmed by Brit TV veteran Simon Curtis and is based on the diary of Sir Laurence Olivier's employee Colin Clark. 1957, he looked after Monroe when she arrived in London to film "The Prince And The Showgirl" with Olivier. In 1958, Clark published excerpts of his diary but left his week with Monroe unpublished. In 2002, those entries finally saw the light of day and are now the basis for the film.

Michelle Williams has a busy 2010 lining up with "Blue Valentine" and "Shutter Island" both being released, and she's currently working on her second film with Kelly Reichardt, "Meek's Cutoff." As for ScarJo, she's going to be tenting fanboy poles next summer in "Iron Man 2." No other casting or production details on "My Week With Marilyn" are available but we would imagine a spring start isn't out of the question.

In Theaters: 'Brothers,' 'Armored,' 'Everybody's Fine,' 'Up in the Air'

A strange weekend at theaters this week, especially as we move closer to the holiday homestretch. Four very different movies are opening wide vying for your dollar, but our money is on the unstoppable "New Moon"/ "The Blind Side" combo once again ruling the box office.

In Wide Release: Jim Sheridan's ("My Left Foot," "In the Name of the Father") first film since helming the 50 Cent debacle "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," "Brothers" opens wide today. An English-language remake of Susanne Bier's Danish film, "Brothers" stars Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal as a pair of polar opposite siblings, a solider and an ex-convict, alongside Natalie Portman as Maguire's wife. The trailer is a textbook example of giving away too much and will surely turn some people away, as will the Iraq War theme, which has proved to be box-office poison. We reviewed the film earlier this week and were very pleasantly surprised by David Benioff's methodical script and the very strong performances across the board. Sheridan's director is the weakest point here (don't even get us started on the U2 song) but you could do a lot worse this weekend at the multiplex. Other seemed to like it much less than us. The film has a rating of 63% from Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 59 from Metacritic. To that we can concur, the film is uneven, but the performances are definitely much more nuanced and subtle (especially from folks like Maguire, Gyllenhaal and Portman) than you'd expect. It's all three actors' best work in a long time.

Nimrod Antal's follows up the horror film "Vacancy" with the very silly-looking "Armored." We loved his "Kontroll," years back and are curious to see what he and Robert Rodriguez do with the Predator franchise, but can't say we're too optimistic about this one. The film centers around a crew of officers at an armored security firm who prepare to embark on the heist of their lives. Depending on who you ask, the cast is either amazing, hilarious or most likely both with the always welcome Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne and um, Skeet Ulrich starring. They haven't bothered to screen this one for critics, so RT and Metacritic aren't much help here.


Whether it's "Four Christmases" or "The Family Stone," there's always a spot for a holiday-themed family dramedy 'round this time of the year. For 2009, Hollywood offers "Everybody's Fine" with a truly strange cast to mark a truly strange year. Robert DeNiro stars as a man traveling across the country to visit his successful children (Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale) from whom he has become increasingly distanced since their mother's death. Funny to see a duo as unlikely as Rockwell and Beckinsale together again so soon after David Gordon Green's "Snow Angels." We reviewed it yesterday, and recommend staying far far away. Rotten Tomatoes has the film with a 48% rating, while Metacritic gives it a 47 score.

Also apparently opening in wide release, "Transylmania" from directors David and Scott Hillenbrand. The horror spoof about college kids doing a semester abroad in vampire-addled Romania is barely on ours or anyone's radar. Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic have no reviews posted yet, but considering the director's previous credits include "Gamebox 1.0," "Dorm Daze," and "Pinata: Survival Island" that's probably a good thing.

In Limited Release: George Clooney teams up with "Thank You For Smoking" and "Juno" director Jason Reitman for "Up in the Air." Both men certainly want to get Up in an Oscar this year as well and the buzz has been strong for months. Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizer who gains in frequent flyer miles what he loses in human relationships. We saw the film in Toronto and liked it overall with a few small reservations, definitely Mr. Reitman's best film to date. Opening wide on Christmas Day, the picture was just named film of the year by the National Board of Review. Critics are mostly over the moon about the film as well with an 86% rating from RT and a 82 score from Metacritic.

Cheryl Hines AKA Cheryl David from HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" makes her directorial debut with "Serious Moonlight." The film stars Timothy Hutton and Meg Ryan as a married couple with serious problems, mainly Hutton's mistress played by Kristen Bell. Interestingly, it was written by Adrienne Shelly, the late actress and writer/director of 2007's "Waitress." All sounds hunky-dory until finding out that Justin Long shows up as an "opportunistic" gardener, but now it just looks painful. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 29 rating with a 34 score from Metacritic.

Other options this weekend include "Big River Man," a documentary about Martin Strel, an overweight, wine-loving Slovenian who attempts to become the first person to swim the entire length of the Amazon. We can't wait to check this one out. RT rating of 91. Also out, "Breaking Point" starring Tom Berenger, Sticky Fingaz, Busta Rhymes, and Armand Assante. Sounds like fun to us. RT rating of 0%

Best Of The Decade: The Playlist's Best Films Of 2004

Here's our 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 picks.

Man, if compiling this list was any indication, 2004 was a very peculiar year and one of the weaker ones of the decade. Some years, we were unfortunately cutting tons of pictures from the top 10. For 2004, we struggled and struggled to find ten films we felt completely passionately about. Sure, there were lots of decent pictures (see our ample honorable mention section), but 2004 overall, feels a bit more slight than every other year this decade.

And note, people love to rag on Nicole Kidman, but she can do some excellent work. Here she's in two pictures in our top 5 of the year. Some may claim it's because of the auteurs she works with and yes, fine, probably, but nevertheless, she's here. Meanwhile in film it was still sequels driving the box-office ("Spider-Man 2," "Shrek 2" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"). Clint Eastwood's 2003 film, "Million Dollar Baby" would take the Best Picture Oscar and in what was more of a statement move more than anything, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" would take the top prize at Cannes.

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Fictional Road-Trip Jimi Hendrix Film Won't Feature Music Or Need Rights... Meh

It what sounds like a ludicrously bad idea, Angryfilms is teaming with Bellport Pictures to produce "Slide" a fictional indie drama about two gangsters who while desperately trying to get away from a mob boss they double-crossed, inadvertently kidnapping a late-career, drug addicted Jimi Hendrix.

Because the film is being positioned as a road movie and not a biopic, rights issues won't be a concern, but don't hold your breath expecting to hear his music in the film -- none of it will be featured in the film.

Carol Bell of Bellport is used to dancing around protective estates as she did with "The Cat's Meow," Peter Bogdanovich's picture about William Randolph Heart, Marion Davis and the death of Thomas Ince. And like that film, this one probably won't be worth your time and or, it'll come out on the very-limited release side.

So if you're a huge Hendrix fan and are worried this film will tarnish his reputation. It feels unlikely, unless playing late nights on IFC after the fact is your idea of legacy blemish.

A proper Hendrix biopic is currently in the works from Legendary pictures ("The Hangover," "The Dark Knight, "Watchmen," "Where The Wild Things Are").

Jonathan Lethem's 'Gun, With Occasional Music' Finally Heading to Screen? 'Brooklyn's Finest 'Trailer Debuts

— Jonathan Lethem is a damn fine writer, but one who's yet to be adapted on the big screen — Edward Norton was circling "Motherless Brooklyn" for ages (circa 1999), and "Maria Full of Grace" helmer Joshua Marston wrote a script for superhero Bildungsroman "Fortress of Solitude," but neither made it out of development hell.

Now Letham's early sci-fi novel, "Gun, With Occasional Music," has been optioned by Gabe and Alan Polsky, producers of Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant." The book's been in development for close to 15 years, with the great Alan J Pakula taking an interest before his death. Maybe the Polsky's can finally get it right?

— "Twilight" producers Imprint Entertainment are intending to remake 2002's Korean horror hit "The Phone," about owners of a cellphone number who are killed off mysteriously. Original director Ahn Byung-ki will helm the re-do, which will shoot in Seoul early next year. Um, haven't we already had one of these? Wasn't it shit, and unsuccessful?

— Emily Watson, David Wenham and Hugo Weaving have all joined the cast of British TV director Jim Loach's feature debut, "Oranges and Sunshine," which follows the true story of a British social worker in the 1980s who discovered that a number of children in social care had been secretly deported to Australia.

—The long-delayed Antoine Fuqua passion project "Brooklyn's Finest" has finally debuted a trailer over at Apple. It debuted at Sundance earlier this year, to mixed reviews, and has been passed between a few distributors since. It hits theatres on March 5 next year, and the trailer looks half-decent, if a little generic.

DiCaprio Voicing Jack Frost in 'The Guardians'; Taylor Lautner Becomes An Action Figure

— Virtually every actor in Hollywood has at some point, taken a big paycheck for a few days in a recording studio on a big CGI animation - hell, Seth Rogen's done half a dozen of the things. One of the few holdouts (although we're pretty sure that Marlee Matlin hasn't done one, for example...) has been Leonardo DiCaprio, but he's just signed on to play Jack Frost in Dreamworks' "The Guardians." The story, based on the children's books by William Joyce, follows Frost, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman, who form an elite superhero team to save children from an evil spirit. The movie's set for release on Nov 2, 2012, and the rest of the cast will be revealed shortly - Wikipedia claims it includes Christopher Lee as Santa, Dwayne Johnson as the Easter Bunny, Natalie Portman as the Tooth Fairy, Hugh Laurie as the Sandman, and Ian McShane as the villain, but, you know, it's Wikipedia, so it's probably just the ramblings of a mentally ill farmhand.

— Another children's book, "Jeremy Cabbage and the Living Museum of Human Oddballs and Quadruped Delights," by David Elliott, is heading to the big screen, courtesy of "Twilight" producer Karen Rosenfelt and screenwriter Rob Lieber. The book follows the titular Cabbage, an orphan stuck at a children's home full of pets. Hopefully, they'll learn from the mistakes of "Cirque du Freak" and shorten the title, at least...

— OMG! Taylor Lautner! He's, like, soooo much better than Edward, he takes his shirt off, like, all the time. The only man to wear fewer clothes on his torso than Matthew McConaughey may star as the Mattel toy "Max Steel," according to the LA Times. Lautner would play a 19 year old extreme sports star who is exposed to nanotechnology machines, which gives him special powers. Paramount have appointed writers JP Lavin and Chad Damiani to write a script.

— Finally, speaking of childish, fantastical forms of wish-fulfillment with no resemblance to any form of reality, HBO's "Entourage" may be heading to the big screen. At the premiere of the remarkably bad "The Lovely Bones," Mark Wahlberg told the Hollywood Reporter that they're planning two more seasons of the inert, drama-free show, followed, like the cable channel's "Sex and the City," by a movie. The Playlist can exclusively reveal that the plot for the "Entourage" movie will involve Adrian Grenier fucking a model, the little one moaning about his ex-girlfriend, Jeremy Piven shouting at his assistant, and the worst theme tune in the history of recorded music.

5 Directors Who Could Keep 'Bourne 4' Alive And The Reasons Why

So yes, earlier this week, we broke the news that Paul Greengrass had quit as the director of the fourth installment in the assassin-on-the-run spy series centered around Jason Bourne (and to the obese wankhole that persists, yes scripts do exist). But, perhaps it's for the best. In the "Bourne Ultimatum" Bourne (Matt Damon) discovered his identity, his origin, and pretty much everything else that had eluded him thus far. The amnesiac character had finally piece together the puzzle of who he was and how he got there. The journey was essentially done. But studios love their show ponies and the dollars that come in, so a "Bourne 4" was greenlit on the condition that Greengrass and Damon could come up with relevant reason — and one they felt passionate about — to continue the story.

This is of course all but done now, but there is a way to continue this saga. Find someone ardent enough about the character to give Damon a reason to come back to the series. The 4th movie, if it happens, rests on Damon's shoulders. He has no need or reason to persist, but the key, for Universal at least, is finding a director that Damon trusts, is familiar with and believes in. So 5 directors who could pull off Bourne are not the Kathryn Bigelow's of the world (probably not anyhow), they're either people Damon's worked with in the past, or auteurs the actor — who says he works with the world's best because he one day wants to direct — has yet to work with and admires greatly. So the immediate list is almost obvious and two that Variety already wisely speculated about.

1. Tony Gilroy
Gilroy's split and dissatisfaction with 'Bourne' is legendary. And started as far back as "The Bourne Identity" (“Those works were never meant to be filmed,” he said dismissively about the Robert Ludlum books. “They weren’t about human behavior. They were about running to airports”). When he was convinced (wheels greased with more dough) to write a second script for director Paul Greengrass he was notoriously vexed with his soulless treatment of the text ("It was sort of like a crime against the gods of storytelling," he said). Gilroy was done, but then was paid a king's ransom to write "Bourne Ultimatum" under the condition that he would never have to speak to Greengrass, pen one draft (indeed, three writers are credited), get paid, and wash his hands of the entire affair. So frustrated with the entire endeavor, Gilroy quickly realized (duh) that the autonomy of filmmaking is in the director's hands and soon crafted the very exceptional "Michael Clayton" (and then the fluffy, not-so-exceptional, "Duplicity"). It would seem inconceivable on paper that Gilroy could return to the series, but he is the soul and conscience of the character Jason Bourne. He's really the ideal person for the job (and as shallow as "Duplicity" was, its direction is still razor-sharp) and the reason why the Bourne series connected with thousands of people and why the material elevated beyond a generic, spy film. Hollywood has a short-term memory, especially in times of crisis (and make no mistake, this is at least orange-alert for Universal), so if Gilroy can get over himself and both parties could come to Jesus, this could be the perfect match. The one problem is... Damon. They don't necessarily have as strong as a relationship as the others and in the Gilroy vs. Greengrass silent war, you can guess which side the loyal actor took.

2. George Nofli
Nolfi's got a lot going for him. He penned "Ocean's 12" (Damon obviously co-starred), co-wrote a later draft of "The Bourne Ultimatum" (plus an uncredited re-write on the ending of 'Bourne Supremacy') and is just finishing up directing Damon in his directorial debut, the sci-fi film based on a Philip K. Dick novel, "The Adjustment Bureau" (as of December 1 it is still shooting). He of course also wrote the first draft of the 4th Bourne film, but with a second writer hired — 'Bureau' took him elsewhere and Universal wanted rewrites — it might not bode so well for him. However, one thing people forget is that Damon himself actually writes and writes well (hello, he won an Academy Award for "Good Will Hunting") and he's been known to do uncredited polishes on film's he worked on, so it's conceivable the two could join forces and bang something out.

3. Doug Liman
The 'Bourne' franchise is actually the baby of director Doug Liman ("Swingers," "Go") who dreamed of adapting the books since he was a child. He obviously directed "The Bourne Identity," but if Gilroy's split with 'Bourne' was mythical, Liman's was biblical. Liman's Tribeca doorbell still has the name "Bourne J." on it, dude was so close to the series — indeed, he brought the property to Universal in the first place, as he secured the rights from Ludlum himself which should have given him plenty of leverage. But the chaotic, expensive, and hyper-indecisive shoot was saddled with numerous reshoots and found Gilroy faxing in rewrites each day on set. It was so messy, that even Damon figured the production would be a bomb and ultimately Liman was fired off the project and was banned from ever coming near the series again (producer Frank Marshall was rumored to finish the film himself). "Universal hated me,” Liman said in 2008. “I had an archenemy in the studio.” But again, desperate times call for desperate measures. Liman understands Bourne innately and as good as Greengrass' films are, in retrospect, 'Identity' seems to be the most coherent and enjoyable. But the studio would pretty much have to beg the producers...

4. Steven Soderbergh
Relationship-wise he may be the most ideal candidate there is. Damon and Soderbergh have an extremely healthy and intuitive working repartee, have made five pictures together so far: ("The Informant!," three 'Ocean's' pictures and a small role in "Che" part two) and are planning a sixth collaboration in "Liberace." Throw in Scott Z. Burns (one of the co-writers on "The Bourne Ultimatum" and the scribe behind "The Informant!") and you could have the perfect mix. Alas, Soderbergh is already set to shoot his own, twisted take on the spy series in the tentatively titled "Knockout" come January, and as a director who doesn't like to repeat himself (and who doesn't need the gig) you'd be hard-pressed to come up with reasons to convince him to delay his upcoming projects ("Liberace," "Cleo") to even entertain the notion of directing 'Bourne 4' regardless if his slate was clean. It's also helpful to remember that Soderbergh was once offered a James Bond flick but walked away when he wasn't given the creative control he wanted, and we doubt Universal is going to want to mess with a winning formula (plus he's looking to make these last few films and either retire or sit-out for a few years and recharge).

5. Stephen Gaghan Or Several Options
Gaghan, the Oscar-winning writer behind "Traffic" and "Syriana" (which Matt Damon c0-starred in) isn't actually known for his action films, but that's what second-unit stunt directors are for (Esquire did an article a few years back on the stunt-directing genius behind Greengrass' Bourne films). Intelligence and conscience is what separates 'Bourne' from most generic action thrillers (and the reason why people like us care). Plus, next for Gaghan? An untitled action thriller. Maybe Universal waves a bundle of cash under his nose to drop said project for Bourne much to Lionsgate's chagrin?

What auteur has Damon previously worked with or hasn't worked with that he would love to? Michael Mann could use a hit after "Public Enemies," no? Peter Berg is far too busy (and isn't exactly an auteur yet). Surely Tarantino or PTA are directors Damon would one day like to work with, but those two would never do 'Bourne' if their life depended on it. Damon has habitual working patterns, teaming up with the same directors often. He loves Coppola ("The Rainmaker" and "Youth Without Youth") and Gus Van Sant ("Good Will Hunting," "Gerry," small role in "Finding Forrester"), but obviously those two don't fit the bill. In the last few years, Damon has been making an auteurs list and checking them off (Redford, Scorsese, Eastwood — twice now). It would take a mighty unknown figure to pull this off.

Buddy Ben Affleck looks like he's moving into action territory with "The Town" but is still probably too inexperienced for the job. What about W. Blake Herron? One of the co-writers on 'Identity'? He directs, but has not done anything of note ("A Texas Funeral" and Skin Art"?) so forget it. How about "Ocean's 12" and "Rounders" (both films that Damon starred in) writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien? They've directed two films together ("Solitary Man," "Knockaround Guys"), though would Universal green light them? Other cogent guesses? Jose Padihla is attached to another Ludlum adaptation as is David Cronenberg who was attached to Ludlum's "Matarese Circle" at one point, but neither have a pre-existing relationship with the star (Cronenberg is obviously the bigger name, but has likely never worked with a budget north of $20 million). Phillip Noyce is the working man's spy-movie maker and a good fall back for the studio, but again, why would Damon make the picture with him? The Jack Ryan/Tom Clancy films were decent for their time, but still a far-cry from the realism of 'Bourne' and "Salt" with Angelia Jolie looks positively generic (he might want to find himself a new genre). Martin Campbell invigorated the shit out of the dead and stale 'Bond' series with "Casino Royale," and maybe on that alone could bypass the unfamiliarity, but then again, "The Edge Of Darkness" looks like a straight-to-DVD misfire. Plus "Green Lantern" is next for him and that directly conflicts with the lets-get-it-done asap timetable.

Or you know, they could just leave it alone and let a good thing rest and not embarrass itself... If the studio has its way, they'll do whatever they can. Thankfully Damon is a quality control actor and as he's stressed several times now, there's no reason to make one of these films unless they have a good and compelling story. Or you know... there's always "Green Zone" which we could all just call the unofficial "Bourne 4" and leave it at that.

Spielberg Can't Cast 'Harvey,' Moving On To Something Else

Man, you know that times are tough when even Steven Spielberg can't get a movie made. The director has pulled the plug on the remake of "Harvey" that he's been developing for the last six months, telling co-financiers 20th Century Fox earlier in the week (it's the second remake he's bailed on in the last few weeks . Variety blames casting problems for this - Spielberg initially approached Tom Hanks, who, as we reported before, turned it down, not wanting to take over a role originated by Jimmy Stewart. Robert Downey Jr was circling for some time, and gave notes on rewrites, but never committed; Variety says that Downey Jr and the director "never found themselves in creative sync on the script."

There was a pretty virulent fanboy response against Spielberg's choice of "Harvey" as his next project, so we're not sure anyone's going to miss this one - it always risked pandering to the director's worst instincts as a filmmaker, and we'd rather see him tackle something that's more of a stretch. Fox are going to continue to develop the project, but we imagine it'll die on the vine from here.

The question is, what's Spielberg's next project going to be?

He seems to have become more careful about his choice of projects of late - he made six films in the first half of this decade, but only one, terrible one in the second half ("The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" wrapped at the start of this year, but still has two years of visual effects work ahead of it), and he clearly decided that, if he couldn't get the right star for "Harvey," he wasn't going to do it. But what are the other options, excluding the proposed remake of "Oldboy" with Will Smith that thankfully also collapsed a few weeks back? Other films he passed on recently include "Matt Helm." He evidently has a pirate movie in the works (or at least one he'll executive-produce), but of course we all hope this just gives Spielberg more reason to finally buck up and do his "Lincoln" project already. Let's take a deeper at what else he has on doc.

— A fifth Indiana Jones installment, which various stars of the franchise have been talking up recently - Shia LaBoeuf claimed that Spielberg had 'cracked the story' on a new Indy movie. We, like most, pray that this never happens - "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is far and away the worst movie of Spielberg's career, and the sense of boredom from the usually inventive director was palpable throughout. But we also sense that Spielberg would rather do something else, particularly having gone from Indy straight on to "Tintin," another boy's own adventure.

— "Lincoln," the long-gestating biopic starring Liam Neeson as the 16th president, being written by Tony Kushner ("Angels in America," "Munich"). This would seem like the obvious contender, as it apparently came very close to happening last year, but Spielberg's been putting this one off for years. But you never know, maybe he'll get it together at "Munich" speed and it'll go head to head with Robert Redford's "The Conspirator" at the Oscars next year?

— "Interstellar" the sci-fi movie that the Beard tapped "Dark Knight" co-writer Jonathan Nolan to write a few years back. Apparently focusing on black holes and wormholes, there's been no movement on this for at least two years, and we reckon it's been consigned to a dusty drawer somewhere.

— Dreamworks bought the rights to a Martin Luther King biopic, with the full approval of the King estate, earlier in the year, which Spielberg will produce? Could he direct too? Hmm. We feel that the material should probably be in the hands of an African-American director, but that didn't stop him with "The Color Purple." As far as we know, though, no writer's been appointed to this one, so it's unlikely to be ready to go in the timeframe.

— There was a report a year ago that Spielberg's go-to writer, Jeff Nathanson, was adapting the children's book series "The 39 Clues," with Spielberg likely to direct. The series follows a group of adventurers searching for clues hidden throughout history that will show the source of the power of a famous family. But goddamnit, how many globe-trotting adventures can one man make?

We feel that either the director will finally take the plunge on "Lincoln," or there'll be an entirely new project emerging after the holidays - Spielberg can still pretty much pick and choose his scripts, so maybe something on the Black List will take his fancy? If not, 'Bourne 4' is always hiring... What would you like to see the great director tackle next?

Jaosn Reitman Lied To Non-Actors To Get Them On Camera For 'Up In The Air'

Tomorrow, "Up In The Air" comes out in limited release. The film, which details corporate termination artist George Clooney flying coast to coast firing airline employees, features an odd quirk that's gotten people talking, especially considering the current economic climate. During breaks in the action, we hear from real non-actors who describe the experience of being fired. It's never entirely clear if they're reacting to an onscreen firing, or just describing the experience itself (if its the latter, some of these guys do appear to be acting, and not always convincingly).

Jason Reitman did a Q&A for the film recently, and admitted, much to everyone's surprise, that he got the participants to agree to be taped discussing their experiences by telling them he was making a documentary about the economy. To bare your heart and soul about your stress about being able to pay your bills or provide for your family could be a great relief, especially if the word was getting out to others. To find out after the fact that your real life experiences are complimenting the story of a wealthy man who goes from airline to airline firing people must be a little tougher to stomach.

The confessions in the movie are actually fairly overused, and we struggled to see the point of the whole thing. These people are fretting over extremely tangible things like putting food on the table, and here is handsome millionaire George Clooney strutting through a story about a (theoretically) rich guy struggling to connect emotionally with those around him. We think that's the sort of creative decision that backfires on a movie's intentions, but, like the National Board of Review, maybe you can judge for yourself.

Trailer: The 'Vicious Kind' Hits Theaters December 11

We've been meaning to write a feature for a while called, "Distribute This," essentially an advocate post for a film we've seen this year at a film festival that hasn't come out. One film that unfortunately passed us by, and we're still a bit ashamed and bummed we never got around to writing about ,was the worthy and weary-hearted, "That Evening Sun," a hickory-smoked Southern indie tale directed by Scott Teems featuring exceptional performances by Hal Holbrook and Mia Wasikowska. It came out earlier this year in limited release and if you can track it down or get it on DVD you should.(Wasikowska and Raymond McKinnon were both recently nominated for indie Spirit Awards for their strong performances; bit of a shame Holbrook didn't make the cut).

And yet another film's release we've been meaning to endorse, "The Vicious Kind" starring Adam Scott, is actually coming out on its own on December 11. We saw it in Boston earlier this year at the IFFBoston festival (a great little fest, btw) and called it a "low-key, but exceptional drama," and now the trailer has arrived. Scott, generally known for comedic roles (he plays the jerkwad successful brother in "Step Brothers" with Will Ferrell), plays it straight and he's excellent in the picture as a dysfunctional, near-misogynist asshole. The female lead? Brittany Snow. Yup, that Brittany Snow. And much like "Gossip Girl" Blake Lively's performance in "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" we were extremely surprised to see how adept and capable she was.

Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that the winning little indie was made by Lee Toland Krieger — a former Neil LaBute protege, and his mentor executive-produced this pic — who made his first feature ("December Ends") at the tender age of 21 and made this mature, love-triangle story two years later (and yes, there are shades of LaBute like bite and nasty characters). The film also stars Alex Frost ("Elephant") and J.K. Simmons ("Juno," several Coen Brothers films) and was just nominated for two indie Spirit Awards, including Krieger's screenplay and Scott's nuanced performance. As you've probably noticed by now, we hardly write about music moments in film these days because so many of them are largely unexceptional or just not very noteworthy, but this one features two great music moments set to two excellent songs, Band of Horses' "The General Specific" and Bon Iver's wonderfully wistful, "Re: Stacks" (little bastard, not that we're ever gonna make a movie, but if we did...)

Surely this release will be a limited one, but you could do worse than catch this one (if you can) on December 11. And btw, you'll notice in the trailer two Playlist quotes from our review written several months ago. They always boost those things a little out of context, but oh well, such is life. Have a look.

'Up in the Air' Named Best Film Of The Year By National Board of Review

The publicists at Paramount might want to send the National Board of Review a thank-you card. Just one day before "Up in the Air" opens in select cities, the National Board of Review named the Jason Reitman dramedy its top film of the year, beating out other contenders such as "Invictus" and "Precious." But at least Clint Eastwood can console himself with a spot in the top eleven as well as a win for himself as director and Morgan Freeman as best actor (in a tie with George Clooney for "Up in the Air"). "Precious" will have to be happy with a breakthrough performance award for the much heralded Gabourey Sidibe. Let's hope "Precious" director Lee Daniels has a better handle on his emotions than his weepy audience members.

There are a few surprises in the list below (which we gleaned from the team at Indiewire), particularly the attention paid to smaller films like "The Messenger." We loved Oren Moverman's emotional drama, and apparently the National Board of Review did as well. We were a little less charmed by "(500) Days of Summer," but it's a nice counterpoint to the more traditional — but still well-earned — choices such as "A Serious Man" and "An Education." "Star Trek" unsurprisingly earns the populist spot in the top eleven, which last year went to "The Dark Knight."

Even though the last two National Board of Review favorites -- "Slumdog Millionaire" and "No Country for Old Men" -- have won Best Picture at the Oscars, fans of "The Hurt Locker" shouldn't count Kathryn Bigelow's thoughtful gut-punch of a thriller out just yet. The film won the top prize at the Gotham Awards earlier this week, so it should still be in the running for a Best Picture spot at the Academy Awards. Whew.

The full list of winners:

Best Film: "Up In The Air"

Best Director: Clint Eastwood, "Invictus"

Best Actor: Morgan Freeman, "Invictus" and George Clooney, "Up In The Air" (tie)

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, "An Education"

Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"

Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick, "Up In The Air"

Best Foreign Film: "A Prophet"

Best Documentary: "The Cove"

Best Animated Feature: "Up"

Best Ensemble Cast: "It’s Complicated"

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut: Duncan Jones, "Moon," Oren Moverman, "The Messenger" and Marc Webb, "500 Days of Summer" (tie)

Best Original Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen, "A Serious Man"

Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, "Up In The Air"

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Wes Anderson, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox"

William K. Everson Film History Award: Jean Picker Firstenberg

NBR Freedom of Expression: "Burma Vj: Reporting From A Closed Country," "Invictus," "The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellseberg And The Pentagon Papers"

Top Eleven Films (In alphabetical order):
"An Education"
"(500) Days Of Summer"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Invictus"
"The Messenger"
"A Serious Man"
"Star Trek"
"Up"
"Up In The Air"
"Where The Wild Things Are"

Top Ten Independent Films (In alphabetical order):
"Amreeka"
"District 9"
"Goodbye Solo"
"Humpday"
"In The Loop"
"Julia"
"Me And Orson Welles"
"Moon"
"Sugar"
"Two Lovers"

Top Six Foreign Films (In alphabetical order):
"The Maid"
"A Prophet"
"Revanche"
"Song Of Sparrows"
"Three Monkeys"
"The White Ribbon"

Top Six Documentary Films (In alphabetical order):
"Burma Vj: Reporting From A Closed Country"
"The Cove"
"Crude"
"Food, Inc."
"Good Hair"
"The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Papers"