09.24.2015 | By Felix Dalgo |
The 1-4-0: #Ashby is a different take on what you might consider to be a comedy. The film is funny but has its serious moments that might make you think about your surroundings. Unlike other comedy films out there, this one tries and succeeds on delivering a message to the audience. Read More
07.28.2014 | By Jack Rico |
At the San Diego Comic-Con, co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller reunited to release the visually stunning “Sin City: A Day to Kill For” red band trailer! Weaving together two of Miller’s classic stories with new tales, the town’s most hard boiled citizens cross paths with some of its more notorious inhabitants. Read More
03.11.2009 | By Mack Chico |
Mickey Rourke has closed his deal to play the Russian villain in “Iron Man 2.”
His involvement was expected, but dealmaking was arduous after Marvel Entertainment offered “The Wrestler” star only $250,000 for his first major studio film in years.More than one option
Rourke’s salary will be now better than that.
While his ICM rep, David Unger, battled for more dough, Rourke’s encounters with “Iron Man” star Robert Downey Jr. on the awards circuit sealed his participation in the film.los
Rourke won the Golden Globe and was Oscar nominated for “The Wrestler” and Downey got Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for “Tropic Thunder,” so Downey used each occasion to recruit Rourke.
When Downey, Rourke as well as actors including Frank Langella and Anne Hathaway took part in a roundtable discussion with Newsweek’s David Ansen, Downey interrupted the proceedings, reached across the table and flat out asked Rourke to do “Iron Man 2.”
Rourke also met with Jon Favreau and scribe Justin Theroux and got to be part of the development of his character. He’ll play Whiplash, a character that includes elements from that comicbook villain and Crimson Dynamo, another Russian baddie.
Marvel wouldn’t confirm Rourke’s involvement, but he’s planning to join Downey, Sam Rockwell and Samuel L. Jackson, with Scarlett Johansson the frontrunner to play the Black Widow.
03.4.2009 | By Mack Chico |
Alice Braga, Mickey Rourke and Vincent Cassel are set to star in “11 Minutes,” an adaptation of the steamy Paulo Coehlo novel that will be directed by Hany Abu-Assad.
Hollywood Gang’s Gianni Nunnari is producing, with Craig J. Flores and George Waud as exec producers. Shooting begins June 1 in Brazil and Geneva.
Braga plays a naive girl who is betrayed by her first lover and swears off romance. She becomes a high-priced call girl who works at an upscale gentlemen’s club in Geneva. Cassel plays a music exec who gets her hooked on S&M. Rourke plays the club owner.
Italian heartthrob Riccardo Scamarcio is in talks to round out the cast.
The book was a global bestseller translated into 40 languages. Abu-Assad, who made his film breakthrough with “Paradise Now,” has rewritten a script by Marcos Bernstein.
Hollywood Gang will fully finance.
Braga just completed the Universal sci-fi thriller “Repossession Mambo.” Rourke is coming off “The Wrestler” and is negotiating to play the villain in “Iron Man 2.” Cassel was seen in “Eastern Promises” and just won the acting Cesar for French pic “Public Enemy Number One.” Scamarcio is coming off the Costa-Gavras-directed “Eden a l’ouest.”
For Hollywood Gang, “11 Minutes” becomes one of four 2009 production starts. It produced, with GK Films, the Martin Scorsese-directed “Shutter Island,” set for release in the fall. It’s in pre-production on WB sci-fi film “The Days Before,” with Timur Bekmambetov directing, and on the Tarsem-directed “War of Gods” with Relativity. Also, Hollywood Gang and GK are plotting an April production start for the Scorsese-directed “Silence.”
02.5.2009 | By Mack Chico |
Helmer Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” body-slammed the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards on Wednesday, winning best film and actor for Mickey Rourke.
However, helmer Danny Boyle’s awards season darling “Slumdog Millionaire” took the most awards on the night. The Mumbai-set thriller won honors for British film, British director and screenwriter (Simon Beaufoy).
Kate Winslet, also a firm favorite on the awards circuit, landed the actress prize for her perfs in “Revolutionary Road” and “The Reader.”
Kristin Scott Thomas was feted as best British actress for the Gallic film “I’ve Loved You So Long.” British actor nod went to Michael Fassbender (“Hunger”).
David Fincher took the director prize for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” with that pic’s Tilda Swinton drawing supporting actress kudos.
Eddie Marsan was named supporting actor for his turn as a crazed driving instructor in Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky.”
Fast-rising thesp Thomas Turgoose, who came to the fore in Shane Meadows’ “This Is England,” scooped the inaugural young British performer nod for his roles in “Eden Lake” and “Somers Town.”
In other prizes, artist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen won breakthrough British filmmaker for “Hunger,” and “Waltz With Bashir” took foreign-language film.
The Dilys Powell Award for outstanding contribution to cinema was dished out to previously announced recipient Judi Dench.
The London Critics’ Circle, the film section of the Critics’ Circle, has more than 100 members who write for newspapers and magazines published across the U.K.
The awards were held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel as a fund-raiser for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
Winners for the 29th Critics’ Circle Film Awards
FILM OF THE YEAR
“The Wrestler” – Darren Aronofsky
ATTENBOROUGH FILM OF THE YEAR
“Slumdog Millionaire” – Danny Boyle
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
David Fincher – “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Danny Boyle – “Slumdog Millionaire”
ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Mickey Rourke – “The Wrestler”
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Kate Winslet – “The Reader” / “Revolutionary Road”
BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Michael Fassbender – “Hunger”
BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Kristin Scott-Thomas – “I’ve Loved You So Long”
BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Eddie Marsan – “Happy-Go-Lucky”
BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Tilda Swinton – “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Simon Beaufoy – “Slumdog Millionaire”
THE NSPCC AWARD: YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Thomas Turgoose – “Somers Town” / “Eden Lake”
BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER
Steve McQueen – “Hunger
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
“Waltz With Bashir – Ari Folman
THE DILYS POWELL AWARD
Dame Judi Dench
01.30.2009 | By Mack Chico |
Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke will star in Indian writer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Hollywood debut, the gangster caper “Broken Horses,” the director said Friday.
Co-produced by Mumbai-based Reliance Big Pictures, “Horses,” which will shoot in New Mexico and New York, is part of a multipicture deal between Chopra and the Indian studio.
It also marks RBG’s first Hollywood effort since its parent company, Reliance Entertainment, funded DreamWorks’ exit from Paramount for $550 million.
Mark Johnson (“Chronicles of Narnia”) will executive produce the film, which is based on an original story by Chopra. It’s being turned into a screenplay by Indian writer Abhijat Joshi and script consultant Jason Richman (“Bangkok Dangerous”).
In a statement Friday, Chopra said that he met Rourke in Los Angeles after a special screening of “The Wrestler,” the film that earned him an Oscar nomination as well as the best actor prize at last month’s Golden Globes.
“I was bowled over by his performance,” Chopra said. “Both of us had an instant connect when we met in Los Angeles. He was my first choice and was finalized even before he won the Golden Globe. It’s great to have him on board for one of the key roles in the film. Mickey deserves all the acclaim he is getting, and I hope he wins the Oscar as well.”
Chopra is one of India’s best-known filmmakers, from his breakthrough feature as a director, 1989’s “Parinda” (Bird), to such recent producing successes as the comedy caper “Lage Raho Munnabhai” (Keep Going Munnabhai).
Chopra’s 1979 film “An Encounter With Faces” was nominated for an Oscar in the nonfiction short category.
01.9.2009 | By Mack Chico |
Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell are in talks to star as the villains in “Iron Man 2,” being directed by Jon Favreau.
Marvel has been keeping a very tight lid on the script for the sequel, being written by Justin Theroux, but it is known that Rourke would play a tattooed Russian heavy named Ivan who becomes Whiplash, a man with deadly, technologically enhanced coils.
Rockwell would play Justin Hammer, a multibillionaire businessman and a rival of industrialist Anthony Stark, AKA Iron Man, being played by a returning Robert Downey Jr.
Rourke and Rockwell would be joining a cast that also includes the returning Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle, who is replacing Terrence Howard, making for one eclectically cast summer blockbuster.
Another part — one for Stark’s assistant Natasha — is still open.
The project is eyeing a spring start in Manhattan Beach. Paramount will release the movie May 7, 2010.
Rourke, repped by ICM, is making the best of the accolades he is receiving for his heart-wrenching turn in “The Wrestler.” On top of this big-budget movie, the actor, who will next be seen in “The Informers,” just joined the cast of “The Expendables,” an action movie starring Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham and Dolph Lundgren.
If Rockwell’s deal makes, it would mark a rare studio appearance for the actor, who is best known for his indie dramas. Gersh-repped Rockwell recently starred as a sex-addicted con man in “Choke” and an estranged husband in “Snow Angels.” He can currently be seen in the political drama “Frost/Nixon.”
