Shared Darkness

Fox Searchlight announced on Monday that principal photography is underway on director Thomas Vinterberg‘s adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, starring Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge and Juno Temple. The script was written by David Nicholls, author and screenwriter of One Day and Starter for Ten.

Based on the literary classic, Far From the Madding Crowd is the story of beautiful and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Mulligan), who attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak (Schoenaerts), a sheep farmer, captivated by her fetching willfulness; Frank Troy (Sturridge), a handsome and reckless military man; and William Boldwood (Sheen), a prosperous and mature bachelor. “I’m excited to be working with Fox Searchlight and this talented cast and crew,” says Vinterberg. “It’s a great privilege to bring such a wonderful piece of very English literature to the screen.”

Black Bear Pictures announced the start of production today on The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. The film is a dramatic portrayal of the life and work of one of Great Britain’s most extraordinary unsung heroes — Alan Turing, a pioneer of modern-day computing, and the man most credited with cracking the German Enigma code of World War II.

Michael Apted’s 2001 film Enigma, starring Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott as Bletchley Park codebreakers, previously managed to scrupulously avoid crediting Turing, who was persecuted after the war for his homosexuality. Norwegian director Morten Tyldum — a BAFTA nominee last year for the delightful, underappreciated Headhunters — is helming a production team that includes cinematographer Oscar Faura and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy production designer Maria Djurkovic. Mark Strong, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear and Charles Dance will also co-star in The Imitation Game, which should be ready in time for the spring festival circuit.

According to the Wrap, Greek star Amber Stevens is joining Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum and Ice Cube for the sequel to last year’s 21 Jump Street, a spring box office hit to the tune of just over $200 million worldwide for distributor Sony. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will direct.

Erstwhile State Farm commercial bit player Angela Sarafyan has joined Chronicle screenwriter Max Landis’ directorial debut, Me Him Her, the Wrap is reporting today. Joining the already cast Dustin Milligan, Luke Bracey and Emily Meade, Sarafyan will play the antagonist of the film, which is described by Landis as “at its most basic level, a generational story about relationships and identity.” Big Beach Films is financing the indie production, which will shoot this fall.

Next up for writer-director Michael Almereyda’s modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline is Anton Yelchin and Dakota Johnson, who join the previously announced Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovovich and Ed Harris. Yelchin, of course, in addition to playing Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek films and delivering some fine work in the lovely, underappreciated Like Crazy, shared a memorable pool scene with Amanda Seyfried and Amber Heard in Alpha Dog; the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, Johnson has had small roles in Goats, 21 Jump Street and The Five-Year Engagement.

Milla Jovovich is set to star alongside Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris and Penn Badgley in writer-director Michael Almereyda’s modern day adaption of William Shakespeare’s timeless play Cymbeline, it was announced yesterday.

Set to start principal photography on August 19 in New York City, Cymbeline unfolds as an epic battle between dirty cops and a drug-dealing biker gang set in a corruption-riddled 21st century America. Pitched as in the vein of Sons of Anarchy and the style of Baz Luhrmann‘s Romeo + Juliet, Cymbeline will aim to put a fresh spin on a universal story of love, betrayal and revenge. The film will be produced by Anthony Katagas and Michael Benaroya, the latter of whom will fully finance the movie through his banner Benaroya Pictures.

Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei has joined the cast of Keep the Lights On director Ira Sachs’ newest feature, Love Is Strange. She joins the previously announced John Lithgow and Alfred Molina in the New York-set indie about a recently married gay couple’s forced separation.

Tomei will play Kate, a novelist married to Lithgow’s nephew, who lets his uncle move in with them after he’s forced to sell his small apartment. Says Sachs, “Marisa brings an intelligence, warmth and graceful humor to everything she does. From our first meeting, it was clear that in her hands the role of Kate would resonate deeply with audiences. She elevates all of us involved to be at our very best.” Production begins in New York City later this month.

Summit Entertainment confirmed today that Kate Winslet will star as Jeanine Matthews in the studio’s futuristic action adventure Divergent, based on the popular young adult novel of the same name by first-time author Veronica Roth. Other confirmed cast members include Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jai Courtney, Zoë Kravitz, Ansel Elgort and Maggie Q.

Set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities, Divergent focuses on Tris Prior (Woodley), who’s warned she will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all of the so-called “Divergents,” Tris must find out before it’s too late what makes her and others like her so dangerous. Neil Burger will direct, from a script by Vanessa Taylor, based on an original draft by Evan Daugherty. Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing the project via their Red Wagon Entertainment banner, along with Pouya Shahbazian. Principal photography commences this April in Chicago, and Summit will release the film theatrically on March 21, 2014.

I’m late to the party, but good on Safety Not Guaranteed helmer Colin Trevorrow for getting inked to direct the next installment of the Jurassic Park series, set to shoot this summer and release June 13, 2014. Different strokes, scales, genres and all that, but he’s a bright and capable guy. It’ll be interesting to see what he brings to the party.

The long-rumored casting of Angelina Jolie in the title role of Maleficent, as Disney’s ultimate villain, has been confirmed, along with the film’s release date, March 14, 2014. The live-action film will explore the origins of the evil fairy Maleficent, and what led her to curse Princess Aurora in Disney’s animated classic Sleeping Beauty. Leading a team of visionary filmmakers known for creating and transporting audiences to new and exciting worlds, Academy Award-winning production designer Robert Stromberg (Alice in Wonderland and the forthcoming Oz The Great and Powerful) will direct, from a script by Linda Woolverton. The film will be produced by Avatar producer Joe Roth.

Annette Bening, Ed Harris and Robin Williams will be joined by Amy Brenneman and Jess Weixler in Arie Posin’s romantic drama Look of Love, co-written by the director and scribe Matthew McDuffie. The film tells the story of a widowed mother named Nikki (Bening) who, several years after the loss of her husband, meets Tom (Harris), a man who looks exactly like her deceased spouse. Suddenly, a flood of old feelings rush back to her and Nikki realizes she’s met the love of her life… again. Mockingbird Pictures’ Julie Lynn and Bonnie Curtis are serving as producers. Principal photography begins next Monday in Los Angeles.

Bryan Cranston, Anna Kendrick and Miles Teller have joined the cast of Roger Dodger director Dylan Kidd’s tentatively titled Get a Job, it was announced today by distributor CBS Films. They join a cast that already includes Alison Brie, Jay Pharoah, Brandon T. Jackson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Filming commences in Los Angeles next week, based on a screenplay by Kyle Pennekamp and Scott Turpel. The movie is billed as a multi-generational comedy about four recent college graduates who discover the gaping chasm between their lofty expectations and the crushing realities of adulthood.

Professional jackass Johnny Knoxville and Patton Oswalt, widely regarded as one of the best and most transgressive stand-up comedians of the last decade, have signed on to co-star in The Catechism Cataclysm director Todd Rohal’s latest film, an outlandish yet poignant comedy about a pair of battling brothers who attempt to honor the memory of their ailing father by taking a troop of boys on a camping trip that goes wildly wrong.

The still untitled film from emerging comedic auteur Rohal is loosely based on his experiences growing up. Production began several weeks ago, during the last week of August, and Maura Tierney, The Daily Show correspondent Rob Riggle, and Patrice O’Neal are also on board for the ensemble comedy. Look for more on The Catechism Cataclysm, meanwhile, next week.

Zachary Quinto‘s production company, Before the Door Pictures, will partner with Sunchaser Entertainment and German producer Christian Arnold-Beutel to produce the elevated horror feature The Banshee Chapter. Interactive and transmedia director Blair Erickson wrote the screenplay and will make his feature directorial debut on the project.

The film, set to begin principal photography shortly in New Mexico, centers on a young female journalist who follows the trail of a missing friend who had been experimenting with mind-altering chemicals developed in secret government drug tests. A fast-paced blend of fact and fiction, The Banshee Chapter is based on real documents, actual test subject testimony and uncovered secrets about programs run by the CIA. “We’re excited to branch out in our storytelling,” said Quinto in a press release. “We’ve produced a movie about the financial crash and an innovative, grounded romantic comedy. The Banshee Chapter is an opportunity for us to tackle another film with its roots in reality, but through the lens of horror.”

The first film of which Quinto speaks, J.C. Chandor’s directorial debut Margin Call, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and is an unaffectedly smart, tightly wound little human drama that engagingly tells a big story through a small, focused lens. It releases to theaters in late October. For an older interview with Quinto, meanwhile, click here.

Woody Allen has set the cast for his next directorial effort, and while none of his Midnight in Paris collaborators will be back and working with him this go-round, there will be a number of actors and actresses who have worked with him previously.

The big news, though, is that Allen himself will be co-starring, something he hasn’t done since 2006’s Scoop. Joining him, in alphabetical order, are: Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page and Alison Pill. A romantic roundelay consisting of four vignettes, The Bop Decameron is Allen’s first film to be financed by the Italian production and distribution company Medusa Film, and will be produced by Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum. Italian costars include Antonio Albanese, Fabio Armiliata, Alessandra Mastronardi, Ornella Muti, Flavio Parenti, Riccardo
Scamarcio and Alessandro Tiberi. Production commences on July 11, and will mark Allen’s first time shooting in Rome.

In other casting news surround Radha Mitchell‘s Silent Hill: Revelation, Carrie-Anne Moss and Malcolm McDowell have been added to the cast of the sequel, currently lensing in Toronto. So, you know, someone’s up there making comparisons to The Matrix series and A Clockwork Orange.

News today from Crime Scene Pictures partners Adam Ripp and Rob Paris that Alan Rickman and Tom Courtenay have joined the cast of Gambit, based on the 1966 British caper comedy of the same name starring Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine.

Academy Award Winner Colin Firth is set to star alongside Cameron Diaz, with Michael Hoffman directing from an adapted screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen. Said Ripp and Paris in a statement: “We are thrilled to have added two world-class actors to our already formidable cast. Alan and Sir Tom are the perfect additions to this classic comedic heist.” CBS Films recently acquired U.S. distribution rights; production begins in May, with no word yet on a
potential theatrical release date, though one expects early 2012 is a decent bet.

Davis Films producers Samuel Hadida and Don Carmody announced today that
three of the most notable stars of Silent Hill, Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean and Deborah Kara
Unger, will return to join Adelaide Clemens and Kit Harington on the sequel, Silent
Hill: Revelation 3D.

Filming is just underway in Toronto, and as the sequel to 2006’s near-$100 million-grossing hit, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is based on a screenplay by director Michael Bassett, who is joined by cinematographer Maxime Alexandre, production designer Alicia Keywan and costume designer Wendy Partridge. “It wouldn’t be the same without some of the original Silent Hill cast,” said Bassett. “Sean, Radha and Deborah’s return will certainly thrill fans of the franchise and compliment Revelation‘s stars, Adelaide and Kit.”

Added cinematographer Alexandre, who has made a career out of specializing in moody horror flicks and recently worked with Mitchell on The Crazies, “With the most advanced technology available — in particular the lighter, smaller and more flexible 3D Red Epic — we are able to take audiences deeper in the world of Silent Hill than they ever dreamed possible. Devotees will finally be able to enter this realm along side of Heather, Vincent, Harry and Rose, and experience the psychological horror and the fear of the unknown along with them.”

So after an eight-year layoff from the big screen, Eminem is taking the advice of Guns ‘N’ Roses and getting in the ring, according to The Wrap’s Jeff Sneider. He’ll play a welterweight boxing champ in DreamWorks’ Southpaw, penned by Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter. In much the same way that 8 Mile tapped into elements of the rapper’s life story without being a literal biography per se, the script will serve as a “metaphorical continuation” of his offscreen life — so he’ll be reclaiming past glory, winning back the affection of his daughter, etcetera, etcetera. Probably donning a skull cap, too. A win for all involved, if done right.