Darren Aronofsky’s follow-up to his sleeper success, Black Swan, has been talked about for since the summer of last year, and though it sounds like it’s been progressing nicely, it’s been missing one important thing: a cast.

It looks like that could all be changing. Christian Bale was first in talks for the titular role in Noah, but his involvement on Terrence Malick’s upcoming films meant that he wouldn’t be able to work it into his schedule. Michael Fassbender was then announced as being eyed for the lead, but it looks like his next project, Twelve Years A Slave, which will reunite him with Steve McQueen, will also rule him out because of scheduling.

Deadline are now reporting that Aronofsky is very much interested in Russell Crowe for the lead in his stead, and though nothing’s set in stone yet (biblical pun is not intended), things are looking good. And as if that wasn’t good enough, Liam Neeson is also wanted for another role.

We heard late last month that the project calls for a villain, someone who will try and instil doubt in Noah, and it could well be that Neeson would take that role. Though that report was based on a little (fairly sound) hearsay, Russell Crowe circling the lead would certainly seem to lend it some credence. We heard that the role of Noah would be most likely to go to someone in their forties, putting a further question mark over Fassbender’s head, at a young thirty-four, which in turn lends support for the possibility of Crowe taking it, age forty-seven.

The Academy Award-winning Crowe has played some of the best-known roles cinema has given us in recent years, very much deservedly taking the Best Actor Oscar for his role in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. If he comes on board (again, pun not intended), Noah would re-unite him with his Gladiator scribe, John Logan, who’s been working on a re-write for the original script from Aronofsky and his producing partner, Ari Handel.

No word on a precise release date yet, but the last we heard from the film suggested it was aiming for a summer shoot this year, with an eye to be released in the autumn of 2013. Be sure to keep an eye on this one, because it sounds like it’s going to be immense. More as we get it.

News of Darren Aronofsky’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning film, Black Swan, first surfaced back in June last year, when it surfaced that he was looking to make a big-budget epic film based on the story of Noah’s ark, entitled, Noah. Christian Bale was first in talks for the titular role, but his involvement in the upcoming Terrence Malick films forced him to exit the project.

When news on that exit came, Michael Fassbender was announced as being eyed for the role in his place, with production hoping to start this spring. The Playlist are now reporting a few interesting updates, that involve a bit of potential hear-say, but it sounds like reliable sourcing.

During the latest Oscar Poker chat between Sasha Stone and Jeff Wells, Wells said that he’d been speaking to Aronofsky’s frequent collaborator, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, Requiem For A Dream, Pi).

“…And he was telling me about ‘Noah’ and what the script is like. They’re going to start shooting in July in New York and Iceland and he says it’s really a good script. They’re really doing the story of Noah, a very unlikely subject you might think for a cutting edge fellow like Darren Aronofsky, but that’s what they’re doing. It’s going to be more likely a Fall 2013 release,” Wells shared.

Libatique’s frequent past collaborations with the writer-director would certainly suggest that he’s a credible source, and that he’ll know what Aronofsky’s expected shooting schedule is. As The Playlist note, if Noah does shoot this summer, that could potentially create a clash with Fassbender’s schedule, returning to work with his own now-frequent collaborator, Steve McQueen, on Twelve Years A Slave. As such, the lead role could well be there for the taking once more.

And not only that, but Wells says that Libatique told him that there’s another interesting role in the script that calls for a villain:

“That’s the hangup right now, they haven’t cast Noah yet. But it’s got a guy in his 40s so it’s not going to be young. It’s going to be 40s. And there’s a big villain part, gotta have a villain in the story of Noah,” Wells added. “Someone who’s saying ‘Listen, don’t listen to him. We’re fine! We don’t need to build any ark. Don’t be so alarmist! Don’t be so fundamentalist.’ You know? One of those guys. So it sounded like a lot of fun, actually.”

So potentially two male roles that we can look forward to being cast in the coming weeks or months. The original script was written by Aronofsky and producing collaborator Ari Handel (Black Swan, The Wrestler), with the brilliant John Logan (Gladiator, The Last Samurai) handling a rewrite. I can’t wait for this to start taking more shape.

News first came back at the start of June that Darren Aronofsky had settled on his next film to follow up from the Oscar-winning Black Swan, and it would be a biblical epic, Noah. Swiftly after that, we heard that Christian Bale was in talks for the lead, which sounded like a brilliant match.

With no less than two Terrence Malick pictures currently in his schedule, however, Variety report that Bale has had to exit talks to star in Aronofsky’s Noah, and in his place, the excellent rising star Michael Fassbender is being eyed for the eponymous role.

No official offer has been made yet, but Fassbender is thought to have been talking with Aronofsky about the part, and his casting would be another terrific choice. He’s had such a great year this year, with leading roles in X-Men: First Class and Jane Eyre, and next year is looking even better for him, with A Dangerous Method, Steve McQueen’s anticipated Shame, Soderbergh’s Haywire, and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus all due out in the next six months.

The film is being co-financed by New Regency and Paramount, the latter of whom have worked with Aronofsky on his last three films, with Aronofsky’s budget estimated at about $130m. The original script comes from Aronofsky himself and collaborator Ari Handel, with John Logan (The Last Samurai, Gladiator) doing a rewrite.

Essentially, this is going to be awesome, with production set to begin early next year. As much as I would have loved to see Bale in the role, getting another Fassbender leading role is great in my books too, so hopefully the talks will continue to go well, and there’ll be an official offer to report on soon. More news as we get it.

Darren Aronofsky has managed to get the green-light for his tale of the Biblical flood survived by Noah and his family as recorded in Genesis and so his graphic novel version of the same story, which would have been an attempt to drum up enough studio interest to secure that green-light, can now see the light of day in its own right and on its own terms, without any pressure on it to serve as a promotional vehicle.

There is a sumptuous looking poster and some suitably apocalyptic and bleak artwork available now, which you can enjoy below at your leisure, together with a trailer for the graphic novel. From all of this it looks as though a great deal of thoroughly productive thought has gone into the world that Noah inhabits and how he and the ancient near East will be represented. The panels below even suggest that the graphic novel will track back to the fall of man in Eden and Abel’s death at Cain’s hand. I wasn’t sure what to make of this project, though now you may feel free to put me in the “intrigued” column. Here’s a translation of the French synopsis for good measure:-

It was a world without hope, a world with no rain and no crops, dominated by warlords and their barbarian hordes. In this cruel world, Noah was a good man. Seasoned fighter, mage and healer but he only wanted peace for him and his family. Yet every night, Noah was beset by visions of an endless flood, symbolizing the destruction of all life. Gradually he began to understand the message sent him by the Creator. He had decided to punish the men and kill them until the last. But he gave Noah a last chance to preserve life on Earth …

Much thanks to Collider for the source-ness.

Hugh Jackson has been talking up the planned sequel to 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine during his publicity tour for Real Steel. You may recall that Darren Aronofsky was originally at the helm for the continuing saga of the Adamantium-coated one with a script which was set in Japan for the majority of the action.

Journeyman director James Mangold is now calling the shots (working from that original script, thankfully) and Jackman has hinted that the two have discussed a plan to cater for an older crowd, alongside a younger demographic of fans.

“James Mangold and I talked about [an R-rated version] and we’re like ‘Look, let’s not put it off the table.’ There’s even talk about us doing two versions, as in finding a way to do both while you shoot it, which could be really cool. But you need to have a really good reason to exclude those fans.”

This is certainly an interesting idea in trying to appease both camps, but its early stages yet, and this could be Jackman (after the abject failure that was ‘Origins’) playing the hype game, and attempting to create some buzz. It’s hard to imagine trying to shoot two version simultaneously, and although Jackman may be hinting more at the violent content here, tonally, you’d think if they were going that way, the whole script would need to be modified slightly too.

Maybe the two need to concentrate solely on making the best film they can, and forget about driving up the claw-slashing carnage. You only need to refer back to Wolverine’s tremendous mansion battle in X-Men 2 to know that his animal side can be released just as effectively in a PG version.

Via Collider

We got the awesome news back in June that Darren Aronofsky had in his sights an utterly epic film, of literally biblical proportions, for his next directorial effort following up the immense Black Swan of last year.

After working with Fox for his last three films, Deadline are now reporting that Paramount have won the bidding battle with 20^th Century Fox to partner with New Regency to make Noah with Aronofsky behind the lens.

John Logan, writer on some of my favourite films, whose credits include Gladiator, The Last Samurai, and the upcoming Hugo and Bond 23, is working on a re-write from Aronofsky’s script, with Aronofsky and frequent collaborator Scott Franklin (Black Swan, The Wrestler) producing.

And not only is this news great for confirming the financing the film, but it’s also being reported that the film is set to be fast-tracked – you don’t want to keep Aronofsky from filmmaking – with production set to start next spring.

Just a week after the news first arose of the Noah project, it was compounded by the brilliant news that Aronofsky was in talks with none other than the Academy Award-winning Christian Bale to star in the film. Shooting in the spring wouldn’t clash with Bale’s shooting on the highly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises, but there’s a chance that it might clash with any commitments he has to promote the film.

Let’s all keep our fingers crossed that there won’t be any scheduling conflicts, because an Aronofsky-Bale collaboration for a story of this magnitude would be amazing. With production scheduled for the spring, hopefully we could well be getting this sometime in 2013.

This year’s line-up for the 68th Venice Film Festival, taking place between 31st August and 10th September, has been announced by the festival’s official website, and as expected, it’s more than a little bit fantastic, with a brilliant line-up of films set to screen in Italy.

Heading the jury this year will be director Darren Aronofsky, the BBC reported back in April, who won the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, back in 2008 for The Wrestler.

The list, as you can imagine, is a bit of a long one, so I’ve highlighted some of the hottest tipped to look out for beneath. Playing in competition will be:

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson
• Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold
• Texas Killing Fields, directed by Ami Canaan Mann
• The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney
• Quando La Notte, directed by Cristina Comencini
• Terraferma, directed by Emanuele Crialese
• A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenberg
• 4:44 Last Day On Earth, directed by Abel Ferrara
• Killer Joe, directed by William Friedkin
• Un Été Brulant, directed by Philippe Garrel
• Taojie (A Simple Life), directed by Ann Hui
• Hahithalfut (The Exchange), directed by Eran Kolirin
• Alpeis (Alps), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• Shame, directed by Steve McQueen  (not that Steve McQueen)
• L’ultimo Terrestre, directed by Gian Alfonso Pacinotti (Gipi)
• Carnage, directed by Roman Polanski
• Poulet Aux Prunes, directed by Marjane Starapi and Vincent Paronnaud
• Faust, directed by Aleksander Sokurov
• Dark Horse, directed by Todd Solondz
• Himizu, directed by Sion Sono
• Seediq Bale, directed by Te-Sheng Wei

And screening out of competition will be:

• The End, a collective Syrian film from Abounaddara Films.
• Vanguards, a collective Syrian film from Abounaddara Films.
• La Folie Almayer, directed by Chantal Akerman
• Nel Nome Del Padre, directed by Marco Bellocchio (Bellocchio receives a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement)
• Evolution (Megaplex) [3D], directed by Marco Barmbilla
• Baish Echuanshuo (The Sorcerer and the Snake), directed by Tony Siu-Tung Ching
• Giochi D’estate, directed by Rolando Colla
• Tahrir 2011, directed by Tamer Ezzat, Ahmad Abdalla, Ayten Amin, and Amr Salama
• La Désintégration, directed by Philippe Faucon
• The Moth Diaries, directed by Mary Harron
• Mildred Pierce, directed by Todd Haynes  (Tribute to Todd Haynes)
• Duvidha, directed by Mani Kaul  (25.12.1944-06.07.2011)
• Vivan Las Antipodas!, directed by Victor Kossakovsky
• Alois Nebel, directed by Tomás Lunák
• W.E., directed by Madonna
• Eva, directed by Kike Maillo
• Marco Bellocchio, Venezia 2011, directed by Pietro Marcello
• La Meditazione Di Hayez, directed by Mario Martone
• Scossa, directed by Francesco Maselli, Carlo Lizzani, Ugo Gregoretti, Nino Russo
• La Clé Des Champs, directed by Claude Nuridsany
• Il Villaggio Di Cartone, directed by Ermanno Olmi
• Wilde Salome, directed by Al Pacino
• Questa Storia Qua, directed by Alessandro Paris and Sibylle Righetti
• We Can’t Go Home Again (New Reconstructed and Restored Version) , directed by Nicholas Ray  (1911-2011)
• Don’t Expect Too Much (Nicholas Ray 1911-2011) , directed by Susan Ray
• India, Matri Bhumi (New Restored Version) , directed by Roberto Rossellini
• Tormented, directed by Takashi Shimizu
• Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh
• Damsels In Distress, directed by Whit Stillman
• Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel, directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland
• Joule [3D] (Persol 3-D Award 2011) , directed by David Zamagni and Nadia Ranocchi
• Spell. The Hypnotist Dog [3D] (Persol 3-D Award 2011) , directed by David Zamagni and Nadia Ranocchi
• Suite [3D] (Persol 3-D Award 2011) , directed by David Zamagni and Nadia Ranocchi

If you’re going to Venice this year, you can be sure to count me as one of the undoubtedly many people immensely jealous of you. Some obvious highlights certainly jump off the page, looking down the list.

Roman Polanski’s next directorial effort, Carnage, which stars Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster, and John C. Reilly.

Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, with its exceptional cast of Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bryan Cranston, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, and Winslet again. The film’s first trailer came out earlier in the month (which you can see here), and it definitely looks to be an interesting one to watch out for, with a 21st October UK release date.

David Cronenberg’s next film, A Dangerous Method, looks at the beginnings of psychoanalysis with Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and will star Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen as the respective men, supported by Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel.

James Franco’s next film, Sal, will also be playing, but in the ‘Orizzonti’ section, which Franco has directed, co-written and will be starring in, along with Madonna’s second feature, W.E., which she has also directed and co-written, starring Abbie Cornish and Natalie Dormer.

Tomas Alfredson’s highly anticipated film, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, will also be premiering at Venice, starring Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and John Hurt, before it comes out here on 16th September.

And as Variety reported last month, George Clooney’s The Ides of March, which is also very much highly anticipated, will be opening the festival. The film is directed and co-written by Clooney, and stars the man himself, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Some great new images and a fantastic poster have just been released for the film, and those of us not lucky enough to be jetting off to Venice at the end of next month will have to wait until 28th October to see it on the big screen.

All in all, it’s an absolutely brilliant line-up, full of great films that are shaping up to be very well received at the festival. It’s of course early days to start talking about the Oscars, but you always wonder when you look at festival line-ups which of them could be Academy Award contenders, and there are certainly a few here that look like they’ll be in with a chance early next year.

After director Darren Aronofsky left The Wolverine project back in March, 20th Century Fox and leading actor Hugh Jackman have found their replacement in James Mangold with negotiations now set to get underway, Deadline report.

Mangold has beaten out a number of other brilliant directors to take the job, including Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Shooter), Gavin O’Connor (the upcoming Warrior), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Jumper), and Justin Lin (Fast Five).

The script has been finished since March last year, and was written by the Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote the ingenious The Usual Suspects back in 1997. Now that Mangold is close to finalising his role as director, Fox are looking to begin principal photography in autumn this year.

Mangold’s last film, Knight And Day, was received to mixed reviews last year, but he’s shown throughout his career that he’s a talented director, with four of the eight films he’s directed getting nominations at the Oscars, and two of them going on to win (Walk The Line and Girl, Interrupted). I think the mixed reception of Knight And Day could well be a good thing for Mangold and The Wolverine, to spur him on to make his next feature that much more impressive. With both Fox and Jackman standing behind him, his vision for McQuarrie’s script should be brilliant.

HitFix had an interview with Aronofsky back in November last year, when he was still attached as director, and he said that The Wolverine isn’t a sequel in the conventional sense, and is going to be a stand-alone film in its own right. The film is to be set in Japan, where Logan spends time in between World War I and II, inspired by the 1982 four-part series that Frank Miller and Chris Claremont collaborated on back in 1982.

With the director’s role all but finalised and now just a matter of completing negotiations, the search for the rest of the cast to support Hugh Jackman, who will of course be reprising his role as the eponymous Wolverine, can now get underway. As arguably the most recognisable Japanese actor in the English language movies at the moment, I really hope that Ken Watanabe will take a leading role in The Wolverine, along with Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai, Rush Hour 3) and Masi Oka (TV’s Heroes).

After news came last week that writer-director Darren Aronofsky is looking to make a movie about the biblical story of the Great Flood, entitled Noah, Vulture are now reporting that Christian Bale is in talks to star in what would presumably be the lead role.

Aronofsky’s vision for the film is a great one, and he’s said to be looking for a $130m. budget for this project, and getting a talented actor like Bale would definitely help secure that kind of big-scale financing.

No doubt, an epic cinematic rendering of the Great Flood would necessitate an incredibly strong performance from whoever plays Noah, because he would quite literally be the last man left on Earth, to whom it is up to to repopulate civilisation after the Earth has been cleansed. Bale is a talented man and one of the few actors who capable of such a performance.

Bale starred in The Fighter last year, which won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as substantial critical acclaim for what was a very impressive performance. He seems always eager to play some of the most difficult of roles, from Patrick Bateman in American Psycho to Trevor Reznik in The Machinist (a film in which he dropped almost four and a half stone to shoot) to the intensity he brings as The Dark Knight, and so a demanding role in Aronofsky’s Noah seems like a perfect fit.

The film would likely be Aronofsky’s next feature after the dramatic success of Black Swan at the end of last year, and would be the first time he’ll direct a script he’s written since 2006’s The Fountain, and I can’t wait to see the ideas that he’s been coming up with for this in the meantime. Hopefully getting Bale on board with the project would help in securing the film’s significant budget, and get it that much closer to production.

John Logan (Gladiator, The Last Samurai) is working with Aronofsky to rewrite the script, and hopefully while that is going on, Bale will sign on with the director to take on the lead role in Noah. Things may not be definite yet, but all parties involved with the project so far are among of the best at what they do, and getting them to work together for something as immense a film as Noah has the potential to be is an exciting prospect.

Darren Aronofsky is looking to direct an epic re-telling of the story behind Noah’s Ark, entitled, Noah, Deadline reports.

The project is one that he has written himself, and the script is being rewritten by John Logan, whose work is immensely impressive, including some of my favourite films: Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Sweeney Todd, and the upcoming Hugo Cabret and Bond 23.

Naturally, this is a project that a lot of studios will be vying for after Aronofsky’s success with his last film, Black Swan, which was originally envisaged as an independent film, produced by Fox Searchlight Pictures. It of course gained massive worldwide acclaim, culminating in more than $300m. at the box office from a $13m. budget, as well as earning Natalie Portman a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Actress.

According to Deadline, New Regency (whose recent successes include Love And Other Drugs, Marley & Me, and Jumper) are looking to co-finance the film, with Paramount, Fox, and Summit also considering getting involved with the project.

Having made his last two films, Black Swan and The Wrestler, off relatively small budgets ($13m. and $6m. respectively), Aronofsky is now looking to step things up a notch and wants $130m. to make Noah. It’s described as,

“a big fantasy epic, and an opportunity for Aronofsky to create a world.”

The budget is a big one, and it’s a clear indication of just how epic his vision for this film is, so it’s definitely something to look forward to. After the brilliance of Black Swan last year, the expectations will be significantly high for any project Aronofsky’s involved with now, and a grand epic like Noah sounds like a perfect choice to show he’s capable of even more than he’s already given us.

Entering the crowded arena of horror movies swoops Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, with grace and style enough to show up the borrowed nostalgia scares and toothless gorefrenzies of modern horror films for what they are, and in doing so giving me one of my favourite films of last year.

The merits of Darren Aronofsky’s latest were well argued in Ian’s review of the film back in January, and it was a clear favourite when it played the festival circuit last year.  Now that the film arrives on Blu-ray and DVD we can revisit it to see if the dark tale of perfection and perception holds up to a second viewing. Short answer: It does. Here’s why.

I cannot deny there was a tangible thrill when I opened the envelope containing the Black Swan Blu-ray; the film’s release in Japan has just pushed its earning past the $300 million mark proving two things: audiences will flock to challenging adult drama and that Aronofsky continues to develop as a filmmaker capable of producing work to critical and commercial acclaim.

Aronofsky’s film of a fragile ballet dancer finding her dark side in order to play both the white and black swan in Swan Lake is a masterclass is disorientation and seduction with Natalie Portman deservedly winning her Oscar for her portrayal of Nina, and the transformation she undergoes is painful and carefully handled. We are drawn into her rapidly enfolding world as the preparations for the opening night see her losing her grip on reality, ‘helped’ by Vincent Cassel’s domineering director and Mila Kunis’s flirtatious understudy. Aronofsky peppers the film with visual tricks and eerie images, but we never lose focus on Nina’s struggle and doomed triumph.

It’s my favourite of the director’s film; it’s an eerie and very serious fairy tale, dripping with paranoia and we watch the onslaught of a dozen psychological and physical terrors on our Swan Queen again and again, not because she it is fun to watch her crumble beneath the numerous weights, rather it is the constant tension between the light and dark, the real world and Nina’s constructed reality which gives the film its momentum.

The Blu-ray is a shining example of delivering a polished high-definition transfer of a film and embellishing it with some decent extras. Here we have a mixture of superficial portraits of its stars as well an essential ninety minute documentary, entitled Metamorphosis, taking us from the initial ideas, through design, choreography, shooting and post production. Aronosfksy and his cast and crew are a rightfully proud and gregarious bunch, happy to go into details of the challenges of shooting in a bitterly cold December New York as they are to tease us with alternative visual effects for the final transformation. Some of the film’s obvious symbolic elements, the overarching light and dark is one example, are given time and are illuminated by the comments made. The documentary’s style borrows from the vérité nature of the film itself and a feeling creeps upon you that Arnofsky’s passion pervades the production completely; the film is brighter and sharper on a second watch after the documentary has been viewed.

Character profiles of the main players are a nice thought as the film invites you to dive beneath the surface but the pleasure of this film is to notice what is not obvious, the moments that passed you by in the cinema, the moment the dance troupe are made up of Nina’s dopplegangers is one I missed and I have a feeling that there are more to be found. Aronofsky has created a disquieting and powerful film, reminiscent of Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and elements had me in mind of a lost Disney Horror The Watcher in the Woods, but this is so much more than The Red Shoes remade by David Lynch. The transfer is solid, the sound design tremendously effective in any half decent home cinema system and I was surprised at how little the film lost in translation to the smaller screen. If you haven’t seen it, you should and quickly.

Film: ****~ (4/5)

Blu-ray: ***~~ (3/5)

Special Features:

• Metamorphosis: A Three-Part Series–A behind the scenes look at the filmmaking process from Darren Aronofsky’s visionary directing, to the physically-demanding acting, to the stunning special effects. Illuminating and essential viewing.
• Behind the Curtain–An inside look at the film’s costume and production design. Worth a watch for the production design conversation.
• Ten Years in the Making–Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky discuss their creative journey, from “preparing for the role” to “dancing with the camera”, thankfully light on the “she’s such a wonderful actress” balls.
• Cast Profiles: Roles of a Lifetime–Fox Movie Channel Produced superfluities.

Ever since Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Pi, Requiem for a Dream) jumped ship from The Wolverine, we have wondered which beach he would finally wash up on. Needless to say, the critical acclaim (and now apparently hefty BO receipts) enjoyed by Black Swan gave Aronofsky some breadth of choice and accordingly, we hear he may team up with George Clooney for a sci-fi project by the name of Human Nature.

The last film we saw with that name featured an exceedingly hirsuite Rhys Ifans, with Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman giving us their typically skewed look at humanity. We find ourselves in very different territory this time around, however.

Human Nature is an original sci-fi script by Jeff Welch, which has apparently been knocking around for more than a decade. Welch hasn’t much else at all to his name, but then at one point neither did Tarantino or Kaufman, so let’s not pass judgement too prematurely. The script finds Clooney being cryogenically frozen and waking up to a future where humans are kept as pets. Part Planet of the Apes, part Forever Young, part Austin Powers, part Demolition Man?

In all seriousness, it seems safe to assume that this will be a sincere, prestige piece, hopefully continuing recent examples of serious, ideas-based sci-fi (Moon, Source Code, Monsters), rather than the bombastic spectacle of Transformers, Skyline and its like. Akiva Goldsman is believed to be on producer duties at Warner Bros and is said to be looking at the budget, but if all is well, we might see Aronofsky and Clooney back in this genre for the first time since The Fountain and Solaris.

Source: Vulture.

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan was an almost permanent fixture in critics’ Top Tens and Best Film award nominees for last year and the powerful film is out on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday the 16th of May, perfect time then to share this clip with you.

This video is part of the Special Features on the Blu-ray and if there’s a film that benefits from a thorough deconstruction it’s this one, thankfully there’s an extensive breakdown of the film included on the disc, with contributions from cast and crew with Aronofsky in particular in a generous mood and watching how he builds the mental landscape of Natalie Portman’s fragile Nina is fascinating.

We’ve got a clip for you which hints at the ideas behind the film, the comprehensive extras are well worth a look.

Black Swan is out on Blu-ray and DVD May the 16th and our review will be up shortly.

© 2011 Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LCC. All Rights reserved.

THR have reported that Darren Aronofsky has regretfully pulled himself out of 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine sequel, The Wolverine.

It seems that the move is an amicable one with 20th Century Fox; the director simply felt he couldn’t spend the time out of the country and away from his family, which is understandable given that he could be away for close to a year. He said,

“I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time. I am sad that I won’t be able to see the project through, as it is a terrific script and I was very much looking forward to working with my friend, Hugh Jackman, again.”

The pair worked together on The Fountain back in 2006, also starring Rachel Weisz (then Aronofsky’s wife), which received very mixed reviews, some glowing and some critical, and ultimately failed to translate well into a box office success.

Aronofsky has been moving from strength to strength in the past few years with The Wrestler and, of course, the Academy Award-winning Black Swan, so the outlook for fans of the Wolverine franchise was certainly looking positive with the announcement of his involvement with the sequel.

However, much of the new film is to be set in Japan, and producer Lauren Shuler Donner had said towards the end of 2009,

“We want to make it authentic so I think it’s very likely we’ll be shooting in Japan.”

So Aronofsky has decided to bow out of the project, unable to commit himself to such a long stay away from home with a four-year-old son still growing up. I personally hope he will be announcing shortly what he is to work on next.

In their joint statement with the director about his exit, Fox said,

“While we are of course disappointed that Darren can’t do The Wolverine, we also understand and respect his reasons. Having done both The Wrestler and Black Swan with Darren, we know he is an extraordinary talent and we look forward to working with him on other projects in the future. Hugh Jackman and Fox both remain fully committed to making The Wolverine. We will regroup and move forward aggressively.”

No replacement has been announced yet, but with an ‘aggressive’ move forwards, we hope to have more news for you in that vein soon. The script, however, has been written, by one Christopher McQuarrie, genius writer of The Usual Suspects, and whose work on the original X-Men script went uncredited. And since it was a script that Aronofsky was clearly very seriously considering directing, I think it should be safe to assume that, provided the film finds another excellent director, we will have something to look forward to when The Wolverine is finally made.

David Slade (30 Days of Night) has been hired by 20th Century Fox to direct a new Daredevil film.

Daredevil, based on the Marvel character of the same name, was released in 2003 to mixed reviews, and starred Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell and Jon Favreau.

The as-yet-untitled Daredevil film was written by David Scarpa and, according to Variety, will continue the story of the first, rather than rebooting it.

Slade had been in talks to direct 20th Century Fox’s Wolverine reboot, but lost out to Darren Aronofsky.

It’s full steam ahead at MGM after numerous projects have been languishing in the development wasteland for some time as a result of the studio’s financial woes but now that appears to have been resolved they seem set to milk some of their cash cows with a slate full of sequels and remakes.

One such project that was part of the recent announcement was a new take on Robocop and now , according to Deadline, the studio seem to have found their director in the form of José Padilha who has directed a number of critically acclaimed documentaries as well as the rather ace Elite Squad movies.

As a fan of Elite Squad I have to say that Padilha is an excellent choice and is probably the best possible choice available now that Darren Aronofsky isn’t available due to his commitments on The Wolverine. On the evidence of his previous work Padilha is highly adept at shooting exhilarating action without compromising character development. I hope that the studio have hired him for the right reasons and allow him a high level of creative control so that he can make the film he wants as the results could be very strong indeed.

I appreciate those who are tiring of reboots, remakes and sequels dominating the release schedules but if handled well Robocop could be great and not a disgrace to Paul Verhoeven’s original like the two existing sequels, TV series and straight to video films have been.

Expect casting details to follow in the coming months as production is set to get underway fairly sharpish so that the film can hit cinemas by the end of next year. My ideal would be Timothy Olyphant for Murphy, Nic Cage for whatever villain they opt for and Brian Tyler to have a stab at updating Basil Poledouris’ iconic score.

We’ll bring your more details on the project as and when they become available.

Here at HeyUGuys, we aim to provide you with an all-encompassing look into the world of film. Whether you’re a fully-fledged cineaste, or just possess a casual interest, there’s something for anyone with our alternative A-Z of cinema, which starts today and runs through the week.

If you’ve ever wondered just what it is an Executive Producer does, or maybe you’ve heard the ambient soundscape of Tangerine Dream in an 80’s film favourite without knowing who you were listening to, this is the list for you!

Here are the letters A-E…

American Movie is the title of an award-winning 1999 documentary which follows the exploits of wannabe auteur Mark Borchardt as he attempts to pull together the funds to make his long-cherished feature film, “the great American movie” Northwestern.

Borchardt (with best friend and acid/booze casualty Mark Schank in tow) embarks on the making of a low-budget horror short named Coven (with often hilarious results) in the hopes of raising the capital for his dream project. This production soldiers on as Mark struggles to maintain a balance in the real world – he is way behind on maintenance for his three kids (from a past relationship), doesn’t hold down any regular employment, and still owes a large amount of money to his once-encouraging family.

American Movie was a critical success upon its debut and went on to win the Grand Jury prize for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Borchardt has yet to make his magnum opus.

Black List (The). Not to be confused with the politically-charged blacklist a number of figures from the US entertainment industry found themselves on during the 1940’s and 50’s, this one is an annual list of Hollywood’s most-admired unproduced screenplays, published each year on the second Friday of December.

Compiled by film executive Franklin Leonard, it began in 2004 as a survey with contributions from 75 film studio and production company executives. In 2009, over 300 executives gave their opinion and thoughts on that year’s entries.

Over the course of seven years, a number of screenplays which have cropped up on the list have been optioned, produced, and released – many to great commercial success, including the Oscar-winning Juno by Diablo Cody and Lars and the Real Girl by Nancy Oliver. Current titles from the list in production are Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and The Wizard of Oz reworking, Oz the Great and Powerful.

Chungking Express (1994) is a Hong Kong feature written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film is made up of two narratives, each concerning a Hong Kong policeman and his relationship with a woman. The first features Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin and the second stars Ka-Wai veteran Tony Leung, Faye Wong and Valerie Chow.

Wong Kar-wai is renowned for his expressionistic and often breath-taking imagery and lyrical beauty, achieved (in part) by a highly successful and collaborative relationship with Australian-born cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who has worked on the majority of his films. Chungking Express is no exception, and the vibrant Hong Kong city culture is captured here in all its bustling and exotic beauty. Be warned however – if you’re not a fan of 60’s classic California Dreamin’ stay away. It’s played almost constantly throughout!

This was the first film of the director’s to really reach an international audience, and in 1996, the film was release theatrically in the US under Kar-wai fan Quentin Tarantino’s (now defunct) distribution company under Miramax, Rolling Thunder.

Donald Cammell (1934 – 1996) was a Scottish-born director who came to prominence in 1968 when he co-directed the cult classic Performance alongside Nicolas Roeg. Throughout his almost thirty-year career, Cammell made only four films, and his second feature (1977’s sci-hi horror Demon Seed) was released almost a decade after his debut. His lack of productivity didn’t stop him becoming a cult figure in the industry however, where his bold and unconventional approach to narrative and content (his underappreciated serial killer thriller White of the Eye is another example of his unique viewpoint) found many admirers.

1995’s Wild Side was wrestled away from him in the edit by the producers, who had hoped for a more straightforward erotic thriller (had they not seen any of his previous work?!) This situation caused Cammell great distress and he ultimately committed suicide because of it. A happy ending of sorts came about when FilmFour commissioned a new edit of the film a few year later, which attempted to restore the late director’s original vision.

A novel called Fan-Tan he co-created with the equally-eccentric Marlon Brando in 1978, was published posthumously in 2005.

Executive Producer is the title given to someone who is generally not involved in any technical aspects of the filmmaking process, but who may still have a hand in the overall production, possibly in dealing with the business and legal issues side.

Sometimes the title is more arbitrary in nature, and actors and directors can receive the credit in instances like bringing the property to the attention of a studio/other director, or by spending some time developing it themselves, before moving on elsewhere. Darren Aronofsky is a recent example of being credited in this role for The Fighter, a film he toyed with making (even bringing in another creative team) before settling on The Wrestler.

A number of popular family favourites from the 80’s and 90’s bore the mark of Steven Spielberg as Executive Producer. These films were made through his production company (Amblin), although in this case, it’s likely Spielberg would have been on hand to offer creative advice and support alongside the other aspects of production.

Check back tomorrow for the next installment of the HeyUGuys A-Z.

**Read all the posts in our ‘Love Theatrically’ series here**

#4 – “THE FOUNTAIN” (2006)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

In recent years Darren Aronofsky has become far more of a household name with his last two films, “The Wrestler” and “Black Swan”, being released to widespread critical acclaim. Yet it wasn’t always that way as rewind to September 2006 and we find Aronofsky premiering his latest film, “The Fountain”, to an audience at the 63rd Venice Film Festival with decidedly mixed reactions. When the film finally opened in the US it died a sorry death at the box office scraping back just over half of its overall production costs by which time it had already undergone a great deal of metamorphosis with a planned budget of £70 million slashed to a meagre $35 million and original stars Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt replaced by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz alongside a rewrite to accommodate the decidedly smaller scale.

Yet despite being released to widely mixed reviews the film still remains, in my humble opinion, a stunning achievement; a heartbreakingly emotional meditation on life, death and love and a film fuelled by two truly outstanding performances.

Proving yet again that she’s by far one of the greatest actresses of our generation Weisz is simply mesmerising as Izzi, taking her admittedly brief screen time and imbuing it with so much beauty, heart, soul and spirit as to have any sane man falling head over heels in love with her. And having gained the admiration of both critics and the Academy alike by eliciting career best performances from the likes of Mickey Rourke and Natalie Portman here Aronofsky takes Hugh Jackman, a man typically synonymous with bushy sideburns and Adamantium skeletons, and allows him to conjure up previously untapped emotional depth and maturity with not one, not two but three superb roles as multiple iterations of the same soul cast adrift across a bold narrative that encompasses over a thousand years.

In 16th Century Spain he portrays Tomas, a brave conquistador sent on a mission to find The Tree of Life by the beautiful Queen Isabella (Rachel Weisz) whilst in 2005 we follow Tommy, a medical researcher who obsessively seeks a cure for the brain tumour that is slowly killing his beautiful wife Izzi (again played by Weisz). Flash forward 495 years to the year 2500 and we find a shaven headed Jackman playing Tom, a man who is travelling towards a distant nebula in a bubble shaped craft all alone but for a dying tree that represents his lost love.

Jumping back and forth between the three timeframes via the implementation of recurring motifs and visual metaphors the film weaves a truly magical web that, whilst initially confusing, soon transforms into a hauntingly transcendent experience that, should you allow it to, embraces you in a tumult of emotions that will surely move you to tears come the heartbreaking finale. Granted, not everyone will experience quite this same emotional rush with some surely dismissing the film as little more than an overly pretentious pseud0-intellectual arthouse failure but allow the film to breathe, to wash over you and to slowly seep its way into your consciousness and it’s a film that will surely resonate with you for years to come.

For as the film ends and Tommy plants a seed beside his wife’s grave we’re instantly reminded of a story Izzi told him earlier in the film about a Mayan who planted a seed over his father’s grave knowing that when it grew his father’s soul would become one with the tree and thus live on in the wood and the bloom, flying with the sparrows when they fed upon the fruit. For through death we can be reborn and whilst Tommy may not have ultimately found precisely what he was looking for he has, in some respect, found a cure for death in love itself, a love so powerful that it can transcend both space and time. Destined to be analysed and discussed for years to come a definitive interpretation is unlikely yet the sheer emotional wallop the film packs is certain.

Simply put “The Fountain” is a divine triumph, a film that fuses raw emotion with an exemplary display of directorial skill, narrative structure, soundtrack (a beautiful score by Aronofsky regular Clint Mansell), stellar casting and a richness of thematical subtext, emotional depth and heartbreaking poignancy that is quite simply timeless. Death may very well be the road to awe but “The Fountain” could quite possibly be a temporary shortcut …

“All these years, all these memories, there was you. You pull me through time”

Track #11 – “TOGETHER WE WILL LIVE FOREVER”

Written by Clint Mansell

Tonight saw the fall of the 31st Critics’ Circle Film Awards, which was held for the first time at London’s BFI Southbank. Our full report will be online later today with all the red carpet gossip and winner’s reactions. Want to see Danny Boyle advertising Moët, hear about Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming HBO series, or find out whether Colin Firth has a favourite party trick? Then don’t miss out!

To whet your appetite in the meantime, though, we can now give you a full list of all the night’s winners. It was The Social Network and The King’s Speech which came out on top, grabbing four and three awards respectively, with Another Year, NEDs and Monsters also scooping rewards for their British talents.

The list below shows winners in red whilst blue text indicates the “Runners Up” as ruled by the critics board, so you can know who came close.

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER

• Banksy- Exit Through the Gift Shop
• Clio Barnard – The Arbor **Runner Up**
• J Blakeson – The Disappearance of Alice Creed
• Gareth Edwards – Monsters **Winner**
• Chris Morris – Four Lions

YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

• Jessica Barden – Tamara Drewe **Runner Up**
• Conor McCarron – NEDs **Winner**
• Will Poulter – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Saoirse Ronan – The Way Back
• Thomas Turgoose – The Scouting Book For Boys

BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Helena Bonham Carter – Alice in Wonderland
• Christine Bottomley – The Arbor
• Minnie Driver – Barney’s Version
• Rosamund Pike – Made in Dagenham **Runner Up**
• Olivia Williams – The Ghost **Winner**

BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• David Bradley – Another Year **Runner Up**
• Pierce Brosnan – The Ghost
• Andrew Garfield – The Social Network **Winner**
• Tom Hardy – Inception
• Peter Wight – Another Year

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

• Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
• Lesley Manville – Another Year **Winner**
• Rosamund Pike – Barney’s Version
• Ruth Sheen – Another Year
• Tilda Swinton – I Am Love **Runner Up**

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR

• Riz Ahmed – Four Lions
• Christian Bale – The Fighter **Winner**
• Jim Broadbent – Another Year **Runner Up**
• Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
• Andrew Garfield – Never Let Me Go

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

• Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right **Winner**
• Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman – Black Swan **Runner Up**
• Noomi Rapace – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit

ACTOR OF THE YEAR

• Jeff Bridges – True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
• Colin Firth – The King’s Speech **Winner**
• Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
• Edgar Ramirez – Carlos **Runner Up**

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

• Dogtooth
• I Am Love **Runner Up**
• Of Gods and Men **Winner**
• The Secret in Their Eyes
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

• Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg – The Kids Are All Right
• Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – True Grit
• Chris Morris, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell & Jesse Armstrong – Four Lions
• David Seidler – The King’s Speech **Runner Up**
• Aaron Sorkin – The Social Network **Winner**

BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

• Clio Barnard – The Arbor
• Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
• Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech **Winner**
• Mike Leigh – Another Year **Runner Up**
• Christopher Nolan – Inception

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

• Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan **Runner Up*
• Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – True Grit
• David Fincher – The Social Network **Winner**
• Christopher Nolan – Inception
• Apichatpong Weerasethakul – Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR (THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD)

• 127 Hours
• The Arbor
• Another Year **Runner Up**
• The King’s Speech **Winner**
• Monsters

FILM OF THE YEAR

• Black Swan
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech **Runner Up**
• The Social Network **Winner**
• Toy Story 3

And finally, the Critics’ Circle named their TOP 10 FILMS OF 2010 as follows:

1. The Social Network
2. The King’s Speech
3. Black Swan
4. Toy Story 3
5. The Kids Are All Right
6. Another Year
7. True Grit
8. Inception
9. I Am Love
10. Winter’s Bone

And that just about wraps it up for the night’s accolades. Let us know what you think of the winners and don’t forget to check back later on for our full report of the evening’s event, complete with pictures and words from the guests themselves.

With Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” currently being showered with countless accolades and awards for the likes of Best Film, Best Actress and Best Director it’s perhaps fitting that we should take time out to appreciate the film’s stunning FX work. And in an age where CGI is overly abundant, overused and over obvious it’s even more applaudable that Aronofsky and the team at LOOK EFFECTS created such seamless FX work that watching the film it’s nigh on impossible to tell what’s CG and what’s not.

With that in mind Fox Searchlight have recently released this short video that highlights many of the major FX sequences within the film from such simple fare as removing crew members from the shot and cleaning up the set to compositing, green screen work, head replacement and Natalie Portman’s animated CG wings. With the film containing 240 visual effects shots it’s all highly impressive stuff and begs the question why did the Academy not see fit to nominate the film for Best Visual Effects alongside the likes of “Inception”, “Harry Potter” and, god forbid, the crass CGI overkill of “Alice in Wonderland”?

And should you be eager to learn more about LOOK EFFECTS stunning achievements then I highly recommend heading over to fxguide and reading their more extensive article here

Oh, and it goes without saying that if you’ve yet to watch the film I’d suggest you skip the video for now as it contains a hefty dosage of SPOILERS …