Another Shakespearian text receives the contemporary treatment (albeit via one of his lesser-known plays) with Bard veteran Ralph Fiennes making his directorial debut alongside ably filling the central role of proud and defiant general, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus.

The ruler of Rome (portrayed here as a faceless English city), Coriolanus is a fierce, unrepentant soldier whose power and authority is called into question by the lower-class citizens who are on cusp of forging a civil war. Two scheming politicians, Sicinius and Brutus, convince the people to cast out their leader, and he is soon banished from his kingdom, leaving his wife and young son behind, along with his mother Volumnia – a commanding and pivotal figure in his life who has steered him through his military and political career.

Left to wander the land, he journeys to Volsci, the region which is home to his mortal enemy Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler). Making peace with him, they unite together with the intention of trekking back to Rome to destroy the place. A fateful intervention via Coriolanus’ family complicates matter though.

This is the type of film where the term ‘acting powerhouse’ is bandied around and justifiably so. Fiennes utterly commands the screen throughout. The fury and indignation he levels towards the people is greatly felt as he (literally) spits out dialogue with a kind of gusto and commitment which ultimately makes you wonder and marvel at how he manages, as an actor, to summon the energy to constantly maintain that fierce facade. Fiennes is truly at the top of his game here, and he’s doing all this whilst having to simultaneously perform directing duties.

Butler is surprisingly strong here too, and the star should be grateful to Fiennes for swooping down to save him from drowning in a swamp of fluffy, indispensible Hollywood guff and setting back on the road as a serious performer. The battle between the warring leaders towards the beginning easily trumps Fast & Furious 5′s face-off (you’ll appreciate the comparison when you see it) as the two go head-to-head with the utmost ferocity, clawing and charging at each other with every intention of battling to the death.

Vanessa Redgrave as his mother is (unsurprisingly) phenomenal. It’s very rare to see this calibre of acting on the big screen, and it should be savoured. All this is captured with a hand-held, grainy sheen (courtesy of Ken Loach regular and Hurt Locker DP, Barry Ackroyd) which serves the story well, adding an intimacy and urgency to the drama.

However, despite all of these positives above, it still feels a little dry, and minus the violence, often feels if you’re watching an educational production commissioned for schools. It’s perhaps hindered by the fact that the original text doesn’t readily lend itself to a modern-day interpretation as well as some of Shakespeare’s more familiar and iconic works. This isn’t to say the makers haven’t tried to made concessions for that, and some fun touches of modernity are cooked up by Fiennes and his Gladiator scriptwriter John Logan. Coriolanus’ exile stems from a heated Kilroy-type TV discussion panel he’s agreed to guest on and even Jon Snow of all people, crops up in a fun (if a little distracting) cameo as a newscaster, managing to make an impressive stab at the text and delivering exposition in his usual authoritative way.

Coriolanus is still a very watchable (the performances on display are worth the admittance price alone) but it’s doubtful if will ever be uttered in the same breath as the likes of Ian McKellen’s grandiose updating of Richard III and Baz Lurhmann’s zingy post-modern take on those two doomed young lovers.

***½~ (3.5/5)

Coriolanus will be released in UK cinemas on the of January.

To mark the release of Coriolanus on January 20th, we’ve been given two pairs of tickets for our lovely readers to attend a special screening which is set to take place in London on January 5th. Coriolanus stars Ralph Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, Gerard Butler and is also directed by Fiennes.

CORIOLANUS is the explosive directorial debut of Ralph Fiennes, which premiered to great acclaim earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival. Set against the backdrop of a republic caught up in a long and bitter war, Fiennes’s CORIOLANUS is a tense and timeless thriller based around power broking, political manipulation and the arguments and prejudices of opposing social extremes.

Caius Martius “Coriolanus” (Ralph Fiennes), a feared Roman General is at odds with the city of Rome and his fellow citizens. Pushed by his controlling and ambitious mother “Volumnia” (Vanessa Redgrave) to seek the exalted and powerful position of Consul, he is loath to ingratiate himself with the masses whose votes he needs in order to secure the office. When the public refuse to support him, Coriolanus’s anger prompts a riot which culminates in his expulsion from Rome. The banished hero then allies himself with his sworn enemy “Tullus Aufidius” (Gerard Butler) to take his revenge on the city.

You can find out more on the movie on the official website here: http://www.coriolanusmovie.co.uk/

To be in with a chance of winning this fabulous prize, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who Directed the movie, Coriolanus?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• If you enter this competition you must be free to attend the screening on January 5th in London
• Travel to the venue is the responsibility of the winner(s) of the competition
• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 2nd January at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Here’s the list of Golden Globe Awards nominations that have just been revealed by Sofia Vergara, Gerard Butler, Rashida Jones and Woody Harrelson minutes ago at the Beverley Hilton in LA. We’ll update the list as fast as we can!

As the list is fully unveiled, let us know what you think of the lists below and who was missed off in the comments below. Also make sure you let us know who you think will win also in the comments.

Best Film (Drama)

• The Descendants
• The Help
• Hugo
• The Ides of March
• Moneyball
• War Horse

Best Film (Musical or Comedy)

• 50/50
• The Artist
• Bridesmaids
• Midnight in Paris
• My Week with Marilyn

Best Actor (Drama)

• George Clooney (The Descendants)
• Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar)
• Michael Fassbender (Shame)
• Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March)
• Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Best Actor (Musical or Comedy)

• Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
• Brendan Gleeson (The Guard)
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50)
• Ryan Gosling (Crazy, Stupid, Love)
• Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris)

Best Actress (Drama)

• Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
• Viola Davis (The Help)
• Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
• Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
• Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)

• Jodie Foster (Carnage)
• Charlize Theron (Young Adult)
• Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids)
• Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
• Kate Winslet (Carnage)

Best Director

• Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
• George Clooney (The Ides of March)
• Michael (The Artist)
• Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
• Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Best Supporting Actor

• Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
• Albert Brooks (Drive)
• Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
• Viggo Mortensen (A Dangerous Method)
• Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Supporting Actress

• Berenice Bejo (The Artist)
• Jessica Chastain (The Help)
• Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
• Octavia Spencer (The Help)
• Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

Best Foreign Language Film

• The Flowers of War
• In the Land of Bloody and Honey
• The Kid with the Bike
• A Separation
• The Skin I Live In

Best Screenplay

• Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
• George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon (The Ides of March)
• Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
• Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (The Descendants)
• Steven Zallian, Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball)

Best Original Score

• The Artist
• W.E.
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• War Horse

Best Original Song

• ‘Lay Your Head Down’ (Albert Nobbs)
• ‘Hello Hello’ (Gnomeo & Juliet)
• ‘The Living Proof’ (The Help)
• ‘The Keeper’ (Machine Gun Preacher)
• ‘Masterpiece’ (W.E.)

Best Animated Feature Film

• The Adventures of Tintin
• Arthur Christmas
• Cars 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rangon

The Golden Globes will be be broadcast live Jan. 15, 2012 with hosted by Ricky Gervais.

Despite the title being a little bit too obvious a joke for it being a ‘soccer mom’ comedy, Playing The Field certainly sounds like it has a lot of potential to be good. The film is directed by Gabriele Muccino, whose credits include the Will Smith-starrers, Seven Pounds and The Pursuit of Happyness, and features an excellent cast including the likes of Gerard Butler, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Judy Greer, Jessica Biel, Dennis Quaid, and the brilliant Uma Thurman.

The first images from the film have surfaced over at The Playlist, giving us a look at  Butler, Zeta-Jones, and Greer, and though they don’t give us much of an insight into the film, they’re excellent to see all the same.

Playing the Field focuses on,

“Butler, who plays a troubled father and former pro soccer player who tries to make up for lost time by coaching his son’s team. He ends up in trouble when he gets involved with some of the local soccer moms. Biel will play Butler’s ex-wife who is engaged to be married, while Thurman will play a woman on the prowl for Butler. Zeta-Jones plays a hot newscaster, while Greer takes on the role of a lathered-up housewife.”

The film was first to be set around baseball as Butler’s son’s sport of choice, but after taking into consideration the potential to promote the film internationally, the sport was changed to soccer (or, as we crazy folk call it here, football), given its popularity across the globe.

With a UK release date scheduled for 20th April next year, we don’t have all that long to wait until it hits the big screen, and can no doubt look forward to seeing more from the film in the form of a trailer early in the new year. Without further ado, here are the first images to tie you down until then. As usual, click to enlarge.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Bond director Marc Foster and screenwriter Jason Keller’s new drama Machine Gun Preacher was a fictitious and rather cheap attempt by Hollywood at raising the plight of Africa’s war-ravaged areas, had you not heard of Sam Childers. Indeed, such is the worthiness of what goes on in the film so unbelievable, but the speed with which former gang biker Childers reforms from being a drug-addled, woman-abusing killer to a God-fearing businessman and Western crusader for Sudanese children happens at a such frightening rate – if only all religion could be so proactive.

It’s hard not to be cynical, and this is part of the problem with bringing such a powerful and noble real-life story adaptation to the screen that the real hero’s good intentions behind the film character can be unfairly subjugated with all the dramatics and action – perhaps such a story is always better told as a documentary for greater, fuller impact.

That’s not to say that the filmmakers do not have the best intentions to heart with the source material – they do, perhaps too much so, as the film tries shamelessly to twang every conceivable heartstring that it’s hard not to be moved. However, is this only because of the reconstructed African travesties that prick our conscious for greater, accelerated change in the affected regions for a brief moment after watching, making an inevitable and potent wake-up call, rather than the film itself being anything remarkable? Perhaps the whiff of American, Bible-bashing arrogance that can cure the world’s wrongs overnight fuels the somewhat bad taste this film sometimes leaves?

On the plus side, Gerard Butler has been suitably picked for his rugged ‘manly’ appeal to portray Childers, which sends his chequered career path off on a different, more meaningful tangent this time. If anyone was cast to lead the vigilante war against the Sudanese LRA rebels hell-bent on turning each child into a mini fighting machine against their will, it’s Butler – just swap the Spartan’s primitive weaponry for a shooter, and you have your fearless King Leonidas back in action in a present-day role.

Admittedly, we aren’t supposed to like Childers that much pre-Godly intervention, but there is actually very little to grow fonder of him afterwards either. He makes gargantuan mistakes with his real family back home – his long-suffering wife, Lynn, played by Michelle Monaghan and his daughter, Paige (Madeline Carroll) – abandoning them and his struggling best friend, well played by Michael Shannon. But even though Childers is only human, what the film lacks is a reflective moment from him to put everything into perspective; all we get is a pigheaded Childers continually roaming the African plains for lost kids or preaching like some maniacal sect leader at his home-made church in the US.

Monaghan does the best she can in an underdeveloped role that never attempts to explain the greater cost Childers’ double life is having on her existence. Even though the real-life couple may well have stayed together, the film’s character simply stands by her man without so much as a defining climax to clear the air, short of opening an empty safe to show the delusional Childers that all the cash has gone. There is no satisfactory, meaningful resolution either, just a sense of everything being so-so, and even the clichéd addition of an uncooperative Sudanese boy looking for his lost brother who suddenly speaks perfect English to give Childers some great wisdom falls fairly flat in the end.

Although perfectly watchable, in terms of Butler’s ferociously determined performance, Machine Gun Preacher plays a little too safe and skips over the real significance of finding God then oversimplifies the ugly and complex situation in Sudan. What was needed from the filmmakers was a greater insight into the dramatic transformation a person goes through in both respects, rather than rushing to put Childers’ accomplishments on a pedestal, however deserved, while packing in the action sequences to secure a wider audience.

***~~ (3/5)

Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the saviour of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. I caught up with lead actors Gerard Butler and Michelle Monaghan in San Francisco to talk about their latest movie where I found out what they do to help others through charity.

Machine Gun Preacher is out in the UK tomorrow, Wednesday 2nd and also stars Kathy Baker, Madeline Carroll, Michael Shannon, Souleymane Sy Savane and is directed by Marc Forster.

Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) moving story of violence and redemption. When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed–in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens. But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives–and eventually his own. The explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from starvation, disease and enslavement, Machine Gun Preacher also stars Michelle Monaghan (Due Date), Kathy Baker (Cold Mountain), Madeline Carroll (Mr. Popper’s Penguins), Academy Award(R) nominated Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) and Souleymane Sy Savane (“Damages”).

Ahead of Halloween, Lions Gate Home Entertainment have given us this lovely boxset from West Craven called Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 3 movie collection to give away to three lucky winners. The movies star Gerard Butler, Jonny Lee Miller, Roy Scheider and Rutger Hauer and are all three killer films together in one boxset for the first time.

Wes Craven Presents 3 films in one complete horror boxset. Starring Gerard Butler, Jonny Lee Miller, Rutger Hauer and many more.

Dracula 2001: A gang of high-tech thieves, led by Marcus (Omar Epps) and Solina (Jennifer Esposito), break into a vault buried deep in the heart of London hoping to find treasure. Instead, they succeed in reviving an ancient evil–the legendary Count Dracula himself (Gerard Butler), who terrorized England a century earlier until he was stopped by Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. Now, Dracula makes his way to modern New Orleans to track down Mary Heller (Justine Waddell), an innocent young woman haunted by dreams she doesn’t understand. Matthew Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer), Dracula’s current hunter, must track the Count down with the help of his assistant, Simon (Jonny Lee Miller), but they also have to deal with the vampire’s new victims, who soon return from the dead, thirsty for blood. Can Dracula be stopped before he seduces Mary and begins a new reign of terror, or do secrets from his past hold the key to destroying him forever.

Dracula II: Legacy An ancient evil is once again unleashed in the 21st century as fright master Wes Craven presents this terrifying and suspenseful sequel to the big-screen hit Dracula 2001! Ascension is the riveting story of a group of medical students who come across the body of the world’s most notorious vampire! When a mysterious stranger appears and offers the students $30 million to harvest the body and steal its blood for auction, it’s an offer they can hardly refuse! But as the lure of riches collides with unimaginable terror, the students also find themselves relentlessly pursued by a vampire killer from the Vatican!

Dracula III: Ascension More horror-filled terror in the modern DRACULA series presented by Wes Craven, DRACULA III: LEGACY adds Rutger Hauer (CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, THE HITCHER) to a hot returning cast starring Jason Scott Lee (THE JUNGLE BOOK), Jason London (GRIND, OUT COLD) and Roy Scheider (JAWS). The feared Dracula (Hauer) leads vampire hunters Father Uffizi (Lee) and Luke (London) back to eastern Europe and a country plagued by civil war. There they discover powerful local warlords are assisting Dracula by capturing victims and delivering them to feed the vampires residing in Dracula’s castle! And to make matters worse, Father Uffizi must face his own temptations as he struggles to overcome the vampire virus within himself! With sizzling stars, a riveting story and stunning special effects, this suspense-filled thriller will satisfy anyone with a taste for terrifying entertainment!

To be in with a chance of winning the movie, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who starred as Marcus in Dracula?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 31st October at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Although he has occasionally showcased his softer side with P.S. I Love You, Nim’s Island and The Ugly Truth, Gerard Butler’s action hero credentials are now firmly established. With 300, Law Abiding Citizen, Gamer and Machine Gun Preacher all on his CV, producers clearly see him as a go to guy for anything robust and physical.

It is very much in that vein that we seem likely to find Butler, for Hunter Killer. The film, based on an upcoming novel Firing Point, is about the inexperienced captain of a US submarine who teams up with a US Navy SEALS team to rescue the Russian President, who has been captured during a coup.

Butler is said to be currently considering the role of the submarine captain and apparently Sam Worthington is considering a role as the leader of the SEALS. That would give us Leonidas alongside Perseus, which is different.

A December 2012 release date is being eyed for Hunter Killer, so everyone is going to have to get their skates on. Philip Noyce was lined up to direct, though Antoine Fuqua’s name is now being bounced around. With a little over a year to complete the whole project, it is surely decision-making time for him.

Source: Variety.

Lionsgate have given us these two new exclusive UK TV spots for their new movie, Machine Gun Preacher directed by Marc Forster and starring Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker, Madeline Carroll, Michael Shannon, Souleymane Sy Savane. The story is based on the true accounts of Sam Childers who through various circumstances ends up protecting a group of refugee children in East Africa. I’ll let the synopsis do the talking but the movie is released in the UK 2nd November.

You can find out more on the official Facebook page or click here for all our coverage including trailers.

MACHINE GUN PREACHER is based on the true story of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler in a tour de force performance), a violent, drug-dealing biker whose faith leads him on a path to East Africa, where he finds his true calling as a machine gun-wielding protector of hundreds of refugee children.

Following a brutal incident, Sam’s loyal wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) encourages him to turn to God and he resolves to change the course of his life.  Renouncing his hell-raising ways, Sam journeys to Sudan as a missionary to help with the relief effort, leaving his best friend Donnie (Michael Shannon) to take care of his wife and daughter. There, he witnesses the atrocities that the locals endure at the hands of the vicious Lord’s Resistance Army. Villages are razed to the ground, women are raped and children are kidnapped and forced to serve as child soldiers. Horrified by what he sees, Childers becomes an avenging angel set on protecting the innocent. Inspired to create a safe haven for the multitudes fleeing enslavement he restores peace to their lives and, eventually, his own.

Worrying news from the LA Times today as they have a report that Pete Travis has been asked to leave the movie Dredd, following creative differences as the film enters the edit stage.

The Times claim that writer and producer on the film Alex Garland is leading the project in the absence of its director with reshoots possible before the scheduled release in September of next year.

What this means for the film is unclear but two, fairly dismal, options present themselves. The first is that the producers were so unhappy with the way the film was shot that they showed the director the door and scrambled to salvage the film in the edit or that Garland was such a strong presence in the first place in his dual role that Travis was unable to make the film in his image therefore walking as the struggle continued.

Either way this is disappointing news for fans of the character who were served up a howler* sixteen years ago with Sly Stallone removing his Judge’s helmet which acted as a metaphorical opening of a Pandora’s Box of Rubbish.

The casting of Karl Urban in the lead role was seen a positive move and generally welcomed, Alex Garland’s work with Danny Boyle on The Beach, 28 Days Later and Sunshine as well as his celebrated adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go for director Mark Romanek gave his involvment in the project an instant air of expectation. However he hasn’t directed a film before and if, as the Times asserts, he applies for a Co-director credit on the film there is no telling how the film will end up.

We’ll wait for an official announcement to confim the Times’ article and cross our fingers that this one will make it to the big screen intact. If only Duncan Jones had said yes…

*the word ‘howler’ is English for ‘really, really terrible’.

I’ve been on a fair few missions trips to South America and Asia but I have to admit, none of them have gone quite like the journey that Gerard Butler’s character goes in in his new movie, Machine Gun Preacher. Most of the work I’ve done has involved working at orphanages and feeding centres but I guess when a Hollywood action hero does a mission trip, it has to have somewhat more of an edge!

Here’s the first UK poster for new movie, Machine Gun Preacher courtesy of Yahoo UK. MGP is the true-life story of a Hells Angel, Sam Childers​ who turns his life around after going tp prison and rescues orphans from war-torn Sudan. If you missed the trailer, you can check it out here.

The film also stars Michelle Monaghan​, Michael Shannon and is directed by Marc Foster (Monster’s Ball, Quantum of Solace​, World War Z​).

It’s out in the UK November 2nd.

Lionsgate have just sent over the brand new UK trailer for their new movie starring Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon (who appear to be in everything at the moment!) and is directed by Marc Foster (Monster’s Ball, Quantum of Solace, World War Z) . The film is based on the true story of Sam Childers and  the film is released in the UK 4^th November.

Scroll down for the new trailer which is hard-hitting stuff and expands on the US trailer that we saw a little while back.

MACHINE GUN PREACHER is based on the true story of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler in a tour de force performance), a violent, drug-dealing biker whose faith leads him on a path to East Africa, where he finds his true calling as a machine gun-wielding protector of hundreds of refugee children.

Following a brutal incident, Sam’s loyal wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) encourages him to turn to God and he resolves to change the course of his life.  Renouncing his hell-raising ways, Sam journeys to Sudan as a missionary to help with the relief effort, leaving his best friend Donnie (Michael Shannon) to take care of his wife and daughter. There, he witnesses the atrocities that the locals endure at the hands of the vicious Lord’s Resistance Army. Villages are razed to the ground, women are raped and children are kidnapped and forced to serve as child soldiers. Horrified by what he sees, Childers becomes an avenging angel set on protecting the innocent. Inspired to create a safe haven for the multitudes fleeing enslavement he restores peace to their lives and, eventually, his own.

 MACHINE GUN PREACHER is directed by Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Quantum of Solace,World War Z) and stars Gerard Butler (300, Law Abiding Citizen, Coriolanus), Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone, Somewhere, Source Code) and Oscar®-nominee Michael Shannon(Revolutionary Road, Take Shelter, Man of Steel). The film features Souleymane Sy Savane (Goodbye Solo) in a breakout performance as Childers’ right-hand man, Deng. The film is produced by Relativity’s Robbie Brenner, Safady Entertainment’s Gary Safady and Craig Chapman, and GG Filmz’s Deborah Giarratana, with Gerard Butler as Executive Producer.

300 was a film that truly cemented the careers of its leading players back in 2006, with Zack Snyder getting noticed in a big way for the first time, and actor and actress Gerard Butler and Lena Headey both making a real name for themselves.

Movies.com now report that although Snyder won’t be returning to direct, concentrating on helming the upcoming Superman film Man of Steel, we may be seeing Butler and Headey returning for small roles.

The original film managed to go so far beyond most people’s expectations for it, turning a $65m. budget into almost half a billion dollars, and putting Snyder’s name on the map as a brilliant director. With Snyder now busy on Man of Steel, Noam Murro (Smart People) will be filling the director job, from a script co-written by Snyder and Kurt Johnstad, based on a forthcoming graphic novel by Frank Miller.

Battle of Artemisia is a prequel to the original film, so Gerard Butler’s lack of surviving the Battle of Thermopylae in 300 shouldn’t be a problem. The roles they’ll play are described only as small parts, but seeing Butler and Headey in these terrific roles again should be brilliant, no matter how small the part.

Producer Bernie Goldmann says that with the first film, they tried to get big names for the cast, but had little success in making people believe in the film, and so they found success with Butler and Headey, not quite so well known at the time. His description of the experience suggests we might be in for having lesser known faces cast for the prequel too:

“When you make a period movie like that, it’s great not to know the actors… For me, as an audience, it always brings me into the movie more. You can’t see Tom Cruise in a historical movie. You go, ‘That’s Tom Cruise!’”

If that’s the case this time around, then this could definitely be a film to launch a very successful career for a new set of actors and actresses, and even for director Murro, with this film marking his follow-up to his 2008 debut, Smart People. 300 was a lot of fun when it came out a few years ago, so whilst prequels and sequels are often a little questionable, Battle of Artemisia could well be something to look forward to.

We’ve been getting a pretty brilliant look at what to expect from Gerard Butler’s next film, Machine Gun Preacher, in the past few weeks, including a great first trailer and poster, and three clips from the film (two here and the most recent one here).

ComingSoon.net have now got three excellent images from the film, which give us our first look at Michael Shannon’s character, ahead of its Toronto International Film Festival debut this weekend.

The film is based on the fascinating and moving real-life story of Sam Childers, an ex-drug dealing biker who found God and went to Sudan to do good, helping the children there from a life forced into the military.

“When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aid workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed—in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens.

But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives—and eventually his own.”

Marc Forster has taken directing duties, a man who will forever have my respect for his work on Stranger Than Fiction, a brilliant little-known film with Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Thompson. He’s also recently been hard at work filming the Brad Pitt-starrer, World War Z, and looks to be pretty comfortably on top of his game at the moment.

What we’ve seen so far of the film has been terrific, and incredibly touching in places, so we can expect this to be a real heartstring-tugger when it gets its UK release on 18^th November, a date I am very much looking forward to and committing to memory. Without further ado, here are the new images from the film. As usual, click to enlarge.

So far, we’ve had a moving first trailer and poster for Gerard Butler’s next film, Machine Gun Preacher, and two great clips from the film too.

Yahoo Movies have now put up another new clip from the film, entitled ‘Built It Again’, and it’s a good complement to what we’ve seen so far, expanding on a scene we first saw in the trailer last month.

The film is based on the true story of an ex-drug dealing biker who found God and then went to work in Sudan to help the orphaned children there, rescuing them from a life forced into the army.

“In the true-life thriller Machine Gun Preacher, Gerard Butler plays Sam Childers, an ex-biker gang member who worked as an aid worker in East Africa and took on the Lord’s Resistance Army, a military group that forced children to become soldiers and left a trail of human rights abuses.”

In this clip, we see Butler telling Michelle Monaghan, who is back in America doing the groceries, that the orphanage he’d been building has been burnt down. He tells her that it’s over, that he’s giving up, and she gives him the strength to carry on. Build it again, she says.

Machine Gun Preacher is directed by Marc Forster (The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace), from what I think will be a fantastic debut script by Jason Keller, who’s written the upcoming Tarsem Singh-directed Snow White, with Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Sean Bean, and Armie Hammer.

We’ve got a little over two months to wait for this, with its release set for 18^th November, and it’s something I’m really looking forward to. The trailer was absolutely fantastic, and these clips are encouraging expansions from it. It looks like it’s going to be brilliant, and incredibly moving stuff. Without further ado, here’s the new clip.

We got an absolutely brilliant and moving first trailer and poster for Gerard Butler’s next film, Machine Gun Preacher, last month and it showed a lot of promise for the film.

These new clips, courtesy of EW and The Playlist, are just as moving as the trailer, and really add to the intensity surrounding this film, making me very much look forward to it 18^th November release here. It looks like it could well be one of Butler’s best roles to date.

“In the true-life thriller Machine Gun Preacher, Gerard Butler plays Sam Childers, an ex-biker gang member who worked as an aid worker in East Africa and took on the Lord’s Resistance Army, a military group that forced children to become soldiers and left a trail of human rights abuses”

In real life, Childers was once a drug-dealing biker who then found God and went to work in Sudan, helping to rescue these children from the lives of soldiers. These clips expand on moments seen in the trailer, where Butler is arguing with the man at the bank refusing to give him a further loan, and where he sees the number of children hiding from the military.

In the first clip, he tells the banker just a few of the harrowing stories of the things that have happened to some of the children he’s helping, showing him the pictures he’s taken of them, and still the banker tells him that there’s nothing he can do. And in the second, he gathers up as many of the children as will fit, and brings them inside to stay for the night.

Machine Gun Preacher also stars Michael Shannon and Michelle Monaghan, and is directed by Marc Forster, whose credits include Monster’s Ball and The Kite Runner, from a debut script by Jason Keller, who’s recently scripted the upcoming Tarsem Singh version of Snow White with Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Sean Bean, and Armie Hammer.

The first clip is exclusive to EW, so you’ll have to go here to watch it, and the second you can see below.

We got the first image of Gerard Butler in Machine Gun Preacher last month, and now a great first trailer and poster for the film have been released, courtesy of Collider and IMP Awards respectively.

The film tells the true story of Sam Childers, who was once a drug-dealing biker that found God and went to Sudan to build an orphanage for hundreds of children forced into becoming soldiers.

As you can imagine, it’s a moving story, and the film looks to have been done really well if this first trailer is anything to go by. By now, we’re pretty familiar with Butler’s action abilities, leading Zack Snyder’s 300 as he did, and it’s great to see that he’s getting roles that allow him to show off his other dramatic talents too, because he’s a brilliant actor that can do just about anything (his dancing scenes with Tom Hardy and Thandie Newton in RocknRolla were beyond amazing).

I like the fact that Childers is an American, and Scottish-born Butlerstill got the part. There were plenty of American actors that would have been great in this, but they must have known how good Butler would be in a role like this, and his accent seems pretty convincing in the trailer.

The images of hundreds of people, many scared children, sleeping outside are pretty moving to watch, especially when you know that it’s based on a true story. The film is the feature debut of writer Jason Keller, who’s been hired to co-write Tarsem Singh’s as-yet-untitled Snow White film, and it certainly looks to be an impressive debut.

It’s interesting that both the trailer and poster are promoting director Marc Forster’s credits on Monster’s Ball and The Kite Runner, over something like Quantum of Solace, which would suggest that the film’s dramatic side will be front and centre over the action sequences, which is good to hear for a story like this.

Machine Gun Preacher, which also stars Michelle Monaghan and Michael Shannon, will be playing at the Toronto International Film Festival next month, and will be released here in the UK on 18^th November. The images in the trailer, coupled with the use of the song Revival by Soulsaver, literally send tingles down my spine, and you know you’ve hit upon something good when that happens. Without further ado, here are the first trailer and poster for the film. Let us know what you think below. As usual with the poster, click to enlarge.

With rumours swirling that the Ralph Fiennes directed Shakespeare adapatation Coriolanus will be present in some form at this year’s London Film Festival we’re starting to see more and more of the film.

A few scenes were shown to the crowds at the Big Screen event a few days ago and the sight of a bloodied Fiennes rallying his troops, then facing off against Gerard Butler’s Tullus Aufidius was truly something. The film has already found favour on the festival circuit and I’m hoping this will find a decent audience on its release early next year. James Nesbitt, Brian Cox and Vanessa Redgrave are in support.

The trailer was unveiled a few days ago and can be seen here, and the new poster from THR can be found below.

Ralph Fiennes – actor, ambassador, Dark Lord – will make his directorial début with Coriolanus, an updated adaptation of the William Shakespeare play of the same name.

The trailer is now online and it looks incredibly promising, boasting as it does a winning ensemble of Britain’s finest.

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox and Jessica Chastain, John Logan’s screenplay adapts the tale of a banished hero who must ally with a sworn enemy in order to seek revenge on his home city.

The people of Rome are hungry – they cannot afford to eat.  Riots are widespread. Their vitriol turns on Caius Martius (later to be Coriolanus), Rome’s foremost general who despises the people.

Simultaneously, Rome is at war with the Volsces, a neighbouring state which is lead by Caius Martius’s sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius. When Caius’s outstanding courage secures the Volscian city of Corioles for Rome and the Volscians are defeated, Caius is newly named Coriolanus in honor of his victory. The people’s anger subsides.

His mother Volumnia, who has instilled in him a strict martial code of honor, anticipates Coriolanus being elected ‘Consul’ – a ruling position in the Roman senate. In order to be voted Consul, Coriolanus must secure the people’s support. However, the great warrior is loath to engage in the necessary glad-handing and political canvassing that he sees as artificial and contradictory of his personal code.

Under pressure he relents but with the minimum of civility. The Tribunes, the elected representatives of the people, persuade the masses that they should renege on their votes and refuse Coriolanus the office of Consul. Coriolanus is enraged and his vocal aggression leads to a major riot after which he is banished from Rome.

Alone now, he takes himself to the city of Antium, the Volscian capital, home to his enemy, Tullus Aufidius.  Coriolanus seeks out Aufidius and offers either his life or his services against his parent city. Confronted by his greatest enemy, Tullus must decide whether to accept Coriolanus as his warrior in arms and seize the opportunity to defeat an Empire, or to destroy his life-long rival and try to take Rome alone, while in its most vulnerable state…

Coriolanus is scheduled for a limited U.S. release on December 2nd of this year, with a slightly later U.K. release set for January 20th, 2012.

The Bricklayer – an adaptation of Noah Boyd’s novel of the same name and the first project to be put together by Millennium Films since Mark Gill assumed the role of president – has cast Gerard Butler as its protagonist; he will play an ex-FBI agent named Steve Vail.

Currently working as a bricklayer, Vail is called back into the service when a criminal group starts demanding ever-increasing multi-million dollar ransom payments. Paired with an as-yet-uncast female deputy director, Butler is tasked with tracking down and combating the criminal organisation.

Boyd – a pseudonym used by former FBI agent turned author Paul Lindsay – saw The Bricklayer published last year; the novel is currently being adapted by Enigma’s Hanna Weg, who will also serve as executive producer.

THR broke it.