We’re used to the Razzie Awards taking place just before the Oscars paying tribute to the worst movies of the past 12 months but the organisers this year have moved the coveted award ceremony to April Fools’ Day, April 1st.

Previous winners include Sandra Bullock for the truly 2010 dreadful movie, All About Steve which co-starred Bradley Cooper and 2004 winner Halle Berry who won the award for Catwoman.  In the year Bullock won, she also won the Oscar for Best Actress for he Blind Side which made it all rather amusing! Maximum respect had to go to both actresses who both turned up at the Razzie awards to pay tribute to the tripe they’d created! I’ve placed YouTube clips below with the acceptance speeches.Love Berry’s speech who mocks her own speech that she gave at the 2002 Oscars when she won Best Actress for Monster’s Ball.

According to organisers, the awards has moved to April to give the voting members more time “to see the drek they will eventually nominate”.

“John Wilson and Mo Murphy, co-owners of the Razzies, saw a unique opportunity to do something they’ve wanted to do since their awards were created in 1980: emphasise [its] comedic intent by unveiling the “winners” of Tinsel Town’s Tackiest Trophy on April Fools’ Day.”

The nominees will be announced on Oscar Eve, 25th February. Adam Sandler is tipped to win loads this year for his latest contributions in Just Go With It, Bucky Larson and Jack and Jill.

Source: BBC

The Wachowski brothers and Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel, Cloud Atlas, is set to be one of the most intriguing films to look forward to next year. With a notoriously labyrinthine plot, the possibility of adapting it for the big screen sounds as though it is a mammoth task not to be taken lightly.

We got our first look at the film when some photos surfaced from the set back in September, followed by the image of the directors and the novelist on the set just before Christmas, having wrapped production. We’ve now got a new image – the first official look at a character – to share with you, along with some terrific concept art for the film, courtesy of HanCinema via Collider.

The official synopsis for the film is yet to be released, so we don’t know how much, if at all, it will differ from the book, but the original novel’s synopsis looks a little like this, courtesy of Amazon:

“A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation — the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.”

The adaptation has a tremendous cast, including Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Susan Sarandon, James D’Arcy, and Doona Bae, the last of whom we get to see in this new image. The cast have been announced as interestingly taking on multiple roles through the course of the film, which is certainly something that has peaked our interest.

Tykwer and the Wachowski brothers worked together to co-write the screenplay adaptation of Mitchell’s novel, and with production now wrapped, things are looking good to meet the expected release towards the end of next year. No word yet on a specific release date, but if all goes well in post-production, we should have seen it on the big screen here by this time next year. I can’t wait. That should give me just enough time to read the original novel. Without further ado, here are the great new images. As usual, with the concept art, click to enlarge. That the synopsis makes mention of a traveller in 1850 and the second of the concept images is titled ‘Seoul, 2144′ should give you an idea of the scope we can look forward to with this next year.

Posed like a Christmas card from that family down the street no one really likes to make eye contact with, Empire have got their grubby little mitts on the first official image from the people behind the film adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas.

It all looks rather perplexing.

Now as someone who knows nothing whatsoever about the book  - other than it’s affinity for the eclectic – the image pretty much delivers the bewilderment I expected:

Amongst the mayhem at least the people are easily identifiable. In the middle there’s (from right to left) Tom Twyker, Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski and there’s author David Mitchell popping a squat behind them. Everyone else hasn’t merited a mention in any press coverage but I can confirm that they look satisfied that the film has finally wrapped. So that’s nice.

Apparently all of the assorted and seemingly meaningless ephemera that surrounds the talented types does have relevance to the novel so helpfully Empire in all of their grace have included an explanation with their scoop:

If you know the book, you’ll also recognise props from the six interlinking tales. We’ve spotted the VW Beetle of crusading journo Luisa Rey (Berry), the ’70s thriller that should inject serious voltage into the film’s middle act (if you really know the book, you’ll spot that it’s drab green not rust orange).

Also on display are a pair of Chatham Island totems, a piano belonging to the composer of the ‘Letters from Zedelghem’ chapters, some dystopian gadgetry from near-future Korea, and a cart that we’re guessing gets used to carry post-apocalyptic veggies around Hawaii.

Sounds like I have a lot to catch up on:

The book concerns a reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation — the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

The sheer volume of plot to tackle here becomes apparent when one looks at the production schedule. The cast is huge featuring Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Hugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy and Jim Sturgess to name but a few. The six stories involved span multiple continents and centuries with everyone playing multiple roles. To make things even more complicated alongside the Wachowski’s unit director Tom Twyker ran a second unit in parallel in a bid to get the sprawling material filmed in time for its approximate release date of ‘late 2012’. Pleasingly they seem to have succeeded.

Another piece of good news was that the film got made at all, even better when you consider that it’s with the Wachowski’s co-helming. Famously selective in their interactions with the media (and seemingly their projects) since rising to eminence with The Matrix, they have had the transient media presence of an odourless gas. Well it’s good to see them back. After the steaming wreckage of Speed Racer’s LSD tinted mayhem skidded into a cinema near you and then straight back out again a few years ago it’s great to see that the twosome can still cobble together a budget to rival the GDP of a small country.

Let’s just hope they use it wisely and for once equal the potential they showed way back in 1999.

Source: Empire

You have to worry when a film’s musical medley finale is far more entertaining than what you’ve just sat through. Another snag for the filmmakers of the equally disappointing Valentine’s Day last year is their biggest star, Robert De Niro, is woefully miscast in the sombre role, when his true comedic talent is apparent in the end sing-song.

You’ve guessed it: it’s nearly ball-dropping time in Times Square, New York City, and a bunch of characters have all sorts of New Year’s resolutions to make and keep, all to do with some form of love: forgiveness, compassion, opening their hearts to a different point of view etc. We follow the 24 hours before the ‘greatest reset button in life’, New Year’s Eve and the big countdown.

Director Garry Marshall and writer Katherine Fugate haven’t learnt their lesson from last time, it seems – or they’re under contract to see this limp franchise through to the bitter end. The problem isn’t attracting an impressive cast – as that’s what the film’s main draw is, what with De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Katherine Heigl and even Jon Bon Jovi on board: One could cynically argue that it’s the easiest money they’ve earned all year, so of course, they’ve signed up. Perhaps it’s their collective love for the Big Apple at this time of year, too?

What is highlighted is too much of a good cast, without proper mini plot development in each scenario just produces a damp squib, with characters we don’t much care for, even if we enjoy seeing the famous faces together in one film. Their characters’ trials and tribulations amount to padding until the countdown, with some great musical numbers from Bon Jovi intermixed for fans. Hence, when the big moment finally comes we should be right there with them all, feeling that renewed hope of a great new year ahead, rather than wishing to reset our own time button to two hours earlier.

We see De Niro wasting away – both in body and mind with such a character; Heigl as the usual ‘bridesmaid and never the bride’ – again; Berry like a worn out extra off ER; Swank running around and mounting her own personal crusade – complete with the ever perfect curl in her hair; and Pfeiffer trying to convince us she’s really plain Jane and uninteresting – well, the latter part is true in this film, even with Efron and his cheeky charms trying to inject some life into her and their scenario of completing her wish list, as though she’s going to snuff it at midnight.

And no film set in New York would be complete without Sarah Jessica Parker running around in killer heels, like she’s doing a small SATC Carrie cameo, and forgotten she’s actually playing a concerned mum to teen Hailey (Abigail Breslin) who just wants to be kissed. Valentine’s Day star Ashton Kutcher plays disinterested New Year’s loather Randy in this, rather than over-enthusiastic flower man Reed in the 2010 film. He’s really only there to set up a singing scene for Glee’s Lea Michele in a knockout red number, and gets to slob it out in PJs, like he’s just got out of bed to make a lacklustre appearance in this.

As a result of too many characters and not enough investment in each, New Year’s Eve also suffers from a frustrating lack of explanation, such as what’s Claire Morgan’s (Swank) deep bond with cop friend Brendan (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges), and why is she estranged from her father, Stan (De Niro) – among others. To be honest, should we really care?

Apart from Bon Jovi rocking the house and a great vocal performance from Michele, Sofía Vergara – who’s like an annoying Cheeky Girl at the start – makes things hot and steamy in chef Laura’s (Heigl) kitchen, as well as steals the only comedic moments as man-crazy sous chef Ava from Heigl, rendering the latter’s usual comedy presence void.

There are a number of other actors and situations going on, one or more of which ought to strike a chord with whoever is watching. Although the filmmakers’ intentions are all good, the execution results in contrived, groan-inducing morality and over simplicity in parts that just undermines the candour of the lessons learnt. Let’s hope there’s not another date in the Western calendar that Marshall and Fugate can get/have got their hands on – even if it means they keep a few big names in easy work.

*~~~~ (1/5)

To celebrate the release of New Year’s Eve on December 8th Warner Bros. have given us three sets of the following merchandise to give away.

• Party Kits (Champagne glasses, horns, confetti, masks, bouchon wine stopper)
• Hoodie
• Candle (Champagne scented aromatherapy candle)
• USB
• Beanie
• T-shirt
• Playing Cards
• Glasses
• Shot Glasses

Scroll down for details on how to enter.

Director/producer Garry Marshall is joined by a stellar ensemble cast to ring in the 2011 holiday season with the romantic comedy “New Year’s Eve.”

“New Year’s Eve” celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, with intertwining stories told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City on the most dazzling night of the year.

The film’s all-star cast includes Academy Award® winner Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, two-time Academy Award® winner Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Academy Award® nominee Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank and Sofia Vergara.

Reuniting with Marshall from last year’s hit romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” are screenwriter Katherine Fugate and producers Mike Karz and Wayne Rice.  Serving as executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Samuel J. Brown, Michael Disco, Josie Rosen and Diana Pokorny, with Heather Hall as co-producer.

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

New Year’s Eve is helmed by this veteran director, who helmed Pretty Woman and, more recently, The Princess Diaries films as well as Valentine’s Day. Name the director. 

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 19th December 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!

It’s a night of possibilities with the New Year’s Eve Wishing Wall…

Every year people from all over the world pin their wishes to the ‘Wishing Wall’ in Times Square, New York City.  On New Year’s Eve these wishes form the confetti that rains down on party-goers at midnight!

Now here’s your chance to be a part of one of the biggest celebrations in the world.  Add your wish to the New Year’s Eve Wishing Wall on the official New Year’s Eve Movie UK Facebook page and your wish will be sent to New York and could be seen up in lights as part of the UK digital poster campaign!

 POST YOUR WISH HERE!!  

© 2011 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

The upcoming ensemble romantic-comedy, New Year’s Eve, has got pretty much every face under the sun surrounding the rom-com genre, and I was a little surprised to find myself enjoying the last trailer we saw for the film.

A new poster has now been sent over to us and it’s pretty much just about showing off all the famous faces that you can look forward to seeing in the film.

It’s not really a creative or well thought-out poster, in my books, and is essentially just a pretty unsubtle way of saying, ‘Just in case you don’t know these people by name, here are their very recognisable faces.’

And those faces include, but are not limited to, HalleBerry, Ashton Kutcher, Jon Bon Jovi, Katherine Heigl, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Sofia Veraga, Hilary Swank, Josh Duhamel, Robert De Niro, Lea Michele, and Zac Efron.

Nonetheless, the trailer from a couple of weeks ago was actually pretty feel-good and did have me, somewhat ashamedly, a little intrigued by the project, given that I’m not really its target demographic. Last year’s Valentine’s Day managed to more than quadruple its $50m. budget at the box office, and I wouldn’t be surprised if New Year’s Day has a pretty good run too when it hits cinemas on 9^th December this year. Until then, here’s the new poster to enjoy (or be bemused by on account of the total lack of subtlety). As usual, click to enlarge.

After the success of last year’s ensemble romantic comedy Valentine’s Day, which turned $50m. into more than $200m., director Gerry Marshall is returning this year for another ensemble romantic comedy, New Year’s Eve.

At first, I was a little sceptical of the project, but after a surprisingly good first trailer, I became a lot more enthusiastic about it. We’ve now got a great follow-up trailer and poster for the film.

Just like Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Day has got a cast full to the brim of well-known stars that all come together for what could be a pretty great holiday film, including (and you’ll have to forgive me for the length of this list) Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, Hilary Swank, and Sofía Vergara.

The music for the first trailer was excellent, with Pink’s Raise Your Glass, and the tone remains the same this time around, kicking off with The Afters’ Start Over fifty seconds into the video. It’s pretty awesome.

With these kinds of ensemble films, it’s a bit of a worry that with so many stars, each character will only get about five minutes of screen time for us to enjoy. But this new trailer certainly looks promising, with the different characters all having their own little story to look forward to. Robert De Niro’s little moment at the end of the trailer is just brilliant. Without further ado, here’s the great new trailer and the poster for the film beneath it. If you’d like to watch it in beautiful HD, then you can do so over here.

We’ve been posting news and updates for the best part of a year on Cloud Atlas, the seemingly epic collaboration between Matrix-mongers The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run and Perfume), the latest of which confirmed that Hugh Grant was joining the cast, which I don’t think many saw coming.

Well, multiple plot strands or no, it’s all underway as these on-set snaps testify, showing Hugo Weaving and Halle Berry on the streets of Glasgow. Coming Soon, who have passed on the snaps from Just Jared, quote the novel synopsis as follows:-

A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation — the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

Hugh Grant (About a Boy) has been added to the cast of Cloud Atlas, the bold cinematic adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel of the same name.

Grant, who has been somewhat absent from the screen since 2009′s Did You Hear About The Morgans, will star opposite Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw, Bae Doona, Jim Sturgess and David Gyasi.

Synopsis: A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation — the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

Cloud Atlas, to be directed by The Wachowskis and Tom Tywker, is scheduled to shoot in Scotland, Germany and Spain as of Friday, September 16.

Source: Screen Daily

Warner Bros. have released this new ‘Special Content Trailer’ which seems to be a cross between a trailer and a featurette. As well as some new footage, we also get to see some interviews with many of the cast which is all rather extensive and includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry​, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer​, Sarah Jessica Parker​, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger​, Seth Meyers​, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel​, and Carla Gugino.

Garry Marshall comes back to direct this movie which follows on (sort of) from the 2009 movie, Valentine’s Day. It’ll hit UK cinemas 9th December.

“New Year’s Eve” celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in the intertwining stories of couples and singles, told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City on the most dazzling night of the year.

We recently reported on the intriguing movement of the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, with the Wachowskis and Tom Twker running two separate shoots alongside one another, and now there appears to be confirmation of another addition to the cast.

The excellent Jim Sturgess Online pointed us to an interview the actor gave to USA Today to promote his latest film, One Day in which he stars with Anne Hathaway, and in conversation about his musical projects the rumours of Sturgess’s role in the film appears to be confirmed,

While he’s still waiting for a Broadway producer to call, Sturgess dabbles in music on his own. He sang three songs on the soundtrack for his movie Heartless, and he continually writes tunes with his girlfriend, La Roux keyboardist Mickey O’Brien. Together they have a musical collaboration called Tragic Toys.

Sturgess says he and O’Brien have similar taste in music and are always borrowing from each other’s collections — she’s recently turned him on to Hungarian gypsy music — and hope to record their songs sooner than later.

We’ve suddenly realized we’ve got all these songs sitting around, and it’d be great to do something with them at some point, definitely,” says Sturgess, who next ventures to Berlin to film the Wachowski brothers’ new movie Cloud Atlas with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry.

JSO found the news first and tweeted that his casting was indeed confirmed, a tweet which was then retweeted by Mickey O’Brien herself, so it all seems set for Sturgess to continue the rapid upward turn in his career trajectory. Sturgess joins an impressive cast with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry joined by Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Susan Sarandon and Ben Whishaw in the epic, centuries-spanning story which proved a considerable success for Mitchell. More news on which role(s) Sturgess is playing shortly.

Cloud Atlas, the often-deemed unfilmable novel by David Mitchell that spans several times and places from 19^th Century Australia to post-apocalyptic Hawaii, will be filmed by two separate crews running parallel to each other, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The historic sci-fi epic, starring Halle Berry, Tom Hanks and Ben Whishaw to name a few, was penned by Wachowski siblings Andy and Lana and will be directed by Tom Tykwer. In an interesting attempt to make this difficult text come to life Tykwer is expected to use the same actors for multiple characters and use two entirely separate film crews to shoot scenes in both Berlin and Babelsberg, Germany.

The sheer span and complexity of the novel makes for an eye-watering prospect. It will mix 19^th century period with futuristic sci-fi, interlocking six lives across a vast narrative. Producer Stefan Ardnt has confidence in the Wachowski script, however, saying they have “found a way to tell these stories in an amazing, linear and very cinematic way”. Let’s hope so, because Cloud Atlas could be very exciting indeed.

Story by Richard Parkin

We had a teaser trailer for the movie last week but now Warner Bros. have released this new batch of images from their new movie, New Year’s Eve which is a follow-up, sequel of sorts to their 2010 movie, Valentine’s Day. Both are directed by Garry Marshall of Pretty Woman fame and he has used his influence to include every single actor and actress on Planet Earth in the movie!

New Year’s Eve stars….. Robert De Niro​, Ashton Kutcher​, Halle Berry​, Jessica Biel​, Michelle Pfeiffer​, Sarah Jessica Parker​, Hilary Swank​, Zac Efron​, Sienna Miller​, Lea Michele​, Sofia Vergara​, Abigail Breslin​, Til Schweiger​, Seth Meyers​, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel​, and Carla Gugino​!

“New Year’s Eve” celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in the intertwining stories of couples and singles, told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City on the most dazzling night of the year.

I simply cant wait for 9th December when this hits UK cinemas!

Even though I thought it was rubbish. Warner Bros. didn’t (because they look at the bottom line) and here we have the sort-of sequel to their movie, Valentine’s Day in the form of New Year’s Eve. The cast list is sort of silly as it has a gazillion a-listers in it who will (I assume) only get around 2 minutes of screen-time each!

New Years Eve Stars (get ready and take a deep breath) Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino!

Garry Marshall comes back to direct and we can expect this little gem 9th December this year.

What happens when you dive with great white sharks with a group of inexperienced divers? You get eaten of course! – at least someone has to don’t they?!!

Here’s the first trailer and new poster for new movie, Dark Tide which sees Halle Berry as an experienced diver trying to make a few bucks (or Euros in this case) by taking rich people diving!

Dark Tide is directed by John Stockwell who previously brought us Out of the Blue and Into the Blue and stars Halle Berry, Olivier Martinez and Ralph Brown. No news on when it’ll be out yet but we’ll keep you posted.

Source: The Film Stage

We’ve finally be given the official word on the status of the much rumoured big screen adaptation of David Mitchell’s celebrated 2004 novel Cloud Altas, with directors and a star name attached.

The film will go into production, according to Deadline’s report,  in September of this year with The Wachowskis and Tom Twyker on board to direct. This confirms the rumours that were floating around last August when Natalie Portman (who was connected with the project at one point) talked about Twyker and The Wachowskis teaming up to write and direct.

With a movie as highly anticipated as this Warner Bros have enlisted the services of Tom Hanks to lead the film, though the rising star of James McAvoy, who was also rumoured to be attached, hasn’t been named in the report. The novel’s complex narrative spans thousands of years with stories being told to connect and affect the people who tell them. It’s a huge undertaking if a faithful adaptation is on the cards, and with Hanks on board this film will be as high profile as they come.

Paul Verhoeven (Black Book) is attached to direct sexual-thriller The Student, and has offered Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball) the lead role.

Verhoeven and Berry were supposed to collaborate on The Surrogate, but the film fell through at the production stage.

The Student centers on a 19 year old kid who takes up a summer internship… and then takes up with his boss’ wife (Berry).

The film is set up at Relativity Media, and production looks set to commence later this year.

Berry will next be seen in indie-drama Frankie & Alice, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.

Source: Badass

The cast for follow up Garry Marhsall’s 2009 movie, Valentine’s Day has added yet another to the ever growing list in the form of Transformers star, Josh Duhamel. By our records, that now means the cast includes Jon Bon Jovi, Seth Meyers, Til Schweiger, Zac Efron, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Sofia Vergara, Jessica Biel, Abigail Breslin, Robert De Niro, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer and Hilary Swank!

I have to admit, that’s really rather an impressive cast but let’s hope and pray it’s going to be better than Valentine’s Day!! I went along to the press conference for that and man, it was dull, just like the film!

More as we get it!

Source: The Wrap

Three more names have joined the already impressive ensemble for director Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve.

Jon Bon Jovi, Seth Meyers and Inglorious Basterds star Til Schweiger join Zac Efron, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Abigail Breslin, Robert De Niro, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer and Hilary Swank for the tale of a bunch of New Yorkers celebrating and commiserating their lives on (yep, you’re guessed it!) New Year’s Eve.

In a role that will no doubt involve much research and digging deep to find the character, Bon Jovi has been cast as a rock star who stumbles across an old lover (Berry) at a party. Meyer (a US comedian who currently serves as head writer for Saturday Night Live) will play a father who wants his wife (Biel) to deliver the first baby of the year in order to win a $25,000 reward. No doubt hilarious will ensue as he tries to conjure up different ways to get his wife into labour!

Wonder if Bon Jovi will supply a theme tune too? His brand of slushy soft rock would probably serve as the perfect complement with this film.

News courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.

Sandwiched in between denials of any involvement in either Superman: Man of Steel or The Dark Knight Rises, Natalie Portman also made an interesting announcement about the directors of upcoming adaptation Cloud Atlas.

We reported here on the rumours that the Wachowskis were set to direct Cloud Atlas, based on a Tom Tykwer-scripted adaptation of David Mitchell’s 2004 novel. Portman however inferred that all three of them would be on director duties, which in the circumstances makes a measure of sense, given the multi-genre, multi-strand, 1000-year spanning story.

Portman worked with the Wachowskis on V for Vendetta and Tykwer on Paris Je T’aime and she has said that she would be likely to have a minor part in Cloud Atlas, should it ever get off the ground.

Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, James McAvoy, Ian McKellen and Portman have all been linked with Cloud Atlas in the past, but with no official information to go on regarding a studio greenlight, production schedule, casting etc, it seems that we may remain in the dark for as long as the project remains in limbo. Whether Cloud Atlas constitutes more of a priority for the Wachowskis than either Cobalt Neutral 9 or their rumoured Robin Hood modern reworking, we can only speculate.

We’ll bring you more as we get it.

Source: The Playlist.