Contraband is shaping up to be one of the best action crime dramas of next year, and we’ve already been seeing some great things from it, in the form of the first official trailer back in September, followed up by the first and second posters for the film, and most recently the second trailer just over a month ago.

Mark Wahlberg stars in the lead – therefore guaranteeing its brilliance; I’m a big Wahlberg fan – alongside the likes of the excellent Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Beckinsale, J.K. Simmons, and Lukas Haas, with Wahlberg’s brother, Robert Wahlberg, also taking a smaller role.

We’ve now got a brilliant new clip to share with you from the film, courtesy of Fandango, which should nicely whet your appetite and get you as excited to see this as I am, if you aren’t already.

“Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best – running contraband – to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills.

Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Beckinsale), and sons become their target.”

Director Baltasar Kormákur is already set to re-team with Wahlberg on 2 Guns, which I think it’s a great indication that they’ve had an awesome time filming Contraband, which in turn is a great indication that we’ll have an awesome time watching it.

This new clip sees Wahlberg talking to his boss, Ribisi, and things don’t look to be going quite his way, with the possibility of a $700k debt looming over his head – obviously not a nice situation to be in. Contraband will be hitting our screens on 16th March next year, which is a date that can’t come fast enough for me. Without further ado, here’s the great new clip. Enjoy.

It seems like news about Michael Bay has been coming in fast and strong in the past few days. Earlier this week, we heard that Bay was reconsidering his position on declining to return to the Transformers franchise for a fourth film, with none other than Steven Spielberg fully backing his possible return.

Then yesterday, we got some great possible casting news in the form of Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg being eyed for Bay’s next and smaller-budgeted film, Pain and Gain.

Now comes the (in my eyes) fantastic news that Bay is in final talks to direct a fourth Transformers film for Paramount, via Vulture, and it sounds like the key is tied up in Pain and Gain.

Bay’s next film has been a passion project that he’s been developing since 2001, and he’d first been intending to direct it in between the second and third Transformers films. Since that didn’t happen, he’s now shifting from the $195m. budget of his last film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, to a more moderate budget of $20m. for Pain and Gain, and it looks like Paramount are essentially going to greenlight and fund the smaller film for Bay if he’ll return to direct the fourth Transformers film for them.

As Spielberg recently commented, Bay really does seem to have a secret formula with his films, especially when you consider the ever-increasing box office performances of each of the successive Transformers films, and I’m already getting excited about seeing the robots return to the big screen under his direction.

The plan is to get Pain and Gain underway as early as the spring of next year, and whilst he’s shooting that, Bay will begin pre-production with art development and visual effects tests simultaneously, with an eye to start filming the fourth Transformers instalment by the winter of 2012.

Naturally plot details are being kept under wraps, but it sounds as though the next film is looking to hark back to some of the original characters and bring them to life on the big screen.

““Regular people might not care about bringing out a character like Sentinel Prime,” says one of our insiders, referring to the little-known character who played a major part in last summer’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, “But believe me, fans of the series cared.””

No news yet on who’s going to be penning the script, but I’m hoping we’ll see the return of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote the first two films, alongside Ehren Kruger, who co-wrote the second film and took the third film on alone.

I thought Dark of the Moon was an absolutely brilliant film this year, with Bay really out-doing himself after what I think many fans thought was a bit of a drop-off in calibre in Revenge of the Fallen, so I’ve got high hopes for a fourth film, and every reason to expect Bay will fulfil every one of them.

One of the next big questions will of course be whether Shia LaBeouf, who had previously announced like Bay that he wouldn’t return for a fourth film, will reconsider his original position, and if not, then the studio will no doubt begin the search as soon as possible for who will fill his place in the lead.

It’s still early days yet, but it sounds like the deal is pretty close to closing for both Pain and Gain and the fourth Transformers film, and an official announcement is expected to come as early as next week. Keep your fingers crossed, because I think Bay has got two brilliant films coming for us in the next few years. More as we get it.

After reporting just yesterday that Michael Bay is reconsidering his position on not returning to direct a fourth Transformers film, we’ve now got some great casting news to bring you concerning the smaller film that he wants to do before potentially returning to the franchise he’s spent the past few years working on.

Variety are now reporting that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Mark Wahlberg, who’ve worked together previously on The Other Guys, are now being eyed for the two leading roles in Bay’s upcoming Pain And Gain, a dark comedy centred on two steroid-abusing bodybuilders.

“Based on a Miami New Times article from 1999, “Pain and Gain” will follow a pair of Florida bodybuilders who get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.”

The project is set up at Paramount and has been in the works since 2001, with Bay originally planning on making it in between the second and third Transformers films. He’ll be producing alongside Donald De Line, who’s worked with Wahlberg already on The Italian Job remake. The original script was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, co-writers on this year’s Captain America: The First Avenger, who have compared its tone to the Coen brothers’ Fargo.

The talks for both Johnson and Wahlberg are very much still early, and it’s likely that Wahlberg’s busy schedule – he’s currently filming Broken City and has a slew of other movies lined up beyond that – will unfortunately keep him from joining Bay’s next project.

And whilst Johnson’s schedule is also busy at the moment, having gained some serious attention after starring in this year’s Fast Five, it’s thought that he’d have time to fit the project’s intended spring production next year into his schedule before returning for the sixth and seventh films in the The Fast and the Furious franchise, which are expected to be shot back-to-back next summer.

So though both Johnson and Wahlberg still have question marks over their heads for this project, it’s great to hear that the film is getting some traction having been in the pipelines for quite some time now. No official greenlight has been given to Pain and Gain yet, but with Bay at the helm and Johnson and Wahlberg being considered for the leads, I’m sure they’ll get the official go-ahead without much a problem, especially with the budget moderately forecast at $20m., which is a fraction of Dark of the Moon’s $195m. price tag.

A second trailer for the new Mark Wahlberg film, Contraband, has been unveiled and it’s not a subtle affair.

This trailer eschews the talking and plot which was preferred for the initial trailer we saw in favour of all out action, shouting, guns pointed and a nice looking explosion in super slow motion. Watch them both and make up your mind. I doubt it’ll change our worlds but as long as director Baltasar Kormákur has his action trousers on I think this one will be fun to watch.

Alongside Wahlberg​, Contraband stars Kate Beckinsale​, Caleb Landry Jones, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi​, Lukas Haas​, J.K. Simmons and Diego Luna​.

“Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best – running contraband – to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills.

Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Beckinsale), and sons become their target.”

Here’s the trailer, direct from the good people at MSN

We got the first poster part-way through last month for Mark Wahlberg’s follow-up to his brilliant last film, The Fighter, and it was pretty awesome, coming a couple of weeks after the official trailer (which I’m personally avoiding, to stay spoiler-free, but you’re more than welcome to feast your eyes on it here).

The film’s second poster has now arrived, courtesy of IMP Awards, and it’s pretty damn good too. Largely in black and white, with the exception of the leading cast’s names, it focuses on the film’s lead, Wahlberg, and also gives us a great look at the main supporting cast of Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Ben Foster (The Messenger), and Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar).

And like the first poster, it features the film’s tagline, What would you hide to protect your family?

“Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best – running contraband – to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills.

Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Beckinsale), and sons become their target.”

Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur has taken the helm on this, with whom Wahlberg will be re-teaming for the upcoming adaptation of the graphic novel 2 Guns. The States will be getting this before us on 13^th January next year, but we won’t have much longer to wait to see it here, with a UK release date scheduled for 16^th March. Mark the date down in your diaries, because this should be awesome. Without further ado, here’s the new poster to enjoy.

Mark Wahlberg’s next film, Contraband, is definitely one to look forward to next year. I’m a big Wahlberg fan, so anything he’s in I know I’m going to love, and this project sounds like more brilliance from him.

The first trailer landed at the end of last month, and I’ve heard that it’s looking pretty damn awesome (this is one of those films I personally want to stay trailer-free from). And now, courtesy of IMP Awards, we can share with you the great first poster for the film.

Along with Wahlberg is a fantastic supporting cast, including Ben Foster, Kate Beckinsale, J.K. Simmons, and Giovanni Ribisi.

“Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best – running contraband – to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills.

Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Beckinsale), and sons become their target.”

Contraband is directed by Icelandic director, Baltasar Kormákur, who is also set to be directing Wahlberg in the upcoming adaptation of graphic novel, 2 Guns; clearly the two have enjoyed working together on this, which gives me all the reason to expect it’s going to be immense.

America are lucky enough to be getting this on 13th January next year, but we’ll have to wait a little longer for it, with the UK release date set as 16th March. It’s definitely going to be worth the wait though. Without further ado, here’s the great first poster for the film to enjoy. As usual, click to enlarge.

Universal Pictures has released the first official trailer for Contraband, a remake of the Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam.

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur (The Sea), Contraband stars Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Caleb Landry Jones, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons and Diego Luna.

Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best – running contraband – to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills.

Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Beckinsale), and sons become their target.

Contraband will be released in the U.K. on March 16, 2012.

Watch the trailer below:

Source: Yahoo!

In an interview with Leicester Square TV at the London Hong Kong Film Week, Infernal Affairs writer and director Alan Mak thinks that a second ‘The Departed’ movie could be on the way but no news yet as to whether Martin Scorsese would return to direct. Mak wrote the screenplay for the original movie, Infernal Affairs / Mou gaan dou on which The Departed is based.

In the interview, Mak admits he has been approached by some American companies to do a sequel to the 2006 movie which starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson, Ray Winstone, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin to name but a few! It came away with four Oscars at the 2007 awards ceremony which would explain why these American companies may be lining up for a sequel.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see but it sounds like it’s on the cards to happen. Check out the interview below in full and tell us your thoughts in the comments section.

It appears that Relativity’s remake of the 1989 comic The Crow is has come to a standstill. Up until now, Limitless’ Bradley Cooper was slated to play Eric Draven, a rock and roll guitarist who is brought back to life by a mysterious crow in order to avenge the brutal deaths of himself and his girlfriend Shelly Webster. However Cooper has a busy schedule as of late, and his prior commitments to Silver Linings Playboy and the poetic epic Paradise Lost, have rendered him unavailable for the role of Draven.

In my opinion this is more of a gain than a loss. Bradley Cooper may have put out some good films as of late, but I hardly think that he has the chops to pull off the semi-psychopathic role of Draven. But even with Cooper gone, things still don’t bode well for The Crow. It appears that Relativity is now considering actors Mark Wahlberg and Channing Tatum for the roles, both of which I believe to be some of the most ridiculous choices! Last time I checked, Eric Draven was about half the age of Mark Whalberg and unless they want a terrible franchise like GI Joe or Step Up, Channing Tatum isn’t their man either.

The role of Draven is a hard one to cast and even Brandon Lee couldn’t pull it off without coming off a little hokey at times. Have any of these people in Hollywood actually ever been to a concert? Unless you count Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, lead guitarists don’t have that Tatum or Wahlberg build. They need to be less muscular and a little more crazy. Just imagine Queen of the Damned’s Stuart Townsend but with a little more chops when it comes to acting. It seems that Relativity is trying to make this film more of a vehicle for a good looking buff guy instead of making something that holds to the integrity of the comic. And I know everybody seems to think this, but I tend to agree.. Johnny Depp would kill it as The Crow, as long as Tim isn’t there to ruin it.

However one thing the people over at Relativity did get right, is the choice of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo for the Director’s chair. Carlos already has had his fair share of good films with Intacto and 28 Weeks later, and his proclivity towards the horror genre makes him a perfect guy to bring Devil’s Night to life. Fresnadillo’s new horror flick Intruders is just finishing up with post and undoubtedly will give us an even closer look at the man’s capable hands. Hopefully Relativity gets their act together and surrounds him with the tools he needs to make The Crow succeed!

Mark Wahlberg, whose last outing The Fighter earned him his second Academy Award nomination, is currently in talks to star in an adaptation of Steven Grant’s graphic novel, 2 Guns, Variety report.

The Fighter’s director, David O. Russell, was originally to helm the project, but has recently exited to focus on his next film, The Silver Linings Playbook, which Wahlberg himself has left due to scheduling conflicts, to be replaced by Bradley Cooper.

As such, the film will hopefully have its lead in Wahlberg, but is now searching for a director. If talks with Wahlberg are successful, having his name attached to the project should  help it move forward and find Russell’s replacement.

Taken from Amazon’s US site, here’s a great description of the original graphic novel, which likely won’t change much in its adaptation:

“A pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it’s a great way to score — considering it’s a cover for mob money. They’ll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn’t know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn’t know is that Steadman’s a Naval Intelligence officer. They’re both cops! And neither one knows that they’re not robbing the mob, they’ve been set up to steal $50 million from the CIA! A light-hearted crime romp in the vein of Ocean’s Thirteen and The Italian Job from comics legend, Steven Grant!”

The remake of The Italian Job gets a lot of flack, but I personally thought that Wahlberg was great leading the film, and look forward to seeing him in a role with a similar feel. The script is being written by Blake Masters, who created and wrote TV’s Brotherhood and has recently been writing for Law & Order: Los Angeles, with Marc Platt producing, whose credits include Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and the upcoming Ryan Gosling-starrer, Drive.

Even though I would have loved Russell and Wahlberg to work on this project together, I’m glad it looks to still be moving ahead with the latter now in talks to star, and most likely produce alongside Platt. He’ll next be seen in Contraband, due out in March next year, opposite Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, and Giovanni Ribisi, and will then be leading Seth MacFarlane’s live-action feature debut, Ted, with Ribisi again, MacFarlane, and Mila Kunis.

The first season of Boardwalk Empire was released in America to rave reviews towards the end of last year, and I’d say there’s a good chance that it will do the same with its second season, which HBO have just released a new trailer for.

Whilst America got it in September, Sky’s new channel, Sky Atlantic, played it in the UK back in February this year, so whether we’ll be getting the new season with America in September or early next year awaits to be seen.

Unfortunately, I must confess that I lack the Sky capabilities to have watched the first season of Boardwalk Empire, and I really can’t wait for it to be released on DVD/Blu-Ray, because it looked fantastic.

Created by Terence Winter, writer and executive producer on HBO’s The Sopranos, the show also included Mark Wahlberg as one of its executive producers, and of course the little-known man Martin Scorsese, who directed the pilot episode. Costing almost $20m. to make just that first episode, the pilot became the most expensive first episode in television history, and after it had more than 7m. viewers on its first day’s broadcast, HBO immediately picked up the show for a second season.

It was recently announced that Boardwalk Empire has landed itself eighteen nominations at this year’s Emmy Awards, to go with it winning a Golden Globe for itself and leading man Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson at the start of the year.

Given that I’ve not seen the first season, watching the trailer for the second season takes things a little out of context for me, since I don’t know all the characters. But it thankfully doesn’t give much away, and just gives a nice taste of what to expect when the new season arrives. Everything seems to be focusing and closing in on Buscemi as Nucky, and it’s definitely something to look forward to. Without further ado, here is the new trailer.

Bradley Cooper really seems to be absolutely on top of his game in recent years, going from movie to movie with great success and no sign of slowing down. Now, Deadline report he’ll be replacing Mark Wahlberg in the upcoming adaptation of Matthew Quick’s first novel, The Silver Linings Playbook.

Wahlberg was to re-team with director David O. Russell for it, but scheduling conflicts mean he’s had to withdraw, and now Cooper is in talks to fill what’s shaping up to be another great role for him.

Like most people will know by now, Cooper really took off on the big screen back in 2009 starring in The Hangover. He played Face in last year’s The A-Team film, and has starred this year in two very successful films, Limitless and The Hangover: Part II, the former being really well received, especially concerning Cooper’s performance, and the latter being one of the year’s highest grossing films so far.

He’s been working recently on The Words, opposite Olivia Wilde, Dennis Quaid, Jeremy Irons, and John Hannah, and is currently filming The Place Beyond The Pines with Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes, which is a film to look forward to in 2013. And on top of that, he’s also going to be taking on one of literature’s most epic anti-heroes in Paradise Lost, based on Milton’s poem, playing Lucifer. We saw the first image for the film last week at Comic-Con, and it looked pretty sweet.

With 2011 being such a great year for Cooper, it looks like he’s going to have another few great years lined up for himself, which is excellent to see. As we heard at the end of last month, fellow young rising star Jennifer Lawrence, who played Mystique in this year’s X-Men: First Class and will be leading the upcoming adaptation of The Hunger Games, will be joining the cast of The Silver Linings Playbook as the female lead. And there’s also now talk of Robert De Niro, who worked with Cooper on Limitless, starring in the film as well.

“The Silver Linings Playbook revolves around a former high school teacher (Cooper) who was institutionalized for depression and then released into the care of his mother. He tries to win back his ex-wife but becomes involved with an eccentric neighbor (Lawrence) with problems of her own.”

Having such a great cast, with as brilliant a director as Russell attached, can only mean great things for this project. I must admit, I was looking forward to seeing Wahlberg and Russell working together again after their brilliant partnership on The Fighter, but I’m nonetheless really looking forward to this film. I’m a big fan of what Cooper’s worked on so far, and I’m interested to see the roles he’ll be taking on next. Both he and The Silver Linings Playbook definitely have a lot of potential working in their favour. We were able to get a great interview with Cooper for the release of Limitless on DVD/Blu-Ray this week, and it’s a really interesting read; you can just tell that this man is destined for even greater things.

Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) is in negotiations to take the lead female role in The Silver Linings Playbook, an able-bodied role that has attracted interest from such names as Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs), Andrea Riseborough (Made in Dagenham), Blake Lively (The Town) and Rachel McAdams (Morning Glory).

If the deal closes, Lawrence will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in the adaptation of Matthew Quick’s novel to be directed by David O. Russell (The Fighter).

The Silver Linings Playbook revolves around a former high school teacher (Wahlberg) who was institutionalized for depression and is then released into the care of his mother. He tries to win back his ex-wife but becomes involved with an eccentric neighbour (Lawrence) with problems of her own.

Filming is due to commence once production has wrapped on The Hunger Games, Gary Ross’s big screen take on Suzanne Collins young adult novel, which also stars Lawrence.

Source: Deadline

To celebrate The Fighter’s triumphant arrival on DVD and Blu-ray June 20, we’ve got three DVD copies to give away!

A powerful and uplifting drama, The Fighter tells the real life story of boxer ‘Irish’ Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg, The Departed) and his trainer brother Dick Eklund (Christian Bale, The Dark Knight), chronicling the brothers’ early days in the rough streets of Lowell, Massachusetts, through Eklund’s battle with drugs and Ward’s eventual world championship bout in London.

This inspirational underdog story has been described as Rocky meets The Blind Side meets The Departed and tells the motivating tale of two brothers who, against all the odds, come together to train for the historic title match that will unite their fractured family, redeem their pasts and at last, give their hard-luck town what it’s been waiting for: Pride.

Directed by Academy Award® Nominee David O. Russell (Three Kings), The Fighter won two Academy Awards® for Best Supporting Actor and Actress (Christian Bale, Melissa Leo), and nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams), Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. The film is the second highest grossing boxing film in the UK ahead of Million Dollar Baby and second only to Rocky Balboa.

Christian Bale and Melissa Leo (Frozen River) give knockout performances as Micky’s troubled older brother, Dicky Eklund and Ward’s mother. These roles have earned both Bale and Leo an Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and SAG for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Also starring in the film is Academy Award® Nominee Amy Adams (Doubt) who plays Mickey Ward’s girlfriend and future wife, Charlene.

For a fighting chance of winning a copy, all you have to do is correctly answer the following question using the form below:

Which actor won an Academy Award for best supporting actor for THE FIGHTER?

In what has to be one of the most unexpected pieces of movie news I’ve read in a while, Vulture are reporting that Mark Wahlberg is going to be starring alongside Justin Bieber in a film that they’ve pitched to Paramount. He didn’t give away too much in terms of details, but did say that the child singer is really excited to be doing it. (Naturally, the man is an utter legend.)

No directors, writers, or producers have been mentioned yet (though Wahlberg could well take on a producing role if he wanted to), but Wahlberg suggests that details may be coming our way soon. From what little he did give away, the film will see,

“a reluctant mentor in an inner-city environment.”

This is the kind of role that you just know Wahlberg would nail from start to finish. He’s been absolutely brilliant in everything he’s starred in to date, and he’s far away one of my favourite actors working at the moment. Before we see him and Bieber starring in anything together, we can look forward to seeing him next year in Contraband, alongside Kate Beckinsale, J.K. Simmons, and Ben Foster, as well as Seth MacFarlane’s feature debut, Ted, which sounds like it will be nothing short of genius.

I can say with no shame that I have not seen anything that Bieber has acted in already, so I must admit that my knowledge of his acting skills is fairly limited. In all honesty, I wouldn’t have expected much, but I have nothing but respect for Mark Wahlberg, so if he says that Bieber can act, then I trust him.

He also says in the interview that he is talking with David O. Russell about doing three projects together. Following the success of The Fighter, which won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, there’s been talk of doing a sequel of the Ward vs. Gatti fight trilogy that follows on from the film, so we can expect that to be one of the three projects.

He’s also set to star in the video game adaptation of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune with Russell at the helm, so that is likely the second of the three projects. As to what the third is, I’m not sure, but you can be sure that I will be keeping my ears pressed to the ground, because it was so clear that the pair worked so well together on The Fighter. Wahlberg also notes that the director’s been wanting to work with Britney Spears for a while now, and that she might surface in some way in one of the three projects they’re working on together.

J.K. Simmons (Up in the Air) has signed on to star in Contraband, the currently-in-production remake of Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam.

Simmons will star opposite Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Lukas Haas, Giovanni Ribisi, Diego Luna, Caleb Landry Jones, Robert Wahlberg and Jaqueline Fleming.

A security guard (Wahlberg) with financial troubles considers a return to his smuggling ways when an associate offers a potentially lucrative opportunity.

Baltasar Kormákur (The Sea) is directing from a script by Aaron Guzikowski.

Contraband will be released in the UK on March 16, 2012.

Source: AV Club

Good news for those of you who enjoyed The Fighter. The further adventures of Mickey and his wayward brother Dickey could be on the way in the near future.

Chatting to Mario Lopez (yes, that’s right – Saved by the Bell’s A.C Slater) during the red carpet ceremony at Sunday’s Oscar, Mark Wahlberg reveals  that number two is in the pipeline.

“Now we’re gonna talk about doing No. 2. We’re gonna do the Ward /Gatti trilogy and make it real.”

Not sure if the actor was just caught up in the excitement of the evening when he blurted out those plans, but considering the rich characters and drama the first film presented, the idea of revisiting that milieu would be quite an appealing proposition.

Wonder if David O. Russell (and indeed the rest of the original cast) would be keen to see a follow-up in the works?

Story via Extratv.warnerbros.com

Seth MacFarlane (the man who unleashed Peter Griffin on audiences around the world), is currently in pre-production with live-action feature, Ted. Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis are reported to be in final negotiations to appear, and now another name is in the mix.

Coming Soon has revealed that Giovanni Ribisi (last seen trying to drive those perky Na’vi out of their natural habitat) has joined the cast in the tale of a grown man who attempts to shed the everyday presence in his life of his favourite teddy bear from childhood.

This premise sounds like a cuddly reinterpretation of Drop Dead Fred (recently mentioned itself as a possible remake and vehicle for Russell Brand), although Family Guy creator MacFarlane must have cruder tricks up his sleeve, given his propensity for pushing the bad taste boundaries in his small screen work.

Christian Bale has been rightly praised for his work in the David O. Russell Oscar contender The Fighter, and with the BAFTAs and Oscars just around the corner a new TV spot has been released focusing on the work of the man Bale.

The actor is in good company for Russell’s film with Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Mark Wahlberg praising the Brit for his dedication to the role, which has helped the film become a critical and commercial success and perhaps he’ll have another statuette to take home in the next few weeks.

Not convinced? Here’s our review, and the clip is below for your consideration,

I would want to be nominated for an Oscar just sop that I could go along to this invite only do. All I have to do is create a masterpiece and then maybe I’ll get to get!

Yesterday, 152 of the men and women who have been nominated for an Academy Award at the 2011 ceremony were invited along to a lunch where they could meet and mingle with their counterparts. Get ready for a rather long list but some of those present included:

Jeff Bridges, Annette Bening, Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams, Michelle Williams, Javier Barden, Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Wahlberg, Lee Unkrich, Christopher Nolan, Aaron Sorkin… the list goes on and on!

This photo comes from The Sun but if you want to see a whole hose of others, head over to Getty where you can see preview versions.

Man I wish I was there!