All that we’ve seen so far from James McTeigue’s upcoming thriller, The Raven, has been very promising, most recently with the new trailer at the end of last year. Directed by McTeigue, whose credits include the brilliant V For Vendetta, the cast is led by John Cusack in the lead role of renowned poet Edgar Allen Poe, with a supporting cast that includes Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and co-written by Hannah Shakespeare and Ben Livingston.

The first teaser posters that surfaced last year were both absolutely stunning, and this new poster, courtesy of EW via FirstShowing, features Cusack front and centre and departs a little from the earlier artwork, but is just as excellent.

“In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta,Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.”

Originally scheduled for a 9^th March release in the US, Relativity have since pushed it back to 27^th April, which some have suggested indicates a lack of faith in the film, but I don’t think that’s necessarily true. If you take a look at the other releases that weekend in the States, you’ll see that Disney’s blockbuster John Carter is coming out, and putting The Raven up against a film like that wouldn’t really be sensible. The audiences might not be quite the same, but the more niche market for The Raven will probably be torn between the two, and a film like John Carter probably has the bigger appeal, if only because it’s full of 3D special effects.

Pushing it back to 27^th April should make for a more stable opening, without the same level of competition. That weekend sees the release of The Five-Year Engagement and Safe, which should be less competition for The Raven to find its feet.

The UK release date was originally scheduled for 9^th March too, and there’s no word yet on whether or not it will keep that slot and open before it does in America or get pushed back too. John Carter is opening here on 9^th March as well, so if that is the reasoning for the move, then it’s quite possible that we’ll have to wait until April to see it here too. Importantly, however, we’re getting The Avengers on 27^th April (whereas the States get it a week later), so it could well be that we’ll have it here on a different weekend to the US; hopefully we’ll get it earlier rather than later, because this looks like something to look forward to. Without further ado, here’s the new poster for your viewing pleasure.

A new trailer has appeared online for John McTeigue’s film The Raven which takes a fictional swipe at the last days of poet of the night (not ‘of the night’ in a prostitute way, not nocturnal, you know what I mean) Edgar Allan Poe, and it’s rather nice.

John Cusack beards up and takes on a serial killer who is taking inspiration from Poe’s work, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson​ and Oliver Jackson-Cohen star alongside him.

My Movies had this one, the film is out on the 9th of March next year. Will this be a Guy Ritchie style rendering of this literary force? I’m rather looking forward to it, you?

When it was announced that James McTeigue had cast John Cusack in the role of Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven eyebrows were raised and expectations gamely followed.

A fictionalised account of the author’s involvement in a police investigation of a serial killer using his work as inspiration seemed like a novel concept and some moody first look images flitted from the set giving the impression that this would be a suitably dark cinematic outing for the man who puts the ‘Poe’ in Poet.

Now that we’ve got a first look at the trailer it seems Relativity Media have served up a unique Edgar A Poe (where the ‘A’ stands for ACKSHUN) and it cannot be a coincidence that this looks very similar to Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films.

Neither a hideously overburdened bandwagon, nor a particularly bad move and there are some nicely grisly moments in amongst the shouting and there’s a hint of Sleepy Hollow in the mix too. It’ll be interesting to see if Clive Owen is cast as Chuck Dickens: Workhouse Liberator in the next year or so.

The movie stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson​ and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, directed by James McTeigue and is out in the States on March of next year with a UK date to be announced.

We got our first official look at John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe in the upcoming The Raven back in June, and he looked pretty fantastic.

We then got an utterly stunning first poster for the film a month later, followed by a great batch of images, and then a second follow-up poster that was yet another brilliant work of art.

Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), and written by Hannah Shakespeare (Loverboy) and newcomer Ben Livingstone, the film is led by John Cusack and also stars Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Our first look at Alice Eve as the female lead in the film came with the batch of images back in July, and we’ve now got our first hi-res look at her courtesy of Bloody Disgusting. Rest assured, though, the picture is far from bloody disgusting, showing Eve fit for a ball at the seat of a (forte)piano.

“In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta,Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.”

That synopsis sounds like an awesome premise for a film to me, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. McTeigue is a fantastic director with so much potential, and it will be interesting to see his take on a period thriller like this. Everything we’ve seen from the movie so far shows a lot of promise, and I have every expectation that it will live up to its prospects and then some.

The Raven currently has a 9th March release date in the States next year, and though there’s no word on a UK release date yet, hopefully it’s just a matter of time before one comes through. With any luck, we won’t have to wait much/any longer after the US gets it until it arrives in our cinemas. Without further ado, here’s the lovely new image of Alice Eve. As usual, click to enlarge.

If you thought the first teaser poster for James McTeigue’s forthcoming movie The Raven was eye-catching, just wait until you see this latest one: the striking second teaser pares the design back to just the silhouette of a raven set against a scarlet background, with an ominous line of blood running down to the title and tagline. I don’t know about you but on the basis of this poster alone I’m suddenly rather intrigued by this film.

Set in 1849 and starring John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven follows the famous author as he works alongside a Baltimore detective (played by Luke Evans) to track down a serial killer inspired by his work. It’s an interesting premise, and if the film can live up to the frankly quite stunning design work that’s gone into its promotional materials thus far, we’re in for a treat when it reaches cinemas next year.

(via Latino Review)

John Cusack (Being John Malkovich) and Nicolas Cage (Kick-Ass) are in talks to star in The Frozen Ground.

Set to be written and directed by relative newcomer Scott Walker, The Frozen Ground is based on true events surrounding Alaska’s most notorious serial predator, Robert Hansen.

Emmett Furla Films, Amber Entertainment and Envision Entertainment will co-produce, while Voltage will handle international sales.

Cusack will next be seen in The Raven, while Cage is finishing up production on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

Source: Deadline

James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) is currently at Comic-Con in San Diego, drumming up support for his latest thriller The Raven, the poster for which we brought you only yesterday. That poster seems to very much have a style all its own and has raised considerable interest from me, where little previously existed. Aaron Ryder, production head at FilmNation Entertainment, is seemingly so pleased with McTeigue’s work on The Raven that he is also producing his next outing, “Message From The King”:-

“After working with James on The Raven and then seeing a cut of the film, it was very clear to us that we needed to make his next movie.”

Message From The King, from a script by Oliver Butcher (Dr Jekyll & Ms Hyde, Unknown) and Stephen Cornwell (Killing Streets and, erm, Unknown as well) tells of Jacob King, an “enigmatic outsider”, come to LA to look into the sudden disappearance of his sister. Are outsiders always enigmatic? Is every disappearance sudden. We need answers people.

In the meantime, it looks as though filming will kick off much later in the year, with FilmNation distributing and no-one as yet on board to star. No doubt that will change soon, especially if The Raven is well received.

Source: Deadline

Relativity Media have released a couple of new images for their new movie, The Raven which is showing this weekend during Comic-Con which is currently taking place in San Diego. The movie stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen and it’s directed by James McTeigue.

In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta,Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.

The Raven gets its release 9th March in the US (not UK release date as yet).

Click the images below to enlarge.

Relativity Media have released the rather awesome first poster for The Raven ahead of the screenings which are taking place this weekend during Comic-Con. The movie stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen and it’s directed by James McTeigue.

In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta,Ninja Assassin), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.

The Raven gets its release 9th March in the US (not UK release date as yet).

I really love this poster. Taking the title of the movie to new levels making it a work of art rather than just someone’s face.Good work Relativity!

Click the images below to enlarge.

Source: Rope of Silicon

It’s been a while since we’ve seen or heard anything from the set of John McTeigue’s next, The Raven, and frankly this first look at John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe is only a step above the very first pics which leaked from the set and is nothing like as atmospheric as this beauty from last December.

Entertainment Weekly have published the first official picture from the production and it shows the poet striding with full determination down a street, and is it just me or is there more than a hint of Mr Cage in his face?

Anyhoo, the film tells the fictionalised tale of the poet’s final days as he joins a local detective who is hunting a serial killer who claims to be inspired by his poems. I love the idea, Cusack is more than capable of turning up the eerie and as long as the script is up to scratch they have all the makings of a fine thriller. Trailer please.

Here’s the Poe/Cusack/Cage pic,

With thanks to Johnny ComingSoon for making the noise about this one.

John Cusack continues his trend of juggling the more serious pictures with lighter fare with news from Variety that he is set to headline a “screwball comedy of manners” called Dictablanda (Soft Dictator).

The Hot Tub Time Machine star is also producing the flick through his company, and has co-written the script with Kevin Morris and Paul Hipp.

Little is revealed about the film itself, but is has a tagline (People don’t die, they get killed) and its being shot on location in Buenos Aires and Argentina during March and April. Could it be some kind of comedic counterpart to The Expendables?

The actor will be next seen in two features which fall into the aforementioned “serious” category – Edgar Allan Poe biopic, The Raven, and the Mikael Hafstrom (his director on 1408) period drama, Shanghai.

We have been able to bring you a few on set snaps of the John Cusack-starring film The Raven, which tells a fictionalised tale of the final period of Edgar Allan Poe’s life, in which he tries to catch a serial killer whose murders mirror those of Poe’s poems and stories. Some of the pictures have been of iffy quality, but Cusack certainly looks the part.

Today, we have news via Deadline that the film, which is currently said to be in post-production, has been bought up by Relativity Media, who will now handle distribution in the US. The film has been financed so far by Intrepid Pictures. There is no word yet on a distribution deal outside the US.

We can only hope for an advertising campaign that does not feature the words, “featuring the star of 2012 and Hot Tub Time Machine” and will instead emphasise Cusack’s more interesting work in Grosse Pointe Blank, The Grifters, Identity, City Hall and Being John Malkovich.

We also have another on set shot, via Cusack’s Twitter account, which shows an atmospheric shot of a misty woodland setting, slightly spoiled by a director’s chair and two bottles of mineral water. You can see it below, or here on Cusack’s own site.

Almost exactly a month ago we got our first look at John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in John McTeigue’s The Raven, and while an on set pic of the man looking a little bored is all fine and well we’ve now got a far better look Cusack with the titular bird.

The Huffington Post had the pic, which is complemented below by another from Cusack’s twitter account and he certainly looks the part. The film is termed a psychological thriller based around the mysterious last days of Poe and a serial killer inspired by his works.

Here’s the first pic,

And a few hours ago John Cusack tweeted this picture of himself in suitably gloomy circumstances,

There was a definite raising of eyebrows and the quiet murmur of moderate intrigue when the announcement was made that John Cusack was to play Edgar Allan Poe in James McTeigue’s The Raven, and today we get our first look at the man and the facial hair.

Looking far more like Poe than my appalling Photoshopped version this picture was snapped while Cusack wandered the streets between takes. Eagle-eyed readers will spot that not all of his costume is entirely authentic, yet Cusack looks quite the Poe-t.

The Raven tells the story of the hunt for a serial killer who takes inspiration from the works of one E.A.P. and the man himself joins the investigation.

Here’s the pic,

Gawker (via STYD)

2012 was an odd film in more ways than one. Chief amongst the mysteries is how exactly they persuaded John Cusack to star in a film which was one part hokum, twenty eights parts CG showreel.

Following his trip back to the future in Hot Tub Time Machine he took a part in Mikael Håfström’s Shanghai and now we’ve learned what the next direction his unpredictable career trajectory will take. To Baltimore, to don the moustache of one Edgar Allan Poe in John McTeigue’s The Raven.

A little bird told us (via ComingSoon who have a handy interview with McTeigue about the project here) that Cusack would be journeying into the abyss, the crux of which is a serial killer mystery with the poet helping to solve a series of murders ‘inspired’ by his poems.

The name of Ewan McGregor has been wafting around this one as had M:I 4′s latest recruit Jeremy Renner, who, it was supposed, would play Poe.

When Renner’s name was linked to The Raven I mocked up this picture, which is every bit as scary as the tales told by E.A. Poe.

Excusing the terrible Photoshopping he looked pretty convincing as the man himself. Now that Cusack is attached to the project I had to allow him the same courtesy and thus we get this…

Looking like an inebriated Gene Hackman on a night out dressed as Charlie Chaplin I’m sure he’ll look far better when McTeigue’s camera roll later this year.

As District 9 illustrated last year, it’s an exciting time for young, technically gifted film-makers to use short films/test reels as a way of showcasing their talents and nabbing that highly sought-after Hollywood feature deal.

I remember seeing an impressive short called The Raven (embedded below) by filmmaker Ricardo de Montreuil a few months back and thinking then that it would only be a matter of time before I’d hear from him again.

Well, here the news!

Latino Review has just confirmed that Mark Wahlberg is in talks to produce and take the leading role in the feature-length version at Universal. Montreuil is still on board as director and up-and-coming scribe Justin Marks will pen the script.

This is extremely encouraging news and proves that studios are not only willing to sit up and take notice of fresh and untested talent, but that they are also happy to offer them the opportunity to director, and not just hand the reins over to some seasoned, bankable director.

This follows the recent saga of Carl Erik Rinsch’s Parallel Lines short The Gift being picked up, check out all the news on that film here.

And if you’ve not seen The Raven be sure to check it out now in HD.

As reported by Adam Lowes.

Fellow film blogger Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net has conducted an insightful interview with Wachowski Brothers’ protege, James McTeigue. As well as answering questions about Ninja Assassin and why he opted for CG blood, he talks about his first film V for Vendetta, his upcoming project The Raven, a bit about his filmmaking background, but most interestingly about his thoughts on his proposed Superman movie.

McTeigue states that he would want to make substantial changes to the traditional Superman mythology in order to update the character so he can exist in modern society. After the disappointment that was Superman Returns, all the legal problems between the various owners of the Superman property, and Diane Nelson (head of newly formed DC Entertainment) announcing that any proposed Superman films are currently on hold, things are not looking too good for The Man of Steel.

All legal issues aside, I do believe that the biggest problem Superman faces is that he is a hero that just does not seem relevant in today’s world. That is why I fully support McTeigue’s ideas of re-imagining the Superman mythos if he gets the chance to.

Watch the interview here.

Ninja Assassin goes on general release on November 25th in the USA, but unfortunately folks in the UK must wait until January 8th 2010 to see McTeigue’s ninja film.