For the follow-up to her award-winning directorial debut, Lady Bird (2017), actress-turned-filmmaker Greta Gerwig is adapting Louisa May Alcott's classic novels into a feature. The star cast is already swoon-worthy. Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet from Lady Bird return, and are joined by Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Emma Watson, and Florence Pugh.
The tale of four March sisters living in America after the Civil War has been retold, time and time again. Gerwig's young cast brings all the attention. Emma Watson plays the oldest sister Meg, Ronan is the tomboyish writer Jo, Eliza Scanlen is the sweet Beth, while Florence Pugh plays the youngest sister Amy.
Chalamet plays their friend (and wealthy neighbour) Laurie who falls for Jo. Streep is their great-aunt March, while Laura Dern is their mother, fondly called Marmee.
Have a look at the rest of the photos below:
Laura Dern
Chalamet and Pugh
Gerwig directing Streep who plays Aunt March
Ronan and Chalamet
Little Women releases in theatres on Christmas Day, December 25, 2019.
It’s June, you know what that means. It's time to roll out trailers for films releasing in the latter half of the year that could potentially have an awards presence. Hence, you’ll find Hollywood’s A-list Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Matt Damon all featured in the trailers for Suffragette, Bridge of Spies and The Martian respectively. The films below all come with good pedigree with award-winning and nominated directors, screenwriters, and actors showcasing their latest work.
The early struggle of the British women’s suffrage moment and their fight for equality is the focus of director Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane) and screenwriter Abi Morgan (The Hour). The mostly British cast, minus Meryl Streep, of Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai show how dangerous and brutal a fight the feminist movement had to have an equal voice. Streep, who plays British activist Emmeline Pankhurst, can be counted as an honorary Brit, after all, she did win her third Oscar for portraying the late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Come awards season, Suffragette could land potential nominations for best film and lead and supporting nominations for its actresses. The film releases in theatres on October 23, 2015.
James Marsh’s 2008 documentary Man on Wire on Phillippe Petit’s daring walk between the World Trade Towers already won the Best Documentary Oscar. Now, director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future) is retelling Petit’s story from his book, To Reach the Clouds. With Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit and Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, The Walk recreates his famous 1974 walk in breathtaking 3D and will be showcased on the large screen IMAX format. Best of all, the film gives Gordon-Levitt the chance to show off his French accent. The self-confessed Francophile has been a fluent French speaker for years. Take that, Bradley Cooper! The Walk, with Zemeckis’s previous Oscar and Golden Globe wins, might gain best film, director and lead actor nominations for Gordon-Levitt. It releases in theatres on October 2 and will have its premiere as it opens the New York Film Festival on September 25, 2015.
Based on writer Jon Krakauer’s (Into the Wild) book Into Thin Air, Everest details the 1996 fatal climb to Mount Everest. A strong ensemble cast of Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal take us throw the harrowing expedition which takes a turn for the worse once a severe snow storm hits. Directed by Baltasar Kormakur (2 Guns) and co-written by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and William Nicholson, Everest also features a score by Oscar-winning composer Dario Marianelli (Atonement). Lately, most true life stories get recognized for their screenplay and direction, Everest too could like be nominated for the same. I have a feeling it could also squeeze through the technical categories, especially for VFX, if all the superhero films don’t crowd it out. Everest releases in theatres on September 18, 2015.
This is collaboration number 124578 between director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks. No, not really, but the Spielberg-Hanks partnership goes way back to 1990 when they first worked together a little film called Joe Versus the Volcano. (Sidebar: This ‘little’ film is a gem, do watch it if you can.) Based on the true life story of the 1960 incident when an US spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace, Bridge of Spies is also adapted from the book of the same name by Giles Whittell. Co-starring Mark Rylance, Amy Adams and Alan Alda, this Spielberg-directed cold war thriller could land plenty of nominations during awards season. The prolific Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, have contributed to the screenplay and composer Thomas Newman could earn his 13th Oscar nomination for the score. Could the 13th time be the charm? Bridge of Spies releases in theaters on October 16, 2015.
We just saw Matt Damon play a stranded astronaut in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. He’s back to repeat the experience, this time on the red planet, Mars, closer to home. Directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator) and featuring a screenplay by Drew Godard (World War Z), The Martian is based on the popular novel by Andy Weir. The film costars Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Kate Mara and Chiwetel Ejiofor in this intense story of a man surviving and trying to find his way back to Earth. Damon could find himself once again competing for lead actor and this film, like Everest, will feature prominently in the technical categories like sound and VFX as well. The Martian releases in theaters on October 2, 2015.
These are just five of the many award hopefuls releasing in the second half of the year. What film are you most looking forward to?
Here's a first still from Disney's Into the Woods, the film adaptation of the stage musical featuring a star cast that will drag you to theatres next Christmas. Besides La Streep as The Witch who longs to be forever young, James Corden and Emily Blunt as the Baker and the Baker's Wife who long for a child, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince (I really like that he's referred to this way) and Johnny Depp as the Wolf. Changing up fairy tales is really in right now and if Disney can pull it off, they'll have another musical hit on their hands. Next up, I'm looking forward to how Depp changes his look as The Wolf.
In most parts of the world today, Mother's Day is celebrated. And as I'm sitting at home sick (having given my own mother the flu), I got to recalling some of my favorite films that feature great, moving and memorable mother-daughter relationships with her.
5. Brave - One of the few animated feature films that contains a solid relationship between a mother and daughter. In most animated feature films (see Disney films), the mother doesn't make past the first fifteen minutes. However, in Brave (co-directed by Brenda Chapman), headstrong Princess Merida and Queen Elinor learn to finally listen to each other and what they wish for their lives. In the end, like every fairy tale, all's well that ends well.
4. One True Thing - Meryl Streep, who excels in most mother's roles, plays the long-suffering wife and mother to a novelist husband (William Hurt) and her writer daughter Ellen (Renee Zellweger). In the film, Ellen comes to realized how unfairly she's treated her mother and comes to share a closer relationship as her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Keep the tissues handy as Streep, of course, absolutely brings it. And if you're still longing for some weepy films, check out Steel Magnolias or Terms of Endearment. Don't say I didn't warn you.
3. Freaky Friday (1976) and Freaky Friday (2003) - This is the ultimate mother-daughter movie. What could get a mother-daughter who don't see eye to eye than spending a day in each other's shoes? Literally! These two Disney films are classic entertainment with Jodie Foster and Lindsay Lohan (before her downfall) playing the daughters. But the newer version needs to be seen for Jamie Lee Curtis' absolutely fearless performance.
2. Stepmom - This one never fails to bring on the waterworks. And I always have an urge to sing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' afterwards. Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts are at their best when they become part of one big large happy family when Roberts marries into the family. The last scene is so good between the two women who each have fears and insecurities for their children. I can watch this film anytime.
1. Imitation of Life (1934) and Imitation of Life (1959) - My final recommendation features strong performances from the actresses in both films. Similar to the recent HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet, the films features lasting friendships between white widow, her black housekeeper and their heartbreaking relationships with their daughters. Watch these if you can.
The Iron Lady is the story of Britain's first female Prime Minister with eleven long years in office, Baroness Margaret Thatcher. The film shows Thatcher now as she is coping with the death of her husband, Denis and the diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
The best thing about this film is that Thatcher is played by Meryl Streep, actress extraordinaire, who literally becomes her with uncanny ability. But that is the only good feature about it. The film chooses to focus the story on Thatcher reminiscing and recollecting the major events and milestones of her life and career with late husband with whom she frequently chats. This is not a spoiler as it is revealed in the film's first five minutes.
As this is based on the life of Thatcher, we see her as young girl inspired by her father, a grocer and aspiring politician and later as a young woman trying to break into politics. She meets a businessman, Denis Thatcher, who supports her goals and later proposes marriage. She warns him that she won't be a typical housewife washing up the tea as her life must matter to something. To which he chides, that's why he's proposing. And so she becomes Mrs. Margaret Thatcher.
The Thatchers have two children, twins Mark and Carol and even when they are young, Margaret ascends in politics becoming MP and rising up in the Conservative Party. She even considers standing for Leader of the Party just to stir things up but instead is asked by fellow members to lead them. They ask to relax her image, tone down her voice and change her clothes and hair. There's a great line there when she says, "I may be persuaded to surrender the hat. The pearls, however, are absolutely non-negotiable."
Thatcher wins the vote of her Party and the people and makes her way to 10 Downing Street, the first female Prime Minister ever. There are flashbacks to the glory days of her career, standing up to the unions and her strict stand on the Falklands Islands that leads Britain to a naval battle against Argentina. But there are also the dark days where she doesn't budge from the harsh taxes that affect poor most severely and refuses to listen to her fellow Cabinet members on various issues. She believes what she believes in. As the years pass, Thatcher's popularity wanes and she fails to win the votes necessary to keep her post.
In the end, the film presents Thatcher as a solitary figure thinking of days past. She may not of a popular politician to most but it remains that she attained the highest post of power in Britain and held her own in a male-dominated world. She deserved more than what the movie alludes to. I was expecting much from the film than these vague assumptions. The film was nominated for two Oscars for Best Makeup and Best Actress and won for both categories. Most likely, the film will only be remembered for how much like Thatcher Meryl Streep looked and acted but not for the film's actual content.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd; Written by Abi Morgan; Cinematography by Elliot Davis; Edited by Justine Wright; Music by Thomas Newman
Additional Cast: Olivia Colman, Iain Glen, Anthony Head, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Nicholas Farrell, Richard E. Grant, Roger Allam.
So, Oscars 2012 are over and while many categories were what we thought they would be, a few managed to eke some surprises. It was so comforting to see Billy Crystal again after the debacle hosting of last year and hear the Oscar song medley, "It's a wonderful night for Oscar..." again. This year, it felt like all the categories kept rolling along smoothly with presenters giving out two awards each time. It was a well-organized show that didn't feel too overlong. While the first half of the show clearly belonged to Hugo, The Artist came back strong in the last half to pick the big awards of the night. I was delighted that Midnight in Paris won for Original Screenplay, my pick for best film of 2011. It was wonderful to see Rango and the animated short The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore win, I loved both of them the first time I saw them. Also, The Muppets won an Oscar for Best Song. Hopefully, this means more Muppet movies.
I thought the set pieces introducing each of the technical categories like sound, editing and music was very well done indeed. We do watch the Oscars for the big stars and the glamour quotient but it's mostly because of the hard work and dedication of a crew that film looks so good and it's nice to see them honored and have their moment in the spotlight too. Iran's Asgar Farhadi had a beautiful speech that proves that movies can provide a common voice to people across all cultures. When Ludovic Bource (a newcomer) won for Best Original Score for The Artist, he instantly went to shake the hands of the other nominees, Howard Shore and legend John Williams. Classy, classy move. You've just earned yourself another fan. And finally in the night's most pleasant surprises, Meryl Streep won over Viola Davis in the Best Actress category for The Iron Lady. A previous two-time winner, she had counted herself out for winning and she gave a great speech about maintaining friendships and thanking her longtime makeup artist who also won tonight. This proves why she really is the best actress ever. One last thought, let's have the "Scorsese" drinking game at every awards show, yeah? Even Marty approves!
(Photo: Access Hollywood)
Best Picture: The Artist
Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Actress in a Leading Role: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
(Photo: Guardian UK)
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Actress in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Animated Feature Film: Rango
(Photo: Essence)
Art Direction: Hugo, Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
Cinematography: Hugo, Robert Richardson
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Writing (Original Screenplay): Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
Film Editing: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Sound Editing: Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Sound Mixing: Hugo, Tom Fleischman and Jon Midgley
Costume Design: The Artist, Mark Bridges
Foreign Language Film: A Separation, Iran
Visual Effects: Hugo, Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
Makeup: The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Music (Original Score): Ludovic Bource, The Artist
Music (Original Song): Man or Muppet, The Muppets Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
Documentary Feature: Undefeated
Documentary Short Subject: Saving Face
Short Film Animated: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) held their 64th annual awards show this past Sunday. I really like their telecast, it's never live as it usually gets broadcast 2 hours later and there's no silliness present just awards handed out. Brilliant! This year, Stephen Fry was back as host with his superfluous compliments to the presenters and the winners too. The Artist won big with 7 awards and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy won for Best British film. Formula 1 racing documentary Senna also won big with wins in Best Documentary and Editing. And of course, Meryl Streep won for The Iron Lady for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. Martin Scorsese was also honored with the BAFTA's highest honor, the Fellowship award for his contribution to cinema. The final Harry Potter surprised even me with a lone win in the visual effects category. Finally!
Best Film
The Artist
Outstanding British Film
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
This poster edition is all about The Iron Lady. Apart from the first poster (which is very clever), the rest of them are made to look like defaced campaign posters. Ingenious marketing and for a moment you actually do believe it's Margaret Thatcher's face on them, not Meryl Streep. She really does step into every role she plays, doesn't she?
The new teaser is out for The Iron Lady, a biopic on the life of Margaret Thatcher played by the luminous Meryl Streep. As usual, La Streep completely fills herself into the character's shoes
The question now is, who will challenge Streep for her third Oscar next February? This next one is long overdue.
The pearls, the brooch, the hair! By Jove, she's done it again. Meryl Streep, showing us yet again why she is the queen of all actresses. Filming has already begun for The Iron Lady in London and the Guardian has released the first still of the movie that deals with the life of the former British Prime Minister being directed by Streep's former Mamma Mia helmer, Phyllida Lloyd.
It's the mother of all casting news!!! No, they haven't announced who's going to play the mother on How I Met Your Mother. But Meryl Streep will play Julia Roberts' mother in August: Osage County, a dark comedy based on a Broadway play. John Wells will be directing and Harvey Weinstein will be producing. This will be definitely worth watching.
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach G (that's what we'll call him as I can't keep typing his long last name all the time!) are back!! And this time they're hitting up Bangkok on their Hangover 2. That's what Todd Phillips has to say about the sequel on Empire Online. He promises more tigers and more mayhem. Oh, boy, there's so much trouble for the guys to get into in Bangkok. I can't wait.
One of my favorite actresses, Amy Adams, has decisions, decisions to make. She's considering three different roles. She could be starring in the Muppets Movie opposite Jason Segel. Or opposite Matt Damon in Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo. The story is about a man who, well, buys a zoo. The title is literal. Finally she may be thinking about joining Chris Pine in Welcome to People, being directed by Alex Kurtzman about a man whose father dies of cancer and learns that he kept a secret family. Adams would play the part of the half-sister.
More Olivia Wilde casting news. She'll play Justin Timberlake's mother in Andrew Niccols next project. No, really. The story takes place in a society where one stops aging at 25. That should explain everything, right? No, not really. Well, along with Olivia and Justin, Amanda Seyfriend and Cillian Murphy are also part of the cast as a rich heiress and a corrupt lawman, respectively. Maybe this was the mother of all casting news, no?
The Social Network wins the weekend box-office and so begin the start of the Facebook puns. Just you wait, this is will last all the way until Oscar weekend. Brace yourself.
