"Amazing Grace, the drama about British parliamentarian William Wilberforce (portrayed by Ioan Gruffudd) and his campaign to abolish the slave trade, has scored a distribution deal on the eve of its world premiere."
Orlando Bloom has turned-down David Hasselhoff's request that he play his son in the 2008 film version of Knight Rider. Good boy, Orlando! (although me thinks the camp factor of a KF movie could be exquisite...) From Digital Spy.
Apparently, tapes from the highly anticipated BBC series, Robin Hood, were stolen recently. Actually, I think Robin Hood would have approved, as long as the tapes were forwarded to the poor (people like me who don't subscribe to the pricey cable package that includes BBC America.) I rather like the looks of this series by the way. Robin (played by newcomer Jonas Armstrong) and Maid Marian (Lucy Griffiths) are both young and good-looking. I'm picturing the O.C. meets Sherwood Forest. -- Amy
Looks like James Gandolfini has the manly man roles covered. Although he'll soon kiss mob boss Tony Soprano goodbye, he's set to play writer Ernest Hemingway in a new HBO movie about the author's tempestuous relationship with WWII correspondent Martha Gellhorn (played by Robin Wright Penn). Gellhorn became his third wife shortly before he published "For Whom the Bell Tolls," but she pretty much loathed the guy by the time their marriage fell apart. I love me my Tony Soprano and I suppose he's practiced in playing an asshole womanizer, but I'm still a little skeptical . I'll reserve judgment until I see it. -- Amy
Earlier this week we reported that the BBC is remaking Bram Stoker's Dracula. Now we're getting a glimpse of Tyntesfield, the "full-blooded Gothic-Revival extravaganza, richly decorated with naturalistic stone carving" where some scenes from the adaptation are to be filmed. --Kim
Nick Nolte joins the cast of the Mysteries of Pittsburgh adaptation, which as we previously reported, includes Sienna Miller (yawn), Peter Saarsgaard, Mena Suvari, and Jon Forster. Wonder what trouble Nolte will get into during the making of this film which may or may not actually be filmed in Pittsburgh. I thought about it, but I just couldn't post the poor guy's mug shot. --Kim
Nicki posted today about the anniversary of the exquisite Merchant Ivory adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Room with a View. It truly is an incredible movie and I have to watch it and re-read the book no less than once a year. (The novel is on my list of life-changing reads.) There are so many achingly wonderful moments and the chemistry between Julian Sands and Helena Bonham Carter is off the charts. But, here's some news for you: Andrew Davies is following up his success with Bleak House by adapting A Room with a View for ITV. I'm looking forward to watching it (and can't wait to find out who he will cast), but know it will never take the place of the Merchant Ivory production. --Kim
The Yorkshire Post reports that "Dr. Who's former assistant Billie Piper is to star in a remake of Mansfield Park to be filmed at Newby Hall in North Yorkshire." The adaptation will premiere on ITV in 2007. --Kim
Angels in America's Mary-Louise Parker (also of Fried Green Tomatoes, The Portrait of a Lady, Weeds, and, famously, Billy Crudup's jilted ex) is filming a T.V. movie adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride, which will be shown on the Oxygen network. IMDB also reveals that the Counting Crows song "Butterfly in Reverse" was written for MLP. --Kim
The BBC will once again adapt Bram Stoker's Dracula for television. The 1977 version featured Louis Jourdan while the new adaptation will star Marc Warren, Rafe Spall (the upcoming Wide Sargasso Sea), and Sophia Myles (Underworld: Evolution, Tristan + Isolde, Art School Confidential) . --Kim
221b Baker Street: The address of fictitious detective Sherlock Holmes.
In order to prevent any more bashing from the media, director M. Night "Cry Me a River" Shyamalan says he's considered not including his name on his next film, an adaptation of Yann Martel's The Life of Pi. (As if he could really keep his involvement on this highly anticipated project on the down-low?) The best-selling book recounts the survival tale of an Indian boy and a dangerous Bengal tiger, both trapped on a small lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Considering Shyamalan has a penchant for waxing philosophical in his films, I'm guessing he'll do a good job with this. I loved the book, which I read while snowed in for several days in Cincinnati a few Christmases ago. I was thrilled to have this book to pass the time. -- Amy
An innovative film adaptation of Dante's Inferno uses paper cut-outs and live action puppetry to tell the tale of one man's descent into the bowels of hell...on earth. Dermot Mulroney and James Cromwell provide the voices for the sojourner, Dante, and his mullet-sporting guide, Virgil. Unlike the standard levels of hell recounted in Dante Alighieri's epic work, the film leads Dante on a path that showcases other horrors: the Department of Homeland Security, sewage filled rivers, Satanic car dealerships and grisley gated communities. Punishment for the condemned includes having to dance to techno music for all of eternity. (Isn't that enough to convert anyone?) View the trailer here. -- Amy
An early review of "Miss Potter" at Ain't It Cool News gives the Zellweger/MacGregor flick mixed reviews, saying "it isn't terrible by any means," and commending the performances, but claiming it relies too much on some of the same film devices we saw in the J.M. Barrie biopic, "Finding Neverland." Take it with a grain of salt, considering the reviewer goes by the name "Bean Dip." -- Amy
I feel like we're due for another "Leo in period costume" film. The closest we may get anytime soon is seeing him play a young Teddy Roosevelt in next year's The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the book by Edmund Morris. He'll also supposedly play a part in the adaptation of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, a series of short stories detailing how people are often forced to make snap decisions in the blink of an eye. (Syriana writer/director Steven Gaghan directs that one.) Leo's also set to play Peter Chancellor in Robert Ludlum's The Chancellor Manuscript, about an author who gets tangled up in Washington politics and a blackmail plot to alter U.S. policy.
Last night I watched the rollicking 1998 BBC adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's St. Ives. It was actually one Amy and I should've viewed together because it was very silly and campy and we like that (see: Poldark). And it co-stars Richard E. Grant, whom we also adore (see: The Scarlet Pimpernel), as a bumbling British officer who looks to his French prisoner Captain Jacques de Keroual de Saint-Yves (oh how I love a man in a Napoleon-era uniform) for advice on how to woo women. Miranda Richardson gives a fine comedic performance as the spirited Miss Susan Emily Gilcrist. There's also plenty of sword fighting and a masquerade ball if you need further enticement.--Kim
Eva Green and Nicole Kidman will star in the adaptation of Pillip Pullman's The Golden Compass while Helena Bonham Carter is now officially attached to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Kidman will, naturally, be playing the other wicked Mrs. Coulter in TGC, which is the first in the highly-anticipated His Dark Materials trilogy. --Kim
