Movie News

Natalie Portman to Play Jackie Kennedy in New Biopic 0 1078

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Hot on the heels of her being in talks for the lead role in Alex Garland’s new sci-fi Annihilation, Natalie Portman has just taken the lead role in a new biopic all about former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Variety reports that Portman has taken on the challenging role in the biopic simply entitled Jackie, which rather than being an exploration of her whole life will instead focus on the first four days after her husband John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, telling of “a time when Jackie Kennedy becomes an icon but has lost everything.”

The film is set to be directed by Pablo Larrain, critically acclaimed for his unofficial Chilean trilogy consisting of Tony Manero, Post-Mortem and the Oscar-nominated ‘No’, starring Gael Garcia Bernal. It will also reunite Portman with Darren Aronofsky after their collaboration on Black Swan, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. It’s said the two were mightily impressed by Larrain’s Berlin Film Festival Jury Grand Prize winner The Club.

Over the years Kennedy has been portrayed by everyone from Rhoda Griffis in the 1992 film Love Field to Kat Steffens in Parkland to Minka Kelly in The Butler. But I’m sure Portman, Aronofsky and Larrain will be hoping that this is the definitive movie about that most notable of times the life of the beloved First Lady.

Jackie will start shooting at the end of this year, likely for a 2016 awards season release.

Source: Variety

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I'm a freelance film reviewer and blogger with over 10 years of experience writing for various different reputable online and print publications. In addition to my running, editing and writing for Thoughts On Film, I am also the film critic for The National, the newspaper that supports an independent Scotland, covering the weekly film releases, film festivals and film-related features. I have a passion for all types of cinema, and have a particular love for foreign language film, especially South Korean and Japanese cinema. Favourite films include The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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The Hulk Might Return in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ 0 1462

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As was the case with the first movie, far and away one of the most entertaining aspects of Avengers: Age of Ultron was Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk, who had a film-stealing fight scene with Iron Man that rivalled the end of Man of Steel in terms of city destruction.

The last time we saw The Hulk in Age of Ultron he was [SPOILER ALERT] in the Quinjet, which supposedly crashed and the man or beast hasn’t been seen by the rest of The Avengers, SHIELD or anyone else since. He probably jumped out and swam to Fiji, said Nick Fury. However, we may now have word about when we’ll next see him.

Now take this news with a grain of salt but Joblo is reporting that The Hulk will next appear in Thor: Ragnarok, the third solo movie for Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder. The plot of the film, which recently had Flight of the Conchords director Taiki Waititi attached, is currently under wraps but Joblo reports it amounts to, “nothing less than the Norse Apocalypse.” The Hulk would certainly be a welcome fighting partner, then!

If true, Ruffalo joins the already confirmed returnees Tom Hiddleston as trickster Loki – the last time we saw him he had [SPOILER ALERT!] faked his death and claimed the Asgard throne for himself – and Jaimie Alexander as Thor’s female ally Lady Sif.

Do you believe Ragnarok is when we’ll next see The Hulk? Is he a good fit for Thor’s solo storyline?

Thor: Ragnarok is currently scheduled for a October 27th, 2017 release.

Source: Joblo

Leonardo DiCaprio Producing Volkswagen Scandal Movie 0 1409

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Wow, talk about things moving fast in Hollywood!

It may have only been a few weeks since the scandal erupted around the Volkswagen fuel emissions cheating but there’s already a movie in the works. DiCaprio is on board to produce the film alongside Jennifer Davisson through his Appian Way company.

There’s no mention of stars, writer or director yet – one might assume that DiCaprio might star himself but he’s a known environmentalist who has produced these types of themed films before (the climate change documentary The 11th Hour chief among them) so it wouldn’t surprise me if he kept himself strictly as a producer for this one, too.

Paramount is the studio behind the movie, having nabbed the presumably sought-after rights to the upcoming book by Jack Ewing. Variety has the details on what it exposes:

“…The company placed illegal software in their clean diesel cars that could tell when a car was being tested for fuel emissions and would turn on the emissions control to cheat the test and meet EPA standards. During normal driving conditions, emission control software was shut off  — resulting in as much as 40 times more pollution than allowed by law. Volkswagen is currently facing up to $18 billion in fines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

If there’s one thing Hollywood loves it’s a true story and, more specifically, a controversial one. Getting this one made and out in the world will be crucial for it to feel relevant to audiences. DiCaprio being attached can’t exactly hurt its box office chances.

The actor will next be seen in the amazing-looking The Revenant.

Source: Variety