In Focus

March 2006

This article reprinted by permission of the
National Association of Theatre Owners, © 2006.
Kudos Edition!

The Oscars were distributed March 5, so this month's edition of Next! looks at what's in store for this year's acting nominees.

by Patrick Corcoran
BEST ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman. For his embodiment of the title character in “Capote,” Hoffman is said to be this year’s “best actor” frontrunner. “Mission: Impossible 3” which stands an excellent chance of emerging as the actor’s biggest grosser since 1996’s “Twister,” marks the feature directorial debut of screenwriter J.J. Abrams (“Armageddon,” “Joy Ride”), the “Lost” creator who reportedly got the “MI:3” gig because Tom Cruise liked the first two seasons of the Abrams-masterminded “Alias” TV series. The screenplay by Abrams and Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (“The Island,” “The Legend of Zorro”) brings back Cruise (“War of the Worlds”) and Ving Rhames (“Dawn of the Dead”) and draws in franchise newcomers Hoffman, Michelle Monaghan (“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”), Keri Russell (“The Upside of Anger”), Laurence Fishburne (“Assault on Precinct 13”), Maggie Q (“Around the World in 80 Days”), Billy Crudup (“Stage Beauty”) and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (“Match Point”). Paramountbelieves a May 5 release is extremely possible.
“Strangers With Candy” is a comedy, based on the 1999 Comedy Central TV series, about a dorky grown-up who returns to her high school after 30 years of hard living as a drop-out. Paul Dinello, who directed episodes of the series, makes his feature directorial debut. Stephen Colbert (TV's “The Daily Show”), Amy Sedaris (TV's “Exit 57”) and Dinello (TV's “Exit 57”), who all scripted episodes of the series, contribute the movie's screenplay. Actors reprising their TV roles include Sedaris (“Stay”), Colbert (“Snow Day”), Dinello (“Plump Fiction”), David Pasquesi (“Return to Me”), Deborah Rush (“American Wedding”), Maria Thayer (“Storytelling”), Sarah Thyre and Greg Holliman (“A Family Thing”). Newcomers to the franchise include Hoffman, Sarah Jessica Parker (“The Family Stone”), Matthew Broderick (“The Producers: The Movie Musical”), Dan Hedaya (“Swimfan”), Allison Janney (“The Chumscrubber”), Kristen Johnson (“Austin Powers in Goldmember”), Callie Thorne (“Analyze That”), Justin Theroux (“The Baxter”), Jonah Bobo (“Zathura”), Joseph Cross (“Running with Scissors”), Ryan Donowho (“A Home at the End of the World”), Alixis Dziena (“Wonderland”), Billy Erb (“Phone Booth”), Tom Guiry (“Mystic River”), Chris Pratt (TV's “Everwood”), Chandra Wilson (“Head of State”), Hechter Ubarry (“Major Payne”) and Ian Holm (“The Aviator”). ThinkFilm plans to enroll it in cinemas this summer.

Heath Ledger. Ledger segues from a difficult relationship in “Brokeback Mountain” to another fraught with complications in “Candy,” a darkly comic Australian drama about a pair of heroin addicts in love. It’s based on the novel by Neil Armfield, who directed from a screenplay by Armfield and Luke Davies. Ledger, Geoffrey Rush (“Munich”), Abbie Cornish (“The Monkey’s Mask”), Damon Herriman (“House of Wax”), Garry McDonald (“Rabbit-Proof Fence”), Tom Budge and Noni Hazlehurst co-star. Producer Renaissance films is seeking U.S. distribution.
Terrence Howard. Howard’s work in the urban drama “Hustle & Flow” as a pimp looking to break out as a rap performer is being hailed as a star-making performance by the 37-year-old acting vet. His next, “Idlewild,” is a musical, set in the American South during prohibition, about a pair of speakeasy performers who must fend off the gangsters eying their club as a takeover target. Covered last month, it’s due from Universal later this year.

“Awake” is a drama, written and directed by Joby Harold, about a man who finds himself paralyzed but aware during his own heart surgery as drama unfolds around both him and his wife. Howard’s co-stars include Hayden Christensen (“Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith”), Jessica Alba (“Into the Blue”), Trent Ford (“The Island”), Lena Olin (“Casanova”), Sam Robards (“Catch that Kid”) and Sigourney Weaver (“Imaginary Heroes”). Weinstein has yet to set the alarm for a release date.
David Strathaim.

Hot off his acclaimed turn as iconic TV newsman Edward R. Murrow in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” Strathairn turns his attentions to supporting Gretchen Mol’s portrayal of a less mainstream icon in “The Notorious Bettie Page.” The drama about famed ’50s pin-up Bettie Page is due April 14 from Picturehouse. Learn more about it in this issue’s preview section.

“Sensation Of Sight” is a drama, written and directed by Aaron Wiederspahn, about an English teacher in mid-life crisis who begins selling encyclopedias to the town locals. Strathairn’s co-stars
include Ian Somerhalder (“The Rules of Attraction,” “Pulse”), Daniel Gillies (“Bride and Prejudice”), Jane Adams (“Last Holiday”), Ann Cusack (“America’s Sweethearts”), Adam LeFevre (“Hitch”), Scott Wilson (“Pearl Harbor”) and Elizabeth Waterston (“The Prince & Me”). It lacks a domestic distributor.

“Heavens Fall” is a drama, set in the 1930s and based on a true story of the segregated South, about two white women who accuse nine young black men of rape. Written and directed by Terry Green, it stars Strathairn, Leelee Sobieski (“Wicker Man”), Timothy Hutton (“Kinsey”), Azure Skye (“Red Dragon”), Bill Sage (“Glitter”), Anthony Mackie (“Freedomland”) and James Tolkan (“Boiling Point”). It has yet to secure a domestic distributor.
Screen Actors
Guild Awards

Lead Actor
Philip Seymour

Lead Actress
Reese Witherspoon

Supporting Actress
Rachel Weisz

Supporting Actor
Paul Giamatti		 Joaquin Phoenix. At press time, Phoenix had not quite revealed how he would follow up his Oscar-nominated turn as Johnny Cash in “Walk The Line.”

BEST ACTRESS

Reese Witherspoon. The “best actress” frontrunner walks the line to her next project, “Penelope,” a contemporary fairy tale about a woman born with a pig-face who attempts to find true love and end her life-long curse. Mark Palansky makes his feature directorial debut from a screenplay by Leslie Caveny (TV’s “Everybody Loves Raymond”). Christina Ricci (“Cursed”) stars as the porcine-complected girl opposite Hayden Christiansen (“Awake”) and James McAvoy (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”). Witherspoon is producing the film in addition to taking a supporting role. Filming began in January.

Judi Dench. “Mrs. Henderson Presents” star Dench plays James Bond’s boss M for the fifth time in “Casino Royale,” which pits 007 against a casino-owning terrorist. Martin Campbell (“GoldenEye,” The Mask of Zorro”) directs from a
screenplay by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade (“The World Is Not Enough,” “Die Another Day,” “Johnny English”). Daniel Craig (“Munich”) takes over the Bond role in the Nov. 17 Sony release.
Dench also co-stars in Fox Searchlight’s “Notes on a Scandal,” a drama about a teacher who throws her life into turmoil when she starts an affair with one of her students. Based on the novel by Zoe Heller (“Everything You Know”), it was directed by Richard Eyre (“Iris,” “Stage Beauty”) from a screenplay by Patrick Marber (“Closer,” “Asylum”). Dench’s co-stars include Cate Blanchett (“The Aviator”) and Bill Nighy (“Underworld: Evolution”).
Keira Knightley. Dench’s “Pride & Prejudice” co-star, who turns 21 a few weeks after this year’s Oscar ceremony, appears next in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”

Knightley is also said to be attached to “Silk,” a romantic drama, set in 1860s France and Japan, about a married silkworm merchant who falls for a mogul’s daughter during his first visit to the Far East. The Picturehouse project is expected to be directed by Francois Girard (“32 Short Films About Glen Gould”) from a screenplay by Alessandro Baricco (“The Legend of 1900”).
Felicity Huffman. “Transamerica’s” Huffman has announced no concrete big-screens plans, as she continues to busy herself with a popular TV series titled “Desperate Housewives.”

Charlize Theron. The “North Country” star is said to be interested in at least two projects in pre-production. “The Ice at the Bottom of the World” is a Picturehouse drama about a ship captain trying to reconnect with his family after he is diagnosed with cancer. Kimberly Pierce (“Boys Don’t Cry”) is attached to direct from a screenplay by Mark Richard.

“The Brazilian Job,” Paramount’s proposed sequel to 2003’s “The Italian Job,” would reteam Theron with Mark Wahlberg (“Four Brothers”), Jason Stratham (“The Pink Panther”), Seth Green (“Be Cool”), Mos Def (“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” “16 Blocks”) and director F. Gary Gray (“Be Cool”). David Twohy (“Imposter,” “Below,” “The Chronicles of Riddick”) is said to have drafted a screenplay for the project.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Rachel Weisz. Weisz, who picked up her first Oscar nomination for assaying doomed activist Tessa Quayle in “The Constant Gardener,” next appears opposite Hugh Jackman in the epic time-hopping Warner Bros. sci-fi drama “The Fountain,” discussed at length in last month’s Next!
Amy Adams. Relative unknown Adams may actually be better known than the film for which she is nominated. “Junebug,” in which she played pregnant, barefoot Ashley, took in only $2.6 million in its August theatrical release, but it was certainly noticed by the people who bestow awards. The actress, who made her debut in 1997’s “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” appears next in what’s now being called “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” but we’re still partial to “Untitled Will Ferrell NASCAR.” The car-racing comedy reunites the “Anchorman” team of writer-director Adam McKay, writer-actor Will Ferrell and actor David Koechner (“Yours, Mine and Ours”). Adams’ other co-stars include Gary Cole (“Cry Wolf”) as Reese Bobby and Leslie Bibb as Carley Bobby, as well as John C. Reilly (“Dark Water”), Sacha Baron Cohen (HBO’s “Da Ali G Show”), singer Elvis Costello (“De-Lovely”), Andy Richter (“New York Minute”) and Michael Clarke Duncan (“The Island”). Sony is on track for an Aug. 4 release.
Catherine Keener & Frances McDormand.

Keener’s turn as novelist Harper Lee in “Capote” brought glowing notices. The same is true of McDormand’s work as iron miner Glory in “North Country.” The two new Oscar nominees are coincidentally teamed for the first time in “Friends With Money,” a comedy-drama about a thirtysomething single woman (Jennifer Aniston) whose three best friends are married and much wealthier than she. There’s more on the April 7 Sony Pictures Classics release in this month’s preview.
Michelle Williams.

The former “Dawson’s Creek” star made her mark on the big screen this year as one of the cowboy wives left behind to wonder in “Brokeback Mountain.” Up next for Williams is “The Hawk Is Dying,” which finds Paul Giamatti (“Cinderella Man”) playing an auto upholsterer whose only passion is training a red-tailed hawk. Julian Goldberger (“Trans”) directs from his own screenplay, based on the novel by Harry Crews (“A Feast of Snakes”). Michael Pitt (“Last Days”), Ann Wedgeworth (“The Whole Wide World”), Robert Wisdom (“Ray”) and Matthew Stanton co-star. A Sundance festival entry, it has yet to secure a domestic distributor.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Paul Giamatti. In addition to his collaboration with Williams, Giamatti – himself Oscar-nominated this year for “Cinderella Man” – lends his talents to two Warner Bros. projects due this summer. M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy thriller “Lady in the Water,” covered in last month’s Next!, emerges July 21. John A. Davis’ animated comedy “Ant Bully,” discussed in October’s Next!, burrows into cinemas two weeks later.
Giamatti also turns up as a 19th-century Austrian police inspector in “The Illusionist,” based on the short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Steven Millhauser (“Martin Dressler”). The tale of a stage magician out to rescue his first love from an engagement to an unsavory crown prince, the indie was written and directed by Neil Burger (“Interview With The Assassin”) and stars Edward Norton (“Kingdom of Heaven”) as the magic man, Rufus Sewell (“Tristan & Isolde”) as the royal, and Jessica Biel (“Elizabethtown”) as the would-be betrothed. Details of the 2006 project’s distribution have yet to be conjured.

William Hurt. Receiving his first Oscar nomination in 18 years for “A History of Violence,” Hurt returns May 5 with ThinkFilm’s “The King,” a drama about a young man’s traumatic reacquaintance with his Baptist-preacher father following his return from Navy service. James Marsh (“Wisconsin Death Trip”) directs from a screenplay by Marsh and Milo Addica (“Monster’s Ball,” “Birth”). Hurt’s co-stars include Gael Garcia Bernal (“Bad Education”), Laura Harring (“The Punisher”), Pell James (“Broken Flowers”) and Paul Dano (“Taking Lives”).

“Beautiful Ohio” is a drama, set in 1973 Ohio, about a peace-activist father who discovers his teen math-genius son is involved in a homosexual relationship. It’s based on the short story “Batorsag & Szerelem” from the anthology “The Palace Thief” by Ethan Canin. (Another story from that collection, “The Palace Thief,” formed the basis of 2002’s “The Emperor’s Club”). Actor Chad Lowe (“Unfaithful”) makes his feature directorial debut from a screenplay by Canin. Hurt’s co-stars include David Call (“The Notorious Bettie Page”), Michelle Trachtenberg (“Ice Princess”), Rita Wilson (“The Chumscrubber”), Julianna Margulies (“Ghost Ship”), and Brett Davern. The film is currently seeking a relationship with a distributor.

“The Good Shepherd” is an epic drama, set over 40 years, about the history of the Central Intelligence Agency – as told through the eyes of a counter-espionage expert who was recruited out of Yale at the onset of World War II by the U.S. Office of Strategic Service. Robert De Niro (“A Bronx Tale”) directs from a screenplay by Eric Roth (“The Insider,” “Ali,” “Munich”). De Niro (“Hide and Seek”) stars with Hurt, Matt Damon (“Syriana”), Angelina Jolie (“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”), Joe Pesci (“Lethal Weapon 4”), Tammy Blanchard (“Stealing Harvard”), Michael Gambon (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”), John Turturro (“Secret Window”), Alec Baldwin (“Fun With Dick and Jane”), Timothy Hutton (“Kinsey,” “Heavens Fall”), and Billy Crudup (“Stage Beauty”). Universal expects audiences to flock Dec. 22.

George Clooney. Oscar-nominated this year for (among other things) his portrayal of veteran CIA operative Bob Barnes in “Syriana,” Clooney reteams with “Out of Sight”-”Solaris”-”Ocean’s 11”-”Ocean’s 12” director Stephen Soderbergh (“Full Frontal”) for the period Warner Bros. thriller “The Good German.” Set in postwar Berlin, the screenplay by Paul Attanasio (“Sum of All Fears”) follows an American journalist searching for his former mistress when he is drawn into a murder mystery. Clooney’s co-stars include Tobey Maguire (the “Spider-Man” series), Cate Blanchett (“Notes on a Scandal”), Leland Orser (“Twisted”), Jack Thompson (“Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones”), Robin Weigert (HBO’s “Deadwood”) and Beau Bridges (“The Ballad of Jack and Rose”).

Matt Dillon. Nominated for his work as Ryan, the racist patrolman in “Crash,” Dillon gets another chance to demonstrate his acting chops in “Factotum.” The drama – about a man who makes his living at odd jobs, so as not to interfere with his pursuit of women, drinking and gambling – was adapted from the novel by Charles Bukowski (“Barfly”). Bret Hamer (“Kitchen Stories”) directs from a screenplay by Hamer and Jim Stark. Dillon’s co-stars include Marisa Tomei (“Alfie”), Adrienne Shelley (“Sleep With Me”), Karen Young (“Joe The King”), Lili Taylor (“Casa de los Babys,” “The Notorious Bettie Page”), and Fisher Stevens (“Anything Else”). Picturehouse has yet to reschedule its original Feb. 24 release date.

Jake Gyllenhaal. The other half of “Brokeback’s” cowboy couple, Gyllenhaal signs on next to “Zodiac.” It’s the true story of the hunt for the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer – never captured – who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area between 1966 and 1978, taunted local law enforcement and claimed to have murdered more than 37 people. It’s based on the 1986 and 2002 books by San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith, who tracked the killer through his reign. David Fincher (“Seven,” “Fight Club,” “Panic Room”) directs from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (“Basic,” “The Rundown”). Gyllenhaal stars as Graysmith, with Mark Ruffalo (“Rumor Has It”) as the lead detective, Anthony Edwards (“The Forgotten”) as his aging partner, Gary Oldman (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”) as a local attorney receiving missives from the killer and Robert Downey, Jr. (“Good Night, and Good Luck,” “The Shaggy Dog,” “Lucky You”) as an investigating reporter. Warner Bros. has given no clues to a release date.

This article reprinted by permission of the National Association of Theatre Owners, © 2006.

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