If you liked last year's My Cousin Rachel, you will be happy to hear that another of Daphne du Maurier's classic novels is getting a big screen adaptation to be led by Armie Hammer! Her gothic thriller REBECCA will be adapted by Ben Wheatley for Netflix!
Lily James will play a newly married young woman who, on arriving at
her husband’s imposing family estate on a bleak English coast, finds
herself battling the shadow of his dead first wife, the mysterious
Rebecca, whose legacy continues to haunt the house.
The 1940 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier won an Oscar for Best Film that year and also 11 nominations. Armie Hammer will play brooding Maxim de Winter who brings his second wife, and the narrator of the story, into his house.
CW'S NEW VICTORIAN SERIES
TO FOLLOW DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE'S DAUGHTERS
The book will be adapted into series over at CW
Speaking of Gothic things, CW will adapt Theodora Goss' fantasy novel THE STRANGE CASE OF THE ALCHEMIST DAUGHTER into a TV series. The story is set in Victorian London where two radically different young women – one the daughter of Dr. Jekyll; the other, Mr. Hyde – discover they’re half sisters when a series of gruesome murders appear connected to their deceased father. They unite with other unsung but remarkable daughters of famous literary figures to rise above societal norms and unearth the mystery of their origins. Part of The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series, the 2017 book was followed by European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman this year.
We have a bunch of delightful trailers for you, starting with the one for THE BOOKSHOP based on Penelope Fitzgerald's book! It is set in 1959,
Mike Newell is directing the movie!
Florence Green (Emily Mortimer), a free spirited widow, puts grief behind her and risks everything to open up a bookshop - the first such shop in the sleepy seaside town of Hardborough, England. Fighting damp, cold and considerable local apathy she struggles to establish herself but soon her fortunes change for the better. By exposing the narrow minded local townsfolk to the best literature of the day, she opens their eyes thereby causing a cultural awakening in a town which has not changed for centuries. Her activities bring her a kindred spirit and ally in the
The Bookshop has only been shown in Spain so far.
figure of Mr Brundish (Bill Nighy) who is himself sick of the town's stale atmosphere. But this mini social revolution soon brings her fierce enemies: she invites the hostility of the town's less prosperous shopkeepers and also crosses Mrs. Gamart (Patricia Clarkson)!
'THE GUERNSEY' TRAILER
FROM LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY IS HERE!
First trailer has also just been released for another adaptation THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY which is out this April starring Matthew Goode, Jessica Brown Findlay, Michiel
Michiel Huisman has become one of most popular romantic leads
Huisman, Glen Powell, Tom Courtenay, Penelope Wilton and Lily James.
A correspondence begins between Juliet Ashton and members of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY with them sharing their experiences of Nazi Occupied Guernsey. When an idea for a book
Matthew Goode in Guernsey movie
catches Juliet she goes to visit the island, making lifelong friends and taking life changing steps along the way. A beautiful story of love, friendship and the sadness of friends lost.
'THE BREAKER UPPERERS'
MAY WE BREAK UP FOR YOU?
There is also a rather hilarious trailer for New Zealand comedy THE BREAKER UPPERERS produced by Thor's Taika Waititi. Out in Australia this May, it follows two women who discovered they were being two-
The movie was produced by Thor Ragnarok's director
timed by the same man. Bitter and cynical, they became fast friends and formed THE BREAKER UPPERERS, a small time business breaking up couples for cash. Now they’re in their late 30s and business is booming, and
The film will be offered to distributors this year at Berlin
they keep their cynicism alive by not getting emotionally involved with anybody else. But when they run into an old victim, Mel (Madeleine Sami) develops a conscience and their friendship is put to the test.
First photos from some of the upcoming period set movies this Monday, starting with Stanley Tucci's FINAL PORTRAIT, a drama which he wrote and also directed, out in cinemas this August in UK and Germany. Geoffrey Rush plays Swiss painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti who, back in Paris, 1964, bumps into his old friend, the American critic, James Lord (Armie Hammer), and begs that he sits for a portrait because he has an interesting face. It'll just take a couple of days in his studio. Lord is flattered by the request and as the days go by and turn into weeks and weeks seemingly with no end in sight he realises his entire life has been hijacked by this erratic genius. The portrait continues to ebb and flow. Veering between frustration and joy, Lord ultimately sees logic in the artist's chaotic mind and together we witness a genius complete one of his last masterpieces.
1ST 'KEEPERS' PHOTOS
GERARD BUTLER THRILLER First photos have also been released for Gerard Butler's thriller
KEEPERS inspired by the Flannan Isle mystery. A small relief boat
approaches the Isle, a tiny isolated island 20 miles off a rugged coast.
Its aim is to routinely replace the three lighthouse keepers, after 6
weeks alone manning the light. It nears the dock and none of the men
greet them. The winch is broken. A call. Nothing. Experienced keepers
Thomas, James and Donald have vanished. The lamps are clean and
refilled; the table is laid for dinner. There is an upturned chair. Two
sets of yellow oilskins are missing. The men were never found. Peter
Mullan also stars.
1ST 'GUERNSEY' PICS WITH
MICHIEL HUISMAN & LILY JAMES
Two photos with Michiel Huisman and Lily James from the big screen adaptation of GUERNSEY are also here. Directed by Mike Newell it is the film version of Annie Barrows' Guernsey Potato Peel Pie and Literary Society that also stars Jessica Brown Findlay, Penelope Wilton, Glen Powell and Matthew Goode.
STORIES OF WORLD WAR 2 Lily James plays a writer who forms an unexpected bond with the
residents of Guernsey Island in the aftermath of World War II when she
decides to write a book about their experiences during the war.
Now if this isn't a superhunky series of cast additions to a movie I don't know what is: as 'Deadline' reports, three of our favourite Hollywood hunks have joined the long postponed big screen adaptation of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY and those are Glen Powell, whom you've recently seen in Hidden Figures, our beloved Dutchman Michiel Huisman, whom you adored in The Age of Adeline, alongside Matthew Goode, and two British ladies Penelope Wilton and Jessica Brown Findlay, who now join Lily James and Tom Courtenay in the adaptation of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows international best selling epistolary novel which has been sold in millions of copies in almost 40 countries around the world!
A WW2 STORY The lead role originally meant for Kate Winslet, back when Kenneth
Branagh was supposed to direct, now goes to Lily James portraying a
journalist Juliet Ashton who forms a bond with a secret book society
formed during German occupation of the Channel Islands during WWII. The
free spirited Ashton forms a life changing bond with the eccentric
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, when she decides to write
a book about the club. Mike Newell (Prince of Persia, Love in the time
of Cholera, Four Weddings and a Funeral) is directing!
'BLACK BUTTERFLY' TRAILER
JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS VS ANTONIO BANDERAS
Only a week ago I showed you a poster for the remake of French
thriller Papillon Noir by Herve Korian now titled BLACK BUTTERFLY and now we have the first, very thrilling, trailer as well.
Antonio Banderas plays Paul, a down on his luck screenwriter who picks
up a drifter (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and offers him a place to stay.
However, when the deranged stranger takes Paul hostage and forces him to
write, their unhinged relationship brings buried secrets to light.
Piper Perabo and Abel Ferrara also star in the movie which is out
sometime later this year.
Just three new movie posters for you today, two of which for Amy Adams' new movies. The first one is for her NOCTURNAL ANIMALS, a highly stylised drama thriller by Tom Ford, which also stars Armie Hammer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Aaron Johnson, Michael Sheen, Laura Linney, Michael Shannon and Amy's lookalike Isla Fisher!
She plays an art gallery owner who is haunted by her ex-husband's
novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a veiled threat and a
symbolic revenge tale. Recalling her first marriage she gets confronted
with some dark truths about herself.
NEW 'ARRIVAL' POSTER
WITH AMY ADAMS AND ALIENS
Also out beginning of November is her sf movie which also has a new poster ARRIVAL!
When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team, lead by expert linguist Louise Banks, are brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, the team races against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.
'THE EXCEPTION' POSTER
WITH JAI COURTNEY AND CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
You can also check out a new poster for Kaiser's Last Kiss also known as THE EXCEPTION in which Jai Courtney is a German soldier tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the home of Kaiser Wilhelm (Christopher Plummer) in Holland during the onset of World War II, but falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman (Lily James) during his investigation.
While the second season of BBC's super popular period set series POLDARK is airing on Sunday evenings, the third season is already shooting in UK and they have new cast additions: Harry Richardson and Tom York will play Demelza's (Eleanor Tomlinson) brothers, while Ellise Chappel will be her cousin.
Her cousin Morwenna will work as a governess at George Warleggan's
estate to help her sisters and her mother, but will find out that there
may be more important things in life than a sense of duty. Harry
Richardson, who was positively delightful this winter in Doctor Thorne,
is her brother Drake, a good natured free-spirit who is searching for
his own place in the world and is unwilling to settle for anything,
especially when it comes to his romantic life. Tom York, whom we watched
in SyFy's godawful crap of a show Olympusis Demelza's other brother
Sam, who wants to follow in his father's footsteps and spread the word
of the Methodists. Only, it may prove a little hard to stick by his
convictions when his own brother falls so easily into the way of
temptation.
FIRST 'THE EXCEPTION' CLIP
WITH CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, JAI COURTNEY, LILI JAMES
And in other news from the period set projects, check out the first clip from THE EXCEPTION (previously known as Kaiser's Last Kiss) with Christopher Plummer, Jai Courtney, Lily James and Janet McTeer! Depicting the evil German Kaiser Wilhelm II’s post-WWI exile in the Netherlandsthe movie sees Jai Courtney playing a German soldier who tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the
home of Kaiser Wilhelm in Holland during the onset of World War II, but
falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman during his investigation.
JAMES PUREFOY & ANEURIN BARNARD IN MOZART FILM We're continuing our period set projects weekend today with first pictures coming from some of the new period set movies we're anxiously awaiting to see in the future, beginning with first photos coming from INTERLUDE IN PRAGUE a directorial effort of John Stephenson who is known as the special effects supervisor in Babe, English Patient, 101 Dalmatians, The Flintstones and many other classics. This time he directs a story of Mozart starring James Purefoy and Aneurin Barnard.
MURDER AND SCANDAL Appropriately shot in the Czech capital this costume drama portrays a
few turbulent months in the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the famous
18th century composer. A love story and a tragedy of epic proportions
stars Aneurin Barnard (The White Queen, War & Peace)
as the composer at a time when has been brought to Prague by the vain
and self obsessed Baron Saloka. The evil aristocrat is played by James Purefoy, who himself isn't a stranger to costume drama having starred in Rome, Roots, Hollow Crown, Kamelot and many other period set series.
Morfydd Clark, who recently starred next to Cate Beckinsale in Love and Friendship
plays the beautiful soprano Zuzanna Luptak, who is betrothed to Saloka
but falls in love with Mozart. Saloka, a psychopath, sexual predator and
serial rapist, develops an overwhelming hatred that results in callous
brutality and murder. Les MiserablesSamantha Barks also stars.
FIRST 'THE EXCEPTION' PHOTOS
WITH CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, JAI COURTNEY, LILI JAMES
A few photos are also available from World War One epic drama previously known as The Kaiser's Last Kiss and now THE EXCEPTION in which Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer and Janet McTeer lead the cast of the adaptation of Alan Judd’s novel The Kaiser’s Last Kiss, about German Kaiser Wilhelm II’s post-WWI exile in the Netherlands.The young cast is lead by Spartacus' superstar Jai Courtney and War and Peace'sLily James.Ben Daniels and Eddie Marsan also star. Jai Courtney is a German soldier who tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the home of Kaiser Wilhelm in Holland during the onset of World War II, but falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman during his investigation.
'ALI AND NINO'
FIRST EPIC MOVIE PHOTOS A few photos have also arrived from another big screen adaptation of a beloved book ALI AND NINOby Kurban Said which was showed at Sundance and is awaiting it's theatrical release. Directed by Asif Kapadia and starring international stars Adam Bakri, Maria Valverde and Connie Nielsen, it follows ALI AND NINO upper class teenagers living in Azerbaijan just before the outbreak of World War I. He is Muslim, and she is Christian, but despite their cultural differences, they love each other and get married despite the disapproval of their parents. When Ali takes her to spend several months in Persia, she realizes how much her freedom is being constrained. The clash between East and West and between traditional Muslim life and the twentieth century independence of her upbringing is very striking. Then the Great War breaks out, and things take a turn for the worse.
Are you ready for the highlight of all epic television programmes this winter, the latest small screen adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's glorious novel WAR AND PEACE which will bring sweeping saga of the 19th century heroic imperial Russia to BBC One in six one hour episodes from Sunday January 3rd, produced by the Weinstein Company as BBC's most ambitious drama project to date? Lifetime, A&E Network and History will simultaneously broadcast the miniseries as four two hour episodes later from January 18th for the viewers in the United States of America. It will also air in Australia and many European countries.
SWEEPING 19TH CENTURY SAGA Based on one of the best, most influential, longest and most popular
novels in history which has been sold in almost 40 million copies to
date, WAR AND PEACE from famous Russian writing genius Leo Tolstoy the
mini series details Napoleon’s bloodthirsty and aggressive attack on
Eastern Europe and the impact the war has on five Russian aristocratic
families in the 1800s whose personal entanglements threaten to disrupt
their privileged world! Tolstoy’s expansive novel is also set against
the backdrop of the reign of Tzar Alexander I, the lingering effects of
his grandmother Catherine The Great’s rule and the events surrounding
Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812.
STARSTUDDED ENSEMBLE CAST!
Adapted by Andrew Davies, the man who reimagined 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Bleak House' and penned 'Mr Selfridge', and directed by Tom Harper, WAR AND PEACE will boast the mind blowingly star studded cast led by 'Cinderella' and 'Downton Abbey' star LilyJames as the romantic and impulsive Natasha Rostova, magnetic James Norton ('Grantchester', 'Life in Squares', 'Belle') as handsome and brave prince Andrei Bolkonsky, while Paul Dano ('12 Years a Slave', 'Little Miss Sunshine') will take the role of the socially awkward but noble Pierre Bezukhov. Prince Vassily Kuragin will be portrayed by StephenRea ('The Honourable Woman', 'The Crying Game'), Count Rostov is played by AdeEdmondson ('The Young Ones', 'Holby City') while Countess Rostov is played by GretaScacchi ('The Odyssey', 'Emma')! Charismatic star Jack Lowden ('Passing Bells') will appear as Nikolai Rostov Natasha's brave Hussar brother, while 'The Musketeers' star TomBurke will be psychopathic Dolokhov! Prince Bolkonsky will be portrayed by legendary 'Moulin Rouge' and 'Harry Potter' star Jim Broadbent!
Anna Pavlovna will be played by 'The X Files' star Gillian Anderson! 'White Queen' star Aneurin Barnard is social climber Boris Drubetskoy Nikolai's best friend, while Brian Cox will appear as General Kutuzov!
Now, do I have a visual treat for you! Exquisitely interesting character posters have been released for all the major heroes from epic action PRIDE & PREJUDICE & ZOMBIES which puts a delightful spin on Jane Austen's story finally making it bearable to watch :) These new posters include a rather stellar cast of the movie among others Douglas Booth as Mr. Bingley, Sam Riley as Mr. Darcy, Suki Waterhouse as Kitty Bennet, JackHuston as Mr. Wickham, Lena Headey as Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Matt Smith as Mr. Collins and Lily James in the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet. Charles Dance also appears in the movie!
FEAR THE SORRY STRICKEN Based on Seth Grahame Smith's novel, and ready to bring the
'sorry stricken' AKA Austenian zombies to the big screens February 5th,
PRIDE & PREJUDICE & ZOMBIES sees a mysterious plague
fallen upon 19th century England, so the land is overrun with the undead
and feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is a master of martial arts and
weaponry. Casting aside personal and social prejudices, Elizabeth and
Mr. Darcy must unite on the blood-soaked battlefield to rid the country
of the zombie menace and discover their true love for one another.
'KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS'
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, CHARLIZE THERON AND RALPH FIENNES LEND VOICES
Poster and a trailer have also been revealed for new animated adventure coming from Laika Studios KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS about kindhearted Kubo (Art Parkinson) who tells stories to the people of his seaside town. But his quiet existence is shattered when he accidentally summons a spirit from his past which storms down from the heavens to enforce an age-old vendetta.
Now on the run with Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (MatthewMcConaughey), he sets out on a quest to save his family and solve the mystery of his fallen father, the greatest samurai warrior the world has ever known. With the help of his magical musical instrument Kubo must battle gods and monsters, including the vengeful Moon King (Ralph Fiennes) and the evil twin Sisters (Rooney Mara) to unlock the secret of his legacy, reunite his family and fulfil his heroic destiny.
