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This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother.

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Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.

In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).

Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.

Actor often cast in sleazy, raunchy roles

Susan Tyrrell, who has died aged 67, had all the makings of a cult movie star. Husky-voiced and eccentric, she was a dissipated flower child, somewhat resembling an underground Shirley MacLaine. No wonder she was cast in outrageous roles in Bad (1976) and Cry-Baby (1990), which gained her fans among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Tyrrell (pronounced Tie-rell), who liked to be called SuSu, was attracted to the bizarre. "I find beauty in the grotesque," she once said, "and in the sweet soul inside someone who has been able to get through their life without being a rat's ass. Such people should be collected, should be swept up immediately and kept in a box of broken people."

One of the broken people she portrayed so vividly was Oma, the pathetic, drunken barfly in John Huston's Fat City (1972), for which she was nominated for an Oscar.

William A. Fraker was a leading cinematographer in films from the late 1960s, photographing such films as Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and the 1977’s Exorcist II: The Heretic. He earned six Academy Award nominations during his career for his work on Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), the fantasy classic Heaven Can Wait (1978) starring Warren Beatty, Steven Spielberg’s 1941 (1979), WarGames (1983), and Murphy’s Romance (1985).

Fraker was born in Los Angeles on September 29, 1923 and served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II. He studied at the USC School of Cinema and worked as a photographer’s assistant. He began working as a camera operator for television in the early 1960s. He served as a cinematographer for the obscure television production The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (a.k.a. The Haunted) (1964) for director Joseph Stefano, and for Leslie Steven’s off-beat, Esperanto-language horror film Incubus (1965) starring William Shatner.

There's a sometimes thin line between hyperbole and fact. During the European Film Market event in Berlin, Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me was apparently so violent that dozens of people walked out of the press screening in disgust. Okay. Sign us up!

Winterbottom recently spoke out on the matter as per The Hollywood Reporter:

"A lot of noir books and films show violence as something which is entertaining," Winterbottom told reporters at a press conference dominated by questions about the on-screen violence.

"What I liked about Jim Thompson's books is that, though very much in the pulp fiction genre, he doesn't use the violence as entertainment -- there is something shocking about the violence. For me that was the point of the violence in the film in a way -- it is something very repulsive. In terms of how we depicted it, we were just trying to...

Walk-outs and boos as The Killer Inside Me is shown at Berlin film festival

The British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom today defended scenes that portray extreme violence against women in his latest film, saying that he felt the need to stay true to the pulp fiction novel on which it is based.

The Killer Inside Me, an adaptation of the 1952 novel by Jim Thompson that Stanley Kubrick famously described as "probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I've ever encountered", depicts brutal scenes of rough sex and murder.

One scene sees the main character, deputy sheriff Lou Ford – played by Casey Affleck – bludgeon his prostitute girlfriend (Jessica Alba) almost to death until her face is unrecognisable, while later another woman (Kate Hudson) is punched repeatedly. She chokes to death as her killer and lover slips on her urine.

The attacks, accompanied by the music of...

Berlin -- British director Michael Winterbottom has defended graphic scenes of violence in his latest movie, "The Killer Inside Me," which prompted dozens of people to walk out of a press screening in disgust.

The movie, starring a U.S. cast of Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson, had already caused a stir when it was shown at the Sundance festival last month, and it is now in competition at Berlin, where it premieres Friday.

"The Killer Inside Me" is based on a pulp fiction novel by Jim Thompson, which Winterbottom said left a deep impression on him when he read it.

The most explicit violence comes early on in the movie when Affleck's character, the respected yet creepy deputy sheriff Lou Ford, decides to beat his prostitute girlfriend Joyce (Alba) to death in order to frame an old enemy and take his money.

Little is left to the...

Last month, we reported that IFC Films had picked up the Us distribution rights for The Killer Inside Me , the new thriller based on Jim Thompson.s pulp novel directed by Michael Winterbottom. The movie stars Casey Affleck as the murderous small-town Texas sheriff Lou Ford, and features an all-star cast with Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Simon Baker, Bill Pullman, Ned Beatty and Elias Koteas. When screened at Sundance, the film sparked a string of controversy due to its explicit violent, sexual content and now it's garnered a similar response at the Berlin Film Festival causing members of the audience to walk out during press screenings. Director Winterbottom defended the film during a press conference this week. "For me that was the point of the violence in the film in a...

IFC Films picked up the controversial new Michael Winterbottom film, The Killer Inside Me, at Sundance. It's based on the graphic Jim Thompson novel (not a Jim Thompson graphic novel), and stars the Alba, the Hudson, and Casey Affleck, featured here in a brand new poster from Kinpoisk (by way of Imp Awards):

Click to see the entire poster

Sex, violence, it's all there, often intermingling. Not in the poster, but it's in the book and from the Sundance reaction, it's safe to say it's prominently featured in the film as well. I'm curious to see what IFC does with this one. The appeal is probably limited, but not as much as Antichrist, which the company acquired after Cannes last May. That film didn't enjoy a lot of financial success in theaters and also had what appeared to be a less-than-well-oiled VOD campaign, too.

Hopefully, the name recognition of...

There’s no need to explain one’s excitement over Martin Scorcese’s Shutter Island (starring Leonardo DiCaprio), which opens this Friday. It’s Marty f’n Scorcese, after all, dabbling in psychological terror for the first time since 1991’s Cape Fear remake. If the film’s credits weren’t enough, both of its trailers are knockouts. If Shutter Island doesn’t open at number one this weekend, I’ll be stunned.

“Stunned” is also the reaction I’m hoping the film itself triggers. The catch on this end, though, is that Shutter Island is something of a cinematic Holy Grail for me, thanks to my intense adoration for Dennis Lehane’s original novel. The Boston-based author’s book, first published in 2003, kicked my ass into a quick submission two years ago, when I first read the thing in a one ferocious six-hour sitting. Devoured it, actually. Became invested to...

The 60th Berlin film festival opens today with the first ever screening of Maoist epic Apart Together, but most eyes are already focused on towards tomorrow evening's premiere of Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer

China took centre stage at the 60th Berlin film festival this morning, as the event opened with the world premiere of Apart Together, a Maoist epic about a group of ex-soldiers from the National People's party. The film is directed by Wang Quan'an, a previous winner of Berlin's Golden Bear award for his 2007 drama Tuya's Marriage.

Tomorrow, however, sees the grand unveiling of Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer, a political saga that stars Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan. Based on the book by Robert Harris, the tale concerns a disgraced former British prime minister and has been read as a thinly veiled attack on Tony Blair. Polanski, still under house arrest at a chalet in Switzerland,...

The audience at the Sundance Film Festival got comfortable indoors to watch "The Killer Inside Me," but soon found themselves shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

Michael Winterbottom's latest film centers on West Texas deputy sheriff Lou Ford (Affleck) who's revealed to be a psychotic killer.

The adaptation of the Jim Thompson noir novel from 1952 does not spare the viewers from seeing both Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson's characters getting brutally beaten in detail by the sheriff. The scenes were so unsettling, The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Business blog described it: "It's ultra-real, excruciating to watch and, in some viewers' minds, inexcusable."

It appears that "Killer" has raised the debate again about violence in film, whether or not it is necessary or just glorified.

Other Sundance snippets:

 - Artist Banksy wasn't to be seen for the screening of his movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop," but his guerrilla art installations...

As much as we may hate and fear them when they're on the local news, in the movies we love our serial killers and psychopaths, men-- they're almost always men-- hiding in plain sight with placid features and mild demeanors, coming out at night to kill and destroy. When The Killer Inside Me was written as a novel by Jim Thompson in 1952, it might have seemed shocking to spend time inside the mind of a guy who gets a sexual kick out of beating women with a belt before punching them in the face. But in 2010, in a film directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Casey Affleck, it's yet another disturbing and painful descent into a sociopath's mind-- both shocking and overly familiar. Affleck plays nicely with his young looks and soft voice to become Lou Ford, the small-town Texas sheriff's deputy engaged to a sweet local girl (Kate Hudson...

Sundance-bound and tired of flipping through each film individually on the schedule? Staying comfortably home, but don't want to be left out of the conversation about the indies likely to dominate the discussion for the next year? Well, we've got a guide for you.

We've put together the ultimate cheat sheet to this year's Sundance Film Festival. Although it's useful as a preview to the 113 features this year's fest (every title links to its respective Sundance page), consider it a living, breathing document with Facebook and Twitter links to follow filmmakers and our own Matt Singer (@mattsinger) and Alison Willmore (@alisonwillmore) as they negotiate the snowy slopes and occasionally treacherous festivalgoing experience that Park City has to offer, not to mention our constantly updated Sundance home page.

Sections: [Spotlight] [Next] [U.S. Dramatic Competition] [U.S. Documentary Competition] [World Cinema Dramatic Competition] [World Cinema Documentary Competition] [New Frontier] [Park City at Midnight]

Sundance Premieres

"Abel" (IMDb)

The Cast: José María Yazpik, Karina Gidi, Carlos Aragon, Christopher Ruiz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruiz-Esparza

Director: Diego Luna

The Gist:...

From Ryan Reynolds getting 'Buried' to a film about John Lennon's childhood, there's a lot to look forward to.

By Larry Carroll

Ryan Reynolds in "Buried"

Photo: Versus Entertainment

Forget Christmas, Thanksgiving and Arbor Day — everybody knows that for true movie lovers, the most important holiday season of all kicks off this week. That's right, folks, it's time once again for the Sundance Film Festival — and you can bet the MTV Movies team will be in Park City, Utah, in full force, bringing you the latest from the snowy slopes and screening rooms.

But you'd never go to the supermarket without a shopping list, and you can't enter Robert Redford's movie paradise without an idea of what movies you need to target. With that in mind, here's a sneak peek at 10 films — and potential instant classics — we have in our crosshairs:

"Buried"

Ryan Reynolds, trapped in...

The Berlinale announced the rest of its competition slate for next month's 60th annual festival, with Noah Baumbach's comedy Greenberg (starring Ben Stiller) arriving for its world premiere. This comes in addition to previously announced selections including Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer; other high-profile films announced today for the competition line-up include Sundance premieres The Killer Inside Me, Please Give and The Kids Are All Right along with the world premiere of Thomas Vinterberg's latest, Submarino. [indieWIRE]...

Well, if I knew how to count this would be 25 more films for my 2010 preview of 50 select upcoming films. However, my first day of previews was actually only 24 films, which means today you are getting one bonus preview. I know, it's exciting, calm down. We'll get through this together as long as we maintain a support system of you've got my back and I've got yours.

So, if you missed the first 24 films in my 2010 preview you can click here to check those out or wait until the end of this post where I have linked to it once again as well as all my other previews for each individual studio. And without any further delay or bothersome words from me I give you 26 more films to keep an eye on in 2010.

Kick-Ass April 16, 2010 Aaron Johnson in Kick-Ass

Photo: Lionsgate Get More Info Starring: Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage,...

Mother and Child

Opens: 2010

Cast: Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington

Director: Rodrigo Garcia

Summary: A tale of a mother and daughter, separated at birth, who struggle with the damage done by the most important person missing in their lives while a young African-Americn woman deals with an unwanted pregnancy and the adoption process.

Analysis: Scoring rave reviews in Toronto, the $7 million latest effort of Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives," "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her") once again shows off his skill at weaving multiple narratives together in clever and unexpected ways. At its heart it's an emotional family drama, but Garcia excels with his female characters which makes the involvement of Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington and especially Annette Benning thrilling.

The few criticisms levelled at the film were toward some pacing and credibility issues in the last act, but otherwise praised it for not...

Case 39

Opens: January 1st 2010

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, Ian McShane, Bradley Cooper, Kerry O'Malley

Director: Christian Alvart

Summary: A family services social worker thinks she has seen it all until she meets her newest, most mysterious case - a troubled 10-year old girl whose parents try to kill her. The social worker decides to take her in herself until the right foster family comes along.

Analysis: Despite the presence of promising German director Christian Alvart ("Pandorum"), 'Case' has sat on a shelf since late 2006 and is finally being quietly shuffled out this year for one very good reason - it stinks. Having opened in Australia a few months back, reviewers utterly savaged the film as both incredibly dumb and utterly ludicrous. Lead star Renee Zellweger also scored personal criticism to a level rarely seen in film reviews outside of comments about Nicole Kidman's 'more alien than the...

Case 39

Opens: January 1st 2010

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, Ian McShane, Bradley Cooper, Kerry O'Malley

Director: Christian Alvart

Summary: A family services social worker thinks she has seen it all until she meets her newest, most mysterious case - a troubled 10-year old girl whose parents try to kill her. The social worker decides to take her in herself until the right foster family comes along.

Analysis: Despite the presence of promising German director Christian Alvart ("Pandorum"), 'Case' has sat on a shelf since late 2006 and is finally being quietly shuffled out this year for one very good reason - it stinks. Having opened in Australia a few months back, reviewers utterly savaged the film as both incredibly dumb and utterly ludicrous. Lead star Renee Zellweger also scored personal criticism to a level rarely seen in film reviews outside of comments about Nicole Kidman's 'more alien than the...

After such success with this last year, today comes the first in a multi-chapter look at the various cinematic releases hitting the U.S. in 2010.

Each 'Volume' contains brief descriptions and editorial opinion/analysis of around 25-30 films, and at present it's looking to run around nine volumes in length.

Expect the remaining ones to go up between now and the first official weekend of releases on January 8th.

13

Opens: 2010

Cast: Jason Statham, Alexander Skarsgard, Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, 50 Cent

Director: Géla Babluani

Summary: A remake of 2005 French thriller "13 (Tzameti)". A naive young man assumes a dead man's identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men.

Analysis: Remakes are very common, the same director remaking his own film in English is rarer but still not unheard of ("Funny Games," "Bangkok Dangerous," "The...

After such success with this last year, today comes the first in a multi-chapter look at the various cinematic releases hitting the U.S. in 2010.

Each 'Volume' contains brief descriptions and editorial opinion/analysis of around 25-30 films, and at present it's looking to run around nine volumes in length.

Expect the remaining ones to go up between now and the first official weekend of releases on January 8th.

13

Opens: 2010

Cast: Jason Statham, Alexander Skarsgard, Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, 50 Cent

Director: Géla Babluani

Summary: A remake of 2005 French thriller "13 (Tzameti)". A naive young man assumes a dead man's identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men.

Analysis: Remakes are very common, the same director remaking his own film in English is rarer but still not unheard of ("Funny Games," "Bangkok Dangerous," "The...

I remember during my visit at the Cannes' 60th edition thinking to myself how Cannes is a "boys club" in relation to the count them on one hand number of female filmmakers that were invited to participate on the unique short film collection celebrating the festival. Males tend to outnumber female filmmakers in general, but at Sundance you sometimes get the sense that its an even playing field. - I remember during my visit at the Cannes' 60th edition thinking to myself how Cannes is a "boys club" in relation to the count them on one hand number of female filmmakers that were invited to participate on the unique short film collection celebrating the festival. Males tend to outnumber female filmmakers in general, but at Sundance you sometimes get the sense that its an even playing field. Here's another five predictions for the upcoming edition of Sundance. Jack Goes Boating...

Some fresh pics of Michael Winterbottom's latest have hit the web, and they got "extra pulp" written all over them. - Some fresh pics of Michael Winterbottom's latest have hit the web, and they got "extra pulp" written all over them. Unless its a politically-driven doc or drama, the filmmaker on a film per year pace rarely revisits the same film genre twice, and judging by the pics, noirish crime tale. Wih her rouge lips, Alba comes across as familiar, but Hudson dropping her blonde for brown is a nice, surprise touch. The Killer Inside Me should be ready in time for the Berlin Film Festival next year, in the mean time you can grab an eyeful below or see the full set of six over here. Written by Robert Weinbach and John Curran and based on Jim Thompson's novel, the story follows a West Texas sheriff...

Expect Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me to be one of the big buzz films of Sundance 2010.  Why?  First, because it's Winterbottom and good Winterbottom is very good indeed.  Second, because it has a stellar cast anchored by the always impressive Casey Affleck back by strong character players such as Elias Koteas and a couple faces for the mainstream in Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba.  And, finally, because apparently Affleck pounds one of those faces - namely Alba's - into the dirt, hard, in a beating sequence brutal enough that festival organizers are already cautioning the press about it. And there you have the perfect storm for a media phenomenon.  What's it about?

Based on the novel by legendary pulp writer Jim Thompson, Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me tells the story of handsome, charming, unassuming small town sheriff's deputy Lou Ford.

Lou has a bunch of problems.

Yesterday we got the list for the films playing in competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and today we get the rest of the films that will be featured and there are quite a few that make 2010 look much stronger based on pedigree alone than I have seen in quite some time. Variety has a big write-up detailing the categories and more on the festival right here, but I am just going to offer up the titles and let you sort it all out.

The titles already in the RopeofSilicon database are linked.

Premieres

All films are from the United States unless otherwise noted Abel (Mexico-u.S.), the directorial debut of actor Diego Luna, written by Luna and Agusto Mendoza, about a peculiar young boy who, as he blurs reality and fantasy, takes over the responsibilities of a family man in his father's absence. With Jose Maria Yazpik, Karina Gidi,...

Every new year brings us another Sundance Film Festival and with 49 more days left until Sundance 2010 kicks off, Sundance has officially announced the first half of this year's complete line-up. Yesterday they announced all of the films playing in their four competition categories, today they've announced the remaining 46 films that make up their out-of-competition categories. This is the list we've been waiting to see, as there are some fantastic films that will be premiering at Sundance that I've been waiting to see, like The Killer Inside Me and The Company Men and Buried. So what are you waiting for, read on for the list! Premieres: To showcase the diversity to contemporary independent cinema, the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section offers the latest work from American and international directors as well as world premieres of highly anticipated films. Presented by Entertainment Weekly. Abel / Mexico, USA (Director: Diego Luna; Screenwriters: Diego ...

Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen at Park City at Midnight category of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which runs January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. every year we cover the event, and every year I have to cram it down your throats; this is the single most important film festival alongside Tiff! Saw premiered at Sundance, as did High Tension, Open Water, The Blair Witch Project, The Signal and many, many more. Pay Attention. Beyond the break you'll find a list of films playing the Midnight category and they're really, really good this year. Films include: Splice, The Killer Inside Me, Frozen, The Violent Kind, 7 Days, Buried, Tucker & Dale Vs Evil, High School, The Perfect Host and All My Friends Are Funeral Singers.

Casey Affleck has been known to take some pretty intense roles as of late. His first being the role of Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James and then his work on his brother’s project, Gone Baby Gone. It looks like Affleck is going to step it up once again as Sheriff Lou Ford in the ultra-violent The Killer Inside Me.

The film is based on the novel by Jim Thompson, who also wrote the novels films such as The Grifters and The Getaway were adapted from. The original 1976 film starred Stacey Keach, who took on the role that Affleck is now running with.

The extended trailer shows off some of the intense moments (hopefully not all) from the film, such as some raunchy aggressive sex with both Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson, as well as a violent murder of one of them. This may just be the...

Straight out of the American Film Market comes this almost 6 minute long trailer for Michael Winterbottom's upcoming The Killer Inside Me. The cast on this film is pretty hefty with Casey Affleck leading as the sheriff of a small town who slowly goes from mild-mannered lawman to murdering psychotic trying to cover his own tracks. Kate Hudson, Simon Baker, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty and Bill Pullman also star. The film is an adaptation of the classic book by Jim Thompson, who also wrote the book that Stanley Kubrick's The Killing was based on...

Straight out of the American Film Market comes this almost 6 minute long trailer for Michael Winterbottom's upcoming The Killer Inside Me. The cast on this film is pretty hefty with Casey Affleck leading as the sheriff of a small town who slowly goes from mild-mannered lawman to murdering psychotic trying to cover his own tracks. Kate Hudson, Simon Baker, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty and Bill Pullman also star. The film is an adaptation of the classic book by Jim Thompson, who also wrote the book that Stanley Kubrick's The Killing was based on...

I'm not always eager to post promo and sales trailers for movies when they find their way online because they're usually too long, rough around the edges, and quick to be pulled off the web anyway. They're not intended for the general public, and shouldn't really be judged as such. In this case, however, we've got our first look at what appears to be a very promising flick, and with all the talent involved I simply couldn't help posting about it. Michael Winterbottom's most recent film Genova didn't get a ton of attention at Tiff last year, but his previous two films, A Mighty Heart and The Road to Guantanamo both made my top 10 lists in their respective years. This time around he's teaming up with Casey Affleck, who is riding a wave of critical acclaim from outstanding performances in Gone Baby Bone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,...

An extended look at "The Killer Inside Me" has come out in the form of a promo trailer. Almost six minutes in running time, the sneak peek unravels what this drama thriller is all about and gives out a look at Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson in characters. Some footage in the trailer are quite Nsfw.

In the movie set in the 1950s, Affleck stars as Lou Ford, a West Texas deputy sheriff who spirals downward. Starting as a bored small-town cop, he slowly turns into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer trying to cement his innocence when the evidence looks suspicious. Alba and Hudson, in the meantime, portray a prostitute and Lou's girlfriend respectively.

"The Killer Inside Me" is based on Jim Thompson's 1952 novel which is described as "one of the most blistering and uncompromising crime novels ever written." Michael Winterbottom, the director of "A Mighty Heart", takes on the helming part,...

I read The Killer Inside Me about 25 years ago, and in general I'm an admirer of the work of pulp novelist Jim Thompson. His most recognized works are probably that title, The Killing (later turned into an early Kubrick film), The Getaway, and The Grifters, released as a film over 10 years after his death. I heard about him while growing up in Oklahoma, because that's where he was from.

The Killer Inside Me is a whale of a book. I wouldn't say it's a must-read, but it's tougher than a bus station corndog. It's been turned into a movie before, and a new version was filmed this summer mostly in Oklahoma, even though Thomspson's book is set in Texas. Casey Affleck plays the sociopathic lawman Lou Ford, and you'll see what I mean when you watch this promo trailer.

According to The Playlist, this is very likely what's being used...

After watching the trailer for Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me, I can hardly contain my excitement for this film. Based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Jim Thompson (one of the definitive noir novels), and it tells the story of a sheriff in a small west Texas town, who happens to have sociopathic and murderous habits.

Read more on The Killer Inside Me extended trailer…...

Thanks to The Playlist we have been made aware of a promotional trailer for Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me based on the Jim Thompson novel and starring Casey Affleck, Simon Baker, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Elias Koteas, Bill Pullman and Ned Beatty.

Thompson, as many of you may already know co-wrote Stanley Kubrick's killer heist flick The Killing, which was part of my list of top ten heist films back in early 2008. This also isn't the first time "The Killer Inside Me" has been adapted for a feature film as Burt Kennedy directed a version in 1976 starring Stacy Keach and Susan Tyrrell.

The story centers on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer. The cast also includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute and Kate Hudson as the sheriff's schoolteacher girlfriend. Baker plays a county attorney...

I've really been looking forward to footage from Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel The Killer Inside Me. I'm a massive Thompson fan, and adaptations of his novels have about a .500 average. (I'm the guy that doesn't like The Grifters much; I infinitely prefer a movie like Tavernier's Coup de Torchon.) The cast here seems to be on the money -- Casey Affleck as the duplicitous small-town sheriff deputy Lou Ford, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson as the women in his life, and supporting work from Ned Beatty, Bill Pullman and Elias Koteas. Now there's a rough long-form sales trailer that makes the concoction look fairly potent. See it after the jump. Give a big hand to The Playlist for digging up this trailer. Now, if you don't know the story you might not want to watch this one. It's about five minutes long and gives away...

In 2007, Casey Affleck was a force to be reckoned with as he landed a one-two punch with “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” the latter of which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Affleck makes his return next summer in Michael Winterbottom’s “The Killer Inside Me,” based off Jim Thompson’s novel. The story follows a bored, small-town cop who decides to liven up his life with a little sociopathy and murder followed by the fun of covering up his tracks.

The trailer from the American Film Market has popped up online and at nearly six-minutes long, it gives away most of the film so if you’re looking to go in cold, do not watch it. But I’ll tell you up front that Affleck looks as charming and devious as ever. Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Simon Baker,...

Just last month we brought you the first stills, which looked incredible, for this pulp adaptation and now a promo trailer has arrived which clocks in at almost 6 minutes.

Synopsis:

Based on the novel by legendary pulp writer Jim Thompson, Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me tells the story of handsome, charming, unassuming small town sheriff's deputy Lou Ford.

Lou has a bunch of problems. Woman problems. Law enforcement problems. An ever-growing pile of murder victims in his West Texas jurisdiction. And the fact he's a sadist, a psychopath, a killer. Suspicion begins to fall on Lou, and it's only a matter of time before he runs out of alibis.

Nsfw trailer after the break. via The Playlist

Embedded video stripped, see full HTML version.

Hey, look, it’s Jessica Alba as a prostitute! A really classy looking prostitute, anyway. I was expecting truck stop dirty, but apparently Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s “The Killer Inside Me” is a period movie, with fedoras, classic cars, and movie picture shows and all that period stuff. From the guy who gave us “Nine Songs”, this is not quite what I was expecting. Aw, well, you can’t always get what you want. Some images from the movie, set for sometime in 2010, have surfaced over at Quiet Earth. Based on the novel by legendary pulp writer Jim Thompson, Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me tells the story of handsome, charming, unassuming small town sheriff’s deputy Lou Ford. Lou has a bunch of problems. Woman problems. Law enforcement problems. An ever-growing pile of murder victims in his West Texas jurisdiction. And the fact he’s a sadist,...

The second adaptation of noir writer Jim Thompson's pulp novel stars Casey Affleck, who plays a small town sherrif who turns into a sociopath, and Jessica Alba who plays a prostitute. Originally adapted in 1976, I don't think this is a remake but another adaptation, and from the stills, it looks quite stunning. The film is directed by Michael Winterbottom, and while I couldn't care less about Jessica Alba, I'm looking forward to seeing more of Affleck after The Assassination of Jesse James. No release date has been set, but it's tentatively scheduled for sometime in 2010.

Based on the novel by legendary pulp writer Jim Thompson, Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me tells the story of handsome, charming, unassuming small town sheriff's deputy Lou Ford.

Lou has a bunch of problems. Woman problems. Law enforcement problems. An ever-growing pile of murder victims in his West Texas jurisdiction. And the fact he's a sadist,...

I'm excited for any new adaptation of the novels of Jim Thompson (who also dabbled in screenwriting, collaborating with Kubrick and Peckinpah) so it stands to reason that I'm excited to see what Michael Winterbottom is doing with his version of The Killer Inside Me. Thompson's book follows small town Texas sheriff Lou Ford, who isn't quite as dumb and grinningly affable as he seems. Murderous impulses lie beneath the lawman's surface. Casey Affleck plays Ford; Kate Hudson plays the schoolteacher that wants him to marry her, and Jessica Alba is the prostitute that Ford keeps on a leash instead of running out of town. Now we've got some pics of the cast in character and a couple of producer interviews from the set. The Playlist dug up these images (here, here and here) and interviews, which come from locations in Oklahoma. Jim Thompson is an Ok native, but the...

Bill Pullman may not be the first person who comes to mind when you think “genre veteran.” But the actor who is perhaps best known for such populist entertainments as Independence Day and While You Were Sleeping has taken a number of cinematic trips to the dark side, most notably under the guidance of the Lynch family. Having starred in David’s 1997 mind-teaser Lost Highway, he now can be seen as the lead in daughter Jennifer’s Surveillance, out this week on DVD and Blu-ray from Magnolia Home Entertainment’s Magnet Pictures banner.

Pullman stars in the film with Julia Ormond as FBI agents Hallaway and Anderson, who arrive at a rural police station to investigate a grisly roadside massacre. A trio of badly shaken witnesses survived the bloody incident, and the particulars of what happened gradually come together through their dramatized recollections as they are separately interviewed. One, a...

Once again, a high-profile celebrity has evaded legal consequences for her actions. E! Online reports that Fantastic Four actress Jessica Alba will not be facing charges for her vandalism spree in Oklahoma City last week. Alba, currently in Oklahoma City filming the big-screen adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel The Killer Inside Me, had plastered posters of sharks all over downtown in an effort to draw attention to the dwindling shark population in the world's oceans. "The decision has been made to close the case," revealed police Sgt. Gary Knight says in a statement. "The case will not be presented to the district attorney's.

Uh-oh, Jessica Alba is in trouble with the law—and not because she's so criminally hot. The Associated Press reports that police in Oklahoma City have launched an investigation after the Fantastic Four actress—who's in town filming a big-screen adaptation of the Jim Thompson crime novel The Killer Inside Me—plastered the city with posters of great white sharks earlier this week. The posters, which were glued to a downtown bridge and a billboard for the United Way, among other locations, were intended to bring attention to the dwindling number of great white sharks in the world's oceans. While Sgt. Gary Knight says that police.

Kate Hudson is going dark to match the material for her latest movie. The usually blonde 30-year-old star has been spotted with a new darker do to match the dark material of the upcoming crime thriller, "The Killer Inside Me."

Based on the classic novel by Jim Thompson, Hudson plays the schoolteacher girlfriend of Casey Affleck's small-town sheriff who just so happens to be a psychotic killer.

The film also stars TV's "The Mentalist" star Simon Baker who plays a lawyer who is on his tail. Jessica Alba plays a prostitute.

The film, directed by Michael Winterbottom ("A Mighty Heart"), is set to hit theaters in 2010.

From the moment Kate Hudson became more than just almost famous, people have noted the similarities between her and mom, Goldie Hawn. That's thanks in part to their blond manes of hair. So naturally, seeing the 30-year-old on Thursday with a distinctively darker 'do got our attention. Is she trying to end the comparisons once and for all? Or perhaps she's attempting to go incognito in light of all the rumors that sprang up earlier this week that she had hooked up with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez. Alas, it turns out the dye job is simply for, well, a job, as Kate is currently working on The Killer Inside Me, a crime thriller based on Jim Thompson's classic 1952...

Simon Baker is currently enjoying success on the CBS series "The Mentalist," but it appears he hasn't forgotten about the money to be earned in feature films as he has lined up a role in Michael Winterbottom's upcoming adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel, The Killer Inside Me. Baker joins Casey Affleck. Baker will play an attorney on the trail of a murderer in the story centering on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer. The cast also includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute and Kate Hudson as the sheriff's schoolteacher girlfriend. Baker plays a county attorney looking to expose the sheriff as the killer. Filming is set to begin this week in New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Hold up. No one told me about the adaptation of Jim Thompson's classic The Killer Inside Me. A true '50s noir, Thompson's book is a bite-your-nails tale about a Texas sheriff's deputy who is also the town murderer. He's calm and cool on the outside and a brutal killer on the inside. And yes, it's also a song by Mc 900 Ft Jesus.

I'm down with that, since the younger and less chinny Affleck proved his chops in Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse Ford by the Coward Robert Ford, although IMDb pro also lists him as the director of "Untitled Joaquin Phoenix Documentary," so we've got him to thank for that sh*tshow. Bill Pullman and awesomely creepy Elias Koteas (Crash) also star.

On the other hand, the rest of the cast is a uneven, and this particular adaptation has quite the long back story. Kate Hudson...

As far as I'm concerned, Simon Baker improves just about any project he touches, and the upcoming remake of Jim Thompson's crime novel The Killer Inside Me was already looking pretty great! Baker joins the previously announced Casey Affleck, Bill Pullman, Ned Beatty, and Elias Koteas in the noir thriller.

Michael Winterbottom is directing the story, which was previously adapted into a film starring Stacy Keach in 1976, and is described by The Hollywood Reporter as centering on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer. The cast also includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute and Kate Hudson as the sheriff's schoolteacher girlfriend. Baker plays a county attorney looking to expose the sheriff as the killer.

Location shooting in New Mexico and Oklahoma begins this week.

- Debi Moore

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Simon Baker (CBS' "The Mentalist") is playing an attorney on the trail of a murderer in The Killer Inside Me , Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of the Jim Thompson noir classic that stars Casey Affleck. The Hollywood Reporter says the story centers on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer. The cast also includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute and Kate Hudson as the sheriff's schoolteacher girlfriend. Filming begins this week in New Mexico and Oklahoma.