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With the 20th anniversary re-release of Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice adaptation, Jane Austen is having a moment back in the mainstream. That moment is set to continue with the French romantic comedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, a film that — despite having very little to do with Austen’s actual literature — feels like the type of film that will absolutely delight fans of the iconic author.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life Review

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life follows an aspiring writer who, dealing with troubles in her love life in Paris, takes refuge in a writer’s residency in England run by the Jane Austen estate, only for her own romantic exploits to begin to mirror those of the residency’s namesake’s creations. It’s not the first time that there’s been a film with this sort of premise (The Jane Austen Book Club springs to...

The murder of Hannibal star Hugh Dancy’s great-grandmother is the subject of the true crime podcast Ghost Story, which is set to launch on October 23rd and will be available on Wondery+ and Amazon Music. Dancy takes part in the podcast, along with family members, ghost hunters, psychic mediums, and homicide detectives.

According to Variety, Ghost Story will tell us all about Dr. Naomi Dancy, who was found dead in 1937 after being shot twice in the face as she slept. A synopsis describes the show as a jaw-dropping tale of a haunting, which becomes a murder investigation, which leads to a family drama.

In addition to playing Will Graham on three seasons of Hannibal, Hugh Dancy has had roles in films and TV shows like David Copperfield, Black Hawk Down, King Arthur, Basic Instinct 2, Blood and Chocolate, The Jane Austen Book Club, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Our Idiot Brother,...

Stephen King's miniseries Rose Red had mixed reviews upon release but has gained new popularity since being added to Hulu's catalog in 2023. The miniseries allowed upcoming actors like Nancy Travis, Kimberly J. Brown, and Melanie Lynskey to showcase their abilities. Matt Keeslar played the role of Steve Rimbauer in Rose Red and has since had notable roles in films like Scream 3 and series like Dune.

Stephen King's underappreciated miniseries Rose Red includes a number of dynamic characters and a talented cast to bring them to life. In 2002, ABC released a three-part miniseries with a story by King. The show follows Dr. Joyce Reardon, a paranormal psychology professor who brings a group of psychics to the Rose Red mansion in hopes of finding scientific data that proves the existence of the paranormal. Once there, the team faces the evil spirits tethered to the house due to previous deaths.

This article contains a brief mention of suicide.

Lillian Hellman's 1934 play The Children's Hour was highly controversial in the year of its debut despite being highly acclaimed. It was even banned from stage production in various theaters across the US. This is because the storyline centers on a false rumor that destroys the lives of two female teachers accused of having a lesbian affair by a spiteful student. The first film adaptation by William Wyler in 1936 got around the lesbian storyline by straight-washing its lesbian character and Hellman re-framing her original script as a love triangle between the two teachers and one of the teacher's male fiancé. This film adaptation is titled These Three, starring Merle Oberon as Karen Wright and Miriam Hopkins as Martha Dobie.

Wyler later remade the film in 1961 with both the lesbian storyline and the original title restored. This time, the film starred Audrey Hepburn as Karen Wright,...

As people continue to stay home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, Showtime will add a myriad of television shows and films this April to keep house-bound subscribers entertained.

On the film side, movies such as Anaconda, The American President, Carrie, The Jane Austen Book Club, Panic Room, Sleepless in Seattle and While You Were Sleeping and more will debut at the start of the month. When in Rome, starring Josh Duhamel and Kristen Bell, will premiere April 2, with Mary Magdalene, starring Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, debuting April 3. Amy Schumer-starrer I Feel Pretty will be available to stream April 4,...

As people continue to stay home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, Showtime will add a myriad of television shows and films this April to keep house-bound subscribers entertained.

On the film side, movies such as Anaconda, The American President, Carrie, The Jane Austen Book Club, Panic Room, Sleepless in Seattle and While You Were Sleeping and more will debut at the start of the month. When in Rome, starring Josh Duhamel and Kristen Bell, will premiere April 2, with Mary Magdalene, starring Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, debuting April 3. Amy Schumer-starrer I Feel Pretty will be available to stream April 4,...

Netflix is getting a head start on spring cleaning by losing a number of titles in March.

Marvel Studios' Black Panther will be taken off of the streaming service on Tuesday, followed by films including The Jane Austen Book Club and The Water Boy on March 7 and Eat Pray Love on March 9.

Other movies that will disappear throughout the month include Men in Black, Men in Black II, Disney's A Wrinkle in Time, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Charlie's Angels, Hairspray, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, P.S. I Love You, Paranormal Activity, The Lord of the ...

Netflix is getting a head start on spring cleaning by losing a number of titles in March.

Marvel Studios' Black Panther will be taken off of the streaming service on Tuesday, followed by films including The Jane Austen Book Club and The Water Boy on March 7 and Eat Pray Love on March 9.

Other movies that will disappear throughout the month include Men in Black, Men in Black II, Disney's A Wrinkle in Time, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Charlie's Angels, Hairspray, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, P.S. I Love You, Paranormal Activity, The Lord of the ...

And now, we come to that time of the month when we salute those Netflix titles that will soon be departing the service, moving on to other distributive solutions in that great streaming place in the sky. Or in other words, here are the movies/TV shows leaving Netflix in the month of March. I’ll even be providing some commentary as we go through them (wanted or not).

Leaving March 3rd, we have Black Panther and The Men Who Stare at Goats. I know what the former is, but what on earth is the latter? Actually, I don’t want to know.

Leaving March 4th, meanwhile is F the Prom. You know what to press to pay your respects. These are writing themselves.

Leaving March 7th is a whole raft of obscurities: Blue Jasmine, The Jane Austen Book Club and The Waterboy. Those are then followed by Eat Pray Love on March 9th.

The Newport Beach Film Festival, which kicks off April 24 and continues through April 27, will honor five talented artists who will be on hand to accept their awards. The event kicks off opening night with the West Coast premiere of Sundance indie hit “Luce,” a provocative racial drama from director Julius Onah starring Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth and rising star Kelvin Harrison Jr. The fest closes with the world premiere of “Part of Water,” a documentary about local lifeguard hero Ben Carlson who lost his life saving a drowning swimmer in 2014.

Between those bookends, Nbff screens the Ted Bundy crime drama “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” starring Zac Efron as the notorious serial killer; “Official Secrets,” Gavin Hood’s political thriller starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes; and the world premiere of “The Tony Alva Story,” which chronicles the life of the skateboarding legend.

The fest and Vans...

As the Oscars buzz officially dies down, it’s finally time to turn our heads to other shows and movies that may no longer be on the big-screen but are now available to stream from the comfort of our homes. This March, Netflix is offering viewers new seasons of binge-worthy favorites and new original series.

“Queer Eye” is making a return with its third season, which will take its five lovable leads, Antoni, Tan, Karamo, Bobby and Jonathan, to Missouri rather than its usual home base of Atlanta. But there will also a wide variety of new shows to start binging this month, like Netflix’s original animated series “Love, Death, & Robots” which, as its name suggests and its trailer confirms, will certainly involve a lot of sex and robots. Anime lovers have a lot to be excited about as the streaming service will be releasing the first three seasons...

Netflix has confirmed that 59 new original series, movies and specials will be debuting on the streaming service in March, including Jc Chandor‘s thriller “Triple Frontier,” which he co-wrote with Oscar winner Mark Boal (“The Hurt Locker”). Ben Affleck and Oscar Issac star as ex-Army officers who reunite with their unit to pull off a heist. Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor pulls triple duty as writer, director and star of “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” which tells the true story of a student who saved his Malawi village from a famine.

On the TV side, the long-awaited second half of season 5 of the Emmy-winning comedy series “Arrested Development” starts to stream as does season 3 of the Drew Barrymore/Timothy Olyphant laffer “Santa Clarita Diet.” And among a slew of comedy specials are ones featuring Amy Schumer and British funnyman Jimmy Carr.

Below is the full schedule of everything that is...

By March 1, the Oscars will be over, and we can finally stop pulling our hair over the fact that Rami Malek’s dentures beat out Ethan Hawke’s bottle of drain cleaner. When that day comes, Netflix will be able to offer an eclectic mix of reliably quality fare to cleanse our palates of what will surely go down in history as one of the oddest Oscar seasons ever. The streaming giant could also very well have earned its first Best Picture statue by then, but its users won’t be able to hear the champagne bottles popping over the hum of their preferred watching device.

Damien Chazelle’s finely crafted Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man” may have been snubbed in almost every major category, but audiences looking to revisit the original space tearjerker can countdown with “Apollo 13,” which hits Netflix at the beginning of the month. ’90s babies...

Call Me By Your Name production outfit plot adaptation of playwright’s final work.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Robin Swicord (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button) will write and direct a Bermuda-set adaptation of William Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest.

Producers on the project are New York and London-based M.Y.R.A. Entertainment (Call Me By Your Name). They are now developing the script with Swicord and are planning to move into production in 2019.

The Tempest is said to have been inspired by the 1609 shipwreck of the Sea Venture on the islands of Bermuda, and the producers have decided to take the project...

Have you ever just wanted to walk away from it all? And how would your friends and family cope in your absence if you did? Those questions and more are asked in the strikingly original Wakefield, debuting at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival before arriving on digital platforms on July 28th and DVD from July 31st courtesy of Signature Entertainment.

Successful suburbanite Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston; Breaking Bad, Trumbo) takes a surprising detour from family life when it all starts to get too much: He vanishes without a trace. Hidden in the attic of his carriage house garage, surviving by scavenging at night, Howard secretly observes the lives of his wife, his children and his neighbours as they learn to live with his unexplained disappearance. But has he left his family, or has he left himself?

A fraught meditation on marriage and identity, Wakefield features a tour de...

The deal covers film and television projects through Mockingbird Pictures banner.

Skydance has entered into a multi-year overall deal for feature films and television with producers Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn of Mockingbird Pictures.

The company has several projects in development with Curtis (pictured) and Lynn, including the upcoming AMC television series Dietland.

Curtis and Lynn first partnered at Mockingbird Pictures after producing Albert Nobbs in 2012. The pair have produced seven films together, including Arie Posin’s The Face Of Love, Victor Levin’s 5 To 7, and Rodrigo Garcia’s Last Days In The Desert.

This year the duo has released Life, The Sweet Life, and Wakefield. Next on their slate is Marti Noxon’s To The Bone, which will premiere on Netflix in July.

Curtis’ industry start was as Steven Spielberg’s assistant; the beginning of a 15-year professional relationship with the director. After working on Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List, Curtis transitioned...

MaryAnn’s quick take… An appalling elevation of toxic masculinity to something poignant, radical, and heroic. As unpleasant and as passive-aggressive as its horrid protagonist. I’m “biast” (pro): love the cast

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I wish I could figure out just what the hell writer-director Robin Swicord (The Jane Austen Book Club) thinks she is saying with the appalling Wakefield, a movie as unpleasant and as passive-aggressive as its horrid protagonist. Because all it looks and feels like is an elevation of toxic masculinity — of emotional withdrawal, delusions about one’s own rationality, pretensions about one’s boldness, and disdain for women, among other nasty things — to a level meant to be poignant, radical, and heroic all at once. And it’s nothing of the sort.

Rather than face a momentary embarrassment,...

Cartoon Brew utterly savage (but 100% correct) on the Emoji Movie trailer

La Review of Books on Netflix's Sense8 as metaphor for Netflix is. (I have no idea

why a book site is  reviewing this but the piece is absolutely terrific)

La Times talks to Robin Swicord, only now with a second feature (Wakefield) long after the success of The Jane Austen Book Club. Her debut was profitable (always Hollywood's end goal) but Hollywood wouldn't hire her to direct? We've heard this story all too often!

Screen Daily in terrible terrible news they're still not going to let the once genius but totally played out Terminator franchise die and Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron plan to be involved in the next one. Doesn't anyone in Hollywood want to do something original even more? It's not like Cameron couldn't get funding for literally Anything he wanted to do. (sigh)

Film School Rejects...

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, and to paraphrase those renowned seventies scholars the Brady Bunch, “When it’s time to change then it’s time to change.”

While I’ve tried my hardest to slowly sneak those changes in, it’s gotten to the point where we’ll need to do something more drastic if the few of you reading the Weekend Warrior on a weekly basis actually want it to remain coming to you on a weekly basis. Because of that, we’re going to try something different by not throwing in as much independent limited releases for those checking the column out, and making the column a little more focused at least for the time being. (I’m probably going to move reviews for my Top Picks over to my blog, which is easy enough to...

“Wakefield” had its world premiere at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival, followed by a screening in the Special Presentations section at Tiff. Now, IFC Films has released the first trailer for the drama starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner, ahead of the film’s theatrical debut next moth.

Read More: ‘Wakefield’ Review: Bryan Cranston Is An Asshole For The Ages — Telluride

Based on E.L. Doctorow’s 2008 short story of the same name, “Wakefield” follows Howard Wakefield (Cranston), a Manhattan lawyer with a beautiful family and a home in the suburbs. After suffering a nervous breakdown, Wakefield leaves his wife (Garner) and two daughter and goes into hiding his attic. The film is written and helmed by Robin Swicord, the director of “The Jane Austen Book Club” and co-writer of the Academy Award winning film”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” The cast also includes Jason O’Mara and Beverly D’Angelo.

Like so many indie movies, “Wakefield” was something of a miracle for writer-director Robin Swicord. It’s been more than eight years since “The Jane Austen Book Club” (an average statistic for women directors); in the meantime she received an Oscar nomination for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (she shared story by credit with Eric Roth). But for “Wakefield” to happen required infinite patience and no small amount of luck.

Swicord sent “Wakefield” over the transom to Telluride co-director Tom Luddy. “He loves the interesting movie,” she said. “He has broad taste, a love for European movies. I felt when I was cutting ‘Wakefield,’ ‘We are making an interesting, strange movie.'”

Read More: Telluride and Tiff’s Oscar Tea Leaves: How Two Key Festivals Could Predict This Year’s Winners

When she arrived to world premiere the film on Friday for her first Telluride, Swicord had just finished...

Like so many indie movies, “Wakefield” was something of a miracle for writer-director Robin Swicord. It’s been more than eight years since “The Jane Austen Book Club” (an average statistic for women directors); in the meantime she received an Oscar nomination for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (she shared story by credit with Eric Roth). But for “Wakefield” to happen required infinite patience and no small amount of luck.

Swicord sent “Wakefield” over the transom to Telluride co-director Tom Luddy. “He loves the interesting movie,” she said. “He has broad taste, a love for European movies. I felt when I was cutting ‘Wakefield,’ ‘We are making an interesting, strange movie.'”

Read More: Telluride and Tiff’s Oscar Tea Leaves: How Two Key Festivals Could Predict This Year’s Winners

When she arrived to world premiere the film on Friday for her first Telluride, Swicord had just finished...

“What is so sacrosanct about a marriage and a family that you should have to live in it day after day?” That’s a hell of a thing to hear from a guy like Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston), a wealthy Westchester lawyer with a beautiful wife (Jennifer Garner) two healthy teenage daughters, and a house so big that someone could rather comfortably reside in its two-story garage.

But Howard — whose sniveling inner monologue seeps into almost every moment of the jagged, acidic comedy that shares his name — isn’t your typical bored white-collar suburbanite. He’s not Lester Burnham, numb with ennui. He’s not Brad Adamson in “Little Children,” desperate to feel another woman’s touch. He’s just an asshole, one of the most selfish characters you’ll ever see on a movie screen, and it’s a strange pleasure to watch him self-destruct when he realizes that...

See Full Gallery Here

We’ve seen Bryan Cranston teeter on the edge of insanity in Breaking Bad, but the first slew of set photos for Wakefield showcase the Emmy award-winning actor like we’ve never seen him before.

Hunched over on a park bench clutching some food, Cranston’s groggy appearance reflects the nature of his character in the drama. You see, he’s set to play a successful and married lawyer living in New York. With seemingly everything in place for a happy life, his life is suddenly sent into a tail-spin when his wife discovers he’s been having an affair with a young woman, triggering a nervous breakdown that condemns him to live in his attic for several long and gruelling months.

After being shunned from his family home, Cranston’s lead decides to live in secrecy in the attic, emerging only at night in order to rummage for food.

Variety has learned that Jennifer Garner has been cast as Bryan Cranston's wife in Wakefield, a big screen take on author E.L. Doctorow's short story adaptation of the original "Wakefield" story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Production is already underway on the quirky drama, with Robin Swicord (The Jane Austen Book Club) directing from her own script. The film will see Cranston... Read More...

Producers Julie Lynn and Bonnie Curtis will produce the 7th Annual Governors Awards for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced today.

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award will be presented to Debbie Reynolds, and Honorary Awards will be presented to Spike Lee and Gena Rowlands, on Saturday, November 14, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.

“Julie and Bonnie are incredibly talented producers – the perfect team to help us celebrate the accomplishments of our honorees,” said Boone Isaacs.

“We are honored and thrilled by this opportunity, as we have such deep respect for The Academy,” said Lynn and Curtis. “With masterful artists like Ms. Reynolds, Ms. Rowlands, and Mr. Lee to celebrate, the evening might just produce itself!”

Lynn formed Mockingbird Pictures in 1999, with Curtis joining as a partner in 2011. Together they have produced five films, including “Last Days in the Desert,...

Rumors of a Marvel Studios deal with Sony to share the rights for Spider-Man have been circulating ever since the Sony Pictures hack. The deal opened up as a possibility because Sony is reportedly unhappy with how its movie production company has mismanaged the franchise, producing high budget under-performing movies. Sony Pictures has made every effort to discredit any deal (despite what its parent company wants), while Marvel Studios - who wants the deal - has stayed very quite.

While this whole mess gets sorted, we do know that if Marvel brings Spider-Man into their cineverse they are going to be jettisoning all canon from the Mark Webb and Sam Raimi films. Which means Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire will not be Spider-Man eligible.

If/when Spider-Man joins the Marvel cineverse, rumor is that it will be sometime during the Avengers: Infinity War two part saga, and not have any origin story for the character.

The Academy has announced the winners of its 2013 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. The winning four individual writers and one writing team, listed below, will each receive a $35,000 prize, the first installment to be distributed at an awards presentation on Thursday, November 7 at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Selected from a record 7,251 submissions, the winners are as followers: Frank DeJohn & David Alton Hedges, Santa Ynez, CA, "Legion"Patty Jones, Vancouver, BC, Canada, "Joe Banks"Alan Roth, Suffern, NY, "Jersey City Story"Stephanie Shannon, Los Angeles, CA, "Queen of Hearts"Barbara Stepansky, Burbank, CA, "Sugar in My Veins" In a presentation directed by Rodrigo Garcia ("Albert Nobbs," "Nine Lives") and produced by Julie Lynn ("Albert Nobbs," "The Jane Austen Book Club"), the event for the first time ever will include live reads of individual scenes from the honored screenplays. Members from the Academy's Actors Branch will perform scenes from.

Four individual writers and one writing team have been selected as winners of the 2013 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition. Each winner will receive a $35,000 prize, the first installment of which will be distributed at an awards presentation on Thursday, November 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

For the first time, the event will also feature a live read of selected scenes from the fellows’ winning scripts.

This year’s winners are (listed alphabetically by author):

Frank DeJohn & David Alton Hedges, Santa Ynez, CA, “Legion”

Patty Jones, Vancouver, BC, Canada, “Joe Banks”

Alan Roth, Suffern, NY, “Jersey City Story”

Stephanie Shannon, Los Angeles, CA, “Queen of Hearts”

Barbara Stepansky, Burbank, CA, “Sugar in My Veins”

The winners were selected from a record 7,251 scripts submitted for this year’s competition.

Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients will each complete...

Film Independent, the parent organization of the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, has selected 10 screenwriting fellows for its 14th annual screenwriting lab. The intensive five-week program aspires to encourage the writers to refine and improve their craft while instilling in them the professional and creative knowledge to take their current screenplay projects forward. This year's returning mentors include writer/director Robin Swicord ("The Jane Austen Book Club," "Memoirs of a Geisha") and writer Jeff Stockwell ("Bridge to Terabithia", "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys"). Guest speakers Destin Daniel Cretton ("Short Term 12") and Sian Heder ("Orange is the New Black") are expected to contribute their knowledge of the practice and industry. The Selected 2013 Screenwriting Fellows and their Current Screenplay Projects: 1. Broad Street Diner (Fred Thomas Jr.) - Three elderly male friends who meet daily at a neighborhood diner, find that 70 is the new 40 as...

Film Independent has announced the screenwriters selected for its 14th annual Screenwriting Lab. The Lab is an intensive five-week program designed to help writers improve their craft, via the tutelage of Lab Mentors, industry professionals who serve as guests speakers and one-on-one advisors. Full list of newly selected fellows below.This year's mentors include writer-director Robin Swicord ("The Jane Austen Book Club," "Memoirs of a Geisha") and writer Jeff Stockwell ("Bridge to Terabithia," "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys"). Guest speakers include Destin Daniel Cretton ("Short Term 12") and Sian Heder ("Orange is the New Black")The 2013 Screenwriters Lab participants and their projects are: 1.Broad Street Diner (written by Fred Thomas Jr.) - Three elderly male friends who meet daily at a neighborhood diner, find that 70 is the new 40 as they deal with friendship, new love, sickness and fatherhood, making it hard for them to retire from “Life. 2. Forbidden...

Jane Austen Will Have Her Revenge: Hess’ Debut a Pandering, Middle Class Courting Cipher

Jerusha Hess, screenwriter of Napoleon Dynamite, which her brother Jared Hess directed, turns her to sights to the adaptation of Shannon Hale’s successful novel, Austenland for her directorial debut. If 2007’s The Jane Austen Book Club didn’t feel enough like a resolutely ridiculous enough caper to the insane Austen mania that’s had book clubs and perennial film adaptations going strong for several decades, Hess’ film confirms the disturbing social tendencies reinforced by these mob think Austen obsessions on display here. Instead of exploring some of the subtext of what’s really going on here though, Hess rides the film into broad romantic territory. While there’s certainly an audience for this corrosive reinforcement of gender norms, for those that have been clued in to the cruel crookery of what real love looks like...

In an age of invention, one man set out to find a medical cure for what ails women … and accidentally electrified our love lives forever. Coming to DVD on January 14, 2013 courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Hysteria is a lighthearted, romantic comedy that tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator at the very peak of Victorian prudishness.

Academy Award® nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal (Best Supporting Actress, Crazy Heart, 2009) and Hugh Dancy (Adam, Confessions of a Shopaholic, The Jane Austen Book Club) lead an accomplished cast, including Rupert Everett (My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Importance of Being Earnest) Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Evita), Ashley Jensen (TV’s “Ugly Betty”) and Felicity Jones (Like Crazy, Brideshead Revisited) in this charming yet irreverent untold tale of discovery.

Special features on the DVD include deleted scenes, commentary with Director Tanya Wexler, a Q&A with Tanya Wexler,...

Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, The Host, The Green Blade Rises, Farewell, My Queen) and Anton Yelchin (Fright Night, Star Trek, Like Crazy) are attached to star in the romantic comedy 5 To 7, written and to be directed by Victor Levin (AMC.s .Mad Men.), it was announced today by producers Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn of Mockingbird Pictures and The Solution Entertainment Group.s (.The Solution.) co-founders and partners, Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel.

Wilson and Nestel are on board as co-executive producers of the film with the company also handling international distribution rights. The Solution will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market.

Scheduled to start production in late February 2013, 5 To 7 is set in New York, where an aspiring novelist (Yelchin) has a cinq-a-sept affair with the beautiful wife of a French diplomat (Kruger). Cultures, world views, personal ethics and dietary preferences clash as love deepens,...

In an age of invention, one man set out to find a medical cure for what ails women . and accidentally electrified our love lives forever. Coming to Blu-rayTM and DVD September 18th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Hysteria is a lighthearted, romantic comedy that tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator at the very peak of Victorian prudishness. Hugh Dancy (Adam, Confessions of a Shopaholic, The Jane Austen Book Club) and Academy Award® nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal (Best Supporting Actress, Crazy Heart, 2009) lead an accomplished cast, including Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Evita), Felicity Jones (Like Crazy, Brideshead Revisited), Rupert Everett (My Best Friend.s Wedding, The Importance of Being Earnest) and Ashley Jensen (TV.s .Ugly Betty.) and in this charming yet irreverent untold tale of discovery. Special features on the Blu-ray and DVD include deleted scenes, commentary with Director Tanya Wexler, a Q&A with Tanya Wexler,...

The Academy's Board of Governors has elected screenwriter Robin Swicord ("Memoirs of a Geisha," "Little Women" ) to replace the late Frank Pierson and represent the Writers Branch along with Bill Condon and Phil Robinson. She will serve until the next election, which is in June of next year. She joins the few women on the board of 43; they are Academy CEO Dawn Hudson, first vice president Cheryl Boone-Isaacs, vice president Kathleen Kennedy, producer Gale Anne Hurd, actress Annette Bening, editor Anne V. Coates, directors Kathryn Bigelow and Lisa Cholodenko and designer Rosemary Brandberg. Swicord (along with Eric Roth) was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Benjamin Button" and made her directorial debut in 2007 with "The Jane Austen Book Club," which she also adapted from Karen Joy Fowler's novel. Her daughter Zoe Kazan just wrote and starred in "Ruby Sparks."...

Robin Swicord, screenwriter of "Little Women" and "Memoirs of a Geisha," has been elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Board of Governors, the Academy said Wednesday. Swicord's election to the board brings the female board-member count up to nine, a high number compared to the board's historical record. Swicord, whose other screenwriting credits include "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (which she wrote with Eric Roth, and for which she and Roth were nominated for an Oscar), "Matilda" and "The Jane Austen Book Club," will take the seat...

Fans and men who want to get close to actress Maggie Grace should quiz her about her experiences on the set of acclaimed cult romance The Jane Austen Book Club - because she rarely gets asked about the 2007 movie.

The star admits fans always want to talk to her about TV series Lost and movie Taken - but she'd love more questions about the film she made with Maria Bello and Emily Blunt.

She explains, "I love getting asked about The Jane Austen Book Club but it hardly ever happens. I was in a restaurant recently and was pretty sure it was going to be a Taken fan, but we ended up talking about Jane Austen for half an hour and the guy I was having dinner with was like, 'Ok, we can talk about Jane Austen a little less?'

"I was so excited because it was the first person to ever mention that film."

But at least she is recognised. She wasn't when she showed up for the New York press junket for Taken - and was almost kicked out of the snooty Regency Hotel.

She recalls, "I had to fly in and I still had my outdoor gear on and my backpack from my camping trip in Patagonia and I show up at the Regency Hotel and they're like, 'You can't be in here. Miss, Miss.' I'm like, 'I promise I'm here for a press junket. I'd love to grab a shower before and maybe buy some clothes, so I'm not doing interviews in my Patagonia gear!'

"They let me stay and it was all sorted but it was pretty funny."...

The Colony has discovered its leader. Kevin Zegers has been hired as the lead actor in Jeff Renfroe.s The Colony, according to Deadline. He.ll star opposite Laurence Fishburne and Bill Paxton as survivors of a futuristic Ice Age who have to burrow under the ground to survive the gradual degradation of our society. Haven.t heard of Zegers? That just means you (like me) don.t remember The Jane Austen Book Club or you never watched a lot of Gossip Girl, on which he played Damian Daalgard for nearly two years. But it appears that Zegers. star is about to grow white-hot, as he.s featured prominently in the 12-part British mini-series Titanic: Blood and Steel, which will document the building of the ill-fated ship in Belfast by the White Star Lines. Zegers plays Mark Muir in the dramatic series, and will co-star alongside Derek Jacobi and Alessandra...

The Big C‘s cancer-afflicted heroine is getting a high profile confidante.

Susan Sarandon is joining the Showtime series for a multi-episode arcduring the upcoming third season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Oscar-winning actress will play Joy, a cancer survivor who befriends Laura Linney’s Cathy. She uses “her cancer experience in a unique way trying to inspire other people,” creator Darlene Hunt tells THR. “She makes Cathy question whether she’s doing enough with her own cancer experience.”

The new season, premiering Sunday, April 8, will...

Clyde has found his new partner in crime. True Blood co-star Lindsay Pulsipher, who plays were-panther Crystal Norris Stackhouse on HBO.s hit vampire soap opera, has been tapped to star as Bonnie Parker in writer-director Tonya S. Holly.s The Story if Bonnie and Clyde, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actress currently is putting the finishing touches on The Hatfields and McCoys, a mini-series she.s filming with Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton for the History Channel. Pulsipher also has the drama Meth Head, starring Lukas Haas, due out sometime before the end of the year. As for Bonnie, Pulsipher replaces Hilary Duff, who was released from the production . and paid handsomely for her troubles . after her pregnancy interfered with the production.s tightening schedule. So Holly cast another pretty blonde opposite Kevin Zegers (Gossip Girl, The Jane Austen Book Club), who has been cast as Clyde in...

John Calley died today at 81. During his career, he ran three studios; the last was Sony, where he served as chairman and CEO from 1996-2003. That's when he worked with Sony Pictures Classics' Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, who have spent much of the 2011 Toronto Film Festival celebrating their company's 20th anniversary. (Spc also released "The Jane Austen Book Club," which Calley produced.) Barker offered indieWIRE this remembrance ...

There are some high-end commercial novels with inflated literary reputations that actually become better on screen. Karen Joy Fowler’s strained chick-lit novel The Jane Austen Book Club was improved in Robin Swicord’s lived-in film. Now The Help has become an even more effective, big warm bath of a crowd-pleaser than Kathryn Stockett’s megaselling novel, a book that flirts uncomfortably with condescension and caricature. The Help has no artistic ambition, but with one huge exception, the movie avoids the novel's lethal pitfalls. Stockett’s hard-to-resist story, set in Jackson, Miss. in 1963, covers every black-and-white base, both racially and in terms of…...

Those lovely people over at Sony Home Entertainment have been in touch to offer us some rather nice prizes to give away to you, our lovely readers. This is a comedy double bill where three of our readers will get the chance to win a copy of Grown Ups (released 17th January) and The Other Guys (released 24th January) as part of Sony’s Laughing Stock range which now has an official Facebook Fanpage which you can join here.

Grown Ups Synopsis: The ultimate comedy dream team unites in the family box-office hit Grown Ups, coming to Blu-rayTM and DVD on 17th January 2011, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Grown Ups reunites a group of childhood friends who discover that growing old doesn’t necessarily mean growing up. Adam Sandler (Click, Just Go With It) gathers the biggest cast of comedic heavyweights, with an all-star ensemble including Kevin James (Paul Blart: Mall Cop...

Summit Entertainment could be very close to sign on the actress who will portray Bella and Edward's daughter Renesmee in the much-anticipated "The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn". According to Entertainment Weekly (EW), newcomer Mackenzie Foy is "inches away" from landing the coveted role.

It is still unclear how the 9-year-old actress will tackle the character considering that the fast-paced age change experienced by half-vampire/half-human Renesmee in the story. EW noted that sources have suggested director Bill Condon will use similar digital effects to those employed by David Fincher in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" to make her look younger. Summit has yet to release any comment regarding this casting possibility.

While Mackenzie's casting report is still up in the air, Maggie Grace has been cast as the vampire who brings trouble for the Cullen's clan. Deadline Hollywood reported that the Shannon Rutherford of "Lost" will portray Irina, a...

Summit Entertainment has recruited another actor to become a vampire in both "The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn Part I" and "The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn Part II". Deadline Hollywood first reported that Maggie Grace has been cast as Irina before a rep from the studio confirmed the news to MTV News.

In Stephenie Meyer's novels, Irina is described as a member of the Denali coven, who practices a diet of drinking animal instead of human blood and allies with the Cullens. That is, until Irina blames the family for the death of her former lover, Laurent, and vengefully reveals a Cullen family secret to the Volturi.

Prior to Grace, Rami Malek has also joined the cast of "Breaking Dawn" as Benjamin, an Egyptian coven who is called upon by the Cullen family to help them against the Volturi. He has the special ability of controlling the elements: earth, air,...

Twihards, meet Bella’s latest threat: Maggie Grace. The actress best known for playing the daughter in distress in last year’s Taken and Shannon on Lost, will play Irina in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, the final two installments of the Twilight franchise which are scheduled to begin filming in November in Baton Rouge. Deadline Hollywood first broke the news.

Irina is a member of the Denali coven who blames the Cullens for the death of her lover. Summit Entertainment will release the first installment of Breaking Dawn on November 18, 2011 with the finale bowing the following November. Bill Condon...

Edward Cullen's got himself another enemy. Lost beauty Maggie Grace is the latest to add some oomph to the cast of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, signing on to play Irina, the Denali vampire who mistakenly outs Edward and Bella's newborn babe as an immortal child—a big no-no in the Volturi's eyes. And, like so many others, she blames the Cullens for the death of her lover. Since being gunned down on the Island, Grace has played Liam Neeson's kidnapped daughter in Taken and appeared in Knight and Day and The Jane Austen Book Club. She also briefly resurfaced in the "third world" for Lost's final season. The first installment of Breaking Dawn hits theaters Nov....

The more things change in Hollywood, the more they stay the same. So Sarah Michelle Gellar has left CAA and returned to ICM and Eddy Yablans. When ICM last repped her, she starred in the iconic Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series, and feature films including Cruel Intentions and The Grudge. She's still managed by Joanne Colonna at Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Leaving CAA to go back to ICM agent Brian Bunnin is Kevin Zegers, who had a breakout performance in Transamerica and whose other credits include 50 Dead Men Walking, The Perfect Age Of Rock 'N Roll, The Jane Austen Book Club, Normal, and The Narrows. He's still managed by Jason Weinberg and Justin Grey Stone at Untitled.

by John Lichman

It’s jaw-dropping that the Resident Evil film franchise continues to perform better than those based on games with massive worldwide fanbases (King of Fighters, Tekken, FarCry—all of which were released straight-to-dvd). Yet since Milla Jovovich's first bout with virally infected zombies in 2002, the Resident Evil flicks have routinely opened the weekend within the top two positions and made between $17-20 million. (The only film to ever take down the undead hordes on an opening weekend? Ice Age.) For better clarity, the first three have outperformed the following at the box office:

Showtime, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Kissing Jessica Stein (2002) Cellular, Criminal, When Will I Be Loved (2004) Good Luck Chuck, Sydney White, The Jane Austen Book Club, Into The Wild, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Sea of Dreams, The Last Winter (2007)

With each release, the franchise fares better, churning out...