Kristen Stewart in talks for female lead in “Akira”

November 15, 2011 | Posted by Lindsey Young in Casting 1 Comment

Earlier today U&C reported that Kristen Stewart had been offered the lead role in “Akira,” an adaptation of the popular Japanese manga. Deadline has just confirmed that Stewart is indeed now in talks for the part. If a deal is closed, this role will reunite Stewart with her “On The Road” co-star Hedlund in which Stewart will play Kei, the love interest of protagonist Keneda (Hedlund).

Stewart is, of course, no stranger to adaptations. The first installment of “Breaking Dawn“, the almost-final movie in the Twilight Saga opens in theatres this Friday, while the full length trailer for “Snow White and the Huntsman” premiered just last week. Although the Twilight Saga comes to an end next year, with “Snow White” and the possibility of “Akira” becoming a franchise, Stewart may not be finished with blockbuster titles just yet.

Jaume Collet-Serra will direct the Warner Bros’ film which is based on Katsuhiro Otomo’s epic 6-novel series.

Watch: Lily Collins and Armie Hammer can’t save the awful first trailer for “Mirror Mirror”

November 15, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 13 Comments

The first trailer for “Mirror Mirror” has arrived, and… oy. The combined puppy dog charms of Lily Collins and Armie Hammer aren’t enough to overcome an especially grating Julia Roberts, disappointingly limp costumes and sets and dialogue full of puns so terrible I can’t even make a pun here to clever this sentence up. We were rooting for your Snow White movie, Tarsem Singh (even, at times, over that other one), but why are you making it so hard?

Looks like Tarsem and Co. were aiming for family-friendly comedy adventure and overshot it by about a mile. A beautiful and charming Collins seems well cast, as does the dashing Hammer, except for when he’s made to act ridiculous (which is, unfortunately, more often than not) and the two do provide some moments of genuine likeability, but they are way too easily overrun by Roberts’ Evil Queen, who’s looking like the least funny funny character that’s come along in a great while. Upside? While a certain other Snow White is looking to be greatly overshadowed by her Evil Queen, Collins should have no problem coming off as the bright spot and highlight here.

“Mirror Mirror” opens on March 16, 2012, three months before “Snow White and the Huntsman.” So, you know, it has that going for it.

Kristen Stewart offered “Akira” female lead opposite Garrett Hedlund

November 15, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Warner Bros continues to dream big and reach out to strictly A-list talent to round out the ensemble cast of its risky, bid budget remake of Japanese manga “Akira”, with offers out to the likes of Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter still pending. Thus far the only actor to officially sign on is Garrett Hedlund, who will star as Kaneda in the futuristic actioner, and while previous reports indicated Keira Knightley had been offered an unspecified female role, Twitch now reports it’s “Twilight” series star Kristen Stewart who has the offer for the female lead. Presumably this means Knightley has passed on the role. Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into the next “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”

Stewart, who just recently worked with Hedlund on the equally controversial, long-gestating adaptation of “On the Road”, has been offered the role of Kei, a young medium and love interest to Hedlund’s Kaneda. Kaneda’s story mainly revolves around an attempt to save his little brother Tetsuo from becoming a government science experiment and weapon after the younger man begins developing telekinetic abilities. Ezra Miller and Alden Ehrenreich are among the actors being eyed for the role of Tetsuo. Jaume Collet-Serra will direct.

The “Twilight” films, the second to last installment of which – “Breaking Dawn” – opens this Friday, made an international superstar out of former indie actress Stewart, who now seems to be more keen on big budget blockbusters, currently filming next summer’s fantasy epic “Snow White and the Huntsman.” Could “Akira” be next?

Up and Comers Podcast #4: “The Hunger Games”, dueling Snow Whites and TV actors turned movie stars

November 15, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge and Rebecca Lewis in Podcast 6 Comments

Thank you for joining us again if you listened to our earlier podcasts or if you are new to the program, welcome! Once a week, Linda and Rebecca will take to the internet airwaves to discuss a variety of subjects, including all the latest news, movies we’ve seen recently, the Oscar season and more topics that interest us (or you! Please send us your suggestions for topics to talk about).

• 00:00 – 28:40 – We discuss some of the big news that broke over the past week or so, including that awesome “The Hunger Games” trailer; Jeremy Irvine as Pip in “Great Expectations”; “The Host” casting its two male leads and more.

• 28:45 – 33:20 – A couple of Oscar tidbits/updates; could two of our favorite “longshots” – Melissa McCarthy (“Bridesmaids”) and Mia Wasikowska (“Jane Eyre”) – be back in the race?

• 33:20 – 43:40 – We discuss Sundance hit “Another Earth” in depth, INCLUDING (from 35:05 – 38:40) SPECIFIC SPOILERS REGARDING THE ENDING. Please skip this section if you have not seen the film and do not wish to know, in great detail, how it ends.

• 43:40 – 48:15 – Linda discusses, briefly and without spoilers, “Haywire”, “Shame”, “The Adventures of Tin Tin” and “The Kid with a Bike”

• 48:15 – END – In depth discussion about actors who star on currently running TV shows and mapping out a pretty solid movie career at the same time. We discuss Blake Lively and her “Gossip Girl” co-stars, the young risings stars of HBO over on “True Blood” and “Game of Thrones” like Alexander Skarsgard, Dane DeHaan, Kit Harington and more.

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Watch: Enchantment and warfare mingle in “Snow White and the Huntsman” trailer

November 10, 2011 | Posted by Lindsey Young in Images, Videos 1 Comment

Following the new poster of “Snow White and the Huntsman,” Universal has released a full length trailer of their adaptation of the classic tale, as well as an additional poster featuring an armored Kristen Stewart in the title role of Snow White. The new poster mirrors the earlier promo shot of Stewart released the past summer, but she’s now accompanied by her seven (soldier) dwarfs. In the almost two minute glimpse into the film, we’re finally treated to real-life action that mixes magical warfare and intrigue. Judging by the trailer, the film looks like it’ll include mostly all of the traditional elements of the tale, give or take. Incorporated into trailer is the classic “Mirror Mirror” line, which coincidentally was recently announced as the official title of Tarsem Singh’s Snow White film that’s also due for release next year.

The Queen as depicted by Charlize Theron dominates the trailer and although the character has always been known as a cruel and jealous dictator, here she’s shown as way more malicious and domineering in her quest to be “the fairest of them all. The film’s two title characters also make appearances, but really nothing beyond quick flashes of wielding weapons and riding horses. Stewart’s Snow White, who has no speaking lines in the trailer, doesn’t appear to do much else besides fleeing or gazing around at the pretty and/or scary sights. Meanwhile, Chris Hemsworth is looking very Thor-like as the huntsman. Sam Claflin as the Prince also makes a brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance. Although the poster this past week hinted at a bit more of a fantastical element to the story, the trailer indicates that perhaps the story truly is as dark and brooding as that forest Snow White hangs out in.

Medieval playground or enchanted battlefield, we’re not entirely sure yet. The trailer and the posters all proudly state that the film comes from the producer of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, so perhaps Universal is hoping to target that same audience. We’ll find out next summer when the film hits theatres!

Via ComingSoon.net, view the trailer and the posters below:

New “Snow White and the Huntsman” poster

November 9, 2011 | Posted by Lindsey Young in Images 1 Comment

A new poster for Universal’s “Snow White and the Huntsman” made its debut yesterday and it’s given us a little more of a hint of what we can expect of this rendition of the classic fairy tale. The poster features Kristen Stewart centrally posed as an armed Snow White amidst an Alice-in-Wonderland-esque garden. Joining Stewart are Chris Hemsworth with his signature axe and Charlize Theron as the cold-hearted Queen. Judging from the character promo shots that premiered at SDCC and the somewhat recent set photos, the film appeared to differentiate itself from the other two competing films of the same tale by thrusting its heroine in a medieval warzone. While that still might be the case here, we can’t help but marvel at the unexpected fantastical style showcased in the poster.

“Snow White and the Huntsman” also stars Sam Claflin as Prince Charmant who is absent from the poster. The film is set to hit theatres June 1, 2012.

Click the image below for the full size.

More new images of Lily Collins and Armie Hammer in “Snow White”

October 6, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 4 Comments

Yesterday we posted the first images of Armie Hammer as Prince Andrew in Tarsem Singh’s super colorful and outlandish still untitled “Snow White” film and today a plethora of new images have been released, courtesy of EW, People and Yahoo! Movies. The costumes get bigger and more colorful and Lily Collins, it must be said, looks like a perfect Snow White, delicate and beautiful and always wearing a radiant smile, even in the midst of sword training.

Further details have also emerged from director Singh, who reveals that Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen won’t be outwardly evil at first. “She’s the cat that ate the canary,” he tells EW. “From serial killers to anyone who does evil deeds, they basically have a devil-made-me-do-it excuse, or they hear voices,” he continues. “I decided for the evil queen, this is going to be a person who sees her [good] self — but there’s a mirror personality.” When she sends her henchman Nathan Lane to take Snow White into the woods to be killed, he can’t do it and she takes up shelter with seven dwarfs, who make a living as bandits and wear stilts to appear gigantic when ambushing caravans. Kudos to Relativity for hiring real little people actors to play the dwarfs; the characters are still unnamed but they will be played by Jordan Prentice, Joey Gnoffo , Sabastian Saraceno, Collins, Martin Klebba, Mark Provinelli, Ronald Lee Clark and Danny Woodburn.

First Look: Prince Armie Hammer (and Evil Queen Julia Roberts) in Tarsem Singh’s “Snow White”

October 5, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 4 Comments

The battle to be the fairest of them all rages on. Relativity continues to stay one step ahead of Universal in the tale of the dueling Snow Whites. While filming is still underway on Charlize Theron-Chris Hemsworth starrer “Snow White and the Huntsman”, today new looks at director Tarsem Singh’s still untitled “comedic adventure” take on the wayward Princess and her seven dwarf friends have been unveiled, giving us our first glimpse of Julia Roberts as a “relateable” Evil Queen and Armie Hammer’s dashing Prince Andrew, who attracts both princess and queen.

Back in July, the first image from the film was revealed, featuring Lily Collins in the titular role looking every bit the fantastical fairy tale princess and altogether a totally different creature from armor-clad Kristen Stewart snapped filming battle scenes as the same character on the “Huntsman” set last month. The new reveals of Hammer and especially Roberts fall right in line with Collins’ outrageously colorful look, and we’d expect no less from a true visionary and out-of-the-box director like Tarsem, who is outspoken about the fact that the look of a film matters much more to him than the content.

Roberts fan site About Juia snagged the first scans from the new issue of People Magazine (seen below) and the article suggests even more new images will be revealed soon at People.com/SnowWhite. Also interesting from the article is that simply “Snow” is being considered as a possible title for the project formerly working under the title: “The Brothers Grimm: Snow White.”

Kristen Stewart is ready for battle in new “Snow White and the Huntsman” set photos

September 27, 2011 | Posted by Lindsey Young in Images 3 Comments

A few months ago at the SDCC, the public was given a first look at the four main characters of “Snow White and the Huntsman“. Following those promo pictures, images of Kristen Stewart, who plays the title character Snow White, have emerged online via PopSugar. As we’ve already seen from the promos, Snow White won’t be prancing around in frilly dresses in Universal’s rendition of the traditional fairy tale. In these set photos we can see Stewart in the same armor from the promos atop a horse looking like quite the medieval soldier. In this version of the story, the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) who has been assigned to kill Snow White for being more beautiful than the queen (Charlize Theron) instead takes the princess under his wing and trains her in the bloody art of war.

Along with Stewart, Hemsworth, and Theron, the film also features Sam Claflin as the Prince. The film is one of three Snow White films currently in production and is due for theatrical release June 1st, 2012, notably months before the release of its competitors. Click below to check out the photos.

First Look: “Snow White and the Huntsman” character promo pics

July 23, 2011 | Posted by Lindsey Young in Images 7 Comments

A mere day after the first photo of Lily Collins as Snow White in Relativity’s still untitled project was released to the public, Universal Pictures has released a first glimpse into their rendition of the Snow White tale with promo shots of the four main characters. While Collins’ photo is all grace and beauty, “Snow White and the Huntsman” is evidently going in the opposite direction. Kristen Stewart displays that she is no princess as she poses with a sword and shield, Charlize Theron looks menacing as the Queen, Chris Hemsworth is sweaty and manly as a proper huntsman should be and Sam Claflin leaves us wondering if the fairy tale will follow tradition with the prince saving the day.

Production for the film doesn’t begin until next month, but reports from SDCC 2011 are stating that Universal made a “big impression” with their presentation of the film. “Snow White and the Huntman” hits theatres June 1, 2012.

Via THR, see the full size images below.

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