Saoirse Ronan to (sort of) play Snow White after all, takes lead in Disney’s “Order of the Seven”

February 10, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

After being linked to and turning down both other current Snow White movies (in the end “Mirror Mirror” went to Lily Collins and “Snow White and the Huntsman” to Kristen Stewart), Saoirse Ronan has chosen to play a sort of version of that fairy tale princess after all. Variety reports Ronan is in final negotiations for Disney’s self-described “warrior pic” “The Order of the Seven”, which originated as a version of the Snow White tale, going under the titles “Snow White and the Seven Samuri” and then “Snow and the Seven” before settling on its current fairy tale-less title.

Ronan will play Olivia, a young Brit living in Hong Kong in the 19th century who seeks protection from an international order of warriors (seven of them). When an evil empress threatens them, she helps the warriors defend their destiny and reclaim their noble roots. Sure, Disney is claiming the film no longer has anything to do with the fairy tale, and who can blame them, but… come on. It still sounds an awful lot like the revisionist Snow White tale that existed a year ago, minus an evil stepmother and magic mirror or two. The studio is also looking for an international audience by seeking to cast local Chinese, Japanese and Russian actors to play the parts of the warriors. Filming under the direction of Michael Gracey – making his feature directorial debut – will begin this fall.

Ronan, Oscar nominee for “Atonement” and one of the most talented and promising young actresses working today, just wrapped up vampire flick “Byzantium” opposite Gemma Arterton and is gearing up to shoot “The Host” for director Andrew Niccol, based on the novel by “Twilight” author Stephanie Meyer. She is also attached to sci-fi actioner “How I Live Now”, about a teenage girl trying to survive WWIII in the British countryside. Ronan was most recently seen as teenage assasin “Hanna” and next lends her voice to “The Secret World of Arriety.”

Watch: New look at Lily Collins and Armie Hammer in Tarsem Singh’s Snow White tale “Mirror Mirror”

January 25, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 1 Comment

So, we were pretty hard on the first trailer for Tarsem Singh’s Snow White film “Mirror Mirror” and honestly, it seemed like maybe Relativity Media were starting to have doubts as well, since it’s been a few months since that release and there’s been nary a peep from the movie til now, even though it releases in less than two months. The jokes seem somewhat toned down (or better hidden) in the new trailer/behind-the-scenes clip, with an emphasis on Lily Collins and the “modernized” Snow White she embodies, but we are still eyeing this one with some suspicion. Armie Hammer acting like a puppy is just a step too far beyond ridiculous for our tastes.

The clip debuted on Parents Connect, perhaps an indication we are a bit older than the target audience for the movie, and are judging it too harshly. Or maybe it really sucks, who knows? Find out if “Mirror Mirror”, err, lives up to its trailers, on March 16, 2012.

Up and Comers Podcast #5: “Twilight” takeover! “Breaking Dawn” reviewed; what is the next big franchise?

November 22, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge and Rebecca Lewis in Podcast Leave a comment

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).

This week we are joined by some special guests who are experts on book to movie adaptations. Special thanks to Kimmy West from PageToPremiere.com, which follows books as they make their way on to the big screen. Apt!

There are some technical, audio issues with this week’s podcast, so many apologies on that front, edited it the best I could!

• 00:00 – 17:30 – We digest some recent news, including a redux on the Battle of the Snow Whites, in light of the “Mirror Mirror” trailer; Kit Harington finally landing “Arthur and Lancelot” and more.

• 17:30 – 43:30 – We review “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn” in depth, quickly touch upon “The Descendants” and gush over “Shame.”

• 43:30 – END – Linda and Kimmy are joined by Stephanie (PoetryToProse.com) and Lindsey (AStormOfWords.net) to discuss book to movie adaptations, including “Harry Potter”, “Twilight”, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Hunger Games” and more. Discussion mainly hinges on big franchises and what makes them successful, and what’s the Next Big Thing.

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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.

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

• 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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THR names Next Gen 2011: Lily Collins, Armie Hammer, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Irvine and more

November 2, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Features, Lists 2 Comments

Just like last year, in our estimation THR has picked some great names for their Next Gen Class of 2011. From indie darlings to future superheros and fairy tale princesses, THR has cast their vote for the fastest rising stars of the moment.

Indie stars represented are up from last year, and in a year that saw the stunning arrivals of Sundance breakouts Elizabeth Olsen, Felicity Jones, Adepero Oduye and Shailene Woodley, it’s well deserved. They each did one tiny little indie movie and find themselves, at year’s end, on the tip of the industry’s tongue, often in conjecture with the word “Oscar.” The movies are small, intimate and really showcase the impressive talent contained within these new performers. On the other, more “traditional” end of the spectrum, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer, Henry Cavill and Jeremy Irvine are tasked with carrying million/billion dollar franchises on their young, untested shoulders, and the real test of their A-List movie star potential remain on the horizon.

Lily Collins joins Michael Angarano and Julianne Moore in “The English Teacher”

October 24, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

The ever-busy Lily Collins continues to add to her diverse and rapidly filling up upcoming slate, as Deadline reports the young rising star has joined the cast of indie dramedy “The English Teacher” opposite Michael Angarano and Julianne Moore. Charlie Saxton and Nathan Lane co-star.

Craig Zisk directs the film about a small town high school teacher whose world is turned upside down by the return of a former student, whose journey to New York to try to make it as a playwright has ended in failure. Angarano would play the writer, who Moore’s charcter falls for. Collins will play a popular high school student who clashes with Moore’s teacher. Filming begins this week in New York.

Collins recently appeared opposite “Twilight” werewolf Taylor Lautner in the awful actioner “Abduction”, but has plenty of more promising projects on the horizon. She’ll be seen in the title role opposite Evil Queen Julia Roberts and Prince Armie Hammer in Tarsem Singh’s still untitled “Snow White” and will headline teen fantasy romance “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” opposite another “Twilight” star, Jamie Campbell-Bower. She presumably remains in contention for the title role in revisionist Shakespeare tale “Rosaline.”

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.”

Keira Knightley or Lily Collins may be Romeo’s jilted lover “Rosaline” in revisionist tale

August 17, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 4 Comments

Lily Collins won’t be Juliet, but could she be Romeo’s ex? Vulture reports the young actress, who has been rapidly sweeping up one high profile role after another, is a “strong contender” to take the title role in “Rosaline”, a revisionist take on Shakespeare’s classic tragic teen romance that will give voice instead to the girl who Romeo claimed to be in love with right before meeting and falling for Juliet.

But not so fast, Ms. Collins, because Fox 2000 is actually also in very early discussions with Keira Knightley about taking the role. Though talks are in “nascent” stages, both the producers and the studio are keen to have the more established British actress headline the new project. Based on the novel “When You Were Mine” from first time novelist Rebecca Serle, “Rosaline” will see the wooed and jilted girl falling for Romeo’s cousin Benvolio instead.

While Baz Luhrmann brought Shakespeare’s language to modern day in 1996′s “Romeo and Juliet”, “Rosaline” will be the opposite: set in the sixteenth century with modern language. While the book is not even hitting bookshelves until May of 2012, Fox 2000 has fast tracked the film adaptation, quickly hiring producer Shawn Levy, screenwriters Scott Neustader and Michael H. Weber, and Michael Suscy to direct. There is even the possibility it may see audience before its source material hits bookstores.

Knightley, already a two-time Oscar nominee, will be seen on the festival circuit this fall opposite Michael Fassbender in David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method” and will soon begin filming “Anna Karenina”, reuniting with her “Atonement” and “Pride & Prejudice” director Joe Wright. Collins is currently in Montreal shooting Tarsem Singh’s untitled “Snow White” and will next be seen opposite Taylor Lautner in “Abduction”.

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