Too good to be true? The brothers Hemsworth may “Triumph” in onscreen team-up for Steve McQueen biopic

November 13, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

You better not be teasing us now, The Wrap. Buried in a story about Chris Hemsworth becoming attached to Stephen Gaghan’s crime thriller “Candy Store,” the paper also reports Hemsworth is being eyed for a role in “Triumph”, a biopic of iconic American actor Steve McQueen, and that film has also offered a role to Liam Hemsworth, Chris’s younger “Hunger Games” star brother.

The film is set up at Sony Pictures and the script – following the story of McQueen and his stunt double Bud Elkins – is still being written by Brandon and Philip Murphy, so this sounds like it’s far from being finalized. But the good news is that the Hemsworths may be open to doing a movie together, and if not this one, then perhaps another one. Why haven’t we thought of this great idea before, and now that we have, yes please, can we have it soon? Ahem.

Meanwhile, Hemsworth’s involvement with “Candy Store” seems at least slightly more plausible, and if everything falls into place, he will be taking on the role of an elite operative who retires to Brooklyn, only to find the enemy he once fought setting up shop in his new neighborhood.

The older Hemsworth is currently reprising his role as the God of Thunder and Avenger on “Thor: The Dark World” and will next star in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of “Robopocalypse.” The younger Hemsworth is reprising his role as Jennifer Lawrence’s best friend in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”, and recently wrapped up corporate espionage thriller “Paranoia”, as well as heist actioner “Empire State.”

Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy and Ruth Negga join “Twelve Years a Slave”

May 22, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Rising stars Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy and Ruth Negga have joined Steve McQueen’s “Shame” follow-up, “Twelve Years a Slave”, according to Variety and Deadline. The three actors join Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and “Pariah” breakout star Odepero Aduye in the cast.

The film is based on the memoirs of Soloman Northup, to be played by Ejiofor, a free-born son of a former slave who is lured to Washington DC where he was illegally sold into slavery (with McNairy in the role of a circus worker who masterminds his abduction) and shipped to work on a plantation in New Orleans. When Northup is finally able to get a letter to his wife and family, they seek legal counsel to help free him. Dano and Fassbender will play plantation owners and Pitt will be the family’s lawyer. Negga will play a runaway slave, while Oduye is rumored to play Northup’s wife. Filming will begin at the end of June.

Indie scene staple Dano recently showed up on shortlists for big tentpole projects including “Akira” and “Die Hard 5″, but will next be seen sticking closer to his comfort zone in quirky rom com “Ruby Sparks”, from the directors of “Little Miss Sunshine.” He broke out in low budget horror “Monsters”, and now McNairy reteams with Pitt on “Twelve Years” after starring opposite one another at the current Cannes title “Killing Them Softly.” Irish actress Negga can currently be seen opposite Samuel L. Jackson in “The Samaritan.”

Adepero Oduye joins Steve McQueen’s “Twelve Years A Slave” alongside Fassbender, Ejiofor and Brad Pitt

April 17, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

Adepero Oduye, star of last year’s indie hit “Pariah” is set to join a star-studded cast in Steve McQueen‘s next pic “Twelve Years A Slave”.

With Michael Fassbender – who’s clearly a big McQueen fan having worked with the director on two critically-acclaimed hits (“Hunger” and “Shame”) – already on board as well as Hollywood heavyweight Brad Pitt and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oduye will take on the female lead, rumoured to be Ejiofor’s wife.

The film is based on the true story of Soloman Northup, to be played by Ejiofor, a free-born son of a former slave who is lured to Washington DC where he was illegally sold into slavery and shipped to work for William Ford in New Orleans. When Northup is finally able to get a letter to his wife and family, they seek legal counsel to help free him. Oduye will presumably play his wife, while Fassbender will play a plantation owner and Brad Pitt will be the family’s lawyer.

It’s been a busy past year for Oduye, whose name could be found on any number of “next generation” type lists last year including Sundance Film Festival’s Fresh Faces to Watch; THR’s Next Generation Class of 2011 and Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue. She was also nominated for her first Indie Spirit award for her leading role in “Pariah”, Dee Rees’ tale of a Brooklyn teenager juggling conflicting identities and risking friendships and family in her search for sexual expression.

Watch: Michael Fassbender masters the art of seduction in “Shame” red band trailer

November 29, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

Michael Fassbender’s steely and seductive gaze is the star of the new red band trailer for “Shame”, visionary director Steve McQueen’s stark and frank look at sex addiction, and also my personal favorite film of the year so far. Fassbender stars as Brandon, a carefully controlled man whose neatly compartamentalized life begins to unravel when his mess of a little sister – played brilliantly by Carey Mulligan in a role unlike anything you’ve seen her in – moves into his apartment.

NSFW alert at the highest capacity here, as there are some very revealing glimpses of the NC-17 film. Its restrictive rating may prevent some movie theaters from showing it, but do try your best to find it near you when it releases on December 2.

Watch: Carey Mulligan sings, Michael Fassbender unravels in new “Shame” trailer

November 17, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

I saw “Shame” recently and, to put it lightly, it’s the best movie I’ve seen in 2011 so far. Visionary director Steve McQueen’s stark visual style, Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan’s top-of-their-game acting, the frank way of addressing its controversial subject matter, all of it is sublime. A new trailer has arrived, touting its newly garnered NC-17 rating from the MPAA, and Mulligan’s lovely and sad (and long) rendition of “New York, New York”, lifted from a scene in the film, sets the tone for montages of Fassbender’s rapidly unraveling life. It’s an appropriately slow-paced and languid, almost dream-like glimpse of the film that employs much of the same style to brilliant effect.

Do yourself a favor and see “Shame” when it finally hits theaters on December 2, 2011.

Watch: Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan star in first trailer for Steve McQueen’s ‘Shame’

October 17, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos Leave a comment

Michael Fassbender’s year is ending on a high note, with the release of Shame, director Steve McQueen’s critically acclaimed feature that focuses on a single man’s addiction to sex, and his inability to cope with intimacy or love. His world begins to crumble when his needy and troubled younger sister (played by Carey Mulligan) turns up and moves into his apartment.

Shame screened at London Film Festival this past weekend, and was by all accounts an intense and powerful feature, with the Guardian calling it “fluid, rigorous, serious cinema; the best kind of adult movie” and THR commending Mulligan for being “terrific in this unexpected role of a deeply wounded and troubled soul.”

This writer chose to see 50/50 at LFF instead, one of our most anticipated films for fall, but Shame is released in the UK in early January, with a states-side release set for 2 December.

Watch the trailer below, courtesy of the Guardian.

Michael Fassbender reunites once again with director Steve McQueen for “Twelve Years A Slave”

October 11, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Scorsese/DiCaprio, Refn/Gosling and now McQueen/Fassbender. Michael Fassbender, who is perhaps the buzziest actor right now as we head into awards season, is set to reunite with director Steve McQueen for a third time, following 2008′s “Hunger” and this year’s “Shame”, the source of all of Fassbender’s awards buzz. Variety reports the actor/director duo are teaming up on “Twelve Years a Slave”, based on the true autobiographical account of Solomon Northrup set in 19th Century America. The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Ejiofor woud presumably play Northrup, a free-born son of a former slave who lived as a farmer in New York in the 1800s. Two men lure Northrup to Washington DC with the promise of paying him to play his violin in a traveling circus, but instead he was drugged, illegally sold into slavery and shipped to work for William Ford in New Orleans. When he is finally able to get a letter to his wife and family, they seek legal counsel to help free him. He recounted, in great detail with exact dates and locations, his 12 years as a slave in “Twelve Years a Slave.” It’s unclear who Fassbender might play, though Canadian carpenter Samuel Bass, who aided Northrup in getting that crucial letter to his family, may be a logical choice.

Fassbender has been winning rave after rave for his performance in McQueen’s “Shame” as a thirty-something sex addict whose carefully compartmentalized life begins to spiral out of control when his mess of a younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment. It’s only one of two festival-circuit films that have people talking, as he is also said to be fantastic in David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method”, in which he plays Carl Jung opposite Viggo Mortensen’s Sigmund Freud. A terrific end to a year that also saw a strong turn as Mr. Rochester in Cary Fukunaga’s new adaptation of “Jane Eyre” opposite Mia Wasikowska and as iconic comic book villain Magneto in this summer’s “X-Men: First Class.” He’s currently wrapping up Ridley Scott’s semi-”Alien”-prequel “Prometheus.”

First clip and tons of stills from Venice/Telluride champ “Shame” starring Michael Fassbender

September 5, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images, Reviews, Videos Leave a comment

Hot on the heels of its rapturous reception in its premiere at the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals, the first scene clip and nearly 30 new photos have been released from Steve McQueen’s dark erotic drama “Shame”, starring man of the moment Michael Fassbender as a thirty-something sex addict whose carefully compartmentalized life begins to spiral out of control when his mess of a younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment.

Variety calls it a “mesmerizing companion piece to [McQueen's] 2008 debut, Hunger.” Britain’s The Guardian praises both Fassbender and Mulligan’s “dynamic performances” and says the film itself “is fluid, rigorous, serious cinema; the best kind of adult movie.”

“Shame” will also give audiences their first sample of Mulligan’s singing voice, which she may or may not apply to playing the role of Eliza Doolittle in an upcoming big screen adaptation of “My Fair Lady.” THR surmises, “Mulligan’s heretofore unknown vocal abilities are revealed in a rendition of ‘New York, New York’ that, protracted nearly to the breaking point, is nearly as excruciating as it is exquisite.”

Carey Mulligan joins McQueen’s sex addiction drama

November 30, 2010 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

A new role for Oscar nominee and British up and comer Carey Mulligan, according to The Playlist, who are reporting that Mulligan is joining the cast of Steve McQueen’s sophomore film “Shame”.

The film also stars Michael Fassbender (“Fish Tank”), another highly acclaimed actor, and focuses on Fassbender’s character, a Manhattan office worker who is unable to control his addiction to sex. James Badge Daley (“24″) will also join the cast, and filming is due to start filming in the New Year, on location in New York.

2010 has been Mulligan’s year, with an Academy Award nomination for her stand out role in “An Education”, as well as roles in Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps”, and Mark Romanek’s adaptation of “Never Let Me Go”. But it looks as if 2011 will also be Mulligan’s year, after winning the sought after role of Daisy in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of classic American novel, “The Great Gatsby”, and now this role with McQueen, an award-winning artist who turned director in 2008 for the compelling “Hunger”.

No word on who each actor will play but The Playlist have read the script, and have the following to say – “The plot revolves around Brandon (Fassbender), a Manhattan officer worker with a hopeless sex addiction. It’s possible that Mulligan is playing Marianne, a co-worker that Brandon begins a relationship with, but it seems far more likely that she’s play Sissy, his troubled sister, a blues singer who comes to stay for a few days. Meanwhile, Badge Dale’s likely to play David, Brandon’s boss.”

steve mcqueen