MMM’s Oscar Picks, Hot New Trailers, and More!

UPCOMING FILM PROJECTS

According to The Hollywood Reporter, best-selling author Dan Brown will be handling script rewrites on adapting his third novel featuring symbologist Dr. Robert Langdon, THE LOST SYMBOL, to the screen for Columbia Pictures. The story involves Langdon traveling to the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., where he gets involved with a mystery involving the Freemasons and their search for an ancient pyramid containing vast knowledge. When the book was published in 2009, it sold a million copies in its first day. While the previous two movies – “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons” – starred Tom Hanks and were directed by Ron Howard, both have yet to commit to the third installment.

CASTING NEWS

The Associated Press is reporting that award-winning Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou (“Hero”) is starting his next film, NANJING HEROES, in January with actor Christian Bale starring as a priest caught up in the brutal 1937 invasion and pillaging of the Chinese capitol by Japanese troops. Based on Chinese author Yan Geling’s novel “The 13 Women of Nanjing,” about 13 prostitutes who stepped in for female university students who were to be taken as “escorts” for the troops during the period when nearly 20,000 women and girls were raped and killed by the Japanese troops, Bale’s Catholic priest shelters a group of prostitutes and female students during the invasion. The $90 million production, one of the most expensive in Chinese history, will mix Chinese and English, and is set for release in December 2011.

Gemma Arterton (“Clash of the Titans”) let slip to Total Film that she will star in Michael Mann’s Robert Capa biopic, CAPA, alongside Andrew Garfield (“The Social Network”). She said she’s “aiming for even more diversity. Capa [biopic about the combat photographer Robert Capa] is confirmed, so I should be working with your hottest actor, Andy Garfield!” Arterton would play Capa’s partner, Gerda Taro, but it is not confirmed yet that “Spider-Man” star Andrew Garfield is on board to play Capa. Mann’s project at Sony will concentrate on Capa’s torrid two-year romance with fellow photographer Taro during the Spanish Civil War.

MMM’s OSCAR NOMINEES

BEST PICTURE
The Social Network
Carlos
Toy Story 3
Black Swan
True Grit
127 Hours
The Kids Are All Right
Winter’s Bone
Inception
A Prophet

BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech”
James Franco, “127 Hours”
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”
Jeff Bridges, “True Grit”
Tahar Rahim, “A Prophet”

BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”
Annette Bening, “The Kids Are All Right”
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”
Carey Mulligan, “Never Let Me Go”
Emma Stone, “Easy A”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, “The Fighter”
Geoffrey Rush, “The King’s Speech”
Andrew Garfield, “The Social Network”
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner, “The Town”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jacki Weaver, “Animal Kingdom”
Elle Fanning, “Somewhere”
Rebecca Hall, “Please Give”
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”
Melissa Leo, “The Fighter”

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan”
Jacques Audiard, “A Prophet”
David Fincher, “The Social Network”
Lee Unkrich, “Toy Story 3”
Christopher Nolan, “Inception”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“127 Hours” – Simon Beaufoy, Danny Boyle
“The Social Network” – Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” – Michael Arndt
“True Grit” – Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
“Winter’s Bone” – Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Daniel Woodrell

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Inception,” Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right,” Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
“The King’s Speech,” David Seidler
“Another Year,” Mike Leigh
“Black Swan,” Andres Heinz, Mark Heyman

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Inside Job”
“Waiting for Superman”
“Exit Through the Gift Shop”
“Restrepo”
“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“Toy Story 3”
“How To Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”

HOT NEW TRAILERS

CEDAR RAPIDS
The film, opening in limited release on February 11, 2011, stars Ed Helms as an insurance agent who leaves his small town for the first time, representing his company at a convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Anne Heche, John C. Reilly, Sigourney Weaver and Isiah Whitlock Jr. also star.

RED STATE
Written and directed by Kevin Smith (“Clerks”), the film represents a return to Smith’s indie roots and also a try at something new, delving into the horror genre with his take on extreme fundamentalism in Middle America. The film stars Michael Angarano, Melissa Leo, and John Goodman, and will make its premiere at Sundance.

…Happy Blizzard!