Clint Eastwood

[MacGuffin]

Eastwood, Jolie catch 'Changeling'
Grazer, Howard to produce pic
Source: Variety

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment are fast-tracking "The Changeling," with Clint Eastwood looking to direct and Angelina Jolie in talks to star.

Scripted by J. Michael Straczynski, the film will become a co-production of Imagine and Eastwood's Malpaso. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will produce with Malpaso's Rob Lorenz.

Plan is to start production later this year.

Jolie would play a woman whose son is abducted but retrieved; she suspects, however, that the returned child is not her kid. The woman must then confront corruption in the LAPD. Story is based on true events in 1920s Los Angeles.

U and Imagine have been high on the project since acquiring it last summer and placing it on a shortlist of films that Imagine partner Howard intended to direct next. When Howard instead committed to adapt the Peter Morgan play "Frost/Nixon," he and Grazer began thinking of other filmmakers. Since they expect to follow up "The Da Vinci Code" with a pic based on the Dan Brown novel "Angels & Demons," it was clear Howard wouldn't get to "The Changeling" for two years.

Howard, Grazer and Imagine exec Jim Whitaker then called Eastwood and asked him to read the script. Though a fixture at Warner Bros., Eastwood had to enlist outside partners to get his most recent films going: "Million Dollar Baby" and the dual pics "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima."

Jolie, who'll next be seen as Marianne Pearl in "The Mighty Heart" and then in the Bob Zemeckis-directed "Beowulf," will have to juggle "The Changeling" with another plum project. She's booked to star in "Atlas Shrugged," a Randall Wallace-scripted adaptation of the Ayn Rand classic for Lionsgate.

[modage]

as long as its not a remake.  though angelina is a dead ringer for george c. scott.  but whats with all the imaginary kid movies?  flightplan, the forgotten, bunny lake is missing, this.  i havent seen any of them and i'm already tired of this genre!

[Pubrick]

but whats with all the imaginary kid movies? flightplan, the forgotten, bunny lake is missing, this.

america hates its youth. sequel to Youth Without Youth: America Without Youth

[MacGuffin]

Eastwood, Damon on Board Mandela Film
Source: Variety

Warner Bros. is in talks to finance The Human Factor, with Clint Eastwood eyeing it as a directing vehicle, and Matt Damon in preliminary talks to play the captain of the Springboks.

Morgan Freeman had already signed on to play Nelson Mandela in the project, an adaptation of the John Carlin book "The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Changed the World."

Freeman and Revelations partner Lori McCreary are producing with Mace Neufeld, and South African screenwriter Anthony Peckham (Don't Say a Word) wrote the script.

The story is set right after the fall of apartheid, and after Mandela was released from a long imprisonment and became South African president. Mandela recognized the significance when South Africa was selected host of the 1995 Rugby World Cup after the team had been barred from even competing since the 1980s because of apartheid.

[MacGuffin]

3 join Jolie for 'Changeling'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore and John Malkovich have joined Angelina Jolie in "Changeling," a true life drama that Clint Eastwood is directing for Universal and Imagine.

The story follows a woman (Jolie) whose son goes missing in 1920s Los Angeles. The police return the wrong child and the woman is thrown into an insane asylum for disagreeing with the LAPD. When it seems that her real son has been murdered by a child serial killer and the child returned admits to fraud, she takes her case to the city council and takes down the mayor, the police chief and several corrupt officers, concurrently sparking changes in the insanity legislation.

Donovan will play a police captain, Feore the chief of police and Malkovich a reverend.

Also joining the cast are Jason Butler Harner ("John Adams"), who portrays a mechanic accused of murdering the woman's son, as well as Amy Ryan and Michael Kelly.

[modage]

my friend recently used the word "quiff" which i thought was awesome.  and he said it was from an Eastwood film called Heartbreak Ridge and the full line is...

"I've drank more beer, pissed more blood and banged more quiff than all you numbnuts put together"

so i wrote that down on a piece of paper in my wallet and have been waiting to use it in conversation.  first i have to memorize it though.

[MacGuffin]

Clint to drive 'Gran Torino'
Actor to star and direct film for Warner Bros.
Source: Variety

Clint Eastwood will next direct and star in "Gran Torino" for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures. Pic is skedded for a December release.

"Torino" marks the first time Eastwood has appeared on screen since "Million Dollar Baby," released in late 2004.

Details of "Torino" are being kept under tantalizingly tight wraps. Existence of the film, and Eastwood's role, were only revealed on Tuesday when Warner quietly dated the movie for sometime in December.

Producers are Rob Lorenz, Eastwood's partner at Malpaso Prods., and Billy Gerber. Exec producers are Jenette Kahn and Adam Richman at Double Nickel Ent.

It's unclear when the movie will begin shooting, or if it has already begun production. Eastwood is known for quick production turnarounds.

"Torino" means Eastwood will be theaters twice in a short period with films he has directed. On Nov. 7, Universal and Imagine open Eastwood's Angelina Jolie starrer "Changeling," a child abduction drama.

Eastwood last directed companion films "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima."

Also for Warner, Eastwood is set to direct Nelson Mandela pic "The Human Factor." That project is in development.

[MacGuffin]

Matt Damon to 'Factor' in rugby role
Actor joins Freeman in Eastwood's WB drama
Source: Variety

Matt Damon has committed to star in "Human Factor," joining Morgan Freeman in the Clint Eastwood-directed film for Warner Bros.

Shooting will begin early next year in South Africa.

Damon will play rugby star Francois Pienaar, who created, with Nelson Mandela, an event that gave whites and blacks in South Africa a common cause to rally around as the country was trying to heal from the wounds of apartheid.

The Anthony Peckham-scripted drama is an adaptation of John Carlin's book "The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Changed the World."

Mandela, freed from 27 years in prison and elected president, decided to get behind South Africa's Springboks team when the country was selected as host country for the 1985 Rugby World Cup. The Springboks had been banned from international competition because of the country's apartheid practices.

The majority of blacks viewed the team as a symbol of exclusion, but they rooted along with white countrymen as the Springboks won in overtime against New Zealand to capture the Cup. Pienaar was the Springboks captain who developed a relationship with Mandela during the team's run.

Freeman and Revelations partner Lori McCreary will produce with Rob Lorenz and Mace Neufeld. Freeman got Mandela's blessing and brought the project to his pal Eastwood and also to WB, where both Revelations and Eastwood's Malpaso have their overall deals.

Damon wrapped the untitled Paul Greengrass-directed Universal drama based on "Imperial Life in Emerald City," and he's currently starring for Steven Soderbergh in "The Informant" for Warner Bros. He plans to rest up in the fall and make "Human Factor" his next starring role.

[MacGuffin]

Spike Lee gets in Clint Eastwood's line of fire
· Director told to 'shut his face' after race comments
· Row over black casting in second world war films
Source: The Guardian

Clint Eastwood has advised rival film director Spike Lee to "shut his face" after the African-American complained about the racial make-up of Eastwood's films.

In an interview with the Guardian published today, Eastwood rejected Lee's complaint that he had failed to include a single African-American soldier in his films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, both about the 1945 battle for the Japanese island.

In typically outspoken language, Eastwood justified his choice of actors, saying that those black troops who did take part in the battle as part of a munitions company didn't raise the flag. The battle is known by the image of US marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi.

"The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn't do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go: 'This guy's lost his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate." Referring to Lee, he added: "A guy like him should shut his face."

Lee's comments came during a press conference to promote his own war film, Miracle at St Anna, at the Cannes film festival last month. "Clint Eastwood made two films about Iwo Jima that ran for more than four hours total, and there was not one Negro actor on the screen," Lee said. "If you reporters had any balls you'd ask him why. There's no way I know why he did that ... But I know it was pointed out to him and that he could have changed it. It's not like he didn't know."

Lee's own film, about members of the all-black 92nd Buffalo Division, which fought in Italy, is an attempt to set second world war history straight.

Eastwood, who described himself as libertarian - "Just stay out of everybody else's hair" - has a reputation for outspoken remarks. He once said he would kill fellow film-maker Michael Moore if he showed up uninvited at his house. His 2004 double-Oscar-winning film Million Dollar Baby was criticised by Christian groups who objected to part of the plot involving "assisted suicide".

Defending the racial make-up in his films as historically accurate, Eastwood referred to another of his films, Changeling, which was set in Los Angeles before the city had a large group of African-Americans. "What are you going to do, you going to tell a fuckin' story about that?" he said. "Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I'm not in that game. I'm playing it the way I read it historically, and that's the way it is. When I do a movie and it's 90% black, like Bird, then I use 90% black people.

"He was complaining when I did Bird (the 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker). Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that's why. He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else."

Eastwood's next project, The Human Factor, will be about Nelson Mandela's attempts to foster national unity in post-apartheid South Africa. Asked if he would remain historically accurate with depictions of the former president, he said: "I'm not going to make Nelson Mandela a white guy."

[JG]

"A guy like him should shut his face."

marquee?

[ElPandaRoyal]

"A guy like him should shut his face."

marquee?

I second that. Fucking hilarious.

[MacGuffin]

'Gran Torino' gets Dec. 17 slot
Clint Eastwood's drama hits in time for awards season
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" guns into the marketplace on Dec. 17.

Warner Bros. will give the Eastwood-helmed and -toplined drama a limited release in the midst of kudos season, with a platformed campaign into wide release to play out over subsequent frames. Warners had it tagged as an unslotted December release for months, but domestic distribution president Dan Fellman locked into the date after meeting with the filmmaker on Wednesday.

"It's a film that's sure to have great appeal both with moviegoers and critics," Fellman said.

"Torino" is one of two fourth-quarter releases considered early candidates for awards-season nominations. Universal's Eastwood-directed Angelina Jolie starrer "Changeling" bows wide on Friday.

In "Torino," Eastwood plays a grouchy widower spurred to tough action when his neighborhood is beset by violent gangs. The film gets its title from his character's vintage 1973 Ford Gran Torino.

Opening on a Wednesday, "Torino" will face boxoffice competition over the subsequent Dec. 19 weekend that includes two wide-release star vehicles -- Sony's Will Smith starrer "Seven Pounds" and Warners' own Jim Carrey-toplined "Yes Man."

[MacGuffin]

Eastwood, Spielberg talking thriller
DreamWorks holds onto Morgan's 'Hereafter'
Source: Variety

Clint Eastwood is in talks to direct the supernatural thriller "Hereafter" for DreamWorks.

Company, led by principals Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider, picked up the spec penned by "Frost/Nixon" scribe Peter Morgan in March when it was still a part of Paramount Pictures. DreamWorks held onto the project as part of its separation pact with the Melrose studio and has been wooing Eastwood to board the project for months.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it is described as in the vein of "The Sixth Sense."

Kathleen Kennedy is producing.

Eastwood, who has two films in awards season contention this year -- "The Changeling" and "Gran Torino" -- previously worked with Spielberg on "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima," both of which Spielberg produced.

[MacGuffin]

Clint Eastwood film lands familiar name
Director's son Scott joins Nelson Mandela drama
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Like father, cast son.

Scott Eastwood has nabbed a role in the untitled Nelson Mandela drama being directed by his father, Clint, for Warner Bros. and Spyglass Entertainment.

The younger Eastwood joins Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in the real-life story of how Mandela, as the new South African president, worked with the captain of the national rugby team, Francois Pienaar, to help unite the country after apartheid. Eastwood will play a member of Pienaar's team, which makes a run at the 1995 World Cup Championship.

South African writer Anthony Peckham adapted the screenplay from John Carlin's book, "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation."

Clint Eastwood, Lori McCreary, Robert Lorenz and Mace Neufeld are producing the film. Freeman, Tim Moore, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum are exec producing.

Scott Eastwood, whose credit often reads "Scott Reeves," also had roles in his father's films "Gran Torino" and "Flags of Our Fathers." The actor, repped by UTA and Joanne Horowitz Management, also appeared in "An American Crime" and "Pride."

[MacGuffin]

Clint's Mandela film due Dec. 11
Eastwood's 'Invictus' stars Freeman, Damon
Source: Variety

Warner Bros. will open Clint Eastwood's "Invictus," the Nelson Mandela pic toplining Morgan Freeman, on Dec. 11.
Matt Damon also stars.

Film's working title had been "The Human Factor," adapted from John Carlin's tome "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation."

"Invictus" follows Mandela's attempt to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup to heal his nation following his release from prison, the fall of apartheid and his election as president of South Africa.

Damon portrays Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team.

Eastwood drew the title of the film from a short poem often recited by Mandela. "Invictus," penned by William Ernest Henley, speaks to the will to survive in the face of adversity.

"Invictus" isn't the first picture to claim Dec. 11. Also opening that weekend is Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones," from Paramount and DreamWorks.

The Dec. 11 release puts "Invictus" and "Lovely Bones" in the heart of awards season.

Eastwood, Hollywood's most prolific director in the past several years, opened two films in fall 2007 and another two in 2008, "Changeling" and "Gran Torino."

"Gran Torino," in which Eastwood also starred, is the filmmaker's most successful box office title to date, earning $148 million domestically and $112.5 million overseas, where he also enjoys iconic status.

Warners, which has long been in business with Eastwood, released "Gran Torino."

As of now, "Invictus" is set to open wide, although that could change.