The Lovely Bones

[MacGuffin]

Imperioli connected to DW's 'Bones'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Emmy winner and current nominee Michael Imperioli has joined the all-star cast of Peter Jackson's adaptation of "The Lovely Bones" for DreamWorks.

The offed "Sopranos" actor joins Rachel Weisz, Ryan Gosling, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci and newcomer Saoirse Ronan in the big-screen version of Alice Sebold's best-seller. The story centers on a young girl who is murdered but continues to observe her family on Earth after her death. She witnesses the impact of her demise on her loved ones, while her killer skillfully covers his tracks and prepares to murder again.

Imperioli will play Len Fenerman, the detective in charge of investigating the girl's death.

Jackson is directing the movie, whose script was written by Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh.

Carolynne Cunningham, Jackson, Walsh and Aimee Peyronnet are producing "Bones," which begins filming in October in Pennsylvania and New Zealand. Executive producing will be Film 4's Tessa Ross alongside Ken Kamins and Jim Wilson.

Paramount Pictures is distributing.

[Kal]

I'm starting to like this... casting is great

[MacGuffin]

Wahlberg steps into 'Bones'
Actor to replace Gosling in lead role
Source: Variety

One day before shooting began, Mark Wahlberg stepped in to replace Ryan Gosling in "The Lovely Bones," the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of the Alice Sebold novel for DreamWorks.

Wahlberg has taken the role of Jack Salmon, the grieving father of a young girl. That role was vacated Friday by "Lars and the Real Girl" star Ryan Gosling, who stepped out after gaining 20 pounds and growing a beard for the job. Sources attributed the exit to creative differences.

After reading the script, Wahlberg quickly committed Sunday. He joins Rachel Weisz as a couple whose world is shattered after their daughter is murdered. The girl watches over her family and her killer from heaven. Jackson wrote the script with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

The film begins shooting today in Pennsylvania, where Wahlberg most recently wrapped the lead in the M. Night Shyamalan-directed "The Happening" for Fox. It is Wahlberg's first time working with Jackson, though the filmmaker did an on-screen stint last season on "Entourage," the HBO comedy series Wahlberg exec produces.

Wahlberg also recently committed to star with Brad Pitt in the Darren Aronofsky-directed "The Fighter" at Paramount. That picture is expected to begin production next fall.

[Ghostboy]

I don't know if this is better casting, but it's definitely a lot more interesting. Gosling was too young for the part. Whalberg's a little bit older, and he's never played anything like this, so I'm much more excited to see what he can bring to the role.

[modage]

uh oh.  Mark Wahlberg can't act, so, you know, he just ruined this.

[Kal]

You kidding? He won like 25 Adult Acting Awards back in 1997! He can totally act

I actually like him... but I thought Ryan Golsing was great for this. We'll see how it goes.. where the hell is Andy Serkis?

[Pozer]

  + 

[MacGuffin]

Heaven Is Wonderful For AJ Michalka In Peter Jackson's 'Lovely Bones'
Source: MTV

For viewers who gaped at his vision of Lothlorien, who were left awed by his realization of Helms Deep, or who stood slack-jawed in amazement at the details of Minas Tirith – get ready to be blown away again, insists AJ Michalka, who says the next place Peter Jackson takes you will have you thinking of heaven. Literally.

"I think it's going to be stunning," Michalka said of Jackson's vision for heaven, a major set-piece in his upcoming adaptation of "The Lovely Bones." "There's going to be this beautiful gazebo involved, I know that. He's doing a lot of stuff with blue screen, which if going to be insane, unbelievable. It's going to be her own little world in heaven."

The "her" in this case is Susie Salmon (Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan), a 14-year-old who watches her family and friends from the afterlife, observing them as they struggle to cope with her brutal rape and murder.

AJ plays Clarissa in the film, Susie's best friend. As I wrote back in September when we first announced AJ's participation, Clarissa plays a vital part in one of the book's biggest turning points, a confrontation between her boyfriend and Susie's father.

"Basically, he hears noise in the cornfield and thinks it's the killer and he's about to go after him but really it's me and my boyfriend," AJ explained. "He goes nuts and my boyfriend almost ends up killing him."

At the time we last spoke to AJ, the role of Jack was supposed to be played by Ryan Gosling. A few short days before filming began, however, the "Half Nelson" star was replaced by Mark Wahlberg. Was "The Departed" star able to catch up quickly enough?

"He's incredible," Michalka said of her co-star, adding that he was a real pro in the cornfield scene. "We all did our own and after every take he was like, 'Are you okay? Are you okay?' He was super cool, super nice. It was great."

AJ saved her most effusive praise, however, for Jackson, a director that is "really good about letting the actors do what they feel is right for the character," she said.

"He talks about it with a lot of the actors, like, 'What do you think I should do here?' He involves everybody, which is super cool," AJ said. "I kind of go with what he says and make it my own. From there he's usually pretty happy with it, so it's great. He's unbelievable."

[MacGuffin]

Wahlberg On Bones And Jackson
Source: Sci Fi Wire

Mark Wahlberg, who stepped in at the last minute to play the anguished father in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, told reporters that he found the role a challenge but welcomed the chance to observe filmmaking by the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings helmer.

In the movie, based on Alice Sebold's novel, Wahlberg plays Jack Salmon, the father of Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), a 14-year-old girl who was brutally raped and murdered and watches from heaven how the crime affects her parents and family. Wahlberg joined the production days before it started, after original cast member Ryan Gosling dropped out.

"The last-minute [thing] was fine," Wahlberg said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Oct. 12 while promoting his next film, Max Payne. "The only thing, again, I was worried about was dealing with the subject matter and having to go to that place, which is also why Max Payne was such a great release afterwards, because the other side of me would want to go out and wreak havoc on whoever was responsible, and I got to do that through this film."

In Max Payne, Wahlberg plays a renegade cop who seeks revenge against those who killed his wife and child. In a different way, Wahlberg's Salmon in Lovely Bones must deal with the loss of a child and the desire for revenge.

But Wahlberg, who expressed ambitions to direct films, said that he welcomed the opportunity to learn from Jackson. "The experience working with Peter Jackson was like no other," he said. "I've always wanted to direct. I thought after working with many of the great directors that I picked up a lot of things along the way. Like a lot of actors, you get a great script, you hire a great cinematographer and producer, you get great actors, you can make a pretty good movie. But I don't think you can do what Peter Jackson can do, and I would like to be able to at least shoot for that level of ability one day. I don't think I'll ever get there, but it was the most amazing experience of my career."

Wahlberg, who has three children of his own, added that it's difficult to play men who have to deal with such losses. "Definitely," he said. "I'm not one of those Shakespearean actors that thinks about the color blue or goes to that place or thinks about that place when I wanted to hide and be alone as a kid," he said, with tongue in cheek. "I have my past, which has got a lot of stuff to draw from, and I have children, so I think about something horrible happening to my family. That's why I can't wait until the last day of shooting: so I can go home and hug my kids and get those thoughts out of my head." The Lovely Bones opens in 2009.

[modage]

"I'm not one of those Shakespearean actors that thinks about the color blue or goes to that place or thinks about that place when I wanted to hide and be alone as a kid,"

no shit. 

see: most of his films.

[modage]

[Stefen]

Fuck Empire.

Why they gotta ruin the picture by putting their name on it?

[MacGuffin]

First look: Murderous 'Lovely Bones' is also 'curiously optimistic'
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

For all the violence and grief of The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson believes the movie adaptation need not be a downer.

In fact, he says, the film version of Alice Sebold's best-selling novel about teenager Susie Salmon, who watches from heaven as her family collapses after her murder, is downright uplifting.

"I found the book to be curiously optimistic," Jackson says by e-mail from New Zealand, where he's finishing the film. "I felt inspired by Susie's struggle to come to terms with her own death. In the face of overwhelming grief, she finds hope.

"She holds on to love, and by doing so, she transcends the horror of her murder."

Don't expect Lord of the Rings-style special effects to create a nether world, Jackson says. The film, which stars Saoirse Ronan as Susie and Stanley Tucci as her killer, proved one of Jackson's toughest, particularly scenes of the child's afterlife.

"It's God-less in the sense that when Susie dies, she finds herself caught in a place between Earth and heaven — she is in an 'In-Between,' as Alice Sebold calls it." When she moves on, "we're happy for audiences to imagine this new world in whatever way makes them comfortable."

[Fernando]

^^ that reminds me something jack nicholson told in the kubrick doc., that he told him the shining was in reality an optimistic picture, that the movie was about ghosts and anything that says there's anything after death is an optimistic story..

also, good, the pic no longer has the stupid empire name on it..

[MacGuffin]

More Photos From Peter Jackson's Lovely Bones
Source: ComingSoon

Saoirse Ronan fansite Access-Saoirse has received more scans of photos from Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones that can be found in the new issue of Empire magazine. Opening December 11, the big screen adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-selling novel stars Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli and Ronan.

The film centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family – and her killer – from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.




http://access-saoirse.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=99&pos=0