BuzzSugar

Remake of the UK's Prime Suspect Coming to NBC

BuzzSugar — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:45:37 -0700

In a deal between NBC and the UK's ITV Studios, America and Britain are swapping projects. ITV is doing a UK version of Law and Order while NBC has signed on for a remake of Prime Suspect, a drama series that starred Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, "a tough homicide investigator who found herself juggling her difficult job and equally harrowing personal life." The show earned Mirren two Emmys and "made waves for featuring a woman as head of a murder squad."

NBC's primetime entertainment president Angela Bromstad said, "We want to carefully choose a couple of iconic titles this year to reinvent, and our intention is to create another classic television show from this brilliant original format."

Hollywood's all about "reinvention" these days, that's for sure. Who could reinvent Mirren's old role, though? Is there an American actress you could picture doing well with this character?

Buzz News Roundup, 8/28

BuzzSugar — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:30:27 -0700

Kristin Chenoweth will be a guest judge on the next season of American Idol. - Zap2it
Mad Men's Christina Hendricks will join Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel in Life as We Know It. - Variety
Laura Linney will star in The C Word, a new comedy pilot for Showtime about a suburban wife battling cancer. - The Hollywood Reporter
Robin Williams will star in the romantic comedy Wedding Banned. - Reuters
Brandon Routh, most famous for his role in Superman Returns, will have a recurring role on the upcoming season of Chuck. - Entertainment Weekly
Daniel Craig will star in the psychological thriller Dream House. - Coming Soon
TNT has ordered a third season of Leverage. - Variety
Helen Mirren has signed on for a film adaption of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock. - Variety

State of Play: Surprisingly Gripping Journalism Thriller

BuzzSugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:30:35 -0700

In the movies and on TV, investigations always look so exciting and fun - piecing together the facts, swapping clues, untangling the web strand by strand, etc. In a story centered around journalism, this mystery-solving stuff is what makes it fun to watch, especially if there's also a good dose of realism but not so much that it becomes mired in realistic details and we get bored. State of Play very nicely balances these things: It's a sensational murder mystery-thriller but with a scruffy, grumpy journalist lead character and a supporting cast of equally "normal" people. There's enough fiction and embellishment to be escapism, and enough reality to make it believable.

Russell Crowe plays grizzled journalist Cal McAffrey who is something of a legendary dinosaur at the struggling Washington Globe newspaper. His longtime friend, Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), comes under scrutiny when a woman from his research team dies tragically and the public learns that Collins was having an affair with her. As the police conduct their own investigation, Cal himself tries to get to the bottom of the woman's mysterious death - partially to get a juicy story and partially to help clear his friend's name in the scandalous situation. The young, eager blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) insists on teaming up with Cal on his search as she tries to prove herself as a writer at the Globe. Together they work to uncover the truth, but every new revelation brings with it a twisty new discovery and soon the two journalists find themselves enmeshed in a nasty mixture of political conspiracies and tangled personal relationships. That's all I'll say about the plot, but for more of my thoughts on it all, read more.

Trust and deceit are at the heart of this story, as is the blurred line between formal police investigation (to solve a case) and investigative reporting (to get a scoop). Cal and Stephen's friendship is tested repeatedly as Cal’s desire to get as many details for his story as possible gets in the way of his compassion for a buddy. Past hurts also creep back to haunt them and further confuse Cal's motives for getting to the bottom of things. Yet, thankfully, there's no needless lingering on individual characters' personal lives. What we know of these people is almost completely restricted to how they're involved in the messy web of secrets, and the extraneous stuff is pushed aside in favor of the meat of the story. Even the relationship that forms between Cal and Della is handled with a light, delicate touch. Will this remain a mentor-mentee kind of thing, or is there more there? We don't really need to know because watching the trust and mutual respect blossom between them over the course of the movie is gratifying enough.

Admittedly, I had low expectations for this movie and certain things (like Affleck’s entire performance) never managed to exceed those expectations, but regardless, I think it's a success in that it achieves exactly what films in this genre should achieve. It sweeps us up in an intriguing puzzle and maintains our attention for two full hours, while also posing some interesting questions (what is the role of journalism today - especially in relation to politics? Is journalism dying?). It's not the kind of movie that will make you feel a lot of things, but I went in looking for escape and I got it. It may essentially be a story about journalism, but it still manages to be incredibly engrossing.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Movie Preview: State of Play

BuzzSugar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:30:37 -0800

Based on the BBC series of the same title, the film State of Play stars Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck, and Rachel McAdams. Crowe and McAdams are reporters who get wrapped up in the case of a congressman's (Affleck) murdered mistress.

From the trailer, it looks like a compelling crime thriller, though I'm not sure how it'll stack up against the acclaimed original series. The fact that it's directed by The Last King of Scotland's Kevin Macdonald is promising, however. State of Play opens April 17. To check out the trailer, read more.

Buzz News Roundup, 9/26

BuzzSugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:31:05 -0700

Do Not Disturb is the first casualty of Fall TV. - Broadcasting & Cable
It's only in the rumor stage, but still: People are saying Ricky Gervais may be the host for the 2009 Oscars! - E! Online
Steven Spielberg may adapt the sci-fi novel Chocky for his next project. - Zap2It
HBO wants to turn the Tom Wolfe novel I Am Charlotte Simmons into a TV series with Tina Brown as executive producer. - Variety
Helen Mirren is set to play a Mossad agent in director John Madden's The Debt, an English-language remake of Israeli thriller Ha-hov. - Variety
Melissa George of Alias will guest-star on Grey's Anatomy as a possible love interest for Callie or Erica. - Entertainment Weekly
Nick Nolte will star in an indie coming-of-age-drama titled Arcadia Lost. - Hollywood Reporter
Bob Dylan's new album will be released one week early as a free online stream on National Public Radio's website. - AP
The American Idol tour did better this year than last year but still couldn't match the 2006 edition. - USA Today

Photo courtesy of Fox

Leo Tolstoy Biopic Shaping Up Nicely

BuzzSugar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:30:00 -0700

Director Michael Hoffman's (A Midsummer Night's Dream, One Fine Day, Soapdish) Leo Tolstoy biopic The Last Station begins shooting April 7 in Germany with several more high-quality players on board. Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer join Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy, and McAvoy's wife Anne-Marie Duff in the film, which is based on Jay Parini's 1990 novel. Mirren and Plummer are replacing Meryl Streep and Anthony Hopkins in these roles.

According to Variety, the movie follows "the turbulent final year in the life of the Russian writer and philosopher and his troubled marriage." Plummer will play Tolstoy and Mirren will step into the role of Tolstoy's wife Sofia. Here's more:

Giamatti plays Tolstoy's trusted follower Chertkov, a supporter of the writer's nonviolent socialist Christian movement who becomes Sofia's cunning adversary, while McAvoy plays a naive private secretary sent by Chertkov to work for Tolstoy. British actress Anne-Marie Duff. . .stars as Tolstoy's daughter Sasha.

Interestingly, the movie has been largely financed by German film subsidy organizations, like the German Federal Film Board and the Federal Film Fund. Looks like the money is going to good use - this is one incredibly talented cast.

Source and Source

Buzz News Roundup, 10/15

BuzzSugar — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:27:48 -0700

Variety has the news that Fox has ordered fewer scripts of Amy Sherman-Palladino's new comedy series, The Return of Jezebel James.
Zap2It reports that Helen Mirren will star alongside Joe Pesci in Love Ranch, a movie about a legalized brothel in Nevada.
EW has the scoop on George Lucas' live-action Star Wars TV series.
According to Billboard, Led Zeppelin's music will finally be available digitally as of November 13.
Logan Marshall-Green of The OC and Traveler will play the lead in a new Fox pilot about a Harvard-educated rookie cop, Variety reports.
Matt Dillon will portray Leonard Chess in a biopic about the founder of Chicago blues label Chess Records, Reuters reports.
The threat of a Hollywood writers' strike is keeping some struggling new shows on the air for longer than normal, Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Photo courtesy of Fox

Sequel to The Queen in the Works

BuzzSugar — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:27:32 -0700

Technically, this is the third in a "Blair trilogy," but according to Variety, "Screenwriter Peter Morgan has started work on a sequel to The Queen, which will dig into former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair's relationships with U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush." The article continues:

The movie will focus on Blair's reaction to the handover of power between Clinton, a natural liberal ally, and Bush, who came from the other end of the political spectrum.

Morgan initially considered tackling the more obvious drama surrounding the run-up to the Iraq war, when Blair fatally compromised his own premiership by his whole-hearted support for Bush's invasion plans. But in the end Morgan decided that the roots of those events lay in Blair's difficult adjustment to the transition from Clinton to Bush a few years earlier.

Morgan's trilogy started with the telepic The Deal and continued with The Queen, which won Helen Mirren an Oscar for her depiction of Queen Elizabeth II in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death. No word on whether she'll appear in this third film, though Michael Sheen is expected to reprise his role as Blair.

The Cast of State of Play Got Even More Amazing

BuzzSugar — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:30:00 -0700

Just last week I told you that Edward Norton and Brad Pitt were reuniting for another film, this one based on the British miniseries State of Play. Well, the cast just got even bigger, with more good-looking, supremely talented people. In addition to Norton and Pitt, Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Robin Wright Penn will join the cast. Variety has more:

McAdams will play a reporter in the middle of a career-making story, as her newspaper investigates the death of the mistress of a fast-rising congressman. Mirren will play the steely newspaper editor. (Bill Nighy played the editor in the mini.) Wright Penn will play the estranged wife of the congressman. She becomes romantically involved with the pol's former campaign manager (Pitt), who leads the newspaper's investigative team. Norton plays the congressman and Bateman plays the other lead reporter.

That's some hefty casting news. This project had me at "Pitt and Norton" but now I'm even more excited for State of Play. What do you think? For those of you familiar with the miniseries, how do you think this film will measure up?

Source

The Results Are In: Recast Clue

BuzzSugar — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:28:57 -0700

Every Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

It was a lot of fun checking out the recast lists you all submitted for Clue since it's a cast full of varied, interesting and funny people - this may be because it was based on a game that features so many colorful characters. Many of the actors you picked were spot-on, like Saaralynne and yiddidea's pick of Eddie Izzard as Wadsworth, which is pretty much perfect. I also loved redsnapper’s pick of Larry David as Mr. Green and Tiatia's decision to put Kiefer Sutherland in the role of Colonel Mustard. Brilliant!

Altogether, though, I was most excited about JessNess' recast list, so congratulations, JessNess!

To see who JessNess picked and a new cast photo, read more

JessNess' cast:
Wadsworth - Hugh Laurie
Mrs. White - Helen Mirren
Mrs. Peacock - Amy Poehler
Prof. Plum - Rowan Atkinson
Mr. Green - Rainn Wilson
Col. Mustard - Steve Carell
Miss Scarlet - Monica Bellucci