The search for a director for the back-to-back installments of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit may be coming to an end. None other than Guillermo del Toro is in talks for the job, The Hollywood Reporter revealed today.

It seems that Del Toro built up a lot of goodwill when it comes to handling fantasy filmmaking with his Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy and Blade 2 (which was made by New Line). Del Toro would oversee the two films’ writing - once the WGA strike is resolved - together with Peter Jackson, who due to his commitments on The Lovely Bones and Tintin refused the director’s chair on The Hobbit, opting for the role as executive producer instead.

Principal photography for the films, which will be shot simultaneously, is tentatively set for 2009. The production budget is estimated at $150 million per film. The release of the first film is slated for 2010 and the second in 2011.

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Posted in Movies, The Hobbit / LOTR •

Five new faces have signed on to star alongside Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in Michael Mann’s upcoming film Public Enemies, including Oscar-nominated actress Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose).

Variety reports that Cotillard, Channing Tatum, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff and Jason Clarke have all landed roles in the Depression-era crime drama from the Heat and Miami Vice director, which starts shooting March 10.

Cotillard will play Billie Frechette, the lover of the country’s most notorious gangster, John Dillinger (Depp). Tatum will play outlaw Pretty Boy Floyd, Ribisi will play Alvin Karpis, Dorff is near a deal to play Homer Van Meter, and Clarke will play John “Red” Hamilton. That quartet repped a Dillinger gang that knocked off banks all over the Midwest during the Depression. Bale plays Melvin Purvis, who was tapped by FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover to lead a manhunt that established the FBI as the country’s first federal police force after the G-Men killed Dillinger outside the Biograph Theater in 1934.

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Posted in Movies •

Marlene Forte has landed a role in Star Trek, Variety reports.

Forte, a late addition to the cast of J.J. Abrams’ reinvention of the sci-fi franchise, will play the part of “Chief Transporter”. The actress’s recent credits include CSI and Lost.

Forte joins a cast that includes Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Winona Ryder, Zoë Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg and Leonard Nimoy. The film hits theaters December 25.

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Posted in Movies, Star Trek •

NarniaWeb has posted the first glimpse at the animated character Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard) from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

The image is part of a new artwork advertizing the film that was printed in The Los Angeles Times recently. A scan can be seen at this link.

The film, released May 16, reunites most of the principal cast from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and finds the Pevensie siblings pulled back into the land of Narnia, where a thousand years have passed since they left.

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Posted in Chronicles of Narnia, Movies •

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) gave out their annual awards this weekend, with No Country for Old Men the big winner.

The DGA honor went to No Country directors Joel and Ethan Coen, who are the first two-person team to win it since Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins in 1961 for West Side Story. Their film also won the SAG Award for the Most Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture, while Javier Bardem was awarded Best Supporting actor for his role as Anton Chigurh.

Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) and Julie Christie (Away From Her) took home the lead acting prizes, with Ruby Dee (American Gangster) a surprising winner for Best Supporting Actress.

Pending the results from the Producers Guild Awards No Country for Old Men is now in the driving seat to sweep the Best Picture and Directing Oscars come February 24, while Day-Lewis, Christie and Bardem have cemented their places.

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Posted in Awards, Movies •