Brad Pitt in “Inglorious Bastard” – Confirmed
Entertainment Weekly has received confirmation from Brad Pitt’s representatives that Pitt play the key role in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino-directed WWII project, entitled “Inglorious Bastards.”
Tarantino also plans to meet Leonardo DiCaprio on Thursday to play another lead role, Hans Landa.
After weeks of dizzying negations, the film has apparently found a home at Universal Pictures, which will team with Tarantino and his notorious partner-in-crime Harvey Weinstein to finance and distribute the film both domestically and abroad.
Inglorious Bastards will film in Europe later in the year, with Tarantino aiming to premiere the movie at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ to be filmed by Laurence Fishburne and Harvey Weinstein
‘The Alchemist’, the best-selling book by Paulo Coelho will be turned into a film.
Laurence Fishburne will direct, write and star in the $60 million production, which is being made by Harvey Weinstein.
‘The Alchemist’ book has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and translated into 67 languages. Such is its enduring appeal, it is currently at number six on The New York Times bestseller list, 20 years after its first publication.
It tells the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who travels across the Egyptian desert in search of treasure, leading to an encounter with an alchemist who teaches him the meaning of life.
Weinstein unveiled details of the film at the Cannes Film Festival and said it was a project dear to his heart.
He said: “It is a book I have been truly inspired by and I have agreed to personally produce it. The Alchemist is simple and spiritual, and the screenplay will reflect that. The book means so much to people on a spiritual level yet there is also a great love story in it. It is an incredibly moving, emotional story.”
The film will have the feel of Life Is Beautiful and Cinema Paradiso, and will be made by the team behind The Aviator, Gangs Of New York and The English Patient.
Fishburne will play the alchemist of the title and Weinstein said he was determined to cast Penelope Cruz after seeing her in Cannes film Vicky Cristina Barcelona earlier this week. “One way or another I’m finding a part for Penelope Cruz,” he said.
The project has been in gestation for over a decade and marks the major directorial debut of Fishburne, the Oscar-nominated star of The Matrix and Boys N The Hood.
He said: “It is wonderful to be bringing this best-beloved novel to the big screen. I feel like the luckiest man on the planet.”
The film will beginning shooting late next spring.
China Vetos $50m Hollywood Epic Over Opium Scenes
With the US and China at loggerheads over the arrest of four Chinese nationals on suspicion of espionage and Steven Spielberg’s decision to withdraw as an artistic advisor to this summer’s Olympic Games, it seems only fitting that the ongoing battle between Hollywood and China’s film authorities should remain as eventful as ever.Chinese authorities have threatened to derail Mikael Hafstrom’s upcoming Chinese shoot of the $50m (£24m) period epic Shanghai, set to star John Cusack and Gong Li.While specifics were unclear, it is understood that Hollywood’s latest China crisis has erupted over scenes in the script that depict opium use among Chinese.
Eager to portray their people in the best possible light in the year of the Olympics, officials at China’s Film Bureau have demanded changes to the story.
Hafstrom has been in pre-production in China since September ahead of the scheduled March 10 start date and might need to begin scouting for alternative locations if a revised script doesn’t meet with approval.
